The US is creating so many crises, including ones that could lead to hot wars even against Russian troops or Iran's military, that the mind boggles, says anti-war activist David Swanson in an interview with TCBH! journalist Dave Lindorff

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By Dave Lindorff

Carl von Clausewitz once called war "the continuation of politics by other means." Turning that on its head, China's brilliant diplomat, the revolutionist Chou En-lai, said "Diplomacy is a continuation of war by other means."

America, through the decades of the Cold War, but especially since the inception of the Bush/Cheney administration, and continuing during the two terms of current President Barack Obama, has largely eschewed diplomacy altogether, in favor of war, says David Swanson.

A long-time labor and peace activist, Swanson, the author of the book War No More: The case for abolition, and of the website War IsACrime.org, was the guest on ThisCantBeHappening's radio program "This Can't Be Happening!" on Wednesday's show on the Progressive Radio Network.

He and host Dave Lindorff attempted to count the number of places around the globe where the US is either technically at war (by sending in attack drones to bomb targets inside countries without permission) as in Pakistan and Somalia, is committing acts of war, as in the case yesterday of a US Coast Guard vessel firing a shot at an Iranian boat in the Persian Gulf or in Iraq, where US planes are bombing ISIS targets, or is pushing for or preparing for war, as in Ukraine or Syria. They found the number too high to tally.

Swanson argues forcefully that no US military adventures or military threats are legal or moral, but also argues that Russia likewise has no legal or moral right to send its forces into eastern Ukraine to defend ethnic Russians against brutal attack by the Ukrainian military.

While Lindorff argues that at least in the Ukraine, Russia will probably have to, and indeed should, send in its military to defend areas under indiscriminate attack by Ukrainian rockets, cannons and aerial bombardment, both he and Swanson agree that the various crises around the globe are largely of US making, and that this obsession by US policymakers with exacerbating local conflicts, selling and donating arms to conflict regions, often to both sides, has to be ended.

To hear a podcast of this interview on the latest broadcast of the "This Cant Be Happening!" weekly radio program, go to PRN.fm

Be sure also to check out ThisCantBeHappening!, the new independent, uncompromising, four-time Project Censored Award-winning online alternative newspaper.

Authors Website: http://www.thiscantbehappening.net

Authors Bio:

Dave Lindorff, winner of a 2019 "Izzy" Award for Outstanding Independent Journalism from the Park Center for Independent Media in Ithaca, is a founding member of the collectively-owned, journalist-run online newspaper www.thiscantbehappening.net. He is a columnist for Counterpunch, is author of several recent books ("This Can't Be Happening! Resisting the Disintegration of American Democracy" and "Killing Time: An Investigation into the Death Penalty Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal"). His latest book, coauthored with Barbara Olshanshky, is "The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument for Removing President George W. Bush from Office (St. Martin's Press, May 2006).