David Swanson's Blog, page 226
March 31, 2011
Simon Moyle's Kabul Peace Diaries
I'm headed to Afghanistan and appreciating this wonderful blog from someone just returned home from there.
March 30, 2011
Our Billion Dollar Turd Sandwich
So President Obama has been quoted calling his war in Libya a turd sandwich, while Juan Cole calls it philanthropy, and Ed Schultz praises it as vengeance against this month's Adolph Hitler. The last time we bombed this particular Hitler we took out his daughter, among other people.
How is Schultz's spitting mad hatred as war justification squared with Cole's humanitarian generosity? The answer is easy. They prefer different condiments on their turd sandwiches. Which is why wars are always packaged in multiple and mutually contradictory propaganda campaigns.
Peace Activists Headed to Afghanistan
Voices for Creative Nonviolence
www.vcnv.org
Peace Activist from Charlottesville Headed to Afghanistan
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. - From April 1st to 10th David Swanson of Charlottesville, Va., will join a group of international peace activists meeting with ordinary and prominent Afghans in Kabul, Afghanistan.
On Visiting an Unwinnable War
I'll be visiting my nation's longest war next week in Afghanistan, thanks to a wonderful organization called Voices for Creative Nonviolence which seeks to build friendship and understanding between countries. I'll be meeting with ordinary and prominent Afghans and reporting on what they think of their country's future -- often a more complex view than will fit into a television sound byte.
Prediction: 20 Years of War in Libya
Johan Galtung, sometimes called the father of peace studies, predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union and the refusal of Egyptian soldiers to attack civilians. His prediction of the collapse of the US empire in 2020 appears to be on schedule. So, it was noteworthy when he predicted on Tuesday at the University of Virginia that the war in Libya would last 20 years. If, however, NATO and the opposition were to kill Gadaffi, he said, the fighting could go on for more than 20 years.
This prediction came the day after Obama gave one of those speeches, like his speeches on Gitmo or Iraq, where he persuades you that something is already over without actually making that claim. How can the war (excuse me, humanitarian intervention) in Libya be over and have 20 years left to go?
March 29, 2011
Obama on Libya: What Would MLK Say?
President Obama on Monday said he would "never hesitate" to use the U.S. military "unilaterally" to defend "interests" and "values," including "maintaining the flow of commerce." Fear of exactly that led the founders of this republic to give Congress the exclusive power to declare war. James Madison did not believe any single individual could be trusted with such power:
"The strongest passions and most dangerous weaknesses of the human breast, ambition, avarice, vanity, the honorable or venal love of fame, are all in conspiracy against the desire and duty of peace."
March 28, 2011
March 26, 2011
Audio: David Swanson Refuting Lawrence Kaplan's Case for Bombing Lybia
Audio from Hans Michael:
I still hope to get the audio for Part I with Lawrence Kaplan and Part III with Chris Hedges, but here's Part II (David Swanson) in 3 pieces (mp3s):
Audio: War Is A Lie on David Feldman Comedy Radio
David Swanson, author of War Is A Lie, talks about Libya. Along with Robert Smigel, Mark Thompson, Andy Caploe, Jackie Kashian, Chris Pina and Jane Edith Wilson.Written by Steve Rosenfield, Ben Zelevansky, Mark Thompson, Kevin Rooney, Robert Smigel and Andy Caploe. War Is A Lie can be purchased by going to WarIsALie.org
Artist: David Swanson
Title: War Is A Lie
Genre: Comedy
Year: 2011
Length: 29:31 minutes (33.79 MB)
Format: MP3 Stereo 44kHz 160Kbps (CBR)
Listen in on Libya - and Call in Too
Lawrence Kaplan of TNR just explained why we have to bomb Libya
I'm about to be on to correct him
http://www.620kpoj.com/mediaplayer/
