Baltimore Nonviolence Center

Sunday, July 3, 2016

Imperialism Obama Style: 800 Military Bases Around the World

Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)

Imperialism Obama Style: 800 Military Bases Around the World

By Sarah Lazare [1] / AlterNet [2]

July 1, 2016

Speaking [3] at the Aspen Ideas Festival on June 28, Secretary of State John Kerry sought to ease anxiety over an ever-rising global “turmoil and strife” by pointing to an eyebrow-raising fact. "I state unabashedly to every single one of you: The United States of America is more engaged in more places with greater impact today than at any time in American history,” he reassured the audience. “And that is simply documentable and undeniable.”

Kerry made it clear that when he talks about “engagement,” war is a key part of the equation. “We’ve been working with countries to support a new Government of National Accord in Libya,” he said, referencing a dubious state [4] that the U.S. is moving to heavily arm. “I was recently in the United Arab Emirates. I think we’ve come to a common understanding of how to strengthen that government and go after Daesh in Libya. We’re supporting Afghanistan in its fight against extremists and support a sovereign and democratic Ukraine.”

Kerry’s observation of unprecedented engagement may, in fact, be an understatement. As David Vine, the author of the book Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World, noted [5] in 2015, the United States “probably has more foreign military bases than any other people, nation, or empire in history.” The roughly 800 [6] U.S. military bases around the world compare to a grand total of zero free-standing foreign bases on U.S. soil, Vine reported.

Meanwhile, Ken McGraw, a spokesman for Special Operations Command, told [7] journalist Nick Turse that, by the 9th month of 2015, special operations forces had already deployed to 135 countries—or 70 percent of all the nations on the planet. This compares to about 60 countries under the George W. Bush years. The Government Accountability Office concluded [8] that special operations funding has ballooned from $3 billion in 2001 to just under $10 billion in 2014.

And then there is the steady creep of AFRICOM. Journalist Nick Turse wrote [9] in November 2015, “in recent years the U.S. military has, in fact, developed a remarkably extensive network of more than 60 outposts and access points in Africa. Some are currently being utilized, some are held in reserve, and some may be shuttered. These bases, camps, compounds, port facilities, fuel bunkers, and other sites can be found in at least 34 countries—more than 60% of the nations on the continent—many of them corrupt [10],repressive [11] states [12] with poor [13] human rights [14] records.”

The Pentagon even runs [15] an estimated 170 golf courses around the world.

Tallying up the list of U.S. direct or proxy wars is no simple task. In a May 2013 article [16] published in the journal Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy, Linda J. Bilmes and Michael D. Intriligator noted:

Today U.S. military operations are involved in scores of countries across all the five continents. The U.S. military is the world’s largest landlord, with significant military facilities in nations around the world, and with a significant presence in Bahrain, Djibouti, Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Kyrgyzstan, in addition to long-established bases in Germany, Japan, South Korea, Italy, and the UK. Some of these are vast, such as the Al Udeid Air Force Base in Qatar, the forward headquarters of the United States Central Command, which has recently been expanded to accommodate up to 10,000 troops and 120 aircraft.

The authors ultimately concluded that the U.S. was directly or indirectly involved in wars in 74 countries at the time.

As recently as May 2016, New York Times reporter Mark Landler observed [17] that Obama is the “only president in American history to serve two complete terms with the nation at war.”

Kerry is certainly correct to point out that U.S. engagement in vaster than it ever has been before. But as militarized intervention drives the greatest crises of human strife and displacement since World War II, this observation is no comfort at all.

Sarah Lazare is a staff writer for AlterNet. A former staff writer for Common Dreams, she coedited the book About Face: Military Resisters Turn Against War. Follow her on Twitter at @sarahlazare [18].

Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@alternet.org'. [19]

[20]

Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/world/imperialism-obama-style-800-military-bases-around-world

Links:

[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/sarah-lazare-0
[2] http://alternet.org
[3] http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2016/06/259165.htm
[4] http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/inside-wests-cynical-plan-keep-refugees-out-europe-trapping-them-libya
[5] https://www.thenation.com/article/the-united-states-probably-has-more-foreign-military-bases-than-any-other-people-nation-or-empire-in-history/
[6] https://www.amazon.com/Base-Nation-Military-America-American/dp/1627791698?ie=UTF8&ref_=nosim&tag=tomdispatch-20
[7] http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176048/tomgram%3A_nick_turse,_a_secret_war_in_135_countries/
[8] http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-15-571
[9] http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176070/tomgram:_nick_turse,_america%27s_empire_of_african_bases/
[10] https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2014/niger
[11] https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2015/djibouti
[12] https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2014/chad
[13] https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2014/central-african-republic
[14] https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2014/ethiopia
[15] http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/12/pentagon-budget-deal-charts-cuts
[16] http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/peps.2013.19.issue-1/peps-2013-0011/peps-2013-0011.xml
[17] http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/us/politics/obama-as-wartime-president-has-wrestled-with-protecting-nation-and-troops.html
[18] https://twitter.com/sarahlazare
[19] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?Subject=Typo on Imperialism Obama Style: 800 Military Bases Around the World
[20] http://www.alternet.org/
[21] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

Saturday, July 2, 2016

Scientists Find New Kind of Fukushima Fallout

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/37768-scientists-find-new-kind-of-fukushima-fallout

A Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) employee, wearing a protective suit and a mask, walks in front of the No. 1 reactor building at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. (photo: Toru Hanai/Bloomberg)

Scientists Find New Kind of Fukushima Fallout

By Sam Lemonick, Forbes

01 July 16

Some of the radioactive material that escaped the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor in 2011 took a form no one was looking for, scientists have discovered. Now they have to figure out what it means for Japan and for future disasters.

Radioactive cesium—specifically, cesium-137—is one of the waste products of nuclear power. It’s also one of the most dangerous substances in a nuclear disaster like Chernobyl or Fukushima.

One reason why is that the type of radiation it emits is particularly damaging to our bodies. Another is that cesium-137 dissolves in water. That means it can spread quickly through the environment and get into the plants, animal and water we consume.

Until now, scientists and disaster experts thought cesium-137 fallout from the Fukushima reactor meltdown was in this soluble form. That guided their cleanup efforts, like removing and washing topsoil, and helped them map where radiation might spread.

It turns out that wasn’t entirely true. Satoshi Utsunomiya, a geochemist at Kyushu University in Japan, announced over the weekend that he had found cesium-137 in a new form: trapped inside tiny glass particles that spewed from the damaged reactors. These particles are not water soluble, meaning we know very little about how they behave in the environment—or in our bodies. He found the particles in air filters placed around Tokyo at the time of the disaster.

According to Utsunomiya, high temperatures inside the malfunctioning reactors at the Fukushima plant melted and broke down the concrete and metal in the buildings. Silica, zinc, iron, oxygen and cesium-137 fused into millimeter-wide glass microparticles, each about the size of a pin’s head. Lifted into the atmosphere by the fires raging at the plant, they then blew about 240 kilometers southeast to Tokyo.

“As much as 89% of all of the cesium [in Tokyo] was in fact in these particles. It’s profound,” says Daniel Kaplan, a geochemist at Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina. He attended Utsunomiya’s lecture describing the findings at the ongoing Goldschmidt Conference in Yokohama, Japan.

Kaplan says similar particles were observed near the Chernobyl reactors after the explosion there in 1986. But they were only seen within about 30 kilometers; beyond that, cesium-137 was only observed in rain.

The discovery could change how we model fallout from nuclear disasters. Kaplan explains that it might add a new variable to the models we use to predict where radioactive particles will go and how long they’ll stay there. It might also change how we treat cesium-137 during cleanup and monitoring.

It is probably still too early to say what this means for people living in Tokyo or elsewhere in Japan. Kaplan thinks the amount of radiation they received probably hasn’t changed. Whether they got it from water-soluble cesium-137 or from these particles, the radiation dose was the same—and for Tokyo residents, that number was within the margin of safe exposure.

The bad thing about water-soluble cesium-137 is that it can easily get into our bodies from soil by way of plants and animals. This new discovery alleviates that concern. But it opens up a new possibility we know little about.

“If the particles are in the air—because that’s how they get to Tokyo—then when you are aspirating this air you should find them in some ways on your lungs,” says Bernd Grambow, who studies nuclear waste chemistry as head of the SUBATECH laboratory in France.

Water-soluble cesium-137 that makes it into our lungs passes into the bloodstream and is peed out within a few weeks. But Grambow says we really don’t know what happens to insoluble cesium-137-containing particles if they get in our lungs. Some of them are likely coughed out or removed by our lungs’ other normal processes. As for the rest, Grambow says we don’t know how long they might remain.

He cautions that any internal radiation from particles containing cesium-137 would be much less than the doses people got from external radiation, which would come from cesium-137 and other radioactive elements in the soil or the environment around them. “We don’t know very much, and my point is only that they should be studied,” Grambow says.

Utsunomiya’s next step is finding out how much of the cesium-137 that ended up in soils in Tokyo and elsewhere was in these glass particles. That way, researchers will be able to better understand how cesium made its way out of the reactor and into the environment.

C 2015 Reader Supported News

Baltimore Activist Alert July 3 - 8, 2016

Baltimore Activist Alert July 3 - 8, 2016

"I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours.

The initiative to stop it must be ours." -Martin Luther King Jr.

Friends, this list and other email documents which I send out are done under the auspices of the Baltimore Nonviolence Center. Go to www.baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com. If you appreciate this information and would like to make a donation, send contributions to BNC, 325 East 25th Street, Baltimore, MD 21218. Max Obuszewski can be reached at 410-323-1607 or mobuszewski [at] verizon.net.

1] Books, buttons and stickers

2] Web site for info on federal legislation

3] Join Nonviolent Resistance lists

4] Buy coffee through HoCoFoLa

5] Two friends are looking to buy a house in Baltimore

6] “Ethical Culture in Old England” – July 3

7] Harriett Tubman – July 3

8] Pentagon Vigil – July 4

9] Marc Steiner on WEAA – July 4 – July 8

10] Protest the NSA/Enjoy a potluck picnic – July 4

11] Feeding the Community – July 4

12] Walk for Statehood -- July 4

13] Protest gun violence – July 4

14] Little Friends for Peace Summer Peace Camp -- July 5 - 8

15] Philadelphia Peace Vigil – July 5

16] Protest JHU drone research – June 28

17] Help pass the HOME Act in Baltimore County – July 5

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1] – Buttons, bumperstickers and books are available. “God Bless the Whole World, No Exceptions” stickers are in stock. Call Max at 410-323-1607.

2] – To obtain information how your federal legislators voted on particular bills, go to http://thomas.loc.gov/. Congressional toll-free numbers are 888-818-6641, 888-355-3588 or 800-426-8073. The White House Comment Email is accessible at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/.

3] – THE ORGANIZING LIST will be the primary decision-making mechanism of the National Campaign of Nonviolent Resistance [NCNR]. It will be augmented by conference calls and possibly in-person meetings as needed. It will consist of 1 or 2 representatives from each local, regional, or national organization (not coalitions) that wishes to actively work to carry out the NCNR campaign of facilitating and organizing nonviolent resistance to the war in Iraq.

To join the ORGANIZING List, please send your name, group affiliation, city and email address to mobuszewski at Verizon.net. Different local chapters of a national organization are encouraged to subscribe.

THE NOTICES LIST will include only notices of NCNR actions and related information and is open to any interested person to subscribe. It will be moderated to maintain focus & will include periodic notices about getting involved in NCNR national organizing. To join the NOTICES List, send an email message to ncnrnotices-subscribe@lists.riseup.net. You will get a confirmation message once subscribed. If you have problems, please write to the list manager at ncnrnotices-admin@lists.riseup.net.

4] – You can help safeguard human rights and fragile ecosystems through your purchase of HOCOFOLA Café Quetzal. Bags of ground coffee or whole beans can be ordered by mailing in an order form. Also note organic cocoa and sugar are for sale. For more details and to download the order form, go to http://friendsoflatinamerica.typepad.com/hocofola/2010/02/hocofola-cafe-quetzal-order-form-2010.html. The coffee comes in one-pound bags.

Fill out the form and mail it with a check made out to HOCOFOLA on or before the second week of the month. Be sure you indicate ground or beans for each type of coffee ordered. Send it to Francine Sheppard at 5639B, Harpers Farm Rd., Columbia 21044. The coffee will arrive some time the following week and you will be notified where to pick it up. Contact Francine at 410-992-7679 or FrancineMSW@aol.com.

5] – Janice and Max are looking to buy a house in Baltimore. Let Max know if you have any leads—410-323-1607 or mobuszewski at Verizon dot net.

6] – Usually, the Baltimore Ethical Society, 306 W. Franklin St., Suite 102, Baltimore 21201-4661, meets on Sundays, and generally there is a speaker and discussion from 10:30 AM to noon.. On July 3 Gordon Stills will reflect on “Ethical Culture in Old England.” Gordon will relate a story (full of excitement) about the joy and dismay of teaching middle school students about the ethical culture of Charles Dickens and Ebenezer Scrooge. Call 410-581-2322 or email ask@bmorethical.org.

7] – The A.C.T.O.R. (A Continuing Talk on Race) open discussion series is hosted by Busboys and Poets as a community service. It provides the opportunity for people to come together and speak openly and honestly about issues of race. The intent is that each person walks away from the discussion feeling something: challenged, educated, uncomfortable, enlightened, refreshed, reassured and hopefully inspired and moved to action! Each month there is a new topic for discussion. On this Independence Day weekend come to Busboys & Poets, 2021 14th St. NW, WDC, on Sun., July 3 from 5 to 7 PM, as Enid Lee will lead the discussion on the representation of Freedom Fighter, Harriet Tubman in children's books. While examining the story of Harriet Tubman's fight for freedom for all, Enid will remind us of the fact that "there were a lot of Harriets" as Rosemarie and Rachel Harding note in their book, “Remnants: A Memoir of Spirit, Activism and Mothering.” You will be invited to look for and name the many Harriets in our communities today. Visit http://www.busboysandpoets.com/events/event/a.c.t.o.r-a-continuing-talk-on-race-enid-lee-presents.

8] – There is a weekly Pentagon Peace Vigil from 7 to 8 AM on Mondays, since 1987, outside the Pentagon Metro stop. The next vigil is Mon., July 4, and it is sponsored by the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker. Email artlaffin@hotmail.com or call 202-882-9649. The vigil will be outside the Pentagon's south Metro entrance and in the designated "protest zone" behind bicycle fences across from the entrance to the Metro. By Metro, take Yellow Line and get out at the "Pentagon" stop. Do not go to the Pentagon City stop! Go up south escalators and turn left and walk across to protest area. By car from D.C. area, take 395 South and get off at Exit 8A-Pentagon South Parking. Take slight right onto S. Rotary Rd. at end of ramp and right on S. Fern St. Then take left onto Army Navy Dr. You can "pay to park" on Army Navy Dr., and there is meter parking one block on right on Eads St. Payment for both of these spots begin at 8 AM. No cameras are allowed on Pentagon grounds. Restrooms are located inside Marriott Residence Inn on corner of S. Fern and Army Navy Dr.

9] – The Marc Steiner Show airs Monday through Friday fr6m 10 AM to noon on WEAA 88.9 FM, The Voice of the Community, or online at www.weaa.org. The call-in number is 410-319-8888, and comments can also be sent by email to steinershow@gmail.com. All shows are also available as podcasts at www.steinershow.org.

10] – The Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore will do its annual Interdependence Day visit to the National Security Agency. We will depart at 10:15 AM on July 4 for Fort Meade, and then vigil at the NSA from 11 AM to noon. We will then have a 6 PM potluck picnic. RSVP to me at 410-323-1607 or mobuszewski at verizon.net. I will inform you as to where we are meeting to carpool to the NSA and the site of the picnic. Get to know better the government agency which is keeping close attention to you.

11] – The Zakat Foundation Iftar & Feeding the Community Program is happening at 2315 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE, WDC, on Mon., July 4 from 3 to 10 PM. Feeding the Community Cookout is from 3 to 6 PM; the Iftar is at 8 PM. The March to the Capitol is at 10 PM.

12] – Walk for Statehood in the Palisades Parade on Whitehaven Parkway NW, WDC, on Mon., July 4 from 10 AM to 1:30 PM. The great crew at Stand Up! for Democracy in DC (Free DC) will be anchoring a contingent of statehood groups at the Palisades Parade! The line-up time is 10 AM but they won't step off until 11AM! The parade begins at Whitehaven Parkway, near the reservoir off MacArthur Boulevard, NW. RSVP at email info@dcvote.org.

13] – Come to Lincoln Park, E Capitol St. SE, WDC, on Tues., July 5 from 7:15 to 9 AM to join with DC Moms & Dads for Rational Gun Safety Legislation, a group of parents who lack voting representation in Congress but want to show support for meaningful national legislation that will prevent gun violence. Wear your patriotic or D.C. gear, make signs, and please bring your kids. Bring water, sunscreen, and hats. Email dcparentsagainstgunviolence@gmail.com or visit https://www.facebook.com/events/1747893268756238/.

14] – Send Your Kids to the Little Friends for Peace Summer Peace Camp from Tues., July 5 through Fri., July 8 at the Unitarian Universalist Church, Arlington, VA. Register at http://www.lffp.org/uuca-cit-registration.html. All parents are encouraged to enroll their children for one week of learning conflict resolution, self-confidence and collaborative play.

15] – Each Tuesday from 4:30 - 5:30 PM, the Catholic Peace Fellowship-Philadelphia for peace in Afghanistan and Iraq gathers at the Suburban Station, 16th St. & JFK Blvd., at the entrance to Tracks 3 and 4 on the mezzanine. The next vigil is July 5. Call 215-426-0364.

16] – Vigil to say "No Drone Research at JHU" each Tuesday at 33rd & North Charles Sts. join this ongoing vigil on July 5 from 5:30 to 6:30 PM. Call Max at 410-323-1607.

17] – Help pass the HOME Act in Baltimore County. This Act, which will outlaw landlords from refusing to rent to tenants solely based on their source of income, will be introduced on Tues., July 5 at 6 PM at the County Council Chambers, 400 Washington Ave. in Towson. This is a potentially historic piece of legislation, but there will be significant opposition. Join Citizens Planning and Housing Association [CPHA] and other supporters of the HOME Act on Tuesday. CPHA has been heavily involved in this effort, and it feels the HOME Act has a real chance of passage this year. Email rich@cphabaltimore.org or call 410-539-1369 x101 or go to www.cphabaltimore.org.

To be continued.

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net.

Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/. "The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

Friday, July 1, 2016

Our Girl -- Israeli Conscientious Objector Sentenced to Sixth Term in Military Lock-up

Published on Portside (https://portside.org)

Our Girl -- Israeli Conscientious Objector Sentenced to Sixth Term in Military Lock-up

http://kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=72916

Sima Kadmon

Friday, June 24, 2016

Yedioth Ahronot (Israel)

https://portside.org/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/field/image/tair_kaminer_june_2016.jpg?itok=aF3fhX0X

This last Sunday, Tair Kaminer, aged 19, stood before the commander of the Induction Center, Col. Aran Shani and was sentenced for the sixth time for her refusal to join the IDF for reasons of conscience. She was sentenced to an additional 45 days in prison and reached an accumulated period of imprisonment of 170 days.

Col. Shani told Kaminer that she is indeed brave and intelligent, but she was being tried for her refusing induction and not because of her opinions and it will cost her dearly. He also emphasized that, if it was not clear to her, that the army was stronger than her.

It should be stressed that the IDF allows most of those required to enlist, more than 50% of each yearly call up, to evade induction or to receive early release. The reasons are numerous and varied. Health causes, marriage or pregnancy, economic problems at home, psychological stress. Another reason is exemption for religious or conscientious causes.

There is no doubt the commander of the Induction Center, Col. Aran Shani, knows what religion is' but it is not certain that he knows what conscience means.

This is what Kaminer wrote to the Conscience Committee, which is to meet by the end of the month to discuss her case.

"I was born and grew up in Israel, I studied high school at the School of Arts, I was a member and then a group leader in the Scouts Youth Movement in Tel Aviv and ten months ago I completed a year of voluntary service with the Scouts in Sderoth. Since January 10, 2016 I have been repeatedly jailed again and again in military prison for my refusal to serve in the army despite my request to do alternative civilian volunteer work.

Since I was a child I heard of many events linked to the army, to its rule over the Palestinian population, its role in the defense of the settlements, about rights denied to many citizens in the region. In my home I was educated towards critical thinking and not to accept things without question but I was never pressured in regards to any decision to serve or not to serve in the army."

Kaminer detailed formative stark events such as a demonstration for peace and equality at a Palestinian village when she was 9 years old, when the IDF broke up the demo with smoke grenades. Or, the change she experienced after a year of volunteer work in Sderoth, when she decided not to serve in the army."The youngsters with whom I worked, writes Kaminer, "grew up in the heart of the conflict and suffered from traumas from a young age, which were formative and engendered hatred (understandable) just like similar experiences of those in Gaza or in the territories. I am not able to participate actively in preserving the status quo. That is activity opposed to my conscience.I understood that I would not be able to live with myself if I knew that I collaborated and kept silent in the face of everything going on in my country. sadly what is considered security is security only for Jews. Moreover, the atmosphere today in Israel permits bloodletting for all those who are not Jews.As long as the government of Israel, protected by the army continues to occupy and oppress the Palestinian people, will continue to deny its basic right of the people for freedom and self -determination, I am unable to serve in such an army which acts so sharply against my convictions.

Since so many supported the shooter soldier from Hebron, Eluor Azria, and have named him "our boy," I permit myself to call Tair Kaminer "our girl."

A girl who opposes the occupation, who requests release on conscientious grounds and is unwilling to declare that she is orthodox, or to enter a fictitious marriage, or go to see the Officer for Psychological Stress, or to find a way to serve in the IDF magazine, or the IDF radio station, or in the IDF spokeperson's office or in the military Rabbinate.

What she is unwilling to do is to try and be a celebrity, or an outstanding athlete, or act as many MK's - pillars of society and even ministers and party leaders have done. She stubbornly demands release on conscientious grounds from an army that seems to have forgotten long ago what a conscience is.

The shooting soldier from Hebron did not spend a single day in prison, and it is doubtful that he ever will. The battalion commander who shot a fleeing boy in the back after he threw a stone was never put on trial. An administrative check, not judicial, exempted him from punishment. Ultra-orthodox men refuse even to appear in the Induction Center to receive a discharge hang out in the streets, undisturbed. But Kaminer, our girl is in jail.

Tair's mother, Sybil Goldfeiner, told me this week that her daughter didn't want to declare herself a pacifist, because she is not. Most of the people just lie, said Goldfeiner, and Tair didn't want to lie. She did a year of volunteering and she wants to do national service. But the army fights against my moral daughter, who wants to contribute. A real enemy of Israel.

Kaminer is in Prison 6. She can speak on the phone for seven minutes a day. She can receive visitors for half an hour, once every two weeks. She writes a diary in prison and gives it to her mom on paper. Goldfeiner types it and posts it as a blog.

She could have done so much if she did national service, says Goldfeiner. As a leader in the Dizengoff Scout Club she organized sending 800 kids to summer camp. In Sderot she led the whole Scout youth group for the year.

But what her mother sees, the IDF doesn't. And the commander of the induction base and his officers are going to continue to use force against Kaminer until she gives up. Maybe to prove to other conscientious objectors how things stand (Omri Baranes, who already served 37 days was also sentenced for the third time now).

Apparently, the army fears, that with the many who lie and are released each year, the number of conscientious objectors will double and maybe even reach the number of six, and what will we do then. They are determined to prove, as if there is doubt, that the army is stronger than her. But there is a doubt. Apparently there is a young woman who is stronger than them.

For sure smarter.

Israeli Conscientious Objector Sentenced to Sixth Term in Military Lock-up

Tair Kaminer will have served 170 days in military prison when her current term ends. Omri Baranes, another conscientious objector, handed 30-day sentence.

By Gili Cohen

June 20, 2016

Haaretz (Israel) [1] *

Conscientious objector Tair Kaminer [2], 19, was sentenced to another 45 days in military prison on Sunday for refusing to serve in the Israel Defense Forces.

The sentence, imposed by the IDF's Tel Hashomer induction base commander Col. Eran Shani, will be the sixth term served by Kaminer.

She has already served some 125 days in lock-up. By the time Kaminer completes her latest sentence, she will have spent almost 170 days in military detention.

Kaminer wrote on her Facebook page that she refused to serve "for the sixth time with full belief in peace."

She has served more time in military prison than any conscientious objector before her.

In addition to Kaminer, another conscientious objector was sentenced to a 30-day term in military prison on Sunday. It was the third prison term for Omri Baranes, who said she was not prepared to "participate in an aggressive system, in an occupation army that thrusts weapons into the hands of 18-year-old children."

Baranes added that she "hews to the path of pacifism and hopes for the day when compassion will awake and peace will arrive through discussion and tolerance."

Both Kaminer and Baranes are members of a group of conscientious objectors called Objectors - A Political Objection Network.

Source URL: https://portside.org/2016-06-30/our-girl-israeli-conscientious-objector-sentenced-sixth-term-military-lock

Links:

[1] http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.726062
[2] http://www.haaretz.com/misc/writers/tair-kaminer-1.711501

Baltimore Activist Alert - July 1 - 2, 2016

36] Peace vigil at White House – July 1

37] WIB peace vigils – July 1

38] The Just Pay Coalition gathers – July 1

39] Al-Quads Day rally – July 1

40] Peace Vigil/Black Lives Matter – July 1

41] Ballroom Dancing – July 1

42] Sierra club meeting – July 2

43] West Chester peace vigil – July 2

44] Sign up with Washington Peace Center

45] Donate books, videos, DVDs and records

46] Do you need any book shelves?

47] Join the Global Zero campaign

48] Join the Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil

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36] – On Fri., July 1 from noon to 1 PM, join the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker in a vigil urging the powers that be to abolish war and torture, to disarm all weapons, to end indefinite detention, to close Guantanamo, to establish justice for all and help create the Beloved Community! This vigil will take place at the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Contract Art @ artlaffin@hotmail.com or at 202-360-6416.

37] – On Fri., July 1 from noon to 1 PM, join a Women in Black peace vigil. A vigil will take place in McKeldin Square at the corner of Light and Pratt Sts., and another will take place outside Roland Park Place, 830 W. 40th St., across from the Rotunda. Stay for as long as you can. Wear black. Dress for who knows what kind of weather. Bring your own poster or help with the "NO WAR IN MY NAME" banner. When there are others to stand with, you don't need to carry the burden alone. Do this to be in solidarity with others....when everything around us says “Be afraid of the stranger.” Carpool and parking available at both locations. Just send an email that you need a ride [mailto:wibbaltimore@peacepath911.org]. Peace cranes and peace signs will be available.

38] – At the John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, WDC, on Fri., July 1 from noon to 1 PM, the D.C. Just Pay Coalition will gather to celebrate D.C.’s minimum wage increase to $11.50 and to call on Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration to enforce the Minimum Wage Amendment Act of 2013, the Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Amendment Act of 2013, and the Wage Theft Prevention Act of 2014. The increase will instantly boost the income and standard of living for nearly 64,000 workers in the District. RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/1084520444951841/.

39] – Join the al-Quds Day Rally for Justice in Palestine at Massachusetts Ave. and 19th St. (Dupont Circle), WDC, on Fri., July 1 at 3 PM. The Washington D.C. al-Quds Committee invites you to the annual rally. Rallies will be simultaneously taking place in over 24 cities across North America, and in hundreds of cities across the world. As Zionist Israel continues its cold, calculated attacks and starving siege of defenseless Palestinians, children, women and elderly, the Committee will not sit idly by. The Committee will raise their voices in protest, in prayer and will support their oppressed brothers and sisters through boycott. There will be a diverse lineup of speakers ranging from Jewish rabbis, Christian pastors, and Palestinian Muslims and Christians. Also enjoy poetic and musical performances. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/839782929500071/.

40] – There is usually a silent peace vigil on Fridays, from 5 to 6 PM, sponsored by Homewood Friends and Stony Run Meetings, outside the Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St. The next scheduled vigil is on July 1. Black Lives Matter.

41] – There is an opportunity to participate in ballroom dancing, usually every Friday of the month, in the JHU ROTC Bldg. at 8 PM. Turn south on San Martin Dr. from the intersection of Univ. Parkway and 39th St. Drive on campus by taking the third left turn. The next dance will be July 1. Call Dave Greene at 410-599-3725.

42] – The Sierra Club Catoctin Group Monthly Meeting takes place on Sat., July 2 from 10 AM to 12:15 PM at 76 E Moser Rd., Thurmont, MD 21788. Contact Dan Andrews at 410-857-4129 or dooze@qis.net.

43] – Each Saturday, 11 AM – 1 PM, Chester County Peace Movement holds a peace vigil in West Chester in front of the Chester County Courthouse, High & Market Sts. Go to www.ccpeace.org. Email ccpeacemovement@aol.com.

44] -- The Washington Peace Center has a progressive calendar & activist alert! Consider signing up to receive its weekly email: info@washingtonpeacecenter.org.

45] -- If you would like to get rid of books, videos, DVDs or records, contact Max at 410-323-1607 or mobuszewski at verizon.net.

46] -- Can you use any book shelves? Contact Max at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net.

47] -- Join an extraordinary global campaign for the elimination of nuclear weapons: http://www.globalzero.org/sign-declaration. A growing group of leaders around the world is calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons and a majority of the global public agrees. This is an historic window of opportunity. With momentum already building in favor of Zero, a major show of support from people around the world could tip the balance. When it comes to nuclear weapons, one is one too many.

48] – A Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil takes place every day in Lafayette Park, 1601 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 24 hours a day, since June 3, 1981. Go to http://prop1.org; call 202-682-4282.

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/.

“One is called to live nonviolently, even if the change one works for seems impossible. It may or may not be possible to turn the US around through nonviolent revolution. But one thing favors such an attempt: the total inability of violence to change anything for the better" - Daniel Berrigan

New Report Highlights US Legacy of Lies on Civilian Drone Deaths

www.commondreams.org/news/2016/06/30/new-report-highlights-us-legacy-lies-civilian-drone-deaths

Thursday, June 30, 2016

New Report Highlights US Legacy of Lies on Civilian Drone Deaths

Rights group exposes contradictions between government statements on civilian casualties and independent reports showing much higher figures

Nadia Prupis, staff writer

http://www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_large/public/headlines/drones_8.jpg?itok=naRwPrUy

The figures, which are set to come annually from now on, will not include details such as names and countries of origin. (Photo: Debra Sweet/flickr/cc)

In anticipation of an impending White House announcement on civilian deaths from drone strikes, international human rights group Reprieve has released a report which finds that there is significant evidence the U.S. government is lying about the human toll of the aerial bombing campaign.

President Barack Obama is expected to announce as early as Friday that since 2009, U.S. military and CIA airstrikes have inadvertently killed only about 100 people in nations that are not officially recognized as battlefields, such as Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen. The numbers for active war zones like Iraq and Afghanistan, on the other hand, will not be included.

But according to Reprieve's report, Opaque Transparency (pdf), every previous statement made by the Obama administration on the civilian casualties from drone strikes has been misleading at best, with some being outright false.

That includes an on-record comment from CIA director John Brennan in June 2011 that "there hasn't been a single collateral death" in Pakistan for nearly a year, and a claim from Obama in May 2013 that strikes are only carried out when there is "near certainty that the target is present" and "near certainty that noncombatants will not be injured or killed."

As Reprieve notes, internal CIA documents leaked in 2013 show that the agency itself recorded a civilian death just two months before Brennan's comments, while the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and other independent investigators found that dozens of local elders were killed in a strike in March 2011. As of this February, only 10 drone victims killed in Pakistan last year had been identified.

The Daily Beast separately noted earlier this month that the White House's expected estimate of 100 collateral deaths is approximately one-tenth of the real number, which most independent advocacy groups put at 1,000.

That could be because, as the Intercept revealed last year, the military posthumously labels its unidentified drone victims as "Enemies Killed in Action" unless they are proven otherwise.

And the president's own claims that strikes are not carried out unless there is "near certainty" that noncombatants will not be killed were similarly contradicted by other internal CIA memos that "show[ed] that drone operators weren't always certain who they were killing despite the administration's guarantees," according to McClatchy.

Indeed, in 2015, a group of drone operators turned whistleblowers accused the administration of allowing the killings of "innocent civilians" while "lying publicly about the effectiveness of such a program."

The figures, which are set to come annually from now on, will not include details such as names and countries of origin. Nor is the administration expected to explain how it defines its targets. That renders Friday's announcement virtually meaningless, Reprieve said.

"[I]t has to be asked what bare numbers will mean if they omit even basic details such as the names of those killed and the areas, even the countries, they live in," the report states. "[T]he numbers without the definitions to back up how the Administration is defining its targets is useless, especially given reports the Obama Administration has shifted the goalposts on what counts as a ‘civilian’ to such an extent that any estimate may be far removed from reality."

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