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Obama's War on Yemen Rages
by Stephen Lendman
Washington announced new weapons sales to its rogue Middle East allies - notably Israel and Saudi Arabia.
They're replenishing supplies for more war, including deadly weapons designed for mass slaughter and destruction. Claiming they're for self-defense mocks their real purpose.
A region awash with powerful weapons is getting more - a bonanza for US defense companies, a nightmare for people throughout the Middle East.
Riyadh continues using its weapons for naked aggression on Yemen - ongoing terror-bombing and shelling.
Civilian neighborhoods and other nonmilitary sites are regularly targeted. On Thursday, a northern Hajjah province-based international humanitarian office was struck. At least five deaths and 10 injuries were reported.
Memorial Day Dishonor and Disgrace
by Stephen Lendman
General Smedley Butler was right. War is a racket - based on Big Lies, waged for wealth, power and dominance.
Wars have nothing to do with upholding democratic values, humanitarian intervention or fighting for peace, stability and security.
They have everything to do with conquest, colonization and control - forcing one nation's will on others, stealing resources and exploiting populations.
America dishonors its war dead - sacrificed on the alter of greed and lust for power.
Privileged elites let others do their dying for them - making the world safe for bankers, war profiteers and other corporate predators. Innocent youths are sent to die based on Big Lies. Sick and/or wounded returning home are often abandoned. Epidemic levels of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affect hundreds of thousands of combat forces and vets. Many go untreated.
U.S. & Europe Boycott Russia’s Celebration of Its 9 May 1945 Victory Over Hitler
Eric Zuesse
At first, a few progressive heads-of-state in Europe were appalled at U.S. President Barack Obama’s pressure for them to reject Russia’s invitation to an upcoming 9 May 2015 celebration of victory against Hitler, and Czech President Milos Zeman even came out publicly saying, in a conspicuous face-slap to Obama, on 3 January 2015, that the U.S. overthrow of Ukraine’s democratically elected President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014 had been a coup and that “only poorly informed people” were comparing that to Czechoslovakia’s own “Velvet Revolution” against communism on 29 December 1989. Zeman even said that Ukraine’s 22 February 2014 U.S. overthrow of Yanukovych, or the event (under the cover of public demonstrations at the) “Maidan, was not a democratic revolution” but instead a coup. Or, as the head of Stratfor, the private CIA firm, has acknowledged, it was even “the most blatant coup in history,” because it was so well doumented in videos taken by bystanders at the time, as well as by internal intelligence leaks (such as this and this). So: indeed, “only poorly informed people” didn’t know about it. (And some still don’t.)
SHADOWS OF SHOSTAKOVICH ‘S LENINGRAD SYMPHONY and THE DEFEAT OF NAZI GERMAN ARMIES AT THE GATES OF LENINGRAD IN WW II
Gaither Stewart
Shostakovich
As the reader will grasp I am a romanticist in the arts. In literature—also in political literature—in plastic arts, and in music. However, I am neither a painter nor a musician and unfortunately cannot play any musical instrument. Nonetheless I consider the role of music in our lives of extreme and strangely enduring significance. An echo of something. A remembrance. A reminder. A moment of our childhood. A reflection of human powers. Of people come and gone. Of places fixed in our memory.
In my early adult years spent in Germany I listened chiefly to the great masters of classical music. In Italy I became attached to operatic music. Both Italian and German. And I wrote stories and novels against a background of Wagner and Richard Strauss and the Italian operatic greats.
Final Phase In Battle To Stop Rigged Corporate Trade
Link: https://www.popularresistance.org/final-phase-in-battle-to-stop-rigged-corporate-trade/
By Mackenzie McDonald and Margaret Flowers
On Thursday, despite the cold and rain in Washington D.C., people took to the streets to protest Fast Track for rigged corporate trade deals like the nearly complete Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
The protest at the US House of Representatives began with a march around the House Office Buildings on Capitol Hill highlighting a shift to the final phase of the conflict over Fast Track for rigged corporate trade deals. Right now everyone agrees that opponents of Fast Track have the majority in the US House of Representatives but an ‘Obama Onslaught,’ supported by lobbyists for transnational corporations is expected. The movement against rigged corporate trade is going to have to escalate its campaign if we are going to hold the majority and stop fast track for the TPP and other rigged corporate trade agreements.
“Fast Track” Violates the U.S. Constitution
Eric Zuesse
U.S. Constitution, Article 2, Section 2, #2: "The President ... shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur."
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The Constitution’s two-thirds Senate rule regarding treaties is violated by Fast Track as it currently stands and has stood; and that provision of Fast Track (reducing the required two-thirds down to merely half of the Senators voting “Yea”) would need to be eliminated and the Constitution’s two-thirds-Senate requirement restored, in order for there to be able to be any further applications of Fast Track; this would not necessarily apply regarding past applications of Fast Track such as NAFTA, and prudentiality might sway against such retrospective applications; but, for TPP, TTIP, TISA, and other future applications of Fast Track, or in other words for constitutionality of future international-trade agreements, the words of the Constitution are unmistakably clear, and those words must be applied, notwithstanding the violations of the U.S. Constitution that have already been erroneously instituted. The purpose of the U.S. Supreme Court is to hold that document, the U.S. Constitution, and none other, as this nation's inviolable Scripture, by which all future actions of the United States Government are to be evaluated, and all future laws (a treaty being in a separate and even stricter category for which reason the two-thirds Senate rule was included in Article 2, Section 2, #2) are to be judged to be either valid or invalid.
Secretary of State John Kerry v. His Subordinate Victoria Nuland, Regarding Ukraine
Eric Zuesse
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, on May 12th, responding to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s assertions that Ukraine will retake Crimea and will conquer Donbass:
“I have not had a chance – I have not read the speech. I haven’t seen any context. I have simply heard about it in the course of today. But if indeed President Poroshenko is advocating an engagement in a forceful effort at this time, we would strongly urge him to think twice not to engage in that kind of activity, that that would put Minsk in serious jeopardy. And we would be very, very concerned about what the consequences of that kind of action at this time may be.”U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European & Eurasian Affairs, Victoria Nuland, as communicated by the U.S. State Department’s Press Office on May 15th, reiterating Poroshenko’s view:
"Assistant Secretary Nuland's ongoing visit to Kyiv and her discussions with Prime Minister [Arseniy] Yatseniuk and President [Petro] Poroshenko reaffirm the United States' full and unbreakable support for Ukraine's government, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. We continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Ukraine and reiterate our deep commitment to a single Ukrainian nation, including Crimea, and all the other regions of Ukraine."
How the Media Deceive the Public about “Fast Track” and the “Trade Bills”
Eric Zuesse
The way that “Fast Track” is described to the American public is as an alternative method for the Senate to handle “Trade Bills” (TPP & TTIP) that the President presents to the Senate for their approval; and this alternative method is said to be one in which “no amendments are permitted, and there will be a straight up-or-down vote on the bill."
But, in fact, the “Fast Track” method is actually to require only 50 Senators to vote “Yea” in order for the measure to be approved by the Senate, whereas the method that is described and required in (Section 2 of) the U.S. Constitution is that the President “shall have the Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur.” That’s not 50 Senators; it’s 67 Senators, that the Constitution requires.
Ukraine Provoking Confrontation with Russia
by Stephen Lendman
Ukraine is a proxy US dagger targeting Russia's heartland - run by fascist putschists, headed by an illegitimate Washington-approved oligarch president.
It's waging war on its own people. It tolerates no opposition. Its economy nears collapse. Growing numbers of its population are impoverished, unemployed and angry.
In a Wednesday BBC interview, Poroshenko sounded deranged saying Ukraine is in a "real war" with Russia. "I think (Moscow is) preparing for an offensive" this summer.
"I think we should be ready, and I think that we do not give them any tiny chance for provocation. That will totally be their responsibility."Russian officials accused Ukraine of "broken commitments" - making agreements, then breaching them straightaway. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there's a "serious lack of trust" between both countries for good reason. Kiev officials say one thing and do another consistently. Their word is meaningless.
Addressing Russia's upper house Federation Council on Wednesday, Sergey Lavrov condemned "radicals in Kiev and some other capitals" for provoking "further escalation" of conflict in Donbass.
Kiev to Prosecute Two Russian Nationals As Terrorists
by Stephen Lendman
Perhaps the biggest Big Lie throughout months of Obama's proxy war on Donbass is nonexistent "Russian aggression."
Repeatedly, Moscow is accused of arming Donbass freedom fighters and aiding them with Russian combat troops.
No credible evidence surfaced at any time proving allegations the whole world knows are false.
At the same time, foreign nationals from many countries voluntarily help both sides - including non-or-former Russian military personnel aiding Donbass. They weren't dispatched from Moscow - nor has Russia shown any inclination to get directly involved in Ukraine's war militarily. It’s gone all-out to end it diplomatically.
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