There is understandable interest in Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. In particular people want to know her positions on foreign policy.
It has been said that she is silent on the topic,and that this means she condones US imperialism. The issue was muddled by the disappearance of the "peace economy" plank from her platform,noted by S. Khan and reported here by Wendy Davis.
The US is a prison state...5% of the world's population and 25% of the incarcerated people on the planet. About a quarter of prisoners are serving time for non-violent drug offenses. Even outside of prison, people are imprisoned within a system blind to their needs because of the sole quest for ever more profit. American citizens can be swept up and sent to black site prisons in another country if they are accused of being a terrorist (including eco-terrorist). Police kill with impunity especially people of color. Hell you can stalk a black kid, shoot them, and claim stand your ground immunity in America...poor Trevon, guilty of being black. Our young people are imprisoned under a mountain of debt they accumulated in obtaining a mediocre education we told them they must have in order to be successful. It is time to escape this prison...
Yes, but we would have to want to change. This week we see a chance for peace on the Korean peninsula, so quick start a war with Iran and boost the market! The irony that Iran is the terrorist nation as Israel bombs them ...while Israel shoots children and journalists for marching against the conditions of their open air interment camp. Then consider the repressive kingdom of Saud and the horrors of the US-Saudi war in Yemen. But Iran is the terrorist nation? Looks like our allies are the biggest terrorists in the region to me. This echoes Iraq's WMD. We're gonna have our war like it or not. What citizens want no longer plays a role in our faux democracy. The oligarchs will have their way. Is it possible to escape this insanity? It would take a new system. This week let's look and listen to some forward thinking economists and consider other approaches as we look at the weeks events.
A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
~ Oscar Wilde
It took me a few years of teaching to fully understand that what you do...your habits and behaviors...carry more meaning and impact than what you say. It is the adage “Actions speak louder than words”. I think looking at what nation states do, not what they say, is an excellent strategy too. A couple of weeks ago we discussed the making of a more perfect oligarchy. I expressed amazement that the oligarchs no longer feel the need to hide behind purchased politicians, but are out front, self serving politicians for all to see. This week I want to make a similar point about our friends and enemies. Why is Saudi Arabia, the most oppressive monarchy in the world, our good buddy..., and nations like Iran, Syria, and Venezuela are so horrible that we feel compelled to ignore their international rights and assume that we must conquer and corporatize them?
The horrors of our foreign policy have been haunting me this week....along with the media promotion of the war machine. Lots of hand wringing about the budget, DACA, and the market, but not much discussion of our illegal presence promoting an immoral war in Syria, nor Yemen...nor Palestine. No, it's seventy six new nukes in the big parade, and a hundred and ten drones flying right behind. And let's get this straight, we shall not tolerate peace on the Korean peninsula, nor allow the Iranian nuclear agreement to stand. But wait, there's more...we have to shift our attention to China...and of course, big, bad Russia. Why? In order to protect “our” interests. Yeah, right. Well, we are promoting our brand of democracy in the Americas...recognizing fraudulent elections in Honduras and ignoring fair elections in Venezuela. This is nothing new...it just seems to be on steroids.
It really isn't fair to accuse the people...the average working people...for the mess in which we find ourselves. It isn't ignorance nor apathy (although they play a role), what I really think it is that we have a case of helplessness and hopelessness driven by financial despair. Only 39% of Americans are ready for a $1,000 unexpected expense (2 min). How can they focus on the three ring circus of today's politics? Even if they want to understand our situation they are misled, distracted, and kept in the dark. This week alone goes from government shutdown to #releasethememo to the billionaire gathering in Davos to constant (illegal) wars in Syria and around the world. It is a system in collapse...capitalism, democracy, and the environment...yes, our system is unraveling.
...and reverberations are felt around the world.
Across the country and world symptoms of the collapse are evident. Our self centered “for profit” mentality is driving us to the brink of extinction. We have created the forever war on terror by droning our way to ever more terrorists. All the while bowing to the god of profit by selling weapons to both sides of most conflicts. On a large scale we have promoted environmental degradation, climate chaos, and the sixth mass extinction event largely for the profit of a few fossil fuel giants. On another scale we see the public sphere privatized “for profit” from schools to prisons to hospitals to parks to... a for profit system enforced by militarized police. And yet another obvious symptom of the fall of the empire is the crony corporate economy designed for the elite with the current tax cut as a prime example.
Reflections on the global peace movement and me.
photo by divineorder, Most na Soci, Slovenia, July 2017
While I have been researching my weekly series on neo-liberalism, one thing that constantly hits me over and over is how much the neo-liberal ideology has been little by little stripping us of our humanity. It is the single biggest thing that I have come to realize. Instinctively I knew it, but I did not realize why it was happening.
