OUR RIGHT TO BE HEARD

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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.

WHO IS GONNA BE NEXT?

Ferguson, Missouri saw more protests Tuesday night as the community’s anger over the shooting and killing of an unarmed African-American teen by police refuses to subside. Seeing the tragedy as a representation of a larger racial divide in the country, residents are demanding leaders address their concerns and more fairly treat minorities in their city and across the nation. RT’s Anastasia Churkina is in Ferguson and speaks to several citizens.

THE CHANGE IS COMING

Adam Jones from the Baltimore Orioles - a team once mighty, then fell to a long sleep, now resurrected and taking down the evil empire

Orioles beat the Yankee$
after 14 years of losing
O's now in first place
Yankee$ baseball empire
on the wane
collapsing

maybe a sign
of the times
Birds (nature)
trump empire
a headline
long overdue

A start of things
to come?
or already deep
in motion
toward an
unstoppable
shift
we just don't see it
yet

The motto is
stick with your team
through the hard times
and the good

TEACHING HATRED OF RUSSIA TO LITTLE KIDS

Here is a vivid example of the anti-Russian propaganda being taught by the US-EU backed regime in Kiev that came to power with the help of Nazi elements in Ukraine.

Doing this to children is cruel but likely effective in planting the seeds of hatred of Russia.  Very sad.

This woman is Irina Farion from the ultra-nationalist camp in Kiev.

HOW'S THEM APPLES?

The Polish, who have sent soldiers and military equipment into Ukraine to attack self-defense forces in the eastern region of the country, have joined the US-EU in their sanctions against Russia.  But Russia has responded by deciding to end trade with US-EU and is moving on to greener pastures in South America and Asia.

Already Polish officials are feeling the loss of the Russian market for their apples.  They want into the US market.  But US apple growers are not likely to want to buy that deal...

COURAGEOUS RESISTANCE

Post by Siakap Keli.

Amazing courage of this man non-violently resisting the Israeli army .....people complain about Hamas being violent but how about giving this man (and thousands like him) the respect and support they deserve!

FROM THE FIRING END IN UKRAINE

Телеканал "Звезда"

Залп украинских «Градов» по Горловке. Съемка очевидца 11 августа 2014, 13:16 В Сети продолжают появляться свидетельства массированного применения тяжелой боевой техники украинскими военными. Очередное видео обстрела сделано под городом Горловка, где войска, подконтрольные Киеву ведут огонь по жилым кварталам. На кадрах запечатлен момент залпа из реактивных систем залпового огня «Град».... Подробнее »

Click on the link above to see the 35 second video...

The Kiev regime daily fires these shells into eastern Ukraine at unprotected citizens whose only crime is they speak Russian first and want to elect their own mayors and governors rather than have them appointed by the US-NATO backed farce now in control.

Imagine being on the receiving end of these shells.  No wonder almost one million Ukrainian citizens have run across the border into Russia.  No wonder hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers have crossed into Russia too.  What is Russia to do?

DISTRACT AND DECEIVE

Hillary
we've 'been there
done that'
alright
already

But she
will be the first
woman president
following the first
black prez

specifically designed
to keep the 'left'
in place and
under control
as the social fabric
of the nation is
dissolved
and
foreign policy
privatized

Corporate oligarchy
knows Hillary
will play the game
read the script
act the part

Shows
reveals
the Democrats
have nothing left
inside their
dollar bill packed
'program'

It's a blank program
one intended
to distract
and deceive

PUSHING SPACE WAR TECHNOLOGY

Huntsville, Alabama is home of the Army Space Command and is a key research and development center for the missile defense industry.   The 17th annual Space and Missile Defense Symposium is scheduled for August 11-14 at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville.

Huntsville calls itself the "Pentagon of the south" since they get so much money to create the arms race in space.

The Army's space and missile command in Huntsville in directing the "public hearings" now underway in Maine, New York, Ohio, and Michigan to determine where an east coast interceptor missile base might be located.

OPERATION GHETTO STORM

Glen Ford: The mainstream media’s refuses to contextualize the fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown by Ferguson, Missouri police in America’s tradition of the mass incarceration of African Americans and police brutality sparking black uprisings.

First they came for the black man but I wasn't black.....

YOU CHOOSE

In the film, people sacrifice the very core of what makes us human: The ability to choose right and wrong. All choices are made for them, from career to family to curfew. The community is the ultimate triumph of a totalitarian state because the people are no longer aware they are being controlled. The state has won jurisdiction over their minds and quieted their hearts with opiates.

 Director Jeff Bridges sees a link to today:

“I think although the movie takes place in some future time that it is very reflective of our own and there’s a bit of a cautionary tale of how us humans roll and what we’re capable of. And the brutality and the subtleties of our brutality toward each other and also the love and the strength that’s inherent in us... Us human beings are still capable of that kind of thing. We need to be on guard for that and look for that. Not numb ourselves to it. Be engaged. One of the biggest challenges for us at this stage, I know for myself, is to not be cynical, you know, throw up our hands. We need to be engaged.”

KIEV KILLING ITS OWN PEOPLE

250,000 people have been left without water, electricity and communications for over a week in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lugansk. The town is subject to siege conditions and under heavy bombardmentby the US-NATO backed regime in Kiev.

MISSILE DEFENSE IN MAINE?

• We had another Gaza support vigil yesterday here in Bath, Maine.  A dozen folks turned out.  We'll do it again next Sunday at noon.
• There is an article in the Portland Press Herald today about the Pentagon's 'Missile Defense Agency' public hearings in our state this week.  I was quoted in the article saying that Maine Veterans for Peace (VFP) is opposed to the proposed deployment of ground-based missile defense systems in Maine.  I'll be driving up to Rangeley (in the western mountains) on Wednesday to attend the hearing and to then do a second drive of our peace walk route that begins there on October 11 and ends in North Berwick on Oct 20. I got a call today from Maine public radio who also interviewed me about why VFP is against the possible interceptor base in our state. You can read more about the public comment process here.  All US citizens can leave comments if you'd like.

Key talking points include:

1)  Ground-based mid-course missile defense systems have not proven themselves to work effectively thus deployment is way premature assuming one could make a case they were even needed

2)  Huge waste of tax payer dollars

3)  Missile defense systems are destabilizing and fuel new arms race – particularly with Russia & China

4)  Pentagon often says these systems are needed to protect against Iran & North Korea but neither have nuclear weapons delivery systems capable of reaching continental US (Iran does not even have a nuclear weapon).  In reality these systems are aimed at Russia & China

5)  Missile defense systems are key elements in US first-strike attack planning – they are the ‘shield’ to be used after a US first-strike attack is launched.  The US Space Command has been war gaming such attacks for years

6) The environmental degradation to the mountains east of Rangeley, and the impacts on wildlife, are totally unacceptable. The idea of driving 55-foot long interceptor missiles from Bangor to the Rangeley area on country roads is ludicrous.

To submit a comment directly to the 'Missile Defense Agency', send an e-mail to: MDA.CIS.EIS@BV.com      

WHO VALUES LIFE THE MOST?

Young boy in Syria sleeps between the graves of his parents

One familiar refrain
from politicians
and media
in the US
is that
'we value life'
more than
others
around the world

This is of course
totally ridiculous
absurd
and spin
intended to provide
moral justification
for the Pentagon's
endless wars
for resource
extraction

The air strikes in Iraq
began just hours after Obama
authorized them
in a televised address
he said
that the US had an obligation
to protect its personnel in Iraq
and prevent a potential genocide
of minority groups by ISIS
(ISIS who the US/Jordan/Saudi Arabia/
England/Israel funded and trained)

Suddenly Obama is concerned
about genocide
apparently oblivious
to Palestine
and
eastern Ukraine
and American
Indian reservations

Obama
knowing of the great
reluctance and
outright opposition
of US citizens to
'boots on the ground'
promises none

“I think the slippery slope analogy
is the right one for Iraq right now,”
said Barry Posen,
director of the Security Studies program
at MIT

The cost for another
Iraq attack?
No worries
Those 'entitlement'
programs
social security
Medicare
Medicaid
even troop
benefits
can be cut

with few jobs
available
what choice
do US soldiers
have?
flip burgers
or fight
for oil

We value
life
they say
in Washington
but in fact
they value
$$$$
more

OUR JOB IS TO BOMB BROWN PEOPLE

SUNDAY SONG