John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ITEM IN MOON OF ALABAMA
“There are freshmen from Michigan and Maryland in Congress who recently made some news with comments about the Zionist lobby. Some anti-imperialists and progressives lauded them for their efforts and defended them against attacks. But these are wolfs in sheep clothing.
“Rep. Ilhan Omar: ‘The people of Syria revolted against Assad's repressive dictatorship 8 years ago today, demanding a more just and free government. Peace loving people around the world stand in solidarity with them in this struggle!’
“Rashida Tlaib: ‘The anniversary of the uprising against the oppression in Syria was yesterday. We must recognize the struggle of those who organized and stood up against injustice. It is my hope that we can see a Syria that is truly free one day.’”
I like Ilhan Omar for speaking out on Palestine, just as I like Tulsi Gabbard's efforts to understand the ugly war in Syria. I admire them both for public courage.
But, please, this is America we are talking about.
To expect anyone in American politics to come along with completely fresh and informed and honest views is just dreaming.
Just as with Bernie Sanders' so-called socialism or, indeed, anything at all about Sanders.
He's a distinguished-looking bag of hot air.
He showed everyone what he was made of in his confrontation with the woman who plainly stole the nomination from him, Hillary Clinton.
He's never been a strong voice against global empire, against the secret terror of the CIA, against the vast intrusions of the NSA, or against the monstrous waste and mass killing of the Pentagon.
And then we have that thoroughbred phony, Elizabeth Warren, making precious little noises all the time about progressive matters while voting for hateful defense and security budgets and never opposing all those wars and offering us in speeches smatterings of the establishment’s poison about Iran.
I've said it many times. There are no liberals, genuine liberals, in the United States, at least not in any positions of authority or influence. Not one in the national government. Not one in charge of a major news source. None guiding the nation’s great institutions and foundations and education establishments.
America is about empire and the wars required to sustain it, and that is pretty much it. The rest is elaborate window dressing, theater, playacting. Empires do not get built and maintained and expanded by nice guys, and the resources constantly pouring into empire leave no room for great human or humane efforts.
Another thing I’ve said many times is that you can have either an empire or a decent country, but you cannot have both. America made its choice, long ago.
The entire atmosphere of the place, the education system, the press, the churches, the politics - all immersed and saturated in war and the drive for empire with little room for other values. It can be seen and heard and felt in a thousand details.
What could be more blatantly unfair and anti-democratic than what we see being done to Venezuela today? Yet, where are the American voices against their government’s open use of threats and terror? The politicians? The editors? The great university heads? The church leaders?
Some might claim an excuse over events in Syria because many facts about responsibility for that set of atrocities remained well hidden for a long time. Many facts remain hidden still, despite our learning a good deal here and there.
But here, in the case of Venezuela, we see daily the blunt face of fascism telling people who they should vote for, who should swear himself in as President, who should control the country's assets, and destroying the national power grid, an act of terror which undoubtedly killed and injured many and destroyed what was in the fridges of literally millions of the most ordinary people.
Why isn't anyone shouting at the top of their lungs?
All this done by men who say they respect democracy and human rights and expect to be respected in the world as leaders.
You know, Hitler gave one of the great speeches about peace, not long before he started a new war. It was reported by that great journalist and chronicler of Nazi Germany, William Shirer.
And, under the Nazis, Germany had some window dressings of progressivity, various socialistic measures, if you will. It even sometimes held plebiscites.
