It’s so easy for the national security state to just paint the same old picture for Americans: Russia and China are military threats. But in truth they are not. They are rising economically in large part because we have wasted

Jefferson saw America as sovereign independent states, only unified for defensive foreign policy. But today both left and right recognize the costs of empire are too high. And we are really too big to govern. Splitting into more natural bio-regions

Are America’s perpetual wars having the desired effect of enhancing national security? As USAF retired lieutenant colonel William Astore says “Terrorist acts are mostly the recourse of the weak when taking on the strong. The United States isn’t going to

What is this powerful hold the Pentagon has over our “civilian” government? Since Clinton’s presidency both parties have felt a need to look tough on defense; Biden and Trump competed for military support. That may be changing as America sees

On part one: By strict legal standards, Donald Trump is obviously guilty. But the impeachment trial is a political not a legal proceeding, the Republican majority senate is the jury. And according to Marjorie Cohn, former president of the National

Sure, the south was defeated militarily, but their attitudes remained, as we saw in the January 6th insurrection. What we saw is not a fringe, in fact it has deep roots. Disunity is traditional in American history. People in the

No one likes an outside power coming in and having control over them. But that’s exactly what has pervaded the Middle East for over a hundred years. Some of the effects of America’s recent wars there include epidemics of birth

Why do we keep investing our national treasure in policies which make us much less secure? Part of the reason is what our guest calls the “fire-hose of content” from the 24/7 news cycle. Our foreign policy affects us all

Even in a minority, fighting back carries a number of positives. On issues that matter to average Americans, Democrats have been pushed off course. Some thought the way to attract independents was timidity. As our guest Eleanor Eagan of the

It’s all about bragging. Trump said his “deal” between the UAE and Israel would create a half million new jobs. The true number is less than a tenth of that. On this show Pentagon arms expert William Hartung explains how

In normal times, it’s the the military making war elsewhere in the world, allegedly to protect our peace at home. But with armed white gangs afraid their dominance of America may be slipping away, and with a president egging them

The president calls it a “previously unthinkable regional transformation.” But perhaps it both solidifies the power of medieval monarchies masquerading as modern states, as it ramps up sales of US weapons systems to them. Retired US Army Major Danny Sjursen

If the word conservative means anything, it means conserving and not wasting money. Especially public money. How long can politicians claim to be conservative when they studiously avoid looking at obvious waste? Billions, hundreds of billions, trillions. On the first

The public is way ahead of politicians on this. Frightened of looking “soft on defense,” elected members of both parties duck and cover when polls show wide support for giving a serious haircut to the wild and woolly lands of

Myths of glory and young men achieving manliness through combat serve to obscure the inherent moral injury. Especially in this period of a perpetual state of war. Without clear good guys and greater good clearly accomplished, today’s soldiers, and the

For nearly 20 years, the goal of America’s perpetual war has been about dominating the world. It has been largely out of sight, but now it’s on our streets. Our president has turned the weapons on us; again the goal

If we don’t see Americans on the front lines killing and getting killed, is it still a war? Could the pandemic make our wars disappear? On this show, retired US Army Major Danny Sjursen looks at the new social distancing

Denial is the final stage for a successful genocide. Since Nuremberg, we’ve heard the phrase “Never Again.” But that requires facing real history, hearing the voice of the victims not just the winners. Though the Turkish genocide of a million

Memorial Day 2020. In 2009 at age 23 Erik Edstrom went to Afghanistan as an infantry officer, Army Ranger, and became a Bronze Star Medal recipient. In this Memorial Day of the Covid 19 era, he dug up his journal

On May 4, 1970, Laurel Krause was just 15 years old. That night in a hospital with her parents she identified her 19-year-old sister Allison’s lifeless body. The bullets that killed Kent State University students Allison, Jeff, Sandy and Bill,

A two state solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is no longer possible. In his book Paradigm Lost: From Two-State Solution to One-State Reality, our guest Ian S. Lustick, political science professor at U of Penn, reveals that Israel changed drastically

He was a famous military hero known throughout America. Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler was awarded two Congressional Medals of Honor between 1898 and the early ’30s for his outstanding military service. Eventually he realized those wars were not

Hundreds of thousands of lives are suddenly at great risk. As former national security advisor Susan Rice writes “Full-scale conflict is not a certainty, but the probability is higher than at any point in decades.” With us to discuss the

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has been president of Mexico just over a year and he is already had success bringing great change. Much to the distress of the oligarchy which has ruled for decades. His new left party MORENA now

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

It didn’t start with W’s 2003 war on Iraq. The British have plundered what is now Iraq since the 19th century. After the incredible economic and physical devastation and perhaps a million deaths, though little noticed in the news, the

We all know that, thanks to Trump giving them a green light, Erdogan’s Turkish military is now aggressively slaughtering the stateless Kurdish people. Kurdish women warriors were exceptionally effective in their fight against our common enemy ISIS. Yet Trump abandoned

No question: today’s biggest unsolved problems came at the hands of the so-called centrists of both parties. Historian and author Professor Andrew Bacevich argues that while of course Trump must be removed, the constant focus of impeachment is a way

Could Trump get something right? Retired US Army officer and prolific writer of military policy analysis Danny Sjursen compares how the brass In Washington sees Afghanistan versus the  empirical knowledge from people on the ground. The commanders see Afghanistan as

Trump is not the first. Author of many history books Adam Hochschild writes: “The last time we had anything similar from Washington was almost exactly 100 years ago and it, too, involved a flood of angry rhetoric and a fear