Links to Recent Articles of Interest
“Why the US Navy Won’t Blast the Iranians and ‘Open’ Strait of Hormuz”
By James A. Russell, Responsible Statecraft, posted March 31
Briefly reviews the history of US naval warfare and argues that the emergence of “cheap, unmanned anti-ship weapons,” as used by Ukraine to neutralize the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, for example, has undermined the usefulness of giant warships. The author recently retired as a tenured professor of National Security Affairs in the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.
“How the US Became an International Serial Killer”
By Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies, Common Dreams, posted March 25
Traces the process by which, “For decades, the United States moved from covert assassination plots to openly embracing assassination or ‘targeted killing’ as policy.” Medea Benjamin was a co-founder of both Global Exchange and CODEPINK; Niocolas J.S. Davies is an independent journalist who wrote Blood on Our Hands: The American Invasion and Occupation of Iraq (2010).
“People Die While Companies Profit”
By Rebecca Gordon, TomDispatch, posted March 24
A brief history of concentration camps, worldwide and in the US, related to the ICE detention centers that currently hold over 70,000 detainees. “Taken together, this network of prisons or, more accurately, concentration camps, constitutes an American gulag.” The author has written widely about US incarceration, including her book Mainstreaming Torture (Oxford U. Press, 2014).
“Trump Wants a ‘Video Game War’ in Iran”
By Jeremy Varon, Jacobin, posted March 21
“Trump has resurrected the military fantasy at the heart of the video game war,” a high-tech victory with little fuss domestically. Showing the limits of this vision, the article calls for a revival of the post-9/11 domestic movement against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The author teaches US history at the New School and wrote Our Grief Is Not a Cry for War: The Movement to Stop the War on Terror (U. of Chicago Press, 2025).
“Imperial Decline in the Straits of Hormuz: The Iran War as America’s Very Own Suez Crisis”
By Alfred McCoy, TomDispatch, posted March 15
Likens the current state of the US-Israeli war on Iron to the 1956 Suez crisis, in which Egypt, whose military was no match for the combined forces of Britain, France, and Israel, turned defeat into victory by blocking the Suez Canal. The author teaches US history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The most recent of his books is Cold War on Five Continents: A Global History of Empire and Espionage (Haymarket Books, 2025).
By Peter Kuznick and Ivana Nikolić Hughes, antiwar.com, posted March 13
Warns that “with Trump breaking every taboo domestically and internationally, the ultimate taboo waiting to be broken is the nuclear one.” Ivana Nikolić Hughes is president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation; Peter Kuznick teaches history at American University and is director of the Nuclear Studies Institute there.
“‘The Horror! The Horror!’ Colonial Nostalgia and Aryan Reliability”
By Juan Cole, TomDispatch, posted March 12
Challenges the Trump administration’s contempt for a “declining” Europe due to immigration and likens the implicit white nationalism of the new National Security Strategy to racist thought in the European far right, including Nazism. The author teaches Middle East history at the University of Michigan.
“The Fight for Palestine in Higher Education Continues, Despite Institutional Backlash”
By Owen Jakel, The Progressive, posted March 12
Largely about the controversy in the American Historical Association over resolutions that were vetoed by the AHA Council, with extensive quotes from resolution supporters Barbara Weinstein and Sherene Seikaly. The author is a recent intern at The Progressive.
“How Trump’s War in Iran Has Echoes of Putin in Ukraine”
By Anton Troianovsky, New York Times, posted March 8
“Shifting objectives, an exaggerated threat, and ambiguous mission: The many Russian echoes in the White House’s messaging on Iran underscore the risks of a vaguely defined, open-ended war in which the attacking party pins its hope on regime change.” The author is a Soviet-born American journalist who writes about world affairs for the New York Times.
“International Law Needs International Enforcement”
By Lawrence S. Wittner, Z, posted March 8
“Donald Trump’s war of choice in the Middle East is but the latest indication that the system of international law―which provides guidelines for the behavior of nations in world affairs―is crumbling.” Briefly discusses possible ways to strengthen international accountability. The author is a professor emeritus of history at SUNY Albany.
“Trump, at War with a Shiite Country, Knows Nothing of Martyrdom or Apocalyptic Hope”
By Juan Cole, Informed Comment, posted March 7
A short primer on the Shia branch of Islam and its relation to the current war. Shiites “have a distinctive moral style…. For Shiites, steadfastness in a cause unto martyrdom is noble.” The author teaches Middle East history at the University of Michigan, and among his books is Sacred Space and Holy War: The Politics, Culture, and History of Shi’ite Islam (2002).
“From Mogadishu to Minneapolis”
By Elizabeth Schmidt, Africa Is a Country, posted March 6
“The Trump administration’s crackdown on Somalis in Minnesota ignores a longer history: decades of US intervention that helped produce the violence and displacement Somalis fled.” The author is a professor emeritus of history at Loyola University Maryland and vice-president of the African Studies Association.
Thanks to Rusti Eisenberg and an anonymous reader for suggesting articles included in the above list, and to Roger Peace for valuable consultation on articles being considered. Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.