Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Libya's Future
I assume that the future of Libya that has been on the drawing board in foreign capitals and corporate boardrooms for some time now looks like this:
1. Oil supplies guaranteed to the U.S. and Europe with the majority of oil revenues to be divided up by foreign corporations;
2. Libya's Mediterranean coastline to be "developed" as a playground for wealthy foreign nationals: golf courses, beach resorts, luxury hotels, five-star restaurants, maybe even a casino or two;
3. The people of Libya recruited to work for subsistence wages in the hospitality industry or in the oil fields.
Am I forgetting something?
Oh, yes! How could I forget?
The other opportunity for the people of Libya will be in the military and para-military police forces. After all, how else will the corporate state be able to protect visiting foreign nationals from the depredations of the poor and disenfranchised? Such militias will be important stake-holders in post-Gaddafi Libya and, consequently, will come to be seen by ordinary Libyans themselves as avenues of social and economic advancement.
Eventually, a charismatic figure (like the Colonel of 4 decades ago) will rise up through the ranks and get the idea in his head that the system as it stands is corrupt. If it is vulnerable to revolution, revolution will ensue. Then the cycle will repeat itself.
So much for the blood of the martyrs who dreamed of freedom.
Do I mean to say that I think Gaddafi should remain in power? Of course not. He is a criminal: a murderous buffoon. He should live to see his day in the ICC.
But when I think of the blood that has been shed, is being shed even now, and will continue to be shed for dreams that have already been auctioned off to the highest bidder, I cannot help but think that there has to be an alternative future--not only for Libya, but for the rest of us as well.
Unfortunately, unless and until there is a revolution in consciousness among the peoples of every nation--a consciousness that recognizes that (1) the globalizing corporate state does not have their best interests in mind and (2) they can and must do something to re-configure the present world order--I have little confidence in the outcome of any revolutionary action that is aided and abetted by the police power of established corporate states.
When Gaddafi is overthrown--an event that appears imminent--I am afraid that we will have to add Libya to the list of newly formed failed states: alongside Iraq and Afghanistan.
1. Oil supplies guaranteed to the U.S. and Europe with the majority of oil revenues to be divided up by foreign corporations;
2. Libya's Mediterranean coastline to be "developed" as a playground for wealthy foreign nationals: golf courses, beach resorts, luxury hotels, five-star restaurants, maybe even a casino or two;
3. The people of Libya recruited to work for subsistence wages in the hospitality industry or in the oil fields.
Am I forgetting something?
Oh, yes! How could I forget?
The other opportunity for the people of Libya will be in the military and para-military police forces. After all, how else will the corporate state be able to protect visiting foreign nationals from the depredations of the poor and disenfranchised? Such militias will be important stake-holders in post-Gaddafi Libya and, consequently, will come to be seen by ordinary Libyans themselves as avenues of social and economic advancement.
Eventually, a charismatic figure (like the Colonel of 4 decades ago) will rise up through the ranks and get the idea in his head that the system as it stands is corrupt. If it is vulnerable to revolution, revolution will ensue. Then the cycle will repeat itself.
So much for the blood of the martyrs who dreamed of freedom.
Do I mean to say that I think Gaddafi should remain in power? Of course not. He is a criminal: a murderous buffoon. He should live to see his day in the ICC.
But when I think of the blood that has been shed, is being shed even now, and will continue to be shed for dreams that have already been auctioned off to the highest bidder, I cannot help but think that there has to be an alternative future--not only for Libya, but for the rest of us as well.
Unfortunately, unless and until there is a revolution in consciousness among the peoples of every nation--a consciousness that recognizes that (1) the globalizing corporate state does not have their best interests in mind and (2) they can and must do something to re-configure the present world order--I have little confidence in the outcome of any revolutionary action that is aided and abetted by the police power of established corporate states.
When Gaddafi is overthrown--an event that appears imminent--I am afraid that we will have to add Libya to the list of newly formed failed states: alongside Iraq and Afghanistan.
Ask Yourself:
Do you honestly believe that NATO's involvement in Libya has been a charitable venture?
Do you honestly believe that nation states act altruistically?
Do you honestly believe that nation states act altruistically?
The Libya War argument
The Libya War argument
Thank you, Glenn. Personally, I can't wait to see who will get the Plutocrats's seal of approval as the next oppressor of the Libyan people. Any country that has oil revenues like Libya will not be allowed to determine its own fate (i.e., democracy).
Thank you, Glenn. Personally, I can't wait to see who will get the Plutocrats's seal of approval as the next oppressor of the Libyan people. Any country that has oil revenues like Libya will not be allowed to determine its own fate (i.e., democracy).
Thursday, August 18, 2011
My Theory
Shortly after the Presidential election of 2008, the victorious candidate, Barack Obama, was kidnapped, bound and gagged, and locked in Dick Cheney's basement, where he has been subjected to daily water-boarding ever since.
The Democan-Republicrats then substituted Obama's evil Bushian twin, Kcarab Amabo, to take his place.
Yes, it is a theory that strains credulity, but no more so than the complete ideological about-face that the winner of the 2008 election has performed since taking office.
If the man who presently occupies the Oval Office is, in fact, Barack Obama and not Kcarab Amabo, one must sadly conclude that Obama is no different than any other successful member of the American political class; he lacks all conviction but one: power is the sole object of politics--obtaining it and retaining it for as long as possible. Say anything you have to, promise what you must, it does not matter.
Amabo's great contribution to the advancement of people of color in the U.S. was not his election so much as his daily demonstration that a black man in high office can be as craven as any white man in high office. Race is therefore irrelevant.
Is this a great country, or what?
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Obama’s bloody “endgame” in Afghanistan
Obama’s bloody “endgame” in Afghanistan
Deep, deep down in your heart, you know that what the author of this article is saying about the Afghan War and the role of the plutocracy in its instigation and perpetuation is true. Deep down, you know this. What is stopping you from admitting the truth to yourself?
Deep, deep down in your heart, you know that what the author of this article is saying about the Afghan War and the role of the plutocracy in its instigation and perpetuation is true. Deep down, you know this. What is stopping you from admitting the truth to yourself?
The Islamo-Bolivarian threat - Opinion - Al Jazeera English
The Islamo-Bolivarian threat - Opinion - Al Jazeera English
I wonder what it's like to be in the fear industry. It's lucrative, no doubt about that. Probably accounts for a large percentage of the U.S. GNP. Fear is our number one export and domestic consumption remains strong. I hope everybody is gearing up for the big 9/11/11 orgy of fear, national self-pity, and jingoism. Expect to see W and Kcarab Amabo arm in arm at Ground Zero...
I wonder what it's like to be in the fear industry. It's lucrative, no doubt about that. Probably accounts for a large percentage of the U.S. GNP. Fear is our number one export and domestic consumption remains strong. I hope everybody is gearing up for the big 9/11/11 orgy of fear, national self-pity, and jingoism. Expect to see W and Kcarab Amabo arm in arm at Ground Zero...
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Triumphant Turkey? by Stephen Kinzer | The New York Review of Books
Triumphant Turkey? by Stephen Kinzer | The New York Review of Books
I have far more optimism about the future of Turkey than I have about the future of the U.S.
I have far more optimism about the future of Turkey than I have about the future of the U.S.
And Now, for Another Thrilling Episode of...
The debt limit deal and the social counterrevolution in America
Plutocratic Political Theater: Cynicism, Deception, Cravenness, Corruption, and Despair!
Plutocratic Political Theater: Cynicism, Deception, Cravenness, Corruption, and Despair!
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