“Push and Pull: East Asian Regional Security” Advocacy Days presentation, March 6, 2004 The current crisis over North Korea’s nuclear program takes place within a regional security context with an important push factor (U.S. military policy toward the region) and an equally important pull factor (a “revolution in Asian military affairs”). The… Continue reading Push and Pull: East Asian Regional Security
Grapes, not Golf Boris Fras is the Jose Bove of Slovenia. He hasn’t attacked any McDonalds with sledgehammers. Nor has he made it into the headlines for destroying genetically modified crops. But in his vineyards and among his olive trees along the Adriatic Coast, Boris Fras is waging the same battle as his farming… Continue reading Grapes, Not Golf
Photo spreads of supersized weapons, sidebars of eye-popping stats, and prose of pumped-up power: What is happening to popular science magazines? It’s not quite hardcore, like the descriptions of raw, sweaty military ops in Soldier of Fortune or the Marines’ in-house organ, Leatherneck. The science magazines have more of a soft-core vibe. Over the last… Continue reading The Military Industrial Porn Complex
FPIF, October 24, 2004
FPIF, June 21, 2004
FPIF, April 30, 2004
FPIF, February 27, 2004
ZNet, February 16, 2004
Backing both the favorite and the underdog in a boxing match might win points for evenhandedness, but it would leave sports fans scratching their heads. In the battle of affections between China and Taiwan, though, the Bush administration has done just that. Both countries have been led to believe that they are enjoying the best… Continue reading One China, Two Headaches
World Policy Journal, Fall 2004
Vegetarian Times, April 2004
Vegetarian Times, February 2004
American Prospect, February 14, 2004 The Bush administration has been at times dangerously ambiguous in its policy toward North Korea. With a second round of six-party talks likely for early 2004 and North Korea’s nuclear program chugging along, the upcoming debate on Capitol Hill over a new bill, the North Korea Freedom Act, may well… Continue reading Second Act
“Regime Change in North Korea?” ZNet, December 25, 2003 Terrorist Potatoes, TomPaine, December 2003 “North Korea: a Different Kind of Regime Change,” Global Beat Syndicate, December 2, 2003 “Two Cheers for Realpolitik,” TomPaine.com, November 24, 2003 “Fields of Battle,” TomPaine.com, October 27, 2003 “The Peculiar Pragmatism of Pyongyang,” The Progressive, October 2003 “Wish List,” The American Prospect On-Line, October… Continue reading 2003 Archives
Drunkards know no limits. They drink until they drop. Those drunk on power, like the current Bush administration, delude themselves into believing they do not have to observe any limits. Drunkards beware: the transition from swaggering to staggering can be unexpectedly swift. As destruction segues into reconstruction in Iraq, the Bush administration is claiming victory… Continue reading The Price of Power
The Bush administration is behaving like an alpha male in its conflicts with Europe, bellowing and beating its chest to scare the competition. And in letting testosterone determine policy, Washington is out to spread its seed as widely as possible. By pushing genetically modified (GM) seed and produce, the United States wants to remake the… Continue reading Seeds of Conflict
Review of Kim Il Sung and Korea’s Struggle by Won Tai Sohn John Feffer A casual observer of the United States in the 1950s might conclude that Dwight D. Eisenhower was a genial war hero who, as the 34th president, presided over a decade of unprecedented prosperity. Even my father, a World War II… Continue reading Kim Il Sung and Korea’s Struggle
Review of Charles Armstrong, The North Korean Revolution, 1945-1950 (Cornell University Press, 2003) Journalists almost ritualistically describe North Korea as the world’s last Stalinist hold out. “Stalinist,” like “communist” or “totalitarian,” is used more for its damning than its descriptive power. Indeed, in the same breath, journalists acknowledge that North Korea remains a profound… Continue reading The North Korean Revolution 1945-1950 (Review)
Conflict-resolution professionals often say that to break a deadlock requires parties to shift from “positions” to “interests.” For the past year, the United States and North Korea have repeated their positions ad nauseum. The United States wants North Korea to give up its nuclear program; North Korea wants a guarantee that the United States won’t… Continue reading Wish List
For the last year, the Bush administration has spoken with a forked tongue on North Korean policy. The pragmatists in the Bush administration have wanted to negotiate a solution to the current nuclear stand-off. The hardliners have been eager for Korean War II. Now, according to Beltway gossip in Washington, the pragmatists have bested… Continue reading North Korea: A Different Kind of Regime Change
TomPaine, December 2003
TomPaine, September 3, 2003
TomPaine, November 24, 2003
A Different Kind of Regime Change For the last year, the Bush administration has spoken with a forked tongue on North Korean policy. The pragmatists in the Bush administration have wanted to negotiate a solution to the current nuclear stand-off. The hardliners have been eager for Korean War II. Now, according to Beltway… Continue reading Regime Change in North Korea?
It’s the Rural Economy, Stupid On the strength of two wars and a barrage of patriotic propaganda, George Bush once looked invulnerable on foreign policy issues. Today, as stability eludes Iraq and Afghanistan and crisis continues to dog the Korean peninsula, the world seems less willing to go along with the president’s reelection plans. … Continue reading Fields of Battle
If the laws of physics apply as well to geopolitics, the U.S. empire will continue to march forward until met with an equal but opposite force. The Bush administration sees no such hindrances on the horizon. No matter that the Chinese outnumber us five to one, the European Union’s economy nearly rivals ours, Russia still… Continue reading Reining U.S. In
Albany Times-Union, April 3, 2003
Greensboro News and Record, July 27, 2003
The Progressive, October 2003