Peace Messenger

Prophetic Stringency: Commonweal's Tribute to Ron Osborn's Work

Reviewing Anarchy and Apocalypse, the managing editor of Commonweal magazine writes:

Commonweal readers will be familiar with Osborn’s clear-eyed, well-honed analysis (most recently in “Still Counting: How Many Iraqis Have Died?” February 11). This book reveals the foundation of his analysis of headline events. While neither anarchistic (in the colloquial sense of advocating violence or extreme libertarianism) nor apocalyptic (in tenor or proclamation), there is a stringency in Osborn’s thinking that is prophetic and liberating.

America's Path to Permanent War

Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War
by Andrew J. Bacevich
Metropolitan Books / 2010

Tom Englehardt calls Andrew Bacevich's new book "the single best source for understanding how Washington came to garrison the planet, intervene regularly in distant lands, and turn war-making -- and not even successful war-making at that -- into an American norm."

Adventist Advocates in the Public Square

10.05.22 Adventist Advocates from Sigma Audio/Video Asc. on Vimeo.

Roy Branson, PhD, Interim Director of the Center for Christian Bioethics, Loma Linda University, moderates a panel of Adventists working for a better society through peaceful advocacy.

Panelists: RochelleWebster, MA, Community Organizer, PICO National Network; Bill Emmerson, DDS, California State Assemblyman; Eric Gutschuss, JD, Staff Attorney, Human RightsWatch; Nathan Blake, JD, MA, Special Assistant to the Under Secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

$33 Billion More for War in Afghanistan - Will We Go Along?

Last September, 57 members of Congress sent a letter to President Obama, urging that he "reject any recommendation for a further escalation of U.S. military forces there."  Both of the Seventh-day Adventist members of Congress, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas (right) and Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland (below, one of seven Republicans), were among the signatories who declared to the President:

We support your administration's declared goals of defeating Al Qaeda and reducing the global terrorist threat.  But, we believe that adding even more U.S. troops to the military escalation that your administration ordered in March would be counterproductive.  We urge you to consider and pursue the full range of alternative options including applying the lessons of the Cold War where we isolate and contain those who pose a threat to our national security.

Militarism - More Now Than Ever

Jack A. Smith analyzes the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), and other recent government pronouncements:

The United States government presides as a military colossus of unrivaled dimension, but the QDR, which was published in February, suggests Washington views America as being constantly under the threat of attack from a multitude of fearsome forces bent on its destruction. As such, trillions more dollars must be invested in present and future wars -- ostensibly to protect the besieged homeland.