Author name: davidswanson

From Friday Night Talk February 24, 2023 at archive.kmudfm.org

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, February 26, 2023

David Swanson is the author of the new book The Monroe Doctrine at 200 and What to Replace It With.

A major step could be taken by the U.S. government through the simple abolition of one little rhetorical practice: hypocrisy. You want to be part of a “rules-based order”? Then join one! There is one out there waiting for you, and Latin America is leading it.

Of the United Nations’ 18 major human rights treaties, the United States is party read more

There’s a bill in Congress, as there always is, called The People Over Pentagon Act, which would reduce military spending by $100 billion. Who the heck isn’t for that?! Everybody who’s got any sense has endorsed the thing, as they always do. Who wouldn’t? I don’t blame anybody in the least. Except the bill’s sponsors in Congress. I blame them. And not just because they want to cut $100 billion from whatever the military budget may be, while that budget has risen read more

Talked train wrecks and war wrecks with @SantitaJ at 50:21 in this:

Johnson!

Yes, Sir?

What is your hesitation regarding this deployment?

I have 3,623 hesitations, Sir!

You have what?

I surveyed the troops, Sir.

And?

And that’s how many of them are racist, or prejudiced toward the LGBT community, and I do not believe I would feel comfortable deploying with them. I believe it would, in fact, harm the cause of war to share a deployment with them, Sir!

You wouldn’t feel fucking comfortable, Johnson? If we bring you a goddamned teddy bear would that help? Peters, read more

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, February 22, 2023

It’s quite a high hurdle to appeal to a country that’s been militarily invaded — after decades of military defense (and offense) preparations and the accompanying cultural indoctrination in the supposed necessity of military defense — to appeal to said country to construct on-the-fly an unarmed civilian defense plan and act on it despite near-universal lack of training or even comprehension.

We’re finding it to be a high hurdle just read more

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, February 20, 2023

David Swanson is the author of the new book The Monroe Doctrine at 200 and What to Replace It With.

History seems to show some partial benefit to Latin America in moments when the United States was otherwise distracted, as by its Civil War and other wars. This is a moment right now in which the U.S. government is at least somewhat distracted by Ukraine and willing to purchase Venezuelan oil if it believes that contributes to hurting Russia. And read more

By David Swanson, Remarks on Feb. 19th at Lincoln Memorial as part of https://rageagainstwar.com , Washington D.C., February 20, 2023

I want to say THANK YOU to everyone here today and especially to those of you who have been here to oppose every war or who are now committed to opposing every war. This Lincoln Memorial glorifies a war of long ago, and it really doesn’t matter what our various opinions are on the wisdom of the U.S. having used war, unlike much of the rest of the world, as read more

Cop City, na na na na na, Cop City
Na na na na na…

We’re sisters and brothers
United and strong
We’re here to talk about copaganda
We don’t like what’s going on

It’s time for some justice
It’s time for the truth
We’ve realized there’s
Only one thing we can do

You got to say we, we, we,
We’re gonna Stop Cop City
read more

I discussed Rage Against War on Santita Jackson Show at 1:13:32 in this video

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, February 12, 2023

David Swanson is the author of the new book The Monroe Doctrine at 200 and What to Replace It With.

With the opening of the 20th century, the United States fought fewer battles in North America, but more in South and Central America. The mythical idea that a larger military prevents wars, rather than instigates them, often looks back to Theodore Roosevelt claiming that the United States would speak softly but carry a big stick — something that read more

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, February 12, 2023

I drafted the following as testimony to the Maryland General Assembly in support of bill HB0220

A U.S. polling company called Zogby Research Services was able to poll U.S. troops in Iraq in 2006, and found that 72 percent of those polled wanted the war to be ended in 2006. For those in the Army, 70 percent wanted that 2006 ending date, but in the Marines only 58 percent did. In the reserves and National Guard, however, the numbers were 89 and read more

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, February 12, 2023

When I tell some people that the inhabitants of certain mountains in Montenegro are trying to protect their home from being turned into a giant military training ground by NATO, they inform me that the training ground (which, up until that monent, they’d never heard of) in Montenegro (which they’d never heard of) is absolutely required because of Putin.

Needless to say, I think that Putin (and every living U.S. president, and quite a number read more

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