Summer fun in Maine....

Peace Fair

The crowd above gathered in Brunswick, Maine last Saturday for the final Peace Fair which has been held for 15 straight years on the town green.  Christine DeTroy, who initiated the fair and has done much of the leg work over these years, is now 91 years old and has reached her limit.  No one seems yet willing to keep the tradition going. It's been a good run.

The keynote speaker on Saturday was Maine artist Robert Shetterly who has painted the portrait series called Americans Who Tell the Truth.  He's done more than 235 portraits and spends alot of time on the road showing them and telling stories about the people he has painted.

I facilitated a workshop under a shade tree about the links between the military and climate change and met some new folks in the process.  There is expanding interest around Maine in the subject.

Hiroshima Day

On Tuesday at 7:00 am 21 of us met in front of the administration building at Bath Iron Works (BIW) for a two-hour vigil remembering the US bombing of Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945.  We concluded the event by taking turns reading parts of a long poem written by Thomas Merton called the Original Child Bomb.  As we read the moving story of the warped US decision to produce and drop the atomic bombs, two BIW security stood silently just a few yards away.  I turned up the sound on our portable amplifier to max level to ensure they could hear Merton's words.

Afterwords most of us went together to a local eatery for a late breakfast.  We've become like a family after all these years of working together in Maine - particularly with the regular protests at BIW. Quite a few of those attending the vigil came from a long distance - two of them making a three-hour drive from the north to be with us.

Court Arraignment

It was fitting that on Hiroshima day 13 folks from our last arrest at BIW (twenty-two were arrested on June 22 for blocking the highway during a 'christening' of another destroyer at the shipyard) had to appear in West Bath District Court for their arraignment.  Nine of us had already been arraigned after spending the weekend in county jail because we refused to pay the bail commissioner fee after our arrest.  We learned that the state reduced the misdemeanor charges to a 'traffic citation' for the 13.  They now face a $150 fine which no one wants to pay.

The nine of us previously arraigned at the jail in June have to appear for our Disposition hearing at the court on September 4.  Not certain what our next steps will be after that.

Staying faithful & determined

In the midst of a United States that is coming apart at the seams (almost daily terrorist shootings of innocent people by white nationalist men; worsening climate change; growing global poverty as corporate capitalism extracts and hoards wealth; Washington's wars all around the world; sanctions increasingly squeezing China, Russia, Iran, and Venezuela; plus announcements of US withdrawal from arms control treaties and production of new deadly weapons systems) we here in Maine are doing our best to stay active and public.  Like so many of our friends in similar places around the world - we want to show a frightened, discouraged, depressed, and resigned public that there are those who still care and are doing all they can to stand up against the insanity of our corporate run government.

We'd all like to be successful and show good results from our activism.  But I don't worry so much about 's-u-c-c-e-s-s' anymore.  I keep rolling because I must.  I continue to protest because I could not live with myself if I wasn't doing all I could do to protect the future generations.  Yes, results are great - but I figure you have to put the gears of outrage into motion first if you ever hope to make an impact.

I'll leave the rest to history - so to speak....

Bruce

History lesson: Collecting colonies

The global expanse of US military bases is well-known; but its actual territorial empire is largely hidden. The true map of America is not taught in our schools.

Abby Martin interviews history Professor Daniel Immerwahr about his new book, 'How To Hide An Empire', where he documents the story of our 'Greater United States.'

This is how the system works....

Anyone that has any illusions left should pay attention to this one.....

Space week: October 5-12

Keep Space for Peace Week this year will be October 5-12.

We invite you to organize a conference, public meeting, protest or other activity that helps to bring the issue of expanding the arms race into space to the public consciousness.

Let us know your plans please.

This piece of art is from Sicily where they protest the US Navy space-directed communications facility called Mobile User Objective System (MUOS). The system utilizes four satellites and four ground facilities located in Australia, Virginia, Hawaii and Sicily.  The facility in Sicily is pictured below.  It was built in the middle of a cork forest preserve.  Regular protests have been held there for more than 11 years.

Sunday song

History lesson: What could have been

Truman ordered the 'bomb' to be dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan in 1945.

He became president essentially after a coup during the Democratic party convention in 1944 when corrupt right-wing forces installed him as FDR's Vice-President rather than the extremely popular man of peace named Henry Wallace.

This was a crucial moment in US history.  FDR died in office and Truman took over the presidency.

We see virtually the same battle going on in the Democratic Party today - a class struggle as Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard are viewed by Wall Street and the military industrial complex as completely unacceptable to get the nomination.

Instead Mr. Big wants corporate collaborationists like Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, Beto O'Rourke or even the 'liberal' Elizabeth Warren who has the HQ of Raytheon weapons corporation in her state of Massachusetts.

The corporate media is daily used to condition the American people for acceptance of the 'correct' and likely ultimate choice.

It's a classic battle.

Bruce

Russian arms control expert on relations between Moscow & Washington

Arms control expert, and member of the Russian Academy of Military Science who has worked on arms control issues since the 1970s, Vladimir Kozin made this presentation during the Global Network Russia study tour in Moscow last spring.

Kozin has much to say about the US pullout of the INF Treaty.

He also spoke at a Global Network annual conference in Kiruna, Sweden in 2013.

We like him alot.

Bruce

Trump is a racist, divisive fat cat

Trump's acting job is to divide the American people against one another and he loves the gig.

The more the people are divided by race the less they will focus on the reality that the corporate oligarchs are robbing the nation blind.

The corporate Mr. Big cares nothing about America.  They've got their money in off-shore banks.  Many of the largest corporations pay no federal taxes.  They move jobs overseas in order to maximize profit$.

The government claims that the economy is doing well - yeah for the rich it might be.  But for the poor and working class it's not the case.

We have more homeless than ever.  Many working people are doing 2-3 jobs just to pay bills.  The majority of the middle class are one pay check away from homelessness themselves.

Military spending is eating up huge portions of the discretionary federal budget (the part of the budget that the Congress actually votes on).  Studies have long shown that military production is the worst way to create jobs.  As a result there is little money available for infrastructure repair as roads, bridges, sewer & water systems, schools and more fall into disrepair.

The fat cats have gone global and the last thing they want is an educated, activated American citizenry who are paying attention to national affairs.  Thus they put in place a government, led by the Trumpster, that is all about distraction and division. 

Many followers of Trump want to blame someone else for their lowered socio-economic status.  They play right into Trump's hands by falling for the race card.  Trump does not actually give a damn about his followers - what has he done for the displaced workers across the nation?  He gave tax cuts for the rich and his trade policies are only screwing agriculture and manufacturing sectors.

Sadly too, the majority of the Democrats are too busy pushing the 'RussiaGate' hoax to take on these real issues.  The primary reason for that is most of the Dems in Congress also get big campaign donations from these same corporate interests.

It's not a pretty picture.  There are no easy solutions.  But we should start by declaring that capitalism/corporatism must be upended because it destroys our Mother Earth and the vast majority of those living on the planet.

It's the system - set up to do exactly what it is doing - rape, pillage and plunder for Mr. Big.

Bruce

Uncle Paranoid waiting on the fall.....

This is what happens when your 800 base military empire is in a state of collapse.  Uncle Paranoid knows he has done alot of wrong around the world and sees the walls crumbling.

The operative question is when the fall happens, how hard will it come down and upon whom will it land?

The rest of the world understands the dangers - most Americans still appear to buy the 'exceptionalism' line to some degree or the other - or are they paranoid too? 

Here is Ray Davies on the subject.

It all started here....

In a flash
it was gone
the moment blew by
never noticed....
too busy playing
future thinker
inside my head

Zoom, they fly by

I caught
one today though,
riding bike
Bowdoin-type
neighborhood
clean, orderly
and patriotic,
flags fluttering,
no worries
in their life
or so,
they might say.

Why do people
still believe in the dream?
On the treadmill
daily sweating
'the market'
worried stiff,
how to pay
for college,
retirement,
and then there is
the looming climate
catastrophe.

But trudge on they do,
who decides who wins?

There is an oligarchic
war going on
for control
and domination

Oligarchs from deep south, Texas,
Chicago, Miami, New York,
Boston, San Fran, LA,
Seattle, Minneapolis,
among other notables,
are at war with one
another

Most of us
have no idea
who they are,
what/who they own,
and run,
but they touch
all our lives.

We are too busy
to notice,
churning
through the
passing moments.

Bruce

Space Law Conference in India

International space law is a subject presently thoroughly dominated by leaders of the aerospace industry who are more than eager to privatize space to the benefit of corporate sponsors and wealthy individuals.

The aerospace industry has established space law departments at various universities around the world and are busy trying to rewrite United Nations space law that was established by the Outer Space Treaty and the Moon Treaty.

Both of those treaties state that celestial bodies and their resources are “the common heritage of mankind and that an international regime should be established to govern” their extraction.

Currently no such international agreements exist.  In fact, during the Obama administration a bill was passed and signed into law giving US corporations and individuals the legal authority to make land claims on the moon and asteroids.  This could surely cause conflict in the future.

What is sorely needed at this time is a body of legal experts who wish to explore this celestial privatization issue from the point of view and interests of all humankind.  We are now lucky to have such an opportunity as a conference is being organized in Visakhapatnam, India on October 12-13, 2019 at the Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University (DSNLU). This conference is being co-sponsored by the Global Network (GN).

GN Advisory Board member Aruna Kammila, Assistant Professor at DSNLU, is organizing the conference which will be entitled “International Conference on Super Powers Domination in Outer Space and Global Sustainable Development”.  

Ms. Kammila writes, “The people of our planet must consider the question of the kind of seed one carries from earth into the heavens.  The essential objective of this conference is to give a stage to exhibit emerging issues and challenges in outer space and a contemporary analysis based on legal, political, economic as well as the scientific aspect in order to ensure peace and security in the international sphere with concern to outer space.”

Among the speakers scheduled to attend the conference will be History Professor Peter Kuznick from American University in Washington DC, Subrata Ghoshroy from MIT, and Bruce Gagnon, Coordinator of the Global Network.   

Global Network members will be given accommodation and food at the event free of charge.  The day after the conference international guests will be taken on a tour of Visakhapatnam. 

If interested in attending this important event please contact the GN office at 207-607-4255.

See conference brochure and details here

Save the date.....

U.S. wants to recolonize the world

Sara Flounders recently speaking at the International Action Center in Philadelphia. 

She is a political writer and activist engaged in progressive and anti-war organizing since the 1960s. 

She is a co-coordinator of the International Action Center in New York City. Flounders organized delegations to Iraq to challenge U.S. sanctions, and International War Crimes Tribunals to document U.S. war crimes in Iraq. 

She has participated in fact finding trips to Yugoslavia, Sudan and Lebanon. In March 2019, Flounders participated in a U.S. delegation to Venezuela.

Getting around the wall

Welcome to America.....

Ukraine new president: Hot tours to Chernobyl

The recently elected (actor/comedian) president of Ukraine named Zelensky believes that the site that is associated with one of the worst nuclear disasters must become a point of growth in the near future, which means a stable money source for Kiev, funded by those who want to see the ghost town with their eyes and pay for entry tickets.

Chernobyl (located in north central Ukraine near the border with Belarus) is truly becoming more popular recently, including from far abroad.

But is it wise to let people in?

The cancerous Pentagon space control system

Global Network board convener Dave Webb explaining how the US/NATO have been encircling Russia & China with space technology installations.

Dave chairs the UK's Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and lives in Leeds, England.  He is a retired engineering professor who taught peace studies in the final years at his university.

Dave made this presentation in Moscow during the GN's spring Russia Study Tour.

Video by Will Griffin.  See more videos from the Moscow series of meetings and talks here.

It helps if you 'Like' the videos and also hit the subscribe button. 

Bullets keep flying in Donbass.....and hearts break

Another day in the Donbass.....shelling continues by fascists in Ukraine against their own people - nothing is done about it. The US-NATO arm, train and direct the attacks on innocent people living in eastern Ukraine.

When Alexander speaks, you feel the bitterness in his voice. His house is burnt to the ground, bullets are flying over his head every day and it's hard for Kominternove residents to understand the use of Russian talk-shows about Donbass.

He lives only 500 meters away from Ukrainian positions and Ukrainian troops keep on getting closer and closer.

"Here is my kitchen, sauna, laundry room. Anything you need. Even guests are coming over!", tells Alexander.

These simple words are heart-breaking. Because this is the most dangerous part of the settlement, every step on Kirova Street can be your last one... During the interview a machine gun is shooting nearby and a bullet is swishing very close. However, local people are so used to the warfare, that it doesn't even interrupt a conversation.

Humans grew up taking care of each other....

RT speaks to Dr. Gabor Maté on the Tory leadership election and his opinion on favourite-to-win Boris Johnson, Anti-Semitism allegations against Jeremy Corbyn, crimes of Israel against Palestinians, capitalism and its creation of social problems, the Democratic Party and how it lost to Donald Trump and how it uses Russiagate to escape responsibility for their loss and how mainstream media limits debate.

Sunday song