Senior French Intel: Head of Donetsk, Zakharchenko, Was Assassinated by Ukraine Intelligence, with Support from US, UK

Like many in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Alexander Zakharchenko came out of the coal mines to defend the people in 2014 soon after the US sponsored coup in Ukraine that installed a puppet government controlled by Washington. The first thing the 'new Ukrainian government' did was to ban the speaking of Russian in the country which outraged the people (especially those living in the eastern side of the nation near the Russian border). The people held peaceful rallies and gathered signatures for a referendum saying they wanted a 'federated' Ukraine which meant they would be somewhat independent from Kiev (and Washington). The US-Kiev response was to have Nazis (based in western Ukraine) attack them with weapons and training from the US Army Special Forces so the people formed a militia to defend their families. Zakharchenko became their leader and they loved him.

Earlier this year, noted French counter-terrorism and personal security expert Captain Paul Barril was invited to visit the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). The intention of the planned visit was to consult with the DPR’s Prime-Minister, Alexander Zakharchenko, on issues of protection and personal security. However, before the two men could meet, Mr Zakharchenko was assassinated with a bomb in the Separ cafe in Donetsk.

In this interview Capt. Barril makes some shocking revelations about his murder (translated from the French):

INTERVIEWER: Many thanks, Captain Barril for this opportunity. Could you first tell us a few words about your important public service for the French Republic? You were one of the co-founders of GIGN (the elite counter-terrorism unit of the French National Gendarmerie)?

CAPTAIN BARRIL: Yes indeed, way back in the past, at the very beginning of it’s activity in the 1980s.

INT: You also worked for some French Presidents?

CB: Yes, I worked for President Giscard d’Estaing and President Mitterrand.

INT: This September you were going to meet Alexander Zakharchenko, the leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic, to share certain information with his protection service. Do you know (or have any idea) who killed him?!

Alexander Zakharchenko

CB: I know who killed Alexander Zakharchenko in Donetsk. This was done by the 3rd Special Operations Regiment of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine. Training was provided by US instructors at the Khmelnitsky Training Centre, one of their bases in Ukraine (see video above).

It is important to understand the context. Donbass is a very sensitive zone, where NATO in engaged in a proxy war against Russia. Ukraine serves as a NATO stooge, but Donetsk is on Russia’s side. The Head of the DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic) Alexander Zakharchenko was pro-Moscow and Putin’s close supporter. You need to know that since 2014 various western intelligence services have been operating in Donbass. In April 2014 the CIA chief John Brennan came to Kiev using a fictitious name to give instructions (for Euromaidan). And now they have CIA instructors over there, Canadians too. They undertake specific action to crush the Donetsk Republic.

INT: Thus, you claim, Canadians, Americans and British are connected with the Ukrainian secret services – with the SBU & Ukraine’s Military Intelligence?

CB: All forces that oppose Russia are now present in Ukraine. Actually, by committing the murder of the Donetsk leader they struck a painful blow to Russia, albeit not directly.

INT: How did they commit this murder?

CB: The murder was undertaken in the “Separ” cafe which is in a very well protected zone in the centre of Donetsk. They hid a tiny smart bomb above the entrance in the lobby, undetected by sniffer dogs. When the leader walked in, the bomb was activated from a long distance and exploded. The blast killed Alexander Zakharchenko and his bodyguard, critically injured a lady and left his deputy, Alexander Tashkent (who was a second target), badly burnt and shell-shocked. The bomb was so “smart” and directional, these glasses at the bar remained intact.

INT: British and Americans, as a rule, use bombs to remove “objectionable” people?

CB: In recent history, during the war in Chechnya US instructors trained terrorists to mount explosives in lamp-post bases. They used the power supply network as an electro-detonator. When the Russian Army and tanks entered the road, the terrorists pushed the button. The explosions would strike Russian equipment and personnel within the radius of a few meters. That caught the Russians off-guard, because those hidden bombs are just not in Russia’s military “DNA”. But they are very much so in America’s.

The CIA and Green Berets have the world’s most advanced booby traps, and the one in the “Separ” restaurant is a “signature” British or American job.

Even Gaddafi’s explosives’ specialists were trained and armed by former CIA operatives. They helped them to disguise booby traps as lamps, alarm clocks, vases, radios and even ashtrays. So, those who installed the bomb in Donetsk were US-trained, these smart bombs are their signature.

Americans and Brits favour bombs when they want to kill somebody. Obviously, in this case, they also used a local mole who helped the group which actually set the booby trap. So, while France is working within the Normandy Four contact group trying to bring about an end to the civil war in Ukraine, the Anglo-American Deep State foments a new war there.

INT: Can you provide more details? Did you get this intel from your sources at DGSE (the French external intelligence agency)?

CB: Details are secret, I have said all that I can. But I am still going to Donetsk, where I’ll meet the new Head of the Republic, Mr. Denis Pushilin. We will share all information with Denis Pushilin.

INT: Thank you very much for inviting us, Captain Barril.

Sunday song

"The U.S. is addicted to war"

“Liberal hegemony is basically where the U.S. tries to remake the world in its own image,” said John J. Mearsheimer, author of the new book, “The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International Realities.” 

Mearsheimer, a political science professor and co-director of the University of Chicago’s Program on International Security Policy, said liberal hegemony involves three tasks: spreading liberal democracy around the world; getting other nations “hooked” on capitalism by creating an open, international economy; and including countries in international institutions that the U.S. has played a key role in creating.

“So as we begin to push towards Russia and China and think about regime change, which is what liberal hegemony is all about, you get a realist backlash from countries like Russia and China,” Mearsheimer continued. “And that’s when you get something like the Ukrainian crisis.”

Tell Congress to say NO to Space-Based Weapons

Members of Congress are currently resurrecting unworkable, dangerous, and costly proposals to build space-based weapons. If they succeed, the world will be less safe. Other countries will likely build their own space weapons, spurring an arms race in space that would pose a significant threat to satellites that the world relies on for communication, navigation, environmental monitoring, and a host of global needs.

Union of Concerned Scientists helped stop this dangerous idea back in the 80's, and we can do it again now--but we need your help! Urge your members of Congress to oppose the development and deployment of space-based missile defense and instead to advocate for policies that reduce the threat posed by nuclear weapons through nuclear arms control and other sensible, achievable risk reduction measures.

Take Action: Please share this video so that more can see what is happening.  You can sign the UCS petition to Congress here

Courts become an arm to legitimate corporate power

Henry Giroux says Professor Christine Blasey Ford’s sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh betrays the kind of “anti-women and anti-just policies” that the fascistic far-right want to usher in. 

Giroux is an American and Canadian scholar and cultural critic. One of the founding theorists of critical pedagogy in the United States, he is best known for his pioneering work in public pedagogy, cultural studies, youth studies, higher education, media studies, and critical theory. In 2002 Routledge named Giroux as one of the top fifty educational thinkers of the modern period.

If you just submit.....

It is a well-worn strategy.

Offer what you don't intend to deliver.

Sign treaties that you intend to ignore.

Make promises with your fingers crossed.

Don't care if your word means nothing.

This is the great American way.

The Native people know the score very well.

They've heard it all before.

The Great White Father in Washington speaks with a forked tongue.

Bruce

Now it is China's turn.....

Who will next be accused of interfering in US elections? 

How about American mega-corporations that buy our politicians?  They are the ones interfering in our elections....

It's the mob versus the mafia.  They win either way.

Need a restart button here in the USA.

And a non-violent revolution. 

The more Trump talks at these international events - the more Washington becomes the laughing stock of the world.

Protests continue on Jeju Island

 

Protests grow on Jeju Island, South Korea as the US brings 'Fleet Review' to the island - a massive display of Naval power to remind China and Russia that the US 'owns the Pacific' (and the rest of the world). Call it the 'arrogance review'. This protest was at the Jeju airport.  Really good place to hold it.

No matter where Mr. Big goes today with his military arm of corporate globalization the public is opposing it.  The people know their lands, their environment, their safety and their sanity will be endangered by the US military.

Heating up in Syria - Israel clearly responsible for Russian plane shoot down

“Today’s data no longer suggests, but clearly proves that the blame for the tragedy with the Russian Il-20 aircraft lies entirely with the Israeli air force and with those who authorized this kind of activity,” military spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov stated during the press briefing.

What do you think about this?

Tyson says, "Just because it came out of Trump's mouth doesn't mean it's a bad idea". 

He doesn't want to alienate any of his funders - from either party.

Watch how he plays self-important when asked the question about the Pentagon's X-37 (secret military unmanned space plane) that has shown it can stay in orbit for an entire year and then return to Earth. Many believe it is part of US first-strike attack planning.

He fails miserably when he refused to discuss the grave current need for a new space weapons treaty - Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS) which the US and Israel have been blocking at the United Nations for at least the last 25 years.

But then he goes on and essentially makes the case that war in space is insane but claims, "I don't have a horse in that race." Truth is that if war in space happens his interest in the exploration of space would ground to a halt as the increased space junk would make it virtually impossible to get anymore space launches thru the orbiting field of debris. Just saying......

See part two of this interview here where he declares his support for some former Nazis and some wars....

Bruce

Trump's U.N. speech

I listened to Trump's speech at the United Nations today.  It was a total flop.

He threatened much of the world with sanctions, trade wars, the usual American 'exceptionalism' arrogance and much more.

He got no applause until the very end and it was with no real emotion - just a quick obligatory clap.

He trashed various United Nations institutions and the World Court.  He slammed Iran, Syria and Venezuela in harsh terms.  He sang the praises in particular of Israel and the head chopping monarchy of Saudi Arabia claiming they are making big reforms.

"Thanks to the United States military, and our partnership with many of your nations, I'm pleased to report that the bloodthirsty killers known as ISIS have been driven" from Iraq and Syria, Trump claimed.

The truth is that Washington (along with Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar) created ISIS and it occupies Idlib, Syria today on behalf of the 'Coalition of the Killing'.

Early on in his speech Trump made this outlandish claim, "In less than two years my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country."

The response from the audience?  They laughed.

The cameras now and then panned the General Assembly and I saw people looking at each other in disbelief and shaking their heads at his ridiculous words.

It's quite apparent that Trump and his pirate foreign policy crew of Nikki Haley, John Bolton and Mike Pompeo are steering our country over the cliff and into the collapse of the US imperial project.  It will be a better day for the planet when the people and nations of Earth stop following the US in any capacity.

The US is the epitome of violence, misdirection, and self-worship.  Sadly Trump in some ways is the perfect manifestation of a nation that is engulfed in materialism, endless war and celebrity culture with no real understanding of our own history - let alone that of any other nation.

Trump perfectly represents the decline and fall.  He didn't cause all of our problems - both political parties have shared in creating this collapse.  But Trump's inability for honest reflection and truth speaking ensure that this national crash will only accelerate.

His Make American Great Again slogan is all public relations.   We really need a slogan that reads:  Make America Wake Up but I am afraid it is getting too late.

Bruce

Keep Space for Peace Week events list forming

October 6-13, 2018

Keep Space for Peace Week

International Week of Protest to

Stop the Militarization of Space


No Space Force

No Missile Defense

Close U.S./NATO Bases Worldwide

Stop Drones Surveillance & Killing

End Privatization of Foreign/Military Policy

Convert the Military Industrial Complex

Deal with climate change and global poverty

List in formation

• Andover, Massachusetts (Oct 11) Merrimack Valley People for Peace will dedicate its weekly Thursday morning vigil at Raytheon (where they build ‘missile defense’ radars) to Keep Space for Peace. 350 Lowell St. (Rte 133) 7AM to 8AM. btquirk@verizon.net
  

•  Asheville, North Carolina (Oct 6-13) Ken Jones (VFP) will make the poster image of Trump Vader with the No Space Force message into a sandwich board and walk through downtown Asheville for an hour each day during Keep Space for Peace Week. Will pass out informational flyers and talk with whomever is moved to engage.         kwjj1949@gmail.com
• Augusta, Maine (Oct 5) Weekly Women in Black Peace Vigil - 12:30 to 1:00 PM - Corner of Winthrop and State outside of Lithgow Public Library. rleisnerrfm@yahoo.com
• Bath Iron Works, Maine (Oct 6) Vigil across from administration building on Washington Street (Navy Aegis destroyers outfitted with “missile defense” systems built at BIW) 11:30-12:30 am   Smilin’ Trees Disarmament Farm (207) 763-4062
• Blue Hill, Maine (Oct 12) Peninsula P&J is planning an event in recognition of Keep Space for Peace Week. There will be a vigil on the bridge in Blue Hill on Friday afternoon from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. A member has written an OpEd in support of this that we will send out broadly as soon as it is published.  judy@robbinsandrobbins.com
• Bombay, India (Oct 6-13) Dr. Leo Rebello, World Peace Envoy, and Registered World Citizen, has committed full campaign [6 to 13 Oct] in Bombay Schools, Colleges, public meetings, press conference,  and social media discussion on No Space Force, No Missile Defense, Close U.S./NATO Bases Worldwide, Stop Drones Surveillance & Killing, End Privatization of Foreign/Military Policy, Convert the Military Industrial Complex, Deal with climate change and global poverty Leading to HOLISTIC HEALING & HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT OF HUMANITY. prof.leorebello@gmail.com
• Creech Air Force Base, Indian Springs, Nevada  (Sept 30-Oct 6)  4th Annual ‘Shut Down Creech’ drone resistance mass mobilization. Special Guests coming to Creech: Ray McGovern and Ann Wright. Contact: Toby Blomé:  ratherbenyckeling@comcast.net or Eleanor Levine:  eastbaycodepink@gmail.com
• USAF Croughton, England (Oct 6) No Space Force march & rally at main gate of U.S. satellite communication and joint intelligence base. Space communications, drones, bomber guidance, missile defence and command & control functions.  12-4 pm. Oxfordshire Peace Campaign, oxonpeace@yahoo.co.uk
• El Segundo, California (Oct 7) We will have a public screening of these  GN online videos: (1) Say NO to Space Force and (2)  8-10 minutes each of Star Wars Part 1 and 2.  Our main audience will be from Holy Faith congregation and our Justice & Mercy Commission.  We will open it to the public, in particular to the peace community.  cathydeppela@gmail.com 
• RAF Fylingdales, England (Oct 6) Walk around the US and NATO missile 'defence' radar on the North Yorkshire moors. See www.yorkshirecnd.org.uk  and check with info@yorkshirecnd.org.uk  or phone 01274730795 for details.  

• Karanja, Wardha, India (Oct 9) Space and nuclear issues awareness lectures and interaction at Narayanrao Kale Smruti Model College. Dr. Sanjay P. Dhanwte to co-ordinate. dhanwatesanjay@yahoo.co.in  

• King of Prussia, Pennsylvania (Oct 13) Noon, Outcry Against Trump's Space Force & Protest of the Militarization of Space at Lockheed Martin, 230 Mall Boulevard (Mall & Goddard Boulevards), directly behind the King of Prussia Mall. Large banners, enlarged posters of 'Trump Vader', the earth flag, and ceremony of 'Looking-UP' with songs and readings. Lockheed Martin is the U.S. #1 space warfare contractor, and the world's largest war profiteer. More at www.brandywinepeace.com  or call 484-574-1148.
• Menwith Hill, England (Oct 9) Weekly demonstration at the gates of U.S. NSA/NRO spy base, near Harrogate in North Yorkshire. Theme on Keep Space for Peace and saying NO to Space Force. 6:00 to 7.30 pm. All welcome.  Martin Schweiger at germ.buster@phonecoop.coop

• Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Oct 12) 6:30 PM, Informational Vigil to stop the militarization of space, at the Manfred Olsen Planetarium at UW-Milwaukee,1900 E Kenwood Blvd. Sponsored by Peace Action WI. pamrichard35@gmail.com
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Oct 13) Noon-1 PM, Special Stand for Peace at the (astronaut) James Lovell Museum of Science, 815 N Lovell St, corner of 7th ST & Wells. Sponsored by Peace Action WI.  pamrichard35@gmail.com
• Nagpur, India (Oct 8) Peace in space awareness talk at the Railway Pensioners Office in Nagpur. Mrs. Daizy to coordinate. jnrao193636@gmail.com
• Nagpur, India (Oct 13) Demonstration against Trump's decision to create space force. Mr. Subash Dapurkar to co-ordinate. jnrao193636@gmail.com
• Nainital, Uttarakhand, India (Oct 6) Space and nuclear issues awareness lectures and interaction at PNG Government Post Graduate College.  Prof. Anumita Agarwal to co-ordinate. anumitaddn@rediffmail.com
• Naval Radio Transmitter Facility (NRTF) Niscemi, Sicily (Oct 13 )The M.U.O.S. (Mobile User Objective System) is a U.S. Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station. A constellation of five satellites covers the whole world, whereas ground communication is made possible by four stations, one of which is located in Niscemi. Sicilians are worried about consequences of the installation on: human health, the ecosystem, the quality of agricultural production, right to mobility and to the development of territory, right to peace and security of our homeland and of its inhabitants.  Protest event to be organized by No MUOS from 3-6 pm  sadhusan@virgilio.it
• New York City, New York (Oct 7) On October 7, 2001, the U.S. launched a military strike against Afghanistan. Now 17 years later, tens of thousands are dead, millions displaced, and more than $2,400 billion spent, the longest war in U.S. history shows no sign of ending. Assemble at noon on Public Library steps on Fifth Avenue for a vigil followed by a solemn march to the Times Square military recruiting station for a demonstration against endless wars. Sponsors include: NYC War Resisters League, Catholic Worker/New York City, Peace Action New York State, Granny Peace Brigade, NY Metro Raging Grannies, Brooklyn For Peace, World Can't Wait, Uptown Progressive Action, Kairos Community, Pax Christi Metro New York, Code Pink/NYC. For more info: nycWRL@nycwarresisters.org  or call 718-768-7306.
• Mercury & Indian Springs, NV (Oct 8) Indigenous Peoples Day--formerly "Columbus Day". Demonstrations at Nevada National Security Site (formerly Nevada Test Site) and Creech AFB. 8am-2pm. An interfaith witness for peace and justice. Nevada Desert Experience.  rkmlai@nevadadesertexperience.org  
• Olympia, Washington (Oct 5) Raging Grannies will perform for Artswalk at the Rachel Corrie mural downtown and perform one song about peace in space along with songs about other issues. I will have my star wars weaponry with me and fire at will. Holly Gwinn Graham tohollygg@comcast.net
• Palermo, Sicily (Oct 13) Flash mob at the US consulate that is located in via Vaccarini 1 from 3-6 pm sadhusan@virgilio.it 
• Santa Rosa Junior College, California (Oct 10) Public educational event on space issues by Physics teacher Lynda Williams entitled ‘Space Force: A Force for Good or Evil?’  5:00 pm Room 1786, Shuhaw Building  lyndalovon@gmail.com
• Sunnyvale, California (Oct 12) Stop the Militarization of Space. As the world's largest arms seller, Lockheed Martin profits from war making, misery, death and destruction. Vigil from noon to 1:00 pm at N. Mathilda Ave. and W. Java Drive. Short talks by John LaForge (Nukewatch) and Marion Küpker (German anti-nuclear activist). Sponsored by the Pacific Life Community, local Catholic Workers, Vets for Peace and Code Pink.  For info call Susan at 650-649-8690. 
• Tucson, Arizona (Oct 9) Peace vigil at Davis-Monthan AFB at 7:00 - 8:00 a.m.  Air National Guard troops at Davis-Monthan AFB are remotely piloting UAV's (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) that are firing guided bombs and missiles and killing more civilians than targeted "terrorists" in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and possibly more sovereign nations.  A-10 warplanes that train out of Davis-Monthan AFB are responsible for the vast majority of radioactive ammunition - estimated at well over 400 tons - used in Iraq since 1991. Park at recreation field parking lot at N-W corner of Craycroft & Golf Links with access from Craycroft.  Signs provided, or bring your own!  More info: 323-8697.
• Vandenberg AFB, California (Oct 3) Keep Space for Peace vigil at space warfare base at the Main Gate from 3:45 pm to 4:45 pm.  For information contact Dennis Apel at 805-343-6322. 
• Washington DC (Oct 9) The Pentagon: Tuesday at 7-8 AM. Will Hold Keep Space for Peace and No Weapons in Space signs at weekly Dorothy Day Catholic Worker Peace Vigil.  artlaffin@hotmail.com 
• Washington DC (Oct 12) The White House: Friday at 12 Noon –1:00 PM. Will Hold Keep Space for Peace and No Weapons in Space signs at weekly Dorothy Day Catholic Worker Peace Vigil.  artlaffin@hotmail.com  
  

Space Week Co-Sponsor: Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom, U.S. Section

Resources:

·       Find our full-size space week poster here

·       Space videos for viewing and sharing available here  

·       Link to a flyer that can be handed out during space week here

Sample Letter to Editor:

Dear Editor,

We must stop Trump’s ‘Space Force’ proposal which is provocative and highly expensive.  How about instead we ensure Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are fully funded and begin to deal with our real problem – climate change?  We don’t need an arms race in space.

Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
(207) 443-9502
http://www.space4peace.org 

In Alabama today....

A UN investigation shows Alabama has the worst poverty levels in the developed world. And it's the black rural residents suffering the most, including access to basic sanitation.

Sunday song

New Star Wars film by Karl Grossman

This "Enviro Close-Up with Karl Grossman"  spotlights how if Trump gets his way on formation of a U.S. Space Force, the heavens would become a war zone. Inevitably, there would be military conflict in space.

The Space Force scheme flies in the face of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 that designates space as the global commons to be used for peaceful purposes. Space weaponry would be nuclear-powered—as Reagan's “Star Wars” scheme was to be, with nuclear reactors and plutonium systems on orbiting battle platforms providing the power for hyper velocity guns, particle beams and laser weapons.

Amid the many horrible things being done by the Trump administration, turning the heavens into a war zone would be the most terribly destructive.

The coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Bruce Gagnon, is featured in the program.

Stop pushing war with Iran

At a public event in Washington, DC, CodePink’s Medea Benjamin confronted Brian Hook, the head of Trump’s Iran Action Group, over the US withdrawal from the JCPOA and re-imposing crippling sanctions on the Iranian people. 

Benjamin joins Real News to discuss her action, which went viral online.

Mixed news - mixed reviews

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un wave to the crowd during a parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, on September 18, 2018.

• Congratulations to leaders of North and South Korea for burying the hatchet and joining hands and hearts in their great effort to bring peace and reunification to the Korean peninsula.  They are making peace with or without the USA. It's about time people around the globe figured out they need to do it on their own. Washington is not interested in peace - weapons are America's #1 industrial export product.  When weapons are your #1 industrial export product, what is your global marketing strategy for that product line?  Next on the agenda is to close the many US military bases in Korea.  The US is not needed to protect anyone.  Actually we need to protect people and nations from the US.

• President Trump has authorized new, classified orders for the Pentagon’s cyberwarriors to conduct offensive attacks against adversaries more freely and frequently, the White House said on Thursday. “Our hands are not as tied as they were in the Obama administration,” John R. Bolton, the national security adviser, told reporters in announcing a new cyberstrategy. Mr. Bolton rewrote a draft of the strategy after joining the administration in April. Many of his remarks on Thursday focused on a secret order — which Mr. Trump signed in August but which has never been publicly described — that appears to give far more latitude for the newly elevated United States Cyber Command to act with minimal consultation from a number of other government agencies.

• According to data from the US Treasury Department, China made a massive sale of its US $7.7 billion worth of US Treasury bonds. Beijing has thus reduced its investment in US government debt to a six-month low of $1.171 trillion. Meanwhile, China remains the leader on the list of top US lenders. Japan is in second place, with $1.03 trillion. Ireland ranks third, with bonds worth $300 billion. Previously, Russia sold about 85% of the US Treasury securities it owned and increased its gold reserves to a record level. In April and May this year, Moscow reduced assets in US Treasury securities from $96 billion to $15 billion. The list of the 33 largest holders of public debt published by the US Treasury Department no longer includes Russia.

• Israel has granted a U.S. company the first license to explore for oil and gas in the occupied Golan Heights. A local subsidiary of the New York-listed company Genie Energy — which is advised by former vice president Dick Cheney and whose shareholders include Jacob Rothschild and Rupert Murdoch — will now have exclusive rights to a 153-square mile radius in the southern part of the Golan Heights. That geographic location will likely prove controversial. Israel seized the Golan Heights in the Six-Day War in 1967 and annexed the territory in 1981. 

• Creating a Space Force as a separate military service, as proposed by President Donald Trump, would cost an estimated $12.9 billion in its first five years, according to a detailed Air Force plan for how to go about it. This is the first publicly available cost estimate. When the White House announced plans to establish a Space Force in August, Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan declined to give a figure but said it would be in "the billions." Creation of Space Force as a separate military service will require congressional action. The administration is expected to submit proposed legislation early next year authorizing the establishment of a Space Force.

• Celebrity astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has a new book "Accessory to War". Tyson, who is director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, weighs in on the privatization of space exploration, Trump's 'Space Force' proposal and more. He writes, "I don't value judge it. It's hard to not value judge something like this, but I've worked hard to not value judge it. For me, compiling this book, looking at the role that science in general and astrophysics in particular has played in aiding the warfighter, I stepped aside and I said, 'I will not pass judgment on this.' On President Trump's call to create a Space Force Tyson says, "I don't have a horse in that race. I don't have a fundamental problem with it, and just because it came out of Trump's mouth doesn't make it crazy."

It's what we eat......

Art Milholland (Maryland) gave me this film to watch some time ago.  I watched it and was blown away.  It's a brilliant film and a courageous one at that.

Come to find out animal agriculture is the biggest polluter on our Mother Earth.  Even more than fossil fuel use.  The filmmaker goes around and tries to get major environmental groups to acknowledge this point but they consistently refuse.  Why?

In the end how we eat has more to do with 'saving the Earth' than anything else.

We all have the power to change.

Thanks Art for the education and your persistence.

Bruce

Linking U.S. and Korean activists

US Labor Against the War (USLAW) recently traveled to South Korea on two different occasions to build solidarity with workers. Some members even attended the soccer match between North Korean workers and South Korean workers.

Reece Chenault, the organizer of the trips, talks about his experience in South Korea as well as the current situation with US workers in the military industrial complex.

Viddeo by Will Griffin at The Peace Report

Trailer: War and Peace in Vietnam, As Told By Those Who Lived It

"Voices From The Other Side - War and Peace in Vietnam as Told By Those Who Lived It" will delve into the important untold stories of the U.S. war in Vietnam from the perspective of the American G.I.'s, the Viet Cong, and the North Vietnamese Army (NVA).

Our short "IGG" promo video can touch only briefly on a handful of topics and issues involved. This film will bring you never before seen viewpoints from all sides of the war and its lasting aftermath in a way no other documentary has to date.

"Voices From The Other Side" is beginning to create buzz and energy in the organizational circles of Veterans For Peace and Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), among several other domestic and international anti-war and human rights groups.

The opportunity to tell the ground level story of the war in Vietnam is finally here.

You can help Maine filmmaker Eric Herter (Vietnam vet) complete this story by donating here.

Russian media on the shootdown over Syria

A Russian military spokesman called Israel's attack on Syria, and resulting shoot down of a Russian plane, "deliberate...provocative...hostile".

I'd agree.

Get a look in this video how one Russian media handles the story.

The US-NATO war for regime change in Russia is full on.

Will it worsen as the arrogant western corporate oligarchs demand full control of Russia and China?  It's a uni-polar world they want.  They are willing to kill to get it.  They will kill all of us in a minute if they have to.

Russia and China (and many more like Iran and Venezuela) refuse to be taken down.  The Washington push-back is relentless.  And here in the US much of the 'left' has been neutralized by the Democratic Party recycled red-baiting offensive they are currently waging.  Many 'liberals' shudder at the thought of speaking out against the insane US-NATO policy toward Russia. They say, "We just have to get the Republicans out of power."

As if none of this was going on during Obama.  Give me a fucking break.

Israel refuses to comment.  No apology, nor of course any admission of responsibility.  Israel declares the right to do what it wishes no matter the violations of international law.

Washington's cabal are all pirates - in the classic sense - except this time they wear cowboy hats.  They are the mob.  Our last election that got us Trumped was the 'mob versus the mafia'.

I searched the New York Times this morning for reporting on the story.  Found nothing. Washington Post had a story which I quoted from in the blog post further below this one.  I went to Sputnik and found much more information and the World Wide Socialist Web had a story.  I saw one person last night commenting on Fazebook about CNN covering the story.  I wouldn't know - I never turn the TV on anymore.

So I keep spreading these stories from other media besides that controlled by the United States or its western minions.  Now and then someone opens their eyes and begins to see.....

We need a miracle - or the people to stand up.  We'll see which comes first.

Bruce

What next in Syria?

John Bolton warns of joint action in Syria, calling on the UK and France to join. Talk of regime change. The excuse: weapons of mass destruction.

Sounds familiar?

Russian plane shot down over Syria

The Washington Post reports today:

Russia’s Defense Ministry blamed Israel on Tuesday for the loss of an aircraft over Syria’s Mediterranean coast, saying it was downed after Israeli pilots used it as cover during an attack.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Israel gave Russia only a minute’s warning before launching the attack. “Russia reserves the right to take appropriate measures against hostile actions by Israel,” a ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, told reporters. He said that “the Ilyushin-20, its reflective surface being far greater than that of an F-16, was downed by a missile launched with the S-200 system.”

Moscow also reported that the French Navy frigate FS Auvergne had fired missiles from the Mediterranean at the same time as the Israeli F-16 strikes.

Latakia, Syria’s major port city came under a missile attack on Monday, apparently downing a Russian military plane with 14 military personnel aboard.

Syrian sources claimed that the country’s air defense systems brought down a number of the missiles, which they said had been fired by Israel. Russian sources attributed the attacks to four F-16 fighter jets that had apparently flown over Lebanon and the Mediterranean to attack the port city.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that it had summoned Israeli Ambassador to Russia Gary Koren over the crash of Russian Il-20 military aircraft in Syria.

Sputnik reports:

The Il-20 aircraft has been [accidentally] downed by Syrian military forces after Israel jets put it under attack off the Syrian coast, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov stated. According to the spokesman, the Israeli jets deliberately created a dangerous situation in Latakia. He stressed that Israel's aviation control systems could not but notice the Russian aircraft as it was landing.

"Israel did not warn the command of the Russian troops in Syria about the planned operation. We received a notification via a hotline less than a minute before the strike, which did not allow the Russian aircraft to be directed to a safe zone," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.

The strikes came within hours of Russia and Turkey announcing a joint agreement to forestall a Russian-backed government offensive in the northwestern province of Idlib that had threatened to trigger a major Western intervention and a potential confrontation between the world’s two major nuclear powers, the US and Russia.

It's becoming clear that the US-France-Israel-Saudi Arabia are not at all happy that Russia and Turkey have come to an agreement to attempt to use peaceful measures in Idlib.  The US has been threatening for the past week that any Russian-Syrian attacks on ISIS terrorists (supported by US-Israel-Saudi Arabia) in Idlib would draw a significant US-Israeli response.

The US has essentially lost the war in Syria and its attempt to over throw President Bashar al-Assad’s government has failed.  In spite of that Washington, Paris and Tel Aviv continue their illegal and indiscriminate attacks on Syria.

The shooting down of the Russian plane is further evidence that an expanded war could easily be triggered by such a spark. 

Understanding the gas wars.....

Russia and the West are facing the worst crisis since the Cold War. According to US Special Envoy Amos Hochstein, Washington’s goal is to reduce Russia’s gas market share in Eastern Europe by 20% by 2020. Russia cannot be allowed to build a gas pipeline that would bypass Ukraine, as it would 'pose a threat to Europe’s energy security'.

The US fracked gas industry views this conflict (created by Washington) as a big chance to sell its more expensive product to Europe but must first drive Russia out of the market.

War could result.

Very important documentary.

A routine press conference of the US energy secretary (former Texas governor Rick Perry) and the Russian energy minister has surprisingly turned into a lecture on Washington’s superiority and exceptionalism as the US official faced a question on sanctions.

U.S. is funding terrorists in Syria....

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) represents the second district in her state as their congressperson in Washington.  She's one of the few in Congress talking about this crucial issue.

She served in a field medical unit of the Hawaii Army National Guard in a combat zone in Iraq from 2004 to 2005 and was deployed to Kuwait from 2008 to 2009.

Outside of her mistaken 9-11 analysis she's quite good on the US endless war program which uses terrorists to force regime change.(She likely knows better but like any elected official sees the 9-11 truth movement as No-Go territory.)

Worth listening to.

Sunday song

Stranded in space

Black from Tomek Popakul on Vimeo.

”Black” (“黒”): A pair of astronauts trapped on orbital space station because of nuclear war that ran very fast on the earth below. They lost contact with earth, all attempts to make connection with base or with anybody failed without answer.

Congresswoman Accuses Trump of Shielding Al-Qaeda in Idlib

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02) called out President Donald Trump and Vice President Pence for allegedly protecting al-Qaeda in Idlib, Syria, while speaking in the House on September 13.

"Two days ago, President Trump and Vice President Pence delivered solemn speeches about the attacks on 9/11, talking about how much they care about the victims of al-Qaeda's attack on our country. But, they are now standing up to protect the 20,000 to 40,000 al-Qaeda and other jihadist forces in Syria, and threatening Russia, Syria, and Iran, with military force if they dare attack these terrorists," the congresswoman stressed.

Gabbard qualified the Trump administration's handling of the Idlib problem as nothing short of "betrayal of the American people" and most notably, "the victims of al-Qaeda's attack on 9/11 and their families."

Leave Syria to the Syrian people

 

Check out two articles that I recommend entitled The US’s Choice: WWIII or Saving Face in Syria  here and Idlib: Al Qaeda's Last Stand here

Space-based interceptors?

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan proposed a military system, later dubbed “Star Wars,” that promised to protect the United States from nuclear attack. The basic idea was to use weapons based in space to knock down incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

Reagan’s plan didn’t materialize, but the  idea never went away. In 2018—against the Department of Defense’s wishes—Congress passed a bill calling for the Pentagon to start building space-based interceptors.

Unfortunately, it’s a terrible plan. Space-based missile defense is an ineffectual defense at best, and a very dangerous provocation at worst.

Understanding why space-based missile defense is a bad idea requires basic knowledge of how it works—and what it can and can’t do.

 By Union of Concerned Scientists 

Space week flyer to share

Avoiding the words 'climate change'?

History lesson: Operation Mockingbird - CIA's media control

Jesse Ventura and Brigida Santos discuss Operation Mockingbird and how America’s most powerful news outlets worked with the CIA for 25 years to plant false stories and mislead the public.

Documentarian John Barbour talks about the surveillance of journalists.



The Church Committee was the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, a U.S. Senate committee chaired by Idaho Senator Frank Church (D-ID) in 1975. The committee investigated abuses by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), National Security Agency (NSA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The committee was part of a series of investigations into intelligence abuses in 1975, dubbed the "Year of Intelligence".

By the early years of the 1970s, a series of troubling revelations had appeared in the press concerning intelligence activities. First came the revelations by Army intelligence officer Christopher Pyle in January 1970 of the U.S. Army's spying on the civilian population and Senator Sam Ervin's Senate investigations produced more revelations. Then on December 22, 1974, The New York Times published a lengthy article by Seymour Hersh detailing operations engaged in by the CIA over the years that had been dubbed the "family jewels". Covert action programs involving assassination attempts on foreign leaders and covert attempts to subvert foreign governments were reported for the first time. In addition, the article discussed efforts by intelligence agencies to collect information on the political activities of US citizens.

The creation of the Church Committee was approved on January 27, 1975, by a vote of 82 to 4 in the Senate.

Sadly despite that good start the CIA and other intelligence agencies have retaken control and now are freely running their own foreign policy (that benefits corporate interests) without any real Congressional or public oversight and restrictions.

The free press?

"That's how MLK was killed".....

Dr. William F. Pepper, who became James Earl Ray’s attorney after meeting with him in prison in the late 1970s and later went on to represent the King family in a civil suit and write the definitive book on the case, The Plot to Kill King.  He is featured in this video.

WILLIAM PEPPER: Well, I was a journalist in Vietnam, and I did an article for Ramparts magazine—which was a progressive magazine at the time—and Martin King was a subscriber to the magazine. And when I came back from Vietnam, I did an article called “The Children of Vietnam,” which described the war crimes that America was committing in that country and the horrific loss of life, and particularly the effect on the children.

So Martin was on his way to the Caribbean on a holiday, and he was stopped at the Atlanta Airport from where he was flying. And he started going through his mail and there was Ramparts from January of ’67. And he didn’t read the article, but he opened it. He opened it, and he started to look at the photographs which I had taken. I kept all the photographs to myself when I was in the country and I also did not do anything with the recordings I made. So he looked at the photographs of the wounded and maimed and dead civilians, particularly children. And Bernard Lee, his bodyguard, had gone up to get something to eat and came back with some food, and he put it on the table and Martin just pushed it away and said, “I don’t think I’m ever going to enjoy a meal again until we end this wretched war.” And that was his introduction to my work.

Anyway, then when he came back from his trip in the Caribbean he asked to meet with me, and we met. And during the last year of his life we were quite close and we strategized a lot about how to change things in America. And that was the birth of the idea that he had had about a poor people’s march in Washington. So I came close to him during that last year.

I spoke on April 15th [1967] to a large rally in front of the UN and suggested to that crowd that there be a third party led by Martin Luther King and Benjamin Spock, and the crowd obviously rose in acceptance. And when Martin came up to speak he indicated that if he did such a thing it would really only be for the purpose of highlighting the horror of the war and ending it. And he delivered a speech at the Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, a year to the day before he was assassinated. And there was a powerful anti-war speech that he delivered. So he was very much in the fold then.

And I met him for the first time in—I guess it was late January or February when we met at Brown University where he delivered a speech, and I was to meet him there. And we were to go together to Harvard where we opened [the volunteer project] “Vietnam Summer.” And I showed him in that trip all of the files that I had readily available and he wept. He openly wept. He was a man of great compassion and feeling, and he knew that he had to do something about this war.

What is 9-11?

A small tv crew asked Afghan locals why the US is fighting in their country. The Afghan locals have no clue what 9/11 is.

The Afghan locals then asked US Marine Corps officers, "What is the relation of 9/11 to Afghanistan?"

The US military officers give the wrong answer. The officers don't even know who was actually behind 9/11. Don't believe me, watch it. It's all on film here!

Will Griffin
The Peace Report

Dirty Democratic party tactics

Sputnik reports:

A Democratic political action committee (PAC) dropped six figures on two ads against 30-year incumbent Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) ahead of California’s election on November 6. The ads are mock endorsements from the Russian Federation of the candidate.

The PAC — Red to Blue — aims to flip the district, one of just seven of California's 53 districts with Republican representation. Rohrabacher's Democratic opponent, Harley Rouda, was a Republican and donated to a Republican candidate in the 2016 election. He's also a real estate executive "opposed to rent control," according to the New York Times.

On Monday, a poll by the NYT and Siena College found that Rouda and Rohrabacher are tied at 45 percent support from likely voters.

"There are many better things to attack Rohrabacher on, for instance his opposition to public healthcare, his denial of climate change and his strong opposition to basic LGBT rights," MacLeod told Sputnik News. "These issues would be sure to resonate with their base and the general public, but the fact that the party managers are ignoring them in favour of Russia-baiting is a sign of how insular and out of touch they are."

The rising fireball

Many soldiers and sailors (Army and Navy) were used as guinea pigs by the US military during atomic tests.

In many cases the US ran a series of medical evaluations on these witnesses of the nuclear explosions to determine the effects of the radioactive contamination they received by being present during the tests.

In 1997 the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice held a protest at the Kennedy Space Center just prior to the Cassini plutonium launch.  An older man approached me before we began the event and asked if he could speak.  He said he wanted to tell his story about being an atomic veteran and how we should not trust NASA's claims that launching nuclear power was safe.

During the rally the man explained to us that he was dying of cancer.  He has been in the Army and his unit was parachuted into the mushroom cloud during an atomic bomb test in New Mexico in 1945.  He explained that after they hit the ground they were immediately examined by medical doctors who took their blood, temperature, pulse rate and other such tests.  Then they were placed on a train which stopped at various locations where these same tests were run again.  It was not until years later that they realized that each of the train stops was at a Department of Energy laboratory site - places like Oak Ridge in Tennessee, Savannah River Plant in South Carolina and others including Hannaford site in Washington state.

The soldiers figured out that they were being used as guinea pigs.  He told us he was the last one in his unit still alive and that his only child also was suffering from cancer.

What kind of a sick society would do this kind of thing to their own countrymen and allies?  It was clear that the US only saw these GI's as disposable.  No one in the government has ever been held accountable for these crimes.

Bruce

Full speech at climate change event

Here is my full talk (less than 6 minutes) at the Rise for climate event in Portland, Maine last Saturday.  We had a 'peace hub' at the march gathering site before events began and were able to bring the story of the Pentagon's #1 carbon boot print to folks who know little to nothing about this particular reality.

You can see another video with our other speakers during the peace hub here.  They also addressed the military link to climate change.

Thanks to Martha Spiess for the videos and for organizing the hub along with Lisa Savage..

What do you stand for?

Sunday song

Climate change event in Portland

Today a group of us went to Portland, Maine for the Rise for Climate march and rally on the climate change issue.  We carried larger banners made by Tarak Kauff and Ellen Davidson (who joined us) under the name of Veterans For Peace.

Prior to the rally at the gathering spot in Lincoln Park friends Martha Spiess and Lisa Savage organized a short program on the connections between climate change and the Pentagon's #1 carbon boot print.

Amazingly not many of those assembled had ever heard of that connection before.  A key reason is that the climate change movement has to a considerable extent been under the wing of the Democratic Party.  My educated guess is that most of the national and regional climate change organizations get some level of funding from foundations allied with the Democratic Party.

The Democrats push full funding for the military industrial complex just like the Republicans.  The Dems hope to ride the climate change fears back into control of the House of Representatives in Washington during the next election.  They don't want the military issue to be connected to the climate change issue.  It would create problems for the Dems.

The endless war machine is a bi-partisan policy.  I gave the example during my speech of the 'christenings' at Bath Iron Works (BIW) here in Maine when the politicians from both parties come to help bless the new Navy destroyers that are outfitted with 'missile defense' systems - key elements in the US first-strike attack program.  They are Ronald Reagan's 'Star Wars shield' - still alive and kicking and being used today to encircle Russia and China.

A fuller version of my talk will likely be available in the next couple days and I will post here once I get it.

Bruce

A truth teller

Some 40 years on, the groundbreaking music of Pink Floyd sounds fresh and deep, and the lyrics of Roger Waters are as relevant as ever. How hard is the balancing act between music and politics? Sophie talks with the legend himself – Roger Waters, musician, activist, and co-founder of Pink Floyd.