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The Mindlessness is Total
25-Aug-2008
Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.
Pervez Musharraf, the puppet installed by the US to rule Pakistan in the interest of US hegemony, resigned August 18 to avoid impeachment. Karl Rove and the Diebold electronic voting machines were unable to control the result of the last election in Pakistan, the result of which gave Pakistanis a bigger voice in their government than America's.
It was obvious to anyone with any sense -- which excludes the entire Bush Regime and almost all of the "foreign policy community" -- that the illegal and gratuitous US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and Israel's 2006 bombing of Lebanon civilians with US blessing, would result in the overthrow of America's Pakistani puppet.
The imbecilic Bush Regime ensured Musharraf's overthrow by pressuring their puppet to conduct military operations against tribesmen in Pakistani border areas, whose loyalties were to fellow Muslims and not to American hegemony. When Musharraf's military operations didn't produce the desired result, the idiotic Americans began conducting their own military operations within Pakistan with bombs and missiles. This finished off Musharraf.
When the Bush Regime began its wars in the Middle East, I predicted, correctly, that Musharraf would be one victim. The American puppets in Egypt and Jordan may be the next to go.
Back during the Nixon years, my Ph.D. dissertation chairman, Warren Nutter, was Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. One day in his Pentagon office I asked him how the US government got foreign governments to do what the US wanted. "Money," he replied.
"You mean foreign aid?" I asked.
"No," he replied, "we just buy the leaders with money."
It wasn't a policy he had implemented. He inherited it and, although the policy rankled with him, he could do nothing about it. Nutter believed in persuasion and that if you could not persuade people, you did not have a policy.
Nutter did not mean merely third world potentates were bought. He meant the leaders of England, France, Germany, Italy, all the allies everywhere were bought and paid for.
They were allies because they were paid. Consider Tony Blair. Blair's own head of British intelligence told him that the Americans were fabricating the evidence to justify their already planned attack on Iraq. This was fine with Blair, and you can see why, with his multi-million dollar payoff once he was out of office.
The American-educated thug, Saakashkvili the War Criminal, who is president of Georgia, was installed by the US taxpayer funded National Endowment for Democracy, a neocon operation whose purpose is to ring Russia with US military bases, so that America can exert hegemony over Russia.
Every agreement that President Reagan made with Mikhail Gorbachev has been broken by Reagan's successors. Reagan's was the last American government whose foreign policy was not made by the Israeli-allied neoconservatives. During the Reagan years, the neocons made several runs at it, but each ended in disaster for Reagan, and he eventually drove them from his government.
Even the anti-Soviet Committee on the Present Danger regarded the neocons as dangerous lunatics. I remember the meeting when a member tried to bring the neocons into the committee, and old line American establishment representatives, such as former Treasury Secretary Douglas Dillon, hit the roof.
The Committee on the Present Danger regarded the neocons as crazy people who would get America into a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. The neocons hated President Reagan, because he ended the cold war with diplomacy, when they desired a military victory over the Soviet Union.
Deprived of this, the neocons now want victory over Russia.
Today, Reagan is gone. The Republican Establishment is gone. There are no conservative power centers, only neoconservative power centers closely allied with Israel, which uses the billions of dollars funneled into Israeli coffers by US taxpayers to influence US elections and foreign policy.
The Republican candidate for president is a warmonger. There are no checks remaining in the Republican Party on the neocons' proclivity for war. What Republican constituencies oppose war? Can anyone name one?
The Democrats are not much better, but they have some constituencies that are not enamored of war in order to establish US world hegemony. The Rapture Evangelicals, who fervently desire Armageddon, are not Democrats; nor are the brainwashed Brownshirts desperate to vent their frustrations by striking at someone, somewhere, anywhere.
I get emails from these Brownshirts and attest that their hate-filled ignorance is extraordinary. They are all Republicans, and yet they think they are conservatives. They have no idea who I am, but since I criticize the Bush Regime and America's belligerent foreign policy, they think I am a "liberal commie pinko."
The only literate sentence this legion of fools has ever managed is: "If you hate America so much, why don't you move to Cuba!"
Such is the current state of a Reagan political appointee in today's Republican Party. He is a "liberal commie pinko" who should move to Cuba.
The Republicans will get us into more wars. Indeed, they live for war. McCain is preaching war for 100 years. For these warmongers, it is like cheering for your home team. Win at all costs. They get a vicarious pleasure out of war. If the US has to tell lies in order to attack countries, what's wrong with that? "If we don't kill them over there, they will kill us over here."
The mindlessness is total.
Nothing real issues from the American press, which is about demonizing Russia and Iran, about the vice presidential choices as if it matters, about whether Obama being on vacation let McCain score too many points.
The mindlessness of the news reflects the mindlessness of the government, for which it is a spokesperson.
The American media do not serve American democracy or American interests. They serve the few people who exercise power.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, the US and Israel made a run at controlling Russia and the former constituent parts of its empire. For awhile the US and Israel succeeded, but Putin put a stop to it.
Recognizing that the US had no intention of keeping any of the agreements it had made with Gorbachev, Putin directed the Russian military budget to upgrading the Russian nuclear deterrent. Consequently, the Russian army and air force lack the smart weapons and electronics of the US military.
When the Russian army went into Georgia to rescue the Russians in South Ossetia from the destruction being inflicted upon them by the American puppet Saakashvili, the Russians made it clear that if they were opposed by American troops with smart weapons, they would deal with the threat with tactical nuclear weapons.
The Americans were the first to announce preemptive nuclear attack as their permissible war doctrine. Now the Russians have announced the tactical use of nuclear weapons as their response to American smart weapons.
It is obvious that American foreign policy, with its goal of ringing Russia with US military bases, is leading directly to nuclear war. Every American needs to realize this fact. The US government's insane hegemonic foreign policy is a direct threat to life on the planet.
Russia has made no threats against America. The post-Soviet Russian government has sought to cooperate with the US and Europe. Russia has made it clear over and over that it is prepared to obey international law and treaties. It is the Americans who have thrown international law and treaties into the trash can, not the Russians.
In order to keep the billions of dollars in profits flowing to its contributors in the US military-security complex, the Bush Regime has rekindled the cold war. As American living standards decline and the prospects for university graduates deteriorate, "our" leaders in Washington commit us to a hundred years of war.
If you desire to be poor, oppressed, and eventually vaporized in a nuclear war, vote Republican.
This article was first published in counterpunch.org
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good points Shadooneh
by Anonym7 (not verified) on Thu Aug 28, 2008 06:33 AM PDTGood points in your last comment Shadooneh, although I strongly advocate direct talks between Iran/U.S. and Iran/Israel I completely agree with you about dangerous nature of ultra right fascists in Israel and the U.S., and that is why I believe Iran needs to have deterrence in place at any cost, ......
--best regards
Shadooneh
by programmer craig on Thu Aug 28, 2008 12:47 AM PDTYes, you do. You ahve a BIG problem with that.
It is right there in your comment:
Do you really want to waste time on a character who believes the Brits
and the US are justified in attacking Iran for some bogus reasons that
his feeble mind has conjured up?! I'm sure we have more important
things to talk about.
You think America's grievances with teh IRI are "bogus" and that you have "more important things to talk about". You suggest "normalizing" relations between the US and Iran, while at the same time trivializing the reasons why teh US broke off diplomatic relations with iran in teh first place, way back in the day. Good luck with those discussions! Not sure who you are going to be talking to, though! The hand, maybe? Or the gun barrel? I suppose, to paraphrase Franklin Delano Roosevelt, you could "tell that to the Marines" - they are REALLY good listeners :)
By the way, it is cute the way you say nobody should talk to the Israelis because they are just like the mullahs in Iran. And then at the same time say that everyone should talk to the mullahs in Iran. Bleh. Another fake "reformer" - just what the world needs :P
Sickofiri, thank you for the support. I appreciate it.
I have no problems with talking with the US and "normalizing"...
by Shadooneh (not verified) on Wed Aug 27, 2008 09:13 PM PDTthe broken diplomatic and economic relationships between the two important countries. As for Israel, Iran must keep all its "options on the table". The reality is both Iran and Israel are ruled by right wing junta, The Velayat crowd and their counter-parts the Zionistas, who use Eslam and Judaism respectively as their spring boards to power, aggression and, in the case of the Zionistas occupation and Apartheid. Islamism and Zionism are two sides of the same coin. Therefore peace will not come to the ME unless BOTH of these extremist, expansionist and despotic gangs are eradicated. I am all for talking to the liberal/secular Israelis but they, just as their counter-parts in Iran and in spite of having democracy in Israel, cannot do diddly-squat about ridding their country from the claws of the Zionist right and the military industrial complex which runs that country - it's no secret that Iran's present rulers are trying to mimic the Zionists to the determent of social and peaceful economic spending to improve the lives of the Iranian people by pouring billions in developing and importing armaments.
Oh, before I forget, about that craig guy, let's not waste time our time any more on his nonsense. Do you really want to waste time on a character who believes the Brits and the US are justified in attacking Iran for some bogus reasons that his feeble mind has conjured up?! I'm sure we have more important things to talk about.
Conflating Israel with the Islamic Republic to deceive
by sickofiri (not verified) on Wed Aug 27, 2008 11:16 AM PDTMehdi: Your program is null and void. What does Israel have to do with Programmer Craig?? PC is not Jewish/zionist. He is a former marine who lost his buddies (241) in the IRI-funded massacre of the Marine barrack in Lebanon.
I assure you that his concerns are much bigger than Israel. Catch my drift,eh???
LOL Mehdi
by IRANdokht on Wed Aug 27, 2008 10:14 AM PDTYou're good! :0)
IRANdokht
Agha Mehdi, loved your use
by Fatollah (not verified) on Wed Aug 27, 2008 08:19 AM PDTAgha Mehdi, loved your use of the conditional! >;0)
shahdooneh
by shameoniri (not verified) on Wed Aug 27, 2008 07:47 AM PDTThe US committed heinous crimes against the PEOPLE of
Iran.
How many people were killed in the coup of 1953?? It seems like you won't rest until you shed or commit equal heinous crimes against he US. Is that what you're seeking? Revenge? How many American lives will it take for you and other Iranians to quench your thirst for blood and revenge??? Will it take a war between the US and Iran to settle the scores?
It is digusting to see the display of bloodlust and revenge on this site by so-called peace loving Iranians.
I agree with programmer Craig! (to Shadooneh)
by Anonym7 (not verified) on Wed Aug 27, 2008 07:04 AM PDTShadooneh, I agree with Craig ... Iran/Iranians should look at the future and not dwell on past forever..... while putting in place the strongest kind of deterrence (so that the extremist/fascist Israelis and their U.S followers don't think about destroying Iran), Iran should do its best to start direct talks with Israelis .... starting with liberal Israelis and their U.S supporters.
Shadooneh
by programmer craig on Tue Aug 26, 2008 11:45 PM PDTYour fail to realize the crucial
point that the US did not commit crimes against Iranian governments
past or present. The US committed heinous crimes against the PEOPLE of
Iran.
a) such as?
b) Wars are against states. Not people. International crimes are against states. Not people.
c) Why am I trying to explain the law to somebody who cares nothing about laws?
d) What are you gonna do when the greeks, italians and turks come to get justice for what the Islamic Republic of Iran did to them 3000 years ago? They have a case, right? You guys did commit heinous crimes against the, right? Well, let justice be done! We don't need no stinking laws...
So what you are
by programmer craig on Tue Aug 26, 2008 10:22 PM PDTSo what you are saying...
What I was "sying" was pretty clear. No need for you to clarify it for me. But thanks for the good intentions, eh? And I *am* sure that you were trying to help me out by redefining my statements, right? lol.
prog. craig, you're tone deaf. That's why all you hear is blah..
by Shadooneh (not verified) on Tue Aug 26, 2008 10:13 PM PDTYour fail to realize the crucial point that the US did not commit crimes against Iranian governments past or present. The US committed heinous crimes against the PEOPLE of Iran. It doesn't matter what kind of government was or is in power in Iran, the Iranian people were attacke by the US-Brit duo of hegemons when they forcefully and deceitfully removed a popular and semi-democratic in that country. Your logic that the US has not done anything against IRI is nonsense. Iran did not attack the US. I firmly believe the Embassy "affair" was wrong and harmful for Iran no matter how you look at it. But it was done to safeguard Iran against yet another threat posed by the US juggernaut that could not stand an independent Iran and was hell bent on installing another puppet there. Your moronic claim that the Brits have a "right" to war with Iran just proves your lack of logic and a high level of hatred against Iran - that's OK by me because I WANT people like you not be on Iran's side and I consider it as a badge of honor. As a point of clarification, the Brits were not arrested on "high seas", unless you consider the waterway dividing Iran and Iraq as a "sea". The waterway separating Iran and Iraq is a river called Shat Al Arab or Arvand Roud by its Iranian name. The "line" marking the maritime border of Iran-Iraq has always been in dispute. The map those sailors were carrying showed the "border" as determined by the British government! Therefore Iranians were justified to detain the Brits who were engaged in what they claimed to be "routine boarding" of vessels without any legal justification nor a mandate by any qualified international body. I am sure you don't wish to be bothered by any reason or rationale to justify military attacks, rabid aggression and crimes against humanity, but I still like to remind you the Iranian people are the aggrieved party here not the Brits, who came up with the plan for operation Ajax to bring the Shah back, nor the US that committed those British-inspired crimes.
I am not sure why the hell you give yourself the right to speak for "All Americans" and call Roberts's well constructed piece as "garbage". As far as I'm concerned the only garbage is what you spew on this site.
night crawlers are out again
by peace lover (not verified) on Tue Aug 26, 2008 05:47 PM PDTTo them (the so called programmer clan) Black is White, day in night and they are always right. What else one can say about them. Living in a world of denial, looking at things upside down, that's how they are.
How programmer programs
by Mehdi on Tue Aug 26, 2008 05:34 PM PDT"...You can't excuse the IRIs acts of war and terrorism against other nations by making dubious claims about activities in Iran that pre-date the existence of the Islamic Republic of Iran by some 30 years..."
So what you are saying is that we should take a black marker and cover ALL countries on the map except Iran. Then we burn all history books and documents that may possibly show how for example Israel's 60 years of violence creation may have contributed to even the creation of IRI. Then we will "clearly" see that all problems in the world are because of IRI. Right?
This is how "programmer" programs:
If (Israel reputation in danger){
Skip and run away;}
else {
Attack IRI as usual}
AllwaysBlameSomeoneElse(ExceptIsrael);
GoToBegining;
Listen to an insider
by Ahmed from Bahrain on Tue Aug 26, 2008 04:29 PM PDTI think you will benefit from viewing this ex hitman, John Perkins. Listen to an insider and hear what has to say:
//video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3968544393...
Then ask yourself: Why there are no foreign troops in USA and there are many US troops in Middle East and other foreign lands?
If we are to live in peace, we must treat each other as equals not as a slave-master or view foreign lands as where US interests lie? and then go to wars to secure "your interests". What about the people of those lands?
Truth is that US is the bigest producer of WMD and for that economy to be viable, there must be demand in the form of wars to use these weapons. Demand creates supply.
Can either party change an economy which is primarily dependant on production of weapons? I doubt it but we all know there must be a change for one defintion of stupidity is to believe that one can create a new dish by using the same ingredients.
Ahmed from Bahrain
"mindlessness"
by programmer craig on Tue Aug 26, 2008 03:48 PM PDTMehdi, it is "mindlessness" to try to claim that after the violent overthrow of the previous governemnt in Iran, that any crime committed against the previous (overthrown) regime was also committed against the regime that just got done OVERTHROWING it by force of arms.
Think about that. You do have a mind, right? Wouldn't this fatal logic error also mean that by overthrowing the Shah, the IRI was committing crimes against... the IRI!?
That's the very definition of mindlessness. Isn't it?
Mehdi
by programmer craig on Tue Aug 26, 2008 03:37 PM PDTWe'bve been through all that before. You can't excuse the IRIs acts of war and terrorism against other nations by making dubious claims about activities in Iran that pre-date the existance of the Islamic Republic of Iran by some 30 years. A new nation was founded in Iran in 1978. Teher is no legal basis for you to try to claim that any "crime" committed against the previous nation state was also committed agaisnt the Islamic Republic. That just doesn't work.
By the way, are you claiming that Khomeini and his cohorts were fans of Mossadegh? lol.
peace lover?
by programmer craig on Tue Aug 26, 2008 03:31 PM PDTAs soon as they hear a voice for peace and understanding they crawl out
of their holes and start spewing hatred. This so called programmer is
one of them. And this crawlers always lie. They claim they are against
military action against Iran but they're advocating war and
destructions as always.
Are thos ethe words of somebody who seeks peace? lol. That's called "hatemongering". Hate leads to war. War leads to death. It is love that brings peace.
Programmer
by Mehdi on Tue Aug 26, 2008 03:25 PM PDTPlease include in your wise analysis how the covert overthrowing Mosadegh's democratic government by CIA criminals and British greed fits into why the US should in fact wage war everywhere. Also, please explain why Israel was more than happy to sell weapons to Iran so that the Iran-Iraq war could go on and many could be murdered by their supplied weapons. Explain how these well known criminals who are the ONLY supplier of weapons in the world are exempt and everyone else must be punished.
I think, like someone said here, Paul Roberts is pretty much right on the money here, sad as it is. But when you belong to the exclusive club of the criminal rich and the greedy, you refuse to see the truth and you just concentrate on trivial issues that you can use to discredit. 60 years of ZioNazi Israeli crimes are all justified to you. It is only Iran that needs to be bombed base on falsehood claims. I understand ;)
Warmongers and zionists are crawling out of their holes again..
by peace lover (not verified) on Tue Aug 26, 2008 02:45 PM PDTAs soon as they hear a voice for peace and understanding they crawl out of their holes and start spewing hatred. This so called programmer is one of them. And this crawlers always lie. They claim they are against military action against Iran but they're advocating war and destructions as always.
What a bunch of extreme left
by Farhad Kashani on Tue Aug 26, 2008 02:20 PM PDTWhat a bunch of extreme left gibberish.
Paul Craig Roberts
by programmer craig on Tue Aug 26, 2008 12:57 PM PDTThe Republicans will get us into more wars.
Probably. But what you aren't saying, is the the democrats will too. In fact, Democrats have gotten the US into wars far more often than Republicans have.
Your baseline assumption is that the US should never engage in warfare, for any reason. Correct? What is the percentage of AMericans, in your estimation, who agree with you about that?
Indeed, they live for war.
McCain is preaching war for 100 years.
A perjorative, followed by a lie. Cute :P
For these warmongers, it is like
cheering for your home team. Win at all costs. They get a vicarious
pleasure out of war.
More insults. Again, cute. But meaningless.
If the US has to tell lies in order to attack
countries, what's wrong with that?
You are talking about Iraq? Isn't this Iranian.com? Unfortunately for Iran, the US does not need to tell lies to justify war with Iran. So what is the purpose of this comment? If teh IRI didn't want to go to war with the US, the IRI should not have attacked the US.US has the UN Charter and international law on its side. The IRI has nothing but blah blah balh in its corner. And you, of course.
Also, you do realzie that Britain is another country that has a right to war with Iran, under international law? There is a small issue of some British military personnel who were seized on the high seas and held hostage in Iran. Countries have gone to war over incidents exactly like that in the past.
Who is the aggressor here?
"If we don't kill them over there,
they will kill us over here." The mindlessness is total.
The "mindlessness" in that statement also happens to be the truth. And virtually all Americans recognize it as such. Whatever their political affiliation.
You aren't going to get much support from ordinary Americans with this type of garbage. Which is probably why you try to peddle it on this website, right?
Not even gonna botrher with reading the rest of your post. So sorry.
Not voting democrat either....
by Antibullshit (not verified) on Tue Aug 26, 2008 10:07 AM PDTThe Obama-Baiden ticket is the second term of Jimmy Carter's administration. Higher taxes, psudo popularism here and abroad resulting in thugs such as Molla's regime,Hugo Chavez et al ruling with a wink and a nod from Mr. Obama's CIA handlers and Baiden's Pentagon bosses...
No thanks. I rather vote for the real thing...At least with McCain we know what is in the store...
Eye opening, It's depressing but it rings true
by observer (not verified) on Tue Aug 26, 2008 06:24 AM PDTThe content of this article rings true for those who follow the news closely and read the details of political events from different sources. No conspiracy theory is involved here. All one has to do is to read, analyse and follow the flow of money to those who create and impliment these policies. What a bleak outlook of the world event it is.