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Rolla Peace News November 6, 2018 |
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Dear Friends: http://tomsager.org/Peaceletters/peaceletter110618.html In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2018 2. FREEDOM TO KILL 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Global Warming: 13 Zettajoules Found In Oceans b) How To Survive On a Warming Planet c) Why Maintaining The INF Treaty Is So Important d) Detente With North Korea Hits Snag e) United States Becoming Increasingly Isolated Internationally f) Pakistan-China Economic Cooperation Gets Boost g) Taliban Kills Utah Mayor and Almost Gets US General h) Iran Braces For Increased US Sanctions; US Scientific Establishment Piles On i) Meanwhile, Trump Sends 3,500 Troops To Southern Border To Counter Threat From Hungry Homeless Central Americans 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2018 We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, FROM NOON TO 1:00 PM (and most subsequent Thursdays until peace is established). Please try to join us. The temperature is predicted to be in the low 40s. If you do not feel comfortable standing with us in front of the Post Office, please consider driving by and showing your support for our message by honking your horn and flashing a peace sign. 2. FREEDOM TO KILL The most important sentence in this article by Robert Koehler is actually a quote from Rabbi Michael Lerner, written the day after the Synagogue shooting: “This pattern of violence and demeaning of ‘the Other’ has become so deeply embedded in the culture of the U.S. that only a true consciousness transformation will undermine its prevalence in both major political parties.” That's a tall order, given the climate of hate and fear promoted by our government, our military, and our police. As Koehler says, this isn't a new thing thought up by the Trump administration. Glorification of war, prejudice, raping of the environment and violence as entertainment have been with us for a long time, as far back as history can reach. Some people would say that's just human nature. But it's also true that love, forgiveness, cooperation and kindness have been with us from the beginning. Those things aren't bragged about by those who practice them, and they don't sell newspapers. Humans are blessed (or cursed) with free will, and we can choose whether to love or hate, whether to forgive or take revenge, whether to cooperate or to grab everything in sight. Koehler says “This is America, where we have the freedom to kill one another.” We also have the freedom to love one another, and to recognize our interdependence. Our survival as a race depends upon it. 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Global Warming: 13 Zettajoules Found In Oceans b) How To Survive On a Warming Planet c) Why Maintaining The INF Treaty Is So Important d) Detente With North Korea Hits Snag e) United States Becoming Increasingly Isolated Internationally f) Pakistan-China Economic Cooperation Gets Boost g) Taliban Kills Utah Mayor and Almost Gets US General h) Iran Braces For Increased US Sanctions; US Scientific Establishment Piles On i) Meanwhile, Trump Sends 3,500 Troops To Southern Border To Counter Threat From Hungry Homeless Central Americans GLOBAL WARMING: 13 ZETTAJOULES FOUND IN OCEANS Turns out the IPCC has likely low-balled global warming big time. A new study has found that our oceans have warmed 60% more than previously thought, absorbing 13 zettajoules of heat energy each year. (1 zettajoule = 1021 joules [a one followed by 21 zeros] = 2.39x1017 [food] Calories.) This is a really big deal. The goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. seems more and more unlikely every year. Folks: we ain't seen nothing yet. If humanity is to survive, we are going to have to learn to live in a much warmer world. HOW TO SURVIVE ON A WARMING PLANET I really have little to offer here. I'm not a survivor. Likely, within a decade I'll be dead anyway, even without global warming. But I'd look at the !Kung, the Pygmies and other peoples who have learned to survive in shifting environments of scarcity. Or I'd look at animals like coyote who have learned to live in some very unlikely environments. Think about it. Of what use will cities and global transportation networks be when everything can quickly be wiped out by increasingly likely extreme weather events. WHY MAINTAINING THE INF TREATY IS SO IMPORTANT Martin Fleck, nuclear weapons abolition program director at Physicians for Social Responsibility, explains the importance of the INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces) Treaty and how it “contributed to the end of the Cold War and played a significant role in reducing the global arms race.” Fleck notes that if the US abrogates the INF treaty, we may soon find ourselves with no nuclear arms control agreements left at all. DETENTE WITH NORTH KOREA HITS SNAG The United States refuses to ease sanctions on North Korea, holds a large scale military exercise with Japan and Canada, and a mini-exercise with South Korea. North Korea threatens to restart its missile and nuclear weapons programs. UNITED STATES BECOMING INCREASINGLY ISOLATED INTERNATIONALLY Last week the United Nations voted 189 to 2 in favor of the “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial, and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba,” with Israel joining the United States in voting No. US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, called the resolution a “waste of time,” because we're the United States, the indispensable nation, and we do whatever we want and the rest of the world be damned. PAKISTAN-CHINA ECONOMIC COOPERATION GETS BOOST Pakistani prime minister, Imran Khan is visiting China where he has signed 16 agreements which include infrastructure projects that traverse Pakistani controlled Kashmir and the development of the port of Gwadar across the Arabian Sea from Oman and close to the border with Iran. China and Pakistan are also attempting to bring Afghanistan into the development of the CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor). TALIBAN KILLS UTAH MAYOR AND ALMOST GETS US GENERAL In an insider attack, North Ogden mayor, Brent Taylor, who was in Afghanistan with the Utah National Guard, was killed by an Afghan commando. In a separate incident, a Taliban infiltrator killed Afghan general Abdul Raziq, and barely missed US general Austin Miller. Insider attacks where an Afghan soldier who is presumed to be our ally turns his weapons on US or Afghan government troops are becoming increasingly common. And this after 17 years of a war that was supposed to be a cakewalk. IRAN BRACES FOR INCREASED US SANCTIONS; US SCIENTIFIC ESTABLISHMENT PILES ON Monday, a second round of sanctions was reimposed on Iran. Sanctions are war. Make no mistake about it. Iran which is already hurting economically, will hurt even more. One would think that after the total failure of 13 years of Iraqi sanctions (1990-2003) to do anything but hurt the Iraqi people, Trump and friends would think twice about this. And whereas Iraqi sanctions were almost total, China and India (and to a lesser extent Europe) are likely to thumb their noses at this new round of US sanctions against Iran. Further demonizing Iran, the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) published an article on four Iranian conservationists accused of spying for the West. The article quotes an Iranian scientist living in the UK as saying “The scientific community can do a lot by challenging the narrative [that the four were spies].” There is no mention in the article of how Iran has been hurt in the past by US spies and has had their democratically elected government overthrown in a coup by the CIA. Iranians are rightly wary of scientists with western ties. If the AAAS was truly concerned about the persecution of Iranian scientists, they would be calling loudly for an end to the demonization of Iran, easing of sanctions and a return to the nuclear treaty which the US unilaterally abrogated. Note: I have no information to suggest that the four Iranian scientists were or were not spies. MEANWHILE, TRUMP SENDS 3,500 TROOPS TO SOUTHERN BORDER TO COUNTER THREAT FROM HUNGRY HOMELESS CENTRAL AMERICANS The local people don't seem to appreciate the troops that Trump is sending to the border. As lifelong resident of the Rio Grande valley, Emmanuel Torres, put it, “ I feel safer here [in Brownsville] than when I go up to bigger cities,” and “People that don't live here are just going to create a bigger negative image.” Well, folks: sorry about all the bad news. Maybe things will get a little better in the morning. Maybe a bunch a Peaceniks who care about Planet Earth will be elected. Rolla Peace News is distributed by email once a week on Tuesday evenings (except on rare occasions) and is posted on the web at http://tomsager.org (click on Grassroots Rolla: near the top of rightmost column). If you don't wish to get notices of peace events in the Rolla area, let me know and I'll take you off this list. If you want to be added to this list, let me know. Wage peace, Helen helenm (at) fidnet.com |