Tuesday, June 13, 2017

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: MARTIAL LAW IN BRITAIN? - THE COMMON ATTRIBUTION OF TERROR TO THE WRONG CAUSE - MISUSE OF THE TERM GLOBALISM - NEOCONS AND MIDEAST WARS


EXPANSION OF A COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN ZERO HEDGE


“Operation Temperer - U.K. Will Likely Institute Martial Law Measures Within A Year”

This is all quite depressing, of course.

But many Americans lose sight of the essential truth in these matters, and when you do that your analysis becomes inaccurate and your politics become empty.

I discount the commonly-cited notion of "globalists." Although certainly there are people who fit that term, they are most certainly not the people creating the serious problems we see in the world. To my mind, that idea as an explanation for events borders on fantasy, and it indeed effectively assists those truly responsible.

What I very much do believe is that since 9/11 (and we will likely never know whether that event in itself was a kind of “FDR and Pearl Harbor” set-up intended to get things kicked off), the US has been on a violent rampage to re-shape part of the world's geography.

All these "terror incidents" are blowback from that rampage, all of them, and I’m sure even leaders such as Theresa May know that, but they will not say so because they have fully embraced, under duress or otherwise, America’s cause in its rampage.

The same rampage is the source of all of the refugee problems plaguing Europe and making Americans fearful. It is a self-inflicted wound, and one, by the way, for which America in the most cowardly fashion takes no responsibility, always pretending to be a victim of something horrible “out there” called Islamic extremism, a vague expression which explains nothing but does give people a name to clutch.

After all, the history of Christianity is likely the bloodiest in all of human history (everything from the Crusades and Holy Inquisition to vast religious wars and massacres and world wars and the Holocaust to the gifts of Stalin, Hitler, and Mussolini – each of those gentlemen in fact raised as Christians). The Hebrew scriptures are about little else but bloodshed and hatreds, and contemporary, re-created Israel sits on other peoples’ land, people who are held without rights or recourse of any kind. So, calling Muslims especially violent is pretty ridiculous.

The American establishment – its crinkly-faced, lifetime Senators, the CIA, the Pentagon, major special interest lobbies, and America’s wealthy elite whom they all serve – decided quite a few years ago to flex its muscles even more in world affairs.

The reasons were multiple, one being dark fears about the relative decline of America as shifts in the world’s economy continue. It is a valid fear, but the truth is there is nothing to be done for it. Countries like China and Russia and India are now inevitably headed for their place in the sun.

Neither wars nor Trump’s ‘great again” rhetoric can alter that reality, any more than you can stop the forces of evolution. Still, the response by America’s establishment is one of lashing out, intimidating, and making demands here and there because it is a powerful entity and it is not ready to accept its relative decline. It is an angry bull elephant lunging at anything it approaches.

That set of behaviors is almost diametrically opposed to the behaviors of “globalists,” who, at least as most would define the term, tend to be rather idealistic, liberal-minded, perhaps even somewhat unrealistic people, advocates of international trade and standards and agreements. Such people are not friendly to wars and oppression and, in fact, represent almost the opposite camp to the American establishment’s pushing aggression and imperial dominance.

Tied in with the American establishment’s fears is the rise of Neocon influence in America. The Neocons basically have been preaching for years: “Go ahead, America, you have the power- military, financial, and diplomatic, so use it to get just what you want. “

It is a somewhat soft version of fascism, if you will, and it has very much taken hold, notions growing like dragons’ teeth to shape American policy towards aggression. The great war correspondent and observer of history, William Shirer, said way back during the Nazi era, which he uniquely documented, that America’s temperament could allow it easily to go fascist. He knew what he was talking about, and it has done so.

I use the word “fascism” advisedly since one of the key aspects of 1930’s fascism was lots of swagger and militarism and readiness to use aggression to get what you want. If that doesn’t characterize how America behaves today on the world stage, I just don’t know what does.

Always behind the preaching of the Neocons is the mostly unspoken agenda of a powerful and aggressive United States being good for Israel and the hell with anyone else, especially anyone who even somewhat disagrees. This interest is, of course, diametrically opposed to the long-term interests of the American people, and for many reasons, especially the fact that Israel is a pariah state in violation of countless UN resolutions, international conventions and treaties.

Israel arouses great anger across the region which is why Israel so opposes democratic governments and likes dealing with absolute monarchs (Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, Oman, etc.), unelected governments (“President” Mahmoud Abbas), and juntas (Egypt). America’s committing both to supporting these and to attacking others, for Israel’s benefit, puts it on the wrong side of history and commits it to continued aggression to enforce its will imposed on many millions of people.

It is easy to see the marriage of convenience between Neocon advocacy and American policy in the Mideast Wars, all deliberately started by America, although often given barely-plausible cover stories such as describing induced and subsidized terror as local revolts and always given lots of empty, windy rhetoric about fighting terror and getting the bad guys. America has been both creating a cordon sanitaire around Israel and gaining new authority in this large and important part of the world.

Despite all the empty words of people like Nikki Haley, in the end, if you start wars and bomb people, you are the aggressor, and aggression has consequences.

Every bit of blowback from America’s efforts becomes another excuse for further reductions of freedom and rights on the home front. After all, the very governments who created the whole mess – America and its close allies – have amply demonstrated that they are comfortable with seriously restricting freedoms. Did you ever hear of aggressors who have much respect for such things? The police/military mentality is never friendly to rights and freedoms. Never.

Of course, the shock and disappointment of Trump is that, after showing promise during the election campaign of being a genuine maverick who could temper America’s dangerously aggressive course, he has signed up in blood for the establishment’s cause and is now making more threatening noises than Obama did.