The website of John C. Snider
While doing a little background research a few weeks ago for my review of The World, the Flesh and the Devil (Harry Belafonte’s provocative 1959 post-nuclear-Armageddon drama), I discovered just how hard it can be sometimes to nail down what was “the first” of something. It turns out that TWTFATD, while a very early cinematic depiction of …
The Atlantic posted a headline today proposing to explain “Why the West’s Diplomacy with Russia Keeps Failing.” This is just one example of recent fatalistic declarations that all is lost with respect to Ukraine and the possibility of a Russian invasion. I confess I don’t understand headlines like this concerning the situation with Ukraine. Diplomacy …
The news out of Afghanistan is shocking, to be sure–but mostly because of the speed of the Taliban reconquest. I don’t know anyone who didn’t think that if the US and our allies exited Afghanistan that the Taliban (or ilk) wouldn’t be in charge eventually. But now it looks like the Taliban will have established …
[Originally posted on November 15, 2007 at AmericanFreethought.com.] Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner is one of the most talked-about books in recent years. Not only is it a heartbreaking story of childhood tragedy, this 2003 novel provides an invaluable insight into the culture of late 20th century Afghanistan—the culture that would trigger 9/11 and plunge the globe into a bitter, and …
[Originally posted in July 2006 at SciFiDimensions.com; re-posted on October 16, 2007 at AmericanFreethought.com. This documentary subsequently won an Academy Award; Al Gore won a Nobel Prize for his work in raising awareness about global warming. I should also point out that when I wrote this review, my views were much more Libertarian and my …
How the Japanese Destroyed Tokyo Themselves and Unwittingly Unleashed a Trans-Pacific Collaboration that Helped Mend US-Japanese Relations The early 1950s was not an easy time to be Japanese, especially if you were trying to please Americans. Despite winning the Pacific War and exacting vengeance by firebombing Tokyo and subjecting Hiroshima and Nagasaki to nuclear annihilation, …