RICHARD HEINBERG – When it comes to maintaining energy flows, there is a closing window to avert both climate catastrophe and economic peril.
Category: Archive
Why Won’t Europe Call for an End to This War?
BOAVENTURA DE SOUSA SANTOS – When armed conflicts take place in Africa or in the Middle East, Europe’s leaders are the first to call for a cessation of hostilities and to declare the urgent need for peace negotiations. Why is it then that when a war occurs in Europe, the drums of war beat incessantly, and not a single leader calls for them to be silenced and for the voice of peace to be heard?
Intelligence Professionals Warn Biden Against Ukraine War’s Existential Dangers
VETERAN INTELLIGENCE PROFESSIONALS FOR SANITY (VIPS) – Mainstream media have marinated the minds of most Americans in a witches’ brew of misleading information on Ukraine – and on the exceedingly high stakes of the war. On the chance you are not getting the kind of “untreated” intelligence President Truman hoped for by restructuring intelligence, we offer below a 12-point factsheet. Some of us were intelligence analysts during the Cuban missile crisis and see a direct parallel in Ukraine. As to VIPs’ credibility, our record since Jan. 2003 – whether on Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, or Russia – speaks for itself.
An Intellectual No-Fly Zone: Online Censorship of Ukraine Dissent Is Becoming the New Norm
ALAN MACLEOD – Google has sent a warning shot across the world, ominously informing media outlets, bloggers, and content creators that it will no longer tolerate certain opinions when it comes to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Progressives Can’t Depend on the Congressional Progressive Caucus
JEFF COHEN and NORMAN SOLOMON – The Progressive Caucus leadership approach that gave up leverage for Build Back Better is akin to the one that just endorsed Shontel Brown against Nina Turner. Progressives around the country should take note and not forget: We can’t depend on the Congressional Progressive Caucus to provide the kind of leadership we need. It must come from the grassroots.
Jeremy Corbyn: Now, Let Us Talk Peace
JEREMY CORBYN – With Russian shells raining down on Ukrainian cities, an uneasy ceasefire in Yemen, the attack on Palestinians at prayer in Jerusalem and many other conflicts around the world, it might seem to some to be inappropriate to talk about peace. When a war is going on, though, it is absolutely the time to talk about peace.
New Bill would Fund Dangerous Nuclear Extravaganza
LINDA PENTZ GUNTER – The International Nuclear Energy Act of 2022 is another fatal diversion from the most important task at hand: to eschew wars and nuclear weapons and dumb conspiracy theories and focus on drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions before it is too late.
What Does International Law Say About the Ukraine Invasion?
MEL GURTOV – In just the past few years, we have witnessed mass violence directed at innocent people in many places: China’s Xinjiang province, the Saudi-led war in Yemen, the Myanmar (Burma) junta’s atrocities against the Muslim Rohingya, and of course Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Each of these episodes has its distinctive characteristics, but they all violate international law and our common humanity. None of them can be excused by arguments based on state sovereignty, national security, historical analogy, or the sins of others past and present.
Great Plains Farmers Push Back Against CO2 Pipelines Encroaching on Their Land
LEANNA FIRST-ARAI – Farmers, ranchers, and other rural community members across five Great Plains states and Illinois — many of whom were previously sued by developers of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines wanting to build through their land — are finding their property, safety and livelihoods encroached upon yet again by corporations. This time, they’re coming up against developers, many with fossil fuel ties, who are seeking to cash in on climate solutions tax credits to build a massive network of carbon dioxide (CO2) pipelines across the United States.
Weapons Are Not Helping: How Do We End the War in Ukraine?
CHRIS DE PLOEG – International aggression has major consequences and can lead to massive loss of human life: 2.4 million dead in Iraq, 1.2 million dead in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the U.S. war against the Taliban. Senior American defense officials claim that Russia is still holding back and that its bombers are primarily focused on military targets. These same officials also warn that civilian casualties could massively spike if Russia does decide to enact an Iraq- or Chechnya-style bombing campaign. Can that kind of fate still be prevented in Ukraine? That is the primary question that should concern all commentators. That and the prevention of further escalation, nuclear war. Where do we go from here?
Tax Day and the Fate of the Earth
PETER BERGEL and MICHAEL CARRIGAN – Once again we are all paying our federal income taxes this month. We do this as “the price of civilization” – to pay for the services we value and rely upon – disaster relief, help during the pandemic, wildfire protection, food security, a host of others and… nuclear weapons?
Ukraine: Is this the best we can do?
WINSLOW MYERS – Which of these parallel universes of thought will prevail? Putin’s brutality, whatever its outcome, has only pointed up the stupidity and futility of violence and the perennial possibility of its opposite—a world that chooses survival, takes the risk of cooperation, and ensures a further stage in the unfolding human story.
Mearsheimer: Russia Sees ‘Existential Threat,’ Must Win
RAY MCGOVERN – University of Chicago Professor John Mearsheimer, widely respected “dean” of the realism school (aka, “offensive realism”) of international relations, has put the conflict in Ukraine in a context that everyone can understand – and needs to understand before it is too late.
Rebellious Climate Scientists Have Message for Humanity: ‘Mobilize, Mobilize, Mobilize’
KENNY STANCIL – In the face of the “escalating climate emergency,” the advocacy group Scientist Rebellion warns that the IPCC summary to global policymakers remains “alarmingly reserved, docile, and conservative.”
Europe Is Sleepwalking Into Another World War
BOAVENTURA DE SOUSA SANTOS – More than 100 years after World War I, Europe’s leaders are sleepwalking toward a new all-out war. In 1914, the European governments believed that the war would last three weeks; it lasted four years and resulted in more than 20 million deaths. The same nonchalance is visible with the war in Ukraine.
Protect National Security – Cut the Military Budget
ROBERT C. KOEHLER – Why, why, why, as our ecosystem collapses, as millions of refugees flee the horrors of war and poverty, as the pandemic continues, as World War III and the possibility of nuclear Armageddon rears its evil head, as the planet trembles, does ever-expanding, global militarism remain our primary national purpose?
Ukraine War Causing Fractures in the Peace Movement When It’s Needed Most
BRIAN GARVEY – Cohesive opposition that demands an end to the violence and bloodshed in Ukraine must be the top priority of advocates for peace.
How Corporate Media Has Put the American Public in a State of Ukraine-Russia Psychosis
NOLAN HIGDON – The context and details of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, as well as its historic roots, are being pushed aside in favor of a kind of binary knee-jerk activism that is far too common in American political culture.
It’s Time for Charles Koch to Testify About His Climate Disinformation Campaign
ELLIOT NEGIN – For more than two decades, Koch-controlled foundations spent more than $160 million to stymie government action on climate change
Ukrainian Climate Activists Say They Don’t Want the US’s Fracked Gas Exports
CANDACE BERND – Climate activists living under the constant blare of air raid sirens in Ukraine say they don’t want the United States’ fracked gas exports, and don’t want frontline communities along the U.S. Gulf Coast living with the impacts of so-called liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure to become sacrifice zones in their name. Instead, they say, they want a dramatic, wartime mobilization for a transition to clean energy.
Energy efficiency guru Amory Lovins: ‘It’s the largest, cheapest, safest, cleanest way to address the crisis’
JOHN VIDAL – Just as with the 1970s oil shocks, the problem today is not where to find energy but how to use it better, Amory Lovins says. The answer is what he calls “integrative, or whole-system, design,†a way to employ orthodox engineering to achieve radically more energy-efficient results by changing the design logic. Design, retrofitting, and efficiency, these are the answers to the climate crisis.
Commercial Defrauding of Uncle Sam—Biggest Booming Business
RALPH NADER – Corporate fraud against the U.S. government—which occurs no matter which party is in power—costs taxpayers billions of dollars per year. Neither Congress nor the White House has met this challenge of titanic corruption which should become a major campaign subject in the coming elections.
The West’s Fanaticism Over Blaming ‘Evil’ Putin Misses the Point—and an Opportunity for a Lasting Peace
ERIKA SHELBY – Pointing fingers won’t help—an attitude shift is what the world needs now.
The People of Yemen Suffer Atrocities, too
KATHY KELLY – Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said, “The people of Yemen need the same level of support and solidarity that we’ve seen for the people of Ukraine. The crisis in Europe will dramatically impact Yemenis’ access to food and fuel, making an already dire situation even worse.â€
The Inevitability, Tragedy and Opportunity in the Invasion of Ukraine
JIM GARRISON – What would it take for NATO and Russia to embrace the obvious? The only way for the current crisis to be truly solved is to create a process in and through which all the former antagonists can come together around the creation of a common security and economic zone that brings Russia together with Ukraine as partners in a larger zone of peace. It is possible.
Journalism and Truth Telling in Wartime
ROB OKUN – Brent Renaud. Marina Ovsyannikova. One a US filmmaker killed by Russian troops on March 13 while working on a documentary about refugees. The other, an editor-producer on Russian state TV’s Channel One who dramatically interrupted a news broadcast to hold aloft a sign denouncing Putin’s war. She was immediately arrested. Renaud’s senseless killing one day and Ovsyannikova’s brave action the next, unintentionally have forged a link between journalism and wartime truth telling that cannot be overstated.Â
Ukrainians took to the streets to avert a nuclear disaster. Will Americans do the same?
PAUL GUNTER and LINDA PENTZ GUNTER – The near disaster at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant shows why activists fought for decades to end these risks — and why mass action is needed once again.
Two Hundred Nobel Laureates Call for an End to the Ukraine War
NOBEL LAUREATES – Two hundred two Nobel laureates voice their support for the Ukrainian people and the free and independent state of Ukraine as it faces Russian aggression.
Worried about Nuclear War? You can actually do Something to Prevent it
FRIDA BERRIGAN – If anything good can come out of the horrific war in Ukraine, it might be a renewed movement to abolish nuclear weapons once and for all.
Stumbling into the ‘Sacrifice Trap’
DR. ANN FRISCH – Kenneth Boulding, professor, philosopher, poet, economist and peace researcher, is looking  on, almost 30 years after his death. Leaders of the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and US are locked into what Boulding called the ‘sacrifice trap’: their identities and images of who they are leave aside the realities of the real cost of war. Â
Russia’s Invasion Set to Create Weapons Industry Boom
DRU OJA JAY – The Russian Federation government’s decision to order an illegal invasion of Ukraine has created major military escalations, rapid realignments resembling a new cold war, and a bonanza for arms dealers.
Why Don’t We Treat All Refugees as Though They Were Ukrainian?
SOMALI KOLHATKAR – Masses of refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, and elsewhere have faced racially motivated hostility in Europe. Now, Ukraine’s refugee crisis is revealing Western double standards.
300,000 Russians Sign Peace Petition in 12 Hours
RUSSIAN PETITIONERS – We appeal to all sane people in Russia, on whose actions and words something depends. Become a part of the anti-war movement, speak out against the war. Do this at least in order to show the whole world that there have been, there are and there will be people in Russia who will not accept the meanness created by the authorities, who have turned the state itself and the peoples of Russia into an instrument of their crimes.
Can Iran and the U.S. Breathe Life Back Into Nuclear Deal?
PRABIR PURKAYASTHA – The possibility of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—or the Iran nuclear deal—being revived, though difficult, seems to have brightened in February 2022. The U.S. may now also believe that the potential loss of Russian natural gas and oil due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war needs to be offset by Iran returning to the global oil market.
If We Don’t Want War, We Have to Be Willing to Make Peace
ROBERT C. kOEHLER – The only thing obvious about the Russia-Ukraine-West conflict is that war will make it worse. What can all sides, working together, create to turn it into peace?
Independent American and Russian Women Call for Peace
WOMENCALL4PEACE – We are women from the United States and Russia who are deeply concerned about the risk of possible war between our two countries, who together possess over 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons. We are mothers, daughters, grandmothers, and we are sisters, one to another. We stand together and we call for peace. Stand with us.
US and Russian Doctors Warn of Possible Global Catastrophe from Escalating Conflict in Ukraine
INTERNATIONAL PHYSICIANS FOR THE PREVENTION OF WAR – American and Russian physicians representing IPPNW are warning that the war in Ukraine could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe as a result of conventional fighting and the attendant risks to that country’s nuclear power facilities and of escalation to nuclear war.
Bob Dylan and the Ukraine Crisis
NORMAN SOLOMON – Desperately needed is a new European security framework, to demilitarize and defuse conflicts between Russia and U.S. allies. But the same approach that for three decades pushed to expand NATO to Russia’s borders is now gung-ho to keep upping the ante, no matter how much doing so increases the chances of a direct clash between the world’s two nuclear-weapons superpowers.
Biden Promised Nuclear-Policy Reform. He’s Not Delivering.
JOSEPH CIRINCIONE – On the campaign trail and in strategy documents, President Biden committed to a new focus on arms control — and to a reconsideration of dangerous policies. News reports suggest his review of the U.S. nuclear posture will be disappointing. So, what can be done to alter this outcome, and who is working toward changing decision makers’ minds ?
The West Must Accept that Russia is a Key Player in Europe
ROBERT E. HUNTER – Vladimir Putin has been sending warning signals for over a decade; once the Ukraine crisis is over, nothing will be the same. As the United States tries to cope with this crisis, missing so far is a clear sense of “what next?†— that is, once the current imbroglio is over, as inevitably it must be.
Theranos Verdict: In the U.S., It Is Fine to Lie to Consumers but Not to Investors
PRABIR PURKAYASTHA – Hyper-capitalism has systematically weakened regulations to help capital at the cost of consumers. The verdict on the Elizabeth Holmes case simply illustrates the growing post-’90s disregard for consumers.
US Freezing of Afghan Assets Is Causing Starvation in Afghanistan
KATHY KELLY – People in the United States must recognize the suffering their country continues inflicting in Afghanistan.
Memo to Congress: Diplomacy for Ukraine Is Spelled — M-I-N-S-K
MEDEA BENJAMIN and NICHOLAS J. S. DAVIES – Ukrainians of all ethnicities deserve genuine support to resolve their differences and find a way to live together in one country—or to separate peacefully.
What the Cuban Missile Crisis Can Teach Us About Today’s Ukraine Crisis
LAWRENCE WITTNER – As the Cuban missile crisis ultimately convinced Kennedy and Khrushchev, in the nuclear era there’s little to be gained―and a great deal to be lost―when great powers continue their centuries-old practices of carving out exclusive spheres of influence and engaging in high-stakes military confrontations. Surely, we, too, can learn from the Cuban crisis―and must learn from it―if we are to survive.
No War with Russia! No Expansion of NATO!
MASSACHUSETTS PEACE ACTION – The US has just managed to extract itself from a 20-year war in Afghanistan. Does our government seriously want to embark on another war? Since 2001, our long, bloody, fruitless interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Pakistan have cost thousands of US lives, hundreds of thousands of civilian lives in those countries, and $6.4 trillion.
The Continuation of Thich Nhat Hanh
MEL DUNCAN – Just as he believed in no beginning and no end, Thich Nhat Hanh continues to live in the initiatives and hearts he inspired.
In the Line of Eternal Fire: Ukraine’s Nuclear Reactors – CounterPunch.org
LINDA PENTZ GUNTER – As Craig Hooper so chillingly warned us in his December 28, 2021 article for Forbes, a Russian invasion of Ukraine, “could put nuclear reactors on the front line of military conflict.†The result, he said, depending on the tactics deployed by the Russians, could be equivalent to “nuclear warfare without bombs.†It’s yet one more reminder of just how much an already perilous situation can become orders of magnitude worse, once you introduce the risk of major radioactive releases into the equation.
China Gives Oomph to Russia’s ‘Nyet’ on NATO
RAY MCGOVERN – Fourteen years ago today, when then-ambassador to Russia William Burns, in an IMMEDIATE cable titled “Nyet Means Nyet: Russia’s NATO Enlargement Redlines,” reported Moscow’s warning that NATO membership for Ukraine would cross a red line, the Russians could do little more than grouse. Enter from left stage Chinese President Xi Jinping last year with the shot of adrenalin Putin needed to make “Nyet” stick. Under-Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and her protégé Antony Blinken seem to be in the dark about the close ties between Russia and China represented by such give and take between the two countries.
Who is Willing to Participate in Non-Violent Civil Disobedience for the Climate?
CONTRIBUTORS – In September 2021, we asked Americans about their willingness to support an organization engaging in non-violent civil disobedience against corporate or government activities that make global warming worse and about their willingness to personally engage in such non-violent civil disobedience themselves. Here we examine how this willingness varies across different groups including Global Warming’s Six Americas, generations, and the three largest racial/ethnic groups in the United States.
San Jose Set to Become First U.S. City to Make Gun Owners Get Insurance
CHERI MOSSBURG and AMIR VERA – The San Jose, California, city council voted Tuesday night (January 25) to adopt a first-in-the-nation ordinance requiring most gun owners to pay a fee and carry liability insurance, measures aimed at reducing the risk of gun harm by incentivizing safer behavior and easing taxpayers of the financial burden of gun violence.