Antiwar.com

At the Democratic National Convention all the talk was of whether – or to what extent – Bill Clinton would overshadow designated candidate Al Gore. Having been in the hall for both speeches, I would say the Democratic delegates gathered in Staples Center – well to the left of the general run of Democrats, let … Continue reading “It’s Good to be King”

WHERE IS PIERRE POUJADE WHEN YOU NEED HIM? We are living through the Second Demonization of American right-wing opinion. The First Demonization, that of the 1950s and ‘60s, took place just when the Right itself was making the transition from relative "isolationism" to full-bore global anticommunist crusading. That transition was rather lost on the left-liberal … Continue reading “Bureaucracy, State, and Empire”

The politicians’ stirring phrases are meant to keep our eyes averted from the reality of war  – to make us imagine heroic young men marching in parades, winning glorious battles, and bringing peace and democracy to the world. But war is something quite different from that. It is your children or your grandchildren dying before … Continue reading “What is War?”

The victory this week in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas by Pablo Salazar, head of a coalition opposed to the long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), is an important step in what appears to be the ongoing meltdown of PRI power in Mexico. It will certainly strengthen the hand of Mexican president-elect Vicente Fox, who … Continue reading “Chiapas and Mexican Prospects”

EXTERMINATIONIST BOOGIE WOOGIE BUGLE BOYS Recently, I dismissed the annual debate over US use of atomic bombs against Hiroshima and Nagasaki in a few words. Now, I wish to discuss that topic while August is yet with us and the debate – however tepid – lingers on. As I noted some time ago in a … Continue reading “The Bombs of August”

At the Democratic Convention, as at the Republican get-together a couple of weeks ago, the only place you’re likely to hear anything beyond mild criticism of tactics in foreign policy is in the streets. Even the "Shadow Convention," which touts its desire to deal with issues the major parties won’t address, with Arianna Huffington as … Continue reading “None But the Scruffy”

The General Accounting Office, Congress’s auditing and investigative arm, is known in Washington for producing often excellent analyses of government operations and departments that might serve as fodder for a speech or two but are subsequently ignored. It has produced an excellent report on military reform that the Washington Times recently acquired that is likely … Continue reading “Hard Choices the Parties are Avoiding”

I have foregone writing about Garet Garrett in this space partly because Justin Raimondo has written so often and eloquently about him in his columns. Nonetheless, Garrett was such an interesting and articulate – if, in the end, forlorn and hopeless – critic of the system of US global meddling that it seems a pity … Continue reading “Garet Garrett (1878-1954) On Empire”

Within the last week or so hope for peace in Kashmir, a region fiercely contested among India, Pakistan and Kashmiri separatists for decades has been raised by a couple of events few observers had expected. Abdul Majid Dar, commander of the militant Hizbul Muhajideen, generally viewed as being sponsored by the Pakistani government, announced a … Continue reading “Peace in Kashmir?”

Reading James Bovard’s excellent Freedom in Chains (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999) forcefully reminded me of the importance of Étienne de la Boétie. Bovard quotes La Boétie here and there and it dawned on me that the latter’s Discourse on Voluntary Servitude, written in 1552 or ’53 and not published until after his death,1 … Continue reading “Étienne de la Boétie (1530-1563) and Voluntary Servitude”