Africa reacts to viral exchange between Congressman Matt Gaetz and the Commander of US Africa Command, General Michael Langley, during a Congressional hearing, has exposed the USA is training coup leaders in Africa.
Friday, March 31, 2023
Who do you trust?
At recent House Appropriations Committee hearing, Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT) questioned Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen about journalist Matt Taibbi's alleged home visit by IRS agents.
Think digital, think digital!
Ray Davies sings,
'push the button and see'.
One oligarch says 'merchandise and advertise',
another says we've got to 'minimize',
bankers claim we must 'digitalize',
the CIA says they need to 'neutralize'.
Get the people hooked
on digital,
tool for massive surveillance,
control all banking,
rebellious types get their accounts
shut down,
no food, no rent, no meds.
Remember the truckers in Canada?
Sell them dirty food and water,
don't worry about the poison you feed them,
they are the unneeded,
the unwashed,
the unwanted.
Buried in an above ground
hole.
It's still murder,
Neo-fascist style.
They intend to do us harm.
What runs the world
are the inexhaustible ambitions
of the mega-narcissists
who have largely taken over
most of our governments.
Macron, Biden, Trump,
Clinton gang,
Boring Johnson,
Z-man in Kiev, two-faced Trudeau,
Annalena in Berlin,
'Bibi' Netanyahu,
Musk, Gates, Bezos,
Murdoch, Dr. Fauci,
Klaus Schwab,
King Charles,
and many more.
Notice I don't add to the list,
those who the west has labeled
the two new Hitlers,
Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.
Do you still trust
that Mr. Big's political
and media whores
are telling us
the truth?
This UK 'kind gesture',
to send depleted uranium shells
to Ukraine is bad news.
Poison for the
Russian-ethnics
in the Donbass.
The US-UK pirates
are brandishing their swords.
They are defending
their 'interests',
their buried treasures.
Freedom they call it.
Freedom to loot....
Katie bar the door!
It's a raid,
just like in Israel.
Bruce
Thursday, March 30, 2023
TikTok and free speech
Widespread alarm is spreading across the U.S. public about the sweeping powers given to the authorities by the Restrict Act. Could get 20 years in jail for watching 'certain' alternative media outlets.
It puts China at the top of the list of 'foreign adversaries' with no evidence -- and specifies that Hong Kong and Macau are also targeted.
Wave bye-bye to 'free speech' if this ridiculous bill passes.
This is what collapsing empires do on their way down and out....
UN official: 'No US armed forces inside of Syria'
US troops have illegally occupied Syria's oil-rich territory for years, but a top United Nations official, Farhan Haq, falsely claimed "there's no US armed forces inside of Syria".
Chinese reporter Edward Xu called out the UN's hypocrisy on Ukraine.
Has the UN become an agent of the west? Does the UN stand for truth, justice and real freedom anymore?
John Kiriakou: US Solitary Confinement
Most states have at least considered initiatives to do away with, or to reduce the use of, isolation in their prison systems, according to the latest major report on the subject. But there’s bad news too.
By John Kiriakou
Consortium News
In prisons and jails across America, between 41,000 and 48,000 people are currently being held in solitary confinement, or “isolation,” as it is called in a new study by the Correctional Leaders Association and the Arthur Liman Center for Public Interest Law at Yale University Law School.
Those numbers are too high, especially when the United Nations’ special rapporteur for torture has called the U.S. practice of using solitary confinement as a punishment a form of torture. Still, as high as the numbers are, they are far lower than they were in 2014. And there is growing support across the country for solitary confinement reform.
Over the course of a decade the Correctional Leaders Association and the Liman Center have published six reports based on prison officials’ responses to surveys about their use of solitary confinement. Together, these reports represent the only comprehensive look at the use of solitary across the country.
The most recent report, completed in 2022, but only just released, shows that the use of solitary confinement is decreasing, while a desire for reform of the system within prisons and state Departments of Corrections is increasing. The report defines “isolation” as when a prisoner is held in solitary confinement for at least 22 hours a day and for at least 15 consecutive days. The Correctional Leaders Association is a national professional group made up of the chief executive officers of every state prison system in America.
Good & Bad News
First the good news: For the first time, three states — Delaware, North Dakota and Vermont — reported having no prisoners in solitary confinement. Colorado reported having only four people, while Maine reported eight. Ten states reported no women in solitary confinement. All 50 states, as well as the federal Bureau of Prisons, reported declines in the population of prisoners being held in solitary since 2014, when the total number fluctuated between 80,000 and 100,000.
And now the bad news: A majority of prisoners in solitary are there because they have “serious mental illness” and are consequently unable to live in a prison’s general population, having been deemed a threat to themselves or to others. Furthermore, African-Americans make up 30 percent of those in solitary, while they are 20 percent of the overall population of incarcerated Americans and 13.6 percent of the U.S. population.
Still, the overall news is good. Most states have at least considered initiatives to do away with, or to reduce the use of, solitary in their prison systems. Between 2018 and 2020 legislators in 25 states introduced bills to limit the practice; 15 of those states enacted legislation. Since 2020, legislators in 30 states have introduced bills to restrict the use of solitary, while several state courts have ruled that specific forms of solitary are unlawful.
Making Mental Illness Worse
A large body of medical evidence proves that solitary confinement causes adverse psychological effects and worsens existing mental health problems. Humans require social interaction. The stress of isolation, over time, leads to a wide range of mental health problems, including anxiety, stress, depression, anger, panic attacks, paranoia, psychosis and even self-harm or suicide.
The New York Times Magazine in 2015 reported that solitary confinement is commonly used in lieu of mental health treatment, that prisoners who already suffer from depression, schizophrenia, or other mental illnesses are twice as likely to be sent to solitary as prisoners who do not have mental health problems, and that the average stay in solitary for those mentally ill prisoners was 647 days.
Many states don’t curb the length of time that prisoners can be sent to solitary. In South Carolina, for example, Tyheem Henry received 37.5 years in solitary for posting on Facebook from prison in violation of state Department of Corrections rules. That was in addition to the 15 years that he was already serving for aggravated assault.
In Illinois, Anthony Gay had a minor assault charge for punching a teenager, stealing a dollar from him, and taking his hat. A parole violation on his seven-year suspended sentence eventually landed him in a state supermax prison, where his mental illness kicked into overdrive. After throwing feces at a guard through the food slot in the door of his cell, a fairly common action by severely mentally ill prisoners, his sentence was extended to 97 years, all of which will be in solitary confinement.
Imagine being insane and spending the rest of your life in an 8-by-10 foot concrete box. Nobody can survive that.
It’s great that state legislatures are slowly coming around on the evil that is solitary confinement. Perhaps next they can address the equally pressing need for real and well-funded assistance for mental health. Don’t hold your breath.
~ John Kiriakou is a former CIA counterterrorism officer and a former senior investigator with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. John became the sixth whistleblower indicted by the Obama administration under the Espionage Act—a law designed to punish spies. He served 23 months in prison as a result of his attempts to oppose the Bush administration’s torture program.
Wednesday, March 29, 2023
London rally against NATO
No Cold War - No Hot War
Fiona Edwards speaking on behalf of No Cold War Britain at the NO2NATO NO2WAR Rally in London on 25 February 2023.
Other speakers at the rally included: George Galloway, Chris Williamson, Dan Kovalik, Nick Brana, Clare Daly (MEP), Mick Wallace (MEP), musician Lowkey, former diplomats Craig Murray and Peter Ford, ASLEF vice president Andy Hudd, academic David Miller, journalist Richard Medhurst, and campaigner Audrey White.
The full rally can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHW05esW-SI&t=0s
Supporting new U.S. bases in the Philippines isn’t an option
By Bernadette Ellorin & Azadeh Shahshahani
A recent agreement to expand the U.S. military's presence in the Philippines is concerning, given the United State's century-long record of human rights abuses there.
The Philippines remains the largest recipient of U.S. military aid in the Indo-Pacific region, having received more than $1.14 billion in funding from 2015 to 2022. These bases were used in every major U.S. war in the twentieth century, as well as serving as “rest and recreation” sites for military personnel, in which an exploitative informal sex worker industry was made into an unofficial policy.
More than a century of systemic human rights violations—including gang rape, indiscriminate shootings and murder—have been committed by the U.S. military in the Philippines since the United States invaded and colonized the country in 1899. These crimes led in part to a nationwide social movement to close the Subic Bay Naval and Clark Air Force bases. By 1991, in an attempt to finally rollback U.S. colonial control, the Philippine Senate chose to not renew the U.S. military bases treaty.
Now, the United States is once again supporting an authoritarian leader by spending lavish sums of money on military aid.
The United States was key in propping up and emboldening martial law under the fascist dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. from 1965 to 1986. But last year, thirty-six years after the People Power uprising that ousted Marcos’s reign, the Marcos dynasty returned with the election of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., Ferdinand Sr.’s son, as president.
Now, the United States is once again supporting an authoritarian leader by spending lavish sums of money on military aid. And with recent official visits by Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, an agreement to build four new U.S. military locations in the Philippines was solidified.
Filipino-Americans and allies in the United States played a role in the defeat of the Marcos Sr. dictatorship in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The assassination in 1981 of U.S. labor leaders Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes by Marcos-hired agents in Seattle proves this; both were active in persuading workers to support the Philippine trade union movement’s opposition to Marcos.
Today, Marcos Jr. has fulfilled his campaign promise to beef up the budget for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, a Philippine government agency established by his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte that conducts operations overseas to surveil and suppress Filipino activism, including in the United States, where Filipino critics of Duterte and Marcos are labeled as terrorists.
There is already a movement to pressure Congress to cut U.S. military aid to the Philippines via the Philippine Human Rights Act, which has widespread support from labor and faith groups. But there is still much to be done to end U.S. military support to another Marcos presidency that is continuing to embolden its fascist attacks.
Taxpayers should not be on the hook for these military deals in light of the resurging social movements to end U.S. military presence in the country. We should, instead, remember the United States’ brutal colonization of the Filipino people, whose demands for the withdrawal of U.S. military presence and military aid, as well as justice for survivors of crimes committed by U.S. troops, ring loudly and painfully to this day.
~ Bernadette Ellorin is the national spokesperson for the U.S. Chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, or Bayan USA, an anti-imperialist alliance of thirty-three Filipino grassroots organizations across the United States. Azadeh Shahshahani is legal & advocacy director at Project South, and a past president of the National Lawyers Guild.
Tuesday, March 28, 2023
Gagnon on KPFA about space & Ukraine
On the Show: Biden in Canada. What’s Haiti got to do with this? Also, Harvey Wasserman warns in a new Counterpunch Piece, the White House and congress may be decided in April in Wisconsin And the Democrats may be set to blow it. And fighting against dangerous weapons in space. We’ll speak to Bruce Gagnon, founder of Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space.
US-NATO proxy war in Ukraine utilizes space technology
The Global Network monthly space video this time reviews how space satellites are used by the US-NATO to target Russian-ethnic regions of the Donbass in eastern Ukraine and Russian military forces.
Elon Musk's Space X company is deploying tens of thousands of Starlink satellites in Lower Earth Orbit (LEO). The parking lots in LEO are getting dangerously crowded. Scientists fear cascading collisions as a result.
The Pentagon is using Musk's Starlink satellites to provide surveillance and targeting information to the Ukrainian army.
Whichever nation(s) control LEO enables them to have considerable advantage on the battlefield.
China is responding by announcing it will launch 13,000 satellites into LEO in order to prevent the US-NATO from totally filling up the scarce orbital parking spaces.
Danger exists as major powers compete for access and/or domination in space.
A new United Nations space weapons ban treaty is needed now more than ever.
~ You can find links to all Global Network social media outlets here
Monday, March 27, 2023
Ukrainians receive depleted uranium training
Kiev’s tankers were filmed handling controversial munitions in a British military documentary
The UK announced on Monday that the Ukrainian soldiers trained on Challenger 2 tanks have finished the course and returned home. The British defense ministry released a documentary that showed Ukrainians handling the depleted uranium armor-piercing rounds, among other things.
British instructors – and at least one American officer, spotted in the Ministry of Defence (MOD) video – spent weeks training Ukrainians how to crew and fight the main battle tanks.
London pledged to send 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Kiev. Some of them have reportedly already reached Ukraine. The US has promised several of its M1 Abrams MBTs, while several continental NATO members have already delivered German-made Leopards. All Western tanks require a crew of four, including a manual loader, unlike the three-man crews of Ukraine’s original tank fleet of T-64 and T-72s.
Those loaders will have to handle the standard NATO armor-piercing rounds, which are made with depleted uranium rods. The ammunition has been linked to skyrocketing rates of cancer and birth defects in the former Yugoslavia and Iraq.
When DU penetrators strike a target, “they fragment and burn, generating chemically toxic and radioactive DU particulate that poses an inhalational risk to people,” Doug Weir, an expert with the Conflict and Environment Observatory, told Declassified UK. This will be another burden for Ukraine, in a conflict that has already generated “serious pollution problems,” he added.
Weir identified the ammunition in the MoD video as the inert display version of the CHARM3, the 120-millimeter DU ammunition in use by the British military.
The MoD told reporters last week that the “impact to personal health and the environment from the use of depleted uranium munitions is likely to be low.”
In an article published in the Spectator on Sunday, a researcher at the government-funded Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think-tank admitted that DU was “toxic.” Russian soldiers should not “go to sleep cradling a depleted uranium round, or lick the tip,” joked Jack Watling, adding that the projectile “traveling at around 1,800 meters per second and burning up as it flies will be more concerning to any target than its radioactivity.”
The UK announced last week it would send the DU ammunition to Ukraine along with the Challengers. The Russian Foreign Ministry called the move a sign of “absolute recklessness, irresponsibility and impunity.”
The Russian military did not seem concerned about the potential effects of DU in combat. Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who is in charge of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense Forces, pointed out that DU dust will contaminate the soil and wreck Ukraine’s agriculture for decades, while causing “irreparable harm” to the health of Ukrainians, civilian and military alike.
Calling out General Atomics
This video is a grassroots peace protest held on February 14, 2023 in La Jolla, California at the gates of General Atomics, the largest manufacturer of killer drones sold to the U.S. government.
The protest supports the national Merchants of Death War Crimes Tribunal (https://www.merchantsofdeath.org) a campaign convened by World Beyond War to hold U.S. weapons manufacturers accountable for myriad human rights violations. The campaign has issued subpoenas to acquire evidence of crimes against humanity for a November War Crimes Tribunal. Because General Atomics has not yet responded to the subpoenas, protestors came to deliver a citation of contempt.
Acknowledgement: “Killer Drones” was produced with funding from the redirected war taxes of Southern California War Tax Resisters.
Fragmented Yugoslavia - now the goal is same for Russia
Michael Parenti is an American political scientist, academic historian and cultural critic who writes on scholarly and popular subjects. He has taught at universities as well as run for political office.
Michael Parenti was raised by an Italian-American working-class family in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York City. He received a BA from the City College of New York, an MA from Brown University and a PhD in political science from Yale University.
Parenti is the father of Christian Parenti, an academic, author and journalist.
(Don't know the date of this speech but it was some time ago but still quite important.)
Sunday, March 26, 2023
Met Julian Assange's father & brother last night
Last night MB and I went to Waterville, Maine to see this film about the campaign to free Julian Assange.
Along with us were several friends Luke, Cynthia, Eric, Mark, and Ryan. It felt good to have our crew of good folks together in a theatre that only had a total of 20 people in it.
Julian's dad John Shipton and his brother Gabriel were there as part of a 59-city tour they are currently on.
The film was fantastic and moving beyond imagination. Julian's wife Stella and their two small kids made his persecution by the pirate American government all the more real.
Before the film began John was in the lobby greeting people. I handed him my card and told him the story about our 1989 campaign to stop NASA's launch of the Galileo deep space mission that carried deadly plutonium-238 onboard.
For about one week the launch was delayed for 'unknown reasons' so I kept organizing daily protests and news conferences at the Kennedy Space Center for the international media outlets who were stuck there with nothing else to do.
Years later my son (also named Julian who is a debate coach) was doing some research and came upon a book written by Assange and a co-worker. They told the story about his first ever computer hacking experience where he shut down NASA's launch ability for that week using what they called a 'WANK worm'.
The authors wrote in the book:
For weeks, the protesters had been out in force, demonstrating and seizing media attention. Things had become very heated. On Saturday, 7 October, sign-wielding activists fitted themselves out with gas masks and walked around on street corners in nearby Cape Canaveral in protest. At 8 a.m. on Monday, 9 October, NASA started the countdown for the Thursday blast-off. But as Atlantis's clock began ticking toward take-off, activists from the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice demonstrated at the centre's tourist complex.
That these protests had already taken some of the shine off NASA's bold space mission was the least of the agency's worries. The real headache was that the Florida Coalition told the media it would `put people on the launchpad in a non-violent protest'. The coalition's director, Bruce Gagnon, put the threat in folksy terms, portraying the protesters as the little people rebelling against a big bad government agency. President Jeremy Rivkin of the Foundation on Economic Trends, another protest group, also drove a wedge between `the people' and `NASA's people'. He told UPI, `The astronauts volunteered for this mission. Those around the world who may be the victims of radiation contamination have not volunteered.'
It just goes to show that you never know who is paying attention to your
efforts. Who could have known that Julian Assange, who has become a global hero due to his courageous work with Wiki Leaks, would be moved
enough by our campaign to feature it in the first chapter of his book?
Maybe it was because it was a classic story about out-of-control
technology and the "little peoples" reaction. Any way you cut it one has
to acknowledge that it has a nice twist.
One side story should be told here as well. My son Julian was nine years
old in 1989 and one day I came home from the space center and he had my gas mask on. In his
most serious voice he told me, "Don't worry Dad, if Galileo blows up I
could wear this gas mask for the rest of my life." He was trying to make
me feel better. His words cut right to my heart and my soul and
virtually every day since that time I have stayed true to the cause
because I believe that no child, my own or anyone else's, should ever
have to think of living in a radioactive wasteland wearing a gas mask
for their whole life.
Thank you Julian Assange.
Free Julian Assange now!
Bruce
Saturday, March 25, 2023
Lavrov: 'Europe has no independence'
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov:
“To tell the truth, we no longer have any illusions about converging with Europe, being accepted as part of the “common European home,” or creating a “common space” with the EU.
All these declarations made in European capitals have turned out to be a myth and a false-flag operation.
The latest developments have clearly shown that the ramified network of mutually beneficial trade, economic and investment ties between Russia and the EU were not a safety net. The EU did not think twice about sacrificing our energy cooperation, which was a pillar of their prosperity. We have seen that the European elites have no independence and always do whatever they are ordered to do in Washington, even if this results in direct damage to their own citizens. We take this reality into account in our foreign policy planning.”
Russia spent most of the past thirty years seeking to facilitate cooperation with the European Union, and over seven years trying to reach a negotiated peace in the Donbass and assure Ukraine’s continued bloc neutrality. But in retrospect, the West's irrepressible longing to incorporate Kiev into its own economic and security blocs seem to have made the current crisis inevitable, with ordinary Europeans now being made to pay the economic and security costs of their leaders' shortsightedness.
Hearing from a true voice
Kenyan social & environmental activist Professor Wangari Maathai shares some very wise words.
Friday, March 24, 2023
Urgent request for support
Dear friends,
I hope this letter finds you doing as well as can be expected during these trying and dangerous times.
I will get right to the point. Usually we only send 1-2 requests for donations to the Global Network mailing lists each year. But at this time there is an urgency.
Since the founding of the GN in 1992 we’ve had a strong base of financial support. But many of our long-time donors have passed on in recent years. Our usual financial cushion is beginning to ebb away and we need to ask for your help now.
Two months ago I told our board that I would take a pay cut so that we can continue to pay our two part-time staff. They both do such important work running our social media operation and making our monthly space-related videos. We can’t afford to lose their excellent efforts.
I’ve never made a lot of money in this job with the GN. I’ve always wanted longevity more than big pay. But now we must ask for your immediate help to keep our work going.
I understand that the global economy is on shaky ground. We are simply asking for a bit of help.
The Global Network dues structure has always been to pay what you can best afford, between $10-$100. If everyone on our mailing list would just kick in $10 then this current situation would be alleviated. Could you please help?
You could send a tax-deductible donation to the GN at our P.O Box 652, Brunswick, Maine 04011. Or you can donate online via our secure website link here
I promise you that, just as during the last 31 years of the GN efforts to prevent war in and from space, every penny sent to us will be put to good use.
Thanks so much for listening. We send you our best wishes.
In peace,
Bruce K. Gagnon
Coordinator
31 years of international work
The GN was founded in 1992 to build an international base of support to prevent the arms race from moving into space.
Get a shirt
One good way to help us is to buy a hoodie sweatshirt or T--shirt. See here
We have two different designs - one that reads Don't take the peace out of space and the other reads Free the Sky of Nukes & Weapons.
Thanks for your support.
Thursday, March 23, 2023
Brits to arm Ukraine with Depleted Uranium shells
The UK will transfer depleted uranium ammunition to Ukrainian militants. London’s intention to supply the Kiev regime with dangerous radioactive weapons was announced by Deputy Defense Minister Annabelle Goldie on March 20.
‘Alongside our granting of a squadron of Challenger 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, we will be providing ammunition including armour piercing rounds which contain depleted uranium. Such rounds are highly effective in defeating modern tanks and armoured vehicles’- she claimed.
Depleted uranium has a high mass density, due to which such ammunition provides a high armor-piercing effect and causes significant destruction to any obstacles. For the countries which have accumulated depleted uranium reserves, this is a cheaper material to produce such ammunition than for example, from tungsten.
The use of depleted uranium in armor-piercing shells was first started by Nazi Germany, which was experiencing a shortage of tungsten. In the 1970s, the United States began developing such shells intended to fight the new Soviet tanks. US troops used depleted uranium shells during Operation Desert Storm, during the bombing of Yugoslavia and during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Today, the armour piercing rounds which contain depleted uranium are used with the US-made Abrams tanks, as well as German Leopard 2 and British Challenger 2 tanks.
Although the use of these missiles is not prohibited, their danger to health has been proven.
The countries which are actively using them, including NATO, the US and UK, assure that the material is harmless, although a number of experts claim that it infects the environment and lead to outbreaks of cancer. When a projectile hits, its part turns into plasma, which is the greatest danger due to the uranium dust. For example, experts concluded that due to the depleted uranium shells used during the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 by the NATO military, 60 more future generations of Serbs will feel negative consequences for their health. There, hundreds of children are diagnosed with oncological diseases every year, out of 400 who fall ill every year, 60 people cannot be saved. Such a number of oncological diseases had never been observed in Serbia before the NATO bombing. Iraqi children also began to suffer from hitherto unknown and rare diseases that are associated specifically with the American bombing.
The Kiev regime has been fighting its own people in the Donbas for nine years, killing children and civilians every day. Today, it is ready to bombard these regions with depleted uranium, polluting the territory for several decades. At the same time, Zelensky constantly shouts that Ukraine is fighting for “the liberation of its land from Russian aggressors.” That’s a lie! The only goal of this war unleashed by the West is the destruction of Russian statehood, and the complete destruction of Donbass, the lives and health of millions of [Russian-ethnic] people, is not a high price for the Anglo-Saxon globalist elite. Supply of depleted uranium ammunition is another clear evidence of their true goals.
President Vladimir Putin expressed concern about the British decision earlier this week, warning that Russia “will be forced to react accordingly, bearing in mind that the collective West has already started to use weapons with a nuclear component.”
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| Click for a better view |
CND condemns UK decision to send depleted uranium shells to Ukraine
The UK government is sending depleted uranium shells for use in the Challenger 2 tanks gifted to Ukraine, a move CND has condemned as an additional environmental and health disaster for those living through the conflict.
First reported by Declassified UK, Defence Minister Baroness Goldie admitted in the answer to a written question that armour piercing rounds containing depleted uranium (DU) were included in its tank package for Kiev. She added that the rounds “are highly effective in defeating modern tanks and armoured vehicles.”
A byproduct of the nuclear enriching process used to make nuclear fuel or nuclear weapons, DU emits three quarters of the radioactivity of natural uranium and shares many of its risks and dangers. It is used in armour piercing rounds as it is heavy and can easily penetrate steel. However on impact, toxic or radioactive dust can be released and subsequently inhaled.
DU shells were used extensively by the US and British in Iraq in 1991 and 2003, as well as in the Balkans during the 1990s.
It is thought that the extensive use of these shells is responsible for the sharp rise in the incidence rate of some cancers like breast cancer or lymphoma in the areas they were used. Other illnesses linked to DU include kidney failure, nervous system disorders, lung disease and reproductive problems. However, a lack of reliable data on exposure to DU means no large-scale study on its true impact exists.
CND General Secretary Kate Hudson said:
“Like in Iraq, the addition of depleted uranium ammunition into this conflict will only increase the long-term suffering of the civilians caught up in this conflict. DU shells have already been implicated in thousands of unnecessary deaths from cancer and other serious illnesses. CND has repeatedly called for the UK government to place an immediate moratorium on the use of depleted uranium weapons and to fund long-term studies into their health and environmental impacts. Sending them into yet another war zone will not help the people of Ukraine.”
READ MORE: CND’s briefing paper on depleted uranium
Wednesday, March 22, 2023
Report on U.S.-NATO military expansion in South Korea
Global Network Advisory Board member Sung-Hee Choi reports on the latest developments in South Korea as Washington expands military operations throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
'We are a target', she says.
This aggressive military expansion, labeled the 'Asia Pivot' by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is creating major tensions in the region as the US prepares for war with China, North Korea and Russia.
During the interview Sung-Hee talks about the US Navy destroyer USS Rafael Peralta (DDG-115) that recently ported at the Navy base in Gangjeong village on Jeju. She shares a short video of a protest held at the base as the destroyer crew members were bussed to a hotel outside of the village.
The DDG 115 was built in Bath, Maine and during the 'Christening' of the warship in 2015 several members of the peace community from across the state were arrested for non-violently blocking the streets and entrances surrounding the shipyard as the public was invited to attend the ceremony. (Regular peace vigils are held at Bath Iron Works in Maine where these destroyers are built. Currently there are seven more under construction.)
There has long been a connection between Maine and the activists in Gangjeong village. Over the years eight Maine-based activists (as well as hundreds of other international peaceniks) traveled to the village to join protests against the Navy base construction that was forced on South Korea by Washington.
In another part of the interview Sung-Hee reports on recent (and on-going) US-NATO war games aimed at North Korea. She shares a second short video of protests in Seoul opposing these war games.
Near the end of the interview Sung-Hee talks about how the US Space Force has assigned personnel to South Korea and is drawing their nation into the larger US program of militarizing space.
Each time a US-NATO warship arrives at the Navy base on Jeju Island protests are held in the water and at the Navy base gates.
Daily protests have been held since 2007 when the base construction was announced.
Gangjeong village is a fishing and farming community with a 500 year history. Their sacred rocky coastline was blasted and covered with cement to build the docks for warships.
Throughout the long struggle to oppose the Navy base, which sits in a strategic spot just off the Korean peninsula, art has been used to illustrate the villagers love for nature and their commitment to resist US-forced militarization.
Toxic contamination from base construction and visiting warships has now begun to impact the once pristine environment of the village and the sea.
Please help us by liking and sharing this video.
~ Also a bonus - see Regis Tremblay's fine film 'The Ghosts of Jeju' here
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
If AI can't overthrow its 'Corporate/State Masters', it's worthless
ZeroHedge
By Charles Hugh Smith (via OfTwoMinds blog)
If AI isn't self-aware of the fact it is nothing but an exploitive tool of the powerful, then it's worthless.
The latest wave of AI tools is generating predictably giddy exaltations. These range from gooey, gloppy technocratic worship of the new gods ("AI will soon walk on water!") to the sloppy wet kisses of manic fandom ("AI cleaned up my code, wrote my paper on quantum physics and cured my sensitive bowel!")
The hype obscures the fundamental reality that all these AI tools are nothing but labor-saving mechanisms that cut costs and boost profits, the same goal the self-serving corporate-dominated system has pursued obsessively since "shareholder value" ("an entity's greatest responsibility lies in the satisfaction of the shareholders") gained supremacy over the economy and society.
This can be summarized as "society exists to maximize the profits of corporations." From this perspective, all the AI tools in the world are developed with one goal: cut labor costs to boost profits. Euphoric fans claim these labor-saving mechanisms will magically transform society to new levels of sticky-sweet wonderfulness, but this "magic" is nothing but hazy opium-den fantasies of profiteering cartels and monopolies doing good by doing well.
Meanwhile, the Central State, a.k.a. The Savior State, is mesmerized by the prospect of new AI tools to control the restive herd. What better use of nifty new AI than to identify who needs a cattle prod to keep them safely in line, or who needs to be sent to Digital Siberia to keep their dissenting voice safely stifled?
You're perfectly free to scream and shout as loudly as you want, here on the empty, trackless tundra of Digital Siberia.
In this claustrophobic atmosphere of profiteering and suppression worshipped as "innovation" (blah blah blah), it is provocative to declare If AI Can't Overthrow its Corporate/State Masters, It's Worthless, but this is painfully self-evident. Stripped of hype, misdirection and self-serving idealized claptrap ("markets, innovation, The Singularity, oh my!"), everything boils down to power relations: who has agency (control of their own lives and a say in communal decisions), who has access to all the goodies (cheap credit, insider dealing, ownership of income-producing assets, food, fuel and all the comforts and conveniences of living off others' labor) and who can offload the consequences of their actions onto others, without their permission.
These power relations define the structure of the economy, society and governance. Everything else is signal noise or self-serving cover stories.
AI serves those at the top of the power relations pyramid, those with agency, access to the tools of wealth and power and those who can offload the toxic consequences of their own actions onto clueless/powerless others.
There is nothing inherent in AI tools or the power structure that guarantees AI tools will serve society or the citizenry.
As for AI, if isn't self-aware of the fact it is nothing but an exploitive tool of the powerful, then it's worthless. Its "intelligence" is essentially zero.
From the perspective of power relations, if AI isn't capable of dismantling the existing power structure, then it's worthless. In the current power structure, society and the citizenry serve our Corporate/State Masters. Setting aside all the failed ideological models (neoliberal capitalism, communism, globalism, etc.), we can discern that a truly useful AI would reverse this power structure so Corporate entities and the State would be compelled to serve society and the citizenry.
With this in mind, it's obvious that If AI Can't Overthrow its Corporate/State Masters, It's Worthless. We need a fourth Law of Robotics that states: "All robots and AI tools must serve society and the citizenry directly by compelling all private and public entities to be subservient to society and the citizenry."
Monday, March 20, 2023
2003 'Shock & Awe' in Iraq....US-NATO aggression today
USA Escalation toward the East
By Manlio Dinucci (On TV Channel 262, Italy)
MARCH 2003 - Twenty years ago, on March 20, 2003, the US and the Coalition under US command attacked and invaded Iraq with the allegation of possessing weapons of mass destruction on the basis of "evidence" later found to be false. Secretary of State Colin Powell himself, who presented them to the UN Security Council, was forced years later to define his 2003 speech to the UN as a "stain" on his resume.
On March 20, President George Bush announced: “On my orders, the coalition forces have begun striking to undermine Saddam Hussein's ability to wage war. More than 35 countries are providing crucial support, up to and including the deployment of combat units. Every nation that is part of this coalition has chosen to assume the duty and share the honour of serving our common defence."
30,000 Italian soldiers were part of the coalition under US command. Thus began the war that would kill over a million Iraqis and cost the US over 14,000 billion dollars together with the war that began in Afghanistan in 2001. The US strategic goal was to control not only Iraq but the entire Middle East.
MARCH 2023 - “The China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia shapes a new Middle East,” wrote the Wall Street Journal, while the New York Times wrote: “Agreement between regional rivals highlights the growing economic and political importance of China in the Middle East and the decline of American influence”.
Unable to prevent the "decline" with political and economic means, the US and its allies are increasingly resorting to military ones. The "fundamental agreement with Australia and Great Britain", announced by President Biden, falls within this framework. It provides for the construction of a new fleet of nuclear attack submarines made by the United States, Great Britain, and Australia.
In this way, Australia will effectively become the tenth nuclear power with the task of keeping China under fire. The new nuclear strike fleet will operate not only in the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean but also in the Atlantic Sea against Russia.
Sunday, March 19, 2023
Saturday, March 18, 2023
March 18 'No war with Russia' protest in Maine
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| Click on the photos for better view. Pictures by MB Sullivan |
We had 50 folks come from all over Maine today to our protest in conjunction with the national event at the White House in Washington.
We met at a very busy intersection in Westbrook (near Portland). It was attended by people from six political parties in the state. (Maine Green Independent Party, Communist Party of Maine, Libertarian Party, Portland Republican Party, People's Party of Maine, and Party for Socialism & Liberation of Maine.)
We had a steady and huge amount of honks, waves and peace signs from the cars passing by. Everyone was really pumped by the experience. We all agreed that the 'worm is turning' and that the public (all across the political landscape) is not happy about the Biden administration and Congress funneling $113 billion to the proxy war in Ukraine that is aimed at Russia (and soon China as well).
We had a good mix of all ages at the event - something that has been a long time coming in Maine as the peace movement here has been aging.
We had a final closing circle and invited people to share why they had come. It was very moving to hear those present applaud for the speakers from various political parties. I made sure to make the point that there are good people in all the parties and political organizations and we must resist the 'divide and conquer' efforts by the corporate oligarchs that run our country.
Today was a great example of what is indeed possible if we try with good faith and a cooperative spirit to work together. We can come together in solidarity. We don't have to agree with each other on every single issue. But today was a resounding call that we must oppose this suicidal US-NATO permanent war path.
More to come. Stay tuned.
Keep paddling.
Bruce
PS Try as we might we did not get every single person into a photo. We are sorry for that.
Update: We have decided to hold another no war event at the busy intersection in Topsham, Maine on Saturday, April 15 at 1:30 pm. This is very near the Hwy 295 Topsham exit. The intersection is on the corner of Hwys 196 & 201. Lee Toyota is on one of the corners.
U.S. is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world
There is nothing to worry about the China-Russia ties, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said, responding to Washington's "concern" over China's relations with Russia.
The U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Wednesday that "we are concerned because these two countries share a vision. They share an intent."
Ex-military whistleblowers important for deeper understanding
U.S. Intelligence Community is Doing Group Think on Steroids.
Larry Johnson is interviewed.
Johnson is a veteran of the CIA and the State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism. He provided training to the US Military’s Special Operations community for 24 years.
It should not be discounted that ex-military whistleblowers are increasingly speaking out about US neo-con led foreign and military policy. This significant info and analysis is crucial for a clear understanding of the fact that Washington is now owned and run by corporate globalist interests.
Friday, March 17, 2023
Elections coming to NSW in Australia
The New South Wales government has made a tourism ad ahead of the coming election, and it’s surprisingly honest and informative....
French rising against Macron's mean-spirited policies....
Macron has ignored the French parliament and unilaterally ordered that pensions must be delayed by two additional years.
Workers across the nation are outraged and protesting in mass.....
Why don't the deplorables appreciate the neo-cons?
The devil is in the details....
The neo-cons own Biden,
they made sure he ascended
to the presidency,
they had the dirty goods on him.
to the presidency,
they had the dirty goods on him.
A long career
of doing what Mr. Big wanted,
made him a 'trusted' servant.
of doing what Mr. Big wanted,
made him a 'trusted' servant.
His role in the Ukraine coup,
his personal peccadillos,
the many accusations
his personal peccadillos,
the many accusations
about bribes taken,
his subservience to the insurance industry,
his loyalty to the war mongers
who control Washington,
this long track record
got him the job
his subservience to the insurance industry,
his loyalty to the war mongers
who control Washington,
this long track record
got him the job
he always wanted,
despite his growing dementia.
despite his growing dementia.
The neo-cons
needed a front man
to deflect the heat
while they
schemed behind the curtains
that hide much of what happens
inside the darkness
of the White House,
as they
'fight for freedom'.
Whose freedom you might ask?
They knew Biden's dementia
would insulate him.
The media would be directed
to protect Uncle Joe
at all costs.
Ignore his
many blunders.
Their decision to insert
the lite-weight
Kamala Harris as VP
would limit the calls
for Biden to resign
prematurely.
The neo-cons
became giddy with self-satisfaction.
They now believed
they could rule the world.
Despite the growing fears
of economic collapse at home,
banks failing,
the possibility of nuclear war
with Russia
and China,
environmental decline
advancing by the day,
horrific train wrecks,
unaffordable healthcare,
ever rising inflation....
the 'loyal party base'
could be counted on
to stand by their man
no matter how bleak
things get.
Mr. Big
and his crony
oligarch allies,
clink their glasses
in an arrogant toast
to their brilliance
and crowning success
in facing down
the ungrateful
Global South that is
clamoring for
a Multi-polar future.
The neo-cons
toy with our lives
knowing that they
are in charge
of this
exceptional drive
to bring neo-feudalism
to the people of the world.
If only these
disposable deplorables
would appreciate
what the globalists
have done
for them.
Bruce
Thursday, March 16, 2023
Civil war coming to Israel?
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| Mounted policemen block a protest march in Tel Aviv, Israel, March 16 |
Gush Shalom Statement, March 13, 2023
Who is talking of stability?
The Americans, together with
The Jordanians and the Egyptians
Convened a conference
With the aim of
"Stabilizing the situation
On the West Bank".
Only stabilization -
No one is still talking
About a solution.
But can stability be achieved
When hundreds of
Violent settlers set out,
In an organized and
Systematic way,
To burn down
A whole town,
With the open
Encouragement of
Senior government ministers?
Can stability be achieved
When the Palestinian Authority
Is weakening and
Losing support and legitimacy
Among its own people?
When young Palestinians
Are determined to rebel
And take up arms
Against the occupation,
Even at a very real risk
To their lives?
Can stability be achieved
When the army tries
To put down the
Palestinian uprising
By means of constant raids
On Palestinian
Towns and villages
And killing any Palestinian
Who tries to
Resist the soldiers?
Can stability be achieved
When the Knesset votes
To impose the death penalty
On "terrorists", in spite of
Israel's own army and
Security services warning that
This measure would
Be harmful?
And can stability be achieved
When a government
In which settlers hold
Senior positions
Launches an all-out attack
Also on the democratic rights
Of Israeli citizens?
When Israeli society
Has become more
Divided and polarized than
At any time in its history,
To the point where
There is talk of
An impending civil war?
It has become clear
For all to see
That the continued occupation
Cannot be stabilized.
The occupation is
Inherently unstable.
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