alternet--2020-12-02--Internet erupts over the right’s massive hypocrisy of calling for martial law but opposing masks

Many Americans were shocked to wake up Wednesday to see former Trump National Security Adviser Mike Flynn calling for martial law so the U.S. military can hold a `` do-over '' election .
Flynn is not alone , there is a large number of people promoting this lawless and unconstitutional behavior , all in service to Donald Trump .
Flynn and other far right wing `` leaders , '' including pro-Trump attorney Lin Wood , are pushing a Tea Party group 's statement `` demanding that President Trump Invoke limited Martial law in order to allow the U.S. Military to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ election if Legislators , Courts and the Congress do not follow the Constitution . ''
To be clear , there was no significant election fraud or voter fraud .
Even Trump 's own Attorney General Bill Barr made that declaration on Tuesday .
The far right has taken over the main Republican Party , and this is a direct result .
Many on social media are furious , especially since no Republican , especially President Trump , has called to put a stop to this dangerous incitement .
Many are rightly criticizing these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whom are coming close to appearing to embrace sedition – as astonishingly hypocritical .
They are 100 percent OK with suspending the U.S. Constitution because Trump legitimately lost , holding a military-overseen election `` do-over '' because Trump lost ( by nearly 7 million votes ) , but wearing a face mask to prevent the spread of a deadly virus violates their `` rights '' and is `` fascism . ''
Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell is challenging his GOP peers to denounce the hypocrisy : Here 's what others are saying .
Take @ @ @

Many Americans were shocked to wake up Wednesday to see former Trump National Security Adviser Mike Flynn calling for martial law so the U.S. military can hold a "do-over" election. Flynn is not alone, there is a large number of people promoting this lawless and unconstitutional behavior, all in service to Donald Trump.
Flynn and other far right wing "leaders," including pro-Trump attorney Lin Wood, are pushing a Tea Party group's statement "demanding that President Trump Invoke limited Martial law in order to allow the U.S. Military to oversee a new free and fair federal election if Legislators, Courts and the Congress do not follow the Constitution."
To be clear, there was no significant election fraud or voter fraud. Even Trump's own Attorney General Bill Barr made that declaration on Tuesday.
The far right has taken over the main Republican Party, and this is a direct result.
Many on social media are furious, especially since no Republican, especially President Trump, has called to put a stop to this dangerous incitement. Many are rightly criticizing these self-declared "patriots" – many of whom are coming close to appearing to embrace sedition – as astonishingly hypocritical.
Why?
They are 100 percent OK with suspending the U.S. Constitution because Trump legitimately lost, holding a military-overseen election "do-over" because Trump lost (by nearly 7 million votes), but wearing a face mask to prevent the spread of a deadly virus violates their "rights" and is "fascism."
Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell is challenging his GOP peers to denounce the hypocrisy:
Here's what others are saying. Take a look:


alternet--2020-12-02--Ohio tea party leader urges Trump to suspend the Constitution, invoke martial law to push for new vo

Ohio tea party leader urges Trump to suspend the Constitution, invoke martial law to push for new vote

A Tea Party leader in Ohio took out a full-page ad in the Washington Times with a message to President Donald Trump urging him to take unprecedented action to force states to conduct a new vote in an effort to overturn the presidential election .
According to Cleveland.com , the man responsible for placing the ad is Tom Zawistowski , the executive director of the Portage County Tea Party and member of the We the People Convention .
The text was also published to the party 's `` We the People '' website .
In the ad , Zawistowski echoed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fraud claims as he suggested `` when Democrat Joe Biden is formally elected the next president , as is expected , Trump should order the U.S. military to oversee a new election for federal candidates using only paper ballots , '' per the publication .
`` Without a fair vote , we fear , with good reason , the threat of a shooting civil war is imminent , '' the ad states , which also included subtle warning that if the president opts not to declare martial law , `` we will also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ matters into our own hands , and defend our rights on our own . ''
Zawistowski also wrote , `` we wanted to express our concerns to the President , to the legislators , courts and Congress that We the People will NOT cede our exclusive Constitutional right to elect our Representatives to judges , lawyers , courts , Governors , Secretary 's of State , Congress , corrupt election officials and local politicians , the corrupt media - or Leftist threats of violence !
It is OUR EXCLUSIVE RIGHT to elect our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ infringed by the massive , planned , illegal election fraud conducted by corrupt Democrat/Socialist Party operatives across our nation to steal our vote .
We will NOT stand for it . ''
The Tea Party leader 's latest remarks come as Trump and his campaign continue to scramble for evidence to support their voter fraud claims , many of which have been perpetuated by the president , himself .
Despite Zawistowski 's call for Trump to take action against the election results , there does not appear to be a clear path Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ desires .
In addition to the dozens of lawsuits that have been dismissed in several different states , even U.S. Attorney Bill Barr has admitted there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud .

A Tea Party leader in Ohio took out a full-page ad in the Washington Times with a message to President Donald Trump urging him to take unprecedented action to force states to conduct a new vote in an effort to overturn the presidential election.
According to Cleveland.com, the man responsible for placing the ad is Tom Zawistowski, the executive director of the Portage County Tea Party and member of the We the People Convention. The text was also published to the party's "We the People" website.
In the ad, Zawistowski echoed a number of Trump's unfounded voter fraud claims as he suggested "when Democrat Joe Biden is formally elected the next president, as is expected, Trump should order the U.S. military to oversee a new election for federal candidates using only paper ballots," per the publication.
"Without a fair vote, we fear, with good reason, the threat of a shooting civil war is imminent," the ad states, which also included subtle warning that if the president opts not to declare martial law, "we will also have no other choice but to take matters into our own hands, and defend our rights on our own."
Zawistowski also wrote, "we wanted to express our concerns to the President, to the legislators, courts and Congress that We the People will NOT cede our exclusive Constitutional right to elect our Representatives to judges, lawyers, courts, Governors, Secretary's of State, Congress, corrupt election officials and local politicians, the corrupt media - or Leftist threats of violence! It is OUR EXCLUSIVE RIGHT to elect our President and that sacred right has been infringed by the massive, planned, illegal election fraud conducted by corrupt Democrat/Socialist Party operatives across our nation to steal our vote. We will NOT stand for it."
The Tea Party leader's latest remarks come as Trump and his campaign continue to scramble for evidence to support their voter fraud claims, many of which have been perpetuated by the president, himself.
Despite Zawistowski's call for Trump to take action against the election results, there does not appear to be a clear path Trump can take to achieve the outcome he desires. In addition to the dozens of lawsuits that have been dismissed in several different states, even U.S. Attorney Bill Barr has admitted there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud.


alternet--2020-12-02--The Big 6 banks in the US have now all ruled out funding for drilling in the Arctic

Climate campaigners and Indigenous rights supporters are welcoming news that Bank of America has ruled out financing fossil fuel extraction in the Arctic , including in Alaska 's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge .
Bank of America on Monday became the last holdout of the major U.S. banks to make such a pledge after facing sustained pressure from activists to renounce drilling in the region .
`` It has long been clear that drilling in the Arctic Refuge would trample Indigenous rights , threaten vulnerable wildlife , and worsen the climate crisis , '' said Sierra Club senior campaign representative Ben @ @ @ @ @ @ @ American bank has stated unequivocally that they will not finance this destructive activity , '' Cushing continued , `` it should be clearer than ever that any oil company considering participating in Trump 's ill-advised lease sale should stay away . ''
The news follows similar announcements over the past year from the five other U.S. banking giants—JPMorgan Chase , Citigroup , Goldman Sachs , Morgan Stanley , and Wells Fargo—and comes as the pro-fossil fuel Trump administration continues its fervent push for oil and gas extraction in the Arctic , `` irreversible @ @ @ @ @ @ @ communities be damned .
Just last month the Trump administration was accused of trying to bully financial institutions into backing oil and gas projects , including in the Arctic , with a proposal from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency preventing banks from categorically excluding certain customers .
Also last month , the administration asked fossil fuel companies to bid on leases in ANWR 's Coastal Plain—an area the Gwich'in call `` the sacred place where life begins . ''
`` The Trump administration has never even pretended to care about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be threatened by the destruction of the coastal plain , but major financial institutions are listening to us , '' said Gwich'in Steering Committee executive director Bernadette Demientieff in a statement Monday .
She pointed to long-standing Indigenous resistance to extraction in the area that is crucial to the Porcupine Caribou Herd .
`` Although it took over two years it was well worth it .
We will never stop fighting to protect the sacred calving grounds from destructive drilling , and we will prevail , '' added Demientieff .
While the Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plan for extraction in the Arctic , Emily Atkin , writing in her latest HEATED newsletter Tuesday , said that it 's `` unclear ... to what degree oil companies are actually going to show up to Trump 's sale , '' given the financial risk of such drilling and the harm to public image banks would face given the massive public opposition to such plans .
`` Still , '' Atkin wrote , `` it 's unlikely the Trump administration would go through all the last-minute work of selling off the Arctic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some interest from oil companies .
When bids are unsealed on lease sale day , we 'll know which companies those are—and they 'll have to a lot to answer for . ''
With an eye on that possibility , Gwich'in Youth Council member Isaiah Horace , a Gwichyaa Zhee Gwich'in from Fort Yukon Alaska , said much more work remains .
`` This is not the end of the fight , '' Horace said , `` and we must continue to stand united for our lands , our caribou , our ways @ @ @ @ @ @ @ generations .
No one has the right to destroy sacred lands with or without permission .
We still have a lot of work to do . ''

Climate campaigners and Indigenous rights supporters are welcoming news that Bank of America has ruled out financing fossil fuel extraction in the Arctic, including in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Bank of America on Monday became the last holdout of the major U.S. banks to make such a pledge after facing sustained pressure from activists to renounce drilling in the region.
"It has long been clear that drilling in the Arctic Refuge would trample Indigenous rights, threaten vulnerable wildlife, and worsen the climate crisis," said Sierra Club senior campaign representative Ben Cushing.
"Now that every major American bank has stated unequivocally that they will not finance this destructive activity," Cushing continued, "it should be clearer than ever that any oil company considering participating in Trump's ill-advised lease sale should stay away."
Bloomberg first reported the announcement Monday.
The news follows similar announcements over the past year from the five other U.S. banking giants—JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo—and comes as the pro-fossil fuel Trump administration continues its fervent push for oil and gas extraction in the Arctic, "irreversible harm" to the local ecoystem and communities be damned.
Just last month the Trump administration was accused of trying to bully financial institutions into backing oil and gas projects, including in the Arctic, with a proposal from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency preventing banks from categorically excluding certain customers. Also last month, the administration asked fossil fuel companies to bid on leases in ANWR's Coastal Plain—an area the Gwich'in call "the sacred place where life begins."
"The Trump administration has never even pretended to care about the Indigenous communities whose human rights would be threatened by the destruction of the coastal plain, but major financial institutions are listening to us," said Gwich'in Steering Committee executive director Bernadette Demientieff in a statement Monday. She pointed to long-standing Indigenous resistance to extraction in the area that is crucial to the Porcupine Caribou Herd.
"Although it took over two years it was well worth it. We will never stop fighting to protect the sacred calving grounds from destructive drilling, and we will prevail," added Demientieff.
While the Trump administration is still plowing ahead with its plan for extraction in the Arctic, Emily Atkin, writing in her latest HEATED newsletter Tuesday, said that it's "unclear... to what degree oil companies are actually going to show up to Trump's sale," given the financial risk of such drilling and the harm to public image banks would face given the massive public opposition to such plans.
"Still," Atkin wrote, "it's unlikely the Trump administration would go through all the last-minute work of selling off the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge if there weren't some interest from oil companies. When bids are unsealed on lease sale day, we'll know which companies those are—and they'll have to a lot to answer for."
With an eye on that possibility, Gwich'in Youth Council member Isaiah Horace, a Gwichyaa Zhee Gwich'in from Fort Yukon Alaska, said much more work remains.
"This is not the end of the fight," Horace said, "and we must continue to stand united for our lands, our caribou, our ways of life, and for our future generations. No one has the right to destroy sacred lands with or without permission. We still have a lot of work to do."


alternet--2020-12-02--Over $3.65 million in small business loans went to 25 companies paying rent at Trump, Kushner proper

Over $3.65 million in small business loans went to 25 companies paying rent at Trump, Kushner properties: PPP data

Months after the the first coronavirus relief package , news outlets are still pressing the Small Business Administration ( SBA ) for pertinent data to gain a better understanding of who benefited from pandemic relief programs .
Now , the federal agency has released extensive data revealing the full list of the small businesses who received a disbursement from the Paycheck Protection Program ( PPP ) or a Economic Injury Disaster ( EIDL ) loan .
According to NBC News , the data dump reveals the most complete measure of accounting for pandemic relief disbursements to date .
The data @ @ @ @ @ @ @ amount of the $ 700 billion in forgivable loans being approved for properties owned by the Trump Organization as well as his son-in-law White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner 's family business , Kushner Companies .
Although the funds were initially supposed to be used for a number of `` allowable expenses including payroll , rent , utilities , and mortgage interest payments , '' it appears both the Trump Organization and Kushner Companies may have profited from pandemic relief funds .
In fact , the data also suggests that some businesses did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ purposes .
Per NBC News , the data indicates : • Over 25 PPP loans worth more than $ 3.65 million were given to businesses with addresses at Trump and Kushner real estate properties , paying rent to those owners .
Fifteen of the properties self-reported that they only kept one job , zero jobs or did not report a number at all .
• The loans to Trump and Kushner properties included a $ 2,164,543 loan to the Triomphe Restaurant Corp. , located at Trump International Hotel & Tower in New York @ @ @ @ @ @ @ did n't go to keeping any jobs .
It later closed .
• A company called LB City Inc , which is located at Kushner 's Bungalow Hotel in Long Branch , New Jersey , received a loan for $ 505,552.50 that it used to keep 155 jobs .
• Two tenants at 725 5th Avenue , Trump Tower , received more than $ 100,000 and only kept three jobs .
• Four tenants at the Kushner-owned 666 5th Avenue combined received more than $ 204,000 , and only retained 6 jobs .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ an accountability firm , weighed in on the latest findings as he expressed concern about the dereliction of duty on the part of the Trump administration .
Herrig said , `` Many months and broken promises later , the court-ordered release of this crucial data while the Trump administration is one foot out the door is a shameful dereliction of duty and flagrant mismanagement of a program that millions of workers and small businesses needed to get through this pandemic . ''
However , the SBA has released a statement defending its actions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ evening , an SBA spokesman said , `` SBA 's historically successful COVID relief loan programs have helped millions of small businesses and tens of millions of American workers when they needed it most . ''

Months after the the first coronavirus relief package, news outlets are still pressing the Small Business Administration (SBA) for pertinent data to gain a better understanding of who benefited from pandemic relief programs.
Now, the federal agency has released extensive data revealing the full list of the small businesses who received a disbursement from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) or a Economic Injury Disaster (EIDL) loan. According to NBC News, the data dump reveals the most complete measure of accounting for pandemic relief disbursements to date.
The data is quite troubling due to a sizable amount of the $700 billion in forgivable loans being approved for properties owned by the Trump Organization as well as his son-in-law White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner's family business, Kushner Companies.
Although the funds were initially supposed to be used for a number of "allowable expenses including payroll, rent, utilities, and mortgage interest payments," it appears both the Trump Organization and Kushner Companies may have profited from pandemic relief funds. In fact, the data also suggests that some businesses did not use the funds for initially intended purposes.
Per NBC News, the data indicates:
Over 25 PPP loans worth more than $3.65 million were given to businesses with addresses at Trump and Kushner real estate properties, paying rent to those owners. Fifteen of the properties self-reported that they only kept one job, zero jobs or did not report a number at all.
The loans to Trump and Kushner properties included a $2,164,543 loan to the Triomphe Restaurant Corp., located at Trump International Hotel & Tower in New York City. The company reported the money didn't go to keeping any jobs. It later closed.
A company called LB City Inc, which is located at Kushner's Bungalow Hotel in Long Branch, New Jersey, received a loan for $505,552.50 that it used to keep 155 jobs.
Two tenants at 725 5th Avenue, Trump Tower, received more than $100,000 and only kept three jobs.
Four tenants at the Kushner-owned 666 5th Avenue combined received more than $204,000, and only retained 6 jobs.
Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US, an accountability firm, weighed in on the latest findings as he expressed concern about the dereliction of duty on the part of the Trump administration.
Herrig said, "Many months and broken promises later, the court-ordered release of this crucial data while the Trump administration is one foot out the door is a shameful dereliction of duty and flagrant mismanagement of a program that millions of workers and small businesses needed to get through this pandemic."
However, the SBA has released a statement defending its actions. In a statement released on Tuesday evening, an SBA spokesman said, "SBA's historically successful COVID relief loan programs have helped millions of small businesses and tens of millions of American workers when they needed it most."


alternet--2020-12-02--Ex-CISA chief fires back after Trump attorney's threat: 'I am not going to be intimidated'

Chris Krebs , the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in the United States Department of Homeland Security , has once again affirmed the integrity of the 2020 election .
Despite backlash from President Donald Trump , along with his campaign , legal team , and allies , Krebs defended his work within the federal agency in an editorial published Tuesday by the Washington Post .
According to Krebs , the U.S. national security agencies had a very clear mission during the 2020 election : protect America 's democracy .
`` Across the nation 's security agencies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ foreign election interference could not be allowed to happen again .
The mission was clear : Defend democracy and protect U.S. elections from threats foreign and domestic . ''
Pushing back against Trump 's widespread voter fraud claims , Krebs made it clear that election security was unprecedented for the 2020 election .
`` The 2020 election was the most secure in U.S. history , '' Krebs said .
`` This success should be celebrated by all Americans , not undermined in the service of a profoundly un-American goal . ''
He also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the election .
With heightened concerns about the possibility of domestic and international election interference , national security agencies went above and beyond the call of duty to ensure the country 's election systems and integrity were secured .
`` With the advantage of time to prepare for the 2020 election , we got to work , '' Krebs said , adding , `` My team at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency , or CISA , had primary responsibility for working with state and local election officials and the private sector to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ machines , equipment and systems supporting elections — from hacking .
( Other agencies handle fraud or other criminal election-related activity . )
The Russian assault in 2016 had not included hacking voting machines , but we could n't be sure that Moscow or some other bad actor would n't try it in 2020 . ''
Krebs also touched on the dangerous remarks made by Trump campaign attorney Joseph DiGenova as he made it clear he is not deterred by threats .
He wrote , `` On Monday , a lawyer for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ should be executed .
I am not going to be intimidated by these threats from telling the truth to the American people . ''

Chris Krebs, the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in the United States Department of Homeland Security, has once again affirmed the integrity of the 2020 election.
Despite backlash from President Donald Trump, along with his campaign, legal team, and allies, Krebs defended his work within the federal agency in an editorial published Tuesday by the Washington Post. According to Krebs, the U.S. national security agencies had a very clear mission during the 2020 election: protect America's democracy.
"Across the nation's security agencies, there was universal acknowledgment that such foreign election interference could not be allowed to happen again. The mission was clear: Defend democracy and protect U.S. elections from threats foreign and domestic."
Pushing back against Trump's widespread voter fraud claims, Krebs made it clear that election security was unprecedented for the 2020 election.
"The 2020 election was the most secure in U.S. history," Krebs said. "This success should be celebrated by all Americans, not undermined in the service of a profoundly un-American goal."
He also outlined how the federal agency prepared for the election. With heightened concerns about the possibility of domestic and international election interference, national security agencies went above and beyond the call of duty to ensure the country's election systems and integrity were secured.
"With the advantage of time to prepare for the 2020 election, we got to work," Krebs said, adding, "My team at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, had primary responsibility for working with state and local election officials and the private sector to secure their election infrastructure — including the machines, equipment and systems supporting elections — from hacking. (Other agencies handle fraud or other criminal election-related activity.) The Russian assault in 2016 had not included hacking voting machines, but we couldn't be sure that Moscow or some other bad actor wouldn't try it in 2020."
Krebs also touched on the dangerous remarks made by Trump campaign attorney Joseph DiGenova as he made it clear he is not deterred by threats.
He wrote, "On Monday, a lawyer for the president's campaign plainly stated that I should be executed. I am not going to be intimidated by these threats from telling the truth to the American people."


alternet--2020-12-02--The neoliberal roots of US bad behavior: Eisenhower's ghost haunts Biden's foreign policy team

In his first words as President-elect Joe Biden 's nominee for Secretary of State , Antony Blinken said , `` we have to proceed with equal measures of humility and confidence . ''
Many around the world will welcome this promise of humility from the new administration , and Americans should too .
Biden 's foreign policy team will also need a special kind of confidence to confront the most serious challenge they face .
That will not be a threat from a hostile foreign country , but the controlling and corrupting power of the Military-Industrial Complex , which President @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ago , but whose `` unwarranted influence '' has only grown ever since , as Eisenhower warned , and in spite of his warning .
The Covid pandemic is a tragic demonstration of why America 's new leaders should listen humbly to our neighbors around the world instead of trying to reassert American `` leadership . ''
While the United States compromised with a deadly virus to protect corporate financial interests , abandoning Americans to both the pandemic and its economic effects , other countries put their people 's health first and contained @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Many of those people have since returned to living normal , healthy lives .
Biden and Blinken should listen humbly to their leaders and learn from them , instead of continuing to promote the U.S. neoliberal model that is failing us so badly .
As efforts to develop safe and effective vaccines begin to bear fruit , America is doubling down on its mistakes , relying on Big Pharma to produce expensive , profitable vaccines on an America First basis , even as China , Russia , the WHO 's Covax program @ @ @ @ @ @ @ low-cost vaccines wherever they are needed around the world .
Chinese vaccines are already in use in Indonesia , Malaysia and the UAE , and China is making loans to poorer countries that ca n't afford to pay for them up front .
At the recent G20 summit , German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned her Western colleagues that they are being eclipsed by China 's vaccine diplomacy .
Russia has orders from 50 countries for 1.2 billion doses of its Sputnik V vaccine .
President Putin told the G20 that vaccines should be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ available to rich and poor countries alike , and that Russia will provide them wherever they are needed .
The U.K. and Sweden 's Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine is another non-profit venture that will cost about $ 3 per dose , a small fraction of the U.S. 's Pfizer and Moderna products .
From the beginning of the pandemic , it was predictable that U.S. failures and other countries ' successes would reshape global leadership .
When the world finally recovers from this pandemic , people around the world will thank China , Russia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their lives and helping them in their hour of need .
The Biden administration must also help our neighbors to defeat the pandemic , and it must do better than Trump and his corporate mafia in that respect , but it is already too late to speak of American leadership in this context .
The neoliberal roots of U.S. bad behavior Decades of U.S. bad behavior in other areas have already led to a broader decline in American global leadership .
The U.S. refusal to join the Kyoto Protocol or any binding agreement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ otherwise avoidable existential crisis for the entire human race , even as the United States is still producing record amounts of oil and natural gas .
Biden 's climate czar John Kerry now says that the agreement he negotiated in Paris as Secretary of State `` is not enough , '' but he has only himself and Obama to blame for that .
Obama 's policy was to boost fracked natural gas as a `` bridge fuel '' for U.S. power plants , and to quash any possibility of a binding climate treaty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ policy , like the U.S. response to Covid , is a corrupt compromise between science and self-serving corporate interests that has predictably proved to be no solution at all .
If Biden and Kerry bring more of that kind of American leadership to the Glasgow climate conference in 2021 , humanity must reject it as a matter of survival .
America 's post-9/11 `` Global War on Terror , '' more accurately a `` global war of terror , '' has fueled war , chaos and terrorism across the world .
The absurd @ @ @ @ @ @ @ somehow put an end to terrorism quickly devolved into a cynical pretext for `` regime change '' wars against any country that resisted the imperial dictates of the wannabe `` superpower . ''
Secretary of State Colin Powell privately dubbed his colleagues the `` fucking crazies , '' even as he lied to the UN Security Council and the world to advance their plans for illegal aggression against Iraq .
Joe Biden 's critical role as Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was to orchestrate hearings that promoted their lies and excluded @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The resulting spiral of violence has killed millions of people , from 7,037 American troop deaths to five assassinations of Iranian scientists ( under Obama and now Trump ) .
Most of the victims have been either innocent civilians or people just trying to defend themselves , their families or their countries from foreign invaders , U.S.-trained death squads or actual CIA-backed terrorists .
Former Nuremberg prosecutor Ben Ferencz told NPR only a week after the crimes of September 11th , `` It can never be legitimate to punish people who are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We must make a distinction between punishing the guilty and punishing others . ''
Neither Afghanistan , Iraq , Somalia , Pakistan , Palestine , Libya , Syria or Yemen was responsible for the crimes of September 11th , and yet U.S. and allied armed forces have filled miles upon miles of graveyards with the bodies of their innocent people .
Like the Covid pandemic and the climate crisis , the unimaginable horror of the `` war on terror '' is another calamitous case of corrupt U.S. policy-making leading to massive loss of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and pervert U.S. policy , in particular the supremely powerful Military-Industrial Complex , marginalized the inconvenient truths that none of these countries had attacked or even threatened to attack the United States , and that U.S. and allied attacks on them violated the most fundamental principles of international law .
If Biden and his team genuinely aspire for the United States to play a leading and constructive role in the world , they must find a way to turn the page on this ugly episode in the already bloody history of American foreign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Senator Bernie Sanders , has called for a formal commission to investigate how U.S. policymakers so deliberately and systematically violated and undermined the `` rules-based international order '' that their grandparents so carefully and wisely built after two world wars that killed a hundred million people .
Others have observed that the remedy provided for by that rules-based order would be to prosecute senior U.S. officials .
That would probably include Biden and some of his team .
Ben Ferencz has noted that the U.S. case for `` preemptive '' war is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ used to justify their crimes of aggression at Nuremberg .
`` That argument was considered by three American judges at Nuremberg , '' Ferencz explained , `` and they sentenced Ohlendorf and twelve others to death by hanging .
So it 's very disappointing to find that my government today is prepared to do something for which we hanged Germans as war criminals . ''
Time to Break the Cross of Iron Another critical problem facing the Biden team is the deterioration of U.S. relations with China and Russia .
Both countries ' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ therefore cost a small fraction of what the U.S. spends on its global war machine - 9 % in the case of Russia , and 36 % for China .
Russia , of all countries , has sound historical reasons to maintain strong defenses , and does so very cost-effectively .
As former President Carter reminded Trump , China has not been at war since a brief border war with Vietnam in 1979 , and has instead focused on economic development and lifted 800 million people out of poverty , while the U.S. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lost wars .
Is it any wonder that China 's economy is now healthier and more dynamic than ours ?
For the United States to blame Russia and China for America 's unprecedented military spending and global militarism is a cynical reversal of cause and effect - as much of a nonsense and an injustice as using the crimes of September 11th as a pretext to attack countries and kill people who had nothing to do with the crimes committed .
So here too , Biden 's team face a stark choice between @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a deceptive one driven by the capture of U.S. policy by corrupt interests , in this case the most powerful of them all , Eisenhower 's infamous Military-Industrial Complex .
Biden 's officials have spent their careers in a hall of mirrors and revolving doors that conflates and confuses defense with corrupt , self-serving militarism , but our future now depends on rescuing our country from that deal with the devil .
As the saying goes , the only tool the U.S. has invested in is a hammer , so every problem looks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to every dispute with another country is an expensive new weapons system , another U.S. military intervention , a coup , a covert operation , a proxy war , tighter sanctions or some other form of coercion , all based on the supposed power of the U.S. to impose its will on other countries , but all increasingly ineffective , destructive and impossible to undo once unleashed .
This has led to war without end in Afghanistan and Iraq ; it has left Haiti , Honduras and Ukraine destabilized and mired in poverty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it has destroyed Libya , Syria and Yemen with covert and proxy wars and resulting humanitarian crises ; and to U.S. sanctions that affect a third of humanity .
So the first question for the first meeting of Biden 's foreign policy team should be whether they can sever their loyalties to the arms manufacturers , corporate-funded think tanks , lobbying and consultant firms , government contractors and corporations they have worked for or partnered with during their careers .
These conflicts of interest amount to a sickness at the roots of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world , and they will not be resolved without a clean break .
Any member of Biden 's team who can not make that commitment and mean it should resign now , before they do any more damage .
Long before his farewell speech in 1961 , President Eisenhower made another speech , responding to the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953 .
He said , `` Every gun that is made , every warship launched , every rocket fired signifies , in the final sense , a theft from those who hunger @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are cold and are not clothed ...
This is not a way of life at all , in any true sense .
Under the cloud of threatening war , it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron . ''
In his first year in office , Eisenhower ended the Korean War and cut military spending by 39 % from its wartime peak .
Then he resisted pressures to raise it again , despite his failure to end the Cold War .
Today , the Military-Industrial Complex is counting on a reversion to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as the key to its future power and profits , to keep us hanging from this rusty old cross of iron , squandering America 's wealth on trillion-dollar weapons programs as people go hungry , millions of Americans have no healthcare and our climate becomes unlivable .
Are Joe Biden , Tony Blinken and Jake Sullivan the kind of leaders to just say `` No '' to the Military-Industrial Complex and consign this cross of iron to the junkyard of history , where it belongs ?
We will find out very soon .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ journalist , a researcher with CODEPINK , and the author of Blood On Our Hands : the American Invasion and Destruction of Iraq .

In his first words as President-elect Joe Biden's nominee for Secretary of State, Antony Blinken said, "we have to proceed with equal measures of humility and confidence." Many around the world will welcome this promise of humility from the new administration, and Americans should too.
Biden's foreign policy team will also need a special kind of confidence to confront the most serious challenge they face. That will not be a threat from a hostile foreign country, but the controlling and corrupting power of the Military-Industrial Complex, which President Eisenhower warned our grandparents about 60 years ago, but whose "unwarranted influence" has only grown ever since, as Eisenhower warned, and in spite of his warning.
The Covid pandemic is a tragic demonstration of why America's new leaders should listen humbly to our neighbors around the world instead of trying to reassert American "leadership." While the United States compromised with a deadly virus to protect corporate financial interests, abandoning Americans to both the pandemic and its economic effects, other countries put their people's health first and contained, controlled or even eliminated the virus.
Many of those people have since returned to living normal, healthy lives. Biden and Blinken should listen humbly to their leaders and learn from them, instead of continuing to promote the U.S. neoliberal model that is failing us so badly.
As efforts to develop safe and effective vaccines begin to bear fruit, America is doubling down on its mistakes, relying on Big Pharma to produce expensive, profitable vaccines on an America First basis, even as China, Russia, the WHO's Covax program and others are already starting to provide low-cost vaccines wherever they are needed around the world.
Chinese vaccines are already in use in Indonesia, Malaysia and the UAE, and China is making loans to poorer countries that can't afford to pay for them up front. At the recent G20 summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned her Western colleagues that they are being eclipsed by China's vaccine diplomacy.
Russia has orders from 50 countries for 1.2 billion doses of its Sputnik V vaccine. President Putin told the G20 that vaccines should be "common public assets," universally available to rich and poor countries alike, and that Russia will provide them wherever they are needed.
The U.K. and Sweden's Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine is another non-profit venture that will cost about $3 per dose, a small fraction of the U.S.'s Pfizer and Moderna products.
From the beginning of the pandemic, it was predictable that U.S. failures and other countries' successes would reshape global leadership. When the world finally recovers from this pandemic, people around the world will thank China, Russia, Cuba and other countries for saving their lives and helping them in their hour of need.
The Biden administration must also help our neighbors to defeat the pandemic, and it must do better than Trump and his corporate mafia in that respect, but it is already too late to speak of American leadership in this context.
The neoliberal roots of U.S. bad behavior
Decades of U.S. bad behavior in other areas have already led to a broader decline in American global leadership. The U.S. refusal to join the Kyoto Protocol or any binding agreement on climate change has led to an otherwise avoidable existential crisis for the entire human race, even as the United States is still producing record amounts of oil and natural gas. Biden's climate czar John Kerry now says that the agreement he negotiated in Paris as Secretary of State "is not enough," but he has only himself and Obama to blame for that.
Obama's policy was to boost fracked natural gas as a "bridge fuel" for U.S. power plants, and to quash any possibility of a binding climate treaty in Copenhagen or Paris. U.S. climate policy, like the U.S. response to Covid, is a corrupt compromise between science and self-serving corporate interests that has predictably proved to be no solution at all. If Biden and Kerry bring more of that kind of American leadership to the Glasgow climate conference in 2021, humanity must reject it as a matter of survival.
America's post-9/11 "Global War on Terror," more accurately a "global war of terror," has fueled war, chaos and terrorism across the world. The absurd notion that widespread U.S military violence could somehow put an end to terrorism quickly devolved into a cynical pretext for "regime change" wars against any country that resisted the imperial dictates of the wannabe "superpower."
Secretary of State Colin Powell privately dubbed his colleagues the "fucking crazies," even as he lied to the UN Security Council and the world to advance their plans for illegal aggression against Iraq. Joe Biden's critical role as Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was to orchestrate hearings that promoted their lies and excluded dissident voices who would have challenged them.
The resulting spiral of violence has killed millions of people, from 7,037 American troop deaths to five assassinations of Iranian scientists (under Obama and now Trump). Most of the victims have been either innocent civilians or people just trying to defend themselves, their families or their countries from foreign invaders, U.S.-trained death squads or actual CIA-backed terrorists.
Former Nuremberg prosecutor Ben Ferencz told NPR only a week after the crimes of September 11th, "It can never be legitimate to punish people who are not responsible for the wrong done. We must make a distinction between punishing the guilty and punishing others." Neither Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Pakistan, Palestine, Libya, Syria or Yemen was responsible for the crimes of September 11th, and yet U.S. and allied armed forces have filled miles upon miles of graveyards with the bodies of their innocent people.
Like the Covid pandemic and the climate crisis, the unimaginable horror of the "war on terror" is another calamitous case of corrupt U.S. policy-making leading to massive loss of life. The vested interests that dictate and pervert U.S. policy, in particular the supremely powerful Military-Industrial Complex, marginalized the inconvenient truths that none of these countries had attacked or even threatened to attack the United States, and that U.S. and allied attacks on them violated the most fundamental principles of international law.
If Biden and his team genuinely aspire for the United States to play a leading and constructive role in the world, they must find a way to turn the page on this ugly episode in the already bloody history of American foreign policy. Matt Duss, an advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders, has called for a formal commission to investigate how U.S. policymakers so deliberately and systematically violated and undermined the "rules-based international order" that their grandparents so carefully and wisely built after two world wars that killed a hundred million people.
Others have observed that the remedy provided for by that rules-based order would be to prosecute senior U.S. officials. That would probably include Biden and some of his team. Ben Ferencz has noted that the U.S. case for "preemptive" war is the same argument that the German defendants used to justify their crimes of aggression at Nuremberg.
"That argument was considered by three American judges at Nuremberg," Ferencz explained, "and they sentenced Ohlendorf and twelve others to death by hanging. So it's very disappointing to find that my government today is prepared to do something for which we hanged Germans as war criminals."
Time to Break the Cross of Iron
Another critical problem facing the Biden team is the deterioration of U.S. relations with China and Russia. Both countries' military forces are primarily defensive, and therefore cost a small fraction of what the U.S. spends on its global war machine - 9% in the case of Russia, and 36% for China. Russia, of all countries, has sound historical reasons to maintain strong defenses, and does so very cost-effectively.
As former President Carter reminded Trump, China has not been at war since a brief border war with Vietnam in 1979, and has instead focused on economic development and lifted 800 million people out of poverty, while the U.S. has been squandering its wealth on its lost wars. Is it any wonder that China's economy is now healthier and more dynamic than ours?
For the United States to blame Russia and China for America's unprecedented military spending and global militarism is a cynical reversal of cause and effect - as much of a nonsense and an injustice as using the crimes of September 11th as a pretext to attack countries and kill people who had nothing to do with the crimes committed.
So here too, Biden's team face a stark choice between a policy based on objective reality and a deceptive one driven by the capture of U.S. policy by corrupt interests, in this case the most powerful of them all, Eisenhower's infamous Military-Industrial Complex. Biden's officials have spent their careers in a hall of mirrors and revolving doors that conflates and confuses defense with corrupt, self-serving militarism, but our future now depends on rescuing our country from that deal with the devil.
As the saying goes, the only tool the U.S. has invested in is a hammer, so every problem looks like a nail. The U.S. response to every dispute with another country is an expensive new weapons system, another U.S. military intervention, a coup, a covert operation, a proxy war, tighter sanctions or some other form of coercion, all based on the supposed power of the U.S. to impose its will on other countries, but all increasingly ineffective, destructive and impossible to undo once unleashed.
This has led to war without end in Afghanistan and Iraq; it has left Haiti, Honduras and Ukraine destabilized and mired in poverty as the result of U.S.-backed coups; it has destroyed Libya, Syria and Yemen with covert and proxy wars and resulting humanitarian crises; and to U.S. sanctions that affect a third of humanity.
So the first question for the first meeting of Biden's foreign policy team should be whether they can sever their loyalties to the arms manufacturers, corporate-funded think tanks, lobbying and consultant firms, government contractors and corporations they have worked for or partnered with during their careers.
These conflicts of interest amount to a sickness at the roots of the most serious problems facing America and the world, and they will not be resolved without a clean break. Any member of Biden's team who cannot make that commitment and mean it should resign now, before they do any more damage.
Long before his farewell speech in 1961, President Eisenhower made another speech, responding to the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953. He said, "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed...This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."
In his first year in office, Eisenhower ended the Korean War and cut military spending by 39% from its wartime peak. Then he resisted pressures to raise it again, despite his failure to end the Cold War.
Today, the Military-Industrial Complex is counting on a reversion to the Cold War against Russia and China as the key to its future power and profits, to keep us hanging from this rusty old cross of iron, squandering America's wealth on trillion-dollar weapons programs as people go hungry, millions of Americans have no healthcare and our climate becomes unlivable.
Are Joe Biden, Tony Blinken and Jake Sullivan the kind of leaders to just say "No" to the Military-Industrial Complex and consign this cross of iron to the junkyard of history, where it belongs? We will find out very soon.
Nicolas J. S. Davies is an independent journalist, a researcher with CODEPINK, and the author of Blood On Our Hands: the American Invasion and Destruction of Iraq.


alternet--2020-12-02--Humanity faces its gravest crisis yet. Rejecting the ugly blend of geopolitics and neoliberalism is

Humanity faces its gravest crisis yet. Rejecting the ugly blend of geopolitics and neoliberalism is not enough

The United States is engaged in forever hot wars .
The war in Afghanistan now nears the end of its second decade .
Why US history is so saturated—some would say polluted—by war has recently become an object of both academic and activist interest .
University of Hawaii at Manoa International Relations theorist Jairus Victor Grove poses this question in his Savage Ecology : War and Geopolitics at the End of the World .
He asks why US citizens are not waging another possible war , global climate change .
Those who pollute or poison the most are seldom the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contribute the least suffer the most damage but are too powerless to protest effectively .
If humanity faces so grave a crisis—now almost universally recognized—why does the citizenry not unite in defense of survival ?
The problem is that there is no we as such .
Those who pollute or poison the most are seldom the victims of this degradation while those who contribute the least suffer the most damage but are too powerless to protest effectively .
These asymmetries prevail on both a domestic and international levels .
As does denial of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ number of times since the beginning of the pandemic I have heard : `` We are all in this together . ''
Both domestic and international arenas fall far short of the equality celebrated by Rousseau , communities where none are too impoverished or powerless to participate in common decisions and none are too wealthy to escape needs for common resources .
Far from a community or polity in a classic sense this is an era of geopolitics .
This is a form of life , `` that pursues a savage ecology radically @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than discriminatory goal . ''
Geopolitics is not an overriding cause that can explain all the major developments of our era in the way some Marxists attribute unitary causality to the means of production .
Geopolitics is `` a means that has been elevated and refined into a virtue .
Because it is a virtue it succeeds and fails without much consideration as to whether it should be abandoned . ''
What would it mean to consider warfare as a form of life , an ordinary practice for most people rather than characterizing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by a narrow subset of the population ?
Warfare in this view is something other and more than conflict between or among bounded and delineated or preformed states .
What if the normal workings of daily life are a state of war ?
In this context Grove is using state of war in the same way a chemist would employ states of matter .
Imagine a block of ice .
That block is in solid state but nonetheless contains some molecules that are liquid and even gaseous .
Though the block contains heterogeneous @ @ @ @ @ @ @ general state of solidity .
Grove argues that the state of war intensifies the field of relations that make the world what it is today .
`` The practices and organizations—from resource extraction , enclosure , carbon liberalization , racialization , mass incarceration , primitive accumulation by dispossession , targeted strikes to all out combat are relations of war rather than opportunities for a war metaphor . ''
These relations can be seen as resonating with each other and intensifying and being energized by the state of war .
War does not replace @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crisis but is interrelated with and most importantly semi-autonomous .
Grove correctly argues given the level of violence needed to create the current order it is not a stretch to `` call war part of the constitutive practices of planetary relations '' and one often issuing in phase shifts such as the conversion of intense racial prejudice to all out race wars .
Grove 's provocative discussion of the state of war is an instance of the ecological perspective informing and sustained by the entire work : Human and nonhuman entities coevolve in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ideals of a predictable , causal social and even natural science.. Grove further explicates his thesis by presenting the role that genocide has played in state formation and the centrality of war to the industrial revolution .
Grove maintains that war as an intensive difference filters into and revises other categories and oppositions .
To his examples I would only add international trade as a field once thought to be a guarantor of peace but now a growing recipient and intensifier of ethnic , national and class antagonisms .
Workers are bounded by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ free to migrate .
In a geopolitical climate this is a recipe for xenophobia or worse , as both the Americas and the Eurozone amply demonstrate today .
The 500-year geopolitical enterprise since the age of Columbus , from settler colonialism to the IMF and the Washington consensus has brought with it a homogenization or attempt thereof for the whole globe .
Will this savage ecology take us with it ?
Grove emphasizes a side of the story given little emphasis by most of the climate crisis radicals .
• `` Irreversible catastrophic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
What we stand to lose as a species in this current apocalypse of homogenization is unimaginable , not because of the loss of life but because of the loss of difference .
Who and what will be left on Earth to inspire and ally with us in our creative advance is uncertain .
If the future is dominated by those who seek to establish the survival of the human species at all costs through technological mastery then whatever `` we '' manages to persist will likely live on or near a mean @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) Rejecting the ugly blend of geopolitics and neoliberalism is not enough .
From the basis of a geopolitical world and a savage ecology—a world that does not care about us—he constructs suggestions for the practice of International Relations Theory ( IR ) and a broader ethic for the political activists .
The former would challenge social science 's futile quest for laws and predictions in favor of broadening how much of the world we could experience and be a part of .
Toward this end he advances an ethics that `` is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the vitality of becoming , not to steer its course as captains of our destiny but as attempts to drag our feet in the water in hopes of going productively off course . ''
( 232 ) Tragedy is inevitable , but also paradoxically it is the basis of our freedom .
A world governed by law or inner purpose is a world without the precondition of freedom for humans or other creatures .
An apocalypse is more and less than an extinction .
Whole evolutionary lines may be destroyed , but other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ artificial intelligence and robots .
Human beings can hardly object , given all the harm they have done .
In an oddly provocative manner Jairus Victor Grove has provided an eloquent and impassioned tribute to war and its savage ecology .
This book is a twofer , a thoughtful intervention in current policy debate and a scorching critique of mainstream IR theory , with its arrogant pretensions and its plenitude of crucial failures and catastrophic consequences .
It will be tragic if activists and the discipline 's leading practitioners fail to read it @

The United States is engaged in forever hot wars. The war in Afghanistan now nears the end of its second decade. Why US history is so saturated—some would say polluted—by war has recently become an object of both academic and activist interest.
University of Hawaii at Manoa International Relations theorist Jairus Victor Grove poses this question in his Savage Ecology: War and Geopolitics at the End of the World.
He asks why US citizens are not waging another possible war, global climate change.
Those who pollute or poison the most are seldom the victims of this degradation while those who contribute the least suffer the most damage but are too powerless to protest effectively.
If humanity faces so grave a crisis—now almost universally recognized—why does the citizenry not unite in defense of survival?
The problem is that there is no we as such. Those who pollute or poison the most are seldom the victims of this degradation while those who contribute the least suffer the most damage but are too powerless to protest effectively. These asymmetries prevail on both a domestic and international levels. As does denial of this inequality I can't count the number of times since the beginning of the pandemic I have heard: "We are all in this together."
Both domestic and international arenas fall far short of the equality celebrated by Rousseau, communities where none are too impoverished or powerless to participate in common decisions and none are too wealthy to escape needs for common resources.
Far from a community or polity in a classic sense this is an era of geopolitics. This is a form of life, "that pursues a savage ecology radically antagonistic to survival as a collective rather than discriminatory goal."
Geopolitics is not an overriding cause that can explain all the major developments of our era in the way some Marxists attribute unitary causality to the means of production. Geopolitics is "a means that has been elevated and refined into a virtue. Because it is a virtue it succeeds and fails without much consideration as to whether it should be abandoned."
What would it mean to consider warfare as a form of life, an ordinary practice for most people rather than characterizing war as an anomalous event carried on by a narrow subset of the population? Warfare in this view is something other and more than conflict between or among bounded and delineated or preformed states. What if the normal workings of daily life are a state of war? In this context Grove is using state of war in the same way a chemist would employ states of matter.
Imagine a block of ice. That block is in solid state but nonetheless contains some molecules that are liquid and even gaseous. Though the block contains heterogeneous components, all are affected by the general state of solidity. Grove argues that the state of war intensifies the field of relations that make the world what it is today. "The practices and organizations—from resource extraction, enclosure, carbon liberalization, racialization, mass incarceration, primitive accumulation by dispossession, targeted strikes to all out combat are relations of war rather than opportunities for a war metaphor."
These relations can be seen as resonating with each other and intensifying and being energized by the state of war. War does not replace other grand theories or explanation of ecological crisis but is interrelated with and most importantly semi-autonomous. Grove correctly argues given the level of violence needed to create the current order it is not a stretch to "call war part of the constitutive practices of planetary relations" and one often issuing in phase shifts such as the conversion of intense racial prejudice to all out race wars.
Grove's provocative discussion of the state of war is an instance of the ecological perspective informing and sustained by the entire work : Human and nonhuman entities coevolve in complex and often unpredictable ways that belie ideals of a predictable, causal social and even natural science..
Grove further explicates his thesis by presenting the role that genocide has played in state formation and the centrality of war to the industrial revolution.
Grove maintains that war as an intensive difference filters into and revises other categories and oppositions.
To his examples I would only add international trade as a field once thought to be a guarantor of peace but now a growing recipient and intensifier of ethnic, national and class antagonisms. Workers are bounded by heavily policed boundaries even as capital is free to migrate. In a geopolitical climate this is a recipe for xenophobia or worse, as both the Americas and the Eurozone amply demonstrate today.
The 500-year geopolitical enterprise since the age of Columbus, from settler colonialism to the IMF and the Washington consensus has brought with it a homogenization or attempt thereof for the whole globe.
Will this savage ecology take us with it? Grove emphasizes a side of the story given little emphasis by most of the climate crisis radicals.
"Irreversible catastrophic changes are certain but extinction is unlikely. What we stand to lose as a species in this current apocalypse of homogenization is unimaginable , not because of the loss of life but because of the loss of difference. Who and what will be left on Earth to inspire and ally with us in our creative advance is uncertain. If the future is dominated by those who seek to establish the survival of the human species at all costs through technological mastery then whatever "we" manages to persist will likely live on or near a mean and lonely planet."(209)
Rejecting the ugly blend of geopolitics and neoliberalism is not enough. From the basis of a geopolitical world and a savage ecology—a world that does not care about us—he constructs suggestions for the practice of International Relations Theory (IR) and a broader ethic for the political activists. The former would challenge social science's futile quest for laws and predictions in favor of broadening how much of the world we could experience and be a part of. Toward this end he advances an ethics that "is defined as a means to intervene in the vitality of becoming, not to steer its course as captains of our destiny but as attempts to drag our feet in the water in hopes of going productively off course." (232)
Tragedy is inevitable, but also paradoxically it is the basis of our freedom. A world governed by law or inner purpose is a world without the precondition of freedom for humans or other creatures. An apocalypse is more and less than an extinction. Whole evolutionary lines may be destroyed, but other new emergents often follow. Grove welcomes artificial intelligence and robots. Human beings can hardly object, given all the harm they have done.
In an oddly provocative manner Jairus Victor Grove has provided an eloquent and impassioned tribute to war and its savage ecology. This book is a twofer, a thoughtful intervention in current policy debate and a scorching critique of mainstream IR theory, with its arrogant pretensions and its plenitude of crucial failures and catastrophic consequences. It will be tragic if activists and the discipline's leading practitioners fail to read it.


alternet--2020-12-02--GOP congressman plans to challenge Electoral College votes when Congress certifies Biden’s win

Although President-elect Joe Biden 's victory in the 2020 presidential election has been certified in Pennsylvania , Georgia , Arizona , Wisconsin and other battleground states , some of President Donald Trump 's supporters in the far-right House Freedom Caucus are joining him in refusing to accept the election results — and one of them is Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama .
Brooks , according to Politico reporter Melanie Zanona , `` has been telling colleagues and allies that he plans to challenge the Electoral College votes when Congress officially certifies Joe Biden 's victory on January 6 . ''
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ plans in a phone interview , adding that he is still considering objecting to the vote-counting process even if no one joins him — though he acknowledged that would be more of a symbolic protest .
Brooks , echoing President Donald Trump 's baseless claims of voter fraud without providing evidence , argued that the election was 'badly flawed ' and that most mail-in voting is 'unconstitutional . '
'' When a presidential candidate wins at least 270 electoral votes in the United States , there is a long certification process that comes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ First , individual states certify their election results .
Then , the Electoral College does its certification in December — and on January 6 , more certification comes from Congress .
The 66-year-old Brooks , who was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010 and was reelected on November 3 , has never shied away from conspiracy theories .
The Freedom Caucus member told Politico , `` In my judgment , if only lawful votes by eligible American citizens were cast , Donald Trump won the Electoral College by a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ should reflect that .
This election was stolen by the socialists engaging in extraordinary voter fraud and election theft measures . ''
Brooks also told Politico , `` A lot of time is being wasted in court… .
The Supreme Court does not have the lawful authority to determine whether to accept or reject a state 's Electoral College submissions .
Under the United States constitution and U.S. law , that is the job and duty of elected officials ... .
And so , it 's the United States Congress that is the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ accept or reject Electoral College submissions by states — and to elect who the president and vice president of the United States might be . ''
Zanona notes that another House Freedom Caucus Republican who `` supports Trump 's bid to overturn the election '' is Rep. Louie Gohmert — and Gohmert , according to Zanona , is very unhappy with GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney for saying that Trump should respect `` the sanctity of our electoral process '' if he ca n't prove his claims of widespread voter fraud .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Vice President Dick Cheney , has n't backed down and has reiterated that the U.S. is governed by the rule of law .

Although President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election has been certified in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin and other battleground states, some of President Donald Trump's supporters in the far-right House Freedom Caucus are joining him in refusing to accept the election results — and one of them is Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama. Brooks, according to Politico reporter Melanie Zanona, "has been telling colleagues and allies that he plans to challenge the Electoral College votes when Congress officially certifies Joe Biden's victory on January 6."
Zanona reports, "Brooks confirmed his plans in a phone interview, adding that he is still considering objecting to the vote-counting process even if no one joins him — though he acknowledged that would be more of a symbolic protest. Brooks, echoing President Donald Trump's baseless claims of voter fraud without providing evidence, argued that the election was 'badly flawed' and that most mail-in voting is 'unconstitutional.'"
When a presidential candidate wins at least 270 electoral votes in the United States, there is a long certification process that comes before Inauguration Day on January 20. First, individual states certify their election results. Then, the Electoral College does its certification in December — and on January 6, more certification comes from Congress.
The 66-year-old Brooks, who was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010 and was reelected on November 3, has never shied away from conspiracy theories. The Freedom Caucus member told Politico, "In my judgment, if only lawful votes by eligible American citizens were cast, Donald Trump won the Electoral College by a significant margin, and Congress' certification should reflect that. This election was stolen by the socialists engaging in extraordinary voter fraud and election theft measures."
Brooks also told Politico, "A lot of time is being wasted in court…. The Supreme Court does not have the lawful authority to determine whether to accept or reject a state's Electoral College submissions. Under the United States constitution and U.S. law, that is the job and duty of elected officials.... And so, it's the United States Congress that is the final judge and jury of whether to accept or reject Electoral College submissions by states — and to elect who the president and vice president of the United States might be."
Zanona notes that another House Freedom Caucus Republican who "supports Trump's bid to overturn the election" is Rep. Louie Gohmert — and Gohmert, according to Zanona, is very unhappy with GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney for saying that Trump should respect "the sanctity of our electoral process" if he can't prove his claims of widespread voter fraud. But Rep. Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, hasn't backed down and has reiterated that the U.S. is governed by the rule of law.


alternet--2020-12-02--Pfizer vaccine gains emergency approval in UK — doses on their way for distribution next week

As it turns out , a COVID-19 vaccine really is going into almost immediate distribution … except it will be available on the other side of the Atlantic .
Government authorities in the U.K. have provided emergency approval not to the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine that many thought would be the first released there , but to the vaccine developed by Pfizer and German firm BioNTech .
The first doses are expected to be rolled out within a week .
When those doses go out , officials have developed a somewhat elaborate table of priorities that indicates the first doses should go @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these facilities .
Following this , the second set of doses will address front-line healthcare workers along with everyone over 80 .
This is similar to the likely order in the U.S. , where a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) panel voted on Tuesday to also put residents and caregivers at long-term care facilities at the head of the line .
Pfizer announced the end of their phase 3 trials on Nov. 18 , marking a period from initial development to achieving the targets of human trials in just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any case , but even more remarkable considering that this is the first completion of human testing of any coronavirus vaccine , and also one of the first human vaccines to use mRNA technology ( the other being Moderna 's vaccine ) .
So far , safety indications have been good .
No serious incidents have been reported in phase 2 or phase 3 testing , through some of those receiving the vaccine reported fatigue or headache and many reported irritation around the site of the injection .
That apparent safety , along @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( that appears to hold up across gender , race , and age categories ) , makes the vaccine extremely attractive .
Pfizer has also submitted its vaccine for emergency approval by the FDA , but that agency has not yet issued an emergency use authorization .
Assuming that the data presented in Pfizer 's application holds up to scrutiny , such an authorization is expected within a matter of days .
According to the BBC , doses are on their way to the U.K. and 800,000 doses are expected `` in coming @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two doses , that would be enough to cover 400,000 people .
According to MHA , there are approximately 418,000 people living in long-term care facilities across the U.K. , so this initial dose might be just about the right number to check off the first goal on a nine-step list that would eventually see the vaccine made available to everyone .
Pfizer has indicated that they intend to manufacture 50 million doses before the end of 2020 ( enough for 25 million people ) and over a billion doses in 2021 .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ 800,000 doses before the U.S. approval comes through , it should n't significantly impact the number of doses available .
Approximately 1.4 million people in the U.S. currently live in nursing facilities .
Pfizer 's vaccine requires special handling , including deep cold storage , which may limit its distribution in some areas .
Moderna has also submitted its vaccine for approval in the U.S. following trial results that were similar to those of Pfizer .
In the U.K , AstraZeneca is also seeking emergency approval for its vaccine .
However , AstraZeneca @ @ @ @ @ @ @ approval by the FDA after their phase 3 trial was marked by errors that make the efficacy of their vaccine difficult to determine .
Several other vaccines , including Johnson & Johnson 's attempt to create a COVID-19 vaccine that requires only a single jab , are still in phase 3 testing .

As it turns out, a COVID-19 vaccine really is going into almost immediate distribution … except it will be available on the other side of the Atlantic. Government authorities in the U.K. have provided emergency approval not to the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine that many thought would be the first released there, but to the vaccine developed by Pfizer and German firm BioNTech. The first doses are expected to be rolled out within a week.
When those doses go out, officials have developed a somewhat elaborate table of priorities that indicates the first doses should go to nursing home residents and caregivers at these facilities. Following this, the second set of doses will address front-line healthcare workers along with everyone over 80. This is similar to the likely order in the U.S., where a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) panel voted on Tuesday to also put residents and caregivers at long-term care facilities at the head of the line.
Pfizer announced the end of their phase 3 trials on Nov. 18, marking a period from initial development to achieving the targets of human trials in just 10 months. That's remarkable in any case, but even more remarkable considering that this is the first completion of human testing of any coronavirus vaccine, and also one of the first human vaccines to use mRNA technology (the other being Moderna's vaccine).
So far, safety indications have been good. No serious incidents have been reported in phase 2 or phase 3 testing, through some of those receiving the vaccine reported fatigue or headache and many reported irritation around the site of the injection. That apparent safety, along with a nearly 95% efficacy rate (that appears to hold up across gender, race, and age categories), makes the vaccine extremely attractive.
Pfizer has also submitted its vaccine for emergency approval by the FDA, but that agency has not yet issued an emergency use authorization. Assuming that the data presented in Pfizer's application holds up to scrutiny, such an authorization is expected within a matter of days.
According to the BBC, doses are on their way to the U.K. and 800,000 doses are expected "in coming days." Since each person requires two doses, that would be enough to cover 400,000 people. According to MHA, there are approximately 418,000 people living in long-term care facilities across the U.K., so this initial dose might be just about the right number to check off the first goal on a nine-step list that would eventually see the vaccine made available to everyone.
Pfizer has indicated that they intend to manufacture 50 million doses before the end of 2020 (enough for 25 million people) and over a billion doses in 2021. So even if the U.K. gets their 800,000 doses before the U.S. approval comes through, it shouldn't significantly impact the number of doses available. Approximately 1.4 million people in the U.S. currently live in nursing facilities. Pfizer's vaccine requires special handling, including deep cold storage, which may limit its distribution in some areas.
Moderna has also submitted its vaccine for approval in the U.S. following trial results that were similar to those of Pfizer. In the U.K, AstraZeneca is also seeking emergency approval for its vaccine. However, AstraZeneca has not yet submitted its vaccine for approval by the FDA after their phase 3 trial was marked by errors that make the efficacy of their vaccine difficult to determine. Several other vaccines, including Johnson & Johnson's attempt to create a COVID-19 vaccine that requires only a single jab, are still in phase 3 testing.


alternet--2020-12-03--Pence AWOL from Trump ‘election fraud’ crusade

Vice President Mike Pence appears to be breaking from President Donald Trump 's voter fraud fiasco .
According to insiders who have spoken with The Daily Beast , it is no secret that Pence and Trump are not on the same page when it comes to the legal challenges to undermine the outcome of the election .
In fact , a senior Trump administration official has revealed the vice president , also a former lawyer , reportedly believes the legal challenges have been `` unhelpful . ''
`` It is an open secret [ in Trumpworld ] that Vice President @ @ @ @ @ @ @ way about the legal effort as President Trump does , '' said the administration official .
`` The vice president does n't want to go down with this ship…and believes much of the legal work has been unhelpful . ''
Pence 's allies are revealing the distinct difference in Pence and Trump 's view on the outcome of the election .
Like Trump , Pence wanted a favorable outcome but as a career politician , he also understands how they arrived at the point they are at .
As a former governor , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are in and the limited power they have regarding the demands Trump has made .
In fact , he has reportedly attempted to act as a liaison , but to no avail .
`` Pence deeply understands the position that [ Ohio Gov .
Mike ] DeWine , [ Arizona Gov .
Dave ] Ducey and [ Georgia Gov .
Brian ] Kemp are in .
He has tried to be an effective mediator and communicator between those parties and the president back and forth , '' one of Pence 's allies said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of war within the White House .
Misinformation is reportedly as much of a problem in the White House as it is on social media .
After receiving accurate information , the president appears to accept it , but once another piece of misinformation begins circulating , the president goes on a public attack .
According to the ally , Pence finds Trump 's actions frustrating .
`` Any time he 's played that role , it 's gone well , '' the same ally continued .
`` The president is satisfied with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then somehow , without hours or days , the president is publicly attacking them by being fed inaccurate information from other White House sources , which frustrates the VP .
It 's not a good look for the president .
And it 's only created division in the party at a time when unity is very important . ''

Vice President Mike Pence appears to be breaking from President Donald Trump's voter fraud fiasco.
According to insiders who have spoken with The Daily Beast, it is no secret that Pence and Trump are not on the same page when it comes to the legal challenges to undermine the outcome of the election. In fact, a senior Trump administration official has revealed the vice president, also a former lawyer, reportedly believes the legal challenges have been "unhelpful."
"It is an open secret [in Trumpworld] that Vice President Pence absolutely does not feel the same way about the legal effort as President Trump does," said the administration official. "The vice president doesn't want to go down with this ship…and believes much of the legal work has been unhelpful."
Pence's allies are revealing the distinct difference in Pence and Trump's view on the outcome of the election. Like Trump, Pence wanted a favorable outcome but as a career politician, he also understands how they arrived at the point they are at.
As a former governor, Pence also understands the position Republican governors are in and the limited power they have regarding the demands Trump has made. In fact, he has reportedly attempted to act as a liaison, but to no avail.
"Pence deeply understands the position that [Ohio Gov. Mike] DeWine, [Arizona Gov. Dave] Ducey and [Georgia Gov. Brian] Kemp are in. He has tried to be an effective mediator and communicator between those parties and the president back and forth," one of Pence's allies said.
That ally also revealed the tug of war within the White House. Misinformation is reportedly as much of a problem in the White House as it is on social media. After receiving accurate information, the president appears to accept it, but once another piece of misinformation begins circulating, the president goes on a public attack. According to the ally, Pence finds Trump's actions frustrating.
"Any time he's played that role, it's gone well," the same ally continued. "The president is satisfied with the facts they've provided. And then somehow, without hours or days, the president is publicly attacking them by being fed inaccurate information from other White House sources, which frustrates the VP. It's not a good look for the president. And it's only created division in the party at a time when unity is very important."


alternet--2020-12-03--'Sedition': Lawyers condemn call for Trump to declare martial law and hold new election

Lawyers across the United States are pushing back against the growing list of President Donald Trump 's allies calling for him to invoke martial law as a last-resort attempt to overturn the outcome of the election .
National Security Advisor and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn , whom Trump recently pardoned , along with Atlanta-based Trump campaign attorney L. Lin Wood have joined the list of Trump supporters urging the president to force the military to oversee a new presidential election .
Both Flynn and Wood took to Twitter to offer their support of the idea which stems from a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Party leader Tom Zawistowsk .
As previously reported by AlterNet , Zawistowsk urged the president to consider invoking martial law to push for a new vote .
Lawyers , legal experts , and observers have expressed concern about Flynn and Wood 's support of the initiative , describing the proposal as a `` military coup , '' according to Law and Crime .
In fact , University of Texas School of Law professor Steve Vladeck also noted that Flynn 's actions could possibly be a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Code of Military Justice defines as 'sedition ' one who , 'with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of lawful civil authority , creates , in concert with any other person , revolt , violence , or *other disturbance* against that authority , '' Vladeck wrote .
`` To be sure , there is an open question as to whether *retired* servicemembers like [ Gen. Flynn ] can constitutionally remain subject to the UCMJ ( and my own view is that the answer should be no ) .
But the government 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is 'yes . '
'' UCLA law professor and former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman weighed in via Twitter , outlining the differences between Flynn and President-elect Joe Biden 's selection for the position of national security advisor .
`` This simply was not written by a sane cogent person .
Imagine if he had remained as national security adviser , '' Litman said , adding , `` And now compare him in judgment and experience to [ Jake Sullivan ] .
Foreign countries ' , especially allies ' , long nightmare also ending @ @ @ @ @ @ @ D.C. , law and justice reporter , described the latest push as `` pro-authoritarian energy . ''
Heath said , `` Big pro-authoritarian energy in Trumpland today : The president 's ( recently pardoned ) former national security adviser , Mike Flynn , shared a message encouraging President Trump to 'temporarily suspend the Constitution , ' impose martial law and 'silence the destructive media . '
''

Lawyers across the United States are pushing back against the growing list of President Donald Trump's allies calling for him to invoke martial law as a last-resort attempt to overturn the outcome of the election.
National Security Advisor and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, whom Trump recently pardoned, along with Atlanta-based Trump campaign attorney L. Lin Wood have joined the list of Trump supporters urging the president to force the military to oversee a new presidential election.
Both Flynn and Wood took to Twitter to offer their support of the idea which stems from a full-page Washington Times ad presented by Tea Party leader Tom Zawistowsk. As previously reported by AlterNet, Zawistowsk urged the president to consider invoking martial law to push for a new vote.
Lawyers, legal experts, and observers have expressed concern about Flynn and Wood's support of the initiative, describing the proposal as a "military coup," according to Law and Crime. In fact, University of Texas School of Law professor Steve Vladeck also noted that Flynn's actions could possibly be a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).
"The Uniform Code of Military Justice defines as 'sedition' one who, 'with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of lawful civil authority, creates, in concert with any other person, revolt, violence, or *other disturbance* against that authority," Vladeck wrote. "To be sure, there is an open question as to whether *retired* servicemembers like [Gen. Flynn] can constitutionally remain subject to the UCMJ (and my own view is that the answer should be no). But the government's consistent position has been—and remains—that the answer is 'yes.'"
UCLA law professor and former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman weighed in via Twitter, outlining the differences between Flynn and President-elect Joe Biden's selection for the position of national security advisor.
"This simply was not written by a sane cogent person. Imagine if he had remained as national security adviser," Litman said, adding, "And now compare him in judgment and experience to [Jake Sullivan]. Foreign countries', especially allies', long nightmare also ending."
Brad Heath, a Washington D.C., law and justice reporter, described the latest push as "pro-authoritarian energy."
Heath said, "Big pro-authoritarian energy in Trumpland today: The president's (recently pardoned) former national security adviser, Mike Flynn, shared a message encouraging President Trump to 'temporarily suspend the Constitution,' impose martial law and 'silence the destructive media.'"


alternet--2020-12-03--‘They were wearing rhinestones’: Read this hilarious account of the most ridiculous witnesses at Mic

‘They were wearing rhinestones’: Read this hilarious account of the most ridiculous witnesses at Michigan fraud hearing

On Tuesday , Michigan lawmakers dedicated more than six hours to allowing evidence-free testimony on the unproven and , frankly , unprovable election fraud claims of Trump supporters .
A good summary of these kinds of events came from a man named Bill Schmidt , who according to The Detroit News , had considered himself a lifelong Republican before this year 's election .
`` Evil can be seen by evil people , '' he said .
Schmidt reportedly told officials that while he saw people make mistakes , he did n't believe he saw anything nefarious or illegal take @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
What I saw is , I saw hardworking people working hard , '' he continued .
`` That 's what I saw .
That 's America .
That 's democracy . ''
Schmidt sounds like a reasonable person .
But not everyone claiming fraud is as reasonable , and thinking about or watching or reading about the conspiracy-laden , fact-free bullshit that some believe is worth destroying our democracy for can be frustrating .
Luckily , someone running a satirical account decided to produce a very sobering set of reports on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and I need not watch it all .
First off : The account , @ TepidButterASMR , while satirical in general , really did just report what people were telling the Michigan state senators they were testifying in front of .
Satire in the time of Trump is a very fine slice of pastry .
But this is a multicultural group of people .
There are women with different hair colors .
And even one with glasses .
I 'm not saying that these are the same guy with and without hair , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are n't the same guy .
But there 's more .
No .
Seriously .
There 's more .
Here 's a bit of video just in case you think he 's simply making it all up .

On Tuesday, Michigan lawmakers dedicated more than six hours to allowing evidence-free testimony on the unproven and, frankly, unprovable election fraud claims of Trump supporters. A good summary of these kinds of events came from a man named Bill Schmidt, who according to The Detroit News, had considered himself a lifelong Republican before this year's election.
"Evil can be seen by evil people," he said. Schmidt reportedly told officials that while he saw people make mistakes, he didn't believe he saw anything nefarious or illegal take place. "Good people see goodness. What I saw is, I saw hardworking people working hard," he continued. "That's what I saw. That's America. That's democracy." Schmidt sounds like a reasonable person. But not everyone claiming fraud is as reasonable, and thinking about or watching or reading about the conspiracy-laden, fact-free bullshit that some believe is worth destroying our democracy for can be frustrating. Luckily, someone running a satirical account decided to produce a very sobering set of reports on the testimony in Michigan, so that you and I need not watch it all.
First off: The account, @TepidButterASMR, while satirical in general, really did just report what people were telling the Michigan state senators they were testifying in front of. Satire in the time of Trump is a very fine slice of pastry.
But this is a multicultural group of people. There are women with different hair colors.
And even one with glasses.
I'm not saying that these are the same guy with and without hair, but I'm also not convinced they aren't the same guy.
But there's more.
No. Seriously. There's more.
Here's a bit of video just in case you think he's simply making it all up.