Know Your History

Still highly recommend watching this series - find it on YouTube.

The Untold History of the United States, a 10-part documentary series and a 750-page book, offers Americans an alternate perspective on US history from the Second World War through the Cold War to the present day.
Stone says he wants to counter the “educational crime” of misleading American schoolchildren.
“American exceptionalism has to be driven out of our curriculums,” he said.
“We’re not under threat. We are the threat.”
- See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/oliver-stone-tells-his-untold-history-middle-east-1467591396#sthash.9VDSnbAi.dpuf

The Untold History of the United States, a 10-part documentary series and a 750-page book, offers Americans an alternate perspective on US history from the Second World War through the Cold War to the present day.
Oliver Stone says he wants to counter the “educational crime” of misleading American schoolchildren.
“American exceptionalism has to be driven out of our curriculums,” he said.
“We’re not under threat. We are the threat.”

Nationalist (Fascist) Forces Gaining Strength in Ukraine

Stephen Cohen: Ukraine Situation More Dangerous Than Middle East.

It pits the two nuclear powers against each other much more directly than Syria.
 

A Look at Moscow

Sharon Tennison of Center for Citizen Initiatives writes about their recent delegation to Russia:

Dear Friends,

Our 25 YouTubes are now ready. 

This first Youtube shows Moscow where we landed. It spans our first nine actual hours on ground, during which over two hours of video was shot––and the footage has been reduced to this 13-minute impression of Russia's largest city.  Mel Van Dusen, our pro bono videographer, was seeing Russia for the first time.  He is the editor and voiceover for the series (with a little assistance from me).

In the video Mel's refers to our "bus" and our "guides," but they aren't official buses with guides.  A Moscow friend of many years, Olga Gorbik, hired a private bus to get us and our luggage from the airport into the city. Olga is not a guide but did share knowledge of her home city on the way to the hotel. Upon arrival, another Russian friend of 30 years, Galina Nicolopolis (married a Greek years ago), met us and assisted me to get the group to simultaneous meetings across Moscow thereafter.  She too has never been a guide but was a terrific helper. Then I knew of students who also assisted us while in Moscow. Our group traveled "off the grid" so to speak, with Russian friends and CCI alums helping us experience their cities and meet local people.

Our intention is to give you an actual sense of Russia's people, streets, sidewalks, metros, culture and what motivates them as individuals and collectively.

How Do We Awaken?

How do we awaken
compassion
morality
integrity
truth
courage
solidarity
in ourselves
and others?

How
do
we
learn
to
feel
again
after
a
life
that
teaches
us
to
deaden
our
hearts,
our
soul?

David and Goliath

Video from two days ago when two Aegis destroyers (outfitted with 'missile defense' interceptors aimed at China) unexpectedly first came to the new Navy base on Jeju Island, South Korea.  Village protesters on kayaks went on the sea to confront the warship.

While these were South Korean Navy vessels the hi-tech systems on-board are 'interoperable' with the US military space technology system.  This means that the South Korean Navy runs their weapons systems thru the US space warfare control program giving the Pentagon ultimate control.  

Because of the enormous cost of the Pentagon's 'Full Spectrum Dominance' space tech system the US strategy is to get other nations, like Japan and South Korea, to build programs like 'missile defense' and make them 'interoperable' with the larger US system.

This is how the US is using an expanding NATO to encircle Russia and drawing Asia-Pacific nations (Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand) into NATO 'partnerships' to box in China.

It's all very expensive, highly provocative and exceedingly dangerous.  China and Russia are thus forced to militarily respond.  Off to a new arms race we go.

Where Do These Navy Destroyers Go?

Dredging just off Gangjeong village on Jeju Island

Military housing steals land from Gangjeong villagers for Navy base

 

Times Record Op-Ed

By Bruce K. Gagnon

Do people in our community ever stop and wonder where the Navy destroyers actually go when they leave Bath Iron Works [Maine]? Do we wonder how they impact people’s lives where they are ported and what environmental footprint they leave?

During the entire month of August, I was in Japan and South Korea where BIW-built Aegis destroyers (outfitted with so-called “missile defense interceptors”) are being ported. Currently, in both those countries there is raging opposition to U.S. expanding military bases as a result of Obama’s announced “pivot” of 60 percent of Pentagon forces into the Asia- Pacific to help control China.

The U.S. military “pivot” into the Asia-Pacific means more airfields, ports-of-call and barracks are needed for U.S. operations.

I spent 11 days in Gangjeong village on Jeju Island, South Korea, where a Navy base is being built to host U.S. aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and Aegis destroyers. The 500-year-old fishing and farming community is being torn apart to host the base. Just offshore, the UNESCO-recognized endangered soft coral forests are being destroyed as dredging is underway to make it possible for the U.S. warships to port there. The US Navy handed their base specifications to the Korean government and the base is now near completion. The village’s sacred rocky coastline was blasted and covered in concrete and the villagers’ eight-year campaign against the base has resulted in 700 arrests and more than 50 jailed (one as long as 15 months, just for blocking cement trucks).

On my last day on Jeju Island, I was taken to Jeju City to do a radio interview about my experiences there. As my translator and I sat in the station lobby waiting to go on the air we heard a news broadcast that said the South Korean Navy was planning to file a court action against Gangjeong villagers for $20 million on behalf of Samsung Corporation (the lead Navy base construction contractor). The claim is that their eight-year non-violent protest in the village has “obstructed business operations” and resulted in delays and profit loss. Upon hearing about this plan to demand $20 million from this small village (less than 2,000 citizens) I was told village elders cried out “The Navy is trying to kill our village!”

When I first got involved helping to support Gangjeong in 2008, I organized a campaign for American citizens to call the South Korean embassy in Washington DC to share our support for the struggling villagers. When I called I was told by South Korean embassy staff, “Don’t call us, call your government. They are forcing us to build this base.”

This is a theme we hear a lot these days even from Rep. Chellie Pingree, who has said that we must cut our military budget by having our “allies pay more” for our bases. So, in this case the U.S. got the South Korean government to build a Navy base on Jeju Island (called the Island of Peace) and then with our “Status of Forces Agreement” (SOFA) the Pentagon has the right to use any base in South Korean any time they wish. Same story in Japan, Philippines and other locations around the world.

On Aug. 5, the U.S. Navy admiral assigned to South Korea publicly declared that the Navy was eager to use the new Jeju Island base to port warships being assigned to the region. These deployments on Jeju would put American warships right in the middle of the Yellow Sea shipping lanes that China utilizes to import 80 percent of its resources, particularly oil, to run its economy. It will also make Gangjeong village a prime target during hostilities.

The U.S. “pivot” into the Asia- Pacific is expensive, dangerous to world peace, and highly provocative. China feels it must respond and has increased its spending on hi-tech weaponry. (According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in 2014 the US spent 34 percent of the world total of military spending while China was at 12 percent and Russia at 4.8 percent.)

Mainers, like most Americans, are not particularly interested in what our military empire of more than 800 bases around the world are doing to our image or to the environment. It is well past time that we begin to pay attention and offer our solidarity to those who are living under the heavy boot of U.S. “Full Spectrum Dominance.” 

U.S. Funding Regime Change Via NGO's

US government funds extremists to create regime change.....US AID, National Endowment for Democracy, CIA, State Department funds, and George Soros's Open Society Foundations all involved in funding the Ukraine coup d'etat and others around the world.

This video includes short interview with renowned journalist Robert Parry from Consortium News.

First Aegis Destroyers Port at Navy Base on Jeju Island

Yesterday the first Navy Aegis destroyers (outfitted with so-called 'missile defense' systems) pulled into port at the new Navy base in Gangjeong village on Jeju Island, South Korea. The two warships were met with protests on the land and kayaks in the ocean.

The US-Japan-South Korea military alliance is aimed at China and Jeju Island is now officially a prime target in future hostilities. 

See my Op-Ed on this very subject today in the mid-coast Maine Times Record here

제주 해군기지 첫 입항.. 주민 반발_(박주연.박재정)
Posted by 제주MBC on Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Time for Natural Guard

With the worsening reality of climate change the world is seeing a flurry of extreme weather incidents. (Here in Maine the TV weather forecasters are 'marveling' every night at the unseasonably warm temperatures. It's like they don't have a clue as to what is really going on!)

Raging fires in California due to severe drought conditions, floods unlike any before in other places, and rising sea levels due to melting Arctic ice all indicate that our future on this spinning satellite Earth will be a difficult one.

Rather than waste colossal amounts of taxpayers monies around the globe on ramped up militarism and endless wars might it be a better idea to turn our little green men in uniform into the Natural Guard?  The job of the Natural Guard could be to go into climate challenged and devastated communities and offer immediate relief assistance.  Rescue, humanitarian aid, and relocation assistance workers will all be more necessary than ever in the coming years.

If we think the current Syrian refugee crisis is a challenge just wait a bit longer for the climate induced storms to get even worse.  Where will Pacific islanders go when their homes sink under the rising tides?  Where will hungry people move to when their regions become so drought plagued that growing food is no longer possible?  The list could easily go on.

All of us should start planting the seeds for the idea of transforming the world's military forces into the Natural Guard.  To continue on this path of growing militarism does nothing to bring real security in our greatest time of need.

On Jeju Island Radio

 

On my last day on Jeju Island (Aug 26) I was invited to appear on a radio show in Jeju City that broadcasts throughout the island.  My translator was Global Network board member Sung-Hee Choi who is one of the Gangjeong village international team leaders.

 

Here is the full broadcast. Video by Goni.

 

Maine Peace Walk Pot Luck Supper Schedule

• Day 1 (Ellsworth) Friday, October 9 -   Ellsworth Unitarian Church (121 Bucksport Rd) Evening potluck and kick-off program at 6:00 pm. Homestays needed.    Host: Starr Gilmartin 667-2421

• Day 2 (Orland) Saturday, October 10 - Potluck supper 6:00 pm and program at H.O.M.E (90 School House Rd.) Sleep at H.O.M.E.  Host: Starr Gilmartin 667-2421 or Lawrence 415-565-9867

• Day 3 (Belfast) Sunday, October 11 - First Church UCC (104 Church St) Pot luck supper (unadvertised) 6:00 pm, public program 7:00 pm.    Home stays needed & sleep at church: Cathy Mink 323-5160 & Bev Roxby 669-2903.      Host: Joel 338-2282 or 323-0940 at the UCC Church

• Day 4 (Camden) Monday, October 12 - Our Lady of Good Hope Catholic Church (7 Union St) Pot luck supper and program at 6:00 pm. Home stays needed. Host: Maureen Kehoe-Ostensen 763-4062

• Day 5 (Rockland) Tuesday, October 13 - Potluck supper and program at Unitarian church (345 Broadway) at 6:00 pm. Homestays needed.  Host: Midcoast Citizens for P & J (Steve Burke 691-0322)

• Day 6 (Damariscotta) Wednesday, October 14 - Friends Meeting House (77 Belvedere Rd) Potluck Supper and program at 6:00 pm. Sleep at Meeting House.  Host: Friends Meeting (Sue Rockwood 570-854-4458)

• Day 7 (Bath) Thursday, October 15 - UCC Neighborhood Church (corner of Washington & Centre) Potluck supper and program at 6:00 pm. Homestays needed.  Host: Bruce Gagnon 904-501-4494 & Mary Beth Sullivan 443-9502

• Day 8 (Day off) in Bath Friday, October 16 - Stay at same homestays again this night. Potluck supper at Addams-Melman House (212 Centre St) at 6:00 pm. Host: Bruce Gagnon 904-501-4494 & Mary Beth Sullivan 443-9502

• Day 9 (Brunswick) Saturday, October 17 - Pot luck supper and music program at Sternlieb home (21 McKeen St) at 6:00 pm. Home stays needed in Brunswick. Host: Selma Sternlieb 725-7675

• Day 10 (Freeport) Sunday, October 18 - Pot luck supper at First Parish Congregation Church (on US 1) at 6:00 pm and program. Sleep at church. Host: Paula O’Brien 865-6022 & Sukie Rice 318-8531 & Cheryl Avery 865-0916

• Day 11 ( Portland) Monday, October 19 - State Street Church-UCC (159 State St.) Pot luck supper & program at 6:00 pm.  Homestays needed. Host: Grace Braley 774-1995

• Day 12 (Saco) Tuesday, October 20 - First Parish Congregation Church on corner of Beech & Maine. Pot luck supper and program. Home stays needed.  Host: Tom Kircher 282-7530

• Day 13 (Kennebunk) Wednesday, Oct 21 - New School (38 York Street). Pot luck supper and program. Sleep at school.  Host: Olive Hight 207-590-9505

• Day 14  (York Beach) Thursday, October 22 - York Beach (52 Freeman St) Supper, music program & sleeping spot. Host: Pat Scanlon 978-474-9195 & Smedley Butler Brigade of Boston-area VFP

• Day 15 (Portsmouth) Friday, October 23 - Supper and program at church & homestays needed, locations yet to be determined.  Host: Doug Bogen 603-617-6243

• Day 16 (Finale in Portsmouth) Saturday, October 24 - Meet at Market Square 9:00 am. Walk thru downtown and back over bridge to Kittery. Rally & speakers at shipyard gate (deliver letter). Walk back to Market Square for final closing circle. Host: Doug Bogen 603-617-6243

~ The walk is being sponsored by Maine Veterans for Peace; PeaceWorks; CodePink Maine; Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats (COAST); Peace Action Maine; Veterans for Peace Smedley Butler Brigade (Greater Boston); Seacoast Peace Response (Portsmouth); and Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space.

For full walk route schedule details see http://vfpmaine.org/walk%20for%20peace%202015.html

Organize Yourselves

A little advice from the southeast mountains of Mexico...

We understand that there are those who think that it is possible to change the system by voting in elections.

We say that’s a difficult spot because it is the same Ruler that organises the elections, who decides who the candidates are, who says how, when, and where to vote, who announces who wins, and who says whether the election was legal or not.

...[P]eople have to learn for themselves that no one will solve their problems for them, but that instead we have to solve them ourselves, as organized collectives.

It is the people who create solutions, not leaders or parties.

...[W]e, the Zapatistas, don’t get tired of saying organize yourselves, let’s organize ourselves, each person where they are, let’s struggle to organize ourselves, let’s work to organize ourselves, let’s begin by thinking about how to start to organize and let’s gather together in order to unite our organizations for a world where the people command and the government obeys.

In summary... whether you vote or not, organize yourself.

And well, we Zapatistas think that we have to have good ideas in order to organize ourselves. Which is to say, we need theory, critical thought.

With critical thought we can analyze the ways of the enemy, of the one who oppresses us, exploits us, represses us, disdains us, and steals from us.

But with critical thought we also examine our own path, our own steps.

[W]e shouldn’t be afraid of having the people rule. It’s the most healthy and just way. Because it is the people themselves who are going to make the changes that are truly necessary. And that is the only way that a new system of government is going to exist.

We...already know how the political parties operate, and it’s a bad history of bad people.

And for us Zapatistas, it is a history is already in the past.

She Taught Me to Love

What is it that makes us human? Is it that we love, that we fight? That we laugh? Cry? Our curiosity? The quest for discovery? 

Driven by these questions, filmmaker and artist Yann Arthus-Bertrand spent three years collecting real-life stories from 2,000 women and men in 60 countries. Working with a dedicated team of translators, journalists and cameramen, Yann captures deeply personal and emotional accounts of topics that unite us all; struggles with poverty, war, homophobia, and the future of our planet mixed with moments of love and happiness.

Watch the 3 volumes of the film and experience #WhatMakesUsHUMAN.

The VOL.1 deals with the themes of love, women, work and poverty. 

Important Organizing & News Updates

• Our friend Jason from Hope, Maine arrived here last night after his return from Jeju Island for the past month.  He, MB and I went for a long walk and talked about his experience in Gangjeong village.  This morning Jason reported he was awake half the night dealing with jet lag. Later on we spent some time going over details on the upcoming Maine Peace Walk – Militarization of the Seas: Pentagon’s Impact on the Oceans.  Jason is helping to organize the event that will take us from Ellsworth to Portsmouth on October 9-24.

• Today I sent around our growing list of local actions planned during Keep Space for Peace Week (October 3-10).  So far we have 25 events on the list from seven different countries.  More will be added in the coming days.  See our poster for space week here.

• The well-founded idea that nuclear radiation is dangerous even at the lowest levels is under attack, writes Karl Grossman. Three determined nuclear enthusiasts have filed petitions to the NRC calling on it to apply the doctrine of 'radiation hormesis' - that low levels of radiation actually stimulate the immune system and promote better health. Disagree? You'd better act fast. See more here.

• I highly recommend this very timely and important article How Neocons Destabilized Europe  by Robert Parry who writes: 

The neocon prescription of endless “regime change” is spreading chaos across the Middle East and now into Europe, yet the neocons still control the mainstream U.S. narrative and thus have diagnosed the problem as not enough “regime change.”

• Long-time activist Stephan Lendman has an article out today called US Drones Attack Syria’s Military, “Disguised as an Airstrike against ISIS”. He writes in part:

Obama’s stepped up [drone] bombing complicit with Britain, France, Canada, Australia and Israel heads thing closer to full-scale naked aggression – to destroy Syrian sovereignty, eliminate an Israeli rival, and isolate Iran ahead of perhaps inventing a pretext to attack the Islamic Republic.

War plans were made years ago, updated as needed. The Iran nuclear deal did nothing to change longstanding US hostility toward Tehran.

Regime change remains official US policy – wanting Iranian sovereign independence destroyed like what’s ongoing in Syria.

Japanese Peaceniks Rising

国会前：安保法案反対　市民団体が大規模デモ参院で審議中の安保関連法案に反対する大規模な抗議集会が１４日夜、国会議事堂周辺で行われた。市民団体「戦争させない・９条壊すな！総がかり行動実行委員会」が主催。参加者は色とりどりのペンライトを振りながら、「戦争法案廃案」「安倍政権退陣」と訴えた。主催者発表で参加者は約４万５０００人。【撮影・佐藤賢二郎、本社ヘリから森田剛史】http://mainichi.jp/select/news/20150915k0000m040066000c.html
Posted by 毎日新聞映像グループ on Monday, September 14, 2015

This evening in Japan time, this morning in our time, 45,000 people are chanting asking for Prime Minister Abe's resignation in front of the national diet. Major cities across the nation are doing the same action locally.

Activists will be joining their action in New York from 7:00 pm at Times Square tonight in solidarity with the people of Japan.

Some Real Talk About Syria

Syrian Girl on the lies surrounding the refugee crisis.  She knocks it out of the ball park.

You want to help the refugees?  Then help stop the US-Saudi war on Syria.

U.S. Puppet in Kiev Reads His Script

The US-NATO puppet Poroshenko dutifully reads the lines written for him by the public relations team in Washington and Brussels.

His bragging about having one of the "one of the strongest and one of the bravest armies on the continent" is worth a good laugh.

He does tell the truth when he says the drama is still far from over as the US Army will be staying in western Ukraine to train Poroshenko's "brave" Army as it continues to attack innocent civilians in the eastern Donbass near the Russian border.  These US directed war crimes are disguised as a fight against an aggressive Russia but take away the US-NATO and the fighting stops immediately.

He can pretend to be a man of peace but his daily deeds reveal himself to be nothing more than an agent of the western corporate controlled war machine.

Thanks for the Blues

I've got to thank
my mom
for the love
of music
from Porgy & Bess
to Mario Lanza

in our younger years
she was always
singing
even during
the hard times

but life
took a toll
on her
and her good mind
and broken heart
turned dark
and rageful

the singing
stopped

can't ever stop
singing
the blues

Sunday Song