Find a theme, stick with it, as Bush always says. Or Lakoff. I forget which.
Rahul Mahajan of Empire Notes measures four stories — the London bombings; the leaked (on purpose, I suspect) memo on troop withdrawal; the low practical value of G8 debt reduction; and Iraq/Iran alliances, on which he notes:
Dulaimy says the Iranians have offered of $1 billion in reconstruction aid and there is talk of building an oil pipeline between the two countries.
Says Mahajan — a thoughtful fellow I recently saw get rudely shouted down on MSNBC’s Connected — “these four pieces of news all point to the same thing”:
Worse, it has invaded Iraq and cost itself blood, treasure, and legitimacy only to find that its political weakness has forced it into allowing elections and the advent of a government that may well instead increase the power of Iran. This eventuality, anathema to the American imperium, is a very clear sign of its weakness in what we have been told is to be a new American century.
: : : More below : : :
Mr. Mahajan is the author of Full Spectrum Dominance: U.S. Power in Iraq and Beyond. He appeared on Democracy Now! on June 29, 2005, following Bush’s Ft. Bragg speech. He said there wasn’t much in Bush’s speech to react to, but he had plenty to say about the situation in Iraq:
And one of the things that has gone, I think, less noticed and less reported is that at one point talk turned to the idea of the other factions turning over Zarqawi and some of his people or turning against them, and their response basically was at this point with us under attack and under occupation by the United States, we’re not going to turn against any Muslim from anywhere who has come to help us fight against our enemy.
Now, I personally don’t think that Zarqawi and factions like that that are trying to incite a Sunni-Shia civil war are actually helping the Iraqis against their enemy, but it’s perfectly understandable that in a situation where they are occupied and they see one of their primary problems as the presence of massive numbers of foreign fighters from the United States and Britain, that that is how they’re going to see Zarqawi, that there’s going to be an inability for the resistance to separate itself completely from small sectarian terrorist factions. There’s going to be an inability for the Iraqi people to try to deal with that because it’s very difficult for them to disentangle, in a sense, that these people as — disentangle them as in their minds as being their allies.
This is why β this is one of the reasons why in order to bring any kind of clarity to this situation, the United States has to withdraw. If it withdraws and part of the settlement is, in fact, that all Iraqi forces that will negotiate with each other, which includes the mainstream politicians now, it includes most of the resistance, it includes Muqtada al-Sadr, but it does not include Zarqawi and people like that. Then as the U.S. is withdrawing, and these other factions can easily come together and negotiate and agree to deal with the terrorism problem they have.
In the absence of a withdrawal, however, just the reverse dynamic happens, and more and more of the resistance factions feel as if Zarqawi is on their side. …
are mostly screwing with my breakfast!
It seems that you’ve been really hot and bothered lately.
:<)
Iran-Contra.
How you can work me π
Susan, I think you’re on a roll with titles today-can we make today which ironically happens to be hump day as officially having the word screw in your titles today?
Wish I could take your title literally and have bush only screwing himself and not the American public and most of the rest of the world also.
And as for Iraq/Iran becoming best buds, I find it perversely interesting as I imagine it is sending shock waves through the neocon mindset.
And if I’m not making to much sense this morning I have to say that I was again up all night and am now barely able to think or keep eyes open.
Iran/Iraq: If I ever get around to bringing the New Yorker out of the car, and in here, I’ll retype — if I have to — sections of a marvelous story on the long, long ties and current cooperation between Iraq and Iran.
I can’t at the moment because my daughter stole the car.
….
I can officially get away with putting screw in all my titles today. I have no journalistic reputation to defend, no cocktail parties from which I’ll be barred, no late night insider tip phone calls I’ll no longer get. Ah, the beauty of being an outsider!
(Unless Booman minds… at times, I see evidence of a great refinement in our Boo … harkening back to the days of the founding fathers.)
For another forceful critique of American hegemony in the 21st century, check out Chris Floyd’s excerpts, at his blog Empire Burlesque, from George Galloway’s speech the other day.
Both Mahajan and Floyd use the word Empire in the name of their blogs.
Both are scribes of the follies of empire.
Bad enough that it has to sit by quietly while revolutions go on in Venezuela and Bolivia and Argentina defies international finance capital.
That must really chafe the right-wing @$$. I’m sure most folks (of course excluding those who make money from the misery and exploitation of others) in those countries feel that occupation is wrong from a moral standpoint, but laughing their behinds off from a political one.
We are simply stretched too thin to meddle in their affairs right now. We can bluster all we want (esp. w/ regard to Hugo Chavez) but right now, we can do little. We just don’t have the resources.
And we still need that oil.
Isn’t that the sweetest line.
And now that Bush and his lacky Goss have eviscerated the CIA, I’m guessing we can’t meddle like we used to… or … might we meddle more, but with far less experienced, clever CIA staff making an even larger, more tragic mess of it.
Rahul is an awesome person — he works closely with Robert Jenson here in Austin on all sorts of activist projects. I took a seminar with the two of them a few years back on activist strategies and I find Rahul’s writing to be some of the best out there!
Susan, some days it seems like you are going through my bookmarks! π
May I?
He is cool. I wrote him an e-mail after he got shouted down on MSNBC, and he wrote a kind note back.
I’d love to hear him speak in person! Lucky you!
Sure!! I have to warn you though, they’re just as unorganized as my office! And you may find out more about me than you ever wanted to know! π
Just say the word!
This eventuality, anathema to the American imperium, is a very clear sign of its weakness in what we have been told is to be a new American century.
The Latin word imperium, from which we get the English word “empire”, doesn’t mean empire — it means, roughly, “legal authority”.
As a rogue nation acting in defiance of international law and treaty obligations, the United States may have an empire of sorts, but it does not have imperium.
That’s sad, because it SOUNDS like just the word for the sentence. Maybe you could write to Rahul and tell him: rahul@empirenotes.org
Oh it’s much much worse than anyone thinks. Since Bush came into office:
Canada has refused to join in the “missile shield” network
Ecuador is rethinking extending the lease on the airbase in Manta, the only American military base south of Cuba. Oh yeah also refusing to sign Article 98 exemptions.
Uruguay, Chile, Brazil and Venezuela are firmly in the hands of leftist, independent gov’ts who have looked to China, Russia and the Arab states for economic and military cooperation
Colombia Even the country bought and paid for by the US is in Europe right now asking for Spanish and UK investment and observers to implement the law and justice plan. Why? Because the US Congress is threatening to cut off aid
Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica Rioting in the streets and Nic’s gov’t on the edge partly due to CAFTA
Bolivia Gov’t changed due to anti-int’l oil companies, the public wants them nationalized, American influence now about zero
Zambia, Botswana, Kenya now turning to China esp for both oil help as well as other economic deals (esp in the mining sector). Kenya refusing to sign Article 98 exemptions
Sudan – Chinese snapping up most of the oil
Argentina – Besides the IMF reject, they’re also refusing to sign Article 98 exemptions
India – Canceling or rethinking major contracts with US because of selling F16’s and other weaponry to Pakistan
Uzbekistan – Close to canceling lease use of American military base and this gov’t has received hundreds of millions of US dollars
Azerbaijan – Still an ally but putting the brakes on the construction of American airbase outside Baku
Pakistan and India are about to begin building a gas pipeline from Iran despite US saying no no
S. Korea is giving aid to N. Korea and working on realistic solutions to nuke problem rather than the U.S. which hasn’t talked to N. Korea in over a year
Turkey anti-US sentiment at all time high, close relations diplomatically with both Iran and Syria, failed to expand use of Incirlik or let US invade Iraq via its territory
Kyrgyzstan – President calling for non-renewal of lease of US airbase while Russia is doubling their troop strength at theirs
Germany, France, Spain – Obvious chilling of relationship due to Iraq war differences
Nigeria defying the US on its wishes for Charles Taylor
Liberia turning to Saudi money to disarm rebels and hold elections, turning away from US help
China and Russia holding joint military exercises in August
Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore refuse to let American 6th fleet “safeguard” Malacca Strait
Australia large crowds protest joint military exercises with US
Mexico – Fox’s PAN party losing popularity, leftist politicians now super popular
Yemen fighting civil war sparked by gov’t pro-US stance
Kuwait, Saudi Arabia same as Yemen, just to a lesser degree (just “militants”)
Egypt – country receives billions in US aid per year yet anti-US sentiment at all time high, crowds almost daily protest pro-US strongman president
Pakistan – almost the same as Egypt, just less protesting and more bombing, shooting and fighting
Phillipines – country disintegrating while Communist and Muslim guerillas continue to outwit, outplay and dominate US-trained forces
Afghanistan puppet president criticizing US air strikes which kill civilians meanwhile Invincible Taliban rockin’ and rollin’
Poland gov’t and people were pro-US and thankful for Communist-era help, now they say no thanks
Jeez what else am I missing? Oh yeah the fact that millions in Britain and Italy oppose their govt’s pro-US stances, same to a lesser degree in Baltics, Scandinavia and E. Europe.
Not to mention the non aligned countries are increasingly turning towards either China or Russia for their economic needs and trade.
Even the bought and paid for allies are disappearing, from Poland to Bulgaria to Azerbaijan to Uzbekistan.
Think about it this way – every free and democratic nation’s population opposes the US occupation of Iraq, whatever their gov’t may be doing. Every last one, right down to the USA itself.
All I got to say is thank goodness for Samoa, otherwise Bush wouldn’t have any real friends at all.
Pax