From jbn at forestfield.org Wed Oct 4 05:07:58 2023 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Wed, 4 Oct 2023 00:07:58 -0500 Subject: [Peace-discuss] Recommended videos Message-ID: Some videos I've seen recently which I recommend seeing: Grayzone - (on Rokfin.com, unfortunately I wasn't able to get the URL because of a network issue on their site at the time I wrote this) Excellent discussion from Max Blumenthal about the recent Canadian Parliament applauding a Nazi including commenting on PM Trudeau's apologizing to the 2SLGBTIA+ community -- the rainbow crowd is being mentioned to serve its useful function for the elites to distract attention away from real responsibility and as a means to make it look like authority has a good read on what's ethical when (as we've seen with recent war-making bodies advertising to the same crowd) they're being used to commit crimes and kill. Glenn Greenwald - https://rumble.com/v3miab1-system-update-show-153.html has a good take on the value of free speech and increasing despotism in Canada. According to former Canadian lawyer David Freiheit in https://rumble.com/v3ma7ps-canadian-parliament-applauds-waffen-ss-veteran-trudeau-govt-an-absolute-dis.html (an episode of Going Underground with Afshin Rattansi) Canada ostensibly has something like an American 1st Amendment guaranteeing freedom of speech but the Canadian version is apparently not enforced. Kim Iversen - https://rumble.com/v3msm41-october-3-2023.html is her most recent show in which she interviews Dennis Kucinich who is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s campaign manager. The rumor is that RFK Jr. will cease trying to gain the favor of the DNC corporation (which has clearly announced their standards bearer to be Joe Biden) and will run for POTUS as an independent candidate. We'll know if this is true from RFK Jr. next week. I find this interesting because, in my view, this means RFK Jr. will go from not really running for US President (he would have appeared on zero ballots) to running (maybe he'll appear on some ballots). Late in this interview Kucinich says that we ought not ignore party primaries. As you all know, the DNC lawyer Bruce Spiva successfully got a lawsuit from disaffected Bernie Sanders supporters to be dismissed out of court by arguing that corporations have the freedom to choose their own "standards bearer" (Spiva's term for candidate for elective office) and that means they could choose their standards bearer in private with no input from anyone they didn't want to hear from. This means that primaries are not legally required and therefore primaries (and all of the voting shenanigans that go along with them) are theater. In other words, Kucinich is flatly wrong and likely telling us to engage with primaries out of apparent loyalty to the DNC corporation ('Democratic Party'). But it also means that RFK Jr. and Dr. Cornel West (running with the Green corporation) share a problem: they both have campaigns headed up by people who are apparently loyal to the Democrats. As such I see no reason to take either of their campaigns seriously. I'm sure that both Kennedy & West have interesting and agreeable things to say, but in a political race strategy matters. A campaign manager with clear loyalties from the corporation/political party which both West & Kennedy claim to provide a clear alternative to is a declaration that opposing the Democrats is not high on either candidate's agenda. From jbn at forestfield.org Wed Oct 4 05:30:57 2023 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Wed, 4 Oct 2023 00:30:57 -0500 Subject: [Peace-discuss] Recommended videos In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <5e6139d3-6fa2-4813-9bcb-fb5addcf73e6@forestfield.org> Two more (an interview in 2 parts): Chris Hedges https://youtube.com/watch?v=i4N_P-Xd15E https://youtube.com/watch?v=5S0vQ0aEul4 Both parts of a recent interview with Stella Assange, Julian Assange's wife, on Julian's imprisonment and the end of American Democracy. Much is covered here including what prison is really like (slavery) and why establishment-serving media outlets reported on WikiLeaks' publications (Julian Assange shamed them into doing their jobs and they hated Assange for that shaming from the start). This is a particularly good interview; the roughly 2-hour long interview gives both time to expand on thoughts at length and there's quite an emotional ending. It's one of the best interviews I've seen Chris Hedges or Stella Assange do and that's saying something because I've seen and read a lot of their work and they're both remarkably insightful. Watching how Stella Assange's description of her husband's plight change over time to become more strident is also interesting, completely justified, reasonable, rational, and it points us all to what a shameful government we have. From jbn at forestfield.org Sat Oct 7 21:56:22 2023 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2023 16:56:22 -0500 Subject: [Peace-discuss] RT: Nord Stream syndrome: One year on, EU states and the US collude to sweep the pipeline attacks under the rug Message-ID: <2d64a882-f3fe-4a7f-95d9-eb2ee3fc2061@forestfield.org> A good write-up of the issues involved in blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline. https://www.rt.com/russia/584074-russia-nord-stream-pipeline-attacks/ > Nord Stream syndrome: One year on, EU states and the US collude to sweep the > pipeline attacks under the rug > > It seemed easy to blame Russia at first, but now that the evidence doesn?t add up, > the West doesn?t want to talk about the truth > > By Chay Bowes, journalist and geopolitical analyst, MA in Strategic Studies, RT > correspondent > > Nord Stream syndrome: One year on, EU states and the US collude to sweep the > pipeline attacks under the rug > > It?s been more than a year since one of the biggest pieces of energy > infrastructure in Europe was destroyed in what can only be described as a terror > attack. One would imagine that no stone would be left unturned to investigate a > crime of such magnitude and attribute responsibility. > > You would also think that the countries that stood to lose most from Nord Stream?s > destruction would be at the forefront of these investigations. Well, welcome to > the Europe of 2023 where, in a weird case of Stockholm syndrome, it seems neither > the alleged perpetrator nor indeed one of the main victims wants any more > ?trouble? when it comes to Nord Stream. The consensus is to let sleeping dogs lie, > and considering the evidence of US involvement in the attack, that?s entirely > unsurprising. > > On September 26, 2022, the world?s news feeds erupted with reports of the powerful > explosions which tore the landmark Russian-German gas pipelines apart, dealing a > devastating blow to Berlin's, and by extension the entire EU's, energy security. > Within a couple of days, Western media had seemingly solved the mystery. > Publications such as Politico eagerly proclaimed that ?Everything is pointing to > Russia,?[1] embracing the utterly delusional anti-logic that would make it > plausible that Russia would destroy a piece of its own energy infrastructure that > had been bringing it steady income. This reality, widely accepted by objective, > nonaligned observers[2], was however lost on a slew of NATO-, US-, and EU-aligned > commentators and officials. A mere four days after the explosions, US Energy > Secretary Jennifer Granholm told the BBC[3] that it ?seems? Russia was behind the > destruction of its own multibillion-dollar investment. > > When we roll the clock forward to today, it is now patently clear that Western > media have been tasked with memory-holing the entire Nord Stream affair, with > Germany, Sweden, and Denmark quietly conducting separate ?investigations? which > conveniently exclude Russian officials while also remaining strangely low-key in > Western newsfeeds. These obviously declawed investigations continue as it is > increasingly accepted in the West[4] that Russia had nothing to do with the > sabotage, it now being obvious that the US and/or a proxy partner[5] were actually > behind this terror attack on European soil. More than a year after these attacks, > it?s apparent that the manner in which this reality has been suppressed is > possibly more sinister than the attack itself. > > An often-overlooked element of the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines is the > devastating environmental impact that resulted from the explosions. Over 100,000 > tons of methane gas was released into the atmosphere as four huge blasts tore > through the two pipelines. A far less well known, or publicized, fact is that > these pipelines were laid near an area where tons of toxic chemical weapons > waste[6] from the First World War had previously been dumped. The scale of the > resulting short- and long-term impact on the seabed and atmosphere is difficult to > establish, but both this and the single-biggest release of methane into the > atmosphere in recent history seem to have gone generally unnoticed by the Green > lobby in the EU and US. Anyone doubting the influence of this bunch should recall > that on Joe Biden?s first day in office, he canceled a huge pipeline project, > Keystone XL, jeopardizing thousands of construction jobs in what was seen as > payback to environmentalists, whose cash and influence had been critical in his > narrow electoral success. > > The silence of the Green lobby on the catastrophic impact of the Nord Stream > attack thus seems all the more unusual. Environmental activists across the US have > rallied around calls to prevent the construction of pipelines in various regions, > citing their negative environmental impact, but those same people seem remarkably > quiet when it comes to the biggest pipeline-related environmental catastrophe in > decades. The lack of any significant challenge regarding this act of eco-terrorism > speaks volumes about the West?s selective approach to the Ukraine conflict. Green > moral outrage is instantly shelved once Russia or China is the target and not the > perpetrator. > > The other elephant in the room is of course the fact that the US military > represents the single-biggest source of carbon pollution on planet Earth[7]. It's > the largest consumer of energy in America itself and the world?s single-largest > institutional consumer of petroleum. In this context it?s worth noting the endless > stream of ?celebrity? visitors to the court of Ukrainian President Vladimir > Zelensky in Kiev, amongst them the 'Queen of Green' Greta Thunberg, who decried > the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam and the environmental impacts of > war, all the while posing for grinning pictures with Zelensky and his entourage. > Strangely, and maybe conveniently, the Nord Stream attack was absent from the > agenda which widely condemned Russia as the architect of all of Ukraine?s past, > current, and future environmental woes. Innumerable other Western ?stars? have > landed in Kiev to wring as much PR out of the conflict as possible, but not on one > single occasion has any of these ?eco warriors? dared to raise the impact of the > Nord Stream attack and its aftermath. It seems that the destruction of the dam, > which had no strategic benefit for the Russian military, much like the destruction > of the Nord Stream pipeline, is yet another convenient way to demonize Moscow, a > practice now routinely engaged in without any requirement to provide any objective > or independent evidence. > > Remarkably, when evidence[8] emerged that Ukrainian forces had previously targeted > the Kakhovka dam to ?test? whether they could indeed strike it, this was widely > ignored by Western media, and yet again, the immediate rush to blame Russia, as > happened with Nord Stream, began with only a few outlets publishing slightly > dissenting views[9]. > > So as the line of Hollywood stars and politicians making the pilgrimage to Kiev > diminishes, along with Kiev?s chances of victory, some of the realities of the > selective blindness regarding Nord Stream become all the more apparent. Zelensky?s > regime in Kiev is obviously finding it more and more difficult to carry the > narrative plausibly to tiring Western audiences, with manic allegations of Russian > missile attacks in Poland[10] and Konstantinovka[11] all being embarrassingly > shown to be false. Compounding the downward spiral of Ukrainian credibility is > Polish Prime Minister Andrzej Duda?s recent pushback against Kiev?s demands. Add > to this the recent debacle with the Ukrainian Nazi lauded in the Canadian > parliament, which turned Ottawa?s show of support for Kiev into a PR disaster, and > you get a distinct sense that the wheels are coming off for Zelensky and his > regime. One thing is absolutely undeniable, that when this is all over, and the > truth about Nord Stream and the suppressive media coverage surrounding it comes to > the surface, we will probably need a dam to hold back the flood of reality that > hits a Western population that gleefully consumed a grossly implausible narrative > around this whole affair. Given the fact that the truth has an inconvenient > tendency to emerge, it?s quite possible that one of the EU?s most energetic > Russophobes, Josep Borrell, may end up regretting saying the words he never > intended to turn into action at the time: > > ?Any deliberate disruption of European energy infrastructure is utterly > unacceptable and will be met with a robust and united response.? [1] https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/28/nord-stream-pipeline-explosions-eu-00059262 [2] https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/how-america-took-out-the-nord-stream [3] https://www.bbc.com/news/business-63084613 [4] https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/12/21/russia-nord-stream-explosions/ [5] https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/how-america-took-out-the-nord-stream [6] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nord-stream-pipeline-blasts-stirred-up-toxic-sediment/#:~:text=The%20explosions%20that%20blasted%20holes,analysis%20of%20the%20site%20suggests. [7] https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2022/10/pentagon-climate-change-neta-crawford-book/#:~:text=Although%20the%20Pentagon%20has%20been,percent%20of%20federal%20energy%20consumption. [8] https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/ukraine-considered-destroying-nova-kakhovka-dam-:wapo [9] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-07/ukraine-and-russia-blame-each-other-for-dam-burst-at-un/102448442 [10] https://www.rt.com/news/583571-polish-deaths-ukrainian-missile/ [11] https://www.rt.com/russia/583187-konstantinovka-missile-nyt-investigation/ From jbn at forestfield.org Sat Oct 7 23:18:14 2023 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2023 18:18:14 -0500 Subject: [Peace-discuss] Sen. Sanders' staff have pro-Ukranian peace activists arrested, recent events in US history of support of Nazism Message-ID: <6850da5b-7f2b-4237-b1a5-d3d81484eb91@forestfield.org> Quoting https://twitter.com/HotSpotHotSpot/status/1709619195338428711 > Senator Sanders? staff have activists arrested for protesting his support for > sending more weapons to Ukraine. There is also a video of two of the activists being arrested and taken away in an elevator. Fiorella Isabel in https://twitter.com/FiorellaIsabelM/status/1709623151569621463 and https://nitter.unixfox.eu/FiorellaIsabelM/status/1709624212099314021 replied: > How far from the ?revolutionary? that once went to the Soviet Union! Sanders isn?t > just a disgrace to his supporters but a warmonger posing as an anti-war hero, > arresting activists for simply wanting to stop arming NEO-NAZIS using depleted > uranium & illegal weapons on civilians. > > I once supported Sanders as did many of those angrily calling him out now. I feel > such regret & infuriating disappointment with how the people have 0 friends in DC, > but that?s no surprise at this point. The American rot is too far gone to ever be > reformed. It?s gotta all go. She also recently wrote an op-ed for RT a little over a week ago -- "Nazis for Biden: How Washington weaponizes radicals for its political goals" -- https://www.rt.com/news/583704-nazis-biden-us-weaponizes/ in which she reminds us that: > [...] multiple groups of neo-Nazis[1] consisting of the Aryan Freedom Network, Order > of the Black Sun, the 14 First, the Goyim Defense League, and Blood Tribe, were > recently spotted around the area, exercising their First Amendment right, chanting > hateful slogans and proudly boasting their White Supremacist tattoos for all to > see. > > The protestors claimed to support Ron DeSantis, the current governor of Florida > who?s also running for president. Present was Kent ?Boneface? McLellan, a neo-Nazi > who reportedly gave information on others in his group after being arrested in an > FBI sting in 2012 for domestic terrorism. He claims he went to Ukraine after the > US-backed Maidan coup of 2014, to join the Right Sector ultranationalist group in > the new Kiev authorities? war against the dissenting republics of the Donbass. He > then returned to the country in 2022, when the Russian military operation started, > to join the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion, and said it was not the FBI that helped him > get involved, but the CIA. > > While American politicians and establishment media were appalled by the Orlando > neo-Nazis? display of hate, Blood Tribe leader and former US marine tied to the > January 6th Capitol Hill riots, Christopher Pohlhaus[2], also known as ?Hammer,? > professed why he preferred Joe Biden[3] to Donald Trump in next year?s 2024 > Presidential election. He proclaimed that at least ?Biden sends rockets to > Ukraine.? This highlights what the US media and Washington have consistently tried > to bury since February of 2022: That Ukraine has a huge Nazi problem and that the > US and its intelligence agency apparatus have historically not only been aware of > it, but stand determined to train, advise, and weaponize these factions to achieve > certain political goals. [1] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna103186 [2] https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/09/04/bfpk-s04.html [3] https://www.azerbaycan24.com/en/blood-tribe-leader-comes-out-in-support-of-biden-for-2024/ In addition to Isabel's informative article, I remind you that our relationship with Nazism goes further -- part of our apparent support for Ukraine includes supporting the https://myrotvorets.center/ website which is an infamous kill list website. The CIA-controlled Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirotvorets) says Myrotvorets or Mirotvorets are Ukrainian for "Peacemaker". Current whois data for myrotvorets.center tells us that the domain registrar (the party who sold the owner the domain name) and authoritative DNS service are hosted at Cloudflare: Name Server: brad.ns.cloudflare.com Name Server: lila.ns.cloudflare.com Cloudflare has an on-again/off-again relationship with neo-Nazis. Cloudflare hosted The Daily Stormer's website caching (The Daily Stormer was said, by Cloudflare, to be a neo-Nazi publication), then Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince was quoted in April 2015 as saying (http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/anonymous-opisis-cloudflare-refuses-block-service-pro-isis-websites-1495758): > We're the plumbers of the internet. We make the pipes work but it's not right for > us to inspect what is or isn't going through the pipes. If companies like ours or > ISPs (internet service providers) start censoring there would be an uproar. It > would lead us down a path of internet censors and controls akin to a country like > China. By August 2017 Prince's opinion and Cloudflare's policy had changed. He kicked out neo-Nazi website (and Cloudflare customer) The Daily Stormer: https://gizmodo.com/cloudflare-ceo-on-terminating-service-to-neo-nazi-site-1797915295 > This was my decision. Our terms of service reserve the right for us to terminate > users of our network at our sole discretion. My rationale for making this > decision was simple: the people behind the Daily Stormer are assholes and I?d had > enough. > > Let me be clear: this was an arbitrary decision. It was different than what I?d > talked talked with our senior team about yesterday. I woke up this morning in a > bad mood and decided to kick them off the Internet. I called our legal team and > told them what we were going to do. I called our Trust & Safety team and had them > stop the service. It was a decision I could make because I?m the CEO of a major > Internet infrastructure company. and > I realized there was no way we were going to have that conversation with people > calling us Nazis. The Daily Stormer site was bragging on their bulletin boards > about how Cloudflare was one of them and that is the opposite of everything we > believe. That was the tipping point for me. By September 2022, Matthew Prince changed his mind again claiming that his previous cancellations (The Daily Stormer & 8Chan whom Prince baselessly called "lawless") might have been wrong. But Prince also warned that he might continue to make similar decisions: https://torrentfreak.com/cloudflare-rejects-role-as-internet-or-piracy-police-220901/ > ?Just as the telephone company doesn?t terminate your line if you say awful, > racist, bigoted things, we have concluded in consultation with politicians, > policy makers, and experts that turning off security services because we think > what you publish is despicable is the wrong policy. > > ?To be clear, just because we did it in a limited set of cases before doesn?t > mean we were right when we did. Or that we will ever do it again,? Prince adds, > referring to the earlier terminations. From jbn at forestfield.org Sun Oct 8 01:15:57 2023 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2023 20:15:57 -0500 Subject: [Peace-discuss] Jimmy Dore: "Cornel West Presidential Clown Show Continues!" In-Reply-To: <743de2eb-5d6a-4ba6-ac1f-308ac3c4e69f@forestfield.org> References: <743de2eb-5d6a-4ba6-ac1f-308ac3c4e69f@forestfield.org> Message-ID: <7bf434a6-2da4-4f0d-855d-7f015a044ef3@forestfield.org> https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/05/cornel-west-independent-bid-00120132 headline "Cornel West leaves the Green Party in favor of an independent bid". Quoting a part of that article: > [...] West has broken up with the Green Party too. The campaign declined to > elaborate further on the decision to leave beyond wanting to be more focused on > voters than intraparty dynamics. > > And thus his role in the presidential race has become murkier. Jimmy Dore's reaction https://rumble.com/v3nk3r5-cornel-west-presidential-clown-show-continues.html From moboct1 at aim.com Sun Oct 8 02:39:58 2023 From: moboct1 at aim.com (moboct1 at aim.com) Date: Sun, 8 Oct 2023 02:39:58 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [Peace-discuss] Fw: RT: Nord Stream syndrome: One year on, EU states and the US collude to sweep the pipeline attacks under the rug In-Reply-To: <2d64a882-f3fe-4a7f-95d9-eb2ee3fc2061@forestfield.org> References: <2d64a882-f3fe-4a7f-95d9-eb2ee3fc2061@forestfield.org> Message-ID: <1053446429.602519.1696732798578@mail.yahoo.com> It's not unexpected that U.S. & the "United" Kingdom still blame Russia for blowing up Nordstream 2, at the same time profiting from their complicity by replacing the cheaper Russian energy supply from the now damaged pipeline with their own: UK from planned Scottish offshore wells , and U.S. from depleted wells for LGN shipped to EU, in violation of global warming sanctions, to replace the inoperative Russian Nordstream pipeline delivery. Midge O'Brien ----- Forwarded Message ----- From: J.B. Nicholson via Peace-discuss To: Peace-Discuss mailing list Sent: Saturday, October 7, 2023 at 04:56:58 PM CDTSubject: [Peace-discuss] RT: Nord Stream syndrome: One year on, EU states and the US collude to sweep the pipeline attacks under the rug A good write-up of the issues involved in blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline. https://www.rt.com/russia/584074-russia-nord-stream-pipeline-attacks/ > Nord Stream syndrome: One year on, EU states and the US collude to sweep the > pipeline attacks under the rug > > It seemed easy to blame Russia at first, but now that the evidence doesn?t add up, > the West doesn?t want to talk about the truth > > By Chay Bowes, journalist and geopolitical analyst, MA in Strategic Studies, RT > correspondent > > Nord Stream syndrome: One year on, EU states and the US collude to sweep the > pipeline attacks under the rug > > It?s been more than a year since one of the biggest pieces of energy > infrastructure in Europe was destroyed in what can only be described as a terror > attack. One would imagine that no stone would be left unturned to investigate a > crime of such magnitude and attribute responsibility. > > You would also think that the countries that stood to lose most from Nord Stream?s > destruction would be at the forefront of these investigations. Well, welcome to > the Europe of 2023 where, in a weird case of Stockholm syndrome, it seems neither > the alleged perpetrator nor indeed one of the main victims wants any more > ?trouble? when it comes to Nord Stream. The consensus is to let sleeping dogs lie, > and considering the evidence of US involvement in the attack, that?s entirely > unsurprising. > > On September 26, 2022, the world?s news feeds erupted with reports of the powerful > explosions which tore the landmark Russian-German gas pipelines apart, dealing a > devastating blow to Berlin's, and by extension the entire EU's, energy security. > Within a couple of days, Western media had seemingly solved the mystery. > Publications such as Politico eagerly proclaimed that ?Everything is pointing to > Russia,?[1] embracing the utterly delusional anti-logic that would make it > plausible that Russia would destroy a piece of its own energy infrastructure that > had been bringing it steady income. This reality, widely accepted by objective, > nonaligned observers[2], was however lost on a slew of NATO-, US-, and EU-aligned > commentators and officials. A mere four days after the explosions, US Energy > Secretary Jennifer Granholm told the BBC[3] that it ?seems? Russia was behind the > destruction of its own multibillion-dollar investment. > > When we roll the clock forward to today, it is now patently clear that Western > media have been tasked with memory-holing the entire Nord Stream affair, with > Germany, Sweden, and Denmark quietly conducting separate ?investigations? which > conveniently exclude Russian officials while also remaining strangely low-key in > Western newsfeeds. These obviously declawed investigations continue as it is > increasingly accepted in the West[4] that Russia had nothing to do with the > sabotage, it now being obvious that the US and/or a proxy partner[5] were actually > behind this terror attack on European soil. More than a year after these attacks, > it?s apparent that the manner in which this reality has been suppressed is > possibly more sinister than the attack itself. > > An often-overlooked element of the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines is the > devastating environmental impact that resulted from the explosions. Over 100,000 > tons of methane gas was released into the atmosphere as four huge blasts tore > through the two pipelines. A far less well known, or publicized, fact is that > these pipelines were laid near an area where tons of toxic chemical weapons > waste[6] from the First World War had previously been dumped. The scale of the > resulting short- and long-term impact on the seabed and atmosphere is difficult to > establish, but both this and the single-biggest release of methane into the > atmosphere in recent history seem to have gone generally unnoticed by the Green > lobby in the EU and US. Anyone doubting the influence of this bunch should recall > that on Joe Biden?s first day in office, he canceled a huge pipeline project, > Keystone XL, jeopardizing thousands of construction jobs in what was seen as > payback to environmentalists, whose cash and influence had been critical in his > narrow electoral success. > > The silence of the Green lobby on the catastrophic impact of the Nord Stream > attack thus seems all the more unusual. Environmental activists across the US have > rallied around calls to prevent the construction of pipelines in various regions, > citing their negative environmental impact, but those same people seem remarkably > quiet when it comes to the biggest pipeline-related environmental catastrophe in > decades. The lack of any significant challenge regarding this act of eco-terrorism > speaks volumes about the West?s selective approach to the Ukraine conflict. Green > moral outrage is instantly shelved once Russia or China is the target and not the > perpetrator. > > The other elephant in the room is of course the fact that the US military > represents the single-biggest source of carbon pollution on planet Earth[7]. It's > the largest consumer of energy in America itself and the world?s single-largest > institutional consumer of petroleum. In this context it?s worth noting the endless > stream of ?celebrity? visitors to the court of Ukrainian President Vladimir > Zelensky in Kiev, amongst them the 'Queen of Green' Greta Thunberg, who decried > the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam and the environmental impacts of > war, all the while posing for grinning pictures with Zelensky and his entourage. > Strangely, and maybe conveniently, the Nord Stream attack was absent from the > agenda which widely condemned Russia as the architect of all of Ukraine?s past, > current, and future environmental woes. Innumerable other Western ?stars? have > landed in Kiev to wring as much PR out of the conflict as possible, but not on one > single occasion has any of these ?eco warriors? dared to raise the impact of the > Nord Stream attack and its aftermath. It seems that the destruction of the dam, > which had no strategic benefit for the Russian military, much like the destruction > of the Nord Stream pipeline, is yet another convenient way to demonize Moscow, a > practice now routinely engaged in without any requirement to provide any objective > or independent evidence. > > Remarkably, when evidence[8] emerged that Ukrainian forces had previously targeted > the Kakhovka dam to ?test? whether they could indeed strike it, this was widely > ignored by Western media, and yet again, the immediate rush to blame Russia, as > happened with Nord Stream, began with only a few outlets publishing slightly > dissenting views[9]. > > So as the line of Hollywood stars and politicians making the pilgrimage to Kiev > diminishes, along with Kiev?s chances of victory, some of the realities of the > selective blindness regarding Nord Stream become all the more apparent. Zelensky?s > regime in Kiev is obviously finding it more and more difficult to carry the > narrative plausibly to tiring Western audiences, with manic allegations of Russian > missile attacks in Poland[10] and Konstantinovka[11] all being embarrassingly > shown to be false. Compounding the downward spiral of Ukrainian credibility is > Polish Prime Minister Andrzej Duda?s recent pushback against Kiev?s demands. Add > to this the recent debacle with the Ukrainian Nazi lauded in the Canadian > parliament, which turned Ottawa?s show of support for Kiev into a PR disaster, and > you get a distinct sense that the wheels are coming off for Zelensky and his > regime. One thing is absolutely undeniable, that when this is all over, and the > truth about Nord Stream and the suppressive media coverage surrounding it comes to > the surface, we will probably need a dam to hold back the flood of reality that > hits a Western population that gleefully consumed a grossly implausible narrative > around this whole affair. Given the fact that the truth has an inconvenient > tendency to emerge, it?s quite possible that one of the EU?s most energetic > Russophobes, Josep Borrell, may end up regretting saying the words he never > intended to turn into action at the time: > > ?Any deliberate disruption of European energy infrastructure is utterly > unacceptable and will be met with a robust and united response.? [1] https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/28/nord-stream-pipeline-explosions-eu-00059262 [2] https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/how-america-took-out-the-nord-stream [3] https://www.bbc.com/news/business-63084613 [4] https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/12/21/russia-nord-stream-explosions/ [5] https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/how-america-took-out-the-nord-stream [6] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nord-stream-pipeline-blasts-stirred-up-toxic-sediment/#:~:text=The%20explosions%20that%20blasted%20holes,analysis%20of%20the%20site%20suggests. [7] https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2022/10/pentagon-climate-change-neta-crawford-book/#:~:text=Although%20the%20Pentagon%20has%20been,percent%20of%20federal%20energy%20consumption. [8] https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/ukraine-considered-destroying-nova-kakhovka-dam-:wapo [9] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-07/ukraine-and-russia-blame-each-other-for-dam-burst-at-un/102448442 [10] https://www.rt.com/news/583571-polish-deaths-ukrainian-missile/ [11] https://www.rt.com/russia/583187-konstantinovka-missile-nyt-investigation/ _______________________________________________ Peace-discuss mailing list Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jbn at forestfield.org Mon Oct 9 00:14:53 2023 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Sun, 8 Oct 2023 19:14:53 -0500 Subject: [Peace-discuss] Recommended and discommended videos I recently watched Message-ID: <2059418f-d9e2-4560-969f-f8760fa57cc3@forestfield.org> Recommended: ScheerPost: Is the Intercept a Deep State Success Story? (w/ John Kiriakou) https://youtube.com/watch?v=aMBuTzzYChY - modern journalists don't need to be recruited into the CIA/FBI/etc. These journalists already behave in a manner consistent with reporting to these agencies. - Jeremy Scahill helped get Daniel Hale (the fellow who exposed that the vast majority of drone attacks kill innocent civilians) caught - entering professions with your own set of ethics because the organization won't teach you right and wrong - one of the interviewers said journalism students don't know who Julian Assange is and don't care; journalists at a talk engaging in name-calling to describe Assange and not acknowledging that they republished Wikileaks information (merely calling for the next question from the class instead) - this helps you understand why Jimmy Dore laughs at anyone who thinks that they need to go to journalism school to learn to do journalism ScheerPost: SI: The NSA Is It?s Own Worst Enemy (w/ James Bamford) https://youtube.com/watch?v=fSNzDvugUgI - another in a series of very informative interviews from James Bamford who has probably written the most about the NSA than any other living writer. This interview is also a promotion for his new book, "Spyfail: Foreign Spies, Moles, Saboteurs, and the Collapse of America?s Counterintelligence". ScheerPost: Is Biden...Pro-Labor? https://youtube.com/watch?v=rD49Nj4Xe3o - a far more substantive discussion of Biden's stance on unions than the More Perfect Union piece below. I remain skeptical of the value that pro-labor NLRB appointments mean a whole lot but the interviewee seems to think that these appointments mean quite a bit. - this interview brings up a pay improvement to NAFTA that doesn't get covered much elsewhere. - Walter Issacson's biographies of Steve Jobs and Elon Musk both lack any feedback from the perspective of the workers such as the roughly 1 million Foxconn workers who make Apple's iThings and thousands of Tesla workers. For a much better take on how horrific Apple is to their workers, consider reading "Dying for an iPhone" (a related interview from Chris Hedges when he had an RT show is https://youtube.com/watch?v=0IgWeP7ngSo and a longer piece https://youtube.com/watch?v=lnhqPYBAWqM ) and watching https://youtube.com/watch?v=9hj0HSkCnL0 which is "Apple Whistleblower Ashley Gj?vik On Retaliation, Toxics & Corruption-Poisoning The People & Workers". Issacson's work is more in line with what passes for journalism in the tech world -- narrative-following, at times promotional, more hagiography than biography, and never seriously challenging those in power. Hence Issacson gets to interview elites and their friends/colleagues. Discommended: More Perfect Union: No President Has Done This Before https://youtube.com/watch?v=mZaoixI1mGc - one detail-free sentence ("President Biden himself intervened to stop rail workers from striking last fall") ostensibly covering how badly this self-described "most pro-union president" treated the railroad workers stepping into a strike in the making and busting that strike on behalf of railroad owners instead of standing behind the workers who wanted very meager improvements on the heels of a disastrous derailment spilling vinyl chloride in East Palestine, Ohio on February 3, 2023 which caused evacuating the town. A whole section of the video is on how previous presidents "used their legal authority to block workers from participating in strikes 35 times". - this piece is even self-contradictory: at 2m39s into the video the narrator says > There's one previous moment, however, when a president took the side of workers > and it had a big impact. In 1936, General Motors workers in Flint, Michigan, sat > down on the job to protest dangerous conditions in the plant. Unlike previous > presidents who deployed violent tactics against striking workers, then President > Franklin D. Roosevelt chose not to have the autoworkers forcibly removed. And > after 44 days, the workers won a union. It was a defining moment that helped build > a thriving middle class in the coming decades. So I guess that the thing "no president has done [...] before" is show up, hold a bullhorn, and give a short speech? I kept hearing what the interviewees said and asking myself "How?" as in 'How did this visit improve your work picketing? How did that visit turn into beneficial policy?' but the piece offered no answers. - the whole piece is light on substance and policy review which justifies the title. The piece is heavy on substanceless emotional argument which tries to convince you that Pres. Biden cares about workers. I suspect that this entire video has more to do with a Democratic Party-friendly outlet (More Perfect Union) pitching for Biden in his time of need (low approval ratings, poor economy, poor showing against Trump if elections were held today) rather than asking policy-based questions of interviewees and reviewing the matter by treating this short Biden visit as what it appears to be so far -- public relations. From naiman.uiuc at gmail.com Tue Oct 10 19:48:13 2023 From: naiman.uiuc at gmail.com (Robert Naiman) Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2023 14:48:13 -0500 Subject: [Peace-discuss] Breaking: Sen. Ed Markey, Rep. Barbara Lee call for Gaza ceasefire, deescalation In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Feeling powerless about the current spasm of monstrous violence in Israel-Palestine? Me too. Wish you could help do something constructive? Me too. Just Foreign Policy is keeping tallies of "validators" calling for ceasefire and de-escalation. 1. Members of Congress https://twitter.com/justfp/status/1711755300594659375 2. Governments and international organizations https://twitter.com/justfp/status/1711788294030205116 Please help amplify however you help amplify things. And if you find out about "validator" calls for ceasefire before Just Foreign Policy does, please post them on the appropriate thread. And/or anywhere else people will see it. The sooner we end this, the more kids' lives we will save. The last major Gaza war ended faster than many people thought it would in large part because many Members of Congress spoke up for ceasefire forcefully, quickly, more than ever happened before. There's a "war fever" now. We've all experienced this before. What breaks the war fever is Validators calling for ceasefire, standing their ground, and getting amplified and backed up and joined by others. It's like the silver lining of the Milgram experiment. Courage is contagious. Please amplify: https://twitter.com/justfp/status/1711755300594659375 [image: image.png] [image: image.png] https://twitter.com/justfp/status/1711788294030205116 [image: image.png] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image.png Type: image/png Size: 67834 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image.png Type: image/png Size: 72478 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image.png Type: image/png Size: 396939 bytes Desc: not available URL: From naiman.uiuc at gmail.com Sun Oct 15 22:11:18 2023 From: naiman.uiuc at gmail.com (Robert Naiman) Date: Sun, 15 Oct 2023 18:11:18 -0400 Subject: [Peace-discuss] IfNotNow: Jews & allies gather in DC to demand Gaza ceasefire, Monday noon, Farragut Square In-Reply-To: References: <06.C3.09932.DEA0C256@gh.mta2vrest.cc.prd.sparkpost> Message-ID: The DC Beltway "conventional wisdom" in the press is that the U.S.-Israeli ground assault on Gaza can't be stopped. But this conventional wisdom has been wrong before. It could be wrong now. Despite what the people in charge are gaslighting us to think, this is not yet a *fait accompli*. 1. They say they were planning on doing it this weekend. Now they say they delayed because of weather. I doubt weather is the whole story. They don't have their ducks lined up yet. They don't have US & US ally foreign nationals out of Gaza yet, a courtesy that US allies strongly expect before the US gives Israel the green light to go in. I'm not talking about the hostages. I'm talking about the foreign diplomats, aid workers, their family members, people who were visiting family in Gaza, etc. They usually evacuate these people before starting a ground war. They don't have these people out yet. It's chaos. Look, this is from two hours ago: Anxiety builds for Americans in Gaza as a deal to open a crossing into Egypt remains elusive. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/10/15/world/israel-news-hamas-war-gaza/anxiety-builds-for-americans-in-gaza-as-deal-to-open-crossing-into-egypt-remains-elusive "Americans trapped in Gaza are getting increasingly desperate about getting through the closed Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt *after talks broke down around an agreement to allow U.S. citizens safe passage* from the blockaded enclave into Egypt." [...] ?Windows shattered last night,? she said in a text. *Earlier on Sunday*, the State Department had told her to ?stay near the border? she said, and that it ?was *negotiating with the Egyptians*.? [...] "Egypt has held up aid convoys to Gaza over disagreements with Israel about how and where the convoys should be screened for weapons, according to a senior diplomat familiar with the discussions. *Egypt has refused to allow even foreigners to leave Gaza until that was resolved, the diplomat added*." [...] "Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian border crossing, said *the crossing was unlikely to open on Sunday*. Mr. Omar, reached by telephone, said Gazan officials *were still waiting for the go-ahead from Egyptian authorities*." 2. American Jewish public opinion is more divided on this than the DC Beltway realizes yet. It's not just "the far left." Look! At U.S. synagogues, calls for peace and too many emotions to process. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/14/us/israel-american-synagogues-jews.html [...] As Israeli leaders spent Saturday preparing for an invasion of Gaza, Jews at many U.S. synagogues grappled with the scale of overall devastation so far. At Congregation Rodeph Shalom, a *Reform synagogue in Philadelphia, Rabbi Eli Freedman* led a Sabbath Torah study. He discussed the story of Cain and Abel and what it meant to be your ?brother?s keeper? at a time when innocent lives ? both Israeli and Palestinian ? were being lost by the thousands. ?One hundred percent, Israel has a right to defend itself,? he said. *He then added, ?we have a responsibility to the innocent people of Gaza.?* Ruth Smith, who attended that Torah study, urged for a peaceful solution. *?How many people can we kill in order to feel safe?? she asked.* A week into the war, the grief is only increasing, *Rabbi Sam Levine of East Midwood Jewish Center* wrote in prepared remarks that were read to congregants of the *Conservative synagogue in Brooklyn*. *But* *he cautioned against succumbing to a ?thirst for revenge? against Hamas.* *?This is the instinct that has to be quashed. Otherwise, how are we any different from them?? he wrote.* [...] 3. "Establishment" opinion is more divided on this than most people realize. Look! *An Invasion of Gaza Would Be a Disaster for IsraelAmerica Must Prevail on Its Ally to Step Back From the BrinkBy Marc Lynch* October 14, 2023 https://www.foreignaffairs.com/middle-east/invasion-gaza-would-be-disaster-israel *The U.S. Is Giving Israel Permission for War Crimes* *Eric Levitz*, features writer for Intelligencer who covers politics and economics https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/10/the-u-s-is-giving-israel-permission-for-war-crimes.html *Gaza conditions a ?complete catastrophe,? official warns as Israel prepares for offensive* https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/15/middleeast/israel-hamas-gaza-war-sunday-intl-hnk/index.html *Israel appears to use white phosphorus in Gaza, video shows* https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/12/white-phosphorus-israel-gaza-strike-video/ ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Brady, IfNotNow Date: Sun, Oct 15, 2023 at 11:53?AM Subject: I?m on a plane to DC right now. Meet me there. To: Robert Naiman We have to demand a ceasefire now. Robert, I?m boarding a plane DC to tell Biden: ?no genocide in my name.? For days I have been nauseous with dread, *watching U.S. leaders?? our leaders?? pave the road for the Israeli military?s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.* They know what they?re doing. We all do. And in their political cowardice, they hide behind our grief. I am furious. I want to grieve, but how can I mourn when everyday our government allows a new, condones a new escalation? *Right now, the best way I can grieve is to act. * And so, it?s 6 am Sunday morning, and I?m getting on a flight from San Francisco to DC. *I?m flying across the country to join thousands of Jews and allies from across the country to descend on the White House TOMORROW, demand an immediate ceasefire, and make it clear: no genocide in our names.,* *will you join me?* [image: image.jpeg] *JOIN US IN DC TOMORROW* The stakes could not be higher. *Millions of Palestinians? lives hang in the balance.* And we have the power to stop this ethnic cleansing. When future generations ask me where I was on the brink of this horror, I will respond with the only answer I can stomach: *I in the streets, raising my voice, using every ounce of my power to fight for my Palestinian siblings. * What will your answer be? *I'LL BE THERE* See you at the White House. Brady Hisch IfNotNow Bay Area *Donate to IfNotNow* We're putting all our resources toward responding to this moment. If you'd like to support our work, you can make a contribution here. IfNotNow Movement 1629 K Street Suite 300 Washington, DC 20006 United States -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image.jpeg Type: image/jpeg Size: 77575 bytes Desc: not available URL: From stuartnlevy at gmail.com Thu Oct 19 14:19:32 2023 From: stuartnlevy at gmail.com (Stuart Levy) Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2023 09:19:32 -0500 Subject: [Peace-discuss] Karen Aram's memorial gathering, noon-3pm, Saturday, Oct 21st Message-ID: Many of us knew Karen Aram, who passed away on September 23rd. This Saturday, her daughter Kristen is organizing a memorial service for her, at the Urbana house where she lived. noon to 3 PM, Saturday, October 21st Kristen writes: Bring a memory or share a toast to Karen. If you need to know the location, please reply and let me know. (Kristen asked that we not publish the address, which is a few blocks east of downtown Urbana.) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lupalasaga at gmail.com Thu Oct 19 22:18:30 2023 From: lupalasaga at gmail.com (Vukoni Lupa-Lasaga) Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2023 17:18:30 -0500 Subject: [Peace-discuss] [Peace] Karen Aram's memorial gathering, noon-3pm, Saturday, Oct 21st In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hello Stuart, This is the first time in months that I am checking in on this listserv. I am deeply saddened to hear that Karen Aram is no more. If appropriate as per the family's wishes, I would like to attend the memorial. Thanks, Vukoni On Thu, Oct 19, 2023, 9:20 AM Stuart Levy via Peace < peace at lists.chambana.net> wrote: > Many of us knew Karen Aram, who passed away on September 23rd. > > This Saturday, her daughter Kristen is organizing a memorial service for > her, at the Urbana house where she lived. > > noon to 3 PM, Saturday, October 21st > > > Kristen writes: Bring a memory or share a toast to Karen. > > If you need to know the location, please reply and let me know. > (Kristen asked that we not publish the address, which is a few blocks east > of downtown Urbana.) > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jbn at forestfield.org Wed Oct 25 01:26:51 2023 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2023 20:26:51 -0500 Subject: [Peace-discuss] Consortium News points out what a sham the Greens are Message-ID: GLOBAL GREENS: WAR OR PEACE? CN Live! S5E12 https://youtube.com/watch?v=Rstxk5bmhuw Also with Diana Johnstone, who I know has some fans reading this mailing list. Her interview starts at 51m36s. Within 20 years of their founding the Greens became pro-war, as Joe Lauria points out. Today the Greens are pro-war too, supporting the NATO proxy war against Russia via Ukraine. The largest Green Party is in Germany under the neo-con Annalena Baerbock. In the US, the Greens had recently selected (absent any primary election as far as I know) Dr. Cornel West as their candidate for POTUS. Dr. West later dropped that party, choosing to run as an independent candidate and making his candidacy even more difficult (one of many of his decisions that convince me he's intentionally no threat to the Democrats). I don't see Dr. West getting on enough ballots in enough states to even theoretically win. I think he knows that and I think that he's fine with that because that choice further reduces his threat to the Democrats. The only thing he can do to stop being any kind of threat to the Democrats is drop out and endorse Joe Biden, which is probably coming. I sincerely believe that the Greens in the US are simply controlled opposition for the Democrats and not to be taken seriously. From davidgreen50 at gmail.com Thu Oct 26 19:01:44 2023 From: davidgreen50 at gmail.com (David Green) Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2023 14:01:44 -0500 Subject: [Peace-discuss] Watch "Breaking news and analysis on day 20 of Gaza's Al-Aqsa Flood | The Electronic Intifada Podcast" on YouTube Message-ID: https://www.youtube.com/live/3YQLlPtPKYs?si=fmi0ieYbj5LEg0VQ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jbn at forestfield.org Fri Oct 27 00:39:58 2023 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2023 19:39:58 -0500 Subject: [Peace-discuss] Are the lies of the elites being outed as lies more quickly than in the recent past? Message-ID: <85bb8604-77f6-4894-8e6c-b3d033667e11@forestfield.org> US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan's now redacted 'Foreign Affairs' article[1] in PDF form still contains what Jeremy Stern called "deleted gems" in a recent post to Twitter/X[2]: Jake Sullivan wrote each of the following quotes: > ?The Israeli-Palestinian situation is tense, particularly in the West Bank, but > in the face of serious frictions, we have de-escalated crises in Gaza and > restored direct diplomacy between the parties after years of its absence.? and > When Biden became president, ?US troops were under regular attack in Iraq and > Syria?Such attacks, at least for now, have largely stopped.? and > Biden?s ?disciplined approach frees up resources for other global priorities, > reduces the risk of new Middle Eastern conflicts, and ensures that US interests > are protected on a far more sustainable basis.? and > ?We have acted militarily to protect US personnel, and we have enhanced > deterrence, combined with diplomacy, to discourage further [Iranian] aggression.? and > ?the region is quieter than it has been for decades. The progress is fragile, to > be sure. But it is also not an accident... [Biden's] approach returns discipline > to US policy. It emphasizes deterring aggression, de-escalating conflicts, and > integrating the region...? Foreign Affairs removed these paragraphs from the HTML version at https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/sources-american-power-biden-jake-sullivan . Be careful when you search the PDF--PDFs without text included in the file are written to list text only one physical line at a time. Sequences of words that span physical lines (like "summit in September" on page 23) might not be found whereas searching for "summit in" and "September" in separate searches will be found. Results will vary with PDF readers. It seems to me that the elites are more clumsy in their lying and more people are able to expose their lies faster than ever before. [1] https://www.foreignaffairs.com/system/files/pdf/2023/FA_102_6_ND2023_Sullivan_print_edition_version.pdf [2] https://twitter.com/JeremySternLA/status/1717242321178448111 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: FA_102_6_ND2023_Sullivan_print_edition_version.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 1980893 bytes Desc: not available URL: