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, July 18, 2015

Endless enemies - how the US is supporting the Islamic State by fighting it

Click here to access article by Nafeez Ahmed from Middle East Eye.

The "Empire of Chaos", as Pepe Escobar likes to call the US-led capitalist Empire, is apparently creating chaos in a big way in Syria and Iraq. They, the Empire directors, are playing a very complicated game in this region and their success in explaining their involvement to the war-weary American public illustrates how grossly gullible most of my fellows Americans are. Even Ahmed can't quite understand the games they are playing aside from the fact that they are feeding the US military-industrial complex with huge benefits:
If you have difficulty understanding this, don’t worry. I don’t understand it either. But what’s clear is that the ever shape-shifting US war on al-Qaeda, IS and Assad, is propping up al-Qaeda, IS and Assad.
Others like Escobar see clearly that chaos keeps both the Empire in overall control of the region and insures the security of their partner-in-crime Israel.