International Affairs (Click to see specific nations and regions)

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Since World War II ended, the U.S. President has gained nearly dictatorial control over foreign policy

May 26, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

It was bad enough when previous presidents were in power. But after 9-11-2001, it has gotten worse. Congress passed the “Authorization to Use Military Force” (AUMF) and keeps supporting it. This is virtually a blank check for a president to make wars or do virtually anything anywhere if it is about “fighting terrorism.” Now Trump makes the AUMF’s implications even worse. The problem is THOROUGHLY BI-PARTISAN. Senators Corker and Kaine have introduced a bill that they say would tend to solve the problem. The article at the link below says their bill would NOT solve the problem. The article also […]

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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 […]

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The world could save $20 TRILLION by getting serious about climate change.

May 26, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

This article says that climate disruption will be VERY EXPENSIVE, and that the cost of bold climate action is far, far less than the cost of not taking bold action. Therefore, investing in bold actions to protect the climate would be a very smart investment financially, let alone the human and environmental reasons for protecting the climate. There is a strong financial incentive to fight global warming. A new study says the world could save $20 trillion by limiting warming to the more ambitious Paris Agreement target of 1.5 degrees Celsius.  The Los Angeles Times wrote an article about this. […]

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How can we challenge this dominant but destructive economic assumption?

May 24, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Embedded very deeply in our American culture — and many other nations’ cultures too — is an assumption that is embedded so deeply that nobody recognizes it, let alone challenge it. The assumption is this:  It is OK if what I do kills people, so long as I’m making money from what I do. At the surface level — the explicit level — if you were to ask people whether it is moral to kill other people, they would say “no.” But below the surface — at the implicit level — our society tolerates behaviors that knowingly kill people because […]

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Public frustration with endless war. Odd implications result from this.

May 24, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

People in the peace movement keep complaining about “endless wars.”  The general public — and Republicans and reactionaries — might also be upset.  There might be some odd implications and consequences from this. The peace movement is right to point out that the “War on Terror” that began with Republicans Bush & Cheney continued under Democrat Obama, and now it persists under Republican Trump.  The U.S.’s bi-partisan policies of persistent militarism — regardless of which parts of the world we are fighting in — have existed for many years. What are the political implications of this? The U.S. started the […]

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Profound Nonviolence for a Truly Just Society

May 15, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

In slightly more than three pages, the article at this link provides wisdom, compassion, insights, and encouragement to fix our society’s problems. I believe you will find that reading this is a good use of your time. Here is the link: Profound Nonviolence for a Truly Just Society

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Here is a way to understand Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election

May 15, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

You don’t need to be a Hillary Clinton supporter (and I certainly am not) to recognize the strong evidence that elements from Russia flooded American social media with racially polarizing social media during the 2016 election campaign. Why did it occur? How about considering the following context? Traditionally socialism has envisioned a joining together of the entire working class, across nations and across races. When the USSR existed and the Communist Party USA was active, especially from the 1930s and subsequent decades, the CPUSA really worked vigorously for racial integration and equality as part of this larger struggle. Instead of […]

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The U.S. Empire is BI-PARTISAN.

May 2, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

It’s easy to criticize the hawkish foreign policy that Trump and the Republicans are promoting.  Their gross cruelty causes some people to overlook the fact that Obama, Bill Clinton, and the Democrats have done similar things when they were in the White House and Congress. A year ago Courage to Resist (www.couragetoresist.org) published in its May 2017 newsletter an article (“Empire War Status” written on April 6, 2017, by Bob Meola, a member of Courage to Resist.  The information below includes some of his ideas and some of my own. He wrote: “A lot of people miss Barack Obama because […]

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“Peak Oil” was about SUPPLY. Now we’re experiencing “Peak DEMAND.”

April 29, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

In 2004, 2005, and a bit beyond, people (including me) were writing a lot about “Peak Oil.”  (If you want links to articles, etc., contact me at glenanderson@integra.net.) “Peak Oil” was about a peak in SUPPLY, resulting in several kinds of crises (economic, political, etc.) when the SUPPLY reaches its peak and starts to decline. Now we are facing a peak in DEMAND.  The climate crisis is forcing governments, businesses, and consumers to practice serious conservation and to convert to renewable energy.  This new “Peak DEMAND” will cause crises too.  Oil companies, transportation companies, etc., face serious problems like those […]

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Recent protests in Iran are NOT what Trump claims

April 29, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

The following information is based on information I received from someone I know who is from Iran and is extremely well informed about her country of origin and current realities there.  This Iranian-American lives in the Washington DC area. Recently Trump lied about the protests that occurred in parts of Iran in late December 2017 and early January 2018.  He claimed that the Iranian people were calling for “regime change” and supporting Trump’s belligerent policy toward that nation.  As always, Trump was totally wrong and lied in a self-serving way. The Iranian people know that the U.S. and England overthrew […]

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Media lets Melania’s white hat distract them from covering important news

April 28, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

France’s leader spoke to the U.S. Congress in April 2018.  He gave a stunning rebuke to Trump and Trumpism by denouncing the deliberate denial of science and the climate crisis.  He denounced the nationalism and isolationism.  He really nailed it! What did the U.S.’s mainstream news media cover?  They focused on the pretty white hat that Trump’s wife wore.  This utter incompetence and negligence are dumbing down the USA.  Trumpism relies on ignorance and distraction from the important issues.  The mainstream news media play along and support Trumpism in this way. See a closely related article (“The Republic Crumbles, Melania […]

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URGENT: Phone Heck, Murray, Cantwell to prevent attack on North Korea

April 23, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

The leaders of North and South Korea want peace!  They will hold an historic summit this Friday April 27 that should lead to further steps toward peace and reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula. But Trump wants war instead.  He has been hiring notorious war-hawks to advise him and run federal agencies. Only a few U.S. Congress members are vigorously promoting diplomacy instead of war.  They have introduced the “No Unconstitutional Strike against North Korea Act.”  The Senate bill (S. 2016) has only 3 co-sponsors, and the House bill (H.R. 4837) has 69 co-sponsors. We must phone U.S. Representative Denny Heck […]

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NPR supports Trump’s attack on Syria — interviews Pentagon’s big-wigs but NO peace supporters

April 13, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

On Friday April 13, 2018, Trump attacked Syria.  National Public Radio provided special radio coverage for a long period of time.  I listened to it and found it ENTIRELY ONE-SIDED with NO meaningful challenge to its wisdom and NO interviews with any peace supporters or anyone who would provide context.  NPR played Trump’s announcement and interviewed military generals and other Pentagon big-wigs and other hawks. Other sides do exist. See the info I quickly compiled here, based on appeals from the past few days seeking PEACE and urging Congress to take responsibility (as the U.S. Constitution requires) rather than letting […]

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How to understand Trump’s current rants about “caravans” of immigrants coming to the U.S.

April 7, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

The Quixote Center (www.quixote.org) has done great solidarity work with Central America for decades.  They put into context the ranting of Trump in early April 2018. Trump is feeling increased pressure about his many scandals, etc., so he is trying to divert scrutiny of his own bad behavior and that of his appointees by demonizing “The Other” and trying to get Americans to fear “The Other” and support Trump’s claim that militarizing the US’s southern border and violating the human rights of undocumented immigrants here will protect us. This article deserves to be read by many people: https://quixote.org/trump-unhinged/ A great […]

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John Bolton will push Trump into war(s) and more violent foreign policy

April 1, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Trump’s main criterion for appointing people is their loyalty to him.  He has been firing people who have tried to moderate Trump’s extremism and recklessness.  In March 2018 he appointed an extremely dangerous person — John Bolton — who has been wrong on a great many issues over the years and who shamelessly lied in order to help Dick Cheney and George W. Bush start their horrible war against Iraq in 2003. John Bolton will pollute Trump’s mind even further and delude Trump into thinking that he is getting smart advice from an expert, when really Trump will be  getting […]