The Empires That Brought Us Here

Image from https://worldbeyondwar.org/militarism-mapped

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, October 13, 2021

Empire is still (or newly, as it wasn’t always) a touchy subject in the U.S. Empire. Most people in the United States would deny that the United States has ever had an empire, just because they’ve never heard of it, and so it must not exist. And those who tend to talk about the U.S. empire the most either tend to be supporters of violent anti-imperial struggles (as outdated a notion as read more

Talk World Radio: Yves Engler on the Canadian Military

Talk World Radio is recorded as audio and video on Riverside.fm. Here is this week’s video and all the videos on Youtube.

This week on Talk World Radio: Stand on Guard for Whom? — A People’s History of the Canadian Military. That’s the title of the new book, his twelfth, from our guest Yves Engler. His website is YvesEngler.com

Total run time: 29:00
Host: David Swanson.
Producer: David Swanson.
Music by Duke Ellington.

Download from LetsTryDemocracy.

Download from Internet Archive.

Pacifica read more

Harry Potter and the Secret of COP26

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, October 10, 2021

“Blimey, Harry!” exclaimed Ronald Weasley, his face pressed to the window, peering out at the swiftly passing countryside as the glistening red Hogwarts Express belched coal smoke into the sky on its way north to Glasgow for the COP26 climate conference. “If the secret that you have to find is both known and unknown to all Muggles, then it follows that it’s known to a lot of us too. And it also follows” — Ron turned to face his friend read more

CrossTalk | Military accountability?

“The Biden administration’s decision to leave Afghanistan was correct and long overdue. However, the way America’s longest war ended is a different question. It was a botched affair. The generals will most likely never be held to account. But a lone Marine lieutenant colonel does face a court martial. Is this justice? CrossTalking with Medea Benjamin, David Swanson, and Sara Flounders.”

Nobel Committee Gets Peace Prize Wrong Yet Again

The Nobel Committee has yet again awarded a peace prize that violates the will of Alfred Nobel and the purpose for which the prize was created, selecting recipients who blatantly are not “the person who has done the most or best to advance fellowship among nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the establishment and promotion of peace congresses.”

That there are numerous candidates who plausibly meet the criteria and could have been appropriately awarded a Nobel Peace Prize read more

Talk World Radio: Punishment Without Trial

Talk World Radio is recorded as audio and video on Riverside.fm. Here is this week’s video and all the videos on Youtube.

This week on Talk World Radio: a new book called Punishment Without Trial: Why Pleabargaining Is a Bad Deal. The author, Carissa Byrne Hessick, is the Ransdell Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law, where she also serves as the director of the Prosecutors and Politics Project. Before joining the faculty at UNC, she taught read more

Can War Be Both Reformed AND Abolished?


Photo of Kunduz Hospital in Afghanistan via The Intercept.

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, October 2, 2021

A recent article and a recent book have raised this familiar topic anew for me. The article is a super uninformed dud of a hatchet job on Michael Ratner by Samuel Moyn, who accuses Ratner of supporting war by trying to reform and humanize rather than end it. The critique is terribly weak because Ratner tried to prevent wars, end wars, AND reform wars. Ratner was at every antiwar event. read more

How to Prevent Terrorism

By David Swanson

Hi, this is David Swanson, executive director of World BEYOND War, campaign coordinator of RootsAction, and host of Talk World Radio. I was asked by the Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism for a video on foreign intervention and domination as an important factor in the spread of violence and extremism.

I’m not a huge fan of the word “extremism,” both because I think we should be extreme about things that merit it, and because the U.S. government distinguishes read more

Civic Initiative Save Sinjajevina to Receive the War Abolisher of 2021 Award

By World BEYOND War, September 27, 2021

Today, September 27, 2021, World BEYOND War announces as the recipient of the War Abolisher of 2021 Award: Civic Initiative Save Sinjajevina.

As already announced, the Lifetime Organizational War Abolisher Award of 2021 will be presented to Peace Boat, and the David Hartsough Lifetime Individual War Abolisher Award of 2021 will be presented to Mel Duncan.

An online presentation and acceptance event, with remarks from representatives of all three 2021 award read more