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The Edge is the place for that. The editors do not mind publishing one
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September 2009
[Re Taiwan, China tread
carefully, September 29] Is China's "one country, two systems" in cold
storage? Probably yes. Out of sight, but not out of mind. Warmer ties between
China and Taiwan have produced good results. Cindy Sui's eye has picked up on a
trend which the Democratic Progressive Party is gliding to; it won't abandon
"independence" as a goal, but does acknowledge the economic benefits of doing
business with Beijing. Dawn is breaking on China's consciousness that Taiwan's
pride lies in its distinctiveness as a "national entity of its own" that does
not deny its Chinese roots.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Sep 30, '09)
It's curious that the analysts quoted in Cindy Sui's
Taiwan, China tread carefully [September 29] don't seem to be concerned
about the dangers that economic over-reliance on China would bring to Taiwan.
The fact that Kaohsiung city government changed the screening schedule of the
film about [Uyghur activist] Rebiya Kadeer due to pressure from the tourism
industry is reason enough for Taiwan to diversify its trade. Under the Ma
Ying-jeou government, Taiwan's trade relations and even international relations
have been reduced to cross-strait relations only, which bodes ill for the
democratic Taiwan. That Taiwan's current administration lets China dictate who
to invite and what films to show compromises the island-nation's sovereignty
and democratic values. There are many people at home and abroad who fear a
backsliding of democracy in Taiwan. Recent events only serve to accentuate that
fear.
Zoe Lee
Vancouver (Sep 30, '09)
[Re The world
picks sides ahead of Iran talks, September 25] It is laughable that
Iran is on every headline of the West's media outlets. It sounds like a bad
joke that all the powers of the world are bowing down to Iran, begging it to
stop its nuclear program. The United States - as well as Israel - should use
all the military force at hand and send a clear message about who is stronger.
The United States should never apologize for being a superpower. Superpowers
don't act like chickens, they act like eagles. In order to avoid a worldwide
holocaust the Iranians must be suppressed with terror and ruthless methods.
They won't understand a different approach and the consequences will be
catastrophic if they get away with their sick ambitions. As an American, I
strongly believe that if they had the means to wipe the US and Israel off the
map, they wouldn't hesitate, so if we have the means to destroy them first, why
are we hesitating?
Ysais Martinez (Sep 30, '09)
[Re A new cold war
in Kashmir, September 29] The celebrity high priestess of uber-liberal
political chic is at it again, spewing more "cool revolutionary fire".
Wonderful wordsmith that she is, it is so easy to talk about "half a million
Indian occupying soldiers" while entirely ignoring the roughly same number of
Hindu-Kashmiri refugees who've fled the murderous brutality of the Azadi
"freedom fighters" that she so extols and glorifies. No, they do not even
deserve lip service in the name of solidarity with the underdog. Also, the
entire episode of the Amarnath Shrine Board land allotment is casually tossed
at the uninformed reader, without context, as a spurious example of "Azadi
protest" and state machinations. One wonders what human would find it
unreasonable that one's place of millennia-old pilgrimage in one's own land
should be made easier by better infrastructure developed through the state
allotment of some land? Specifically, the Indian who dishes out taxes in order
that Muslims may go on a subsidized hajj to Mecca shouldn't begrudge these tiny
sops to Hindus wanting to perform pilgrimage in their own country? But these
are just a few of the egregious fallacies in this piece by Arundhati Roy. One
expects, and to a certain extent enjoys, the fire, gaudy colors and hype spun
by this trendy celebrity fiction writer. But shouldn't Asia Times Online and
perhaps Tom's Dispatch be more selective so that the facts are not bizarrely
twisted, or new "facts" manufactured, to produce this type of heady writing
under a "non-fiction" label? This would at least be in fairness to her targets
both overt ("capitalist pigs") and covert (Hindus, "nationalists" or
otherwise).
Karigar
USA (Sep 30, '09)
[Re Obama looks
escalation in the eye, September 29] The debate about Afghanistan seems
to center on the definitions of victory being bandied about between liberals
and conservatives as well as between politicians and the military. Americans
are accustomed to thinking of victory in terms of sports events; we like our
winners clear and cut, black and white; the W has a bigger number next to it
than the L does and that's that. In terms of war, this translates to our troops
marching though your streets, waving the Stars and Stripes in city plazas and
piling up a whole lot more of your countrymen's dead bodies than ours. If all
else fails, the good ol' body count will suffice to signify "victory". Alas,
that concept of "victory" was tried in Vietnam. And as you would have thought
every American would have learned by now, that definition of victory is a
temporary one, akin to scoring a goal long before the match is over. It will
feel good to score, and your fans will go crazy with delirious euphoria, but
the game is not won, by any means. That this analogy is appropriate is seen in
Iraq as well as Afghanistan, where the initial "goals" scored by the US were
considered decisive winners, instead of what they actually were, temporary
advantages soon to be squandered by deluding hubris. Consequently, the team
that the US scored on lets the Americans get cocky and overly optimistic before
striking back with an unexpected vengeance, eventually snatching the lead back.
The Taliban have most effectively taken the lead in the game, forcing coach
General Stanley A McChrystal, the top US commander in Afghanistan, to go to his
manager, United States President Barack Obama, for more players. The heady
moments of those first goals seem far, far away now, don't they? The customary
American definition of victory has been found wanting in the extreme, forcing
the neo-conservative supporters of a lost cause to scramble for revisionist
interpretations, among them the long-discredited one of native soldiers risking
their lives for an alien invaders' bizarre ideology. Those Afghan troops know
they will have to continue living in Afghanistan, long after the crusaders have
returned to their comfortable homes in Wonderland. They are not about to
support the new Soviet Union called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO). So people like President Hamid Karzai and warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
will nod their heads when their white masters say something democratic and
enlightened, all the while plotting to enrich themselves and their clansmen
with Western largesse and weaponry as soon as their backs are turned. The
Afghans have played this kind of game many times before, after all. They know
what it takes to win in Afghanistan because they've done it before; it's the
ultimate home advantage. NATO, like the USSR, the British Empire and Alexander
the Great, are playing away. And this home crowd doesn't just jeer and throw
empty beer bottles.
Hardy Campbell
Houston TX (Sep 30, '09)
Jim Lobe's Plenty
to Talk About [September 28] omitted a key reason why United States
President Barack Obama chose to release the Iran story this past week. Call me
a cynic, but why do I think the much-publicized release at the G-20 meeting,
about an Iranian building which the White House had known about for several
years, was timed to clog up the news cycle so the leaked story, about General
Stanley A McChrystal's plan to ask for [40,000] more troops for Afghanistan,
would be buried? And it worked.
Greg Bacon
Ava, Missouri (Sep 29, '09)
The article Plenty
to talk about [September 28] simply says that the United States, United
Kingdom, France and Russia are gearing up for "power negotiations" with Iran by
brandishing threats of still stronger sanctions. Iran, by announcing its
construction of a second nuclear power plant and carrying out missile tests,
has made clear its own arsenal of threats. We are witnessing the overture,
worthy of grand opera, to serious negotiations.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Sep 29, '09)
There's been much ballyhoo about how the rest of the world hates America, even
if they don't hate necessarily Americans. How you distinguish between the two,
especially in a country where the government theoretically represents the
people, escapes me, but let's not quibble. Ironically, what few have paid
attention to is the fact that no one hates Americans more than Americans! Yes,
the sad fact is that the citizens of Wonderland despise other Wonderlanders
because of their color, politics, religion, morals, class or employment status.
There is no deviance from the righteous self that will not be highlighted and
used to browbeat, segregate, demonize and castigate. Indeed, the deviance is
often enough for one American to consider the other's citizenship invalid and
void. When a variety of these majority deviances are accumulated in one
symbolic individual, such as a president, that purports to represent the whole
country, the ire, outrage and sense of betrayal becomes mythic, irrational and
non-negotiable. All methods to attack and battle said deviant are on the table,
though tactics need to be modified for the times. Though the methods to
discriminate have morphed from the "Good Ol' Days" of blatant prejudice and
tree branch justice, they remain diverse, abundant and durable. Code words are
used these days to identify the deviant other that merits hatred, and code
ideologies are equally utilized to make them suffer. Hence, the public health
option that would benefit minorities is resisted because of a host of
nonsensical and illogic reasons that are cosmetically non-"ist", but will have
the same effects as the most prejudiced policy. If denying health care winds up
costing minority lives, well, isn't this kind of closet genocide acceptable
when disguised behind lofty idealisms? By hiding behind the Bible and other
documents that the discriminators have no intention of ever living up to, these
opponents of homosexuality or abortion or other progressive causes can mask
their true intentions to inflict as much legal misery as they can on other
Wonderlanders of a different bent. The hatred extends to the policy of waging
war on non-American others by using American others to do the killing as well
as being killed, a nice little twist of irony that one hopes the other parents
of the deceased can appreciate when lowering their children into the ground.
The Plutocratic Wonderlander hates the Middle Class Wonderlander so much that
the looting of America's wealth and wholesale pillaging of its hopes and dreams
has become a kind of parlor game, switching from industrial disintegration to
financial beggaring with the same ease with which one would switch from
shooting tenpins to bobbing for apples in an amusement park. Yes, the list of
hatreds in America for Americans far exceeds anything the French or Arabs or
anyone else can ever hope to muster. The day approaches when that hatred will
no longer need to hide.
Hardy Campbell
Houston, Texas (Sep 29, '09)
I think before making up its mind about sanctions against Iran, (Moscow
holds the line on Iran sanctions, September 25) Russia should insist to
see the proof the United States has of Iran having nuclear weapons, and also
ask if the proof was supplied by the same intelligence community which has as
yet failed to detect any such weapon in Israel.
TutuG
UK (Sep 28, '09)
[Re Obama's Korean
honeymoon sours, September 25] Opinions remain divided over the Barack
Obama administration's decision to engage North Korea in direct discussions and
at the six-party talks. The US president and his Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton have embarked on a broad road to talk not only to North Korea but also
to Iran and Myanmar. Talks have not begun yet, so it is not easy to understand
how a "honeymoon" is souring before the wedding ceremony. Furthermore, suddenly
the American business community is becoming interested in the investment and
economic potential of North Korea. In its September 15 issue, Fortune magazine
carried an interesting article on the private US funding for the building of a
science and technology university in Pyongyang. In the last few days, the
world's leading investment house of Goldman Sachs issued an interesting
analysis on the strengths that North Korea would bring to an eventually unified
Korean Peninsula. So, there is more than meets the eye in Washington's
approaches to North Korea.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Sep 28, '09)
Jim Lobe's article (Netanyahu
and Obama: Who's fooling who?, September 25) is a good synopsis of the
maneuvers by Israeli Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] and his
Israel-can-do-no-wrong backers in the United States Congress and elsewhere.
But, that does not change the fact that this conflict of many decades has
always been about implementing agreements and living up to promises made. The
reason that President Barack Obama and the Palestinians/Arabs do "not accept
the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements", is that the West Bank looks
like Swiss cheese. If Israeli settlements continue to grow, then how is the
two-state solution that the Israeli prime minister has said he supports
possible? And, if the two-state solution is not the prime minister's real plan,
then how is peace possible? He owes the international community an explanation
of his concept of a two-state solution. What the prime minister and his
followers do not seem to understand is the determination of the Obama
administration to once and for all bring an end to this conflict, so that there
are two states living side-by-side in peace. Therefore, settlement freeze is a
must. A vital first step to rebuilding trust is Israel really meaning it when
it says it supports a two-state solution and is ready to address the
"permanent-status issues".
Fariborz S Fatemi
Former Professional Staff Member
House Foreign Affairs Committee
Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Virginia, USA (Sep 28, '09)
[Re Netanyahu and
Obama: Who's fooling who?, Sep 25] Jim Lobe tells it as it is. The
meeting of United States President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian authority President Mahmoud Abbas was show
and tell. It showed much and said little. If anything, Obama's weakness in
negotiations can never be clearer: he concedes before he can play his strong
hand on settlements, for example. Israel is the US's client; it receives untold
billions in economic and military aid, a debt largely forgiven. Turning off the
money spout would make Netanyahu dance to Washington's tune, thereby achieving
a breakthrough in forcing Jerusalem's resistance to any serious moves on a
two-state solution. Instead, the world is treated to a photo op, more for
domestic and Arab consumption. The American president simply repeated his
oft-heard remarks on Israel and Palestine, and thus reveals he has no strategy
to cut the Gordian knot on the matter.
Mel Cooper
Guam (Sep 25, '09)
[Re US perches in
an Afghan eagle's nest, Sep 25] President Barack Obama is clearly
trying to avoid a humiliating Soviet-style pullout. Probably, this only ensures
a greater humiliation, like the fall of Saigon or even (heaven forbid) the
British retreat from Kabul in the 1840s.
Lester Ness
Changchun, China (Sep 25, '09)
[Re Aceh
drops a sharia gauntlet, September 23] It should come as no surprise to
anyone that Aceh is fiercely Islamic. In war and now in peace, the rulers of
Aceh are trying to impose a strict adherence to sharia law. Aceh is proud of
the fact that Islam first came to Indonesia through Aceh. Remember, for
centuries, Aceh lived independently as a sultanate, and then tenaciously fought
the Dutch, resisted the penetration of United States oil interests, and until
very recently waged guerrilla warfare against the central authorities in
Jakarta. For internal peace, the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono government will not
move aggressively against the government of Aceh. Any attempt to do otherwise
would revive open military resistance. And that is the last thing Yudhoyono
wants or needs.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Sep 24, '09)
[Re Cautious welcome for
Japan's Asia drive, September 23] Jian Junbo's article once again shows
the current intellectual orientation of China's academic elite and its
political leadership. The Chinese Communist Party administration does not
believe in a multi-polar Asia, despite its many protestations. The Chinese
world view is blinkered by a belief that the 21st century will bestow on China
its past glory as a hegemon of East Asia and with other Asian nations as its
vassal states. Such thinking is dangerous for the future peace of Asia, and
represents the single-biggest threat to sustained economic development in the
region. If other Asian nations feel that the Chinese have a long-term agenda
that would threaten their complete sovereignty, they would not feel comfortable
in pursuing long-term economic integration and development in a Pan-Asian sense
with China as a major partner. Instead of a true Asian alliance, leaders in
smaller Asian countries like Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand would seek to hedge
their bets by seeking alternate alliances with Western powers like the European
Union or the United States. Worse, distrust of China might lead other major
Asian powers like India, Japan, and Indonesia to seek alliances between
themselves to ensure China does not act as a bully within the Asian system.
India and Japan have very large economies and significant military resources,
and will never accept an Asian system that is dominated by China. China's
current economic lead over India is not insurmountable; a lot can change in 10
or 15 years. Japan's technological capacity is also a factor to reckon with.
Under such circumstances, only a honest, sincere dialogue on the part of China
that removes all doubt amongst other Asian stakeholders as to its intentions
can kick-start a genuine Asian economic and political process. The new
administration in Japan is making an effort in this direction, and should be
supported by all Asians who seek a prosperous and peaceful future. To react to
such initiatives with the talk of 'balance of power' and traditional systems of
vassalage is retrograde and does not inspire confidence. Thus, Junbo does great
disservice to the cause of Asian solidarity and future cooperation with this
article. It would do a great deal of good for Chinese intellectuals to stop
harping on historical privileges and rights and look to a new future where the
major Asian countries can live together without feeling the need to dominate.
Pritam Banerjee
George Mason University
Virginia, USA (Sep 24, '09)
[Re The general and
his Afghan labyrinth, September 23] United States President Barack
Obama's inaugural address to the United Nations resonated with the words: "The
most powerful weapon in our arsenal is the hope of human beings - the belief
that the future belongs to those who build, not destroy; the confidence that
conflicts can end, and a new day begin". This most powerful weapon of hope is
most noticeably missing from the killing fields of Afghanistan as President
Obama weighs the latest strategy put forward by the top US and North Atlantic
Treaty Organization commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, that
US-led forces should pull back and fight only in heavily populated areas. It is
the first and most vital signal we have been given to date that the US is
considering a partial retreat that bears a strong resemblance to its previous
military exit from Vietnam. Moreover, General McChrystal's earlier warning,
that failure to gain the initiative against the Taliban within 12 months could
make victory impossible, also strongly suggests that this is a war that is
rapidly becoming unwinnable. Ultimately, the only hope for a new day in
Afghanistan is not an immediate troop surge to back up local security forces,
who are reluctant to fight in a nation that is 99% Muslim. It is the same hope
that brought an end to America's unwinnable war in Vietnam, which is the hope
of a formally recognized peace agreement with the Taliban.
Reverend Dr Vincent Zankin
Canberra, Australia (Sep 24, '09)
[Re Nepal beset by
chaos and conjecture, September 22] The situation in Nepal will only
get worse if the Maoists continue to disrupt the peace process. How odd that
the Maoists who are boycotting parliament are still collecting their pay. It is
becoming pretty clear that whoever comes into power in Nepal, they are going to
help only themselves. People like me will not wish to go back if the situation
remains the same and the leaders remain so self-centered.
S Maharjan
Toronto, Canada (Sep 24, '09)
I would like to make few comments on Professor David Steinberg's article,
A vote for Webb's Myanmar opening, [September 17]. First, I would like
to applaud Professor Steinberg for his comprehensive and unbiased comment which
reflects his in-depth knowledge of the country. Second, I would like to
reiterate what Steinberg has clearly stated, " ... a prosperous and stable
Myanmar is in the interests of that country, its neighbors China and India, the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the United States". Third, putting
aside all the political issues facing Myanmar, I am disheartened by the sad
irony that the international community, while asking for democracy and freedom
for the people of Myanmar, has turned a blind eye to the welfare of the people.
Myanmar's annual foreign aid development assistance amounts to about $2.50 per
person in comparison to $55 in Laos and $65 in Vietnam, Zimbabwe and Sudan.
While taking the high moral ground on political rights, one should stop and
ponder whether access to clean water, food, medicine and education are also
basic human rights. There should not be any wavering or hesitancy about trying
to provide those needs to the people of Myanmar, regardless of the political
situation. We must find ways to succeed in helping those in need now. I am
grateful to United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon for his successful
efforts in securing the smooth flow of humanitarian assistance to Myanmar last
year in the wake of Cyclone Nargis and for his continued engagement with the
Myanmar government to address fundamental issues facing Myanmar. I join
Steinberg in applauding Senator James Webb's initiative "to help craft a more
effective policy".
Aye Aye Thant
Westport, Connecticut (Sep 23, '09)
PJ Tobia's Blood
and thunder in embattled Balkh [September 22] highlights why the war in
Afghanistan is unwinnable. Afghanistan is a patchwork of warlords and ethnic
groups. The hotly contested election exemplifies this. President Hamid Karzai
has made deals with warlords who support him. ... [A]fghan history should
inform United States President Barack Obama that lacking a central authority,
the pie of power will be sliced out among the more powerful. Those not party to
this arrangement will revolt and conduct guerrilla warfare against it. Such is
the rule of thumb of political power in Afghanistan. At times, it seems as
though it were "one for all" but hardly all for one.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Sep 23, '09)
[Re 'Now, we don't
cry any more', September 22] I would like to say that the United States
has lost the war in Afghanistan. What the Taliban could not achieve in
Afghanistan, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is doing for them: uniting
the Afghan nation against the invaders and illegal occupiers of their land.
J Rumi (Sep 23, '09)
[Re Obamacare and the
$13 rule, Sep 22, '09] I believe Julian Delasantellis not long ago
advanced a similar thesis to the one propounded here by Kent Ewing. Two
powerful forces seem to be dueling in the health care debate. On one side, the
United States is imminently (if not already) broke, hence the recent
presidential decision to scale back militarily. On the other hand, Americans'
deep-rooted fear of anything perceived to be socialist, a paranoia insidiously
fanned by the politically motivated right-wing media, will present a large
stumbling block to meaningful reform at this time. In the end, however, little
doubt should exist as to which factor will ultimately prevail as the country
becomes increasingly strapped financially.
John Chen
USA (Sep 23, '09)
Having just finished reading the article
A Dangerous New Afghan Road Opens [September 19], I realized that one
of the maps included in the article misrepresents the existing geopolitical
situation and concurrent geographical location between Pakistan, China and
India. In the map provided in the article, Pakistan does not share a direct
border while China and India seem to do so. ... I hold a very high regard for
your newspaper and at times have learned from the articles it has published. In
this case, I wonder why a misleading map has been included with the article.
Professor Aftab Kazi, PhD
Senior Fellow, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute
Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC (Sep 23,
'09)
The map has now been amended - ATol
[Re Pakistan works
the crowd, September 22, 2009 and
Pakistan reels under Swat offensive, May 15] Dear Syed Saleem Shahzad,
I am astonished how the whole media, national [Pakistani] or international, has
been silent about the extra-judicial killings in Malakand division [in
Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province]. The crimes the Pakistan army has
committed there are numerous, but I will mention only a few of them. They have
demolished the houses of civilians, which is a clear violation of human rights.
And I am not talking about the houses of the Taliban. Taliban houses are
demolished on a daily basis and that is also a violation of law because they
are generally not owned by the Taliban themselves (as they are young people)
but rather by their father or brothers. The army has also captured the
brothers, fathers and other relatives of the Taliban and told them to ask the
Taliban to surrender in exchange for their family member's freedom. If the
Taliban attack the army in a certain area, the [Pakistan army] kill their
relatives in this area and then drag their bodies [through the street],
claiming they were killed in a cross-fire. The army has started killing Taliban
prisoners. Recently, they killed five people in Thana village and claimed they
were killed in Thana in a cross-fire. One of them was Ameer Syab from Alladand
village, Malakand agency, who everyone knew was arrested about nine months ago
in Mardan district. Two of them were brothers from Balogram village who were
arrested in Peshawar about two months ago. These are mere examples from a long
list. I want to tell the journalist community through [Syed Saleem Shahzad]
that these tactics will make this war more bloody. If we [the Taliban] started
to kill the relatives of security forces, demolish their houses or kill their
prisoners in captivity, the whole world would cry. But if our relatives are
killed, no one dares to report it. I remember the time when a fake mobile-phone
video was broadcast on media showing a woman being lashed [by the Taliban] and
the whole world cried, and the now the [Pakistan] army are raping the girls in
Swat (visit Char Bagh), killing the elderly fathers and grandfathers of Taliban
(visit Kabal) and demolishing about two-thirds of civilian houses (visit Char
Bagh). The army arrests our representatives when they are invited for peace
talks (Haji Muslim Khan team) and there is no mention of these crimes in the
media. The media then complains that the Taliban are [the world's] enemy. The
Taliban only want justice in all aspects of life. If the media does not report
the crimes of the army and on the other hand just publishes propaganda against
the Taliban, then this is not justice.
Hussian Ali (Sep 22, '09)
Syed Saleem Shahzad received this correspondence from a Taliban
media representative - ATol
[Calm before the
storm of US-Iran talks, September 21] I don't want to "diminish" Shahir
Shahidsaless' analysis - it's a great article - but I don't expect a storm
after United States-Iran talks. The reason is so obvious: we have a pacifist,
weak government. The current leadership of the US is similar to what it had in
the years 1977-1981 under Jimmy Carter. By 1980, many people had lost faith in
the survival of the United States as a super-power and even many politicians
thought that the Soviet Union would win the Cold War, then former president
Ronald Reagan came along to restore faith in America. I also don't think that
Saudi Arabia and Russia want a war against Iran. Russia doesn't need a unstable
Middle East because it's right on its border! And Saudi Arabia has too many
interests in keeping the region "stable". What America needs is "someone" to do
their devil's job and play the game of "divide and win". The financial meltdown
has taught many of us a great lesson. The US is currently engaged in a conflict
in Afghanistan. Many people contend that when we fought the Nazis and the
Japanese in World War II, we knew who the enemy was. So it begs the question:
who are we fighting in Afghanistan? For what reason? For what purpose? We -
Americans - are forbidden to name the enemy or they call us racists. We were in
Iraq for six years in a war. The only thing it accomplished was the legal
prosecution of our marines and intelligence service personnel. Barack Hussein
Obama knows that it would be catastrophic for the US to engage Iran in a war.
First of all, we can't afford it, second we don't have the will to win and
third we lack the moral support of the international community. In addition, a
war in Iran would significantly damage the so-called peace talks between Israel
and Palestine. Can the US military win a war? Of course they can! Not only one
war, but 10 wars! The US has the weaponry to wipe-out the entire planet out if
it wanted too! The problem is that we lack the will to win a war at all costs!
In his inauguration speech, John F Kennedy talked about all the burdens and
hardships that the US would have to endure for the cost of freedom. That
"warrior" attitude is long gone. It has been replaced with political
correctness, rules of engagement and cowardice.
Ysais A Martinez
Pennsylvania, USA (Sep 22, '09)
The German film The Baader Meinhof Complex depicts idealistic youths
fighting against all odds against social injustice and imperialist horrors that
happened far from the tranquility of German soil. That such impassioned
children of the Hitlerite generation could have been driven to the extremes of
terrorism is apt testimony of the power of the past and the empathy of the
present to mobilize action. Significantly, such left-wing radicals were
convinced that peaceful protest was merely an excuse for right-wing
reactionaries to provoke street violence and hence discredit the righteousness
of their cause. Thus, they felt they had no choice but to show their commitment
to the struggle against US imperialism and its West German stooges. Quixotic in
the extreme, these often wooly-headed chic-Marxists were victims of their own
amateurishness and zeal, and undermined their own public popularity by killing
innocent citizens. But as horrible as their crimes were, one cannot help but
leave a showing of such a film and ask, where is that youthful passion and
anger at injustice now? The images of Vietnam that were being shown in the
1960s and 1970s are of no different caliber than from Iraq or Afghanistan, but
there are no mass campus rallies or street marches protesting the deaths if
innocent Muslims. Indeed, all the young people I talk with are hard-core
conservatives, utterly unsympathetic or oblivious to any pain and suffering
their country is causing around the world. Indeed, if anything, there's
positive sentiment that we're not "kicking enough tail" around the globe to
show everyone who's still boss. Where are the masses of protesting youths that
inundated universities in this country? Or was it purely self-interest in
avoiding the draft that motivated the young back then, and now, with no
involuntary draft, the cause celebre of preserving your own gluteus maximus
no longer merits long-hair sit-ins? Has materialism and "401-ititis" so seduced
our youth into becoming conservative reactionaries that they now sound like old
retirees anxious to keep the commie government from sending them to their early
rewards? Where is the passion of vision that the Man from La Mancha would have
been proud?
Hardy Campbell
Houston TX (Sep 22, '09)
[Re Israel, Hamas
called to account, September 17] I just read the United Nations report
on the Gazan conflict by Justice Richard Goldstone and then heard that the US
has condemned it as anti-Semitic. I did not see anything anti-Semitic written
in the report. The author himself is Jewish, and has a history of investigating
war crimes and crimes against humanity, ie Rwanda and South Africa. The United
States seems to be very biased or prejudiced on this subject. The rights of
Israelis are supreme above the rest of the world. It appears that former US
president Jimmy Carter is right, racism is rampant in the USA.
Bob
Kouchibouguac, Canada (Sep 21, '09)
[Re Israel, Hamas
called to account, September 17] The United Nations report on Israel's
war against terrorist organization Hamas is the perfect example of systematic
anti-Semitism. The state of Israel faces existential threats. And when
human-rights groups and historians yell that "We have to prevent another
Holocaust", they are lying. If another Holocaust would occur today there would
be celebrations in the Middle East ... Israel and the United States should use
their strength and respond to violence with more violence and hate with more
hate. Hatred of America and Israel has no limits, but the weak leadership of
both nations is a risk to their own survival. I am so disappointed at the weak
approach of so-called right-winger Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Ysais Martinez (Sep 21, '09)
[Re And then there were
two ..., September 18] Last Friday, Philip Crowley, a State Department
official, announced that the Barack Obama administration will engage in direct
talks with North Korea. This news has been kept under wraps in the United
States media, but not in the international press. At the same time, there has
been great movement on Pyongyang returning to the six-party talks and in
opening face-to-face discussions with Washington. Such an arrangement, it
seems, will not ruffle South Korea's feathers. It is well known that South
Korea's President Lee Myung-bak has his own ideas about Seoul talking to North
Korea.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Sep 21, '09)
[Re For US, China is the
financial bogeyman, September 17] The television advertisement that
Benjamin A Shobert describes in disturbing detail is a product of Employment
Policies Institute (EPI), in Washington, DC. EPI's executive director is
Richard Berman who, as many know, is a leading Washington industry lobbyist who
uses numerous non-profit "front groups" to spearhead media campaigns aimed at
defeating public policy initiatives unfriendly to his clients. (Background to
him can be gleaned on the web, most notably at http://www.bermanexposed.org).
For example, EPI "opposes increasing the minimum wage and promotes the specious
concept that an increased minimum wage would drive the poor and uneducated out
of the job market", states Citizens For Responsibility and Ethics in
Washington. EPI's present TV campaign "Defeat the Debt" postures to "educate
the public about the enormous federal deficit", but the defeatthedebt.com web
site itself highlights how an inordinate burden of taxation is presently borne
by the wealthy (eg, "In New York City, 1% of taxpayers pay almost 50% of the
city’s income taxes," and "The top 1% of American earners pay 40% of all
federal income taxes."). Berman's loyalties might not be to "the public" after
all, nor to schoolchildren and their future debt burden - they don't pay him
and never will - but to industry and the cadre of American oligarchs most
threatened by future tax increases needed to service US debt, and by any
radical shift in the global economic order. Both threats presently are on the
horizon. This is how and why China fits into the commercial. Insofar as the
dollar is being roundly challenged as the world's reserve currency and China
holds the largest share of US government-issued debt, China, among other US
creditors, is presented by Berman's TV ad as a potential threat to America. In
the words of defeatthedebt.com, "Major foreign holders of US debt have a lot to
hold over our heads." Of course they do, that is if China and others intend to
hold it over our heads. Assume they will hold it over our heads, implies the
campaign. Therein, the ad and PR platform become a 2009 adaptation of a "Red
Scare" in traditional style of right-wing Republican media blitzes that
successfully blazed in the 1930s, the 1950s, and are blazing across America
today. (Of course, why shouldn't they hold it over our heads?) Wording in
advertising and public relations is a most careful craft. One goal of this
three-word campaign is to further galvanize and incite growing anti-government,
anti-Federal Reserve and anti-US President Barack Obama movements against an
additional and outside enemy; in this example with appeals toward protecting
children from a menace. But from whom, is the question? The ending graphic that
shows China on the world globe, of course, provides the answer and returns us
to memories of propaganda directed against our Cold War enemy Russia. The flag
and Oath of Allegiance are coded to incite patriotic fervor on the one hand,
and anger at those who threaten or defile us on the other (in this case, our
current creditors; later, it may be anyone). It could very well have ended
showing a graphic of Goldman Sachs, of the top 100 corporations that outsourced
labor to Asia, of consumer Visa cards, of the Pentagon budget, of the cost in
lives and money from military wars in the Middle East, of Rupert Murdoch's
multi-billion dollar net worth, of WalMart's Chinese supplied inventory, or a
picture of EPI executive director Richard Berman's $3.3 million house! But it
chose China instead. Campaigns like this and many others are blatantly
synchronized strategic vehicles; at some future time, one might say they were
"pre-war propaganda" devices in hindsight - should it come to that. Somehow,
Americans bear no responsibility for borrowing against their and their
children's future, to feed and enable the rapacious excesses and deceitful
practices on Wall Street and support US militarism throughout the world. And
should the US fail to repay its obligations and default, like Germany in the
last century, it can be made the fault of others. This is one seed the ad is
planting. In this three-word campaign, the word "Defeat" is chosen ("Defeat the
Debt"), as if "the Debt" were a human enemy. One doesn't defeat the mortgage or
defeat a car payment or defeat a credit card balance, but pays it down or pays
it off. One defeats an opponent (you are the chosen human opponent, China!).
The logic of the ad is straightforward and, in my opinion, very disturbing if
not threatening. The most ominous signal (or indication) within the logic of
this ad campaign is that America is preparing now for defensive measures
against repercussions from its creditors should it declare insolvency. Without
financial strength, and in the words of "Defeat the Debt", while "Major foreign
holders of US debt have a lot to hold over our heads", will America greet its
creditors with war? All in all, anything is possible. All in all, China is
being targeted, if not demonized. Or perhaps, all in all, this too will pass.
Michael T Bucci
Damariscotta, Maine (Sep 21, '09)
Thank you, Pepe Escobar, for re-lighting the torch for those Americans still
searching for truth (Fifty
questions on 9/11, September 10, and
More questions on 9/11, September 17). I've never understood the
docility and credulity of the citizens of the United States on this issue;
something that transpired right under their noses has been re-written to prove
black is white - simply amazing! Escobar's articles make it so obvious that
something has been buried in all the pseudo-investigations that have taken
place to date, and the stench, from whatever it is that has been covered up, is
going to haunt the US for a long time. For those of us outside the US, looking
at America over the last several years has been like watching a science-fiction
horror movie in which Americans stumble about from one horror to the next - and
incredibly, every horror seems to be American made. On the September 11, 2001,
attacks, I was satisfied that I had found the "truth" several years ago, after
I read a book by a Spanish investigative journalist (Bruno Cardenosa, 11-S
Historia de una infamia, las mentiras de la 'version official').
Cardenosa looked at the evidence, which had not been completely destroyed when
he wrote his book, and arrived at a most credible description of what
transpired. Actually, he doesn't so much tell you what to believe, as present
the evidence and suggest probable logical conclusions. I no longer wring my
hands wondering what happened. I believe Cardenosa. But, thank you to Escobar
for an interesting article, and I would recommend that anyone who would like to
bring closure to the 9/11 stuff read the book. (Sorry, I'm not sure if there is
an English version.)
Jonathan
UK (Sep 18, '09)
[Re More questions
on 9/11, September 17] Now that we have survived the anniversaries of
the September 11, 2001, attack and the September 15, 2008, collapse of Lehman
Brothers, twin dismembered in September dates that will live on in world
history, we can look back at the synergy between the two events. At first
glance these appear disconnected phenomenon, acts of madness perpetrated by a
few on the many for completely diverse reasons. Or are they? That people made
money before 9/11 is well known; options made on the airlines victimized by the
alleged hijackings made millions of dollars for someone. But not so oddly,
neither the George W Bush administration nor the 9/11 Commission showed any
particular interest in finding out who. September 11 also justified wars that
have seen billions of taxpayer dollars spent on everyone from security agencies
to jet builders to food caterers. Similarly, that CEOs of Lehman, AIG made out
like bandits after running their companies into the ground is part of 9/15's
lore, as is their doing equally well afterwards, again, with Uncle You and Me
picking up the tab and the ruins. That this theft will be repeated is virtually
ensured, since all United States President Barack Obama does is move his lips
(a sure sign of mendacity.) The thread of commonality between these two
money-for-someone-making events is that the systemic dismantling of America's
foundation has been performed by eating the seed corn of vitality and
middle-class stability. In a society founded on the worship and adoration of
money and the security of its inviolate borders, the best way to destabilize
the psychology of Americans is by invasion of its soil and subversion of its
money. The double whammy of external attack and internal sabotage is the hammer
and anvil between which the American zeitgeist can be demolished beyond repair.
Made brittle by the knowledge that many are being impoverished while others are
enriched - the fracturing of US society is virtually guaranteed. I can hardly
wait to see what happens on my September birthday next week.
Hardy Campbell
Houston TX (Sep 18, '09)
[Re Israel, Hamas
called to account, September 16] Thalif Deen omits a salient detail in
the publication of the United Nations investigation into last year's brutal
conflict in Gazam: that Justice Richard Goldstone, who led the UN team, is a
Jew and Zionist. He is also a liberal who fought against South Africa's
apartheid. It is precisely Judge Goldstone's probity and integrity that makes
his conclusion the more striking. The judge's daughter, speaking in Hebrew in
an interview with the Israeli media, spoke of her father's commitment as a Jew
and a Zionist and his love for the state of Israel. A statement which won't
stop Jerusalem from smearing him as another "self-hating Jew". Deen does tell
of his international stature as an eminent jurist. The report is very damning
to Israel, which refused to cooperate with Judge Goldstone's investigation. The
Likud government has already begun a campaign to disparage it. And the US
media, in their slavish adherence to the "fairish doctrine", has already skewed
Judge Goldstone's findings. Hamas is faulted, there is no denying that, but the
overwhelming blame falls on Israel's shoulders. If anyone hopes to see Israel
brought before an international tribunal at The Hague, he or she better think
again, as Israel's protector, the US, will block any such initiative.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Sep 17, '09)
[Re 'Tire war'
strains US-China relations, September 16] United States President
Barack Obama is obviously caught between a rock and a hard place. In an effort
to avoid an internecine trade war, the president should perhaps ask the Chinese
government behind closed doors to swiftly enact retaliatory measures against
his tire tariffs (not that China should need encouragement to do just that).
Such a countermove would not only demonstrate the nugatory nature of
protectionist practices between two giant trading partners, but perhaps more
importantly, provide Obama with a pretext to sidestep similar lobbying demands
by domestic interest groups in the future. As President Obama's and his party's
political future rests almost entirely on the country's economic performance,
at a time when the world is struggling to emerge from the throes of a major
recession, the most important bilateral economic relationship should not be
held hostage by lesser political concerns. Every informed observer knows that
the once high-paying manufacturing jobs aren't returning to the US; why throw
the baby out with the bath water?
John Chen
USA (Sep 17, '09)
So it's come to this; the United States of America, the most prolific
manufacturer of weapons on earth, pointing a finger at tiny Venezuela and
accusing them of sparking an "arms race". The American pot, that has done more
to arm Third World dictators, warlords and petty despots as well as encourage
local civil wars by flooding countries with cheap arms, has the unmitigated
gall to call the Latin kettle black. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
apparently was selected by President Barack Obama for her selectiveness in
choosing which nations will be the next Iraq, the next dire threat to Western
civilization. Never mind that "Plan Colombia" is a nakedly transparent attempt
at Latin American subversion and destabilization, with Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez squarely in Washington's sights. Not content with destroying one
continent, and having abandoned the idea that the US can regain its deceased
economic domination, Obama's New Imperialism is dead set on re-establishing a
purely military hegemony over our southern neighbors. Fearful of China thumbing
its nose at the moribund Monroe Doctrine, the Pentagon has decided to draw a
line in the sand in our own backyard. It is now patently obvious that Obama is
completely controlled by the military-industrial complex, where enormous
profits are to be made in militarizing the world, all courtesy of the vanishing
taxpayer. But the best way to justify this conspiracy is to point fingers at
the ants at your feet, so that using a flamethrower to scorch the little
buggers (and anyone else) will appear wholly reasonable. Chavez makes a
convenient insect, who can irritate and nibble at the Leviathan's pinkie toe
without doing any real damage, yet serve as the perfect foil for massive arms
buildups. This perverse logic will mean that the entire yard will ultimately be
consumed in a fiery conflagration, since the Leviathan will soon imagine all
sorts of invading bugs requiring liquidation with the newest ray gun toys.
Hardy Campbell
Houston TX (Sep 17, '09)
Sreeram Chaulia's article,
Netanyahu plays a Russian rope trick [September 14] forgets to mention
the obvious in regards to the alleged smuggling of Russian S-300 anti-aircraft
missiles to Iran: why take the long and dangerous route? If someone in Russia
wanted to smuggle some items to Iran, why go to all the trouble of moving them
to a Finnish port, loading them onto a ship, then plying the Baltic Sea, then
the North Sea, then the Mediterranean to Algiers. From there, they'd have to go
on a dangerous 5,000-mile [8,000-kilometer] land journey across north Africa to
the Horn of Africa, where'd they'd have to be loaded again onto a ship that
would have to cross the Persian Gulf, which has so many United States Navy
ships in it that it needs a traffic cop. Why not just use that backyard Russian
lake known as the Caspian Sea? This smuggling/hijack story makes no sense,
unless it's being used to feed the same "echo chamber" that was instrumental in
selling the Iraq invasion to gullible Americans. It's currently running at full
blast.
Greg Bacon
Ava, Missouri (Sep 16, '09)
[Re Change?
Yes, it can, September 15] The one year anniversary of the the collapse
of Lehman Brothers has led to much soul searching and head scratching. United
States President Barack Obama's speech to Wall Street, though cleverly crafted
and polished, still leaves the finance fox in the nation's hen house. Obama is
reluctant to strike when the iron is or was hot; he is a reluctant suitor
forced by circumstances to act. And therein lies a tragedy. Consider, despite
the cultural differences, the way that France's President Nicholas Sarkozy is
handling his country's economic crisis. He is talking tough to his bankers and
has set up a blue ribbon panel on how to achieve economic success. The panel is
headed by Joseph Stiglitz, an American economist and Nobel laureate. Stiglitz
is politely heard in his own country, but his advice is rarely taken. The
close-minded "corporatist mindset" so well described by Julian Delasantellis,
in economist Stiglitz's case highlights the old saw that no one is a prophet in
his own country. It is sad though that at the end of Delasantellis' interesting
article, he has to take refuge in a rendering of the Book of the Apocalypse.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam(Sep 16, '09)
[Re Fifty
questions on 9/11, September 10] As an engineer, I watched the numerous
television programs on the September 11, 2001 attacks last week with interest.
I am familiar with the concept of modern skyscrapers being designed to last
hours in a blazing structural inferno, yet the so-called experts on these shows
tried to explain how the twin towers, outstanding examples of modern
engineering, crumbled like anemic blue cheese after less than two hours under
moderate fire conditions - which were confined to a few floors. Interestingly,
no one tried to explain adjacent Tower 7's collapse in an identical manner to
the plane-struck towers, though it didn't have the excuse of high velocity jet
impacts. Even the government studied that for five years before shrugging their
shoulders and blaming it on fires that somehow broke out, doubtless figuring
that no one would care after so long. The mysterious lack of visual evidence
that a plane hit the Pentagon was supposedly debunked also. The tests the
television program directors provided to debunk these "theories" were laughable
in the extreme. Funny how there were dozens of video cameras capturing the twin
tower collisions, but nary a camera was available around the Pentagon, one of
the most surveilled buildings on earth, in a city infested with cameras. And
there's no omnipresent satellite camera able to confirm this fictitious plane
collision? Ask me to believe in unicorns dating flying pigs, please, but don't
stretch my credulity. Experts interviewed to support the debunking could offer
nothing more than weak reminders that skeptics abound for some deep seated
insecurities (like governments lying to them all the time about everything, I
must assume.) I thought to myself, "If this is the best they can do, then that
in itself is a tacit admission that a 'conspiracy' exists." But like all
objective 9/11 doubters, the debunking of the debunkers proves nothing other
than someone is going to a lot of trouble to hide the truth, and such efforts
must conceal some level of guilt. In the end, does it matter? if Osama bin
Laden did pull this off by some miracle, then he is the greatest military and
political genius on earth, supposedly sitting in a cave somewhere. However, as
I've speculated before, he is merely a shell being moved around to distract the
rube, while the real pea is under the gullible American people's noses.
Hardy campbell
Houston TX (Sep 16, '09)
[Re Why the US is
afraid of 'Afghanization', September 11] It is important to keep things
precise in times of war. Nakamura Junzo [letter September 14] states that the
war in Afghanistan is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) effort.
Operation Enduring Freedom was not a NATO effort, nor was it a Security Council
effort. It was an American effort with coalition support. It was never
sanctioned by the United Nations. The Bonn agreement and subsequent amended
agreements were sanctioned by the UN, and applied through NATO. NATO's own
constitution states that it is subservient to the UN Charter although it
appears the United States interpretation of NATO ignores that fact, and has
resulted in mission creep in regards to the alliance. Afghanization is too
little, too late. Counter-insurgency efforts are doomed to failure as it's
impossible to consolidate militarily without first consolidating politically.
We attempted to consolidate one arm of a civil war in a complex tribal society
with roots deeper then one can imagine. Can Afghanistan be consolidated
politically? I don't think it can, and certainly many in Afghanistan don't
think so either.
Miles Tompkins
Antigonish
Canada (Sep 15, '09)
[Re Netanyahu
plays a Russian rope trick, September 14] The rope is tightening around
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu's political neck. United
States President Barack Obama's weak criticism of the Israeli government's
pursuit of the Likud party's Greater Israel, not a Palestinian state, has
caused a crisis of Jerusalem's confidence in itself. As a result Netanyahu, it
seems, is circling the wagons. His alleged rapid visit to Russia is a way to
loosen the tightening noose around Likud's neck. Seen in the context of
Israel's "existential fear" of Iran, he is pleading his case. He wants Moscow
to soften its economic, nuclear, and military aid to Tehran. Furthermore,
Israel's controversial foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, has been trying to
establish an identity of mutual interest between Jerusalem and Moscow, to
counter Washington's forward policy on Russia's southern flank, bordering on
Iran. The gambit has little chance of working, now that the Obama
administration is willing to engage in direct discussions with Iran.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Sep 15, '09)
It's obvious Pepe Escobar hasn't read the "official" United States government
version of the September 11, 2001, attacks - if he had, he wouldn't have
written Fifty
questions on 9/11 [September 10]. Of course, I believe the "9/11
Commission" report!! Everyone knows that our government wouldn't lie to us to
protect themselves! The testimony of former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice
alone should shut down any doubts!! And I know for sure that seniors at the
Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, as well as former
Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Richard Myers, are just a bunch of
bumbling people who just couldn't figure out how to bypass the North American
Air Defense (NORAD) that is charged with tracking and if necessary, shooting
down hijacked airliners. Yet 19 "Ayyyrabs" - being directed by an ailing leader
in a cave 12,000 miles away - could!! Yes, I belive all of that and for me
being a "Good Doo-be", Santa Claus is going to fill my stocking this
Christmas!! Now, it's time to vent our wrath on Iran!!!
Greg Bacon
Ava, Missouri USA (Sep 14, '09)
[Re Fifty
questions on 9/11, September 10] United States President Barack Obama
has predictably issued a stern warning to al-Qaeda to mark the eighth
anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks and renew America's resolve to
pursue those who perpetrated the atrocity. But an anti-Muslim protest at Harrow
Central Mosque in northwest London, by a group known as Stop Islamification of
Europe, goes to the heart of what fuels this historic clash between the world's
two greatest religious traditions. One of the pro-Muslim protesters, Khairul
Khan, in defending his actions to protect the mosque, made very clear where the
battlelines for the entire Islamic world lie. He reportedly stated: "We are
doing nothing wrong, we are just trying to stop them attacking the house of our
God". Ever since the advent of Islam, Christians and Muslims have in like
manner differentiated themselves according to their particular worship of a
unitary divine being, which they refer to as God and Allah respectively. While
Allah is the Arabic word for God (and a close semantic relative of the Hebrew
word for God, El), Christians in Palestine and other Arabic-speaking
communities also commonly refer to God as Allah. Moreover, Allah has
historically been an appropriate way for Southeast Asian Christians to refer to
God, such as in Malaysia and Indonesia. The Malaysian government, however, has
recently banned the practice among non-Muslims, to the point of withdrawing
printing permits from certain Christian publications. The question now is
whether those who worship in a mosque, a synagogue or a church can be seen as
belonging to a common faith and worshipping the common God of Abrahamic
monotheism. For unless there is any effort made to bridge these historic
divides, the attacks of 9/11 will continue to haunt all counter-efforts at
finding a military solution to what is fundamentally a question about the
meaning and destiny of human existence.
Reverend Dr Vincent Zankin
Canberra, Australia (Sep 14, '09)
[Re Why the US is
afraid of 'Afghanization', September 11] United States congressional
nervousness about sending more US troops to fight in Afghanistan may very well
push US President Barack Obama to "Afghanize" the war there. This said, we must
not lose sight of the fact that the war in Afghanistan is a North Atlantic
Treaty Organization venture, so there is room for Washington to maneuver.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Sep 14, '09)
Let me posit the following; the Crusades never ended, though historians have
argued that the "true" Crusades ended when France's quixotic King Louis IX
decided to become a saint by dying on Tunisian shores (1270 CE for all you
Jeopardy fans out there.) Yes, the motivations for white Christian nations to
conquer Muslim lands have changed on the surface, in order to keep up with the
times. When liberating the Holy Sepulcher was no longer the fad of the day, the
excuses became free trade, or building canals, or pilgrims' rights, or
spreading the ideology of communism or democracy. Killing Muslims because of
religion was no longer fashionable since religion itself got to be, well, so
medieval, so the ever rationalizing white European-American found a plethora of
noble sounding ideas to camouflage their murderous greed, insatiable avarice
and endless cupidity. The latest heir apparent to the corrupt Knights Templar
is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, whose red commie dragon expired of
exhaustion and left them wandering around looking for something, anything that
could justify their existence. Surprise, surprise; almost as soon as that
slimey lizard passed away Muslim "terrorists" appeared in their gunsights, and
it was almost as if the seamless transition from cross-bedraped sword-wielders
to rifle-toting helmets happened without a hitch. That old black magic of white
Christians slaying infidel Muhammedans has once again taken over, making the
new crusade in Afghanistan seem like the good old days once again. Of course,
the new NATO knights talk the talk of building democracy and combating evil but
their methods of doing that - ie slaughtering men, women and children with
indiscriminate bombing attacks, and supporting native politicians who do
business with the so-called bad guys - may strike the ignorant as not exactly
walking the walk. That's OK, it will just take time to sort out the "good"
Muslims who have some hope of becoming white, and those "evil" ones who
actually kind of like who they are now. Or maybe those freedom-defending NATO
soldiers will paraphrase that old crusading motto; "Kill' em all, and let the
NATO secretary general sort' em out."
Hardy Campbell
Houston TX USA (Sep 14, '09)
Recently, I was dismayed to read the article by Spengler entitled
Palestine problem hopeless, but not serious [August 18]. On the
surface, it has the allure and appearance of being a professional editorial
piece, but is rather a culturally offensive exercise in political propaganda.
The article has a problem on so many levels, so I am not sure where to begin.
Let's commence with Spengler stating that Palestinians deserve less aid than
Egyptians, so they should have their aid reduced. Spengler, of course, is aware
that the state he supports, Israel, receives aid, though Israel is a rather
wealthy country in comparison to most countries in the world. He doesn't show
consistency by asking for Israel's aid to be cut off since it is a wealthy
country. He shows no concern for the welfare of the Palestinian people. In his
article, he mentions that Palestinians in Gaza see no incentive to live in
another Arab country because the per capita income is larger for Palestinians.
It appears he is offended by the presence of Palestinians in the territories
and wants them to leave to benefit Israel that seeks to expand at the expense
of the Palestinians. He also seems to ignore the national aspirations of the
Palestinians and seems to think that financial motivations are what keeps
Palestinians in Palestine. This is such a flawed analysis. He later talks about
how Palestinians are as educated as Singaporeans. He states that 92% of
Palestinians are educated. He fails, however, to mention that Jordan is only
slight below that static, to the tune of 91%. He also neglects to cite his
sources when he states 92% of the Palestinian population is literate. The
author also quotes the poet Adonis calling the Arab people, "An extinct
people". He, thus, uses Asia Times Online to insult the Arab people. What
Adonis meant is that Arabs need new thoughts, a cultural and intellectual
revolution to move forward instead of staying with fossilized ideas. The author
says where in the Arab world is there not misery? In Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar,
Tunisia and much of Saudi Arabia etc ... Spengler is trying to make the point
that though United States President Barack Obama says Palestinians are
miserable under Israeli occupation, it should matter not because Arabs in
general are miserable. Last but not least, Spengler mentions turning unemployed
gunmen into basket weavers. This shows he is not interested in any serious
ideas connected with sustainable economic development for the Palestinians. He
mentions demilitarization for the Palestinians. He also mentions that
Palestinian emigration to other states would entail a loss in terms of their
standard of living, though this economically would not make sense, if they went
to work in countries in the Gulf and also Libya. When he mentions that
Palestinians cannot form a normal state he gives no compelling political or
economic reasons for his assertions.
Basil Keilani
Morgantown, West Virginia (Sep 14, '09)
[Re Fifty
questions on 9/11, September 10] I applaud Asia Times Online for
allowing a serious columnist (Pepe Escobar) to bring the obvious conspiracy
behind the September 11, 2001, attacks into mainstream news. Most thinking
folks have known for a long time that 9/11, 7/7 (London), the Madrid train
bombing, and attacks in Mumbai, Jakarta and elsewhere were inside jobs by
various intelligence services. The entire "war on terror" was a cover-up for a
financial looting of the world by Wall Street, for Israeli designs on Arab
lands, and for America's desire to control the entire world's resources. A
perfect unholy alliance of money and neo-colonialists. The only way to beat
this murderous monster is for ordinary people around the world, who are on the
receiving end, to rise up against this unholy alliance.
Vincent Maadi
Cape Town (Sep 11, '09)
[Re North Korea's
succession gets twisted, September 10] Andrei Lankov exhibits the same
impatience that Pyongyang watchers in the West do. Kim Jong-il's succession has
been decided on, it is safe to say. Happily he has regained his health and
stamina, as former US president Bill Clinton observed during his 190-minute
meeting with him. Kim Jong-un has begin the long process of learning his
father's and his grandfather's trade. Professor Lankov should know that Kim
Jong-il's third son is beginning an apprenticeship in the art of statecraft on
the bottom rung. China, now counseling Western leaders on dealing with North
Korea, knows from first-hand experience to arm itself with much fortitude and
patience in ties with Pyongyang. And that advice counts as well when observing
the career development of the "Dear Son".
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Sep 11, '09)
Although 75% of the globe's surface is covered with water, only a fraction of
that is usable by humans. That scarcity, coupled with a growing population,
dwindling arable land and increasing environmental degradation due to
unquenchable urban, industrial and agricultural demands, makes the commodity a
prime target for the multinational monopolizing conglomerates. Already we have
seen how financial rape institutions like the International Monetary Fund and
the World Bank make their usurious loans dependent on Third World privatization
of indigenous water sources. Poor peasants find their ability to access
disease-free water blocked by companies devoted to profit. Such injustices have
resulted in localized water wars and the ejection of these privatized concerns.
The good news is that such travesties have mobilized a significant Third World
movement to take control of their own natural legacy. But lest we think this
sort of behavior is limited to other nations, here in the United States,
companies are given free rides from eager-to-be-bribed local officials to
enable them to suck groundwaters dry while they pocket enormous profits and
contribute almost nothing to the community. Then, after the subterranean waters
they bottle into bogus health drinks are depleted, leaving the local residents
literally low and dry, like the predatory locusts they are, the corporations
move on to the next victim. The entire bottled water industry is born of a
wonderful synergy between chemical companies that pollute waterways, the
medical community that sounds the alarms of such toxin-laden dangers, and the
bottled water industrialists who come riding to the rescue on their water
horses. ... This issue has already led to perilous and emotional confrontations
between headwater-owning nations like Turkey and Ethiopia and their nervous
neighbors. It will not go away soon, and the prospects of future wars over a
liquid more vital than oil grow stronger every day.
Hardy Campbell
Houston TX USA (Sep 11, '09)
[Re West confused over
Confucians, September 9] An interesting article, but I wish Francesco
Sisci would define Confucianism, and especially democracy. There's a lot of
bloviating in the United States about "democracy", yet its system could not be
more different from Pericles' democracy. In fact, the US has always been rather
oligarchic. As for Christianity: "what does Athens have to do with Jerusalem?"
As one early Christian writer said. For most of the last 2,000, 1,000 or 500
years of "Western" civilization, it has not had much democracy.
Lester Ness
Changchun
China (Sep 10, '09)
[Re Palestinian-Israeli
trade looks up, September 9] One swallow doesn't a spring make. After
40 years of Israeli occupation, the figures of Palestinian-Israeli trade are
hardly impressive. As [Israeli rights group] B'tselem points out, no matter
what statistics and projections say, Palestinians' economics, politics and
culture are firmly in Israel's steel grip. And that won't hardly change in the
future.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Sep 10, '09)
[Re West confused over
Confucians, September 9] I had previously thought that the European
pseudo-intellectual columnists like Francesco Sisci and David Gosset were plain
apologists for the Chinese government, defending the indefensible with
reference to Tibet and Xinjiang. I now realize that they are also Eurocentric
cultural relativists, perhaps even Christian fundamentalists of the worst kind.
It is scary that such people find a place in this magazine. By suggesting that
Christianity, and by extension European culture, is the basis of democracy,
Sisci insults all Asian and other non-European peoples. Is he suggesting that
Asian philosophical traditions like Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism do not sow
the seeds of human rights, free speech and freedom of conscience? Or is he
suggesting that only Europeans are entitled to the the fruits of individual
liberty, given their "unique" historical heritage rooted in Christianity.
Sisci's own country is a very recent democracy, having been for two-and-a-half
decades a brutal, intolerant fascist state. Many other "south" European
countries like Greece, Spain and Portugal are recent converts to democracy.
Both India and Japan have richer democratic traditions than either Spain or
Serbia. I need not even mention the democratic antecedents of Ukraine, Russia
or Bulgaria (or perhaps these countries are not even European or really
Christian according to Sisci). I could go on about the systems of republics and
free cities in ancient India, the systems of local government by consent that
flourished in Medieval India and the fact that Chinese culture (all 5,000 years
of it) is more than just Confucius. There is also Tao, there is the influence
of Buddhism, not mention great peasant revolutions against tyrannical
governments. But I will not waste my time. The crux of the argument lies in
this: that no matter what, every human being desires self-respect, freedom and
the right to shape their lives according to self-made choices. This is why
every human being, given half a chance, would choose democracy - however flawed
- over tyranny - however well ordered. If the Chinese overlords so beloved to
Sisci are so confident of the Confucian cultural basis of their citizens, why
don't they hold a free, fair election with full access to international press
and observers, and see how the "Confucian" Chinese people vote!
Pritam Banerjee (Sep 10, '09)
[Re Arabic
television lauds Jewish Egyptian diva, September 4] I wish to thank
Asia Times Online for bringing the memory of Layla Murad to the attention of
its readers. For those of us whose ears still resound with the sound of her
voice and who can still picture her youthful figure, Sami Moubayed's article
stirs up memories thought long forgotten of a time before emigration to the
four corners of the Earth. Yet, I wonder why the sudden revival of nostalgia
for the days of Egypt's monarchy and the Wafd party, when Muslim, Christian and
Jew lived more or less in what the French call bonne intelligence.
Still, it is a comfort to know that she is not forgotten.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Sep 9, '09)
Wonders never cease in Wonderland. Now the morally righteous are condemning the
Associated Press news agency for having the temerity to show a photo of a dead
American soldier in Afghanistan. Heaven forbid that we actually show the
American people that this miserable excuse of a war has consequences. How
dastardly a plot by AP to demonstrate that United States President Barack
Obama's War is not a Sunday picnic. What next? Showing photos of the Afghan
children we've decapitated by drone bombings? Or the peasants who've been
maimed for life by US ordnance? That would be just so despicable, implying that
the good guys in red, white and blue could be involved in such nastiness. After
Vietnam and its 24-hour replays of the hideous consequences of imperial
debacle, the Pentagon swore it would never have the reality of war shown to an
American people mesmerized by the imagery. But life has become complicated for
those defenders of defense contractors' freedoms, with the Internet, YouTube
and the ubiquitous phone camera. Never fear, they have an instant-attack media
dog ready to tear into anyone that dares to exhibit the sorry spectacle of a
stooge-soldier reaping his imperialist rewards. Don't deny the truth, but make
its messenger seem as lowly as a run-over horned toad. Make the truth smell
like a cow paddy, so the government lie seems like sweet perfume by contrast.
And the military's hit men wasted no time getting their shills in the media to
denounce AP's "sensationalism" and "bad taste", as if stage-managing war crimes
and sanitizing mass murder is not the apotheosis of bad taste. The craven
American media, toadying and obsequious to the end, joined the chorus of the
indignant, proclaiming their devotion to the idea of a soldier's corpse being a
sacred monument to delusion, faux patriotism and hypocrisy. The editors of
Stalinist-era Tass and Pravda would have been proud.
Hardy Campbell
Houston TX (Sep 9, '09)
[Re North Korea drops a
uranium bombshell, September 4] The diplomatic waltz with North Korea
is quickening at what might seem a vertiginous pace. Broadly speaking,
Pyongyang's announcement of "entering the completion stage" of enriching
uranium, is not a revelation. North Korea does not have centrifuges in
sufficient numbers nor the wherewithal to forge ahead with full-scale
production of nuclear weapons. It is more likely a bargaining chip, and so far,
the reaction in Washington has been mute. If we consider the presence in
Beijing of US special envoy on North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, a high-level
North Korean delegation, and an important South Korean representation, then the
picture becomes clearer, even though all parties have issued "denials" that any
good, old-fashioned camel trading is going on. The presence of such officials
in the Chinese capital at the same time makes some conclusions obvious. As
Donald Kirk observes, Pyongyang wants face-to-face talks with Washington, yet
the Barack Obama administration wants North Korea to rejoin the six-party talks
in Beijing. Pyongyang is also calling for recognition as a nuclear state, which
Washington won't own up to. Hence the dropping of the enriched uranium shoe.
Discussions are in a fluid stage today, and tomorrow's reality might make the
uranium bombshell seem as though it were a fillip.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Sep 8, '09)
[Re We are all
Japanese now, September 4] No, no, no, Chan Akya, you are not going to
blame the death of free-market capitalism on any other factor than capitalism
itself. Capitalists did it to themselves. Capitalists rigged the system, sent
labor to Asian slave camps and built a den of vicious cut-throat monopolists
that practiced deceit, cheating, exploitation and a belief system composed of
raw greed. They are the agents of any demise, not government, and certainly not
the average worker now left adrift to hurdle further abuses from its corrupt
pro-corporate, anti-social economic system. Today, the United States government
is owned and controlled by these same powerful forces. They are hardly
socialistic, but quite fascist in character.
Michael T Bucci
Damariscotta, Maine, USA (Sep 8, '09)
[Re Taliban's
bombs came from US, not Iran, September 5] Director of National
Intelligence Dennis Blair is making yet another attempt to get the Barack Obama
administration to bomb Iran. Now that the US has conquered Iraq and the
Afghanistan; all that remains for the US to make this world a safe place for
Israel is to employ its tried-and-tested policy of shock and awe. I have no
doubt whatsoever that the US mission in Iran, whatever it is, will soon be
accomplished as it was in Iraq.
TutuG
UK (Sep 8, '09)
Reading Roger N McDermott's article on the serious problems with morale and
crime in the Russian army,
Crisis looms in Russia's armed forces [September 3], I am reminded of
Paul Kennedy's The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. Kennedy described
the many cases found in modern history of empires facing a collapse in military
and so political power after a long retrenchment of their industry - that is,
economic decline. In his book both Soviet Russia and the post-war United States
are seen as fitting this particular pattern. In your website there have been
many articles describing the serious problems hurting the US armed forces'
fighting potential, comparable - but to a lesser degree - to those facing the
Russians in the present. Add to that the long-term decline in the Russian and
American economies, due in great part to a collapse in the manufacturing
sector, together with a dwindling workforce resulting from an increasingly
aging population (and demographic collapse in Russia), and it is difficult to
ignore a continuing pattern of decay that would be a perfect addendum to
Kennedy's book.
Carlos from Ecuador (Sep 4, '09)
[Re China grooms new
breed of journalists, September 3] China has learnt much from the West
as Japan did before it. As it begins to flex its economic biceps, Beijing has
embarked on a broad charm offensive, to gain if not the "hearts and minds" of
critics overseas, then at least a more nuanced understanding of China. Sunny
Lee has shown how the thrust of this soft power offensive is China's media face
to the outside world. And so journalists and media talking heads are being
schooled in Western techniques. Nowhere is this more noticeable than in China's
Phoenix TV. Its programs have an "objectivity" which can at times mirror the
BBC's.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Sep 4, '09)
The Third World is accustomed to hearing Anglo-Saxons fret about the casualties
their armies sustain as they oppress Third World nations in this or that
faux-justified occupation. As a casual aside, the local casualties may be
mentioned by the whiteman's media, though the proportion of white-to-brown
casualties is usually very small. So it must be amusing for Third World
citizens to see the latest outrage over the gross injustice inflicted on the
poor Anglo-Americans. The release of Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi from Scottish
confinement on "humanitarian" grounds has sparked a hue and cry among all those
justice-seeking Americans and Brits who denounced the barbarous shooting down
of an Iranian passenger jet by the USS Vincennes in 1987. Oh, wait,
that's right, they didn't. Evidently that crime against humanity was OK,
because, after all, they were only Muslims, and Anglo-Saxons never commit
atrocities against anyone. It's only when retaliatory measures are taken in
their own backyard that the white imperialists get their panties in a wad.
Evidently, they didn't read the fine print in their Imperialism Manual; the
wages of imperialistic adventures are delivered in caskets, and payback can be
a real female mongrel. I find it particularly ironic that the Scots, themselves
so frequently victimized by English colonialism, have so ardently espoused
their conqueror's mentality, freely slaughtering peoples around the globe in
the name of some primitive royalty. Evidently the same freebooting Scots don't
like it when the price of their collaboration is a pile of shattered aluminum
fuselage outside a town named Lockerbie. So the Brits and Americans think they
can invade and destroy innocent countries without consequences? Of course, when
the malice they inflict is turned on them, it's the work of "evil terrorists",
when they do it it's "democratic nation-building". Hope they can fit all that
on their neo-colonial soldier's tombstones.
Hardy Campbell
Houston TX USA (Sep 4, '09)
[Re Critic leaves
Beijing red-faced , September 2] The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is
not without sin. Its warts today are there to see. The circulation of speeches
at the National People's Congress (NPC) attributed to the veteran party member
and reformist Wan Li on the Internet is a case in point. The cracks and
crevices of party rule, famously exemplified by the great famine unleashed by
the "Great Leap Forward" or the turmoil and disruption of the "Great
Proletarian Cultural Revolution" are not hidden from public view. Wan Li's call
for reform of one-party rule remains a wish. The CCP works on the principle of
democratic centralism, whereby once the party has reached a decision, everyone
adheres to it or suffers the consequences. No doubt calls such as Li's are
heard at the NPC, but no one should lose sight of the fact that such venues
simply rubber-stamp party decisions and directives, which may tilt towards
market reforms but never challenge the CCP's hegemony. Furthermore, there are
no parties capable of ruling China today; only the People's Liberation
Army is a force able to overthrow the CCP, and that scenario is not on the
cards for obvious reasons.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Sep 3, '09)
America's economic woes, born of equal parts financial voodoo and ample
quantities of smokeable weeds, are well known. The ongoing struggles to
extricate ourselves from the tar pits of the Middle East are proving
intractably futile. America's political process has become permanently
polarized, paralyzed and prostituted into puerile putrefaction. OK, so much for
the good news. The bad news is that the vital infrastructure systems of
transportation, electrical distribution and hydraulic regulation that govern
traffic flows, electricity, flood prevention, water purity, road safety and
internal commerce, are in the intensive care unit. Levees, electric grids,
sewage pipes and hydraulic networks built early in the previous century are not
aging well. Leakage alone is costing Americans billions of gallons of water and
dollars. Outbreaks of infectious water-borne diseases are becoming more common
every year, as old sewage treatment facilities are unable to keep up with
demand. Hurricane Katrina exposed the wing-and-a-prayer philosophy of levee
design, while similar disasters-in-waiting are scattered throughout the
hinterland. Over-taxed bridges and roads, many poorly designed in the first
place, continue to erode and in some cases collapse, with tragic consequences.
The deteriorated conditions necessitate reduced truck loads, greater congestion
due to road work delays and an overall reduction in trade in an economy that
can ill afford any further obstacles. States, already in severe budgetary
deficits with swelling unemployment roles and plunging tax revenues, cannot
afford even cosmetic patchwork anymore. ... The failure to maintain these
creaking infrastructures when times were good, because doing so would have
involved un-American socialist-promoting tax hikes, are coming back to haunt
countless cities, municipalities and townships across America, with no prospect
in the near future for anything other than knee-jerk reactions to the next
tragic accident. The Little Dutch Boy could make a killing now, running here
and there, plugging dykes, shoring up dams, and slipping band aids on tottering
structures. Indeed, the band-aiding of America is a good description of
everything that's been done for the last 40 years. A lack of imagination has
prevented the most obvious solutions to these dilemmas. By declaring war on the
United States any town would be guaranteed a rebuilding effort headed by
Halliburton and its cronies on Capitol Hill.
Hardy Campbell
Houston TX (Sep 3, '09)
[Re Ahmadinejad
battles for his cabinet , September 1] When reading Kaveh
Afrasiabi's analysis, I could not help thinking that a mini-metamorphosis of
Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad may be in the works. His appointment of
three women as ministers is doubtless a step forward, as Afrasiabi notes, and I
hope they all get approved regardless of their ideological zeal - their
presence is a plus for Iran's oppressed women.
Tim
Toronto (Sep 3, '09)
[Re Something completely
different in Japan, September 1] Despite the tsunami of votes that gave
him victory in Sunday's Japanese elections, Democratic Party of Japan leader
Yukio Hatoyama made many promises in the heat of his campaign which he may not
be able to live up to when in power. His plans to back away from more forceful
free-market reforms does not put him at odds with Wall Street. In fact, here,
for example, he is returning more to the traditional way the Japanese do
business. I suggest that Asia Times Online readers would benefit greatly by
reading the Financial Times' former Tokyo bureau chief Gillian Tett's 2005 book Saving
the Sun. Hatoyama is the bluest of blue bloods; his grandfather was a
founding member of the defeated LDP [Liberal Democratic Party] who sought to
open Japan to more liberalizing and democratic values. And Hatoyama in the DPJ
is carrying out his legacy. It is probably in foreign policy that Hatoyama will
find distance from the United States, even though Hatoyama does support US
President Barack Obama's war in Afghanistan. The DPJ will look more to forging
strong ties with China, Korea, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and
India and Pakistan. Although Axel Berkofsky focused on the DPJ's triumph at the
ballot box, Hatoyama will also push for a return to Japanese "values" at home,
and strong alliances in Asia at a time when Asia is recovering more rapidly
economically than the West. It is a resurrection of a "co-prosperity sphere",
an economic bloc which seeks to assert its place in the sun. Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Sep 2, '09)
Tuesday was the 70th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of Poland, a minor
conflict that touched off a global holocaust of indiscriminate slaughter. Yet,
as is our human wont, out of the unmitigated horror, mankind benefited from a
slew of technological advances, an end to a lingering economic depression and a
new sense of communal cooperation. Alas, again in an all-too human manner, the
initial euphoria was dampened by the same old atavistic tendencies to see life
in zero-sum, Manichean perspectives; allies became ideological rivals,
technological promise couldn't shake its sinister wartime origins and newly
liberated ethnicities wanted to make the same mistakes their oppressors had
made. But from this historical distance we should acknowledge how necessary
this war was in order for mankind to shake off the last vestiges of European
dominance, which had failed to read the tea leaves on the wall in 1919 and
stubbornly clung to the illusion of their divine right to rule. While some may
argue how wasteful the Cold War was between the heirs apparent of European
imperialism, it represented a minimization of the Old Continent that had
dominated the planet for the previous 300 years and ushered in a new paradigm
of human progress. The new boys on the block shrugged off their Europeanisms
and tried to convinced that their way was the New Way, a true path to
enlightenment and salvation that the tired, decadent Europeans had shown
themselves incapable of. Alas, both expended too much of their vitality trying
to convince a skeptical Third World that they represented anything more than
old wine in new bottles. By the time the Soviet Union collapsed in that
ideological marathon, the United States seemed to be the sole winner, with
nothing but clear sailing ahead to achieve the coveted world domination. Alas,
exhausted by their Pyrrhic victory and heady with the wine of hubris, they too
stumbled well short of the finish line, as a straggler that all had counted out
has come roaring from behind, ready to soon pass the staggering behemoth. And
so it is that the great wheel of history continues to turn, ready to transition
from the American Century to the Asian Century. None of this could have
happened without the Second World War, which in turn could not have happened
without Gavrilo Princip's dubious fortune in being the man who helped ignite
the War That Didn't End All Wars.
Hardy Campbell
Houston TX USA (Sep 2, '09)
[Re Storm over North
Korea-Iran arms vessel, August 31] It is unclear from the article if
the United Arab Emirates authorities have confiscated the consignment of arms,
after letting the vessel leave its waters. If that were the case, we are
witnessing a replay of the George W Bush administration's seizure of a North
Korean consignment of Scud missiles bought and paid for by Yemen. The then
sitting US president released the ship and its cargo, thereby allowing delivery
of the missiles at the Port of Aden. Equally curious is the fact that the North
Korean weapons were shipped out of China, and as such the bill of lading should
have protected them as Chinese, not North Korean. Kirk does not tell us whether
Pyongyang has lodged a protest. Another curious feature of this drama is that
the ship's seizure has occurred at the very moment that the US, South Korea and
North Korea are launching charm offensives. The ANL Australia may turn
out to be simply a hiccup in a broad warming of relations among these three
countries.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Sep 1, '09)
The conventional wisdom is that when economies falter and consumer demand
weakens, the price of energy goes down. Yet with the United States economy on
the skids and the rest of the world struggling, the price of civilization's
crude black lifeblood remains not only high but tracking progressively higher.
How has the old axiom of supply and demand failed with respect to petroleum? In
fact, it hasn't. Indeed, the axiom has been once again reinforced, but not in
the way convention would have us believe. The demand for energy has indeed
declined, but the demand for dollar substitutes has just begun. Just as the
1973 oil embargo was the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' way
of punishing former US president Richard Nixon's America for going off the gold
standard, so the current support for crude prices constitutes a commodification
of dollar-replacement. Precious metals will remain popular as a safe haven from
debased currencies, but oil has the benefit of being readily traded on
commodity markets, having secure storage facilities and serving the purpose of
maintaining modern lifestyles. It also represents yet another way for Third
World nations to strangle the old imperialist powers, slowly and gradually.
It's already served to sucker-punch America in Iraq, that mirage of endless oil
that beckoned the former US president George W Bush cabal. The gradual movement
of the emerging superpowers from dollar reserves to alternative currencies and
commodities are quiet nails in the ex-superpower's coffin. Dead from its
addictions to dogmatic interventions and militaristic solutions to everything,
the more appropriate farewell to the failed experiment in illusory democracy
would be to burn its corpse in a barrel of West Texas Intermediate.
Hardy Campbell
Houston TX USA (Sep 1, '09)
August Letters
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