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CityClerk
From:Abel Tomlinson <abeltomlinson@gmail.com>
Sent:Friday, May 3, 2024 8:48 AM
To:CityClerk; Williams, Kit
Subject:Fwd: Gaza Resolution & Stop Ukraine War Lies
Attachments:Fayetteville Ceasefire Resolution.jpeg
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---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Abel Tomlinson <abeltomlinson@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, May 3, 2024 at 7:18 AM
Subject: Gaza Resolution & Stop Ukraine War Lies
To: Ted Swedenburg <tsweden@uark.edu>, Lioneld Jordan <mayor@fayetteville-ar.gov>, Dick Bennett
<j.dick.bennett@gmail.com>, Art Hobson <ahobson@mail.uark.edu>, George Paulson
<gppaulson2@gmail.com>, Turk, Teresa <teresa.turk@fayetteville-ar.gov>, Teresa Turk
<teresa_turk@hotmail.com>, Mark Kinion <mkinion@cox.net>, Gladys Tiffany
<gladystiffany@yahoo.com>, stillonthehill <still@stillonthehill.com>, Stafford, Bob
<bob.stafford@fayetteville-ar.gov>, <dandre.jones@fayetteville-ar.gov>, <sarah.moore@fayetteville-
ar.gov>, <mike.wiederkehr@fayetteville-ar.gov>, <scott.berna@fayetteville-ar.gov>,
<sarah.bunch@fayetteville-ar.gov>, <holly.hertzberg@fayetteville-ar.gov>
Dear Ted Swedenburg, Fayetteville Council & All,
I strongly support a Gaza Ceasefire as a Bare Minimum, and urge the city council resolution
to be passed, even if it has a flaw. The U.S.-sponsored mass bombing and mass starvation of
Gaza needs to stop now, and here is my ceasefire letter published in the Democrat Gazette. I
do wish the resolution was stronger on one important point: it gives credence to the
prominent U.S.-Israeli lie that this conflict started on October 7th, when in fact this war
started 75 years ago with the 1948 Nakba ethnic cleansing, or 100 years ago with the Balfour
Declaration. I also wish it mentioned the U.S.-sponsored Israeli apartheid, occupation &
blockade fundamentally causing the conflict. I detailed all of this and more in my speech at
the Palestine Peace Rally I organized on the U of A campus last November. Here is the full
unedited video of the rally, with voices from all across the Middle East and Dr. Ted
Swedenburg and Dr. Mohja Kahf, and a former UNRWA employee, the agency that could &
should be allowed to feed starving Gazans. Despite rumors of hate speech at our rally, which
"could justify the death threats" me & my family received immediately after, that made their
way all the way to Mayor Lioneld Jordan, if you watch the video, you will find no hate against
humans.
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Speaking of war lies, I also want to issue dissent on Dr. Ted Swedenburg and the Fayetteville
City council's position and resolution on Ukraine, which Ted praised as an example in his
Ceasefire resolution email. It was not a good example since the Ukraine resolution was an
inappropriately rushed pro-war resolution that repeated prominent (now well-debunked) lies
we have been told by the U.S. Government and mainstream media. The resolution did not
call for peace negotiations but supported the government position of supporting & arming
Ukraine for a proxy war with Russia, and to hell with risking nuclear war & extinction. Nothing
makes me feel more ill than so many people developing amnesia as to what Mutually
Assured Destruction means. Just as we were told lies by Bush, Cheney, Biden & Hillary about
Iraq's nonexistent WMD, causing a million arabic people to be killed, we have been told a
pack of lies about Ukraine and Gaza.
One of the very biggest lies about Ukraine is that the war was 'unprovoked'. This lie has been
massively debunked as I detail in this article, with hyperlinked references, I wrote, which was
published in the Dem Gazette. Also, another massive lie is that the Ukraine war started on
February 2022. Just as the Palestine conflict did not start in October 2023, the Ukraine war
did not start in February 2022.
In reality, the Ukraine war started in 2014 with the most well documented U.S.-sponsored
coup in history, and there have been dozens. Top ranking U.S. State Department officials,
Nuland & Pyatt, are on leaked recordings talking about the coup, and talking about the far
right extremist Nazis they were working with for the coup, Oleh Tyahnybok, Vitali Klitschko,
and Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who the U.S appointed as interim puppet president after the coup as
the recording proves.
In the following image is Ukraine coup architect and wife of Godfather neocon co-founder of
PNAC Robert Kagan, and former National Security Advisor to war criminal Dick Cheney during
the mass murder of Iraq, Victoria Nuland posing with the 3 principle coup leaders she
mentions in the recording. As you can see in the second image coup leader Nazi Oleh
Tyannybok can be seen at a Maidan rally with warmonger Senator McCain inciting
insurrection and shaking hands with then-Vice President Biden during the coup period.
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The U.S. empowered Ukrainian neo-Nazis, that worship Ukraine's top Hitler-collaborator
Stepan Bandera, who massacred Jews. These extremists began a massive campaign of
systemic discrimination against the large ethnic Russian minority in Ukraine, centered in
Crimea and Donbass. This caused a civil war, which killed thousands well before Russia
intervened. It also threatened one of Russia's only warm water naval base in Crimea, a
massive national security threat to Russia.
Also, the U.S. had been pushing for NATO expansion into Ukraine since the Bush
Administration, which Russia immediately warned would cause grave conflict; Russia did
not want NATO bases & nuclear bombs placed even closer to Moscow, just as the U.S. did
not want Soviet nukes in Cuba and nearly caused nuclear war over it. The U.S. has wanted
this war to use Ukraine to weaken Russia and to seek regime change; they would prefer a
puppet and the ability to more easily steal Russia's vast resources. They are on record
admitting all this, along with extensive evidence they blew up Russia & Germany's
Nordstream pipeline. The U.S. did not like that Russia & Europe were growing economic ties,
and now that is severed. The U.S. hoped that the economic warfare on Russia would cause
regime change uprisings, but that failed and has destroyed much of Europe's economy,
especially Germany, which relied on far cheaper Russian gas via pipeline, as opposed to
much more expensive U.S. gas shipped across the Atlantic.
Now, the U.S. government has just passed more massive funding for: (1) Israel's war on Gaza
& potentially with Iran, and for the (2) U.S. proxy war with Russia in Ukraine, and for the
neocon hope for (3) U.S. proxy war with China in Taiwan. Can everyone not see the writing on
the warmonger's wall? It is painfully visible.
Let me go ahead and pre-empt the U.S. governent and mainstream media and tell you they
will similarly lie about Taiwan and China. They are already telling big lies about China and
North Korea being "provocative", when in reality it is the U.S. being provocative. We are the
ones encircling Russia, China, Iran and North Korea with military bases and massive annual
war games, not the other way around! We are the ones arming and encouraging Taiwan to
take on China, as we did in Ukraine! The U.S. is unhappy that the Chinese economy is
becoming bigger than the U.S., and our go-to solution for nations we are unhappy with is to
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wage war. Mass Death and satanic Money Worshipping is The Defining Feature of the U.S.
Empire.
I am so sick of the war lies, and so sick of so many people not recognizing the repeating
pattern. We have been lied to over and over about every war. There is no policy subject that
the U.S. government lies more consistently about, and no policy more deadly than endless
wars, coups, and economic warfare. Gaza being starved to death is par for the course, as our
government has starved and killed millions with sanctions in numerous nations. The Bill
Clinton Administration openly admitted that killing half a million children in Iraq with
sanctions was "worth it."
After organizing against endless U.S. wars for the past 20 years from Iraq to Ukraine to Gaza, I
have taken a break due to Zionist death threats against myself and my family and lie-based
character assassination efforts. Besides these obstacles, I also get overwhelmed and
discouraged when I see so many people in my community, especially activist community, fall
for pro-war lies. Far too many fell for the Ukraine lies and did not take the time to investigate
the truth. I pray that my community will not fall for the pro-war lies coming to wage war with
China. Perhaps I will regain my footing as we creep ever closer to the insanity of nuclear
WWIII.
Right wing Reagan was a flaming peacenik compared to today's mainstream Democrats &
Republicans, saying, "A nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought." Today's
U.S. mainstream says "risking nuclear war is not so bad, we can defeat Russia and
China!" Nobody wins nuclear war ffs!
Copied below are some of my writings on Gaza and Ukraine with hyperlinked references,
which I encourage everyone to read. Reading lots of mainstream newspapers and
mainstream television does not make one a fully informe d citizen. If you care about
seeking truth and debunking war lies, the best journal I have found on
Gaza is Electronic Intifada and on Ukraine it is Consortium News. The
best trustworthy alternative media aggregator of dozens of journals is
MRonline.
May Gaza Genocide End and May Nuclear War be Averted,
Abel Tomlinson
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AUGUST 28, 2023ABELTOMLINSON Negotiate Ukraine
Peace Now
By Abel Tomlinson
As the U.S. proxy war with Russia in Ukraine grinds on, and Joe Biden demands billions
more for war, we must ask when will this end? How much more blood and treasure will be
spilled for a lost cause? All signs indicate the much-hyped Ukraine counteroffensive has
failed. Even pro-war mainstream media and some pro-war politicians are admitting so, and
some are starting to understand the war is unwinnable. But wasted blood and treasure are
nothing compared to the threat of nuclear war.
As far too many have forgotten, war with Russia and China could quickly become a nuclear
war that could cause extinction of our species. Even Ronald Reagan, a flaming peacenik
compared to current warmongering Democrats and Republicans, said “a nuclear war cannot
be won and must never be fought.” It seems like half the country has collective amnesia as
to what the acronym M.A.D. means.
Part of this induced amnesia is caused by politicians and mainstream media misleading the
public, yet again, about the causes of the Ukraine war. This makes it harder for people to
understand that peace negotiations are the logical answer. One of the primary mainstream
lies is that the war was “unprovoked,” but a mountain of evidence proves otherwise, the U.S.
absolutely provoked the war, despite massive warnings against doing so.
There are many credible experts telling the truth on this subject, such as Professor Jeffrey
Sachs, Professor John Mearsheimer, U.S. military officials of The Eisenhower Network,
former NATO official Jacques Baud, award-winning journalist Robert Parry, and many
more. Award-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone’s documentary Ukraine on Fire is also a
massive eye-opener. Award-winning journalist Joe Lauria details here the reasons the U.S.
wanted the war with Russia. Also here here, here, and here are some good books on the
subject as well.
These sources tell the story of how the war really started with the 2014 U.S.-sponsored coup,
well recorded in a leaked U.S. State Department phone call. This coup led to the 9 year old
civil war between ultranationalist Ukrainians in West Ukraine and ethnic Russian Ukrainians
in the East. This war killed 14,000 people before 2022. Millions of Ukrainians opposed the
violently installed coup government that began passing discriminatory laws against the large
ethnic Russian minority. Shortly after the coup, Professor Mearsheimer prophetically stated
that the U.S. was “leading Ukraine down the Primrose Path,” encouraging Ukraine to pursue
a suicidal confrontation with Russia, and the result is “Ukraine will get wrecked.”
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Additionally, these sources tell the story of how USA promised not to expand NATO
military forces eastward to Russian borders. This promise is published in the National
Security Archive of George Washington University. Starting with Bill Clinton, the U.S.
broke that promise repeatedly, despite numerous warnings not to from Western experts and
the Russian government. A litany of top strategic thinkers warned that NATO expansion
would cause serious conflict with Russia, especially expansion to Ukraine, including George
Kennan, Jack Matlock, Henry Kissinger, Stephen Cohen, John Mearsheimer and many
more.
At issue is not just NATO military bases and war games on Russian borders, but the
movement of NATO’s nuclear weapons closer and closer to Moscow. The situation is very
similar to the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the Soviets put missiles near our borders;
Americans were not having it and we nearly entered nuclear war. Peace negotiations solved
that crisis and peace negotiations are the only sane way to solve the Ukraine crisis.
NOVEMBER 7, 2023ABELTOMLINSON
Palestine Peace Rally Speech
I became a lifelong antiwar peace activist after 9/11, starting right here on these very steps
20 years ago, as we were bombarded with lies to wage war on Iraq. Over a million humans
were killed, and millions more harmed, physically, psychologically or by being displaced as
refugees.
It disgusted me to my bones. I began actively organizing opposition to most every U.S. war
since. I quickly came to find that virtually every US war comes wrapped in a pack of
lies. The U.S.-Israeli war on Palestinians also is based on many lies.
They are lying about the causes of the conflict, suggesting that this all started on October
7 th with Israel being attacked for no reason and Israel is just an innocent victim. They want
us to ignore over 75 years of well documented history of ethnic
cleansing, apartheid, occupation, the brutal blockade, home demolition, land theft, illegal
settlements, war crimes, repeated carpet bombings of civilians, destructions of olive
orchards, poisoning of livestock, abusive checkpoints and roadblocks, sniper massacres of
peaceful protesters during the Great March of Return, etc, etc. Thousands of Palestinians in
the Gaza prison protested peacefully, and Israeli snipers mowed them down by the
hundreds, including killing medics, journalists, kids and disabled people; all war crimes.
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To help protect your privacy, Microsoft Office prevented automatic download of this picture from the Internet.
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To help protect your privacy, Microsoft Office prevented automatic download of this picture from the Internet.
I have heard it said we should not call this a war, as it is a genocide, with numerous experts
calling it a Textbook Case of Genocide, such as this top ranking U.N. official and
this Jewish Israeli genocide scholar. Indeed, Palestinians have no army, navy, or air force,
so, yes, this is largely a one-sided massacre of people trapped in what numerous scholars
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call the World’s Largest Open Air Prison or Largest Concentration Camp. Yet, I would
suggest there is a difference of a war BETWEEN two relatively equivalent militaries, and a
Bully War ON a militarily weaker nation. It was a U.S. Bully war on Iraq, a U.S. Bully
war on Libya, on Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Korea and
dozens more nations.
The conflict now is similarly a war on Palestinians, starting 75 years ago with
the Nakba and the ethnic cleansing has never stopped. According to Palestinian-American
historian Rashid Khalidi its actually 100 year war on Palestine, if you go all the way back
to the Balfour Declaration in 1917.
Make no mistake: This is very much a U.S. war too. The US has given over $260 billion in
foreign military aid to Israel since the Nakba, with the U.S. House just passing another $14
billion to fund this genocidal bombing campaign. The US has also given massive political
support by vetoing over 53 UN resolutions that condemned Israel’s many violations of
international law. The US has enabled Israel to escape all accountability for scores of war
crimes, which encourages Israel to continue committing them. For decades, the majority of
the world has long been trying to hold Israel accountable, and to create justice for
Palestinians. The United States is the world leader at preventing progress, and sustaining
Palestinian oppression.
We should all wish and work for Peace and for violence to cease, and to really identify and
solve the root causes of war, which are overwhelmingly injustices. Justice is the foundation
for real Peace. As Dr King said, we must not seek a negative peace or the mere absence of
tension, but seek a positive peace, which is the presence of Justice.
Overwhelmingly, it’s Palestinians that have experienced manifold injustices for the past 75
years and beyond. If we’re sincere about seeking peace, we must seek justice for a Free
Palestine. It is really in the best interest for Israelis too.
Some people dismiss protests or small acts we do online, but everything we say has some
affect on Public Opinion, which is the real ruler of all societies. That’s why dictators or
corporate oligarchs spend immense resources on propaganda to shape public opinion, to
manufacture consent as Noam Chomsky says. Rulers always need consent to rule, or they
will be rapidly removed, one way or another.
We must withdraw our consent for our rulers that support endless war and endless injustice
for Palestinians and so much of our world. A growing number of Americans are frustrated
by politicians of both parties, and since they don’t represent us on issue after issue, at some
point consent will break.
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Most of us don’t have enough money to buy a Congressman, but every one of us has some
power. We each have a voice in the field of Public Opinion, and we all have wide diversity
of creative talents we can employ to displace this System of Perpetual Injustice. Every
courageous post we make, every act of resistance and solidarity, every conversation we
have with friends or family has some impact, however small. It all adds up.
We must raise our voices to Call for Immediate Ceasefire and Stop to the Genocide. We
must call for an End to Apartheid, Occupation and Ethnic Cleansing. As Americans, we
have a distinct duty to speak out for a stop to our government’s massive support of this
injustice.
We are witnessing massive protests all over the world and a major national protest is
occurring today in Washington D.C. Millions of voices are rising up in the streets all over
the world.
We have now joined them.
Let Gaza Live & Free Palestine.
From: Ted Swedenburg <tsweden@uark.edu>
Date: Thursday, May 2, 2024 at 1:03 PM
To: Ted Swedenburg <tsweden@uark.edu>
Subject: Ceasefire resolution, Fayetteville City Council, Tuesday May 7
Dear friends: this is to urge you, in case you’ve not been considering it, to show up at City
Council on May 7 in support of the ceasefire resolution that the group I’m involved with,
Friends of Palestine NWA, has put before the council, with the support of Council
member Sarah Moore.
I’ve attached the resolution. It’s similar to resolutions passed by many city councils
throughout the country. Passing such political resolutions is not outside the purview of
the council, they passed one in support of Ukraine after the Russian invasion.
The council meeting starts at 5:30, but they’ve put our resolution last on the agenda, no
doubt with the hopes of wearing us out. It would be great to pack the hall from the
beginning of the session, but it would probably be safe to show up at 7 or 7:30, and
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maybe even later. Everyone present has the right, if they choose to exercise it, to speak
for 3 minutes. Please do consider making a statement. But even just being present to
show support is a good thing.
Our group has been working on this issue diligently since January, we’ve done lots of
events, but this is our biggest chance to date to get bring the issue before a wide public.
Not just inside the council meeting, but it will mean the issue of Gaza will garner more
media coverage than ever before, especially in the wake of all the student encampments.
Oh, and if you’ve got the time and inclination, call your council reps to urge them to vote
for the resolution.
Hoping to see many of you next Tuesday. Please share this info with anyone you know
and urge them to attend as well.
Cheers, Ted
--
--
Abel Tomlinson
Palestine Solidarity NWA, Organizer
Arkansas Antiwar Alliance, Organizer
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(479)283-5762
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