[Peace-discuss] Awareness of U.S. war-making, 2015.40

[C. G. Estabrook]

AWARENESS of U.S. War-Making for the 40th week of 2015
============================================
from the Anti-War Anti-Racism Effort of Champaign-Urbana

(roughly 400 words/day)

~ THE AVERAGE AMERICAN looks at [Russian attacks in Syria] and thinks: why should we fight the jihadists in Syria if Putin is willing to take on the job? This is precisely the question asked by none other than Donald Trump, the leading Republican presidential aspirant – and a good explanation for why he’s miles ahead of everyone else in the polls.
The cloud of propaganda hovering over events in Syria gets thicker by the minute, but it’s possible to see the reality of what’s occurring if we remember one thing: our former enemies – al-Qaeda and its imitators – are now Washington’s allies. However, we have to ask, as Putin did at the UN: “Who’s playing who here?” [antiwar.com]

~ JEREMY CORBYN’s principled refusal to make himself a mass murderer and war criminal is legally, strategically and militarily correct, and in accordance with the UK’s international treaty obligations to pursue nuclear disarmament. We should give him our unconditional support in his quest for a nuclear-free world. [CP]

~ TZIPI HOTOVELY, Israel’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, openly declares that Israel has no intention of handing any of the West Bank over to Palestinian control. Hotovely’s interview has gone largely unnoticed by Middle east analysts and reporters, hidden behind the United Nations General Assembly meeting, the deepening conflict in Syria and Russia’s involvement there, as well as the aftermath of the Iran nuclear agreement. [TPM]

~ "THE US NEVER VIOLATES SOVEREIGNTY OF OTHER COUNTRIES," said President Obama to the UN General Assembly. But he was lying. The Obama administration is today making war in eight countries (two more than George Bush) - Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and the Philippines - in violation of international law, which forbids “the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state” without the authorization of the U.N. Security Council. President Obama is also sending American death squads (“special operations forces”) into 135 countries (by their own admission) around the world, where their operations include kidnapping (“rendition”), torture, and murder; and he is conducting a secret series of murders by drone that has already killed more than 6,000 people, including US citizens and hundreds of children. His drone attacks has been called "the most extreme terrorist campaign of modern times: it targets people suspected of perhaps intending to harm us some day, and any unfortunates who happen to be nearby.” [Chomsky]
“We’ve ended two wars,” said Barack Obama, July 21, 2015, at a DSCC fundraiser held at a “private residence.” Whatever else one wants to say about Iraq and Afghanistan, one cannot honestly say that Obama ended the wars in those countries. The U.S. continues to drop bombs on both, deploys soldiers in both, kills civilians in both, and engages in a wide range of overt and covert force, all without a shred of Congressional approval. [Greenwald]

~ ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu’s mean-spirited and angry address to the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday was mostly as predictable as it was desperate and creepy. But it did contain one surprise. After scolding the international community for what he called its “deafening silence” over the Iran nuclear agreement, Netanyahu spent 45 awkward seconds silently scowling at the assembled world leaders and diplomats. Not since his famous cartoon bomb chart has a public appearance by the Israeli leader elicited so much mockery... 
The rest of his speech was, in characteristic Netanyahu fashion, not so much entertaining as dreary and menacing. The majority of the 43-minute diatribe was dedicated to antagonizing and demonizing Iran, culminating in thinly veiled threats of apocalyptic war against the nation of 80 million. [electronicintifada]

~ WITH THE U.S. having officially lost control of the narrative in Syria now that The Kremlin has called Washington’s bluff on the battle to eradicate ISIS and eliminate the Sunni extremist elements that threaten to wrest control of Syria from President Bashar al-Assad, the only remaining question after Russian lawmakers officially cleared the way for airstrikes was how long it would be before the Western media began shouting about Russian warplanes bombing targets that aren’t affiliated with ISIS. [zerohedge]
While the US-led coalition has carried out airstrikes for months, with little effect, those actions were carried out without the authority of Syria’s legitimate government. Washington is also reeling from embarrassing revelations about its own failed campaign to train 'moderate' rebels to combat IS. The vast majority of those trainees defected and handed over their weapons to the Nusra front. Russia’s military actions are the only ones carried out under the authority of President Assad.While Western leaders have long said that Assad’s ousting is mandatory for any solution to the Syrian crisis, the Kremlin has stated its preference for regional stability and a reforms process... [sputnik]

~ THE OVERTHROW of President Bashar al-Assad by Isis and rebel groups that are affiliated to al-Qaeda would be a calamity for the world, says A Syrian Kurdish leader ... “If the regime collapses because of the salafis [fundamentalist Islamic militants] it would be a disaster for everyone.” [He] said he was fully in favour of Mr Assad and his government being replaced by a more acceptable alternative. But he is concerned that Isis and other extreme Islamist groups are now close to Damascus on several sides, saying that “this is dangerous”. During a recent Isis offensive in the north eastern city of Hasaka, the Kurdish YPG (People’s Protection Units) militia and the Syrian Army both came under attack from Isis... 
The Syrian Kurds, previously marginalised and discriminated against by the Damascus government, have become crucial players in the country’s civil war over the last year. In January, they defeated Isis at Kobani with the aid of US airstrikes after a four-and-a-half month siege and their forces are still advancing... “Our main goal is the defeat of Daesh [Isis],” he said. “We would not feel safe in our home so long as there is one Daesh [Isis] left alive.” The threat did not come from them alone, he said, but also from al-Qaeda clones such as Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham. “They all have the same mentality.” [He] is the president of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) that rules Rojava, as Kurds call the three Kurdish enclaves just south of the Turkish border. [P. Cockburn]

~ POPE FRANCIS TO THE US CONGRESS: “Why are deadly weapons being sold to those who plan to inflict untold suffering on individuals and society? Sadly, the answer, as we all know, is simply for money: money that is drenched in blood, often innocent blood. In the face of this shameful and culpable silence, it is our duty to confront the problem and to stop the arms trade." 
A newly released report reveals Obama is the greatest arms exporter since the Second World War. The dollar value of all major arms deals overseen by the first five years of the Obama White House now exceeds the amount overseen by the Bush White House in its full eight years in office by nearly $30bn ... to outsell the eight years of Bush, to sell more than any president since World War II, was surprising ... The majority, 60 percent, have gone to the Persian Gulf and Middle East, and within that, the Saudis have been the largest recipient of things like US fighter planes, Apache attack helicopters, bombs, guns, almost an entire arsenal they’ve purchased just in the last few years.” [middleeasteye.net]
The Israeli government and many of its U.S. supporters tried everything they could to defeat President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran ... But now Congress and the Obama administration plan to reward Israel by authorizing the transfer of “massive ordnance penetrators” and other advanced weaponry that it can use to attack Iran ... And the U.S. is prepared to sign a new 10-year deal to give Israel—one of the largest weapons exporters in the world—as much as $45 billion more in U.S. taxpayer-funded weapons. [rootsaction]

~ RUSSIAN PRESIDENT PUTIN is undoing years of work by rolling up proxy-units [in Syria] that were supposed to achieve US objectives, but there is no agreement among [US] ruling elites about what should be done. And making a decision of that magnitude could take time, which means that Putin should be able to obliterate a fair number of the terrorist hideouts and restore control of large parts of the country to Assad before the US ever agrees to a strategy. In fact, if he moves fast, he might even be able to force the US and their Gulf allies to the bargaining table where a political solution could be reached. [CP]

~ FARKAS IS NOT WILLING. The Pentagon official who oversees military relations with Russia and Ukraine has resigned - Evelyn Farkas, a Defense Department deputy assistant secretary. Farkas’ resignation also comes just days after it was revealed that Gen. John Allen is stepping down this fall as point person for ISIS policy at the State Department. [FN]

~ IT IS UNLIKELY Putin would have intervened solely to save Assad and strengthen Russia’s hand in the Middle East ... both Al Qaida and JN, on the one hand, and IS, on the other, have allies in Russia’s Caucasus. The Caucasus Emirate (CE or IK) mujahedin are allied with the former; the Caucasus Vilaiyat of the Islamic State (CVIS of VKIG) with the latter. Putin is equally focused on this battle in both its parts as he is on strengthening Assad and exposing American fecklessness in the region. [gordonhahn.com]

~ NINE ANTI-DRONE PROTESTERS crossed the line again at Beale Air Force base on September 29th, while tying the migrant crisis to U.S. global wars. The US drone program has killed hundred of innocent civilians, many of them under the age of 16. Since 2009 Northern California activists have maintained monthly 2-day protests at Beale Air Force Base in attempts to change U.S. policy that perpetuates endless global wars and targeted killing by drones. Calling themselves “Occupy Beale Air Force Base,” these activists have been arrested several times a year, while peacefully demonstrating the wrongfulness of drone killing and perpetual warfare. This weeks’ protest at Beale also coincide with a week of actions across the country, coordinated by Campaign Nonviolence calling for peaceful solutions to conflict. [Veterans for Peace]

~ A NEW REPORT has documented hundreds of cases of Palestinian rights activists in the United States being harassed, disciplined, fired, sued, censored or threatened for their advocacy around Palestine. Eighty-five percent of these cases targeted students or scholars. The report was issued by the nonprofit organization Palestine Legal. Nashiha Alam of the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at Loyola University Chicago spoke about facing harassment: "Administration at Loyola often subjected members of Students for Justice in Palestine to FBI-style interrogations which lasted hours." [DN]

~ AT THE VERY HEART of Obama's (and the Democratic party's) foreign policy is the prevention of the economic integration of Eurasia in any way that resists the economic hegemony of the US 1%. Even the generations-old US demand to control Mideast oil flows is primarily in aid of US economic control of Russia and China. (The Pentagon euphemism is “offshore control” of China - i.e, make it difficult for them to get energy resources - but that's hardly new: see Secretary of State John Hay's "Open Door Note" of 1899.)
The Clinton administration thought that they could exploit the weak Yeltsin regime to turn Russia into a third-world country, an economically-dependent supplier of raw materials. They did manage to produce an economic decline in Russia greater than that in the US in the Great Depression - and literally shortened the life span of the average Russian.
The rise of Putin frustrated that Democratic policy, and Obama's job is to resurrect it - hence his mad belligerence toward Eurasia, from Ukraine to the South China Sea. (And the "nuclear deal with Iran" has little to do with nukes and much to do with the US attempt to re-integrate Iran into the US control of Mideast oil flows, as it was 1953-79.)
"The merger of the China-driven New Silk Roads, a.k.a. One Belt, One Road and the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union, although slow and full of pitfalls, is irreversible. It’s in their mutual interest to invest and develop a pan-Eurasian emporium. Iranian natural gas will go mostly to the Asian part of Eurasia, and not the EU. And the Chinese economy will at least triple over the next fifteen years as the US continues to de-industrialize." [Pepe Escobar]

~ HE SAID, XI SAID."Barack Obama, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Raul Castro and Robert Mugabe speak at 70th UN General Assembly in New York ... Interestingly for the leader of the world's most populous country and a burgeoning economic superpower, Mr Xi is focusing on the equality of nations in his remark. He says the strong should not try and dominate the weak. He has used the phrase "win-win cooperation" several times already." [telegraph.co.uk]
In his high-profile speech to the UN General Assembly, President Obama angrily condemned a litany of rivals both domestic and international, while talking up plans to destroy ISIS and impose regime change in Syria. As expected, Obama’s main focus was railing against Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying Putin stood for a “darker, more disordered world” because of his support for the Syrian government in its war against ISIS, and also for the civil war in Ukraine, which has been in ceasefire for half a year now. Obama also found time to condemn China for building islands in the South China Sea, and to condemn Iran for supporting Syria and for being “anti-American,” while bragging about having the most powerful military on the planet at his command…

~ "ISRAEL HAS THE RIGHT TO DEFEND ITSELF." This writer cannot count the number of times this ridiculous statement has been made. Can we all just take a minute to investigate it? Israel, we are told, has the right to use the most advanced weaponry available on the planet, some of it banned by international law, to ‘defend’ itself against an occupied, rock-throwing population. Yes, occasionally Palestinians are able to smuggle in enough supplies to make ‘rockets’ that author Norman Finkelstein, son of Holocaust survivors and an outspoken critic of Israel, refers to as ‘enhanced fireworks’. In the minds of the Israeli-lobby-controlled U.S. government, those fireworks are sufficient to justify the carpet-bombing of homes, mosques, hospitals and schools. Need we mention, again, that bombing these sites is a violation of international law? Oh, and let’s not forget that the U.S. finances it all. [Robert Fantina]

~ QUEEN OF CHAOS. Forget the emails, the $500 haircuts, the flirtations with Huma Abedin, the pork bellies trades and the Travelgate scandal of distant memory. Forget all of that. The final nail in Hillary Clinton's coffin is destined to be Diana Johnstone's scathing chronicle of Hillary's sabre-rattling career as perhaps the most violence-minded Secretary of State in American history, where each new humanitarian intervention, from the Honduran Coup to the Asian Pivot, the Ukrainian fiasco to the disastrous decapitation of the Libyan government, brought only more bloodshed, more pain, more loss of life. [Jeffrey St Clair]

~ SAUDI WARPLANES KILL 70 IN ATTACK ON WEDDING PARTY. Adding to the enormous death toll of the Saudi war against Yemen, Saudi warplanes attacked a wedding party near the port city of Mocha, killing the groom and a huge number of civilians, with at least 70 confirmed dead in the latest reports from medical officials. The attack does not appear to have been “accidental,” like so many other Saudi airstrikes, but rather targeted a Shi’ite wedding because the groom was seen as being “affiliated” with the Houthis. Actually what this affiliation was is unclear.
The timing couldn’t have been worse for the Saudi government, as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was to address the UN General Assembly just hours later, and slammed the Saudi war against Yemen, demanding an immediate end to the airstrikes. “All sides are showing disregard for human life, but most of the casualties are being caused by airstrikes,” Ban noted. Some 5,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Saudi war, with virtually all of the major incidents the result of airstrikes. [Jason Ditz]

~ STOP BOMBING SYRIA. An open letter from Mark Rylance, Brian Eno, John Pilger et al. - 
“We are gravely concerned at the possibility of a parliamentary decision to bomb Syria. David Cameron is planning such a vote in the House of Commons in the near future. He is doing so in the face of much evidence that such an action would exacerbate the situation it is supposed to solve. Already we have seen the killing of civilians and the exacerbation of a refugee crisis which is largely the product of wars in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan.
"The US and its allies have dropped 20,000 bombs on Iraq and Syria in the past year, with little effect. We fear that this latest extension of war will only worsen the threat of terrorism, as have the previous wars involving the British government. Cameron is cynically using the refugee crisis to urge more war. He should not be allowed to.”

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