Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter
October 11, 2017
Hello All – On Thursday, we are told, President Trump will "decertify" the 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement, putting the future of peace in the Middle East into the hands of (gasp!) Congress, and leading to who knows what. So please join the stalwarts of CFOW at our weekly protest rally in Hastings, where we will be standing up and speaking out for peace with Iran. We will meet at the VFW Plaza, at Warburton and Spring St., at noon. More about this issue shortly, but now we turn to some GOOD NEWS….
And the good news this week was the awarding of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize to a group that campaigned for many years to bring us the recent UN Treaty banning the making, possession, and use of nuclear weapons, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). The Treaty, established last July, was supported by 122 nations; and several articles that describe ICAN and/or discuss the importance of the UN Treaty are linked below. Here we can raise the front-burner question: What value is the Treaty if it was opposed by the United States and all the other nations that now have nuclear weapons? First, the Treaty establishes a new norm in international affairs that nuclear weapons are not acceptable. Thus every Political Science 101 propaganda class around the world will henceforth have to deal with the fact that such weapons are anathematized by the nations of the world. Second, for anti-nuke campaigners in both nuclear and non-nuclear states, the UN Treaty will serve as a platform or a base line to name and shame those who have or aspire to gain nuclear weapons, to clothe in new garments of moral righteousness the argument that possessing weapons that could eliminate tens of thousands of civilians is an unacceptable in itself. And finally (for now), the Treaty and the Nobel prize award to ICAN validates and sustains grassroots movements for peace, at a time when nation states seem to be deaf to their primary obligation of protecting their citizens from annihilation. Congratulations, ICAN, and peace stalwarts everywhere!
But, as mentioned above, President Trump is expected to "decertify" the 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement, one of the landmark peace agreements of our time. The Agreement, the result of a decade of on-and-off negotiations, essentially established a regime of prohibitions and inspections that prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapons program, in exchange for relieving Iran of a decade's worth of UN, US, and other economic sanctions. While some, including this newsletter, have argued that after 2000 Iran never had the intention to develop nuclear weapons in the first place, the Agreement appeared to lay to rest tensions that threatened to lead to a US/Israel attack on Iran's nuclear and military sites, with who knows what to follow. As for Iran's compliance with the Agreement, just this week the Agreement watchdog, the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), stated once again that Iran was complying with he terms of the Agreement.
But President Trump campaigned on the promise to "tear up" the Nuclear Agreement; and now we have arrived at "decertification." What does this mean? Following the signing of the Agreement in 2015, Republicans in Congress (supported by some Democrats such as Chuck Schumer) attempted to overturn the Agreement through legislation. This resulted in a law that requires the President to certify every 90 days that Iran is abiding by the terms of the Agreement; and if the President fails to do so, Congress could re-instate the sanctions against Iran withdrawn by the Agreement. The questions of both how this would be done and what sanctions would be restored is murky and messy; but we will soon find out. In the meantime, there are several important caveats to Trump's decertification. First, the Treaty involves all the permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany, plus the European Union, plus Iran. If the US withdraws from the Agreement, but the other nations do not, the United States will find itself isolated. Second, both Trump's Secretary of Defense and e.g. the military leadership of Israel have spoken out in favor of keeping the Agreement, thus severally weakening the arguments that it's a "Bad Agreement." Finally, the "Israel Lobby" in the United States, which strongly opposed the Agreement, has not (yet) mounted a coherent campaign against terminating the Agreement. Only today, for example, Rep. Eliot Engel, announced that he was opposed to ending the Agreement, indicating that congressional Republicans may not be able to get the same level of support from Democrats that they previously had in attempting to block the Agreement. – Yet we must expect that we will have a fight ahead of us. Let's start with a good turnout for Saturday's protest/rally in Hastings.
News Notes
Meet the new neighbor! Billionaire David Shaw is the owner of the $75 million development still under construction on Broadway in Hastings. The "restrained landscape" of the "modernist estate" has already won an award from the American Society of Landscape Architects, and you can see lots of pictures and read some text here. Not of interest to the landscape people, however, is the role of Shaw's hedge fund in the Puerto Rican economy, as a consortium of rich people have bought up the Island's bonds for pennies on the dollar and are now wanting their money. This is the "debt" that Trump keeps talking about. Your can read about the vulture funds and their attempt to profit off Puerto Rico's hurricane disaster here.
The International Energy Agency just issued a report that shows lots of good things are happening in the world of renewable energy. For example, renewables comprised 66% of all new net electricity capacity additions in 2016. Two-thirds of added capacity, in other words, consisted of photovoltaic solar cells, wind turbines and biofuels. Learn more about these developments here. And to keep on top of good and bad news about such topics, check out the new issue of the Sane Energy Project Newsletter, linked here.
The New York Times published a story today reporting that "One in 10 New York City Public School Students Were Homeless Last Year." The story notes that "more than 111,500 students in New York City schools were homeless during the last academic year, a six percent increase over the year before and enough people to populate a small city" What kind of people are we, to let this happen? Read more here.
After the Las Vegas shootings, the media was filled with yet another round of bad news about gun violence in the USA. Here is a useful summary for those who slept through it all, "Gun violence in America, explained in 17 maps and charts," [Link].
Last Friday was the 16th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan. For those who missed our leaflet at last Saturday's vigil, NB at least 111,000 people have died in this war, including more than 2,300 US forces and 32,000 Afghanistan civilians; and the war has cost the USA about $800 billion; including veterans' medical costs, Afghanistan is a trillion-dollar war. – The share of these costs for residents of the Rivertowns is almost $10,000 per capita. Today's news brings a report that US airstrikes are on the rise, with September's 751 bombs being the most since the Obama "surge" of 2010.
Things to Do/Coming Attractions
Wednesday, October 11th - CFOW stalwart and WWIII comics artist Isabella Bannerman and her mother will talk about "Growing Up in Italy During WWII." Isabella is writing/drawing an illustrated history of her mother's experiences during the war; from what I've heard so far, this is/will be very interesting. The event is part of the Italian Heritage and Culture Month, and will be held at Westchester Community College, Gateway Center, Davis Theater (Parking Lot 1), 75 Grasslands Rd. in Valhalla. The program begins at 11:15 a.m.
Wednesday, October 11th – The NY League of Conservation Voters will host a debate between County Executive candidates Astorino and Latimer at the Pace Law School, 78 N. Broadway in White Plains. The event begins at 6:30; but please show up at 6 p.m. to join the protest against Astorino's support for the Spectra AIM pipeline. To learn more about why you should join this protest, read this good article by Rob May.
Wednesday, October 25th - Religious Organizations Along the River (ROAR) will held a convocation on "Environmental Activism for the Long Haul: The Energizing Vision of Pope Francis' Laudato Si" from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Among the speakers will be SAPE stalwart Susan Van Dolsen. For more information and to register (by October 15th) go here.
Saturday, October 28th – This will be the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Sandy. The People's Climate March will hold an event on this day to demand that our government take serious steps to stop global warming/climate breakdown. More news when I have it.
Sunday, November 5th – CFOW's monthly meeting is held at the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society, 12 Elm St. in Dobbs, from 7 to 9 p.m. All are welcome at these meetings; please join us!
Sunday, November 19th – Save the date for WESPAC's "night of comedy, dance, and music," "Made in Palestine." It's at the Tarrytown Music Hall; doors open at 5 p.m. For more information, including ways you can help support/sponsor this program, go here.
CFOW Nuts and Bolts
Please consider getting involved with Concerned Families of Westchester. We meet for a vigil/rally each Saturday in Hastings, from 12 to 1 p.m., at the VFW Plaza (Warburton and Spring St.) Our leaflet and posters for our vigils are usually about war or climate change, but issues such as racial justice or the Hudson River barges are targeted from time to time, depending on current events. We meet on the first Sunday of each month, from 7 to 9 p.m., at the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society. Our weekly newsletter is archived at https://cfow.blogspot.com/; and news of interest and coming events is posted on our CFOW Facebook page. And of course we welcome contributions to support our work; please make your check out to "CFOW" and mail it to PO Box 364, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706. Thanks!
This Newsletter
The purpose of the good/useful reading linked below is to support/illuminate some of CFOW's action issues. In addition to the excellent "Featured Essays," I've included sets of articles on the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, on the Iran Nuclear Agreement, and on the forces behind Puerto Rico's economic crisis. In addition, I especially recommend Andrew Bacevich's article on the reasons why there is so little opposition to our many wars, Thomas Edsall's articles on who supports Trump and why, and the several articles under "Our History" that review the Vietnam War, now back in the news thanks to the documentary series by Ken Burns. Also, as we are now on the cusp of the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, check out the "Our History" article by Serge Halimi, and in the "Rewards" section just below try Sergei Eisenstein's 1928 film "October." All food for thought!
Rewards!
This is a long newsletter, so take a moment for some rewards. First up is an old favorite from the Speakeasies Swing Band. And for something completely different, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the (second) Russian Revolution of 1917, here is Sergei Eisenstein's 1928 film "October," with camera work by the great Eduard Tisse and music by the great Dmitri Shostakovich. Enjoy!
Best wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
THE NOBEL PRIZE GOES TO … ICAN!
(Video) Nuclear Ban Group ICAN Wins Nobel Peace Prize as Trump Threatens to End Iran Deal & Nuke North Korea
From Democracy Now! [October 6, 2017]
---- As the Nobel Committee made their announcement today in Oslo, President Trump is expected to "decertify" the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal next week. We speak with Tim Wright, the Asia-Pacific director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, and go to Tehran and Washington to get response. … This is a treaty principally intended to stigmatize nuclear weapons and establish a pathway to their elimination. Now, we never expected that the nuclear-armed nations would join the treaty at the outset, but they do have that option of joining at some point in the future. And the more countries that do get on board with this treaty, the more effective it will be in putting pressure on them to do the right thing and to join the international majority on this issue. It's simply unacceptable, from our point of view, to have weapons that are designed to kill civilians indiscriminately and on a massive scale. And there are prohibitions on chemical weapons, biological weapons, landmines and cluster munitions. It's only logical that there's now a prohibition globally on nuclear weapons. [See the Program]
Nobel peace prize winner rebukes Trump over nuclear standoff
By Saeed Kamali Dehghan and Jon Henley], The Guardian [UK] [October 6, 2017]
---- The head of the anti-nuclear campaign group awarded the Nobel peace prize has chided Donald Trump for ramping up a nuclear standoff and said the US president has a track record of "not listening to expertise". Speaking in the hours after the Norwegian Nobel committee made the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Ican) its 2017 laureate, Beatrice Fihn, the group's executive director, said Trump "puts a spotlight" on the dangers of nuclear weapons. "The election of President Donald Trump has made a lot of people feel very uncomfortable with the fact that he alone can authorise the use of nuclear weapons," she told reporters in Geneva, adding that "there are no right hands for nuclear weapons". … The award underlines the mounting danger of nuclear conflict between the US and North Korea and the increasing vulnerability of the Iran nuclear deal. It also amounts to a reprimand to the world's nine nuclear-armed powers – the US, Russia, Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel – all of whom boycotted negotiations for a treaty banning nuclear weapons that was approved by 122 non-nuclear nations at the UN in July. [Read More]
Also useful/interesting about ICAN – The text of the Nobel Peace Prize award can be read here; and ICAN's statement upon receiving the award can be read here. Useful articles about ICAN and the significance of the Nuclear Abolition Treaty include: "What is ICAN, winner of Nobel Peace Prize 2017?" from Deutsche Welt [Link]; Zia Mian, "After the nuclear weapons ban treaty: A new disarmament politics," The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists [[Link]; and Robin Wright, "The Nobel Peace Prize Goes to Anti-Bomb Idealists," The New Yorker [October 6, 2017] [Link].
FEATURED ESSAYS
Jimmy Carter: What I've learned from North Korea's leaders
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---- As the world knows, we face the strong possibility of another Korean war, with potentially devastating consequences to the Korean Peninsula, Japan, our outlying territories in the Pacific and perhaps the mainland of the United States. This is the most serious existing threat to world peace, and it is imperative that Pyongyang and Washington find some way to ease the escalating tension and reach a lasting, peaceful agreement. Over more than 20 years, I have spent many hours in discussions with top North Korean officials and private citizens during visits to Pyongyang and to the countryside. I found Kim Il Sung (their "Great Leader"), Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, and other leaders to be both completely rational and dedicated to the preservation of their regime.
What the officials have always demanded is direct talks with the United States, leading to a permanent peace treaty to replace the still-prevailing 1953 cease-fire that has failed to end the Korean conflict. They want an end to sanctions, a guarantee that there will be no military attack on a peaceful North Korea, and eventual normal relations between their country and the international community. [Read More] For a good review of the effect of economic sanctions on North Korea, read Gregory Elich, "Trump's War on the North Korean People," Zoom in Korea [September 23, 2017] [Link].
The Trump Presidency, Or How to Further Enrich "The Masters of the Universe"
By Noam Chomsky and David Barsamian, Tom Dispatch [October 9, 2017]
By Noam Chomsky and David Barsamian, Tom Dispatch [October 9, 2017]
---- Not all of the damage can be blamed on the con man who is nominally in charge, on his outlandish appointments, or on the congressional forces he has unleashed. Some of the most dangerous developments under Trump trace back to Obama initiatives -- initiatives passed, to be sure, under pressure from the Republican Congress. … Whether Trump has any idea what he and his henchmen are up to is not clear. Perhaps he is completely authentic: an ignorant, thin-skinned megalomaniac whose only ideology is himself. But what is happening under the rule of the extremist wing of the Republican organization is all too plain. [[Read More]
Autopilot Wars: Sixteen Years, But Who's Counting?
By Andrew J. Bacevich, Tom Dispatch [October 9, 2017]
By Andrew J. Bacevich, Tom Dispatch [October 9, 2017]
---- Consider, if you will, these two indisputable facts. First, the United States is today more or less permanently engaged in hostilities in not one faraway place, but at least seven. Second, the vast majority of the American people could not care less. … Why do Americans today show so little interest in the wars waged in their name and at least nominally on their behalf? Why, as our wars drag on and on, doesn't the disparity between effort expended and benefits accrued arouse more than passing curiosity or mild expressions of dismay? Why, in short, don't we give a [expletive deleted]? Perhaps just posing such a question propels us instantly into the realm of the unanswerable, like trying to figure out why people idolize Justin Bieber, shoot birds, or watch golf on television. Without any expectation of actually piercing our collective ennui, let me take a stab at explaining why we don't give a @#$%&! Here are eight distinctive but mutually reinforcing explanations, offered in a sequence that begins with the blindingly obvious and ends with the more speculative. [Read More]
Is Trump setting US course toward War with China?
By Alfred W. McCoy, Tom Dispatch [September 27, 2017]
---- The Trump White House may still be basking in the glow of America's global supremacy but, just across the Potomac, the Pentagon has formed a more realistic view of its fading military superiority. In June, the Defense Department issued a major report titled on Risk Assessment in a Post-Primacy World, finding that the U.S. military "no longer enjoys an unassailable position versus state competitors," and "it no longer can… automatically generate consistent and sustained local military superiority at range." This sober assessment led the Pentagon's top strategists to "the jarring realization that 'we can lose.'" Increasingly, Pentagon planners find, the "self-image of a matchless global leader" provides a "flawed foundation for forward-looking defense strategy… under post-primacy conditions." This Pentagon report also warned that, like Russia, China is "engaged in a deliberate program to demonstrate the limits of U.S. authority"; hence, Beijing's bid for "Pacific primacy" and its "campaign to expand its control over the South China Sea." [Read More]
CRISIS IN PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico Needs Massive Emergency Aid Now—and an End to Austerity
By Ed Morales, The Nation [September 27, 2017]
---- While immediate aid is desperately needed, the Trump administration, unsurprisingly, is missing the point: It is time for Washington to abandon its austerity approach to Puerto Rico. As a result of the PROMESA bill passed by Congress last year, a Financial Oversight and Management Board has been imposed to restructure the island's $68 billion debt, address an additional $49 billion in pension obligations, and promote economic development. To its credit, the FOMB announced on September 21 that it would allow Governor Ricardo Rosselló to redistribute up to $1 billion of the territory's budget as an emergency fund for hurricane damages. But this is the proverbial drop in the bucket for a weary populace ravaged not only by today's bankruptcy and storms worsened by climate change, but by decades of colonial neglect. [Read More]
Washington Set Puerto Rico Up for Disaster
---- This wasn't just nature's work. Another type of storm had been pounding the island long before last week. With no real representation in Washington, Puerto Rico has always been subject to the whims of stateside politicians unaccountable to the island's people. More than half a century ago, tax breaks lured industry from the mainland to Puerto Rico, but in recent decades those advantages were yanked back. That set the stage for vulture hedge funds to swoop into the vacuum, but left hospitals, schools, electrical and communications grids too underfunded and fragile to weather a Category 4 hurricane. The immediate cause of the humanitarian crisis we're witnessing now was a one-two punch by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. But the seeds for it were sown by a public debt crisis that has made life harder and harder for Puerto Ricans in recent years. … It would be immoral to insist that before Puerto Ricans can rebuild their homes, hospitals, schools and roads, they must pay back this onerous debt. Instead, repayment must be postponed, maybe even eliminated. The banks that have benefited from the debt must take their own losses and let people come first. [Read More]
WAR & PEACE
The U.S. Is Bombing at Least Six Countries. How Can the Anti-War Movement Step Up?
From In These Times [October 5, 2017]
[FB – This useful set of articles discusses what the US antiwar movement might do to get some traction. The writers include Phyllis Bennis ("Time for the Anti-War Movement to Throw Down for Racial and Economic Justice"), Vijay Prashad ("We Must Find Common Ground Without Giving In to Liberal Interventionists"), and Ali Issa ("The U.S. Anti-War Movement Must Reject a U.S.-Centric View of the World"). [Read the Articles].
Afghanistan: 16 years, thousands dead and no clear end in sight
---- America's longest war continues to trudge on and the bodies continue to pile up.The summer of 2017 has been a bloody one in Afghanistan, with the death toll numbering in the hundreds. Suicide bombers have targeted funerals and banks. A massive blast in June killed at least 150 in the capital of Kabul. Another this month rocked a Shiite mosque. According to the United Nations, the number of civilians killed in a six-month period reached an eight year record high. More than 15 years after Operation Enduring Freedom began, the Taliban is again making major gains in Afghanistan -- and shows no signs of abating. The government there controls only 63.4% of the country, as of August last year.[Read More]
Trump Threatens Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea
By Marjorie Cohn, Truthout [September 29, 2017]
---- Donald Trump threatened to "totally destroy North Korea" in his address to the United Nations General Assembly on September 19. That threat violates the UN Charter, and indicates an intent to commit genocide, crimes against humanity, the war crime of collective punishment and international humanitarian law. Moreover, a first-strike use of nuclear weapons would violate international law. … After two world wars claimed millions of lives, the UN Charter was adopted in 1945 "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war." The Charter mandates the peaceful resolution of international disputes and forbids the use of force except in self-defense or with Security Council authorization. … The US has also refused to pursue the "freeze-for-freeze" strategy suggested by China and Russia. Under this plan, North Korea would freeze its nuclear and missile testing, and the US and South Korea would end their annual, provocative joint military exercises. Vassily Nebenzya, Russia's ambassador to the UN, said this path would offer "a way out" of the current situation. [Read More]
The Iran Nuclear Agreement
Can Congress avoid blowing up the Iran deal?
October 2, 2017]
---- US President Donald Trump has repeatedly indicated that he won't find Iran to be in compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal later this month. If he follows through, the agreement's fate will lie with a Republican-controlled Congress for whom the easiest solution — both politically and legislatively — will be to reimpose nuclear-related sanctions that could well blow up the deal. … Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Al-Monitor that he was still "formulating" his decision on using INARA to re-impose sanctions on Iran. Engel was one of 25 House Democrats to vote against the deal in 2015. "Iran should not be able to get away scot-free, but whether … not certifying is the way to go, we've gotta see," Engel told Al-Monitor. "And I haven't really decided one way or another." [Read More]
Also useful on the Iran nuclear agreement – Mark Landler and David E. Sanger, "Trump to Force Congress to Act on Iran Nuclear Deal," [Link]; and Patricia Zengerle, "European ambassadors to U.S. back Iran nuclear pact," Reuters [September 25, 2017] [Link].
GLOBAL WARMING/CLIMATE BREAKDOWN
Defying Trump, Pentagon Moves To Protect Bases From Climate Change
By Farron Cousins, DeSmog Blog [September 18, 2017]
---- The Pentagon is moving forward with plans to protect its bases and operations from rising seas and other impacts of climate change, despite an order by President Trump to halt climate planning. On March 28th, 2017, President Trump issued an executive order that rescinded all climate change actions within federal agencies. These actions had been mandated by a rule from the former Obama administration that required federal agencies to take the necessary steps to protect their respective agencies from climate threats. … Even though the executive order issued by Trump in March put an end to the requirement that government agencies plan for climate impacts, the Pentagon is still moving forward with plans to protect its military installations in the United States from the growing threat. [Read More]
Barred From Testifying for 'Valve Turners,' Renowned Climate Scientist Speaks Out
By
---- A district court judge in North Dakota has barred climate change scientist Dr. James Hansen and other experts from testifying in the landmark trial of Michael Foster, one of the 11 climate activists with the group Climate Direct Action who temporarily halted the flow of tar sands bitumen from Canada into the U.S. in a #ShutItDown action last October. … Asked to share what he would have said on the stand, Hansen said: "The basic thing is, we have a crisis, which is hard for the public to recognize, but that's why we have governments—and we have a National Academy of Sciences. The science has been made clear to the government, but the government isn't doing its job, so people like you are trying to draw attention to the idiocy that we have in Washington." [Read More]
THE STATE OF THE UNION
Russiagate Is More Fiction Than Fact
By Aaron Maté, The Nation [October 6, 2017]
---- Since Election Day, the controversy over alleged Russian meddling and Trump campaign collusion has consumed Washington and the national media. Yet nearly one year later there is still no concrete evidence of its central allegations. There are claims by US intelligence officials that the Russian government hacked e-mails and used social media to help elect Donald Trump, but there has yet to be any corroboration. Although the oft-cited January intelligence report "uses the strongest language and offers the most detailed assessment yet," The Atlantic observed that "it does not or cannot provide evidence for its assertions." Noting the "absence of any proof" and "hard evidence to back up the agencies' claims that the Russian government engineered the election attack," The New York Times concluded that the intelligence community's message "essentially amounts to 'trust us.'" That remains the case today…. But the focus on Russia has utility far beyond the Clinton camp. It dovetails with elements of state power that oppose Trump's call for improved relations with Moscow and who are willing to deploy a familiar playbook of Cold War fearmongering to block any developments on that front. [Read More] For an analysis of a recent example of such journalism, read "WPost Pushes More Dubious Russia-bashing," by Robert Parry, Consortium News [September 25, 2017] [Link].
The White House as Donald Trump's New Casino
By Nomi Prins, Tom Dispatch [September 2017]
By Nomi Prins, Tom Dispatch [September 2017]
---- Theoretically, we still live in a republic, but the question is: Who exactly represents whom in Washington? By now, I think we can take a reasonable guess. When the inevitable conflicts arise and Donald Trump must choose between business and country, between himself and the American people, who do you think will get the pink slip? Who will be paying for the intermeshing of the two? Who, like the investors in his bankrupt casinos, will be left holding the bag? At this point, we're all in the Washington casino and it sure as hell isn't going to be Donald Trump who takes the financial hit. After all, the house always wins. [Read More]
The Trump Voter Paradox
By Thomas B. Edsall, New York Times [September 28, 2017]
[FB – Thomas Edsall has written several cogent articles about who voted for Trump or why lower-income white people voted for Trump. Here's the latest, followed by links to some earlier pieces.]
---- Roy Moore's decisive victory over Luther Strange in the Republican Senate primary runoff on Tuesday in Alabama confirms — as I have reported before — that many Republican voters have a strong sense of white identity, that they harbor high levels of racial resentment and that they sometimes exhibit authoritarian leanings. [Read More] For previous essays on this topic by Edsall, read "Donald Trump's Identity Politics" [August 4, 2017] [Link]; "The Great Trump Reshuffle" [May 4, 2016] [Link]; and "The Eternal Return of Unenlightened Despotism" [August 4, 2016] [LInk].
From Louis Armstrong to the N.F.L.: Ungrateful as the New Uppity
By Jelani Cobb, The New Yorker [September 24, 2017]
---- Amid Trump's nuclear brinksmanship and social-media provocation toward North Korea, amid the swollen gorges of water streaming through Puerto Rico, amid the craven and indefensible attempts to gut health care, amid the slower-moving crises of voting access, economic inequality, and climate change—amid all these things, Trump yet again found a novel way to diminish the nation he purportedly leads. He has authored danger in more ways than there are novel ways to denounce it. This is his singular genius. [Read More]
ISRAEL/PALESTINE
Sanders stands with Palestinian activist. More politicians must do the same
By Maya Garner, 972 Magazine [Israel] [October 2017]
---- It is a big deal when high profile American politicians like Bernie Sanders stand up for a Palestinian. After a nearly year-long trial in Israeli military court, and fresh out of PA custody just weeks earlier, Issa Amro traveled to the United States to meet with his supporters in Washington last week. Earlier in 2017, Sanders and dozens of other Senators and members of Congress called on the State Department to monitor Amro's military trial. This degree of support is a rare expression of solidarity for Palestinian rights. However, Israel seems willing to put its international reputation on the line in order to put Amro behind bars. [Read More]
30,000 Israelis, Palestinians Take Part in Women Wage Peace Rally in Jerusalem
By Nir Hasson, Haaretz [Israel] [October 8, 2017]
---- Some 30,000 people took part in the Women Wage Peace rally in Jerusalem on Sunday night in Independence Park. The rally was the high point of a "peace walk" that began two weeks ago in Sderot in the Negev and passed through the territories and Israel, with the participation of thousands of Israeli and Palestinian women, calling for a peace agreement. … The Women Wage Peace movement was founded three years ago after the war in Gaza, and today numbers 24,000 members. To be able to have an impact on decision-makers, the founders of Women Wage Peace understood they would need a critical mass of supporters. To achieve that, they knew they would have to appeal to women way outside their natural base: right-wing Israelis, religious Israelis, even settlers. To appeal to such a large and diverse base, they realized they would have to steer clear of controversy and focus on the issues almost all women could agree on. The organization's message is this: We will not stop until there is a peace agreement. [Read More] For some background, read Judy Maltz, "'We're Part of This Society Too': In Israel, Arab Women Are Joining Jewish Activists in Fight for Peace," Haaretz [Israel] [September 29, 2017] [Link].
UN sent warning letter to 150 companies for doing business in Israeli settlements
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz [Israel] [September 27, 2017]
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz [Israel] [September 27, 2017]
---- The UN's Human Rights Commissioner began sending letters two weeks ago to 150 companies in Israel and around the world, warning them that they are about to be added to a database of companies doing business in Israeli settlements in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, senior Israeli officials and Western diplomats involved in the matter told Haaretz. The Israeli official, who requested to stay anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issue, noted that the letters, sent by Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, said these firms were doing business in the "occupied Palestinian territories" and could thus find themselves on the UN blacklist for companies acting in violation of "international law and UN decisions." … A Western diplomat, who also requested to remain anonymous, noted that of the 150 companies, some 30 were American, and a number are from countries including Germany, South Korea and Norway. The remaining half is Israeli companies. …The Trump administration is trying to work with the UN Commission on Human Rights to prevent the list's publication. [Read More]
OUR HISTORY
There Is No Rehabilitating the Vietnam War
By
---- Since the day it ended, in 1975, there have been efforts to rehabilitate the Vietnam War, to make it acceptable, even honorable. After all, there were so many sides to the story, weren't there? It was so complex, so nuancical. There was real heroism among the troops. Of course, all of this is true, but it's true of every war so it doesn't redeem any war. The Vietnam War is beyond redemption and must be remembered and condemned for the calamity that it was. The Vietnam War was "one of the greatest American foreign policy disasters of the twentieth century." Those are not the words of a leftist pundit or a scribbling anti-American. They are the words of H.R. McMaster, the sitting National Security Advisor to the President of the United States. Why must Vietnam be remembered and condemned for the debacle it actually was? … In his memoirs McNamara wrote, "We of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations who participated in the decisions on Vietnam acted according to what we thought were the principles and traditions of this nation. We made our decisions in light of those values. Yet we were wrong, terribly wrong. We owe it to future generations to explain why." [Read More] Freeman has also written a good essay on "Why the US Lost the Vietnam War," [Link]. For more on "remembering Vietnam," please read David Remnick, "Recalling Muhammad Ali's Vietnam War Resistance in the Age of Trump," The New Yorker [September 24, 2017] [Link]; and Andrew J. Bacevich's review of the Burns and Novick documentary, The Vietnam War – "Past All Reason," The Nation [September 19, 2017] [Link].
'We are nothing, let us be all': The Century of Revolution
By Serge Halimi, Le monde diplomatique [France] [October 2017]
---- USSR: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. At first, the name does not refer to a territory, but to an idea — world revolution. Its borders will be those of the uprising that has triumphed in Russia, and later of those expected to triumph elsewhere. In the top left corner of a huge red flag, a hammer and sickle symbolises the new state, the first national anthem of which is The Internationale. The founder of the USSR is internationalist, no question. Lenin spends much of his life as a professional revolutionary in exile in Munich, London, Geneva, Paris, Krakow, Zurich, Helsinki... And he takes part in almost all the major debates of the workers' movement. In April 1917 he returns to Russia, where the Revolution has broken out and the tsar has abdicated. As his train is crossing Germany at the height of the Great War, he hears The Marseillaise, a song that symbolises the French Revolution for many of his comrades. In many respects, this represents a more significant reference point in Lenin's writing than the history of tsarist Russia. Doing as well as the Jacobins — 'the best models of a democratic revolution and of resistance to a coalition of monarchs against a republic' — and lasting longer than the Paris Commune are his obsessions. Nationalism has no part in it. [Read More]
