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US Empire

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.

Pink Tide Against US Domination Rising Again In Latin America

October 14, 2019 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Once again, the left is rising in Latin America as people revolt against authoritarian regimes, many of whom were put in place by US-supported coups. These regimes have taken International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans and are under the thumb of international finance, which is against the interests of people. After the embattled President of Ecuador claimed that President Nicolas Maduro was the cause of the massive protests against him, Maduro made clear what was occurring in Latin America, saying: “We have two models: the IMF model which privatizes everything and takes away the people’s rights to health, education and work; and the humanist-progressive model which is emerging in Latin America and has the Bolivarian Revolution at the forefront.”

Empires Are A Secret Until They Start Falling

September 15, 2019 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, Popular Resistance. , , ,
In the past, we have written about the 2020s as a decade when US Empire will end. This is based on Alfred McCoy's predictions (listen to our interview with him on Clearing the FOG). Sociologist and peace scholar John Galtung believes US Empire will fall much faster, losing world dominance by 2020. Much of what he predicted when he said this in 2016 is happening now. In particular, there is a rise in "reactionary fascism" or a desire to go back to the "good old days," the cost of maintaining the empire is taking an increasing economic toll and other countries are starting to rebuke the US, both its requests for military assistance and its unfair economic demands. What this means for people in the United States and around the world depends on whether we can build a mass popular movement with the clarity of vision, skills, and solidarity necessary to navigate what is and will surely be a turbulent period.

US Veterans Being Held In Ireland Walk For Freedom

September 8, 2019 Ciaran Tierney, Irish Central. , , ,
Two elderly US military veterans are to begin a marathon three-week walk from Limerick to the most northerly point in Ireland this weekend to protest against what they claim are human rights abuses by the Irish authorities. Veterans Ken Mayers (82), from New Mexico, and Tarak Kauff (77), New York, will begin their ‘Walk for Freedom’ outside Limerick Prison on Saturday morning to highlight the fact that they have been unable to travel home to their families for the past six months. They have been awaiting trial for non-violent action at Shannon Airport in the West of Ireland on St Patrick's Day.  The two men were arrested at Shannon on March 17 when they tried to inspect an Omni International aircraft, which was on its way to Kuwait. The veterans believed it was carrying US troops and weapons in violation of international law.

The Illegal Overthrow Of The Hawaiian Kingdom Government

August 31, 2019 Keanu Sai, PhD, NEA Today. , ,
In 2001, the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s arbitral tribunal, in Larsen v. Hawaiian Kingdom, declared “in the nineteenth century the Hawaiian Kingdom existed as an independent State recognized as such by the United States of America, the United Kingdom and various other States, including by exchanges of diplomatic or consular representatives and the conclusion of treaties.” The terms State and Country are synonymous. As an independent State, the Hawaiian Kingdom entered into extensive treaty relations with a variety of States establishing diplomatic relations and trade agreements. The Hawaiian Kingdom entered into three treaties with the United States: 1849 Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation; 1875 Commercial Treaty of Reciprocity; and 1883 Convention Concerning the Exchange of Money Orders.

Ten Ways We Pretend War Is Not A Crime And How To Change Them

August 27, 2019 David Swanson, Let's Try Democracy. , , ,
Happy Kellogg-Briand Pact Day! As you all know, but most people do not, the Peace Pact was signed 91 years ago today. And, as you all probably know, but most people do not, the inspiration and vision and endless labor behind it came from a mass movement begun and led, not by Mr. Kellogg or Monsieur Briand but by a lawyer from Chicago named Salmon Oliver Levinson. You could point that out to Minnesotans from Frank Kellogg’s Twin Cities if, of course, any of them had ever heard of Frank Kellogg. A long time back I was asked for a title for this speech, which I hadn’t yet written, and I replied “10 Ways We Pretend War Is Not a Crime and How to Change Them.” More recently I sat down with the hope that I could think of 10 such ways. Unfortunately, far more than 10 items immediately occurred to me.

The World Is Uniting For International Law, Against US Empire

August 11, 2019 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance , , , ,
"We oppose the extraterritorial application of unilateral measures." That is not Cuba, Nicaragua, Iran, Russia, or China talking about the most recent unilateral coercive measures imposed by the United States against Venezuela, i.e. economic sanctions that have become an economic blockade, but the European Union. Even allies who have embarrassed themselves by recognizing the phony "interim president" Juan Guaido are saying the US has gone too far. All of the countries listed above and many more have stated their opposition to the escalation of the US economic war against Venezuela. Venezuela, along with Iran, has become a prime target of US regime change, and both are uniting the world in opposition to the US' bullying behavior, which is hastening the demise of US domination. Popular social movements are growing against US unilateralism and violations of international law.

Global Appeal For Peace; People Of The World Unite

August 8, 2019 Popular Resistance , , ,
This is a new initiative to create a worldwide network of people and organizations that will work together to oppose the lawless actions of the United States: interference in the politics of other countries through open and covert regime change, the imposition of unilateral coercive economic measures (aka sanctions) that are contributing to the deaths of tens of thousands of people, and threats of aggression or outright military attacks. All of the above violate the founding charter of the United Nations, yet neither the United Nations nor its International Court of Justice have been effective in holding the United States accountable for its actions. No one country or one movement has the power alone to hold the United States accountable, but together we can make a difference.

Busting The Myths Of American Exceptionalism And Innocence

August 5, 2019 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese,Clearing the FOG. , , ,
The United States has long considered itself to be above the law, and it has gotten away with it by manufacturing public support for its actions, no matter how heinous, through the myths that we are better than everyone else and that we mean well even when things don't work out. Roberto Sirvent and Danny Haiphong's new book busts through these myths and shows why all of the problems of today are consistent with the history of what "America" has always been. Every chapter exposes truths and raises questions about who we really are. We can only live up to the values we claim to support if we understand these hard truths and recognize that to fix anything, we must fix everything. While it sounds daunting, the world is changing and this book provides essential knowledge for a path to a better place.

Embargoes And Other Acts Of War

July 19, 2019 David Rovics,  Dissident Voice. , , ,
Right now, in the United States, huge detention camps are being constructed for the increasingly criminalized refugee and migrant population, a campaign of government-sponsored domestic terror run by a supposedly temporary, “acting” head of the department created by the ever-Orwellian 9/11-era Bush administration, Homeland Security. Abroad, an oil embargo is being enforced by the US and British Navies against Iranian ships worldwide, strangling the Iranian economy, immiserating millions, with many unpredictable, destabilizing effects on the horizon.  These policies are being spearheaded by another sort of “acting” head, the infamously empire-loving sadist, John Bolton.

Trump Admin Aims To Kill Historic Talks And Strangle Iran With Evidence-Free Accusations

June 16, 2019 Ben Norton, Grayzone Project. , , ,
Since entering office, the Donald Trump administration has been itching for a war on Iran. And it may have found an excuse to justify an escalation of military aggression — or at least kill independent international attempts at diplomacy with Tehran. On the morning of Thursday, June 13, two oil tankers were allegedly attacked in the Gulf of Oman, just off the coast of Iran. The US government immediately blamed Iran for the incident, without providing any evidence. The vessels happened to be en route to Japan at precisely the same time that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in Tehran. The first Japanese leader to visit Iran since its revolution 40 years ago, Abe was holding a historic meeting with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei when the incident took place. This coincidence did not escape Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, who said, “Suspicious doesn’t begin to describe what likely transpired this morning,” and reiterated a call for regional dialogue and cooperation.

The Last Gasps Of US Empire

May 7, 2019 US Delegation International Meeting of Solidarity, Popular Resistance ,
Beloved people of Cuba, we bring you heartfelt greetings, in spite of residing inside the belly of the beast that is The Empire; United States Imperialism. It is humbling for us, the U.S. delegation of the 14 th May Day International Brigade in Solidarity with Cuba, to be invited to address the people of Cuba after what has been a little more than one week since leaders of The Empire declared the intent to intensify their enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine. This intensification in relation to Cuba, through tightened restrictions of trade and travel also means a violation of our human rights; of our rights to travel freely in the world to promote international cooperation. We must reject these violations on the basis that it means punishment for both the beloved people of Cuba and for ourselves.

Why Tehran Is Talking About A Post-West World Order

March 2, 2019 Deepika Saraswat, The Lobe Blog ,
Tehran’s narrative of a post-West world order reflects Iran’s flagging hopes of Europe taking proactive steps to implement the deal as well as Iran’s shifting focus to Asia. According to this narrative, the current transitional world has opened new spaces for multiple new actors to shape the world. Outlining this post-West world order at the Raisina dialogue in New Delhi, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif argued that the “West—as a geographic or political construct—does not possess a monopoly over all consequential global developments.”

Smithsonian: US Is At Global War

January 13, 2019 By Stephanie Savell and 5W Infographics, Smithsonian Magazine , ,
More than 17 years later, the Global War on Terrorism initiated by President George W. Bush is truly global, with Americans actively engaged in countering terrorism in 80 nations on six continents. This map is the most comprehensive depiction in civilian circles of U.S. military and government anti-terrorist actions overseas in the past two years. To develop it, my colleagues and I at Brown University’s Costs of War Project at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, along with Smithsonian magazine...

Upcoming Opportunities For The Movement

December 29, 2018 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance , , ,
There will be important opportunities in the next few years to advance the movement for economic, racial and environmental justice as well as peace. This article will focus on three opportunities: the 2020 elections, the decline of US empire and an economic slowdown. The movement is in a stronger position than it has been in for years. The current movement took off during Occupy in 2011. Occupy's headline was “We Are The 99%,” which emphasized inequality and money corrupting government. Occupy included every major front of struggle, e.g., economic insecurity, racial injustice, climate change, massive debt, never-ending wars, the crisis of capitalism and more.
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Keep independent media alive. 

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