Friends,
If people took the headlines in the corporate press seriously - and far too many do - we would all be building bomb shelters and hoarding supplies in advance of the coming Armageddon.  Two major factors are involved in pushing (what appears to be) the U.S. government’s (and Israel’s) agenda of a violent conflict – can you say “WAR” – with Iran.

First – The U.S. has never conducted serious, open discussions and negotiations with Iran.  The political baggage from a long history of U.S. meddling (installing and supporting the Shah) followed by the 1979 overthrow of the Shah and the hostage crisis of the same year are too deeply embedded in our exceptionalist conscience to allow us to act objectively.  Instead, the U.S. continues to pursue an endless succession of sanctions, which only serve to strengthen Iran’s resolve.

engaging in some grassroots diplomacy in Shiraz, Iran

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’m going to say that now would be a good time to engage in serious diplomacy with Iran.

A new report from the IAEA has reinvigorated calls for harsh action against Iran. While the conclusions of the report point to the possibility that Iran wants to have a nuclear weapons capability, it’s still not clear that they have make a definitive decision to build a bomb. The key point, as the Arms Control Association points out, is that “it remains apparent that a nuclear-armed Iran is still not imminent nor is it inevitable.”

Friends,

Ai Satoh of the Japan Council against A & H Bombs (Gensuikyo) shared the following speech given by Ms. Setsuko Thurlow, a Hibakusha of Hiroshima, to the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly just the other day.  Like so many other Hibakusha, Setsuko has dedicated herself to sharing the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and preventing future nuclear war. 

It is right that Setsuko spoke at the United Nations, an organization brought forth “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”  Of course, nuclear war would be a scourge unlike anything humankind has ever known, and the nations that have “united” to “live together in peace” must work with a will to abolish nuclear weapons.

The frenzy to influence the super committee and their deficit reduction proposal is in full swing.

Kicking it off with a bang, Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) held a press conference yesterday to present the letter he wrote to the 12 members of the super committee: “Freeze the Nukes, Fund the Future.” The letter has been signed by 65 Representatives who agree with Rep. Markey that substantial cuts to the bloated nuclear weapons budget must be part of the plan to reduce the deficit.

The letter begins:

In the next few weeks, the deficit “super committee” will develop a deficit reduction plan that could set the direction of the federal budget for the next decade. There are 12 people in the room making those decisions, and they need to hear from you.

Click here to tell the super committee to support a plan that ends the wars, cuts wasteful military and nuclear spending and protects alternatives to war. You will be redirected to their public comment page, where you can fill out your information and personalize the sample message.