When politicians talk about civility and public discourse, what they’re really saying is that they would prefer for people to remain silent in the face of injustice. They want marginalized people to accept that the conditions of oppression are unalterable facts of life. Roxane Gay, 2022 Shortly after I arrived in Kabul in April 2007, […]
Gun Violence & Safety Misunderstood Read More »
I have taught a course on globalization and urbanization at San Francisco State for ten years. Each semester, I have to revise my syllabus substantially because global conditions have been changing dramatically since 2012. In August of 2019, New York Times Magazine published The 1619 Project. I immediately incorporated it into the course that I
Freedom to Question Read More »
A month ago I speculated that Finland and Sweden might join NATO, a strategic backfire against what Putin had intended. Apparently both countries have already decided to join NATO and will file formal applications this summer. What else might happen as a cost to Russia? Finland, Estonia, and Latvia might recover the territories the USSR
How to Reward Aggression Read More »
I did not vote for Arnold Schwartzenegger when he ran for Governor of California during the recall of Gray Davis. I find the recall-process in California to be very broken, as shown by the latest cynical attempt to recall Gavin Newsom. However, Schwartzenegger was a good governor, especially in his endorsement of Senate Bill 375,
My favorite Republican Read More »
Over the last few days Volodomyr Zelenskyy has asked repeatedly for the establishment of a no-fly zone over Ukraine. Poland has asked the US to take their aging MiG-29s, remove the NATO electronics, and transfer them to Ukraine–in exchange for receiving new fixed-wing fighter aircraft. Vladimir Putin has countered that either of these decisions would
Ukraine: Military Lessons Thus Far Read More »
This morning Fareed Zakaria noted that Vladimir Putin is not only more isolated in his solo control of Russia, but also more emotionally volatile. This complicates a geo-strategic problem: he may have set in motion a series of political disasters from which he cannot gracefully exit. Despite very impressive Ukrainian resistance, it is very likely
How to De-Escalate Now? Read More »
Yesterday I speculated that Putin’s unilateral decision to invade Ukraine might backfire: it might provoke Finland to join NATO. Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined the EU in 1995. All three countries had a longstanding preference for neutrality in the Cold War, but in 1995 joining the EU was not considered a threatening move against a
Consequences of Putin’s Aggression Read More »
One of the objectives of Putin is to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO, out of concern that Russia would have a direct border with a NATO country. Too late: Russia already borders on Estonia and Latvia, which are both members of NATO now: In 1955, the USSR created the Warsaw Pact in reaction to West
Some background on the meaning of Socialism There is a lot of vitriol about “socialism” in the Unites States in 2022, mostly by people choosing a meaning for the term that is either most disagreeable or most agreeable to them. Historically the term was abused most especially by Soviet political leaders who claimed it as
American Socialism: Public Education Read More »
Today the Republican National Committee formally declared that the attack on the U. S. Congress on January 6, 2021 was “legitimate political discourse” and censured Republican representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for participating in the investigation of this attack. I have kept my silence for a year, because my concern is not about a
The treason of January 6, 2021 Read More »