The U.S. Military is the world’s single largest institutional emitter of greenhouse gases. That is easy to imagine since one B-52 Stratofortress consumes about as much fuel in an hour as the average car driver uses in 7 years. Yet, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol allowed military emissions to be excluded in calculating national emissions (for any country). See the Military Carbon Footprint video (9 minutes 47 seconds).
Steve Morse from the VFP Climate Crisis/Militarism Working Group will give a presentation on the role the military plays in exacerbating the global climate crisis. Steve will be familiar to many in Fairbanks as he helped train the Fairbanks node of the GI Rights Hotline (under the auspices of the Alaska Peace Center) a decade and a half ago. The presentation will run 30 or 40 minutes and there will be lots of time for discussion afterwards. For more information see the VFP Climate/Militarism Interactions Brochure.
Demonstration and Protest Against War with Russia over Ukraine
Saturday afternoon at 1:00, February 26, 2022, at the intersection of Geist Road and University Avenue. Bring a sign if you can, but mostly bring yourself! Dress warmly!!
The Biden administration continues to issue alarming and inflammatory statements, and seems to be assuming that there will be a war. We have been flooding Ukraine with weapons and building tensions to higher and higher levels. There are many different factions within Ukraine itself. If there is any spark to set things off it will undoubtedly be blamed on Russia and used as an excuse for a massive military effort.. We can’t let ourselves get drawn into another iteration of our “forever” war. There are half a dozen or more of our other wars simmering all over the world. All are abject tragedies for the people anywhere near them, and are costing us lives, money, and respect around the world. We need genuine diplomacy with a recognition that Russia has legitimate concerns for its security.
This protest is part of a nationwide effort to call attention to the reckless and inflammatory approach that the Biden administration has been pursuing.
As citizens of the United States, we have a special responsibility to call upon the U.S. government to:
Stop the war with Russia
Stop NATO expansion
Stop sending weapons to Ukraine and the European Union
Obey international laws and the UN Charter
Resolve the current conflict within the United Nations Security Council
De-escalate the threat of nuclear war
There is a long history behind the present crisis. The administration’s denunciations that lay all the blame on Russia do not mention that we broke our promise to Russia made during the 1990 negotiations over the reunification of Germany that we would not expand NATO eastward beyond Germany. Twelve eastern European nations have joined NATO since them, effectively surrounding Russia on two sides. Most if not all of them now have American bases. Many of them have missiles. Military war exercises are regularly conducted a few miles from Russia’s borders. The administration also does not mention the CIA involvement in the 2014 Maidan coup (in which the CIA supported neo-nazi groups) that installed an anti-Russian government in Kyiv. This was a key factor in Russia annexing the Crimean Peninsula, which has been Russia’s access to the Black Sea for 2 1/2 centuries. Most people in the area speak Russian as their primary language. A strong majority supported annexation in a referendum.
CodePink: Discussion between Medea Benjamin and Larry Wilkerson (video)–Wilkerson was Chief of Staff to Colin Powell during the G. W. Bush administration. He has publicly criticized the Iraq War, including his own role in it. He is now a professor at the College of William and Mary and a staunch critic of U.S. Foreign Policy.
Video of a discussion with Ray McGovern–Lots of insight into the situation in Ukraine as well as our policy towrd nuclear weapons. Ray is a former CIA analyst, the co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) and an Advisory Board member of Veterans For Peace.
Here’s a musical diversion, a bit off topic but a very nice rock video in support of the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons: Nuclear Blues (with a nod to Bob Dylan‘s Subterranean Homesick Blues)
Thanks to all eight people who came out to protest the Biden administrations war-mongering with Russia over Ukraine at our demonstration at Geist Road and University Avenue on Saturday, Feb 5. There were enough of us to have people at all four corners of the intersection. The response we got from drivers was mostly positive–more so than in the early days of our protests about the Iraq War in the early years of this century. I think the “forever” war has really taken its toll on the capacity of the public to be moved by fear-inducing threats and jingoism to support yet another war. Yesterday we got lots of beeps and friendly waves from drivers. Only two or three drivers expressed disapproval of our protest.
We decided that given the ongoing demonization programs against Russia, China, and others, along with the increasingly inflammatory rhetoric and the threatening military maneuvers, we need to continue these protests weekly until some diplomatic solution is found. We will focus on the Ukraine crisis and the threats of war with Russia, but will also keep in mind the parallel developments involving Taiwan and threats of war with China. So for the time being, we will hold protests weekly at the Geist Road/University Avenue intersection at 1:00 on Saturdays.
This link will be used for all monthly meetings this winter (first Thursday of each month) through May 2022.
More Zoom specifics: Meeting ID: 824 0890 1547, Passcode: 492648
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Total Cost of War on Terror
September 11, 2001 to November 2021:
$7,308,248,839,971
This figure includes expenses for military, homeland security, veterans' care,
and interest on the war debt, but does not include future veterans' care or future interest.
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