Coming our way in droves?

 

 

Something stirring in Germany?

 

 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is set to be questioned for a second time by a state parliamentary committee on Friday over whether he helped a major bank avoid paying back millions in taxes while mayor of Hamburg. The interrogation is part of an investigation by the Hamburg committee into the "cum-ex" tax scam, which cost the government billions. The fraud scheme saw European traders rapidly exchanging company shares among themselves around the time dividends were paid out to claim multiple tax rebates on a single payout. Dozens of people have been indicted over the scandal in Germany, including bankers, stock traders, lawyers and financial consultants. 

What questions must Scholz answer? 

The focus of the interrogation is on whether Scholz, who was mayor of Hamburg from 2011 to 2018, or other leading members of his Social Democratic Party (SDP) helped a private Hamburg-based bank, Warburg, avoid paying back millions in taxes. The committee is to pose questions surrounding three meetings between Scholz and Warburg Bank's co-owners in 2016 and 2017. At his first interrogation by the committee, Scholz admitted to the meetings but said he could not remember details about their content. Christian Olearius, one of the Warburg owners, has, however, testified that Scholz advised him on a possible way of avoiding the repayment of the €47 million ($48 million) in wrongly refunded capital gains tax. The claim was then scrapped by the tax authorities under a statute of limitations, but the bank eventually had to pay back tens of millions of euros under pressure from the federal government under Angela Merkel. Several recent German media reports say investigators have now seized emails from Scholz's former office manager that suggest the then Hamburg mayor had possibly deleted data pertaining to the matter. Other newly seized documents reportedly suggest that Scholz did raise the subject of reimbursement directly with Olearius despite his denials of having done so. Adding to the mystery surrounding the affair are reports that a former SPD parliamentarian, Johannes Kahrs, was found in possession of around €200,000 in a bank safe deposit box. It is, however, unclear whether the find has anything to do with the finance scandal.

Analysis:

Sanctions blowback and the current rapid de-industrialization of Germany is escalating pressure on the current national government run by Scholz. Calls are growing in Berlin to allow the start-up of Nordstream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany. The US has been demanding it not be turned on. German industry is increasingly angry and citizens are growing restive due to impacts across Europe from the US-EU sanctions on Russia. 

 

Supporting Julian Assange

 

 

Consortium News

Rally for Julian Assange outside the Department of Justice, Washington DC, Aug 19 2022

The New Space Race is Going Nuclear

 

 

By Karl Grossman
 

“The New Space Race is Going Nuclear” was the title of a recent hour webinar presented by the American Nuclear Society. The U.S. government is pouring money into the development of space nuclear power—for commercial, exploratory and military purposes—as described in the panel discussion featuring five very enthusiastic advocates of using atomic energy in space.

“So, it’s really an exciting time,” said the moderator for the American Nuclear Society, Jeffrey King, a professor of nuclear engineering and director of the Nuclear Science and Engineering Center at the Colorado School of Mines, and also past chair of the society’s Aerospace Nuclear Science and Technology Division.

“It’s actually a time I didn’t expect that we’d end up seeing in my lifetime,” King said. “But we have now multiple companies—everything from government to the large contractors, small companies to start-up companies all interested in space nuclear power and different aspects of space nuclear power. It’s truly an exciting renaissance time for the field.”
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The panelists spoke of programs now proceeding or planned to place nuclear reactors on the Moon and Mars and the use of nuclear energy to power rockets.

As to the impacts of using nuclear power in space, comments made 44 minutes into the webinar were telling. King said “several people asked about,” in questions they sent in, “if anyone could comment on decommissioning plan or briefly what the plan is when we are done with these.”

Brad Rearden, director of the Government R&D Division of x-Energy, a company based in Rockville, Maryland and, previously, for 20 years, with the Reactor and Nuclear Systems

Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, said: “So, at this point, I mean, you’re going to have a reactor that’s potentially stationed on the moon and operating for a decade. You know there’s no [nuclear waste] repository in America. There’s also no repository on the moon. And, so, it’s certainly a policy that needs to be examined. There’s always the possibility of removing it from the Moon at some point for disposal and disposing of it or doing some sort of disposal in place. So, I think it’s a really relevant question and something that certainly needs to be decided on the policy level. We can provide technical answers for that.”

Moderator King followed declaring: “Certainly in lunar you don’t have water, you don’t have wind. You don’t have anything that drives the motion of material and you don’t have an ecosystem that we have to worry about protecting but it is going to be a long-term concern.”

Asked by me in a question about that statement, King wrote back: “Specifically, the moon does not have an ecosystem. While there are what we might consider concerns is terms of leaving things pristine and or long-term human habitat, the moon is sterile and the worry about damaging in ecosystem is largely non-existent.”

And, Sebastian Corbisiero, senior technical advisor in the Nuclear Science and Technology Directorate at Idaho National Laboratory and the leader of the laboratory’s “Fission Surface Power” program, added in the webinar: “I don’t think anything has been officially decided on that. However, I will say that having a reactor on the Moon is less risky than having spent fuel in the vicinity of large population.”

About the webinar, Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, said: “I am reminded by the agents of nuclear power in space how the aerospace industry has viewed outer space during the 40 years I have been organizing on these issues. They've maintained that space is vast and limitless and has no real ecosystem or environment that we should be concerned about. So, their philosophy has essentially been 'full speed ahead'.”

“Now today,” Gagnon said, “NASA, the military, and some in the aerospace industry, are worriedly tracking the growing amount of space debris orbiting the Earth. They are beginning to talk about the 'Kessler syndrome' that predicts cascading collisions due to increasingly crowded orbits which could at some point make getting a rocket through the debris field encircling our planet nearly impossible.”

“So as the nuclear industry cavalierly undertakes their plan for nuclear-powered mining colonies on the Moon, Mars and other planetary bodies they easily brush off any concerns about impacts,” said Gagnon. “As they make plans to test nuclear reactor rocket engines just over our heads in Lower Earth Orbits (LEO) they discount any concerns of environmental impacts if the tests go wrong. They never talk about the Department of Energy laboratories where these nuclear devices are fabricated with a long history of radioactive contamination of workers, local water tables and air contamination.”

“The space nuclear industry is flying blind—blinded by its devotion to profit and power,” Gagnon declared. “Their hard hearts have no concern about the negative impacts they might create on Earth, to the people and environment, nor any long-term impacts their high-tech nuclear power 'visions' might have in space. Their vision is so myopic, so limited, so tunnel like, because their minds are closed to the idea that space is alive and is an environment that we humans who are on this tiny spinning orb called Earth live in. They are colonizers, much like the long-history of earth-bound colonizers, who have raped and pillaged our lovely planet home.”

 

The Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space (www.space4peace.org) founded 30 years ago, in 1992, at a conference in Washington, D.C. is the leading organization internationally challenging the weaponization and use of nuclear power in space. In its description of the August 4th webinar, the American Nuclear Society asserts: “For decades, nuclear energy has played a role, sometimes minor and sometimes major, in humanity's exploration and research of outer space. Many space experts, scientists, astronauts, and researchers believe that nuclear energy can fundamentally change how we live and work in extraterrestrial environments and that some missions, projects, and endeavors are nearly impossible without the involvement of nuclear technologies. As federal funding is being applied to nuclear projects for various space-based applications and opportunities, an expert panel will discuss how nuclear companies and researchers are poised to capitalize.”

A video recording of the webinar can also be viewed at https://www.ans.org/webinars/view-space2022/

Among the panelists was Michael Anness who, as biographies on the webinar website described, “leads the development new nuclear fuel products and services at Westinghouse Electric Company.” He has been a licensed nuclear reactor operator, it says. Anness spoke of space nuclear projects of Westinghouse Electric, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, including “microreactors” that would provide “fission surface power.” Anness said: “I’m kind of a fuel guy so I believe fuel is an enabling platform for space nuclear.”

Also on the panel was Kate Kelly, director for Space and Emerging programs at Lynchburg, Virginia-based BWXT Advanced Technologies and, previously, at BWX was “the Advanced Nuclear Systems Program Manager focused on the development of nuclear project to promote the company’s R&D interests in advanced manufacturing and nuclear thermal propulsion technologies.” She spoke about an “inflection point” on the use of nuclear power in space having arrived. Said Kelly: “Over the last several years there’s been this re-emerging interest and investment by the government in fission systems for in-space power and propulsion.”

The sixth participant in the webinar was Alex Gilbert who has “expertise in space mining, nuclear innovation, energy markets and climate policy,” says his biography on the webinar website. “As Director of Space & Planetary Regulation at Zeno Power [based in Washington, D.C.], Alex oversees regulatory approvals for space launch, maritime, and terrestrial applications of radioisotope power systems…He was lead author of the U.S. Advanced Nuclear Energy Strategy, which outlined how government and industry can establish U.S. leadership in next generation nuclear reactor markets.”

Gilbert said “we are at a unique moment. I call it a space opportunity.” “He said “we could actually see exponential growth. Right now the space economy is around $400 billion globally. By the middle of the century it could be $4 trillion.” This expansion is a result of factors including a “resurgence in science and exploration and defense activities…and commerce. That is what is driving the interest in space nuclear technologies.” The American Nuclear Society describes itself as comprised of 10,000 members dedicated to “exploring possibilities within the realm of nuclear science and technology.”

King recounted that “I’ve been in and around the space nuclear community for quite a while, ever since 1997, for about 25 years. I remember it was space nuclear that got me into nuclear,” and being told by a nuclear engineer advisor that “space nuclear is going to be the future.” 

My letter to the Secretary General of United Nations

 

 

 

Dear Secretary General Antonio Guterres,

I am writing with grave concern about the situation at the Zaporozhye nuclear plant in Ukraine.

I have been following this dangerous situation for many weeks. It is abundantly obvious to me that the US-installed Kiev government is doing the shelling of the nuclear plant.

Why would Russia want to contaminate the very region of Russian-ethnic citizens it is attempting to save from this out-of-control Kiev regime?

The fact that the Ukrainian plant personnel remain on their posts, and that Russia is trying to protect the plant from a disaster, indicates its good intentions in this matter.

I urge your offices to get the IAEA to the plant ASAP and you must publicly pin the blame for the shelling on the appropriate source - the Kiev regime that is clearly taking their marching orders from Washington.

Has the United Nations begun to also take their orders from the Biden administration? At this point one must surely wonder if that is the case as we face the possibility of a massive global disaster.

If you cannot perform your job appropriately, and protect the global population, then maybe it would be time for you to step aside and leave the post to someone more willing to speak truth to power.

The fate of much of humanity is at stake here.

In peace, 

Bruce K. Gagnon

Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space

Update:

 

Russians have announced that they have arrested two employees of the Zaporozhiie nuclear plant (one guard and one engineer!) who were providing the Ukrainians with targeting coordinates and strike correction. 

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

 

 

Wake up world! How can we avert a nuclear disaster in Ukraine?

    
By Ariel Ky

Russians are warning the West that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are shelling the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), and are planning an offensive tomorrow (August 19) that could cause a nuclear catastrophe. They are planning to blame this disaster on the Russians.

What a wicked plot! Of course, the Western spin media is presenting the opposite scenario, of the evil Russians bombing the nuclear power plant that they control. It boggles the mind to follow this kind of illogic.

First, you must understand that the Russians have held this nuclear power plant since the special military operation in Ukraine started in February, defending it from attack by Kiev’s forces. Ukrainian technical staff have continued to operate its six nuclear reactors. The Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant is located near the city of Energodar in southern Ukraine.

A UN Security Council held on August 11, 2022, has failed to deter ongoing bombardment by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s ambassador to the UNO, told the Security Council that Kiev’s “reckless” actions are pushing the world ever closer to a major nuclear disaster.

The site was shelled in early March, and before and after the meeting on July 20, with attacks intensifying this month, August 5, 7, 12, 14, 16 and 17, 2022. The attack on August 17 hit the cooling system and spent fuel storage at the Zaporozhe Power Plant. Ukrainian troops have also been shelling the adjacent city of Energodar in August, causing power outages and disruptions of water supply to the Zaporozhe Nuclear Power Plant.

“In the result of such attacks one reactor unit was disconnected from the electrical grid, triggering its emergency protection system and setting generators into operation to ensure power supply. There was also shelling in a nitrogen-oxygen station.”

IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi said that he was aware of reports of missiles flying over nuclear power plants in Ukraine and was checking to be "100% sure", but if confirmed it would be "extremely serious … I have been saying from the first day of this crisis that the physical integrity of nuclear facilities is an absolute must".

The international community knows that any attack on any type of nuclear power plant could lead to a regional and global disaster caused by radioactive contamination, such as happened with Chernoybl. If Zaporozhe gets hit by multiple launch rocket systems, Vladimir Kuznetsov, a former chief inspector of the USSR’s nuclear authority told the press, nuclear radiation could spread to nine countries. Dr. Vladimir Kozin added that could be eleven countries, depending on the direction of the wind.

Kozin further wrote, “On August 16, local government administration member Vladimir Rogov told Russian media that Ukrainian forces had fired multiple rockets directly at the coolant systems and nuclear waste storage site inside the facility. Since the storage site is out in the open, any hit would result in the release of nuclear waste ranging from dozens to hundreds of kilograms and lead to contamination of the area, the official explained.”

In order to stop these attacks, Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, and IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi must unequivocally demand that Kiev stop shelling Zaporozhe. Thus far, they have failed to do so, deliberately avoiding any confrontation with Zelensky as being responsible.

Ukrainian Armed Forces have also attacked the Kakhovskaya Hydroelectic Power Station (KHPS) located on the Russian territory proper that supplies electricity to Kakhovka Nuclear Power Plant, clearly aiming to destroy it by cutting off electricity to it.

What are the motives of the Zelensky regime in attempting to destroy energy infrastructure, exposing millions of people on the European continent to the danger of a nuclear cataclysm? The Russian Foreign Ministry has been analyzing this question.

Perhaps Zelensky was wielding a kind of nuclear terrorism against Europe and Russia. Or he and his U.S. collaborators intend to create a DMZ around the ZNPP that will be solely controlled by Ukraine, dislodging the Russians.

Moscow actually supports a DMZ zone, but says that it should mean a total ban on shelling by any nation, and not just in Ukraine, but also a ban on shelling nuclear power plants everywhere on the globe.

Today, August 18, 2022, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov made the following statement concerning Kiev’s plans to destroy Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP):

“On August 19, 2022 the Kiev regime is preparing another provocation at Zaporozhye NPP during the visit of UN Secretary-General António Guterres to Ukraine, as a result of which the Russian Federation will be blamed for creating a man-made disaster at the power plant. According to Russian intelligence, the 44th Artillery Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are planning to launch military strikes on Zaporozhye from firing positions in Nikopol. 

South Korea protest - stop U.S. war games

 

 

Protesters participate in a rally to demand the peace on the Korean peninsula in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Aug. 13, 2022. 

Thousands of protesters demanded that government suspend military cooperation with the United States and Japan and mitigate conflicts on the Korean Peninsula. 

The signs read "Stop the joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea."

 

Facing reality - not the war she thought it was

 

 

By John Mark Dougan

 

This is my most powerful interview yet. I took Maria, a fierce liberal, anti-war protester to the FRONT LINES of the war in the Donbass to see things for herself, to speak to the people for herself. 

This woman, with balls of steel, even walked with me through the streets of Svyatogorsk, with Ukrainian snipers just 200 meters away, to speak to civilians trapped in their basements and bring them food. 

How much of what she believed was right? Or wrong? 

This is an interview you must see to believe.

Training Nazis in Canada

 

Cold War Canada: Ongoing state support for East European émigré groups 

with deep fascist roots

By Richard Sanders (COAT)

On February 27, 2022, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland proudly tweeted this image below of her holding a fascist red-and-black banner at a rally against Russia's invasion to deNazify/demilitarize Ukraine. This Blood and Soil banner, at a protest of the gov't-created, proNATO Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) in Toronto, was the official battle flag of Stepan Bandera's Ukrainian Insurgent Army. 

Under this banner, and the "Slava Ukraini" slogan, Bandera's army aided the Holocaust with political- and ethnic-cleansing programs that killed countless Jews, Poles, Russians and Ukrainian communists. Bandera's Russophobic, antisemitic, white-power army assisted Nazi Germany for much of WWII. They even kept waging their terrorist campaigns against the Soviets until the early 1960s.

 

The Canadian government has funded and otherwise supported Banderite cult groups in this country since giving safe haven to many thousands of Nazi collaborators after WWII. Canada's Banderites are primarily represented by the League of Ukrainian Canadians (LUC), the Ukrainian Youth Assoc. and the UCC. The UCC, whose leadership has been dominated by LUC Banderites for decades, has groomed Freeland since at least 1990 when she was lionized by Ukrainian nationalists, the Canadian government, and corporate mass media after being identified as a "banderite enemy of the Soviet people" by the USSR government because she interfered in Soviet Ukraine's elections.

LUC, the UCC and other Canadian government-funded ethno-nationalist Ukrainian emigre groups still glorify Bandera and revere the veterans of his UPA, as well as the Nazi armed and led Waffen SS Galicia, as if they were "freedom fighters." Canadian government finances the right-wing Ukrainian diaspora's cultural centres, programs, parades and monuments which still shamelessly celebrate their fascist founders, leaders and war heroes.

See more here

30th anniversary of the Global Network

 

Comments from GN board members
 
The Global Network has a Board of Directors and Board of Advisers. Below are comments from some of them. 

• Who would think that 30 years of Keeping Space for Peace would go so fast? In that time I feel that the GN has created an international community of amazing people who have recognised the importance of the militarisation of space and the threats that it poses to us on Earth. Together, under the dedicated stewardship of Bruce Gagnon, we continue to educate, share information on the issues and speak truth to power. It is wonderful to work with so many people from around the world who share a vision of a space environment free from exploitation, corruption and war. ~ Dr. Dave Webb, Leeds, England

• Global Network has been an educational network about how space is used for the US´ military all around the world. It has also encouraged me to start to pay notice to how Sweden is deeply involved in the use of space. The satellite station - Esrange - in the North of Sweden is the world´s biggest downloading station from satellites. ~ Agneta Norberg, Stockholm, Sweden

• Congratulations on 30 years of work, and the struggle very much continues. Both the turning of space into a war zone in violation of the intent of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 and the push to, overhead, use nuclear power in space remain being pushed aggressively. The Global Network has been the leading organization internationally challenging these twin horrors. La Lucha Continua. ~ Karl Grossman, New York
  

• It's hard to believe our Global Network is now 30 years old, and we are still confronting the need to keep space for peace and keep it nuke-free. Only this week, one of our founding Board Members, Karl Grossman wrote of a terrifying conference he attended where mad scientists and their corporate enablers are plotting and planning an accelerated drive to pollute our heavens with toxic nuclear radiation that lasts for eons. Our Global Network has heroically been the first and most reliable source of information about how space is being used for war, and future plans for even greater savagery as well. Everything I know about the relationship between between the ground based missiles desecrating our planet to war plans from space, and why space weapons and land missiles are so interrelated, I learned from the Global Network. Congratulations for spreading the word and warning the world over this past third of a century! Hope in the next third of a century the good work of our Network can bring some peace to our planet. ~ Alice Slater, New York 
  

• I learnt about the role of war fighting in Space - namely the illegal conflict in Iraq. I attended quite a few GN conferences in America and also round the world - all so informative and fun. We discovered the link with Menwith Hill and that this US base was connected to the launch of the Space Based Infra Red System. The three important radomes making Menwith Hill a very significant US base. And all the time Bruce Gagnon and Dave Webb were working away to build up GN to this impressive and unique campaign which I am so pleased to be connected to. I have learnt a lot, increasingly overwhelmed by the waste of resources, noise issues and encouragement of conflicts between nations. Thank you GN but particularly to Bruce and Dave for the tireless work you do to keep us all up to date and then we spread the word. GN is needed more than ever. ~ Lindis Percy, England, Co-Founder of the Campaign of the Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases

• When ex-President George Bush Jr. announced about the missile defense project as well as the Nuclear Posture Review which targeted seven countries including Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, North Korea, Russia, China, in early 2000s, GN was one of a few organizations I could rely on spiritually, and mentally. I learned a lot from GN! I also found how GN peace activists are genuinely committed to peace and humanity. Jeju is one example. I can’t imagine how the struggle against the Jeju navy base could be so international without the friendship and solidarity by GN! I am really happy and grateful to to know about the GN and GN friends! The dedication by Bruce Gagnon and Dave Webb and all the GN friends to save the Earth and Space is really inspiring and touching! GN should be forever until the the day when the peace for space finally and truly comes! ~ Choi Sung-hee, Savejejunow.org, South Korea

• Three decades of standing for the Global Network in the era of militarization and commercialization of space is an achievement in itself. Though I am a recent addition to it, I could appreciate the noble cause of Global Network under the patronage of some highly motivated people. Much has been done over the years, but much more needs to be done, and the Global Network needs support of every right-minded person in this direction. Let this 75th year of Indian independence carry the message of freedom to all from the scourge of weapons and destruction. ~ Prof. (Dr.) Sandeepa Bhat B., West Bengal, India 

• I’m quite new to the GN community, but feel blessed to be connected with, and working alongside of a team of such caring and dedicated people, helping to steer civilization toward a saner and more viable future. ~ Kate Kheel, Maryland  

 

 

• Everything I learned about the weaponization of space I learned from the GN. I remember first meeting Bruce when someone invited him to speak here in Albuquerque as we were protesting a war profiteers meeting that involved space weapons. At the time the U.S. had gotten one of the Soviet space capsules and it was being used to promote future U.S. space activity. We suspected for war. Bruce put it all together for us and especially how our city was so important to the militarization of space. Thanks to the small GN we were able to see the larger picture of what was really going on. Thanks Bruce and all the folks who make up the GN today. Our work now has many opportunities to reach out and rally more and more people. It is so heartening to see members in way off places like South Korea and India. What a movement the GN has established. We will push on. ~ Bob Anderson, Albuquerque, NM 
  

• If Homo sapiens makes it another 100 years, a lot of credit will be due to groups like GN and people like Bruce Gagnon. They work tirelessly to keep the public informed. They keep cooperation and human decency alive while the military-industrial complex foments civil strife and animosity. ~ Christian Sorenson, Massachusetts 
  

• In 2002, Canadians learned that our national government was considering a request from the U.S. to partner on ballistic missile defence (BMD). Canadian peace activists were very wary of this request because we knew that the U.S. had recklessly withdrawn the year earlier from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. In early 2003, we began the Canadian Campaign to Oppose Missile Defence. I found the web site of the Global Network and sent an email. Bruce replied right away and said he would help. Bruce also offered to come to Canada to speak about the dangers of missile defence. Over the next two years, he spoke many times to audiences across the country. During our three-year national campaign, we held actions for Keep Space for Peace week and had many screenings of the film Arsenal of Hypocrisy: the Space Program & the Military Industrial Complex. In December 2004, President Bush came to Halifax, Nova Scotia and made a public appeal to Prime Minister Martin to join missile defence. Outside of the Bush event, we organized a massive protest against BMD and the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. With the Global Network’s help, we succeeded in preventing Canada from formally joining BMD. Nevertheless, Canadian peace activists recognize that though the Liberal government formally declared that Canada would not join BMD in 2005, our country continues to partner with the U.S. on space military operations through NORAD and NATO. Last month, the Department of National Defence announced a new Space Division under the Royal Canadian Air Force. The Canadian Voice of Women for Peace continues to be a member of the Global Network and I remain on the board. I greatly value the friendships that I have made over the past two decades – it is like a family to me! ~Tamara Lorincz, Canada

• In the 1990s, the Global Network introduced me to the US Space Command and the document explaining its Vision for 2020. The Space Command would militarize space to “protect US interests and investment” through “full spectrum dominance.” I remember carrying that document to talk everywhere we could and discussing its horrifying implications. These were conversations few others were having. Thirty years later, as we have stood beside each other in protest at space military installations in so many diverse parts of the world, I sit in awe and deep gratitude for the Global Network community. May the education, the inspiration, the community, and the resistance to the space military machine continue for years to come. May we continue to support each other. May the light the GN community carries forward in the world overwhelm the darkness of full spectrum dominance -- if I look hard enough, I can see its foundation crumbling…! ~ Mary Beth Sullivan, Maine 
  

• The Global Network is a classic prophetic voice in resistance to the madness of the militarization and colonization of space, the moon and other planets in our solar system. It is one of those kinds of voices that work tirelessly to be heard and understood while the powers of greed and dominance, the idolatrous worshipers of Mammon, turn a blind eye to our very survival as a species and that of our beloved planet. As a board member I have been accepted into and mentored by a sisterhood/brotherhood of dedicated, intelligent, hard-working and eloquent defenders of humanity and the planet, voices of sanity in an insane age. From Jeju Island to Guantanamo Bay, some of my proudest moments as an activist have been associated with the Global Network. Happy 30th anniversary to my most revered prophets. ~ Dennis Apel, California
  

• As a relative latecomer to the work of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, I continue to be impressed with the forward vision of this organization. Some claims about the militarization of space might have seemed farfetched in the past but are spot on in 2022. And other serious concerns such as space pollution and the contribution of space travel to climate change here on Earth have long been noted by members of GN. I'm grateful to be part of the organization and welcome the opportunities it offers to be in community with like-minded people around the planet. Thank you for your work and best wishes for the next 30 years! ~ Lisa Savage, Maine 
  

• It has been an honor to work with our boards and membership in the GN for these past 30 years. Our goal has always been to build an international constituency around space issues that could over time help the world grapple with the multi-dimensional realities of the 'space age'. We warmly thank all our members and leaders (living and passed on) for all they have done to build the GN. ~ Bruce Gagnon, Maine   
  

Resisting forced conscription in Ukraine

 

 

Videos like this are continuously coming out of Ukraine where Kiev's desperate attempts at forced conscription of men (18-60 years old) are being resisted by mothers and wives.

People know that the US-UK-NATO war project is failing and that Kiev troops are nothing but cannon fodder for the west. 

You don't have to understand the Ukrainian language to hear the outrage in the voices of the women as they try to chase away Kiev's 'recruiters' from their community.

One might say that the west's love affair with Zelensky just might not be universally shared by citizens inside of Ukraine.

But do we see any signs of the US-UK-NATO backing off this failed attempt to use Ukraine as a proxy to take down Russia? No, in fact the west keeps funneling money and weapons into the Kiev government's failing war.

I recently read that the US is now paying for Ukraine's health care system at the same time we in the US are repeatedly told that our nation can't afford 'Medicare for All'.

And we learned this week that Kiev forces used a British-made Brimstone missile in one of their recent attacks on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which is currently being guarded by the Russian military.

So yes the plan appears to be that the US-UK-NATO will continue the fight against Russia down to the last Ukrainian.  It also appears though that growing numbers of Ukrainian citizens have something to say about that.

Bruce

Sunday song