Global Network Statement on Golden Dome

 

 You can join the sign-on statement opposing Trump's proposed Golden Dome. Send an email to globalnet@mindspring.com with your organization name/individual name and your city/state and nation. See signers below. Help us by spreading this statement in your community. We will keep the sign-up list updated here

Donald Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’ proposal is a continuation of Ronald Reagan’s SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative), the Star Wars system of early 1980’s.

Trump calls it a ‘layered defense shield, safeguarding the American homeland with unwavering precision, ensuring the security and resilience of our nation’. Trump shared few specifics in the May 20 news conference, saying “Golden Dome will be capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from other sides of the world and even if they are launched from space.”

Early cost estimates from Congressional sources range from $550 billion to trillions over 20 years. Trump wants a $25 billion down payment for the program in 2025. Canada is being brought into Golden Dome likely to help pay for it. We should expect that NATO members will also be hit up to help cover the massive costs.

There are already extensive missile defense programs, such as the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GBMD); the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) program; the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Satellite Tracking Layer program; the ‘Space Based Infra-Red System’ (SBIRS) of missile detection and tracking satellites and its replacement the ‘Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infra-Red’ (Next Gen OPIR) satellites. The aim of Golden Dome is to combine these with new components, such as space-based interceptors aimed at intercepting missiles soon after launch.

The price tag is bound to be the Achilles Heel of the Golden Dome program. Already, over the past 70 years, the US has spent more than $500 billion on missile defense, according to an American Physical Society (APS) report. Golden Dome would be a colossal waste of resources when the US has $37 trillion in debt. Merely replicating Israel’s Iron Dome over the US — multiplying it out to cover nearly four million square miles — would require 24,000 Iron Dome batteries at $100 million each. Development cost of Golden Dome would be more than we spend on the Pentagon budget in one year.

Golden Dome would create a dangerous arms race in space. It is an offensive, not defensive program. It is extremely unlikely to be able to provide the claimed 100% effective shield against an all-out attack from thousands of missiles incorporating countermeasures such as multiple decoy warheads or the ability to maneuver in the final stages of their trajectory. However, it will embolden the US to launch a first-strike attack and attempt to pick off any retaliatory strike.

The US and Canada land mass is so vast that Golden Dome could never successfully cover it all. Golden Dome just won’t work. It simply encourages other nations to expand hypersonics development, mass drone swarms, advanced cruise missiles and other technologies to overwhelm the US system.

Israel’s similar Iron Dome proved not to be effective when Iran launched missiles and drones that evaded that system. “Intercepting even a single, nuclear-armed intercontinental-range ballistic missile or its warheads … is extremely challenging,” physicist Frederick Lamb of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign said at an APS meeting in March. “The ability of any missile defense system to do this reliably has not been demonstrated.”

Ensuring protection from just one ‘enemy’ ICBM launch site would require more than 1,000 interceptors in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), the APS report finds. Protection from ten ICBMs might demand over 30,000 interceptors, depending on missile types. For comparison, there are currently about 12,000 active satellites in orbit around Earth, most in SpaceX’s Starlink network.

Scientists at China’s Zhejiang University have created a composite, multi-layered, heat-absorbing stealth material they say can evade detection by infrared and microwave systems at long ranges. It operates at temperatures up to 700 °C, meaning it can be potentially used in an array of military and space applications.

That’s bad news for Golden Dome, which will rely on ground and space-based early warning, tracking, fire control and radars to detect and track threats. Without help from its sensor-based eyes and ears, Golden Dome’s interceptors would be essentially useless and firing blind in the event of a crisis.

Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, L3Harris and SpaceX would likely be the prime beneficiaries along with Republican megadonor Peter Thiel’s Palantir and venture capital-backed startup Anduril.

Any war in space would lead to the Kessler Syndrome – masses of orbiting debris – making it virtually impossible to utilize orbits that are becoming dangerously congested like Lower Earth Orbit (LEO). There are currently more than 1,550 Starlink satellites in LEO with thousands more planned.

Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites are launched from Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Space Force bases. All space launches today have major environmental impacts – particularly exhaust products trapped for long periods in the upper atmosphere that are further damaging the ozone layer. Space is an environment that must be protected. Golden Dome’s huge number of launches would be the stake in the heart of planet Earth.

Deployment of Golden Dome would also doom any hopes for nuclear disarmament as China, Russia, North Korea and others could not afford to get rid of their nuclear retaliatory capabilities. No other nation will surrender to US becoming the Master of Space.

The Pentagon (Space Force) has long been planning to control the pathway from the Earth to the Moon and beyond. Plans for space-based orbiting battle stations, used to ‘police’ the Earth-Moon gravity well to ensure US and allies ‘control and domination’ of space, are called for in the 1997 US Space Command document ‘Vision for 2020’.  

The US unilaterally withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty with Russia in 2002. From 1972 until 2002 the Treaty bound the US and Russia to very limited missile defense systems in order to maintain the deadly nuclear balance. What is needed now is a new global ABM Treaty that all states can sign up to and ensure that no state, or group of states, can hold the threat of a nuclear first strike over others.

If the US truly wishes to protect the US and Canada, then it should honor the spirit of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. It should agree to negotiate and sign a treaty at the United Nations to ban all weapons in space. China and Russia have been annually introducing a space weapons ban treaty for more than 30 years but the US and Israel have been blocking its development.

We, the undersigned, call upon the US Congress, the White House, and the Canadian government to abandon plans for the creation of the Golden Dome. Rather than wasting massive amounts of tax dollars on a new space arms race those funds should be used for human needs, environmental protection, education, health care and long neglected infrastructure repair. The US and Canada should lead a global initiative to protect our global commons and keep space for peace.

List in formation:

• Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
• Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (London, UK)
• Popular Resistance
• Centre for Research on Globalization (Montreal, Qc. Canada)
• World Beyond War
• Kevin Martin, President Peace Action (Washington DC)
• War Industry Resisters Network (WIRN)
• Safe Tech International
• PARC Against DARC (Wales, UK)
• Ellen Woodsworth & Patsy George, Co-chairs of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (Canada)
• Dr. Helen Caldicott, Co-Founder and president of Physicians for Social Responsibility, 1985 Nobel Peace Prize (Australia)
• Prof. Dr. Klaus Buchner, former member of the European Parliament (Germany)
• Professor Dave Webb, Chair of Yorkshire CND & Convenor of Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space (United Kingdom)
• Dud Hendrick, US Naval Academy, Vietnam veteran (Maine)
• Bill Astore, Lt Col, USAF, Retired, Senior Fellow, Eisenhower Media Network (Massachusetts)
• Olle Johansson, Professor, Retired, Karolinska Institute and Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden)
• CND Cymru (Wales)
• Lyn Adamson & Hannah Hadikin, Co-chairs of the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace
• Tamara Lorincz, GN Advisory Board, PhD candidate, Wilfrid Laurier University, Fellow with the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute (Canada)
• Michael Wong, Former national vice president, Veterans For Peace
  Current national board member, Veterans For Peace, Co-founder, Pivot To Peace (California)
• Menwith Hill Accountability Campaign, North Yorkshire (UK)
• Kate Kheel, Advocate for safe technology and peace (Maryland)
• Bruce Gagnon, Coordinator, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space (Maine)
• Yorkshire CND (UK)
• Ken Jones, Retired Professor of Teacher Education (North Carolina)
• Russell Wray, Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats (Maine)
• Marrickville Peace Group (Sydney, Australia)
• Rosie Paul, Coordinator, Greater Brunswick PeaceWorks (Maine)
• Tom Valovic, Author of Digital Mythologies and journalist (Massachusetts)
• Lisa Savage, Maine Natural Guard
• Professor Kevin P. Clements, Director, The Toda Peace Institute (Tokyo, Japan)
• Shabnam Palesa Mohamed, Activist, journalist, lawyer. Founder of Wage Peace International (South Africa)
• Stop the War Machine (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
• Max Obuszewski & Janice Sevre-Duszynska, Baltimore Nonviolence Center (Maryland)
• People Opposing Space Militarization and Rocket Launches (South Korea)
• Gangjeong Peace and Music Camp Committee (Jeju Island, South Korea)
• Inter-Island Solidarity for Peace of the Sea, Jeju Committee (Jeju, South Korea)
• Gangeong Peace Network (Jeju, South Korea)
• People Making Jeju a Demilitarized Peace Island (Jeju, South Korea)
• Neighborhood Climate Justice (Daejeon, South Korea)
• Jean Hudon, Quebec Peace Activist (Canada)
• Lynda Williams, Physicist and Science Communicator, Physics Professor Emeritus, The Physics Chanteuse (Hawaii)
• Ronald M. Powell, Ph.D. Applied Physics (Maryland)
• Jim Mason, Author, attorney (Missouri)
• John and Carrie Schuchardt, House of Peace (Ipswich, Massachusetts)
• Colin Archer, Retired Secretary General, IPB (UK)
• Samantha Smith Chapter 45 Veterans for Peace (Massachusetts)
• Mary Beth Sullivan, Retired Social worker (Maine)
• Dr. Tess Lawrie, World Council for Health Coordinator (Bath, United Kingdom)
• Waging Peace Project (Minnesota)
• Montreal for a World Beyond War (Canada)
• Douglas Roche, Former Canadian Senator
• Alice Slater, Member of the Boards of World Beyond War & Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space (New York)
• Rae Street, Rochdale and Littleborough Peace Group (UK)
• Dianne Poole (Barrington, Rhode Island)
• Jon Olsen, Lifelong anti-imperialist (Maine)
• Helmut Kuhn (Ottawa, Canada)
• Roger Weinreich, Nuclear Disarmament Educator, businessman, writer, artist & musician (Keene, New Hampshire)
• Dolores Hall, Doctor of Ministry (Ottawa, Canada)
• Dieter Lachenmayer, Koordinator of Friedensnetz Baden-Württemberg (Germany)
• Roger Leisner, Activist photographer (Maine)
• Lea Launokari, Women for Peace (Finland)
• Ulla Klötzer, Women Against Nuclear Power (Finland)
• Marika Lohi, Amandamaji r.y. (Finland)
• Gene Marx, Retired Supervisor, FAA, Washington DC Operations Center & Past Board Secretary, Veterans For Peace (Bellingham, Washington)
• Kary Love, Attorney at Law (West Olive, Michigan)
• “Stop & Abolish Nuclear Power Plants”, Everyday-Tent-Vigil-Movement in front of the Kyusyu Electric Power Company’s head office (signed on the 5,158th day since 20th April 2011 (Fukuoka, Japan）
• Makoto Konishi, Journalist on military issues, especially of Okinawan smaller islands (Tokyo, Japan)
• Oita Readers’ Group of the Weekly Friday Magazine (Japan)
• Citizens’ Network to Say No to Changing Peace Constitution and Educational System (Oita, Japan)
• Red Dragonflies Flying for the Article 9 Defense (Oita, Japan)
• Oita Cycling for Peace (Japan)
• Yang Changkwon (Jeju, South Korea)
• Yoo Inhae (Gwangju, South Korea)
• Park Eun-seo (Jeju Green Party, South Korea)
• Koh Gil-Cheon (Artist, Jeju, South Korea)
• Choi Sung-hee, People Opposing Space Militarization and Rocket Launches (Jeju, South Korea)
• Hwang yong-woon, Reporter (Jeju, South Korea)
• Kim Eun-Sil (Daejeon, South Korea)
• Yi mi-sun (Jeju Island, South Korea)
• Yang Kyung-ja, Democratic Labor Party (Jeju, South Korea)
• Kaia Vereide, Inter-Island Solidarity for Peace of the Sea, Jeju Committee, Gangjeong Peace Network (Jeju, South Korea)
• Yoo Mi-hee (Ulsan, South Korea)
• An Jin-Hyeong (Seoul, South Korea)
• KIM YOUN TAE, Farmer (South Korea)
• Choi Byung Sang, Representative of Muan regional ranch of the SPARK (South Korea)
• Jeong Jiyun (Uiwang, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea)
• Kim Jung-deok, Activist, Political Mamas (South Korea)
• Yoon Il Soon (Namyangju-si, South Korea)
• Heeum, People Opposing Space Militarization and Rocket Launches (Seoul, South Korea)
• Kang Hyun Sook (Jeju, South Korea)
• Lee Choong Sun, Worker (Jeju, South Korea)
• Kim Seolhae (Cheongju, South Korea)
• Han Joo-yeon, Worker (Gyeonggi province, South Korea)
• Kim Dong Yeon (Busan, South Korea)
• Kim Seon (Jeju, South Korea)
• Kim Do-Hyun, Worker (Busan, South Korea)
• Jungjoo Gang Park (Gangjeong Village, Jeju, South Korea)
• Yang Sangho (Gangjeong Village, Jeju, South Korea)
• Seong Yoon-seo (Seoul, South Korea)
• Park Tae-sik (Busan, South Korea)
• Kim Na-hee, Joint Action for Cancellation of Saemangeum New Airport, Contact point (South Korea)
• Lee Sung-joon (Jeju, South Korea)
• Kim Soon-ae, Chairman of the Jeju Green Party (South Korea)
• Seo Shin-shim (Jeju, South Korea)
• KIM-KIM Jonghon (Seongnam, South Korea)
• Richard Rothschiller, Psy.D., Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (Hawai`i) 
• Koji Sugihara, Activist against weapons export, military buildup, nuclear power stations (Tokyo, Japan) 
• Pro-Article 9 group, Yufuin, (Oita, Japan) 
• Women's International League for Peace & Freedom, Disarm/End Wars Committee (WILPF US) 
• Proposition One Campaign for a Nuclear-Free Future (US)   
• Choi Jighye, Peace for the Earth (South Korea) 
• St. Francis Peace Center Foundation (Jeju, South Korea)
• CODEPINK: Women for Peace (US) 
• Christine Roane, (Springfield, Massachusetts) 
• www.Nucleardisarmamentnow.Com (US) 
• Amy Harlib, (New York City, NY) 
• Maria Kaliva, Journalist (Greece)
• Carol Gilbert, OP, Roman Catholic Dominican Sister (Washington DC) 
• Choi Jighye, Peace for the Earth (South Korea) 
• Just Peace Advocates/Mouvement Pour Une Paix Juste (Canada) 
• Karin Westdyk (Belize, Central America) 
• Cynthia Heil (Asheville, North Carolina) 
• The Canadian BDS Coalition and International BDS Allies (Canada, South Africa, Palestine and Tunisia)  
• Elizabeth Smith (Kansas City, Missouri) 
• Dolores Hall (Ottawa, Canada) 
• Carol Brouillet (Novato, California) 
• Al Mytty, Co-Coordinator, Illinois for World Beyond War 
• Jack & Felice Cohen-Joppa, Coordinators, the Nuclear Resister (Arizona) 
• Mount Diablo Peace & Justice Center (California)  
• Central Coast Anti-War Coalition (California)  
• Dolores Howard (Paso Robles, California) 
• Carmen Joseph Dello Buono, M.A., CWA Retiree (San Jose, California)  
• IM Heung-soon, Artist (Jeju, South Korea) 
• Meredith Bruskin, The Peace and Justice Group of Waldo County (Maine) 
• Brian Thummler (Meadville, Pennsylvania) 
• Preben Kastrup, Nejtil5G.dk: Knowledge center for electro-pollution (Denmark) 
• United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) 
• North Alabama Peace Network (Huntsville, Alabama)
• Richard Sanders, Retired coordinator, Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (Ottawa, Canada)
• Mark Hodges, Member Massachusetts Peace Action (Boston, Massachusetts)
• Jan Slakov, President, Conscience Canada & qathet Climate Alliance
• Andrew S. Kanter, MD MPH FACMI, Past-president of Physicians for Social Responsibility (USA)
• Roger Stoll (San Rafael, California)
• Dr. Mark Ginsburg, Senior Visiting Scholar, University of Maryland (USA)
• Gaphee Ko (South Korea) 
• Lee Soyeon, Student (Daejeon, South Korea) 
• Lee yun gyeong, tanjabchae (Daejeon, South Korea) 
• KO Dong-hwan (Jeju, South Korea) 
• Kim Kyung Hae, National Teachers' Association to Protect Environment and Life (Busan, South Korea) 
• Ham Min-jung (South Korea) 
• Lee DongHwan (South Korea) 
• Kwon na min (Seoul, South Korea)
• Miriam Welly Elliott, Community Activist (Gainesville, Florida) 
• Matthew Phillips, International Strategy Center (Busan, South Korea) 
• Kim Ja-young, Student (Seongnam, South Korea)
• LEPOCO Peace Center (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) 
• Karen Gagnon-Navarro, APRN-C (Wichita, Kansas)
• Bruna Nota, Engaged, committed peace activist (Toronto, Canada)
• Ellen Barfield, Co-founder & coordinator, Baltimore Phil Berrigan Memorial Chapter Veterans For Peace (Maryland)
• Stephen V. Kobasa (New Haven, Connecticut) 
  
  

To add your name to this statement, email globalnet@mindspring.com  

Sunday song

 

Bombs away?

On left is Gen. David Petraeus who commanded U.S. forces in Afghanistan and served as CIA Director

How does it feel

knowing that Washington

is creating the conditions

for nuclear war

with China 

and Russia?

 

Do you think about our kids,

the grankids,

the trees, birds, flowers,

the wild turkeys, deer, lions,

the whales and puffins, 

the water and the air?

 

Are you worried about being called

a commie,

a Putin-ista, a Russian agent,

or just a fool

falling for Moscow's propaganda?

One more time.... 

 

I got nothing to conceal

I don't get money from Moscow,

I don't take orders from Beijing,

or any other capital city around the world. 

No one tells me

how I should think. 

 

I've been daily

watching this story develop,

since the 2014 US orchestrated

coup in Kiev.

Backed by the Nazis

from western Ukraine. 

 

Even NY Times reported

the CIA has run 

the whole shebang

since 2014.

I understand what 

is going on,

who is running 

the show, 

and

who is getting paid off.

 

It's all out there

smeared like shit

on the wall

for all to see,

at least for those

willing to 

take a look. 

Makes me want

to holler.  

Time to

turn around. 

 

Bruce 

 

 

 

Much worse than the attack on Russian air bases (Ukraine with US Intel/Recon hitting Russian nuclear bombers), are simply the implications of it. Russian strategic assets of the nuclear triad are under threat. What does Washington expect Moscow to do next? 

 
Trump (and his neo-con 'advisers')  are proposing the largest nuclear warhead spending increase since Ronald Reagan in the 1980's. Why?

 

The UK's Prime Minister Starmer (at 12% in the polls) is telling his country to prepare for war with Russia. That won't go over well with the legions of growing poor across the UK. In Berlin the new German Chancellor Merz is saying much the same. Sweden too.

How would the US react if China attacked US B-52 bombers lined up on the runway at a Pentagon base in Guam?

 

This recent incident poses a severe risk of unstoppable escalation ending life in a nuclear flash. It also proves that in their desperation, Ukraine/US/NATO are willing to risk escalating the situation even beyond sanity and common sense. 

 

One thing though - I agree with Vladimir Putin who has said: "Ukraine's sponsors are accomplices of terrorists" .

 

Bombs away? 

Just published: Latest GN newsletter now available

  

Space Alert has been printed and mailed to subscribers. It is now available for reading on the Global Network website here

If you'd like to order multiple copies for local distribution please contact us at globalnet@mindspring.com

Articles include:

• Greenland, It Will Never Be Sold 
• America's tale of woe - step up the protests
• Israel's Violations of International Law & the Way Forward
• Space Force Prepares for War
• China is Killing Boeing as a major Pentagon Contractor
• Sweden a platform for space war
• Trump's Golden Dome over America?
• Update: Global Development of Spaceports
• New documentary on growing Space Junk
• Odds & Ends
• Rocket Lab's shot at $10billion of Trump's Space Force funds
• Second Maine town votes NO on Rocket launch site
• Project 704 No More: Cell Towers and the Military
• the funnies

Space Alert newsletter has been published since the GN's founding in 1992

A message from South Memphis

AI is having impacts on poor communities that are forced to host the new 'data centers'.

Environmental and spiritual violence. 

Another gift from the 'digital elite'.... 

Growing Japanese opposition to expanding militarism

 

By Makiko Sato (Japan)

Though I didn’t go there, as the venue is rather far, there was a big demonstration event against military buildup in Okinawa and western Japan on April 20, 2025 in Tsuiki, Fukuoka.  

There is going to be a big expansion of the runway in Tusiki SDF base.  

This event is, in my view, ‘revolutionary’, as solidarity appeals were sent from Taiwan and Shanghai! 

Japanese high school students designated as ‘Peace Missionary’, as well as several students from Chosen high school in Fukuoka participated for their messages of traditional Korean dance. (‘Chosen’ usually implies the DPRK-North Korea.) 

Appeals were also read from citizen peace movements in Hiroshima, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, Okinawa and Oita, in most of which war-readiness are speedily ongoing.

There were more than 1,300 participants including several Diet [Parliament] members of the three main opposition parties. This movement is expected to grow, as more military facilities are being built around Japan, totaling more than 40 missile depots in 13 places.

On June 6th, some representatives of this movement went to the Diet to meet some cabinet members or senior officials. 

Koji Sugihara [a Global Network board member] sat in on June 4th in front of the Diet building, opposing the privatization of the Science Council of Japan. Some in the Council were rejected for their pro-peace Constitution stance. 

There are so many issues and citizen activists in Japan are so busy. We have nuclear power plant issues as well, especially of the nuclear waste matters -- nationwide distribution of the contaminated soil and 
ongoing releasing the contaminated water into the Pacific.

Our country is riddled with several urgent issues of great concern at the same time.  

June 6th negotiation of citizens with the central government agencies in the Diet conference room was such a big one, with nearly 200 in the room, another 300 waiting somewhere.  They were from Okinawa and western Japan areas from Kumamoto to Kyoto. 

About one hundred government officials were there to answer questions from citizens, but they were so evasive, and citizens could not get meaningful answers. 

It has been decided ultra-super-sonic missiles will be deployed in Oita. 

Ukraine's terror campaign aimed at Moscow

 

 

By Regis Tremblay

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, joined me to make sense out of the recent Ukrainian terrorist attacks on Russia’s five airbases, the blown up bridges, the attempt on Putin’s life, and the attack on the Crimean Bridge. 

Trump’s Golden Dome is a continuation of Reagan’s SDI, Strategic Defense Initiative, Star Wars, and is an escalation of the space race. Star Wars on steroids will plunge the USA into the worst economic crisis ever costing trillions of dollars.

Who’s in charge in Washington? It isn’t Trump. 

The UK, MI6, and the rogue CIA.

Economic blowback coming to the US

Asian nations are dumping their US Treasury bonds. 

This could shake the foundations of the world economy.

The global majority that seeks cooperation rather than war don't wish to keep the US military empire afloat any longer.

Blowback (karma) is coming back to haunt the arrogant USA.

What happens next?  

The multi-polar world is changing the economic order and is not going back to uni-polar control.  

Of all major economies facing a downturn, the US is set to suffer the sharpest drop, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has warned. Higher tariffs and mounting trade policy uncertainty are key factors impeding growth, according to analysts.

In its latest global outlook, released on Tuesday, the OECD said the world economy is heading into its weakest stretch since the Covid-19 pandemic. US growth is projected to slow from 2.8% in 2024 to 1.6% in 2025 and 1.5% in 2026. As recently as March, the OECD had expected a 2.2% expansion for next year.

Activists on Vacation

Joining Asheville friends for bannering on their bridge

By Lisa Savage

Some of you know that the name “went2thebridge” derives from weekly bannering on a bridge in Maine during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. It’s the bridge where I met my husband and we stood there with many friends over the years. Why that location? Lots of traffic passing by.

This week I took a vacation from fasting (sadly, not a choice for the children of Gaza) to visit activist friends we know from Maine who go to the bridge each week in Asheville, North Carolina. Their bridge over I-240 has around 3,200 vehicles passing by at evening rush hour and they employ an interesting banner-making method for highly visible messaging.

Yesterday’s messages: Israel-US is exterminating Palestinians and Can’t say we didn’t know.

Using a method developed by backbonecampaign.org, the banners are made by affixing bright orange Typar letters to a net. In Asheville they then erect the banners using the type of extension poles that painters use to reach high places.

My husband and I got a tutorial from our host on how to create and use these banners and we plan on ordering the starter kit which has most of the supplies to get started.

Yesterday we enjoyed meeting people new to us who are unafraid to stand with Palestine, fourteen in all of varying ages including a couple of kids and their parents. We also enjoyed the plentiful honks, thumbs up gestures, peace signs, and keffiyeh displays from cars passing by. The woman I stood beside said that positive responses are increasing steadily and I told her that we’ve been finding that in Maine, too. Public opinion is steadily turning against Zionists over their killing fields in Gaza.

One of the coolest aspects of these banners is the shadows they cast. Yesterday I captured (and flipped) this one on the the interstate:

Sometimes the Asheville group stands on the opposite sidewalk of their overpass and then the shadows fall onto the surface street that goes over the bridge.

You can follow their work on twitter at @RejectRaytheon and @NoWarIndustry or on Insta at @rejectraytheonavl.

What kind of vacation is this you may ask? It’s the kind activists take. My husband and I agree that our social life basically consists of activism. Because there’s only so much time in the day, and we’ve met the nicest people while doing this kind of work.

I’ll resume my fast when we return to Maine — because the suffering of Gazans at the hands of the U.S.-Israel is always on my mind.

The Law of the Fittest

 

By Manlio Dinucci (Grandangolo on Byoblu, Italy)

President Trump said that "the war in Ukraine is not my problem". This is [partly] true because the war started in 2014 with the Maidan Square coup led by President Obama's Administration, with Biden as Vice President. But it is also true that President Trump, who campaigned on a promise to end the war by negotiating directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin, has failed to do so. Instead, he has continued to supply arms to Kiev after the agreement allowing the US to exploit Ukraine's natural resources. Meanwhile, NATO continues to escalate the war against Russia with the US in key command. 

This is the framework in which the European Union is operating. It has introduced the 17th package of sanctions against Russia and is preparing the 18th. At the same time, the EU is providing Kyiv with increasing financial support to fuel the war against Russia. So far, this has amounted to €148 billion. More than €50 billion of this has been used for direct military purposes to buy weapons and train troops. This is in addition to the increasing military spending of the European member states of NATO.

Italy's annual military expenditure will be EUR 35,400 million in 2025, an average of about EUR 97 million per day. It will soon have to rise to an average of EUR 124 million per day under the NATO commitment. In addition to the current military spending of more than €35 billion per year, there is the expenditure on the acquisition of new weapons. This has now exceeded €70 billion and is still rising. This is a huge amount of public money that is being diverted from social spending, while sanctions against Russia are having a boomerang effect, hitting small and medium-sized enterprises and households in general by raising energy prices.

The arms race concerns not only 'conventional' (non-nuclear) weapons, but also nuclear weapons. France and Poland have concluded a 'nuclear defence' agreement allowing France to transfer nuclear weapons to Poland and Poland to use them under French command. It cannot be ruled out that Poland already has on its territory the new B61-12 nuclear bombs already deployed by the United States in Italy, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. President Macron is offering the French "nuclear umbrella" to all EU countries, just as he did to Poland.

At the same time, President Trump announced the imminent construction of a $175 billion 'space shield 'capable of intercepting missiles launched from other parts of the world. It is not just a defensive tool: a country equipped with a 'shield' can attack another country first, relying on the ability of the 'shield' to neutralise enemy retaliation. It is no coincidence that the announcement of the Space Shield project coincided with Washington's announcement of the early production of the first B61-13 nuclear bomb. 24 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb, it is a first-strike weapon capable of penetrating the ground and destroying enemy command bunkers with its explosion. Russia and China will undoubtedly take countermeasures. This will accelerate the nuclear arms race.

Biden said ‘Russia should be destroyed’ – Brazil’s Lula

 

RT 

Moscow considers the Ukraine conflict a Western proxy war – a notion recently acknowledged by top US officials

Former US President Joe Biden wanted to see Russia “destroyed” during his time in office, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in an interview with Le Monde.

The Brazilian leader, who has consistently pushed for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, objected to attempts to single out Moscow as the sole culprit behind the conflict, telling the French newspaper on Tuesday that “Western countries also bear part of the responsibility.”

“Joe Biden, with whom I spoke at length, thought Russia needed to be destroyed,” Lula said, without elaborating when the conversation took place. “And Europe, which for a long time embodied a middle way in the world, has now aligned itself with Washington and is spending billions on rearmament. That worries me. If all we talk about is war, there will never be peace.”

Moscow has long described the Ukraine conflict as a Western proxy war against Russia and has repeatedly condemned arms supplies to Kiev as counterproductive to the peace process. US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Keith Kellogg acknowledged last week that President Vladimir Putin was “in a way” right, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also previously characterized the conflict as a proxy war.

“Frankly, it’s a proxy war between nuclear powers – the United States, helping Ukraine, and Russia,” Rubio said in March, noting that the current White House administration is eager to see it end.

Trump has repeatedly rebuked his predecessor, Joe Biden, for funneling “crazy” amounts of American taxpayer money to Kiev, arguing last month that the conflict “should have remained a European situation.”

Trump has frequently used campaign rallies to claim that only he could prevent World War III and resolve the conflict between Ukraine and Russia within 24 hours – a claim he later acknowledged was hyperbolic. His efforts to mediate have faced resistance from European NATO members, who back continued military support for Ukraine.

Last month, following pressure from Trump, Kiev dropped its opposition to direct talks with Moscow, which it had abandoned back in 2022. Since then, the two sides have held two rounds of negotiations in Istanbul.

The first meeting was initiated by Putin on May 16 and resulted in a major prisoner swap. During the second round of negotiations on Monday, Kiev and Moscow exchanged draft memorandums outlining a roadmap toward an eventual peace deal.

Washington’s top diplomat in Türkiye claimed on Tuesday that Trump is running out of patience and appears to be “at the end of his rope” over the conflict in Ukraine. However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that expecting immediate breakthroughs in peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine would be “incorrect.”  

One Big Beautiful Bank Job!

By Raymond Nat Turner, Black Agenda Report poet-in-residence 

Masked. Armed to the teeth. Synchronized
Rolexes. They left Lamborghini and Maserati
Motors purring …  softly in the shadows on
Capitalist Hill

And then—suddenly—in sonic boom unison they
Shouted at The People:
UP AGAINST THE WALL— MUTHAFUKKKAS!
GET ‘EM UP!         THIS IS A FUCKIN STICKUP!

Yo, fatso! Yeah, you. Waddle your way over to Senator
Sadist. You, on the crutches; swing over to Congressman
Cruel. Move it! Don’t make me bust a cap in your poor
Ol’ tired cripple ass! Did it in Afghanistan. Did it in Iraq.

Outta that wheelchair and on the floor, Pops!
And, while you’re at it, gimme those teeth.
Move it! Quick, fork over the hospice money.
Chop-chop, drop life expectancies in Golden Dome!

Hey, Bag Lady, drop the damn vouchers in the
Billionaire bag over there! Yo, Sambo! Down on the
Ground! Keep your fuckin mouth shut and no one will get
Hurt …Well, at least until …   after we make our get away

Hey, Granny, gimme those meds!
Hand over the Medicaid, ol’ maid.
Listen up, kids! Drop those school lunches in the
Billionaire bag. Yo, Teach, handover Head Start!

OK— simple-minded sukkkas— quick, up on your feet!
We’re breaking you for the billionaires; and Boss Tweet—
Robbing and plundering you, for the Murderous 1% Mob
Pulling off—yet another— One Big Beautiful Bank Job!

© 2025. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.  

AI impacts on the global war machine

 

Koohan Paik-Mander (Hawaii) gave a presentation on AI's growing role in global militarization to the VFP Nuclear Abolition Group on May 23.

She reviews the leading corporations involved in promoting AI and also shares how AI is being extensively used in the genocide in Palestine. 

AI CEO issues stark jobs decline warning

 Anthropic CEO, Dario Amodei 

RT

Up to 50% of entry-level white-collar jobs may be lost in the next five years, according to Anthropic’s Dario Amodei

Artificial intelligence could eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar jobs within the next five years, the CEO of American AI research company Anthropic, Dario Amodei has warned.

In a statement to Axios published on Wednesday, Amodei, who co-founded Anthropic and is a former OpenAI executive, said he hopes to jolt the US government and fellow developers into preparing for the consequences of rapid automation. AI could spike unemployment in the US to 10-20% in the next one to five years, he warned.

AI development companies are already working on systems that could soon replace workers in technology, finance, law, consulting and other white-collar professions, particularly entry-level positions, Amodei claimed.

The public and politicians are still “unaware” that a major shift is about to happen and insisted that companies and officials needed to stop “sugar-coating” what lies ahead, particularly for younger workers.

Earlier this month, a report by the Linux Foundation, commissioned by Meta, found that open source AI is already transforming the economy by boosting efficiency, innovation, cost savings, and revenue gains.

However, Amodei has expressed concern that people could continue to stay ignorant of the threat of being replaced by AI, especially if the US government chooses to stay silent on the issue out of fear of spooking workers or falling behind China.

Soon, “almost overnight,” business leaders will see savings in replacing humans with AI and implement a change “en masse.” They will stop opening new jobs or backfilling existing ones, and replace human workers with automated alternatives, Amodei claimed.

He has proposed several mitigation strategies, including a special index to track AI’s impact across occupations, and briefings for lawmakers to raise awareness. He also suggested a “token tax” — a system where a percentage of AI-generated revenue would be redistributed by the government.

Amodei’s warning comes as a number of major companies have recently started laying off a considerable amount of workers, which some believe is being done in anticipation of major shifts due to AI.

Earlier this month, Microsoft fired some 6,000 workers, mostly engineers, despite reporting strong sales and profits. Walmart has cut 1,500 corporate jobs to “simplify operations” while Crowdstrike - a Texas based cybersecurity company - has slashed 500 positions citing “a market and technology inflection point, with AI reshaping every industry.”

Palestine solidarity protest June 14 in Portland, Maine

Graphic created by Elizabeth Olbert - please share widely

Our statewide antiwar coalition will bring its monthly protest series back to Portland in June. Children in Gaza are losing their sight due to prolonged starvation by Israel blocking food from entering, and losing their lives when Israel bombs them. 

Also of note: The 2025 NATO Summit will take place in The Hague, Netherlands, from June 24 to 26, 2025. It's proxy war on Russia via Ukraine drags on despite its evident failure. NATO officials have sabotaged numerous peace talks in that conflict. Will they resolve to continue blocking any diplomatic resolution of that war?

Saturday June 14 at 1:30pm
Portland, Maine
Woodford's Corner (intersection of Forest Ave., Deering Ave., Woodford St.)

 Our demands: 

• End U.S. aid to racist apartheid Israel!
• Peace in Ukraine - No weapons, no money for the Ukraine War
• Abolish NATO – End U.S. militarism & sanctions!
• Fund people’s needs, not the war machine!
• No war with China!
• Protect Earth's environment from the deadly insult of war!
• Fight racism & bigotry not war!
• U.S. hands off Haiti!
• End AFRICOM

Co-sponsors: 

 

Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Maine Natural Guard, PeaceWorks of Greater Brunswick, Communist Party of Maine, Maine Green Independent Party, Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats (COAST), Party for Socialism & Liberation Maine, Libertarian Party of Maine, People’s Party of Maine, Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine, Veterans for Peace - National, United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), and Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights (MVPR).
­
SAVE THE DATE: Our next monthly protest will be Saturday,  July 26 at 1:30pm in Lubec.
­

U.S. & NATO puts knife to China's throat

By K. J. Noh (California)

Pete Hegseth [Trump's Secretary of Endless War] has just delivered a plenary address to the Shangri-La summit in Singapore. 

If you read the mainstream press, you see headlines like: Pentagon warns of imminent China threat, pushes Asian allies to hike defence spending.  

I listened to the full speech. It was very disturbing, almost unhinged. It was the prolegomenon to a declaration of war.  

(Translation guide: "deterrence"=provocation;  "resilience"=war*) At the very least, it was an escalation.

China has been continuously upgraded from a "competitor" to "pacing threat" to now "imminent threat". 

The address boils down to, minus the preamble, Trump is the great leader making America great; warfighting/warriors will make America great.

1.     China is a threat/China is evil 
2.     We are preparing for war with China (we don't want war, but actually we do (because 1)
3.     We are inducting & rehearsing our vassals for war (logistically, interoperability, weapons, sustainment, repair (1 above)
4.     This will be a world war across the entire pacific (see 3)
5.     This war is ours to win (because 3)
6.     This war is urgent (we are desperate for war)

(*"Resiliency" is a coded term for war: examples:  TERA (Taiwan Enhanced Resiliency Act=Taiwan [Proxy] War Act)

PERA (Philippines Enhanced Resiliency Act=Philippines [Proxy] War Act)

PIPR (Partnership for Indo-Pacific Resilience=Vassals for World War in the Pacific)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

 

Bruce's comments:

 

The Chinese foreign ministry described the Hegseth comments as “deplorable” and “intended to sow division” in the Asia-Pacific. It emphasized that the only country that “deserves to be called a hegemonic power” is the US, which it accused of undermining peace and stability in the region. 

 

Responding to Hegseth’s remarks on Taiwan, the ministry reiterated that the issue is entirely China’s internal affair. It stressed that no foreign nation has the right to interfere and warned the US against using the Taiwan issue as leverage against Beijing. 

 

Note the comments under the video.  Near total rejection of the US war plan for the Asia-Pacific region. Over and over commenters named the real agenda by calling Hegseth a 'salesman for the US war machine'.

 

Hegseth mentions Japan, Australia and the Philippines as allies opposing China. In fact those three nations, and some others in the region who bow to Washington, and just proxies for US wars. 

 

He mentions 'interoperability' which basically means these nations will be tied into the Pentagon space-based war fighting system. But the US will stay in control of the 'tip of the spear'. Permission will not be requested from the regional allies once Washington is ready for war.

 

NATO is also now moving into the Asia-Pacific. Why? 

 

In a war against China the US will see its 'allies' destroyed just like has happened in every war Washington initiates. 

 

Washington has become a sad, heartless, bloody war monger with a dark soul. America's #1 industrial export product is weapons. And when weapons are your #1 industrial export, what is your global marketing strategy?

 

If the Asia-Pacific populations hope to have a future on this Mother Earth they will reject America's offer of 'peace thru strength'. It is only a hollow dismal future.

 

For the American people this BS from Hegseth means more cut backs in our social spending, education, environmental protection, health care, destruction of civil liberties and the eventual collapse of our endless war economy.

 

We don't need nor want more war.  

 

Bruce 

Sunday song

Our community conversation in Brunswick, Maine

 

A 'pretend' humanitarian aid organization has been created by Israel-US full of American mercenaries who are there to suppress the beleaguered Palestinians in Gaza. This photo tells it all.

On Friday night (May 30) the local Brunswick organization called PeaceWorks held a community conversation around US domestic and foreign policy issues. Twenty-four people from the Midcoast region attended.

The meeting was facilitated by Mary Beth Sullivan (a retired social worker). The first thing done was to pass the microphone around the circle of seats asking everyone to introduce themselves and share what was on their mind.

Here is the list of issues people brought up. Gaza was mentioned repeatedly.

• Gaza genocide
• US domination/imperialism
• Domestic dictatorship/Political hacks run the country/Corrupt government
• Friends and family don't want to talk about the current insanity 
• 9-11 was the initiator of the madness
• The US must transcend 
• Covid was a weapon
• Ukraine proxy war on Russia
• Earth flag should be more widely displayed
• Need more meetings/group discussions like this
• We must reject both political parties/We need a parliamentarian system 
• Separation of church & state
• The militarization/weaponization of space - Golden Dome -AI
• It's important to link domestic and foreign policy issues 
• Mass media control of the people by the oligarchs (Mr. Big)
• Neo-fascism/Neo-feudalism 
• Feel miserable
• Climate change
• Capitalism is the problem
• Corporate media starting to pay attention to Gaza - why?
• With patriarchy nothing changes
• Peace movement must take a more anti-imperialist stance 
• We need Ranked Choice Voting across the nation (We have it in Maine for some political races)
• We need to show love and take care of ourselves during these nasty times
• Grow your own food
• Get good at not being fooled
• Break states away from the empire
• Keep talking about what you believe/Don't give up 
• Work with the children, they are the future

PeaceWorks was created in 2001 right after 9-11 happened. The group has held a weekly Friday night (5:00 pm) peace vigil in the downtown heart of Brunswick since that time. Through all kinds of weather. PeaceWorks is aging now and many stalwart activists have passed away in recent years. 

 

The hope is to keep the group going at this most needed time. Another PeaceWorks event will be planned soon.

 

Bruce