Showing posts with label Imperialism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Imperialism. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Today in U.S. history we should note: Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make Colonialism’s History Book
"On March 1, 1954, the members of the U.S. house of representatives were busily discussing their empire, making decisions that would affect people the world over. One of the topics to be discussed that day was the status of the Chamizal district between Texas and Mexico, that the Mexican government wanted back (and which the U.S. did not want to give up). The rulers of the United States empire were also going to discuss Puerto Rico that day since our nation was still reacting to the attempted revolution of 1950. It was twelve noon when a woman and three men stood up in the spectators gallery. The small, slender woman, Lolita Lebron, grabbed her .45 automatic with both hands, fired the first shots and kept on going until her clip was empty.
Readable 1280x1558 image here. H/t: BabylonFalling for the great scans
About that 1950 Revolution (google) which was actually a series of uprisings (wikipedia) throughout the early 1950s. Wikipedia has an whole entry for the Jayuya Uprising, led by a women, Blanca Canales
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Perspectives: On The Topic Of Muammar al-Gadaffi, Other 'Brutal Dictators', And 'Atrocities'
THIS in an "Atrocity":
"We don't do body counts" ~~General Tommy Franks srcBut, of course that was just another lie:
"The Wikileaks Iraq war logs provide us with a unique picture of every death in Iraq.
These are those events mapped using Google Fusion tables."
When the Hand Cursor points at a red dot, click once for the specifics of that particular death.
[Baghdad alone. This map zooms out to cover every death in Iraq at the time of 'purloin-ment']
Fullscreen online version available here
[Download the data]
Go To The Guardian (UK) For More
Monday, October 10, 2011
Auntie's Bookshelf: American History 101 - Readings On The Advent Of 'Indigenous Annihilation Day', Howard Zinn
by Howard Zinn
Presented by History Is A Weapon.
A Note and Disclaimer are below.
1. Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress
3. Persons of Mean and Vile Condition
7. As Long As Grass Grows Or Water Runs
8. We Take Nothing by Conquest, Thank God
9. Slavery Without Submission, Emancipation Without Freedom
14. War Is the Health of the State
16. A People's War?
18. The Impossible Victory: Vietnam
19. Surprises
20. The Seventies: Under Control?
21. Carter-Reagan-Bush: The Bipartisan Consensus
23. The Clinton Presidency and the Crisis of Democracy
24. The Coming Revolt of the Guards
25. The 2000 Election and the "War on Terrorism"
A Note and a disclaimer.
The Note: This great book should really be read by everyone. It is difficult to describe why it so great because it both teaches and inspires. You really just have to read it. We think it is so good that it demands to be as accessible as possible. Once you've finished it, we're sure you'll agree. In fact, years ago, we would offer people twenty dollars if they read the book and didn't think it was completely worth their time. Of all the people who took us up on it, no one collected.
The disclaimer: This version is made from OCR. That is a fancy way of saying that we scanned in and coded over six hundred fifty pages. There will be a few small occasional errors: spelling mistakes, odd punctuation, and the like. If you see any, please contact us. We have posted it in spite of these mistakes for two simple reasons. First, the book is worth a mistake or two because it really deserves the widest audience possible. Second, we are sure that once you new people begin reading it, you'll go out and get a physical copy. You should go and get it (and ones for your friends and family). At this point, A People's History Of The United States is available in regular form, read aloud on audio, on posters, in a teaching edition, and as just the twentieth century chapters (we have all but the posters). And now here. Please Enjoy!
"Stop Thinking Like An "American" (more on that here)
Saturday, September 3, 2011
West Point Study - Libyan 'Rebels' Are Also Most Likely To Be The 'Foreign Fighters' Killing US Troops In Iraq
[Click for full size chart. Courtesy of West Point Military Academy and Land Destroyer]
Taken from a US West Point study [West Point, PDF] these graphs created by data obtained in Iraq clearly show that Libya's eastern region, and the cities of Darnah and Benghazi in particular, provided by far more militants found fighting US troops in Iraq than any other nation, including Saudi Arabia.
Further, a major part of the Libyan "rebel" army is still on U.S. State Department Terrorist Organization sanctions list:
"Belhaj/al-Hasidi and his men are being portrayed as reformed terrorists despite the fact that they are still LIFG fighters and LIFG itself is still listed as an international terrorist organization."
All docs at the above link, and an update here:
"West Point CTC Confirms LIFG Terrorists Leading Libyan Rebellion - then apologizes for them."
Friday, September 2, 2011
More Reasons The West Wants Muammar al-Gadffi Dead Or Gone (via William Blum, The Anti-Empire Report)
Part 1, "Why They Want Muammar al-Gadaffi Dead... The War On Libya Is A War On Most Of Africa" is here
The following is excerpted from: Libya and the world we live in, William Blum, The Anti-Empire Report September 1st, 2011
The desire to get rid of Gaddafi had been building for years; the Libyan leader had never been a reliable pawn; then the Arab Spring provided the excellent opportunity and cover.
As to Why? Take your pick of the following:
Gaddafi's plans to conduct Libya's trading in Africa in raw materials and oil in a new currency — the gold African dinar, a change that could have delivered a serious blow to the US's dominant position in the world economy. (In 2000, Saddam Hussein announced Iraqi oil would be traded in euros, not dollars; sanctions and an invasion followed.) For further discussion see here.
A host-country site for Africom, the US Africa Command, one of six regional commands the Pentagon has divided the world into. Many African countries approached to be the host have declined, at times in relatively strong terms. Africom at present is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. According to a State Department official: "We've got a big image problem down there. ... Public opinion is really against getting into bed with the US. They just don't trust the US." (The Guardian (London), June 25, 2007)
An American military base to replace the one closed down by Gaddafi after he took power in 1969. There's only one such base in Africa, in Djibouti. Watch for one in Libya sometime after the dust has settled. It'll perhaps be situated close to the American oil wells. Or perhaps the people of Libya will be given a choice — an American base or a NATO base. Another example of NATO desperate to find a raison d'être for its existence since the end of the Cold War and the Warsaw Pact.
Gaddafi's role in creating the African Union (ed. Libya is one of five countries along with Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa, that cover 75 percent of the AU's budget). The corporate bosses never like it when their wage slaves set up a union. The Libyan leader has also supported a United States of Africa for he knows that an Africa of 54 independent states will continue to be picked off one by one and abused and exploited by the members of the Triumvirate. Gaddafi has moreover demanded greater power for smaller countries in the United Nations.
(Editorial note from Auntie Imp: More information about Libya's relations with the African Union and the country's funding of development projects throughout Africa can be found here. The funding of those projects was contingent on the recipient nation's attempts at reducing government corruption.)
The claim by Gaddafi's son, Saif el Islam, that Libya had helped to fund Nicolas Sarkozy's election campaign could have humiliated the French president and explain his obsessiveness and haste in wanting to be seen as playing the major role in implementing the "no fly zone" and other measures against Gaddafi. A contributing factor may have been the fact that France has been weakened in its former colonies and neo-colonies in Africa and the Middle East, due in part to Gaddafi's influence.
Gaddafi has been an outstanding supporter of the Palestinian cause and critic of Israeli policies; and on occasion has taken other African and Arab countries, as well as the West, to task for their not matching his policies or rhetoric; one more reason for his lack of popularity amongst world leaders of all stripes.
In January, 2009, Gaddafi made known that he was considering nationalizing the foreign oil companies in Libya. He also has another bargaining chip: the prospect of utilizing Russian, Chinese and Indian oil companies. During the current period of hostilities, he invited these countries to make up for lost production. But such scenarios will now not take place. The Triumvirate will instead seek to privatize the National Oil Corporation, transferring Libya's oil wealth into foreign hands.
The American Empire is troubled by any threat to its hegemony. In the present historical period the empire is concerned mainly with Russia and China. China has extensive energy investments and construction investments in Libya and elsewhere in Africa. The average American neither knows nor cares about this. The average American imperialist cares greatly, if for no other reason than in this time of rising demands for cuts to the military budget it's vital that powerful "enemies" be named and maintained.
For yet more reasons, see the article "Why Regime Change in Libya?" by Ismael Hossein-zadeh, and the US diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks — Wikileaks reference 07TRIPOLI967 11-15-07 (includes a complaint about Libyan "resource nationalism")
William Blum is the author of:
Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War 2
Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower
West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir
Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire
Portions of the books can be read, and signed copies purchased, at www.killinghope.org
Friday, July 29, 2011
Why They Want Muammar al-Gadaffi Dead... The War On Libya Is A War On Most Of Africa
Updated... MORE reasons why the West wants Muammar al-Gadffi dead
Also let it be noted that Reuters has modified their 'Factbox'. There are a number of strategic-to-the-West countries such as Somalia where their mention as having been assisted by Libya has been redacted. Yours truly has seen the original un-expurgated copy, and it is reproduced in full here. I stand by this copy, complete with all errors, ie. "...the Libyan Central Bank announced Libya would provide $50 in grants..."
At the top... For the Keep It Simple Silly crowd.
Muammar al-Gaddafi put $97 billion of his country's money 'where his mouth is' to keep Africa from needing Western Imperial assistance on the condition that the African states receiving the aid rid themselves of corruption and nepotism.
Consider that Western "Assistance" looks something like this...
Contractors And Others Steal Half Of Food Aid To Somalia
"New York - At least half of the World Food Programme's food supplies to Somalia's needy people has been diverted by unscrupulous contractors, radical Islamist militants and even UN staff in the country, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
The Times said an unpublished report by the UN Security Council would recommend that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon launch an investigation into WFP's operations in Somalia considering the severity of the food aid diversion."
[In case you need a catch-up on 'corruption' there's a whole other piece Auntie posted, including a discussion of "Why DOES Somalia NEED "food aid" in the first place?" Here.]
Continuing...
So it's sort of obvious that, in a very real way, the War on Libya is being fought because Libya was attempting to bring down an African network of corruption, and attempting to foil the continued maintenance by the West of an ongoing status quo... You can call it 'economic war', being pursued against most all the nations of Africa.
Here's how Libya's aid to Africa is being/has been being spent:
Source: Reuters, Factbox: Libyan aid and investment projects in Africa
AFRICAN UNION: Libya is one of the biggest contributors to the budget of the African Union. A Libyan diplomat told Reuters Libya is one of five countries -- the others are Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa -- which cover 75 percent of the Union's budget. "Libya makes its full required contribution to AU funds. Not all countries do and that buys it influence," a senior African Union official said.
MALI: For several years Mali has been confronted with the activities of the radical Islamist militia Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in its northern deserts. Gaddafi’s money and diplomacy have helped to resolve conflicts in northern Mali between rebels and the government. In 2010 Libya has given Mali two security planes to combat insecurity in the north of the country. These conflicts could flare up again if Gaddafi exits the stage. Nowadays Gaddafi has many supporters in Mali who regularly march to protest against the Western-led military intervention in Libya.
CONGO: Libya has put $65 billion into sovereign wealth funds, including one which is specifically designed to make investments in Africa. The Libyan Arab African Investment Company, a vehicle of Libya's Africa sovereign wealth fund, owns Le Meridien, one of the biggest hotels in Congo. The hotel is undergoing refurbishment paid for by Libyan investment. In 2010, Libya planned to fund the building of a highway north of Congo's capital Brazzaville, where also the building of a mosque is planned.
LIBERIA: Libya has provided millions in investment projects, helping to strengthen the rule of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in one of Africa’s most impoverished nations. Gaddafi's help includes the funding of a rubber processing factory built in Gbarnga, Bong County, a technical and vocational school for the handicapped, as well as Libyan assistance in helping Liberia tackle the food crisis and renovation for the Ducor Intercontinental Hotel.
NIGER: Also in Niger Gaddafi has helped to prop up the government and the authorities would become more fragile without his financial help. Libyan Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi visited Niger in August 2010 and announced the creation of a $100 million investment fund for Niger as part of a strengthening of bilateral ties. Under earlier agreements, Libya is contributing 100 million euros for the construction of a Trans-Sahara highway in the north of Niger, according to sources close to Niger's foreign ministry. The local subsidiary of Libya Oil, along with Total, are the major players in Niger's fuel retailing business.
CHAD: Gaddafi has been a key supporter of the government, which would weaken if it lost his aid revenue. Chad has been plagued by civil wars and invasions after its independence from France in 1960. After years of unrest, Gaddafi seals a peace agreement for Chad between four Chadian rebel groups and the Chadian government in 2007, which agreement was signed in Sirte.
In 2010 Libya made a huge investment in Chad's National Telecom, which meant a boost of the number of the Chadian mobile phone users from 100,000 to two million.
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Libya has helped to prop up the fragile government, sending paratroopers into the capital in 2001 to defeat a rebel assault. In 2008 Gaddafi played a role in the formation of a peace agreement between the government and rebel groups.
MAURITANIA: Gaddafi was the first head of state to visit after a 2008 coup which brought President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz to power. Aziz, who subsequently won a presidential election, has visited Gaddafi several times since then. Even Mauritanian opposition politicians have gone to Tripoli to pledge allegiance to the Libyan leader. Mauritania has debts to Libya of about $200 million. During discussions on debt relief in May 2010, the Libyan Central Bank announced Libya would provide $50 (Misprint by Reuters) in grants to build a hospital and a university. The university is to be named after Gaddafi.
SUDAN: The 20,000-troop peacekeeping mission in Dafur, jointly supported by the African Union and the United Nations, could be hampered if the African Union (AU) loses funding from Gaddafi and destabilize the country. Gaddafi, who blamed the crisis in Darfur on Israel, made a number of attempts to broker peace talks between Darfur rebels and the Sudanese government.
In October 2010, Gaddafi warned ahead of a vote on possible independence for South Sudan that a partition of the country would be a “contagious disease” that could spread to other African states.
ETHIOPIA: The African Union, based in Ethiopia's capital, could find itself in financial trouble if it loses the massive support that Gaddafi gives it. Under his rule, Libya supplied 15% of the AU’s membership dues, and it also paid the dues of many smaller and poorer African nations. To seek for a solution of the Eritrea-Ethiopia conflict, Gaddafi has sent a special envoy to Ethiopia in 2000. In 2008, Libya's OiLibya bought Shell Ethiopia. This agreement also included retaining all Shell employees, who were hoping to work in a better environment since a long time
SOMALIA: The African Union peace keeping mission, whose 8,000 soldiers are crucial to the battle against Islamic radicals in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, could be severely weakened if the AU lost the financial support of Gaddafi. In 2008 Libya decided to grant an investment fund to Somalia through the Sahel-Saharan Investment and Trade Bank to fund infrastructures such as roads and bridges within Somalia.
GAMBIA: Libyan firms own two hotels and the "Dream Park" entertainment centre in Gambia. Gambian agriculture has received support from Libya, including a donation of seven new tractors. In 2009 Gaddafi gave two camels to Gambian President Yahya Jammeh as a gift. The Libyan and Gambian presidents have exchanged visits and senior Gambian officials attended ceremonies in September to mark the anniversary of Gaddafi coming to power. On September 7, 2009, Gambia celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Al Fateh Revolution: "In Libya everyone enjoys Freedom!".
Thursday, December 9, 2010
"Who's The Terrorist?" Rapping About Life In Occupied Palestine (English subtitles)
A Rap about life in Occupied Palestine... Only CHRISTIAN-CULTURED ZIONISTS (including christian-cultured-zionist Jews) would prefer it this way.
It must be confusing for the Palestinians and Arabs... The occupiers LOOK like Jews... attend the rituals, use the trappings, BUT CULTURALLY AND SOCIOLOGICALLY their actions and motives are those of invading Christian Crusaders.
[Pop Out Player]
"The Book" on this topic:"If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with all others justly, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless, the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place... then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever." -Jeremiah 7:5-7The BIG guy said:"...then, (as in 'after ALL THOSE OTHER conditions are met like that little bit about the 'shedding of innocent blood') I will let you live in this place..."LIVE IN IT... NOT OWN IT.
Zionsm is a cancer in the lifeblood of Jewish culture, ready to destroy the Jewish tradition (and the lives of millions of Palestinians... "Not worth a Jewish fingernail" to SOME) at the drop of a yarmulke.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Every Known Death In The Iraq War Google Mapped From WikiLeaks Data
"We don't do body counts" ~~General Tommy Franks src
Wikileaks Iraq war logs: every death mapped
"The Wikileaks Iraq war logs provide us with a unique picture of every death in Iraq.
These are those events mapped using Google Fusion tables."
When the Hand Cursor points at a red dot, click once for the specifics of that particular death.
Go To The Guardian (UK) For More
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) responded to the WikiLeaks release on Friday with a statement saying, "We need a true accounting of the war in Iraq. The American people have a right to know how many innocent civilians were killed in a war based on lies."
"We must remember that the Iraqi people are still grieving over the loss of husbands, wives, sons and daughters who were innocent noncombatants," Kucinich stated. "We have a moral responsibility to acknowledge the massive loss to the people of Iraq and the world. ... The suffering of the Iraqi people is unfathomable." source
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Lookit ALL Those "Injuns"! - The Comanche and the Taliban... What The Indian Wars Tell Us About The Taliban, Stephen M. Walt
"...it is a sobering fact to realize that despite its clear interest in victory and its clear advantages in numbers, wealth, and technology, it took the United States nearly four decades to finally defeat the Comanche. If you are seeking a similarly decisive victory in Central Asia, therefore, you'd better be prepared to stay there in strength for a long, long time."(Stephen M. Walt is the Robert and Renée Belfer professor of international relations at Harvard University and co-wrote The Israel lobby and U.S. foreign policy (2007) with John J. Mearsheimer)
(The Comanche courtesy of Wikipedia)
The Comanche and the TalibanBy Stephen M. Walt
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
One of the most enjoyable books I've read in the past year was S. C. Gwynne's Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches. It's a terrific, gripping story, and I learned a great deal about aspects of U.S. history of which I was only partly aware.
In brief, the book tells the story of the U.S. effort to subdue the Comanche, the most powerful Native American tribe on the Great Plains. It was a bloody and fascinating struggle, in part because the Comanche proved so hard for the far more numerous and technologically superior Anglos to defeat. If you grew up with a John Ford/John Wayne/Randolph Scott view of the Old West, this book will be something of a revelation. And the saga of Quanah Parker himself, a Comanche war chief whose mother was a white woman kidnapped in 1836 at the age of nine, and "rescued" many years later (when her son Quanah was twelve years old), is itself a heart-rending tale of cultural conflict and personal tragedy.
As much as I enjoyed the book, I couldn't help but read it with the current war in Afghanistan in mind. In both cases, a numerically superior, wealthier, and more technologically advanced United States confronts a tribal adversary fighting on its home ground. And in both cases, the U.S. government faces an adversary that is cunning, ruthless, and by our standards even backward or barbaric.But as my late colleague Ernest May used to warn, when you make a historical analogy, it is a good idea to make a list of the ways the two situations differ, instead of just invoking the similarities.
So lest you think that the ultimate victory of the U.S. government over the Comanche heralds a similar victory over the Taliban, consider the following differences between the two situations...
Saturday, October 9, 2010
The Worthless War Chronicles - Afghanistan, Year Ten
Rethink Afghanistan
Auntie thinks we should all ruminate on what we've achieved in those ten long years.
Corrupt colonial governments?
Yes.
Peace?
No.
Security?
NOT!
Dead soldiers?
Absofuckinglutely!
Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard is tended to by fellow U.S. Marines in Afghanistan.
Photograph: Julie Jacobson/AP
But the Pentagon and the other monetarily interested parties in America's wars to feed the gaping maw of the Military-Financial-Educational-Industrial Complex want you to just simply play along with their murderous imperial wars like "Good Americans-cum-Germans" and certainly don't want you to think about... REALLY think about, those Absofuckinglutely dead soldiers.
(Here's what Stars and Stripes thinks too!)
They want you to think of...
"Little America In Afghanistan" (click)
[Pre-1942 American Classroom Salutes Flag]
Source, PoP dEFECT Radio, Courtesy of Skidmark Bob Freek Radio Santa Cruz |
The Way It Was, one day after, October 08, 2010:
Seven more fuel tankers have been burned in Pakistan as the country's security service, the ISI, is being accused of supporting the Talib in those attacks... and in Afghanistan the Talib have killed a politician ostensibly associated with the Northern Alliance (CIA affiliated Opium grower's army) and the Peace Commission/truce meeting is still in it's infancy with much secrecy and no word yet.
Juan Cole with more on our FUBAR involvement in the region:
Sen. Carl Levin of the Senate Armed Services Committee announced a report on Thursday on the way the private security contractors hired by the US military (even to guard bases!) are subject to little oversight, are corrupt, and sometimes pass on money or resources to what are essentially Taliban.[Quote Source]
That is, the US may be indirectly hiring the Taliban to hit US bases.
At the same time, the some 3000 Afghans serving in the private CIA army in Afghanistan have been accused of carrying out among the worst attacks in that country. Erica Gaston of the Open Society Institute talks about her own experiences on the ground in this regard.
The Open Society Foundation reports the finding of Open Society Institute social scientists that ordinary Afghans blame US and NATO military actions as much or more than they blame the Taliban for civilian losses.
The tendency to blame the US is visible in Todd Pitman’s excellent piece revisiting Marjah.
Remember Marjah?
This cluster of farm houses in the Taliban poppy-growing region of Helmand Province was supposed to be a demonstration project for Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s counter-insurgency campaign (take, clear, hold and build). All these months later, the US forces have not dislodged the Taliban, and it seems clear that there are places that GIs cannot go without incurring a firefight.
That is, the ‘clear’ phase has hit a Himalayan-sized snage. Much less hold and build. It was on the “success” of the Marjah campaign that the long-delayed attack on the major southern city of Qandahar was to have been modeled. I wouldn’t advise the US to try to attack and occupy Qandahar if they cannot even deal with Marjah.
While it won’t yield results soon, the negotiations of the Karzai government with insurgents are likely to point the way toward the end of the foreign military presence and the establishment of a new, more inclusive government in the medium to long term. [In Full @ Informed Comment]
One Last Thing... from Razer, with Auntie Imperial seconding:
An un-indicted co-conspirator in "Torture under the color of law" dies an early death.
He and his traitorous ilk WILL NOT be mourned.
Scott Caplan, a Portland lawyer who was caught up in a scandal over flying terror suspects to secret prisons, died this week after suffering a heart attack. He was 49.
As reported in The Lake Oswego Review, Caplan was playing tennis Monday at the Lake Oswego Tennis Center when he collapsed from a heart attack. He died on Tuesday morning.
In 2007, WW reported on Caplan’s ties to the CIA’s so-called “extraordinary rendition” program flying terror suspects to countries that practice torture.
Caplan’s law practice in large part consisted of acting as a registered agent for companies. In 2003 he set up Bayard Foreign Marketing LLC, a company whose listed owner—Leonard T. Bayard—had no official history and didn’t appear to exist.
In 2004, days after reporters blew open the story of the CIA’s secret flights, Bayard bought one of the program’s busiest planes from a company in Dedham, Mass., that reporters determined was a CIA front. The tail number of the Gulfstream V executive jet was changed, but it continued to make flights to countries like Egypt and Iraq... [More]
Sunday, September 12, 2010
This September 11th Get A Clue... There's A Reason "Bin laden didn't blow up the projects..."
F'rinstance, even just the other day:
On Tuesday alone, US drone attacks targeted suspected militants killed some 15 persons in the village of Dargah Mandi village on the outskirts of Miranshah, N. Waziristan’s main city.
The drone strikes have targeted fighters of the Haqqani network, one of five or so major insurgent groups fighting against the US & NATO presence in Afghanistan and against the Karzai government. Jalaluddin Haqqani is one of Ronald Reagan’s “Freedom Fighters,” who battled the Soviet occupiers of Afghanistan in the 1980s with American aid.
[Source: Juan Cole, Informed Comment]
Immortal Technique and Mos Def tell it... (Lyrics)
Friday, July 16, 2010
A Public Service Announcement From Auntie Imperial - America's Lifestyle Is Suicidal
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Chris Floyd - In Defense of George W. Bush ("We Did It ALL For You!")
Chris Floyd @ Empire Burlesque:
In Full @ Empire BurlesqueFaced with prosecution for their admitted deeds, the principals of the Bush Administration would have only one defense: precedent. They would have to show that their actions had been accepted practice in American government for many, many years -- from the very beginning, in fact -- and had never been regarded as prosecutable offenses before. To imprison them now -- or even execute them -- for carrying on the standard policies and practices of bipartisan governance stretching back for generations would surely constitute cruel and unusual punishment. It would be selective prosecution. It would be nothing less than the "criminalization of political differences" -- for the historical record clearly shows that aggression and torture have always been treated in the American system as political implements, tools of political policy, and not as criminal matters.
Thus the Bush defense team would have to put forth a mountain of historical evidence, laying out in great detail the use of military aggression and torture (both directly and by client states under American direction, for American purposes) over the entire course of U.S. history. Naturally, they would focus most of their attention on the decades since World War II, as this would involve institutions, agencies -- and even some of the same people -- that serve as instruments of American policy and practice today; It would be easier, and more relevant, to show the continuity with their more immediate bipartisan predecessors. But the older historical material would also be important in setting out the long-established precedents and philosophies in which modern policies are rooted.
It is here that I would want to contribute to the defense. I would gladly act as a lowly researcher for them, sifting through the accumulation of historical fact and insightful analysis provided over the years by such noted writers as Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, Arthur Silber, Alfred McCoy, Richard Seymour, Fred Anderson and Andrew Clayton, and far too many more to mention. And beyond these overviews and works of synthesis, there are the innumerable, highly detailed articles, studies, monographs, and full-scale scholarly works produced by historians in every field of specialty: political, economic, legal, cultural, military, and so on.
A war crimes trial of George Bush, Dick Cheney and their chief minions would be a public spectacle of perhaps unprecedented scope. Millions of people all over the world would be riveted to it every day; the American public especially would be hanging on its every word. To mount such a defense, on such a powerful platform, would devastate the myth of American exceptionalism like nothing else imaginable. Horrific atrocity, brutal arrogance, deadly ignorance -- again, by both direct and collateral hand -- would all be brought into the glaring light. The principle of violent domination -- continuous, accepted, celebrated, legitimized, institutionalized -- would stand revealed as a core value, if not the core value, of the American way...
Monday, March 15, 2010
So What Did You Expect From American "Democracy" - "Iraq poll results delayed again, amid mounting fraud claims"
Also see: Meet the New Iraqi Government Coalition, (Probably) the Same As the Old Coalition
"Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, whose State of Law coalition is leading in seven provinces - including Baghdad, which is by far the largest electoral prize in the race - sought to minimise the fraud allegations.In Full @ EarthTimesComplaints presented to the commission... ...will not change the election's results,"
More still @ Informed Comment, Asia Times and the Washington Post
Tags:
al-Maliki,
al-Sadr,
Allawi,
Empire,
Empire Building,
Imperialism,
Iraq Elections
Sunday, March 14, 2010
The Iraqi Elections: "Meet The New Boss, Same As The Old Boss"
Meet the New Iraqi Government Coalition, (Probably) the Same As the Old Coalition
In Full, FiredoglakeBy: Swopa Saturday March 13, 2010 5:00 pm
So the election results are trickling in slowly from the Iraqi parliamentary elections, and the coalition led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is expressing confidence that they will come away with the largest share of the votes — a confidence that may or may not be related to the gradually accumulating accusations of fraud in the ballot-counting process.Although all of the blocs that made up the Iraqi national legislature have frayed somewhat since the last round of elections at the end of 2005, virtually all of the major players are expected to return when the dust settles this time… most likely including al-Maliki as the prime minister.
Tags:
al-Maliki,
Allawi,
Elections,
Empire,
Empire Building,
Imperialism,
Iraq,
Iraq Elections,
War On Iraq
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
The Disaster-Industrial Complex At Work - Contractors And Others Steal Half Of Food Aid To Somalia
"New York - At least half of the World Food Programme's food supplies to Somalia's needy people has been diverted by unscrupulous contractors, radical Islamist militants and even UN staff in the country, the New York Times reported Wednesday.[In Full]
The Times said an unpublished report by the UN Security Council would recommend that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon launch an investigation into WFP's operations in Somalia considering the severity of the food aid diversion."
Why DOES Somalia NEED "food aid"?
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
The WTO, World Bank, and IMF - Destroying African (or 'your third world country's name here') Agriculture
Walden Bello, FPIFU.S. Agriculture Secretary John Block put it at the start of the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations in 1986, “the idea that developing countries should feed themselves is an anachronism from a bygone era. They could better ensure their food security by relying on U.S. agricultural products, which are available, in most cases at lower cost.
[In Full] (An excruciatingly detailed analysis of exactly how the West raped Africa's agricultural economy)
Monday, March 8, 2010
Children Rage Against The Deus Ex Machina ('No Future For Kids' Edition)
"Nietzsche argues that the deus ex machina creates a false sense of consolation that ought not to be sought..." [Wikipedia].
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