MORE BACKGROUND ON GEORGIA

I spent a good deal of yesterday continuing to read various articles and reports out of Georgia. Some old sage once said we learn world geography by tracking American wars - or in this case American proxy wars. I am as certain as I can be that this is a proxy war. The U.S. and Israel have been arming Georgia heavily in recent years. The U.S. and Israel have been sending military advisers to Georgia. There is no doubt in my mind that the U.S. has been, at the very least, "encouraging" Georgia to make a grab for the independent territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia knowing that by doing so they would very well provoke Russia to respond. I am convinced the U.S. wants to confront Russia militarily and if they can get someone else to do it then why not. It's the cold war strategy come back to life.

The corporate media in the U.S. is having a field day promoting Russian aggression against Goergia. One very interesting CNN-TV story detailed Russian destruction of the Georgian city of Gori but then the camera man who took the footage said the film he took was actually of Georgian destruction of Russian peacekeeper forces in Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia. You can see why the American people are so often confused and misinformed. We are being led with rings in our noses into a new protracted war.

Watch it for yourself at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVNblG9PJMk

A distant cousin of mine who lives in Massachusetts wrote me saying that when she went to work yesterday the folks there were convinced that Russia had bombed the American state of Georgia. "Why do we bother?" she asked.

Below is a really fine summary I read late last night that I wanted to share. I think it really lays out the key points in this whole situation.


By Patrick Schoenfelder

Marching through Georgia

Maybe everyone is already up to speed on this, but if you are depending on the usual drumbeat of warlike bluster from the mainstream media (in the words of Paul Krugman, "real mean don't think things through") you are missing most of the news.

Therefore, a brief memo:

South Ossetia and Abkhazia are small areas on the border between Georgia and Russia where the majority of residents belong to ethnic groups other than Georgian. During the Soviet era, both of them were semi-autonomous areas under Soviet control.

In 1990, after Georgia became independent, Georgia claimed both areas as part of Georgia.

Russia opposed this claim as did residents of the areas, and Russia forced Georgia at gunpoint to allow autonomy to both regions in 1992, and both regions have been acting as de facto independent countries since then.

Peacekeepers from Russia commissioned by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have been stationed in both countries since then.

After the so-called Rose Revolution and the overthrow of Edward Shevardnadze in 2003 it became a policy of the Georgian government to repudiate the independence of both regions and to work for re-establishment of Georgian control.

In 2006, a referendum was held under OSCE supervision with 34 observers from Poland, Germany, Austria, and Sweden. The referendum drew a 95% turnout and voted 99% in favor of full independence.

Georgia rejected the results, claiming that ethnic Georgians were intimidated out of voting, and arguing that the Russian peacekeepers actually were supporting the Ossetians.

Meanwhile, Georgia developed a close relationship with the Bush administration and cultivated a relationship with the EU, beginning application for membership in both the EU and in NATO. Georgia has the third largest number of troops in Iraq, after the US and Britain. The US has supplied the Georgian army with a large amount of war material.

In mid-July of this year, the US military held a joint war games training exercise in Georgia with the Georgian military.

The US left a number of "military advisers" in Georgia after the exercise.

On August 7, the Georgian army invaded South Ossetia in force, advancing rapidly across the area and killing both Ossetian soldiers and Russian peacekeepers.

On August 8, the Russians moved a large force into South Ossetia, including use of airpower for bombing and support. The Georgian army was rapidly crushed and began to retreat into Georgia. The Russians continued to pursue them into Georgia and used artillery and planes to bombard both military and civilian targets in Georgia as they advanced. They also declared that Georgian troops stationed in Abkhazia must leave or surrender, and sent troops into Abkhazia as well.

The Russians at this point seem to be determined to remove the Georgian leadership and establish independence for South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The extent to which they will occupy or establish control in Georgia proper, and for how long, is not clear.

The Georgians, after starting the war, probably partly at the urging of the US, are now screaming for peace.

The US and the Europeans, while expressing dismay ("I am shocked, shocked I say!") have exactly zero ability to do anything about the situation, since the area is well within Russian sphere of influence and away from any means of support (think of a US military action in Mexico.) They are hanging the Georgians out to dry (think of the Kurds under Reagan and Bush the elder.)

The Russians have been pointing out the similarity with Kosovo and US activity there. They have also pointed out that the US is in no position to complain about superpower military intervention or occupation of any place, given their record over the last eight years.

The possibility of any meaningful economic or other sanctions against the Russians is slight, since Russia is the number one supplier of oil and natural gas to Europe and an important trading partner, and the Russian bloc has the second largest oil reserve in the world (perhaps even the first, depending on the results of exploration in the Caspian region) and is a huge supplier of mineral resources from metals to diamonds.

IMPORTANT BLOOD FOR OIL FOOTNOTE: The largest pipeline between the Black Sea and Caspian oil fields and Europe and the only one not completely under Russian control is the 1 million barrel a day capacity BP line that passes through Georgia and parts of Abkhazia. Both the Russians and the Georgians would benefit hugely from ability to control this pipeline. Some observers suggest that war efforts on both sides are related partly to the issue of this pipeline.

For a Russian take on the news watch this broadcast:
http://www.youtube.com/user/RussiaToday

OBAMA CONTINUES BUSH POLICY ON WEAPONS TO GEORGIA

Tens of thousands of Georgian protesters attend a rally near the parliament building in Tbilisi in early April

President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton have announced that they intend to keep the promise of former president George W. Bush to send $242 million in military aid to Georgia in the 2010 budget.

This comes at the very time that NATO war games are being prepared in Georgia, right on Russia's southern border. Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev sounded the alarm about the NATO military operations saying, "“Military exercises can’t be conducted where the war has been recently unleashed. Those who took a decision to conduct them will bear responsibility for their negative consequences."

Russia vows to help South Ossetia and Abkhazia protect their borders against a new Georgian attack that could well come following the NATO war games and efforts by the US to rearm Georgia after their failed attack on Russia last summer. NATO is accusing Russia of destabilizing the Southern Caucasus region by building up its military stronghold on the Georgian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The absurdity of NATO blaming Russia for securing their southern border, at the very time the US and NATO are surrounding them, indicates the real agenda underway.

Some countries in the region are refusing to participate in the NATO-Georgia war games, recognizing the dangers they are causing in the region. So far Latvia, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Serbia and Moldova have opted out.

Just last month more than 60,000 Georgians marched onto their capital in Tbilisi calling on their fanatical President Mikheil Saakashvili to resign. The protesters said he is ruining their country and that they want peace with Russia. But Saakashvili, educated in the US, is an agent of corporate globalization and his job is to turn Georgia over to US interests which he has done. He has essentially made his country into a US military base on the Russian border.

Although NATO leaders call the upcoming war games "staff training", they are nevertheless aimed at backing the puppet regime of Saakashvili.

I'm following this Georgia-Russia situation closely as I see it as one key trigger for real war between the US-NATO and Russia.

Just today I read that Czech Republic pilots are being sent on missions along the Russian border in a separate NATO operation. This is the first time that the Czech military's tactical air force has been deployed in a foreign operation since the end of World War II.

Another area of major US-NATO moves against Russia is over control of the Artic region. Due to global warming the extraction of oil will now be possible in the Artic and the US is saying that its growing effort to militarize this region is about "security". In a meeting in Reykjavik in January NATO General Secretary Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said that “Here in the High North, climate change is not a fanciful idea – it is already a reality – a reality that brings with it a certain number of challenges, including for NATO."

The challenges the NATO General Secretary refers to is keeping Russia at bay. Take a look at a map of the Artic north and you will see it is Russia that has the biggest land mass in that region.

The US and NATO are out to rule the world - they have become the military arm of corporate globalization.

Obama and Hillary are doing their part to make it happen.

NEWS FLASH: Georgian troops mutiny on May 5. See Washington Post story here.

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT GEORGIA-RUSSIA CONFLICT?

I must admit that I am not an expert on the Georgia-Russia conflict that is now underway. But I have been following issues there for some time and have learned to see some linkages between what is going on in places like Poland, Czech Republic, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, China, and the Georgia-Russia crisis.

So here are some random, and not so random, observations and quotes that I think might give us all something to ponder.

* It's all about oil and natural gas. Russia has the world's largest supply of natural gas and Iran has the world's second largest supply. There is much oil and natural gas up in the Caspian Sea region. Which ever country controls this part of the world will have a jump start in controlling the keys to the world's economic engine for the foreseeable future.

* The expanding economy of China has tremendous need for energy. China now imports much of its oil via sea (thru the Taiwan Straits) and the U.S. has in recent years doubled its naval presence in this region pursuing the ability to "choke off" China's ability to import oil. China is looking for alternative, land routes, to transmit oil thus pipelines through Central Asia become crucial. U.S. permanent bases in Afghanistan and attempts to put military bases in other Central Asian countries is in large part an attempt to create the ability to control these pipeline routes. F. William Engdahl, author of A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order, maintains that, "Washington is out to deny China east land access to either Russia, the Middle East or to the oil and gas fields of the Caspian Sea."

Engdahl goes on to say, "A close look at the map of Eurasia begins to suggest what is so vital for China and therefore for Washington's future domination of Eurasia. The goal is not only strategic encirclement of Russia through a series of NATO bases ranging from Camp Bond Steel in Kosovo to Poland, to Georgia, possibly Ukraine and White Russia, which would enable NATO to control energy ties between Russia and the European Union."

"Washington policy now encompasses a series of 'democratic' or soft coup projects which would strategically cut China off from access to the vital oil and gas reserves of the Caspian including Kazakhstan. The earlier Asian Great Silk Road trade routes went through Tashkent in Uzbekistan and Almaty in Kazakhstan for geographically obvious reasons, in a region surrounded by major mountain ranges. Geopolitical control of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan would enable control of any potential pipeline routes between China and Central Asia just as the encirclement of Russia controls pipeline and other ties between it and western Europe, China, India and the Mideast."

* Some years ago I read the book called The Grand Chessboard by Zbigniew Brzezinski which I recently wrote about in relation to his being a chief foreign policy advisor to Barack Obama. Brzezinski has been critical of the Bush administration for invading Iraq essentially saying that it was the wrong war. Brzezinski has long maintained that Russia and China were the targets that had to be militarily contained if the U.S. hoped to continue its role as chief superpower of the world. He says, "Eurasia is the world's axial super continent. A power that dominated Eurasia would exercise decisive influence over two of the world's three most economically productive regions, Western Europe and East Asia. A glance at the map also suggests that a country dominant in Eurasia would almost automatically control the Middle East and Africa. With Eurasia now serving as the decisive geopolitical chessboard, it no longer suffices to fashion one policy for Europe and another for Asia.....Eurasia accounts for 75% of the world's population, 60% of its GNP, and 75% of its energy resources. Collectively, Eurasia's potential power overshadows even America's."

* In 2005 the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline opened. It cost $3.6 billion and was funded by British Petroleum (BP) in a consortium including Unocal of the U.S. and Turkish Petroleum, and others. With the fall of the Soviet Union a scramble ensued for political and economic control of this part of the world. Georgia is on the pipeline route. Russia was opposed to this pipeline route. Brzezinski was a consultant to BP during the Bill Clinton era and urged Washington to back the project whose route would circumvent Russia.

Brzezinski also serves on the board of the US-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce that includes people like Tim Cejka (President of ExxonMobil Exploration); Henry Kissinger; James Baker III (who in 2003 went to Georgia to tell them President Shevardnadze that Washington wanted him to step down so U.S.-trained Mikhail Shaakashvili could replace him as president); Brent Scowcroft (former Bush I national security adviser); and Dick Cheney (who served on the board before becoming Bush II's V-P).

The U.S. has long been involved in supporting "freedom movements" throughout this region that have been attempting to replace Russian influence with U.S. corporate control. The CIA, National Endowment for Democracy (board members include former neo-conservative congressman Vin Weber and General Wesley Clark), and Freedom House (includes Zbigniew Brzezinski, former CIA director James Woolsey, and Obama foreign policy adviser Anthony Lake) have been key funders and supporters of placing politicians in power throughout Central Asia that would play ball with "our side".

* Now all of this hardball politics is to be expected. The U.S., Russia, and China all want control of this part of the world. OK, nothing new there. But the current Georgia-Russia conflict indicates that things are moving to a new dangerous stage of development. Very recently the U.S. and Georgia held military maneuvers in the now disputed territories. Russia countered with military maneuvers of its own. Russia is feeling threatened by expanding U.S. bases in Romania, Bulgaria, Poland and the Czech Republic. Added to that are NATO attempts to put bases in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia and possibly even Georgia - all along or very near Russia's border.

* None of this is about the good guys versus the bad guys. It is power bloc politics and when the shooting starts it is civilians who die and their communities get destroyed. Big money is at stake and big money does not mind killing innocent people who stand in the way of "progress". For the peace movement we must first understand some of the history, and also understand the "chess" game now underway. We must not have illusions that this is about "democracy" and must denounce the military and corporate agenda of the players involved. For us in the U.S. we must also remove our blinders and see that both parties (Republican and Democrat) share a bi-partisan history and agenda of advancing corporate interests in this part of the world. Obama's advisers, just like McCain's (one of his top advisers was recently a lobbyist for the current government in Georgia) are thick in this stew.

* In the end the peace movement must recognize that this current fighting could trigger protracted war and the only question becomes which weapons get used? Does the U.S. decide it must "come to the aid of it's ally Georgia"? Is an attack on Iran somehow connected to this widening war for oil? Are nuclear weapons on the table? None of us has all the answers but it is imperative that we begin asking these hard questions and learn as quickly as possible as much as we can about the region.

* Lastly, need I remind anyone, that any protracted warfare in this region will be directed by space satellite technology. Space control and domination gives the U.S. the leg-up in any superpower struggle for control of oil and natural gas.

Washington Turning Up the Pressure on Russia

Putin Is Being Pushed to Abandon His Conciliatory Approach to the West and Prepare for War

By Alastair Crooke (The Huffington Post)

BEIRUT — Something significant happened in the last few days of April, but it seems the only person who noticed was Stephen Cohen, a professor emeritus of Russian studies at New York University and Princeton University.

In a recorded interview, Cohen notes that a section of the Russian leadership is showing signs of restlessness, focused on President Vladimir Putin’s leadership. We are not talking of street protesters. We are not talking coups against Putin — his popularity remains above 80 percent and he is not about to be displaced. But we are talking about serious pressure being applied to the president to come down from the high wire along which he has warily trod until now.

Putin carries, at one end of his balancing pole, the various elites more oriented toward the West and the “Washington Consensus“ and, at the pole’s other end, those concerned that Russia faces both a real military threat from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and a hybrid geo-financial war as well. He is being pressed to come down on the side of the latter, and to pry the grip of the former from the levers of economic power that they still tightly hold.

In short, the issue coming to a head in the Kremlin is whether Russia is sufficiently prepared for further Western efforts to ensure it does not impede or rival American hegemony. Can Russia sustain a geo-financial assault, if one were to be launched? And is such a threat real or mere Western posturing for other ends?

What is so important is that if these events are misread in the West, which is already primed to see any Russian defensive act as offensive and aggressive, the ground will already have been laid for escalation. We already had the first war to push back against NATO in Georgia. The second pushback war is ongoing in Ukraine. What might be the consequences to a third?

    Putin is being pushed to wield the knife — and to cut deeply.

In mid-April, General Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee (a sort of super attorney general, as Cohen describes it), wrote that Russia — its role in Syria notwithstanding — is militarily ill prepared to face a new war either at home or abroad, and that the economy is in a bad way, too. Russia, furthermore, is equally ill prepared to withstand a geo-financial war. He goes on to say that the West is preparing for war against Russia and that Russia’s leadership does not appear to be aware of or alert to the danger the country faces.

Bastrykin does not say that Putin is to blame, though the context makes it clear that this is what he means. But a few days later, Cohen explains, the article sparked further discussion from those who both endorse Bastrykin and do precisely mention Putin by name. Then, Cohen notes, a retired Russian general entered the fray to confirm that the West is indeed preparing for war — he pointed to NATO deployments in the Baltics, the Black Sea and Poland, among other places — and underlines again the unpreparedness of the Russian military to face this threat. “This is a heavy indictment of Putin,” Cohen says of the revelations from this analysis. “It is now out in the open.”

What is this all about? For some time there have been indications that a key faction within the Kremlin, one that very loosely might be termed “nationalist,” has become deeply disenchanted with Putin’s toleration of the Washington Consensus and its adherents at the Russian central bank and in other pivotal economic posts. The nationalists want them purged, along with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s perceived Western-friendly government. Putin may be highly popular, but Medvedev’s government is not. The government’s economic policy is being criticized. The opposing faction wants to see an immediate mobilization of the military and the economy for war, conventional or hybrid. This is not about wanting Putin ousted; it is about pushing him to wield the knife — and to cut deeply.

What does this faction want apart from Russia preparing for war? They want a harder line in Ukraine and for Putin to reject U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s snares in Syria. In short, Kerry is still trying to force Assad’s removal and continues to push for further U.S. support for the opposition. The American government is reluctant as well to disentangle “moderates” from jihadis. The view is that America is insincere in trying to cooperate with Russia on a settlement and more intent on entrapping Putin in Syria. Perhaps this is right, as Gareth Porter and Elijah Magnier have outlined.

    The Obama administration is acting to weaken Putin and Lavrov’s hand, and therefore strengthening the hand of those in Russia calling for a full mobilization for war.

What this means at a more fundamental level is that Putin is being asked to side with the nationalists against the internationalists aligned with the Washington Consensus, and to purge them from power. Recall, however, that Putin came to power precisely to temper this polarity within Russian society by rising above it — to heal and rebuild a diverse society recovering from deep divisions and crises. He is being asked to renounce that for which he stands because, he is being told, Russia is being threatened by a West that is preparing for war.

The prospect of the seeming inevitability of future conflict is hardly new to Putin, who has spoken often on this theme. He has, however, chosen to react by placing the emphasis on gaining time for Russia to strengthen itself and trying to corner the West into some sort of cooperation or partnership on a political settlement in Syria, for example, which might have deflected the war dynamic into a more positive course. Putin has, at the same time, skillfully steered Europeans away from NATO escalation.

But in both of these objectives the Obama administration is acting to weaken Putin and Lavrov’s hand, and therefore strengthening the hand of those in Russia calling for a full mobilization for war. It is not coincidental that Bastrykin’s alarm-raising article came now, as the Syria ceasefire is being deliberately infringed and broken. Is this properly understood in the White House? If so, must we conclude that escalation against Russia is desired? As Cohen notes, “the Washington Post [in its editorial pages] tells us regularly that never, never, never ... under any circumstances, can the criminal Putin be a strategic partner of the United States.”

Is the die then cast? Is Putin bound to fail? Is conflict inevitable? Ostensibly, it may seem so. The stage is certainly being set. I have written before on, “the pivot already under way from within the U.S. defense and intelligence arms of Obama’s own administration” toward what is often referred to as the “Wolfowitz doctrine,” a set of policies developed by the U.S. in the 1990s and early 2000s. The author of one of those policies, the 1992 U.S. Defense Planning Guidance, wrote that the DPG in essence sought to:

    ... preclude the emergence of bipolarity, another global rivalry like the Cold War, or multipolarity, a world of many great powers, as existed before the two world wars. To do so, the key was to prevent a hostile power from dominating a ‘critical region,’ defined as having the resources, industrial capabilities and population that, if controlled by a hostile power, would pose a global challenge.

In an interview with Vox, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter was clear that this was broadly the bearing by which the Pentagon was being directed to sail. Then again, there is the rather obvious fact that, instead of the much-touted U.S. military pivot ostensibly being to Asia, the actual NATO pivot is being directed to Central Europe — to Russia’s borders. And NATO is plainly pushing the envelope as hard as it dares, up and against Russia’s borders.

Then there is the rhetoric: Russian aggression. Russian ambitions to recover the former Soviet Empire. Russian attempts to divide and destroy Europe. And so on.

    Is conflict inevitable?

Why? It may be that NATO simply presumes these envelope-pushing exercises will never actually come to war, that Russia somehow will back off. And that continuously poking the bear will serve America’s interest in keeping Europe together and NATO cohesive, its sanctions in place, divided from Russia. NATO is due to meet in Warsaw in early July. Perhaps, then, the Western language about Russia’s “aggression” is little more than America heading off any European revolt on sanctions by stirring up a pseudo-threat from Russia and that the Russians are misreading American true intentions, which do not go beyond this. Or do they?

The extraordinary bitterness and emotional outrage with which the American establishment has reacted to Donald Trump’s probable nomination as a presidential candidate suggests that the U.S. establishment is far from having given up on the Wolfowitz doctrine. So has Putin’s strategy of co-opting America in the Middle East been the failure that the Bastrykin faction implies? In other words, is it the case that the policy of gaining cooperation has failed and that Putin must now move beyond it, because America is not about to cooperate and is, instead, continuing the process of cornering Russia?

As the Texas Tribune reported on May 4, “For the first time since his own presidency, George H.W. Bush is planning to stay silent in the race for the Oval Office — and the younger former president Bush plans to stay silent as well.”

To get a sense of the war within the Republican Party (and the Democrats are no less conflicted), read this reaction to that story by the two-time Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan. Here’s a small selection:

    Trump’s triumph is a sweeping repudiation of Bush Republicanism by the same party that nominated them [the Bush’s] four times for the presidency. Not only was son and brother, Jeb, humiliated and chased out of the race early, but Trump won his nomination by denouncing as rotten to the core the primary fruits of signature Bush policies ... That is a savage indictment of the Bush legacy. And a Republican electorate, in the largest turnout in primary history, nodded, ‘Amen to that, brother!’

Buchanan continues in another piece: “The hubris here astonishes. A Republican establishment that has been beaten as badly as Carthage in the Third Punic War is now making demands on Scipio Africanus and the victorious Romans” — a reference to Paul Ryan’s attempts to make Trump adhere to Bush Republicanism. “This is difficult to absorb.”

But here, in this crisis, is an opportunity. America could be heading into recession, corporate profits are falling, huge swaths of debt are looking suspect, global trade is sinking and U.S. policy tools for controlling the global financial system have lost their credibility. And there are no easy solutions to the global overhang of increasingly putrid debt.

Trump can simply say that American — and European — national security interests pass directly through Russia, which they clearly do.

But a President Trump — were that to happen — can lay blame for any perfect economic storm on the establishment. America is all knotted up at present, as the presidential nomination melee made clear. Some knots will take time to undo, but some could be undone relatively easily, and it seems that Trump has some sense of this. It could start with a dramatic diplomatic initiative.

Historically, most radical projects of reform have started in this way: overturn a piece of conventional wisdom and unlock the entire policy gridlock — the momentum gained will allow a reformer to steamroll even the hardest resistance — in this case, Wall Street and the financial oligarchy — into making reforms.

Trump can simply say that American — and European — national security interests pass directly through Russia — which they clearly do — that Russia does not threaten America — which it clearly does not — and that NATO is, in any case, “obsolete,” as he has said. It makes perfect sense to join with Russia and its allies to surround and destroy the so-called Islamic State.

If one listens carefully, Trump seems halfway there. It would cut a lot of knots, maybe even untie the policy gridlock. Perhaps that is what he intends?

~     Alastair Crooke, Former MI-6 agent; Author, ‘Resistance: The Essence of Islamic Revolution’

CLOSING IN ON RUSSIA

The US, and a cancerous NATO, has their eyes on bringing Georgia into the alliance next.  Already more than a dozen former members of the Soviet-era Warsaw Pact block have been brought over into NATO.  Georgia, sitting along the strategic Black Sea on Russia's southern border, would be the grand prize.

In 2008 the US encouraged Georgia to attack the two break away provinces Abkhazia and S. Ossetia (which have large Russian populations).  The brief war was a disaster for the US and Georgia as Russia counter-attacked and pushed Georgian forces back.  I blogged quite a bit about all of this at the time and you can see it here.

In the summer of 2008, just as the smoking embers were subsiding, then Senator Joseph Biden made the trip to Georgia to beat the war drums and threaten Russia with "consequences" if they didn't leave Georgia alone. "When Congress reconvenes, I intend to work with the [George W. Bush] administration to seek Congressional approval for $1 billion in emergency assistance for Georgia, with a substantial down payment on that aid to be included in the Congress' next supplemental spending bill," Biden said at the time.

Since Obama and Biden took power in Washington they've increased efforts to bring Georgia into NATO and they've continued sending money and military equipment there.

Last weekend the US Navy Destroyer Bulkeley arrived at a Georgian Black Sea port for several days of "maneuvers". Very recently two Georgian combat battalions were undergoing training at a US Army base in Southern Germany.

Reminder:  After the reunification of Germany the former Soviet Union was worried what this could mean as a unified Germany had previously tried to invade the Russian territories.  Although then-Secretary of State James Baker had assured Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev at the time of German reunification in 1990 that NATO would not be moved one inch eastward, a unified Germany was brought into NATO and the capitalist military alliance immediately began moving east to the borders of Poland and Czechoslovakia and closer to that of the Soviet Union.  Today NATO perches in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia along Russia's western border.  Georgia and Finland (both bordering Russia) are on the NATO expansion list.  At the same time we see Russia being demonized in the corporate dominated media in the US and in Europe and the US/NATO "missile defense" system continues to grow in its encirclement of Russia. 

Put two and two together and what do you get?

No to NATO - No to War Witness at the MLK Memorial

On this solemnity of Rev. MLK's martyrdom, as well as NATO's 70th anniversary commemoration in WDC, there was a protest early this morning [April 4] at the State Dept. where NATO Foreign Ministers were meeting. This was followed by a spirited March to the MLK Memorial and a program. I offered an abbreviated version of this below reflection at the MLK Memorial. As I was speaking early in the program, group organizers were informed by police that because they did not have a permit the group would have to move away from the King Memorial to the street. As some creative negotiating took place, speakers were asked to modify their remarks. The group persisted and were able to get through a somewhat altered program without further police interference. I ended my reflection with a reading of the King's Bay Plowshares solidarity statement. In these difficult times, let us continue to do all we can to heed Dr. King's exemplary nonviolent ethic as we nonviolently resist the US/NATO war making alliance and  strive to create a disarmed world and the Beloved Community. With gratitude,  Art

No to NATO - No to War Witness at the MLK Memorial--April 4, 2019 

Reflection by Art Laffin (Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House, Washington DC)

My friends, as we gather here today on this sacred land, which originally belonged to the Piscataway Indians that was stolen, we call into our presence all the holy cloud of witnesses, all the peace and justice makers throughout history, as well all the victims of U.S. empire who have gone before us.

Today we remember and honor one of the greatest prophets of justice the world has ever seen--the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.-- on this the 52nd anniversary of his extraordinary "Beyond Vietnam--A Time to Break the Silence" speech and the 51st anniversary of his assassination. We also are here to renounce and resist the evils of militarism and war as NATO foreign ministers gather for NATO's 70th Anniversary. Twenty years ago I joined with others to resist NATO's 50th Anniversary Summit here in D.C. I am honored to be with all of you great peace and justice makers who are continuing that resistance and saying NO to NATO--NO to War!

The powers that be would like to keep Dr. King's life-giving witness set in stone, confined to a memorial monument. They want us to embrace a sanitized version of Dr. King and not face the fact that he named the U.S. government as the greatest purveyor of violence in the world. The powers, don't want us to confront the sins of white supremacy, systemic racism and inequality, or work to bring about nonviolent change as Dr King did.

The powers also want us to believe that Dr. King was killed by a lone assassin. They do not want us to come to terms with the fact that after four weeks of testimony from over 70 witnesses in a civil trial in Memphis, Tennessee, twelve jurors reached a unanimous verdict on 

December 8, 1999  that Dr. King was assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. Coretta Scott King welcomed the verdict saying, “There is abundant evidence of a major high level conspiracy in the assassination of my husband...And the civil court’s unanimous verdict has validated our belief. The King family stands firmly behind the civil trial verdict!"

My friends, those forces who conspired to kill Dr. King thought that by doing so they could silence his message. To the contrary, Dr. King’s spirit is very much alive and his mandate for racial and economic justice, nonviolence and peace is just as relevant and urgent now as it was 51 years ago. No matter what the powers do to distort and manipulate the life, message and even death of Dr. King, his life stands as an eternal testament of truth, courage and hope in resistance to the forces of evil and death.

In his Beyond Vietnam speech, Dr. King declared: "I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values...A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, “This way of settling differences is not just...A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."

Dr. King's words aptly describe our current national plight. We, who are here today, along with countless others, decry the policies, exorbitant expenditures and war profiteering that drive the U.S. and NATO war machine. We denounce every aspect of the U.S. war machine, including the 2020 U.S. military budget which is now approaching $1 trillion; the over $1 trillion that has been earmarked over the next twenty years to upgrade the U.S. nuclear arsenal; the killer drone program; the new U.S. Space Force and deployment of missile defense systems encircling Russia and China! We denounce U.S. intervention around the world, including its continued support for the Saudi regime's brutal war in Yemen and it's illegal efforts to overthrow the Venezuela government. We decry the U.S. commitment to maintain some 800 foreign military bases and spend over $225 million this year on its AFRICOM military intervention operations in Africa.

With decry, too, NATO’s expanding war machine as evidenced by its $1.5 billion budget.   

These gross expenditures are about one thing: to assure global military domination of earth and space and control strategic resources. This criminal looting of public treasuries, while vital social programs continue to be cut, constitutes a direct theft from the poor of our society and world. Here in the U.S., the new Poor Peoples Campaign-A National Call for Revival, has brought to light this horrific reality. An estimated 140 million Americans are poor and low income.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist has turned its Doomsday Clock to two minutes before midnight due to the climate crisis and the nuclear threat. This threat has been exacerbated by the provocative actions of a reckless U.S. president and his advisers. We implore Mr. Trump and the entire political, military and corporate establishment to listen to and heed what Dr. King proclaimed: "Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men...This is where we are. (Human)Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to (human)mankind... It  is no longer a choice... between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence." Now is the time for all the nuclear nations, beginning with the U.S., to join with the 22 countries who have to date ratified the UN Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons.

My friends, now more than ever, we need to continue to exorcise and resist what Dr. King called “the tragic death wish possessing our nation” and actively promote his prescription for revolutionary change! Imagine for a moment how different our nation would be if every person in government and in every sector of society, read and acted on Dr. King's Beyond Vietnam speech. Instead of being the greatest purveyor of violence in the world, we call on the U.S. government and corporate power structure to truly embrace Dr. King's nonviolent ethic, renounce empire and violence, make reparations to its victims and become the world's greatest purveyor of nonviolence and force for racial, economic and environmental justice. And we implore NATO to do the same and follow the example of nonviolent resisters in Germany and other European countries who are acting to remove U.S. nuclear weapons from their soil. 

History has shown that social change occurs when people make great sacrifices in order to bring it about. Seven friends, known as the Kings Bay Plowshares (KBP), have made such sacrifices. On this day last year they carried out a plowshares disarmament action at the King’s Bay Naval Base in St. Mary, Georgia. Carrying hammers and small baby bottles containing their own blood, they sought to symbolically disarm weapons of mass murder. The base is the Navy’s Atlantic Ocean port for six Trident submarines which have the capacity to cause the devastation of 3,600 Hiroshima-scale attacks. 

They are currently being charged with two felony counts and a misdemeanor and are awaiting trial. Liz McAlister and Fr. Steve Kelley have been jailed for one year now. Mark Colville has also been jailed most of the last year while the other four, Carmen Trotta, Clare Grady, Martha Hennessy, (Dorothy Day's granddaughter) and Patrick O'Neill are out on bail and ordered to wear ankle bracelets. They face long prison sentences if convicted.

I would like to share a solidarity statement that the KBP have sent to us titled: We Withdraw Consent from NATO’s Seventy-Year Death Grip on the Planet

"On April 4th, 2018, the fiftieth anniversary of the state killing of Rev. Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. seven Catholic peacemakers walked onto the Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia, to expose the epitome of Dr. King’s “triple evils” of racism, materialism, and militarism. We remember his words in the speech he delivered, “Beyond Vietnam”, a year before his assassination. We continue to say no to NATO, “the greatest purveyor of violence” in the hands of the United States military. We continue in the tradition of nonviolent, direct action to support true democracy and the rule of law for all peoples on Earth. We want the massive cost of the weapons industry to be converted for human and environmental needs. We are grateful for the voice of the people that is being raised to end this endless war making."

Please keep the KBP in your thoughts and prayers and check out their web site: KingsBayplowshares7.org for updated info.

My friends, through God's amazing grace, I once had the opportunity to be on a Trident sub. On Labor Day, 1989, I, along with six other friends, carried out a plowshares action in New London, CT directed at the 10th Trident submarine. After hammering and pouring our own blood on the sub, three of us, myself included, were able to beach our canoe and climb aboard. There, in full view of armed security who were on a nearby pier, we prayed and read from Scripture, before being arrested and jailed. While atop of the Trident, I realized I was participating in a sacred act that was nothing short of a miracle. We were truly enfleshing God's dream for the human family to beat swords into plowshares. True disarmament was occurring. I believe now, as I did then, that if we have the faith to believe that a disarmed, nonviolent world is possible, and act on that belief, miracles can happen. Just as the Berlin Wall came down so, too, can the oppressive walls from Palestine to the U.S./Mexico border! The Pentagon, the military-industrial complex and NATO can be abolished and transformed into life-giving enterprises. All the swords (weapons) of our time can be turned into plowshares. War can be forever abolished! 

In closing, Dr. King said: "We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. We still have a choice today, nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation... Far from being the pious injunction of a Utopian dreamer, the command to love one's enemy is an absolute necessity for our survival. Love even for enemies is the key to the solution of the problem of our world...Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism and militarism!" And now we must add environmental destruction. My friends, let us recommit ourselves today to live and act in this hope as we seek to create the Beloved Community!

Thank You!

Photo by Susan Crane

Can COVID-19 Take Down NATO? Interview with Bruce Gagnon

Questions and edits by Ann Garrison for the Black Agenda Report

Germany and Norway both pulled out of NATO's latest anti-Russian war games for fear of COVID-19. I interviewed Bruce Gagnon of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space for Black Agenda Report.  I spoke to Bruce about the NATO shutdown.

Ann Garrison: Bruce, do those of us who are not fans of US/NATO wars have reason to celebrate?

Bruce Gagnon: I’d not call it a moment to celebrate under the circumstances. But we should feel good that peace movements around the world supported this demand to shut down these irresponsible war games by US/NATO. Now our focus must shift to the Asia-Pacific where again the US is promoting a huge naval war game called RIMPAC  aimed at China, North Korea and Russia. NATO is expanding into the Asia-Pacific region, intending to become a “global alliance” with a broader interventionist mission. So we all must keep our eyes on that ball as well.

AG: Do you think it’s likely that Germany and Norway, and perhaps other NATO nations, will begin to withdraw troops from various US/NATO interventions inside and outside Europe as well?

BG: Depends on how long the virus pandemic continues and the resulting level of economic collapse. Interventions cost money and NATO members are going to be economically hurting by the time this virus is defeated. So they shouldn’t be in a hurry to intervene anywhere. Also, the sanctions on Russia have hurt many European economies; Italy, Germany and France have been the most outspoken against them. There are many reasons why more and more NATO members are questioning the value of the “alliance.”

Which countries are assisting others during this pandemic? China, Cuba, and Russia are all helping other nations from Iran to Italy, Thailand to Nicaragua. And what is the US doing to help anyone else? Nothing that I know of, and in fact it's making things worse by continuing to sanction Iran and Venezuela during the pandemic.

The US is even doing a poor job of helping its own population, which has become largely superfluous to Mr. Big. And people remember these kinds of things. Europeans are figuring out that the US is a morally and spiritually bankrupt nation and that’s no doubt dawning on Americans who see the scarcity of medical equipment and the abundance of lethal weapons here.

Hopefully, the COVID-19 crisis will reveal the real threat to our safety: neoliberal austerity that destroys national health care, environmental protection, and everything else of real value.

AG: If that happens, isn’t pressure to withdraw US troops likely to build as well, especially if coronavirus begins to spread among them? Soldiers generally live and work in close quarters, as do prisoners, and many prisoners who should have been released a long time ago are now being released to stop the pandemic inside prison walls.

This week DefenseOne.com published a story  of the first case on a US naval ship, in which it said that “the warship’s leaders ordered dozens of senior enlisted sailors and officers into a cramped room on the ship to brief them on the crisis and proper social distancing,” thus demonstrating how hard it may be for the Navy to limit coronavirus spread aboard its ships.

BG: Yes, good question. Just as various ports of call turned away holiday cruises because they were laden with the virus, nations will at some point begin to turn away the hundreds of US warships transporting the virus. The virus will spread on the more than 800 US bases strategically scattered around the globe, causing worry and fear in the local communities surrounding them. None of this will help the image of the USA, especially if Washington is as slow to deal with the virus within the US military as it has been all over the US.

AG: Reading about this I get the idea that the war games would have proceeded as planned if US commanders had their way. Do you agree?

BG: If there had been no public outcry, the Pentagon would likely have tried to macho their way through it for as long as possible. Fortunately, there was an outcry—not just from the public—but also from heads of governments like Germany’s. The German Bundeswehr’s pullout meant a halt to most of the supply line of military equipment and weapons for the exercises, not only because German troops would not be involved but also because German roads wouldn’t either.

AG: It’s my impression that Poland, which did not announce a withdrawal, is currently very right-wing, very anti-Russian, pro-NATO and pro-US, and that they’ve even complied with Trump’s demand that they spend at least 2% of their GDP on weapons. Would you guess that’s why they were willing to stay in DEFENDER Europe 20?

BG: Poland is currently a total lackey of the US. Their government requested that the Pentagon build a military base inside Poland and even offered to pay for it. The US has installed a huge weapons hub there near the Russian border. One key reason for the war games was to move massive amounts of additional heavy weapons from the US to Poland for eventual use. Poland has made their people a target in any hot war between the US/NATO and Russia.

Lately, however, some in Poland are calling for a better relationship with Moscow. Lech Walesa, former Polish labor leader, Nobel Prize winner, and the first elected President of Poland after the fall of the Soviet Union (1990-1995), has been one such voice reaching out toward Moscow. The power of the US to control the chessboard in Europe is indeed fading, and even nations like Poland will eventually have to see the writing on the wall and cut the umbilical cord with Washington.

AG: I’ve been told that a significant number of people in Germany do not want to antagonize Russia, but that antagonism between Germany and Russia is important to power players in the US. What do you think?

BG: Germany is an interesting case study. After World War II and Hitler’s defeat, the US’s Operation Paperclip brought more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians, such as Wernher von Braun and his V-2 rocket team, to the US. One of the Nazis the US brought here was Lt. Gen. Reinhard Gehlen. He was head of the “Wehrmacht Foreign Armies East” military intelligence service on the eastern front during World War II. He was brought to Washington where he helped create the CIA which used Gehlen’s “ratline ” of contacts inside eastern European areas controlled by the Soviet Union. The US used these “assets” to internally destabilize the Soviet Warsaw Pact Bloc. They were among the causes of Stalin’s deep internal paranoia and ruthlessness. CIA director Allen Dulles, a long-time Nazi sympathizer, laughed about driving Stalin nuts. 

After the CIA had downloaded Gehlen’s brain, they shipped him back to Germany. He was put in charge of the CIA’s new partner, the West German “Federal Intelligence Service.” So almost as soon as the war was over, West Germany came under the control of the Washington Deep State. That has made it difficult for Germany to be a sovereign nation ever since.

Vladimir Putin has a great friendship with Gerhard Schröder, the German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998-2005. Schröder has been a strong voice for ending the New Cold War hostility toward Russia from the West.

Many business leaders in Germany speak openly about ending the sanctions on Russia that have hurt the German economy badly. Washington’s drive to “full spectrum dominance” expresses its desire to control every level of every other nation’s affairs.

AG: Do you think that this difference, or much of it, is about the natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, given that the US fossil fuel industry would rather Germany buy its liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipped across the Atlantic?

BG: That is no doubt a big factor in the current drama. US fracking corporations want to ship LNG over to Europe at higher prices than Russian gas can be transported via pipelines. Most Europeans laugh at the thought. Following the US-directed coup in Ukraine in 2014, and the installation of a right-wing/Nazi-backed government, the US pressured Kiev to sign a deal to purchase US LNG instead of gas from neighboring Russia. Ukraine’s economy is in collapse as Western interests hollow it out. Even the rich topsoil in Ukraine, once the breadbasket of the Soviet Union, is being sold to Western corporate interests.

AG: Do you think Germans who’d rather Germany get out of NATO anyway saw COVID-19 as an opportunity and played a significant role in Germany’s withdrawal from DEFENDER Europe 20?

BG: In a poll in 2018, 42% of Germans wanted the US troops out  of their country, while 37% wanted them to stay. In the same poll it was reported that Germans felt more sympathy for Vladimir Putin, 36%, than Trump, 6%, while 58% said they didn’t know or else didn’t answer. So attitudes are changing and this pandemic will only accelerate that.

AG: Russia borders the European nations of Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus and Ukraine. It looks like all these nations are NATO members except Finland, Belarus, and Ukraine, and Finland plans to join in 2025. In Belarus , there seems to be a tug-of-war far less reported than that in Ukraine, with Belarus still identifying as a strategic ally of Russia. Could you talk about the significance of the Belarusian buffer zone and the Ukrainian proxy war?

BG: Belarus is key. Attacks on Russia have always come through Ukraine and Belarus. The US has destroyed Ukraine and is now working to draw Belarus into its hip pocket. Belarus is using the current “love” from Washington to get more economic concessions from Russia. The US would be thrilled to take control of Belarus. Look at where it is on the map.

I have followed the coup in Ukraine since it began in 2014. In 2016 I went to Odessa  along with Regis Tremblay and Phil Wilayto to stand with the mothers of those who were killed by Nazi death squads in the Odessa Trade Union Hall soon after the coup in Kiev. The only people ever sent to jail for those assassinations were the victims’ relatives, but the new “democratic” government and its henchmen were responsible, and they were both funded and directed by the CIA.

The US is using Ukraine to demonize Moscow and destabilize the Russian border while at the same time robbing it blind. Sadly, few in the West clearly understand the US-NATO  destabilization plan all around Russia.

Anyone inside of Ukraine—particularly in the Donbass region right on its Russian border—who dares stand up against the US puppet government in Kiev or supports the breakaway republics in Lugansk and Donetsk is called a Putin-lover. The coup in Ukraine  was an Obama operation carried out by Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and the State Department’s Victoria Nuland.

AG: Which of the NATO member nations have US/NATO bases and/or weapons installed on their Russian borders?

BG: Poland of course has a US base as does Norway, and both have Russian borders. The US often holds war games in northern Sweden, Norway, and Finland. Pentagon war games regularly go on in the Baltics, creeping right up to the Russian borders in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. How are the Russians to react?

The US has also installed missile launch bases in Romania and Poland that could fire first-strike, nuclear-capable cruise missiles that would reach Moscow in 10 minutes. The US is also building up its military connections in Georgia to gain another strategic leverage point against Russia. And there’s much more US/NATO military aggression aimed at Russia than what I’ve just shared. Fort Russ News   is a good website for tracking this.

US Army Special Forces from Ft. Carson, Colorado, are rotated in and out of western Ukraine to a base where they train Ukrainian soldiers. They are then sent off to eastern Ukraine, along the border with Russia, to attack their Russian-speaking fellow citizens  in the Donbass region.

AG: Do you know how many nuclear weapons NATO has installed near Russia’s borders and where they are?

BG: The US/NATO have bases in five countries in Europe that store about 150 airplane-delivered nuclear bombs (B61 warheads). Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, and Turkey each host such facilities. At other US Navy and Air Force bases throughout Europe, the Mediterranean, Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, the US has the capacity to go nuclear in a flash with either Russia or China.

AG: And does Russia have equivalent force, including nuclear force, on their side of these borders?

BG: Yes, Russia can match the US in nukes and has even gone farther in new technologies like hypersonic missiles.  For more than 10 years Russia and China have been warning Washington that continued missile deployments along their borders—on land and on board Navy Aegis destroyers—jeopardize all negotiations to eliminate nuclear weapons.

Russia and China have both renounced first-strike use, and their nuclear forces are for retaliatory purposes only. They have no scenarios for a nuclear first strike on Europe or the US. The US refuses to renounce first-strike nuclear attacks. The Pentagon actually holds war games that include nuclear first-strikes on Russia and China. The Space Command annually calls their first-strike war game the “Red Team vs. the Blue Team.” Space technology already enables and directs all US military operations, and now we’re told that we need Trump’s Space Force. The goal is total domination of earth and space on behalf of Western corporate capitalism.

Star Wars will be the most expensive industrial project in human history. The aerospace industry has directed its Washington lobbyists to identify “dedicated funding sources” that could be used to pay for it, and they have: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the rest of the social safety net that’s already in tatters.

AG: Are nuclear weapons on NATO’s Russian borders any greater threat than nuclear weapons that could be launched from Germany, from other European nations, or even from within the US or Russia? I last read that it would take an ICBM launched in the US 30 to 35 minutes to reach Russia. Could you help us understand this?

BG: The closer a military has its weapons to their declared “enemy” target, the quicker and easier it is to hit them. That makes a decapitating first-strike more tempting to the US top brass. The Pentagon has this capability in place all over the world with its 800 military bases.

All the nuclear nations can destroy one another with nukes many times over. The ABM Treaty outlawed “missile defense” because this so-called “shield” could be used after the first-strike “sword” is plunged into another nation. “Missile defense” is a vital component of first-strike planning. Getting rid of the ABM Treaty led to even worse destabilization of the “balance of terror.”

George W. Bush walked away from the ABM treaty with Russia and escalated funding for “missile defense.” Obama then began the ongoing “missile defense” deployments encircling Russia and China. Russia responded with hypersonic weapons that can get past the US “missile defense” shield. It’s all an unfathomable waste of money and very dangerous.

AG: DEFENDER Europe 20’s sweeping rehearsal for the transfer of US troops to Europe seemed to assume the possibility of an all-out shooting war between Russia and NATO, insane and infectious as that sounds, coronavirus or no. Can you share any thoughts on that?

BG: Russia has been invaded over and over again in its long history. Their military is oriented toward defending their vast territory. Sweden has invaded Russia dozens of times. Napoleon and Hitler both failed to take control of Russia in wars that cost incredible numbers of lives.

More than 27 million Russians died defeating the Nazis in World War II. In contrast, the US lost only 500,000.

Moscow museum panoramic painting of Nazi attack on Russia during WW II

The West wants control of Russia’s vast resources and its land mass. Now, with global warming and the melting of the Arctic ice, Western oil interests want control of the region, but Russia happens to have the largest border with the Arctic. The RAND Corporation produced a study  that calls for balkanizing Russia, breaking it into smaller countries that are easier to seize and control. It’s insane but that is what Washington’s CIA-run foreign policy is all about.

This is the reason for the constant demonization of Putin and Russia. Even many so-called progressives fall for it and become unwilling to look at the larger geostrategic issues that drive the US’s ceaseless efforts to take down Moscow.

Russia’s attitude is, “We don’t want war, but if you attack us, we will hit you back with everything we’ve got.” Putin often asks, “What kind of a world would it be without Russia?”

Westerners know little about Russia’s long history and culture. Needless to say, their dismissive arrogance does not endear Russians to us.

Russia cut their military budget during the last two years, moving the money into social and infrastructure development, but at this point, their new hypersonic missiles are more advanced than anything the US has.

AG: OK, getting back to the coronavirus pandemic, how do you see NATO and the US military operating if the pandemic lasts just another three months, another six months, or even a year or more? Some are saying that everything will be different and less globalized when it’s over, the more so the longer it lasts. Is there any chance that will include reducing global US troop deployment on 800+ military bases?

Can the drone bombing continue with minimal deployment? Could the expectation of future pandemics become a sick and twisted argument for weapons in space?

BG: My mind is racing with theories about what is going on at present with the virus and global economic shutdown.

AG: You’re not the only one.

BG: Is the Deep State pulling these strings? Is COVID-19 a bioweapon produced in either the US or China? And if not, could it have leaked from a US or Chinese lab?

Is there a plan to suspend the Constitution  and declare martial law ? Recent reports suggest so.

Will the US military be used to contain a hungry and angry populace here at home that at some point rebels, as in “The Hunger Games ”? Will the virus infest the US military to a point where they are all under quarantine? Virtually anything is possible at this point.

The Deep State doesn’t give a damn about the young people who join the military primarily to get a job.

Here in Maine, just 10 miles from where I live, we have the Bath Iron Works (BIW) Shipyard owned by General Dynamics, which employs 6,700 workers. The machinists union there fears the worst from the virus and has asked that they all be allowed to go home on paid leave. The company says they could go home unpaid or use up their vacation time. The first positive test  for the virus surfaced at BIW on March 23, but the company is still refusing to back down. Neither General Dynamics nor the Pentagon give a damn about these workers.

So, like other nations with US bases, our local population feels threatened by the local military production facility at BIW. Even the workers who depend on it for their livelihood are afraid. People must begin to reevaluate the utility of US bases and weapons manufacturers and reflect deeply on their cost and their true mission.

We’ve been calling for the conversion of BIW  to build commuter rail systems, offshore wind turbines, tidal power systems and more to deal with our real problem: climate change. Studies show that if we made such a conversion we’d also get more jobs as a result.

The US military and economic empire is itself a deadly virus. It sucks the wealth and life-blood out of its host nations, including the US, but the world is waking up. Hopefully it won’t be too late.

~ Ann Garrison is an independent journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2014, she received the Victoire   Ingabire Umuhoza Democracy and  Peace Prize    for her reporting on conflict in the African Great Lakes region. She can be reached at ann@anngarrison.com.

Notes from UNAC Conference

Former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney spoke during the final session of the UNAC conference in New Jersey today

I am on the train heading back north to Boston - should get home before midnight.  The UNAC conference, which drew about 400 people, was a real delight, I'm glad to have been there.

There were some fantastic speakers and I took extensive notes.  I'll just put them below, not in any particular order, there was so much ground covered.  The bottom line is that this event brought together Black, Hispanic, Muslim, Middle Eastern, African, Ukrainian, European, and White progressive activists.  People were all connecting the dots making the case that none of us are going anywhere unless and until we find ways to support one another.  In my career as an activist I've attended many conferences and I can say without hesitation that this was one of the best.

The Black Lives Matter uprising was on the minds of most of the speakers and their key point was "find ways to support the rising black youth movement".  Speaker after speaker effectively made the case that there is indeed a war going on here at home in America - a war against youth of color.  If you miss that then you are missing the essential issue of our time.

• ISIS is the US's Frankenstein just like the Taliban was in Afghanistan
• Courts in Ukraine are not independent - masked neo-Nazis come to courts where peaceful activists are on trial for their protests against Kiev regime and they intimidate the judges
• 54% of US domestic military bases are located across the south
• 57% of black people live in the south
• We are all equal, there are no bigs, there are no smalls
• If we don't get it, shut it down
• Shut down capitalism at the point of production like Longshoreman do in northern California
• US Africa Command (AfriCom) headquarters is located in Stuttgart, Germany - no African nation has yet been willing to host the command
• China becoming key player in Africa - generally not interfering with internal affairs of African nations instead focusing on infrastructure development projects like roads, schools, hospitals that the host nation requests in exchange for resources
• The US and France bring militarization and instability to Africa
• There has been some Chinese migration into Africa that has caused some tensions
• Big US--China competition for resources on African continent
• US State Department sends hip-hop artists to tour Africa to put a happy face before young Africans, many of whom are then brought to Washington and are run through the dollar mill
• Israel is involved in military operations and covert training in Africa.  During days of apartheid in South Africa Israel was heavily involved in helping arm and train the white regime.
• Colonization of Africa was the historic linchpin of imperialism - began with Europeans running the slave trade
• 1960 was known as year of Africa as 17 states got their independence
• AfriCom currently operating in dozens of states and Obama has increased funding for their military operations throughout Africa
• Nigeria has the largest economy on the African continent
• One out of every five slaves were brought to the US from the Congo region
• Congo was given to King Leopold II of Belgium in 1885 as a personal possession.  Extraction of rubber and ivory made the king more than $1 billion
• 10-15 million Congolese lost their lives in that resource extraction process
• Congo's uranium played a central role in the development of the US atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• US spent more money on covert action against Congo than any other country after they gained their independence under Patrice Lumumba. Within twelve weeks of Congolese independence in 1960, Lumumba's government was deposed in a coup by the US, Belgium and the UK.  The United Nations, which Lumumba had asked to come to the Congo, did not intervene to save him. In fact the UN helped block Lumumba's outreach to his people for support.
•  The CIA determined that if "Congo was lost" then all of Africa would be lost to true independence
• Between 1996-2007 at least six million people were killed in Congo
• Bill Clinton's (1998) "Entebbe Summit for Peace and Prosperity: Joint Declaration of Principles" was a neo-liberal program to create "a new breed of African leaders" that turned out to be sociopaths who commit crimes that are cleansed by the US on the international level
• Obama has continued these basic African policies.  Soon after elected he shipped weapons to Rawada under AfriCom
• USAID, National Endowment for Democracy and other US "soft power" institutions co-opt labor unions, NGO's and other grassroots organizations in order to blunt the revolutionary youth in Africa
• Congolese saying: When you dine with the devil, dine with a long fork
• Pentagon is the biggest user of petro-chemical products and has the largest carbon bootprint on the planet.  The US demanded that the Pentagon be exempted from the Kyoto climate change protocols
• The cost of the Iraq war was enough to pay for dealing with climate change by reordering the planet toward sustainable energy
• Fracking - for each gallon of oil extracted more than one gallon of waste water is generated
• Obama signed the 'European Reassurance Initiative' at the cost of $985 million to fund Pentagon airfield "infrastructure and improvements" for US-NATO war planes in Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania.
• US-NATO military "capacity building" near the Russian border illustrates the game of hardball that Washington and Brussels are playing.  They are putting a loaded gun to Putin's head - the threat is being made to either submit or face expanded war and chaos similar to what has already been unleashed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya and beyond
• The US corporate oligarchy thought they had Moscow safely in the bag back in the early 1990's.  Washington does not like to be denied and thus is willing to face a nuclear war with Russia in order to finish the job of corporate consolidation
• There is a 20% difference in prison rates between Black and white people across the US
• Capitalism in its decline has brought the war home to the American people
• The US is now 57th in education amongst the world's nations
• The US is #1 in prison population and military spending in the world
• The whole damn system is to blame
• We can't call it the US anymore because the country belongs to the corporate oligarchy
• Gentrification of cities is a global problem and militarization is based on pushing poor people out so those with more money can move in
• Black and White is not the issue - it's Blue (cops) and Black
• There are 10,000 intelligence agents spying on Muslims across the US
• We will build a broad alliance of various movements to defeat racism
• Thanks to UNAC for creating the space to bring all these movements together
• We have to start where Martin Luther King Jr. left off by connecting the war at home with the wars abroad
• Racism is always structural
• Baltimore reflects what happens when young people empower themselves
• The American way of war - unlimited, targets civilians - now seeing it here at home enforced by a brutal police occupation
• Former Baltimore mayor, and Maryland governor, Martin O'Malley (now likely running for Democratic nomination for president) in one year arrested one-sixth of the Baltimore population. He was the initiator of much of the aggressive policing now at issue in Baltimore
• US police increasingly being trained by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).  It's Palestine in the US
• It's time to talk about the war culture across the US that demands relentless propaganda in order to flourish
• We need more Cop Watch teams in our communities.  We are living under a system that legally kills Black and Brown men, women, and children
• A first-year third grade teacher in Orange, New Jersey during Black History Month did a series on civil rights leaders who are less well known.  She used a mild Mumia Abu-Jamal quote and when it became known that he was gravely ill in prison her students wanted to write letters to him sending their love.  The teacher was suspended from the school when word got out about the letters.  Fox News covered the story and New Jersey police organizations demanded her firing.  Hearings are now being held to determine her future.  Parents have turned out on her behalf.  By trying to get the teacher fired police are taking control of public school curriculum
• The new anti-war movement is the Black Lives Matter uprising
• Underling causes of black youth uprisings are economic and global.  It's part of the war against youth of the world - particularly youth of color
• The American empire is crumbling before our very eyes.  If 'Black Lives Matter' are the words then Ferguson and Baltimore are the words made flesh
• It was the Palestinian people who tweeted the youth in Ferguson and told them how to deal with the tear gas
• Where is your body at?  Are you willing to put your body on the line to protect black children?
• We don't need allies, we need freedom fighters
• There has to be something else better than this.  We must love each other to do this work

HONEST OBAMA TO CONTINUE SURROUNDING RUSSIA

The Democratic national convention (DNC) begins today and many are getting excited and hopeful about Obama's new pick for V-P, Sen. Joe Biden. They both spoke in Springfield, Illinois on Saturday (subtly bringing back memories of honest Abe Lincoln).

I've been a close follower of Joe Biden's career for many years. I'll never forget watching him on C-SPAN deliver a speech in 2000 at the time of the DNC in Los Angeles that chose Al Gore for president. Biden was speaking to a Jewish organization during a pre-convention luncheon and he talked about "missile defense". The first half of his speech was an articulate and fascinating overview of why "missile defense" was dangerous and destabilizing. Then he stopped mid-stream and switched horses. The second half of his speech was a defense of U.S. participation in "missile defense" and the need for U.S. military space technology superiority. I was momentarily stunned but then recovered after reminding myself that this is what the Democrats do. They play both sides of the street. They have the anti-war rhetoric down to an art but then they walk away from that position by climbing onto the war horse and riding off with the sheriff's posse.

You might have heard that Dick Cheney will be heading to Georgia this week to help stoke the fires of war on Russia's border. And if that is not enough the media is reporting that, "NATO says it is holding long-planned exercises, involving US, German, Spanish and Polish vessels, in the Black Sea and that this is not linked to the conflict in Georgia. The exercises, which will include visits in Bulgaria and Romania, began on Thursday and are due to end on September 10."

Count on the U.S. quickly rebuilding Georgia's military and continual U.S. military maneuvers in this part of the world. The intent of these will be to constantly pressure Russia while, after each military "training exercise," loads of military hardware will be left in the region for future operations against Russia.

Sen. Biden recently went to Georgia himself to beat the war drums and threaten Russia with "consequences" if they don't leave Georgia alone. "When Congress reconvenes, I intend to work with the administration to seek Congressional approval for $1 billion in emergency assistance for Georgia, with a substantial down payment on that aid to be included in the Congress' next supplemental spending bill," Biden said.

So it appears that "Honest Obama" will continue the provocative military encirclement of Russia if he is allowed to win the presidency.

One final note: I must acknowledge that I had predicted the Democratic party race wrong. Many months ago I said Hillary Clinton would win the Dems presidential nomination and would pick Obama as V-P.

U.S.-NATO Pirate Alliance Gone Fascist

• Made it home about 11 pm last night after a 22-hour trip.  Watched five good movies on the plane coming from Istanbul on Turkish Airlines.  Food was not so hot.  Although the food in Odessa was excellent.  

• Regis and I are very happy with the response our 10-minute video is getting on YouTube.  Already over 600 hits - people appear to be sharing it widely.  Got lots of emails from people complementing us on it.  Seems to be helping people understand the Ukrainian issue.  Glad to hear that.

• The pro-US Georgia Today media site is reporting:

NATO military alliance may look to bolster its ranks by signing a special partnership agreement with Georgia and Ukraine.

Alliance members are currently discussing the possibility of offering Tbilisi and Kiev a newly devised association status under a 28+2 format that would see Georgian and Ukrainian armed forces fully cooperate with NATO in the Black Sea region and along the two countries’ long militarized borders with Russia.

Any such offer would be a significant move by the alliance as it would formally integrate the two former Soviet republics’ militaries into the NATO command structure without granting them full membership status.

Both Georgia and Ukraine have publicly stated their intention to join NATO and the European Union in the coming years as part of their drive towards Euro-Atlantic integration.

• There can be no doubt that Washington and Brussels are rolling the dice and going after Moscow come hell or high water.  They are doing everything possible to encircle and provoke Russia at the same time.  Bringing Georgia and Ukraine into a NATO 'partnership' gives the western military bloc a 'legal' handle to justify a war with Russia if either of those nations are 'attacked' by Russia.

• In 2008 we saw then Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili (trained in the US at George Washington University) launch an attack on Russian speaking republics South Ossetia and Abkhazia along Russia's southern border.  Russia responded to the Georgian military strike against the people there by counter-attacking and pushing Georgian forces out of those two republics.  The fighting took place in the strategically important Transcaucasia region which borders the Middle East.

• I'll never forget watching the first US politician to arrive in Georgia after the 2008 shooting war subsided.  It was then Sen. Joe Biden who made that visit, just months before being selected as Obama's running mate. Biden came back slinging much anti-Russian rhetoric and most importantly threatened Russia with dire consequences if it did not do as instructed by Washington and Brussels.   Biden of course also led the effort in the Senate to send more weapons and US military 'trainers' to Georgia.  

• In the end Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was run out of that country and currently is a wanted man there for his corruption and crimes against the people.  Saakashvili was next brought to Ukraine and (surprise, surprise) appointed as Governor of Odessa.  It is my belief that since Washington was not able to pull off the theft of Crimea for a US Navy base, they want to be sure to hang onto Odessa which was once a Soviet Navy base.  Thus the repression of the Russian speaking population in Odessa to ensure that they are kept under wraps.  The pieces of the puzzle start to create a clear picture. 

Former Georgian President Saakashvili (a long-time US puppet) in his famous 'tie chewing' incident on TV.  He was recently given Ukrainian citizenship and appointed as the new Governor of Odessa in Ukraine.  Saakashvili can't go back to Georgia as he is wanted for crimes while in office.  Memorize his face and watch for trouble where ever this US agent goes.

• I am getting more worried by the day about US-NATO moves inside and around Russia.  The Washington-Brussels-London-Paris corporate axis is getting desperate to knock out Moscow ASAP and break Russia into smaller pieces so they can (1) Grab Russia's natural gas, the most on the planet (2) Control the long Russian border with the Arctic Sea as climate change melts the ice and makes it possible to drill-baby-drill up there (3) Stop the advance of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) alternative economic structure, thus the current moves to 'impeach' the elected left-wing government in Brazil on trumped up charges.  (4) Punish Russia for helping to stabilize the situation in Syria and for opposing other western 'regime changes' around the globe.
• Those of us in the United States are living under on a renegade pirate capitalist operation that is on steroids.  Standing on the corner with signs that say peace and love are not going to cut it anymore.  We are up against three-piece suit fascism and we'd better figure that out real fast.