Connecticut residents protest the US war on Iran

By Reginald Johnson

Recent days have seen protests pop up around Connecticut against the illegal attack by the United States and Israel against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In Norwalk on Saturday, about 20 people attended a vigil against the war and an anti-war banner was hung over the I-95 bridge at Exit 16.

"We tried to stop this war. We we were unsuccessful. So now we're trying to stop this one as soon as we can," said John Miksad, one of the participants, in an interview with News 12.

Benjamin Wesley, who helped organize the vigil, said "Nobody wants this war but we have to be LOUD with our lawmakers and make it clear to them! The lives of our fellow American servicemen and citizens and Iranian servicemen and civilians hang in the balance."

Wesley said a big focus going forward should be on getting Congress to pass war powers resolutions which will require President Trump to obtain Congressional authorization before launching any further attacks on Iran.

Groups participating in the Norwalk protest were Veterans for Peace, Jewish Voice for Peace, World Beyond War. The Peace Pact and Democratic Socialists of Connecticut.

In New Haven, about 60 people rallied against the war on Sunday outside City Hall.

The ANSWER Coalition and the Party for Socialism and Liberation sponsored the demonstration, according to the New Haven Independent.

Peace walkers come to Bridgeport

     

         By Reginald Johnson

        BRIDGEPORT, CT ---- A group of veterans and others taking part in the “Peace Walk 2024” from Maine to Washington, DC came to Bridgeport yesterday bringing their message of peace, nuclear disarmament and an end to war.

  Participants in the 700-mile walk organized by Veterans for Peace, which began May 7 in Ogunquit, Maine, walked along Route 1 from Milford and Stratford and then into Bridgeport following Barnum Avenue and then onto other streets over to downtown and then eventually to the Islamic Community Center on State Street. The walkers held aloft the Veterans for Peace flag, the Palestinian flag and a huge black and red banner which read “Ceasefire Now.”

   As they stopped for a bite to eat at Frankie’s Diner on Barnum Avenue the walkers and others who accompanied them in support vehicles said they came from all over the country for the peace walk. Alexis said she was from a small town near Sacramento California; Tito was from a town near Waco, Texas; Russell and Diane were from Buffalo, New York. Another participant was from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

 Others joining the group at the diner were Jim from West Haven and Angelo from Milford.

  “We’re kind of a band from every different location, right?” said Alexis.

  She said she found out about the walk by looking at the Veterans for Peace website because she was looking for peace walks to participate in.

 “I knew about Veterans for Peace but I’d never been involved with them,” she said. “So here I am deeply involved with Veterans for Peace.”

  Alexis and the others said they were taking part because they want to see an end to wars in general but were particularly motivated recently because of the brutal war that is going on in Gaza. Israel is waging a relentless campaign in the Palestinian enclave and some 34,000 people, a majority of them civilians, have been killed. There have been widespread calls for a cease-fire but so far Israel has balked at stopping its military assault. The Biden administration is being criticized strongly for continuing to send arms aid to Israel.

         

Participants in the Veterans for Peace "Peace Walk 2024" stop at Frankies Diner in Bridgeport. The walk, a protest against wars and militarism, began in Ogunquit, Maine and will end in Washington, DC in July.

 

Several members of the group were veterans of the Vietnam War. Angelo, who is 95, is a veteran of the Korean War.

 Friday the group will march to Black Rock in Bridgeport then into Fairfield and continue in the next few days into lower Fairfield County and New York State.

   The peace walk will conclude on July 5 in Washington, DC and participants will take part in a demonstration against NATO which is holding its 75^th anniversary celebration.

 

 

US closer to full-out war with Russia

By Reginald Johnson 

 

  Are we moving closer to a hot war with Russia?

  It certainly looks that way.

   Contradicting previous statements by the Biden administration, new information shows the US now has a small number of combat troops on the ground in Ukraine, and some are reportedly deployed with Ukrainian forces fighting Russia in the eastern part of the country.

 The recent leak of classified Pentagon documents by Air National Guardsman Jack Teixiera disclosed that 14 US Special Forces troops are in Ukraine, along with more than 80 special forces troops from other NATO countries, including the UK and France, according to a report in the BBC.

  Information in the leaked documents didn’t say where the troops are deployed or how they’re being used, according to the story. Pentagon spokesman  Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder confirmed last November that the US had a small contingent of military personnel in Ukraine connected with the US embassy, but they were there only to inspect deliveries of weapons to Ukraine and would not be involved in combat. 

 However, Special Forces are elite fighting units in the Army and are not generally connected with embassies or used for inspections.

  Also, Democratic Party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr said on the Tucker Carlson show last week on FOX that his son had been deployed to Ukraine as a Special Forces “machine gunner” and fought alongside Ukrainian forces against the Russian army during “the Kharkiv campaign.”

 The leaked documents also showed the administration has been lying about progress by Ukraine in the war, with statements by officials like Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austen that Ukraine was doing well, with Russian military strength “waning.”.

For the past year, US officials have painted a rosy picture of how well Ukrainian forces are doing in the war with Russia. But the recent leak of Pentagon documents tells a different story.

   To the contrary, the documents reveal that Ukraine is suffering a high casualty rate, with seven Ukrainians dying for every one Russian. Also the information shows that Ukraine’s air defense system is nearly destroyed.

  In the wake of the new information, some Republicans in Congress are pressing the administration to make clear exactly what US forces are doing in Ukraine.

  “We’ve been engaged over there for a year and we’ve been hearing ‘transparency’ and ‘we will not let troops on the ground.’  Sadly, we now get information like this,” said Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana on the Tucker Carlson show on FOX April 20^th.

  “A few days ago we filed a letter (to the administration), tell us, who authorized this, how many are actually there, and what are they doing?” said Braun.

  It could not be learned how many other members of Congress had signed onto the letter and who they were.

  Braun commented to Carlson that “This is eerily familiar to what we should have learned decades ago in Vietnam. Mission creep comes into play. Afghanistan, Iraq --- it looks like it’s reeling all over again. The big difference is, this is where two world wars started.  Much different setting, much different context. We’re going to be sure to get to the bottom of this.”

 On his April 13^th show, Carlson said the leaked information “in fact shows that this is not Ukraine’s war. It is our war. The US is a direct combatant in the new war against Russia. As we speak American soldiers are fighting Russian soldiers. So this is not a regional conflict in Eastern Europe. This is a hot war between the two primary nuclear superpowers on earth. And yet this war has never been formally declared – it has not been authorized by Congress.

 “That means this war is a violation of American law. It is a crime,” he said.

Carlson and another guest on his show, investigative writer Glenn Greenwald decried the media’s performance in covering the Pentagon leak. Both charged that the press showed more interest in helping the government catch the person responsible for the leak and punish him, rather than reporting on the contents of the leak and their significance.

 Teixeira should be “celebrated” for the public service he performed, rather than demonized, Greenwald said.

"Christmas Truce" in Ukraine?

 

     By Reginald Johnson

       Commentary

 

    For two wonderful days in December, 1914 during World War I, the guns fell silent and tired soldiers on both sides of the conflict crawled out of their trenches to shake hands with combatants on the other side and celebrate Christmas.

  English, French, and  German soldiers came together in a spontaneous moment to eat dinner, sing Christmas carols and even play soccer.

  The informal cease-fire was dubbed “The Christmas Truce.”

 Though the truce didn’t last long ---  the war resumed and dragged on for another four years --- the Christmas Truce is long remembered as a special moment in history, when the killing stopped and there was a glimmer of hope that a brutal conflict could somehow be brought to an end.

  Now, peace advocates are urging that a “Christmas Truce” be called in the Ukraine War, also a brutal conflict that has left 200,000 Ukrainian and Russian soldiers killed or injured in just nine months.

“The Christmas Truce of 1914 was a symbol of hope and courage, when the people of warring countries organized an armistice on their own authority and joined in a spontaneous act of reconciliation and fraternization,” said a statement by CODE Pink, an anti-war organization.

  “In this same spirit, we ask you to join us in urging President Biden, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and congressional representatives to support the International Peace Bureau’s call for a Christmas Truce in Ukraine,” the statement said. 

“A truce --- a moment of holiday peace --- could pave the way for negotiations to reach a lasting security agreement to end the bloodshed once and for all.”

  A petition has been set up on the CODE Pink website for people to sign and indicate their support. https://www.codepink.org/christmas_truce_in_ukraine_gen

   The peace group and other organizations such as the Fellowship of Reconciliation have also been urging leaders of the faith community and social justice movements to support the campaign.  Dr. Cornel West and the Rev. Jesse Jackson have gotten behind the effort.

 The Ukraine War began in February when Russia invaded Ukraine in what Russia called a “Special Military Operation.”  US and Ukrainian officials called the invasion an act of naked aggression --- completely unjustified and illegal under international law.  Russian officials maintained, however, they acted after a series of provocations by Ukraine and the US-led military alliance, NATO, which has bases in many countries close to Russia.

  The US has supplied over $100 billion in military aid to help Ukraine to fight the war.

 Negotiations to end the war have stalled, with Biden administration officials indicating little interest in peace talks. A tentative plan to end the war last April --- agreed to by Russia and Ukraine --- fell apart after the US rejected the deal.

  The possibility the war could turn nuclear arose after Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky suggested preemptive strikes against Russia to prevent the Russians from using nuclear weapons. Russian officials said they interpreted Zelensky's remarks as suggesting that NATO should launch a nuclear first strike against Russia.

. Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country would not fire a nuclear first strike at Ukraine, but said Russia would use nuclear weapons in response to a nuclear attack.

 Noam Chomsky,  the world renown intellectual and long-time foreign policy critic, warned recently that there could be dire consequences for the human race if the war is not brought to a close in the near future.

  Chomsky foresees possible catastrophe in two ways --- first by the possibility of a nuclear war starting in Ukraine; and second, by the environmental consequences of more widespread use of highly-polluting liquid natural gas, as the flow of Russian gas has been stopped. He said the world only has limited time to shut down high-carbon fossil fuel usage and control global warming, and the wider use now of dirty fuel will hasten the arrival of a total climate collapse.

  “Every possible path to a diplomatic settlement should be pursued,” Chomsky told an audience at The Peoples Forum. “There is no time for delay.”

  The International Peace Bureau is calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine for Christmas 2022/2023 from Dec. 25^th to January 7^th  “as a sign of our shared humanity, reconciliation and peace.”  https://www.ipb.org/ipb-christmas-peace-appeal/

To ask for a Christmas Truce in Ukraine, call the White House at 202-456-1111 and your members of Congress, at 202-224-3121.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

Peace group calls for cease-fire in Ukraine

   By Reginald Johnson 

  The Connecticut Peace and Solidarity Coalition, a group which opposes wars of intervention and advocates for cuts in military spending, has taken out a full-page ad in the New Haven Register, demanding an end to the war in Ukraine.

  “The war in Ukraine is costing thousands of lives, generating millions of refugees and causing the destruction of billions in infrastructure.  We demand it quickly end,” the ad began. “The only way it can end is through honest negotiations, not actions that lead to the escalation of violence.”

“We call on Ukraine, Russia the United States and its NATO allies to immediately agree on a prompt cease-fire, stop pouring weapons, trainers and troops into Ukraine and quickly negotiate steps towards peace and common security for all parties.”

  The statement also said that “The longer the war lasts the greater chance that nuclear weapons will be used, creating global catastrophe.”

 The Peace and Solidarity Coalition, composed of activists from around the state, has been fighting a lonely battle to try to stop the Ukraine war since it began five months ago after the Russian invasion. Ukraine’s request for military aid has won almost blanket support in Congress and in the media. Support for the war among the public has been more evenly divided.

 Just this year the US has sent over $50 billion in support to Ukraine. Even so-called progressive Democrats have joined in backing the military assistance.

Negotiations to end the conflict are at a standstill and the Biden administration has said almost nothing about the need to settle the war, despite calls for peace talks by several European leaders such as France’s Emanuel Macron.

The Ukrainian army has been given billions of dollars in military hardware by the United States.

Few questions are asked in Congress or in the media about the US and NATO’s role in provoking the conflict, by pouring billions of dollars in weaponry into Ukraine over the years as well as to other eastern European countries that are close to Russia; allowing for the eastward expansion of NATO toward Russia; allowing Ukraine to attack the Russian-speaking, separatist Donbas region and violating the Minsk Agreement in the process.

 The coalition ad blasted the press for its role in supporting the war.

 “We reject mainstream media’s ongoing cheerleading for the war, similar to what we saw when the US prepared to invade Iraq.”

  The coalition statement urged people to call Congress at 202-224-3121 and the White House at 202-456-1111 and ask that United States push for a cease-fire and negotiations to end the war.

  To contact the Connecticut Peace and Solidarity Coalition email the group at CTPeaceAndSolidarity@gmail.com.

  To take more action on this issue, go to: https://tinyurl.com/NegotiatePeace

 

 

More schools, less bombs

 

By Reginald Johnson

  Peace activists in Connecticut are spreading the word that the United States has to spend less money on the military and wars abroad and more money on addressing domestic needs.

 Members of the Connecticut Peace and Solidarity Coalition recently passed out flyers in Middletown and New Haven urging that the country needs to “Fund Human Needs, Not Killing Machines.”

  They did so at the same time as the “Mass Poor Peoples and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly” gathered in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Poor Peoples Campaign.

  That event drew thousands of people demanding that the United States take steps to end poverty and close the enormous wealth divide.

  Coalition member Henry Lowendorf said in Middletown the peace group passed out 50-75 flyers to passersby at the corner of Main Street and Washington Avenue  and engaged a number of people in conversation about the need to reorder the nation’s priorities.

   “Basically what we said was the Poor Peoples Campaign in Washington is having an assembly, trying to change the priorities of this country and trying to focus on people and what people need and one of the planks in the peoples campaign is cutting the military budget. So we support that,” Lowendorf said.

  One of the flyers said that despite a multitude of crises plaguing the country --- including record inflation, lack of affordable housing,  poor health coverage and underfunded schools --- “Washington has no problem proposing a record $813 billion on wars and weapons, half of federal spending.”

 The flyer added, “That’s more than the next 12 countries, including 10 allies, combined. Or finding $53 billion to prolong the war in Ukraine...Spend your tax dollars on human needs, not endless wars!”

  The information sheet pointed out that “Not building just one F-35 nuclear bomber would provide FOOD for over 21,000 3-person families for 1 year”  and “Not funding the new Space Force for 2021 would provide 2.2 million families with MEDICAL CARE for 1 year.”

   The peace and solidarity coalition is also speaking out against the Ukraine war and supporting negotiations to bring peace. The conflict has cost thousands of lives, including civilians and soldiers for both Ukraine and Russia. The United States and other nations in NATO have sent tens of billions of dollars in weaponry to Ukraine.

 The policy of aiding Ukraine has had wide support in Congress and in the media. Generally the American people have backed the effort, as well. But the winds may be shifting as the war drags on, Lowendorf said.

 “I hear more people saying, ‘Where is Ukraine, and why are we sending so much aid. over there?’ ’’ he said.

  Lowendorf  maintained the war in Ukraine is actually a proxy war by the US against Russia, and more people are waking up to this fact. “This not about defending Ukraine’s freedom,” he said.

 Coalition member Steve Krevisky said the group is planning more actions in the coming months.

 

  

 

 

 

  

Why is the US spurning Ukraine peace deals?

 

    By Reginald Johnson

      Commentary 

 

      The question is arising now:  is the United States really interested in ending the war in Ukraine?

   Top US officials such as Secretary of State Anthony Blinken have always said that the US is interested in talks with Russia and arriving at some fair agreement that would end the terrible war.

  But you have to wonder.

 Tuesday night, in an interview with ABC news, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said in terms of creating a peace deal, he was open to the idea of Ukraine not being part of NATO and that he was also open to talking with Russian President Vladimir Putin about determining the future status of the breakaway republics in the Donbass part of Ukraine.

  The comments represented a possible breakthrough for resolving the dispute between Russia and Ukraine, as the US and Ukraine have always insisted that Ukraine should be part of NATO, which is something that the Russians had vehemently opposed. His comments about the Donbass area also presented a new basis for negotiation.

  However, the Biden administration has said nothing about Zelensky’s proposal.

  Biden officials were also quiet when Putin two weeks ago said that a peace plan could come about if Ukraine agreed to a status of neutrality and not accepting NATO arms.

  The American silence on Zelensky’s comments is disturbing given the horror that is taking place in Ukraine, as Russia continues its invasion. Hundreds if not thousands of civilians have been killed, infrastructure has been destroyed, and more than 1 million refugees have been sent out of the country to escape violence.

  Russia launched its invasion after years of talks with the US and Ukraine concerning the secessionist republics went nowhere and the US kept insisting that Ukraine be allowed to enter NATO, an anti-Russian military alliance that has bases throughout Europe and missile installations in countries close to Russia, such as Poland and Romania.

  Russia made clear that Ukraine being part of NATO was a red line for them, and that they would not tolerate having an enemy military alliance with armies and bases sitting on their long border with Ukraine.

 Continued bloodshed in Eastern Ukraine, where 14,000 thousand ethnic Russians were killed in attacks by Ukrainian forces in violation of the Minsk Accords covering the region, also angered Russia.

The Ukrainian military has received billions of dollars in support from the United States in the past eight years. (Photo from Wikimedia Commons)
 

Russians then launched their attack on Feb 24, claiming that they had to stabilize the region and also prevent an ongoing security threat from NATO.

However, the Russians have been harshly criticized --- and justifiably --- first for launching an invasion which had no legitimate basis under international law.

Russia has also been justifiably criticized for their brutal military tactics, hitting civilian targets, including the shelling of residential areas.

Meanwhile, the US has responded with sweeping economic sanctions against Russia and an embargo against Russian oil.             

Billions more in lethal aid is also being sent to Ukraine.    

There’s no question this invasion has to end, and the fighting must stop. Lives are being lost on a massive scale and all of Europe is being destabilized.

An agreement must be reached between the principal parties --- the US and its ally Ukraine, and Russia.

There has to be compromise on both sides. Russia must withdraw its forces. But in return there must be firm guarantees in writing that Ukraine will not be part of NATO and Ukraine can’t be an arsenal filled with US weapons. There should also be some degree of autonomy granted to Donetsk and Luhansk.

 These are a achievable goals. The Russians I think, would end their operation if they got those key guarantees. Now, the head of Ukraine says he’s willing to talk about those guarantees.

But is the US willing to talk about the guarantees and bring about an agreement?  Do they want the fighting to end?

 You have to be skeptical.

One leading political figure who’s saying the US wants the war to continue is former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard.

 Speaking on the Laura Ingraham show on FOX TV Tuesday night, she praised Zelensky for offering a “window of opportunity” to build a peace deal.

 “Really, he’s sending an olive branch,” she said.

Then she asked, “Why isn’t the Biden-Harris administration charging forward to take advantage of and support President Zelensky in this opening he has created in trying to bring about an end to this conflict and bring about an end to the suffering that we are seeing every single day?

 She added, “Nothing that the Biden administration has done has helped to make this situation better, to help de-escalate the situation. Which is why the only conclusion I can draw about why they have been completely silent and not engaging at all on this window of opportunity President Zelensky opened last night is that what is happening before our eyes right now is exactly what they wanted to see continued.

 “Why is that? Because it’s good for the military industrial complex, it makes politicians look tough, and really, it allows them to have this proxy war with Russia, something that Hillary Clinton laid out just recently, what the aims are, this war machine, this power elite in Washington, they want to turn Ukraine into another Afghanistan …… bleed out and kill as many Russians as possible for who knows for how long,” Gabbard said.

  I agree with Gabbard and add that a continuance of the Ukraine war appears to be part of a long range regime change operation directed against Russia. Bleed ‘em dry and take ‘em down.

 Afterwards, a new Boris Yeltsin can be brought in, and western capitalists can have a field day.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian people are caught in the middle, suffering and dying.

Lending credence to the theory that the US is using the Ukraine conflict to trigger regime change in Russia is that the RAND Corporation --- a think-tank which has a long history of influencing American foreign policy --- produced a report for the Pentagon in 2019 called "Overextending and Unbalancing Russia." The study basically assessed ways of bringing Russia down.

  Specifically, the report said Russia could be weakened by having to respond to a greater NATO and US military presence directed at Russia and that "providing lethal aid to Ukraine would exploit Russia's greatest point of external vulnerability."

  It’s up to peace-loving people everywhere to rise up and say they won’t be party to these deadly schemes. Demand that the US respond favorably to President Zelensky’s offer, forge a real peace agreement and end this disastrous war.

 

 

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Protesters: No war with Russia!

 

   By Reginald Johnson

   Opposition is growing to a potential war with Russia over Ukraine.

 In the last two weeks, there’s been a flurry of protests around the country with people demanding that the United States and NATO stop their aggressive military actions in Eastern Europe, stop sending military aid to Ukraine and seek a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis through the United Nations.

  Demonstrations began happening last week after a call was put out by a coalition of 12 antiwar organizations to mobilize against a war with Russia. The call was subsequently endorsed by another 200 peace groups.   

  Protests took place in 70 cities around the country on Saturday, followed by a national online rally, where peace activists spoke of the urgency of stopping the slide towards war. A webinar hosted by the United National AntiWar Coalition, with both national and international peace activists, took place on Sunday.

  More actions are taking place this week, such as one in Hartford, CT, where peace activists demonstrated outside the offices of US Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, who is supporting the Biden administration’s Ukraine policy.

  “This is a really important time because of the escalation of aggression by the US government towards Russia and the amount of misinformation in the corporate media,” said Margaret Flowers director of Popular Resistance, one of the groups which organized the online rally.

  “We’re being lied into another war. The whole, you know, ‘Russia has troops on its border’ is equivalent to the ‘Saddam has WMDs’ that lied us into a disastrous war with Iraq,” she said.

  Flowers added that nearly 1,000 people signed a petition to President Biden and to UN Secretary-General Anthony Guiterrez, calling on them to resolve the Ukraine conflict in compliance with international law using the United Nations Security Council, “rather than what the United States is doing, using NATO to perform its war, which is how the US engages in all these illegal wars, bypassing international law.”

 

A protest against a possible war with Russia outside the offices of U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn, in Hartford. Blumenthal has been supporting hawkish US policies in Ukraine. (Photo by Henry Lowendorf)

      

     The protests are taking place as the U.S., NATO and Russia are engaging in a tense military stand-off in eastern Ukraine. The US and its allies are charging that Russia is “massing troops on the Ukraine border” in preparation for a possible invasion of Ukraine. Russia has been supporting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine ever since a US backed coup installed a pro-western and far-right regime in Kiev in 2014.

   Biden administration officials, backed by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress, say that Ukraine’s “sovereignty” must be protected and that “Russian aggression” must be stopped.

 The US has been sending a steady stream of lethal aid to the Ukrainian regime over the past 8 years --- some $2.5 billion in arms and ammunition.

  US military advisors are on the ground in eastern Ukraine as are American mercenaries.  

Biden has threatened “severe consequences” for Russia --- including harsh economic sanctions --- if an invasion takes place.

 Russian officials maintain that they have no plans to invade, but say they are concerned about provocative US, NATO and Ukrainian military activity near their border and the US sending naval ships into the Black Sea, where Russia has a large naval port.

  The Russians are also concerned about the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO, the western military alliance formed more than 70 years ago to deter aggression by the Soviet Union, a country that no longer exists. Most European countries, including former Soviet bloc nations, are now in NATO. The alliance has bases throughout the continent, including missile launchers in Poland and Romania.

 President Vladimir Putin has made clear that any plan for ending the crisis in Ukraine must include a guarantee that Ukraine not be allowed to join NATO.

 But the US has already rejected a Russian peace plan which includes that guarantee.

Joe Lombardo, co-coordinator of the United National AntiWar Coalition (UNAC), said at the webinar that Americans are getting a false picture from their leaders and the media about who is responsible for the crisis in eastern Europe.

 “Now there are 300,000 US troops throughout Europe. There are 150,000 Ukrainian troops with US advisors and modern US weapons, including predator drones which have been used in some of the areas in Donbass (eastern Ukraine).  So there are 150,000 troops with US advisors in and around Donbass, that is on the Russian border, but that is not said in the media,” he said.

   Lombardo added that NATO is conducting “what they call wargames, right on the border with Russia. But when Russia puts its troops on the other side of the border, on its side of these wargames, the US says that’s aggressive, not the wargames.”

  He continued, “So it’s a very dangerous situation and the actual aggression is on the side of the United States, which in the last couple of decades has been in one war after another, one invasion and one occupation after another, many of them based on false flag situations.”

  Another speaker at the UNAC webinar was Vladimir Kozin, correspondent member of the Russian Academy of Military Science.

  Kozin talked of the repeated violations of the Minsk II peace accords and arms control treaties by both the United States and Ukraine. Kozin said that all 13 provisions of the Minsk Accords have been violated, including the prohibition on sending foreign fighters into the conflict zone.

   Kozin said that Russia had no plans to attack Ukraine now, but if Ukrainian forces should launch a full attack on Donbass, “surely Russia will come to support the population of Donbass.”

   At the protest in Hartford on Tuesday, 18 people stood outside the offices of Senator Blumenthal, who has strongly supported America's militaristic Ukraine policy.

  “We were protesting Senator Blumenthal’s promoting war and war hysteria,  and defending the illegal and violent coup the US engineered in 2014 to kick out the constitutional government of Ukraine, said Henry Lowendorf, of the Greater New Haven Peace Council.

  The group attempted to deliver a letter to Blumenthal’s office demanding that “all belligerent threats” towards Russia stop, that there be a resumption of honest diplomacy to settle any differences between the US and Russia, and that NATO not be allowed to expand eastward. But a security guard would not grant the group access to the office.  Lowendorf said he then left messages with both the Hartford and Washington offices.

   Lowendorf said a Washington staff member called back on Wednesday and left a message, but did not include a return number.

  “I couldn’t call the individual back … Senator Blumenthal runs a very unwelcoming office. He places roadblocks before the public even to meeting his staff. The way he runs his office contradicts the image he tries to project as a people friendly official,” Lowendorf said.

  Nonetheless, Lowendorf and the other activists, members of the Connecticut Peace and Solidarity Coalition, passed out fliers urging people to call their legislators in Washington at 202-224-3132 and the White House at 202-456-1111, demanding no war with Russia.

  At the UNAC webinar, Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in space said that there is a unique danger that could unfold from a war in Ukraine. He said there are 15 nuclear power plants in the country.

 “Imagine what could happen, from an accident or otherwise, with those nuclear power plants. That’s frightening,” Gagnon said, pointing out that radiation contamination would spread globally.

  “It’s absolutely insane what the US and NATO are doing today,” he said.

Ajamu Baraka, national organizer for the Black Alliance for Peace, stressed that people have to understand the central role that imperialism plays in the wars that keep erupting around the globe.

  “For the Black Alliance for Peace, let me be clear, we say the common enemy is the US-EU-NATO axis of domination. We argue that we must center our analysis within the context of the global class struggle,” he said.

 “It is imperialism, led by the United States, that is the culprit.”

 

 

 

 

     

 

   

Neocons have new home on MSNBC, slandering critics of Biden Ukraine policy

 

 By Reginald Johnson

     Commentary

  The same people who arrogantly pushed for the disastrous Iraq War (1 million Iraqi dead, 6,000 American dead) are back on MSNBC and CNN to push for war with Russia.

 These neo-con hawks have been rehabilitated by the so-called liberal channels to peddle their lies. And they're using the same slimey, McCarthyite tactics to get an edge --- calling people who oppose US involvement in Ukraine as stooges of the Kremlin.

 Discredited warmongers like Bill Kristol and David Frum talk of the urgency of confronting the Russians militarily and slam people like Tucker Carlson of FOX as “apologists” for Vladimir Putin. To his credit, Carlson has had several shows raising questions about the Biden administration’s irrational Ukraine policy.

 But the neocons have no shame.

 It brings to mind attorney Joseph Welch's famous rebuke of Senator Joseph McCarthy who was leading the communist witchhunt in the 1950s. McCarthy was making a career out of calling people communist and ruining their lives.

 At a congressional hearing in 1954 where McCarthy was trying to impugn the patriotism of one of Welch’s young law firm partners, Welch turned and confronted the senator:

  "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"

 The fine writer Glenn Greenwald has written an excellent piece on the subject of the neocons, their tactics and their alliance with liberal media, called  “The Neocon’s Primary War Tactic: Branding Opponents of U.S. Intervention as Traitors.”  The article can be found on Substack and I highly recommend it.

 

Tulsi Gabbard calls out the warmongers

 

       By Reginald Johnson

   Tulsi Gabbard says it’s time for the American people to stand up to the military- industrial complex and reject the idea of war in Ukraine.

   “We will not be sheep, allowing these warmongers in Washington to lead us down this very, very dangerous and quite costly path,” she told Tucker Carlson on Fox News Channel a few days ago.

  Asked to comment by Carlson on the growing crisis in Ukraine, which could develop into a major war between Russia and the United States, the former congresswoman said that the problem in Washington is that Democrats, Republicans and others are “in the pocket of the military-industrial complex.”

  Rather than looking out for what’s in the best interest the American people, our national security or country, she said, “they see dollar signs when they look at Ukraine, they see how they can line their pockets, see how they can look tough and see how they can posture themselves in a position where they personally, politically or financially benefit.”

  Carlson, one of the only mainstream news commentators raising questions about US policy in Ukraine, has had several shows recently exploring the dangers of war with Russia. (The interview with Gabbard can be found at video.foxnews.com)

  President Joseph Biden, supported by members of both parties in Congress, has been threatening Russia with harsh economic sanctions should Russia invade Ukraine on behalf of pro-Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country. The insurgents have been fighting the pro-western, far right-wing government in Kiev for eight years, following a violent coup which ousted the pro-Russian government of Viktor Yankanovych. The putsch was engineered by the US, using the CIA and the National Endowment for Democracy.

 Biden administration officials have said it is critical to “protect the sovereignty of Ukraine” and “hold Russia accountable for any acts of aggression.”

 The US has poured $2.5 billion of military aid into Ukraine since 2014, and both US and NATO forces have been engaged in military exercises near Russia in recent months.

  The Russians have complained about this and statements by US officials that Ukraine might join NATO, an anti-Russian military alliance formed in 1949.

  US and Russian officials have been negotiating in recent weeks to try to de-escalate tensions and head off any possible military clash.

 Russian President Vladimir Putin said that any peace agreement must include a guarantee from the US that Ukraine will not be given NATO membership. Since 1990, NATO has moved eastward towards Russia, picking up all of the old Soviet-bloc countries.

  Carlson asked Gabbard if there was a chance that the people in charge of US policy “may talk themselves into getting us into war inadvertently.”

  “I’m deeply worried about that because that’s very much the direction we’re headed in,” replied Gabbard.

   “You know, Tucker, I look back to early 2017 when then President Trump said ‘Hey, it would be good if we got along with Russia.’ You remember the reaction to that --- everyone from Democratic leaders, Republican leaders, people in the mainstream media, they said ‘Absolutely no way!’ There were people in Trump’s own administration, warmongers like John Bolton, Nikki Haley, Mike Pompeo, outright rejected it and went on their own agenda and now we’re seeing the results of this, seeing the results of how we have continued to have these war mongers escalating tensions, putting us in this disastrous position today, leaving us, the American people with frankly the responsibility to stand up and say we will not accept this.”

 

 

US playing with fire in Ukraine

 

      By Reginald Johnson

      Commentary

   With Congress and the media egging him on,  President Joe Biden continues to pursue a reckless policy in Ukraine, increasing the chances of a catastrophic war with Russia.

       Following a virtual summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, Biden administration officials indicated that the US will continue to provide lethal and nonlethal aid to Ukraine which is fighting a civil war against Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country.

    The US has given over $400 million in aid to Ukraine this year. Overall, $2.5 billion in aid has been given to Ukraine since 2014 to aid the Ukrainian government in the fighting, which has left 9,000 people dead.

  The American policy of militarily aiding Ukraine, together with statements by the United States and other Western countries that Ukraine should become part of the NATO military alliance, as well as the military activity by the US and NATO near  Russia’s border,  has alarmed Russian officials who believe their nation’s security is being threatened.

  In recent weeks, there have been reports of Russian troops gathering near the border with Ukraine, and there’s been speculation Russia might invade.

  At the summit,  Biden warned Putin not to attack Ukraine as the Russians would pay a “terrible price” --- most likely harsh economic sanctions.  But National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said later that military aid would also continue as the US wanted to ensure Ukraine’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

  Clearly the Russians are on edge over Ukraine and this was made clear by Putin following the summit.

  “The threat to our Western border really grows. We have talked about it repeatedly,” said Putin.  “Just look at how close to Russian borders come NATO’s military infrastructure. We take it more than seriously.”

   The Russian leader added, “Speaking to the United States and its allies, we would insist on reaching certain agreements that prevent any expanding of the NATO to the east and deploying weapon systems threatening us close to Russia.”

The US is giving millions of dollars in arms to the Ukrainian military in their fight against pro-Russian separatists. More than 9,000 people have been killed in the conflict. (Istock photo)

  Unfortunately, except for a few notable exceptions, members of Congress in both parties have been expressing support for the Biden’s aggressive policy, denouncing so-called threatening moves by the Russians and demanding that the US stand tough against Putin.

   Two Republican senators, Roger Wicker of Mississippi and James Inhofe of Oklahoma, suggested that Biden consider not only sending US troops to Ukraine but also making clear to the Russians that a first-use nuclear strike by America is not out of the question.

   Many media outlets as well are demanding an aggressive American policy, with pundits condemning Russia for “aggression” and saying that the US must “hold Russia accountable” and protect Ukraine from a Russian takeover.

  Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen said Biden was trying to “appease” Putin and was “channeling Neville Chamberlain,” the British leader who gave in to Adolf Hitler when Germany began invading a number of countries in the 1930s.

  The whole debate over Ukraine has taken on a thoroughly irrational tone and people both in the media and in Congress are talking in a very irresponsible way.

  One person who is sounding the alarm about the danger of the Ukraine situation is former congresswoman and presidential candidate, Tulsi Gabbard.

   Gabbard, a Democrat from Hawaii and a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserve, told Tucker Carlson of Fox News after the summit that the neo-con interventionists who dragged the US into wars in the recent past are now driving Biden’s Ukraine policy.

   “The same neocons in Washington that dragged our country into regime change wars in places like Iraq, Libya and Syria, they are the same ones pushing us very quickly into this war with Russia and never stating what is their objective, what are we trying to accomplish here and how does this serve this country’s national security interest?  Not a single one of them is pointing this out,” she said.

    Gabbard also condemned the wild comments by Wicker and Inhofe.

  She said of Wicker, “Anyone who would propose or consider what he is saying as an option must be insane, a sociopath or a sadist. Because what he’s saying here is, let’s go and launch a nuclear attack and start a war that would destroy the American people, the country, the world and also the Ukrainians so that we can save Ukraine’s democracy? It is literally insane.”

  But Gabbard noted that “Sen. Wicker is not an outlier. He is the number two Republican on the Armed Services Committee and you’re hearing the same kind of rhetoric coming from Democrats and Republicans in Congress and in the administration.”

   Katrina vanden Heuvel, editorial director and publisher of The Nation magazine, said in an interview on “Democracy Now” that the “one-sided narrative” about Ukraine presented by the media is preventing the American people from knowing the full story.

   “We have a one-sided narrative in this country which is a problem because we haven’t followed the growing mass of NATO troops on Ukraine’s Russia border. This escalation is neither in the United States national interest nor security interest at a time when politics, a political solution and diplomatic solution is the only way forward.”

  Vanden Heuvel said it was important to remember the history of the region and acknowledge that Russia may have reason for being suspicious about Western intentions in Ukraine. She pointed out that a previous pledge made over 30 years ago by former Secretary of State James Baker to Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev after the reunification of Germany that NATO would not bring in countries from the old Soviet bloc, was violated.

   “James Baker promised NATO would not expand ‘1 inch eastward.’ That promise, which is documented in the National Security Archives and in Condi Rice’s book and other materials was violated. I think that is the original sin of what we witnessed today,” she said.

   After Baker’s pledge, NATO absorbed several of the old Iron Curtain countries as members including Poland, Romania and the Baltic nations. Now there is talk about Ukraine entering the alliance..

   “It is hard for Americans to understand that NATO expansion and what it means to Russia having a mass of NATO troops on the border,” she said.

   While there has been a constant flow of stories in the mainstream press reporting “Russian troops massing along the border” with Ukraine in preparation for a possible invasion, there has been almost no coverage of activity by NATO troops near the border nor of US warships entering the Black Sea, which borders Russia. The Russian Navy is based at Sevastopol on the Black Sea. Reports of US and NATO  activity were found only in the military press.

   Obviously, the NATO and US military activity is highly provocative. As Democracy Now co-host Juan Gonzalez noted, the US navy going into the Black Sea  “is tantamount to a Chinese or Russian military ship buildup in the Gulf of Mexico.”

    Vanden Heuvel commented that the “undereporting of US involvement is a missed service and a disservice to the American people because they are getting everyday --- I picked up the papers this morning --- it’s Russian aggression, Russian aggression. There is Russian aggression, but there is US complicity with drones and non-letal weapons.”

  Another key element to the Ukraine story that has not been covered --- in fact it’s been covered up --- is how did Ukraine wind up with a government hostile to Russia and pro-US?  The previous, democratically-elected government, headed by Victor Yanukovych and pro-Russia, was overthrown in a violent coup in 2014. The putsch was aided and abetted by the CIA and the US National Endowment for Democracy.

  The incoming regime, whose members included a number of neo-fascists, subsequently began taking military aid from the US to assist in its fight to quell the rebellion by ethnic Russians in Donbas.

 

   

     

Biden the best choice

 

   ELECTION VIEWPOINT

By Reginald Johnson

 

 I have to admit that I have my problems with the Democrats and Joe Biden.

 I don’t like the fact that the party has been weak in opposing future wars and reducing the military budget. In fact, many Democrats have been vigorous supporters of huge military budgets, which siphon away vital resources from domestic needs.

 I also don’t like the fact that party leaders embraced the phony “Russia-gate” narrative, which held incorrectly that  President Trump was some kind of Russian agent. All the talk about Russia collusion served to undermine the potential for a more peaceful relationship between the US and Russia. 

 Additionally, I’m not happy that the party failed to condemn the violence that engulfed American cities this past summer, violence which was provoked in considerable part by left-wing groups.

 Finally, I’m troubled by the recent allegations of possible corruption and ethical wrongdoing by Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. These certainly need investigation.

   Having said all that, I’m casting my vote for Joe Biden over Donald Trump in tomorrow’s presidential election. The choice is very clear --- based on a number of critical issues.

 First and foremost is climate change. This is clearly an existential threat and we have to marshal all our resources to fight it. That means the United States must get back into the Paris Climate Accords and the nation must change our energy use ---- moving to renewable sources and getting away from fossil fuels. That means implementing the Green New Deal. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for vice president, support going back to the Paris Accords and moving to green energy conversion, even if Biden has equivocated recently on the issue of fracking. They’re headed in the right direction.

 By contrast, Trump has rejected the Paris Accords and wholeheartedly supports the continuation of fossil fuel use. This kind of position is simply unacceptable, given the gravity of global warming and its consequences, which include ever worsening forest fires, deadly heat waves and ever more violent hurricanes.

  Second is health issues. President Trump has badly fumbled management of the Covid-19 pandemic and has consistently sent the wrong signal to the American people about how serious this crisis is. He has pooh-poohed the Covid threat and that has probably cost many lives. Biden would clearly set a better tone on handling this crisis and move to set up a comprehensive testing program. He would likely push Congress more vigorously to come up with a badly needed stimulus package to help the American people, and not just corporations.

  Relatedly, Biden and Harris would shore up and likely improve the Affordable Care Act program. “Obama-care” as it is known, clearly has deficiencies, but it is certainly better than what the nation had before, which was nothing. Trump has proposed to eliminate “Obama-care” altogether and come up with what he says will be a new and better plan. But he has offered no details on exactly what this would be. This situation again is unacceptable. While the ultimate goal should be for the nation to move to Medicare-for-all, retaining Obama-care for now is clearly the best option over doing nothing.

     Finally, I think Biden would try to heal some of the divisions that now the beset our country and be much better on the issue of race. Trump has all too often stoked racial divisions and been divisive with his rhetoric. Biden is not perfect either on the issue of race, but he’ll be a lot better than Trump.

   One important point to remember is that while Biden is not the most progressive person in the world, he will likely be pushed towards more progressive policies by people who will likely have serious power in Congress, including Sen. Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez.

 So, Biden-Harris is my choice tomorrow.

 And with that, I’m taking a break from writing for a while. 

 It’s off to the park to take a few fall walks and head back to the garden to harvest some late broccoli.

  Happy voting!

 

Reclaiming Armistice Day

    

By Reginald Johnson

                                         

 On Nov. 11, 1918 ---- 100 years ago ---- one of the most savage conflicts in history came to an end.

 Some 30 million people were killed in World War I, called at the time the “War to End All Wars.”  The conflict saw bitter trench warfare, hand-to-hand combat and the use of chemical weapons. Tens of thousands of young men were killed in a single day by machine gun fire or poison gas. Combatants who weren’t killed were often maimed for life, or, like my grandfather, left blind by gas.

  But an Armistice signed at 11 am on Nov. 11, finally brought an end to the horror.

People in the United States and Europe --- where the war was fought --- rejoiced that the four-year nightmare was over.  Peace was finally at hand.

    To observe the end to World War I, an “Armistice Day” was set up in 1920. Parades and public gatherings took place “celebrating the peace that came two years earlier while solemnly remembering those millions who perished during war,” writes Tarik Kauff, a member of Veterans for Peace and an editor for the organization’s newsletter.

   Six years later, Kauff said, Congress passed a resolution which said that the “recurring anniversary of November 11, 1918 should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace between nations.”

  In 1938, Armistice Day was made into a legal federal holiday, “dedicated to the cause of world peace.”

  Armistice Day was observed without interruption until 1954.  But in that year --- one year after the Korean War had ended and eight years after the end of World War II --- political leaders decided that the name of the observance should be changed to Veterans Day.  Under pressure from veterans service organizations, who said veterans from all wars should be honored,  a militaristic Congress and President Dwight Eisenhower approved the name change.

   In making the change, the spirit of the observance was altered from one of both honoring the sacrifice of veterans and building world peace to one of honoring veterans, emphasizing patriotism and implicitly endorsing the need for the wars that the US has fought in the past and ones that will be fought in the future.

  As Kauff wrote in his article “Reclaim Armistice Day” in a recent publication by the same name published by Veterans for Peace, the “powers that be thought it more fitting to honor the living veterans and glorify their sacrifice for country,” rather than stress the need for building world peace.

    And so it has gone over the years on every Veterans Day, which is being observed again today. Veterans who fought in America’s wars are hailed as heroes in thunderous speeches. There is no mention of the fact that some of these wars, such as Vietnam or Iraq, were clearly wrong and that huge numbers of innocent civilians, not to mention many Americans, needlessly perished. It is implied that whatever wars took place --- no matter how much bloodshed there was --- the conflicts were justified in the name of protecting American security. There is no talk about the need to avoid future wars and to build a better structure for peace.

   While it is not the intention of many of the participants, Veterans Day observances serve as a propaganda tool for the government to justify future wars.

  A number of veterans, particularly those associated with Veterans for Peace, are now speaking out about the need to emphasize peace and not just glorify the military and war.  Veterans for Peace in recent years has been actively pushing the idea of reclaiming Armistice Day and bringing back the original concepts behind the day when we honor the sacrifice of veterans.

   “Veterans, many of whom have seen the futility and inhumanity of war and militarism, do not want wars for empire and profit, nor do we need to be glorified, honored, or put on pedestals for killing or be prepared to kill,” writes Kauff, a former Army paratrooper.

  “What we veterans really need is for society to reclaim the spirit of Armistice Day and unite in the common desire of the human spirit for peace,” he said.

  The organization is trying to spread the word for bringing back Armistice Day on social media and contacting elected representatives. They have also urged churches, schools and community centers to ring bells eleven times on November 11 at 11 AM to remember the soldiers and civilians killed or injured by warfare.