FOR END TO WARS:
Our friends and colleagues in the US peace movement have
issued a statement and online petition calling for an end to the Middle East
wars and other conflicts the USA is currently engaged in:
“Dear Friends and Comrades in Peace,
As you are well aware, our world is at a critically dangerous
juncture: the possibility of a military, potentially a nuclear, confrontation
between NATO, led by the United States, and Russia. The militaries of the two
nuclear superpowers are once again facing each other, this time in Eastern
Europe, especially in Ukraine, and in Syria. And tensions are increasing each
passing day.
In a sense, we can say that a world war is already taking
place. Currently, the governments of 15 countries are bombing Syria. They
include seven allied NATO countries: US, UK, France, Turkey, Canada, Belgium,
and Netherlands. They also include non-NATO allies of the United States:
Israel, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, and Australia; and most
recently, Russia. On the western borders of Russia, another dangerous war is
going on. NATO is expanding its forces into countries bordering Russia. All the
borderland governments are now allowing NATO and US military forces on their
territory, where threatening NATO military exercises are taking place only a
few miles from major Russian cities. This is certainly causing a great deal of
tension for the Russian government, as it would naturally do the same for the
US government if Russian forces were stationed on the US-Mexico and US-Canada
borders, carrying out military exercises a few miles from major American
cities.
Either, or both, of these situations can easily lead to a
direct confrontation between US and its NATO allies on the one hand, and Russia
on the other; a confrontation that has the potential of escalating into a
nuclear war with disastrous consequences.
It is in light of this dangerous situation that we are
addressing our friends and comrades in the peace and anti-nuclear movement. It
seems to us that many of our allies in the movement are paying scant attention
to the dangers that threaten the whole existence of humanity on a global scale
today, and are limiting their reactions to just protesting this or that action
on the part of this or that side. At best, they are saying to the US and Russia “a plague on
both your houses,” criticizing both sides for equally increasing the tensions.
This, in our view, is a passive, ahistorical, and more importantly ineffective,
response that ignores the urgency of the existing threat. Moreover, by
bestowing blame in equal measure, it masks its real causes.
But the roots of the current crisis are much deeper than the
recent conflicts in Syria and Ukraine. It all goes back to the destruction of
the Soviet Union in 1991 and the desire of the US, as the sole remaining superpower,
to unilaterally dominate the whole world. This fact is very bluntly stated in
the document published by the neo-cons in September 2000, titled “Rebuilding
America’s Defences: Strategy, Forces and Resources For a New Century,” upon
which the current US policy is based (forgive us for this lengthy reminder):
“At present the United
States faces no global rival. America’s grand strategy should aim to preserve
and extend this advantageous position as far into the future as possible. There
are, however, potentially powerful states dissatisfied with the current
situation and eager to change it….”
“Today its the
military’s task to … deter the rise of a
new great-power competitor; defend key regions of Europe, East Asia and the
Middle East; and to preserve American pre-eminence…. Today, that same security
can only be acquired at the “retail” level, by deterring or, when needed, by
compelling regional foes to act in ways that protect American interests and
principles….”
“It is now commonly
understood that information and other new technologies … are creating a dynamic
that may threaten America’s ability to exercise its dominant military power.
Potential rivals such as China are anxious to exploit these transformational
technologies broadly, while adversaries like Iran, Iraq and North Korea are
rushing to develop ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons as a deterrent to
American intervention in regions they seek to dominate…. If an American peace
is to be maintained, and expanded, it must have a secure foundation on
unquestioned U.S. military pre-eminence….”
“The reality of the
today’s world is that there is no magic wand with which to eliminate [nuclear]
weapons … and that deterring their use requires a reliable and dominant U.S.
nuclear capability…. Nuclear weapons remain a critical component of American
military power….
“In addition, there
may be a need to develop a new family of nuclear weapons designed to address
new sets of military requirements, such as would be required in targeting the
very deep underground, hardened bunkers that are being built by many of our
potential adversaries…. U.S. nuclear superiority is nothing to be ashamed of;
rather, it will be an essential element in preserving American leadership….”
“Maintaining or
restoring a favourable order in vital regions in the world such as Europe, the
Middle East and East Asia places a unique responsibility on U.S. armed
forces….”
“For one, they demand
American political leadership rather than that of the United Nations…. Nor can
the United States assume a UN-like stance of neutrality; the preponderance of
American power is so great and its global interests so wide that it cannot
pretend to be indifferent to the political outcome in the Balkans, the Persian
Gulf or even when it deploys forces in Africa…. American forces must remain
deployed abroad, in large numbers…. Neglect or withdrawal from constabulary
missions will … encourage petty tyrants to defy American interests and ideals.
And the failure to prepare for tomorrow’s challenges will ensure that the
current Pax Americana comes to an early end….”
“It is important that
NATO not be replaced by the European Union, leaving the United States without a
voice in European security affairs….”
“Over the long term,
Iran may well prove as large a threat to U.S. interests in the Gulf as Iraq
has. And even should U.S.-Iranian relations improve, retaining forward-based
forces in the region would still be an essential element in U.S. security
strategy given the longstanding American interests in the region….”
“The value of land
power continues to appeal to a global superpower, whose security interests rest
upon … the ability to win wars. While maintaining its combat role, the U.S.
Army has acquired new missions in the past decade – most immediately …
defending American interests in the Persian Gulf and Middle East. These new
missions will require the continued stationing of U.S. Army units abroad…. elements
of U.S. Army Europe should be redeployed to Southeast Europe, while a permanent
unit should be based in the Persian Gulf region….”
“When their missiles
are tipped with warheads carrying nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons,
even weak regional powers have a credible deterrent, regardless of the balance
of conventional forces. That is why, according to the CIA, a number of regimes
deeply hostile to America – North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Libya and Syria – “already
have or are developing ballistic missiles” that could threaten U.S allies and
forces abroad…. Such capabilities pose a grave challenge to the American peace
and the military power that preserves that peace. “The ability to control this
emerging threat through traditional non-proliferation treaties is limited….”
“The current American
peace will be short-lived if the United States becomes vulnerable to rogue
powers with small, inexpensive arsenals of ballistic missiles and nuclear
warheads or other weapons of mass destruction. We cannot allow North Korea,
Iran, Iraq or similar states to undermine American leadership….”
And, most importantly,
none of these can be achieved “absent some catastrophic and catalysing event —
like a new Pearl Harbour….”
And this document has been the guiding principle of US
policy ever since, for both Bush and Obama administrations. Every aspect of US
policy today is in line with the letter of this document, from the Middle East,
to Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America, bypassing the UN as global
peacekeeper and replacing it with NATO’s military power as the global enforcer,
as recommended in this document. Any leader or government that resists the
planned US domination of the world must go, by use of military force if
necessary!
The “catastrophic and catalysing event — like a new Pearl Harbour”
that they needed was handed to them on a silver platter on September 11, 2001
and the whole plan was put into motion. A new “enemy,” Islamic Terrorism, took
the place of the old “enemy,” Communism. The “global war on terrorism” thus
began. First came Afghanistan, then Iraq, then Libya, and now Syria, with Iran
waiting for its turn (all of them listed in the document as targets of regime
change by force). Similarly, based on the same strategy, Russia, and later
China, as “global rivals” and “deterrents” to the US global domination, must
also be weakened and contained. Hence, also, the amassing of NATO forces on
Russian borders and the dispatch of US Navy carriers and warships to East Asia
to encircle China.
Unfortunately, it seems, this overall strategic picture is
being missed by a significant part of our peace movement. Many forget that the
demonization of foreign leaders, and slogans like “Saddam Hussein must go,”
“Gadhafi must go,” “Assad must go,” “Chavez must go,” “Maduro must go,”
“Yanukovych must go,” and now, “Putin must go,” (all clearly in violation of
international law and the UN Charter) are all part and parcel of the same
global domination strategy that is threatening peace and security of the whole
world, and even the very existence of humanity as a whole.
The question, here, is not about defending this or that
leader or government, or disregarding their violation of their citizens’
rights. The issue is that we cannot look at each one of these cases in
isolation from the others and deal with them piecemeal without seeing the root
cause of all of them, i.e., the US drive for global domination. We cannot hope
to eliminate nuclear weapons when the two most powerful nuclear states are on
the verge of a military confrontation. We cannot protect innocent civilians by
funding and arming extremists, directly or through allies. We cannot expect
peace and cooperation with Russia while amassing NATO forces and carrying out
military exercises on its borders. We cannot have security if we do not respect
the sovereignty and security of other nations and peoples.
Being fair and objective does not mean being even-handed
between the aggressor and its victims. We need to stop aggression before we can
deal with the victims’ responses to the aggression. We ought not blame the
victim of aggression instead of the actions of the aggressor. And looking at
the whole picture, there should be no doubt about who the aggressors are.
It is in light of
these facts that we believe we cannot avoid the impending catastrophe without
joining forces, with the needed sense of urgency, to demand the following in
both words and action:
- NATO forces must be immediately withdrawn from the countries bordering Russia;
- All foreign forces must leave Syria immediately, and Syrian sovereignty and territorial integrity must be guaranteed.
- Syrian conflict must be dealt with only through political processes and diplomatic negotiations. The US must withdraw its policy of “Assad must go” as a precondition, and stop blocking diplomatic talks.
- Negotiations must include the government of Syria especially, as well as all regional and global parties that are affected by the conflict.
- The future of the Syrian government must be decided by the Syrian people alone, free of all external interferences.
The US strategy for
global domination must be abandoned in favour of peaceful coexistence of all
countries and respect for every nation’s right to self-determination and
sovereignty.
The process of dismantling NATO must begin immediately.
We call upon all of
our friends and comrades in the peace and anti-nuclear movement to join hands
with us in a democratic coalition to end all wars of aggression. We
wholeheartedly welcome all cooperative responses by our friends and comrades in
the movement.
U.S. Peace Council
October 10, 2015
The Online petition can be accessed here:
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