Re: [Peace-discuss] UFPJ desires …

[Robert Naiman]

I think the use of the word "empire" to describe the foreign policy of the
U.S. is arguably a mistake in a public leaflet, not because I believe the
use of the term to be inaccurate - I don't - but because it is insider-y and
jargon-y for a general U.S. audience, like the term "neoliberal."
Presumably, the point of a public leaflet is to reach out to people who are
not already on the A-team.

But the underlying idea that the term references seems to me scarcely
disputable among informed people. U.S. foreign policy since at least the
Second World War has been shaped, for example, by the quest to control the
energy resources of the Middle East. This is a matter of public record, and
is regularly alluded to in the mainstream press.

On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 2:04 PM, Brussel Morton K. <mkbrussel at comcast.net>wrote:

> This is a list which can be incorporated into a pamphlet (intended for
> distributing at One Main) stating what AWARE wants from our federal
> government, soon to be led by Obama. Stuart is working on this and would
> welcome comments.  --mkb
> From the UFPJ:
>
> • We are committed to ending the illegal and immoral "pre-emptive" wars and
> on-going occupations
> of Iraq and Afghanistan.
> • We are working to end the U.S. drive to expand its empire through control
> over other nations and
> their resources and the implementation of economic policies designed to
> concentrate power at
> home and abroad.
> • We will not allow war or other aggressive acts to be carried out against
> Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Cuba,
> Venezuela, North Korea and other nations.
> • We call on our government to renounce the use of torture and the U.S.'
> willingness to accept
> violations of the Geneva Conventions and other international laws and
> treaties in its so-called
> Global War on Terror.
> • We are standing up to the manipulation of fear and repression that strips
> us of our rights at home
> under the cover of fighting terrorism and spreading democracy abroad.
> • We are vocal in our opposition to the suppression of voices of dissent,
> the treating of immigrants as
> threats and the shredding of the U.S. Constitution, all done in the name of
> protecting the homeland.
> • We are working to end U.S. political, economic, and military aid fueling
> Israel's rise as an
> unchallengeable regional military power and sustaining Israel's illegal
> occupation of the
> Palestinian West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem and its denial of equal
> rights to Palestinians.
> • We oppose increasing U.S. military involvement anywhere in the world,
> reflected in the expansion
> of a massive network of military bases stretching to every corner of the
> planet.
>
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>


-- 
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org

Ambassador Pickering on Iran Talks and Multinational Enrichment
http://youtube.com/watch?v=kGZFrFxVg8A
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