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The following text is a point by point thematic summary of Prof. Michel Chossudovsky‘s presentation at the Science for Peace Conference, Academy of Sciences, Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur, 15-16 August 2016
Introduction
Historically, science has supported the development of the
weapons industry and the war economy. “Science for Peace” indelibly
requires reversing the logic whereby commissioned scientific endeavors
are directed towards supporting what President Eisenhower called “The
Military Industrial Complex”.
What is consequently required is a massive redirection of science
and technology towards the pursuit of broad societal objectives. In
turn, this requires a major shift in what is euphemistically called “US
Foreign Policy”, namely America’s global military agenda.
Military Affairs: The Current Global Context
The world is at a dangerous crossroads. The United States and its
allies have launched a military adventure which threatens the future of
humanity.
Under a global military agenda, the actions undertaken by the Western
military alliance (U.S.-NATO-Israel) in Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen,
Pakistan, Palestine, Ukraine, Syria and Iraq are coordinated at the
highest levels of the military hierarchy. We are not dealing with
piecemeal military and intelligence operations. Major military and
covert intelligence operations are being undertaken simultaneously in
the Middle East, Eastern Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia and
the Asia Pacific region.
The current situation is all the more critical inasmuch as a US-NATO
war on Russia, China and Iran is part of the US presidential election
debate. It is presented as a political and military option to Western
public opinion.
The US-NATO military agenda combines both major theater operations as
well as covert actions geared towards destabilizing sovereign states.
America’s hegemonic project is to destabilize and destroy countries
through acts of war, support of terrorist organizations, regime change
and economic warfare.
U.S. and NATO forces have been deployed in Eastern Europe including
Poland and Ukraine. In turn, military maneuvers are being conducted at
Russia’s doorstep which could potentially lead to confrontation with the
Russian Federation.
The U.S. and its allies are also threatening China under President Obama’s “Pivot to Asia”.
The U.S. led airstrikes initiated in August 2014 directed against
Iraq and Syria under the pretext of going after the Islamic State are
part of a scenario of military escalation extending from North Africa
and the Eastern Mediterranean to Central and South Asia.
* * *
THE HISTORY OF NUCLEAR WAR AND “COLLATERAL DAMAGE”
“We have discovered the most terrible
bomb in the history of the world. It may be the fire destruction
prophesied in the Euphrates Valley Era, after Noah and his fabulous
Ark…. This weapon is to be used against Japan … [We] will use it so that
military objectives and soldiers and sailors are the target and not
women and children. Even if the Japs are savages, ruthless, merciless
and fanatic, we as the leader of the world for the common welfare cannot
drop that terrible bomb on the old capital or the new. … The target
will be a purely military one… It seems to be the most terrible thing
ever discovered, but it can be made the most useful.” (President Harry S. Truman, Diary, July 25, 1945)
“The World will note that the first
atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima a military base. That was because
we wished in this first attack to avoid, insofar as possible, the
killing of civilians..” (President Harry S. Truman in a radio speech to the Nation, August 9, 1945).
[Note: the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6,
1945; the Second on Nagasaki, on August 9, on the same day as Truman's
radio speech to the Nation]
(Listen to Excerpt of his speech, Hiroshima audio video)
Hiroshima after the bomb
Is Truman’s notion of “collateral damage” in the case of nuclear war
still relevant? Publicly available military documents confirm that
nuclear war is still on the drawing board of the Pentagon.
Compared to the 1950s, however, today’s nuclear weapons are far more
advanced. The delivery system is more precise. In addition to China and
Russia, Iran and North Korea are targets for a first strike pre-emptive
nuclear attack.
US military documents claim that the new generation of tactical nuclear weapons are harmless to civilians.
Let us be under no illusions, the Pentagon’s plan to blow up the planet using advanced nuclear weapons is still on the books.
War is Good for Business:
Spearheaded by the “defense contractors” (Lockheed Martin, Northrop
Grumman, Boeing, British Aerospace et al), the Obama administration has
proposed a one trillion dollar plan over a 30 year
period to develop a new generation of nuclear weapons, bombers,
submarines, and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) largely
directed at Russia and China.
War with Russia: From the Cold War to the New Cold War
Blowing up Russia, targeting Russian cities is still on the
Pentagon’s drawing board. In the words of Hillary Clinton, the nuclear
option is on the table. Preemptive nuclear war is part of her election
campaign.
Source: National Security Archive
According to 1956 Plan, H-Bombs were to be Used Against
Priority “Air Power” Targets in the Soviet Union, China, and Eastern
Europe.
Major Cities in Soviet Bloc, Including East Berlin, Were High
Priorities in “Systematic Destruction” for Atomic Bombings. (William
Burr, U.S. Cold War Nuclear Attack Target List of 1200 Soviet Bloc
Cities “From East Germany to China”, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 538, December 2015
Excerpt of list of 1200 cities targeted for nuclear attack in alphabetical order. National Security Archive
GLOBAL WARFARE
The US has formulated a global war scenario, which is defined in military documents.
There are three major regional deployments of US-NATO which threaten Global Security:
- Eastern Europe on Russia’s Western Frontier, with the deployment of US-NATO military hardware on Russia’s doorstep
- “The Pivot to Asia” largely directed against China
- The Middle East and North Africa, extending to Central Asia
In the above regions, the use of nuclear weapons on a preemptive
basis is contemplated against both nuclear and non-nuclear states.
In other regions of the World including Latin America and sub-Saharan
Africa, non-conventional forms of warfare are envisaged including
destabilization, ”regime change”, covert support to terrorist
organizations, economic warfare.
1. THREATENING RUSSIA ON ITS WESTERN FRONTIER
Russia is threatened on its Western frontier with the US-NATO deployment of the so called missile defense system.
A pro-US regime has been installed in Kiev which integrates two prominent Neo-Nazi Parties.
Neo-Nazis are heavily integrated in Ukraine’s National Guard and
military. The US government is channeling financial support, weapons and
training to a Neo-Nazi entity –which is part of The Ukraine National
Guard– The Azov Battalion (Батальйон Азов) is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the equivalent of America’s Homeland Security.
Kill the Russians: The New Cold War is no longer Cold
A former CIA Official is calling for the “Killing of Russians”. The US media and the the State Department applaud:
CBS News, Charlie Rose
2. “PIVOT TO ASIA”: SOUTH CHINA SEA
China is threatened by the US military in the South China Sea
WAR WITH CHINA IS CURRENTLY ON THE DRAWING BOARD OF THE PENTAGON AS OUTLINED IN A RAND REPORT COMMISSIONED BY THE US ARMY
Washington is actively involved in creating divisions between China and its neighbours.
The objective is to draw South East Asia and the Far East into a
protracted military conflict by creating divisions between China and
ASEAN countries, most of which are the victims of Western colonialism
and military aggression: Extensive crimes against humanity have been
committed against Vietnam, Cambodia, Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia.
In a bitter irony, these countries are now military allies of the United
States.
Bilateral economic relations with China are destabilized. The Trans
Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a US hegemonic project which seeks to
control trade, investment, intellectual property, etc in the Asia
Pacific region.
THAAD MISSILE DEPLOYMENT IN SOUTH KOREA DIRECTED AGAINST CHINA
THAAD missiles are deployed in South Korea, against China, Russia and
North Korea. Washington states that THAAD is solely intended as a
Missile Shield against North Korea.
THAAD System
The Jeju island military base is also directed against China.
Less than 500km from Shanghai
US-NATO WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA (MENA)
Meanwhile, under the pretext of waging a “war on terrorism”, US-NATO are intervening militarily in the broader Middle East Central Asian region
extending from the Mediterranean to Central Asia: Afghanistan, Iraq,
Libya, Syria and Yemen, resulting in several million civilian deaths.
THe objective is to destabilize and destroy sovereign countries and to displace secular governments under regime change.
The next stage of the Middle East war is Iran.
The Global War on Terrorism is a Big Lie. Al Qaeda is a Creation of US Intelligence
From the outset of the Soviet-Afghan war in 1979 to the present,
various Islamic fundamentalist paramilitary organizations became de
facto instruments of US intelligence and more generally of the
US-NATO-Israel military alliance.
The US has actively supported Al Qaeda affiliated terrorist
organizations since the onslaught of the Soviet Afghan War. Washington
has engineered the installation of Islamist regimes in Afghanistan and
Pakistan. It has destroyed the fabric of secular societies.
Confirmed by Israeli intelligence media, the Al Qaeda opposition
fighters in Syria are recruited by US-NATO and the Turkish high command.
They are the foot-soldiers of the Western military alliance, with
special forces in their midst. The Al Qaeda affiliated “moderate”
terrorist organizations in Syria are supported by Saudi Arabia and
Turkey.
The counter-terrorism agenda is bogus. It’s a criminal undertaking.
What is being bombed is the civilian infrastructure of a sovereign
country.
The Historical Origins of al Qaeda
In this video-footage President Carter’s National Security Advisor
Zbigniew Brzezinski (1979) arrives in a helicopter and speaks to a
translator in front of a seated crowd of Mujahedeen:
‘We know of their deep belief in god – that they’re
confident that their struggle will succeed. – That land over-there is
yours – and you’ll go back to it some day, because your fight will
prevail, and you’ll have your homes, your mosques, back again, because
your cause is right, and god is on your side.’
The video-footage can be found in the documentary series “Cold War”
(Episode #24, Soldiers of God, 1975-1988), Turner Original Productions
(Time Warner), 1998. Speaker Kenneth Branagh.
Front row, from left: Major Gen. Hamid Gul, director general of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI), Director of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Willian Webster; Deputy Director for Operations Clair George;
an ISI colonel; and senior CIA official, Milt Bearden at a Mujahideen
training camp in North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan in 1987.
(source RAWA)
Referred to as “Freedom Fighters”, president Reagan meets Afghan Al Qaeda Mujahideen leaders at the White House
The Central Intelligence Agency using Pakistan’s ISI as a go-between
played a key role in training the Mujahideen. In turn, the CIA-sponsored
guerrilla training was integrated with the teachings of Islam. The
madrasahs were set up by Wahabi fundamentalists financed out of Saudi
Arabia:
“[I]t was the government of the United States who
supported Pakistani dictator General Zia-ul Haq in creating thousands of
religious schools, from which the germs of the Taliban
emerged.”(Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA),
“RAWA Statement on the Terrorist Attacks in the U.S.”, Centre for
Research on Globalisation (CRG), http://globalresearch.ca/articles/RAW109A.html , 16 September 2001)
Destroying National Sovereignty and Secular Societies, Installing an Islamic State (Made in America)
What has been the fate of Afghanistan.
A progressive secular state in the 1970s and early 1980s has become a
US failed State integrated by US supported Al Qaeda terrorists. This is
the model that US-NATO want to impose on Syria, Iraq, Libya: Destroy
national sovereignty and replace it with an Islamic State which conforms
to Washington’s demands.
Kabul University in the 1980′s
Unknown to the American public, the US spread the teachings of the
Islamic jihad in textbooks “Made in America”, developed at the
University of Nebraska:
… the United States spent millions of dollars to supply
Afghan schoolchildren with textbooks filled with violent images and
militant Islamic teachings, part of covert attempts to spur resistance
to the Soviet occupation.
The primers, which were filled with talk of jihad and featured
drawings of guns, bullets, soldiers and mines, have served since then as
the Afghan school system’s core curriculum. Even the Taliban used the
American-produced books,..
The White House defends the religious content, saying that Islamic
principles permeate Afghan culture and that the books “are fully in
compliance with U.S. law and policy.” Legal experts, however, question
whether the books violate a constitutional ban on using tax dollars to
promote religion.
… AID officials said in interviews that they left the Islamic
materials intact because they feared Afghan educators would reject books
lacking a strong dose of Muslim thought. The agency removed its logo
and any mention of the U.S. government from the religious texts, AID
spokeswoman Kathryn Stratos said.
“It’s not AID’s policy to support religious instruction,” Stratos
said. “But we went ahead with this project because the primary purpose .
. . is to educate children, which is predominantly a secular activity.”
… Published in the dominant Afghan languages of Dari and Pashtun, the
textbooks were developed in the early 1980s under an AID grant to the
University of Nebraska -Omaha and its Center for Afghanistan Studies.
The agency spent $ 51 million on the university’s education programs in
Afghanistan from 1984 to 1994.” (Washington Post, 23 March 2002)
CONCLUDING REMARKS
War is not an inevitable process. War can be prevented through mass action.
War criminals occupy positions of authority. The citizenry is
galvanized into supporting the rulers, who are “committed to their
safety and well-being”. Through media disinformation, war is given a
humanitarian mandate.
The legitimacy of the war must be addressed. Antiwar sentiment alone does not disarm a military agenda.
The corporate backers and sponsors of war and war crimes must also be
targeted including the oil companies, the defense contractors, the
financial institutions and the corporate media, which has become an
integral part of the war propaganda machine.
There is a sense of urgency. Today, the antiwar movement is virtually defunct.
What is the Truth
The real threat to global security emanates from the US-NATO-Israel
alliance, yet realities in an inquisitorial environment are turned
upside down: the warmongers are committed to peace, the victims of war
are presented as the protagonists of war.
The homeland is threatened.
The media, intellectuals and the politicians, in chorus, obfuscate
the unspoken truth, namely that the US-NATO led war destroys humanity.
When the lie becomes the truth there is no turning backwards.
When war is upheld as a humanitarian endeavor, Justice and the entire
international legal system are turned upside down: pacifism and the
antiwar movement are criminalized. Opposing the war becomes a criminal
act. Meanwhile, the war criminals in high office have ordered a witch
hunt against those who challenge their authority.
The Big Lie must be exposed for what it is and what it does.
It sanctions the indiscriminate killing of men, women and children.
It destroys families and people. It destroys the commitment of people towards their fellow human beings.
It prevents people from expressing their solidarity for those who
suffer. It upholds war and the police state as the sole avenue.
It destroys both nationalism and internationalism.
Breaking the lie means breaking a criminal project of global destruction, in which the quest for profit is the overriding force.
ACTIONS
1. The role of media disinformation in sustaining the military agenda is crucial.
We will not succeed in our endeavours unless the propaganda
apparatus is weakened and eventually dismantled. It is essential to
inform our fellow citizens on the causes and consequences of the US-led
war, not to mention the extensive war crimes and atrocities
which are routinely obfuscated by the media. This is no easy task. It
requires an effective counter-propaganda program which refutes
mainstream media assertions.
It is essential that the relevant information and analysis reaches
the broader public. The Western media is controlled by a handful of
powerful business syndicates. The media conglomerates which control
network TV and the printed press must be challenged through cohesive
actions which reveal the lies and falsehoods.
2. There is opposition within the political establishment in the US as well as within the ranks of the Armed Forces.
While this opposition does not necessarily question the overall
direction of US foreign policy, it is firmly opposed to military
adventurism, including the use of nuclear weapons. These voices within
the institutions of the State, the Military and the business
establishment are important because they can be usefully channeled to
discredit and ultimately dismantle the “war on terrorism” consensus.
The broadest possible alliance of political and social forces is,
therefore, required to prevent a military adventure which in a very real
sense threatens the future of humanity.
3. The structure of military alliances must be
addressed. A timely shift in military alliances could potentially
reverse the course of history.
Whereas France and Germany are broadly supportive of the US led war,
there are strong voices in both countries as well as within the European
Union, which firmly oppose the US led military agenda, both at the
grassroots level as well within the political system itself.
The weakening of the system of alliances which commits Western Europe
to supporting the Anglo-American military axis, could indeed contribute
to reversing the tide. Washington would hesitate to wage a war on Iran
without the support of France and Germany.
4. The holding of large antiwar rallies is important and essential.
But in will not in itself reverse the tide of war unless it is
accompanied by the development of a cohesive antiwar network.
What is required is a grass roots antiwar network, a mass movement at
national and international levels, which challenges the legitimacy of
the main military and political actors, as well as their
corporate sponsors, and which would ultimately be instrumental in
unseating those who rule in our name. The construction of this type of
network will take time to develop.
Initially, it should focus on developing an antiwar stance within
existing citizens’ organizations (e.g. trade unions, community
organizations, professional regroupings, student federations, municipal
councils, etc.).
Close down the weapons factories and the military bases.
Bring home the troops.
Members of the armed forces should disobey orders and refuse to participate in a criminal war.
The above text is a summary of Michel Chossudovsky‘s presentation at the Science for Peace Conference, Academy of Sciences, Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur, 15-16 August 2016
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