Vacations, Ignorance and Bliss

Aaaah yes, summertime. The endless repeats on TV and the news as the sheeple are lulled into the false sense of security that all is well in the world. Nothing new ever happens until the new school year starts up again and along with it a nagging need for distraction. Returning from my yearly summertime hiatus away from these fine internets, I'm pleased to report that the status quo has been maintained once again, making it possible for us to enjoy our vacation time. Having landed on my feet again here in sunny Spain, browsing the news from the past month is eerily similar to leafing through the TV guide lineup of summer reruns making it so much easier to understand the circular nature of news. A top ten for y'all:

1) End of the financial crisis. That's right it's over. At least in Canada where the governor of the Bank of Canada declared, "We're on track for the recovery both in Canada and globally". The Canadians are looking at a 1.3% rise in GDP this quarter. It's hard not to agree when the reason we got into that mess were the actions of banks and non-bank (at the time) entities such as Goldman Sachs. All must be good when they declare profits of $3.44 billion this quarter, while others such as HSBC and Barclays pull in over £6 billion in six months. Aaah, feel so much better again. No weapons of mass destruction here. And the bonuses are because bank employees are like footballers and movie stars. What's that you say? Nothing has changed structurally to make the problem go away, and in fact conditioned have improved for those same institutions to make even more money because they have less competition and more government leeway to do crazy stuff like this? And there not even sorry? My dad says housing prices are going up again on the west coast, so all must be ok.

2) The death of US health care reform, sold as the only hope to pay for the bailout of the above crisis. Well, the parallel to the tactic used in the 90's to derail the last big push is far too obvious, the disinformation too painful. Really, many Americans equate a socialized health care system with eugenics.

3) The Clinton-era flashback above leads straight to North Korea. Kim Jong-Il is crazy! No?? Again, sorry, Really? Is it necessary to make the news so transparently circular? Bill coulda bombed them in '93, didn't, now he negotiates for the release of reporters. Ah yes, the old rewarding children for bad behaviour gambit. Lucky America likes bombing other countries.

4) The world is still safer due to western help in Afghanistan. Did I say change the channel? This rerun is boring. Well, it's not as big as Iraq anymore but while the new NATO boss pushes for more European help most Americans - oops, there I go again, US bashing - of the world are still blissfully unaware of the ease with which this could have been avoided. Books not bombs. Everyone should just head up to Mongolia to check this out to remember what war and hegemony used to be all about

5) Mongolia to the Chinese. What's that, Chinese are being executed. Is it Tiananmen? No, Uighurs, well away from Beijing. They're Muslims and not as pretty as those Iranian girls, so who really cares I guess?!

6) Political unrest in Latin America. Honduras this time. Yes, I know, America once again in a no-win situation. Do something, don't. Hmmm, how did they get there?

7) The G8 is still in charge of guiding the world towards a better future (?!), with or without Italy apparently.

8) Myanmar, Aung San Su Kyi on trial. Probably seems old hat even to her, having been in jail off and on for over 20 years now. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 1991, after having won elections the previous year for which the military threw her in jail, is this time accused of having a man swim out to the island where she was held to warn her that "her life was in danger". In a country that moves their capital to avoid scutiny, anything can happen. A most bizarro world we live in, the junta can just keep her in jail indefinitely, until she becomes "Nelson Mandela figure" at which time, well, something will happen. What the?

9) Planes still crash, celebrities die. Look it up. It happens. Oh yeah, plus hot weather plus no water equals fire! Whether you're in Spain, BC, California or Australia. Wait a minute, it could be anywhere! I'm I the only one to notice the pattern here, and the fact (yes, fact) that these events are not only getting more common, but also more intense. Heck, even Camrose, just south of my home town of Edmonton, got into the news due to freak storms trying to kill country music fans. A small increase in the intensity of common storms and POW!

10) Wacked out nationalists like to blow people up. Back to back ETA bombs to celebrate 50 years of killing innocent people. OK, so I like Spain, but really, why the regional nationalism? It's really messed up. Right up there with religion and right wing fanatics in my book of things I dislike. I love the Basques and Patxaran, spent a lot of time up there, they are a different people, but killing people never solved anything. One could argue that they have too much autonomy, or too little (as in their own country). The merry-go-round will keep going until we run out of tickets. Replace Basque with Palestinian or Kurd minus the rights and you get the circular, interchangeable picture.

I know, I know, I've missed a bunch. Life, the news is a kaleidoscope of events, all twirling to form an image one snap shot at a time, one vantage point at a time. But really, do I care that there are cops in Massachusetts who still hate black guys but love beer? That the last communists lost out in Moldova? It was just twitter practice for the non election in Iran. And yes, there's a lot more to say about the death spiral in American politics, but who cares anymore, it'll either be Palin or Obama in 2012! So what if Saakashvili could still light a fuse under Russia or if there are Russian subs sitting off New York? Makes one long for the days when technology would just wipe us all out. Or, it makes one look forward to Labour Day, fall, autumn when the real fun starts. Global food riots, woohooo!

Sorry

Could it be that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually has a point? There's been a lot of talk about the fact that Barack Obama gave his first interview to a foreign network, an Arab network no less. Of course the American networks felt slighted, with some, OK, one, the FOX "network" going so far as pretending to not be able to pronounce Al-Arabiya (check it out here, was she being ignorant or condescending?). As expected the right's response is to scream about being weak in the face of the enemy - remember talking and exchanging ideas is a Republican weakness - but I want to focus on the comments made by everyone's favourite Persian leader.

In his first public address since Obama's inauguration and interview, Ahmadinejad said:
"Those who say they want to make change, this is the change they should make: they should apologise to the Iranian nation and try to make up for their dark background and the crimes they have committed against the Iranian nation."

Here's the thing: he's right. While Obama took the first step by reaching out his hand, much of the Muslim world still sees that hand as a clenched fist. How could they not when one considers some of the things that the US has done to Iran and other countries over the years, most of which many Americans themselves have no idea about. If one wants to get a small idea of the propaganda and censorship that forms the world view of many Americans, this is a quick and easy start. Ahmadinejad listed some of the grievances of his people that he wishes an apology for, beginning with American support for the 1953 coup that ousted the democratically elected government of Mohammed Mossadegh and installed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who ruled until he was ousted in the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Also on the list is the shooting down of an Iran Air Airbus A300 by the United States Navy’s missile cruiser Vincennes over the Persian Gulf in 1988, killing 290 people. American military commanders said at the time that the passenger plane had been mistaken for an F-14 fighter jet, and they defended the warship’s actions.

Find more videos like this on www.truveo.com.

Oh, and there was that little thing where the US backed Iraq and Saddam Hussein in the 1980's in the war against Iran leading to the deaths of over a million people. Of course over on FOX "news" (read story here), the only US 'crime' that is mentioned is trying to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power. That's the only bad thing America has done, ever.

The truth is, without American intervention there would be no Ahmadinejads, Bin Ladens or Kim Jong-ils in this world and therefore not only owes the Iranian people, but the whole world a big sorry. Yes, the world also owes America a great big thank-you for all the good it's done as well. However, she must face up to the fact that much wrong has resulted from her actions. From genocide at home to Chile through Iraq, America has made it's share of errors (pretty good list here, CIA interventions here). The last eight years saw a dangerous shift in American foreign policy, specifically the pre-emptive war doctrine and increased support for Israel in their genocidal fight against the Palestinian people. The predictable result has been the increase in radicalism seen in the Muslim nations, making the world a much more dangerous place. Now there's news that the Obama administration is drafting a letter to the Iranian people in response to a letter of congratulations received after the election victory in November. What should the letter say? What tone should it strike? Should it be addressed directly to the people of Iran? All important questions, but I think one word would go a long way to healing the wounds: Sorry.

When Talking Became a Bad Thing

I must have missed the meeting. Can someone please tell me when we decided that discussing issues and problems became a bad thing? Watching John (McBush) McCain the other day I was struck by the way he thought he was putting down his potential Democratic rival in the November election by saying that if Obama were elected president, he would have an open dialogue with Iran. In case you missed it, at some point talking with people, and nations, about issues and disagreements was displaced by a new method of conflict resolution, namely bombs.

This change has been written about before, yet it still makes no difference. I've been having some fun looking back at articles written before the US invasion of Iraq and the sad thing is that we knew what was happening even then. America had decided to abandon the whole idea of diplomacy in order to make it look like they were doing something to fight the "war on terror". In the post 9/11 world where America needed help most, to build alliances and trust, they decided to throw it all to the wind and wage war. Why? Who knows, but for some reason it's no longer just OK to not care what the rest of the world thinks about their actions, it's a campaign strategy that is likely to attract voters!

Let's take the case of Iran. First, we have to try to imagine how they feel. America has invaded Iraq to the west and Afghanistan to the east. Imagine the case of a hostile power taking over Canada to the north and Mexico to the south, how would America react to being caught in this type of vice. Well, they would attack, but Iran knows that militarily they wouldn't stand a chance in a head to head confrontation, so you have to show strength in some other way. Iran chose the nuclear card. Maybe we have them, maybe we want them, in either case, don't attack us because we'll use them. Yes, Ahmadinejad has said a few wild a crazy things, but does that mean you can't talk with him? The White House has already in effect had the green light to invade Iran for 8 months since the passing of the Kyl-Lieberman Amendment (Clinton voted for it by the way), and with only about the same amount of time left in office don't be surprised if Bush/Cheney try it before saying adios. Don't talk, invade, and if not now, McBush will. Maybe we all forget his fondness for old Beach Boys songs.

More proof of the neocon aversion to diplomacy is the reaction to former president Jimmy Carter's recent meeting with representatives of Hamas, a party that, you know, only won the last Palestinian elections. But the we don't like them, so we don't talk to them rule seems to hold as in Iran. Secretary of State Rice said," We had certainly told President Carter that we did not think meeting with Hamas was going to help... the United States is not going to deal with Hamas." And of course McBush had to get a dig in on Obama, who refused to condemn such a wild move as Carter's, talking. As well as using the word terrorist 3 times in 6 sentences, McBush said, "If Senator Obama is not decisive enough to condemn former President Carter, how can he be strong enough to deal with the threat they pose to America and to our allies?" Read: if you think talking is a good idea, your weak. Well, at least he pleased the Israeli lobby. No, we'll just continue to support Israel so they can continue to antagonize Hamas by bombing them, thus creating more terrorists and more attacks, so Israel will bomb them... I think you get it.

In an environment where the level of rhetoric has reached a point where you can criticize someone for being a proponent of negotiation, where else will the world's most powerful nation turn to besides more bombs. Today we heard from both Bush in the Knesset in Israel and McBush speaking in Ohio as they were doing some kind of two step manoeuvre that left me, and I hope others, flabbergasted. Bush's speech, if not libelous, was at least offensive to anyone listening who believes in diplomacy. In a speech marking the 60th anniversary of Israel in the Jewish state's parliament Bush said: “The fight against terror and extremism is the defining challenge of our time. .. Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.’ We have an obligation to call this what it is – the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."
In a clear reference to Obama's plan to negotiate a settlement with the Palestinians, Bush clearly linked the idea of the rise of Nazism in the 30's to the Palestinian dream of a homeland today. Why doesn't anyone mention that his administration's policies have created more terrorists in the past seven years than existed before his election? Meanwhile, in America, McBush was making equally farcical statements about the Middle East. The most disturbing part of his speech in fact wasn't that it included no details on how the predictions he was making were going to become reality, but the language that he used. Read carefully:"By January 2013, America has welcomed home most of the servicemen and women who have sacrificed terribly so that America might be secure in her freedom. The Iraq War has been won. Iraq is a functioning democracy, although still suffering from the lingering effects of decades of tyranny and centuries of sectarian tension. Violence still occurs, but it is spasmodic and much reduced. Civil war has been prevented; militias disbanded; the Iraqi Security Force is professional and competent; al Qaeda in Iraq has been defeated; and the Government of Iraq is capable of imposing its authority in every province of Iraq and defending the integrity of its borders. The United States maintains a military presence there, but a much smaller one, and it does not play a direct combat role."
Notice the transition in verb tense from the passive to the active thus attempting to convince the listener in the reality of his words (sorry, I'm an English teacher). No details, just false hope for the gullible. Plus, I thought the war was won on June 5, 2003, almost 5 years ago, not 5 years in the future. Peace will have been restored without talking to the most important players in the region (Iran and Syria) and of course Al Qaeda, who did not exist in Iraq before American intervention, will have been wiped out. Anyone who buys this pipe dream and votes for four more years of empty promises deserves what they get.