When Reese Erlich died in early April, we lost a global reporter who led by example. During five decades as a progressive journalist, Reese created and traveled an independent path while avoiding the comfortable ruts dug by corporate media. When people in the United States read or heard his reporting from more than 50 countries, he offered windows on the world that were not tinted red-white-and-blue.
Mapping Militarism 2021
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This year’s annual update to World BEYOND War’s Mapping Militarism project uses a completely new mapping system developed by our Technology Director Marc Eliot Stein. We think it does a better job than ever of displaying the data of warmaking and peacemaking on maps of the world. And it makes use of new data reporting on the latest trends.
When you visit the Mapping Militarism site, you will find seven sections linked across the top, most of which contain multiple maps listed down the lefthand side. Each map’s data can be seen in map view or list view, and the data in list view can be ordered by any column you click on. Most of the maps/lists have data for a number of years, and you can scroll back through the past to see what’s changed. Every map includes a link to the source of the data.
The maps included are as follows:
Left, Play Hardball & Say NO to Biden’s Military Budget
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While we can applaud many of President Biden’s domestic efforts—from repealing the Muslim ban to tackling broken infrastructure to pushing for swift COVID relief and an American Families Plan, his foreign policies keep us up at night as “The Return of the Neocons” plays in our head like a bad B movie.
To Biden’s credit, during the first 100 days of his term we rejoined the Paris Climate Accord, extended the START arms control treaty with Russia another five years, restored aid to the dispossessed Palestinians, reversed Trump’s Executive Order criminalizing cooperation with the International Criminal Court, and appointed experienced negotiator Robert Malley special envoy to Iran.
Water
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I would like to announce the publication of a book, which discusses the relationships between water and life. The book may be freely downloaded and circulated from the following link:
http://eacpe.org/app/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Water-by-John-Scales-Av…
The United Nations' World Water Day
On its home-page for World Water Day the United Nations points out the following facts:
“Today, 1 in 3 people live without safe drinking water.
“By 2050, up to 5.7 billion people could be living in areas where water is scarce for at least one month a year.
“Climate-resilient water supply and sanitation could save the lives of more than 360,000 infants every year.
“If we limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels, we could cut climate-induced water stress by up to 50%.
“Extreme weather has caused more than 90% of major disasters over the last decade.
U.S. Withdrawal From Afghanistan: 1989 vs. 2021
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BANGKOK, Thailand -- President Biden's announced withdrawal from
Afghanistan will be the second time since 1989 that the U.S. retreats
from that country -- and twice after years of boosting war but losing
control over Islamist insurgents.
When previously enthusiastic, then-Senator Joe Biden arrived in Kabul
in January 2002 in response to 9/11, he voiced a gung-ho call for U.S.
military involvement.
"Make it clear, I'm not talking about [international] peace keepers.
I'm not talking about [U.N.] blue helmets. I'm talking about people
who shoot and kill people," the senator told reporters on January 12,
2002, standing in front of the embassy in a cold, clear, bone-dry
winter breeze.
"I'm talking about people who are a bunch of bad asses who will come
in here with guns, and understand that they don't have to check with
anybody before they return fire.
"I am talking about pursuers. I'm talking about a tough, rough,
militarily controlled -- no 'sign-off by' -- no diplomatic requirement
to determine whether they can return fire.
An Online Conversation on Peace, Russia, and the United States with Vladimir Kozin and Ray McGovern
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Start: Thursday, May 06, 2021 • 1:00 PM • Eastern Daylight Time (US & Canada) (GMT-04:00)
Transcending 'The Religion of Whiteness'
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Basically, Derek Chauvin was convicted of enforcing the status quo. Because his behavior was caught on video — his knee on George Floyd’s neck, oh my God, choking him to death — and looked so disturbing to most of the public, official American “justice” had to take some sort of action.
He became a scapegoat.
80 Ways Nuke Power Is a Catastrophic Failure
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his year’s Earth Day summit (April 22) and Joe Biden’s pledge to halve American carbon emissions by 2030 come with the 35th commemoration (April 26) of the Chernobyl catastrophe.
Together they evoke atomic power’s epic failure in at least 80 different ways:
The Envelope Please: Darnella Frazier Deserves an Academy Award
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The annual Academy Awards ceremony – wherein a pack of swag bag schlepping celebs clad in brand name couture pat themselves on the back on live TV, while thanking their agents, hair stylists, managers, makeup artists, etc. – is set for Sunday, April 25. To be fair, a number of films competing for those coveted golden statuettes do have artistic excellence and/or social significance. The 1960s/70s New Left is ready for its close up, with the Black Panther-themed Judas and the Black Messiah and The Trial of the Chicago 7, about the antiwar movement, each nominated for six Oscars, including for Best Picture. Time, a timely meditation on African Americans and our criminal (in)justice system, is contending for Best Documentary.
A Palestinian Prayer for Ramadan: May the Voices of the Oppressed Be Heard
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COVID-19 cases in Palestine, especially in Gaza, have reached record highs, largely due to the arrival of a greatly contagious coronavirus variant which was first identified in Britain.