“Under Hillary Clinton, we could slide into nuclear war very quickly”

ef. In most Western media, Hillary Clinton is already certain to win. Now comes a warning voice from Germany: Jakob Augstein writes in a column of Spiegel online (of 20 October) about the “Security Risk Clinton” and takes up the foreign policy position of Donald Trump: “Trump would probably be the better choice in the question of war and peace than Clinton.” And further: “As for war and peace, he [Trump] has a clean slate.” Trump wanted to “rather keep America’s nose out of the world’s quarrels.” Hillary Clinton’s position on this issue is also clear. She has expressly expressed the wish to establish a flight ban on Syria, which Augstein rightly recognised as an “act of war”. She also said, “We need some leverage against the Russians.” She would want to risk a military confrontation with Russia. Augstein rightly asks: “How can it be that the German public ignores this real danger of a Clinton victory?” His recommendation for the West: If the suffering of human beings really bothers us, “the West should stop pursuing its own power political objectives”. And further: “It is by no means that the West can do nothing – on the contrary, it can stop interfering.” He is right.
There are also raising voices in the US. For example, former Congressman Dennis Kucinich calls for a new peace movement in America (see box).
Jill Stein, US Presidential candidate for the Green Party, spoke out in clear words about Clinton’s Syrian policy: “The wars have gotten bigger, we are now bombing seven countries. [...] It is now Hillary Clinton that wants to start an air war with Russia over Syria by calling for a no fly zone. We have 2,000 nuclear missiles on hairtrigger alert. They are saying we are closer to a nuclear war than we have ever been. Under Hillary Clinton, we could slide into nuclear war very quickly [...] On the issue of war and nuclear weapons, it is actually Hillary’s policies which are much scarier than Donald Trump who does not want to go to war with Russia. He wants to seek modes of working together, which is the route that we need to follow not to go into confrontation and nuclear war with Russia.”(www.realclearpolitics.com of 12 October)
We could have known this earlier. In April this year former US-Ambassador to Switzerland, Faith Whittlesey, wrote of Trump’s foreign policy position: “Mr Trump believes that improving relations with Russia could be in America’s national interest. [...] [Russia] is the only country that has the nuclear capability to inflict mortal damage on the United States. […] It can, as a Christian nation, either become a valued partner in defeating a resurgent Radical Islam or, alternatively, a possibly dangerous foe.” (<link http: dailycaller.com external-link seite:>dailycaller.com of 4 April)    •
(Translation Current Concerns)

Tages-Anzeiger: How is the world politics going to change when Hillary Clinton implements this strategy after her probable electoral victory?

Professor Günter Meyer: The tensions of the world will exacerbate to an extent which will dwarf everything we have experienced since the end of the Cold War. This guideline for the US foreign policy, focusing above all on the military superiority of the US and bringing an unprecedented arms race, will lead to the threshold of the third world war resp. the first nuclear war. Hopes for an end to the killing in Syria and a settlement of the proxy wars in this region are as vain as the expectation of a peaceful development in the Gulf region.

Source: Interview with Prof Dr Günter Meyer, expert on international politics and head of the Center for Research on the Arab World (ZEFAW) at the University of Mainz, “Tagesanzeiger” from 21 October 2016

by Dennis Kucinich*

The most consequential statement by Secretary Clinton in last night’s debate was her pronouncement that a no-fly zone over Syria could “save lives and hasten the end of the conflict,” that a no-fly zone would provide “safe zones on the ground” was in “the best interests of the people on the ground in Syria” and would “help us with our fight against ISIS.”
It would do none of the above. A US attempt to impose a no-fly zone in Syria would, as Secretary Clinton once cautioned a Goldman Sachs audience, “kill a lot of Syrians,” and, according to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Dunford, lead to a war with Russia. If the US has not been invited into a country to establish a “no-fly zone” such an action is, in fact, an invasion, an act of war.
It is abundantly clear from our dark alliance with Saudi Arabia and our conduct in support of jihadists in Syria that our current leaders have learned nothing from Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya as we prepare to plunge head-long into the abyss of a world war.
Our international relations are built upon lies to promote regime changes, the fantasy of a unipolar world ruled by America, and a blank check for the national security state.
As others prepare for war, we must prepare for peace. We must answer the mindless call to arms with a thoughtful, soulful call to resist the coming build up for war. A new, resolute peace movement must arise, become visible and challenge those who would make war inevitable.
We must not wait until the Inauguration to begin to build a new peace movement in America.

Source: <link http: worldbeyondwar.org dennis-kucinich-war-peace external-link seite:>worldbeyondwar.org/dennis-kucinich-war-peace/ as of 20 October 2016

* Dennis Kucinich is a former congressman from Ohio and a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.