Dear CCI Friends,

Read and ponder the following article by Peter Bergel.

I didn’t know of Peter until he signed up and traveled on CCI’s June trip to Russia. I admired this tall man’s quiet presence and positions every day of the trip. And I’m delighted but not surprised to get this article in the morning’s mail.

In this email, Peter has articulated a culmination of the many thoughts that have gone through my mind (and no doubt yours) daily over the past couple of weeks; yet I hadn’t been able formulate them into a succinct message. Peter has put it into words for us. Let us all consider his list of suggestions of how we can live above the fray of fighting, accusing, spouting angry words and uncivil discourse — and make statements of our own that will influence others and support the best that might happen in these ensuing rocky days.

Take special note below of: 100 Days of Peace and Justice. As Peter says, “Just do it.”

Sharon

peaceworker.org

Focus on the Silver Lining

By Peter Bergel

The election is over and Trump won. In a country with a sane election system, he would not have, but we have the Electoral College, so he did. In Joe Hill’s immortal words, “Don’t mourn; organize!”

Organizing Everywhere

Hidden in those words is one of the silver linings that surrounds Trump’s cloud. Look around. People are organizing as they have not done since 2003, when the Iraq invasion was imminent, and maybe even not since the 1960s anti-war efforts. People are coming together to protect each other from racist attacks, support the water protectors at Standing Rock, counter hate speech with love, sustain the environmental gains we have struggled for, continue efforts to halt climate change, reorganize the Democratic Party, protect a woman’s right to choose, and more.

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Craig Murray

I have watched incredulous as the CIA’s blatant lie has grown and grown as a media story – blatant because the CIA has made no attempt whatsoever to substantiate it. There is no Russian involvement in the leaks of emails showing Clinton’s corruption. Yes this rubbish has been the lead today in the Washington Post in the US and the Guardian here, and was the lead item on the BBC main news. I suspect it is leading the American broadcasts also.

A little simple logic demolishes the CIA’s claims. The CIA claim they “know the individuals” involved. Yet under Obama the USA has been absolutely ruthless in its persecution of whistleblowers, and its pursuit of foreign hackers through extradition. We are supposed to believe that in the most vital instance imaginable, an attempt by a foreign power to destabilise a US election, even though the CIA knows who the individuals are, nobody is going to be arrested or extradited, or (if in Russia) made subject to yet more banking and other restrictions against Russian individuals? Plainly it stinks. The anonymous source claims of “We know who it was, it was the Russians” are beneath contempt.

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The Nation

Civic and religious leaders in Germany are spearheading a new initiative to avoid war between Russia and the West.

By Gilbert Doctorow, Ute Finckh-Krämer, Ludger Volmer, Rolf Ekéus and Noam Chomsky

A transatlantic appeal for a new policy of détente with Russia has been launched. The declaration’s authors invite the general public to join leading political figures and social activists who have publicly rallied to support the call.

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Friends, who knows what will happen next in the continuing hot spots between Washington/NATO and Russia? Robert Parry’s “Consortium News” below features Jonathan Marshall who gives a laudable possibility that Donald Trump could help end the war in Ukraine. This quick fix possibility looks like it could appeal to Trump. He wouldn’t have to do much to make a huge difference as he starts his term. Let’s hope that someone gets the possible win-win to him, if they haven’t already.

The article gives a clear, short, sequenced narrative of Ukraine events in case you, like many of us, have a hard time keeping up with the continually exploding happenings across Ukraine and the Middle East.

Let’s hope for best,

Sharon

Consortium News
November 24, 2016

Trump’s Possible Path Out of Ukraine Crisis

Exclusive: The U.S.-backed coup in Ukraine in 2014 sparked a New Cold War with Russia, but a President Trump could roll back tensions with a creative strategy for resolving the Ukraine standoff, writes Jonathan Marshall.

By Jonathan Marshall

If Donald Trump wants to make a decisive and constructive mark on U.S. foreign policy early in his presidency, there’s no better place to start than by helping to end the brutal war in Ukraine that has claimed some 10,000 lives.

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Friends, I consider the article below a vital statement from a former Ambassador to NATO. I’ve used both underlining to accentuate his “principles” and occasional italics to catch your attention to his specific points. Ambassador Richard L. Hunter neither lauds nor demeans Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. To me, he makes perfect sense as our nation charts an extremely rocky new course which could help stabilize our divided population in the coming months and years––which Hunter thinks could be possible. Please attend to each paragraph and let me know what you think about his carefully thought-out ponderings.

At this point in the history of our nation, we must be part of the solution, not “hangers on” to what previously existed and self destructed. No good will come from walling off and continuing the fight between two divergent points of view. How can we pursue a realistic new course?

Sharon

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