Truth, That Elusive Gem.

      In this world of capitalism, financial speculation and imperialism under the flag of corporate development, that diamond known as the truth is an elusive gem. We can't find it in the words of our prancing puppet, political ballerinas, who dance to the tune of their masters, and sing the song of their lobbyists. Their main interest is driving their lucrative career, so truth is something with which they are not familiar, on the contrary, it puts the in a state of confusion.

      Now where do we find it, this elusive gem? We have to look at the interests and agenda of "big money", and accept that that particular tribe will never have the interests of the ordinary people at heart. They will destroy a country, its infrastructure, and throw its people into the mire of deprivation and death, all in the drive to further their grip and control over any country's resources.

      So to Venezuela, our mainstream media that septic puss ridden mouthpiece of "big money" will pour out tainted vomit, laced with their crocodile tears, of the suffering of the people of Venezuela, weaving the illusion that they care, in the hope that you will willing accept their greed driven agenda, of stepping in with our flag waving military and rescue the poor people of Venezuela.

     I, like most of you, don't really know what it is like living in Venezuela today, but we can accept that the people of Venezuela are suffering, and not from the results of their own actions, but I'm sure we both agree that what we are served up as "news" is well divorced from that elusive gem, the truth. I'm also sure that most will accept that it is a power grab by American "big money" and it will take a tremendous outpouring of loud public anger to stop this intended rape and plunder of a people and their resources. "Big money" is not in the business of listening to the people, until we destroy the beast, the Venezuela type of events will keep on happening.

Visit ann arky's home at radicalglasgow.me.uk

America's Full Spectrum Domination.

          I have no doubt what so ever, that Trump will continue America's imperialist pedigree, the question is, just how brutally will he pursue that policy of American aggrandisement, just how savagely will he use its horrendous military power.        

       It didn't take America long to go from a colony to a coloniser. This fresh new nation born around 1783, in just over 100 years went from a British colony to a colonial power. Its first conquest was the brutal conquest of the Philippines in 1898-1902, the first time American troops fought on foreign soil. That seems to have turned its lords and masters in to colonial addicts, and set the pattern for this "fledgling" nation. From then until the present day, America has invade, occupied, propped up vile dictators, overthrown elected regimes to set up puppet regimes, all to the greater glory of America's wealthy elite. It would be difficult to find a country in Europe, Far East, Middle East, South America, that doesn't have a US military presence on its soil. American military personnel are based in more countries than any other nation on the planet. America is truly the world's  largest imperial power, ever. Anybody who sees America other than a powerful imperialist nation, is not looking at the truth history tells us.

        The main sources of information on these military installations (e.g. C. Johnson, the NATO Watch Committee, the International Network for the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases) reveal that the US operates and/or controls between 700 and 800 military bases Worldwide.
       In this regard, Hugh d’Andrade and Bob Wing’s 2002 Map 1 entitled “U.S. Military Troops and Bases around the World, The Cost of ‘Permanent War’”, confirms the presence of US military personnel in 156 countries.
       The US Military has bases in 63 countries. Brand new military bases have been built since September 11, 2001 in seven countries.
        In total, there are 255,065 US military personnel deployed Worldwide.
        These facilities include a total of 845,441 different buildings and equipments. The underlying land surface is of the order of 30 million acres. According to Gelman, who examined 2005 official Pentagon data, the US is thought to own a total of 737 bases in foreign lands. Adding to the bases inside U.S. territory, the total land area occupied by US military bases domestically within the US and internationally is of the order of 2,202,735 hectares, which makes the Pentagon one of the largest landowners worldwide (Gelman, J., 2007).

       No country in modern times has ever invaded more countries than America, its list of military interventions and occupations outstrips all others. Though never invaded, it has never been at peace, its invasions and intrusions into other countries are an ongoing litany of death, destruction and misery, a modern Dante's Inferno, for other nations and their people.

       The Global Policy Forum list more than 200 American military and clandestine operation in foreign countries from its birth up to 2004, since 2004, we are all well aware of America's military interventions in the Middle East and elsewhere. 

        This is the lie that the West, lead by America, is a force for peace and democracy, it is in fact, just another phase of brutal imperialism. The only thing new about this phase, is its world wide domination, and its unimaginable military destructive power. Until we all take up the struggle to get rid of the nation states, and take control of our own lives, we will have to live the lie, and live in the fear of Armageddon. 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

AFTER GADDAFFI????

STOP THE WAR COALITION22 August 2011
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LIBYA AFTER GADAFFI: STATEMENT BY STOP THE WAR COALITION
The fall of the Gadaffi regime in Libya marks yet another turning point in what has been a truly remarkable year in the Middle East. The victory of the rebels, backed by Nato bombing in a six month campaign initiated by the British and French governments, also heralds the rehabilitation of a discredited doctrine -- that of 'humanitarian intervention' -- after the debacle of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The defeat of Gadaffi is now being used to justify military action on the grounds that it has helped the Arab revolutions. David Cameron declared outside Downing Street 22 August 2011, 'This has not been our revolution, but we can be proud that we have played our part.'

The hypocrisy of Cameron is staggering, given the role of British and other western governments in backing up dictators and despots in the region -- only halted in some places by the actions of the Arab people themselves.

The Nato intervention has not been for idealistic values. It has been about regime change, so that a leader more acceptable to western governments and business could replace Gadaffi.

Right to the end, NATO was bent on a military victory and bringing the Transitional National Council (TNC) -- the Benghazi administration -- to power in Libya by force of arms. All proposals for talks to achieve a political solution – whether from within Libya or outside - have been brushed aside.

While many Libyans may welcome the outcome, and will be glad to see the back of Gadaffi, it has a number of negative aspects.

From the international point of view, the most significant thing is that the government of another Arab state has been changed by external force applied by the big imperial powers. There is no real suggestion that the TNC could have come to power unaided. The NATO military intervention, stretching beyond breaking point the mandate given by the United Nations, has been decisive.

This will not be the end of the story. The experience of Iraq teaches that the overthrow of a regime under such circumstances by no means signifies the end of the war. Whether those who have supported Gadaffi will meekly accept the authority of a new government imposed under such circumstances is open to question.

Whatever happens, the deep divisions within Libyan society remain. Likewise, given that the TNC is an amalgam of forces, ranging from the democratic to the Islamist to leaders who are the direct employees of western interests, it may have neither the capacity to resolve existing differences nor the ability to prevent the emergence of new ones, within its own ranks.

David Cameron spelt out the close role Britain and the other western powers will expect to have in running Libya, and in how much detail they have been planned, including ‘stabilisation experts who have been planning for this moment…for months.’

Under these circumstances, the main demand must be an end to all forms of NATO interference in Libya – not just the end of the bombing, but the withdrawal of special forces and a halt to all forms of political interference. The only solution to the crisis in Libya will have to be a Libyan solution. Recent history, from Iraq to Afghanistan, teaches that too.

But beyond that, we must recognise the danger that even a passing 'success' in Libya may embolden the US, British and French governments to believe that the idea of 'liberal interventionism', discredited after Iraq, can be revived on a broader scale. Of course, however it ends the Libyan conflict has not gone as expected and none of the leaders of the aggression have dared introduce ground troops into the war. Nevertheless, the danger of extending the intervention to Syria as part of a programme to control and suppress the 'Arab Spring' is not inconceivable and must be mobilised against.

The old rulers will not be missed if and when they depart. The decisive issues – genuinely democratic and popular regimes across the Arab world, the exclusion of great power interference in the region and justice for the Palestinian people – remain in the balance and require our solidarity.

LINDSEY GERMAN, National Convenor, Stop the War Coalition
ANDREW MURRAY, National Chair, Stop the War Coalition--

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