February 08, 2012

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Woodcut of Britons fighting Romans War—the subject is complex and simple. Is it good? No. Is it always bad? Yes. Is it ever necessary? Sometimes. It’s the “sometimes” element that has challenged and perplexed people over the centuries. Societies have raised classes of people whose role was to be warriors, to fight and die for the tribe, city, or country. Hoplite armies became Legions; legions gave way to feudal knights, and feudal hosts gave way to professional armies. Armies are not the issue, though. Carl von Clausewitz, in his analysis of Napoleonic warfare, wrote of the “fascinating Trinity” at work in modern war: violent emotion, the interplay of probability and chance, and reason, based on a political motive. All of that lies in the realm of society or the nation state. For individuals, what are the moral elements a citizen-soldier faces?

The Cold War and the US

Tuesday, 12 January 2010 13:49 Written by Don White

Cold War reminder What was the Cold War? Many of us who were born during it, raised during it, and have retired during it cannot provide an unequivocal answer. From 1945 until 1991, most peoples of the Earth lived in a world divided by the competition between two so-called superpowers, the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Palestine

Sunday, 25 January 2009 16:32 Written by Don White

Palestine divided The New York Times published a blog today by Ethan Bronner, entitled “The Bullets In My In-Box,” in which he discusses how a journalist is not allowed to write objectively about any aspect of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Mr. Bronner concludes:

Was World War II a Just War?

Thursday, 10 July 2008 17:03 Written by Don White

D-Day, Normandy, 1944 The United States expended over $341 billion throughout World War II, including $50 billion in Lend-Lease supplies sent to Great Britain ($31 billion), the Soviet Union, China, and 35 other nations. This country suffered an estimated 400,000 casualties, including over 290,000 combat deaths. World-wide, the human cost of the war has been estimated at 50,000,000, including those murdered in the Holocaust. Total expenditures by belligerents have been estimated at $1 trillion, in 1945 dollars.

For What Our Civil War?

Thursday, 14 August 2008 13:32 Written by Don White

Antietam - Confederate dead People, especially Southerners, argue amongst themselves over the essential commonality of the “War of Yankee Aggression” (a.k.a. “The Late Unpleasantness” or the “American Civil War”). Some deny that the war was about slavery whilst others declare slavery the reason for the war.

Okay, let’s look at this thing…

The Cold War and the US

Palestine

Was World War II a Just War?

For What Our Civil War?

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