UN warned about danger of nuclear war over Ukraine

 

      By Reginald Johnson

     The outstanding writer and peace activist Dan Kovalik urged the UN Security Council this week to deal with the growing crisis in Ukraine, which threatens to spark a nuclear war between the United States and Russia.

  Speaking as a member of the executive committee of the U.S. Peace Council, Kovalik said “we are very alarmed by what appears to be a creep towards World War III emanating from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.”

  Kovalik said the Biden administration’s recent decision to allow Ukraine to use US weaponry to strike deep inside Russia is a provocative step that ratchets up tensions with the Russians. He said that Ukraine will now be able to hit early warning radar systems that were built by the Russians years ago to warn them about incoming ICBM missiles from the US.

  “This raises the question for Russia: what are you attacking these particular radar sites for? Are you planning for a first strike?” he said.

  Kovalik said the situation is similar to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 when America and the Soviet Union almost went to war over the placement of Russian missiles on Cuban soil.

   The author and human rights activist also criticized the Biden administration for its decision to arm the Azov Battalion, a neo-Nazi group in Ukraine.

  The administration announced its support for Azov shortly after the 80th anniversary celebration of D-Day in World War II when American and Allied forces launched the invasion of Europe and began the offensive which led to the defeat of the Nazi regime in Germany.

  He said the Azov Battalion is part of a right-wing network which is spreading racism and Naziism in Europe.

  "How can the West and the United States in particular talk about democracy and human rights when it is arming Nazis in Ukraine?" Kovalik asked. 

 He urged the Security Council to “address this issue and halt support for modern-day Nazis in Europe.”

 To hear the full briefing by Kovalik before the Security Council, go to https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1h/k1heo8r3qy?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR2bKtEdznDmvUYSyvwgRcbVEUFlv1kzWS6Qrz-QRlUJ5Wj60uiSteoGceI_aem_ZmFrZWR1bW15MTZieXRlcw

 

US and NATO risk nuclear war in Ukraine

 

   By Reginald Johnson 

   While the world's attention has been focused in recent months on the utter horror of the Israel-Gaza war, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has taken a turn for the worse.

 The United States under Joe Biden has changed course and given Ukraine permission to use American-made weapons to strike inside Russia.  Also, NATO is creating "land corridors" to rush US troops to the frontlines in the event of war and NATO member France said it will put boots on the ground to "train" Ukrainian soldiers.

 These are reckless steps which escalate the crisis over Ukraine and increase the danger of this conflict becoming a world war, with nuclear weapons being used. Madness.

 Joe Lauria, editor of Consortium News, has just written an excellent piece on the danger of the Ukraine war and how the US has been using fascists from that country to undermine Russia for nearly eight decades. (See "Using Ukraine Since 1948" at https://consortiumnews.com/.../10/using-ukraine-since-1948/

 Here are the opening graphs:

 "The United States has for nearly 80 years seen Ukraine as the staging ground for its covert and increasingly overt war with Russia.

 "After years of warnings, and talk since 2008 of Ukraine joining NATO, Russia fought back two years ago. With neither side backing down, Ukraine is increasingly becoming a flashpoint that could lead to nuclear war."

 Please read the piece.

 

Good news in Bridgeport

 

 

 Br Reginald Johnson

 

    BRIDGEPORT, CT --- In this city’s long running saga of election fraud, there may finally be some accountability for the key players.

  Democratic Town Committee Vice Chair Wanda Geter-Pataky and former Council Member Alfredo Castillo and two others, have been arrested.

Here is the statement by the reform group Bridgeport Generation Now:

 "Today, almost 5 years after the 2019 mayoral election, the voters of Bridgeport are finally able to see a level of accountability. The arrests of Wanda Geter-Pataky, Vice-Chair of Bridgeport’s Democratic Town Committee, and Alfredo Castillo, City Councilman in the 136th District, on charges related to election fraud, represent a measure of justice that the people of Bridgeport have been painstakingly waiting for.

 "Both officials have been charged with unlawful possession of absentee ballots, misrepresenting the eligibility requirements for absentee voting, and being present when voters completed their absentee ballots. Ms. Geter-Pataky has also been charged with witness tampering. Two other individuals – Nilsa Heredia and Josephine Edmonds – have also been arrested and charged.

 "We hope that today’s arrests send a message to everyone who is complicit in upholding the decades-long election abuse in Bridgeport: If you cheat to win, you will eventually lose. Today, Mayor Ganim should finally end the over 250 days of Ms. Geter-Pataky’s paid administrative leave.

 "Finally, in April, the SEEC forwarded two complaints of possible absentee ballot fraud in the 2023 Democratic mayoral primary to the chief state’s attorney office. We hope they investigate these matters swiftly and bring those responsible to justice. This coercive, fraudulent election rigging behavior that has destroyed our local democracy must end and the people of Bridgeport’s civil rights must be restored."

  Hopefully, the chief states' attorney will thoroughly investigate the election abuses from the last election. They were a disgrace. 

  At some point, one Joe Ganim must pay a price for his almost certain involvement in these irregularities. Bridgeport can never be made right until this happens.

 

Democratic Party blocks democracy in New York

 

    By Reginald Johnson

   

     Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein will not be on the ballot in New York State, despite the party collecting a whopping 42,000 signatures on petitions. This total fell short of the 70,000 threshold demanded by the state. That figure was set by Democratic Party leaders who run the state and want to keep third party candidates out of  elections and have set up impossible requirements for independent candidates to be on the ballot.

  The conduct by Democratic officials in New York puts the lie to the Democratic Party claim that their party is fighting to “protect democracy” and stop “authoritarianism.”

  Here is part of the statement about the result in New York by Stein:

  “Right now, New York is poised to have fewer choices on its ballot than any other state. This suppression of voter choice is part of the Democratic Party’s broader assault on democracy. After taking control of New York state government, Democrats tripled ballot access signature requirements while keeping the same short 6-week petitioning period. The DNC has broadcasted that they are paying lawyers and operatives to try to keep their competitors off the ballot, and recently posted a job to infiltrate opponents’ campaigns.

  "The Democrats’ attacks on democracy are too numerous to list, but maybe the most notorious is how they impersonated Green Party officials to call voters in North Carolina to pressure them into removing their names from the Green Party’s ballot access petitions. This is authoritarian, anti-democratic voter suppression and the height of hypocrisy from the Democratic Party, which claims to fight for voter’s rights, but in reality only fights to tighten the duopoly’s stranglehold on power.”