Kucinich: “NATO Talks a Sham: War in Afghanistan is Not Ending”

By: Rep Dennis Kucinich

Source: Global Research
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=30998

Washington, May 21 - Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today released the following statement as world leaders meet in Chicago for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit.

“The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is not a benevolent organization. NATO is not about the North Atlantic and it’s not about our collective defense.

“NATO is a cost-sharing organization that finances aggressive military action. By hiding behind the claim that the organization provides for ‘common defense,’ NATO allows us to wage wars of choice under the guise of international peacekeeping. The most recent example was the unconstitutional war in Libya where NATO, operating under a United Nations mandate to protect civilians, instead backed one side in a civil war and pursued a policy of regime change.

“Today, NATO leaders are meeting in Chicago to discuss the future of Afghanistan. The talks are being billed as discussions of plans to end the war. The war in Afghanistan is not ending. These talks are simply about financing the next phase of the war.

“The Strategic Partnership Agreement between the U.S. and Afghanistan commits us to the country for at least another decade, despite public support for the war being at an all time low. The United States will pay for half of the estimated $4.1 billion per year cost of supporting 352,000 Afghan army and police officers. Afghanistan’s contribution will be $500,000. The rest will be financed by our ‘NATO partners.’ It is not surprising that support for the war among NATO members is waning, with France threatening to pull out its troops by the end of this year.

“Our participation in NATO comes at a great financial cost to the U.S. We contribute the majority of funds for NATO’s common budget, including 25% of the military budget. Between fiscal years 2010 and 2012 alone, we contributed more than $1.3 billion to NATO’s military budget. We also incur significant costs through the deployment of our forces in support of NATO missions. According to The Atlantic, the war in Libya cost the United States $1.1 billion.

“NATO was originally founded to provide a strategic counterbalance to the Soviet Union. Its founding purpose no longer exists, but NATO continues to circumvent the authority of the United Nations and to provoke other nations. NATO is an anachronism. Instead of trying to bolster the organization, we should begin serious discussions to dismantle it.”

NATO heads for Chicago

By: Stephen Lendman
http://sjlendman.blogspot.ca/
Source: Global Research
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=30808

A $100 million NATO invasion is coming. Low intensity conflict may follow. The "City of Broad Shoulders" may get more than it bargained for.

Nelson Algren once called Chicago the "City on the Make." NATO's May 20/21 "on the make" invasion isn't welcome.

Chicago NATO.org announced an Obama-hosted "diplomatic summit." Thousands plan protests against it.

The Coalition Against NATO/G8 War & Poverty issued a statement, saying:

The city has carried out a campaign to intimidate and vilify protesters, claiming that protests lead to violence. In fact, the main source of violence in the world today is the wars being waged by NATO and the US."

"We will march in May during the NATO meeting to deliver our message: Jobs, Housing, Healthcare, Education, Our Pensions, the Environment: Not War!"

"We and tens of thousands will be in the streets that day for a family friendly rally and march, with cries so loud they will be heard in Camp David and across the globe. We will be in the streets that day to fight for our future, and speak out against the wars and their cutbacks are designed to benefit the 1% at the expense of the 99% of the world."

Last August, dozens of activists from 73 organizations met to plan large protests and marches when NATO arrives. United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) coordinator Joe Lombado said "(t)he entire world will be watching us."

NATO doesn't foster democratic values, liberation, and peace. It's about wars, death, destruction and human misery. It requires draconian austerity and soaring debt to support it. A Chicago-style welcome awaits.

Organization representatives fear large scale crackdowns before and during protest demonstrations. Those involved plan to repudiate confrontations. They'll also stand up for their constitutional rights.

Dozens of NATO heads of state and other top officials plan attending. Large delegations are coming with them. So are similar partner nation contingents.

The Chicago Tribune and Sun Times reported on elaborate security preparations. Hundreds of state police and National Guard forces are involved. So aren't thousands of Chicago cops.

Secret Service staff also will be out in force. The ACLU said they'll set up a security perimeter around McCormick Place. Part of Lake Shore Drive will be closed. It's one of the city's main arteries.

Enormous amounts of anti-scale steel fencing will be erected. Thousands of linear feet of concrete barriers will be strategically placed.

Secret Service spokesman George Ogilve declined to give specifics. The ACLU threatened court action unless details are released well in advance.

At issue are fundamental freedoms. They include speech and assembly rights. They're also about police refraining from crackdowns on nonviolent protesters.

Will Chicago respect what NATO and Washington never do on so-called "liberating" missions? Activists want to know. The city has an odious reputation. More on that below.

Permits were granted for six protest events. Other groups got them earlier. Chicago cops cracked down anyway. A Secret Service/Chicago police business panel session revealed one planned tactic.

"Extraction teams" will snatch and grab protesters from crowds. Who for what reasons wasn't explained.

Company representatives attending were told business won't be affected. Staff won't be deterred from moving around freely. How they'll distinguish them from protesters and pedestrians isn't clear, especially in large crowds.

Occupy Chicago plans 10 protest days. A May 12 "People's Summit" will be followed by other events. Themes will highlight education, healthcare, the environment, immigration, other issues, and imperialism. On May 20, a "No to NATO" march is scheduled.

"We at Occupy Chicago," it said, "cordially invite you to join us and thousands around the world in a week of action in protest. We will highlight the connection between our local struggles, global struggles, and the policies of the thieves and oppressors of NATO and G-8."

Before things end, Chicago could become a battleground. Protesters stress nonviolence. Chicago cops are notoriously confrontational. In his 1990 book "Protectors of Privilege: Red Squads and Police Repression in Urban America," Frank Donner called the city "the national capital of police repression" for good reason.

No-holds barred tactics are used. Illegal criminal methods include physical confrontation, intimidation, random searches, false arrests, racial targeting, sexual abuse, guerrilla warfare, torture, and whitewashed investigations. Thousands of complaints are lodged. Most fall on deaf ears.

Chicago is NATO's 25th summit. It's a first for Chicago. It may be the city's greatest ever security challenge. Before it ends, violent crackdowns may exceed past large events.

Three main themes are stressed:

(1) "the Alliance's commitment to Aghanistan through transition and beyond;

(2) ensuring the Alliance has the capabilities it needs to defend its population and territory, and to deal with the challenges of the 21st century; and

(3) strengthening NATO's network of partners across the globe."

NATO commits to supporting Afghanistan beyond 2014. Permanent occupation is planned. It's the same wherever it shows up.

Washington wants it modernized, alliance partnerships deepened, and perhaps new members added. National Security Council European affairs director Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall said:

"The alliance needs to be more deployable and more adaptable, and we're taking those lessons learned from Afghanistan and integrating them into our planning going forward."

NATO also intends expansion beyond its borders. It plans building a "hub of relationships around the world." Meeting "the challenge of (alleged) global threats" assures new wars besides current ones.

NATO's an US imperial tool. Permanent wars are waged. One follows another. All involve mass killing, destruction, and enormous profits for corporate crooks cashing in. Geopolitical issues don't concern them, just bottom line priorities. America's addiction to war feeds them.

When established in April 1949, NATO called itself a "political and military alliance for peace and security." It was always for offense, not defense. Cold War hysteria incited fear to assure an arms race for profits. Reinvented post-Soviet Russia, they keep flowing.

Its original five members now number 28. They're linked with dozens of partners. Together they threaten world peace, stability, and survival.

Bogus threats justify NATO's existence. With no real ones around, they're invented. Wars are based on lies. Profits depend on them. Peace is a losing proposition. Preventing it at all costs is planned.

Ahead of and during Chicago's summit, the city will be locked down and militarized. Mayor Rahm Emanuel and police officials plan targeting strategic areas in preparation.

In January, City Council representatives enacted a "Sit Down and Shut Up" ordinance. It includes required protester group liability insurance, fines up to $2,000 for those arrested, jail time penalties, strict permit guidelines, plans to deploy thousands of police and National Guard forces, and various other requirements.

One demands organizers provide descriptions of "any sound amplification or other equipment that is on wheels or too large to be carried by one person and description of the size and dimension of any sign, banner, or other attention-getting device that is too large to be carried by one person, to be used in connection with the parade."

"Second to none" is Chicago's newest tourism slogan. Before and during NATO's summit, it may turn out that way, but not as planned.

Activists fear it may become a level of hell Dante forgot. Longtime residents hope not. We'll still live here when NATO's gone, and don't relish coping with its aftermath.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net

His new book is titled "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War"
http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

Police vs Protester: Feds sending armed agents to Chicago three weeks before NATO Summit

AFP Photo / Lee Celano

Source: Russia Today
http://rt.com/usa/news/agents-chicago-nato-federal-161/

May's NATO summit in Chicago is still weeks away, but residents of the Windy City can expect to see armed federal agents patrolling the streets in preparation much sooner than that.

Three weeks before international heads of state will converge in Chicago, Illinois for the annual NATO conference, the US Federal Protective Service will send armed officers into the city’s downtown district to prepare for the swarm of protesters expected to arrive in time for the event, slated for May 20 and 21.

Both the NATO and G-8 summits were initially scheduled to occur back-to-back in the major Midwest city, but the meeting between the world’s eight leading economies has since been relocated to Camp David, the fortified presidential retreat in Maryland used as a getaway destination for many of America’s past commanders-in-chief. As of now, however, the NATO summit will take place in Chicago and, citing concerns over how demonstrators may respond, law enforcement is being called in early to size up the city.

Beginning May 1, the Federal Protective Service agents will be in Chicago for “Operation Red Zone.” Although the officers will not necessarily be restricting residents from accessing any public spaces that they are normally permitted to enter, the agents will be patrolling — in complete battle gear.

“Will you see a highly visible police force? Yes,” the FPS’ Cleophas Bradley told federal employees, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. “But we will not be preventing anyone from entering the red zone.”

Bradley adds that the officers on patrol will be outfitted with weapons that can fire off “non-lethal” projectiles, much like the firearm that cracked the skull of war veteran Scott Olsen during an Occupy Wall Street protest in Oakland, California last year.

The Sun-Times explains that the move is meant to ensure that a large section of the metropolis will be safe from unruly mobs during next month’s conference, but not even the city’s own elected officials and leaders were made aware of the agency’s plans to put fully equipped federal cops into town in advance.

“A lot of us were surprised to read that. Obviously, the federal government doesn’t consult with the city when they do this. Everybody was unaware of this,” NATO Host Committee Executive Director Lori Healey tells the Sun-Times.

Even at the top of the city’s political structure, Mayor Rahm Emanuel — a close, personal pal of US President Barack Obama and former White House chief of staff — was allegedly unaware of the government’s game plan.

“This was a security decision and we were not involved,” the mayor’s communications director, Sarah Hamilton, explains to the Sun-Times.

Failure by the Federal department to inform the host city of the security initiative is believed to be a pretty good indicator of what to expect. Although federal agents were assumed to be dispatched to Chicago for the conference, sending armed officers to patrol the city unbeknownst to the town’s own management sends a message that the government is not willing to give local law enforcement a chance to let any incidents upset the NATO Summit.

When the first agents roll into town next week, the Sun-Times say they will begin patrolling a perimeter in Chicago’s downtown “Loop” district that includes the Dirksen Federal Courthouse, the Kluczynski Building, the RH Metcalfe Building and the Metropolitan Correctional Center, as well as a handful of federally owned buildings located on what is called the “State Street cluster.”

The Sun-Times has also published an information sheet that outlines the agenda of “Operation Red Zone,” which includes preserving the peace, minimizing disruption, and protecting government property from damage and destruction. Also included on the list is the item “Ensure protection of individual rights to peacefully assemble and express opinions,” although some who plan on protesting the summit have expressed concern over how their First Amendment rights will be protected. In the state of Illinois, it is illegal to make any audio recording of a law enforcement officer without permission, essentially stripping away the right to film during the event.

Additionally, the recent passage of H.R. 347, the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011 dubbed the “Trespass Bill” by some pundits, will make it a crime to engage “in disorderly or disruptive conduct” or “impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions” during the summit — even if one isn’t aware that they are doing so.Under H.R. 347, any event that the United States Secret Service is assigned to monitor is placed in a category where protesters arrested by the armed security unit could be lobbed with hefty criminal charges.

The Sun-Times adds that, in the event of “civil disobedience,” federal agents will shut down access to the “Red Zone” by putting the Loop in lock-down as authorities attempt to restore order.

“The reality is that FPS deals with protecting federal buildings, so they do have their work cut out for them,” Jeff Cramer of consulting firm Kroll Inc. adds to the paper. “There are a fair amount of federal targets for protesters to make a point with if they wanted.”

Earlier this year, the city issued property owners detailed instructions on how to handle mobs and riots expected for the event.