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

Monday, September 1, 2014

America’s Gamble: Wealth, War and Power. “Russian Roulette” and the Drive To Nuclear Armageddon?

Click here to access article by Colin Todhunter from Global Research.
...it is Washington that accused Moscow of invading Ukraine, based on flimsy or no evidence at all. Washington has accused Moscow of having a hand in the downing of a commercially airliner based on no evidence at all. As a result of this invisible Russian ‘aggression’, Washington has slapped sanctions on Moscow, which are hurting Europe more they are hurting the US. But that’s the point: to de-link Europe’s economy from Russia in terms of trade and energy and weaken Europe to ensure it remains dependent on Washington.

The mainstream corporate media in the West parrots the accusations against Moscow as fact, despite Washington having cooked up evidence or invented baseless pretexts. The western corporate media’s role is to cheer-lead official policies and wars. 
His take on the latest hyper-aggressive actions of the Empire are more pessimistic than mine. I think that they will rely on weapons in their arsenal such as economic sanctions, subversive NGOs, possibly even private mercenary armies, etc. to bring about regime change in Russia, but will avoid a direct war with Russia which would likely involve the use of nuclear weapons. While wars in general are good for capitalist economies, imperialists know that a nuclear war would destroy far too much of the Empire's investments. However, I could easily be wrong in my assessment of the sanity of the Empire's directorate.