Where Greece’s Money Actually Goes
This is just an update to a previous post indicating where Greece’s debt comes from… at least in part. And, again, it is not (or not only) lazy Greek tax-evaders that contributes to the country’s debt but the ‘need’ for Greek tax-payers to support Greek and Western banks (through loans/debt) so that they can support French, German, and U.S. arms manufacturers. I mean, how else is Germany, France or the U.S. going to maintain the illusion that they have robust economies? Sadly, Western nations could not survive without the Ponzischem-o-nomics of governments, the financial sector, and arms manufacturing.
See Zero Hedge’s article and the German original at Zeit Online.
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Iraq War? What Iraq War?
I have been meaning to comment here on the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq as announced by Barack Obama himself. I am certainly not the only one who scoffs at the thought that this is actually a withdrawal or an end to the occupation of Iraq by U.S. troops. The U.S. military is supposedly leaving behind troops (but they are not ‘combat’ troops!), large military bases and an embassy that is the size of 80 football fields and costs $1 billion a year to operate (meaning its more like a military fortress than an embassy). Today, the U.S. maintains well over 800 military bases in something like 130+ countries (these figures are notoriously confused, see this article for example.)
Still, most commentators and pundits showing up in the mainstream media (even in Canada) go along with the charade that the Iraq War has ended and there is a lot of talk that it was, in the end, successful. Such is the mainstream media: delusional and clearly preoccupied with other important topics such a celebrity sightings and talking up whatever reality TV program their network sponsors. And, I suspect, the vast majority of U.S. or Western citizens have put the conflict/war/occupation out of their minds too.
So, I thought I would post a document showing just how out of touch most in the West are when it comes to the wars/conflicts/occupations that their militaries/governments are pursuing in their name (I suspect that the lack of awareness is only slightly better in the U.K. or Canada). I had originally prepared this as a handout for a class I was teaching at the time but I did not use it in the end. The document looks at the casualties of Iraqi citizens since the beginning of the U.S.- and U.K. led invasion of Iraq. The interesting thing about this is that 1) we have no idea, and 2) most in the U.S. are completely clueless about how many Iraqi have died since their former President invaded that country in 2003.
It truly is sad how Westerners can be so oblivious to what their governments do in their name and to maintain their comfortable Western lifestyle. When living in (or next to) the empire, such blissful ignorance is a very, very dangerous thing.
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PS. The document is in PDF format. You can download Adobe’s reader here or you can download other free (and some that are open source) PDF readers here.
Iran in August? Some Think the Winds of War are again Blowing
For the past week, I have locked myself in my home office in order to write (basically from scratch) a 30ish-page, 10,000ish-word essay for a journal and its special, double issue on the Cultures of Militarization. So, I have not found much time to read or catch news via any medium.
Now that is has been sent off, I have taken a little break to get caught up in what may or may not be happening in the world. One surprising development was how much Iran as a potential target of Western agression/self-defence. This had been building over the summer, especially the recently-announced economic sanctions and what not, but it seems that things have really taken off in my week’s absence from the world (or it just seems like it).
But it does make a lot of sense. Forces within the U.S., Israel, and other Western nations have been eyeing Iran for some time now. But the events of the recent past, it seems those forces seem to be empowered once again. The global financial near-collapse (war can be very profitable for those accustomed to making lots of money), a weakened U.S. President (wars can be good for rallying the population), a resurgent right-wing/neocon movement (which always looks to war), wary Arab states, and an Israeli government that has been in conflict diplomatically with the current White House.
At any rate, I was surprised to see, again and again, discussion of this topic in a variety of places. Here are a few of the most intriguing I came across today:
VIPS Sends Memo To Obama Warning Israel May Bomb Iran “As Early As This Month”
Obama is Preparing to Bomb Iran
It makes one wonder… and in Canada, I don’t think there would be any question how our current government would react if the Israel/U.S. attacked Iran, especially given recent statements on Israel, how quickly the government announced Canada too would be joining the economic sanctions, the fact that the Conservatives (led by Stephen Harper) were very outspoken about joining the U.S. in the invasion of Iraq when they were the official opposition, and all the recent funding for new weapons/equipment for the military.
If it were to happen, and if it were–as many seem to fear–to expand and proliferate to include other Gulf nations and expanded terrorism… well….
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A warfare state? Really?
I hope you note the sarcasm in the title… it’s not really directed at any single person in particular but is motivated more by frustration. I just came across Tom Engelhardt’s essay at AlterNet where he makes the case that the U.S. is a military- or warfare-state:
“While You are Minding Your Own Business, The U.S. is Constantly Making War Around the Globe” by Tom Engelhardt, Tomdispatch.com / Alternet
As much as it might seem that most of us are going along, living peaceful lives, there’s another kind of America that operates on the same soil — a warfare state.
The article is excellent but my frustration comes from the necessity of him having to write such an article in the first place. As a person who has spent years studying propaganda, media and politics, this is certainly not new to me and even though I understand that for the average U.S. citizen, Canadian, etc. it all might come as a surprise, it really shouldn’t be so surprising. But, I guess that is the reality of living under (or beside) a military suoperpower. I teach a course on media, war, and propaganda which focuses primarily on the twentieth century and the U.S. Many students are genuinely surprised at the extent of the U.S. military empire, and these are well-educated and informed young adults. Of course, and Engelhardt points this out in his essay, there is little reflection of the military state in U.S. (or even Canadian) media. Of course, that is to be expected within a military empire: there is usually a lot of denial of empire or it is downplayed by carefully referring to it only by using euphemism.
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