IMPERIALISM, WAR, AND/OR DIPLOMACY: WHERE SHOULD THE PEACE MOVEMENT STAND?

September 13, 2015

By Harry Targ - 08.07.15

Not every conflict was averted, but the world avoided nuclear catastrophe, and we created the time and the space to win the Cold War without firing a shot at the Soviets.

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Now, when I ran for president eight years ago as a candidate who had opposed the decision to go to war in Iraq, I said that America didn’t just have to end that war. We had to end the mindset that got us there in the first place. It was a mindset characterized by a preference for military action over diplomacy, a mindset that put a premium on unilateral U.S. action over the painstaking work of building international consensus, a mindset that exaggerated threats beyond what the intelligence supported. (Barack Obama, “Full text: Obama gives a speech about the Iran nuclear deal,” The Washington Post, August 5, 2015).

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LABOUR’S LEADERSHIP CONTEST : CORBYN, TRIDENT AND NATO

September 13, 2015

By Michael Faulkner - 09.13.15

Since the earliest years of the cold war, in any mainstream discourse on British foreign policy, certain supposed truths have been treated as so self evident that to question them is treated either as infantile ignorance or deliberate hostility to Britain’s “national interest.” This has been particularly so in the case of the so-called “independent nuclear deterrent” and membership of NATO. A moment’s reflection by anyone with a mind unencumbered by official “defence” propaganda should call into question the need for either of these.

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“Trump, Racism and Ben Carson”

September 13, 2015

By STEVEN JONAS MD, MPH - 09.13.15

Over four years ago, on BuzzFlash, I published a column on Donald Trump entitled “Trump is the Race Card.” Yes, Trump is a blowhard, and no he doesn’t have any real programs to offer that would have a chance of solving the problems he likes to list (some real; some imagined. His new [old by Repub. standards] “immigration” policy is a bad joke [see below]). But like just about every other political commentator on our side around, I still find it irresistible to launch broadsides at him.

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DONALD, YOU’D BETTER CHECK YOUR MECHANICS

September 13, 2015

By Loren Adams – 09.13.2015

Trump is the runaway train no one expected. His words happen to hit the sweet spot in this cycle, and it seems even the party establishment can’t stop him. Or can they?

On 2004 election night, Ohio’s vote count mysteriously disappeared for several minutes while being transferred to a server down in Chattanooga and then resurfacing as a flipped count back in Ohio to confirm a win for George Bush. John Edwards demanded an investigation; but John Kerry limply said, “Drop it,” and conceded.

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A REAL WELLNESS PERSPECTIVE ON THE MEANING OF LIFE: THERE IS NONE AND THAT’S GREAT NEWS

September 13, 2015

By Donald B Ardell - 09.13.15

Life is inherently meaningless. If you accept that life is meaningless in the cosmic sense, and that this is applicable to all humans and other life forms, you liberate yourself from religious dogmas and other superstitions and create a clear path to discovering the best, most effective and fulfilling kinds of meanings and purposes for your short existence: A life of bountiful meaning and purposes, despite being cosmically meaningless and inconsequential. Oh joy. Oh happiness.

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How America Lost Its Political Sanity! A Cousin’s Unsolicited View of Politics (Part I)

September 13, 2015

By Mickey Walker - 09.13.15

We’ve all got ‘em. Cousins or in-laws who think they know politics and attempt to give you quick course and the benefit of their knowledge whether you ask for it or not. They call us out for being big-spending Liberals but never mention the New Conservatives philosophy that spending on insane weaponry to keep us safe is fine, just fine. Talking out of both sides of the mouth simultaneously, they present an elusive target to zero in on. Does the Tea Party come to mind? Can anyone tell me how Ted Cruz or Donald Trump managed to reach such popularity in the GOP?

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