October 2007
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October 23rd, 2007
Relevant Messages From the Past
John F. Kennedy - youtube video
Dwight D. Eisenhower - youtube video
These two speeches are worth hearing again as the coroporatocracy works to start new wars.
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October 17th, 2007
War With Iran Averted?
Three huge news stories today, all of which must give the "bomb Iran" lobby one giant headache.
...507 of the 550 MPs voted for the motion.
a prominent message about the need to democratize the international order by erecting effective barriers
to the American "leviathan", as shown by specific agreements reached at the summit, including prohibiting
other countries from using the littoral states for attacks on one another "under any circumstances'', and disallowing
any ship not flying the national flag of a littoral state on Caspian waters.
Her Pakistan People's Party hopes to see one million supporters gather to greet her in Karachi...
the snail's pace of the convoy may leave Bhutto vulnerable to suicide attacks and roadside bombs...
also a risk of mass killings of supporters and stampedes.
To summarize:
Turkey is about to invade Kurdish-dominated Northern Iraq.
Russia has prohibited Caspian Sea countries from helping the US attack Iran.
The Pakistani government is in danger of being overthrown.
I don't know where to begin here. Turkey says there is a terrorist threat coming at them from Iraq, so they have to
launch an invasion. (Does that sound familiar?) Significantly, the part of Iraq they want to occupy contains huge oil
reserves. The Kurdish "Peshmerga" will have no ability to withstand the Turkish military assault. They could, however,
fight back by waging the sort of asymmetrical war that their Sunni countrymen are giving to the US military. If this
happens, the only (relatively) secure part of Iraq will be as unstable and dangerous as the rest of the country. This is
terrible news for the oil industry, who so far, has had a pretty sweet deal going in the kleptocracy that is Iraqi-Kurdistan.
Meanwhile, Russia has engineered a deal to deter the US from invading Iran. At a summit in Tehran, Caspian Sea
leaders agreed that none of their states can be used to launch invasions against each other. No ships will be permitted
to sail in the Caspian if they do not fly the flag of a Caspian nation. This is significant because aside from Russia,
one of the parties to this agreement is Azerbaijan, America's despotic regional friend. To attack Iran
from the north, the US would require Azeri tactical support with supply lines running through the capital Baku.
The US appears to have lost both.
The story about Pakistan is potentially the most troubling. Benazir Bhutto's return is probably good news for
democracy in Pakistan. However, the chaos that could easily and predictably result from her return could plunge
Pakistan into the sort of crisis/opportunity that could give rise to a popular revolution and a coup. President-General
Musharraf could be overthrown by Bhutto and her allies in a Ukrainian-style democratic revolution. Just as likely,
however, is a revolt by Pakistan's extreme right-wing which consists of Islamists from Pakistan's Tribal region.
This faction already has a popular leader in waiting. US ally Musharraf is being squeezed from all sides.
The potential end result of all of these developments is the aversion of a US war against Iran.
The US has lost the ability to run supply routes through the Caspian Sea and the countries around it.
They have also likely lost support and supply routes from Turkey. They are unlikely to get any support
from Musharraf, who is essentially under siege in Pakistan. The only staging grounds remaining for an attack
on Iran are vulnerable at best.
Given the likely outcomes of the three news stories, the US could be left with four ways into Iran. They could enter
from Taliban-dominated sections of Afghanistan, from Shia-dominated sections of Eastern Iraq, from areas of
Northern Iraq that may soon be controlled by the Turkish Army, or by a naval landing from the Persian Gulf or
Arabian Sea. The first three choices see supply routes threatened by angry locals, the fourth has landing US troops
well within range of Iranian defences. Of course, the US could still launch an air campaign with long-range
bombers, but this would not put boots on the ground. It appears that countries in the region have taken
many US military options off the table.
Today's news is really bad for US Imperalists. (It may be even worse for Kurdish and Pakistani civilians)
The events of the next few weeks will have a tremendous impact on the future of Middle-Eastern geo-politics.
They will also have an impact on all of us in the West; our lifestyles depend on Middle Eastern oil.
Whatever happens, it seems that the consequences of the failure of US diplomacy are being realized. When it
comes to statecraft, the Bush Administration has been completely incompetent. The poisoning of relations with
Middle Eastern countries has jeopardized any future US military plans for the region. While this is probably
good news, it may have grave long-term economic consequences. Middle Eastern nations are abandoning their
former ally. This signals the start of a long, slow decline of US influence in the world. It also means that
all of us who live in Western nations need to re-examine where we get our energy from, especially if we want to
continue to live in the comfort that they we become accustomed to.
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October 10th, 2007
Warning - This Film May Destroy Your Beliefs
Zeitgeist - the spirit of the time; general trend of thought or feeling
characteristic of a particular period of time.
This is one of the best films I've seen in a long time. Zeitgeist shatters the dominant myths of the
Western world. This movie is completely blasphemous; it directly challenges our society's institutions of power.
Even better, the information presented in the film just might be completely true.
Christians may find their faith ruined by the half-hour mark. Those who believe in government will be
even more disappointed by the time the film is done. View at your own risk.
Click here to Watch Zeitgeist
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Appeasing the Turks
Connect the dots between these two stories.
Turkey denies that the well-documented slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman forces in 1915 ever happened.
On Wednesday, Turkey's military reportedly pounded suspected Kurdish bases in northern Iraq with artillery.
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October 1st, 2007
Click the link to see how you can help the people of Burma.
"Because life is about choices, I think we have to consider the use of military force." - John Bolton
Life is about choices? Why should we choose to listen to this bloodthirsty warmonger? Bolton and his friends
will make a lot of money if the US starts murdering Iranian children. Is that a good reason to choose to start
a war? Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians may die because we let people like Bolton direct policy.
Attention : US Congress
John Bolton and his neo-conservative friends have shown themselves to be dangerous radicals.
They must not be appeased. Please stand up! Your country is already in plenty of trouble because you chose
to listen to people like Bolton the last time that war drums were beating. Please show some wisdom.
I pray that you have learned from your past mistakes. Don't start the war that will end your nation.
"They?re moving everybody to the Iran desk," one recently retired C.I.A. official said. "They?re dragging in
a lot of analysts and ramping up everything. It?s just like the fall of 2002"..."The guys now running the Iranian
program have limited direct experience with Iran."
The parliament said it condemns the "aggressions by the U.S. Army, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan"
and calls on the United Nations to "intervene in the global problem of U.S. prisons in Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib
and secret jails in other countries...
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