Danny Fisher reminds us of Hiroshima, sixty-two years (and now two days) ago. What is there to say but to wish for peace and hope that all of us may be free from suffering?

Speaking of Buddhist chaplains, check out this and this. And, here’s a review of a book by a Buddhist at Abu Ghraib. Tricycle ran an interview with another Buddhist at Abu Ghraib in our summer issue. And yet more on the (alleged) Buddhist vigilantes in Thailand. And more fighting in Sri Lanka in the expanding civil war there. 5,000 Sri Lankans have died since the 2002 Norwegian-brokered cease-fire broke down in late 2005.

Going back to Danny’s post about Hiroshima, I’ve been reading on and off about the end of World War II in Europe and the incredible horrors of the Red Army’s push to Berlin. It turned from revenge and hate into something even worse — brutal indifference. These days we mostly hear about Japan and Germany having enough civil structures and middle class to make reconstruction a simple task for Uncle Sam (vs. Iraq) — but the brutality Germany and Japan underwent is overwhelming. The crimes of the Nazis muted pity for German citizens for many years, but think of it. Think of what East Germany in particular went through. One monster after another.

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