"Sad! But just a pet..."
Belittled lost companion
Shame embraces grief.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Governments in Denial?
After nearly 30 years of slavishly supporting Egypt's Mubarak dynasty, suddenly the USA and UK play up democratic rights... "the people of Egypt do have legitimate grievances"... "reform is absolutely critical"... "a need for free & fair elections" etc...
Thus, as the end of tyranny is a stone's throw away, slaveowners seek to salvage influence.
The glib leaders of morally bankrupt Western powers can't even calm their own skeptical, desperate citizens. Secretaries Hague & Clinton can't be quiet, and as they spin new stories, anything they say fuels anger. Meanwhile their governments remain tough & active behind the scenes, continuing to provide Egyptian police & armed forces with weapons and counter-insurgency support.
Egyptians are far beyond platitudes, recognizing via street demonstrations that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. It's time the Egyptian people cleanse away their dirt into the Nile.
PS - Thank Mark Twain for "Denial ain't just a river in Egypt"...
Thus, as the end of tyranny is a stone's throw away, slaveowners seek to salvage influence.
The glib leaders of morally bankrupt Western powers can't even calm their own skeptical, desperate citizens. Secretaries Hague & Clinton can't be quiet, and as they spin new stories, anything they say fuels anger. Meanwhile their governments remain tough & active behind the scenes, continuing to provide Egyptian police & armed forces with weapons and counter-insurgency support.
Egyptians are far beyond platitudes, recognizing via street demonstrations that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. It's time the Egyptian people cleanse away their dirt into the Nile.
PS - Thank Mark Twain for "Denial ain't just a river in Egypt"...
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Dictator, Strongman, Friend
Too many people are ruled by brutal governments. Tunisia's fallen government was backed-up by the USA, and Washington may have orchestrated their deposed president's sanctuary in Saudi Arabia.
When US Secretary of State Colin Powell visited Tunisia in 2003, he declared: "Our bilateral relationship is very, very strong. We are great admirers of Tunisia and the progress that has been achieved under President Ben Ali's leadership."
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited in 2006, and warmly praised Tunisia's government: "They have demonstrated, if one looks at this successful country...the ability to create an environment that's hospitable to investment, to enterprise, and to opportunity for their people."
But too many Tunisian people in fact hated & feared their government.
Now Egypt's government is under threat. And for 30 years the USA has invested heavily in the Mubarak family - which has ruled Egypt since 1981 under a "State of Emergency."
Secretary of State Clinton's statement today is thus much too little, far too late: "We believe strongly that the Egyptian government has an important opportunity at this moment in time to implement political, economic and social reforms to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people." Unrest in Egypt will not be easily stemmed. No doubt our silent operatives offer violent help to government. These are critical moments.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/01/20-3
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110126/wl_nm/us_egypt_protest_usa
When US Secretary of State Colin Powell visited Tunisia in 2003, he declared: "Our bilateral relationship is very, very strong. We are great admirers of Tunisia and the progress that has been achieved under President Ben Ali's leadership."
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited in 2006, and warmly praised Tunisia's government: "They have demonstrated, if one looks at this successful country...the ability to create an environment that's hospitable to investment, to enterprise, and to opportunity for their people."
But too many Tunisian people in fact hated & feared their government.
Now Egypt's government is under threat. And for 30 years the USA has invested heavily in the Mubarak family - which has ruled Egypt since 1981 under a "State of Emergency."
Secretary of State Clinton's statement today is thus much too little, far too late: "We believe strongly that the Egyptian government has an important opportunity at this moment in time to implement political, economic and social reforms to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people." Unrest in Egypt will not be easily stemmed. No doubt our silent operatives offer violent help to government. These are critical moments.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/01/20-3
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110126/wl_nm/us_egypt_protest_usa
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Stop Wars & Overseas Occupation
Tonight U.S. President Obama will give an important speech to the people of the USA and the world. His State of the Union Address offers the opportunity to promise (again) to wind-down U.S. wars and bring U.S. troops home. He could boldly propose redirecting those huge often-wasted resources; he could withdraw tens of thousands of occupying soldiers from overseas postings in Asia, Europe, Hawaii, and elsewhere. He could further renew his pledge to uphold the rule of law, stop torture, and end "indefinite detention without legal arraignment" (continued state-sponsored kidnapping). Let's see what happens.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Power "in the Raw"
Wikileaks offers everyone rare glimpses of people & procedures usually kept hidden behind the curtain in our deceptive world. The State cables reveal a reality of informal agreements that deliberately & explicitly bypass national democratic parliaments. Many cables describe espionage, others portray a contemptuous juggernaut gathering bureaucratic information. Not much seems for the good of all America, and we see a cabal crafting deceit for the 95% non-USA global population.
These scum repeatedly concoct lies & myths for illegal wars.
Cablegate also shows media unveiled. Neither Mr. Assange nor Wikileaks created the cables; other big news organizations have received the raw material; many separate reporters are publishing excerpts. Yet a large percentage of mainstream reports focus on Wikileaks or Assange. Nutty & telling. Just now a similar slant is on BBC headlines: "Wikileaks banker found guilty" leads to details of a man fined 6000 Swiss francs (a small sum) for breaking bank secrecy laws by releasing tax evader details (valued many ten thousand times greater). He passed documentation to Wikileaks, which has not released any contents. He's not the banker for Wikileaks, but the "Wikileaks banker" label suggests financial intimacy, now linking to "guilty" -- an unreasonable BBC summary headline. "Minor fine for whistleblower banker" is more appropriate. The BBC lead is deceptively constructed.
Those arrogating authority are inconvenienced by Cablegate. But most of the embarrassed are hired staff; minions in service for a few years. A more major unraveling would come if the unredacted cables (or similar documentation) were suddenly released -- sneakiness uncensored. This is promised if Mr. Assange is severely attacked. He's thus protected by friend & foe; the rest of us impatiently wait for information, to learn what's really going on in the haunts of power.
These scum repeatedly concoct lies & myths for illegal wars.
Cablegate also shows media unveiled. Neither Mr. Assange nor Wikileaks created the cables; other big news organizations have received the raw material; many separate reporters are publishing excerpts. Yet a large percentage of mainstream reports focus on Wikileaks or Assange. Nutty & telling. Just now a similar slant is on BBC headlines: "Wikileaks banker found guilty" leads to details of a man fined 6000 Swiss francs (a small sum) for breaking bank secrecy laws by releasing tax evader details (valued many ten thousand times greater). He passed documentation to Wikileaks, which has not released any contents. He's not the banker for Wikileaks, but the "Wikileaks banker" label suggests financial intimacy, now linking to "guilty" -- an unreasonable BBC summary headline. "Minor fine for whistleblower banker" is more appropriate. The BBC lead is deceptively constructed.
Those arrogating authority are inconvenienced by Cablegate. But most of the embarrassed are hired staff; minions in service for a few years. A more major unraveling would come if the unredacted cables (or similar documentation) were suddenly released -- sneakiness uncensored. This is promised if Mr. Assange is severely attacked. He's thus protected by friend & foe; the rest of us impatiently wait for information, to learn what's really going on in the haunts of power.
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