Peace & Nonviolence

• As General Butler observed, it is a near miracle that we have escaped destruction so far, and the longer we tempt fate, the less likely it is that we can hope for divine intervention to perpetuate the miracle.
• Related: Cold War Then. Cold War Now

Noam Chomsky, TomDispatch 

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March 11, 2018 | If some extraterrestrial species were compiling a history of Homo sapiens, they might well break their calendar into two eras: BNW (before nuclear weapons) and NWE (the nuclear weapons era). The latter era, of course, opened on August 6, 1945, the first day of the countdown to what may be the inglorious end of this strange species, which attained the intelligence to discover the effective means to destroy itself, but -- so the evidence suggests -- not the moral and intellectual capacity to control its worst instincts.

Day one of the NWE was marked by the “success” of Little Boy, a simple atomic bomb.  On day four, Nagasaki experienced the technological triumph of Fat Man, a more sophisticated design. Five days later came what the official Air Force history calls the “grand finale,” a 1,000-plane raid -- no mean logistical achievement -- attacking Japan’s cities and killing many thousands of people, with leaflets falling among the bombs reading “Japan has surrendered.” Truman announced that surrender before the last B-29 returned to its base.

Noam Chomsky, a TomDispatch regular, is the author of numerous bestselling political works, including Hegemony or Survival and Failed States. A laureate professor at the University of Arizona and professor emeritus of linguistics and philosophy at MIT, he is widely credited with having revolutionized modern linguistics. His newest book (with David Barsamian) is Global Discontents: Conversations on the Rising Threats to Democracy (Metropolitan Books, December 2017).

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Related:

Cold War Then. Cold War Now, William Blum, Dandelion Salad

• In 2015 in Brussels, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) formally voted to accept the District of Columbia as a new member. UNPO is an international democratic organization whose members are indigenous peoples, minorities and unrecognized or occupied territories who have joined together to protect and promote their human and cultural rights, to preserve their environments and to find nonviolent solutions to conflicts which affect them.
• Related: Bernie Keeps Promoting The New Cold War and the U.S. ‘Forever Wars’, and Yes, We Need To Talk About It

• Part 1: For Obama, an Unexpected Legacy of Two Full Terms at War
• (Mr. Obama left) behind an improbable legacy as the only president in American history to serve two complete terms with the nation at war.
• Part 2: Nobel secretary regrets Obama peace prize
• Teaser

Compiled by David Culver, Ed., Evergreene Digest 

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Part 1: For Obama, an Unexpected Legacy of Two Full Terms at War

President Obama accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo in 2009. Since then, he has tried to fulfill the promises he made as an antiwar candidate. Credit Doug Mills/the New York Times

(Mr. Obama left) behind an improbable legacy as the only president in American history to serve two complete terms with the nation at war.

Mark Landler, New York (NY) Times

May 14, 2016 | President Obama came into office seven years ago pledging to end the wars of his predecessor, George W. Bush. On May 6, with eight months left before he vacates the White House, Mr. Obama passed a somber, little-noticed milestone: He has now been at war longer than Mr. Bush, or any other American president.

If the United States remains in combat in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria until the end of Mr. Obama’s term — a near-certainty given the president’s recent announcement that he will send 250 additional Special Operations forces to Syria — he will leave behind an improbable legacy as the only president in American history to serve two complete terms with the nation at war.

Mark Landler is a White House correspondent at The New York Times. In 24 years at The Times, he has been diplomatic correspondent, bureau chief in Hong Kong and Frankfurt, European economic correspondent, and a business reporter in New York. He is the author of “Alter Egos: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and the Twilight Struggle over American Power”

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Part 2: Nobel secretary regrets Obama peace prize

Geir Lundestad stepped down in 2014 as secretary of the Nobel committee. Image copyright Getty Images

Awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama in 2009 failed to achieve what the committee hoped it would, its ex-secretary has said.

News, British Broadcasting Corporation

17 September 2015 | Geir Lundestad told the AP news agency that the committee hoped the award would strengthen Mr Obama.

Instead, the decision was met with criticism in the US. Many argued he had not had any impact worthy of the award.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters are at Broadcasting House in Westminster, London and it is the world's oldest national broadcasting organization.

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