We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Destroying What Remains: How the US Navy Plans to War Game the Arctic

Click here to access article by Dahr Jamail from Truthout.

This veteran independent journalist on whom we relied so much to tell us the truth about what our imperial masters were doing in Iraq now brings us news of what they have planned in Alaska and the Arctic. This time the "collateral damage" are the fishing industry, what's left of the pristine environment, and wildlife instead of Iraqis and their environment.

Once again, it is the military, industrial, financial, and imperial complex that will win as a result of the Navy's plans to prepare for war in the arctic. How do they justify this assault on the environment? Of course, it's the old standby excuse when violating our Constitutional rights and committing crimes against humanity and nature--"national security".
The bottom line on all this is simple, if brutal. The Navy is increasingly focused on possible future climate-change conflicts in the melting waters of the north and, in that context, has little or no intention of caretaking the environment when it comes to military exercises. In addition, the federal agencies tasked with overseeing any war-gaming plans have neither the legal ability nor the will to enforce environmental regulations when what's at stake, at least according to the Pentagon, is "national security."