Spying a dirty business, whoever does it: Using Students, Teachers, Journalists and other Professionals as Spies Puts Everyone in Jeopardy

By Dave Lindorff

The US is accusing China of using college students studying in the US to spy for China, but that, even if true (there hasn’t been a trial yet), would be only half the story. The US, at great risk to those of us who work and travel abroad, also tries to enlist seemingly innocent Americans going abroad to spy for it.

I learned this first hand back in the early 1990s when I spent a year in China  teaching journalism at Shanghai’s prestigious Fudan University as a Fulbright read more

Talk Nation Radio: Ana Maria Gower on Art Against Militarism

Ana Maria Gower is a Serbian-British mixed media artist focusing on the themes of memories, life path, and experiences of war. The origin of her artistic interests goes back to her own experience of surviving the NATO bombings of Yugoslavia and its capital – Belgrade. Being a 10-year-old in a war zone, she witnessed the destruction caused by NATO involvement both during the conflict and for years after. A graduate of Central Saint-Martins (London, UK), she has participated in numerous exhibitions read more

‘Teach your parents well…’: While State Leaders Make War, Spanish Children March for Peace

By Ron Ridenour

Benalmádena — Seven hundred and seventy primary and elementary school children, aged three to 12, walked and skipped three kilometers to the main square (Plaza de España) here in this town located n in Spain’s Andalusia province, and back to their municipal school, Jacaranda.

On this 30th march for international peace in commemoration of the day that Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated (January 30, 1948), the children sang “No to War”, “Yes to Peace”, “Save the Children,” read more

Dear Humanity, I Think We Should Just Be Friends

Friends, fellow inhabitants of planet Earth, I’m not breaking up with you. I just think maybe we ought to see other species for a while. You like dogs, right?

I’ve spent so many years trying to talk with you, and you haven’t heard anything. So, we have the same conversation over and over and over. Let’s just take a little amicable break, OK?

What do I mean? Well, you say you’re mad at some scandal or party or personality, or you’re upset at something that costs millions of dollars. I read more

Tomgram: Arnold Isaacs, A Catalog of Heartlessness

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

Think of it as the real-world feedback loop from hell. In October 2001, the U.S. invaded Afghanistan and launched a “war on terror.” With the invasion of Iraq a year and a half later, that war would begin to spread across much of the Greater Middle East and parts of Africa. It would, in the end, collapse states, turn cities into rubble, read more