Monthly Archives: August 2014

Hitler Stalin Pact signed 75 years ago today

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Late at night on August 23, 1939, the foreign ministers of the Soviet Union and the German Reich signed a “non-aggression treaty” that has come to be known as the Hitler Stalin Pact. The pact committed the two nations to a policy of friendship and mutual aid, provided for increased trade, and included secret protocols which laid the groundwork for the Second World War.

In 1989 the Swiss anarchist magazine, Banal, published the secret protocals in German. The addendum to the agreement provided for the division of Poland after the two countries would invade it from opposite directions. The invasion of Poland led to the war, as Britain and France, allied with Poland, declared war on Germany.

As a result of the German/Russian agreement, Communist Parties throughout the world defended Germany’s aggressive moves against France and Britain; the Comintern became an accessory to the Anti-Komintern alliance of Germany & Italy.

Critics of international Communism at the time recorded a song about the new party line: (h/t to Jack Ross for posting this on youtube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl1r7E3e-ks

Under the terms of the pact, the Soviet Union acted to annex Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. At the end of the war, Germany and Japan, as belligerents, were forced to give up territory, including some land that each country held even before the start of the war. But the USSR continued to control Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania until 1991.

Russia no longer is under control of the Communist Party, but Russian libertarians now point to the Putin regime as holding the characteristics of a fascist state: http://libertarian-party.ru/blog/an-appeal-to-western-libertarians-about-the-war-in-Ukraine

It is sad to see how much the legacy of authoritarianism and imperialism continues to dominate the Russian body politic.

(By Gene Berkman, Editor, California Libertarian Report)

Nader:”Hillary-The-Hawk Flies Again”

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Last week, Hillary-The-Hawk emerged, once again, with comments to The Atlantic attacking Obama for being weak and not having an organized foreign policy. She was calling Obama weak despite his heavy hand in droning, bombing and intervening during his Presidency. While Obama is often wrong, he is hardly a pacifist commander. It’s a small wonder that since 2008, Hillary-The-Hawk has been generally described as, in the words of the New York Times journalist Mark Landler, “more hawkish than Mr. Obama.”

In The Atlantic interview, she chided Obama for not more deeply involving the U.S. with the rebels in Syria, who themselves are riven into factions and deprived of strong leaders and, with few exceptions, trained fighters. As Mrs. Clinton well knows, from her time as Secretary of State, the White House was being cautious because of growing Congressional opposition to intervention in Syria…

Full commentary by Ralph Nader @ Common Dreams http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/08/16/hillary-hawk-flies-again

Sen. Rand Paul:”We Must Demilitarize the Police”

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The shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown is an awful tragedy that continues to send shockwaves through the community of Ferguson, Missouri and across the nation.

If I had been told to get out of the street as a teenager, there would have been a distinct possibility that I might have smarted off. But, I wouldn’t have expected to be shot.

The outrage in Ferguson is understandable—though there is never an excuse for rioting or looting. There is a legitimate role for the police to keep the peace, but there should be a difference between a police response and a military response.

Sen. Rand Paul puts the Ferguson, Missouri tragedy in the context of increasing militarization of police and police practice of unfairly targeting non-white young people. Full column Time Magazine @ http://time.com/3111474/rand-paul-ferguson-police/

Attorney-General Candidate Ron Gold backs Legal Marijuana

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Ron Gold is seeking election as Attorney-General of California, challenging the incumbent Kamala Harris. On his campaign site, Ron Gold, a Republican, has called for legalizing marijuana and taxing it to fund schools, rehabilitation and prisons:

Ron believes that the legalization of marijuana will reduce the cost of law enforcement for victimless crimes and can fund the capture of more dangerous predators. Those who victimize Californians in the most horrible ways will have to pay and the legalization of marijuana can help pay to put them behind bars. The tax revenues from the sale of legal marijuana will provide revenue for California. Correctional facilities, rehabilitation centers, mental health care, and even our schools can receive more funding.
Source:http://rongold.org/legalize-marijuana-fund-prisons-schools-rehab/

In primary nearly 100,000 California voters supported Jonathan Jaech, Libertarian, who advocated legalization of marijuana and an end to the War on Drugs. Ron Gold might offer a choice for those voters and other California voters who support freedom and limiting government power.

(By Gene Berkman, Editor, California Libertarian Report)

Nick Gillespie:The Libertarian Case Against the Death Penalty

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…let’s face it: There’s no good way to kill a person, even one as completely unsympathetic as Wood (he killed his ex-girlfriend and her father, shooting them at point-blank range). As a libertarian, I’m not surprised that the state is so incompetent that it can’t even kill people efficiently. But I’m far more outraged by the idea that anyone anywhere seriously thinks the death penalty passes for good politics or sane policy. It’s expensive, ineffective, and most of all, deeply offensive to ideals of truly limited government.

Nick Gillespie makes his case against Capital Punishment @ Reason http://reason.com/blog/2014/07/31/die-death-penalty-die-the-libertarian-ca