The Anti-Empire Report #151
Whether one agrees with him on all the points he raises or not, William Blum’s anti-empire report is a monthly must-read.
So here goes.
Catégorie : Analyses – English
Death Cult Spiral
It’s intriguing to hear people calling capitalists in Russia “oligarchs” when according to scholars the whole United States is considered an oligarchy today. There is a hypnotic spell to some of the words that are used against “enemies” of the western hegemony…
EU Uber Alles? Neoliberal Echoes Of A Darker, Mid-Century Plan For Continental Unity
The unflinching support for the EU and its institutions is not about preventing European countries from becoming “Afghanistan.” Not about preventing collapse. Not about the inconvenience of long lines at passport control. It is about promoting an ideology, a specific worldview, a vision for the way the world should work.
On Bullshit
A short e-book that should be mandatory reading in schools, not to mention that it can change your life by sharpening your understanding of your family, friends, colleagues, used car salesmen, congress critters, special interest activists and so on, up to the President.
Ex-Weapons Inspector: Trump’s Sarin Claims Built on ‘Lie’
The search for truth is as old as civilization. Aristotle approached this challenge through what he called the development of potentiality to actuality, which examined truth in terms of the causes that act on things. This approach is as relevant today as it was two millennia prior, and its application to the problem of ascertaining fact from fiction regarding Khan Sheikhun goes far in helping unpack the White House statements regarding Syrian chemical preparations.
Hybrid War for Dummies
“Hybrid war” is an expression that is much used of late. It has two opposing meanings which must carefully be distinguished. The first is the way the term is commonly used; that use is imaginary; the second is the way it is not used; that use is factual. – By Patrick Armstrong
Identity Federalism
« The US markets itself as having an inclusive identity that’s capable of uniting its many disparate parts into a singular whole. Its unofficial motto, “E Pluribus Unum”, proudly proclaims that “out of many, one”, further signifying that this ideal functions as a cornerstone of the American ideology. In what makes for a very peculiar case of ideological doublethink, while the US insists on exporting its “democratic” model abroad, it hypocritically employs a calculated pick-and-choose approach to which countries should retain the “E Pluribus Unum” domestic identity component of its system and which should incorporate the “E Unum Pluribus” geostrategic innovation. »
The European Union always was a CIA project, as Brexiteers discover
One of these masterful journalistic pieces one keeps for reference. Published in April 2016. – « As this newspaper first reported when the treasure became available, one memorandum dated July 26, 1950, reveals a campaign to promote a full-fledged European parliament. It is signed by Gen William J Donovan, head of the American wartime Office of Strategic Services, precursor of the Central Inteligence Agency. »
This Is What’s Really Behind North Korea’s Nuclear Provocations
« North Korea is the only country in the world to have been systematically blackmailed by US nuclear weapons going back to the 1950s, when hundreds of nukes were installed in South Korea. I have written much about this in these pages and in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Why on earth would Pyongyang not seek a nuclear deterrent? But this crucial background doesn’t enter mainstream American discourse. History doesn’t matter, until it does—when it rears up and smacks you in the face. «
Beware the Dogs of War: Is the American Empire on the Verge of Collapse?
« The U.S. government spends more on wars (and military occupations) abroad every year than all 50 states combined spend on health, education, welfare, and safety. In fact, the U.S. spends more on its military than the eight highest-ranking nations with big defense budgets combined. The reach of America’s military empire includes close to 800 bases in as many as 160 countries, operated at a cost of more than $156 billion annually. »