There's No There There

This is Murray Polner's blog. Polner, who writes book reviews for HNN, is the author of “No Victory Parades: The Return of the Vietnam Veteran” and “When Can We Come Home? A Debate on Amnesty for Exiles, Anti-War Prisoners and Others.”

• 
  Jul 20, 2017 3:08 pm
  

  "Kill Jpan" or My High School Life During WWII

  by Murray Polner

  What life was like for a student at Tilden High School in Brownsville.
  

• 
  Jul 3, 2017 4:45 pm
  

  We Really Could Use Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev Now

  by Murray Polner

  Respect or trust Putin or not, we may need Russia one day to help resolve dangerous crises.
  

• 
  Jun 11, 2017 11:54 am
  

  You Can Say Anything You Want, but ...

  by Murray Polner

  In big-time sports, free speech has its limits.
  

• 
  Apr 23, 2017 11:43 am
  

  Nuclear War Anyone?

  by Murray Polner

  The certain outcome of a war against North Korea would mean leaving Pyongyang and Seoul in ashes and millions dead including U.S. troops.
  

• 
  Apr 7, 2017 10:04 am
  

  The Road to Success: Bombs, Missiles, Maybe Even Boots on the Ground

  by Murray Polner

  Domestic politics are hard, foreign affairs sexier.
  

• 
  Mar 14, 2017 11:08 am
  

  On Obama's Failure to Reshape US Foreign Policy

  by Murray Polner

  I wrote this in early 2010 for The American Conservative, an anti-neocon  magazine. Trump is simply awful but before Obama starts writing his memoirs, I want to remember him as I saw him then and continue seeing him as a failure in reshaping the way we conduct foreign affairs and continue our endless, pointless wars.
  
  

• 
  Feb 23, 2017 10:48 am
  

  A Nuclear War?

  by Murray Polner

  A nuclear war between Russia and the U.S. is still possible.
  
  

• 
  Feb 10, 2017 12:02 pm
  

  Whose Kids Are Ready to Fight and Die for Kiev and Tallinn?

  by Murray Polner

  "What we need is realism: To use powers we have, without pretending to powers that we lack."
  

• 
  Jan 28, 2017 3:56 pm
  

  Blacklists

  by Murray Polner

  "A mean wind is blowing"--David Brooks, NY Times columnist.
  

• 
  Jan 20, 2017 11:32 am
  

  They Stood Their Ground Against War

  by Murray Polner

  The case for a foreign policy "based not on preparing for war but on avoiding it."
  
  

• 
  Jan 8, 2017 6:26 pm
  

  American Civil Obedience: Patriotically Accepting War

  by Murray Polner

  Who, asks Stephen Kinzer in "The True Flag," gave the U.S. the right to make decisions for the rest of the world? 
  

• Dec 29, 2016 4:49 pm
  

  Has Obama "Betrayed " israel at the UN?

  by Murray Polner

  Henry Siegman's Guest Blog
  
  

• 
  Dec 12, 2016 12:54 pm
  

  An Election John Wayne Would Have Liked

  by Murray Polner

  About John Wayne and Trump's voters, there's a striking parallel.
  
  

• 
  Nov 11, 2016 3:11 pm
  

  Trumpism: At Home & Abroad

  by Murray Polner

  Can the Democratic Party become the party of working people again?
  
  

• 
  Oct 16, 2016 10:15 am
  

  Losing Our Souls or Why the New Cold War Will Be Worse than the Old Cold War

  by Murray Polner

  "For the first time in the history of the U.S. it could be almost destroyed and most of its people killed in a matter of minutes by weapons against which we have no effective defense."
  

• 
  Sep 22, 2016 11:54 am
  

  Smith, Snowden, Manning, Kaepernick & Moral Courage

  by Murray Polner

  So anyone for a host of Obama pardons before he leaves office?
  
  

• 
  Jul 29, 2016 10:41 am
  

  SHOW BIZ, or Thoughts About Our Two Conventions

  by Murray Polner

  Foreign policy and our 13-year war was barely mentioned.
  
  

• 
  Jul 4, 2016 11:24 am
  

  The NY Times: Smarter and Better

  by Murray Polner

  "Who and Where is My Enemy?"
  
  

• 
  Jun 2, 2016 10:34 am
  

  Those Fabulous Sixties

  by Murray Polner

  "1968 crushed the idealism of the Democratic Party." -- Theodore White
  
  

• 
  May 12, 2016 10:07 am
  

  In War We Trust, Even If It's Nuclear?

  by Murray Polner

  "A misreading of this man [Putin] could have catastrophic consequences." -- Bulletin of Atomic Scientists