Global
I didn’t know until recently that Smedley Butler had ever been to my town. Then I heard that he’d spoken at the University of Virginia here in Charlottesville in 1937. The University of Virginia had the speech tucked away in its stacks and was kind enough to dig it out. It’s pasted below.
If you haven’t heard of Smedley Butler and don’t know why he’s a major hero to Veterans for Peace and peace advocates in general (as well as having been a Major General), I can try to summarize his incredible life in a few sentences. The man ought to be a hero to opponents of fascist marches, which, by the way, have also come to Charlottesville.
By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, September 9, 2019
Green Ireland has a peaceful blue sky.
Shannon Airport’s full of war planes; Here’s why.
When Emperor Trump
Tells Ireland to Jump
Ireland bows down and asks him “How high?”
Neutral Ireland takes no part in war
Except that troops carry weapons galore
Through the airport at Shannon
While mass slaughters they’re planning
For far off from their two-dollar
Do you want to hear more?
If you ask me the Irish know better.
They’ve seen dead that could not have been deader.
A true friend to the Yanks
Would say thanks but no thanks.
Here comes peace strolling by. Have you met her?
Original Post: https://worldbeyondwar.org/limerick-at-peace
CNN is outraged that Trump was too friendly with Russians, supposedly endangering an honorable spy snooping into the Russian government.
The New York Times doesn’t want any peace settlements in Afghanistan that could involve “getting in bed with killers swathed in American blood.”
U.S. mercenaries who murdered a bunch of people in Iraq have had their sentences reduced because they did it in a war.
The United States just accidentally dropped white phosphorus on itself.
The Pentagon would like to tightly control what you can learn about.
“. . . and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”
These lost words — Isaiah 2:4 — are nearly 3,000 years old. Did they ever have political traction? To believe them today, and act on them, is to wind up facing 25 years in prison. This is how far we haven’t come over the course of what is called “civilization.”
Below is a list of 25 of the signatories of a high-powered Right-wing Republican NeoConservative Think Tank that wanted to increase military spending in order to ensure American global hegemony. The group began in 1997 and dissolved itself in 2006, having achieved its initial goals with the Cheney/Bush administration’s “global war on terror”.
The think tank called itself the Project for the New American Century, and it developed a document that was titled Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces, and Resources For a New Century. Half of the members became part of the Bush administration and the rest continued on in some position of power, mostly within the national security apparatus.
Within the PNAC document was a concluding phrase that has often been justifiably used as evidence that the PNAC members were ready to make use of any catastrophic event (real OR false flag) that would shake up the tax-paying citizenry enough to make them ready to spend the blood and money to “Rebuild America’s Defenses” and go off to war.
Here is the phrase:
By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, September 10, 2019
Limerick, Ireland, now has billboards up at Clare Street, John Street, John Street in Waterford, and Dublin Road in Singland. The billboards are part of the promotion of an upcoming global antiwar conference and rally. They’re also part of a global campaign by World BEYOND War to spread peace and antiwar messages everywhere. Here are images:
Of course, we use other means of promotion, such as bulletin boards, too:
The tale of 9/11 will just not go away, largely because it is clear to anyone who reads the lengthy 9/11 Commission Report that many issues that should have been subject to inquiry were ignored for what would appear to be political reasons. The George W. Bush Administration quite obviously did not want to assume any blame for what had happened and that bias also extended to providing cover for U.S. “allies,” most particularly Saudi Arabia and Israel. Those who have sought the truth about 9/11 have been persistent in their attempts to find out information that was suppressed but they have been blocked repeatedly in spite of numerous FOIA requests.
On 2 October 2019, it will be the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mohandas K. Gandhi in Gujarat, India. I would like to reflect on the visionary leadership that Gandhi offered the world, briefly comparing it with some national leaders of today, and to invite you to emulate Gandhi’s leadership.
While Gandhi is best remembered for being the mastermind and leader of the decades-long nonviolent struggle to liberate colonial India from British occupation, his extraordinary political, economic, social, ecological, religious and moral leadership are virtually unknown, despite the enormous legacy he left subsequent generations who choose to learn from what he taught. This legacy is available online in the 98-volume Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi.