Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Even A Blind Pig...

As the old saying goes, even a blind pig finds an occasional acorn.

Foreign Policy magazine is not one of my favorite online publications, being altogether too conservative and mainstream for my taste, but every now and then, they do publish something worth reading. Such is very definitely the case in the latest column by Stephen M. Walt.

This column is the latest is an ongoing editorial catfight between the author and Jeff Goldberg, an ardent Zionist who writes for both Atlantic magazine and Bloomberg. This little spat all started when Mr Walt wrote a blurb for the fly cover of a book which dared to criticize Israel. So now Mr Goldberg has accused Mr Walt of being an anti-Semite, (oh noes!), etc, etc, ad nauseam. And the column linked above is a response by Mr Walt and his associate John Mearsheimer.

"Possum," you think, "why are you wasting my time with an editorial bitchfest between two over-educated East Coast Establishment assholes?".

Well, because in the course of his oh-so-genteel defense, John Mearsheimer makes some very interesting points about what was actually said and not said, and about the nature of the whole Zionist debate.

The book in question is "The Wandering Who", by Gilad Atzmon. In spite of the title, it has nothing to do with Pete Townshend or Roger Daltrey. (And, no, I'm not making any money off the link to Amazon).

As I said, there are some interesting points made here, which is why I'm posting about this whole issue. Not least among these interesting points is a sterling example of just how the Zionists use partial truths to slander people. let me quote one paragraph -

Let me make one additional point about Goldberg's mining of Atzmon's blog posts. Goldberg ends his attack on me with the following quotation from a Feb. 19 blog post by Atzmon: "I believe that from [a] certain ideological perspective, Israel is actually far worse than Nazi Germany." That quotation certainly makes Atzmon look like he has lost his mind and that nothing he has written could be trusted. But Goldberg has misrepresented what Atzmon really said, which is one of his standard tactics. Specifically, he quotes only part of a sentence from Atzmon's blog post; but when you look at the entire sentence, you see that Atzmon is making a different, and far more nuanced point. The entire sentence reads: "Indeed, I believe that from [a] certain ideological perspective, Israel is actually far worse than Nazi Germany, for unlike Nazi Germany, Israel is a democracy and that implies that Israeli citizens are complicit in Israeli atrocities." This is not an argument I would make, but what Atzmon is saying is quite different from the way Goldberg portrays it.

See what I mean? The author offers up an agonizing observation on the moral dangers of representative democracy, in which the leaders which we elect can then take unilateral actions, of an utterly reprehensible nature, in which we are morally complicit. And Goldberg massages that into a simple statement of extremism.

Take the time to read the column linked above, my friends. It's not easy reading, but it is worth your while.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Obama Sucks Israel's Cock Again

Proving once again that he is Israel's whining bitch apologist, Barak Hussein Obama, our ever-so-noble President, in all his Nobel prize winning glory, stood up and delivered a speech to the UN that Desertpeace has quite accurately described as "a defense of Jim Crow in Israel".

Way to go, Mr President. I'm sure Abraham Lincoln, whom you so admire, would have totally agreed with your unconditional support of a racist, fascist Israeli government.

Meanwhile, Israel is busily arming its mad-dog, religious-fanatic "settlers" even more heavily than before, and drawing them pictures of when to shoot.

Oh, but tonguing Israel's anus wasn't enough for our President, oh no, not by half. He had to go for broke with comments like this...

I took office at a time of two wars for the United States. Moreover, the violent extremists who drew us into war in the first place -- Osama bin Laden, and his al Qaeda organization -- remained at large. Today, we've set a new direction.

A new direction, Mr President? You mean by killing Habeas Corpus and escalating drone attacks in Pakistan, drone attacks that kill 39 times as many civilians as "militants"?

At the end of this year, America’s military operation in Iraq will be over. We will have a normal relationship with a sovereign nation that is a member of the community of nations. That equal partnership will be strengthened by our support for Iraq -- for its government and for its security forces, for its people and for their aspirations.

Yeah, right, but we'll leave behind 10,000 fully-armed "trainers" and roughly 4 times that many mercenaries in the guise of "private security personnel". Oh, but we're completely withdrawing from Iraq, really!

As we end the war in Iraq, the United States and our coalition partners have begun a transition in Afghanistan. Between now and 2014, an increasingly capable Afghan government and security forces will step forward to take responsibility for the future of their country. As they do, we are drawing down our own forces, while building an enduring partnership with the Afghan people.

No, asshole, the war in Afghanistan is just getting to the crucial stage, and the Taliban have momentum on their side. You ain't seen nothing yet. And how can you talk about "building an enduring partnership with the Afghan people" when most of them hate our guts because we have occupied their nation and murdered their kin? Just how stupid do you think we are, Mr President, to swallow blatant bullshit like this? What kind of brain-dead morons do you take us for?

The fact is peace is hard. But our people demand it. Over nearly seven decades, even as the United Nations helped avert a third world war, we still live in a world scarred by conflict and plagued by poverty. Even as we proclaim our love for peace and our hatred of war, there are still convulsions in our world that endanger us all.

No, you worthless cock-bandit, peace is easy. You just stop killing people and end your occupation of their countries, you stop supporting fascist governments that murder their own people, you stop pandering to the corporations and the Zionist Lobby.

In short, Mr President, you simply retrieve your misplaced testicles from wherever you have them hidden, and do your job. You remember the words of your oath of office and live up to them. Of The People, By The People, For The People. It's very simple. You quit being a whimpering pussy and be a President.

Asshole.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Did The US Assassinate Burhanuddin Rabbani

Did The US Assassinate Burhanuddin Rabbani?

Somebody killed the man, and the Taliban are adamantly denying any involvement. Personally, I have long suspected that the US has been behind many of the bombings and killings which are commonly blamed on the Taliban.

Let's ask ourselves, cui bono? Who profits from this?

First, as with anything in Afghanistan, one must look at tribal issues. Rabbani, a former President of Afghanistan, was not a Pashtun (from southern Afghanistan), but a Tajik, (from northern Afghanistan). Furthermore, he was one of the few Tajik with enough prestige on both sides to act as a respected broker for talks between the government and the freedom fighters. By all reports, Rabbani was doing just this.

The Karzai government gains nothing from his death; they desperately want a negotiated solution, preferably one which excludes the USA.

The Taliban gain nothing from his death; they may or may not be serious about negotiating, (remember the "peace talks" between the US and North Vietnam?), but merely by forcing the government to negotiate with them, they gain immense prestige. So why on earth would the Taliban kill Rabbani, knowing that this would harm their credibility with the Afghan people?

So who profits? The US government does, Haliburton does, the oil companies do. They profit by scuttling any serious attempt to negotiate a solution in Afghanistan, thereby justifying their continued occupation of Afghanistan. And make no mistake, dear reader, the corporations are reaping immense profits from the occupation.

These are only my own thoughts and opinions, of course. And what do I know? Nasty, suspicious-minded Possum, bad boy, bad!



Open Salon readers can view the video here

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Straight Talk From A Spook

I have said this before, but it's more true than ever. I am really coming to seriously admire Robert Grenier.

This man can speak the truth so compellingly, and yet manage a sense of the whimsical, a brief and eloquent thought spared for what-might-have-been. Who would ever have expected it from a former spook? I am forced to reconsider my image of the CIA, in spite of their manifold and heinous crimes against humanity, their crimes against sanity.

The article to which I refer is here.

Then again, what is the CIA, really?

On the one hand, if you go to their website, at www.cia.gov, and choose World Factbook from the blue menu at the right, you can find a truly excellent online reference source, one which contains blunt, factual, astonishingly undiplomatic appraisals of any number of nations and situations around this world of ours. Back at the main site, if you examine the menu on the left, there is a listing for the CIA "Kids' Page". I confess, I haven't had the courage to look. My excuse is that I'm not a parent, (much to my sorrow and regret), and therefore I'm not qualified to assess the situation. If you're a parent and you do have the courage, let me know what you find, please.

On the other hand, we all know their reputation. There are some who describe the CIA as essentially the private army of the Bush Dynasty. I suspect that the CIA to which these folks refer is essentially the directorate of operations. But who knows?

In conclusion, let me offer a personal anecdote from years ago. In the late 1970's, I was contemplating career decisions, of the sort we all have to make long before we have any realistic idea what we are committing ourselves to, or just how far-reaching the effects of such decisions will be. An older female relative, whom I most emphatically will not identify by name, asked me if I'd considered a career with the CIA. I replied that no, I had not thought about it, and added that it was my understanding that one could not merely walk in and apply for such jobs, but that one must be invited to apply. She looked me right in the eye and asked, "would you like to be invited?".

The point of this story is not that this female relative of mine was an evil woman. She was rather stern and serious for my tastes, and hellishly judgmental, but she was not evil by any means. The point of this story is that the CIA is composed of people, people much like thee and me.

For the record, I said No, thank you. Just imagine how different a man I might be today, if I had said Yes, thank you. Granted, with my basic irreverence for authority, I might well have wound up dead or in prison. But, on the gripping hand, I might have wound up a man much like Robert Grenier.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Is Greece Being Abandoned?

With their own financial problems growing apace, the EU nations are showing some signs that they may perhaps abandon Greece.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, (who belongs in a prison cell for his role in the 2008 meltdown, and subsequent robbery of the US taxpayer), took the unprecedented step of actually attending a meeting of EU Zone financial ministers. And if, at this point, you find yourself wondering just why this is unprecedented, join the club.

Watch carefully the comments of Finnish Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen in this video. And speaking of her, how come the Finns get a hottie like her, and we get stuck with an ugly jug-eared motherfucker like Geithner? There is no justice in the world.



Open Salon readers can view the video and an AJE text article with some further information here.

And, for a totally different take on the issue, see this editorial at The Asia Times. Be aware as you read, however, that this is a very conservative paper, in financial terms.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Trumpka as Hoffa?

My attention was directed to this raving right-wing excuse for a blog by some forum friends. Yes, I'm actually linking to a blog I adamantly disagree with. Not a clever thing to do in terms of traffic management, but who cares.

The author of this blog, apparently one Doug Ross, pretends to mistake Trumpka for Jimmy Hoffa Junior, saying "All these labor leaders look alike to me". Given that he'd just mentioned Frederica Wilson, Maxine Waters, and Jesse Jackson, I suspect that this was right-wing code-speak for "all black people look the same". Ahh, the more it changes, the more it stays the same.

(Edit: Yes, I realize that that Trumpka and Hoffa, Jr are both white)

What we have here is transference, in which the the Right accuses the Left of the transgressions which the Right itself has instigated. The violent demonstrations of the Teabaggers are retroactively justified by pointing a finger at the Left and screaming "Violence! Commies! Revolution!" as soon as the Left dares to defend itself, and this while blithely ignoring the calls for revolution which have been coming from the Tea Party, (and other loathsome creatures of the Far Right), for over three years now.

I sometimes wonder if maybe I shouldn't avoid all discussion of the Left/Right divide on this blog, because it plays right into the divide-and-conquer game, and the last thing we need is to fight among ourselves. But on the other hand, how can I avoid this subject when the GOP has waged a war against the poor and the unemployed for over a decade now?

This is certainly not to say that the Democrats as a whole have been anything more than lukewarm friends to the unemployed and disadvantaged, and Obama might as well be a Republican for all he's done to help (which is, let's face it, more or less nothing).

From 1776 to 1861, the people of the USA managed to compromise, and built one of the greatest nations on earth. Then that willingness to compromise was sabotaged by powerful men who had a vested financial interest in seeing it destroyed, men who reaped huge profits from the chaos of war via fat government contracts.

And the nightmare of the War Between The States does not need to be explained to any of you, I'm sure.

Again today, we stand on the brink of chaos, our willingness to compromise and agree to disagree having been sabotaged by powerful men, (and women), who stand to profit from the resulting nightmare.

Lenin said that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, and then as farce.