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Understanding US Foreign Policy Is Essential For Progressive Struggle

October 20, 2019 Harry Targ, Diary of a Heartland Radical. , , ,
Just before the Korean War started in 1950, key foreign policy advisers to President Truman threw their support behind recommendations made in a classified document, National Security Council Document 68. The document recommended a dramatic increase in military spending and it also proposed that military spending from that point on should be the number one priority of the national government. When presidents sit down to construct a federal budget, the document said, they should first allocate all the money requested by military and corporate elites and lobbyists concerned with military spending. Only after the military advocates receive all they request should government programs address education, health care, roads, transportation, housing and other critical domestic issues.

The Embargo Deepens As Adobe And Oracle Leave Venezuela

October 15, 2019 Leonardo Flores, Popular Resistance. , , ,
On October 7, users of Adobe software products in Venezuela began receiving messages saying that the company would no longer provide them with services, citing U.S. government sanctions (specifically Executive Order (E.O.) 13884). Over the next four days, Flickr, TransferWise and Oracle informed Venezuelan users that they, too, would cease services due to E.O. 13884. This could be the beginning of a broader U.S. corporate pull out of Venezuela and is more evidence that Venezuela is under embargo, as both the Maduro government and The Wall Street Journal have stated. E.O. 13884 constitutes an embargo as it prohibits transactions with the Venezuelan government. It also threatens secondary sanctions on companies that “materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services” to the government.

Why Trump Is Facing Impeachment

October 12, 2019 Roger Harris, Popular Resistance. , , ,
Granted Trump may arguably be more corrupt than Biden. But that’s splitting hairs over which crook is more crooked. Bullying vassal states and “doing well by doing good” are indicators of finesse in Washington. Inside the beltway, corruption is not a liability for holding high political office, but a requirement. The key to membership in the power elite club is carrying water for the imperial state, and most club members must go through an elaborate vetting process to prove that they are reliable. Some such as Trump slip through. The sine qua non for membership in this exclusive club is to prove you’ll take a hit for the empire. When the results of the 2000 US presidential election were inconclusive, Al Gore took a fall rather than risk instability at the top: “(for) the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession.”

Red ‘Whistleblowing’ Herrings

September 29, 2019 Ray McGovern. , , ,
On CNLive yesterday evening (link below), Ray discussed the new “Ukraine-gate” whistleblower, who is reported to be a CIA officer who spent some time on detail to the White House. Ray begins with a brief discussion of the intelligence officer-policy maker nexus — particularly the need for the intelligence officer to keep abreast of the interests and needs of the policy maker without becoming seduced into active advocacy of this or that policy. Ray outlines how Robert Gates placed on steroids the practice of inserting intelligence officers into policy departments, and offers short case studies, demonstrating the need to keep a respectful space between intelligence and policy — not to mention the invaluable credibility and trust that accrues to an intelligence officer who avoids the slightest appearance of policy advocacy. 

Ukraine-Trump-Biden Scandals Show Why Whistleblowers Are Vital To Democracy

September 29, 2019 Trevor Timm, Medium.com. , ,
Donald Trump is now closer than ever to being impeached by the House. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has finally opened the door to bringing charges after Trump was caught pressuring a foreign country to help him win the 2020 election and trying to stifle a whistleblower complaint. And if impeachment indeed happens, we’ll have not only that whistleblower to thank, but also leaks to the press. As everyone now knows — and has been confirmed by a rough transcript released by the White House itself — Trump tried to push Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden’s son, Hunter. Trump even offered up the Justice Department’s services to Zelenskiy in any potential criminal investigation he wished to conduct into the younger Biden.

Trump Ordered By Judge To Testify In NY Protest Case

September 22, 2019 Tal Axelrod, The Hill. , , ,
A New York judge Friday ordered President Trump to answer questions in a civil suit involving a 2015 incident between protesters and his security guards. State Supreme Court Justice Doris Gonzalez ruled Trump must “appear for a videotaped deposition prior to the trial” under oath, saying his testimony is “indispensable.” The trial involves a group of protesters who say Trump’s security guards assaulted them outside of Trump Tower in 2015. The plaintiffs were demonstrating against Trump’s rhetoric toward Mexican immigrants. The judge rejected arguments from Trump’s camp saying the president’s duties should exempt him from testifying. Gonzalez said Trump may answer questions from the White House “at a time that will accommodate his busy schedule,” and that “there would be no necessity for the president to attend in person, though he could elect to do so.” 

Coup Master: Michael Kozak, New US Envoy For Latin America

September 15, 2019 Telesur English. , , ,
In par with its belligerent policy towards Latin America, United States President Donald Trump appointed Thursday Michael Kozak as Acting Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, a U.S. diplomat known for his expertise in regime change. “Kozak is one of those rare diplomats without fear of using force for what the U.S. considers a noble goal," journalist and Director of the Andes section of the Associated Press Joshua Goodman tweeted on Thursday. This comes as Trump warned that with former National Security Advisor John Bolton out he will enforce an even harder policy against Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua, thus Kozak will likely become his ‘go-to-guy’. The new acting head of U.S. diplomacy toward Latin America is no stranger to the implementation of interventionist tactics in the region, where for thirty years he learned and perfected the tactics to oust governments, a craft that was later exported to Eastern Europe and the former USSR.

Baltimore Protesters Give President Trump A Hostile Reception

September 14, 2019 Bill Hughes, Baltimore Post Examiner. , , ,
Baltimore, MD - Although the temperature hovered around the ninety-degree mark in the late afternoon of Thursday, September 12, 2019, it was even hotter in the section of Baltimore known as Harbor East. The reason for that was that the ultra-conservative Republican President Donald Trump, a lightning rod for opponents of his policies, was in town. Local protesters were out in force to give him a piece of their angry, collective minds. Trump was in town to give a speech at a three-day retreat being held by members of the national Republican Party at the Marriott Hotel. It’s located at the harbor’s edge at 700 Aliceanna Street. The protesters, about 300 or more in number, couldn’t get close to the hotel. The local police presence was definitely on the heavy side. A piazza honoring Christopher Columbus, just west of the Little Italy neighborhood, was the staging area for the rally.

Racism Is About Power, Not Unpleasant Sentiments

September 8, 2019 Robert Urie, Counterpunch. , , ,
In September of 2011, the state of Georgia executed Troy Davis— a man who the best evidence suggested was innocent. On February 26, 2012, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was murdered by self-appointed community ‘guardian’ George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida. Then Michael Brown was murdered by the Ferguson police and his lifeless body was left lying in the street for hours. And then Freddie Gray was murdered by the Baltimore police. And on, and on. These references, now long surpassed by crimes equally as brutal and egregious, are used to mark a moment in political history. Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter arose to challenge the power that both motivated and legitimated them. The goal wasn’t to replace one oppressive power with another. It was to end repressive power.

ICAN Statement: The Collapse Of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty

August 3, 2019 the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Popular Resistance. , , ,
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) deplores the irresponsible destruction of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty by the current leaders of the United States and Russia. At the height of the Cold War, this important bilateral Treaty banned and eliminated over 2,600 of the most destabilising class of intermediate-range missiles, thereby pulling the world back from the brink of nuclear war and kick-starting further deep cuts in the two largest nuclear arsenals. By walking away from the INF Treaty, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have further undermined the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and put the world at heightened risk of nuclear weapons use and war.

Something Trump-Bashed Baltimore Would Like To Ditch: ‘Kushnerville’ Homes

July 28, 2019 Mary Papenfuss, HuffPost. , , ,
After a series of vicious attacks on their home by their own president, proud Baltimoreans are standing by their city. But there is something local they would likely be happy to ditch: decrepit “Kushnerville” housing provided by Donald Trump’s own son-in-law, who has been blasted by tenants in the press as a “slumlord.” Trump has lashed Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) in yet another attack on an African-American because of the congressman’s criticism of inhumane treatment of immigrants at the southern border, and slammed Cummings’ Baltimore district as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.”

We Must Stop Our Nation’s Push For Relentless War

July 7, 2019 Oliver Stone and Dan Kovalik, Information Clearinghouse. , , ,
Former president Jimmy Carter recently made a profound and damning statement — the United States is the “most warlike nation in the history of the world.” Carter contrasted the United States with China, saying that China is building high-speed trains for its people while the United States is putting all of its resources into mass destruction. Where are high-speed trains in the United States, Carter appropriately wondered. As if to prove Carter’s assertion, Vice President Mike Pence told the most recent graduating class at West Point that it “is a virtual certainty that you will fight on a battlefield for America at some point in your life. . . . You will lead soldiers in combat.

Park Service Directed To Shift $2.5 Million In Fees To Help Pay For July 4 Parade

July 4, 2019 Nick Visser, Huff Post. , , ,
The National Park Service will divert about $2.5 million in fees gathered from park-goers to help pay for the hefty costs of President Donald Trump’s Fourth of July celebration, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. The White House has been preparing for the president’s “Salute to America” on Thursday, a grand parade meant to showcase what Trump has called the “strongest and most advanced” military on the planet. Tanks have been shipped from Georgia, and a flyover by Air Force One is scheduled, as well as a promised “biggest ever” fireworks display, according to Trump. But such plans have reportedly stretched the event’s budget far past normal. The Post noted that the entire Independence Day celebration usually costs the National Park Service about $2 million, but the NPS was directed to divert park entrance and recreation fees to help cover some of the additional costs of this year’s event, according to two anonymous sources familiar with the planning.

Jingoistic Military Fetishization Is As American As Bald Eagle McNuggets

July 4, 2019 Caitlin Johnstone, Medium.com. , , ,
“Putin’s America,” tweeted Anand Giridharadas, a pundit who was genetically engineered in a Monsanto laboratory to appeal to NPR listeners on every possible level. Giridharadas used these words yesterday to caption a short video clip of two tanks being carted through the streets of DC in preparation for their appearance in a parade for Independence Day, a holiday in which Americans gather to eat hot dogs and drink Mountain Dew in celebration of the anniversary of their lateral transfer from monarchy to corporatist oligarchy. The military hardware parade is taking place at the behest of President Bolton’s social media assistant Donald Trump, and critics have been vocally decrying it as alien and un-American. Pundits like Giridharadas and Steve Silberman have been saying it’s something Russia would do. 

More Than 200 Civil Rights Groups Ask Congress To Decriminalize Border Crossings

July 4, 2019 Kevin Zeese, Popular Resistance. , , ,
Immigrant rights defenders signed on to a letter to Congressional leaders demanding the end of Clinton-era enforcement rules that criminalize crossing the border. The letter published below demands the reversal of immigration enforcement measures signed into law by Bill Clinton back in 1996, which critics view as the beginning of a major buildup of the detention and deportation systems. The 240 groups also called for an end to immigrant detention without bail, halting automatic deportations of people based on criminal convictions, and disentangling immigration enforcement from local policing.   The law making illegal entry a misdemeanor and subsequent violations a felony is nearly 100 years old. It  was authored by a segregationist Democratic Senator, Coleman Blease of South Carolina in 1929.
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