Military Resistance 12C5
“Condemn Russia’s Action In Ukraine While At The Same Time Rejecting And Campaigning Against US-EU Military Intervention”
“It Is Perfectly Possible To Challenge Western Imperialism Without Justifying The Russian Variety”
The Anti-War Movement “Should Be Standing Shoulder-To-Shoulder With Anti-War Protesters In Russia, Who Face Serious Dangers, Not Equivocating About Putin”
“The Demand Of The Maidan For An End To Corrupt Oligarchic Government Was Just And Necessary”
An anti-war protester being arrested on Sunday in Moscow
5 March 2014 by Mike Marqusee, Red Pepper
It really should be easy enough to condemn Russia’s action in Ukraine while at the same time rejecting and campaigning against US-EU military intervention. Sadly, there are some in the anti-war movement who see this as an awkward proposition.
Russian imperialism is as unacceptable as US-EU imperialism. In this region it has a long and brutal history.
The British anti-war movement should be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with anti-war protesters in Russia, who face serious dangers, not equivocating about Putin.
The Maidan movement cannot be reduced to an imperialist plot.
There were more than enough good reasons for people to be angry at the Yanukovich government; it didn’t need ‘outside agitators’ of any kind.
There were and are various elements within the Maidan movement, including, but certainly not restricted to, far-right nationalists.
Their actions in recent weeks have been frightening and their role in the new government does indeed make a mockery of Western claims to be defending human rights.
Nonetheless, the demand of the Maidan for an end to corrupt oligarchic government was just and necessary.
That claim is not vitiated by the fact that at the moment a particular branch of the ruling class (as venal as those they have replaced) has reaped the spoils.
Like other protest movements in recent years, the Maidan’s politics and ideology were and are ambiguous and inevitably still in formation.
Outside interference, from either Russia or the West, blocks or distorts this necessary process of political development. It solves nothing and generates only further problems.
Those who want the anti-war movement in Britain to condemn Russia’s actions have been reminded that ‘the main enemy is at home’. The assumption seems to be that condemning Russia’s crime will undermine opposition to war.
But what will undermine us far more are unreal descriptions of events, evasive positions and ‘special pleading’.
If people are led to believe by our own behaviour that we are not really an anti-war movement but Russian apologists, ‘the main enemy’ will be strengthened.
It is perfectly possible to challenge Western imperialism without justifying the Russian variety.
Making your own government the immediate focus of campaigning does not entail ignoring the rest of the picture.
Yes, Western imperialism poses more dangers to more people, globally, but that does not make Russian imperialism any more acceptable or Ukraine’s right to self-determination any less urgent.
We will be asked in public, by the public: ‘What about Russia?’ In this context, to answer simply that ‘the main enemy is at home’ will be seen as stonewalling.
There’s a patronising notion that we can’t do ‘two things at the same time’, that we can’t handle complexity, that there must be a hierarchy of identifiable good guys and bad guys. The anti-war movement is seen as a fragile ensemble. Actually, it’s more robust and more sophisticated than that.
The need for unity is cited as a reason not to dwell on Russian misbehaviour. But will evading or exonerating the Russian action really enhance unity in opposition to US-EU war-making? It’s an approach that many are bound to find objectionable.
Western military intervention in Ukraine seems unlikely, but the rhetorical indignation of Western leaders plays an insidious role: part of a long-term effort to repair an imperial ideology discredited by Afghanistan and Iraq.
When liberals lament the ‘impotence’ of the West, they’re setting the stage for a reassertion of Western ‘masculinity’ - as and when convenient.
Mirroring Western rationales, Moscow characterises its military intervention as a humanitarian mission of protection. At this moment, in relation to Ukraine, imperial hypocrisies, Western and Russian, seem boundless.
We won’t be able to offer an alternative to this hall of mirrors by matching one double standard with another. It’s always a corrupting practice, as a left wing version of realpolitik takes the place of a politics of solidarity.
The argument against Western imperialism can only be strengthened by a firm opposition to other imperialisms.
This is a common human cause, isn’t it?
AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS
AFGHANISTAN THEATER
“US Foreign Fighters Suffered Four Combat Casualties During The Week Ending March 5 As The Total Rose To 40,437”
Mar 6, 2014 [Excerpts]
AFGHANISTAN THEATER: US foreign fighters suffered four combat casualties during the week ending March 5 as the total rose to 40,437.
The total includes 21,476 dead and wounded (7 pending) from what the Pentagon classifies as "hostile" causes and 18,961 dead or medically evacuated (as of Dec.3, 2012) from what it calls "non-hostile" causes.
US media divert attention from the actual cost in American life and limb by reporting regularly only the total killed (6,801: 4,489 in Iraq, 2,312 in Afghanistan) but rarely mentioning those wounded in action (51,907: 32,239 in Iraq;19,668 in Afghanistan).
They ignore the 59,908 (44,607 in Iraq,18,463 in AfPak (as of Dec 3, 2012) military casualties injured and ill seriously enough to be medevac’d out of theater, even though the 6,799 total dead include 1,458 (961 in Iraq, 497 in Afghanistan) who died from those same "non hostile" causes of whom almost 25% (332) were suicides (as of Jan 9, 2013).
POLITICIANS REFUSE TO HALT THE BLOODSHED
THE TROOPS HAVE THE POWER TO STOP THE WAR
U.S. Drone Strike Comes To The Aid Of The Taliban:
Wipes Out Afghan Government Military Post
[Thanks to Dennis Serdel, who sent this in.]
March 6, 2014By Fazul Rahim and Henry Austin, NBC News by Jon Queally, staff writer, Common Dreams [Excerpts]
At least five Afghan National Army soldiers in Logar Province are dead and many others injured on Thursday after a U.S. drone bombed a former NATO-run military outpost in Afghanistan.
Eight more were injured in the bombing, according to Afghan Maj. Gen. Zahir Azimi, who said there were no coordinated operations in the area near the Afghan National Army (ANA) outpost in the southeastern Logar province.
“A high level team has been sent to investigate the incident,” he said, adding that the bombardment took place at around 3:30 a.m. local time (5:30 p.m. ET Wednesday).
"We condemn the attack on the Afghan National Army," said a spokesman for the country’s leader, Hamid Karzai. "The president has ordered an investigation."
According to Agence France-Presse:
Khalilullah Kamal, the Charkh district governor, told AFP he had visited the site of the attack, which he said was from a US drone.
‘‘The post is totally destroyed,’’ he said.
‘‘The Americans used to be in that post but since they left, the ANA (Afghan national army) took over. The post is on a hilltop. The attack was conducted by drones.’’
MILITARY NEWS
Army Sex Assault Prosecutor Suspended Over Sex Assault:
“Morse Is Accused Of Attempting To Kiss And Grope A Female Army LawyerAgainst Her WillIn A Hotel Room”
Mar. 6, 2014 Army Times [Excerpts]
A lieutenant colonel who supervises sexual assault prosecution in the Army is under investigation for allegedly sexually assaulting a female colleague, sources have confirmed.
Lt. Col. Joseph “Jay” Morse has been suspended from his job as chief of the Trial Counsel Assistance Program at Fort Belvoir, Va., “pending the outcome of the investigation,” an Army spokesman confirmed via email on Thursday.
The source could not, however, elaborate on the allegations.
“Given that this is still an open case, we are precluded from providing additional information at this point,” the spokesman said.
But according to Stars and Stripes, Morse is accused of attempting to kiss and grope a female Army lawyer against her will in a hotel room in 2011. The two were attending a sexual assault legal conference for special victim prosecutors, Stripes has reported.
Morse was commissioned an aviation second lieutenant in 1993 and has served as a judge advocate since 2001, according to his bio. Attempts to reach Morse via phone and email were not immediately successful.
The investigation follows the news earlier this month that the Army disqualified 588 soldiers as sexual assault counselors, recruiters and drill sergeants for infractions ranging from sexual assault to child abuse to drunken driving.
The number of disqualified soldiers from what are called “positions of trust” was 10 times higher than the initial number the Army reported last summer after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered that troops in sensitive positions be screened for previous criminal or unethical behavior.
Soldiers And Veterans Win Right To Sue War Profiteers Who Poisoned Them:
“Contractors KBR And Halliburton Co. Exposed Soldiers To Toxic Emissions And Contaminated Water When They Burned Waste In Open Pits Without Proper Safety Controls”
“Open Burning Of Waste Caused Serious Physical Injuries, Including Cancer And Permanent Respiratory Damage”
March 7, 2014By LARRY O’DELL Associated Press
A federal appeals court on Thursday revived dozens of lawsuits by soldiers and others who claim they were harmed by improper waste disposal while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The lawsuits claim Houston-based contractors KBR and Halliburton Co. exposed soldiers to toxic emissions and contaminated water when they burned waste in open pits without proper safety controls.
U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus in Maryland dismissed the lawsuits last year, ruling that the contractors could not be sued because they were essentially an extension of the military.
But a three-judge panel of the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in its unanimous decision that the contractors are protected only if they were following explicit instructions from the military.
The court said Titus improperly tossed the case without sufficient evidence on that issue.
"In short, although the evidence shows that the military exercised some level of oversight over KBR’s burn pit and water treatment activities, we simply need more evidence to determine whether KBR or the military chose how to carry out these tasks," Judge Henry F. Floyd wrote for the appeals court.
The consolidated cases now go back to Titus for further proceedings.
"We are pleased with the decision and look forward to our day in court," said Susan L. Burke, attorney for the soldiers. "The 4th Circuit clarified the law in a way that’s quite helpful. The decision makes it clear nobody can stand in the shoes of the sovereign and get immunity if they’re doing things contrary to what the sovereign directed them to do."
The two sides disagree on whether the contractors were following military instructions.
KBR spokesman Richard B. Goins said company officials were disappointed with the court’s ruling.
"The court basically asks the trial court for more facts and we believe this is, at heart, a mistaken reading of the extensive existing record," Goins said in an email.
He said company officials are evaluation options for further appeals, which include asking the full appeals court or the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.
The lawsuits claim that the open burning of waste by the contractors caused serious physical injuries, including cancer and permanent respiratory damage.
FORWARD OBSERVATIONS
“At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh had I the ability, and could reach the nation’s ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke.
“For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder.
“We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”
“The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose.”
Frederick Douglass, 1852
Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number,
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you-
Ye are many — they are few
-- Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1819, on the occasion of a mass murder of British
workers by the Imperial government at Peterloo.
Working Hard to Stop These Wars
From: Mike Hastie
To: Military Resistance Newsletter
Sent: March 05, 2014
Subject: Working Hard to Stop These Wars
While Veterans For Peace and other peace groups
around the country are working hard to Stop These
Wars, the empty chairs in this picture represent the
vast majority of Americans who do nothing.
As Edmund Burke ( Irish Statesman 1729-1797 )
so famously stated:
"The only thing necessary for the triumph
of evil is that good men do nothing"
Mike Hastie
Army Medic Vietnam
Photograph by Mike Hastie, taken in Palestine
in November 2013, while Veterans For Peace
members were on a peace delegation. I truly
believe, if Anne Frank were to come back from
the dead, she would be waving a Palestinian flag.
Photo and caption from the portfolio of Mike Hastie, US Army Medic, Vietnam 1970-71. (For more of his outstanding work, contact at: () T)
One day while I was in a bunker in Vietnam, a sniper round went over my head. The person who fired that weapon was not a terrorist, a rebel, an extremist, or a so-called insurgent. The Vietnamese individual who tried to kill me was a citizen of Vietnam, who did not want me in his country. This truth escapes millions.
Mike Hastie
U.S. Army Medic
Vietnam 1970-71
December 13, 2004
A Eulogy for the Damascus Bourgeoisies
Comment: T
Late, but the writer captures lightning and brings it to these words. Magnificent.]
********************************************************************************
September 03, 2013Maysaloon,.maysaloon.org/
Spare a thought for those Syrians in their expensive cars as they drive to and from Beirut every time the tensions rack up.
I mean how bad must it be for them to have to inconvenience their lovely mundane lives in the well protected posh districts of Damascus and come face to face with the kind of Syrians that they have spent the last forty years ignoring.
That’s right, you know who I am talking about.
I’m talking about the small people who have cleaned your houses, washed your cars, delivered your groceries and are the unwitting subjects of your mediocre photographic skills and nostalgic writings.
Yes, those Syrians, the ones that don’t have enough money to drive straight through the Masnaa’ crossing area and have to squat down in the sun whilst the Lebanese border guards beat them with hoses to keep everybody in line.
Your Syria is the Syria of jasmine and cardamom, of "mosaics" and thousand year old temples built by long dead civilizations that have nothing to do with you.
Their Syria is of shanty towns, plastic, and diesel fumes.
You don’t know this, but Syrians are the Mexicans of Lebanon. They squat and stand at the street corners waiting for somebody to drive by in the pick up and hire a bunch of them to clean out his backyard or do some other menial work.
But your nostrils only flare with indignation when you are the one discriminated against, when your visa gets turned down or your promotion is delayed.
Only then do you make up the myth that the reason Syrians are despised is because out of all the Arab nationalities it is the Syrians that refuse to bow. Well I have news for you Mr Proud Syrian who won’t bow.
We have been bowing for forty years whilst you sipped your black coffee on the balcony in Damascus and wrote your bad poetry - and we will still bow because Syrians have always been treated like dirt in their own country.
You just didn’t notice because you were able to pay a bribe not to bow, at least not physically.
I have other news for you.
The Damascus you think is the centre of the universe is actually an insignificant speck that nobody had heard of until the revolution showed the whole world our warts and dirty laundry.
Nobody cares about what Mark Twain said of Damascus, or about the socialites who stopped by this or that place.
You were a quaint little stopover that they forgot about as soon as they left, remembered more because people wanted to preserve everything they said than because what they said about your city was important.
If you dig down deep enough you aren’t even from this city. Nobody really is. It’s been raped and pillaged so many times in history that you’re really just the descendant of rural labourers who now has the luxury of despising the newer rural labourers moving into the capital.
And you don’t even see the irony in all this.
Didn’t you just love when you could sit with those foreigners as an equal in Bab Touma and talk about politics, art and society?
About how Syria is the land of churches and minarets, about our lovely tolerance and how we were urbane Levantines in the "oldest continuously inhabited city in the world" with a five thousand year history?
Did you ever realise that your entire life was about taking credit for what others have done?
It never struck you as odd that you and everybody else around you could only exist because your parents had connections and money, and you never thought it odd that whatever you did, if you were unlucky to have just that Syrian passport that you are so proud of, you would have only found work in the family business?