PHYLLIS BENNIS, T.J. JACKSON LEARS and JEFFREY D. SACHS – Three insightful analysts of present-day U.S. foreign policy share their thoughts in a roundtable discussion moderated by Norman Solomon.
Tag: Phyllis Bennis
The War in Ukraine: A National Debate is Needed
ARNOLD OLIVER – There are no more important decisions that republics can make than whether to go to war. In such times of crisis, citizens are obliged to inform themselves on the facts and issues as best they can, and to speak out clearly and forcefully. But it is difficult to see how this is possible if any questioning of a rigid orthodoxy leads to immediate attacks on one’s character; or worse, if the major media outlets are in lockstep on the march to war, and deny the public access to dissenting views. All of this happened in 2003, and it is again happening now.
What ‘Self-Defense’ Means for Israel
ROBERT C. KOEHLER – What a world this is. I fear far less “aid†is given, and far less profit is envisioned, to promote “the right of all people, regardless of their faith, to have self-determination and equal rights.â€
A Green New Deal Needs to Fight US Militarism
PHYLLIS BENNIS – The Green New Deal must have anti-militarism at its core. Wars and the military render impossible the aspirations contained in the Green New Deal. And slashing the out-of-control military budget is crucial to provide the billions of dollars we need to create a sustainable and egalitarian economy.
Justice Not Vengeance After Paris
PHYLLIS BENNIS – France is in mourning and in shock. We still don’t know how many people were killed and injured. In fact, there’s a lot we still don’t know—including who was responsible. The ISIS claim of responsibility tells us virtually nothing about who really planned or carried out the attacks; opportunist claims are an old story. But the lack of information hasn’t prevented lots of assumptions about who is “obviously†responsible and what should be done to them. Already the call is rising across France—“this time it’s all-out war. But we do know what happens when cries of war and vengeance drown out all other voices; we’ve heard them before.
Paying Respects, Pentagon Revives Vietnam, and War Over Truth
SHERYL GAY STOLBERG – It has been nearly half a century since a young antiwar protester named Tom Hayden traveled to Hanoi to investigate President Lyndon B. Johnson’s claims that the United States was not bombing civilians in Vietnam. Mr. Hayden saw destroyed villages and came away, he says, “pretty wounded by the pattern of deception.†Now the Pentagon — run by a Vietnam veteran, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel — is planning a 50th anniversary commemoration of the Vietnam War. The effort, which is expected to cost taxpayers nearly $15 million by the end of this fiscal year, is intended to honor veterans and, its website says, “provide the American public with historically accurate materials†suitable for use in schools. But the extensive website, which has been up for months, largely describes a war of valor and honor that would be unrecognizable to many of the Americans who fought in and against it.
Moral Obscenities in Syria: Who Benefits?
PHYLLIS BENNIS and DAVID WILDMAN – The threat of a reckless, dangerous, and illegal US or US-led assault on Syria is looking closer than ever. . . . The US government has been divided over the Syria crisis since it began. . . . But the situation is changing rapidly, and the Obama administration appears to be moving closer to direct military intervention. That would make the dire situation in Syria inestimably worse.
The War on Terror Has Not Made Us Safer
PHYLLIS BENNIS – The authorization for the use of military force should never have been passed.
Syria: Only Diplomacy Can Stop the War
PHYLLIS BENNIS – Syria is close to full-scale civil war. If the conflict escalates further, as former UN Secretary-General and current envoy of both the UN and the Arab League Kofi Annan noted: “Syria is not Libya, it will not implode, it will explode beyond its borders.”
Bennis Peace Strategy Revealed on “Democracy Nowâ€
DEMOCRACY NOW: Amy Goodman: Final question, the antiwar movement — what do you think — and you end your primer, Ending the U.S. War in Afghanistan, with this — what do you think the antiwar movement needs to do?