Anti-War

Let’s Force Antony Blinken to Resign

Some might argue that Antony Blinken is the worst Secretary of State that the United States has ever had to suffer under even though the competition for that accolade is fierce and includes his recent predecessor Hillary Clinton. Clinton, who more than anyone launched the war against Africa’s most developed nation, is remembered fondly for her giggled, grinning response when she was informed how deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had died after having a bayonet inserted in his anus when he was captured by rebels while on the run after being removed from power by the US and its NATO allies. She said “We came, we saw and he died!” All right, so it wasn’t exactly Julius Caesar’s terse description of the outcome of his Second Civil War battle against Pharnaces II of Pontus at Zela (modern-day Zile, Turkey) in 47 BC.

Mistaking Militarism for Statecraft, Empire for Democracy and Debt for Prosperity

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre, the falcon cannot hear the falconer. All things fall apart. The center cannot hold.”  --  W.B. Yeats, The Second Coming

As of May 2024, the United States has committed over $175 (borrowed) billion to escalating the proxy war against Russia, and, as in the case of the Iraq and Afghan wars, with little regard for accountability pertaining to tracking military hardware,  equipment, funding, or  fraud prevention.

One of the most grotesque moments in this bloody global Punch and Judy show preliminary to nuclear war, was the recent arrival of Vladimir Zelenskyy, former president of Ukraine, making a campaign stop at an ammunition factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where some of the three million 155mm artillery shells the US has given Ukraine are produced.   

Ukrainian Vision of Peace

Refuse War, resist for peace and man breaking a gun in half
Clean skies are proudly azure,
When bloodshed of inhuman war is ceased,
And peace endure.

So says the last poem written by Ukrainian writer Ivan Franko; he desired to end the first world war, but didn't lived to see the Peace of Versailles. If he would, he might be disappointed by short-sighted plans of peaceful life written by victors who never seriously considered life without wars and because of that failed to build sustainable peace.

Of course, in most places, most of the time, people always live in peace, because peace is the need and natural right of every person and every community, including the people of Ukraine. Restraint, truth and love, good trusting relations for centuries and millennia allowed people to live peacefully on the common planet Earth and in each of its countries, including Ukraine.

Peace, rooted in every particle of existence, always surrounds us. Even when we don't notice it. Even when injustice and evil far or near disturb us, cause pain and loss.

Is the Red Army a Paper Tiger?

A furore has erupted in North America over reports that Russia will expand its armed forces of 1.32 million by a new 180,000 men. This will bring Russia close to China’s armed forces of about 2 million active soldiers. The pro-war right in the US and Europe are trumpeting this increase as a prelude to a coming East-West war. ‘The Reds are Coming’ goes the old Cold War chorus. We heard the same canard during WWII when clever British propaganda convinced most people that Hitler’s Germany was determined to conquer the world. In truth, Germany was trying to restore its pre-World War I borders. Such was also the case with Stalin’s Soviet Union. Both imperial nations were torn apart after 1918 by the rapacious French and British imperialists, abetted by the Americans. Germany was panicked into entering World War I in 1914 because it believed it was about to be attacked in a two-front war by France, Britain and Russia. Big numbers scare people. Russia may have what seems a large army today, but it is a vast nation of 17 million square kilometers with over 12 different time zones stretching from Eastern Europe to the frozen Barents Sea.

Playing with Nuclear Fire

Republicans in the US Senate have been urging the White House to provide Ukraine with long-range missiles that can strike deep into Russia. Such is the madness of pro-war sentiment. America’s lackluster Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, has apparently confirmed that Washington plans to shortly deliver such strategic weapons to Ukraine. This week, Britain’s new prime minister arrived in Washington to discuss more strategic arms for Ukraine. One is vividly reminded of the mobs of idiots who thronged Paris train stations in August 1914, screaming ‘on to Berlin.’ As a British historian aptly noted, `if patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels, then war is the first platform of fools.’ US-supplied long-range missiles are the last step between what was a border conflict and all-out war that will very likely go nuclear. Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that he reduced conventional forces to divert funds to Russia’s stunted civilian economy. Nuclear weapons, said President Putin, will be used to replace conventional forces if Russia is attacked. We must take him at his word.

60 Years After Lyndon Johnson’s “Daisy Ad,” the Silence on Nuclear War Is Dangerous

One evening in early September 1964, a frightening commercial jolted 50 million Americans who were partway through watching “Monday Night at the Movies” on NBC. The ad began with an adorable three-year-old girl counting petals as she pulled them from a daisy. Then came a man’s somber voiceover, counting down from ten to zero. Then an ominous roar and a mushroom cloud from a nuclear bomb explosion.

 The one-minute TV spot reached its climax with audio from President Lyndon Johnson, concluding that “we must love each other, or we must die.” The ad did not mention his opponent in the upcoming election, Sen. Barry Goldwater, but it didn’t need to. By then, his cavalier attitude toward nuclear weapons was well established.

The Problem Isn’t The US Having The Wrong President, The Problem Is The US Empire’s Existence

The reason I find myself fighting with both Harris supporters and Trump supporters is because they see the other party as the problem while I see the US empire itself as the problem. They seek to make things better by ensuring that the empire is under the correct management, while I seek the end of the empire.

People say things like “Oh but Kamala Harris speaks so compassionately about the suffering of the Palestinians!”

These dupes had eight years of Obama speaking eloquent, compassionate-sounding words while continuing and expanding all of Bush’s ugliest policies, and they still haven’t learned the lesson here.

The Nuclear Threat Unabated

The story of nuclear weapons begins in the United States. The U.S. government
under the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt gave the greenlight for the project to
build a bomb to commence, the first atomic bombs were then created and tested,
and, under dubious assumptions, the bombs were subsequently used to blow up
two Japanese cities, causing massive destruction, death, and lasting radiation
illnesses. The testing and development of nuclear bombs continued, as did the
costs to people and the environment. Sadly, the U.S. and other nuclear-armed
countries are now in the process of “modernizing” their nuclear arsenals. This is
despite the fact that the majority of countries in the U.N. General Assembly have
voted to ban nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, the U.S. unfortunately maintains a
“first use” policy with respect to nuclear weapons and Trump will have the power
to launch nuclear weapons if he becomes president.

War Looms Over the Mideast

In 1982, I was with Israel’s army when it invaded southern Lebanon. We moved from menacing village to village ready for an attack by Hezbollah fighters.

Israel’s objective was to seize the southern portion of Lebanon, notably the Litani River, the region’s major source of potable water. The historic Port of Tyre - old when Rome was young - was another key target. It had been largely seized by Maronite fascist militias allied and supplied by Israel.

Israel claimed it was battling “terrorism”. In fact, Israel’s ultimate objective was - as always - more land for the Jewish state. When Israel was created in 1948, there was much speculation about whether the new Jewish state would go on to annex all of southern Lebanon.

That did not happen after the US put its foot down. Those were the days before Israel dominated US Mideast policy and gave the US president his marching orders.

Today, the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, on which I’ve been at sea, lies off the Mideast, ready to attack Iran.

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