War Is a Lie by David Swanson

By David Swanson

Syria All Wrong and Backwards

In the park today I saw a teenager watching two little kids, one of whom apparently stole a piece of candy from the other. The teenager rushed up to the two of them, reprimanded one of them, and stole both of their bicycles. I felt like it was my turn to step in at that point, and I confronted the bicycle thief. “Excuse me,” I said, “what makes you think you can commit a larger crime just because you witnessed a smaller one? Who do you think you are?” He stared at me for a while, and replied: “the U.S. military.”

There is no crime larger than war.

Questioning Everything

Editor’s Note: We at Tikkun are committed to building a world of love, kindness, generosity, environmental sanity, economic and political justice, and awe and wonder at the grandeur of the universe. Yet we know how easy it is for people to fall into narrow frames of thought when trying to develop strategies and tactics in our efforts to build such a world. So we present here some thoughts on why it is very important to keep open to questioning everything, even though we do not really question the value of seeking these goals: The Caring World: Caring for Each Other and Caring for the Earth. We are also aware of how the important injunction to “question everything” can become a way of excusing passivity at a time when action on behalf of tikkun (healing, repair and transformation of our world) is so badly needed. So we have to also question the validity of questioning everything–because that too can become a paralyzing ideology that leads to conformity, passivity, and ethical breakdown.

What the Media isn’t Telling You About North Korea Missile Tests

[Editor’s Note: We Americans have barely a clue about the mischief the U.S. military has been up to for most of the past decades. It has often been provocative when it hasn’t gone the full length of military interventions, sometimes carefully hidden to the U.S. public. On the other hand, we have no sympathy for the repressive regime in North Korea, which in comparison makes the U.S. regime look almost humane. But before thinking that maybe the U.S. is motivated by good values, remember the massive U.S. sales of arms to Saudi Arabia while it continues its near genocidal war against Yemen, and its attempts to build a justification for a future intervention in Venezuela–and these were both part of U.S. policy under Obama.–Rabbi Michael Lerner]

9/4: What the Media isn’t Telling You About North Korea’s Missile Tests

By Mike Whitney

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/09/04/what-the-media-isnt-telling-you-about-north-koreas-missile-tests/

September 04, 2017 “Information Clearing House” –  Here’s what the media isn’t telling you about North Korea’s recent missile tests. Last Monday, the DPRK fired a Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan’s Hokkaido Island.

Readers Respond: Letters from Summer 2013

A NOTE ON LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:

We welcome your responses to our articles. Send your letters to the editor to letters@tikkun.org. Please remember, however, not to attribute to Tikkun views other than those expressed in our editorials. We email, post, and print many articles with which we have strong disagreements, because that is what makes Tikkun a location for a true diversity of ideas. Tikkun reserves the right to edit your letters to fit available space in the magazine.

Readers Respond: Letters from Winter 2011

Letters to the editor on JFK’s Vietnam Withdrawal, How to Achieve Tikkun Olam, Why Gays Deserve Equal Rights, JFK Assassination, Assassination and Israel, JFK’s Courage, Obama’s Frustration and Courage, Pursuing Change, New Zionism and Peace, A Spiritual Progressive Party, Violence and Peace, Science and Spirit, Party Loyalty and Change, Iranophobia, Negativity Regarding Israel, Disillusionment with the Democrats, and more!