“Patriotism is the opposite of nationalism” bleated the poodle Macron at the Armistice celebration as he yipped and yapped and wagged his tail before the German conqueror of Europe. Meanwhile the Front Nationale outpolled the “mainstream” “centrist” parties in municipal elections for the first time and nationalist Italy is telling the European Union to stay …
Continue reading “The Blue Wave of Repression”
Here’s an excerpt from my new book, Hooper’s War: A Novel of WWII Japan, on sale now at Amazon. This excerpt is told from the perspective of the main character, Lieutenant Nate Hooper. I’m lucky enough to have a friend with a boat. Sitting at the stern, I watch the boat create its wake, then …
Continue reading “For Veteran’s Day: Understanding Moral Injury in Hooper’s War”
It gets harder to commemorate World War I, because of time and the public’s embrace of, or indifference to, a permanent war economy. About the Great War British novelist H.G. Wells wrote on August 14, 1914, "This is already the vastest war in history. … For this is now a war for peace. It aims …
Continue reading “Armistice Day First”
Separate Iraqi and Turkish airstrikes left dozens dead.
Originally posted at TomDispatch. “I’m going to Saigon,” said Secretary of Defense James Mattis last month before correcting himself. “Ho Chi Minh City – former Saigon.” It was the fifth time that Mattis would meet with his Vietnamese counterpart, Minister of National Defense Ngo Xuan Lich, and it marked the defense secretary’s first visit to …
Continue reading “Misremembering Vietnam”
The US-led coalition against Islamic State has carried out more than 100 new air strikes targeting the militant group’s remaining strongholds in Syria’s Deir Ezzor province, killing at least 80 civilians – including dozens of women and children – in recent weeks. US-led bombing resumed on October 24 following a particularly deadly period in which …
Continue reading “Latest US-Led Air Strikes Kill At Least 80 Syrian Civilians”
“For soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, coming home is more lethal than being in combat.” ~ Brené Brown, research professor at the University of Houston Not all heroes wear the uniform of war. In the United States, however, we take particular pride in recognizing as heroes those who have served in the military. Yet …
Continue reading “A Badge of Shame: The Government’s War on America’s Military Veterans”
Those of us of a certain age may remember that Veterans Day used to be called Armistice Day – the day the guns fell silent in war-torn Europe at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. The Great War, the Global War that we now call World War I, …
Continue reading “Remembering Armistice Day”
A bomb was detonated at a restaurant popular with security personnel.
The victory of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil’s presidential election last week has won Israel a passionate new friend on the international stage. The world’s fifth-most populous nation will now be “colored in blue and white”, an Israeli official said, referring to the colors of Israel’s flag. The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately called to …
Continue reading “With Brazil’s Bolsonaro, Israel Finds Another Natural Partner on the Far-Right” 
