International Affairs (Click to see specific nations and regions)

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Outreach ideas for hard, scary issues

October 30, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

It is hard to inform and mobilize the public about hard, scary issues such as nuclear weapons, the climate crisis, and Trumpism’s escalating fascism. Typically, we throw facts at people, but people too fearful and powerless to open themselves up psychologically to hear those facts, let alone act upon them. The document I wrote and linked below  can help the public empower themselves to work on serious issues, including the hardest and most  frightening issues. In order to really engage the public on these hard and frightening issues, we must deliberately strategize how to address the public’s fears, feelings of […]

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De-Militarize U.S. Foreign Policy

October 28, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

In 2016 I created a workshop to help people understand the U.S.’s violent foreign policy and see how we might de-militarize it.  I created a handout for people to use during the workshop, and so people anywhere at any time can walk themselves through the process. Here is a link so you can do that:  De-Militarize U.S. Foreign Policy — WORKSHOP Handout for Participants and Others    

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Trump provokes NEW NUCLEAR ARMS RACE AND WAR by pulling out of the 1987 INF treaty that Reagan + Gorbachev signed.

October 23, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Since 1987 the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty has reduced tensions between the U.S. and Russia and allowed both nations to reduce the danger of nuclear war. Trump pulled out of the INF treaty, so a NEW NUCLEAR ARMS RACE IS LIKELY — and Trump has INCREASED THE LIKELIHOOD OF NUCLEAR WAR. Both the U.S. and Russia want to build new, destabilizing nuclear weapons that are likely to make it more likely for a nuclear war to begin, either intentionally or by mistake or miscalculation or accident. Here are several good sources of information.  We must push Congress hard to […]

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Sign petition now. Trump supports Saudi Arabia’s cruelty and its passion for a war against Iran.

October 21, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Trump has denied having business dealings with Saudi Arabia, but he really does have significant business dealings with them. He has been very subservient to Saudi Arabia’s interests and has curried favor with that nation’s cruel despotic leaders. Saudi Arabia (which is Sunni) has been strongly opposing Iran (which is largely Shia), and they are fighting proxy wars in Yemen and elsewhere.  Saudi Arabia wants a war against Iran, and it is urging Trump to start one.  Trump also is very subservient to the militaristic government of Israel, which also wants a war against Iran (in addition to practicing genocide […]

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URGENT! Demand your U.S. Senators to co-sponsor S. 3517: PREVENT a war against Iran.

October 21, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Trump’s EXTREME CRUELTY and MEGALOMANIA and NARCISSM cause him to think he will be a “big shot” if he attacks Iran. Trump keeps laying the groundwork for starting a TOTALLY UNNECESSARY AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL WAR. Our U.S. Senators must act responsibly to PREVENT Trump’s war against Iran.  PLEASE urge your U.S. Senators to co-sponsor S. 3517, the “Prevention of Unconstitutional War with Iran Act.”  S. 3517 would ban the use of funding for attacking Iran. PLEASE send a strong message to your senators. You can e-mail them through their websites, www.murray.senate.gov and www.cantwell.senate.gov and/or phone them:  Murray (202) 224-2621 or […]

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Click to sign petition against first use of nuclear weapons

October 7, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Many Americans think the U.S.’s nuclear weapons are intended for our defense — to retaliate in case another nation starts to attack us.  Actually, for half a century the U.S. has designed and built nuclear weapons SPECIFICALLY to be used FIRST to BEGIN nuclear war.  The U.S. has long had a policy allowing FIRST-STRIKE to BEGIN a nuclear war. Now — under Obama and under Trump — the U.S. is planning to build expensive new FIRST-STRIKE nuclear weapons. Also, ever since 1945, the U.S. has allowed a president to UNILATERALLY DECIDE whether to start a nuclear war.  This VIOLATES the […]

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Thomas Merton’s quotation about the violence in American culture

October 7, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Thomas Merton, the pacifist philosopher, theologian and mystic, wrote this (probably during the 1960s): “The real focus of American violence is in the very culture itself, its mass media, its extreme individualism and competitiveness, its inflated myths of virility and toughness, and its overwhelming preoccupation with the power of nuclear, chemical, bacteriological, and psychological overkill. If we live in what is essentially a culture of overkill, how can we be surprised at finding violence in it? Can we get to the root of the trouble? In my opinion, the best way to do it would have been the classic way […]

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“Let’s Understand the Islamic Faith”

October 1, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

The October 2018 episode of “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” TV series helps us understand the Islamic faith. Islam is the world’s second most popular religion, but most Americans who are not Muslim do not understand it.  Many of the things Americans think they know about Islam are not actually true.  I invite you to watch this TV interview with three knowledgeable, articulate Muslims so you will gain a clear and accurate understanding. See the link below to watch the program — and the link below that to read a thorough summary of what we said and a list of sources for […]

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U.S. govt’s “best and brightest” keep pushing us into unwinnable wars

September 22, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

For many decades U.S. foreign policy has been bi-partisan, reflecting the needs of U.S. business corporations around the world, and grounded in the myth of “entitlement” and “U.S. Exceptionalism,” the notions that the U.S. is unique in history in being the world’s ultimate savior, and therefore not bound by international law, and not subject to the constraints and realities that have confined other nations that were not the one Beacon of Liberty to save the world. The elite people who have shaped U.S. foreign policy for many decades share those assumptions, even if they have educations from elite universities and […]

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Peace group creates an “Alternative Nuclear Posture Review” that would prevent nuclear war

September 22, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

The government and much of the public assume that we need nuclear weapons for our “national security. However, the truth is that nuclear weapons make us INSECURE because they could blow us all up. Presidents devise their nuclear weapons policies in the form of a “Nuclear Posture Review.” Trump released his already.  It is recklessly dangerous. Now a peace organization that opposes nuclear weapons (www.globalzero.org) has created its own ALTERNATIVE “Nuclear Posture Review” that would actually make us MORE SECURE, not LESS. Instead of planning how to fight nuclear wars, this alternative promotes genuine deterrence. The author (a former nuclear […]

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The climate crisis is worsening, but people are taking good actions. Here are updates you have not likely seen.

September 16, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Public Citizen (www.citizen.org), the excellent non-profit organization founded by Ralph Nader in 1971, announced this: On September 10, 2018, the head of the United Nations warned that the world is reaching a dangerous tipping point on the climate crisis.  United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called global leaders to work faster to deal with climate change and warned of grave risks of runaway global warming. See this article:  https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/climate/united-nations-climate-change.html?link_id=3&can_id=1d662460c0abb8939c5044c82927552b&source=email-florence&email_referrer=email_418174&email_subject=Florence     This simple chart came from www.popularresistance.org : Global Occurrences of Extreme Climate Events — up to 2018 This article from November 2017 explains and shows graphs about progress toward meeting […]

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Our local weekly peace vigils attract attention and support!

September 15, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

One way to “think globally and act locally” is to participate in the three peace vigils that occur in Olympia every week! The Wednesday and Friday vigils downtown occur EVERY week, all year around, regardless of weather or holidays. The Thursday bannering at a local freeway overpass occurs when it is not too windy to hold the huge banner safely. Every Wednesday from 12 noon to 1 pm in the NW corner of Sylvester Park (Legion & Capitol Way) since March 5, 1980 Every Thursday from 11 am to 12 noon (current schedule might change in winder, and as weather […]

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Update on NAFTA (9-6-2018) by Lori Wallach from Ralph Nader’s Public Citizen

September 9, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

NAFTA has been hurting workers and the environment in the U.S., Mexico and Canada since January 1, 1994. It is very unpopular for a variety of reasons.  Trump campaigned against NAFTA.  Now he is renegotiating it — perhaps with Mexico only instead of with all three nations because he has created conflicts with Canada. A number of non-profit organizations have been working hard on issues related to “free trade” during these decades.  One of the best is Public Citizen (www.citizen.org), which Ralph Nader had founded in 1971.  Their top expert on the issue is Lori Wallach.  Here is her article […]

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URGENT! Sign this petition to save the UN’s nuclear disarmament summit.

August 20, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

The article at the link below explains that the United Nations is planning a global summit to restrict nuclear weapons. However, forces that support nuclear weapons are trying to prevent this bold step toward peace. Please read this article, including the list under the headline Value of the UN High Level Conference (Summit), so you can see how important this is. After the first paragraph is a link to a petition you can sign. Please sign the petition – and share it with other people! Urgent petition to save nuclear disarmament summit