Congress Launches New Pro-Israel ‘Cheerleading’ Caucus

Washington – Earlier this month, Congress launched the bicameral, bipartisan Abraham Accords Caucus to support normalization between Israel and Arab states. Backed by pro-Israel groups, this new political development can be interpreted as a way for the Israel lobby to regain its power over a U.S. Congress that is increasingly critical of Israel.

Described as a “cheerleading squad” in the Jewish Insider by its co-chair, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), the caucus’s stated goals include expanding the Abraham Accords agreements and fostering regional peace. The group’s other co-chairs are Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), David Trone (D-MD), Ann Wagner (R-MO), and Brad Schneider (D-IL).

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Desmond Tutu Opposed Capitalism, Israeli Apartheid And US/UK Imperialism, Too

Being a leader in the movement to end apartheid in South Africa was probably the greatest achievement of the man’s life work, and it should come as a surprise to no one that this is the focus of his many obituaries, along with the Nobel he was awarded in 1984.  After Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, he was remembered by the establishment in much the same way, as a leader of the movement against apartheid in the US.  The fact that he had become one of the most well-known and well-loved voices of the antiwar movement in the United States and around the world at the time of his death has largely been written out of the history books, a very inconvenient truth.

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South Korea Declares Multilateral Agreement To End Korean War

In a major development in the Korean peace process, South Korea, North Korea, China and the United States have agreed to declare an end to the Korean War. The announcement was made by South Korean president Moon Jae-in on Monday, December 13, who said the four parties to the Korean War agreed “in-principle” to formally declare its end, 71 years after it broke out in 1950.

Speaking from Canberra, Australia, during his four-day visit to the country, president Moon Jae-in also pointed out that US hostility towards North Korea was among the reasons why peace talks were held back. North Korea has demanded an end to the “hostile policy” of the US, including sweeping sanctions and a virtual US-led blockade, as a precondition for the continuation of talks.

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US Peace Prize Awarded To World Beyond War

The 2021 US Peace Prize has been awarded to World BEYOND War “for exceptional global advocacy and creative peace education to end war and dismantle the war machine.”

Michael Knox, Chair of the US Peace Memorial Foundation, thanked World BEYOND War and its members “for years of outstanding and prolific antiwar actions and extensive peace educational projects involving many people and organizations. We appreciate your leadership and the significant impact your members and programs have had throughout the world.”

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Abby Martin On The Question: What Are The Prospects For Peace?

Events are unfolding at a quickening pace. Facing an alarming escalation in tensions around the world, we are looking to our most respected and renowned thought leaders for an honest assessment of both U.S. foreign and military policy to offer their most current thoughts and insights. We know they have some ideas for improving the prospects for peace.

Abby Martin is an American journalist, TV presenter and activist. She helped found the citizen journalism website Media Roots and serves on the board of directors for the Media Freedom Foundation which manages Project Censored. She hosted Breaking the Set on the network RT America from 2012 to 2015, and then launched The Empire Files in that same year as an investigative documentary and interview series on Telesur, later released as a web series.

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Notes From National Peace And Justice Unity Meeting

The meeting was attended by leaders from the US Peace Council, Black Alliance for Peace, United National Antiwar Coalition, United for Peace & Justice, Veterans For Peace, Answer Coalition, Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, WorldBeyondWar, Code Pink, Popular Resistance, Task Force on the Americas, and International Action Center.

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What A Peaceful Build-Up That Evades Ecological Breakdown Would Look Like

Sooner or later other events in this transition period that we’re in will also follow, to further increase the awareness of the seriousness of the climate crisis and possible extinction of our own species. But we have to act fast and get more people to join those already imagining and working on solutions. How can this happen?

The first step is to understand the need for a cultural change, because the root cause of our dire current situation lies there. To be more specific: it lies in the unsustainable globalized Western culture. Therefore, changing course can only be achieved by a cultural transformation: we need to address our ways of thinking and change our habits and collective behavior — the way we organize ourselves as societies.

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Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson: What Are The Prospects For Peace?

Events are unfolding at a quickening pace. Facing an alarming escalation in tensions around the world, we are looking to our most respected and renowned thought leaders for an honest assessment of both U.S. foreign and military policy to offer their most current thoughts and insights. We know they have some ideas for improving the prospects for peace.

Larry Wilkerson is a renowned defense analyst and a Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Government & Public policy at the College of William and Mary. He is a retired United States Army colonel and was the former Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell. We are extremely honored that he took the time to talk to us and share his views. His responses below are exactly as he provided.

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Military Should Return Hawaii Lands

The 65-year leases of 30,000 acres of Hawaii state land by the U.S. military are ending in 2029. The state of Hawaii should not re-lease these lands no matter what the amount the U.S. military offers.

The leases on 23,000 acres at Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island, 4,370 acres at the Kawailoa/ Poamoho Training Area, 1,170 acres at the Kahuku Training Area and 760 acres at the Makua Military Reservation were given away essentially for free, with the state charging only $1 for each parcel for 65 years!

The three areas on Oahu are onethird of the 18,060 federal and state lands used for military training on the island, while the 23,000 acres at Pohakuloa are 17% of the 133,000 acres that comprise the largest military training area in the state and in the Pacific region.

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Brothers EMpowered Is Building That Village We All Need to Thrive

Charles Caine has a dream. Just like Martin Luther King understood civil rights include economic rights, Caine wants to give all people an opportunity to prosper. That mission starts with his two sons (ages 16 and 13) and the other youth he mentors in North Minneapolis as the president and executive director of Brothers EMpowered. 

Caine founded the community mentorship organization in 2014 to help men of color overcome the barriers in their lives and the lives in their communities. His inspiration came from years of struggling as a young Black man in urban America. After overcoming many challenges and barriers in his life, from gang violence to chemical dependency, the turning point came when he became a father.

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How Cutting Down Military Spending Could Bring About Peace

Since the end of WWII, especially since the breakup of the Soviet Union, it appears as if US political leaders feel they are trapped in a time warp and are unable to break free. They seem to believe that they must repeat the same disastrous foreign policy of regime change over and over. Since 9/11, the US has attacked or supported attacks against Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen.

The attacks, especially the horrendous US-led war crime against Iraq, have destabilized and created havoc in the Middle East, devastated these nations and caused death and appalling suffering for the people.

In addition, the US has troops in about 800 locations worldwide, further threatening international stability.

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Ten Problems With Biden’s Foreign Policy And One Solution

The Biden presidency is still in its early days, but it’s not too early to point to areas in the foreign policy realm where we, as progressives, have been disappointed–or even infuriated. 

There are one or two positive developments, such as the renewal of Obama’s New START Treaty with Russia and Secretary of State Blinken’s initiative for a UN-led peace process in Afghanistan, where the United States is finally turning to peace as a last resort, after 20 years lost in the graveyard of empires.

By and large though, Biden’s foreign policy already seems stuck in the militarist quagmire of the past twenty years, a far cry from his campaign promise to reinvigorate diplomacy as the primary tool of U.S. foreign policy.

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Time To Negotiate For Peace In Space

The U.S. mission to dominate and control the military use of space has been, historically and at present, a major obstacle to achieving nuclear disarmament and a peaceful path to preserve all life on earth.

Reagan rejected Gorbachev’s offer to give up Star Wars as a condition for both countries to eliminate all their nuclear weapons when the wall came down and Gorbachev released all of Eastern Europe from Soviet occupation, miraculously, without a shot.

Bush and Obama blocked any discussion in 2008 and 2014 on Russian and Chinese proposals for a space weapons ban in the consensus-bound Committee for Disarmament in Geneva where those countries tabled a draft treaty for consideration.

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Only Supporters Of Peace Should Be Appointed To The Nobel Peace Prize Committee

Since 2007, a number of TFF Associates – Fredrik Heffermehl to mention the leading world expert on it – have been engaged in creating awareness of the de facto and de jure misuse of the world’s in principle most prestigious prize – Alfred Nobel’s for peace.

We usually do not post appeals on this public education for peace site. But this appeal, crafted by Heffermehl and David Swanson – deserves to be here.

Please go to the appeal now and sign it. It is common sense and it is uncontroversial – unless you happen to believe in two things: a) that violence and war is better than peace, and…

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Afghanistan War: A Troop Drawdown is Welcome, But It’s Not Enough

“A drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq is a long-overdue and welcome step in the right direction. But let’s be clear: this is just a step, not an end to these long wars. Maintaining thousands of troops in indefinite occupation is far from a rethinking of the logic of militarism, particularly when past drawdowns have been repeatedly undermined by troop surges, redeployments to nearby countries, increased reliance on private contractors, and the dramatic growth of aerial warfare, resulting in massive increases in civilian deaths.

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