2020-08-08: News Headlines

Prof Michel Chossudovsky (2020-08-08). Video: The Privatization of Nuclear War. A "First Strike" Use of Nuclear Weapons as a Means of "Self Defense" globalresearch.ca An important transition in nuclear doctrine occurred in the immediate wake of 9/11. | The Cold War MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) doctrine was scrapped by the Bush Jr administration in 2002, replaced by the first strike pre-emptive use of nuclear …

_____ (2020-08-08). CODEPINK Denounces Elliott Abrams' Appointment As US Special Representative For Iran. popularresistance.org The appointment of Elliott Abrams to replace Brian Hook as the next U.S. Special Representative for Iran is another low point for the Trump administration's disastrous policy towards Iran. The dangerous conflict resulting from Trump's withdrawal from the nuclear agreement will be exacerbated by a man committed to Washington's failed policies of regime change, including in his present-day position as Trump's representative for Venezuela. | Elliott Abrams has made a career of lying and committing criminal acts that have led to the death and suffering of innocent people from Guatemala to Iraq.

Alan MacLeod (2020-08-07). Don't Let His New Book Fool You, Bush Laid the Groundwork for Today's Immigration Nightmare. thealtworld.com George W. Bush drastically increased the militarization of the Mexican border, sending 6,000 national guardsmen to patrol it, greatly increasing detention capacity for immigrants and using drones to patrol the area. | MPN— George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States, has announced he is releasing a new book called "Out of Many, One" which will celebrate America's diversity and immigrant populations. "Our immigrant heritage has enriched America's history. It continues to shape our society. Each generation of Americans — of immigrants — brings a renewal to our national character and add…

Prof Michel Chossudovsky (2020-08-07). America had first Contemplated Nuclear War against both China and North Korea in 1950. globalresearch.ca America's use of nuclear weapons on a first strike basis is no longer considered as a weapon of total annihilation. Quite the opposite, the preemptive use of nukes is upheld as a means to ensuring global peace and security. This is the doctrine which prevails today under Trump's "fire and fury"

commondreams (2020-08-07). CODEPINK Denounces Elliott Abrams' Appointment as the Next U.S. Special Representative for Iran. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Kathy Kelly (2020-08-07). Reversal: Boeing's Flow of Blood. counterpunch.org Today, the seventy-fifth anniversary of the atomic attack on Hiroshima, should be a day for quiet introspection. I recall a summer morning following the U.S. 2003 "Shock and Awe" invasion of Iraq when the segment of the Chicago River flowing past the headquarters of the world's second largest defense contractor, Boeing, turned the rich, red

John Laforge (2020-08-07). USAF Vet Could Face '20 Days for 20 Bombs' for Protest Against US H-Bombs Stationed in Germany. counterpunch.org Hamburg, Germany With this week's commemorations of the US atomic massacres at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there will be countless hours spent on speeches, sermons, hymns, and warnings; tons of ink spilled in op/eds, editorials and articles. All will solemnly promote the need to pursue a world without nuclear weapons. However, many of the same voices

Eds. (2020-08-07). Ask an expert: Congress plans to spend billions on dangerous, unnecessary nuclear weapons. mronline.org This week is the 75th anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only time nuclear bombs have been used in a conflict—and one could only hope the last time. To commemorate the anniversary, I thought it would be appropriate to devote this column to taking a hard look at current U.S. nuclear …

Chuck Collins — Helen Flannery (2020-08-07). Time for an Emergency Charity Stimulus. counterpunch.org We are living through a time of unprecedented challenges: a major public health crisis and a deepening recession. Congress has already authorized trillions in stimulus funds. But millions of Americans are still relying on the support of local nonprofits such as food banks and human services. These nonprofits are going to need major infusions of

Newsclick (2020-08-07). 75 years after Hiroshima, where do we stand? peoplesdispatch.org Newsclick's Prabir Purkayastha talks about the state of the nuclear threat 75 years after the first atom bomb was dropped in Hiroshima. He explains how the US has embarked on a series of disastrous policies in this regard and also looks at the history of deployment and testing of US nuclear weapons and its racial undertones.

United Religions Initative (2020-08-07). Thursday 8/6: Hiroshima Nagasaki Accord for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons Livestream. indybay.org Online via livestream & restream…

Staff (2020-08-06). Revealed: How U.S. Gov't & Hollywood Secretly Worked Together to Justify Atomic Bombings of Japan. democracynow.org On the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, when the United States became the only country ever to use nuclear weapons in warfare, we look at how the U.S. government sought to manipulate the narrative about what it had done — especially by controlling how it was portrayed by Hollywood. Journalist Greg Mitchell's new book, "The Beginning or the End: How Hollywood — and America — Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb," documents how the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki triggered a race between Hollywood movie studios to tell a sanitized version of the story in a major motion picture.

Staff (2020-08-06). "The Beginning of Our End": On 75th Anniversary, Hiroshima Survivor Warns Against Nuclear Weapons. democracynow.org On the 75th anniversary of when the United States dropped the world's first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing some 140,000 people, we speak with Hideko Tamura Snider, who was 10 years old when she survived the attack. "The shaking was so huge," she recalls. "I remember the sensation, the color and the smell like yesterday." Tamura Snider describes her harrowing journey through a shattered city, suffering radiation sickness following the attack, and her message to President Trump.

Howie Hawkins, Madelyn Hoffman (2020-08-06). Reverse the New Nuclear Arms Race. counterpunch.org August 6 is the 75th anniversary of the only time any nation in the world dropped an atomic bomb on people. On August 6, 1945, President Harry Truman ordered Fat Man dropped on Hiroshima. 210,000 people were killed instantly. Three days later, Little Boy was dropped on Nagasaki, killing 70,000 more people instantly. Now would

Robert Jacobs — Ran Zwigenberg (2020-08-06). The American Narrative of Hiroshima is a Statue that Must be Toppled. counterpunch.org In August 1945, the United States attacked two cities in Japan with nuclear weapons in the last days of World War Two. The US used weapons of mass destruction against a primarily civilian population, instantly killing over 100,000 human beings, with tens of thousands of wounded and irradiated people who would die in the subsequent

The Canary (2020-08-06). Artwork explores Hiroshima and Nagasaki in context of climate change and racism. thecanary.co Two London-based artists explore the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in new perspectives, including in the context of climate change and racism, with their digital artwork.I Saw The World End, by Es Devlin and Machiko Weston, reflects on the impact of the events from the points of view of the British artist and Japanese designer.The 10-minute video includes script from letters written by Albert Einstein and J Robert Oppenheimer during the Second World War, as well as first-hand testimonies from the survivors of the bombings.The United States detonated two nuclear weapons over the Japanese cities on 6 and 9 Aug…

Julian Rose (2020-08-06). "Weapons of Mass Radiation": Hundreds of 5G Spy Satellites Launched into the Ionosphere. globalresearch.ca Keeping us preoccupied with a phony virus which was supposed to kill millions and landed-up causing no more deaths than the normal winter flu, sure was a useful way of directing attention away from the earthly and upward deployment of …

teleSUR (2020-08-06). UN to Urge Denuclearization on Anniversary of Hiroshima Bombing. telesurenglish.net In a video message delivered at an annual ceremony in Hiroshima, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the risk of nuclear weapons being used was growing and urged all nations to renew their commitment to achieving a world free of them. | RELATED: | "Division, distrust and a lack of dialogue threaten to return the world to unrestrained strategic nuclear competition," Guterres said for Thursday's 75th…

Mehr News Agency (2020-08-06). US, Israeli nukes threaten region: Zarif. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Aug. 06 (MNA) — Stating that the US was the first and only user of nuclear weapons, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that today, the US and Israeli nukes threaten our region.

_____ (2020-08-06). Nuclear War Can Be Stopped Before It Begins. popularresistance.org Nuclear weapons have been posing a threat to humanity for 75 years — ever since the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. | These days, our focus is understandably on the COVID-19 virus and the threat it poses to human life. But as we commemorate the anniversary of these bombings, it is important to acknowledge that unlike the coronavirus, nuclear weapons can only be remediated with prevention. Millions of people could be killed if a single nuclear bomb were detonated over a large city, and the added threats of radiation and retaliation could endanger all life on Earth.

Staff (2020-08-06). Over 1,100 Policing Agencies in the U.S. Have Bought Drones Capable of Recording. truthout.org In early June, Julie Weiner was at a Black Lives Matter rally in downtown Yonkers, New York, when she spotted a small drone in the sky, monitoring the protest. Weiner, a long-time Yonkers resident, immediately asked her city councilperson, Shanae Williams, who had organized the rally, whether the drone was being operated by the Yonkers police. Williams went over to talk to a group of police and returned to report that, yes, the drone belonged to the Yonkers Police Department. | "That's a pro…

Staff (2020-08-06). On 75th Anniversary, Hiroshima Survivor Warns Against Nuclear Weapons. truthout.org On the 75th anniversary of when the United States dropped the world's first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing some 140,000 people, we speak with Hideko Tamura Snider, who was 10 years old when she survived the attack. "The shaking was so huge," she recalls. "I remember the sensation, the color and the smell like yesterday." Tamura Snider describes her harrowing journey through a shattered city, suffering radiation sickness following the attack, and her message to President Trump.

Rev. John Dear (2020-08-06). Life Under the Bomb Means a Life of Resistance. commondreams.org "Our message over the years has been simple and urgent: Nuclear weapons have totally failed us. They don't make us safer; they don't provide jobs; they don't make us more secure—these are age-old lies. Instead they bankrupt us, economically and spiritually." (Photo: Courtesy of Rev. John Dear) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/seek_peace_no_nukes.jpg

Seiji Yamada (2020-08-05). Hiroshima, Technique, and Bioweapons. counterpunch.org My family comes from Hiroshima, and I was born there myself. On August 6, 1945, my father was thirteen and just far enough away from home in the center of Hiroshima, across a few hills assigned to digging potatoes. The rest of his immediate family was scattered far enough from Ground Zero to survive. Branches of his family and branches of my mother's family came to an end that day, however.

RT (2020-08-05). Protesters SUE Seattle over 'expensive gear' required to confront cops, demand ban on riot control weapons. rt.com A group of protesters has sued the Seattle government, arguing that "unmitigated police violence" has imposed a monetary cost on their right to demonstrate freely, forcing them to buy expensive gear to safely confront the cops. | Filed by five plaintiffs who took part in ongoing protests in Seattle, the suit seeks a temporary restraining order barring the city's police department from wielding force and crowd control munitions on demonstrators, alleging heavy-handed police tactics have made "safe protest prohibitive," as "one needs an exceptional amount of protective gear to enjoy that freedom." | Also on rt.c…

_____ (2020-08-05). Atomic Bombings At 75: The Illegality Of Nuclear Weapons. popularresistance.org The mere possession of nuclear weapons violates the Nuremberg Principles (decreed a day before Nagasaki) and other international laws. | The human race stands on the verge of nuclear self-extinction as a species, and with it will die most, if not all, forms of intelligent life on the planet earth. Any attempt to dispel the ideology of nuclearism and its attendant myth propounding the legality of nuclear weapons and nuclear deterrence must directly come to grips with the fact that the nuclear age was conceived in the original sins of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945. | The atomic bombings of Hiroshim…

Helen Caldicott (2020-08-05). The Lessons We Still Haven't Learned From Hiroshima and Nagasaki. commondreams.org Seventy-five years ago, newly in full awareness of its newfound ability to destroy the human race, what did the world do next? It starting mass producing these nuclear weapons of mass destruction. (Photo: Getty) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/naga_0.jpeg

WSWS (2020-08-04). Well-attended online meeting concludes IYSSE election campaign at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. wsws.org "The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology is one of the centres of German war weapons research," IYSSE candidate Gregor Kahl told the meeting.