The killing of Julian Assange

Assange Displayed Signs of Torture in Courtroom Farce

By Craig Murray

I was deeply shaken while witnessing yesterday’s events in Westminster Magistrates Court [London]. Every decision was railroaded through over the scarcely heard arguments and objections of Assange’s legal team, by a magistrate who barely pretended to be listening.

Before I get on to the blatant lack of fair process, the first thing I must note was Julian’s condition. I was badly shocked by just how much weight my friend has lost, by the speed his hair has receded and by the appearance of premature and vastly accelerated ageing. He has a pronounced limp I have never seen before. Since his arrest he has lost over 15 kg.

But his physical appearance was not as shocking as his mental deterioration. When asked to give his name and date of birth, he struggled visibly over several seconds to recall both. I will come to the important content of his statement at the end of the proceedings in due course, but his difficulty in making it was very evident; it was a real struggle for him to articulate the words and focus his train of thought.

Until yesterday I had always been quietly skeptical of those who claimed that Julian’s treatment amounted to torture – even of Nils Melzer, the UN special rapporteur on torture – and skeptical of those who suggested he may be subject to debilitating drug treatments. But having attended the trials in Uzbekistan of several victims of extreme torture, and having worked with survivors from Sierra Leone and elsewhere, I can tell you that yesterday changed my mind entirely and Julian exhibited exactly the symptoms of a torture victim brought blinking into the light, particularly in terms of disorientation, confusion, and the real struggle to assert free will through the fog of learned helplessness.

Will He Survive?

I had been even more skeptical of those who claimed, as a senior member of his legal team did to me on Sunday night, that they were worried that Julian might not live to the end of the extradition process. I now find myself not only believing it, but haunted by the thought. Everybody in that court yesterday saw that one of the greatest journalists and most important dissidents of our times is being tortured to death by the state, before our eyes. To see my friend, the most articulate man, the fastest thinker, I have ever known, reduced to that shambling and incoherent wreck, was unbearable.

Yet the agents of the state, particularly the callous magistrate Vanessa Baraitser, were not just prepared but eager to be a part of this blood sport. She actually told him that if he were incapable of following proceedings, then his lawyers could explain what had happened to him later. The question of why a man who, by the very charges against him, was acknowledged to be highly intelligent and competent, had been reduced by the state to somebody incapable of following court proceedings, gave her not a millisecond of concern.

The charge against Julian is very specific; conspiring with Chelsea Manning to publish the “Iraq War Logs,” the “Afghan War Logs” and the U.S. State Department cables. The charges are nothing to do with Sweden, nothing to do with sex, and nothing to do with the 2016 U.S. election; a simple clarification the mainstream media appears incapable of understanding.

The purpose of yesterday’s hearing was case management; to determine the timetable for the extradition proceedings. The key points at issue were that Julian’s defense was requesting more time to prepare their evidence; and arguing that political offences were specifically excluded from the extradition treaty. There should, they argued, therefore be a preliminary hearing to determine whether the extradition treaty applied at all.

The reasons given by Assange’s defense team for more time to prepare were both compelling and startling. They had very limited access to their client in jail and had not been permitted to hand him any documents about the case until one week ago. He had also only just been given limited computer access, and all his relevant records and materials had been seized from the Ecuadorean embassy by the U.S. government; he had no access to his own materials for the purpose of preparing his defense.

CIA-Ordered Spying

Furthermore, the defense argued, they were in touch with the Spanish courts about a very important and relevant legal case in Madrid which would provide vital evidence. It showed that the CIA had been directly ordering spying on Julian in the embassy through a Spanish company, UC Global, contracted to provide security there. Crucially this included spying on privileged conversations between Assange and his lawyers discussing his defense against these extradition proceedings, which had been in train in the USA since 2010. In any normal process, that fact would in itself be sufficient to have the extradition proceedings dismissed. Incidentally I learnt on Sunday that the Spanish material produced in court, which had been commissioned by the CIA, specifically includes high-resolution video coverage of Julian and me discussing various matters.

The evidence to the Spanish court also included a CIA plot to kidnap Assange, which went to the U.S. authorities’ attitude to lawfulness in his case and the treatment he might expect in the United States. Julian’s team explained that the Spanish legal process was happening now and the evidence from it would be extremely important, but it might not be finished and thus the evidence not fully validated and available in time for the current proposed timetable for the Assange extradition hearings.

For the prosecution, James Lewis QC stated that the government strongly opposed any delay being given for the defense to prepare, and strongly opposed any separate consideration of the question of whether the charge was a political offense excluded by the extradition treaty. Baraitser took her cue from Lewis and stated categorically that the date for the extradition hearing, Feb. 25, could not be changed. She was open to changes in dates for submission of evidence and responses before this, and called a 10-minute recess for the prosecution and defense to agree these steps.

US Runs the Show

What happened next was very instructive. There were five representatives of the U.S. government present (initially three, and two more arrived in the course of the hearing), seated at desks behind the lawyers in court. The prosecution lawyers immediately went into huddle with the U.S. representatives, then went outside the courtroom with them, to decide how to respond on the dates.

After the recess the defense team stated they could not, in their professional opinion, adequately prepare if the hearing date were kept to February, but within Baraitser’s instruction to do so they nevertheless outlined a proposed timetable on delivery of evidence. In responding to this, Lewis’s junior counsel scurried to the back of the court to consult the Americans again while Lewis actually told the judge he was “taking instructions from those behind.” It is important to note that as he said this, it was not the U.K. Attorney-General’s office who were being consulted but the U.S. embassy. Lewis received his American instructions and agreed that the defense might have two months to prepare their evidence (they had said they needed an absolute minimum of three) but the February hearing date may not be moved. Baraitser gave a ruling agreeing everything Lewis had said.

At this stage it was unclear why we were sitting through this farce. The U.S. government was dictating its instructions to Lewis, who was relaying those instructions to Baraitser, who was ruling them as her legal decision. The charade might as well have been cut and the U.S. government simply sat on the bench to control the whole process. Nobody could sit there and believe they were in any part of a genuine legal process or that Baraitser was giving a moment’s consideration to the arguments of the defense. Her facial expressions on the few occasions she looked at the defense ranged from contempt through boredom to sarcasm. When she looked at Lewis she was attentive, open and warm.

Washington’s Timetable

The extradition is plainly being rushed through in accordance with a Washington dictated timetable. Apart from a desire to pre-empt the Spanish court providing evidence on CIA activity in sabotaging the defense, what makes the February date so important to the USA? I would welcome any thoughts.

Baraitser dismissed the defense’s request for a separate prior hearing to consider whether the extradition treaty applied at all, without bothering to give any reason why (possibly she had not properly memorized what Lewis had been instructing her to agree with).

On the face of it, what Assange is accused of is the very definition of a political offense – if this is not, then what is? It is not covered by any of the exceptions from that listed. There is every reason to consider whether this charge is excluded by the extradition treaty, and to do so before the long and very costly process of considering all the evidence should the treaty apply. But Baraitser simply dismissed the argument out of hand.

Just in case anybody was left in any doubt as to what was happening here, Lewis then stood up and suggested that the defense should not be allowed to waste the court’s time with a lot of arguments. All arguments for the substantive hearing should be given in writing in advance and a “guillotine should be applied” (his exact words) to arguments and witnesses in court, perhaps of five hours for the defense. The defense had suggested they would need more than the scheduled five days to present their case. Lewis countered that the entire hearing should be over in two days. Baraitser said this was not procedurally the correct moment to agree this but she will consider it once she had received the evidence bundles.

(SPOILER: Baraitser is going to do as Lewis instructs and cut the substantive hearing short).

Baraitser then capped it all by saying the February hearing will be held, not at the comparatively open and accessible Westminster Magistrates Court where we were, but at Belmarsh Magistrates Court, the grim high security facility used for preliminary legal processing of terrorists, attached to the maximum security prison where Assange is being held. There are only six seats for the public in even the largest court at Belmarsh, and the object is plainly to evade public scrutiny and make sure that Baraitser is not exposed in public again to a genuine account of her proceedings, like this one you are reading. I will probably be unable to get in to the substantive hearing at Belmarsh.

Plainly the authorities were disconcerted by the hundreds of good people who had turned up to support Julian. They hope that far fewer will get to the much less accessible Belmarsh. I am fairly certain (and recall I had a long career as a diplomat) that the two extra American government officials who arrived halfway through proceedings were armed security personnel, brought in because of alarm at the number of protestors around a hearing in which were present senior US officials. The move to Belmarsh may be an American initiative.

Assange’s defense team objected strenuously to the move to Belmarsh, in particular on the grounds that there are no conference rooms available there to consult their client and they have very inadequate access to him in the jail. Baraitser dismissed their objection offhand and with a very definite smirk.

Finally, Baraitser turned to Julian and ordered him to stand, and asked him if he had understood the proceedings. He replied in the negative, said that he could not think, and gave every appearance of disorientation. Then he seemed to find an inner strength, drew himself up a little, and said:

    “I do not understand how this process is equitable. This superpower had 10 years to prepare for this case and I can’t even access my writings. It is very difficult, where I am, to do anything. These people have unlimited resources.”

The effort then seemed to become too much, his voice dropped and he became increasingly confused and incoherent. He spoke of whistleblowers and publishers being labeled enemies of the people, then spoke about his children’s DNA being stolen and of being spied on in his meetings with his psychologist. I am not suggesting at all that Julian was wrong about these points, but he could not properly frame nor articulate them. He was plainly not himself, very ill and it was just horribly painful to watch. Baraitser showed neither sympathy nor the least concern. She tartly observed that if he could not understand what had happened, his lawyers could explain it to him, and she swept out of court.

The whole experience was profoundly upsetting. It was very plain that there was no genuine process of legal consideration happening here. What we had was a naked demonstration of the power of the state, and a naked dictation of proceedings by the Americans. Julian was in a box behind bulletproof glass, and I and the thirty odd other members of the public who had squeezed in were in a different box behind more bulletproof glass. I do not know if he could see me or his other friends in the court, or if he was capable of recognizing anybody. He gave no indication that he did.

In Belmarsh he is kept in complete isolation for 23 hours a day. He is permitted 45 minutes exercise. If he has to be moved, they clear the corridors before he walks down them and they lock all cell doors to ensure he has no contact with any other prisoner outside the short and strictly supervised exercise period. There is no possible justification for this inhuman regime, used on major terrorists, being imposed on a publisher who is a remand prisoner.

I have been both cataloguing and protesting for years the increasingly authoritarian powers of the U.K. state, but that the most gross abuse could be so open and undisguised is still a shock. The campaign of demonization and dehumanization against Julian, based on government and media lie after government and media lie, has led to a situation where he can be slowly killed in public sight, and arraigned on a charge of publishing the truth about government wrongdoing, while receiving no assistance from “liberal” society.

Unless Julian is released shortly he will be destroyed. If the state can do this, then who is next?

~ Craig Murray is an author, broadcaster and human rights activist. He was British ambassador to Uzbekistan from August 2002 to October 2004 and rector of the University of Dundee from 2007 to 2010.  His web site is https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/

Corporate funded sleaze network

Hillary Clinton has smeared Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) and Jill Stein (Green Party) as Russian assets, and almost no Democratic politicians are pushing back.

Max Blumenthal says that Clinton's comments reflect a continued effort by Democratic neo-liberals to deflect responsibility for their loss to Trump in 2016; marginalize voices like Gabbard and Stein's who challenge their pro-war, corporatist agenda; and preview their potential future attacks on Bernie Sanders.

Also check out this excellent Rolling Stone article on this same subject here

Speaking truth in Kiev occupied Donbass

Ukrainian journalists came to the frontline zone in Donbass in the hope of making a provocative video, where they talked with the local population. Traditionally, they did not hear anything pleasant concerning the Kiev authorities.

The cunning Ukrainian “Channel 5” news channel, known for distorting the facts about the events in Donbass (eastern part of the country near the Russian border), carefully cut from its interview with people from Zolotoye-4, which is under the control of the US-NATO puppet government in Ukraine, important information from one of the residents of the village, during the preparation for the disengagement of troops.

Here is the unedited version of the interviews.

Taxi ride into Moscow

It was a long and tiring journey from Nepal to Moscow.  Unfortunately, I first had to fly from Kathmandu to Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates).  From there I had to board another plane to Rome and then Moscow.  But my flight in Abu Dhabi (which was supposed to leave at 2:15 am) was delayed by several hours and my arrival in Rome was just 30 minutes before my flight to Moscow.

I ran like hell (but first had to go through security, lucky for me there was no line) and I made it to my gate for the Moscow flight with 10 minutes to spare.  I arrived on schedule in Moscow, but my checked luggage did not, fortunately I had carried my toothbrush in my computer bag.

My friend Leonid Ilderkin (who was one of our guides last spring during our Russia Study Tour) met me at the airport and hired a taxi cab to take me to my hotel in Moscow.  Leonid, originally from Ukraine, had to leave his country in 2014 following the US orchestrated coup d'etat that installed a government brimming with Nazis.  Leonid is now a leader in the group called Union of Ukrainian Refugees and Political Prisoners and will take me on the night train to the Donbass war zone region of Ukraine on October 23.

Our taxi driver spoke much of the way from the airport to Moscow with Leonid doing the translation.  He had many questions for me such as, "Will Trump be reelected?".  I was repeatedly asked the same question during my visits to India and Nepal.  My answer was, "Who knows?" 

The cabbie also spent alot of time describing to me how the CIA runs the US government and nothing happens in American foreign policy that has not been planned.  I replied that while I believe that is basically true (since the CIA directed assassination of JFK no one becomes president that the 'deep state' does not control) I do think that there is a war for control currently going on within the 'deep state'.  Sort of like a Mafia-style battle for turf dominance.

[Sidebar: While in India attending the Space Law conference, American University History Professor Peter Kuznick told me that Oliver Stone is now working on a new documentary updating his famous JFK assassination movie.]

In the US we have ruling regional oligarchs - Boston, New York, Washington, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Seattle etc - that compete for power.  They basically agree on US foreign and economic empire but battle with each other as to which of them will do a 'better job' running this collapsing imperial project.  (And of course they are also competing with each other for the spoils of empire.) This is what I see happening today in Washington - competing oligarchs backing either Trump or the Democrats (who are still largely controlled by the Clinton political machine).

I also suggested that the US is losing ground internationally as it is now being challenged by the rising movement for a multi-polar world rather than the singular US domination of global affairs.

I asked Leonid and the cab driver what strategy Russia is using during this current US internal power struggle.  Leonid responded that Russia sits back and waits.  In the meantime Moscow tries its best to have various countries sit down and talk as we saw with the Iran nuclear deal which Putin played a key role in making happen before Trump yanked the US out of the deal.

I told them both about Hillary Clinton's recent accusation that Putin is now putting together a plan (see blog post below) to 'steal' the 2020 US election.  They both laughed uproariously.

So while many Democrats hang on every word of a now discredited Clinton team, most of the rest of the world shakes their heads and can't quite understand why people believe such nonsense coming out of the mouths of people like Hillary.  So it goes....

Bruce  

Sunday song

Nazi's march in Ukraine to oppose peace plan

Smoke over Maidan, torchlight processions in Kiev, and an ultimatum to newly elected President Zelensky. This is how Ukrainian nationalists demand the cancellation of the formula for peace in Donbass.

They marched in support of the UPA [see below **] and several thousand people were in the government quarter covering the walls of the presidential administration building with spray paint and stickers.

** The massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, was a genocide carried out in Nazi German-occupied Poland by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (the UPA) with the active and frequent support of the local Ukrainian population against the Polish minority in the area of Volhynia, Eastern Galicia, parts of Polesia and Lublin region, beginning in 1943 and lasting up to 1945. The peak of the massacres took place in July and August 1943. Most of the victims were women and children. UPA's methods were particularly brutal, with many of the victims being tortured and mutilated, and resulted in 40,000–60,000 Polish deaths in Volhynia and 30,000–40,000 in Eastern Galicia, with the other regions for the total about 100,000.

The killings were directly linked with the policies of the Bandera faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN-B) and its military arm, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, whose goal as specified at the Second Conference of the OUN-B on 17–23 February 1943 (or March 1943 according to other sources) was to purge all non-Ukrainians from the future Ukrainian state. Not limiting their activities to the purging of Polish civilians, the UPA also wanted to erase all traces of the Polish presence in the area. The violence was endorsed by a significant number of the Ukrainian Orthodox clergy who supported UPA's nationalist cause. The massacres led to a wider conflict between Polish and Ukrainian forces in the German-occupied territories, with the Polish Home Army in Volhynia responding to the Ukrainian attacks.

Today those who glorify the UPA are attacking fellow Ukrainian citizens who live in the eastern part of the country (the Donbass region) near the Russian border.  The Nazis hate their Russian ethnic fellow citizens and want them all dead.

These Nazi death squads are armed, trained and directed by the US-NATO.  See here for proof.

Hillary makes it up as she goes along....

The Washington Post reports:

In a conversation on former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe’s podcast, Clinton suggested the Russians are leveraging a number of top U.S. politicians. She suggested Russia had kompromat on Trump. She accused 2016 Green Party nominee Jill Stein of being a “Russian asset.” And she suggested Russia might back Gabbard as a third-party candidate.

“They’re also going to do third-party again,” Clinton said. “I’m not making any predictions, but I think they’ve got their eye on someone who’s currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate. She’s the favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far.”

Clinton did not provide any evidence for her claim, though a spokesman later insisted to CNN, “This is not some outlandish claim; this is reality.” Gabbard, though, has previously ruled out an independent campaign.

The “again” referred to Stein, whom some Clinton supporters have accused (rather baselessly) of serving as a spoiler for Clinton in 2016. Stein got around 1 percent of the vote in the three decisive states — Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — but exit polls showed most of her voters wouldn’t have supported either Clinton or Trump if Stein weren’t running.

Clinton then flat-out labeled Stein a “Russian asset.”

“And that’s assuming Jill Stein will give it up, which she might not because she’s also a Russian asset,” Clinton said. “Yeah, she’s a Russian asset — I mean, totally. They know they can’t win without a third-party candidate. So I don’t know who it’s going to be, but I will guarantee you they will have a vigorous third-party challenge in the key states that they most needed.”

Clinton and the Democrats keep trotting out this tired line because they have no other issues to run on in 2020.  They don't support Medicare for All, they want to keep the war$ endlessly going, they are not serious about dealing with climate catastrophe, they are corporate agents of Wall Street and the military industrial complex.

So in order to 'excite' their dwindling base of supporters they need to create the 'wow fear' of Putin and Russia taking over our beloved 'democracy'.  Clinton hopes her party members will forget the cheating her campaign did to deny Bernie Sanders the nomination in 2016.  She hopes her base will forget the feeble campaign she ran in the last election when she virtually ignored the nation's rust belt where legions of Democrats have lost their jobs due to corporate automation, downsizing and offshoring.  Thus many of those formally loyal Democrats voted for Trump - and Clinton blamed it on Putin and Jill Stein.

Give me a frickin break!

Anyone who falls for this BS needs to have their head examined.

What amazes me the most is that the media keeps giving Clinton coverage for these absurd meanderings.  Why doesn't Hillary just fade into the sunset.  The Clinton 'dynasty' is done. 

Bruce 

Understanding the Syrian war

Ben Norton and Aaron Maté discuss how Israel supported al-Qaeda and other Salafi-jihadists in Syria, in the occupied Golan Heights.

ISIS also apologized after accidentally attacking the IDF.

Pentagon is spending $1.25 Trillion annually on War

The Pentagon has the largest carbon boot print on Mother Earth.

Cut the military budget.  Use those funds to deal now with climate crisis.

In its latest budget request, the Trump administration is asking for a near-record $750 billion for the Pentagon and related defense activities, an astonishing figure by any measure. If passed by Congress, it will, in fact, be one of the largest military budgets in American history, topping peak levels reached during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. And keep one thing in mind: that $750 billion represents only part of the actual annual cost of our national security state.

There are at least 10 separate pots of money dedicated to fighting wars, preparing for yet more wars, and dealing with the consequences of wars already fought. So the next time a president, a general, a secretary of defense, or a hawkish member of Congress insists that the U.S. military is woefully underfunded, think twice. A careful look at U.S. defense expenditures offers a healthy corrective to such wildly inaccurate claims.

See the rest of this important story here

Busy time in Kathmandu

Since arriving in Kathmandu, Nepal it has been non-stop action.  Yesterday the Nepal Chapter of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space organized a talk for me in a meeting room at the hotel where I am staying.  More than 40 people attended and the response to my description of the U.S. attempt for 'control and domination' of space was met with great concern.

Shreedhar Gautum (University professor and chair of the GN chapter here) organized the meeting which was attended by the former Nepal ambassador to Russia and a well respected nuclear scientist.  They both made opening remarks about the need to rid the world of nuclear weapons and war.

Today I was taken to the home of Prabhu Yadav (Professor of English and GN member) for a king's feast for lunch prepared by his wife.  I was able to meet Prabhu's two children and following the wonderful meal I was taken to a private English language school to speak to a large group of students from 10-16 years old.  They had many good questions including 'What is area 51?' and 'Does God exist?'  So I was challenged by these young folks in a big way.

Following the talk to the students I returned to my hotel for a short rest and was joined for supper by Satya Shah who is the director of the NGO called Social Development Path in Nepal.  This NGO is also a member of the Global Network and works to help deal with the enormous poverty and social needs of the rural people.  Satya sent two of his staff to the recent space law conference in Visakhapatnam, India that the Global Network co-sponsored.

During our dinner together I asked Satya how climate change was impacting Nepal.  He told me that drought was becoming a serious problem in the southern part of the country and that rice and wheat production will soon be dramatically impacted.  The government is doing little he said to help deal with this massive coming climate catastrophe.  Likely the people from the south would head to the big cities like Kathmandu which already faces serious problems with over population, pollution and poverty.

In the morning I will have a breakfast meeting here at the hotel with Prabhu and his mentor who has expressed the desire to meet me.  After lunch time I will be picked up by Shreedhar and Tulsi Shrestha and taken to the airport for my 24-hour trip to Moscow.

Last night Tulsi (a retired local doctor) invited Shreedhar, another man, and myself to his home for dinner where we ate mountain goat (a once a year delicacy during the current Festival of Lights).  Tulsi (which means basil) told me that the mountain goat is good for the health as the animal only eats pure grasses and herbs high in the mountains of Nepal.

Tulsi came to Huntsville, Alabama in 2017 for a Global Network meeting and protest at the Army's Redstone Arsenal where the Nazi rocket scientists were brought at the end of World War II to create the US space program.  Today the 'missile defense' program is largely headquartered there.  On that occasion Tulsi was the only person from Nepal that was granted an entry Visa by the US government - several others from the Nepal GN chapter were denied the right to attend.  Shreedhar explained that the US embassy staff in Kathmandu told him that a professor like him should not attend such an event in Alabama because we would be holding a protest at Redstone Arsenal.

I will leave Nepal more than impressed by the very generous hospitality shown by everyone I have met here.  They are a kind and giving people who treat guests with an abundance of love and  friendship.  Even though Nepal is by western standards a 'poor nation' they are rich in many ways that people in my country could learn much from.

Bruce

My first day in Nepal

What a great experience I had as I arrived in Nepal today.

My plane from Delhi, India was an hour late taking off and I knew it would create problems for my friends in Kathmandu, Nepal who were going to meet me at the airport.

In 2016 four of our board members from the Global Network attended a space conference in Visakhapatnam, India and then went onto to Kathmandu to speak at several colleges in that city.  (You can see a report on that amazing journey here.)

On our last night in Kathmandu we had dinner with a large group of professors who asked if they could create a Global Network chapter in Nepal.  We of course loved the idea and it was done.  Professor Shreedhar Gautam became the president of the chapter.  Since that time delegations from the chapter have tried to attend our annual meetings in Huntsville, Alabama and Oxford, England but could not get Visas.  But this past spring, when we organized our Russia Study Tour, four persons from the Nepal GN chapter made their way to Moscow and we embraced them as long lost family.

Since I was coming to India anyway, I suggested that after the space law conference was concluded there, I could pop up to Nepal and meet with our dear friends once again.

So early this morning I left Visakhapatnam, India and flew to Delhi and then changed planes for Kathmandu.  Our plane was not only delayed out of Delhi, but once I arrived in Kathmandu I was stuck in the Immigration/Customs area for two hours getting through that cumbersome process.  I knew that being over three hours beyond when I was to arrive would likely cause problems for Shreedhar who was going to meet me at the airport and take me to a hotel.

So once I finally got out of the airport of course there was no one there to pick me up.

I looked around for awhile and decided just to wait and see what happened.  A nice young taxi driver approached me and asked if there was anything he could do to help me.  I told him my situation - and also explained that I am one of the few people in today's techno world that refuses to use a cell phone.  He helped me get online on my laptop and I sent Shreedhar and email explaining the situation.

Next the cab driver went on his phone and did a search for Shreedhar that took some time but he finally found him and sent him a text.  But there was no response to either of us.  By now it was getting dark - I was tired and a bit hungry, which is not unusual for me.  So I decided I should just get a hotel room for the night and would keep working on making contact with Shreedhar.  So I asked the friendly taxi driver if he could take me to a decent, mid-priced hotel near the airport.  He of course said yes and drove me to a perfect place nearby.  He got me settled in and I asked him how much he wanted for his extraordinary services.  He said, "Just give me what you would like."  He obviously was not out to take advantage of me, he sincerely was trying to help me and on the way to the hotel he explained that one should be kind to tourists that come to their fair city.  I told him I thought he was a good man.  He smiled in return.

Well needless to say I was quite generous with him.  I got tucked into my room, a quite nice place for only $40 a night and ordered a well-deserve Nepalese beer and a mushroom pizza from room service.  Soon after the beer arrived there was a knock on the door.  It was the cab driver who had Shreedhar on his phone.  They had finally made contact.  He had returned to the hotel and handed me his cell phone.

Shreedhar wanted to come and pick me up and take me to the hotel he had booked for me but I said no, I'll stay here tonight and move to that hotel tomorrow.  He told me he has organized a gathering of his folks tomorrow night at the other hotel so we'd meet then.  He was sending our friend Prabhu Yadav to pick we up in the morning to escort me to the correct hotel.

When we came to Kathmandu in 2016 we made our first stop at one local university.  We were taken to a room with several professors.  The first thing they did was greet us with the words 'Namaste' which means “I bow to the divine in you".  It was clear that the college was not in the best condition and my western mind wondered about the capacity of such a challenged institution.  But as soon as the professors began speaking to us I realized that these people were on a spiritual dimension I rarely, if ever, see at much fancier 'higher educational institutions' in the United States.

So even though today had its obvious challenges - it turned out to be a deeply enriching experience for me.  So on my second trip to Nepal I am again confronted with a touching reminder that there is a world outside of the western way of being that still remains real and connected to things that matter in life - hospitality, friendship, honesty, spiritual connection and much more.

America might have alot of money, much nicer buildings, an enormous military budget and the like.  But what it lacks is something I have experienced in Kathmandu, Nepal - a richness of spirit that most Americans long to experience.

I am glad to be here and be touched by this place.

Amen.

Bruce

4 Ways to End Climate Chaos

Election Protection, No Nukes, Defund the Military, Kill King CONG

By Harvey Wasserman, Reader Supported News
 
The Greta/AOC generation is marching for our place on this planet.

We can all turn off lights, get off plastic, go vegan, ride bikes, sail the Atlantic, demand eco-straws, solarize our homes.

But four gorillas block our way to survival. They demand a next step of mass action far beyond anything we can do as individuals:

1) ELECTION PROTECTION: Big corporations have stolen our democracy. When Jeb Bush ripped Florida 2000 for brother W, the corporate Democrats did nothing but rant at Ralph Nader. But Jeb was ALWAYS going to get George exactly the votes he needed. Trumputin did it in 2016. In 2020, stripped voter rolls and flipped vote counts could again steal the Electoral College. Our Mother Earth DEMANDS universal hand-counted paper ballots, easy and open registration, fair access to the polls, and much more. This year Al Gore should shift his climate organizing to election protection – and do it with Ralph.

2) NO NUKES: Reactors are killing us all. They (430 worldwide, 96 in the US) spew heat, radiation and carbon. Chernobyl killed more than a million people and cost more than a trillion dollars. Fukushima is poisoning the Pacific. More will explode. Radwaste is out of control. Fantasy designs (thorium, fusion, etc.) are absurd. All existing reactors can be replaced with cheaper, cleaner, safer, more reliable, and more job-producing solar, wind, batteries and LED/efficiency. DO IT NOW!! Before the next one blows!

3) MILITARY MADNESS: America’s imperial military (Earth’s worst polluter) wastes trillions. We need our soldiers here installing wind turbines, solar panels, batteries, efficiency/LED lighting, planting trees and hemp. The trillions wasted on worthless weapons (War is a racket!) must instead ride us to Solartopia.

4) KILL KING CONG (Coal, Oil, Nukes & Gas): WE need to own and run the fossil-nuke corporations. The “free market” is a myth. A handful of billionaires suck up our cash. Why do we bail them out while they kill us and our planet?
Corporations are not human. They care about nothing except money. We need to control, own and reshape these industrial death machines.
We need to tax heat, carbon and radiation. Plant a trillion trees and an ocean of hemp. Fund Solartopia with the military budget. Own/control these “too-big-to-fail/kill-us-all ” corporations. 
NOW! 

~ Harvey Wasserman's The People's Spiral of US History: From Deganawidah to Solartopia will be out October 1 at http://www.solartopia.org. Harvey hosts California Solartopia at KPFK/Pacifica 90.7 fm, Los Angeles, and Green Power & Wellness at prn.fm.

My speech at India space law conference

Space Law must be respected, upheld and strengthened

By Bruce K. Gagnon
Coordinator
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space

This is a very important and timely conference and the Global Network is happy to be part of this historic event.

I say historic because this is the first, that I am aware of, space law conference that has a purpose to promote the idea,  as Dr. Aruna Kammila says, “Explore but don’t exploit”.

In the 1997 US Space Command document entitled ‘Vision for 2020’ they wrote, “Historically military forces have evolved to protect national interests and investments – both military and economic.  During the rise of sea commerce, nations built navies to protect and enhance their commercial interests…..Likewise, space forces will emerge to protect military and commercial national interests and investment in the space medium due to their increasing importance.”

This quote from the US Space Command is quite instructive.  We know that during the 15th century and beyond the European powers created the global war system in order to control resources and markets in what they called ‘the New World’.  This was essentially the seed of the competitive, dog-eat-dog system that the world suffers from today.  India has a very close understanding of that history.

In 1996 two organizations called United Societies in Space and The World Bar Association published a book called Space Governance.  They created these organizations in order to re-write space law – particularly the two United Nations treaties – the Moon Treaty and the Outer Space Treaty that declared that the celestial bodies were the province of all humankind.  The treaties stated that no individual, no corporation, no country could lay claim to the heavenly bodies.

These treaties were smartly attempting to prevent the global war system from carrying the bad seed of war, greed and environmental degradation into space.

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 also 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 passed the Congress and was signed into law giving US corporations and individuals the legal authority to make land claims on the moon and asteroids.  This violates existing UN space law and will 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.

Next weekend in Montreal, Canada a conference is being held called ‘Strategic Space Law’ where representatives from the aerospace industry, the US military and others are gathering.  They will be discussing topics such as space governance, development of a space-industry strategy, space situational awareness, space traffic management, space weapons, cybersecurity law, law of space commercialization, insurance programs for space investors, governmental affairs strategy and more. 

Today there are over 2,000 active satellites in orbit and the number of nations directly involved in launching or operating satellites has grown substantially in recent years. The parking spaces in orbits above the Earth are getting full and conflict will be increasing around the issue of who has the right to fill these orbital parking spots.  Currently the US military occupies many of these orbital parking spaces.

The private launch company called SpaceX was recently given permission by the US government to launch 11,943 mini-satellites to form the expansive Starlink broadband network, designed to provide worldwide high speed internet access by ensuring that at least one satellite is always above the horizon for anyone on Earth.

Alice Gorman, an internationally recognized leader in the field of space archaeology and senior lecturer at Flinders University in Australia, said earlier this year, "One of the issues that we have with the space junk problem is that we don't know precisely where a lot of objects are. When you try to model these millions of bits of stuff circling around the Earth in order to make space safer for functioning satellites, it's just so complex; it's a really difficult task.”

So obviously when you launch nearly 12,000 new mini-satellites into this unregulated mess in Earth orbit the problem only gets worse.

Amateur sky watchers have started sharing images of those mounting numbers of satellites in night skies, igniting an uproar among astronomers who fear that the planned orbiting clusters will wreak havoc on scientific research and trash our view of the cosmos. “This has the potential to change what a natural sky looks like,” said Tyler Nordgren, an astronomer who is now working full-time to promote night skies. And SpaceX is not alone in filling the skies.  Other companies, such as Amazon, Telesat and OneWeb, want to get into the space internet business. While private companies see major business opportunities in low-Earth orbit and beyond, many sky lovers fear that space will no longer be “the province of all mankind,” as stated in the Outer Space Treaty.

Even nations that have no direct involvement in launching or operating satellites rely heavily on space infrastructure: for television, cell phone, radio, banking, communications, transport, agriculture, and especially for modern military operations.

Yet, those satellites are under increasing threat from hundreds of thousands of pieces of space debris. Furthermore, some countries (US, Russia and China) already possess the ability to destroy or disrupt satellites and other nations (like India) have plans to develop those same anti-satellite capabilities.

Outer space is becoming more contested, congested and competitive. In addition the global security situation generally is less certain. Ballistic missiles, as the means of delivery of nuclear weapons, involve space flight and ballistic ‘missile defense’ also relies on space-based infrastructure. Thus, space is a key element in global security, yet it is also increasingly being militarized and weaponized.

There is a real danger that outer space will become the next war zone. A conflict in space could have devastating implications for the space systems of all nations and for modern society on Earth.

Therefore, in order to avoid potentially devastating conflicts, there is a dire need for a global discussion about of enforcement of existing space treaties like the Moon and Outer Space Treaty.  We also need new treaties that would allow for the banning of new emerging space weapons technologies.

For more than 25 years Russia and China have annually introduced a new treaty to ban all weapons in space at the United Nations.  It is called PAROS – Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space.  Each year a resolution calling for the new treaty overwhelmingly passes the General Assembly in New York City – with the US and Israel voting against. Then the treaty resolution is sent to the UN’s Conference on Disarmament at Geneva but the US and Israel block its development.  All through both Republican and Democrat administrations in Washington the US says, “There is no problem in space, thus there is no need for a new treaty.”  It is obvious that the aerospace industry views space as a new market for maximum profits and thus are the force behind blocking the treaty.

At the same time the nuclear industry also views space as a profitable new market.  The nuclear industry dreams of nuclear-powered mining colonies on the moon, Mars, asteroids and the like.  The little rover driving around Mars today is powered with a plutonium generator.  Nuclear reactors on rockets are envisioned for travel to Mars.  Those same nuclear reactors could be used to power orbiting battle stations just above Earth.  There is currently no true legal regulation on any of this and the aerospace industry wishes to keep it that way.

In 1989 the US Congress published a study called Military Space Forces: The Next 50 Years.  The study begins with this quote: ‘Who rules circumterrestrial space commands Planet Earth; Who rules the moon commands circumterrestrial space; Who rules L4 and L5 (lunar libration points) commands the Earth-Moon System.’

Later in the study the author underscores the vital character of the L4 and L5 positions on either side of the moon and writes: “Nature reserves decisive advantage for L4 and L5, two allegedly stable libration points that theoretically could dominate Earth and moon, because they look down both gravity wells. No other location is equally commanding……Armed forces might lie in wait at that location to hijack rival shipments on return.”

Thus we find that even in 1989 the US was conceptualizing its plan for ‘full spectrum dominance’ by some day placing orbiting battle stations in space that would enable the Pentagon to deny other nations access on and off the Earth as they saw fit.

One can easily infer that Trumps new proposal to create a separate ‘Space Force’ is intended to give the Pentagon two distinct capabilities: first to control the Earth on behalf of corporate interests and secondly to be the Master of Space by being the gate keeper to the heavens.

The US, dragging the western allies behind them, is preparing for war with Russia and China.  Washington wants India ‘onside’ for obvious reasons of geography, history, and growing economic power.  The US also needs allies with money to help pay for the Pentagon endless war machine that is heavily dependent on very expensive space technology.

Washington wishes to bring India under its ‘Space Command’ so that your military forces will be run through the Pentagon space warfighting satellite program.  A term ‘interoperability’ has been coined to describe the process where all allies must have warfighting systems that can be technically run thru the US Space Command system.  In the end this means the US is controlling the deadly ‘tip of the spear’ because no other nation has all the satellites and ground stations around the globe that give Washington the ability to see everything on Earth, hear everything, and ultimately target every place on the planet.

All the NATO members (and ‘partners’ like Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand) are being brought into the global military alliance to control and dominate the planet on behalf of western corporate capitalism.  That means London-Washington-Brussels-Paris-Berlin running the world.

Russia, China, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba and a few other nations are on the Pentagon’s wish list for ‘regime change’.  They still stand outside full control by the western bankers and militarists.

The recent formation of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) alternative economic institution would loan money to developing countries and not exploit them the way western bankers do using the IMF and World Bank as their tools of domination.  The west is not happy about BRICS and thus we saw the past progressive leader of Brazil was dethroned in a coup essentially orchestrated by Washington.  He was replaced by the fascist President Balsonaro who is allowing the destruction of the Amazon in order to enable expansion of cattle grazing areas for Brazil’s beef industry and other development. Thus the ‘lungs of the Earth’ are being destroyed for corporate profits.

The US-NATO alliance is not happy to see any nation stand up against this long run of western imperialism.  Many nations are calling for a multi-polar world and the US demands to remain as the unipolar leader of the planet.  Washington appears willing to create a global war to defend its collapsing empire.

The US is like a cowboy gambler with a black hat on a Mississippi riverboat playing cards.  The cowboy looks around and sees himself surrounded by those he has exploited for years.  He thinks his only way out is to start shooting – the law of the west.  That, I think, is essentially still the foreign and military policy of the US.  Its part arrogance and part fear that the world has woken up at last and is rejecting the cowboy mentality of ‘full spectrum dominance’.

Growing global poverty and the reality of climate change though are banging on Washington’s front door.  The corporations love for the dollar bill is so great that they cannot see beyond their lust for power and greed.  I call them pirates.

The pirates have buried a chest in the US – it is our national treasury created from the taxes from the people’s hard work.  More than 55% of every federal tax dollar under the discretion of Congress goes to the Pentagon.  America has become a war culture.  Our economy is addicted to military production.  People are increasingly  being indoctrinated that the ‘Russians and Chinese’ are trying to take over the world so we must spend more on weapons for war and we must have the very best space technology system in place to protect ourselves.  We are a paranoid nation – massive guilt and fear comes from our long legacy of genocide and endless war.

We have a wedding in America of the government and corporate power – they are one in the same.  Democracy has essentially been drowned in the United States.

Thus no one anywhere on our Mother Earth should ever listen to the moralistic preaching that comes from Washington about democracy, freedom, peace, or the rule of law.  It’s all Hollywood talk – a scripted propaganda machine that attempts to sell an image to the world.  Fortunately the initial shine has worn off the Stars & Stripes and most people around the globe clearly understand what is really going on.

Again now is the time to build an international consciousness and campaign to protect the heavens from this insane global war system.  India is becoming a leading space power and thus your voices and good hearts are needed to prevent moving this bad seed into space.

The Global Network thanks you for organizing this very important conference and we look forward to further collaboration with each of you. 

Sunday song

Reflections from space law conference in India

My long-time friend JV Prabhakar hands me flowers at the Visakhapatnam, India airport as Peter Kuznick (American University Professor of History from Washington DC) on left in blue and I just arrived.  On the right side is Dr. Aruna Kammila (Global Network board member and organizer of the space law conference at the DSNLU law university.)

My flight from Newark, NJ was 13 hours to Mumbai with a seven-hour layover before catching the flight to Visakhapatnam.  When we arrived we were treated to a traditional southern India meal at the law school cafeteria and then went to bed where I slept like a new born baby.

The conference was opened by a terrific welcoming speech by Professor S. Surya Prakash, Vice-Chancellor of the DSNLU law university.  He made a moving connection between space exploitation for profit and degradation of the Earth as humans have lost their spiritual connection to our mother planet.  When I rose to speak I noted that I have attended many conferences over the years and usually most welcoming words from university leaders are perfunctory with little substance.  On this occasion the welcomes by Prof. Prakash, and another by his mentor Prof. A. Subrahmanam, were full of substance and were deeply connected to the subject at hand.  It was an important beginning .

The hall was full of students and faculty from 20 law universities across India.  Throughout the first day students and faculty from these law schools each made presentations on various aspects of space law.  After the students made their presentations a panel of faculty members from schools in Kolkata and Bhopal critiqued the student presentations.

I was surprised and happy that during breaks students would approach me with questions concerning space issues - my thoughts on Mars colonization, the use of nuclear power in space, could they intern at the Global Network - and as I began to answer the questions crowds of students formed to hear my responses.  Simply amazing.

In one discussion I lamented how it was so costly and wasteful that individual nations are organizing their own space exploration programs rather than having one program representing all of humanity from our tiny spinning satellite called Earth.  One student commented to me, "The problem sir is that we don't trust the US thus we must do our own space program."  That observation speaks for itself - sad but dripping with reality. I constantly raised the question - what kind of seed are we carrying with us as we venture off into the heavens? 

India now has a robust space program and recently launched a moon mission.  India is soon to become the most populated nation on Earth with over 300 million living in poverty.

I was handed a cell phone by another Global Network member, Prabhu Yadev from Nepal, who had one of our most revered GN board members J. Narayana Rao from Nagpur, India on the line.  Rao, a retired railway union worker, is the father of the peace in space movement in India.  For many years he has been traveling across this country organizing students and faculty to learn about space issues.  Due to cancer treatments he was unable to attend the conference here but I am certain he would be reduced to tears of pride if he had been able to come.

Today we will continue with even more presentations.  We will hear from Peter Kuznick and Global Network board members Lindis Percy (UK) and Subrata Ghoshroy (MIT in Boston).

I'll post my own speech soon with more photos as I get them.  I still do not have a cell phone - out of rebellion over the expense and health implications.  Thus I must rely on others to provide me with photos.  When I went through immigration in Mumbai the man working at the station checking my Visa and passport was stunned that I left blank the space for cell phone number.  I'm likely one of the few people in the world without such a device.

Bruce

An outstanding book - must read

I've just finished reading this incredible book by Kate Brown on the aftermath of the 1986 nuclear reactor disaster at Chernobyl, Ukraine.  I cannot recommend it highly enough.

I learned so much from this monumental work.  Probably the most impressive thing about Brown's writing is that she is a great story teller who weaved in tales about the people and doctors who were involved in dealing with the hellish contamination for many years following the event.

It's an eye opening story as the US Department of Energy, the UN's World Health Organization and other international pro-nuclear bodies did their best to downplay the contamination and deaths caused by the accident.

Stories about how the USSR was totally overwhelmed by the human and environmental impacts are heart breaking and the courage and tenaciousness of a few medical professionals to push on defending the men, women and children who suffered so badly are deeply moving.

I was already anti-nuclear but after reading this book I am even more so now.

It's amazing that very recently the elected President Zelensky in Ukraine has moved to make the Chernobyl contamination zone a tourist site. That is just insane.

Many years ago while living in Florida I organized several large delegations of peaceniks to travel to Cuba to 'pick the forbidden fruit'.  While there on one of the trips we were taken (in the mid-1990's) to a Pioneer kids camp that had been turned over to host children of Chernobyl who were contamination victims.  I met one child, born after the nuclear accident, who had what looked just like deer hide growing on his face and arms.  That stunning revelation of the effects of contamination still lives inside of me.

Here is one important bit from the book.  Brown writes about her meeting with a Ukrainian married couple who were physicists and had been working hard to investigate the health impacts of the accident.  She writes:

Vsevolod showed me around the circa 1953 solar telescope he and Natalia managed in an observatory, hidden in a courtyard garden of flowers and fruit trees in central Kyiv....One evening Natalia was out, and Vsevolod could dwell on his favorite topic unhindered over a meal of stuffed peppers.  He said the solar telescope taught them not just how the sun affects the earth, but also how the earth and the actions of humans on it impact the sun.  He showed me charts of sun eruptions over 150 years of observation.  The biggest jet occurred in 1946, which he interpreted as right after the bomb fell on Hiroshima.  More eruptions followed in quick succession during the years of atmospheric nuclear testing.  I listened skeptically, though later I found articles about how Americans and Soviets exploded high-altitude nuclear bombs in the early 1960s with the specific purpose of changing the electromagnetic fields and radiation belt surrounding the planet. [Playing god.] The bomb, Vsevolod read into his graphs, was a mistake, a huge error that altered the heavens itself.  "Before we turn the earth into something miserable for human life," Vsevolod wanted me to know, "we have to recognize that mistake."

History lesson: Building the U.S. 'business' empire by hook & by crook

The Untold History of the United States (also known as Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States) is a 2012 documentary series created, directed, produced, and narrated by Oliver Stone about the reasons behind the Cold War, the decision to drop the atomic bombs, and changes in America's global role since the fall of Communism.

Oliver Stone and historian Peter Kuznick (director of American University's Nuclear Studies Institute) began working on the project in 2008. Stone and Kuznick co-wrote the script.

Lisa Savage announces campaign for Maine's U.S. Senate seat

October 10, 2019 | Media Release

For Further Information: Sam Pfeifle

207-749-0298 sampfeifle@gmail.com  @SamPfeifle

Lisa Savage, a teacher and grandmother from Solon, will announce her exploratory campaign for U.S. Senate on October 10 at noon in Congress Square Park, Portland. Savage is testing the waters for a run on the Maine Green Independent Party ticket in the first U.S. Senate race to use ranked choice voting.

“People are hungry for real change, but the political establishment fails to listen, year after year,” she said. “I’m exploring a run to give Mainers a Senator who represents everyday people again, rather than big corporations, lobbyists and billionaires who are calling the shots in Washington.” Savage has pledged not to accept donations from for-profit corporate lobbyists or PACs.

“As a teacher in rural Maine, I work every day with children whose families are struggling to survive in an economy that has thrown working people under the bus,” said Savage. “I believe, as residents of the richest country in world history, we all deserve the fundamentals of a secure life, like good union jobs through a Green New Deal that will put millions to work tackling the climate crisis, a Medicare for All healthcare system that provides health care as a human right for everyone and stops driving sick people into bankruptcy, and quality education for all, including free public higher education without student debt.”

As a strong independent progressive candidate, Lisa’s campaign would increase the turnout of progressive and independent voters in the first Senate race ever to use ranked choice voting. Under this new system, Lisa’s presence in the race would not “split the vote”, but rather increase the vote to unseat Sen. Collins who has increasingly aligned herself with Donald Trump’s far-right Republican agenda.



Lisa Savage has a long history of service on behalf of people, planet, and peace. She has fought for and won better health care, wages, and job security for working people as former vice president and chief negotiator for her local bargaining unit of the Maine Education Association.

To jump start a Green New Deal for Maine and beyond, Lisa has been leading a campaign initiated by Bath Iron Workers decades ago to convert the factory to supply green energy and transportation needs for the nation. “We can make Maine the source of Green infrastructure for the Northeast and beyond, building solutions like commuter trains, solar panels and offshore wind towers - rather than wasting billions on needless, polluting war ships that make the climate crisis worse,” Lisa noted.

Lisa has been watch-dogging the use of our federal tax dollars as past coordinator of the Bring Our War Dollars Home campaign.  “Global warming is already harming our farms, fisheries and coast,” said Savage. “Yet Congress is diverting almost 60% of our federal discretionary budget to the Pentagon for endless, unwinnable wars that make the world less safe and worsen climate change. It’s time to put those wasted dollars to work for true security here at home, building the green technology of the future. This is a win-win-win for our workers, our state and our world.”

Lisa has organized for social justice in partnership with Showing Up For Racial Justice - Central Maine and Maine Wabanaki-REACH, and she helped get legislation passed to end the demeaning use of Native Americans as school mascots in Maine.

Prior to becoming a teacher Lisa managed a family-owned small business in Skowhegan for seven years. She has a history degree from Bowdoin College and a masters degree in education from the University of Southern Maine. Lisa and her husband, self-employed woodworker Mark Roman, have five grown children and four grandchildren.

“People are fed up with business as usual in Washington DC,” Lisa stated. “The political establishment has brought us endless wars abroad, impoverished us at home, and sold our democracy to the highest bidder. Now we have an historic opportunity in this first Senate race with Ranked Choice Voting, which gives everyone the freedom to vote for the greater good."

"We’ve never had a better opportunity - or a more urgent need - for a people-powered campaign to make history. Together, we can create a Maine and a nation that works for all of us!"

*END*

[Lisa is a dear friend and I will be volunteering on her campaign.  With Rank Choice Voting for this US Senate race in Maine anything is possible.  I write this from the Mumbai, India airport.  It is 4:30 am time back in Maine now.  I am a bit tired but excited for Lisa.  You can find her web site here.  Bruce]

A new expensive arms race in space?

Video by the Union of Concerned Scientists

Politicians have called for "space-based missile defense" for years. Unfortunately, it's not a very good idea.

This video shows how a system using space interceptors would work. It demonstrates why such a system is necessarily expensive and vulnerable--and why, as a defensive shield, it's not particularly useful (and even dangerous).

And ultimately these systems are highly provocative and will unleash a new arms race in space - something the aerospace industry desperately wants.

The warmongers intend to pay for this new arms race by defunding Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and what little is left of the tattered 'social safety net'.

These 'pharaohs' of our time want to build pyramids to the heavens and we the people will be the slaves to hand over everything to them so they can militarize, weaponize, and privatize space to their benefit.

I'm at the New York airport now waiting for my flight to India where I'll attend a conference on this very subject.  In order to pull this all off the US corporate oligarchs must shred the United Nations Moon and Outer Space Treaties that say no country, no corporation nor any individual can make land claims in space.  The planetary bodies are the 'province of all human kind'.

Bruce

Request for support for Global Network

Preparing to head to India for the Space Law conference.  Concerned about the colonization of the planetary bodies for 'profit, exploitation, and militarization'.  I will post reports while on the trip.

Dear Friends,

I write to ask for your support as I prepare to leave on a month-long organizing journey on behalf of the Global Network. This will be my schedule.

•   Oct 11-14 Visakhapatnam, India

•   Oct 15-17 Kathmandu, Nepal

•   Oct 18-23 Moscow, Russia

•   Oct 24-30 Train to Lugansk People Republic (LPR) and the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in eastern Ukraine near the Russian border

•   Nov 1-Nov 13 Simferopol & Yalta, Crimea

India:  Our board member Aruna Kammila is a professor at the Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University in Visakhapatnam and has organized an International Space Law Conference on the theme "Explore but don't exploit." We will focus on building an international consciousness and support to demand that United Nations space law treaties (Moon & Outer Space Treaties) be respected and followed rather than ignored by creating the mad rush to privatize space on behalf of the aerospace industry and the rich. 

Just like the US withdrawal from other treaties in recent years (ABM, Iran Nuclear Deal, and INF) there is growing concern that Washington’s number one agenda for space is to turn it toward privatized domination and exploitation.  We’ve had enough of that. Aruna’s hard work to organize this conference will allow for deep learning. GN board members Lindis Percy (UK) and Subrata Ghoshroy (Boston) will also be there.

Nepal:  I’ve been invited to return to Kathmandu where I will meet with GN chapter leaders and speak at several colleges across the city about our work.  During our previous visit to Nepal in 2016 (see the reports from that India-Nepal trip here) a group of local college professors asked if they could create a chapter of the Global Network in Kathmandu.  We of course said yes. Since then, delegates from Nepal tried to attend our annual conferences in Alabama and England but their Visa applications were rejected.  Thankfully this past spring they were allowed to join us in Moscow during our Russia study tour. Their persistence inspires us all.

Moscow:  Here I will meet with a number of political activists, including our newest board member, Leonid Ilderkin from Ukraine who now lives as a political refugee in Russia. Among the topics of discussion will be their perspectives on the 2014 US-orchestrated coup d’état in Ukraine which put into power many fascists backed by Nazi death squads primarily from western Ukraine. Few westerners know that tens of thousands of people in eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border, were killed and arrested by the new regime in Kiev, the capitol of Ukraine. More than one million other Ukrainians escaped to Russia because of the constant shelling of the Donbass (the part of Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine near the Russian border).  The US-NATO have been key players in arming, training and directing these attacks in the Donbass.  A good article for background information on these events is here.

Lugansk & Donetsk: Leonid will take me via overnight train to Lugansk in the Donbass at the invitation of a labor leader there.  A few months ago this gentle labor man, whom I met at a conference in Moscow one year ago, asked me to create an Online petition calling on the US & Canada to stop arms sales/grants to Ukraine.  He was so grateful for the support that he invited me to visit, and is planning to have me speak at a conference in nearby Donetsk. We will spend several days meeting with people there who are trying to get the world to understand their current struggle for survival as they are daily under attack by the Ukrainian Army and the Nazi death squads that still operate with impunity.

The west claims that Russia invaded Ukraine, but there is no evidence of that.  Following the 2014 coup, and the indiscriminate killing of citizens in the Donbass by the Ukrainian government, a self-defense force was created in the region – primarily in the region of Lugansk and Donetsk.  Coal miners, musicians, teachers, electricians, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers joined the self-defense forces to protect their communities and families.

The Pentagon established a base in western Ukraine and rotates in US Army Special Forces troops from Ft. Carson, Colorado who are sent to train the Ukrainian Army.  The Ukrainian fascist “godfather” was Stephan Bandera who donned a Nazi uniform during Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union during WW II and helped Hitler kill Jews, Communists, Poles and more.  Today the Ukrainian Nazi death squads have been brought into the newly formed ‘National Guard’ and are being trained at this US-run base.  See a video of Obama’s ambassador visiting the base in early 2016 here.

Crimea: Last spring during our Russia Study Tour we visited Crimea where local citizens reported on their successful 2014 citizen referendum to re-join Russia rather than wait for Ukraine to bring its violent repression to their peninsula. We were able to participate in the May Day parade in Simferopol which celebrated working people around the world.  That same day local leaders hosted a conference and invited all our 24 tour members to attend.  They spoke to us and asked us to speak to them in return.  Four from our group expressed that we were ordinary people who had come in the spirit of peace.  We told them we worry about war, about US-NATO expansion now encircling Russia and China, and wish to build peaceful bridges among our peoples.  They received us with deep respect and generosity.

I was asked by one of the leaders of the Black Sea Association for International Cooperation in Simferopol to bring some US veterans back to Crimea for further conferences in early November.  So Simferopol will be my last stop on this month-long journey. 

Needless to say this trip is costing the Global Network some funds.  Only a small part of my expenses will be reimbursed by my hosts.  Most of the places I will be visiting are living in hard circumstances.  It is my hope that you can make a special donation to the Global Network’s travel fund to help with this trip.

Some years ago the GN board asked me to work harder to build better relationships with peaceful people and groups in Russia and Eastern Europe.  It has not been easy, but since 2016 we’ve made major steps forward in that direction.  Clearly it takes traveling and establishing personal relationships to make that happen.  It also costs money.

This trip will offer a profound privilege and opportunity to the GN to deepen our solidarity with friends in India, Nepal, Russia and eastern Ukraine.  We need each other now more than ever.

I wish you the best as we approach the fall season and the end of the year festivities.  Always let’s keep in mind our earnest work to bring a loving spirit to this beautiful Mother Earth that we all have the good fortune to live on.

In peace,

Bruce K. Gagnon

Coordinator

PS  You can donate by sending a tax-deductible check to the GN at PO Box 652, Brunswick, ME 04011 or by going to our web site www.space4peace.org and clicking on the secure Green Donate Now button.  Thank you very much.