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

Friday, December 11, 2015

US Planning New Military Bases In Middle East, Asia, And Africa

Click here to access article by Dan Wright from Shadow Proof

Referring to a report appearing in the NY Times, the Empire's semi-official media source, about a new Pentagon plan for adding more military bases in these areas of the globe, the author writes: 
This plan..., of course, sets the groundwork for another series of wars in the region — wars the U.S. national security elite seem desperate to get into with the primary interest clearly being to keep the war machine rolling. Peace is bad for business and, by setting down bases and other assets, the U.S. can provoke attacks and then justify its use of force on defensive grounds.
The sad and dangerous fact is that wars feed profits and power to our capitalist masters, serve to prop up the ailing economy, and provides well-paying jobs for a few. The more immediate danger is the threat of more mini-wars, more refugees fleeing their homes for safe areas of the world, and more desperate people being recruited to serve in terrorist armies supported by the Empire to serve the latter's interests. This reckless plan by our masters accelerates the descent into a global conflagration of nuclear war with Russia and China. It appears that our masters are so terminally addicted to power and profits that they will risk everything to feed their addictions. 

The only remaining question is whether the vast majority of humans are going to passively stand by and let them do it. This begs other questions. Are we so distracted by local terrorist incidents that we fail to see the larger terror of nuclear war that will destroy all of us? Or, is it possible that we are like deer transfixed by the glaring headlights of war and terrorist propaganda that we are unable to act to save ourselves? Stay tuned, or better yet, stay informed by following credible information sources, and above all, staying active.

(You might also be interested to read the WSWS's take on this plan.)