Prepping for a Massacre in
Ukraine? And Who are the Terrorists?
Speaking on Democracy
Now! last week, professor Stephen Cohen of NYU & Princeton said, "we are not beginning a new Cold War.
We are well Into it." The tremendous military resources of the U.S. and
Europe are lining up in preparation for a a showdown — which as Cohen said,
could lead to a shooting war — aimed at backing Russia out of Ukraine.
In
U.S. media, we're hearing what we heard in 1990 and 2002, that American
interests are being endangered by “terrorists.” Russia is taking advantage of
the deep discontent and desperation in Ukraine among people increasingly
impoverished. But are they terrorists seeking to attack the U.S., or people
fearing the disaster that western IMF austerity measures
represent?
Robert Parry, in Prepping for a Ukrainian Massacre, sharply
questions the lies being told to justify NATO/US military moves:
“Between the
anti-Russian propaganda pouring forth from the Obama administration and the
deeply biased coverage from the U.S. news media, the American people are being
prepared to accept and perhaps even cheer a massacre of eastern Ukrainians who
have risen up against the coup regime in Kiev.”
In Revolution this week, Nicholas Kristof on Ukraine: Rationalizing "Our
Side" in a Clash of Global Oppressors characterizes Kristoff, writing in
The New York Times, as aiming his arguments at a war-weary and
skeptical U.S. public:
“For years, the U.S.
and the European Union (EU) have been moving steadily, if not in lockstep, to
move Ukraine into their orbit—not just or even mainly to claim a lion's share of
the rich agricultural and factory output of the country, but as part of
geostrategic contention with the rival imperialists who rule Russia. This has
included steps to integrate Ukraine and other countries in Eastern Europe into
NATO, the U.S./Europe military alliance.”
Most of us will be skeptical of John McCain's sudden embrace of the Ukrainian
peoples' right to self-determination. But what about John Kerry, the one-time
radical Vietnam veteran? Again, from Revolution:
“Behind the lies
about the reasons for the conflict in Ukraine, and the utterly the
self-serving U.S. government declarations of representing the interests of the
people of Ukraine, are the interests of rival predatory powers.”
Don't believe the hype. Join or call protests, forums, and speak-outs against
U.S. or NATO military involvement in Ukraine.
Three Weeks into Days of Action to Stop
US Drone Wars & Surveillance: More than 90
Actions
CIA drone strikes over the last few days have
taken the lives of “more than 3 dozen militants” according to US and Yemen
government statements. They admit to kiling three civilians, and if patterns
hold, may be forced to admit that people branded as “militants” may not have
been armed combatants, and certainly may not have been part of al Queda, as the
U.S. military has alleged.
Kevin Gosztola poses Questions That Should Be Asked About Recent
Operations, Including Drone Strikes, in Yemen: “How much of it is targeting
fighters, who are opposed to the current regime led by President Abdu Rabbu
Mansour Hadi?” Given that there is no formal agreement between Yemen and the
U.S. on the use of drone strikes, with each side allowed “plausible
deniability,” who is to say who is being killed and why?
Even New York
Times coverage quoted Obama's claim last May that strikes were used “only
against militants who posed a ‘continuing and imminent threat to the American
people.’ He also said no strike could be authorized without ‘near certainty that
no civilians will be killed or injured,’ a bar he described as ‘the highest
standard we can set.’”
The coverage went on: “Given that the
administration would not even confirm that American drones carried out the
strikes over the weekend, it was unclear how the people targeted in the strike
posed a threat to Americans.” Exactly.
This week, a federal Appellate Court ruled that the Obama administration must release its secret legal justification for
targeted killing in response to demands for transparency. Beyond
transparency, we want justice, and an end to death by drone across national
borders, and in violation of international law.
Nick Mottern of knowdrones.com reports: “Since mid-March, over 80 events
are scheduled, from Hawaii to Maine, addressing drone warfare/robotic
war/militarization, including civil resistance, drone base protests, teach-ins,
street and campus leafletting and film screenings of Unmanned: America's Drone War and Wounds of
Waziristan." More than 100 events are expected by the end of May.”
Dozens of people have been arrested, or are awaiting trial, at Creech, Beale,
and Hancock Air Force bases.
Photos of
Victims of US Drone Wars in Pakistan and Yemen
Click to download 11" x 17" versions of the
images below to hold at protests, and help bring to life the human stories
behind the statistics. There are not many photos of the drone victims available
for a number of reasons. Most of these drone attacks take place in remote
locations. People living in these areas often don't have many photos of loved
ones they can readily share after they have been killed. Maybe worst of all,
journalists and rescuers are often deterred from visiting recent drone attack
sites by the possibility of a second "double tap" drone strike.
Naeem
Ullah was just 10 years old when he died of shrapnel wounds from a drone strike
on October 18th 2010 in Datta Khel, North Waziristan. Noor Behram took this
photo shortly before the boy died. Click the image above to download an 11"x17"
poster of the image. Click here to view/download other images.
Spread the
Word: Drones Mean Danger!
>> The U.S.
military is killing and terrorizing people right now in Afghanistan, Pakistan,
Yemen and Somalia with missiles fired from drones which may circle villages for
weeks, piloted from distant bases, many in the U.S. by military operators and
CIA contractors. Thousands of people have been incinerated, some by follow-up
attacks aimed at rescuers and mourners in lands where the U.S. have designated
all military-age males as combatants.
>> The U.S. war makers
as using drones and secret operations for targeted killing, making war seem easy
and cheap to politicians, attractive to a publis attuned to video games, while
sowing fear, hatred and revenge among those unjustly
targeted.
>>Vast surveillance by the NSA of billions of
people has been used to kill drone targets. Domestic drone surveillance by
police and the FBI not only threatens privacy but endangers peoples' rights to
associate, assemble and speak out.
Continue reading text, download and place
order for stack of palmcards to distribute at your next action.
List of
Pakistanis and Yemenis Killed by Drone Strikes
This list
was compiled for reading at anti-drone protests during the Spring Days of Action to End U.S. Drone Killing
& Surveillance.
Find an event near you.Download this list as a printable PDF.
“Torture
Professor” John Yoo Protested as UC Berkeley Promotes
Him
firejohnyoo.org:
Friday April 18 about a
dozen activists challenged the appointment of "Torture Professor" John Yoo to
head a new imperialist think-tank at UC Berkeley.
The Korea Law Center launch comes on the heels
of the U.S. - Korea Free Trade Agreement, which opens up the republic's legal
market to U.S. law firms a press release informs, and will enable students to
learn about issues vital to Korea's emergence as an economic
powerhouse.
The continuing employment of war criminals at universities across the United
States threatens to 'normalize' government programs of arbitrary detention,
assassination and illegal surveillance, policies deemed necessary to maintain a
system of global exploitation and domination.
Protest outside the
research center's Inaugural Conference (photo, left) represented a reunion of
sorts; participants have been working to 'fire, disbar, and prosecute' John Yoo for
years, and are preparing for the annual Berkeley Law demonstration outside the
graduation ceremony May 10.
A university that allows a war criminal to
teach constitutional and international law courses to the next generation of
lawyers and judges under prejudice of 'academic freedom' is protecting war
crimes. Faced with the challenge of moral relativism popularized in today's
schools, will students find the courage to speak out against the crimes of their
government?
That question continues to be raised at Boalt Hall
Commencements every year. By refusing to investigate charges of misconduct
against John Yoo, Berkeley Law abdicates responsibility for ethical leadership
of its students. And assumes complicity in advancing the usurpation of
constitutional powers prescribed by the professor's 'Unitary Executive' theory
('if the President does it, it's legal').
End the
silence.
Say NO to the culture of violence that enables
torture.
Fire, Disbar, and Prosecute John Yoo and All the Torture
Lawyers. The world can't wait.
Related: Do U C
Hypocrisy?
firejohnyoo.org:
The U.S. [and,
apparently the Human Rights Center at the UC Berkeley School of Law] upholds a
series of double standards on international criminality. It is the number 1
advocate of international criminal justice for others, but refuses to subject
its own officials to the jurisdiction of the ICC [International Criminal Court],
even going so far to threaten the use of military force in the Hague if the ICC
indicts any US citizens. Richard Falk argues that the rule of law
must be implemented consistently for people to take it seriously, and not only
when it's convenient.
Fernando Boter's Abu Ghraib 57 (photo, left) hangs outside
the library of Berkeley Law School, home of 'Torture Professor' John Yoo.
Anti-Drone
Outreach: Report from Hawai`i
World Can't Wait
Honolulu:
Hawai`i is at the center of research and development for
drone warfare and surveillance. Williams Aerospace in Ewa manufactures drones.
UH-Manoa and HPU are both involved in drone research. Drones are based at
Kaneohe and are being tested at Pohakuloa. Yet many people don't know what they
are — or that they are used to assassinate people and for surveillance. We're
getting a battalion of 500 drone specialists coming to Kaneohe Marine Corps Air
Station — and Hawai`i has been chosen by the FAA to be a drone “test bed” for
research, testing and certification.
...We'll continue to concentrate on
stopping drone warfare and drone surveillance through the months of April and
May as part of the national Campaign (see the national website at www.worldcantwait.net). Join us in leafleting outside of
the talk by Bill McKibben on climate change on Thursday evening, April 24th.
Cheers for the Condoleeza Rice
Protesters
From With creative ambiguity, Condoleezza Rice
defends torture tactics(Minnesota Post 4/18):
Former Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice didn’t mention torture in her brief visit to the
University of Minnesota Thursday, but a lot of other people did, and Rice did
perhaps discuss the issue with creative ambiguity and defend her role.
Place Your Order
for Striking Painted Banners for May 23: Global Day
of Action to Close Guantánamo
and End Indefinite Detention
Ghaleb al Bihani
has spent a third of his life at Guantanamo. See Pardiss
Kebriaei discussing how he has been
fighting to be charged, or released.
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On Friday May 23, 2014 activists around the world
will boldly communicate our aim of freeing our brothers held in bondage at
Guantanamo. To this end, Deb Van Poolen will produce as many customized banners
as possible to be used by any groups which request them at the May 23
actions.
For the May 23 actions around the world, Deb is hoping to paint
several large portraits (size of a single bed sheet) of our brothers held in
Guantanamo. When our brothers' faces are held up within a sea of orange
jumpsuits they command public’s attention in a different way than words do. As
passersby gaze for even a few seconds into the eyes of those human faces, their
core emotions might be directly accessed by the images. The men pictured on the
banners plead to their viewers: “I am a human being who wants to be
free.”
The banners stating demands such as “Make Guantanamo History” and
“Close Guantanamo Now” are also useful for communicating a very clear message
and Deb will also paint these banners. Deb has painted several “Make Guantanamo
History” banners with a powerful image as a backdrop. Barbed wire is intertwined
into the words “Make Guantanamo”, whereas the barbed wire has disappeared from
the word “History”. Orange birds sit on the barbed wire and some take flight
around the word "History."
Deb is asking for an $80 plus shipping per banner donation for each
banner.
To order banners for your group, please contact Deb Van Poolen.
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Thanks to New & Continuing Sustainers
Over
the last month, we heard from supporters, new and longer term, how much they
depend on World Can't Wait for this newsletter; for worldcantwait.net, for organizing events
and protests... and most of all, for pushing forward on the mission to stop the
crimes of your government.
The goal we set for sustainers was met to
125%. We'll make good use of the funds, with your continued
support.
— CALENDAR —
Saturday April 26 New York CityFull
Disclosure: An Honest
Commemoration of the American War in Vietnam
Judson Memorial Church 55
Washington Square South from 5pm-9pm
With Camillo Mac Bica, Jeff
Cohen, Patrick McCann, Michael McPhearson, George Packard, Susan Schnall,
Margaret Stevens, Debra Sweet.
Music by Rebel Diaz
Sponsored by
Veterans For
Peace and Iraq Veterans
Against the WarTuesday April 29 Berkeley
CAGround the Drones
World Can't
Wait will display a 1/5-scale replica of Obama's 'Reaper' drone outside Berkeley
City Hall in support of Peace and Justice Commission provisions to outlaw
'extrajudicial
targeted killings of foreign nationals and U.S. citizens, militarization of
local police agencies,' and vast
surveillance of billions of people.
'Old' City Hall 2134 Martin
Luther King Jr. Way Berkeley, CA
5:00 pmTuesday May 6 New Brunswick
NJProtest Condoleezza Rice at
Rutgers
5:30 pm Teach-in protesting invite to Condoleezza Rice to give
the Rutgers University Commencement on May 18. Rutgers University Student
Activities Center, New Brunswick, NJ, followed by a screening of the Academy
Award winning documentary, "Taxi to The Dark Side." Details here. Cheers
to Rutgers University Faculty for opposing honors for Condoleezza Rice
(more
here).
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