No US-NATO War on Russia over Ukraine! No Sanctions on Russian People!

Friday, April 1, 11:30- 1 pm

corner of Daley Plaza & State of Illinois Building

Clark and Randolph, Chicago

The US government and corporate media speaks with one voice against Russia, just as they did against Saddam Hussein and the fake news of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.
 
There is no mention that for 8 years the US-NATO military alliance pumped tons of weapons and US advisors into Ukraine, on Russia’s western border.
There is no mention of US government opposition to negotiated solution to the war.
 
There is no mention of the US and NATO rejection of Russia’s security demands that Ukraine not join NATO and return to being a neutral state, and stop military attacks on the mainly Russian-speaking Ukrainians of the Donbass region.
 
The 2014 US backed coup in Ukraine, which overthrew Ukraine’s elected government, instituted discriminatory programs against Ukrainians of ethnic Russian background. (1/6 of Ukrainians are ethnic Russians, and 1/3 of Ukrainians speak Russian as a native language.) In response, the more Russian speaking areas of Ukraine separated. The US aided Ukrainian forces shelling these areas of Ukraine next to Russia, resulting in an eight-year civil war in the Donbass region, with over 14,000 killed. The US and Ukraine signed, but refused to abide by, the Minsk Agreement ceasefire, which would have demilitarized the area. This led to the present war.

The US government and corporate media do not tell us the Ukraine war did not begin five weeks ago. They do not tell us that neo-Nazis forces are in the Ukrainian military (Azov Battalion) and government.

Just now they tell us Ukraine President Zelensky banned opposition media and political leaders, encouraged to do so by the US.
 
If they were telling us the truth about the war, they wouldn’t be censoring Russian media.

One purpose of this war instigated by the US is to disrupt the economic integration of Russia with the rest of Europe. Europe buys 40% of its gas from Russia, and the US is trying to force Europe to depend on more expensive US gas. As with the Iraq war, the people of the United States are being lied into a war, in part over fossil fuels. 

NATO now spends $1 trillion a year in arms and facilities, and much of that has been thrust into eastern European border nations next to Russia. Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland admitted the US has a number of military biolabs in Ukraine.

Corporate Military contractor stocks hit a 52-week high right after Russian invasion of Ukraine:

This war would end today if the US would commit to the Minsk Agreement and if Ukraine agreed not to join NATO and exist as a neutral state. The US military is using Ukraine as a pawn to attack Russia.

War in Ukraine could lead to a major nuclear confrontation between the US and Russia, similar to the Cuban missile crisis, which almost caused a world holocaust.

The US people have nothing to gain from a new US war. Only the big banks and corporations, especially the arms industry, stand to benefit, as President Eisenhower warned when he warned of the military-industrial complex more than 60 years ago.

Sanctions on Russia will hurt us, not just the Russian people. Already we are experiencing inflation and record gas prices, which will soon drive up prices for most goods and services.

Shouldn’t the US be spending billions on ending global warming, not on feeding a new war? We need money for health care, for jobs, $15 an hour minimum wage, modernized infrastructure, affordable education and housing. We now fund the military and subsidize military contractors $814 billion a year, while government student debt forgiveness has amounted to only $17 billion. HUD says $20 billion would end homelessness; Hunger Free America says the cost of ending hunger is $25 billion; $5.6 billion would pay to replace all Chicago’s lead pipes.

This emergency protest is organized by people from different anti-war organizations. For more information, Chicago Committee against US-NATO War on Russia: NoWaronRussiaoverUkraine@yahoo.com