Earth Day As Peace Day - April 26th
1pm-3pm
The Montessori Peace Center
1417 Cornwall Ave, Ste 201
1pm-3pm
The Montessori Peace Center
1417 Cornwall Ave, Ste 201
Antiwar News April 21
Pope Francis Called for Peace in Gaza in His Final Public Address
The Vatican announced on Monday that Pope Francis had died at 88
Dave DeCamp
April 21, 2025
The Vatican announced on Monday that Pope Francis had died at 88
Dave DeCamp
April 21, 2025
The Vatican announced on Monday that Pope Francis had died in the morning, a day after appearing publicly for Easter and delivering an address where he called for peace in Gaza and in other conflict zones.
Pope Francis, who died at 88, had been outspoken in his calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and critical of Israel’s killing of civilians. He also kept in close contact with the Holy Family Church, the only Catholic church in Gaza, by holding nightly phone calls with its priest and parishioners.
Pope Francis, who died at 88, had been outspoken in his calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and critical of Israel’s killing of civilians. He also kept in close contact with the Holy Family Church, the only Catholic church in Gaza, by holding nightly phone calls with its priest and parishioners.
A portrait of Pope Francis is displayed during a Mass at the Holy Family Church, after his death was announced by the Vatican, in Gaza City, April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
“I think of the people of Gaza, and its Christian community in particular, where the terrible conflict continues to cause death and destruction and to create a dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation,” Francis said in his Easter address, which was read by an archbishop due to his poor health. “I appeal to the warring parties: call a ceasefire, release the hostages, and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace!”
Palestinian Christians in Gaza told Reuters that they were “heartbroken” at the loss of Pope Francis. “We lost a saint who taught us every day how to be brave, how to keep patient, and stay strong. We lost a man who fought every day in every direction to protect this small herd of his,” George Antone, head of the emergency committee of the Holy Family Church, told the news agency.
Read in antiwar.
Palestinian Christians in Gaza told Reuters that they were “heartbroken” at the loss of Pope Francis. “We lost a saint who taught us every day how to be brave, how to keep patient, and stay strong. We lost a man who fought every day in every direction to protect this small herd of his,” George Antone, head of the emergency committee of the Holy Family Church, told the news agency.
Read in antiwar.
Israel Attacks Kill Over 100 Gazans in 72 Hours
The dead include 15 children who were killed by Israeli strikes on tents
Kyle Anzalone
April 20, 2025
Since Friday, Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip killed well over 100 Palestinians. The IDF continues to pound tents where displaced Palestinians are sheltering.
On Saturday, the Gaza Health Ministry reported that 92 Palestinians were killed over the past two days. The ministry only records the deaths of Palestinians if the bodies are brought to hospitals and morgues. On Sunday, Gaza’s civil defense force reported an additional 25 deaths.
The dead include 15 children who were sheltering in tents near Khan Yonis when an Israeli strike killed them. Reporting on the strike, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum explained, “For the vast majority of civilians, nighttime is the time of horror and unrelenting pain. Nobody is safe in their homes, in the makeshift tents, in displacement camps.”
A separate attack on a civilian gathering killed five.
On Saturday, the Gaza Health Ministry reported that 92 Palestinians were killed over the past two days. The ministry only records the deaths of Palestinians if the bodies are brought to hospitals and morgues. On Sunday, Gaza’s civil defense force reported an additional 25 deaths.
The dead include 15 children who were sheltering in tents near Khan Yonis when an Israeli strike killed them. Reporting on the strike, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum explained, “For the vast majority of civilians, nighttime is the time of horror and unrelenting pain. Nobody is safe in their homes, in the makeshift tents, in displacement camps.”
A separate attack on a civilian gathering killed five.
Relatives of Palestinians, who lost their lives after Israeli attacks mourn over the dead bodies of them as the bodies Relatives of Palestinians, who lost their lives after Israeli attacks mourn over the dead bodies of them as the bodies taken by their relatives from the morgue of Al-Awda Hospital for funeral process in Nuseirat refugee camp in central of Gaza Strip, on April 20, 2025. Photo by Moiz Salhi IMAGO/APAimages via Reuters Connect.
In mid-March, Israel broke a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas by resuming major military operations in the Strip. Over 1,700 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis since March 18. The death toll since October 7, 2023 is now over 51,000.
Some Israeli officials are saying the goal of the military operations in Gaza is the expulsion of the Palestinians. Last week, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the military to “open the gates of hell” and expel the Palestinians from Gaza.
Read on antiwar.
Some Israeli officials are saying the goal of the military operations in Gaza is the expulsion of the Palestinians. Last week, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the military to “open the gates of hell” and expel the Palestinians from Gaza.
Read on antiwar.
Global Network Video: Russia's Serious Warning to NATO
Since Bill Clinton's expansion of NATO the western alliance has been on steroids.
Bruce Gagnon
April 17, 2025
Since Bill Clinton's expansion of NATO the western alliance has been on steroids.
Bruce Gagnon
April 17, 2025
This month's Global Network video comes at a crucial time as negotiations between the Trump administration and Russia on Ukraine have slowed down to a crawl.
Russia repeatedly attempted diplomacy after the US orchestrated coup d'etat in Kiev, Ukraine in 2014. Twice Russia led negotiations for the Minsk 1 & 2 agreements that called for a ceasefire between Kiev and the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. The agreements left the Donbass under Ukraine's control but provided for local autonomy.
Soon after the 2014 coup the first thing that the newly selected government in Kiev did (by Victoria Nuland and the Obama administration) was to declare the speaking of Russian in Ukraine illegal. Russian ethnic citizens of Ukraine in the Donbass began to peacefully protest and soon were attacked by the Ukrainian army loaded with neo-Nazis who predominate in the western part of Ukraine, near the Polish border.
These Ukrainian troops were trained, armed and directed by US-NATO (as recently admitted by the New York Times) and sent east. The Donbass region is heavily loaded with coal miners who came out of the mines to defend their families and their lands.
A couple years ago the former leaders of Germany, France and Ukraine admitted they never intended to honor the Minsk Agreements but instead used them to buy more time to increase the size of the Ukrainian army for on-going war with Russia.
Due to climate change, and the melting Arctic ice, the western resource extraction corporations, and their government puppets, have intended to break Russia up into smaller nations in order to steal Russia's vast resource base.
Few know that European powers have attempted for over 500 years to break Russia into pieces - something tried by Napoleon in France and Hitler in Germany. Sweden tried about a dozen times to invade and topple the Russian government over many years.
Russia's position today is they don't want war. They became a capitalist country with a military budget in the range of $150 billion in 2024 in comparison to the US military budget of $1 trillion. There is no way Russia could invade all of Europe as NATO regularly proclaims.
Russia wants the west to honor the promise made to them at the time of the collapse of the former Soviet Union that NATO would not expand eastward toward their nation. Since the Bill Clinton program of NATO expansion the western military alliance has been on steroids.
Russia also demands a mutual security agreement for all of Europe and an end to the neo-Nazi backed regime in Kiev. Since the citizens of the Donbass have voted to rejoin Russia, Moscow says that Kiev and NATO must respect those choices.
So the western resource extraction corporations and the military industrial complex wish to keep the war going for obvious reasons.
Read Bruce Gagnon in Substack.
Russia repeatedly attempted diplomacy after the US orchestrated coup d'etat in Kiev, Ukraine in 2014. Twice Russia led negotiations for the Minsk 1 & 2 agreements that called for a ceasefire between Kiev and the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. The agreements left the Donbass under Ukraine's control but provided for local autonomy.
Soon after the 2014 coup the first thing that the newly selected government in Kiev did (by Victoria Nuland and the Obama administration) was to declare the speaking of Russian in Ukraine illegal. Russian ethnic citizens of Ukraine in the Donbass began to peacefully protest and soon were attacked by the Ukrainian army loaded with neo-Nazis who predominate in the western part of Ukraine, near the Polish border.
These Ukrainian troops were trained, armed and directed by US-NATO (as recently admitted by the New York Times) and sent east. The Donbass region is heavily loaded with coal miners who came out of the mines to defend their families and their lands.
A couple years ago the former leaders of Germany, France and Ukraine admitted they never intended to honor the Minsk Agreements but instead used them to buy more time to increase the size of the Ukrainian army for on-going war with Russia.
Due to climate change, and the melting Arctic ice, the western resource extraction corporations, and their government puppets, have intended to break Russia up into smaller nations in order to steal Russia's vast resource base.
Few know that European powers have attempted for over 500 years to break Russia into pieces - something tried by Napoleon in France and Hitler in Germany. Sweden tried about a dozen times to invade and topple the Russian government over many years.
Russia's position today is they don't want war. They became a capitalist country with a military budget in the range of $150 billion in 2024 in comparison to the US military budget of $1 trillion. There is no way Russia could invade all of Europe as NATO regularly proclaims.
Russia wants the west to honor the promise made to them at the time of the collapse of the former Soviet Union that NATO would not expand eastward toward their nation. Since the Bill Clinton program of NATO expansion the western military alliance has been on steroids.
Russia also demands a mutual security agreement for all of Europe and an end to the neo-Nazi backed regime in Kiev. Since the citizens of the Donbass have voted to rejoin Russia, Moscow says that Kiev and NATO must respect those choices.
So the western resource extraction corporations and the military industrial complex wish to keep the war going for obvious reasons.
Read Bruce Gagnon in Substack.
US Massacres Civilian Workers and Paramedics in Attack on Yemen Fuel Port
At least 38 people, including five paramedics, were killed by the US bombing of the Ras Isa port in Hodeidah
Dave DeCamp
April 18, 2025
At least 38 people, including five paramedics, were killed by the US bombing of the Ras Isa port in Hodeidah
Dave DeCamp
April 18, 2025
The Ras Isa fuel port on fire following US airstrikes (photo from social media via Al Mayadeen)
On Thursday night, the US bombed the Ras Isa fuel port in Yemen’s Red Sea province of Hodeidah, targeting the facility with two attacks that killed dozens of civilian workers and paramedics.
According to Yemen’s Health Ministry, at least 74 people, including at least five paramedics, were killed, and 171 were wounded. The paramedics were hit by a second US attack on the facility that came after rescue workers had already arrived at the scene to help victims of the first strikes (watch graphic footage of the aftermath of the attack here).
While the US has shared virtually no details about its bombing campaign in Yemen since it began on March 15, US Central Command took credit for the attack on the fuel port, which has grave implications for millions of Yemeni civilians who are facing severe food shortages.
CENTCOM justified the strike on vital civilian infrastructure by saying the Houthis, who govern an area where about 80% of Yemenis live, “profit” off fuel that enters the port. CENTCOM did not claim it was targeting a military site.
Read on antiwar.
According to Yemen’s Health Ministry, at least 74 people, including at least five paramedics, were killed, and 171 were wounded. The paramedics were hit by a second US attack on the facility that came after rescue workers had already arrived at the scene to help victims of the first strikes (watch graphic footage of the aftermath of the attack here).
While the US has shared virtually no details about its bombing campaign in Yemen since it began on March 15, US Central Command took credit for the attack on the fuel port, which has grave implications for millions of Yemeni civilians who are facing severe food shortages.
CENTCOM justified the strike on vital civilian infrastructure by saying the Houthis, who govern an area where about 80% of Yemenis live, “profit” off fuel that enters the port. CENTCOM did not claim it was targeting a military site.
Read on antiwar.
Iran Warns US Against ‘Moving the Goalposts’ After Witkoff Statement on Enrichment
Witkoff suggested the US would seek a deal that would eliminate Iran's civilian nuclear program, a non-starter for Tehran
Dave DeCamp
April 16, 2025
Witkoff suggested the US would seek a deal that would eliminate Iran's civilian nuclear program, a non-starter for Tehran
Dave DeCamp
April 16, 2025
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei has warned that making fundamental mistakes could disrupt the negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
US Special Envoy Steve Eitkoff on Tuesday said Iran “must stop and eliminate” its nuclear enrichment program to reach a deal with Washington.
The remark contradicted an earlier stance by the United States concerning Iran’s enrichment of uranium at a low level to produce energy.
Read more on Press TV.
US Special Envoy Steve Eitkoff on Tuesday said Iran “must stop and eliminate” its nuclear enrichment program to reach a deal with Washington.
The remark contradicted an earlier stance by the United States concerning Iran’s enrichment of uranium at a low level to produce energy.
Read more on Press TV.
US Considering Backing a Ground Offensive Against the Houthis in Yemen
According to The Wall Street Journal, the UAE discussed the potential plan with US officials in recent weeks
Dave DeCamp
April 15, 2025
According to The Wall Street Journal, the UAE discussed the potential plan with US officials in recent weeks
Dave DeCamp
April 15, 2025
Military situation in Yemen on April 15, 2025 (SouthFront.press)
The US is considering backing a ground offensive against the Houthis in Yemen, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
The report said that plans to back anti-Houthi militias on the ground have been brought to the US by the UAE and that the US is open to the idea but hasn’t made a final decision yet.
The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, have controlled Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, since 2014 and currently govern an area where 80% of Yemenis live. The US supported a Saudi/UAE-led coalition against the Houthis from 2015 to 2022 in a brutal war that killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis but failed to return former Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power.
In 2022, after reaching a ceasefire with the Houthis, the Saudis pushed Hadi aside and replaced him with a Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) that includes several different factions. The PLC’s leadership is based in Saudi Arabia, but it is considered Yemen’s “internationally recognized” government.
Read complete article on antiwar.
The report said that plans to back anti-Houthi militias on the ground have been brought to the US by the UAE and that the US is open to the idea but hasn’t made a final decision yet.
The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, have controlled Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, since 2014 and currently govern an area where 80% of Yemenis live. The US supported a Saudi/UAE-led coalition against the Houthis from 2015 to 2022 in a brutal war that killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis but failed to return former Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power.
In 2022, after reaching a ceasefire with the Houthis, the Saudis pushed Hadi aside and replaced him with a Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) that includes several different factions. The PLC’s leadership is based in Saudi Arabia, but it is considered Yemen’s “internationally recognized” government.
Read complete article on antiwar.
US approves major weapons shipment to Israel as IDF prepares for Gaza offensive, eyes Iran
Israel set to receive over 3,000 US munitions to boost Air Force readiness for a major Gaza operation, with attention also on Iran; additional 10,000 munitions, frozen under Biden, released after Trump returned to White House
Israel set to receive over 3,000 US munitions to boost Air Force readiness for a major Gaza operation, with attention also on Iran; additional 10,000 munitions, frozen under Biden, released after Trump returned to White House
Yoav Zitun
April 15, 2025
April 15, 2025
JDAMS military.com photo
The IDF is set to receive a major arms shipment from the United States in the coming weeks, including more than 3,000 munitions for the Israeli Air Force, as part of its preparations for continued operations in the Gaza Strip and a potential strike on Iran, Israeli officials said Monday.
The shipment, recently approved by the U.S. administration, is intended to boost the Air Force’s readiness for a large-scale campaign planned by the IDF Southern Command in the Gaza Strip. The delivery comes in addition to more than 10,000 aerial munitions expected to replenish Israeli stockpiles after 18 months of prolonged, multi-front fighting.
The shipment complements a previous deal for heavy munitions that Israel purchased from the U.S. last year. The Biden administration had initially frozen the transfer, but U.S. President Donald Trump reversed the freeze in recent weeks.
In February, the U.S. government confirmed the approval of a major arms deal with Israel valued at $7.41 billion, which includes guided munitions, bombs and related equipment. The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress that the deal is intended to preserve Israel’s ability to defend itself.
The authorization followed a January notification from the Biden administration regarding an $8 billion arms package just before Trump reentered office. Under the agreement, Israel will use American military aid funds to purchase 3,000 Hellfire missiles valued at approximately $660 million and 2,166 AGM-114 Hellfire bombs, also valued at $660 million.
In February, the U.S. government confirmed the approval of a major arms deal with Israel valued at $7.41 billion, which includes guided munitions, bombs and related equipment. The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress that the deal is intended to preserve Israel’s ability to defend itself.
The authorization followed a January notification from the Biden administration regarding an $8 billion arms package just before Trump reentered office. Under the agreement, Israel will use American military aid funds to purchase 3,000 Hellfire missiles valued at approximately $660 million and 2,166 AGM-114 Hellfire bombs, also valued at $660 million.
Read complete article in Ynet News.
VFP Presents -"What I Want You to Know" Online Panel Discussion from March Screening
Russian strike on Sumy targeted Ukrainian and NATO officers – Lavrov
At least 60 senior military personnel were killed during the missile attack, according to Moscow
RT
April 14, 2025
At least 60 senior military personnel were killed during the missile attack, according to Moscow
RT
April 14, 2025
FILE PHOTO. © Pierre Crom / Getty Images
The Defense Ministry in Moscow has confirmed that Russian forces were behind the missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Sumy on Sunday, saying that it targeted a gathering of the country’s commanding officers.
The attack has left more than 60 Ukrainian servicemen dead, the ministry said in a statement on Monday.
It was carried out with the use of two Iskander-M short-range ballistic missiles despite “active counteraction by the Ukrainian military’s electronic warfare means and foreign-made air defense systems,” the statement read.
The target of the attack was “a meeting of the command staff of the Seversk operational-tactical group” of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which was taking place in Sumy that day, the ministry said.
Read article on RT.
The attack has left more than 60 Ukrainian servicemen dead, the ministry said in a statement on Monday.
It was carried out with the use of two Iskander-M short-range ballistic missiles despite “active counteraction by the Ukrainian military’s electronic warfare means and foreign-made air defense systems,” the statement read.
The target of the attack was “a meeting of the command staff of the Seversk operational-tactical group” of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which was taking place in Sumy that day, the ministry said.
Read article on RT.
Houthi Official Says Yemen Will Cease Attacks on US Ships if US Stops Bombing
The official said that the Houthis would continue their attacks on Israel until there was a ceasefire in Gaza
Shuaib Almosawa
and
Jeremy Scahill
Apr 10, 2025
The official said that the Houthis would continue their attacks on Israel until there was a ceasefire in Gaza
Shuaib Almosawa
and
Jeremy Scahill
Apr 10, 2025
Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti, center, during a march in solidarity with Gaza and Palestinian prisoners on August 3, 2024
A senior leader of Ansar Allah, commonly known as the Houthis, told Drop Site News that if the U.S. ends its campaign of air strikes against Yemen, Houthi forces will commit to halting all attacks on U.S. ships in the region. “We do not consider ourselves at war with the American people,” said Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of Ansar Allah’s political bureau and a longtime spokesperson for the Houthis. “If the U.S. stops targeting Yemen, we will cease our military operations against it.”
Since November 2023, in response to Israel’s war on Gaza, the Houthis have maintained a formidable naval blockade on the Red Sea, preventing commercial ships from traveling to Israel. The Houthis have also launched military attacks on Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities throughout the course of the war, saying their naval and military operations would continue in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance.
On March 15, President Donald Trump ordered a sustained bombing campaign against Yemen, ostensibly in the name of protecting international shipping lanes in the waters off the coast of Yemen—bombing the country almost every night. Dozens of civilians have been killed. “The choice for the Houthis is clear: Stop shooting at U.S. ships, and we will stop shooting at you,” Trump wrote in a post on TruthSocial on March 31. “Otherwise, we have only just begun, and the real pain is yet to come.”
Trump’s admonition was echoed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in an interview with Fox News: “The minute the Houthis say, 'We'll stop shooting at your ships, we'll stop shooting at your drones,' this campaign will end. But until then, it will be unrelenting.”
Read on Drop Site News.
Since November 2023, in response to Israel’s war on Gaza, the Houthis have maintained a formidable naval blockade on the Red Sea, preventing commercial ships from traveling to Israel. The Houthis have also launched military attacks on Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities throughout the course of the war, saying their naval and military operations would continue in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance.
On March 15, President Donald Trump ordered a sustained bombing campaign against Yemen, ostensibly in the name of protecting international shipping lanes in the waters off the coast of Yemen—bombing the country almost every night. Dozens of civilians have been killed. “The choice for the Houthis is clear: Stop shooting at U.S. ships, and we will stop shooting at you,” Trump wrote in a post on TruthSocial on March 31. “Otherwise, we have only just begun, and the real pain is yet to come.”
Trump’s admonition was echoed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in an interview with Fox News: “The minute the Houthis say, 'We'll stop shooting at your ships, we'll stop shooting at your drones,' this campaign will end. But until then, it will be unrelenting.”
Read on Drop Site News.
Poll: Majority of American Adults Have Unfavorable View of Israel
The number of Americans who have a negative opinion of Israel has grown significantly since 2022
Dave DeCamp
April 9, 2025
The number of Americans who have a negative opinion of Israel has grown significantly since 2022
Dave DeCamp
April 9, 2025
A new Pew survey has found that the majority of American adults — 53% — have an unfavorable view of Israel, a figure that has risen in recent years.
In March 2022, Pew conducted a similar poll that found 42% of US adults viewed Israel unfavorably. The rise in the negative view of Israel comes in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 attack and Israel’s unleashing of its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, which Americans have been able to follow closely on social media.
In March 2022, Pew conducted a similar poll that found 42% of US adults viewed Israel unfavorably. The rise in the negative view of Israel comes in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 attack and Israel’s unleashing of its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, which Americans have been able to follow closely on social media.
Both polls showed that Democrats are more likely to have a negative view of Israel than Republicans. In the new survey, Pew found that 69% of Democrats view Israel unfavorably, while only 37% of Republicans do.
However, a negative view of Israel is much more common among younger Republicans. The poll found that 50% of Republicans aged 18-49 have a negative view of Israel, while only 23% of Republicans over 50 view Israel unfavorably.
The poll also found that 52% of American adults have little or no confidence in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ability to “do the right thing regarding world affairs,” while only 32% have confidence in him.
The increase of an unfavorable view of Israel among Americans could mean Israel is in trouble when it comes to long-term support from the US, and Israel’s military is extremely reliant on US assistance. A senior Israeli Air Force official said last year that without US support, the Israeli military could only sustain operations in Gaza for a few months.
However, a negative view of Israel is much more common among younger Republicans. The poll found that 50% of Republicans aged 18-49 have a negative view of Israel, while only 23% of Republicans over 50 view Israel unfavorably.
The poll also found that 52% of American adults have little or no confidence in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ability to “do the right thing regarding world affairs,” while only 32% have confidence in him.
The increase of an unfavorable view of Israel among Americans could mean Israel is in trouble when it comes to long-term support from the US, and Israel’s military is extremely reliant on US assistance. A senior Israeli Air Force official said last year that without US support, the Israeli military could only sustain operations in Gaza for a few months.
Over 900 Israeli Air Force members call to end Gaza war to save captives
The initiative drew backlash from the military command, which warned active reservists they could face dismissal if they did not withdraw their signatures
Mera Aladam
April 10, 2025
The initiative drew backlash from the military command, which warned active reservists they could face dismissal if they did not withdraw their signatures
Mera Aladam
April 10, 2025
A military helicopter at the heliport of the Shamir Medical Center (Assaf Harofeh) in Beer Yaakov, Israel, on 30 January 2025 (Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP)
A letter signed by over 900 Israeli reserve and retired Air Force members, demanding the return of captives in Gaza at the cost of ending the war, has created tension within the military and drawn condemnation from the government.
The call for action, published as an advertisement across Israeli news outlets on Thursday, said that Israel's war on Gaza serves “political and personal interests” rather than national security.
“The continuation of the war does not advance any of the declared goals of the war and will bring about the deaths of the hostages, of IDF [Israeli army] soldiers and innocent civilians," the letter read.
“As has been proven in the past, only an agreement can return hostages safely, while military pressure mainly leads to the killing of hostages and the endangerment of our soldiers."
According to several Israeli newspapers, 10 percent of the signatories are active reserve servicemen, with the majority being volunteers, while the rest are former or retired members.
Read article on Middle East Eye.
The call for action, published as an advertisement across Israeli news outlets on Thursday, said that Israel's war on Gaza serves “political and personal interests” rather than national security.
“The continuation of the war does not advance any of the declared goals of the war and will bring about the deaths of the hostages, of IDF [Israeli army] soldiers and innocent civilians," the letter read.
“As has been proven in the past, only an agreement can return hostages safely, while military pressure mainly leads to the killing of hostages and the endangerment of our soldiers."
According to several Israeli newspapers, 10 percent of the signatories are active reserve servicemen, with the majority being volunteers, while the rest are former or retired members.
Read article on Middle East Eye.
US Deploys Second THAAD Missile System to Israel Amid Iran Tensions
The US also reportedly sent two patriot air defense batteries to Israel
Dave DeCamp
April 6, 2025
The US also reportedly sent two patriot air defense batteries to Israel
Dave DeCamp
April 6, 2025
The US has deployed a second Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery to Israel, multiple Israeli and Arab media reports said over the weekend.
Israeli security sources also said that the US deployed two Patriot air defense batteries to Israel. US officials previously told The Wall Street Journal that the US was sending Patriot systems to “defend US air bases and nearby allies” as part of its military buildup in the Middle East that’s aimed at Iran.
The US has also sent a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East, deployed additional B-2 bombers to its base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, and sent other additional air assets to the region.
Israeli security sources also said that the US deployed two Patriot air defense batteries to Israel. US officials previously told The Wall Street Journal that the US was sending Patriot systems to “defend US air bases and nearby allies” as part of its military buildup in the Middle East that’s aimed at Iran.
The US has also sent a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East, deployed additional B-2 bombers to its base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, and sent other additional air assets to the region.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former US Ambassador David Friedman visit a US THAAD that was temporarily deployed in Israel on March 6, 2019 (US Air Force photo)
The Biden administration sent a THAAD system to Israel and about 100 troops to operate it in October 2024, ahead of an Israeli attack on Iran. The first Trump administration temporarily deployed a THAAD to Israel for military exercises in 2019.
The THAAD system the Biden administration deployed to Israel remains, meaning two out of the seven THAAD batteries the US operates are based in the country.
The deployment of the second THAAD system and two Patriot batteries to Israel suggests hundreds more US troops could be headed to the country as well. The deployment is a strong show of support for Israel amid its genocidal war in Gaza, ramped-up military operations in the West Bank, continued occupation of southern Lebanon, and invasion of southern Syria.
The deployment comes amid reports that the US and Israel are planning to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities even though US intelligence agencies recently reaffirmed that Tehran is not building a nuclear weapon.
The THAAD system the Biden administration deployed to Israel remains, meaning two out of the seven THAAD batteries the US operates are based in the country.
The deployment of the second THAAD system and two Patriot batteries to Israel suggests hundreds more US troops could be headed to the country as well. The deployment is a strong show of support for Israel amid its genocidal war in Gaza, ramped-up military operations in the West Bank, continued occupation of southern Lebanon, and invasion of southern Syria.
The deployment comes amid reports that the US and Israel are planning to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities even though US intelligence agencies recently reaffirmed that Tehran is not building a nuclear weapon.
Trump Threatens Iran With ‘Bombing’ If Nuclear Deal Is Not Reached
The threat comes after US intelligence agencies reaffirmed that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon
Dave DeCamp
March 30, 2025
The threat comes after US intelligence agencies reaffirmed that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon
Dave DeCamp
March 30, 2025
US B-2 Spirit bomber (US Air Force photo)
President Trump on Sunday threatened to bomb Iran if a deal isn’t reached on the country’s civilian nuclear program.
“If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing. It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before,” Trump told NBC News in a phone interview.
The president has made similar threats toward Iran, but Sunday’s marked the most explicit one yet, and it comes as the US is sending more bombers to the region and pounding Yemen with daily airstrikes. Trump also said the US could hit Iran with “secondary tariffs” if a deal isn’t reached.
Trump’s threat comes after US intelligence agencies said in their annual threat assessment that there’s no evidence Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon or that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reversed his 2003 fatwah that banned the production of weapons of mass destruction.
Iran recently responded to a letter Trump sent to Khamenei proposing nuclear talks and giving Tehran a two-month deadline to reach a deal. A US official told Axios that the deployment of US B-2 bombers to Diego Garcia was “not disconnected” from that deadline.
Continue reading on antiwar.
“If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing. It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before,” Trump told NBC News in a phone interview.
The president has made similar threats toward Iran, but Sunday’s marked the most explicit one yet, and it comes as the US is sending more bombers to the region and pounding Yemen with daily airstrikes. Trump also said the US could hit Iran with “secondary tariffs” if a deal isn’t reached.
Trump’s threat comes after US intelligence agencies said in their annual threat assessment that there’s no evidence Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon or that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reversed his 2003 fatwah that banned the production of weapons of mass destruction.
Iran recently responded to a letter Trump sent to Khamenei proposing nuclear talks and giving Tehran a two-month deadline to reach a deal. A US official told Axios that the deployment of US B-2 bombers to Diego Garcia was “not disconnected” from that deadline.
Continue reading on antiwar.
Columbia Complicit in Trump Arrest of Student Leader Mahmoud Khalil
Update
A federal judge in New York issued a ruling on Monday afternoon that the government cannot deport Mahmoud Khalil “unless and until the Court orders otherwise.”
US District Judge Jesse M. Furman set a hearing for Wednesday, 12 March, on Khalil’s habeas corpus petition – a legal challenge to the lawfulness of his detention. Khalil remains in federal custody.
Original article
As of Monday morning, Mahmoud Khalil was being detained at a federal immigration facility in Louisiana.
The recent Columbia graduate was inside his university-owned apartment on Saturday night in New York City when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents entered and detained him, his attorney Amy Greer, told the Associated Press.
As he languishes in a cell far from his home and family, fellow students are denouncing Columbia’s silence and apparent complicity in his arrest.
On Sunday, the US Department of Homeland Security confirmed Khalil’s arrest, claiming it was for “activities aligned to Hamas.”
Khalil’s detention is the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s crackdown on supporters of Palestinian rights under the pretext of fighting “anti-Semitism” and support for “terrorism.”
Well-known and respected on campus, Khalil led negotiations between university officials and students during last year’s campus encampment protesting the Israeli genocide in Palestine and amid the ongoing crackdown.
An Algerian citizen of Palestinian origin and a legal permanent resident of the United States, Khalil’s green card is supposed to afford him all the constitutional free speech protections enjoyed by US citizens.
Arbitrary arrest
According to Greer, the ICE agents also threatened to arrest Khalil’s wife, a US citizen who is eight months pregnant.
“Greer said she spoke by phone with one of the ICE agents during the arrest, who said they were acting on State Department orders to revoke Khalil’s student visa,” the Associated Press reported.
“Informed by the attorney that Khalil was in the United States as a permanent resident with a green card, the agent said they were revoking that instead, according to the lawyer.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio shared an AP article about Khalil’s arrest on Twitter/X on Sunday, vowing that “We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”
A federal judge in New York issued a ruling on Monday afternoon that the government cannot deport Mahmoud Khalil “unless and until the Court orders otherwise.”
US District Judge Jesse M. Furman set a hearing for Wednesday, 12 March, on Khalil’s habeas corpus petition – a legal challenge to the lawfulness of his detention. Khalil remains in federal custody.
Original article
As of Monday morning, Mahmoud Khalil was being detained at a federal immigration facility in Louisiana.
The recent Columbia graduate was inside his university-owned apartment on Saturday night in New York City when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents entered and detained him, his attorney Amy Greer, told the Associated Press.
As he languishes in a cell far from his home and family, fellow students are denouncing Columbia’s silence and apparent complicity in his arrest.
On Sunday, the US Department of Homeland Security confirmed Khalil’s arrest, claiming it was for “activities aligned to Hamas.”
Khalil’s detention is the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s crackdown on supporters of Palestinian rights under the pretext of fighting “anti-Semitism” and support for “terrorism.”
Well-known and respected on campus, Khalil led negotiations between university officials and students during last year’s campus encampment protesting the Israeli genocide in Palestine and amid the ongoing crackdown.
An Algerian citizen of Palestinian origin and a legal permanent resident of the United States, Khalil’s green card is supposed to afford him all the constitutional free speech protections enjoyed by US citizens.
Arbitrary arrest
According to Greer, the ICE agents also threatened to arrest Khalil’s wife, a US citizen who is eight months pregnant.
“Greer said she spoke by phone with one of the ICE agents during the arrest, who said they were acting on State Department orders to revoke Khalil’s student visa,” the Associated Press reported.
“Informed by the attorney that Khalil was in the United States as a permanent resident with a green card, the agent said they were revoking that instead, according to the lawyer.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio shared an AP article about Khalil’s arrest on Twitter/X on Sunday, vowing that “We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”
Trump Says the US Can’t Cut Military Spending Now
The president has backed a House Republican budget plan that will increase military spending by $100 billion
Dave DeCamp
March 10, 2025
Dave DeCamp
March 10, 2025
Kremlin responds to Trump’s call for nuclear disarmament
Dialogue with the US is necessary, but the arsenals of America’s European allies cannot be ignored, Dmitry Peskov has said
March 7, 2025
March 7, 2025
FILE PHOTO. © Sputnik / Yekaterina Chesnokova
Moscow is ready to discuss arms control with Washington, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said, after US President Donald Trump called for nuclear disarmament among world powers.
Peskov told journalists on Friday that strategic stability and nuclear disarmament are topics on Moscow’s agenda, stating that dialogue between Russia and the US on arms control “is necessary.” He added that these discussions would benefit not just the two nations, but international security in general.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump said, “it would be great if we could all denuclearize.” He noted that the US and Russia currently possess the largest nuclear arsenals, while China could reach similar levels in four to five years.
However, Moscow believes that talks should include not only the US, Russia, and China, but European nuclear powers – France and the UK – as well. “It is impossible to just overlook European nuclear arsenals in this dialogue,” the Kremlin spokesman said, pointing to recent remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Peskov told journalists on Friday that strategic stability and nuclear disarmament are topics on Moscow’s agenda, stating that dialogue between Russia and the US on arms control “is necessary.” He added that these discussions would benefit not just the two nations, but international security in general.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump said, “it would be great if we could all denuclearize.” He noted that the US and Russia currently possess the largest nuclear arsenals, while China could reach similar levels in four to five years.
However, Moscow believes that talks should include not only the US, Russia, and China, but European nuclear powers – France and the UK – as well. “It is impossible to just overlook European nuclear arsenals in this dialogue,” the Kremlin spokesman said, pointing to recent remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Continue reading on RT.
Less Than Half in U.S. Now Sympathetic Toward Israelis
Support for establishment of independent Palestinian state remains at majority level
Megan Brenan
March 6, 2025
Support for establishment of independent Palestinian state remains at majority level
Megan Brenan
March 6, 2025
Although Americans remain more likely to say their sympathies in the Middle East situation are with the Israelis rather than the Palestinians, the 46% expressing support for Israel is the lowest in 25 years of Gallup’s annual tracking of this measure on its World Affairs survey. The previous 51% low point in this trend of Americans’ sympathy for Israelis was recorded both last year and in 2001.
At the same time, the 33% of U.S. adults who now say they sympathize with the Palestinians is up six percentage points from last year and the highest reading by two points.
At the same time, the 33% of U.S. adults who now say they sympathize with the Palestinians is up six percentage points from last year and the highest reading by two points.
The latest reading is from a Gallup poll conducted Feb. 3-16, during which the temporary ceasefire and hostage exchange between Israel and Hamas that started in mid-January continued. The poll began one day before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s White House visit that included a joint press conference with President Donald Trump. During that press event on Feb. 4, Trump expressed his intent for the U.S. to own and redevelop the Gaza Strip.
Continue article on gallup.com.
Continue article on gallup.com.
The Trump administration has paused intelligence sharing with Ukraine on top of the suspension of military aid as part of an effort to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to pursue peace talks with Russia.
The intelligence pause has had an immediate effect on Ukraine’s war effort since it has relied on US intelligence for tracking Russian troops, and it’s required for firing US-provided HIMARS rocket systems.
A US official told Axios that the pause on intelligence sharing was focused on information that Ukraine could use to launch attacks inside Russian territory, operations that have risked provoking a direct clash between the US and Russia.
Continue reading on antiwar.
The intelligence pause has had an immediate effect on Ukraine’s war effort since it has relied on US intelligence for tracking Russian troops, and it’s required for firing US-provided HIMARS rocket systems.
A US official told Axios that the pause on intelligence sharing was focused on information that Ukraine could use to launch attacks inside Russian territory, operations that have risked provoking a direct clash between the US and Russia.
Continue reading on antiwar.
The Geopolitics of Peace —
Jeffrey Sachs in the European Parliament
Jeffrey Sachs in the European Parliament
House Passes Budget Resolution That Will Increase Military Spending by $100 Billion
Rep. Massie was the only Republican to vote against the budget plan, which has been backed by President Trump
Rep. Massie was the only Republican to vote against the budget plan, which has been backed by President Trump
smarthernews.com
House Republicans on Tuesday passed a budget blueprint that would raise military spending by $100 billion, a plan backed by President Trump despite his suggestions that Pentagon spending could be cut.
The budget plan also extends $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, would add $3 trillion to the deficit, and raise the debt ceiling by $4 trillion. It passed along party lines in a vote of 217-215, with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) being the only Republican to vote against it.
Explaining his opposition, Massie cited the increases in the deficit. “If the Republican budget passes, the deficit gets worse, not better,” he wrote on X a day before the vote.
The budget plan also extends $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, would add $3 trillion to the deficit, and raise the debt ceiling by $4 trillion. It passed along party lines in a vote of 217-215, with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) being the only Republican to vote against it.
Explaining his opposition, Massie cited the increases in the deficit. “If the Republican budget passes, the deficit gets worse, not better,” he wrote on X a day before the vote.
The Senate recently passed its own budget resolution that would increase military spending by $150 billion, but it didn’t include the tax cuts. Trump has said he wants the budget plan and tax cuts to be put together in “one big beautiful bill,” backing the House’s version.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), chair of the House Armed Services Committee, said the extra $100 billion in military spending could be used to secure the southern border, among other things.
“The $100 billion in defense spending this resolution unlocks will enable us to begin restoring American deterrence, prioritizing lethality and ensuring peace through strength,” Rogers said, according to Stars and Stripes.
When Republican Senators introduced their version of the budget plan, they said the increase in military spending could be used to fund President Trump’s idea for an “Iron Dome for America,” a missile defense project that will come with a huge price tag and likely start a new arms race.
Article from antiwar.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), chair of the House Armed Services Committee, said the extra $100 billion in military spending could be used to secure the southern border, among other things.
“The $100 billion in defense spending this resolution unlocks will enable us to begin restoring American deterrence, prioritizing lethality and ensuring peace through strength,” Rogers said, according to Stars and Stripes.
When Republican Senators introduced their version of the budget plan, they said the increase in military spending could be used to fund President Trump’s idea for an “Iron Dome for America,” a missile defense project that will come with a huge price tag and likely start a new arms race.
Article from antiwar.
$571 Million in VA Spending on Suicide Prevention Isn’t Working, Vets Groups Say
Veteran advocates are asking for accountability on how the Department of Veterans Affairs uses its $571 million suicide prevention budget, and whether those efforts are working.
Patty Nieberg, Jeff Schogol
February 10, 2025
Patty Nieberg, Jeff Schogol
February 10, 2025
Marines at Twentynine Palms, California, Feb. 10, 2024. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Sean Potter.
Veteran advocates are calling on recently confirmed Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins to investigate why the millions of dollars that the agency spends each year to prevent suicides has yet to significantly curtail the number of veterans who take their own lives.
The VA received an estimated $571 million for suicide prevention efforts in Fiscal Year 2024, which ran from Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024, and it requested even more money for this fiscal year, according to the VA’s latest budget request.
In a press release, Grunt Style Foundation, a veteran advocacy group, pressed Collins to look at how the VA’s suicide prevention funds are being used.
“We’re looking at 156,000 of our brothers and sisters that have taken their lives over the last 20 years,” Tim Jensen, president of Grunt Style Foundation, told Task & Purpose “That is just frankly unacceptable.”
The foundation has partnered with Veterans of Foreign Wars on looking at different ways to prevent veteran suicide, such as promoting alternative treatments for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other mental health issues that veterans face, said VFW spokesman Robert Couture. Both organizations also seek to reduce the stigma that veterans face when they seek mental help.
“We want to be really intentional about that, and we want to be more action-oriented in this partnership,” Couture told Task & Purpose on Monday. “We have these very clear objectives that we’re looking to focus on. It’s really to develop joint campaigns to educate veterans, their families, and the public about the importance of mental health and available support services.”
The VFW is the largest and oldest combat veterans service organization. The group along with the VFW Auxiliary have more than 1.4 million members. Grunt Style Foundation launched in 2021 and focuses on mental health, food security, and military transition and sustainment issues for troops, veterans, and their families.
The Grunt Style Foundation is spearheading the call for the VA secretary to investigate veterans suicide prevention efforts, Couture said.
“It’s about, really: Hey, what is the VA doing with the money and are they doing what’s smart and what’s best for veterans and not just continuing to throw money at a problem,” Couture told Task & Purpose. “What’s the results? That’s what they’re taking the lead on.”
The VA received an estimated $571 million for suicide prevention efforts in Fiscal Year 2024, which ran from Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024, and it requested even more money for this fiscal year, according to the VA’s latest budget request.
In a press release, Grunt Style Foundation, a veteran advocacy group, pressed Collins to look at how the VA’s suicide prevention funds are being used.
“We’re looking at 156,000 of our brothers and sisters that have taken their lives over the last 20 years,” Tim Jensen, president of Grunt Style Foundation, told Task & Purpose “That is just frankly unacceptable.”
The foundation has partnered with Veterans of Foreign Wars on looking at different ways to prevent veteran suicide, such as promoting alternative treatments for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other mental health issues that veterans face, said VFW spokesman Robert Couture. Both organizations also seek to reduce the stigma that veterans face when they seek mental help.
“We want to be really intentional about that, and we want to be more action-oriented in this partnership,” Couture told Task & Purpose on Monday. “We have these very clear objectives that we’re looking to focus on. It’s really to develop joint campaigns to educate veterans, their families, and the public about the importance of mental health and available support services.”
The VFW is the largest and oldest combat veterans service organization. The group along with the VFW Auxiliary have more than 1.4 million members. Grunt Style Foundation launched in 2021 and focuses on mental health, food security, and military transition and sustainment issues for troops, veterans, and their families.
The Grunt Style Foundation is spearheading the call for the VA secretary to investigate veterans suicide prevention efforts, Couture said.
“It’s about, really: Hey, what is the VA doing with the money and are they doing what’s smart and what’s best for veterans and not just continuing to throw money at a problem,” Couture told Task & Purpose. “What’s the results? That’s what they’re taking the lead on.”
Officials from the two organizations are scheduled to attend the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs annual hearing with Veteran Service Organizations at the end of February where they testify on issues impacting the veteran community.
Some of the topics that Grunt Style Foundation officials hope to address in front of Congress are issues that they have long advocated for, such as the overmedication of veterans by the VA and the lack of data around alternative therapies like hyperbaric oxygen therapy and veteran-centric community events like hiking for mental health treatment.
Suicide was the second-leading cause of death for veterans younger than 45 in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available, according to the VA’s annual suicide prevention report, issued in December.
There was an average of 17.6 veteran suicide deaths per day in 2022, compared to 16.5 suicides per day in 2001, the report states. The highest was in 2018, when an average of 18.4 veterans died by suicide each day.
Some of the topics that Grunt Style Foundation officials hope to address in front of Congress are issues that they have long advocated for, such as the overmedication of veterans by the VA and the lack of data around alternative therapies like hyperbaric oxygen therapy and veteran-centric community events like hiking for mental health treatment.
Suicide was the second-leading cause of death for veterans younger than 45 in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available, according to the VA’s annual suicide prevention report, issued in December.
There was an average of 17.6 veteran suicide deaths per day in 2022, compared to 16.5 suicides per day in 2001, the report states. The highest was in 2018, when an average of 18.4 veterans died by suicide each day.
Read more on Task & Purpose.
In an exclusive new documentary, Max Blumenthal rips the cover off the media deceptions and atrocity hoaxes Israel pushed after October 7 to create political space for its gruesome assault on the Gaza Strip. Blumenthal exposes the US mainstream media's role as a megaphone for the Israeli government, introducing new lies even after their initial ones were debunked.
Atrocity Inc raises serious questions about the official narrative of October 7, while revealing how Israel's army has consciously engaged in the same hideous atrocities which it falsely accused Palestinian militants of committing.
Directed & Edited by Sut Jhally
Written by Max Blumenthal and Sut Jhally
Atrocity Inc raises serious questions about the official narrative of October 7, while revealing how Israel's army has consciously engaged in the same hideous atrocities which it falsely accused Palestinian militants of committing.
Directed & Edited by Sut Jhally
Written by Max Blumenthal and Sut Jhally
VFP-111 Announces Conscientious Objector Project
"The best way to engage the interest of community members is to provide an action that they can take. Chapter 111's Conscientious Objection Project does that," says chapter president Aneesa Ahad. "It offers a direct path to fighting militarism through draft resistance and developing awareness of how the military is forced upon students in high school."
ICAN Report:
Surge in 2023 Global Nuclear Weapons Spending
The nine nuclear-armed countries spent more than $10 billion more on their nuclear arsenals last year than the year before, as ICAN shows in “Surge: 2023 Global Nuclear Weapons Spending”. Between them, they pumped $91.4 billion into the nuclear arms race, or $2,898 per second.
The biggest spender, also with the largest one-year increase, was the United States at $51.5 billion - $1,633 per second!, more than all other nuclear-armed countries combined.
Read complete report, with takeaways, here.
Read complete report, with takeaways, here.
Moving Back from the Brink
Pacific Northwest organizers join a global campaign to abolish all nukes and push for a city council resolution to start
Gene Marx
Apr 04, 2024
Pacific Northwest organizers join a global campaign to abolish all nukes and push for a city council resolution to start
Gene Marx
Apr 04, 2024
nuclear sun - kattomic energy
At 5:30 a.m. on July 16, 1945, a flash “brighter than a thousand suns” lit the Alamogordo desert in New Mexico. General Leslie Groves, the overseer of the Manhattan Project estimated the explosive force of Trinity, the first full scale test of the implosion-type atomic fission bomb, “in excess of the equivalent of 15,000 to 20,000 tons of TNT.”
Grove’s report continued to describe “a fireball brighter than several midday suns;” a stratospheric mushroom cloud over 41,000 feet; and an explosive force resulting in a crater 1,200 feet in diameter and shattering windows 125 miles away.
According to War Secretary Henry Stimson, President Truman was giddy, “tremendously pepped up,” confident and invigorated enough to call the annihilation of Hiroshima three weeks later to the sailors on the USS Augusta while returning from Potsdam “the greatest thing in history.”
Today, a mere lifetime and thousands of Trinities later, nine nuclear nations control the futures of billions of global inhabitants. The cataclysmic potential of more than 13,000 nuclear weapons in 2024, each with unimaginable destructive power, are but a single miscalculation, false flag attack or accident away from ravaging the planet.
Grove’s report continued to describe “a fireball brighter than several midday suns;” a stratospheric mushroom cloud over 41,000 feet; and an explosive force resulting in a crater 1,200 feet in diameter and shattering windows 125 miles away.
According to War Secretary Henry Stimson, President Truman was giddy, “tremendously pepped up,” confident and invigorated enough to call the annihilation of Hiroshima three weeks later to the sailors on the USS Augusta while returning from Potsdam “the greatest thing in history.”
Today, a mere lifetime and thousands of Trinities later, nine nuclear nations control the futures of billions of global inhabitants. The cataclysmic potential of more than 13,000 nuclear weapons in 2024, each with unimaginable destructive power, are but a single miscalculation, false flag attack or accident away from ravaging the planet.
Recently, longtime antinuclear activist, Dr. Helen Caldicott described the medical effects of a single 20-megaton bomb dropped on an American city, New York or maybe Boston:
Russian 20-megaton bomb would enter at 20 times the speed of sound exploding with the heat of the sun, digging a hole three-quarters of a mile wide and 88 feet deep, converting all buildings, people and earth shot up into the air as a mushroom cloud. Twenty miles from the epicenter, all humans would be killed or lethally injured, some converted to charcoal statues. Winds of 500 mph turn people into missiles traveling at 100 mph. A massive conflagration would follow covering 300 square miles and the fires would coalesce across the nation.
As cities burn across the world, a massive cloud of toxic black smoke will elevate into the stratosphere blocking out the sun for ten years inducing a short ice age nuclear winter when all humans and most plants and animals will perish.
greg wegwich pinterest.com
Closer to home, the Pacific Northwest is a major nuclear, strategically targeted region in any war, if only to include the 1,300 nuclear warheads at Kitsap Bangor Naval Base and submarine communications base, Naval Radio Station Jim Creek, near Oso, both within 73 and 58 miles, as eagles fly, from Bellingham, both listed as primary U.S. ground zeros for Russia’s crosshairs. Doing the cataclysmic math for a strike on Oso, the City of Subdued Excitement and most of Skagit County would be consumed in less than fifteen minutes in a mega-inferno, and finished off by shockwaves and Carl Sagan’s “witches brew of radioactive particles” raining down as fallout.
Those lucky enough to have survived will realize within minutes they are entirely on their own. No 911. No FEMA. Just struggling to self-survive.
While individual and cultural psychic-numbing provides most of the post-Cold War populace with a much-needed coping mechanism to keep from being overwhelmed. Many of the rest of us remember all too well nuclear annihilation threats from U.S. presidents and Soviet leaders, the inefficacies of civil defense exercises and the Cuban Missile crisis, and most refuse to check out, just yet.
Read complete article on Substack.
Those lucky enough to have survived will realize within minutes they are entirely on their own. No 911. No FEMA. Just struggling to self-survive.
While individual and cultural psychic-numbing provides most of the post-Cold War populace with a much-needed coping mechanism to keep from being overwhelmed. Many of the rest of us remember all too well nuclear annihilation threats from U.S. presidents and Soviet leaders, the inefficacies of civil defense exercises and the Cuban Missile crisis, and most refuse to check out, just yet.
Read complete article on Substack.
Update -
Bellingham City Council
unanimously passes resolution calling
for permanent cease-fire in Gaza
It took nine years and a do-over,
but perseverance and peaceful protest win out
Bellingham City Council
unanimously passes resolution calling
for permanent cease-fire in Gaza
It took nine years and a do-over,
but perseverance and peaceful protest win out
On Monday, Bellingham, Washington’s City Council unanimously passed a resolution supporting an “Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza, Israel and Palestine,” crafted by Whatcom (County) Families for Justice, Whatcom Peace & Justice Center, and Veterans for Peace Chapter 111. Interestingly, Bellingham’s latest successful resolution effort is a do-over from Operation Protective Edge in 2014, when a similar Gaza resolution calling for an end to violence on both sides, failed for the simple lack of a second. The Israeli tactic of “mowing the grass” in the Gaza Strip nine years ago, resulting in more than 2,000 Palestinian deaths, including 500 children, was not enough to move the measure forward. Threats, intimidation and political expediency won out.
But that was then.
Almost a decade later, visibly affected Council Members passed the latest version of the resolution during its preliminary Committee of the Whole discussion. Following measured revisions to the original draft submitted by local activists, an impassioned Council recognized the urgency of the 2023 carnage in Gaza and voted unanimously to support its passage during that evening’s business meeting.
Read complete piece on Substack.
But that was then.
Almost a decade later, visibly affected Council Members passed the latest version of the resolution during its preliminary Committee of the Whole discussion. Following measured revisions to the original draft submitted by local activists, an impassioned Council recognized the urgency of the 2023 carnage in Gaza and voted unanimously to support its passage during that evening’s business meeting.
Read complete piece on Substack.
JFK's Commencement Address at American University, Washington, D.C., June 10, 1963
President John F. Kennedy
June 10, 1963
President Anderson, members of the faculty, board of trustees, distinguished guests, my old colleague, Senator Bob Byrd, who has earned his degree through many years of attending night law school, while I am earning mine in the next 30 minutes, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:
It is with great pride that I participate in this ceremony of the American University, sponsored by the Methodist Church, founded by Bishop John Fletcher Hurst, and first opened by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914. This is a young and growing university, but it has already fulfilled Bishop Hurst's enlightened hope for the study of history and public affairs in a city devoted to the making of history and the conduct of the public's business. By sponsoring this institution of higher learning for all who wish to learn, whatever their color or their creed, the Methodists of this area and the Nation deserve the Nation's thanks, and I commend all those who are today graduating.
Professor Woodrow Wilson once said that every man sent out from a university should be a man of his nation as well as a man of his time, and I am confident that the men and women who carry the honor of graduating from this institution will continue to give from their lives, from their talents, a high measure of public service and public support.
"There are few earthly things more beautiful than a university," wrote John Masefield in his tribute to English universities--and his words are equally true today. He did not refer to spires and towers, to campus greens and ivied walls. He admired the splendid beauty of the university, he said, because it was "a place where those who hate ignorance may strive to know, where those who perceive truth may strive to make others see."
I have, therefore, chosen this time and this place to discuss a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth is too rarely perceived--yet it is the most important topic on earth: world peace.
What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children--not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women--not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.
I speak of peace because of the new face of war. Total war makes no sense in an age when great powers can maintain large and relatively invulnerable nuclear forces and refuse to surrender without resort to those forces. It makes no sense in an age when a single nuclear weapon contains almost ten times the explosive force delivered by all the allied air forces in the Second World War. It makes no sense in an age when the deadly poisons produced by a nuclear exchange would be carried by wind and water and soil and seed to the far corners of the globe and to generations yet unborn.
Today the expenditure of billions of dollars every year on weapons acquired for the purpose of making sure we never need to use them is essential to keeping the peace. But surely the acquisition of such idle stockpiles--which can only destroy and never create--is not the only, much less the most efficient, means of assuring peace.
I speak of peace, therefore, as the necessary rational end of rational men. I realize that the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war--and frequently the words of the pursuer fall on deaf ears. But we have no more urgent task.
Some say that it is useless to speak of world peace or world law or world disarmament--and that it will be useless until the leaders of the Soviet Union adopt a more enlightened attitude. I hope they do. I believe we can help them do it. But I also believe that we must reexamine our own attitude--as individuals and as a Nation--for our attitude is as essential as theirs. And every graduate of this school, every thoughtful citizen who despairs of war and wishes to bring peace, should begin by looking inward--by examining his own attitude toward the possibilities of peace, toward the Soviet Union, toward the course of the cold war and toward freedom and peace here at home.
First: Let us examine our attitude toward peace itself. Too many of us think it is impossible. Too many think it unreal. But that is a dangerous, defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable--that mankind is doomed--that we are gripped by forces we cannot control.
We need not accept that view. Our problems are manmade--therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Man's reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable--and we believe they can do it again.
I am not referring to the absolute, infinite concept of peace and good will of which some fantasies and fanatics dream. I do not deny the value of hopes and dreams but we merely invite discouragement and incredulity by making that our only and immediate goal.
Let us focus instead on a more practical, more attainable peace-- based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution in human institutions--on a series of concrete actions and effective agreements which are in the interest of all concerned. There is no single, simple key to this peace--no grand or magic formula to be adopted by one or two powers. Genuine peace must be the product of many nations, the sum of many acts. It must be dynamic, not static, changing to meet the challenge of each new generation. For peace is a process--a way of solving problems.
With such a peace, there will still be quarrels and conflicting interests, as there are within families and nations. World peace, like community peace, does not require that each man love his neighbor--it requires only that they live together in mutual tolerance, submitting their disputes to a just and peaceful settlement.
And history teaches us that enmities between nations, as between individuals, do not last forever. However fixed our likes and dislikes may seem, the tide of time and events will often bring surprising changes in the relations between nations and neighbors.
So let us persevere. Peace need not be impracticable, and war need not be inevitable. By defining our goal more clearly, by making it seem more manageable and less remote, we can help all peoples to see it, to draw hope from it, and to move irresistibly toward it.
Second: Let us reexamine our attitude toward the Soviet Union. It is discouraging to think that their leaders may actually believe what their propagandists write. It is discouraging to read a recent authoritative Soviet text on Military Strategy and find, on page after page, wholly baseless and incredible claims--such as the allegation that "American imperialist circles are preparing to unleash different types of wars . . . that there is a very real threat of a preventive war being unleashed by American imperialists against the Soviet Union . . . [and that] the political aims of the American imperialists are to enslave economically and politically the European and other capitalist countries . . . [and] to achieve world domination . . . by means of aggressive wars."
Truly, as it was written long ago: "The wicked flee when no man pursueth." Yet it is sad to read these Soviet statements--to realize the extent of the gulf between us. But it is also a warning--a warning to the American people not to fall into the same trap as the Soviets, not to see only a distorted and desperate view of the other side, not to see conflict as inevitable, accommodation as impossible, and communication as nothing more than an exchange of threats.
No government or social system is so evil that its people must be considered as lacking in virtue. As Americans, we find communism profoundly repugnant as a negation of personal freedom and dignity. But we can still hail the Russian people for their many achievements--in science and space, in economic and industrial growth, in culture and in acts of courage.
Among the many traits the peoples of our two countries have in common, none is stronger than our mutual abhorrence of war. Almost unique among the major world powers, we have never been at war with each other. And no nation in the history of battle ever suffered more than the Soviet Union suffered in the course of the Second World War. At least 20 million lost their lives. Countless millions of homes and farms were burned or sacked. A third of the nation's territory, including nearly two thirds of its industrial base, was turned into a wasteland--a loss equivalent to the devastation of this country east of Chicago.
Today, should total war ever break out again--no matter how--our two countries would become the primary targets. It is an ironic but accurate fact that the two strongest powers are the two in the most danger of devastation. All we have built, all we have worked for, would be destroyed in the first 24 hours. And even in the cold war, which brings burdens and dangers to so many nations, including this Nation's closest allies--our two countries bear the heaviest burdens. For we are both devoting massive sums of money to weapons that could be better devoted to combating ignorance, poverty, and disease. We are both caught up in a vicious and dangerous cycle in which suspicion on one side breeds suspicion on the other, and new weapons beget counterweapons.
In short, both the United States and its allies, and the Soviet Union and its allies, have a mutually deep interest in a just and genuine peace and in halting the arms race. Agreements to this end are in the interests of the Soviet Union as well as ours--and even the most hostile nations can be relied upon to accept and keep those treaty obligations, and only those treaty obligations, which are in their own interest.
So, let us not be blind to our differences--but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.
Third: Let us reexamine our attitude toward the cold war, remembering that we are not engaged in a debate, seeking to pile up debating points. We are not here distributing blame or pointing the finger of judgment. We must deal with the world as it is, and not as it might have been had the history of the last 18 years been different.
We must, therefore, persevere in the search for peace in the hope that constructive changes within the Communist bloc might bring within reach solutions which now seem beyond us. We must conduct our affairs in such a way that it becomes in the Communists' interest to agree on a genuine peace. Above all, while defending our own vital interests, nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war. To adopt that kind of course in the nuclear age would be evidence only of the bankruptcy of our policy--or of a collective death-wish for the world.
To secure these ends, America's weapons are nonprovocative, carefully controlled, designed to deter, and capable of selective use. Our military forces are committed to peace and disciplined in self- restraint. Our diplomats are instructed to avoid unnecessary irritants and purely rhetorical hostility.
For we can seek a relaxation of tension without relaxing our guard. And, for our part, we do not need to use threats to prove that we are resolute. We do not need to jam foreign broadcasts out of fear our faith will be eroded. We are unwilling to impose our system on any unwilling people--but we are willing and able to engage in peaceful competition with any people on earth.
Meanwhile, we seek to strengthen the United Nations, to help solve its financial problems, to make it a more effective instrument for peace, to develop it into a genuine world security system--a system capable of resolving disputes on the basis of law, of insuring the security of the large and the small, and of creating conditions under which arms can finally be abolished.
At the same time we seek to keep peace inside the non-Communist world, where many nations, all of them our friends, are divided over issues which weaken Western unity, which invite Communist intervention or which threaten to erupt into war. Our efforts in West New Guinea, in the Congo, in the Middle East, and in the Indian subcontinent, have been persistent and patient despite criticism from both sides. We have also tried to set an example for others--by seeking to adjust small but significant differences with our own closest neighbors in Mexico and in Canada.
Speaking of other nations, I wish to make one point clear. We are bound to many nations by alliances. Those alliances exist because our concern and theirs substantially overlap. Our commitment to defend Western Europe and West Berlin, for example, stands undiminished because of the identity of our vital interests. The United States will make no deal with the Soviet Union at the expense of other nations and other peoples, not merely because they are our partners, but also because their interests and ours converge.
Our interests converge, however, not only in defending the frontiers of freedom, but in pursuing the paths of peace. It is our hope-- and the purpose of allied policies--to convince the Soviet Union that she, too, should let each nation choose its own future, so long as that choice does not interfere with the choices of others. The Communist drive to impose their political and economic system on others is the primary cause of world tension today. For there can be no doubt that, if all nations could refrain from interfering in the self-determination of others, the peace would be much more assured.
This will require a new effort to achieve world law--a new context for world discussions. It will require increased understanding between the Soviets and ourselves. And increased understanding will require increased contact and communication. One step in this direction is the proposed arrangement for a direct line between Moscow and Washington, to avoid on each side the dangerous delays, misunderstandings, and misreadings of the other's actions which might occur at a time of crisis.
We have also been talking in Geneva about the other first-step measures of arms control designed to limit the intensity of the arms race and to reduce the risks of accidental war. Our primary long range interest in Geneva, however, is general and complete disarmament-- designed to take place by stages, permitting parallel political developments to build the new institutions of peace which would take the place of arms.
The pursuit of disarmament has been an effort of this Government since the 1920's. It has been urgently sought by the past three administrations. And however dim the prospects may be today, we intend to continue this effort--to continue it in order that all countries, including our own, can better grasp what the problems and possibilities of disarmament are.
The one major area of these negotiations where the end is in sight, yet where a fresh start is badly needed, is in a treaty to outlaw nuclear tests. The conclusion of such a treaty, so near and yet so far, would check the spiraling arms race in one of its most dangerous areas. It would place the nuclear powers in a position to deal more effectively with one of the greatest hazards which man faces in 1963, the further spread of nuclear arms. It would increase our security--it would decrease the prospects of war. Surely this goal is sufficiently important to require our steady pursuit, yielding neither to the temptation to give up the whole effort nor the temptation to give up our insistence on vital and responsible safeguards.
I am taking this opportunity, therefore, to announce two important decisions in this regard.
First: Chairman Khrushchev, Prime Minister Macmillan, and I have agreed that high-level discussions will shortly begin in Moscow looking toward early agreement on a comprehensive test ban treaty. Our hopes must be tempered with the caution of history--but with our hopes go the hopes of all mankind.
Second: To make clear our good faith and solemn convictions on the matter, I now declare that the United States does not propose to conduct nuclear tests in the atmosphere so long as other states do not do so. We will not be the first to resume. Such a declaration is no substitute for a formal binding treaty, but I hope it will help us achieve one. Nor would such a treaty be a substitute for disarmament, but I hope it will help us achieve it.
Finally, my fellow Americans, let us examine our attitude toward peace and freedom here at home. The quality and spirit of our own society must justify and support our efforts abroad. We must show it in the dedication of our own lives--as many of you who are graduating today will have a unique opportunity to do, by serving without pay in the Peace Corps abroad or in the proposed National Service Corps here at home.
But wherever we are, we must all, in our daily lives, live up to the age-old faith that peace and freedom walk together. In too many of our cities today, the peace is not secure because the freedom is incomplete.
It is the responsibility of the executive branch at all levels of government--local, State, and National--to provide and protect that freedom for all of our citizens by all means within their authority. It is the responsibility of the legislative branch at all levels, wherever that authority is not now adequate, to make it adequate. And it is the responsibility of all citizens in all sections of this country to respect the rights of all others and to respect the law of the land.
All this is not unrelated to world peace. "When a man's ways please the Lord," the Scriptures tell us, "he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." And is not peace, in the last analysis, basically a matter of human rights--the right to live out our lives without fear of devastation--the right to breathe air as nature provided it--the right of future generations to a healthy existence?
While we proceed to safeguard our national interests, let us also safeguard human interests. And the elimination of war and arms is clearly in the interest of both. No treaty, however much it may be to the advantage of all, however tightly it may be worded, can provide absolute security against the risks of deception and evasion. But it can--if it is sufficiently effective in its enforcement and if it is sufficiently in the interests of its signers--offer far more security and far fewer risks than an unabated, uncontrolled, unpredictable arms race.
The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war. We do not want a war. We do not now expect a war. This generation of Americans has already had enough--more than enough--of war and hate and oppression. We shall be prepared if others wish it. We shall be alert to try to stop it. But we shall also do our part to build a world of peace where the weak are safe and the strong are just. We are not helpless before that task or hopeless of its success. Confident and unafraid, we labor on--not toward a strategy of annihilation but toward a strategy of peace.
Never Too Late to Shout About It
”In the next war the survivors will envy the dead.” If there was ever a time for antiwar dialogue, engagement, resistance, it’s right now.
Gene Marx
February 10, 2023
”In the next war the survivors will envy the dead.” If there was ever a time for antiwar dialogue, engagement, resistance, it’s right now.
Gene Marx
February 10, 2023
Vue du siège de Gibraltar et explosion des batteries flottantes commons.wikimedia
“All acts of healing and love – and the defiance of war is an affirmation of love – allow us to shout out to the vast powers of the universe that, however broken we are, we are not helpless. However we despair we are not without hope, however weak we may feel, we will always, always, always resist.”
Chris Hedges, War is the Greatest Evil
Chris Hedges, War is the Greatest Evil
Respectfully, I have been all in for hope for as long as I can remember, but never a devotee. During the chaotic 60s of my shamelessly irresponsible youth, hope was an emotional default. Despite the radicalization of my generation, historic levels of civil unrest, and friends ending up as human remains in US issue body bags, hope was just a coping mechanism to counter undercurrents of dread and the white noise of Lyndon Johnson’s falling dominoes. Most of my draft-age fodder peers could never begin to imagine an end to the killing, but Congressional opposition to the genocide in Southeast Asia caught on and LBJ was driven out of office. Democrats and Republicans alike – Pete McCloskey, Mike Mansfield, Charles Mathias and Mike Gravel and others – challenged the pro-war narrative. Eugene McCarthy primaried LBJ. Bobby Kennedy joined the fray. It turned out my hope was more than a thing with feathers.
In sharp contrast to today’s 118th Congress, lawmakers recognized a regrettable debacle when they saw one.
In sharp contrast to today’s 118th Congress, lawmakers recognized a regrettable debacle when they saw one.
Eugene McCarthy
Mike Gravel
Bobby Kennedy
That was a lifetime ago, when wars ended, for everyone but the survivors.
A half century later, after escaping in one piece, from my own war to end all wars, a flailing American empire is now poised on the brink of direct confrontations with the world’s largest nuclear superpowers. As if a viral pandemic and planetary climate collapse weren’t enough, NATO and the US National Security State are trying to kill us all, including the very last man in Ukraine in America’s latest proxy war. And if the new Ukrainian conscription policy - lowering the draft age to 16 –and reports of a 4-hour life expectancy for new untrained troops in the Donbass are true, that poor grunt bastard’s days are numbered.
But, in a brutally frank, nightmare scenario, so are ours.
But, in a brutally frank, nightmare scenario, so are ours.
With global alliances for the Ukraine conflict set in stone and diplomatic entreaties more unlikely or unthinkable, the possibility of a massive nuclear exchange becomes more thinkable with each new weapon shipped to Zelenskyy forces by the collective West. Still, 100 US tactical nukes in Europe, intractable war power rhetoric, cornered adversaries with nothing to lose and the unfettered hubris of US foreign policy neocons is a recipe for a maelstrom, but barely gets a mention anywhere, from anyone.
Russia - Total nuclear warheads as of 2022 - 6,257 (Reuters)
An exchange of tactical nuclear devices in Eastern Europe - by accident or design - would result in counterattacks from all sides. We have been warned since Trinity, but while American support for the conflict in Ukraine has flat-lined, the escalation ladder of US and NATO weapons continues to, well, escalate. Still, no one with or without agency is talking or, better yet, shouting about it. For uncensored, unbridled antiwar dialogue, alternative media is our last best hope – there’s that word again – against unrelenting war propaganda.
US - Total nuclear warheads as of 2022 - 5,550 (Reuters)
“This threat is largely ignored by politicians and the mainstream media,” writes nuclear activist Dr. Helen Caldicott, “who continue to practice psychic numbing as we stumble blindly toward our demise.” For many progressives self-censorship became a safe place. Whoever countered the pro-NATO narrative continue to be labeled alarmists or Kremlin agents at the mere mention of a diplomatic off ramp. (Read: Peace).
And JFK’s 1963 warning at American University couldn’t have been more prescient:
And JFK’s 1963 warning at American University couldn’t have been more prescient:
“Above all, while defending our own vital interests, nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war. To adopt that kind of course in the nuclear age would be evidence only of the bankruptcy of our policy--or of a collective death-wish for the world.”
Incredibly, we would joke about nuclear annihilation in 1965, as we sang singer-songwriter Tom Lehrer’s satirical piece “So Long, Mom, I’m off to Drop the Bomb,” a much-needed musical respite from the psychotrauma of the Cuban Missile Crisis. When the laughter died, this rendition of a Cold War musical deflection had a short shelf life.
Dr. Helen Caldicott would later write:
“Knowing man’s propensity to fight, why in God’s name did the U.S. Government and Soviet Union authorize the brilliant scientists and weapons makers to construct thousands of nuclear weapons during and after the Cold War, culminating in more than 70,000 nuclear weapons during the '70s and '80s?"
No one should be breathing any easier today with over 13,000 warheads distributed among the nine nuclear armed states - United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea. One targeting miscalculation or false flag provocation could result in a global crossette of destruction lasting an hour, give or take, eventually eradicating billions with the survivors envying the dead, as JFK would often quote Nikita Khrushchev.
Read complete article on Substack.
Dr. Helen Caldicott would later write:
“Knowing man’s propensity to fight, why in God’s name did the U.S. Government and Soviet Union authorize the brilliant scientists and weapons makers to construct thousands of nuclear weapons during and after the Cold War, culminating in more than 70,000 nuclear weapons during the '70s and '80s?"
No one should be breathing any easier today with over 13,000 warheads distributed among the nine nuclear armed states - United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea. One targeting miscalculation or false flag provocation could result in a global crossette of destruction lasting an hour, give or take, eventually eradicating billions with the survivors envying the dead, as JFK would often quote Nikita Khrushchev.
Read complete article on Substack.
Wait a Minute, We Got in This Ukrainian Mess...How?
Feb 6, 2014, Victoria Nuland handing out food to insurgents in Maidan Square who overthrew the government two weeks later. US Ambassador to her left.
By Dianne Foster • Feb 20, 2022
I am writing with urgency to correct the mainstream media’s disinformation about Ukraine and supposed Russian aggression there. I clearly remember taking a group of peace activists including Occupy Bellingham, Veterans for Peace, and Whatcom Peace and Justice, into Representative Rick Larsen’s office after the February 2014 United States-backed coup in Ukraine. We helped overthrow the democratically elected president, Viktor Yanukovich, and installed the neo-Nazi Svoboda and Right Sector parties into power. Yanukovich’s election in 2010 had been validated by the U.N. as fair and square.
The image of then U.S. Secretary of European Affairs Victoria Nuland, a Dick Cheney appointee promoted by Hillary Clinton, standing on the stage in Kiev’s Maiden Square, throwing cookies out to the mobs of neo-Nazi’s and encouraging them to riot, is imprinted in my memory. On the stage behind her stood John McCain and Joe Biden, she had requested Obama send them as “point men” in this putsch. Shots were fired, Yanukovich left in haste for Russia, and millionaire Petro Poroshenko was selected to lead the country. Even Henry Kissinger, the king of “regime change” operations, protested in a Washington Post editorial, that this was over-the-top and Ukraine deserved their own sovereignty. Notably, Nuland’s husband, Robert Kagan, was a leading neocon architect of the Iraq War.
It was no surprise, therefore, that Putin took back the historically Russian seaport of Crimea, the Black Sea gem that was bequeathed to Ukraine, for uncertain reasons, by Ukrainian-born former Premier Nikita Khrushchev in 1954.
Then there’s the history of the Svoboda and Right Sector political parties during WW2 in Ukraine: it is horrific. They were notorious for heinous crimes such as carving up Jewish children. Even today they are carrying out anti-Semitic pogroms, primarily by the Azov Battalion, a neo-Nazi paramilitary group that is now incorporated into the Ukraine National Guard. Although Congressman Ro Khanna attempted to insure that no American aid went to that organization, it has unfortunately been funded in an attempt to oppose Russian interests there.
The neo-Nazi-leaning Ukraine government has been bombing the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine since the 2014 coup, prompting nationalist leaders in Russia to push Putin into some action to take back the entire country, though current CIA Director William Burns does not believe Putin will do it. During April of 2014, we Democrats in the 40th Legislative District passed a resolution condemning this coup, in accordance with the Whatcom Dems platform that states: “Our government should not engage in overt or covert efforts to destabilize other nations’ governments.”
As someone whose father was a POW in Nazi Germany, I have spent much of my academic and personal life researching and opposing fascist movements. Many people forget that it was Russia and the Russian people who suffered the most in World War II, and without Russian leadership we would have lost to Hitler. If they hadn’t won the war in Europe, I wouldn’t be here today.
It should also be noted that when President Mikhail Gorbachev voluntarily ended the Cold War in 1990 by lowering the Berlin Wall, the U.S. promised in return that the West would not bring former Soviet states into NATO, thereby guaranteeing a safety zone around Russia. How would we feel if Russia incorporated Mexico or Canada into their sphere of influence? By 1994, President Clinton reneged on that promise, as one country after another was admitted to NATO, whose purpose at that time was to perpetrate a new Cold War. For a brief period, Clinton proposed a “peace dividend” that would divert money from the military to social needs. It appeared the military-industrial complex was not too happy with that idea. Thus we have had “endless wars” and regime changes; one of the most tragic was in Afghanistan. I am, however, optimistic to see countries like Chile and Honduras reversing the trend and moving away from neoliberal imperial domination.
What is most disturbing about this narrative is that President Biden was there, in Ukraine: he participated in that coup, and is now blaming it on the Russians. We cannot have real diplomacy based on lies. I plan to call the White House and my congressional representatives and encourage them to tell the truth. They are provoking a potential nuclear war that would end history. I have attached the Veterans for Peace resolution that was passed nationally in March of 2014 by that organization; it provides accurate details.
See NWCitizen.com for related links.
Dianne Foster guest wrote this opinion article for NW Citizen about our involvement today with Ukraine. She has a B.A. political science/international relations from the U. of W., and is a former “PCO of the Year” with the Whatcom Democrats.
Veterans Release Nuclear Posture Review
The U.S.-based international organization Veterans For Peace has released its own assessment of the current global threat of nuclear war, ahead of the anticipated release of the Biden Administration’s Nuclear Posture Review. The Veterans For Peace Nuclear Posture Review warns that the danger of nuclear war is greater than ever and that nuclear disarmament must be vigorously pursued. Veterans For Peace plans to deliver their Nuclear Posture Review to the President and Vice President, to every member of Congress, and to the Pentagon.
With the first anniversary of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) on January 22, the Veterans For Peace Nuclear Posture Review calls on the U.S. government to sign the treaty and to work with other nuclear-armed states to eliminate all the world’s nuclear weapons. The TPNW, approved by a vote of 122-1 in the UN General Assembly in July of 2017, reflects the international consensus against the existence of such weapons.
Veterans For Peace Nuclear Posture Review also calls for measures that would reduce the risk of nuclear war, such as implementing policies for No First Use and taking nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert.
As early as this month, President Biden is expected to issue a United States Nuclear Posture Review, prepared by the Department of Defense in a tradition started in 1994 during the Clinton Administration and continued during the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations. Veterans For Peace anticipates that the Biden Administration’s Nuclear Posture Review will continue to reflect the unrealistic goals of full spectrum dominance and justify the continuing expenditure of billions of dollars on nuclear weapons.
“Veterans have learned the hard way to be skeptical of our government’s military adventures, which have led us from one disastrous war to another,” said Ken Mayers, a retired Marine Corps major. “Nuclear weapons are a threat to the very existence of human civilization,” continued Mayers, “so the U.S. nuclear posture is too important to be left to the cold warriors at the Pentagon. Veterans For Peace has developed our own Nuclear Posture Review, one that is consistent with U.S. treaty obligations and reflects the research and work of many arms control experts.”
The 10-page document prepared by Veterans For Peace reviews the nuclear posture of all the nuclear-armed states – the U.S., Russia, the UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel. It makes a number of recommendations for how the U.S. could provide leadership to begin a process of worldwide disarmament.
“This is not rocket science,” said Gerry Condon, a Vietnam-era veteran and former president of Veterans For Peace. “The experts make nuclear disarmament seem impossibly difficult. However, there is a growing international consensus against the existence of such weapons. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was approved overwhelmingly by the UN General Assembly in July 2017 and went into effect on January 22, 2021. It IS possible and necessary to eliminate all nuclear weapons, as 122 nations of the world have agreed.”
LINK to the Veterans For Peace Nuclear Posture Review
With the first anniversary of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) on January 22, the Veterans For Peace Nuclear Posture Review calls on the U.S. government to sign the treaty and to work with other nuclear-armed states to eliminate all the world’s nuclear weapons. The TPNW, approved by a vote of 122-1 in the UN General Assembly in July of 2017, reflects the international consensus against the existence of such weapons.
Veterans For Peace Nuclear Posture Review also calls for measures that would reduce the risk of nuclear war, such as implementing policies for No First Use and taking nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert.
As early as this month, President Biden is expected to issue a United States Nuclear Posture Review, prepared by the Department of Defense in a tradition started in 1994 during the Clinton Administration and continued during the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations. Veterans For Peace anticipates that the Biden Administration’s Nuclear Posture Review will continue to reflect the unrealistic goals of full spectrum dominance and justify the continuing expenditure of billions of dollars on nuclear weapons.
“Veterans have learned the hard way to be skeptical of our government’s military adventures, which have led us from one disastrous war to another,” said Ken Mayers, a retired Marine Corps major. “Nuclear weapons are a threat to the very existence of human civilization,” continued Mayers, “so the U.S. nuclear posture is too important to be left to the cold warriors at the Pentagon. Veterans For Peace has developed our own Nuclear Posture Review, one that is consistent with U.S. treaty obligations and reflects the research and work of many arms control experts.”
The 10-page document prepared by Veterans For Peace reviews the nuclear posture of all the nuclear-armed states – the U.S., Russia, the UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel. It makes a number of recommendations for how the U.S. could provide leadership to begin a process of worldwide disarmament.
“This is not rocket science,” said Gerry Condon, a Vietnam-era veteran and former president of Veterans For Peace. “The experts make nuclear disarmament seem impossibly difficult. However, there is a growing international consensus against the existence of such weapons. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was approved overwhelmingly by the UN General Assembly in July 2017 and went into effect on January 22, 2021. It IS possible and necessary to eliminate all nuclear weapons, as 122 nations of the world have agreed.”
LINK to the Veterans For Peace Nuclear Posture Review
National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund
On July 19, 2012, one year after the death of Rep. John Lewis, Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts became the new sponsor of the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Bill, H.R. 4529. "To affirm the freedom of taxpayers who are conscientiously opposed to participation in war, to provide that the income, estate, or gift tax payments of such taxpayers be used for nonmilitary purposes, to create the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund to receive such payments, to improve revenue collection, and for other purposes."
This bill "directs the Department of Treasury to establish in the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund for the deposit of income, gift and estate taxes paid by or on behalf of taxpayers: (1) who are designated conscientious objectors opposed to participation in war in any form based upon their sincerely held moral, ethical, or religious beliefs or training (within the meaning of the Military Selective Service Act); and (2) who have certified their beliefs in writing."
"Amounts deposited in the Fund shall be allocated annually to any appropriation not for a military purpose. Treasury shall report to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees on the total amount transferred into the Fund during the preceding fiscal year and the purposes for which such amount was allocated. The privacy of the individuals using the Fund shall be protected."
Please sign this petition to move your Congressional representatives to support this bill.
This bill "directs the Department of Treasury to establish in the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund for the deposit of income, gift and estate taxes paid by or on behalf of taxpayers: (1) who are designated conscientious objectors opposed to participation in war in any form based upon their sincerely held moral, ethical, or religious beliefs or training (within the meaning of the Military Selective Service Act); and (2) who have certified their beliefs in writing."
"Amounts deposited in the Fund shall be allocated annually to any appropriation not for a military purpose. Treasury shall report to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees on the total amount transferred into the Fund during the preceding fiscal year and the purposes for which such amount was allocated. The privacy of the individuals using the Fund shall be protected."
Please sign this petition to move your Congressional representatives to support this bill.
April 21, 2021
Support the
Tropes
How media language encourages the left to support wars, coups and intervention
Alan MacLeod
Support the
Tropes
How media language encourages the left to support wars, coups and intervention
Alan MacLeod
In an earlier piece (FAIR.org, 3/3/21), we explored some country case study examples of how the press helps to manufacture consent for regime change and other US actions abroad among left-leaning audiences, a traditionally conflict-skeptical group.
Some level of buy-in, or at least a hesitancy to resist, among the United States’ more left-leaning half is necessary to ensure that US interventions are carried out with a minimum of domestic opposition. To this end, corporate media invoke the language of human rights and humanitarianism to convince those to the left of center to accept, if not support, US actions abroad—a treatment of sorts for the country’s 50-year-long Vietnam syndrome.
What follows are some of the common tropes used by establishment outlets to convince skeptical leftists that this time, things might be different, selling a progressive intervention everyone can get behind.
Think of the women!
The vast majority of the world was against the US attack on Afghanistan that followed the 9/11 attacks in 2001. However, the idea had overwhelming support from the US public, including from Democrats. In fact, when Gallup (Brookings, 1/9/20) asked about the occupation in 2019, there was slightly more support for maintaining troops there among Democrats than Republicans—38% vs. 34%—and slightly less support for withdrawing troops (21% vs. 23%).
Media coverage can partially explain this phenomenon, convincing some and at the least providing cover for those in power. This was not a war of aggression, they insisted. They were not simply there to capture Osama bin Laden (whom the Taliban actually offered to hand over); this was a fight to bring freedom to the oppressed women of the country. As First Lady Laura Bush said: We respect our mothers, our sisters and daughters. "Fighting brutality against women and children is not the expression of a specific culture; it is the acceptance of our common humanity—a commitment shared by people of goodwill on every continent…. The fight against terrorism is also a fight for the rights and dignity of women."
Wars are not fought to liberate women (FAIR.org, 7/26/17), and bombing people is never a feminist activity (FAIR.org, 6/28/20). But the New York Times was among the chief architects in constructing the belief in a phantom feminist war. Within weeks of the invasion (12/2/01), it reported on the “joyful return” of women to college campuses, profiling one student who strode up the steps tentatively at first, her body covered from face to foot by blue cotton. As she neared the door, she flipped the cloth back over her head, revealing round cheeks, dark ringlets of hair and the searching brown eyes of a student.
The over-the-top symbolism was hard to miss: This was a country changed, and all thanks to the invasion.
Time magazine also played heavily on this angle. Six weeks after the invasion (11/26/01), it told readers that “the greatest pageant of mass liberation since the fight for suffrage” was occurring, as “female faces, shy and bright, emerged from the dark cellars,” casting off their veils and symbolically stomping on them. If the implication was not clear enough, it directly told readers “the sight of jubilation was a holiday gift, a reminder of reasons the war was worth fighting beyond those of basic self-defense.”
“How much better will their lives be now?” Time (12/3/01) asked. Not much better, as it turned out.
A few days later, Time‘s cover (12/3/01) featured a portrait of a blonde, light-skinned Afghan woman, with the words, “Lifting the Veil. The shocking story of how the Taliban brutalized the women of Afghanistan. How much better will their lives be now?”
This was representative of a much wider phenomenon. A study by Carol Stabile and Deepa Kumar published in Media, Culture & Society (9/1/05) found that, in 1999, there were 29 US newspaper articles and 37 broadcast TV reports about women’s rights in Afghanistan. Between 2000 and September 11, 2001, those figures were 15 and 33, respectively. However, in the 16 weeks between September 12 and January 1, 2002, Americans were inundated with stories on the subject, with 93 newspaper articles and 628 TV reports on the subject. Once the real objectives of the war were secure, those figures fell off a cliff.
Antiwar messages were largely absent from corporate news coverage. Indeed, as FAIR founder Jeff Cohen noted in his book Cable News Confidential, CNN executives instructed their staff to constantly counter any images of civilian casualties with pro-war messages, even if “it may start sounding rote.” This sort of coverage helped to push 75% of Democratic voters into supporting the ground war.
As reality set in, it became increasingly difficult to pretend women’s rights in Afghanistan were seriously improving. Women still face the same problems as they did before. As a female Afghan member of parliament told Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies (CounterSpin, 2/17/21), women in Afghanistan have three principal enemies:
"One is the Taliban. Two is this group of warlords, disguised as a government, that the US supports. And the third is the US occupation…. If you in the West could get the US occupation out, we’d only have two."
However, Time managed to find a way to tug on the heartstrings of left-leaning audiences to support continued occupation. Featuring a shocking image of an 18-year-old local woman who had her ear and nose cut off, a 2010 cover story (8/9/10) asked readers to wonder “what happens if we leave Afghanistan,” the clear implication being the US must stay to prevent further brutality—despite the fact that the woman’s mutilation occurred after eight years of US occupation (Extra!, 10/10).
Vox (3/4/21) asserted that the US occupation of Afghanistan has meant “better rights for women and children” without offering evidence that that is the case.
The trick is still being used to this day. In March, Vox (3/4/21) credulously reported that Joint Chiefs of Staff chair Gen. Mark Milley made an emotional plea to Biden that he must stay in Afghanistan, otherwise women’s rights “will go back to the Stone Age.” It’s so good to know the upper echelons of the military industrial complex are filled with such passionate feminists.
In reality, nearly 20 years of occupation has only led to a situation where zero percent of Afghans considered themselves to be “thriving” while 85% are “suffering,” according to a Gallup poll. Only one in three girls goes to school, let alone university.
And all of this ignores the fact that the US supported radical Islamist groups and their takeover of the country in the first place, a move that drastically reduced women’s rights. Pre-Taliban, half of university students were women, as were 40% of the country’s doctors, 70% of its teachers and 30% of its civil servants—reflecting the reforms of the Soviet-backed government that the US dedicated massive resources to destroying.
Today, in half of the country’s provinces, fewer than 20% of teachers are female (and in many, fewer than 10% are). Only 37% of adolescent girls can read (compared to 66% of boys). Meanwhile, being a female gynecologist is now considered “one of the most dangerous jobs in the world” (New Statesman, 9/24/14). So much for a new golden age.
The “think of the women” trope is far from unique to Afghanistan. In fact, 19th century British imperial propagandists used the plight of Hindu women in India and Muslim women in Egypt as a pretext to invade and conquer those countries. The tactic’s longevity is perhaps testament to its effectiveness.
Read complete article on FAIR.
Some level of buy-in, or at least a hesitancy to resist, among the United States’ more left-leaning half is necessary to ensure that US interventions are carried out with a minimum of domestic opposition. To this end, corporate media invoke the language of human rights and humanitarianism to convince those to the left of center to accept, if not support, US actions abroad—a treatment of sorts for the country’s 50-year-long Vietnam syndrome.
What follows are some of the common tropes used by establishment outlets to convince skeptical leftists that this time, things might be different, selling a progressive intervention everyone can get behind.
Think of the women!
The vast majority of the world was against the US attack on Afghanistan that followed the 9/11 attacks in 2001. However, the idea had overwhelming support from the US public, including from Democrats. In fact, when Gallup (Brookings, 1/9/20) asked about the occupation in 2019, there was slightly more support for maintaining troops there among Democrats than Republicans—38% vs. 34%—and slightly less support for withdrawing troops (21% vs. 23%).
Media coverage can partially explain this phenomenon, convincing some and at the least providing cover for those in power. This was not a war of aggression, they insisted. They were not simply there to capture Osama bin Laden (whom the Taliban actually offered to hand over); this was a fight to bring freedom to the oppressed women of the country. As First Lady Laura Bush said: We respect our mothers, our sisters and daughters. "Fighting brutality against women and children is not the expression of a specific culture; it is the acceptance of our common humanity—a commitment shared by people of goodwill on every continent…. The fight against terrorism is also a fight for the rights and dignity of women."
Wars are not fought to liberate women (FAIR.org, 7/26/17), and bombing people is never a feminist activity (FAIR.org, 6/28/20). But the New York Times was among the chief architects in constructing the belief in a phantom feminist war. Within weeks of the invasion (12/2/01), it reported on the “joyful return” of women to college campuses, profiling one student who strode up the steps tentatively at first, her body covered from face to foot by blue cotton. As she neared the door, she flipped the cloth back over her head, revealing round cheeks, dark ringlets of hair and the searching brown eyes of a student.
The over-the-top symbolism was hard to miss: This was a country changed, and all thanks to the invasion.
Time magazine also played heavily on this angle. Six weeks after the invasion (11/26/01), it told readers that “the greatest pageant of mass liberation since the fight for suffrage” was occurring, as “female faces, shy and bright, emerged from the dark cellars,” casting off their veils and symbolically stomping on them. If the implication was not clear enough, it directly told readers “the sight of jubilation was a holiday gift, a reminder of reasons the war was worth fighting beyond those of basic self-defense.”
“How much better will their lives be now?” Time (12/3/01) asked. Not much better, as it turned out.
A few days later, Time‘s cover (12/3/01) featured a portrait of a blonde, light-skinned Afghan woman, with the words, “Lifting the Veil. The shocking story of how the Taliban brutalized the women of Afghanistan. How much better will their lives be now?”
This was representative of a much wider phenomenon. A study by Carol Stabile and Deepa Kumar published in Media, Culture & Society (9/1/05) found that, in 1999, there were 29 US newspaper articles and 37 broadcast TV reports about women’s rights in Afghanistan. Between 2000 and September 11, 2001, those figures were 15 and 33, respectively. However, in the 16 weeks between September 12 and January 1, 2002, Americans were inundated with stories on the subject, with 93 newspaper articles and 628 TV reports on the subject. Once the real objectives of the war were secure, those figures fell off a cliff.
Antiwar messages were largely absent from corporate news coverage. Indeed, as FAIR founder Jeff Cohen noted in his book Cable News Confidential, CNN executives instructed their staff to constantly counter any images of civilian casualties with pro-war messages, even if “it may start sounding rote.” This sort of coverage helped to push 75% of Democratic voters into supporting the ground war.
As reality set in, it became increasingly difficult to pretend women’s rights in Afghanistan were seriously improving. Women still face the same problems as they did before. As a female Afghan member of parliament told Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies (CounterSpin, 2/17/21), women in Afghanistan have three principal enemies:
"One is the Taliban. Two is this group of warlords, disguised as a government, that the US supports. And the third is the US occupation…. If you in the West could get the US occupation out, we’d only have two."
However, Time managed to find a way to tug on the heartstrings of left-leaning audiences to support continued occupation. Featuring a shocking image of an 18-year-old local woman who had her ear and nose cut off, a 2010 cover story (8/9/10) asked readers to wonder “what happens if we leave Afghanistan,” the clear implication being the US must stay to prevent further brutality—despite the fact that the woman’s mutilation occurred after eight years of US occupation (Extra!, 10/10).
Vox (3/4/21) asserted that the US occupation of Afghanistan has meant “better rights for women and children” without offering evidence that that is the case.
The trick is still being used to this day. In March, Vox (3/4/21) credulously reported that Joint Chiefs of Staff chair Gen. Mark Milley made an emotional plea to Biden that he must stay in Afghanistan, otherwise women’s rights “will go back to the Stone Age.” It’s so good to know the upper echelons of the military industrial complex are filled with such passionate feminists.
In reality, nearly 20 years of occupation has only led to a situation where zero percent of Afghans considered themselves to be “thriving” while 85% are “suffering,” according to a Gallup poll. Only one in three girls goes to school, let alone university.
And all of this ignores the fact that the US supported radical Islamist groups and their takeover of the country in the first place, a move that drastically reduced women’s rights. Pre-Taliban, half of university students were women, as were 40% of the country’s doctors, 70% of its teachers and 30% of its civil servants—reflecting the reforms of the Soviet-backed government that the US dedicated massive resources to destroying.
Today, in half of the country’s provinces, fewer than 20% of teachers are female (and in many, fewer than 10% are). Only 37% of adolescent girls can read (compared to 66% of boys). Meanwhile, being a female gynecologist is now considered “one of the most dangerous jobs in the world” (New Statesman, 9/24/14). So much for a new golden age.
The “think of the women” trope is far from unique to Afghanistan. In fact, 19th century British imperial propagandists used the plight of Hindu women in India and Muslim women in Egypt as a pretext to invade and conquer those countries. The tactic’s longevity is perhaps testament to its effectiveness.
Read complete article on FAIR.
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