Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Feb. 03: "We've won the war, now we've got to win the peace."

News media of most countries have always described enemy nations as evil and their own side as good. In the days of British Empire That was - or should have been obvious in the days when the British were killing hundreds of millions and enslaving hundreds of millions, Britain itself (in the British press) was always hailed as glorious. And all of the conquered people of India, China, etc. were treacherous.

The same press treatment has been common in American and Canadian news media. When Americans were slaughtering indigenous peoples, men, women, and children, and stealing their land, it was glorious. General Custer, whose killing missions made him a hero, was part of this. (In fact, think of all the western movies you've ever seen. In most, perhaps inc all, the American cavalry is always good and kind and heroic.) And when the American presidents, starting with Latin America and The Philippines, murdered and plundered on a grand scale, they were heroes- making America great - rather like Donald Trump is making it great.

Hitler? Oh, unlike British and Americans , Hitler was evil in our news media. He certainly was evil. But,  late in World War Two when British and American bombing started to specialize in the killing of German  civilians, the press never even mentioned it. (Actually, Churchill was a leader in the killing of civilians. As minister of the colonies in 1920, he ordered the RAF to bomb only civilians in their attacks on the Kurds.)

When the U.S. bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, it chose those cities because they were largely civilian. That was followed in Korea with the deliberate bombing of civilian targets, including children. And that was also done to neighbouring countries in the region. The killing of children was not accidental. They were prime targets, something the press did not notice, and has not noticed much in the starvation of babies and children in, for example, Yemen.

In Vietnam, the US freely dropped chemical poisons on   - everything - men, women- children. Babies were horribly poisoned, a great many of them born barely human, and dying after just a few years.  In general, there is no reliable record of the numbers of civilian and child deaths in American wars since 1945, It's just high. And, very often - almost always - these were wars against countries that in no way threatened the U.S. Afghanistan had nothing to do with  the 9/11 attack in New York. There is no legal reason for that war. The U.S. had no business poking into Vietnam - or Iraq - and it has none for it's hostile actions toward Iran.

As for it's 120 years of creating poverty in Latin America, those wars have killed not only soldiers but even greater numbers of civilians and children. In almost all wars, these have been fought only to satisfy the greed of American (and some Canadian} billionaires.

These wars have caused death for millions, and hunger and poverty for survivors. Thus the millions in this world dying of starvation. And thus the refusal of American and European governments to let migrants in.  No. Let them die to please our billionaires. Indeed, the similarity between Hitler's holocaust and the U.S. refusal to let starving migrants in is marked. And both were and are

 supported by civilians who followed the gospel of racism.

And Canada has, usually quietly, joined in with American troops as in Korea, Afghanistan, Libya, Haiti.... And how does our press phrase it?

We are fighting terrorists, yes. It's no longer enough to call them enemies.  No. our press now calls them terrorists. Most of those people who are now fighting against us are fighting to defend their countries against western aggression and plundering and worse, So they're terrorists, and  ours are brave lads.

There was nothing new about the viciousness of Hitler, and nothing new about the German acceptance of it, nothing new about the racism of it all. It has existed for centuries. We are still living in the age of Nazism and imperialism. If we want to see what a Nazi looks like, today, we have only  to  look in a mirror.

(Oh, is the government of Iran evil? It's certainly not popular, not even in Iran.
Iran once had a real democracy - just after World War Two. But the U.S. and Britain interfered to destroy it and impose a dictator so American billionaires could plunder it's oil. A generation later, Iran managed to kick out the dictator, but was less successful in re-establishing a popular democracy.)

All this  is what Trump calls making America great again. It's a term Hitler could have used - "make Germany great again." Yeah.
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/iraq-iran-special-forces-isis-islamic-state-1.5450655

Why are Canadian troops in Iraq? It has nothing to do with us. In fact, it's a war that was illegal for Americans and British in the first place. They knew long before they started that war that the reasons they gave for the war were lies. Canada knew that. So why did we send troops?

Because Canada is a puppet to help America be great again.
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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/feb/04/scottish-independence-survey-shows-brexit-has-put-union-at-risk

Good news for all my Scottish ancestors.
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/04/global-heating-a-serious-threat-to-the-worlds-climate-refuges-study-finds

This is not a story likely to be found in most North American daily papers.
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/04/what-happened-iowa-caucuses-quick-guide-democrats
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https://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/talking-radical-radio/2020/02/sex-education-not-just-about-putting-condoms-bananas
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https://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/change-gonna-come/2020/02/doug-fords-education-cuts-are-killing-our-future

All over North America, many political leaders, like Doug Ford of Ontario, are destroying public education. Commonly, they do so to turn public education back  200 years to the days when all education was for private profit and when most children could get no education at all.

Children's perceptions of life are formed by societies' treatment of them. In my grade school days, I lived in a district that was poor. And we didn't expect to have a chance. I well remember my first year class at a four room school. Only one person in that class (not me) would finish high school. Most dropped out by grade nine or earlier. (I flunked grade ten, and was  kicked out in grade 11.)

Parents and neighbours thought nothing of that. It was standard for our social class. My salvation actually began in late high school  when a large number of my classmates were Jewish boys. Jewish children were raised to believe in the importance of education, and most of my Jewish classmates went on to become lawyers, doctors, writers.... while I became a mail clerk. And when I started, some years later, to take evening courses at a university, our family friends (and much of my family)  disapproved of my attempt to "rise above my station."

Education is probably the most important period in our lives. But to politicians bankrolled by billionaires, it is not to be wasted on the great unwashed. No. Real education should be for the rich who can pay for it - with the help of government subsidies. Rich kids need education. And nobody gives a damn about the rest.

And so, for the rest of us, it's something to be run on the cheap. (After all, Canada needs people dumb enough to vote Conservative or Liberal.)
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https://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/activist-toolkit-blog/2020/02/ways-support-ontarios-teachers
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https://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/alberta-diary/2020/02/what-brexit-and-ottawas-decision-teck-oil-sands-mine-have
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https://rabble.ca/columnists/2020/02/encryption-backdoors-biggest-threat-our-privacy-no-one-talking-about
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https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/its-time-to-leave-iraq-once-and-for-all/

And that means Canadian troops should not be in Iraq, either.
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https://www.thenation.com/article/society/coronavirus-pandemic-healthcare/
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https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/04/majority-mine-victims-are-children-eu-condemns-trump-rollback-landmine-restrictions

Well, you can't let those children grow up and become terrorists. I'm sure our Christian churches would approve of this.
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https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2020/02/03/new-research-shows-frackings-grave-toll-climate
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https://consortiumnews.com/2020/02/04/buttigieg-backer-top-funder-of-group-behind-iowas-disastrous-voting-app/
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https://countercurrents.org/2020/02/scientists-sign-open-letter-to-australian-government-urging-action-on-climate-crisis

Will Australia take any serious action? Probably not - in line with the U.S. and part of Canada.
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https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=373697047018228084#allposts
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https://www.globalresearch.ca/earth-heating-rate-equivalent-five-atomic-bombs-per-second-two-hurricane-sandy/5702632

This can't be true. If it were true, Ontario's premier Ford would know. He's real smart and has a high school leaving certificate. So he knows things.

Besides - Canadian voters are real dumb.
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https://www.globalresearch.ca/united-states-america-vast-tapestry-lies-illusions/5702611

Most 'democratic' countries have delusions about their "democracies". U.S. government has always, from the start, been a tool of the wealthy. Ditto for Canadian democracy. British 'democracy' has largely meant government of the wealthy, by the wealthy, for the wealthy. I realized that long ago when I taught Canadian history in a high school. High school history books are mostly propaganda. And Canadian federal governments, from the start, have always been the servants of big money. That's why Justin Trudeau has done nothing useful about dealing with climate change.
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/52941.htm

So much for Trump's bragging about American prosperity. Even Canada is better - but worse than it should be. For most people born into poverty, they stay in poverty. Poverty is their own and only world. And it's not because they're stupid or lazy. It's because that's the only world they ever learn about.

That's why Ontario's twit of a premier should give the children of his province a far, far better education than they're getting.
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/52943.htm

This is stunning. And what it means is profoundly dangerous and deep division among the American people. There is strong possibility of that being so deep it could lead to very dangerous divisions among the American people.
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And here's another reason why the U.S. could be headed for very serious violence.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/52935.htm

This is a country in which major capitalists are running wild - and running on a pure greed. That's very dangerous for a country with a high poverty rate and few (and meager) social programmes.
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https://www.republik.ch/2020/01/31/nils-melzer-about-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOOkfVxkusc&list=PLKX-YBD4nIPc0N1-B7PkrKGYVhznPH4V9&index=108

The richest country in the world.....
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https://www.nationalobserver.com/2020/02/04/news/court-dismisses-indigenous-challenges-trans-mountain-pipeline

Expect nothing from the Liberals or Conservatives.  They are - and always have been - bought by the wealthy.
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https://www.nationalobserver.com/2020/01/23/news/everything-you-need-know-about-un-climate-refugee-ruling-and-canada

In fact, we are creating the horrors that climate refugees are fleeing.
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https://www.nationalobserver.com/2020/02/04/opinion/246-academics-call-government-act-now-avoid-global-collapse

Of course, they ain't real smart like premier Ford of Ontario is.
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https://truthout.org/articles/the-us-military-has-a-legacy-of-wars-without-victory-and-weapons-without-end/
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After writing every one of these blogs, I think back to the day I was sent home from grade 6 for being late - and my mother simply scooped me up to go to downtown Montreal with her. And so I walked into huge mobs of happy people, and I saw the signs. The war was over. We had won! My father would be coming back soon! It was wonderful.

Then I saw the signs that said, "We've won the war!". We've won it. "Now we've got to win the peace."

But we didn't win the peace. We never even tried. Instead, U.S. billionaires set out to conquer the world. They
 took over the middle east oil fields that the British had plundered, and did their own plundering - as they are still doing. They even tried to take over Britain's greatest imperial holding - the China that the British had been plundering for over a century. That's what the Korean war was really all about. And so Canada became an American satellite as it had once been a British one.

(In effect, in World War 2 the British were big losers to the U.S. corporations. And Canada became an American puppet, largely because Canadian billionaires wanted to get in bed with American ones.)

This was all 75 years ago. 1945 didn't mark the end of war. It marked the beginning in all the years since then of the wars of billionaires. Those wars haven't worked. And they aren't going to.

We need a huge change - and it's not going to come from Republicans or most Democrats or Liberals or Conservatives.
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The great promise of capitalism, going back perhaps 300 years, was that it would bring prosperty to all of us. But it has never, not in all these years, ever done so.
Those capitalists of the years of British empire became rich beyond belief. Most of the British people lived in filth and hunger. The American people, for all the wealth of the American capitalists have never escaped the clutches of capitalists. Indeed, the prosperity that seemed to be invitable after World War 2, has been going downhill for most Americans for the last 40 years. All of the wealth has been snatched up and kept by the very wealthy.

But these wealthy hold uncounted billions of dollars and still search for more. Why? They have more money than they can possible spend. Why do they try so hard to get more?

Psychiatrists have speculate that these are dreadfully insecure people who pile up more and more wealth in their search to become secure. Donald Trump shows many signs of that as he has spent years seeking publicity and admiration for himself. His speeches are full of self-praise. Donald Trump ran for president to assure himself that he is wonderful. But for those like himself who are greedy for praise, he will never be able to satisfy his doubts. And that shows in most of his speeches.

People like Donald Trump dominate power in the western world - and the whole world is suffering for it because they will never feel secure no matter how many billions they have. And unless we take action very soon, it will be too late for us.
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