Listen to a reading of this article: "A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in." ~ Greek proverb The heroic whistleblower and peace activist Daniel Ellsberg is dying. In an open letter to his friends and supporters, Ellsberg announced that two weeks ago he learned that he has inoperable pancreatic cancer with a prognosis of three to six months. The letter is beautiful and inspiring, but it's also as heart-rending as anything you'll ever read, largely because within it Ellsberg makes it abundantly clear that he has extremely urgent concerns about the world he will soon be leaving behind.
Your insights and honesty are world class, and your shoe size, well that's between you and your local cordwainer, but like the saint Wenceslas, where you tread, minds and hearts are thawed. Yet you feel small. Somehow that's right.
My reaction to this kind of news is the same. When those we've silently filed in our unconscious as parents perish, we are forced to evaluate again what "alone" really means.
My father used to say to me, "Wald, parents hate to see their kids grow up, because it means they're (parents) getting old!". But it works the other way too. We are left with nothing but ourselves to cling to or hide behind or ... grow a few shoe sizes.
On a less emotional note, I'd like to plot a dot or two and imply a connection. Here goes. Many of the covid Vax deaths have manifested as very rapidly developing cancers. A former friend of mine was diagnosed and then dead in about two weeks, from a supposed kidney cancer his exams never detected before. Physicians and family in amazement. Is it too big of a stretch to wonder if particularly troublesome citizens and journalists are being stealthily removed with a weapon technology that can alter body tissue, either through ingestion or microwave or other insidious radiation, so that a virulent and unstoppable deadly cancer results?
Yes, fuck cancer. And especially if it's the weapon used in a first degree murder. (I don't need a tinfoil hat anymore. My body fluids are all saturated with nanoparticles of aluminum. Probably.)
We will miss you, Dan Ellsberg. We Vietnam-era anti-war fossils are falling like dominoes. Every morning I awaken to draw breath is a surprise to me. But is it "fuck war, fuck cancer" or shall we take the broader perspective and scream "fuck a narcissistic greed-driven system of concupiscence that reifies "MORE", a system that deifies war, setting us from a once-pristine and logically functioning natural system, into one which now seethes with hugely diverse toxicity. Because placing acquisitiveness above all else generates both the psychological conditions that promote enslavement and internecine conflict, and deposits its residuum of a ridiculous diversity of un-remediated un-recycled waste in direct contravention to that natural system's operation. In short, fuck corporate Capitalism. And bless the peacemakers.
Daniel Ellsberg chooses to castigate Russia for making 'Nuclear threats.' Russia was merely stating Russian policy, which is essentially defensive, as compared with that of USA, which is aggressive.
Elsberg claims that Russian designs on Crimea are illegitimate, and compares them to US designs on North Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
Crimea was part of Russia in various ways for over 200 years until 1991. It is populated largely by ethnic Russians who speak Russian. After the illegal US sponsored coup in 2014, the vast majority of Crimeans voted to join Russia. That referendum result have been verified by a large number of western sponsored polls.
Ellsberg is wrong. Crimea should be regarded as Russian.
This is not the first time I've felt that Ellsberg was both-sidesing things.
Ellsberg has said many good things. But he did not reveal the Mai Lai massacre. He did not expose the Gulf of Tonkin fabrication. I ask, honestly, what smoking guns were revealed in the Pentagon Papers.
I am anti-war and lament the imminent loss of American Hero Patriots like Daniel. In my opinion and having lived the history of the sixties I now see there was always an understandable but morally weak underpinning of the 1960’s anti-war movement. It was not anti-war. It was anti-draft. It confused me that my generation of JFK Democrats so anti-war in the sixties could endorse an American/NATO proxy War in Ukraine. The public reaction to Zelensky’s recent unscripted request to draft American youth in order to support him explains that apparent paradoxical opinion with regard to Vietnam (which would not have occurred if JFK had not been taken from us in a domestic Coup D’état on Nov 22, 1963) and Ukraine. American public support of this proxy war has fortunately been dealt a death blow and we have awakened. You can have our trillions of tax dollars but not our kids. We must dedicate our efforts now to American Hero Patriots like Daniel with our moral revulsion to all war as we strive for world peace as JFK so eloquently guided us:
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS AT AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, WASHINGTON, D.C., JUNE 10, 1963
“What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children--not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women--not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.”
Yes, why couldn't Kissinger go first? Why did Chavez die before Dick Cheney? Why Zinn before Podhoretz? Nature and justice haven't mixed on this one. This is a beautiful tribute. Nothing else need be said about the meaning of Ellsberg's leaving.
I've been a big fan of Stephen Cohen for years and was shocked when he suddenly died. I read his book covering the 2016 campaign. He's one of the few liberals who had praise for Trump, back when Trump said that we should have friendly relations with Russia. Trump may have succeeded if not for Russiagate, initiated by the woman he defeated, Hillary the Russia-hating Hawk.
This is so eloquent, Caitlin, and so very moving . . . thank you! I agree that responsibility (now, as always, actually) falls to the rest of us to stand in love, integrity, and truth as best we can in our own realm. Yogis have been telling us for millennia that the cycle of time includes an unfolding phase followed by a contraction phase leading to dissolution, death, and rebirth of the entire cosmos. It may well be impossible to reverse the dissolution at this point, in which case we can still stand in our own love and integrity even as the ship goes down. I honor you for being in the company of those notable heroes who have long done exactly that. Many blessings to you.
Unfortunately pancreatic cancer is a fast process or maybe that’s a blessing in disguise. Maybe we can’t fill this giants shoes but we have his words of wisdom to think and build upon. People are not going to become aware of the tyrannical world systems and organisations that affect the planet and the quality of life for the vast majority overnight. Some are part of the system, some don’t want to become aware because of fear or guilt that they are enabling it to happen. Some don’t have the capacity to change through indoctrination or the inability to think outside the box.
But though my reach is small, it’s consistent and inspired by others. I don’t think I have ever disagreed or doubted one of Caitlin’s posts (but I know I have the right to do so. I share her work and others as well as adding my own perspective as an ex U.K. MoD Officer and lawyer having worked in the belly of the beast.
If each of us just sets the seed of a different narrative and supports and promotes activists work wether dead or alive we are making a difference as they in turn will nurture new seedlings. Personally I hear my 20 year old son talking with his friends about the plandemic, proxy war in Ukraine, illegality and immortality of the gulf wars, America being the biggest aggressor and profiteer from war on the planet and I know the fight will go on. Just as we need to pick up the reins now there are those standing in line behind us to do the same. Let us not measure ourselves against others but simply play our part to the best of our abilities. Change is happening. It may get worse before it gets better. But change is happening and each seedling grows and produces more. We need to give them fertile soil, truths, room to grow themselves as they inherit this earth. Names of good people may wither and die but their dreams, narrative and message live on and are added to. We have to fight tooth and nail for the freedom of communication, dissent, access to information, peaceful protest using the shade of the trees planted before us to do so.
I am trying to spread this 25 min. look at the reality of nuclear war, in hopes it will encourage anyone seeing it to become anti-war. Warning: once seen you can't forget it. www.helencaldicott.com
I softly smiled when I read his open letter. He expressed so much positivity through it that I found it impossible not to. His outlook on life, the fact that he is optimistic we can change things, averting nuclear war. Such grace and humility is heartening to say the least.
And you, Caitlin are a heroine as well. One who also inspires. Your words express your passion, your desire, for a safe liviable world. Standing here in the United States, your words have reached around the world. You know this, you know us-your audience. Giving us deeper insights and broader views on which we may act. Giving guidance and you indeed must fight much harder, but I do not dooubt you possess the strength to succeed, because you are also not alone. None of us can stop nuclear war unless we collectively reject the insane concept. It would be no benefit to humanity as was expressed in the open letter...You have a very powerful voice and you use it. Keep up the good work.
Damn those doctors for telling him when he will die! When they put that belief in someone's head, it's almost always self-fulfilling. He should ignore it.
Thank you Caitlin for expressing my own sorrow, depression at the loss of the Titans. I'm sorry but much of their guidance, hope and logic falls to you. I cried when I read Daniel's letter days ago and I still cry when I think of losing him. Much love and extreme health to you.
Dear Caitlin,
Your insights and honesty are world class, and your shoe size, well that's between you and your local cordwainer, but like the saint Wenceslas, where you tread, minds and hearts are thawed. Yet you feel small. Somehow that's right.
My reaction to this kind of news is the same. When those we've silently filed in our unconscious as parents perish, we are forced to evaluate again what "alone" really means.
My father used to say to me, "Wald, parents hate to see their kids grow up, because it means they're (parents) getting old!". But it works the other way too. We are left with nothing but ourselves to cling to or hide behind or ... grow a few shoe sizes.
On a less emotional note, I'd like to plot a dot or two and imply a connection. Here goes. Many of the covid Vax deaths have manifested as very rapidly developing cancers. A former friend of mine was diagnosed and then dead in about two weeks, from a supposed kidney cancer his exams never detected before. Physicians and family in amazement. Is it too big of a stretch to wonder if particularly troublesome citizens and journalists are being stealthily removed with a weapon technology that can alter body tissue, either through ingestion or microwave or other insidious radiation, so that a virulent and unstoppable deadly cancer results?
Yes, fuck cancer. And especially if it's the weapon used in a first degree murder. (I don't need a tinfoil hat anymore. My body fluids are all saturated with nanoparticles of aluminum. Probably.)
Walden
We will miss you, Dan Ellsberg. We Vietnam-era anti-war fossils are falling like dominoes. Every morning I awaken to draw breath is a surprise to me. But is it "fuck war, fuck cancer" or shall we take the broader perspective and scream "fuck a narcissistic greed-driven system of concupiscence that reifies "MORE", a system that deifies war, setting us from a once-pristine and logically functioning natural system, into one which now seethes with hugely diverse toxicity. Because placing acquisitiveness above all else generates both the psychological conditions that promote enslavement and internecine conflict, and deposits its residuum of a ridiculous diversity of un-remediated un-recycled waste in direct contravention to that natural system's operation. In short, fuck corporate Capitalism. And bless the peacemakers.
Daniel Ellsberg chooses to castigate Russia for making 'Nuclear threats.' Russia was merely stating Russian policy, which is essentially defensive, as compared with that of USA, which is aggressive.
Elsberg claims that Russian designs on Crimea are illegitimate, and compares them to US designs on North Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
Crimea was part of Russia in various ways for over 200 years until 1991. It is populated largely by ethnic Russians who speak Russian. After the illegal US sponsored coup in 2014, the vast majority of Crimeans voted to join Russia. That referendum result have been verified by a large number of western sponsored polls.
Ellsberg is wrong. Crimea should be regarded as Russian.
This is not the first time I've felt that Ellsberg was both-sidesing things.
Ellsberg has said many good things. But he did not reveal the Mai Lai massacre. He did not expose the Gulf of Tonkin fabrication. I ask, honestly, what smoking guns were revealed in the Pentagon Papers.
I cried when I read this.
Caitlin- Thank you for your excellent substack.
I am anti-war and lament the imminent loss of American Hero Patriots like Daniel. In my opinion and having lived the history of the sixties I now see there was always an understandable but morally weak underpinning of the 1960’s anti-war movement. It was not anti-war. It was anti-draft. It confused me that my generation of JFK Democrats so anti-war in the sixties could endorse an American/NATO proxy War in Ukraine. The public reaction to Zelensky’s recent unscripted request to draft American youth in order to support him explains that apparent paradoxical opinion with regard to Vietnam (which would not have occurred if JFK had not been taken from us in a domestic Coup D’état on Nov 22, 1963) and Ukraine. American public support of this proxy war has fortunately been dealt a death blow and we have awakened. You can have our trillions of tax dollars but not our kids. We must dedicate our efforts now to American Hero Patriots like Daniel with our moral revulsion to all war as we strive for world peace as JFK so eloquently guided us:
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS AT AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, WASHINGTON, D.C., JUNE 10, 1963
“What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children--not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women--not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.”
https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/american-university-19630610
Yes, why couldn't Kissinger go first? Why did Chavez die before Dick Cheney? Why Zinn before Podhoretz? Nature and justice haven't mixed on this one. This is a beautiful tribute. Nothing else need be said about the meaning of Ellsberg's leaving.
I've been a big fan of Stephen Cohen for years and was shocked when he suddenly died. I read his book covering the 2016 campaign. He's one of the few liberals who had praise for Trump, back when Trump said that we should have friendly relations with Russia. Trump may have succeeded if not for Russiagate, initiated by the woman he defeated, Hillary the Russia-hating Hawk.
This is so eloquent, Caitlin, and so very moving . . . thank you! I agree that responsibility (now, as always, actually) falls to the rest of us to stand in love, integrity, and truth as best we can in our own realm. Yogis have been telling us for millennia that the cycle of time includes an unfolding phase followed by a contraction phase leading to dissolution, death, and rebirth of the entire cosmos. It may well be impossible to reverse the dissolution at this point, in which case we can still stand in our own love and integrity even as the ship goes down. I honor you for being in the company of those notable heroes who have long done exactly that. Many blessings to you.
Unfortunately pancreatic cancer is a fast process or maybe that’s a blessing in disguise. Maybe we can’t fill this giants shoes but we have his words of wisdom to think and build upon. People are not going to become aware of the tyrannical world systems and organisations that affect the planet and the quality of life for the vast majority overnight. Some are part of the system, some don’t want to become aware because of fear or guilt that they are enabling it to happen. Some don’t have the capacity to change through indoctrination or the inability to think outside the box.
But though my reach is small, it’s consistent and inspired by others. I don’t think I have ever disagreed or doubted one of Caitlin’s posts (but I know I have the right to do so. I share her work and others as well as adding my own perspective as an ex U.K. MoD Officer and lawyer having worked in the belly of the beast.
If each of us just sets the seed of a different narrative and supports and promotes activists work wether dead or alive we are making a difference as they in turn will nurture new seedlings. Personally I hear my 20 year old son talking with his friends about the plandemic, proxy war in Ukraine, illegality and immortality of the gulf wars, America being the biggest aggressor and profiteer from war on the planet and I know the fight will go on. Just as we need to pick up the reins now there are those standing in line behind us to do the same. Let us not measure ourselves against others but simply play our part to the best of our abilities. Change is happening. It may get worse before it gets better. But change is happening and each seedling grows and produces more. We need to give them fertile soil, truths, room to grow themselves as they inherit this earth. Names of good people may wither and die but their dreams, narrative and message live on and are added to. We have to fight tooth and nail for the freedom of communication, dissent, access to information, peaceful protest using the shade of the trees planted before us to do so.
At least we still have Seymour Hersh...
I am trying to spread this 25 min. look at the reality of nuclear war, in hopes it will encourage anyone seeing it to become anti-war. Warning: once seen you can't forget it. www.helencaldicott.com
I softly smiled when I read his open letter. He expressed so much positivity through it that I found it impossible not to. His outlook on life, the fact that he is optimistic we can change things, averting nuclear war. Such grace and humility is heartening to say the least.
And you, Caitlin are a heroine as well. One who also inspires. Your words express your passion, your desire, for a safe liviable world. Standing here in the United States, your words have reached around the world. You know this, you know us-your audience. Giving us deeper insights and broader views on which we may act. Giving guidance and you indeed must fight much harder, but I do not dooubt you possess the strength to succeed, because you are also not alone. None of us can stop nuclear war unless we collectively reject the insane concept. It would be no benefit to humanity as was expressed in the open letter...You have a very powerful voice and you use it. Keep up the good work.
Damn those doctors for telling him when he will die! When they put that belief in someone's head, it's almost always self-fulfilling. He should ignore it.
Tucker Carlson interviewed Dennis Kucinich on his show on March 3 about the Nord Stream pipeline.
I really don't care anymore if someone is on the left or right. All that matters to me is that he or she is honest.
So now it is up to you Caitlen and to the rest of us. It is our fight now.
Thanks for the inspiring words.
Baseball has a saying.
You're up.
Thank you Caitlin for expressing my own sorrow, depression at the loss of the Titans. I'm sorry but much of their guidance, hope and logic falls to you. I cried when I read Daniel's letter days ago and I still cry when I think of losing him. Much love and extreme health to you.