from The Ground Truth: the human cost of war

BBC: US Civil War 150th anniversary: How US remains divided
(the US Civil War started on April 12th, 1861, 150 years ago today)


I'd never heard of Jennifer Matsui until today, when I came across her name in a Joe Bageant essay, "The Simulacran Republic", which also worth reading.


Matsui:"The Unmitigated Gall of O-Dacity" is from December 2009, but still relevant.

Awarding the current US Murderer-in-Chief the same prize that was bestowed upon Dr Martin Luther King Jr in 1964 is yet just another example of the Corporate State's ability to subvert dissident thought and action into establishment enabling PR. The same institutions that rely on Bono to lend legitimacy and rock star "cred" to their violent neo-colonial agenda have now appointed a youthful former community organizer to head their global operations. In Bono's case, the peace activism of John Lennon was successfully reconfigured to serve the interests of the ruling class as 'New Labour' rallied rock stars and other "anti-Establishment" figures to rise up and allow a new super elite to emerge. We can see the same brain trust at work as neo-cons embrace 'feminism' to justify their unending war on the Muslim world, invoking the dreaded veil to get western women on board with their military objectives.

And, yesterday from the BBC, "Egypt blogger Maikel Nabil jailed by military court"


Chris Hedges,
''Why the United States Is Destroying Its Education System''

Uh, oh: "General: U.S. troops not ideal, but may be considered in Libya"(CBS News)

April 3rd: Telegraph, "People with Norman names wealthier than other Britons"

People with "Norman" surnames like Darcy and Mandeville are still wealthier than the general population 1,000 years after their descendants conquered Britain, according to a study into social progress.

Twenty facts on inequality in the US. Charts and information.
(via Jodi Dean)

March 26: Vivek Wadhwa, "Friends Don’t Let Friends Get Into Finance"

Pepe Escobar, "Let me bomb you in Peace"

I will admit I haven't followed the developing situation in Ivory Coast very closely. As you probably know NATO has been involved in their civil war there, and earlier this week helped remove Laurent Gbagbo from power.

I note however, that a couple of weeks ago Paul Craig Roberts remarked in "The New Colonialism" that

Forty-nine countries participate in the US Africa Command[aka AFRICOM-JV], but not Libya, Sudan, Eritrea, Zimbabwe, and Ivory Coast. There is Western military intervention in these non-member countries except for Zimbabwe.

Then again, maybe Empire is an alphabetical project.-JV

Bomb Libya or Lose the World!

It makes me a bit uneasy when I hear denizens of the United States making fun of a foreign leader for saying something stupid. Sure, they might deserve it, but it often seems hypocritical and at least bordering on bullying.

I think back to 2003 and Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf a.k.a. Baghdad Bob. High on the thrill of a war for freedom and democracy, pundits filled pages and screen ridiculing him for making obviously false statements such as U.S. troops were committing suicide en masse even as the U.S. was successfully taking over Iraq.

At the same time, these same people had no problem with George W. Bush making hilarious statements about how the U.S. was not an empire because some troops were returning to the U.S.

So with that caveat aside, I was amused Muammar Gaddafi’s recent comments blaming al-Qaeda, along with drugs, for the evil revolt in Libya.

Isn’t he supposed to blaming America, the Great Satan and blood sucking vulture of the world? When did Osama bin Laden become the face of evil in that part of the world?

Could it be that Americans wasting so much time on social media is finally starting to pay off for the world? Maybe we aren’t very good at running other countries anymore.

Well, no. As much as I would like to be optimistic, I suspect that the Gaddafi was trying to do was rekindle western support, however great the odds against this are. Or maybe he is delusional. (Calling the leaders of other countries “crazy” or “delusional” for acting in a way that the U.S. does not approve of, but which is rational, is another pet peeve of mine. But perhaps he is irrational.)

All that said, if we Americans are to make sure we that we remain on top of the world, we had better hurry up and pull off a successful intervention in Libya that we get credit for. Sending weapons via Saudi Arabia has a certain Iran-Contra quality to it, but it might not be enough. Reagan never could take credit for that and, even today, the ungrateful likes of Oliver North do not give Iran proper credit for helping us to win the Cold War. I favor relentless bombings and then, just as we did in Iraq, teaching the new Libyan government how to repress its people without creating a controversy.

The stakes are high. We are in the fourth quarter of sudden death overtime, and all of the money is on the table. If we act, we can show everyone that the earth stills revolves around the red, white and blue. If we fail, people in other countries might see themselves as legitimate human beings.

Janis Karpinski

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

This is from Tuesday or Wednesday night, I think. (I don't have access to most cable channels, so I haven't actually seen Olberman's show in quite some time. You may recall that Janis Karpinski was the general in command at Abu Gharib, and consequently one of the fall guys for the scandal.