VOICES OF THE PEOPLE

My favorite blog, The Vineyard of the Saker, got a ton of comments today from people after he posted a piece about how corrupt and weak EU politicians are.  Some of the comments were priceless so I thought I'd share a few here.  Most of them don't give names so I will just put what they wrote below.  It's encouraging to see such political sophistication out there.  What we need now is a unified anti-corporate strategy across the globe.  A good start would be a global weekend of protest against NATO.

• Merkel, Obama, Poroshenko et. al. are dangerous - but as individuals they are merely instruments of capital.
• The current EU and Nato leaders are not of the "nation building" class, they attend for personal agendas such as money and power positions after their terms run out. Voters and elections are frowned upon as necessary evils in order to keep the cloak of democracy plausible.
• Read "The Making of Global Capitalism" by Panitch and Gindin. They're marxians but until the conclusion everything in the book is a matter of public record. A masterful academic work. Explains a few things, including how from Marshal Plan to the EU the US has been remaking Europe in its own image. The Fed & Treasury make the decisions, the EU implements them. That's what it's for.
• I am Romanian. Do you really think someone asked us, the people, what do we want, before joining the EU or NATO? All major decisions are taken by our corrupt, mafia-like "elite" who runs our poor country into the abyss of oligarchy, theft and moral destruction. 
• In most cases the ringleaders of the eastern branch of the transatlantic Fourth Reich are unelected, or are not directly elected. They are also not appointed on their merits as would be the case in a proper monarchy, but are just party functionaries who advance on the loyalty to the cause ticket. Who elected José Manuel Barroso? Right, nobody did. President of the European Union is Herman Van Rompuy, he is a Belgian but I doubt many Belgians know who is.  
• They [EU elites] are not stupid, they are whores, and they do superbly their job: to make sure Europe is kept down (the boot of the D-Empire). They are also cheap, I must add. Comparing how little they cost with the enormous benefits they bring to the master, you can't help but feel astonished. As for Europeans, their societies have been successfully destructured, almost completely. You need a miracle, by then, for a real Resistance to be born there, but miracles happen only where there is Faith. 
• I'm from Macedonia, and here it is absolutely *impossible* to speak against the EU or NATO. The Soros foundation has its own papers that slam anyone who dares speak against NATO or the EU. The internet forums are awash with paid posters promoting 'EU values' even though no one is ready to define just what that even means, or engage in a meaningful discussion. There's a plethora of 'experts' paid by the Germans and the Americans to promote their points of view, and to slander whomever doesn't agree with the said views as 'Putinist' or 'Chavist'.  It's like living under the communists all over again! Strike that - it's even worse! Brussels and Washington have bought the 'elites' and 99% of the journalists, and we're living under their dictatorship here!
• I am not sure that European politicians are clowns. They were put wherever they are by the Americans and they work for them best they can. They are increasingly successful in harming the economies of the countries they pretend to serve. They are good at that and therefore not clowns but successful traitors.
•  This is very true and i can only think that the US are making 'all sorts' of promises to EU leadership or maybe its blackmail? All this NSA spying may have lead to a big fat folder with the peccadillos of EU leaders .. who knows. I live in europe and I can tell you I have never seen anything like this in my life, the sheer scale of lies is breathtaking, it is blatant war mongering, people are honestly getting a little scared, although I have also to say that the majority of people who watch politics know that this is all 'false flag' lies etc. 
• I'll try to explain situation in Serbia. In coup d' etat, in October 2000, USA successfully installed puppet government with Zoran Djindjic as a prime minister. Every government from 2000 to 2012 pushed Serbia deeper into EU "friendly" hug. They, of course, deteriorated Serbia's armed forces, destroyed economy and totally devastated Serbia's capacity in any field (agriculture, industry, education, culture etc). We are now a bit more than a poor colony. 
•  Trust me, we realize how bad they are. It's just we're not sure how to get rid of them. It often feels like they've "kidnapped" the democracy somehow: no matter how awful things they do, no matter how many people hate them, they still keep winning every elections. And even if they don't win, their successors are even worse.
• Dear Saker, you have articulated exactly my thoughts, and I do try to say to my family & friends "look at these clots". Not only are they clowns but greedy, corrupt clowns. They are not all stupid however, and behind the clownish policies lies a sinister 'Common Purpose'. The circus in Washington is equally rich in puppets & clowns of the scariest, most dangerous variety.
• I'm British and don't consider myself European at all. I despise our so called 'leaders' and what they are dragging us into. Most British people only care about the latest Celebrity Big Brother episode. For example we have a program called Great British Bake Off and one contestants ice cream melted and this was the talk on social media and in the news for days. Most of the British public are apathetic to what our government are doing to them.
• How much longer will we be able to have the internet before the rebarbative powers take it away?
• The EU politicos true colors were shown when Evo Morales flight was intercepted. They lack backbone.  
• "Freedom & democracy" are nothing more than a facade, behind which all heinousness is hidden. "Voters' choice" is no more than an illusion of free will of herded sheeple. So, what is the outcome you expect under such circumstances? I've no idea if it is known to everybody that EU was created by CIA? Ambrose Evans-Pritchard wrote a small piece about it for "The Telegraph" nearly 14 years ago. 
• Everything is going to plan: soon in Wales they will decide to spend more on military to protect the countries bordering russia and in 3-6 months they will have convinced the european and american sheeple that a limited nuclear war with Russia will bring peace and stability.
• The US has never been in this situation in its whole history, never so weak in terms of wealth and clearly Bretton Woods is dead, the wealth is passing to the east .. they will not accept a diminution in their world status, I think they are pretty deluded at the moment and cannot see the writing on the wall, like a spoilt child they would rather scream, break their toys and throw them out of the pram than share them. How far to the brink are they really willing to go?
• At economic collapse, war is the option. 
• Mr. Saker; they have discharged the insane from their hospital beds
• Lazy corporate media who make heroes out of villains
• Many people in Germany are aware of the stupidity and the betrayals perpetrated by our politicians. NOBODY really knows about Merkels real goals. 
• Fallacies of US policy may be leading to war with Russia.
• Try to remember the wise words of Public Enemy - don't believe the hype.  
• With [Ukraine's] military defeat looming and economic collapse pending and with the very real risk of gas supplies to Europe being interrupted in the autumn the Europeans have no answers. Politically as well as (probably) economically they are looking at a cold winter ahead.
• Collectively, we are the Germans of 1935. We have enough access to sufficient information to know what we are about to do. We will all say that we had no idea, that we are horrified to learn of our government's actions. Yet to protect ourselves and our children, we will empower the next wave of atrocities.
• The pro-American commentary on sites ranging from The Guardian to The Daily Kos has taken a noticeable turn in the direction of desperation, frenzy, hysteria, as months of blatant lies and propaganda have failed to gain traction among the masses. 
• Most European politicians are American whores... I mean Atlanticists. That is why they were *allowed* by Uncle Scam to reach these positions of power in the first place! America's political subversion, agents of influence, and regime change operations aren't just targeted at the Third World or non-Western "enemy nations," they are even targeted at the USA's supposed "allies." 
• Pro-Nazi Ukrainians and Ukrainian mafia are trying to stage a "Prague Maidan" at Prague's St. Wentzeslav square. They demand from the Czech government a "greater courage and will" against Russia.
• Let's face it. EU "leaders" are actually EU Department Heads. Eg. Merkel is head of Zionist State, EU Division, Germany Department. And the Department Heads will ultimately prioritize the well being of the US Regime above the well being of their own Department. (eg: the newly formed Ukraine Department)
• violence is the #1 tool of American foreign policy  
• The bottom line of ongoing and coming conflicts is simply because Russia refuses to be 2nd citizen or junior partner with the West in current world. And, Russia has enormous amount of natural resource. This is just another round of attempt on Russia. And, this time Russia stands alone.

EXCELLENT SHORT FILM ON FERGUSON

Fault Lines traveled to Ferguson to witness the demonstrations and the subsequent heavy-handed police reaction - and to find out how Brown's killing sparked something bigger, exposing tensions that have been bubbling beneath the surface for years.

PROTESTS IN WALES

Some 400 people have joined a protest camp in Newport to protest against NATO. The march comes ahead of next week’s military summit that will see 60 world leaders descend on the area and is already causing considerable disruption to locals.

"Nuclear NATO - no, thanks!" or "Iraq, Ukraine - no more wars" read the numerous placards against the upcoming NATO summit.

Tens of thousands of people from across Europe and beyond are expected to join the protests during the NATO war summit. 

JUST A HUG PLEASE?

YOU NEED IRONY GUARD

$ - separate the S from the l and you get IS or ISIS....

SUNDAY SONG

UNDERSTANDING ISIS

The Islamic militant group ISIS, formerly known as Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and recently rebranded as the so called Islamic State, is the stuff of nightmares.

Would it interest you to know who helped these psychopaths rise to power? Would it interest you to know who armed them, funded them and trained them? Would it interest you to know why?

NATO'S RING OF STEEL

NATO uses fear to increase their 'security state' in Wales for their annual summit.  More money wasted at the very time that austerity measures are ripping communities to pieces. 

Say no to the NATO endless war machine!

SELLING MISSILE OFFENSE

Zoom in Korea

South Korea Missile Defense: U.S. Presses Interoperability   

U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work says he wants South Korea’s missile defense (MD) system to be ‘extremely interoperable’ with the U.S. system.

“We want the Korean Air Missile and Defense (KAMD) to be independent and strong,” he told a news conference at the Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek on August 21, “What we hope is to have an extremely interoperable system between the United States’ theater missile defense and the KAMD.“

‘Extremely Interoperable’ – What does it mean?

The US government has said in the past that it is considering the deployment of exo-atmospheric Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors in South Korea to protect U.S. forces there. South Korea, however, has said it prefers to develop its own national Korean Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) system, and so far has not agreed to be be part of a joint system with the United States and Japan.

THAAD deployment in South Korea has become a hot-button issue in recent US-South Korea diplomatic relations.

Although Work’s recent statement seems to imply that the United States will respect South Korea’s independent MD system, ‘interoperability’ really means it will become integrated into the U.S. system, according to Defense Plus 21 Editor Kim Jong-dae.

“The only way the two systems can be ‘extremely interoperable’,” says Kim, “is through the deployment of the THAAD C2 (command and control) system in Korea.”  For all intents and purposes, according to Kim, “it would mean the deployment of THAAD in South Korea.”

THAAD in Korea – Would Provoke China and Make South Korea a U.S. Outpost

THAAD, the core of U.S. anti-ballistic missile defense system, is designed to detect and intercept short, medium, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles in their terminal phase at high altitudes of 40 to 150 km. Although missiles are easily transportable by sea, the radar detection range of MD systems is limited.  And that is why the United States is keen on expanding its radar installation sites.

South Korea’s Defense Minister Han Min-koo has already signaled support for THAAD deployment in Korea.  “It would help to deter North Korea’s nukes and missiles and strengthen the security posture of the Korean peninsula,” he said on a television appearance on July 20.

But given the proximity of North Korea, writes Gregory Elich, “a THAAD battery would make little sense from the South Korean perspective.”  He quotes a Korean official who spoke on condition of anonymity – “In an environment like the Korean Peninsula where firing ranges are so short, the most effective missile defense system is low-altitude defense. We’re not participating in any system for high-altitude defense.”

“Nor would a high-altitude ballistic missile be North Korea’s first weapon of choice, when low or medium-altitude missiles would be airborne for a far shorter period, thus making them more difficult to shoot down,” adds Elich, “A THAAD battery in South Korea, however, would make an inviting target for Chinese missiles in any conflict between the United States and China.“

The South Korean Defense Ministry says that THAAD deployment in Korea does not automatically mean South Korea is participating in the U.S. MD system.  Furthermore, it says, “If THAAD is deployed in Korea, its operation will be confined to the Korean peninsula and has nothing to do with China.”

But like Elich, Solidarity for Peace and Reunification in Korea (SPARK) analyst Ko Young-dae is unconvinced.  “The AN/TPY-2 X-band radar that’s part of the THAAD battery can track ballistic missiles launched in northeast China – Shanghai, Beijing, or Dalian, for example – towards continental United States, or U.S. bases in Hawaii, Guam, South Korea or Okinawa, and provide early warning to the United States and Japan,” he says.  This will incapacitate China’s deterrence capability against the United States and Japan, he argues, and inevitably worsen South Korea-China relations.

Furthermore, says Ko, “If THAAD is deployed in Korea, even if it is operated by U.S. forces and not South Korean forces, South Korea becomes an outpost for information-gathering and operation of the U.S. MD system.”

China and Russia Warn ‘Arms Race in Northeast Asia’

China has voiced strong concern about possible THAAD deployment in Korea.  China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency warned on May 29, “South Korea will sacrifice its fast-developing relations with China.”  And Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in June, “Deploying missile defense on the Korean peninsula would not be in the interest of regional stability or strategic balance.”

Russia joined China in denouncing the U.S. plan.  In a comment issued on July 24, 2014, Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said the following-

The fact should not be disregarded that this in fact means that the geography of US global anti-missile defenses is expanding and its elements will now be present in the South Korean land.  Such events will inevitably negatively affect the strategic situation in the region, and could provoke the armament race in North-East Asia and create additional complications for the resolution of the nuclear problem of the Korean Peninsula. Speaking more at large, this will certainly negatively affect global strategic stability, which the United States continues to disrupt unilaterally by creating a global missile defense shield and by armaments control processes.

The U.S. government has denied Russia’s claims that THAAD deployment in Korea would be aimed at Russia.  Nonetheless, the THAAD X-band radar’s detection range of 1000 km would include, if deployed in South Korea, far eastern Russia, including Vladivostok.

The issue of THAAD deployment in South Korea will likely reemerge as a hot-button issue when Mark Lippert, missile defense expert and Obama’s nominee for ambassador to South Korea,  comes to town.  And it could become fuel for Cold War-like hostilities in Northeast Asia.

The Park Geun-hye government, caught between the United States, its traditional benefactor, and China, its largest trading partner, needs to choose wisely and consider that ‘interoperability’ could be just a sugar-coated term for intervention.

FIRE TIME

• I started bringing in some wood today because the temperatures are cooling off and I wanted to fill up the wood holders in the house.  Tonight I am going to sit out in the back yard with a fire going and I called MB and asked her to bring some beer on her way home from work.  Might as well start thinking and acting like I am on vacation.

• The summer this year has gone by fast and has been much cooler than the past couple of years.  This summer felt more like the Maine summers we experienced after moving here in 2003.

• I had a 90-minute massage today, my birthday present, finally getting around to doing it a month late.  During the massage I was seeing white light and thinking about how we don't use our brains to their fullest capacity.  I was imagining being in tune with the universal energy field.

• Besides the blog hits I get from the US today's top source for blog hits was Ukraine.  Earlier in the week it was the Netherlands.  So in honor of Ukraine readers I thought I'd post a few tidbits from the Vineyard of the Saker:

The Ukies are losing, badly.  All the reports from Novorussian sources agree that the Ukie forces are either surrounded or in full retreat.  But Ukies sources also confirm this.  In Kiev, angry demonstrations by nationalists accuse the military high command of minimizing the real casualty figures, of having abandoned the forces fighting in the Donbass.  Even Oleg Liashko has stated that the Ukie forces have been "betrayed".  Demonstrations have taken place in from of the Ukie General Staff which many Right Sector [nationalist] protesters which are demanding the creation of a "generals battalion" which would be formed of only generals who would be sent to fight personally (an excellent idea, which I fully approve of!).  Others are also demanding the resignation of the Ukie Minister of Defense.  Ukrainian woman are regularly stopping military convoys on the roads, often by standing or lying down in front of trucks, to prevent their men from being sent to death.  Entire Ukie battalions are deserting from the front and Special Forces [Nazi's] are sent to stop them.  Apparently, the Ukie police is afraid to arrest the soldiers for desertion because of their large numbers. 

NO EVIDENCE OF RUSSIAN INVASION

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday addressed eastern Ukrainian “self-defense” forces, urging them to open a humanitarian corridor that allows surrounded Ukrainian soldiers to withdraw safely. The plea came the day after President Petro Poroshenko accused Moscow of invading his country, and only hours after US President Barack Obama placed the responsibility for the crisis squarely on Russia. RT’s Manila Chan and Paula Slier have the latest on the quickly moving situation.

NATO SECURITY STATE ADVANCING ON RUSSIA

The President of Ukraine (Poroshenko) has accused Russia of deploying troops in East Ukraine. That's as anti-government self-defense forces launch a counter-offensive and advance on key areas in the southeast. RT is joined by Tony Gosling, an investigative journalist on the unfolding Ukrainian crisis.

POOR, POOR POROSHENKO

 

Poor
poor
Poroshenko
the chocolate king
oligarch
from Ukraine
made ruler
by US-NATO

His job?
"to do what
he's told"

Ukraine
is an instrument
to start war
with Russia

Reports in recent days
Russia invades
Ukraine
come as self-defense forces
in the east are defeating
Kiev's Nazi-backed army

US-NATO needs pretext
"to protect and defend"
their project
in Ukraine
a NATO base
right on the Russian border
would be ideal

Final solution
is balkanization of Russia
break it into pieces
so fossil fuel extraction
corporations
can get at their nat gas
and the resources
in the Arctic
Russia has such a
long border
with Arctic

See the writing
on the wall?

Poroshenko
a drunk sadist
killing his own people
angry when they
defend themselves
doing the work
for Mr. Big
Poroshenko
is a bag man
easily expendable

We have one
like him
here in Maine
our Gov. LePage
an alcoholic
bag man
for the corporate
money machine
attacks the poor
destroys environment
pits one against
the other
a cruel and
bitter man
soul long ago
drowned

Poor
poor
Poroshenko

Poor
poor
LePage

Both
fat cats
who were given
the acting roles
of their life
just follow the script

certain to be
taken care of
when they are
gone from the stage

MAKE A VIDEO AND WIN TRIP TO KYOTO

BLOCKING THE DRONE BASE IN NEW YORK

Mary Anne Grady Flores, a 58-year-old grandmother of three, was sentenced to a year in jail after photographing an anti-drone protest outside a military base near her home. While she waits on appeal, Grady Flores and her fellow protestors speak on the dangers of drone warfare, the right to dissent, and what she’ll do next.

NATO MEETING TO PLAN MORE WAR

NATO holds its annual war making confab in Wales on August 30 - September 5.  It's evident to me that NATO is the global military arm of corporate capital - with the US running it all through their massive satellite war fighting infrastructure.  Protests and a 'counter summit' are being organized by a coalition of peace groups worldwide.  See more here

Under the pretext of an 'overt' Russian threat, NATO is pushing for a ‘readiness action plan’ that will bring the Cold War military bloc closer to Russian borders than ever - even despite objections from some NATO members. James Corbett, editor of the Corbett Report, an independent Japan-based news outlet, gave his perspective on the matter.

Here is a video about one of NATO's evil doings in Ukraine:

FIRST ACTIVIST IN SPACE?

Speaking at Kennedy Space Center protest in Florida in 1990

• I had a beer with Regis Tremblay yesterday at our usual spot here in Bath.  He lives just over the bridge on the other side of the Kennebec River that separates our two towns.  He handed me back the photo above that he had scanned for inclusion in an interview he recently filmed.  He'd doing a series of short video spots with veterans talking about how their experiences in the military turned them into peaceniks.

• This photo was taken at a protest I organized in 1990 while working with the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice.  On that occasion we were protesting the coming NASA launch of the Ulysses space probe that carried a large payload of deadly plutonium-238.  When I arrived for the protest a friend pulled me aside and said he got ahold of this NASA flight suit and suggested I put it on.  So I did.

• I began the space center rally by saying that NASA had recently announced a new program called "Activist in space" similar to their ill-fated "Teacher in space" flight that blew up just after launch.  I told the crowd that I had applied to be the first activist in space and had surprisingly been selected for the program.  But there is just one problem.... NASA was only providing me with a one-way ticket.... I said it with a straight face and some didn't get the joke and thought I was serious.  I guess I watched too much Jack Benny as a kid.

• I'm currently experiencing a bit of psychic overload.  It's been a hectic and draining summer and I've yet to have any real break.  I've only been swimming once.  No vacation or time off to speak of.  The wrenching reality of Ukraine-Gaza-Ferguson have kept me riding the emotional roller coaster.  I did start taking a yoga class this week for the first time ever.  A friend here in Bath teaches yoga and talked me into giving it a try.  I enjoyed the first class and I'm going to stick with it.  I need to do something for myself that will help clear my head and keep my body flexible as I get older and stiffer.

• MB and I were supposed to go on vacation next week.  A friend has a camp on an island in the middle of a lake here in Maine and invited us to spend a week there.  I was so looking forward to the daily swim.  But then I got a letter from the court in Syracuse, New York calling me for an appearance about my April 2013 drone protest arrest at Hancock Air Field.  So that shot a hole in our vacation plans as we'll eat up several days driving there and back.

• Sometimes people ask me how I keep doing this kind of work without burning out.  I like to remind folks that I really wanted to be a baseball or basketball coach but could not ignore America's endless imperial wars and their impact back here at home.  I wouldn't dare turn my back on Gaza or Ferguson or the people being shelled in eastern Ukraine?  I just couldn't look the other way but the level of energy spent does take a toll on the heart, mind, and body over time.

• I read alot and watch ball games as my escape. It seems as though I have an unquenchable thirst to learn and to discover the truth about what is going on.  I was not the brightest student in high school - much too busy working to help support my dysfunctional family to worry about studying.  I've always loved to learn.... but with learning comes responsibility - at least for me it does - and this is the life I've made for myself.  I have no regrets at all but I do want to go swimming.

ISIS: AN EXCUSE FOR WAR WITH SYRIA

The US is further ramping up its involvement in the Levant as the Islamic State threat grows. On Tuesday, the Obama administration revealed it will conduct surveillance flights over Syria to monitor the radical jihadists that have taken control of large portions of the country. Longtime foes, the US and Syria both announced they are not working together on the operation, and Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem warned that while surveillance is acceptable, unilateral strikes will be viewed as acts of aggression. Matt Southworth of the Friends Committee on National Legislation speaks with RT’s Manila Chan on the expanding conflict.

RUSH HOUR QUEUE

Post by Bikemap.

ARMORED UP

SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA CREATES CONSEQUENCES FOR EU FARMERS

Russia's ban on western food products, in response to sanctions from the EU may deal a nearly 7 billion euro blow to the European Union every year. That's according to new survey by a Dutch banking corporation. RT's Peter Oliver reports.

You'd think that Europe would wise up and stop following the US over the cliff.....

THEY CAME FOR FERGUSON BUT I WASN'T BLACK....

A new group
has been created
'Support Darren Wilson'
the cop
who made the
fatal shot
in Ferguson

a public relations
counter-attack
the
'Strategy of Tension'
in full view

It was like this
back in 1877
Crazy Horse surrendered
confined to the rez
in South Dakota
no horse
no gun
to his name

weapons industry
not happy
Civil War over
Indian wars
grinding to a halt
huge drop in profits

new enemy needed
ASAP

Writers and artists
commissioned to
fabricate story
Crazy Horse
back on warpath
raping white women
killing children
burning houses
newspapers
across nation
carried the
false flag
story

An outraged
public demanded
Congress do something
more $$$
immediately
appropriated
to fight Indian wars

Blacks not needed
many in jail
those on street
need to be gone
white culture
turned against
black
create fear
demand to
be protected
from 'menace'

Crazy Horse
back in the tepee
on the rez
eventually killed
by rez system
four months
after taken there

Ferguson
new rez
ghetto
concentration camp
apartheid
like Gaza

Don't look
at the banks
nor
greedy corporations
nor weapons industry
CIA
or Gladio

fear each other

they came for
Ferguson
but I wasn't black....

SUNDAY SONG

FULL HOUSE

Lots of comings and goings at the Addams-Melman House these days.  Housemate Karen has moved to North Berwick to be with her artist man friend through the winter.  Into her space has just moved one of MB's friends and her son.  Then downstairs in an empty room a young man who is teaching math and science in a nearby middle school has moved in.

For two weeks we have three college student guests from Malaysia, Israel, and England visiting.  The kitchen has been humming non-stop and this morning I made a big pot of pasta sauce from all the tomatoes we have grown and been given by friends.

The cold won't be far away and we've got enough wood ready for winter.

We had a dozen people back out on the streets with us in Bath this morning for a Gaza solidarity vigil.  We did a solemn silent walk through the heart of downtown and the busy farmers market.  Will do same again next Saturday at 10:00 am.

RUSSIAN AID ARRIVES IN EASTERN UKRAINE

Tons of food, water and medicine have finally reached the struggling citizens of Lugansk in eastern Ukraine. The aid column is now back in Russia - after unloading its vital cargo in less than 24 hours. RT's Maria Finoshina traveled with the convoy through the war-torn region.

Corporations like Monsanto want control of the rich fertile land of eastern Ukraine to grow their GMO products for European markets that have been reluctant to accept them.  Oil companies have already begun fracking operations under the cover of Kiev's shelling of the eastern region.  NATO hopes for military bases right on Russia's border.

In recent days Spanish farmers have been dumping their rotting produce and burning EU flags due to the US-EU sanctions on Russia.  These sanctions have closed the prosperous economic door into Russia for many European companies.  So this war on Ukraine is now having detrimental impacts all across Europe.

Score one for Russia on the grand chessboard as it once again proves the US-NATO fear mongering (Russia's aid convoy is a trojan horse!) to be nothing but a pack of lies - meant to further demonize Russia in the eyes of the world.

LAUNCH ALERT

The real-life missile silo setting really helps make this short film something special. A nuclear engineer lets his art hobby get in the way of his job—but when something goes awry, it may just save him.

Writer and director David Soll, who produces political ads as his day job, funded Silo through a successful Kickstarter campaign and got the rights to film in a decommissioned Cold War-era missile silo in the Adirondacks.

KIEV TAKES OUT MUSEUM AS THEY ESCALATE SHELLING

Russia's Foreign Ministry has called the humanitarian situation in Eastern Ukraine appalling. Cities have been shelled by the military every day this week. RT's Maria Finoshina reports from Lugansk.

The crime of those in eastern Ukraine?  They wanted to vote for their own mayors and governors rather than having them appointed by corrupt oligarchs in Kiev.  They wanted to be able to speak their historic Russian language and not have it banned by Kiev.  They want the Nazi's running the show in Kiev to stop killing them.

MAINE PAPERS PUSH BACK AGAINST MISSILE DEFENSE BASE

Rangeley, Maine where the Pentagon is considering basing up to 60 'missile defense' interceptors aimed at Russia and China

In recent days two newspapers in Maine, the Portland Press Herald (largest paper in the state) and the Times Record (from the Midcoast) have written editorials opposing the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency proposal to base up to sixty interceptors in Rangeley.  Also being considered as a host site for the expensive and destabilizing 'missile defense' (MD) base are Ohio, Michigan, and New York.

It was quite encouraging to read these two editorials both of which commented on the fact that the Pentagon does not really want the base.  It was mandated by Congress that public hearings be held in the four states because the lead contractor for this MD project, Boeing Corporation, used its considerable influence in the halls of government to sell the project as a jobs creator.  Who can argue against jobs, right?

The Times Record editorial took this jobs issue squarely on by writing:

$3.4 billion can create a lot of jobs for some lucky community. But that same $3.4 billion could be used to replace the highways in a large state such as Maine, or rebuild our aging schools, or pay for alternative energy systems to keep school costs down, or improve the whole country’s airports. Or fill in the blank for the job creating stimulus of your choice...

Let’s be clear. If we as a state are seeking a federal boondoggle to create jobs, let’s ask for one that is life affirming and useful to the majority of our citizens. The missile defense system in the western mountains does not meet this criteria in any way. 

Every now and again we get a sign that the local media is paying some attention to what activists are saying about issues like more military spending.  These editorials are evidence that our combined voices are being heard by someone.  That's encouraging.

REMEMBER THIS ONE?

I LOVE THIS WOMAN

We the people are ordered to constantly walk or we're threatened with arrest during the Mike Brown protests!

It's the same unlawful order day after day! No rights of assembly for anyone in the new constitution being written in the streets of Ferguson!

She will not comply!

BLIND SPOTS

A TERRIBLE BEAUTY IS BORN

We can't let this go away.  Ferguson, Missouri or the many other places blacks are gunned down by cops.  We can't let Gaza go nor Ukraine nor Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Africa - its all about the rape of resources and the elimination of unneeded people.  It's global genocide by the corporate elite.

Obama is so quiet - he makes more noise after a white reporter is killed by ISIS.  Obama promises revenge and sends bombers to Iraq.  In the case of Ferguson Obama sheepishly utters a few words of defense of media rights to report on protests but admonishes protesters for stepping out of line.  More than a week after the killing of Mike Brown Obama finally sends his attorney general to promise a federal investigation.  Got to keep our eyes on that ball.  Might just roll off into obscurity.

Obama has shown long ago that he has walked away from the black community and poor people in general.  The 'poor' word is never heard from his mouth as he maintains he is busy defending the 'middle class' while bowing to the dictates of corporate power.

I was reading a great book last night called 1968: A History in Verse by Edward Sanders who was a member of the band called The Fugs.  Things haven't changed much since then - except that more younger people were on the case in those days.  Student and minority movements were strong and being tracked and undermined by the FBI and CIA.  Today many young people are chained by college debt and in despair about what can be done.  Many still cling to the mythology of 'success' and are stuck on the treadmill.

Sanders recalls getting FBI files that contained agent memos from May 10-23, 1968 reminding all FBI offices:

"of the necessity of taking immediate action to expose, disrupt, and otherwise neutralize the activities of the New Left.  As a part of this program, you were instructed to remain alert for and to seek specific data depicting the depraved nature and moral looseness of the New Left.  You were further instructed to consider ways to use this material in a vigorous and enthusiastic approach to neutralizing them."

Local cops, federal 'law enforcement' agencies, religion, courts, media, unions, and politicians were largely lined up against the 'New Left'.  Activists and their organizations were undermined and ridiculed in the media.  But what they had to say about equality, peace, justice, environment and more were right on the mark.

It's the same way today.  Same struggle - same issues - same oligarchy in power that still uses largely the same methods to keep control. 

Sanders recalls the story about protest singer Phil Ochs running from the head-bashing cops in Chicago in '68 at the time of the Democratic Party convention when Mayor Daley went for blood.  As Ochs ran for cover the words of the poet Yates kept running through his head.  Sanders imagined it was these words: A terrible beauty is born.

One could ask that about Ferguson today?  Or Gaza? Has a terrible beauty been born when people around the planet stand together demanding justice before there can ever truly be peace.

COPS ON RAMPAGE IN MISSOURI

Another killing of a black man by cops in St Louis, Missouri.  This one though was recorded on the spot.  The ruling corporate oligarchy has given the police the green light to get the race war going.  What else could it be?

Notice how after shooting the man about ten times they handcuff the dead body.

THIS AIN'T FLORIDA...THIS IS ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

KIEV CLOSING IN FOR THE KILL

Eastern Ukraine has sustained another day of heavy shelling. Today at least 5 people were killed in an army assault on a village near Donetsk, while the city itself was also hit. Inside the city, people are struggling with a dire humanitarian situation.

I was particularly moved by the 82 year old woman at the end of this news report who refuses to leave Donetsk as the Kiev regime's conscripted army, directed by the US, closes in for the kill.  Kiev has been saying they plan to take full military control of eastern Ukraine by September 1.  That means lots more innocent people will die in the next few days. 

THIS IS AN EMERGENCY

It's all normal now
militarization of police
militarization of culture
creation of police state
lock down time 

who is the enemy?

In Ferguson
the predominately
black crowd shouts
'We are in Gaza'
they know what is
coming down

In Gaza
Palestinians,
long accustomed to
tear gas,
send Facebook messages
to Ferguson
about how to deal
with tear gas

the protests against
corporate dictatorship
are global

back at home
Obama interrupts
his vacation
makes lame statement
about Ferguson
"In America we don't
arrest journalists"

looks bad
after all
we are 'the light'
of freedom,
Disney style,
but truth be heard
America is home
of racism
and classism

Ferguson  is
blowing America's cover
it's an embarrassment
but also a planned
necessity

planned in that
the militarization
of most local police
has long been
in the works

necessity because
with corporate oligarchy
takeover of the nation
the shit is going to
hit the fan
and the cops
have been made ready

If America will kill
for 'our interests'
in Iraq, Afghanistan,
Libya, Palestine,
Africa,
Ukraine,
Latin America,
Asia
then it will kill
when necessary
at home

The main problem
is that most
in America
don't want to see
the writing
on the wall
it might
require one
to take positive
action
and people
are afraid
they might be
next on the list

better to take
the bait
of black
against white
brown immigrants
stealing our
crumbs

divide
and conquer
America
learned it well
from our British
forefathers

the sun
did set
on the Brits
and is now
setting on
Washington
the great
illusion is over

The
supreme irony
is oligarchy
put black man
in charge
of the demise

REACHING BEYOND THE CHOIR

Lots of people complain that we are often "preaching to the choir".  Peace walks give us great opportunities to reach well beyond our normal activist boxes.  Both the organizing of a walk and the actual walk itself introduces us to many new people and organizations.

The sharing community that gets created during a walk is more than magical and sends sparks out into the air as we pass through rural and urban settings.  People take notice and open themselves to the message and spirit of the walk.

I been involved in about a dozen or so walks.  They are life changing experiences and I look forward to this one as well.

FROM THE POPE TO WAR GAMES IN SOUTH KOREA

Pope Francis was just in South Korea for 100 hours and there was much popular movement action in the streets across the nation.  His translator on the trip was one of the Catholic priests who has been involved in the Jeju Island Navy base struggle and he met with Jeju Catholic Bishop Kang who has been a huge supporter of Gangjeong village where the Navy base is being built.

English language newspaper the hankyoreh reported:

 In his Aug. 15 mass for the Feast of the Assumption in Daejeon, the Pope urged attendees to fight the “spirit of unbridled competition” and reject “inhumane economic models.” This was also a blunt criticism of the South Korean economic system and its focus on the “myth of growth.”

“When the Pope said we need to change from globalization of capital to globalization of solidarity, he was calling for both a spiritual change in the ones who exclude the poor as well as a change in national and international institutions,” said Jung Tae-in, director of the Corea Institute for New Society.

Global Network board member Sung-hee Choi, long time activist on Jeju Island, wrote today:

Recently, Pope Francis has visited Korea from Aug. 14 to 18. He left us many moving messages of peace and justice, but the South Korean (ROK) conservative Park Geun-Hye government  started the World-biggest war exercise Ulji Freedom Guardian (In government drill, about 480,000 personnel join. In military drill, about 50,000 Korean soldiers and 30,000 US soldiers) started along with the United States on his leaving day. It ends on Aug. 21. The exercise targets North Korea and the strategy includes preemptive nuclear strike against her. The exercise will be a passage for the US to push for the US-Japan-ROK trilateral military alliance and Missile Defense system.

Australia, France, Denmark, and some UN Command in ROK - dispatching nations join it as observer.

FERGUSON: A TOP DOWN PROBLEM

KAREEM TELLS THE TRUTH

The Coming Race War Won’t Be About Race
By Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Will the recent rioting in Ferguson, Missouri, be a tipping point in the struggle against racial injustice, or will it be a minor footnote in some future grad student’s thesis on Civil Unrest in the Early Twenty-First Century?

The answer can be found in May of 1970.
 
You probably have heard of the Kent State shootings: on May 4, 1970, the Ohio National Guard opened fire on student protesters at Kent State University. During those 13 seconds of gunfire, four students were killed and nine were wounded, one of whom was permanently paralyzed. The shock and outcry resulted in a nationwide strike of 4 million students that closed more than 450 campuses. Five days after the shooting, 100,000 protestors gathered in Washington, D.C. And the nation’s youth was energetically mobilized to end the Vietnam War, racism, sexism, and mindless faith in the political establishment.

You probably haven’t heard of the Jackson State shootings.

On May 14^th, 10 days after Kent State ignited the nation, at the predominantly black Jackson State University in Mississippi, police killed two black students (one a high school senior, the other the father of an 18-month-old baby) with shotguns and wounded twelve others.

There was no national outcry. The nation was not mobilized to do anything. That heartless leviathan we call History swallowed that event whole, erasing it from the national memory.

And, unless we want the Ferguson atrocity to also be swallowed and become nothing more than an intestinal irritant to history, we have to address the situation not just as another act of systemic racism, but as what else it is: class warfare.

By focusing on just the racial aspect, the discussion becomes about whether Michael Brown’s death—or that of the other three unarmed black men who were killed by police in the U.S. within that month—is about discrimination or about police justification. Then we’ll argue about whether there isn’t just as much black-against-white racism in the U.S. as there is white-against-black. (Yes, there is. But, in general, white-against-black economically impacts the future of the black community. Black-against-white has almost no measurable social impact.)

Then we’ll start debating whether or not the police in America are themselves an endangered minority who are also discriminated against based on their color—blue. (Yes, they are. There are many factors to consider before condemning police, including political pressures, inadequate training, and arcane policies.) Then we’ll question whether blacks are more often shot because they more often commit crimes. (In fact, studies show that blacks are targeted more often in some cities, like New York City. It’s difficult to get a bigger national picture because studies are woefully inadequate. The Department of Justice study shows that in the U.S. between 2003 and 2009, among arrest-related deaths there’s very little difference among blacks, whites, or Latinos. However, the study doesn’t tell us how many were unarmed.)

This fist-shaking of everyone’s racial agenda distracts America from the larger issue that the targets of police overreaction are based less on skin color and more on an even worse Ebola-level affliction: being poor. Of course, to many in America, being a person of color is synonymous with being poor, and being poor is synonymous with being a criminal. Ironically, this misperception is true even among the poor.

And that’s how the status quo wants it.

The U.S. Census Report finds that 50 million Americans are poor. Fifty million voters is a powerful block if they ever organized in an effort to pursue their common economic goals. So, it’s crucial that those in the wealthiest One Percent keep the poor fractured by distracting them with emotional issues like immigration, abortion and gun control so they never stop to wonder how they got so screwed over for so long.

One way to keep these 50 million fractured is through disinformation. PunditFact’s recent scorecard on network news concluded that at Fox and Fox News Channel, 60 percent of claims are false. At NBC and MSNBC, 46 percent of claims were deemed false. That’s the “news,” folks! During the Ferguson riots, Fox News ran a black and white photo of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., with the bold caption: “Forgetting MLK’s Message/Protestors in Missouri Turn to Violence.” Did they run such a caption when either Presidents Bush invaded Iraq: “Forgetting Jesus Christ’s Message/U.S. Forgets to Turn Cheek and Kills Thousands”?

How can viewers make reasonable choices in a democracy if their sources of information are corrupted? They can’t, which is exactly how the One Percent controls the fate of the Ninety-Nine Percent.

Worse, certain politicians and entrepreneurs conspire to keep the poor just as they are. On his HBO comedic news show Last Week Tonight, John Oliver ran an expose of the payday loan business and those who so callously exploit the desperation of the poor. How does an industry that extorts up to 1,900 percent interest on loans get away with it? In Texas, State Rep. Gary Elkins blocked a regulatory bill, despite the fact that he owns a chain of payday loan stores. And the politician who kept badgering Elkins about his conflict of interest, Rep. Vicki Truitt, became a lobbyist for ACE Cash Express just 17 days after leaving office. In essence, Oliver showed how the poor are lured into such a loan, only to be unable to pay it back and having to secure yet another loan. The cycle shall be unbroken.

Dystopian books and movies like Snowpiercer, The Giver, Divergent, Hunger Games, and Elysium have been the rage for the past few years. Not just because they express teen frustration at authority figures. That would explain some of the popularity among younger audiences, but not among twentysomethings and even older adults. The real reason we flock to see Donald Sutherland’s porcelain portrayal in Hunger Games of a cold, ruthless president of the U.S. dedicated to preserving the rich while grinding his heel into the necks of the poor is that it rings true in a society in which the One Percent gets richer while our middle class is collapsing.

That’s not hyperbole; statistics prove this to be true. According to a 2012 Pew Research Center report, just half of U.S. households are middle-income, a drop of 11 percent since the 1970s; median middle-class income has dropped by 5 percent in the last ten years, total wealth is down 28 percent. Fewer people (just 23 percent) think they will have enough money to retire. Most damning of all: fewer Americans than ever believe in the American Dream mantra that hard work will get them ahead.

Rather than uniting to face the real foe—do-nothing politicians, legislators, and others in power—we fall into the trap of turning against each other, expending our energy battling our allies instead of our enemies. This isn’t just inclusive of race and political parties, it’s also about gender. In her book Unspeakable Things: Sex, Lies and Revolution, Laurie Penny suggests that the decreased career opportunities for young men in society makes them feel less valuable to females; as a result they deflect their rage from those who caused the problem to those who also suffer the consequences: females.

Yes, I’m aware that it is unfair to paint the wealthiest with such broad strokes. There are a number of super-rich people who are also super-supportive of their community. Humbled by their own success, they reach out to help others. But that’s not the case with the multitude of millionaires and billionaires who lobby to reduce Food Stamps, give no relief to the burden of student debt on our young, and kill extensions of unemployment benefits.

With each of these shootings/chokehold deaths/stand-your-ground atrocities, police and the judicial system are seen as enforcers of an unjust status quo. Our anger rises, and riots demanding justice ensue. The news channels interview everyone and pundits assign blame.

Then what?

I’m not saying the protests in Ferguson aren’t justified—they are. In fact, we need more protests across the country. Where’s our Kent State? What will it take to mobilize 4 million students in peaceful protest? Because that’s what it will take to evoke actual change. The middle class has to join the poor and whites have to join African-Americans in mass demonstrations, in ousting corrupt politicians, in boycotting exploitative businesses, in passing legislation that promotes economic equality and opportunity, and in punishing those who gamble with our financial future.

Otherwise, all we’re going to get is what we got out of Ferguson: a bunch of politicians and celebrities expressing sympathy and outrage. If we don’t have a specific agenda—a list of exactly what we want to change and how—we will be gathering over and over again beside the dead bodies of our murdered children, parents, and neighbors.

I hope John Steinbeck is proven right when he wrote in Grapes of Wrath, “Repression works only to strengthen and knit the oppressed.” But I’m more inclined to echo Marvin Gaye’s “Inner City Blues,” written the year after the Kent State/Jackson State shootings:

Inflation no chance
To increase finance
Bills pile up sky high
Send that boy off to die
Make me wanna holler
The way they do my life
Make me wanna holler
The way they do my life 

MORE ON PROPOSED RANGELEY MISSILE BASE

MAKE IT BETTER FOR MY SON

Captain Ron Johnson spoke of the need for communication, understanding, and faith at Sunday’s Rally for Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO.

Johnson began by apologizing to Brown’s family. “I wear this uniform, and I should stand up here and say that I’m sorry,” Johnson said to a long round of applause. “I’ll tell you right now, I came in today and saw people cheering and people clapping; this is what the media needs to put on TV.”

Johnson replaced Ferguson Police Chief Jon Belmar after several days of over-militarized police presence led to a crisis in the St. Louis suburb. Johnson cited his link to the community, pledged to protect its right to protest, and brought it back to the personal bond he feels with his own family, and how he sees the experience shaping the bond for the families of the Ferguson community.

“When this is over, I’m gonna go in my son’s room,” Johnson said. “My black son, who wears his pants saggy, wears his hat cocked to the side, got tattoos on his arms. But that’s my baby, and we all oughta be thanking the Browns for Michael. Because Michael’s gonna make it better for our sons, so they can be better black men.”

THE KILLING CULTURE

Why?

Because we can
we want to feel
powerful
and
dominant
that's what we do
in this culture

We are taught
to win
at all cost
we can kill them
fast
or we can kill them
slow

Our mission
our job
our role
in America
says Pentagon
is
'security export'

we are warriors
hunters
killers

We've been chosen
by the man
we are the
primary resource
extraction service
for corporate
globalization

We do it
because we can
it's our culture
'full spectrum
dominance'

SUNDAY SONG

OUR RIGHT TO BE HEARD

HELP US SPREAD OUR NEWSLETTER IN YOUR COMMUNITY

The latest edition of the Global Network's newsletter is now printed and being mailed to members.  We would be happy to provide local activists with bulk copies for local distribution.  We don't ask for any money for printing - we just request reimbursement for the cost of postage when we mail them to you.

You can help us spread our message about drones, missile offense, and the larger issue of the Pentagon using military space technology to control the planet on behalf of corporate globalization.  Let us know how many copies you want and we'll send them right away.  Just email us at globalnet@mindspring.com or call (207) 443-9502 and tell us how many copies you want.

You can view this latest edition of the newsletter here

KIEV BLOCKING HUMANITARIAN AID

In the last stage of its mission to crush self-defense forces in eastern Ukraine, the Kiev regime is pounding cities and towns with shells and bombs. Scared locals are suffering not only from constant fighting, but there's also a shortage of food, water and electricity. In order to bring some relief to the conflict zone, Russia's trying to send tons of humanitarian aid, but the convoy is stuck at the border.

Kiev wants to either directly kill its own citizens in eastern Ukraine by shelling or starve them to death. The world community remains largely silent.

KILLING IN EASTERN UKRAINE

Ukraine's National Guard which is supported by the West is controlled by Neo-Nazis with Nazi emblems.

Documented in the video, war crimes are being committed by both the Ukrainian Army and the Ukrainian National Guard.

In the media's coverage of unfolding atrocities directed against civilians in Eastern Ukraine, the words Nazi, Fascist or Neo-Nazi are a taboo. They have been eliminated from the anthology of investigative reporting.

The mainstream media by denying the very existence of these crimes against humanity committed by Neo-Nazi military and paramilitary formations is complicit under the Nuremberg Principles of "crimes against peace"

War crimes committed by both the Ukrainian Army and the Ukrainian National Guard in Eastern Ukraine against civilian population. Mainstream media channels won't show you any of this footage. This is a war they don't want you to see.

Kiev's warmongers and fascists on the ground keep on killing innocent civilians. 90% of the footage shown here was filmed by the locals and is readily available on YouTube. The blood that's being spilled over by Kiev's punishers will never be washed away.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Yesterday the Lewiston (Maine) Sun Journal newspaper ran a front page story about the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) public hearings in Rangeley.  I was quoted but there were two important mistakes in the article that also quoted my organizing companion Jason Rawn.  So this morning I sent this response to the paper and will hope it gets printed.

Lewiston Sun Journal

Dear Editor,

I read with great interest your article “Mixed emotions over interceptor base in Franklin County” (8-14-14).  This issue about Maine possibly hosting a “missile defense” (MD) interceptor base should be given serious public attention as it would create many environmental, economic and political consequences.

I was mis-identified in the article as a Vietnam vet.  While I was indeed in the Air Force during the Vietnam War I told your reporter that I was a Vietnam-era vet. 

Secondly a couple of my key words were mischaracterized and should be corrected.  I was quoted accurately about the fact that Iran has no nuclear weapons and no missiles capable of reaching the continental US.  North Korea does have a few nukes but no missiles able to reach our shores.  Neither are the threat.  It is Russia and China these systems are really aimed at.

In the article the reporter says that I believe the US will attack Russia and China in a first-strike.  I didn’t say that.  What I actually said was that there are several versions of “missile defense” which the Pentagon is currently testing and deploying (at considerable tax payer expense).  These MD systems are creating the capability that “would allow” the US to launch such a first-strike attack against Russia or China. 

In fact the aerospace industry magazine Aviation Week & Space Technology has reported several times about the annual US Space Command computer war game where they practice such a first-strike attack against Russia and China.  MD is the shield that is used to pick-off any retaliatory strikes after an initial US attack.  They are misnamed as missile defense, they should be called “missile offense”.  The name is really all about public relations.

Instead of just putting “missile defense” interceptor bases here inside the US, the military is now surrounding Russia and China with ground-based and sea-based interceptors.  That means US MD systems are currently going into Poland, Romania, Turkey, Black Sea, Japan, South Korea, Guam, Okinawa, Taiwan and more.  Imagine if the shoe was on the other foot and that Russia or China were establishing MD bases in Mexico and Canada and putting interceptors on ships just off our Atlantic and Pacific coasts.  We’d go ballistic.  When we do it to others it is ignored, excused, and anyone who speaks up is taken as a suspect.

The corporate profits building the new arms race into space are enormous.  In fact the Pentagon has long maintained that space warfare technology (Star Wars) will be the largest industrial project in the history of Earth.  And where will those funds come from?  Some years ago the industry publication called Space News ran an editorial calling for the defunding of the “entitlement programs” in order to move those funds over into the space technology budget.  The entitlement programs officially are Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and what is left of the welfare program.

Remember what former President Eisenhower told the nation on his last day in office, “Beware of the power of the military industrial complex.”  They lied us into Vietnam, Iraq and are now trying to scare us with “Iran and North Korea” are coming.  Proceed with caution.

Bruce K. Gagnon
Coordinator
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space 

Also a member of Maine Veterans for Peace

NOTHING TO LAUGH AT

On August 9^th in Hebron, Israeli soldiers celebrated shooting an 18-year-old Palestinian youth in the leg with live ammunition.

See much more on the story here

REPORT ON MISSILE OFFENSE PUBLIC HEARING IN MAINE

55-foot silos going into ground at Ft. Greeley, Alaska, a GMD base similar to the one being proposed for the east coast of the US.  Public hearings are now under way in four states, including Maine, as potential basing sites.

Yesterday I made the drive to Rangeley along with fellow Maine activist Jason Rawn. The occasion was the "public hearing" put on by the Pentagon's "Missile Defense Agency" (MDA) - better termed missile offense agency. The corporation Black & Veatch was contracted to organize the hearings to help determine where the MDA should build an "east coast" missile interceptor base and they sub-contracted with some other company to actually do the work. So when Jason and I walked in the door just before the 9:00 am start time we were swarmed with about 40 Army Space Command personnel (Huntsville, Alabama), MDA staff and sub-contractors.

In order to avoid having a real public hearing, where citizens can hear and learn from one another, the MDA plan was to have display boards on easels throughout the Rangeley regional school gymnasium. This set up allowed for the atomization of the public voice as folks were forced to go from easel to easel and be literally surrounded by 2-3 MDA types who would immediately ask, "Do you have a question?"

The truth is that most of the 50-some public citizens we saw during our two-hours were mostly stunned. They have no clue what "missile defense" (offense) really is and they have no idea what it means to have a new base plunked down inside Maine's environmentally sensitive western mountains. Sixty interceptor missiles are envisioned at the base as a result of the Congressional mandate that public hearings be held in Michigan, Ohio, New York and Maine to decide which state gets the 'lucky prize' if Congress ultimately decides to further fund this expensive and destabilizing program.

This particular version of "missile defense" is called the Ground-based Midcourse (GMD) system and has had the least successful testing regime of all the various MD systems. GMD has the most difficult task of having a bullet hit a bullet in deep space while "enemy rockets" would be travelling at 15,000 mph. The few "positive" tests came when they put beacons on the dummy missiles helping the GMD system to locate them - what is called a "strap down rabbit test". The program was in serious trouble because of cost and technology hurdles but primary contractor Boeing Corp. marshaled their vast congressional resources and the combined influence of New England's congressional delegations got Maine into the final four. Raytheon, a key sub-contractor in the program, is headquartered in nearby Massachusetts.

One local environmentalist was "shocked at the scale of the project" that could bring anywhere from 1,000 to 1,800 people into Rangeley to build the base and/or staff the missile installation. Current year round population of Rangeley is about 1,100 and the kindergarten to high school student population is presently only 260 kids. Expect a dramatic change in local culture if this site is picked. The sleepy summer lake and winter mountain ski culture would be infused with bars, pawn shops, and other signs of military "outside the gate" culture so familiar around the country and world where US bases are located.

The sixty interceptors would be trucked to the mountain region after huge holes were blasted into rocky mountain surfaces. Inside the holes would first go 55-foot long black silos that would also be trucked to Rangeley. Once installed the interceptors, key elements in Pentagon first-strike attack planning, would be filled with hydrazine. Hydrazine is a hazardous toxic pollutant and will be used to fuel the final stage of the "hit-to-kill" kinetic warhead. The lower stages of the interceptor missiles will be fueled by solid fuel. The primary ingredient for the solid fuel is perchlorate which has been found in water tables throughout the US. The Colorado River, used to provide water for crops in California, is loaded with perchlorate and the toxin is showing up in lettuce and milk among other food products. 

I learned that the "pure water" bottler Poland Springs (owned by Nestle) has 1,000 acres at the very edge of this proposed missile base. The local water aquifer would thus be very close to fuel storage tanks holding the hydrazine that would also be trucked in from away. The opportunities for serious water contamination are more than certain.  We know that the Pentagon is the largest polluter on the planet.

This particular wilderness site has also recently been in consideration for being set aside as a wildlife refuge. The Appalachian Trail Club is deeply concerned about the environmental impacts as are other environmental groups in Maine.

Jason stood by the door and handed local citizens entering the hearing a flyer from Maine Veterans For Peace about our October 11-20 Walk for Peace & A Sustainable Future. The walk will begin in Rangeley and end in North Berwick and is intended to connect various communities in Maine that are increasingly reliant on military spending/production. Nearly 10% of Maine's gross domestic product derives from military spending because it is the only real government job creation program going these days. It's important to remember that the Pentagon has long been saying that America's job under corporate globalization of the world economy will be "security export".

Politicians from both parties are eager to bring the military to our state and jobs is always the reason given. They know that there isn't going to be any real money for anything else so their philosophy is get what you can - the path of least resistance.

As we were leaving the hearing Jason and I talked with one of the MDA staff who told me that he has been reading my blog regularly for many years. I can only hope he, and others from the military industry complex who read it, are learning something.

Public comments from US citizens are due by September 15 and you can access the MDA web page here.

Ridgely Fuller from Belfast, Maine hands a Maine Walk for Peace flyer to one of the MDA's officers at today's public hearing in Farmington.  She has on her pink Bring Our War $$ Home t-shirt.