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, November 25, 2017

America’s Enemies, Who’s On the List?

Click here to access article by James Petras from Global Research (based in Canada). (Clarification added in first paragraph on 12/1/2017.)

The latest fascist Empire, like the Third Reich, must pursue war in order to pay off the debts accumulated by the US government, which has now passed $20 trillion--debt which is owed to its mostly capitalist investors. Yes, capitalists do invest in war...well, not directly. They mostly invest in weapons manufacturing corporations and other supplies needed by their armies. Otherwise they invest in US securities like Treasury bills which are owed to them by the government's taxpayers--that's us. This enormous debt is presently the basis for the "never-ending wars" agenda of the Empire that was made possible by the 9/11 event. By conquering or intimidating other countries, we can force the latter to pursue policies favorable to Empire capitalists. But, do we, the people, have to (def.) go along with this agenda?
For almost 2 decades, the US pursued a list of ‘enemy countries’ to confront, attack, weaken and overthrow.

This imperial quest to overthrow ‘enemy countries’ operated at various levels of intensity, depending on two considerations:  the level of priority and the degree of vulnerability for a ‘regime change’ operation.

The criteria for determining an ‘enemy country’ and its place on the list of priority targets in the US quest for greater global dominance, as well as its vulnerability to a ‘successfully’ regime change will be the focus of this essay.

We will conclude by discussing the realistic perspectives of future imperial options.