{ 6 comments }

Richard E. Rubenstein

Students of war psychology are familiar with a process in which public opinion moves by stages from a position of indifference or opposition to a war to one of passionate partisanship and active involvement in the military struggle.  A key element in this movement is the accusation that a hostile power is committing war crimes and atrocities against civilians – particularly women and children. 

The accusations often contain considerable truth, since most wars are far more indiscriminate than “surgical” in their effects. There is no doubt that Russian activities in Ukraine have taken too many civilian lives. But war crimes charges tend also to be exaggerated. The United States entered World War I in 1917 in part … read more...

{ 12 comments }

STOP THE UKRAINE WAR — NOW!

Richard E. Rubenstein

The war in Ukraine can must be stopped now, before more Ukrainians or Russians are killed and maimed, by declaring a ceasefire and then negotiating a peace accord.  Ending the rocket attacks is not “rocket science.”  The Russians can halt troop movements toward Kiev and other major cities, stop air and ground bombardments, and suspend further troop mobilizations and shipments of weapons into Ukraine. The Ukrainians can stop attacking Russian troops, and the members of NATO can cease shipping weapons to Ukrainian forces.  Economic sanctions against the Russians by the U.S. and Europe can be suspended pending a successful peace negotiation.   

In fact, this almost certainly describes how the conflict will … read more...

{ 6 comments }

Friends, over the past three years I have not posted many articles on this blog. Sorry about that! Much of my writing has been published either by CounterPunch magazine or by Transcend Media Service (TMS). TMS was established as a “peace journalism” outlet by the Norwegian peacemaker, Johan Galtung, and is currently edited by Antonio Rosa. To see any of my 35 editorials for this journal, please go to https://www.transcend.org/tms/?s=richard+e.+rubenstein. To see my article on Ukraine in CounterPunch, published here, can also be found at https://www.counterpunch.org … read more...

{ 0 comments }

Richard E. Rubenstein

Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine is undoubtedly illegal and immoral.  From the point of view of Russian interests, it is also likely to prove a costly mistake.  The primary question now, however, is what to do about this, and the answers presented thus far by those outraged by the invasion are dangerously counterproductive. 

“Putin must be punished,” the Americans and Europeans insist.  But the forms of punishment now being implemented – severe economic sanctions and military aid to Ukraine – are designed to prolong the military struggle and to cripple the Russian economy, apparently on the theory that Russia’s discontented masses and oligarchs will then replace Putin with a leader more to the West’s liking.  Pardon me, … read more...

{ 0 comments }

There was a time when Washington was not considered to be a sports town. This was, of course, before the Nationals’ rise to baseball immortality, the Capitals’ Stanley Cup and Mystics’ WNBA triumphs, and the brave playoff efforts of D.C. United and the Wizards. Only one team, once the city’s pride, has become a source of civic mortification: the Redskins of the NFL.

In the Greater D.C. area, speculation about the causes of the Skins’ decline has become a regional sport. The crowd’s favorite whipping boy is owner Daniel Snyder, although the team’s managers and players all get a share of rotten apples hurled their way. What fans fail to understand, however, is that the source of the Redskins’ collapse … read more...

{ 1 comment }

The TRANSCEND Press Network published the following article of mine on August 12, 2019:

Richard E. Rubenstein – TRANSCEND Media Service

Presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s criticism of Joe Biden for opposing court-ordered busing of school children in his younger days as a Delaware senator is the latest example of anti-relativism in the sphere of political morality.  Anti-relativist thinking insists that certain values approved by the speaker are constant and unchangeable.  This means that behaviors that we now believe are wrong were always unacceptable, and should always have always been recognized as such.  It often implies that people who committed these wrongs deserve punishment whenever and wherever they are caught, no matter where or when their misbehavior occurred.

Anti-relativism’s opposite, … read more...

{ 2 comments }

I posted the following message today on Facebook:

THANK YOU, MR. TRUMP! THANK YOU FOR NOT BOMBING IRAN! There are reasons, of course, why members of the anti-Trump opposition (a group of which I am a charter member) find it difficult to utter these words. But, for heaven’s sake, let’s congratulate the man when he does the right thing, and encourage him to continue to avoid taking the advice of John Bolton and the Pentagon hawks.

To be sure, the current problem with Iran would not exist if Trump hadn’t pulled America out of the nuclear enrichment deal two years ago. Also, the President clearly does not understand that economic sanctions can be seen, accurately, as existential threats to … read more...

{ 6 comments }

The following article also appears in the TRANSCEND Media Service for the week of April 29, 2019:

Anti-Semitism and Jewish Self-Determination

BY TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 29 Apr 2019

Richard E. Rubenstein – TRANSCEND Media Service

24 Apr 2019 – Once upon a time, what “anti-Semitism” meant seemed fairly clear.  According to Webster-Merriam, the term denotes “hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group.”  Recently, however, things have gotten a good bit foggier.

Earlier this year, for example, New York Times political columnist Roger Cohen asserted that Britain’s Labour Party and its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, were not only critics of the State of Israel, but also anti-Semites.  The key to this argument can be … read more...

{ 6 comments }