ALLEGRA HARPOOTLIAN – What if there’s an antiwar movement growing right under our noses and we just haven’t noticed? What if we don’t see it, in part, because it doesn’t look like any antiwar movement we’ve even imagined?
Category: June 2019
War Begets War . . . and Nothing Else
ROBERT C. KOEHLER – “War-making must be renounced. It is past time for the paradigm shift. We have one planet and we must see ourselves as one and we must take a stand.†Dud Hendrick of Veterans for Peace
Listening for Immigration at the Democratic Presidential Debates
ANDREW MOSS – If you’ve been repelled by the family separations and other immigration-related cruelties perpetrated by the Trump administration, and if you plan to watch either or both of the upcoming Democratic presidential debates, please listen carefully – not just to what the candidates are saying, but how they’re saying it: how they frame the issues. Will they present immigration as a discrete set of concerns (“fixing our broken immigration system”), or will they describe it in relation to broader historical struggles, distinctly American struggles, for human rights?
Nuclear Weapons: Experts Alarmed by New Pentagon ‘War-Fighting’ Doctrine
JULIAN BORGER – US joint chiefs of staff posted then removed paper that suggests nuclear weapons could “create conditions for decisive results.”
Iran—Who and Where is the Threat?
MEL GURTOV – Donald Trump and his minions are the chief threats to America’s—and for that matter, the world’s—real security.
Vision is Finally on the Rise in U.S. Politics
GEORGE LAKEY – From grassroots movements to presidential hopefuls, the importance of creating visionary plans for change is no longer being ignored.
Snub of Russia on D-Day a Worrisome Omission
DOUG MALLOUK – Has the current tide of hysteria against all things Russian risen to the point that European and American policymakers are now attempting an Orwellian rewrite of the history of World War II? This is no mere academic matter of misrepresenting the past but has life-and-death importance for the here and now.
Anti-Occupation Coalition Grows Stronger in the Face of Israeli Military Violence
RAFI ELLENSON – When diaspora Jews and those living in Israel join with Palestinians, they forge a more powerful and just movement to end the occupation.
When Countries Increase Their Military Budgets, They Decrease Public Health Spending
PEACE SCIENCE DIGEST – One key argument against military spending is that it “crowds out†government spending in public health. The evidence is mixed. Some argue that increased military spending has indirect but positive effects on public health — whether through the diversity of military expenditures or other “growth-stimulating†effects. Others suggest that there is a trade-off between military and public health priorities because government spending is constrained by limited resources. Using sophisticated statistical techniques, this article examines whether a causal relationship exists between military spending and public health spending.
Why the Trade War with China is So Dangerous
MEL GURTOV – The trade war with China that Trump so confidently predicted would result in a great new deal now threatens to become a permanent feature of US-China relations. Why that is likely may have less to do with the specific trade issues in dispute than with the vastly different negotiating styles and operating principles of the two countries’ leaderships.
UN Secretary General Reminds the World of the Importance of Disarmament
ALYN WARE – On May 24, the International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament, UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres released a video message highlighting the importance of disarmament, in particular nuclear disarmament.
Seeking True Diversity; Leaving Shame Behind
JOHN HEID – “Don’t Label Me, An Incredible Conversation for Divided Times†(by Irshad Manji, St. Martin’s Press, 2019), opens with an invitation to expand our moral imagination and concludes with an 11-step “moral courage regimen.†The pages in-between read like a manifesto as radical, i.e. deeply rooted, as any I have come across in years. This is a book acutely for our times. Irshad Manji offers critical analysis, alongside a crash course in nonviolent engagement techniques. Theory and practice all in one. The content is as at once a life-size mirror and flashing red lights for the progressive left.
If Democrats Want to Beat Trump, They Better Not Nominate a ‘Free Trade’ Candidate
THOM HARTMANN – If the Democrats promote pro-corporate trade policies in 2020, get ready for four more years of Donald Trump gloating at us all from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Let’s Not Spend $1.7 Trillion on Our Nukes, a Group of N.J. Professors Says. Let’s Get Rid of Them, and the Threat of a Catastrophic War.
ZIA MIAN, ALAN ROBOCK and SHARON WEINER – On May 23rd, the New Jersey General Assembly approved Resolution 230, urging the federal government to pursue a broad range of measures to reduce the danger of nuclear war and to join the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. California and some American cities have already adopted similar resolutions to call for action in Washington on nuclear weapons. Here’s why.
Norway Refuses to Drill for Billions of Barrels of Oil in Arctic, Leaving ‘Whole Industry Surprised and Disappointed’
HARRY COCKBURN – The largest party in Norway’s parliament has delivered a significant blow to the country’s huge oil industry after withdrawing support for explorative drilling off the Lofoten islands in the Arctic, which are considered a natural wonder.