Peace and War

By David Swanson, teleSUR

The World may be shocked to learn United States government has an Institute of Peace; Orwell would not have been.

Gallup polling finds that much of the world believes the U.S. government to be the greatest threat to peace on earth. It comes as a surprise to many that the U.S. government maintains and funds something called the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) read more

Initial thoughts on being asked by a journalist just now:

Moldova sits between Ukraine, where the US has helped engineer a coup, and Romania where NATO intends to open new headquarters and engage in new war games. At last year’s NATO meeting in Wales a proposal was made to bring Moldova more closely into NATO operations, since which time Moldova has contributed troops to NATO operations in Kosovo, which of course allows NATO greater access to Moldova, despite its wise Constitutional commitment read more

We done somethin’ we both know it
We don’t talk too much about it
Yeah it ain’t no real big secret all the same
Somehow we get around it
Iraq wasn’t really hiding WMD baby
We believed what we want to believe
You see the wars are what make all the refugees
… the wars are what make all the refugees

Somewhere, somehow somebody
Liberated you from your home
Now you’re on the move to survive
Far from the graves of your loved ones
Libya’s hell since read more

This happened some 63 years ago, but as the U.S. government has never stopped lying about it, and it’s generally known only outside the United States, I’m going to treat it as news.

Here in our little U.S. bubble we’ve heard of a couple versions of a film called The Manchurian Candidate. We’ve heard of the general concept of “brainwashing” and may even associate it with something evil that the Chinese supposedly did to U.S. prisoners during the Korean read more

The United States and its European allies have launched wars on the Middle East that have created an enormous refugee crisis. The same nations are threatening Russia. The question of maintaining peace with Iran is on the tip of everyone’s tongue. Even in Asia and the Pacific, not to mention Africa, the biggest military buildup is by the United States.

So why does Japan, of all places, have streets full of antiwar demonstrations for the first time since the U.S. war on Vietnam? I don’t read more

Well, here’s definitive proof that a large organization can have a mind: NATO has clearly lost one.

NATO was supposed to “defend” Europe against the Soviet Union.  A whole lot of people believed that, at least until the Soviet Union ended.

Then NATO was supposed to “defend” Europe against Iran. I think about 8 people believed that, not counting U.S. senators. But then Iran made a deal for the toughest inspections of its non-existent nuclear weapons program in the read more

Better late than never, Senator Warner has arrived at what he claims was the difficult decision to accept the Iran deal rather than the alternative of a heightened push for more hostility or war. Somehow the decision became easier for the senator after the votes had already been found to decide the matter. Now we’re supposed to react as if his successful achievement of irrelevance offends neither constituents who oppose war nor funders who desire it. I’d have more respect for someone read more

By the latest count, the nuclear agreement with Iran has enough support in the U.S. Senate to survive. This, even more than stopping the missile strikes on Syria in 2013, may be as close as we come to public recognition of the prevention of a war (something that happens quite a bit but generally goes unrecognized and for which there are no national holidays). Here, for what they’re worth, are 10 teachings for this teachable moment.

1. There is never an urgent need for war. Wars are often begun

Now that General David Petraeus wants to arm and train al Qaeda killers, a number of questions arise that might be raised with the great leader:

1. Should people who said that anyone was a traitor who called you David Betray-Us while you were fighting al Qaeda, now call you David Betray-Us or a traitor?

2. Do you imagine that just because you can share all sorts of secrets with your girlfriend and get off easy, there are no hardcore nut cases who believe in the “material support for terrorism” read more

The U.S. Institute of Peace has a great name, our tax dollars, and a terrible record. Let’s move it in a better direction.

If you’ve never heard of the U.S. Institute of Peace, please keep reading. It works everyday with your money in a fancy new building next to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. It just doesn’t work for peace.

If you know the USIP’s record and consider it a lost cause, please keep reading. This institute can be made to do some good. A number of us will be meeting read more

This headline in the Guardian is completely accurate: West Point professor calls on US military to target legal critics of war on terror.

But it hardly covers to content of the 95-page paper being reported on: see the PDF.

The author makes clear that his motivation is hatred of Islam. He includes the false myth of origins of Western Asian violence toward the United States lying in antiquity rather than in blowback. He includes the lie, now popular on all sides, of Iran pursuing nuclear weapons.

He read more

Airing on PBS on September 12 will be an interview I watched taped at the Miller Center at the University of Virginia on August 28 with Wendy Sherman, the U.S. Under Secretary of State who played the key role in negotiating the Iran agreement.

The Miller Center has cut public questions and answers out of the portion of its events that are broadcast, so what will air will only include questions from the host, Doug Blackmon, but he asked I think most of the questions, some reasonable, some absurd, read more

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