The following is a response to an invective filled diatribe against China I recently received:
I understand where you're coming from, and can agree with the facts as you present them. I am not naive about the situation in China, but I have a totally different perspective. I come from a country that enslaved millions of Africans under the most brutal conditions and which still discriminates and oppresses the vast majority of their descendants. The Obama's and Michael Jordon's are the exception to the rule. My country has also committed the most heinous genocide against millions of Native peoples who had a high spiritual civilization and who, in their remnants, live in dire poverty with a suicide rate nearly 5 times the national average. I live in a country that conquered one third of Mexico and now declares it's citizens, who once roamed freely through their own territory, illegal aliens. I will not criticize other countries, including China, for the sins that my country has not fully addressed or has ignored. China has its own national minority problems of which I am well aware. I have traveled through Xinjiang and areas where Tibetan nationals reside. I know of and have heard the prejudiced views that many Chinese have towards Tibetans, Uigurs, Koreans, Vietnamese, Japanese, South Asians, Arabs, and Europeans. Guess what. Chinese people are human and have similar prejudices as do people all over the world. This is not to make excuses, but I try to fight the good fight at home not thousands of miles away. The old cliche applies, people in glass houses should not throw stones.
The Han Chinese have a history of expansion and absorption of minority peoples that extends back to at least the Han dynasty. Most southern Chinese are genetically more similar to their non-assimilated minority neighbors than they are to northern Han Chinese. So given the history of my country and what we have wrought on African slaves, Native Americans and Mexican nationals there is little I can say about the situation in China. I wish China's national minorities had their rights better protected as the Chinese constitution warrants. I wish there were equal rights in my country as my constitution warrants. The civil rights movement in my country has met with equal measures of success and failure and I hope similar movements develop in China. But it is for the Chinese people in all their diversity to come to grips with their history and reach necessary accommodations.
I'm also very much aware of the problems engendered by Chinese industrial development. But my country with 5% of the world's population consumes 25% of it's energy production, while China with 20% of the world's population consumes 15%. If China consumed the same per capita amount of energy as the US they would consume 100% of the world's energy production. On a per capita basis China produces one fifth the greenhouse gases as do Americans. We have the luxury of being "environmentally conscious" while we contribute more greenhouse gases to global warming than any other country in the world. Of course we can't help ourselves because if we reduced our emissions it would lower our standard of living. But woe be it if China wants to raise living standards to a fraction of ours. So I will not sit on my high horse and criticize a country that has brought 100's of millions out of poverty in a mere two decades and which feeds one fifth of the world's population on 7% of the world's arable land!
As regards the situation in Tibet, I am a secularist and a fierce opponent of organized religion. While I have an affinity for eastern thought and philosophy over that of the West I will not pander to any god-king of whatever faith. To my mind the Pope, The Grand Ayatollah, the Chief Rabbi and the Dalai Lama are all frauds. They voice their pious platitudes while in the lap of luxury (by how many millions has the CIA and its front groups and the Indian government subsidized the Dalai Lama?). Read Wang Lixiong's Reflections on Tibet, Michael Parenti's Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth and William Blum's China, Tibet and the Propaganda Olympics. There are two sides to every story.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
After The Fall
The shooter in Knoxville was apparently influenced by the likes of Hannity, Savage and O'Reilly. No surprise there, he merely put into action their rhetoric. As it turns out many of the above trio's talking points directly emanate from the Bush White House, so its not much of a stretch to draw the obvious conclusion. I therefore think it quite appropriate to directly link the murderer, Jim Adkisson, with his mentor G. W. Bush. Hopefully the following graphic illustrates the ultimate fate of our current Fuhrer:
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
McCain: War Hero or Scumbag?
Many of us have heard rumblings about McCain’s experience as a POW not being as heroic as he and his handlers would have us believe.
As Douglas Valentine reported at Counterpunch:
The MSM and Obama both continue to portray McCain as a national hero, because of his POW status. Well I’m sorry to demur. I protested the War in Vietnam and I've protested the War in Iraq. The War in Vietnam was even more egregious. Our aim was to bomb North Vietnam into the Stone Age. Our airborne “Glory Boys” wrecked havoc on the civilian population of North Vietnam. They are no more heroes than were members of the German Luftwaffe in WW II. I know we want to pay homage to the grunts on the ground who were bamboozled into war. But McCain was a cold-blooded mass murderer. If he was a POW collaborator as well, then he sucks at both ends - both a prick and an ass-hole. Let the evidence be scrutinized and let a verdict be rendered. I for one have no qualms exposing John McCain for the duplicitous liar that he is. No quarter should be given when it comes to the likes of this bastard.
As Douglas Valentine reported at Counterpunch:
… according to one source, McCain’s collaboration may have had very real consequences. Retired Army Colonel Earl Hopper, a veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, contends that McCain divulged classified information North Vietnam used to hone their air defense system.
Hopper’s son, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Earl Pearson Hopper was, like McCain, shot down over North Vietnam. Hopper the younger, however, was declared “Missing in Action.” Stemming from the loss of his son, the elder Hopper co-founded the National League of Families, an organization devoted to the return of Vietnam War POWs.
According to the elder Hopper, McCain told his North Vietnamese captors, “highly classified information, the most important of which was the package routes, which were routes used to bomb North Vietnam. He gave in detail the altitude they were flying, the direction, if they made a turn… he gave them what primary targets the United States was interested in.” Hopper contends that the information McCain provided allowed the North Vietnamese to adjust their air-defenses. As result, Hopper claims, the US lost sixty percent more aircraft and in 1968, “called off the bombing of North Vietnam, because of the information McCain had given to them.”
The MSM and Obama both continue to portray McCain as a national hero, because of his POW status. Well I’m sorry to demur. I protested the War in Vietnam and I've protested the War in Iraq. The War in Vietnam was even more egregious. Our aim was to bomb North Vietnam into the Stone Age. Our airborne “Glory Boys” wrecked havoc on the civilian population of North Vietnam. They are no more heroes than were members of the German Luftwaffe in WW II. I know we want to pay homage to the grunts on the ground who were bamboozled into war. But McCain was a cold-blooded mass murderer. If he was a POW collaborator as well, then he sucks at both ends - both a prick and an ass-hole. Let the evidence be scrutinized and let a verdict be rendered. I for one have no qualms exposing John McCain for the duplicitous liar that he is. No quarter should be given when it comes to the likes of this bastard.
That Was The Campaign That Was
Senator McCain, what’s your position on the Bush tax cuts?
Well uh, I was against it and then I was for it and now I uh, well let me think
Senator McCain , what’s your position on amnesty for illegal immigrants?
OMG not that one again, I was for it, even co-authored a bill, but uh, well I figured that, uh, oh well what can I say?
Senator McCain, what’s your position on torturing prisoners and habeas corpus?
Oh gosh, yea I was tortured, but you know I was against it before I was for it or was I, uh oh I just can’t remember where I stand on that one.
Senator McCain, will you withdraw troops from Iraq if they ask us to leave
Well, as I’ve said I know what they want better than they do
Senator McCain, What do you have to say about your chief economic advisor calling Americans a nation of whiners?
Well see here my dear friends, I would never say that…
But Senator McCain, your chief advisor said so, so what do you think?
Well, it is all in their heads, now isn’t it?
And Senator McCain what about your flip-flop on offshore drilling?
Well let’s see, if we want to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels it only makes sense to drill our way out of the fix we’re in doesn’t it?
Sorry, that’s all the time we have for questions.
Eh, That’s all folks!
Well uh, I was against it and then I was for it and now I uh, well let me think
Senator McCain , what’s your position on amnesty for illegal immigrants?
OMG not that one again, I was for it, even co-authored a bill, but uh, well I figured that, uh, oh well what can I say?
Senator McCain, what’s your position on torturing prisoners and habeas corpus?
Oh gosh, yea I was tortured, but you know I was against it before I was for it or was I, uh oh I just can’t remember where I stand on that one.
Senator McCain, will you withdraw troops from Iraq if they ask us to leave
Well, as I’ve said I know what they want better than they do
Senator McCain, What do you have to say about your chief economic advisor calling Americans a nation of whiners?
Well see here my dear friends, I would never say that…
But Senator McCain, your chief advisor said so, so what do you think?
Well, it is all in their heads, now isn’t it?
And Senator McCain what about your flip-flop on offshore drilling?
Well let’s see, if we want to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels it only makes sense to drill our way out of the fix we’re in doesn’t it?
Sorry, that’s all the time we have for questions.
Eh, That’s all folks!
Through the Looking Glass
Over at the HuffPost Daniel Silva has a disingenuous piece entitled President Obama and a 3 AM Phone Call about Russia. Thought it would be fun to selectively edit a few words and phrases here and there and turn the essay around to target the good ole USA. So what follows are the comments of a fictional Russian clone of Silva after his recent visit to the USA:
President Medvedev, it's three a.m., but there's a telephone in the Kremlin and it's ringing. There is a crisis overseas. And it involves the United States of America...
If recent history is any guide, the phone will indeed actually ring, perhaps not early in the morning but quite possibly early in your presidency. And since I have made one prediction, I will make another: President Medvedev, at some point early in his administration, will be tested by John McCain or Barack Obama and the ever intransigent USA.
I traveled to the USA last summer to research my forthcoming novel, Washington Rules, and to see for myself the country that Bush and his White House cronies have created. Bush, of course, is a former playboy who has installed members of the military-industrial complex in every sinecure of the Washington bureaucracy. What is less known is the extent to which former lobbyists have infiltrated the top ranks of America's government. By some estimates, seventy-five percent of senior posts are held by former lobbyists for major corporations. It is not inaccurate or unfair to say that the Skull and Crossbones, an elite secret society, is now running America.
US television is now for all intents and purposes run by the state or by individuals loyal to it, and the nightly news is filled with official drivel worthy of Tass and Izvestia of Soviet times. The print media, lively during the Clinton years, has also been brought to heel. While there is little overt censorship, every U.S. reporter and editor knows there is a line that cannot be crossed. Those who dare to directly criticize the regime, or to investigate the blatant corruption and misdeeds of its senior officials, run the risk of coming into the contact with the organs of state power. An American journalist told me about the regime's favorite tactics of intimidation. It could be something like being put on a terrorist watch list that leads to the discovery of other "problems." Or a trumped-up narcotics charge. Or an accusation of tax fraud.
As for America's citizenry, they feel less free than they have ever been. They, too, know about that line that cannot be crossed. Any American brave enough, or foolish enough, to confront the regime runs the risk of being arrested, or harrased. And the USA has shamelessly overcrowded prisons full of prisoners convicted of victimless crimes. No outlet exists for true political dissent. The "opposition," such as it is, is a mirror image of the party in power and does it’s bidding with hardly a whimper. They are, in the words of Lenin, "useful idiots."
There is a lawlessness about America that is deeply troubling. Investigative American journalists, write powerfully of the corruption of the America authorities and the scandal de jour, which can be lamented, as "cancers" that are "devouring the state." While in America, I discovered that most ordinary citizens simply avoid the authorities because they know that an encounter with them can only come to no good. Society's most powerful members, however, can expect a different sort of treatment. They are, quite literally, getting away with murder.
The American police show little interest in enforcing the law because they are far too busy with more lucrative pursuits. Americans cannot drive their fancy new foreign cars without being shaken down by gun-toting traffic police. And in Chicago, I watched police turn a blind eye while professional pickpockets worked the pavements of the Loop on an otherwise fine June afternoon. The authorities not only tolerate but encourage thuggish behavior by members of the Crips, the government-funded youth movement. American youth are indoctrinated to hate immigrants and are taught true American values and to despise anything foreign. I don't know about you, but I get nervous when young minds are conditioned to hate. The term "brownshirt" springs to mind. Indeed, some Americans refer to young religious fanatics as “God’s Warriors”. These religious-funded hooligans are but one more piece of evidence to suggest that America has lurched from the ideology of Lincoln to the ideology of Mussolini in the span of a decade and a half. In my opinion, the case is closed. America is now a fascist country.
This would not be a problem were America content to wallow in its own filth. But that has never been the case and never will be. America has seen the unipolar world and likes it. America wants to be remain the sole player. And America wants to retain its empire. Bush made that abundantly clear in 2003, when, in his state of the union address, he referred to the axis of evil that had to be fought for the rest of the century. The USA continues attempting to project power. It is using its wealth and power to bully and blackmail its weaker neighbors. It has never stopped the Cold War tactic of placing its nuclear bombers on twenty-four-hour airborne alert and has announced its intention to once again place missiles in countries neighboring the Russian Republic. Realizing the unpopularity of America in the Muslim world, it continues selling sophisticated weaponry to Israel and corrupt Arab regimes. Should Israel ever feel obliged to strike at Iran's nuclear facilities, they will do so with American weaponry. Thank you, President Bush.
So, in the words of Lenin, what is to be done? American’s are fond of "speaking softly and carrying a big stick." It is my hope that President Medvedev uses his first meeting with America's new leader--whether it be Obama or the senile McCain--to deliver a clear and sobering message. The USA can no longer have it both ways. If America wants to stay a member of the club--that is to say, the civilized world--then it must act like a member of the club. Can someone please explain to me why, when American missiles are targeting Moscow and American military bases are situated in 107 countries throughout the world, America is still a member of the Group of Eight? The G8 should once more become the G7, until America cleans up its act at home and changes its behavior abroad. And though it would be alarmist for President Medvedev to start talking about a new Cold War, it can be argued in a persuasive and passionate manner--that America is already waging it. Russia and Europe must set aside their differences over Iran and resuscitate friendly relations in order to confront the old threat rising in the West. The White House will attempt to divide any such coalition with its power and its money, But Western European countries must steadfastly resist the temptation to betray their independence for thirty pieces of American silver. Good luck trying to sell that strategy to America's special friends in the UK and Italy.
If Russia finally awakens from its slumber and takes concerted action, expect the American Eagle to screech with indignation. But, as we all know, America needs access to Middle East oil and markets just as much as they need access to American technology. America's superficial wealth conceals a carbon-heavy economy that is fundamentally weak and hobbled by corruption. And America is so militarily feeble that an uprising in war-torn Afghanistan is proving too much for the once-vaunted US Army. America will not stay militarily weak forever, though. Better to challenge the eagle now, while it is still a paper one. It might keep that Kremlin telephone from ringing at three o'clock in the morning. And President Medvedev might be able to get some much-needed sleep.
President Medvedev, it's three a.m., but there's a telephone in the Kremlin and it's ringing. There is a crisis overseas. And it involves the United States of America...
If recent history is any guide, the phone will indeed actually ring, perhaps not early in the morning but quite possibly early in your presidency. And since I have made one prediction, I will make another: President Medvedev, at some point early in his administration, will be tested by John McCain or Barack Obama and the ever intransigent USA.
I traveled to the USA last summer to research my forthcoming novel, Washington Rules, and to see for myself the country that Bush and his White House cronies have created. Bush, of course, is a former playboy who has installed members of the military-industrial complex in every sinecure of the Washington bureaucracy. What is less known is the extent to which former lobbyists have infiltrated the top ranks of America's government. By some estimates, seventy-five percent of senior posts are held by former lobbyists for major corporations. It is not inaccurate or unfair to say that the Skull and Crossbones, an elite secret society, is now running America.
US television is now for all intents and purposes run by the state or by individuals loyal to it, and the nightly news is filled with official drivel worthy of Tass and Izvestia of Soviet times. The print media, lively during the Clinton years, has also been brought to heel. While there is little overt censorship, every U.S. reporter and editor knows there is a line that cannot be crossed. Those who dare to directly criticize the regime, or to investigate the blatant corruption and misdeeds of its senior officials, run the risk of coming into the contact with the organs of state power. An American journalist told me about the regime's favorite tactics of intimidation. It could be something like being put on a terrorist watch list that leads to the discovery of other "problems." Or a trumped-up narcotics charge. Or an accusation of tax fraud.
As for America's citizenry, they feel less free than they have ever been. They, too, know about that line that cannot be crossed. Any American brave enough, or foolish enough, to confront the regime runs the risk of being arrested, or harrased. And the USA has shamelessly overcrowded prisons full of prisoners convicted of victimless crimes. No outlet exists for true political dissent. The "opposition," such as it is, is a mirror image of the party in power and does it’s bidding with hardly a whimper. They are, in the words of Lenin, "useful idiots."
There is a lawlessness about America that is deeply troubling. Investigative American journalists, write powerfully of the corruption of the America authorities and the scandal de jour, which can be lamented, as "cancers" that are "devouring the state." While in America, I discovered that most ordinary citizens simply avoid the authorities because they know that an encounter with them can only come to no good. Society's most powerful members, however, can expect a different sort of treatment. They are, quite literally, getting away with murder.
The American police show little interest in enforcing the law because they are far too busy with more lucrative pursuits. Americans cannot drive their fancy new foreign cars without being shaken down by gun-toting traffic police. And in Chicago, I watched police turn a blind eye while professional pickpockets worked the pavements of the Loop on an otherwise fine June afternoon. The authorities not only tolerate but encourage thuggish behavior by members of the Crips, the government-funded youth movement. American youth are indoctrinated to hate immigrants and are taught true American values and to despise anything foreign. I don't know about you, but I get nervous when young minds are conditioned to hate. The term "brownshirt" springs to mind. Indeed, some Americans refer to young religious fanatics as “God’s Warriors”. These religious-funded hooligans are but one more piece of evidence to suggest that America has lurched from the ideology of Lincoln to the ideology of Mussolini in the span of a decade and a half. In my opinion, the case is closed. America is now a fascist country.
This would not be a problem were America content to wallow in its own filth. But that has never been the case and never will be. America has seen the unipolar world and likes it. America wants to be remain the sole player. And America wants to retain its empire. Bush made that abundantly clear in 2003, when, in his state of the union address, he referred to the axis of evil that had to be fought for the rest of the century. The USA continues attempting to project power. It is using its wealth and power to bully and blackmail its weaker neighbors. It has never stopped the Cold War tactic of placing its nuclear bombers on twenty-four-hour airborne alert and has announced its intention to once again place missiles in countries neighboring the Russian Republic. Realizing the unpopularity of America in the Muslim world, it continues selling sophisticated weaponry to Israel and corrupt Arab regimes. Should Israel ever feel obliged to strike at Iran's nuclear facilities, they will do so with American weaponry. Thank you, President Bush.
So, in the words of Lenin, what is to be done? American’s are fond of "speaking softly and carrying a big stick." It is my hope that President Medvedev uses his first meeting with America's new leader--whether it be Obama or the senile McCain--to deliver a clear and sobering message. The USA can no longer have it both ways. If America wants to stay a member of the club--that is to say, the civilized world--then it must act like a member of the club. Can someone please explain to me why, when American missiles are targeting Moscow and American military bases are situated in 107 countries throughout the world, America is still a member of the Group of Eight? The G8 should once more become the G7, until America cleans up its act at home and changes its behavior abroad. And though it would be alarmist for President Medvedev to start talking about a new Cold War, it can be argued in a persuasive and passionate manner--that America is already waging it. Russia and Europe must set aside their differences over Iran and resuscitate friendly relations in order to confront the old threat rising in the West. The White House will attempt to divide any such coalition with its power and its money, But Western European countries must steadfastly resist the temptation to betray their independence for thirty pieces of American silver. Good luck trying to sell that strategy to America's special friends in the UK and Italy.
If Russia finally awakens from its slumber and takes concerted action, expect the American Eagle to screech with indignation. But, as we all know, America needs access to Middle East oil and markets just as much as they need access to American technology. America's superficial wealth conceals a carbon-heavy economy that is fundamentally weak and hobbled by corruption. And America is so militarily feeble that an uprising in war-torn Afghanistan is proving too much for the once-vaunted US Army. America will not stay militarily weak forever, though. Better to challenge the eagle now, while it is still a paper one. It might keep that Kremlin telephone from ringing at three o'clock in the morning. And President Medvedev might be able to get some much-needed sleep.
Obama's Folly
Zbigniew Brzezinski, the neoliberal National Security Adviser to Jimmy Carter, began arming the Afghan rebels (progenitors of both the Taliban and Al-qaeda) in the late 1970s even before Afghanistan was invaded by the Soviet Union. He is now a key foreign policy consultant to Obama. So we've come full circle and now follow the example of the Soviets, fighting the very same forces we unleashed to defeat them. Of course by sustaining the jihad against the godless Soviets we laid the groundwork for the current blowback against the latest Western installment of the "Great Game," initiated by 19th century European imperialists vying for spheres of influence in Central and South Asia. The vaunted "War on Terrorism" is nothing more than our attempt to impose hegemony on this volatile region of the world and is an integral part of our contention with a resurgent Russia and looming China for global domination. It would have been better for us and the Afghan people to have left Afghanistan as a satellite of the Soviets, which under Gorbachev was evolving into a benign social democratic welfare state. If we hadn't mobilized and supported the mujahedeen to fight the Soviets they very well might have succeeded in secularizing and pacifying the country, saving the world from insurgent Islamist reactionaries such as bin Ladin. Obama's policy for continued warfare to defeat the Taliban and Al-Qaeda is sheer folly and will only lead to more tragic consequences. Total withdrawal from the Middle East and South Asia is the only way to redress what we have wrought by our failed policy of global hegemony and regional domination. Use the money spent on war and destruction for peaceful reconstruction and reparations.
The Bogus War on Terrorism
Where is the outrage?
End the War!
End the war in Afghanistan!
Why do we fight?
To kill the Taliban?
The Taliban, the Taliban,
Muslim bogeymen,
Moozle muselmen,
Fight to kill the Taliban.
Today we bombed Afghanistan.
Blown to hell and back again.
Bush, McCain,
What’s in a name?
More of the same
Obama, Obama
Have you no shame?
Bomb, bomb, Afghanistan
End the War!
End the war in Afghanistan!
Why do we fight?
To kill the Taliban?
The Taliban, the Taliban,
Muslim bogeymen,
Moozle muselmen,
Fight to kill the Taliban.
Today we bombed Afghanistan.
Blown to hell and back again.
Bush, McCain,
What’s in a name?
More of the same
Obama, Obama
Have you no shame?
Bomb, bomb, Afghanistan
The Oracle Speaks
The myth that Obama is trying to promote is the myth that the Democratic party is somehow the last, best hope of progressives; the party of the best and the brightest, that his election will restore the lost glory of Kennedy-era Camelot. What a crock. Kennedy was a cold-warrior who thought that the Republicans were fumbling the ball in the war against communism (substitute terrorism). In foreign policy Democratic liberalism of the 1960s was equivalent to the neo-conservatism of today (check out this and this and this). In fact many neo-cons directly trace their roots to Kennedy-esque "make the world safe for democracy" liberalism. The War in Vietnam was not waged by Republicans but by Democrats. There is this ridiculous idea that somehow the Democrats are backsliding or reversing course. No way, they are just acting as the reactionary tweedle-dee to the Republican tweedle-dumb that they have always been. The Democrats have historically been the party of co-option. Whenever the masses get restless and begin to see the true machinations of their rulers lurking behind the wizard's curtain the Democrats are called upon to redirect their energies back towards the mainstream maintenance of the status quo. This is Obama's role, be it conscious or not. Liberalism is the mortal enemy of progressive politics and always has been. Robert Kennedy the liberal icon was the right-hand man of Joe McCarthy. Obama, Pelosi, and the whole rotten crew are out to castrate the left and preserve the rule of monopoly capitalism (or using the current euphemism "corporate special interests"). They represent the emerging corps of alternative energy, "green" capitalists who are out to make their billions off the latest crisis of capitalism. God only knows what disasters they will perpetuate.
From the Horse's Mouth
After decades of silence I've decided to open my mouth and speak. As scion of Caligula's horse Incitatus, I will give my counsel to the world at large. Sitting in the lap of luxury in the belly of the beast I cannot but be accused of abject hypocrisy in all that I say. But as surely as I will run afoul of those I praise, as be condemned by those I scorn, I offer myself up as a sacrificial steed. Let the circus begin.
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