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

Saturday, October 8, 2016

Despite Russia Warning, US Considers Hitting Assad

Click here to access article by Jason Ditz from Antiwar.com
Officials with the US State Department have repeatedly talked of “non-diplomatic options” recently in Syria. Though they’re trying to be coy, what they’re really talking about is overt military action against the Syrian government, attacks which would threaten Russian forces embedded with them, and likely drag Russia into a shooting war with the US.

Russia’s Defense Ministry was quick to urge caution today, noting that they’d recently deployed air defense systems into Syria specifically to counter the threat of US attack, and that the US should “carefully” consider the potential consequences of launching such strikes.