One of the most read articles on Occasional Planet is Gloria Bilchik’s “Military Mystery: How Many Bases Does the US Have, Anyway?” Since it
Category: Military
Captain Phillips: The pawn hypothesis
Directed by Paul Greengrass, and starring Tom Hanks, with outstanding performances by a group of Somali actors, Captain Phillips can be viewed and enjoyed purely as
How to destroy your chemical weapons
Agreeing to get rid of Syria’s chemical weapons was the hard part—and “was” is, admittedly, an optimistic word. But if Russia, the U.S. and
On Syria: Can we take “yes” for an answer?
There’s so much “no” in Washington, that you have to wonder if, given the opportunity to get it right, Washington [politicians and pundits included]
Chelsea Manning is a patriot
Chelsea Manning is a patriot. She will go down in history as one of the great Americans of our time. If you have not
Put away the flags, by Howard Zinn
Every July 4th, I think about Howard Zinn’s insightful essay on nationalism and its overused, over-hyped symbols. Like most everything written by Zinn, it’s
We ended the military draft. Maybe we need it again. Or something like it.
Robert Redford’s latest movie, “The Company You Keep,” didn’t make me stand up and cheer, but it did make me think. The movie tells
BBC documentary reveals American colonel who trained Iraqi torturers
A new documentary from the BBC (in cooperation with The Guardian newspaper) has revealed direct ties between the torture practices and death squads of
Rewriting the Second Amendment
“They’re trying to take away my Second Amendment rights,” say many gun rights advocates. But what do they mean by that? I doubt that
Questions about Mali
Until about a week ago, I couldn’t find Mali on a map—except that I knew to look in Africa. I knew that it was