JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: THE EFFECTS OF GREAT UNBALANCED POWER ARE TERRIBLE ALWAYS - WE DESPISE MONOPOLIES AND DICTATORSHIPS FOR GOOD REASONS - BUT IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS MANY PEOPLE EMBRACE AS SOMEHOW BENIGN AMERICA'S DICTATORIAL DRIVES - THE GENUINE EVIL OF SANCTIONS - WAR BY OTHER MEANS AND ALWAYS WAR ON THE WEAK AND DEFENSELESS

John Chuckman


COMMENT POSTED TO A (REPEAT) ARTICLE BY DMITRY ORLOV IN RUSSIA INSIDER



‘Our Banner of Deceit is Leading the US to Failure

‘"Lies beget other lies, and pretty soon unbiased intelligence-gathering, rational analysis and proper mission planning become impossible."’



https://russia-insider.com/en/christianity/our-banner-deceit-leading-us-failure/ri21135



You know, we have another archive article repeated today in Russia Insider, a very good and accurate one about the monopoly tendencies of the American economy.  (“Almost Every Sector of the US Economy Is a Monopoly or an Oligopoly” by Michael Snyder)

I view it as closely related to this excellent piece by Dmitry Orlov on mainline news sources and international affairs, even though its subject is quite another topic.

Both deal with the effects of great, unbalanced power.

Virtually no one in the world likes monopolies.

Their impact on the economy somewhat resembles the impact of dictatorship on the political life of a nation.

And no one embraces dictatorship as a general governing principle.

But in international affairs, somehow, a number of people seem to believe it is perfectly okay to have a form of dictatorship.

If dictatorship is bad for a country's political life and is bad, in the form of monopoly, for a country’s economic life, how can it possibly be beneficial in world affairs?

It cannot be.

Yet today, as perhaps never before, we have America working industriously towards enforcing its will over almost everyone on the planet. Threats, financial pressures, unwarranted tariffs, arbitrary demands, displays of military force, and sanctions everywhere.

You know, sanctions, a word which sounds almost harmless to the untutored ear, have been described as just war by other means, and that is a deadly accurate description.

Sanctions represent a particularly ugly form of war. They are indiscriminate weapons, much like massive carpet bombing, and they always and everywhere hurt mainly the poor and defenceless.

Indeed, for sanctions really to be effective, that is exactly what they must do, strike the great mass of defenseless people – the poor, the sick, the old, women and children – bringing immense pressure on any government.

I generally don’t like using religious terms to describe things in the world of political power, but the word “evil” seems unavoidable to me in the matter of sanctions.

And what do you know, you only have to briefly watch and listen to the brutal people pushing them vigorously to confirm absolutely the perception of evil – people like John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, Elliot Abrams, Donald Trump, and Benjamin Netanyahu. Simply unconscionable liars and ruthless killers, every one of them.