Speaking Event in Deerfield Beach

MB and I flew down to south Florida yesterday from Boston and this morning I spoke at the Deerfield Progressive Forum.  Her brother lives in Ft. Lauderdale so we are staying at his place right on the beach (on the 29th floor).

My talk was about Ukraine but I spent about half of my power point presentation showing how the US and NATO are encircling Russia and destabilizing eastern Europe.  More than 60 folks were in attendance (including three snow birds from Maine who come down here in the winter).

It was a great surprise to see longtime friend Will Van Natta walk into the room.  Will was a lifeguard in Palm Beach County back in 1997 when NASA's Cassini mission was launched with 72 pounds of deadly plutonium-238 onboard.  In order to help galvanize support for the campaign that I organized against the launch, while working at the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice, Will decided to swim 13 miles in the ocean.  His effort drew huge local media and I have always admired Will for that monumental contribution.  It's a perfect example that we should always do what we are good at to help build our movements - and Will can really swim.

The reaction was generally good to my talk but there were a couple of naysayers in the audience who accused me of being pro-Tump and pro-Russian.  There is a constituency of liberals across the nation who find it hard to shake off the recycled red-baiting now daily coming out of the mouths of Congressional Democrats, the CIA, and the majority of the mainstream media.

Leaders from the Deerfield forum took MB and me to lunch after the event and our hosts felt good about how I handled the 'critics'.  I have to acknowledge that it is really hard for many Americans to wrap their heads around the fact that our government continuously lies to us in order to sell their wars.  But in my lifetime I've seen it done over and over again - from Vietnam to Panama to Yugoslavia to Iraq to Libya to Syria and now the current demonization of Russia.

The pattern is clear to me - the modus operandi by the corporate criminal syndicate that runs this country is as clear as a bell.

Bruce

Just a Bit of American History

Fools No More!

No Zumwalt on Jeju Island!

Sent from International Peace Team in Gangjeong village on Jeju Island, South Korea:

According to Korean media, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) recently published a report which pointed out the necessity of deployment of three Zumwalt destroyers in Korea : DDG-1000, DDG-1001 (Michael Monsur), Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG-1002). [All of these ships are being built at Bath Iron Works in Maine.]

Korean media cites Bryan Clark's words in the report who said that the forward deployment of Zumwalt in Korea would secure US military ability for command & control on the South China Sea as well as ability to target North Korea coast.

The Korean media also reports that both ROK-US authorities are abstaining their talk on the deployment of Zumwalt for now because of its expected effect especially amid current hot situation on THAAD. [THAAD is a very controversial US 'missile defense' system currently being deployed in South Korea.]  They expect the actual talk on the deployment of Zumwalt would be in ROK-US defense secretary/minister meeting.

The Korean media also cites the words by a Chinese government official who clearly states Chinese government opposition to Zumwalt deployment in Korea.

For the Jeju Islanders, the deployment of Zumwalt at the Jeju navy base would confirm their concern whether the base becomes the US military base.

"The Jeju Island would be in crisis again amid domination race between China and US," Kang Kyung-sik, an Island Council member, stated in February.

No ZUMWALT! Jeju is NOT the TOY of US military!

Protest NATO Summit in Brussels

Call for International Actions against the 
NATO Summit in Brussels 
May 21 – 26, 2017 Peace Camp

Direct Actions

May 24 (5pm) Protest March - TRUMPism not Welcome

May 25 – Conference – Why we need a world without NATO?


This year’s NATO summit will be US President Donald Trump’s first. It will be held in May at NATO’s brand new headquarters in Brussels, a city that hosts both NATO and the European Union - two institutions that co-operate closely on their military policies.

NATO and its member states participate in illegal wars and military interventions, from Yugoslavia to Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, Syria, the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. They contribute massively to international instability, fuelling the arms race and militarization. NATO remains committed to humanity’s biggest threat: nuclear weapons.

From summit to summit, NATO perpetuates, enforces and extends its policy of war and domination.

And the world shows us the consequences: entire countries devastated; millions turned into refugees, facing terrible suffering and even death; environmental disaster; an increase in violent extremism and terrorism; military tension and confrontation; nuclear weapons proliferation and the increasing risk of a nuclear war.

And in response to these appalling consequences, NATO pursues yet more militarism and war:

All NATO member states are required to increase their military budgets, to 2% of GDP. At a time of economic crisis and austerity, that means stealing more money from social needs, education, justice, international development and environmental protection budgets – all of which are essential to build a more peaceful and stable world.

NATO member states will have to spend 20% of their defence budgets on military equipment: warships, war planes, drones, bombs, technology and more. The powerful armaments lobby rubs its hands in anticipation. By fuelling the arms race, NATO makes a mockery of diplomatic mechanisms for conflict resolution.

NATO is escalating tensions with Russia, deploying troops and weapons at its border and installing a missile defence system. All this boosts military development and prevents the construction of peaceful relations and mutually beneficial understanding.

NATO and its member states multiply interventions outside their territory and increase their presence through worldwide partnerships and ‘coalitions of the willing’. They enlarge their economic, political and military domination, instead of investing politically and financially in the UN to achieve its goal of a peaceful, secure world.

NATO extends its nuclear policies as a supreme ‘guarantee’ for the allies’ security, notwithstanding the fact that the majority of countries in the world are negotiating a treaty to ban nuclear weapons. In the meantime, US nuclear weapons in Europe – under the guise of NATO – and elsewhere are being modernised at a cost of many tens of billions of dollars.

We don’t want EU militarisation or the creation of a European superpower, as increasingly promoted by the EU leadership. Military closure of European borders is not the answer to the challenges of migration. Refugees are welcome.

NATO is the world's most aggressive war machine. We urgently need worldwide peace and sustainable development. We call on all peace-loving people and organizations to join the protests against the NATO Summit, in Brussels and worldwide. Let’s put pressure on our governments to invest in social welfare, not in war.

Our demand to our governments is clear: we must leave NATO and NATO must be dissolved.

Sign the call? Send an e-mail to info@stopnato2017.org     More info at www.stopnato2017.org

Next BIW 'Christening' Protest Set for April 1

Arleigh Burke-class Aegis destroyers firing 'missile defense' interceptors that are key elements in Pentagon first-strike attack planning.  Next 'christening' of one of these warships in Bath, Maine will be held on April 1.  A protest will be organized that day at the shipyard.

Yesterday I was in the Sagadahoc District Court for my sentencing after being found guilty last month during our Zumwalt 12 trail.  I had missed the last day in court in order to make my long scheduled trip to Sweden for a conference and speaking tour in that region.  The judge kindly let me leave the trial before it was over.

During the sentencing we learned that the next 'christening' of another destroyer at the Bath Iron Works (BIW) shipyard will be held on Saturday, April 1.  The prosecutor made a point of telling the judge he was concerned that I would do my 30 hours of community service under the direction of Veterans For Peace while organizing the upcoming protest.  That is certainly not a bad idea at all - but it was not what I had in mind as a way to work off my court sentence.  But the prosecutor should get style points for the idea!

We appreciated the tip from the DA's office on the date of the next blessing of the destroyer by a resurrected Jesus Christ who I suppose comes back as a militarist - and a Navy man.  Most of us in the peace movement can't quite swallow the idea of Christ giving his blessing for a $1.5 billion instrument of war but I guess this is what happens when church and state are merged the way they are today in America.

So last night I sent an email around to our list and already the following groups have signed up to be sponsors of the coming April 1 protest at BIW.

• Smilin' Trees Disarmament Farm

• Maine Veterans For Peace

• Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats (COAST)

• Maine Natural Guard

• Maine War Tax Resistance Resource Center

• Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space

• PeaceWorks

We will gather at 9:00 am on Saturday, April 1 on Washington Street in Bath near the corner of Spring Street.  The protest will last until noon.

Help will be needed to promote the event and to set up prior to the start so please let us know if you'd like to assist us. 

We will again be calling for the conversion of BIW to build mass transit systems, solar, wind and tidal power to help us deal with our real problem – climate change. Studies show that many times more jobs would be created at BIW if sustainable energy technologies were built there rather than more warships.  You could call that a win-win for everyone.

And by the way, I did note the symbolism of the 'christening' being set for April 1.  It remains an open question though as to who the fools actually are .....

Bruce 

We Can't Go Backwards

We are really talking here about the future generations - what are we leaving them?

Maybe those wanting to end environmental care are planning to move to Mars on one of those upcoming 'one way' trips being sponsored by the aerospace industry. I know they are looking for some human guinea pigs, or flying monkeys as they used to say, to make that long journey.

It's the Mob Verses the Mafia in America

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson (former Secretary of State Colin Powell's Chief of Staff) says there is a theory circulating in the intelligence community that the CIA asked the British to spy on Trump on behalf of the Democratic Party; the politicization of the intelligence agencies is a reflection of a dying empire.

This one is a must watch.  Wilkerson is baring his soul this time.  

Also read this mainstream news story reporting that Bill Binney, a 36-year veteran of the National Security Agency who resigned in protest from the organization in 2001, also makes the case that Trump is "absolutely right" to claim he was wiretapped and monitored.  See the article here

I am not defending Trump but rather showing that the CIA intell program has everyone under surveillance and they are using what they gather to take down any person who dares stand for even one second against their agenda of corporate control of the planet.  Trump's apparent crime?  Wanting to have a good relationship with Russia.

Yesterday's other big revelations about CIA monitoring, hacking, cyber warfare, and other nefarious activities can be found here and here

Bruce

Maintaining My Sanity

People often ask me how I maintain my sanity doing the work I do in these very crazy times.

One way is by watching basketball and baseball - even though these sports have been taken over by corporate $$$$ - but that is a subject for another day.

My basketball team is the Washington Wizards (formerly the Baltimore Bullets) - I was born in Maryland.

The Wizards recently made a trade and brought in Bojan Bogdanovic and he has fast become my favorite player on a otherwise often hapless team.  Since his arrival Bogdanovic has saved the team from certain loss several times.

This one is particularly for all of my steady readers from Croatia where Bogdanovic is from.  Enjoy.

Bruce

U.S. Considers First-Strike Attack on North Korea

The publication called Business Insider is carrying a story promoting a US first-strike attack on North Korea.  The article includes a quote from the Wall Street Journal that reads, "An internal White House review of strategy on North Korea includes the possibility of military force or regime change to blunt the country’s nuclear-weapons threat, people familiar with the process said, a prospect that has some U.S. allies in the region on edge."

The BI article also states:

Military action against North Korea wouldn't be pretty. Some number of civilians in South Korea, possibly Japan, and US forces stationed in the Pacific would be likely to die in the undertaking no matter how smoothly things went.

Talk about an understatement.  A US first-strike attack on North Korea would likely escalate quickly into a full bore war that would consume the entire Korean peninsula.  China and even Russia (both have borders with North Korea) could easily be dragged into such a war.

In fact the war, behind the scenes, has really already begun.  The New York Times reports in an article entitled Trump Inherits a Secret Cyberwar Against North Korean Missiles the following:

Three years ago, President Barack Obama ordered Pentagon officials to step up their cyber and electronic strikes against North Korea’s missile program in hopes of sabotaging test launches in their opening seconds.

Soon a large number of the North’s military rockets began to explode, veer off course, disintegrate in midair and plunge into the sea. Advocates of such efforts say they believe that targeted attacks have given American antimissile defenses a new edge and delayed by several years the day when North Korea will be able to threaten American cities with nuclear weapons launched atop intercontinental ballistic missiles.

At this very moment US and South Korean military units are holding their annual war games that practice a decapitating strike on North Korea.  How does the North Korean government know if this time the 'war game' is for real or not?

American peace activist and Korea expert Tim Shorrock notes:

DPRK [North Korea] tests also in response to massive military base structure established by the US in South Korea and remilitarized Japan, all aimed at North Korea. 

Add to all this the current Pentagon deployment of the very controversial THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) 'missile defense' system on board a C-17 cargo plane.



The Korea Times reports:

However, the arrival comes at a highly sensitive time as political turmoil is now escalating ahead of the Constitutional Court's ruling on President Park Geun-hye's impeachment and China's intensifying retaliatory measures against the THAAD system.

Although the government says no political intention was involved regarding the timing of the deployment, some critics say the two countries hastened the move to take advantage of the political and social confusion.

However, the deployment process began even though the necessary administrative steps have yet to be completed, including securing the land for the battery site under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), evaluation of its environmental impact, and basic planning and construction of the base.

Considering these steps, it had been expected that the deployment would be made around June or July. But with the unexpected sudden acquisition of the installation, the battery may be put into operation by April, according to sources.

It is widely believed that the government rushed the process to make the deployment irreversible even if President Park is ousted and a candidate against the battery is elected.

The US by its actions is once again destabilizing the region and justifying increased Pentagon military deployments in and around the Chinese and Russian borders.

The Pentagon does not fear North Korea which has an out-of-date military.  I recall years ago reading one of the aerospace industry publications reporting on a North Korean missile launch at that time.  The US military officials were laughing at North Korea saying they didn't even have the military satellites and ground stations to effectively track their own missile while the US followed it during its full course.  The US though uses North Korea in order to sell the American people and rest of the world on the notion that Washington must do more to 'protect' everyone from the North Korean crazy leadership by building up its forces in the Asia-Pacific region.

North Korea's outdated submarine

 Even Business Insider recognizes this reality when they write in their article:

North Korea has a submarine that can launch nuclear ballistic missiles, which would represent a big risk to US forces as it can sail outside of the range of established missile defenses.

Fortunately, the best submarine hunters in the world sail with the US Navy.

Helicopters would drop special listening buoys, destroyers would use their advanced radars, and US subs would listen for anything unusual in the deep. North Korea's antique submarine would hardly be a match for the combined efforts of the US, South Korea, and Japan.

While the submarine would greatly complicate the operation, it would most likely find itself at the bottom of the ocean before it could do any meaningful damage.

We are living in the most dangerous time in human history.  We can't sit around as bystanders while Washington presses onward with its military pivot to surround Russia and China.  We must speak out, help others understand what is actually going on, and actively protest these offensive plans that could lead to WW III.

One last thought.  North Korea has not attacked anyone.  They are testing missiles - something that the US and its many allies regularly do.  While I oppose all of these systems I do believe it is total hypocrisy for the US to decide which countries may test missiles and which may not.  Does another nation have the right to say that a preemptive first strike attack on the US is appropriate because this country actually does go around the world constantly creating wars and chaos?

Bruce

Alert from Odessa, Ukraine

March 6, 2017  —  It’s been nearly three years since the brutal massacre of 46 mostly young progressives by a neo-Nazi-led mob in the Ukrainian city of Odessa. Government repression and right-wing attacks against Odessans demanding justice for that atrocity have been constant, but now have entered a new and much more dangerous stage.

On Feb. 23, Alexander Kushnarev, the father of one of the young people murdered on May 2, 2014, was arrested by agents of the federal Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). Oleg Zhuchenko, chief prosecutor for the Odessan region, claims Kushnarev had been planning to kidnap and torture a member of the country’s Rada, or parliament.

After Kushnarev was arrested, his home was searched and police claimed they found literature that “promotes national hatred between Ukrainians, Russians and Jews.” According to the online Odessan news site Timer, photos of the literature “show only copies of a memorial book for victims of the May 2 massacre and a pamphlet about the history of Ukrainian nationalism.”

The Rada deputy, Alexei Goncharenko, a member of a parliamentary bloc allied with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, was in fact missing for a short time. But he quickly reappeared and was interviewed on the Ukrainian television channel EspresoTV, stating that his abduction had been staged by law enforcement officers.

Kushnarev may have been selected for a government frame-up because Goncharenko had been at the scene of the 2014 massacre and was photographed standing over the dead body of Kushnarev’s son.
Kushnarev’s arrest may be the opening shot of a wider repression of Odessans who have been demanding an international investigation into the events of May 2, 2014. Since he was taken into custody, the homes of other relatives of the victims of May 2 have been searched by police, including that of Victoria Machulko, president of the Council of Mothers of May 2 and a frequent target of both SBU and Right Sector harassment.

Ominous reports are now surfacing of plans to arrest other relatives and supporters and extract “confessions” of plans to commit violent acts against the government.

Background to the current crisis

In the winter of 2014, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was promoting a trade deal with Russia, while the Rada wanted to orient politically and economically toward the European Union. The EU and the United States both had big stakes in the outcome. 

Yanukovych, who was widely suspected of serious corruption, became the target of peaceful protests that were quickly joined by right-wing paramilitary groups, leading to his violent ouster. Some of the rightists, particularly the neo-Nazi Right Sector, maintain strong ties to the new government. 

Suspicions of a U.S. role in the coup increased after a conversation between Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, became public. The two officials seemed to be discussing how to intervene in the crisis to ensure that their favored opposition figure became the new leader. (1) Nuland had previously bragged that the U.S. had spent some $5 billion supporting “democracy” in Ukraine – funding anti-government NGOs. (2) Nuland also made a big show of showing U.S. support for the protesters by handing out baked goods during the anti-government actions.  

 
(3) The coup appealed to those who consider themselves Ukrainian “nationalists,” many of whom are the political descendants of World War II fighters who alternated between collaborating with and opposing the Nazi occupation of their country. Coup opponents, on the other hand, were largely ethnic Russians, who make up a large part of the population in eastern Ukraine and who remain fiercely anti-Nazi.

Opposition was especially strong in Crimea, the militarily strategic peninsula that had been part of Russia for hundreds of years until 1954, when it was administratively transferred from Soviet Russia to Soviet Ukraine. After the coup, Crimea held a referendum in which voters overwhelmingly decided to rejoin Russia. Unrest also developed in the eastern Dombass region, where anti-coup self-defense forces declared several independent “people’s republics.”

Odessa: The Pearl of the Black Sea

Odessa was a special situation. Ukraine’s third largest city is a major commercial seaport and transportation hub on the Black Sea. It’s also a multi-ethnic cultural center where Ukrainians, Russians and many other ethnic groups live in relative harmony. Although less than a third of the city’s population is ethnic Russian, more than three-quarters speak Russian as their first language and another 15 percent speak Ukrainian and Russian equally. Odessa also has a strong collective memory of the brutal occupation it suffered under Nazi-allied Romanian fascists during WWII. 

All these factors resulted in strong anti-coup sentiments among many Odessans, some of whom began agitating for a change to a “federalist” form of government in which voters could choose their own local governor. At present, governors are appointed by the federal government, now in the hands of authoritarian anti-Russians in bed with neo-Nazis.

The massacre at Kulikovo Pole

In May of 2014, Odessa was hosting a big soccer match. Thousands of fans were pouring into the city. In Ukraine, as in many countries, many soccer fans are political. Some are overtly right-wing.

On May 2 – just three months after the coup – these right-wing fans held a militant nationalist march. They were joined by neo-Nazi activists who steered the crowd toward Kulikovo Pole (“field,” or square), where pro-federalist petitioners had set up a small tent city.

A huge mob of these right-wingers descended on the camp, set fire to the tents and chased the petitioners into the nearby five-story House of Trade Unions, which they then pelted with Molotov cocktails, setting the building ablaze.

At least 46 people died that day in the massacre at Kulikovo square. Some were burned to death, some suffocated from the smoke, others were shot or fatally beaten after jumping from windows to escape the flames. Google “Odessa massacre” and you’ll find scores of cellphone videos of the siege, with the faces of the perpetrators clearly visible, while police officers stand idly by, watching the carnage.

 
And yet, 34 months after this tragedy, not a single person has ever stood trial for taking part in the massacre.

Almost immediately, relatives, friends and supporters of the murdered formed the Council of Mothers of May 2 and demanded an international investigation. Several bodies, including the prestigious European Council, tried to investigate, but each effort was blocked by the Ukrainian government’s refusal to cooperate.

Every week since the massacre, Council members and supporters gather in front of the House of Trade Unions to lay flowers, say prayers and remember their dead. And almost every week local members of Right Sector show up to harass the relatives, almost all of them women and old men, sometimes physically attacking them. 

 Continuing pressure on the Council of Mothers

The following are just some examples of what has been happening:

• In the spring of 2016, the Council of Mothers called for a large second anniversary commemoration of the massacre. The fascist organizations demanded the Odessan city government ban the memorial and threatened mass violence if it did not. Meanwhile, the SBU announced that a cache of explosives had been found in Odessa, supposedly linked to anti-coup activists. Mothers’ Council President Victoria Machulko, whose apartment had already been raided by the SBU, was ordered to report for questioning at 8 am the day of the planned memorial and was detained until 10 that evening, forcing her to miss the memorial. Odessa authorities also announced they had received information about a bomb threat at Kulikovo and had closed the square – until midnight on May 2. Despite the threats and repression, some 2,000 to 3,000 Odessans turned out for the May 2 memorial, joined by international observers from a dozen countries, including the United States. (4)
• June 7, 2016: Nationalists carried out a siege of the Odessa Court of Appeals, barricading the courtroom and threatening to set fire to the building and kill the judges hearing the case of Yevgeny Mefёdova, a progressive held in prison since the massacre of May 2. None of the nationalists were arrested.
• July 13: representatives of the Polish Senate, specialists in human rights, were in Odessa to meet with witnesses of the massacre. Nationalists physically blocked the representatives’ hotel entrance.
• Oct. 9: During the weekly memorial at Kulikovo square, nationalists tried to grab a flag of Odessa held by a 79-year-old woman, causing her to fall and break her arm.
• Oct. 22: Right-wing activists interrupted a film showing held in commemoration of those who died on May 2, causing it to be cancelled.
• Dec. 8: Neo-Nazis disrupted the concert of Russian actress, poet, well-known author and performer Svetlana Kopylova.
• Sergey Sternenko, leader of the Right Sector in Odessa (https://www.facebook.com/sternenko), has carried out a campaign demanding that Professor Elena Radzihovskaya be fired from her job at Odessa University, claiming she is guilty of “anti-Ukrainian” activities. The professor’s son Andrey Brazhevskiy was one of those murdered at the House of Trade Unions.
• Sternenko has led a similar campaign calling for the dismissal of Aleksander Butuk, a blind associate professor at Odessa Polytechnical University. Professor Butuk’s ”crime” was that he was inside the House of Trade Unions but managed to survive the fire and participate in the weekly commemorative vigils.

Despite this pressure from the government and neo-Nazis, the Council of Mothers of May 2 has continued to hold their memorials every week at Kulikovo square. As long as they are able to be active and public, Odessa remains a critical outpost of resistance to fascism in Ukraine.
That resistance is now under the most severe attack since 2014. An immediate response is needed!

The Odessa Solidarity Campaign is calling for:
(1)   the immediate release of Alexander Kushnarev,
(2)   the dropping of all charges against him and
(3)   an immediate end to all government and right-wing harassment of members and supporters of the Council of Mothers of May 2. 

You can help by contacting Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Valeriy Chaly and raising the above demands. 

Phone: (202) 349 2963. (From outside the U.S.: + 1 (202) 349 2963)
Fax: (202) 333-0817. (From outside the US.: +1 (202) 333-0817)
Email: emb_us@mfa.gov.ua

This statement was issued March 6, 2017, by the Odessa Solidarity Campaign

Email: contact@odessasolidaritycampaign.org  –  Web: www.odessasolidaritycampaign.org

The Odessa Solidarity Campaign was founded in May 2016 by the United National Antiwar Coalition after UNAC sponsored a delegation of U.S. human rights activists to attend the second memorial of the Odessa massacre held at Kulikovo square on May 2, 2016.

Provoking World War III

Imagine if the Russians where setting up bases in Canada or Mexico....

The US-NATO are storing military hardware in Poland, Norway, Romania and in Latvia -- all along the Russian border.  Who is provoking whom?

Can't we see that the whole 'Russian hacking story' is part of a mind game that Washington is running to distract the public from what the Pentagon is doing 'pivoting' its offensive military to encircle Russia and China?

We are being brainwashed to fear Russia that then justifies the offensive US moves to Russia's border.

Washington is playing with fire - radioactive fire!

Bruce

Pivot Toward War: 25th Annual Space Organizing Conference

Pivot Toward War: US Missile Defense & the Weaponization of Space
25th Annual Space Organizing Conference & Protest
April 7-9
Huntsville, Alabama

Join us for the Global Network’s 25th anniversary Space Organizing Conference and Protest at the home of Redstone Arsenal and the Space & Missile Defense Command, also known as the ‘Pentagon of the South’.

The effort by the Trump administration to develop and deploy the next generation of Star Wars weapons will increase global instability and cost hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars. The US Space Command has long maintained its mission is to create the technologies to ‘control and dominate’ space and the Earth below – ultimately on behalf of corporate interests.

This conference will allow citizens to learn more about these important issues and become involved in the growing international movement to keep space for peace.

Huntsville is the headquarters of the Space Command’s directorate for ‘missile defense’. Huntsville is also the manufacturing site for the PAC-3, SM-3 missile defense (MD) systems while the controversial THAAD is built in a nearby community.

Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty because they are destabilizing and give one side an advantage. George W. Bush pulled the US out of the ABM Treaty in 2001 and since that time the US MD program has been on steroids.

Speakers (List now in formation)

• Reece Chenault (Nat'l Coordinator, U.S. Labor Against the War, Kentucky)
• Judy Collins (Vine & Fig Tree, Alabama)
• Bruce Gagnon (Global Network Coordinator, Maine)
• Dr. Shreedhar Gautam (President, Global Network Chapter Kathmandu, Nepal)
• Subrata Ghoshroy (Program in Science, Technology, and Society, MIT)
• William Griffin (Veterans For Peace, Georgia)
• Huntsville Feminist Chorus (Alabama)
• Joy Johnson (Green Party of Madison County, Alabama)
• Tarak Kauff (Veterans For Peace, New York)
• Hyun Lee (Task Force to Stop THAAD in Korea & Militarism in Asia & the Pacific, New York)
• Tiara Rose Naputi (Chamorro diaspora from Guam, Assistant Professor, Dept of Communication, University of Colorado)
• Agneta Norberg (Swedish Peace Council, Stockholm)
• Yasuo Ogata (Co-chair World Conference against A & H Bombs and former Member of Parliament, Upper House, Japan)
• Lindis Percy (Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases, England)
• J. Narayana Rao (Global Network board member, India)
• Mary Beth Sullivan (PeaceWorks, Maine)
• David Swanson (World Beyond War, Virginia)
• Regis Tremblay (Filmmaker, Maine)
• Dave Webb (Global Network Board Convener & Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, UK)
• Lynda Williams (Physics faculty, Santa Rosa Junior College, California)
• Col. Ann Wright (US Army retired, diplomat) * Keynote speaker

Fees

Registration for the conference will be on a sliding scale between $25-$75 (pay what you can best afford). Lunch and supper on April 8 are included in your registration fee. See Conference brochure at http://www.space4peace.org/actions/GN%202017%20Conference%20Brochure.pdf

Housing

We have reserved a block of rooms at the Springhill Suites Hotel (745 Constellation Place Dr) in downtown Huntsville for $99 per night (up to 6 persons per room - Contact us for details on reserving hotel rooms). The hotel has an airport shuttle from the Huntsville airport. The Lowe Mill meeting location is five minutes from the hotel. Limited home hospitality will also be available on a first come, first served basis.

Sponsors

• Gainesville Iguana (Florida)
• Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
• Greater Brunswick (Maine) PeaceWorks
• Green Party of Madison County (Alabama)
• Maine Natural Guard
• Maine Veterans For Peace, Chapter 1
• Nashville (TN) Greenlands
• North Alabama Peace Network
• Selma (Alabama) Center for Nonviolence, Truth and Reconciliation
• Task Force to Stop THAAD in Korea & Militarism in Asia & the Pacific
• United National Antiwar Committee
• US Peace Council
• Veterans For Peace Chapter 99, Asheville (NC)
• Veterans For Peace, Savannah (Georgia) Chapter 170
• Veterans For Peace National
• WorldBeyondWar.org

Sunday Song