[pjw] REPORT BACK: US cluster pickle: Friday rally #142 since stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hello again IAG supporters

Before I get to this week's full report back, I will note that I was able 
to announce and bring flyers for our special Friday rally coming up on 
January 13, "30+ People, 21 Years and Many Human Rights Violations in 
Guantanamo." We'll send out the full announcement tomorrow but you can 
find more info here:

https://www.pjw.info/guantanamo21yl.html

At this week's Friday Rally for Peace and Justice we had a total of 10 
people at the rally, though several people left early and a few came late 
so there were just 7 of us on the march. We had a lot of honks of support 
from vehicles, but not a lot of interactions with pedestrians due to the 
light but steady rain. By the end my coat, hat and gloves were soaking wet 
but not my pants or shoes so go figure.

Oh, and there's no report back about the Ann Huntwork Peace Memorial 
Sign's electrical dilemma this week because the generator, which was at 
57% at the end of last week's rally, was down to 0% before we started. 
Again, go figure.

Here are some of the headlines about the week's news"

--The US is considering whether to give Ukraine cluster bombs, 
those funny explosives that spread out into things that look like 
soda cans and kids love to pick them up. They've been banned by 100+ 
countries but.... not the United States!!

  https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/07/politics/ukraine-cluster-munitions-us-war-russia

--Bernie Sanders in the Senate and several Dems in the House are trying to 
push a War Powers Resolution to end US involvement in Yemen. Interestingly 
such a Resolution passed twice under Trump but he vetoed them; somehow 
people don't seem to be as anti-war when their party is in power.

  https://theintercept.com/2022/12/06/saudi-yemen-war-bernie-sanders/
  https://news.antiwar.com/2022/12/08/house-lawmakers-urge-swift-passage-of-yemen-war-powers-resolution/

--Iran has said it will not cave to the US' military pressure (war games, 
flying bombers over the Middle East, etc) but is willing to talk about 
re-starting the nuclear deal talks with Saudi Arabia mediating. Since Iran 
and the Saudis are not great allies, this seems like a good development.

  https://thecradle.co/Article/News/19157

--The US has resumed its joint patrols with Kurds in Syria despite 
tensions with Turkey.

  https://apnews.com/article/islamic-state-group-europe-middle-east-syria-turkey-4fcaa31b51bdce2494413d4cc3a0dc04

--Iraq's Parliament is finally complete with the appointment of two 
ministers, over a year since they had a functional government. No thanks 
to the US and its invasion from almost 20 years ago.

  https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/03122022

In local news, the Portland Police finally release the names of the 
officers involved in the last FIVE shootings since the end of July. While 
their written rules say they have to do so in 24 hours, the Chief has now 
said they will wait 15 days to do so in the future. Moreover, two of the 
NINE officers involved in these incidents shot people just a little over a 
year ago, a very rare clustering.

  https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2022/12/portland-police-identify-9-officers-involved-in-shootings-since-july-announce-change-in-deadly-force-policy.html

Along the march route, someone asked us about our sign saying "Free 
Palestine," asking if we were "for" Israel or Palestine. I said "We're for 
Palestinians not being oppressed." They gave an appreciative gesture and 
said they'd been in Israel.

ANYWAY, right around the corner from there I noted that the UN General 
Assembly had a second vote this year urging Israel to give up its nuclear 
weapons (that it doesn't admit to having). 149 countries voted in favor, 
fewer than last time. I didn't see the "no" tally in this article.

  https://thecradle.co/Article/News/19276

As we came back toward Pioneer Square, I gave an update on the military 
budget, where the House voted 350-80 for the $858 Billion package, $25 B 
above Biden's request, including $10 billion for Taiwan and $0.8 Billion 
for Ukraine. Weirdly, Schrader joined Blumenauer and Bonamici voting 
against this but DeFazio voted for it. Both are in their last month in 
office.

  https://www.defensenews.com/congress/budget/2022/12/08/house-passes-defense-bill-with-more-taiwan-ukraine-security-aid/

In an almost predictable development, hospitals are filling up again with 
people contracting respiratory viruses including COVID, so please mask up 
and stay distanced if you are able to come down to the Friday rally 
sometime.

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