US Ambassador to Ukraine Gives Nazis Green Light

US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt on Friday made a trip to Mariupol in eastern Ukraine to praise the May 9, 2014 neo-Nazi battalion shooting of unarmed people in Mariupol.

Pyatt is the other person in the now famous phone call with Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, when she told the ambassador who the US was supporting to lead the 'new' Ukrainian government after the US sponsored coup d'etat in Kiev.  Nuland told Pyatt, "Fuck the EU". 

The events in Mariupol, Donetsk region (when neo-Nazi Azov fighters shot at a peaceful demonstration of residents on May 9, 2014) were hailed by Pyatt as an example of the struggle against the “Russian world” for all of Donbass during his meeting with representatives of the local government.

May 9 is a holiday that commemorates the capitulation of Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union at the end of Second World War, known in the Soviet Union as the Great Patriotic War.  (25 million Soviet citizens were killed fighting the Hitler Army.) It's obvious that the US is trying to erase this history inside of Ukraine by encouraging the current US sponsored puppet regime in Kiev to use their neo-Nazi battalions to suppress any peaceful marches or assemblies that gather to remember the defeat of Hitler's forces.

Below is a short video that shows a bit of the May 9, 2014 events in Mariupol where the neo-Nazis broke up peaceful holiday events.  When the unarmed residents tried to chase the Nazis out of town they turned and fired on the peaceful people wounding and killing some unknown number of them.  

Amazingly these are the very events that Pyatt was celebrating with the 'authorities' in Mariupol.  The US ambassador, appointed under the Democrat administration of Obama, is giving the green light to Kiev to continue this violent suppression of the people both on May 2 in Odessa and throughout the country on May 9 when people attempt to celebrate the holiday to remember the defeat of Hitler. 

Kiev Sends Fox to Guard the Chickens in Odessa

US puppet in Kiev Petro Poroshenko to send Nazi battalions to 'keep peace' at May 2 memorial to remember those killed by Nazis in Odessa in 2014.....

Not a good sign.....

Armed Military Arrives in Gangjeong

As a group of Navy soldiers go through Gangjeong village [Jeju Island, South Korea] on April 28, carrying assault rifles with their fingers on the trigger, ready to shoot the gun, Gangjeong residents are protesting. Villagers just want peace, living in their village without fear.

Drop the Navy and Samsung construction division demanded damage lawsuit against the village! Don't walk around Gangjeong in military uniform!!  Close the Navy base!

French Oppose Corporate Trade Deal

 

Workers in Paris sparked violent protest, expressing outrage over a proposed law that would put an end to many workers’ rights and regulations. Demonstrators claimed the proposals would benefit big corporations at the expense of workers, particularly on issues of decreased wages and increased work hours – protections they say must stay in place with the looming TTIP trade deal. RT America’s Manila Chan reports.

Turkey's Role in Supporting ISIS

 

An RT Documentary crew filming in northern Syria has seen Islamic State (IS, ISIS/ISIL) documents abandoned by retreating terrorists and found by the Kurds that, along with captured IS recruits, provide a stunning insight into the ISIS oil trade. 

Only ten days after the town of Shaddadi in Syrian Kurdistan was liberated from the ISIS militants, an RT film crew followed Kurdish soldiers around houses that had been abandoned in haste by fleeing jihadists. There, they found documents shedding light on the ISIS oil trade, jihadist passports with Turkish entry stamps, an instruction booklet - printed in Turkey - on how to wage war against the Syrian government, and more.

The areas surrounding Shaddadi has large natural oil reserves, and until recently, ISIS militants profited from it, forcing members of the local population to work in their oil industry. Piles of detailed invoices used by ISIS to calculate daily revenues from selling oil were found on the site. 

 

Local residents attested that intermediaries from Raqqa and Aleppo arrived to pick up the oil and often mentioned Turkey, while a captured ISIS recruit admitted on camera that the terrorist group sells oil to Turkey. He and another foreign fighter from Saudi Arabia also revealed that it had been easy to cross the Turkish border.

The documentary contains exclusive footage from towns liberated from ISIS, and features interviews with locals who had worked on ISIS oil refineries as well as testimonies from the ISIS members captured by Kurdish YPG (People's Protection Units) soldiers. 

Nazi March in Ukraine

 

Around 100 members of the civil wing of the far-right Azov Battalion held a torchlit march through the streets of Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, to mark the 73rd anniversary of the formation of Ukraine's SS division, which fought for the Nazis against the Soviet Union in World War II.

Corrupt Democratic Party Primaries Exposed Again

Few words necessary here - just look at the numbers in Delaware (Joe Biden's home state).......who does this benefit?

I Like This Place

A couple of years ago MB and I rented a cabin on the ocean in New Harbor, Maine for a week.  Our friend Marian from around Boston joined us for a couple days.  We took a ferry boat one morning out to nearby Monhegan Island and spent the day walking around the fishing and artist community.

While passing through one section of woods we saw a film crew at work.  Marian said she thought one of the people with the crew was the actor Treat Williams....MB and I said, "Who the hell is Treat Williams?"  It turns out Marian was right all along and the film in the trailer above looks like an interesting one.

Just goes to show Marian is up on popular culture alot more than MB and I. Thanks to Marian for sending the trailer link to us.

The sights of Maine in the trailer are very special. 

How Do We Be?

We've lost
how to be
walking down
street
white boy
avoids eyes
black girl
looks down
I say hello
anyway
the boy responds
the girl
lights up
like a star

People living
inside
themselves
human beings
wondering
what life
is for?
Who are we?

Economy
and
environment
collapsing
around us
consumer
lifestyle
capitalist
grinding
of
Mother Earth
all
add up
danger ahead

Do we
know how
to live
without
cars
electric
food stores
hospitals?

How
do we
be?

What is Our Political Strategy Now?

Barring some unforeseen miracle from the heavens these will be the mainstream choices in America during next November's election.  Bad and bad.....

I won't pull the lever for either of them.  Some will vilify me, and others like me, for trying to put "Trump into the White House".  What about the Supreme Court they will scream?

I will be voting for Jill Stein from the Green Party.  She is solid on all the issues and gives me a chance to give my vote to someone who actually earned it and represents what I truly believe in.

I am not about to spend my entire adult life working for peace and justice and then turn around and vote for someone like Clinton who is hell bent to destroy everything I have worked for and gave my life to build.  I would essentially be betraying everything I've ever stood for - it's just not going to happen.

Voting is a sacred right and I intend to keep my vote as clean as I possibly can.

It was the movements during the Great Depression that forced the Democrats into creating jobs (Civilian Conservation Corps), 40-hour work week, Social Security, regulation of the banks, and a whole lot more. Socialist, Communist and Populist parties never actually took power in Washington but the message from the grassroots was so strong that many of their demands actually become policy.  We need that same strategy again - more than ever.

Today we have strong social movements across the nation calling for increased minimum wage, dealing with climate change, taxing the rich, health care for all, education for all, stopping endless war, ending police violence, and other vital issues.  Bernie Sanders has been an important voice for many of those issues (though on military spending and endless war he has been weak).  But the corporate controlled Democrats (and their media allies) have done their dirty work to suppress enough votes to slide Clinton into the position where she will now likely get the nomination.

(I urge folks in yet to be held primary states to keep working for Sanders but the wall of obstruction that has been erected to protect Hillary is taller than the Mexico border wall envisioned by Trump.)

What will be needed next is to move the Occupy momentum, that has driven the Sanders campaign, to another level - another vehicle - and that will be Jill Stein and the Greens. Once Hillary gets the nomination she will largely throw progressive issues under the bus as she moves back to her more comfortable rightward leaning home turf.  Just like when Obama rode the anti-war fever into the White House, and then dropped it to continue the Bush II war program, Hillary will do the same.

Voting for Hillary will get us nothing but more corporate dominated government.  Same with Trump.  If you want to send shock waves into the hearts of the corporate oligarchy then vote for Stein and keep organizing.

Years ago I heard the voices from the corporate political parties say that they wanted to make elections so mean - so nasty - that the public would reject the idea of voting at all.  It would be easier to rule if less people participated.  So right on schedule we hear vast percentages of the public now parroting the line: "Why bother, it's a waste of your time.  It's a rigged game."

That is a hard line of thought to argue with.  But I am a believer in strategy.  Giving up and walking away is not a strategy.  It is the path to certain defeat and further chaos for the coming generations.  I want to keep standing up for truth to the bitter end.  So in this case I spend every day of my waking life fighting for peace and justice - elections are just one sliver of my overall work.  But even with elections I want every ounce of energy I put into them to stand for something - to have some larger meaning.

See this short video below featuring right-winger Paul Weyrich as he made the case for reducing the numbers of people who actually vote so that the corporate oligarchic forces will have an easier time controlling everything.  He is rubbing our faces into their strategy for control and domination of the planet.  I am not about to surrender to these rich punks who don't care about the people or our Mother Earth.

I'm not going to vote for any of these corporate candidates... they were put in place to represent bankster interests while betraying the greater good. I won't vote for bad or bad.

French Agent Orange Film

The film trailer is easily understood by anyone even if you don't speak French.  The legacy of US use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War still haunts the people and the environment.

Thanks to my friend André Bouny for his work in France on this issue for many years.  Visit his web site here

Warning Graphic Content!

The United States Air Force and CIA assassinate targets in residential areas, at FUNERALS and WEDDINGS and routinely murder children, mothers and entire families. They do this in countries we have no declaration of war with or a recognized combat zone.

This video was made at Creech Air Force base where pilots have commanded drones that have executed many children.

At the annual SHUT DOWN CREECH protest (2016), the EEK TEAM (environmentally evolved Kids) performed what may be the pinnacle of "Die-Ins", the execution of a funeral procession. The number of funerals targeted by Creech fliers is unknown, similar to the actual number of weddings and other social and Spiritual events (yes...EVEN Mosques!).

This procession was the first of multiple actions on April 1st at three different gates of Creech Air Force Base. Twenty-seven people total were arrested during the day. The children were not arrested but the adult Angels that followed the procession were arrested and released later that evening.

The number of children murdered by US drones is in the high hundreds at least and maybe over one thousand. YOU, the TAXPAYER, PAY FOR IT.

HELP US SHUT DOWN CREECH!

Can't Vote for Hillary

So instead of succumbing to the pressure from the media talking heads, the young woman stands her ground and says she will vote for Jill Stein from the Green Party.  I'm with her.

Tell Them.....

Tell
Russia
and
China
to get rid
of their nukes

Tell them
 
Tell North Korea
too
and tell
Iran
they can't
have nukes either

Tell
the American
people
that
the Pentagon
is the
'force for good'
tell them
again
and again
and
again

Tell them
that 'freedom'
is coming
(freedom
to liberate
oil, natural gas,
minerals, water,
good soil for
GMO production)
tell them
freedom
has a
price

Tell them
to stay quiet
if they value
their lives
keep your nose
buried
in the dollar
keep your
mouth
shut
and you will
live

Otherwise
tell them
they'll pay
a heavy
price
for
resisting
the pirate
freedom
ship

It's Not True.....Let's Rewrite History

There's confusion in Washington over Obama's order to send an extra 250 troops to Syria. The magician had repeatedly pledged to avoid putting boots on the ground - although according to the State Department, that's not the case.

It's clear that the empire of chaos is losing in its attempt to bring regime change to Syria - thus they need a new strategy and that always means more US 'boots on the ground'.  But they can't admit that so they have to play word games which Washington is very good at doing.

Collective Action Needed to Stop Industrial Destruction of Planet

Would any sane person think dumpster diving would have stopped Hitler, or that composting would have ended slavery or brought about the eight-hour workday; or that chopping wood and carrying water would have gotten people out of Tsarist prisons; or that dancing around a fire would have helped put in place the Voting Rights Act of 1957 or the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

Then why now, with all the world at stake, do so many people retreat into these entirely personal “solutions”? Why are these solutions not sufficient? But most importantly, what can be done instead to actually stop the murder of the planet?

Words based on the essay of the same title by Derrick Jensen.

Odessa Massacre Memorial Statement Support Growing

Neo-Nazis burning the Trades Hall in Odessa, Ukraine on May 2, 2014.  The massacre killed well over 50 people.

Statement of Solidarity’ with 2nd anniversary May 2 memorial in Odessa delivered to Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, D.C., followed by press conference
 
Report by the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC)

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 25

Today Ana Edwards, representing the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), and Ray McGovern, a former CIA analyst and now prominent peace activist, delivered a Statement of Solidarity with Odessa to the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington, D.C.

The statement calls on the governments of Ukraine, the United States and the city of Odessa to ensure the civic rights of the people of Odessa to hold a memorial program this coming May 2 to mark the second anniversary of the massacre of 46 profederation activists in that city at the hands of rightwing extremists. The memorial is being organized by the Mothers' Committee for May 2, comprised of family members, friends and supporters of the murdered activists.

The Solidarity Statement, signed by 139 human rights organizations and activists from 20 countries in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia, also supports the Mothers' Committee public call for the United Nations Human Rights Committee to arrange an impartial investigation into the events of May 2, 2014. Although the attack was videoed by numerous participants and passersby, to date not one of the perpetrators has been brought to justice.

The Solidarity Statement also announced that UNAC is sending a delegation of U.S. human rights activists to monitor the May 2 memorial program in Odessa. Other delegations will be present from France, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Poland, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, Israel and Sweden.

The Solidarity Statement was received by an embassy staff member on behalf of the Ukrainian ambassador.

Immediately after, Edwards and McGovern held a press conference outside the embassy at which they read the solidarity statement and answered questions from reporters. Media present included Tass News Agency of Russia, RT (Russia Today) America, Channel One Russian TV and RTRTV, a Russian language television station whose audience includes 50,000 subscribers in the New York City area. The Russian language is spoken by an estimated 171 million people in 17 countries.

While no major Western media were present, it is expected that the broad news coverage by major Russian media will put pressure on other media outlets to cover the story of the May 2 memorial, the international solidarity campaign and the international delegations that will be in Odessa on May 2 to monitor the memorial program.

Ana Edwards is a founding member of UNAC and chairs the Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project of the Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality in Richmond, Va.

Ray McGovern is a former analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), a prominent member of Veterans for Peace and Cofounder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.
 
The United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) is a broad alliance of U.S. justice and peace organizations founded in 2010. www.UNACpeace.org

For more information, contact UNAC CoCoordinator Joe Lombardo at: UNACpeace@gmail.com or 518-227-6947.

To add your name/organization to the statement please click on https://www.unacpeace.org/ukrainepetition.html

Statement of Solidarity Endorsers

U.S.

Ramsey Clark - Former U.S. Attorney General; Human Rights Activist

Bernadette Ellorin - Chairperson, Bayan USA

Rep. Jeffrey Evangelos - Maine House of Representatives

Bruce Gagnon - International Coordinator, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space

Margaret Kimberley - Editor and Senior Columnist, Black Agenda Report

Cynthia McKinney, Ph.D - Former Member, U.S. Congress; 2008 Green Party U.S. Presidential Candidate

Ray McGovern - Former CIA Analyst; Co-Founder, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

Joe Lombardo and Marilyn Levin, UNAC Co-coordinators

International Action Center

U.S. Peace Council

United National Antiwar Coalition

Beth Adams - Hancock Drone Resisters, San Francisco, California

Elliott Adams - Veterans For Peace, Sharon Springs, New York

Abayomi Azikiwe - Editor, Pan-African News Wire; Organizer, MECAWI, Detroit, Michigan

Roger Batchelder - OPENER, San Diego, California *

Mike Beilstein - City Councilor, Corvallis, Oregon

Judith Bello - Founding Member, Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones & End the Wars, New York

Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace - New York

​Judy Collins & Jim Allen - Vine & Fig Tree, Lanett, Alabama

Paul Cunningham - South Portland, Maine

William Crain - Peace and Justice *, Billings, Montana

Bob Dale - Veterans for Peace, Brunswick, Maine

George Dardess - Rochester Peace Action & Education *

Nicolas J.S. Davies - Author, “Blood On Our Hands: the American Invasion and Destruction of Iraq”

Jacqui Deveneau - Maine Green Independent Party, Portland, Maine

Catherine Donaghy - Western Mass TroopsOutNow! Coalition, Massachusetts *

Chantal Dothey, MD - Cleveland, Ohio

Tim Duda - American Federation of Teachers, San Antonio, Texas

Nancy Eberg - Greater New Haven Peace Council *

Ana Edwards - Chair, Virginia Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project, Richmond, Virginia

Anthony Ehrlich - West Volusians for Peace & Justice, Barberville, Florida

Kristna Evans - Vintage Quaker Books, Friends Community of New England, Bath, Maine

Sara Flounders - Co-Director, International Action Center, New York, New York

Freedom Road Socialist Organization

Roberta Frye - Faith in Action, Unitarian Universalists of Santa Monica *, Culver City, California

Ronald Fujiyoshi - Ohara Ho'opakele, Hilo, Hawaii

Terry & Tom Fusco - Maine Progressive Party, Brunswick, Maine

Genesee Valley Citizens for Peace - Geneseo, New York

Starr C. Gilmartin - Peace & Justice of Eastern Maine, Trenton, Maine

Ellen Grady - Ithaca Catholic Worker, Ithaca, New York

Peter Gunther - Progressive Archivists

Joseph F. Hancock - Los Angeles Peace Council, Los Angeles, California

David Hartsough - PEACEWORKERS, San Francisco, California

Marilyn Hoff - Peace Action, New Mexico

Herbert J. Hoffman, Ph.D. - Albuquerque Veterans For Peace, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Connie Jenkins - Pax Christi, Maine, Orono, Maine

Mack Johnson - Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, Silverdale, Washington

Ann Joseph - United Church of Christ, Chicago, Illinois *

Matt Kelly - Petersburgh, New York

Mick Kelly - Editor, Fight Back!

Ed Kinane - Upstate Drone Action, New York

Bob Kinsey - Colorado Coalition for the Prevention of Nuclear War *

Heather Koponen - Alaska Peace Center, Veterans for Peace, Fairbanks, Alaska

David Laibman - Editor, Science & Society, Brooklyn, New York

Barbara Laxon - Miramar, Florida

Mickie Lynn - Women Against War *, Delmar, New York

Jeff Mackler - Director, Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, Oakland, California

Kevin Martin - Executive Director, Peace Action, Silver Spring, Maryland

Natasha Mayers - Union of Maine Visual Artists, Whitefield, Maine

Rob Mulford - Veterans For Peace, Fairbanks, Alaska

Meryl Nass MD - Ellsworth Maine

Doug Noble - Metro Justice *, Rochester

Jon Olsen - Green Party, Jefferson, Maine

Tatyana Olson - Diplomatic School, Washington D.C.

Dr. Lewis E. Patrie - Western N.C. Physicians for Social Responsibility, Asheville, North Carolina

Rosalie Paul - Greater Brunswick PeaceWorks, Maine

Patricia Patterson - Retired International Mission Executive, United Methodist Church, Claremont, California

Tina Phillips - Brunswick, Maine

Charles R. Powell - President, Veterans For Peace, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Brian Noyes Pulling, M.Div. - Minister, Social Worker,Peace & Social Justice Organizer, South Carolina

Megan Rice SHCJ - Transform Now Plowshares, Washington, D.C.

Coleen Rowley - Retired FBI agent, former Legal Counsel, Minneapolis Division, Minnesota 

Lisa Savage - Maine Natural Guard, Solon, Maine

Adria Scharf - Richmond Peace Education Center, Richmond, Virginia

Richard D. Seifert - Fairbanks Peace Center, Fairbanks, Alaska

Diane Shammas, Ph.D - Shammas Group, Laguna Beach, California

Ruth Sheridan - Anchorage, Alaska

Alice Slater - Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, New York, New York

Gar Smith - Co-founder, Environmentalists Against War; Director, Academic Publishing, California

Jean Sommer - Peace Action, Cleveland, Ohio

J. Michael Springmann - "Visas for Al Qaeda: CIA Handouts That Rocked The World *,  “Washington, D.C.

Mary Beth Sullivan - Greater Brunswick PeaceWorks, Bath, Maine

David Swanson - Director, WorldBeyondWar.org; Author, "War Is A Lie," Charlottesville, Virginia

Wil Van Natta - Reality News Radio, Riviera Beach, Florida

Virginia People’s Assembly for Jobs, Peace & Justice - Virginia

Steve Wagner - Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace *, Oakland, California

Karen Wainberg - Great Brunswick PeaceWorks, Maine

William H. Warrick III, MD - Veterans for Peace, Gainesville, Florida

Dave Welsh - Delegate, San Francisco Labor Council, San Francisco, California

Phil Wilayto - Editor, The Virginia Defender, Richmond, Virginia

Mike Wisniewski - Los Angeles Catholic Worker, California

Rowan Wolf - Uncommon Thought Journal, Portland, Oregon

Kristina Wolff - Veterans for Peace, Maine

Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) - Minneapolis, Minnesota

Russell Wray - Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats (COAST), Hancock, Maine

Sandra Yeager - Millersville University *, Lancaster, Pennsylvania


AUSTRIA

Christl Meyer - Amnesty International *, Vienna


CANADA

Tamara Lorincz - Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, Saanichton, British Columbia

Hamilton Coalition To Stop The War - Hamilton

Roza Husseini - Student of PACE at University of Winnipeg, Manitoba

Rev.  Wm. J. Hutton - Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Amir M. Maasoumi - Palestinians & Jews United for Peace & Against Occupation (PAJU), Montreal, Quebec

Mobilization Against War & Occupation (MAWO) - Vancouver, British Columbia

Nicolas Royer-Artuso - Laval University *, Montreal, Quebec

Marguerite Warner - Peace Alliance Winnipeg, Manitoba


CZECH REPUBLIC

Vaclav Exner - KSČM, Alterantiva zdola, Praha


FINLAND

Ernst Mecke, Ph.D. - Helsinki, Finland


FRANCE

Csizmazia Alexis - Université Paris Est Creteil, Paris

Arlette Cavillon - Mouvement de la Paix *

Oranus Ravar - Aix-en-Provence

Guenter Schenk - CJACP, Strasbourg


GERMANY

Judith Dellheim - Zukunftskonvent, Berlin

Dr. Henry Stahl - Bund für Soziale Verteidigung, Eschwege, Hessen


INDIA

J. Narayana Rao - All India Peace & Solidarity Organization, Nagpur


IRELAND

John Kelly - Mullingar, County Westmeath

June Kelly - County Westmeath


ITALY

Arrigo Colombo - Movimento per la società di giustizia, Lecce, Puglia

U.S. Citizens Against War - Florence


JAPAN

Yasuaki - Matsumoto *, Japan

Akira Asada - Takarzuka, Hyougo, Japan


MEXICO

Ethelia Ruiz Medrano - National Institute of Anthropology and History, Mexico *, Mexico


NETHERLANDS

Khalid Ahmed Chaudry - Ambassador & Deputy Chairman, Supreme Council of the International Human Rights Commission *, The Hague


SOUTH AFRICA

Dewald Wilhelm Scholtz - Pretoria, Gauteng Province


SOUTH KOREA

Choi Sung-Hee - Gangjeong Village International Team, Jeju Island

Regina Pyon Yeon-shik - Korean House for International Solidarity, Seoul


SWITZERLAND

Oriane Peschoux - UN, Geneva


NEW ZEALAND

Julie Webb-Pullman - Independent Journalist and Activist

Kay Weir - Editor, Pacific Ecologist, Pacific Institute of Resource Management, Wellington

Wellington Zapatista Support Group


RUSSIA

Alexander Ionov & Anastasia Promskaya - The Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia


SWEDEN

Agneta Norberg - Swedish Peace Council, Stockholm

Einar Schlereth - Retired Journalist / Translator / Writer, Klavreström, Kronoberg

Aaron Tovish - Executive Adviser, Mayors for Peace, Stockholm


UNITED KINGDOM

Allen L. Jasson - RightOfChoice.com, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire

John Pilger - Two-time winner of Britain's Journalist of the Year Award

Angie Zelter - Reforest the Earth


●  Organization listed for Identification purposes only

Hersch: "I Don't Understand What the President is Doing"

 

President Obama has announced the deployment of 250 more Special Operations troops to Syria in a move that nearly doubles the U.S. presence in the country. This comes just days after the Obama administration announced 217 more troops would be sent to Iraq to help in the fight against the self-proclaimed Islamic State. 

 

As the U.S. expands its presence in Iraq and Syria, Democracy Now speaks with the legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, who has just published a new book titled "The Killing of Osama bin Laden." In the introduction, Hersh writes: "It’s now evident, fifteen years after the 9/11 attacks, that Obama’s foreign policy has maintained many of the core elements of the Global War on Terror initiated by his predecessor—assassinations, drone attacks, heavy reliance on special forces, covert operations and, in the case of Afghanistan, the continued use of American ground forces in combat. And, as in the years of Bush and Cheney, there has been no progress, let alone victory, in the fight against terrorism."

Obama Back Tracks & Sends More Troops to Syria

Barack Obama confirmed plans to increase the American troop presence in Syria by deploying an additional 250 personnel, bringing the total to 300. He said the troops would help drive out the Islamic State terrorist group.

It's obvious to me that the US war team has determined that Russia's intervention in Syria was done much to stabilize the situation there.  That was not in the plan.  The goal as always been regime change in Syria.  Thus Obama announces more troops in Syria to ensure that chaos returns to the beleaguered people there.

For more on the real story about what is going on in Syria I highly recommend an article by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.  See it here

What Do You Stand For?

 

Author, Feminist, Teacher and Scholar, Bell Hooks, says: "I can no longer be a Hillary Clinton supporter!"

Turkey Shoot: Erdogan Policing Europe's Media

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is on a media rampage.  His corrupt government, known to have been sheltering and funding ISIS with stolen Syrian oil, is now locking up and throwing out any domestic or international media that dares report on his government's outrageous actions.

British MP George Galloway told Sputnik: "This Erdogan regime has begun to go from bad to worse and it’s difficult to see where it will all end, but effectively, Turkey is no longer capable of being described as a democracy."

In recent days Erdogan has also deported German and Russian journalists as well as jailed Turkish reporters for writing about his corrupt regime.

"They’re telling the truth," Galloway says, referring to the deported and detained journalists, "and it’s a truth that’s a very ugly one, which is that the Erdogan regime is up to its neck in the crimes that are being committed in Syria…Now the secret is out and now, in their ire, they are retaliating against any journalist they can lay their hands on."

"This is a war against all democratic freedoms in Turkey. And all right-thinking people should shun the Erdogan regime and stand-up in solidarity with the people who are being oppressed there. Whether journalists or human rights activists or merely those of the Kurdish ethnicity, this is a real storm being visited on the people of Turkey and those trying to work there."  [There have been several reports in recent weeks that Turkish military have been gunning down unarmed and helpless Syrian refugees.]

Even though Turkey is a key part of the NATO alliance, it seems unlikely the United States or any other Western powers will stand up against Erdogan’s increasingly fascist tactics.

"…They are hypocrites," Galloway says. "The reality is that Turkey is not a democracy. Therefore it should not even be a part of NATO."

A longstanding member of the West’s military alliance, Turkey is also using the ongoing refugee crisis to push for membership within the EU.

"So both NATO and the European Union are exposed, in all their hypocrisy, in relation to Erdogan’s regime."

Turkey's Erdogan (seated on left) and the US-NATO puppet Petro Poroshenko (right) recently met to discuss joining forces to turn Ukraine's Donbass region into another Syrian-like mess. 

Erdogan has dreams of recreating the Ottoman Empire and many believe is being egged on by the US-NATO endless war project.  In their recent meeting Erdogan and Kiev-based Petro Poroshenko discussed 'retaking' Crimea from Russia.  Reports are that the two warlords are shipping ISIS fighters into Ukraine to attack the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine.  They are also working together to militarize Crimean Tatars with the ultimate goal being to draw Russian into a shooting match with NATO.

Just this week Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada [Ukrainian Parliament] Sergey Vysotsky, in a TV interview, said that now Ukraine and the West must unite to fight against a common enemy. "It is necessary to divide Russia," said Vysotsky.

"That's why our message to the international agenda, and our task, which now, unfortunately, is not solved, is the needed consolidation around the world for the dismantling of the current Russian state," he said.

The US-NATO have lined up their surrogates in Turkey and Ukraine to expand the effort to help bring regime change in Moscow.  This insane policy will not only kill thousands more innocent civilians but is a obvious trigger for WW III. 

Even during the height of the Cold War the US-NATO would never have made such a foolhardy play.  Today though Washington-London-Paris-Brussels are under the spell of the neo-cons who don't seem concerned about anything other than control and domination on behalf of corporate capital.

Sunday Song

Germans Protest Obama's Trade Deal

Thousands of protesters have come out onto the streets of Hannover, Germany to say 'No' to the controversial TTIP US-EU trade deal. Many in Germany fear it will reduce consumer protection and undermine workers’ protection.

I highly recommend watching this video.  The spokesman at the end does an excellent job of explaining European opposition to TTIP.

Fascists in Ukraine Continue with Attacks

A Leftist politician in ‪‎Ukraine‬ was attacked today by Azov battalion fascist paramilitaries for speaking out against the "ATO" - the war against the Russian speaking citizens in Eastern Ukraine (Donbass). 

When the representative of the "Union of Leftists" Vasyl Volha arrived in Zaporizhia he was met with a storm of criticism by nationalists in the city.

Volha was not allowed to hold a proper news conference. He was surrounded and given 10 minutes to make a statement and leave "in good health". He said that the ATO needs to stop and that the Ukrainian leadership have become rich thanks to the war, earning billions from it.

The US and NATO have been funding their puppet Kiev regime's war on the Donbass.

After a few minutes, Volha was rudely asked to leave, but he didn't. Then Azov battalion came and you can see the rest in the video.

McAfee: We All Lose If We Give Up on Privacy

Interview with John McAfee, cyber security expert, inventor, entrepreneur, and creator of McAfee antivirus.

Portland Tax Day News Conference

April 19 Tax Day news conference in Portland, Maine.

In my words I made one factual mistake.  I said space technology is costing $100 million per year, I meant to say $100 billion per year.

Thanks to Martha Spiess for organizing the news conference and inviting me to participate.  The event was covered on Maine Public Radio and one Portland TV station.

I really believe in doing Tax Day events.  It is a time when people are thinking alot about where their hard earned tax dollars are going.  On April 15 when we handed out flyers in Brunswick at the post office my opening line was "Want to see where your tax dollars are going?"  Many people said, "Yeah I know where they are going...."

I've felt for many years that the public is on our side more than we realize - they are not stupid.  They just don't believe there is anything we can do about all the Pentagon waste and cost of endless war.  My own mother used to say all the time - "You can't beat city hall."

But my mother also used to read me the children's book called "The little engine that could" - all about a little train that everyone thought would never make it up the big hill, but it did.  I think that book must have helped turn me into such a stubborn guy.

So my organizing strategy is to stay on the case - never give up - find many different ways to keep making the same point.  Get artists involved to help reach people that are visual learners.  Use music.  Organize peace walks through different parts of the state. Use social media.  Write letters to local papers. Hold small vigils and larger protests regularly.  Send delegations to politicians offices.

Studies say that people need to hear things 6-7 times before it sticks in their busy brains.  So keep pushing the rock up the hill.  History shows that now and then walls do come down, humanity makes a great leap forward, miracles can happen. 

Dance to the Tune...or else

Dance
jump
when Mr. Big
orders you
dance to his tune
it's the sound
of 'freedom'
to steal

the sound of gunfire
bombs
bursting in air
thru the night
his flag
is still there

Say,
by the way,
can you see
what is really
going on?

The oligarchs
in Washington
say
there will be no
BRICS
no multi-polar
nothing

no competition
against
their brand
corporate capitalism

Dance if you
want to live
to survive
to stay in power
dance
and say
yes
big daddy
is in charge
Mr. Big rules
yes
yes
I surrender
to your bully
power
yes
I give up

Then we
wake up
yes
turns
to a firm
resolute
determined
no

Keep repeating
it
the same old shit
needs to be
repeated

Art by W. B. Park

Space Command Propaganda

This video shows how space technology plays a fundamentally key role in all Pentagon military operations these days.

The cost of tying all these space and ground-based systems together is beyond imagination.  The profits for the corporations doing 'space technology business' is what the industry claims will be the 'largest industrial project in human history'.  

How can Congress afford to pay for all of this?  Only one answer - destroy social programs including Social Security and Medicare.  You want to help defeat Star Wars?  Fight to maintain social progress back home.

One More Show

I taped my 131st public access TV program (This Issue) today with guest Lisa Savage from Solon, Maine.  Lisa is one of the great activists in our state, and a high school teacher as well, so it was fun to have her on the show.  She's very articulate and knows how to say alot in a short period of time which makes her a perfect guest.

Lisa has recently created a new group called the Maine Natural Guard.  She's put a pledge on the web site asking people to promise they will make the connections between climate change and the fact that the Pentagon has the largest carbon bootprint on the planet.  She urges people also to pledge that they will call for the conversion of the military industrial complex so that we can retool our domestic infrastructure around solar, wind, rail, tidal power, energy conservation and more.

I first heard the expression Natural Guard back in the 1980's when a peace group in South Carolina used the words as they were organizing to get the public to pay attention to the environmental mess that resulted from the Department of Energy nuclear bomb plant at Savannah River.  I've been trying to keep the idea alive since then and am so happy that Lisa has done something really creative with the expression.  We need to offer solutions and the Natural Guard surely is a good one!

We had a great crew working in the Harpswell studio today that included Dan Ellis, Peter Woodruff and Regis Tremblay.  One of the two studio cameras went on the fritz in the middle of the show but thanks to the quick thinking of Dan and Regis we kept humming along with just one camera covering the interview.

I started doing this public access TV program in late 2003 and it now plays on 15 local Maine stations and I occasionally hear that This Issue has been picked up by some local communities across the nation.  You can watch past shows by clicking here

Top photo by Regis Tremblay - bottom one by Lisa Savage

Building the Needed Revolution - Hillary Won't Do It.....

In the 2008 New York primary Obama won only one county out of 64 in Clinton’s “home state” of New York; this time, Bernie Sanders took 50 counties to Hillary's 12. (See map above.)

We turned to CNN last night just after the polls closed in New York at 9:00 pm and heard the report that exit polls (normally considered reliable) were reporting that Clinton won the race 52% to 48% - a four percent margin.  Anything that close would be considered a 'Yuge' loss for Clinton.  But then later we learned that Clinton 'won' the primary by a margin of 57.9% for her to 42.1% to Sanders. Indeed what happened to the exit polls?

There were reports that some New York City precincts opened two hours later than they were supposed to, and would-be voters whose names couldn't be found on registration lists.  Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported that "[a] number of voters said they showed up at their usual polling sites to discover the site had been moved without notice, sending them across the neighborhood searching for their new voting location."

The New York City Comptroller says that the New York City Board of Elections "confirms" that "more than 125,000 voters in Brooklyn were removed from voter rolls." No figure is given for how many were removed in New York's other massive Boroughs, nor how many voters had their registrations listed incorrectly. But these are massive numbers, able to swing the election either way.



Now is all this just gross incompetence or are we witnessing a systemic suppression of the voting process across America?  For me, having lived in Florida during the infamous 'hanging chad' election in 2000, I am clearly convinced that the corporate oligarchy uses elections to create the illusion of democracy but that they use many different tools to fix (rig) elections to put in place the candidates that they sponsor.

Forget the fact that in New York 30% of eligible voters across the state were not allowed to vote at all because they are 'independent'.  Even Bernie Sanders, who has been quiet during recent rigged primary elections in places like Arizona and Nevada, last night said, "I am concerned about the conduct of the voting process in New York."  A pretty mild statement for sure but at least he finally said something!

In a recent interview former Libertarian-Republican Texas congressman Ron Paul says, "I see elections as so much of a charade,” adding that elections are rigged and claiming that “so much deceit goes on. I’ve worked on the assumption … for many, many decades, that whether there’s a Republican or a Democrat president, the people who want to keep the status quo seems to have their finger in the pot and can control things. I don’t think there’s an easy way out for the establishment or the parties," he noted, explaining that Democrats and Republicans would both rather risk "further alienation of the people" than allow a candidate to succeed who could shake up the system.

The corporate masters want Hillary Clinton as president and they know that the vast majority of the public does not like her.  So they knew they had to come up with an even more hated Republican candidate who voters would fear so much that they'd hold their noses and pull the lever for Clinton.  Thus we see the reason that Donald Trump is in the race and will likely be the Republican nominee that will face Clinton in November's general election.

Unreported in all the election news today is that Green Party candidate Jill Stein's campaign has just qualified for federal matching funds.  This is a first for the Green Party in the US and means that Stein's campaign will get up to $230,000 which is alot for a grassroots campaign.

Stein writes: "Qualifying for matching funds will allow us to hire key staff, put major resources into urgent priorities like ballot access and volunteer organizing, and much, much more. It will supercharge our ability to reach the millions of Americans ready for a new kind of politics that puts people, planet and peace over profit."

It will be interesting to see if Bernie Sanders turns around and endorses Clinton after the Democratic 'super delegates' hand the nomination to her.  Millions of people who threw their hearts and souls behind Sanders will have a big decision to make - do they betray the call for 'revolution' by voting for Hillary or do they turn to the Green Party which offers the opportunity to keep the momentum going for building a real and much needed revolution in the US?

Never Forget....

Woody Guthrie tells the story about the Ludlow Massacre and the violent deaths of 20 people, 11 of them children, during an attack by the Colorado National Guard on a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families in Ludlow, Colorado on April 20, 1914.

Tax Day & Election Day

• I was up early this morning to catch a ride with Mary Beth who travels the 45 minutes to Portland for work each day.  I was invited to speak at the Tax Day news conference held there at 11:00 am.  Since we left home at 7:00 am I had some time on my hands.  After going to Portland's iconic Becky's Diner for breakfast I went to a local coffee shop and pulled out my computer for a couple hours of work before the event began. Martha Spiess did a nice job of organizing the news conference and Maine public radio and one TV station came out to cover the event which ain't too bad around these parts. I spoke about the need to convert the military industrial complex at places like Bath Iron Works here in Maine and told how they'd double the jobs there if they built commuter rail systems.

• In a Tax Day statement, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein called for a massive reduction in U.S. military spending, with her campaign saying that “in addition to bankrupting us financially and morally, the inflated military budget has created a trigger-happy foreign policy, leading to disastrous military interventions and regime change. In the Middle East, this has produced failed states, mass refugee migrations, and ever-worsening terrorist threats.”

Stein said, “The best way to reign in wasteful federal spending is to slash the dangerously bloated military budget by at least 50%. … Instead of needless and destructive wars, that make us less safe not more safe, it’s time to bring our tax dollars home to rebuild America. We can build real security funding schools, creating jobs, providing universal healthcare, repairing our infrastructure and funding the transition to 100% clean renewable energy.”

• Like most people I've been following the run-up to today's New York primary.  Last night I saw that Hillary Clinton had said that Bernie Sanders opposed abortion which of course is a ridiculous statement but it must indicate that her support amongst women was dropping.  So like she always does when she is in trouble Clinton just threw out another of her many lies.  The other thing of considerable note is the voter suppression that is going on by the Democratic Party to discourage voting.  I saw that thousands of people had their party affiliation changed in the computers without their permission likely making it impossible for them to vote today.  You can see one such story here.  In Brooklyn more than 126,000 names have been purged from the voter lists.  See that story here. If the corporate masters can't win an election the fair way they will always try to cheat.  Those who run the Democratic Party are doing every thing they can to hand the nomination to Clinton.

The Real Clinton Story

 

Digging deep into Hillary's connections to Wall Street, Abby Martin reveals how the Clinton's multi-million-dollar political machine operates.

This episode chronicles the Clinton's rise to power in the 90s on a right-wing agenda, the Clinton Foundation's revolving door with Gulf state monarchies, corporations and the world's biggest financial institutions, and the establishment of the hyper-aggressive "Hillary Doctrine" while Secretary of State. 

 

Learn the essential facts about the great danger she poses, and why she's the US Empire's choice for its next CEO.

California's Poison Wines

 

A study has revealed that 10 popular California wines contain traces of the toxic herbicide glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s weed-killer Roundup. Even organic wines were affected. RT America’s Brigida Santos joins Simone Del Rosario to break the study down.

Int'l Sign-On Statement to Support U.N. Investigation in Odessa, Ukraine

Some of the 46 who were burned alive inside the Odessa Trade Union hall

To add your name, organization, city, state & country please send to globalnet@mindspring.com

Statement in Support of the May 2 Memorial to be Held in Odessa, Ukraine...

Join Call for a United Nations Investigation into the Tragic Events of May 2, 2014
 
On May 2, 2016, a memorial will be held in Odessa, Ukraine, to honor the memory of scores of prodemocracy activists who were brutally murdered on that date in Odessa two years ago.

There is no reason for the City authorities to forbid a peaceful memorial, but rightwing radicals, some of whom are believed to have been involved in the events of 2014, have declared that they will not allow it to proceed.

The tragedy of Odessa and the continuing danger of rightwing [fascist] violence in that beautiful city is of growing concern to decent minded people around the world.

Therefore, we the undersigned representatives of human rights organizations in the United States and other countries hereby call on the governments of Odessa, Ukraine and the United States to ensure that the civic rights of those attending the May 2 memorial in Odessa will be respected, including the delegations of international monitors who will be present on that day.

We further respectfully appeal to the United Nations Human Rights Committee to initiate an international investigation into the events of May 2, 2014, as requested by family members, friends and supporters of those who died on that day.

According to widely published reports, protesters opposed to the February 2014 coup that overthrew Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych had set up a symbolic tent city in Odessa’s Kulikovo Square, in front of the five story House of Trade Unions. On May 2, rightwing soccer fans, whipped up by procoup activists, attacked and burned the tent city, driving the much smaller group of protesters into the union building. The mob then set the building on fire. At least 46 people died from burns, smoke inhalation, gunfire and beatings. Many more were wounded. It was the worst case of violence in Odessa in many decades.

Ever since the massacre, representatives of the families of those who died have held weekly vigils to honor the memory of their loved ones. Many of these memorials have been harassed by procoup groups. As recently as April 10, a large gathering of people celebrating the liberation of Odessa from Nazi occupation was attacked by rightwing thugs. These same forces now are threatening to physically prevent the second May 2 anniversary memorial from taking place.

At a formal meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Committee held on March 21, 2016 in Geneva, family members and their supporters asked the committee to initiate a longoverdue impartial investigation into the events of May 2, 2014.

For their part, the procoup forces are expressing their opposition to such an investigation. This contradiction alone should make clear which side wants the truth to be revealed and which side wants it to remain hidden.

Again, we call on the United Nations to initiate the requested investigation. And we call on the governments of Odessa, Ukraine and the United States to ensure that the civic rights of those attending the May 2 memorial in Odessa are respected.

Sincerely,

Elliott Adams, Veterans For Peace, Sharon Springs, NY

Abayomi Azikiwe - Editor, Pan-African News Wire; Organizer, Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice

Judith Bello - Member, Administrative Committee, United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC)

Choi Sung-Hee, Gangjeong village international team, Jeju Island, Korea

Ramsey Clark - Former U.S. Attorney General

Bob Dale, Veterans for Peace, Brunswick, Maine

Jacqui Deveneau, Maine Green Independent Party, Portland, Maine 

Ana Edwards - Chair, Virginia Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project

Sara Flounders - Co-Director, International Action Center

Bruce Gagnon - International Coordinator, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Veterans For Peace 

Ellen Grady, Ithaca Catholic Worker, Ithaca, NY

David Hartsough, PEACEWORKERS, San Francisco, CA

Herbert J. Hoffman, Ph.D., Albuquerque Veterans For Peace, Albuquerque, NM

Tamara Lorincz, Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, Saanichton, British Columbia, Canada

Jeff Mackler - Director, Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal; Past Vice President, American Federation of Teachers, Hayward Local 1423, AFL-CIO

Natasha Mayers, Union of Maine Visual Artists, Whitefield, Maine

Ray McGovern - Former CIA Analyst

Agneta Norberg, Swedish Peace Council, Stockholm, Sweden

Patricia Patterson, retired international mission executive, United Methodist Church, Claremont, CA

John Pilger, award winning journalist

J. Narayana Rao, All India Peace & Solidarity Organisation, Nagpur, India

Sr. Megan Rice, shcj, Transform Now Plowshares, Washington DC

Lisa Savage, Maine Natural Guard, Maine

Jean Sommer, Peace Action, Cleveland, OH

Gar Smith, Co-founder, Environmentalists Against War; Director, Academic Publishing; Free Speech Movement, Berkeley, CA 

Alice Slater, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, New York City

Mary Beth Sullivan - Greater Brunswick PeaceWorks (Maine)

Aaron Tovish, Executive Adviser, Mayors for Peace, Stockholm, Sweden

Marguerite Warner, Peace Alliance Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada 

William H Warrick III, MD, Veterans for Peace, Gainesville, Florida 

Kay Weir, editor, Pacific Ecologist, The Pacific Institute of Resource Management, Wellington, New Zealand 

Phil Wilayto - Editor, The Virginia Defender

Mike Wisniewski, Los Angeles Catholic Worker, California
 
* Organizations listed for identification purposes only


This statement was initiated by the United National Antiwar Coalition (www.UNACpeace.org), a broad coalition of peace and justice organizations in the United States. UNAC encourages the circulation of this petition among peace and human rights organizations all over the world. 

Please send all new endorsements immediately to: globalnet@mindspring.com   

Sunday Song

 

 

Your Tax $$$$ at Work

From a Previous Election Involving a Clinton

The "Color Revolution" World Tour

Laurent Brayard writes (Translated by Tom Winter):

There was a time when I wrote that we were in a Second Cold War. There was also a time when I, like many others, looked upon the fall of the Soviet Union as a great victory for peace.

There is much to say yet about the USSR, certainly the giant had long since been a "dead man walking," frozen, paralyzed, and cornered by a race against the great American enemy, a competition which ended in the complete destruction of a system which was no longer viable neither knowing how to resist the onslaught of the West over time, or how to reform to find the resources to continue the fight some other way. No matter how far from me the idea of a nostalgia that I never had for the defunct union, the fact of the matter is that the cold war never stopped.

It should have.

A documentary from 11 years ago sheds much light on what has been happening in Ukraine and Europe from an American offensive that looks like an overall plan that the CIA developed probably in the early 2000s. For the collapse of the Soviet Union didn't mean peace, far from it. The 2005 film "The US: for the conquest of the East" is a good tool for understanding the mindset of the US deep government and the CIA at the time.

In a very relaxed and open manner, participants clearly explain US plans to destabilize an entire sequence of regimes, all in the backyard of the Russian Federation and with the ultimate aim being Russia itself. On an orange T-shirt, the film shows the revolutions already accomplished and those yet to accomplish, from Belarus, on to Russia, and the countries of Central Asia.

The nonchalance of the participants is disturbing, an American publisher in Kyrgyzstan, a known CIA agent who is behind a revolution organized by the US, passing among activists on the American dole with a large-scale very select menu of several countries with revolutions achieved and those still to come.

Amid unabashed laughter, it's a question of methods, symbols, choosing a color, contamination of the People, especially the young people born after the fall of the Berlin Wall, with unlimited funding by the United States, the money that will flow, the tomorrows that will sing.

All this is alarming because of a great cynicism, notably about the human cost. Certainly, to arrange the "democratic" cause, the CIA officers say they must find the ways and means to engage these muffled and almost game-like revolutions. But all told, it sounds very false; many a time, the cameras are cut, and the participants get annoyed.

Read the rest of this very important article here

Odessa Stands Up

Odessa in Ukraine has been kicked around by the Nazis and the US-NATO backed regime in Kiev for the past two years.  The May 2, 2014 massacre of at least 50 people inside the Trades Union Hall by Nazis being just one horrific example.  The appointment of former Georgia ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili (a corrupt US-stooge wanted for crimes in Georgia) as the Governor of Odessa stands as another horrific example.

Above is a video filmed in Odessa’s Alley of Glory on April 10, the day the city was liberated from German and Romanian occupiers by Soviet troops in 1944. Crowds chanted anti-fascist and anti-Banderite [Nazi nationalist from western Ukraine who joined Hitler's invasion of Russia during WW II] slogans as uniformed and plainclothes police forced the participants to take off their St George ribbons, the symbol of Russian military victory against Hitler's Army.

The people of Ukraine are stirring. They are tired of the US-NATO Kiev regime's crimes against the people. 

The US goal is to create chaos in Ukraine - right on Russia's border - as part of Washington's plan to destabilize and ultimately force regime change in Moscow.

Washington Working to Keep Syrian War Burning

 

A covert ‘Plan B’ for Syria reserved for a “violation of ceasefire” is being pushed to the US president, anonymous officials told media. Arming “moderate” Syrian rebels with anti-aircraft weapons to fight the “Russia-backed regime” is again on the table. 

 

For more on this, RT America’s Manila Chan is joined by former Pentagon analyst Michael Maloof.

The Truth from Veterans About U.S. Wars

In this episode of Days of Revolt, Chris Hedges interviews two veterans of the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Michael Hanes [he went on our VFP Jeju & Okinawa trip last December] and Rory Fanning. They lament the brutality of the American military presence, which they say creates the conditions for terrorism and fuels attacks in places like Brussels.

They also speak out about the painful struggle of coping with PTSD, and the alienation faced by many soldiers when they come home. 

Where Should Your Taxes Be Spent? - Korean Style

Fellow Mainer Jason Rawn (on right in photo) writes from Gangjeong village on Jeju Island, South Korea the following:

This is the English text (below) I wrote for a handout on War Tax Resistance we made here in Gangjeong for our two days of Global Days of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS) demonstrations. We timed them to coincide with national Election Day here, which everyone I know is very happy about because the ruling right-wing party, Saenuri, is no longer in control. People were very worried that if Saenuri did well in this election, it would lead to more crackdowns on free speech, among other things.

I hope you can use some of this information in your work. I will also forward a link to the Korean-language website, which has some photos of people participating in a modified Penny Poll with some very pretty heart stickers.

I've been told this is the first time this kind of activity has been done here. People seem interested, and I look forward to following up in my last few weeks here, as well as during future visits. 

Due to human-caused climate change, we must make huge changes in how we live very soon. The US military and its allies use the most fossil fuels and have the largest Carbon bootprint on the planet. Most of these fossil fuels are used in pursuit of more fossil fuels. There are also nuclear, biological, space, and conventional weapons, torture, surveillance, and many other harmful aspects of militarism to consider.

Activists around the world are organizing the GDAMS from April 5-18. In 2015, 127 actions were held in 20 different countries. GDAMS is part of the International Peace Bureau's Global Campaign on Military Spending. The central question is, "Money for War...Or Human Need?" 

Here in Gangjeong, our action is to speak out and picket during our daily blockade of the navy base here. We will also conduct a poll to discover how local people would like to invest their hard-earned tax money. We ask people to examine their priorities and the long-term well-being of the planet and then use stickers to indicate  what types of projects and programs they value and want to fund. This is an adaptation of the "Penny Poll," a fun activity used by peace activists in the US to start conversations on the subject of divesting from war. 

These are the categories of projects and programs: 

• Peace: disarmament, conflict prevention and resolution, human security

• Sustainable development and anti-poverty programs

• Climate change and biodiversity loss - for mitigation, adaptation, bioremediation

• Public services/social justice, human rights, gender equality, and green job creation

• Humanitarian programs to support the most vulnerable groups

Hillary Keeps Telling Lies

 

As Hillary Clinton seeks to defend her role in the 2009 Honduras coup, Democracy Now speaks with Dana Frank, an expert on human rights and U.S. policy in Honduras. "This is breathtaking that she’d say these things. I think we’re all kind of reeling that she would both defend the coup and defend her own role in supporting its stabilization in the aftermath," Frank says. "I want to make sure that the listeners understand how chilling it is that a leading presidential candidate in the United States would say this was not a coup. … She’s baldly lying when she says we never called it a coup."

Solid Commitment

 

Several ecological protesters put their feet in cement near the state palace of Istana Negara in Jakarta, Wednesday, in protest of plans by state-owned PT Semen Indonesia to develop a new cement factory in central Java. The nine women taking part in the protest have stated that they will not leave the site until they are met by Indonesian President Joko Widodo and their demands are heard.
 

The US-NATO Created Mess in Ukraine

Ukraine slides into chaos as the prospect of all out war re-emerges

by Leon Tressell

The recent bout of in-fighting within the Kiev junta has been accompanied by warning’s from the IMF that Ukraine must do more to deal with the massive problems of corruption before it receives any more loans. The in-fighting between the various oligarchs and their political puppets within the Rada reflects the failure of crony capitalism to deal with any of the pressing economic, social and political problems facing Ukrainian society.

The deepening political crisis within Ukraine reveals how the promised benefits of turning towards the EU and America have failed to materialise. Many Ukrainians have been taken in by pro-Western propaganda that loans from the EU/IMF and a free trade agreement with the EU would bring major social and economic benefits to an impoverished population.

A cursory look at the the progress of Ukraine’s economy since the ‘Maiden Revolution’, reveals how hollow the promises made to the beleaguered population have been. Since 2014 the Ukrainian people have experienced a 22.2% collapse in real disposable income.

The economic hurricane that has swept over Ukraine since the violent overthrow of the Yanukovich regime has had a devastating impact upon the lives of ordinary Ukrainians. Its crisis ridden economy shrank by 10% during 2015 while inflation has exploded from 0.5% in 2013 to 32.7% in February of this year. This dramatic increase in consumer prices has been compounded by the junta raising prices of electricity by 25% this March with another price increase to come in September.

Meanwhile, unemployment has risen to over 10% as a vicious austerity programme has been initiated under the auspices of the Nobel Peace Prize winning EU and its partner in crime the IMF. The poverty rate in Ukraine has mushroomed to a 24.2% of the population according to the UN Development Programme.

As if this was not bad enough, the EU and IMF are insisting that the Kiev junta go much further in bringing the country towards Western style social democracy by cancelling energy subsidies and proceeding to the whole-scale privatisation of the country’s public assets. A recent IMF report published on 8 March 2016, laments the fact that the privatization of public assets is moving at a such a slow pace. You can just imagine Hedge fund hyenas and other Western financial criminals drooling at the prospect of getting their hands on Ukraine’s portfolio of public assets which are estimated by the IMF to be worth $72 billion.

The IMF bemoans the fact that,’Public assets continue to have a negative fiscal impact’ upon the government’s finances. This is code for the junta to get a move on and let Western asset strippers come in and buy up Ukraine’s public assets at knock down prices. The IMF report bemoans the fact that endemic corruption is leading to some state assets being sold cheaply to Ukrainian oligarchs.

It is against this backdrop of economic collapse and political in-fighting between the various oligarchs and their political puppets in the Rada, that sets the scene for a renewal of hostilities in the Donbass region of Ukraine. The so-called Minsk 2 ceasefire has utterly failed to solve the desperate problems facing the people living in the People’s Republics of Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR).

It has not brought political stability to the rest of Ukraine quite the opposite. The Minsk 2 ceasefire agreements are used by the gangster-capitalists ruling in Kiev to continue their misrule over Ukraine by diverting ordinary people’s anger and dissatisfaction towards the so called ‘frozen conflict’ in the south east of the country.

On the one hand you could argue that a renewal of all out war seems unlikely considering Ukraine’s vassal status towards the EU.

The Kiev junta is being exhorted by EU leaders to fully implement the Minsk 2 peace agreement which involves a constitutional amendment giving the DPR and LPR special ”decentralized status” within Ukraine. The old adage he who pays the piper calls the tune comes to mind. After all the EU has loaned 11 billion euros to Ukraine and formed a free trade agreement with Ukraine that effectively gives the EU control over Ukraine’s economy. You would expect the Kiev junta to act like obedient puppets after hearing their masters voice and fully implement the Minsk 2 peace accords and get on with rooting out the corruption that is endemic within Ukrainian society.

However, the Kiev junta is getting a different message from its American sponsor. Last year the U.S. Congress passed the Ukraine Freedom Support Act that increased sanctions against Russia and gave Obama the authority to increase U.S. military aid to the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF). There is strong bipartisan support within Congress to greatly increase military aid to the UAF to include so-called ‘lethal aid’ and ‘defensive’ weapons.
  
See the rest of this article here