[Peace-discuss] Fwd: 2018 Winter Olympics held in Korea under shadow of war

Tue Feb 13 20:19:37 UTC 2018

The 2018 Winter Olympic Games opened in South Korea last Friday under the official theme of “peace,” with a ceremony that included a choreographed candlelight depiction of a white dove and a rendition of John Lennon’s “Imagine.” Such bromides should not be taken seriously. The reality is that not since the 1936 Olympics in Hitler’s Germany have the games been held under such an immediate threat of war. View this email in your browser<https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmailchi.mp%2Fsocialequality%2Fdonate-to-the-world-socialist-web-site-597521%3Fe%3D2cb7388bc9&data=02%7C01%7C%7Ce789e9a0502d4923290008d5731ac35d%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636541481144161576&sdata=0W3%2FOsR%2BI%2BypybUZAaqIJ%2Bjgy3lp%2FahvsFle4vAPIqI%3D&reserved=0>

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By Will Morrow

The 2018 Winter Olympic Games opened in South Korea last Friday under the official theme of “peace,” with a ceremony that included a choreographed candlelight depiction of a white dove and a rendition of John Lennon’s “Imagine.” Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, declared that it would send a “powerful message of peace to the world.”

Bach noted, with no apparent sense of irony, that the 2016 Olympics had officially provided a “message of hope” to refugees, in a year that ended with more than 5,000 refugees drowned attempting to cross the Mediterranean, with many thousands more since.

This year’s bromides should be taken no more seriously. The reality is that not since the 1936 Olympics in Hitler’s Germany have the games been held under such an immediate threat of war. Overshadowing the events in South Korea is the real possibility that the United States will launch a “bloody nose” strike on North Korean military facilities in the immediate aftermath of the games, which could trigger a nuclear conflagration and lead to the deaths of hundreds of thousands, if not tens of millions, on the Korean Peninsula. Read more<https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsocialequality.us10.list-manage.com%2Ftrack%2Fclick%3Fu%3D380cabff931cd452085b8d4a5%26id%3D580553ad82%26e%3D2cb7388bc9&data=02%7C01%7C%7Ce789e9a0502d4923290008d5731ac35d%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636541481144317835&sdata=xGAeEueZSxy2LOFbRs9XP1tkQZmSZTE5FpPtZ30zvgE%3D&reserved=0> »

[https://gallery.mailchimp.com/380cabff931cd452085b8d4a5/images/46220966-ca86-495c-890f-538eaf0e5bb6.jpg]US to expand military deployments as war danger builds in Asia<https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsocialequality.us10.list-manage.com%2Ftrack%2Fclick%3Fu%3D380cabff931cd452085b8d4a5%26id%3D7537f5b8e9%26e%3D2cb7388bc9&data=02%7C01%7C%7Ce789e9a0502d4923290008d5731ac35d%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636541481144317835&sdata=QfXf9Zf3d8bmdc1oUSAPh%2B1orER7oo%2Fqo%2FPLiIWouYw%3D&reserved=0>

By James Cogan

The National Defense Strategy released by the Trump administration last month defined China and Russia as the paramount “strategic competition” facing US imperialism. It labelled the two nuclear-armed states as “revisionist powers” that must be prevented from undermining American global dominance. The document declared that the US had to “prioritize preparedness for war.”

The American military has been doing precisely that in Asia for over six years, since the Obama administration announced its provocative “pivot” to the region in November 2011. It has prepared and positioned a vast array of surface ships, submarines, bombers, jet-fighters, infantry divisions and marine units to wage a region-wide war against China. New bases for US forces have been established in Australia and Singapore and re-established in the Philippines and Thailand. India, which has been groomed as a “strategic partner” against China, now provides access, maintenance and supply arrangements to the US military.

The US has some 50,000 personnel in Okinawa and elsewhere in Japan, including 18,000 marines, an aircraft carrier battlegroup and squadrons of Air Force jet fighters. It has some 29,500 personnel in South Korea, on the frontline of any conflict with North Korea. Guam hosts 7,000 military personnel, as well as B-52 and B2 strategic bombers capable of delivering nuclear weapons. Read more<https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsocialequality.us10.list-manage.com%2Ftrack%2Fclick%3Fu%3D380cabff931cd452085b8d4a5%26id%3Dc24820bf6f%26e%3D2cb7388bc9&data=02%7C01%7C%7Ce789e9a0502d4923290008d5731ac35d%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636541481144317835&sdata=NpXe3UkxFVHkTBPo%2FBAzJDfqVXbQalYoU8yCR%2F%2F7PVo%3D&reserved=0> »

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By Eric London

The Senate voted 97-1 yesterday to open debate on legislation to revamp the US immigration system and address the legal status of 1.8 million young undocumented immigrants who are either beneficiaries of or eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

The program, which shields from deportation young undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children, was terminated last fall by President Trump, who set a March 5 date for the termination to take effect.

Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has given no firm pledge to start debate on immigration and DACA in the lower chamber, saying he will do so only if the proposed bill is backed by President Trump, who is demanding a further buildup of border security and immigration police and prisons, along with sharp reductions in legal immigration. Read more<https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsocialequality.us10.list-manage.com%2Ftrack%2Fclick%3Fu%3D380cabff931cd452085b8d4a5%26id%3D3b837a6ed1%26e%3D2cb7388bc9&data=02%7C01%7C%7Ce789e9a0502d4923290008d5731ac35d%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636541481144317835&sdata=XI0HjBbRYFUZm2H29nOJrIy3yTmBm1gf%2BFvFYCG%2Fm34%3D&reserved=0> »

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By Chris Marsden

Casualties from Israeli air strikes on military sites in Syria, carried out Saturday, reportedly included Iranian personnel working in conjunction with the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made clear that his government deliberately targeted Iranian personnel in the attacks.

He gave as justification for the air strikes the destruction of an Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle that had allegedly invaded Israeli airspace from Syria.

In response to the Israeli strikes, the Syrian army brought down an Israeli F-16 jet after firing more than 20 antiaircraft missiles. The pilots bailed out. Read more<https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsocialequality.us10.list-manage.com%2Ftrack%2Fclick%3Fu%3D380cabff931cd452085b8d4a5%26id%3D25412bcdce%26e%3D2cb7388bc9&data=02%7C01%7C%7Ce789e9a0502d4923290008d5731ac35d%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636541481144317835&sdata=kEeMfF1smQqyC3wZf9css81dO2C730s08UrQvC3aG4g%3D&reserved=0> »

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By our reporter

On February 8, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents took the unprecedented step of arresting an asylum applicant, Omer Abdelmaed, after he appeared for an interview at a United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) building in San Francisco.

Abdelmaed, a resident of San Jose, California showed up at the asylum office in San Francisco to explain his fear of returning to Sudan, having fled after being arrested and tortured.

After the customary interview, which lasted two hours, Abdelmaed and his attorney, Caleb Arring, began to leave the office. However, as Arring explained in a Facebook post, as they began to leave, “someone who I assume is a supervisor at the asylum office came in with 3-4 ICE Officers. The ICE Officers put handcuffs on my client and said they were taking him into custody. I asked why. At first they wouldn’t even answer me.” Read more<https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsocialequality.us10.list-manage.com%2Ftrack%2Fclick%3Fu%3D380cabff931cd452085b8d4a5%26id%3Df43c4dc75a%26e%3D2cb7388bc9&data=02%7C01%7C%7Ce789e9a0502d4923290008d5731ac35d%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636541481144317835&sdata=dINCUxNBGVC1scHDAFABn0q9%2B%2B90FFAZGk3oKStAPN8%3D&reserved=0> »

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The unquiet death of a young Ford worker<https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsocialequality.us10.list-manage.com%2Ftrack%2Fclick%3Fu%3D380cabff931cd452085b8d4a5%26id%3D0fc094fe95%26e%3D2cb7388bc9&data=02%7C01%7C%7Ce789e9a0502d4923290008d5731ac35d%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636541481144317835&sdata=cXf2gNXAerYoN5QXRJEGhrxzwIHoS3FY1OHMIY9lZEI%3D&reserved=0>
The parents of Jacoby Hennings demand to know why their son died<https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsocialequality.us10.list-manage.com%2Ftrack%2Fclick%3Fu%3D380cabff931cd452085b8d4a5%26id%3D9f4fc75a27%26e%3D2cb7388bc9&data=02%7C01%7C%7Ce789e9a0502d4923290008d5731ac35d%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636541481144317835&sdata=P%2Fgo8ndcgzyY0Ps8YNq3paz7nCj%2FfhIw%2F3wvGUU4FFs%3D&reserved=0>

By Jerry White

It is nearly four months since the tragic death of Jacoby Marquis Hennings, a 21-year-old part-time temporary worker at Ford’s Woodhaven Stamping plant, just south of Detroit, on October 20, 2017.

The police and United Auto Workers officials claim the young man pulled a gun on UAW officials during an unexplained dispute in their office, and then took his own life as police charged up the stairs and confronted him. The official story is laced with contradictions and unanswered questions.

The claims by UAW Local 387 officials—Arnold Miller and Christopher Pfaff—and a Ford Human Resource Manager Martin Hernandez that Jacoby Hennings, “appeared under the influence of alcohol or drugs,” have been refuted by the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s autopsy report, which found nothing in the young man’s system but caffeine. Read more<https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsocialequality.us10.list-manage.com%2Ftrack%2Fclick%3Fu%3D380cabff931cd452085b8d4a5%26id%3D59fc9cea20%26e%3D2cb7388bc9&data=02%7C01%7C%7Ce789e9a0502d4923290008d5731ac35d%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636541481144317835&sdata=cB0da7rSX5q%2BUXePIS6h1mDBMgklNkuOTzZfs4Cn3VY%3D&reserved=0> »

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