THINKING BEYOND WAR AND VIOLENCE
According to the Australian national anthem, “our home is girt by sea”. So much sea in fact, that our not-so-tiny island has a whopping 22,293 miles of coastline.
US Foreign Policy
The Gang’s All Here
Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia (and their Gulf partners), Israel, Turkey, France, the U.S., and Russia each have some military involvement in Syria, soon to be followed by the United Kingdom. Needless to say, there are a lot of players in the Middle East and an abundance of interests, all at the expense of …
Diplomacy Is the Way To Beat the ‘Islamic State’
During the short drive from Beirut toward Damascus, our taxi turned off the road and pulled into a refugee camp in the Lebanese Bekaa Valley. As a journalist and academic who writes about international security, I wanted to see the refugee situation I had read about for myself. I watched as a truckload of women …
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The Heresies of Humans
In the month of August 1945, Japan witnessed the most horrific human carnage. Two nuclear bombs plummeted from United States warplanes killing thousands. Some estimates put the death toll at over 200,000 within the first two months due to the affects of the radiation. Within months, people succumbed to burns, radiation sickness and other illness …
To Have or Not to Have Guns
One week ago twenty children in an American school were massacred in less than ten minutes by a semiautomatic weapon. Too many innocent children are getting killed senselessly by guns. It is absolutely shocking that the Newton Elementary School shooting had to happen for people to noticed how many kids are dying in gun violence. …
To go or NOT to go to war with Iran
Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, is on his way to the United States to argue, again, for a war with Iran. Plenty of US officials including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey, National Security Adviser Tom Donilon and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper have also been in Israel to discuss …
Time for Israel to Embrace the Arab Spring
The Arab Spring began 2010. Many across the region continue to protest against repressive governments that are robbing populations of their basic human and civil rights. The “revolution” that has gripped the region has had vastly different impacts. Nevertheless, while the Arab masses continue to fight for their freedoms, Israel is, in turn, speechless because …
US Response to Gaddafi’s Death Sets Bad Precedent
“We came, we saw, he died,” said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in one of the most flippant and least diplomatic comments heard in recent history. She, of course, was referring to the violent death of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. She completely dismissed any calls for justice; there were no declarations by her or any …
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The Saudi Ambassador, Iran, America and more war.
US officials broke up an alleged assassination attempt which supposedly targeted the Saudi Ambassador right here in the good ‘ol U.S. of A. In one of the most protected and secure areas of Washington, D.C., one or maybe two individuals with alleged connections to Iran were going to walk right in and, in the words …
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War, Weapons, and Secretary Clinton on Eggs and Tomatoes in Syria
US Condemns Attack on Envoy in Syria reports Al Jazeera. “More violence!” I thought. Apparently Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shared my initial shock declaring, “We condemn this unwarranted attack in the strongest possible terms.” Whew, that is intense, but then I found out the envoy was “attacked” by eggs and tomatoes. The American Ambassador, …
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