The New Yorker has a good interview with John Mearsheimer in which they discuss why Putin invaded Ukraine: Why John Mearsheimer Thinks Donald Trump Is Right on Ukraine. The interviewer, Isaac Chotiner, thinks Putin invaded because of his imperial ambitions. Mearchsheimer thinks the invasion was in response to NATO expansion that the Russians perceived as…
On March 12, 2025, Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) was interviewed on a webinar with Quincy Institute of Responsible Statecraft. As former chair and ranking member of the the House Armed Services Committee, Smith (no relation) is an important voice on military matters in Congress. Quincy Institute and Rep. Smith chose the title A New Approach…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUbBU0OqCgE (15 minutes of excerpts), https://x.com/Fidias0/status/1892990169558721024 (full speech, 98 minutes) The full transcript of the speech is at https://progressivememes.org/ukraine/Jeffrey-Sachs-Speech-to-EU-Parliament.pdf This is is a summary. Sachs talks about Ukraine, Israel, Iran, and China. He tells them: Pursue peace with Russia. A lot of what European leaders believe about Russia is childish. For example, Russia has no…
Col. Daniel Davis spoke with Massachusetts Peace Action about the hypocrisy of the United States concerning NATO expansion. Here’s my summary. Davis starts out by saying that people in the West believe a lot of disinformation, and there is a lot of wishful thinking. He criticizes the notion that one side is totally evil…
(Slightly shorted version also published at antiwar.com) If you believe that Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was unprovoked, you will likely compare Putin to Hitler and will likely oppose President Trump’s peace negotiations with Russia. After all, if Putin’s invasion was unprovoked, a settlement would reward naked aggression and would be akin to Neville Chamberlain’s…
Foreign Affairs published this essay by Michael Beckley of Tufts University and the Foreign Policy Research Institute: The Strange Triumph of a Broken America Why Power Abroad Comes With Dysfunction at Home Beckley says the U.S. has an aggressive foreign policy but it often loses wars because it doesn’t spend enough on the military to…
Several commentators have claimed that Benjamin Netanyayhu is thumbing his nose at President Biden and is ignoring the desire of the Biden administration for Israel to adopt a less aggressive stance towards the Palestinians, Lebanon, and Iran. For example, in October of 2024, Tom Engelhardt wrote: “But if you want a measurement of just how far…
By Donald A. Smith, PhD. Using my own lyrics and Suno.com for the music, I created this variation of America the Beautiful. Imagine that it’s sung by a neoconservative or by, say, the CEO of Lockheed Martin. Also available on youtube here and on Rumble here. 1. 2. 3. O beautiful for endless wars,…
Using my own lyrics and Udio.com for the music, I created a rock opera about U.S. militarism. This is part one, on U.S. illegal and disastrous wars since WWII. (Also available on Youtube here.) Part Two, on the war in Ukraine is here. The finale is Blessed are the Peacemakers. How many wars will…
Defense News reports: ‘Not prepared’: Congressional panel calls for huge defense buildup. The chair of the panel (Jane Harman) has ties to defense establishment and was lauded by the CIA for distinguished service. The co-chair (Eric Eldeman) is a neocon. The 2022 NDAA authorized the creation of the panel, as reported in 2023:Congress announces commission…