Comments for Cleveland Peace Action http://www.peaceactioncleveland.org Stopping violence, war, and terrorism trough peaceful, just, and democratic means Mon, 31 Aug 2020 18:36:44 +0000 hourly 1 Comment on Stop the march towards war with Iran! by Peace Action Cleveland http://www.peaceactioncleveland.org/2019/06/20/stop-the-march-towards-war-with-iran%ef%bb%bf/#comment-68 Tue, 29 Oct 2019 16:34:43 +0000 https://www.peaceactioncleveland.org/?p=1123#comment-68 In reply to W. J. Leitold.

Bill,
I don’t doubt your figures, knowing you as I do. You make a good case for the brutality of the Iranian regime. It’s hard to compare these two countries, with very different histories and population sizes (Iran 82 million, Saudi Arabia 33 million). But perhaps we can agree that they are both quite brutal.

The puzzle for Peace Action is that Saudi Arabia is a US ally and Iran an enemy. If our foreign policy supported democracy, we would treat both with suspicion and not be selling billions of dollars of sophisticated armaments and supporting one side in a disastrous war in Yemen. These two countries are engaged in a deadly regional power struggle.

Peace Action has long supported the Iran nuclear deal and objected to US withdrawal from it. We oppose arms sales to Saudi Arabia. We decry human rights violations and humanitarian disasters wherever they occur – Iran, Saudi Arabia, Palestine/Gaza, Yemen, the list goes on. We believe war rarely resolves these situations (World War II would be the exception).

My apologies for your comment only being approved now. I’ll need to make sure I’m notified when there are comments. And thank you for commenting and making us aware of this glitch in our process.

Francis

]]> Comment on Stop the march towards war with Iran! by W. J. Leitold http://www.peaceactioncleveland.org/2019/06/20/stop-the-march-towards-war-with-iran%ef%bb%bf/#comment-67 Tue, 08 Oct 2019 05:51:01 +0000 https://www.peaceactioncleveland.org/?p=1123#comment-67 “And that we have taken the side of Saudi Arabia, whose regime is clearly more brutal and repressive than Iran’s.”

Francis – how do you reconcile your joint statement with the stats below?

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Saudi Arabia. The country performed at least 158 executions in 2015, at least 154 in 2016, at least 146 in 2017, and at least 149 in 2018.

Amnesty: Iran executed at least 507 people, accounting for 60% of all confirmed executions in the region. Saudi Arabia executed 146 people, representing 17% of all confirmed executions in the region.

Iran
Prison population rate (per 100,000 of national population) 294
based on an estimated national population of 81.67 million at 2018 (from United Nations figures)

Saudi
Prison population rate (per 100,000 of national population) 197
based on an estimated national population of 30.92 million at mid-2017 (from United Nations figures)
Murder rate
Iran
Asia Southern Asia 2.47 1,936 2014 CTS/NSO/MD
Saudi Arabia
Asia Western Asia 1.30 419 2017 NSO/CTS

]]> Comment on Stop the march towards war with Iran! by Tim Musser http://www.peaceactioncleveland.org/2019/06/20/stop-the-march-towards-war-with-iran%ef%bb%bf/#comment-63 Wed, 26 Jun 2019 22:46:29 +0000 https://www.peaceactioncleveland.org/?p=1123#comment-63 Superb statement thanks for taking the time .

]]> Comment on The Weaponization of Antisemitism by Peace Action Cleveland http://www.peaceactioncleveland.org/2019/05/17/the-weaponization-of-antisemitism/#comment-61 Fri, 17 May 2019 17:46:58 +0000 https://www.peaceactioncleveland.org/?p=747#comment-61 Can you imagine that that in 1891, being labelled and “antisemite” was a complement? We’re not kidding. Read this post and find out why.

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