A publication of Volume 37 Number 5 Fall II 2019 Women Against Military Madness INSIDE: The Great-Power Competition: When the Enemy You Kill Is Yourself Can We Hear What Our by Doug Olson p5 Competitors Say? by Newsletter Staff Hong Kong: Are These Really Protests We Want FOCUS ON The bombing of suspect- to Support? RUSSIA ed ISIS continued even by Mary Beaudoin p7 & CHINA after the first announce- Calendar p11 ment that the Islamic caliphate had been defeated with the 2017 obliteration Actions p5, 6, 10, 11 of Mosul in Iraq, and Raqqa in Syria. War on the Middle East is not over WAMM Co-Founder even when it’s been announced that it’s Polly Mann is 100 over. On October 12, 2019, former U.S. and you are invited to Secretary of Defense James “Mad Dog” her birthday party! Mattis, revered by pundits as the “adult see back page in the room,” joined the retired general Sunday-morning talk show circuit.1 His purpose? To warn that there could be a resurgence of ISIS with Trump’s deci- sion to pull U.S. troops out of Syria.2 Not long ago, the War on Terror had been relegated to a series of sideshows. In January of 2018, as Secretary of Defense, Mattis released the official “Thor’s Fight with the Giants” by Mårten national defense strategy described as: Eskil Winge (1872, Sweden) depicts the “sharpening the American military’s Norse god wearing his belt of power, 3 competitive edge.” Foreign policy swinging his hammer of thunder and riding planners began emphasizing “the a chariot pulled by his loyal goats. Great-Power Competition” as the new and media narratives, the Washington main event. power structure perpetuates it in what- The appearance of Mattis on our TV ever form it takes. Democrats were screens again is a reminder that there joined by Republicans in condemning have been many changes in the highest Trump’s abrupt removal of U.S. troops echelons of Washington’s power, but from northern Syria, where we shouldn’t these changes don’t make much differ- have been in the first place.4 And both ence in overarching U.S. foreign policy. sides agreed when the Trump adminis- When it comes to war, driven as it is by tration announced the biggest threat was the manufacturers of bombs, bullets, continued on page 2 4200 Cedar Ave. S., Suite 3, Minneapolis, MN 55407 • 612-827-5364 • WomenAgainstMilitaryMadness.org Great Power Competition... Russia and China Respond to continued from page 1 Nuclear Threat The new competitive model alarmed FOCUS ON competition with Russia Russia and China so much that they RUSSIA and China. jointly called a UN Security Council The statements and opinions & CHINA reflected in this newsletter are the As policy analyst Ali meeting this past August in the wake of views of the author and not neces- sarily official positions of WAMM. We Wyne, at the War Institute of the Rand the U.S. withdrawing from the Interme- encourage a diversity of opinion to Corp, Washington’s primo strategic diate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Trea- represent the range of perspectives that coexist under the banner of think tank, stated: ty. Under the treaty, INF missiles, which WAMM’s mission statement. are land-based and have a range of 310 … members of the U.S. foreign- Newsletter Editor to 3,410 miles, were banned. Their range Mary Beaudoin policy establishment widely agree from locations in Europe and the Asia Newsletter Committee that the Trump administration Polly Mann, Carol Masters, Pacific could reach Russia and China. Lee Ross, Sarah Martin, has been prudent to shift Ameri- Mary Beaudoin, Linda Hoover ca’s focus from counterterrorism Over the years, Russia and the U.S. Proofreaders Layout to what the Pentagon’s national have accused one another of violating Ilze Mueller Kristin Dooley the treaty: Carol Walker defense strategy calls ‘the Women Against Military reemergence of long-term The Obama administration in 2014 Madness is a nonviolent, feminist strategic competition.’5 first publicly accused Moscow of organization, founded in 1982, that works in solidarity with On September 9, 2019, Richard Fontaine violating the INF by testing a trea- others to create a system of ty-busting cruise missile, and the social equality, self-determination in Foreign Policy magazine described it and justice through education, this way: Trump administration pressed the action and the empowerment of accusation. Russia denies it cheat- women. WAMM’s purpose is For all the acrimony in Wash- to dismantle systems of militarism, ed, and it counters with a conten- economic exploitation and ington today, the city’s foreign tion that America’s armed drones global oppression. policy establishment is settling and missile defense systems in WAMM Staff on a rare bipartisan consensus: Director: Kristin Dooley Europe are violations. Office Manager: Sophia Myers-Kelley that the world has entered a new WAMM Office era of great-power competition. U.S. military officials said 95 4200 Cedar Avenue South, Suite 3 percent of China’s ballistic Minneapolis, Minnesota 55407 The struggle between the U.S. and 612-827-5364 (phone) other great powers, the emerging and cruise missiles would have 612-827-6433 (fax) violated the treaty.7 [email protected] consensus holds, will fundamental- WomenAgainstMilitaryMadness.org ly shape geopolitics going forward, Yet, in spite of disagreements, Russia WAMM Office Hours for good or ill. And more than ter- and the U.S. remained partners to the Mon–Fri: 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. rorism, climate change, or nuclear bilateral treaty, which was part of the WAMM is funded primarily through the generous weapons in Iran or North Korea, international arms-control framework contributions of our members. the threats posed by these other and served as a basis for nuclear co- WAMM also receives funding from great powers – namely, China and operation – till now. (China was not a Community Shares Minnesota Russia – will consume U.S. party to the treaty. It did not have the foreign-policy makers in the technology that the treaty covered at the decades ahead.6 time it was drawn in 1987.) The current With other powers on the rise, the U.S. administration, which actively U.S. sees Russia and China as “threats” opposes existing international treaties to its hegemony in a world once in general, blamed Russia for the U.S.’ This newsletter is printed on own withdrawal from the treaty, stating ImagePrint® Multiuse, a Domtar dominated by American economic EarthChoice® socially and power and military might. Aggressive that “Russia is solely responsible for environmentally the treaty’s demise.”8 Further, the U.S. responsible paper. competition is particularly frightening Contains fiber from when it comes to the scrapping of inter- quickly announced plans to openly test well-managed, a new, previously banned missile.9 independently national arms control treaties involving certified forests. nuclear weapons. Is it possible for us to listen to what 2 WomenAgainstMilitaryMadness.org Volume 37 Number 5 Fall II 2019 representatives of Russia and China Dmitry Polyanskiy, deputy permanent actually say about the implications of representative of the Russian Feder- the U.S. withdrawing from the treaty? ation, directed his remarks at the UN Can we put on pause straw man argu- primarily to “our European colleagues”: WAMM Committees ments about human-rights violations Are they [the European states] Issues Committees: in foreign countries (when our country aware that, because of the geopo- Book Club doesn’t have a moral leg to stand on)? End War litical ambitions of the U.S., we Ground All Drones Can we eliminate the conversation-stop- Middle East are all just one step away from an pers like “dictatorship” and “autocratic St. Joan of Arc/ uncontrolled, unregulated arms WAMM Peacemakers regime” from our vocabulary so we Second Monday Movies race? ...according to publicly avail- actually hear what foreign diplomats Tackling Torture at the Top (T3) able data the U.S. military budget say? Even if we know that other states Standing Committees: is about $700 billion, while the Coordinating act as much out of self-interest and their Finance budget of NATO amounts to $1.4 leaders may lie as do our own, could Fundraising trillion. These are just approxi- Membership/Outreach we for once give other states credit for Newsletter mate figures. For reference, the being reasonable? Personnel military budget of Russia, which is Program/New Issues When Russian and Chinese represen- allegedly a threat to us all, is about Silent Auction WAMM Board: tatives have something to say, might $60 billion – that is, more than 20 Joan Allen listening be in our self-interest, as well? times lower than that of NATO… Marie Braun, Treasurer Margo Casey Carla Stea, UN Headquarters New York Stea reports Chinese Ambassador Emma Fiala, Co-Chair Penelope Gardner, Co-Chair correspondent for Global Research, Zhang Jun’s response to the U.S. with- Diane Haugesag Canada, reported the response of Russia drawal of the treaty: Anne Keirstead and China at the special August 22 Audrey Kvist The U.S. withdrawal from the INF Vanessa Lawrow UN Security Council session.10 Un- Sarah Martin Treaty is another negative act in Sara Olson derstanding that the U.S. position was the pursuit of unilateralism and Lucia Wilkes Smith, Secretary clear about withdrawing from the INF, continued on page 4 Carol Walker Map: Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space WomenAgainstMilitaryMadness.org Volume 37 Number 5 Fall II 2019 3 dividing [the NATO] Allies were with Turkish President Erdoğan. Art- Great Power Competition... increasing, so the time was ripe of-the-deal Trump announced that continued from page 3 for moving full steam ahead.” his promise of lifting the sanctions FOCUS ON the shirking of [italics by WAMM Newsletter (that he imposed) was great leverage RUSSIA international editor who also disputes the for the U.S.