Tikkun Daily Blog Archive (https://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/category/politics/peacemaking/page/42/)
About war and efforts to bring about peace. About changing a foreign policy of domination to one of generosity.
Is Syria simply ‘stage 2’ in a neoconservative plan to bring about regime change, with Iraq as stage one and Iran as stage three? William Beeman discusses how a war on Syria would exacerbate violence rather than bring the world closer to peaceful resolution of the tensions in the region.
After an anti-drone protest at Beale Air Force base, five activists face potential jail time and thousands of dollars in fines. Yet at her sentencing hearing, Sharon Delgado stands strong by her beliefs and delivers an inspirational statement.
The beloved city, Israel’s capital, is besieged by Syria. No one is free. We are the walled city. We are its violent, deceitful citizens. O, dear people, you have been in thrall to fears, and for so long a time. In the Cross of Christ, come free and see in the present moment that what you fear does not exist. The violence of anger will move from your path and you, like the lepers, will become angels—messengers of good news to the city.
Gandhi was once given a seemingly impossible scenario: what would he do if a plane were flying over his ashram to bomb him? He gave an equally challenging answer: he would pray for the pilot. Gandhi’s call to prayer was consistent with his vision of nonviolent strategy, and we have much to learn from his teaching as we seek to address the potential U.S. bombing of Syria.
AIPAC is taking an incredible risk by making an unprecedented full court press to get the bomb Syria resolution. Never in its history has it gone all out to achieve passage or defeat for anything not directly related to Israel. And, because Congress is snugly in its pocket on Israel issues, it rarely needs to fight. The Syria vote will be its test.
People of faith across the country and world are calling on Congress NOT to authorize military intervention in Syria. A Bay Area group adds its voice to the chorus and calls on all Americans to make their voices heard.
Those who have no sense of personal dignity, including elected officials, are not capable of contributing to democracy, and inevitably scapegoat others for their failures.
The media today is full of stories about AIPAC and its decision to push for a “yes” vote on Syria to ensure that President Obama initiates the war it really wants, with Iran. Check out this Washington Post story. There is simply no way AIPAC and its camp followers would do this for Syria. Israel has no problem with the Assad regime. The reason Israel (and its lobby) are going all out to push the United States to attack Syria is as a precedent for a much larger attack on Iran.
Bashar al-Assad is a mass killer. Can the American peace camp offer anything more than picket signs and chants? Or is that precisely what the right-wing wants from us?
There are firm legal foundations for the International Criminal Court to intervene in Syria. Although Syria is not a party to the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention, prohibiting the use of chemical weapons, that does not matter. Customary international law prohibits the use of such weapons of indiscriminate effect generally and Syria would be responsible, especially if they were used against civilian populations regardless of whether they are party to the Treaty.