The Anti-Antiwar Left

Many have lamented the lack of an antiwar movement in this country, the land of Empire and Imperialism. Many have also criticized the faux left that supports U.S. "interventions", those that support War Criminal Obama and want War Criminal Clinton to be the next President of the Empire.

We're not alone. They have the same problem in Europe.

"Ever since the 1990s, and especially since the Kosovo war in 1999, anyone who opposes armed interventions by Western powers and NATO has to confront what may be called an anti-anti-war left (including its far left segment). In Europe, and notably in France, this anti-anti-war left is made up of the mainstream of social democracy, the Green parties and most of the radical left. The anti-anti-war left does not come out openly in favor of Western military interventions and even criticizes them at times (but usually only for their tactics or alleged motivations – the West is supporting a just cause, but clumsily and for oil or for geo-strategic reasons). "

http://www.globalresearch.ca/beware-the-anti-anti-war-left/5544265

The anti-antiwar left in this country has been successful in perpetuating the false narratives and lies regarding Obama's illegal wars in Libya and Syria, not to mention Yemen and the War OF Terror, while limiting discussion of U.S. imperialism by focusing on other issues like $15 an hour minimum wage or a .01% tax on Wall Street crimes. In Europe it's the same:

"

"What the anti-anti-war left has managed to accomplish is to destroy the sovereignty of Europeans in regard to the United States and to eliminate any independent left position concerning war and imperialism. It has also led most of the European left to adopt positions in total contradiction with those of the Latin American left and to consider as adversaries countries such as China and Russia which seek to defend international law, as indeed they should."

The cognitive dissonance displayed by the anti-antiwar left, or the faux left in this country, is off the charts. On the one hand they claim to fight for worker's right, health care for all, more fair economic policies, etc., typical "liberal" issues because they "care" about people. On the other hand they support a Democratic president who has waged war in seven countries, overseen the ultra dangerous imperialist shift toward Russia and China, accelerated 21st century hegemony in Africa, reinvigorated imperial meddling in Latin America, and taken the War Of Terror and the accompanying drone war to an institutionalized height. Obama, the calm, pragmatic first black President, has "quietly" become as big a warmonger/war criminal as there is in U.S. history, aided and abetted by that anti-antiwar left.

Now they're fully behind Hillary Clinton to become president, a documented war criminal for her actions in Libya and Syria, and along with her War Criminal husband Bill, represents an American crime family rivaling the Bush crime family. She is clearly on record that her foreign policies and agenda are sympatico with the neocons and Zionists who infested the Bush administration and associated think tanks and institutes. There is no "no one could have predicted" on this one.

Again, same thing in Europe.

"Interventionism and European construction are both right-wing policies. One of them is linked to the American drive for world hegemony. The other is the framework supporting neoliberal economic policies and destruction of social protection. Paradoxically, both have been largely justified by “left-wing” ideas : human rights, internationalism, anti-racism and anti-nationalism."

Funny thing is, as it turns out the last ten years or so of the Neverending War OF Terror, the closest allies those on the Antiwar Left have are among those on the right, the libertarians and others who are sick of the "interventions", the spending and the taxes. Their priorities aren't necessarily straight (hey, kids are getting killed man) but they're against it, that's quantum leaps above the anti-antiwar left.

We're in a class war, a Serf's struggle against the oligarchy/plutocracy. Like in medieval times, there are those who work for and support the King and those against the King. Those are the sides. The anti-antiwar left and the Democratic party are on the side of the King. Like in Europe.

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earthling1's picture

A useful perspective, something to keep in mind.
Thanks for that.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

Lily O Lady's picture

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

Granma's picture

Is playing over and over in my brain. Thank you.

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Big Al's picture

I see the same basic things throughout human history, we are what we are. I remember writing an essay years ago about Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates. I listed a whole bunch of quotes and related them to current times. Same damn things about plutocracy, democracy, inequality, war, politicians, etc. We're talking 2-3000 years ago. It's always the same. Those on the right side, the side of good vs evil, just have to take a stand.

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k9disc's picture

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“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

Big Al's picture

"They rise to the top by being enabled by the bullied, the craven, the stupid, the naive, the opportunistic, the distracted, the brainwashed, and/or by crony bullies."

http://www.correntewire.com/why_does_sociopathic_scum_rise_to_the_top

I guess largely because we let them.

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of how Eskimos (Far North American First Nations peoples) handled their sociopaths - by shoving them off ice cliffs into the freezing waters below when no one was looking (or when those who were looking didn't "see" anything).

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Only connect. - E.M. Forster

Big Al's picture

Um, I'm not sure I wouldn't give Cheney and Bush a little nudge myself.

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k9disc's picture

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“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

k9disc's picture

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“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

elenacarlena's picture

our families, then we're tired and go for the brain-dead TV programs. And if you are into politics, it's all "Hillary's cough" and "Trump's latest outrage" and the polls, polls, polls. Issues, shmissues.

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Please check out Pet Vet Help, consider joining us to help pets, and follow me @ElenaCarlena on Twitter! Thank you.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

they're already entrenched.

They don't get their power from anything under my control.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

for dealing with someone like Cheney or Clinton, is to buy one of the easily available military weapons that are all around us, and try to kill them.

That's the option the system allows--probably because those in power know that taking a shot at the powerful does nothing except rebound onto the powerless, justifying further expansions of the police state. With the protection they have, it's highly unlikely any of those sociopaths are actually going to be successfully murdered, and even if one or two of them is killed, what do the rest of them care? They're sociopaths. As long as it's not them dying, they don't care.

Voting, as you have noticed, does nothing. Appealing to politicians or the press does nothing.

I'm not sure what "we let them" means in this context. In what way can we prevent them?

I'll bet you my bottom dollar that the majority of Americans have no idea of any answer to that question--and it's a difficult one even for me.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

snoopydawg's picture

How everything that people were against during the Bush administration, especially the Iraq war was suddenly okay once Obama started doing the same things.
Especially his use of drones which during his first 3 months in office he used more drone bombs then Bush did during his 8 years.
They were okay with his kill list, his extrajudicial killings of 3 Americans and not too many people were upset when he stated that "I'm pretty good at killing"
gjohnsit and others wrote many diaries about the illegal wars and people defended Obama.
He wrote one last week about Syria and how the US is arming, training and working with Al Quada and people actually defended them.
People over there keep writing that Obama ended two was and hasn't started any new ones. Good lord, I can't wrap my head around people being that ignorant!
And of course we know that if anyone writes that Hillary is a warmonger they are HR'd into oblivion. They refuse to see that she is a f'cking warmonger and always has been.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Big Al's picture

McCain had done exactly what Obama has done he would be hammered. Although a surprising percentage really are pro-Empire and either buy all the bullshit or believe in the agenda. Most get their news from the mainstream so they get the company line.

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snoopydawg's picture

the president instead of Hillary during the last election. The powers that be who actually run this country knew that people were fed up with the war in Iraq, the loss of jobs and the bank bailouts to name a few things.
So they ran a charming and charismatic person who had a beautiful family who told us what we wanted to hear.
And even after he went back on his promise to filibuster the FISA vote (he had to vote for it so that after he became president, he could work on rolling it back), his cabinet picks, the 6 months of debate to pass the ACA while he had already made deals with the insurance and pharmaceutical companies, ect, people kept giving him a pass for all the things he did that helped the people who helped him become president.
Then he didn't end the Iraq war but instead tried to keep the troops there after the SOFA.
And after all the things he has done to protect the banks, war criminals, the war industry and his other betrayals I read comments everywhere that say that he has been the best president since FDR.
Income inequality is getting worse, the rich are getting richer, there are more countries that he is destroying, and the other things everyone knows about.
But what amazes me the most about that saying is that he's getting ready to pass the TPP which will give away our national sovereignty over to the corporations and see even more jobs lost.
How anyone can believe that he has been the best president since FDR is beyond belief
And since the anti war people have gone away, TPTB feel that it's safe to put Hillary in power who is going to be a threat to humanity.
People keep celebrating the republicans who have endorsed her because they think it's because those republicans think that Trump is too dangerous, but these are the people who have endorsed her and this is why.
http://www.veteransnewsnow.com/2016/09/03/1008921the-neocon-in-the-oval-...

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Amanda Matthews's picture

started running for the Oval Office.

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

Lily O Lady's picture

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

at your link is priceless. High-level Masters of War, all of them.

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native

I won't be anti "anti-antiwar". I'll just say fuck war. All war. And the capitalist boat it floats in on.

Like Knucklehead says: "I'm already against the next war"

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Big Al's picture

that's the only way.

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"There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning." - Warren Buffett

This is what we must first realize, then accept, and finally engage in.

I read Marx's Das Kapital in English translation on my own in my mid-twenties and understood then that the problem, for people as human beings, is living in a world based on capitalism - the world we are living in right now.

How to defeat the capitalists I don't really have a clue. I get completely lost and frustrated trying to make sense of Marxists debating one another online - while the rich keep winning and getting richer, honest to God by the minute.

So, Al, I'm with you in being against the killing or even harming people kind of war, but I do feel it is imperative to, somehow, defeat this class war, to end capitalism, to stop the literal killing for profit.

I'm not thinking very clearly tonight, but I think it might behoove all of us to realize the one thing that will bring down the wrath of empire like nothing else is challenging its system of capitalism and central banks based on the US petrodollar, whether it's the democratically elected Iranians nationalizing their oil in the 1950s, Saddam Hussein attempting to accept Euros for payment for Iraqi oil in 2002, or Gaddafi trying to establish a pan-African banking system based on gold.

How the hell do we fight that?

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Only connect. - E.M. Forster

Big Al's picture

When you control basically everything you have a lot of power. Ending capitalism itself is a very tough thing to imagine. Maybe after the nuclear holocaust or the terminator robot rebellion, humans can band together in small groups and start with new systems.

Perhaps trying to end imperialism is the way to go, at least maybe we can stop the killing and destruction and instigate a saner version, if that's possible. The extreme wealth inequality now simply has to be challenged one way or another. I'm amazed at what people are accepting, like sports stars and actors getting 50-100 million per year which leads to tacit acceptance of the rest.

Evidently it's going to be a long, tough struggle.

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lotlizard's picture

Turning his back on the tacit acceptance, one of the keys if someone wants to do the whole wealthy sports star thing. The advertising and product endorsement deals. The special edition gym shoes. The restaurant-chain franchise operation.

I hear you say it
“Play it smart, girl
Win the game, love
Give ’em what they want
What they want to see and you could be a big star
You could go far
Make a landmark
What have you been reading, you smart girl?
Win the game, love
Give ’em what they want
What they want to see and you could be a big star
You could go far
Make a landmark
Make a shit load”

And the world spins by
With everybody moaning
Pissing, bitching, and everyone is shitting
On their friends
On their love
On their oaths
On their honour
On their graves
Out their mouths
And their words say nothing

— Shirley Manson, “Shut Your Mouth” (performed and recorded by Garbage)

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about the lure of fame and fortune...

You know you can make a name for yourself
You can hear them tires squeal
You could be known as the most beautiful woman
Who ever crawled across cut glass to make a deal.

Got to be an important person to be in here, honey
Got to have done some evil deed
Got to have your own harem when you come in the door
Got to play your harp until your lips bleed
They say that patriotism is the last refuge
To which a scoundrel clings
Steal a little and they throw you in jail
Steal a lot and they make you king
There's only one step down from here, baby
It's called the land of permanent bliss
What's a sweetheart like you doing in a dump like this?

- B. Dylan, "Sweetheart Like You"

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native

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Amanda Matthews's picture

a corporate raider. He's a tax cheat like the rest of 'em.

***
Warren Buffett's Supersized Tax Deduction

Warren Buffett is one of the world’s richest and most benevolent men. The uber- billionaire has now donated approximately $2.6 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and four other charities. See Buffett Donates $2.6B In Berkshire Hathaway Shares. [b]He did it with stock, of course. He handed over stock in his company, Berkshire Hathaway, donating 22,870,529 shares of his class B common stock. At the time of the donation, they were trading at about $115 per share.[/b]

According to his filing with the SEC, Buffett converted 14,000 class A shares to 21 million class B shares July 5 to complete the donation. Despite the gift, he is still worth over $59 billion. That is up from $53.5 billion in March, due to appreciating Berkshire Hathaway stock.
The bulk, 17,458,431 shares or about $2 billion, went to the Gates Foundation. The balance was split between the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named for his late wife; and his children’s charities, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, the Sherwood Foundation and the NoVo Foundation.

Famously, Buffett pledged to give away 99% of his fortune. In 2012, he gave $1.5 billion to the Gates Foundation. In the same year he pledged $3 billion of stock to his children’s foundations. According to Forbes, Buffett has donated at least $11.5 billion in Berkshire Hathaway shares to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

When someone donates stock, what is the tax effect? The donor gets a charitable contribution deduction based on the fair market value of what is given. Value and basis are different things and that means a big tax advantage.

Mr. Buffett donates at the market value of the shares but doesn’t have to pay income tax on his gain. That makes it far better than selling the stock, paying tax on the gain, and donating the cash. Giving appreciated property is the kind of wise tax planning you would expect from Mr. Buffett.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2013/07/09/warren-buffetts-supers...

***
• Part 1 - The mobile-home trap: How a Warren Buffett empire preys on the poor
http://www.seattletimes.com/business/real-estate/the-mobile-home-trap-ho...
***
• Part 2 - Buffett’s mobile-home business has most to gain from deregulation plan
http://www.seattletimes.com/business/real-estate/buffetts-mobile-home-bu...
***
• Part 3 - Minorities exploited by Warren Buffett’s mobile-home empire
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/times-watchdog/minorities-explo...
***
He's a tax cheat:

Burger King tax-avoiding deal is classic Buffett

*
His favorite tactic is to buy shares in great companies and then never sell them, preferring to let their value grow without incurring taxes on a stock sale. For example, most of his estimated $66.8 billion in personal wealth consists of Berkshire Hathaway stock held since the 1960s and never directly taxed.

Even Buffett's pledge to give away 85 percent of his fortune to charity can be viewed as history’s biggest tax-avoidance tactic.

On a more prosaic level, Buffett is a master of arcane tax strategies. For example, a recent deal to divest Berkshire of its longtime investment in The Washington Post was structured to deliver no tax bill, saving a reported $675 million.

And The Wall Street Journal reports that Buffett drove a particularly hard bargain for his Burger King investment, which is in the form of preferred equity paying a 9 percent dividend, to compensate Berkshire for $50 million a year in higher taxes it will pay as a U.S. financier.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2014/aug/26/burger-king-tax-avo...

***

Old Warren is a shit weasel. He just has good PR men, something Rmoney doesn't have.

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

riverlover's picture

while finding tax-avoidance simultaneously. If only I had mental games like that to do.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

...if Warren paid his fair share of taxes, that money would just get redistributed to all his billionaire buddies. It's hard for me to get all riled up about people that don't pay their fair share, when doing so will contribute zero to the well being of the average work a day Betty. Our system is so screwed from top to bottom that doing the right thing turns out wrong.

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the propagandists have really gone to hell, because his reputation is right up there with Soros and Gates as just another billionaire trying to impose his will on peoples across the world via "charities" firmly under his control.

FWIW, being "good" at making money in a system rigged in your favor hardly makes on a "sage", at IMO.

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Only connect. - E.M. Forster

Amanda Matthews's picture

change). I responded with what I did because I wanted to 'counter' the false but prevalent picture that people, like the poster has of Mr. Buffet. In particular, people who have been swayed by all these stories about what a great guy he is. The truth is a little deeper than the feel-good stories about what a charitable guy he is or how he says the rich should pay their 'fair share' in regard to taxes.

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

I think it might behoove all of us to realize the one thing that will bring down the wrath of empire like nothing else is challenging its system of capitalism and central banks based on the US petrodollar, whether it's the democratically elected Iranians nationalizing their oil in the 1950s, Saddam Hussein attempting to accept Euros for payment for Iraqi oil in 2002, or Gaddafi trying to establish a pan-African banking system based on gold.

How the hell do we fight that?

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Beware the bullshit factories.

Amanda Matthews's picture

These people are not liberals or progressives. The only 'liberal' thing about them is the willingness to throw us some crumbs on some social issues. Pro-LGBT? Sure, it doesn't cost money, takes no power from the 1%, and it makes them looks like they're 'progressive' (even though not long ago even the Clinton creature was telling people that marriage is meant to be between a man and woman only, or pushing DADT). Single payer healthcare coverage? Hell no, costs money and takes away the control of that industry, Big Pharma, and the control of our bodies by the 1%.

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

Roy Blakeley's picture

Cleary and concisely said.

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A true leftist recognizes class and wars of empire.
A liberal just wants to smooth out the rough edges of the existing system, no matter how bad it is.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

I don't think you can still call those liberals "liberals." While I'm aware of the dangers of the "true Scotsman" idea, there is an argument to be made that "liberalism" actually once constituted a political philosophy of sorts. Certainly liberalism, as a philosophy, was never inherently anti-war--FDR and JFK were no peaceniks. However, the wars the US has engaged in since 1991, justified by blatant lies and propaganda, buttressed by indefinite detention and torture and blanket surveillance of the populace, and motivated by naked greed, break with many principles of liberalism, such as:

the idea of basic human rights, such as is expressed in the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights
the idea--fundamental in the Constitution itself--that war must be declared by a deliberative, representative body, not started as the whim of one man, or of one small group of men, acting unilaterally
the idea that offensive (or pre-emptive) warfare is, well, offensive
the idea that there should be some justification for war that can bear critical scrutiny, which in practice generally means "someone at least took the trouble to construct a credible lie."
the idea that if a majority of the people of the United States turned against a war, the political system was bound to--albeit perhaps slowly and reluctantly--abandon said war (In contrast, when told a majority of Americans opposed the Iraq War, Cheney said "So?")

The "liberals" (like Hillary) who support these wars are being politically supported by people like Robert Kagan and Dick Cheney. Neither these positions nor these "liberals" would have been considered "liberal" before 2008.

This is an Overton shift that arose because it became verboten to criticize Obama. After 2008, the pro-war stance became de rigeur for liberals as long as it was a war that Obama supported. But at that moment, they ceased to be liberals--or, to put it another way, the political position of "liberalism" became intrinsically meaningless and indistinguishable from its opposite.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

at least as Big Al described it. Here are some of my thoughts on some of his comments:

"The anti-antiwar left in this country has been successful in perpetuating the false narratives and lies regarding Obama's illegal wars in Libya and Syria, not to mention Yemen and the War OF Terror, while limiting discussion of U.S. imperialism by focusing on other issues like $15 an hour minimum wage or a .01% tax on Wall Street crimes."

There is a lot to comment about in these few sentences. First, you refer to illegal wars in Libya, Syria and Yemen. Let me comment on each one in turn.

Libya: I agree that this war was almost certainly "illegal." I do note that there was a UN Security Council authorizing force to defend the Libyan citizenry against the use of chemical weapons against the government. However, our intervention and the intervention of our allies went well beyond that.

However, to say that a war is "illegal" does not mean that it is immoral, let alone a war crime (I refer to war crime because you accuse Obama and Clinton as being war criminals, I believe, at least in part, for conducting illegal wars; my apologies if I misunderstood your point). To step into the hypothetical for a moment, I assume that you agree in the abstract that conduct can be both moral and illegal. Certainly Martin Luther King did. I would also think the same basic possibility exists for international matters as well. Let me give you an example of this, though it may not mean anything to you, depending on your age. As you may not know if you are very young (I am 55), Senator George McGovern was one of the leading political figures against the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s. He was extremely reluctant to use force in general. When he ran for president as the Democratic Party nominee in 1972, his proposed defense spending would have cut such spending by about 40%. Yet, in the late 1970s, he came out in favor of military intervention in Cambodia because the human rights record of the Pol Pot regime was so horrible. I am not saying he advocated unilateral US warfare, but some group of countries to intervene in Cambodia to overthrow Pol Pot and his regime. This intervention would have been illegal. I think it also would have been very unwise. However, I dont think it would have been immoral. Well, the same can be said about intervening in Libya. Colonel Qadaffi (spelling?) was a brutal dictator. Many of his people were rebelling against him. I actually supported that intervention on both humanitarian and national interest grounds as I believe both that the Libyans would be better off living in a democracy and that we in the US will be safer once more Muslims live in a democracy. In fact, I think one of the reasons why we are so hated in that part of the world is our long time attachment to brutal dictators.

True, the situation for the Libyans now is, if anything, worse now then under Qadaffi. However, I think that could have been avoided if we had offered very generous economic aid so they could rebuild from the war's destruction. In my mind, it was Obama's failure to do this that was the real "crime," not the original intervention.

As for Syria, I agree with Clinton that we should have done more to intervene earlier. I would not have put ground troops in Syria under any condition, but there was a point in mid 2012-13 that we could have used air power to intervene and a relatively moderate group lead by former Syrian military personnel would have taken over Damascus. While I think this would not have ended all violence, but I do think much of the tremendous human rights catastrophe that has taken over the country would have been avoided. And I believe, though I assume you will disagree, that those who advocate non-intervention must "own" that this may have resulted in a human rights nightmare that MIGHT have been avoided with such intervention.

As for the drone strikes-To me, this matter rests completely with the quality of intelligence. I believe that if the US knows to a near certainty that certain individuals in a foreign land are training with the specific purpose of carrying out terrorist acts against Americans, that we have a right to attack them. I dont believe that we have to wait until 2 minutes before they set off some bomb in some American city before we strike them. Of course, I dont think such killings should be based on...well he said that he said that he said that he said these groups of people are terrorists so we should kill them. Since I dont know what the standard is in approving a drone strike, I dont know if I supoort or oppose Obama's use of drones.

There are two things that were mentioned in passing that I agree with in criticism of Obama's foreign policy: his policy pertaining to Israel and the middle east and in latin america. In regard to the former, while I am a Zionist, I am very critical of Obama's lack of doing anything real to end Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. He certainly could and should have gone to the UN to declare the settlements illegal and if such activity was not stopped, to impose sanctions against Israel. I believe that this would have been enough to restart the peace process, but if not, then Obama could and should have worked within the UN to draw the appropriate boundries for the Palestinian State. In regard to Latin America, briefly, Obama has stood against ELECTED center-left or leftist governments in Brazil, Argentina, Venazuela and others in favor of right wing governments. Even Bill Clinton, who I dislike greatly, was better in Latin America then Obama.

OK, this has been a bit rushed because I have to go pick up my son from school. I will return later to reply to any comments.

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depend on who the imperial powers are backing. In Syria the USA/GCC funded and armed rebles, in Bahrain Obama sent in the US military to violently put down pro democracy protest. The list of despots who have opened fire on mass protest that the US gov supports is huge, and their names are crazy hard to pronounce, (for a english speaker anyway). Edit for clairty, the list despots the US gov suports who have opened fire on protesters, is huge. You said you would mention Yamen, you didn't though. Just so you know the US govs role is to provide targets for the KSAAF. Seeing as the KSAAF concentrates on infrasturcture, like water treatment plants, schools, and hospitals, who's to say those are not the targets the US has provided. 90000 civilians died as a result of those strikes.

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Solidarity forever

Dhyerwolf's picture

Qaddafi's death count where overblown by a factor of 10. If the US wasn't a superpower, I wonder how an outside force that wanted to spin an attack on us would? "The brutal US regime with record high rates of imprisonment (especially against minority communities), where armed agents of the government kill hundreds of people each year and stolen and repressed votes in a "democratic" system."

This isn't to say that there can't be valid humanitarian reasons to intervene, but that certainly doesn't apply to anything we've seen this century.

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Big Al's picture

they're based on lies. Bush also got U.N. approval but the Iraq war we ALL know was based on lies. It wasn't about Saddam, just like Libya and Syria weren't and aren't about evil dictators in Libya and Syria. That's all bullshit. Both "wars" are blatant regime change operations and country destabilization projects for two broad purposes, the fanatical idea of a Greater Israel and the equally fanatical goal of world hegemony, plus the side goals of NATO countries and Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Control of oil, natural gas, water resources are all part of the deal.
Drone strikes, the war OF terror, same thing, based on lies. The war OF terror is nothing more than an excuse to implement the neocons New American Century with the perpetrators, including Obama and Clinton, aiding and abetting the very "terrorists" they pretend to being fighting against.
The United States and its allies, especially Israel and Saudi Arabia, have been the masterminds behind these wars and the cause of hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of displaced humans.
That's a rushed comment also but there is plenty of evidence to back it up.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

I'm only half kidding.

+5

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

hecate's picture

happened to open a history book, they would discover that PNAC is nothing more than a reformulation of The Committee On The Present Danger.

But, the Americans, they do not open history books. They, instead, rather, stick needles, into their eyes. So that they regard. Only. What is blurred. Within their vision.

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the idea that the Iraqi, Libyan and Syrian wars were illegal because they were and are based on lies is, to me, incorrect. The UN and I believe past conferences has defined when war is acceptable under international law or not. I am pretty sure that "lying" about the reasons for going to war does not make it illegal. The reason I said that they were illegal was because none were fought for our defense, nor were they authorized by the UN. And while an argument can be made that the international community should recognize humanitarian intervention, my understanding is that to date it has not. I also note in a "picky" response, that the Iraq War did not have support from the UN, as you assert. Of course, I retract that statement if you mean the first war versus Iraq (from 1990-91).

In regard to your assertion that both the Syrian and Libyan wars are started and controlled by some combination of Israel and Saudi Arabia in order to creaet a Greater Israel and/or further The Ndew American Century, I respectfully disagree. My understanding is that both countries' insurrections started by local demonstrations and opposition that escalated to civil war. Of course, the US does try to start these types of civil unrest when it assists our purposes. However, I dont think we had the influence in either Syria or Libya to have started the anti-government efforts. As a side issue, do you contend that the US also started the anti-government efforts in Tunisia and Egypt as well?Were these events also part of our effort to destabalize the area for our benefit and for the benefit of Israel or Saudi Arabia?

While I disagree with you, I like to leanr new things. If you have any links that would support your position I would appreciate it. I mean this sincerely.

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ggersh's picture

was left, they aren't left of anything that I can see. It's more like they are
the anti anti-war right, as both O and her heinous sing nothing of praise to
the raygun.

Both O and H have and will govern to the right of Buchanan if not Falwell

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

elenacarlena's picture

Take a side, any side, and if it becomes popular or they just want to mess with you, they'll jump on board. Anybody can claim to be anything, that doesn't make them so. Plus even sincere people can be left on some issues, right on others.

If they're not ant-war, then on war issues, they're not on the left.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

or normalize them--tend not to be the same ones pushing a transaction tax, or a $15/hr minimum wage.

There's a few, of course, who are against austerity and pro-imperialism--but not many. Perhaps only because taking stands against austerity will soon be as verboten as taking stands against imperialism.

What you're looking at here is a field of permissible public debate that has been shrinking for years, and continues to shrink, as qualitative differences of opinion in politics are disallowed, and political debate becomes "Should we cut 60 billion dollars from the food stamp program, or only 13 billion?" "Should we start three more wars this year, or only one?"

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver