Violence against civilians is again escalating in Israel-Palestine. As with so many conflicts around the world, only a political resolution will ultimately end the violence in Israel-Palestine. Senator Bernie Sanders is calling for a realistic political resolution to the conflict and ending violations of international humanitarian law: [1] “The U.S. must play a leading role in creating a two-state solution, which will require significant compromises from both sides. The Palestinians must unequivocally recognize Israel’s right to exist, and hold accountable those who have committed terrorist acts. The Israelis must end the blockade of Gaza, and cease developing settlements on Palestinian land. Both sides must negotiate in good faith regarding all other outstanding issues that stand in the way of a durable and lasting peace in the region. In the meantime, strict adherence, by all sides, to the tenets of international humanitarian law is necessary in order to avoid escalating the conflict yet again.” As Senator Sanders says, compromise will be required by both sides; that’s obvious. But in Washington, acknowledgment that Israel needs to compromise is missing. Stand with Senator Bernie Sanders in urging President Obama and Congress to support a realistic political resolution to the Israel-Palestine conflict by signing our petition. 1. “Israel and Palestine,” Senator Bernie Sanders, https://berniesanders.com/issues/war-and-peace/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFFD18dgH6w The dictator has been in power for 30 years now and must resign. As elections approach in February 2016, his repression has gotten out of hand. Recently in a wild tirade he promised to "smash" his political opponents. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2JZh-ooZs8&feature=youtu.be%20https://www.facebook.com/bahati.remmy/videos/900314046724138/?autoplay_reason=user_settings Soon after that outburst, on October 10, his security forces abused and molested a woman, Ms. Zaina Fatuma, who is a leading member of Uganda's leading opposition political party Forum for Democratic Change. (Please share this ugly video of Ms. Fatuma's abuse with all your friends so the true nature of the Museveni regime is known to the world.) Ms. Fatuma was part of a convoy traveling with Dr. Kizza Besigye, leader of the FDC and presidential candidate, to address supporters in Western Uganda. The convoy was ambushed by police, who threw spiked belts on the road causing a major chain-accident of car crashes. It was a miracle no one was killed. Ms. Fatuma was arrested with other FDC party members -- she was the only one stripped naked by male and female officers. Sexually assaulting female opposition leaders has become a pattern in Uganda -- in April 2012, Ingrid Turinawe, a key FDC leader, was dragged out of her car by her breasts while being arrested in broad daylight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdyMYGdXIAQ Gen. Museveni, who fears a popular uprising, pushed through a law called Public Order Management, which makes illegal a meeting of three or more Ugandans without permission of his feared police chief Gen. Kale Kayihura. Gen. Museveni has also been training civilians into armed militias called "Crime Preventers." Many people believe these militias will be unleashed to intimidate and brutalize supporters of opposition parties before, during and after elections. Some are as young as 10 years old, as photos posted on the official State House Facebook page shows. Gen. Museveni used child-soldiers years ago when he was a militia leader before he came to power. https://www.facebook.com/statehouseug/photos/pb.158559710878311.-2207520000.1444955359./991038347630439/?type=3&theater In the West, Gen. Museveni is known mostly for his attacks against LGBTs, such as when he told CNN that gays are "disgusting." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2ExVsMopMc However, little is known about his brutality against all Ugandans -- often not mentioned in Western media. All parts of Uganda have been touched by Gen. Museveni's tyranny: millions have perished, including in confinement camps for 20 years in its Acholi region. He has also caused the deaths of millions of Africans in Congo, Rwanda and South Sudan with his military invasions. Finally, his top officials have been abandoning him. His former prime minister and Secretary General of the ruling National Resistance Party (NRM) party until last year, Mr. Amama Mbabazi, is now running for president against him. Even with the political repression and attacks against Ugandan women, Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Uganda on November 27, 2015. Will the pope ask his host, the dictator, about his attacks on women? The atmosphere of violence unleashed by Gen. Museveni will only worsen heading into the elections. He cannot win a free-and-fair vote, but will rely on rigging with his hand-picked election commission and violence by his police, army, and militias. Museveni's own party, the NRM, should replace him with another candidate and force him to retire. Gen. Museveni knows that he can only retain power through violence. Uganda has suffered enough. He must RESIGN.

During the first Democratic presidential debate, the following exchange took place between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders regarding U.S. policy in Syria: [1] CLINTON: … And, to — provide safe zones so that people are not going to have to be flooding out of Syria at the rate they are. SANDERS: Well, let’s understand that when we talk about Syria, you’re talking about a quagmire in a quagmire. You’re talking about groups of people trying to overthrow Assad, other groups of people fighting ISIS. You’re talking about people who are fighting ISIS using their guns to overthrow Assad, and vice versa. I’m the former chairman of the Senate Veterans Committee, and in that capacity I learned a very powerful lesson about the cost of war, and I will do everything that I can to make sure that the United States does not get involved in another quagmire like we did in Iraq, the worst foreign policy blunder in the history of this country. We should be putting together a coalition of Arab countries who should be leading the effort. We should be supportive, but I do not support American ground troops in Syria. CLINTON: ...Well, nobody does. Nobody does, Senator Sanders. This was a deceptive response by Hillary Clinton, because as Clinton surely knows, for the US to establish “safe zones” in Syria would require the use of US ground troops, as Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of U.S. Centcom, has testified to the Senate Armed Services Committee. [2] Urge Congress and the Administration to oppose any use of US ground troops in Syria, including to establish so-called “safe zones,” by signing our petition. References: 1. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/14/us/politics/democratic-debate-transcript.html 2. http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/u-s-general-only-handful-of-syrian-fighters-remain-in-battle-against-isis/

During the first Democratic presidential debate, CNN journalist Anderson Cooper challenged Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders about his supposed “electability” issues in this way: “The question is really about electability here, and that’s what I’m trying to get at. You — the — the Republican attack ad against you in a general election — it writes itself. You supported the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. You honeymooned in the Soviet Union. And just this weekend, you said you’re not a capitalist. Doesn’t — doesn’t that ad write itself?” [1] Anderson Cooper is showing his pro-Empire bias by trying to re-write the history of U.S. foreign policy in Nicaragua on the side of the Empire. Millions of Americans “supported the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.” In 1979, the Sandinista National Liberation Front overthrew the US government-installed Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua, promising to address Nicaragua’s extreme poverty and the lack of basic government services like education and health care for the majority of the population. In 1982, Nicaragua was recognized by the World Health Organization as the third world country that had made the most progress in health care. Under the Reagan Administration, the CIA organized a terrorist army (the “Contras”) to attack the Nicaraguan government. Millions of Americans participated in a solidarity movement to oppose US military intervention in Nicaragua, including public radio host Ira Glass [2], actors Ed Asner, Mike Farrell and Diane Ladd, civil rights leader Julian Bond [3] and engineer Ben Linder, who was killed in a terrorist attack by the CIA’s army. [4] The US-Nicaragua solidarity movement succeeded in passing the Boland Amendment in Congress, cutting off US funding to the CIA’s terrorist army, which led the Reagan Administration to try to fund the Contras illegally through arms sales to Iran. When this illegal arrangement was exposed, it became the Iran-Contra scandal. [5] Challenge Anderson Cooper to provide evidence for his unsubstantiated claim that having opposed the CIA’s illegal war against Nicaragua in the 1980s is a political liability in the United States today by signing our petition. References: 1. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/14/us/politics/democratic-debate-transcript.html 2. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/378/transcript 3. http://www.csmonitor.com/1984/1123/112357.html 4. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1996/09/23/in-search-of-ben-linders-killers 5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boland_Amendment

I am a human rights lawyer who represents immigrant and refugee children. Following last year's "surge" in families and children seeking refuge in the U.S., the Obama Administration increased funding to Mexico to step up arrests and summary deportations of Central American refugees so as to prevent them from reaching the United States. As the New York Times and the Guardian have recently reported, Mexico is carrying out these deportations in wholesale disregard of its obligation under international law not to return persons to countries in which their lives are at risk. The United States must stop funding Mexico's deportation program until reputable international bodies determine that Mexico is complying with its obligation to provide asylum to those fleeing horrendous violence.

Following increased Russian military intervention in Syria, Hillary Clinton joined Republican calls for the US to impose a "no fly zone" in Syria. [1] President Obama has called these proposals for a "no-fly zone" in Syria "half-baked" "mumbo jumbo." [2] Senator Bernie Sanders is standing with President Obama against this dangerous proposal for military escalation. “We must be very careful about not making a complex and dangerous situation in Syria even worse,” Sanders said, warning that a no-fly zone in Syria "could get us more deeply involved in that horrible civil war and lead to a never-ending U.S. entanglement in that region.” [3] Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley is siding with President Obama and Senator Sanders. "Secretary Clinton is always quick for the military intervention. I believe that a no-fly zone right now is not advisable," O’Malley said. "No-fly zones sound attractive, but no-fly zones also have to be enforced. And given the fact that the Russian air force is in the airspace over Syria, this could lead to an escalation of Cold War proportions because of an accident, and I don't think that's in the best interests of the United States," O'Malley said. [4] Urge CNN debate moderators to challenge Hillary to explain and justify her support for trying to impose a “no fly zone” in Syria by signing our petition. References: 1. http://news.yahoo.com/clinton-fiorina-push-no-fly-zone-syria-really-175553001.html 2. http://news.yahoo.com/obama-challenges-clinton-other-2016-candidates-syria-041535856.html 3. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/10/03/bernie-sanders-sides-with-obama-and-against-clinton-on-no-fly-zone-in-syria/ 4. http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/11/politics/martin-omalley-against-no-fly-zone/index.html

In the light of the recent Russian bombing campaign against ISIS, tensions are mounting from the US-NATO- Gulf States Coalition, who are still clamoring for “regime change” and complaining about Russia targeting US “assets” meaning the “moderate rebels”. Unfortunately, the US has been trying to intervene and bring about “regime change” in Syria for the past several years by funding, training, and supporting “moderate rebels”. These so-called “moderate-rebels” have either defected to ISIS and/or are affiliated with ISIS, taking US weapons with them. These “assets” are not something worth protecting. Since Russia is taking care of the terrorists, then so be it, what's the fuss all about? For the US to try to effect “regime change” by any means necessary, is contrary to our democratic values and dangerous. This is especially ludicrous since Syria has never threatened the United States. As a nation, we should not be trying to subvert a sovereign government, and especially not using US tax dollars for these destructive and violent purposes. Our role in the world as a superpower should be to bring peace and not conflict. If this war is going to be stopped and Syria going to be saved, we need to completely revamp our foreign policy and take the lead in untangling ourselves from the situation, and encourage countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey to do the same. The terrorists need to not be protected under the banner of “assets”. Also, negotiations need to start soon. We can save Syria by pressuring Washington to stop using our tax dollars and our CIA for training “rebels” and other types of covert activity, and possibly military escalation. No more money, nor arms, nor training, and no more selling arms, overt or covert. America doesn't need to be involved in more conflict in Syria and especially not with Russia... Instead, let's use our superpower ability to be an instrument of peace. Diplomacy is the way... 1. Stop the training and funding of rebels with American tax dollars. 2. Stop the US flow of arms into the region. 3. Pressure Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey to stop arming, facilitating and protecting ISIS. 4. Pressure Turkey to stop allowing foreign fighters to spill over their border. 5. Support diplomacy. Talk to all parties involved including the Syrian government. Also, ask countries like Russia, China, Iran, and others who are willing to negotiate in the situation. 6. Collaborate with Syria and Iran and Russia to destroy ISIS. 7. Do not get involved militarily overtly or covertly in the region. 8. Support the Syrian government to help restabilize Syria once again. Before reform, there must be stability. The Syrians who actually live in Syria must be an intrical part of this conversation to make decisions for determining the destiny of their own country. 9. End the sanctions. 10. Help the refugees come back home and help Syria rebuild. Related articles... Sleepwalking to Another Mideast Disaster – Robert Parry http://www.councilforthenationalinterest.org/new/sleepwalking-to-another-mideast-disaster-robert-parry/#.VXpJv_ldVXZ Meet ‘Moderates’ U.S. Is Supporting in Syria: They’re Al-Qaeda https://www.transcend.org/tms/2015/08/meet-moderates-u-s-is-supporting-in-syria-theyre-al-qaeda/ The Agenda behind ISIS’ Cultural Genocide https://www.transcend.org/tms/2015/07/the-agenda-behind-isis-cultural-genocide/ Deconstructing Syria: A new strategy for America’s most hopeless wars http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/order-from-chaos/posts/2015/06/30-deconstructing-syria-ohanlon Daraa 2011: Syria’s Islamist Insurrection in Disguise http://www.globalresearch.ca/daraa-2011-syrias-islamist-insurrection-in-disguise/5460547 Turkish intelligence helped ship arms to Syrian Islamist rebel areas http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/21/us-mideast-crisis-turkey-arms-idUSKBN0O61L220150521 Fabricating an Enemy. “The Threat of Al Qaeda” as a Justification to Wage War http://www.globalresearch.ca/fabricating-an-enemy-the-threat-of-al-qaeda-as-a-justification-to-wage-war/5451343 There’s method in the madness of Isis’s cultural vandalism: The more antiquities appear to be threatened, the more the mafias can charge for their booty http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/theres-method-in-the-madness-of-isiss-cultural-vandalism-10287718.html US Intelligence Responds ''No Comment'' To Questions Of Support for ISIS http://www.activistpost.com/2015/06/us-intelligence-responds-no-comment-to.html Logistics 101: Where Do ISIS Get Their Guns? https://www.transcend.org/tms/2015/06/logistics-101-where-do-isis-get-their-guns/

BECAUSE I WANT BIAFRA TO COME AS A SOVEREIGN STATE.

This petition has been started because John McCain needs to be reigned in, and publicly condemned for his public threats and provoking of war in the Middle East and across the European Union in places like Ukraine and Crimea against Russia. Whether it's the nuclear deal with Iran or the arming of Syrian rebels against a sovereign and elected leader in President Bashir al Assad John McCain is looking for a fight, looking to send our sons and daughters off to war, yet again, while his children, both natural and adopted, stay home and live off their mother's brewery inheritances and his personal financial investments. John McCain has never, ever been held to any kind or sort of public accounting at any time in his historic life, and it is time for that to change. He should be censured by his colleagues in the United States Senate for invoking war or the public threat thereof. Thank you for your help with this petition, and please share this petition with all that you think would be interested in adding their names to our effort here.

When the Republican leadership set up the Select Committee on Benghazi, its frivolous purpose was transparent. It was created as an outlet for the Republican leadership to attack Secretary Clinton, plain and simple. We just never thought they would admit it... until now. In a recent interview, Rep. McCarthy told Sean Hannity that, “everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi Special Committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping.” The Select Committee on Benghazi has become one of the longest-running Congressional task forces in history - longer than Watergate. It has cost American taxpayers $4.5 million. And according to Rep. McCarthy, it was a political stunt to affect the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. Using taxpayer dollars to further a political agenda is unethical. But using taxpayer dollars to exploit a national tragedy that resulted in the loss of four American lives is utterly reprehensible. Rep. McCarthy dropping out of the Speaker's race is not enough. Join us and demand that the House Republicans stop this charade and shut down the Select Committee on Benghazi now.

On October 3, 2015, a United States airstrike destroyed a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan operated by the Nobel Peace Prize-winning charity Doctors Without Borders (also called Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF), killing at least 22 civilians--10 patients and 12 staff members--and wounding dozens more.[1] Doctors Without Borders says the attack continued for 30 minutes after its staff gave U.S. and Afghan military officials the exact location of its hospital.[2] How could this happen? An early statement released by the U.S. military attempted to characterize the hospital bombing as a mistake, almost dismissing it as collateral damage.[3] Military officials subsequently altered their accounts of what exactly occurred four times in as many days, only recently acknowledging that U.S. Special Operations Forces "most likely did not meet any of the criteria [for authorizing airstrikes]."[4][5] The magnitude of the tragedy and the astounding inconsistencies between U.S. and Afghan accounts of the bombing have prompted MSF officials to demand that President Obama call for an inquiry from the independent and impartial International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission.[6] Doctors Without Borders' U.S. executive director, Jason Cone, underscored the reasoning behind this call to action. "All this confusion," he noted, "just underlines once again the crucial need for an independent investigation into how a major hospital, full of patients and MSF staff, could be repeatedly bombed.”[7] Médecins Sans Frontières' international president Joanne Liu added, "If we let this go, as if it was a non-event, we are basically giving a blank cheque to any countries who are at war."[8] President Obama has apologized for the bombing and said the Pentagon will conduct its own investigation.[9] But a Pentagon investigation is no substitute for one conducted by the IHFFC. Sources: 1. http://www.wsj.com/articles/doctors-without-borders-closes-afghan-hospital-1443958030?mod=asia_home 2. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/04/world/asia/afghanistan-bombing-hospital-doctors-without-borders-kunduz.html?_r=0 3. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-doctors-without-borders-20151003-story.html 4. http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/06/doctors-without-borders-airstrike-afghanistan-us-account-changes-again 5. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/07/world/middleeast/doctors-without-borders-airstrike-kunduz.html 6. http://abcnews.go.com/International/doctors-borders-calls-independent-probe-deadly-kunduz-hospital/story?id=34310266 7. Ibid. 8. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/10/07/uk-afghanistan-attack-msf-idUKKCN0S10SZ20151007 9. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/08/world/asia/obama-apologizes-for-bombing-of-afghanistan-hospital.html?_r=0

On September 28, at least 131 civilians, including at least 80 women, were killed at a wedding reception in Yemen in an airstrike by the Saudi-led military coalition. The US is providing the coalition with intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and logistics information. With innocent Yemeni civilians, including thousands of Yemeni-Americans, still caught in the middle of this war, the coalition’s airstrikes should be held to the same standards for protecting civilians as any US military operation should be. According to Amnesty International, more than 2,100 civilians, including at least 400 children, have been killed in the conflict, with the “vast majority” of civilian deaths and injuries attributed to attacks by the Saudi-led coalition. More than 1.4 million people have been displaced; 12.9 million are considered food insecure; more than 1.2 million children are suffering from moderate acute malnutrition. Thousands are fleeing Yemen every week; experts warn that tens of thousands of Yemenis could join the waves of refugees seeking asylum in Europe if the conflict is not resolved soon. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has called for an “end to bombings” in Yemen and has said there is no military solution to this conflict. Diplomatic action, including sustained engagement with Iran, is the only way to end the hostilities, reverse the humanitarian crisis on the ground, and protect more innocent lives from reckless airstrikes. Urge your Representative in Congress to sign the Dingell-Ellison letter [1] to President Obama to urge greater efforts to protect civilians from US-assisted airstrikes in Yemen and greater diplomatic efforts to end the Yemen war by signing our petition. References: 1. http://fcnl.org/issues/middle_east/support_letter_expressing_concerns_of_growing_civilian_death_toll_in_yemen_airstrikes/