End of Scandinavian Neutrality: NATO’s Militarization Of Europe by Rick Rozoff

by Rick Rozoff
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Stop NATO
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/message/38611
April 10, 2009

There was a noble if naive expectation that with the effective dissolution of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact in 1989 and even more so with its formal dismantling and the breakup of the Soviet Union itself into fifteen new countries two years later that an era of peace in the world and demilitarization of the European continent was dawning.

The peace might not be a just one, leaving the major Western military and economic powers in charge of the planet, but peace of a sort – any sort –  seemed preferable to a continued state of armed, which meant nuclear, confrontation, some thought.

Hopes and talk abounded of a global peace dividend, with hundreds of billions of dollars and pounds, marks and francs and rubles hitherto expended on the production of weapons, the maintenance of armies and the prosecution of wars to be allotted to civilian production and to basic human needs in Europe, North America and throughout the world, especially its most underdeveloped and desperately needy nations.

Dennis Kucinich: Where Is Osama bin Laden?

Dandelion Salad

Note: replaced video August 18, 2009

sineater6609
April 10, 2009

Originally posted by:

http://earth2obama.org/

April 10, 2009 MSNBC

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Afghanistan on Dandelion Salad

Nuclear advances bring Iran closer to bomb capability, experts warn (The Guardian)

Updated

Propaganda Alert

compiled by Cem Ertür
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
10 April, 2009

1) Nuclear advances bring Iran closer to bomb capability, experts warn
2) GRAPHIC: The world in nuclear weapons
3) Spiegel interview with Iranian President Ahmadinejad
4) VIDEO: Defiant Iran opens nuclear fuel facility

“Good” Friday? by Cindy Sheehan

Cindy Sheehan for Congress

by Cindy Sheehan
Dandelion Salad
Featured Writer
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Blog
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox
April 10, 2009

Five years ago on Good Friday, my family traveled to the loading dock of United Airlines in San Francisco to pick up our dear Casey at the airport for the final time.

Since Casey joined the Army in May of 2000, all of his trips home were greatly anticipated and the trips to the airport were always joy-filled. Every time I fly into Sacramento airport and go down the escalator near baggage claim I am reminded of the last time he came home as an upright, living being and I spotted him on that same escalator and the huge hug we gave each other. I can still feel his arms around me, squeezing me tightly. I hope I never forget that.

But five years ago, on “Good” Friday, the trip was not joyous. Our diminished family of five rode in the back of the mortuary’s limo with Casey’s maternal grandma, my mom, his auntie, my sister, and some close family friends. There was a car following us with more close family friends. Tears are running down my face just thinking about it.

Life Was Hard In Gaza Before The War

Dandelion Salad

VOTERSTHINKdotORG

http://earth2obama.org/

April 09, 2009 BBC World

Vodpod videos no longer available.

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Focus on Gaza: Legacy of war

Israel-Palestine-Gaza-Occupation

Is It the Dawn We Are Seeing on the Horizon? By Siv O’Neall

By Siv O’Neall
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
axisoflogic.com
April 10, 2009

The inward-looking United States ‘patriots’

Patriotism, the military and the economy have morphed into the present-day trinity of a religious faith that has taken over the United States and steeped its citizens in the deep belief of the unconditional superiority of their country. Mammon is God, Greed is the Son and Expansionism is the Holy Ghost. Modesty is the devil and Compassion is an unknown entity. Arrogance, Selfishness and Greed are among the major saints that lead the way for the rulers in this once so mighty empire.

In one way you can see it as a trend that began with the deregulatory policies of Ronald Reagan, when money got to be the fruit of speculations. The production deriving from the working people took a backseat and was increasingly outsourced to the economically least-demanding countries. Wall Street turned into a casino where the money holders invariably won and the workers always lost.

However, seen from a different angle, it has been going on ever since the Puritans grabbed the land away from the native Americans. With ups and downs, the citizens of what became the United States, the immigrants of those days, have experienced its growing from a grabbing and growing nation into a military powerhouse and an economic giant. They have learned to cultivate the faith that whatever is done in the name of the greatness of their country is for the good of the world. If you don’t subscribe to this unwritten law you are not a patriot, which is the first of the deadly sins. The countries outside the U.S. borders, if they ever got the attention of this great empire, would be helpless without the United States to show them the way to civilization and to allow them to share a piece of the comfortable greatness of this superior country.