Things to consider—

Since early 2011, Obama's been waging proxy war on Syria. Imported death squads masquerade as freedom fighters. The scheme's familiar. It repeats. It reflects US imperialism's dark side. In the 1980s, CIA-recruited mujahideen fighters battled Afghanistan's Soviet occupiers. Ronald Reagan called them "the moral equivalent of our founding fathers." He characterized Contra killers the same way. —Stephen LendmanFor over a century now US ambassadors have acted as fifth columns in the nations they are embedded in, their role chiefly to foster corporate and plutocratic power and coordinate machinations against any truly pro-democratic government.•••••"The dead end identity politics of SF Pride, which sells out a peace hero like Bradley Manning to curry favor with the American ruling class, is what I had in mind. The empire loves your tameness, irrelevance and cowardice, SF Pride. You don’t bother the American ruling class — a five foot two, 105 pound soldier does because he has a conscience and because he didn’t make comfort the guiding principle of his life...." —Randy Shields
Apr 022011
 

THE ROVING EYE
Exposed: The US-Saudi Libya deal

By Pepe Escobar | The Asia Times

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MD02Ak01.html

All in the family: The formidable duo gladhanding King Abdullah. Sordid deals behind the smiles.

YOU INVADE BAHRAIN. WE TAKE OUT MUAMMAR GADDAFI IN LIBYA.  This, in short, is the essence of a deal struck between the Barack Obama administration and the House of Saud. Two diplomatic sources at the United Nations independently confirmed that Washington, via Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, gave the go-ahead for Saudi Arabia to invade Bahrain and crush the pro-democracy movement in their neighbor in exchange for a “yes” vote by the Arab League for a no-fly zone over Libya – the main rationale that led to United Nations Security Council resolution 1973. Continue reading »

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 Posted by at 10:01 pm
Apr 022011
 

Nugent, a self-indulgent hedonist and reactionary by any standard, with a sick penchant for killing animals.

 

By Rick Jones

Dateline: Houston 2011-04-02

LIKE MINDLESS CANCER CELLS on a frenzied march to kill their host, some members of the human species are not content merely with raping this planet for personal gain to the point of  breaking down all major life-sustaining ecosystems, they must also cause the death of millions of helpless animals to get their twisted kicks. Behind a thick curtain of self-serving rationalizations, so-called recreational hunters fit this category to a “t”, and few can match Ted Nugent for the sheer dedication he brings to this lethal hobby.

Continue reading »

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 Posted by at 8:38 pm
Apr 022011
 
 

Spanish defenders of Guayama, Puerto Rico.

Composed in 1901 as the United States was entering the international struggle for markets for the first time. Twain was an anti-imperialist from the get-go and here he pours his derision on the republican Empire whose conquest of the Philippines was done in the name of ‘democracy’, ‘freedom’ and ‘humanitarianism’. A sick joke of a precedent never to be gotten tired of, it seems. Continue reading »

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 Posted by at 7:41 pm
Apr 022011
 

Chapter 4  from A People’s History of the United States, By Howard Zinn

Signing of the declaration of independence, by John Trumbull, detail. Despite the paintings and other historical artifacts, the truth about the colonial period was much different.

AROUND 1776, certain important people in the English colonies made a discovery that would prove enormously useful for the next two hundred years. They found that by creating a nation, a symbol, a legal unity called the United States, they could take over land, profits, and political power from favorites of the British Empire. In the process, they could hold back a number of potential rebellions and create a consensus of popular support for the rule of a new, privileged leadership. Continue reading »

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 Posted by at 7:13 pm
Apr 022011
 
The longstanding official hypocrisy and media complicity go on unchallenged
Thursday, 31 March 2011

In recent weeks, for example, there was no reaction when the Saudi dictatorship used massive force to prevent any sign of protest.

Originally at Z Net March 31, 2011

An interview with Noam Chomsky by Stephen Shalom and Michael Albert
CROSSPOST: http://hamsayeh.net/society/511-noam-chomsky-on-libya-and-the-unfolding-crises.html

1. What are U.S. motives in international relations most broadly? That is, what are the over arching motives and themes one can pretty much always find informing U.S. policy choices, no matter where in the world we are discussing? What are the somewhat more specific but still over arching motives and themes for U.S. policy in Middle East and the Arab world? Finally, what do you think are the more proximate aims of U.S. policy in the current situation in Libya? Continue reading »

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 Posted by at 5:48 pm
Apr 022011
 
By Stephen Lendman 

The Fukushima Nuclear complex, 1975, showing protecting walls against Tsunamis. They proved useless.

DESPITE a disaster multiples worse than Chernobyl, major media reports all along have downplayed it. Now they largely ignore it, moving on to more important things like celebrity features and baseball’s opening day, besides pretending American-led Libya bombing is well-intended when, in fact, it’s another brazen power grab – an imperial war of conquest, explained in numerous previous articles. Continue reading »

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 Posted by at 2:17 pm