Tag Archives: Obama

More articles from HAW

Recommended reading from Historians Against the War

“Afghanistan’s Armies, Past and Present”
By Stephanie Cronin, History & Policy, posted July 8
The author teaches Oriental Studies at the University of Oxford

“Non-Believer”
By Andrew Bacevich, The New Republic, posted July 7
The author teaches history and international relations at Boston University

“Mark Twain’s Early Protest Against the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan”
By Cynthia Wachtell, Tikkun Daily, posted July 7
Based on the author’s just-published book War No More: The Antiwar Impulse in American Literature, 1961-1914 (LSU Press)

“What Eisenhower Could Teach Obama”
By Melvin A. Goodman, ConsortiumNews.com, posted July 5

“Why McChrystal Did It”
By Immanuel Wallerstein, Z-Net, posted July 4

“What Drives Israel?”
By Ilan Pappe, posted June 30 (originally in the Scotland Herald)
The author teaches history at the University of Exeter, UK

“How Afghanistan Became the Ignored War”
By Julian Zelizer, CNN.com, posted June 28
The author teaches history at Princeton University

“The Land Where Theories of Warfare Go to Die: Obama, Petraeus, and the Cult of COIN in Afghanistan”
By Robert Dreyfuss, TomDispatch.com, posted June 27

“Why the Taliban Is Winning in Afghanistan”
By William Dalrymple, New Statesman, posted June 22
Compares the current war to the disastrous First Anglo-Afghan War of 1839-42

Rouge Forum Update: D-Day! Will Oceans of Oil Mean Rivers of Blood?

Remember the Rouge Forum Conference–August 2 to August 5!

NEA and AFT Spent Millions on the Demagogue Obama and Electoral Work: Is the Education Bailout Dead? “Janet Bass of the American Federation of Teachers says that despite these obstacles, the unions plan to keep up the pressure for passage. “We will fight for it as long as we can,” she says. “It’s not dead.” She’s right that there’s a chance the proposal could be revived next week, but betting money as Congress prepared to leave town for the Memorial Day weekend was that there just aren’t the votes to move it forward.

Drop-Out States Lead Flight From RaTT Shell Game: “About two dozen states are going back to Washington for another shot at billions in education grants under the Race to the Top program, but at least nine others with more than 7 million children are opting out of trying a second time.
For them, a chance at hundreds of millions of dollars wasn’t enough to overcome the opposition of teachers unions, the wariness of state leaders to pass laws to suit the program and fears of giving up too much local control.”

Masquerading as News, Press Attacks Teacher Benefits: “The days of teachers contributing nothing toward health care, however, may be waning. For the first time, teachers in Utica and Grosse Pointe will make monthly payments toward health care under contracts approved this spring. Livonia’s teachers agreed last year to make monthly health care payments and take furlough days. “If we didn’t accept those concessions, there would’ve been a huge cut in the educational programs for our students,” said Kenewell, head of Utica’s teachers union. “And if we protect programs for the students, we protect jobs. They’ve already cut some programs.”

How To Fix Detroit Schools? Get Rid of 2/3 of the Students: “Robert Bobb, Detroit schools emergency financial manager, said the 76,000 student Detroit district can only support 26,000 students unless it makes deep cuts in operating and long-term costs such as retirement and health care for employees.”

Ken Saltman on the “Portfolio Approach” in Urban Schools: “This perspective considers public schools to be comparable to private enterprise, with competition a key element to success. Just as businesses that cannot turn sufficient profit, schools that cannot produce test scores higher than competitors’ must be “allowed” to “go out of business.” The appeal of the portfolio district strategy is that it appears to offer an approach sufficiently radical to address longstanding and intractable problems in public schools”

Secret Regimented Standards for Imperialist War Education Revealed: “Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Lily Eskelsen, the vice president of the National Education Association, were also on hand to endorse the standards, with Ms. Weingarten calling the the AFT an “unabashed supporter.”

Ed Mcelroy, the last AFT President to file a report for an entire year (Weingarten files in Dec 2010) reported an income of $390,426.

Dennis Van Roekel, ($424,091 in 2009) NEA Boss, Backs Common Core Standards

NEA Hack Lily Eskelsen ($365,738 in 2009) on Regimented National Standards: “We believe that this initiative is a critical first step in our nation’s effort to provide every student with a comprehensive, content-rich and complete education. These standards have the potential to support teachers in achieving NEA’s purpose of preparing students preparing students to ‘thrive in a democratic society and a diverse, changing world as knowledgeable, creative and engaged citizens and lifelong learners.’”

Schools as Huge Markets Where Stealing is Commonplace: “According to the grand jury, about 75 percent of the San Diego district schools that were audited misused ASB funds for curricular and administrative purposes and for the benefit of faculty.”

Bloomberg Moves to Block NYC Teachers’ Wages: “This was not an ideal decision and it certainly does not solve all our budget issues,” Mr. Bloomberg said in a statement, which was released after he notified Michael Mulgrew, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, about his decision. “In our conversation this morning, Michael Mulgrew and I agreed that we would go together to Albany and Washington to press our case to restore more education funding.”

CSU Stanislaus to Pay Twit $75,000 for Babble (no pole dance?): “Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will receive $75,000 to speak at Cal State Stanislaus next month, an event that has become steeped in controversy and brought the small Turlock campus worldwide attention. Much of the scrutiny has centered on the former governor’s speaking fee, which the university has refused to disclose. The fact that Palin has received up to $100,000 for other recent appearances had stoked furious speculation and the kind of cloak-and-dagger intrigue worthy of a novel.”

Walmart Education–Cradle to Grave: “Wal-Mart estimates that about 50 percent of its employees in the United States have a high school diploma or the equivalent but have not earned a college degree. With the average full-time employee being paid $11.75 an hour, it was unclear how many of them will be able to take advantage of the new program. With the work credits and tuition discount, an associate’s degree for a Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club cashier would cost about $11,700 and a bachelor’s degree about $24,000.”

The Secret Whole Language Project in San Ysidro High: “Now high schoolers such as Delgado at the top levels read the Diary of Anne Frank and talk about genocide. The idea was to challenge students sooner with tougher but still accessible readings that also sparked their interest — something that can be vexing with teens whose English is thin. Even finding books that are easy enough for English learners but interesting to teenagers is a challenge.”

Virtual Charter Schools Rule! “Nationally, there are an estimated 200,000 full-time virtual charter school students, said Susan Patrick, chief executive of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning.”

Nice Job, PhD, Now Play Online Poker to Live: “The number of full-time faculty members at universities was around 51% in 2007, down from 78% in 1970, said Jack Schuster, a senior research fellow at Claremont Graduate University. That leaves many doctoral degree candidates stuck with adjunct work, which can pay as little as $2,000 a semester.”

Read the full RF Update here.

Rouge Forum Update! Paris Commune! Fightbacks, War, $, Betrayals, and More!

Remember the upcoming Rouge Forum Conference:
Education in the Public Interest
August 2-5, 2010
George Williams College of Aurora University, Williams Bay, WI

Rouge Forum Update! Paris Commune! Fightbacks, War, $, Betrayals, and More!

Little Red Schoolhouse

White House Appears to Dump Teacher Bailout: “A $23 billion payout to save thousands of educators’ jobs faltered Thursday — perhaps for good — to election-year jitters among moderate Democrats over deficit spending and only lukewarm support from the White House.”

Adjuncts! File For UCB Now! “The New Faculty Majority, a national adjunct advocacy group, plans to formally announce on Monday a campaign to push more out-of-work adjuncts to file for unemployment insurance between academic terms and during summer breaks.”

Life is Good in Kalamazoo: “Jeremiah is a kindergartener in Kalamazoo Public Schools, which is working to create a college-going culture for its students starting as early as preschool. Sparking the district’s effort was the Kalamazoo Promise, a program launched in 2006 by anonymous donors that pays college tuition for high school graduates in the district.”

Schools as Huge Markets: “Detroit Public Schools on Thursday announced the kickoff of work under the $500.5-million bond that voters approved in November.”

So Long Adjunct! CSU System Down 10% Profs: “California State University lost 10% of its teaching force in the last year, a result of crippling budget cuts that reduced job opportunities on many campuses…”

The CSU System’s Programs: Home to Fear, Secrecy, Racism, Ignorance and Opportunism: The California State University sought dismissal Monday of a lawsuit seeking documents related to a campus fundraising appearance by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, arguing that it has already released more than 3,000 records about the controversial event. The request was in response to a lawsuit filed last month against Cal State Stanislaus and its private foundation by the nonprofit government watchdog group Californians Aware. The lawsuit alleges that campus officials who are state employees are violating the California Public Records Act by withholding documents related to Palin’s June 25 appearance at the university’s 50th anniversary gala. The group and other open-government advocates have been seeking details of Palin’s contract, including her speaking fee.

Underground History of the USA [pdf] by Jim Obrien and Nick Thorkelson (good stuff for teachers):

Read the full RF Update here.

Rouge Forum Update: Rouge Forum Update: Special Tax Extortion Without Representation Edition!

Rouge Forum Update: Special Tax Extortion Without Representation Edition!

April 18 1783: Fighting ceases in the American Revolution, eight years to the day since it began. The Dollar Soon Trumps the Democracy.

Send Your Articles, Photos, Cartoons, for the RF News to Community Coordinator Adam Renner (Occupation in Puerto Rico: “Education cannot be seen through capital’s narrow gaze or the market’s whims. Such an education merely reproduces docile subjects and uncritical automatons. Let us smash the machine!”

Dumpster Diving CSU Students Uncover Palin Contract that Does Not Exist: “Students at Cal State Stanislaus have discovered evidence that documents related to an upcoming speaking engagement by Sarah Palin were shredded and dumped after the university claimed that no public documents existed, a state senator said on Tuesday.”

AAUP FAQ’s on the University and College Financial Crises

NEA Promotes Test Prep (one of many on the Works4Me Site–Ya Cannot Make This Up):
“We have a pep assembly for the third and fourth graders a couple of days before standardized testing starts. Two teachers pretend they are cheerleaders and shake pompoms as they give a ‘pep’ talk about doing a good job on the tests, getting a good night’s rest, etc. We have three teachers sit in desks and pretend to be examples of how not to take the test. One keeps turning around and bothering his neighbor, one cries, and one is not paying attention to directions. Another teacher is showing the ‘right’ way to take the test.”

Joel Cohen (fine Cranbrook boy) writes on the Obamagogue Education Project: ““Most people wanted students to develop skills in critical thinking and problem solving, social skills and work ethic, citizenship and community responsibility, physical and emotional health, love of the arts and literature … for skilled work that does not require a college degree,”

UCEMEP Sweeps UC Student Government Elections, Promises Obedience and Loyalty!

Worst Education Journalist in the USA Touts Broadites in Detroit and DC (PBS’ John Merrow is a lying punk)

Rhee Rediscovers DC School Budget But Plans to Use Savings from Layoffs for Raises–What of the AFT Now that Weingarten Kissed the Pact? “Saunders called the pact “blood money,” underwritten by the illegal firings of fellow teachers. “This is money off the backs of teachers,” Saunders said. “It is unconscionable for the union to be looking past this event…Rhee has said that she will not consider rehiring the teachers ”

Florida Governor Crist Cuts Deal On Reactionary Education Bill, Support from FEA in Exchange for a Lesser Evil Bill Later: “His decision has also renewed speculation that he might drop out of the Republican primary for a United States Senate seat and run in the general election as an independent.”

“Always be sure you are right, then go ahead”

Read more of the Rouge Forum Update here.

Rouge Forum Update: Up the Rebels!

Remember Proposals are Due, April 15, for the Rouge Forum Conference

Send Your Articles, Photos, Cartoons, for the Rouge Forum News to Community Coordinator Adam Renner.

On the Little Rouge School Front:

CTA is the Biggest Campaign Spender in California: “ $211,849,298″

“Fire All the Teachers” Demagogue Becomes Good Cop on NCLB: “The new proposals would require states to use annual tests, along with other indicators, to divide the nation’s nearly 100,000 public schools into three groups: some 10,000 to 15,000 high-performing schools that would receive rewards or recognition, some 5,000 chronically failing schools requiring vigorous state intervention, and 80,000 or so schools in the middle that would be encouraged to figure out on their own how to improve.”

AFT Welcomes Common National Standards (ya cannot make this stuff up): “The new standards released on March 10 by the Common Core State Standards Initiative represent the best effort so far to transform today’s patchwork quilt of 50 sets of state standards into one set of strong, consistent expectations for what all students should know and learn, AFT president Randi Weingarten says.”

WashPost: National Regimented Curricula Require Racist Tests: “We will need tests—they will likely evolve into national tests—that are aligned with the new standards. That means changing the annual tests already used in some states, and overcoming the still widespread view that national testing undercuts states rights.”

Emily Alpert on Apartheid U. That is, UCSD: Black students are a rarity at UCSD. Only 1.6 percent of its undergraduate students are black, a stat that has become a rallying cry after an escalating series of racially offensive events around the university…

Paul Moore: “Letter: I teach at the ‘Central Falls High School’ of Miami, Florida, and we won’t let you scapegoat us for your problems.”

Detroit Board Joins George Washington (yes) In Lawsuit Against Bobb: “The Detroit Public School Board unanimously voted Monday night to file a second lawsuit against Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb, saying $145,000 in private foundation support he receives under his new contract is unlawful.”

On March 12th the Detroit Federation of Teachers leadership announced on their web site that they would join the lawsuit against Broad’s Bobb while the community began to respond to the Skillman plan to abolish the Detroit School Board. “Union and community activists at a school board meeting Thursday night said they were outraged by the plan to get rid of the board, while many parents were divided, and Mayor Dave Bing said he’d only take on the responsibility if voters agreed.”

Financial Manager Bobb Throws DPS into Deepest Debt Ever: “• Instead of a $17 million surplus Bobb projected for this fiscal year, spending has increased so much Bobb is projecting a $98 million deficit for the budget year that ends June 30…(and proves concessions don’t save jobs)…The financial situation will be managed, Bobb said, if a number of measures take place for the fiscal year that begins this summer. Among them: eliminating 2,100 positions to save $128.8 million; reducing health care costs by $47 million; saving $8 million through outsourcing transportation; and closing an estimated 41 schools.”

Detroit News Editorial: Back the Tyrant; Fire the Teachers and Let the Union Help! “Detroit Federation of Teachers President Keith Johnson says his leadership team will hold a review today to decide whether to eject Conn and other such teachers from the union for their actions. That seems appropriate. It’s not up to individual teachers to decide what policies they’ll abide by. The union has agreed to some of the changes the dissidents are trying to block. Bobb should fire educators who are actively working to undermine district policies during school hours.

Bobb, Skillman, Broad, et al, Plan to Seize Detroit Schools–Close 40: “A coalition of education leaders and foundations will unveil today a sweeping academic reform agenda that targets failing schools, calls for 70 new programs and launches a national effort to recruit principals. The $200 million plan also aims to build community support this year to eliminate the Detroit Board of Education and make the mayor accountable for Detroit Public Schools….Other initiatives include the effort from the Detroit Federation of Teachers, which did not sign off on the plan but was engaged in the talks to develop it, to open its own school,”

Who is Michigan Future Inc?

Could it Be A Pattern? KC to Close Half of its Schools: “The Kansas City Board of Education voted Wednesday night to close almost half of the city’s public schools, accepting a sweeping and contentious plan to shrink the system in the face of dwindling enrollment, budget cuts and a $50 million deficit.In a 5-to-4 vote, the members endorsed the Right-Size plan, proposed by the schools superintendent, John Covington, to close 28 of the city’s 61 schools and cut 700 of 3,000 jobs, including those of 285 teachers.”

Texas Loves Them Textbooks: Tx, Fla, and California set the social studies standards in textbooks because they make huge, state-wide, purchases. ”In economics, the revisions add Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek, two champions of free-market economic theory, among the usual list of economists to be studied, like Adam Smith, Karl Marx and John Maynard Keynes. They also replaced the word “capitalism” throughout their texts with the “free-enterprise system.”

“Let’s face it, capitalism does have a negative connotation,” said one conservative member, Terri Leo. “You know, ‘capitalist pig!’” ”Cynthia Dunbar, a lawyer from Richmond who is a strict constitutionalist and thinks the nation was founded on Christian beliefs, managed to cut Thomas Jefferson from a list of figures whose writings inspired revolutions in the late 18th century and 19th century, replacing him with St. Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and William Blackstone. (Jefferson is not well liked among the conservatives on the board because he coined the term “separation between church and state.”) “The Enlightenment was not the only philosophy on which these revolutions were based,” Ms. Dunbar said.”

Read the rest of the Rouge Forum Update here.

Recent articles from HAW on Obama, Afghanistan & Haiti

This is the latest in the series of biweekly mailings that we started in September, linking to recent articles on HAW-relevant topics, either written by historians or written by others but providing historical background.

“Obama’s State of the Union”
By Stephen Zunes, Foreign Policy in Focus, posted February 3
(on foreign policy aspects of the State of the Union speech)

“Missteps on Afghanistan”
By William R. Polk, History News Network, posted February 1
The author formerly taught history at the University of Chicago and is now working on a book to be entitled Afghanistan: Descent into Unending War

“Afraid of the Dark in Afghanistan”
By Anand Gopal and Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch.com, posted January 28

“Patriotic Anti-Militarism: Remodeling the Antiwar Movement”
By Kevin Zeese, CounterPunch, posted January 26

“Pakistan on the Brink? The Real Threat from Within”
By Adaner Usmani, Against the Current, January-February issue

“Replacing International Oppression with International Aid”
By Lawrence S. Wittner, History News Network, posted January 25
The author teaches history at SUNY Albany (not Vassar College, as was mistakenly stated in our last mailing)

“George Clooney’s Haiti — and Beyond”
by Jesse Lemisch, New Politics web site, posted January 23
The author formerly taught history at John Jay College and, before that, the University of Chicago and SUNY Buffalo

“Securing Disaster in Haiti”
By Peter Hallward, Americas Program web site, posted January 22

Historians Against the War: Links to Recent Articles of Interest

Historians Against the War: Links to Recent Articles of Interest

“No Exit: America Has an Impressive Record of Starting Wars but a Dismal One of Ending Them Well”
By Andrew Bacevich, American Conservative, February 1 issue
The author teaches history and international relations at Boston University.

“Haiti’s Troubled History with the U.S. and France”
By Marc Becker, History News Network, posted January 19
The author teaches Latin American history at Truman State University. This article was sent in e-mail form to the HAW-Info list on January 17.

“U.S. Military Escalation in Afghanistan: A Response to President Obama”
By Richard Drake, History News Network, posted January 18
The author teaches history at the University of Montana

[review essay on The Guantanamo Lawyers and Guantanamo USA]
By Jeremy Kuzmarov, History News Network, posted January 17
The author teaches history at the University of Tulsa

“Iran, 1979 and 2010”
By Dilip Hiro and Tom Englehardt, TomDispatch.com, posted January 12

“Nuclear Terrorism: How It Can Be Prevented”
By Lawrence S. Wittner, History News Network, posted January 11
The author teaches history at Vassar College

“Yemen: The Latest U.S. Battleground”
By Stephen Zunes, Huffington Post, posted January 8

“Obama’s Alternate Universe”
By Scott Ritter, Truthdig.com, posted January 8

Rouge Forum Update: Happy Holidays To Us, Every One! And Remember March 4th!

Obey-Obama-CLASS

Dear Friends, Here’s to the 4468 of us on the Rouge Forum list who have, in one way or another, sought to fashion reason and connect that to power. Here’s to a decade that lays the foundation for a just and equitable society—fun too!

On the Education Front is a Class War Front This Week:

The Rouge Forum Newslatest edition is now available

National Call for March 4 Strike and Day of Action To Defend Public Education:

California has recently seen a massive movement erupt in defense of public education — but layoffs, fee hikes, cuts, and the re-segregation of public education are attacks taking place throughout the country. A nationwide resistance movement is needed.

We call on all students, workers, teachers, parents, and their organizations and communities across the country to massively mobilize for a Strike and Day of Action in Defense of Public Education on March 4, 2010. Education cuts are attacks against all of us, particularly in working-class communities and communities of color.

The politicians and administrators say there is no money for education and social services. They say that “there is no alternative” to the cuts. But if there’s money for wars, bank bailouts, and prisons, why is there no money for public education?

We can beat back the cuts if we unite students, workers, and teachers across all sectors of public education — Pre K-12, adult education, community colleges, and state-funded universities. We appeal to the leaders of the trade union movement to support and organize strikes and/or mass actions on March 4. The weight of workers and students united in strikes and mobilizations would shift the balance of forces entirely against the current agenda of cuts and make victory possible.

Building a powerful movement to defend public education will, in turn, advance the struggle in defense of all public-sector workers and services and will be an inspiration to all those fighting against the wars, for immigrants rights, in defense of jobs, for single-payer health care, and other progressive causes.

Why March 4? On October 24, 2009 more than 800 students, workers, and teachers converged at UC Berkeley at the Mobilizing Conference to Save Public Education. This massive meeting brought together representatives from over 100 different schools, unions, and organizations from all across California and from all sectors of public education. After hours of open collective discussion, the participants voted democratically, as their main decision, to call for a Strike and Day of Action on March 4, 2010. All schools, unions and organizations are free to choose their specific demands and tactics — such as strikes, rallies, walkouts, occupations, sit-ins, teach-ins, etc. — as well as the duration of such actions.

Let’s make March 4 an historic turning point in the struggle against the cuts, layoffs, fee hikes, and the re-segregation of public education.

– The California Coordinating Committee

(To endorse this call and to receive more information contact: march4strikeanddayofaction@gmail.com and check out www.defendcapubliceducation.wordpress.com )

Read the full Rouge Forum Update here.

Why liberals kill and other links to articles recommended by Historians Against the War

Links to Recent Articles of Interest

“Obama’s Folly”
By Andrew Bacevich, War in Context website, from the Los Angeles Times, December 3

“The President Has Drawn the Wrong Lessons From His Understanding of the History of War”
Interview with Andrew Bacevich on Democracy Now, posted December 2

“Obama’s Surge: Has the President Been Misled by the Iraq Analogy?
By Juan Cole, Salon.com. posted December 1
A detailed analysis of circumstances that gave the Iraq “surge” the appearance of success, and of how circumstances in Afghanistan are different.

“Afghanistan: The Roach Motel of Empires”
By Zoltan Grossman, AfterDowningStreet.com, posted December 2

“Afghanistan Fact Sheet: The Numbers Behind the Troop Increase”
By the National Priorities Project, posted December 1

“A Better Way to Kill? Human Terrain Systems, Anthropologists and the War in Afghanistan”
By David Price, CounterPunch.org, posted December 1

“It’s Obama’s War Now”
By Gary Leupp, CounterPunch.org, posted November 30
The author teaches history at Tufts University; despite its title, the article is mainly historical.

“The Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan Through CIA Eyes: Lessons for the United States Today”
By Bennett Ramberg, Huffington Post, posted November 24

Bill Moyers’ Journal, November 20 – on escalation in Vietnam
Public Broadcasting System, November 20
On Lyndon Johnson’s decision making on Vietnam in the mid-1960s, using excerpts from President Johnson’s taped phone conversations with top advisors. The video of this program can be accessed here.

“Why Liberals Kill”
By Thad Russell, The Daily Beast, posted October 17
a broad-brush analysis of the liberal foreign policy tradition from a libertarian conservative perspective

Suggestions for inclusion in these lists are welcome: they can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com. Members of the working group for this project are Matt Bokovoy, Carolyn (Rusti) Eisenberg, Jim O’Brien, Maia Ramnath, and Sarah Shields

Lastest article links from Historians Against the War

Links to Recent Articles of Interest from HAW.

“History Promises Disaster in Afghanistan for Blind America”
By John R. MacArthur, Providence Journal, posted November 18
(by the publisher of Harper’s Magazine)

“Washington’s Welcome Indecision”
By Mahir Ali, Znet, posted November 18

“Who’s Afraid of World Government?”
By Lawrence Wittner, History News Network, posted November 16
(The author teaches history at SUNY Albany,)

“Haunted by Gorbachev’s Ghost”
By James Fergusson, truthdig.org, posted November 15 (from The Independent)
(on parallels with the Soviet experience in Afghanistan)

“Obama, Learn the Lessons of Vietnam – from JFK, not LBJ”
By Larry Berman and Edward Miller, New York Daily News, posted November 13
(Miller teaches history at Dartmouth College)

“Why the Afghan Surge Will Fail”
By Conn Hallinan, Foreign Policy in Focus, posted November 12

“The Fifty-Year War”
By Jonathan Schell, The Nation (November 30 issue), posted November 11
(on domestic politics as the link between US decision-making in Vietnam and Afghanistan)

“Cold War Without End: America Never Had a Post-Communist Revolution”
By David Brown, Antiwar.com, posted November 10

“Drone Race to a Known Future: Why Military Dreams Fail – and Why It Doesn’t Matter”
By Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch.com, posted November 10

“Sen. George McGovern on the Presidency from Lincoln to Obama”
Interviewed by Robert Scheer, Truthdig.com, posted November 6

Suggestions for inclusion in these lists are welcome: they can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com. Members of the working group for this project are Matt Bokovoy, Carolyn (Rusti) Eisenberg, Jim O’Brien, Maia Ramnath, Sarah Shields