The collapsing US military & economic empire is making Washington & NATO even more dangerous. US could not beat the Taliban but thinks it can take on China-Russia-Iran...a sign of psychopathology for sure. @BruceKGagnon
I was asked to send a message to the Japan Peace Conference that is being held today.
Thanks to Regis Tremblay for taping my message and putting it up as a video.
I tried to illustrate the key obstacles to nuclear disarmament - particulary the US-NATO military expansion essentially encircling Russia and China along with the steroidal deployments of Pentagon 'missile defense' systems that play a key role in US first-strike attack planning.
As long as Washington is pulling out of arms control treaties, refuses to negotiate a ban on weapons in space, and pushes forward with new technologies to 'control and dominate' space, then there won't be any real incentive for other nations to reduce (let alone get rid of) their nukes.
Many peaceniks around the globe are reluctant to call the US out for its aggressive and dangerous moves. They like to create the impression that China and Russia are 'equally' responsible for the current raging arms race. I don't quite see it that way.
After 38 years of working on disarmament issues (with an emphasis on space) it is more than clear to me that the US has always been leading the pack to create new arms races and more war$.
We must always ask the questions - who benefits? - who is really responsible? - who refuses to abide by international law and disarmament treaties?
I think the answer to those fundamental questions is clear as a bell.
A first preview of a film now in production that will tell the
little-known story of how in the fall of 1969 the antiwar movement
undermined President Nixon's secret "madman" plan for a dramatic and
dangerous escalation of the war in Vietnam, including the possible use
of nuclear weapons.
I heard one theory that the Donald is simply building his next
landing surface - padding future bank accounts - with all this
electoral jumble currently going on. Makes about as much sense as anything else I've heard.
But in the end Trump is doing what the oligarchs truly want - divide and conquer America by pitting the people against one another.
Remember that he got his training in handling the big crowds from his
time at WWE's WrestleMania - where the tough-guy-jabber-talk always proceeded the wrestling match -
and the pre-ordained finish.
It won't be much longer before we get the 2nd Act in this drama - when the
aging Joe Biden comes on stage to save the nation - but mysteriously
falls ill and must resign soon (I'll give him a year) after arriving in Washington.
Then the shining black princess enters (wearing Converse sneakers)
who is seen with some kind of a law enforcement badge pinned to her chest and takes charge of the nation
by sending in the shock troops to dampen the growing outrage of a hungry
and homeless population in the middle of a pandemic. (Actually quite similar to Obama, who on one day, ordered the feds to shut down the Occupy movement all across the nation.)
Hollywood and Madison Avenue have done themselves proud.....
Shaken by the world’s second deadliest coronavirus outbreak and deep economic crisis, Brazilians voted on Sunday for experienced politicians from traditional parties in local elections, a move that may damage reelection hopes for President Jair Bolsonaro in 2022.
Candidates backed by the far-right populist president, who presents himself as an outsider, were knocked out of the running in the country’s largest city Sao Paulo and other municipal races in state capitals.
Gangjeong villagers on Jeju Island, South Korea held a vigil last year in solidarity with a protest at BIW. Destroyers built in Bath often port at the new navy base on Jeju. People have been holding protests there everyday for the past 13 and a half years. (click on the photo for a better view of their signs)
Please join us for the Advent Vigil for Disarmament beginning on
Saturday, November 28, and continuing on the Saturdays in Advent,
(December 5, 12, and 19). We will gather in front of the Administration
Building at Bath Iron Works on Washington Street in Bath from 11:30 to
12:30, and we will walk down to the Gate to leaflet the workers at the
shift change.
General Dynamics continues to build Aegis guided missile destroyers
here in the BIW shipyard. These warships launch precision guided cruise
missiles which kill indiscriminately. This constitutes a crime against
humanity. It is time to set aside technologies that only enslave us to
wars that never end. Advent is our time to prepare for the return of the
Light into the world, to prepare for peace. It is not possible to
continue to build these warships, and, at the same time, create a
disarmed world.
So in the spirit of love and nonviolence, we stand together in hope
and joy in opposition to war and all of the violence and terror it
creates. Please wear masks, maintain social distance guidelines, and
bring signs to say No! to the production warships in Maine, and Yes! to
the creation of a world without war.
Krystal Ball explains why candidates shouldn't be judged by the
diversity box they check, but by their records, views, and commitments
to voters.
Some very good reporting here on Kamala Harris and the Biden team. Good to see more alternative media talking about these issues. We need to let the air out of the 'cheer leaders' balloons so that the public can see all the writing-on-the-walls before it gets washed away and forgotten.
It is very important to immediately review the early front-runners for a Biden cabinet in Washington.
Many 'liberals' told us not to raise serious issues during the campaign for fear that Biden would lose. But they said they'd be sure to 'push Biden to the left' once he was elected.
So far these folks have been out holding rallies calling for Trump to recognize Biden's 'victory'.
I see it all as a circus distraction - Trump will leave office and Biden will enter and while the governing style might change a bit the policies will remain deadly similar. Whether foreign or domestic policy, the 'new administration' will continue the tradition of both major political parties - to serve as trusted agents of Wall Street and the war machine.
So let's not hold our breath in expectation that the liberals will come on-side to demand that Biden's oligarchic team represent the suffering people and our fragile planet. Biden has made it clear that he is out to fix things for the 'middle class' and that is a signal to the liberals that you will be taken care of just fine and dandy.
In my neighborhood there were a slew of BLM and Biden for prez yard signs. Now that the campaign is over most of them have been taken down. A few BLM signs are still out there but the majority are gone. Why?
It is probably true that most folks with BLM signs in their yards intellectually believed the message. But putting a sign in the yard (and voting for Biden - the 'so-called resistance') is all they likely will do to help.
I also feel the BLM signs, coupled with Biden yard signs, was a plan to use this important and popular issue for party purposes - it was a strategy.
The Dems jumped on the BLM horse and it helped carry them into the White House particularly by recruiting young folks and people of color.
Obama did a similar thing in 2008 when he rode the peace movement horse (due to the intense unrest about George W. Bush's 'shock and awe' attack and occupation of Iraq) into power in Washington.
When Obama arrived at the White House he got off the peace horse and put it in the barn and locked the door. He threw the key into the Potomac River and proceeded to expand the wars into at least seven nations and upped the drone killing program in a dramatic way. No one has seen the horse since.
I've watched this movie before. It happened when Bill Clinton became president and led the attack and break-up of Yugoslavia and continued the slow bleeding of the Iraqi people with sanctions and occasional military actions. (Remember Madeleine Albright's famous quote about 500,000 dead children in Iraq being worth the price - see it here.)
So I didn't expect Obama to do anything to end wars and cut the bloated Pentagon budget either. And very few liberals came out to help put the heat on Clinton or Obama.
It will be the same again with Biden. A high percentage of liberals are just fine with what ever happens in Washington as long as their party controls the White House. (I recall how in 2012, during the height of Obama's drone war, the Washington Post did a survey of self-identified liberals and found that 77% of them supported the program.) They don't want to be 'overly negative' toward their party leadership. They are loyalists. Their claim to have been part of 'the resistance' was all illusion. (And delusional too.)
These two videos (above and below) go over the likely Biden appointments to his cabinet and staff. Each host has different styles. They all know what they are talking about.
