Month: March 2015

Peace and anti-nuclear events, March – May 2015

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From http://www.davidswanson.org and http://www.warisacrime.org

March 4-6 – Shut Down Creech (also here)

March 5-8 Berlin, Germany: Congress of the Society for Psychology

March 11 Germany: 4th Fukushima Day

March 14 – Rhone Valley, France: Human Chain Demonstration pour la transition energetique sans nucleaire.

Accueil

March 14, Frankfurt, Germany: Action-Conference

March 15 in Belgium: demo from Huy to the Tihange nuclear power plant

March 18-21 in Washington DC: Spring Rising

March 20 in Washington DC at Spring Rising: World Beyond War Teach-In on An Alternative Global Security System

March 26 to May 29: 65 days nonviolent blockade at nuclear air base Buechel, Germany.
http://www.buechel-atomwaffenfrei.de/

March 28 – April 3 in Nevada: Nevada Desert Experience – Sacred Peace Walk

March 28 in Glasgow, Scotland: #TridentHastoGoNow demonstration

March 30 in Knoxville, Tennessee: Moving Towards a Nuclear Free Future 2015 walk to New York City for April 24 events

April 11 Michigan – David Swanson speaking

April 13 in Scotland: #BairnsNotBOMBS Big Blockade

April 13, Global Day of Action Against Military Spending

April 14-16 Quebec, Canada: World Uranium Symposium 2015

April 15, March for the Homeless

April 22, March from EPA to Pentagon

April 24 – April 26 in New York, NY: Peace and the Planet Conference and Rally
* April 24/25 – An international peace, justice and environmental conference
* April 26 – A major international rally, march to the United Nations and peace festival

April 25 Houston – David Swanson speaking

April 27-29 at the Hague: WILPF Turns 100
Womens International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)

April 27 – May 22 at United Nations Headquarters, New York, NY: NPT Review Conference (“RevCon”)
* Call for NPT-related organizing
* NPT brief overview
* NPT Home page at UN

May 8-10 in New Jersey: Stop the Wars at Home and Abroad

May 19 in Linz, Austria: Nuclear Energy Conference 2015

May 24 in Korea: Women’s March for Peace

May 25 in Washington, D.C., a Veterans For Peace Memorial Day

 

Spring Rising, March 18-21, in Washington DC

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Spring Rising is an Antiwar Intervention in DC on March 18-21 including a big rally and march on March 21.

Click the links for more info:

SpringRising.org

New Spring Rising video to enjoy and share.

Audio: Talk Nation Radio show on Spring Rising.

Spring Rising Facebook Event to join and invite others to.

World Beyond War Teach in on an Alternative Global Security System 5:00-6:30 p.m. on March 20 at UDC Law School as part of Spring Rising:

Details at SpringRising.org

New paper / book / audio book / eBook available soon at WorldBeyondWar.org

New video about this project.

Facebook Event to join and invite others.

“No Weapons to Ukraine” — Sign the letter to U.S. Senate

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An Open Letter to the U.S. Senate

No Weapons to Ukraine

Reject S. 452, “A bill to provide lethal weapons to the Government of Ukraine.”

Sign here: http://diy.rootsaction.org/petitions/no-weapons-to-ukraine

Why is this important?

The United States is the leading provider of weapons to the world, and the practice of providing weapons to countries in crisis has proven disastrous, including Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. Expanding NATO to Russia’s border and arming Russia’s neighbors threatens something worse than disaster. The United States is toying with nuclear war.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt played significant roles in orchestrating the political crisis that led to a violent coup overthrowing Ukraine’s elected President. Nuland not only exclaimed “Fuck the EU!” on that recorded phone call, but she also seemed to decide on the new prime minister: “Yats is the guy.”

The Maidan protests were violently escalated by neo-Nazis and by snipers who opened fire on police. When Poland, Germany, and France negotiated a deal for the Maidan demands and an early election, neo-Nazis instead attacked the government and took over. The U.S. State Department immediately recognized the coup government, and Yatsenyuk was indeed installed as Prime Minister.

The people of Crimea voted overwhelmingly to secede, and that — rather than the coup — has been labeled “aggression.” Ethnic Russians have been massacred by constant shelling from Kiev’s U.S.-NATO backed Army, while Russia has been denounced for “aggression” in the form of various unsubstantiated accusations, including the downing of Flight 17.

It’s important to recognize Western interests at work here other than peace and generosity. GMO outfits want the excellent farming soil in Ukraine. The U.S. and NATO want a “missile defense” base in Ukraine. Oil corporations want to drill for fracked gas in Ukraine. The U.S. and EU want to get their hands on Russia’s “largest supply of natural gas” on the planet.

We routinely recognize the financial corruption of the U.S. government in domestic policy making. We shouldn’t blind ourselves to it in matters of foreign policy. There may be a flag waving, but there is nuclear war looming, and that’s a bit more important.

Initial signers (organizations for identification):
David Swanson, World Beyond War.
Bruce Gagnon, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space.
Nick Mottern, KnowDrones.com.
Tarak Kauff, Veterans For Peace.
Carolyn McCrady, Peace and Justice Can Win.
Medea Benjamin, Code Pink.
Gareth Porter.
Malachy Kilbride, National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance.
Buzz Davis, WI Impeachment/Bring Our Troops Home Coalition.
Alice Slater, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.
Doug Rawlings, Veterans For Peace.
Diane Turco, Cape Codders for Peace and Justice.
Rich Greve, Peace Action Staten Island.
Kevin Zeese, Popular Resistance.
Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance.
Heinrich Buecker, Coop Anti-War Cafe Berlin.
Dud Hendrick.
Ellen Barfield, Veterans For Peace and War Resisters League.
Herbert Hoffman, Veterans For Peace.
Jean Athey, Peace Action Montgomery.
Kent Shifferd.
Matthew Hoh.
Bob Cushing, Pax Christi.
Bill Gilson, Veterans For Peace.
Michael Brenner, University of Pittsburgh.
Cindy Sheehan: Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox.
Jodie Evans, Code Pink.
Judith Deutsch.
Jim Haber.
Elliott Adams.
Joe Lombardo and Marilyn Levin, UNAC co-coordinators.
David Hartsough, World Beyond War.
Mairead Maguire, Nobel peace laureate, Co founder peace people.
Koohan Paik, International Forum on Globalization.
Ellen Judd, University of Manitoba.
Nicolas Davies.
Rosalie Tyler Paul, PeaceWorks, Brunswick Maine.

Sign here: http://diy.rootsaction.org/petitions/no-weapons-to-Ukraine

 

http://www.davidswanson.org

“U.S. human rights abusers not welcome in Venezuela.” President Maduro calls for “global rebellion against US imperialism”

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Posted on Global Research
From Venezuela Analysis.com, March 2, 2015
By Raphael Boothroyd

Caracas, March 2nd 2015 (venezuelanalysis.com) The Venezuelan government has responded to increased pressure from Washington by revoking visa rights for former US politicians such as George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, described by President Nicolas Maduro as “terrorists against the peoples of the world” on Saturday.

“I have decided on a prohibition list for people who will not be permitted visas and who can never enter Venezuela, for a set of chief US politicians who have committed human rights violations. They have bombed the people of Iraq, the people of Syria, the people of Vietnam… It is an anti-terrorist list,” declared the head of state to an impassioned crowd.

The statements were part of a rousing speech delivered by the president on Saturday to thousands of marchers who had taken to the streets of Caracas to reject White House interference in the South American country. The march was a direct response to a string of further US sanctions enacted against the Venezuelan government in early February and to what Maduro characterised as a “moment of increased aggression” from the Obama administration. The head of state went on to call for a “global rebellion against US imperialism”.

“The US thinks it is the boss, the police of the world… Something happens somewhere, let’s say in Asia, and a spokesperson for the US comes out saying that the US government thinks that such and such a government shouldn’t do such and such a thing in Asia… Are we going to accept a global government? Enough of imperialism in the world!” stated an incensed Maduro.

During his speech, the head of state also announced a slew of new diplomatic measures against the US which include the implementation of visa requirements for all US citizens visiting Venezuela.

“They must pay what Venezuelans pay when they want to travel to the United States,” said the president.

Maduro explained that the changes were designed to “protect” Venezuelans, after a number of US citizens were discovered to be taking part in acts of espionage by Venezuelan authorities.

One of the most recent detections includes the pilot of a US airplane who was stopped and questioned by authorities on the border last week. A number of US citizens were also detained last year for their participation in the armed barricades or Guarimbas which sought to bring down the government and led to the deaths of at least 43 Venezuelans.

Despite the latest measures, Maduro emphasised that Venezuela continued to value its relationship with US citizens.

“You can count on the fact that the people of Bolivar respect the people of the US, and recognise in you a brother peoples, these decisions are against the imperialist elite,” he stated.

The new measures will see the number of staff at the US embassy in Caracas significantly reduced and US representatives obliged to inform Venezuelan authorities of any meetings that they intend to hold.

The diplomatic institution currently has over 100 employees, in comparison to just 17 who work at the Venezuelan embassy in Washington. Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Delcy Rodriguez, has explained that the US diplomatic mission will be obliged to reduce its staffing numbers to 17 over the next 2 weeks.

Tense Relations 

Recently the US embassy in Caracas has become embroiled in a diplomatic altercation with the Maduro administration which has intensified since the discovery of a planned coup against the government in February. The Venezuelan head of state has accused the White House of conspiring against his government and charged embassy personnel with having advanced knowledge of the coup plot, which was allegedly being funded in US dollars from Miami.

Prior to the discovery of the coup, the US embassy was reported to have attempted to bribe senior military and government officials to partake in insurrectionist actions against the government. US Vice-president Joe Biden also made a series of statements accusing the Venezuelan government of repression following a meeting with the wife of jailed opposition leader, Liliana Tintori.

Current opinion polls suggest significant support amongst the population for government actions against the US. According to a February poll conducted by opposition aligned think tank, Hinerlaces, 92% of Venezuelans oppose any kind of foreign intervention while 62% think that the US should not be allowed to pass judgement on the country’s internal affairs.

In 2014, the US government issued 103 statements against Venezuela and another 65 since the start of the year. Just a few weeks ago, the Obama administration also approved increased funding for Venezuelan opposition groups and Non-Governmental Organisations.

 

Maduro: “US Human Rights Abusers Not Welcome in Venezuela”

http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-human-rights-abusers-not-welcome-in-venezuela-president-maduro-calls-for-global-rebellion-against-us-imperialism/5434546

US deploying troops this week to train Ukrainian National Guard; UK also sending soldiers

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Senator McCain, whose armed forces are in Ukraine?

From Sputnik News, March 3, 2015

US 173rd Airborne Brigade Commander Michael Foster said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC said the US would deploy personnel by the end of this week to train the Ukrainian national guard.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States will deploy personnel by the end of this week to train the Ukrainian national guard, US 173rd Airborne Brigade Commander Colonel Michael Foster said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC on Monday.“Before this week is up, we’ll be deploying a battalion minus… to the Ukraine to train Ukrainian forces for the fight that’s taking place,” Foster stated. “What we’ve got laid out is six United States companies that will be training six Ukrainian companies throughout the summer.”

The training will take place at the level of US and Ukrainian national guard companies, Foster explained, adding that “we have nothing above battalion staff level” engaged in the military training.

The Ukrainian nationalist Aidar battalion was officially disbanded and reorganized as the 24th Separate Assault Battalion of the Ukrainian Ground Forces.
© Sputnik/ Evgeny Kotenko
Nationalist Aidar Unit Reorganized As Separate Assault Battalion of Ukraine’s Army

The current plan is for US forces to stay six months, he said, and noted there have been discussions about how to increase the duration and the scope of the training mission.The current channels for military training set up between Ukraine and the United States would not be used for transferring defensive lethal aid if the United States decided to provide arms to Ukraine, Foster told Sputnik on Monday.

“It would go through something separate… We would not funnel the lethal aid or arms through that [training] event, we would use a secondary method for that,” Foster said, adding that a completely separate process is preferable.

The United States and NATO have been engaged in military training exercises with Ukraine since the fall of 2014, according to NATO press releases.

United Kingdom’s (UK) Prime Minister David Cameron announced last week that the UK will also be sending military advisors to Ukraine.

http://sputniknews.com/military/20150303/1018973141.html

China warns U.S. to stop its Ukrainian proxy war against Russia

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By Eric Zuesse, March 3, 2015
Posted on Global Research

A much-ignored huge news report from Reuters on Friday, February 27th, was headlined “Chinese diplomat tells West to consider Russia’s security concerns over Ukraine.”

China’s Ambassador to Belgium (which has the capital of the EU) said that the “nature and root cause” of the Ukrainian conflict is “the West,” and that “The West should abandon the zero-sum mentality, and take the real security concerns of Russia into consideration.”

By “real security concerns,” he is clearly referring to NATO’s expansion right up to Russia’s border, and America’s surrounding Russia with U.S. military bases, now inceasingly including the most strategic of Russia’s bordering countries: Ukraine.

In other words, this diplomat says: “the West” has a “zero-sum” attitude toward Russia, instead of seeking to move forward with an approach in which neither side among the nuclear superpowers benefits at the other’s expense — the entire world moves forward together.

This is a direct criticism of Barack Obama, and of all of the pro-Obama, anti-Putin, EU leaders.

It’s also an implicit repudiation of Obama’s having repeatedly referred to the U.S. as “the one indispensable nation.” (Another example of that phrase is here.) Obama keeps saying: every other nation, except the U.S., is “dispensable.” He clearly thinks that Russia is.

That’s not merely an insult: it’s an act of provocation; it is virtually asking for a fight. And all for what? For whose nuclear char?

This criticism of the aggressive nationalist Obama does not come from China’s top leadership, but it would not have come at all if they had not approved of it in advance.

China thus now tells Obama: Stop it. Stop it in word, and in deed.

Implicitly, China is also telling Obama: China is not dispensable, either. In fact, the entire mentality, which Obama embodies, is not just callous and insulting; it’s dangerous.

Like President G.W. Bush, Obama is increasingly an embarassment to his country.

Shortly before Obama’s coup in Ukraine, Gallup International issued, on 30 December 2013, a poll of 65 countries, which found that:

“The US was the overwhelming choice (24% of respondents) for the country that represents the greatest threat to peace in the world today. This was followed by Pakistan (8%), China (6%), North Korea, Israel and Iran (5%). Respondents in Russia (54%), China (49%) and Bosnia (49%) were the most fearful of the US as a threat.”

More details of that poll were reported here.

When the U.S. Government is hankering for a war with the only other nuclear superpower, such findings certainly make sense. And the 54% of Russians who cited the U.S. as the greatest threat to peace would probably be far higher today. But Gallup International didn’t publish any update on that poll-question, perhaps because the original financial backer (which was unnamed) wouldn’t fund it.

Already, the finding was bad enough. But Obama keeps calling the U.S. “the one indispensable nation in the world.” He keeps telling other nations: you are dispensable. He keeps rubbing it in — not the fact, but his own nationalism.

It reminds some people of Mussolini, and of Hitler. But Obama pretends to be a democrat, not a fascist.

Maybe he’s just a bigger liar than they were. Maybe that’s what he is so arrogant about: his terrific ability to deceive.

After all, he won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for it: for lying. For misrepresenting himself as being progressive, instead of regressive.

Well, now: anyone who doesn’t know the reality is deluded by propaganda — and it’s not coming from Russia, nor from China. It’s coming from their own nation’s ‘news’ media.

Which heads-of-state want to be publicly associated with a foreign leader like that, one who tells the given leader’s public: your nation is dispensable. Fools. Only fools.

Obama is encouraging other countries to oppose the United States.

Wow. He’s the black George W. Bush.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/china-warns-u-s-to-stop-its-ukrainian-proxy-war-against-russia/5434582

German lawmakers claim Ukraine conflict covers up massive cropland seizures

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From Sputnik News, February  6, 2015

According to the office of a German parliament member, the conflict in Ukraine is used to cover up a sale of farmlands in the interest of major corporations.

McCain to Sputnik: Ukraine’s Use of Cluster Bombs Is US’ Fault

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The armed conflict in Ukraine is a smokescreen for the seizure of high-quality cropland by foreign firms funded by the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the office of a German parliament member said on Thursday.”The conflict in Ukraine is used to cover up a sale of farmlands in the interest of major corporations,” Birgit Bock-Luna, who heads the office of Niema Movassat, a deputy for the opposition Left faction in the German parliament, told RIA Novosti.

Bock-Luna told RIA Novosti a group of faction representatives had officially inquired with the German government on the actions of the country’s state-run banking group Bankengruppe KfW that they said is behind the seizure of Ukraine’s arable lands, some of the best in Europe.

Ukraine has a temporary ban prohibiting the sale of farmlands to foreign entities until January 2016.But German agricultural concerns – AGRARIUS AG, germanagrar CEE GmbH, KTG Agrar SE, Agroton and Alfred C. Toepfer International (ADM) – seize land using leasing schemes and generous loans from German and global money lenders.

According to data obtained by German lawmakers, Alfred C. Toepfer International was given a $60 million loan to buy an additional 50,000 hectares in Ukraine, alongside 50,000 it already owns.

German lawmakers suggest that large areas of Ukraine’s arable lands could be used to grow genetically modified crops, away from the watchful eye of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which is EU’s agricultural regulator.

Lawmakers say they have reasons to believe that the German government has been involved in funding farmland grabs in Ukraine through its ministries, providing assistance to joint EU and German agricultural projects with Kiev.The Ukraine Investment Climate Advisory Services Project, Germany’s agricultural center Deutsche Agrarzentrum (DAZ), and the German Advisory Group on Economic Reforms in Ukraine are some of the projects that helped to negotiate land grabs with Ukrainian government officials, lawmakers said.

Bock-Luna said the Ukrainian government that came to power in Kiev after last year’s coup has been actively giving away farmland in return for loans from international creditors.

“The previous Ukrainian administration was opposed to further relaxation of agricultural laws, but this changed after the coup, with the help of the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development,” she added.

Ukraine is a major crop producer in the European market. It commands over 32 million hectares of farmland, equivalent to around one third of the arable land in the entire European Union.

http://sputniknews.com/politics/20150206/1017847475.html

Finland will supply laser rangefinders, but not “lethal” weapons

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From Sputnik News, March 2, 2015

Russian Foreign Ministry slams Finland’s decision to send laser rangerfinders to the Ukrainian army, the move that may be interpreted as direct support of ‘party of war’.

US All Set to Line Up Lethal Aid to Ukraine – Saakashvili

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Finland’s decision to supply laserrangefinders to Ukraine may be interpreted as direct support of ‘party of war’, Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday.“Deliveries of potential elements of lethal weapons may be interpreted in Kiev as a direct line of support provided to the ‘party of war’,’’ a statement on the Russia’s Foreign Ministry site said.

The ministry also noted that the promised deliveries run contrary to Finland’s commitment not to export items which could escalate armed conflicts, made as part of the European Union in 2008.

Finland Rules Out Weapon Supplies to Conflict-Torn Ukraine

On February 26, Finland sanctioned the supply of 1,000LRF-200 laserrangefinders to Ukraine by the optoelectronic products manufacturerNoptel.The LRF-200 is a small-size laser rangefinder that uses a laser beam to measure the distance to an object. Such devices can easily be embedded in a wide range of military products, in particular in fire-control systems and small arms.

The West has been delivering non-lethal aid to Kiev since it launched a military crackdown on independence supporters in its South-East in April 2014. The warring sides signed a ceasefire deal in February, while the 11 months of fighting killed over 6,000 people, according to the United Nations.

 

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150302/1018961902.html