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NOVEMBER 2010
[Re The lunatic who
thinks he's Barack Obama, Nov 29] Spengler writes, "Never underestimate
the power of nostalgia". But David Goldman, aka Spengler, clearly fails to
recognize the "nostalgia" from his own background when he attempts to evaluate
US policy based on the imagined world of the more hard-line Zionists. He
bemoans US policy because, for him, the only "realistic" policy is to stop the
alleged coddling of Muslims, to forget about blowback, and attack Iran ASAP.
Given his misguided belief that it's all about "terrorism", he falsely
concludes that US policy is misguided for that reason. But US policy objectives
have little to do with stopping "terrorism", or with spreading of "democracy".
Attempting to use either of those naive paradigms to explain US actions is
pointless. Full-spectrum global dominance is the (stated) goal of both the
military and the corporate spheres. Unsavory alliances with despots and drug
lords, military occupations to combat resistance to military occupation,
endless base-building, control of resources, profits of MIC and empire, all
readily provide explanation to US activities without having to resort to
made-up idiosyncrasies to explain imagined inconsistencies.
Ron Billings
United States (Nov 30, '10)
[Re The lunatic who
thinks he's Barack Obama, Nov 29] "Editor's note: It's not for us to
make a judgement call on a man's sanity." I suppose this is why you continue to
publish Spengler's meshugas (madness, in Yiddish).
Lester Ness
China (Nov 30, '10)
[Re Teetering Asian dominoes
test Obama, Nov 29] WikiLeaks' recent releases of US diplomatic cables
shed light on America's thinking about North Korea. Strangely enough, North
Korea's "shock and awe" riposte to South Korea's shelling its territorial
waters along the NLL (Northern Limit Line) reveals that the US and its ally in
Seoul have forsaken diplomacy for displays of brute force. It seems as though
we are back to conditions leading up to the outbreak of the Korean War.
Viktor Katsov marvels at the seemingly passive role China has chosen to play in
pressuring its North Korean neighbor and ally. He seems to ignore that China is
an active participant in that war which begs a peace treaty. So, technically,
it is at war with the US. Secondly, I would suggest that he read Whiting's China
crosses the Yalu, which is good account of why Chinese volunteers
fought against the US led UN forces. Their strength coupled with a revived
North Korean army "rolled back" the US to the 38th parallel where it remains
today under the terms of an armistice.
American administrations - both Republican and Democratic - refuse to deal with
this reality in spite of the radical change in US-China-South Korea relations.
Curiously enough, the WikiLeaks' disclosures on North Korea show an absence of
reality to US moves. At one point, to wean China from its support of North
Korea, and betting on the "imminent collapse of Pyongyang", Washington - with
Seoul in tow - offers China the vision of a non-threatening unified Korea on
its borders. Given the current bellicose climate fostered by the US and South
Korea, this is an offer which China can easily reject. For time has not altered
one whit its analysis that the existence of a North Korea guarantees China
stable and reliable borders.
The solution to Korea lies in the US pushing for a peace treaty which among
other things deals with diplomatic recognition and resolution of the North's
nuclear program.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Nov 30, '10)
[Re Teetering Asian dominoes
test Obama, Nov 29] It is simply amazing how history repeats itself
again, and again, and again. Nobody knows for certain what are North Korea's
goals but one thing is for sure: Neither the United States nor South Korea - or
any other free nation for that matter - should negotiate with a parasitic,
crippled state like North Korea.
In the best case scenario, North Korea would be put in its place and respond to
their aggression with a greater aggression. In the worst case scenario, the
United States and South Korea would attempt to cripple further the already
starving North Korea.
The president of the United States is too much a of a naive, nice guy. I wonder
if North Korea would be so defiant if there was a Ronald Reagan in the White
House. Apparently this rogue country also has nuclear weapons. It is extremely
hard to understand why some people do not comprehend that it is NOT the same
nukes in - let's say - Germany or France, as nukes in a failed, starving,
no-bounded-by-any-treaty, Third World country like North Korea. Hopefully there
won't be more victims and things will remain the same: South Korea enjoying the
enviable prosperity and economic development that it has, and North Korea will
continue to be the beggar state that is starving its own people.
Ysais Martinez
United States (Nov 30, '10)
The current crisis ongoing in the Korean Peninsula and China's territorial
dispute with its neighbors is coming at a wrong time when the region is in the
surge of economic growth and prosperity. Peace should be maintained for all
countries involved, to focus on prosperity and growth.
War will not accomplish anything but destruction and give more money to the
Western defense industries. War will divide the region to satisfaction of
Western powers at great cost to Asians. Let's stop the war-mongering and
negotiate and compromise on territorial disputes in the region and let us
Asians enjoy the fruits of our hard work. Look at Europe, mostly now living in
peace. We can even be better than Europe if we all work together for peace and
prosperity in Asia and the Pacific.
Tom Lasam
United States (Nov 30, '10)
WikiLeaks has made some startling disclosures. The aging monarch of
SaudiArabia, King Abdullah, is reported to have made scathing remarks about the
leadership of Pakistan. He has called President Asif Ali Zardari as the
greatest obstacle to Pakistan’s progress, saying, ''When the head is rotten, it
affects the whole body."
Whatever be the case as a Pakistani I am hurt by the Saudi monarch's remarks.
After all, unlike the King, AAZ is a duly elected president of the country.
Casting aspersions on him is tantamount to insulting the people of Pakistan. It
is our right to question and criticize him, and this we cannot pass on to
others and outsiders. Anyone doing so, is clearly interfering in the internal
affairs of another sovereign country.
It is, however, another matter that we in Pakistan have little to choose in
electing our leaders as ALL of them seem to be the chips off the same block.
They spend tens of millions to be "elected", which proves their definite
interest in being elected. And once in power they make the most of the hay day.
I strongly think that things cannot be put right until we act upon the saying
of the great sage - Hazrat Ali (a.s), ''Do not elect a person who offers
himself for an office. He has an interest in it. Instead pick up the best
amongst you and ask him to lead, if need be force him even at the point of the
sword to do so.'' Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)
Pakistan (Nov 30, '10)
Nothing is more despised, loathed and feared in Wonderland than Truth. Nothing
is more prized, coveted and protected in Wonderland as Truth. This apparent
paradox is amply demonstrated by the WikiLeaks debacle for the Obama
administration.
That the Truth is being revealed to the public cannot be questioned; the
Pentagon's Sturming und Dranging testifies to that beyond doubt. The
knee jerk howling of "national security" and "endangered troops" is bellowed at
an unsympathetic moon. The revelations themselves are all of the ho hum
variety. Really, we didn't know that the Pakistani ISI was not only in bed with
the Taliban but weaving their blankets, sheets and pillows as well? And I am
still gasping for air with the news flash about "secret" Pentagon plans to
attack Iran. So it's not that the Truth hurts so much as the government's
obsession with concealing the obvious; I fear Obama will have a stroke when he
finds out everyone already knows he's only half black.
Control is what power is all about, after all, and if they can't regulate the
dissemination of misinformation, spin and propaganda, what good is the police
state that Bush so ardently crafted and Obama is equally ardent at expanding?
The saddest part of all, however, is that none of this matters a Greek iota or
an Englishman's whit.
The zombification (or perhaps sheepification is a better term) of Amerika is so
thorough and complete that no revelation would suffice to man the barricades.
Even the inevitable leak that will show George W Bush's complicity in
orchestrating the 9-11 autoattacks will not disturb our collective, profound
and final apathetic slumber. To paraphrase the famous saying by the German
Niemoller, "When they took the liberals away, I did nothing, because I wasn't a
liberal. When they took the Muslim Americans away, I did nothing, because I
wasn't a Muslim America. When they came to take me away, there were plenty of
people left, but no one gave a flying bleep anymore."
Hardy Campbell
United States (Nov 30, '10)
[Re Brazil’s street war
not for resale abroad , Nov 29] While Pepe Escobar's article was
detailed and informative, I was surprised that he did not make the comparison
to the current war that Mexico is waging against it's own cartels and gangs.
Brazil's fight has only just started and seems to be going well. It was the
same for Mexico, but a few years later it seems that Mexico is still nowhere
near completing it's mission. I hope Brazil has better luck. So far Brazil
seems to have learned to avoid Mexico's mistakes.
Paul Sunil Vincent
Kerala, India (Nov 30, '10)
[Re War talk, and
factory visits, Nov 24] The US decision to send its warships to the
troubled Korean peninsula is a dangerously calculated maneuver that shows a
war-weary and overstretched America is far more interested in pursuing a
military solution than a peaceful diplomatic outcome.
The 1953 Armistice that brought an end to the hostilities of the Korean War was
only signed by the North Koreans under extreme duress. US war planes had bombed
several major dam sites causing widespread flooding and the loss of rice
plantations that unleashed a level of human devastation comparable to the
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Moreover, the US continues to ignore
allegations brought before the United Nations by China that its war planes were
also involved in the blanket dropping of banned chemical weapons.
The US must end the diplomatic charade of the so-called six-party talks and
enter into two-party talks with North Korea, as repeatedly requested by
Pyongyang. Otherwise, millions of innocents are being held to ransom by the
self-righteous posture of the world's lone military superpower.
Reverend Dr Vincent Zankin
Australia (Nov 29, '10)
[Re Kodachrome Korea,
Nov 24] An interesting review, but for people interested in this topic, there
are actually a surprising number of high-quality color photographs from World
War II.
One example is: U.S. Army Photo Album: Shooting the War in Color, 1941-45 USA to
ETO by Jonathan Gawne (Hardcover - Jan. 2001) - Illustrated. You can
see some sample photos in it's entry on amazon.com.
Conflict of interest: the author is my brother. But it really does have some
impressive photos that you just can't find anywhere else.
Tim Gawne (Nov 29, '10)
The WonderPundits are all atwitter about how China may not be in "control" of
North Korea. Frothing-mouth Fox News foreign policy "experts" (who would have
trouble finding their own derrieres with both hands and a map) are wondering
just how much China can "manage" North Korea's warlike actions. That, of
course, comes from a nation accustomed to having its own foreign stooge-puppet
governments kowtowing to our every corporo-imperialist whim.
The idea that our perceived adversaries would be unable to manipulate at will
their own "allies" is incomprehensible to a nation accustomed to routinely
infringing and abusing the sovereignty of other countries.
What Americans typically ignore is history and its continuing effect on
Sino-Korean relations. Whereas Americans call the war fought between 1950 and
1953 on the Korean Peninsula the Korean War, for what seems obvious reasons,
the same conflict is still formally identified in China as "The War to Resist
US Aggression and Aid Korea". That characterization signified a twofold
mission; assisting a like-minded ideological neighbor and demonstrating to the
Anglo-Saxon imperialist powers that a New World day had dawned, that this New
China wasn't going to be bullied or intimidated like its corrupt predecessors.
The tremendous sacrifices that the nascent People's Republic made in order to
expel that old imperialist MacArthur from North Korea accomplished numerous
objectives that the Chinese recall with fondness to this day.
Firstly, the act of fraternal assistance helped wipe clean the memories of the
old Middle Kingdom domination of its smaller neighbors and showed the world
that the new China would respect the newfound national independence of its
former satrapies.
Secondly, it provided a unifying bogeyman that the country, devastated by
decades of foreign and civil war, needed to rally against (surely something
American neo-cons can appreciate.) Thirdly, it offered Mao Zedong an
opportunity to show Stalin and the world communist movement that devotion to
Marxist-Leninist world revolution could reside just as easily in China as with
its Slavic benefactor, an action that would ultimately splinter the
relationship between the two.
Fourth, the establishment of North Korea would act as a buffer between China
and a Japan firmly in the grip of the new threat to world socialism, the US.
Finally, by going toe-to-toe with this new white enemy, so recently the victor
in a global two-front war and possessing atomic weapons as well as the greatest
technological arsenal in history, China showed the colored peoples oppressed by
existing European colonizers that the non-white races could successfully resist
the once-supreme Caucasian.
But more importantly, as a corollary to this success, a confident "Can Do"
mentality was created that made all things seem possible to Chairman Mao and
his revolutionary followers. This national myth spurred the overconfidence of
the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, followed by a taut
confrontation with its former Korean War ally, the USSR. But a subsequent
reconciliation with the US opened the door to the creation of a vibrant and
soon-to-be-supreme 21st century society that has the economic cojones of its
old Korean War foe and Cold War ally firmly in its hands. China's patience with
its rambunctious, tottering comrades across the Yalu also serves to keep an
overextended America anxious about The Next Inevitable War.
So China's deference to North Korea's whimsies is historic, nostalgic and
pragmatic, all at the same time. However, they might have suggested to
Pyongyang that they use the excuse of shelling WMD sites as a palliative to the
imperialists that even they can surely understand. Hardy Campbell
United States (Nov 29, '10)
[Re Oops ... wrong man!,
Nov 24] The US with its NATO allies in tow has dropped the ball. This is not
the first time that this has happened. Consider president George W Bush relying
on unreliable information about WMD in Iraq, even though the German government
expressed serious concern about its source.
The US has lost finding the North Star in diplomacy and war. It is quick to
rush to judgment. As such, it is yet another symptom of its decline. It may
find a "dignified" way out of Afghanistan but no one say for sure. What is
certain: it is grasping for straws for the neglect of Afghanistan after 2001
for a war in Iraq.
Abraham Bin Yiju
Palermo (Nov 29, '10)
[Re North Korean shells aim
to shock, Nov 23] The Lee Myung-bak government in Seoul has admitted
that South Korea had been carrying out another round of military exercises in
the disputed NLL (Northern Limited Line), close to Yoengpyeong Island, on the
fringe of North Korean territorial waters. The South Korean navy was using live
ammunition which it claims was not fired in the direction of North Korea.
Well, the North Koreans thought this was the case and riposted, resulting in
the death of two marines, six military badly injured, and some 13 islanders
injured, not to speak of the damage done to property and the evacuation of the
island's population.
Lost in translation is the aggressive warlike behavior of the South towards the
North since the sinking of the Cheonan corvette. Seoul, assisted by the
United States, has been carrying out a series of naval and air exercises along
the NLL. These maneuvers are part of a scenario to spook North Korea into
responding military. Well, this time North Korea did as an answer to South
Korean and US adventurism.
Lee took to his bunker to plan a response. The South Korean, Japanese, Hong
Kong, and Singapore bourses plummeted as the rumors of a potential war spread.
Such are the consequences of Lee's and US President Barack Obama's hard line
towards North Korea.
Consequently, the war parties in Seoul and Washington will, it is hoped, stay
their military hand and look for diplomatic solutions. For both countries are
vulnerable and recourse to a renewed Korean War is out of the question.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Nov 24, '10)
[Re North Korean shells aim
to shock, Nov 23] What does it really matter to the rest of us if Seoul
or Pyongyang is nuked, besides our propaganda-fed belief in good or evil? The
matter is more properly interpreted on a pragmatic level. Our supply of cars
may be cut, but we have other options, just like with any other product.
The war will not likely spill onto our shores, unless we make it. The most
important losses would be 1) our military base from which we can disrupt "evil"
nations, 2) a customer to which we sell lots of weapons and protection, 3)
always a supporting vote in the UN for our wars or policies, and 4) continuing
propaganda material for the 24 hour news and their money making commercials.
Koreans killing other Koreans happens all the time in downtown Los Angeles. It
changes little in the lives of anyone else, even to those living in the same
apartment complex. Koreans killing other Koreans in Asia is no different,
except to remind us of the inevitable.
Bao Dinh Nguyen (Nov 24, '10)
[Re Bang! Now let's talk,
Nov 23] I wonder why a distinguished nuclear scientist, on a secret and highly
unusual mission to a reclusive enemy state, would post his finding on a public
website? I would think the information would be well above Top Secret. The
whole thing smells like an inept setup by the US and South Korea for propaganda
purposes.
Unfortunately, but probably intentionally for the sake of verisimilitude, lives
have already been lost in this propaganda show.
Francis Chow
Quebec, Canada (Nov 24, '10)
[Re American
predicts killing of Suu Kyi, Nov 23] You discredit yourself by
publishing nonsense like this story. The man is a mental case, nothing more.
Alan Barker (Nov 24, '10)
Editor's note: It's not for us to make a judgement call on a man's
sanity. The man is a subject of genuine interest as his actions resulted in the
further detention of Aung San Suu Kyi. [Re
Intel on Iran has telling flaw, Nov 22] It is no surprise that an
official US statement is full of lies. A growing number of Americans have
become aware that the favored response of US officials is to lie. The lies come
from the military, from the Fed Bank, from congress, from the presidents, from
every agency that wishes to gain an advantage by deceit.
As a World War II veteran, I am disgusted and ashamed of what those people in
Washington do day after day. Somehow or other decent Americans must take back
our government from the establishment politicians and their lackeys.
Tom Gerber (Nov 23, '10)
[Re Welcome to
NATOstan, Nov 20] Pepe Escobar writes "British Defense Chief General
Sir David Richards has just told the Daily Mail, "NATO now needs to plan for a
30- or 40-year role to help the Afghan armed forces hold their country against
the militants."
Presumably this is the same article
"The West will never win war against al-Qaeda, warns armed forces chief as he
reveals plans to keep troops in Afghanistan for '30 or 40 years'" published
Nov 15.
Now what I find exceptionally confusing is on the very same day, The
Independent carried a front page story "Head
of armed forces says victory over al-Qa'ida is not possible" where Sir
David Richards tells us "Attempts by the West to achieve this were unnecessary,
said Sir David Richards, the Chief of General Staff, who also defended the
right of fundamentalist Muslims to adhere to beliefs which underpin their
lives. He stressed that one cannot defeat ideas merely through fighting wars".
Quite possibly we have two divergent editorial takes on very the same story
but, either way, when people of the caliber of General Sir David Richards make
these kind of comments then it is long overdue for the "tin pot general"
politicians to begin listening in earnest.
This misbegotten war is un-winnable and it is time we all got the hell out of
Afghanistan and let the locals decide their own future. Of course that would
mean a great many corporations sacrificing the most obscene profit-making
opportunity in a generation.
Ian C Purdie
Sydney, Australia (Nov 22, '10)
[Re Welcome to
NATOstan, Nov 20] I remember when Pepe Escobar wrote actual pieces of
journalism, and I miss those days. He is on a downward spiral, and I can hardly
even read his work any longer. All I see is vituperative polemic masquerading
as reporting.
Have a glance at "Welcome to NATOstan". In the first two paragraphs I count
eight statements of fact (there was a summit in Lisbon on Friday and Saturday,
it consisted of a military alliance of democratic states, etc), and 12
strident, rhetorical statements of opinion ("Be afraid", "innocuously sounding
and self-described", "Cold War relic", "Freudian scenario", etc).
Whether one agrees with his political commitments or not, and I often do, this
is simply bad writing. An intelligent reader does not require the constant
interjection of the author's point of view. An intelligent reader can form
their own judgments about the facts. Asia Times Online is for intelligent
readers.
I used to look forward to Escobar's pieces, but now my eyes glaze over as he
bludgeons me with one moralizing judgment after another, and if I ever read the
tag line "always-positioning-himself-for-2012" I may stop reading his work
altogether.
Barnaby Thieme (Nov 22, '10)
[Re Israel moves to
counter Hezbollah, Nov 20] You can read Viktor Kotsev's article this
way: in posing as a victim, Israel may be preparing for another preemptive
attack on Hezbollah. Thus the retreat from a vantage point on the Lebanese
border is nothing but a feint towards war.
Abraham Bin Yiju Italy (Nov 22, '10)
[Re Time to
face up to China, Nov 18] Peter Morici's articles are always a welcome
addition to Asia Times Online, but what isn't welcomed are when nationalistic
prejudices impede sound economic judgement as Morici's articles have so far
appeared to betray.
Some American economists like "Nobel Laureate" Paul Krugman and Morici who beat
the protectionist drum do so with the forlorn hope that a trade war with China
is somehow winnable. I can only question their economic credentials, Nobel
Prize or none, especially when such an action would lead to a debilitating
trade war for the entire world, and may not necessarily bring American
manufacturing jobs back to American shores.
Furthermore, Krugman and Co appear to yearn for the 1970s, when American
industry and manufacturing peaked - such an ideal is a fantasy and dangerously
unrealistic in the globalized world we live in today. Given the high labor
costs of US industry, would American consumers be happy to pay six to 10 times
as much for an iPod or a laptop? Such protectionists and economic nationalists
seem to be ignorant of the fact that China's low yuan and low labor costs
enabled and subsidized the incredibly high standard of living by Americans.
Hank
Australia (Nov 22, '10)
A few recent experiences have cleared my mind and caused me to reconsider my
role as a citizen of the United States. In the past, I have always cheered and
supported the underdog, the down trodden, the exploited, the weak, and the
innocent. My parents taught this to me, as well as, the distrust of the
government and most officialdom. My mother was a devout Catholic, but my father
cursed organized religion until the day he died and I'm sure that his influence
shaped me in many ways.
I was raised on a small farm in central Louisiana, without electricity or
running water, and reached manhood in the early 1950's. I served in the US Air
Force in Korea as a radar technician. I became a professional, and worked for
50 years, retired, and then devoted myself to hobbies, keeping informed, and
reading and commenting on news articles. This latter occupation was how I
became a fan of Asia Times Online, as well as numerous other publications
online (I must say that your little paper is by far the best thing I browse
daily). My objective was to do my part as a responsible citizen, to help shape
this country, and consequently, the world, to be a more just, free, and equal
place.
Then, this past April, a pivotal event happened. I was operated on for cancer.
The operation lasted a little more than three hours. I stayed in hospital less
than 24 hours. The hospital bill was US$68,000. The doctor's bill was $15,000
(that's almost $5,000 an hour for the doctor). Thankfully, I had a socially
inspired, government insurance which covered most of the bill. Otherwise, I
would be living in the street.
It was then, when I read the fine print of the hospital bill, that I was
convinced that these people were in this business to make exorbitant amounts of
money, and helping people was a very secondary consideration. I then mentally
surveyed my family, friends, and acquaintances. Most were happy with their
place in the world, not the least concerned with what our government was doing
or where, and, to my consternation, were republicans. Even the highly educated
professionals.
My survey continued to reflect on our country in general. We have three wars
going on, for which not one person in America can give a moral reason. We have
medical professionals fighting any legislation which would help poor people
with better healthcare. We are electing people who support war, torture,
aggression, and murder of millions. All for money, and the public around me are
"OK" with this. We have a TSA (Transportation Authority) which has stated that
if you refuse to be screened at the airport, you cannot just walk away and go
home, no, you will be arrested and charged with being a potential terrorist,
and put on a "no fly" list. Not one complaint from anyone that I know (except
my brother and sister).
This long letter could go on for some time on these subjects, but let's just
say, that at the end of my survey, I concluded that the population of the
United States, in general, is not worth the effort of trying to enlighten. So,
as a 76-year-old campaigner, I bid you farewell. I shall no longer concern
myself with world news, our government, voting, and other civic duties. I shall
join the crowd of Americans who "don't give a damn". I will bury myself in my
hobbies and enjoying nature and gardening until my end day. I hereby resign!
Ken Moreau
United States (Nov 22, '10)
One of Wonderland's most wondrous virtues is its ability to say something,
anything, to make it feel better about itself. Words are our wands to wave
around and make all the bad things magically disappear. Losing a war in
Vietnam? Say you've signed an honorable peace, then enjoy the sight of 'copters
tumbling off ships.
No WMDs in Iraq? Say you started an unjust war to spread democracy, motherhood
and apple pie, just don't televise all those darned flag-draped caskets! What
economic collapse and depression? Just say you're 'recovering' while the
embalmer dips your corpse in formaldehyde imported from Shanghai.
The truth, that most inconvenient of commodities in Neo-Conman-Land, has seldom
interfered in the past with this Power of Positive Attitude Policy. Simply hire
neo-con science fiction writers to spin war, disaster, crimes and sins into
employment opportunities for defense workers, bombing for Third World urban
renewal, or good ol' 'merican ingenuity with exotic financial innovations.
Statistics, that voodoo math incomprehensible to virtually everyone, is used
willy nilly by the math illiterati to support claims of everything from
imminent Taliban defeat to jobless claim declines to bank bailout paybacks,
even though most of that data is cooked, distorted or simply falsified. The
latest brouhaha over President Barack Obama's expenses for his Asian junket
demonstrate with what ease hocus-pocus math lies become the gospel in
Wonderland. The usual suspects in the Fix-Is-In Gang, the media, politicians,
bankers, lobbyists, economic gurus and Wall Street puppets, keep furiously
talking up the moribund economy as being in "recovery mode".
Only trouble is, no one is listening anymore; not the middle class people who
live in cars or the kids who go to school without breakfast or the seniors who
eat cat food or the MBAs stacking boxes at WalMart. They're not buying it
anymore because, well, they're not buying anything anymore. And therein lies
the solution to America's myriad problems; denying denial, accepting the ugly
truth, facing facts, de-spinning spin.
Can we do that, after decades of media-saturated myths, lies, propaganda and
manipulations? Can we say as a nation, "No more delusions, no more cow paddies,
no more wanna-be-wish-list fantasies?" I'm not sanguine about the prospects, to
be honest. In a country where truthtellers are generally considered either
raving loonies, conspiracy theorists or disgruntled ex-somethings, the culture
of Talk-Your-Way-to-Happiness is a tough narcotic to go cold turkey on. But
until that changes, get used to seeing the US economy thrown off a metaphorical
ship into a merciless sea.
Hardy Campbell
Houston TX (Nov 19, '10)
Long ago I developed a profound and severe allergy to what I will, for the sake
of political correctness, call bovine feces. I react badly to it, feeling an
irresistible itch to write e-mails to Asia Times Online, pointing out how this
or that conservative right-wing loon toon has deposited his or her droppings of
illogic and hypocrisy on the public at large.
Unfortunately, Wonderland is a virtual cow paddy paradise these days, festooned
and decorated with the inane and insane rantings of people who purport to
"love" America. It is a curious love, to be sure, usually manifested by using
the word "hate" quite a lot. In their simple minded Anglo-Saxon Judeo-Christian
world, if you don't agree with their racist, imperialist, capitalist
perspective that whitewashes all crimes and transgressions in the name of
"patriotism", "democracy" and "freedom", you automatically "hate" America. Not
the lunatics who vomit such vile venom, mind you, but America itself.
Like the puffed-up delusional megalomaniacs they invariably are, in their
twisted minds they and their poison become the very essence of America,
intolerant of any dissent or opposing viewpoints. But this is a
characterization of my country that I will challenge over and over again,
despite their pathetic attempts to make liberals and progressives to be haters
of a country they've abused and violated for way too long. But like all good
neo-con nutjobs, they will scream at the top of their hysterical lungs that the
enormous social, financial and spiritual damage they have inflicted on this
country is all due to the "haters" like me who stand up to their treason.
It's just too bad their metaphoric moo stool isn't the real thing; we'd have
enough hydrocarbon fuel to dwarf Saudi Arabia.
Hardy Campbell
United States (Nov 18, '10)
Editor's note: We kindly direct any further correspondence on this theme to
The Edge. For the purposes of the
letters page, the subject is now closed.
[Re Obama statecraft cleaves
Asian rift, Nov 17] There are two things that I want to comment about.
The first one is that American media - liberal and conservative - reported
Obama's trip as a failure. The president of the United States does not
understand that playing the "nice guy" card has never worked with Third World
countries. Unfortunately, China cannot be appeased. India has great aspirations
but it first must rise above China and Pakistan.
It is interesting to mention that in Indonesia Obama said that he was part of
that country. I have never heard him saying that he is part of America or
anything flattering about this country. That is precisely the reason why we
perceive him as an outsider. He thinks of the United States as part of the
problem and not the solution.
The second subject that I want to comment about is Hardy Campbell's letters
demonizing America and Americans in an extremely vicious way. So he should be
corrected and he should know that the vast majority of Americans are
conservative OR view America as part of the solution to the world issues not
the problem.
Mr Campbell is in the minority of Americans that hate this country however they
have done pretty well in our shores. For example in his latest letter attacking
the few pro-American voices in this forum he refers to some members as
hypocrites who are racists, bigots, and "haters." Some of us may have a
different "motherland" through our parents, grandparents, maybe ourselves, or
maybe people who became Americans after they experienced the greatness of our
country.
This is America Mr Campbell! We welcome the best of the best in the world and
you and your ilk won't silence those voices. Those voices in this forum are of
our own. We recognize our own from a mile away if you know what I mean. A
creative spirit in the right body is unmistakable! God bless America!
Jonathan Howie
United States (Nov 17, '10)
[Re Obama's $15 bn
Indian take-away, Nov 17] Alms for America, it sounds like. You have to
wonder how a "savvy" White House could so mishandle an American president state
visit to India. Consider his mantra to create jobs at home, whilst going to a
country to which US major and lesser firms have outsourced tens of thousands of
jobs.
An American friend of mine e-mails that an American TV comedy, appropriated
called "Outsourced", makes light of this loss of jobs to another country. The
program, it seems, is a crude pastiche of Indians who are made out to be
buffoons, which may delight proud, but jobless Americans. What is left unsaid
is that every job outsourced brings a company more than fifty cents on the
dollar in profit.
So, India's US$15 bn is "chump change" when all is said and done.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Nov 17, '10)
[Re US scheming to
extend Iraq adventure, Nov 17] Perhaps the title should refer to the
Iraq "debacle". Having produced havoc, death and suffering in untold amounts
those who run our government have not yet learned. Obama, who promised change,
has continued the blindly militaristic policies of his predecessors.
Wouldn't it be better if he would learn from what happened to the UK in Iraq
and Afghanistan? Or does he want his single term as president to include a
massacre of US troops in both countries? Obama talks the good game, but plays
the same old, same old.
Ron Mepwith
United States (Nov 17, '10)
Being the sucker that I am, I always start out my day with a visit to the ATol
letters section. I'm looking for something, anything - a hint of humor or
unique perspective to warm the cockles of my heart in this barren wasteland of
breathtakingly bad letters.
After the umpteenth letter from the same three letter-writers repeating the
same tired points over and over, I can say I’m pretty sure other readers and I
get it: Nakamura Junzo believes that North Korea can do no wrong, and the US
and South Korea can do no right. Hardy Campbell has a strong affinity for the
term ''white trash'.' And we can be thankful that Ysais Martinez is not in
possession of a nuclear warhead launch key.
But I have to single out Campbell for special merit. His last letter [Nov 16,
2010] takes this week’s prize for unintended humor. In it, he rants about the
''hate',' ''invective'' and ''vitriol'' in Ysais Martinez’s letters. This, from
the same man who has referred to those with whom he disagrees as ''senile'' and
''morons''; who describes American Revolutionary War soldiers wintering at
Valley Forge as ''clueless'' and ''rum-besotted''; whose stock-and-trade in the
ATol letters section is bigoted, hate-filled, broad brush characterizations of
Americans as money-grubbers who only understand solving problems through ''war,
bloodshed and death.'' It is no surprise that Campbell recognizes Martinez’s
hatred. Campbell himself is consumed by the ugliest hatred that I have ever
seen on ATol.
Geoffrey Sherwood
United States (Nov 17, '10)
[Re Few pointers in US
stealth offer to Israel, Nov 15] The United States can no longer
pretend that it is calling for a two states solution. The Obama administration
has raised a white flag of surrender. It is giving in to Israel's demands. In
other words, he has abandoned the Palestinians. Now, Israel can realize the
cherished Zionist dream of a greater Israel from the Mediterranean to the river
Jordan.
Abraham Bin Yiju Italy (Nov 16, '10)
Some of your letter writers purport to know what the majority of Americans
loathe and despise. Indeed, their letters are so full of hate, invective and
venomous vitriol that it's a wonder they haven't had apoplexy while thumping
the keyboard with their cloven hooves.
These rabid, knuckle-dragging, neo-anderthals claim to be patriotic Christians,
when, of course, they know nothing about either Christianity or American
values. Yes, they display the flag and dutifully attend church, all the while
lip synching words about love and compassion and freedom and democracy. Like
pathetic parrots they mindlessly repeat the things they have no intention of
believing in or acting upon in their own wanton lives.
Their only true religion and nation is pure unadulterated Hatred. They believe
hate, violence and mindless aggression are the only words in the lexicon of a
True American; directed at liberals, humanitarians, civil libertarians, freedom
fighters for justice and equality, activists, environmentalists (ie, anyone
standing upright with opposable thumbs). Fortunately for our species, though,
they are a minority, albeit the kind that gets press, attention and posted
e-mails.
Methinks the motivation for providing such forums is to showcase the nadir of
neo-con retrogression in this afflicted nation, a country that coddles and
nurtures the extremist elements in our midst. This tribe of know-nothings
somehow defied the evolutionary odds and avoided the messy business of social
development, empathy and responsibility. It is so much easier for their ilk to
knee-jerk react to anything that disturbs their cloistered, blinkered, myopic
viewpoints. They rant and rail at all the progressive forces unleashed by
historical development, helpless as they are in the relentless existential
drive to make their kind extinct. Alas, such mechanisms take time, time that
these mudpuppies use to crawl out of their white-trash mire and howl at the
mammals for their audacious humanity.
I know with some irony that these so-called experts on America come from
foreign shores, shores with evidently good judgement of who to keep at home.
Hardy Campbell
United States (Nov 16, '10)
[Re The warfare state,
Nov 12] Jim Ash repeats one of the left's (or should I say effete liberal
intellectuals) favorite lies - the 500,000 Iraqi children killed by UN
sanctions, although Mr Ash calls them US sanctions. For proof he has a quote
from Madeleine Albright; however this just proves that becoming secretary of
state was a joke and she should have never risen above assistant clerk of a
lemonade stand.
The 500,000 number is mostly based on childhood mortality between birth and
five years. In the autonomous region of northern Iraq where the UN ran the
program, infant mortality decreased; it was in Saddam's Iraq where the children
died. Peter van Walsum former UN ambassador from the Netherlands and head of
the UN Iraq Sanctions Committee claimed in his book that Iraqi sanctions
compliance was designed to exacerbate the suffering of the Iraqi people.
Saddam could always find billions when it came to building his palaces, but he
was always broke when it came to food or medicine for the Iraqi people. Getting
rid of Saddam was not a bad thing and it was accomplished in two weeks with a
few thousand deaths. However George W Bush and his idiotic ilk proceeded to
make a series of colossal mistakes that would help bring about the deaths of
tens of thousands of Iraqis. Was Bush just a fool or was Dick Cheney trying to
gum up the works to make billions for Halliburton? Probably both are true. And
with the joke news media we have in America no one will ask Bush about the
mistakes he made in Iraq: we have better coverage of what's going on in Dancing
with the Stars.
Dennis O'Connell
United States (Nov 16, '10)
[Re Middle East doves
energized by elections, Nov 12] This article is strictly one-sided
against the prosperous, democratic, developed, highly educated, Jewish state.
While reminding the readers of Israel's "duty" to compromise, the author of
this piece NEVER mentions compromise on the Palestinian side. In addition, the
terrorist organization of thugs Hamas is never mentioned as an obstacle to
peace.
During the 2008 presidential elections, seven out of 10 Jews voted for Obama.
This is an evidence of the self-hate many Jews experience. During the Ground
Zero mosque controversy, the first people to come in defense of the
construction of the Islamic Cultural Center were rabbis. The United States
press is mostly (90%) virulently anti-Israel with a few exceptions. The United
States of America is a deeply Christian nation - the US remains the only
developed country where Christianity plays a major role in politics and
citizens' lives. In fact, almost 80% of the population is Christian and we have
approximately 125 million evangelicals, most of whom are pro-Israel.
The anti-Israel voices in America are very meaningless or come from the
Hollywood types that the average American despises to his/her deepest core. The
American people absolutely HATE with a passion the liberal types that spit on
this great country.
As Spengler one day put it: "you can define a mythical creature with precision,
observed St Thomas Aquinas, but that doesn't make a phoenix exist. To be there,
things actually have to have the property of existence." This entire article is
the fruit of wishful thinking and a distortion of the political spectrum. It is
not reality!
Israel's support in the United States is at its peak. This is a work in
progress though, Israel's support will go higher and higher. The 2012 elections
will seek to restore the dignity to this country and set things straight with
rats that are running wild around the world. Then our enemies will tremble with
fear and the rats will hibernate again - if they are not killed first.
Ysais Martinez
United States (Nov 15, '10)
[Re Seoul summit
toys with temptation, Nov 12] Once again the Group of 20 has waffled.
Like almost all international confabs, they keep on putting off dealing with
crisis. The world financial markets are in disequilibrium, but the watch word
is to put off till tomorrow what you won't do today: the plea of a lazy child!
US President Barack Obama's inability to make a good case for his cause proves
once again that abroad as at home he is an ineffective leader.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Nov 15, '10)
[Re Arms deals
could haunt US, Nov 11] The sales of arms to Gulf countries and Saudi
Arabia are a way of recycling petro-dollars back to US. The weapons in the
hands of Arab regimes of the Gulf and Saudis are worthless and pose no danger
to anyone in or outside of Middle East. There is a tacit understanding between
the Arab regimes and the Western arms suppliers that these purchases are a way
of balancing out trade deficits caused by oil purchases. Had it not been for
this understanding there is no way the price of oil would have risen to the
current levels.
The petro-dollars are also sustaining dollar hegemony, which allows the US to
continue printing more fiat money and keep its wars going - a nice profitable
trade between all the colonialists and their puppet regimes.
Gulam Hussain
South Africa (Nov 12, '10)
[Re Understand al-Qaeda,
understand China, Nov 11] This article reflects a tendency to rely on
fantasy and legend. It needs realistic underpinning, reminders of the
recognizable; this dual absence sends the reader into the land of fairy tales.
Perhaps, Mr Sisci is too close to his subject.
The G-20, which is meeting in Seoul, South Korea, has to deal with real
economic issues affecting trade and currency among other things. The US and
Europe do have a very good idea of what China's inflexibility in trade and its
refusal to unpeg the yuan means: it is a beggar-thy-neighbor tack which Beijing
is reluctant to abandon and will fight to maintain. Although the US and Europe
disapprove this policy, they do lack the will to induce China to think of world
financial equilibrium which would help Beijing's almost total reliance on its
exports to sustain growth.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Nov 12, '10)
[Re , Nov
10]Islamophobes seduced by Crusader myth, Nov 10] Mr Feffer's article
is polemical, non-factual, and does not take into account the existential
reality of non-Muslims in Muslim-majority nation-states today. As counterpoint
to Mr Feffer's (seemingly deliberate) myopia I draw attention to other
articles, such as
The End of Christianity in the Middle East by Naby and Choksy,
published in Foreign Policy on November 2, 2010, and
Exodus: The Changing Map of the Middle East, by Robert Fisk, in The
Independent (October 26, 2001). I suggest the more immediate dates of these two
articles - if nothing else - more than nullify the distorted perambulations Mr
Feffer provides.
I suggest these two articles provide a more truthful picture of life for
non-Muslims today than Mr Feffer's fanciful deliberations. If they do not
persuade, I point the reader to the news article published November 11 by the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
(http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/11/10/3062878.htm?section=justin),
which supports them.
Lindsay Hughes
Australia (Nov 12, '10)
[Re Hawks step up
pressure over Iran, Nov 10] Jim Lobe writes to his usual standard, in
particular: "Writing in USA Today, the two non-proliferation specialists argued
that Washington should explicitly recognize Iran's right to enrich uranium
under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty - something that it has yet to do -
and provide other inducements".
One can only imagine the vilification both Barry Blechman and Daniel Brumberg
might now well endure for spouting such pure anti-establishment heresy. The
neo-con establishment must have turned white in dread, for fear that these
common-sense ideas might just take hold and really gain traction. Being the
cynic that I am, I shan't hold out much hope though. The crazies in Washington
along their network of cohorts worldwide, including my own sycophant Australian
government [yes I do tell them], will probably get their greatest wish. War
with Iran, the ultimate goal, the end game, literally.
I fear, in that event, it will make these past years in both Afghanistan and
Iraq seem like a Sunday school picnic rehearsal if wiser heads do not prevail.
Oops! I had that particular fantasy way back in early 2003. That is, that wiser
heads and common-sense would prevail. I was soon to become very disillusioned,
the reason I am now such a uber-cynic. Ian C Purdie
Australia (Nov 12, '10)
[Re Bluff and bluster
over East Jerusalem, Nov 10] The US will not be stampeded into an all
or nothing tack on Iran. The Obama administration, like the Bush government,
will not give in to Israeli hysteria nor feed Netanyahu's "existential angst".
On the other hand, further Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem will not lead
to a resumption of talks between the Likud government and the Palestinian
Authority. Netanyahu has stepped over the line on settlements for his own
political survival. He nurses the opinion that Abbas will accept a wholesale
land grab for a barely viable state. It is more likely that the UN will
recognize de jure a Palestinian state. And in that world body the US
veto will count for nothing.
Abraham Bin Yiju
Italy (Nov 10, '10)
[Re Islamophobes
seduced by Crusader myth, Nov 10] So according to John Feffer the
so-called "islamophobes" in the Western hemisphere are seduced by the infamous
Crusades. When I read this kind of article I wonder who the writer or the paper
itself is catering to.
At least 80% of the American people do not give a crap about such outrageous,
distorted, ill-intended, factually wrong accusations. In Europe, the only crowd
interested in this article sanitizing terrorists and murderers lives in England
or Spain. If Mr Feffer is an American he should understand that no one has a
problem with Muslims. What people have a problem with is foreigners dictating
what we can mock, laugh at or ridicule.
This is more accurate than your accusations: many politicians use Muslims as
tools to ignite the fears of the electorate and win elections. For example, the
Mosque controversy became a controversy because the media gave a forum to a
tiny group of ignoramuses. Most people left and right in many Western countries
do not agree with bans on certain Muslim clothing or buildings. The problem is
that once a politician sticks his nose in private citizen's lives then chaos
prevail.
Finally, I find articles such as this one irresponsible. It is accusing an
entire population of an imaginary evil and the editor does nothing about it.
This article also disrespects some people's sensibilities and right to be
distrustful. I have never seen a rally in any Western nation chanting death to
Muslims; however, in many Muslim countries they organize rallies chanting death
to Americans, Europeans, Jews, and other undesirables - according to the Holy
Koran. The facts are there whether you like it or not, and you can write a
trillion articles sanitizing evil, it won't change the perception of Islam.
That is a job exclusively for Muslims to do.
My grandfather used to say that if you remain silent, you consent ... the
Islamic voices condemning terrorism are too timid or non-existent. Call me a
racist or a bigot, I don't care. I don't work on a college campus or for the
government.
Ysais Martinez
United States (Nov 10, '10)
[Re Young Kim set for early
China photo-op, Nov 9] Sunny Lee wants us to believe that Kim Jong-un
going to China to meet with top Chinese officials means a lot to the average
North Korean citizen. However, the average North Korean is far more interested
in what they are going to eat for dinner or if they will have a dinner to eat.
North Korea could be seen as a three legged stool with one leg of its strength
being its extreme racist xenophobic nationalism, the other love or respect for
the Kims and the third leg being state power to kill you and your family. Only
the state terror leg exists in anything like its former power and probably 90%
of the elite want massive change in North Korea.
I believe the North Koreans are awaiting the death of Kim Jong-il as their
chance to change their lives. Kim jong-un being made a four star general does
not mean the seventy year old real generals that worked their way up the ranks
have any respect for for Jong-un. The currency revaluation of last December did
a massive amount of damage to the North Korean economy. On top of the almost
complete collapse of the North's economy they have massive corruption in all
layers of society along with a growing drug problem.
As foreign information has been spreading in North Korea, the people no longer
believe state lies and they realize how poorly they live. One of the foreign
correspondents that visited North Korea to witness Kim Jong-un coming out
party, told a story about how a group of minders assigned to foreign visitors
were having lunch next to his group's table and were discussing Jong-un's right
to rule and their opposition to it.
They did not realize that the reporter spoke Korean, but that conversation
would have been impossible even two years ago. The wheels are coming off the
North Korean system just as the road gets steeper and more narrow, the day of
the Kims is passing.
Dennis O'Connell
United States (Nov 9, '10)
[Re Hariri's moment of
truth nears, Nov 9] Sami Moubayed concludes by saying, "Berri's
proposal is a win-win solution for both Hezbollah and Hariri, should he accept
it. Hezbollah would welcome such a solution and so would a majority of Lebanese
- as well as the Syrians, the Iranians and the Saudis".
I would have imagined that decision would have been a no-brainer for Prime
Minister Saad al-Hariri. Then again, in that region, nothing is ever quite as
simple as it appears at first glance.
Ian C Purdie
Sydney, Australia (Nov 9, '10)
[Re Cynicism dishonors
JFK's vision, Nov 4] Muhammad Cohen's pensive and moving essay reminded
me of what I urgently wrote at maybe the same hour as he. It is Red November in
America and in the world. As a 63-year-old, I've seen America go from The Great
Society to today: The John Birch Society. I came to political maturity in 1961
hearing and believing the words of JFK, "The Torch has Passed to a New
Generation". I was taught by him the values and ideals that, I believe, later
set in motion the events of the late 60s by those who were inwardly lit by an
unseen mandate to transform this society into greatness and high human ideals -
away from war into peace, away from materialism into spirituality, away from
money into humanity. Kept barely aglow through the haze and darkness of
Vietnam, Nixon, Reagan, the Bushes and America's endless wars (they were always
endless), the Torch has now been extinguished - the choice of the American
people. It is a historic moment, certainly.
America is part of the world, though its citizens know little and care less
about that fact. And if the world...
Has any respect remaining for America after suffering the trauma of economic
dislocation and collapse from her investment banks;
Has any respect for a people that tolerate almost daily episodes of cultural
and political wars based on hate, bigotry, revenge, racism and class struggle;
Has any respect for a president who promised change but delivered a greater
amount of the same;
Has any respect for a people that have traded spiritual and human principles
for possessions and wealth;
Has any respect for the institution of democracy when exemplified by vicious
and vile politicians; by slime issued forth from those seeking political
office;
Has any remaining hope that America can again become a beacon of hope and
freedom for oppressed people of the world rather than its oppressor...
...need pray for an Act of God to make the incontrovertible evidence otherwise.
Shame on you, America. You have more than dishonored your birthright. You have
failed and disappointed many of your people; but you have betrayed the hopes of
the entire world.
The sun that rose on your nation centuries ago and inspired the aspiration of
all peoples is now setting, and is rising again elsewhere. You and you alone,
America, extinguished the light once carried by your nation. The Torch has been
passed... to not another generation of Americans... but to a New World that is
emerging far beyond its shores.
Michael T Bucci
United States (Nov 5, '10)
[Re As India pushes
east, so China worries, Nov 4] Do not be surprised were China to cry
"encirclement". It is China's own trade and military policies that are
propelling its neighbors to form an anti China front, in order to blunt
Beijing's expansionist designs. China's military exercises in the South China
Sea have already spooked Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines - each country
staking a territorial claim there. India is quick to link with Japan for
obvious reasons. Furthermore, China's moves allows the US to mediate
territorial disputes and enhances Washington strategic objectives in east and
southeast Asia. Hubris has taken hold on China's leadership and as such it has
to submit to the logic of its own actions.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Nov 5, '10)
[Re Mandarin education plan
riles Tibetans, Nov 3] Saransh Sehgal's article is of course typical of
that of any other Free Tibet acitivist seeking to make mountains out of
molehills. When I say 'typical', I of course mean 'hypocritical'; it's all and
well for the governments of the UK and Australia to mandate English as the main
language yet because it's Tibet, they must somehow be so precious and holy that
such a thing as enforcement of the common tongue of mandarin in China is seen
as an assault on Tibetan culture.
Aren't the citizens of Sehgal's India also expected to know at least one of the
official languages of Hindi and English? Sehgal should be reminded that even in
India, Hindi and English take primacy over local languages and dialects-witness
the same furor last year when one particular Indian public servant had the ill
fortune to take his oath in Hindi rather than his native Marathi. Cue
fisticuffs.
The only difference here is that the world won't condemn India for "cultural
genocide" for promoting its own official languages, whereas a sinophobic West
will pull no punches if it has a chance at demonizing a Rising China.
My question to Sehgal is, why is the PRC [People's Republic of China] expected
to be any different? the official language in China is Mandarin Chinese, end of
story. If Tibetans or Uighurs want to succeed in Chinese society, they must
learn the official language; expecting them to succeed otherwise is akin to
expecting Indians in the UK to succeed in business or education without
speaking one single word of English. An impossibility you say? Well don't
expect Tibetans or Uighurs in China to accomplish the impossible then.
Hank
Australia (Nov 4, '10)
[Re Reform not on young
Kim's menu, Nov 3] The last paragraph in Sunny Lee's article gives his
game away: "the world still knows very little about Kim Jong-eun and whether he
is reform minded". Talking heads like to speculate, it goes without saying.
Getting to the "nitty gritty" requires reading in Korean and translation North
Korean publications and the works of foreign economists, in order to document
the slow, but inexorable tilt towards reform the North's economy. It is to
Lee's credit that he mentions that using words like "reform" is a no-no in
Pyongyang's vocabulary; it simply underscores that since North Korea believes
its achievements are sui generis; it will continue to justify any change
in the economy by referring it to a precedent in Korea's millenia-old history.
In this way, Pyongyang acknowledges its specificity which underpins its Chollima
spirit [editor's note: the movement for economic development, which began in
1958] and the principles of Juche [self-reliance]. It is symptomatic of
North Korea watchers to speculate on what he will do or what he won't do in the
case of Kim Jong-eun than in rolling up their sleeves and doing the hard work
of seeing what is really transpiring in North Korea.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Nov 4, '10)
[Re Torture of Iraqis
part of US dirty war, Nov 2] Regarding the use of Shi'ite death squads
to suppress the Sunni insurgency, detailed by Gareth Porter and based on newly
released information in WikiLeaks ... it actually comes as no surprise. At the
time many of us deduced that was precisely the strategy put in place John
Negroponte, the real architect of this abominable strategy (not General
Petraeus). Negroponte did the same thing in Latin America with death/torture
squads. Considering how much horror and suffering this man has brought into the
world, one wonders how he can live with himself as a human being. He's up/down
there with Dr Josef Mengele for sure. Francis Chow
Canada (Nov 3, '10)
Futureman sent me this press clipping from the not-too-distant future:
Wonderland is extinct. Let us not mourn its passing. It became too conventional
in its irrationality, its illogic and topsy turviness. The Teabaggers and
FoxNetworkers became boring and quaint in their predictable vitriol and
hysteria. Inevitably, a new generation of neo-cons evolved to the next
Darwinian level of craziness.
From the cultural ooze the Loony Toon Party crawled out with their webbed fins
carrying misspelled signs damning liberals, gays, non-whites and fish with
sharp teeth. But the Toons were themselves just an intermediate step, a Missing
Link, as it were, between the senile Wonderlanders and what inevitably followed
after the Second Financial Collapse.
In the Toons' wake came an organization founded on the British comedy troupe of
the 1970s, Monty Python, who were renowned for their bizarre and surreal skits
that lampooned society and its hypocritical pretensions. The Pythonists began
in a small town in Kentucky, of all places, and their campaign platform was a
simple one; they would base all government policies on the comedy sketches of
the original Monty Python comedians.
Of course, no one took them seriously at first, until they did a rendition of
the Cheese Shop sketch in a televised debate with a Frothing Mouth Party
candidate who insisted that everyone was fat and happy. The sketch, where the
owner of a cheese shop proudly proclaimed to a hungry customer that his shop
had an abundant and infinitely varied supply of cheeses available but, alas,
not a single crumb that day, resonated with a public tired of going to grocery
stores that always promised the freshest foods, only to discover that the
Chinese had put in a better bid at the last minute and whisked all the victuals
away.
Their ranks swelled; before long they were holding huge rallies where their
constituents were easily identified by their silly walks, knightly armor and
dead parrots. The Pythonists' timing was excellent too; the Indians had just
finished colonizing California and Oregon with Bangladeshis and China wanted to
turn Yellowstone Park into a toxic waste dump. The people had had enough; the
Pythonists swept all before them in the main elections.
At her inauguration, President Hoochy Koochy Bandaid Believing-in-Butter
Football Dreaming Whipperwill the Fifth and her cabinet performed a variation
of the Attack with Fresh Fruits skit. The 2,000 injuries caused by a mob of
rampaging guavas and kumquats was unfortunate but the price to be paid for
democracy and unexpected Spanish Inquisitors. Long live Pythonia!
Hardy Campbell
United States (Nov 3, '10)
[Re Shanghai revels in its
coming-out party, Nov 2] While I generally agree with John Parker's
conclusions regarding the significance of the Shanghai World Expo as an event
of, by, and for the Chinese, he is wrong to label the US pavilion at the Expo
as the work of doctrinaire Democrats. It was bipartisan, the product of
doctrinaire corporate owners and underwriters.
The pavilion was privatized according to an "action plan" worked out by the
Republican George W Bush Administration in 2006. The company set up by the
Condoleezza Rice State Department to execute on this action plan, Shanghai Expo
2010, Inc, was co-founded by a George W Bush Administration insider and
secretly authorized to raise money for the US pavilion. (Interestingly, no
contract exists - or at least, none has been produced - between the State
Department and Shanghai Expo 2010, Inc, to actually create and run the US
pavilion.)
Chairing the board of this private tax-exempt company is Frank Lavin, a former
Under Secretary of Commerce appointed by president Bush and a close associate
of [Bush deputy chief of staff] Karl Rove. Its founding CEO, Nick Winslow, who
resigned in a conflict of interest scandal, was a film industry manager
reportedly with Republican connections. The Shanghai Consulate that resurrected
the Shanghai Expo 2010, Inc, after it blew its fundraising mission was led by
Consul-General Bea Camp, appointed by the Rice State Department. The Consulate
reportedly used Chinese funding for this purpose. A major partner of Shanghai
Expo 2010, Inc, was the Shanghai AmCham, an affiliate of the US Chamber of
Commerce (and all that implies).
The Democratic contribution was massive corporate investment in Shanghai Expo
2010, Inc, ginned up by 60-plus American and Chinese multinationals at the
personal urging of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US Expo Commissioner
General Jose Villarreal, appointed by Clinton. This impulsive act was in
keeping with Clinton's general disposition to outsource State Department
public-diplomacy functions - an extension of the Bush administration's
privatization strategy.
If the resulting "USA" pavilion was "politically correct", as Parker maintains,
the politics it adhered to were those of Corporate America. With the exception
of pavilion staff, a few performers, and a corps of Mandarin-speaking "student
ambassadors" flown in at the 11th hour to salvage the pavilion's messaging
(otherwise incomprehensible to visiting Chinese), no one - not one person or
institution from among the general American population - was involved in
creating or programming the "USA" pavilion. The pavilion was one long
infomercial lasting six months. For modest investments as "marketing partners",
the pavilions got a lot for their money including special relations with the
Chinese hosts and government officials. They even got to specify its content. I
covered these developments in several articles published in the Huffington Post
from May through October 2010.
The pavilion effort may have raised as much as $100 million in tax-exempt
investments. The exact number is unknown because Shanghai Expo 2010, Inc, filed
no tax returns (as required by IRS regulations) for the duration of its
existence, from 2008 until the Expo closed last month.
It's unknown precisely what was done with the funds. Allegations have been
raised that the excess - possibly tens of millions of dollars - flowed back to
the US, possibly to underwrite corporate attack ads in the current US election.
Without a paper trail, it remains a mystery. It would be a great irony if
Clinton raised many millions of dollars that were then used to defeat her own
party's candidates.
Such is the nature of corporatized public diplomacy. It has but one end that,
like the Expo as John Parker described it, is not cultural exchange and better
understanding but something more pernicious and even sinister.
Robert Jacobson
United States (Nov 2, '10)
"It is foolish to muse that the Chinese party will ever permit democracy to
come to China." - Mel Cooper, Singapore.
Athens had democracy. The US has oligarchy.
Lester Ness
China (Nov 2, '10)
With the TeaBagger movement expected to sweep all before them today in the
midterm US elections, it is useful to remember who some of the prime
instigators were of the famous "Boston Tea Party" in 1773 that inspired this
modern mobilization of morons.
Those "heroes" were the American smugglers of Dutch tea, who stood to be ruined
by the British-imported tea that was, in fact, relatively cheap. But, good
proto-Republicans that they were, these renegade capitalists knew that the
average Joe Colonialist would never pick up a musket to defend the rich
interests of the illegal contrabandits. In order to get the country bumpkins to
lay down their lives for a fight that really wasn't theirs, these smuggling
con-men knew that they would need to create some semblance of faux patriotism
that demonized the British and justified violence and revolution. That would
take some contrived incidents, like a Tea Party, in conjunction with noble
sounding slogans, mantras and propaganda, like "Don't Tread on Me", of "No
Taxation without Representation", words that would look good on flags flying
atop Bunker Hill or spilling out of the mouths of clueless rum-besotted
patriots freezing in Valley Forge.
The cruel irony of history reveals that after the revolution, most of those
rebels against the crown found little sympathy from a newly empowered,
ungrateful and penny - congress. It would take years for many veterans to even
collect the back pay congress owed them. Some reward for creating a new country
run by the tea smuggler-types, who were now free to turn their unrestrained
capitalist predation on the suckers that had fought for all the wrong reasons.
Similarly, the modern TeaBagger thinks they are treading the same path of their
forefathers. The tragedy is, they are.
Hardy Campbell
United States (Nov 2, '10)
[Re Taliban peace talks
come to a halt, Oct 29] It is difficult to know exactly what is the
current status of the so-called peace talks in Afghanistan. Even Syed Saleem
Shahzad's claim that the Taliban's top commander in Afghanistan, Mullah Abdul
Ghani Baradar, was released, is contradicted by an Associated Press report
("Taliban held secret talks with Afghan President Karzai", Oct 31) stating that
Pakistani authorities have quashed repeated rumors of his release saying he is
still in custody.
In Australia, it has been revealed that our defense force is training
militiamen loyal to the powerful warlord Matiullah Khan on our own Australian
soil. Matiullah is part of a new generation of young and wealthy warlords who
have amassed highly lucrative security and infrastructure contracts from the
NATO-led forces. One high-ranking Dutch official is reported as claiming that
he is so feared that "if we appoint him as police chief, probably more than
half the people in the Baluchi valley would run over to the Taliban
immediately".
Warlords such as Matiullah have far more personally invested in prolonging the
bloodshed than in seriously contributing to any strategic peace initiative with
the Taliban. Yet his involvement is expeditiously justified on the grounds that
the militia help to make combat conditions "safe" for Australian soldiers. What
this clearly illustrates is that our military strategy in Afghanistan is
custom-designed to wipe out the Taliban at any cost. And unless the US and its
NATO allies stop punishing this impoverished Muslim nation for the events of
September 11, 2001, there will tragically be no prospect of peace.
Reverend Dr Vincent Zankin
Canberra, Australia (Nov 1, '10)
[Re Reader Mel Cooper's letter]. I'd like to rebut Mel Cooper's comments on the
following areas:
1. Diaoyutai belongs to China and even if this is to be contested, to subject a
Chinese fishing trawler's captain to a Japanese court is tantamount to
accepting that Diaoyutai is Japanese territory. This is precisely the reason
why China hardened its stand.
2. On the rare earth issue, readers should be informed that China owns 30-53%
of the rare earth deposits by some reports, yet it accounted for over 90% of
total global exports. This is detrimental to China's effort to cut pollution
(the extraction of rare earth and process is polluting China's air) and also
causing the exhaustion of the specific natural resources. Other countries are
stockpiling these materials and refusing to exploit these materials on their
own territories. Their intentions are plain and that is to push for the
exhaustion of these materials in China and prevent pollution in their
homelands.
3. Chinese do understand that Japan has weapons of its own to harm China, but
eight years of resistance to the Japanese from 1937 to 1945 gave Chinese
confidence in any future encounters, whether from Japan or other countries.
Wendy Cai
United States (Nov 1, '10)
October Letters
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