Middle East – Glen's Parallax Perspectives

Recognize and Counter Mainstream Media Bias

June 24, 2022 GlenAnderson 0

The July 2022 interview on “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” provides fresh information and insights about a systemic problem that perpetuates war and all kinds of injustice. This systemic problem also interferes with our efforts to solve all of the problems we care about. This TV interview is about bias in mainstream news media. Media bias is very pervasive – and because it is so very pervasive, it is often not even noticed. It distorts what people know about vital issues such as war and peace, the economy, race, the criminal justice system, the climate, and all of the other important issues. […]

Watch video recording of “Holding Israel Accountable: Remembering Rachel Corrie”

April 7, 2022 GlenAnderson 0

You can watch the March 16, 2022, event mentioned below at this link here on YouTube! On March 16, 2003, an Israeli military bulldozer ran over my friend Rachel Corrie, a young woman from Olympia, with whom I had worked on several peace-and-justice issues. She was in Rafah, Gaza, nonviolently protecting a Palestinian family’s home from being bulldozed down in order to ethnically cleanse the area in order to make room for Israeli settlers to expand their occupation of Palestinian lands. Her family and friends created the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice (www.rachelcorriefoundation.org), and this Olympia-based organization has […]

The U.S. must stop arming dictators and human rights abusers

August 29, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

The U.S. has a very long history of arming dictators and human rights abusers. This was already going on long before the U.S. and Britain overthrew Iran’s democracy and installed the extremely brutal Shah of Iran in 1953. The U.S. armed that brutal dictator throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. After the Shah’s demise, the U.S. armed Iraq’s Saddam Hussein so he could fight his war against Iran. Then the U.S. violently overthrew him and armed many sides in the chaos that arose directly because of the U.S.’s war there. In recent years the U.S. has armed MANY different factions […]

Myanmar’s coup — much info before and after — and insights into other issues

June 13, 2021 GlenAnderson 0

On February 1, 2021, the military of Myanmar (previously known as Burma) overthrew democracy and installed an extremely brutal military dictatorship. The population has been protesting against that, so the military has been using extreme violence to suppress the resistance. Most of the public’s resistance has been nonviolent, but — out of frustration — some people have been resorting to violence. Of course, this nation had been colonized by a European nation, so that background plays into the current crisis. The nation exists in the context of other nations in that region. Mainstream news media in the U.S. have been […]

This clever diagram can help us strategize how to change to a peaceful foreign policy.

November 12, 2020 GlenAnderson 0

For a very long time the U.S. had a “War Department,” but we conducted very few foreign wars. In 1947 Congress changed it to the “Department of Defense,” and we have conducted many, many wars since then, including our 2-decades-long Endless War against “terrorism.” Sensible people want to replace the U.S.’s chronically aggressive and violently militaristic foreign policy. The diagram linked here can help us figure out strategies for doing that. It is fun to bring a few friends together to work through this exercise together. Also, it can be useful for you to work with it alone. Creative insights […]

Trump is HORRIBLY INCOMPETENT in dealing with other nations

July 31, 2020 GlenAnderson 0

During the 2016 campaign (and ever since then) Trump kept promoting himself as an extremely smart business person who was skilled at making deals and interacting effectively with other nations. ALL OF THAT IS THE OPPOSITE of what he has done since taking office in January 2017. Trump’s record on foreign policy: Lost wars, new conflicts and broken promises: Building a new anti-war movement that is connected to the domestic anti-police struggle is the only thing that can rein in U.S. militarism. https://www.nationofchange.org/2020/07/02/trumps-record-on-foreign-policy-lost-wars-new-conflicts-and-broken-promises/ Trump is utterly INCOMPETENT in foreign policy and ABUSES WOMEN who lead other nations: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/6/29/1956980/-CNN-sources-Trump-s-calls-with-women-foreign-leaders-have-been-near-sadistic?detail=emaildkre […]

Trump is INCOMPETENT in many foreign policy blunders.

December 28, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

Poll: Germans see Trump as greater threat to World Peace than Putin, Xi, Kim, Iran’s Khamenei: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/12/26/1908019/-Poll-Germans-see-Trump-greater-threat-to-World-Peace-than-Putin-Xi-Iran-s-Khamenei-Kim-Jong-Un?detail=emaildkre Retired four-star admiral: 100 percent chance that Trump got played by North Korea: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/12/26/1907942/-Retired-four-star-admiral-100-percent-chance-that-Trump-got-played-by-North-Korea?detail=emaildkre Trump tried to bully South Korea. Then Trump’s negotiators walked out of talks. Then South Korea signed defense agreement with China. Trump once again shows how utterly incompetent he is at negotiating and making deals: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/11/19/1900552/-South-Korea-signs-defense-agreement-with-China-after-Trump-s-negotiators-walk-out-on-US-Korea-talks?detail=emaildkre Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Trump got “played” by Netanyahu: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rex-tillerson-donald-trump-benjamin-netanyahu-played_n_5d83f698e4b0957256b3e9f4?ncid=newsltushpmgnews_Politics_092019 American consumers will have to pay the $72 BILLION in Trump’s tariffs. A CNBC news report in […]

Trump’s new war for oil in northern Syria

October 26, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

Trump keeps screwing up. Trump keeps deceiving people. Everything he does is only for his own benefit. He fooled some people into thinking he was withdrawing troops from Syria as a matter of a principled peace policy. Actually, he was screwing our allies in his “America First” isolationism — except that he is really abusing our foreign and military policies in order to help his pals Erdogan (the brutal authoritarian who runs Turkey) and Putin (’nuff said!) and in order to pursue a war for oil in Northern Syria. See this: https://www.juancole.com/2019/10/province-kurdish-displacement.html No, Trump Isn’t Bringing US Troops Home […]

John Bolton was TOO HAWKISH even for Trump!

September 14, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

In early September 2019 Trump fired his National Security Adviser John Bolton. Bolton was a NOTORIOUS hawk who kept opposing diplomacy and kept promoting war instead. He has been WRONG on foreign policy issues for decades. Finally Trump had found that Bolton was too hawkish even for Trump, so Trump fired him. Here are some articles about this, including articles summarizing Bolton’s horrible record and the political context for this latest firing: #1: John Bolton is an extremist who likes war and opposes diplomacy and international agreements. A great non-profit organization — www.beyondthebomb.org — wrote this: “Bolton managed to break […]

Links to several articles about warhawk John Bolton

June 9, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

This article about “John Bolton, Pyromaniac” says it would be crazy to hire a chronic pyromaniac to be fire chief, but that’s what Trump did to the U.S. when he hired John Bolton to be his National Security Advisor. See this article: https://inkstickmedia.com/john-bolton-pyromaniac/” The article at the following link says, “The Most Dangerous Man in the World Is Trump’s National Security Adviser,” and it also says, “On Venezuela and Iran, Donald Trump is the adult in the room next to John Bolton.” Here is the link: https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/05/opinion/the-most-dangerous-man-in-the-world/?_=2265639 This article says, “Fear the Mustache: Why Bolton Makes Even Donald Trump […]

Act Now: Tell Congress to Impeach Bolton

April 12, 2019 GlenAnderson 0

The excellent non-profit organization “Win Without War” (www.winwithoutwar.org) promotes bold and principled information and efforts for peace. On April 11, 2019, they started urging people to impeach John Bolton for several reasons. See this information and a link to tell Congress to impeach Bolton: This week marks John “Bomb ‘Em” Bolton’s one year anniversary as White House National Security Adviser. And in just a year, ultra-hawk Bolton has destroyed multiple, vital international treaties, and is dragging us inches from two wars of choice with Venezuela and Iran. But John Bolton is not a permanent fixture. In fact, he is impeachable. […]

Stop the U.S.’s cruel habit of “regime change.” It is WRONG to violently overthrow governments.

May 26, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

The U.S. has a long, horrible, cruel habit of violently overthrowing governments and abusively meddling in elections to manipulate their outcomes even if the U.S. militarily does not overthrow those governments violently. I am appalled by the hypocrisy of Americans — a majority of ordinary people, along with politicians and the mainstream news media — who express moral outrage that Russia has meddled in the U.S.’s 2016 election. The U.S. has done this to other countries VERY OFTEN for many decades. This article summarizes the U.S.’s violent overthrows of other nations. American politicians and news media and ordinary people do not […]

“The Arab World’s Democracy Movement”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

The Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s July 2011 TV program examines the growing movement for democracy in northern Africa, the Middle East, the Persian Gulf states, and throughout much of the Arab world. The movement really took off in early 2011 and is continuing up through our taping date in June 2011, so it has been referred to as the “Arab Spring.” As usual, the mainstream news media and mainstream politicians have failed to understand or talk about some of the most important aspects of this, and they have described some aspects inaccurately, especially reflecting U.S. government bias, rather than understand […]

TV: “Let’s Meet Our Arab Neighbors”

December 2, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

Although the whole world is interconnected in many ways, most Americans do not know enough about Arab culture, and most Americans don’t have enough friends from countries in the Arab world. If we did, we would be more likely to make peace instead of war. The Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s September 2012 TV program is an enjoyable conversation with people whose roots are in different countries within the Arab world. We’ll learn something of Arab culture. And we’ll sow the seeds of peace. Locally, the Olympia-based Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice does a lot of good work, so […]

TV: “ITTP Cracks the Cycle of Trauma in World Conflicts”

December 2, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

Wars and violent conflict occur in many places throughout the world. Also, torture occurs more often and in more places than ordinary people might assume. Experiencing any of these can traumatize a person, so a great many persons around the world have been traumatized by torture, war, or violent conflicts. What do traumatized persons need in order to recover? How can we support practitioners who are providing treatment for this trauma? The Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s February 2013 TV program explores these concerns. Our two guests have worked extensively in this field: • John Van Eenwyk is an Episcopal priest […]