WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, #80,

 

80.  WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, #80, June 29, 2022

Jacqueline Luqman.   “WHEN AMERICA NO LONGER EXPORTS CARNAGE AS A BUSINESS MODEL, MAYBE WE’LL STOP SEEING IT IN THE STREETS HERE.”  Black Agenda Report.

·       June 11, 2022.  Popular Resistance.org (6-12-22). 

• https://www.blackagendareport.com/when-america-no-longer-exports-carnage-business-model-maybe-well-stop-seeing-it-streets-here

·       Educate!

The Tears, Prayers, And Thoughts Regarding Mass Shootings Are Sincerely Expressed By Most People.

But hypocrisy and cynicism loom very large for Joe Biden and congress. They want us to believe that state violence is disconnected from violence carried out by individuals.

Speaking in the dimly lit Cross Hall in the White House, and flanked on either side by rows of candles and the soft lighting of the chandeliers and torchiere lamps above and behind him, Joe Biden conjured up his best human emotions to deliver an impassioned promise that he would do something about gun violence in this country.  “How much more carnage are we willing to accept?” Biden asked, demanding Republicans in particular end their blockade of gun control votes.

Here is Joseph Biden and the Congress he leads repeatedly approving hundreds of millions of dollars of weapons to be sent to Ukraine in a war that the US and their white supremacist international army NATO started with the sole purpose of provoking Russia.

The Biden Administration and everyone in Congress has approved military support to Ukraine repeatedly since February, seven times to be exact, on February 25, March 12, March 16, April 5, April 13, April 21, and April 24. The earlier military support packages averaged about $30 million a day and to be clear they did not include economic and humanitarian support and the costs of U.S. forces deployed to Europe to address the crisis. This current package increases the aid level to $135 million a day.

The defense contractors make millions from the US government ordering more weapons, and it does not matter to anyone in the defense industrial complex nor in Congress that many of the people who are receiving these weapons and other military aid are right-wing, neo-Nazi fanatics who just carried out an eight-year civil war against ethnic Russians in Donbas and Lugansk. In fact they KNOW who they are giving weapons to, and they continue to do it while telling you and me that it is PUTIN who needs to be stopped.

So who does Biden think he’s fooling standing behind a podium feigning outrage and invoking God in wondering when will the carnage on our streets end, when he is pouring carnage onto the streets of Ukraine to the tune of $135 million a day.

When the US stops enabling the carnage all over the world as a business model, maybe then we’ll stop seeing the blowback on our streets.

 

ACTIONS FROM VETERANS FOR PEACE, Weekly E-News, June 9, 2022

Cancel RIMPAC The Pacific Peace Network and its allied organizations call for the cancellation of the dangerous, provocative and destructive international Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) naval war practice and for increased citizen pressure for a demilitarized Pan-Pacific Zone of Peace. RIMPAC naval war practice, the largest naval war maneuvers in the world, will take place off Hawai’i and the West Coast of the U.S. from June 29 to August 4, 2022. At RIMPAC 2022, over 25,000 military personnel, 38 ships, 170 aircraft, 4 submarines from 26 countries will practice war simulations engaging "enemy forces." Sign the Petition!   Memorial Day 2022 Recap Given the most recent news on yet another school shooting, this year Memorial Day seemed even more poignant. As veterans we know the legacy and culture of violence U.S. militarism wreaks on our society.  Peace at home, Peace Abroad is more than a slogan, but rather a commitment to tirelessly work against the violence in our society that holds weapons of war in higher priority than the safety of our children and children around the globe.   Visit our 2022 Memorial Day recap page where you will find images and reports of VFP members and chapters taking action to remember ALL victims of war. View our Memorial Day 2022 photo album here.

Don’t Nuke the Pacific! July 2, 2022 (Sat), 5pm(EDT), 2pm(PDT) Japan has plans to release 1.28 million metric tons of radioactive water from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean starting in 2023 and continuing for more than 30 years. TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) claims the water is clean, though Tritium remains, as it is processed by ALPS (The Advanced Liquid Processing System). It has 25 Exhaust filters to prevent leakage of radioactive materials, but all filters were found to be broken in 2019. Again in 2021, 24 of 25 filters were found to be broken. Can you trust them? Register here!     New Nuclear Arms Race at VFP's No Nukes meeting Friday, June 10, at 6 pm Eastern, 3 pm Pacific. Lawrence S. Wittner, an award-winning American historian, writer and activist for peace and social justice, will be the guest speaker of the Veterans For Peace Nuclear Abolition Working Group this Friday, June 10, at 6 pm Eastern, 3 pm Pacific. Wittner, a Professor of History Emeritus at Albany State University of New York, speaks regularly about our nuclear dilemma, and recently addressed Maryland Peace Action on “The New Nuclear Arms Race and How to End It.”   There will be a short period for Q and A after his talk.  All are welcome to attend. Zoom link (Is also posted on the VFP website calendar)

 

OMNI: CLIMATE MEMO MONDAYS, #81, JUNE 27, 2022

 

81.  CLIMATE MEMO MONDAYS, #81, JUNE 27, 2022
Daurelle and Carliner.  “You Can’t ‘Green’ the Military.”
Vijay Prashad.  The US Mainly and Other Developed Countries Spend Money on  Weapons Despite Planetary Catastrophe.
Kripa Jayaram, Chris Kay, and Dan Murtaugh.  China Significantly Reduces Air Pollution.
Cranky Uncle Critical Thinking Case Studies

 

“You Can’t 'Green' The Military.”

By B.C. Daurelle and Sam Carliner, Left Voice. Popular Resistance.org (6-24-22).  In 2021, the U.S. Department of Defense issued its Climate Adaptation Plan, which has been lauded by corporate media as a supposedly serious mobilization against climate change. More recently, the U.S. Army has followed suit with its own Climate Strategy. More and more frequently, Democratic politicians are learning to frame the eternal imperative of an eternally expanding military budget in the language of “greening” the military. Similar language is used by Pentagon higher-ups, and even more frequently by those from the “industry” side of the military-industrial complex.  -more-

 

Vijay Prashad.  “With Clenched Fists, They Spend Money on Weapons as the Planet Burns.”  Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research.
Two important reports were released last month, neither getting the kind of attention they deserve.   
At COP26, the developed countries pledged to spend a modest $100 billion for the Adaptation Fund to assist developing countries adapt to climate change.   On 4 April, 2022, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Working Group III report was published, evoking a strong reaction from the United Nations’ Secretary General António Guterres. The report, he said, ‘is a litany of broken climate promises. It is a file of shame, cataloguing the empty pledges that put us firmly on track towards an unlivable world’.
Meanwhile, on 25 April, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) issued its annual report, finding that the world military spending surpassed $2 trillion in 2021, the first time it has exceeded the $2 trillion mark. The five largest spenders – the United States, China, India, the United Kingdom, and Russia – accounted for 62 percent of this amount; the United States, by itself, accounts for 40 percent of total arms expenditure.

There is an endless flow of money for weapons but less than a pittance to avert planetary disaster.  MORE  https://popularresistance.org/with-clenched-fists-they-spend-money-on-weapons-as-the-planet-burns/   

 

 Kripa Jayaram, Chris Kay, and Dan Murtaugh.  “China Reduced Air Pollution in 7 Years as Much as US Did in Three Decades.”

June 13, 2022.

China has reduced air pollution nearly as much in seven years as the US did in three decades, helping to bring down average global smog levels in the process.The amount of harmful particulates in the air in China fell 40% from 2013 to 2020, according to the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute, which would add about two years to average life expectancy if sustained. While smog in large swathes of the country still significantly exceeds safe levels, its experience shows how quickly progress can be made, researchers including Professor Michael Greenstone said in a report published Tuesday….continued.  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-14/china-s-clean-air-campaign-is-bringing-down-global-pollution#xj4y7vzkg

 

Cranky Uncle Critical Thinking Case Studies.

We've just had a new paper approved at the journal Environmental Education Research who will soon be publishing a special edition on humor in environmental education. Our paper is titled "The Cranky Uncle game—Combining humor and gamification to build student resilience against climate misinformation". It's a case study paper describing three fascinating examples of using the Cranky Uncle game to educate and build critical thinking.
You can read a sneak preview of the pre-press version here.

     

 

79. WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS

 

79.  WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, June 22, 2022

Rick Steves.  Fascism in Europe Film and Travel as a Political Act Book.
David Swanson (World Beyond War).  US Participation in WWII not justifiable. 
The Mapping Project. U.S. Imperialism since World War 2.
Kate Hudson.   “Nine World Leaders Hold Trigger to Nuclear War.”

Rick Steves.  Fascism in Europe.  The well-known tourism film-maker deliberately created this film to warn his viewers in the West of authoritarianism, of the atrocious consequences of Mussolini’s Fascism and Hitler’s Nazism, of cults of leaders-- the Duce, the Führer--, and their imperial nationalism.  Mussolini’s motto was “believe, obey, fight” for leader and state.  To oppose or disobey Hitler meant imprisonment, torture, death.   To accompany the film, Steves wrote a book, Travel as a Political Act.  Steves argues that these totalitarians arose out of ignorance, anti-intellectualism, and fear.  Thus he seeks in his films and book to prevent their recurrence via knowledge, understanding, and empathy of other nations and cultures.  All of his travel films, we can hope, no matter how indirectly, influence for peace.   See J. William Fulbright’s books and Exchange Program.—D

 

Understanding the Second World War to Make Sure It's the Last

World BEYOND War	Jun 9, 2022,
From June 20 - July 31, World BEYOND War will be teaching an online course on the accurate history of, and debunking myths about, the Second World War -- with an eye to preventing a (very different) third and final one. The course is not live or set on any time schedule. The videos, graphics, text, interactive online forums, discussions, and exchanges with the facilitators are all on your schedule at whatever times of day or night you find most convenient. The incredible lineup of facilitators, and all the details, including how to reserve your spot, are at this link. Everyone registered for the course will receive PDF, ePub, and/or mobi (kindle) versions of David Swanson's book Leaving World War II Behind, which will provide additional reading to those who want to go beyond the written, video, and graphic materials provided in the course. This book documents the case that World War II happened in such a different world that it has little relevance to today’s foreign policy, as well as the case that U.S. participation in WWII was not justifiable. Specifically, WWII was not fought to rescue anyone from persecution, was not necessary for defense, was the most damaging and destructive event yet to occur, and would not have happened had any one of these factors been missing: World War I, the manner in which WWI was ended, U.S. funding and arming of Nazis, a U.S. arms race with Japan, U.S. development of racial segregation, U.S. development of eugenics, U.S. development of genocide and ethnic cleansing, or the U.S. and British prioritization of opposing the Soviet Union at all costs. The author corrects numerous misconceptions about the most popular and misunderstood war in western culture, in order to build a case for moving to a world beyond war. “Mapping U.S. Imperialism.” The Mapping Project.  Mronline.org (6-7-22).   Click on title for map. This article deals with U.S. imperialism since World War 2. It is critical to acknowledge that U.S. imperialism emanates both ideologically and materially from the crime of colonialism on this continent which has killed over 100 million indigenous people and approximately 150 million African people over the past 500 years. By The Mapping Project (Posted Jun 06, 2022) Empire, Globalization, Imperialism, StrategyAmericas, Global, United StatesCommentary, Monthly Review EssaysFeatured.   The United States Military is arguably the largest force of ecological devastation the world has ever known.  –Xoài Pham U.S. imperialism is the greatest threat to life on the planet, a force of ecological devastation and disaster impacting not only human beings, but also our non-human relatives. How can we organize to dismantle the vast and complicated network of U.S. imperialism which includes U.S. war and militarism, CIA intervention, U.S. weapons/technology/surveillance corporations, political and economic support for dictatorships, military juntas, death squads and U.S. trained global police forces favorable to U.S. geopolitical interests, U.S. imposed sanctions, so-called “humanitarian interventions,” genetically modified grassroots organizations, corporate media’s manipulation of spontaneous protest, and U.S. corporate sponsorship of political repression and regime change favorable to U.S. corporate interests?  MORE https://mronline.org/2022/06/06/mapping-u-s-imperialism/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mapping-u-s-imperialism&mc_cid=7d0e4a8c6f&mc_eid=ab2f7bf95e

Nine World leaders hold trigger to nuclear war

Editor.  Mronline.org (6-20-22). 

Kate Hudson.   “Nine World leaders hold trigger to nuclear war.”
Originally published: Big News Network,  June 14, 2022  (more by Big News Network) (Posted Jun 17, 2022).  Produced by the Morning Star and Globetrotter.
  WarGlobalNewswireInternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Nuclear War, Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW)

As our world spirals toward the catastrophe of nuclear war, there has never been a greater need for a new global balancing, a rejection of great power, war, exploitation, and aggression. MORE click on title.

Climate Memo Mondays, #80,

 

80. Climate Memo Mondays, #80, June 20, 2022

IPCC Latest Report
Earth Overshoot Tools
Oligarchy

 

LATEST IPCC CALL TO ACTION

Recently published in Monthly Review…

June 2022 (Volume 74, Number 2)

The Editors, Monthly Review (June 3, 2022)

Time is running out for the world to carry out the social transformations necessary to avert irreversible climate catastrophe, keeping the increase in global average temperatures below 1.5°C (or below 2°C). The most optimistic scenario currently provided by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) describes a pathway in which the increase in temperature will not rise to 1.5°C until 2040, peaking at 1.6°C, and then falling back to 1.4°C by the end of this century. But to achieve this will require revolutionary scale transformational change in global social relations affecting the human relation to the climate and the planetary environment as a whole. | more…

Earth Overshoot tools: Climate Denial, Inflatable Crowded Planet, 8 Billion
    Angels Film, MVP Sustainability Map 

EAR EARTH OVERSHOOT Ever meet someone who still believes that the weather changes around us are all natural? Someone who “poo poos” the idea that humans are changing the same environment on which they depend?  Earth Overshoot volunteer Amy Tschudin suggests climate denial is not limited to extremists and actually has a seat closer to home than you'd think.      READ HERE

EO's giant inflatable "Crowded Planet" attracted crowds, young and old, including these boy scouts from Virginia, at its debut near the Washington Mall on Earth Day weekend.

With Earth Day in our rearview mirror, we are turning our attention to a series of exciting events in our future:  PBS Distribution of our documentary, 8 BILLION ANGELS; Educator workshops and screenings at the National Science Teachers Association National Conference; A public awareness and engagement campaign featuring EO's new "Crowded Planet" inflatable  We can't do anything without your support.  Every penny of your donation goes directly to Earth Overshoot programs. Thank you!

The MVP Sustainability Map brings data from authoritative sources including the UN, World Bank, IUCN Red List, and Global Footprint Network, together with editorial and evaluation by Earth Overshoot staff, and a selection of more than 570 photographs to illustrate aspects of each country. Thank you John!

 

A Planet Ruled by Oligarchs, Plutocrats: Why the Economic System That Enabled Them to Create the Calamity Will Not Change Itself
     “If the tendency of capitalism to respond to a crisis with more capitalism gives the system its disastrous momentum, it also provides the capitalists themselves with insulation from the consequences of their actions.  The intensified commodification resulting from each fresh calamity creates opportunities for those with disposable wealth to ensure that they and their loved ones remain more or less unaffected.  The planet might be growing unbearably hot, but if you have the money, you can still live in air-conditioned comfort in a pleasant location.  In the midst of mass extinctions, luxury eco-resorts and private zoos allow the well-to-do to gaze on tigers and orangutans and elephants.
     That’s why, even a looming apocalypse will not, in and of itself, motivate a change of course.”
     Millionaire plutocrats are already acquiring bunkers in South Island, New Zealand.  Billionaire oligarchs are building interplanetary escape-- Space X for Mars by Elon Musk, Blue Origin for the moon by Jeff Bezos.
     “Billionaire survivalism is better understood as the extreme extension of the more prosaic methods by which the wealthy and privileged evade    the crises that everyone else must endure.  Most capitalists won’t blast off to Mars. They will, however, flee from the most polluted zones to maintain privileged lives while the destruction they oversee runs its course.”     
Crimes Against Nature: Capitalism and Global Heating by Jeff Sparrow, pp. 118-120.