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      jeanne kirkpatrick

      A Violent Cesspool of Our Own Making: The Dark [K]night of Donald Trump

      A Violent Cesspool of Our Own Making: The Dark [K]night of Donald Trump

      Weapons, Warriors, and Fear as the New Order in America

      William Astore
      Jan 26, 2017

      I came of age during America's Cold War with the Soviet Union, witnessing its denouement while serving in the U.S. military. In those days, the USSR led the world's weapons trade, providing arms to the Warsaw Pact (the military alliance it dominated) as well as to client states like Cuba, Egypt, and Syria. The United States usually came in second in arms dealing, a dubious silver medal that could, at least, be rationalized as a justifiable response to Soviet aggression, part of the necessary price for a longstanding policy of "containment." In 1983, President Ronald Reagan had dubbed the Soviet Union an "evil empire" in part because of its militarism and aggressive push to sell weaponry around the globe, often accompanied by Soviet troops, ostensibly as trainers and advisers.

      After the USSR imploded in 1991, dominating the world's arms trade somehow came to seem so much less evil. In fact, faced with large trade deficits, a powerful military-industrial complex looking for markets, and ever more global military commitments, Washington actively sought to promote and sell American-made weaponry on a remarkable scale. And in that it succeeded admirably.

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      Opinion
      On Hillary Clinton, Sexism, and U.S. Foreign Policy

      On Hillary Clinton, Sexism, and U.S. Foreign Policy

      Feminists who oppose Hillary Clinton's imperialism can't just challenge her foreign policy. We have to challenge the sexist attacks against her, too.

      Stephen Zunes
      Feb 13, 2016

      After the strong early primary showings by Senator Bernie Sanders, a few high-profile supporters of his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton have seized upon an explanation: sexism -- and not only by men. Sanders' high level of support from young women in particular, they say, reflects the naivete of younger self-identified feminists.

      Feminist icon Gloria Steinem, for example, claimed that younger women backing Sanders simply wanted the attention of young men on the Sanders campaign: "When you're young, you're thinking, where are the boys?" Steinem said. "The boys are with Bernie."

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      Opinion

      The Lies of Islamophobia

      The Three Unfinished Wars of the West against the Rest

      John Feffer
      Nov 08, 2010

      The Muslims were bloodthirsty and treacherous. They
      conducted a sneak attack against the French army and slaughtered every
      single soldier, 20,000 in all. More than 1,000 years ago, in the
      mountain passes of Spain, the Muslim horde cut down the finest soldiers
      in Charlemagne's command, including his brave nephew Roland. Then,
      according to the famous poem that immortalized the tragedy, Charlemagne
      exacted his revenge by routing the entire Muslim army.

      The Song of Roland, an eleventh century rendering in verse
      of an eighth century battle, is a staple of Western Civilization classes
      at colleges around the country. A "masterpiece of epic drama," in the
      words of its renowned translator Dorothy Sayers, it provides a handy
      preface for students before they delve into readings on the Crusades
      that began in 1095. More ominously, the poem has schooled generations of
      Judeo-Christians to view Muslims as perfidious enemies who once
      threatened the very foundations of Western civilization.

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      Opinion
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