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Comments on Michael Beckley’s Foreign Affairs essay The Strange Triumph of a Broken America
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…
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Rock Opera about U.S. Militarism: Part One
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…
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Bipartisan Congressional panel calls for huge defense buildup. Chair lauded by the CIA; co-chair is a neocon.
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…
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Four Increasingly Cynical Views about the War in Ukraine
by Donald A. Smith, PhD This is an extended version of my essay published in Common Dreams as Who is to Blame for the War in Ukraine?. Here are four views about the war in Ukraine, listed in order of increasing cynicism about U.S. culpability for the crisis: The Russian invasion of Ukraine was totally…
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Letter from Bellingham Travail: Stopping the War Machine
In Bellingham on Jan 28, 2024 the Washington State Democratic Central Committee passed a resolution written by me, Donald A. Smith, PhD, along with Sharon Abreu and Linda Boyd, calling for a less militarized foreign policy and for a “just transition” to a peace economy. Resolution on the Urgency of Transitioning to an Economy Based…
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Summary of Jeffrey Sachs interview with Andrew Napolitano about the CIA, JFK, and Ukraine
CIA Manipulation of Public Opinion Here’s my summary: The security state (CIA and Pentagon) run the government more than the White House does, especially when the president is old and weak, as is Biden. Congress mostly follows what the White House wants (on foreign policy) [and funds the security state extravagantly]. The peoples’ voices barely…
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Chat GPT, write me a poem about militarism and the corruption of Congress
Chat GPT, write me a poem about the bipartisan incompetence, corruption and hubris of Congress, where the only things Democrats and Republicans can agree upon is huge military budgets and endless disastrous wars. (I edited Chat GPT’s output in about a dozen lines.) In the once hallowed halls where power resides, Bipartisan folly and corruption…
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Summary of RFK, Jr. interview with Lex Fridman
Kennedy speaks very well, seemingly off the cuff, in this 2.5 hour interview with Lex Fridman: Transcript for Robert F. Kennedy Jr: CIA, Power, Corruption, War, Freedom, and Meaning | Lex Fridman Podcast #388 I like Kennedy’s antiwar positions. His antivax activism is concerning (though a lot less concerning than the hawkishness of President Biden…
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Scott Ritter allegations against Zelensky
In Scott Ritter Investigation: Agent Zelensky – Part 1 former United States Marine Corps intelligence officer and United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) weapons inspector Scott Ritter accuses Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of corruption and of being an agent for British Intelligence. I don’t know what to make of the video. The soundtrack (music with drumbeat)…
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WA 40thLD Resolution from 2014 warned about U.S. provocations in Ukraine
RESOLUTION TO 40th LD DEMOCRATS REGARDING SITUATION IN UKRAINE: WHEREAS the conflict in the Ukraine is heating up into a potential major war between nuclear superpowers, and WHEREAS in February of this year, the U.S. government, led by neo-con Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, and Ukraine ambassador Geoffrey Piatt, supported the…