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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Sunday, September 21, 2008</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><a name="4899156396824408335"></a><b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">EUROPEAN SOCIAL FORUM: IT'S ALL ABOUT NATO </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sH_YWAAow1I/SNaKL2NYBuI/AAAAAAAABbE/2bnCsMA9a28/s1600-h/malmo.jpg"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; text-decoration: none;"><span style=""><img src="file:///C:/Users/SAHBIT%7E1/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image002.jpg" alt="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sH_YWAAow1I/SNaKL2NYBuI/AAAAAAAABbE/2bnCsMA9a28/s400/malmo.jpg" width="180" border="0" height="153"></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style=""> </span>By </span><b style=""><i style="">Bruce
Gagnon @</i></b> <b style=""><i style=""><a href="http://space4peace.blogspot.com/2008/09/european-social-forum-its-all-about.html">http://space4peace.blogspot.com/2008/09/european-social-forum-its-all-about.html</a>
</i></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">I arrived in Copenhagen today after
spending the last couple of days in Malmo, Sweden for the European Social
Forum. Yesterday afternoon a <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/europesocialswedendemo">march was held </a>where
10,000 people walked for 3 and 1/2 hours through the city streets in a
beautiful spirited procession. Thousands of people watched us from their home
windows or on the street as we passed through the city. The weather was
perfect. Just before the march took off I was the final speaker at the rally
(for two minutes). I was lucky I got to speak at all as we got to the rally
late after a large group of us stopped for some lunch at a local fallafel
joint. I'm glad we ate first.<br>
<span style=""> </span><br>
Before the march yesterday I participated in a forum on space issues along with
GN chair Dave Webb from England who is also the Vice-Chair of the Campaign for
Nuclear Disarament in the UK. Jan Tamas, our good friend and a leader of the
resistance against deployment of the U.S. Star Wars radar in the Czech
Republic, was there too. GN board member Agenta Norberg, a long-time activist
from Sweden, made the arrangements to get us all there to talk. It was a well
attended event and we felt excited to have reached many new people.<br>
<br>
In the morning I have a couple of meetings here in Copenhagen, which will
include an interview with a local progressive newspaper, and then a talk in the
evening. On Tuesday I head back to Sweden where I will spend a couple days in
Stockholm.<br>
<br>
The mood is very serious here. Sweden, Denmark and Norway are all facing
cutbacks in social programs though they are still far ahead of where the U.S.
is today. But conservative governments are slicing away at the social fabric
bit by bit and moving more in the direction of militarization like so many
other countries around the world.<br>
<br>
I'd say the biggest theme I heard coming out of the social forum in Malmo was
NATO. Activists throughout Europe are very worried and angry about NATO
expansion and are saying that NATO is militarizing international relations and
is subordinating European interests to those of the U.S. They are saying that
if we want to stop wars in Afghanistan, Georgia, and even a U.S. war with
Russia, then we must stop shut down NATO.<br>
<br>
2009 will be the 60th year of the "alliance" and major protests are
now being planned in France and Germany to coincide with official government
"celebrations that will be held there next April. This weekend in France
and Germany <a href="http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/080921/world/germany_france_afghanistan_demo_nato">demos
were held </a>as a prelude to next year.<br>
<br>
Peace groups around the world are being urged to begin educating the public
about the dangerous expansion of NATO into an "offensive" alliance
that is being used to surround Russia and ultimately China in order to control
them by controling access to and distribution of oil and natural gas.<br>
<br>
Bush and NATO have just announced the intention to <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-usrussia19-2008sep19,0,7296546.story">create
a rapid-deployment force </a>to be used against Russia as the U.S. and its
allies will increasingly probe and pressure Russia with NATO enlargement on
their immediate borders.<br>
<br>
There can be no doubt that the neo-cons now in power intend to push Russia to
either submit to U.S. corporate control or face the combined wrath of a heavily
provocative NATO. The people of Europe don't want to see this confrontation but
the increasing right-wing corporate dominated governments in Europe are doing
the bidding of the western interests.<br>
<br>
People need to start paying serious attention to what is going on with NATO and
their deep and highly dangerous desire for military confronation with Russia.
Imagine if Russia was building military bases today in Cuba, Canada, and
Mexico. That would be the equivalent to what the U.S. is now doing with NATO
expansion around Russia.<br>
<br>
It's a Cuban Missile Crisis in reverse.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
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