In conversation with a progressive friend of mine the other day, I had occasion to hear a valid criticism of my writing: why, he asked me, do you limit yourself to attacking the left on the war question, why not praise them when they’re doing something right? This is a paraphrase, and not a word …
Continue reading “Anti-Interventionism: The Left-Wing Tradition”
In the week since the much publicized withdrawal of “combat” troops from Iraq it has become more evident that the Iraq War continues under a new name: “Operation New Dawn.” The first off-message comments came from the Department of Defense. Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said shortly after the “end” of the war, “I don’t …
Continue reading “Old War in New Bottles”
Brendan O’Neill cautions against using empire’s own rhetoric
Lindsey Graham, a war-supporting senator from South Carolina, said what he fears most is a Left-Right alliance against the Afghanistan War. He recognizes that such an alliance could stop war funding and force American troops to return home. But the masters of war may not have to use divide-and-rule tactics, because many war opponents on …
Continue reading “Can Americans Who Oppose War and Empire Work Together?”
A recent gathering of the remnants of the antiwar movement, sponsored by something calling itself the United National Antiwar Conference, underscores the reasons why there is almost no effective organized opposition to the present administration’s occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. One has only to look at the conference program to see why the antiwar movement …
Continue reading “Why Is the Antiwar Movement Stalled?”
[Note for TomDispatch Readers: In recent years, this Web site has had a fine record when it comes to college commencement addresses, in part because I have a fondness for the form at its best, and in part because I think we should all have a chance to graduate into our world, whatever our ages. …
Continue reading “Living in the 51st State (of Denial)”
“When it is said that nothing, including a nuclear strike, is off the table on Iran, are those who say it not also threatening genocide?” – Rep. Ron Paul, May 22, 2007 “I don’t think you take [nuclear weapons] off the table.” – Rand Paul on Iran, The O’Reilly Factor, May 19, 2010 “Rand Paul …
Continue reading “Rand Paul Drinks Tea, Turns Into Hawk?”
They were certainly not the proudest moments in what has been called the Tea Party Movement: activists on Capitol Hill this weekend to oppose the Democratic health-care bill accused of slinging the N-bomb at black lawmakers, screaming "baby killer" at Rep. Bart Stupak, calling openly gay Rep. Barney Frank a "faggot," and spitting on Missouri …
Continue reading “Buzzkill at the Tea Party”
Last Saturday, the Peace Coalition of Monterey County held an antiwar rally on the seventh anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Lawrence Samuels, co-chair of Libertarians for Peace, one of the member organizations, organized the rally with help from Phillip Butler of Veterans for Peace, another member organization. We began with four speeches, broken …
Continue reading “End the Wars”
The first nationwide antiwar protests in quite a while were held this past Saturday, held in part to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, with a few thousands marching in Washington – I’ve seen estimates ranging from two to ten thousand – with scattered events in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and …
Continue reading “Springtime for Obama” 
