The Peace Press — Wednesday, September 22, 2021 edition
China is not our enemy. Russia is not our enemy. Diplomacy with Vladimir Putin and Xi JinPing is utterly necessary and the best way to help resolve issues of common global concern like climate change, nuclear proliferation and violent-religious extremism. We cannot afford to not engage in warm diplomatic relations with either of these nations. What kind of government the people in each nation live under is a problem for their own population to resolve — — -it is none of our business and we should keep our noses out of how they govern their respective nations.
Peace is best obtained through active diplomacy, ongoing warm talks and fostering understanding by exchanging views, perspectives and ideas and yes, making compromises too. Economic cooperation and integration is desirable too.
Being obsessed with diplomacy and dialogue is a prerequisite for perpetual peacemaking. Being obsessed with defining enemies and exaggerating threats is a prerequisite for perpetual war-making. Talking and exchanging ideas never hurt anyone whereas war has killed hundreds-of-millions.
It should also be noted that any kind of social conformity, particularly of the partisan variety, is antithetical to genuine independent thinking. These patterns of social conformity are most evident in how Russia and China are viewed by many Americans who are subject to incessant media propaganda.
If politicians in our country are devoted to war, warmaking and conflict with Russia and China, then it is incumbent upon ordinary citizens to undermine, subvert that policy by reclaiming information and methods to disrupt and fundamentally weaken war-making policy. Together, we can damage the drive to war. Together, we can destroy the American Empire. You simply have to believe and then take some action. And yes, together we can.
“There are numerous things to say about the new accord, by which the U.S. and Britain are to provide Australia with the sensitive technology needed to build a fleet of eight or more nuclear-powered submarines. But before we get to anything else, get used to Roman numerals: Last Wednesday was a three-sided declaration that Cold War II is now our new, flesh-and-blood, steel-and-bombs, propaganda-and-paranoia reality.
The Ides of September: Remember the date. Sept. 15, 2021, is our March 12, 1947. Xi Jinping’s People’s Republic is in 2021 what Stalin’s Soviet Union was three-quarters of a century ago. Truman and Acheson changed the world when they drafted the full-of-lies “scare hell” speech — greatly for the worse, of course. Biden, Johnson and Morrison just did the same. It would be hard to overstate the dangers and burdens Cold War II is going to inflict upon us — we Americans, we the rest of the human population.
Remember this, too, and bear witness. It is the U.S. that has assiduously sought to kindle Cold War II, just as it, and not the Soviet Union, was responsible for starting Cold War I. I mention this because the origins of the first Cold War have been hopelessly blurred in the histories. We can watch this time. It is occurring before our eyes. “
https://consortiumnews.com/2021/09/20/patrick-lawrence-the-empires-last-stand/
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“In the wake of the new U.S.-U.K.-Australia defense pact, driven by the decline of Anglo-Saxon power and a desperate and aggressive effort to maintain it, the following article looks at the development of Anglo-Saxion supremacy (Cecil Rhodes called for making “the Anglo-Saxon race but one Empire”), how it sparked the First World War, and how it threatens a new world conflagration with Russia and China.”
https://consortiumnews.com/2021/09/21/the-first-world-war-cecile-rhodes-anglo-saxon-power/
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“The move will only reinforce Beijing’s siege mentality and increase regional tensions.”
“Leaders from the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia jointly announced on Wednesday the launch of a new strategic partnership — AUKUS — that is widely seen as aimed at China. The partnership is the clearest signal yet that, following the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden administration is reorienting U.S. foreign policy around competition with China and doubling-down on a confrontational approach that will likely continue through the remainder of Biden’s presidency.”
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/09/18/biden-doubles-down-on-china-confrontation-with-australia-nuke-subs-deal/
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“Vice President Harris and US diplomats have fanned out over Asia attempting to seduce countries into a new Cold War block against China while Taiwan has become the stage for diplomatic and, occasionally, military provocations of China.
But the biggest provocation by far is the September 15, 2021 announcement that the US will “commit to a shared ambition to support Australia in acquiring nuclear-powered submarines for the Royal Australian Navy.””
https://original.antiwar.com/Ted_Snider/2021/09/20/how-provocative-are-australias-nuclear-submarines/
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“Should fighting break out between China and the US over these claims, the war would be about islands that are thousands of miles from our West Coast but within a few hundred miles of the China coast.”
https://original.antiwar.com/buchanan/2021/09/20/are-the-us-and-china-stumbling-toward-an-islands-war/
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“Put yourself in Putin’s or Xi’s shoes, however. Good God! If the top military can take steps to avoid implementing a lawful (however horrendous) order and this is allowed to stand as an honorable, praiseworthy precedent, well, this implies that the top military could quite possibly also provoke/launch nuclear war irrespective of the commander-in-chief. The Air Force tried to do this in the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis, but sang froid in Moscow prevented the worst. There are still a lot of Curtis LeMays around.
If I were Putin, or Xi, I would feel compelled to prepare for the worst — the very worst. They already have ample evidence that the US military — and people like Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates — have controlled post-9/11 conventional wars; that a cease-fire in Syria, painstakingly negotiated over 11 months by Kerry and Lavrov, and personally authorized by Obama and Putin, was sabotaged a week later by the US AF.”
https://original.antiwar.com/mcgovern/2021/09/17/old-soldier-mark-milley-should-fade-away/
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“If the Woodward and Costa account is accurate, the January 8 meeting and its outcome should alarm every American who understands and values the importance of civilian control of the military. America’s founders recognized how crucial such control was, and that is why they put an explicit provision in the Constitution making the elected president, not some puffed-up field marshal or general, the head of the military. Indeed, the founders were wary of the new republic even having a standing army. They had seen far too many historical examples of military figures who forcibly usurped power to be complacent about that danger. Examples ranged from top generals repeatedly defying the authority of the Senate during the final decades of the Roman republic to Oliver Cromwell’s imposition of military rule in 17th century England. Affirming civilian control of the military was deemed an essential safeguard, especially if the country had to have a standing army.
The decision by Milley and his military colleagues to bypass the elected president sets a tremendously unhealthy precedent.”
https://original.antiwar.com/Ted_Galen_Carpenter/2021/09/20/mark-milley-and-the-rogue-military-brass-dress-rehearsal-for-a-coup/
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The Secretary of the Air Force — — — just another warmongering, war-profiteering asshole.
“Frank Kendall, a former Raytheon employee, wants the US to focus on modernization to counter China”
https://news.antiwar.com/2021/09/20/air-force-secretary-says-his-priorities-are-china-china-and-china/
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“Defense hawks in Congress have made no secret that they would like to see up to 5 percent growth in the defense budget each and every year. Rogers has said it. His Senate counterpart, Jim Inhofe (R-OK), has also said it. What few budget or military watchdogs have done is explain the compounding effects of 5 percent annual boosts to the defense budget.”
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/09/02/lawmakers-pave-way-for-1-2-trillion-in-new-military-spending-over-next-10-years/
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Consortium News delivers first-rate journalism that bursts the myths that U.S. elites depend on to fool people into supporting their designs.
https://consortiumnews.com/2021/09/20/consortium-news-exposing-the-myths-of-america/
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“Caitlin Johnstone: Do you you remember seeing an average of 46 news reports a day on bombings conducted by the U.S. and its allies over the last 20 years? I don’t. “
https://consortiumnews.com/2021/09/20/where-was-journalism-on-us-airstrikes-during-war-on-terror/
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The war on Afghanistan is not over until the bombings and airstrikes cease to occur.
“Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley met with his NATO counterparts in Greece over the weekend to discuss cooperation on surveillance and potential airstrikes in Afghanistan, what the Pentagon calls “over the horizon capabilities.””
https://news.antiwar.com/2021/09/20/us-seeks-nato-cooperation-for-surveillance-and-potential-airstrikes-in-afghanistan/
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“It was always a fool’s errand.
The botched withdrawal from Afghanistan plastered across cable news is emblematic of the entire slow-rolling quagmire: a disaster everyone could have predicted and no one prepared for. While partisans are quick to place blame on their least favorite current or recently ousted president, a catastrophic end was baked into this cake from the beginning.”
https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/570175-who-authorized-afghanistan-in-the-first-place?rl=1
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“To many in the U.S. foreign policy establishment, the images of chaos at Kabul airport last month appeared to vindicate an article of faith in Washington — when the U.S. leaves, chaos ensues.
But while all eyes were on Afghanistan, an arguably more consequential event occurred in Baghdad as a direct result of Washington’s military shift away from the Middle East: Saudi, Iranian and Emirati foreign ministers were coming together at a regional security summit hosted by the Iraqi government. Rather than chaos, the Baghdad summit provided a different message: As the U.S. steps back militarily, regional states are compelled to step forward diplomatically.
The untold story in the Middle East of the past few months is the dramatic increase in diplomatic activity between regional actors and initiated by the region’s own states.”
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/09/20/middle-east-cooperation-appears-to-be-breaking-out-the-untold-story/
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“Let’s face it. If the history of twenty-first-century America tells us anything, it’s that you just can’t lose when you’re part of the military-industrial complex, not in this country, no matter what happens on any battlefield. If you don’t believe me, just consider this: at the very moment the U.S. military chaotically prepared to leave Kabul and head for home in apparent defeat, the relevant Senate and House committees, Democrats and Republicans alike, agreed to add another $24 billion to the already staggering $715 billion the Biden administration had requested for the Pentagon’s fiscal year 2022 budget. The Forever Wars over? Not in funding terms, that’s for sure.”
https://original.antiwar.com/William_Astore/2021/09/19/a-bright-future-for-weapons-and-war/
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“The greased revolving door from the Pentagon to the weapons industry gives former officials easy access for influence peddling.”
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/09/20/groups-urge-congress-to-strengthen-rules-on-defense-lobbying/
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“Has it occurred to anyone that the rise of extremists in more places is proof that the GWOT has backfired spectacularly?”
“The war on terror has been a costly failure, and most of those costs have been borne by the people in the countries where the United States has waged this war.
The 20-year campaign of militarized counterterrorism has succeeded in destabilizing entire regions, wasting trillions of dollars, and killing at least 900,000 people. In the process, it has created conditions that have increased the number of terrorist organizations in the world, and the number of fatalities from terrorist attacks worldwide has risen accordingly. “
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/09/17/biden-team-ratchets-up-counter-terrorism-talk-but-to-what-end/
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“The incident underlines the dangers of conducting counterterrorism remotely with missile and drone strikes.”
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/09/19/us-admits-strike-killing-10-kabul-was-mistake-it-not-new-problem
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“The New York Times and The Washington Post conducted reports about Ahmadi’s death, consulting with independent experts at the scene. “The damage was consistent with a single Hellfire strike, and not large explosions,” the Times reported.
A government review is ongoing, but that doesn’t mean much for those who lost loved ones. A review isn’t bringing them back. Only eight hours of surveillance was necessary to convince those in the military command that Ahmadi must be terminated. It takes weeks after the matter, however, to decide whether or not it was the right guy — for the nine other bystanders, who knows.
Should we be shocked?
American airstrikes killing innocents are not atypical occurrences. A recent Airwars analysis identified that, since 2001, the US has declared “at least 91,340 strikes” across its conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen. According to their estimate, as little as 22,679 people, while as many as 48,309, have been likely slain by US drone airstrikes, with the majority of deaths occurring in Iraq (2003) and Syria (2017). For the people of Afghanistan, and the Middle East broadly, Ahmadi’s story is all too familiar. Innocent lives lost, families torn apart, and communities reduced to rubble — all for what, exactly?”
https://original.antiwar.com/Brett_Kershaw/2021/09/17/washingtons-wars-the-killing-of-zemari-ahmadi/
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“The failure of America’s expensive Potemkin regime in Afghanistan triggered predictable wailing and caterwauling by members of Washington’s War Party. In their view the U.S. can never leave any conflict anywhere at any time lest no one ever again believe that America will defend even itself in the future. Abandon Kabul today and the Russians might be invading New York City tomorrow!
It is a profoundly stupid argument. Indeed, proponents, a toxic mix of neoconservatives, liberal interventionists, and endless hawks who dominate US foreign policy, almost certainly don’t believe their own claims. Rather, they are seeking to raise the price for any administration to leave any forever war. The more bile and venom they spew, the less likely President Joe Biden and his successors will be to pull US forces from Iraq, Syria, or some other foolish conflict.”
https://original.antiwar.com/doug-bandow/2021/09/19/afghan-withdrawal-enhances-long-term-us-credibility/.
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“Joe Biden is taking heat from Democrats, not for his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan — that’s popular — but for his haphazard pullout that, self-serving Rumsfeldian stuff happens, wars end messily platitudes aside, could have been executed more efficiently. They blame George W. Bush for starting America’s longest war, arguing that what he began inexorably led to our most shocking military defeat and its humiliating aftermath.
I am sympathetic to any and all criticism of our intervention in Afghanistan. I was an early critic of the war and got beaten up for my stance by media allies of the Bush administration. But the very same liberals who now pretend they’re against the Afghan disaster stood by when it mattered and did nothing to defend war critics because Democrats — political leaders and voters alike — went far beyond tacit consent. They were actively complicit with the Republicans’ war, at the time of the invasion and throughout the decades-long occupation of Afghanistan.”
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/09/21/democrats-share-blame-for-afghanistan/
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“Ever the bad loser, Washington will be tempted to crush the Taliban with sanctions and covert operations, unleashing more chaos”
https://original.antiwar.com/cook/2021/09/19/despite-its-exit-the-us-will-continue-to-wage-war-on-the-taliban/
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“President Biden has the authority and power to permanently close Guantánamo Bay, turning it from a living symbol of torture and injustice to a historical warning to future generations.”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/09/20/20-years-after-start-war-terror-groups-demand-closure-gitmo-once-and-all
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“Tragically, despite widespread high hopes for change, in the existential realm of potentially omnicidal nuclear war preparations, the Biden administration has signaled more continuity than change.”
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/09/18/bidens-nuclear-weapons-commitments-dangerous-continuities
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“This breaks the Biden administration’s promise to end U.S. support for the tragic war in Yemen,” said one prominent peace campaigner.”
https://original.antiwar.com/Brett_Wilkins/2021/09/17/antiwar-voices-blast-biden-over-absurd-500-million-saudi-military-contract/
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“Despite our dismal record at nation-building, we marched forward in Afghanistan, repeatedly reaching for the foreign-aid checkbook. What makes this so shocking is that professionals of all stripes know that government-to-government foreign-aid schemes typically fail and are often little more than poster children for waste, fraud, and abuse. As a House Foreign Affairs Committee put it back in 1989, U.S. foreign-aid programs “no longer either advance U.S. interests abroad or promote economic development.” A Clinton administration task force rendered a similar conclusion on the efficacy of foreign aid: “Despite decades of foreign assistance, most of Africa, and parts of Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East are economically worse off today than they were 20 years ago.”
In Afghanistan, none of the mountains of evidence pointing to the failures of foreign aid and nation-building were ever allowed to see the light of day. As it turns out, the professional elites who live off the “delivery” of foreign aid are a tightly knit epistemic community that promotes and runs the foreign-aid show. For them, the show must go on. In Afghanistan, it did, and what an extravaganza it was.”
https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/09/afghanistan-a-poster-child-for-foreign-aid-failure/
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“Joe Biden, in his first address to the United Nations General Assembly, told world leaders Tuesday: “I stand here today, for the first time in 20 years, with the United States not at war.”
According to the latest available White House war report, the U.S. was involved in seven wars in 2018: Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and Niger. The U.S. withdrew last month from Afghanistan, so the number of current U.S. wars is likely six. Likely because in an age of so-called counter-terrorism operations it’s not entirely clear where U.S. forces are deployed.
U.S. involvement, for instance, in Niger came as a complete surprise. Biden has already carried out airstrikes in Syria and Somalia and he vowed to continue a drone war in Afghanistan. U.S. troops continue to occupy Syrian territory. There are officially 2,500 U.S. troops still in Iraq.”
https://consortiumnews.com/2021/09/22/biden-at-the-un-forgets-what-war-is/
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“Drones have become the signature tool of 21st-century warfare, particularly by US forces in the “war on terror”. The fundamental rationale for drone use relies on their “surgical precision”, supposedly saving civilian lives.
But headlines show us this isn’t true. A recent US drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan mistakenly killed 43-year-old aid worker Zemari Ahmadi, along with nine members of his family, including seven children. This idea of precision is just one of many pervasive myths about drones that I’ve set out to dispel in my research.”
https://theconversation.com/five-myths-about-drone-warfare-busted-133660
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“In accusing Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann of lying to the FBI, Special Counsel John Durham offers new evidence of the fabrications behind the Trump-Russia conspiracy theory.”
https://thegrayzone.com/2021/09/20/with-clinton-lawyer-charged-the-russiagate-scam-is-now-indicted/
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“The DOJ’s new charging document, approved by Biden’s Attorney General, sheds bright light onto the Russiagate fraud and how journalistic corruption was key.”
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-indictment-of-hillary-clintons
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“America’s bid to extradite Julian Assange from London is costing the British public hundreds of thousands of pounds in prosecution fees and prison costs, despite serious flaws in the US case, Declassified UK has found.”
https://consortiumnews.com/2021/09/21/assange-extradition-case-has-so-far-cost-british-public-over-300000/
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“Gradually, new ideas regarding Israel’s “security” emerged, such as “fortress Israel” and “villa in the jungle” — an obviously racist metaphor used repeatedly by former Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, which falsely depicts Israel as an oasis of harmony and democracy amid Middle Eastern chaos and violence. For the Israeli “villa” to remain prosperous and peaceful, according to Barak, Israel needed to do more than merely maintain its military edge; it had to ensure the “chaos” does not breach the perimeters of Israel’s perfect existence.
“Security” for Israel is not simply defined through military, political and strategic definitions. If so, the shooting of an Israeli sniper, Barel Hadaria Shmuel, by a Palestinian at the fence separating besieged Israel from Gaza on August 21, should have been understood as the predictable and rational cost of perpetual war and military occupation.
Moreover, one dead sniper for over 300 dead unarmed Palestinians should, from a crude military calculation, appear to be a minimal loss. But the language used by Israeli officials and media following the death of Shmuel — whose job included the killing of Gazan youngsters — indicates that Israel’s sense of dejection is not linked to the supposed tragedy of a life lost, but by the unrealistic expectations that military occupation and “security” can co-exist.
Israelis want to be able to kill, without being killed in return; subdue and militarily occupy Palestinians without the least degree of resistance, armed or otherwise; they want to imprison thousands of Palestinians without the slightest protest or even the mere questioning of Israel’s military judicial system.
These fantasies, which satisfied and guided the thinking of successive Zionist and Israeli leaders since the times of Jabotinsky, work only in theory.”
