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, January 2, 2017

Syria’s War Was Only Ever the Beginning

Click here to access article by Tony Cartalucci from New Eastern Outlook.

The author reminds us of the long term strategy on the US-led Empire to rule over the entire world by eliminating the threats posed by the independent, powerful states of Russia and China, and other smaller independent threats posed by Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah in Lebanon. This has been the trajectory of the Empire for the past 25 years, and Cartalucci argues convincingly that this will continue in the future regardless of which puppet lives in the White House. However, I think in this piece he fails to adequately explain the Trump phenomenon. Hopefully he will in the future. 

He concludes with a statement which argues that independent, alternative media and activists can play a constructive role in defeating the hegemonic plans of the Empire's ruling capitalist class.
The illusion that a presidential election could derail this singular, decades-long agenda is a dangerous one. In reality, the only obstacle between US special interests and achieving global hegemony are competing centers of power. These include nation-states like Russia and China, or grassroots movements like the alternative media, alternative and disruptive economic models, and political movements built on the power and influence such movements achieve. Such alternatives can undermine the unwarranted power and influence currently enjoyed by the US and the corporate-financier monopolies that dominate its political landscape.