Considering Ukraine

​The pictures of the Ukraine invasion are horrific, aren’t they? The invasion has me thinking about Iraq and a pre-emptive war that had neither rhyme nor reason. A war based on lies, only there weren’t any pictures, except for those approved by Cheney, Bush, and Rice. Pictures of Iraq were not in everyone’s living room: pictures of the wounded on the battle field, pictures of the dead coming home. Not like Vietnam. The US war mongers learned during Vietnam not to show pictures of war. Johnson admitted that it was the pictures of war on the news in everyone’s living room, every night, that ended that war. For Iraq, embedded reporters were the answer. The excuse was the un-embedded reporter would harm the security of the troops, which is utter bullshit. The average human response to real (not movie) carnage, in your living room, is: Make. It. Stop.

Putin’s invasion of the Ukraine is a war crime, as great a war crime as the United States invasion of Iraq. Pictures of what is happening in the Ukraine are on T.V. They’re on social media. Americans and human beings all across Europe are screaming, “Do something!” “Help these people!” The powers-that-be are looking for some kind of leverage that will make Putin stop. Unfortunately, the usual tactics — economic sanctions rapidly gaining in severity, military aid, guns, bombs, missiles, and a goodly portion of the world united against the invasion —don’t seem to be working. The threats are making him angrier and angrier, and like any cornered mad dog, he will strike back and go for the kill.

Noam Chomsky, and I’m paraphrasing here, said we either reward him for bad behavior or end up in a terminal war. As I write this, there is no embargo on Russian gas, the stated fear being, that gas prices will increase even more across Europe and the United States. Of course, gas prices can easily be kept under control with a windfall tax, and price controls, but that’s not going to happen because the global economy is controlled by fossil fuels and fossil fuels will lobby us and the planet into extinction before they give up one cent of profit.

35% of the EU’s gas supply comes from Russian. 1/3 of that gas goes through pipelines in the Ukraine. Putin’s invasion of the Ukraine isn’t just about gas though. Of equal significance are Putin’s issues with NATO’s expansion into countries that were once part of the Soviet Union (conservative media disagrees) Five of those countries border Russia, and Putin has made clear that he believes he is being surrounded in order to be cut off. He could be right. (I kinda think he is) Hegemony is the name of the game, and we the people are little more than pieces on the game board. There is no doomsday plane to carry us to safety. Are you familiar with the doomsday plane? The plane was built to withstand nuclear attack, and to carry the president, and whoever else is deemed important enough to survive a nuclear attack, to safety. As I write this I’m thinking the way I synthesize information — following the trail down the rabbit hole, connecting this to that, reasoned thought, logical argument, endless research — feels fairly useless when staring down nuclear annihilation. What exactly is the point?

We of the Kitchen Table Caucus are tired of man and his wars. We are tired of government, ours and the rest of the world’s, that represent the economic needs of multi-national corporations before the needs of humanity and planet. We are  tired of what is essentially a game of  king of the sandbox, which has brought the world to the brink of nuclear disaster. We are enraged that any man or woman has the power to destroy the entire world with the push of a button. (And no I’m not blaming Biden for Ukraine, so please don’t write me and tell me he inherited this mess. I’ve been on the planet 60 plus years and it strikes me that every president inherits a mess.) That innocent Ukrainians are being driven from their homes, their country, and slaughtered in the streets as I write this; that ANY innocent people, in ANY country, are being driven from their homes, their country, and slaughtered in the streets, is flat out evil. The defense industry is chortling with glee over the profits to be made.

To all who take a stand for Humanity and the planet: We are sacred, howling resistance.

Live loud, love fierce, and suffer no fools.
Katherine Manaan

Political Witch: Smart Crone Talking
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Photo: Italian pianist Davide Mortarelli performs for Ukrainian refugees at the border in Medyka, Poland.

To send humanitarian aid to the Ukraine - link below.
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https://action.publicgood.com/campaign/13ac7e1b-4de6-4f7c-b128-4346f73b9832?title=How%20to%20provide%20aid%20to%20those%20in%20Ukraine&utm_content=http%3A%2F%2Fcms3-mobile-

​preview.api.cnn.io&utm_medium=button&utm_source=cnn

​https://www.nytimes.com/.../opinion/putin-ukraine-nato.html

​https://truthout.org/.../noam-chomsky-us-military.../

​https://www.aljazeera.com/.../putin-ukraine-nato...

https://truthout.org/articles/arms-industry-sees-ukraine-conflict-as-an-opportunity-not-a-crisis/?utm_campaign=Truthout%20Share%20Buttons&fbclid=IwAR2_75Ry_ytyKCca1SqArIhu7C0ciuDjf1DdK8L-Nj52iQXooD5NTE-2kOw

​https://www.livescience.com/doomsday-plane-russia-nuclear...

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