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militarism

The United States: Addicted to Special Forces

January 23, 2018 Belen Fernandez, Al Jazeera ,
The Special Operations forces of the United States - currently 70,000-strong and thus larger than the regular militaries of many sizable countries - occupy a very special place in US national mythology.  According to TIME Magazine, Special Ops "heroes" are the "planet's most skillful soldiers" and "toughest warriors" - operating in their very own "secret world".  Newsweek hails them as "dead accurate, lethal and all-but-silent. They are the military's elite - highly trained badasses armed with bullets and brains in equal measure". The obsequious glorification of "badass" warriors is of course hardly surprising, given that US society has been inculcated to view international relations as a sort of video game in which the US gets points for blowing things up.

US AFRICOM Blacklists Reporter Nick Turse As “Not A Legitimate Journalist”

January 17, 2018 Eddie Haywood, Wsws.org , , , , ,
Journalist Nick Turse, who has reported extensively on US military operations in Africa, was recently told that he has been deemed “not a legitimate journalist” by AFRICOM, the US military command which oversees operations across the continent. The move is of a piece with the US government’s drive to silence critical reporting by alternative news outlets and comes amid the global effort to censor oppositional and alternative viewpoints on the Internet. Turse explained in an article published by the Intercept on Saturday that AFRICOM officials began stonewalling his queries after he authored an article in July which documented torture by US-trained Cameroonian forces at a US base in Salak, Cameroon. For several years, the Pentagon has been perturbed by Turse’s reporting, which has exposed the vast spectrum of United States military operations across Africa, most of which it wishes to keep shrouded in secrecy.

The Polluter Is Not Paying

January 11, 2018 H. Patricia Hynes, Portside.org , ,
Wars may end, bases may close, but our toxic military footprint remains as a poisonous legacy for future generations. My nephew, an Army veteran who spent most of his 20 plus years military service as an officer in South Korea, is now a civilian military contractor living on a base in Afghanistan.  Our only conversation about US military pollution in South Korea was something of a non-starter. These two Asian countries, so disparate in development, economy and stability, have something in common – severely polluted US military bases, for which our country takes little to no financial responsibility.  The polluter pays (aka “you break it, you fix it”) does not apply to the United States military abroad.  Nor do civilian workers and most US soldiers stationed at these bases have a chance of winning medical compensation for their military pollution-related illness.

Trump Calling Pentagon, Diplomats To Play Bigger Arms Sales Role

January 11, 2018 Mike Stone and Matt Spetalnick, Reuters.com , , ,
President Donald Trump is expected to announce a “whole of government” approach that will also ease export rules on U.S. military exports and give greater weight to the economic benefits for American manufacturers in a decision-making process that has long focused heavily on human rights considerations, according to people familiar with the plan. The initiative, which will encompass everything from fighter jets and drones to warships and artillery, is expected to be launched as early as February, senior officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. A key policy change would call for embassy staffers around the world to act essentially as a sales force for defense contractors, actively advocating on their behalf. It was unclear, however, what specific guidelines would be established.

West Papuan Civilians In Danger Amid Indonesian Military Attacks

November 24, 2017 Staff, freewestpapua.org , , ,
By Staff of Free West Papua Campaign - The names of those injured were: Aser Magai (male) Guwanus Tabuni (male) Deka Anow (male) Dominus Dogomo (male), Melianus Kobogau (male). Unverified footage appearing to show Indonesian soldiers firing shells in the Tembagapura area on 13th November has also been released.[12] Following this, the Indonesian military admitted firing mortars on West Papuans and admitted that Merina and Ilawe people had been killed but said this was “unexpected”. A West Papuan man claims that they were in fact civilians.[13] Speaking on 17th, the Nobel Peace Prize nominated West Papuan Independence Leader Benny Wenda who is the Spokesperson for the peaceful umbrella movement, The United Liberation Movement for West Papua, stated: “I am deeply concerned about the ongoing reports from the Tembagapura area of West Papua, especially the unconfirmed reports of West Papuan people being killed and wounded by ballistic missiles. I call upon all sides to show restraint and consider and fully respect human rights and especially the rights and needs of civilians. We don’t want any more bloodshed in West Papua. There must be a peaceful solution, both to the situation in Tembagapura and the wider situation in occupied West Papua.”

America’s Renegade Warfare Killing Civilians, Violating Law

November 19, 2017 Nicolas J S Davies, www.consortiumnews.com , , , , , ,
By Nicolas J S Davies for Consortium News. Despite the U.N. Charter and international efforts to prevent war, people in countries afflicted by war today still face the kind of total war that horrified world leaders in 1945. The main victims of total war in our “modern” world have been civilians in countries far removed from the safe havens of power and privilege where their fates are debated and decided: Yugoslavia; Afghanistan; Iraq; Somalia; Pakistan; Yemen; Libya; Syria; Ukraine. There has been no legal or political accountability for the mass destruction of their cities, their homes or their lives. Total war has not been prevented, or even punished, just externalized. But thanks to billions of dollars invested in military propaganda and public relations and the corrupt nature of for-profit media systems, citizens of the countries responsible for the killing of millions of their fellow human beings live in near-total ignorance of the mass killing carried out in their name.

Fetishizing Violence: Mass Shootings To Violent Uprisings

November 11, 2017 Eleanor Goldfield, www.occupy.com ,
By Eleanor Goldfield for Occupy.com. This week on Act Out! you may not want to politicize mass shootings but they – like everything else in this life – is already political. Adding on to last week's show on white male dethronement, Marine veteran and community organizer Vince Emanuele joins us to take a look at the issue of America's violent culture and how it affects the ENTIRE political spectrum – and indeed, what that means for the left as we battle the empire.

A Chapter In A Declining Empire

October 7, 2017 Greg Godels (Zoltan Zigedy), ,
BY Greg Godels (Zoltan Zigedy) for ZZs Blog. Those familiar with the history of Cold War US repression are not surprised by liberal complicity in the anti-Russia madness today. It should be no surprise that the liberals and the petty-bourgeois left betray the truth, make common cause with the forces of hate, distrust, and prejudice. In times of crisis, that’s what they too often do. Outside of a few notable voices, liberal/left intellectuals are buying the anti-Russia frenzy. Despite the fact that US security services have an unbroken record of lies and manipulations, they are today manufactured to be the saviors of US “democracy.” The entertainment industry has cast “deep throat” Mark Felt-- a crazed, disgruntled FBI official, bitter because he didn’t inherit the directorship from J. Edgar Hoover-- as the hero of the Watergate debacle. Industry moguls stretch credulity to portray him as the courageous forerunner of the sleazy James Comey. How quickly the liberals have forgotten the shame of 2003, when a ruling class-induced frenzy of lies and distortions prompted an unprovoked US invasion of a sovereign country.

US Topping Polls Of ‘Greatest Threat To World Peace’

October 7, 2017 Shane Quinn, www.theduran.com ,
By Shane Quinn for the Duran. Last week Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro described the United States as, “the most criminal empire in the history of mankind”. Whether such a statement is true, one cannot deny the US has repeatedly topped polls of international opinion on the subject: Which country do you think is the greatest threat to peace in the world today? Time and again the global community have overwhelmingly voted the US as “the greatest threat” to their existence. In one such WIN/Gallup poll from less than four years ago, the US garnered three times the votes of second-place Pakistan. Such decisive results are hardly reported in the Western mainstream, it would be ill-advised to inform unsuspecting Westerners of useless facts – instead they are disappeared down George Orwell’s memory hole. As a consequence of the predictable survey results, perhaps the question should be framed rather differently – “How can nations be secured in the face of the US threat?”

The Hypocrisy Of The Bi-Partisan Congress On Militarism

July 15, 2017 Ann Garrison, www.blackagendareport.com , , , ,
By Ann Garrison for Black Agenda Report - Supporters of the British Labour Party and its leader Jeremy Corbyn marched through London streets on Saturday, July 1st, from the BBC headquarters to the Parliament Building at Westminster. The London- based Independent reports that tens of thousands joined the “Not One More Day” march against the Conservative Tory government and its austerity policies. They carried signs that read “Tories Out,” “No to Islamophobia, No to War,” “Cut War, Not Welfare,” and “Austerity is the New Terror. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn addressed the crowd upon their arrival outside Parliament. “What this election campaign, this anti-austerity movement, this current mood in British politics has done is unleashed the ideas and the imagination, unleashed that day-to-day conversation on every street corner, every café, and every pub of how differently this country could be run. The Tories are in retreat. Austerity is in retreat. The economic arguments of austerity are in retreat. It’s those of social justice, of unity, of people coming together to oppose racism and all those that would divide us that are the ones that are moving forward.”

Residents Block Construction Vehicles From THAAD Deployment Site

April 2, 2017 Staff, www.zoominkorea.org , ,
By Staff for Zoom In Korea. At 8 am on March 29, construction vehicles attempted to drive through the village of Soseong-ri to enter the deployment site for the THAAD missile system. The vehicles were reportedly carrying equipment used for geological surveys, possibly for the purpose of conducting an environmental impact assessment of the site. At approximately 8:30am, village residents and Won Buddhist ministers blocked the vehicles from going any farther by holding a sit-in protest in the middle of the road. Close to 9:00am, hundreds of police officers surrounded the village residents and ordered them to disperse. The residents, however, stood their ground, and tensions with the police lasted for one hour. At noon, the construction vehicles attempted yet again to pass through the village, but the residents quickly resumed their sit-in protest to block them. By about 1:30pm, all police and construction vehicles, unable to gain entry, retreated from the village. At 2:00pm, the village residents held their weekly Wednesday protest rally at the Soseong-ri village center.

Drone Resisters Acquitted, Juror Tells Them: ‘Keep Doing It’

March 3, 2017 Staff, www.accuracy.org , ,
By Staff for Institute for Public Accuracy. Four drone resisters, James Ricks, Daniel Burns, Brian Hynes, and Ed Kinane, from the 2015 big books action were found innocent of all charges at 11 p.m. at the Dewitt Town Court. After deliberating for only about a half hour, the jury returned with a verdict of not guilty on all charges. Applause erupted in the courtroom upon the jurors’ announcement of the verdict. The four were charged with obstruction of government administration, disorderly conduct, and trespass and faced a year in jail. Following the rendering of the verdict, a juror approached Brian Hynes and said ‘I really support what you are doing. Keep doing it.’ “During the trial, Brian Hynes told the jury, “This is not a case about contested facts, this is a case about contested meanings.” Hynes went on to explain to the jury that they could, in the words of the 4th Circuit of Appeals, acquit for any reason which appeals to their logic or passion.

Kingdom Of The Unjust

February 12, 2017 Eleanor Goldfield, ww.occupy.com/actout , ,
By Eleanor Goldfield for Act Out! Kingdom of the Unjust; a sit down with activist & author Medea Benjamin about her latest book and how US/Saudi ties perpetuate human rights violations. Saudi Arabia was left off Trump’s Muslim Ban despite the fact that they regularly invest in terrorist organizations, despite being home to 15 of the 9/11 hijackers and indeed despite being the founders of Wahabbism, the perversion of Islam that both ISIS and Al Qaeda follow. So, what gives? In her book and our conversation, Medea Benjamin discusses the inner workings of the Kingdom - from the grotesque treatment of women and immigrant workers to the extremist brand of Islam that perpetuates hate and war in the region. She also outlines our ties to the country, going back to an agreement made over black gold and military protection in the 1940s. In the present day, our ties continue to hold, despite the fact that we only receive 13% of our oil from Saudi Arabia. In lieu of that, we get monstrous military contracts that bolster our war machine, our 1% and their human rights violating wars like the current one in Yemen.

Newsletter – Time To Ask Who We Are

November 27, 2016 Margaret Flower and Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
By Margaret Flower and Kevin Zeese for Popular Resistance. The United States has reached a turning point. Where we turn is dependent on what we do as people to determine our future. Neither of the major political parties are going to adequately solve the crises we face. This is a time to examine and discuss some fundamental issues: who we are and who we want to be. Out of crises come opportunities to put bold solutions in place. We are calling for a People's Agenda. We have the power to make changes in this country that completely alter the course of our nation and the world. We can say no to genocide against Native Americans. We can end systemic racism. We can demand respect for the human rights of all people. We can promote peace and prosperity for all. We can solve the climate crisis. It is up to us and how we organize in our communities. At the heart of the success of popular movements is what we have advocated - the building of a broad and diverse unified movement that is active and has built national consensus for the changes we wish to see.

Reporter Recounts Arrest, Prison Stay After Baton Rouge Protest

July 25, 2016 Karen Savage, www.jjie.org , , , ,
By Karen Savage for Juvenile Justice Information Exchange. BATON ROUGE, Louisiana — For a few seconds on July 10, the ear-splitting police noisemaker — referred to as an LRAD — and the chants demanding justice for Alton Sterling awkwardly paused at exactly the same moment. I closed my eyes in relief. As if on cue, a lone cicada cried out from the tree above, the insect’s call piercing the air, but not the tension. With my eyes closed and the cicada's solo still echoing through the sweltering heat of a Sunday afternoon in Baton Rouge, I saw neat bungalows, crape myrtles and longleaf pine trees. I imagined a crawfish boil, kids on bikes, grandmothers with church hats. But when I opened my eyes, we were still surrounded on three sides by an army of militarized police. Officers still gripped automatic weapons, still wore gas masks and bulletproof vests, still held tear gas cylinders ready to be fired.
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