Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter
February 12, 2023
Hello All - President Biden's State of the Union speech had many good things in it. It showcased the country's strong economic recovery and pointed to many good programs, in the works or already in place. It reflected the Democratic Party's sense of recovery after the spectacle of Republican disarray. But … it barely mentioned the Elephant in the Chambers - our war economy, our huge military budget, the half-dozen wars in which the USA is now involved, and the looming threat of (possible nuclear) war with Russia and/or China.
For decades – since I was a child – the threat of nuclear annihilation has hung over our lives like a sword. For the USA, the "state of the union" has become a state of fear, of anxiety about the possibility of war. How could this not warp us as people, as parents, as citizens who, while "planning" their lives, pray for protection against sudden extermination?
Our Military-Industrial Megastate has rejected the idea that the role of the state is to meet the real needs of its citizens. Half of the money that Congress appropriates – about one trillion dollars each year – goes to our wars past, present, and (possible) future. The Cost of War project at Brown University estimates that we have spent $8 trillion on the post-9/11 wars – Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Syria. These countries are in a state of collapse. And what has this done to "the state of our union"?
It's not just the wars already fought. Our military establishment eats up so much money that little is left over for things that we need, things that we could use. The annual cost of military expenses for the people of Westchester (about one million) is almost $8 billion. That's $8,000 for each person, $32,000 for a family of four. (Costofwar.com). According to the National Priorities Project, this is equal, for example, to the cost of 65,000 elementary school teachers. The "state of our union" is distorted by spending so much on the military, at the cost of meeting real needs at home.
There are peaceful alternatives that can reduce the dangers of war, starting with more diplomacy. Starting with peace education. Restoring democracy. So many possibilities. Our state of the union can be better. Work for peace.
Some alternative readings on Biden's speech
(Video) Rep. Delia Ramirez to Biden: Further Militarizing the Border Is Not the Answer to Immigration
From Democracy Now! [February 8, 2023]
Democratic Congressmember Delia Ramirez of Illinois praises President Biden for proposing a path to citizenship in his State of the Union address on Tuesday for the millions of undocumented immigrants in the country. "My problem is the militarizing of the border," she adds. Ramirez, who delivered a response to the State of the Union speech on behalf of the Working Families Party, says compassion should be at the center of the debate on immigration. "People are escaping poverty. People are escaping death," she says. [See the Program]
Joe Biden's State of the Union Address: A Marxist Response
By Paul Street, Counterpunch [February 10, 2023]
---- I assume that the Republi-fascists are calling the speech socialist and "radical Left," "Marxist" and the like. Of course they are. Here below is a response from a real-life Marxist after going through the oration. Five things stood out to me. … [No. 5.] The fifth thing that stood out to me was how relatively silent Biden was on what in polite circles is called "United States foreign policy" and even "American diplomacy" – euphemisms for the mass-murderous imperialism of the world's leading aggressor state, which possesses more than 800 military bases located in more than 100 countries and accounts for more than a third of global military spending even though it is home to 4 percent of the world's population. [Read More]
Beauty as Fuel for Change – Don't miss it; last week! The CFOW arts project "Beauty as Fuel for Change" brings together creators in many media around the theme of Beauty as an essential part of enabling work for positive social change. Several dozen artists are represented, including many Masters School art students. The exhibit will continue until Friday, February 17 at the Wenberg Family Art Gallery, Fonseca Center, Masters School, 49 Clinton Ave. in Dobbs Ferry. The exhibit is open Mondays through Fridays from 8:30 am to 4 pm.
New Danger at Indian Point
Plans to "decommission" the Indian Point nuclear plant appear to include dumping millions of gallons of contaminated water into the Hudson River. How dangerous is this? At a forum of experts sponsored by the Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition on January 26, nuclear expert Helen Caldicott expressed many concerns about the decommissioning plan, which you can hear/see on this video, beginning at 2:20 minutes into the program. A second forum is scheduled for February 16th at 4 pm, again with experts on nuclear things. To register for the forum, go here.
CFOW Nuts & Bolts
Please consider getting involved with Concerned Families of Westchester. Weather permitting, we meet for a protest/rally each Saturday in Hastings, at 12 noon at the VFW Plaza (Warburton and Spring St.) A "Black Lives Matter/Say Their Names" vigil is held (winter schedule) on the first Monday of each month; the next vigil will be March 6th, from 5:30 to 6:00 pm in Yonkers at the intersection of Warburton Ave. and Odell. Our newsletter is archived at https://cfow.blogspot.com/; and news of interest and coming events is posted on our CFOW Facebook page. Another Facebook page focuses on the climate crisis. If you would like to join one of our Zoom meetings, each Tuesday and Thursday at noon, please send a return email for the link. If you would like to support our work by making a contribution, please send your check to CFOW, PO Box 364, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706. Thanks!
Best wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
CFOW Weekly Reader
Featured Essays
(Video) Noam Chomsky: Propaganda in the Ukrainian Proxy-War
From ZNet [February 11, 2023] [See the Program]
How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline
February 8, 2023]
---- Last June, the Navy divers, operating under the cover of a widely publicized mid-summer NATO exercise known as BALTOPS 22, planted the remotely triggered explosives that, three months later, destroyed three of the four Nord Stream pipelines, according to a source with direct knowledge of the operational planning. Two of the pipelines, which were known collectively as Nord Stream 1, had been providing Germany and much of Western Europe with cheap Russian natural gas for more than a decade. A second pair of pipelines, called Nord Stream 2, had been built but were not yet operational. … Biden's decision to sabotage the pipelines came after more than nine months of highly secret back and forth debate inside Washington's national security community about how to best achieve that goal. For much of that time, the issue was not whether to do the mission, but how to get it done with no overt clue as to who was responsible. [Read More] For some insights and commentary on Hersh's reporting, read "Sy Hersh & The Way We Live Now," by former UK Ambassador Craig Murray [February 10, 2023] [Link]; and "Russia Looking for Answers After Report Says Biden Blew Up Nord Stream," b[Link].
"We've Never Been Closer to Nuclear Catastrophe:" an Interview With Helen Caldicott
---- This interview took place on January 25, 2023, one day after the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists advanced the hands of the Doomsday Clock to 90 seconds before midnight—in large part due to developments in Ukraine. Dr. Helen Caldicott, an Australian peace activist and environmentalist, discussed the extreme and imminent threat of a nuclear holocaust due to a proxy war between the U.S. and Russia in Ukraine. … Caldicott believes that the reality of destroying all of life on the planet has receded from public consciousness, making doomsday more likely. As the title of her recent book states, we are "sleepwalking to Armageddon." [Read More]
Pakistan on the Brink: What the Collapse of Nuclear-Armed Regional Power Could Mean for the World
By Murtaza Hussain, The Intercept [
---- The last year has brought Pakistan to the brink. A series of rolling disasters — including catastrophic flooding, political paralysis, exploding inflation, and a resurgent terror threat — now risk sending a key, if troubled, global player into full-blown crisis. If the worst comes to pass, as some experts warn, the catastrophe unfolding in Pakistan will have consequences far beyond its borders. [Read More]
The War in Ukraine
Russia and Ukraine Have Incentives to Negotiate. The U.S. Has Other Plans.
By Christopher Caldwell, New York Times [February 7, 2023]
---- The United States' recent promise to ship advanced M1 Abrams battle tanks to Ukraine was a swift response to a serious problem. The problem is that Ukraine is losing the war. Not, as far as we can tell, because its soldiers are fighting poorly or its people have lost heart, but because the war has settled into a World War I-style battle of attrition, complete with carefully dug trenches and relatively stable fronts. At the same time, Russia has its own problems; until recently, a shortage of soldiers and the vulnerability of its arms depots to missile strikes have slowed its westward progress. Both sides have incentives to come to the negotiating table. The Biden administration has other plans. It is betting that by providing tanks it can improve Ukraine's chances of winning the war. In a sense, the idea is to fast-forward history, from World War I's battles of position to World War II's battles of movement. It is a plausible strategy: Eighty years ago, the tanks of Hitler and Stalin revolutionized warfare not far from the territory being fought over today. But the Biden strategy has a bad name: escalation. [Read More]
Russia-Ukraine war 2.0: First tanks, then F16s...Where does this end?
By Jonathan Cook, Middle East Eye [February 7, 2023]
---- Kyiv is keen to break what western media have termed a "taboo" by getting Nato aircraft directly involved in the Ukraine war. There is a good reason for that taboo: the use of such jets would let Ukraine expand the battlefield into Russian skies, and implicate Europe and the US in its offensive. But why assume the West's taboo on supplying combat jets is really any stronger than its former taboo on sending Nato battle tanks to Ukraine? … There is a logic to how NATO is operating. Step by step, it gets more deeply immersed in the war. It started with sanctions, followed by the supply of defensive arms. NATO then moved to issuing more offensive weapons, in aid so far totaling some $100bn from the US alone. Nato is now supplying the main weapons for a land war. Why should it not join the battle for air supremacy next? … The longer they refuse to sit and talk, the greater the pressure to keep fighting. That no longer applies just to Russia and Ukraine. Now, Europe and Washington also have plenty of skin directly in the game. [Read More]
U.S. Hypocrisy on War Crimes Is a Gift to Putin
By Jeremy Scahill, The Intercept [February 10, 2023]
---- The United States and its NATO allies are doubling down on their support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's assertion that Russia can and will be defeated "on the battlefield." … But what if none of that happens? What if Putin survives this brutal war with his grip on power intact? What if Gen. Mark Milley, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was right when he said last November that a Ukrainian victory "is maybe not achievable through military means"? What if Ukraine is forced to accept a negotiated solution where it formally concedes the loss of its territory? What type of accountability could then be brought to bear for Putin's decision to invade a neighboring country? … The reality is that the militant refusal of the U.S. to subject itself to the laws it wants applied to others has played a significant role in undermining that aim. In the end, this hypocrisy subverts the cause of delivering justice to those who orchestrated the murderous campaign in Ukraine. [Read More] For another perspective, watch (video) "War as Crime of Aggression: Reed Brody on Prosecuting Putin & Probing Western Leaders for Other Wars," from Democracy Now! [February 6, 2023] [Link].
Also of interest re: the war in Ukraine – "Ukraine's Zelensky admits he refused to implement Minsk peace deal with Russia," by [Link]; "The Missed Opportunities of the War in Ukraine," by Ted Snider, Libertarian Institute [February 6, 2023] [Link]; and "Ukraine Relies on Intelligence from US for HIMARS Rocket Strikes," b[Link].
The State of the Union
(Video) Peter Beinart In Conversation with Representative Ilhan Omar
From Jewish Currents [February 10, 2023]
---- Last week, the House of Representatives voted to remove Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee, allegedly on the grounds that she's made antisemitic statements. In truth, the removal constitutes retaliation for her fierce devotion to human rights, and her refusal to make an exception for the United States and its allies, including Israel. Join Representative Omar for a conversation with Jewish Currents editor-at-large Peter Beinart about the events of last week, the claims that she's antisemitic, and her ongoing struggle to make the United States a more just global actor. [See the Program] Also of interest is "Rep. Ilhan Omar makes her move into the mainstream," by Doug Rossinow, Minnesota Reformer [February 10, 2023] [Link].
(Video) Ralph Nader on Saving Social Security, Fighting Corporate Crime, Worker Deaths & Launching Newspaper
From Democracy Now! [February 10, 2023]
---- In an in-depth interview with longtime consumer advocate Ralph Nader, we look at Republican-led efforts to gut Medicare and Social Security amid debt limit talks, backed by some Democrats, and other proposed cuts to the social safety net, as well as corporate greed and watchdog journalism. Nader also discusses his newly launched newspaper, the Capitol Hill Citizen. "It's all about Congress, and Congress has to be captured by the people instead of being controlled by 1,500 corporations who swarm the corridors," says Nader. [See the Program]
Israel/Palestine
(Video) How Israeli Apartheid Destroyed My Hometown
From AJ+ [October 27, 2022] [24 minutes]
---- Segregated streets. Settler violence. Military harassment. This happens all over the occupied West Bank, but perhaps nowhere are these scenes more concentrated than in the Old City of Hebron. The once vibrant Palestinian cultural center is now ground zero of Israeli apartheid. It's also where AJ+'s Dena Takruri's family calls home. In this deeply personal documentary, Dena spends a day in Hebron retracing the footsteps of her father, who was born and raised in Hebron. She talks to Palestinians who are subjected to daily harassment from the Israeli military and settlers. And she is guided through the city by former Israeli soldiers, who tell her why their conscience is now forcing them to speak out against the occupation. [See the program]
Our History
War Fever: The Crusade Against Civil Liberties During World War I.
By Eric Foner, The Nation [February 7, 2023]
---- With the exception of the Second World War, every military conflict in which the United States has taken part has generated an anti-war movement. … More recently, the wars in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan split the country. At the same time, wars often create an atmosphere of hyper-patriotism, leading to the equation of dissent with treason and to the severe treatment of critics. During the struggle for independence, many Loyalists were driven into exile. Both sides in the Civil War arrested critics and suppressed anti-war newspapers. But by far the most extreme wartime violations of civil liberties (with the major exception of Japanese American internment during the Second World War) took place during World War I. This is the subject of Adam Hochschild's latest book, American Midnight. … One conclusion we might glean from Hochschild's history lesson is the fragility of our freedoms. [Read More]
She Was Once the Biggest Star in Jazz. Here's Why You've Never Heard of Her.
By Lorissa Rinehart, Pocket [February 2023]
---- Hazel Scott was a piano prodigy who wowed the worlds of music, TV, and film. But when she stood up for her rights, the establishment took her down. … On a rainy September morning in 1950, jazz pianist Hazel Scott stood in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee hoping to clear her name. The publication "Red Channels" had accused Scott — along with 150 other cultural figures — of communist sympathies. Failure to respond would be seen as an admission of guilt. But her appearance at HUAC had a greater purpose than personal exoneration. She believed she had a responsibility to stem the tide of paranoia that gained momentum by the day. She told the committee's members, "Mudslinging and unverified charges are just the wrong ways to handle this problem." With the same poise she brought to the stage as a musician, she testified that "what happens to me happens to others and it is part of a pattern which could spread and really damage our national morale and security." … Speaking with a voice that simultaneously conveyed clarity and nuance, strength and warmth, she knew what she was doing. She had been rehearsing for this moment her entire life. [Read More]
