Organizing Notes

Bruce Gagnon is coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. He offers his own reflections on organizing and the state of America's declining empire....

My Photo
Name:
Location: Brunswick, ME, United States

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

Saturday, January 29, 2022

NO WAR CALL TO ACTION!

 


STOP THE WAR WITH RUSSIA OVER UKRAINE!

We must act now to stop the war with Russia over Ukraine, a war that would risk becoming a dangerous conflict between nuclear states. As people residing in the United States, we have a special responsibility to call upon the U.S. government to: 

  • Stop the war with Russia
  • Stop the NATO expansion
  • Stop sending weapons to Ukraine and the European Union
  • Obey international laws and the UN Charter
  • Resolve the current conflict within the United Nations Security Council

De-escalate the threat of a nuclear war

Once again, our world is facing an imminent threat of war between two major nuclear powers. As in the past, the United States is using the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as the vehicle to wage war in clear violation of international law and the Charter of United Nations.

The Biden administration is currently flying $200 million worth of weapons and other “lethal aid” to Ukraine and has 8,500 US troops on standby to enter that country. ‘Nonessential’ U.S. diplomatic  personnel and their families are being withdrawn from the country. The corporate media is lockstep in its portrayal of Russia as the enemy who is about to invade Ukraine. These actions constitute a de facto declaration of war, while the corporate media fan the flame of war.

This current escalation of aggression against Russia through expansion of NATO’s presence into Ukraine is a serious threat to world peace and requires a unified and rapid response by anti-war organizations to stop a major war.

To that end, we, the undersigned groups, have agreed to support a day of action on February 5, 2022, with the following demands on the United States government:

On the morning of February 5, we will hold visibility actions by holding signs and banners in well-trafficked areas such as major intersections or highway overpasses that raise awareness of this urgent crisis and urge the President to stop the war with Russia. That afternoon, we will gather online for a national rally to demonstrate the breadth of opposition to war. During the rally, photos of the morning visibility actions will be shared.

Signatories (in alphabetical order):

  • Answer Coalition
  • Black Alliance for Peace
  • CODE Pink
  • Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
  • International Action Center
  • Massachusetts Peace Action
  • Popular Resistance
  • Task Force on the Americas
  • United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC)
  • U.S. Peace Council
  • Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF–US)
  • World BEYOND War

TO ENDORSE THE CALL AND SIGN THE PETITION TO PRESIDENT BIDEN AND UN SECRETARY GENERAL PLEASE VISIT:

https://popularresistance.org/nowarwithrussia/


TO REGISTER FOR THE FEBRUARY 5 NATIONAL RALLY PLEASE VISIT:

bit.ly/StopWarWithRussia  

Donbass (Russian border) situation report

 



Please, be advised that the situation around Donbas is becoming tense:


  • there are now 150 thousand Ukrainian troops near Donbas (some days ago it was 120 thousand); Donbass has only 35,000 troops that cannot attack Ukraine;
  • the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) has finalized the master plan to attack Donbas;
  • the USA has delivered 250 tons of military equipment and ammunition (MEA) to UAF;
  • 45 more U.S.transport aircraft are to arrive to Ukraine with MEA;
  • civil hospitals in Ukraine have been converted into military ones;
  • any regular annual vacations for the Ukrainian GIs have been cancelled for indefinite period of time;
  • M141 Bunker Defeat Munitions have arrived to the UAF attacking forces (Donbas does not have them; so, it does not have them to attack Ukraine);
  • several public protests against war versus Donbas have been staged near the Ukrainian Parliament;
  • Kiev continues to violate a ceasefire accord in Donbas: according to the report of the OSCE SMM in Ukraine dated January 28th, 2022 has stated:

OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) Daily Report 20/2022 issued on 28 January 2022
Summary In Donetsk region, the SMM recorded 173 ceasefire violations, including six explosions.
In the previous reporting period, it recorded 510 ceasefire violations in the region.
In Luhansk region, the Mission recorded 93 ceasefire violations, including 13 explosions.

Link: https://www.osce.org/special-monitoring-mission-to-ukraine/510929
 
Kind regards,
Dr. Vladimir Kozin
 
Member, Russian Academy of Military Sciences
Member, Russian Academy of Natural Sciences,
Vice President, Russian National Institute for Global Security Research
Winner of Colonel-General Varfolomei Korobushin Reward (Russian Strategic Missiles Forces) and Russian Academy of Natural Sciences Reward
Leading Expert, Center for Military-Political Studies, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO)
Ph.D, Senior Researcher (Academic Rank) 

Fifteen nuclear reactors in Ukraine - war very bad idea

 

Ukraine diplomat sees little chance of war ‘in country with 15 nuclear reactors’

Ukraine is committed to seeking a diplomatic solution to the current tension with Russia, its ambassador to Japan, Sergiy Korsunsky, said on Wednesday (26 January), adding that he saw little chance of all-out war, although there might be smaller conflicts.

Destruction of nuclear reactors would bring about a devastating regional impact on Europe.

“I believe that full-scale war is very, very, very difficult to expect, but we may see more localized conflict,” Korsunsky told a news conference in the Japanese capital Tokyo.

If war is going to happen, that will be the first ever in the history of mankind, war against a country which has on its territory 15 nuclear reactors, which has 30,000 km of gas and oil pipelines, full with gas and oil,” said Korsunsky.

“If all these infrastructure is destroyed, there is no more Ukraine. But this is just one consequence. There is no more central Europe and probably western Europe would be affected, too.”

An accident at the Chernobyl reactor, located in what is now Ukraine, spewed tonnes of nuclear waste into the atmosphere in 1986, spreading radioactivity across swathes of the continent and causing a spike in cancers in the more immediate region.

Russia’s Ambassador to Australia, Alexey Pavlovsky, said on Wednesday that Russia did not plan to invade Ukraine.

We don’t intend to invade at all,” Pavlovsky told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio.

“Our troops on the border…These troops are not a threat, they are a warning. A warning to Ukraine’s rulers not to attempt any reckless military adventure,” he said.

As to the sanctions, I think that by now everybody should understand that it is not the language which should be used when talking to Russia. The sanctions just don’t work.”

Friday, January 28, 2022

Coverage of our message in Pakistan papers



Pakistan Point

UrduPoint (Pakistan)

 

US Troop Alert May Be Empty Threat But It Awoke Many, Americans Don't Want War - Activist


WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 28th January, 2022) US President Joe Biden's decision to alert 8,500 forces for possible deployment in Europe could be an empty threat, however, it awoke many in the United States as the Americans do not want another war, Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space coordinator Bruce Gagnon told Sputnik.

The decision on alerting thousands of troops was made just two days before Washington gave its written responses to Russia' security proposals. A Pentagon spokesperson said on Monday that 8,500 US troops had been placed on heightened alert over the situation around Ukraine.

"First, I heard that Biden was immediately sending more troops, but then it was changed that the troops have been put on 'stand by'. So it could be an empty threat by the US," Gagnon said. "But the statement about sending the troops has woke up many people in the US to pay more attention to this issue. Americans don't want another war but with the Democrats in power many 'liberals' - who normally would not want a war - are now supporting Biden because their party is in power."

Gagnon added that, fortunately, growing numbers of Republicans are opposing war - "although some are doing it with electoral positioning in mind."

On Wednesday, US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan delivered Washington's response to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday that Russia is reviewing the response but stressed that the United States, in its response to Russia's proposals on security guarantees, left the main question about non-expansion of NATO to the east unanswered.

"No surprise though but it is a very sad and disingenuous response by the US," Gagnon said. "It is quite clear to me that the US only has one goal in mind and that is to continue to demonize Russia internationally and to militarily create chaos on all Russian borders in order to destabilize the Moscow government. The US-UK-NATO wants regime change in Russia. They want total control of the Arctic region as the ice melts due to climate crisis."

Moscow published its security suggestions for NATO and the US in late 2021 as tensions flared high around Ukraine.

It requested, in particular, guarantees that the alliance would not expand eastward. The US insists it will not allow anyone to slam NATO's open door policy shut.

"I thought Russia proposals were rational, justified and necessary when one considers that Moscow is facing a 'Cuban missile crisis in-reverse,'" Gagnon said. "We are now witnessing US missile launch facilities in Romania and Poland, aggressive NATO war games on Russian borders, and regular naval and air force provocations along Russian borders. One can just imagine how crazy Washington would be if any country was doing this along US borders with Canada or Mexico."

 


Commenting on possible development of the situation around Ukraine, Gagnon said, "We hear that some NATO members are telling the US to back off but Washington and NATO hardliners are not even listening to their own NATO member states."

"I think this confirms that the US rules NATO with an iron fist. I can't imagine that anyone in Europe wants a war with Russia," he said. "I recently heard that a petition is now being circulated in Italy to withdraw from NATO. In the end this entire situation is furthering the US-NATO 'bad image' around the globe."

When asked whether there is still a chance to stop the war and what can be done to do that, the activist said, "I think there is a chance but first we must have more voices opposing war in the US and throughout Europe."

"I don't believe that Moscow is eager to start war but the Russian government has legitimate security concerns that any thoughtful person should acknowledge," he said. "We all must take responsibility to help stop a war that could possibly go nuclear."

The United States and its allies have accused Russia that it conducts a troop build-up in Ukraine and plans to invade the latter. Russia has repeatedly denied the accusations, saying it does not plan to attack any country.

In addition, Russia has pointed to NATO's military activities close to its borders and the alliance's plans to move eastward as a threat to its national security. Russia has also said it reserves the right to move troops within its sovereign territory.

Hearing from the other side - who is the real threat?

 

 

I know in the west you are not supposed to share the words of the 'enemy camp' but 'F' that, if you know what I mean.

In this clip Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov answers a reporters question by addressing the forbidden subject of US domination of Europe and NATO and the ever expanding claims by the west of their right to influence other governments where ever they wish to plant their hot seat.

Lavrov reminds us that the west (the original colonizers of the global south) are still playing their old game of manifest destiny, western exceptionalism and domination.

Russia understands that at some point this all must stop. It's past time for some nation to stand up to the bullies in Washington-London-Brussels.

The UK has been inside Ukraine for several months building a Navy base on the Black Sea near Odessa This will become a NATO naval operations center.

 


NATO is in crisis. Even some of its own members are increasingly questioning the goals of the Atlanta alliance. Why is NATO expanding into the Asia-Pacific and signing up Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and others? Who gave NATO the right to declare they were now the #1 corporate oligarchic muscle machine for the whole world?

The UK and Poland are working together to ensure more weapons shipments get to Ukraine. The west is turning an already unstable failed state into the new Libya. The US-UK-NATO want chaos on the Russian border as a way to destabilize Moscow. Bleed them dry so to speak.

Fortunately many peace groups & and their members are beginning to crank up the action around this issue. They are finally recognizing that the real trigger for a nuclear war is US-UK-NATO aggression aimed at Moscow. 

Some folks have been a bit slow to come around because they feared being demonized as 'Putin apologists' and such.

 

Just Wednesday  night (after I had sent out an email to the Global Network list) I got a message from a long-time friend in Florida. He had his son read my email and the young man responded that I was pro-Soviet and pro-Russia.

I wrote back that the Soviets were long gone.

We keep hearing from the media that Russia wants to re-create the former Soviet Union and is now making its move. 

You can believe what you want about true Russian intentions but the numbers don't lie.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) each year publishes their global military spending numbers for the previous year. (They appear to not yet have published their 2021 numbers.)

In 2020 US military expenditure reached an estimated $778 billion. (Actually $1 billion per year when you add up all the military money hidden in various government departments.) As the world’s largest military spender, the USA accounted for 39 per cent of total military expenditure in 2020. 

China’s military expenditure, the second highest in the world, is estimated to have totaled $252 billion in 2020. 

Russia’s military expenditure in 2020 was $61.7 billion

Germany increased its spending by 5.2 per cent to $52.8 billion, making it the seventh largest spender in 2020. 

In addition to China, India ($72.9 billion), Japan ($49.1 billion), South Korea ($45.7 billion) and Australia ($27.5 billion) were the largest military spenders in the Asia and Oceania region. 

 


 

Now add it all up

When you add the US totals to all the NATO members/partners the number hits well over 60% of the global total. Russia comes in at $61.7 billion which is in the same league as Germany, France or India. 

The notion that Russia could re-create the former Soviet Union at their level of military spending - especially when they would come into obvious conflict with US-UK-NATO - is pure fantasy. That is a story-line that was invented by Hollywood and Madison Avenue. Many believe it.

NATO's true goal is to become an international alliance that would essentially take the power away from the United Nations. Then NATO would not have to go before the UN's Security Council and ask for 'permission' to invade another country like Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Syria, etc. 

A free and expansionist NATO dooms the world to perpetual war.

Time to shut it down.

Bruce

Thursday, January 27, 2022

History lesson: Steroidal CIA

 


Abby Martin introduces the first installment of a new Empire Files series about the CIA explaining why the agency was created, and how it became the most nefarious criminal organization in the world, with CIA expert Douglas Valentine.

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Time to speak out - no more damn war!

 


Have we gone mad? 

No, we don't need a war with Russia! 

Find Oliver Stone's film Ukraine on Fire for a bit of history. 

Expanding NATO only serves the interest (and insatiable greed) of the military industrial complex. Enough killing! 

Enough death!

~ Mary Beth Sullivan (Bath, Maine)

 

Message from a Donbass labor leader

 

Nazi death squads in Ukraine. Since the 2014 US orchestrated coup in Kiev these killers have been trained, put in fancy uniforms and sent by the US-NATO advisers to the Donbass region along the Russian border to create chaos and kill their fellow Ukrainian citizens who are ethnic-Russian.

 

Dear friend and comrade!

Now the situation around our Republics is very serious. Ukraine brought to the front line about 125,000 soldiers of Ukrainian Army and murders from Nazi battalions. Many foreign instructors came to train Ukrainian soldiers. 

But mass media of US and EU says about “Russian aggression”. But we can’t see any Russian troops on our territory. We hope that common sense and wisdom will win and the world doesn’t fall into war. 

 


We still remember that Ukrainian authorities decided to drop bombs on the heads of Donbass residents instead of sitting down at the negotiating table. And we will never forget that only Russia, not so-called “civilized world”, gave us real help, support and defense. 

It is difficult to make any prognosis right now. We just see US push Ukraine into the war very hard. It is terrible but it is so!

What you can do for us? Thanks to Russia we not suffer from hunger. Only one thing we need. Your support and help us dissemination of real information about the situation in our Republics. If it is possible you can send us the letter solidarity from the name of your organization.

Thank you very much!!!

Андрей Кочетов 
Lugansk labor leader 
Donbass

Ethnic cleansing in Israel continues

 


Mohammed Salhiya, the owner of the home, said, “I’ve been attacked for 25 years, 25 years I’ve faced pressure to sell the land.…I’ve spent 25 years just in the courts with them.” 

Mohammed and members of his family refused to leave their home on Monday, even threatening to burn down the house, rather than yield to Israel’s demands to vacate. "We don't want death. But we have been expelled from our homeland again and again. We are already dead. We are dead inside. We have been dead since 1948," he said.

Tuesday, January 25, 2022

Washington doesn't want their response to Russia made public

 

Washington Asked Russia to Keep US Response on Security Guarantees Secret

 

TASS   

 
US officials have asked their Russian colleagues not to publish Washington’s written response to Moscow’s proposal on security guarantees, The Washington Post has reported.

However, according to the paper, “a senior State Department official acknowledged that the Kremlin may decide to publish it after the United States sends it next week.”

Following Friday’s meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Geneva, Washington agreed to provide written responses to Moscow’s proposals on security guarantees. After that, the US Secretary of State and the Russian top diplomat plan to hold the next meeting. At a news conference after the meeting, Lavrov told reporters that, in his opinion, publishing the US response would be a right thing to do. However, Russia will request Blinken’s consent to do so, he added.

On December 17, 2021, the Russian Foreign Ministry released a draft agreement on security guarantees between Russia and the United States, [a non-aggression pact] and a draft agreement on ensuring the security of Russia and NATO member states. The proposed measures include guarantees that NATO will not advance eastward, including the accession of Ukraine and other countries into the alliance. They also impose restrictions on deployment of serious offensive weapons, including nuclear ones.


The Washington Post:
 

Lavrov urged the United States to make its written response to the Russian proposals public.

U.S. officials asked their Russian counterparts to keep the document secret, but a senior State Department official acknowledged that the Kremlin may decide to publish it after the United States sends it next week.

The Biden administration’s written response will include American security proposals and demonstrate Washington’s interest in continuing dialogue, said the State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive talks.

Although the written response will continue to fall short of Russia’s demands to close NATO’s open door policy, the official said, the Biden administration believes there is still value in providing a letter that can be read directly by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“There‘s one decision-maker in Russia and it’s President Putin,” said a second Biden administration official. “If this then allows the ultimate decision-maker in Russia to looks at these ideas and decide whether to move forward, it’s in our interest.”

 “We don’t want to be the ones who foreclose a potential diplomatic solution,” added the official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue. 

Monday, January 24, 2022

Birds killed during military 5G testing

 

‘Hundreds of thousands, if not millions’ of birds died during 2020 U.S. Air Force 5G exercise, New Mexico 

 



White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico


“The military needs a reliable communication system at all times to protect and defend the country from potential threats.” –Tesmanian, September 24, 2020

In August 2020, an AT&T 5G antenna array at White Sands Missile Range went operational, providing “connectivity” for Advanced Battle Management Systems (ABMS) Onramp 2 on August 27.

The Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) is an interconnected battle network – the digital architecture or foundation – which collects, processes and shares data relevant to war-fighters in order to make better decisions faster in the kill chain. In order to achieve all-domain superiority, it requires that individual military activities not simply be de-conflicted, but rather integrated – activities in one domain must enhance the effectiveness of those in another domain.

 


From the Las Cruces Sun-News

September 12, 2020

    “It is terribly frightening,” Desmond said. “We’ve never seen anything like this. … We’re losing probably hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of migratory birds.”

In August, large numbers of birds were found dead at White Sands Missile Range and at the White Sands National Monument in what was thought to be an isolated incident, Desmond said.

The Department of the Interior warned in 2014 about the deadly effects of RF-EMF on birds. Research has shown that EMF frequencies affect their navigation and disorient birds. 

In addition, “non-lethal” military research (Craviso and Chatterjee, 2008) used RF-EMF to cause skeletal muscle contraction.

Then, in September 2020, the U.S. Air Force conducted a joint live-fire exercise with SpaceX. The bird deaths increased.

 



From the Tesmanian
September 24, 2020
 

U.S. Air Force Chief for Acquisition Dr. Will Roper, who serves as the principal adviser for technology research and development, met with reporters to discuss a live-fire military exercise that took place early this month, Investors news reports. During the conference, Roper shared SpaceX’s Starlink network [that is launching up to 80,000 min-satellites for 5G] was tested during the live-fire exercise as part of the military’s Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS). 

 “What I’ve seen from Starlink has been impressive and positive,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “They’re cleverly engineered satellites cleverly deployed. So, there’s a lot to learn from how they’re designed and I think that there’s a lot we can learn from them.”

Roper shared that the Air Force connected Starlink to a “variety of air and terrestrial assets”. Starlink terminals are hooked to the cockpit of a Boeing (BA) KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft to assess the network’s performance while the airplanes fly. 

DoD plans to depend even more on satellites under its new “All Domain Operations” war-fighting doctrine. The strategy will require air, land, sea, space and cyberspace assets to network directly with each other. They will pass data and intel among them and perhaps even activate each other's weapons.


 

For more info contact Physicians for Safe Technology

Russian & American discuss space arms race & Ukraine

 


Vladimir Kozin (Russia) and Bruce Gagnon (Maine), two experts on weapons in space and the militarization of space, believe that we, as a species, are facing imminent grave danger. 

First, we are all being terrorized about this imminent invasion of Ukraine by Russia. But, on top of that, is the possibility of a war breaking out in space.

Must see documentary on Ukraine coup in 2014

 


Documentary produced by Oliver Stone about the US orchestrated coup in Kiev, Ukraine in 2014 and about the western media and US role.

Learn more about the Nazi death squads that played a key role in the coup. These death squads have been turned on the Russian-ethnic Ukrainian population that lives in the Donbass region next to the Russian border.

Sunday, January 23, 2022

Don't panic

 

Pilger: The Ukraine story is distorted - it's all propaganda

 


John Pilger on Ukraine, US tensions with Russia & China: An Enemy is Essential for US & Its Vassals!

 

This episode of Going Underground hosts legendary journalist and filmmaker John Pilger. 
 
He discusses the scandal surrounding Boris Johnson over Downing Street parties during Coronavirus lockdowns, growing US tension with Russia over Ukraine amid the backdrop of NATO enlargement to Russia’s borders, tensions with China and the West’s need for a perpetual enemy, the continuing persecution of Julian Assange and much more. 

Sunday song