…centrations for massive destruction is located 53 miles from Gaza, where a complex now called the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center has developed at least 80 thermonuclear weapons. First built in 1958, the facility underwent a major renovation just two years ago. “To this day,” writes Joshua Frank, “Israel has never openly admitted possessing such weaponry and yet has consistently refused to allow inspectors from the International Atomic…

…eal with Saudi Arabia worth $1.29 billion for more than 10,000 advanced air-to-surface munitions including laser-guided bombs, “bunker buster” bombs, and MK84 general purpose bombs; the Saudis have used all three in Yemen.   Reporting about the role of the United Kingdom in selling weapons to the Saudis, Peace News notes that “Since the bombing began in March 2015, the UK has licensed over £3.3bn worth of arms to the regime, including: £2.2 bn wor…

…, including Daniel Ellsberg’s own recommended goal of eliminating “use-them-or-lose-them” land-based missiles first, and the five eminently sensible demands of the fierce (and growing) Back From the Brink movement. Meanwhile outside the U.S. empire’s borders, these candle-flickers held against midnight begin, blessedly, to resemble a growing encampment’s blazing watch-fires.  Currently 87 nations have signed, and 45 (of a needed 50) ratified, the…

…ory. Many of his supporters on the alternative-right and in the alternative-media (alt-right) are actually in the pay of—or their organizations have been sponsored by—fellow billionaires. Their agenda appears to be spreading hate, whipping up hysteria, and ultimately deflecting attention from the real causes of poverty, declining living standards and inequality: namely themselves and their class. As Warren Buffett (who supports the Democrats) once…

…me to coordinate projects at the Border Free Center. She and Masoumah feel passionately committed to social change which they believe will be organized “from the ground up.” I showed Zarghuna a Voices accounting sheet tallying donations entrusted to us for the Street Kids School and The Duvet Project. I wanted to assure her of grass roots support from people giving what they can. “Big amounts of money coming from the U.S. military destroys us,” Za…

…s so clearly bore the brunt of war. In Kabul, earlier this month, my twenty-one-year-old friend Muhammad Ali reminded me ofthe importance of asking questions. Wanting me and others to understand more about the impact of war on his generation, he prodded: “Kathy, do you know about Jehanzib, Saboor, Qadeer, and Abdul, these brothers who were killed in Jalalabad?” The brothers, ranging from twenty-four to thirty years of age, were killed by an Afghan…

…ht now, Patrick Cockburn, describes US strategy, such as it is, as an Alice-in-Wonderland construction, opposing both ISIS and its main enemies, and loosely incorporating dubious Arab allies with limited European support. An alternative would be to adhere to domestic and international law: appealing to the UN Security Council and then following its lead, and seeking political and diplomatic avenues to escape from the morass or at least mitigate it…

…ordinates Voices for Creative Nonviolence (www.vcnv.org). When in Afghanistan, she is a guest of the Afghan Peace Volunteers (www.ourjourneytosmile.com)…

…ve been no punitive peace treaty like that completed at Versailles, no stab-in-the back allegations by resentful Germans, and thus no rise, much less triumph, of Hitler and the Nazis. The next world war, with its 50 million deaths, would probably not have occurred.”   But the U.S. did enter WWI, and since that time each U.S. war has caused a rise in taxpayer contributions to maintain the MIC, the Military-Industrial complex, with its vise-like gri…

…ms at the center, from organic gardening to the duvet project (a women’s income-generating project involving sewing and distributing wool-stuffed blankets). In last Friday’s Bridge class, students explored how to work as a team and how to prepare for the challenges they will inevitably face if they decide to volunteer in one of the Borderfree projects.   Some of the students at the school used to work in Kabul’s streets. Others still do. Save the…