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For Immediate Release
December, 08 2021, 10:37am EDT
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New Military Pact Risks Nuclear Proliferation - Peace Campaigners Call on Government to Rethink Aukus
Leaders of the British peace movement will hand in a letter to the Prime Minister on Friday 10 December, calling on Boris Johnson to reconsider the new AUKUS agreement that was signed between Britain, the US and Australia in September. Campaigners believe that the agreement is likely to escalate tension in the Far East and urges the government to 'take appropriate steps to bring UK actions in line with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and to promote stability in the Indo-Pacific region through diplomatic rather than military means'.
WASHINGTON
Leaders of the British peace movement will hand in a letter to the Prime Minister on Friday 10 December, calling on Boris Johnson to reconsider the new AUKUS agreement that was signed between Britain, the US and Australia in September. Campaigners believe that the agreement is likely to escalate tension in the Far East and urges the government to 'take appropriate steps to bring UK actions in line with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and to promote stability in the Indo-Pacific region through diplomatic rather than military means'.
The deal will see Britain and the US collaborate with Australia to help provide them with nuclear-powered submarines. Australia will be the first non-nuclear weapons state to secure them.
Actions are taking place on Saturday 11 December in Britain, Australia and the United States as part of coordinated international protests against the AUKUS deal.
On Friday, Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN) will also join G7 Foreign Ministers in Liverpool. Reports indicate the meeting will discuss the AUKUS pact as part of the 'pivot to Asia' military strategy. Among the summit's attendees are Indonesia and Malaysia who have raised concerns that the AUKUS deal could lead to an arms race in the Indo-Pacific region.
'This new military pact will increase tensions in the Indo-Pacific and risks nuclear proliferation. Britain needs to abandon its increasingly aggressive global posturing and focus its resources on the real threats we face: taking action to solve the climate crisis.'
Kate Hudson, General Secretary, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
'The AUKUS pact represents a more aggressive stance by the Western powers in the Pacific. Increased militarisation of the region, sanctions and the threat of boycott of the Chinese Winter Olympics are all creating dangerous tensions which can lead to war. Our government is increasingly belligerent and it has to stop.'
Lindsey German, Convenor, Stop the War Coalition
'The last thing we need in the world are more nuclear war machines and the severe environmental threats posed by nuclear weapons and nuclear power. Maritime workers reject the warmongering of the racist, misogynist Morrison government and stand for international co-operation and peace.
For working people there are no gains from war waged for corporate power. The MUA stands in solidarity with the peace movement and the growing number of trade unions and peace loving people who oppose this nuclear madness and drive to war.'
Warren Smith, Maritime Union of Australia
CND campaigns non-violently to rid the world of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction and to create genuine security for future generations. CND opposes all nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction: their development, manufacture, testing, deployment and use or threatened use by any country.
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Pope Leo XIV used his Palm Sunday sermon to take what appears to be a shot at US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
In his sermon, excerpts of which he published on social media, the pope emphasized Christian teachings against violence while criticizing anyone who would invoke Jesus Christ to justify a war.
"This is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war," Pope Leo said. "He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them."
The pope also encouraged followers to "raise our prayers to the Prince of Peace so that he may support people wounded by war and open concrete paths of reconciliation and peace."
While speaking at the Pentagon last week, Hegseth directly invoked Jesus when discussing the Trump administration's unprovoked and unconstitutional war with Iran.
Specifically, Hegseth offered up a prayer in which he asked God to give US soldiers "wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy," adding that "we ask these things with bold confidence in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ."
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President Donald Trump is reportedly preparing to launch some kind of ground assault on Iran in the coming weeks, but one prominent military strategy expert believes he's heading straight for defeat.
The Washington Post on Saturday reported that the Pentagon is preparing for "weeks" of ground operations in Iran, which for the last month has disrupted global energy markets by shutting down the Strait of Hormuz in response to aerial assaults by the US and Israel.
The Post's sources revealed that "any potential ground operation would fall short of a full-scale invasion and could instead involve raids by a mixture of Special Operations forces and conventional infantry troops" that could be used to seize Kharg Island, a key Iranian oil export hub, or to search out and destroy weapons systems that could be used by the Iranians to target ships along the strait.
Michael Eisenstadt, director of the Military and Security Studies Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told the Post that taking over Kharg Island would be a highly risky operation for American troops, even if initially successful.
“I just wouldn’t want to be in that small place with Iran’s ability to rain down drones and maybe artillery,” said Eisenstadt.
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Lawrence Freedman, professor emeritus of war studies at King's College London, believes that the president has already checkmated himself regardless of what shape any ground operation takes.
In an analysis published Sunday, Freedman declared Trump had run "out of options" for victory, as there have been no signs of the Iranian regime crumbling due to US-Israeli attacks.
Freedman wrote that Trump now "appears to inhabit an alternative reality," noting that "his utterances have become increasingly incoherent, with contradictory statements following quickly one after the other, and frankly delusional claims."
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The New York Times is drawing criticism for publishing articles that downplayed the significance of Saturday's No Kings protests, which initial estimates suggest was the largest protest event in US history.
In a Times article that drew particular ire, reporter Jeremy Peters questioned whether nationwide events that drew an estimated 8 million people to the streets "would be enough to influence the course of the nation’s politics."
"Can the protests harness that energy and turn it into victories in the November midterm elections?" Peters asked rhetorically. "How can they avoid a primal scream that fades into a whimper?"
Journalist and author Mark Harris called Peters' take on the protests "predictable" and said it was framed so that the protests would appear insignificant no matter how many people turned out.
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Media critic Dan Froomkin was event blunter in his criticism of the Peters piece.
"Putting anti-woke hack Jeremy Peters on this story is an act of war by the NYT against No Kings," he wrote.
Mark Jacob, former metro editor at the Chicago Tribune, also took a hatchet to Peters' analysis.
"The NY Times saves its harshest skepticism for progressives," he wrote. "Instead of being impressed by 3,000-plus coordinated protests, NYT dismisses the value of 'hitting a number' and asks if No Kings will be 'a primal scream that fades into a whimper.' F off, NY Times. We'll defeat fascism without you."
The Media and Democracy Project slammed the Times for putting Peters' analysis of the protests on its front page while burying straight news coverage of the events on page A18.
"NYT editors CHOSE that Jeremy Peters's opinions would frame the No Kings demonstrations and pro-democracy movement to millions of NYT readers," the group commented.
Joe Adalian, west coast editor for New York Mag's Vulture, criticized a Times report on the No Kings demonstrations that quoted a "skeptic" of the protests without noting that said skeptic was the chairman of the Ole Miss College Republicans.
"Of course, the Times doesn’t ID him as such," remarked Adalian. "He's just a Concerned Youth."
Jeff Jarvis, professor emeritus at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, took issue with a Times piece that offered five "takeaways" from the No Kings events that somehow managed to miss their broader significance.
"I despise the five-takeaways journalistic trope the Broken Times loves so," Jarvis wrote. "It is reductionist, hubristic in its claim to summarize any complex event. This one leaves out much, like the defense of democracy against fascism."
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