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John Rachel has a B.A. in Philosophy, and has written eight novels and three political non-fiction books. His political articles have appeared at OpEdNews, Russia Insider, The Greanville Post, and other alternative media outlets.
Since leaving the U.S. in 2006, he has lived in and explored 33 countries. He is now somewhat rooted in a traditional, rural Japanese community about an hour from Osaka, where he lives with his wife of five years. Daily he rides his bicycle through the soybean fields and rice paddies which sprawl across the surrounding landscape. As of the date of the release of his most recent book, "The Peace Dividend: The Most Controversial Proposal in the History of the World", he has a small but promising organic vegetable garden which begs his attention.
You can follow his writing and the evolution of his world view at: http://jdrachel.com
"Scribo ergo sum."
(65 comments) SHARE Monday, June 5, 2017 Whack A Mole Activism
The ruling class have us constantly scrambling, in a frenzy, panicked and overwhelmed, confronted by one crisis after another. The reaction by our end of the political spectrum has been short-sighted and fragmented. Disoriented by the sheer number of crises being created, we're never able to mount a unified, coherent counterattack. We work hard but our energies are scattered. We end up with what I call Whack A Mole activism. Series: Effective Progressive Activism (9 Articles, 16121 views)
(67 comments) SHARE Wednesday, September 30, 2015 Oratory as a Weapon of Mass Deception
You can pretty much tape a copy of Obama's speech at the U.N. this week to the wall, throw darts at it, and end up 9 times out of 10 hitting a half-truth, outright lie, or manipulative mangling of reality. I won't even try to cover everything which puts this in the all-time Top 10 for gross misuse of oratorical gifts and abuse of the powerful platform he is accorded as president.
(44 comments) SHARE Tuesday, December 4, 2018 Julian Assange: Could 50,000 People Provide a Human Corridor?
Julian Assange should be getting a Nobel Prize, not being persecuted.
What can we do to save this courageous, heroic man?
Can we get 50,000 people to show up at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to provide him a "human corridor" to escape to another embassy? They can't arrest or kill 50,000 people.
(186 comments) SHARE Sunday, May 21, 2017 Public Shaming
If our current congressman can't step up to the plate and play their very best game for the home team, they should be shamed, booed, reviled, scorned, humiliated, burned in effigy! Let them stew in the cauldron of the bad publicity they heap on themselves, then rot in a big foul steaming pile of their own wickedness, after we haul the garbage to the dump! They have no shame of their own, so we'll to bring it to them ourselves. Series: Effective Progressive Activism (9 Articles, 16121 views)
(84 comments) SHARE Monday, June 12, 2017 No Candidate Contract No Vote
Our democracy is in the middle of an existential crisis. That hardly suggests we should turn to those who have been participating in, often instrumental in engineering the mess, to see what their latest bright ideas are. In fact, it demands some fresh blood, some fresh thinking, some fresh ideas! Thus we need to clean house in Washington DC. That's what the candidate contract is intended to do. Series: Effective Progressive Activism (9 Articles, 16121 views)
(10 comments) SHARE Tuesday, May 12, 2015 The Horror and the Shame
The ongoing campaign of Russia hating and demonizing of Vladimir Putin is a product of grotesque callousness, double standards, horrifying miscalculations, ignorance of history, and delusions of world conquest by psychopaths embedded in our foreign policy institutions, including many highly respected Beltway think tanks. This idiocy has the potential to terminate human life on the planet.
(65 comments) SHARE Friday, October 22, 2021 What is the Peace Dividend strategy?
The Peace Dividend strategy is a practical plan for achieving a very specific goal. That goal is regime change in Washington DC, i.e. replacing the pro-war, pro-Wall Street, anti-democratic, power-drunk megalomaniacs now in control, with individuals who reflect the real values and priorities of real people living real lives. It's getting rid of the lapdogs and liars and electing honest individuals who will serve the people.
(9 comments) SHARE Sunday, April 26, 2015 Give Peace A Chance
America thinks it can bluster and bluff and use color revolutions to nudge Putin out of office and install some bloated puppet in his place like they did with Poroshenko in Ukraine. Russia is not Zimbabwe, Iraq, or Yemen. It's not Grenada or Haiti. Russia is not going to be intimidated by a schoolyard bully. America's aggression and infantile games can only end badly. Time for it to reverse course and cut its losses.
(11 comments) SHARE Tuesday, April 7, 2015 Billionaire Club
How much is a billion dollars? If you were to spend $10,000 a day, it would take 274 years to go through a billion dollars. There are more than 43 million Americans living below the poverty line. Wealth inequality as a vital issue seems to be being crowded out of the national conversation by the latest catastrophes du jour. Since it undermines the entire premise of our democracy, we must keep it in the forefront of public deba
(11 comments) SHARE Tuesday, July 23, 2019 Book Review: "The Plot to Overthrow Venezuela: How the US is Orchestrating a Coup for Oil" by Dan Kovalik
The thought-provoking Plot to Overthrow Venezuela by Ron Kovalik is extremely well-written, with a clarity, accessibility, and erudition which puts it in a class with the best works of Noam Chomsky. The Foreword by Oliver Stone is a worthy and deserving way to get things started. It's a must-read to fully understand the crisis in Venezuela as one component of the U.S. strategy of creating chaos and division across the globe.
(69 comments) SHARE Wednesday, September 22, 2021 The Never Ending Cycle of Nuclear Insanity
Amidst all of the sensible and sane cries to eliminate nuclear weapons, we are caught in a self-sustaining, self-reinforcing feedback loop. Call it the Death Spiral of Human Annihilation. It's up to us to end this madness! Both the U.S. as a nation and the U.S. as citizens. There's no passing the buck here, not when the survival of life on Earth is at stake.
(10 comments) SHARE Thursday, May 28, 2015 Joe Biden Authorizes Russian Military Bases in Cuba
Vice-President Joe Biden established a new global foreign policy precedent. He announced st the Brookings Institute that the U.S. would not recognize any nation having a sphere of influence. This has some interesting implications, to be sure.
(23 comments) SHARE Thursday, June 6, 2019 The Hands-Down Ultimate Super-Bowl of Showdowns!
You know how on the last page of a book it says, 'The End'. Then you put the book down and life pretty much goes on like normal, except either you need to return the book to the library or take it down to a used book store and get a couple bucks for it. Well, this time we really mean it. So pay attention!
(10 comments) SHARE Saturday, December 31, 2016 The Red White and Blue Color Revolution
Let's install democracy in a country now truly desperate for real citizen empowerment and the vast saving graces of representative government, transparency, freedom of the press, respect for human rights -- you know the list, since its trumpeted 24/7 by our propaganda machinery, whether these inspiring and noble ideals have any basis in reality or not. Call it the Red White and Blue Color Revolution!
(18 comments) SHARE Saturday, February 22, 2014 "Throw the bums out!"
Ultimately, the choice is ours. Either we rise up now in a bloodless coup at the polls or we rise up later in the streets. Revolution in the streets will not be bloodless and I suspect it won't end well. Kicking this can down the road is cowardly at best and suicidal at worst.
(55 comments) SHARE Sunday, May 7, 2017 Dealing With A Serial Liar
Serial killers and career politicians are very similar. They both have us at their mercy. They both have the power of life and death over us. They don't play by the same rules as you and I. They are ruthlessly amoral. There is only one way to deal with a serial killer. There is only one way to deal with lying politicians. They must be taken out of circulation, so they can never inflict abuse and suffering on others ever again. Series: Effective Progressive Activism (9 Articles, 16121 views)
(35 comments) SHARE Monday, January 30, 2017 A Nation of Relentless Savagery
We kill efficiently. We kill without remorse. We kill without hesitation. In 2016, the final year in office for our Nobel Peace Prize president, the U.S. dropped 26,171 bombs on seven countries, none of which have attacked America, none of which we are officially at war with. We as citizens pay for this killing. When you file your return on April 15th, recall that this is where a nice chunk of your tax dollars went last year.
(87 comments) SHARE Thursday, September 16, 2021 Paul Craig Roberts Interview: What Are The Prospects For Peace?
Paul Craig Roberts is a widely-renowned political analyst and a familiar contributor here at OEN. He was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy under President Ronald Reagan, associate editor and columnist with the Wall Street Journal, and columnist for Business Week and the Scripps Howard News Service. We are extremely honored that he took the time to talk to us and share his views. Series: What Are The Prospects For Peace? (13 Articles, 16715 views)
(69 comments) SHARE Monday, September 6, 2021 Trust Our Brilliant Leaders? Are You Joking?
There's only one important lesson to learn from Afghanistan. That is that Afghanistan is not an anomaly. It's 100% representative of the incompetence, the malice, the complete idiocy of those in power. The reality is, our record going back seven decades is abysmal! Just countries and battlefields strewn with dead bodies, refugees, depleted uranium, land mines, and rubble. We can't trust these people to get anything right.