If anything, I see myself as a “witness.” I’d also be pleased, if you’d call me an “interpreter.” WIM WENDERS
Tlaleng Mofokeng, the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to health, has accused Israel of systematically working to starve the residents of the Gaza Strip and deprive them of their rights.
posted by Satish Sharma at
15:26
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On Earth Day, prepare for the annual spectacle of U.S. lawmakers donning their environmentalist hats, waxing poetic about their love for the planet while disregarding the devastation their actions wreak. The harsh reality is that alongside their hollow pledges lies a trail of destruction fueled by military aggression and imperial ambitions, all under the guise of national security.
Take Gaza, for instance. Its once-fertile farmland now lies barren, its water sources poisoned by conflict and neglect. The grim statistics speak volumes: 97% of Gaza’s water is unfit for human consumption, leading to a staggering 26% of illnesses, particularly among vulnerable children. Israel’s decades-long colonial settler project and ethnic cleansing of Palestine have caused irrefutable damage to the land, air, and water, consequently contributing to the climate crisis. In fact, in the first two months of the current genocide campaign in Gaza, Israel’s murderous bombardment, which has killed nearly 35,000 people, has also generated more planet-warming emissions than the annual carbon footprint of the world’s top 20 climate-vulnerable nations. Yet, despite these dire circumstances, U.S. lawmakers persist in funneling weapons to Israel, perpetuating a cycle of violence and environmental degradation.
The ripple effects of militarism extend far beyond Gaza’s borders. In Ukraine, the Russia-Ukraine War has left a staggering $56.4 billion environmental bill, with widespread contamination of air, water, and soil. Landmines and unexploded ordnance left litter 30% of the country, posing long-term risks to both the environment and human health. The United States’ answer to all this has been to reject diplomacy and fuel a long, protracted war with a seemingly endless supply of weapons and military support. A war that most experts will tell you is not a winnable war. The proxy war the United States is funding not only leaves Ukrainians at risk of never achieving peace but also significantly contributes to the ever-growing climate crisis.
Then, there is our government’s desire to go to war with China. The U.S. military’s heavy footprint already looms large in the Pacific, and with the war drums now beating harder for war than ever before , the footprint is growing. With over 200 bases dotting the region, the Pentagon’s voracious energy consumption fuels greenhouse gas emissions and environmental degradation, from polluted drinking water in Okinawa to severe contamination near military installations in Guam. Yet, our government insists that it is China that is our greatest enemy and not the looming threat of climate destruction. The U.S. military’s presence in the Pacific is destroying natural, indigenous ecosystems, favoring the idea of environmental destruction over attempting any form of diplomacy and cooperation with China.
All of this destruction to the environment and acceleration of the climate crisis happens silently under the veil of “national security,” while discussions on how the environmental toll of war is the most significant national security threat are absent in D.C. While the threat of nuclear annihilation and civilian casualties rightfully dominate headlines, the ecological fallout remains an under-reported tragedy. The Pentagon is the planet’s largest institutional emitter of fossil fuels; its insatiable appetite for conflict exacerbates climate change and threatens ecosystems worldwide. To make matters worse, the U.S. government wants to fund this destruction to the tune of nearly a trillion dollars a year while poor and low-wealth communities worldwide bear the brunt of climate catastrophes with little to no resources to protect themselves.
At the heart of this destructive cycle lies a perverse economic incentive, where war becomes a lucrative business at the expense of both people and the planet. The narrative of GDP growth masks the actual cost of conflict, prioritizing financial profit over genuine progress in education, healthcare, and biodiversity. However, instead of war-economy metrics such as the GDP, we could embrace alternative metrics such as the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) that reckon with the actual toll of war on our world. We can shift from endless growth towards genuine well-being by valuing air quality, food security, and environmental sustainability.
This Earth Day, let us reject the empty rhetoric of environmentalism without action. Let us demand accountability from our lawmakers and insist on an end to the cycle of violence and ecological devastation. By prioritizing peace and sustainability, we can protect our planet and safeguard future generations.
Melissa Garriga is the communications and media relations manager for CODEPINK. She writes about the intersection of militarism and the human cost of war.
https://original.antiwar.com/Melissa_Garriga/2024/04/21/rejecting-the-facade-unveiling-the-ecological-toll-of-war-and-genocide/
posted by Satish Sharma at
13:24
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On Monday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry reaffirmed that Tehran is not seeking a nuclear bomb and that weapons have no place in Iran’s nuclear doctrine.
“Iran has repeatedly said its nuclear program only serves peaceful purposes. Nuclear weapons have no place in our nuclear doctrine,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani.
Kanaani’s comments came after an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) general suggested Iran could change its nuclear doctrine if Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Any decision to build nuclear weapons would have to be made by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who issued a fatwa in 2003 forbidding the production and use of any weapon of mass destruction. The Islamic Republic’s first supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, also prohibited the creation of a WMD program.
The fact that Iran is not seeking a nuclear weapon was recently reaffirmed by the US’s annual “threat assessment” and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). “Iran is not currently undertaking the key nuclear weapons-development activities necessary to produce a testable nuclear device,” the threat assessment says.
Iran is enriching some uranium at 60%, which is the highest level it has ever attempted but is still lower than the 90% needed for weapons-grade. Iran has increased uranium enrichment since the US withdrew from the nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, in 2018 and in response to Israeli covert attacks on its civilian nuclear program.
“Iran uses its nuclear program to build negotiating leverage and respond to perceived international pressure. Tehran said it would restore JCPOA limits if the United States fulfilled its JCPOA commitments and the IAEA closed its outstanding safeguards investigations,” the threat assessment reads.
https://news.antiwar.com/2024/04/22/iran-says-nuclear-weapons-have-no-place-in-its-nuclear-doctrine/
posted by Satish Sharma at
13:21
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President Biden met with President of Poland Duda in Warsaw to support Ukraine 3/26/22
The leader of Poland said Warsaw was willing to host nuclear weapons from a NATO country in response to Russia moving strategic arms into Belarus. The Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the proposal “absolutely massive.”
In an interview with Fakt, Polish President Andrzej Duda expressed his willingness to host NATO nuclear weapons. “I must admit that when asked about [hosting nuclear weapons], I declared our readiness. Recently, [Russia] has been relocating its nuclear weapons to Belarus,” he said. “If our allies decide to deploy nuclear weapons as part of nuclear-sharing also on our territory to strengthen the security of NATO’s eastern flank, we are ready for it.”
Duda went on to say that he expects some but not universal access to nuclear weapons if they are moved onto Polish territory. “We don’t have such a tradition. There has never been, unless my memory serves me wrong, such complete universal access to weapons in Poland.” He continued, “We can discuss loosening some of the shackles of requirements in this area, but I would be cautious about completely universal access to weapons.”
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk appeared alarmed by the leader’s remarks. “I would also like any potential initiatives to be, first of all, very well prepared by the people responsible for them and (I would like) all of us to be absolutely positive that we want it,” the prime minister explained. “This idea is absolutely massive, I would say, and very serious (and) I would need to know all the circumstances that have led the president to make this declaration.”
The Polish foreign affairs minister was also critical of Duda’s proposal, saying, “This would be a very serious decision, all the circumstances of which should be discussed, primarily in the Council of Ministers. So far, there has been no such discussion at the Council of Ministers.”
Previously proposed by lower-level Polish officials, moving NATO nuclear weapons further eastward would likely be seen as highly provocative by Russia, especially as Poland hosts the AEGIS Ashore missile defense system. While those launchers are ostensibly intended for air defense, the AEGIS is also capable of firing nuclear-tipped Tomahawk missiles for offensive operations. The Kremlin said the presence of the AEGIS system in Poland, and an additional battery in Romania, presents a strategic threat to Moscow.
A Russian government spokesman said the Kremlin would respond if NATO moved forward with Duda’s proposal. “The military will, of course, analyze the situation if such plans are implemented, and in any case will do everything necessary, [will take] all the necessary retaliatory steps to guarantee our safety,” Dmitry Peskov explained.
Three members of NATO maintain nuclear arsenals: the US, UK and France. Additionally, the US stores strategic weapons in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Turkey and has vowed to use its bombs to defend a long list of allies under Washington’s “nuclear umbrella.”
posted by Satish Sharma at
13:15
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US troops in Iraq and Syria came under two separate rocket and drone attacks in less than 24 hours, Reuters reported Monday, citing US and Iraqi officials.
The officials said the attacks were the first since a nearly three-month pause started in February. The Iraqi government and Iran had pressured Iraqi Shia militias to stop targeting US bases after three US Army Reserve soldiers were killed at Tower 22 in Jordan.
A drone attack targeted the Ain al-Asad air base in western Iraq, and five rockets were fired at a base in Rumalyn, a remote area of northeast Syria. No casualties were reported in either attack.
A Pentagon official later told Stars and Stripes that a fighter jet from the US-led coalition in Iraq and Syria launched an airstrike against a rocket launcher but did not specify where.
The attacks came after an explosion hit a base south of Baghdad that killed one member of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an umbrella group of Iraqi militias that’s part of Iraq’s security forces. The cause of the blast is unknown and is being investigated.
Reuters initially reported that after the rocket attacks, a Telegram channel affiliated with Kataib Hezbollah, one of Iraq’s most powerful Shia militias, announced that attacks on US forces resumed because there was no progress toward a US withdrawal. However, Kataib Hezbollah denied issuing the statement, calling it “fabricated news.”
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani visited Washington last week but left with no clear timeline for a US withdrawal, and both the US and Iraq left open to the possibility of a continued US presence in Iraq even if the international anti-ISIS coalition ends its mission.
Earlier this year, al-Sudani was calling for an end to the US presence as the US was bombing PMF fighters in response to attacks on US bases in Iraq and Syria. Starting in October 2023, US bases were targeted hundreds of times until the end of January due to US support for the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.
https://news.antiwar.com/2024/04/22/us-bases-in-iraq-and-syria-come-under-rocket-and-drone-attack/
posted by Satish Sharma at
12:59
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On Monday, President Biden smeared protesters at college campuses around the country opposed to the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza as “antisemitic.”
“I condemn the antisemitic protests. That’s why I’ve set up a program to deal with that,” Biden told reporters. “I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians.”
Biden’s comments came as the media is focused on Columbia University in New York City, where students have set up a camp named the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.” Some of the students involved in the protest were arrested last week and suspended by the university, prompting a walkout by faculty members to show support for the students.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has also smeared protesters as “antisemitic,” saying, “I am horrified and disgusted with the antisemitism being spewed at and around the Columbia University campus.”
The demand of the protesters is for Columbia University to divest from companies profiting from the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians and the occupation of the West Bank. Al Jazeera reported that the protest is being organized by the student-led coalition Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), Students for Justice in Palestine, and Jewish Voice for Peace. According to the CUAD’s website, the coalition includes 116 organizations.
The situation at Columbia has led some members of Congress to call for the National Guard to break up the protests, including Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Josh Hawley (R-MO).
Critics of the protests have accused the demonstrators of harassing Jewish students, which has been a common claim about recent college protests in general. Peter Beinart, editor-at-large of Jewish Currents, made the point on X that Jews are usually “overrepresented” among pro-Palestinian protesters at colleges. “Sometimes they’re the largest identity group. Maybe folks calling for cracking down on protesters in the name of Jewish safety should consider their safety too,” he said.
https://news.antiwar.com/2024/04/22/president-biden-smears-pro-palestinian-protesters-as-antisemitic/
posted by Satish Sharma at
12:32
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The head of Israel’s military intelligence, Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, announced his resignation on Monday, citing his failure to prevent the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel.
“We did not live up to our mission, I bear full responsibility for the failure,” Haliva said in a resignation letter. “The Intelligence Division did not live up to the task we were entrusted with. Throughout my duties, I knew that alongside authority comes heavy responsibility.”
He also called for the establishment of an investigative committee to “investigate and find out in a thorough, in-depth, comprehensive and precise manner all the factors and circumstances.”
Haliva is the first high-ranking Israeli military official to resign, which came after over six months of Israel’s relentless slaughter and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza. According to an analysis from Haaretz, more Israeli officials are expected to resign after Haliva.
Haaretz also criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for not taking responsibility for allowing the Hamas attack to happen. “It is impossible to ignore the fact that there remains one person that even now refuses to accept any responsibility for the disaster under his watch and, to a large degree, due to his policies, namely Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” the report said.
Netanyahu has come under criticism from Israeli media for his previous policy of helping prop up Hamas as part of a strategy to separate the Palestinians in Gaza from those in the West Bank to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. His government also ignored a mountain of intelligence and warning signs that indicated Hamas was planning something big.
https://news.antiwar.com/2024/04/22/israeli-military-intel-chief-resigns-over-failure-to-prevent-october-7-attack/
posted by Satish Sharma at
12:30
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