How Americans Failed Their Soldiers And Their Country

The remains of a U.S. soldier killed in Afghanistan in May arrive at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. In Breach of Trust, writer and veteran Andrew Bacevich asks whether we the people are sufficiently connected to those who fight our wars — and die in them.  Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Andrew Bacevich talks about the issues facing the United States armed forces and traces them back to the war in Vietnam. Andrew sees a nation with an abiding appetite for war waged at enormous expense by a standing army demonstrably unable to achieve victory. Andrew warns of the prospect of endless war, waged by a “foreign legion” of professionals and contractor-mercenaries. Bacevich considers bankruptcy, moral as well as fiscal. Andrew is an author and retired Army officer.
Source: YouTube: Andrew Bacevich, Author, "Breach of Trust"

Andrew Bacevich

A video of Phil Donahue speaking with historian and Vietnam veteran Andrew Bacevich about America’s role in the world and the possible repercussions of our actions in the Middle East titled Andrew Bacevich on Taking Action in Syria.

Andrew John Bacevich, son of Andrew Bacevich

The reports of the U.N.'s Panel on Climate Change are critically important but notoriously dense. Seattle oceanographer Gregory Johnson tells Steve Curwood about his personal project to write haiku poems to make the reports more understandable.
Source: living on earth: UN Climate Change Reports As Haiku

John Gray

John Gray Gives Two Cheers for Human Rights

John Gray argues that "rather than thinking of rights as a militant creed that can deliver the world from its conflicts, we should recognise rights for what they are - useful devices that quite often don't work".
Source: BBC Radio 4: PoV: John Gray: Two Cheers for Human Rights


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Music includes Pretenders - Middle of the Road, Capitol Steps - Bomb Iran, Tom Leherer - The Wild West Is Where I Want To Be, David Rovics - They're Building A Wall, Charles Coughlin - New Deal, David Rovics - When Johnny Came Marching Home, Capitol Steps - Embattled Hymn of the Republicans, The Beatles - Back in the USSR, Capitol Steps - You Gotta Have Parts, Janis Joplin - Mercedes Benz, Terry Gangstad - NR AA, Steve Earle - Rich Man's War, Capitol Steps - Presidential Debate, Pink Floyd - Hey You, The Mariachi Brass featuring Chet Baker - Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down), Andrew Drannon - Mad Rush