Today, as conflicts and bloodshed occur in Ukraine (and Gaza, Syria, and elsewhere), we wonder why in the past century we have advanced so little in our ability to prevent such senseless wars.
“It does not take any courage at all for a Congressman or Senator to wrap himself in the flag and say we are staying in Vietnam,” McGovern said in the Senate, “because it is not their blood that is being shed.”
Understanding the connection between religions and foreign relations requires the same sort of reflection and empirical investigation needed to understand other influences.
"The Israelis, the Palestinians and the world are doomed to relive these periodic slaughters over and over again, until slowly, inexorably, they further corrupt the Israeli soul and make the Zionist enterprise so unlovely in the eyes of the world that it loses crucial support."
With the killing of three Israeli teen-agers and the apparent revenge murder of a Palestinian youth – possibly burned to death – the hatred between Israelis and Palestinian has reached a new level of obscenity.
The first concord between foes of intervention on both left and right was struck a century ago, as President Woodrow Wilson agonized about whether the promotion of U.S. power and ideals required him to lead the country into World War One.
