Back in the years of the Vietnam War, Dee Knight worked as an editor for “Amex-Canada,” the journal for U.S. exiles who had moved to Canada in protest against their government’s actions. The publication was an important media outlet for the anti-war movement. His subsequent career has seen him as an outspoken voice against American military aggression and an advocate for anti-war veterans and the peace movement.
A REALISTIC PATH TO PEACE is a collection of essays that investigate America’s involvement in the proxy war with Russia in Ukraine, the new Cold War with China, and Israel’s continued assault on the Palestinian people. This updated edition of the 2023 book includes commentary on current events in Gaza, including a close reading of corporate media’s complicity in obfuscating legitimate evidence of genocidal actions by the Israeli Defense Force.
Knight’s purpose, along with shining a light on past and present violent transgressions, is to offer a potential solution to endless war: a means by which American government figures may find an opportunity for lasting peace at a moment of crisis because, as Knight writes in his introduction, “The Chinese word for ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters, one meaning ‘danger,’ the other meaning ‘opportunity.’”
Knight identifies the continued state of American global conflict to be a direct result of a financial imperative to maintain a status of “endless war.” As he writes: “For U.S. war planners, the Cold War’s end was not enough. It would have been a disaster for the Military-Industrial Complex if its annual bonanza of military profits were ended for lack of enemies.” By Knight’s reckoning, the rampant monetization of military equipment and the industry of war have blocked any logical and reasonable commitment to peaceful solutions. Knight places the problem firmly in the hands of America. He quotes Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia University professor and Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network: “There is only one country whose self-declared fantasy is to be the world’s dominant power,” Sachs continued. “It’s past time the U.S. recognized the true sources of security: internal social cohesion and responsible cooperation with the rest of the world rather than the illusion of hegemony.”
Dee Knight’s A REALISTIC PATH TO PEACE: From Genocide to Global War… and How We Can Stop It is a carefully considered, well-researched, and copiously sourced work. The book is a clarion call to those committed to finding a path to lasting peace.
~Kent Lane for IndieReader