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As Emptywheel noted yesterday, after all these absolutely fabulous months under the giant foam finger of the Bush Administration the GAO says:
The United States Lacks Comprehensive Plan to Destroy the Terrorist Threat and Close the Safe Haven in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas
No comprehensive plan for meeting U.S. national security goals in the FATA has been developed, as stipulated by the National Strategy for Combating Terrorism (2003), called for by an independent commission (2004), and mandated by congressional legislation (2007).
Which doesn’t matter as much as the gotcha game of American politics because after all…
al Qaeda is now using the Pakistani safe haven to put the last element necessary to launch another attack against America into place, including the identification, training, and positioning of Western operatives for an attack.
But we have to leave them alone over there, so they can attack us here and then we can say they came from somewhere else (Iraq/Iran).
And mission ever accomplished!
A suicide attack in front of a mosque in southwestern Afghanistan killed 24 people and wounded more than 30 others on Thursday, a provincial governor said.
The attack took place as men were getting ready for the evening prayer at the central mosque in Zaranj, the capital of Nimroz province, Gov. Ghulam Dastagir Azad said.
Azad said there may have been more than one bomber.
Suicide bombers conducted 658 attacks around the world last year, including 542 in U.S.-occupied Afghanistan and Iraq, according to data compiled by U.S. government experts.
The large number of attacks — more than double the number in any of the past 25 years — reflects a trend that has surprised and worried U.S. intelligence and military analysts.
More than four-fifths of the suicide bombings over that period have occurred in the past seven years, the data show.
Golly, who’s been running the "war on terror" the last seven years?
Oh well, we still have had other glorious successes right?
The war in Iraq has become "a major debacle" and the outcome "is in doubt" despite improvements in security from the buildup in U.S. forces, according to a highly critical study published Thursday by the Pentagon’s premier military educational institute.
The report released by the National Defense University raises fresh doubts about President Bush’s projections of a U.S. victory in Iraq just a week after Bush announced that he was suspending U.S. troop reductions…
The report also singles out the Bush administration’s national security apparatus and implicitly President Bush and both of his national security advisers, Condoleezza Rice and Stephen Hadley, saying that "senior national security officials exhibited in many instances an imperious attitude, exerting power and pressure where diplomacy and bargaining might have had a better effect."
Funny how this type of stuff doesn’t seem to come up televised debates.
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But Republicans are our warrior caste. They are the brave manly men who do manly deeds in defense of this many nation. They are strong and can stand up to terrorists, while the democrats sip their latte and chardonay.
excellent post, attaturk and i dugg it.
Good morning.
So we’re not winning yet?
Good morning Attaturk
The surge is working, now if we could just get rid of the invading infidels…..
Here’s a relevant snippet from this morning’s Juan Cole:
I know most Lakers are far too sophisticated to watch tv but 30 Rock was hilarious last night. Swarmy Alex Baldwin was trying to get celebrity guests for a McCain fundraiser hosted by “the Committee to Reinvade Vietnam”. Baldwin also had a role in a dream sequence where he played Nixon. I’m still rollin!
i have recommended pape’s book for book salon, but his politics are faaaaar to the the right of any of us here… which may be one of the reasons i never heard back on that one.
And if one does not believe that brutal occupation does not breed deserved retaliation one only has to look at the israeli model of genocide.
Thank goodness this country has someone like Jimmy Carter to defy bushco and introduce diplomacy to seemingly intractable problems.
and yesterday jeff halper was detained for trying to block a house demolition (same thing rachel corrie was killed for).
there are people resisting (israelis and palestinians) without becoming suicide bombers. i wish there was a way to make their stories known and to amplify the voices of such activists as halper.
And yesterday the israeli occupiers announced they were going to steal yet more land from the beleaguered Palestinians to build more illegal housing. Illegal according to many a UN resolution…. but israeli does not comply with any UN resolutions anyway.
Meanwhile the MSM are frothing at the mouth over Wm. Ayer’s…finding every way to twist his words into confessions that he slaughtered hundreds of policemen on 9/11 and doesn’t regret it!
Take Ben Smith over at Politico.
“Bill Ayers is making his own case on his personal blog, taking (in an item written before the debate) a bemused tone toward his “episodic notoriety.”
[Except that Ayers points out that he has been subject to repeated threats. “Bemused” is Smith’s interpretation.]
“He contests the notion — central to the objection to him, as opposed to other people who were bad actors 35 years ago — that he he has “no regrets” about bombings — but he doesn’t exactly contradict his 2001 line that “I don’t regret setting bombs.”
[Except he never said that he never had “no regrets about bombings”…if one was not involved in bombings. Ayers was charged with participation in a conspiracy to riot…a charge that was dropped by the DA’s office after it was discovered that the evidence against him had been illegal obtained and fabricated. He has never been charged with bombings, no evidence has ever been obtained that he was involved in bombings…so why should he say “I regret setting bombs”? Again Smith is connecting dots with lines where there is only one dot, he’s fabricated another, and he makes it go the way Smith wishes.]
“Ayers: “I’m sometimes asked if I regret anything I did to oppose the war in Vietnam, and I say, “No, I don’t regret anything I did to try to stop the slaughter of millions of human beings by my own government.” Sometimes I add, “I don’t think I did enough.” This is then elided: ‘he has no regrets for setting bombs and thinks there should be more bombings.”
[So Ayers says that OTHERS have ‘elided’ (i.e. an interpretation not present in the material offered) his statements into grossly exaggerated versions of things he don’t not say. But Smith twists even THAT…]
“He also denies that bombing police stations, military installations, and other sites was “terrorism.
Ayers: Terrorism — according to both official U.S. policy and the U.N. — is the use or threat of random violence to intimidate, frighten, or coerce a population toward some political end. … I’ve never advocated terrorism, never participated in it, never defended it.”
[Now where in the definition or in Ayers statement (which is BTW official US and UN policy) a denial that attacking the sites mentioned would NOT constitute terrorism? It’s not there. The claim is Ben Smith’s that attacking a police station…or a military base…”or other sites” wouldn’t be terrorism…but it’s not what Ayers has said. In FACT…by the definition Ayers cites, such attacks WOULD BE TERRORISM if it was intended to threaten, intimidate, frighten or coerce a population toward some political end. For example, blocking off food and water to a population…or massive bombing of targets, or restricting the freedom of movement of a population to compel them to give up support for a particular leader. Massive arrests and detentions of males of a certain ages in particular neighborhoods.
Ayers categorically denies that he has done any such bombings to achieve political ends through intimidating a population. Amazing how much “eliding” goes on in Politico…you might think you were reading Sean Hannity!]
my bold assumes facts opposite of what’s in the record though
the plan that they have demonstrated is not to combat terrorism it is to facilitate terrorism
if bush were given bin laden’s play book and asked to make sure those plays were successful that is what it looks like from all points of view, there is nothing this president has done to slow the growth and acceptance of terrorism and in fact he his policies have done nothing but promote these terrorist organizations
he has turned moderates into extremists and extremists into heroes
if a person were to write a novel with the actions and decisions of the man in office that novel would be considered trash for stretching the American public’s acceptance of this obvious traitor among our midst
his actions could hardly even be called covert, his very own aids have told us the president was informed in no uncertain terms the results of his decisions before he implemented them and that advice inspired him to pursue those strategies with even more energy
what we have here is a deliberate weakening of our government, our armed forces, our military strength, our ability to defend ourselves, our position in the world, our integrity, our constitution
But apparently the GAO has a different definition of “National Security Interests” than the Bush Administration. The GAO hasn’t been entirely poisoned by the idea that National Security = Unitary [and Perpetual Republican] Executive.
Yeah but at least this administration developed a colour coded system for it’s terrorism against us
I would like everyone to read my post as if it is not snark and not a joke because I believe it and the facts demonstrate it is true
this president was informed with precise intel the impending attack and took vacation, he was informed diverting resources from the attack and to Iraq would harm our country, stretch our military too thin and recruit more terrorists
he was advised to protect the infrastructure, he was advised to protect the hospitals, the schools, the museums
he was advised to make sure their was gainful work for the Iraqi people, he was advised to keep the army in employ and if he were not to do that he should not let them go with their weapons
he was advised to protect all conventional stockpiles of government ordinance
he was advised to close abu graeb,advised using torture would make the occupation last forever and turn friends into enemies
he was told on at least two occasions exactly where bin laden was and what needed to be done to secure capture
of all these things and more, he did the opposite
HE DID THE FRIGGIN OPPOSITE
now really, really really really, I am not being snarkish when I say it is obvious he is working for the other side, it is brutally obvious
I don’t think anyone aan count on elections this cycle, we can hope and pray but we should prepare for another one of bush’s “catastrophies” and martial law
And we are supposed to do what with this information?
I have maintained for some time that the true terrorists were in the WH. It is they that allowed, or participated in, the trade tower “miraculous” collapse, it is they that have been frightening the population into submission with bogus threats, it is they that have ignored the law of the land to effect their coup and it is they that have profited enormously from the illegal occupation of a sovereign land without provocation.
Call fancynancy again?
Or Ghostbusters
throw pelosi out of office and put someone in that will defedn this nation and her constitution
Serious? yes. News? no. The guys in the WH are traitors, treasonous, war profiteers, torturers and general all over swines. But still not enough to impeach I understand.
Good morning, pups. It’s Bobo and Krugman. Bobo tells us “How Obama Fell to Earth,” furiously courting Democratic primary voters and apparently exhausted, Barack Obama has emerged as a more conventional politician and a more orthodox liberal. Mr. Krugman’s column is titled “Clinging to a Stereotype.” He says Barack Obama’s “bitter” comments combined assertions about economics, sociology and voting behavior. In each case, his assertion was mostly if not entirely wrong.
http://mgpaquin.wordpress.com/
The coffee, tea and hot chocolate are ready, and the lemon poppyseed muffins are out of the oven. Have a great Friday.
Fun movie.
WTF does this have to do with Pelosi? Oh, impeachment. Come on, it ain’t happenenin, what’s the point in railing about it day after day? Whoo hoo, let her rip now!
well, i’m quite sure it won’t if there is no public outcry for impeachment.
the points are:
1) to have a non-zero chance of impeachment investigations (not matter how small that chance it)
2) to hold our pos accountable for their own bad acts
pospolsKrugman is without doubt bitter. He, like me, wants true, single payer, healthcare and I don’t blame him but if he thinks for one bloody moment that clinton2’s health plan will go anywhere once she bows to her corporate masters he is living in lala land with traitorgeorge.
OK so snark requires a “/s” sorry ’bout that.
OK OK if that’s how you want to spend your time jam on.
because watching 30 Rock on tv is so much more likely to help the country? *g*
raven, you must have see that one coming from a mile away! *g*
Helping the country! Oh yea. Hell I watched My Name is Earl too!
i’m giving you a hard time only because you make it so much fun – i don’t even know the tv shows you’re talking about. for all i know if i’d be a fan too if i ever tried watching them.
well, and maybe because i’m still a little grouchy from watching hours of old bush video (and the debate) yesterday. no reason to take that out on you though.
basically, i have no excuse.
Attaturk, thanks for this clear look at (yet another) Bushie failure. Great post…and Digg even let me in: I Dugg it.
Good morning everyone. I see we’re all still cranky. Add me to the list. I keep remembering Obama saying that he looks forward to debating McCain on the Iraqi occupation. Silly, naive man. They won’t allow that debate. The debate will be over other issues. Like patriotism.
And whether Sen. Obama is such an elitist that he won’t eat barbecue. /possible snark
Please be aware that there is no longer any need to torture yourself, just contact any Govt. agency and they will arrange it for you.
and obama crushes mccain there too, he needs the proper context but mccain wouldn’t stand a chance if obama uses voting record to show his complete lack of patriotism
Watched it for the first time last night and was wondering if it’s always that good.
?
Even the Guardian is taking note of how crappy that debate was…
has become?…it was from the very start, even from inception at the pnac decades ago
“in doubt”?…there was never any doubt, everyone knew what would come from this plan from moronic maniacs in a sick fraternity called the pnac
“despite improvments in security”?…seriously, where does this guy get his stuff, fox news?…there have been no “improvements” in anything, there is less violence in one isolated spot and more violence and unrest everywhere else, this is not an improvement it is in fact goig backwards
Self-immolation doesn’t get any press
Malachi Richter was lit himself on fire in a busy intersection and was barely Page Three
I don’t think he is working for “the other side”. But I do believe that he and his buds have a completely distorted view of the world and what works and what doesn’t, and what the actual “goal” is.
W sees wielding power as the goal and there is no need to wield it if there is no threat perceived or real. The power allows them to acheive their agenda of enrichment and oppression and exploitation of the lower classes, whose interests are counter to the wealthy who he represents.
When the needs of the people are addressed, the wealthy and the powerful are not going to have the party that they have had under W polices.
W is a warrior for the rich against the poor whether it is in this country or around the world. The poor need to be controlled, exploited, killed intimated, manipulated to serve their masters. It’s that simple.
But what they do is reframe this as a struggle against “terrorists” who want to destroy America, which scares the people to do his bidding or step aside while he and his cronies plunder.
Essentially there are no enemies of America, but enemies to HIS policies of hegemony and exploitation and complete and utter animus for the poor.
Of course people will fight back against what W’s policies are doing to them. Unfortunately they are not fighting him here (yet), since they are too drugged on consumerism and lifestyle to notice what he has done, or simply struggling to survive to take up active resistance to this madness.
The economy may push enough people to take to the streets when they see they have lost all options. The collapse of America can’t come too soon.
sanderO I would agree with your point if the president didn’t deliberately do the oposite of the advice given
had there been no testimony that he was told what would happen, what he should do then I would have to say he is just a moron
but he was told and deliberately did the oposite
let’s take for example this “surge”, he was told in no uncertain terms our presence creates the problem, the longer we are there the worse it will become, he was told by the study group he humself organized that we have to get out of Iraq
so what did he do sanderO?
why, the oposite yet again
and when we knew we had bin laden, what did he do sanderO?…what?…why, exactly what needed to be done to let bin laden escape, that’s what
sorry, it is pretty obvious he is working for the other side
It’s not always that political but it kills me! My wife looks at me like I’m nuts but that’s nothing new.
bush is a traitor, there are not two ways about it, he knows he is violating the constitution, he knows he is breaking the law, he knows he manufactured data to start a war he knew would harm this nation for generations
all of these things he knows and knew before he made his decisions, there really is not doubt, we are under seige, this has been a silent coup and the men in power are there to take over our country, our government and her constitution
so far they have been a success
Is that the same POLITICO.COM with
Publisher Robert L. Allbritton and President &CEO Frederick J. Ryan Jr. These guys are raging neo-cons, and the billionaire Allbritton family controls the Riggs Bank.
Torturer Guy’s uncle Jonathon Bush was also a Rigg’s official. In 2004, Riggs agreed to “pay a record $25 million in civil fines for violations of law intended to thwart money laundering”. Robert Allbritton helped finance the 9-11 attacks by laundering money given to the hijackers. It is OK to bomb the World Trade Center if you are a billionaire and a neo-con. But the FBI iis suspicious.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..May13.html
I take no offense at all. My Name is Earl is about a trailer trash dude who is trying to make his Karma right by apologizing and correcting his mistakes. It’s full of stereotypes mixed with really nice messages. Most lakers would be appalled.
If you look at bin Laden’s objectives of drawing us over there (because he didn’t have the resources to fight us here), building up fundamentalist fervor and removing a secular government from the seat of the Caliphate, he’s done pretty well with very limited resources.
There are two ways to interpret the Administrations actions and policies.
Willing dupes or cat’s paws.
I don’t really care which.
Coupled with the attacks on the Constitution and torture in the name of ’security’, they are criminals anyways.
I know that look.
Most lakers would be appalled.
How’s that for a stereotype!
Yea, you know how it is with them. It’s always garden this, flowers that, look at the beautiful birds. . .
repeated for it’s consision, excellany, you did in one paragraph what it took me nearly a page
The pentagon is a huge self serving bureaucracy which simply has inertia and needs to keep growing and is always looking for “things” to justify its existence, its growth and “theaters” (don’t you love that word?) to strut their stuff.
If you think of a theater company, it is looking for new actors, places to perform, funding to keep them in existence, new scripts to produce and so forth. While their goal is to enlighten and entertain and create performance “art” the pentagon’s is to destroy, control, kill and so forth.
As long as we feed this pentagon beast, idiots like Bush will listen to these self serving thugs who see the world as a bunch of nails and they as the sledge hammer to smash them.
Of course, they “exploit” the fears of the people that they need protection, and that it is their duty to defend the nation. The fact is that there is no threat to this nation as we have no natural enemies, except the indigenous people who we have stolen land from. They are not much of a threat are they.
It’s pretty simple. The MIC figured this out and realized how simple it was to suck resources out of the people, boots, blood, treasure for eternity. Of course they don’t care about the fate of the veterans, they let the people be burdened with their care.
What a scam!
Good morning all,
I love Earl.
It’s more Pennsylvania on CSPAN, today is Penn State Day, no JoePa tho
7:45 am – Nile Gardiner, Heritage Foundation
8:30 am – Samantha Miller, Penn State Univ., College Democrats
8:45 am – Alex Smith, Penn State Univ., College Republicans
9:00 am – Constance Flanagan, Penn State Univ., Youth Civic Development Professor & Amy Syvertsen, Graduate Student
9:35am – Erica Briant, PennPIRG, New Voters Project
He’s not working for the other side. He is USING the them against US to further the agenda of the MIC and the corporations.
Without an enemy the MIC is outta bidness. SO if we drawn down in Iraq there the teat dries up. So he will ALWAYS find a way to reframe the situation to promote the MIC solution of use and replenish the MIC and make them wealthier and more secure in their position.
There is the notion that black ops DO create false flags events, that we create military groups which then turn against us when they realize they too have been exploited. All this militarisms serves the MIC and they have everyone believing this nonsense.
Strategic needs?????????????????????
USA interests offshore?????????????????
ah, well then… lol, i’m just trying to make my karma right too. it’s for a good cause… some project john amato is working on. hugh went through something like 200 transcripts and statements on the white house website to find examples of bush saying “we do not torture” and the like. now i’m using about a dozen of the events he found to rip the video from the white house website and make youtube clips from the bits he identified (my source video clips will go to john) and then i’ll do it all over again when i get the dvds from c-span with the good quality video. hope something comes of all this…
my problem is that i’m just not used to watching bush without the moral support of you-all.
possibly, however we do know the relationship the bushes have with the bin laden family
using or working for the other side, same thing to me regardless, this is a silent coup and these are traitors
it didn’t make anyone bitter?
Bin Laden is dead.
I admire your sticktoitiveness!
Well put.
Great ‘theatric’ simile.
Oh, Lordy. I don’t know how you can tolerate watching that creature. You most certainly have my moral support. I couldn’t possibly do what you’re doing — I’d wind up in a padded cell.
(((((selise)))))
sending you (virtual) homemade cookies and love, as egregious would say!
He is too dumb to run their operation. These guys see a good thing when they can create a boogie man and keep him out there forever. His name is terror and the role can be played by anyone who speaks up against US hegemony.
The MIC NEEDS an boggie man. Communism was it for a few decades, and the threat was completely made up. Militarist power freaks on both sides play proxy wars to terrorize the world for decades and such trillions from the people.
Commies left the scene so an new boogie man was needed or the MIC had no mission. There was no nation that they US could engage like USSR. China was out banker and producing everything we consume so we couldn’t pick a global fight with them for decades.
So terrorism was elevated to a world class threat that the USA had to take on. MIC was back in biz. They are not going to give that boogie man up. And now the private firms are fighting this one. Soon the DOD will be a supplier of outsource contracts and nothing more. It will all be private if they have their way.
the jury’s not out on that one yet. *g*
thanks elliot – chocolate cookies, i hope?
raven – but you could make the same argument here… will john end up using the video clips he’s asked for? if he does, will the MSM be shamed into covering the story that bush has admitted to approving torture? i’d say the chances are low…. but again, nowhere near as low as they would be if no one made the effort.
Militarist power freaks on both sides play proxy wars to terrorize the world
thanks, I was starting to think it was just us!
Good Morning SanderO and firepups.
I am just finishing A.J. Rossmiller’s STILL BROKEN. It’s a great example of the Pentagon MIC bureaucracy. I would highly recommend it.
so?
The MIC NEEDS an boggie man. Communism was it for a few decades, and the threat was completely made up. Militarist power freaks on both sides play proxy wars to terrorize the world for decades and such trillions from the people.
Commies left the scene so an new boogie man was needed or the MIC had no mission.
You need to work on this part. The commies would need some motive to quit playing the completely made-up game. Did they just get tired, or make some miscalculation? Why wouldn’t the U.S. keep them in the game? Anyway, needs a little work.
you bet selise, how about some homemade oreos — with white chocolate in the cream center?
homemade oreo cookies
The ‘Commie’ military would have loved to keep ‘going’, they just ran out of money.
But, that couldn’t happen ‘here’…
The USA out spent them as they had a planned economy and couldn’t afford to feed their military. Afghanistan broke them too.
Russia is rich with resources, but they lacked a way and a will to play with the capitalists. When they collapsed the oligarchs stole all the state controlled resources. And made gazillions supplying the EU and the west with oil and natural gas.
USSR was a terribly governed failed attempt at supposed marxist styled state. It became a paranoid police state, something we are beginning to copy.
wow! those i’m going to have to try some time… looks like quite a bit more effort involved, though, than the chocolate refrigerator cookie recipie you posted awhile ago (the one that both revdeb and i made).
Here’s an interesting twist:
George Bush & Dick Cheney ignored every warning prior to 9/11 that an attack was coming to our nation in the form of commercial airliners being used as missiles and even on the morning of 9/11 they refused to intercept the planes and allowed the attacks to happen. What a bunch of terrorists they are!
;-)
Attaturk, great post. It’s not surprising the terrorists in the White House are implying we’re winning over there in Iraq because people are dying. *shaking head*
Of course it could, and may. Which indicates there’s not all that much control over the described plan or game.
Seriously, I’ll admit there’s truth to the idea, but I don’t think either world affairs or individual lives can be layed down to some simple, plain- as-the-nose-on-your-face, formula. We would all expire from boredom in short order.
Russia is rising again and they turn toward a more top down fascists style government. Putin IS still the guy calling the shots and he installed a puppet as a front man. He has dispensed with all the socialists polices which provided the people with basic needs. It’s “personal responsibility” FU capitalism. The rich are there are among the wealhtists people in the world.
Bin Laden is safe. No Bush is going to harm a Bush family crony.
TAXI…HERE WE COME
300,000 vets have mental problem, 320,000 had brain injuries
Study: 300,000 US troops from Iraq, Afghanistan have mental problems, 320,000 brain injuries
PAULINE JELINEK
AP News
Apr 17, 2008 09:47 EST
Some 300,000 U.S. troops are suffering from major depression or post traumatic stress from serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and 320,000 received brain injuries, a new study estimates.
Only about half have sought treatment, said the study released Thursday by the RAND Corporation.
“There is a major health crisis facing those men and women who have served our nation in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Terri Tanielian, the project’s co-leader and a researcher at the nonprofit RAND.
“Unless they receive appropriate and effective care for these mental health conditions, there will be long-term consequences for them and for the nation,” she said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Good morning selise. Thanks for risking your sanity for those videos. If John doesn’t use them, I’d be happy to put them up on Humanity against Crimes.
No, my point was that if it was all a pre-arranged game, why would they and the U.S. let them outspend their means? Why didn’t we arrange the game to keep them in?
Again, there may be an element of truth to what you say, but I’m just not as attracted to sweeping theories to explain human behavior as you are. I would have wasted a lot of college tuition studying history.:}
Marion, thanks for your lovely breakfast spread. Yum!
howdy jim! well the clips will be posted as youtubes (although the first batch are ripped from, mostly, realplayer webstreams – it’s the second batch ripped from dvd that i expect to be better video quality), but i think the real hope is that that the clips will be used in mash ups and as source material make anti-torture videos / ads. i can’t do much of that because i’m limited by old computers, but hopefully someone else will if they are given the clips to work with.
p.s. will let you know when there’s something to work with – thanks!
It was not a pre arranged game.
The cold war was the modern day adaptation of the earlier notion of “spheres of influence” from the colonial era. Back then various nations sought wealth in / from colonial holdings and fought to control the “third” world… Spanish, Brits, French, Dutch, Portugese, Belgians, Italians, Swedes etc. all had colonial holdings and some waged war over them.
When the colonial system collapsed and after the two world wars which were attempts to grab control in a post imperial era, the emerging powers standing then divided the spoils of the third world.
The USSR advocated a socialist people’s revolution around the world which was anti capitalist and so we had the cold war over how and who would control the third world.
There was no formal game where the respective MICS decided to feather their own beds by a wink wink and nod of the cold war. They were genuinely seeking hegemony.
With the collapse of the USSR there was not serious threat to the USA’s hegemony. But we needed the military to intimidate instead of conquer as colonialism was very un PC and would not be tolerated. So we “spread democracy” and put in puppets. In the 60s and 70s we were able to get away with propping up dictators (our dictators), but this is not going to fly these days.
Terororism is the perfect boogyman, because they hate “freedom” democracy and so they must be destroyed ALL AROUND the world were we are spreading democracy, oops crony capitalism.
Okay, I think that’s closer to the mark and a lot more complex. But it differs from the earlier, “Communisim was it for a few decades and the threat was totally made up.”
Capitalists thieves don’t recognize the rights of indigenous people to their own resources. They belong to whomever can steal them.
When a leader such as Chavez or Morales says that the resources belong to the people they are branded anti capitalists communists thugs.
When the people demand labor rights and a clean environment they corporations fight that as an assault to the “free market” which means free reign of the capitalists over the rights of the people.
It was not a real threat to THIS country.
You have to realize that the USSR was not looking to colonize the USA or take this country from us.
No nation is a threat to our shores.
with the TAX PAYER bailouts…they steal very well right at home…thank you very much
It is a staple of right wing talk radio that there hasn’t been a terrorist attack in the US since 9/11. The implication is the efficiency of homeland security did the job. A more accurate explanation IMHO is the relationship of the Bush and Bin Laden families. I think the Bin Ladens bailed Bush out of Harkin Energy. They now see it as in their collective interests to make Bush look good, so no attacks. Unfortunately should a Democrat be elected, we will see attacks, which the Repubs will claim demonstrates Democratic ineffectiveness.
Leadership, Bush’s or anyone’s, is hierarchical. We obey or go along or watch television or whatever because those of higher social rank supposedly know what they are doing. Some time ago there was a noblesse oblige which kept the higher ups from exploiting too much. They exploited, but there was a responsibility to those without access to the levers of power. Bush violated that responsibility over and over, and it does no good to keep posting new examples of his deceit. We need alternatives to the way things are.
The Saudis have nothing to do with terrorist attacks. At best they buy silence from radical islamists so they won’t attack THEM. Radical islamists want the USA out of the ME and see governments who collaborate as their enemies.
It is more than likely that 911 was a non islamic plot which had layers of deniability and used some radicals to act as their patseys. These fellas most probably thought that they were doing a jihad, but probably don’t know who their handles actually were who made the decisions and plans which they executed.
The grunts on the ground rarely know how the strategies and tactics are formulated and who does these things. They simply get orders and follow them.
Chain of command allows for this type of obfuscation and deniability. So it is entirely possible that the attacks were planned by those who have an interest in the war on terror. Cui Bono????
test 2, 3, 4
Sorry, I can’t buy that. I think we actually did try to wind down the military establishment after WWII. You can’t convince me that the Marshall Plan and NATO didn’t prevent a USSR dominance in Europe which would have been just as “distasteful” to us as a Nazi dominance.
The Reds did want to spread a prolitariat of the people, but I don’t know that they wanted to do it by military aggression in Europe.
We dropped the A bombs as much to end the war in the East as to intimidate the USSR that they should can their spread of the red menace. The capitalists were not about to give up a good thing like profitable war and the profits from consumer rubbish.
Sorry, I think your working too hard to rationalize USSR and find some way to make it jibe with Marx. The USSR signing of the German-USSR non-agression pact prior to WWII, and subsequent seizure of Eastern Poland, was very different that some gentle Marxist spreading of the proletariot.
That’s all on this subject for me. I really think life and history would be a hell of a bore if it could be forced into some square hole of Marxist theory.
I’m not sure you’re right about the Saudis who apparently financed 9/11, but Osama was surprised the towers collapsed. It is not inconceivable he was conned like Lee Oswald into doing something to cover other forces at work. There’s lots about 9/11 that’s unexplained which is why there’s so many conspiracy theories although there isn’t enough information to reach a conclusion.
One issue on the internet is that jet fuel burns at 1500 degrees while steel melts at 2200 although it supposedly weakens at less than that. I read one post which stated that steel in a building like the World Trade Center doesn’t get above 600 degrees because the heat is transferred throughout the steel framework. On the other hand, I know a structural engineer who says the collision was enough to get the upper twenty floors crashing down in which case the lower structure could not do anything but fail.
This begs the question of what, if anything, we the people can do to counteract the powers that be.
Grab your tin hat and sword and stand by the door awaiting further word.
Morning Raven. Ms. Bluebird has changed her mind again, but the Mr. is very patient and understanding.
It’s a terrible thing for some to have untold riches. They just can’t figure out what to do with all that extra energy and empty time.
EPU and awayyyyyy!
coffee…
YES I know there’s a new post, has been for hours & hours.
gimmee a break dammit.
we’re down-sizing here.
anyone want 50 heavy, rusty steel fenceposts?
could come in handy these days.
mebbe i send um to shooter collect, air… *hoists 6-footer & heaves approximately eastwardwise* umph. little more to the right.
Ooops. even EPU deserves manners.
Good morning Attaturk. I’m addicted to your posts.
Thank you. *sniffle*
Bin Laden bankrupted the USSR and he’s well on his way of bankrupting the U.S.. They don’t have any reason for another terrorist attack when all they have to do is sit back and watch the U.S. implode. His version of “Mission Accomplished.” Gibson, Stephanopolus, Bush, Cheney, Russert, Bill and Hill, Kristol, Norquist, Hannity, Limbaugh, Will et al of the wealthy status quo elitists will be just fine. The rest of the country, not so much.
I am an architect and the way the building collapsed is not explainable in any way consistent with my understanding of statics and physics.
An impact load of the mass of the volume above the crash zone might have had enough energy to initiate a catastrophic failure. But that is not what appears to have happened.. or at least what the “findings” were.
The upper section collapse did not have the enough kinetic energy to crash the entire supporting structure below. And even is it did, the collapse could not have progressed at free fall speed as if there was not inertia of mass to over come.
A “progressive” collapse would simply take more time as all the connections on each floor would become over loaded and then fail.
Demolition of steel structures speeds this all up and controls is by breaking multiple connections at the same time or in a precise sequence. This is why many say the collapse resembles a controlled demolition.
And there was too much dust and not enough solid debris from a collapse of a building; too much disappeared which should have simple fell and perhaps shattered. And there were huge sections of steel thrown hundreds of hards which is indicative of some horizontal component rather than a collapse and that could be from an explosion.
The collapse from a plane impact does not square with the laws of physics as we know them.
ding ding ding
Cross,
I hold no brief for the USSR. But it seems to me that their leaders were paranoid about the power of the USA after WWII and we had risen up to be the major power in the world and this was seen as a threat to their simulated people’s republic. They probably feared that the USA might move in on them as we did on Japan, and Germany and so they got into the smoke and mirrors of the cold war and grabbed some neighboring countries and established the iron curtain – a buffer zone and a sphere of influence. Then the went off to the larger world to find surrogates like Cuba and Nicaragua where they supported marxists.
Whatever.
The USSR had no interest in Illinois or Montana.
Now c’mon. The Bin Laden family itself is not evil. Osama is, literally, a black sheep in that family. Sure, the Bin Ladens are “close” with the Bush’s because of corporate ties but they are not evil (the Bin Ladens that is…the Bushs, definitely evil since their family supported Hitler in pre-WWII through early WWII days).
Bush has used the entire 9/11 thing to milk the situation for everything he could get in the PNAC outline. Nothing more, nothing less. This entire last 8 years has been about amassing more wealth for the Bush’s and Bush friends/colleagues, while also engraining in stone all the abuses of Nixon (plus some) into common, accepted Presidential power. They literally set out after 9/11 to make it a FACT that “if the President does it, then it isn’t illegal”.
I don’t know about the later USSR but I think it can be stated that the early USSR WAS a real threat, paranoid or not about its neighbors.
I am currently reading a book published in, I believe, 1928, called You Can’t Print That”. It is about censorship around the world, delving into the rise of Mussolini’s fascist Italy, the early years of the USSR, and other situations that bred rampant censorship (French occupation of Algeria, British occupation of various countries…it doesn’t just focus on the historic big bad boys of common yore). The Red Army, as originally intended, was to serve as an international army that would immediately jump into any revolt (that they and their communist colleagues in that country brought about) inside said country in order to bring the dictatorship of the proletariat into being. Their actual intent WAS to foment such revolutions, and send the Red Army to fight “alongside their revolutionary brethren”, in more and more nations. They wanted to focus on immediate neighbors first (for obvious logistical reasons) with the vison that bit by bit, country by country, the “revolution” would inevitably spread and the Red Army would be there to fight at the expanding front all the way.
That isn’t insular paranoia, that is a policy of exporting revolution and overthrow. Perhaps in later years, as the revolutionary luster washed off the edifice, it became less and less about fomenting and supporting revolution for inherent philosophical reasons and more about paranoia, but then again, maybe not.
Just saying.