Jul 2, 2023·edited Jul 2, 2023Liked by Bill Astore
It is here in Georgia where the state apparatus is aggressively using the charge of "domestic terrorism" to stop and undermine any resistance to the new "training facility," better known as Cop City. The legal system is charging anyone who protests in any manner or who supports in any manner the effort to stop the construction of the roughly $100 million facility (you can bet on cost overruns) with "domestic terrorism." Already, this totally unnecessary waste of resources has resulted in the clear cutting of 85 acres of virgin forest that used to act as the lungs of the Atlanta metro area, a crime in itself. All the major politicians in Georgia, from Democratic city mayor Andrew Dickens to Republican governor Brian Kemp, are united, as are all major politicians at the national level in pursuing the proxy war in Ukraine. All the major corporations in Georgia (Home Depot, Amazon, Coca-Cola, Bank of America, etc.) also support Cop City and, therefore, by extension, support charging any and all protestors as "domestic terrorists." If this were done in any other country, say, for example Russia or China or Cuba, you can be damn sure that the US propaganda machine would be working 24/7 to denounce such countries as authoritarian and anti-democratic, claiming that such countries prevent their citizens from exercising their civil rights. Ah, but as usual, and just like with US foreign policy, the double standard goes unchallenged and the mainstream media just regurgitates what those in power say. For a very long time I have argued that US foreign policy can be easily summed up in only 8 words. Now, unfortunately, we can add US homeland policy as well. Both are driven by a very clear and unequivocal dictum: Do as we say, not as we do.
You beat me to it with this Cop City comment, Charlie. It used to be that to protest meant to risk arrest, possibly assault. Now, it means to risk death, as Manuel Teran discovered. For those who don't know his story, early this year, Teran sustained 57 gunshot wounds from police under extremely questionable circumstances while protesting Cop City.
Spot on. I would point people to a seemingly arcane way the government is waging this domestic war on “terrorism” against its own citizens. That way is the hoary idea of creating a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). I know, eyes glaze over stuff, and usually explained as necessary in ways many progressives are inclined to accept (I will forgo the economic damage this will do). Yet, what the government is doing is gathering up control of your spending with the ability to shut off that spending if you act in “irresponsible” ways.
We saw this when Canada shut off payments from those supporting the truckers protests last year (it does not matter if you agree with these protests or not). The government, in the name of terror, with a thin veneer of Keynesian economics, is moving to a system of social credits, much like “archnemesis” China. This will encompass not only political activities, but potentially diet and health choices, as well as environmentally “friendly” consumer choices. The totality of the potential state control of our lives is staggering.
So, I would ask people to pay attention to the arcane, it is often in such dry, eyes glaze over topics that the government does its most damage. Peace.
Have you been following the case in the UK where the prominent politician, Nigel Farage of the Brexit Party, out of blue had his band account closed - with no reason given.
To his shock and dismay he applied to open an account at (7) other of the big banks, and was turned down by all (7) - with no reason given.
He was also accused by an MP in parliament of receiving a £0.5-million bribe. It seems by British Law there is no legal avenue to sue that MP.
Apparently, the Deep State has planned to make him a non-person in his own country! He is saying he will have to move out of the UK.
I had not heard of that particular case, but I am not surprised. The UK is apparently in a race to get to full blown social control faster than continental Europe.
Very well said, Believe and Obey. A good time for this government to implement CBDC would be when we have our next Pandemic Event.
If You don't shut down Your "non-essential" business; if You don't hide like a fugitive in Your own home and avoid all but the most "essential" ~ as defined by the same people implementing CBDC ~ activities; if You don't get vaccinated and wear Your mask and follow the dictates of Your government at any level about anything, etc... .
If You do any of these things, You will voluntarily relinquish all control You have over Your personal and family finances, Your consumption patterns, and anything else the government mandates and dictates that You must do or not do.
And we have a whole gaggle of elected politicians, entrenched bureaucrats, and anointed appointees [or wannabes] who would love to be in charge of that show.
I must of missed it but I did not see a militarized police response to the summer rioting? What gives. These people were free to riot and engage in lawlessness
I'd submit that organizations such as the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, Three Percenters, boogaloo bois, et. al., actually ARE domestic terrorists. To the extent that they're organized, armed, and participate in drills, they're militias, and as such, are illegal in all 50 states. But they flourish nevertheless. Why? I say it's because they're useful to the anti-democratic (small D), corporate-state forces Bill describes. After all, TFG told the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by," and gun-toting members of such militias have shown up at polling sites for intimidation purposes. If they didn't serve a purpose for the powers-that-be (and hadn't been allowed to infiltrate police forces and the military), they'd have been taken down long ago.
In other words, legitimate, peaceful protests against the corporate state won't be tolerated, so those protesters are labeled as terrorists. The real terrorists, the armed thugs who muster out in the woods and want to "bring [a white supremacist, misogynist, nationalistic, evangelical, homophobic] America back," are ignored.
President Trump, often criticized for his stance toward women, employed more women as senior advisers than former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton did in their presidencies.
Allegations of misogyny against Trump are bogus. Just smears by the usual culprits
Trump's employment of women as key advisers in his administration was higher than any other president's in history.
At the beginning of the third year of his first term as president, Trump has seven female top advisers, as compared to five for Obama, three for Bush, and five for Clinton at that point.
Denise, TFG is an abbreviation that stands for “The Former Guy.” TFG is typically used by people who oppose Trump to indicate disrespect for him, prevent additional attention, and avoid responses from his supporters.
It turns this reader off reading the rest of your post -Sorry
First, as I've said before, I'm quite deliberately disrespectful to #45, and make no bones about it. He's earned that disrespect in spades, over and over. Ditto the shrub (Bush II) and Slick Willy (Clinton), to name two. Also, TFG certainly doesn't hesitate to vilely insult anyone who crosses him. I give respect where I believe it's due, and withhold it where it's not. My choice.
Second, I don't see how your comment relates to my comment.
Third, and I'm only gonna take one shot at this, and only because you responded to something I wrote, even though your comment appears to me to be a non sequitur. Aside from TFG's "...grab 'em by the p*ssy," crack, made on public TV; and aside from public accusations of sexual assault by 26 women; and aside from a recent determination of sexual assault in NYC by a jury of his peers; TFG appointed three SCOTUS judges deliberately selected to overturn Roe v. Wade. It simply doesn't get more misogynistic than that.
Denise, people are looking for more than "The other guy sucks and is a misogynist monster" as a campaign platform.
If you "progressives", and I use the word advisedly, would concentrate on what you are going to for Americans, instead of spending 95% of your time bashing your opponents, maybe people would take you seriously. I'm sorry my dear.
As for "I don't see how your comment relates to my comment" - says the poster who in a blog about "The Global War on Terror", or any blog for that matter, invariably hijacks the blog to bash TGF - the pot calling the kettle black eh.
And nobody believed the made-up story by E. Jean Carroll, a former columnist at Elle magazine, about Trump coaxed her into a dressing room, slammed her head into a wall, pulled down her tights and penetrating her 25-years ago.
A carefully rehearsed hit job by attorneys paid for by DNC operatives.
In a civil case, where the plaintiff only has to establish that her claims are true under a preponderance-of-the-evidence standard, which essentially just means that it is more likely than not that the plaintiff’s allegations are true. In other words - her word against his!
In a criminal case, the government has to establish that the defendant committed the alleged crimes beyond a reasonable doubt, a higher threshold. The centerpiece of Carroll’s case was an alleged crime — sexual assault — but the criminal statute of limitations had long lapsed, so Carroll brought a civil suit, which was resolved under a much more forgiving legal standard than the one that applies in an actual criminal case.
And a pathetic jury, hardly of Trumps peers, fell for it hook line and sinker. If you don't think that the majority of Americans saw this as a shameful set up on the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2024 you are very naive.
I don't see how any of this is germane to my article, which focused on domestic terrorism, the GWOT, and how a security state obedient to corporations is suppressing legitimate dissent by citing "terror."
It's the attitude of "I'm fine with protesting as long as they do it the way I want them to do it." Isn't that what the Kent State National Guard were thinking?
How would you categorize the riots across America following the killing in Ferguson and other places? Peaceful protests? Were they not allowed to protest. How about BLM protests?
They were extremely mild compared with what is happening in France right now, that is until the militarized US police began corralling, shooting rubber bullets and firing tear gas. The violence came from the police, not the protestors. The ironic part is that the French workers have a much better deal than US workers, and that is at least in part because they are willing to be much more aggressive when they protest.
"Whatever one thinks of Trump, the idea that he was unable or unwilling to make the “3 am call” is contradicted by the facts — especially when it comes to Russia.
In December 2017, Trump provided U.S. intelligence to Russia that helped Russian security forces prevent a terrorist bomb attack on an Orthodox Cathedral in Saint Petersburg. Russian President Vladimir Putin called Trump to personally thank him for the information, which allowed Russia to foil an attack which, according to U.S. officials, “could have killed large numbers of people.”
Trump’s decision to provide intelligence to Russia followed an earlier terrorist attack in Saint Petersburg in April 2017 which killed 11 people and wounded 45 others. Trump spoke with Putin after that attack, expressing his deepest condolences while offering the “full support” of the U.S. .
The December 2017 “3 am” moment showed Trump followed through.
Two years later, in December 2019, Trump again greenlighted the provision of U.S. intelligence to Russia which enabled Russian authorities to stop another planned terrorist attack on Saint Petersburg timed to disrupt New Years celebrations. Putin again called Trump to thank him for the information, which reportedly saved many lives.
All of this seemed to be forgotten when, in September 2020, on the eve of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, 489 former national security officials signed an “Open Letter to the American People”, lambasting Trump as someone who was “not equal to the enormous responsibilities of his office,” declaring that “he cannot rise to meet challenges large or small.”
In contrast, these officials touted Joe Biden, Trump’s Democratic challenger, as “the leader our nation needs”, emphasizing what they described as his “sound judgment, thorough understanding, and fundamental values.”
According to these former national security officials, Biden was better prepared than Donald Trump to meet the “3 am phone call” challenge. Recent events in Russia, however, seem to suggest otherwise."
So-called national security officials prefer Biden to Trump because Joe is more tractable and predictable, not because he's better/smarter/wiser. My opinion, of course.
The great thing about the GWOT, Dennis, is that it has no discernible end, since terror and terrorism will always exist. Perfect for all those "national security" types.
.....honest left wingers, some of the rare few left. Impeccable journalism exposing and countering the war machine state in the US.
Honest and down to earth takes seeing through the state propaganda from the war machine agenda. Having intellectually engaging discussions on Americas lies and destructive wars in their goal to remain the World's hegemon.
Unless and until somebody can prove me wrong with actual historical data and facts, i will maintain that the most significant, immediate, and long-term, lasting effect and result of the Kent State Massacre ~ from the American government’s point of view ~ was the end of organized, mass protests and action against America’s War against the Peoples, Lands, Countries, and Nations of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. And, more significantly, against any and all of America’s Wars anyplace else since.
As You noted in Your cited Tom Dispatch article from three years ago about a different War, Bill: The message of Kent State was that antiwar protesters are placing themselves in what is termed in the business as a “free fire zone” [defined by Merriam-Webster as “a combat area in which any moving thing ~ animal, human, or machine ~ is considered a legitimate and lawful target”], and openly inviting themselves to become just another case of “collateral damage.”
And it worked perfectly.
Kent State effectively ended the anti-Indochina War protest movement in America. And effectively ended virtually any and all anti-Any American War protest movement since then. With the exception of one weekend just before we went searching for Saddam’s still-missing “WMDs” back in 2003, the massed, organized voices of and for Peace in America have been nowhere to be found, let alone seen and heard. And that’s 53 years after Kent State.
As The History Channel put it in its May 4, 2023 post noting those events 53 years ago: “Indeed, the Kent State shooting remains symbolic of the division in public opinion about war in general, and the Vietnam War specifically. Many believe it permanently changed the protest movement across the American political spectrum, fostering a sense of disillusionment regarding what, exactly, these demonstrations accomplish—as well as fears over the potential for confrontation between protesters and law enforcement.” [https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/kent-state-shooting]
I've been thinking about this, Jeff. It's not that antiwar protests ended with Kent State. They didn't. People still took to the streets and protested. I think the antiwar movement was defused less by what happened at Kent State and more by the response of the Nixon administration and the powers that be.
What do I mean? The policy of Vietnamization (the withdrawal of U.S. troops from SE Asia), combined with the end of the draft and the creation of the AVF, which marks its 50th anniversary this year (1973-2023).
Also, the Nixon administration's skillful ploy to focus the "silent majority's" attention to the POWs that Hanoi was holding, rather than to the war itself.
So I think you're overstating the impact of Kent State on the antiwar movement. Other forces were at work to defuse and defang it.
Thank You, Bill, for a very thought-provoking response to my post about Kent State and the Death of the American anti-Vietnam War Movement. And the beginning of zero effective anti-Any American War Anywhere ever since then.
As You acknowledged that You gave this whole matter some thought before responding, i, too, need to give You a response after I’ve done some thinking of my own. You raise a number of very significant challenging facts that need to be seriously considered.
However, today was a major Boat Work Day up here in Sitka, with zero time to be pondering History. But after some R&R, i will do that pondering, and respond to You sometime tomorrow, the 4th.
In the meantime, here’s wishing You and Yours ~ and Everybody here at BV ~ a very Happy July 4th, 2023; a mere 1,096 days before July 4. 2026, and America’s 250th Birthday. If it survives.
Yesterday, Ira Chernus had a stimulating article at TomDispatch.com in which he noted the present lack of an American anti-war movement. When it comes to war and foreign policy, Americans face a Hobson’s choice: the Democrats with drones and Special Ops and bombing against evildoers, or the Republicans with even more drones and Special Ops and bombing against even more evildoers. The American master narrative, Chernus noted, is essentially all war.
He’s right about this, and I think it’s mainly for five reasons:
The military draft is gone, so our youth can safely (they think) ignore America’s never-ending wars. In Vietnam, with the draft, most of our youth didn’t have the luxury of apathy. Today, our youth have little personal incentive (as yet) to push back against the prevailing war narrative.
Militarism. Creeping militarism has shifted the American narrative rightwards. In the Vietnam period, General Curtis LeMay’s “bomb them back to the stone age” was a fringe opinion; now it’s mainstream with “carpet bombing” Cruz and Trump and Rubio, the “top three” Republican presidential contenders after the Iowa caucuses.
The Democrats have also shifted rightwards, so much so that now both major political parties embrace endless war. War, in short, has been normalized and removed from partisan politics. As Chernus documents, you simply can’t get an alternative narrative from the U.S. political mainstream. For that, you have to look to much smaller political parties, e.g. the Green Party.
The U.S. mainstream media has been thoroughly co-opted by corporations that profit from war. Anti-war ideas simply don’t get published; or, if they do, they’re dismissed as unserious. I simply can’t imagine any of today’s TV talking heads coming out against the war on terror like Walter Cronkite came out in the 1960s against Vietnam. There is simply no push back from the U.S. media.
Finally, a nebulous factor that’s always lurking: FEAR. The popular narrative today is that terrorists may kill you at any time right here in America. So you must be ready to “lockdown“; you must be ready to “shelter in place.” You must always defer to the police and military to keep you safe. You must fully fund the military or YOU WILL DIE. Repeated incantations of fear reinforce the master narrative of war.
For another perspective: Back on September 2, 2022, CODE PINK co-Founders Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans spoke with journalist Robert Scheer on WHAT KILLED AMERICA’S PEACE MOVEMENT?
First of all, Bill: Thank You for the links to those two articles. i had not seen them before; and know that if only because i did not make any comments to either of them. i will read them in a bit, but… .
After pondering our exchange about Kent State and the death of the American Anti-Vietnam War Movement then ~ and the stillbirth of any kind of reincarnated American Anti-American War Anywhere Movement ever since Kent State [and Jackson State] ~ i agree with Your assertion that i overstated “the impact of Kent State on the antiwar movement; and that Other forces were at work to defuse and defang it.” Particularly the actions by the Nixon Administration that You cited; particularly the end of the Draft.
And it worked perfectly. Given the results of the 1972 Presidential election ~ when Americans were actually given a chance to vote for an at least ostensible “Peace Candidate” ~ calling the antiwar movement “defused and defanged” is putting it mildly. And that also goes a long way toward explaining why it took Congress three-plus years after Kent and Jackson States to cut off all funding by the United States to Vietnam. Let alone pass a so-called “War Powers Act,” which has been totally ignored by every President since Ford.
BUT…; and it’s a big But: What happened in and to the Anti-War Movement from the Spring of 1970 until the Draft was terminated, also three years later?
Take a look at Wikipedia’s comprehensive and detailed “List of protests against the Vietnam War” from 1945 to 1973, and see how the frequency, magnitude, intensity, location, and duration of Vietnam War protest activity changed after Kent and Jackson State, as compared to the activity before. [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_protests_against_the_Vietnam_War ]
Reading over that, i couldn’t help but wonder what could and would have happened if ~ after the War came really home to folks in Ohio and Mississippi ~ the Student Strike against the expansion of the War into Cambodia [that got those Students killed and wounded in the first place] had been resumed with greater intention, focus, intensity, and endurance. And i also couldn’t help wonder exactly Why the Strike ~ at its peak involving more than 900 high school and college campuses ~ was abandoned. [Wiki has a good overview of that whole thing at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_strike_of_1970 .]
But the even bigger BUT ~ and far more important point ~ is that all that explanation for How and Why the Anti-Vietnam War Movement got neutralized and then effectively terminated [“with extreme prejudice,” at least at Jackson and Kent States] does absolutely nothing to explain:
Why there has not been any kind of meaningful, maintained, sustained, and ~ most importantly ~ effective Anti-American War Anywhere movement in America over the last 53 years.
And this despite all the Wars America has been involved in since then: from Central America and Afghanistan in the 80s; to Kuwait/Iraq, Central America, and the former Yugoslavia in the 90s; to “The Forever War” in Afghanistan, Iraq, etc since 9/11; to the curtain riser for Cold War II in Ukraine, and with China waiting expectantly in the wings.
And this is where Your 2016 piece nails it exactly as to How and Why, as Mr Chernus put it, “the American master narrative is essentially all war,” and Why and How there is no Anti-War/Pro-Peace Movement.
You cited: the absence of a Draft; a “creeping” ~ one could argue now a rampant and raging ~ Militarism; the hegemonic duopoly of America’s War Party; its thought control element, the Media; and that “nebulous factor always lurking, FEAR.”
And one could also argue that that factor is no longer “nebulous” or merely “lurking.” Because, back in 2016, FEAR was in fact already very deeply inoculated, implanted, and ingrained into the hearts, minds, and guts of the American people. Remember when getting killed by terrorists right here in America after 9/11 was joined by getting killed by one of Saddam’s “WMDs” in 2003?
Or that the 2008 financial “¢risi$” called for massive taxpayer-funded bailouts, loans, gifts, and grifts to the very people who created that “¢risi$” in the first place, or else this economy and nation was headed directly into “A Greater Depression”?
And it is particularly interesting that You wrote that piece back in 2016, just as The Age of Trump was dawning, and long before The COVID Event with its own concepts and forms of “lockdown” and “shelter in place.” And demands for faith and trust in, and above all, obedience to the dictates of elected politicians, entrenched health care bureaucrats, and increasingly militarized law enforcement officials.
And then of course, came January 6, followed by more COVID fallout: spiraling inflation, supply chain disruptions and attendant shortages, and so on and so forth right up to last year; and then since then: The threat of global nuclear war with Russia over Ukraine and now possibly with China over Taiwan.
So FEAR is not simply some lurking, nebulous factor at work, along with the Draft, Militarism, the War Party, and the Media. It is a very REAL force that has had and still has a powerful impact on what second decade 21st century Americans feel, believe, think, think they know, and actually really do [and/or don’t] know about how this nation is actually governed, and by [and for] whom.
Having said all that, the Question then becomes: So what and Now what?
Is an Anti-American War Anywhere Movement even remotely possible in the America of the second decade of the twenty-first century?
Is an Anti-Military-Industrial Complex / Anti-Secrecy-Security-Surveillance-Censorship Panopticon Movement even conceivable?
And can it be brought to full operational capacity and capability in time for Election2024; so as to provide the American People with a real Alternative to and an actual Antidote for what America’s Ruling Political Class will deign to offer them as their choices on November 5, 2024?
Or is it too late for that? Is it that The Decline of The American Empire has in fact ended, and that The Fall of that Empire ~ and with it, the Nation-State of the United States of America ~ has in fact already begun? And cannot and will not be reversed?
That is the Question that a critical mass of every American old enough to think for themself needs to start asking themselves and each other ~ and answering ~ if America is to survive to celebrate its 250th Birthday on July 4, 2026, a mere 1,096 days from today.
Thanks, Bill. But contrary to Mr Parker, i would say that The Earth is most definitely capable of "fighting back," and in fact now is.
And that it will eventually kill off the Human species; assuming we don't kill ourselves off with our weaponry and/or pollution first. And every other species that survives The Earth's War On The Humans' War on Earth will be much, much better off because of it.
And finally: In the grander scheme of the Earth System, the Solar System, the Galaxy, and the Universe, the exterminated species of Homo Sapiens Sapiens will not be missed ~ or mourned ~ at all.
Medea Benjamin on why there's no serious peace movement.
She mentions active censorship by the MSM and the fear of progressives or their lack of spine (or, if you prefer, their allegiance to money).
The Pope has called for peace in Ukraine, but have you heard that touted on the MSM?
The other obvious points: Lots & lots of corporations are making serious money off the war: arms merchants, oil & gas interests, and all those corporations and agencies that are committed to rebuilding Ukraine once the war finally ends.
And then there's always the disturbing reality that Americans like war--as long as we're not the ones being blown up.
First of all: Given the history of the Holy Roman Catholic Church with its Holy Crusades in the Mediterranean Basin, its Religious Wars in Europe, its endorsing and bankrolling the genocidal invasion of the “New World” by European Catholic Nation-States/Empires, and its failure to do anything substantive in response to the German slaughter of the Jews in The Holocaust: Given all that, why should anybody pay any attention whatsoever to anything that this or any other Pope has to say about “peace”?
Three comments by folks who watched that interview stand out in particular, and bear pondering:
~ 1. From Barbara Mulllin: “This leaves out the part that it was the USA who staged the coup that removed the elected leader of Ukraine. Also no mention about the Minsk Accords that the West only seemed to do to gain time to weaponize for war. No mention of the corrupt US news media who repeatedly says that Russia was “unprovoked”. And why is the USA backing and arming actual Nazis from the Azov battalion?”
~ 2. From Oakland Pete: “ Thank you, Barbara, for pointing out that there is another story, the one that Ms. Benjamin failed to tell, about why the western position is wrong. This has been a consistent theme from her, trying to find a neutral position, and always insisting that negotiations must be the end to this war; yet she fails to explain how the two sides, which are coming from diametrically opposed and incompatible positions, are to find some middle ground after both have rejected it in word and deed.
“I opened this video hoping to hear a critique of the left in its antiwar organizing, but instead heard an account of her failures to get action from congressional ‘progressives’. Her basic approach, following a failed strategy of appealing to congress while ignoring the underlying historical and geostrategic reasons for the war, put her in an untenable position. She only seems to respond to criticism from the mainstream, implying that those to her left have no credibility.
“The interviewer seemed to take for granted that an ethical position would be for war by the west, as if she were an advocate for that. I haven’t seen a takedown of Ms. Benjamin’s advocacy by those who oppose the western imperialist project and its endless wars. All I hear from her seems to say that war is wrong because it’s messy. I’d say that it’s wrong also because it’s a militarized form of oppression, and that oppression needs to be stopped – by force of arms, if necessary.
~ 3. From Robert Stewart: “Many of us have heard the oft-quoted maxim, traditionally credited to Aeschylus, that, “In war, truth is the first casualty.” In fact, truth was dead on arrival well before Putin invaded Ukraine. I have informally queried family members, co-workers and random acquaintances as to why they believe Putin invaded Ukraine, and not a single one of them could offer anything more intelligent than the assertion that “Putin is Evil!”, nor did they know the meaning of the terms ‘Maidan Revolution,’ ‘Viktor Yanukovich,’ ‘Minsk accords’ ‘Azov Battalion,’ or what James Baker, the SOS under HWB promised Gorbachev in exchange for opening up the Berlin wall, ‘i.e., not one inch further east.’
“Ms. Benjamin touches on the fact that 100% of the democratic caucus, including the clay-footed “Squad,” support unequivocal funding for this dangerous, ongoing atrocity, yet only grudgingly mentions in passing that the one and only antiwar entity within the US govt is located at the “far-right” wing of the House of Representatives, a basket of deplorables if ever there was one.
“A recent Pew pole showed that ’44% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say the U.S. is giving too much aid to Ukraine. Just 14% of Democrats and Democratic leaners view the current level of U.S. aid as excessive.’ How could that be? Could it be that Republicans are just more greedy and cheap where their own pocketbooks are concerned, relative to their benevolent and compassion Democratic counterparts, or that the US taxpayer, of whatever partisan stripe, is being lied to death and fleeced in ways unimaginable (and unreported).
“I highly recommend listening to this address that Max Blumenthal (editor of the Grey Zone) gave to the UN Security Council recently regarding the continued financing of the Ukraine proxy war. Every US Taxpayer of whatever partisan stripe should be outraged: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddc1ix_9MII .”
Thank You, Bill, for another excellent thought-provoker.
But be careful. Actually inviting and encouraging Americans to actually, really THINK about what has happened in and to this nation and on this planet since 9/11 will eventually get You on somebody’s “Watch List” in the federal, state, and local militarized law enforcement and/or thought control businesses.
It is my absolute conviction that America’s so-called “Global” so-called “War On” so-called “Terrorism” [aka the GWOT and/or “The Forever War”] was, is, and ever will be nothing but a half-time show designed and intended to keep the troops engaged, the defense contractors profitably employed, and the American people comfortably numb to protracted conflicts in places that many if not most of them can't find on a map of the world.
When the USSR disintegrated and European Communism collapsed in the summer-to-early winter of 1991 ~ officially ending COLD WAR I which had festered/raged since the end of World War II ~ lots of folks in the upper echelons of America's military-industrial-congressional complex were fretting about who their “Enemy” and “Threat” would be now, so as to justify continuation of their already record-high budgets. Does the term “Peace Dividend” ring a bell? [Assigned as i was as a senior NCO in the US Army’s Inspector General office at that time, i know exactly whereof i speak; trust me.]
It is my further conviction that the purpose, function, and intent of the GWOT was never to "win" The Forever War in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Syria, or anyplace else; whatever “win” actually means or ever meant. Rather, the intent was just to HAVE it; and to sow further chaos and conflict in the afflicted affected regions. All the while waiting for the emergence of a new and improved COLD WAR II with Moscow and Beijing. Hence the designation as “a half-time show.”
And the folks in the White House, Pentagon, and State Department who had pulled off OPERATION DESERT STORM earlier that year in Kuwait and Iraq had already started the process of providing the answer to the questions about a new “Enemy” and “Threat.”
With ODS, the US established a full-time, combat-ready military force not just in the Oil-rich Middle East; something it had been trying to figure out how to do since the end of World War II, if not World War I. But more significantly, it put that combat force in and on some of Islam’s Holiest Lands. And it killed close to a million mostly Children, Women, and Aged Iraqis with sanctions. Just the thing our Boy in our proxy war with the USSR in Afghanistan back in the 80s ~ Osama bin Laden ~ needed to justify his Holy War against the Infidel Crusaders to be launched ten years later on 9/11. And instead of eliminating Saddam after his joyride into Kuwait, we kept him around for future use; as in his “WMDs” after 9/11.
And it all worked perfectly.
For Russia has recovered from the collapse of the USSR ~ and China from the madness of Mao ~ sufficiently for both, individually or especially as a duopoly, to present clear, viable, credible "Threats" to America's 30-year reign of global unipolar hegemony since the end of COLD WAR I. [Or so we are informed by our government and its media.]
And COLD WAR II has kicked in big time with Russia in Ukraine and, when the time is right, will kick in with China over Taiwan.
And America’s Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex ~ along with its sidekick in crime, the Secrecy-Security-Surveillance Panopticon ~ has never been more powerful or profitable. And promises only to get more so as this whole process continues to unfold.
In any event and as one result of all this, one can comfortably say that The Decline of The American Empire has just about concluded, and that The Fall of that Empire ~ and with it, the Nation-State of the United States of America ~ has just about begun.
Thanks again, Bill. Lots for folks to think about on this July 4 weekend.
Independence doesn't mean much if, when you practice your "independence," you end up in jail (or worse) for "domestic terrorism."
Protest means the most, and is most needed, in difficult times. It is also usually when it is most restricted. We're in difficult times today, not that I need to tell you this, and we're seeing how protest is being increasingly neutralized or channeled in ways that present no threat to the corporate state.
So, go ahead and protest about gender pronouns, but forget about efforts to prevent oil pipelines or "Cop City" or any concerted effort to challenge authority where it might hurt.
And that is primarily because there is no Draft, and no increased taxes to pay for that War [financed thru the magic of Deficit Spending and the elimination of any Debt Ceiling all those Deficits add up to].
Hence, the American People have neither Blood nor Treasure in the game, or even at marginal risk. And all the right people, organizations, and institutions are profiting immensely.
What I've learned is if I ever go to Washington, D.C. I won't wear a MAGA cap. Or NYC for that matter. Or Baltimore. Or Minneapolis. Or Seattle. Or ......
It is here in Georgia where the state apparatus is aggressively using the charge of "domestic terrorism" to stop and undermine any resistance to the new "training facility," better known as Cop City. The legal system is charging anyone who protests in any manner or who supports in any manner the effort to stop the construction of the roughly $100 million facility (you can bet on cost overruns) with "domestic terrorism." Already, this totally unnecessary waste of resources has resulted in the clear cutting of 85 acres of virgin forest that used to act as the lungs of the Atlanta metro area, a crime in itself. All the major politicians in Georgia, from Democratic city mayor Andrew Dickens to Republican governor Brian Kemp, are united, as are all major politicians at the national level in pursuing the proxy war in Ukraine. All the major corporations in Georgia (Home Depot, Amazon, Coca-Cola, Bank of America, etc.) also support Cop City and, therefore, by extension, support charging any and all protestors as "domestic terrorists." If this were done in any other country, say, for example Russia or China or Cuba, you can be damn sure that the US propaganda machine would be working 24/7 to denounce such countries as authoritarian and anti-democratic, claiming that such countries prevent their citizens from exercising their civil rights. Ah, but as usual, and just like with US foreign policy, the double standard goes unchallenged and the mainstream media just regurgitates what those in power say. For a very long time I have argued that US foreign policy can be easily summed up in only 8 words. Now, unfortunately, we can add US homeland policy as well. Both are driven by a very clear and unequivocal dictum: Do as we say, not as we do.
You beat me to it with this Cop City comment, Charlie. It used to be that to protest meant to risk arrest, possibly assault. Now, it means to risk death, as Manuel Teran discovered. For those who don't know his story, early this year, Teran sustained 57 gunshot wounds from police under extremely questionable circumstances while protesting Cop City.
At least 57 shots. There's a venom to this violence that is virulent.
Bravo for the erudite alliteration, Bill.
And, of course, the spot-on comment.
Spot on. I would point people to a seemingly arcane way the government is waging this domestic war on “terrorism” against its own citizens. That way is the hoary idea of creating a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). I know, eyes glaze over stuff, and usually explained as necessary in ways many progressives are inclined to accept (I will forgo the economic damage this will do). Yet, what the government is doing is gathering up control of your spending with the ability to shut off that spending if you act in “irresponsible” ways.
We saw this when Canada shut off payments from those supporting the truckers protests last year (it does not matter if you agree with these protests or not). The government, in the name of terror, with a thin veneer of Keynesian economics, is moving to a system of social credits, much like “archnemesis” China. This will encompass not only political activities, but potentially diet and health choices, as well as environmentally “friendly” consumer choices. The totality of the potential state control of our lives is staggering.
So, I would ask people to pay attention to the arcane, it is often in such dry, eyes glaze over topics that the government does its most damage. Peace.
Have you been following the case in the UK where the prominent politician, Nigel Farage of the Brexit Party, out of blue had his band account closed - with no reason given.
To his shock and dismay he applied to open an account at (7) other of the big banks, and was turned down by all (7) - with no reason given.
He was also accused by an MP in parliament of receiving a £0.5-million bribe. It seems by British Law there is no legal avenue to sue that MP.
Apparently, the Deep State has planned to make him a non-person in his own country! He is saying he will have to move out of the UK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0F3OVfrQRA.
I had not heard of that particular case, but I am not surprised. The UK is apparently in a race to get to full blown social control faster than continental Europe.
Very well said, Believe and Obey. A good time for this government to implement CBDC would be when we have our next Pandemic Event.
If You don't shut down Your "non-essential" business; if You don't hide like a fugitive in Your own home and avoid all but the most "essential" ~ as defined by the same people implementing CBDC ~ activities; if You don't get vaccinated and wear Your mask and follow the dictates of Your government at any level about anything, etc... .
If You do any of these things, You will voluntarily relinquish all control You have over Your personal and family finances, Your consumption patterns, and anything else the government mandates and dictates that You must do or not do.
And we have a whole gaggle of elected politicians, entrenched bureaucrats, and anointed appointees [or wannabes] who would love to be in charge of that show.
I must of missed it but I did not see a militarized police response to the summer rioting? What gives. These people were free to riot and engage in lawlessness
https://fee.org/articles/george-floyd-riots-caused-record-setting-2-billion-in-damage-new-report-says-here-s-why-the-true-cost-is-even-higher/
I'd submit that organizations such as the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, Three Percenters, boogaloo bois, et. al., actually ARE domestic terrorists. To the extent that they're organized, armed, and participate in drills, they're militias, and as such, are illegal in all 50 states. But they flourish nevertheless. Why? I say it's because they're useful to the anti-democratic (small D), corporate-state forces Bill describes. After all, TFG told the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by," and gun-toting members of such militias have shown up at polling sites for intimidation purposes. If they didn't serve a purpose for the powers-that-be (and hadn't been allowed to infiltrate police forces and the military), they'd have been taken down long ago.
In other words, legitimate, peaceful protests against the corporate state won't be tolerated, so those protesters are labeled as terrorists. The real terrorists, the armed thugs who muster out in the woods and want to "bring [a white supremacist, misogynist, nationalistic, evangelical, homophobic] America back," are ignored.
President Trump, often criticized for his stance toward women, employed more women as senior advisers than former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton did in their presidencies.
Allegations of misogyny against Trump are bogus. Just smears by the usual culprits
Trump's employment of women as key advisers in his administration was higher than any other president's in history.
At the beginning of the third year of his first term as president, Trump has seven female top advisers, as compared to five for Obama, three for Bush, and five for Clinton at that point.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-has-more-women-as-top-advisers-than-obama-bush-or-clinton
Denise, TFG is an abbreviation that stands for “The Former Guy.” TFG is typically used by people who oppose Trump to indicate disrespect for him, prevent additional attention, and avoid responses from his supporters.
It turns this reader off reading the rest of your post -Sorry
I think you have TDS, Dennis.
First, as I've said before, I'm quite deliberately disrespectful to #45, and make no bones about it. He's earned that disrespect in spades, over and over. Ditto the shrub (Bush II) and Slick Willy (Clinton), to name two. Also, TFG certainly doesn't hesitate to vilely insult anyone who crosses him. I give respect where I believe it's due, and withhold it where it's not. My choice.
Second, I don't see how your comment relates to my comment.
Third, and I'm only gonna take one shot at this, and only because you responded to something I wrote, even though your comment appears to me to be a non sequitur. Aside from TFG's "...grab 'em by the p*ssy," crack, made on public TV; and aside from public accusations of sexual assault by 26 women; and aside from a recent determination of sexual assault in NYC by a jury of his peers; TFG appointed three SCOTUS judges deliberately selected to overturn Roe v. Wade. It simply doesn't get more misogynistic than that.
Denise, people are looking for more than "The other guy sucks and is a misogynist monster" as a campaign platform.
If you "progressives", and I use the word advisedly, would concentrate on what you are going to for Americans, instead of spending 95% of your time bashing your opponents, maybe people would take you seriously. I'm sorry my dear.
As for "I don't see how your comment relates to my comment" - says the poster who in a blog about "The Global War on Terror", or any blog for that matter, invariably hijacks the blog to bash TGF - the pot calling the kettle black eh.
And nobody believed the made-up story by E. Jean Carroll, a former columnist at Elle magazine, about Trump coaxed her into a dressing room, slammed her head into a wall, pulled down her tights and penetrating her 25-years ago.
A carefully rehearsed hit job by attorneys paid for by DNC operatives.
In a civil case, where the plaintiff only has to establish that her claims are true under a preponderance-of-the-evidence standard, which essentially just means that it is more likely than not that the plaintiff’s allegations are true. In other words - her word against his!
In a criminal case, the government has to establish that the defendant committed the alleged crimes beyond a reasonable doubt, a higher threshold. The centerpiece of Carroll’s case was an alleged crime — sexual assault — but the criminal statute of limitations had long lapsed, so Carroll brought a civil suit, which was resolved under a much more forgiving legal standard than the one that applies in an actual criminal case.
And a pathetic jury, hardly of Trumps peers, fell for it hook line and sinker. If you don't think that the majority of Americans saw this as a shameful set up on the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2024 you are very naive.
I don't see how any of this is germane to my article, which focused on domestic terrorism, the GWOT, and how a security state obedient to corporations is suppressing legitimate dissent by citing "terror."
Thank You.
It's the attitude of "I'm fine with protesting as long as they do it the way I want them to do it." Isn't that what the Kent State National Guard were thinking?
How would you categorize the riots across America following the killing in Ferguson and other places? Peaceful protests? Were they not allowed to protest. How about BLM protests?
I wrote about that here:
https://bracingviews.substack.com/p/americas-forever-wars-have-come-home
I welcome your comments on it.
They were extremely mild compared with what is happening in France right now, that is until the militarized US police began corralling, shooting rubber bullets and firing tear gas. The violence came from the police, not the protestors. The ironic part is that the French workers have a much better deal than US workers, and that is at least in part because they are willing to be much more aggressive when they protest.
The French are renowned for their riots.
Apparently we're training the French to riot. Part of our global hegemony. Three cheers for the unipole: https://niccolo.substack.com/p/us-state-department-trained-french
"Whatever one thinks of Trump, the idea that he was unable or unwilling to make the “3 am call” is contradicted by the facts — especially when it comes to Russia.
In December 2017, Trump provided U.S. intelligence to Russia that helped Russian security forces prevent a terrorist bomb attack on an Orthodox Cathedral in Saint Petersburg. Russian President Vladimir Putin called Trump to personally thank him for the information, which allowed Russia to foil an attack which, according to U.S. officials, “could have killed large numbers of people.”
Trump’s decision to provide intelligence to Russia followed an earlier terrorist attack in Saint Petersburg in April 2017 which killed 11 people and wounded 45 others. Trump spoke with Putin after that attack, expressing his deepest condolences while offering the “full support” of the U.S. .
The December 2017 “3 am” moment showed Trump followed through.
Two years later, in December 2019, Trump again greenlighted the provision of U.S. intelligence to Russia which enabled Russian authorities to stop another planned terrorist attack on Saint Petersburg timed to disrupt New Years celebrations. Putin again called Trump to thank him for the information, which reportedly saved many lives.
All of this seemed to be forgotten when, in September 2020, on the eve of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, 489 former national security officials signed an “Open Letter to the American People”, lambasting Trump as someone who was “not equal to the enormous responsibilities of his office,” declaring that “he cannot rise to meet challenges large or small.”
In contrast, these officials touted Joe Biden, Trump’s Democratic challenger, as “the leader our nation needs”, emphasizing what they described as his “sound judgment, thorough understanding, and fundamental values.”
According to these former national security officials, Biden was better prepared than Donald Trump to meet the “3 am phone call” challenge. Recent events in Russia, however, seem to suggest otherwise."
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/07/02/scott-ritter-bidens-3am-moment-in-ukraine/
More Trump praise?
So-called national security officials prefer Biden to Trump because Joe is more tractable and predictable, not because he's better/smarter/wiser. My opinion, of course.
Bill, arguably Trump did all he could to end The Global War on Terrorism and was impeded from doing so by the Deep State. My opinion, of course.
Hopefully when he is re-elected he will have better success.
The great thing about the GWOT, Dennis, is that it has no discernible end, since terror and terrorism will always exist. Perfect for all those "national security" types.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC7988EYUV0
Sun sets on the West - The Grayzone live
.....honest left wingers, some of the rare few left. Impeccable journalism exposing and countering the war machine state in the US.
Honest and down to earth takes seeing through the state propaganda from the war machine agenda. Having intellectually engaging discussions on Americas lies and destructive wars in their goal to remain the World's hegemon.
Kaia Ora Bill. Can't disagree with you.
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/can-the-war-on-terror-be-won/
Unless and until somebody can prove me wrong with actual historical data and facts, i will maintain that the most significant, immediate, and long-term, lasting effect and result of the Kent State Massacre ~ from the American government’s point of view ~ was the end of organized, mass protests and action against America’s War against the Peoples, Lands, Countries, and Nations of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. And, more significantly, against any and all of America’s Wars anyplace else since.
As You noted in Your cited Tom Dispatch article from three years ago about a different War, Bill: The message of Kent State was that antiwar protesters are placing themselves in what is termed in the business as a “free fire zone” [defined by Merriam-Webster as “a combat area in which any moving thing ~ animal, human, or machine ~ is considered a legitimate and lawful target”], and openly inviting themselves to become just another case of “collateral damage.”
And it worked perfectly.
Kent State effectively ended the anti-Indochina War protest movement in America. And effectively ended virtually any and all anti-Any American War protest movement since then. With the exception of one weekend just before we went searching for Saddam’s still-missing “WMDs” back in 2003, the massed, organized voices of and for Peace in America have been nowhere to be found, let alone seen and heard. And that’s 53 years after Kent State.
As The History Channel put it in its May 4, 2023 post noting those events 53 years ago: “Indeed, the Kent State shooting remains symbolic of the division in public opinion about war in general, and the Vietnam War specifically. Many believe it permanently changed the protest movement across the American political spectrum, fostering a sense of disillusionment regarding what, exactly, these demonstrations accomplish—as well as fears over the potential for confrontation between protesters and law enforcement.” [https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/kent-state-shooting]
I've been thinking about this, Jeff. It's not that antiwar protests ended with Kent State. They didn't. People still took to the streets and protested. I think the antiwar movement was defused less by what happened at Kent State and more by the response of the Nixon administration and the powers that be.
What do I mean? The policy of Vietnamization (the withdrawal of U.S. troops from SE Asia), combined with the end of the draft and the creation of the AVF, which marks its 50th anniversary this year (1973-2023).
Also, the Nixon administration's skillful ploy to focus the "silent majority's" attention to the POWs that Hanoi was holding, rather than to the war itself.
So I think you're overstating the impact of Kent State on the antiwar movement. Other forces were at work to defuse and defang it.
Thank You, Bill, for a very thought-provoking response to my post about Kent State and the Death of the American anti-Vietnam War Movement. And the beginning of zero effective anti-Any American War Anywhere ever since then.
As You acknowledged that You gave this whole matter some thought before responding, i, too, need to give You a response after I’ve done some thinking of my own. You raise a number of very significant challenging facts that need to be seriously considered.
However, today was a major Boat Work Day up here in Sitka, with zero time to be pondering History. But after some R&R, i will do that pondering, and respond to You sometime tomorrow, the 4th.
In the meantime, here’s wishing You and Yours ~ and Everybody here at BV ~ a very Happy July 4th, 2023; a mere 1,096 days before July 4. 2026, and America’s 250th Birthday. If it survives.
Jeff: You probably remember this piece from early 2022
https://bracingviews.com/2022/01/26/why-its-so-hard-to-give-peace-a-chance-in-america/
Also this: https://bracingviews.com/2022/12/03/wheres-the-antiwar-movement/
And I wrote this early in 2016:
Yesterday, Ira Chernus had a stimulating article at TomDispatch.com in which he noted the present lack of an American anti-war movement. When it comes to war and foreign policy, Americans face a Hobson’s choice: the Democrats with drones and Special Ops and bombing against evildoers, or the Republicans with even more drones and Special Ops and bombing against even more evildoers. The American master narrative, Chernus noted, is essentially all war.
He’s right about this, and I think it’s mainly for five reasons:
The military draft is gone, so our youth can safely (they think) ignore America’s never-ending wars. In Vietnam, with the draft, most of our youth didn’t have the luxury of apathy. Today, our youth have little personal incentive (as yet) to push back against the prevailing war narrative.
Militarism. Creeping militarism has shifted the American narrative rightwards. In the Vietnam period, General Curtis LeMay’s “bomb them back to the stone age” was a fringe opinion; now it’s mainstream with “carpet bombing” Cruz and Trump and Rubio, the “top three” Republican presidential contenders after the Iowa caucuses.
The Democrats have also shifted rightwards, so much so that now both major political parties embrace endless war. War, in short, has been normalized and removed from partisan politics. As Chernus documents, you simply can’t get an alternative narrative from the U.S. political mainstream. For that, you have to look to much smaller political parties, e.g. the Green Party.
The U.S. mainstream media has been thoroughly co-opted by corporations that profit from war. Anti-war ideas simply don’t get published; or, if they do, they’re dismissed as unserious. I simply can’t imagine any of today’s TV talking heads coming out against the war on terror like Walter Cronkite came out in the 1960s against Vietnam. There is simply no push back from the U.S. media.
Finally, a nebulous factor that’s always lurking: FEAR. The popular narrative today is that terrorists may kill you at any time right here in America. So you must be ready to “lockdown“; you must be ready to “shelter in place.” You must always defer to the police and military to keep you safe. You must fully fund the military or YOU WILL DIE. Repeated incantations of fear reinforce the master narrative of war.
For another perspective: Back on September 2, 2022, CODE PINK co-Founders Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans spoke with journalist Robert Scheer on WHAT KILLED AMERICA’S PEACE MOVEMENT?
The transcript of their conversation is available at: https://scheerpost.com/2022/09/02/medea-benjamin-jodie-evans-what-killed-americas-peace-movement/ ,
First of all, Bill: Thank You for the links to those two articles. i had not seen them before; and know that if only because i did not make any comments to either of them. i will read them in a bit, but… .
Second of all: Thank You for the 2016 piece; it ties in beautifully with what i’d like to say. [ At https://bracingviews.com/2016/02/03/wheres-the-anti-war-movement/ . ]
After pondering our exchange about Kent State and the death of the American Anti-Vietnam War Movement then ~ and the stillbirth of any kind of reincarnated American Anti-American War Anywhere Movement ever since Kent State [and Jackson State] ~ i agree with Your assertion that i overstated “the impact of Kent State on the antiwar movement; and that Other forces were at work to defuse and defang it.” Particularly the actions by the Nixon Administration that You cited; particularly the end of the Draft.
And it worked perfectly. Given the results of the 1972 Presidential election ~ when Americans were actually given a chance to vote for an at least ostensible “Peace Candidate” ~ calling the antiwar movement “defused and defanged” is putting it mildly. And that also goes a long way toward explaining why it took Congress three-plus years after Kent and Jackson States to cut off all funding by the United States to Vietnam. Let alone pass a so-called “War Powers Act,” which has been totally ignored by every President since Ford.
BUT…; and it’s a big But: What happened in and to the Anti-War Movement from the Spring of 1970 until the Draft was terminated, also three years later?
Take a look at Wikipedia’s comprehensive and detailed “List of protests against the Vietnam War” from 1945 to 1973, and see how the frequency, magnitude, intensity, location, and duration of Vietnam War protest activity changed after Kent and Jackson State, as compared to the activity before. [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_protests_against_the_Vietnam_War ]
Reading over that, i couldn’t help but wonder what could and would have happened if ~ after the War came really home to folks in Ohio and Mississippi ~ the Student Strike against the expansion of the War into Cambodia [that got those Students killed and wounded in the first place] had been resumed with greater intention, focus, intensity, and endurance. And i also couldn’t help wonder exactly Why the Strike ~ at its peak involving more than 900 high school and college campuses ~ was abandoned. [Wiki has a good overview of that whole thing at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_strike_of_1970 .]
But the even bigger BUT ~ and far more important point ~ is that all that explanation for How and Why the Anti-Vietnam War Movement got neutralized and then effectively terminated [“with extreme prejudice,” at least at Jackson and Kent States] does absolutely nothing to explain:
Why there has not been any kind of meaningful, maintained, sustained, and ~ most importantly ~ effective Anti-American War Anywhere movement in America over the last 53 years.
And this despite all the Wars America has been involved in since then: from Central America and Afghanistan in the 80s; to Kuwait/Iraq, Central America, and the former Yugoslavia in the 90s; to “The Forever War” in Afghanistan, Iraq, etc since 9/11; to the curtain riser for Cold War II in Ukraine, and with China waiting expectantly in the wings.
And this is where Your 2016 piece nails it exactly as to How and Why, as Mr Chernus put it, “the American master narrative is essentially all war,” and Why and How there is no Anti-War/Pro-Peace Movement.
You cited: the absence of a Draft; a “creeping” ~ one could argue now a rampant and raging ~ Militarism; the hegemonic duopoly of America’s War Party; its thought control element, the Media; and that “nebulous factor always lurking, FEAR.”
And one could also argue that that factor is no longer “nebulous” or merely “lurking.” Because, back in 2016, FEAR was in fact already very deeply inoculated, implanted, and ingrained into the hearts, minds, and guts of the American people. Remember when getting killed by terrorists right here in America after 9/11 was joined by getting killed by one of Saddam’s “WMDs” in 2003?
Or that the 2008 financial “¢risi$” called for massive taxpayer-funded bailouts, loans, gifts, and grifts to the very people who created that “¢risi$” in the first place, or else this economy and nation was headed directly into “A Greater Depression”?
And it is particularly interesting that You wrote that piece back in 2016, just as The Age of Trump was dawning, and long before The COVID Event with its own concepts and forms of “lockdown” and “shelter in place.” And demands for faith and trust in, and above all, obedience to the dictates of elected politicians, entrenched health care bureaucrats, and increasingly militarized law enforcement officials.
And then of course, came January 6, followed by more COVID fallout: spiraling inflation, supply chain disruptions and attendant shortages, and so on and so forth right up to last year; and then since then: The threat of global nuclear war with Russia over Ukraine and now possibly with China over Taiwan.
So FEAR is not simply some lurking, nebulous factor at work, along with the Draft, Militarism, the War Party, and the Media. It is a very REAL force that has had and still has a powerful impact on what second decade 21st century Americans feel, believe, think, think they know, and actually really do [and/or don’t] know about how this nation is actually governed, and by [and for] whom.
Having said all that, the Question then becomes: So what and Now what?
Is an Anti-American War Anywhere Movement even remotely possible in the America of the second decade of the twenty-first century?
Is an Anti-Military-Industrial Complex / Anti-Secrecy-Security-Surveillance-Censorship Panopticon Movement even conceivable?
And can it be brought to full operational capacity and capability in time for Election2024; so as to provide the American People with a real Alternative to and an actual Antidote for what America’s Ruling Political Class will deign to offer them as their choices on November 5, 2024?
Or is it too late for that? Is it that The Decline of The American Empire has in fact ended, and that The Fall of that Empire ~ and with it, the Nation-State of the United States of America ~ has in fact already begun? And cannot and will not be reversed?
That is the Question that a critical mass of every American old enough to think for themself needs to start asking themselves and each other ~ and answering ~ if America is to survive to celebrate its 250th Birthday on July 4, 2026, a mere 1,096 days from today.
Jeff, worth a read: https://wdtparker.substack.com/p/thoughts-and-prayers-anyone
He's a fellow BV reader.
Thanks, Bill. But contrary to Mr Parker, i would say that The Earth is most definitely capable of "fighting back," and in fact now is.
And that it will eventually kill off the Human species; assuming we don't kill ourselves off with our weaponry and/or pollution first. And every other species that survives The Earth's War On The Humans' War on Earth will be much, much better off because of it.
And finally: In the grander scheme of the Earth System, the Solar System, the Galaxy, and the Universe, the exterminated species of Homo Sapiens Sapiens will not be missed ~ or mourned ~ at all.
Jeff, this is worth watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOEEMDLgU24
Medea Benjamin on why there's no serious peace movement.
She mentions active censorship by the MSM and the fear of progressives or their lack of spine (or, if you prefer, their allegiance to money).
The Pope has called for peace in Ukraine, but have you heard that touted on the MSM?
The other obvious points: Lots & lots of corporations are making serious money off the war: arms merchants, oil & gas interests, and all those corporations and agencies that are committed to rebuilding Ukraine once the war finally ends.
And then there's always the disturbing reality that Americans like war--as long as we're not the ones being blown up.
Thanks for that link Bill.
First of all: Given the history of the Holy Roman Catholic Church with its Holy Crusades in the Mediterranean Basin, its Religious Wars in Europe, its endorsing and bankrolling the genocidal invasion of the “New World” by European Catholic Nation-States/Empires, and its failure to do anything substantive in response to the German slaughter of the Jews in The Holocaust: Given all that, why should anybody pay any attention whatsoever to anything that this or any other Pope has to say about “peace”?
Second of all: A couple of days ago, in addition to re-running his September 2022 conversation with CODE PINK co-Founders Benjamin and Evans that i linked, Robert Scheer also posted the same interview with Benjamin by Briahna Joy Gray that You linked at https://scheerpost.com/2023/07/02/why-theres-no-peace-movement-from-the-left-in-america-w-medea-benjamin/ .
Three comments by folks who watched that interview stand out in particular, and bear pondering:
~ 1. From Barbara Mulllin: “This leaves out the part that it was the USA who staged the coup that removed the elected leader of Ukraine. Also no mention about the Minsk Accords that the West only seemed to do to gain time to weaponize for war. No mention of the corrupt US news media who repeatedly says that Russia was “unprovoked”. And why is the USA backing and arming actual Nazis from the Azov battalion?”
~ 2. From Oakland Pete: “ Thank you, Barbara, for pointing out that there is another story, the one that Ms. Benjamin failed to tell, about why the western position is wrong. This has been a consistent theme from her, trying to find a neutral position, and always insisting that negotiations must be the end to this war; yet she fails to explain how the two sides, which are coming from diametrically opposed and incompatible positions, are to find some middle ground after both have rejected it in word and deed.
“I opened this video hoping to hear a critique of the left in its antiwar organizing, but instead heard an account of her failures to get action from congressional ‘progressives’. Her basic approach, following a failed strategy of appealing to congress while ignoring the underlying historical and geostrategic reasons for the war, put her in an untenable position. She only seems to respond to criticism from the mainstream, implying that those to her left have no credibility.
“The interviewer seemed to take for granted that an ethical position would be for war by the west, as if she were an advocate for that. I haven’t seen a takedown of Ms. Benjamin’s advocacy by those who oppose the western imperialist project and its endless wars. All I hear from her seems to say that war is wrong because it’s messy. I’d say that it’s wrong also because it’s a militarized form of oppression, and that oppression needs to be stopped – by force of arms, if necessary.
~ 3. From Robert Stewart: “Many of us have heard the oft-quoted maxim, traditionally credited to Aeschylus, that, “In war, truth is the first casualty.” In fact, truth was dead on arrival well before Putin invaded Ukraine. I have informally queried family members, co-workers and random acquaintances as to why they believe Putin invaded Ukraine, and not a single one of them could offer anything more intelligent than the assertion that “Putin is Evil!”, nor did they know the meaning of the terms ‘Maidan Revolution,’ ‘Viktor Yanukovich,’ ‘Minsk accords’ ‘Azov Battalion,’ or what James Baker, the SOS under HWB promised Gorbachev in exchange for opening up the Berlin wall, ‘i.e., not one inch further east.’
“Ms. Benjamin touches on the fact that 100% of the democratic caucus, including the clay-footed “Squad,” support unequivocal funding for this dangerous, ongoing atrocity, yet only grudgingly mentions in passing that the one and only antiwar entity within the US govt is located at the “far-right” wing of the House of Representatives, a basket of deplorables if ever there was one.
“A recent Pew pole showed that ’44% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say the U.S. is giving too much aid to Ukraine. Just 14% of Democrats and Democratic leaners view the current level of U.S. aid as excessive.’ How could that be? Could it be that Republicans are just more greedy and cheap where their own pocketbooks are concerned, relative to their benevolent and compassion Democratic counterparts, or that the US taxpayer, of whatever partisan stripe, is being lied to death and fleeced in ways unimaginable (and unreported).
“I highly recommend listening to this address that Max Blumenthal (editor of the Grey Zone) gave to the UN Security Council recently regarding the continued financing of the Ukraine proxy war. Every US Taxpayer of whatever partisan stripe should be outraged: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddc1ix_9MII .”
Thank You, Bill, for another excellent thought-provoker.
But be careful. Actually inviting and encouraging Americans to actually, really THINK about what has happened in and to this nation and on this planet since 9/11 will eventually get You on somebody’s “Watch List” in the federal, state, and local militarized law enforcement and/or thought control businesses.
It is my absolute conviction that America’s so-called “Global” so-called “War On” so-called “Terrorism” [aka the GWOT and/or “The Forever War”] was, is, and ever will be nothing but a half-time show designed and intended to keep the troops engaged, the defense contractors profitably employed, and the American people comfortably numb to protracted conflicts in places that many if not most of them can't find on a map of the world.
When the USSR disintegrated and European Communism collapsed in the summer-to-early winter of 1991 ~ officially ending COLD WAR I which had festered/raged since the end of World War II ~ lots of folks in the upper echelons of America's military-industrial-congressional complex were fretting about who their “Enemy” and “Threat” would be now, so as to justify continuation of their already record-high budgets. Does the term “Peace Dividend” ring a bell? [Assigned as i was as a senior NCO in the US Army’s Inspector General office at that time, i know exactly whereof i speak; trust me.]
It is my further conviction that the purpose, function, and intent of the GWOT was never to "win" The Forever War in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Syria, or anyplace else; whatever “win” actually means or ever meant. Rather, the intent was just to HAVE it; and to sow further chaos and conflict in the afflicted affected regions. All the while waiting for the emergence of a new and improved COLD WAR II with Moscow and Beijing. Hence the designation as “a half-time show.”
And the folks in the White House, Pentagon, and State Department who had pulled off OPERATION DESERT STORM earlier that year in Kuwait and Iraq had already started the process of providing the answer to the questions about a new “Enemy” and “Threat.”
With ODS, the US established a full-time, combat-ready military force not just in the Oil-rich Middle East; something it had been trying to figure out how to do since the end of World War II, if not World War I. But more significantly, it put that combat force in and on some of Islam’s Holiest Lands. And it killed close to a million mostly Children, Women, and Aged Iraqis with sanctions. Just the thing our Boy in our proxy war with the USSR in Afghanistan back in the 80s ~ Osama bin Laden ~ needed to justify his Holy War against the Infidel Crusaders to be launched ten years later on 9/11. And instead of eliminating Saddam after his joyride into Kuwait, we kept him around for future use; as in his “WMDs” after 9/11.
And it all worked perfectly.
For Russia has recovered from the collapse of the USSR ~ and China from the madness of Mao ~ sufficiently for both, individually or especially as a duopoly, to present clear, viable, credible "Threats" to America's 30-year reign of global unipolar hegemony since the end of COLD WAR I. [Or so we are informed by our government and its media.]
And COLD WAR II has kicked in big time with Russia in Ukraine and, when the time is right, will kick in with China over Taiwan.
And America’s Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex ~ along with its sidekick in crime, the Secrecy-Security-Surveillance Panopticon ~ has never been more powerful or profitable. And promises only to get more so as this whole process continues to unfold.
In any event and as one result of all this, one can comfortably say that The Decline of The American Empire has just about concluded, and that The Fall of that Empire ~ and with it, the Nation-State of the United States of America ~ has just about begun.
Thanks again, Bill. Lots for folks to think about on this July 4 weekend.
Thanks, Jeff.
Independence doesn't mean much if, when you practice your "independence," you end up in jail (or worse) for "domestic terrorism."
Protest means the most, and is most needed, in difficult times. It is also usually when it is most restricted. We're in difficult times today, not that I need to tell you this, and we're seeing how protest is being increasingly neutralized or channeled in ways that present no threat to the corporate state.
So, go ahead and protest about gender pronouns, but forget about efforts to prevent oil pipelines or "Cop City" or any concerted effort to challenge authority where it might hurt.
Or against any War that America chooses to engage in and wage.
How many mass protests have there been against America's War in Ukraine? Can You think of any?
None that I know of, Jeff.
Of course, the war for us is essentially happening off-stage, "over there." And we've been immersed in anti-Russia propaganda for decades ...
And that is primarily because there is no Draft, and no increased taxes to pay for that War [financed thru the magic of Deficit Spending and the elimination of any Debt Ceiling all those Deficits add up to].
Hence, the American People have neither Blood nor Treasure in the game, or even at marginal risk. And all the right people, organizations, and institutions are profiting immensely.
Yes, true. There's also a certain glee in cheerleading for Ukraine and against Russia.
What I've learned is if I ever go to Washington, D.C. I won't wear a MAGA cap. Or NYC for that matter. Or Baltimore. Or Minneapolis. Or Seattle. Or ......