The Glorification Of War, An Imperialist Trait.

        All I can say about this piece is, read it and share it, for it is not only a true picture of the American establishment, but a mirror of our own war worshipping privileged parasites that pontificate over our lives, with little or no value of those lives.Thanks Keith for the link.

Friends,

As we mark Memorial Day, I share an article I wrote at this time in 2014. Sadly, the US is lashing out more aggressively than four years ago and the world is an even more dangerous place as a result. As we relax and enjoy the long weekend, let's double down on our efforts for peace and justice. Solidarity,

Andy

Memorial Day and Everywhere is War

                                                                                                                                                           by Andy Piascik

            Summer approaches and the stench of war is all around. Or, as the great Bob Marley put it, Everywhere is War. Start with the commemorations over a five-week span of Memorial Day, Flag Day and Independence Day, all presented varyingly as celebrations of our war dead, symbols of our greatness, the freedoms we love so dearly and seek to export to every corner of the world and, perhaps most important, the unquestioned rightness of our cause.

            In reality, the celebrations are of imperialist war, with the talk about the hallowed dead just so much cover for the murderous nature of US foreign policy. Celebrating the dead – note that the dead celebrated are just the American dead, not any of the millions killed by US aggression or client states – is a no-lose proposition designed to render anyone who asks the wrong questions a traitor or a terrorist. The notion that the US regularly commits war crimes and that polished, well-educated men like John Kennedy and Barack Obama are war criminals is unthinkable; war criminals look like Osama bin-Laden and Saddam Hussein and those other nasty people far away, over there. 

World War One Centennial

            It’s also the summer of the centennial of the start of what in its time was known as the Great War, the greatest blood-letting in history except for that of the Second Great War barely two decades later. Of one thing we can be sure and that is that the lessons drawn from mainstream discussions of World War One will be all the wrong ones. Worse, the spectacle of the intelligentsia waxing eloquent about the horrors of war while unflinchingly cheering on the warmakers in Washington will be accepted by one and all of their kind as perfectly reasonable – as beyond discussion, in fact.

            In recent weeks, meanwhile, mainstream commentators have been shocked to discover that things in Iraq are not alright, in fact are worse than at any time since the second US blitzkrieg in 2003. Gee, who knew. Who knew that an invasion predicated on a lie of weapons of mass destruction, designed to secure control of massive oil supplies, would go wrong? The political class and intelligentsia didn’t, or at least they pretended they didn’t, but millions around the world who demonstrated against the invasion in the weeks before it was launched certainly did. And one of the points those demonstrators underscored was that a US invasion would fuel sectarian divisions and violence, precisely as has happened. Al-Qaeda, which did not exist in Iraq prior to the invasion, now flourishes while a new group, the Islamist State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), rampages through the country.

            The response of many elites in the US, naturally, is for more war. Calls from certain factions for a third US invasion are growing louder and, true to his preference for violence over diplomacy, Obama has sent a strike force to Iraq. Whether the people of the United States can come together as we did last summer when we rose up and prevented Obama from attacking Syria remains to be seen. We must at least try.

Disgraceful Treatment of Veterans

            Also on the war front is the Veterans Affairs’ disgraceful neglect of ex-soldiers in need of medical care. For years, political elites have been slashing benefits for veterans while increasing spending on weapons and cutting taxes for the Super Rich. That the problem came to a head with a Democrat in the White House is simply an accident of timing, and it is especially outrageous that the most enthusiastic cheerleaders of the illegal Bush-Cheney invasions, as well as reductions to the VA’s budgets and the tax cuts for 1%, now pretend that they care about soldiers.

            Equally farcical is the commencement of yet another round of hearings on the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi. Such hearings would certainly be valuable if everything related to US actions in Libya since the launch of the 2011 assault were up for review, but there is virtually no chance of that happening. The deaths of tens of thousands of Libyans in yet one more illegal military strike, as well as the resulting chaos and violence in that country, is of no concern to those who long for the good old days of Bush-Cheney and are interested only in scoring political points.  

Bowe Bergdhal

            Then there is the saga of the much-vilified Bowe Bergdhal, a heroic young man who came to see the criminal nature of the US invasion of Afghanistan. The refusal of working class youth to fight for Empire is the ruling class’s biggest nightmare and the attacks on Bergdahl, like the show trial that convicted Chelsea Manning, show how far they will go to punish those in uniform who dare challenge their objectives. A hidden aspect of the movement that ended US carnage in Southeast Asia is that it was the widespread opposition of soldiers, both as embodied by organizations like Vietnam Veterans Against the War as well as active duty resisters, that decisively turned the tide.

            So alarming was this development that two massive disinformation campaigns were immediately launched: the myth of the hostility of the anti-war movement for returning soldiers that sought to drive a wedge between active duty and homefront resistance (see, for example, Jerry Lembcke’s outstanding book The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory and the Legacy of Vietnam); and the completely fraudulent MIA blitz (expertly exposed by Bruce Franklin in MIA, or Mythmaking in America) concocted by the Nixon Administration to shift attention away from the death and destruction wrought by the US to the plight of nonexistent prisoners of war. 

            Because preventing any similar development of resistance among soldiers is central to imperial objectives, discussion has largely avoided what Bergdahl actually said about his service in Afghanistan, including his telling declaration in a 2009 e-mail to his parents, as quoted by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!: “The future is too good to waste on lies and life is way too short to care for the damnation of others as well as to spend it helping fools with their ideas that are wrong. I've seen their ideas, I'm ashamed to even be American. The horror of the self righteous arrogance that they thrive in.” Rather than joining in the Bowe Bergdhal lynch mob, US soldiers everywhere, not to mention those with loved ones in the military, would do well to heed his words and experience.

The Supreme International Crime

            Lastly, the same standard that applies to the war crimes of others applies to the US. As articulated by Robert H. Jackson, chief US prosecutor at Nuremberg, a war of aggression such as committed by the US against Afghanistan and Iraq “is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime, differing only from all other crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.” In such a circumstance, what Bergdahl did was proper and, it could be argued, obligatory for anyone party to war crimes. So amidst the flag waving and speechifying that glorifies imperialism, we should support him and prisoners of conscience like Chelsea Manning. We should demand that all services veterans require be provided, that US bases around the world be closed, that soldiers be returned home and that the US cease its campaign of endless aggression. And as enticing as the military may seem in such desperate economic times, we should counsel young people to stay away no matter how bleak the alternatives may be.     

           

       Andy Piascik is an award-winning author whose novel In Motion was recently published by Sunshine Publishing.  He can be reached at andypiascik@yahoo.com.

Visit ann arky's home at radicalglasgow.me.uk

Break The Silence.

        In this world there is no peace, there never has been. The violence of empires have ravaged millions of people, as power mongers savaged neighbours and far flung countries. In the modern world it continues, we either have “big” wars, that kill millions, or what I call “pygmy” wars, that kill hundreds of thousands. Bombs, drones and missiles rain down on Africa and the Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan, are peppered with drone kills. While in Europe and America the talk is of having peace since 1945. In the usual sabre rattling and tough talking about the threat from Russia and China, the West parades its military might along the borders of Russia and surrounds the coasts of China with America’s naval arsenal. It would appear that our lords and masters, armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons of mass destruction, are spoiling for a fight. 

      This from:

     A World War has begun. Break the silence, by John Pilger:

       How many people are aware that a world war has begun? At present, it is a war of propaganda, of lies and distraction, but this can change instantaneously with the first mistaken order, the first missile.
       In 2009, President Obama stood before an adoring crowd in the centre of Prague, in the heart of Europe. He pledged himself to make "the world free from nuclear weapons". People cheered and some cried. A torrent of platitudes flowed from the media. Obama was subsequently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
       It was all fake. He was lying.
      The Obama administration has built more nuclear weapons, more nuclear warheads, more nuclear delivery systems, more nuclear factories. Nuclear warhead spending alone rose higher under Obama than under any American president. The cost over thirty years is more than $1 trillion.
        A mini nuclear bomb is planned. It is known as the B61 Model 12. There has never been anything like it. General James Cartwright, a former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said, "Going smaller [makes using this nuclear] weapon more thinkable." 

        The perception that somehow the Democrats in America are more liberal than the Republicans doesn't seem to stand up to scrutiny. 

          This is the country where toddlers shoot their mothers and the police wage a murderous war against black Americans. This is the country that has attacked and sought to overthrow more than 50 governments, many of them democracies, and bombed from Asia to the Middle East, causing the deaths and dispossession of millions of people.
        No country can equal this systemic record of violence. Most of America's wars (almost all of them against defenceless countries) have been launched not by Republican presidents but by liberal Democrats: Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, Clinton, Obama.

        When will we ever learn, when will we finally rid ourselves of this army of power hungry, greed drive parasites, that control all aspects of our lives. When will we bury in the dustbin of history, this group that sees all humanity as expendable in their pursuit for power, control and wealth.

         Today, the long sleep may be over. The young are stirring again. Gradually. The thousands in Britain who supported Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader are part of this awakening - as are those who rallied to support Senator Bernie Sanders.
        In Britain last week, Jeremy Corbyn's closest ally, his shadow treasurer John McDonnell, committed a Labour government to pay off the debts of piratical banks and, in effect, to continue so-called austerity.
          In the US, Bernie Sanders has promised to support Clinton if or when she's nominated. He, too, has voted for America's use of violence against countries when he thinks it's "right". He says Obama has done "a great job".
          In Australia, there is a kind of mortuary politics, in which tedious parliamentary games are played out in the media while refugees and Indigenous people are persecuted and inequality grows, along with the danger of war. The government of Malcolm Turnbull has just announced a so-called defence budget of $195 billion that is a drive to war. There was no debate. Silence.
          What has happened to the great tradition of popular direct action, unfettered to parties? Where is the courage, imagination and commitment required to begin the long journey to a better, just and peaceful world? Where are the dissidents in art, film, the theatre, literature?
           Where are those who will shatter the silence? Or do we wait until the first nuclear missile is fired?

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
 

What The US Really Wants.

        I'm always looking for ways to sum up, simply and briefly, the way this modern world functions and the reasons for the poverty, inequality, barbarism and the perpetual war that we live under. You can try to explain it in economic terms, imperialism, power blocks, and/or corrupt liaisons of rich and powerful people/organisations/states, and you could fill a very large book. This video does a very good job in approximately 8 minutes. Well worth watching.

      Current US military space policy is primarily geared toward two countries, China and Russia.
      In May 2000 the Washington Post published an article called “For Pentagon, Asia Moving to Forefront.” The article stated that, “The Pentagon is looking at Asia as the most likely arena for future military conflict, or at least competition.” The article said the US would double its military presence in the region and essentially attempt to manage China.

By William Blum
March 08, 2014 "Information Clearing House -  When it gets complicated and confusing, when you’re overwhelmed with too much information, changing daily; too many explanations, some contradictory … try putting it into some kind of context by stepping back and looking at the larger, long-term picture.
       The United States strives for world domination, hegemony wherever possible, their main occupation for over a century, it’s what they do for a living. The United States, NATO and the European Union form The Holy Triumvirate. The Holy Triumvirate has subsidiaries, chiefly The International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade Organization, International Criminal Court … all help to keep in line those governments lacking the Holy Triumvirate Seal Of Approval: the IMF, WB, and WTO impose market fundamentalism, while foreign leaders who act too independent are threatened with being handed over to the ICC for heavy punishment, as the United States imposes sanctions on governments and their leaders as only the King of Sanctions can, lacking any sense of hypocrisy or irony.
       And who threatens United States domination? Who can challenge The Holy Triumvirate’s hegemony? Only Russia and China, if they were as imperialistic as the Western powers. (No, the Soviet Union wasn’t imperialistic; that was self-defense; Eastern Europe was a highway twice used by the West to invade; tens of millions of Russians killed or wounded.) 

I received the video link from from Comrade Loam at arrezafe:

Published on July 28, 2015

CN: This video will discuss and contain some images you might find upsetting or disturbing - genocide, racism and extreme poverty...
        This analysis of US foreign policy is essentially a summary of the arguments made in Volume I of Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman's Political Economy of Human Rights, 'The Washington Connection and Third World Fascism'. Although it's a harrowing read, it is very informative and provides a devastating account of US-backed atrocities across the globe, and I would highly recommend it.
         With regard to North Vietnam, in case people are wondering, I am not saying that the bloodbath during the land reform programme was acceptable or permissible - rather I included this point to highlight the hypocrisy of the US media which openly condemns bloodbaths such as this one but turns a blind eye to bloodbaths carried out by the United States and its allies.
           My own position is that action against these kinds of atrocities ought to be strategic. It is the responsibility of populations to criticise and take action against their own state rather than other states, as this is arguably the most effective means of preventing atrocities and protecting human rights.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

World Domination Without A Bullet Fired.

        Wake up to the fact that TTIP heralds the corporate takeover of the world, world corporatism, and the end of any control over what happens in our own country. All EU and American governments will be bound by international agreement created by and for the benefit of the corporate monster. Profit will be the only rule, gain for the shareholders of the international corporate businesses at any cost. The planet will be mercilessly plundered and we will not be able to a thing about it. That is, if this goes through, and we sit back and do nothing about this trashing any vestige of democracy that we might have. It is world domination without a missile or a bullet fired.

From The World Development Movement:
       "Already, thanks to the insertion of ISDS into much smaller trade treaties, big business is engaged in an orgy of litigation, whose purpose is to strike down any law that might impinge on its anticipated future profits. The tobacco firm Philip Morris is suing governments in Uruguay and Australia for trying to discourage people from smoking. The oil firm Occidental was awarded $2.3bn in compensation from Ecuador, which terminated the company’s drilling concession in the Amazon after finding that Occidental had broken Ecuadorean law. The Swedish company Vattenfall is suing the German government for shutting down nuclear power. An Australian firm is suing El Salvador’s government for $300m for refusing permission for a goldmine over concerns it would poison the drinking water.

The same mechanism, under TTIP, could be used to prevent UK governments from reversing the privatisation of the railways and the NHS, or from defending public health and the natural world against corporate greed. The corporate lawyers who sit on these panels are beholden only to the
companies whose cases they adjudicate, who at other times are their employers." George Monbiot

 ------- Original Message --------
Subject: Stop the EU-US trade deal (TTIP)
Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2014 00:58:40 +0000

Just to let you know.
What's the point of Scottish Independence if TTIP goes ahead?
We are thinking, acting Local, National, International.

The campaign to stop the EU-US trade deal (TTIP) is having great effect. As a result of growing public pressure negotiations have been delayed by almost two months. If we keep up the pressure, we can stop TTIP altogether.

The EU have now taken steps to publish some documents from the negotiations <http://euobserver.com/news/126670>, in a desperate attempt to claim real transparency. But this is still a long way short of open and democratic negotiations.

It has been a hectic few weeks in the campaign against TTIP as the media seems to be warming up to our message. Letters were published in the Financial Times
<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9ca27c46-69a9-11e4-8f4f-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=uk#axzz3KCBFgYFQ>,

The Independent
<http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letters/letters-transatlantic-trade-deal-is-an-assault-on-democracy-assault-on-9868874.html>

and The Guardian
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/18/we-demand-right-to-challenge-ttip>

n the New Internationalist
<http://newint.org/blog/2014/11/26/ttip-transnational-suing/>,
Independent Voices
<http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/were-already-pouring-9bn-of-nhs-money-into-big-business--and-ttip-will-make-it-worse-9882087.html>.
On Tuesday, our head of campaigns Polly Jones gave evidence to MPs on TTIP (here’s the Parliament TV coverage
<http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=16584> - start from 10:45:00) and our director Nick Dearden gave an interview to Russia
Today TV < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2D0qSfm898 (Preview) >. The campaign is also going strong in Scotland. This weekend we spoke at the Radical independence Conference
<http://www.wdm.org.uk/trade/wdm-and-radical-independence-conference>
Today Liz Murray, our head of Scottish campaigns, gave evidence about TTIP to the Scottish parliament
<http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/scottish-politics/eu-us-trade-deal-could-have-detrimental-impact-on-scotlands-economy-and-t.1417089007>.
Brighton TTIP Banner drop slim.jpg Banner drop in Brighton last weekend Our (self-organised) European Citizens’ Initiative is breaking records and is attracting hundreds of thousands of signatures. With your help we can reach 1 million signatures before the end of this year! If you
haven’t already done so, sign it here: www.wdm.org.uk/TTIP <http://www.wdm.org.uk/TTIP>

Faced with the growing campaign against TTIP negotiators are preparing a huge PR offensive to promote TTIP throughout the EU promoting TTIP, offering reassurances on the NHS
<http://www.nhsconfed.org/media-centre/2014/11/nhs-european-office-pushes-for-strong-safeguards-for-the-nhs>.

Articles blaming campaigners for the woes of the negotiators are starting to appear. If anything that shows that our campaign is working and that we’ve got the EU on the back foot on TTIP.
<http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ttip-deal-delayed-by-campaigners-hijacking-isds-consultation-1476771>

There are a number of significant events coming up:
This Monday, 1 December, 6pm there’s TTIP: Turning the Tide in Westminster
<http://www.wdm.org.uk/events/workshop-how-lobby-your-mp-ttip>. This mass training event, led by leading politicians and campaigners .

On Thursday 11 December, 7.30pm, the Trade Justice Movement are hosting a meeting TTIP Take the Power Back
<http://www.tjm.org.uk/latest-news/8-press-releases/354-ttip-free-public-event-london-11th-dec.html>
We are planning a mobilisation to Brussels on late January or early February to lobby MEPs, protest against TTIP and meet civil society activists from around Europe – watch this space.

World Development Movement and Many More.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

World Domination.

     Workers know your history, but also get to now their history. It helps understand the  what is going on at the moment. Another video I first saw on arrezafe.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

DOES RAPE CHARGE = INVASION?

 

LIBYA - Behind the phony ICC 'rape' charges: ARE NATO FORCES PREPARING A GROUND ATTACK?

The following is an article by Sara Flounders for    International Action Center.

        Without presenting a shred of reliable evidence, NATO and International Criminal Court conspirators are charging the Libyan government with conspiracy to rape -- not only rape as the "collateral damage" of war, but rape as a political weapon.

This charge of an orchestrated future campaign of rapes was made at a major press conference called by the lead prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on June 8, 2011. The even wilder unsubstantiated ICC charge that Libya plans to mass distribute Viagra to its troops confirms this as the most tawdry and threadbare form of war propaganda.

          It is important to understand that NATO countries with the full complicity of the corporate media and the ICC are spreading this Big Lie in order to win support for and close down all opposition to a ground assault of Libya, something that would otherwise be unpopular both in Europe and the United States. This wild charge adds to the evidence of a massive escalation in bombing urban targets in Libya, the use of British and French helicopters that give close support to ground troops and the positioning in the Mediterranean off Libya of U.S. warships that can quickly land troops. The NATO alliance is desperate to put Libya beyond all discussion or defense and raise the NATO war to the level of a Holy Crusade to defend women.

         The charge of rape as a political weapon was spread -- without evidence -- against Serb forces to justify U.S. plans for the first NATO bombing campaign in the history of the military alliance in 1994 in Bosnia and was used again in 1999 in Serbia in the first NATO occupation. The rape charge was used to soften up the U.S. and European population for the criminal war against Yugoslavia. Now a similar plan is in the works for Libya.

        All too often widely fabricated lies are spread to justify imperialist wars. In 1991 the first war against Iraq was justified by outrageous charges that the Iraqi army had grabbed Kuwaiti babies from incubators and smashed the babies to the floor. This was presented as reliable “testimony” to in the U.S. Congress and in the UN. Months later it was confirmed as a total fabrication. But the lie had served its purpose. In 2001 the corporate media and U.S. politicians claimed that they had to bomb and then massively occupy Afghanistan to win rights for women that the Taliban taken away. The situation for women in Afghanistan and for the entire population has deteriorated further under U.S. / NATO occupation.

       Despite video and photo evidence that the entire world has seen through WikiLeaks, the International Criminal Court has never considered for a moment filing criminal charges against U.S. British, French or German troops. The pictures, videos and reports in major newspapers of sexual torture and humiliation at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq by U.S. soldiers, the testimony by the U.S. soldiers involved in rapes, tortures, mutilations and executions in Iraq and Afghanistan confirms the brutal reality of U.S. wars. These wars have never been to ‘save’ women.

      As an African country, Libya can hardly expect a fair hearing or any form of justice from the ICC. The International Criminal Court created with high hopes of international justice in 2002 has been used against 7 countries – all in Africa. Meanwhile, the ICC has never examined U.S. drone attacks on defenseless civilians in at least 8 African, Arab and South Asian countries. Nor has it even touched U.S. invasions and occupations. Israeli bombing of the Palestinian people is “off limits”.

        This is an essential time to remind all people concerned about the rights of women that U.S. intervention or any imperialist intervention has never protected women. Even women serving within the U.S. military machine are not “safe”. According to a study published by the Journal of Military Medicine, 71 per cent of women soldiers have been sexually assaulted or raped while serving in the U.S. military. Women who have been assaulted consistently report poor medical treatment, lack of counseling, incomplete criminal investigations and threats of punishment for reporting the assaults. In 2009 the Pentagon admitted that approximately 80 per cent of rapes are never reported – making it the most under-documented crime in the military. In addition U.S. military bases are all too often surrounded by an entire sex industry of abused women forced by hunger, dislocation and lost families into work in bars and clubs.

      Rape in every society has little connection to sexuality and desire. It has always been about imposing power and domination. The "political rape" charge in this case makes no sense and has no basis beyond the U.S.-NATO desire to justify expanding the war against Libya.

Stop U.S.-NATO intervention in Libya.

ann arky's home.

SYRIA - TAKING SIDES vs IMPERIALIST INTERVENTION.

         An extract from an interesting article from The International Centre, it is well worth reading the whole article as it does throw some light on the very complex situation in the Middle East and the even more complex and seemingly contradictory attitude of the West.

         U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ declared on March 25, 2011 – that there are 3 repressive regimes in the Middle East that must be condemned – Syria, Libya and Iran. Why is the U.S. targeting these particular countries? The progressive political movement must avoid being just an echo and a justification of Pentagon war policy, especially whenever any developing country is in the cross hairs of a U.S. attack.

        Consider: isn't Israel a criminally repressive regime against the Palestinian population? Aren't Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Jordan, Yemen, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan repressive regimes, military dictatorships and/or corrupt monarchies? All of these brutally repressive regimes have killed of thousands of their own population and could not survive one day with out decades of U.S. military, economic, diplomatic and political support. Is the U.S., with the largest prison population in the world and more weapons than the rest of the world put together, a repressive regime? It is the source of repression, destabilization, dictatorships and wars.

 

         It is within this context that progressives must view the demonstrations that have been taking place for two months against the Bashir Assad government in Syria. The regime has both acknowledged that reforms are essential and responded with force. The actual character and the social forces involved in these demonstrations remains unclear, as does the political direction of the Syrian opposition.

          The events in Syria are connected to the social explosion shaking the Arab world. Washington and all the old regimes tied to it in the region are trying desperately to manage and contain this still unfolding mass upheaval into channels that do not threaten their domination of the region.

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