[pjw] REPORT BACK: without borders: Friday rally #141 since stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

Iraq Affinity Group supporters

This week the traffic was back and people were honking and giving us 
thumbs up once again as they drove by the weekly Friday Rally for Peace 
and Justice. Eight of us-- including a brand new attendee who'd driven 
past the rally in the past and got involved through other organizing!-- 
gathered up, masked and distanced. (Notably, Multnomah County has again 
urged people to mask up indoors; to cut down on confusion and infection 
PJW continues to keep its masking requirements in place as the pandemic 
ebbs and flows.)

For the second time in a month I managed to get through the announcements 
except for one headline from memory as I did not have my "cheat sheet."

Here's what we talked about:

--Russia has delayed the promised (and promising?) nuclear weapons 
reduction talks, blaming the US for its staunch anti-Russian policies.

  https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/russia-nuclear-talks-us-delayed-amid-differences-94144918

--The US and Israel made simulated airstrikes against Iran and its 
"proxies." Shouldn't there be an international law against this kind of 
thing?

  https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-holds-joint-air-drills-with-us-simulating-strikes-on-iran-and-proxies/

--In the "do what I say not what I do" department, the US is mediating 
between Turkey and Syrian Kurds to stop Turkey from invading northern 
Syria.

  https://thecradle.co/Article/News/18862

--Similarly, the US, which has troops and has killed thousands of 
people in both Iraq and Syria, is promising to protect Iraqi Kurds against 
military strikes from Iran.

  https://thecradle.co/Article/News/18846

--Two updates on Julian Assange:
---the Australian Prime Minister is urging the US to drop the charges 
against the man who revealed war crimes by the American military:

  https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/nov/30/australian-prime-minister-anthony-albanese-us-government-julian-assange-wikileaks?CMP=edit_2221#Echobox=1669787127

---plus, the NY TImes and four foreign papers also called for his release:

  https://news.antiwar.com/2022/11/28/major-news-organizations-finally-urge-us-to-drop-charges-against-julian-assange/

--(A headline I remembered along the march route):
The EU says US is profiting off Ukraine war in terms of gas prices and 
weapons sales. I am shocked, SHOCKED! that the US would make money off of 
war.

  https://www.politico.eu/article/vladimir-putin-war-europe-ukraine-gas-inflation-reduction-act-ira-joe-biden-rift-west-eu-accuses-us-of-profiting-from-war/amp/

In local news, a grand jury cleared the Oregon State Trooper and Clackamas 
County Deputy who shot and killed Derrick Clark, a young man who had 
turned his life around to mentor others. (Incidentally, there's a rally 
for Justice for Derrick Clark going on as I type this; unfortunately I 
learned about it late yesterday.)

  https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2022/11/grand-jury-clears-trooper-detective-in-june-fatal-shooting-of-24-year-old-man-in-clackamas-county.html

Along the march route I reported that an ultraconservative Israeli 
military unit is being pulled out of West Bank after they killed a 
78-year-old Palestinian-American man earlier this year. For some reason 
this seemingly positive action is only planned to last one year.

  https://www.newarab.com/news/israeli-unit-linked-us-citizens-death-exits-west-bank

And in what was termed (in this article) a "bipartisan rebuke" of Biden's 
$802 Billion military budget, Congress is set to finalize their version... 
at $847 billion. No, a rebuke would be to take that money to pay for 
housing, education, health care and other human needs!

  https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/30/house-senate-negotiators-45b-biden-defense-budget-00071367

Here as a bonus is the story I forgot to talk about: 
NATO countries discussed ways to confront China. This article came from 
the Financial Times (which requires a subscription) but someone has pasted 
it into an "archive" web page for free.

  https://archive.ph/HKxKK

This week the Ann Huntwork Peace Memorial Sign went out again as we passed 
the Gucci store at the Mall, back to the usual unexplained pattern.

Join us if you can/are willing and able any Friday at 5 PM at SW Yamhill 
and Broadway!

peace
--dan handelman
peace and justice works iraq affinity group