Global Network 26th annual space conference in England

Croughton USAF base near Oxford, England being upgraded for surveillance, communication, command and control and the planning and execution of endless wars.

The push for US global domination relies heavily on military satellites for surveillance, communication, command and control and the planning and execution of exercises and wars. However, military satellites require ground-based stations to send and receive information/commands - so a global military presence requires an extensive network of various bases and space centres.

The Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space has campaigned to raise awareness of these issues, to help coordinate actions at related ground-based installations and to “Keep Space for Peace” for 25 years.

The GN's 26th annual conference will be held from June 22-24, 2018 in Oxford, England.   This will also include a protest at the major US/NATO military space communications and control centre at nearby Croughton Air Force Base.

Croughton is an American military and intelligence communications base on the border of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire. It is a major hub in the US global electronic communications, control and surveillance network which serves the interests of the US military and intelligence services regardless of the location and the mission objectives.

It handles a huge portion of US military communications in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East and is used to route vast amounts of data captured by Washington’s network of listening posts in diplomatic premises back to America for analysis by the CIA and the NSA. A secure fibre-optic link between Croughton and the US air base at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti helps to co-ordinate drone strikes over Yemen.

The US is now spending over £200m to transform the base into one of its largest intelligence hubs outside the US to become a new centre for counter-terrorism operations in Africa.

All are welcome to attend this important international conference.  Activists will be coming from South Korea, Japan, India, Germany, Mauritius, Vietnam, France, Sweden, US and throughout the UK. 

You can find the full schedule and registration information here

'We're learning these tactics from Israel - they're the best at population control'

IRAQ WAR VETERAN IN PALESTINE, new short documentary: "Seeing these Israeli soldiers doing the same, the violence against the people, the hate against the people, it's the same as what we were doing in Iraq and Afghanistan."

A film by Chris Smiley featuring Captain Matthew Hoh. Hoh has nearly twelve years experience with America's wars overseas with the United States Marine Corps, Department of Defense and State Department. In 2009, Matthew resigned in protest from his post in Afghanistan with the State Department over the American escalation of the war. He is now an activist with the organization Veterans For Peace and a Senior Fellow with the Center For International Policy.

What a day....

Yesterday MB took me to the Togus VA emergency room in Augusta.  I had been feeling bad for the last week - chills and fever, frequent urination, weakness and muscle pain and more.  We were in the ER four hours and they took lots of blood and urine samples.

Come to find out I have a prostate infection which is quite interesting since in early April I had been similarly diagnosed with a urinary tract infection - likely as a result of my hunger strike.  No telling if this latest infection also stems from the hunger strike as well.

I've always been blessed with good health so it is a real drag to be feeling run down and without any energy.  Last night my fever broke and I sweated up a storm - this morning my bed clothes and sheets and pillow were soaked.  Maybe I'm on my way to recovery now.

Many thanks to MB for her good care.

In the meantime I've much work to catch up on but my low energy level might just slow me down a bit.

Best wishes to all out there in TV land.

Bruce

Pax Americana and the weaponization of space

See the entire documentary where the above was taken from here

Also check out an excellent new article entitled: Trump and Corporate America Are Dead Serious About Plans to Conquer Outer Space. 

Like any military effort, the establishment of the U.S. Armed Forces in space is meant to ensure the expansion of capital, the protection of corporate property and investments on or off the globe

Interview on Iranian PressTV about Nuclear Deal

I was interviewed for this Iranian produced news program about my reactions to Trump pulling the US out of the Iran Nuclear Deal.

It's a nicely produced video - watch just below.

Wood, garden, whales and Putin's military budget cuts

• I started stacking wood yesterday - four hours virtually non-stop.  Got about half of the 2 1/2 cords of wood done.  My back was feeling it afterwards.  I love stacking wood - my chosen profession does not allow many 'victories' or 'solutions' to the complex reality of the US war machine.  But stacking wood gives me near instant results and it helps keep me reasonably fit.  Some of the wood that we get delivered cut into 14 inch pieces has to be additionally cut so I was swinging the ax some as well.

• In addition I've been working in the garden and doing some early planting of peas, carrots, beets, parsley, garlic, and various kinds of lettuce.  In a couple more weeks the other veggies will go into the ground.  

• Over the weekend MB and I went to Wells Beach in southern Maine.  We took long walks and during a beach walk on Sunday we saw an endangered right whale just off the shoreline.  We are told that it is a very rare experience to see these whales.  About 430 North Atlantic right whales remain, including just over 100 breeding females. In the past 11 months, 18 whales have been found dead. Scientists believe the right whale population will not be viable within 25 years unless something changes. For the first time on record, no right whale calves were born this winter. In past years, between 15 and 23 new calves have been reported.

A North Atlantic right whale swims along the surface Sunday near boaters off Long Sands Beach in York, Maine with Nubble Light in the distance. Right whales are one of the Earth’s most endangered marine mammals. Photo from Portland Press Herald.

• While at Wells Beach we spent time with several of MB's cousins who have summer cottages on the beach.  They repeatedly expressed worry that global warming is causing the loss of shoreline as the water and sand advance on their beach homes.  Wells Beach is similar to a barrier island and it won't be long before it is covered with water.  Big changes are coming.
• The Christian Science Monitor reports: With the tensions between Russia and the West so high – often being described as “a new cold war” – one might understandably assume that there is a corresponding arms race going on. But in fact, Russia's military spending is on the decline. In the first strategic program of his new and possibly final presidential term, Vladimir Putin announced plans for a relentless focus on domestic development, to be partially paid for by sharp cuts in defense spending.
• Cuts to defense spending will go toward underwriting that agenda. But in fact, Russian defense spending has already started to decline. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Russian military spending fell by 20 percent last year, the first major decrease in two decades. 
• Wouldn't it be nice if Washington would similarly cut the Pentagon budget by 20% or more?  Which nation appears to be more responsive to public needs and demands?

Bruce

America has been at war with Iran for decades

Washington's been pushing for war with Tehran for decades. Will it happen under Trump?

Navy sonar kills

Though we don't usually see it, Navy sonar needlessly continues to do great harm to life in our oceans. I say needlessly, because there are many measures the U.S. Navy could take to reduce that harm if it wished to, but with the arrogance of its upper level decision-makers, it simply refuses, and the harm continues on.... My just-finished relief sculpture on that subject.

 "Collateral Damage" poplar wood, casein paint 14" h. x 26" w. x 2 1/8" d.

By Russell Wray from Hancock, Maine

Sunday Song

 

Uncle Son

Written by: Ray Davies

He was just a workin' man,
Simple rules and simple plans,
Fancy words he didn't understand,
He loved with his heart,
He worked with his hands.

Liberals dream of equal rights,
Conservatives live in a world gone by,
Socialists preach of a promised land,
But old Uncle Son was an ordinary man.

Bless you Uncle Son,
They won't forget you when the revolution comes.

Unionists tell you when to strike,
Generals tell you when to fight,
Preachers teach you wrong from right,
They'll feed you when you're born,
And use you all your life.

Bless you Uncle Son,
They won't forget you when the revolution comes.