By 1+1 hosted by Youri Smouter (sometimes Yuri), June 7, 2024
Hi everyone! welcome to another edition of 1+1 your place for inconvenient truthtelling and mythbusting. On this episode we return to the topic of NATO, what people need to know about the military alliance, why people should be opposed to the military alliance. My guests were our returning champion and frequent guest David Swanson of World Beyond War and new guest and first time on the program Meda Benjamin of Codepink a feminist/peace/anti-war/anti-imperialist organization well known for their disruptions at press conferences and congressional hearings of the American government and other professional crooks and liars and confrontations of various war criminals at large. and we take a deep dive into how NATO was used to suppressed not only communist movements but the broad left in Western Europe. How the alliance early on had three fascist members starting with Spain and Portugal and later Greece. How NATO hasn’t made Eastern Europe more democratic or prosperous, how NATO has been behind numerous color revolution and coup and supporting reactionary movements whether it was in Greece in the 1950s, Turkey (during the Cold War), or behind the break up of Yugoslavia and supporting forces that did egregious human rights abuses but the West only reports the half truths or crimes of its official enemy. We discuss how even though the US was attacked on 9/11 why NATO’s war on Afghanistan was illegal and how the Northern Alliance backed by NATO were a reactionary force equally misogynistic and abusive towards all people like the Taliban. Medea also makes the feminist case on why feminists should be opposed to NATO and how despite the arguments of femeonationalists and liberal Feminists making the case that Afghanistan was about freeing women from the patriarchal Taliban. David also makes the environmental case about how one can’t be an environmentalist or eco-socialist and support an institution like NATO and militarism. all of this and tons more on this edition of 1+1 with @worldbeyondwar World Beyond War’s David Swanson @davidcnswanson and Codepink’s @codepinkaction Meda Benjamin. and to keep up to date with events both organizations are doing, and for more on the topics discussed and how to support both organizations check out the following links. 1. https://worldbeyondwar.org/ and buy the brilliant clothing at WBW! and https://www.codepink.org/ the same with them! and get David and Medea’s book NATO: What you need to know available at wherever you get your books https://orbooks.com/catalog/nato-what… 2. Follow David’s work at https://davidswanson.org/ & https://www.youtube.com/@davidcnswans… and check out Talk World Radio his brilliant interview/current affairs/history program in audio form https://soundcloud.com/davidcnswanson . and get his books When the world outlawed War and Leaving World II Behind and any title that interests you. 3. Get Medea’s books like WAR IN UKRAINE: Making Sense of a Senseless War which she co-wrote with Nicolas Davies, Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic, Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind the US-Saudi Connection, and Drone Warfare: Killer by Remote Control which you can find anywhere you get your book or buy here https://orbooks.com/authors/b/medea-b… 4. for more on NATO and Eastern European affairs check out my interview with Belgian peace activist/anti-imperialist and journalist Ludo De Brabander of Vrede. be on NATO real role in the world and Belgium’s role in it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVpx2… and Tamara Lorincz of Canadian Voice of Women for Peace and Canadian Foreign Policy Institute speaks to me about NATO, makes the feminist case why to be opposed to it and war as an institution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iFZ4… and for 1+1’s episodes and other great content on Eastern European affairs check out this playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list… 5. Abby Martin making the case of why leftists should be opposed to NATO for Jacobin online/magazine – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfSS-… 6. Afghanistan watch the following all done by Abby Martin on Afghanistan – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3LFb… & her speaking with a former marine who talks about systemic war crimes – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-thYB… & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqwMT… & CIA Stories: Death squads in Afghanistan – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgFVq… & US Retreats From Afghanistan: Truth Behind The Empire’s Defeat – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlztT… & Never Forget: Lessons of the Post-9/11 Warpath – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKCVN…