[act-ma] Date Changed to Friday March 14 Re: NYC Demo. US/NATO Hands Off Ukraine - Not Another War!

[David Rolde]

International Action Center has changed the date of the US/NATO Hands off Ukraine&Russia demo to Friday March 14. It will still be at 5pm. But it will now be a march starting with a rally at CNN HQs in Columbus Circle and then marching to Fox News HQs near Times Square. The theme is "No New U.S. WAR! Stop media lies about Ukraine!" 

Facebook event page at http://www.facebook.com/events/226160010906938/ 

March from CNN offices to Fox News 
Friday, March 14, 5pm to 6:30pm 
New York City 

5:00pm to 6:00pm - Rally at CNN, 
10 Columbus Circle (Broadway & 59th St) 

6:00pm to 6:30pm - March to FOX News, 
49th St. & 6th Ave. 

UKRAINE: What the media isn’t telling you about the crisis 

Corporate media have always lied about the reasons for war, from Vietnam and Iraq to Libya and Syria. If you turn on CNN or FOX News, read the New York Times or listen to NPR, you aren’t getting the real story. Here are 10 things the U.S. corporate media won’t tell you about what’s happening in Ukraine. 

Washington planned the coup in Ukraine. 

U.S. State Department official Victoria Nuland was caught on tape plotting who would be the next head of Ukraine. She bragged that the U.S. had spent $5 billion funding the so-called democracy movement there. Senator John McCain went to Kiev, spoke at rallies and was photographed with the leader of the fascist Svoboda party. Neo-Nazi forces took over buildings and threw out the elected government in a coup d’etat, then passed new laws with no quorum in the parliament. 

There has been no Russian invasion. 

Washington officials have threatened Russia for “invading” Ukraine. It’s a Big Lie meant to cover up U.S. involvement in the coup. Russia has a military base in Crimea, a predominately Russian ethnic area, and is legally allowed to station up to 25,000 troops in the country. Russia has said it may act to protect civilians if they are threatened by the neo-Nazis in Kiev. That is all. 

The U.S. war buildup. 

The Navy has deployed the USS Truxton, a warship armed with guided missiles, to the Black Sea. Six F-15 fighter jets and 60 military personnel have been sent to Lithuania, in addition to those already stationed there. The U.S. and EU are imposing sanctions and travel bans on Russian officials. Politicians from Hillary Clinton to John McCain have compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to Hitler. When preparing for war, the U.S. always uses this bogus comparison to demonize leaders of opponent countries. 

Neo-Nazis dominate the new government. 

The openly racist, anti-Semitic and pro-Hitler Svoboda party is one of three major parties in the government. Svoboda led the street actions that forced elected President Yanukovych to flee. The Right Sector, armed fascists who have beaten opponents and vandalized public property, are now in charge of the military. Immediately after the coup, Ukraine’s chief rabbi, Moshe Reuven Azman, urged Jews to flee Kiev. The government’s first act was to ban the use of Russian and other minority languages. Opponents of the coup have been beaten, disappeared, or had their offices and homes vandalized and burned. 

Coup leaders hired snipers to justify their takeover. 

A leaked call between Estonian and European Union officials reveals that people behind the new government hired snipers to kill protesters and police in Kiev. President Yanukovych was blamed for the killings and this was used to justify the coup. 

Wall Street and Big Oil want to control Ukraine – and Russia. 

Oil and gas pipelines in Ukraine bring fuel from Russia to Europe. Big Oil wants to control the pipelines to cut the flow from Russia and hike their own profits. The U.S. has even offered the new government gas from dangerous fracking drilling here! Russia is the world’s largest producer of gas, oil and industrial minerals. They want to break up Russia too. Wall Street would love to get its claws deeper into Ukraine and Russia – to drive up profits and push down wages for workers here and there. 

NATO’s drive to expand. 

As part of the Western drive to dismantle Russia, the Pentagon wants to establish military bases on the Ukraine/Russia border. The U.S. dominated NATO alliance has expanded aggressively into eastern Europe in the past 20 years, adding 12 countries to its roster so far. U.S./ NATO forces continue to occupy Afghanistan to the south. 

Billions for coup in Ukraine, cuts for food stamps in U.S. 

In early February, Congress and the Obama administration agreed to cut SNAP food assistance benefits for hungry families by $8.7 billion, claiming there’s no money. Yet just weeks later, they announced $10 billion in assistance to the neo-Nazis in Kiev. Secretary of State John Kerry personally delivered the first billion on March 4. 

Power for the 1%, misery for workers. 

The new regime has appointed wealthy oligarchs as governors of rebellious regions of Eastern Ukraine. It’s also agreed to an IMF austerity plan drafted by Washington to cut workers’ pensions, unemployment insurance and social programs – just like the cutbacks workers from Detroit to Greece face. 

People across Ukraine are fighting back. 

People in Eastern Ukraine and throughout the country are organizing against the coup. Some have taken over regional and city buildings and refused to hand them over to the new authorities. Others are marching on military bases and demanding that the troops not obey the commands of the neo-Nazis in Kiev. Some are calling on the Russian government to protect and assist them. The people of Ukraine remember well what Nazi rule was like during World War II, and they will not stand for it again. 

Get informed! Find more information on Ukraine and upcoming actions at IACenter.org 

Join us! Educate, organize and protest. Let’s stop the next U.S. war before it starts. 

International Action Center 
http://www.iacenter.org/ 


Statements & further reading: 

United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) demands ‘U.S. hands off Ukraine and Venezuela” 
http://nepajac.org/ UNAC_030614.html 

Veterans for Peace – San Diego: “Preparing for war with Russia” 
http://www.sdvfp.org/ preparing-for-war-with-russ ia/ 

Glen Ford: “Hillary and other assorted barbarians at Russia’s gate” 
http:// www.blackagendareport.com/ content/ hillary-and-other-assorted- barbarians-russia’s-gate 

Ajamu Baraka: “Ukraine and the Pathology of the Liberal Worldview: An African American Perspective” 
http:// www.counterpunch.org/2014/ 03/07/ ukraine-and-the-pathology-o f-the-liberal-worldview/ 

Transcript of leaked Victoria Nuland-Geoffrey Pyatt call 
http://www.bbc.com/news/ world-europe-26079957 

Leak : Estonian FM says Maidan snipers were not Yanukovich's 
http://www.dailykos.com/ story/2014/03/05/1282285/ --BREAKING-Leak-Estonian-PM -says-Maidan-snipers-were- not-Yanukovich-s 

----- Original Message -----

From: "David Rolde" <davidrolde at comcast.net> 
To: act-ma at act-ma.org 
Sent: Friday, March 7, 2014 10:28:48 AM 
Subject: NYC Demo. Tues March 11. US/NATO Hands Off Ukraine - Not Another War! 

( Also see today's UNAC statement on Ukraine & Venezuela at http://nepajac.org/UNAC_030614.html The United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) Demands "US Hands off Ukraine and Venezuela". The United States government is the main instigator of the present crises in both countries.) 

US/NATO Hands Off Ukraine - Not Another War! 

http://www.facebook.com/events/226160010906938/ 

Tuesday, March 11, 2014 - 5pm til 6:30 

Times Square, New York City 

We say NO! Not Another U.S. War! 

U.S./NATO is the aggressor in Ukraine; not Russia. 

We stand with anti-fascist resistance of the Ukrainian people who reject the coup in Kiev. 

What's really happening in Ukraine? Don't be fooled! 

U.S. officials and the media claim there was a people’s uprising in Ukraine that is now threatened by Russian military intervention. Don’t be fooled. 

These are the same people who tell us the economy is improving, when we all know jobs are scarce and the minimum wage is too low to live on. They use their platform to justify police and vigilante killings of Black and Brown youth. 

These are the same people who led us into more than 10 years of ruinous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. These are the same 1% who want war with Iran and Syria. 

What happened in Ukraine was a coup against a democratically-elected government. The U.S. spent more than $15 BILLION to make this happen. $15 billion that could have been used to restore and expand SNAP food assistance programs for the hungry, create jobs, extend long-term unemployment benefits and improve public schools here at home. $5 BILLION was just cut from basic food programs because we are told, "There is not enough money." 

What has Washington paid for? The new government in Kiev is dominated by far-right-wing politicians, including open neo-Nazis. They worship Stepan Bandera, a follower of Hitler who massacred Ukrainian Jews, immigrants, leftists and trade unionist during the Nazi occupation of World War II. Fascist gangs armed with guns and baseball bats now control the streets of Kiev. They are tearing down monuments to the Soviet troops who liberated Ukraine from the Nazis.Their demands are to align with the EU and the NATO military alliance. 

Leaders of both the Republican and Democratic parties support this disgusting and dangerous coup. Two years ago, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton laid out the plan for the coup at a conference in Europe. Senator John McCain later went to Kiev, spoke at rallies and was photographed with the leader of the fascist Svoboda party. State Department official Victoria Nuland was caught on tape plotting who would be the next leader of Ukraine. She bragged that the U.S. had already spent $5 billion funding the "democracy movement" in the Ukraine. The Obama administration immediately pledged an additional $10 billion in loans for the coup leaders. 

Why do both parties support a neo-Nazi government in Ukraine? Because it’s what the Wall Street 1% want. They want to take over Ukraine’s gas and oil pipelines. They want to set up NATO military bases on the border with Russia. Their next step is to divide up Russia, grab its vast oil reserves and natural resources, and gobble up millions more skilled workers to compete with underemployed, underpaid workers here in the U.S. 

Workers in Ukraine will get nothing but misery from the deal. The coup government has already agreed to accept an IMF austerity plan in return for loans, like the ones that have devastated workers in Greece, Spain and Portugal. Unemployment, poverty, pension cuts and privatization are what they have in store. 

But people in Eastern Ukraine and throughout the country are fighting back against the fascist coup in Kiev. Some have taken over regional and city buildings and refused to hand them over to the new authorities. Others are marching on military bases and demanding that the troops not obey the commands of the neo-Nazis in Kiev. Some are calling on the Russian government to protect and assist them. The people of Ukraine remember well what Nazi rule was like during World War II, and they will not stand for it again. 

Russia’s government is acting defensively. Russia does not want a war with the U.S. and NATO, but understands that it is next on Washington’s hit list. 

People in the U.S. don’t want another war either – not for oil, not to dominate more low-wage workers, and certainly not to prop up racist neo-Nazis in Kiev! We want money for jobs and income, a raise in the minimum wage to at least $15, housing, healthcare and schools – not war and occupation. 

Initiated by International Action Center 
http://www.iacenter.org/ 

Endorsers list in formation - send your endorsement to iacenter at iacenter.org