Joe Glenton, who, as a soldier, was jailed for refusing a second tour of Afghanistan, is the author of Soldier Box and a member of Veterans For Peace UK. The following piece was written in May 2016 as a commentary on the Invictus Games, but we feel it’s particularly resonant on this, Armistice Day: Veterans and soldiers have no champion […]
Trump is not the answer, of course. He is the symptom. He is the symptom of the virus of neo liberal Capitalism. I never thought Trump would win because I didn’t think he wanted to win. And maybe, maybe he didn’t. None of that mattered, as it turned out. The liberals will blame racists and NASCAR rednecks, and more, they will blame leftists. And, they will blame Putin and Russia.
Trump isn’t the antithesis of liberal America. You liberals created him. You unleashed this monster. It is you in the mirror. You stayed silent, you took no stand while your country was stolen from you. In fact, you did worse: you enthusiastically voted time after time for those who did the stealing.
It is always interesting to observe if any corporate media outlets report information like this UN statement: The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has said that he is “appalled and shocked” by the high number of rockets indiscriminately launched by armed opposition groups on civilian suburbs of Syria’s western Aleppo in the past 48 hours. “Those […]
The attack on Iraq, the attack on Libya, the attack on Syria happened because the leader in each of these countries was not a puppet of the West. The human rights record of a Saddam or a Gaddafi was irrelevant. They did not obey orders and surrender control of their country.
There’s no doubt that the number of vetoes used at the Security Council has fallen since the end of the Cold War and the break-up of the USSR – while the number of resolutions, in particular unanimous resolutions, has grown exponentially over the same period, suggesting a co-operative and working Security Council. Yet the veto remains and arguments continue as to how and when it is used. The debate has evolved beyond national interests to include observing the letter, or the spirit, of the UN Charter, and protecting the most vulnerable at times of humanitarian crisis.
12. The choice is bullets or ballots, so it’s a no-brainer. The Department of Homeland Security has just used the authority that you delegated to the government when you voted, to purchase 450 million rounds of hollow-point ammunition that cannot be used in combat by law and therefore can only be used against US citizens. Your ballots authorized those bullets. There is a third option: not voting, not fighting, but simply withholding our consent. That has the result of delegitimizing a government that doesn’t represent us and demonstrating that it does not have the consent of the governed. It is a legal, nonviolent, effective option called noncompliance. Noncompliance can take other forms, such as not paying taxes or creating alternative systems, but these cannot delegitimize a government. Since governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed,” withholding our consent is the only way to nonviolently delegitimize a government that fails to represent us.
Wayne Sharrocks served in the British Army and is a member of Veterans For Peace UK. http://www.waynesharrocks.com/ I joined the Army at 17 years old and acquired 7 year’s experience. During those 7 years I served in The Rifles and The Special Forces Support Group (SFSG) where I was deployed in front line operations in Afghanistan (twice), where I was shot […]
Awkward facts that erode the ‘benign humanitarian’ self-image of the West are routinely side-lined or buried by the corporate media. Consider, for example, the severe impact of sanctions imposed on Syria by the United States and the European Union. An internal United Nations assessment, revealed on September 28 by Rania Khalek in The Intercept, makes clear that the sanctions are […]
A Guardian piece last month described: ‘How September 11 revealed the real Hillary Clinton.’ While even supporters recognise that Clinton’s campaign has been notably cold, passionless and bereft of conviction, ‘The Clinton who emerges from the WNYC [New York Public Radio] tapes is passionate, raw and unrestrained.’ The Guardian quotes sources who reveal how Clinton ‘showed herself to be a […]
As the U.S.-backed offensive in Mosul, Iraq, begins, the mainstream U.S. media readies the American people to blame the terrorists for civilian casualties but the opposite rules apply to Syria’s Aleppo, reports Robert Parry.
Britain’s ruling elite are making advanced preparations towards a major escalation of military operations in Syria.
Parliament met in an emergency three-hour session yesterday to accuse Russia of war crimes in Syria and lay the basis for Britain’s involvement in establishing a no-fly zone and possibly sending ground forces into the war-torn country.
