{"id":39176,"date":"2014-02-03T12:00:27","date_gmt":"2014-02-03T12:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=39176"},"modified":"2015-05-05T22:11:10","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T21:11:10","slug":"usa-greatest-threat-to-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/02\/usa-greatest-threat-to-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"USA, Greatest Threat to Peace!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhich country do you think is the greatest threat to peace in the world today?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

A global survey conducted<\/a> by the Worldwide Independent Network and Gallup at the end of 2013 found that people around the world believe the U.S. to be the Number 1 threat. Glen Ford writes that this conclusion echoes the words of Martin Luther King forty six years ago that the U.S. is \u201cthe greatest purveyor of violence in the world, today.\u201d Ford said that King believed that \u201cracism, militarism and extreme materialism\u201d were the \u201cgiant triplets<\/a>\u201c of \u201cinterrelated\u201d evil at the root of violence and human suffering that had to be overcome if society was to be transformed.<\/p>\n

Are there figures that support the belief that the U.S. is the greatest threat to peace in the world today? Ford cites the following:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Racism: <\/b>\u201cThe U.S. prison population is by far the largest on the planet, in sheer numbers and in the proportion of Americans locked up. No other country comes close \u2013 which makes the United States the superpower of mass incarceration… Nearly half of U.S. prisoners are African American, although Blacks are only one-eighth of the total U.S. population. Since Americans make up fully one-quarter of the world\u2019s prison inmates, that means one out of every eight prisoners on the planet is an African American.\u201d In Hawaii, Dr. RaeDeen Keahiolalo-Karasuda, PhD says that 3\/5 of prisoners are Native Hawaiians while only 1\/5 of the population.<\/li>\n
  2. Militarism: <\/b>\u201cThe U.S. military budget is almost as large as the military spending of all the world\u2019s other nations, combined. Together, the U.S. and its NATO allies account for more than 70 percent of global weapons spending. At last count, the U.S. spent\u00a0six times more<\/a>\u00a0on war than China, and 11 times more than Russia. In fact, if you count up the U.S. and\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0of its allies, they are probably responsible for about 90 percent of total moneys spent on war.\u201d Ford also writes: \u201cAmerica\u2019s police and prison custodial forces dwarf the militaries of most countries \u2013 which tells us that militarism is now so deeply embedded in U.S. domestic structures that you can\u2019t tell where the military ends and the police begin.\u201d As you watch sporting events (including the Super Bowl this weekend) ask how the U.S. military has come to have such a place of prominence at these events. Is it anything less than military idolatry?<\/li>\n
  3. Extreme materialism: <\/b>\u201cBy that, Dr. King meant great disparities in wealth and income. According to the Suisse Global Wealth Databook, wealth is so unevenly distributed in the United States, it no longer resembles a First World country. Of all the rich nations, the U.S. is\u00a0dead last<\/a>\u00a0in terms of material equality. So, by Dr. Martin Luther King\u2019s measurements, America is in bad shape \u2013 more bedeviled by the triple evils than back in his day. In fact, things are much, much worse because…it\u2019s the silence that kills you.\u201d (See the full article by Glen Ford here: http:\/\/www.informationclearinghouse.info\/article37454.htm<\/a> )<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Ground the Drones!\u00a0 Say No to War!<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n