Veterans for Peace Radio Hour

Today we highlight and discuss a lecture given by James Carroll (at UMass) titled Who loaded Trump's Gun, A Brief History of America's Nuclear Sin. We reflect on his discussion of our nuclear as it differs from the rest of the world and then tries to update it with Biden's continuing escalation of tensions with China.

The 911 attacks are twenty years gone but the impact remains. Two post 911 Vets join us to discuss the impact of 911 on their lives. They discuss the questions about what they were asked to do, the motives of the US government, the damage to the peoples we occupied, and more. We also hear a clip from Daniel Berrigan from 19 years ago realizing that our war crimes of the past had finally caught up...

ALERT, ALERT, ALERT:  WAR WITH CHINA?   We just got out of Afghanistan, thank you Biden, but thanks to KJ Noh we see that we are only pivoting to a new and far more dangerous theatre of confrontation. KJ lays out not only what we are doing now to antagonize, demonize and marginalize China but that this has been in the planning for decades. KJ points that we have already initiated hybrid...

Labor Day is coming, So WHAT, just the holiday to end summer right. Not so fast on this show, we will remember the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Blair Mountain where miners were assaulted by corporate and government thugs on the ground and from the air. Then we will have special guest Vonda McDaniel, President of the Central Labor Council, who will discuss the current situation with Labor acr...

Mark Reese was an interpreter in Afghanistan and was actually in touch with the culture of not only Afghanistan but the other countries of the region including Uzbekistan. He weighs in on what is going on right now including what we might expect from the Taliban, our efforts to get our allies out, and the regional players as the US withdraws. Afghanistan is not a vacuum, what happens there affects...

We know we can not trust the pundits on the mainstream media when it comes to what is going on in Afghanistan, so listen to this.   While Kabul and the Afghan government were collapsing, Veterans for Peace was holding its annual conference where Ann Wright moderated a discussion about US involvement and the situation in the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Africa. We have portions of their...

Friend of the show Jason Moon has a new CD, just released August 8, which remembers Vietnam Veterans but after you listen you realize Vietnam Vets, Post 911 Vets, and Vets in general still are in the same boat with the same issues, longings, and challenges. The only difference is the generation and burn pits vs. agent orange. After listening to Jason's heartfelt story to take on his PTSD, we hear...

Today we again remember that the US is the only country to drop an atomic bomb on cities with civilians, men, women, and children. We will hear from Tsukuru Fors describe pictures of people who survived the blast and what they drew. We will ask the question why drop the bombs? We will hear from Harvey who visited Nagasaki and the haunted story of the man, Joe O'Donnell, sent by the US Army to take...

If you are a Millennial then this show is about you and YOU do need to hear. Does history repeat? Kind of, according to Bill Strauss and Neil Howe in their best-selling book The Fourth Turning (Published in the mid '90s). They have correctly predicted the onset of this crisis we are in right now and based on historical research, they predict that it is the millennial generation that will get us th...

From humorous to serious. In this show, we remember Mike Gravel, Senator, Presidential Candidate, hero. We remember his in your face honesty and the legacy he left through the voices of other truth-tellers as part of the Gravel Institute. This show is funny and serious, enlightening and honest. That was Mike Gravel. https://soundcloud.com/user-55976759/71521-veterans-for-peace-remembering-senator-...

Three Code Pink activists talk about their efforts to call attention to and stop the drone warfare conducted by the US Military and the CIA from Creech Air Force Base. They will share disturbing information about drones, their "targets," and collateral damage. They also talk about whistleblower and hero Daniel Hale, who also called out the drone program and now faces prison. They will share how yo...

As we approach another Independence Day we reflect again and update previous shows in which we ask Independence for whom. After a brief history lesson, we reflect on just some of the marginalized communities that have been left out or behind with regard to independence. We highlight the words of icons from the past as they fought for their communities and how their words ring true today. We hear s...

The Pentagon Papers are 50 years old but still so relevant. Howie Machtinger of Veterans for Peace Full Disclosure Project is our special guest as we discuss Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers and realize so much is relevant today. We talk about the lies, provocations, and motives of LBJ and Nixon in the '60s in Vietnam and relate them to the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, and then wonder about th...

We have two topics today. First Nick Godell of Stop the Shut Offs Committee discusses how the Tennessee Governor and other governors are ending their pandemic related bans on shutting off utilities and ending unemployment benefits to force people to take minimum wage jobs even though data shows that punishing people will not get them back to work but that a living wage will. Then we hear a talk gi...

If you are a post 911 Veteran you need to listen.  If you are in the military right now, you need to listen.  IF YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT JOINING THE MILITARY, YOU REALLY NEED TO LISTEN.  If you know anyone of those listed above, you also need to listen.  Natasha Erskine, Vice President of Veterans for Peace shares her personal story of realizing, reflecting, and unpacking her mi...

Ralph Hutchison returns to the show to update us on our Nuclear Nightmare. Despite a new administration our nation's nuclear arsenal continues to steal taxpayer dollars to support weapons contractors without increasing our national security. In fact, Ralph makes the argument that our misguided investment in nuclear arms actually makes us less secure since we have started a new nuclear arms race.

This is the show before Memorial Day and our guests Cynthia and Michael Orange discuss the need to recognize and remember those who went to war and came back physically whole but severely damaged. Michael, a Vietnam Vet, recounts his recognition that he needed help, and Cynthia, his wife, recounts her role as caregiver. This is an important show for anyone who is a Veteran or knows a Veteran. This...

This is our unedited conversation with Christian Sorenson of the Eisenhower Media Network. How did we get here? We know the tragedy that is going on in Palestine/Israel. We have heard about the hundreds of Palestinian deaths, the destruction in Gaza, the Westbank, and East Jerusalem. We have heard the Biden administration defend the Israeli government and block action by the UN, but why. Why are w...

This is an update on the Veterans for Peace project to SOVA (Save Our VA). Biden has included $18 Billion in his infrastructure package for upgrading the VA, However the AIR Commission (Asset and Infrastructure), part of the Mission Act is being used by critics to delay that funding and enhance the chances of VA medical center closures and the increase in VA privatization. Special guests David Coo...

Harvey joined a VFP delegation to Cuba in 2014 and learned about why Obama's ultimate decision to open up relations with Cuba was so important and why Trump's closure was so devastating. Nevertheless and despite the draconian US embargo, Cuba and Cuban Doctors continue to be a resource for the world on combating Covid. They have developed a protocol to help cure people and are within months of dev...

Ann Wright is our special guest. Ann brings her decades of experience in the belly of the beast of the American empire as she weighs in on the global footprint of the US, from militarism to imperialism. Ann discusses the history of our foreign policy and then brings us up to date with regard to Biden and where his administration is or might be going.

First Jim rants about a militaristic article found in the Guardian from a Craig Mullaney who compared war to the Olympics??!!, Then Harvey updates us on the status of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 who were awaiting sentencing and prison after daring to breech the security of the Kings Bay Naval Base to protest the United States Nuclear arsenal aboard the trident submarines based there. We also hear t...

S. Brian Willson, radical activist, author, Vietnam Vet, joins the show to talk about the border and American Foreign Policy. Brian, the author of Blood on the Tracks, traces the US history of intervention from JFK to Biden and how our actions have contributed to Biden's border crisis and instability throughout the globe. Reflecting on his own experience in Vietnam and how the US became a nation t...

This is a show about activists and activism. We start off with two members of Veterans for Peace talking about legislation and activism to reduce militarism, end the nuclear threat, and redirect funds from defense to something good. Then we move outside of Rep Jim Cooper's office in downtown Nashville where a coalition of groups rallied to call on Mr. Cooper to adopt an aggressive progressive stan...

Author and activist Jane Hussain is our special guest as we continue our discussion of foreign policy Biden style.  She discusses the economic imperialism of China as well as the militaristic response that seems to be the only response the US is capable of.