Antiwar.com Blog

Originally appeared on The American Conservative.

John Bolton defends preventive war against North Korea, but he won’t call it by that name:

Pre-emption opponents argue that action is not justified because Pyongyang does not constitute an “imminent threat.” They are wrong. The threat is imminent, and the case against preemption rests on the misinterpretation of a standard that derives from prenuclear, pre-ballistic-missile times.

The concepts of preemption and imminent threat have been so thoroughly warped by the Iraq war debate that their proper meanings have been all but lost. Preemption means striking before an impending attack occurs, but there is no such attack being prepared by North Korea. If the U.S. strikes North Korea first under these circumstances, our government would be committing an act of aggression pure and simple. There would be no preemption, because there would be no attack to preempt.

Continue reading “John Bolton Wants Preventive War Against North Korea”

Attending a high-profile security conference in the Bavarian city of Munich forced Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif, and the German Defense Ministry, to take extreme measures to facilitate his arrival and departure.

Zarif was warned by the private companies that operate Munich Airport that they would refuse to refuel his official jet to make the return trip after the conference was over, citing fear the US would punish them for doing so. They suggested that he either bring a plane that could carry enough fuel for the round trip, or instead fly to Vienna, Austria and then drive the 400+ kilometers to Munich for the conference, since Vienna’s airport is run by a different company.

Option three, it turns out, was for Zarif to petition the German government about the problem, and the solution ended up being that the German Defense Ministry agreed that the German military would be in charge of refueling Zarif’s plane for the sake of departing Munich, as they apparently do not fear US reprisals.

All’s well that ends well, but this once again underscores that the US is acting in such bad faith with respect to obliged sanctions relief for Iran that airports nowhere near the US are afraid to refuel official Iranian planes who are invited for major international events.

Iran has been going through this problem virtually from the start of the P5+1 nuclear deal, with European banks fearing financing perfectly legal business deals between Iran and EU companies because they think the US will take revenge on them for doing business with the Iranians. Though publicly US officials have at times denied pressuring EU banks about this, at other times Treasury officials have bragged about how limited Iran’s access to international commerce remains, despite the supposed sanction relief. This incident just adds to Iran’s grievances about the way the deal is being handled, grievances which are largely shared by the EU parties to the deal, whose companies are losing out on lucrative business ties because of US acrimony.

Sanders, Lee and Murphy to Introduce Yemen War Powers Resolution: Live Stream at 4:30pm EST

Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) will introduce Wednesday, Feb. 28 at 4:30 p.m. a bipartisan joint resolution to remove U.S. armed forces from hostilities between the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis in Yemen pursuant to the War Powers Resolution. The bill will force the first-ever vote in the Senate to withdraw U.S. armed forces from an unauthorized war.

Senate Radio-TV Gallery (S-325) and live streamed here

The website for the campaign will kick off at the start of the news conference at https://stopthewar.us/

The U.S. Role in the War in Yemen: What You Can Do
Thursday, March 1, 8 PM EST

Since March 2015, U.S.-supported airstrikes in Yemen have implicated us in what is now the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. Military action by a Saudi Arabia-led coalition is the leading cause of civilian casualties in Yemen, as they repeatedly target schools, hospitals, weddings, public markets, water and sanitation systems, and other vital civilian infrastructure – all probable war crimes carried out with U.S. support.

It’s time to end America’s role in what is now the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. Join us on Thursday, March 1 at 8 PM EST to learn about the U.S. role in this suffering, and learn how you can take action for Yemeni civilians. Click here to RSVP.

About the speakers:

Kate Gould is the Legislative Director for Middle East Policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation. Kate is one of only a handful of registered lobbyists in Washington, D.C. working to advance human rights objectives and support diplomatic solutions to resolve disputes between the U.S. and Iran and the conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Israel/Palestine.

Kate Kizer is the Policy Director at Win Without War. Previously, she was the Director of Policy and Advocacy at The Yemen Peace Project, which works to promote understanding between Americans and Yemenis and to advocate for a peaceful, constructive foreign policy. Earlier, she worked an US Advocacy Officer for Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain.

This webinar is co-sponsored by STAND: The Student-Led Movement to End Mass Atrocities; the Friends Committee on National Legislation; Win Without War; Indivisible; The Yemen Peace Project; Campaign for Liberty; Just Foreign Policy; Common Defense; Antiwar.com; Peace Action NYC; and Peace Action New York State.

Originally appeared on The American Conservative.

The U.N.’s humanitarian chief described the “catastrophic” conditions that exist in Yemen today:

In a speech read by UN director of humanitarian operations John Ging, Lowcock said that 8.4 million Yemenis “are severely food insecure” and about 400,000 children under the age of 5 “are so severely malnourished they are 10 times likelier to die without treatment than their healthy peers.”

Yemen’s crisis is by far the worst in the world just by the sheer numbers affected and the severity of the conditions, and it is made even more so by the fact that the crisis could be quickly alleviated if the coalition halted its bombing campaign and lifted its blockade. If Yemen were allowed to resume normal commerce with the outside world and a sustained relief effort were made, the most dire, worst-case scenarios could be averted. That won’t help the tens of thousands who have already perished from preventable causes, but it could still preserve the lives of millions at risk of dying from starvation and preventable disease.

Continue reading “The World’s Worst Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen Keeps Getting Worse”

Though it’s unconfirmed that Congressman Everett M. Dirksen ever uttered perhaps the most famous words attributed to him: “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money,” the sentiment surely needs to be updated for America’s profligate military moment. Replace “billion” with “trillion” and you have the perfect catchphrase for today’s Pentagon.

Consider the following facts:

1. The F-35 jet fighter is projected to cost $1.45 trillion over the life of the program.
2. Modernization of the U.S. nuclear arsenal is projected to cost $1.2 trillion, though some estimates suggest $1.7 trillion as the more likely sum.
3. America’s Afghan War has already cost $1 trillion. Add to that another $45+ billion to support war ops for this year, and perhaps the same amount of spending each year for the next decade.
4. A low-ball estimate for America’s Iraq War is $1 trillion, but when one adds in veterans health care and similar long-term issues, the cost rises into the $2-3 trillion range.
5. Each year, spending on the Pentagon, Homeland Security, wars, nuclear weapons, the VA, and interest on the national debt associated with previous military spending approaches $1 trillion.

We’re talking about real money, right?

Continue reading “A Trillion Here, a Trillion There, and Pretty Soon You’re Talking Real Money”