A View From The Left- NEW WARS / OLD WARS – What Could Possibly Go Wrong

NEW WARS / OLD WARS – What Could Possibly Go Wrong

The U.S. is risking a catastrophic military clash with Russia in Syria. There is no legal or moral basis for the United States to be waging war in Syria, risking conflict with Russia and nuclear apocalypse for us all.  Sign up for the Thunderclap and sign the petition to the U.S. Congress and Secretary of Defense James Mattis, urging them to immediately remove all U.S military planes from Syrian skies and keep them out of that country's airspace.  Partners Include:  RootsAction.org, World Beyond War, DailyKos, Veterans For Peace, The Nation, andWatchdog.net

Retired Flag Officers Warn Against Regime Change and “Aggressive Posturing” Toward Iran

The letter voices “strong support” for the Iran nuclear deal—the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—between Iran and the so-called P5+1 (the permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany), whose second anniversary will be marked on July 15. Trump has not yet followed through on a campaign promise to tear up the accord, although the administration’s attitude toward its own compliance remains ambiguous.  Although the officers stress the importance of abiding by the agreement, much of the letter addresses concerns about the possibility that a military incident between contending forces in Syria, the Persian Gulf, or in or near Yemen could spiral into war. It urges the administration to establish “official diplomatic communications channels with the Iranian government.”   More

IGNORING THE HUMAN DISASTER IN YEMEN

It is hard to imagine that along with the catastrophe that has been inflicted on Syria for the past six years, another calamity is unfolding in Yemen of damning proportions while the whole world looks on with indifference.  What is happening in Yemen is not merely a violent conflict between combating forces for power, but the willful subjugation of millions of innocent civilians to starvation, disease and ruin that transcends the human capacity to descend even below the lowest pit of darkness, from which there is no exit. Seven million people face starvation, and 19 out of 28 million of Yemen’s population are in desperate need of humanitarian aid. Both the Saudis and the Houthis are restricting food and medicine supplies from reaching starving children; many of them are cholera-ridden, on the verge of joining the thousands who have already died from starvation and disease. More than 10,000 have been killed, and nearly 40,000 injured. UNICEF reports nearly 300,000 cholera cases, and a joint statement from UNICEF and the World Health Organization declares the infection is spreading at a rate of 5,000 new cases per day.  More

House Rejects Saudi-UAE War in Yemen

The Davidson [R-OH] amendment prohibits U.S. military action in Yemen not authorized by the 2001 AUMF. U.S. participation in the Saudi-UAE war in Yemen is not targeting Al Qaeda or ISIS and is not authorized by the 2001 AUMF. Davidson's amendment would block the U.S. refueling of Saudi and UAE warplanes bombing Yemen. The Nolan [D-MN] amendment prohibits the deployment of U.S. troops to participation in Yemen's civil war. Nolan's amendment would block the U.S. refueling of Saudi and UAE warplanes bombing Yemen.  The Saudi-UAE war in Yemen, in which U.S. participation was never authorized by Congress, has pushed Yemen to the brink of famine, with the worst cholera outbreak in the world, with the UN on the verge of giving up on vaccination against cholera in Yemen because of the war.   The Saudi-UAE war in Yemen has also strengthened Al Qaeda and ISIS. Indeed, Al Qaeda's Yemen branch is allied with the Saudis and the UAE against the Houthi-Saleh forces.    More

DESTROYING MOSUL TO SAVE IT: Possible US-Backed War Crimes in Iraq Exposed

Thousands of civilians have been killed in Mosul and millions have been displaced since ISIS took control of the city in June 2014. The crimes of the group have been well documented by Amnesty International and other human rights groups. The report notes that ISIS deliberately put thousands of civilians in harm's way, using them as human shields in the city's conflict zones, and killing people who attempted to escape.  The report also focuses on the human cost of the U.S.-led coalition's actions in Mosul. Amnesty interviewed 150 witnesses, experts and analysts about dozens of attacks, and focused on a pattern of attacks that took place between January and July 2017…  The coalition's attacks were largely carried out with Improvised Rocket Assisted Munitions (IRAMs), explosives with unsophisticated targeting abilities, which "wreaked havoc in densely-populated west Mosul and took the lives of thousands of civilians," according to the report. Air strikes by U.S. planes were also frequent during this time period, and the report says the coalition did little to protect civilians from these attacks.   More

RICHARD FALK: Challenging “Nuclearism”

On 7 July 2017 122 countries at the UN voted to approve the text of a proposed international treaty entitled ‘Draft Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.’ The treaty is formally open for signature in September, but it only become a binding legal instrument according to its own provisions 90 days after the 50^th country deposits with the UN Secretary General its certification that the treaty has been ratified in accordance with their various constitutional processes…  The Nuclear Ban Treaty (NBT) is significant beyond the prohibition. It can and should be interpreted as a frontal rejection of the geopolitical approach to nuclearism, and its contention that the retention and development of nuclear weapons is a proven necessity given the way international society is organized…  The old reassurances about being committed to nuclear disarmament as soon as an opportune moment arrives increasingly lack credibility as the nuclear weapons states, led by the United States, make huge investments in the modernization and further development of their nuclear arsenals.   More