War and Rumors of War (and Dick Cheney Is Dead)

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. War and rumors of war dominate the headlines. Venezuela. Nigeria. Iran. Somalia. A “new Cold War” involving Russia and China. What are we to believe? The events of the 62 years of my short life (Vietnam,...

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Is It a Genocide in Gaza?

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. Here’s a note I sent to a colleague who asked sincerely whether “genocide” was the appropriate word for Israeli actions in Gaza: For what it’s worth, I taught the Holocaust as a professor of history after...

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The Russia-Ukraine War Continues

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. Since the last time (July 19th) I wrote about the Russia-Ukraine War, perhaps the biggest change has been to President Trump’s rhetoric. After being frustrated in his efforts to end the war (and perhaps win a...

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Fat Generals Are the Problem!

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. The military historian Dennis Showalter once told me that he didn’t care about the amount of fat around a general’s belly – he cared about the fat between a general’s ears. It was a telling quip, and one that...

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The End Game for Gaza

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. I’ve taught military history “from Plato to NATO,” as we used to joke, but my expertise focused on technology and warfare. Along with “revolutions” and “transformations” in weaponry, I probably spent too much...

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Want To Save $1.7 Trillion?

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. Since the 1940s, we humans have spent enormous sums of money on genocidal weapons. Untold trillions, actually, on arsenals that, if used, would destroy civilization while killing most other life forms on our...

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Genocide Is Apparently OK in Gaza

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. The LA Holocaust Museum recently suggested that “Never Again” is a fundamental lesson of the Holocaust. Then they took it back. Here’s the (almost) inconceivable story from Caitlin Johnstone: Israel supporters...

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Something Is Rotten in the States of America

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. Something is Rotten in the States of America. America’s war budget now exceeds $1 trillion a year – an almost unimaginable sum. The Pentagon plans to spend $1.7 trillion “modernizing” a nuclear triad that...

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