Fearing the disruption of gun exports, the National Rifle Association vociferously opposed the Arms Trade Treaty that was approved on April 2 by the UN General Assembly. The joke, though, is not just on the NRA. While the treaty doesn’t do anything to affect American gun-owners, it’s so weak that it doesn’t seem to affect anybody at all.
Empires decline due to moral decay from within. Ten years after the invasion of Iraq, our nation is looking at the moral abyss. If lies have delivered us to this place, then only the truth will begin our journey back.
Washington has vociferously denounced Afghan corruption as a major obstacle to the U.S. mission in Afghanistan. This has been widely reported. Only one crucial element is missing from this routine censure: a credible explanation of why American nation-building failed there. No wonder. To do so, the U.S. would have to denounce itself.
The administration diverts added funds to the nuclear lab corporate contractors, who, in turn, apparently fund Democratic candidates.
Israel’s apology to Turkey over the 2010 Mavi Marmara killings might lay the groundwork for direct intervention in Syria by NATO and Israel.
Missile defense, drones, and other instruments of the devil.
Right-wing Israeli governments and their U.S. supporters deserve blame for many policies that have led to needless human suffering, increased extremism in the Islamic world, and decreased security, as well as rampant violations of international legal principles. The U.S. invasion of Iraq, however, is not one of them.
To get out of the echo chamber, we need to present a vision of a democratic foreign and security policy that would tie our many campaigns together into a coherent whole, from the local to the global. Such a platform would provide hope to the many who sense that something is wrong with corporate capitalism, with U.S. foreign policy, and with the military-industrial complex. It would set the basis for a principled alliance between the peace movement and the labor, immigrant rights, women’s, economic, social, and racial justice movements that are its natural allies.
Thousands of lobbyists descended on Capitol Hill in early March to voice their concerns over sequestration cuts. But these lobbyists were not asking Congress to restore funding to schools, hospitals, or shelters. Instead, they were demanding that Congress fully fund military aid to Israel, aid which helps Israel continue its occupation and apartheid policies toward Palestinians.
A UN fact-finding commission will investigate the charges.