MOHAMMED ALI – A meeting of the leaders of Russia, China, the United States, France and the United Kingdom, the permanent members of the UN Security Council, which was proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, can be helpful and even necessary in light of the changing international situation.
Author: Oregon PeaceWorks
Epidemic Violence on Indian Reservations Must Be Addressed
GAIL SKENANDORE and TOM HASTINGS – We believe a light needs to shine on the pockets of escalating violence on Indian reservations. The intersection of guns, drugs, poverty, scant education, substandard health care, high unemployment, and corruption are literally producing conditions that invariably redound the hardest and worst on young people of color.
Real Conservatives Don’t Try to Dictate Their Religion
BOB TOPPER – The religious right has changed what it means to be a conservative. And the religious right seems hell-bent on dictating “their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of ‘conservatism,’†as they try to rewrite American history, and change the meaning of the Constitution. Should they succeed, it will be sad day for everyone,…Christians included.
The Wall: Separating Democracy from Voters
ROBERT C. KOEHLER – The mainstream media imposes some serious certainties on the 2020 presidential election that drive me into a furious despair.
‘Really, Really Bad’: Scientists Raise Alarm Over Warm Ocean Water Beneath ‘Doomsday Glacier’ in Antarctica
JULIA CONLEY – A study by British and American scientists revealed that a massive sheet of ice known as the “doomsday glacier” is melting faster than experts previously believed—edging the world closer to a possible sea level rise of more than 10 feet.
NATO’s Upcoming War Games Targeted Against Russia
PAUL ANTONOPOULOS – Last week NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg explained why the U.S. are strengthening their military presence in Europe. The reason is unsurprisingly to pressurize and intimidate Russia, but also against China and the so-called fight against terrorism. Stoltenberg explained that there are now more U.S. soldiers in EU Member States, more than ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. In the coming months, the Defender-Europe 2020 exercises, the largest of its kind in the last 25 years, will begin. And with this exercise, U.S. troop numbers will only increase in Europe with another 20,000 troops and officers arriving.
Blocking Trains and Removing Coal, Climate Activists Fight to Close One of New England’s Largest Power Plants
SARAH FREEMAN-WOOLPERT and ARNIE ALPERT – By escalating from symbolic actions to obstruction, the #NoCoalNoGas campaign is mounting a serious challenge to the fossil fuel industry with a growing network of climate activists.
1970 New York Times Ad Helped Spark an Environmental Revolution. 50 Years Later, 2020 Ad Hopes to Make History Again
DENICE ZECK – On Sunday, February 2, Earth Day Network ran a full-page ad in The New York Times announcing a global day of activism to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22, 2020. The advertisement ran nearly 50 years to the day that a full-page ad in The New York Times used the words “Earth Day†for the first time. The ad changed everything about environmental awareness.
What if the Media Stopped Giving War a Moral Pass?
ROBERT C. KOEHLER – When the mainstream media writes about war, even critically, the image that often comes to mind for me is an infant wrapped in plastic. That infant is naked reality, a.k.a., the present moment, suffocating and screaming for its life; the plastics smothering it are the journalistic euphemisms by which murder and terrorism turn into abstract acts of national necessity.
New York City about to Divest from the Nuclear Weapons Industry?
MOVE THE NUCLEAR WEAPONS MONEY – In January 2018, New York City decided to divest the city’s $189bn pension funds from fossil fuel companies within the next five years. Now the city looks set to also divest from the nuclear weapons industry.
Fouling Our Own Nest & Draining Our Wallets: It’s Time to Divest from Endless Wars
GRETA ZARRO – Just one month into a new decade, we face an ever-increasing risk of nuclear apocalypse. The U.S. government’s assassination of Iranian General Soleimani on January 3 intensified the very real threat of another all-out war in the Middle East. On January 23, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists accordingly reset the Doomsday Clock to just 100 short seconds to midnight, apocalypse. Where do we go from here?
It Is Now 100 Seconds To Midnight
GAYLE SPINAZZE – Doomsday Clock Now Closer to Midnight Than Ever in Its History; Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Cite Worsening Nuclear Threat, Lack of Climate Action & Rise of “Cyber-Enabled Disinformation Campaigns†in Moving Clock Hand.
The U.S. is Boosting Production of Nuclear Bomb Cores (For More Nuclear Weapons)
MICHAEL PECK – In another sign that the nuclear arms race is heating up, the U.S. is ramping up production of nuclear bomb cores.
New Film Exposes How US Undermined Iran’s Government and Brought About Today’s Crisis
WINSLOW MYERS – The enthralling new documentary directed by Iranian film maker Taghi Amirani and edited and co-written by the renowned film editor Walter Murch (“Apocalypse Nowâ€; “English Patientâ€) is a meticulous backward look at an event that still determines much of the resentment Iran feels toward the government of the United States—and Britain: the 1953 coup which overthrew Mohammed Mossadegh, the democratically elected leader of Iran.
Trump’s Latest Depredation: Increase Environmental Poisoning
LESLIE GREGORY and DR. TOM H. HASTINGS – Did Trump say out loud, “I’m going to gut the original environmental law of the US and it will affect everyone’s health negatively but the health of black and brown people the most?” Of course not. But that is exactly what is afoot with his intention to roll back major portions of the 1969 germinal environmental law—the National Environmental Protection Act—the original law upon which all such important protections are built.
Your Tax Dollars Are Paying to Lie to Children
JAMES A. HAUGHT – In violation of the separation of church and state, American tax dollars are funneled to fundamentalist private schools teaching crackpot absurdities – such as a claim that Noah probably took two baby dinosaurs onto his ark.
Artificial “Trees” in London Offer an Impressive Climate Mitigation Solution
ALEX LANDON – The world is, finally, awakening to the imminent threats posed by climate change and pollution, and London is starting to do its bit to help. From zero-emissions streets to pollution-eating solar panels, along with restaurants trending towards zero-waste and veganism, the capital has begun to put greener, more sustainable methods into practice. Next in the war on global warming are three new City Trees, a series of CO2-filtering structures which have just been installed in Leytonstone.
Is Nuclear Hubris Leading Us Toward Global Suicide?
ROBERT C. KOEHLER – One thing that becomes clear to me when I wander into the world, and the minds, of geopolitical professionals — government people — is how limited and linear their thinking seems to be.
US Aggression: Will we always be this way?
ROBERT C. KOEHLER – The people do not want war, but right now we have almost no say in the matter. A future without war will not be an easy birth. We must continue learning how to become a democracy.
Bishop Thomas Gumbleton Issues Call to Catholics: Let Us End Our Complicity in War
BISHOP THOMAS GUMBLETON – All Catholics should refuse to kill and should refuse cooperation with United States wars.
10 Good Things About 2019
MEDEA BENJAMIN – Remembering some of the gains in the difficult year of 2019 can help inspire us for the critical struggles ahead.
Overcoming White Nationalism Has Been a Winning Strategy in the Past and Can Be Again
LESLIE D. GREGORY and TOM H. HASTINGS – We can regain our global image as champion of human rights, which is currently undone. We can be the leader in environmental protection, which Trump is wrecking. And we may even catch up to the rest of the tech-advanced world in universal health care if we choose to drop the politics of division and start the politics of unity.
An Eyewitness to the Horrors of the US ‘Forever Wars’ Speaks Out
KATHY KELLY – What are the lessons learned from the rampage, destruction and cruelty of U.S. wars? I believe the most important lessons are summed up in the quote on Cynthia Banas’s T-shirt as she delivered water to Marines in Baghdad, in April, 2003: “War Is Not the Answer”; and in an updated version of the headline Ramzi Kysia wrote that same month: “Heavy-handed & Hopeless, The U.S. Military Doesn’t Know What It’s Doing” -in Iraq, Afghanistan or any of its “forever wars.”
Kaine Introduces Resolution to Block War with Iran
ALEXANDER BOLTON – Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Friday introduced a resolution to block President Trump from further escalating hostilities with Iran. The resolution is privileged, which means Republicans cannot block it from reaching the floor, and comes the day after the surprise drone strike that killed Iraninan Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s elite Quds Force.
U.S. Killing of Iranian Leader Threatens Devastating War
MATTHEW HOH – The United States killed Iranian Quds Forces Commander General Qassam Soleimani. There is no hyperbole or exaggeration too great to encapsulate what may befall tens of millions of families. The equivalent of the killing of General Soleimani would be as if the Iranians assassinated General Richard Clarke, the US four-star general in charge of all US special operations, but only if General Clarke had the name recognition of Colin Powell and the competency of Dwight Eisenhower.
Iraqis Storm US Embassy in Baghdad After US Bombing of Militias; Iran, Russia and China Conduct Joint Naval Exercises in Gulf of Oman
NATYLIE BALDWIN – In response to an attack last Friday in Iraq that killed a U.S. military contractor and injured several U.S. service members, the U.S. bombed Iraqi Shia militias known as Popular Mobilization Units (PMU’s), particularly one known as Ketaib Hezbollah, which it claimed was responsible for the Friday attack. The Iraq government warned Washington not to conduct the retaliatory attack, citing violation of Iraq’s sovereignty. The conflict has arisen amid a climate of relations that were already frayed as many of the recent popular protests in Iraq were partly an expression of disgust about perceived foreign control of the country by both the U.S. and neighboring Iran, in addition to domestic grievances.
The US should listen to presidential candidate Marianne Williamson
OLIVIER LOOSE – If we are determined to lessen the violence on our planet, are we then not kicking the can down the road by resorting to violent means?
Can now really be the best time to be alive? A dialogue across generations
YOTAM MAROM and GEORGE LAKEY – A worried young organizer confronts a movement elder who believes that now — in the midst of deep crisis — is our best chance to make big progressive change.
Conventional Wisdom about Ukraine is Deeply Flawed, Steeped in Illusions
GEORGE BEEBE – As our debacles in Vietnam and Iraq demonstrate, expert consensus is not always a recipe for success. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that American policy toward Ukraine has also been steeped in illusions.
New York Nurses Battle Corporate Management for a Fair Shake
LAWRENCE WITTNER – A nonprofit employer is not necessarily a better boss than a profit-making one. That sad truth is reinforced by the experience of some 2,200 nurses at Albany Medical Center, who have been fighting for a contract since April 2018, when they voted for union representation.
Beyond Changing Light Bulbs: 21 Ways You Can Stop the Climate Crisis
RIVERA SUN – We can all pitch in to help save humanity and the planet. And I don’t mean just by planting trees or changing light bulbs. Climate action movements are exploding in numbers, actions, and impact.
The “Intelligence Community,†“Russian Interference,†and Due Diligence
JACK MATLOCK – Did the U.S. “Intelligence Community†judge that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election?
Most commentators seem to think so, but this understanding does not hold up under careful analysis.
Inside 350.org and Why They Rise for Climate
350 not only networks people together at the grassroots level, but connects fellow climate change activist groups and unites them for major conglomerate projects and demonstrations. It helps smaller organizations make big changes together. There may not be a more significant presence in climate change activism than 350.
‘Choose Love’ to Stop Violence, Sandy Hook Mom Says On Eve of Shooting’s 7th Anniversary
KC BAKER – Learning how to manage emotions and deal with adversity can help prevent violence, says Scarlett Lewis of the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement
The Great American Shakedown
CHRIS HEDGES – There is zero chance Trump will be removed from office in a trial in the Senate. The Democratic Party elites have admitted as much. They carried out, they argue, their civic and constitutional duty. But here again they lie. They picked out what was convenient to impeach Trump and left untouched the rotten system they helped create. The divisions among Americans will only widen. The hatreds will only grow. And tyranny will wrap its deadly tentacles around our throats.
188 Democrats Join GOP to Hand Trump $738 Billion Military Budget That Includes ‘Space Force’
JAKE JOHNSON – More than 180 House Democrats joined a nearly united Republican caucus Wednesday night to pass a sweeping $738 billion military spending bill that gives President Donald Trump his long-sought “Space Force,” free rein to wage endless wars, and a green light to continue fueling the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen.
Social Justice Index of Developed Nations Puts US Near Bottom
JON QUEALLY – ‘Make America 36th Out of 41 Developed Nations Again’: Social Justice Index of Developed Nations Puts US Near Bottom.
Another Trump Crime: Zealots in High Office
JAMES A. HAUGHT – Back in 2003, in a top-secret international phone call, President George W. Bush urged French President Jacques Chirac to join America in invading Iraq on grounds that Christian nations must thwart the Satanic forces of Gog and Magog. Chirac was baffled by such crackpottery. A few French newspapers wrote derisive sneers about the born-again U.S. leader. Today, it’s déjà vu all over again. Religious kooks in high office are an absurd facet of the Republican Trump administration.
Letter to Kings Bay Plowshares Judge Calls for Gratitude
PETER BERGEL – Judge Lisa Godbey Wood has the unenviable task to sentence the Kings Bay Plowshares actionists recently found guilty of conspiracy, destruction of government property, depredation and trespassing for a 2018 anti-nuclear weapons protest at Kings Bay Naval Base in Georgia. I write to her urging a very light punishment, for the very specific reason that issuing such a sentence is to act in the service of gratitude. I invite you to write your own letter.
American Exceptionalism Is Killing The Planet
WILLIAM J. ASTORE – Ever since 2007, when I first started writing for TomDispatch, I’ve been arguing against America’s forever wars, whether in Afghanistan, Iraq, or elsewhere. Unfortunately, it’s no surprise that, despite my more than 60 articles, American blood is still being spilled in war after war across the Greater Middle East and Africa, even as foreign peoples pay a far higher price in lives lost and cities ruined. And I keep asking myself: Why, in this century, is the distinctive feature of America’s wars that they never end? Why do our leaders persist in such repetitive folly and the seemingly eternal disasters that go with it?
Brown Needs to Join Urban and Rural Oregonians in Standing Against Jordan Cove
KRISTINE CATES and EMMA MARRIS – Seldom does one issue unite Oregonians like this one. Last month, nearly 1,000 of us from all over the state met at the state Capitol to demand that Gov. Kate Brown do all she can to stop the ill-advised Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas export terminal and Pacific Connector fracked gas pipeline. . . . Governor, the time to oppose the Jordan Cove LNG project is now.
Repeal the Nearly Two-Decade-Old War Authorizations
MATTHEW HOH – The AUMFs have allowed for wars to be waged without end by the executive branch, wars the American people, including veterans, say have not been worth fighting. Congress has the ability and responsibility to help bring about an end to these wars by ensuring the repeal of the 2001 and 2002 AUMFs.
Rights, Wrongs and The Golden Rule
CRAIG CLINE – We humans are the most powerful members of the animal kingdom. Let’s unite in seeing “animal wrongs†and acting to DO SOMETHING about them. For humane humans, that’s The Golden Rule thing to do.
California Halts Hundreds of Fracking Permits in Oil Producer Crackdown
ADAM BEAM – California Gov. Gavin Newsom cracked down on oil producers [a week ago] Tuesday, halting approval of hundreds of fracking permits until independent scientists can review them and temporarily banning another drilling method that regulators believe is linked to one of the largest spills in state history.
Russia’s Comeback Isn’t Stopping With Syria
DMITRI TRENIN – Russian influence is coming to a region near you.
Biden and Bloomberg Want Uncle Sam to Defer to Uncle Scrooge
NORMAN SOLOMON – The extremely rich Americans who are now frantically trying to figure out how to intervene in the Democratic presidential campaign make me wonder how different they are from the animated character who loved frolicking in money and kissing dollar bills while counting them. If Uncle Scrooge existed as a billionaire in human form today, it’s easy to picture him aligned with fellow plutocrats against the “threat†of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Why It’s Important to Convert “Veterans’ Day” Back to “Armistice Day”
ROBERT C. KOEHLER – Veterans For Peace, an organization that speaks truth to war like nobody else, is attempting to reclaim Armistice Day, the Nov. 11 holiday that was flipped on its head 65 years ago when it was renamed Veterans Day — and became a celebration not of the end of war but of its perpetuity.
Raising the Stakes in the Struggle over Immigration Detention
ANDREW MOSS – As the struggle for immigrant rights continues to be fought across America, new battlegrounds may come into view, then fade from public attention. What hasn’t yet come to full attention, however, is the struggle over the future of immigration detention itself, a conflict whose outcome may have far-reaching consequences for immigration reform in years to come.
The Greatest Scam in History: How the Energy Companies Took Us All
NAOMI ORESKES – Scientists have been seriously investigating the subject of human-made climate change since the late 1950s, but science failed to have the necessary impact in significant part because of disinformation promoted by the major fossil-fuel companies, which have succeeded in diverting attention from climate change and successfully blocking meaningful action.
Thunberg Points the Way to Effective Climate Change Action
DR. TOM H. HASTINGS – Greta Thunberg was just a little girl in Sweden who learned about the emerging threats to all of us–literally to every human being on Earth and to all species–from anthropogenic (human-caused) climate chaos. Now Thunberg has greatly increased the momentum of the climate chaos resistance movement.