On July 8-9, prominent peace and anti-war activists gathered in New York to say No to NATO expansion and aggressive foreign policy of the United States. Around 150 people protested NATO outside of the Army recruiting center in Times Square in New York City as NATO met on in Warsaw, Poland, during this time.
Sponsoring organizations included the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), the US Peace Council, the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space Veterans for Peace, Code Pink, New Jersey and New York Peace Action, Black Agenda Report, BAYAN, International Action Center, and several others.
Other anti-NATO demonstration took place in other cities in the U.S. and Canada. UNAC also had a representative at the anti-NATO actions in Warsaw, Poland, where the NATO summit was taking place. For more information read here: https://www.unacpeace.org/
At the protest the co-coordinator of United National Antiwar Coalition Joe Lombardo mentioned the case of Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko who is illegally jailed in the American prison and has become a victim of human rights violations by the U.S. and its shameful war propaganda against Russia. Lombardo said that Konstantin Yaroshenko had been arrested in Africa by the CIA where he had been beaten and tortured by the American agents. They tried to force him to bear testimony, as he had no real opportunity for legal support in the African country. After not having achieved their goals, the agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States took the decision to extradite Yaroshenko to the US for the subsequent trial. Nobody was embarrassed by the fact that such actions violated the international law.
After that, Yaroshenko was sentenced to 20 years in American prison. His story is not being covered by U.S. or Western media, so nobody knows how the American democracy really “works”. Activists hope that Konstantin and other political prisoners will be fimally released, and the U.S. justice system will be reformed.