Chris Hedges Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart Have Destroyed Satire
Fight Climate Change? Or Oil the Wheels of War?
Cynical, skeptical, or merely realistic, most sensible
people have learned to doubt the humanitarian justifications that
accompany cross-border military intervention, whether by Washington, its
European allies, or its Russian and Chinese adversaries. The New
Yorker’s Steve Cole, dean of Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism,
gave substance to these doubts back in August with his candid
explanation of why Obama was dropping bombs to defend Erbil.
“The capital of the oil-endowed Kurdish Regional Government,” Coll wrote, “Erbil is an oil-rush town.”“Obama’s defense of Erbil,” he concluded, “is effectively the defense of an undeclared Kurdish oil state whose sources of geopolitical appeal – as a long-term, non-Russian supplier of oil and gas to Europe, for example – are best not spoken of in polite or naïve company.” To back up his argument, Coll cited Rachel Maddow’s documentary on MSNBC, “Why We Did It,” in which he played a prominent role.
based on internal documents and interviews with decision-makers, Maddow shows convincingly that the National Security Council, Cheney’s industry-dominated Energy Task Force, and the Pentagon wanted to increase the supply of oil, bring down its price, and ensure Western control of access to it.
No surprise. Control of global reserves – and the
ability to reward or punish rivals who need the oil and natural gas –
has been a central theme of American policy for over a century. As Maddow shows, President Jimmy Carter even made it a fighting matter in his State of the Union Address in January 1980.
“Let our position be absolutely clear,” he told the
world. “An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian
Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the
United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any
means necessary, including military force.”
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Comments
-4
#
2014-09-24 14:27
Yes, arquebus. If
folks would look around their homes, offices, factories, restaurants,
everywhere, they would be looking at petroleum based products. It isn't
just energy and propulsion to be concerned with. It is all manner of
products.
Breaking away from oil will take innovation and careful research. Most folks in the Western World could not adapt to returning to very basics.
Breaking away from oil will take innovation and careful research. Most folks in the Western World could not adapt to returning to very basics.
0
#
2014-09-24 17:09
Quoting Glen:
Other countries are already doing it -like Germany and Scotland, leading the way in Solar and Wind/Wave driven energy.
They're not independent of oil YET but they're working hard on it, as are other nations and some more enlightened firms in the US but they're getting NO help from the powers that be who are on the short-leash of the extractive industries.
Good, subsidized public transport is available as they don't squander their taxes on war making like they do here and cars are of necessity, much more fuel efficient. If you think gas is expensive here, try Europe sometime. Next time I go it'll be mostly train travel for me; it's relaxing, sociable and you really get to see the scenery in the area of the route traveled, have a meal and a couple of drinks en route without worryin' about falling asleep or being pulled over.
I'd love to be able to travel around the US like that.
Also, the US Military-plunde ring behemoth HAS to keep usurping and warring to keep it's engines of death moving, in a self-perpetrati ng sequence of invade-war-plun der ad nauseum.
Yes, arquebus. If folks would look around their homes, offices, factories, restaurants, everywhere, they would be looking at petroleum based products. It isn't just energy and propulsion to be concerned with. It is all manner of products.
Breaking away from oil will take innovation and careful research. Most folks in the Western World could not adapt to returning to very basics.
Other countries are already doing it -like Germany and Scotland, leading the way in Solar and Wind/Wave driven energy.
They're not independent of oil YET but they're working hard on it, as are other nations and some more enlightened firms in the US but they're getting NO help from the powers that be who are on the short-leash of the extractive industries.
Good, subsidized public transport is available as they don't squander their taxes on war making like they do here and cars are of necessity, much more fuel efficient. If you think gas is expensive here, try Europe sometime. Next time I go it'll be mostly train travel for me; it's relaxing, sociable and you really get to see the scenery in the area of the route traveled, have a meal and a couple of drinks en route without worryin' about falling asleep or being pulled over.
I'd love to be able to travel around the US like that.
Also, the US Military-plunde ring behemoth HAS to keep usurping and warring to keep it's engines of death moving, in a self-perpetrati ng sequence of invade-war-plun der ad nauseum.
" the US
Military-plunde ring behemoth HAS to keep usurping and warring to keep
it's engines of death moving, in a self-perpetrati ng sequence of invade-war-plun der
ad nauseum." One of the tests of policy is to make it serve a number of
masters at the same time. Oil is such a strategic resource ( replacing
coal ) for war that denial of access was integral to strategy against
both Japan and Germany - and a stimulant to the conflict in the former
case. So I have no doubt the invasion of Iraq, say, was about oil.
Especially not when PNAC openly posted on their website the parameters
of foreign policy re: decapitating foreign governments in the ring of
oil bearing countries ( unsaid being the obvious reason to defuse
opposition to acquisition ). I compare it to Wild West politics : take
the land and resources - and get rid of the prior occupants as nuisances
at the least effort and highest profit.
You might note the use of heavy trucks in North America is obviously policy - while Europe, China, etc. use more energy efficient ( but slower ) rail.
But I am not convinced by public declarations from the greatest liars on the planet as to their true motives. For the UN to flog taxation on the use of fire on a global scale and control distribution of the proceeds is too attractive a coup for me not to think their "ability to predict the future" is another exercise in distracting by obvious fiction to sell their policies.
You might note the use of heavy trucks in North America is obviously policy - while Europe, China, etc. use more energy efficient ( but slower ) rail.
But I am not convinced by public declarations from the greatest liars on the planet as to their true motives. For the UN to flog taxation on the use of fire on a global scale and control distribution of the proceeds is too attractive a coup for me not to think their "ability to predict the future" is another exercise in distracting by obvious fiction to sell their policies.
The 'consensus' meme is analogous to another technique to drive the herd to a false 'conformity' : Push Polls.
NYT
“Push
polls” — which are not really polls at all — are often criticized as a
particularly sleazy form of negative political campaigning. Voters pick
up the phone to hear what sounds like a research poll. But there is no
effort to collect information, which is what a legitimate poll does.
The
questions are skewed to one side of an issue or candidate, the goal
being to sway large numbers of voters under the guise of survey
research.
But
the fact that a poll contains questions with negative information about
one or more candidates does not make it a push poll. Campaigns
regularly conduct genuine surveys that test campaign messages and
advertising, including negative content.
Push polling is so incompatible with authentic polling that the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), the American Association of Political Consultants (A.A.P.C.), the Council for Marketing and Opinion Research (CMOR) and the National Council on Public Polls (N.C.P.P.) have all denounced the practice.
24 September 2014
Subtle, hm ? Those who denounce the 'official wisdom' are idiots.
What the Movement Against Mass Incarceration Can Learn From the Struggle for Climate Justice
Environmental justice activists' engagement with governments, global organizations and corporations are instructive traits.
They certainly are - and show exactly how the 'dialogue' is a controlled Echo Chamber which conveniently engages in slander - but neglects to admit there is no viable proof of the proposed Emergency. Contrariwise the State of Texas filed charges against Richard Cheney and ex Justice honcho Gonzales for profiteering in private jails. No good scam goes undone ; especially slave labour conditioned by torture and terror.
They certainly are - and show exactly how the 'dialogue' is a controlled Echo Chamber which conveniently engages in slander - but neglects to admit there is no viable proof of the proposed Emergency. Contrariwise the State of Texas filed charges against Richard Cheney and ex Justice honcho Gonzales for profiteering in private jails. No good scam goes undone ; especially slave labour conditioned by torture and terror.
Naomi Klein on Cause of Climate Crisis: "Capitalism Is Stupid"
The greatest cop-out for politicians is to allege stupidity in unaccountably consistently following policies which do not conform - in fact may work diametrically against - to their 'public policy' Mission Statement. Any such successful misdirection begs for emulation and overuse.
In a Warming World We Can't Keep Depending on the Same Few Crops
Actually, we cannot continue monoculture regardless. It is the single greatest cause of over-reliance of pesticides in a world where seeds - including heritage varieties - have been patented as a manner of control of access .. and profit. Nor is it a stable supplier - but innately vulnerable to sudden catastrophic failure and manipulation.
Flood Wall Street: 100 Arrested at Sit-In Targeting Financial Giants' Role in Global Warming
By Amy Goodman and Aaron Mate, Democracy Now! | Video Interview
No word on the participation of 'environmental action groups' funded by Big Business pushing the agenda to control international land resource use.
You know.
Carbon Farmers of Australia has been helping farmers
and others gain access to carbon markets since 2006, and are now
expanding to cover industrial and commercial operations as we move
forward with pioneering the burgeoning Australian carbon trade industry.
Detroit's Water Shut-Offs at the Center of Bankruptcy Proceedings
Our economic servitude highlights the threat of sudden dispossession from the essentials of life.
Global Drug Report: Don't Just Decriminalize, Demilitarize
Or : you don't really fix anything or anyone by violating their person and privacy...unless thinking in terms of 'I'll Fix their little red wagon.'
Time for the US to Dump the Word "Homeland"
Dump the verbiage - not the practice. Of course 'Fatherland' has been used before. I can just visualize the reaction to Motherland - too much an oxymoron for even non 'feminists' to tolerate. Yet it has been used before as well.
Call to Close "Deplorable" Private Detention Center for Immigrants Made, as Expansion Planned
By Candice Bernd, Truthout | Report
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