Tag: Korea

Pushing the Envelope for Peace

by Nancy Eberg, Greater New Haven Peace Council

Our group has been involved in many diverse activities during the last year, some controversial. The Greater New Haven Peace Council opposes American intervention in the Middle and Far East, South America, and Africa; the rescission of many environmental protections and financial regulations; and the expansion of militarization.

We initiated the “Move the Money” governmental resolutions in New Haven which has spread across the country and was ratified by the US Conference of Mayors, resulting in public hearings showing how our taxes could be better spent on local issues than on war and weapons. Some of the Council attended international peace conferences in Cuba and Vietnam.

Our successful “No Foreign Bases” conference in Baltimore had representatives from around the US and the world. This was an attempt to form a more cohesive peace movement. Members of this group later engaged in an anti-war activity in NYC. Another anti-war conference at Middlesex College focused on American imperialism and the inherent violence in American society. Additionally, we held forums on the Cuban green energy initiative, Korea, and the opposition to the US military base on Jeju Island. The Board of Alders, at our request, held a public hearing with department heads specifying how decreased federal military spending could impact local government.

Our annual reading of MLK’s “Beyond Vietnam” speech was a success, despite the weather. We showed films high-lighting important issues, commemorated the anniversaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and met with our Congressional representatives. Also, we sponsored and engaged in other groups’ initiatives — activities on last year’s International Women’s Day, marches on women’s issues, gun violence, and immigration and the Greenwich anti-war demonstration, among others. Every Friday, pamphlets about the week’s current events are given out in front of City Hall.

Thus, it is evident that our group has, and will continue to, strive against this administration’s initiatives. We believe that diplomacy, not war, should be utilized to solve nations’ differences. Although right now our efforts seem to be exercises in futility, in the long run, we hope to prevail.

Korea: Don’t Let Trump Normalize Genocide

by Stanley Heller, PEP

At a meeting in early August President Trump threatened North Korea with “fire and fury like the world has never seen.” He was worse at the U.N. this week. There talking about the U.S. he said, “if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.” Totally destroy? A country has a right to defend itself from an actual attack, but not to wipe out the entire nation of the offending government. That’s the immense crime of genocide. Trump threatened genocide and the corporate media just blandly reported it. The politicians were deafeningly silent.

photo: CodePink

photo: CodePink

There seems to be no limit to what crimes you can threaten in this brutal world. Talking about North Korean Supreme Leader Kim this month, John McCain said “If he acts in an aggressive fashion, the price will be extinction.”

For its part (if corporate media translators are to be believed) Kim’s government uses similar language to make monstrous threats. In April his Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Han threatened a “pre-emptive” nuclear attack if North Korea felt it was going to be attacked. In July a spokesperson said if there was the “slightest hint” that the U.S. was trying to remove Kim there would be a “merciless blow in the heart of the U.S.” with our “powerful nuclear hammer.”

The difference, of course, is that while North Korea is developing a nuclear force, the U.S. could actually annihilate North Korea right now.

The U.S. public is quiet, either buying Trump’s line or acting as if both side were just blowhards who would never dare to go through with their warnings. Yet even if Trump and Kim don’t really want nuclear war things have a habit of getting out of hand. People get angry, accidents happen, mistakes are made and … The point is not to get hysterical and start a nuclear war.

Read the whole article at peacenews.org.