It may not be an exaggeration to say that the fate of civilization is up to Americans to sort out how they want to interact with the rest of the world, argues Inder Comar in this commentary.
By Inder Comar
Americans ought to be more honest about U.S. military interventionism. There ought to be a serious debate about it. Instead there seems to be three, entrenched foreign policy camps who never talk to each other.
The first is made up of avowed imperialists. They are easy to recognize, because they happen to be in power. They are the people for whom there is no such thing as a bad war. They have likely committed the United States to regime change in Iran. And they are currently spearheading an overly aggressive approach in attempting to defuse tensions with a nuclear-armed North Korea—an approach that will probably backfire in the end. This camp would also be the strongest to deny that there is any such thing as U.S. imperialism.
Then there are people who totally reject imperialism in any form, committed by any country, as a grave error. These are the people who recognize that there must be other values that bind relationships between nations—shared values premised on international law, human rights, Individual and spiritual freedom, and the rule of law.
I suspect it is a very small camp.
Finally, there is a third group, who’ve I’ve come to see as of two minds. They think it possible to maintain a militant foreign policy, while also saying they are using that foreign policy to spread civilized values. They want to wallow in the false glory that comes from empire, and to feel good about it.
Current political discourse in the United States—whether it is in the media, the think-tanks, or from major politicians—largely falls in this camp. For example, most Republicans and Democrats use the language of human rights and freedom to couch their perspective.
Obama’s War by Drones. (Meme artist unknown.)
Hiding an Interventionist Thread
But the reality of their actions, and the consequences of those actions, makes it impossible to hide an underlying imperialist thread. Thinking people cannot ignore that it was a Democrat, President Barack Obama, who increased the use of military drones in several countries, invaded Libya, maintained and increased America’s presence in Afghanistan, and even committed $1 trillion to enhancing America’s nuclear arsenal.
There has never been a more urgent time for people to really study and consider American foreign policy, and to ask fundamental questions about America’s role in the world. There are people in power today who are literally playing with fire with a nuclear-armed country (North Korea) and who are goading another country (Iran) into seeking nuclear weapons in order to defend itself from the open threat of an American invasion.
An imperial foreign policy is one that makes the whole world far less safe—including the United States. We are not so different as humans. Humans, everywhere, eventually get sick of being bullied. And they eventually start to defend themselves. Or even fight back.
There is another point, too, which needs to be made. The pedigreed leaders who pace the halls of power, their think-tank enablers, and many individual Americans, very often find a false and perverse comfort in the domination, exploitation, and suffering of people who are not Americans. This is truly a despicable thing, and it needs to be called out. It was this type of thinking that created genocide in the United States, against the First Nations and indigenous people. It is this type of thinking which has killed, and which continues to kill, tens of millions abroad.
There is a fundamental choice that Americans have to make. And that is whether they will be okay with imperialism as the defining characteristic of their foreign policy. Whether they want to be known as an imperialist people. I think there is a day coming, sooner than most would like, where that choice will have to be confronted head on.
Worst Crime of All
Iraqi soldiers fire an M198 155 mm howitzer artillery shell during a training exercise at an artillery school at Abu Ghraib, Iraq April 2, 2018, 15 years after illegal invasion of Iraq. (French Army Photo by Maj. Chames Bouriche)
I think a lot about the terrible crime that was committed in 2003, when the United States invaded Iraq. Many rational people wonder why the purported “lessons” of the aggressive war against Iraq have not been digested by either high ranking Democrats or Republicans, and why the U.S. government continues to make baseless threats against other countries, or threaten war without a sufficient legal justification. After all, from a humane and civilized point of view, the Iraq war was not just a disaster: it was an international crime, and the worst of all war crimes, the crime of aggression.
But from the perspective of imperialism, Iraq was in many ways a success—it led to the destruction of a regional power center, gave the United States cover to continue to involve itself in the Middle East in perpetuity, and cemented a growing alliance with Israel and Saudi Arabia, two countries who are keen to continue purchasing a large supply of U.S. armaments.
Americans are a very lucky people. They have been fortunate to not have another, greater country impose its will on them. With the exception of Pearl Harbor, Americans have never been forced to feel the weight of imperialist policies that have led to death-by-drone or death-by-missile for family members, neighbors or friends. Americans have never had their country suffocated because of trade and economic blockades from a more dominant nation. And Americans have not had to deal with violent coups, sham elections, and propped up dictators who answer to a ruling elite living thousands of miles away, who don’t even care to speak the same language, who exploit the country’s resources, and who could care less about the fate and destiny of every day people.
This has been the sad fate of many societies over the last 100 years, whose only crime was being a strategic interest to the American government.
But even then, as an American, I am starting to get a taste for what these things feel like. Because imperial policies abroad are now taking root in the United States, and flowering as domestic policy. Police indiscriminately kill protestors and people of color. Immigrants are targeted as objects of hate. The poor and middle class are essentially destitute — more than 40% of Americans struggle to provide for food and rent for themselves. And the American electoral process is nakedly in the control of plutocrats, who enrich themselves at the public coffers, while every day people suffer.
Imperialism abroad creates aristocracy at home; and combined, they produce only the demonic offspring of corruption, dictatorship, and total war.
It is in the hands of all of us, as citizens, to question the dominant narrative of imperialism. And it is not enough to call out the avowed imperialists—they are easy to see.
Their words and actions are very clear.
It is also critical at this time to call out the people who think they can have it both ways—that they can feel good about empire and human rights at the same time, who think it is possible to promote freedom through the barrel of a gun.
These people need to be called out for this way of thinking. Peace and liberty is promoted through peaceful and free means. You would never kill a man on the street and claim to have saved him. What’s true on the street is also true between nations. And those “thought leaders” and politicians who claim that they can advance a civilized, humanitarian agenda through weapons, threats, coups and invasions, are not just wrong, they are being willfully dishonest—either to themselves, or to the world at large.
Americans need a civic dialogue that focuses on the rule of law, human rights norms, and shared, civilized values. Americans need a foreign policy that meaningfully and respectfully displays these same values, and which uses those values in relations with other countries. Not through warfare, domination, and exploitation. It seems simple to say, but the best way to end imperialism is to simply end imperialism.
It is time for America to stop relying on its weapons, and to start relying on ethical and civilized principles.
The fate of the U.S. and perhaps the world, rests on it finding a better way to deal with itself, and with others. There will be no meaningful response and preparation for climate change, species extinction and the great refugee crises to come unless the U.S. uses its power in a positive way, and contributes to a world where dialogue, cooperation, and the promotion of peace are the foundation blocks of a civilized order.
This article first appeared on Inder Comar’s blog.
Inder Comar is the executive director of Just Atonement Inc., a legal non-profit dedicated to building peace and sustainability, and the Managing Partner of Comar LLP, a private law firm working in technology. He is a recognized expert on the crime of aggression, the legality of the Iraq War, and international human rights. He holds a law degree from the New York University School of Law, a Master of Arts degree from Stanford University and Bachelor of Arts degrees from Stanford University. His Twitter handle is @InderComar.
I taught U.S. history on the university level for close to halt a century. Comar’s words could not be truer. The problem is that the average American is either wholly brainwashed by media propaganda about America’s role in the world (“defending our freedoms”), or, in a low wage economy with the worst inequality in US history, most Americans are taking two or three jobs just to keep their head above water and have no time to think about such things as imperialism. The US is no longer a democracy, or even a republic. Due to a series of reactionary Supreme Court decisions, like Citizens United V. U. S. Electoral Commission, a tiny, bloated plutocracy has been able to capture control of the federal and most of the state governments and put in puppet politicians who due their bidding. This is abetted by a tremendous amount of gerrymandering in the states that has tilted government in favor of the plutocracy. The plutocratic oligarchy and its puppet politicians create and maintain the prevailing imperialism, not the American people at large, who have been shut out of the system.
Well said. I agree 100% with your comment. You summed up the current state of America extremely well.
The problem is that the ruling elite hides its identity behind many fronts Anglo-Saxon and British which by ancestry they are neither. They should be referred to as Normans the French version of Northmen they are what the Romans would call educated barbarians. They have always been raiders looters thrill killers plunder their only reason to exist.
Well said, Mr. Comar. It’s hard to express how much I agree with you. In grim moments it feels like it will take nothing short of total American defeat a la Germany and Japan in 1945 to get us to see the error of our ways. Let us hope not.
Quote:
“It is in the hands of all of us, as citizens, to question the dominant narrative of imperialism. And it is not enough to call out the avowed imperialists—they are easy to see.”
Really?
We have got to this point for one or two reasons:
1. We have been complicit in getting to this point
2. We had no choice in the matter
Guess which one it is? Correct, the citizens have no choice in foreign policy, nor do politicians for that matter. The lobby, not the citizens or politicians, “helps” in drafting laws, regulations in the US, and yes, internal/foreign policy as well:
h**p://gtr5.com/evidence/j.1475-4967.2006.00260.pdf
Quote from the link above:
“If the lobby’s impact were confined to U.S. economic aid to Israel, its influence might not be that worrisome. Foreign aid is valuable, but not as useful as having the world’s only superpower bring its vast capabilities to bear on Israel’s behalf. Accordingly, the lobby has also sought to shape the core elements of U.S. Middle East policy. In particular, it has worked successfully to convince American leaders to back Israel’s continued repression of the Palestinians and to take aim at Israel’s primary regional adversaries — Iran, Iraq, and Syria — as well as groups like Hezbollah.”
Maybe the imperialism had not been the primary source of the Middle East wars. Maybe, Israel intends to extend its influence in the Middle East and eliminate its perceived or real adversaries. The US just tasked with doing the dirty work, alongside of the allied forces and the Saudis at great cost. In which case, the citizens can speak up as much as they want, there will be no foreign policy changes for the US.
In return, Israel is suppressing free speech in the US universities:
h**ps://www.juancole.com/2018/05/directly-involved-cyberbullying.html
Somebody is building a better future in the US and it is not the US government and/or its citizens…
I disagree. We pay federal taxes, therefore we ARE complicit, pretending not to be.
It should be possible to ‘render unto Ceasar’ in a way which does not fund military insanity.
Such as paying into an Escrow Account and having some say over the dispersion of funds.
Meanwhile, I have to wonder if these soldiers are more sane than their superiors :
https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2018/05/24/airmen-charged-with-protecting
-a-us-nuclear-missile-base-busted-for-taking-lsd/
Some excellent comments here…
Unfortunately the article itself is a nothingburger…
America is the problem…?
Gee…thanks for the breaking news…
‘…Americans ought to be more honest about U.S. military interventionism. There ought to be a serious debate about it…’
And how and when is this ‘debate’ going to EVER happen…?
Maybe tomorrow morning we’ll all wake up and ride our unicorns to work at the Smile Factory…?
As for this author’s idea of three types of people…this is clueless also…
In fact there are two types of Americans…those who are deluded by the koolaid and are hopeless [as we see in a couple of comments here]…and those who just don’t give a crap and have no interest in finding out…which is the out and out majority by far…
Paul Craig Roberts has been correctly harping on the ‘insouciant’ populace for many moons now…and this is spot on the money…
I just want to also highlight a couple of excellent comments here…starting with Jessika and the tragedy about species loss…
Right now there are only a few thousand lions left in Africa…and those are still being hunted for ‘sport’ and trophies…the mindset of these murderers is incomprehensible…the loss of this most majestic living being on our planet will be A CRIME AGAINST THE UNIVERSE…
Stephen J and Sam F gave us some tremendous verse here…very effective…
Probably the best idea I have seen in a long time is from Jeff…for the Germans to grow a pair and throw the Yankee bums out of their country [ie the monstrous Ramstein base for global terror ops]…
But here is the discussion we should be having… and it relates to the fact that the Capitalist Ponzi Scheme is a house of cards that is now teetering on the edge of collapse…even the Vatican has recently produced a quite serious piece of work ringing the alarm bell on the finance speculation run amok…
We need to talk about simple economic facts of life that ordinary people are unaware of…such as the math behind our perpetual-growth economic system as well as finance capitalism…
This is all based on exponential math…and even wikipedia does a good job of categorizing correctly the economics of perpetual economic growth, compound interest and Ponzi schemes as being examples of one type of math only…exponential growth…ie compound interest on which our lives are based [think mortgage] is simply the mathematical mirror image [inverse] of the Ponzi Scheme…both MUST collapse…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exponential_growth#Examples
The whole rotten system is now on life support and we will see increasing desperation on the part of the elite as they try to keep the Titanic afloat…and this may include dangerous kinetic actions [ie wars of aggression] which are the final fall back in the case of a total financial meltdown…
As progressives we need to be sharply in tune with the dynamics of our system [more accurately the system which has been imposed on us]…and which system is right now very unstable and on the verge of what in physics is described as ‘divergence’ ie a dynamical system about to fail catastrophically…
Micheal Hudson, notably, has provided incredible scholarship on this very subject and how this very mathematical basis of unsustainability has been the downfall of economic systems for thousands of years…
Interestingly…the problem of runway finance destroying the real [productive] economy has also been solved thousands of years ago…but we will NOT see a turn to such solutions with the mentally unstable megalomaniacs now in charge…
no violent coups? 911? JFK? Sham elections galore!
For 40 years now, the ownership class has declared war on “public” anything. That is the root source of SOCIETY’S problems. Until we restore the word ‘society’ in the global vernacular, the ownership class will continue its rampage of land, resource and freedom of thought confiscation. Planet Earth is not a store. It’s a living, breathing life form that should not be patented, raped and poisoned.
Technocracy, advanced furtherest in China, is the new blueprint for the world unless we are aware enough to stop it. There should be more written and discussed about Technocracy, which is the real business at hand, not the political smokescreen infighting. All nations ARE in sync with building this new, new world order.
https://www.gaia.com/lp/content/is-there-a-technocracy-secretly-controlling-our-government/
Iran has no claim to moral superiority over the imperialist USA.
In Khuzestan Iran pursues a racist colonial agenda that ensures poverty and unemployment for the local Arab population, while Persian and Azeri settlers seize the province’s resources by ethnic cleansing and discrimination against the natives.
“ … large government development projects (like the Dehkhoda sugar cane plantation) that have uprooted and displaced upwards of 200,000 to 250,000 Arabs, with compensation for confiscated land being as little as one-fortieth of market value. … the government has not offered jobs in these projects to local Arabs. Instead, it has planned and built new cities like Shirinshahr for non-Arabs brought to the province from places including Yazd in central Iran … High poverty rates among Ahwazi Arabs, despite their province’s production of 90 per cent of Iran’s oil revenue, have fuelled resentment, as has discrimination on cultural-linguistic grounds. … … Discrimination in work and employment is also widespread … The diversion of the Karoun River … caused massive ecological devastation in an already impoverished area, especially in the marshlands, which have been turned into saltwater fields and the land which has now been said to have become desert. … Ahwaz city was rated as the most polluted city in the world by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2011 and the rate of asthma among children there has long been higher than the regional average.”
Minority Rights Group International, World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous http://www.refworld.org/docid/49749d0dc.html [accessed 24 May 2018]
So why do Arabs suddenly become important when they live in Iran? What about 2 million Arabs living in an open-air concentration camp called Gaza? All supported by the good old USA.
It is not Iran that has 1000 bases around the planet in an attempt to dominate all the people of planet Earth.
“Americans don’t have to deal with sham elections”? You must mean different Americans than the North Americans I share the USA with. All our elections are subsets of “sham,” fer chrissake! The forms of electoral manipulation might be slightly less crude here than in some other places, but that hardly changes the substance. The fix is certainly in when candidates are selected, see Clinton-Sanders 2016. But yes, of course, United States-ers are very priviliged, the author’s basic point is correct, the election thing was just a faulty example.
What the article headline should have stated was “the US holding the World & it’s fate, hostage”? Is it possible that America can somehow pull its head out of its “rear end” & join the rest of the Human race? That one Country can decide the fate of every other Nation or people’s on Earth is perverse & obscene? America had such a huge potential to be a major force for good in the World & has produced some great leaders? Leaders such as Abe Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt who busted monopolies & my favourite was FDR & his new deal, which was never fully implemented? Somewhere along the way, big money & Power has corrupted America & now this Country has become the greatest danger to World peace that has ever existed? And that’s not fair to other Nations & people on this small globe, who just want what most American people want? To live in peace & have their Govts take care of their needs & fulfil their dreams? It’s not too much to ask for, is it?
“The US and the fate of the world”
Ideologies have half-lives and an aspect of “exceptionalist” ideology is the notion of prime or sole agency.
This contribution is so framed which is not necessarily an unalloyed disadvantage, since the self-absorbtion and hubris of the misrepresentation “The United States of America” had/has utility for others.
If this 100% corrupt, Inverted-Totalitarian, Police-State isn’t totally eradicated predominately by force by guerilla warfare, humanity will have elected suicide by government.
Pogo, humanity didn’t elect the US government. Had the world as a whole had any say in it, the Yanks would all be living peacefully by now.
I agree comletely with you, but I have no hope, that the people in power in the US will retreat. They know exactly what they do and why. Unfortunately the fate of the world will be the destruction of the civilisation due to the selfish interests of a tiny portion of the humanity. It is impossible to create a peaceful world at the same time you have a superpower committed to perpetual war. Like the saying is: ” If your only tool is a hammer, every problem seems to be a nail”…
Joerg Pliquett
Ditto.
I like this article that brings imperialism clearly into focus. For those who like history I strongly recommend Stephen Kinsar’s latest book on the anti-imperialist league. This is a history that spanned the administrations of McKinley and teddy Roosevelt.
The political arguments that were used at that time are so similar to those that are going on today. I was amazed to see that in the early 20th century the US senate voted on whether or not the US should be an imperial power and the damn senate said yes with a one vote majority. [interesting to note that La Follet, the great “progressive democrat”
was the one who pushed his supporters to support the pro-imperialism faction]. Absolutely sickening to see that if such a vote was held today the US senate would vote 98 to 2 in favor of imperialism.
Author Trita Parsi explains to how one lie only leads to another lie. Obama rather than admit that Iran had outpaced the U.S. by Iran using leverage from their expanded nuclear program that brought the U.S. to the bargaining table, instead Obama likened Iran agreeing to the JPCOA due to the hard sanctions imposed on them. Here is where Trump may blindly think that sanctions are worth doing to bring down the current Iran government. What I’m saying, is that by the U.S. creating it’s own reality the real reality is hiding in plain sight, and everyone sees this but the White House. That reality is, is that Iran didn’t succumb to the JPCOA agreement due to sanctions, but Iran sat down at the bargaining table from the side of strength. It was Iran’s continual advances on their nuclear program that gave Iran that extra negotiating power, and not so much the imposed sanctions. Someone please inform the president of this.
https://www.veteranstoday.com/2018/05/23/why-trumps-strategy-for-iran-is-likely-to-lead-to-war/
Bob Van Noy, thanks for that article on bin Laden having died in 2001. Many out of mainstream were talking about it, Le Figaro reported it in 2001, that the Taliban had said so and that he was buried in an unmarked grave in Afghanistan. Also, many experts on the videotapes presented by the Bush-Cheney administration (about 4 or 5 of them, I sort of remember) stated that they were not of bin Laden. I remember several, and they clearly were not his visage. One looked suspiciously like Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, the Hindu guru from Poona. Another, experts said showed bin Laden to be right-handed and he was known to be left-handed. This all recedes into recent history and we forget with ongoing flow of events. But one thing very suspicious about that raid on the Abbotabad compound and alleged killing of bin Laden by the Navy Seals in Obama administration, was the so-called burial at sea, and no evidence was ever given to the American public. And, yes, that helicopter of those Seals “conveniently” crashed, didn’t it?
Benazir Bhutto back in November 2007 told David Frost that Osama bin Laden died in 2001. Do a search engine, and I do believe YouTube may still have Bhutto’s interview, but yeah we’ve been lied to… a lot.
Thank you Jessica. My skepticism has been severely moderated by my years of research discovering severe disinformation and government obfuscation under virtually Every rock. Recently I was given a DVD of some of Mark Lane’s videotaped interviews of eye witnesses to the JFK Assassination who were outraged by public declarations by The Government because they were incorrect. We’re I a juror, I would have found those people credible but they were never allowed to testify. One finds this kind of outrageous behavior on the part of TPTB over and over.
It’s far past time of buying in to the Propaganda and time put some of our Bureaucrats in the docks. Many thanks for your critical thinking…
America’s Endless Imperialist colonizing is a malignancy that had metastasized. Like it’s cousin Across the Pond it’s inhabitants are ignorantly complacent while the world bleeds.
While I constantly hope for a peaceful new America, an America with a self consciousness where reparations are paid in full to all who have suffered from its many wars and conflicts, and yet before any of that materializes another hard nosed nation arises to take over from behind the curtain. As if there ever was at all hope of a new U.S. mindset to develop along peaceful lines, and then comes the Zionist with their special brand of violence.
https://ahtribune.com/us/trump-at-war/2276-us-israel-war-iran.html
If there is any chance for world peace, then the U.S. will need to resign itself to become part of that new world order of independent sovereign nations. If not then the world, and especially the U.S. is headed for a terrible catastrophe of unimaginable portions. If this should come to be, it will be interesting to see where the Zionist land next.
In hell hopefully.
Jimmy Carter can see Trump joining him in Nobel Peace Prize pantheon
“Jimmy Carter, a Nobel laureate himself, told Politico in a podcast on Tuesday that “it would be a worthy and a momentous accomplishment that no previous president has been able to realize.”
Yeah, that’s right, Strngr-Tghthr, or whatever you call yourself, yes we could get along with Putin and Xi and plenty others, if “The International Busybody” could stop its gross calamities and recognize that the fate of the Earth does depend on mutual cooperation between nations, especially at this rather late date in our civilization (if you can call it that, as Gandhi once said) of nearly 8 billion on Spaceship Earth. We may not have much time left, yet are held in check by gross megalomaniacs that live in the past and just can’t get a vision of the future.
I highly recommend David Stockman’s “The Empire Never Sleeps”, a long article today on “State of the Nation”, http://www.sott.net, detailing historical chain of events since Woodrow Wilson’s entering the US into WWI and bringing us to this interminable abomination of overlords in Washington DC. Stockman does not bring in Israel particularly, an oversight, but the essay is very useful for looking at interconnections of nations, wars, and events leading up to our present dilemma, of course including the economic disaster looming.
There is also a shocking article on State of the Nation today, on a new study just published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, detailing the enormous loss of animal species on earth due to human activity, mostly caused within the last 50 years, the authors say. Livestock comprise 60% of animals on Earth, I believe they said! Very sad….
While in American we have pothole repair infrastructure programs tying up traffic, the Chinese are beginning a program of building their city’s into Ecological Villages. So apparently the Chinese may have found the right narrative to follow through on with a project to save the earth. Here we are just waiting for hunting season. But here in America it’s all a hoax anyway, until it isn’t.
/spread civilized values/ – How about Social Justice Values? So by the authors was we are supposed to get social justice in the world by being friends with Putin (Russian Totalitarian), Xi Jinping (Confucian Totalitarian) , Ali Khamenei (Theocrat Totalitarian) Kim Jung Un (Communist Totalitarian) , ISIS (Sharia Totalitarian) … yes! lets do that!!! Just what Trumps said Oh by the way: Trump (Democratic Totalitarian) Birds of feather! Well well… with Obama (and Hillary) we were on are way to fashioning a harmonoius world government based on are VALUES: human rights and social justice. The world needs to change and join the 21st Century and until then the US is the worlds peoples best hope because it is not happening with Kim Jung Un or ISIS. Good luck if you thinks so!
1. Neither the article nor any comment saw ISIS or Kim Jong-Un as a “best hope.”
2. You are careless in describing Xi, Khamenei, or Trump as “totalitarian.”
3. You are sadly deluded to describe the popular elected leader Putin as “totalitarian.”
4. To suggest that Obama and Hillary were “fashioning a harmonoius world government based on… human rights and social justice” seeks to obscure:
a. The totalitarian surveillance state both promoted;
b. The “regime change” operations both sought, that have brought only disaster;
c. Their mutual failure to stop corruption or to build security for the working class;
d. The mutual plans to drive the US into debt slavery fighting endless wars for Israel.
Please be more cautious and fair, or comment only on what you know better.
Why don’t you mention Israel?
So that justifies invading Iraq and starting a bombing campaign (under Obama) of 7 mostly Muslim countries?
Please spew insanity elsewhere.
Inder Comar, the issue of American imperialism has not been thoroughly dissected by our CONSORTIUMNEWS readership. For example, let’s begin by separating the voter John Doe and his political representatives from the true powers that be. A power that oversees the economy and military force of not just the USA but the entire western Occident namely, transnational banksters and their economists. These powers work in tandem, by manipulating markets (currencies and commodities in particular) and create hybrid wars such as the one launched against the USSR, engineered by manipulating oil prices and at the same time, upping the raw military threat ante; advanced ABM R&D, increase in attack submarine numbers and so on… Well, the Soviets finally went broke trying to keep up, and the USA is next, by the way…
At the very top of the bankster classes are the Rockefeller’s and Rothschild(s). Directly under them are the high brow intellects who have an almost mathematical command or super-equation that can account for all collective wealth (fiat or otherwise). This accounting also embraces a long term foreign policy and objectives, military strengths, deployments. Men such as Carroll Quigley, a Mr. Harvard, Mr. Georgetown, Mr. Foreign Service clique member, par excellence, a friend of the Rockefeller(s) and drillmaster, presiding over every decision made by ex-POTUS, Bill Clinton (you can toss in here, Obama’s name too). Mr Quigley’s philosophy can be observed in the movements of banksters like Montagu Norman (Bank of England) and Benjamin Strong of the NY Federal Reserve…In general, these types of individuals dominate the entire beltway crowd by controlling Treasury loans and manipulating foreign exchanges thus influencing the economic activity of any sovereign state or entity-anywhere in the world. That’s what is meant by “globalization” my friend! This influence is so powerful that it manipulates which politician comes into office, via the control of credit and money supply, be it electioneering platforms on foreign or domestic soil. Of course all this behind the scenes control, stands over and above the powers of our pentagon brass, Senate, House, POTUS and of course our hopelessly ignorant, voter at large, John Doe… This banker cabal, an Anglo-American establishment is, in reality, the “deep state” If they say, Iran and North Korea are next on the “hit list”, then rest assure all the politicians, pomp and ceremony, agreements or treaties must take a back seat to their “hybrid wars” against the EU, US of A, Russia or anyone else who might just utter the word, No !….
Brilliant synopsis Elmer!
Thanks.
Jack
February 14, 2016
Will “God Bless America”?
For the horrific wars that were planned
And all the killing in many lands
For destroying countries and cities too
And all the victims of its many coups
Will “God Bless America”?
For watching Syria on hellish fire
Was regime change its desire?
For selling arms to despots and dictators
And all the other evil creatures
Will “God Bless America”?
For its illegal invasion of Iraq
And all the fallout from this attack
Children contaminated with depleted uranium
Was this a “gift” from America at the millennium?
Will “God Bless America”?
For killing helpless children with drones
Decimating their countries and destroying their homes
Leaving any still alive horribly maimed
Are the assassins who do this evil and insane?
Will “God Bless America”?
For also helping to bomb Libya
And aiding Al-qaeda in Arabia
Does America really bring “democracy”?
Or has it become a powerful hypocrisy?
Will “God Bless America”?
Yemen is another country on fire
America’s “allies” is the bombing choir
Supported by Uncle Sam and others
And starving people die and smother
Will “God Bless America”?
Will war crimes with its allies go unpunished?
Is the rule of law and justice finished?
Does anyone care about crimes against humanity?
Are we in hands of a ruling insanity?
Will “God Bless America”?
Is the “land of the free” creating hell on earth?
Is world war three awaiting birth?
Or is killing, bombing, destroying, just Hysteria?
Or should it be called a hellish Amnesia?
Will “God Bless America”?
“Woe to those who call evil good” (Isaiah 5:20).
Excellent poem Stephen. When the media dug up a sermon by Reverend Jeremiah Wright, where after listing America’s crimes, he said “God Bless America? No, God damn America!”, of course that gave Obama all the cover he needed to throw his previous mentor under the bus.
According to our current president, Obama is a muslim from Kenya. Rev. Wright must have been his “cover”, that is until he got thrown under the bus.
Good stuff, Stephen. Please accept my apology for this abbreviated version trying closer rhyme and regular meter, which helps me read it (use anything you wish):
Will “God Bless America”?
For the horrific wars that were planned
And all the killing in many lands
For destroying countries and cities too
And all the victims of its many coups
Will “God Bless America”?
Are children impaired with depleted uranium
A “gift” from America’s millennium?
Are these our crimes against humanity?
Or those of a ruling insanity?
Will “God Bless America”?
Does America bring “democracy”?
Or disguise its rulers hypocrisy?
Is the “land of the free” making hell on earth?
Is world war three awaiting birth?
Will “God Bless America”?
Will God bless America? I take it that a BIG NO?
Amen.
Stephen J, I suppose the best response to your poem is, God will bless some portion of America. I believe you have arrived at a philosophical junction or point, where good and evil meet. They join, entwine and make up a living tree, not unlike the sinews of wood grain. In any case, working together, for better or worse (the greater glory of God is quite incomprehensible) . Only on judgement day and not a minute sooner, will the wheat be separated from the chaff. The Lord Almighty permits both rain and sunshine to fall on good and evil ground. Take comfort in the knowledge that His Book of Life cannot be altered, erased, forgotten or hidden from view. I have seen good men tricked into working for the Evil One and evil tricked into working for good purpose. The name of a country, the flag it displays, responsible authorities therein, the symbols, the political persuasions, race(es) of people will all fall away. We will stand before Him as individuals on judgment day, naked, alone and without our attorneys, helping us to give an account of ourselves! The works of each persons hand will be scrutinized, those products that have dual purpose for war or for peace will be weighed very carefully, each heart and every intention, that fabricated these products will be judged accordingly. A frightful day! a certainty and the Lords decision, absolutely FINAL!
“Are we in hands of a ruling insanity?” Yes said Lobaczewski decades ago.
REVIEW OF POLITICAL PONEROLOGY:
A SCIENCE ON THE NATURE OF EVIL ADJUSTED
FOR POLITICAL PURPOSES
BY ANDREW M. LOBACZEWSKI
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1897244258/howardssystem-20
• “We are going to be looking at individuals that are statistically small in number, but whose quality of difference is such that it can affect hundreds, thousands, even millions of other human beings in negative ways.” – Page 68
Couple of problems with this peroration. Group one and group three are the same people. They want the US to be the imperial power on earth that everybody else has to bow down to and obey. They claim that we are spreading civilized values as the excuse for our coming imperium. And I suppose that if “civilized values” means bombing, strafing, murdering, imprisoning, torturing, terrorizing, and mutilating people then the US is your place to go for civilized values. It has never been clear to me why civilized values have to be violently spread in the first place. I thought that they oozed out all over the place to the consternation of authoritarian rulers everywhere (this only includes actual authoritarian rulers, not democratically elected rulers that the US doesn’t like) all by their lonesome.
The best way to end imperialism is to not let it take root in the first place. Once it has taken root, its extirpation takes violence. Others can help. A great step towards world peace would be for Angela Merkel of Germany to tell the United States that the day an EU firm is penalized under illegal US sanctions against Iran is the last day that the US will have access to Ramstein airbase in Germany. That would slap the US upside the head and simultaneously stop the drone wars in the Middle East as all control of drones flows through Ramstein. The Europeans need to think about how to mess with the US when we start messing with them.
Europe can jump up & down all it wants but the sad fact is these European Nations sold out & abdicated their responsibilities for ensuring their own security interests & put it in the hands of America? They are US vassals who must obey their master or be punished? They are also entangled in the American swift & Banking systems, so in a word, they are totally stuffed no matter how much they complain, so they will fall in line like good little lackeys & shut up & obey!!
Hoist by their own runaway robocop.
As you said in your introduction, Mr. Comar, the vast majority in the three groups you defined are basically Arschlöcher, moreover, hard core believers in the condition. Who’s gonna make them “find the better way” you plea for in your final paragraph? I don’t get the impression you believe that it can be the “very small camp” that inhabits these pages.
The US has been living in a nightmare since 911 and I think Gordon Duff’s reporting today on Journal NWO will go a long way toward both explaining how that nightmare was created and the possible international legal arguments that might be employed toward a resolution.
I will provide a link below but I completely believe that today, Gordon Duff is reporting on the breakthrough that many have been hoping for…
https://journal-neo.org/2018/05/23/bin-laden-and-the-deep-state/
The FBI to this day has never charged bin Laden with the crime for the 911 attack.
I personally stay away from UFO stories, for I’m afraid it will ruin my credibility on other more important issues. Although, I’m like the next guy who finds UFO sighting claims to be fascinating to contemplate. Then there’s those retired Air Force officers who a few years ago divulged to how we have been in touch with those rarely seen aliens.
Instead of the U.S. continually bombing nations back into the Stone Age it would be nice if we first fed the hungry and clothed the poor then maybe take a ride on a space ship and met some aliens… I guess?
Perhaps it would make a difference to the moderator if I prefaced my comment with an “in my opinion”. And an honest expression of MY OPINION, based on what I’ve read and youtubed on the subject, is that the World is currently in a “war” of sorts, between the Global Cabal and ETs working to free us from the Cabal. The “war” is one-sided, with the Cabal using Tesla-invented scalar technology to try and shoot down the UFOs (with success sometimes…but the ETs have trans-dimensional technology to dematerialize,denying a target for shoot down), while the ETs, apparently, use consciousness-awakening technology (crop circle “mandalas”, and sky spirals to inject energies into consciousness) to implement the Awakening (even turning some members of the Cabal away from their wicked plans and deeds). This, IN MY OPINION, is what is going on currently, in the World today. It is building up to an eventual, open meeting with the ETs, and our introduction to our neighbors in the galactic community, and the release of long-suppressed, much needed, technology to save ourselves, our environment, and our planet, from destruction. IN MY OPINION, we are about to be shown that view of war as being the normal condition for sentients, is actually an outrageous perversion of the norm that prevails in the galactic community, where such warring planets as ours are quarantined until they change their warring ways.
Brad I don’t know what to say. Joe
Nothing need be said, Joe. It’s OK. My previous statement was eliminated, and now I think I know why. I just wanted to recommend to you to keep contemplating the UFO/ET issue because, IN MY OPINION (I have no insider info), it is the most important and central issue at this very moment, and, IN MY OPINION, (again, no inside info, just playing a hunch) is THE KEY to the solution of all our current problems, bringing a good outcome, where the U.S. and the fate of the World is concerned. IN MY OPINION (again, a hunch) we’ll soon be marking the years in BC and AC (Before Contact and After Contact, when the whole World changed). It is good (IN MY OPINION) to keep contemplating, Joe, sending those positive vibes into the Aether, charging up that “Capacitor” for Change.
Hi, Joe. About those two Air Force Officers, and that recently released video of the “UFO” (which looked more like a burned spot on the digital sensor): According to these stories, these people leak the biggest secrets our government is trying to protect, but they don’t EVER end up like John Kiriakou, Bradley Manning, Reality Winner or Julian Assange. I think people need to ask themselves: “Is anything wrong with this picture?” “Are these people really ‘whistle-blowers’, or are they actually working FOR the government?” Now, if people REALLY want to pop the cork on a big scandal which has totally been buried, I’d say Wasserman Schultz/Awan Brothers is the way to go. Distractions, distractions…how easily we fall for them.
Hey F.G. you know and I know that our government can’t do a darn thing without first drafting up a ‘cover letter’. Sometimes, and often enough, these cover letters are meant to cover up the truth.
When it comes to UFO sightings I gave up on our ever finding anything out of any real quality, when they published Operation Blue Book. Like I said, I have enough of a problem getting my points across on what I believe should really matter, such as never ending domestic social issues, and of course war, as always and forever with these disgusting wars. I think a longtime ago, back in my drinking days I bought a space alien a drink once, but there again the alien and I were just casual drinking buddy’s, and you know how brief those relationships can be when it time to buy the next round.
About that Wasserman Schultz/Awan Brothers stuff, it proves to be one of the greatest examples of our MSM committing their usual crime of ‘omission’. Again, at the next backyard BQ party bring up Wasserman Schutlz and her relationship to the Awan Brothers, and listen to the bees hum. All of this nonsense for the past better part of year with the Mueller Investigation, with Rachel and Joy going out of their minds with everything Russian, and let’s not forget the touring ‘Putin screwed me out of the presidency poor Hillary’ wearing Russian hats, has been the greatest cover up of all time, with nice new crispy lies to sprinkle around for good luck. In other words, the American people have been had once again…so what else is new.
Wow, wasn’t it educating to all of what came out of the JFK document release this past Fall? Talk about cover ups.
Beam me up F.G. I’m ready to cruise the universe…want to join me, see Elon. Joe
Joe. I recommend watching the crowd-funded documentaries Unacknowledged, and Sirius, available for viewing on Netflix and some other free viewings on YouTube.
I’m glad to see the discussion on Consortium has gone to where it belongs. Sorry, but my Marxist conception of the state does not cover such important issues.
Bob I’m contemplating to if this new generation of Americans, who were just babies when Operation 911 went into effect, to if these youngsters wouldnit just be ready to reopen a real 911 Investigation. In fact with this Federal Judge ordering Iran to pay 6 billion dollars in reparations to the 911 families, that this gross malice of justice might just not be enough to open up their eyes. 911 needs a reboot. The biggest obstacle is our MSM. Now how do frustrated justice seekers get around that? I’m not saying this to dissuade anyone from furthering this query in as much as I’m hoping to encourage a more indepth undertaking into what happened on that September morn back in 2001.
Always good Bob. Joe
Thank you Joe…
Want to alienate people who otherwise agree with you on your major points, then make absurd statements like the following:
“Police indiscriminately kill protestors and people of color.”
Now this may be true in Gaza where the victims are Palestinians and the shooters are the IDF, but the word indiscriminate for shootings in the US, all of which are reviewed by the Justice Department, attorneys general and the courts, as well as being obsessed over by the media is clearly a turnoff and it happens far too often. by media folks of all sorts.
Certainly we and our allies are a lawless lot when it comes to foreign policy and focusing on that critical matter will get an awful lot of support in America. Not sufficient at this time, but growing I think and the way to keep it growing is to keep away from divisive and just plain wrong statements about our police indiscriminately killing protestors and people of color in America.
Any fair minded observer must concede that THUS FAR Obama’s presidency has been bloodier and more imperialistic than Trump’s presidency. The one item on the scorecard that defeats any argument is Libya. The Obama Clinton team totally destroyed and upended Libyan society, they overturned a leader who was semi populist, relatively well liked and who provided one of the highest standards of living to any state in Africa. The Trump admin has been no picnic but we’ll see where he tries to lead us.
Those unwilling to acknowledge that thus far Obama’s presidency was more imperialistic than Trump’s are living in a partisan alt reality. Libya is one of the biggest crimes of the 21st century.
Truman, Eisenhower and all who followed were each conductors of an orchestra of slaughter, every single day and every single night non-stop for 2,600+ days and no end in sight.
Iron fist Imperialism or Iron fist in a velvet glove Imperialism each conductor had it his way with the orchestra and the way was always slaughter.
I participated in a UNESCO conference in the late 90’s in Cairo on water resources in the Saraha. My impression from the presentations and the technology being discussed by the Lybian hydrogeologists was that they were the most advanced of any of the “developing country” delegations. They were polished and modern in their understanding of the scientific literature. The same could not be said for most presentations given by researchers from other Sarahan countries. Ghdaffi was a martyr for his progressive actions. He was more than a bit too “out there” on some political positions, though, which made him an easy target for those (totalitarians) who delight (cackle) in suppression of independent thinkers.
“I participated in a UNESCO conference in the late 90’s in Cairo on water resources in the Saraha. My impression from the presentations and the technology being discussed by the Lybian hydrogeologists was that they were the most advanced of any of the “developing country” delegations. They were polished and modern in their understanding of the scientific literature. The same could not be said for most presentations given by researchers from other Sarahan countries. Ghdaffi was a martyr for his progressive actions.”
Darn straight.
:”He was ….“out there” on some political positions, though, which made him an easy target”
His determination to create a trans-African gold-backed dinar did him in.
Supertramp’s excellent tune “Crime of the Century” is bouncing around in my head refusing to settle on which was the greatest created by the Deep State. Libya is certainly way up there as a contender.
“Cackle”
I heartily agree as I believe virtually all CN readers will too. But I’m saddened that such clear and compelling call for sanity will be read by so few people. And I am frustrated by the fact that the people I would like to read this, refuse to look at articles that are forwarded to them. Perhaps Mr. Comar can send his statement personally to such people as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, etc. If they started speaking out using these words it might make a dent in people’s thinking. Unfortunately too many of the few true progressive liberals that we have in government are focused on things like better pay, medicare for all etc. which I agree with but which does not concern itself with the fate of the world. It’s time we realized how deadly serious (with emphasis on deadly) the situation is. We have either nuclear destruction or environmental death to look forward to and virtually no one is talking about it. How do we change that?
Of course, what this writer says is completely correct and long overdue.
But, as long as wealth and profit are to be made, and power gained, by imperialist policies, regardless of the destruction of countless lives and the earth itself, there is little, if any, inducement for the violently sociopathic oligarchs to give up their power.
Short of revolution, which will most likely NOT turn out well, what can we do in such a corrupt, rigged system?
Taking the red pill implies choosing to wake up to reality. It does not necessarily mean learning martial arts and arming yourself to the teeth, as in the Matrix movie. The real battle on Earth is in the dimensions of the minds and deep hearts of human beings. It will be won or lost there. How to wage that inner war is the real issue – even those with bad intentions know that, and are making every effort to “cloud men’s minds” and fill them with false beliefs and narratives. Thus we become the instruments of our own enslavement, and eventual destruction.
The investigative media like CN are venues for truth telling and mind changing. These are front lines in the inner struggle for a better world for all.
I reflect on the movie “Liar, Liar” about a perpetually lying attorney played by Jim Carey. Following a prayer from his young son he is compelled to tell the truth with hilarious results.
Imagine the corporate media suddenly being forced to do the same, or at least present both sides of the issues? This madness would be over in an instant, the curtain being pulled back to reveal these psychopaths. Russia’s Duma has voted on just that and Elon Musk states he’s starting a site to compile veracity and reliability reports on “journalists”.
This is the soft spot in the Beast’s belly and the sword should be aimed there. My choice then for the first story to accurately report – AIPAC and their grip on determining foreign policy. Would love to hear others choices.
Best, Jack
I would love to hear other accounts of history on the “History Chanel”.
Excellent article.
Thank you. Well said.
I agree 100% Broompilot.
The basic question the modern bodhisattva needs to ask is: What can I do to prevent nuclear war?
If one is dedicated to saving all beings from suffering, then preventing nuclear war is the way to save the most beings on Earth from suffering. The suffering during and following nuclear war would dwarf all previous records for mass suffering.
Our Love for all our fellow beings must lead us to devote our primary efforts to preventing this unparalleled disaster in the making. Learned observers in this area assure us that the risk of such a war is more likely now than at any time in the past. This is not something that can be deferred to another time. Our efforts must be focused on this issue now.
There are other threats hanging over us at this pivotal time: devastating climate change, toxic pollution of the environment, ecosystem collapse, and others, but these will take some years to ripen. Nuclear war however can occur suddenly, any today it could happen by accident or miscalculation. Thousands of deadly nuclear weapons are deployed around the world and are ready to be launched within minutes in all their fury. This is NOT a time to get comfortable with this situation. Those supposedly in charge of these weapons have proved themselves to be unstable and untrustworthy. Reliance on them for our safety is foolish. If they were responsible, they would have retired these weapons years ago, but they have not. On the contrary they are increasing and “improving” these deadly tools for our extinction, day by day.
The threat of their use is increasing, not diminishing. We ignore this danger at our peril. If we are sane, we will do everything we can to stop this madness.
I don’t know what actions would soonest bring peace, or minimize the risk of nuclear war, but your note that US leaders “in charge of these weapons have proved themselves to be unstable and untrustworthy” points to the long-term solution, which is to restore democracy in the US. It is difficult to reduce the risk by protesting the weapons and situations which all agree contribute to the risk of such war, when it is the emotions and egos of poorly-chosen leaders that would lead to all-out nuclear war.
It’s equally or more likely that an accident, computer glitch, rogue weapons operators, or
an untracked space rock which hits a sensitive target (think Pyongyang or Wash. DC)
will be the trigger for The End. Whatever the cause, we will probably neither know or care
after the fact. And it will be true that the living will envy the dead.
The finale to the tv drama ‘Madame Secretary’ aired last Sunday night and presented an entirely
too realistic view of how things could go down in a matter of minutes. EVERYONE should see the
first twenty minutes of this finale. Of course the planet is saved at the last possible nanosecond,
and then Madame Secretary stands up to the Military Top Brass and demands the events of that
near disaster be made public. On the grounds that then the public will finally protest until some-
thing is done about the hair-trigger alert system we live under. In the show, that does happen
(altho the protests themselves are not shown), a backdoor channel is opened to Russia, etc. etc.
In real life, we tried mass protests back in Reagan’s Star Wars era. Didn’t have much effect. The
only way to REALLY get the attention of The Powers That Be is to re-direct our federal taxes away
from nuclear (and other war forms) of insanity and into needed social programs. It’s been said that
if just 10% of taxpayers were to redirect (not withhold entirely, but channel into specific escrow
accounts set up for that purpose), that would be enough to cause the IRS to give up collection efforts.
That is something we CAN DO to stop this madness.
Recommended (again) reading : “By the Bomb’s Early Light” by eminent historian Paul Boyer