The Iran accord is going to change everything
Eyes bulge in amazement when I show pictures of Tehran. There are always gasps. Within seconds someone exclaims, “That is Iran?” Tehran has wide and well-kept boulevards jammed with traffic, handsome parks, arrays of public art, a bustling downtown and vibrant neighborhoods. It feels prosperous despite years of economic sanctions, more like Madrid or Istanbul […]
There is no United Nations
SOMEDAY, IN A better world, countries may join together to form a global body. It would transcend atavistic nationalism and speak for all humanity. Perhaps it would be called the “United Nations.” Lamentably that day has not arrived. There is no such thing as the United Nations. A body with that name maintains a headquarters in […]
The blood of El Salvador’s massacres stains America
EARLY ONE AUTUMN morning in 1989, a death squad stormed through the gates of Central American University in El Salvador. When its work was finished, six Jesuit priests and their two housekeepers lay dead. One victim was my friend the Rev. Ignacio Ellacuria, the university rector. Finally one of the Salvadoran officers who allegedly organized this […]
Russia is not the enemy
REAL ENEMIES ARE a threat to any country, but imagined enemies can be even more dangerous. They sap resources, provoke needless conflicts, and divert attention from true challenges. The United States has constructed such a fantasy by turning Russia into an enemy. Our current campaign against Russia was set off by what some in Washington call […]
Stay out of war against ISIL: Opposing view
We should be more deeply involved in peacemaking efforts. Whenever war or upheaval shakes the Middle East, the U.S. feels compelled to intervene. The pattern is familiar: We see a force we dislike, we intervene to crush it, and then it returns in another form, more radical and more violent. Only if we break this […]
