We are constantly reminded of the sacrifices our forebears made in the fight against fascism in World War II. All those millions of lives were lost in the defence of liberty – or so we are told.
But what if fascism has actually won?
We don’t get to hear much “good” news about Pakistan – more about a state on the abyss. But this interview with Imran Khan, by David Frost, is well worth the watch, because it gives a revealing look at the man who many believe could be Pakistan’s next leader. And from what I hear of the man and his driving passion on this video, such an event will change Pakistan fundamentally – and be perhaps another quiver in the “bow” of the awakening that seems to be spreading around the world.
A recent lunch with a friend turned up an interesting discussion. We were talking about the concept of “intervention” in another country’s affairs, for the purpose of righting some wrong. My friend was of the opinion that the allies’ incursion into Afghanistan was moral because the Taliban are “bad” – because they do things like cutting off women’s noses, although I couldn’t immediately verify or deny such an assertion.
When I disagreed with the idea of intervention, he asked me, “If you saw a women outside this restaurant who was being assaulted or tortured by someone, wouldn’t you intervene”? And my answer was that this was a completely different situation – a situation where I was in proximity and “could” do something about it.
I then argued that a decision to help someone in such a situation was quite different from one nation impinging on another’s sovereignty in order to right a wrong. What I basically said was that when it comes to different nations we don’t have any sovereignty over them, so any interference is bound to end up in war. And it has.
In other words, I don’t see the state as a moral actor, in the way an individual can be. From my perspective, if I or anyone else is morally offended by how other nations treat their women, or anyone for that matter, then I can voluntarily offer my services to alleviate such suffering. I can make such a choice as a moral “actor”.
The state is something entirely different. It is not moral. It cannot be. Only individuals can be moral. So when one state declares a moral cause then invades another country in order to impose such “morality”, the end result is simply death and destruction.
Another thing I’ve noticed. Those people who so adamantly demand we “do something about it” – whether in Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, or even Pakistan or Iran – present the “morality” argument as if they were actually concerned about the Muslims in those countries. Whereas, in my experience, the very same people have no qualms about the killing of tens or even hundreds of thousands (as in Iraq) of Muslims in order to rectify some moral shortcoming of the government or leader.
I liken this to “crocodile tears” – the tears that are shed for show only, and which are simply a device for feigning empathy. In the same way, those who call for intervention in Muslim lands, in order to “save” them, in fact have no tolerance, empathy or love for such people – and therefore, the morality on display can only be categorised as “crocodile morality”.
At least someone is talking sense. Former Mossad chief, Meir Dagan, warns Israelis of the consequences of any rash action against Iran.
Israeli Strike on Iran Will Lead to Regional War
Eric Margolis lays it on the line regards the disaster that was the Iraq war, in his essay:
It’s fascinating to watch popular uprisings – and the way the state responds.
Right now, poor old Syria is in the headlines, due to its “brutal” crackdown of resistance. I use the speech marks because of the hypocrisy involved. What’s already obvious in Syria is that whatever “peaceful” protests may have started out, the protests are no longer peaceful, but involve live ammunition – and resultant deaths on both sides.
My question is: what Western nation would tolerate a similar armed rebellion within its borders – and not react exactly like Syria?
I’m not asking this because I support such suppression. Far from it. But in all fairness, what is Syria doing that the UK or the USA wouldn’t do in the same situation? Wouldn’t they put down violent protest with matching violence? If protesters started using weapons, wouldn’t our own security services give the green light to a weapons-based response?
Well, we might get to find out – and soon. If these “Occupy Wall Street” protests gather momentum – as a result of the heavy-handed police methods in turning them out of protest locations – then some among the protesters are likely to get violent. And once violence starts, the police will respond likewise. And before you know it, you could have an escalating situation on your hands.
The only question is: would the United Nations consider a no-fly zone over the USA – to be enforced by non-US armed forces – if things get out of hand?
I doubt it.
But that’s the world we live in. Crazy and hypocritical.
I’m sick and tired of hearing how Iran is “trying” to develop nuclear weapons capability. I’m sick and tired of the endless covert war against Iran that could very well blow up in our faces and start WWIII.
Fact is, the US, Israel and certain allies are already at war with Iran – via sanctions, assassinations, computer virus attacks, and incessant propaganda etc. One would think that a country, whose leadership we are told is “insane”, would use such a covert war as a reason to immediately begin bombing Israel – in self defence – if that’s their intention. But no. Whatever one thinks of Iran’s religious leadership – one thing is for sure, it is not irrational when it comes to foreign affairs.
“But Iran wants to destroy Israel!” goes the cry. But it doesn’t. It wants to see the Zionist regime ended. Ending a “regime” is not the same as destroying a nation. To want to see the end of a political ideology is not the same as wanting to kill people.
Don’t we remember how we wanted an end to communism – but hardly meant we wanted to nuke all Soviet citizens. It was the regime that we wanted to be rid of – and we were rid of it in the end. The people are still there.
But what about Ahmadinejad’s supposed desire to “wipe Israel off the map”? Well, he never uttered such words – no Iranian leader has. What he did say was grossly mistranslated from Farsi – and has been used as a propaganda weapon ever since.
The following quote from Wiki goes some way to explaining the actual meaning of his words.
Juan Cole, a University of Michigan Professor of Modern Middle East and South Asian History, agrees that Ahmadinejad’s statement should be translated as, “the Imam said that this regime occupying Jerusalem (een rezhim-e eshghalgar-e qods) must [vanish from] the page of time (bayad az safheh-ye ruzgar mahv shavad).[12] According to Cole, “Ahmadinejad did not say he was going to ‘wipe Israel off the map’ because no such idiom exists in Persian.” Instead, “he did say he hoped its regime, i.e., a Jewish-Zionist state occupying Jerusalem, would collapse.”
For whatever reason, we are being told that Iran is an existential danger to the world – and that they must be stopped before they create a nuclear bomb and obliterate us all. Nonsense I say. Even if they managed to develop a few bombs without the IAEA noticing, what use would they be against the existing huge arsenals as deployed by the US and Israel? You really would have to be crazy to want to self-destruct in such a way.
It’s all propaganda in the same vein as the previous propaganda against Iraq. That “war” started with ever-increasing sanctions, followed by incessant propaganda and intelligence “leaks”. So I just hope that saner minds prevail, and that we treat these warmongers the way they should be treated – by ignoring or ridiculing them.
The world has much more important and better things to do and get on with, than entering into some Orwellian nightmare war scenario, just to satisfy a bunch of sociopaths.
Eric Margolis has written a good piece on this subject: Nuclear Pots Call Iranian Kettle Black
Patrick Buchanan also questions this war hysteria: Return of The War Party?
What I find quite amazing is to find a person like Nigel Farage – who speaks such common sense – working in a bureaucratic hell-hole like the EU parliament. Hard to believe, but true. Just watch this short video and see for yourself:
Nigel Farage: Greece Under Commission-ECB-IMF Dictatorship
