We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Ukraine: The Lies Of Empire And The Smokescreen of Democracy

Click here to access article by Colin Todhunter from his blog East by Northwest. 
John Herbst, US ambassador to Ukraine from 2003 to 2006, this week gave an interview to the RT television channel about current developments in Ukraine.
Herbst in this interview illustrates the thinking of our capitalist ruling class which suggests that many of them appear to be stuck in the old Cold War years of anti-Soviet hatred. But, I wonder. I'm sure that it is true of some of them, but I doubt that this is true of most of them. I think that they are just trying to resurrect all that anti-Soviet conditioning imposed on Americans during all those years and use it against their Russian capitalist competitors who refuse to follow orders from Washington. Todhunter rightfully exposes all the lies, hypocrisy, and arrogance informing Herbst's comments.
Herbst, displayed all of the arrogance associated with the ideology of US ‘exceptionalism’ in terms of that country being qualitatively different from other states, being a beacon of freedom and democracy and having the right to act in any way as and when it deems fit. He also displayed the complete contempt that people like him have for the public with his falsehoods, misleading claims, warped logic and attempts to deceive.