War

US Powers Split on China Policy
The Republicans in power are set against themselves: on one hand there’s the revved up old Cold Warriors targeting China. On the other hand there’s the strength of the big business powers who see their futures tied to China. On

War Policy: Keeping the Fog on Our Windshield
If it was only about achieving national security! But our foreign policy is like driving while self-blinded and that undermines both stability and democracy. Our decades old War on Terror only damages America; real national security is weakened. The damage

The Term “MAGA” Admits Empire is Over
He served 20 years in the military. No, he’s not the macho militarists; our guest today retired Lt Col. William Astore says empire is killing the America he served to protect. Our insane war budget, our “full spectrum global dominance”

Pressure Starting for Cease Fire in Ukraine?
Is it heresy to support a cease fire; can we both support Ukraine and diplomacy? Our guest on this informative show wonders if the Biden Administration is “trapped in its own stifling, peace-averse domestic political climate.” Jacobin Magazine staff writer

In Breaking Iraq, America Broke Itself
Bush’s lies gave Trump moral scaffolding; today Americans believe big lies. On this show Thanassis Cambanis, a reporter who was in Iraq at the invasion, details the harm Bush and Cheney did to America. Even Russia gained power from our

Twenty Years Ago Today 3/20/03: The Price Veterans Still Pay
Shock and Awe was launched on this date by then President George W Bush. Over a hundred thousand Iraqis died along with 4,000 Americans. But what about the veterans today? On this rebroadcast, author Kelly Denton-Borhaug talks about her book

A Left-Right Pro-Putin Alliance?
Authoritarians that they are, it’s not a huge surprise today’s Trump/DeSantis Republicans are pro-Putin. But as noted historian Michael Kazin points out, some alleged leftists are linking up with the far right on the war in Ukraine. Though there’s a

20 Years After Iraq Protests: They Actually Worked
Despite current assumptions, “protests can win even as they appear to lose.” So says Notre Dame professor emeritus David Cortright in his new essay in The Nation. On this show, we show how there are two superpowers on the planet:

Outsourcing War: Making Atrocities Invisible By The Wagner Group
Private Security Firms; just part of doing business, right? Blackwater was America’s version in Iraq; The Wagner Group is Russia’s today in Ukraine and Africa. Atrocities in the Donbass region of Ukraine? Russia cynically said, that’s not us, it’s “little

Only Refugees Who Look Like Us Are Welcomed.
All refugees lives are threatened equally, so why are Ukrainians handed the welcome mat as it is denied to most others? On this show, Columbia University Professor and co-author Helen Benedict shares what she’s found in the new book Map
The Christmas Truce of 1914: Not So Isolated
You’ve heard of the famous Christmas Truce of 1914 between the trenches of the British and German soldiers. These were indeed brave men. But that was not the only such event: there were desertions, mutinies, and fraternizations. Today it seems

The Danger of Nostalgia
Of all the motivations for war, nostalgia is at the top. Restoring lost glory. We see it not only in Putin’s Russia but in many former empires. Nostalgia is a factor in racist nationalist bloodletting everywhere. On this show History

11/11 Armistice? Germans Ambushed, A Peace That Ended Peace
With renewed interest in the first world war, November 11 is celebrated as the end of “the war to end all wars.” But in reality it was a peace that ended peace. The German negotiators at that famous train car

Are Alternatives to War Really Realistic?
Like all bad habits, war is a tough one to break. On this show, Professor Emeritus Lawrence Wittner explains that respecting, listening, and helping people in other countries is a lot more economically conservative and accomplishes security much more effectively.

Outsourcing War: Making Atrocities Invisible
Private Security Firms; just part of doing business, right? Blackwater was America’s version in Iraq; The Wagner Group is Russia’s today in Ukraine and Africa. Atrocities in the Donbass region of Ukraine? Russia cynically said, that’s not us, it’s “little

The Murderous Power of Imperial Nostalgia
Of all the motivations for war, nostalgia is at the top. Longing for an imagined glorious past. We see it not only in Ukraine but in many former empires, like France. And this nostalgia plays itself out in racist nationalist

The Worldwide Effects of the Ukraine War
There are concentric circles: innermost being the destruction of Ukraine. But the increased insecurity of so many essential factors as a result of the war is starting to disrupt and bring increased misery to the poor of the world. On

Ukraine War: Trying to Bifurcate a Non-Aligned World
Why does it have to be us or them? Bush II tried to use Iraq to force nonaligned nations to choose; it failed. And it’s not working today on Ukraine. Why do so many nations still insist on not choosing

Horror and Absurdity: Revisiting Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five
One generation held the book and the author in reverence. And with Tom Roston’s new book The Writer’s Crusade and the Many Lives of Slaughterhouse Five a new generation is discovering the unique importance of Vonnegut’s vision or war and

Is Putin Writing the Far Right’s Epitaph?
Clearly not his intention, but with his assault on Ukraine might Putin actually be decapitating his worldwide far right? Guest John Feffer director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies in an article titled “Will Ukraine

Courageous Movement for Change That Works
Breaking the mold of powerlessness happens, in the US Senate and in our neighborhoods. On the first segment Political Science professor and author Ron Feinman points to six little known US Senators who courageously stood up against war and injustice.

Ukraine: A Conservative Take
Both establishment parties are competing to be toughest on the Ukraine crisis. But the fact is America’s founders were solidly non-interventionist. Our constant search for new monsters to destroy; where has that gotten us? More peace and justice? Our republic

New Cold War Same as the Old One
A dangerous addiction to war is a result of what our guest retired Lt Col. William Astore calls victory disease. He actually served at the nuclear trigger under 2000 feet of granite. Reagan fired up the desire for conquest, but

Josh Hawley And The Republican Obsession with Manliness
He voted against one thing that can actually address what he says is the problem. Where once men felt pride in what they contributed to family and community as sole breadwinners, that is gone. The anxiety is real. In her

The 1914 Christmas Truce: Powerful, Brave, and Not So Isolated
You’ve heard of the famous Christmas Truce of 1914 between the trenches of the British and German soldiers. These were indeed brave men. But that was not the only such event: there were desertions, mutinies, and fraternizations. Today it seems

The Christmas Truce of 1914: Powerful, Brave, Not So Isolated
You’ve heard of the famous Christmas Truce of 1914 between the trenches of the British and German soldiers. These were indeed brave men. But that was not the only such event: there were desertions, mutinies, and fraternizations. Today it seems

Slice A Trillion From Defense: Bring Greater Security?
It’s easy to be all for cutting “waste” in the Pentagon budget but that enables continuing plans to spend 7.5 trillion over ten years. And on what? Could shoveling money to the military make us less secure? On this show

On Veterans Day: Suicide and the Moral Injury We Look Away From
Great stone monuments to the glory of war serve to silence the pain. Currently four times as many troops and veterans die by suicide as in combat. Our guest on today’s show is religion professor Kelly Denton-Borhaug whose new book is

Remembering the Dogs on Veterans Day
They’ve save countless human lives in many wars. Military working dogs have a new monument at the Navy Memorial in Washington DC and it’s about time. Dogs are an essential asset deserving recognition. On this show first up is 20

From Heroes to Targets: Medical Workers Under Attack
It’s not like displaying a large red cross protects doctors from attack anymore. Yesterday’s Covid heroes are today vilified by some. Across the globe, health care workers have become routinely targeted. For example in Myanmar, since it is not an