Rise Up Times Summary, October 16, 2022
"Power is global and politics is local. That must change. We need a new language for understanding new global power formations as well as new international modes of politics to fight them." Henry Giroux
Chris Hedges: The Return of Fascism
As in the past, these new fascist parties cater to emotional yearnings. They give vent to feelings of abandonment, worthlessness, despair and alienation. They promise unattainable miracles. We have seen this movie before.
Chris Hedges: Ukraine and the Politics of Permanent War
Rampant, unchecked militarism, as historian Arnold Toynbee notes, “has been by far the commonest cause of the breakdown of civilizations.”
Hedges: NATO — The Most Dangerous Military Alliance on the Planet
The U.S. military, following its fiascos in the Middle East, has shifted its focus from fighting terrorism and asymmetrical warfare to confronting China and Russia. *** At no time, including the Cuban missile crisis, have we stood closer to the precipice of nuclear war.
The Ukraine War’s Collateral Damage: Planet Earth, by Michael Klare
"If asked, Biden, Putin, Xi, and high-ranking officials everywhere would undoubtedly insist that addressing climate change remains an important concern. But let’s face it, their number-one priority is now to mobilize their societies for a long-term struggle against their geopolitical rivals."
DN! Jan Egeland: We Need Negotiations, Not an Arms Race, to End War in Ukraine & Prevent a New Cold War
President Biden has asked the U.S. Congress to give $33 billion more. It will overwhelmingly go to military weapons, presumably, some humanitarian aid.
Chris Hedges: The Age of Self-Delusion
The war in Ukraine is intimately linked to the real existential crisis we face – the climate crisis. The latest UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report warns that greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2025, and be nearly halved this decade, to thwart global catastrophe….Triggered by war in Ukraine, soaring energy prices have pushed the US and other countries to call on domestic oil producers to increase fossil fuel extraction and exacerbate the climate crisis. Oil and gas lobbyists are demanding the Biden administration lift prohibitions on offshore drilling and on federal lands.
How Not to Cope with Vladimir Putin by Drilling and Pumping, by Stan Cox
When Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent the cost of a barrel of oil into the triple digits, the fossil-fuel companies and their friends in government, always on the lookout for profitable opportunities amid market chaos, responded predictably.
VIDEO: Former top Pentagon advisor Col. Doug Macgregor on Russia-Ukraine war
Macgregor blasted the "uniparty" that drove the war from Washington and heaped criticism on NATO.
Chris Hedges: Worthy and Unworthy Victims
Worthy victims allow citizens to see themselves as empathetic, compassionate, and just. Worthy victims are an effective tool to demonize the aggressor. They are used to obliterate nuance and ambiguity.
Chris Hedges: Chronicle of a War Foretold
"The war industry did not intend to shrink its power or its profits. It set out almost immediately to recruit the former Communist Bloc countries into the European Union and NATO. Countries that joined NATO, which now include Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, and North Macedonia were forced to reconfigure their militaries, often through hefty loans, to become compatible with NATO military hardware."
Diana Johnstone: US foreign policy is a cruel sport
What is truly diabolical is that, while constantly accusing the Russian bear of plotting to expand, the whole policy is directed at goading it into expanding! Because then we can issue punishing sanctions, raise the Pentagon budget a few notches higher and tighten the NATO Protection Racket noose tighter around our precious European “allies.”