Friday, October 16, 2015

How did we get here?



I had intended to write a longer piece full of quoted material and "linky goodness" (as lambert at Corrente used to say). But maybe that level of detail would be kind of a distraction. Right now, I want to write from the heart.

It's quite clear that the very concept of a "moderate" Syrian opposition is a laughable fiction concocted by a Certain Intelligence Agency. It's quite clear that the US has made a devil's deal with Al Qaeda, which now goes by the moniker "the Nusra Front." It's quite clear that we are allied with Al Qaeda -- hell, even the NYT grudgingly admits this fact. It's quite clear that when the US government (and its media shills) say that Russia has attacked "our" Syrian rebels, the reality is that Russia attacked Al Qaeda. (To which I can only say: Good.) It's quite clear that Saudi Arabia is sending tons of money and arms to Al Qaeda in Syria -- and that they agreed to do so after CIA Director John Brennan made a quick visit to Riyadh. It's quite clear that our media is feeding the American public an unending stream of disinfo, intended to drive home four (false) ideas: 1) Assad created ISIS, 2) the CIA is supporting a secular, moderate opposition force, 3) the refugees are fleeing Assad, and 4) Russia has broken the rules.

In other words, it is quite clear that the world has gone nuts.

Al Qaeda -- the same force that attacked us on 9/11 -- is now considered a "good guy" group. The Russians are evil because they are making life difficult for Al Qaeda.

Our media tells us that Russia is behaving illegally, even thought Russian forces are in Syria at the request of the legitimate government of that country -- and even though Putin's actions are legally and morally indistinguishable from those of George H.W. Bush in response the the invasion of Kuwait. (In truth, Putin occupies higher ground, morally speaking.)

None of this madness bothers the Democratic presidential candidates, with the honorable exception of Jim Webb. None of this bothers most of the people who write for liberal web sites. None of this bothers most of the people who write for conservative web sites.

As for the Republican candidates -- well, they've made clear that they are even more committed to war. They all seem to want to start WWIII on their first day in office. The choice between the Democrat and the Republican comes down to this: Do you prefer using a proxy army of jihadi maniacs, or do you want to send our troops into harm's way?"

How did we get here? 

Our political establishment has gone mad. Our journalists and pundits have gone mad. And most our citizenry seems not to notice the madness of the media and the politicians.

How did we get here? 

I have no great love for Obama, but he did not go into office with a desire to support Al Qaeda in a proxy war against Russia. I honestly don't think he likes that notion. I honestly don't think that supporting Al Qaeda was what he had in mind when he got into politics.

Not only that: As vile as the Republican candidates are, I don't think that they want to support Al Qaeda either. Even the dumbest among them (and some of them are pretty damned dumb) must see the same reality that you and I see.

The Dems don't want this state of affairs and the Republicans don't want this state of affairs. Not really. Not in their hearts. Both sides would prefer to concentrate on other matters.

How did we get here? 

Some of you will say "Blame Israel!" That's way too easy. Yes, I know that Israel wants rid of Assad, but there must be more to it than that.

The video embedded above gives another part of the answer. As you watch, ask yourself:

How did we get here?

8 comments:

igd said...

It does seem sometimes as though Uncle Sam roams the world, looking for hornet's nests to stick his metaphorical dick into. If we were really serious about stopping ISIS, a few shady characters in SA and Kuwait would get a personal visit from the instrumentality of the deep state(the high velocity kind) and the checks would stop getting signed and before you can say "Friedman unit" the FSA or Army of Conquest or whatever the euphemism is this week would be back on the forefront of the "valiant struggle against Ba'athist tyranny blah blah blah..."

Anonymous said...

The Arabs are not without blame. All their history they were Waring tribes. Islam was suppose to rehabilitate them. It was for a little bit but even the caliphets who ruled after the death of the prophet were killed. Of course Britons should burn in hell for what they did there, but ultimately what is going on is not one issue,cause or villain thing

Anonymous said...

We got there because mega-business OWNS our Gov. The world is aflame because it's business uber alles. It's perpetual war, because our malignant capitalism dictates we must capture global market share, and we will brook no challenges to that end.

"It's just business, get over it."

Joseph Cannon said...

Another overly simplistic answer from another anonymous reader. (Did you see the "Rules for comments"? Perhaps next time you will want to heed them.) Business? I think there are plenty of businesses that would prefer to make deals for the oil of Syria, Iran and Iraq. I doubt that there are many -- or any -- businesses in the US which really, really wanted the United States to choose sides in the Sunni/Shiite conflict.

We haven't even addressed the issue of whether Obama has been manipulated by the intelligence/military complex, or whether the spooks and the warriors are under Obama's control.

Let's not pretend that we truly know what forces are at work here. We'll probably have a good picture of the situation twenty, thirty, forty years from now. At the moment, our guesses, even our educated guesses, are colored by our biases and presumptions.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad to see that Abby Martin quickly found a new home at telesur, and that the production quality seems to be even better than it was at RT. I see Majorie Cohn's stuff at telesur as well. I'm glad to see new worthwhile media!

Muffin said...

Joseph: let me rephrase the first half of your sentence in the second paragraph of your comment: We haven't even addressed the issue of whether Obama has been created by the intelligence/military complex, since it is likely he is third generation CIA.
His white grandfather was almost certainly CIA, unless you believe that a "furniture salesman" from a hick town in Kansas was able to retire to Hawaii in the middle of his life and never work again. His white grandmother was an officer in a Honolulu bank which was a CIA front, and his college dropout single mom somehow managed to live in a Hilton Hotel in Karachi for almost a year without any visible means of support. Obama's black African father wasn't a Company man, but the man who chose him to be a member of the group of promising African students sent to the US for education/indoctrination had CIA connections.
Obama himself was a man who had no verifiable history until a few years before he became president. He still has no doctor, no medical records, no educational records that can be accessed, and no old girlfriends before Michelle. Now that his total kill scores are approaching those of Pol Pot, he is only 15 months away from a retirement that will consist of golfing, living inside a fortified compound, and romantic walks on the beach with his significant other, whoever that may be.

Joshua said...

@Muffin who wrote ". . . and romantic walks on the beach with his significant other, whoever that may be."

May I say that you are one psychopathic piece of shit. Truly. You are part of this whole psychotic movement (Tea Party? Libertarian? Objectivist? Some other brand of shithead?) who simply cannot resist, CANNOT resist, alleging that Barack Obama is homosexual. You can't help yourself, you and your kind are obsessed with this idea that Barack Obama is gay, somehow a closeted Muslim too, because your whole conception of our vast (and possibly infinite) cosmos rests upon the insistence that there is no greater evil than homosexuality, Islam and Communism (which you confuse with socialism, anarchism, syndicalism and generally anything that is not economic laissez-faire). You are truly disturbed.

The person that Barack Obama would spend time with in some ideal vision of the future involving romantic beach walks would be none other than Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama, his wife. You fucking piece of garbage.

Joseph Cannon said...

Josua, you're being out of line. Muffin did not say that Obama was gay or Muslim. Read it again. Muffin is wrong, in that we know that Obama did have other girlfriends before Michelle.

Everyone, I don't want any fights. I can supply enough orneriness to satisfy everyone's needs.

None of this has any real bearing on the question posed in my post (several times). But I cannot expect any of you to answer that question because I don't think that ANYONE can.