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July 2011
[Re Israel inherits
the Arab Spring and
When diplomacy is never saying sorry, Jul 28] Israeli president and
long-time flip flop politician Shimon Peres never lets an opportunity go by:
grandly he has called for Bashar al-Assad to step down. Is this something new?
Israel has tried by all means necessary to best the Assads for the last 43
years.
Peres' call is late in coming, and you do not have to look far to see why, for
the "Arab spring" now is in the streets of Tel Aviv and in the occupied
territories challenging the Zionist state's draconian measures which by a vote
in the Knesset against boycotts and protests include Israeli citizens
themselves. In other words, Israel's war state has come to the point of
throwing its much hailed "democracy" to the winds. Never before has the
armed-to-the-teeth Israel shown itself backing into a corner of its own making.
To throw the wolves of change off the scent, we see Peres attempting to put the
Zionist state on the side of the choir of angels. It simply won't wash.
No more is Israel trying to wiggle out of a tragedy of its own "smash 'em in
the face" policy towards the matter of Palestine than in throwing the blame on
Turkey for Israeli piratical attack against the Mavi Mamara, resulting
in the killing of eight Turks and one American of Turkish origin.
Abraham Bin Yiju
Italy (Jul 29, '11)
[Re China hand seen behind
vast buy-up of Japanese shares, Jul 27] Since the end of World War II,
Japan has been nothing more than a puppet of the United States, obsequiously
kowtowing to every American whim. As such, any serious pundit who cried wolf in
the 1980s about a Japanese takeover of the world should not have been taken
seriously.
When a correction hits China’s economic growth down the line, the sequacious
Sinophobics will undoubtedly be the first to scream, ''See, I told you so;
China was a bubble just like Japan. History always repeats itself!'' Yes,
history does repeat itself, sort of.
John Chen
United States (Jul 28, '11)
Readers of Asia Times Online who don't reside in the United States may have
some inkling of what it's like living in Wonderland from reading the various
articles and letters on your site. But believe me, until you've lived here and
communicated with the neo-con nutters who unfortunately share citizenship with
me, you have no idea how topsy turvy, illogical and fact-distorting they are.
Living in Texas, as hard core a birthplace of neo-nuttiness as there is, I have
had numerous occasions to see how many bipedal primates can fake their "homo
sapiensness" as long as they don't open their mouths. Any allusion to
Republican culpability for the subprime meltdown of 2008 will be met by a
well-prepared diatribe about how it was Democrats who "forced" banks to make
those bad loans to "unqualified" (translation for the neo-con naive;
"non-white") applicants.
Any hint that Iraq was not involved in 9/11 is met with incredulous "How could
you say such a dumb thing?" looks. And any attempt to point out the numerous
inconsistencies, logic traps and apparent lies in the Bush explanations for the
inside job of 9/11 will be dealt with by a dismissive and contemptuous wave of
the hand, with the retort that only loon toon conspiracy theorists would even
entertain the idea that The Official Story is not Gospel.
When I hear neo-cons trashing Obama's "socialism" or "tyranny", I point out how
Republican Obama's actions have been since he became president, but the
parallels fly over their heads; all they see is a commie pinko Muslim black man
trying to extract revenge for 400 years of enslaved oppression and don't bother
them with all the spot-on comparisons to their core beliefs.
Yes, talking to rocks, penguins or rainbows would undoubtedly prove more
productive and rewarding, but none of those things have the same potential to
evolve to a more enlightened state. Except maybe penguins.
Hardy Campbell
United States (Jul 28, '11)
[Re A time to be
silent and mourn, Jul 26] When will Spengler realize that the Christian
fundamentalist terror unleashed on Norway's innocent did not just come from the
barrel of a lone crazed gunman, but from the very foundations of Christendom's
foothold on Western civilization?
In his 1,500-page manifesto, Anders Breivik is not alone in calling for a
defense of Europe against the threat of Islam. It follows last year's outspoken
attack on Christians in Europe by a Vatican cardinal, Miloslav Vlk, who was
considered as a successor to Pope John Paul II. He accuses them of allowing
Muslims to "Islamize" the continent, and warned that Europe would "fall" to
Islam if they kept denying their Christian roots.
Another call to Christian jihad came from a German Lutheran Pastor, Roland
Weisselberg, who in 2007 burned himself to death as a protest against the
Islamicization of Europe. He was later hailed by American far-right Christian
websites as a martyr.
Far from being isolated incidences, these are not simply the words and actions
of the criminally deranged. They are, to Spengler's discomfort, much closer to
home.
Reverend Dr Vincent Zankin
Australia (Jul 27, '11)
[Re A time to be
silent and mourn, Jul 25] Spengler has advocated tearing Palestinians
"from limb to limb" and erecting more and more barbed wire on the pages of Asia
Times Online. Looks like this Norse god took it to heart.
Blabbering about evil ain't bringing anyone back. Breivik has annihilated the
cream of Norwegian progressive youth: Those that believed in justice and
fairness for the Palestinians. The thugs, ChristoManiacs and ZioNazi's have
won.
Idi
Central African Republic (Jul 26, '11)
[Re Al-Qaeda's
Christian mirror, Jul 25] I need to take some serious issues with Pepe
Escobar and his latest article about the massacre in Norway. First of all this
man was not a Christian per se. His views are a mix of Marxism, Christian
Fundamentalism, Neo-Paganism, and Progressivism. So it is very accurate to say
that Christ did not inspire this man to perpetrate such atrocities.
Mr Escobar also - and shamelessly - pretends to morally equate al-Qaeda to this
brand of loons. You have to admire how daring Mr Escobar is. Second, I will
answer Mr Escobar's question about what would have happened if the terrorist
was a Muslim immigrant: a) the story would have been buried under the rock, b)
the photo of the perpetrator would have never been released, and c) the race of
the perpetrator would have never been mentioned.
Where was Pepe Escobar when Muslim major Nidal Hasan killed 13 people in Fort
Hood, Texas? This story was buried immediately under a rug - ordered by the
president of the United States himself and the weasels surrounding him - and
Nidal Hasan's religion and the fact that he screamed "Allah Akbar" was never
discussed. So if you are black or brown, you are a faceless criminal. But if
you are blond, with blue eyed, expect a nice, high-resolution picture in the
front page of all newspapers.
Third, most Norwegians seem very happy to know that the perpetrator was not a
Muslim. Mr Escobar's article hints that Scandinavians embrace the murderer's
insanity. Well, I spoke with two Norwegians at work and what they said is worth
mentioning here. Basically they are happy that it was not Islamic terrorism
because it gives them relief to NOT be in the eye of al-Qaeda and the likes. My
two friends added that now this is a domestic issue, with an ethnic Norwegian,
and the investigations and punishment will not be constrained by political
correctness. Leaving my passions a side, those seem like very valid
observations.
Fourth, this is not a crusade against Muslims. There is not an organized
movement to incite violence against Muslims, and there are not more open
societies to immigrations and Muslims themselves than Scandinavia. And fifth -
and this I may share with Mr Escobar - I feel angered that this piece of
garbage took out his rage on innocent people.
Ysais Martinez
United States (Jul 26, '11)
As the clock ticks down to Zero Hour here in
Wonder-How-You-Survived-This-Long-Land, the media pundits are all aTwitter
about the bitter political "polarization" and the bipartisan ideological
lines-in-the-sand being formed by both sides in the budget debate.
When I hear this, my first thought is, "What planet are they talking about
now?" Must be Mars or Neptune or some other place in the solar system where
each side is unwilling to budge a millimeter on their core principles, but that
certainly doesn't describe the United States of Asinine. No, on this green and
blue third stone from the sun, one side, the GOP, is willing to sacrifice the
country it purport to love in order to uphold their die-hard, discredited
dogma, while the other side, the so-called liberal Democrats, bend, twist,
distort, deform and mangle their core beliefs beyond recognition in order to
placate their implacable foes.
Frankly, as a socialist, I would love to see the kind of polarization
constantly described by the neocon media, because that would signal a hope, a
prayer an aspiration that the plutocrats that enslave America would finally be
challenged by their purported "protectors" in the Democratic Party. Instead, I
see one side so blinded by their racist, capitalist, imperialist religion (all
equal in the unholy trinity of neo-conservatism) that they have little qualms
about burning their house down in order to save it from fire damage.
The other side, the so-called progressive Democrats, never met a compromise and
sacrifice-of-principle they didn't want to marry on the first date. God help us
if they actually said to the fascists:
"No, enough is enough! No more letting your wealthy masters loot, rape and
pillage the country with naked impunity! We will tax them like any ordinary
citizen would be taxed, since we know they will export jobs regardless of how
many tax breaks they get here. We will call your bluff, and you'll blink first,
because the last thing you want is your white trash high-school dropout
supporters not getting their food stamps, unemployment checks and Medicare
benefits. And you know what? After you cave on that, we're going to break up
the major monopolist corporations so that we get real competition for a change,
then we're going to pull all of our invading troops out of the Middle East and
the thousand imperial bases around the world, then we're going to end subsidies
to agriculture, oil, mining and other ridiculously wealthy industries who have
been sucking at the public teat like ravenous vampires for decades, and maybe
we'll even start holding legitimate hearings on 9/11 and the Iraq war and find
out the truth for a change."
But we all know that will never happen. Both sides profit too much from their
"Good Cop, Bad Cop" routine, so we'll keep patching up the breaking-down car
until it falls off the cliff. Lord knows the politicians will have hitched a
ride in a stretch limo long before then.
Hardy Campbell
United States (Jul 26, '11)
[Re Iran steps up
assault on world terror, Jul 21] Brian M Downing's statement, "American
foreign policy, after all, has been known to stray from the sobriety of its
national security under the influence of lobbies," could not be more prophetic.
Downing was basically referring to one hot spot for US foreign policy in the
Middle East. But it can easily apply to another hot spot, the Arab/Israeli
dispute over Palestine. Everyone knows the only viable solution to that sad
conflict of over 60 years is two states living side by side in peace and
security. This is what President Barack Obama is trying to achieve, having made
it a priority of his administration.
Obama knows this dispute endangers the security interests of America in the
region. But, at every turn, the administration's efforts have been stymied by
the Israel-can-do-no-wrong crowd in the US, perhaps the biggest obstacle to
peace. For example, witness the reaction to the president uttering a simple
truth "a peace based on the 1967 lines." And witness the adulation poured on
the intransigent prime minister of Israel while in the US.
Witness also recent threats by the US congress to cut funding to the Palestine
Authority if they continue with their efforts to gain UN recognition, while
they have never threatened to cut funding to Israel even though it has
committed many illegal activities over the years.
It is time to declare enough is enough and confront these lobbies head on. Too
many years and too many lives have been wasted with little to show. A
Palestinian state is in Israel's interest. And, when the Israel-can-do-no-wrong
crowd finally figures that out and understands the great damage they are doing
to US security interests and Israel, then peace will have a chance.
Fariborz S Fatemi
United States (Jul 25, '11)
[Re Pyongyang waitresses
sliced to perfection, Jul 22] Is there anything North Korea can do
right? The rounding of eyes has been a money making institution in South Korea
for a very long time now. Must we infer that this form of cosmetic surgery has
sexual connotations in the South?
It is so easy to make room to the speck of titillating gossip in the eye of the
North but not the large mote in the South. Give us a break!
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Jul 25, '11)
It's hard to say exactly when the "A" in USA became "SR." The transmutation of
the United States of America to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
probably occurred at the same time that the American ability to produce
consumer goods moved to China.
This disappearing act thus simulated the former Soviet Union's notorious
incapacity to produce enough goods of halfway decent quality for its long
suffering citizens. The equivalence between the eastern ex-state and the
Western soon-to-be ex-state carries over to the one manufacturing capability
they both preserved to the bitter end; the war machine.
While Russians, Balts, Azeris, et al, stood and shivered in long lines for even
the simplest of machine appliances, their military indulged in a 50 year long
spending spree on instruments of war devices of high technological achievement,
preparing for a fictitious day that never came. No expense was spared in
devising weapons of sophisticated designs and complexities, though, in order to
face their manufactured enemy.
Their problem, of course, is that they did not have a China to fill in the
qualitative and quantitative vacuum of consumer goods that the voracious war
machine created, or to artificially maintain the moribund economy on life
support. With the Chinese Communist Party gleefully substituting for American
manufacturing and banking, the pernicious effects of a bankrupt US economy and
debt-ridden populace have been delayed, but certainly not avoided. Americans
still enjoy access to all the material goodies they desire, but with massive
unemployment and a decaying dollar, the salad days do seem to be a-dwindlin'.
The parallels of the Soviet and American wars in Afghanistan also demand an
extrapolated analogy. Within two years of the Russian withdrawal, the USSR
disappeared when its economic debt woes became insurmountable. With American
withdrawal presumably complete in the next 1-2 years, its own debt troubles
will doubtless escalate out of control also, since only band-aids have been
applied to the structural maladies of Wall Street finance.
There does not seem to be an Afghan cause-and-effect working here, but as the
paraphrased saying goes: "Whom the gods would destroy, they first make invade
Afghanistan." The similarities continue in the wake of continued American
dissolution of constitutional law, in effect mirroring the Soviet perfunctory
observance of their own paper-thin, noble sounding laws. The Patriot Act
apparently sealed the deal in making American jurisprudence as impotent and
symbolic as Soviet civil law, which gave its citizens every freedom under the
sun except for any the state deemed harmful to national security, which turned
out to be most of them. The appearance of Russian kleptocratic oligarchs in the
90s, after the Soviet state's extinction, made the reverse equivalence come
full circle; now the new Russians had their own predatory quasi-corporatist
bandits to mimic America's.
Today, if anything, the Russian state's possession of bountiful energy and
mineral resources allows it to pull away from the dilapidated capitalist model
discredited by US incompetence, paving the way for America alone to join the
USSR on the garbage heap of history.
Hardy Campbell
United States (Jul 25, '11)
The contrast between the Women's World Cup Final of 1999 and 2011 represents a
sea change in much more than footballing success. The earlier championship
match, played between the Americans and the Chinese, occurred when America was
still pre-eminent on the planet, as a financial, military and female soccer
powerhouse.
The Clinton years had ushered in a bull stock market, our soldiers were not
occupying any hostile nations, no one dreamed of homeland attacks and we had
Mia Hamm. The penalty kick victory in 1999 seemed to cement what everyone knew;
the US was on top and would stay on top, despite Asia's looming challenges.
Little did we realize then that, come 2001, things would begin to change
drastically in this country, for all sorts of reasons (9/11 just being a
convenient excuse). In women's football, World Cup failures in 2003 and 2007
reflected the general creeping malaise; other countries were getting better,
and the US was essentially stagnant, if not regressing, in its footballing as
well as its economic, diplomatic and military ventures around the globe.
The 2011 Cup seemed to suggest a continuation of this deterioration, but
America's luckless sweethearts overachieved their way to the final.
Unfortunately, there they met the Nadeshiko, the women's team from a
tsunami-stricken Japan, smaller, slower and less aggressive than the Americans
(so it was said) but even more determined to overcome the odds. History was on
their side too because so much had changed in 12 years.
Psychologically, everyone knew the US was no longer Number One at anything.
Everyone knew the center of gravity of political influence and finance was
moving eastward across the Pacific, so why not female soccer prowess too? In a
thrilling final, the metamorphosis became complete; three successive "superior"
Caucasian Western teams had succumbed to the diminutive Asians, who took home
that continent's first major international trophy. Now, I won't go so far to
call this the sporting equivalent of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, but a
major mental barrier has been broken.
No longer will blonde blue-eyed Amazons intimidate Asians, who have shown what
true grit, a cool demeanor and never-say-die attitude can do for a country, a
race and a culture.
Hardy Campbell
United States (Jul 21, '11)
[Re China, North Korea:
Unlikely friends, Jul 21, and
Pyongyang takes literary potshots, Jul 21] There is something anarchic
going on here: it is all right for the US, South Korea, Japan and others to
write potboilers about North Korea, but not for North Korea to return to ball
into their side of the court. In fact, the length Andrei Lankov devotes to the
North Korean short story The Fifth Photo sounds a tad churlish.
Sunny Lee's story on Sino-North friendship takes an ahistorical approach to
relations between nations. Where is it written that allies must share the same
views up and down the line on all matters? Going back, say, 60 years, the
reasons China intervened in the Korean War remain as valid as they did more
than a half century ago.
Both Lankov and Lee take their wishes for reality.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Jul 21, '11)
[Re Another take on
Libya hubris for China, Jul 18] You guys whine a lot. But I guess
Beijing tells you to whine a lot, so you do. If there was squat China could do
to stop us from liberating Libya it would. Your military is - what's the
phrase? - oh, yeah, a "paper tiger". Once the Party Formerly Known as
"Communist" falls apart, well ... it won't be pretty for the Chinese economy.
Or state. Think Yugoslavia only 1,000 times worse. I would start snarking on
the renminbi, but I'm busy today.
Kevlar Zeex
United States (Jul 21, '11)
Editor's note: Unfortunately, not one of us here speaks Mandarin, or
Cantonese for that matter, so if we are being told to "whine", it's falling on
deaf ears.
[Re US rebuffs Russian
ingenuity on Iran, Jul 20] Kaveh L Afrasiabi in his article shows
inadvertently big power chauvinism on the question of Iran's security. Israel,
which has nuclear weapons, started the rumor about Iran developing the same.
If Iran should be developing nuclear weapons then it is aware that the West,
led by the US and its surrogate Israel, is planning an attack at the
appropriate time. Every nation has a right to defend itself against invasion
and nuclear weapons are a way of holding aggressors at bay, like in the case of
North Korea. But if you look at the West and its attitude towards Iran since
the US/UK coup against Iran in the 1950s you can see there the wish to bring
Iran to heel long before the rumor of that country seeking nuclear weapons.
It seems Iran is too independent, as was Iraq and now Libya.
Wilson John Haire
London (Jul 20, '11)
[Re South Korea builds
'island fortresses', Jul 20] Steven Borowiec's article should surprise
no one. It simply shows the end result of South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak
four-year plan to transform South Korea into northeast Asia's trouble spot.
Lee is copy-catting his US protector in piling up debt by accelerated military
build up and debt. Internally, South Koreans credit card bill is the highest in
the region, and its world class economy is showing strains as South Korea's
military industrial complex tightens its grip. It appears that Lee has turned
his country into a warfare state, one willing not only to challenge North Korea
but take on China and Japan, too.
That formula spells heightened tensions, sea storms of military incidents, and
the like. Since the Obama administration has aligned its policy with that of
South Korea's, there is seemingly no check on Lee's grand geopolitical scheme.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Jul 20, '11)
[Re Memo to Tea
Party: Obama wins if you stir a crisis, Jul 19] Spengler, fawning about
the Tea Party, asks: If they're so dumb, though, why are they so powerful?
Duh. They are backed by huge money, just as Hitler was in the beginning.
Spengler never mentions that during the [George W] Bush presidency current GOP
leaders voted 19 times to increase the debt limit by $4 trillion. Now the same
hypocrites suddenly discovered a debt? Come on Spengler, don't imitate Faux
News.
PCdragon
United States (Jul 19, '11)
[Re Memo to Tea
Party: Obama wins if you stir a crisis, Jul 19] Tea Party? Obama the
socialist? I hope that Spengler's open advice to the Tea Party is not an
endorsement of that political movement by the editors of Asia Times Online.
Mr Spengler endorses a neo-fascist movement that together with raw neo-liberals
on the Street are about to recreate 1930s Germany in this country (and in the
eurozone). There are no socialists in America to blame for the failures of
capitalism, so you make President Obama into one. There are no jobs, so you
blame the unions. There is zero-interest credit feeding bubble after bubble, so
you blame it on the Chinese.
What I don't understand, Mr Spengler, is why would students (if not
descendents) of Nazi Germany who today are in media, political and economic
positions of power want to recreate that horror again by being advocates of the
Tea Party? When Tea Party "brown shirts" throw rocks through windows of
Congress people that vote unfriendly to their cause, it is Kristallnacht. When
Mr Murdoch and Company rival the demonic genius of Joseph Goebbels to install
Tea Party thugs into the US Congress, it marks the death of this Republic and
democracy. When Tea Party "sleeper cells" of Patriots and Militia become
triggered by a FOX News demagogue, they become the SA.
Sir, most Americans are not interested in stealing your wealth or your property
or your power. They are interested in is preventing you from stealing theirs!
Most Americans don't want to be victims of a second Holocaust, this time at the
cruel hands of that most invisible enemy of the people called "the markets".
Michael T Bucci
United States (Jul 19, '11)
Editor's note: The editors of Asia Times Online are strictly
apolitical!
[Re Another take on Libya
hubris for China, Jul 19] An excellent article by Peter Lee: It gives
the facts without propaganda. Something sadly lacking in the British media.
Wilson John Haire
United Kingdom (Jul 19, '11)
[Re How Muslim
bashing loses elections, Jul 18] Stephan Salisbury's article doesn't
match reality. Islam has earned a reputation and it is very well deserved. I
don't - and never will - bow down to political correctness. When in 2006 a
Danish paper published cartoons of the prophet Mohammed, the outcome was riots,
deaths, destruction, fear, and resentment. Back in America CNN et al blurred
the images of the prophet not because they respect Muslim sensitivities (they
don't; the liberal media preaches what Islam -as a faith - astoundingly
opposes) but because of fears of retaliation. So journalists across the West
call anyone who questions Islam or criticizes it the equivalent of a KKK
member, which is utter rubbish.
Fear has singled out Islam as the only faith with which the media must have a
relationship of censorship. Only a couple of pundits questioned Muslim clerics
as to whether or not they want fear of retaliation and violence to be the mark
of West-Islam talks.
The religious dialogue of the Western hemisphere about Christianity and Judaism
has been the subject of merciless scrutiny and highly offensive speech. This is
not a random fact. We pee on Jesus, portray the Virgin Mary as bleeding off her
anus, among other offensive things to Christians. My theory is that if
something bothers you on the radio, change the station. You have a problem with
a newspaper, don't read it. You don't like what is on a TV show, don't watch
it. Just please, do not ever tell me what I can watch or laugh at. It is none
of your damn business.
Up to the 12th century, Christianity ruled Europe with an iron fist and its
doctrine was unquestionable. Then came the Enlightenment and Christianity had
to go through an exhausting scrutiny that instead of making our faith weaker,
it made it stronger. Yes, I am a Christian but you can go as offensive as you
want on Jesus and I will probably just laugh because it's funny. Religion has
no place sticking its nose in politics and matters of civil law. So when we
Americans see that we have freedom of speech, except on matters of Islam, that
raises a red flag.
We take freedom of speech very serious. That is why we mock our own faith,
prophets, and politicians. Nothing is exempt from ridicule and irreverent
scrutiny in a secular democracy or republic. Freedom of speech was written in
our constitution not so we can talk about the weather or how "spectacularly
awesome and perfect" Obama is; freedom of speech guarantees our right to say
very controversial and offensive things.
Any belief system that wants to establish itself in the West must be the
subject of scientific scrutiny and doubt. NO belief system in the West will be
considered as absolute or unquestionable. If that ever occurs then the West
will cease to exist as we know it, Western freedom of speech will be mutilated,
and our liberties as thinking, reasonable, faithful human beings will be raped.
What people like Stephan Salisbury call Islamophobic is nothing more than our
God-given right to question a religion, mock it, ridicule it, ridicule and mock
its prophet, etc. If the liberal elite get away with silencing the voice of
Americans, then the entire country would be like a US college campus, with a
speech code stricter than in intellectual dictatorships such as China. There
are a couple of ill-informed people who may say irrational things about Islam,
or immigrants, or homosexuals, or Jews, you name it. But those few lone voices
would not have a voice if Stephan Salisbury and the likes would give them a
forum to repeat their errors.
Ysais Martinez
United States (Jul 19, '11)
[Re Undemocratic China can't
rule the world, Jul 15] On Jinghao Zhao's article, I want to point that
China is not interested in ruling the world. China has too many problems of its
own to solve. The Chinese believe that one must cultivate oneself, straighten
one's family, rule one's nation first before setting sight on bringing peace to
the world.
There is no one track to democratization and there are certainly other paths to
that goal. China is currently checking on which models to emulate and revise
before adopting.
Regards the last Ysais Martinez letter. Mr Martinez amuses me a lot because he
seems to know a lot more than most of us but we don't know where his sources
are. Amazingly, he was able to put his finger squarely on Pakistan on the
Mumbai bombing. Even India has not done that.
Wendy Cai
United States (Jul 18, '11)
There appears little hope of America recovering from its terminal economic
illness without some fundamental recognitions that the disease that killed it
was capitalism. Alas, most WonderFools cling to the delusion that capitalism
has been somehow subverted by Obamoniomics and that only its elimination and a
renaissance of good ol' fashioned red, white and blue free enterprise will
resurrect the wrecked Empire.
Some of my fellow Texans have even opined that it's not capitalism per se that
is at fault for our current dilemmas, only its so-called practitioners. No, I
counter-opine, this is not like Christianity, a faith that preaches selfless
peace and love for the communal good but whose followers have by-and-large been
self-centered, bloodthirsty bigots. Capitalism's fundamental tenets are
self-interest and self-aggrandizement, with community benefit only an anecdotal
side-benefit, and its advocates and exemplars have been ruthless men dedicated
to exploitation of the downtrodden, the gullible and the "patriot".
The relentless logic of capitalism demands the 1929 Depression, the savings and
loan scandals of the '80s, the dotcom debacle of the '90s and the real
estate-subprime black hole of 2008, all preceded by bubbles of reckless
speculation fueled by the plutocratic class so that the street suckers can get
cleaned out and reduced to subservient peons. The end goal is a massive
transfer of wealth from the serfs to their feudal masters, performed on a
cyclical basis, but, in order for the slave-suckers to never get wise to the
scam, they need constant indoctrination on how "capitalism" and "patriotism"
are synonymous.
This propaganda has been very effective, thus making the flu victim convinced
that only more flu bug can cure the flu bug that's killing them. Until there is
no more flu victim, of course, in which case the big merely moves to the next
sucker-victim. Welcome to modern Ex-America.
Hardy Campbell
United States (Jul 18, '11)
[Re Folly and the
South China Sea, Jul 14] In staking claims in the South China Sea,
China's case rests on faulty historical claims and brute force. It has not
shied away from using its naval superiority to teach Vietnam a lesson; however,
it also has had to retract its military fangs when confronted by international
pressure and condemnation.
Today, China is more powerful than in the past: as such it may feel that it can
push its claims by threats and disregarding the strictures of international
law. Is the US willing to challenge China's claims with more than words?
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Jul 15, '11)
[Re 'Mr K' shows Korea's
Cold War lingers, Jul 12] I would like to take issue with some facts.
The article claims that Samsung is joint producing the S-300 missile with the
Russian company Almaz. This fact is on Wikipedia but it is not true and with
some simple fact checking that is easy to prove. If I had a dime for every
wrong fact on Wikipedia I could hire Bill Gates to mow my lawn.
Yong Kwon states that missile parts were leaked from South Korea to the North.
However, the link he provides to the Chosun IIbo claims that the technology was
secretly obtained from China. It more likely came from Russian scientists that
went to North Korea for money after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It could
also have been reverse engineered from older Soviet models from countries that
North Korea sells missiles to. The model he is talking about is the KN-06 not
the 02, which is a ground weapon not an surface to air missile.
North Korea recently tested a KN-06 missile by firing it into the ocean, which
is a joke. An accurate test would be real world conditions like trying to hit a
F-15 flying at mach 2 at 50,000 feet that is using electronic counter measures
which is a little harder than trying to make a splash in the ocean.
I don't think that Russia would hire a US ally to dismantle it most secret
weapons it doesn't make sense on any level. The reporter also tries to claim
that North and South Korea are essentially the same "The essence of the
conflict is the raison d'tat (d'etre) of both states."
Dennis O'Connell
United States (Jul 14, '11)
Yong Kwon, responds:
1. The information was ascertained from the 1993/1994 Nonproliferation Review
and it did not seem exceptionally out of the ordinary considering the degree of
cooperation between the new Russian state and South Korea in the field of
ballistic missile technology. Close cooperation in missile development
(specifically regarding the model S-300) between the two countries was also
confirmed in an article in Kookmin Ilbo on December 24, 1992.
2. I never stated that the source of the leak was physically in South Korea.
3. Mr O'Connell is correct, I made a hasty error in recognizing the missile.
The KN-06 is the surface-to-air missile and the KN-02 is a short-range
ballistic missile; nonetheless, the degree of threat posed by either prototypes
is hard to ascertain either way.
4. Why is Mr K's story so incredible? The fact of the matter is that there had
been a great deal of exchange between South Korea and Russia since the breakup
of the Soviet Union. The current cooperation in the space program is a small
testament to the twenty years that both nations have spent together in
developing ballistic technology. In addition, Mr K did not (previously) work
for the South Korean government and he operated from the Russian Far East. It
is certainly not unreasonable that his various connections to military
personnel in the region allowed him to gain what was already a very lucrative
business deal.
5. No moral judgement has been made. The story claims that both states are
locked in an existential struggle and defeat could spell the destruction of
their states; in turn, their continued survival gives legitimacy to their
cause.
Yong Kwon (Jul 14, '11)
(Editor's note: Reference to the missile in the article has been
revised.)
The attacks on Mumbai today were a materialization of my letter yesterday.
Those victims, that destruction, such suffering upon the innocent, are
Pakistan's contribution to humanity. It is indeed sad to prove how right my
statements were. Maybe Pepe Escobar should enlighten us with another
Pakistan-friendly piece blaming the attacks on the victims, and explaining to
the public why the perpetrators are innocent.
Ysais Martinez
United States (Jul 14, '11)
[Re Pakistan 'punished'
in Pipelineistan, Jul 12] The mere existence of Pakistan is already
enough punishment for that country. I am always fascinated at Pepe Escobar's
ability to glow over places that have nothing to show or contribute to the
world stage.
The United States should take an extremely harsh stance against Pakistan and
cripple it even further. It is not being punished sufficiently yet for its
double face game just because they need cash desperately. This is a country
with absolutely nothing to be proud of. Pakistan has no accomplishments or any
contribution to society that one may list.
Maybe Mr Escobar in his mythological world could list this country's
accomplishments, but in reality it is just a gutter, indeed the most shameless
place on earth. As Christopher Hitchens puts it, here is a society where rape
is not a crime. It is a punishment. Journalists are murdered and the crimes go
unpunished. Women can be sentenced to be raped, by tribal and religious
kangaroo courts, if even a rumor of their immodesty brings shame on their
menfolk. "In such an obscenely distorted context, the counterpart term to shame
- which is the noble word "honor" - becomes most commonly associated with the
word "killing". Moral courage consists of the willingness to butcher your own
daughter."
My grandfather used to say that such is the stupidity of men that they end up
hating the people who give them favors. So in the full sense of the word,
Pakistan and its sacred cow - the murderous military - hate America. They hate
us because they owe us. Because they depend on us. Because they desperately
need America's assistance to feed their "sacred cow" and fund their nuclear
program. So the two main symbols of their pride are parasitically dependent on
Washington's "charity".
Many Americans have protested in our streets the drone attacks, our foreign
policy in that region, and some pundits went as far as analyzing America's
violation of Pakistan sovereignty ... however, all of them failed to
acknowledge that Pakistan needed America to fight in the tribal areas because
fighting guaranteed a flow of cash that Pakistan so desperately needs.
So Pakistan is not being punished for some imaginary "Pipelineistan", it is
being punished by its own existence, its own shamelessness, and the fact that a
thousand years will go by and Pakistan will have nothing to contribute to the
world except suicide bombers. Ysais Martinez
United States (Jul 13, '11)
[Re Is Israeli
smart power for real?, Jul 12] The Israeli government may still have
the power to suborn, sabotage, intimidate, assassinate and call on powerful
friends like the US to achieve its ends. However the rising tide of peaceful
resistance by protesters inside Israel, in the occupied West Bank, among
Palestinian refugees in Syria and supporters abroad has suddenly exposed the
glaring weakness of the armed-to-the-teeth Zionist state.
As such, the Likud-led government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has had
to rely on more and more on brute force and suppressing the civil liberties of
its own citizens to keep its hold on power.
On Monday, the Knesset voted to ban any protest against the Zionist state. Such
a law rends the veil of the boast of Israel being the only "true" democracy in
the Middle East. By voting the ban, Israel is little different than Syria,
Yemen, Mubarak Egypt, and other neighbors. The Arab spring has finally caught
up with Israel and Israel is showing the strains of an aging elite that are
wedded to the past.
Abraham Bin Yiju
Italy (Jul 13, '11)
[Re Mr K shows Korea's Cold
War lingers, Jul 11] Is there an element of truth in Mr K's account? It
is difficult to say. What is not hard to undercover is that South Korea is
ramping up its propaganda war against the North. Would the US military
authorities have allowed South Korea to import scrapped Soviet missiles during
the Sunshine Policy? Probably not. The last thing the US would want was a
heightening of tensions in the Korean peninsula at that time.
Tensions rose when the George W Bush administration and then the Lee Myung-bak
government embarked on a no-holds-bared policy towards North Korea, which the
Barack Obama White House fully embraced.
'Mr K's coup de theatre simply means that no sound approach to the North
covering a broad fan of issues can happen until Lee steps down and US designs
take on a degree of intelligence.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Jul 12, '11)
It is fitting, in this the sesquicentennial anniversary year of the American
Civil War, a conflict which resulted in the abolition of black slavery, that a
new slavery has been imposed on its citizens. Infinitely more subtle, and using
the rubric and rhetoric of capitalism to mask its truth, the new enslavement
utilizes the massive transfer of wealth effected in 2008-09 to impoverish and
implode the middle class.
Facing decades if not a perpetuity of permanent structural unemployment, the
remnants of what was once the embodiment of American prosperity have been
reduced to menial burger flippin' jobs, continual unemployment benefit
extensions, food stamps, living with parents or in their cars, voting for the
madhatters in the Tea Party, gnashing their teeth and howling at the moon.
The irony that many continue to vote for the architects of their plight, the
Protect-the-Wealthy GOP, marks the principle difference between the emancipated
blacks of the 1860s and the hollowed-out middle class; the former never had any
doubt who their enemies were, while the modern slaves are suckers for the Bible
thumpin', flag wavin' demagogues working for their slavemasters on Wall Street.
Instead of hot plantations, the modern American slave stands in summertime
unemployment lines. Instead of whips and dogs, the modern slavedriver
castigates the New Slave with pink slips, foreclosures, restricted credit and
humiliating interviews for teenage wages.
The ruthless logic of 19th century American capitalism made the possession of
black men and women as property the sine qua non of southern prosperity,
just as the relentless unforgiving logic of 21st century American financial
wizardry demands the destruction of a highly paid workforce into a subservient
mass of demoralized peons in order for the plutocratic class to continue
enriching themselves.
History will, of course, demand a rhyme that matches the experiences of both
sets of slaves. As civil war ended one slavery, only another one will liberate
the New American Slave.
Hardy Campbell
United States (Jul 12, '11)
[Re Stooges' time is up
in Pakistan, Jul 7] I would just to thank you and your reporter Mahan
Abedin for publishing an article which describes an interview of Hizb ul-Tahrir
in Pakistan. I have been following this political party for many years but am
very disappointed that the so-called "main stream" and "established" media of
Pakistan do not give air time to its members. Instead they choose to give
"airtime" to the same old failed politicians.
It is refreshing to see a reporter who has taken time to give an accurate
interview with Naveed Butt. Please continue to give such parties coverage, as
this is where Asia Times Online will differentiate itself from the so-called
"main stream" and "established" media.
Abdul (Jul 11, '11)
[Re Gandhians come
thundering, Jul 8] Very disappointed in Asian Times Online. This is
pure unadulterated Israeli propaganda. If Gaza isn't an example of apartheid,
then the word has no meaning. The Gaza Flotilla fizzle is not a victory for
Israel but a loss for all of humanity.
Jon McGovern
United States (Jul 11, '11)
[Re Taliban sing a
false note, Jul 5] This is a good and honest article. The big problem
of American policy in Afghanistan is the insistence that Afghans accept
Western-style democracy. While some Western-educated Afghans may value
democracy, it is obvious that the national Afghan culture refuses it.
The dangerous American delusion is that democracy and American values are
universally positive things. Many nations and cultures beg to disagree.
Americans have so much right to impose their values on Afghanistan, as Taliban
has right to impose sharia on America. Like it or not, sharia also has values
of its own. After all, this is the Islamic version of Kingdom of God on Earth.
Kliment Pyatt
Russia (Jul 7, '11)
The rationale used by Obama to justify his Libyan adventure not being subject
to the War Powers Act is that there is an insufficient level of violence to
constitute "war." Of course, for the hundreds of maimed or dead Arabs
victimized by their so-called "liberators", there would probably be some
argument about that logic.
But that kind of pedantic sophistry should not be dismissed automatically as
mere imperialist hypocrisy. No, in the Wondergeist, foreign non-Christian brown
people, just like domestic black slaves in 19th century America, don't really
count as human beings. Therefore, violence against them does not form any part
in assessing the metric for determining whether any US military action is
really a "war."
It's only the injury or death inflicted on Americans that can be used in this
equation, and since most of the US combatants are pilots safely ensconced in
high flying bombers or are joystick-riding dronemasters reclining in comfy
chairs somewhere in Suburbia USA, casualties among Human Being 'Mericans are
gratefully low. Thus, in quasi-black man Obama's universe, a thermonuclear war
launched on Iran would also be exempt from any nettlesome War Powers
consultation with those congressional dodobirds, since nary a Yank hair would
be tussled by those one-way flying missiles and besides, it would all be over
in 30 minutes anyway.
One must appreciate this unilateral definition-making of the president. He
calls his continuous retreat from all his campaign promises "political
compromises," (translation; I surrendered my derriere, gall bladder and
two-thirds of my soul), his bailout of Wall Street "vital for the economy"
(translation; Those bankers will owe me Big Time when I'm out of the White
House), and his deficit ballooning "quantitative easing" (translation: The
Chinese will also owe me Big Time.)
With such semantic-torturing talent, it'll be a piece of cake for him to
proclaim his eight-year presidency "an unmitigated success", regardless of how
tanked the economy is or miserable the unemployed are or how many innocent
people he's killed. And if you aren't careful, he'll label you a foreign brown
person and go to Non-War on your hiney too.
Hardy Campbell
United States (Jul 6, '11)
[Re Iran crisis close
to climax?, Jul 1] The question is not that Iran is a skilful player
but that the US and its allies are inflexible. They've drawn a line in the sand
and refuse to budge. Inflexibility offers Iran opportunities which they
exploit.
America's hardheadedness is not reserved for Tehran alone. Consider Syria or
North Korea. The US will only budge when its back is to the wall as it is in
Afghanistan or when Nixon abandoned America's ally in the Republic of Vietnam
or Mubarak in Egypt.
Abraham Bin Yiju
Italy (Jul 5, '11)
[Re Taiwan, kingmaker from
the shore, Jul 1] It would better serve the reader if a footnote
reference to ''China's state media threatens Vietnam with war'' were given; the
Chinese government has specifically stated that China will not use force or the
threat of force in the South China Sea dispute. Also, the phraseology in ''…
(PRC) claims not only the whole of the ROC [Republic of China - Taiwan] … but
also views the entire South China Sea as its internal waters, it's almost
needless to say that to Beijing, both Taiwan-controlled Dongsha and Taiping are
PRC possessions'' is peculiar; it contains a certain artificiality that centers
on the words ''claims'' and ''views'', that deflects reality. What does it mean
by ''claim''?
The context is important. If China were to claim the South China Sea and says
it will not negotiate, it would mean an intransigent determination. However,
China claims the South China Sea but also says it is open to negotiation; here
to claim means to stake out a preliminary position as the first salvo toward a
negotiated settlement. Does the author suggest that China only, and only China,
''views'' Taiwan as a part of China? China does not only view the entirety of
the ROC as a part of China, it is very determined; negotiable is only the
timing and schedule.
Last, not only China views Taiwan as a part of China; virtually all governments
of the world view the island as a part of China, as Ban Ki-Moon of the UN
articulated. The United States ''acknowledges the Chinese claim that Taiwan is
a part of China''. (Acknowledge: to recognize the claim or authority of,
Webster's definition 3). China's position on the ROC is not just a view and not
just a claim; it is a claim that has been recognized and is thus a diplomatic
reality, the weight of which will be expressed more decisively as time
progresses.
Jeff Church
United States (Jul 5, '11)
[Re Lingering lessons
from a warmonger, Jun 29] The Western strategic tradition is no less
apt than the Chinese one to regard war and diplomacy as one continuum. To take
the example highlighted by Francesco Sisci in his review of Kissinger’s book On
China, Qing dynasty efforts to apply traditional divide-and-rule
methods that had worked with steppe nomads to the newly ascendant Western
thalassocracies were significantly stymied by American insistence that the
“Most Favored nation clause” be applied in Sino-Western diplomacy. As a result,
any concessions that China granted to one Western power were automatically
granted to all others. Thus besides being inferior in material power, the Qing
dynasty was outmaneuvered strategically by the West.
How could a country with such a long and distinguished strategic tradition be
so badly out-classed? Internal disunity and decadence, and not a failure to
grasp geopolitical changes afoot in the world, was the prime reason for the
Qing dynasty’s failure, despite commendable efforts here and there, to adapt to
the Western threat. For instance, Chinese defeat by the foreign expeditionary
force in the Boxer Rebellion can largely be explained by the contradictory
policies being pursued by high Qing officials.
While the Court lent its support to the Boxers at certain moments, crucial
support was withheld from them at others. Likewise, the Kuomintang’s failure to
maintain its rule on the mainland in the face of both foreign invaders and
Communist rebellion can largely be explained by the fact that the Kuomintang
never overcame the squabbling warlordism inherited from the late Qing period
until, ironically, it was driven to Taiwan. The Chinese Communist Party’s
relative success in fending off both Soviet and American pressures in the 1970s
through triangular diplomacy and in leveraging US-dominated globalization for
its own benefit is precisely due to the CCP’s superior internal unity.
Furthermore, Kissinger’s plea to Chinese policymakers to be less
conspiracy-minded in viewing world events is disingenuous, though also entirely
to be expected. Conspiracy has been and remains an integral part of Western
political life, something Kissinger’s former boss Richard Nixon knew firsthand
(both as a beneficiary of and then as a target of conspiracies).
Acknowledging complexity in world affairs is not incompatible with conspiracy
analysis at all. Take the “Arab Spring” upheavals for instance. These events
have multiple deep-seated structural causes and cannot be dismissed as a grand
conspiracy. At the same time, Arab and international conspirators are hard at
work recuperating and manipulating these upheavals for their own ends.
Jonathan Song
Canada (Jul 1, '11)
[Re Gates moved US
closer to reality, Jun 30] In what has become an all-too-predictable
emulation of his albino twin brother George W. Bush, United States President
Barack Obama has awarded Bob Gates the Medal of Freedom in recognition of
virtues only God in Heaven could possibly surmise. The outgoing head of the CIA
is being replaced by yet another war criminal, the aptly named Betrayus (sic),
so the act of giving the nation's highest civilian award to an inveterate Cold
Warrior and unrepentant right wing ideologue represents one more Obama
concession to the imperial war making machine's thrall over what's left of this
country's dignity and honor.
Bush was infamous for doling out awards to his henchmen for their incompetence
and treachery, so it makes sense that OBushama would tread in the same muddy
footsteps. Gates' accomplishments over a long mendacious career includes his
complicity and coverup activities in the sordid Iran-Contra fiasco, as well as
his involvement in the lies leading up to the Iraq war-crime.
Capping off a resume that would have made a Mafia godfather proud, Gates'
involvement in promoting the Afghan heroin trade and assisting the Taliban in
continuing their struggle was only topped by his betrayal of his old Soviet war
operative, Osama bin Laden.
But then, Osama surely knew that after his 9-11 Fall Guy role was no longer
needed, he was unlikely to be invited to his own Rose Garden awards ceremony.
(What a coincidence Osama was "killed" a few weeks before Obama announced his
disengagement plans for Bankruptistan, as if Bush III realized he had some
loose ends to tie up first.)
I can hardly wait for the future presidential awards ceremonies for the Wall
Street bankers responsible for the subprime meltdown, the Saudi and Bahraini
princes who have ruthlessly suppressed their people, those adorable Greek
government's financial gurus and the Chinese president for his social programs
in Tibet.
Hardy Campbell
United States (Jul 1, '11)
[Re Self-interest in
China's helping hand, Jun 30] If China has little to gain by investing
in Europe, then why is it doing it? Jian Junbo's concluding paragraph is
self-serving at best. China will profit by bolstering the endangered euro and
shaking European economies. Already it has taken pride of place in controlling
Greek ports. China's an export economy. If Europe closes purses, it will see a
downturn in huge inventories of products few want.
Of course, we've heard the hum of "kind hearts and cornets" before: the UK sang
of "white man's burden", the French of "a civilizing mission", the US of "a
helping hand and building democracy" and now China comes along with "benign
neglect".
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Jul 1, '11)
June Letters
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