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Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
Anatole France: Selections on war
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Anatole France
From The Wicker-Work Woman (1897)
Translated by M.P. Willcocks

Much has been made of the Obama administration’s decision to set up shop in Jordan under the pretense of containing the Syrian conflict and of training so-called moderate elements in the Syrian rebel opposition.

By Bruce A. Dixon | Black Agenda Report | May 8, 2013

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford | May 8, 2013

In doubling the bounty on former Black Liberation Army member Assata Shakur’s head, the Obama administration is announcing that Black radicals are candidates for his Kill List. The message is as unmistakable and dramatic as the billboards that have been erected in Newark, New Jersey, and elsewhere screaming for the exiled freedom fighter’s blood.

While I may be feeling unwell, I just can't pull myself away from the situation in SyriaA fairly decent ,, though still lacking, article from BBC?Who would have thought?Negotiations That sets one of the parameters that are essential for successful movement towards a settlement of the Syrian conflict, which has embroiled many outside playersArresting and reversing that process of disintegration is a massive taskLakhdar Brahimi, stressed that, vital and hopeful as the apparent US-Russian understanding is,

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 052. I was a guest recently on the Renegade Variety Hour , discussing a variety of libertarian issues with hosts Carlos Morales and Taryn Harris (May 8, 2013), including argumentation ethics and estoppel (see Argumentation Ethics and Liberty: A Concise Guide), atheism, and related matters.

By Vacy Vlazna | Palestine Chronicle | May 7, 2013

In Australia there are 30 Max Brenner shops providing funds for the Strauss Group that filter towards the maintenance of the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine. Another Brenner outlet is ‘coming soon’ to the campus of The University of New South Wales (UNSW), the site of the present Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) protest organised by Students for Justice in Palestine.

The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat by Vali Nasr, Doubleday, 320 pages

Awhile ago the pro-Israel editor of the College of Charleston’s online campus newspaper published two articles containing offensive accusations against me — one even before I spoke on campus and one afterward.
The newspaper has now finally posted my response – but it isn’t listed in any of the website’s menus; standard practice would be to list it in the Opinion section.

Logic is about understanding reality in a non-contradictory way and how can we see things for what they are.Metaphysical Laws1.Identity2.Causality3.Non-ContradictionTopic: A conversation about the importance of defining terms, checking premises and monitoring emotions in the pursuit of truth.-Common logical errors-Free Will vs.

Logic is about understanding reality in a non-contradictory way and how can we see things for what they are.

Metaphysical Laws
1.Identity
2.Causality
3.Non-Contradiction

Topic:
A conversation about the importance of defining terms, checking premises and monitoring emotions in the pursuit of truth.

Logic is about understanding reality in a non-contradictory way and how can we see things for what they are.

Metaphysical Laws
1.Identity
2.Causality
3.Non-Contradiction

Topic:
A conversation about the importance of defining terms, checking premises and monitoring emotions in the pursuit of truth.

Following up on the previous  Syrian Internet has gone down againCame across this:  Syria’s Internet goes dark as troops push into strategic town on highway to Jordan 

Press TV – May 8, 2013

British theoretical physicist professor Stephen Hawking has joined an academic embargo on the Israeli regime by refusing to attend a conference hosted by the regime’s president Shimon Perez.
The prominent Cambridge professor was to take part in the Facing Tomorrow annual conference planned to be held in June but pulled out in protest at Tel Aviv’s treatment of Palestinians.

By affinis – Corrente – 05/06/2013

A few days ago, I noticed this piece at FDL: “’Homeland Security’ Spending Overtakes New Deal“

By Kevin Gosztola  | Fire Dog Lake | May 6, 2013

With neoconservatives and neoliberals amplifying calls for US military intervention in Syria, it is worthwhile to take a moment and consider all the places in the world, where the US currently has forces engaged in daily operations.

By Jennifer Lynch and Peter Bibring | EFF | May 6, 2013

By James Corbett
BoilingFrogsPost.com
May 8, 2013
In the days of hysteria immediately following the Boston bombing, an unlikely media darling emerged. Ruslan Tsarni, the alleged bombers’ uncle, known to the press as “Uncle Ruslan,” gained notoriety for the ferocity with which he denounced his own nephews and their alleged Islamic radicalism.

This article  shows the drop off in internet trafficSyria’s access to the Internet was cut on Tuesday. The most likely culprit, security researchers said, was the Syrian government.

In the vast and ever expanding firmament of Western Human Rights NGO’s, PEN, America Center, the writers’ organization, is far from the most luminous and ordinarily barely visible. But a dark side of PEN came clearly into view with the hiring of Suzanne Nossel as its executive director. And the same dark side is becoming [...]

What do Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan have in common? Although it’s true that the United States has conducted recent military interventions in all of them, the more fundamental answer is that they are all artificial countries. That is, they are each made up of feuding ethno-sectarian groups or tribes. And perhaps the instability [...]

Poor Carla del Ponte – as soon as she let the cat out of the bag on the Syria “sarin gas” hoax a flurry of articles appeared in the mainstream media reporting panicked denials by UN officials and reminding us all of her past sins. John Hudson, writing in Foreign Policy, led off with a [...]

The September 18, 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), ostensibly a vehicle for the U.S. to go after the perpetrators of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, DC., turns out to have been a whole hell of a lot more than that nearly 12 years on. That simple joint resolution has been stretched very thin during the War on Terror.

In Mosul, a sticky bomb planed on a provincial councilor’s car killed her driver. A policeman was gunned down. A roadside bomb wounded two policemen. Security forces killed two gunmen. A roadside bomb killed a man and wounded a woman. Gunmen attacked a Tikrit checkpoint, where they killed four policemen and wounded a colonel. In [...]

Ministry of Defence of Georgia
May 7, 2013
BILC Conference

The conference “NATO Speak: English in Multinational Settings” is ongoing in the “Courtyard Marriott” Hotel. Deputy Defence Minister Tamar Karosanidze opened the Bureau for International Language Coordination (BILC) Conference.

Press TV – May 7, 2013

Britain is negotiating out-of-the-court settlements to compensate thousands of Kenyans severely mistreated under British colonial rule during the 1950s Mau Mau uprising.
According to a letter sent to lawyers representing some of the claimants, the Foreign Office has changed its mind on appealing last October’s High Court ruling that gave victims the green light to sue the government, The Guardian reported.

Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
Russian writers on war
Leonid Andreyev: The Red Laugh
Alexander Blok: The kite, the mother and endless war

bne | May 6, 2013

Turkmenistan is persevering with efforts to persuade an international oil major to join the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project, according to reports in India, despite being unwilling to give up a stake in its gas fields to potential investors.

 With two updates! One for the Canadians...............Israel bombs Syria with depleted uranium bombs, which would be a war crime if it was anyone else..Unless something changes..it appears we are looking at an expansion of war.So it begins.....going long read to the end!Hoping everyone noticed that immediately after Israel struck Damascus, aiding the NATO Islamic army of terrorists, the news fell off the proverbial front page?Strike anyone as odd? Israel didn’t gloat, which they usually do.In fact Israel went to lengths to downplay what had happened??

The sex assault problem in the military is turning out to be a poison that has infected every branch, and it just seems to be getting worse as more women enlist and rise through the ranks. Just when military women were celebrating the successful storming of the citadel and into the infantry, armor and artillery ranks, the Department of Defense announces that the estimated number of sex assaults are higher than ever.

I recently put up a very interesting article that comes from the Liberty Fight website, at www.libertyfight.com, showing my absolute disgust in the idea that the Texas State Legislature in Austin Texas is going ahead and proclaiming tomorrow, May 8th, 2013, as Texas-Israel Day!  It is indeed a sad day for the proud people of Texas when these traitors in their own government show their true allegiance... NOT to the United States, but to the criminal and psychotic state of Israel....Well...

I have been struggling the last while to understand how our world has slid down the slippery slope to insanity... This is especially true in our modern so called "education system" and the absolutely ridiculous policies of "zero tolerance"... What the hell has happened to having children be children...That is why I found this one particular story absolutely ridiculous and disturbing...

If, as alleged, the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons, it would indeed be a serious development, constituting a breach of the Geneva Protocol of 1925, one of the world’s most important disarmament treaties, which banned the use of chemical weapons.

RT | May 7, 2013

Mississippi is still scheduled to execute a convicted murderer Tuesday despite a lack of physical evidence tying him to the crime and a new admission from the Department of Justice that the forensic investigation was severely flawed.

Israel’s bombing of Syria this week represented a very serious escalation in the civil war that carries a high risk of internationalizing the conflict. The supposed justification for the attacks was to eliminate a depot of Fateh-110 missiles, shipped from Iran and allegedly headed to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

By David Morrison (Author), Peter Oborne (Author) – April 18, 2013

Description:
In 2013 it is possible that Israel, backed by the United States, will launch an attack on Iran. This would be a catastrophic event, risking war, bloodshed and global economic collapse.

By Michael McGehee | NYTX | May 6, 2013

“We have been very clear to the Assad regime but also to other players on the ground that a red line for us is, we start seeing a whole bunch of weapons moving around or being utilized.” — Obama Threatens Force Against Syria, The New York Times, August 21, 2012

This morning I heard that the UN is accusing Al Qaeda us using nerve gas possibly Sarin in Syria to further the interests of the US. Or rather I should say because Israel told them to do so. America has no interest in the Mideast. They have oil but if they want to eat, they will have to sell it so I see no meed for US troops outside of Turkey.

By Stuart Littlewood | Palestine Chronicle | May 6 2013

William Cook in his masterly way tells us not to give up even if “overwhelmed by darkness of the times”.

I have been indeed watching the events unfolding in Syria over the last few days with deep disgust... I am truly shocked that the American government and its Jewish controlled media continues to propagate the outright LIE that this unjustifiable attack by the criminal and terrorist state of Israel against the innocent nation of Syria was due to the need to "stop weapons transfers into Lebanon"...

By Gilad Atzmon | May 7, 2013

Once again we see a familiar pattern: our united ‘progressives’ — a veritable synagogue, a collective of great humanists — lend their support to the oppressed.  This time it is the ‘Syrian people’ whom they wish to liberate and their enemy is obviously Bashar Al-Assad.

Kinsella on Liberty Podcast, Episode 051. This is a short, informal discussion with a good friend of mine, patent attorney Mark Gilbreth (email). A fairly a-libertarian and a-political type, we talked about some of the practical and political aspects of patent law practice. Mark is an experienced chemical engineer-specialized patent attorney (I am electrical). We […]

Bill Keller’s piece in The New York Times yesterday got a lot of attention, and for all the right reasons. The absurdity of the piece wasn’t lost on most people: Keller lays out how terribly wrong he was for supporting the Bush administration’s war of choice in Iraq, and is now asking readers not to collapse in laughter as he speaks with an air of authority on why we should invade, or at least bomb, Syria.

Press TV – May 7, 2013

Lebanon has asked the United Nations Security Council to condemn Israel for violating its sovereignty by air, sea, and land.
In a letter to the UN Security Council, Lebanon urged the 15-member body to “compel Israel to halt its violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty by air, sea and land, and carry out all its obligations in accordance with Resolution 1701,” Reuters reported on Monday.

Press TV – May 7, 2013

Despite recent findings of a UN probe team that foreign-backed insurgents in Syria have used chemical agents in the country, a top US senator has introduced a bill requiring the Obama administration to supply lethal weapons to the anti-Damascus militant gangs.