Animation fascinates me. Like painters, animators can create images of stunning beauty. Being free from the limitations of human actors or physical locations, animators can also depart from strict realism and create images that are fantastical, metaphorical, or otherwise stylized. Animation’s stylization can allow animated films to deal with darker, more serious topics such as … Continue reading Comprehending Horror through Animation: The Art of the Anti-War Animated Movie
Category: Peace Activism
Act before We Reach “Midnight”: The Need to Seek a Cease-Fire in Ukraine
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists recently announced that they had adjusted their “Doomsday Clock,” a symbolic measure of threats to humanity, to 90 seconds to “midnight”—that is, global catastrophe. This current status is the closest to midnight the Doomsday Clock has been in its 75-odd-year history. This dire prediction, the Bulletin has explained, is … Continue reading Act before We Reach “Midnight”: The Need to Seek a Cease-Fire in Ukraine
Overlooked Conflicts: The Grisly Toll of Ethiopia’s Civil War
Although the war between Ukraine and Russia has dominated the news, other countries have been suffering through their own violent conflicts in recent years. In this and future pieces, I will highlight contemporary wars and other conflicts that are too often overlooked. NOTE: This piece discusses sexual violence and other human rights violations. Ethiopia has … Continue reading Overlooked Conflicts: The Grisly Toll of Ethiopia’s Civil War
The Need for Peacemakers: Two Urgent Dangers That Require a Response
Peacemaking is urgently needed today. Peacemaking is needed in response to a variety of ongoing violent conflicts in the world. I will highlight just two conflicts that my own country, the United States, is currently involved in and that demand particular attention from peacemakers. The first is the ongoing conflict with Russia over Ukraine. The … Continue reading The Need for Peacemakers: Two Urgent Dangers That Require a Response
Stepping Back from the Brink: The Cuban Missile Crisis and Lessons for Today
We are now 60 years away from the Cuban Missile Crisis. The October 1962 confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over Soviet nuclear missiles stationed in Cuba was a moment when the world came perilously close to nuclear war. The episode’s extraordinary danger has understandably made the crisis the subject of much … Continue reading Stepping Back from the Brink: The Cuban Missile Crisis and Lessons for Today
“Sacrificed in the Name of Global Power”: How US Nuclear Policy Harmed Native American Nations
The lethal effects of nuclear weapons in wartime are well known. What is less appreciated is how nuclear weapons can kill and hurt people in other ways, through their production, their testing, and the waste they create. The United States’ creation of its vast nuclear weapons arsenal has harmed many beyond the tens of thousands … Continue reading “Sacrificed in the Name of Global Power”: How US Nuclear Policy Harmed Native American Nations
The Wisdom to Quit While Ahead: The Case for a Cease-Fire in Ukraine
Two dramatic developments have recently changed the now seven-month-long war between Ukraine and Russia. First, the Ukrainians counter-attacked against the Russian military forces occupying eastern regions of their country, re-taking significant territory and inflicting a major defeat on the Russians. Second, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his response to this set-back on September 21. He … Continue reading The Wisdom to Quit While Ahead: The Case for a Cease-Fire in Ukraine
Choosing the Least Bad Option: Restoring the Iran Nuclear Agreement
The United States and Iran have been engaged in negotiations for over a year in an attempt to reach a new agreement meant to curb Iranian nuclear activities.[1] The final form of the agreement has yet to be determined. Whatever is finally agreed on will likely be very imperfect. Even an imperfect agreement is worth … Continue reading Choosing the Least Bad Option: Restoring the Iran Nuclear Agreement
Fallout at Home Base: Nuclear Testing within the United States
The United States conducted the world’s first test of a nuclear weapon in New Mexico on July 16, 1945.[1] The test was followed in August by the use of nuclear weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Although the wartime use of nuclear weapons has mercifully never been repeated since 1945, nuclear testing was repeated. From the … Continue reading Fallout at Home Base: Nuclear Testing within the United States
A Time to End the Killing: The Significance of Ayman al-Zawahiri’s Death
Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor who became the head of al Qaeda, reportedly met his death on July 30. President Joseph Biden announced that Zawahiri had been killed in Kabul, Afghanistan, by a US airstrike.[1] The airstrike may have been carried out with a missile fired by a drone.[2] The US killing of Zawahiri, who … Continue reading A Time to End the Killing: The Significance of Ayman al-Zawahiri’s Death
Peacemaking for Life 