To sum it all up is how many Ukranians, Palestinians and Israelis will be sacrificed at the altar of the MIC for money laundering? I am just hoping that we survive all of this considering two nuclear powers very existence is being threatened. See we are forgetting that Israel has nukes too and that is on my bingo card for where the mass destruction starts. And as far as Israel and Palestine goes I say a pox on both of their houses both of them have committed so many atrocities I can't get behind either of them, there are no innocents in that region. If we do avoid Armageddon my other hope is that all of those involved in US foreign policy and their surrogate NATO pay for their war crimes against the Ukranian people.
Hundreds of lawyers from around the world called on the US to end the use of unilateral economic sanctions, saying the tool amounts to collective punishment of civilians and is illegal under international law.
In a letter to President Joe Biden, the lawyers, legal organizations and scholars decried the USâs increased reliance on sanctions to punish and coerce its adversaries and said the measures can lead to economic instability, hunger and reduced access to medicine and essential goods.
âCollective punishment is a standard practice of US foreign policy today in the form of broad, unilateral economic and financial sanctions,â the signatories said. While the use of sanctions is different from conventional warfare, âits collective impact on civilians can be just as indiscriminate, punitive, and deadly,â they said. (...)
The Pentagon is in the midst of a massive $2 trillion multiyear plan to build a new generation of nuclear-armed missiles, bombers, and submarines. A large chunk of that funding will go to major nuclear weapons contractors like Bechtel, General Dynamics, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman. And they will do everything in their power to keep that money flowing.
This January, a review of the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program under the Nunn-McCurdy Act â a congressional provision designed to rein in cost overruns of Pentagon weapons programs â found that the missile, the crown jewel of the nuclear overhaul plan involving 450 missile-holding silos spread across five states, is already 81% over its original budget. It is now estimated that it will cost a total of nearly $141 billion to develop and purchase, a figure only likely to rise in the future.
That Pentagon review had the option of canceling the Sentinel program because of such a staggering cost increase. Instead, it doubled down on the program, asserting that it would be an essential element of any future nuclear deterrent and must continue, even if the funding for other defense programs has to be cut to make way for it. In justifying the decision, Deputy Defense Secretary William LaPlante stated: âWe are fully aware of the costs, but we are also aware of the risks of not modernizing our nuclear forces and not addressing the very real threats we confront.â
Cost is indeed one significant issue, but the biggest risk to the rest of us comes from continuing to build and deploy ICBMs, rather than delaying or shelving the Sentinel program. As former Secretary of Defense William Perry has noted, ICBMs are âsome of the most dangerous weapons in the worldâ because they âcould trigger an accidental nuclear war.â As he explained, a president warned (accurately or not) of an enemy nuclear attack would have only minutes to decide whether to launch such ICBMs and conceivably devastate the planet. (...)
American flags purchased by the federal government will soon be required to be completely produced and manufactured in the United States. (...)
The government had previously only been required to buy flags that contain at least 50% American-made materials.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) introduced the All-American Flag Act. He said he believed this wasnât the law sooner because of corporate interest groups that moved jobs to China.
âThere never should be an American flag flying over a military base, whether itâs the Toledo air base or whether itâs a post office. There should never be an American flag flying over a government building thatâs not entirely made by American workers,â Brown said.
Brownâs office says in 2017, the U.S. imported 10 million American flags and all but 50,000 came from China.
How did this suddenly become the summer of âthe draftâ?
There are a number of proposals in the annual defense policy bill (National Defense Authorization Act) that deal with the subject. There is one to expand selective service registration to women. Another that would make Selective Service registration for American men âautomatic.â
Still another proposed amendment to the NDAA, which has also been introduced as a freestanding bill, S. 4881, would repeal the Military Selective Service Act entirely. Meanwhile, the Center for a New American Security just published an exhaustive blueprint for modernizing mobilization, including readiness to activate conscription.
As such, there are currently ten thousand draft board members who have been appointed and trained to adjudicate claims for deferment or exemption. As recently as this month, states have been openly seeking volunteers to fill empty slots. And both the SSS and hawkish think-tanks have been war-gaming the governmentâs contingency plans to activate a draft. (...)
I know this will probably annoy you, but you and I have a very similar view of American Empire and Hegemony. Trump will learn quickly he will have to go into negotiation mode heavy after the immediate rebuff of this ridiculous peace plan by Putin, but I believe he will and hope that he gets the opportunity because if he doesn't just stock up on your iodine pills cause you ain't far from us.
1. ~1/3 of all nations on Earth now face some form of US sanctions. Huge increase from when mostly applied to Cuba & a handful of regimes
2. +*60%* of *all poor countries* are under US sanctions of some kind. Has become almost a reflex of US foreign policy
3. Sanctions have spawned multi-billion-dollar lobbying & influence industry, enriching former US officials who are hired by foreign countries & oligarchs
4. Sanctions have had devastating effects on innocent civilians. In Cuba, they've made critical medical supplies impossible to import. In Venezuela, they contributed to a financial collapse 3X greater than the US Great Depression. Syria faces its greatest humanitarian crisis this year after a decade civil war & sanctions.
5. Treasury staffers drafted a ~40 page plan aimed at reforming the sanctions process that was dramatically whittled down amid disagreements w/ State
6. OFAC is widely described as overwhelmed by tens of thousands of requests. WH officials have brainstormed sanctions scenarios w/ outside nonprofits
7. Biden has unleashed unprecedented volley of +6K sanctions in 2 years. Higher than even previously unprecedented rate of Trump.
âWe donât think about the collateral damage of sanctions the same way we think about the collateral damage of war ... But we should.â
The (collective) punishment will continue until morale improves.
