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President’s New Budget. Stark Vision of GOP Reality. Attention Must Be Paid; Here are the Proposed Cuts; Huge Increase for Pentagon

Robert Greenstein; Ryan Koronowski; Brett Samuels; Fred Kaplan
The President's budget is a reflection of the administration's priorities. And this administration and their GOP co-horts in Congress want to slash over a trillion dollars with cuts to programs for some of the nation's most vulnerable. A massive increase in the military budget and war preparations comes at the expense of slashing all kinds of social programs.

$700 Billion For What? How Runaway Military Spending Keeps Us from Meeting Our Real Needs

Mark Haim The Indypendent
During the Cold War, the supposed threat of Communism was the justification for super-sized budgets and a continuous stream of wars and interventions-some overt, others covert or proxy-none of which had anything to do with defending the United States-and none of which ended in victory. These were sold to the American people as being fought to "defend freedom" or "support democracy." After the Cold War ended it became more difficult to justify such a massive military.

Why the “Merchants of Death” Survive and Prosper

Lawrence Wittner History News Network
The dominant role played by U.S. corporations in the international arms trade owes a great deal to the efforts of U.S. government officials. “Significant parts of the government,” notes military analyst William Hartung, “are intent on ensuring that American arms will flood the global market and companies like Lockheed and Boeing will live the good life.

The Demise of the Soviet Union: The Secret War that Helped Destroy Soviet Socialism, 1981-1991

Paul Krehbiel Changemaker Publications
On the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, the author takes aim at the narrative that socialism crumbled in the Soviet Union under its own weight, brought about by inherent weaknesses and contradictions of socialism. Instead the case is made that a concerted and relentless 10-year secret war by the Reagan Administration so weakened the Soviet economy and Soviet psyche, along with missteps by the Soviet leadership, that socialism was overthrown.

The Scandal of Pentagon Spending

William D. Hartung Tom Dispatch
How do you spell boondoggle? It's clear, it spells Pentagon and it goes directly to private corporations and much of it is then wasted on useless overhead, fat executive salaries, and startling (yet commonplace) cost overruns on weapons systems and other military hardware that, in the end, won’t even perform as promised.

Where Is The Peace Movement When We Really Need It?

Ethan Young The Indypendent
The peace movement is where realism about U.S. military madness lives. The movement is the main challenger to nationalism and xenophobia, and the main force for internationalism in an interconnected world. It abides in the best political instincts in every other progressive social movement. Restoring it is a collective responsibility for the entire range of forces shocked into motion by the 2016 election.

Tidbits - April 13, 2017 - Reader Comments: White House Explains the Holocaust; Trump and Syria - What We Know...and Don't - Take Action Now; Free Resources - Resources: Mapping the Left in EU, Canada and USA; Announcements; and more....

Portside
Reader Comments: White House Explains the Holocaust - Just in time for Passover and Easter; Trump and Syria - What We Know...and Don't - Take Action Now; A Nation Made By War - A Veteran's commentary; the Frayed Alliance Between Unions and Progressives; Sanders Bill To Make Public Colleges Tuition-Free - San Francisco's Example; Free Resources - Resources: Mapping the Left in EU, Canada and USA from Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung - New York Office; Announcements; and more...

U.S. Anti-war, Climate Justice, Racial Justice, Women's, Immigrant Rights, Economic Justice Movement Leaders All Oppose Trump's $54 Billion Increase in Pentagon Budget

Institute for Policy Studies
A coalition of leaders in the anti-war, civil rights, immigration, climate, women's, and faith movements have come together to denounce Donald Trump's proposed $54 billion increase in the military budget. The broad-based #No$54BillionforWar Campaign includes city-based resolutions against increased military spending.
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