Tomgram: Andrew Bacevich, Seduced by War — Yet Again

This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.

Let me just express my concern about the war in Ukraine by wondering what “victory” might actually mean for the Ukrainians. Let’s assume for a moment that the coming, much-publicized Ukrainian counteroffensive will indeed punch serious holes in the lines of a battered and demoralized Russian military and that Ukrainian forces won’t just bloodily win back significant read more

Whose Confession? a review of Larry Chapp’s “Confession of a Catholic Worker”

In 1978, I was an associate editor of The Catholic Worker newspaper when a review copy of a new book, Confessions of a Catholic Worker by Michael Garvey arrived in the mail. Dorothy Day, the paper’s publisher, waved it off dismissively, saying “I hope that it is HIS confessions, not mine!”

Already hailed as a living saint, Day was not so unworldly as to be unaware of a whole popular genre of such “confessions,” tell-all exposés each more salacious then the last, beginning with Confessions read more

Dear Russia-Had-No-Choice Friends

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, May 24, 2023

Here’s a terrible “syllogism” from a wonderful person, Ray McGovern, longtime CIA employee, then longtime peace activist, and now year-long contender that Russia had no choice but to attack Ukraine.

“The Russians had other options to invading Ukraine.
They attacked Ukraine in a ‘war of choice’; also threaten NATO.
Ergo, the West must arm Ukraine to the teeth, risking wider war.”

This is supposedly an explanation of the thinking of we read more

The Maine National Guard Is Not Defending the U.S. But Destroying Montenegro


Hey, Montenegro has a new flag, and few people in the U.S. could find Montenegro on a map. What’s wrong with this picture?

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, May 23, 2023

According to the following tweets by the Montenegran military, the Maine National Guard and Brigadier General Dean A. Preston are not “guarding” Maine or the nation Maine is in. The Maine National Guard is not even anywhere near the United States.

Instead, the Maine National Guard is helping to turn a beautiful read more

Tomgram: Priti and Stan Cox, Two Great Powers, Too Much Violence

This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.

Let me offer a small prediction: between this moment when I’m writing the introduction to Priti Gulati and Stan Cox’s new piece and the moment, a few days from now, when it’s actually posted at TomDispatch, the question isn’t whether there will be another mass shooting in America, but read more