Cold War

Who Was Dag Hammarskjöld?

September 20, 2021 Joe Lauria, Consortium News. Educate! Assassination, Cold War, Dag Hammarskjold, United Nations

Dag Hammarskjöld set the standard for integrity and independence that all United Nations secretaries-general are judged against. He pioneered direct diplomacy by a secretary-general to defuse crises, and created U.N. peacekeeping. Hammarskjöld forged an independence between the Cold War powers that upset both and may have led to his death 60 years ago on Saturday. The son of a Swedish prime minister, Hammarskjöld came from a privileged background, unlike the Socialist Trygve Lie, the first secretary-general. Hammarskjöld became a lawyer, an economist, Sweden’s finance minister and was a delegate to the Paris Marshall Plan conference. Hammarskjöld was surprised to be chosen as Lie’s replacement. He was acceptable to both blocs, as he was seen as an apolitical technocrat.

Afghanistan’s Promising Socialist Future Killed Off By US Imperialism

August 16, 2021 Marilyn Bechtel, People's World. Educate! Afghanistan, Cold War, Soviet Union, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism

Since the horrific events of Sept. 11, much has been said about the desperate situation of the Afghani people now crushed under the heel of the theocratic, dictatorial Taliban, and about the role of the Northern Alliance and other Taliban opponents who now figure in Washington’s plans for the region. There has been talk, most of it distorted, about the role of the Soviet Union in the years from 1978 to 1989. There has been talk, most of it understated, about the role of the U.S. in building up the Mujahideen forces, including the Taliban.

Truth Commission Details Horrible Crimes Akin To Native American Genocide And Slavery

April 10, 2021 Jeremy Kuzmarov, Covert Action Magazine. Educate! Cold War, Empire Economy, Russia, Socialism

With a new Cold War heating up between the U.S. and Russia and China, Witness for Peace Southwest, Addicted to War and CodePink organized a Truth Commission on the original Cold War on March 21st, which brought together the testimony of historians, activists and others who lived through the period. Following a hearing three years ago, the Zoom event was hosted by Frank Dorrel, publisher of the popular anti-war text Addicted to War, and Rachel Bruhnke, a high school Spanish teacher and member of Witness for Peace Southwest. In her opening remarks, Bruhnke emphasized that the Cold War should rank as one of three great crimes in U.S. history, the first two being the genocide of the native Americans, and enslavement of African-Americans.

One Hundred Seconds Till The Apocalypse

September 24, 2020 Nick Turse, Tom Dispatch. Educate! Cold War, Nuclear Ban Treaty, Nuclear Weapons, Wars and Militarism

Since 1947, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has adjusted its Doomsday Clock to provide humanity with an expert estimate of just how close all of us are to an apocalyptic “midnight” -- that is, nuclear annihilation. A century ago, there was, of course, no need for such a measure. Back then, the largest explosion ever caused by humans had likely occurred in Halifax, Canada, in 1917, when a munitions ship collided with another vessel, in that city’s harbor. That tragic blast killed nearly 2,000, wounded another 9,000, and left 6,000 homeless, but it didn’t imperil the planet.

The End Of The ‘Rules Based International Order’

September 23, 2020 Moon of Alabama. Educate! Cold War, G7, International Law, Western imperialism

The 'western' countries, i.e. the United States and its 'allies', love to speak of a 'rules based international order' which they say everyone should follow. That 'rules based order' is a way more vague concept than the actual rule of law: The G7 is united by its shared values and commitment to a rules based international order. That order is being challenged by authoritarianism, serious violations of human rights, exclusion and discrimination, humanitarian and security crises, and the defiance of international law and standards. As members of the G7, we are convinced that our societies and the world have reaped remarkable benefits from a global order based on rules and underscore that this system must have at its heart the notions of inclusion, democracy and respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms, diversity, and the rule of law.

The Russians Are(n’t) Coming!

August 2, 2020 Maj. Danny Sjursen (USA Ret.), AntiWar.com. Educate! Cold War, Russia, United States, Wars and Militarism

In America’s Emerald City these days, if there’s even a hint of a war-wind-down, imperial-deescalation, or military budget-cuts, Washington’s (non-dribbling) Wizards have a ready response: Russia! Indeed, these military’s magicians have a far-simpler and more effective playbook than the city’s aptly-named NBA franchise. Since President Donald Trump’s election year, basketball’s Wizards are a meager 148-162; the Wizards of Warfare are essentially undefeated – not a single war hath ended. The first-place War Wizards rely on two go-to moves to maintain militarism

Brazen Foray Into The Barents Creates Cold War-Type Friction

June 8, 2020 Lyle J. Goldstein, Responsible Statecraft. Educate! Cold War, Navy, Russia, Wars and Militarism

Instead of celebrating the meeting on the Elbe to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the epochal Allied victory over Nazi Germany, the Pentagon opted to overtly deploy a surface action group, in company with the British Royal Navy, into the Barents Sea in an unprecedented gesture of hostility. Against the background of these historical events, not to mention the pandemic, this highly symbolic move that aimed to threaten the very heart of Russian military power, could not have been calculated to be more humiliating or insulting. Indeed, the deployment of the warships was accompanied by a similarly grand aerial sortie of U.S. strategic bombers to the Baltic, including the first ever American bomber transit of Swedish airspace with apparent escort by the Swedish Air Force.

Scheer Intelligence: The ‘Mass Murder Program’ Behind America’s Rise To Power

May 29, 2020 Robert Scheer, Popular Resistance. Educate! Asia, Cold War, Latin America, Terrorism

The Cold War–how it was fought and brutally won by the U.S. on global scale—has defined international politics for more than half a century. That is the central argument of journalist Vincent Bevins’ new book, “The Jakarta Method: Washington’s Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World.” Through meticulous research and extensive interviews with over a hundred people in more than a dozen countries and several languages, Bevins connects the dots between a U.S.-sponsored terror scheme that killed more than a million civilians in Indonesia in the 1960s, and the slaughter of leftists in Brazil, Chile, and elsewhere in the following years. The connection the former Los Angeles Times foreign correspondent finds between these seemingly disparate national tragedies is not just a despotic goal shared by the likes of Augusto Pinochet and Suharto to seize power through the execution of any opposition.

Expiration Of New START Means Nuclear Chaos

February 12, 2020 Global Zero, Transcend.org. Educate! Arms Race, Cold War, Nuclear Weapons, Treaty

On February 5, 2021, just one year from today, the last remaining nuclear pact between the United States and Russia will expire – ending more than a half century of arms control between the two most nuclear-armed nations on the planet. A simple signature by Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin would extend the treaty through 2026. The 2010 New START agreement is the last remaining restraint on both nations’ strategic nuclear arsenals. The treaty limits each country to no more than 1,550 strategic, offensively deployed nuclear weapons, and verifies compliance through robust on-site inspections and data exchanges. Russia has twice offered to extend the agreement.

The Endless War With Iran

January 12, 2020 John Feffer, Foreign Policy In Focus. Educate! Cold War, Iran, Trump, Wars and Militarism

The United States has been in a 40-year cold war with Iran. Just like the cold war with the Soviet Union, the conflict between Washington and Tehran has been fought largely through proxies: in Yemen, in Syria, in Iraq. Iranian-aligned organizations like Hezbollah have attacked U.S. targets, such as the 1984 embassy bombing in Beirut. U.S. allies, like Israel, have assassinated Iranian scientists. There have been also been non-kinetic attacks, like when the United States and Israel teamed up to destroy Iran’s nuclear centrifuges with the Stuxnet malware. Occasional détentes have interrupted the hostilities, most recently the nuclear deal negotiated under the Obama administration, but they have been brief.

Did The West Win The Cold War?

November 16, 2019 Staff, Richardfalk.wordpress.com Educate! Cold War, History, Inter-Imperialist Rivalry

Such a question seems little more than a provocation until the effects of the interval between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the present are critically examined in relation to their principal effects. On closer inspection I am not quite prepared, although almost so, to say that the peoples of the world lost ground as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union and emergence of the United States as the so-called ‘sole surviving superpower.’ Generally, it was rather automatically assumed almost never challenged, that the outcome of the Cold War was a victory for liberal values...

NATO’s Largesse: ‘Nuclear Sharing’

December 2, 2018 Ann Garrison, Black Agenda Report. Educate! Cold War, NATO, Nuclear Weapons, Wars and Militarism

In 1949, Norway joined NATO, and NATO nations have since enjoyed its “nuclear sharing ” largesse, by which member nations without nuclear weapons of their own participate in nuclear force planning, train their armed forces to use nuclear weapons, and store nuclear weapons in their territories. United States Air Force (USAF) personnel guard the nuclear weapons “shared” with NATO nations. The codes for deploying and firing them also remain under US control. In October 2016, Norway voted against a UN nuclear disarmament resolution, saying that it “will not support proposals that would weaken NATO’s role as a defense alliance.”

NATO’s Biggest Exercise Since Cold War Is Designed To Threaten Russia

October 10, 2018 Staff, Defence-blog.com Educate! Cold War, Inter-Imperialist Rivalry, NATO

The world’s preeminent defensive alliance is readying to demonstrate its capabilities in its largest exercise since 2002, said Navy Adm. James Foggo, the commander of NATO’s Allied Joint Force Command in Italy. Foggo, who held a Pentagon news conference Friday, will command Exercise Trident Juncture, which will run from Oct. 25 to Nov. 7 in Norway and surrounding sea and air spaces. The exercise brings together 45,000 personnel from the 29 NATO allies, and partner nations Sweden and Finland. “Allies are contributing about 150 aircraft over 60 ships and 10,000 rolling or tracked vehicles,” Foggo said. The purpose of the exercise is to test alliance readiness and responsiveness. “Let me emphasize that this is an exercise,” he said.

William Blum takes on the Washington Post’s Neocon, Max Boot

September 23, 2018 William Blum, The Anti-Empire Report Educate! Cold War, Media, RussiaGate, US Empire, Wars and Militarism

Dear Mr. Boot, You write: “Every administration since Franklin D. Roosevelt’s has tried to improve relations with Moscow.” I stopped. Frozen. Can the man be serious? Yes, he is. God help us. I’ve published 5 books which give the lie to that statement, detailing all the foreign governments the US has overthrown, or tried to, because they were too friendly with Moscow....

Could The Cold War Return With A Vengeance?

April 4, 2018 By Michael T. Klare, Tomdispatch.com Educate! China, Cold War, Inter-Imperialist Rivalry, Russia, US Imperialism

Think of it as the most momentous military planning on Earth right now. Who’s even paying attention, given the eternal changing of the guard at the White House, as well as the latest in tweets, sexual revelations, and investigations of every sort? And yet it increasingly looks as if, thanks to current Pentagon planning, a twenty-first-century version of the Cold War (with dangerous new twists) has begun and hardly anyone has even noticed. In 2006, when the Department of Defense spelled out its future security role, it saw only one overriding mission: its “Long War” against international terrorism. “With its allies and partners, the United States must be prepared to wage this war in many locations simultaneously and for some years to come,” the Pentagon’s Quadrennial Defense Review explained that year.

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