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Oliver Stone: on being 19 in war, and for a county addicted to it

Oliver Stone: on being 19 in war, and for a county addicted to it

The fabled director opens up on Vietnam, as well as the challenges of a free media and speech, today. (VIDEO)

Analysis | Video Section
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In his memoir "Chasing the Light," director Oliver Stone talks about America's angst over Vietnam:

"We were so proud, and then, when we couldn't achieve victory, we had to lie like we all do when we deny what we know is true — that we lost, and lost big-time, and all those technology-loving Pentagon warriors were at last revealed as failures, and those determined little Vietnamese had licked us."

Then why did we not try to avoid the same fate time and again?

In early December, the Quincy Institute, in concert with the Center for War and Society (San Diego State University), hosted Stone at the iconic USS Midway Museum to commemorate, in part, the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. Gregory Daddis, director of the Center for War and Society and professor of military studies, got a chance to ask Stone not only about his own service as an Army infantryman (which later inspired his 1987 film "Platoon"), but about his own frustrations with the cyclical nature of American war-making, right up to Russia-gate, and today's current conflicts.

Watch below:



YouTube/ Quincy Institute

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Analysis | Video Section
On Iran, Spain's Sanchez rises above the bowed heads of Europe
Top photo credit: Madrid, Spain - October 12, 2025: National Day Parade held in Madrid. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez attends the parade with other politicians. (Marta Fernandez Jimenez/Shutterstock)

On Iran, Spain's Sanchez rises above the bowed heads of Europe

Europe

While most European leaders have responded to the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran with condemnations of the Iranian regime and tepid calls for "de-escalation" designed not to offend Washington, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has unequivocally condemned the war on Iran as a breach of international law.

Contrast that with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz who chose to insist at the war’s outset that "this is not the time to lecture our partners and allies" about potential violations of international law.

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Are Kurds really joining US-Israel fight to take down Iran regime?
Top photo credit: Iraq, 2021/10/11. In a secret location in Iraq, Kurdish fighters from Iran are training for combat. Several thousand members of the PDKI have settled in Iraqi Kurdistan to prepare the war against Iran. Photography by Laurent Perpigna Iban / Hans Lucas.

Are Kurds really joining US-Israel fight to take down Iran regime?

QiOSK

Reports indicate that Kurdish Iranian militant groups have launched an offensive against Iranian regime forces in the country’s northwest, allegedly with U.S. backing.

Kurdish groups have denied the reports. In a Washington Post story on Thursday, the White House confirmed calls with Kurdish leaders but did not say those discussions have progressed any further. Though one official, PUK leader Bafel Talabani, said, “Trump was clear in his call” on Sunday that "the Kurds must choose a side in this battle — either with America and Israel or with Iran.”

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Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.)
Top Image Credit: [Screenshot/live.senate.gov]

House and Senate votes fail, giving Trump free rein on Iran war

QiOSK

Update 3/5 4:40 P.M.: The war powers resolution introduced by Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) to rein in unauthorized hostilities with Iran, failed to advance in the House of Representatives today in a 212-219 vote.

Today, the Senate narrowly blocked a war powers resolution, which would have halted ongoing and unauthorized U.S. military hostilities against Iran.

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