JOIN HANDS ON JULY 9 TO PROTEST AGAINST
NATO SUMMIT IN WARSAW, POLAND!
STOP NATO'S AGGRESSIVE EXPANSION TOWARD RUSSIA!
An Urgent Appeal for a Joint Action
by the Peace and Antiwar Movement in the NY Metro Area
The drive by a nuclear-armed NATO to the borders of Russia a nuclear-armed state poses at the very least the risk of accidental nuclear war, and at worst the possibility of military confrontation between two nuclear powers.
On July 8-9 in Warsaw, Poland a NATO Summit will be held. Many fear it goes beyond saber-rattling to active war preparation. Its agenda is alarming. For example, the US wishes to incorporate Ukraine and Georgia into NATO. Next year, the Pentagon plans to quadruple military spending in Europe to $3.4 billion and begin rotating an armored brigade through Eastern Europein addition to extra NATO forces to be deployed to Poland and the Baltics. The US, the main force behind NATO, is also already in a deadly proxy war in eastern Ukraine.
NATO has already launched the largest war games in decadesinvolving 31,000 troops (14,000 from the US) and thousands of vehicles from 24 countries. The war games in Poland include including air-ground assaults and electronic warfare scenarios. Airborne units, infantrymen, medics, military police and aviation units will operate jointly throughout the exercise, which culminates in a massive live-fire event led by the U.S. A naval exercise involving NATO forces has just begun in Finland.
A few weeks ago the United States activated the first of two missile-defense installations in Eastern Europe. The new missile defense site in Romania is a direct threat to regional security and inaugurates a new arms race. Earlier this year, it was disclosed that the U.S. was ramping up the deployment of heavy weapons and armored vehicles to NATO member countries in Central and Eastern Europe.
A separate missile defense base in Poland a country with a new far-right government is turning that country, according to one expert, into a U.S. bastion and potential launch platform against Russia in possible violation of existing agreements governing intermediate-range nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, there is the ongoing "SaberStrike" operation in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Given the serious escalation of the danger of a disastrous confrontation between the United States and Russia, we must make our alarm at the upcoming NATO Summit known in a more public way.
To this end, we have organized a demonstration for Saturday July 9th to coincide with the NATO Summit in Warsaw Poland. Other actions are planned around the US and the world, particularly in Warsaw. We think it is important for the New York region to make its voice heard.
We consider the following general slogans to be a basis for unity:
No to NATO; No to War!
Yes to Peace; No to NATO!
Abolish NATO, Don't Expand It!
Money for Jobs, Not for NATO!
No More War Games!
End NATO Provocations Against Russia!
NATO Provocations Threaten Nuclear War!
No to A New Cold War!
The demonstration will be held at 2 PM on Saturday July 9th, at the Army Recruiting Center in Times Square, Manhattan.
It's a dangerous moment. We ask you to be an endorsing organization and to commit to participating and mobilizing your members for this action. Please go to the link below and fill out the online Endorsement Form for the July 9th demonstration:
http://uspeacecouncil.org/?p=2954
Let us make this demonstration as broad as possible.
Signed:
Alfred Marder, President, US Peace Council
National Executive Committee, Veterans for Peace
Joe Lombardo, Co-coordinator, United National Antiwar Committee
Sara Flounders, Co-coordinator, International Action Center, NY
Bruce K. Gagnon, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
Margaret Kimberley, Editor and Senior Columnist, Black Agenda Report
Bernadette Ellorin, Chairperson, BAYAN, USA
Joe Jamison, Queens, NY Peace Council
Susan Schnall, Veterans for Peace, NY Chapter #34
Michael Kramer, Veterans for Peace, NJ Chapter # 21
Bahman Azad, Chair, Iran Working Group, Veterans for Peace
Manhattan
Green Party
--- Alice
Slater, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation