Military bases

Transpartisan Coalition Calls For Closing US Military Bases Overseas

December 18, 2018 Staff, Overseasbases.net Create! Military bases, US Imperialism

Washington, DC—November 29, 1:00 p.m., in Russell Senate Office Building, Room SR-188, military experts from across the ideological spectrum will hold a public event to release an open letter arguing for the closure of wasteful, damaging, and unneeded US military bases abroad. In an era of bitter divisions between right and left, consensus is growing around along-overlooked but crucial part of how the United States engages with the world: the nearly 75-year-old strategy of maintaining some 800 US military bases in 80 foreign countries.

An Empire Of Bases Poisons Water, Threatening Its Own Collapse

December 5, 2018 Pat Elder, Worldbeyondwar.org Educate! Contamination, Military bases, US military, Water

Per-flouro octane-sulfo-nate or PFOS, and Per-flouro-octa-noic acid or PFOA, are the active ingredients in the foam routinely used to train soldiers to extinguish aircraft fires at U.S. military bases around the world. The toxic chemicals are allowed to leach into surrounding soil to poison groundwater. The result is one of the greatest water contamination epidemics in human history. Doubt that? Click on Google News and enter: “PFOS PFAO Military Base.” Then, come back and read the rest of this article – and brace yourself. It’s bad. The water in thousands of wells in and around U.S. military installations across the globe have been tested and have been shown to contain harmful levels of PFOS and PFOA.

‘Obvious Threat’: Russian Officials Warn Poland Not To Proceed With Permanent US Military Base

November 27, 2018 Staff, Rt.com Educate! Inter-Imperialist Rivalry, Military bases, Poland, Russia, United States

Moscow will have to respond if Warsaw pushes through a plan to build a permanent US base on its soil, top Russian officials have warned, as the Polish defense chief said construction of the so-called Fort Trump was a done deal. Poland’s Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak confirmed that a permanent US military installation will be “undoubtedly” created on the country’s territory. While bolstering US military presence is not a matter for negotiation, the exact mechanism and select units to be deployed are still being discussed, Blaszczak told Polish Radio on Tuesday. However, he did not reveal any details citing the need to protect a “strong negotiating position.”

Black Internationalists Demand Closure Of Hundreds Of U.S. Military Bases

November 24, 2018 Staff, Blackallianceforpeace.com Resist! Black Working Class, Internationalism, Military bases, US military

NOVEMBER 21, 2018—The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP), a founding member of the Global Campaign Against U.S./NATO Military Bases, joined 300 attendees from 36 countries at a historic conference last weekend that re-committed anti-war activists to closing U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military bases throughout the world. The Global Campaign Against U.S./NATO Military Bases held its first international conference November 16-18 at Liberty Hall in Dublin, Ireland. The conference’s Unity Statement was endorsed by more than 700 individuals and organizations. The Dublin conference convened several months after the U.S.-based Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases held its first conference in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States.

Global Campaign Calls For Closure Of US/NATO Foreign Bases To End Western Imperialism

November 21, 2018 Participants of the First International Conference Against US/NATO Military Bases, No Foreign Bases Create! Military bases, US Empire, Wars and Militarism

The participants and organizers of the No US/NATO foreign bases conference agreed as a matter of principle that while they oppose all foreign military bases, they consider the close to 1,000 US/NATO military bases established throughout the world, which constitute the main pillars of global imperialist domination by US, NATO and EU states, as the main threat to peace and humanity, and must all be closed.

How The Tentacles Of The U.S. Military Are Strangling The Planet

October 5, 2018 By Vijay Prashad, Portside.org Educate! Inter-Imperialist Rivalry, Military bases, US Imperialism

The United States military has a staggering 883 military bases in 183 countries, Russia has 8, China 1. There is no country with a military footprint that replicates that of the United States. The bases create instability rather than peace. Earlier this year, in Itoman (Okinawa, Japan), a young girl—Rinko Sagara (age 14)— read out of a poem based on her great-grandmother’s experience of World War II. Sagara’s great-grandmother reminded her of the cruelty of war. She had seen her friends shot in front of her. It was ugly. Okinawa, a small island on the edge of southern Japan, saw its share of war from April to June 1945. “The blue skies were obscured by the iron rain,” wrote Rinko Sagara, channeling the memories of her great-grandmother. The roar of the bombs overpowered the haunting melody from the sanshin, Okinawa’s snakeskin-covered three-string guitar.

In Blow To LDP, Opponent Of U.S. Base Relocation Plan Denny Tamaki Wins Okinawa Gubernatorial Race

October 3, 2018 Eric Johnston, Japantimes.co.jp Resist! Electoral Politics, Military bases, Okinawa

OSAKA – In a major defeat for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the ruling bloc, Kyodo News and other media reported Sunday evening that former Lower House member Denny Tamaki, a staunch opponent of a controversial central government-backed plan to relocate a U.S. military base, won Okinawa’s governor race over a candidate heavily backed by the ruling parties. The last of the votes were being counted late Sunday and official results were expected by early Monday. The 58-year-old Tamaki, who had the support of all major opposition parties, reportedly defeated 54-year-old Atsushi Sakima, a former mayor of Ginowan, which houses U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. The Futenma base is supposed to be relocated to an offshore facility in Henoko now under construction on the northern part of the main island.

US Opens First Permanent Military Base In Israel

September 25, 2018 Ellen Mitchell, Thehill.com Educate! Israel, Military bases, US Imperialism

Israel and U.S. officials on Monday inaugurated the first permanent American military base in the country, which will house dozens of U.S. troops and a missile defense system. The base will be located within the Israel Defense Forces Air Defense School in southern Israel, near Beersheba, Defense News reported. The facility will include a barracks and several other buildings for U.S. troops to be stationed in the country, as well as systems to identify and intercept various aerial threats. It will operate under Israeli military directives. Israeli Air Force Brig. Gen. Zvika Haimovich said the base is largely to serve as “a joint Israeli and American effort to sustain and enhance our defensive capabilities,” and will not bring operational changes such as training or exercises.

70,000 Protest US Army Base In Okinawa

August 12, 2018 RT. Resist! Military bases, Okinawa, US military

Around 70,000 people protested the Japanese government’s plan to relocate a US air base within Okinawa island. Locals say the base will hurt the environment and claim they have sacrificed enough for Japan’s security alliance. The demonstrators gathered at a park in the prefectural capital of Naha on Saturday, in an attempt to urge the central government to abandon their plan to transfer the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from the crowded town of Ginowan to the less populated coastal region of Nago.

Climate Change Strikes U.S. Military Bases

February 6, 2018 By Alex Kirby, Truthdig.com Educate! Climate Change, Infrastructure, Military bases, US Imperialism

Once more, the administration of President Trump seems puzzled about how seriously – if at all – it should regard how climate effects strike US military abilities. In December the president listed the global threats he reckoned the US was facing – and climate change didn’t get a mention. Now, though, the US Department of Defense says many of its bases are feeling the worrying impacts of – climate change. Around half of US military bases worldwide are already experiencing those impacts, a Pentagon report says. A survey shows risks to military infrastructure related to climate and extreme weather are widespread, affecting nearly 50% of the 1,684 sites involved. The survey, described as a vulnerability assessment, identifies several key categories of risk: flooding, both from storm surges and causes such as rain, snow, ice and river overflows; extreme heat and cold; wind; drought; and wildfire.

Resisting US Military Bases And Pentagon Strategies In Latin America

January 29, 2018 By James Patrick Jordan, Telesurtv.net Resist! Latin America, Military bases, Pentagon, US Imperialism

The anti-bases movement in Latin America is strong and a manifestation of the people’s will. “The United States appear to be destined by Providence to plague America with misery in the name of liberty.” Those words were written by Simón Bolivar, 189 years ago. The Great Liberator understood that liberation and the U.S.’ concept of liberty are not the same. When imperialists talk about liberty, they mean access to land, water, and other natural resources for private development and profit. Ana Esther Ceceña, in a piece published by the Ecuadorian Ministry of Defense in 2013, describes the objectives of the United States in Latin America and the world. She says the U.S. has “two general objectives: to guarantee the maintenance of capitalism and within it, the primacy of the United States; and to guarantee the availability of all the riches of the world as the material base for the functioning of the system, assuring that its hierarchies and dynamics of power are maintained.”

The Polluter Is Not Paying

January 11, 2018 H. Patricia Hynes, Portside.org Educate! militarism, Military bases, US Imperialism

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.

US Foreign Military Bases Aren’t For “Defense”

August 3, 2017 Thomas L. Knapp, www.counterpunch.org Educate! Military bases, US Imperialism, US military

By Thomas L. Knapp for Counter Punch - “U.S. foreign military bases are the principal instruments of imperial global domination and environmental damage through wars of aggression and occupation.” That’s the unifying claim of the Coalition Against US Foreign Military Bases (noforeignbases.org), and it’s true as far as it goes. But as a signer of the Coalition’s endorsement form, I think it’s worth taking the argument a bit further. The maintenance of nearly 1,000 US military bases on foreign soil isn’t just a nightmare for peaceniks. It’s also also an objective threat to US national security. A reasonable definition of “national defense,” it seems to me, is the maintenance of sufficient weaponry and trained military personnel to protect a country from, and effectively retaliate against, foreign attacks. The existence of US bases abroad runs counter to the defensive element of that mission and only very poorly supports the retaliatory part. Defensively, scattering US military might piecemeal around the world — especially in countries where the populace resents that military presence — multiplies the number of vulnerable American targets. Each base must have its own separate security apparatus for immediate defense, and must maintain (or at least hope for) an ability to reinforce and resupply from elsewhere in the event of sustained attack.

New Campaign: Close All US Military Bases On Foreign Soil

July 29, 2017 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! Imperialism, Military bases, US Empire, Wars and Militarism

By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers for Popular Resistance. A new campaign to close all US military bases abroad has been announced by the Coalition Against Foreign Military Bases. This campaign strikes at the foundation of the US empire confronting its militarism, corporatism and imperialism. We urge you to endorse this campaign. The coalition has issued a unity statement which describes its intent: “the goal of raising public awareness and organizing non-violent mass resistance against U.S. foreign military bases” describing US foreign military bases as “the principal instruments of imperial global domination and environmental damage through wars of aggression and occupation, and that the closure of U.S. foreign military bases is one of the first necessary steps toward a just, peaceful and sustainable world.” U.S. foreign military bases are NOT in defense of U.S. national, or global security. They are the military expression of U.S. intrusion in the lives of sovereign countries on behalf of the dominant financial, political, and military interests of the ruling elite.

«1 2 3 4 »

Daily movement news and resources