ELLEN BIRKETT LINDEEN – What does it mean to teach peace and how would one do it? I think the why is obvious.
Author: Oregon PeaceWorks
Biden’s Support of the Status Quo Undermines Progressive Hopes
NORMAN SOLOMON – Let’s be blunt: As a supposed friend of American workers, Joe Biden is a phony. And now that he’s running for president, Biden’s huge task is to hide his phoniness.
Now is the Time to Confront Two World-Threatening Crises
ROBERT F. DODGE, M.D. – On April 22, we marked the 49th anniversary of the first Earth Day. This comes 50 years after the Santa Barbara oil spills which were instrumental in the declaration of the first Earth Day. The fate of our planet remains threatened by two inextricably connected threats, that of climate change and nuclear war. We cannot pretend to be concerned about our environment if we are not simultaneously concerned about the destruction of the planet by nuclear war.
America’s “Hole-in-the-Head” Nuke Suicide Pact Gets Court Approval
HARVEY WASSERMAN – The Supreme Court has just now certified the deadliest and most economically destructive scam of the entire Trump catastrophe. Every downwind American is now threatened with deadly radiation while state after state bankrupts itself with soaring electric bills and ecological disaster, crippling the Solartopian green energy revolution. It is, in short, the “hole in the head†wave of massive state-based nuke bailouts.
Report: Going 100% Renewable Power Means a Lot of Dirty Mining
NAVEENA SADASIVAM – Weighing the trade-offs — between supporting mining in environmentally sensitive areas and sourcing metals needed to power renewables — is likely to become more common if countries continue generating more renewable energy.
The Prosecution Of Julian Assange Is A Threat To Journalists Everywhere
KEVIN ZEESE and MARGARET FLOWERS – The arrest of Julian Assange not only puts the free press in the United States at risk, it puts any reporters who expose US crimes anywhere in the world at risk.
Huge Costs of Natural Disasters Dwarfed by Spending on the Disaster of Nuclear Weapons
ROBERT F. DODGE, MD – This year communities across our nation are struggling to recover from the catastrophic natural disasters over the past year. Yet, paradoxically, as we cope with the rebuilding and financial burden of these natural disasters, our nation marches blindly forward spending precious resources funding the greatest potential manmade disaster, namely nuclear war. The effects of nuclear war would dwarf any natural disaster.
Trump’s Immigration Policy: A Study in the Shock Doctrine
ANDREW MOSS – If you look back over the Trump administration’s handling of immigration during the past two-and-a-half years, you’ll see a pattern of chronic tension and dysfunction. Like many people, you may have apprehended the pattern as a series of specific emergencies and dramatic events: the declaration of an “invasion” at our borders; the shutdown, or threatened shutdown, of our government or our southern border; the separation of migrant families crossing the border; the forced resignation of government officials unable to fulfill the president’s demands for ever-harsher measures.
10 Reasons Assange Should Walk Free
DAVID SWANSON – Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange’s arrest at the Ecuadorian embassy in London raises serious concerns. Here are ten reasons he should be freed.
Rep. Barbara Lee’s Startling Vote to Boost Military Spending
NORMAN SOLOMON – What Barbara Lee did on the House floor three days after 9/11 — speaking prophetic words and casting the only vote against a green light for endless war — remains the bravest wise action in Congress during this century. The contrast was jolting last week when her vote enabled the House Budget Committee to approve a bill with a $17 billion increase in military spending for next year and another such increase for 2021.
Nuclear Weapons Ruined My Life, and I Wouldn’t Have it Any Other Way
FRIDA BERRIGAN – Nuclear weapons ruined my life. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. In fact, I hope they are ruining your life too. Because that is the only way we are going to get rid of them. Editor note: This intimate, first person account is a must-read for everyone (and beyond) who cares about the fight to end the existence of nuclear weapons and nuclear power.
Pelosi and McConnell Are Inching Us Closer to Nuclear War
NORMAN SOLOMON – When Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell teamed up to invite NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to address a joint session of Congress, they had every reason to expect the April 3 speech to be a big hit with U.S. media and political elites. The establishment is eager to affirm the sanctity of support for the transatlantic military alliance. But huge reverence for NATO is matched by how dangerous NATO has become. NATO’s continual expansion — all the way to Russia’s borders — has significantly increased the chances that the world’s two nuclear superpowers will get into direct military conflict.
Three Mile Island’s Murderous Legacy Still Threatens Us All
HARVEY WASSERMAN – Forty years ago this week, the Three Mile Island nuke began pouring lethal radiation into our air and water, lungs and livers. Throughout central Pennsylvania and beyond, people, animals, plants, and the planet began to die en masse. In 1980, a mile from the plant, I interviewed many of the immediate victims. It was the worst week of my life. Today 98 US reactors could repeat the slaughter
Democratic Hopefuls Must Spell Out a Compassionate Immigration Policy
ANDREW MOSS – If the Democratic candidates hope to offer a comprehensive vision of what our immigration policy should be, it’s imperative that they shift the debate from sloganeering about the wall and “open borders” to a consideration of an underlying question: What priorities and values will guide our immigration policy in the coming years? Will we continue along the present path of increased militarization and incarceration, or will we forge policies guided by a vision of a more just society?
US Cold Warriors Escalate toward Actual War with Russia
STEPHEN F. COHEN – Heedless of the consequences, or perhaps welcoming them, America’s Cold Warriors and their media platforms have recently escalated their rhetoric against Russia, especially in March. Anyone who has lived through or studied the preceding 40-year Cold War will recognize the ominous echoes of its most dangerous periods, when actual war was on the horizon or a policy option. Here are only a few random but representative examples.
Congress Should Begin Impeachment, But Not the Way You Think
DAVID SWANSON – Back before Donald Trump was inaugurated, I wrote an article called “Fantasies About Russia Could Doom Opposition to Trump.†Perhaps it is less quixotic, or perhaps it is more, to hope that, after more than two years of being barraged with those fantasies, but with their main focus having publicly flopped, more people will now be open to trying something else. That pre-inauguration article read: “Trump should be impeached on Day 1, but the same Democrats who found the one nominee who could lose to Trump will find the one argument for impeachment that can explode in their own faces. . . . Meanwhile, we have a man planning to be president later this month whose business dealings clearly violate . . .
Youths Explain Support for Green New Deal
SAMANTHA M. and ANGELICA PERKINS – We believe in the Green New Deal, and we know what the Green New Deal is. We have read it and we understand it because we know exactly what we have to do to secure our future. Youth have a right to be in this conversation because in the long run, this is more than a debate. It is our life and future.
Sanders Spells Out a Progressive Prescription
NORMAN SOLOMON – Bernie Sanders wrapped up a weekend campaign swing through California with a Sunday afternoon speech to 16,000 of us a few miles from the Golden Gate Bridge. News coverage seemed unlikely to convey much about the event. The multiracial crowd reflected the latest polling that shows great diversity of support for Bernie, contrary to corporate media spin. High energy for basic social change was in the air.
What a Stronger Defense Industry Would Really Look Like
DAVID SWANSON – Peter Navarro’s op-ed “Why America Needs a Stronger Defense Industry” argues that “Investing in the sector means more jobs at home and improved security abroad.” Studies, analyses and straightforward observation prove otherwise.
Nuclear Power Can’t Survive, Much Less Slow Climate Disruption
JOHN LAFORGE – “Here’s the issue: Nuclear power right now is six percent of energy of the world. There are only 400 nuclear power plants. These are old nuclear power plants. But our scientists tell us [that] to have a minimum impact on climate change — which is the whole rationale for bringing this technology back — nuclear would have to be 20 percent of the energy mix to have the minimum, minimum impact on climate change — not six percent of the mix. An impossible goal. For one thing, the issue of water.
Our Oceans Broke Heat Records in 2018 and the Consequences are Catastrophic
JOHN ABRAHAM – We scientists sound like a broken record. Every year we present the science and plead for action. Not nearly enough is being done. We can still tackle climate change, but we must act immediately. We have the means to make a difference, we lack only the will.
Why All Anti-Interventionists Will Necessarily Be Smeared As Russian Assets
CAITLIN JOHNSTONE – But we can’t keep living this way. We all know this, deep down. The people at the helm of the unipolar world order are advancing an ecocidal world economy which is stripping the earth bare and filling the air with poison while at the same time pushing more and more aggressively against the multipolarist powers, one of which happens to have thousands of nuclear warheads at its disposal. The unipolarity so enthusiastically promoted by the neoconservatives and their fellow travelers has reached the end of the line after just a few short years, and now it’s time to dispense with it and try something else. They will necessarily smear us with everything but the kitchen sink for saying so, but we are right and they are wrong. The state of the world today proves this beyond a doubt.
U.S. Iran Policy: What is Great?
ALEX MCDONALD – Although the Iranian government has its problems, I saw greatness in its people. The people overwhelmingly were warm and welcoming. They repeatedly told us they love Americans but don’t like our government. So, let’s stand up against corruption in our government, like the influence of hostile forces trying to buy our politicians and use our military power. Let’s oppose governments rather than their people. Let’s use our American strengths for good, or even better, for Greatness.
Chelsea Manning Jailed Again For Refusing to Testify at a Grand Jury Inquiry
KATHY KELLY – Chelsea Manning, who bravely exposed atrocities committed by the U.S. military, is again imprisoned in a U.S. jail. On International Women’s Day, March 8, 2019, she was incarcerated in the Alexandria, VA federal detention center for refusing to testify in front of a secretive Grand Jury. Her imprisonment can extend through the term of the Grand Jury, possibly 18 months, and the U.S. courts could allow formation of future Grand Juries, potentially jailing her again.
Will Ethnocide in Western China Become Genocide?
J.P. LINSTROTH – At this moment, China has as many as one million Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other Muslim minorities held in concentration camps in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in northwestern China. This has been ongoing for some time now and is beginning, finally, to be noticed.
‘People Power Beats Corporate Greed’: After Years of Pressure, JPMorgan Agrees to Divest from Private Prisons
JULIA CONLEY – Civil and immigrant rights groups celebrated a victory Tuesday, March 5, after JPMorgan Chase announced it was finally heeding their calls to end its financing of private for-profit prisons.
US Peaceworker Suffers US Sanctions in Iran
DAVID HARTSOUGH – I come back home with a heart which is much stronger but also with a much greater commitment to stop US policies of economic sanctions which I believe are acts of war. I will continue the work of getting the US to rejoin the Iran nuclear agreement and get on the track of peace-building rather than threatening acts of war. I hope you will join me.
Why the Social Policies in the Green New Deal Are Essential to Its Success
SHARON ZHANG – Even aside from its economic virtues, the Green New Deal is already polling across both major parties as one of the most popular climate bills in recent memory. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t allocate as much money as possible to address the many interlinked problems that await us in a changing climate. Perhaps, in the process, we may find that we can pay for it after all.
How to Fight Fascism from a Position of Strength
GEORGE LAKEY – The growth of white supremacy and fascism has been noticeable in a number of countries lately, prompting the question: What can we learn from each other? Each country might find “best practices†elsewhere that could be applied at home, in addition to learning from its own past successes.
Trump Missed Another Great Opportunity with North Korea
MEL GURTOV – Trump was correct to describe denuclearization last June as a lengthy “process†that one summit meeting could not achieve. However, the second summit, in Hanoi at the end of February 2019, again showed that personal diplomacy divorced from an engagement process that incorporates flexibility and give-and-take raises the risk of failure.
What the Bernie Sanders 2020 Campaign Means for Progressives
NORMAN SOLOMON – In the obvious contrasts with Kamala Harris and in the less obvious yet significant contrasts with Elizabeth Warren on matters of economic justice as well as on foreign policy, Bernie Sanders represents a different approach to the root causes of — and possible solutions to — extreme economic inequality, systemic injustice and a dire shortage of democracy.
House Launches Probe of US Nuclear Plan in Saudi Arabia
By BBC News The US is rushing to transfer sensitive nuclear power technology to Saudi Arabia, according to a new congressional report. A Democratic-led House panel has launched an inquiry over concerns about the White House plan to build nuclear…
When Will Politicians Start Exercising their Constitutional Authority to Rein in Large Corporations like Amazon?
PAUL CIENFUEGOS – Many of us around the country are working hard to build the Community Rights movement, as we understand that in this ecological and social crisis moment in the world, it’s too late to tackle one corporate outrage at a time. That in fact, these problems are structural. That we need to learn from our history and bring back these century-old laws that can once again subordinate the business corporation, so that it is again required to serve The People, to cause no harm, and for its directors and stockholders to once again be held personally and financially liable when the corporation causes significant harm to our communities and the natural world.
25 Years in Jail for Protecting the Planet?
FRIDA BERRIGAN – Twenty-five years in prison. That is the possible fate of seven Catholic anti-nuclear activists awaiting trial for their action on April 4, 2018, at the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in St. Mary’s, Georgia—the largest base of its kind in the world.
Why Green New Deal Advocates Must Address Militarism
MEDEA BENJAMIN and ALICE SLATER – In the spirit of a new year and a new Congress, 2019 may well be our best and last opportunity to steer our ship of state away from the twin planetary perils of environmental chaos and militarism, charting a course towards an earth-affirming 21st century.
Elder Statesmen: The U.S. and Russia Are Sleepwalking Toward Nuclear Disaster
SAM NUNN and ERNEST J. MONIZ – Reengagement with Russia is too important to wait for the Mueller probe to end. That means it’s time for Congress to take the lead.
‘Space is not your property!’ Beijing Blasts US Report on China & Russia ‘Weaponizing’ Space
RT – A new US intelligence report portraying Moscow and Beijing as trying to bring warfare into the heavens has drawn the ire of China, which insists that space is not Washington’s “private property.â€
From Premature Deaths to Planet-Heating Emissions, Analysis Reveals Costs of Trump’s Fossil Fuel Giveaways
JESSICA CORBETT – “Trump is letting his corporate friends wreck the planet and our health.”
Green New Deal Threatened by Nuclear Weapons
ROBERT F. DODGE M.D. – The Progressive Caucus in the House of Representatives is positioned to take the lead on climate and nuclear arms issues and realize the connection–if only they will. We the people must inform and support them as we help build the political will transforming the dream into a reality for a just, environmentally sustainable and peaceful nuclear-free tomorrow.ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ
Washington Resurrected the Arms Race
PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS – Washington might be setting up America for a first strike with the extraordinary stream of accusations and provocations issuing from people too stupid to be in possession of nuclear weapons. In the nuclear era, it is reckless for a government to replace diplomacy with threats and coercion. Washington’s recklessness is the most dangerous threat that the world faces.
The World is Two Minutes from Doom
JERRY BROWN and WILLIAM PERRY – On Thursday, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set the Doomsday Clock at two minutes to midnight. Welcome to what we call “the new abnormal.” This phrase describes the catastrophically dangerous world in which we live. We have to go back 66 years, to 1953, to find a time of equal danger.
U.S. Intelligence Officials Warn Climate Change Is a Worldwide Threat
NEELA BANERJEE – U.S. intelligence officials’ annual assessment says climate hazards such as extreme weather, droughts, floods, wildfires and sea level rise threaten infrastructure, health and security.
Defying War and Defining Peace in Afghanistan
KATHY KELLY – On January 27th, 2019, the Taliban and the U.S. government each publicly stated acceptance, in principle, of a draft framework for ongoing negotiations that could culminate in a peace deal to end a two-decade war in Afghanistan.
Make Venezuela Great Again? Let the Venezuelans decide how.
PATRICK T. HILLER – Have we not learned a thing? As the crisis in Venezuela continues to unfold, we are witnessing yet another blatant US regime-change operation “for the Venezuelan people.â€
We Need Disarmament, Not Low-Yield Nukes
ROBERT KOEHLER – Seven-plus decades ago, as humanity was ensnarled in a monstrous world war, its instinct to win — to dominate others above all else — achieved ultimate manifestation: the capacity to annihilate all life on Planet Earth.
New Analysis Shows Why Democrats Are Wrong to Fear Bold Embrace of Medicare for All
JULIA CONLEY – “November’s election results show that universal, higher-quality, lower-cost health care through Medicare for All is all moral upside—without political downside.”
Why Americans Need to Act Like the Majority We Already Are
OMNESHA ROYCHOUDHURI – The next time someone tries to tell you it’s hopeless or that we need to “reach across the aisle,†because we’ve never been more divided, tell them they’re right. We’ve never been more divided: Over decades, the Democratic and Republican platforms have become increasingly out of touch. The real divide in America is between what the majority of us want and need, and what a tiny minority — a handful of extremists in power — have been offering.
Why We Won’t Quit the Climate Fight
KATHLEEN DEAN MOORE and SUEELLEN CAMPBELL – Friends and experts may tell us we’re doomed, but there are too many reasons to keep pushing for climate action
Things Congress Could Do for Peace, From Easiest to Hardest
DAVID SWANSON – Congress can take innumerable steps. some easy, some difficult, to advance peace.
Democrats Are Afraid Of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Too. And That’s A Good Thing.
NORMAN SOLOMON – Turning the Democratic Party into a truly progressive force will require turning “primary†into a verb. The corporate Democrats who dominate the party’s power structure in Congress should fear losing their seats because they’re out of step with constituents. And Democratic voters should understand that if they want to change the party, the only path to do so is to change the people who represent them. Otherwise, the leverage of Wall Street and the military-industrial complex will continue to hold sway.