15 February 2012
Prequel: I’m going to write a longer piece on this issue, not Ali per se but on the entire ‘orientalism’ approach that saturates all of us, left and right.
All quotes from, ‘Assad must go to save Syria from intervention’, RT 15 February 2012
Today, I see that the well known ‘revolutionary’ Tariq Ali is telling that:
“He [Assad] has to be pushed out,” Tariq Ali insists, for which “the Syrian people are doing their best”.
4 May 2011
I know I keep hammering on about this but it still hasn’t sunk in with those who profess to be on the left, bemused, or perhaps it’s bewitched, as they are by the concept of ‘humanitarian intervention’. Take the latest bleat from down under:
“I firmly believe the left and progressive forces have made a serious error in viewing and equating Libya with the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Libya is not the same situation; there has been a popular peoples uprising.” — ‘Libya: The left should not oppose call for military intervention‘, Steven Katsineris, Greenleft
6 April 2011 — Strategic Culture Foundation
“This is pure hypocrisy and demagogy, they are already giving weapons to the rebels, and not only that: they are interfering in the struggle of the Libyan people,” he said, adding that this action is against international law and the United Nations Charter.” — Miguel D’Escoto
One thing should surely be clear and that is the pivotal role played by the corporate/state media in selling the Libyan ‘no-fly zone’ and the subsequent invasion by the Empire, albeit by first ‘softening up the enemy’ and then as illegal arms supplier. Thus the ‘rebels’, about whom absolutely nothing is known, become the West’s ‘democratic’ torch-bearers and all pretence at it being some kind of ‘humanitarian intervention’, is dropped.
28 March 2011
“The world is suffering, at the same time, the consequences of climatic changes; shortages and prices of foods, military spending and the squandering of natural and human resources are increasing. War was the timeliest event that could happen at this time.” — ‘Partnership of Equals‘ By Fidel Castro Ruz
I’m glad someone is on the ball.
21 March 2011 — Strategic Culture Foundation
“The US has signalled that the international community should “go beyond” a no-fly zone in Libya, suggesting military intervention for the first time.”” — “West should ‘go beyond’ no-fly zone, US says” — The Daily Telegraph, 20 March 2011
So why is there no ‘no-fly zone’ over the Ivory Coast, or Yemen, or Bahrain or indeed any country where the state is killing its citizens? What makes Libya different? Could it be that the hysterical propaganda campaign concerning Gaddafi’s human rights abuses in the Western media is related to the following, with the head of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen telling his Polish audience:
“When I look at central and eastern Europe I’m extremely optimistic about the future we can achieve in North Africa” — ‘NATO: Libya Military Intervention: Model For North Africa‘, Reuters, 17 March 2011
7 March 2011
“Despite the situation in Libya remaining unresolved, one thing is now certain: the president of the United States is now in control of the money, and this gives him a powerful tool … ‘Most countries consider the freezing of their assets an act of economic warfare'” — ‘Money as a weapon in West’s war on Libya‘, RT, 7 March 2011
In the West, revolution is something we are not very familiar with although it’s something the Left talk about an awful lot, other peoples’ revolutions that is.
4 March 2011
“Defence secretary Liam Fox today confirmed that a British diplomatic team is in Libya talking to rebel forces.” — ‘SAS unit ‘held by Libyan rebels’‘, The Independent, 6 March 2011
According to the Wikipedia site ‘a civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state’ which seems to be a pretty accurate description of events in Libya as they unfold. The problem is identifying who is contesting for state power as there seems to be no single group in charge of the opposition.
26 July 2008
The US government is talking with Iran, so what’s the catch? The simple answer is the November election. The move is clearly aimed at associating McCain/Republican Party with a new, kinder, softer Bush cabal although the Washington Post sees it somewhat differently. In an unabashed paean to Obama it says: Continue reading
8 October 2003
Location and photographer unknown
‘Repeat a lie often enough and it eventually becomes the truth.’
Oh what an irony that the ‘responsible’ press is so prone to quoting Goebbels’ famous line as if by saying it somehow cancels out the lies they tell us. It’s as if they’re telling us, ‘If, by some chance you should be on to us, this is our caveat emptor that lets us off the hook.’
6 July 2003
Predictably, in response to continued challenges to the rationale behind the invasion of Iraq, Blair said the following:
‘There couldn’t be a more serious charge, that I ordered our troops into conflict on the basis of intelligence evidence that I falsified.’
Investigating Imperialism 