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Title: THE "WAR ON TERROR" IS THE HOAX FOUNDATION OF THE POLICE/SPY STATE
Source:
Blacklisted News
URL Source: http://www.blacklistednews.com/THE_ ... Y_STATE/47153/0/38/38/Y/M.html
Published: Nov 6, 2015
Author: Paul Craig Roberts
Post Date: 2015-11-06 09:16:55 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 1257
Comments: 9
The consequences for Americans are an aborted Constitution, a police/spy state and rising resentment and hatred of America around the world. The consequences for peoples in Somolia, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Pakistan, Syria, Palestine, and Ukraine have been massive deaths and dislocations, infrastructure destruction, internal conflicts, birth defects, invasions, bombings, drones. Millions of peoples have been murdered by Washington’s pursuit of hegemony, and millions have been turned into refugees. The consequences for Washington’s European vassals is that the millions of refugees from Washington’s wars are now overruning Europe, causing social and political discord and threatening the European political parties that enabled, and participated in, Washington’s massive war crimes in eight countries. The populations of the eight countries and Washington’s vassals are stuck with the consequences of Washington’s evil, vicious, and illegal actions. And Americans are stuck with the police/spy state and militarized police who murder three Americans each day and brutalize countless others. The countries we have destroyed have no recourse to restitution. Our European vassals will have to provide from their own pockets for the refugees that Washington’s wars are sending to them. As for Americans, they seem to have settled into acquiescence to the brutal police/spy state that has crowded out freedom and democracy. But Americans could do something about it. It is a proven fact that the police/spy state rests on a foundation of lies and deceptions, and these lies and deceptions are now known. Even George W. Bush has admitted that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction. Thousands of independent experts consisting of physicists, nanochemists, structural engineers, highrise architects, fire fighters and first responders, and military and civilian pilots have provided the detailed explanations of September 11, 2001, that Washington failed to provide. Today not even an idiot believes the official explanation. The corrupt neoconservative Bush regime created a false reality and sold it to a trusting population that was anxious to prove its patriotism. The American electorate knew that the Bush/Cheney regime had deceived them about many things, and the people, believing Obama’s promises of change, put him in office to rectify the situation. Instead, Obama protected the criminal Bush/Cheney regime and continued with the neoconservatives agenda. We don’t have to stand for this. We can turn off Fox “News,” CNN, NPR and all the rest of the presstitutes who lie for a living. We can cease purchasing the useless newspapers. We can demand that the police/spy state that was created entirely on the basis of lies and deceptions be rolled back. Who can possibly believe that the massive PATRIOT Act was written so quickly in the aftermath of 9/11?It is not possible that every member of Congress and the staff does not know that such a massive document was sitting on the shelf waiting its opportunity. Who can possibly believe that a handful of Saudi Arabians acting without the support of any state and any intelligence service could outwit the entire apparatus of the American National Security State and inflict a humiliating defeat on the world’s only superpower? 9/11 is the worst national security failure in world history. Who can possibly believe that not a single one of the national security officials who so totally failed in their responsibilities was held accountable for their failures that brought total humiliation to the proud United States? Who can possibly believe that the Bush regime’s invasion and destruction of Iraq was a response to 9/11 when Bush’s Treasury Secretary publicly stated that the invasion of Iraq was the topic of the Bush regime’s first cabinet meeting long prior to 9/11? Are the American people really such washed-up sheeple, such cowards, that they acquiesce to a police/spy state, the foundation of which consists of nothing but lies told by criminals and repeated endlessly by whores pretending to be journalists? If so, the American people are not a people who any longer matter, and they will continue to be treated by Washington and by their local police as people who do not matter. 
The “war on terror” was a hoax. Americans were deceived by policymakers, who are pursuing a hegemonic agenda.The American people were too trusting and too gullible and, consequently, Americans were easily betrayed by Washington and by the presstitute media.
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#1. To: Deckard (#0)
OUTSTANDING opinion piece. Thanks for posting it and I hope my reading and commenting are not the only one. I am so over this eternal war footing America is on. This is what Eisenhower warned us about. Pray tell when was the last time our beloved land was not embroiled in a conflict requiring killing of others, and death of our own in a land over a thousand miles from home? 1800's? 1900's? Simply by memory, since 1941. I know, it has only been 74 years, and someone has to make the world safe for Democracy...sarcasm intended.
Looks like MacArthur had it figured out a long time ago as well. In a Cop Culture, the Bill of Rights Doesn’t Amount to Much It is nice to know that someone can see through the lies and deception and to come the realisation that the enemy is within, not without. The threats you have been responding to are in fact nations who feel threatened by the US and have built up their defenses. For a brief period the soviets were expansionist but that eventually bankrupted them and these military policies where american spending equals the rest of the world will also bankrupt the US. This is the price of capitalism, a military/industrial complex that must be fed. Some day it will be realised that democracy cannot be imposed, it is an evolutionary process, sometimes, as in the case of the US, taking centuries to mature. The settlers in the US did not decide on the first day they wanted a different system of government just because they were a few thousnad miles from the centre, excesses forced them into it. The people of the world cannot have democracy imposed upon them, they naturally come to the conclusion that representative government is better
The Military Industrial Complex is the Cookie Monster. It largely exists to gather up money, power, and influence. The March of Dimes was founded as a charity to combat the disease of polio. Polio vaccines did not put the March of Dimes into retirement. It restated its purpose to one of combating children's diseases. That is unlikely to ever go out of style. The Military Industrial Complex has restated its mission to one of combating terrorism. The War on Terrorism. Trillions of dollars have been taken and (some of it) spent of fighting the bogeyman. A great deal of the money has just disappeared, by the pallet load, in furtherance of the unending mission with no clear military goal or definition of victory. http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/indust.html Public Papers of the Presidents, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1960, p. 1035-1040 My fellow Americans: Three days from now, after half a century in the service of our country, I shall lay down the responsibilities of office as, in traditional and solemn ceremony, the authority of the Presidency is vested in my successor. This evening I come to you with a message of leave-taking and farewell, and to share a few final thoughts with you, my countrymen. Like every other citizen, I wish the new President, and all who will labor with him, Godspeed. I pray that the coming years will be blessed with peace and prosperity for all. Our people expect their President and the Congress to find essential agreement on issues of great moment, the wise resolution of which will better shape the future of the Nation. My own relations with the Congress, which began on a remote and tenuous basis when, long ago, a member of the Senate appointed me to West Point, have since ranged to the intimate during the war and immediate post-war period, and, finally, to the mutually interdependent during these past eight years. In this final relationship, the Congress and the Administration have, on most vital issues, cooperated well, to serve the national good rather than mere partisanship, and so have assured that the business of the Nation should go forward. So, my official relationship with the Congress ends in a feeling, on my part, of gratitude that we have been able to do so much together. II. We now stand ten years past the midpoint of a century that has witnessed four major wars among great nations. Three of these involved our own country. Despite these holocausts America is today the strongest, the most influential and most productive nation in the world. Understandably proud of this pre-eminence, we yet realize that America's leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment. III. Throughout America's adventure in free government, our basic purposes have been to keep the peace; to foster progress in human achievement, and to enhance liberty, dignity and integrity among people and among nations. To strive for less would be unworthy of a free and religious people. Any failure traceable to arrogance, or our lack of comprehension or readiness to sacrifice would inflict upon us grievous hurt both at home and abroad. Progress toward these noble goals is persistently threatened by the conflict now engulfing the world. It commands our whole attention, absorbs our very beings. We face a hostile ideology -- global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method. Unhappily the danger is poses promises to be of indefinite duration. To meet it successfully, there is called for, not so much the emotional and transitory sacrifices of crisis, but rather those which enable us to carry forward steadily, surely, and without complaint the burdens of a prolonged and complex struggle -- with liberty the stake. Only thus shall we remain, despite every provocation, on our charted course toward permanent peace and human betterment. Crises there will continue to be. In meeting them, whether foreign or domestic, great or small, there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties. A huge increase in newer elements of our defense; development of unrealistic programs to cure every ill in agriculture; a dramatic expansion in basic and applied research -- these and many other possibilities, each possibly promising in itself, may be suggested as the only way to the road we wish to travel. But each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs -- balance between the private and the public economy, balance between cost and hoped for advantage -- balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable; balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual; balance between actions of the moment and the national welfare of the future. Good judgment seeks balance and progress; lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration. The record of many decades stands as proof that our people and their government have, in the main, understood these truths and have responded to them well, in the face of stress and threat. But threats, new in kind or degree, constantly arise. I mention two only. IV. A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction. Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea. Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations. This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together. Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades. In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government. Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers. The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded. Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific technological elite. It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system -- ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society. V. Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society's future, we -- you and I, and our government -- must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow. VI. Down the long lane of the history yet to be written America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect. Such a confederation must be one of equals. The weakest must come to the conference table with the same confidence as do we, protected as we are by our moral, economic, and military strength. That table, though scarred by many past frustrations, cannot be abandoned for the certain agony of the battlefield. Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose. Because this need is so sharp and apparent I confess that I lay down my official responsibilities in this field with a definite sense of disappointment. As one who has witnessed the horror and the lingering sadness of war -- as one who knows that another war could utterly destroy this civilization which has been so slowly and painfully built over thousands of years -- I wish I could say tonight that a lasting peace is in sight. Happily, I can say that war has been avoided. Steady progress toward our ultimate goal has been made. But, so much remains to be done. As a private citizen, I shall never cease to do what little I can to help the world advance along that road. VII. So -- in this my last good night to you as your President -- I thank you for the many opportunities you have given me for public service in war and peace. I trust that in that service you find some things worthy; as for the rest of it, I know you will find ways to improve performance in the future. You and I -- my fellow citizens -- need to be strong in our faith that all nations, under God, will reach the goal of peace with justice. May we be ever unswerving in devotion to principle, confident but humble with power, diligent in pursuit of the Nation's great goals. To all the peoples of the world, I once more give expression to America's prayerful and continuing aspiration: We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings; that those who have freedom will understand, also, its heavy responsibilities; that all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity; that the scourges of poverty, disease and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth, and that, in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love.
Smedley Butler - War is a Racket (1933) by Ragnar Danneskjold
Well of course it is, the military/industrial complex is taking us all for a ride. There is tremendous waste and inefficiency how a project like the F35 can be permitted to continue just shows up the lack of responsibility
September 2004 from JimMarrs Website Like many other viewers, I shrank back in disbelief when the images of the World Trade Centre (WTC) attack first began to flood the airwaves. How could this happen? Who would want to do such a thing? How could four different airliners all be hijacked at the same time? How had security systems and air defenses both failed so miserably? How would America respond? Then it turned out that the $40 billion had come from America’s social-security fund, and $15 billion was being allocated to bailing out the airline industry. Next we were being told that Americans would need to give up their civil liberties, and Congress was rapidly approving the “Combating Terrorism Act of 2001”. The War on Terrorism was going to be largely a covert war, a war “unlike any other”, a war that would go on indefinitely into the future. And then as background reports began to appear, my suspicion deepened. It turns out that the airlines were already in deep trouble, before the attack. And the US had other reasons to go after Afghanistan, having to do with oil reserves, and pipeline routes. And there had been earlier signs that the social-security funds might be raided for other uses. And still, no actual evidence had been produced linking Bin Laden to the attacks. There may be some factual errors, but in my humble opinion, given the reports I have seen, this seems to be the most-likely scenario... Consider, for example, the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, which gave President Lyndon Johnson an excuse to begin major escalation of the Vietnam War. Supposedly, in that incident, a North Vietnamese boat launched torpedoes in an attempt to sink an American warship. It is now generally accepted by historians that the attack did not in fact occur, and that Johnson had been preparing to escalate all along. “The US Government lied to the American People about the following events. Each of these incidents led the United States into War.... “1941…THEY LIED about the attack on Pearl Harbor. (World War II) In the media coverage of the recent WTC attack, the comparison with Pearl Harbor has been frequently raised. Thousands of American troops were killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor, and thousands of American civilians were killed in the attack on the WTC. In both cases the American people responded (quite understandably) with deep shock and outrage. In both cases, overwhelming public sentiment was for retaliation, and for giving the President total support for whatever course he chose. In 1941, as now, any suggestion that the US government knew in advance of the attacks, and could have prevented them, would have been met by angry disbelief by almost any American. Nonetheless, the evidence now seems to favor the view that President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) did know about the impending attack on Pearl Harbor, and that he could have mounted an effective defense. British Prime Minister Churchill notified his Pacific commanders that the Japanese were heading for Pearl Harbor. FDR, on the other hand, did not notify his commanders. Instead, he sent the most strategic ships (the aircraft carriers) out to sea where they would be safe, and instructed key observation outposts on the island of Kauai to stand down. It was over Kauai that the Japanese made their approach to Pearl Harbor. (1) the destabilization of and removal of sovereignty from Western nation states (2) the establishment of an essentially fascist world government under the direct control of the capitalist elite (3) the greatly accelerated exploitation and suppression of the third-world (4) the gradual downgrading of Western living conditions toward third-world standards By these means, elites hope to achieve yet another round of capital growth. • Congress has authorized the President to do “whatever is necessary”. This is a very comprehensive agenda. Bush has a blank check to do whatever he wants, wherever he wants, using whatever means he chooses. He has made it clear he intends to pull no punches and that he will keep drawing on this blank check for a long time to come. From such an agenda, one cannot easily predict where it will all lead. In such a case, it is instructive to look at the historical precedents. • Nearly every country in the third world has some local ethnic group which is struggling against some kind of dictatorial government, usually installed by the USA. Every one of these ethnic groups can be labeled ‘terrorist’. Thus Bush can always intervene anywhere he wants for whatever reason and call it part of the “War on Terrorism”. George Bush senior announced the New World Order, and it seems that George Bush junior is destined to complete its implementation. With a blank check to dominate the globe militarily, and to suppress the American people in the name of ‘security’, there seems to be little to stand in his way. This does not mean that the movement should give up. It means that the movement needs to be aware that the game being played is totally hardball. And hardball does not mean violence, at least not on the part of the movement. Hardball means we need to realize that the enemy is nothing less than global fascism. The sooner we realize that and organize accordingly, the greater chance we have of changing things while there are still human beings alive and out of prison on this Earth. Excerpts from the draft US Anti-Terrorism Bill of 2001 SEC. 302. ALTERNATIVE MAXIMUM PENALTIES FOR TERRORISM CRIMES. Suggested Reading David C. Korten, The Post-Corporate World, Life After Capitalism, Kumarian Press, 1999. Brian Martin, Nonviolence versus capitalism, War Resisters’ International, London, 2001. Laurence Shoup and William Minter, “Shaping a New World Order: The Council on Foreign Relations’ Blueprint for World Hegemony, 1939-1945”, in: Holly Sklar, ed, Trilateralism, South End Press, 1980, pp. 135-156 Robert B. Stinnett, Day of Deceit: The Truth about FDR and Pearl Harbor, Free Press, 2000. Robert B. Stinnett, “December 7, 1941: A Setup from the Beginning”, Honolulu Advertiser, December 7, 2000. Online at: http://www.independent.org/tii/news/001207Stinnett.html William Greider, Who Will Tell the People, the Betrayal of American Democracy, Touchstone - Simon & Schuster, New York, 1993. Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash Of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Simon and Schuster, London, 1997. Jerry Fresia, Toward an American Revolution, Exposing the Constitution and Other Illusions, South End Press, Boston, 1988. A must-read if you want to know what America is really about – rule by wealthy elites. Daniel Quinn, The Story of B, Bantam Books, New York, 1996. The F-35 is a success. It has made a fortune for lots of people, even if it is useless. Stealth technology continues to make a fortune for somebody. Russia and China have develop radar technology that defeats it. It does not matter it if works, as long as the contracts keep getting funded.
The United States is a mutant country, with the majority of the world and its own citizens hobbling it for centuries. The "Frankenstein" we live in is a beast little resembling the original intention or creation. The experiment began in the 18th century must be stopped, it allows too much Liberty for the individual. That is the mindset of Authoritarians from Obama to King George. Boehner...err Ryan to the Sheriff of Nottingham.
#2. To: jeremiad (#1)
I am so over this eternal war footing America is on. This is what Eisenhower warned us about.
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends.
Paul Craig Roberts
#3. To: jeremiad (#1)
(Edited)
Pray tell when was the last time our beloved land was not embroiled in a conflict requiring killing of others, and death of our own in a land over a thousand miles from home? 1800's? 1900's? and someone has to make the world safe for Democracy...sarcasm intended.
#4. To: Deckard (#0)
THE "WAR ON TERROR" IS THE HOAX FOUNDATION OF THE POLICE/SPY STATE
Military-Industrial Complex Speech, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961
#5. To: Deckard (#0)
#6. To: nolu chan (#5)
War is a racket
#7. To: Deckard (#0)
by Richard K. Moore
And then the answers to such questions started coming in… within hours the authorities “knew” that the perpetrators were linked to Bin Laden, and President George Bush was already announcing a “War Against Terrorism”. While images of the attack were still being replayed, over and over again, US Congress had already authorized the President to take “any necessary measures”, and had allocated $40 billion to that purpose. Within days, the US had persuaded NATO to declare that this “attack on one member nation was an attack on all”.
By this time, my disbelief began to turn into suspicion. How had the US government come up so quickly with such a comprehensive and coordinated response? How had they decided within hours that an extended War on Terrorism was the appropriate action? How did they know that $40 billion was the exact amount needed?
The whole scenario began to fit a very familiar pattern, a pattern that has characterized American history from its earliest days. This led me to a quite different analysis of the events than we were being fed over the mass media. I am not claiming that this alternative analysis is correct, I offer it only for your consideration. The various claims I make in this article are my opinion only.
US History – A Series of Suspicious Warpath ‘Incidents’
As we look back at history, we find that every time the US has entered into a major military adventure, that has been enabled by a dramatic incident which aroused public sentiment overwhelmingly in favor of military action. These incidents have always been accepted at face value when they occurred, but in every case we have learned later that the incidents were highly suspicious. And in every case, the ensuing military action served some elite geopolitical design.
One of my correspondents on the Internet summarized a portion of the history this way:
“1898…THEY LIED about the sinking of the battleship Maine. (Spanish American War)
“1964…THEY LIED about the Gulf of Tonkin affair. (Vietnam War).”
We now know that elite US planners, during the period 1939-1941, had come to the conclusion that the Japanese conquest of Asia had to be stopped. The planners determined that Southeast Asia, in particular, was critical to US economic interests. But US public opinion was overwhelmingly against entering the war. It now seems that FDR figured out a way to get the US into the war, and that Pearl Harbor was the key to his plan.
When the Japanese began to threaten Southeast Asia, FDR froze Japanese assets in US banks, resulting in a cutoff of Japanese oil supplies. This was considered an act of war by Japan, and Japanese retaliation was expected by American planners. As the Japanese fleet approached Pearl Harbor, intelligence services in Britain and the US evidently knew of that approach.
It seems that FDR intentionally set the stage for a ‘surprise’ attack – shocking the nation and instantly shifting public opinion from non-interventionism to war frenzy. I am suggesting that this same scenario must be considered in the case of the recent WTC and Pentagon attacks. Unbelievable as this may seem, this is a scenario that matches the modus operandi of US ruling elites. These elites show callous disregard for civilian lives in Iraq, Rwanda, Yugoslavia, and dozens of other places around the world. Is it so surprising that they would sacrifice a few thousand American civilians if they considered that necessary in order to pursue their geopolitical objectives?
Let us now consider in more detail the possible motives for such a crime scenario.
Global Capitalism in Crisis
Capitalism must have growth and change in order to operate. The engine of capitalism is driven by wealthy investors who put their money into the economy in order to increase their wealth. If the economy offers no growth opportunities, then investors withdraw their money and the whole system collapses. A minor collapse is called a recession, and a major collapse is called a depression. The history of capitalism is punctuated by such collapses.
Capitalism came into existence along with the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s in Scotland and northern England. Before that time societies were not based primarily on growth. Certainly there were people before then who sought to increase their wealth, but economies as a whole did not require growth in order to operate. Societies were ruled by aristocratic elites whose wealth was measured by the estates they owned, and the peasants who worked their land. Such aristocrats were more interested in stability than change, and more concerned with maintaining their estates than with economic growth.
When the Industrial Revolution came along then all this began to change. With the cotton gin, steam engine, and other new technologies, it became possible for an entrepreneur to make a great deal of wealth rapidly. A new wealthy elite began to emerge made up inventors, industrialists, bankers, and traders. These were the people who built the factories, invested in them, and figured out ways to get the new products to markets.
The interests of this new elite clashed with those of the old aristocratic elite. The aristocrats favored stability, and laws which provided stability – such as tariffs, price controls, etc. The new elite, on the other hand, wanted change and growth – they wanted to develop new products, build new factories, and capture new markets. While aristocratic wealth was based on land and stability, industrial wealth was based on investment, development, change, and growth.
This new kind of economics, based on investment and growth, came to be known as capitalism. And the new elite, gaining its wealth through change and growth, is the capitalist elite. At first capitalism existed alongside aristocracy, competing with it to control the laws of society. But then in Britain, and later in other nations, the capitalist elite won out. Laws, economies, and societies were transformed to favor capitalism and growth over stability and land-based wealth. Banking, monetary systems, and taxation were re-engineered so as to compel businesses to seek growth whether they wanted to or not. Thus our economies were transformed into engines designed to increase elite wealth. Rather than economies which serve the needs of societies, we have societies which serve the needs of capital growth.
No one can deny that capitalism and its growth have brought many kinds of benefits to some people. America was based on capitalism from its very founding, and American wealth and prosperity are legendary. But there is a fundamental problem with capitalism. How is it possible for an economy to grow endlessly? How can growth be forever achieved in a finite world? Is capitalism, in the final analysis, sustainable?
In fact, providing for ongoing growth has been the primary challenge faced by every nation that has adopted capitalism. The history of the 19th and 20th centuries has been primarily the story of nations competing for markets and resources to support growth. Our history books tell us about noble causes and evil enemies, but in truth every significant war since 1800 has been about competition among Great Powers for economic growth.
Before capitalism, nations built empires because kings or individuals were greedy and wanted more territory and wealth. After capitalism, nations developed empires out of necessity. If they didn’t expand their markets and access to resources their economies would collapse. As industrial capitalism got into high gear in the late 1800s, that was accompanied by an unprecedented expansion of imperialism on a global scale.
From 1800 until 1945 the world system was a matter of competition among Great Powers for empires, in order to provide for capitalist growth. In each empire there was a core nation which ruled over peripheral territories. The peripheral territories were exploited in order to provide growth for the core ruling nation. The populations of the core nations were convinced by propaganda that they were helping or aiding the periphery to develop. This propaganda was lies. The fact was suppression, exploitation, and the prevention of healthy development in the periphery – so as to enable capitalism to flourish in the core Great Powers.
In 1945 this global system was radically changed. Under American leadership, with the help of both incentives and coercion, a new paradigm of capitalist growth was launched. Instead of competitive imperialism, a regime of cooperative imperialism was instituted. Under the protection of the American military, the so-called “Free World ” was opened to exploitation by capitalism generally. This led to the rise of immense transnational corporations which were no longer limited in their growth to a single national empire. This new post-1945 system was invented in order to provide another round of growth to capitalism.
Under the post-1945 system, part of the scheme was to provide prosperity to the Western middle classes. In Europe, the USA, and in Japan as well, populations experienced unprecedented prosperity. Cooperative imperialism provided immense growth room for capitalism, and the wealth was being shared with the core-nation populations.
But no matter what system might be set up, growth eventually runs into the limits of that system. The post-1945 system was no exception. By the early 1970s the growth machine was beginning to slow down. Recessions began to replace prosperity. As a consequence, the global capitalist elite designed yet another system, offering yet another round of capitalist growth. This new system goes under the name ‘neoliberalism’, and it was launched under the auspices of Ronald Reagan in the USA and Margaret Thatcher in the UK.
The purpose of neoliberalism was to steal the wealth of the prosperous capitalist nations and transfer that wealth to the capitalist elite and the corporations which they own and control. That’s what privatization, deregulation, and other so-called ‘reforms’ were all about. In addition, neoliberalism was aimed at disempowering democracy itself – because it was the democratic nations which were implementing laws which limited the power of corporations. Any limit on the power of corporations is a limit on their ability to grow. And the one thing capitalism cannot tolerate is limits to its growth. That is a matter of life and death to capitalism.
Again, as must always happen, the neoliberal system also began to run out of growth room. In this case, the system only provided growth for about ten years, the decade of the 1980s. And thus we were brought to the era of globalization. Propaganda tells us that globalization is simply the continuation of ‘natural’ trends in technology, trade, and commerce. This is not true. Globalization represents an intentional and radical policy shift on the part of the global capitalist elite.
Globalization amounts to four radical changes in the world system. These are:
During most of the decade of the 1990s globalization proceeded almost unnoticed by the world’s population. The World Trade Organization (WTO) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) began to establish their tentacles of power without publicity. Government leaders worldwide, under the pressure of capitalist elites, were quietly signing their sovereignty over to the new global institutions. When globalization was mentioned at all in the media, it was described in propaganda terms as sharing ‘progress’ with the downtrodden of the world.
And then in December 1999 the people of the world began to wake up. The demonstrations in Seattle marked the beginning of a new global movement. In fairness, one must acknowledge that there were earlier signs of the movement in Europe and the third world. But only when the movement reached the USA did it become ‘real’ in the eyes of the world. And ever since Seattle the movement has been growing by leaps and bounds on a global scale.
The movement does not yet have well-defined goals, but it is a very promising and very radical movement. It is based on a clear understanding that global capitalism is leading us to ecological disaster and to tyranny. The movement does not have a clear organizational structure, but that itself is promising. The decentralized nature of the movement points the way to a new kind of genuine, locally-based democracy – a democracy that is not subject to elite manipulation as have been our Western pseudo-democracies with their manufactured ‘majorities’.
Having presented this (highly abbreviated) historical background, I can now describe the nature of ‘the global crisis of capitalism’. On the one hand, the capitalist elite must accelerate the pace of globalization in order to continue providing room for capital growth. On the other hand, the people of the world, including in the West, have begun to wake up and oppose the dangerous and ominous path of globalization. The elite know that as the path of globalization is pursued more vigorously, more and more people will rise in opposition. The crisis of globalization is a crisis of population control, requiring tightened political management of the people of Europe and North America.
People in the third world have been subjected to imperialist tyranny for centuries, and this has been possible because of suppression by Western military force. If the people of the West arise in opposition to globalization, then the hegemony of the capitalist elite is seriously threatened. This is the crisis of global capitalism.
“War on Terrorism” – A Solution to Capitalism’s Crisis
President Bush calls it a “War on Terrorism”, but what is it really? Let’s look at some of the specifics...
• Congress has allocated 40 billion dollars to do “whatever”.
• The $40 billion came from Social Security funds.
• $15 billion is being allocated to bail out the airline industry. Thus, terrorism is being used as an excuse to steal the savings of workers and transfer it to large corporations, including airlines and weapons contractors.
• For the first time, NATO has invoked the treaty clause which says “an attack on one nation is an attack on all”.
• We’ve been told to expect significant curtailment of civil liberties.
• Bush declared that “Every nation in every region now has a decision to make. Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.”
• Fleets, planes, and ground troops have been dispatched to the Middle East to do “whatever”.
• We are to expect a long, protracted war, much of which will be covert and we won’t be told what happened even after it’s all over.
• After Bin Laden is dealt with, Secretary of State Colin Powell tells us “we will then broaden the campaign to go after other terrorist organizations and forms of terrorism around the world.”
• Bush tells us that “We will use every necessary weapon of war”, and “Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign unlike any other we have ever seen.”
• The Pentagon specifically refuses to rule out the use of nuclear weapons.
Pearl Harbor aroused the wrath of Americans against the Japanese... but as soon as the blank check was signed, it was Europe that received the initial focus of American military attention. After the Battleship Maine was blown up (from an internal explosion we have since learned), the thirst for revenge was translated into the imperialist capture of the Philippines. In other words, when one of these outrage incidents occurs, the modus operandi of the US elite is to pursue whatever objectives are most important to it – regardless of the incident that provided the blank check.
And the most important issue before the elite at this point in history is the preservation of global elite rule, the acceleration of globalization, and the suppression of the anti-globalization movement. They must deal with the crisis of global capitalism.
From this perspective, the real meaning of the “War on Terrorism” begins to come into focus. Permit me to speculate as to the scenario which is likely to unfold...
• In the Middle East, Balkans, and Western Asia, the US will continue the process of turning much of the region into an occupied imperialist realm, as we now see in Kosovo. Afghanistan occupies a very strategic geopolitical position, and military bases there will be important in the coming confrontation with China. Vast reserves of oil remain in that region, along with other minerals, and control over these resources will be critical as global supplies become increasingly scarce. In particular, Afghanistan is the planned route for a pipeline to transport huge Caspian Sea oil reserves to Western markets.
• US dominance of the NATO agenda will be important in this region, as will the careful management of European public opinion. One should not be surprised if US intelligence agencies covertly arrange for terrorist attacks in Europe along the same lines as the WTC attacks.
• Even without covert US encouragement, one can expect terrorist responses to the indiscriminate US bombing unleashed in Afghanistan and who-knows-where-else. Any such terrorist attacks will galvanize Western public opinion still further, adding depth to Bush’s blank check.
• The “Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001” is almost unbelievable in the degree to which it will turn the USA into a full-scale police state. Terrorism is very loosely and broadly defined, and life imprisonment is authorised for any offense which comes under this definition. The bill is retroactive and there is no statue of limitations. This means that people who were activists back in the 1960s or 1970s could be imprisoned for life, if their acts in the past could be construed as ‘terrorism’ under this new police-state bill. Even those who merely attended the demonstrations, or helped plan them, could be punished equally with those who actually committed the acts. Broad new powers of surveillance, preventive detention, and searches of homes without warrants are included in the police-state bill. Even minor computer hacking would be ‘terrorism’ and would be punishable by life imprisonment. And there many, many other equally frightening provisions.
• Already Greenpeace and many other progressive organizations are categorized as ‘terrorist’ in the FBI lexicon. And it is the anti-globalization movement, which includes such organizations, which is the real threat to the global capitalist elite. Agent-provocateur tactics have already been used against the movement, from Seattle to Genoa, and in the media the movement has been falsely portrayed as being essentially a violent movement. When Colin Powell talks about going after “other forms of terrorism”, it seems very clear that the movement will be systematically suppressed on a global scale. The overt fascism we saw in Genoa will be raising its ugly head in the US, Germany, the UK, and elsewhere. Right-wing paranoia about Federally-managed concentration camps in the USA will soon seem much less paranoid.
...A person convicted of any Federal terrorism offense may be sentenced to imprisonment for any term of years or for life, notwithstanding any maximum term of imprisonment specified in the law describing the offense.
SEC. 303. PENALTIES FOR TERRORIST CONSPIRACIES.
...Any person who attempts or conspires to commit any Federal terrorism offense shall be subject to the same penalties as those prescribed for the offense…
Propaganda tells us that capitalism is the same as free enterprise, and that the only alternative to capitalism is state-run socialism. Korten clearly explains why both of these beliefs are false. He examines market economies, as articulated by Adam Smith, and shows that capitalism is something entirely different. Market economies are based on competition among equal buyers and sellers, while capitalism is about monopoly control by large operators.
Huntington, who organized death squads for the CIA during the Vietnam War, is now an honored history professor at Harvard. He specializes in publishing new-world-order propaganda, and “Clash of Civilizations” is perhaps his masterpiece. The current “War on Terrorism” can be seen as an attempt to implement Huntington’s diabolical world architecture. 
"We (government) need to do a lot less, a lot sooner" ~Ron Paul
#8. To: paraclete (#6)
There is tremendous waste and inefficiency how a project like the F35 can be permitted to continue just shows up the lack of responsibility
#9. To: paraclete (#3)
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