Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. Attacks on Iran are already being explored by the incoming Trump administration, which put me to mind of this article I wrote in 2016. Collectively, the U.S. government and its apparatus is the world’s biggest...

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. Is the U.S. military becoming a paper tiger whose sole remaining power move is a mighty nuclear roar? It’s a disturbing thought, given the extent to which U.S. military power is overstretched, recruiting...

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. Like too many people, I sometimes make the mistake of talking about nuclear war, when it's really annihilation and genocide we're talking about. Wars have winners and losers. In nuclear "war," everyone loses....

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. In 2018, the Pentagon failed its first audit. In 2024, it failed its seventh audit in a row. The Pentagon has been “punished” for failing seven audits – and losing track of roughly $2 trillion in gear,...

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. What is the point of playing Russian roulette – with Russia? As the Biden administration fades into oblivion, among its last decisions has been to allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russia with U.S.-made...

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. In my morning news feed from the New York Times came this article on Tulsi Gabbard: How Tulsi Gabbard Became a Favorite of Russia’s State Media President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick to be the director of...

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. I woke to this disconcerting story from CNN: President Joe Biden has authorized Ukraine to use powerful long-range US weapons deep inside Russia. Why now? Biden is a lame duck president, shuffling out the...

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. Former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has been nominated as Director of National Intelligence by President-elect Donald Trump. The so-called intelligence community is up in arms about this. That is a...

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. Trump and the war hawks. Or war sluts. Or war pigs. I thought about all three of these. Then I thought: Why insult hawks, sluts, or pigs? Donald Trump is forming his cabinet by rounding up the usual...

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission.  Originally posted for Veterans Day in 2020. I come from a family of veterans.  My father and his two brothers served in the military during World War II.  My mother’s brother (Uncle Freddy) fought at...