Ukraine is now divided and Russia has occupied Crimea. The following information and analyses were quite helpful for me to understand the situation and shape my thoughts.
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Tag Archives: Militarism
UK’s century of continuous conflict
Guardian had put together an interactive timeline of Britain’s 100 years of conflict. It shows that the UK has been at wars or involved in military conflicts with at least one other country/opposing group every year since 1914.
This is in addition to the revelation in 2012 that only 22 countries in the world have not been invaded by Britain in its history.
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240 Wars in 237 Years
Yuri Skidanov, “240 Wars in 237 Years: USA Wages War More Often than Just Annually,” RINF Alternative News, 21 January 2014
The United States, an example of public and social order for the countries of the “golden billion,” has a unique history. In the 237 years of its existence, it has been either at war, or preparing for a new attack, looking for victims. During the period from 1798 to 2012 Washington used military force abroad 240 times, more frequently than annually.
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Resisting Militarism in Japan
John Feffer, “The Sun Also Rises: Resisting Militarism in Japan,” Truthout, 20 January 2014
… Japan’s current prime minister, however, is not big on apologies. Shinzo Abe is a right-wing nationalist who wants to revive Japan as a “normal” military power. He has been brusque in his rhetoric and his actions. At the end of December, his government announced a major increase in military spending of 5 percent over the next five years, which will include purchases of 28 U.S. F-35s and two Aegis-equipped destroyers. Japan under Abe has more aggressively asserted sovereignty over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands that China also claims, pledging to use force against Chinese patrols and rejecting any compromise on the islands’ status. On the home front, his administration has pushed through textbook revisions that offer the same airbrushed treatment of Japanese history that the Yushukan displays. …
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Despite nationalism’s many virtues, it can also be a profound source of national stupidity
Stephen M. Walt, “National Stupidity,” Foreign Policy, 14 January 2014
From Sea to Chinese Sea
… But that same force is also leading China to engage in a number of foolish and self-defeating behaviors. In particular, its aggressive territorial claims in the South China Sea, its recent unilateral declaration of an offshore “air defense identification zone,” and its hard-line stance in the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands dispute have discredited Beijing’s earlier assurances about a “peaceful rise” and alarmed many of its Asian neighbors. Whatever one may think of China’s claims, this behavior is dumb, because it encourages China’s neighbors to balance more vigorously and makes them eager for more U.S. protection. It would be smarter for Beijing to play the long game and refrain from such demands until China is much stronger than it is today. But given national feeling in China itself, it is not clear that China’s leaders can maintain such a wise and patient approach.
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Why Are US Special Operations Forces Deployed in Over 100 Countries?
Nick Turse, “Tomgram: Nick Turse, Special Ops Goes Global,” TomDispatch, 7 January 2014
It’s said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. So consider the actions of the U.S. Special Operations Command flattering indeed to the larger U.S. military. After all, over recent decades the Pentagon has done something that once would have been inconceivable. It has divided the whole globe, just about every inch of it, like a giant pie, into six command slices: U.S. European Command, or EUCOM (for Europe and Russia), U.S. Pacific Command, or PACOM (Asia), U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM (the Greater Middle East and part of North Africa), U.S. Southern Command, or SOUTHCOM (Latin America), and in this century, U.S. Northern Command, or NORTHCOM (the United States, Canada, and Mexico), and starting in 2007, U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM (most of Africa).
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MLK’s vehement condemnations of US militarism are more relevant than ever
Glenn Greenwald, “MLK’s vehement condemnations of US militarism are more relevant than ever,” The Guardian, 21 January 2013
The civil right achievements of Martin Luther King are quite justly the focus of the annual birthday commemoration of his legacy. But it is remarkable, as I’ve noted before on this holiday, how completely his vehement anti-war advocacy is ignored when commemorating his life (just as his economic views are). By King’s own description, his work against US violence and militarism, not only in Vietnam but generally, was central – indispensable – to his worldview and activism, yet it has been almost completely erased from how he is remembered.
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Tipping Point North South 