…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…

…ountries, including: Afghanistan (2001-present); Yemen (drone attacks, 2002-present); Iraq (2003-present); Pakistan (drone attacks, 2004-present); Libya (2011); Somalia (2011-present)…. The western powers are in no position to lecture Putin, whose actions in Crimea look like a Gandhian direct action when compared to the normal US-UK mode of operation. From 28 February to 18 March, Russian forces captured over a dozen Ukrainian bases or military po…

…he spoke of how the young men couldn’t have carried on the war without mind-altering substances -sometimes absinthe, sometimes extra rations of rum. Families were sending laudanum and even heroin to the front lines in hampers. The soldiers couldn’t kill, she concluded, if left in their right minds. The WILPF gatherings help us ask hard questions about our capacity to prepare for massive obliteration of entire cities, through nuclear weapon buildup…

…y itself to being part of reconstruction, setting a model desperately needed throughout the world. Kathy Kelly ([email protected]) and Buddy Bell co-coordinate Voices for Creative Nonviolence www.vcnv.org        …

…e doubts that the same is true for Afghan voices seeking to end the sixteen-year-old war. But Zainab, a high schooler in the permaculture class, added that she thinks it would be great to record a vigil of teenagers in Kabul sending their support for U.S. teenagers who’ve survived school shootings in the U.S. and who’ve begun shaming the adult world into action on the issue of gun violence.   The outrage now directed toward the National Rifle Asso…

…lpful in other countries and thus build a reservoir of international goodwill and positive influence. That’s something that nobody would have to keep secret. Kathy Kelly ([email protected]) co-coordinates Voices for Creative Nonviolence (www.vcnv.org) While in Afghanistan, she is a guest of the Afghan Peace Volunteers (ourjourneytosmile.org)…

…wo renowned peacemakers what difference there was between her and a sixteen-year-old living in a more secure part of the world. The answer, in terms of her basic human rights and her irreplaceable human value, should be manifestly clear: there is no difference whatsoever. And yet, while U.S. warlords and military contractors collude with their counterparts in other lands, they earn former president Dwight Eisenhower’s blistering evaluation. This w…

…tlefield and be appalled to hear the U.S. government seem to tell the world !I will kill you if you f—ing move.” Kathy Kelly ([email protected]) co-coordinates Voices for Creative Nonviolence (www.vcnv.org).  …

…e U.S. public to feel fearful and competitive. The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline undermines China’s access. Our fears and the longing for comfort, for status, which drives our consumption, blend seamlessly, one into the other. We want all the wealth, and we want all the security. Huddled over candles in the terrifying nights of the U.S. “Shock and Awe” war to “liberate” Iraq, shuddering from the thudding roar of the war explodin…

…e blasts, even after being notified by panicked staff that their hospital was in flames and patients were burning. Kathy Kelly ([email protected]) co-coordinates Voices for Creative Nonviolence (www.vcnv.org)      …