This is the transcript of the Surrealistic Pillow of the reality teevee President’s speech on his ‘strategy’ on Afghanistan and South Asia at Fort Meyer, Arlington, Va. Clearly, he’s putting himself, the military, and likely the CIA in power over the nation…er…Our Nation.
He begins with boiler-plate homages to the special American heroes in the military ‘unmatched in history’, who fought for our freedom, yad, yada. Oh, yes, his earlier instincts told him to pull out, as he’d reckoned that far too much money, blood, and effort had been spent in trying to win the peace in Afghanistan, and other wars fought post 9/11. But at least nothing like 9/11 has happened in the homeland since that time. He also knows that Amerikans are tired of wars without clear victories, and notes his abnegation of ‘building societies that are in our own image’…or something.
So…he held a series of meetings at Camp David with his cabinet and generals, and they’ve hatched a plan. One of three planks of the plan is:
“The men and women who serve our nation in combat deserve a plan for victory. They deserve the tools they need, and the trust they have earned, to fight and to win.
Second, the consequences of a rapid exit are both predictable and unacceptable. 9/11, the worst terrorist attack in our history, was planned and directed from Afghanistan because that country was ruled by a government that gave comfort and shelter to terrorists. A hasty withdrawal would create a vacuum that terrorists, including ISIS and al Qaeda, would instantly fill, just as happened before September 11th, and given Barcelona, ISIS is a clear and present danger to the US of A.
He then implies that ‘our’ hasty exit from Iraq allowed ISIS to form and flourish, and trumpets that ‘we will not allow the same to happen in Afghanistan. Well, again: bullshit on that: it was bombing Iraq to smithereens, cover the earth with depleted uranium, killing half a million chirren, and causing millions to go into diaspora that created ISIS. R2P Lybia as well, but who’s counting, Donald, Madeleine?
Yeppers, he’s a ‘problem solver’, and he will win the war! He’ll instruct his military to seek out and destroy terr’ists in Afganistan, he’ll show them fire and fury, but oh, he has a special loathing for Pakistan, with their protections and safe-havens of Taliban Terr’ists, oh my. As he’d outlined with Our Partners in Peace while in Saudi Arabia, he will strip them of their live, their assets and expose their false ideologies.
Gary Leupp at Counterpunch in his ‘Trump: Pakistan must change immediately to become civilized’ dissects Trump’s ignorant (or worse, lying) about Pakistan’s ‘harboring terrorists’, offering a narrative starting with the US/CIA funding of the Mujahadeen. Keith Jones adds more, and adds quotes from Rexxon Tillerson:
“Tillerson also indicated that the US will resume the drone strikes that have killed thousands of Pakistani civilians and terrorized the impoverished population of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The former Exxon CEO refused to directly answer a question at Tuesday’s press conference about the drone strikes, which are a flagrant violation of international law. But in sidestepping the question, he declared, “We are going to attack terrorists wherever they live.”
The US military-security establishment, along with Democratic and Republican Party leaders, has long blamed the resilience of the Afghan insurgency on Pakistan’s reputed failure to crack down on the Taliban and its allies, especially the Haqqani Network.
The reality is that Washington and its NATO allies are waging a brutal neo-colonial war of occupation, propping up a corrupt and reviled puppet government in Kabul with night raids, drone strikes and other acts of terror.
Consequently, the Taliban, notwithstanding its reactionary Islamist ideology, is able to draw on widespread popular support. Pentagon officials themselves concede that, despite the US spending close to a trillion dollars, losing more than 2,400 troops, and raining death on one of the world’s most impoverished countries for the past 16 years, the Taliban insurgency is the strongest it has been since American forces invaded the country in October 2001.”
He also has a hella lot to say about the new Indo/US alliance; I hope you might find time to read it.
“Another critical part of the South Asia strategy for America is to further develop its strategic partnership with India — the world’s largest democracy and a key security and economic partner of the United States. We appreciate India’s important contributions to stability in Afghanistan, but India makes billions of dollars in trade with the United States, and we want them to help us more with Afghanistan, especially in the area of economic assistance and development. We are committed to pursuing our shared objectives for peace and security in South Asia and the broader Indo-Pacific region.”
Now as to India, yes, after Hindu-supremacist Modi’s last two charm offensives in the US, offered a guided tour by none other than his comrade-in-arms Tulsi Gabbard, Amerika offered him carte blanche and to be designated as ‘under NATO’s umbrella’. They also cooked up a cool deal for both nations: ‘the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) ‘(defense news link), bases open, ports, yada, yada. So of course New Delhi’s arch-enemies are ‘harboring terri’sts! Pretend not to notice Kashmir and the disputed areas and India’s abject failure to honor the ages old promise of a plebiscite, though.
“Finally, my administration will ensure that you, the brave defenders of the American people, will have the necessary tools and rules of engagement to make this strategy work, and work effectively and work quickly.
I have already lifted restrictions the previous administration placed on our warfighters that prevented the Secretary of Defense and our commanders in the field from fully and swiftly waging battle against the enemy. Micromanagement from Washington, D.C. does not win battles. They are won in the field drawing upon the judgment and expertise of wartime commanders and frontline soldiers acting in real time, with real authority, and with a clear mission to defeat the enemy.
That’s why we will also expand authority for American armed forces to target the terrorist and criminal networks that sow violence and chaos throughout Afghanistan. These killers need to know they have nowhere to hide; that no place is beyond the reach of American might and Americans arms. Retribution will be fast and powerful.
As we lift restrictions and expand authorities in the field, we are already seeing dramatic results in the campaign to defeat ISIS, including the liberation of Mosul in Iraq.”
Oh, Donald Duck; it’s hard to know whether it’s you or your vaunted generals who are so clueless about US Occupation, bombing, drone-murdering, regime-changing, decades of war…that actually drive ordinary folks into Islamic fundamentalism. But you’ll kill more of them more brutally, and along the way even more innocent civilians, suspend any ‘restrictions’? But perhaps you and they are well aware of that, and there are other considerations afoot.
First, Wall Street’s defense industries must have war, second, he’s been advised of the vast mineral riches in Afghanistan, estimates are anywhere between $1 and 3 billions worth of gold, silver, copper, cobalt, lithium, uranium, and so on. Oh, so much to plunder and pay for the war…or profit his cronies, but a rising tide lifts all boats, eh? The poppies are a whole n’other issue, exponential growth due to the US occupation as well. But of course the Chinese are already in-country, aiming to incorporate the nation into the one-Belt, One Road economic alliance, so what’s the US to do? Well, Modi might being asked to share in that vast mineral wealth.
But really, the most ominous beginning gambit of his ‘talk’ before the GIs was the coded, dog-whistle subtext of this message :
“By following the heroic example of those who fought to preserve our republic, we can find the inspiration our country needs to unify, to heal, and to remain one nation under God. The men and women of our military operate as one team, with one shared mission, and one shared sense of purpose.
They transcend every line of race, ethnicity, creed, and color to serve together — and sacrifice together — in absolutely perfect cohesion. That is because all servicemembers are brothers and sisters. They’re all part of the same family; it’s called the American family. They take the same oath, fight for the same flag, and live according to the same law. They are bound together by common purpose, mutual trust, and selfless devotion to our nation and to each other.
But not them god fersaken trannies! Cue Sistah Sledge! Wooot!
“The soldier understands what we, as a nation, too often forget that a wound inflicted upon a single member of our community is a wound inflicted upon us all. When one part of America hurts, we all hurt. And when one citizen suffers an injustice, we all suffer together.
Loyalty to our nation demands loyalty to one another. Love for America requires love for all of its people. When we open our hearts to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice, no place for bigotry, and no tolerance for hate.”
Yes, it’s an answer to the Generals who’d called their CiC out for his racism and support for neo-Nazis, likely for their own cynical reasons, as did (ha ha ha!) Beauregard Sessions. Who wrote the speech; any guesses? Who replaced ‘the Mooch’, anyway? But he continued:
“The young men and women we send to fight our wars abroad deserve to return to a country that is not at war with itself at home. We cannot remain a force for peace in the world if we are not at peace with each other.
As we send our bravest to defeat our enemies overseas — and we will always win — let us find the courage to heal our divisions within. Let us make a simple promise to the men and women we ask to fight in our name that, when they return home from battle, they will find a country that has renewed the sacred bonds of love and loyalty that unite us together as one.”
Now you certainly might disagree, but I’m seeing this take by Joseph Kinshore at wsws.org and what he means going forward and get the shivers:
“Trump’s statements have profoundly sinister implications. They portray the military as the unifier of a fractured country, a force for structure, discipline—and repression. Under conditions of mounting social and political conflicts within the United States, his speech is a declaration of the central role of the military not only in waging war abroad, but maintaining order at home.
From the beginning of the Trump administration, the military has taken direct control of much of the state apparatus, in the form of retired Gen. James Mattis as secretary of defense, active-duty Gen. H.R. McMaster as national security advisor and retired Gen. John Kelly, first as Department of Homeland Security secretary and now as White House chief of staff.”
Now factor in ‘Protesting, Glorifying, and Justifying White Supremacy by the Bay’
BAR contributor Ann Garrison; I’d subtitle it: ‘Guess who’s coming to dinner?’ Its hard to capsulate, but Berkley city council passed more crowd control measures for a “No Marxism in America Rally” and counter protests coming up on Sunday afternoon, August 27, in Downtown Berkeley’s Martin Luther King Park; the Mayor is urging counter-activists to not give them attention. “Berkeley activists, however, will not be denied. As of Monday, August 21st, “Bay Area Rally Against Hate,” “Respect Berkeley,” and “Berkeley Antifa” had all announced plans to counter protest. “Respect Berkeley” said they plan to assemble on Martin Luther King Way, across the street from Martin Luther King Park at 10:00 am, an hour before the “No Marxism in America” rally goers arrive.”
“Berkeley Antifa created a poster that reads as though they’re preparing for the Siege of Madrid:
ATTENTION ALL ANTI RACISTS
NAZIS ARE COMING
DEFEND BERKELEY
“Free Speech, Unity and Peace San Francisco” rally at Crissy Field on August 26, the day before the “No Marxism in America” rally in Berkeley; the Park Service won’t pull their permit, and as Golden Gate RA is federal, yanno, feds could get ‘involved’, but:
“Mayor Ed Lee says he thinks they’ll let the San Francisco Police handle it by themselves and promises that they’ll have every single officer in the force on the job. No vacation or comp time absences. He says that the SF Police will disarm anyone carrying weapons—even though the armed, camo clad, Oath Keepers have vowed to handle security for Patriot Prayer, and despite the fact that it’s been legal to carry weapons, concealed or not, on National Park Service land since 2010.”
That might get…interesting. Garrison also notes that:
“A much larger white supremacist hate rally is coming (to the Bay Area) on September 9—11: the “Urban Shield War Games and Weapons Expo.”
In Andre Damon’s Aug. 24 ‘The “military-industrial complex” in power’ at wsws.org, he chronicles the faithful (non) ‘opposition scribes at the papers of records are givin’ heaps of love to the Afghan/South Asia plan. 16 moar years!
Oh, how delightful and unifying it is that Dems now love the Generals as ‘voices of moderation’ and the CIA! Tom Friedman’s war-and-destruction glee was far and away the most disgusting.
Old Yeller Hair finishes:
“Now we must secure the cause for which they gave their lives. We must unite to defend America from its enemies abroad. We must restore the bonds of loyalty among our citizens at home, and we must achieve an honorable and enduring outcome worthy of the enormous price that so many have paid.”
I know, I know, as if it ain’t too long already (those who finish reading will get prizes), but still, it’s a junta, so go for the prize!:
davidly
Greyson Smythe
LeMoyne
juliania2
ohiobarbarian
stephenadavis1
wendyedavis
café babylon 
i grew curious, went a-huntin’, found breitbart news saying: “Erik Prince, the founder of the former Blackwater private security firm who is proposing a private security strategy for dealing with Afghanistan, had been scheduled to attend the Camp David session but Politico revealed that he was blocked at the last minute, allegedly by McMaster.”
yep, hilarious, from dem anonymous ‘insiders‘: “The two sources — an administration official and a senior White House aide — also confirmed that Erik Prince, founder of the former Blackwater private security firm, had been scheduled to attend the session but that he was blocked at the last minute. The administration official said McMaster was the one who blocked Prince.”
g’ night to any nightowls who show up. it rained at sunset, albeit briefly, but to quasi-desert dwellers: oh my, my. the light on our menefee mtn. was sublime. i kept pingin’ this song when i went out and…got dampened by O-be-blissful raindrops. dream well; tough world we live in, eh?
…Hi wd
…The large amounts of time and effort you surely must bring to the table here at cafe-babylon everyday, week and month to do what you have been doing must be respected and appreciated by someone like me who on rare occasion and butterfly like momentarily flitters in and about cafe-b and then flitters off and away.
… It must be daunting to continually be mounting the wide searches and surveys of source ideas, references and background material to pull and put together the ongoing work you have posted and presented and continue to post and present here at cafe-b wd.
…Thank you wd for doing what you have done, make possible and continue doing without letup. It is far too easy for an old butterfly like me to flitter and flutter in and about cafe-b momentarily on occasion only to then flitter and flutter off and away for long spells. The days of my doing comments at several politics themed websites are long gone and over. My occasional commenting dalliances here at cafe-b now being done due my having met you on the comments boards at FDL where we seemed to get along nicely and often pulling on the same oars of perceptions and pov’s regarding politics and the sizing up of FDL contributors and fellow commenters. I do seek to be a courteous guest here at cafe-b and hopefully am not seeming ungracious about or unaware of the considerable amounts of time, effort and ongoing energy commitment you must provide bring to the table here at cafe-b to keep cafe-b up and going wd.
…You have earned and deserve high and wide recognition for the ongoing effort and work you have brought and bring to cafe-b wd.
…I am glad to have met and known you from the FDL days and am thankful to be able to visit cafe-b and still follow along with you wd.
…Thank you wd.
…Best wishes always.
…sta🏹🌈🌌🌞🌻
mornin’, sta. how kind of you to say. but yes, in the end i do too much research, thus likely include far too much for many folks to want to read or explore in links. meaning: i haven’t yet made the switch from large-venue blogging to boutique blogging. but oy, it’s a hard habit to break!
since i can’t get out and about any longer, this is one wee, wee way i try to make a (hopefully) positive difference to the oppressed humanity at large, and it does create a facsimile of a large neighborhood life, so thank you and the rest of the commentariat for that, as well.
but…does this also mean that it was too damned long to read? ;-) part of the reason i worked on it so long and rather hurriedly was that you and some others seemed to want to talk about this. i do hope you’ll weigh in on what you believe old yeller hair’s speech…really said. 4 loaves of bread day for me, so i gotta scoot for now. and how do you make those kewl graphics? alt codes?
dah, in my haste to keep building the bread, i’d forgotten to say it’s been a pleasure knowing you, as well, amigo.
Seconded. This is by far my favorite website. Your astute and nuanced observations are an oasis of sanity for me. I too am a member of the lifelong hippie club and your perspectives align with mine as much or more than anyone I’ve ever encountered. Since the election I’ve become disillusioned with so many figures I used to respect. I can’t imagine the time you put in but it is gteatly appreciated. I worked some really long hours this week and it’s nice to catch up and take a breath, despite the horrific nature of this speech and the policy it promotes. This looks to me like the last desperate gasp of a dying empire which I would heartily applaud if not for the ominous uncertainty of what will take it’s place. The Empire of Chaos on steroids. I hope and pray that when it collapses, we can avoid the death, destruction and further consolidation of oligarchy thay accompanied the breakup of the Soviet bloc.
And I didn’t think it was too long to read ( except for the Trump quotes; 140 characters from Trump are too long to read);)
i appreciate…your appreciation, c seeker; thank you. yep: what will come when the empire collapses is quite a thought experiment, isn’t it? i really don’t know how to read ‘combined’ amerikans’ desires/beliefs in the end, but how many are woke yet…is pretty hard to grok. although the new super majority party forming!!! claims to be so.
on edit: one wonders if the states will remain as a union, though. i’ve heard it theorized that amerika could be balkanized, even so relatively small as city-states.
i like how beautiful the café is, too. especially my photos in the banner. sometimes i just come in, click the banner for new ones to kinda restore my soul. our garden was a bit of a bust this year cuz so cold, but enough flowers survived that mr. wd’s been bringing baskets-full in every day. we must have 12 arrangements in vases right now, more to fashion today. every surface is full of them; just scrumptious. on the floor is the largest one, built around a three-foot cannabis plant that had declared as ‘male’.
fun stuff on ‘an employee of cointelpro enterprises, inc.’ and ‘eclipsegate’; wasn’t that hilarious?
Dear and and fellow commenters, I am borrowing my son’s amazing phone to tag onto Shoot’ s excellent comment here –
WHAT HE SAID
Sorry I can’t do more – not yet on a computer has huge benefits. I’m getting no news, but can at least report it is 20 days till a NZ election I know absolutely nothing about, though I fear the man w/o immolated himself at Burning Man might have been a neighbor my son is currently dog sitting for. I sure hope I’m wrong.
Ignorance is bliss – happy Labor Day all!
well look who the south wind blew in! hey, ww; nice to see you, and thank you. not on your new laptop yet, though? but the man…self-immolated, as in on purpose, or accidentally? gadzukes i hope you’re wrong, too. but when you come back, do go collect your birthday wishes from august 10.
nice to have some female energy around, too; sometimes marym comes by as well. but all the testosterone…well, you know. ;-)
…Hi wd
…Being only a spectator of what passes for USian Empire these days it seems the more one tries to better see and understand what is being done and by whom towards what purposes and sought goals the more one discovers nothing is new under the sun regarding USian Empire’ s post 2000 and 9/11/01 existence or 1945 existence or 1913 existence or 1898 existence or post 1865 existence or 1800 existence. The common threads running back all the way thru that span from present year 2017 to 1800 or indeed earlier still are stiched together by USian militarism, imperialism and ongoing forcibly imposed hegemony and subjugation whether done by expenditure of Big Lies Told, Promises Given Then Broken, bags of gold and treasure or relentless violent and open ended death dealing and devastation. All done to facilitate the expansion / imposition of USian Empire which USian Empire history is replete with from 18th, 19th, 20th and now 21st centuries.
…It is fair to suggest what the Filipinos were forced to confront post 1898 for decades afterwards once USian Empire revealed it’s intent to pick up where forcibly deposed by USian militarism Spanish Empire had just left off is what Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria plus numerous Central and South American people’s and nations or Japan, Germany, Korea or Vietnam have seen or are seeing firsthand. USians come, stay, will not leave and dig in to occupy.
…The real evil done however is how USian Empire then dresses up as being all about humanitarian good deeds done and being exceptionally interested with being benevolent and in spreading and sowing what is deceptivelycalled democracy. As a Teller of Big Lies the USian Empire indeed exceptionally exceeds. To keep this comment from becoming overly long essay should and will quickly sum up. What is now coming about with DeeTee’s having signed on to at his WH USian militarists advice / behest is to keep doing what WarMongerWarCrimnal Presidents B.Obama, G.W. Bush, W.J. Clinton, G.H.W. Bush, R. Reagan and etc. etc. signed off on doing. Call it The USian Empire Militarism Continuium. It is plainly evident that WW1 and WW2 boosted USian Militarism that post 1945 was amply signified by the new Pentagon Building in WashDC. that was to be occupied by a no longer titled War Dept. but now the Eddy Bernays massaged title of Defense Dept. USian Militarism has expanded, mutated and gone viral across WashDC from the Pentagon to the current 19(?) USian state security agencies of unbridled Intel sweeps and black ops to multiple MICC corporate arms makers and sellers deep state fascism to devastate, sow mayhem and kill serially without let up. Sadly far too many common USians have become deeply misled by the smooth and polished reams of disinformation daily spewed / injected by USian MSM via manipulation, misdirection, Small and Big Lies and well oiled Eddy Bernaysian outright deceptive delivered propaganda.
….Who is going to confront USian Militarism? Not DeeTee. Not Barack ” Big Liar Hisself ” Obama. Not anyone in or from The Bush Clan and surely not Bill and Hill Cl-$$$- ton. Who will stop USian Empire militarism and imperialism? ANTIFA? BLM? OccupyWallSt? No, No and definitely No. Looks like USian Empire is going to have to end up being deeply devastated and looking like Germany or Japan both were looking by mid / late 1945. Too bad about that being so too. Who will stop USian Empire and the many USian orcs who the likes of Mattis, Brennan, Kagan and Cheney are but current headliners for? Who will? USian Empire got off easy during WW1 and WW2 having missed out on what European and East Asian civilians had to experience and endure firsthand. Seems very likely WW3 will correct that historic oversight and outcome in big ways for North America USians. See 1945 war photos of Germany and Japan.
…Who will stop USian Empire? USians evidently cannot or will not. Someone must tho. It will be those who can and will. Sad it had to go this way. The ignorance of it is numbing. Truly lamentable.
…sta🏹
you apparently know 10 times more history than i do, arrow, especially if you can reach back to the seeds of empire into the 18th century. and i agree that trump rule was the next logical step into total inverted totalitarian rule, including empire, of course. amerika is the world’s bully, and the largest purveyor of terr’ism on the planet, that’s why ‘we’ are exceptional.
but w/ this speech, hasn’t he declared a junta? rule by himself, his military, and by extension, the cia, et.al.? i still get the shivers reading kinshore’s take on his unite the homeland under military rule. as if the metro po-po weren’t already militarized, but stir in his constant paeans to police and police unions, and his (ahem) racist, former member of the klan, beauregard…whoosh. who will be next in prison?
but yes, the msm, and media consolidation under bubba clinton, have promoted ignorance and red/blue divisions for so long that few even see what an enable of fascist totalitarianism obomba was i guess what showed me D identity politics the most clearly was that his vapid tweet ‘post c’ville’, quoting nelson mandala, nothing else, got something like eleventy zillion ‘likes’….yes, he was such a grand help to blacks an browns…all the way to prison and economic ruin. but never fear! a new party is forming! ‘we’re at a fork in the road!’ (it reads like the author was on amphetamines.)
sorry that’s all i got, weird and kinda fraught day here… i’ve tried to email you to ask how to make those graphics, but it seems you may use a separate email for online sign ins. anyway, feel free to use the ‘contact me’ in the categories list on the right side-bar.
someone will come for us unless the empire sinks of its own wait before then. then what? more demagogues like trumpeter who want ‘more law and order’?
…Hi wd
…Know 10 times more history? Doubt that being so wd…;-)
… As it is I seem to have overlooked mentioning in above comment what befell Native Americans as USian Empire during 19th century expanded westward and encroached on tribal lands while practicing deceptive tactics of false treaties and promises to Native American tribal chieftains that USian Empire pathologically had no intent to honor or not break when it was ready to displace and kill more Native Americans and devour more tribal lands. When and where offering false promises and poison pen treaties or perfidious bait and switch ploys failed USian Empire soon resorted to inflicting forced removal at gunpoint which often led to and opened onto inflicted armed violence, death and destructive chaos/mayhem.
…Post 1865 the USian Empire deployed it’s now idled and surplus civil war officers and US Army towards the west where Native American tribes would face atrocities being committed on them that the words malevolent, malicious and brutally gruesome only begin to frame. By 1895 the remnants of Native American tribes were broken and largely diminished and had been violently and forcibly removed from ancestral tribal lands. Native Americans placed on reservations were repeatedly subjected to the worst of USian Empire perfidious conduct and malice laced mistreatment.
…The War of 1812 was largely about USian Empire wanting to take lands from the British Empire and Native Americans at gunpoint with thoughts of taking parts of Canada actively pursued.
…The so called Mexican – American War of 1846 to 1848 would see USian Empire taking at gunpoint and inflicted death and destruction land from the Mexicans as well as invading Mexico and occupying Mexico City. Some in WashDC thought USian Empire should forcibly annex Mexico and subjugate the Mexicans to USian Empire. DeeTee now wanting to build a wall to keep Mexicans out of USA here in 2017 surely is some deep and wide irony when one examines what USian Empire did to Mexico during 1840’s.
… By 1898 USian Empire was looking for new easy conquest pickings and found them in Hawaii and then within the hollowed out Spanish Empire. It is known what befell Hawaii and Cuba and the Philippines at the hands of USian Empire. What USian Empire has been doing post 1990 to Russia and post 9/11/01 to Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria is nothing new under the sun. Not at all.
…sta🏹
soon, arrow. my response will need to be long, but a serious dilemma concerning a neighbor just came to us by way of a guest at his house. and thanks for all of this.
oh, i wouldn’t doubt you do know that much more history than i do; of course tarheeldem as well. several things you’ve cited i know zip about. but i’ll add to the mix:
the ‘doctrine of discovery’ was the papal bull issued by pope nicholas in 1454, which essentially declared war against ‘all non-Christians throughout the world, and specifically sanctioning and promoting the conquest, colonization, and exploitation of non-Christian nations and their territories’. in 1493 pope alexander issued a document that “the bull Inter Cetera of May 3, 1493, “granting” to Spain – at the request of Ferdinand and Isabella – the right to conquer the lands which Columbus had already found, as well as any lands which Spain might “discover” in the future.
In the Inter Cetera document, Pope Alexander stated his desire that the “discovered” people be “subjugated and brought to the faith itself.” By this means, said the pope, the “Christian Empire” would be propagated.”
“In 1823, the Christian Doctrine of Discovery was quietly adopted into U.S. law by the Supreme Court in the celebrated case, Johnson v. McIntosh. Writing for a unanimous court, Chief Justice John Marshall observed that Christian European nations had assumed “ultimate dominion” over the lands of America during the Age of Discovery, and that – upon “discovery” – the Indians had lost “their rights to complete sovereignty, as independent nations,” and only retained a right of “occupancy” in their lands. In other words, Indians nations were subject to the ultimate authority of the first nation of Christendom to claim possession of a given region of Indian lands.”
and as you’ve chronicled, ‘western expansion’ was underpinned by the widespread belief in ‘manifest destiny’, including war with mexico, (extending to california; i spent way too much time on the wiki entry, smile) although what i discovered that was new to me was that whigs were against the imperialism of it, and the belief wobbled a bit when it came to the issue of slavery in the (ahem) ‘acquired lands’. but look at this john gast painting from 1872 captioned “an allegorical representation of the modernization of the new west. ‘Columbia’, a personification of the United States, is shown leading civilization westward with the American settlers. She is shown bringing light from the East into the West, stringing telegraph wire, holding a school textbook that will instill knowledge, and highlights different stages of economic activity and evolving forms of transportation.” ain’t it sublime?
i’d only recently read that one of the major reasons for the american revolution was that england was cranked up that the colonies might enact slavery into law after the Somerset decision in the UK in 1772, and in 1766, Britain passed the Declaratory Act which gave the British parliament power over “all cases whatsoever” involving American laws.”
and of course, after the revolution, the constitution kinda backed away from addressing the issue of blacks as part of ‘we the people’, eh? but seen in that light, it was another step toward USian imperialism. your list of what was done to first americans was well done, but few know how many were enslaved and murdered by the good fathers at the missions in california, including junipero sera, whom pope francis recently beatified. not so much the liberation theologist he’d claimed, yes? bah!
Sadly, I have to agree. My analogy to the collapse of the Soviet Union was probably far too optimistic.
i love it when prezzies say garbage like this:
“The men and women who serve our nation in combat deserve a plan for victory. They deserve the tools they need, and the trust they have earned, to fight and to win.”
so did Cheney, McCain, Petraeus, Obama, Rumsfeld, Gates, HRC, etc., *not* have a “plan for victory”? then why aren’t they being brought up on charges of treason, dereliction of duty, gross negligence & incompetence, etc.? so *now* we have a plan, huh? just what was super soldier, excuse me warfighter, Stan the Man McCrystal up to? he was there to kick anyone’s ass on base, not “win the war”? that’s what it sounds like.
anyway, all for now. no surprise in the slightest that the MSM cheerleading squad all showed up to applaud this decision by Trump.
ha, yes. but he just declared himself ruler of all he surveys on the planet, didn’t he? but see, with this, he named his winning plan, plus all the secrecy, even from congress, yada, yada: “I have already lifted restrictions the previous administration placed on our warfighters that prevented the Secretary of Defense and our commanders in the field from fully and swiftly waging battle against the enemy. ” one shudders to think what memos have gone out. or are his generals really ‘the adults in the room’, and will prevent the total annihilation, including civilians, that he’ promised? more torture? ah, who knows, not that the usa ever really stopped torturing, they just out-sourced it.
but hell, i’d thunk you’d have loved his ‘success in mosul by droning’ claim. they’re still digging out civilian bodies, of course.
yes, you’d mentioned the NYT cheerleading, so i reckon you’d read tom flat earth’s barf-bag-ready quotes?
no, missed the friedman. ah trump the bureaucratic. it was some very flexible, mostly or entirely ignored “rules” of engagement or whatev that have prevented “us” from “winning”? uh huh.
we need to thank the robots, the drones, in our football games. too, also. “Let us honor our service members, human & robot, by bowing to our flag, etc.”
I heard two owls going at it last night. what a hoot.
aside from the fact that his historical and global political knowledge are epically ignorant, if not totally absent, he can still have opinions, can’t he?!?
he’s the commander-in-chief, now! ‘super-soldiers, arise like slumbering giants…we are many, they are..’ (everyone else)
cool on the owls; were they just hoo-hoooting mating calls, or going at it as in: sharing a cigarette afterward? i’ve sure never seen them mate. mr. wd found an owl feather outside the exterior door of our bedroom (that goes to an invisible deck we never built).
only if you want to read it, here’s andre damon’s ‘the MIC in power’ essay quoting him w/ the background ‘awesome embeddedness’ dreck.
sorry, I didn’t get close enough to determine if they were just hooting at each other or engaging in owl frottage. at 1st I didn’t know what it was, then it was like, omg, like wow, and stuff. it only lasted a few seconds. like.
well, I suppose the stupidity of a friedman is a deliberate attempt to flimflam a sector of the populace. he’s not an accident. he spouts a certain gibberish that excites the dopamine receptors & effects an endorphin release, not unlike what happens, so I hear, when one goes shopping. people that want to hear anecdotes about the guy pushing/biking the slurpee mobile around San Fran or Mumbai 27 hours a day to put his kids, from San Fran or Mumbai, into Stanford. they love that shit. how the mentality of a slave is freedom, or will be if we work harder. and are we *really* working harder? doesn’t technology make all our lives so easier?
Paul Krugman is not as bad a writer, but is he any different? ditto the whole crowd.
anyway…
like cool. thanx for the mini-report, like. ;-) not necessarily owl frottage, heh.
but god’s blood, my take was that fried chicken man was hallucinating his own hero journey on the trip, and got jiggy w/ it. triple ish. but yes, you just described another kind of hero journey w/ your ‘slave to freedom if ya push harder’ analogy. bootstraps, baby! for everyone who got out of the ghet-to, it took three peeps to push him out!
on edit: remember the wars to save the spotted owl? they live where you are, although WA state has a dozen owl species.
the end of Gatsby: we row harder toward the green light…and are so constantly swept back into the past. or however it goes. Gatsby was motivated by adolescent fantasies about his youthful love, his sweetheart, Daisy. our whole culture is, at its best, arousal of adolescent delusions. “row harder…shop harder…you’ll get that thing you lost, that true pure thing you had in your youth…see it’s right here in this Lexus.” everything gets dowsed, baptized, in adolescence.
sorry so short…
it’s a good thing that there are many exceptions to the rule, trump emperor of space. and welcome hope you hear the owls again. do let us know whassup for you and your fellow streetbillies now and again. hope all is well enough w/ you.
and thanks for the owl link.
Thanks for the amount of work on this one. Tying together the coming attempt to geld Berkeley’s left coast reputation (UVa was the small fry compared to the jiu-jitsu the congregated fascists envision for UC-Berkeley.) And Urban Shield again. Trying to get all the forces in place before the debt ceiling shock and the sealing of the border? Is it people being kept out or in in the end? Is that where your spidey sense that the lockdown is coming gets its momentum?
SFPD will certainly have their agenda then.
On Afghanistan. The guys in the Pentagon have wanted ever since 1975 to prove that Vietnam could have been won if there were enough will. Evacuation by helicopter to aircraft carriers is not going to be as easy from the Hindu Kush.
I reckon the son who is retracing his dad’s 2002 patrol might stumble on the remains of OBL in the Hindu Kush. Proper Muslim burial indeed! Thanks Sy Hersh.
Trumps campaign is very much like, what did W call it, ah yes — Crusades. Next the Pied Piper of 4CHAN will have the kiddies marching across Uzbekistan on the Fourth Crusade.
Well Rahm and his boss certainly missed the historical moment big time back in 2009 when we were hanging around FDL. They could have gone big or gone home. They did neither. And the generals were still pissed. Trump says to the generals, “You decide.” Are they happy yet? I don’t think so. Now their fingerprints and not the President’s are on the work.
Pepe Escobar framed Trump’ s speech with events in North Korea with a strategic analysis that the primary US purpose at this point is to frustrate the Chinese Belt Road Initiative and prevent Eurasian integration. The news he dropped was the BRI link down the Korean peninsula to Seoul that is momentarily on hold because of the US threat of pre-emptive war. On Afghanistan the analysis is that the US need do nothing but create chaos that prevents any infrastructure construction in Afghanistan in order to prevent China from developing extraction facilities on already concluded contracts.
The ghosts of Halford Mackinder and Nicholas Spykman swirl around Die Tie’s head even as he bromides his way through a “Presidential policy address” and promises the troops “no phony pheemales in phoxfoles” or whatever that ban is all about. So when do Presidents drop that attempt to remasculinize war after they realize how stupid “our men, women, or whatever in the armed forces” sounds.
OT: Our school system in banning clothing with Confederate, Nazi, or KKK symbology let loose a stunning bit of history about the statue that got dragged down (apparently one of the $200 cheapie bronzes). The tobacco baron who spoke at the dedication in his speech in 1924 proudly flaunted the fact that he was a white supremacist and volunteered, even bragged that he had struck an African-American woman. Today, school system maintenance staff are sandblasting his name from one of the buildings of a local high school.
welcome, thd, but my apologies; i’ll need until tomorrow to respond. sleep well, and my best to miz thd.
i expect it is, though i wouldn’t have been able to add in those “when X or Y” provocations. now i’d seen a thing at RT about antifa, or counter-protestors for berzerkeley planning a dog poop welcome, and i read some of the related ‘right wing’ organizer’s tweets: “we’re not even white!!!”, but backed out when my gorge came up. long way around dobbin’s barn to say i went to hunt it down, and…found this. (mayor lee doesn’t trust it) organizer cummings says she’s a ‘trans patriot’, adding to your fun quip “…our men, women, or whatever in the armed forces” and ““no phony pheemales in phoxfoles” (love it when ya make a funny, amigo).
‘Right-wing Rallies Cancelled in California Following Dog Poop Protests; In protest against the San Francisco ‘freedom rally,’ dog owners organized to leave their pet’s poop at the rally’s location’, aug. 26, haaretz/AP
“The rally in Berkeley, titled “No to Marxism in America,” was cancelled after a California judge denied the organizer’s permit for the weekend demonstration. The cancellation came almost immediately after a similar rally planned for Saturday in San Francisco was called off.
The “freedom rally” in San Francisco was called off by the event’s organizer. The cancellation came after one of the event’s speakers, Kyle Chapman, was arrested and charged with possession of a weapon after authorities said he was seen on video hitting a counter-protester over the head with a billy club.”
preemptive private bust. no open carry challenges.
here’s the link to pepe; i’d read it at CP, but couldn’t find i again there, so a general search kicked it up at the asia times. but i’d breezed right by “The news he dropped was the BRI link down the Korean peninsula to Seoul that is momentarily on hold because of the US threat of pre-emptive war”, so thanks. and yes, chaos will likely slow down china as well. but remember, africom’s stated mission is to ‘stabilize nations in chaos’, forgetting to note that the cia, war, sanctions, corruption of us-approved puppet governments, etc. create the chaos.
as far as i know, no one had said, but will afghanistan be a nato/africom venture as well? and my stars on your local school’s doin’s and history.
i looked into the comments section, nothing seems to be hung up there. i’ve black-holed a few myself, esp. when i’m adding alt-codes. so now, if i’m pretty sure a comment will be longish, i compose it on a word doc., then paste in it. i’m sorry it went into the ether, my friend; how bloody annoying.
herr tee just pardoned fascist sheriff joe arpaio, another win for the far right, proving that he’s just fine with convicted, brutal pigs. and yes, joe: you’re a pig.
@RealSheriffJoe “Thank you @realdonaldtrump for seeing my conviction for what it is: a political witch hunt by holdovers in the Obama justice department!”
and a gob-smacking psyop by nato’s ministry of truth (with subtitles and happy, peppy music!):
pence announced more sanctions from colombia yesterday
“16 moor years” – woot ! And, ‘junta’ : N0T !! It’s $till a Poppy Bush (CIA) Company putsch, effected since at least 11/22/63, with Trump jest the latest “what’s my agenda” !!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SJbt5KOgFM The actual “fellow patriots” of Afghanistan are the Taliban ‘minutemen’ amongst themselves in THEIR Country !!! US ist der HEϟϟIANϟ. Why? Because we like ems’ minerals, especially teh Company periodic table’s element, 0pium ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCi-P2j0G5E&t=877s
if you read what i’d written, the military junta is not just over FP, imo. but in the ‘homeland’ as well. yes, it’s gone on forever, it’s the US empire! funny jimmy dore, but i’d had to back it up to hear maddow, herself acting so incredulous. thanks.
i did do quick image search of GIs guarding the opium harvest to add to my ‘and opium’, but i didn’t find what i was looking for tickety-boo, so…i decided i’d spent enuff time already. but they’re great shots, aren’t they? rifles turned outward in protection…
I’m afraid it’s just more Industrial Disease.
brilliant, greyson smythe!:
‘There’s a protest singer singing a protest song – he says
‘they wanna have a war to keep us on our knees
They wanna have a war to keep their factories…’
so timbuk 3-ish in tone and melodic construction, don’t you think? i’d totally missed out their music, more’s the pity.
Timbuk-who? Quite a sound to emanate from Madison, WI… I didn’t realize who they were until the Great Wiki reminded me of “the future’s so bright I gotta wear shades”.
The vulture in the video is a nice touch.
Now to read what you’ve written above………..
More Industrial Disease:
ha. yes, but the US hegemon’s ruling political class loves exporting democracy for some™, and believes that ‘we are exceptional, and must rule the planet’. but at least under recent presidents, abysmal as they were, there was at least a nod to civilian control of the military (and related security apparatus). all bets are off on that.
but it’s time for more timbuk 3, okay?
YouTube brought me to that parade; they sure don’t mince words.
g’ night, all. i’m out for the night, as i have a saturday night date w/ mr. wd and anthony trollope.
on edit: last night i had the strangest dream. a long strand of dark blond hair was on my lap. reckoning that it had fallen from my head, i pulled on it. ‘ouch, dagnabbit!’ it had been attached to my lower arm. it wasn’t long in the dreamtime until i’d realized that a whole mane of silky hair had grown from my lower arm (dorsal, ventral?) i forget, but the side that’s always hairless, any road. ‘hmmmm’, i’d thunk; ‘if i wear a long-sleeved shirt to school, will it avoid notice? or shall i just act like it’s cool beans, maybe braid it and hang earrings and small jangles from it?’
now…you might ask if i should consult uncle zigmund, but i say nay; what if he tells me i’m turning myself into a (gasp) werewolf. sometimes a mane is just…a mane. but the main reason i’m mentioning it is to ask…are you sure you want to be here w/ such a weird one? ;-)
Viz Arpaio, I ran across this last night: https://twitter.com/jjmacnab/status/901485853058375680 (Via: https://twitter.com/leahmcelrath/status/901509241416167425?s=03)
some fuller background including a second internal link from 2012:
‘America’s Toughest Sheriff™ Joe Arpaio should rot in jail forever; history says he won’t’ café babylon
I g00gled for the Kinshore piece, not finding it, Dogpiled it: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/08/23/pers-a23.html
oh, greyson; i apologize. i try so hard to link to sources, and it looks like i totally failed there; i hadn’t even noted the site. i’ll try to remember to fix it. zo: did you find his take as convincing as i did?
Yes.
The idea that getting rid of Bannon and Gorka is a negative – because the Military is left with greater influence is quite the kick in the head, no? (Though didja see Gorka’s statement: https://twitter.com/Kris_Sacrebleu/status/901855992467513345/photo/1)?
Not sure I agree with the idea that the biggest enemy the ruling class sees is the working class. Or if it does, that it considers it much of one.
The first half of Trump’s speech is pretty frightening for we domestic types. Chris Hedges has been saying for some time that the Fascism we’ve been exporting will come home to roost; maybe now’s the time.
Mr. Trump, or whomever wrote that speech, has his eye on the ball, and a clear vision of our American Exceptionalism and the vaunted role the military plays in it:
Probably wasn’t originally written by Mr. T, but it’s colloquial enough in parts that his fingerprints are discernible.
apparently gorka is said to have deep ties to nazis, but who knows? that’s quite a creepy quote, though. bannon? funny, but now he’s a bit of a hero, no? folks say he was the sane voice for never, ever, launching an attack on north korea because multiple millions would die. did he mean south koreans; i’ve forgotten? but the Tee administration seems not to want to find the obvious diplomatic solution, they’d rather pressure china and russia economically for failing to pressure kim into giving up his nukes.
yeah, wsws is rather aspiration in the rising power of the working class, but i do believe they know when those workers ‘rise like lions after sleep’ globally, the world could tremble. from your fascism link, i’m not quite able to analyze this one ‘Religion and Government are Intertwined’ save for ‘anti-muslim’, but in obomba’s version it’s less clear to me.
now this: ‘Corporate Power is Protected’, it’s now worse than that, isn’t it? but it brings up sheldon wolin’s precepts of managed democracy, including ‘A power imaginary is usually accompanied by a justifying mission (“to defeat communism” or “to hunt out terrorists wherever they may hide”) that requires capabilities measured against an enemy whose powers are dynamic but whose exact location indeterminate’ in contrast to ‘The constitutional imaginary’, not that i grok all of it. hedges’ explanation is simpler, dunno…maybe thus more useful. and yeah, i’ve taken to calling him ‘old sourpuss’, but that’s a long…and boring story. ;-)
and no, timbuk 3 didn’t mince their words there, but they did tend to use one word a lot. ;-)
on edit: and given that herr hair has told the po-po to be rough on bad guys while loading them into patrol cars, *and* just pardon arch-criminal joe arpaio, proving exactly where his loyalties lie (hint: serving not the citizens, but law and order)…might be some ‘toad’s wild ride’ comin’ down the tracks.
Silber Surfaces: Restating the Obvious, Briefly
don’t remember the higgins, i’ll try to read it soonish, esp. as i love his alice miller oeuvre. but yeppers, it’s obvious. but cripes, i’m sitting there staring at the ‘credit card’ portion of his donate page. whooosh; we’ll have to talk it over, but oy, his expenses! largish (for LA) fires are burning somewhere around the city.
thanks, greyson, for bringing it; hope you’re doing okay…or even better than that. ;-) ha! he kinda believes in heaven? (ya can’t get to heaven on roller skates…life is hard) h/t timbuk 3