Candor
Israeli Arnon Soffer: “We will tell the Palestinians that if a single missile is fired over the fence, we will fire ten in response….when 2.5 million people live in a closed-off Gaza, it’s going to…
Author: Mark J. Chmiel
Dear Layla
Do you Remember The days Of Bert Sacks? Robert Fisk? Fadi Kiblawi?
Change You Can Audaciously Put Your Hope In
From today’s New York Times, on Israel and Gaza… In the campaign, Mr. Obama made statements that sounded similar to those issued by the Bush administration on Saturday. “If somebody was sending rockets into my…
An Israeli Poet
The following poem by Israeli Aharon Shabtai is translated from the Hebrew by Peter Cole. It appears in his aptly entitled collection from New Directions, J’Accuse. “War” I, too, have declared war: You’ll need to…
Journalists (Monitoring Power)
Thought of the day from journalist Robert Fisk from his The Great War for Civilisation: “I suppose, in the end, we journalists try–or should try–to be the first impartial witnesses to history. If we have any…
I Don’t Expect Obama Will Be Quoting This Any Time Soon
“Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose…
Email from Cameroon
Dr. C, Hello! Hope this email finds you well. Classes must be well on its way and I am sure you are enlightening many other students like myself as we speak. I’ve wanted to write…
On War Heroes, Pilots, and Civilians (American Values/1)
Imagine reaction in the United States to the following scenario: An ambitious, tough-talking Russian politician is vying for greater political power and influence. Twenty years ago, he served his country as a pilot in the…
The Buddha Smiles in Hell
A Reflection on Claude Anshin Thomas, At Hell’s Gate: A Soldier’s Journey from War to Peace. Shambhala Publications, 2004. In one of the most fascinating pieces I’ve read on the U.S. war in Iraq, the litany-esque,…
Reflections on “Beautiful Resistance” by Laura Weis
My friend Laura Weis wrote the following about a play we saw together in July in Xavier Hall on SLU’s campus. The playwright and lead actor was Magan WIles, one of my former students and…