Screaming Good Bye

Tony Blair has the nerve to stand up and deliver a speech at Reuters Coroprate Headquarters in London to scream about cynicism in real (uncontrolled) media. He is aware of Reuters, BAE Systems, and the Saudi Royals incestous relations and has the cheek to utter the word cynicism in his criticism of the messengers. On top of that, he calls for controls on free media.

Tony Blair slipped Labour from its traditional placement on the left of the political spectrum to the new spread-eagle position of 'new labour'. One foot planted firmly to the right of centre and the other, very near the centre; the place where social democrats the world over have always rested easily. This appears to be an appropriate pose for the political whore he has proven to be.

Labour's days of resting easy have gone - thanks to the infamous Bush Poodle.

In his early days, he smiled and uttered the phrase "new labour" and managed to recover the UK from much of the horrible damage done to it my Maggie Thatcher. And as he did, he squirmed and slithered himself, Labour, and the UK well to the right. To Blair's credit, the social circumstances for Britain's poor are not bad, especially when contrasted with the cruel and stark situation for poor people in the USA or Canada. Canada has never recovered from the global slashing and burning that occurred during the Mulroney/Thatcher/ Reagan years. For Canadians it got worse under the watch of the Liberals in the 1990s.

But still, for Britians and the rest of the world, Blair's departure from 10 Downing Street can't come quick enough. Rather than merely saying good-bye, we are screaming it.

The reasons are obvious. Perhaps the most obvious is his sickening relationship with George W. Bush. Blair's expression is that of submissive patsy. Perhaps when all the evidence is in, we will see that he is not the innocent stooge, but a slippery piece of work in his own right. Perhaps before you finish reading this article you will come to that conclusion.

Blair's speeches promoting and furthering war suggest panic to save the noble Western way of life from backward Islamic hordes. Listening to Blair, the West hold the moral and enlightened upper hand. And if we don't wage war there, they will age war here. It isn't much wonder he is dubbed Bush's sock puppet. And no doubt he is. Blair is far too intelligent to actually believe what he says.

Nurturing Cynicism

As he exits stage right from the world scene, he has exposed the true nature of the Bushite New World Order. Blair has exposed the festering rot that sleeps beneath the slick veneer of global capitalism. A facade provided to you by the global capitalist media. Blair has shown us in spades that the real ideological struggle is not between Islam and The Occident or communism and capitalism. The salient and poignant struggle now is the struggle between capitalism and democracy. Capitalism is in the process of delivering fatal wounds to naive notions of democracy.
If we satisfied ourselves with the most minimal criteria for what it is that constitutes democracy, we'd still have a hard time arguing that there is life left in it. Every four or five years voters get to pick who they want to represent them. They can either pick Chevron or Exxon, Loughheed Martin or BAE Systems. Wal Mart or K Mart. This is not democracy.

Tony Blair, in recent weeks, has openly shown that there are laws for the super-rich and laws for the rest of us. He has shown clearly that the capitalist state is run by and for the wealthy classes and it doesn't matter what citizenship they hold.

He has defended the criminals and attacked those who talk about it.

First, there is his recent attack on the Independent, BBC, the Guardian. He also took aim at the likes of MWC News, Democracy Now, and Counterpunch or - 'alternative media'. Blair has called for controls to put in place as he delivered a speech from, appropriately enough, a corporate news venue, namely, Reuters in London.

He accused the media of "sensationalizing facts, breeding cynicism and attacking public figures". His opinion about the media may be most concisely summed up in his description of them (us) as "feral beasts". These feral beasts exposed his multitude of lies and contradictions and his hypocricy over his years as Prime Minister. We are still doing so. Britian, unlike the USA, has a critical and sophisticated media. For sure, the Indpendent, the Guardian, BBC, as well as the 'alternative media' that Blair derides can stand proud. If ever there was badge of honour, this attack by Bush's political lap dog is just that. We, at MWC, only wish we had been named directly. We will strive to do better in future.

If we report the facts on the likes of Tony Blair and Bush, it certainly breeds cynicism.

Something to be Cynical About

Reuters has Dick Olver on its board of directors. Olver is also Chairman of BAE Systems, the worlds 4th largest aerospace and defence company. BAE benefits directly from the powerful Israeli lobby in Washington that, in the 1980s, pressured prohibition of the sale of American people killers to the Saudis. Britain's BAE was next in line.

BAE systems is alleged, by British media, to have secretly paid Saudi Prince Bandar more than £1bn in connection with Britain's biggest ever weapons contract.

There have been demands for an investigation. In response to this, Tony Blair decided to stop the Serious Fraud Office from investigating alleged bribery relating to the BAE contract with Saudi Arabia. It involves a £43 billion arms deal. To put that in perspective in some way - there are 14 billion inches to the moon.

Blair said that such an investigation would damage the UKs relationship with the Saudi dictators (Blair has never referred to them as dictators, but that is what they are). Blair and Bush have 'special' realtions with the multi billionaire Saudi royals. Bandar's father is next in line for the Saudi throne.

Bandar's answer to the charges is that he has done nothing wrong. That marketing fees are a legitimate part of business. Bandar may be onto something. He is cynical enough to admit that capitalism is rife with kickbacks and corruption. It seems, Tony the Poodle agrees with him.

The people of the Middle East are used to this. They don't eat the pap delivered to American doorsteps each morning. They know that these America and democracy friendly regimes are as corrupt as the mafia - on a far grander scale.

Tony Blair, for all his blather about making the world safe from terrorism and for democracy has, in these recent weeks, shown the the world that the Western 'democracies' are far more corrupt than Saddam could have dreamed of being. And he has the unmitigated gall to defend it.

And he call us cynical.

Don't slam the door on the way out Mr. Blair.

Do Not Look Away

The Canadian military is guilty of handing detainees over to the Afghan military or police to be tortured or killed. The Afghan military and police admit that they torture them. This means, necessarily, that Canada is guilty of war crimes. Prime Minister Harper and the Minister of Defence, Gordon O'Connor, are taking the political lead and are leading by example when they implicitly green light torture. Canada has handed over scores of prisoners that have 'disappeared'. We all know what 'disappeared' means.

It is impossible for O'Connor and Harper to not know about what happens when Canada hands prisoners over to the Afghan military. They know and they don't care. What's worse is that they want us to know that they know and don't care. It's part of a cowardly new world. It is what their masters and Washington demand.

Amir Attaran

The Globe and Mail reported on March 9 of this year, "Even the Afghan government's own human-rights watchdog concedes that torture is 'a routine part of police procedures.' The techniques, according to the U.S. State Department, include 'pulling out fingernails and toenails, burning with hot oil, beatings, sexual humiliation, and sodomy.'

"Thus, when Canadian soldiers follow standing orders and transfer men to self-confessed torturers, they could be — through no fault of their own — aiding and abetting that offence, which makes them prosecutable for war crimes. Willful blindness has trumped caution and responsibility." This is according to Amir Attaran who is a "biologist and lawyer, and is currently Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Law, Population Health and Global Development Policy, of the Faculties of Law and Medicine at the University of Ottawa".

O'Connor and Harper admit that they lied to Parliament about prisoners being monitored by The International Red Cross and The Red Crescent Society. The Canadian Conservative government, we would hope, would be embarrassed. But no, they shrug a smirk and a slimy 'whoops' to the Canadian public.

O'Conner also refused Professor Attaran's invitation to discuss these matters. He also refused to meet with human rights groups.

Canadian Politicians in American Sewage

A profound shift occurred in the accepted ethic of western nations acceptance of torture camps, kidnapping and torturing perceived state enemies with no trial, the grim acceptance of massacres of civilians and so on. And this shift happened since 9-11; we all felt it whether we are aware of it or not.

Canadians have always taken great pride in being perceived in the world as essentially sane, decent, and perhaps a little innocent. This shift in the public relations spin that advanced capitalistic states is having a tremendous impact on the image Canada is promoting. The politicians are suggesting to Canadians that the Canadian State is getting its hands dirty and that Canadians should look away. That is exactly what Canadian politicians are doing. The implicit message is to allow the state to do its dirty work and not ask questions.

This was and is the political ethic of quasi fascist states and it is the ethic of states evolving toward fascism. Proper fascist states are explicit in their demands to look away. Failing to do so will result in imprisonment or death. But we are not there yet and now is the time to look directly at it and to do something about it. Canadians as well as Brits, Americans, Australians and all citizens in nations marching down this path toward hell must use whatever political power we still have to usurp this conspiracy of ugly silence.

There is a fable about two frogs. Both are killed in boiling water. The first frog is abruptly plunged into the hot water and before he dies, he panics and kicks, aware of what is happening to him. The second frog is sitting in the water as the heat is gradually turned up. Eventually he dies as the water gets too hot for his body to survive.

Hitler plunged the frogs into boiling water. There was a lot of panic and awareness of what was happening. Today, if you can't feel the water to be getting unbearably hot, consider those that disappeared or those that have been thrown into Guantanimo or some other, less known prison. Some of us are the second frog but there are many that are the first frog. We can't afford to look away.

For Sale: Britain's NHS

That is, once the Conservative government is elected.

David Cameron, the leader of the British Tory part, is aiming to scuttle the NHS. The Tories are aiming to Americanize health care but they won't say that to your face. Britain should learn from the folly of being led down the neo-con path to misery and destruction. Brits should learn from the experience of Canada. The system in Canada isn't dead yet, but it has taken quite a beating.

The closer we reside, politically, geographically, and economically to the center of the American Empire, the more likely we are liable to be influenced by their ideological and financial pressures. Canadians for instance, understand what it means to have their governments policies dictated by the likes of Moody's of New York bond rating institution or similar and disparate influential capitalistic organizations. Canadians have been cut to the bone. In Europe, the people have so far been spared. Europeans appear to be more politically sophisticated than North Americans. Witness the trashing George Galloway handed his American accusers a year ago. The Americans were caught of guard. They were used to bullying Americans. Face with this fiery Scot, they were dumbfounded.

Oh Canada

Canadians know what it is like to have vultures circling high overhead waiting for the death rattles of the socialized medical care system. In Canada there was Albera's Premier, Ralph Klein, leading the charge against public health care in his efforts to sink the privatization wedge deep into the heart of the system. There were others, not least of which was the national Liberal government that, in the mid 1990s, axed, slashed, burned and cut about half the revenue to the system leaving it in shreds.

After that, the right wingers began to scream that the socialist medical system isn't adequate, that there are waiting lines for patients and service is horrible. Bear in mind, the so-called Liberal Party of Canada is top heavy with right wingers including the likes of Paul Martin, the man responsible for callously slashing the system to a dangerous level. The same man who is responsible for sinking the Canada Assistance Act, a structure that ensured no Canadian would slip through the social safety net. A structure placed beneath every Canadian by Paul Martin's father; a man who was not influenced by neo-liberal savages.

Canadians have been told, over and over and over again that social spending isn't affordable. Social spending in Canada has been cut and social programs have been gutted. Canada isn't as bad as the USA but it is getting there.

Next in queue: the UK.

Step up David Cameron and the Tories; perched to win the next national election. Already Cameron and the Tories are preparing the ground for widespread cuts to social programs and especially cuts to health care. Privatization is their business and they aim to see it happen.
Reading into the messages the Tories are putting out today will forecast when they will do tomorrow. What's important is to decipher their political code. They don't come out and say 'we are going to privatized health care so our rich friends can make a killing selling services to people'. Instead they speak in coded language.

At the Conservative spring conference in Noddingham, David Cameron said that he is making NHS (Britain's health care system) "a priority". Coming from a Conservative, these are ominous words indeed. According to Labour's Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, the Tories spending plans would cut £28 billion from services annually. That's a lot of pounds. For instance, there are 14 billion inches to the moon.

Brace yourself Britain. Tory times are tough times.

When David Cameron says that he is making health care system a priority, watch out. That is code for, 'we are going to slash it. We are going to burn it'.

George Osborne, the Tory health care hatchet man said that a Conservative government would "get a grip" on public spending. He said that he wants to show that the Tories are "disciplined, serious and responsible". If you are a Canadian you have heard this language before and you know that it is code for gutting programs to the commons in favour of the rich. It's been done, literally to death in Canada and many Canadians have died as a result of cutting spending to health care.

Mr. Osborne also said that a Tory government would cut red tape by simplifying the tax business code and ridding Britain of a complex system of tax relief. This would pave the way to deliver on the Tory aim to cut the corporate tax to make the UK, as they say, more competitive, and deliver on the party's publicised commitment "to shift from a tax as you earn to tax as you burn" way of doing it.

Speaking at the convention, David Cameron called for a "social responsibility" revolution. He envisions private firms, voluntary bodies and citizens taking control of the delivery of public services. Labour, as odious as they may be in some respects, maintains a belief in an elemental cover of socialism to protect the average Brit from possible financial devastation, worry, or unnecessary death. Tony Blair is advocating for better state supplied services to the commons. He's not all bad. It's too bad the man has been sleeping with the likes of George W. Bush.

The Tories are all bad though - bad to the bone. The Tories want to make the world safe for capitalism. They want to make the climate as friendly as possible for investors and privateers. The less social spending the better - less of a tax burden for investors. If they can provide tax breaks for the rich and heap the burden onto workers, the better the privateers like it. If they have the public purse spent on infrastructure to support private business, the more happy the speculators, gamblers, and privateers will be. Scrapping the health care system is especially delicious because there are billions to be made selling health to the sick, the dying, and the disabled. If they can't afford it, they can sell their houses. Again, another bonus for the privateers. They have swallowed the neo-conservative ideology hook, line, and deadly sinker.
So now in the UK, private business interests are drooling over the prospect of a Tory government cutting the system and privatizing it, one piece at a time. There is a bonanza on the horizon. A fortune to be made on the backs of the sick and the elderly.

Canadians remember a nightmare. And that nightmare has a name. His name is Brian Mulroney, clearly the most hated man in the history of the nation. If you look at David Cameron you will notice an uncanny resemblance, especially when he speaks. Has anyone ever seen those two in the same room?

The King of America Part 2: The Antichrist

The most bizarre tales we may have had the pleasure of reading may be found in the Bible and particularly the apparent hallucinogenic inspired tales revealed in the Book of Revelations. But as far fetched as it may seem, the prophecies are coming to pass. We are living in the days of the Antichrist. What is worse, the Antichrist is not only King of America, it is King period.

We generally think of feudal societies when we think of kings or monarchs. But there is an effective king and it rules America as surely as Henry the 8th ruled England hundreds of years ago. This king that has taken on the role of our overlord is no ordinary king however. It is as phantomological as a ghost, yet it is in real terms, a person with all the legal rights as you or I. But unlike you or I, it has immense power. It has the power to rule the USA, Canada, the UK and almost all nations. It controls and moves armies and it dictates whether we work or are unemployed. It is a king that impacts all of us very directly. No king of feudal times had such power. And no king of feudal times was as ruthless.

Money

Before we fill out the character of this King of America further, we may consider some of the curious characteristics of its father; capital or, money.

Money is completely useless in direct reality; that is, in the world that beasts and children live in. Money is just paper and metal and may useful in the toilet or in a slingshot. But it has no specific purpose in direct reality. It is certainly the single most useful commodity however in the world of the abstract. It's the means to freedom in capitalist society and its absence results in no freedom whatsoever. Its absence means, in strictly socialist-less and purely capitalistic societies that we cannot access medical care, housing, or food. We need money to talk on a telephone, to transport ourselves, or to do pretty much anything. If the King has his way, all societies activities, even drinking water or eating will require money.

And yet money is a phantom born of the real and energetic work and sweat of human beings. It is more than a means to exchange value however. Money's power and ghostlike qualities emerge from the moment it takes on excess value. The moment a larger price is demanded from the previous value of something a small demon is born. The aggregate of these demons is profit and this is the driving force and power of the King of America.

It is in the interests of capitalists and capitalism to be able to charge for every and all objects and activities that human beings want and need. The past few decades witnessed an explosion in information technology. People want and some need internet access, access to cable television, and access to the information and software to use this technology. Rather than it being a matter of simply setting up a dish to pull in the signals that exist in the space around us, the state has laws that require us to pay out money to look into this dimension of reality that exists in the space around us. If we are caught accessing this dimension without paying the legitimized providers, we will be stung and called thieves. The sting will require us to pay the state a sum of money. The state protects profit and the privateers run the state.

Capitalist society is a free society as long you have the means to pay. If you can pay, you are free. If you cannot, you are not.

The King

The King of America has taken on the role of the corporation. It could have just as easily been a private company or partnerships, but it is the corporation that has grown into the ruler of the planet. Like money itself, the corporation is well removed from existing in direct reality and from humanity. It is farther removed than a company. A company may have a human face and it may make decisions based on human sentiment. The same is true with a private business partnership. But the same is not true for the corporation. A corporation is far more like a virus; the kind of virus that may attack your computer. This virus however is a virus that is attacking humanity and it is programmed to kill the natural ecosystems that we are part of. It is programmed to kill us all.

Initially, corporations were formed to serve public interests. But capitalism, being what it is, discovered that the form of 'corporation' was far more useful and efficient than the private company at generating profit. A few adjustments would have to be made and they were. The most significant adjustment was that corporations were given the same rights as persons and were granted personhood by the courts. At that point we have generated very real phantoms in our midst. Phantoms far more terrifying than anything Stephen King could invent. Phantoms hell bent on controlling and destroying all of humanity. This may sound like hyperbole but if you examine it, you will see that it isn't the slightest of an exaggeration.

As a legal person, the corporation can buy things, sell things, it can sue and be sued. But is has limited liability. It is a very real member of society and a very powerful one.

Unlike flesh and blood human beings, the corporation cannot love and it has no conscience. It will operate only on the basis of maximizing profit for its shareholders. The individual shareholders may not want to kill or harm people in the name of profit, but what they care about doesn't influence the decisions made by the corporation. Like a virus, it is programmed to do one thing and everything else is subservient to that function. It will maximize profit and will make decisions to that end, it will destroy obstacles to that end and it will seduce facilitators to that end.

This King of America has no body, no fear, no soul, no brain. It is nothing but a virus, an abstract illusion. Like money, it has no substance in reality. It is as clever as the most clever lawyers on the planet. As its guiding hand, it extracts the most cold and calculating aspects of the minds of these lawyers and through this process, its power over societies is on the way to becoming total. It will dictate the policies and laws that politicians put in place because politicians are under the rule of this all powerful king. To this end, it will use us and it will use society to clean up its own mess and to pay its costs.

The corporation will use the state as its own private gopher. It will use the state to pay for structures and programs to facilitate optimizing its own profit. It has control of the powerful and potent American state as well as other weaker colonies of America. The American State will provide aid, for instance, to smaller colonies and the aid will be used to build infrastructure such a bridges and roads to facilitate the corporate theft of the colony's natural resources.

The corporation will also force the state to fight wars to ensure a profitable and brighter future for the shareholders. At the moment, a number of oil corporations as well as weapons manufacturers have dictated to the American State demands to wage war for oil in Iraq and take control of the oil resources there. On February 26 of this year, the American controlled and corporate controlled Iraqi cabinet of Prime Minister Nouri al-Malaki has adopted a bill to ensure that American oil corporations have free reign over Iraqi oil. The draft law aims to cut out French, Russian, and Chinese oil interests. The bill restores a colonial framework known as a production-sharing agreement. This allows foreign companies to have first dibs on the oil they help the nationalized industry extract of the massive sea of oil beneath the desert sand.

This is not completely detached from human involvement. If we look at Halliburton, for instance, we see that they have their Management Oversight Committee which meets in executive sessions to evaluate the performance of the Chief Executive Officer each December. The CEO may be fired if he is not up to snuff. They examine performance in such areas as "total stockholder return" and "development and implementation of initiatives to provide long-term economic benefit to Halliburton". Their "initiatives" have taken them, Dick Cheney, and America deep into the bowels of Iraq.

That's Halliburton. There are other corporate interests that salivate at the many billions waiting for them in the Middle East. Aside from oil, there are substantial weapons sales to consider. Weapons sellers and the American State are enjoying passionate bedtime relations that are almost as incestuous as the GOP and Halliburton. Lockheed Martin is the number one defense contractor on the planet. And Lockheed Martin spends millions of dollars each year lobbying Congress. Aside from that, the American State and these mammoth corporations have a myriad of disturbing and perverse relationships.

The Anti Christ

If we look at the morality side of corporations, what we see is the opposite of good. What we see is pure and unabashed evil.

If we are so inclined, we may use Jesus as a moral compass. Jesus isn't an unusual moral compass. He cursed those that are objectively harmful to other human beings and praised those that cared for other human beings. His morality was, and is, universal and elemental.
If we examine the King of America in this light, we will see that it is a particularly malevolent virus.

As a legal person, it has no morality whatsoever. It will kill and harm human beings in the interests of profit making. The bottom line is all that matters. There is no such thing as satisfaction. The King of America must grow and its hunger is insatiable. They must put profit above the public good.

Corporations have been likened to a psychopath in book form, "The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power" by Joel Bakan and in DVD form, "The Corporation", by the same author. They have no concern for the well being of others, they have no emotional affect, they will cause death and ill health in order to make money for the shareholders, they are deceitful and they have no capacity to experience guilt or any other human emotion. Even if the individuals, the shareholders, care about the plight of humans, the decisions are out of their hands. The virus runs pretty much on its own.

The disturbing truth is that what is good for the King is bad for the rest of us and vice versa. The privatization of water, electricity, education, health care, social assistance and so on is good for the King but it is detrimental to individuals, especially the poor and people that are disabled or otherwise disadvantaged. It is good for the rich and powerful and it is bad for the poor and those of us that are vulnerable (which is pretty much all of us). It is exactly the opposite of what Jesus preached and it boldly espouses these doctrines and ideological beliefs through corporate propaganda institutions such as the Canadian Fraser Institute, The American Enterprise Institute, The Heritage Foundation and so on.

When we examine this King, it propensities and its power in the world, we may be well advised to ask ourselves what the natural extension of this could mean for us.

The prognosis is dire. If corporation 'A' contains within it some shred of humanity, some sense of elemental morality, then corporation 'B', the more efficient and cost effective organization, will simply eat corporation A. In other words, the most fit, and that means the least humane, will survive. The tendency is to make things worse because the more wealth that is accumulated in the hands of the few, the worse off the rest of us are.

There is ample evidence to deem the King of America the Anti Christ. There is also logic and intelligence that cannot be refuted. The King has embraced and it promotes neo liberal and neo conservative ideology and it will kill and make war in order to feed shareholders.

The Anti Christ is most potent force on the planet but, at the end of the day, it is nothing more than a virus. A sociological and economic virus eating its way through societies. It operates in ways not much different than a computer virus. It is ethereal and it does not exist in direct reality. But then, neither does money.

We are in a bit of a mess.

The King of America

America, in many ways, is unique and increasingly separate from the rest of the world. Perhaps its political climate separates America from the rest of the world more than anything else. And more than anywhere else, its policies are dictated by a monarch rather than by elected representatives.

If we consider the differences between the Democrats and the Republicans, we can see that their differences are only superficial. One is well to the right within the context of world politics; the other, further to the right. If this was the case with any other nation, we may be forgiven if we ignored it. But this is America. The modern day version of the Roman or British Empires. They are Rome and Britain within a context of latter day capitalism, or, imperialism. It is capitalism addicted to crack. It is extremely dangerous and it aims to exploit the rest of us.

Not so long ago, America had a left consciousness. But today, even leftists in America seem to reflect an insular and arrogant world view. I recently read an article posted on usenet (Neil Kennedy) reflecting on "the religion" that is modern America. And when we think about it, it is a religion. It is a religion of greed, war, hedonism and selfishness that is a direct refutation of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and all other religions. It espouses the goodness in all those things Jesus preached against. And Ironically, it is the religious Christian zealots that are a vital driving force within the cult of America.

Potent Potential

The strain that is building between America and its colonies is growing and correspondingly and naturally, the strain between the classes in America grows. The latter is more latent then manifest due to the artificial dumbing down of the American population by the mainstream media, popular culture, and religious patriotism. On the one hand, we have a pull in the direction of increased profits for those with power and wealth. On the other hand, we have a growing awareness that this is unacceptable, especially in light of the fact that this addiction to wealth and power grows ever more hungry and prominent. People all over the world are becoming more intolerant of injustice and oppression and more aware of the nature of the addicts and addictions that have control of most societies. The trick is, connecting Americans class-wise to the rest of us. That will require them, naturally, to question their patriotism. And it will require he rest of us to befriend them.

A strong progressive political movement rests there, just beneath the surface. We need solidarity with the workers, the poor, and all the oppressed people in the USA. While that may seem far fetched while Jerry Springer and trash magazines enjoy their heyday, we must remember that there is a lot of tension within American society as a result of its homogeneous religious patriotism. The potential for revolution exists in America like nowhere else. It is a powder-keg. If you can remember the contrast between 1966 and 1967 in America, you will know that this is a nation where the climate can change very abruptly. What is needed is deprogramming from the indoctrination that has hypnotized them.

Progressive politics in the United States have been pushed to the margins to the point of irrelevance as the ruling class has increased its dominance over the will and the minds of the people. But latent energy is there as latent and dormant as it may be. Prior to 9-11 young people were collectively resisting global capitalism on the ground. For the first time since the 1930s, there was a significant movement against capitalism itself. The 60's also exposed a wealth of popular resistance against numerous specific issues of oppression. It will happen again and when it does, we, that is, non Americans, must be ready to exploit this energy and help them drive a dagger into the heart of the beast.

Contential Drift

In the 1930s the pain of starvation and oppression gave rise to a popular mass movement against capitalism.That class struggle was co opted by Roosevelt, who granted workers a law that made it illegal for employers to refuse to bargain with unions (the Wagner Act) and he passed the Social Security Act. Doing so placed the USA under the slippery dealings orchestrated by John Maynard Keynes. In other words - 'give the peasants scraps and crumbs or they will revolt'. It was a great pressure relief valve. A pressure relief valve that many European nations have apparently taken on as a permanent fixture. But the nature of capitalism is to plug up or remove altogether that pressure relief and it will tend toward a more fascistic modus operandi as capitalism becomes ever more mature and starved for capital.

The New Deal was not an appeasement brought on by the unions or working class movements. Instead, it was the capitalists themselves that dictated Roosevelt's benevolence. Historians Joel Roberts and Thomas Ferguson observed:

"At the center of [the New Deal Coalition] were not millions of farmers, Blacks and poor that have preoccupied liberal commentators, nor even the masses of employed or striking workers who pressured the government from below (and later helped implement some of the New Deal’s achievements) but something else—a new power bloc of capital-intensive industries, investment banks, and internationally oriented commercial banks." - Thomas Ferguson and Joel Rogers, Right Turn: The Decline of the Democrats and the Future of American Politics

The next four decades would see increased prosperity in the USA and throughout the industrialised world. The Fabian formula: the more the working classes have to spend, the more they will buy, proved to be a powerful impetus for liberalism and Fabian socialism. But the beast was growing large, hungry, and powerful. By the 1980's it became obvious that the party was over. The cry in the USA and in all modern capitalist nations was 'tighten your belts, we can't afford health care, social services, and opulent education for the masses'. The spending spree is over. The neo-liberalism of the Chicago School of was to take centre stage. And it did. It especially took centre stage in Latin America and as a result, the blowback is already being felt. The hypnosis of the neon lights of capitalism has turned to a nightmare, as it did in Argentina:

Grand Theft Argentina

Introducing: The King of America

America is ruled less by politics and more by economics. Whether democrats or the GOP are in power doesn't matter. The face of the President may change, but the King is always the same. And it is the King of America that calls the shots.

As a result of the maturation of capitalism, the dictator of American politics turned away from the slick wisdom of Keynes in the mid-seventies. That is, capital was becoming increasingly difficult to accumulate and there was a decline in profit taking. The sense that things will keep getting better was lost in the boardrooms and a bitter new deal would have to be forged. The expectation that prosperity would continue would have to give way to a newer and meaner future. Since that time, real wages have fallen steadily.

Welfare to citizens would have to be cut and so would corporate welfare. The arrangement where employers were subsidized for paying wages had to give way. Since then, unions cozy relationship with employers was poisoned and unions have been under siege ever since.

Fiscally, Jimmy Carter was more right wing than his Republican predecessors and Bill Clinton was more right wing than his. That is because it is not the president, but the King in American that calls the shots. Clinton ratified the NAFTA, a move that has neo-liberalized policy not only in the USA, but in Canada as well. NAFTA was aimed at radically altering the terms of exploitation that the monarch demanded of Roosevelt five decades prior. Clinton also forced welfare reliant parents to work for wages by passing regressive bills aimed at curbing welfare expenditures.

The King of America, or perhaps better, the dictator, has no problem with military expenditures. The sky's the limit. And his right minions march in step, hypocritically screaming bloody murder when five dollars is paid out to poor people but happy as a clam when many billions are paid out to the military machine to slaughter foreigners for control of oil.

And the next President, a Democrat, will continue to slaughter those unfortunate enough to be born on a sea of oil whether she wants to or not.

Climate Change and Anarchistic Capitalism

On February 2nd, three hundred government appointed delegates from 113 countries were unanimous in agreeing, unequivocally, that the earth is warming and humans are almost certainly to blame.

To get such a statement from so many countries with so many competing interests seems a miracle. But it happened; suggesting that the problem is likely far worse then they can say and maintain a consensus.

But here is what they didn't tell us:

Two years ago, climate scientists, including the researchers that contributed most to the Feb. 2nd report, got together in Exeter, in England, to discuss climate change. According to the publication, "New Scientist", "They identified a series of potential positive feedbacks and "tipping points" not included in current models of the earth's climate system that could accelerate global warming or sea level rise. These included the physical collapse of the Greenland ice sheet, rapid melting in Antarctica, a shut down of the gulf stream in the Atlantic, and the release of carbon dioxide and methane from the soil, the ocean bed and melting permafrost."

Ice sheets will fracture when they melt and this will accelerate the melting process.
The slowing of the Gulf Stream may have the most devastating consequences of all. In 2005, researchers at the UK's National Oceanography Centre reported that the Gulf Stream slowed by 30% from 1957 to 2004. The gulf stream is a climatic conveyor belt and its cessation will have devastating consequences causing massive and radical changes to the climate all over the world.
The Exeter sessions also warned of "carbon-cycle feedbacks" which will also increase the speed of global warming.

The report states that global warming contains "a deadly time lag" because 80% of the heat that is being trapped in contained in the oceans.

The summary is available at: http://www.ipcc.ch

It's not hard to imagine why those on the right have declared war on what the scientists are finding. The implications are devastating for global capitalism.

The days of wrapping commodities in cardboard, cellophane, and plastic will have to end. The days of advertising to sell goods that people don't need must come to an end. The days of throw away lighters, throw away clothes, and throw away paper must come to an end. Paper will have to give way to electronic information sharing that is powered by gravity or solar energy.

The future will look very different.

The capitalistic order of things must come to an end; the anarchy of modern capitalism cannot be sustained.

The scientists are at odds with the political right wing. The political right wing cannot swallow the truth that in the future we must abandon capitalism, we must abandon selfishness and greed, and we must abandon affluence:

http://leftlite.blogspot.com/2005_05_09_archive.html

Badfellas

We have been witness to the USA flaunting elemental standards and legal principles in recent years. It has arbitrarily imposed its will and wishes on nations and individuals. The fundamental principles that have existed since the Magna Carta have been perverted. We have entered a very dangerous time and the danger will remain long after the soldiers drag their tired bodies out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tyranny flourishes unbridled in the world of street gangs, organized crime, and in fascistic dictatorships. Those with the most violent means rule. They use fear to impose their will on others. There is no notion of democracy, justice, or fair play. Imagine a world run by the Mafia or the Hell's Angels.

The modern world has developed systems and legal principles to ensure that power cannot be used arbitrarily. The founding fathers in America developed a system where checks and balances prevent any individual or group of individuals from exercising arbitrary and tyrannical power. But, as we have seen in America and in other societies, a determined group of leaders can run roughshod over these legal principles and render them meaningless.

There may be some good that comes out of these dark days. Bitter experience may provide us with wisdom if we examine the causes and take steps to prevent future recurrences. The bitter experience of the Nazi horror of the 30s and 40s have provided us with insight and legal principles to help prevent the same thing from happening again. The arbitrary abuses of monarchs through the ages have provided us with the wisdom to embrace democratic principles. Tyrants have compelled us to covet and embrace freedom.

And now, today, we have yet another horrific series of episodes ongoing. We must find the gold in this cesspool of murder, torture, and oppression.

Resuming the Authority of Law

When authority is abused there must be a means to deal with that. We must develop the means to stand up to the war pigs and the cruel tyrants of the world. We must develop an international body based in strict legal principles and unwavering responses to ensure that no person must endure the pain of helplessness in the face of cruelty. If an assessment indicates that there is a moderate or high risk, the authority of the offender must be curtailed or removed.

Generally, the state and state functionaries have no problem is stripping power that has been granted to people that are otherwise powerless. Parents, for instance, and especially parents with little economic means, may have their authority over their children removed if they abuse that privilege. In cases where the risk of abuse or neglect is assessed to be high, parents may lose all their authority and the children may be removed from the home. While this example may not be ideal, it makes the point. And the point is, those granted with power and authority must be curtailed if they abuse what has been granted to them.

Then there is George W. Bush and the American State. They can do what they want with impunity. They thumb their noses at the law and run amok like the genuine gangsters they are. And the rest of us sit back and watch, hardly able to digest this grotesque display of murder and mayhem. Helpless.

But we are only helpless because we believe it is so.

We only need to return to the most basic notions of universal justice to remedy this situation. To take a step back. The alternative is a future of savagery.

The stripping away of capricious and arbitrary rule for those that abuse it is a principle that must be universalized. No society and no person should be afflicted by the horror of being forced to live under their cruel dictates of an abusive tyrant. If a police force or a police officer tends to abuse Asian or Black people, the force must be altered to the point the risk is either low or non-existent. If an individual officer does it, he should no longer have that power. If a teacher abuses students, his or her power must be removed. And so on.

And if a state deems itself ruler of the planet, we must have the courage to not only remove them, but to install systemic processes that will prevent it from happening in the future.

As it is, the United Nations and the World Court are ineffective and that must be changed. The influence and power that some nations have at the United Nations renders the organization toothless. The status quo is not protecting people from terror and abuse.

The United Nations and World Court must be endowed with a strict set of legal principles regarding governance of nations, waging war, and the abuse of power. It must not be subject to political meddling. It must be endowed with the means to strip away power from the individual or set of individuals that have used their priviliged position to bully societies and individuals. America must be unseated from its assumed throne. And all other tyrannical states must be called to answer for their crimes. We do not have to tolerate this.

We simply cannot accept a future where those with the most firepower, money power, and psychotic minds get to rule the rest of us. It is the stuff of nightmarish futuristic fiction. But it is not fiction. We have entered the nightmare. The line has been crossed.

Canada's Shame

Imperialist history is rife with buried and known stories of young men sacrificed for nothing. Not for freedom, not for democracy, not for defense. They die for rulers that are hell bent on increasing their own wealth and power.

Those that die reside on a social margin that is similar in some respects to the marginal utility curve economists use. They live on a concentric circle that is neither too far away from or too close to the center of power. This particular class of young flesh is utilized because sacrificing young men too close to the centre of power is too bitter a pill for the rulers to swallow. It is unseemly, politically, to send youngsters that reside on an upper rung of the social ladder to their deaths. Those that are too far away from the ruler, politically, economically, and socially, will simply not fight. But the suffering young men and women in Afghanistan and Iraq are neither too close or too far away from the epicenter of American hegemony.

Human Sacrifices

Today's unfortunates in Afghanistan are Brits, Canadians, Dutch and Americans that are working class for the most part. And of those, Canadians and Brits are increasingly relied on to take part in suicide of either the mind or body. On top of that there are soldiers from about 30 nations making minimal contributions. They are paying lip service to the Great American War Machine because they have politicians with enough courage to at least push back when Uncle Sam tells them to kill.

Several months ago British and Canadian soldiers were ordered to place their minds and bodies in Kandahar and Helmund Provinces in Afghanistan. They were ordered to do so by George W. Bush; Blair and Steven Harper are mere mouthpieces. These politicians are not men. They are simple mindless lackeys that willingly sacrifice young men and women for no other reason than to further their own personal ambition; to curry favour with their betters. The Canadians and the Brits replaced American troops that had been in these volatile provinces. Undoubtedly, American intelligence informed the Americans to push more ideal sacrifices on front line. Bush needs to sacrifice more foreigners and less Americans. It's a political thing. There is no doubt Canadians and Brits would be in Baghdad if the Americans had the power to put them there. But they don't and for that we can thank Blair and Cretien. More to the point, we can thank British and Canadian opposition to Bush's madness.

Afghanistan is now facing the deadliest violence it has seen in five years. That's when the Americans invaded. The Taliban are back and they are determined to drive out the invaders. The same people that have driven out the mighty USSR and the same people that have driven out any and all foreseen invaders throughout history are angry, determined, and more sophisticated than ever. The heat is ratcheting up. These past few months have seen British and Canadian soldiers attacked and dying with increasing regularity. In Kabul, just this past week, a suicide bomber hit a convoy of American military vehicles killing at least 16 including American soldiers. The powerful blast delivered a concussion that shattered windows throughout downtown Kabul. Afghanistan is becoming another Iraq. Another killing field. Another hell on earth. It will get worse.

German soldiers are fortunate enough to have sufficient opposition to German meddling in Afghanistan to place them a step back from the more unfortunate British, Canadian, and Dutch troops. As a result, they are placed in the more placid north where the risk is minimal. They are unfortunate enough to have politicians that are willing to dance to King George's tune to the extend they can get away with it.

The strain is bound to increase and pressure will be placed on Merkel, by Bush, to send Germans and other NATO members into hell and into suicide. There will also be pressure as a result of strained international commitments in Lebanon, thanks to Bush's stupid foray where he ordered Israeli sacrifices to crush Hezbollah. Pressure will be especially applied to Harper in Canada to increase troop commitments in the heat of the battle.

Last week NATO defense lords agreed to bolster military resources in Afghanistan. These lords, like the politicians in the imperialist hinterland, are mere servants to big oil and weapons manufacturers. NATO is only fulfilling 85% of America's demand in Afghanistan. They are demanding an additional 2,500 troops as well as attack choppers.

Lest We Forget

On July 1, 1916 the Newfoundland Regiment was ordered, by British imperialists, to suicide themselves on the Somme and attack a well fortified German army. It was a suicide mission that would make Osama bin Laden blush. In half an hour the Newfoundlanders were decimated. Of the original 801 soldiers only 68 made it back. Most were slaughtered before they even got over their own front lines. By November, 620,000 of allied forces were killed to gain 10 kilometers of territory. The Newfoundlanders didn't know at the time that they were the most disposable in the eyes of French and British commanders. One Newfoundland soldier, Frank Mayo, wrote, “Tell all friends that the 1st Newfoundland is O.K., and never feels downhearted. We will make you all proud of us some day.” It would be the last thing he ever wrote. They were sent over the top a few days later.

As a result of this, Newfoundlanders, loyal citizens in a British colony, felt deeply betrayed. They were used as cannon fodder. They died in vain. They were sacrificed. This is but one of many examples of young men (and today, women) that have been ordered into death for no other reason than they were the most expendible.

Canadian, Dutch, German and British politicians are in the midst of a tug of war. On the one hand, the Americans are pulling them in one direction, screaming demands to get in there and die and kill. On the other hand, there is you and me, the people on the street pulling in the other direction. This is a struggle we can't afford to lose. We can't allow the quislings, the Blairs and the Harpers, to sacrifice the lives of young men and women in America's efforts to slaughter and dominate Islamic countries - for oil and oil pipelines.

Canada had done rather well over the years. Canada has stood the pressure from the war machine to the south when they demanded that Canadian blood be shed for big oil in Iraq. Canada said 'no'. Neither did Canada allow itself to be bullied into the slaughter in Vietnam. Canada had won respect the world over for being a voice of reason and peace. But now, today, all that is being torn to shreds. Canada has shamefully allowed itself to use its sons and daughters to slaughter Afghan sons and daughters. And for what?

This is nothing but political cowardice and it is a reflection on more than just the politicians.

Jon Benet's Reflection

Try to avoid garish and crude American trash mags if you can; fact is, you can't. We can't escape the horrible display of the exploitation of the murder of little JonBenet Ramsey. Since the spotlight has shined on an alleged killer, this story is impossible to avoid. It's everywhere. The question that comes to mind is; Why?

The child was murdered. The same media that serve to sexualize children, to exploit them, are all agog now over the arrest of her alleged killer. But it is not JonBenet Ramsey they are concerned with. It is the murder of, as they say, the little "beauty queen". The real JonBenet was a little girl with all the same attributes of any. Naturally, she went along with the attention and the demands that she performed for the adults around her. She naturally and innocently found direction from the adults in her world. She had no way of knowing that she was being shamelessly exploited as a child sex object. Underneath all the grotesque tack, she was a real child who trusted the adults around her. Erase the tack, the paint and make-up, and we would naturally find a wonderful little girl.

We can't blame everything on capitalism; not everything. But the exploitation of JonBenet Ramsey as well as the exploitation of her murder is married to capitalism. More generally, we can blame the cult of personality, the worship of tacky idols, and the drive to turn children into plastic people and to sexualize them for a buck. How capitalism owns the blame may not be as straighforward as we may think. It may be a little deeper, a little more complex, than the simple drive to make money.

The Alienated Identity

It's a fairly safe assumption to suggest that the child would have grown, had she not been murdered, to learn to value herself as a commodity.

To make the point, let's consider two opposing social poles. First, let's consider small hunter gatherer societies. We can also think of family, local community, or any intimate social grouping. In hunter-gatherer societies, human beings are valued for their intrinsic humanness. There may be small pecking orders of authority and so on, but even individuals that provide little or no product or services maintain value simply for being who they are. Just 'being' is qualification enough to be valued. The same is true of families. Babys and the old are given loving care and attention with no expectation of reciprocity. Human nature on its own is truly an honourable and compassionate phenomena.

On the other end of that spectrum is capitalism.

How humans are valued within the world of capitalist culture is rooted in the process of developing capital. From the get-go, all participants and processes are mere means to the end, which is profit. And in the process, humans learn to value only that which contributes to the acquisition of money.

If we consider money itself, we may notice that it is without any tangible value. Its value is completely abstract. It has only exchange value and no use value. It is of the world of phantoms and illusions. It is not part of the tangible world of things and people.

The relationship between money and identity and status is complex and it begins in the process of the manufacture of commodities. As commodities themselves are valued within this context for their potential to make profit - money, so too is the worker him or herself valued and commodified for exactly the same reason. To the extent that we accept this identity, we become alienated from ourselves. We also become alienated from other people and from the tangible world of things, family, and community.

The aspect of the individual that is 'worker' is constrained, owned, exploited, and enslaved. But it is through this psychological construct that the human individual is most valued. He or she may or may not have a good credit rating, or a lot of money, or be poor. The difference has perhaps the greatest impact on who we are, how we get along, and especially, how we are valued in capitalist society. The worker has no choice but to sell his or her labour and time to an owner who has immense control over the workers life.

Beyond that, the individual accepts and owns this key aspect as a defining characteristic of who he or she is. The worker is a cop, a plummer, a teacher, or a lawyer. It has tremendous impact on the identity of the individual. Aside from mere psychological affect, the role of the worker and his or her status in capitalist society has more tangible aspects. That is, depending on how much we make will mean whether we can do things and have things - or not. To be with money in capitalist society means that we are secure, free, and valued. People treat us well if we have money and display status symbols such as jewelry and expensive cars. On the other hand, if we are without it, the state will demand to know the intimate details of our lives and demand to know them in order to grant subsistence for ourselves and our children. There is no freedom for people that must rely on the dole in capitalist society. Poverty in modern capitalist society is brutal.

There is a price we must pay for status; for buying into the face and role that capitalism has provided for us. That price is alienation.

Like the ethereal phantom that money is, so is the identity that emanates from it. It is alienated from the world of human emotion, compassion, and human value. This identity is at odds with human value and will act in the interests of profit to the point actually harming or murdering people to that end. Unfortunately, there is no need to point out examples. We see them every day.

The Rich

Workers strive, in many cases, to shed worker identities and to get real. Look behind the scenes in any workplace and you will see the phony face of 'thank you ma'am' and 'can I take your order' replaced with swearing, comical antics, and human revelry. It is an alien and imposed facade and imposed by a force that is explicitly in control and demanding. It isn't much wonder workers resent it.

But then there is little JonBenet Ramsey.

JonBenet was being fitted with the workers cloak before she could read. She was to be exploited like a sideshow clown.

But there is a big difference. The clown suit and face paint was never to come off. It was aimed at actually becoming her. JonBenet would eventually contort her desires, habits, and behaviour, to meet the most unnatural of standards. Her future was to actually become that beauty queen. As a female in that world, she would eventually be a coveted prize that rich men would bid for so they could have a status symbol with them at dinner parties. She would become a human Porche or Rolex watch. The plastic smile that was being carved into her face would have to stay, no matter how torn up, confused, and alienated she actually felt inside.

From that, she would find no escape. There would be no back room antics where she could let her hair down. She would eventually assimilate the characture into who she actually is. And like all rich people, she would learn to value others based soley on their status and wealth.

She would find, in this world, the strange irony of having the freedom to buy and own what she wants and at the same time, experience no freedom at all. Trapped she would have been in a world of vulgar values, overt pretense, and deceit. Strange it is that this is coveted by workers and non workers in the very human world of the lower classes. Stranger still is the desire for working classes to clamour for details of the hidden lives of these human aberrations. Perhaps it is the betrayal of the of the mirage of the gods of capitalism that sells. The media fascination of the rich has much to do with the fact that media is owned by them. But there is also the appetite within the lower classes to see them, to be close to them, and the desire to become one of them.

The rich are living embodiments of that strangest of all commodities; money. Their personalities and their grotesque facades are just as ethereal and paradoxically, as powerful, as money.

If we are proletariat, we may think the wealthy classes are rife with happy inhabitants. After all, they are rich. But then, when we read those contemptible rags, filled to the brim with stories about Donald Trump, Michael Jackson, or any rich person that they uncover, it doesn't look so un-human or plastic. In reality, they are all exactly the same as the rest of us. Their human-ness will never go away; try as they may. They will be lonely, they feel pain, and they will all die. Reality is inescapable. And for those that aim to distance themselves from reality, we may assume that their lives are marked with tremendous suffering. Their foe (reality) never loses and it always wins.

And in reality this little girl was murdered. Not a beauty queen. And it is likely her vulgar sexualized and imposed facade had something to do with it. In reality, some monster thought he was killing a beauty queen. But he killed an innocent little girl.

Bold Proclamations of Lebensraum

The utterances of Coni Rice and Tony Blair since the Israeli slaughter in Lebanon began are nothing short of alarming. What is also alarming is the muted response. State functionaries the world over appear to have barely noticed. The myriad of political wizards residing in popular media have also seemed to pass off these comments as if they are irrelevant. Are they really that blind and stupid?

No modern state since the Nazis in Germany has expressed intent to take over the world. America's intent to do so has been expressed in deed since 9-11 and recently, it has been expressed explicitly in word.

Rice stated that the map of the Middle East is to be re-drawn; that these are the birth pangs of a new Middle East. She said, "This is a different Middle East. It's a new Middle East. It's hard. We're going through a very violent time." She has explicitly stated that they will give birth to a new Middle East. She implies a Middle East fashioned in the likeness of occidental mores and values.

Blair's utterances are no less alarming. He makes the following grand proclamation in a speech to The World Affairs Council in Los Angeles on August 1st: "We are fighting a war, but not just against terrorism but about how the world should govern itself in the early 21st century, about global values." Please take a moment and consider what that languages suggests; the mentality it reflects. He actually said that he; the infamous American poodle, and his master are at war with Middle Eastern values. This mentality is the mentality of genocide, of lebensraum.

Blair wants us to swallow the lie that it is a certain interpretation of Islam that causes extremism. But if we look at it, we will see that it isn't Islam at all that is the genesis of violence in the Middle East. It is always rooted in foreign (read European and American) meddling in a place where they really have no business whatsoever. Blair has also said that they need to wage war against extremism as he presides, alongside Bush, over the World Order that intends to dominate and control foreign lands through the use of terror, concentration camps, and mass slaughter. Hezbollah, for instance, is a reaction against their aggression. It is very important that we, those of us that live under the relatively safe umbrella of American hegemony, understand that.

In 1938 - 39 the same kind of bizarre and psychotic speech was ignored.

Undoubtedly, the worst feature of Nazi Germany's reign of terror on the world had been their indiscriminate mass murder of civilians in order to terrorize, cower, and take over other nations and other parts of the world. They had to crush people that would be naturally opposed to their ideological bent and their designs on securing power. The Nazis were imperialists of the worst kind.

And undoubtedly, the worst feature of modern America is its reign of terror on the world and their indiscriminate mass murder of civilians in order to terrorize, cower, and take over other nations and other parts of the world.
Clearly, there is an agenda, a conspiracy, a plan, to dominate the world militarily, politically, and economically.

Psych-ops

We have entered a time that is similar in many respects to the onset of Germany's foray to dominate the world militarily. The question on everybody's mind is; who will be next? The events play out and as they do expectations gradually change. Disbelief that had been psychologically suspended turns to the realization that we are entering a time of unrestrained war and terror.

Through the process, we become ever more jaded. Reports of concentration camps and extraordinary rendition are given a collective ho-hum by media commentators, law makers, and by much of the population. Reports of carnage and massacres are commonplace. The atrocities in Lebanon have shocked the world and again, this will redefine normalcy.

But this is not 1939 and America is not Nazi Germany. What the future holds remains to be seen. But judging by what is being said and what has already occurred, its a pretty safe assumption to suggest that in many respects, much of what the Nazis did will be repeated; is being repeated. There is one large difference however. Hitler was up against equally powerful and ruthless states and it was the Soviet Union that done him in. Today, the maniacs are not facing Stalin, Churchill, or Roosevelt. They are facing Iran, Syria, and North Korea. In other words, they can act with impunity. And act with impunity they do. Even media commentators are hard pressed to take a stand against this global war for oil. Consider the statements made by Rice and Blair. They are statements that are nothing short of bizarre and still they are swallowed, tacitly supported, and tucked neatly away in the collective consciousness; again, serving to change the context of normalcy.

America is not a fascist state, it is a democratic state. Bush is not the maniac Adolph Hitler was. There are substantial differences, not least of which is the observation that Nazi Germany depended on the charisma and personal power of one mad man. What is happening in the world today is far more predictable and systemic. We can't blame Bush. What is happening today is practically written into the script of history. If Bush wasn't at the helm, this all may have waited a few more years, but it would occur nonetheless. Bush is simply an imperialist on speed and 9-11 provided the green light for plans that had already been in the works.

What is in the works is the American state is manifesting the full and fiercest expression of capitalism; imperialism. It had to come; eventually. It's here.
For many of those that have been brought up believing in Superman and the Justice League of America, in liberalism, and in freedom and democracy American style, world events must seem quite bewildering. Each new day the mind must rationalize a new atrocity, a new ugly face on the once kind and benevolent Uncle Sam. As the mind stretches under the strain of cognitive dissonance, it will snap; one way or another. You will either accept the new America or you will become enraged and defiant. If you have a choice, may I recommend the latter. The former will leave you a bitter savage and eventually, you, yourself, may have blood on your hands.

Accepting the imperialist designs on global conquest brings contemporary events into the light of day. The more naive views, the views that have been touted by spin doctors may result in tremendous confusion and bewilderment The spin, this pablum that has been provided by the imperialist state aims to allow the truth to slowly sink in. It is propaganda and it is psych-ops. The sudden truth would be too much a shock to the system.

Like the frog that is dropped in boiling water, the violence to the system is too violent and reactive. But like the frog that sits in water that is slowly heated to the boiling point, it doesn't notice the change and slowly dies without a struggle. The same thing is happening to innocent naivete.

Control of the Middle East

The need to control petro-dollars require world capitalism to take control of the Middle East. On a more strategic and political level, the Middle East is not only ground zero in terms of oil wealth, it is also strategically placed centrally, on the doorsteps of Asia, Europe, and Africa.

In the short term, America intends to extend its footlhold into Lebanon; though it will not succeed. The Americans will not accept UN resolutions for peace that are short of the de-clawing of Hezbollah. So far, they have succeeded in removing Syrian influence in Lebanon to a large degree. They are hoping that the present obscene slaughter will result in America gaining de-facto control of Lebanon; control through proxies such as UN bodies, the Lebanese government, and the Lebanese army. In a greater regional conflict the last thing they need is a force like Hezbollah ready and willing to open a front on Israel, a nation they have come to depend upon to secure control of the Middle East.

Iran and Syria find themselves alone on the level of governors of Middle Eastern states. But the Muslim street is with Iran and Syria and vehemently against the dictatorial heads of state in the rest of the Middle East. So much for the myth of democracy. America will not tolerate democracy in any shape or form in the Muslim world. Hezbollah, a popular entity in Lebanon, is in the process of being made impotent. It is precisely what the American State will not tolerate; an expression of the local population. The people of Lebanon and the Palestinians in Gaza are being collectively punished for voting contrary to America's wishes.

The Americans aim to take control of the Lebanese army. A clever strategic move if they can pull it off. But they won't. In their insane massianic glee they barely touch reality. They may install a NATO/UN force in southern Lebanon but if they do, pray that neither you or anybody you are attached to is on the job. They will be attacked by people that are defending themselves; by people that don't accept control by foreigners. And those people that are defending themselves will be, predictably, called terrorists. Like the Nazis, American foreign policy is deeply rooted in utter and complete idiocy. That, more than anything else, is their own worst enemy.

They will also re-draw the map of Iraq. They have already ripened conditions for it by ushering in civil war. Iraq will be split in three; a nation for the Sunnis, a nations for the Shi'ites, and to Turkish chagrin, a Kurdish nation. The grand plan will require the domination of the bulk of Shi'ite regions, including Iran. It is they that live on the seas of oil. There are jobs opening up for dictators in the Middle East. It's an extremely dangerous position where you don't even know if your boss will kill you, but it comes with benefits.

Our Responsibility

It is our responsibility to demand peace, to fight imperialism, and even to put an end to it. For now, let us concentrate on peace. People have started to hit the streets again to demand the end of war. We can't comfort ourselves in the notion that we can't make any difference. People are being murdered - today.

It's crucial that we notice each and every atrocity and that we notice it when the likes of Blair and Rice make Nazi-like speeches about taking over the whole Middle East. It's important that we stay awake and not allow ourselves to be jaded to the point where we accept the wholesale slaughter of civilians and allow it to be justified with the flimsiest reasoning. They are intentionally deploying psych-ops through mass media and through their actions and pronouncements. And to some extent, it is working. It's hard to continue to be outraged when atrocities occur repeatedly, every week, every month, every year.

Isn't it strange how alarmed we may be when we hear of a serial killer on the loose but at the same time, state madmen are slaughtering people by the thousands and we treat as if it's just 'the news'. The horrors happening today are very real.

But remember, today, in Lebanon, in Iraq, and in Afghanistan, there are people living in the depths of hell and if you ignore it, you are no different than the coward walking by a victim being raped or murdered and doing nothing. Doing so makes you a coward in the house of imperialist hegemony, no different than those Germans that turned their faces away at the slaughter of Jews.

Think about that before you slip into sleep tonight. And think about the women and children in Lebanon and Iraq and Afghanistan that can't sleep at all.

Israel's Plight

There is no high tech weapon in the world that can defeat hate. Evidence of this is that the most militarily sophisticated machine in the world has been bogged down in a war of attrition for the past three years against Iraqi citizens that build weapons from under their kitchen sinks. And the more they kill Iraqis, the more hate they manufacture.

Israel, no stranger to hatred in the Middle East, has suddenly taken the spotlight away from America. The Israelis however are in a much more perilous position than the American state or the American people. The Israeli people have been duped. They have been duped by their own politicians and by America. The Israeli State receives three billion dollars annually from America as their foothold in the oil rich Middle East. A foothold that will soon become obsolete and will be disposed of.

The fallacy of serving death and destruction to the Lebanese, the Palestinians, and to Muslims in general, places the Israeli people in an extremely precarious situation. Israel is surrounded by approximately one billion Muslims; a population that is increasingly willing to do anything to rid their region of the Israeli war machine.

The people of Israel have been sold a bill of goods that will result in either their destruction in one fell swoop, or, in a best case scenario, their sons and daughters for generations will be fending off a constant barrage of attacks. This bill of goods is provided by and sold to them by the American State. Beside the three billion dollars in military aid they receive from America, they buy even more in weaponry from arms sellers.

The notion of using fear, death and destruction to ensure security is as daft as it appears to be. This approach has been in place for decades; and what is the result? Israel is in more danger now than ever. And as time goes by, the danger increases. The futility of this is clear. It's not like this scenario is new. Israel has been trying to secure themselves through force for decades and it is now in a deeper and more dangerous hole then ever before.

In 1978 Israel invaded Lebanon in order to maintain security. They secured a 12 mile strip of land in southern Lebanon as a buffer. In 1882 Begin and Sharon tried to crush the PLO with a new and deeper invasion. In this bloody mess, the Israelis allied with right wing fascists in Lebanon and slaughtered thousands of Palestinians. The Americans also supported this fiasco and shelled poor Palestinian settlements. All in all, they manufactured sufficient hate that the Americans were chased out, running for their lives. Out of this, Hezbollah emerged a powerful and potent force that had not only driven out the Americans, but the Israelis as well.

And now, in 2006, Israel, at the behest of the USA, is repeating the same mistakes all over again. And now, the situation in the full Middle East is far more unstable. And now, the Muslim populations are far more politicized and organized to fight. Now, if you are Israeli, is no time to bang war drums.

America has clearly become far more ambitious in their designs on control of oil and petro-dollars. They have become far more savage than any modern state has been in living memory. To suggest that they are using Israel to further its aims is not unreasonable. There isn't any doubt, especially in light of their recent public proclamations. They have brought Israel onto their own front lines in a global war for oil.

The Breaking Point

In the Middle East, America holds in place numerous dictators that operate against the wishes and interests of their own populations and in the interests of themselves and in the interests of America. This is a growing source of tension and the spoiled royals of Saud, the quisling dictator in Pakistan, Musharraf, as well as all the rest of the tyrants in that region are up against increasing hostility. The mad American State fully intends to install dictatorial puppets in Lebanon, Syria, and Iran. Even without this developing pressure in the Middle East, there is increasing strain between the dictators and the people. It is tension that will eventually break. It may snap in a unified Muslim rebellion where they are all thrown out in one movement or, it may be a matter of ongoing and disparate rebellions. In any case, the situation is bleak for the people of Israel. America will cut and run eventually, as they do, when the situation gets to a certain point. And long before they do, they will abandon Israel.

The alliance between American corporate interests and the anti-Arab racist politicians of Israel provides the Israeli politicians free reign to slaughter Palestinians with impunity. Their reasoning is that if life is miserable enough in Gaza and the West Bank, the Palestinians will leave and settle in Jordan, Lebanon, and elsewhere. What it is doing is manufacturing hatred, to the extreme, not only in Palestine, but all over the Islamic world and even in the non-Islamic world. What few understand is that this is not the work of the Israeli people, but part of the systematic push to subjugate the peoples of the Middle East, a push from the unholy alliance between Washington and the racist politicians in control in Israel.

Condi Rice's recent statement that America intends to create a new Middle East is an admission that they intend to explicitly dominate the region. They will change the map of the Middle East and first on the list is undoubtedly Iraq. The civil war they have created will make gerrymandering seem a brilliant stroke in peacemaking. In so doing, they will punish the Sunnis into a future of poverty and at the same time, have better control of petro-dollars from Shiite regions. That is the plan.

As America deals with increased hostility, that hostility will be directed toward Israel. Israel finds itself in increasing danger as America grows ever bolder in its quest to control the economies of the world. But Israel in not an American state and when it is no longer feasible for them to funnel billions into Israel, Israel will be on its own. If there is a notion that America will remain loyal to Israel when the going gets tough, the nature of monopoly capitalism is out of focus.

America will not succeed in their subjugation of the people of the Middle East. It's a matter of time. The specious and forced politics of the Middle East naturally builds tension and resistance movements; movements that are becoming ever more politically and militarily savvy. The Saudis vast military expenditures will not save them. The Egyptian puppets will fall under the weight of increasing Islamic radicalism. The military dictator in Pakistan will assassinated or forced out. Whatever is installed in Iraq will have to endure war until it is gone. The royals in Kuwait will have to flee to America when the people of Middle Eastern nations organize sufficiently to rise against the dictators. The King of Jordan will be right behind them. This American adventure will make Vietnam a tea party in contrast.

At some point, America will abandon Israel. Then what? What will be the fate of the Israeli people? The Americans can go home.

The Logic of Peace

Much Israeli support for war and a strong defense is grounded in noble sentiment. They see themselves surrounded in a sea of hate and are fearful for their sons and daughters, their neighbours, and themselves. They want protection and the mafioso of the planet is offering it up on a silver platter. Uncle Sam smiles and provides all the latest weapon gagetry and dictates to Israeli leaders what to do. It's not hard to see how and why the people get sucked into this nefarious deal with the devil.

If we examine the situation in a purely logical way, we may suggest that Israel is arming itself and attacking enemies as a result of the hatred that exists, locally, against them. Further deepening the hatred is going to result in what? Peace? Do the people of Israel want their sons and daughters to live like this into the distant future? If so, how long will it be before something really horrible happens to the land and the people of Israel?

For the sake of the future, for the sake of not only peace for the children of Israel, but for the well being of the Lebanese, the Palestinians, and the people of the Middle East in general, tireless efforts must be made to forge peace and stop the violence. Unity between Israelis and Palestinians must be established. Hate mongers and fear mongers on both sides have been in control for far too long. It's time to stand up against them and it's time to stop being duped by American madness.

Peace is possible. If you were told in 1980 that the mighty USSR would fall without a shot being fired, you wouldn't believe it. If you were told that peace would happen in Northern Ireland, you wouldn't believe it. Peace is not only possible, but there is no choice. Think of the alternative. What is it? To implant more stooges loyal to America that are against the people from Afghanistan to Morocco? The reality for Israel is that it exists within a sea of Islam, and the potential for peace in that sea is tremendous. If you don't believe that, pick up a Koran. The sons and daughters of Lebanon and the sons and daughters of Israel and the sons and daughters of Palestine deserve peace. More than anything else, you all deserve peace.

Although, at this point, conciliation may sound absurd, but it isn't. In fact, there is no choice. And peace, realistically, is more than just the cessation of violence. It is also the cessation of silent violence; the violence of hunger, oppression, racism and so on. There are many Israelis that hunger for it and there are many Palestinians that hunger for it. Get on the internet, get together, make in happen in spite of the politicians, the hate mongers, and the Americans. It is time to scream for peace, as many of us here outside Israel having been doing since the Americans started slaughtering Muslims. It is no time to walk peacefully and silently and merely show a good example. It is time to jump up and down, to face the politicians and the war mongers and to demand an end to the collective, nationalistic, insanity that will result in the death of your family members and neighbours as well as a lifetime of fear and trepidation for those that continue on. Nobody should have to live this way.

This is not to suggest that all the problems are the fault of Israel. In fact, there is no time to assign blame. Let historical wrongs, on both sides, stand in history. To end the legacy of violence, is to develop a future; period. There is only time to accept responsibility and to be generous, to accept your enemies as brothers. Because, at the end of the day, the average Joe in Israel and the average Joe in Palestine have far more in common with each other than either of them do with Bush, Bin Laden, or Sharon.

A New Front: Not a New War

The bombing and upcoming invasion of Lebanon is not a new war. It is a third and massive new front on an ongoing gambit aimed at subduing the whole of the Middle East. Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Lebanon are flash points in American designs on ideally positioning themselves in the middle of the global chessboard. Control of this area is important at a time when Asian thirst for oil is growing.

The USA is installing, as Chomsky puts it, "a unipolar world" where the USA aims to subdue all. Nothing will be able to challenge its absolute power. In such a world, the USA takes on the role of the UN. There is no need for a proper United Nations because the USA is to be the Imperial World Ruler. With the role of world dictator secure, it will deal with opposition with ruthless brutality and efficiency. This has started. The UN has been deemed irrelevant by the New World Order. Kofi Annan is a lost voice in the wilderness while the real politics of American international domination dictate real politics. As for ruthless brutality, the USA has been busy redefining what is acceptable in terms of state ruthlessness over the past several years. At this point, we wouldn't be surprised at anything except perhaps for the use of nuclear weapons.

The Middle East is to be subject to the rule of the Chalabis, the Allawis, and future quislings. The ongoing authoritarian rulers, the kings and tyrants in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and others are secured by American support. Threats to them are designated as terrorist. The Shah of Iran was planted and secured by American oil interests. The people of Iran have overthrown through a popular uprising. America is hell bent on not only preventing a recurrence, they aim to secure, subdue and pacify the whole region. The problem for them is, the more they try, the more elusive the goal becomes.

It is a gambit and a gambit that is doomed to fail. Just as they have underestimated the resolve and determination of Iraqis, they are in for lesson they will never forget in Lebanon. Pity the people that live there on both sides of the borders; the Lebanese and the Israelis. It is they that will pay the price.

Lebanon

The war hawks have aimed at the weakest targets they can find. Contrary to expectations, the America/Israeli war machine's next target was the relatively impotent Lebanon as opposed to Syria or Iran. But we might have guessed and would have if we respected the law of American cowardice properly.

Lebanon has been a pro-Western nation for the most part. That it also houses many Palestinians and Islamic populations has been an important factor - alongside that military weakness. The fact that it is/was a democratic nation has also been an unpalatable and intolerable condition. They need a King, a Shah, or a tyrant of any stripe. For these reasons, Lebanon had to be subdued and completely humiliated. It will be surprising if the Americans back away prior to the installation of a dictatorship or a bloody mess that will demand they run. Contrary to what they spin, democracy is the last thing the Americans want or will tolerate.

Lebanon is not only guilty of harbouring non-compliant Muslims. It is also guilty of not being hawkish enough against it's own Islamic population as well as neighbouring Muslim populations. Lebanon is also guilty of having Hezbollah elected and holding over 30 seats within it's government, including members of cabinet. The same Hezbollah that ran the American Marines as well as Israel out of Lebanon. The Americans naturally demanded that the organization disarm.

Obviously, weak nations are under threat of war by the Imperial US of A. Lebanon has no military to speak of. They cannot manage Israel, which is armed to the teeth by the USA. This condition begs all nations to heavily arm themselves as a deterrent. This is another desirable condition in the world of imperial capitalism. Those that are marching around the world slaughtering people also happen to be the same folks that profit from weapons sales.

Various Israeli talking heads suggested recently, a nation has a right and responsibility to protect it's people. By admitting this, they absolve Hezbollah. They also absolve pretty much all other so-called terrorist organizations including the resistance in Iraq, the resistance in Afghanistan, Hamas and so on. They are inadvertently excusing hostile and aggressive actions against their own people. They are demanding it.

When a society is invaded and the people slaughtered and tortured by a foreign war machine, you might expect a response. What choices do the people and particularly the Islamic people of the Middle East, and at the moment, Lebanon face? Can we blame Hamas? Can we blame Hezbollah and the resistance in Iraq and Afghanistan? Can we say with a clear conscience that these people do not have a right to defend themselves. The answer is clear and the answer is 'NO'. Hezbollah is a result of American and Israeli aims at trying to destroy Lebanon. This invasion confirms, with no shadow of doubt in the minds of Muslim people, the necessity of Hezbollah.


All War All the Time


Condoleeza Rice recently said that a cease fire would be a false promise. In other words, the is promoting the doctrine of 'war is peace'. She is talking about pre-emptive war. They have crossed the line and lowered the standards for future war rationalizations. The Nuremberg Tribunals had defined what is most unacceptable. To paraphrase; 'The act of initiating war by invading another country is the supreme war crime containing within it all other war crimes'. To quote Chomsky, "Preventive war is, very simply, the supreme crime condemned at Nuremberg". Collectively, we cannot afford the Americans and the Israelis define what is acceptable. We cannot afford a future of barbarism.

Although this is part of a grand American global domination war, the micro situation between Lebanon and Israel is ostensibly different than the situation between Iraq and America. As a result, the rationalization is different. What is similar between Israel's rationalations and America's is the notion of preemptive war. Within that context (the aim to dominate the world), we may witness more war fronts opening to prevent future terrorist attacks. Ironically, this is precisely what is needed to not only to make resistance movements desirable, but necessary.

The most dangerous aspect of accepting pre-emptive war, especially in this climate, is that is opens the planet for continual war.

The potential rationalizations in the future are endless and few could be as flimsy as what we've seen thus far. This war will not stop until the Americans feel too much pain to continue. There is no way they are going to subdue the Muslim populations. If they actually hold that assumption, then they are assuming that other societies are as weak of character as they themselves are. Whether by design or through stupidity, they are creating conditions for more war; for all war all the time. At the moment it isn't painful for America. In the future it will be. As it is, this state of endlesswar may be supported by much of the American population. This will remain the case until a critical mass in that country realize that they have no business in Iraq, Afghanistan or Lebanon. And when a critical mass of Americans die for profit, and when average Joe American realizes this, America will retreat. They will have no fighters.

It is absolutely tragic and sad that this condition exists.

But 'all war all the time' will end. The question of when is up to the people of America.