Unfortunately, They Have a Point
The Associated Press reports that Myanmar Turns Away U.S. Cyclone Aid
(AP) Myanmar shunned a U.S. proposal for naval ships to deliver aid to cyclone victims on Wednesday, according to state-run media, dimming hopes that the vessels could provide a major boost to relief efforts.
The New Light of Myanmar, a mouthpiece for Myanmar’s ruling junta, said that such assistance “comes with strings attached” that are “not acceptable to the people of Myanmar.” It cited fears that Washington wants to overthrow the country’s government and seize its oil.
The actions of the Hedgemony make US assistance toxic in much of the world. The invasion of Iraq lends credence to what would have once been viewed as sheer paranoia. Nations that never would have considered nuclear weapons are now thinking about them to protect themselves from the US.
We are no longer the solution – we have become the problem.
16 comments
just because you’re paranoid, it doesn’t meant they’re not out to get you.
alternatively…
yeah, they’ve pertty much demolished the ‘speak softly’ part of speak sftly and carry a big stick.
While the tragedy of the Bush presidency is multifaceted one of the most tragic is our loss of honor. No longer do the other nations of the world take us at face value and assume that we act honorably. There is always the justifiable suspicion that we have some sinister ulterior motive in our actions. How long it will take to dispel this opinion is up for question but it should be a high priority for the next administration.
I have no confidence that any of those currently in the running for President have any skill in foreign affairs, and their advisors are the sorriest lot of has-beens ever assembled.
With the current Democratic Congressional leadership more aligned with the party of Sam Rayburn that Tip O’Neill, this is probably a good time to look at emigration issues because we are in a hole and still digging.
Not *quite* true Bryan. 😉 Hillary has a lot of skill in foreign affairs! LOL Just not the kind I believe you are referring too. And no, I don’t mean extramarital either (so far as I know, that is). 😉 Though… she is in bed with some very unsavory foreign types (like the Turkish mafia for one).
I did a big expose on this in ’05 & ’06 with some blogger friends. It mostly came to light with FBI whistle-blower Sibel Edmonds (she who MUST NEVER be mentioned!) A good blogger by the name of lukery has a couple blog sites running about it. It also seems to be linked in with the other “she who MUST NEVER be mentioned”, Valerie Plame-Wilson , and the threads even wound their way into the Dubai scandal.
Lukery has collected a lot of info on all this at the following blogs. They are a big read with many links. But it’s a very complicated issue. Id’ be interested in your experienced take Bryan (and anyone else). 🙂
Key Clinton Backer Guilty in Sibel Edmonds Case
Sibel Edmonds: ‘Buckle up, there’s much more coming.’
Make sure to check the rest of the posts at those blogs for more info. This is Sibel’s own blog:
JUST A CITIZEN
Cheers.
Oh… I battled the dragons and… Errrm… as is usually the case with them, I do not know if I won or lost. It’s usually both. It takes a while to convert the bureaucratese to English to make a value judgment on that. *sigh*
I remember the days when people in distress all over the world would say “where are the United States Marines?!!!” or “where is the United States?”.
No more, and I can’t say I blame the leadership on that point.
Actually the information goes to my point about the “foreign policy advisors” that all three have around them. Almost all of these “experts” are, or have been, commercially involved in the “third world” which is the equivalent of admitting corruption, because, by US understanding, that is the way “business” is accomplished. Bribery and thuggery are features, not bugs, of doing business in much of the world.
The wailing that accompanied the revelation that United Fruit/Chiquita was paying the FARC in Colombia, was absurd. They were involved in operations in rural areas, so they paid off the local warlords. That is how business is done. The penalties are so insignificant, that that is how business will continue to be done. The bribes and fines are part of the “cost of doing business”. Life sentences for CEOs and corporate boards would go a long way to cleaning up this mess, but that won’t happen.
When the calls for reform ring out about the “primitive world” I would point out that Israel hasn’t had a prime minister in decades who didn’t face a corruption probe. Anyone want to take a hard look at Britain’s “cash for honours” program? How about the activities of French political leaders? Does the “Keating Five” ring a bell for US voters? Any Canadians want to chime in on their recent “problems”.
The candidates are all tied to very unsavory people who are more interested in preserving their “special relationships” in the world, than actually solving any problems. The KGB didn’t reportedly fund the Grey Wolves in Turkey because of their ideologies, which were polar opposites, but because the Wolves caused instability. What’s the death of a few leftist intellectuals when compared to annoying the CIA.
The candidates are not well enough grounded in foreign affairs to even begin to understand the “baggage” their advisors are carrying around. McCain’s people who were lobbying for the junta in Burma are noise level compared to some of the people associated with “think tanks”. Most “think tanks” need to have the water changed because the “fish” have mutated and the algae have taken over.
As bad as the first tier “foreign policy experts” who get face time on TV are, the second and third tier are even worse. Remember, these are all people that thought that a convicted con artist and Iranian agent wannabe, Ahmed Chalabi, was a credible source for information.
The worse part is that the Navy and Marines would truly like to help. They really enjoy this part of their job, helping people, many more than their primary mission of combat. It is a mission without a down side. You drop in your rack bone-tired knowing the world is a better place for at least a few people because you were there and did your job. The rewards are immediate and personal.
We are now in a position that no one is ready to believe we want to “do good”. Every action we take is viewed with suspicion. We have the perfect tool, the Wasp-class landing assault ship, for this mission, but people don’t trust us to use it to help them.
Thanks Bryan. 🙂
One small correction on the above. It isn’t that people outside the USA don’t believe you want to do good, I have spoken to many in various countries. The conclusion was: We believe that the people (for the most part) and the members of the military below a certain rank (we suspect that the higher the rank, the fewer we would find) wanted to do good deeds. It not that the World doesn’t trust them, we don’t trust the Administration. That’s the problem. And the corruption is getting deeper and seeping lower every day. And I don’t mean financial corruption, though there is a lot of that, but the spiritual and moral corruption. There is no country in the World that will accept anything from the USA while Bushco and the GOP are in power. The problem is, none of us see the Dem’s as a solution either. Whoever wins the election, as far as we all are concerned, nothing will change. Because we believe the entire system and process is now corrupted to the point where anyone who wants to fix things will not have a chance to win election even on a local level any more. Non of us out here trusts Clinton any more than we trust Bush. Obama was a question mark until recently. Now that we have seen some of the people and groups he is involved in, we don’t trust him either.
People out here are not blind or stupid or easily fooled. And we all talk to each other and compare notes and brainstorm. And we see what is happening. Much of what has happened in recent years was predicted by people outside the USA, and some inside also (such as yourself Bryan). But what use is that knowledge? Many of u became so disillusioned after ’05/’06 that we stopped bothering trying to tell Americans anything. When Rep Conyers started his blog, we were all excited! We thought that here was an experienced congressman in a position to do something! Many of us joined his blog and it all seemed good. We helped the Dem’s win election. And what happened? Conyers and the other Dem’s we thought would make a difference showed us they are no different. And that is why *we* out here basically said “Go to hell then!” We tried to help and with many Americans alongside, we thought we had. But the proof is, it was all a con. That’s why I stopped blogging at Loaded Mouth and elsewhere (MyDD and others). I only came here and began commenting (after lurking for some time) because I believed you (Bryan) and the others who comment here really understand (or want to understand) and really want to do something good. But unless you understand what is really happening there and outside, what’s the point?
Many of us believed for years (and still do) that the two pivotal and most important events that have occurred in the past 8 years are: The outing of Valerie Plame-Wilson, and the silencing of Sibel Edmond’s. But very few Americans understand or even seem to care. Lukery is an Aussie who has been fighting alongside Edmond’s since the beginning. If people listened to Edmond’s and understood what she is telling them, Hillary wouldn’t have a chance of being elected dog catcher let alone President. Valerie wasn’t outed because of her Husband, that was just some icing on the top. She was outed because she was getting way too close to the fact that Aramco owns the Bush Cartel and Dubai. Dubai was supposed to allow the Crime syndicate free and easy access to all kinds of illegal activities by Aramco & Bushco. Iraq was part of that, but was also pushed by the Turkish/Israel interests that Hillary is now part of. And so is Iran. 🙂 We all know it. I worked as a *security consultant* for Aramco when I was stationed in the Mid-East after Cambodia. NOTHING happens in that part of the World without Aramco’s say so! They control the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and other places. Geez, you only have to look at a map to see who benefits the most from control of Iraq and Iran! One of the best bloggers who was fighting for Plame seems to have gon mad and is now the #1 cheerleader for Hillary!! He’s ex-CIA (and was a classmate of Plame’s), so I don’t get it! He can’t claim ignorance! His name is Larry Johnson and his blog is NO QUARTER! I used to comment there (such as this thread about Dubai in Feb ’06):
Don’t Do Dubai Dubya
And dKOS ran a huge diary (even with photo’s) about it (one of their few outstanding pieces of work IMHO).
Bush and the Dubai Debacle. This. Is. It.
But now, it pains me to even go there! Almost all the posts are Anti-Obama and pro-Clinton! What happened to Plame and the other issues they used to fight about? I do know that Larry has some nice little contracts now (he runs a *consultancy* biz. Does anyone truly leave the CIA?) 😉
So, why bring up Dubai and Plame & Edmond’s now? Because they are STILL very important and even more important than what dress Hillary is wearing and whether Obama wears a flag. These issues have been allowed to be pushed aside, and they are critical to the future of the USA! Until they are resolved, you have no chance at change. Because no matter who wins, they will be part of this and nothing will change. Only by Americans knowing what has and is happening and what it’s all about, and rubbing the nose of whoever wins into it all, will you have a chance. The choice is simple, since Americans love thing simple… Either YOU all control America, or you are controlled by outsiders. 🙂
In a nutshell, as far as we out here are concerned, the USA is run by Israel/Turkey/Aramco. We are still waiting for someone to prove us wrong. Every day, more evidence emerges that we are right.
Cheers.
Multinational corporations are controlling more and more of the world and they respond only to corporate concerns. There are no effective controls on their activities, as they respond to any attempt at reining them in by spinning off a new entity in an unregulated country to continue what the last country told them to stop doing.
Most of the mercenaries being employed by the US government in Iraq are employees of spin-offs in the Cayman Islands to avoid any taxes or regulation. they are paid by the US Treasury and what they do reflects on the US, but the US has no direct control over them. That is insane.
I don’t know if Sibel Edmonds is telling the truth or not, but I do know that there should have been multiple investigations started as soon as she made her first statements and that didn’t happen. Her claims haven’t received the level of investigation that would occur if someone forgot and brought a pad of paper into or out of an NSA area.
It was unbelievable that the CIA had to pressure the Department of Justice [DoJ] to investigate the Plame outing. The file on Philip Agee was opened almost immediately, even though there wasn’t a specific law in place to deal with what he did. The law at the center of the Plame case was a reaction to Agee, but the DoJ went to work immediately to find something to arrest Agee for.
Even if you realize the executive is corrupt, the Congress has its own powers, but they did nothing. Even after it was obvious that the Hedgemony had been lying about almost everything, Congress did nothing. Even now they do almost nothing. This is not why people worked to elect Democrats. There was supposed to be action. The human rights and civil rights violations were supposed to be stopped, but it didn’t happen.
The US Congress has its own inherent right to not just subpoena people, but to arrest and hold them if those people don’t cooperate, but Congress won’t do anything.
The whole system is tied to financing campaigns, not doing anything after you’re elected. Clinton is tied to the corporatist Democratic Leadership Council [DLC], Obama is tied to the Old Guard Kennedy wing of the party, and McCain is apparently running because it’s his turn [same as Bob Dole]. There is no one left to represent the majority of Americans, as those people have been pushed out by the corporate media.
Frankly, I see Obama getting the Democratic nod and McCain as the next President, which will be disastrous for the country. I’m out of it, because I’m not going to be involved in this disaster in any way, shape, or form.
Frankly, I see Obama getting the Democratic nod and McCain as the next President, which will be disastrous for the country.
I have to agree with that.
While Democrats may prefer Obama to Clinton, I doubt the population in general will. And there’s a lot of independents and republicans out there. And people who just don’t vote in primaries. I’m not being cynical. It’s just the way it is. Clinton knows that, and she’ll be back in 2012.
Also, Obama has the support of a lot of the young voters. Can they be counted on to get out and vote in the election? I’m not so sure. Can he carry the states needed to win? I don’t know.
I’m not a huge supporter of either Dem, but given the choices, I voted for Clinton. Being from Illinois, it doesn’t matter. Obama rules here. Right now, I just want Repubs out of the white house.
Play along: 2008 Interactive Electoral Map.
Obama has African Americans, the “liberal elite”, and young voters – that’s not enough to win, and his supporters and surrogates have been annoying older voters and most importantly, women. Women are the majority of the American electorate, so the misogyny is just brain dead.
They don’t see it, so they can’t stop it.
Florida and Michigan are only possible with Clinton, and she wins in swing states. Having strength in Republican states is no help in this election. Clinton can move beyond the garbage that has been thrown at her, but I doubt most women will be so willing.
The Youth Vote is a wasted demographic. The majority of the people who aren’t eligible to vote are in that demographic. The percentage registered and voting in the under 44 group is heavily influenced by the large number of non-citizens, and, lately, the prison population. The 15-45 male group is “prime time for crime”.
Those who are eligible to register tend to be mobile which affects whether they actually make the effort, and they tend to vote less even after they register.
The Obama campaign spends a lot of money on advertising, but they seem to depend on volunteers for GOTV efforts. Nice concept, but it has never been successful in a national election. Turn out will probably be down for this election, for both parties, but women are the organizers and workers when it comes to elections.
Maybe the DNC will figure it out after the disaster, but I doubt it.
If McCain does win, it”ll be game over. He’s a bigger tool and fool than Bush. At least Bush has been a spanner in the works of the machine that controls him from time-to-time. McCain does what he’s told, he’s a bigger coward than Bush. Very sad for someone who actually did serve. Whoever the VP is will probably be more important. I doubt McCain will last a full term. The only reason Bushmoron got away with annoying his controllers is because of his family and connections. McCain really doesn’t have much other than through his wife, and I’m sure she’s in charge there.
Oh well. Time will tell.
Like you, I think the VP is the important slot, because McCain’s blood pressure soars when he gets mad. You can’t do that with 70-year-old arteries. He will probably out vacation the Shrubbery.
He seems to want the job because he feels it’s “his turn”, rather than any real desire to do anything, and he will have a Democratic Congress.
It would certainly be interesting, on many levels, if he chooses the current Florida governor, Charlie Crist. That really would muddy the picture. If he does that, this will probably be one of the lowest turnouts for any US elections, as well as one of the nastiest.
out-vacationing the shrubbery could be a good thing. we would need a strongly democratic congress and a weakly ambitious vp for it to work out in our favor, but it’s possible, even if unlikely.
fwiw, i think the obama machine could win out over mccain.
Hmmmmm. I’ve been thinking about this while I was out today. I wonder if it’s not McCain his backers want, but his wife? From all I’ve read, she’s the boss. She has contacts galore, money and knows where some skeletons are hidden. The woman behind the man? 🙂
I’m not sure what that really means though. She’s a bit of an unknown quantity. Just rumors and innuendo’s lately. Bit like Hillary while Bill was Prez and during his runup. I know McCain’s wife has been involved in some shady deals in the past, but I don’t have much idea what she’s been up to in recent years. Could be important…Maybe it’s more important to find out what she’s up to than McCain.
Just a thought. 🙂
My reading is necessarily skewed by the entire disenfranchisement issue, which affects everyone in my area, and the on-line crew are totally dysfunctional. You can’t trust people’s judgment anymore, they have become acolytes, not analysts. I don’t see the turn-out among the average voters, I don’t feel any excitement. It’s a long way out, but there should be some adrenalin, but it’s not there beyond the extreme partisans on the Democratic side.
The Republicans are more consistent voters, and there are hate amendments in many states to spur them on.
The wealthy Western families are all secretive, and they have their own networks. Since her family is tied to beer, the Coors family have to be involved, and they are definitely a group of whackos, Henry Ford would have been very comfortable at a Coors picnic.
Her family is unquestionably pulling the strings, and they may be behind McCain’s total capitulation to the Hedgemony. He certainly isn’t the strategic brains behind his campaign.