Iran: A Declaration to the Conscience of Humanity: 6 Non-Negotiable Terms from International Scholars and Former Officials from 30 Countries to End the U.S. War on Iran Amid Trump’s Threat of War Crimes

From Global Research
April 10, 2026

The conscience of humanity resists “everything for us, nothing for others,” the creed of the predatory empire erected on the corpses of nations. The shameless rapacity and insolence have reached their zenith, and Trump’s threats illustrate the depraved spirit of a decaying civilisation. We must not be passive witnesses, but active architects of a new world where arrogance crumbles and righteousness prevails.

A large transnational group of prominent voices—including former UN officials, Retired career diplomats, former ministers, scholars and intellectuals, political figures and former parliamentarians, military and security professionals, artists, lawyers as well as journalists, activists, and antiwar leaders, from 30 countries—has released an open letter sharply criticising the global role of the United States and calling for a new international order centered on sovereignty and resistance to what they describe as Western domination.

Most of the signatories are from Western countries, alongside participants from Asia, Latin America, and Africa. The declaration, titled “A Declaration to the Conscience of Humanity,” was signed by over 170 signatories from countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Serbia, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lithuania, Russia, China, Malaysia, India, Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Mexico, South Africa, Lebanon, Turkey, and Iran. 

In this fact-based public letter, the authors deliver a sweeping critique of American foreign policy and historical conduct. The letter states that for “249 years—spanning the entirety of its existence since 1776—the United States built a record of atrocity that belonged to a darker, pre-civilised age,” describing the country as “a predatory empire erected on the corpses of nations.”

The signatories, including current and former professors affiliated with 52 universities and academic institutions worldwide, accuse Washington of maintaining global military dominance through an extensive overseas presence. They state that the United States operates “over 800 military garrisons poisoning more than 90 foreign countries and territories” and has cultivated what the signatories call “a doctrine of absolute predation.”

The declaration also condemns U.S. involvement in major wars of the 20th and 21st centuries, referring to what it calls “the genocidal horror of Vietnam,” “the annihilation of Cambodia,” and the “systematic slaughter of Koreans,” as well as the destruction of Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan.

A central focus of the document is the ongoing confrontation involving Iran. These public figures argue that the current situation reflects what they describe as an expansionist U.S. strategy aimed at dominating global resources. According to the statement, the United States government is driven by “the demonic creed of ‘everything for us, nothing for others’,” which they say seeks control of global resources ranging from “the oil of Venezuela” to “the mineral wealth of Greenland” or “the energy reserves of Canada”.

The undersigned further assert that U.S. policy now “fixates on Iran” because the country possesses “over seven percent of the world’s mineral and energy wealth,” which they describe as “the final frontier of plunder.”

The document also criticizes contemporary American leadership, arguing that the “moral collapse of the West finds its embodiment in the pathetic figure of Mr. Trump,” and calling for what they describe as an end to “the era of pillage.”

Beyond its criticism of U.S. policy, the announcement proposes several demands that the signatories say are necessary to end the current war on Iran. These include guarantees against future aggression, the dismantling of U.S. military installations in the region, formal international condemnation of acts of aggression, reparations for damages caused by war, the establishment of a new legal framework for the Strait of Hormuz, recognising Iran’s sovereignty, and the prosecution and extradition of operatives in anti-Iranian media who have incited this bloodshed.

The authors also call on intellectuals, scholars, institutions, and civil society organizations worldwide to condemn what is described as the normalization of violations of international law and to challenge the global  structures that sustain domination and military intervention.

In conclusion, the signatories argue that the present moment represents a decisive historical turning point. “We stand with justice—not as passive witnesses, but as active architects of a new world,” the letter states, emphasizing that the international community must confront what it calls the return of predatory power in global politics.

Among the signatories are prominent scientists and figures representing a wide array of expertise and leadership, including philosophers, economists, historians, sociologists, jurists, theologians, Islamologists, reverends, biologists, physicians, musicians, filmmakers, songwriters, singers, entrepreneurs, engineers, novelists, theorists, as well as a physicist, a psychologist, an anthropologist, and a comedian. This diverse coalition reflects the global conscience of humanity, uniting professionals, scholars, and advocates from multiple disciplines in a shared call against U.S. exceptionalism.

The full text of the declaration, along with the complete list of signatories, has been released publicly in more than ten languages.


A Declaration to the Conscience of Humanity

To the peoples of the world, to thinkers, to scholars, and to those who believe in justice:

A specter now haunts the conscience of humanity—the return of predatory power— and it shall no longer go unchallenged. 

For 249 years—spanning the entirety of its existence since 1776—the United States built a record of atrocity that belonged to a darker, pre-civilised age; the predatory empire erected on the corpses of nations; from the genocide of nearly 5 million Indigenous peoples, to the brutal enslavement of over 4 million Africans, to the lynching of more than 4,000 Black citizens under Jim Crow. With over 800 military garrisons poisoning more than 90 foreign countries and territories, it cultivated a doctrine of absolute predation. From the genocidal horror of Vietnam, with over 3 million dead; to the annihilation of Cambodia, where 2 million perished under US-backed terror; to the systematic slaughter of Koreans, with more than 4 million Korean lives extinguished; to the destruction of Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan, where one million Iraqis and tens of thousands of Libyans were consumed by US fire. 

Yet the rational order that governs the world once helped humanity move beyond such practices. Humanity had consigned this barbarism to history. But now we are witnessing its return. The ongoing, systematic immolation of Gaza through the sustained support for the genocidal Israeli regime, where over 77,000 civilians in Palestine have been butchered—the scale of this atrocity reveals an inescapable truth: the pre-civilised practice has returned, and Washington has once again become its willing executor.

This is the demonic creed of “everything for us, nothing for others.” With shameless rapacity, it claims the resources of the world—whether the oil of Venezuela, the mineral wealth of Greenland, or the energy reserves of Canada—as objects of strategic entitlement. And now, that gluttonous eye fixates on Iran. Because Iran—possessing over 7% of the world’s mineral and energy wealth—is seen as the final frontier of plunder.

Yet this is no longer a matter of economics. It is a matter of honour. The world witnesses that the United States is actively engaged in a criminal enterprise termed the “Ramadan War” against the Iranian nation. This ongoing butchery has already claimed the lives of 208 innocent children. Let the world mark the date—168 of them were little girls, elementary students at the Shadjareh Tayyebeh School in Minab city in Iran, extinguished in their classrooms by US ordained terror.

Their futile and desperate contrivances aim at so-called “regime change” and the fragmentation of Iran—stripping the nation of its sovereignty and, thereby, facilitating the systematic plunder of its resources. In pursuit of this ultimate depravity, the U.S. brutally assassinated Iran’s spiritual and intellectual leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei—recognised globally as a voice against arrogance and terrorism—along with his family.

They have waged a war of targeted terror against the very pillars of the Iranian state. To date, US aggression has criminally murdered 39 Iranian statesmen, including the scientific genius Dr. Ali Larijani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.

Now, the insolence has reached its zenith. The US President openly threatens the Iranian people on social media with the destruction of their energy infrastructure. This is the depraved spirit of a decaying civilisation. The moral collapse of the West finds its embodiment in the pathetic figure of Mr. Trump—a man whose catastrophic conduct over the last two years has exhausted not only the world, but his own people. The time has come to declare, with one voice: Enough! The era of pillage is over.

But the United States has made a fatal miscalculation. What stands before it is not merely a nation, but a civilisation that has weaponised its own DNA—ancient organisational genius fused with 21st-century scientific sovereignty. This is the reality of active deterrence by Iran; a global pole of power that dictates the terms of engagement, forcing strategic retreat by rewriting the very rules of active defence. Now, its adaptive reorganisation, civilisational continuity, and social unity have fused into a singular, unbreakable force.

Iran’s all-encompassing defence and active deterrence represents a golden opportunity to end global hegemony. The historical and civilisational doctrine of Iran is absolute: power does not confer right, and domination cannot serve as a foundation for justice. This is recognised as the bedrock of Iran’s invincibility. The world may avail itself of this historic turning point, drawing upon this very doctrine of liberation, to bring an end to domination and oppression wherever they may exist. 

US and Israeli exceptionalism have dragged the world into an epoch defining choice between might and right, sovereignty and subjugation, dignity and dishonour. This moment must serve as the wake-up call for humanity to recognize that there is another way. It must impel people everywhere to do everything in their power to challenge the structures undergirding a global system that desecrates every moral value including the right to life itself. 

Iran is the final frontier. If it falls, the hope of a better, enlightened future for the world dies with it. We cannot let that happen. The aggression against Iran is part of a system of global power that oppresses all of us. We cannot afford to stand by and watch arrogant authoritarianism running amok. Our very future depends on the success of Iran.

Therefore we cannot countenance any outcome of this war that involves a return to the status quo ante. Those who inflict such suffering must be made to pay a hefty price for their crimes. They must be made to realise that military might does not absolve them of the responsibility to uphold the laws on which the peace and security of our world depend. To that end, we support the terms set out by Iran for ending this war.

From the perspective of global justice, the terms for ending this war are absolute and non-negotiable:

  1. Guarantees against repetition and a binding international commitment ensuring no future aggression.
  2. The immediate dismantling of all US military installations in the region.
  3. Formal admission of aggression, international condemnation of the aggressors, and full reparations for life and property.
  4. An immediate end to war on all regional fronts.
  5. A new legal regime for the Strait of Hormuz, recognising Iran’s sovereignty.
  6. The prosecution and extradition of operatives in anti-Iranian media who have incited this bloodshed.

We, the undersigned in spirit, call upon our peers, the thinkers, the scholars, the institutions of conscience, and the advocates of justice across the world:

  • Condemn the United States unequivocally for its systematic normalisation of contempt for international covenants and its reversion to the spirit of historical savagery and barbarism.
  • Isolate the rogue regime of the United States diplomatically and economically for its ongoing crimes against humanity.
  • Recognise Iran’s inherent right to active deterrence against unprovoked aggression.
  • Demand the immediate cessation of American and U.S.-sponsored terrorism and the prosecution of those who order it.

As it has always done, history will record the courage of those who refuse to remain silent. We stand with justice—not as passive witnesses, but as active architects of a new world that has reached its threshold where arrogance crumbles and righteousness prevails. The arrogant must be dismantled. The world demands it. Justice will enforce it.

For a list of signatories
https://www.globalresearch.ca/six-non-negotiable-terms-end-us-war-iran/5921902

Trump’s Doomsday clock: “A whole civilization will die tonight” — Tuesday April 7, 8 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT). Impeachment forum convenes Wednesday

Reuters’ summary of events

As Trump’s deadline nears, last-ditch effort seeks Iran ceasefire
Parisa Hafezi and Trevor Hunnicutt
April 6, 2026
with video

Excerpt:
U.S. President Donald Trump warned Iran on Tuesday that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Tehran refuses to reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz shipping lane by his evening deadline, while Pakistan proposed a two-week ceasefire in a last-ditch attempt at ​mediation.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” ​Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “deeply troubled” by Trump’s statement, his spokesperson said. Pope Leo ‌said threats against ⁠the population of Iran are “unacceptable.”

Brian Finucane, ⁠a former U.S. State Department legal adviser now with the International Crisis Group, said Trump’s remarks “could plausibly be interpreted as a threat to commit genocide” under U.S. and international law.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/iran-defiant-eve-trumps-ceasefire-deadline-2026-04-07/

Expert Legal Symposium on Impeachment and the Meaning of “Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors”

https://nader.org/2026/04/02/expert-legal-symposium-on-impeachment-and-the-meaning-of-bribery-or-other-high-crimes-and-misdemeanors/

Wednesday April 8th, 2026
9 AM to 1:30 PM
Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2044

Please observe the following to enter the Rayburn Building.


Livestream link via The Real News Network.

Ralph Nader and Bruce Fein Present: 

Expert Legal Symposium on Impeachment and the Meaning of “Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors” 

9:00 am – 9:10 am: OPENING REMARKS BY RALPH NADER
 Consumer advocate, lawyer, and author.

9:15 am – 10:25 am: Panel 1 – President Trump’s usurpation of the congressional war power conferred by Article I, section 8, clause 11 exemplified by his gratuitous, ongoing, criminal war of aggression against Iran.

Moderator: Theresa Amato (Opening statement, 10 minutes) Principal, Amato PLLC

Panelists (15 minutes each):

Dennis Kucinich Member of the U.S. House of Representatives 1997–2013, Mayor of Cleveland 1977–79 
Doug Bandow Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, specializing in foreign policy and civil liberties 
Jeffrey Sterling Lawyer, former CIA officer and whistleblower 

Open Q&A (remaining time, approx. 15 minutes)

10:30 am – 11:25 am: Panel 2 – The credible fear that President Trump will obstruct, interfere with, or outright cancel the 2026 midterm elections unless impeached and removed from office.

Moderator: John Bonifaz (Opening statement, 10 minutes) 
John Bonifaz is a constitutional attorney and the Co-Founder and President of Free Speech For People.

Panelists (15 minutes each): 

Bruce Fein Constitutional Lawyer and scholar, former Assistant Deputy Attorney General and general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission
Oliver Hall: Founder, Executive Director and  General Counsel for the Center for Competitive Democracy

Open Q&A (approx. 15 minutes)

11:30 am – 12:25 pm: Panel 3 – President Trump’s industrial scale bribery and extortion exemplified by auctioning pardons, demanding free legal services to escape government retaliation, and conferring government favors or benefits in exchange for donations to Mr. Trump’s sprawling business empire or pet projects like the White House ballroom.

Moderator: Jack Rakove (Opening statement, 10 minutes)
Pulitzer Prize-winning Stanford Professor of History and American Studies, political science and law

Panelists (15 minutes each): 

Alan B. Morrison Former Associate Dean for Public Interest & Public Service and professor of civil procedure and constitutional law at GW Law. 
Rob Weissman Co-president of Public Citizen, public interest advocate and activist 

Open Q&A (approx. 15 minutes)

12:30 pm – 1:15 pm: Statements by Public Scholars, Civic Leaders, Activists and Writers

Moderator: Mark Green (Opening statement, 10 minutes) 
Author, Lawyer, and first New York City Public Advocate

Presenters (5 minutes each):

John R. MacArthur Publisher Harper’s Magazine
Andy Shallal CEO and Founder, Busboys and Poets
David Kelley Political Policy Advisor & Writer
Ellen Barfield Co-founder of the Veterans For Peace Women’s Caucus 
Jessica Denson Founder of the Removal Coalition
Ben Cohen Co-Founder, Ben & Jerry’s 
John Koskinen Former Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

This event is co-sponsored by RootsAction, Free Speech For People, and Essential Information. 

From Dennis Kucinich
April 7, 2026

No matter what happens tonight, Congress must return to DC immediately. The President must be impeached and removed from office

There is an unprecedented urgency for Congress to return to DC immediately to consider an impeachment resolution and begin the process of removing the President from office.

Tomorrow, I will join constitutional scholars in Congress to present the case for the impeachment and removal of the President, a responsibility I have taken up before in defense of the Constitution.

Since that meeting was announced, Donald Trump has stated that if Iran does not accede to his demands, “a whole civilization will die,” at his direction and instance.

This statement alone underscores the unprecedented urgency of Congress returning to full session immediately to consider an impeachment resolution and begin the process of removing the President from office.

Victor Davis Hanson, in his book The End of Everything: How Wars Descend into Annihilation, offers a sweeping historical account of how civilizations collapse through war driven by human passion. In a 2024 review in Law & Liberty, Graham McAleer writes: “The historical record shows, Hanson argues, that no matter how sophisticated a great power is, there is always the risk of annihilation when a strategy relies on hope, stokes vengeance, overstates prowess, and displays arrogance.” We must ask plainly: Are we checking those boxes now?

The President cannot commit cultural homicide against Iran without committing cultural suicide on behalf of so-called Western civilization, changing forever how America and Americans are seen across the world. We are not immune from the consequences of this misuse of power. This path risks both the end of Iran, and the end of America as we know it. It propels the world to war.

The President must be brought to account for his threat to unlawfully unleash violence, or every American will be stained by actions already taken. Thousands of innocent Iranian civilians have been killed, including 180 children in the February 28 missile strike on an elementary school in Minab, Iran.

The destruction of Persian civilization is already underway. The President and his Secretary of War have usurped unto themselves the authority to direct assassinations of educators, philosophers, and scientists, and to order the bombing of universities, hospitals, and mosques. We have seen this pattern before in the pulverization of Gaza and Lebanon. Now it extends to Iran. World treasures of antiquity are being destroyed.

A President associated with the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, rooted in the exploitation of children, now presides over the killing of children abroad. This is a gigantic moral collapse.

The President has repeatedly threatened that this evening, at 8 p.m. Eastern, 3 a.m. Tehran time, he will misuse the power of his office to attempt the destruction of a civilization, through means that could surpass even the devastation inflicted upon the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

If such a plan proceeds, the consequences will not be confined to Iran. The unleashing of destruction upon countless millions of innocent people will reverberate across the world and across generations.

We now find ourselves watching the clock, 8 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. Central, 6 p.m. Mountain, 5 p.m. Pacific, as if counting down to a new year. But this is not a celebration. It is a doomsday clock, driven by one man’s will.

No matter what happens tonight, Congress must act. The President must be impeached and removed from office, for the sake of our nation and for the sake of the world. Silence is complicity.

https://kucinichreport.substack.com/p/no-matter-what-happens-tonight-congress

Will Trump Use Chemical Weapons on Iran? Will the US attack Iran on March 2 or 3?

From Global Research
February 24, 2026

By Helena Glass

Why is President Trump sending a military hospital flotilla to Greenland?

Why is he saying it is to help the sick people of Greenland?

Are there no hospitals or doctors in Greenland?

Quite simply, Trump is anticipating American soldier casualties when we initiate war with Iran and is afraid of the backlash this admission would have on the people.

Iran – the means of distracting from the demise of America. Now that Huckabee has given the Middle East due notice that Israel is planning on taking over more territory than believed, the boundary lines shift. Saudi Arabia is awakening from its slumber. Qatar sees the duplicity. And the remaining pro-Trump trying to shift blame to the UK Black Nobles is falling flat.  And HHS antisemitism gulags look more like concentration camps.

Iran hosts upwards of half a million Christians. Three destroyers, two submarines, 100 fighter jets, and now a hospital to put soldiers back together, if not mentally, physically. When I was in college, one of my friends was a Vietnam veteran. He used to joke about being blown up. The surgeons didn’t know what he was supposed to look like, so he woke up with a completely different face.

My oldest brother was a Green Beret. He deployed to Vietnam as a parachuter three times. The number of casualties in a war is always an ‘estimate.’ Imagine being so nothing that no one remembers your existence. An estimate. Millions dead. Millions wounded. 250,000 perished at sea trying to escape. Toxic herbicides sprayed across the jungle.

Trump just legalized phosphorus and glyphosate for national security. Translation: Iranians and American troops will be doused in these toxic chemicals, their agriculture land forever destroyed. Their ability to procreate decimated. Saving the youth?

In Vietnam it was Agent Orange. Over 19 million gallons were sprayed, causing severe, long-term cancers, birth defects, and chronic health issues in veterans and Vietnamese citizens.

  • Cancers: Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, B-cell leukemia, prostate cancer, respiratory cancers, and soft tissue sarcoma.
  • Diseases: Type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, ischemic heart disease, and peripheral neuropathy
  • Reproductive Issues: Severe birth defects, miscarriages, and developmental issues in children of exposed veterans.
  • Skin Condition: Chloracne, a severe acne-like rash.

Has Hegseth schooled the troops and informed them they will never be able to have children? Do they know the effects of phosphorous and glyphosate? Are they ready to die for the Greater Israel?

In an effort to appease Saudi Arabia, Trump recently told them he would allow Bin Salman to proceed with uranium enrichment for a nuclear bomb. Last year, after Israel bombed Qatar, Pakistan declared they would share the means for the Saudis to obtain nuclear weapons. To deter Israel. Perhaps too little, too late. The Iran war will draw sides.  It could also be the final straw for Ukraine as Putin continues to avoid civilian casualties. No more. Two simultaneous wars – not viable.

Losing patience with the MAGA platform claiming this is all 5D chess played and controlled by Trump to eliminate the Deep State. War on Cuba, Venezuela, Lebanon, Russia, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Palestine, and Iran is NOT 5D chess, it is death and chaos. Dousing humans, wildlife, and the environment with toxic chemicals is not 5D chess. Sending American troops into this mess is NOT 5D chess.

It is the beginning of the Dark Ages II. The collapse of the Roman Empire. It is theorized that this is the goal of the Khazarians who call themselves Jew. The American Empire is a re-creation of the Roman Empire which isolated and expelled and displaced Huns, Goths and Franks. It is speculated that the Khazars came from the Huns. The Khazarian Turks rose in power during this later part of the Dark Ages from the 6th to 10th centuries wherein all literature, all historical knowledge, all astrological knowledge and ancient wisdom had perished. Later rewritten by scribes from the 11th thru 17th centuries. The Dark Ages ended with the sacking of the Khazars by Sviatoslav I, Prince of Kyiv, in the 10th century.

The hospital flotilla is supposed to reach its destination this week. USNS Comfort is a Mercy-class hospital ship of the United States Navy. Comfort’s duties include providing emergency, on-site care for U.S. combatant forces deployed in war or other operations. While various posts indicate that the USNS Comfort is dry-docked in Alabama since June 2025 for routine maintenance, it is also notable the ship can be activated for duty within five days. When day one began is unknown.

The wild card for Iran is China. While both China and Russia have assisted bolstering Iran’s weapons cache, it is a coin flip whether either of them will risk entering the war. IF Israel deploys one of its 200 nukes, the Middle East will respond.

A White House insider states the Plan is for first strike Monday or Tuesday.

– – –

Helena Glass is Former CPA & Series 7, with emphasis in Real Estate and Financial Planning. Two brains in one: former Bronze Sculpter and Danseuse. Visit the author’s blog. She is a regular contributor to Global Research.Helena Glass is Former CPA & Series 7, with emphasis in Real Estate and Financial Planning. Two brains in one: former Bronze Sculpter and Danseuse. Visit the author’s blog. She is a regular contributor to Global Research.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/trump-use-chemical-weapons-iran/5916834

U.S. court documents reveal immigrant children tortured — tied down, hooded, drugged, stripped, beaten, isolated, abused — starting with Obama administration

Obama’s Department of Homeland Security chief Jeh Johnson declared that the jailing of Central American refugees seeking asylum, and the separation of parents and children, would have a positive effect in reducing the sudden influx of refugees in 2014. It was Terry McAuliffe, the longtime crony of Hillary Clinton, who presided over the torture of immigrant teenagers at Shenandoah from 2014 to 2017.

Global Research, June 24, 2018

Court documents made public in Virginia and Texas give a glimpse of the systematic brutality being meted out to immigrant children in both public and private jails. Children are strapped down, hooded and beaten, or drugged by force, as part of the everyday procedure in what can only be called the American Gulag.

An Associated Press report published Thursday gave details of the abuses committed last year against young Latino migrants at the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center near Staunton, Virginia. Lawyers for the teenage victims sued the prison—a state facility run by a consortium of seven towns and cities in the Shenandoah Valley—and a court hearing is set for July.

According to a half-dozen sworn statements, given by the victims in Spanish and then translated for filing with the federal court for the Western District of Virginia, children as young as 14 were beaten while handcuffed, tied down to chairs while stripped naked and hooded, and held for long periods in solitary confinement, sometimes naked and cold.

Continue reading

121 bombs a day: Trump’s military drops a bomb every 12 minutes, and no one is talking about it – Lee Camp

June 21, 2018

By Lee Camp

We live in a state of perpetual war, and we never feel it. While you get your gelato at the hip place where they put those cute little mint leaves on the side, someone is being bombed in your name.

While you argue with the 17-year-old at the movie theater who gave you a small popcorn when you paid for a large, someone is being obliterated in your name. While we sleep and eat and make love and shield our eyes on a sunny day, someone’s home, family, life and body are being blown into a thousand pieces in our names.

Once every 12 minutes.

The United States military drops an explosive with a strength you can hardly comprehend once every 12 minutes. And that’s odd, because we’re technically at war with—let me think—zero countries. So that should mean zero bombs are being dropped, right?

Hell no! You’ve made the common mistake of confusing our world with some sort of rational, cogent world in which our military-industrial complex is under control, the music industry is based on merit and talent, Legos have gently rounded edges (so when you step on them barefoot, it doesn’t feel like an armor-piercing bullet just shot straight up your sphincter), and humans are dealing with climate change like adults rather than burying our heads in the sand while trying to convince ourselves that the sand around our heads isn’t getting really, really hot.

You’re thinking of a rational world. We do not live there.

Continue reading

Trump was urged to seek evidence before attacking Syria

From Consortium News
April 13, 2018

In this memo to the White House, the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity urge President Trump to get the evidence first before deciding to strike Syria.

Special to Consortium News

MEMORANDUM FOR: The President

FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

SUBJECT:  Evidence Required for Military Decision on Syria

Mr. President,

We the undersigned Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity join a number of other credible experts including former UK Ambassador to Syria, Peter Ford (this recent interview on BBC Radio Scotland), former UN weapons inspectors and former military officers who are strongly recommending that you obtain and review actual evidence from the site of the alleged chemical attack in Douma, Syria, before ordering any military action. VIPS has previously reported credible evidence indicating that anti-government forces in Syria have themselves produced and used toxic chemical agents.

Contradictory indications exist given that the video and images of victims in the locations purportedly affected by chemical weapons  came from rebel-affiliated entities known as the “Douma Revolution” and the “White Helmets” while Russian military units which later got physical access to the supposed sites and Syrian Red Crescent personnel working in the area reportedly found no indication of a chemical weapon attack.

A major question for us, as former intelligence officers with some knowledge of the operational use of misinformation and false flag actions, is what motive would the Syrian government have for making a chemical weapons attack on its own civilian population, especially at a time when it has growing popular support and is having increased military success.  Why would it risk Western ire?

Rebel fighters and their families were already being evacuated to Turkish occupied Jarabulus by air-conditioned bus. As described in more detail by Scott Ritter (here), only Salafist fighters from the “Army of Islam” (Jaish al-Islam) had refused to surrender at the time of the supposed attacks.

One must therefore consider the possibility that the supposed chlorine gas attack at Douma may have been a carefully constructed propaganda fraud. Such a fraud would have as its purpose the elicitation of precisely the kind of political pressure that now has you contemplating military action. In other words, Mr. President, this may be a bid to mousetrap you into a war that neither you nor your fellow Americans want nor need.

More expert opinion and investigation needs to be applied like that voiced by former U.N. weapons inspector in Syria, Åke Sellström, (translated from original Swedish):

 The attack may have come from Assad’s regime, but you may as well have other explanations. Toxic substances can be dispersed in many ways, for example through explosions or smoke.

– There are many poisonous substances in circulation during the battle.

If the UN were to investigate the attack, it is not enough to see recordings or hear testimony, says Sellström.

It is essential that the United States have complete and compelling evidence before taking any decisive action. We therefore strongly recommend that you await the findings of the OPCW team which is now on its way to Douma to investigate at the actual site of the alleged attack.  A competent, objective group of experts needs to conduct a thorough on-the-ground investigation and collect evidence that will either implicate the Government of Syria or exonerate it.

We have, as you have noted, been down this road before with the Iraq WMD debacle in 2003.  Let us not repeat this mistake. By launching a war in Syria, we will be entering a military and political morass involving Iran and Russia that could have fatal consequences for the entire planet, especially if any of the parties feel compelled to resort to nuclear weapons.

The American people neither want nor need another military intervention in the Middle East. History tells us that any initiative centered on the use of armed force to compel acceptable behavior will not be containable and will only propagate more violence. Please do not drain the US Treasury for a war that could lead to catastrophic and unprecedented loss of life and endanger the security of Americans everywhere.

For the Steering Group, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)

William Binney, former NSA Technical Director for World Geopolitical & Military Analysis; Co-founder of NSA’s Signals Intelligence Automation Research Center (ret.)

Richard H. Black, Senator of Virginia, 13th District; Colonel US Army (ret.); Former Chief, Criminal Law Division, Office of the Judge Advocate General, the Pentagon (associate VIPS)

Marshall Carter-Tripp, Foreign Service Officer (ret.) and Division Director, State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research

Kathleen Christison, Senior Analyst on Middle East, CIA (ret.)

Bogdan Dzakovic, former Team Leader of Federal Air Marshals and Red Team, FAA Security (ret.) (associate VIPS)

Graham E. Fuller,Vice-Chair, National Intelligence Council (ret.)

Philip Giraldi, CIA, Operations Officer (ret.)

Mike Gravel, former Adjutant, top secret control officer, Communications Intelligence Service; special agent of the Counter Intelligence Corps and former United States Senator

Matthew Hoh, former Capt., USMC, Iraq & Foreign Service Officer, Afghanistan (associate VIPS)

Larry C. Johnson, former CIA and State Department Counter Terrorism officer

Michael S. Kearns, Captain,Wing Commander, RAAF (ret.); Intelligence Officer & ex-Master SERE Instructor

John Kiriakou, former CIA Counterterrorism Officer and former senior investigator, Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Karen Kwiatkowski, former Lt. Col., US Air Force (ret.), at Office of Secretary of Defense watching the manufacture of lies on Iraq, 2001-2003

Clement J. Laniewski, LTC, USA (ret) (associate VIPS)

Linda Lewis, WMD preparedness policy analyst, USDA (ret.) (associate VIPS)

Edward Loomis, NSA Cryptologic Computer Scientist (ret.)

David MacMichael, Ph.D., former senior estimates officer, National Intelligence Council (ret.)

Ray McGovern, former US Army infantry/intelligence officer & CIA analyst; CIA Presidential briefer (ret.)

Elizabeth Murray, former Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East, National Intelligence Council & CIA political analyst (ret.)

Todd E. Pierce, MAJ, US Army Judge Advocate (ret.)

Scott Ritter, former MAJ., USMC, former UN Weapon Inspector, Iraq

Coleen Rowley, FBI Special Agent and former Minneapolis Division Legal Counsel (ret.)

Peter Van Buren, US Department of State, Foreign Service Officer (ret.) (associate VIPS)

Lawrence Wilkerson, Colonel, US Army (ret.), former Chief of Staff for Secretary of State; Distinguished Visiting Professor, College of William and Mary (associate VIPS)

Sarah G. Wilton, CDR, USNR, (ret.); Defense Intelligence Agency (ret.)

Robert Wing, former Foreign Service Officer (associate VIPS)

Ann Wright, Colonel, US Army (ret.); also Foreign Service Officer who resigned in opposition to the US war on Iraq

Trump Urged to Seek Evidence Before Attacking Syria

 

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Poll: Americans support the military-industrial complex above all else

Global Research, April 27, 2017

A new Morning Consult/POLITICO survey, published on 26 April, indicates that most American voters support the military-industrial complex more than they support any other recipient of U.S. federal government spending.

The military-industrial complex includes almost all federal contractors, the top ten of which, in the ranking of the “Top 100 Contractors of the U.S. federal government”, are all military suppliers:

.

1: Lockheed Martin.
2: Boeing.
3: General Dynamics.
4: Raytheon.
5: Northrop Grumman.
6: McKesson.
7: United Technologies.
8: L-3.
9: Bechtel.
10: BAE.

Those ten firms would be the likeliest main beneficiaries from today’s America’s extremely pro-military-industrial-complex public, which is clearly revealed in this poll.

2,032 American voters were asked in the poll a list of objectives that might be so important as to justify “the government must shut down.” Only one single objective was close to being supported by an absolute majority of the respondents, so that the government’s going to shut-down would, in those respondents’ view, be justified for Congress to do in order to achieve that given objective, which was stated as: 

“Increase funding for defense and homeland security.” 47% of respondents (just shy of an absolute majority, which is 50+%) chose that goal as being so drastically important; 39% chose instead the answer, “NOT important enough to prompt a shutdown.” 14% chose “Don’t Know / No Opinion.” In other words: 47% were in support of any member of Congress who refused to vote to fund the government unless the proposed legislation to keep the government going would “Increase funding for defense and homeland security” (increase funding that’s going mainly to those ten firms).

Increased spending on the military-industrial complex (which is incontestably the most corrupt portion of the U.S. federal government) is so extremely important to 47% of America’s voters, according to this poll. Those 47% are like a huge cheering section for those ten corporate stocks: they’re willing to shut down the federal government if the taxpayer-money going to those ten firms isn’t increased.

The second-highest-supported listed objective, “Continue to make cost-sharing payments to health insurance companies,” was supported by only 42% of respondents. Exactly the same percentage, 42%, chose “NOT important enough to prompt a shutdown.” So: only “Increase funding for defense and homeland security” was supported, in this poll, by more people than opposed it — and it was supported by 47% and opposed by only 39%; so, it was supported by 47/39, or 1.21 times as many respondents, as the number of respondents who opposed it. The proponents of increasing the military-industrial-complex don’t merely dominate; they clearly dominate.

The third-highest-supported objective, at 35%, was “Provide health care benefits to retired coal miners.” 44% said that that goal isn’t worth shutting down the government in order for it to be attained. I.e.: more think that those miners should be left to die than think that continuing to provide for their black-lung treatments (etc.) is essential.

The lowest support of all, at only 27%, was “Fund a wall along the Mexican border.” Donald Trump’s alleged support for that is shared by far fewer Americans than oppose it. 61% of respondents on that say it’s “NOT important enough to prompt a shutdown.”

In between was the 32% who wanted to shut down the government unless it would “Decrease funding for domestic programs.” By contrast, 48% said that that goal was “NOT important enough to prompt a shutdown.” In other words: congressmen who would vote to shut down the federal government unless the proposed budget reduces “funding for domestic programs” would be opposed by a very large majority (48% to 32%) of America’s voters: 50% more Americans oppose than support it.

Americans, according to this poll, very strongly, by a 47% to 39% margin, absolutely demand “Increase funding for defense and homeland security,” but by an even stronger 48% to 32% margin, they do NOT absolutely demand “Decrease funding for domestic programs.” (This poll did not inquire regarding whether there is more support for increasing domestic programs than for decreasing those programs.)

Retired U.S. Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, who, as the Chief of Staff to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell had been deceived into believing the military-industrial-complex’s hired allegations in 2002 about Saddam Hussein and “WMD,” became afterward an opponent of that very same operation which had deceived him, has since said (at 11:06- on the video here) about that operation which had deceived him:

It is a corporate complex that is growing and it surrounds everything else, including what I call fateful decision-making. … You are serving the ulterior purposes of the leadership of the country. … You are serving corporate and commercial interests, you are serving the interests of people who bureaucratically are seeking power within the structure, and you are serving the interests of what is basically an incompetent governing process. 

This latest poll makes very clear that the majority of the U.S. public are satisfied with that situation, or else don’t know that it’s even the case. Of course, if they don’t know the reality about this matter, then they’ve been deceived by the news media they’re being exposed to, and/or by whatever other sources have influenced them regarding it; but, otherwise, they really do love the military-industrial-complex, and they authentically demand that more and more of their tax-dollars go toward paying for it.

Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of  They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of  CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.

U.S. Syria strike could hit Donbass and Europe, too, to “bring democracy” – Popov

“Trump’s willingness to take such drastic actions means for us a whole new spectrum of opportunities and responsibility.”
Dmitry Kuleba, Ukraine’s permanent representative to the Council of Europe
April 8, 2017 – Fort Russ –
By Eduard Popov – translated by J. Arnoldski –
The missile strike on a Syrian airbase on April 7th by US ships in the Mediterranean Sea buried hopes for a warming of relations between the US and Russia with the ascent of Donald Trump’s White House. The prevailing opinion among Russian experts is that Trump was forced to pursue the previous administration’s foreign policy program in the Middle East. Others argue that Trump’s hardened actions and rhetoric towards Russia are the new US President’s bargaining for giving him a free hand in implementing his domestic program. Yet perhaps these explanations are marked by a degree of confusion and self-deception on our part.
People in Russia see Trump like they want to see him. But Trump the Republican is merely trying to regain America’s role as the main cowboy which it lost after two terms of a Democratic President. Therefore, the clash of US and Russian interests in Syria (and not only Syria) was probably predetermined. And our attempts to explain this as the insidious influence of the Democrats is another self-deception.
The US really did behave in the spirit of a cowboy in bombarding a sovereign state with 59 cruise missiles which hit a base where Russian troops were present. This was probably done even with a view towards them possibly being killed. Fortunately, this did not happen, but Syrian troops were killed. But who can guarantee that Russian or American troops won’t be killed next time?
The situation in Syria’s skies was very disturbing in the last several months of Barack Obama’s presidency. Military experts repeatedly warned of the danger of a high-speed collision of Russian and American aircraft in Syria’s airspace. Yesterday, Russia suspended the memorandum on preventing air incidents over Syria, which means that the probability of a collision, even accidental, only increases. Yet Russia was compelled to take this step, just as it was forced to send the Admiral Grigorovich frigate to the Syrian coast. Russia is responding to US actions with a show of force. These non-allies could at any moment become enemies in not a cold, but hot war.
Frightening news is coming from Europe as well. Western countries and their satellites are being locked in place against Russia. French President Hollande and German Chancellor Merkel expressed solidarity with President Trump’s actions which are an obvious violation of international law. From the point of view of Western countries, political expediency (the desire to “punish” countries deemed “wrong”, such as Syria, Russia, etc.) overrides respect for international law and the basic principle of national sovereignty. 
This gives the US’ European allies justification to intensify NATO encroachment on Russia’s borders as well as close their eyes to the failure of their domestic policies, first and foremost the crisis of migration from Muslim countries. The worsening situation in Syria and strengthening of anti-Russian rhetoric undoubtedly increase the electoral chances of pro-government candidates such as Macron in France and Merkel and the CDU/CSU in Germany. As follows, they avoid the need to explain to the peoples of European the feasibility of building up NATO infrastructure near Russia’s borders and intensifying military exercises in the Baltic states and Poland.
Ukraine, a satellite of the West, rapidly responded to the changing situation. Reports are coming in from Donbass on a supposedly impending UAF attack on the People’s Republics. These concerns are partially confirmed by the statements of Ukrainian diplomats. Ukraine’s’ permanent representative to the Council of Europe, Dmitry Kuleba, stated that the US’ nighttime missile attack on Syria strengthens Kiev’s position “in the war with Russia.” He believes that “Trump’s willingness to take such drastic actions means for us a whole new spectrum of opportunities and responsibility.” This is a more than transparent hint that Ukraine will announce an  offensive on the Donbass republics and hope for the US’ political and military assistance. This Ukrainian diplomat should not have made such a statement which contradicts Minsk-2 and reveals Kiev’s plans, but, as always, emotions triumph over cold calculation in the mind of young Ukrainian diplomacy.
There is every reason to believe that not only will the Middle East, but also the European theater of rivalry between the West and Russia will be aggravated. One does not want to say aloud just how far this confrontation could go. And one really does not want to think that the Old World could turn into a continent on fire in the likes of the Middle East to which US’ cruise missiles will bring democracy. 

Paul Craig Roberts: “Cooperation with America” means surrender to America; Trump has surrendered; will Putin be the next to surrender?

There is no cooperation with America that is possible. Cooperation with America is an illusion, a fantasy. America simply doesn’t want it. A country that systematically demonizes Russia in every possible venue, including public education, including in its religious institutions, in its military, and non-stop in its media, cannot be an ally. There are Americans who won’t “drink the Kool-Aid” but they do not control U.S. policy nor the military machinery dropping the bombs and deploying the troops. 

Those who would represent freedom, true democracy, and human rights must do so without any attempt to involve the United States, or the UK, France or other western countries and allies. Tragic, but true.

Show us the way.

Global Research, April 07, 2017
Paul Craig Roberts

Washington has reopened the conflict with a Tomahawk missile attack on Syrian Air Force Bases. The Russian/Syrian air defense systems did not prevent the attack.

The Washington Establishment has reasserted control. First Flynn and now Bannon. All that are left in the Trump administration are the Zionists and the crazed generals who want war with Russia, China, Iran, Syria, and North Korea.  

There is no one in the White House to stop them.

Kiss goodbye to normalized relations with Russia.  

The Syrian conflict is set to be reopened. That is the point of the chemical attack blamed by Washington on Syria despite the absence of any evidence. It is completely obvious that the chemical attack is a Washington orchestrated event. According to reports US Secretary of State Tillerson has warned Russia that steps are underway to remove Syrian president Assad. Trump agrees.

Image result for assad

The removal of Assad allows Washington to impose another Washington puppet on Muslim peoples, to remove another Arab government with an independent policy from Washington, to remove another government that is opposed to Israel’s theft of Palestine, and for Exxon’s Tillerson and the neoconservative hegemonists to cut Russian natural gas off from Europe with a US controlled gas pipeline from Qater to Europe via Syria.  

By ignoring all of these US advantages, the Russian government dithered in completing the liberation of Syria from Washington-backed ISIS. The Russians dithered, because they had totally unrealistic hopes of achieving a partnership with Washington via a joint effort against terrorism.  

This was a ridiculous idea as terrorism is Washington’s weapon. If Washington can move Russia out of the way with threats or more Russian misplaced hopes of “cooperation” with Washington, terrorism will next be directed against Iran on a large scale.

When Iran falls, terrorism will start to work on the Russian Federation and on the Chinese province that borders Kazakhstan. Washington has already given Russia a taste of US-supported terrorism in  Chechnya. More is to come.

If the Russian government had not dithered in cleaning out ISIS from Syria when Russia unexpectedly took the lead from the West, Syria would not face partition or renewed US determination to overthrow Assad for the reasons given above. But the Russians, mesmerized by dreams of cooperating with Washington, have put both Syria and themselves in a difficult position. 

Image result for putinThe Russians grabbed the initiative and surprised the world by accepting the Syrian government’s invitation and entering the conflict. Washington was helpless. The Russian intervention immediately turned the tide against ISIS. Then suddenly Putin announced a Russian pullout, claiming like Bush on the aircraft carrier, “Mission Accomplished.”

But mission wasn’t accomplished, and Russia reentered, still with the initiative but set back somewhat from the irrational withdrawal. If memory serves, this in and out business happened a couple of times. Then when Russia has the war against ISIS won, they hold back on the finish in the vain belief that now Washington will finally cooperate with Russia in eliminating the last ISIS stronghold. Instead, the US sent in military forces to block the Russian/Syrian advances. The Russian Foreign Minister complained, but Russia did not use its superior power on the scene to move aside the token US forces and bring the conflict to an end.

Now Washington gives “warnings” to Russia not to get in Washington’s way. Will the Russian government ever learn that coopertion with Washington has only one meaning: sign up as a vassal?

Image result for trump

Russia’s only alternative now is to tell Washington to go to hell, that Russia will not permit Washington to remove Assad. But the Russian Fifth Column, which is allied with the West, will insist that Russia can finally gain Washington’s cooperation if only Russia will sacrifice Assad. Of course, Russia’s acquiescence will destroy the image of Russian power, and it will be used to deprive Russia of foreign exchange from natural gas sales to Europe.

Putin has said that Russia cannot trust Washington. This is a correct deduction from the facts, so why does Russia keep putting itself in a quandry by seeking cooperation with Washington?

“Cooperation with Washington” has only one meaning. It means surrender to Washington.

Putin has only part-way cleaned up Russia. The country remains full of American agents. Will Putin fall to the Washington Establishment just as Trump has?

It is extraordinary how little of the Russian media understand the peril that Russia is in.

DPR emergency statement: Following Trump call, Poroshenko is preparing for total war

February 6, 2017 – Fort Russ News –
RusVesna – translated by J. Arnoldski –
The deputy commander of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Eduard Basurin, stated at an emergency briefing in Donetsk last night that Poroshenko is preparing to unleash a full-scale war and reject the Minsk Agreements.
Basurin announced: “Following the talk between Poroshenko and Trump, Ukraine will in the near future cease to receive financial and military support for its terrorist operation in the land of Donbass. In connection with this, the Ukrainian president has fallen into complete despair and is ready to desperately commit to the most reckless action of unleashing a full-scale and bloody war in Eastern Europe.”
“All of this is needed in order to blame their crimes on the unrecognized republics and the Russian Federation and defraud the West of new funds in order to develop their business built on the blood of the ordinary Ukrainian people,” Basurin continued.
“The military-political command of Ukraine has refused to implement the Minsk Agreement on withdrawing heavy artillery from the contact line. On the contrary, it has carried out a build up of troop groupings.
“Our intelligence has confirmed the enemy’s activeness. In particular, we have recorded the concentration of enemy forces and means on the frontline for the purpose of creating a strike group. 
Two Tochka-U tactical missile complexes have been moved from Kramatorsk to the territory of the Avdeevka Coke Plant. Another six Tochka-U’s have been unloaded at the train station in Novobakhmutovka…Two companies of nationalists headed by the ex-commander of Right Sector, D. Yarosh, have arrived in the area of the 72nd separate mechanized brigade. Units of the National Guard of Ukraine have arrived in the area of Volnovakha.”
The DPR deputy commander reported further: “Under the cover of night, while lighting up the Crimean front in an attempt to disguise their other activities, the transfer of an anti-tank artillery division from the 57th separate mechanized brigade is ongoing to reinforce the UAF’s mechanized brigades on the Donetsk and Mariupol fronts. In addition, the fact of the redeployment of the 92nd separate mechanized brigade in full force from the Kharkov region to the zone of Poroshenko’s terrorist operation against the civilian population of Donbass, has been established. Three battalions from the nationalist Azov force have arrived from in Mariupol from Urzuf.”
Eduard Basurin concluded: “This information allows us to conclude that the UAF command, on the order of the military-political leadership of Ukraine, is preparing offensive combat operations across the entire contact line as well as sabotage against civil infrastructure, imitating the Nazis in 1941.
“In turn, our troops are ready to give the enemy a dignified rebuff and rout Kiev’s terrorist troops as before.”