How NATO Proponents are Railroading Truth

By Jonathan Michael Feldman, April 2, 2022 On April 1, 2022, Dagens Nyheter published this editorial: “The arguments of NATO opponents do not stand up to reality.” The editorial points out that “Sweden has not been alliance-free for a long time. Non-aligned countries do not allow US troops to practice on their territory, nor do…

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Stockholm Syndrome 2022: The Faustian Bargain of Left Militarism in Ukraine

By Jonathan Michael Feldman, March 22, 2022, Updated March 23 and March 25, 2022 This essay reviews some of the left militarist arguments for weapons shipments to Ukraine.  Based on the Swedish case, I hypothesize that these arguments come from a lack of understanding about the logic of militarism. Priority number 1 is to end…

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Don’t Like NAZIS in Ukraine? This serious problem is used to displace other concerns, e.g. threats to Jews in countries like Sweden or Russian aerial bombardment

By Jonathan M. Feldman, March 20, 2022 The Azov batalian is used to equate Ukraine with Nazis. Yet, the story of Ukraine is far more complicated. Some of Ukraine’s Nazi problem even comes from Sweden: The Azov battalion “has drawn far-right volunteers from abroad, such as Mikael Skillt, a 37-year-old Swede, trained as a sniper…

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Dagens Arena’s Pro-NATO Article by Mats Åberg: A Brief Critique

By Jonathan Michael Feldman, March 14, 2022 The article, “Dags att bita i det sura äpplet,” written by Mats Åberg advocating Swedish NATO membership in Dagens Arena, published March 14, 2022, is quite unfortunate. It ignores numerous facts and realities. First, it follows the logic of the “magical mantra” in which any Swedish move is…

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NATO Logic or Magical Mantras? A Critique of Gunnar Hökmark’s Swedish NATO Appeal

By Jonathan Michael Feldman, March 11, 2022 Russia is engaged in a hideous and immoral war. There’s no point in excusing Russia or being a “useful idiot” for Russian militarism. Yet, there is a point in understanding Russia’s security logic and how it’s not that different from those who want to join NATO or Swedish…

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Sweden’s Military Transfer to Ukraine for Beginners

This mural, a fossil and highpoint of Sweden’s anti-militarist culture, was unveiled at the Östermalmstorg subway station in 1965. One key slogan engraved in concrete says, “Down with weapons.” It is obvious that on the question of war the Marxist tradition presents neither unity nor clarity. One point was common to all the Marxist trends:…

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Mutually Assured Paranoia in the Ukraine Crisis: The Failures of Elite Planning

By Jonathan Michael Feldman, February 24, 2022 The Ecological Mobilization that Wasn’t to the War Mobilization that Is: Mutually Assured Paranoia A systemic ecological mobilization at a fast pace, with necessary sacrifices, has been needed to avoid further climate catastrophes. Today wehave mobilization for war based on militarist managerialism. As various nations attempt to shift…

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The Prelude to the Ukraine Crisis: Military Managerialism and the Limits to the Institutional Discourse

By Jonathan Michael Feldman, February 20, 2022, Revised February 22, 2022 What is Military Managerialism? Military managerialism is a principle described by thinkers like C. Wright Mills and Seymour Melman, two Columbia University professors who were among the leading anti-militarist intellectuals in the United States. The principle of military managerialism suggests that bureaucracies are based…

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