FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JAN. 9, 2023
MEDIA CONTACT: Melissa Garriga | [email protected]
“WAR IS NOT A GAME” CODEPINK Questions the Center for Strategic and International Studies New Report
The climate crisis is our common enemy NOT CHINA.
WASHINGTON—On Monday, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) held a launch release of their latest report, The First Battle of the Next War: Wargaming a Chinese Invasion of Taiwan. The CSIS report is based on simulated war game scenarios that CSIS designed, even though they admit on their event page that “Chinese plans are unclear.” This type of war-mongering on Capitol Hill is what drives U.S. imperialism and pushes us closer to unnecessary war and a possible nuclear Armageddon.
CODEPINK organizer Olivia DiNucci and Tabitha Spence took advantage of a Q & A session to address the fact that now, more than ever, we need diplomatic solutions over war games.
“What’s happening in Ukraine should be a wake-up call to everyone that we need diplomacy in China,” DiNucci addressed the room. “War is not a game.”
“The weapons manufacturers make a killing off of killing, while people starve here and all across the world. Shame! The climate crisis is our common enemy, not China,” she continued.
Military buildup is not a deterrence towards war, but is escalation and provocation. The cost of the United States’ escalation is far more than another deadly and destructive forever war. The current US militarization of the Asia-Pacific is violating human rights and destroying the environment.
In Okinawa, the government undermines the sovereignty of the Indigenous Luchuan people. They recently held a referendum in which the overwhelming majority of the population voted against the construction of a new military base. In constructing the new base, the United States is filling in the Oura Bay, which contains an ancient coral reef filled with hundreds of rare and endangered species with concrete blocks.
Only diplomacy can deter war.
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