We’ll watch the documentary “The Nuns, the Priests, and the Bombs” via Zoom. This is about nuns and priests breaking into the storage facility for radioactive elements at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. These elements are the ingredients from which nuclear bombs are made and the facility is intended to be one of the most secure sites in the nation. The activists intention was both to call attention to these obscenely destructive materials in the center of our country, and to show that the security of these materials was not as good as has been advertised. The ease with which they got into the site and the length of time they had to wait to be discovered and arrested was quite embarrassing to the officials in charge of the facility. You can see the trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL6qxsvo_qc. More information and a synopsis can be found at http://www.passionriver.com/the-nuns-the-priests-and-the-bombs.html. The movie is 1 hour and 27 minutes long and we will have time for discussion afterward.
Geist Road and University Avenue, today, Saturday, April 16, 2022, 1:00 – 2:00 pm
We will meet again this afternoon to demonstrate for peace in Ukraine. Intersection of Geist Road and University Avenue, Saturday, April 16 from 1:00 to 2:00 pm
War is a terrible thing and my heart goes out to all the Russians and Ukrainians killed and wounded, and their loved ones, and all those who have already lost homes and livelihoods. Government pronouncements and the media provide a steady stream of denunciations of Russia’s invasion. Certainly the invasion should be condemned, but we should also acknowledge that the U.S. and NATO played a large role in escalating tensions. We have backed Russia into a corner and have failed for decades to give any credence to Russia’s legitimate security concerns.
In the midst of all the propaganda from both sides I think we can agree that the solution to violence is never more violence. Every war ends in a political solution. We should strive toward that solution and try to leave out the war part as much as we can.
STOP THE WAR IN UKRAINE! Russian Troops Out! / No NATO Expansion! Real Diplomacy, not Killer Sanctions! Remove US Nuclear Weapons from Europe! Cease Fire/Neutrality for Ukraine!
Below are links to a small part of the barrage of news and analysis that has arrived over the last few days.
A documentary by Oliver Stone on the 2014 Maidan coup
Video and discussion, via Zoom at 7:00 pm on Friday, March 25. We will watch Oliver Stone’s “Ukraine on Fire.” This documentary provides details and historical background for the 2014 Maidan revolution in Ukraine orchestrated by the U.S. Department of State and the CIA. It includes interviews with the deposed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich, Vladimir Putin, and many other players. It also includes some amazing (and amazingly violent) footage from events of the time. It provides critical insights helpful toward understanding the situation in Ukraine today. There are rumors that this video may get removed from YouTube because it is controversial in today’s political climate. If this happens then we will show instead “The Nun, the Priests, and the Bomb” about the protest at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the site where Uranium is concentrated for use in atomic bombs. This 2017 documentary by Helen Young is an excellent history of the tragedy of nuclear bombs and the activism against them.
1:00 in the afternoon on both days this coming weekend (March 5 & 6). If you can only come one day come Sunday! Intersection of Geist Road and University Avenue. Bring a sign if you can, but mostly bring yourself! Dress warmly!!
A lot has changed in the past week now that Russia has actually invaded Ukraine. War is a terrible thing and my heart goes out to all the Russians and Ukrainians killed and wounded, and their loved ones, and all those who have already lost homes and livelihoods. Government pronouncements and the media provide a steady stream of denunciations of Russia’s invasion. Certainly the invasion should be condemned, but we should also acknowledge that the U.S. and NATO played a large role in escalating tensions. We have backed Russia into a corner and have failed for decades to give any credence to Russia’s legitimate security concerns. We have manipulated the internal politics of Ukraine and fomented the 2014 coup that installed a government hostile to Russia.
Sunday (March 6) has been declared a global day of action to end the war in Ukraine. People all over this country and the whole world will be out in force that day. We will stand in solidarity with the 2,000 or more Russians in Moscow and St. Petersburg that have been protesting for peace and are threatened with arrest for doing so. We need to make sure that the U.S. stands back and makes genuine concessions so that negotiations for a meaningful long-term solution can be found. Since we’ve been demonstrating on Saturdays all along I propose that we demonstrate both days this weekend. Sunday will be the big one so if you can only come one day, try for Sunday. We will have a presence there both days. March 5 and 6, 1:00 to 2:00 at the intersection of Geist Road and University Avenue.
Suggested themes:
Russian Troops Out! / No NATO Expansion!
Real Diplomacy, not Killer Sanctions!
Remove US Nuclear Weapons from Europe!
No war with Russia
No more weapons to Ukraine and the European Union
Obey international laws and the UN Charter
Resolve the current conflict within the United Nations Security Council
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.
The Alaska Peace Center will view a recording of a very recent CodePink webinar to come to a deeper understanding of what is happening in Ukraine and the approaches that are being taken by the United States and Russia. The webinar features Medea Benjamin from CodePink and Larry Wilkerson. Larry was the Chief of Staff to Colin Powell during the G. W. Bush administration and is currently a professor at the College of William & Mary. After ending his military career, Wilkerson publicly criticized many aspects of the Iraq War, including his own preparation of Powell’s presentation to the UN about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, as well as other aspects of US policy in the Middle East.
The Biden administration is using very bellicose rhetoric and appears to be playing a game of “chicken” with Russia. Needless to say, each country possesses a surfeit of nuclear weapons, making this a very dangerous situation.
We will view a 40-minute recording of the webinar, via zoom, at 7:00 pm and will have time to discuss it afterward. The webinar was made to give context to the current situation, and to motivate viewers to contact the White House and their members of Congress to suggest changes in the United States’ approach.
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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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