Daily Blog 04/11
Daily Blog 04/11
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Ecocide: Making Environmental Damage an International Crime
Sea-level rise is a health crisis and we must hold polluters accountable
Two competing forces are at work in our world. One force is trying to save our beautiful planet. The other, led largely by the US, is expanding the use of fossil fuels and the emission of deadly greenhouse gases, increasing the likelihood of ever-more frequent and dangerous floods, droughts, and deaths, rapidly leading us into a hot, bleak, and dangerous future…. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, “This is a victory for our planet, for climate justice, and for the power of young people to make a difference.” These top-down global efforts speak loudly. The US is isolated in continued denial of the destruction caused by fossil fuels. The powerful lobbies of gas, oil, and coal companies buy political candidates, fight against climate lawsuits, and influence the current government to put short-term profit ahead of sustaining our shared home. Our voices must be heard. The time is NOW! Tomorrow May be too late! All of this will sharpen social antagonisms and may well open the way to renewed potential of mass protest. We should remember that the last two years have already produced a profound political radicalization among millions of people across the world, above all around the horrors of the genocide in Gaza. For many, Gaza has stripped away any lingering illusions about the existing order. It has brought into sharp relief the realities of a system that offers only war, obscene levels of inequality, climate collapse, and permanent insecurity. Of course, this does not automatically translate into progressive politics. Crises of this kind can generate solidarity and new forms of internationalism, but they can also be seized upon by ruling classes and the authoritarian right. The danger is that a crisis produced by imperial war is re-coded as a justification for greater repression and renewed militarism. We can see this in the rush to frame the war in the language of national security. So, the key question is whether popular anger can be turned against the system that produced this crisis, rather than channeled into a politics of national chauvinism and fear. — US-Israeli War on Iran Is Intensifying All of Global Capitalism’s Problems
(Los Angeles Times) US Blockade and Sanctions on Cuba Violate the Geneva ConventionsIn the past year there have been a record number of legislative efforts to block military actions, threatened or carried out by the Trump administration, that are seen as illegal or unconstitutional. This has included President Trump’s decision to go to war against Iran. Some of these efforts in Congress led to close votes in the House and Senate. Now we have legislation introduced in the Senate to “direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Republic of Cuba that have not been authorized by Congress.” It was introduced on March 12 by three Democratic senators, and the same legislation was introduced in the House on March 24 by Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY).
(Los Angeles Times) Trump’s War in Iran Is Already Hurting Him at HomeSoon after the US and Israel began bombing Iran, the New York Times reported that “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel walked into the Oval Office on the morning of Feb. 11, determined to keep the American president on the path to war.”This was not commentary or speculation. It was the unambiguous finding of a deeply sourced investigative work produced by 11 of the paper’s reporters who cover wars, the White House, and foreign policy. And their research indicated that Netanyahu likely had some influence over Trump’s decision to ditch diplomatic efforts in favor of war.If the whole country were to see this news, support for this war might decline significantly. It is already unusually low for a military venture that a president has just launched: A Reuters poll early last week found that just 27 percent support the United States’ war against Iran.
Pentagon Reportedly Threatened First American Pope for Criticizing Trump The pope is not likely to visit the US under Trump’s presidency due to the threat, reports said. Colby told Pierre that the US “has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world.” and Colby told Pierre that the US “has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world.” and “The Catholic Church had better take its side,” he said, according to The Free Press.
Federal Prosecutors Charge a Former Civilian Employee at Fort Bragg for Sharing Classified Info “Ironically, while the FBI was monitoring my phone and investigating Courtney on vague and weak charges, the perpetrators of half a dozen murders involving Fort Bragg soldiers involved in the drug trade have gone entirely unsolved. A real police agency would go after real criminals instead of engaging in this sort of penny-ante political theater.” In North Carolina, federal prosecutors have charged a former civilian employee at the Fort Bragg Army Base with sharing classified defense information with a journalist. An indictment accuses 40-year-old Courtney Williams of violating the 1917 Espionage Act, as well as multiple nondisclosure agreements, after she spoke with journalist Seth Harp about sexual and race-based harassment at Fort Bragg. Harp published his findings in his book, “The Fort Bragg Cartel,” and in a Politico magazine article. FBI Director Kash Patel announced Williams’s arrest in a social media post, writing, “This FBI will not tolerate those who seek to betray our country and put Americans in harm’s way.” Seth Harp responded in a statement, “Ironically, while the FBI was monitoring my phone and investigating Courtney on vague and weak charges, the perpetrators of half a dozen murders involving Fort Bragg soldiers involved in the drug trade have gone entirely unsolved. A real police agency would go after real criminals instead of engaging in this sort of penny-ante political theater.” Click here to see our interview with journalist Seth Harp about U.S. Special Forces’ involvement in drug trafficking and murder at Fort Bragg.
Democrats Are Facing New Political Litmus Test: Military Aid to Israel A new Pew poll shows that 60 percent of US adults have an unfavorable view of Israel, up from 53 percent last year.
US’s Erosion of the Right to Cartoon Is No Laughing Matter
All Wars Are Bankers’ Wars: Iran and the Bankers’ Endgame“The powers of financial capitalism had another far reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole.” —Prof. Caroll Quigley, Georgetown University, Tragedy and Hope (1966)
A new economic superpower could spark a global retreat from fossil fuels.Eighty-five countries have sought a roadmap to phasing out fossil fuels. he Iran war is also a climate war. Beyond its terrible human costs, the war’s disruptions of oil, gas, fertilizer and other shipments is another reminder of the risks inherent in basing the world economy on fossil fuels ‘Illegal’ forest service overhaul risks causing ‘chaos’ across US public lands, union claims