All–especially my fellow American citizens–praise the cruise missile. This marvelous weapon, “a guided missile used against terrestrial targets…remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed.” It is “designed to deliver a large warhead over long distances with high precision.” It can be launched off-shore from a ship, orContinue reading “Robert Mueller And The Cruise Missile: Ready To Be Fired”
Tag Archives: war
Thinking Of Autonomous Weapons In ‘Systems’ Terms
A persistent confusion in thinking about weapons and their regulation is to insist on viewing weapons in isolation, and not as part of larger, socio-political-economic-legal-ethical systems. This confusion in the domain of gun control for instance, inspires the counter-slogan ‘guns don’t kill people; people kill people.’ Despite its glibness–and its misuse by the NRA–the sloganContinue reading “Thinking Of Autonomous Weapons In ‘Systems’ Terms”
The Bollywood War Movie And The Indian Popular Imagination
In 1947, even as India attained independence from colonial subjugation, war broke out in Kashmir as guerrillas backed by Pakistan sought to bring it into the Pakistani fold. That war ended in stalemate after intervention by the UN. Since then, the fledgling nation of India has gone to war four more times: first, in 1962,Continue reading “The Bollywood War Movie And The Indian Popular Imagination “
Nixon, Kissinger, And The 1971 Genocide In Bangladesh
This evening, Jagan Pillarisetti and will be speaking at the New York Military Affairs Symposium on ‘Indian Air Force Operations in the 1971 Liberation War.’ Our talk will be based on our book Eagles over Bangladesh: The Indian Air Force in the 1971 Liberation War (Harper Collins, 2013). Here is the jacket description: In DecemberContinue reading “Nixon, Kissinger, And The 1971 Genocide In Bangladesh”
Brian Williams Is Right: War Is Beautiful, And We Are Fascinated By It
Brian Williams has offended many with his invocation of the ‘beauty’ of the weapons fired into Syria on Thursday. But he is right: war and its weapons are beautiful, and we are surrounded by them; we succumb all to easily to their embrace, to the clarion call of war, precisely because we find them beautiful. AsContinue reading “Brian Williams Is Right: War Is Beautiful, And We Are Fascinated By It”
Missile Firing Day: The Republic’s Inaugural Day Is Here
There is a popular and enduring American fiction that the US President is sworn into office on something called Inauguration Day, which is commemorated on January 20th in Washington DC. Seasoned students of the Republic are well aware, however, that the actual, truly meaningful, Inauguration Day is not so rigidly anchored to a particular freezingContinue reading “Missile Firing Day: The Republic’s Inaugural Day Is Here”
Pat Tillman, The Skeptical ‘Warrior’ And ‘Hero’
The Pat Tillman who is the centerpiece of Jon Krakauer‘s Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman is a familiar, often admirable, archetype: the ‘warrior’ who wants to fight, to win glory, but who doubts the moral standing of the domain in which he will exercise his courage and skills, and as such,Continue reading “Pat Tillman, The Skeptical ‘Warrior’ And ‘Hero’”
The ‘Pundits’ Are Right: Exploiting War Widows Is Presidential
It’s a hoary tradition; it’s what you do. You fight a war; you send men and women to their deaths (after they’ve sent other men and women and children to their deaths); then, at home, you make plans to fight another war, and you beat the war drums and fill up the war chests byContinue reading “The ‘Pundits’ Are Right: Exploiting War Widows Is Presidential”
John Forbes’ ‘Love Poem’: War As Entertaining, Compensatory, Lullaby
Reading Kath Kenny‘s wonderful essay on the Australian poet John Forbes–a personal and literary take on his life and work–reminded me that because I was introduced to Forbes’ poetry by his close friends, I came to feel, despite never having met him in person, that I had acquired some measure of personal contact with him.Continue reading “John Forbes’ ‘Love Poem’: War As Entertaining, Compensatory, Lullaby”
A Theological Lesson Via Military History
In Hell in a Very Small Place: The Siege of Dien Bien Phu (J. B Lipincott, New York, 1966, p. 85), Bernard B. Fall describes the build-up which foretold the grim military disaster to unfold at Dien Bien Phu–the lack of adequate defenses and ammunition, the poor tactical location etc–making note, along the way, ofContinue reading “A Theological Lesson Via Military History”
Samir Chopra 