The Madness of Nuclear Warfare Is Alive and Well in America
Collectively, it seems that we may be on the verge of returning to a nightmarish past, where we lived in fear of a nuclear war that would kill us all,…
Inside America’s War Machine, Integrity Is Optional
William J. Astore examines the epidemic of lies and dishonor that exists within the US military industrial complex.
The Nasty Voices in Our Heads
The Paranoid Nature of American Foreign and Domestic Policy.
Why Going “Hard” is Taking the Easy Way Out
Hardening Schools and Arming Teachers Is the Wrong Approach.
Destroying the Town Is Not Saving It
Although the keynote speaker at this year's Air Force Academy graduation was delivered by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, historian and retired Air Force lieutenant colonel William Astore gives his…
Five Reasons Why Washington Can’t Break Its War Addiction
The horrifying war in Ukraine may be a catastrophe for the Ukrainians and, in the end, the Russians, too, but for the U.S. military-industrial complex it’s clearly going to be…
What Would It Take for Military Spending in America to Go Down?
Take a moment with retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel William Astore for a little “thought experiment” about that very budget. Can we really be in a world too wild for…
The New Cold War Is Here to Stay, Until It Isn’t
While you may be horrified by events in Ukraine, the question is, why aren’t you more horrified by the way your tax dollars continue to create an ever-more militarized American…
It’s Time to Make Deep Cuts at the Pentagon
Retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, and historian William Astore considers a military in which the losses are all on the battlefield and the gains in Congress as well as in…
Who Is America’s Real God?
In God We Trust is on all our coins. But, which god?
Post-Afghanistan, Can We Finally Give Peace A Chance?
William Astore, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and historian who runs the Bracing Views blog, takes a dim view (or is it a nuclear-bright view) of where this country…
We Should All Be Afraid of the New Cold War
2021 looks a lot like 1981—and that should scare us.
Reclaiming American Idealism
Why we could use a leader like George McGovern again
Killing Democracy in America
This country’s 'forever wars' have become a kind of global pandemic all their own and, like a cytokine storm, are strangling the vital organs of democracy.