Squawks Of A Dying Empire

I'm going to make reference to a racist text that deeply influenced my youthful thinking about societies and how they die. Gone With the Wind was around my house and I probably read it when I was 10 or so, seeing the movie only years later. Did I notice that the Black characters only existed to be servants to the white protagonists, for instance, protecting them from the "bad" i.e. not servile Black people? No, I did not. Nowadays, it would be impossible not to notice that aspect of this story published in the 1930's.

My takeaway from GWTW was something different: the deep denial of citizens of an empire in decline. Confederate adherence to their cause led to blindness and hubris; they still believed they were winning long after they were sure to lose. And the failure to adapt meant literal starvation for many. I'm sure I discussed the book with my parents and they no doubt encouraged me to see the heroine as someone who was able to look reality in the face, adapt, and survive. My mother called the people who failed to adapt dinosaurs. 

Possibly my parents sensed that they were preparing me for a future they could but dimly imagine. Which brings us to today.

I can think of no more iconic artifact of the rise of Asia and the fall of the U.S. and Europe as world influencers than this brief exchange between Singaporean Shou Zi Chew, CEO of TikTok, and Richard Hudson, a congressman from North Carolina.

Link to video if embedded version doesn't work for you: https://youtu.be/IhvEU-6bnrM

Congressman Hudson and the other members of the subcommittee contemplating a ban on TikTok clearly think they are playing hardball with China. Here's another gem making the rounds under the title, "I'm Singaporean."

Link to video if embedded version doesn't work for you: https://youtu.be/AvsIogVNs7w

Youthful comics have had a field day making fun of the hearing, while tech commentators have written about how a Congress concerned with egregious data mining should be focusing on all social media platforms, and maybe even on passing laws to protect data privacy such as other countries have. 

Meanwhile, and irrespective of this nonsense, China brokered the resumption of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia and possibly an end to proxy war in Syria. China also proposed a peace plan to end the proxy war in Ukraine.

China announced it will launch 13,000 low earth orbit satellites this summer to reserve space in that critical communications field. (Satellites are used by U.S./NATO to target Russian-ethic regions in eastern Ukraine and Russian military forces.)

China, Russia, and India are the C, R, and I in BRICS, the economic powerhouse that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Algeria, Argentina, Mexico, and Nigeria now want to join. Negotiations to use a currency other than the dollar to settle energy purchases between nations are well underway, with some saying it will occur as soon as August.

The United Nations Security Council, never quite the independent international body it was claimed to be when given a home in New York City, held a vote on Russia's resolution to investigate the Nord Stream bombing. The UN's press department reported:

By a vote of 3 in favour (Brazil, China, Russian Federation) to none against, with 12 abstentions, the Council rejected the draft resolution, owing to a lack of sufficient votes in favour.

ChinaDaily.com reported:

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning questioned on Tuesday why the US is hesitant about investigating an incident that seriously threatens international peace and security, when it is so enthusiastic about conducting so-called investigations on developing countries. 

"It is playing double standards. What is the US afraid of? We expect early progress from relevant investigations so that the world knows what truly happened to hold those responsible accountable," she said at a news conference in Beijing.

The U.S. empire is in for a rude awakening but it seems to be dreaming of its glory days as it barrels full speed ahead toward a world war it cannot win. That's why I fear that the dinosaurs will unleash their nuclear weapons when they finally realize their days are numbered.

If Ukraine Uses Depleted Uranium, Then It's Already A Nuclear War

Source: Medical Association for Prevention of War presentation on Depleted Uranium, 2006

My late friend Cecile Pineda wrote a powerful book arguing that nuclear war was already with us. 

As I wrote in my eulogy for Cecile, Devil's Tango: How I Learned the Fukushima Step by Step (Wings Press, 2013) argued a thesis that acted as a tsunami demolishing my lifelong dread of nuclear war. It's not that I don't still dread it (and notice it creeping closer with each passing day), it's that I followed Cecile's carefully reasoned argument that nuclear holocaust is already here. Constant pollution from radiation leaks, accidents, and deliberate use of ordnance composed with depleted uranium already have global cancer rates and birth defects skyrocketing. Continuing to build nuclear weapon systems without any meaningful plans for containing the waste is collective suicide. 

On March 22, China and Russia issued a joint statement of their intention to avoid the use of nuclear weapons.

Within days, Great Britain announced it will ship DU ammunition to Ukraine for use in the proxy war against Russia. Meanwhile, research physicist Chris Busby published data showing elevated levels of uranium in the atmosphere over the British isles. That's a fact, and his hypothesis about causation is that DU is already present in munitions used by Ukraine.

The British government's announcement has had several consequences.

☢️ Some commenters wondered if the plan to irradiate Ukraine's prime agricultural land would sit well with big corporate players like Monsanto that have been buying up real estate there.

☢️ Russia announced it plans to move nuclear weapons into Belarus this summer. (Naturally the U.S. and NATO nations are crying foul without acknowledging that they already have nuclear weapons in position in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Türkiye if not Poland, too.)

☢️ More attention was paid to data on the long term effects in Serbia of being bombed with DU munitions by NATO during the Clinton administration e.g. "5,500 out of every 100,000 Serbs suffer from some kind of carcinoma, a rate nearly three times the global average."

☢️ Same for data on the use of DU by the U.S. and NATO in Iraq, especially concentrated in the area of Fallujah. Clusters of birth defects occurred early there attributed to DU, and these persist. 

The Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) condemned the UK decision to send depleted uranium shells to Ukraine and elaborated thus:

A byproduct of the nuclear enriching process used to make nuclear fuel or nuclear weapons, DU emits three quarters of the radioactivity of natural uranium and shares many of its risks and dangers. It is used in armour piercing rounds as it is heavy and can easily penetrate steel. However on impact, toxic or radioactive dust can be released and subsequently inhaled. 

DU shells were used extensively by the US and British in Iraq in 1991 and 2003, as well as in the Balkans during the 1990s.

It is thought that the extensive use of these shells is responsible for the sharp rise in the incidence rate of some cancers like breast cancer or lymphoma in the areas they were used. Other illnesses linked to DU include kidney failure, nervous system disorders, lung disease and reproductive problems. However, a lack of reliable data on exposure to DU means no large-scale study on its true impact exists. 

DU sidesteps frying its targets to a crisp. In other words, the thermo part of thermonuclear is absent. And that is a good thing.

My friend Fang used to protest during the Iraq war using a sign that said D.U. = war crime. I used to tease him about what passing motorists made of his message, guessing that they read D.U. as the Homer Simpson exclamation, "Duh!"

Maybe I was underestimating how informed the general public is, but after watching highlights of the congressional hearings about Tik Tok this week I don't think so. 

To end this grim post on a lightly humorous note (and the promise to do another geography quiz post soon):

Crenshaw: [Chinese citizens] must cooperate with Chinese intelligence whenever they are called upon, and if they are called upon they're bound to secrecy. That would include you.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew: I'm Singaporean. pic.twitter.com/YXICSoIY4c

— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) March 24, 2023

Link to tweet if embedded video does not work for you: https://twitter.com/caitoz/status/1639087482380910594

Pro-War Propaganda Loves Claiming Harm To Children

Recently the International Criminal Court (ICC) indicted Russian officials including President Putin for allegedly kidnapping and interning thousands of Ukrainian children. 

The U.S. has not signed on to the ICC (nor have Russia or Ukraine) and in fact at one point the U.S. threatened to arrest and sanction ICC judges if anyone in the U.S. were to be indicted for war crimes in Afghanistan. Nonetheless, the corporate media that serve as stenographers to the government have widely promoted the ICC news and President Biden used it as a pretext for further vilifying Putin.

Eva Bartlett, a Canadian journalist who covers the war in Ukraine from on site, interviewed a refugee mom in Russia about the alleged kidnappings. The woman shared that her own mother-in-law had heard such claims circulating in Ukraine (where the older parent remained) and was alarmed about her grandchildren's safety. The kids' mom reassured grandma that they were fine and allowed to move freely in and out of the refugee camp where they're staying now.

Western MSM claim that Russia “forcibly deported”up to 1.6 million Ukrainians.

In Anapa, Russia, I met refugees from the Kherson region who refuted Western media's claims that Russia had "kidnapped" them.

They said Ukrainian shelling was the reason for seeking safety in Russia. pic.twitter.com/dqKxu7ToX3

— Eva Karene Bartlett (@EvaKBartlett) December 26, 2022

Link to tweet with video if embedded version doesn't work for you: https://twitter.com/EvaKBartlett/status/1607465857386414081

War propaganda often spreads claims of harm to children by evildoers on the other side. Claims of kidnapping, atrocities, or babies thrown out of incubators are bread and butter propaganda tropes that warmakers never tire of using. Because inflaming emotions with assertions about alleged harm to kids work on an audience driven by sentimental thinking but lacking a clear analysis of facts on the ground.

One of the reasons I have little interest in examining war atrocities reported on either side in the Ukraine war is that I know 1) truth as seen through the fog of war is murky at best; and 2) all armies commit atrocities against civilians in warfare. Just ask the villagers who survived the U.S. Army's My Lai massacre.

Let's talk about another real harm to children: recruiting them to fight in wars for conquest.

AOC, a Democrat who represents some of the low income youth of color who reside in the Bronx, is advertising her desire to "be of service" by connecting them with military recruiters.

One of the best essays I've read about this was featured in the military publication Stars & Stripes, "The First Casualty Of War Is Truth: Iraq 20 Years Later" by retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel Joe Plenzler. An excerpt:

a former U.S. Central Command commander, recently retired,.. at a closed door meeting in a large, empty conference room with the [1st Marine] division's officers..shocked many of us when he said, "Marines, there is no ongoing WMD program in Iraq, but you are going to war anyway."

He paused, and with an exasperated look on his face, said gravely, "The administration is cooking the books on the intel about WMD in Iraq." 

This was a leader who had been in charge of all U.S. military activities in the region for more than three years and had the highest of security clearances.

He let that thought hang for a moment -- that the administration was cooking the books -- and then continued, "But if you don't go through the Iraqi Army like a hot knife through butter, I'll disown every one of you."

So who's really guilty of harming children -- those who throw them gleefully into the gears of the imperial war machine, or those who escort them and their parents out of war zones? 

My friend Pat Taub who lives in Maine wrote to me this morning, "the local NPR station announced for a future series on the military they were soliciting stories from locals re: their military service.  I had fantasies of the Pentagon sending out a directive to all NPR stations to broadcast these stories.”

I suspect the mechanism is more likely one of the many new narrative management agencies  that Matt Taibbi has been reporting on, but the end result is the same.

Let's hope the ICC considers who has been shelling civilians in the Donbas since 2014 (that would be the government of Ukraine) as they examine the inflammatory claim of wartime kidnapping. 

Then they might move on to indicting someone for half a million Iraqi children dying as the result of sanctions. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, heard here, is dead now, but plenty of the neocons responsible are free, and none have been held responsible for this war crime of mammoth proportions.

Link to video if embedded version doesn't work for you: https://youtu.be/RM0uvgHKZe8

Or the ICC could still indict someone for "Operation Babylift" in which 3,000+ Vietnamese children were flown to the U.S. and put up for adoption. 

Vietnamese babies on a flight from Saigon to the U.S. during the mass evacuation of children at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Photo credit: Jean-Claude FRANCOLON/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

Now that we've emerged from the fog of those wars, what's stopping the ICC from seeking justice? Unless they're just a NATO political tribunal as some people claim.

No To Nuclear War With China And Russia Say Mainers

 

Westbrook, Maine March 18, 2023 Photo credit: Mary Beth Sullivan

Report back from yesterday's March 18 peace action in Westbrook, Maine:

We had 50 folks come from all over Maine today to our protest in conjunction with the national event at the White House in Washington.

We met at a very busy intersection in Westbrook (near Portland). It was attended by people from six political parties in the state. (Maine Green Independent Party, Communist Party of Maine, Libertarian Party, Portland Republican Party, People's Party of Maine, and Party for Socialism & Liberation of Maine.)

Cynthia Howard with the banner she created with the help of the Artists' Rapid Response Team (ARRT!) of the Maine Union of Visual Artists. Photo credit: Mark Roman

 

We had a steady and huge amount of honks, waves and peace signs from the cars passing by. Everyone was really pumped by the experience. We all agreed that the 'worm is turning' and that the public (all across the political landscape) is not happy about the Biden administration and Congress funneling $113 billion to the proxy war in Ukraine that is aimed at Russia (and soon China as well).

We had a good mix of all ages at the event - something that has been a long time coming in Maine as the peace movement here has been aging.

We had a final closing circle and invited people to share why they had come. It was very moving to hear those present applaud for the speakers from various political parties. I made sure to make the point that there are good people in all the parties and political organizations and we must resist the 'divide and conquer' efforts by the corporate oligarchs that run our country.

Today was a great example of what is indeed possible if we try with good faith and a cooperative spirit to work together. We can come together in solidarity. We don't have to agree with each other on every single issue. But today was a resounding call that we must oppose this suicidal US-NATO permanent war path.

More to come. Stay tuned.

Keep paddling.

Bruce Gagnon

PS Try as we might we did not get every single person into a photo. We are sorry for that.

 

As far as press coverage, I had an op-ed published in the Maine Beacon a day prior to the protest while Bruce gave an interview to a camera crew from a local news station on site in Westbrook. Sadly, it would appear that an editor at the station must have killed the story -- at least there's nothing on the WMTW website. We'll keep looking.

And we'll keep organizing. A protest on tax day, Saturday April 15 in Topsham at 1:30pm is in formation sponsored by the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space and the Maine Natural Guard. Co-sponsors are welcome! Email us or leave a comment.

All Out For March 18! Sharing Our Demands

All out for March 18!

The demonstration will make connections between the human and financial toll of U.S. militarism at home and abroad. Key demands include:

1. Peace in Ukraine - No weapons, no money for the Ukraine War
2. Abolish NATO – End U.S. militarism & sanctions!
3. Fund people’s needs, not the war machine!
4. No war with China!
5. End U.S. aid to racist apartheid Israel!
6. Fight racism & bigotry at home!
7. U.S. hands off  Haiti!
8. End AFRICOM! 
9. End Sanctions on Syria!

From the United National Antiwar Coalition's flyer for March 18 actions:

The US/NATO proxy war in Ukraine puts the US in an escalating conflict with Russia, a major nuclear power. Now, a coalition of progressive organizations have come together to organize this demonstration. We join with groups around the world that are beginning to build big protests against this war. We join in demanding “no more weapons and no more money for the Ukraine war.” 

We are also seeing increasing US aggression against China, another major nuclear power. As Syria recovers from the devastating earthquake, the US has refused to drop the sanctions against Syria and the right-wing government on Israel is increasing its attacks against the Palestinian people, Iran, Syria and has recently bombed the airport at Aleppo, which is used to bring aid to the Syrian earthquake victims. 

The US is clearly the main cause of war around the world with bases that surround Russia and China and foreign bases that number 20 times those of all other countries in the world combined. The ever-increasing military budget drains money that could be used for human needs instead of war. Therefore, we must build a strong antiwar movement here in the US, the main imperialist power in the world. 

We need a government to support human needs before the war machine. We need those countless $billions for health and education—not death and destruction. After the March 18 protest, we ask you to join with UNAC to build strong local and regional action during the week of April 15 – 22. 

If you can't make it to Washington DC on March 18, there are a number of actions taking place around the country in solidarity.  You can find them here. 

In Maine or northern New England on March 18? 

Protesters against U.S. involvement in Ukraine will gather near Portland in Westbrook, Maine from 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 at the intersection of Stroudwater Street and William Clark Drive. (For GPS try Westbrook Market - 28 Stroudwater Street.)

The Maine event is co-sponsored by: Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Maine Natural Guard, PeaceWorks of Greater Brunswick, Communist Party of Maine, Maine Green Independent Party, Party for Socialism & Liberation Maine, and Maine Veterans for Peace.

Link to Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/121631534005596

Link to info on the national event in Wash DC: https://www.unacpeace.org/home.html

For more info call: 844-8187

Can You Identify U.S. Regime Change Targets On A Map?

Now that we can all find Ukraine on a map, today's post is an activity: on a blank map, can you identify the country being targeted by the U.S. government for regime change?

Let's start with some easy ones as a warm up. These are countries where the U.S. is already engaged in proxy war, and if you're following the news you already knew that.

Map A (answers below)

Map B (answers below)

Map C (answers below)

Under cover of USAID or NGOs, the U.S. is also currently stirring up trouble in these countries:

Map D (answers below)

Map E (answers below)

Map F (answers below)

Map G (answers below)

Map H (answers below)

Map I (answers below)

Map J (answers below)

Map K (answers below)

Finally, identify a few of the many countries on the watch list i.e. meddling either underway covertly or has been signaled but is not yet underway.

Map L (answers below)

Map M (answers below)

Map N (answers below)

I could go on -- and on -- but you get the idea.

----

Answer key 

A.  Syria

B. Yemen

C. Somalia

D. Belarus

E. Georgia

F. Hungary

G. Pakistan

H. Vietnam

I. Thailand (especially good video overview on U.S. meddling in the region)

J. Iran

K. Taiwan (an island that is part of China)

L. Honduras

M. Mexico

N. Turkiye

If you click the country name it links to an article or video on U.S. meddling in that country. Note that some of the corporate media sources or government-aligned NGOs deny U.S. meddling because of course they do.

Bottom line: why does the U.S. think its vital interests lie all over the planet, and how much does all this meddling cost? It's nearly impossible to quantify because so much of the cost is hidden in support for foundations, NGOs, or just plain CIA "dark" i.e. invisible activities.

In terms of human suffering, violence, and bad will generated, that, too, is difficult to quantify.

As anecdotal evidence, I'll leave you with a quote from Caitlin Johnstone's recent post on the AUKUS submarine deal:

In reality, Australia is not arming itself against China to protect itself from China. 

Australia is arming itself against China to protect itself from the United States.

Empire In Decline

Saudi Minister of State and National Security Adviser Musaed Al Aiban, China's Director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Wang Yi, and Iran's Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, in Beijing. Reuters

Some events in history seem significant at the time. They often involve explosions (like the bombing of Nord Stream pipelines) or mass deaths (9/11 attack on NYC skyscrapers). But sometimes they are more subtle. When Iran and Saudi Arabia restored diplomatic relations this week with China brokering the agreement, nothing exploded and no one died. Yet this event is evidence of a seismic shift in global power dynamics as the world moves steadily away from domination by the U.S. hegemon and, not incidentally, the U.S. petrodollar. In short, the U.S. can no longer exploit a regional rivalry that has been resolved.

Meanwhile, China announced it was appointing a new head for the People's Liberation Army. General Li Shangfu has been sanctioned by the U.S. for buying weapons from Russia. Probably more significant is his expertise in aerospace. The Pentagon has long since established it intends outer space to be the next "warfighting domain" and in fact all nations use communications satellites already to connect their military personnel and outposts.

Some of you may remember China earlier this month publishing a gloves-off document detailing the many war crimes and other belligerent actions of the U.S. If you haven't yet had time to read "U.S. Hegemony and Its Perils", I recommend you do. It is also likely to be seen in hindsight as historic, a highly significant departure for usually tactful conduct by Chinese officialdom as it is blunt, truthful, and, well, undiplomatic.

Meanwhile, in the U.S. a cycle of bank failures seems to be underway with the first domino to fall being the Silicon Valley Bank. Most of its deposits were uninsured, and several other banks lost millions upon SVB's descent into insolvency.

Many more tech firms who banked with SVB could also suffer significant losses. RocketLab USA is among them.

Will we see a repeat of the Obama administration's signature "banks got bailed out, we got sold out" in 2008? Of course we will. It's already underway. This just in from CNN:

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Sunday instructed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to guarantee Silicon Valley Bank customers will have access to all of their money starting Monday.

By guaranteeing all deposits – even the uninsured money customers kept with the failed bank – the government can ensure public confidence in America’s banking system, Yellen, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and FDIC Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg said in a joint statement.

Meanwhile, using migrant children as young as 9 to work in meat packing facilities is happening all over the U.S., implicating firms like Whole Foods (owned by Amazon). Some states are even legalizing the practice. Oh, and some in Congress want to raise the Social Security and Medicare retirement age from 65 to 70. So that would amount to six decades of working for the man many earning only a minimum wage that hasn't risen in decades.

No wonder so many branches of the federal government are engaged in taxpayer-funded thought control via social media platforms. Testimony before a House committee this week by journalist Matt Taibbi went far beyond anything envisioned by Kafka.

The video of the exchange between bonehead reps and a seasoned journalist who believes in both the 1st amendment and protecting his sources is worth watching if only for the astonished expression Taibbi wears throughout much of the hearing. He is clearly struggling not to LOL while remaining respectful in a governmental body that he may have once respected.

If you're a reader like me, Taibbi's report after the fact is available here.

Too long, didn't read? Here's the executive summary: Multiple agencies of the feds insisted that platforms like Twitter and Facebook shut down user accounts that were telling inconvenient truths or asking inconvenient questions (e.g. Could the covid pathogen been created in a lab rather than evolving in nature?). This was and is done under the guise of combating misinformation, but examining Twitter's internal documents reveal that it is after all just plain censorship. 

The U.S. government does not want people to think thoughts that might threaten its power to rule over us.

Dying empires typically use their remaining strength to control and threaten those who cannot be controlled. While you might think that the U.S. would consolidate its power by regulating banking fraud, railroad safety, and providing for its elderly, you would be wrong. The empire appears determined to keep doubling down until it arrives at nearly zero.

China, Russia, and Iran are mature civilizations whose conduct contrasts sharply with that of the bully who is getting his comeuppance.

May we all survive the next few years.

Donnybrook In Maine Over Support For War In Ukraine

Manufacturing consent for U.S. wars by staging Punch and Judy shows of Republicans versus Democrats may be nearing the end of its usefulness.

Now that the U.S. is all out for all war, all the time, these distinctions are beginning to unravel. Case in point is the knock down, drag out fight in Maine's House of Representatives this week over a resolution expressing support for fighting Russia over there in Ukraine.

A similar resolution a year ago passed almost unanimously but not this time. Fifty-four representatives from all over the state voted no, while 87 still on the bandwagon voted in favor and it passed.

The sponsor and most of the yes votes are staunch liberal Democrats whose carefully managed corporate news feed leaves them vulnerable to a profound lack of knowledge about a war that actually kicked off in 2014. I say profound because their resolution's litany of Russian crimes reads like a tabloid. 

These are the same people ignoring the obvious war crime and environmental disaster of destroying the Nord Stream pipelines carrying gas from Russia to Germany. Maybe ignorance is bliss but it may be time to wake up: Seymour Hersh has been a trending topic on Twitter all day. Could liberals actually believe that the man who broke the My Lai massacre and Abu Ghraib torture stories is probably just a Putin lover these days?

On the other hand we have kneejerk Republicans who were fine with Trump's conduct of U.S. wars but are dead set against this war because Dark Brandon started it. And he profits from it through his family's shady connections in Ukraine's energy sector. And by forcing Europe to buy fracked gas shipped over from the U.S. at a hugely higher price than the Russian gas formerly flowing through Nord Stream.

The predictable accusations were made in debate over Maine's resolution. Those who spoke against it were dangerous appeasers a la Neville Chamberlain caving to Hitler in 1938. Those who spoke in favor pointed this out. 

It went downhill from there.

Political grandstanding aside, some of us have given legislators our feedback. I agree with my representative on almost nothing domestically but I thanked him for representing my views with his "no" vote.

Another Mainer took it upon himself to write to one of the Democratic representatives who dared to buck their party's rush to WW3 by voting no. 

Hello, Rep. Warren, 

I'm from Southwest Harbor, not in your district, but I want to thank you for parting company with the rest of your Dem (my party, which I find increasingly hard to recognize in recent years) colleagues on the Ukraine resolution. 

I'm not aware of what your reasoning was, but it has been clear to me and anyone who has paid the slightest attention to Russian and Ukrainian history, to the 8-year bloody aftermath war against ethnic Russian civilians in Ukraine after our overthrow of the Ukrainian government in 2014, and to our prodding NATO into ever-increasing provocation of Russia, would have to think that supporting that far-right quasi-Nazi government we installed is immoral. 

The war wouldn't have happened if we'd listened to Putin's clear legitimate red-line against NATO encroachment. The terrible toll on civilians would have been almost non-existent had we not been deliberately prolonging an unwinnable war with aid better spent here. And all the suffering in the rest of the world would not exist if it were not for the (ineffective) sanctions we have thrown against Russia. 

Whether one approves of Mr. Putin's approach to foreign policy or not, the resolution's sponsors' blame for the horror is inappropriately assigned to him. It is the war-mongers in the US government who are responsible. Thanks again for your vote. I hope your constituents are half as savvy as you are. 

Dick Atlee

 

I also noticed that an ambitious Republican representative from a town I used to live in voted in favor of the resolution. She is the type of public official who rides any bandwagon that looks likely to make her more famous. I didn't bother writing to her.

Why do I see a donnybrook in the Maine State House as significant? Because public support for the proxy war on Russia in Ukraine is eroding fast among members of both corporate parties. 

And third parties are hanging their hats on opposition to the war. Not just because Ukraine is losing and will lose -- that's been clear all along to people with decent sources of information. But because the costs -- moral, financial, and environmental -- are skyrocketing, along with the dangers of a nuclear WW3.

One fine American young man right there, standing up to question a politician over Seymour Hersh's report exposing the US being responsible for the sabotage of the Nord Streams! 👏👍pic.twitter.com/Y42mdnL2KT

— Gladiadora 🇷🇺 🇨🇳 (@kwokshsee) March 4, 2023

Link in case the embedded video doesn't work for you: https://twitter.com/i/status/1631839225997041664

What party does this young person belong to? Unknown, but I can guarantee you that elected officials are scared of this happening at their town halls.

And that's probably why Maine's congressional delegation hasn't held a town hall in years.

My critics have already jumped in to lament my aligning with a Tweeter who is "unsavory" despite the fact that I'm not aligning with them on any issue other than dissenting about the Ukraine war and government lies on Nord Stream. 

In these perilous times, I can live with that.

My friend Cynthia Howard a year ago in Maine with her homemade banner warning of the dangers of nuclear war. A year later, she's still out there. Join us March 18 in Westbrook, Maine if you share our concerns and don't mind standing with the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Maine Natural Guard, PeaceWorks of Greater Brunswick, Communist Party of Maine, Maine Green Independent Party, Party for Socialism & Liberation Maine, and Maine Veterans for Peace.

REVISED March 10 to correct an error:

Thanks to former Rep. Jeff Evangelos who reminded me that last year's resolution did meet with some principled opposition.