geselecteerd als gefixeerd bericht
Making Sense of International Politics
See the links below left for sources I can recommend.
“The news and truth are not the same thing.” – Walter Lippmann
No bandwidth
Since the change to the new format and servers at web-log.nl, my space and bandwidth have been severely limited.
As of 31 July, without one post, I have used 155% of my alloted bandwidth. In other words, I may not post for lack of room. Thank you web-log.nl.
Thus, this web log will be discontinued. It will remain because of the links on the left side. But no more posting. See below for my active blogs, especially the Stumble Upon blog, with a variety of topics and unlimitied bandwidth.
My other blogs are:
Terrorism, Globalization and Conspiracy
A great presentation by Dr. Michael Parenti of how globalization reallyworks. Take an hour to watch this spell-binding lecture, and see if itisn’t one of the best time investments you’ve ever made. A must seevideo.
Best Bush joke
Ach, why not post a political joke here, if it’s a good one?
The absolute BEST Bush joke I have ever seen. Recycling…
George W. Bush has a heart attack and dies. He goes to hell where the devil is waiting for him. "I don’t know what to do here," says the devil. "You’re on my list but I have no room for you, but you definitely have to stay here, so I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I’ve got 3 people here who weren’t quite as bad as you. I’ll let one of them go, but you have to take their place. I’ll even let YOU decide who leaves."
George thought that sounded pretty good, so he agreed. The devil opened the door to the first room. In it was former President Richard Nixon and a large pool of water. Nixon kept diving in and surfacing gasping for air, then immediately diving back into the water again over and over and over. Such was his fate in hell.
"No!" George said. "I don’t think so. I’m not a good swimmer and I don’t think I could do that all day long." The devil led him to the next room. In it was British Prime Minister Tony Blair with a sledgehammer and a room full of rocks. All he did was swing that hammer, time after time after time. "No way! I’ve got this problem with my shoulder. It would be constant agony if all I could do was break rocks all day!" commented George.
The devil opened the third door. In it, George saw former President Bill Clinton lying naked on the floor with his arms staked over his head and his legs in a spread-eagle pose. Bent over him was Monica Lewinsky, doing what she does best. George Bush looked at this in disbelief for awhile and finally said, "Yeah I could handle this."
The devil smiled and said . . . "Monica you’re free to go…"
Keeping Iraq’s Oil In the Ground
We’ve known that controlling the oil and keeping oil sales exclusively in dollars are perhaps the biggest reasons (there are others) for the invasion of Iraq in 2003. But besides the U.S. determining who would, and who would not, get access to this oil, there is another reason. And that is given here: Keeping the price artificially high and in dollars, filling the coffers of the corporations and their stockholders as well as subsidizing the U.S. economy. This is another classic example of government and big business holding hands tightly. It is also known as fascism. The Iraq scenario becomes a little clearer with this. But then, there is another problem: Other countries who are oil producers and the biggest threat to this U.S. government/corporate cartel currently is Venezuela with it huge reserves. But even though connected to this, that’s another story…
Attacking your own soul
"When you take away the humanity of another, you kill your own humanity. You attack your own soul because it is standing in the way."
With these words, this retired army veteran writes a letter to the troops in Iraq today. Or, rather, almost 3 years ago already. What he has to say should have been taken to heart, for we hear more and more of the atrocities committed by the military.
Trapping Iran with a Tripwire
There are two lines of thought regarding Iran today: One line is that the elite who really control the world do not want Iran invaded; thus this also explains the backing away by the U.S.
The other line of thought is that the U.S. is setting Iran up, as it did with Iraq. This article deals with this line of thought. 
C all me paranoid, but I don’t buy the changed face of the Bush administration. Smiling Condoleezza Rice saying "we understand that it may take a little time for Iran to assess the situation," Bush saying of Iran’s reaction "sounds like a positive response to me," unnamed American official saying that eventually "this Iranian regime can have enrichment at home." Is this Neverland? Or is it a con job?
It is possible that it is all true and sincere. It is also possible that Santa Claus exists.
But it is more likely that it is a trap. That the sole purpose of the current US "soft" diplomatic activity is to induce Iran to "suspend their enrichment in a verifiable way." What for?
There is no security risk to the United States nor anybody else if Iran runs 164 P1 centrifuges. It would take 28 years for that equipment to make sufficient enriched uranium for a single bomb. Why then the precondition that Iran needs to stop this activity for the US to even start talking? Why isn’t this one of the many issues that could be addressed during the actual talks?
A few questions to a General
Now that he’s retired, he can speak his mind.
Brigadier General Says Israel is the problem not Iraq by James J. David, Brigadier General, USA ret. – Jan 7, 2003
(James J. David is a retired Brigadier General and a graduate of the U.S. Army’s Command and General Staff College, and the National Security Course, National Defense University, Washington, DC. He served as a Company Commander with the 101st Airborne Division in the Republic of Vietnam in 1969 and 1970 and also served nearly 3 years of Army active duty in and around the Middle East from 1967-1969.)
Question: Which country alone in the Middle East has nuclear weapons? Answer: Israel.
Question: Which country in the Middle East refuses to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and bars international inspections? Answer: Israel.
Question: Which country in the Middle East seized the sovereign territory of other nations by military force and continues to occupy it in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions? Answer: Israel.
Question: Which country in the Middle East routinely violates the international borders of another sovereign state with warplanes and artillery and naval gunfire? Answer: Israel.
Question: What American ally in the Middle East has for years sent assassins into other countries to kill its political enemies (a practice sometimes called exporting terrorism)? Answer: Israel.
For the rest of the interview:
Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress
From my SU Blog, I’m going to post something here. Rather than something about news and current events, or commentary/analysis, I want to take you back in time.For it is from the perspective of European and American history that we can see what is happening in the present far more clearly. And that is my objective here.
Many of us read books, but the last years, I think many of us also tend to read shorter articles, perhaps for the wealth of reading material nowadays, but perhaps also for lack of time in our busy lives. Even being newly retired, I find myself in this busy predicament (I have two kids at home and my wife works yet, too) It’s just……well………busy.
I have a proposal for you: Instead of encouraging you to read A People’s History of the United States , a whole book of 24 full chapters, why not read ONE chapter?
If you like that, then go on to your heart’s content here.
Written by Howard Zinn, this is history as I was NEVER taught it by any institution – school, church, state, community or family in my first 48 years in the U.S. And Zinn talks about perspectives of recording history also in this first chapter; what was to be recorded and from which/whose perspective.
But here I read, for the first time, of what really happened with Columbus and many other "discoverers", and about events from the perspective of the large, developed, indigenous population of North America as the Europeans came there. And we can see, first hand, what European ‘civilization’ did to the ‘uncivilized savages’. And us, I might add.
Try this first chapter. I’ll bet you’ll want to read further. And if you’re like me, your perspective about North American, and perhaps some European, history will change.
One hour of your time…
If I told you that within one hour you would have a good and documented outline of U.S./UK and European recent empire activities, the wars in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, 9/11, globalization, Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and more, would you be williing to watch a documentary video by Professor Michel Chossudovsky?Chossudovsky’s credentials are impeccable, his knowledge and evidence are remarkable. Take an hour and learn what most never learn in years of reading, and then the real and documented facts. I’ve been a political blogger for some time now, but have never come across such an outline that connected so many dots. A must watch video!Want to know even more, and have updated materiall? Then visitChossudovsky’s well known and highly regarded website: http://www.globalresearch.ca/