Category: News

I was in Waikiki, Hawaii, recently. But not for pleasure. I was there out of obligation, fulfilling my parental duty to visit my son and his husband, who live there. I’ll admit, though, that I was getting some pleasure, looking out from the balcony of the 19^th floor studio apartment I had rented. Across the street there were none of the high-rise buildings that block the view from most Waikiki balconies. Instead, there was a large, lush park. Beyond it I could see Diamond Head and the endless blue of the Pacific.

Then curiosity took over. Why such a large open space where the real estate is so fabulously valuable? And why, in the middle of that park, a set of buildings that were only two stories high, while all around the buildings rose to 30, 40, 50 stories?

Google soon gave me the answers. The park is military property, protected from commercial developers. And those two-story buildings are military, too. They house something with the innocent-sounding name, “The Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies.” It has a “non-warfighting mission,” according to its website: to “build capacities and communities of interest by educating, connecting, and empowering security practitioners to advance Asia-Pacific security.” Sounds pretty benign.

Continue reading “We Are Already at War With China”

Vast efforts to portray Donald Trump as Vladimir Putin’s flunky have given Trump huge incentives to prove otherwise. Last Thursday, he began the process in a big way by ordering a missile attack on Russia’s close ally Syria. In the aftermath of the attack, the cheerleading from U.S. mass media was close to unanimous, and the assault won lots of praise on Capitol Hill. Finally, the protracted and fervent depictions of Trump as a Kremlin tool were getting some tangible results.

At this point, the anti-Russia bandwagon has gained so much momentum that a national frenzy is boosting the odds of unfathomable catastrophe. The world’s two nuclear superpowers are in confrontation mode. It’s urgent to tell ourselves and each other: Wake up!

Continue reading “Russia-Baiting Pushed Trump To Attack Syria – and Increases the Risks of Nuclear Annihilation”

The well-established assumption that North Korea is our most difficult and dangerous foreign policy challenge is worth a little dispassionate examination.

North Korea is not a fun place. If ever a nation had earned the right to be labeled collectively psychotic, it would be the Democratic Republic of North Korea under Kim Jung-un, who apparently just outsourced the bizarre assassination of his own brother. The country possesses neither a viable judiciary nor any kind of religious freedom. Famine has been a cyclical presence. Electrical power is intermittent. In 2015 North Korea ranked 115th in the world in the size of its GDP according to U.N. statistics.

Yet nothing the United States has tried to do, including decades of diplomatic negotiations and the application of severe sanctions, has stopped this isolated conundrum of a country from strutting proudly through the exclusive doors of the nuclear club.

Continue reading “Our Nuclear Folly”

Protesting war in front of the White House with the D.C. @ladiesofliberty. Join us if you’re nearby! #NoWarWithSyria

The Ladies of Liberty Alliance was created in 2009, “to educate and empower female leaders within the liberty movement”. This US-based group seeks to train women to effectively promote the ideals of liberty. Antiwar.com’s executive director Angela Keaton was a founding member and former chair of the board.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), who met with Trump two months ago and praised with promised foreign policy restraint, blasts his move to attack Assad’s forces in Syria. She was interviewed by Fox News’ Tucker Carlson last night (4/7/17).

More bombs won’t end the crisis in Syria. After more than six years of war, with millions displaced and a death toll of nearly half a million people, it’s clear that there is no military solution to this crisis.

But for years the U.S. has bombed Syria, and last night, the U.S. expanded the war by attacking a Syrian government airbase.

Tell Congress: Don’t let the U.S. escalate the war in Syria.

This week’s abhorrent chemical weapons attack was an act of unspeakable violence against civilians, and we are heartbroken over the deaths of Syrians, including many children. The Trump administration’s escalation is not the solution, and will only cause more killing and suffering for Syrian civilians. The U.S. should fully support the ongoing investigation of the chemical weapons attack and work with the international community to bring the perpetrators to justice.

In all decisions about the U.S. course of action, policymakers must recognize that years of direct U.S. military intervention, support of extremist armed groups, and weapons shipments to anti-government rebels in Syria have only added fuel to the fire and put Syrian civilians in greater danger.

Act now to stop the U.S. from making the crisis in Syria even worse.

Congress must take back its constitutional responsibility to decide when and if the U.S. goes to war. The Senate should stay in session and the House should return from recess to force consideration of an Authorization for the Use of Military Force, and Congress should oppose any further military action.

This tragedy further underscores the need for diplomatic solutions which engage all stakeholders. The only path toward shared security requires robust diplomacy, urgent humanitarian aid, and a comprehensive strategy to bring the crisis to an end through a political solution – not escalating war.

War is not the answer.

Diane Randall is the Executive Secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation.