today's coverage of the egyptian protests was filled with anecdotes of attacks on reporters and cameramen by mubarak's thugs.
rush limbaugh, fat-ass, drug-addled, elton john-loving, parasitic worm, made fun of the beating of new york times(-up) reporters, but then modified his snarky tone when the victims were FOX news robots. now that was something completely different!
anderson cooper got knocked in the head about 10 times, and aj-jazeera's crew was rounded up, and their equipment confiscated, before being released.
a prominent egyptian blogger, on the other hand, was snatched up by the government, and hasn't been heard from since...
this is what they do to journalists in the netherworld of the right wing... it's the same mentality that had our own pundit class calling for the head of julian assange on a platter.
it's just that when the shoe doesn't fit, we tend to walk like spastics. consistency has never been our strong point.
today's most laughable report, however, also comes from al-jazeera: the pro-mubarak hired muscle, picking up a theme from egyptian state TV, laced their attacks on many journalists with taunts that they were jewish spies.
this from a regime that is on the US government payroll, has a "peace treaty" with the jewish state, and serves to empower and legitimize the israeli occupation of palestine -- and with it the humiliation of arabs and muslims by the zionist fanatics that control the government in tel aviv.
nothing discredits this cretins more effectively than their own words and tactics.
Friday, February 4, 2011
smoking the big banana
every time we think it's the end of the world, the world just keeps on hoppin'...
i can hardly think of any single event during my lifetime that has upset the global order in any substantial way. for that matter, gradual, incremental changes, which have been more substantial, have still only chipped away at the margins of a system that seems determined to continue its march in one particular direction.
that inexorable march is in the direction of concentrating wealth and power into the hands of the few, and at the expense of the many. it's by far the dominant paradigm worldwide, and shows no sign of change to its essential trajectory.
in broad, historical terms, this is the story of the modern world, and began in earnest with the industrial age. the economics have morphed from an economy based on making things to one that primarily is involved in making deals, but through it all the object has remained constant.
the modern world, which in so many respects, began with the enlightenment and the age of reason, has taken enlightenment ideas and the reliance on scientific rather than superstition and perverted them to reinforce superstition and dogma in a way that distracts and dis-empowers the masses. they accept their subservient and position, and genuinely believe they have power through instruments like the contemporary tea party movement in the US -- becoming playthings of the oligarchy through its power over the news and entertainment industries to create a reality based on the art and science of propaganda and marketing.
in effect, reality has become a moving target. when we talk about things that are happening in the world, there can be no agreement because the baseline, shared experience that we call "reality" is freely manipulated and defined as suits the occasion and agenda of parties with a stake in the outcome. in effect, if corporations and wealthy interests want something from government, for example, they pay someone to create the appropriate facade which makes their object acceptable or even attractive -- even to people who will most grievously suffer consequences.
you will no doubt see the expression of this particular phenomenon this spring when the radioactive core of the US government begins to melt down, and congress takes up raising the "debt ceiling".
this is a continuing game of chicken between GOPpers and demoncrats -- both of which share credit for creating this monstrosity in the first place -- and becomes larded with significance since the government must increase its borrowing authority to fund its various profligacies.
what's wretched about this periodic display of self-flagellation is the implied assurance that no matter how much of a clusterfuck the US financial house of cards becomes, the debt ceiling will always be extended to the next level. this is one of the most effective mechanisms for the transfer of wealth from working people to the wealthy yet devised.
an alternate reality has been cultivated within the tea party cult, however, that finds the level of government spending and debt to be symptomatic of overreaching by the federal government, whose wings must be clipped, in effect. the supposed values of thrift and self-reliance have been drilled into these folks' heads until they have internalized them and created a world view based on undeserving minorities living lives of luxury on the public dime while they, themselves, struggle. it is, at it's heart, an appeal to racist sentiment, presented in patriotic and even religious terms.
the game of chicken is over whether the erstwhile defenders of the social safety net, itself a relic of the depression-era new deal, will buckle under pressure on both sides -- their opponents in the opposite party, as well as the wealthy interests upon whom their campaign finances rely -- and gut any government department or function that costs money that could be funneled instead to the oligarchy.
it's remarkable how the tea party and the voices on the right almost without exception never mention the monumental waste of the "defense" and national security budgets, or any government program -- agricultural subsidies for mega corporations, for example -- that pay huge dividends to monied interests. these are, arguably, some of the most wasteful and excessive items in the budget, but they are viewed as beyond discussion when it comes to trimming the so-called fat from the federal budget.
indeed, there's every indication that these sacrosanct programs, and the debt ceiling that enables them, will continue their rise to infinity, as it is most notable that among the most lucrative lines of business when it comes to the government is service on the debt. the savvy investor has grown to love the T-bill as a rock-solid investment, and there's little doubt that the big wheels on wall street -- whose bail-outs are responsible for most of our current deficits -- are ready to gouge washington for ever greater, more obscene profits at taxpayer expense. indeed, these leeches are ready to kill the very source of their own bailouts, as long as they can take the money and run first...
as we celebrate the 100th birthday of ronald reagan, it is fitting and proper that we acknowledge that his election in 1980 essentially marked the beginning of the gradual dismantling of the new deal social compact, and the beginning of a new, toxic era of government of, by and for the few. cloaked in patriotic bunting and embodying the racist and xenophobic tendencies of lazy and ignorant working-class americans, corporations and the wealthy have gnawed away at the underpinnings of a society based on rule of law and the values of the enlightenment.
what we're left with is a world order teetering on the edge of collapse, as a corrupt ruling class has become blind to the wreckage that its greed has caused to civil society. when the debt ceiling shenanigans crash the bond market and the dollar crashes, the tea partiers' tri-cornered hats and the bluster and bravado of rush limbaugh and glenn beck will start looking pretty damn stupid.
i can hardly think of any single event during my lifetime that has upset the global order in any substantial way. for that matter, gradual, incremental changes, which have been more substantial, have still only chipped away at the margins of a system that seems determined to continue its march in one particular direction.
that inexorable march is in the direction of concentrating wealth and power into the hands of the few, and at the expense of the many. it's by far the dominant paradigm worldwide, and shows no sign of change to its essential trajectory.
in broad, historical terms, this is the story of the modern world, and began in earnest with the industrial age. the economics have morphed from an economy based on making things to one that primarily is involved in making deals, but through it all the object has remained constant.
the modern world, which in so many respects, began with the enlightenment and the age of reason, has taken enlightenment ideas and the reliance on scientific rather than superstition and perverted them to reinforce superstition and dogma in a way that distracts and dis-empowers the masses. they accept their subservient and position, and genuinely believe they have power through instruments like the contemporary tea party movement in the US -- becoming playthings of the oligarchy through its power over the news and entertainment industries to create a reality based on the art and science of propaganda and marketing.
in effect, reality has become a moving target. when we talk about things that are happening in the world, there can be no agreement because the baseline, shared experience that we call "reality" is freely manipulated and defined as suits the occasion and agenda of parties with a stake in the outcome. in effect, if corporations and wealthy interests want something from government, for example, they pay someone to create the appropriate facade which makes their object acceptable or even attractive -- even to people who will most grievously suffer consequences.
you will no doubt see the expression of this particular phenomenon this spring when the radioactive core of the US government begins to melt down, and congress takes up raising the "debt ceiling".
this is a continuing game of chicken between GOPpers and demoncrats -- both of which share credit for creating this monstrosity in the first place -- and becomes larded with significance since the government must increase its borrowing authority to fund its various profligacies.
what's wretched about this periodic display of self-flagellation is the implied assurance that no matter how much of a clusterfuck the US financial house of cards becomes, the debt ceiling will always be extended to the next level. this is one of the most effective mechanisms for the transfer of wealth from working people to the wealthy yet devised.
an alternate reality has been cultivated within the tea party cult, however, that finds the level of government spending and debt to be symptomatic of overreaching by the federal government, whose wings must be clipped, in effect. the supposed values of thrift and self-reliance have been drilled into these folks' heads until they have internalized them and created a world view based on undeserving minorities living lives of luxury on the public dime while they, themselves, struggle. it is, at it's heart, an appeal to racist sentiment, presented in patriotic and even religious terms.
the game of chicken is over whether the erstwhile defenders of the social safety net, itself a relic of the depression-era new deal, will buckle under pressure on both sides -- their opponents in the opposite party, as well as the wealthy interests upon whom their campaign finances rely -- and gut any government department or function that costs money that could be funneled instead to the oligarchy.
it's remarkable how the tea party and the voices on the right almost without exception never mention the monumental waste of the "defense" and national security budgets, or any government program -- agricultural subsidies for mega corporations, for example -- that pay huge dividends to monied interests. these are, arguably, some of the most wasteful and excessive items in the budget, but they are viewed as beyond discussion when it comes to trimming the so-called fat from the federal budget.
indeed, there's every indication that these sacrosanct programs, and the debt ceiling that enables them, will continue their rise to infinity, as it is most notable that among the most lucrative lines of business when it comes to the government is service on the debt. the savvy investor has grown to love the T-bill as a rock-solid investment, and there's little doubt that the big wheels on wall street -- whose bail-outs are responsible for most of our current deficits -- are ready to gouge washington for ever greater, more obscene profits at taxpayer expense. indeed, these leeches are ready to kill the very source of their own bailouts, as long as they can take the money and run first...
as we celebrate the 100th birthday of ronald reagan, it is fitting and proper that we acknowledge that his election in 1980 essentially marked the beginning of the gradual dismantling of the new deal social compact, and the beginning of a new, toxic era of government of, by and for the few. cloaked in patriotic bunting and embodying the racist and xenophobic tendencies of lazy and ignorant working-class americans, corporations and the wealthy have gnawed away at the underpinnings of a society based on rule of law and the values of the enlightenment.
what we're left with is a world order teetering on the edge of collapse, as a corrupt ruling class has become blind to the wreckage that its greed has caused to civil society. when the debt ceiling shenanigans crash the bond market and the dollar crashes, the tea partiers' tri-cornered hats and the bluster and bravado of rush limbaugh and glenn beck will start looking pretty damn stupid.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
afflicted and fuc't
the self-promoting turbogeeks at wired magazine have a story about leaked swedish police documents describing the lurid sexual allegations about julian assange... the most damning of these, i suppose, are those that refer to his low standard of personal hygiene: apparently he did not flush the toilet after use, or bathe regularly. this confirms mr. keller's reminiscences about his encounters with assange in the new york times(-up!). i don't know about assange's alleged victims' personal habits, either, seeings how they collected used condoms and provided investigators with sexual performance evaluations of mr. assange.
as one friend of mine remarked many years ago, by the time they find out you have a small dick, it's already too late!
frankly, i get more tired than wired these days, but they do have a report of some interest about the latest developments in the ongoing government campaign to repeal freedom of speech, thought and expression.
it's blandly presented as a bipartisan legislative effort to enact laws mandating the US ISPs provide a "kill switch" for internet communications in the event of a "national emergency". our favorite moral retard, joe lieberman is one of the co-sponsors, along with susan collins, the so-called moderate GOPper from maine.
in the story, the legislative solons explain that the "bill is designed to protect against “significant” cyber threats before they cause damage," which sounds good and reasonable -- until you consider the status quo's definition of a threat: anything that challenges its grip on power.
it's certainly no accident that egypt's dictatorship killed access to the internet during the protests against the regime, as the web proved to be the mechanism by which the revolutionaries organized themselves into an effective movement -- all without a organizational hierarchy that could be attacked and decapitated by the state. the internet is the public's secret weapon for seizing the initiative against the same old, predictable methods of repression that dictatorial regimes have relied upon for the past century.
(it's interesting, by the way, how the "pro-mubarak" forces -- which were plainclothes government police and their armed goons -- came riding to the rescue on horseback, and employing the same tired anti-demonstrator tactics that so characterize the mubarak dictatorship.)
speaking of julian assange, he's a case in point of governments employing the more traditional forms of reprisal and attack against critics and foes of their regimes: good, old-fashioned character assassination. assange himself predicted that his organization would face the prospect of decapitation of the leadership -- and pentagon papers from 2008 lay out the strategy the pentagon would employ to silence wikileaks.
but the old dogs have some new tricks, too. the military has made control of land, sea and air it's objective into the 20th century; in the current era, however, they have added to their agenda control of space -- both outer and cyber. while we in the public are just beginning to consider the many avenues for manipulation and control over the information highway that our government can employ on behalf of its patrons, they have been hard and work -- and working hard at spending your tax dollars -- to foreclose any possibility that a free flow of information can potentially damage them and thwart their agenda for complete global control.
i've always been kind of amused at the government's meticulous attention to giving a legal facade to their brazenly unconstitutional evisceration of our freedoms, but i've come to learn that even the nazis in their most heinous projects always operated under the fiction of "rule of law".
yesterday morning, at a time when mubarak had made his statement to the egyptian people and sent his hired muscle into the crowds to sow terror, it just so happened that al-jazeera suddenly and completely vanished off the internet where i was at work. there were no al-jazeera stories to be seen on google news, and no link anywhere to an al-jazeera site worked. there were still youtube videos available, and pages were cached on google, but otherwise it was astonishing how quickly and totally any content provider could be "disappeared" from the internet.
a technical glitch, no doubt. i neither read no heard of anyone else having observed this blackout, but that doesn't surprise me, either. the site returned after a while, and apparently no one really cared to make the obvious inference, but the point was made anyway.
political hacks will insist their laws are for the "protection" of our internet and our country against criminals or terrorists, but we have ample evidence that US policy is driven not by the threat of terrorism, but rather the preservation and enlargement of the plutocratic status quo. the US invaded iraq not out of concern for terrorism or WMD, but to stifle political change that might negatively affect US interests in the great game of geopolitics. likewise, these proposed laws are not aimed at preventing hackers from opening the floodgates of the hoover dam, which sounds like a disaster-flick too far-out even for hollywood, but to slience non-corporate voices of dissent, and to eliminate the threat that protesters could use social media to organize protests.
during the latter years of the bush administration, when then new york times(-up!) printed their stories about how phone companies abetted the government's program of vacuum-cleaner surveillance on their customers, the magnitude of the elites' program of total control over the population came into sharp relief. the government set up shop in the phone companies' control rooms, essentially tapping into the main line that carries all communications through their networks, so that every shred of your private communications was an open book for government goons.
when this became public knowledge, congress rushed to give the phone companies retroactive immunity from prosecution and civil suits, in a full-court press to prevent lawsuits from unearthing the scale and scope of the government's program of surveillance against its citizens. had these suits come to trial, the government would have been completely exposed for the orwellian conspiracy that it is -- as the phone companies could not cloak its complicity under the rubric of "national security," which is the government's favored tactic for short-circuiting transparency in courtroom proceedings.
the government has amply proved on issue after issue its complete dedication to the evisceration of citizens' rights when they come into conflict with the government's own program of acting as the enablers of corporate control over the economy, to promote the welfare of the few at the expense of the many. we see the model in nations such as egypt, where the neo-liberal project of privatization and monetization of the public sector, and the wholesale extraction of the nation's assets, and transfer to the investor class, is given to stewards like mubarak, who rules with brutality over a population whose well-being and aspirations are slowly being asphyxiated by the world's corporate overlords.
the internet is too important for commerce to be allowed to be an open community of all the people of the planet. it is gradually, relentlessly being monetized and converted into a platform for commercial transactions, and instead of becoming a medium for the unlimited sharing of news and views, it's being regulated and circumscribed to carry only messages and content that reinforce the party line.
when the revolution comes to the USA, the internet will be no more a threat to the government than all those supposed left-wing conspiracies that glenn beck is always ranting about...
as one friend of mine remarked many years ago, by the time they find out you have a small dick, it's already too late!
frankly, i get more tired than wired these days, but they do have a report of some interest about the latest developments in the ongoing government campaign to repeal freedom of speech, thought and expression.
it's blandly presented as a bipartisan legislative effort to enact laws mandating the US ISPs provide a "kill switch" for internet communications in the event of a "national emergency". our favorite moral retard, joe lieberman is one of the co-sponsors, along with susan collins, the so-called moderate GOPper from maine.
in the story, the legislative solons explain that the "bill is designed to protect against “significant” cyber threats before they cause damage," which sounds good and reasonable -- until you consider the status quo's definition of a threat: anything that challenges its grip on power.
it's certainly no accident that egypt's dictatorship killed access to the internet during the protests against the regime, as the web proved to be the mechanism by which the revolutionaries organized themselves into an effective movement -- all without a organizational hierarchy that could be attacked and decapitated by the state. the internet is the public's secret weapon for seizing the initiative against the same old, predictable methods of repression that dictatorial regimes have relied upon for the past century.
(it's interesting, by the way, how the "pro-mubarak" forces -- which were plainclothes government police and their armed goons -- came riding to the rescue on horseback, and employing the same tired anti-demonstrator tactics that so characterize the mubarak dictatorship.)
speaking of julian assange, he's a case in point of governments employing the more traditional forms of reprisal and attack against critics and foes of their regimes: good, old-fashioned character assassination. assange himself predicted that his organization would face the prospect of decapitation of the leadership -- and pentagon papers from 2008 lay out the strategy the pentagon would employ to silence wikileaks.
but the old dogs have some new tricks, too. the military has made control of land, sea and air it's objective into the 20th century; in the current era, however, they have added to their agenda control of space -- both outer and cyber. while we in the public are just beginning to consider the many avenues for manipulation and control over the information highway that our government can employ on behalf of its patrons, they have been hard and work -- and working hard at spending your tax dollars -- to foreclose any possibility that a free flow of information can potentially damage them and thwart their agenda for complete global control.
i've always been kind of amused at the government's meticulous attention to giving a legal facade to their brazenly unconstitutional evisceration of our freedoms, but i've come to learn that even the nazis in their most heinous projects always operated under the fiction of "rule of law".
yesterday morning, at a time when mubarak had made his statement to the egyptian people and sent his hired muscle into the crowds to sow terror, it just so happened that al-jazeera suddenly and completely vanished off the internet where i was at work. there were no al-jazeera stories to be seen on google news, and no link anywhere to an al-jazeera site worked. there were still youtube videos available, and pages were cached on google, but otherwise it was astonishing how quickly and totally any content provider could be "disappeared" from the internet.
a technical glitch, no doubt. i neither read no heard of anyone else having observed this blackout, but that doesn't surprise me, either. the site returned after a while, and apparently no one really cared to make the obvious inference, but the point was made anyway.
political hacks will insist their laws are for the "protection" of our internet and our country against criminals or terrorists, but we have ample evidence that US policy is driven not by the threat of terrorism, but rather the preservation and enlargement of the plutocratic status quo. the US invaded iraq not out of concern for terrorism or WMD, but to stifle political change that might negatively affect US interests in the great game of geopolitics. likewise, these proposed laws are not aimed at preventing hackers from opening the floodgates of the hoover dam, which sounds like a disaster-flick too far-out even for hollywood, but to slience non-corporate voices of dissent, and to eliminate the threat that protesters could use social media to organize protests.
during the latter years of the bush administration, when then new york times(-up!) printed their stories about how phone companies abetted the government's program of vacuum-cleaner surveillance on their customers, the magnitude of the elites' program of total control over the population came into sharp relief. the government set up shop in the phone companies' control rooms, essentially tapping into the main line that carries all communications through their networks, so that every shred of your private communications was an open book for government goons.
when this became public knowledge, congress rushed to give the phone companies retroactive immunity from prosecution and civil suits, in a full-court press to prevent lawsuits from unearthing the scale and scope of the government's program of surveillance against its citizens. had these suits come to trial, the government would have been completely exposed for the orwellian conspiracy that it is -- as the phone companies could not cloak its complicity under the rubric of "national security," which is the government's favored tactic for short-circuiting transparency in courtroom proceedings.
the government has amply proved on issue after issue its complete dedication to the evisceration of citizens' rights when they come into conflict with the government's own program of acting as the enablers of corporate control over the economy, to promote the welfare of the few at the expense of the many. we see the model in nations such as egypt, where the neo-liberal project of privatization and monetization of the public sector, and the wholesale extraction of the nation's assets, and transfer to the investor class, is given to stewards like mubarak, who rules with brutality over a population whose well-being and aspirations are slowly being asphyxiated by the world's corporate overlords.
the internet is too important for commerce to be allowed to be an open community of all the people of the planet. it is gradually, relentlessly being monetized and converted into a platform for commercial transactions, and instead of becoming a medium for the unlimited sharing of news and views, it's being regulated and circumscribed to carry only messages and content that reinforce the party line.
when the revolution comes to the USA, the internet will be no more a threat to the government than all those supposed left-wing conspiracies that glenn beck is always ranting about...
america's interests in the mid-east?
according to a bloomberg wire report, "US interests in peril as youth rebel, leaders quit in mideast". the headline casts the clashes between demonstrators as a generational divergence of interests, instead of practically entire societies rising up against their oppressors (who happen to be on the US payroll).
but what struck me as being particularly striking was this characterization of US interests in the region:
what i don't buy is that this is a legitimate security interest for the US. it may be a political imperative for politicians seeking handouts from wealthy special-interest groups -- we know how that game is played.
besides the window dressing, however, about how israel embodies our democratic values -- if so, that's a particularly poor reflection of our own democratic values! -- israel is just another country among many, and owes its very existence to powerful patrons in the west. it should, to the extent it is able, to either sink or swim on its own.
the israeli government's perpetual flouting of international norms and predisposition to violence to obtain political ends is both an irritant and an insult to its arab neighbors -- and deliberate at that. it costs the US more in prestige than money, but both are in terribly short supply right now.
as the new order unfolds in the middle east, the US seems consigned to the same old role of legitimizing the corrupt and illegitimate colonial regime of the israelis, to our lasting shame and detriment.
but what struck me as being particularly striking was this characterization of US interests in the region:
The U.S. will have to maneuver more deftly, analysts say, to forge alliances with new governments to protect U.S. interests: security for Israel, sustainability of world energy supply and the fight against al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.i understand how, in practice, the "security for israel" is the cornerstone of US policy in the egypt-jordan-israel triangle -- where US muscle and money is used to squeeze and further marginalize the palestinian people in order to minimize any urgency to engage them in negotiations.
what i don't buy is that this is a legitimate security interest for the US. it may be a political imperative for politicians seeking handouts from wealthy special-interest groups -- we know how that game is played.
besides the window dressing, however, about how israel embodies our democratic values -- if so, that's a particularly poor reflection of our own democratic values! -- israel is just another country among many, and owes its very existence to powerful patrons in the west. it should, to the extent it is able, to either sink or swim on its own.
the israeli government's perpetual flouting of international norms and predisposition to violence to obtain political ends is both an irritant and an insult to its arab neighbors -- and deliberate at that. it costs the US more in prestige than money, but both are in terribly short supply right now.
as the new order unfolds in the middle east, the US seems consigned to the same old role of legitimizing the corrupt and illegitimate colonial regime of the israelis, to our lasting shame and detriment.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
holy moly
it appears the the situation in the storied land of egypt has gotten a lot more twisted and demonic in the past day or so. government-backed, anti-democracy thugs have been unleashed on the peaceful, freedom-seeking demonstrators, and are ready to kick some serious ass.
we in the US, as stupid, lazy and uninformed as we are, need to be aware that this is not some drama being played out in some god-forsaken corner of the world, and that only affects us in the sense that it hurts our pride -- the ingrates protesting against our man in presidency are, in effect, thumbing their nose at their generous-to-a-fault benefactors here in the USA.
it's true, this is a place where much of america's power and prestige has been invested, as our way of keeping the lid on the arab world -- source of much of the world's energy reserves. keeping democracy and freedom on the run in these countries (not on the march), is the longstanding imperial project of our elites-based plutocracy. since frankie d's day during WWII, when he promised the saudi monarch that we'd back him and his cronies up, in exchange for preferential treatment in the oil market, we've played the same cynical game of divide and conquer. we've repressed the democratic yearnings of populations, and paid thugs and criminals to subvert the popular will -- all to maintain a tight grip over the black gold that is the great prize in the geostrategic game of empire.
your taxpayer dollars at work, to put it in a familiar formulation. we pay dictators like mubarak $1.5 billion a year, most of it going to the military, in order to keep him and his minions in power, and feeling like honorary members of the plutocrat's club. we fund the criminal israeli regime a cool $3 billion a year to beat down and humiliate the arabs, and tighten their grip over jerusalem -- a broad gesture to ensure muslims worldwide remember who's the boss.
i have an acquaintance of egyptian heritage who feels sympathetic to the beseiged egyptian tyrant's regime because his family members are doing quite well under the system as it has existed these past several decades. he is a fellow who, in other matters, is quite sensible and reasonable. when it comes to narrower issues of self-interest, however, he appears to demonstrate the all-too-common proclivity of many of us to take the low road, so long as the money is good. we in the US, by and large, are afflicted by this shameless pandering to whomever has the deepest pockets and biggest bank accounts.
we shall see how events in egypt play out. the demonstrators earlier this week insisted that mubarak had to go by this coming friday. the regime, on the other hand, has apparently been given to go-ahead by its american benefactors to ratchet up pressure on the forces calling for change -- as the US elites have decided that the price in busted heads and lost lives is worth it.
i'm a bit ambivalent when it comes to violence as a means of resolving differences between opposing parties. on the one hand, non-violent resistance has overcome several repressive regimes and colonial occupations over the past century, albeit the struggle often took many years and cost many lives. at the same time, when the forces of oppression have nothing to lose, they simply redouble their efforts to cow and intimidate the resisters, and eventually grind them down. there is definitely an advantage to the protesters in the recent uprisings owing to their spontaneous nature -- it has proved well-nigh impossible for the regimes to decapitate the leadership. now that they have the initiative, however, it's important for them to press ahead, and do so without relenting. allowing the thugs to overwhelm them with a show of brutality will only suck the life out of the protests, and cause the movement to fail.
the best way for the resistance to fight back is to hit the regime where it hurts the most -- in the pocketbook. resistance needn't be by use of force against their attackers -- there are plenty of other targets of the infrastructure of the state that are vulnerable, and would be costly to the state should they be lost or destroyed. make the state pay a very high price for its crimes, and those with the checkbook will think twice about how much they're willing to pay to bail out yet another hapless criminal institution.
we in the US, as stupid, lazy and uninformed as we are, need to be aware that this is not some drama being played out in some god-forsaken corner of the world, and that only affects us in the sense that it hurts our pride -- the ingrates protesting against our man in presidency are, in effect, thumbing their nose at their generous-to-a-fault benefactors here in the USA.
it's true, this is a place where much of america's power and prestige has been invested, as our way of keeping the lid on the arab world -- source of much of the world's energy reserves. keeping democracy and freedom on the run in these countries (not on the march), is the longstanding imperial project of our elites-based plutocracy. since frankie d's day during WWII, when he promised the saudi monarch that we'd back him and his cronies up, in exchange for preferential treatment in the oil market, we've played the same cynical game of divide and conquer. we've repressed the democratic yearnings of populations, and paid thugs and criminals to subvert the popular will -- all to maintain a tight grip over the black gold that is the great prize in the geostrategic game of empire.
your taxpayer dollars at work, to put it in a familiar formulation. we pay dictators like mubarak $1.5 billion a year, most of it going to the military, in order to keep him and his minions in power, and feeling like honorary members of the plutocrat's club. we fund the criminal israeli regime a cool $3 billion a year to beat down and humiliate the arabs, and tighten their grip over jerusalem -- a broad gesture to ensure muslims worldwide remember who's the boss.
i have an acquaintance of egyptian heritage who feels sympathetic to the beseiged egyptian tyrant's regime because his family members are doing quite well under the system as it has existed these past several decades. he is a fellow who, in other matters, is quite sensible and reasonable. when it comes to narrower issues of self-interest, however, he appears to demonstrate the all-too-common proclivity of many of us to take the low road, so long as the money is good. we in the US, by and large, are afflicted by this shameless pandering to whomever has the deepest pockets and biggest bank accounts.
we shall see how events in egypt play out. the demonstrators earlier this week insisted that mubarak had to go by this coming friday. the regime, on the other hand, has apparently been given to go-ahead by its american benefactors to ratchet up pressure on the forces calling for change -- as the US elites have decided that the price in busted heads and lost lives is worth it.
i'm a bit ambivalent when it comes to violence as a means of resolving differences between opposing parties. on the one hand, non-violent resistance has overcome several repressive regimes and colonial occupations over the past century, albeit the struggle often took many years and cost many lives. at the same time, when the forces of oppression have nothing to lose, they simply redouble their efforts to cow and intimidate the resisters, and eventually grind them down. there is definitely an advantage to the protesters in the recent uprisings owing to their spontaneous nature -- it has proved well-nigh impossible for the regimes to decapitate the leadership. now that they have the initiative, however, it's important for them to press ahead, and do so without relenting. allowing the thugs to overwhelm them with a show of brutality will only suck the life out of the protests, and cause the movement to fail.
the best way for the resistance to fight back is to hit the regime where it hurts the most -- in the pocketbook. resistance needn't be by use of force against their attackers -- there are plenty of other targets of the infrastructure of the state that are vulnerable, and would be costly to the state should they be lost or destroyed. make the state pay a very high price for its crimes, and those with the checkbook will think twice about how much they're willing to pay to bail out yet another hapless criminal institution.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
cheerleaders
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| cheerleaders |
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| young and willing |
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| in their hundreds |
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| from a tender age |
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| they cheer for themselves |
all the smart people
with the upheaval in egypt and the collapse of the dictatorial regime of the criminal mubarak, i'm left in a daze from reading all the smart people who offer their take on the issue -- whether it be for or against the status quo.
anyone who's read this blog -- which so far is no one -- can appreciate how i feel about these events. i'm gung-ho for the success of the rebellion. i applaud the people of egypt for standing up for their rights and their freedom. and it gives me no end of satisfaction to see the elite project of oppression and exploitation take a body blow from below.
it gives me uncontrollable glee to see the extreme discomfort of israeli officials, especially. they dithered and dawdled and deceived and otherwise prevaricated their way over the past couple of decades of so-called "negotiations" with the palestinians, stealing their land and patrimony, while the US and it's clone clowns had the zionists' backs. the imperialist, colonialist powers took pleasure of bringing shame to the arab nation, with nary a thought of how tenuous their position could be -- and now may become.
above all, the freedom and democracy circus, so artlessly produced by bush and cheney in the interests of their political benefactors in the energy sector, is finally, laughably hitting the skids -- and not a moment too soon. the US wreaked havoc on the nations of the middle east, and shamelessly sought to turn the entire region into a series of fiefdoms under the rule of local tyrants on the payroll of, and loyal to, washington. the murderous regimes of washington's preference would make the world safe for US hegemony, while the populations of these subject states would be kept impoverished and silent.
and it's all falling apart.
there's no limit to the hubris of the global capitalist elites, who seem oblivious to the power of popular movements to upset their plans. all it took was one small nation with a large grievance to show others how it could be done for the fires to spread....
regardless of how all the smart people say it is, this is how i see it, and this is how i feel about it.
i love to see this carefully constructed, craftily promoted image of the world under US domination attacked and upended by the supposedly powerless and docile subjects of the empire. we sleepwalking americans, so in love with our goddamn exceptional selves, are for the first time, perhaps, understanding that the order our government imposes on others is corrupt. this time, they see that it's not our freedom and democracy they hate -- it's how we deny freedom and democracy to others.
moreover, how much longer will this sleepwalking giant lumber along, until it, too, realizes that a corrupt and ossified order is imposed upon it by, and in the service of, insatiably greedy elites?
anyone who's read this blog -- which so far is no one -- can appreciate how i feel about these events. i'm gung-ho for the success of the rebellion. i applaud the people of egypt for standing up for their rights and their freedom. and it gives me no end of satisfaction to see the elite project of oppression and exploitation take a body blow from below.
it gives me uncontrollable glee to see the extreme discomfort of israeli officials, especially. they dithered and dawdled and deceived and otherwise prevaricated their way over the past couple of decades of so-called "negotiations" with the palestinians, stealing their land and patrimony, while the US and it's clone clowns had the zionists' backs. the imperialist, colonialist powers took pleasure of bringing shame to the arab nation, with nary a thought of how tenuous their position could be -- and now may become.
above all, the freedom and democracy circus, so artlessly produced by bush and cheney in the interests of their political benefactors in the energy sector, is finally, laughably hitting the skids -- and not a moment too soon. the US wreaked havoc on the nations of the middle east, and shamelessly sought to turn the entire region into a series of fiefdoms under the rule of local tyrants on the payroll of, and loyal to, washington. the murderous regimes of washington's preference would make the world safe for US hegemony, while the populations of these subject states would be kept impoverished and silent.
and it's all falling apart.
there's no limit to the hubris of the global capitalist elites, who seem oblivious to the power of popular movements to upset their plans. all it took was one small nation with a large grievance to show others how it could be done for the fires to spread....
regardless of how all the smart people say it is, this is how i see it, and this is how i feel about it.
i love to see this carefully constructed, craftily promoted image of the world under US domination attacked and upended by the supposedly powerless and docile subjects of the empire. we sleepwalking americans, so in love with our goddamn exceptional selves, are for the first time, perhaps, understanding that the order our government imposes on others is corrupt. this time, they see that it's not our freedom and democracy they hate -- it's how we deny freedom and democracy to others.
moreover, how much longer will this sleepwalking giant lumber along, until it, too, realizes that a corrupt and ossified order is imposed upon it by, and in the service of, insatiably greedy elites?
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