NNOMY News July 6, 2019 How Militarism controls Our Political Culture in America


 

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NNOMYnews 1027: How Militarism controls Our Political Culture in America

 
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NNOMY Video: The Sanctification of John McCain

How can can someone who was an unequivocal and firm supporter of militarism, be called a hero or even 'human right's champion'? John McCain's death revealed quite clearly the contradictions present in the mainstream political discourse in the United States.


Watch the Video

 https://youtu.be/wBdwNxBlzeU

 
 
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Doubling Down: The Military, Big Bankers and Big Oil Are Not In Climate Denial, They Are in Control and Plan to Keep It That Way.

Richard Moser, Counterpunch - “Capitalism, militarism and imperialism are disastrously intertwined with the fossil fuel economy….A globalized economy predicated on growth at any social or environmental costs, carbon dependent international trade, the limitless extraction of natural resources, and a view of citizens as nothing more than consumers cannot be the basis…for tackling climate change….Little wonder then that the elites have nothing to offer beyond continued militarisation and trust in techno-fixes.”

    — Nick Buxton and Ben Hayes


Read More

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/07/05/doubling-down-the-military-big-bankers-and-big-oil-are-not-in-climate-denial-they-are-in-control-and-plan-to-keep-it-that-way/

 
 
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Eisenhower called it the ‘military-industrial complex.’ It’s vastly bigger now

Daniel Wirls, Washington Post - When two giant Pentagon contractors — Raytheon and United Technologies — proposed to merge into Raytheon Technologies, it hit the headlines. President Trump said he was “a little bit concerned” that the merger would dampen competition in the defense industry. Coincidentally, Congress was at the same time debating the administration’s request for substantial increases in military spending — particularly in weapons procurement and research and development.

We used to call the nexus of private interests and national defense the “military-industrial complex.” But that Cold War term no longer fits. “Industrial” does not capture the breadth of the activities involved. And “military” fails to describe the range of government policies and interests implicated. Over the past two decades we’ve seen transformations that include new government reliance on private security firms, revolutions in digital technology, a post-9/11 surge in the number of veterans, and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). What we have now could be called a “National Security Corporate Complex.”


Read more

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/06/26/eisenhower-called-it-military-industrial-complex-its-vastly-bigger-now/

 
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Introducing VFP's new Executive Director!

Veterans For Peace is excited to announce that that have hired a new Executive Director.  Please join us in welcoming Garett Reppenhagen.  Garrett is a veteran of the Iraq war and joins us with a history of anti-war and climate activism, as well as a dedication to serving the veteran community.  He will be starting on June 27th.  

Garett Reppenhagen is the son of a Vietnam Veteran and grandson of two World War II Veterans. He served in the U.S. Army as a Cavalry/Scout Sniper in the 1st Infantry Division. Garett completed a deployment in Kosovo on a 9-month peace-keeping mission and a combat tour in Baquaba, Iraq. Garett gained an Honorable Discharge in May of 2005 and began working as a veterans advocate and a dedicated activist. He served as the Chairman of the Board of Iraq Veterans Against the War, worked in Washington, DC, as a lobbyist and as Vice President of Public Relations for the Nobel Prize winning Veterans For America, as a Program Director for Veterans Green Jobs and was the Rocky Mountain Director for Vet Voice Foundation. Garett lives in Colorado where he serves as the Executive Director for Veterans For Peace.


Read a message from Garett

https://www.veteransforpeace.org/pressroom/news/2019/06/07/introducing-vfps-new-executive-director?

 
     
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How U.S. Presidential Candidates Answer 20 Basic Questions

David Swanson, Let's Try Democracy -

  • Mike Gravel: Cut military spending by 50%.
  • Howie Hawkins: Cut military spending by 50%.
  • Bernie Sanders: Cut military spending by an unknown amount.
  • Marianne Williamson: Convert to a peaceful economy over 10 to 20 years.
  • Andrew Yang: Cut military spending by an unknown amount; move 10% to military-like infrastructure force.
  • Julian Castro: Website provides no positions on anything other than immigration and relations with Central America.
  • Tulsi Gabbard: One website provides no positions on anything, another doesn’t say. We can look to her voting record. She has voted against cutting the military budget.
  • Elizabeth Warren: Website doesn’t say. She has voted for enormous military budgets.
  • Pete Buttigieg: Website provides no positions on anything.

    Read more

http://davidswanson.org/how-u-s-presidential-candidates-answer-20-basic-questions/executive-director?

 
 
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Your Say: Is the U.S. too quick to threaten military action?

UT Letters, San Diego Union-Tribune - Is the U.S. too quick to use military force when conflicts arise? Yes, of course, the U.S. responds too quickly in using military force when conflicts arise. Tragically, the U.S. enters wars without considering the horrendous consequences of such actions; a peaceful solution to the dispute or conflict should always be pursued and accomplished.

When U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2005 – 2015), he observed and stated, “Peace is today dangerously in deficit.” A follow-up indicator of this peace shortage clearly shows that violent conflicts in 2018 destroyed the lives and land in nine countries: Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, Mexico (drug war), Iraq, Somalia, Nigeria (and Boko Haram), South Sudan and Mali.

These wars in 2018 resulted in 123,643 killings, but other smaller conflicts also occurred during that same year and caused the deaths of thousands of people, according to Wikipedia. The failure to prevent war or resolve disputes led to this huge loss of human lives.


Read more

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/story/2019-06-28/your-say-is-us-too-quick-to-threaten-military-action-utak

 
 
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Military contractors unfazed by Democratic gains as GOP deficit hawks lose influence

Aaron Gregg, Washington Post - The companies that make jets, bombs and aircraft carriers for the U.S. military are telling investors that the defense business will still be booming under a Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, even as a split Congress threatens a return partisan gridlock.

The reason, one defense executive said, is that the Democratic takeover of the House could weaken Republican deficit hawks in Congress at a time when their influence is already diminished.

"One concern that we did have was relative to deficit hawks," Raytheon chief executive Thomas Kennedy said at the Robert W. Baird Industrial Conference in Chicago. "And it turns out that with most of the deficit hawks were in the House and on the Republican side."

He went on to say the Democratic takeover "changes the equation" relative to conversations around the national debt.

"The environment is actually nice now because it's settled. We know exactly what it is," Kennedy said. "The uncertainty has been taken out, and we know that we don't have this issue with the deficit hawks moving forward. So we're actually very very optimistic."


Read more

https://www.stltoday.com/news/national/govt-and-politics/military-contractors-unfazed-by-democratic-gains-as-gop-deficit-hawks/article_54f80e90-6d69-58e9-ab21-1af5f2d4657f.html

 
 
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Department of Defense and Its Effect on the Economy


Kimberly Amadeo, The Balance -  The U.S. Department of Defense is the nation's largest employer. It has over 1.4 million active duty personnel and 1.1 million reservists. It also employs 861,000 civilians. There are 450,000 employees stationed overseas in 163 countries. An additional 3 million Americans receive income from DoD.

There are also 1.1 million people serving in the National Guard and Reserve forces, and two million veterans and their families who rely on this income from their past service. Because of the enormous number of past and present personnel, the DoD is also the nation's largest healthcare provider, serving 9.5 million military members, retirees, and their families.


Read more

https://www.thebalance.com/department-of-defense-what-it-does-and-its-impact-3305982

 
 
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Don't Go: The Ballad of Ho Chang

Vong Zendik - For this Fourth of July 2019 an unfriendly reminder: An animation of Wulf Zendik's classic anti-war story, Don't Go!

One of the strongest animations clarifying the hypocrisy of war and a reminder to our youth of what they are facing when becoming combatants in our endless and meaningless causes of war making.


Watch Now

https://youtu.be/OLlqf69Ulfs

 
 
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Click the Meme above to share on your Facebook page.

Though xenophobia has been around for a long time, the word 'xenophobia' is relatively new—our earliest citation is from 1880. Xenophobia was formed from a brace of words found in ancient Greek, xenos (which can mean either "stranger" or "guest") and phobos (which can mean either "flight" or "fear"). ces at the cost of our planet's health.

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Click the Meme above to share on your Facebook page.

Climate justice and cultural demilitarization are intersecting issues; we cannot have peace in a world controlled by energy corporations that need war to leverage governments to extract energy resources at the cost of our planet's health.

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The National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY). 2019
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