Tom Hayden's Blog, page 52

The Port Huron Statement: A manifesto reconsidered

Looking back at that summer 50 years ago, it feels as though the Port Huron Statement wrote us, not the other way around.

600 US Troops Occupying Honduras, Two Years After Coup

Six hundred US army troops have invaded Honduras in an escalation of the 2009 intervention, in which the State Department stood by during a military coup against Honduras’ elected president, Manuel Zelaya. In all likelihood, President Zelaya would have prohibited the deployment of hundreds of US troops as described in a New York Times story today.

Was LBJ More Lear Than Machiavelli? A Reflection on Robert Caro's The Passage of Power

Robert Caro’s impressive biography of Lyndon Johnson seems beyond the reach of criticism, having won the National Book Critics Circle Award and been described as a “monument” (Michael Beschloss) and “at the summit of American historical writing.” (The Washington Post) Yet Caro may have identified far too much with his subject, a form of Stockholm Syndrome, perhaps, in which a prisoner identifies with his jailer.

Containment Risks Permanent Brinksmanship

Driven by market interests and lingering superpower aspirations, our government is heading into a new cold war against China with little public debate or Congressional oversight.

The Obama Speech, A Guide to the Perplexed

This proposed partnership agreement has been rushed forward for the NATO summit in Chicago, and reflects unresolved tensions and questions about Western policy, and little more.

See You in Chicago

This proposed partnership agreement has been rushed forward for the NATO summit in Chicago, and reflects unresolved tensions and questions about Western policy, and little more.

On Ending the wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq

In a recent op-ed, "Is US-Afghan Agreement a Prelude to Afghan Civil War?" AFSC’s Matt Southworth is right in projecting a trajectory towards further civil war in Afghanistan. But political and military realities may still pre-empt projections on paper. Especially during an election year when a war is not going well, we can expect nothing but official spin.

The Inconvenient Truths of South Central 1992

Most of the widespread commemorative discussion of South Central’s 1992 has missed three very important lessons.

Urgent Petition: Withdraw All Western Troops From Afghanistan

To support a peace petition by citizens of NATO countries, please sign here.

NATO Occupies Chicago, Key Moment for Afghanistan

Peace movements in every country are raising their voices against the war in Afghanistan in advance of the May 18-20 NATO summit in Chicago. American combat veterans are expected to throw their medals at NATO officials, just as John Kerry and many others did as a heroic gesture in the final stage of Vietnam. Some will converge on Chicago, while others will march in other NATO capitols. Around two-thirds of the public in NATO countries now opposes the war, and most of their governments are anxious to withdraw if a face-saving path can be found. Australia, not a NATO member, announced this week it will withdraw all troops by 2013.