A general maxim that most people live their lives by is the notion that coercion is only cool when someone coerced you first. That is, violence is never justified unless it’s used in self-defense. Most people don’t go around using violence to get what they want. Rather, they reserve their capacity for force for situations…

Novo livro (Escalada: Mudança de Jogo em 2012, por Mark Halperin e John Heilemann) afirma que o presidente dos Estados Unidos Barack Obama afirmou a seus assessores, durante sua última eleição, ser “realmente eficaz em matar pessoas.” Ele está certo. Por exemplo, na última sexta-feira um ataque de drone [avião não tripulado] visando Hakimullah Mehsud, do…

A new book (Double Down: Game Change 2012, by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann) claims that  US president Barack Obama told his aides during his last election that he’s “really good at killing people.” He’s right. For example, last Friday a drone strike targeting Hakimullah Mehsud of the Tehreek-e- Taliban Pakistan (TTP) reportedly ended his…

It seems official, the United States is a permanent wartime state. Senior Obama Administration officials have stated that the War on Terror, in its “limitless form,” will carry on for another decade, possibly two. Given our role in the world, as an economic and military super-power, and given the economic, social and environmental crisis we…

Arthur Silber: Evil does not become less evil because people are “open” about it. It is not miraculously transformed into good through some mysterious process of alchemy. Evil becomes only worse, infinitely worse. …

Trevor Hultner: “Congressional control” is exactly the opposite of what we want. The military drone program, among other things, needs to be completely dismantled, not “regulated.”