Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter
July 11, 2017
Hello All – Our mainstream media has become so distorted by its obsession with Trump trivialities – the New York Times, for example – that it is increasingly difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff, or the news from the factoids. The media coverage of the G20 was a good example of this, and there are several good/useful articles below that pick up on some of the important European or US-Russia themes relating to the G-20. One article that I particularly recommend is that by former CIA analyst Ray McGovern. In it he reminds us of the "Deep State" or CIA/Pentagon gross insubordination in the recent past, when "rogue" military action sabotaged fledgling attempts at ceasefires in Syria. Considering the recent US-Russian agreement to establish a ceasefire-zone in southwest Syria, McGovern asks whether Trump has the military and CIA sufficiently under control to prevent another "accidental" bombing of Syrian positions that would bring the ceasefire to a halt. Powerful forces inside the USA establishment have much to lose – or risk much – if the war in Syria is brought to an end that leaves Assad in power. So far the ceasefire has held for two days; may it last!
Several articles in this newsletter focus on the civilian casualties that have occurred in US-sponsored or supported wars. Please watch the devastating report linked below from Democracy Now!, in which a reporter/observer just back from 18 months in Iraq/Mosul describes what is going on there. Another article describes the disaster that has overtaken Yemen, where the destruction of the country's infrastructure has contributed to an unprecedented outbreak of cholera; over the weekend the Red Cross reported that the number of cases has now passed 300,000. It should be a deep shame to our country that there is so little outcry or effective protest against what must be called war crimes; history will not judge us kindly.
Finally, on a happier note, last week the United Nations passed a resolution banning nuclear weapons by a vote of 122 to 1. Because the United States opposed the resolution, and led a boycott of the discussions and voting by all nuclear weapons states, the UN action becomes a "non-event," something that never happened and that must be suppressed in the official news media. But this long-overdue action by the majority of UN countries DID happen, and it is an important and optimistic milestone in humanity's struggle to end war. Three articles linked below describe all the details. Let all supporters of peace broadcast this news widely!!
News Notes
It was almost two years ago when the "Montrose 9" tried to block construction of the Spectra pipeline. At their trial they pleaded the "necessity defense," arguing that their actions were not illegal because they were attempting to prevent a greater harm, i.e. the possibility of a huge gas explosion at the site of the Indian Point nuclear plant. The judge did not accept this argument, and several months ago sentenced the Montrose 9 to perform "community service" and pay a fine. One of the Nine, Mike Bucci, refused to do either, and on Thursday he will be back in court (Centre St. in Courtland at 9 a.m.) to hear what the judge has to say now. You can read Mike's powerful letter to the Judge at tinyurl.com/MikeBucciLetter.
This newsletter has been remiss in not paying more attention to the government crackdown against intellectuals and dissenters in Turkey. Thousands have been arrested and thousands are in prison. Leaders of Turkey's main opposition party, accompanied by thousands of opponents of the government, just completed a protest march from Ankara to Istanbul. [Link]. Over the weekend, Amnesty International's director in Turkey was arrested. Today, 72 employees of two Turkish universities were arrested [Link], apparently based on their possession of a common encryption app for their cell phones [Link]. As Turkey is a member of NATO and has strong links with the US military, what is happening in Turkey should be a concern of all Americans. I will try to have some useful reporting going forward.
The deep thinkers behind Trump's "travel ban" have decided that grandparents are not "close relatives," and therefore are not eligible for admission to the USA. Needless to say, grandparents and grandchildren are fighting back. Read about the campaign in support of #BannedGranmas.
As a good article in this week's Enterprise explains, the announcement that the Coast Guard has abandoned its efforts to establish 43 anchorages for oil tankers in the Hudson River is not true. Instead, the Coast Guard is moving on to Plan B, establishing a fact-finding commission, primarily composed of industry insiders, to review the alleged problems facing the maritime industry and make recommendations to the Coast Guard. Needless to say, environmental advocates will have only a tiny representation at "the table," and there will be no one to speak about the need to keep fossil fuels in the ground, period. I think it is vital that the Coast Guard's meetings of its working group be strongly protested; waiting until there is an official report to complain about will be too late. You can read more about this here.
The venerable group "Historians Against War" has now done some rebranding to become Historians for Peace and Democracy. Their website includes many things of interest, such as this useful review of teaching resources. One item of interest (to me) is a short history of "Historians Against War," what historians have been doing since 9/11, by old friend Jim O'Brien [Link].
Popular culture in the United States is super-saturated with militarism, even where you might not expect it, as discussed in this interesting essay about the new film "Wonder Woman." The essay also reports on a report about the Pentagon's role in editing and re-writing or cancelling scripts to ensure favorable portrayals of the military and US foreign policy. Check it out!
As the congressional non-debate on the new healthcare legislation staggers toward the finish line, Tom Tomorrow explains that the issues are not as complicated as Trump thinks they are.
Coming Attractions
Saturday, July 15th – Please join CFOW at noon for our weekly antiwar/pro-peace vigil/protest. We meet at the VFW Plaza in Hastings from 12 to 1.
Sunday, July 16th – The Westchester Coalition against Islamophobia (WCAI) presents a forum on "Countering Islamophobia: Dispelling Misconceptions About Islam" at the Ethical Cultural Society of Westchester, 7 Saxon Wood Rd. in White Plains, starting at 3:30 p.m. Speaking will be two local Muslim leaders: Dr. Mahjabeen Hassan, chairperson of the American Muslim Women's Association, and Khusro Elley, "an Islamic thinker adept at explaining the beliefs and practices of his faith." CFOW is a member of WCAI.
Contributions to CFOW
If you are able to contribute to CFOW work, we would appreciate it very much. Please send your check to Concerned Families of Westchester, PO Box 364, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706. Thanks!
Rewards!
This week's rewards for stalwart readers are some old favorites. First up is Townes Van Zandt singing his song, "Pancho and Lefty." And next up is some stride piano from Stephan Trick and Jörg Hegemann, who play Albert Ammons' version of "Shout for Joy." Enjoy!
Best wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
FEATURED ESSAYS
(Video) Devastation in Mosul: Iraq Seizes City from ISIS, But Battle Left Thousands Dead & 700,000 Displaced
From Democracy Now! [July 10, 2017]
[FB – This report by Azmat Khan, who just finished 18 months on the ground in Iraq and esp. in Mosul, is very informative, the best I've seen/heard/read.]
---- According to the United Nations, almost 700,000 residents are still displaced—nearly half living in emergency camps. Airwars is estimating between 900 and 1,200 civilians were likely killed by coalition air and artillery strikes during the assault on Mosul, but the overall death toll is significantly higher. [See the Program] For more on the destruction of Mosul: Julia Conley, "Destroying Mosul to Save It: Possible US-Backed War Crimes in Iraq Exposed," Common Dreams [July 11, 2017] [Link]; and Patrick Cockburn, "The Recapture of Mosul," [Link].
(Video) Neoliberalism and the Working Class
By Noam Chomsky and Chris Hedges, RT [June 2017]
---- On this week's episode of On Contact, Chris Hedges travels to Cambridge, Massachusetts for a conversation with America's most important intellectual, Professor Noam Chomsky. In Part I of their conversation, Chomsky discusses the adverse effects of neoliberalism on the working class, as addressed in his book, "Requiem for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth & Power". [See the Program] For more Chomsky, check out this interview/discussion between Chomsky and Ralph Nader on "Confronting Propaganda."
---- On this week's episode of On Contact, Chris Hedges travels to Cambridge, Massachusetts for a conversation with America's most important intellectual, Professor Noam Chomsky. In Part I of their conversation, Chomsky discusses the adverse effects of neoliberalism on the working class, as addressed in his book, "Requiem for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth & Power". [See the Program] For more Chomsky, check out this interview/discussion between Chomsky and Ralph Nader on "Confronting Propaganda."
Europe and the G20 Meeting
We came to Hamburg to protest about G20 – and found a dystopian nightmare
---- Arriving in Hamburg this week feels like entering a dystopian nightmare. As the city prepares to host the G20 summit this Friday and Saturday, many roads are blocked and high-security zones have been established. More than 20,000 police, many heavily armed, are patrolling the streets, backed up by drones and the latest surveillance technology. Helicopters are permanently "parked" in the clouds, so the sound of their rotors becomes a sort of background music you soon stop noticing. Perpetual police and ambulance sirens, emergency lights and water cannons accompany the orchestra of power. [Read More] Democracy Now! also reported on the G-20 [Link] and interviewed Srecko Horvat during the demonstrations in Hamburg [Link].
(Video) Europe's hidden agenda: An Interview with Yanis Varoufakis
[FB - Yanis Varoufakis was the Greek finance minister in the leftist Syriza government who, during the negotiations with the EU several years ago, resigned rather than accept the imposed austerity program demanded by Germany and the European banks. He is the author is several interesting books and essays about the economic basis of Europe's crisis; you can read his recent "op-ed" in the New York Times here. Over the past year he has initiated and now leads a European-wide movement to restructure Europe along more democratic lines, called DiEM25. In the video linked here, he speaks at length about how he sees Europe's/the world's economic crisis, and about his new movement.]
Also useful/interesting on events in Europe – Simon Kuper, "Why there will never be a Trump in today's Europe" The Financial Times [June 2017] [Link]; and Rachel Shabi, "This Is How Labour Nearly Won in the UK," The Nation [June 29, 2017] [Link].
Instead of Trying to Sabotage the Trump-Putin Meeting, Democrats Should Support Vital Proposals
July 7, 2017]
---- While many people are eager for constructive dialogue between the United States and Russia, on Capitol Hill the efforts to prevent such a possibility are fierce and unrelenting. Ultra-hawks like Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain are among quite a few Republicans doing all they can to prevent genuine diplomacy between Washington and Moscow. But much of the most unhinged rhetoric is coming from Democrats, often with the "progressive" label. [Read More]
WAR & PEACE
Poised to outlaw nuclear weapons for the first time
By Tim Wright, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists [July 6, 2017]
---- This Friday at the United Nations, an overwhelming majority of the world's nations will decide—by acclamation or vote—whether to adopt a treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons. Since June 15, they have been intensively negotiating its various provisions. Their aim: a robust, effective instrument that will lead us toward the total elimination of these abhorrent weapons. … The negotiations are part of a broader "humanitarian disarmament" agenda that places human beings at its center and challenges abstract notions such as deterrence and geostrategic stability—which have long dominated discussions on nuclear weapons and entrenched the dangerous status quo. Morality and ethics have, at last, entered the diplomatic discourse on this subject. [Read More]
Also useful/illuminating on the nuclear weapons ban – Jason Ditz, "Global Nuclear Weapons Ban Approved in 122-1 Vote," Antiwar.com [July 7, 2017] [Link]; Robert Dodge, "A Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty—Rx for Survival," Common Dreams [July 8, 2017] [Link]; and Graham Peebles, "Nuclear Weapons: Barbaric Tools of Insecurity," [Link].
The U.S. State of War: July 2017
---- What began in 2001 as a misdirected use of military force to punish a group of formerly U.S.-backed jihadis in Afghanistan for the crimes of September 11th has escalated into a global asymmetric war. Every country destroyed or destabilized by U.S. military action is now a breeding ground for terrorism. It would be foolish to believe that this cannot get much, much worse, as long as both sides continue to justify their own escalations of violence as responses to the violence of their enemies, instead of trying to deescalate the now global violence and chaos. [Read More]
Trump and Saudi Arabia Against the World
By Dilip Hiro, The Nation [July 9, 2017]
---- The Middle East. Could there be a more perilous place on Earth, including North Korea? Not likely. The planet's two leading nuclear-armed powers backing battling proxies amply supplied with conventional weapons; terror groups splitting and spreading; religious-sectarian wars threatening amid a plethora of ongoing armed hostilities stretching from Syria to Iraq to Yemen. And that was before Donald Trump and his team arrived on this chaotic scene. If there is one region where a single spark might start the fire that could engulf the globe, then welcome to the Middle East. [Read More]
Trump and the New Mideast Paradox
By Alastair Crooke, Consortium News [July 10, 2017]
---- The result has been a mess for American diplomacy — one that may entail adverse geo-political consequences (for the U.S.). What went wrong? It seems that all sides in this affair oversold their capacities to deliver, and that the "West Wing" became carried away with the dizzy prospect of a U.S.-led Sunni–Israeli coalition that would defeat ISIS, roll–back Iran, "manage away" the Palestinian "issue" from the table of disputes, and give Trump his foreign policy credentials. … it may be slowly dawning on the U.S. Administration that all this neocon foreign policy advice stove-piped into the West Wing is leaving the U.S. President with nothing to say when he talks to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's pre-G-20 statement on Syria, saying effectively that Syria is in Russia's hands, may reflect a first appreciation of this dilemma. [Read More]
The War in Syria
The Syrian Test of the Trump-Putin Accord
---- The immediate prospect for significant improvement in U.S.-Russia relations now depends on something tangible: Will the forces that sabotaged previous ceasefire agreements in Syria succeed in doing so again, all the better to keep alive the "regime change" dreams of the neoconservatives and liberal interventionists? Or will President Trump succeed where President Obama failed by bringing the U.S. military and intelligence bureaucracies into line behind a cease-fire rather than allowing insubordination to win out? These are truly life-or-death questions for the Syrian people and could have profound repercussions across Europe, which has been destabilized by the flood of refugees fleeing the horrific violence in the six-year proxy war that has ripped Syria apart. But you would have little inkling of this important priority from the large page-one headlines Saturday morning in the U.S. mainstream media. [Read More] Also useful/illuminating on the war in Syria – Somini Sengupta and Ben Hubbard, "Truce in Part of Syria, Announced by Trump, Survives First Day," [Link]; Robert Fisk, "The Qatar crisis has nothing to do with Al Jazeera and everything to do with the war in Syria," The Independent [UK] [July 6, 2017] [Link]; and Hamid Dabashi, "Is Trump committing war crimes in Iraq and Syria?" Al Jazeera [June 2017] [Lnk].
The War in Afghanistan
Trump Aides Recruited Businessmen to Devise Options for Afghanistan
---- President Trump's advisers recruited two businessmen who profited from military contracting to devise alternatives to the Pentagon's plan to send thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan, reflecting the Trump administration's struggle to define its strategy for dealing with a war now 16 years old. Erik D. Prince, a founder of the private security firm Blackwater Worldwide, and Stephen A. Feinberg, a billionaire financier who owns the giant military contractor DynCorp International, have developed proposals to rely on contractors instead of American troops in Afghanistan at the behest of Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump's chief strategist, and Jared Kushner, his senior adviser and son-in-law, according to people briefed on the conversations. [Read More]
The War in Yemen
Cholera Spreads as War and Poverty Batter Yemen
---- For much of the world, cholera, a bacterial infection spread by water contaminated with feces, has been relegated to the history books. In the 19th century, it claimed tens of millions of lives across the world, mainly through dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. That ended with modern sanitation and water systems. When it pops up now, it is usually treated easily with rehydration solutions and, if severe, with antibiotics. But the war currently battering Yemen has damaged infrastructure and deepened poverty, allowing the disease to come roaring back. Cholera is also on the rise in the Horn of Africa because of long-simmering conflicts there. Yemen's African neighbors, Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya, have had a total of about 96,000 cholera cases since 2014, international aid groups say. The crises in Africa, however, pale in comparison to the one in Yemen. Since a severe outbreak began in late April, according to Unicef, cholera has spread to 21 of the country's 22 provinces, infecting at least 269,608 people and killing at least 1,614. That is more than the total number of cholera deaths reported to the World Health Organization worldwide in 2015. [Read More] And today the Red Cross says that the number of cholera cases in Yemen has passed 300,000 [Link].
War with North Korea?
[FB – The "debate" in the United States about what to do about North Korea's nuclear weapons program is almost totally devoid of historical context and basic facts about past negotiation efforts. Assembled below is a collection of good/useful articles on the Korea issue that attempt to correct these distortions. Featured prominently among them are several articles by Bruce Cumings, author of the major books on the Korean War and recent publications about North Korea. I think the main "lesson" from these sources is that, for North Korea, memories of the total devastation of their country between 1950 and 1953 still shape their understanding of the "American threat." But also, history shows that genuine attempts to meet North Korean concerns about this threat in the mid-1990s resulted in a freeze of North Korea's nuclear program; and that the way forward in the present crisis is to return to diplomacy.]
This Is What's Really Behind North Korea's Nuclear Provocations
By Bruce Cumings, The Nation [March 23, 2017]
---- Actually, this missile was aimed directly at Mar-a-Lago, figuratively speaking. It was a pointed nod to history that no American media outlet grasped: "Prime Minister Shinzo," as Trump called him, is the grandson of Nobusuke Kishi, a former Japanese prime minister whom Abe reveres. Nobusuke was deemed a "Class A" war criminal by the US occupation authorities after World War II, and he ran munitions manufacturing in Manchuria in the 1930s, when Gen. Hideki Tojo was provost marshal there. Kim Il-sung, whom grandson Kim Jong-un likewise reveres, was fighting the Japanese at the same time and in the same place. [Read More]
More good articles by Bruce Cumings – "Did Kim Jong Un Blow Up a Nuclear Weapon for His Birthday?" The Nation [January 8, 2016] [Link]; and "The North Korea That Can Say No," The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists [January 11, 2016] [Link].
(Video) Will Trump Seek Talks with North Korea or Counter Missile Test with More U.S. Military Aggression?
From Democracy Now! [July 5, 2017]
---- Tension is rising again on the Korean Peninsula after North Korea successfully tested an intercontinental missile on Tuesday that experts said is capable of reaching Alaska. In response, the U.S. and South Korea carried out a joint ballistic missile drill in the Sea of Japan. Earlier this year, the United States carried out massive military exercises in the Korean Peninsula and deployed an anti-missile system known as THAAD to South Korea, despite protests by South Koreans. We speak with Christine Ahn, the founder and international coordinator of Women Cross DMZ, a global movement of women mobilizing for peace in Korea. [See the Program]
The Korean compromise to come
By Andrei Lankov, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists [August 15, 2016]
---- There will be no resolution of the North Korean nuclear impasse as long as denuclearization is cast as the only acceptable solution. Sure, proponents of sanctions and pressure will peddle their arguments for years and even decades to come. Believers in an "Iranian-style" diplomatic solution will do the same. But one can be fairly certain by now that no degree of economic pressure, no economic reward, will persuade North Korean decision makers to surrender their nuclear weapons—which they see as their only security guarantee. Thus denuclearization can only be achieved through regime change in Pyongyang. Regime change is a possible scenario, especially in the long run, but not a predictable one. Once these uncomfortable truths are accepted, the next step is to search for ways to mitigate the negative consequences of the North's nuclearization. [Read More]
War with Iran?
The Growing Danger of War With Iran
By Paul R. Pillar, LobeLog [July 10, 2017]
[FB – Paul Pillar worked for 28 years in various US intelligence agencies; he was the Executive Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence.]
---- A combination of circumstances has increased the risk that armed conflict will break out between the United States and Iran. Such a war is no certainty, but the chance that one will occur is greater today than it has been in years … Armed conflict with Iran would be an enormously negative event for U.S. interests on several grounds, beginning with whatever expenditure of American blood and treasure was involved. Other consequences would include giving a gift to the most hardline elements in Iranian politics, possibly leading to renunciation of the nuclear agreement and the opening of a path to an Iranian nuclear weapon. There would be collateral damage to U.S. good will and relations with many others, beyond some hardliners in other places who would welcome the spilling of American blood as long as it was done in the service of attacking Iran. One can hope that that there will be enough thinking about such consequences to prevent such an armed conflict from coming to pass. [Read More]
US Escalation in Libya?
US Looks to Dramatically Escalate Involvement in Libya
By Jason Ditz, Antiwar.com [July 10, 2017]
---- US officials familiar with the situation say that the Trump Administration is likely to announce a dramatic "ramping up" of US involvement in Libya, appointing a new US ambassador, and setting up a permanent US military presence in the nation. … The US officials say that the administration is happy with their increased involvement in Somalia, and is looking to replicate that sudden escalation in Libya, trying to carve out a permanent US presence in the country, and ensure that whoever ends up in power becomes a US client. [Read More]
CLIMATE CHANGE/GLOBAL WARMING
[FB – The first article below, by David Wallace-Wells, has generated controversy because of its comprehensive assembling of evidence/argument that humans simply won't survive the coming climate catastrophes. Needless to say, this is a bit depressing, and has generated some scientific pushback. In this article, leading climate scientist Michael Mann argues that the "we're doomed" argument overstates its case and exaggerates some of the evidence. We report, you decide.]
The Uninhabitable Earth
---- The scientists know that to even meet the Paris goals, by 2050, carbon emissions from energy and industry, which are still rising, will have to fall by half each decade; emissions from land use (deforestation, cow farts, etc.) will have to zero out; and we will need to have invented technologies to extract, annually, twice as much carbon from the atmosphere as the entire planet's plants now do. Nevertheless, by and large, the scientists have an enormous confidence in the ingenuity of humans — a confidence perhaps bolstered by their appreciation for climate change, which is, after all, a human invention, too. … The planet is not used to being provoked like this, and climate systems designed to give feedback over centuries or millennia prevent us — even those who may be watching closely — from fully imagining the damage done already to the planet. But when we do truly see the world we've made, they say, we will also find a way to make it livable. For them, the alternative is simply unimaginable. [Read More]
A World in Trouble: Drought, War, Food, Flight
By Paul Rogers, Open Democracy [July 7, 2017]
---- There has never been too little food to go round, for (at least since 1945) world grain resources have not been anywhere near complete depletion. The problem, instead, has been much more one of poverty. In short, people are unable for many reasons to grow their own food and far too poor to buy food when harvests fail. There has never been too little food to go round. Now there is a new international food crisis, as reported by the director-general of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation at the organisation's biennial conference. Jose Graziano da Silva said that the FAO "has identified nineteen countries facing severe food crises due to a combination of conflict and climate change, including South Sudan, northeast Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen, where nearly 20 million are at risk." [Read More]
(Video) Even as All G20 Countries Except U.S. Affirm Paris Deal, Nations Pour $72B a Year into Fossil Fuels
From Democracy Now! [July 10, 2017]
---- On Saturday, world leaders broke with the United States on climate change and reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris climate agreement, which they called "irreversible." The final joint statement from the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, took the unusual step of acknowledging the U.S. rejection of the Paris deal while reiterating the rest of the world's support for the landmark climate agreement. Meanwhile, a group of environmental organizations have released a new report claiming G20 governments provide an average of $72 billion per year in public finance for fossil fuels—nearly four times as much as they provide for clean energy. [See the Program]
THE STATE OF THE UNION
Why Single Payer, Now, Is for Real
By Robert Pollin, The Intercept [
[FB – Robert Pollin is a co-author, along with Hastings' Peter Arno, of an in-depth study of the economic feasibility of establishing a single-payer health program in California.]
---- We can take as a given that insurance and pharmaceutical companies will mount relentless oppositional campaigns against any and all single-payer proposals in the United States, regardless of whether they are at the state or federal levels. If that is the basis for pronouncing single payer "nearly impossible" to implement, then we should simply resign ourselves to continue living with our current health care system that even Warren Buffett, a single-payer supporter, calls "the tapeworm of American competitiveness." On the other hand, if we are serious about creating a health care system that can provide everyone with decent care while lowering overall costs — including costs for families at almost all levels and businesses of almost all sizes — then we need to continue advancing the arguments in support of single payer at both the state and federal levels. What are some of the critical questions at hand with the current Healthy California fight? [Read More]
Where Is the Outrage Over Anti-Immigrant Bills?
By Sonali Kolhatkar, Common Dreams [July 8, 2017]
---- While many of us are rightfully angry over Donald Trump's treatment of the media, over the GOP's attempt to gut health care for millions of Americans and over myriad other issues, two little-noticed but impactful bills sailed through the House of Representatives last week with barely a peep from progressive voices. The bills were the first immigration-related pieces of legislation taken up by the House since Trump's inauguration and apply harsh penalties for undocumented people. They also help the president live up to some of his most xenophobic rhetoric and were passed with little or no debate, even receiving some Democratic support. They now head to the Senate, and unless there is a major public outcry, the bills could become law and fuel the hateful promises Trump made to the racist elements in his base. [Read More]
ISRAEL/PALESTINE
How Israel's 10-Year Blockade Brought Gaza to the Brink of Collapse
By Tareq Baconi, The Nation [July 8, 2017]
---- The stories read like dispatches from a nightmare, describing a reality that is almost too extreme to fathom: nearly 2 million people locked inside a land mass the size of Philadelphia, the borders carefully controlled, the movement of goods and humans severely restricted; as much as 72 percent of the population facing food insecurity and 41 percent struggling with unemployment; hospitals forced to rely on generators for life-saving equipment, while supplies of life-saving medicines dwindle to dangerous levels; and looming in the not-far-off distance, as water treatment and desalination plants stop working, the risk that drinking water will run out. Such is the daily reality of life in the Gaza Strip, the narrow Mediterranean enclave that is home to nearly half of all Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. [Read More] Also interesting/useful on the Gaza blockade/crisis are Uri Avnery, "Eyeless in Gaza," Counterpunch [July 7, 2017] [Link]; and Sari Bashi, "Turn Gaza's lights back on," Middle East Eye [June 23, 2017] [Link].
Why Palestine Is Still the Issue
By John Pilger, ZNet [July 10, 2017]
FB – John Pilger is one of the great journalists of our time. In 1977 he made a film called "Why Palestine is Still the Issue," which he updated in 1997 [Link]. Recently, 20 years after his updated film, he gave a talk at London's "Palestinian Expo" about what has changed and what hasn't.]
---- At the heart of the Middle East is the historic injustice in Palestine. Until that is resolved, and Palestinians have their freedom and homeland, and Israelis are Palestinians equality before the law, there will be no peace in the region, or perhaps anywhere. What Mandela was saying is that freedom itself is precarious while powerful governments can deny justice to others, terrorise others, imprison and kill others, in our name. Israel certainly understands the threat that one day it might have to be normal. Events are moving quickly now. The remarkable Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions campaign (BDS) is succeeding, day by day; cities and towns, trade unions and student bodies are endorsing it. The British government's attempt to restrict local councils from enforcing BDS has failed in the courts. These are not straws in the wind. When the Palestinians rise again, as they will, they may not succeed at first — but they will eventually if we understand that they are us, and we are them. [Read More]
OUR HISTORY
The Tragic, Forgotten History of Black Military Veterans
By Peter C. Baker, The New Yorker [November 27, 2016]
---- The new report, "Lynching in America: Targeting Black Veterans," concludes that, during the same period, "no one was more at risk of experiencing violence and targeted racial terror than black veterans." The susceptibility of black ex-soldiers to extrajudicial murder and assault has long been recognized by historians, but the topic has never received such comprehensive standalone treatment. In the aftermath of Trump's victory, it seems eerily relevant. [Read More]
This Is Not Populism
By
[FB – John Bellamy Foster is the editor of the Monthly Review, one of the oldest socialist journals in the United States. In this extensive essay, he presents what is imo the most serious investigation comparing Trumpism and the right wing movements in Europe to fascist movements of an earlier era.]
---- Mainstream commentary has generally avoided the question of fascism or neofascism in this context, preferring instead to apply the vaguer, safer notion of populism. This is not just because of the horrific images of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust that the term fascist evokes, or because it has been increasingly used as an all-purpose term of political abuse. Rather, the liberal mainstream's aversion to the neofascist designation arises principally from the critique of capitalism that any serious engagement with this political phenomenon would entail. As Bertolt Brecht asked in 1935: "How can anyone tell the truth about Fascism, unless he is willing to speak out against capitalism, which brings it forth?" [Read More]
