Kipling, the ‘White Man’s Burden,’ and U.S. Imperialism
by John Bellamy Foster and Robert W. McChesney (Nov 01, 2003) photo above: The Moro Massacre (March 9, 1906): Phillipines – emblematic of the real meaning of “the white man’s burden” WN: The “white man’s burden” has ever been the white man’s horror, or the white man’s alibi, or the white man’s curse, or the […]
Was America Great When It Burned Native American Babies? (Audio and Transcript) – Truthdig
Posted initially on Aug 5, 2016 Interview by Truthdig Editor in Chief Robert Scheer “Benjamin Madley1 has changed the conversation on genocide and American Indians. After An American Genocide, it will no longer be possible to debate whether or not genocide took place. Instead we will need to confront the questions of how and why […]
Captain America; The Armageddon Factor (Two Reviews Together)
Captain America and the Crusade Against Evil: The Dilemma of Zealous Nationalism, Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003, 392 pp.; The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada, Marci McDonald, Random House Canada, 2010, 419 pp. Most of us would rather not know the truth about “things”; especially the […]
The Great Sumas Lake Heist: A Guilty Little Secret in Plain Sight
Sumas Lake until a century ago covered about 10% of the Fraser Valley’s fertile farmland. Then it was ‘disappeared.’ Whatever happened? And what to do about it? NOTE: There are several footnotes that add related material to the article, that for some may be of interest. NOTE 2:It was exactly a year ago that the […]
The Mumbai Bombs, July 2006
July 12, 2006 Dear Editor: Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Peter MacKay predictably was the pot that called the kettle black in (otherwise legitimately) condemning the bombing horror in Mumbai this week. Last July Prime Minister Tony Blair likewise as hypocritically called the London bombings “barbaric attacks.” On September 1, 1939, President Roosevelt similarly wrote […]
Commentary on: “The Invention of Thanksgiving”
By Philip Deloria November 18, 2019 image above: The Indians who joined the mistrustful Pilgrims, Wampanoag tradition suggests, were honoring a mutual-defense pact. Illustration by Rui Tenreiro WN: If the article highlighted below shocks the reader, I suggest gently that you have grown up on a different planet . . . It is a story […]
Love on a human scale: The Gospel according to Ivan Illich – Review by Marcus Peter Rempel
Every now and then a book comes into my life that puts me in a happy dilemma: I want to lend it to all my friends, but I don’t want it to leave my house. Ivan Illich: An Intellectual Journey is a labour of love by Illich’s long-time friend and co-conspirator, David Cayley. At 552 […]
Legacy of Shame:
October 19, 2021 by Kenn Orphan photo above: Photograph Source: Reagan White House Photographs – Public Domain WN: Saint Augustine recounts this story of Empire: The king asked the fellow, “What is your idea, in infesting the sea?” And the pirate answered, with uninhibited insolence, “the same as yours, in infesting the earth! But because […]
How America Fractured Into Four Parts
By George Packer July/August 2021 Issue The Atlantic image above: Lucy Jones WN: Wow! The essay is stunning as it is brilliant. At least read my excerpts below. Better though, purchase the book it is excerpted/adapted from: Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal. It challenges understanding about America’s past and present place in […]
9/11 was a test:
Essay by Carlos Lozada Illustration above: by Patrik Svensson Sept. 3, 2021 [pullquote]. . . the official response to 9/11 unleashed some of its worst qualities: deception, brutality, arrogance, ignorance, delusion, overreach and carelessness.[/pullquote]WN: Below are excerpts from an outstanding essay by a Pulitzer Prizer winner for criticism in 2019. But the last lines, though […]
Empire or Humanity?
By Howard Zinn Posted on August 15, 2021 image above from the Movie Poster: The Fall of the American Empire WN: A character in the movie highlighted says: “That’s what destroyed the United States: money.” Now greed, fear and power—these three–remain for every empire known to humanity. But the greatest of these is Greed. And […]
Bomber Biden Sends in B-52 Bombers in a Tantrum over Taliban Advance
August 12, 2021 by Dave Lindorff photo above: AC-130 Spectre gunship rains random death from the sky in the name of America (US Air Force photo) WN: So much for “Mr. Nice Guy Biden”–who is just one more of a long line of Presidential mass murderers. The West fawns over his repeated–indeed admirable–rising above personal […]
This Is Why America Needs Catholicism
By Matthew Walther Mr. Walther is the editor of The Lamp, a Catholic literary journal, and a contributing editor at The American Conservative. image above: Vartika Sharma WN: Cogently presented and inspiring. Amen! excerpts: When I began reading through the archives of Triumph several years ago, I found these arguments striking. This was not because […]
Gospel as Counter-Narrative to Empire
SEARCH and ARCHIVES options are at the bottom of all website pages. The website is dedicated to: The Gospel as Counter-Narrative to Empire. More on Empire below. PLEASE NOTE: the Sitemap. There is also a list of all Book Reviews separately, and alongside each post. You may search the Blog too. Please consider […]
Opinion: It’s ‘The Code’ of the NHL, and it has no cure for stupid
Opinion by Ken Dryden May 27, 2021 photo above: Toronto center John Tavares is taken from the ice on a stretcher on May 20 after being injured during Game 1 of the Maple Leafs’ first-round playoff series against Montreal. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP) Ken Dryden, a former goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens and […]
Everyone Belongs to God
Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt. Foreword by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Plough Publishing House, 2015. Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt (1842–1919) was born in Möttlingen, Germany, at the very time his father, Johann Christoph Blumhardt, was engaged in the amazing events recounted in Plough’s book The Awakening. The younger Blumhardt was raised in an atmosphere of the reality of the presence […]
On Some Bad House Manager Language
February 12, 2021 by Paul Street photo above: Backbone Campaign – CC BY 2. WN: The highlighted article is a succinct dismantling of any notion that the United States is a democracy. We Canadians and other democracies are plagued by some of the same issues. But the so-claimed “oldest democracy” was never intended to be, […]
Jesus Was a Victim of Empire. Acknowledging This Should Transform Christianity.
Jesus Was a Victim of Empire. Acknowledging This Should Transform Christianity. By Christine Mungai, Truthout Part of the Series: Religion’s Role in the Struggle for Justice December 16, 2020 photo above: howafrica.com WN: This is the central theme of this website! A significant portion of what follows is from the previous highlighted part. There is […]
Washington Post Publishes Names and Details of 1,400 Civilians Killed in US-Led Bombings of ISIS
Washington Post Publishes Names and Details of 1,400 Civilians Killed in US-Led Bombings of ISIS By Brett Wilkins / Common Dreams (11/19/2020) November 20, 2020 WN: “Collateral damage” has always meant huge numbers of civilians–aged and young, noncombatants of both sexes, etc.–indiscriminately slaughtered during U.S. drone strikes and other bombings the world over. American military […]
Book Review of Christianity and Pluralism, Ron Dart and J. I. Packer, Lexham Press, 2019; 70 pages
Book Review of Christianity and Pluralism, Ron Dart and J. I. Packer, Lexham Press, 2019; 70 pages WN: This brief missive offers much to consider and chew on. excerpts: In this reviewer’s experience, there is none so fundamentalist as one who has grown to reject what once was held near and dear. (Not of course, […]
Saying Goodbye to Sam
Oct 28, 2019 Opinion | TD originals sketch above: Mr. Fish / Truthdig Chris Hedges Columnist Chris Hedges is a Truthdig columnist, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, a New York Times best-selling author, a professor in the college degree program offered to New Jersey state prisoners by Rutgers… And so much more! WN: Chris Hedges is […]
Imperialist Made Crisis of Migrants and Refugees
For the last 18 years, since the new era of war and occupation began, there has been no end to the war, violence, and economic devastation imposed on people around the world by imperialist governments like the U.S., Canada, and the countries of the European Union Published on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 by Common Dreams […]
Christchurch, the White Victim Complex and Savage Capitalism
Christchurch, the White Victim Complex and Savage Capitalism March 15, 2019 by Ben Debney drawing by Nathaniel St. Clair WN: There is much on “savage capitalism” on this website. This expression likely references Rudyard Kipling’s famous line “The savage wars of peace” from his classic pro-American Empire poem: “The White Man’s Burden: The United States […]
Anti-Semitic Violence Erupts in America
Anti-Semitic Violence Erupts in America By Joseph Kishore October 29, 2018 photo above: Reaction to anti-Semitic violence in Pittsburg, October 2018 WN: World News Daily Information Clearing House tends towards right wing distortion. But it carries as well great analysis such as that highlighted below. excerpts: Eleven people were killed in the slaughter in Pittsburgh, […]
Obama’s Imperial Presidency
September 14, 2018 by Carl Boggs photo above: The U.S. Army | CC BY 2.0 WN: It is astounding that Obama (no less Hillary Clinton) was through and through a warmonger on a grand scale exceeding both Bushes, and far more so far than Trump. This is laid out in the article below. Obama is […]
How Israel Spies on US Citizens
A never-shown Al Jazeera documentary on the pro-Israel lobby in the United States reveals possibly illegal Israeli spying on American citizens, and the lobby’s fear of a changing political mood. By Alain Gresh August 31, 2018 photo above: Kids play next to an Israeli flag near the Israel-Syria border at the occupied Golan Heights in […]
Reckoning With John McCain
Respecting the best of McCain requires grappling with the rest of McCain. By Timothy Patrick McCarthy Twitter August 27, 2018 photo above: John McCain in 2007. (Dennis Van Tine / MediaPunch / IPX) WN: In my view, the article highlighted below is a respectful, balanced assessment of Senator McCain, when seen through the lenses of […]
The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism
The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, and Capitalism in 17th Century North America and the Caribbean August 24, 2018 Slavery and the Origins of Capitalism by Louis Proyect WN: I wrote the following in introduction to a book similar in its findings about 19th-century American capitalism to 17th-century colonial capitalism, entitled The Half Has Never […]
How Martin Luther Paved the Way for Donald Trump
To understand why evangelicals support the president, look to the first Protestant. By Michael Massing April 19, 2018 illustration above by Sabine Formane WN: This article draws a fascinating direct line from Martin Luther in the early 16th century to Donald Trump in the 21st. There is likewise a fascinating/tragic direct line to be drawn […]
The Jesus Revolution is a long way from finished
Sermon by Bruce Hiebert Langley (British Columbia) Mennonite Fellowship 26 November 2017 Text: Matthew 25:31-46 WN: My scholar friend Bruce Hiebert is ever willing to challenge and provoke. No less in the sermon highlighted below. In response to my response to it, he wrote: “I’m glad you enjoyed the sermon. I never know quite how […]
For the US and Its Allies, the Road to Tehran Runs Through Damascus and Southern Lebanon
JULY 5, 2017 by JOHN WIGHT WN: The image above presents Trump, now de facto leader of the Western world, as Planet Enemy Number One. This rings true again in light of the article highlighted below. I have written that claim several times. (Now, how do we Christians “love” this leading Planet Enemy? OK: this […]
Worried About Those Global Cyber Attacks? They Were Started by Washington
Worried About Those Global Cyber Attacks? They Were Started by Washington The notorious US spy agencies invented this monster, first with the Stuxnet virus against Iran—but then they lost control over it. By William Greider JUNE 30, 2017 WN: Of course, the United States has never been the “peacekeeper that upholds the world’s higher values”, as […]
Obama: a Hollow Man Filled With Ruling Class Ideas
Obama: a Hollow Man Filled With Ruling Class Ideas JUNE 2, 2017 by PAUL STREET WN: The review below of the recent massive biography of Barack Obama is scathing with reference to Obama’s supreme narcissism (matching Trump’s one could argue, though not in constant bombast). Paul Street powerfully demonstrates how Obama, in a long line […]
Ajamu Baraka, “Uncle Tom,” and the Pathology of White Liberal Racism
AUGUST 24, 2016 by ERIC DRAITSER WN: White Supremacy has many disguised faces. One is “white liberal”, worn by those who supported a Black President because it is the “liberal thing” to be anti-racist, and who smugly know they do the right thing: end of all discourse. But the issue is far deeper – and […]
“Born Again” in Deir Nidham: Against the Illegal Military Occupation, from a Black-American Prophetic Christian Perspective Jadaliyya
by Taurean J. Webb (a FOSNA Board member) Tactics of Racial Supremacy photo above: A checkpoint in the Israeli Barrier in the West Bank, near Abu Dis. Photo taken by Justin McIntosh, uploaded via Wikimedia Commons an excerpt: There is a voice emerging from the prophetic Black Christian faith tradition, called to speak directly against the […]
‘Either We Destroy War or It Will Destroy Us’: Happy Birthday, Philip Berrigan
Published on Wednesday, October 05, 2016 by Common Dreams | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community photo above: The Plowshares Movement during the 1997 action at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. From left to right: Susan Crane, Steve Kelley, Philip Berrigan, Mark Colville, Steve Baggarly, and Tom Lewis-Borbely. (Photo […]
Empire’s Religion: Arundhati Roy Confronts the Tyranny of the Free Market
Published on Thursday, September 15, 2016 by Common Dreams by Jake Johnson photo above: ‘Whether she is writing of Kashmir or of the Palestinians, of American foreign policy or of terror in the Middle East, of environmental degradation or of the threat posed by nuclear proliferation, [author and activist Arundhati] Roy,’ writes Johnson, ‘maintains a […]
Best of TomDispatch: Andrew Bacevich, Pentagon, Inc. | TomDispatch
photo above from this story Cow Most Sacred Why Military Spending Remains Untouchable By Andrew J. Bacevich introduction to piece: A writer who dares to revisit a snarky article dashed off five-plus years earlier will necessarily approach the task with some trepidation. Pieces such as the one republished below are not drafted with the expectation […]
Beyond Dallas and Orlando, a Global Arc of Violence
Thursday, 14 July 2016 00:00 By Michelle Chen, Truthout | Op-Ed photo above: Motorcycle officers in a motorcade escort for the coffin of Dallas police officer Lorne Ahrens, one of the five victims of the gunman-involved shooting that took place at an otherwise peaceful protest, after funeral services at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, […]
The Iraq War, Brexit and Imperial Blowback
Wednesday, 06 July 2016 00:00 By Nadine El-Enany, Truthout | Op-Ed image above: Lauren Walker / Truthout an excerpt: Brexit is not only nostalgia for empire — it is also the fruit of empire. Britain is reaping what it sowed. The legacies of British imperialism have never been addressed, including that of racism. British colonial […]
Cornel West and the Fight to Save the Black Prophetic Tradition
Monday, 09 September 2013 09:17 By Chris Hedges, TruthDig | Report photo above: Cornel West. (Photo: TIA / Flickr). an excerpt: There is an insidious and largely unseen effort by the White House to silence the handful of voices that remain true to the black prophetic tradition. This tradition, which stretches back to Sojourner Truth […]
The London Bombs, July 2005
By Wayne Northey July 9, 2005 Dear Editor: Prime Minister Tony Blair hypocritically called the London bombings “barbaric attacks.” On September 1, 1939, President Roosevelt similarly wrote to the major powers that aerial bombing of civilians had “profoundly shocked the conscience of humanity” and was “inhuman barbarism.” He later as disingenuously referred to the December 7, 1941 […]
The War Prayer
By Mark Twain WN: It is a quite powerful piece. Read it in its entirety. It may be found online as well here. Under Teddy Roosevelt (later President), the Americans “pacified” (read liquidated) thousands of soldiers and as many as 200,000 civilians. (See here, and here.) Please click on: The War Prayer
No Future Without Forgiveness
WN: Desmond Mpilo Tutu, New York: Doubleday, 1999, 294 pp. I wrote this review several years ago. Some felt I was too “harsh” about the “lacuna” of Tutu’s not having addressed American imperialism as worldwide apartheid. That it is such is not in doubt. That for instance Martin Luther King Jr. addressed it and was […]