What Would You Say This War Is About, Tom Knapp?

Bakhmut, 2023. State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. More than 40 years after its release, an exchange in the opening scene of Warren Beatty’s Academy Award-winning film Reds floats to the front of my mind...

In the New Year, Thank You for Your Service

As 2023 ends and 2024 begins, I’d like to take the opportunity to thank billions of you, in America and around the world, for your service. No, I’m not talking to military veterans — or at least not to military veterans AS military veterans. Whenever I’m thanked for...

War: Thanks But No Thanks

The Battle of Missionary Ridge, fought the day before the “Thanksgiving Day” proclaimed by Abraham Lincoln. When I think of Thanksgiving, I seldom think of the Pilgrims and Wampanoag people dining together (likely sans turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie) in...

‘Collateral Damage’ Is a Confession, Not an Excuse

“Civilians are not collateral damage,” the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean tweeted (or whatever it’s called now on X, formerly Twitter) on October 27. “Patients are not collateral damage. Health staff & health facilities...

Congress Tries to Wish Away Israeli Racism and Apartheid

On July 18, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution by the kind of lopsided vote (412 for, 9 against, 1 present) normally reserved for proclamations lauding members’ hometown Little League programs. Unlike most legislation, Concurrent Resolution 57 is...

Classified Documents Leak: Who Should Go to Prison

As I write this, Politico reports that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation has made an arrest in the matter of “classified” government documents found circulating on social media after allegedly being posted on an Internet game chat server over a period...