Peace Action
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Baltimore
Connecting the Dots: Iran, China, and the Challenge to U.S. Hegemony:
Debunking a century of war lies
https://youtu.be/Yw0-ASR4sr8
This is our reply to the 4 Democratic Maryland Congress members who signed an AIPAC letter to Antony Blinken supporting Trump's warlike plan for Iran. They are Reps. Anthony Brown, Kweisi Mfume, Dutch Ruppersberger and David Trone. Senator Cardin signed a similar letter.
The letter that you signed on March 9, which may result in a disastrous war with Iran, was based on several inaccuracies and assumptions, which I hope to clarify below. I include your letter here for your convenience:
I analyze the seven paragraphs of the letter as follows:
1st Paragraph: “threats that Iran poses to the region.”
Unlike the U.S., which has invaded country after country which had nothing to do with 9/11, Iran has invaded no one in over 200 years.
2nd Pgph: “Following the decertification of the JCPOA, Iran violated the previously agreed upon restrictions on refining fissile material and stated that it was no longer bound by any of its limits.”
If one party breaks a contract, how can they demand the other party maintain the terms of the contract? Obama’s Iran Deal should be reinstated immediately.
3rd Pgph: “malign behavior. Three core tenets - their nuclear program, their ballistic missile program, and their funding of terrorism“
Iran has no nuclear weapons program, as certified by the IAEA inspectors and parties to the JCPOA, except by the US which unilaterally broke the agreement. All countries have defensive missiles, which are legal and not malign. Iran does not fund terrorism but is legally invited to defend neighbors who are illegally attacked and invaded by the U.S., resulting in the deaths of millions. Iran is defensive.
4th Pgph: “Iran must never be able to acquire nuclear weapons.”
That is precisely why the US should reinstate the JCPOA Iran Deal, to which Iran has adhered along with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which the US and Israel have not adhered to. One of the provisions of the NNPT is for nuclear disarmament by the nuclear powers. The US and Israel are violators, not Iran.
5th pgph: “ensure that Iran cannot develop a nuclear-capable ballistic missile.”
Since Iran has no nuclear weapons and the JCPOA enforced that, missiles are not a nuclear threat to anyone, especially to Israel, which has 200 nuclear warheads and has been occupying Palestine for 40 years in violation of UN Resolutions.
6th pgph: “Iran backed forces in Iraq that have targeted American troops and worked to undermine the Iraqi government.”
The U.S. undermines the Iraqi government because Iraq has asked American troops to leave. Unwanted occupying troops should get out. Abraham Lincoln said the same thing to U.S. President Polk when he falsely claimed Americans died on U.S. soil so Polk could steal Texas from Mexico to increase the number of slave states. U.S. troops died where they should not have been.
7th pgph: “we are united in preventing an Iranian nuclear weapon.”
If you want to prevent an Iranian nuclear weapon, you should support Obama’s JCPOA Iran Deal which does exactly that. Why are Democrats supporting Trump’s war-prone plan instead? I urge you to ask President Biden to reinstate President Obama’s Iran deal ASAP.
WE WANT CONGRESS TO PASS THIS RESOLUTION:
Nuclear Posture Review and Congressional Resolution
WHEREAS the Nuclear Posture Review may recommend new nuclear weapons; and
WHEREAS a nuclear war can occur by miscalculation, mistake, upon perceived grave threat or by first-strike calculation; and
WHEREAS a nuclear holocaust will end civilization, kill billions of people, and destroy the biosphere of all living things; and
WHEREAS even a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan could create a nuclear winter, killing crops worldwide, starving billions of people and contaminating the earth with long-lived radioisotopes; and
WHEREAS other existential threats to humanity can be reduced by transferring the nuclear weapons budget to climate and disease solutions;
WHEREAS the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has been ratified by 56 nations and the only nation ever to have used atomic bombs on people has a special responsibility to lead in nuclear disarmament;
THEREFORE: BE IT RESOLVED that the Congress of the U.S. recognizes and calls on all people to recognize that the highest priority of humanity must be to prevent a nuclear holocaust; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Congress recognizes there is no threat to humanity and the biosphere greater than a nuclear holocaust; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Congress recognizes there is no institution, entity or government more important than preventing a nuclear holocaust; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Congress recognizes only by total nuclear disarmament by all nations and entities can nuclear holocaust be positively prevented; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Congress recognizes that chemical and biological weapons have been eliminated and outlawed by international agreement with mutual verification, establishing a precedent for nuclear disarmament; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Congress instructs the Department of Defense, Department of Energy and the Executive Branch to immediately invite their Russian counterparts to join the U.S. in mutual verification of the safe destruction of nuclear warheads down to a level no greater than of any of the remaining nuclear powers, who will be invited to follow suit.
Angst over China, Russia lessens chance of US nuke changes
This article from the Associated Press could have been written by the nuclear industry profiteers, not by think tanks (says Richard Ochs), because I draw the exact opposite conclusion. It is precisely because of such international tensions that we absolutely need nuclear disarmament.
If two kids in the hood are about to have a fisticuffs, is it smart to arm them with maximum firepower? The advice that city halls are giving nowadays to reduce police brutality and riots is conflict de-escalation, including not threatening excessive force. Why would this philosophy not apply on the international level where the actual existence of humanity is at stake?
The smart response to perceived nuclear or conventional escalation is not to depend on unusable weapons. The smart response to perceived or threatened aggression by alleged enemies is to offer a nuclear disarmament agreement. How are nuclear weapons supposed to stop a Russian occupation of a former territory or Chinese policing one of their provinces?
The perfect time to offer a pact for nuclear disarmament is during a crisis, when the dangers are most apparent, not the opposite. The Chinese word for crisis is opportunity. Would the West be that smart or is the AP owned by stockholders in arms?
Baltimore Peace Action will meet on Thursday: January 20 at 6 PM. We will send the zoom link and access numbers to members and to non-members who register at Bmore4peace@gmail.com
Help deliver certificates to 59 embassies in DC on Tues, Jan 18
Email address above to join.
Certificate of our deepest Appreciation Presented to:
each of 59 nations for Ratifying the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
We, the undersigned, honor your moral and exemplary global leadership in the cause of abolishing nuclear weapons and ending their unparalleled threat to humanity, the earth, peace and security."
Physicians for Social Responsibility USA, Peace Action USA, Pax Christi USA, CODEPINK, Prevent Nuclear War Maryland, Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, Poulsbo WA, Hiroshima Nagasaki Peace Committee of the Natl Capital Area, World BEYOND War
.
We join the Baltimore Non-violence Center to banner and hold placards every Tuesday from 4:to 5 PM at 33rd & N. Charles
Song: "Sanity VS Doomsday:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HTIyZ5K_-E
We mourne the death of Sharon Jones, a dedicated activist who will always be in our hearts.