Marcy Winograd / CODEPINK Radio

Episode 177:
Dennis Kucinich on Ceasefire in Ukraine!

Guests:  Rev. William Barber of the Poor People’s Campaign sends chills down one’s spine as he recalls the spontaneous Christmas truce that broke out in the trenches of World War I.

Former  Congressman Dennis Kucinich nails the nature of the proxy war between the US and Russia in Ukraine and predicts the end of US global hegemony;

Reiner Braun of the International Peace Bureau in Germany analyzes the anti-war movement in Russia and Europe, where peace activists,  like those of us in the Peace in Ukraine Coalition, call for a ceasefire, negotiated peace and a freeze on weapons fanning the flames of war;

Nicolai Petro, Rhode Island University professor and former US temporary attaché in Moscow and author of the new book, “Tragedy in Ukraine,“ offers hope for peace and reconciliation based on Truth and Reconciliation models that were successful in Spain, South Africa and Guatemala.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify!

Highlights of Dennis Kucinich’s Remarks
Transcribed by Don Smith / ProgressiveMemes

“After my first six months in Congress, when I got a feeling for the racket that was going on with respect to Pentagon spending and setting the stage for endless wars, from that point on until the time I left Congress in 2013, any opportunity that I had to vote against the Pentagon budget or military spending, I voted against it.  … I understand the game that was being played with the American people: the categorical lies that were told, the waste of life, the waste of trillions of dollars, the distortion of the purpose of our government, the distortion of the purpose of nationhood itself.   This has all been beyond immoral.”

“And when we look at the recitation of events that has brought us into this proxy war with Russia,  where the people of Ukraine are just pawns in a play of chess game, we understand once again the lies that are being told, the manipulation of the media, the attempt to make this some kind of phony cause  of U.S. purpose in the world, and, actually, for those of you who have looked at it, our national security strategy basically spells out not only that we are going to hold Russia in check but the plan is, once that’s done, to pivot to China, and China knows this.”

We’re in a “civilizational conflict where not only Russia and China but also the BRICS nations … are starting to look at the U.S. policies  and practices in its attempt to maintain the American emperium and are turning away…. and are looking back towards the West with contempt.

“And this escapade that the U.S. started by overthrowing the government of Ukraine in 2014 will prove to be, I think, a pivotal point in world history, where the United States joins the historical rollcall of nations involved in a march of folly, because we have overplayed the game of imperialism.

“We are no longer going to be able to establish any kind of hegemony in the world. That game is over. The allies we have had in Europe are learning the cost of loyalty to U.S. military initiative, because it is Europe now that is paying the cost…” for the proxy war with Russia, and they are also going to be sucked into the conflict with China. ”

“Those of us familiar with the Project for a New American Century have to realize that that project has never died. It is alive today. And the neocons that are in the State Department are using a weak president, who is easily manipulated, and that, together with the role of Western  media in putting out a false narrative, has helped to build the ignorance of the public as to what is actually going on.

“But people do know that something is going on, because of the amount of money that is being spent. … The money that has gone to Ukraine will soon reach $100 billion ..  So we’re looking at close to a trillion dollars in the period of a year, spent for what?

“To try to place the Americans’ dreams and hopes, ambitions and desires of a country of over 340 million people on the altar of contemptuous war, and to drag Europe into it, and to use the sock puppet of NATO as some kind of legitimate force, which it’s not. It’s an anachronism that ought to be dissolved… The upshot is: less reliance on diplomacy, more money for the military. ”

“They admit that they cannot keep track of the money that is being sent over to Ukraine. And I think that’s a point of entry to stir the American peoples’ awareness. It’s actually a weakening of the U.S. economy that’s resulting, higher costs for fuel, they’ve wrecked our ambitions for a green economy, they have isolated the United States from a good part of the world, and the upshot, I think, is going to be the destruction of the EU community, eventually the cessation of NATO — which isn’t a bad thing.  The Democratic Party is no longer a force for peace and justice when it comes to these matters.”

“Nothing I say is meant to excuse anything that Russia has done…. We don’t excuse Russia, but we do not  — we’re not Russians, we’re Americans and we have a responsibility to hold our own government to account, and that’s not happening, so I think that if the war grinds on, meetings like this become very important …”

BTW, Kucinich started with: “I’d like to recap some of the work that we’ve done together over the years.” He recalls his opposition to the war in Iraq and his reservations about the bombing of Serbia (which, according to this and this, was partially orchestrated by the CIA.  Bosnians were, to a much larger extent than is generally known, the aggressors.

“He also opposed plans to bomb Iran with nuclear bunker busters. He opposed the U.S. war in Libya, as well as U.S. funding of Al Qaeda in Syria (again to weaken a Russian ally). Kucinich attempted to end the war in Afghanistan.

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