Standing in the Face of War Preparations

• Our Lenten peace vigils in Bath continue for a couple more weeks.  Today there were 17 of us in front of Bath Iron Works at noon when hundreds of workers poured out of the shipyard on foot and in cars.  They are building the Aegis destroyers (outfitted with 'missile defense' systems) that are currently being deployed in the Black Sea to reenforce the US-NATO eastward expansion up to Russia's borders.  We return to BIW at 11:30 am next week and expect a much larger crowd to be there as the site was chosen by CodePink Maine to be the location for Maine's contribution to the Spring Mobilization Against War.

• Today we got even more confirmation that up to 1,000 US troops will be deployed to Ukraine from March through November for war games with the Ukrainian Army.  They'll train, guide and push them into battle against self-defense forces in eastern Ukraine.  When they finally depart the US combat units will likely leave behind much of their military hardware.  It's a way to get around the question of whether or not to 'Send Arms to Ukraine'.
• Renowned international law professor Francis Boyle writes:   "The  US military will be training the 'Ukrainian National Guard'—that is, all the Neo-Nazi paramilitary groups over there. I sincerely stand subject to correction by anyone on this list, but to the best of my recollection, and without researching it, this might be the first time ever that the United States military will be openly training overtly Nazi paramilitary groups for combat. Just on time for the 70^th anniversary of the end of World War II."