Tag Archives: Afghanistan

Dr. Watson Returns from Afghanistan

By Robin Bates | Published: August 24, 2021

Dr. Watson is also a former Afghanistan War vet, with certain similarities to our own vets. The messy end of America’s involvement also recalls Kaye’s “Far Pavilions.”

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Could a Bestseller Help Defense Sec?

By Robin Bates | Published: August 10, 2017

Secretary of Defense James Mattis is a voracious reader, and a novel he mentions liking is M. M. Kaye’s “Far Pavilions.” The work explores how to deal with inept leadership, which may be important to him in his current situation.

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Milton’s Jesus vs. Trump’s Bombs

By Robin Bates | Published: April 19, 2017

Unfortunately centrists and liberals have been endorsing Trump’s bellicosity abroad. Milton’s Jesus in “Paradise Regained” would not approve.

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Hoping against Hope in the Face of Death

By Robin Bates | Published: February 25, 2015

Following philosopher Adrienne Martin, I meditate on what it means to “hope against hope” or to have “unimaginable hope.” The texts I use are “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” “Beowulf,” and “Wizard of Earthsea.”

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Benito Cereno on War, Racism

By Robin Bates | Published: May 29, 2014

A story of two students who found themselves using “Benito Cereno” to sort through two of the biggest issues that Americans face.

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An Afghan Vet’s Green Knight Encounter

By Robin Bates | Published: March 10, 2014

An Afghan vet found his war experience captured by “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.”

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Pakistan’s Secret Service as Minderbinder

By Robin Bates | Published: September 27, 2011

The crazy logic of Milo Minderbinder in Joseph Heller’s “Catch 22” shows up in Pakistan’s Secret Service using funds donated by the U.S. to hire terrorists to attack the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

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The Birds of War-Torn Afghanistan

By Robin Bates | Published: January 28, 2010

I share today a poem by my father Scott Bates, who is an ardent birdwatcher as well as poet. The poem reminds us of an ongoing war that too often we want to push out of our minds. Through contrasting the natural world with the disasters created by humans, my father expresses his longing for […]

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