How Will Unipolarists (US and NATO) Respond to Putin’s Red Line? An Expert Round Table Discussion
Khrushchev and Kennedy at the Vienna Summit in June 1961. On October 22,1963, exactly one month prior to being assassinated in Dallas, Kennedy suggested “a joint Russian and American space shot to the moon within a decade.” Source: wikipedia.org
Covert Action Magazine
How Will Unipolarists Respond to Putin’s Red Line? An Expert Round Table Discussion
By Matthew Ehret – January 1, 2022
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With tensions rising to fever pitches in Ukraine, and in the wake of Putin’s announced red lines regarding a mad frenzy for the absorption of Ukraine into NATO, Dr. Edward Lozansky, President of the American University in Moscow, arranged a roundtable discussion bringing together eight experts to provide their thoughts on the causes, trajectory and solutions to the current geopolitical disorder.
Participants included Martin Sieff (Senior Fellow American University in Moscow), Glenn Diesen (Professor at University of South-Eastern Norway), Peter Kuznick (Professor of American University), Matthew Ehret (Co-founder of the Rising Tide Foundation), Alex Krainer (economist thenakedhedgie.com), Jeremy Kuzmarov (editor of Covert Action Magazine), Mila Melnichuk (political strategist and Head of the Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Citizens and the Constitution of Ukraine), Jim Jatras (analyst, retired U.S. diplomat and adviser to U.S. Senate Republican leadership), and Professor Herbert Reginbogin (The Catholic University of America) delivered written remarks.
What sort of responses could we expect to see should these red lines be crossed? Could the West be trusted to react rationally in the face of Putin’s explicit red lines? What are the risk levels of full-scale thermonuclear war? How does the Russia-China relationship play into this dynamic? What does the economic system’s ongoing plunge into chaos have to do with the geopolitical maneuvers on Russia and China’s perimeters? These questions and more were addressed by the speakers.
The video presentation of the full Roundtable can be watched here and the summary of the event follows below.
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Martin Sieff: “The Situation is Desperate But Not Serious”
Martin Sieff began by emphasizing the importance of Putin’s restraint and tone in which he spoke on December 17 laying out the terms of Russia’s red line regarding NATO’s ambitions to absorb Ukraine, the placement of missiles, or war games on Russia’s border. Martin invoked the warning of a Habsburg diplomat years prior to WWI warning that “the situation is desperate but not serious” indicating his belief that a nuclear war is not likely in the near term, although very high in the coming two to three years.
Sieff warned of the hypocrisy of Western geopoliticians who have no capacity to reciprocate Putin’s measured tone, let alone treat his red lines as something deadly serious, as they are far too accustomed to use “salami tactics” in advancing NATO and lecturing the world on how to behave. The lack of ability from Western players to take Putin’s warnings with seriousness are exasperating an already terrible situation and make the danger of miscalculations run high.
Glenn Diesen: Indivisible Security vs NATO Unipolar Hegemony
Professor Glenn Diesen contrasted the many negatives weighing down the situation with a few positives created by Putin’s new approach to foreign policy on Russia’s border. Chief among these positives is that a correct discussion is finally being forced onto the table which has been avoided for years. After years of NATO growth, and unilateral pushing of the entire world towards a “rules based international order” at the cost of broader security for all, Russia’s firm red lines have forced the principles of pan European security to be made front and center. Such principles stand in stark contrast to the “right of each country to join NATO” regardless of the context or instability which such decisions would create.
Professor Diesen made the point that this more rational view of security is in alignment with the Helsinki Accords, the 1990 Charter of Paris emphasizing “equal and indivisible security”, and the 1994 Budapest document which all enshrined the principle that “no state should advance a security doctrine at the expense of the security of other states.”
The hypocrisy of the United States’s track record of sabotaging such organizations as the Eurasian Economic Union, Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and pan European security agreements (to name a few) make the “narrative reframing” that constantly paints Russia as a villain attempting to impose its sphere of influence onto Ukraine as Western media and politicians repeat, more than a little unpalatable. Read more…
#No More: Ethiopian and Eritrean Rally at CAPITOL HILL. Denver Rally. December 21, 2021. Personal Message of Solidarity
Colorado’s contribution to national actions
Hello friends – Ethiopian and Eritrean!
Because of health issues – surgery yesterday – I cannot be with you physically, only in spirit.
As I write, there are several developments I want to mention – and would have done so in person if I could have – the first a cause for celebration, the second a note of warning, caution.
- The first, a significant military victory, is the total defeat of the TPLF forces in Afar and Amara Provinces and their withdrawal to Tigray Province and this coming after the U.S. (and other) media yelled from the rooftops that the TPLF was about to march on Addis Ababa and seize the government, an announcement meant to create fear and chaos in Ethiopia.
- The second is the announcement on November 29 that Washington is sending 1000 national guardsmen to the Horn, the second of such deployments in a couple of months. There is the danger that these troops will enter Ethiopia under the guise of humanitarian intervention supposedly “to protect U.S. citizens” – an old imperialist trick (think Grenada, 1983).
On a more local note, several months ago, four Ethiopian women from the Denver-Aurora area, entered into a dialogue with members of the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, in Boulder, Colorado – an important local peace organization with a long and honorable history but who had been initially influenced by some TPLF types. Here is the statement that this organization issued last week:
“The Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center strongly opposes any United States military intervention or economic sanctions upon Ethiopia or elsewhere in the Horn of Africa. The disastrous consequences of United States military interventions in Korea, Vietnam, Lebanon, Somalia, Nicaragua, Haiti, Serbia, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Syria, and other countries should convince any objective observer about the futility and immorality of such actions.
We are particularly incensed by information that the United States is giving propaganda and covert material support to the TPLF in the current civil war within Ethiopia. The TPLF has a confirmed record of oppressive rule and terrorist initiatives in Ethiopia. The grim history of Western colonialism in Africa and elsewhere provides further reason for opposing any U.S. military intervention or economic sanctions upon the Horn of Africa.”
– No more U.S. intervention
– Respect Ethiopia’s Democracy
– No More Support for TPLF Insurrectionists
Cheers,
Rob Prince. Retired Senior Lecturer of International Studies. University of Denver, Korbel School of International Relations
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John Kerry and Jawad Zarif at the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2015. Will the USA return to the agreement and respect all of tis clauses?
There is a short part towards the beginning where my voice is muted but then it is corrected after a few minutes…That said, I think this is worth listening to… if only to hear what Ibrahim Kazerooni has to say…
A few days ago, the Iranians tabled two proposals to keep the talks alive. U.S. has not yet responded. Let us recall that it is the U.S. that withdrew from the agreement, not the Iranians or the Europeans. But without U.S. support, the Europeans are not implementing the terms of the agreement.
Guest Blogger: Black Alliance for Peace: Black Alliance for Peace Condemns the U.S. National Guard deployment to Horn of Africa. December 10, 2021
“We unequivocally support and uplift mutual cooperation, solidarity, and peace among all parties and people in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and the broader Horn of Africa region. “
Black Alliance for Peace Condemns the U.S. National Guard deployment to Horn of Africa
On International Human Rights Day, BAP calls for the U.S. to end its military occupation of the African continent
December 10, 2021 — The US Africa Command, AFRICOM, has launched “Task Force Red Dragon,” which includes more than 2,000 Virginia National Guard (VNG) personnel (by January), the largest VNG deployment since WWII. Added to that will be National Guard Soldiers from Maryland and Kentucky which totals the most soldiers the division has mobilized since 1942. While Maj. Gen. Timothy P. Williams, the Adjutant General of Virginia said, “The soldiers of Task Force Red Dragon are great examples of citizen-soldier service.” The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) rejects the idea that there is any useful service to be had in the continuing U.S. interference in the affairs of sovereign nations on the African continent or elsewhere. BAP demands not only the withdrawal of all U.S. troops in Africa, but the closure of all U.S. bases throughout the world.
According to BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka, “U.S. president Joe Biden is exploiting International Human Rights Day with his farcical and exclusionary “Summit for Democracy” in an attempt to advance the obscene notion that the U.S. and by extension the colonial states of Western Europe are somehow the defenders of democracy and human rights. This is despite the increasing lawlessness of the U.S. state in the form of murderous sanctions, support for coups, illegal wars, military agreements and anti-democratic destabilization campaigns in nations across the planet. These actions represent a massive assault on democracy and the dignity and human rights of colonized and racialized peoples and nations across the planet.”
AFRICOM is responsible for all US Department of Defense operations, exercises, and security operations on the African continent, its island nations and surrounding waters. AFRICOM initially began in 2007 and became fully operational on October 1, 2008. AFRICOM maintains relations with 53 African countries. AFRICOM’s role is to support and work in tandem with US foreign policy in Africa to support its national interests.
As Netfa Freeman, co-cordinator of BAP’s Africa Team, reminds us, “the real purpose of AFRICOM is to enable terrorism while at the same time prosecuting the “war on terror” in Africa. This contradictory action ensures that Africa is in a constant state of war and instability. In doing so AFRICOM nurtures and justifies its own reason for being while developing a dependence of African states on AFRICOM for their defense.“
BAP believes that this is done to comply with US and its European allies ‘strategic interests and objectives to have unfettered access to Africa’s natural resources via their comprador neocolonial “partners”. The dependency on AFRICOM by partner African states also facilitates the training of most of Africa’s military by US or NATO forces thereby increasing their allegiance to US imperialist interests. Research also shows that since the founding of AFRICOM there has been a marked increase in militant extremist groups operating in Africa.
While the Black Alliance for Peace is committed to peace, we understand there can be no peace without justice, and we will stand in solidarity with all peoples (and nations) who strive to liberate themselves from all forms of neocolonial oppression. BAP takes a resolute anti-colonial, anti-imperialist position that links the international role of the U.S. empire to the domestic war against poor people and working-class Black people within the United States. We unequivocally support and uplift mutual cooperation, solidarity, and peace among all parties and people in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and the broader Horn of Africa region.
The U.S.-EU-NATO axis of domination will ultimately find its deathbed in Africa at the hands of the Pan-African masses. We support African-led, localized conflict resolution that is not tied to advancing imperialism, neo-colonialism or any other nefarious Western agendas.
International human rights day is a perfect opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to authentic democracy and People(s)-Centered Human Rights.
The deployment of U.S. troops to Africa and the phony democracy summit are a reminder that we must remain vigilant against all efforts to confuse the real intent of the U.S./EU/NATO Axis of domination. All of our organizing and mobilizations must have one objective- to forge transcontinental public cooperation that will save ourselves from the greatest threat to peace and stability on the planet, the U.S. government.
Contact Information:
Kyle Kidd
press@blackallianceforpeace.com
(202) 643-1136
Audio – Part Two – U.S. Middle East Politics – Tears in the Fabric. – KGNU – Middle East Dialogues. November 30, 2021
Saudi oil fields hit by Yemeni drone strike. Saudi losing its war against Yemen. Credit AP
In this program we look at the implication of the U.S. military downsizing in the Middle East, especially as it concerns Israel (the big loser) and Iran (the big winner). From now on, as the U.S. military – and U.S. foreign policy in general “shifts to Asia” – U.S. allies will take on a greater part of the strategic burden than in the past, with the likelihood of the U.S. military coming in to save them from their crises continually reduced. This has created a dilemma for all U.S. regional allies, but most especially Israel and Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, despite sanctions, Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign, Iran’s position in the region continues to strengthen and the Axis of Resistance continues to gain ground.
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front – Ethiopia’s Version of the Nicaraguan Contras – Sunday, December 5, 1 PM Mountain Standard Time
Sunday at 1 pm Mountain States Time (3 pm EST)- In depth probe of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front – Ethiopia’s version of the Nicaraguan Contras…
Audio – U.S. Middle East Politics – Tears in the Fabric. – KGNU – Middle East Dialogues. November 23, 2021
Patriot Missiles pulled from Saudi Arabia in 2020. Getty Images
Tonight on Hemispheres the Middle East Dialogues with Ibrahim Kazerooni and Rob Prince. This evening Ibrahim and Rob will discuss cracks in U.S. hegemony in the Middle East. Although it is not about to collapse, U.S. global hegemony is waning. The days when a U.S. president (or his representative) could get on the phone and dictate how to resolve a regional conflict appears to be ending. The uni-polar world post the collapse of the Soviet Union is cracking and U.S. control to dictate what happens in the Middle East is changing. A bipolar world is coming into being and it’s local allies in the Middle East – Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey are becoming somewhat more independent as a result. Despite the apparent strength, financial or military, of the United States, it finds its hands tied more and more. What’s the deal? What’s going on? Hear Kazerooni and Prince discuss how the global crisis is influencing Middle East developments in Yemen, Iraq and much more. That’s the Middle East Dialogues on Hemispheres; Tuesday, November 23, 2021 at 6pm.
No more U.S. intervention; Respect Ethiopia’s Democracy: No More Support for TPLF Insurrectionists. Aurora Colorado, November 21, 2021
Remarks of Rob Prince, Retired Senior Lecturer of International Studies. University of Denver, Korbel School of International Studies.
Just an announcement for starters…
A week from now on Tuesday, November 30 from 6-7… I’ll be interviewing a member of Colorado’s Eritrean Community – KGNU – 1390 AM, 88.5 FM. It’s a part of an ongoing series – Colorado and the Horn of Africa at KGNU’s Hemispheres Program… Last interview was with Nebiyu Asfaw, one of the founders of Taste of Ethiopia…also well worth listening to.
You can ask the Ethiopian brothers and sisters, some of whom listening to whether it worth listening or not…
Since Brother Dawit invited me to make some remarks today I have been thinking about what to say and what not to say…What concerns me most – is the evolution of U.S. policy – not just towards the growing crisis in Ethiopia which Washington had not small hand in helping foment – and whose pressure will continue, but towards the evolution of the entire Horn of Africa…
I think that it is useful to spell out from the outset and briefly where I stand on U.S. African Policy – what it is, and how it needs to change…
– Africa has long been for Europe and North America little more than a source of labor, raw materials – be it food stuffs or mineral wealth and little more. And it is out of that role that Ethiopia and the rest of the Africa are trying to transform itself – using a number of E. Asian models – modified for African circumstances – S. Korea, Singapore, whatever – into a more modern role
– My personal views on the subject actually are, after working with Ethiopian friends here, rather clear.
a. I support the regional integrity of Ethiopia and oppose any attempts – either de facto or de jure – to partition Ethiopia or weaken it in its efforts at increasing socio-economic development which will, in all likelihood, have positive echoes throughout the Horn of Africa specifically and frankly throughout the African continent
b. I fully support the demands of this rally, a part of both national and international demonstrations taking place worldwide.
What are they?
– No more U.S. intervention
– Respect Ethiopia’s Democracy
– No More Support for TPLF Insurrectionists
Succinct, to the point, humane and frankly all anti-Imperialist. I embrace them all and hope you do too.. I am not especially surprised who is sponsoring them…
I want to explore two points of the current situation…
a. the massive, coordinated misinformation campaign, with its daily lies, half truths and open attacks on the Ethiopian government of Abiy Ahmed…
b. a few reflections on what U.S. policy is all about – at least my understanding of it – in Ethiopia in specific and the Horn of Africa in general.
A.
Black Alliance for Peace, Answer – both of whom I want to give both credit and respect for “leading the way” – for seeing, as we say “the forest through the trees” – something many other peace groups at least to date, have not been capable of… as they have drank the “humanitarian interventionalist” cool aid… They have been suckered into believing the news – often little more than official propaganda – of the BBC, CNN, Economist, Democracy Now! or a number of human rights groups whose ties to big money and Washington are too close for comfort are spewing.
Let me focus on two of them for a moment, typical of all of them – the BBC…Amy Goodman’s “Democracy Now!”
The BBC is seen by many here in the USA as some kind of more objective alternative to U.S. mainstream news sources. Ah if let’s say CBS or the New York Times are painting a certain picture of reality in the Horn of Africa one can always check with the BBC or Amy Goodman to verify or challenge the mainstream media scenario…
Unfortunately that is something of a dead end. When it comes to U.S. foreign policy, the BBC has essentially echoed Washington’s call for war be it in Afghanistan, Libya, Syria or elsewhere.
As for Democracy Now! – while I wouldn’t throw out “the baby with the bathwater” – there is much of value in that program, it’s international reporting is disappointing where it concerns the Middle East and Africa
– It bought into the hysteria that softened public opinion to support the U.S. orchestrated NATO war on Libya,
– it’s reporting on Syria is nothing short of supporting al Nusra, and like terrorist organizations that it refers to as the “moderate opposition”
– and so far on the U.S. hybrid war against Ethiopia it’s reporting, frankly, reflects its continued support of U.S. military intervention (direct or through proxies) based on the false pretext of humanitarian intervention.
Neither the Black Alliance for Peace nor Answer have fallen into that trap… No small achievement.
All this is to say, that there is an unprecedented disinformation, media campaign directed against the Ethiopian government – one that will continue as Ajama Barack noted in recent remarks – for sometime into the future and that we must continue to deconstruct the lies and half truths on what is happening in Ethiopia – to undermine this false narrative and to replace it with a more objective and honest explanation of what is transpiring in the Horn and what the United States is up to there and why…
It is demonstrations like this one, – along with other efforts that have been made – that are beginning to challenge and undermine this false mainstream narrative – along with friends in the Ethiopian, Eritrean and Somali Communities here in the USA, and the participation of groups like our rally sponsors here – that will make the difference
B.
Concerning U.S. policy towards Ethiopia – the apparent shift of recent times from being an important “regional ally” to now a full blown adversary… just a few remarks for you to consider..
Mostly here I am responding to certain, ideas, misconceptions as I see it, concerning the policy
1. While no doubt it is the Biden Administration that has intensified its hybrid warfare against Ethiopia it is both naive and misguided as some have done, to blame the Democrats and let the Republicans off the hook.
When it comes to U.S. global geopolitics – America’s attempt to maintain its global empire – the policies are bipartisan. Both parties are involved – certainly at the leadership level – and what they argue over are frankly minor tactical considerations, no more.
Let us remember that before the Biden Administration engaged in its open full scale lovefest with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front that it was none other than Donald Trump in unsettled and racist statements spoke about “shit hole countries” and actually publicly encouraged Egypt bombing Ethiopia’s Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project to freeze it completion
That is one point..
The last point… what is driving U.S. policy today in Ethiopia and Africa as a whole… while there are a number of factors, the one that makes to most sense to me is U.S. competition with China over Africa’s raw materials and natural resources. And it is part and parcel of the current growing U.S. policy – enshrined in a number of key government documents – to deny China its rightful place as a major competitor to Washington on the world scene.
How does Washington – Democratic or Republican Administrations – complete with China in Africa and doesn’t it compete?
– It establishes AFRICOM, whose main mission, far from “fighting terrorism” in Africa is to control and assure U.S. access to the African continent’s rich natural wealth, an organization that should be dismantled as it sows instability and war rather than development and peace.
– Now, through its proxy the TPLF, it tries to stifle rather than enhance Ethiopia’s place as a regional forces for good, for regional prosperity, greater economic and social regional integration.
– U.S. policy towards Ethiopia bares an unfortunate but uncanny comparison to past misadventures – Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and beyond the region its choke hold on Cuba, Venezuela come to mind. The Libyan comparison has been made repeatedly recently, especially by Ajamu Baraka, the Black Alliance for Peace’s co-founder and spokesperson.
If the Biden Administration actually wanted to help Ethiopia – rather than destabilize it – it would help with the financing of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam rather than doing whatever to sabotage Ethiopia’s attempts to get loans from international lending outlets
If the Biden Administration actually wanted to help Ethiopia – rather than attacking China for its infrastructural projects in Ethiopia, it would help build the country’s road and public transportation network rather than covertly and overtly supporting the Tigray People’s Liberation attempts to wreck the country’s development efforts.
Let us prevent Ethiopia from becoming the world’s next Libya – with all the consequences that entails..
– No more U.S. intervention
– Respect Ethiopia’s Democracy
– No More Support for TPLF Insurrectionists\
Thank you
Same demonstration in S. Africa
Demonstration in Aurora Colorado Tomorrow (Sunday, November 21, 2021) 14200, E. Alameda 1 pm
No more U.S. intervention
Respect Ethiopia’s Democracy
No More Support for TPLF Insurrectionists
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Norman Finkelstein on the Six-Day (June1967) Middle East War…
Yahya Sinwar – sitting amidst the ruins of his home in Gaza destroyed by a recent Israeli missile attack
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(In 1967) Israel had won a major public relations coup worldwide by learning the fine art of “playing the victim” while in fact it was little more than the aggressor, an image it has been able to cultivate and refine since, regardless of the facts on the ground. This was, I would argue, its greatest political victory.
My Introduction: (November 7, 2021)
This war, or at least the result of it, has fixed the narrative on Israeli relations with its Arab neighbors, and the nature of Israeli-Palestinian relations, ever since… That is a 54 year old narrative, the main outlines of which are somewhere between half truths and pure fiction.
Be that as it may, it’s a powerful narrative – the supposedly, small, weak Israel surrounded by its Arab neighbors ready to destroy it. After the 1956 abortive British-French-Israeli invasion of Egypt, it was important for Israel to reshape itself as the victim rather than the aggressor in war, and thus ever since, if the Israelis excel at anything its playing the victim while strangling- or trying to – Palestinian resistance and trying to keep it’s Arab neighbors “in line.”.
There is another myth – common place on ‘points left” that is equally, if you pardon my language, a load of crap – often referred to Israel as “the tail wagging the dog” – that Israel controls and manipulates US foreign policy. No, the “dog” wags its own “tail.” Israel and its committed U.S. supporters DO have influence on U.S. Israeli policy, but when it comes to overall U.S. Middle East (or other) policy, it’s Washington that calls the shots and Israel that at least on the level of geo-political security, follows the orders.
Such thinking by the way, hides the role of the genuine policy makers of U.S. Middle East policy: the arms merchants, energy and construction companies, financial interests who are at the center of both short-term (who should be attacked, overthrown, sanctioned, etc) and long-term U.S. strategic thinking. It buys into the notion – frankly anti-Semitic at its core that the Zionists – and by this many people mean “the Jews” control and dominate U.S. Middle East policy, and not only that, but U.S. global politic… the old myth encapsuled by the Protocols of Zion, a pretext for the pogroms of the late 19th and early 20th century…itself a pretext for greater tragedies.
In a tight race, Ethiopians and Eritrean voters in Virginia could be the tie-breakers in choosing the state’s next governor
From left to right: Luel Bekele, Yerusalem Work, Tesfa Mekonnen, Ethiopian-American supporters of Terry McAuliffe’s bid to become Virginia’s governor on November 2.
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In 2017 White Supremacists who literally were calling for our community to be sent back to Africa marched in Charlottesville – Donald Trump said they were ‘good people on both sides’ Terry McAuliffe as Governor stood up against wide supremacist and for our community – Glenn Youngkin welcomes support from the very people who want to push us out of our own Country.
At our core we need to stand with those who welcome us – Now we do have other concerns that must be addressed.
With the gubernatorial race for governor of Virginia upon us, the 2021-2 electoral season is upon us. Both the NY Times and the Washington Post have given space to this election suggesting its national importance. According to a recent poll done by the Wason Center for Civic Leadership, the Democrat, Terry McAuliffe and his Republican challenger, businessman, Glenn Alan Youngkin, are in a dead heat, now a few days prior to the November 2 election.
The 2021 and 2022 regional elections are seen as litmus tests for the 2024 presidential contest.It should come as no surprise that major media outlets are watching the Virginia contest. In such circumstances where elections are close, swing voters could make a difference; such is the case with Virginia’s burgeoning Ethiopian and Eritrean Community (who tend to vote similarly). These two communities find themselves working in tandem both in the Horn of Africa and here in the USA. How they vote
The Ethiopian-Eritrean vote in these next few days could decide whether Glenn Youngkin, for all his attempts to appear moderate, nothing less than a Donald Trump surrogate, or Terry McAuliffe, a moderate Democrat with a record to prove it – becomes Virginia’s governor. No doubt, the results will resonate both in 2022 and beyond. Much depends on how these communities vote – historically they vote in large numbers – could determine not only the future of Virginia, but far beyond.
Until recently, as with many other immigrant voting blocks in the USA, Ethiopians and their Eritrean co Read more…
John Kerry and Jawad Zarif at the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2015. Will the USA return to the agreement and respect all of its clauses? Or is the agreement in a state of cryonic suspension, close to dead in the water, being held a float until the Biden Administration can safely discard it?
The following audio is a taped discussion on KGNU – Boulder Colorado – Hemispheres – Middle East Dialogues hosted by Jim Nelson, featuring Ibrahim Kazerooni and Rob Prince, a monthly program now in its eleventh year.
Was the August, 2021 U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan as unplanned and chaotic at it appears?… Or was there some other underlying plan that was hatched beforehand and implemented theee past months. Kazerooni and Prince try to deconstruct mainstream narratives and hypothesis was is actually going on. In the end, they conclude, that from the broader geo-political view point, U.S. strategy in Central Asia – increased subversion in Central Asia and China’s Xinjiang Province continue as do U.S. plans for regime change in Iran… only the details to work out these plans have changed. There are a number of suggestions that, as off the wall as it might sound, that Washington hopes to include the Taliban in these plans.
On October 24, 1795, Austrian, Prussian, and Russian representatives met to dissolve the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, known as the Third Partition of Poland, which ended the existence of an independent Polish and Lithuanian state for the next 123 years.
If you’re Jewish and your family comes from Eastern Europe… this is a part of YOUR history… as well as that of Poland and the areas surrounding it in general.
This might not sound like “news” … but this partition of Poland in 1795, the third in some twenty years or so changed the map of Europe… with Russia, the then Austro-Hungarian Empire and Prussia globbling up the spoils and creating from it a complex fractured geographic cloth of Poland and Lithuania…for all the peoples living there… Poles, Jews, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Rutherians, and others… a fractured soul that frankly has never been put together again as it was.
Until that time, Jews – including all of my family’s ancestors – who come from places with names like Bialystok, Grodno, Prienai and Vilnius – this was the beginning of the long end that would lead to two world wars in the 20th century with their well known unspeakably painful results and an end to Eastern European Jewry as we know it. Jews living in the different zones – Russian, Austro-Hungarian and Prussian controlled areas had quite different experiences from this time on as their realities varied significantly according to which of the three powers was in charge.
Prior to the three partitions ending the Polish-Lithuanian state in 1795, Jews were generally welcomed and protected in eastern Europe, many of them having fled from England, France, Germany, etc driven out by extremes of both Catholicism and just as virulent Lutheranism. They, the Jews were welcomed and found refuge for half a milleneum, maybe more, in Poland-Lithuania..
And then the skies darkened … slowly at first
A fine little volume on this subject which deals with Jews during the inter-war period (1919-1939) but also gives good historical background going back to the above mentioned partitions of Poland: The Jews of East Central Europe Between the Wars by Ezra Mendelsohn. For those wanting more in depth history: Norman Davis’ two volume God’s Playground: A History of Poland.
On this Day, in 1795: the Third Partition of Poland was concluded – It’s worth reading the whole article on this subject…
Saharan Rock Art. It dates from the period before the Sahara became a desert when herding and farming peoples lived throughout the region. No specifid dates but sometime both before and after 10,000 years ago is the approximate period
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(AFRICOM – the U.S. Africa Command – has been in existence now for thirteen years. Hardly noticed in either the mainstream or “alternative” left media with a few notable exceptions, AFRICOM’s presence in Africa “formalizes the [U.S. military]presence in Africa with better coordination and strategic focus for realizing the long term geopolitical goals of U.S. Imperialism in Africa. Those goals are essentially two:
- For the United States to control and dominate the extraction of the continent’s wealth of mineral and other natural resources
- To intefer with and undermine the growing Chinese presence in and cooperation with African countries.
Over the course of the next few weeks I’ll be posting several articles to honor International Month of Action against AFRICOM, supporting its call for the complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from African and the demilitarization of the African continuent. The first of these is an interview with Tunde Osazua, the Coordinator of the U.S. Out of Africa Network, a member of the Black Alliance for Peace’s Africa Team, and a member of the team that produces the AFRICOM Watch Bulletin.) – RJP
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October 1, 2021 marked 13 years since the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) was established. Please join us in our International Month of Action Against AFRICOM to demand the complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Africa, the demilitarization of the African continent, and the closure of U.S. bases throughout the world. We urge the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) to oppose AFRICOM and support hearings on AFRICOM’s impact on the African continent.
The U.S. Out of Africa Network (USOAN) is the organizational arm of the Black Alliance for Peace’s U.S. Out of Africa: Shut Down AFRICOM campaign which is designed to educate the public about the destructive U.S. hybrid war and imperialist policies perpetrated by AFRICOM. The USOAN aims to raise the public’s awareness about the U.S. military’s existence in Africa, and how the presence of U.S. forces exacerbates violence and instability throughout the continent.
BAP and the USOAN take a resolute anti-colonial, anti-imperialist position that links the international role of the U.S. empire, which is an empire based on war, aggression and exploitation, to the domestic war against poor and working class Black people in the United States. This Month of Action is a contribution to the effort to build a popular movement for demilitarization and anti-imperialism in Africa. Visit the Black Alliance for Peace website for additional resources, like a Toolkit to Shut Down AFRICOM, and to learn more about how to get involved.
U.S. Out of Africa: Voices from the Struggle
AFRICOM Watch Bulletin speaks with Tunde Osazua, the Coordinator of the U.S. Out of Africa Network, a member of the Black Alliance for Peace’s Africa Team, and a member of the team that produces the AFRICOM Watch Bulletin.
AFRICOM Watch Bulletin: How has U.S. military involvement on the African continent changed with AFRICOM?
Tunde Osazua: U.S. military presence in Africa did not begin with AFRICOM. However, AFRICOM now formalizes that presence with better coordination and strategic focus for realizing the long term geopolitical goals of U.S. imperialism in Africa. According to a U.S. Congressional Research Service Study published in November 2010, Washington has dispatched anywhere between hundreds and several thousand combat troops, dozens of fighter planes and warships to buttress client dictatorships or to unseat adversarial regimes in dozens of countries, almost on a yearly basis. The record shows U.S. armed forces intervened in Africa forty-eight times. The countries receiving one or more U.S. military intervention include both Congos, Libya, Chad, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Rwanda, Liberia, Central African Republic, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea.
The Bogus “Uyghur Tribunal”: Washington’s Buildup to call for a global boycott of the Beijing Olympics?
This 41 years ago: Coloradans in Denver pposing the U.S. led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Demonstrating with this group, members of the U.S. Olympic Volleyball team at the time who had trained in Colorado Springs. Might need to get out our marching shoes again against what is shaping up to U.S. calls to boycott the 2022 Beijing Olympics, using the bogus “Uyghur Tribunal” as its pretext. (Rob Prince photo – 1980)
During the height of the U.S. conducted Vietnam War, in 1966, an international informal tribunal – the Russell Tribunal – headed up by British philosopher, Bertrand Russell was set up and functioned in Stockholm. Among those leading figures who participated in its deliberations were French philosopher and writer Jean-Paul Sartre, along with Lelio Basso, Simone de Beauvoir, Vladimir Dedijer, Ralph Schoenman, Isaac Deutscher and several others. It’s revelations concerning U.S. war crimes in Vietnam – the use of chemical weapons (napalm, phospherous, Agent Orange) plus revelations of U.S. sponsored torture (Tiger cages, other obscene practices) came to light, damaging the U.S. image as some kind of benign exporter of “democracy” in the world, some say forever. All that is documented in Russell’s little volume, War Crimes in Vietnam, a volume which had considerable worldwide impact but which was largely ignored – for obvious reasons – in the USA.
The Swedish Prime Minister who supported holding these hearings in Sweden, Olaf Palme, was soon after assassinated twenty years later, in 1986, (a few weeks before out family arrived in nearby Helsinki for a five year stay). The assassins were never found – of course – although there was speculation that the Palme murder was revenge for the Vietnam hearings in specific and for Sweden’s then more independent foreign policy, independent from both Washington and Moscow at the time. It certainly discouraged other western nations from holding hearings on U.S. war crimes afterwards.
It’s reputation might have been damaged, but it’s not true that Washington has not appreciated the power of such hearing and of using such a mechanism to turn public opinion against its adversaries.
So we shouldn’t be surprised, that now, a year before the 2022 Peking Olympics – that “an independent” tribunal – but with ample funding from Washington – should be set up, “the Ugyhur Tribunal.” Washington denies that the said tribunal is government funded, but as this article below details, these denials do not hold much water. Washington’s finger prints and government financing are all over it. Besides being used as a pretext to boycott the Peking Olympics, as Brian Berletic notes (see link below) it “may serve to help pressure nations around the globe to roll back ties with China and aid the US in imposing additional sanctions and boycotts.”
Nor should we be surprised that the Tribunal’s final “ruling” will be read in December 2021,a few months prior to the start of February, 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Besides destabilizing the Olympics, the Biden Administration would like to limit the global exposure to the progress China has made in the past decade, having taken an independent development path unsettling to Washinton precisely because it has been so successful.
As the photo above indicates, there was a similar campaign back in 1980 for the United States to boycott the Moscow Olympics (as a result of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan). That one was largely successful but U.S. global prestige was more pronounced at the time. I am willing to bet that Washington’s current attempt to wreck the Beijing Olympics will be an all-round failure, a complete dud with only a few countries worried about the U.S. withdrawing funding getting onboard the boycott train, you know, the same ones who vote against Cuba and Palestine in the United Nations General Assembly.
View from the Left Bank: Rob Prince's Blog 