Friends,

Please call your Congress members and let them know that Congress, not the President, should make the decision whether or not to declare war on another country. Republican Senator Paul says: It is wrong, it is unconstitutional and it should be stopped!

Read below.

Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives

The American Conservative
May 7, 2018

Rand Paul: Congress Moves to Give the President Unlimited War Powers

The Kentucky senator warns the new AUMF is a massive abdication by the legislative branch.

By Rand Paul

In the near future, Congress will debate a new Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). I use the word “debate” lightly. So far, no hearings have been scheduled, and no testimony is likely to be heard unless something changes. That’s a shame, because this is a serious matter, and this is a deeply flawed AUMF.

For some time now, Congress has abdicated its responsibility to declare war. The status quo is that we are at war anywhere and anytime the president says so.

So Congress—in a very Congress way of doing things—has a “solution.” Instead of reclaiming its constitutional authority, it instead intends to codify the unacceptable, unconstitutional status quo.

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Friends,

America’s foremost authority on Russia and U.S.-USSR/Russia relations, Stephen Cohen, continues to speak out on the John Batchelor show regarding the insanity of “Russiagate” and the current and extremely dangerous Cold War II with Russia. Please refer this article to anyone you think may be even vaguely concerned about the politico/media’s hype coming out of Washington.

All the best,

Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives

TheNation
April 25, 2018

Forgotten Truths: On the Imperative of Cooperating With—Not Criminalizing—Russia

Cooperation with Moscow remains vital for American national security, but “Russiagate” allegations, now codified in a DNC lawsuit, are making that decades-long pursuit a crime.

By Stephen F. Cohen

Audio:

Tales of the New Cold War 2018-04-24 – Russia is not a criminal state. Part 1

Tales of the New Cold War 2018-04-24 – Russia is not a criminal state. Part 2

Stephen F. Cohen, professor emeritus of Russian studies at NYU and Princeton, and John Batchelor continue their (usually) weekly discussion of the new US-Russian Cold War. (You can find previous installments of these discussions, now in their fifth year, at TheNation.com.)

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Friends,

The whole of “non-mainstream media” and the investigative journalists are questioning the legitimacy of this latest scare tactic. It doesn’t make sense. Please read below.

Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives

The BlogMire
March 20, 2018

30 Questions That Journalists Should be Asking About the Skripal Case

by Rob Slane

There are a lot of issues around the case of Sergei and Yulia Skripal which, at the time of writing, are very unclear and rather odd. There may well be good and innocent explanations for some or even all of them. Then again there may not. This is why it is crucial for questions to be asked where, as yet, there are either no answers or deeply unsatisfactory ones.

Some people will assume that this is conspiracy theory territory. It is not that, for the simple reason that I have no credible theory — conspiracy or otherwise — to explain all the details of the incident in Salisbury from start to finish, and I am not attempting to forward one. I have no idea who was behind this incident, and I continue to keep an open mind to a good many possible explanations.

However, there are a number of oddities in the official narrative, which do demand answers and clarifications. You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist or a defender of the Russian state to see this. You just need a healthy scepticism, “of a type developed by all inquiring minds!”

Below are 30 of the most important questions regarding the case and the British Government’s response, which are currently either wholly unanswered, or which require clarification.

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