Comments for War in Context

Comment on The cancer in Occupy by Tom Hall

Tom Hall — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:27:02 +0000

I agree with Chris Hedges. The spectacle of black-clad ninja anarchists staging their contempt for the people on whose supposed behalf they are rioting is indeed a gift to- and in some cases from- the police.
The use of smirking masks derived from a comic-book character underscores both the adolescent nature of their revolt and their flight from revolutionary accountability. At a time when great numbers of people are struggling to break free from the anonymity imposed by corporate rule, such tactics display a perverse misunderstanding of mass movements on the left.
These outriders of civil protest employ theatrical violence and masking not to expose the tyranny of capitalism. That reality is lived daily and profoundly comprehended by workers and their families around the globe. Their real targets at any march or action is the marchers themselves, who are trying to exercise their citizenship using the most potent tool available to the dispossessed- their undisguised identities. Public space and all that goes with it will never be reclaimed by masked vandals. But a face that refuses to be hidden, a voice that will not be silent- this is true defiance.
Incidentally, there is a documentary film called “Berlusconi’s Mousetrap” which recounts the events of the Genoa protests and the role played by police agents in stimulating and directing violent actions among self-professed anarchists. The utility of such agents, or their narcissistic counterparts among the intransigents, in discrediting dissent and supplying pretexts for further repressive measures, ought to be sufficiently clear as to require little elaboration.
I’ll close with a couple of personal observations- of those I’ve met professing militant adherence to anarchist principles, none were of peasant or working class backgrounds, and none had ever sought out or even heard of the basic texts of the political philosophy they claimed to espouse. They were in fact deeply anti-intellectual in spirit and of a frustrated, individualistic, ultimately conservative outlook.

Comment on Jesus versus the GOP by A Meshiea

A Meshiea — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:17:44 +0000

“The only GOP candidate who has not openly pursued this strategy is the front-runner, Mitt Romney.”

Ron Paul? We here in this article about Bachmann, Crane and Perry; all total neo-con loons but not a jot about Paul who is actually still in the race.

Not a good article.

Comment on Egyptian activists react with fury to criminal trial for NGO workers by dickerson3870

dickerson3870 — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 07:42:40 +0000

I am very leery of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), and I truly loathe the International Republican Institute (IRI)!

Comment on Bill McKibben: Why the energy-industrial elite has it in for the planet by graham hood

graham hood — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:22:29 +0000

Hey Bill. Last year was one of the coldest winters on record. No comments were made to the effects global warming had made on that winter, except, ignore the “freak”cold we are having, global warming doesn’t happen over night. This winter is warm so this data can be used as ammunition in support of global warming. This is another example of using only the facts that support that man is the cause of global warming and disregarding the facts that do not. Typical distortion method used by the media to push their message, dictated to them by the present government in power.
How is it that in only a few years we have now solved the mystery of the weather. This is something mankind has been unable to do since his beginning. Do not intend to infer that today’s useless youth, if they even had the desire to get off their cell phones, have a deeper understanding of the world than their fathers before them.
The only thing certain about global warming is that the governments of the world will make money off it.
Think about it, the earth has gone through ice ages and periods of warming, all without a single human being alive on the planet. Do tell me how we changed the weather by not even being here?
Some day the media may evolve into a useful information source. The present situation is that the media that will not give us the facts. They pick and choose only the ones that support their position (and their partner, the government of Canada), do not provide the facts and more insidiously have the audacity to tell us what to think about the few facts that have been presented. You buffoons have gone way to far. Your industry is a disgrace and a joke. Free press my ass. The optimizing of profits has reduced accurate news reporting to the point that reporters do not exist. (Global for example) and the only “news” that is covered is the crap that is on your agenda.
You make the news, you distort the news to your benefit and if that is not enough you even tell us what to think about the news.
The news media is truly a sickening, dishonest and self serving industry.
It is a shame more people do not see through your smoke screen and shut you off forever.
I read some main stream media just to stay on top of what you are pushing for the present government in power. You are tools. Not even very good ones.

Comment on The cancer in Occupy by Norman

Norman — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:36:40 +0000

delia ruhe, you make a very good point. Indeed, whose side are they really on? Unless one is intricately involved, it’s hard to tell. Considering that the government has coordinated much of the police resistance, it may be a safe bet to say that they are the ones behind such.

Comment on Egyptian activists react with fury to criminal trial for NGO workers by rosemerry

rosemerry — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:45:02 +0000

The USA does not even have democracy in its own country; none of these “NGOs” promote democracy. Go home and vote.

Comment on Syria: death and division thwart hopes of opposition unity by Susan

Susan — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:20:49 +0000

sort of unity that the Libyan rebels showed? is this a sick joke?

and where are these videos of what is happening in Syria? all I can find is talking heads, who are likely lying.

Comment on In Syria, we need to bargain with the devil by Susan

Susan — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:17:29 +0000

we did that “bargain with the devil” when we supported al Qaeda and the Taliban.

I think it is past time for the US to stop killing and maiming people.

Comment on Egyptian activists react with fury to criminal trial for NGO workers by Alex Malovich

Alex Malovich — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:57:13 +0000

Poor countries cannot afford democracy… that is very easy

Comment on Syria between two massacres: Hama’s memory endures by Lysander

Lysander — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:38:55 +0000

Osama, you are quite correct according to these tweets.

BREAKING: BBC’s Jim Muir says activist groups in #Syria are revising down death toll in #Homs significantly from earlier figure of 200.

“…@DamascusTweets Local Coordinating Cttees now says 39 deaths in Khalidieh, 8 in other districts of #Homs, and 8 outside city. #syria …”

Via Friday Lunch Club blog.

I’m no fan of the Assad regime, but I don’t believe everything the rebels say. The fact that their claims are carried by major media is not by coincidence. And I don’t trust the intentions of the US/EU/Turkey/Qatar/KSA one bit.

Comment on Obama terror drones: CIA tactics in Pakistan include targeting rescuers and funerals by bernd rust

bernd rust — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:34:56 +0000

Nothing new about US presidents lying with a confident smile on his face. The trouble
with these morons is that they are also confident at staying ahead of the drone-killing-rat-race with “technological sophistication”. Not so, the Predator and Grim Reaper are
already being high-jacked, copied and put into service with equally descriptive names.
Try the Ambassador of Death for size, which might in future be cruising above places
that currently are thought to be immune of such happenings.

Comment on Russia’s UN veto gives Syria ‘license to kill’ by bernd rust

bernd rust — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:11:45 +0000

Susan Rice should not be surprised. Russia and China are parroting the numerous
USRAEL vetos in the past 40 or so years that gave Israel a “license to kill”. This is
called “blowback” or “unintended consequences” of ones own actions, or as Donald
Duck – err, pardon, Rumsfeld said, “shit happens”.

Comment on The end of Wall Street as they knew it by delia ruhe

delia ruhe — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:03:47 +0000

So, what, exactly? They’ve got these traders on minimum wage? They have to have big bonuses to make ends meet?

Comment on The cancer in Occupy by delia ruhe

delia ruhe — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:44:05 +0000

These guys were also present at the Battle in Seattle. Whose payroll are they on this time?

Comment on The Zionist Story by Murphy Dangilan

Murphy Dangilan — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:23:35 +0000

I think God is either very crazy or sleeping because there is so much trouble in the world today. But it was already prophesied long ago that Israel will suffer wars but eventually win against its enemies.

Comment on Syria between two massacres: Hama’s memory endures by Osama

Osama — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:00:08 +0000

Mr Khanfar is suspected by many to have a Muslim Brotherhood links/background. I think it clearly shows in the spin he is putting on this story. I think it is quite suspicious that the “massacre” was happening on the same day for a vote at the UN, how could that possibly serve Syria’s interest. It seems more likely that this was propaganda effort (as was the supposed takeover of Damascus suburbs) to push Russia/China into rubber stamping a SC resolution, because the US/NATO/GCC alliance are well aware that the Syrian government is in fact succeeding in putting down the armed rebellion. The MB/SNC should have stuck with peaceful protests instead of going for gold with the armed attacks, maybe they were believing their own exaggerations.
I have no doubt that Syrians want and deserve change, but this is not the way. The US are always keen to promote “dialogue” when its their allies that are facing political turmoil (lets not talk about Bahrain or Saudi or Morocco or Jordan). The problem for the US and its allies is that Arabs see right through their rhetoric we still remember Gaza and Lebanon when Israel needed more time to bring about the birth of a new middle east. I think the US see’s this uprising as an opportunity to remove a strong ally of the resistance to Israel. Any new regime in syria would be weak and in disarray for the first few years and would be ripe for influence (“investment” is the word they would use”).

Comment on Israel-Firster Sheldon Adelson regrets serving in U.S. instead of Israeli military by DE Teodoru

DE Teodoru — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:38:27 +0000

The ambiguity exhibited by Adelson in this video shows his mental eggbeater at work muddling himself as well as others. It raised lots of questions about how such a “flow of consciousness” got so rich. Well, there was a time when he was a hard worker and he was smart enough to hire smart people to make him rich. There’s no need for mysteries about that. He’s not the first and won’t be the last.
But the real issue is how he muddles “Israeli” and “American” nationality, both for himself and for his family. This kind of mindless chutzpah feeds anti-Semitism and it may well turn on him long before his son gets to be an IDF sniper. Whatever muddle goes through his mind is his right to express, but he should remember that a lot of Jews that are as American as apple pie– and with no such muddle in their minds as to what they are– may well suffer the consequences of his muddle. Worst still, that muddle is made public AFTER he intervened financially with $millions in American politics, despite being unsure whether he’s an American or an Israeli.
I can only say that if we had better studied what drove Germans to the Holocaust– most of it having nothing to do with most European Jews and the millions of Holocaust victims– we will find that in bad times, exploiters of people’s last dollar like this guy (gambling is always where the poor go in desperation to risk their last dollar) who nevertheless insult the nation that they get rich in by being so unsure in public of their nationality, make scapegoats of people who he identifies with Zionism while being a cash interventionist in American politics, though swearing loyalty to another country.
Gingrich is not out to be president; somehow, as he did after being Speaker of the House, he has come to believe that he can make money failing to be elected. I would suggest that by putting together Gingrich’s antiUS policy and denunciation of America’s Middle East policy, while a paid comedy act for Adelson, makes a lot of Jews vulnerable and– WHILE WE SHOULD ALL KEEP IN MIND THAT IF YOU LOCK SIX JEWS IN A ROOM YOU GET ETERNAL DEBATE BETWEEN SEVEN OPINIONS– Zionists have tried as “neocons” to insist that they speak FOR American Jewry, it being solidly behind them. The neocons, having gotten us into losing wars, still want to get us into yet another with Iran. Though the neocons have denounced any non-Jew who criticized them as an anti-Semite and any Jew who doesn’t stand with them a “self-hating Jew,” they know that they don’t speak for most Jews. And so they try to make a posh living pretending they do by blithering out extremist Zionist opinions publicly. We just went through eight years of war during which they tried to pretend that they are Bush’s brain. Now, as the Iran issue is about to split us with Israel, such videos os that of Adelson, rather than make everyone docile and compliant, will stir enough crazies in this democracy to create can atmosphere where there will be no more democracy. We saw what happened to the German democracy, fallen on hard times. Mr. Adelson&Co ought to be more responsible. So I would say: “Mr. Adelson, play the Las Vegas rather than Tel Aviv Zionist in public– the Zionist who doesn’t know whether he’s Israeli or American– or be the Republican money bag. But don’t do both as you are playing with fire. You and your wife can risk your skins if you want, but 6 million American Jews, I think, would say in outrage, SCHMUCK, SHUT YOUR WALLET OR YOUR MOUTH!”

Comment on The Zionist Story by Concerned in LA

Concerned in LA — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:32:59 +0000

How are they the ” chosen people, ” if they’ve been kicked out and have created so much hatred over the centuries? There has to be a middle ground and peace in the region we want a peaceful United States. I do not feel safe here anymore.

Comment on The Arab Spring, U.S. foreign policy, the Status-Quo Lobby and the Dream Palace of the Zionists by Concerned in LA

Concerned in LA — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:27:05 +0000

The US is in a delicate pickle now! I don’t know how it’s going to dig itself out from the hole. I plan on finding a neutral country to immigrate to, the inevitable is a world war.

Comment on The death of the American dream in Afghanistan by dickerson3870

dickerson3870 — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:54:39 +0000

RE: “The death of the American dream…”

THE SLOW DEATH OF THE U.S. DOLLAR: Sri Lanka may drop dollar to meet Iran oil sanctions ~ by Reuters, The Economic Times, 2/05/12

(excerpt) Sri Lanka may avoid a costly squeeze by the United States sanctions on Iranian crude by purchasing it in a currency other than dollars, following India’s lead, officials said on Sunday.
The Indian Ocean island nation is facing the most potential collateral damage from the sanctions, which are meant to cut off the dollars Washington believes are being used to fund Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Sri Lanka imports 93 percent of its oil from Iran, OPEC’s second biggest producer, and its sole refinery, the 50,000 barrel-per-day Sapugaskanda plant, can only refine Iranian crude and three or four others that are in short supply…

SOURCE – http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=152832719154

Comment on Russia’s UN veto gives Syria ‘license to kill’ by pangloss

pangloss — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:44:07 +0000

I’ve enjoyed the hysterics of the Clinton Rice tag-team. Hilarious. Wonder where they might have been during some of these: http://t.co/UvsFkVXv
US et pals shot themselves in the foot – maybe the head – when NATO blow the last UN resolution over Libya but no one is suppose to say that I guess.

Comment on Israel-Firster Sheldon Adelson regrets serving in U.S. instead of Israeli military by breid

breid — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:39:46 +0000

sheldon my boy, it’s not to late. with your money my guess the hebrews would trip over themselves to let you. again, with your money you could be some kind of a flunky general, somewhere over there. please don’t the door hit you on the way out. breid

Comment on The cancer in Occupy by Colm O' Toole

Colm O' Toole — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:57:44 +0000

I disagree, but Chris, as always makes a good case. I wish I could ask him what he thinks of the vital role played in Egypt by the Ultras football hooligans?

There is no doubting that the labor unions working with the tech savy activists were the brains of the revolution in Egypt. But hey, brains aren’t too good in a dog fight. The Ultra’s may have been thugs but they kept the police out of Tahrir by staging pitched street battles on all the side streets leading to the square.

There is a role for everyone to play in Revolutions.

Comment on Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas to form unity government by Tom Hall

Tom Hall — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:40:56 +0000

What exactly does the Guardian mean by “independent technocrats”? The term itself is an implicit endorsement of the patently phony proposition that insulated, unaccountable economic bureaucracies operate somehow in a dispassionate, impartial manner. They don’t. They impose policies and punishments in accordance with the antidemocratic precepts and norms of whichever elite group has trained them to serve. As for the paper’s praise of Fayyad, “who has strong western backing for the progress he has made on building the future institutions of a Palestinian state”- said institutions are of the national security order, designed, underwritten and implemented by the very states most opposed to any form of popular government or national independence for Palestine. The U.S. and Israel are the patrons and beneficiaries of these arrangements. The CIA, FBI, and Israeli intelligence and police agencies are in charge of ideological and operational training of their subordinate Palestinian counterparts. The relationships are blatantly colonial in nature. Not that any of this would seem strange or objectionable to a paragon of (neo)liberalism like the Guardian.