News Analysis

Putin's recent intervention in Syria and Rouhani's speech at the UN urging the Israelis to join in a nuclear weapons treaty are both acknowledgements by world leaders that Barack Obama is a lame duck.

The Russians are (rightfully) nervous about U.S. military intervention in their neck of the woods (what took them so long?) and Rouhani is just saying out loud what everyone who understands the situation in Israel-Palestine has been saying quietly for a long time. I doubt the Iranian President has any illusions that Israel will even acknowledge his invitation.

Every politician in the world is still calculating his or her next move based on local advantage; no one has the future of a united humanity in mind. This is one of the unintended consequences of the European tragedy known as the 30 years war: the invention of the nation state (to stop Protestants and Catholics from slaughtering each other) balkanized the mental horizons of people everywhere.

When Obama, Putin, Rouhani and the Egyptian generals form a study group to work their way through Montaigne's Essais, the revolution will be under way. In the meantime:

A Very Good Idea

Iran's President invites Israel to join nuclear treaty.

The "Obama Doctrine"?

Once you read past the headlines, you come to see, very quickly, that there is no "there" there. It's just the latest phase of U.S. Presidential self-aggrandizement. Obama's domestic legacy is the further enrichment of an already bloated plutocracy, economic stagnation, a crumbling infrastructure, increasing xenophobia, bigotry, gun violence, and decreasing privacy and civil liberties in the name of "security." Quite an ironic laundry list for the nation's first African American president. We might as well be rehearsing the "accomplishments" of "President McCain."

Abroad, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate has increased the volume of state-sponsored terrorism (our country's number one export) and support for despotic regimes around the world while coddling the apartheid state of Israel and war-mongering with Iran.

But now, he claims, he's going to fix the latter two problems. Why should anyone believe a word he says? The real beneficiary of the two Obama administrations is the Obama family's purse. They're set for life. I guess we should be thankful that our 2008 votes for change haven't been a total loss.

I'm not just disappointed, I'm disgusted beyond outrage. I've heard all the speechifying I need to hear from BHO. Who is the next puppet that the militarized corporatocracy will place before the American electorate for ratification? Are we in for more Clinton?

As Gary Gilmore told his executioners: "Let's do it."

Time to Fight Back

WE ARE NOT YOUR SOLDIERS!

"Israel Feels Isolated"

Spare me.

Abdul Mawgoud Dardery: "The Coup Is Not The Answer."

A Montaignean Justification for Non-Violent Non-Cooperation No Matter the Consequences

"I shall be on my guard, if I can, that my death may say nothing which my life has not previously said."

--Michel de Montaigne, "That Our Actions Should Be Judged By Our Intentions," Essais, Bk. I, Ch. VII.

If You Happen To Be In London on the 14th

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