Former US Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein gave a rousing speech opposing US involvement in the Ukraine-Russia war at last weekend’s Rage Against The War Machine rally in Washington. Stein addressed a crowd from across the political spectrum, saying that it was not a matter of right or left but a question of the few elites at the top versus all the rest of us. Stein called for the dismantling of the war machine, saying that it was hurting everyone, especially the people of Ukraine.
“The Ukraine conflict is accelerating destruction of the climate which is already at the brink of collapse the bottom line is this this war and the war machine that it’s a part of are endangering and impoverishing all of us. Martin Luther King had it right not only about the U.S being the greatest purveyor of violence but also that militarism doesn’t stand alone it is joined at the hip with what Martin Luther King called the triple evil of militarism, racism and materialism.”
-Former US Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein
In her speech, Stein stated that there were some Forbidden truths that people were not supposed to talk about. She pointed out that the US war machine was the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today, and that it was much bigger now, impoverishing and endangering everyone. Stein claimed that the war machine squandered two-thirds of the US discretionary budget and put virtually every dimension of US security, nuclear, economic, food, climate, and energy, at grave risk.
“Instead of engaging peace overtures the U.S has been throwing billions in weapons and economic aid to keep this war alive even blowing up the Nordstrom pipeline it appears to prevent Germany from backing out in the face of economic disaster if the U.S wasn’t afraid of finding out of confirming that we were the ones behind the Nordstrom disaster we would be investigating not celebrating which is what we are doing.”
-Former US Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein
Stein called for a movement to overcome the powerful special interests behind the war machine. She claimed that war profiteers, fossil fuel barons, and health insurance barons were profiting from the carnage. She urged people to wake up to the fact that they were all in the crosshairs of this crisis.
Stein went on to say that the US had some 800 foreign bases, while Russia had about 30. She claimed that the US so-called war on terror continued in 85 countries, which people did not hear about. Stein stated that the US had conducted over 250 military interventions in the past 20 years alone and killed a staggering 6 million people in just a portion of the so-called US war on terror.
Stein said that the US imperial aims were clearly stated in the official military policy known as full spectrum dominance, an all-purpose declaration of war for all time against all economic and military competitors, friend or foe. She claimed that the US Empire had been provoking war with Russia for decades, and that the Russian invasion was a provoked response to an even bigger, more murderous, and illegal game plan of the US Empire, in which defeating Russia was just one small part.
“Russian invasion was a provoked response to an even bigger more murderous illegal game plan of the U.S Empire in which defeating Russia is just one small part. So yes, Russia illegally invaded Ukraine but did so with a gun to its head or in this case nuclear-compatible missiles to its head.”
-Former US Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein
Stein urged people to follow the example of Kennedy, who had the good sense to back off and negotiate during the Cuban Missile Crisis. She claimed that instead of engaging peace overtures, the US had been throwing billions in weapons and economic aid to keep this war alive, even blowing up the Nordstrom pipeline to prevent Germany from backing out in the face of economic disaster. Stein added that the nuclear threat produced by all of this was an emergency of the highest order, and we are all in the crosshairs of this emergency.
“We need a broad movement for peace Justice and democracy with us against the political and economic Elites the one percent against the 99 we need that broad movement and as a first step we need an immediate ceasefire and negotiations to ensure the security and autonomy of all parties as provided in the Minsk Accords this is not rocket science.”
-Former US Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein
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