“We Need Negotiations, Not More War”: CodePink Disrupts Defense Policy Talk
by thefreeonline on 13th Jan 2023 from Democracy Now
Just checking in to see if anti Armageddon riots are sweeping the USA.?. no NOTHING..NIX…. Oh yes! 2 Peace Women INTERRUPTED a War Promotion Event to politely ask for negotiations! Good for Code Pink!.. And yes wow! 20 democrats signed a letter asking for TALKS!.. But no.. withdrew the letter a day later.
So where are the protests? The Code Pink two did well, getting a video on You Tube (see below). But only a few marginal agencies even shared the news on Gobshite-Google. So I tried searching DuckDuckGo.. no protests. How about the Russian, Yandex.. nothing at all.
Seems that he US “Defense” Dept with its $ TRILLION budget is deeply embedded over generations in US society and industry. Not squeamish about splurging the odd billion on community events, scouts, scholorships, festivals, worthy causes and God knows what.
And of course nearly 100% of politicians, investors, CEO’s and maybe just middle class people have portfolio’s in the soaring shares of the Arms Industry and all its spinoffs and backhanders.
Every year the Pentagon fails to audit the multi trillions that have GONE MISSING! But it doesn’t really matter, as long as the US can still, just about, maintain economic hegemony, allowing it to just print money. Really!
So we’re happy enough it seems to sit tight and hold onto whatever privileges we still have left. At the Think -tank that Code Pink invaded, the eminent, despicable warmonger Adam Smith did in fact argue for cutting arms production! – Ah no… but only of obsolete armaments, and in favour of ginormous new, wonderful, shining massacre weapons.
It’s never been very hard for these profiteers to start a war in Europe. All it takes is to boost one petty rightwing State to NATO, then arm them and let them start killing any ethnic minority from a neighbouring nationalist rightwing State you don’t like… and bingo! Lovely War!
No protests… What a pity. It seems like declining capitalist states, especially settler states, are the WORST for blinding themselves in a spiral of hatred, ignorance, manipulated internal violence and the destruction of ‘enemies’, minorities and the planet.. in reality slowly destroying themselves.
And especially when living in a bubble of corrupt regime misinformation and led from behind by nuclear armed warmongers and psycopathic billionaire corporations.
Still, you never know, nobody expected Black Lives Matter, and US youth are in principle way ahead in experiencing total bullshit, and perhaps detonating a post capitalist rebellion.
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Code Pink activists urged talks with Russia during an event featuring a hawkish Democratic lawmaker
Code Pink activists urged talks with Russia during an event featuring a hawkish Democratic lawmaker
Screenshot © Twitter / @cspan
Pro-peace group Code Pink interrupted a panel discussion on Wednesday with Representative Adam Smith, a leading Democratic proponent of arming Ukraine. Smith was invited by the Washington-based think tank Brookings Institution to talk about US military policy.
Smith, the ranking member of his party on the House Armed Services Committee, explained his ideas for boosting US military capability during the panel. He urged mothballing large weapon systems that he believes to be obsolete and focusing on those required for the “modern fight.” The US needs to apply “lessons that we are learning from the fighting in Ukraine,” he said.
However, during the event members of the left-wing anti-war advocacy group Code Pink walked on to the stage to rebuke the administration of US President Joe Biden for pumping weapons into Ukraine and ignoring the path of negotiations.
Such an approach increases the risk of nuclear war, the group’s co-founder, Medea Benjamin, argued.
Democrats must endorse diplomacy and “not leave that to the extreme right of the Republican Party, like Marjorie Taylor Greene,” the activist said. Greene is a vocal opponent of Biden’s Ukraine policy, which she claims lacks accountability and fiscal responsibility.
“It’s a shame that 30 Democrats, who sent a letter to Biden calling for negotiations were so pilloried by people like you in the Democratic Party, that they withdrew their letter after 24 hours,” she remarked.
Benjamin was referring to a letter from October that encouraged pursuing peace talks and was signed by members of the Progressive Caucus. After pushback from pro-Kiev figures, the message was retracted and labeled a mistake. Smith denied “pillorying” the signatories.
As security removed the protesters from the premises, Smith said he wanted to respond to the sentiment and claimed that Russia was the party standing in the way of a negotiated peace in Ukraine.
“I think presenting arguments like that simply adds fuel to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s fire and gives Russia the blank check to go ahead,” he stated.
See also.. Lawmakers retract letter urging Biden to pursue peace
The Free 