Of course the things that make us special and exceptional are completely different than the things that make Americans exceptional. We're right and they're wrong, after all.
The United States of Atrocity
Sat, 2015-08-08 22:15
#252
Sun, 2015-08-09 11:40
#253
ikosmos
A Guide to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Attacks
Seventy years ago, the United States committed one of the most horrific atrocities in military history. Why?
It was one of the greatest wartime atrocities ever perpetrated. The United States political and military establishment unleashed all the destructive power of the most potent weapons ever created on two civilian populations of little strategic importance. It was a brutal show of force that announced the arrival of the new American superpower and helped establish the stakes of the Cold War.As a State Department memo written during the Carter administration explained, “the Soviets know that this terrible weapon has been dropped on human beings twice in history and it was an American president who dropped it both times. Therefore, they have to take this into consideration in their calculus.”
"In this short primer, Jacobin briefly describes the attacks, their aftermath, and the continuing relevance of nuclear weapons on the global stage today."
Sun, 2015-08-09 18:03
#254
In my opinion, the Canadian ethos, if one exists, is that of a loyal imperial colony, originally part of the British empire, and more recently part of the U.S. empire. When I was a child, in the 1950s, we were just making the transition. My school books still had a lot of stuff about the British Commonwealth, to which the empire had been reduced, but we were all watching American tv shows. The cold war was used quite effectively to condition Canadians to believe that their only safety lay in the protection of the benevolent leader of the "free world", our neighbour and great friend, the U.S.A. Most Canadians still don't question that.
That is the view that the elite of this country have always ascribed too. I think that while it is largely true it is a very narrow and incomplete picture of our culture. The other main dynamic is the tradition that I come from. America is and always has been the single greatest threat to Canadian sovereignty and since Mulroney climbed into the Free Trade bed we have gone steadily downhill until I must agree that many in my country seem to be American wannabes.
Then I turn on a Riders game and feel better.
Sun, 2015-08-09 19:25
#255
Why would some football game have any bearing on any of this or make you feel better? I thought rallying around flag and team and ascribing any importance to sport fortune was the height of American behaviour.
Yet another way in which this thread is a weird parody of itself.
Sun, 2015-08-09 21:37
#256
swallow
A Guide to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Attacks
Seventy years ago, the United States committed one of the most horrific atrocities in military history. Why?
Why do you absolve Canada of any complicity?
Mon, 2015-08-10 06:40
#257
The Soviet peoples, not frigging Stalin.
Mon, 2015-08-10 12:21
#258
ikosmos
Yves Engler, who has plenty of articles right here on rabble.ca, has provided an ocean of material about Canadian Imperialism. The current regime in Ottawa may be more extreme, with the jackboot support of mining and other corporate interests, including notable deaths of anti-mining activists where Canadian interests are involved. Canadian imperialism is real and has slight differences with US imperialism. Those differences can be a way, using a wedge and breaking the vassal-like relationship between Canada and US, of even having Canadian capitalist interests diverging from the echo chamber of the US master.
We see nationalist Canadian businessmen, like Hurtig for example, take this approach. So it's possible. The majority of Canadians do not rise above a milquetoast social democracy; this view is virtually indistinguishable - when it comes to most foreign policy matters - from the most bellicose, death dealing, war mongering, blood spattered view of Conservatives and Liberals. I've mentioned this many times but it bears repeating; the issue, or set of issues, on which the social democratic "alternative" shows its true, bourgeois colours, is in regard to foreign policy. They can't help themselves. It is a question of siding with resistance to imperialism, or support of it. There is little room for the middle of the road fence sitting so popular among "centrists".
Having said that, we see what courageous politicians like Svend could do to shift politics to the left. And, among other reasons, why he was so viscerally hated .. even by members of his own party. He reminded them of their class treason.
But, c'mon, start a Canadian imperialism thread. This one was really intended as a grab bag for the many circles of hell associated with the US Empire. Looking at the US is like looking at an incipient train wreck. Hard to look away. But looking at Canada is like looking at the ground moving by ... and realizing that you're on the train. You cannot be neutral on a moving train. (the late US historian Howard Zinn)
Mon, 2015-08-10 12:51
#259
Why would some football game have any bearing on any of this or make you feel better? I thought rallying around flag and team and ascribing any importance to sport fortune was the height of American behaviour.
Yet another way in which this thread is a weird parody of itself.
Get a fucking sense of humour you twit.
Mon, 2015-08-10 13:04
#260
Canadian imperialism is real and has slight differences with US imperialism.
...
Having said that, we see what courageous politicians like Svend could do to shift politics to the left. And, among other reasons, why he was so viscerally hated .. even by members of his own party. He reminded them of their class treason.
But, c'mon, start a Canadian imperialism thread. This one was really intended as a grab bag for the many circles of hell associated with the US Empire. Looking at the US is like looking at an incipient train wreck. Hard to look away. But looking at Canada is like looking at the ground moving by ... and realizing that you're on the train. You cannot be neutral on a moving train. (the late US historian Howard Zinn)
I agree with this part of your post completely.
The current corporate imperialism has morphed into a place where Canada's elite are the most viscious proponents of mining and have been accused over and over again of criminal acts up to and including murder to stifle opposition to the environmental impacts of their destructive processes. Many of those companies are Western Canada based in Vancouver or Calgary. Another niche is in planning and logistics and SNC-Lavilin originally from Quebec but part of every corrupt project in BC also adds to the Canadian mosaic of imperial Free Traders.
To reiterate Ikosmos's point; "start a Canadian imperialism thread. This one was really intended as a grab bag for the many circles of hell associated with the US Empire."
Mon, 2015-08-10 13:29
#261
ikosmos
What-about-ism, a characteristic (not unfairly) attributed to Soviet regime apologists, is now a useful defaut for debunkers of "excessive criticism" of the US Empire. So we may be SOL. meh.
Mon, 2015-08-10 13:40
#262
Yes, "'it's just a joke" is the usual comeback for those scratching their head at supposed jokes that are a cover for anger and demonizing people.
I just wasn't sure what the butt of the joke was k, hence the confusion. Is this somehow divine justice for all those Edmonton Riders fans who voted NDP in their last election? Our evil premier? The American with the busted tendon and bent arm? If its their sponsors is it the Uranium company or the co-op and our public utilities (which we still have despite being wannabe Americans)?
I guess why I'm really scratching my head is because that joke doesn't work about the province that is supposedly the heartland of American wannabees - that, and that it is based largely on a nasty injury., Should I point the finger at those nasty NDP-voting (and presumably real Canadian) Manitobans because their team delivered both the elbow and leg injuries?
You should really get a sport show. I'd love your take on how the role of the great satan and his political minions figures in NHL team fortunes.
(and since you are waxing superstitious, the ultimate example has to be the Maple Leafs as divine revenge for Bay Street and Central Canadian Hegemony)
Or maybe tell us more about this Canadian ethos, and more about who are the real Canadians and who aren't. I think Harper was just scratching the surface which restricting voting rights based on arbitrary things like place of birth. You might be on to a far better measure for us to strike people's names out of the book.
Mon, 2015-08-10 16:30
#263
You claim to live in the Praries. I actually have lived in Saskatoon so it would never ever occur to me that Riders meant Edmonton.
Having a bad day again? Don't worry tomorrow should be better for you.
Mon, 2015-08-10 22:28
#264
swallow
But, c'mon, start a Canadian imperialism thread. This one was really intended as a grab bag for the many circles of hell associated with the US Empire. Looking at the US is like looking at an incipient train wreck. Hard to look away. But looking at Canada is like looking at the ground moving by ... and realizing that you're on the train. You cannot be neutral on a moving train. (the late US historian Howard Zinn)
I don't start clickbait threads on entire countries, I'm more interested in threads on issues. The last thread I started was http://rabble.ca/babble/international-news-and-politics/un-human-rights-...
The entire presmise of this thread seems to be USA uniquely bad. I simply do not buy the premise. The undertone, of course, is the "rally round Russia" spin that inspires all the Putinophile threads on babble.
Tue, 2015-08-11 09:53
#265
Ah, so that was what you meant. Just making sure, as you didn't say so explicitly who your wannabees were. As I said, a joke told through gritted teeth isn't really a joke, and I thought the stereotype was supposed to be Americans reducing it all to sport and what country you come from.
Though in this case I guess it is whole provinces which don't live up to your Canadian ethos. Again I wonder who else would fail your citizenship test and be part of the U S of Atrocity in your books.
You may be proving my point that we aren't so different after all.
Tue, 2015-08-11 11:21
#266
The entire presmise of this thread seems to be USA uniquely bad. I simply do not buy the premise. The undertone, of course, is the "rally round Russia" spin that inspires all the Putinophile threads on babble.
As much as we're turned off by people who like to glue their lips to Putin's derriere, the USA is no more unique than any other imperialistic nation in history populated by enablers who vote. The USA is only unique to our era in that it so often demonstrates the vicious capacity to carry out an agenda based on a culturally ingrained sense of superiority and exceptionalism. When compared to other eras, the European Fascist era of the 30s stands out as a valid comparison to what the Americans have going on in their country today.
Tue, 2015-08-11 11:54
#267
The entire presmise of this thread seems to be USA uniquely bad. I simply do not buy the premise. The undertone, of course, is the "rally round Russia" spin that inspires all the Putinophile threads on babble.
Yes indeed I would agree that I see this as a thread to opine that the US is uniquely evil at this point in history. I thought that discussing disagreements on politics and international affairs was the premise of this chat site. Of course with all the American syncophants that inhabit the internet it is hard to find anyplace to discuss that viewpoint without enduring nasty personal attacks. Here at least most of the personal attacks for not sharing the majority's views are veiled and immediately retracted as a misunderstanding when certain posters are called out.
I don't give a flying fuck about Putin so I wish that people would just stop with the falsehood that if you hate America you must love Putin or North Korea or (please insert current non-USA country to be villified for hating OUR civilization)
Tue, 2015-08-11 12:00
#268
Ah, so that was what you meant. Just making sure, as you didn't say so explicitly who your wannabees were. As I said, a joke told through gritted teeth isn't really a joke, and I thought the stereotype was supposed to be Americans reducing it all to sport and what country you come from.
Though in this case I guess it is whole provinces which don't live up to your Canadian ethos. Again I wonder who else would fail your citizenship test and be part of the U S of Atrocity in your books.
You may be proving my point that we aren't so different after all.
Anyone who thinks the Riders are from Edmonton has nothing to teach me about Canadian culture or ethos.
Your personal attacks are predictable and boring. Do you ever actually discuss any issue or do you always just attack the people posting whose views you disagree with. Like this quote you don't actually even talk about what other posts say but instead import your own spin onto others posts and then attack that.
Go to a cornfield you will be more usefull.
Tue, 2015-08-11 13:17
#269
ikosmos
I don't start clickbait threads on entire countries, I'm more interested in threads on issues. The last thread I started was http://rabble.ca/babble/international-news-and-politics/un-human-rights-...The entire presmise of this thread seems to be USA uniquely bad. I simply do not buy the premise. The undertone, of course, is the "rally round Russia" spin that inspires all the Putinophile threads on babble.
I'm with Kropotkin on this one. It seems that some babblers are unable to rise to the level of understanding in which inter-capitalist rivalries form a basis for political strategies of one kind or another. The US Empire, as this thread continues to demonstrate, should be compared to the Great Satan that the late Iranian leader termed it.
Here's another reason why. BTW, Chalmers Johnson is the former CIA analyst who coined the term "blowback" to describe the consequences of covert and deadly foreign policy by the US regime on their own country. Johnson used this term before 9-11, by the way.
Best of TomDispatch: Chalmers Johnson on Garrisoning the Planet
No country comes anywhere close to the quantity and quality of garrisoning the planet as the US empire does. No one. In contrast, e.g., the Russian Federation has something like 3-5 such bases - all of which pretty well are in the US-funded terrorist areas of Asia. The foreign policy aims are so radically different - the US one of permanent and violent dominance of planet earth, willing even to risk the extermination of life on the planet to do so - that it might be useful to speak of the US "space aliens" .
They do not come in peace and they should leave in pieces.
Tue, 2015-08-11 13:21
#270
Tue, 2015-08-11 14:11
#271
ikosmos
from Empire of Bases
As distinct from other peoples, most Americans do not recognize -- or do not want to recognize -- that the United States dominates the world through its military power. Due to government secrecy, our citizens are often ignorant of the fact that our garrisons encircle the planet. This vast network of American bases on every continent except Antarctica actually constitutes a new form of empire -- an empire of bases with its own geography not likely to be taught in any high school geography class. Without grasping the dimensions of this globe-girdling Baseworld, one can't begin to understand the size and nature of our imperial aspirations or the degree to which a new kind of militarism is undermining our constitutional order....The military prefers bases that resemble small fundamentalist towns in the Bible Belt rather than the big population centers of the United States. For example, even though more than 100,000 women live on our overseas bases -- including women in the services, spouses, and relatives of military personnel -- obtaining an abortion at a local military hospital is prohibited. Since there are some 14,000 sexual assaults or attempted sexual assaults each year in the military, women who become pregnant overseas and want an abortion have no choice but to try the local economy, which cannot be either easy or pleasant in Baghdad or other parts of our empire these days...
In his notorious "long, hard slog" memo on Iraq of October 16, 2003, Defense secretary Rumsfeld wrote, "Today, we lack metrics to know if we are winning or losing the global war on terror." Correlli Barnett's "metrics" indicate otherwise. But the "war on terrorism" is at best only a small part of the reason for all our military strategizing. The real reason for constructing this new ring of American bases along the equator is to expand our empire and reinforce our military domination of the world.
There is no regime in the history of the world like this one. Not even close.
Tue, 2015-08-11 15:08
#272
To spell it out, the inside joke for those of us who DO live here is that half of Calgary and edmonton are riders fans because they moved there for work.
Maybe we can get back to how evil the Americans (and whomever doesn't make the grade) are.
Tue, 2015-08-11 16:48
#273
Maybe we can get back to how evil the Americans (and whomever doesn't make the grade) are.
I think we're basically looking at:
1] Americans
2] American bootlickers
3] American stooges
4] American apologists
Tue, 2015-08-11 19:38
#274
swallow
The entire presmise of this thread seems to be USA uniquely bad. I simply do not buy the premise. The undertone, of course, is the "rally round Russia" spin that inspires all the Putinophile threads on babble.
Yes indeed I would agree that I see this as a thread to opine that the US is uniquely evil at this point in history. I thought that discussing disagreements on politics and international affairs was the premise of this chat site. Of course with all the American syncophants that inhabit the internet it is hard to find anyplace to discuss that viewpoint without enduring nasty personal attacks. Here at least most of the personal attacks for not sharing the majority's views are veiled and immediately retracted as a misunderstanding when certain posters are called out.
I don't give a flying fuck about Putin so I wish that people would just stop with the falsehood that if you hate America you must love Putin or North Korea or (please insert current non-USA country to be villified for hating OUR civilization)
The remark about the pro-Putin set was not aimed at you, not in the slightest.
Tue, 2015-08-11 19:44
#275
I don't give a flying fuck about Putin so I wish that people would just stop with the falsehood that if you hate America you must love Putin
Any thoughts on the idea that if you don't love Putin, you must then love Amerikkka? That one seems to have popped up from time to time.
I'd add more, but I'm off to my golf game with Jeb Bush. Wish me luck!
Tue, 2015-08-11 21:36
#276
Its right up there with; if you don't love the IDF you must then love the current recipient of the "Terror Group of the Month" award.
Tue, 2015-08-11 21:57
#277
ya what's with this either or positioning? it gets pretty tiresome. life is way more nuanced than the way some portray it.
Wed, 2015-08-12 12:04
#278
ikosmos
Conditions in American prisons increasingly resemble those in the torture chambers of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, where prisoners have been shackled, strung from ceilings, waterboarded, beaten and sexually humiliated. After fifteen years of the “war on terror,” the barbaric torture methods previously inflicted on the populations of Iraq and Afghanistan are becoming increasingly commonplace at home.
ooh rah. Dickensian cruelty.
Wed, 2015-08-12 12:24
#279
ikosmos
To offer one more example, since December 2001 U.S. air power has obliterated at least eight wedding parties in three countries (Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen). According to my count (and as far as I know there are no others), just under 300 people died in these eight strikes, including brides, grooms, and celebrants of every sort. Each of these incidents was reported in the western media, but none had the slightest impact here. They went essentially unnoticed. To put this in perspective, imagine for a moment the media uproar, the shock, the scandal, the 24/7 coverage, if anyone or any group were to knock off a single wedding party in this country.And this just scratches the surface of Washington's long “global war on terror.”
Uncle Sam: "I now pronounce you husband and wife. Prepare to die. "
USA! USA! How many wedding parties did you bomb today?!
Wed, 2015-08-12 14:25
#280
ikosmos
The USA give a whole new meaning to the phrase, "till death do us part".
Supplemental: Washington's Wedding Album from Hell.
“Bride and Boom!” - We’re Number One... In Obliterating Wedding Parties (2013)
"Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name.
But what's confusing you
is the nature of my game."
Thu, 2015-08-13 03:02
#281
Israel's Proxies Hell-Bent On Destroying America For Israel? - by James Petras
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article42607.htm
"...Several fundamental issues concerning the nature of US policymaking, the power of a foreign regime (Israel) in deciding questions of war and peace and the role of organized power configurations with overseas loyalties play in making and breaking executive and legislative authorities.
To investigate these fundamental issues, it is important to discuss the historical context leading up to the rise of this paradoxical situation: Where a 'global power' is subject to the dictates of a second-rate state, through the strategic penetration and influence by domestic organizations, composed of 'nominal citizens' of the subject state with 'divided (to put it politely) loyalties.'
Although not relevant to this thread, similarly 'fundamental issues' of 'penetration and influence,' clearly apply to Canada as well.
Thu, 2015-08-13 14:00
#282
ikosmos
About being black in America.
This pernicious myth inspired a series of tweets by Ijeoma Oluo highlighting the impossible rules: Don’t reach for your wallet, don’t play with a toy sword, shop at Wal Mart or wear a hoodie, Oluo wrote, "and maybe they won’t kill you."
There is an online game, allowing players to experience the cruel brutality of it all to some degree, by Akira Thompson.
Over here! Please let us know if you were able to access the online game.
Thu, 2015-08-13 22:09
#283
They Live, We Sleep: A Dictatorship Disguised As A Democracy
http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2015/08/13/They-live-we-sleep-a-dictator...
'You see them on the street. You watch them on TV. You might even vote for one this fall. You think they're people just like you. You're wrong. Dead wrong.' - They Live.
Ruled by an oligarchy, disguised as a democracy, on our way towards fascism.
All is not as it seems..."
Mon, 2015-08-17 15:57
#284
Noam Chomsky: Neoliberal Assault Led to Significant Decline in Democracy (and vid)
http://www.rt.com/shows/going-underground/250845-noam-chomsky-us-yemen/
"Noam Chomsky on the crisis engulfing the West and the 'disaster' of neoliberalism."
Hybrid Wars: The Indirect Adaptive Approach to Regime Change - by Andrew Korybko
http://thesaker.is/hybrid-wars-the-indirect-adaptive-approach-to-regime-...
"Sputnik International's political analyst and journalist Andrew Korybko just published his new book. His detailed work proves that Color Revolutions are a new form of warfare engineered by the US, with everything from their organizational makeup to geopolitical applications being guided by US strategists. The US is far ahead of any other country in practising this new method of warfare..."
Tue, 2015-08-18 10:25
#285
Texas Official Suggests Bombing Muslims With Nuclear Weapons
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2015/08/18/425219/US-Sid-Miller-atomic-bomb
"Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller has posted a Facebook photo suggesting bombing of 'The Muslim World' with nuclear weapons. The FB photo posted on Sunday night shows a mushroom cloud rising up through the air after the explosion of an atomic bomb, with a text saying
'Japan has been at peace with the United States sicne August 9, 1945. It's time we made peace with the Muslim world.' In January Miller said he could not sleep at night for fear of the US becoming a 'Muslim country.'
Tue, 2015-08-18 10:29
#286
swallow
Horrifying. As horrifying as the "Muslim" groups that want to destory America.
Tue, 2015-08-18 21:04
#287
ikosmos
The Cover-up of Torture in America’s Prisons
Last week, the New York Times reported allegations that prison guards systematically tortured inmates at Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York following the high profile escape of two inmates.More than 60 prisoners filed complaints claiming that they suffered abuse, including beatings, stranglings and death threats. Most significant, however, was the apparent personal involvement of New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, in these brutal actions.
Awash in violence, blood and death.
But those damn Rooooooooooooooooooooskies!
Wed, 2015-08-19 14:09
#288
swallow
You really should stop using derogatory smears against Russians, someone will report you in the Russophobia thread.
Wed, 2015-08-19 17:46
#289
CrossTalk: Undiplomatic Power (and vid)
http://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/312807-undiplomatic-power-un-genocide/
"How should we assess the behaviour of Samantha Power, Washington's top diplomat at the UN?
CrossTalking with Daniel McAdams, Scott Rickard and Patrick Smith
Power in the Service of Power - by Finian Cunningham
http://www.rt.com/op-edge/311393-samantha-power-un-veto/
Wed, 2015-08-19 18:01
#290
alan smithee
Israel's Proxies Hell-Bent On Destroying America For Israel? - by James Petras
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article42607.htm
"...Several fundamental issues concerning the nature of US policymaking, the power of a foreign regime (Israel) in deciding questions of war and peace and the role of organized power configurations with overseas loyalties play in making and breaking executive and legislative authorities.
To investigate these fundamental issues, it is important to discuss the historical context leading up to the rise of this paradoxical situation: Where a 'global power' is subject to the dictates of a second-rate state, through the strategic penetration and influence by domestic organizations, composed of 'nominal citizens' of the subject state with 'divided (to put it politely) loyalties.'
Although not relevant to this thread, similarly 'fundamental issues' of 'penetration and influence,' clearly apply to Canada as well.
This is very interesting. I always viewed Israel as the snot nosed trouble maker in the playground always hiding behind their big brother (US and now Canada)which happens to be the school yard bully.
Why does a country with such a powerful army (and nukes) have to have other militaries fighting their wars?
Something stinks about that.
Wed, 2015-08-19 18:06
#291
Why does a country with such a powerful army (and nukes) have to have other militaries fighting their wars?
Because they can...
Wed, 2015-08-19 18:18
#292
alan smithee
Why does a country with such a powerful army (and nukes) have to have other militaries fighting their wars?
Because they can...
True. But it's still unacceptable.(not that anybody cares)
Sat, 2015-08-29 21:02
#293
ikosmos
West Point Professor calls on the US military to target legal critics of the "War on Terror".
An assistant professor in the law department of the US Military Academy at West Point has argued that legal scholars critical of the war on terrorism represent a “treasonous” fifth column that should be attacked as enemy combatants.In a lengthy academic paper, the professor, William C Bradford, proposes to threaten “Islamic holy sites” as part of a war against undifferentiated Islamic radicalism. That war ought to be prosecuted vigorously, he wrote, “even if it means great destruction, innumerable enemy casualties, and civilian collateral damage”.
Other “lawful targets” for the US military in its war on terrorism, Bradford argues, include “law school facilities, scholars’ home offices and media outlets where they give interviews” – all civilian areas, but places where a “causal connection between the content disseminated and Islamist crimes incited” exist.
"Kill 'em all and let the Christian God sort 'em out."
It seems that the Professor has been mis-representing himself somewhat, and the US military authorities, having been exposed, were quick to distance the views in the article from "official" US policy.
Mon, 2015-08-31 01:05
#294
ikosmos
Chris Hedges, from The Great Unravelling: "The ideological and physical hold of American imperial power, buttressed by the utopian ideology of neoliberalism and global capitalism, is unraveling. Most, including many of those at the heart of the American empire, recognize that every promise made by the proponents of neoliberalism is a lie. Global wealth, rather than being spread equitably, as neoliberal proponents promised, has been funneled upward into the hands of a rapacious, oligarchic elite, creating vast economic inequality. The working poor, whose unions and rights have been taken from them and whose wages have stagnated or declined over the past 40 years, have been thrust into chronic poverty and underemployment, making their lives one long, stress-ridden emergency. The middle class is evaporating. Cities that once manufactured products and offered factory jobs are boarded up-wastelands. Prisons are overflowing. Corporations have orchestrated the destruction of trade barriers, allowing them to stash $2.1 trillion in profits in overseas banks to avoid paying taxes. And the neoliberal order, despite its promise to build and spread democracy, has hollowed out democratic systems to turn them into corporate leviathans.
Democracy, especially in the United States, is a farce, vomiting up right-wing demagogues such as Donald Trump, who has a chance to become the Republican presidential nominee and perhaps even president, or slick, dishonest corporate stooges such as Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and, if he follows through on his promise to support the Democratic nominee, even Bernie Sanders. The labels “liberal” and “conservative” are meaningless in the neoliberal order. Political elites, Democrat or Republican, serve the demands of corporations and empire. They are facilitators, along with most of the media and most of academia, of what the political philosopher Sheldon Wolin calls our system of “inverted totalitarianism.” "
We in the United States are not morally superior to Islamic State. We are responsible for over a million dead in Iraq and 4 million Iraqis who have been displaced or forced to become refugees. We kill in greater numbers. We kill more indiscriminately. Our drones, warplanes, heavy artillery, naval bombardments, machine guns, missiles and so-called special forces—state-run death squads—have decapitated far more people, including children, than Islamic State has. When Islamic State burned a Jordanian pilot alive in a cage it replicated what the United States does daily to families by incinerating them in their homes in bombing strikes. It replicated what Israeli warplanes do in Gaza. Yes, what Islamic State did was cruder. But morally it was the same.
" Keep shooting unarmed black men and women in the streets of American cities while ignoring the nonviolent protests calling for an end to the state lynching and terror, and guess what will happen? "
Thu, 2015-09-03 16:11
#295
ikosmos
America’s descent into totalitarian violence is accelerating. Like the Bush regime, the Obama regime has a penchant for rewarding Justice (sic) Department officials who trample all over the US Constitution.
America: The Rise Of The Inhumanes
"Welcome to America today. It is a land in which facts have been redefined as enemy propaganda, a land in which legally protected whistleblowers are redefined as “fifth columns” or foreign agents subject to extermination, a land in which America is immune from criticism and all crimes are blamed on those whom Washington intends to rule."
Thu, 2015-09-03 17:05
#296
lot's to think on in the article. think i might see if there's books of his at the library
Mon, 2015-09-07 20:07
#297
Empire Files with Abby Martin Launches First Show
In teleSUR's new show, Abby Martin traces the history of the U.S. empire and the growing presence of military bases around the globe
Tue, 2015-09-08 00:09
#298
ikosmos
Chris Hedges on the real enemy: "If you are not dedicated to the destruction of empire and the dismantling of American militarism, then you cannot count yourself as a member of the left. It is not a side issue. It is the issue. It is why I refuse to give a pass in this presidential election campaign to Bernie Sanders, who refuses to confront the war industry or the crimes of empire, including U.S. support for the slow genocide carried out by Israel against the Palestinians. There will be no genuine democratic, social, economic or political reform until we destroy our permanent war machine."
Chris Hedges sorta quotes Pogo: "We have met the enemy and he is us. "
There can be no rational debate about empire with many desperate Americans who have ingested this as their creed. The distortion of neoliberalism has left them little else. Here lies the virus of fascism, wrapped in the American flag, held aloft by the Christian cross and buttressed by white supremacy. It is a potent and dangerous force within the body politic. And it is growing.
Tue, 2015-09-15 14:30
#299
ikosmos
‘Not your BMW!’: Woman sues NYC after being forced into psych ward by police, injected with drugs
This lady was pulled over by the police, and, since the cops refused to believe the car she was driving was her own, [driving while black, you know!] arrested and put in a mental institution where whe she was injected with drugs, etc. Talk about Soviet psych. wards horrors. It seems Russia and the USA have traded positions in the world.
USA! USA! How many African Americans did you torture today?
Tue, 2015-09-15 14:53
#300
My only disagreement with Hedges would be the term "Empire" rather than "Imperialism", because it is too unilateral. Yes, of course we must be anti-imperialist and anti-militarist to be serious leftists. But there is not a single "Empire"; that gives the European Union quite a pass for one thing.
Tue, 2015-09-15 14:58
#301
I believe it's in reference to the Negri and Hardt version, where 'Empire' is the name given to the over-arching situation, with plenty of competitive sub-actors like the EU, the BRICS, and certainly the US.