CFOW Weekend Update - Tomorrow: "March for Science" and CFOW vigil

CFOW Weekend Update

April 21, 2017

 

Hello Stalwarts – World-savers have a busy couple of weeks coming up.  The two main dangers to our civilization/survival – nuclear war and climate change – will be in the spotlight and on the front burner, etc.  The two marches in Washington, D.C. – tomorrow the "March for Science" and the following Saturday the "People's Climate March" – both focus on threats to our planet.  Closer to home, tomorrow there will be a sister "March for Science" beginning at 10:30 a.m. in NYC; and the following week there will be a sister "People's Climate March" in White Plains starting at 11 a.m. – More details about both these events are included in the calendar entries down below.

 

While many stalwarts and friends of CFOW will be going to these important marches, in light of the escalation of US military adventures and the threat of war with North Korea, we will also hold antiwar vigils in Hastings on both Saturdays at noon, at the VFOW Plaza (Warburton and Spring St.). 

 

In our news media, the war drums have been muffled by an obsessive focus on the latest/daily shenanigans of Trump and his not-ready-for-prime-time players. Yet the war news is very bad.  It is now clear that an important objective of the cruise missile attack on Syria and the giant bomb dropped on ISIS in Afghanistan was to signal the North Koreans that the United States is prepared to use enormous military force if it is not obeyed.  Though all news about the US "Armada" heading towards the coast of North Korea must now be viewed with caution, it appears that the US aircraft carrier will be in position to strike North Korea sometime next week.  Whether a war – and a devastating one – can be averted via the resumption of some kind of negotiations is unclear.  We must assume that frantic negotiations are going on between China and North Korea, and between the United States and China; but we will know about them and their outcome only long after the fact.

 

As for our several military conflicts/wars now underway, it appears that the Trump administration and the Pentagon are escalating the US military presence in each of them.  Despite horrific civilian casualties in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen – and despite the apparent lack of progress in moving towards anything that could be described as a "victory" for US imperial aspirations – each week seems to add hundreds more troops to each theater of war, with clear commitments to increased firepower. – Below I've linked illuminating articles by Gareth Porter about the US war crimes in Yemen and by Ahmed Rashid about the continuing disaster of "America's longest war" in Afghanistan. Investigations of the wars in Somalia, Iraq, Syria, and Libya would reveal similarly hopeless situations, where the only consistent US intervention is to reject and prevent negotiations that might end the violence. – For these reasons, it is important that all supporters of peace and opponents of the US Empire's military adventurism make an extra effort to speak out and act up against the current course of events.

 

As newsletter readers know, Israel's defensive counterattack against the Palestinian "Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions" movement has broad support within the US political elite.  Whether from sincere belief or crass opportunism, both federal and state legislatures are attempting to strike back at the BDS movement through what most legal observers regard as unconstitutional suppression of free speech.  At the very bottom of this "Weekend Update," I've inserted a recent appeal from the Westchester Coalition against Islamophobia against anti-BDS legislation now under consideration in Albany.  Please consider this and, if in agreement, contact the legislators indicated to voice your distress against this unwarranted attack on non-violent resistance to Israel's anti-Palestinian policies.

 

Coming Attractions

Saturday, April 22^nd – The New York City "March for Science" starts at 10:30 a.m. at 62^nd St. and Central Park West. The march will start at 11:30 a.m. and head down Broadway to 52^nd St. For more information, go here and here.

 

Sunday, April 23^rd – A free showing of the film "Cries from Syria," a documentary on Syria's civil war, will be held at The Community of Living Traditions, Stony Point Confdrence Center, 17 Cricketown Rd., in Stony Point, NY.  The film starts at 3 p.m. Following the film, there will be a Q & A with two young women seeking asylum in the US, Ahed Festuk and Sana Mustafa. You may also stay for dinner for a cost of $10. RSVP here: tinyurl.com/april23spc.  For more information call 845-786-5674.

 

Monday, April 24 – "Justice Monday" will continue in White Plains, starting at noon at the Renaissance Plaza fountain, Main St. and Mamaroneck Ave.  This week "Justice Monday" will join the Westchester Jewish Council and the Holocaust and Human Rights Center to commemorate the Holocaust.  For more information, go here. (No signs or placards for this event.)

 

Saturday, April 29^th – Hundreds of thousands of people will be in Washington, DC for the Peoples Climate March.  As the world rockets toward self-destruction and the Trump Agenda eliminates the few feeble protections set up by the Obama administration against global warming and climate change, humanity is on our own to save our civilization.  To learn about the Climate March, go here.  To get a seat on a Climate March bus leaving Hastings Saturday morning, email Tara Herman (Indivisible CD16) at taraherman@mac.com , and she will send you a reservation link and more information.  The cost of the bus is $57.87 per person. There is also a bus from North White Plains.

 

Saturday, April 29^th - Peoples Climate March rally in White Plains (Renaissance Plaza, Main St. and Mamaroneck Ave.) from 11 a.m. to 12 noon). For more information, go here.

 

Saturday, May 6^th – The 6^th annual "River Sweep" – organized by the Riverkeeper – will include 90 cleanups and tree planting projects from NYC to Albany.  Last year, Over 2,200 volunteers removed 49 tons of debris from the Hudson River Estuary. To learn more, and to get hooked up with local projects in Yonkers, Hastings, Dobbs, Irvington, etc., go here.

 

Saturday, May 20^th – CFOW will be one of the organizations participating in the Westchester Social Forum, at the New Rochelle High School, starting at 10 a.m. For more information, go here.

 

Saturday, June 3^rd – CFOW will once again lead off the River Arts Music Tour.  As those with working memories will recall, for the last two years we kicked off the Music Tour in Hastings with some peace and justice songs, starting at 12 and going to 1 pm, under the leadership/direction of Jenny Murphy.  So we're signed up for this again. Please start vocalizing and get ready to join our Stalwart Chorus.

 

Rewards!

Even for a short Weekend Update, stalwart readers get what's coming to them.  Get your dancing shoes on for the first reward, as Marcia Ball sings out a warning about "(Big Mouth) Louella." Next up we have Eric Bibb and Maria Muldaur with "Don't Ever Let Nobody Drag Your Spirit Down."  And to hear the wonderful Maria in something completely different, go here.

 

Best wishes,

Frank Brodhead

For CFOW

 

Some Good/Useful Weekend Reading

 

The Planet Can't Stand This Presidency

By Bill McKibben, New York Times [and 350.org] [April 20, 2017]

---- President Trump's environmental onslaught will have immediate, dangerous effects. He has vowed to reopen coal mines and moved to keep the dirtiest power plants open for many years into the future. Dirty air, the kind you get around coal-fired power plants, kills people. It's much the same as his policies on health care or refugees: Real people (the poorest and most vulnerable people) will be hurt in real time. That's why the resistance has been so fierce. But there's an extra dimension to the environmental damage. What Mr. Trump is trying to do to the planet's climate will play out over geologic time as well. In fact, it's time itself that he's stealing from us. What I mean is, we have only a short window to deal with the climate crisis or else we forever lose the chance to thwart truly catastrophic heating. [Read More]

 

Inaction on Climate Change Equals Human Annihilation

By Michael T. Klare, TomDispatch [April 20, 2017]

---- Not since World War II have more human beings been at risk from disease and starvation than at this very moment. On March 10th, Stephen O'Brien, under secretary-general of the United Nations for humanitarian affairs, informed the Security Council that 20 million people in three African countries -- Nigeria, Somalia, and South Sudan -- as well as in Yemen were likely to die if not provided with emergency food and medical aid. "We are at a critical point in history," he declared. "Already at the beginning of the year we are facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the U.N."  Without coordinated international action, he added, "people will simply starve to death [or] suffer and die from disease." Major famines have, of course, occurred before, but never in memory on such a scale in four places simultaneously. [Read More]

 

The US Provided Cover for the Saudi Starvation Strategy in Yemen

By Gareth Porter, Truthout [April 8, 2017]

---- As Yemen's population has teetered on the brink of mass starvation in recent months, the United States has played a crucial role in enabling the Saudi strategy responsible for that potential humanitarian catastrophe. Both the Obama and Trump administrations have prioritized the US's alliance with the Saudis and their Gulf allies over the lives of hundreds of thousands of Yemenis under imminent threat of starvation. Although the UN agencies have offered no public estimate of the number of Yemenis who have died of malnutrition-related conditions, it is likely that the figure is much higher than the estimate of 10,000 killed directly by the Saudi-coalition bombing. United Nations agencies have estimated that 462,000 Yemeni children under five years of age are already suffering severe acute malnutrition, putting them at serious risk of death from starvation and malnutrition-related disease. [Read More]

 

Afghanistan: Making It Worse

By Ahmed Rashid, New York Review of Books [April 18, 2017]

----Since assuming office President Donald Trump has barely mentioned Afghanistan, a country where US forces have been engaged in the longest war in American history. Perhaps this is because, after more than fifteen years and $700 billion, the US has little to show for it other than an incredibly weak and corrupt civilian government in Kabul and a never-ending Taliban insurgency. Now Afghanistan faces a new horror—as a testing ground for what can only be called a US weapon of mass destruction. [Read More]

 

An Appeal to All from the Westchester Coalition Against Islamophobia

NY STATE ASSEMBLY MEMBERS TO CONSIDER A3239 TO PENALIZE BDS SUPPORTERS

WESTCHESTER VOICES URGENTLY NEEDED TO COUNTER THIS MOVE - PLEASE ACT QUICKLY

 

Dear Friends,

Below is an urgent request for your help in fighting a bill in the State Assembly that penalizes supporters of BDS. Legislators are returning to Albany the week of April 24 and need to hear from us NOW. Please find immediately below directions for what you can do and talking points, and then scroll down toward the end of the message for a full explanation of the problem: what is happening and why we need to act.

 

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Send an email to each of the four Westchester Assembly representatives who are involved with A3239.  If you are a constituent, emphasize this; but email even if you are not, because every message helps. If you are Jewish, make this explicit. Calls are fine, but letters and emails leave a written record of your opinion and should come first.

 

Please send an email to Amy Paulin (Assemblywoman for District 88 with offices in Scarsdale) and to Steven Otis (District 91, office in Port Chester) protesting their sponsorship of this bill and expressing your hope that they will rescind their support. PaulinA@nyassembly.gov       OtisS@nyassembly.gov

 

Send a message to both David Buchwald (District 93, office in Mt. Kisco), also a sponsor of A3239, and Sandy Galef (District 95, office in Ossining), both of whom sit on the Government Operations Committee in which the similar bill died last year. Urge them to prevent this bill from getting out of committee to the floor. BuchwaldD@nyassembly.gov  GalefS@nyassembly.gov

 

TALKING POINTS

1. Boycott, divestment, and sanctions are nonviolent approaches to ending injustice.  These tactics are protected under the Constitution and have a long and honorable history protesting segregation (the Montgomery bus boycott), unfair working conditions (the farmworkers' grape boycott), an apartheid regime (the boycott of South Africa), and LGBT discrimination (boycotts of Arizona and North Carolina). Official NY State legislative measures that penalize supporters of BDS have a chilling effect on speech and association that infringes First Amendment protections. They stifle the open exchange of ideas that could help resolve the tragic conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. 

 

2. Requiring vendors to certify to their political beliefs and actions is an egregious violation of the Bill of Rights reminiscent of McCarthyite loyalty oaths. The NY State Legislature should not be discriminating against people who follow the demands of their conscience.

 

3. The BDS movement on behalf of Palestinian rights, which is supported by many in the Jewish community, is directed against the discriminatory policies the government of Israel employs against Palestinians. It is not anti-Semitic. It does not promote hatred or discriminate against Jews as a people but rather protests the policies of a state.

 

4. Under international law recognized by the vast majority of nations of the globe, the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands is considered illegal and Israel's treatment of Palestinians an abuse of human rights.  Supporters of BDS are thus acting in concert with international law and standards of justice.  

THE PROBLEM

The NY State Senate has already passed three bills (S2492, S2493, S4837) that stifle the free expression of political opinions. One of the bills, if enacted, would defund student groups that endorse boycott campaigns for Palestinian rights. The second would withhold state funding from academic institutions that support BDS campaigns. The third bill would codify – and expand – a widely-criticized, anti-protest executive order signed last year by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat. The bill would, among other things, expand Cuomo's blacklist to include individuals who support boycotts for Palestinian rights. Local State Senators Andrea Stewart-Cousins and George Latimer both voted in favor of these bills.

 

These three bills have been modified and passed on to the State Assembly in the form of A3239, which aims to prohibit State contracts with vendors who support BDS. According to the official website, this bill establishes "purchasing restrictions on persons boycotting Israel and the investment of certain public funds in companies boycotting Israel; requires the commissioner of general services to compile a list of companies boycotting Israel and establishes that such companies will be considered non-responsive bidders." For the moment, while the Assembly negotiates the State budget, A3239 is sitting in the Government Operations Committee, which is chaired by Crystal Peoples-Stokes, who represents a Buffalo district. We must urge committee members not to consider A3239 so that it will not get to the Assembly floor.

 

BDS is being condemned as anti-Semitic, and anti-BDS bills are being sold as a response to anti-Semitism. Protest from Westchester Jewish voices is thus particularly important. Anti-Semitism, like Islamophobia, is currently a serious problem; but discriminating against people whose consciences lead them to support BDS is not the way to tackle it. 

 

CFOW Emergency Update - War in Korea? Rally Monday in White Plains

CFOW Emergency Update

April 16, 2017

 

Hello All – We may look back on this warm Easter Sunday as a moment of calm before the storm.  Needless to say, the danger of war breaking out in Korea is very high. What can we do?

 

There are many things we don't know.  We don't know if North Korea attempted yesterday's missile launch over the strong objections of China.  We don't know what the response of the United States would have been if the launch had succeeded.  What don't know about communications presumably going on between the United States and China, China and North Korea, and perhaps even the United States and North Korea.  We don't know if the across-the-board opposition of leading South Korean politicians to US military action against North Korea has any impact.  We don't know if North Korea's stated intention to go ahead with another (underground) nuclear weapon test is going forward, and we don't know if the US has any contingency plans to "preempt" the test by military action, or to respond with military action after such a test has been done.

 

We can assume – or at least hope – that the Trump team would not initiate a war with North Korea while Vice President Pence is in Seoul, South Korea.

 

The long-term problem for the United States in thinking about military action against North Korea is that much of the country's governing infrastructure and military facilities is underground; and it is likely that the United States doesn't have a complete map of where things are. Because much of North Korea's artillery is near the border with South Korea, and within easy shooting distance of the 10 million people – and US bases with thousands of US soldiers – in the area. 

 

This military-hostage standoff has been compounded in recent years with North Korea's development of missiles that could reach Japan and US bases in Okinawa.  Thus a "first strike" by the United States against North Korea would have to have a high certainty of destroying almost everything that could shoot back – or risk a retaliatory strike from North Korea that might kill many thousands of people. – In other words, it seems to me that much of the war will be done/not done in the first hour.

 

The path towards a peaceful resolution of the US-North Korea standoff over the latter's nuclear program has always been open and clear.  It was successfully initiated in the 1990s, with North Korea dismantling or freezing the bulk of its nuclear program in exchange for economic assistance and a promise from the United States that it would not attack.  The economic assistance part of this pact lapsed after President Bush was inaugurated in 1991; and after unsuccessful efforts by North Korea to persuade the United States to resume aid, they started up their nuclear program again.  Needless to say, the "Axis of Evil" speech by President Bush didn't help; and to my knowledge the Obama administration relied on economic sanctions, rather than renewed negotiations, to attempt to force North Korea to end its nuclear and missile programs.  The same strategy has been the stated aim of the Trump administration, now interrupted by this New Course.

 

What to Do

At this point, citizen protest will be only a tiny voice in the cataract of war noise.  Still, we must do what we can.  One thing we can do is to call our elected representatives and demand that they speak out against war with North Korea, and pursue negotiations instead.  Here are their phone numbers:

 

Senator Charles Schumer: 212-486-4430

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand: 212-688-6262

Congresswoman Nita Lowey: 914-428-1707

Congressman Eliot Engel: 718-796-9700

 

A second thing that we can do is come to an antiwar rally tomorrow, Monday, at noon, in White Plains.  The rally is at the fountain at Renaissance Plaza, at the intersection of Main St. and Mamaroneck Ave.  This is part of the weekly "Justice Monday" organized by the Westchester Social Justice Coalition.  By chance, tomorrow is CFOW's turn to lead the rally, with a focus on the military budget and the threat of war.  Please try to attend.  A big rally, a good turnout, will be a sign that, at least in Westchester, people oppose the war danger brought on by the reckless actions of President Trump.

 

I linked below two pieces of good/useful reading about the Korea crisis. Some of you may have seen these articles before, but so far they are the most useful that I know of.

 

A newsletter will be coming along one of these days, but that's it for this weekend.

 

Best wishes,

Frank Brodhead

For CFOW

 

SOME GOOD/USEFUL READING ON KOREA

 

This Is What's Really Behind North Korea's Nuclear Provocations

By Bruce Cumings, The Nation [March 23, 2017]

---- North Korea is the only country in the world to have been systematically blackmailed by US nuclear weapons going back to the 1950s, when hundreds of nukes were installed in South Korea. … Why on earth would Pyongyang not seek a nuclear deterrent? But this crucial background doesn't enter mainstream American discourse. History doesn't matter, until it does—when it rears up and smacks you in the face. [Read More]

 

U.S. may launch strike if North Korea reaches for nuclear trigger

By William M. Arkin, etal., NBC News [April 13, 2017]

---- The U.S. is prepared to launch a preemptive strike with conventional weapons against North Korea should officials become convinced that North Korea is about to follow through with a nuclear weapons test, multiple senior U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News. North Korea has warned that a "big event" is near, and U.S. officials say signs point to a nuclear test that could come as early as this weekend. The intelligence officials told NBC News that the U.S. has positioned two destroyers capable of shooting Tomahawk cruise missiles in the region, one just 300 miles from the North Korean nuclear test site. [Read More]

 

CFOW Weekend Update - vigil Saturday; rally Monday in White Plains

CFOW Weekend Update

April 14, 2017

 

Hello Stalwarts – Two big events coming up.  Please join us Saturday at the VFW Plaza at noon for our weekly antiwar/pro-peace vigil/protest.  Our protest will focus on military spending (Tax Day is coming up) and on the threat of war.  Trump's bombing of Syria and then Afghanistan and the looming collision with North Korea make this moment an especially dangerous one.  Please come to the rally, not only to raise an antiwar voice, but so we can talk together about what's happening and what we might do.

 

And on Monday, CFOW will be the host/lead organization for the "Justice Monday" demo/rally in White Plains at noon.  Please make a big effort to be there for this important event.  This is a weekly event organized by a coalition of Westchester progressive groups (including CFOW).  Past Justice Monday's have focused on refugees, environmental and housing issues, etc.  This is the first Justice Monday to focus on antiwar.  We will be meeting at noon at the Renaissance Plaza (Main St. and Mamaroneck Ave.), at the fountain.  Linda Snider and Nick Mottern are coordinating our presentation.  Nick will have his drone, and Nick, Susan Rutman, and I will be among the speakers.  One of our leaflets will be a version of our statement opposed to bombing Syria, and one will be about military spending.  For more information, or if you need a ride/can offer a ride, please send a return email.

 

Our statement opposing the bombing of Syria has generated some controversy.  In preparation for Monday's rally, we sent the statement to all the organizations in the Westchester coalition (15-20), and to other peace and justice organizations in/near the Rivertowns.  WESPAC, Indivisible Rivertowns, and Social Action 10591 (Sleepy Hollow) have endorsed the statement, but no others.  A half-dozen organizations have informed us that they can't or won't endorse the statement.  Some have said they have problems making a decision, others have stated objections. – I find this very interesting and food for thought.  Undoubtedly other organizations will endorse the statement in the coming days, but it is clear that war/antiwar is for many organizations not an issue about which they have been thinking, and/or about which they do not have unity.  To me this says that we may be optimistic when we sometimes complain that we are only "preaching to the choir."  The non-response of many progressive organizations to the plea to protest against the Syria bombing indicates that "the choir" may not be in the church at all.  We will learn more about this in the days & weeks to come.

 

Last night the CFOW healthcare committee met.  It was a small but good meeting, following up on last Saturday's rally in Hastings for "Improved Medicare for All" or "Single-Payer."  After considering several options, the committee decided to focus its work in the coming months on pushing for the "Single-Payer" healthcare legislation now pending in Albany, This means local education (e.g. leafleting at the farmers market) and targeting legislators about the importance of Single Payer, especially the state senators who are members of the Independent Democrat Caucus (IDC), the nine (I think) members of the Senate who are elected as Democrats but work with the Republicans to control the Senate.  Although the IDC senators are supposedly in favor of Single Payer, by working with the Republicans they allow the Republicans to determine what legislation does, and what does not, get to be voted on. So far the Republicans and the IDC are not letting the Single Payer legislation come to a vote. – As some members of the healthcare committee are also members of NYS CD16 Indivisible (Engel's district), we will be exploring the possibility of working with their health committee on this particular project, as we believe the Indivisible group has the same goal and tactics in mind. – If you would like to work with the Healthcare Committee, please send a return email.  Our next meeting is on Wednesday, May 3^rd.

 

We had an interesting discussion at last Sunday's CFOW meeting about flying the American flag upside down at our vigils.  We began doing this a few weeks ago.  Under the flag code, etc., flying the flag upside down is a symbol of distress, a warning/plea that we are in danger. – However, at the healthcare rally, several participants said that they were unhappy with the upside down flag, and there is a letter in The Enterprise this week from some friends at the rally saying the same thing.  It is "disrespectful," "unpatriotic." – The discussion at our meeting revealed that we had a broad and evenly divided range of views on this question.  The upside down flag strongly stated our distress at the state of our country, but it appeared to turn some people off and may interfere with getting out our primary message.  In the end we brought in Solomon's Sword and agreed that we would fly the upside down flag (but only at our antiwar events, not at events with others such as the healthcare rally), and that we would attach a sign to the flag explaining what we were doing and why, and that the street leafletters would have a short leaflet explaining the use of the upside down flag for anyone who wanted to discuss it. – And so the Great Flag Experiment begins, and we agreed we would see what happens and modify our plans if need be. – To me it was a very interesting discussion.  I remember in the first weeks of CFOW in September 2001 when many people were flying American flags on their cars.  Should we do that?  We were patriotic too.  But how could we make people understand that we were patriotic AND opposed war? – We ended up fllying UN flags, kindly produced by one of our early members who worked at the UN.

 

That's all I'm writing for now.  Below I'm pasting in a few articles that imo are illuminating with our current military escalations and the dangerous possibility of a military conflict with North Korea, leading to who knows what?

 

Best wishes,

Frank Brodhead

478-3848

 

SOME GOOD/USEFUL WEEKEND READING

 

New Revelations Belie Trump Claims on Syria Chemical Attack

By Gareth Porter, Truthout [April 13, 2017]

---- Two new revelations contradict the Trump administration's line on the April 4 attack. A former US official knowledgeable about the episode told Truthout that the Russians had actually informed their US counterparts in Syria of the Syrian military's plan to strike the warehouse in Khan Sheikhoun 24 hours before the strike. And a leading analyst on military technology, Dr. Theodore Postol of MIT, has concluded that the alleged device for a sarin attack could not have been delivered from the air but only from the ground, meaning that the chemical attack may not have been the result of the Syrian airstrike.  …An internal administration paper on the issue now circulating in Washington, a copy of which Truthout obtained, clearly refers to "a regime airstrike on a terrorist ammunition dump in the eastern suburbs of Khan Sheikhoun." [Read More]

 

The War Danger on the Korean Peninsula

[FB – It is now Saturday in Korea.  Some observers were predicting that North Korea would test a nuclear weapon on Saturday.  President Trump has said that a North Korean test would be met by a US military response.  North Korea has stated that US military bases, including the ones in South Korea, would be at risk if the US attacked North Korea.  A US naval "armada" was reported several days ago heading towards North Korea.  (Where is it now?  No longer in the news….)  We now know that at least two US destroyers are off Korea, one within shooting distance of the North Korean nuclear test site.  (It was a destroyer that fired the Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian air base.) – South Korea has impeached its president, and new elections will be held in three weeks.  The leading presidential candidates have spoken out against military action against North Korea, but the incumbent substitute president is supposedly cooperating with the United States…; in any case, not someone likely to speak up/out against the Godfather. – One of the articles linked (reprinted) below is by Bruce Cumings, the leading US historian of Korea.  An historical perspective is important because, for Americans, Korean history started about three days ago, while for Koreans, the memories of the destruction of North Korea between 1950 and 1953 are kept intensely alive. – The other article is by military expert Bill Arkin, the most useful writing I could find about the military options now in play.]

 

This Is What's Really Behind North Korea's Nuclear Provocations

By Bruce Cumings, The Nation [March 23, 2017]

---- North Korea is the only country in the world to have been systematically blackmailed by US nuclear weapons going back to the 1950s, when hundreds of nukes were installed in South Korea. … Why on earth would Pyongyang not seek a nuclear deterrent? But this crucial background doesn't enter mainstream American discourse. History doesn't matter, until it does—when it rears up and smacks you in the face. [Read More]

 

U.S. may launch strike if North Korea reaches for nuclear trigger

By William M. Arkin, etal., NBC News [April 13, 2017]

---- The U.S. is prepared to launch a preemptive strike with conventional weapons against North Korea should officials become convinced that North Korea is about to follow through with a nuclear weapons test, multiple senior U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News. North Korea has warned that a "big event" is near, and U.S. officials say signs point to a nuclear test that could come as early as this weekend.

The intelligence officials told NBC News that the U.S. has positioned two destroyers capable of shooting Tomahawk cruise missiles in the region, one just 300 miles from the North Korean nuclear test site.

[Read More]

 

Some Useful/important Stories from Democracy Now!

(Video) Only Mass Disruption From Below Can Stop Right-Wing Revolution & Trump's Absolute Power

An interview with journalist Alan Nairn [April 12, 2017]

---- As President Trump's administration continues to be rocked by investigations and scandals, we continue our conversation with award-winning investigative journalist Allan Nairn. We asked him to talk more about his assessment of the opening months of the Trump presidency. [Link]

 

(Video) U.S. Drops Its Biggest Non-Nuclear Bomb on Afghans, Already Traumatized by Decades of War

Including an interview with peace activist Kathy Kelly [April 14, 2017]

---- In Afghanistan on Thursday, the United States military dropped its most powerful non-nuclear bomb ever—the Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or MOAB, nicknamed "The Mother of All Bombs." The 21,600-pound bomb reportedly unleashed an explosion equivalent to 11 tons of TNT with a mile-wide blast radius. This comes as the United Nations recently published a report saying airstrikes from the Afghan government forces and the U.S.-led coalition killed nearly 600 civilians in 2016—almost twice as many than in 2015. The U.S. war in Afghanistan is the longest war in U.S. history, extending into its 16th year. We are joined by Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, a campaign to end U.S. military and economic warfare. She just returned from Afghanistan earlier this month. We also speak with Wazhmah Osman, professor of media and communication at Temple University and member of the Afghan American Artists and Writers Association. [Link]

 

(Video) This is Most Dangerous Moment in U.S.-Russian Relations Since Cuban Missile Crisis

An interview with Prof. Stephen Cohen [April 13, 2017]

---- On Wednesday during a press conference, President Trump said relations with Russia had reached a new low point. Trump's comments came a day after the White House accused Russia of attempting to cover up the role of the Syrian government in the recent chemical attack in Syria that killed 87 people. Russia has rejected the claim, saying the U.S. has been too quick to blame Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. We speak to Stephen Cohen, professor emeritus of Russian studies and politics at New York University and Princeton University. [Link]

 

 

CFOW Statement on the Bombing of Syria

From Concerned Families of Westchester

April 11, 2017

 

We Oppose the US Attack on Syria

 

Concerned Families of Westchester strongly opposes the Trump administration's aggression against Syria. Opposition is doubly important now because of the bi-partisan support bombing Syria has received from our nation's mainstream media and political elite.  We call on organizations and individuals throughout Westchester to join us in rejecting this immoral and unwarranted use of force and not allow such a dangerous development to go unchallenged.

 

Our reasons for opposing the April 6, 2017 bombing of the Syrian airbase are as follows:

1. The bombing was an act of aggression under international law and the UN Charter, and an unconstitutional act under US law.
   

1. Under the UN Charter, the use of force or the threat of the use of force in international disputes is legal only if a) the use of force is done in self-defense in response to an attack; or b) the use of force is in accord with a resolution of the UN Security Council. The US bombing met neither of these requirements.
   

2. Since 2001, Presidents Bush and Obama justified military action by using the congressional resolution passed after 9/11, which authorizes the use of "necessary and appropriate force" against those who "planned, authorized, committed, or aided" the al-Qaeda attacks of 9/11.  There is no way that Syria can be connected with 9/11 and al-Qaeda. Without explicit congressional authorization, the attack on Syria was unlawful.
   

2. The US act of aggression preceded and interrupted attempts to determine just what happened in Syria on April 4, 2017, and just who was responsible for the release of poison gas that killed dozens of civilians. The Syrians and their Russian allies claim that the Syrian bomb hit a target in a rebel area that was either a bomb storage facility or a bomb manufacturing facility.  What is the truth?  Following the chemical weapons incident on April 4^th, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons sent a Fact Finding Mission to Syria. The US attack on the airbase negated   the possibility that the UN might take informed action on this question.
   

3. US aggression against Syria only prolongs a war that has already killed more than 500,000 Syrians and displaced millions. Moreover, US military action in Syria raises the dangerous possibility of a military conflict with Russian forces there. A ceasefire and negotiations, not military action for "regime change," should shape US policy in Syria, as should greater efforts to help refugees and those displaced in Syria itself.
   

Discussion and Request for Endorsement

Opposition from progressive organizations to Trump's attack on Syria is especially important now because leaders of both the Democrat and Republican parties and almost all of the mainstream media have been strongly supportive of the use of force against Syria.  If the "progressive" base of our country does not take a strong public stand against Trump's aggression against Syria, this will signal the US political elite that aggression – not only against Syria, but possibly against North Korea, Iran, etc. – will be politically rewarded.  The path to ending the conflict in Syria is clear: an end to efforts to overthrow the Assad government, the establishment of a ceasefire, and renewed peace negotiations. War has been tried, but it doesn't work; give peace a chance!

We ask our friends and allies throughout Westchester to endorse this statement and/or to draft their own statement in opposition to the US bombing of Syria.  We think it is incumbent on all progressive organizations to take a stand against war in this moment of peril, whatever the primary focus of the organization happens to be. More generally, we cannot have the goods and services we want and need at home if we are spending hundreds of billions of dollars each year on wars abroad.  Without constraining and eventually ending our nation's drive for worldwide domination, the need for real "human security" at home will remain unsatisfied.

 

 

References

 

What Happened on April 4^th?

Phyllis Bennis, "Trump, Syria, and Chemical Weapons: What We Know, What We Don't, and the Dangers Ahead," Common Dreams [April 6, 2017] [Link]

 

Vijay Prashad, "Is Trump Going to Commit the Next Great American Catastrophe in Syria?" Alternet

[April 5, 2017] [Link]

 

Kevin Gosztola, "How Do Media Outlets Know Source Of Chemical Attack Was Syrian Government?"

ShadowProof [April 5, 20107] [Link]

 

By Col. W. Patrick Lang, "US Intelligence Already Knows Assad Did Not Drop Chemical Weapons," Popular Resistance [April 9, 2017] [Link].

 

Scott Ritter, "Wag The Dog — How Al Qaeda Played Donald Trump And The American Media," Huffington Post [April 9, 2017] [Link].

 

The Attack on Syria was Illegal and an Act of Aggression

Joshua Keating, "Are Donald Trump's Airstrikes on Syria Legal?" Slate [April 7, 2017] [Link]

 

Alex Emmons, "Legal Experts Question Whether Trump's Syria Strike Was Constitutional," The Intercept [

[April 7, 2017] [Link]

 

Some Responses to the Attack

Glenn Greenwald, "The Spoils of War: Trump Lavished With Media and Bipartisan Praise For Bombing Syria,"' The Intercept [April 7, 2017] [Link].

 

Norman Solomon, "Russia-Baiting Pushed Trump to Attack Syria—and Increases the Risks of Nuclear Annihilation," Common Dreams [April 10, 2017] [Link]

 

[Statement by Veterans for Peace], "Veterans For Peace Condemns U.S. Actions In Syria" [Link].