In America the question has long since ceased to be whether or not we should go to war. Instead, we argue over how we go about maintaining and expanding an already endless landscape of wars. What We Do Best Patrick Blanchfield on the acceptance and depoliticization of war in US (political) life.
Tag Archives: war
It is also unclear what legal authority Trump used to order the strikes in Syria. News reports Thursday said Trump had told some congressional lawmakers he was considering a military option in Syria, but none had been sought. The U.S. strikes against ISIS, for instance, are arguably covered by the Authorization for Use of Military …
I know, I know (as Kurt Vonnegut used to say when people told him that the Germans attacked first). It sounds crazy. It sounds like a fantastic last-ditch effort to make sense of a lunatic universe. But there is so much more to this book. It is very tough and very funny; it is sad and delightful; …
This is not simply a war language; this is an American language. In Sharif’s rendering, “Look” is at once a command to see and to grieve the people these words describe — and also a means of implicating the reader in the violence delivered upon those people. A Poet Subverts the Defense Department’s Official Dictionary …
There is really only one bright spot and that is what happened in Iran. We have not been able to finalize the next stage of our disarmament agreement with the Russians. The North Koreans are surely going to test again. The Indians and Pakistanis are modernizing their arsenals. There is evidence that some Belgian terrorists …
What this may mean is that the war will be endless – since there will always be some terrorism (as there will always be poverty and cancer); that is, there will always be asymmetrical conflicts in which the weaker side uses that form of violence, which usually targets civilians. Susan Sontag, acceptance speech Peace Prize …
Sixteen-hundred US military families have gotten the call that they’ve had their loved ones deployed to Iraq, they’re flying those missions right now,” Maddow said. “But Congress? Heading home for another seven week break, because they can’t be bothered to think about that right now. They’ve got more important business to tend to – they’ve …
Biological and Chemical Weapons in the US Civil War.
One can argue that the U.S. civil war was, or developed into, the first modern war, the first war that was fought in the manner that was to sadly dominate the 20th century. Maybe the ‘style’ of war has fundamentally changed again, with the fragmentation of fronts between states and terrorist groups, guerrilla warfare, or …
Continue reading “Biological and Chemical Weapons in the US Civil War.”
Make Perms Not War
Saber-rattling. Increased presence of battle ships in response to a violent conflict in a third country. Decrees banning protests in Russia. Discussions of boycotting the Olympics in NATO countries. Seems like after the popcultural retro phase, geopolitics are now going 80s.
https://player.vimeo.com/api/player.js Mine Kafon This is absolutely brilliant: Afghanistan-born product designer Massoud Hassani developed a revolutionary new tool to clear mines – especially in windy desert areas like in Afghanistan – that is based on a simple toy. What a great design. The project is nominated for a Focus Forward award. (by Callum Cooper/Focus Forward Films/ …
