By David Swanson, Director, World BEYOND War

If you saw a book in Barnes and Noble called “How Not to Go to War,” wouldn’t you assume it was a guide to the proper equipment every good warrior should have when they head off to do a little killing, or perhaps something like this U.S. news article on “How Not to Go to War Against ISIS” which is all about what law you should pretend authorizes a violation of the UN Charter and the Kellogg-Briand Pact?

In fact, the new book, How Not to read more

I think we can tentatively draw a few possible, and all of them encouraging, conclusions from the fact that the University of Virginia has announced a $15 per hour minimum wage for its direct employees.

One is this: actions you take can bear fruit later. When many of us demanded an $8 living wage back in the 1990s, the University dragged its feet. Local governments and businesses did move to $8/hour. And distant governments and other universities began adopting living wage standards. Activist groups read more

Villanova University is hosting a West Point Military Academy-supported event about “Just War” theory.

The professor who teaches “ethics” at West Point last year lost two debates on the topic of whether war can ever be justified. Videos: one, two. I admit to being biased, as I was the one debating him, but the first event polled people at the start and finish read more

Remarks at Student Peace Awards of Fairfax County, Va., March 10, 2019

By David Swanson, Director, World BEYOND War

Thank you for inviting me here. I’m honored. And I’m reminded of lots of happy memories of Herndon High School, class of 87. If there was encouragement back then to take on the sort of projects that our honorees today have taken on, I missed it. I suspect that some improvements have been made in high school education since my day. Yet I did manage to learn a lot at Herndon, and read more

Here’s video:

U.S. military spending eight years ago was at $1.2 trillion per year, when one added in the nukes in the Energy Department, the Homeland Security Department, the CIA, interest on debt, veterans’ care, etc. Now it’s at $1.3 trillion. In the years since military spending has been dramatically increased, the United States has been made less safe, read more

Yemen:

How the Senate voted March 13, 2019, 54-46, to end it: roll call.

How the House voted, Feb. 13, 2019, 248-177, to end it: roll call.

How the Senate voted, Dec. 13, 2018, 56-41, to end it: roll call.

Both houses have to vote again, because the House didn’t vote in 2018 and added in unrelated nonsense in 2019.

Contact Congress.

Background.

Afghanistan:

Senators cosponsoring bill to end it.

How the Senate voted on Feb. 4, 2019, 70-26-4 to “express their sense” that it should keep read more

Despite claims by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to have defeated its own troops using Facebook (and, really, what plot to take over a high school hasn’t done that?), the biggest challenge NATO will face this year will probably not be nefarious Russian social media posts.

Nor will it be the dreaded Russian military, now sucking down 6 percent as many dollars each year as the war machines of the NATO nations.

Nor is NATO terribly threatened by a U.S. president who demands that read more