War Is A Crime

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, September 13, 2023

Since the day Russia dramatically escalated the war in Ukraine there have been odd conversational confusions. Two people who both claim to oppose the war discover that they oppose opposite sides of the war. Or they discover that one of them opposes both sides of the war (true story, it actually exists, I’m one of them) while the other believes that only Russia is waging war at all, while Ukraine is waging something else entirely.

Since read more

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Just what we don’t need, right? On a planet increasingly frying — just consider this summer’s megafires that read more

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A Global Maui Moment Ready, Aim, Fire! By Tom Engelhardt

From the earliest kingdoms to late last night, history has been the story not just of the rise of great powers but of their decline and fall. So, normally, there would be nothing particularly out of the ordinary about the aging America of Joe Biden and Donald Trump, a classic imperial power distinctly in decline and threatening to split into pieces.

As it happens, though, there’s read more

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, September 9, 2023

Remarks for second session of Kateri Peace Conference, September 9, 2023

Two hundred years ago this coming December, a local boy from my town gave a speech. In the years that followed pundits and politicians took an excerpt of that speech, carved it in marble, lit it with eternal white phosphorus bombs, and prayed to it before every shareholders meeting. They named it the Monroe Doctrine. It created the model, used ever more frequently up to read more

By David Swanson
Remarks for first session of Kateri Peace Conference, September 8, 2023

I think I’m preaching largely to the choir here. As we know from the song by Emma’s Revolution, it can be enjoyable to do that. But I actually prefer trying to persuade the unconverted. Just look around. There are millions of people dramatically unconverted. Activism is mocked. There are real estate construction booms in places guaranteed to go under water or become uninhabitably hot. Two governments read more

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

On September 11th, 22 years later, what are we to make of it all? Who even remembers that, as the Pentagon burned, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld picked up a read more

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, September 6, 2023

A new guide has just been published at wordsaboutwar.org that provides clear standards for how to write about war, and how not to.

It includes many terms and phrases to avoid, superior alternatives, and explanations.

It also provides general rules for how to approach the use of language for communicating about war.

While I did my bit to help write this guide, I’m nonetheless making an edit in a speech I’m drafting as I look through this guide read more

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, September 6, 2023

As much as any other town in the U.S., my town, Charlottesville, has failed in recent years when it comes to opposing wars. We used to be a leader, passing early resolutions through our city council — inspiring others — to advocate against wars in Iraq or Iran, against armed drones, telling Congress to move funding to human and environmental needs, divesting public dollars from weapons companies, ridding local police of weapons of war, etc. read more

Biden and Trump are shattering the records — previously held by Clinton and Trump — for unpopular top presidential candidates. Professional election gurus who thought Trump had become too unpopular now think he has a shot because Biden is just as unpopular.

Pollsters have the numbers to show that most people think these guys are too old, and most media outlets offer up their elderliness as a key explanation for their unpopularity. I’m not convinced.

If Biden or Trump were championing popular read more