'This War Shows That The Western Consciousness Lives In The Sewer.' - Vijay Prashad
Video from Katie Halper
"Journalist and historian Vijay Prashad (https://twitter.com/vijayprashad) talks about Ukraine, the connection between what's happening there and what happened in Iraq and Libya and the media's shameful double standards when it comes to reporting on war. (Full chat is available at https://www.patreon.com/posts/patreon...) Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian, editor and journalist. He is a writing fellow and chief correspondent at Globetrotter (https://independentmediainstitute.org...). He is the chief editor of LeftWord Books (https://mayday.leftword.com/) and the director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research (https://t.co/evQYuwZXRJ). He is a senior non-resident fellow at Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China (http://en.rdcy.org/). He has written more than 20 books, including The Darker Nations and The Poorer Nations. His latest book is Washington Bullets, with an introduction by Evo Morales Ayma." from video introduction.
Yes America Has Committed War Crimes Just Like Russia!
Where & when?
Did America Commit War Crimes in Afghanistan?
International prosecutors tasked with looking into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan have no shortage of potential targets.
Afghan soldiers and warlords have been accused of rape, murder and kidnap almost since fighting began in late 2001. The deliberate targeting of civilians by the Taliban and other groups continues to this day.
Meanwhile, U.S. forces and the CIA are alleged to have carried out unlawful killings and torture, both in Afghanistan and through the secret “rendition” of terrorist suspects to a number of European countries." from the article: Did America Commit War Crimes in Afghanistan?
Iraq
"The violence of the Iraq War and the chaos that has come to Iraq, can be traced directly to the illegality of the invasion and occupation of that country and the illegality of the tactics and weapons being used to maintain the occupation. “U.S. War Crimes in Iraq and Mechanisms for Accountability” documents these violations and calls on us all to demand investigation and prosecution of violations of international law by military and civilian leaders.." from the article: War Crimes Committed by the United States in Iraq and Mechanisms for Accountability
Iraq and Afghan Wars: Requiem for America’s Ineffectual War State
"Our country’s fruitless multi-trillion-dollar Wars of Choice in Iraq and Afghanistan are finally coming to an end after 20 years. This historic moment is a fitting occasion to review and constructively critique the performance of our country’s foreign policy and military establishments – the key cogs in Washington’s $1.3-trilllion/year War State – in these two inglorious endeavors.
Other writers and commentators have documented and opined on the intelligence failures, deceitful progress reports, the futility of nation building, and other self-righteous and self-serving decisions that a succession of elected and career government officials made that got our country into these wars and then prolonged them long after it was obvious each was an unwinnable money pit.
But what exactly did the policymakers and generals in charge of conducting the Iran and Afghan wars get wrong – and then lie and mislead us about – at the strategic and tactical level and what does their incompetence and deceit tell us about the efficacy and rationale for Congress’s unchallenged funding of Washington’s $1.3-trillion/year War State?.." from the article: Iraq and Afghan Wars: Requiem for America’s Ineffectual War State
What We Have Failed to Show the World..
"Jesus and his disciples had a lot to say about how Christians should treat other people. He even went as far as telling his followers that they must love their enemies if they want to be considered a child of God. This is a radically difficult and counter-cultural command that has far-reaching implications.
If Jesus commanded people to love every person, including enemies, then that rules out going to war against them. The early Church understood Christ’s command this way. They forbid service in the military because it would require killing enemies instead of loving them. It only took 300 years after the time of Jesus for humankind to invent a theology to get around this command. Ever since then, Christians have been killing their enemies instead of loving them. This has been justified for many reasons over the centuries.
Today in America, the justification for ignoring Christ’s command to love our enemies is the excuse that soldiers have fought and died for the very freedom that allows us to worship God. Therefore, the logic is that it is a necessary exception to following Jesus because it is what allows us to follow Jesus. While this certainly wasn’t the mindset of the early Church and those closest to Jesus, it has become the narrative of the day...'
There is just one problem.".. from the article: Soldiers Never Died for Your Freedom