Bahraini Regime Holds Gun To Head In ‘Negotiations’ by Finian Cunningham

by Finian Cunningham
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
February 10, 2013

Image by Al Jazeera English via Flickr

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei described recent American offers of bilateral talks with Iran as tantamount to the US holding negotiations with a gun to the head.

The same apt metaphor, expressing the futility of conducting political talks under extreme duress, applies equally to the internal politics of Bahrain.

Jeju Island: In the Crosshairs of War

Dandelion Salad

Regis Tremblay·Jan 15, 2013

Image by Army Vet via Flickr

This a brief overview of the struggle to prevent the construction of a massive naval base in the tiny village of Gangjeong, on Jeju Island, S. Korea. In order to understand why the villagers have been opposing the construction 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for five years and risking bodily harm and imprisonment, one must understand the broader context.

Shattering Myths Can Be Dangerous by William T. Hathaway

by William T. Hathaway
Guest Writer
Dandelion Salad
Dec. 19, 2012

A review of Gaither Stewart’s new novel, Lily Pad Roll

Gaither Stewart is a shatterer of myths. In The Trojan Spy, volume one of the Europe Trilogy, he shattered the myth that the USA is fighting terrorism and showed instead how our government works in a symbiotic relationship with the so-called terrorists. Now in Lily Pad Roll, volume two of the trilogy, he shatters the myth that America is invading countries and building foreign bases in order to defend the homeland and secure oil supplies.

Hidden Away Somewhere Within The Labyrinth Of The Pentagon… by Gaither Stewart

by Gaither Stewart
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Rome, Italy
Oct. 29, 2012

Hidden away somewhere within the labyrinth of the Pentagon there must be a top secret euphemism department engaged in the invention of the Orwellian surrogate words that have crept surreptitiously into the American English vocabulary and from there translated into many other languages. In my mind I see a unit of studiously serious executives, coffee mugs in their hands and their neckties awry, devising senseless terms for terrible things and used unthinkingly by people today from New York to California, from Maine to Texas. The goal of my imaginary secret unit is to render ugly terms meaningless or to transform them into their opposite. To quote the perceptive Scottish writer, Candia McWilliam, “plain words are always under threat.” There are words that don’t say what they mean and there are words that say what they don’t mean.

Lethal Hypocrisies—of Haunting Lily Pads by Branford Perry

By Branford Perry
Review of Gaither Stewart’s book, Lily Pad Roll: Journey to the Outposts of the Empire
Dandelion Salad
Hipographia
Oct. 27, 2012

Lily Pad Roll: Journey to the Outposts of the Empire
by Gaither Stewart
Trepper & Katz Impact Books, 344 pp, $12.45 (Paper)
Also available in electronic format at $6.99

I just finished a second reading of Gaither Stewart’s explosive and highly disturbing new novel, Lily Pad Roll, volume two of the Europe Trilogy.

At the end of such a novel I like to sit in silence, in semi-obscurity if possible, and let the atmosphere sweep over me in order to feel the sum effect of my reading and the residue and the mood I know I will feel come over me each time I think of the work in the future.

Bruce Gagnon: The Deadly Connection: Endless War and the Ecological, Economic Crisis

by Bruce Gagnon
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Organizing Notes
April 22, 2012

Image by leighadactyl via Flickr

From my talk in Santa Monica, California on April 4. Thanks to Mansoor Sabbagh, Director of Global Voices for Justice, for filming and editing the video.

Apr 21, 2012 by jeannekyle

Bruce Gagnon gave a talk on the topic of “The Deadly Connection: Endless War and the Ecological, Economic Crisis.” He is a veteran, activist, organizer, and coordinator for Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, founded in 1992.

Save Jeju Island, Save Peace

Dandelion Salad

Image by leighadactyl via Flickr

ShealEum on Mar 27, 2012

If you want to know more about what is happening in Jeju island, please visit savejejuisland.org.

제주 강정마을에 대해 더 많은 정보를 원하시는 분은, 다음카페 ‘구럼비야 사랑해’를 방문해주세요.

U.S. Foreign Policy: Same as it ever was by Ed Ciaccio

by Ed Ciaccio
Dandelion Salad
Featured Writer
February 26, 2012

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

As the 2012 election draws near, this is what we should keep in mind:

1. Bush AND Obama are war criminals who have knowingly waged illegal wars of aggression in violation of the U.N. Charter, the Geneva Accords, and the Nuremberg Principles, all of which are part of U.S. law and the U.S. Constitution (which they swore to uphold) due to the Supremacy Clause (Article VI, Clause 2).

The World War on Democracy by John Pilger

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by John Pilger
www.globalresearch.ca
www.johnpilger.com
Jan. 19, 2012

Lisette Talate died the other day. I remember a wiry, fiercely intelligent woman who masked her grief with a determination that was a presence. She was the embodiment of people’s resistance to the war on democracy. I first glimpsed her in a 1950s Colonial Office film about the Chagos islanders, a tiny creole nation living midway between Africa and Asia in the Indian Ocean. The camera panned across thriving villages, a church, a school, a hospital, set in a phenomenon of natural beauty and peace. Lisette remembers the producer saying to her and her teenage friends, “Keep smiling girls!”

Rick Rozoff: Kyrgyzstan and global war threats

by Rick Rozoff
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Stop NATO
Stop NATO-Opposition to global militarism
December 16, 2011

Image via Wikipedia

The Corbett Report
December 16, 2011

Rick Rozoff of Stop NATO International joins us to discuss the scandal of the Manas Air Base, a facility in Kyrgyzstan that has been strategically important for the US in staging and transportation to supply its decade-long occupation of Afghanistan. We discuss the history of US-Kyrgyz relations, years-long rumblings from the Kyrgyz political establishment to kick the US out of Manas, its possible use as a drug-smuggling facility, and more.

Noam Chomsky: The U.S.-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Agreement is ‘part of a global program of world militarization’

Dandelion Salad

by Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers
Waging Nonviolence
December 16, 2011

photo by Hakim
used with permission

The Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers is an Afghan youth group committed to building non-violent, non-military and egalitarian ways of life for Afghanistan. Their can be found at Our Journey to Smile.

[Editor's. note: This is a transcript of a conversation between members of the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers and Noam Chomsky, which took place on September 21, 2011. Each question was asked in Dari and translated by Hakim.]

Michael Parenti: The Empire Kills Millions!

Image via FasterDix, on Flickr

with Michael Parenti
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Michael Parenti Blog
www.michaelparenti.org
Dec. 6, 2011

blackiron60 on Dec 6, 2011

Michael Parenti speaks at the University of Guelph, November 2 2011.

Bahraini Political Activist Condemns U.S.-Backed Regime For Killing, Torturing Protesters

Dandelion Salad

democracynow on Nov 28, 2011

Image by Al Jazeera English via Flickr

www.democracynow.org – Bahrain has announced a commission to steer reforms after an inquiry found systematic rights abuse during a government crackdown on pro-democracy protests this year, but opposition parties say they will not participate in the commission. Published last week, the 500-page report outlines various abuses committed by King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa’s government. According to the commission, nearly 3,000 people were detained during the protests and at least 700 remain in prison.

Asia-Pacific: US Ramps Up Global War Agenda by Finian Cunningham

by Finian Cunningham
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
East Africa
17 November 2011

Like a schoolyard bully, President Barack Obama is flexing American military muscle as he currently sweeps through the Asia-Pacific region. The nominal impetus for the tour was the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit held in Hawaii last week. But rather than discussing “economics” (the E in APEC), the salient focus for Obama and his entourage appears to be “war” – and in particular laying down battle lines to China.

Syria In Western Strategy For Global Military Supremacy by Rick Rozoff

by Rick Rozoff
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Stop NATO
Stop NATO-Opposition to global militarism
November 14, 2011

Image via Wikipedia

The League of Arab States (Arab League) suspended the membership of Syria in the organization on November 12 as it had with Libya on February 22 of this year. In the case of Libya, whose membership was reinstated after NATO bombed proxy forces into power in late August, reports at the time indicated that member states Algeria and Syria had been opposed to the action but folded under pressure for a consensus from the eight Arab states governed by royal families – Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which to all intents and purposes now are the Arab League, with the other formal members either victims of recent regime change of one sort or another or likely targets for such a fate.