Tom Engelhardt

An editor in publishing for the last 25 years, Tom Engelhardt is the author of The End of Victory Culture, a history of American triumphalism in the Cold War era, now out in a revised edition with a new preface and afterword, and Mission Unaccomplished, TomDispatch Interviews With American Iconoclasts and Dissenters. He is at present consulting editor for Metropolitan Books, a fellow of the Nation Institute, and a teaching fellow at the journalism school of the University of California, Berkeley. Visit his Web site. This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To stay on top of important articles like these, sign up to receive the latest updates from TomDispatch.com.

America’s Arms Sales Addiction

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Honestly, if a single corporate entity controlled three-quarters of the global market in a product, you’d call it a monopoly, right? Well, in 2011, that was the situation of the United States when it came to the arms trade. This country sold more than three-quarters of the weapons on the global … Continue reading “America’s Arms Sales Addiction”

How To Make American Foreign Policy Yours

Originally posted at TomDispatch. In case you hadn’t noticed (and not to notice you’d have to be blind), we’re not exactly alone in this country anymore. We were true pioneers in what might be considered a great American tradition of interfering in the affairs of other nations – think about just how radically the U.S. … Continue reading “How To Make American Foreign Policy Yours”

Watching My Students Turn Into Soldiers of Empire

Originally posted at TomDispatch. What a strange world we’re in! Imagine that only recently Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of the remaining 1,000 U.S. military personnel from Syria (launching a bloodbath in Kurdish-controlled areas on its northern border in the process). He was, if you remember, bringing them all “home.” Almost immediately, however, Secretary of … Continue reading “Watching My Students Turn Into Soldiers of Empire”

Bases, Bases, Everywhere, and Not a Base in Sight

Originally posted at TomDispatch. In January 2004, Chalmers Johnson wrote this about what he called America’s “empire of bases” or its “Baseworld”: “As distinct from other peoples, most Americans do not recognize – or do not want to recognize – that the United States dominates the world through its military power. Due to government secrecy, … Continue reading “Bases, Bases, Everywhere, and Not a Base in Sight”

Why Those ‘Endless Wars’ Must Never End

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Here’s the strange thing for the self-proclaimed greatest power in history, the very one that, in this century, has been fighting a series of unending wars across significant parts of the planet: if you exclude Operation Urgent Fury, the triumphant invasion of the island Grenada in 1983, and Operation Just Cause, … Continue reading “Why Those ‘Endless Wars’ Must Never End”

Drone Strikes and Tears

Originally posted at TomDispatch. It wasn’t until this sentence in the sixth paragraph of the September 23rd New York Times article on the killing of Afghan civilians that the wedding slaughter was even mentioned: “But Haji Attaullah Afghan, head of the provincial council in Helmand, said a two-vehicle wedding convoy was fired upon by military … Continue reading “Drone Strikes and Tears”

What the Dismantling of the Berlin Wall Means 30 Years Later

Originally posted at TomDispatch. You know, it’s strange. There are certain moments that you and everyone in your generation never forget. For instance, I can tell you exactly where I was – eating a 25-cent hamburger in a diner that might have been called the Yankee Doodle in New Haven, Connecticut – when a man … Continue reading “What the Dismantling of the Berlin Wall Means 30 Years Later”

The Militarization of Everything

Originally posted at TomDispatch. We’re in an age in which the president who miraculously “captured” ISIS in “a month,” or so he recently claimed, and has tweeted his fervent desire to end America’s “endless wars” and “bring the troops home” can only imagine increasing an already astronomical military budget.  (Since May, by the way, at … Continue reading “The Militarization of Everything”

The Forgotten Trauma of a Forgotten War

Originally posted at TomDispatch. Thanks to the looming impeachment crisis, the already Trumpian news cycle – the media has dealt with The Donald as no human being in history – is reaching a bizarre crescendo. And so is a president who seems to spend most of his White House time watching TV and tweeting ever … Continue reading “The Forgotten Trauma of a Forgotten War”

The Hypersonic Race to Hell

Originally posted at TomDispatch. My life, in a sense, has been an arms race. The atomic bomb was initially tested at Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 15, 1945, five days short of my first birthday. Less than a month later, atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Although the Soviet Union didn’t conduct its … Continue reading “The Hypersonic Race to Hell”