About
Having been struck by the power of literary works to awaken and strengthen aversion to war and the desire for peace in my early youth by reading such varying pieces as Mark Twain’s The War Prayer and Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, about a decade ago I began to harvest works I had read throughout my life and ones that were new to me in order to compile as many excerpts from writings expressing those views as I could find.
Coming to consciousness of the essential struggle of peace against war in the United States in the 1960s, I confess to having been afflicted with the prejudice that anti-war sentiment had been rare if at all existent in other ages and even in other nations. The Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico speaks in his The New Science of the conceit of nations and the conceit of scholars; he may have added the conceit of the times.
The deeper I explored the works of poets, philosophers, novelists, essayists, theologians and historians throughout the ages and throughout the world the more I was disabused of the above notion. In fact the opposite is true. This site currently has somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,500 entries by several hundred writers from forty or more countries; items expressing in a myriad of ways the conviction of writers covering a period of over 2,500 years, from Hesiod to Harold Pinter, that war is the greatest curse that has afflicted humanity during its tenure on earth and that peace is the greatest blessing that can be bestowed on it. The love of peace and the loathing of war are and have always been the natural sentiments of humankind. In the words of August Schlegel in discussing Sophocles’ drama Philoctetes, so inclined to love is the uncorrupted heart of man.
For peace, against war: literary selections 
Your narrative/summary of the activities of NATO suggest a redefinition
of the term “AXIS.”
R.P.
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Rick: Came across this:
NATO to deliver ‘iron mountain’ of military gear to Afghanistan
Minneapolis Star Tribune
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – NATO’s war planners call it the “iron mountain,” the $2.7 billion mass of military equipment that will be dropped on Afghanistan over the next eight months. But will the mountain be tall enough? Between now and March, …
http://www.startribune.com/world/128535153.html
Bill
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Years ago I toyed with the idea of reworking the NATO acronym as Nordic Aryan Teutonic Order. Axis indeed.
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Welcome to Hell! Will the Georgian Soldiers fight in Libya?
http://geworld.net/en/politics/271.html
What caught my eye – Saakashvili’s statement when he was asking for heavy artillery which (he said) couldn’t be bought from other countries. But he can buy this stuff cheaper from a few countries, e.g. Brazil, China, India, South Africa and Turkey, where these guns are cheaper than their American equivalents.
The author suggests that Saakashvili wants the US to supply them, at whatever cost, purely to drag them into Georgia’s conflict with Russia.
Another thing the article points out is that while the US judge voted with Georgia on the racial discrimination suit against Russia, the votes against Georgia included the UK, Mexico and another country with a US-friendly regime, Morocco. Given that the US could no more side against Georgia than they couldn’t help but veto any UN resolution to the effect that Israel “gets out more and makes some real friends” – perhaps there was some US-led collusion to “Stop Georgia” by getting all the other countries to vote against it?
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NATO- menas as well North Aggressive teroristic organisation- that is the truth as well. They are acting like crusaders- and against all human rules!! Their intersts are oil, money may be gold- and nothing more. They tell us they are spreadinf “democracy” – in fact they are spreading DEMNCRACY!!! and DEMOCRATURE!!!
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Guys i am from Serbia, you have no idea what they had done to us, they bombed us with 15 tone of uranium that starts to regenerate after 10 15 years, and is there for another 41 million years, think about that. Peace brothers <3
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Oops! I meant anti military-madness, The insanity is the warmongering!
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Your meaning was understood. Thank you.
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Must read piece in today’s NYT
U.S. Underwrites Internet Detour Around Censors
By JAMES GLANZ and JOHN MARKOFF
The Obama administration is leading a global effort to deploy “shadow” Internet and mobile phone systems that dissidents can use to undermine repressive governments.
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I call upon the everyone to demonstrate everyday infron of the USA, UK, French, Italian, Danish, Polish, Swedish, Qatar embassies around the world, unilt they and NATO leave Libya and Africa alone.
Please read below” Why the Wesy wants Gaddafi dead”.
Home | Say NO! To War | Action! | Information | Media Center | Who We Are
Gold, Oil, Africa and Why the West Wants Gadhafi Dead
June 14, 2011
Brian E. Muhammad / The Final Call
Analysis: “Gadhafi’s decision to pursue gold standard and reject dollars for oil payments may have sealed his fate. A United Africa with a single currency backed by gold would change the world power equation. Introducing the gold dinar as the new medium of exchange would destroy dependence on the US dollar, the French franc and the British pound and threaten to break the Western nations’ hegemony over Africa and other developing economies.
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/World_News_3/article_7886.shtml
“Gadhafi’s creation of the African Investment Bank in Sirte (Libya) and the African Monetary Fund to be based in Cameroon will supplant the IMF and undermine Western economic hegemony in Africa.”
— Gerald Pereira, an executive board member of the former Tripoli-based World Mathaba
“The US, the other G-8 countries, the World Bank, IMF, BIS (Bank for International Settlements), and multinational corporations do not look kindly on leaders who threaten their dominance over world currency markets.”
— John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
(June 12, 2011) — The war raging in Libya since February is getting progressively worse as NATO forces engage in regime change and worse, an objective to kill Muammar Gadhafi to eradicate his vision of a United Africa with a single currency backed by gold.
Observers say implementing that vision would change the world power equation and threaten Western hegemony. In response, the United States and its NATO partners have determined “Gadhafi must go,” and assumed the role of judge, jury and executioner.
“If they kill Brother Gadhafi, I submit to you that American interests in Africa will come under severe strain,” warned the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan on WPFW-FM’s “Spectrum Today” program with Askia Muhammad.
“That man has invested in Africa more than any other leader in the recent history of Africa’s coming into political independence,” he continued. The Muslim leader said America needs access to the mineral resources in Africa to be a viable power in the 21st century.
Minister Farrakhan further pointed out in the April 1 radio interview that the current plot to kill Col. Gadhafi comes at a time of great distress and decline for America. The fall of the dollar is a manifest loss of America’s prestige and influence among the nations of the earth and an indicator of her end.
“How’s America’s wealth today? How is she doing financially? What is the deficit? Some say it’s about $56 trillion counting Social Security and Medicare. That’s a big number. She’s printing money, but there’s nothing backing it,” said Min. Farrakhan.
In the book, The Fall of America, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad wrote, “One of the greatest powers of America washer dollar. The loss of such power will bring any nation to weakness, for this is the media of exchange between nations.”
“The English pound and the American dollar have been the power and beckoning light of these two great powers. But when the world went off the gold and silver standard, the financial doom of England and America was sealed,” he explained. Mr. Muhammad said further that “the Fall of America is now visible and understandable.
“Long has Allah (God) been gradually removing the power of the great and mighty America while few have noticed it. This has been done by degrees, and they do not perceive it.”
Mr. Muhammad warned America’s fall serves as a sign of fate for her European counterparts.
Analysts say introducing the gold dinar as the new medium of exchange would destroy dependence on the US dollar, the French franc and the British pound and threaten the Western world. It would “finally swing the global economic pendulum” that would break Western domination over Africa and other developing economies.
Attacking Col. Gadhafi can be understood in the context of America and Europe fighting for their survival, which an independent Africa jeopardizes.
“Gadhafi’s creation of the African Investment Bank in Sirte (Libya) and the African Monetary Fund to be based in Cameroon will supplant the IMF and undermine Western economic hegemony in Africa,” said Gerald Pereira, an executive board member of the former Tripoli-based World Mathaba.
The moves are also bad for France because when the African Monetary Fund and the African Central Bank in Nigeria starts printing gold-backed currency, it would “ring the death knell” for the CFA franc through which Paris was able to maintain its neocolonial grip on 14 former African colonies for the last 50 years.
“It is easy to understand the French wrath against Gaddafi,” said Prof. Jean-Paul Pougala of the Geneva School of Diplomacy.
“The idea, according to Gaddafi, was that African and Muslim nations would join together to create this new currency and would use it to purchase oil and other resources in exclusion of the dollar and other currencies,” said political analyst Anthony Wile in an editorial for The Daily Bell online.
According to the International Monetary Fund, Libya’s Central Bank is 100 percent state-owned and estimates that the bank has nearly 144 tons of gold in its vaults. If Col. Gadhafi changed the purchasing terms of his oil and other Libyan commodities sold on the world market and only accepted gold as payment; a policy like that wouldn’t be welcomed by the power elites who control the world’s central banks.
“That would certainly be something that would cause his immediate dismissal,” said Mr.Wile.
Furthermore, pricing oil in something other than the dollar would undercut the pedestal of US power in the world. Although in trouble, the dollar is the reserve currency based on a deal made with Saudi Arabia in 1971 in which the Saudis, as the world’s largest oil producer, agreed to accept only dollars for oil, Mr. Wile observed.
The Libyan affair has sparked a divide in the world community with the African Union and nations like Venezuela, China and Cuba — and until recently Russia — on one side as voices of reason, caution and respect for international law and honoring the UN mandate which set the parameters for engagement in Libya.
On the other side are war hawkish America, France, Britain and Italy pursuing regime change and actively trying to assassinate Col. Gadhafi, though they deny that aim.
“Why all of a sudden, this rush to destroy Gadhafi?” asked Min. Farrakhan during his March 31 press conference on America’s Middle East and Libya policy. “I know why you are angry with him; because he never agreed with your policies when it came to sucking the resources of Third World peoples, and putting in place dictators that would be amenable to America’s policies.”
Other analysts concur that the control of Africa is front and center as the prize in the scramble to kill Col. Gadhafi and preserve Western domination on the world stage, making the African Union critical at this time.
The AU stood with Libya since NATO forces began their missile bombardment. The AU has also accused Western nations of marginalizing an African solution to an “African problem.”
The AU criticized NATO for bombing Tripoli, targeting Gadhafi family compounds and violating the stated UN mandate to uphold a no fly-zone and protect civilians.
AU negotiations to end the conflict were brokered by South African President Jacob Zuma, which the Libyan government accepted, but were discarded by the rebels who set preconditions — in conjunction with NATO — that demanded Col. Gadhafi’s removal.
The AU is the framework the Libyan leader was using to establish African self determination and economic self-sufficiency. Col. Gadhafi financed the restructuring of the former Organization of African Unity — formed by African leaders Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Sekou Toure of Guinea, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt and others — into the AU and revived the concept of a United States of Africa with one continental army and a single currency backed by gold.
However critics of US foreign policy objectives in Africa say efforts toward the continent becoming a unified bloc have been consistently weakened for fear that Africa will leverage more equity and control in the arena of global economics.
But the plan for an independent African currency backed by gold appears to be the real reason behind the frenzied attack on Col. Gadhafi.
Whenever a government and leader arose that desired to use the resources of that nation for its people, America — through the CIA — would plan insurrections, coups, terrorist activities and even assassination of good leaders, observed Min. Farrakhan.
Despite the ire of Western foes, Muammar Gadhafi gained the clout to lead creation of a single currency because of strong oil profits versus a small population.
“The US, the other G-8 countries, the World Bank, IMF, BIS (Bank for International Settlements), and multinational corporations do not look kindly on leaders who threaten their dominance over world currency markets,†wrote John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, on Johnperkins.com. It is redolent of Saddam Hussein advocating similar policies shortly before the US invaded Iraq, he said.
“Gadhafi knew how to play the West at their own game. He dared to wield real economic power in the name of Africa and anyone who dares to do so will feel the full wrath of Empire,” remarked. Perrier.
With the hopes of breaking Col. Gadhafi, foreign governments froze nearly $70 billion of Libyan assets belonging to the Libyan Investment Authority, the 13th largest international investment fund in the world. Although designed to hurt Col. Gadhafi, it injures Africa, because Libya assists with development projects throughout Africa.
An example of such projects was installing independent satellite communications across Africa, cutting off an expensive dependency on Europe for the same services. Col. Gadhafi infused $300 million into the project after the IMF, America and Europe broke repeated promises of finance.
In the 1990s, forty-five African governments started RASCOM — Regional African Satellite Communication Organization — so Africa would have its own satellite and control communication costs on the continent.
Before RASCOM, costs for telephone calls to and from Africa were the highest worldwide and the continent was burdened with an annual $500 million fee paid to Europe for satellite usage. African satellites cost a onetime payment of $400 million and no annual fee — a move for self determination led by Col. Gadhafi that agitated Europe.
The Rebels and Collaborators
Since the beginning of the hostilities, the 69-year-old Gadhafi has consistently called for ceasefires and a political solution only to be rebuffed and have NATO missiles aimed at him and his family. However, with the stakes so high, what kind of Libya will emerge if Col. Gadhafi is killed?
“It will not be the rebels and the transitional council who will take power in Libya — it will be the imperialist powers who take over and the implications for Libya will be a complete re-colonization,” said Mr. Pereira.
Some nations officially recognized the NTC as the new legitimate government; however the NTC will face severe challenges as a government post Gadhafi. The NTC and other rebel groups lack cohesive unity, strengthening possibilities for ongoing civil strife.
Furthermore, the insurgency has become a nightmare wrought with hard financial and military questions. Xinhua News-English reported the group is cash poor and has difficulty raising money; while the only commodity available to them is oil, which still belongs the Gadhafi government and is embroiled in UN sanctions.
“I don’t have any resources. Not a single dinar came in to the treasury,” lamented NTC oil and finance head Ali Tarhouni during a May 29 press conference. “We only exported one shipment (of oil) and got $150 million for that. So far we’ve spent $408 million on fuel. It’s not a good number.”
The Benghazi-based rebels include remnants of the monarchy deposed by the 1969 Al-Fateh revolution. Several times over the years, the royalists attempted assassination of Col. Gadhafi and destabilization of the revolution, but lacked military ability and popular support.
On May 24, US assistant secretary of state Jeffery Feltman announced the NTC will establish an office in Washington at the invitation of President Barrack Obama. Comparable arrangements exist with France and Britain.
For now, after several months of military intervention, betrayal by former comrades of the revolution and continued assassination attempts by NATO, Muammar Gadhafi is still standing. For the imperialists however, his elimination means the future of their power in Africa.
“Make no mistake, if NATO succeeds in Libya it will be a massive setback for the entire continent,” said Mr. Pereira.
Related News:
Libya’s Official Jamahiriya News Channel on the Web (Ljbc.net)
Imperialist bombardment, assault on Libya continues (FCN, 05-19-2011)
Why the West Want the Fall of Muammar Gaddafi (Analysis by Jean-Paul Pougala, 04, 2011)
‘U.S. provoking China and Russia in Libya,Mediterranean’ (Tehran Times, 04-28-2011)
West ‘getting away with murder’ in Libya (FCN, 04-27-2011)
Farrakhan Questioned on Libya(WPFWRadio Interview, 04-03-2011)
A CIA commander for the Libyan rebels(WSWS, 03-28-2011)
Libya, Getting it Right: A Revolutionary Pan-African Perspective (FCN, 03-08-2011)
Massive Disinformation War against Libya for US/West Military Intervention? [The 4th Media] (03-01-2011)
British intelligence paid al-Qaeda cell to assassinate Col. Gadhafi, blocked Libya’s Interpol arrest warrant of Bin Laden (11-10-2002)
TIME, 1986 – LIBYA: Real and Illusionary Events (TIME, 10-13-1986)
How the US Government destabilized foreign governments (FCN, 07-22-1985)
How 6 million People Were killed in CIA secret wars (Info Clearing House)
Secret ties between CIA, drugs revealed (FCN, 1996)
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—NO IT IS NOT ISRALE BUT ENGLAND WHICH USES USA TO MAKE PERPETAUL WAR ON ALL THOSE COUNTRIES BRAWEN AND WHITE WHO DARE TO RISE UP ON THEIR OWN MERIT AND EFFORT. ENGLAISH ARE THE PARASITE PEOPLE WHO JSUT WANT TO LOOT OTHERS WEALTH JSUT LIEK THAT-OFOCURSE THEY DONTO WANT TO WORK FOR THAT SO THEY USE USA MILITARY TO DO THEIR BIDDING.
IT SO HAPPENS THAT ISRALE AGENDA SEEMS TO COINCISDE WITH THAT OF THE BRITISH PIARATES.
DURING REAGAN ERA OF HARD COLD WART THAT DEFENCE MISNTER CASPER WIANEBERGER A POLE AND ANTI RUSSAIN WAS A VIRULENT ANTIJEW BUT A VERY PRO BRITISH THAT IS WHY HE STAYED IN HIS JOB LONG ENOUGH TO EARTN KNIGHTHOOD FROMN QUEEN OF ENGLAND FOR HIS SERVICE TO ENGLAND AS AMERICAN DEFENC MINSTER.———————-
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http://nightforgiven.blogspot.com/
a satire !
“Where is a resolution of UN Security Council on imposing a no-fly zone over Britain?
by group ‘For Gaddafi & his People’ on facebook, Konstantyn Scheglikov
________________________________________________________________
On Saturday, August, 6th in the suburbs of London, a rebellion of democratically minded progressive young people dissatisfied with the dictatorship of ruling for about a half of a century, Queen Elizabeth II, broke out. They demand respect for their rights, democratic freedoms and reforms in the UK. The international community expressed support for their heroic struggle against the dictatorship of Queen Elizabeth II. The countries of the UN General Assembly require an urgent convening of the Security Council on the UK. EU leaders have expressed concern due to the fact that thousands of people have become the victims of the dictatorial regime in the UK. The police and army are using the force against the freedom fighters disproportionately.
There is an evidence on the use of aircraft in the areas densely populated by the freedom fighters”
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Glad to see you’re back Mr. Rozoff. What the hell was WordPress thinking? Keep up your work. You rock!!!
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Hi, Rick, you might like this terrific layout – and thank you for all:
And here’s the link for you:
http://www.newint.org/features/web-exclusive/2011/09/12/war-on-terror-deaths-iraq-afghanistan-libya/
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Thank you in return for sharing this version of your article, which had been posted on Stop NATO yesterday in its previous avatar.
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Can we do anything to stop Libya TNC from getting their hands on Gaddafis wife,daughter,grandchildren and other sons in algeria? They are demanding they release them so they can put them on trial.We all know that would be a death sentence.They have already seen so much,lost so much.no matter what people say about Gaddafi,he had good intentions,loved his family and his people.He was framed for lockerbie and made out to look bad by NATO and rebels,but he was a human and no one deserves what he went through at the hands of the worlds super powers and out of control barbarians. I hear Ayesha suffered a breakdown,those children loved their dad.There has to be a way to have their travel ban lifted.They are no threat.i’m sickened by this entire thing with NATO and the celebration of human suffering and loss of life.i don’t know that this world offers much to look forward to.
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I share your concerns, but fear the worse. During the Cold War years political figures and their families, whether in power or in opposition, could seek sanctuary in nations in the opposing bloc and in neutral, non-aligned nations.
For the past twenty years, though, the U.S. and its NATO allies and partners (altogether some 70 countries) have ensured that there is nowhere to seek refuge, nowhere to hide for one’s life.
American service members avoiding deployment and redeployment for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan cannot even stay in Canada now, unlike during the Vietnam War.
The problem is that none of the world’s mice (to use no worse term) are ready to bell the U.S.-NATO cat.
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NATO vs The 1st Amendment
YouTube:
This video shows the early stages of the growing Chicago movement against the newly minted extraordinary police powers ordinance (dubbed the “sit down and shut up” laws). We go to one of the many actions around the city directed at Chicago aldermen who were about to vote on these new laws (designed by Democratic Party Mayor Emanuel to crush any dissent against the NATO/G8 summits he is hosting here in May).
Richard de Vries, Union Representative for IBT 705, tells a story about when he and Danny Solis were students at University of Illinois-Chicago campus back in the early 70s and they both participated in a student protest/occupation of the campus. If the ordinance under consideration (which now Alderman Solis finally approved of) were in effect then, “we wouldn’t even be on the street today.”
We also visit the press conference at City Hall given by an impressive coalition of neighborhood and labor organizations on the eve of City Council committee meetings and final vote. The draconian measures, only marginally tweaked, passed overwhelmingly by the all-Democratic Party Council.
The video is also a useful primer on what NATO is and some of its criminal record, from the bombings of civilians in Yugoslavia in the late 90s to NATO’s recent killings of civilians in Libya and Afghanistan. In January of this year the Arab Organisation for Human Rights together with the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights announced that there is evidence that NATO has committed war crimes.
“My estimate: it’s Military Murder Inc.,” states Rick Rozoff, manager of the Stop NATO web site, as he provides extensive background information.
Includes interviews and comments from numerous labor and community leaders. Length 25:37
Produced by Labor Beat. Labor Beat is a CAN TV Community Partner. Labor Beat is a non-profit 501(c)(3) member of IBEW 1220. Views are those of the producer Labor Beat. For info: mail@laborbeat.org, http://www.laborbeat.org. 312-226-3330. For other Labor Beat videos, visit YouTube and search “Labor Beat”.
On Chicago CAN TV Channel 19, Thursdays 9:30 pm; Fridays 4:30 pm. Labor Beat has regular cable slots in Chicago, Evanston, Rockford, Urbana, IL; Philadelphia, PA; Princeton, NJ; and Rochester, NY. For more detailed information, send us a request at mail@laborbeat.org.
“NATO vs The 1st Amendment” will be shown on tv in Chicago:
Chicago – CAN TV cable tv Channel 19:
Thurs., March 1, 9:30 pm
Fri., March 2, 4:30 pm
Thurs., March 8, 9:30 pm
Fri., Oct. March 9, 4:30 pm
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Rick, I really appreciated your article, America Threatens China.
I’ve been feeling that something fishy is going on and when I was reminded by reading your article that the annual war games that the U.S. with South Korea are in the spring, it coalesced my disquiet on receiving this tipoff from Jeju Island peace activist Sung-Hee Choi that war games are being planned again, to start in three days. I’m forwarding her message to you.
Here’s what you wrote:
The U.S. and South Korea held their joint Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises from February 28 to April 30 (February 28-March 9 and March 1-April 30, respectively) with 11,000 American and over 200,000 South Korean troops.
The reasons that they’re stating for holding these war games again June 21-22 2012 is because of rising tensions in S. Korea, and then they cite the Cheonan incident and the recent failed launch of a rocket by N. Korea (as well as the uncertainty following Kim Jong-Il’s death). I fail to see how any of these mostly old events would warrant holding war games again this year, so soon after the annual exercises that have already been held. This just didn’t make any sense to me. So I started researching and trying to find out what’s really going on.
Then I found this article telling about how they are going to reenact how North Korea was attacked 62 years ago. What’s going on here? Are the navy war games being held at the same time, with Japan also being involved, to provide support for an actual attack on North Korea in the guise of war games that reenact an attack? It’s taken me two hours of searching to find this information. I just knew that I was onto something.
I’ve had a strong feeling this past week that something was up. This bears close watching.
:
2012/06/18 15:07 KST
http://www.nknews.org/2012/06/s-korea-u-s-to-hold-largest-ever-drill-to-mark-62nd-anniversary-of-war/
(LEAD) S. Korea, U.S. to hold largest-ever drill to mark 62nd anniversary of war
SEOUL, June 18 (Yonhap) — South Korean and U.S. armed forces will hold their largest live-fire exercise this week to mark the 62nd anniversary of the start of the Korean War, as tensions continue between the two Koreas, officials said Monday.
The Friday exercise in Pocheon near the tense border with the North will involve more than 2,000 troops, F-15K combat fighter planes, Apache attack helicopters and tanks, said officials at Seoul’s defense ministry.
The one-day drill, to be presided over by Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik, is aimed at displaying a watertight defense posture and war-fighting capabilities, ministry officials said.
An E-737 Airborne Early Warning and Control plane, dubbed “Peace Eye,” and T/A-50 light attack aircraft will take part in such a joint drill for the first time, officials said.
The drill plans to demonstrate how the allies would counter an attack by North Korean armed forces by re-enacting the invasion by the North 62 years ago, officials said.
The Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950, when tank-led North Korean troops invaded South Korea. The United States and 20 other allied countries fought on the side of South Korea under the U.N. flag. The conflict ended in a cease-fire three years later.
About 28,500 U.S. troops are currently stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the Korean War.
Also later this week, South Korea, the U.S. and Japan will hold two-day trilateral naval maneuvers in waters south of the Korean Peninsula, military officials said.
The three-way exercise, set for Thursday and Friday, will be headed by a U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington.
On Monday, North Korea termed the upcoming trilateral drills “military provocations,” accusing the U.S. of making “arms buildup moves” in South Korea.
“The DPRK (North Korea) is watching with high vigilance the U.S. preparations for war being expanded in a phased manner. It will increase its self-defense capabilities in every way to protect sovereignty and dignity of the country and nation,” a spokesman at the North’s foreign ministry said in a report carried by its official Korean Central News Agency.
South Korean and U.S. military officials have discussed ways to keep anti-North Korea deterrence strong as North Korea’s new leader, Kim Jong-un, appears to stick to a policy of provocative acts, including a failed rocket launch in April. The young leader took over the communist nation after his father and longtime ruler, Kim Jong-il, died last December.
Concern persists that North Korea may soon conduct a third nuclear test and wage military provocation to make amends for its failed launch, despite the North announcing it has no immediate plan to do so. The North’s previous two rocket launches in 2006 and 2009 were followed by nuclear tests.
kdh@yna.co.kr
helling of Yeonpyeong that followed it (which happened two years ago in 2010), Kim Jung-Il’s death and the recent launching
I’ve clipped in an article below that shows the USS George Washington carrier strike group will be taking part in these trilateral war games and then going over to Hawaii to join in the RIMPAC war games. For some reason, this strikes me as significant.
US, South Korea and Japan to conduct trilateral naval exercise
15 June 2012
Print Email
The US Navy will conduct a joint two-day trilateral naval exercise with the South Korea and the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) in the waters south of the Korean peninsula later this month.
The naval exercise runs from June 21-22 and is intended to improve the participating navies’ interoperability and communications in an effort to jointly facilitate future disaster relief and maritime security missions.
The exercise will be conducted beyond the territorial waters of any coastal nation, following which, the US and South Korean navies will perform routine carrier operation in the Yellow Sea from 23-25 June 2012.
Following the completion of the two exercises, the George Washington Carrier Strike Group (CSG) is scheduled to make a port call in Busan, South Korea.
“The exercise is intended to improve the participating navies’ interoperability and communications in an effort to jointly facilitate future disaster relief and maritime security missions.”
The George Washington CSG previously participated in the four-day naval and sea exercise conducted in the Sea of Japan in response to North Korea’s 2010 sinking of the Cheonan warship, which killed 46 South Korean sailors.
According to media sources, North Korea or China did not immediately react to the announcement of the two upcoming naval exercises.
The ROK, JMSDF and US Navies will also take part in the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2012 exercise, scheduled to begin on 29 June in the Hawaiian Islands area.
Intended to maintain peace and stability of the Pacific region with collaborative defence efforts, the RIMPAC 2012 aims to bolster and sustain critical cooperative relationships, while ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security.
——————————————————————————–
Image: USS George Washington and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ships during an exercise. Photo: US Navy photo by mass communication specialist seaman Brendan Morgan.
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Sung-Hee Choi
Date: Fri, Jun 15, 2012 at 12:15 AM
Subject: [nousbases] [Held off Jeju ] Korea, US, Japan to stage joint naval exercise next week
To: No US Bases , ap-nobases
Korea, US, Japan to stage joint naval exercise next week
06-14-2012 11:39
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/06/205_113027.html
Korea, the United States and Japan will hold a joint naval exercise next week involving mock search and rescue operations and maritime interdiction drills, Seoul’s defense ministry said Thursday.
The exercise will be held off Korea’s southern resort island of Jeju next Thursday and Friday, and will mobilize destroyers, logistics support ships and antisubmarine helicopters, the ministry said.
The three countries have staged joint naval drills since 2008.
The ministry also jointly announced with the Pentagon a plan to hold a separate joint naval exercise between the two countries in the Yellow Sea on June 23-25.
The annual drill will involve antisubmarine drills against a North Korean invasion by sea, surface ship maneuvers and submarine detection exercises. The U.S. aircraft carrier USS George Washington is expected to take part in the drills, the ministry said. (Yonhap)
—
Ariel Ky
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Why Everybody’s Going To War in the Middle East
The leaders of the US, Israel, China and Iran believe they each will benefit from a limited war in the Middle East.
The problem is what if the war expands further and is longer than they foresee?
http://www.thedailybell.com/4216/Ron-Holland-Why-Everybodys-Going-To-War-in-the-Middle-East
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If you do not follow the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, I suggest that you do. The military and economic encirclement of China and Russia is the goal of the US fascists.
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Posted this from Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space yesterday:
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Hello Rick,
I very much appreciated your broadcast on Corbett.
We are transcribing it and would like to publish in The Spokesman.
May we do so?
You kindly contributed to Spokesman 113, NATO? — NO THANKS!, which had an editorial about Ireland’s refusal to join NATO in 1949:
Click to access Edit113.pdf
That refusal, described by Sean MacBride who was instrumental in it, is pertinent to the current debate about Scottish independence from the UK. Today, the Scottish National Party (SNP), which forms the Scottish Government, is debating a change in its policy to favour NATO membership, should Scotland become independent following the referendum in 2014. Those in the SNP advocating such a course argue that they would be doing the same as Norway and Denmark, but they never mention Ireland, which has survived outside NATO for more than 60 years, despite being a truly North Atlantic island.
SNP CND, who oppose a change to a pro-NATO policy, have produced this useful briefing:
Click to access NATOQandA.pdf
Greetings from England, and many thanks for all your work!
Tony Simpson
Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation
http://www.russfound.org
http://www.spokesmanbooks.com
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Subject: American journalist blames Georgia for supplying of Syrian rebels with
It is in Georgian too!
American journalist blames Georgia for supplying Syrian rebels with weapons
http://www.geworld.net/index.php?lang=en
Georgia has long been recognized as a transit point for illegal trade and illegal arms trafficking between Central Asia and Europe, and more recently the rest of the world. It should be in the direct interest of the law enforcement and intelligence services to curb this trade. The links with these networks can however provide deeply important information regarding the activities of certain “groups of interests”, including terrorist networks . . .
FrontPage in Georgian newspapers, very interesting documentation here that is mentioned too!
A Federal judge wrote an order to take it down and now someone put it back.
\
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http://www.iranreview.org/content/Documents/Secret-Documents-American-Media-Will-Never-Disclose.htm
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I find it a shame and disgraceful that there is actually a website aimed at stopping one of the greatest peace-bringing organizations the world has ever seen. Do you people REALLY even know what NATO does or do you wear blinders and only focus on the negative side of things. I work for the the U.S. European Command’s State Partnership Program which works closely with NATO. Both organizations do amazing things and you apparently don’t many of them. We help prevent failed states and we contribute to a stable Europe. We engage partner nations through military, socio-political, and economic conduits at the local, state, and national levels, all of which bring peace. NATO and the State Partnership Program have wonderful relationships with dozens of countries that might otherwise sink into utter chaos, such as Syria. Soldiers at all levels and on both sides of each partnership consider their counterparts an extended family and treat them with the same respect they treat Soldiers of their own country. We train together and deploy side-by-side into combat.
I hope someday you see the light.
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I’ve seen the light. The light of explosions over defenseless Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Libya caused by your “greatest peace-bringing organization the world has ever seen.”
Am also familiar with the state partnership program with America’s new military colonies in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. Here in Illinois the National Guard “partners” with Poland and trains their young men and women to kill and die in battlefields in Afghanistan and to provide armed might for the racist, genocidal gangster regime in Kosovo.
There’s a word for deliberately killing someone in their own country who never threatened you: Murder.
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We are welcomed guests in Poland and 21 other countries of the SPP because we have gained the trust of these countries (government and public), not an easy thing and something that takes decades to achieve. I have been to each of these countries and in most have shared dinner with soldiers and their families. Have you visited them? Have you spoke to a Serb, a Ukrainian, Bosnian? I have been personally thank by hundreds in these countries, even though the role I play is undeserving of their admiration. We have built schools, hospitals, nurseries, and countless others facilities that have saved countless lives. We have gained their respect and trust because they see we truly care. Before our help, all many of them knew was pain and suffering. Now there is legitimate prosperity in these countries.
Since you brought up Poland and Kosovo, two countries I am very familiar with, let me ask you something. Do you know how many Polish military have died in Afghanistan since the war began? Do you know how many were dying every day at the hands of the Soviet Union before NATO brought it down? Would you really prefer a continuation of the latter? If so, why?
Do you know how many Kosovo military (and civilians) have died in Kosovo and Afghanistan before NATO and how many after? Would you prefer the old Kosovo or the new? Why?
One more question. What do you suggest we do in Syria? Nothing? The death count is 60,000 and climbing hundreds every day. If you knew NATO intervention would bring the fighting to an end, would you support their efforts or allow the death toll to rise just out of principle.
It’s not a perfect world, but we are doing far more good than harm and arm chairing from the comfort of Illinois does no good. If you were writing me from one Afghanistan or Poland or Kosovo, then I might actually think you knew what you were talking about. I look forward to your reply.
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First of all, it would be appreciated if the website of United States European Command allowed those of us who oppose militarism and war to have comparable opportunities to voice our opinions, especially as over the past 44 years no inconsiderable amount of money has been taken out of my paychecks to in part fund all that I most detest: Military bullying and murder abroad.
You don’t identify your rank, so I have no reason to doubt that the activities you’ve been involved in are indeed of the nature you describe.
I also don’t dispute that U.S. military personnel have performed civilian, even humanitarian (in the broadest sense of the term), actions overseas, as also with the U.S. Navy’s Africa Partnership Station and U.S. Africa Command’s Natural Fire exercises in East Africa.
But the mightiest military machine in history, one which has waged unprovoked wars in Europe, Asia and Africa since 1999, is not a social service agency, neither is it a subsidiary of Habitat for Humanity.
Polish casualties in Afghanistan, since you ask, are 37 killed and over 100 wounded.
Along with 23 Polish deaths in Iraq, where 2,300 Polish troops were in command of the Multi-National Force – Iraq Central South Command with NATO assistance, they are the first Polish military deaths since World War II.
I live in Chicago, which is reported to have the second largest ethnic Polish population in the world, only surpassed in that respect by Warsaw. My paternal grandmother was Polish.
What your program (and comparable ones in other parts of the world) was designed to do and what it has accomplished is to transform the militaries of dozens of former Eastern Bloc nations from attending to the only legitimate purpose for maintaining armed forces – territorial defense – to following the U.S. example of using the military for expeditionary wars abroad. That is, for armed aggression and imperialism.
By the way, no Polish or any other non-Soviet Warsaw Pact troops were deployed to Afghanistan from 1979-1992. Troops from every former non-Soviet Warsaw Pact member have been deployed to Iraq (to prove their NATO bona fides) and Afghanistan.
As to Kosovo, one only has to take NATO’s own figures (in the summer of 2000, fifteen months after NATO marched into Kosovo, some 2,200 bodies found) and those of the International Committee of the Red Cross (3,000 missing from 1998 to the present day, including many of the above 2,200 who were unidentified) to determine that far more people were killed after NATO commenced its 78-day terror bombing than before and, let this sink in, that more innocent civilians have been murdered in Kosovo since NATO installed the narco-trafficking, sex-slaving, murder-for-organs “Kosovo Liberation Army” in power in June of 1999 than before, even including the war period.
Der Spiegel, which can hardly be accused of anti-NATO bias, reported in the autumn of 2000 that over a thousand ethnic Albanians had been killed in Kosovo by KLA gangs since June 1999. That was over twelve years ago; the figure is higher since, of course.
And thousands of ethnic Serbs, Roma and other minorities have been murdered and “disappeared” in the interim as well. All of the above under U.S. and NATO auspices.
Lastly, I see you that you are now champing at the bit to have NATO devastate Syria next and turn it into the sort of hell that has been effected in Kosovo, Libya and Afghanistan.
Heaven help you don’t get what you so ardently wish for.
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Brian Smith, it’s not a “perfect world” because of assholes like you. Get a life.
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Brian Smith would be a NATO shill? Nothing says ‘humanitarian’ like NATO. Bringing up Poland, how about the CIA secret dungeons in Poland. Poles don’t seem to mind so much doing CIA wet work. Yes, that would be ‘humanitarian’. The all glorious NATO is running opium out of the Afghaniscam. Yes, that would be ‘humanitarian’. Proxy wars and NATO. Butchery deluxe. Yes, ‘humanitarian’ takes on an entirely new meaning when putting NATO in context. As for Syria, the US/NATO is already there and they’re using those ‘humanitarian’ al-Qaeda boys for murdering Syrians. See? Even more ‘humanitarian’ NATO bullsh*t.
Smith, you can’t defend the indefensible. Interventionism is mass murder with a smiley face.
By the by, it really doesn’t matter from where one sits and witnesses US/NATO murderous insanity. US/NATO practice is butchery on a global scale.
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I think Rick’s comment on the freedom you (Brian Smith) enjoy here is the most telling.
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Richard, I actually enjoy debating with you because you at least you have done you’re reading and know a lot of facts. Unfortunately, as I’m sure you can’t possibly deny, not everything you read or hear in the media is the truth, and the media usually publishes only dirt because that’s what people want. I would like to reply to your comments tomorrow if you will indulge me as I have no time right now. I can’t however reply to some of your followers who relegate themselves with nothing meaningful to say…I’m curious to know if you enjoy their input or not.
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Now, now, Brian, no “splitting” behavior. Bad trait among borderline personalities and disinformation officers. Hope you are in neither category.
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“History is an account, mostly false-
of events, mostly unimportant-
by rulers, mostly KNAVES-
and soldiers, mostly FOOLS-
Ambrose Bierce
“The Devils Dictionary”
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I call on My fellow Britons to wake up and oust the current corrupt British War Mongering Political Elite We must stop attacking other Countries in Particular Muslim ones David Cameron William Hague have No Mandate to declare War unless Britain is directly Threatened,I also apologise to the Countries that Cameron and Hague have Bombed it was never in My Name and I object to it,Americans must do the Same remove Obama
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MY INTERVIEW WITH NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL FOGH RASMUSSEN
ON THE US GOVERNMENTAL SHUTDOWN
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Rasmussen: North Atlantic Treaty Organization Headquarters, Rasmussen here.
Stone: Hello, Mr. Secretary-General, my name is Ken Stone, foreign correspondent for the Hamilton Speculator in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. May I ask you some questions about –
Rasmussen: Oh, I am always so glad to talk to my Canadian allies! As your able prime minister, Mr. Harper, is wont to say, Canadians always punch well above their weight in military affairs. Just look at what your boys did over there when we hijacked the country of Afghanistan: only 2500 of you pacified the whole of Kandahar Province by yourselves for six years! Never mind those baseless allegations about the torture of prisoners… Your esteemed general, Rick Hillier, really socked it to those Taliban “terrorist scumbags”! By the way, how is Rick doing these days?
Stone: Uh, I think he’s enjoying his retirement…
Rasmussen: And what about my close, Canadian, comrade-in-arms, le général Bouchard? He did a smash-up job running that regime change operation for us in Libya! Was he richly rewarded by your able prime minister for his services to the international community?
Stone: Well, Prime Minister Harper presided over a ceremony in Ottawa for the veterans of the Libyan conflict in which each of them, including the pilots who unleashed their missiles from their fighter jets and the sailors who fired their big guns from the safety of their warships way out at sea, received a medal for courage.
Rasmussen: Perfect! So, what can I do for you today, Mr. Stone?
Stone: Well, I’m calling about the international implications of the shutdown of the government of the United States of America and its possible default on its debt.
Rasmussen: Yes…?
Stone: Well, it seems to my colleagues here in Canada that the USA may now be aptly described as a failed state, you know, similar to Somalia or Libya today. After all, it can’t even keep its governmental bureaucracy working and it’s virtually bankrupt.
Rasmussen: So…?
Stone: So, if it qualifies as a failed state, the question inevitably arises of how to protect the human rights of its citizens.
Rasmussen: Protecting the human rights of US citizens? I don’t understand.
Stone: Well, you know that some five million US families were driven from their homes since 2008?
Rasmussen: I don’t see what that has to do with the US government. That was due to a financial collapse of some banks.
Stone: Exactly! The US government bailed out the banksters whose greed and fraudulent practices caused the collapse but not the poor people who lost their homes due to foreclosures.
Rasmussen: Okay, okay, I get your point, but what has this got to do with me?
Stone: Well, didn’t NATO intervene in the former Yugoslavia because of allegations (later proven false) that the government of Slobodan Milosevic was driving the ethnic Albanians from their homes in Kosovo?
Rasmussen: Mr. Stone, those two events are hardly comparable!
Stone: Well, how about this, then? In the USA, there are about three million citizens who are languishing in a vast gulag of private-for-profit prisons, and among this prison population, persons of colour are vastly over-represented.
Rasmussen: So?
Stone: Mr. Rasmussen, when you were prime minister of Denmark in 2003, you committed Danish troops to the so-called “Coalition of the Willing” to help George Bush and Tony Blair overthrow the government of Saddam Hussein because you said Hussein ran a tyrannical government. You favoured a “humanitarian intervention” to protect Iraqi civilians. Doesn’t running a gulag of three million US citizens qualify as a tyranny?
Rasmussen: The US can hardly be described as a tyranny, Mr. Stone. It’s one of the world’s great democracies.
Stone: It is? Well, how about the racial profiling of Arabs and Muslims in the US? The continuing subjugation of its native peoples? The endless discrimination against its women citizens? The growing abrogation of the trade union rights of US workers? The cleansing of US small farmers off the land? The exploitation of illegal immigrants? The clamping down on the Occupy Movement?
Rasmussen: Mr. Stone, I don’t understand where your argument is leading.
Stone: It’s simple, Mr. Secretary-General. According to the doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect (a.k.a. R2P), which I am proud to say was developed in Canada, when a state government can no longer ensure the human rights of its citizens or when it flagrantly abuses them, it is the duty of the international community to step in and do something. I mean, isn’t that precisely what you personally did two years ago when the United Nations Security Council gave NATO the authority under Resolution 1973 to establish a no-fly zone over Libya?
Rasmussen: Yes, but Gaddafi was threatening to kill his own civilians.
Stone: Obama personally and routinely authorizes the targeted assassinations of US citizens by Predator drones on Tuesday mornings.
Rasmussen: That’s different. Those Americans were terrorists.
Stone: Obama is giving arms to Al Qaeda mercenaries in Syria. And two weeks ago, you supported him by stating publicly that “the military option (must remain) on the table.”
Rasmussen: Enough! You are twisting my words –
Stone: So, if the UN Security Council decides to invoke R2P to protect US citizens who live under the tyranny of the 1% in a failed state, will NATO establish a no-fly zone over the USA, Puerto Rico, the Panama Canal Zone, and its 700 overseas military bases?
Rasmussen: I think you dialed the wrong military alliance, Mr. Stone. Do you want me to transfer your call to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization? Perhaps, you’d like to talk to President Putin or President Xi or President Rouhani about placing the Occupy Movement in the White House to fill in the power vacuum in the USA.
Stone: Not a bad idea, Anders! One last question… Do people often make fun of your middle name, Fogh?
Rasmussen: Fogh you, Mr. Stone!
(dial tone)
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This is brilliant. Positively brilliant.
What a superb parody and work of imagination.
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Great stuff !! (And Fogh you Nato !!)
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Richard, I’ve only just glanced at your site as I now sit watching C-span’s airing of “NATO Operations 07July14”. I like what I see, so far… I have one comment and one question,
If I deciphered correctly Anders Rasmussen in his speech Monday, he is suggesting Europe and the US should continue integrating our military systems and furthermore start strengthening and melding our cultures, institutions, and ideologies.
Sounds like NWO, or “The Invisibles” not caring about being invisible anymore.
( Richard…my comment to you is an off-the-wall one. I can’t help but see a Swastika every single time I glance over at your logo.
ANYONE care to comment on my thoughts?
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You are a very significant open source of peacemaking intelligence!
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I think it is time we started to organize some sit in strikes and protests to stop this insanity in the Ukraine before it is to late. Anyone interested?
Sincerely,
RR
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Sara,
Know that there were folks in the US who spoke out and demonstrated against the NATO (U.S.) dismemberment and bombing of Yugoslavia and Belgrade respectively.
Ramsey Clarke and the IAC led the way (along with many other scholars and activists) .
I led a demonstration here in West Palm Beaxh, Fl and held workshops on the issue.
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The Baltic States: top 10 results of NATO membership
http://www.defencetalk.com/forums/geo-strategic-issues/top-10-results-nato
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Congratulations, Rick!
I have nominated your blog for the Real Neat Blog Award!
More about this nomination is at
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Thank you.
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Well deserved; ) Best wishes for you and your blog!
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I hope you do some interviews soon – we need your voice I think. This is your time – considering the fact that Russia is such a focus of current events.
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The war paradigm must be changed maybe #metoo can change it.
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