About 1900, Canadian troops were fighting a British war in South Africa. (The enemies were Dutch settlers called Boers. Much of the Canadian role was to guard Dutch families in prison camps where thousands men, women and children died.
But why on earth were Canadians there in the first place? Because the British asked them to be there? Well, yes, but Canada was not under any obligation to fight imperial wars.And this war had nothing to do with Canada. This was purely a British war. And,, worse, it was a war not to help anybody, but to steal the gold mines of South Africa for the benefit of a small number of British capitalists.
It even had nothing to do with the British people as it was the rich ones who got the gold. Most of of the rest got nothing but the filth and poverty they had been getting for centuries. So what did all this have to do with Canada?
Nothing.
So how do you induce people to go to war when that war is of no possible benefit to them?
You tell them they are doing it for their country. And exactly what the hell does that mean?
Nothing.
Oh, and they were also doing ti for their king? Well, there would be a bit of payoff for the royal salary. That hardly seems good reason to kill Dutch farmers. But it sounds. good. Another perennial favour is they did it for Canada - as in "O Canada...." Whatever that is supposed to mean.
In the end, 270 Canadians were killed. But that was good compared to the deaths in in the prison camps suffered some 28,000 deaths, most of them children.
All countries freely use the terms 'serving one's country', serving one's king. But they really don't mean a damn thing. Nazi soldiers at the death camps were, I suppose, serving their country. Or in an opposite sort of case, uprisings against the government could be serving their country.
These are really just terms that sound good, but mean nothing.
American soldiers today are assembling to "serve their country" in Iran. How is killing Iranians and stealing their oil "serving our country". This is silly. All they are serving is American billionaires who are greedy for that oil.
I remember, when I was a kid, the big kids joining up to fight in Korea. You know, serving their country - as they would later in Afghanistan and Libya - and perhaps as they will be in Iran. You know, they were serving their country - or possibly their king or queen. What nonsense!
The Korean War was not fought to do anything for Canada. It was a war of the dictatorial south against the dictatorial north. It was a war the U.S. government wanted us all in - because it was looking to use that region for a war against China. What did that have to do with serving the Canadian people? And so we fought in Afghanistan and Libya, dying to serve U.S. billionaires who wanted to get richer by killing foreigners. But this had nothing to do with serving the Canadian people.(I knew some of the kids in that war. None of them had any idea what it was about. I remember watching one, an old friend from my early childhood as he died my years later from "serving his country" after years of suffering from his wounds.
And so it was for those who served in Libya and Afghanistan and perhaps to serve in Iran. And people like Donald Trump who offered their services to anything but themselves will cheer those we send to die.
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The reality of war is that almost all wars are fought by the rest of us to make billionaires richer. That's what serving the emperor or the king or the people is usually about. The Americans who want war with Iran have no intention of fighting it themselves. They want the rest of us to do that. They want us join in fighting their wars as we did for their father''s wars.
The billionaires want us to kill and be killed - for them, only for them. They want Iranians to die for not agreeing to give their land and resources to billionaires, who will, as they have done many times, promptly steal them and add to the plunder by ripping off the people of Iran.
This behaviour is as old as history. This was the history of Rome, of Egypt, of Spain, of Britain......It was always damaging for all but the wealthy classes. But we now live in a world that will take us the final step beyond this idiocy of slaughtering and calling it 'serving one's country"
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And a word for the Canadian Legion. You see yourselves as being there to protect and remember our veterans. And so you are there for that reason - you think. Alas! From its start, The Legion has been an organization less interested in helping victims of yesterday, today and tomorrow as in helping out those who benefit from war.
When the Korean War broke out, when the U.S. stomped the halls of the UN to send troops, the Canadian Legion was a cheerleader. One could almost see the pom-poms. It should have been obvious that this was a war to benefit nobody but the wealthy. But not a peep out of the Legion.
So it was with Afghanistan. A child should have realized that this was a war that had nothing to do with Canada. (The Legion should be there to serve our military - not to slice up Canadians as the day's menu. The Legion should have given the government hell for sending Canadians to die in that war. But not a whimper.)
It is quite possible we shall come under pressure to take part in American attacks on Venezuela and Iran. It's quite obvious who such wars would be for. Not even for the American people, but for American billionaires.
The legion should be there to help veterans, to help our soldiers not to become cannot fodder to people greedy capitalists. It is supposed to be on the side of our veterans. But it almost never has been.
This is not an attack on veterans. It is an attack on those in leadership of the legion.About 1900, Canadian troops were fighting a British war in South Africa. (The enemies were Dutch settlers called Boers. Much of the Canadian role was to guard Dutch families in prison camps where thousands men, women and children died.
But why on earth were Canadians there in the first place? Because the British asked them to be there? Well, yes, but Canada was not under any obligation to fight imperial wars.And this war had nothing to do with Canada. This was purely a British war. And,, worse, it was a war not to help anybody, but to steal the gold mines of South Africa for the benefit of a small number of British capitalists.
It even had nothing to do with the British people as it was the rich ones who got the gold. Most of of the rest got nothing but the filth and poverty they had been getting for centuries. So what did all this have to do with Canada?
Nothing.
So how do you induce people to go to war when that war is of no possible benefit to them?
You tell them they are doing it for their country. And exactly what the hell does that mean?
Nothing.
Oh, and they were also doing ti for their king? Well, there would be a bit of payoff for the royal salary. That hardly seems good reason to kill Dutch farmers. But it sounds. good. Another perennial favour is they did it for Canada - as in "O Canada...." Whatever that is supposed to mean.
In the end, 270 Canadians were killed. But that was good compared to the deaths in in the prison camps suffered some 28,000 deaths, most of them children.
All countries freely use the terms 'serving one's country', serving one's king. But they really don't mean a damn thing. Nazi soldiers at the death camps were, I suppose, serving their country. Or in an opposite sort of case, uprisings against the government could be serving their country.
These are really just terms that sound good, but mean nothing.
American soldiers today are assembling to "serve their country" in Iran. How is killing Iranians and stealing their oil "serving our country". This is silly. All they are serving is American billionaires who are greedy for that oil.
I remember, when I was a kid, the big kids joining up to fight in Korea. You know, serving their country - as they would later in Afghanistan and Libya - and perhaps as they will be in Iran. You know, they were serving their country - or possibly their king or queen. What nonsense!
The Korean War was not fought to do anything for Canada. It was a war of the dictatorial south against the dictatorial north. It was a war the U.S. government wanted us all in - because it was looking to use that region for a war against China. What did that have to do with serving the Canadian people? And so we fought in Afghanistan and Libya, dying to serve U.S. billionaires who wanted to get richer by killing foreigners. But this had nothing to do with serving the Canadian people.(I knew some of the kids in that war. None of them had any idea what it was about. I remember watching one, an old friend from my early childhood as he died my years later from "serving his country" after years of suffering from his wounds.
And so it was for those who served in Libya and Afghanistan and perhaps to serve in Iran. And people like Donald Trump who offered their services to anything but themselves will cheer those we send to die.
_________________________________________________________________
The reality of war is that almost all wars are fought by the rest of us to make billionaires richer. That's what serving the emperor or the king or the people is usually about. The Americans who want war with Iran have no intention of fighting it themselves. They want the rest of us to do that. They want us join in fighting their wars as we did for their father''s wars.
The billionaires want us to kill and be killed - for them, only for them. They want Iranians to die for not agreeing to give their land and resources to billionaires, who will, as they have done many times, promptly steal them and add to the plunder by ripping off the people of Iran.
This behaviour is as old as history. This was the history of Rome, of Egypt, of Spain, of Britain......It was always damaging for all but the wealthy classes. But we now live in a world that will take us the final step beyond this idiocy of slaughtering and calling it 'serving one's country"
_____________________________________________________________
And a word for the Canadian Legion. You see yourselves as being there to protect and remember our veterans. And so you are there for that reason - you think. Alas! From its start, The Legion has been an organization less interested in helping victims of yesterday, today and tomorrow as in helping out those who benefit from war.
When the Korean War broke out, when the U.S. stomped the halls of the UN to send troops, the Canadian Legion was a cheerleader. One could almost see the pom-poms. It should have been obvious that this was a war to benefit nobody but the wealthy. But not a peep out of the Legion.
So it was with Afghanistan. A child should have realized that this was a war that had nothing to do with Canada. (The Legion should be there to serve our military - not to slice up Canadians as the day's menu. The Legion should have given the government hell for sending Canadians to die in that war. But not a whimper.)
It is quite possible we shall come under pressure to take part in American attacks on Venezuela and Iran. It's quite obvious who such wars would be for. Not even for the American people, but for American billionaires.
The legion should be there to help veterans, to help our soldiers not to become cannot fodder to people greedy capitalists. It is supposed to be on the side of our veterans. But it almost never has been.
This is not an attack on veterans. Well, it is an attack on those in leadership of the legion.
Since 1945, the U.S. with occasional help from us. has murdered well over 20 million people in wars that had no purpose, and it has driven uncounted millions into poverty and chaos. These are Donald Trump's 'brave lads'. A very high number of their victims have, quite deliberately, been children. There is now every possibility Canada will be asked to help with the killing in Venezuela and Iran. In both cases, these will be wars of pure greed on the part of American capitalists.
As a footnote, these wars have gradually been making Canadians and Americans poorer as they serve only to enrich billionaires. Yes, it's true. Our standards of living have been dropping.
Is this the world our veterans fought and died for in World War Two?
And our western billionaires, thanks to cockroaches like Ontario premier Ford, have been lining of public schools, universities, medical programmes, to make it worse. They are creating a world in which everything exists only to make money for the already wealthy - and to keep the poor wretchedly poor.
Oh, and it it would seem to be the opinion of The Canadian Legion that we need to kill our children with oil.
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/refugees-asylum-seekers-canada-1.5210093
Are you impressed that Canadians lead the world in accepting refugees? You shouldn't be. The number we accept is in the thousands. The numbers fleeing the horrors our billionaires have created is in the tens of millions and more.
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https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/turkey-russia-us-nato-1.5209358
Isn't it awful the way some countries defend themselves? We would never do that? And the U.S.? It uses its military only for parades.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/13/demonstrators-and-police-clash-in-hong-kong
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/12/the-guardian-view-on-britain-and-iran-a-game-for-losers
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https://lfpress.com/opinion/columnists/dyer-bullied-by-the-u-s-iran-begins-slow-march-to-nuclear-weapons
Americans are allowed to have nuclear weapons. But that's because they're Christians.
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https://www.thetelegram.com/opinion/columnists/gwynne-dyer-the-real-refugee-problem-332301/
But climate change isn't happening. We know that because oil billionaires and their political servants (real smart people like Doug Ford and the Irvngs ) tell us that. (Mr. Ford finished high school. And Mr. Irving completed two years of university. So they know things.)
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https://www.thenation.com/article/oil-is-driving-the-iran-crisis/
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https://www.thenation.com/article/climate-change-refugees-open-borders/
In fact, our borders have not been open for the migrant crisis. We are letting people die - and it's going to get much, much worse.
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http://rabble.ca/columnists/2019/07/wheres-urgency-ndps-politics
This is the problem that I, too, have with the NDP.
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https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/07/13/despite-congress-providing-46-billion-additional-funding-border-pence-says
Hey, Mr. Pence. You are Vice-president. How could this all be the fault of the party that isn't even in power?
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https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/07/13/despite-congress-providing-46-billion-additional-funding-border-pence-says
Israeli Jews remind me unpleasantly of North American Christians - especially evengelicals.
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Interesting people, evangelical Christians. Interesting how they have translated the philosophy of Christian love into one of Christian hatred and even murder
https://consortiumnews.com/2019/07/11/evangelical-christians-risk-setting-middle-east-on-fire/
They give strong support to Trump. Perhaps someone can tell me what Christian values they see in Trump.
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https://countercurrents.org/2019/07/the-resigning-ambassador-sir-kim-darroch-on-donald-trump
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https://countercurrents.org/2019/07/billionaires-vanity-and-modern-democracy
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51906.htm
Israel has, admittedly, been an unattractive state which has brutally treated its arab population and those in Palestine. Yes. Israel's behaviour has been wrong - and profoundly - well, unJewish. But before we get all self righteous about it, we should remember that we Christians are the ones who set up Israeli racism.
In world war 2 AND AFTER nobody wanted to help Europe's Jews. Canada, f or example, would not accept them before, during, or after World War Two. Ditto for the U.S., Britain and most of the western world. That's why European Jews stormed into Israel after 1945, disrupting a Palestine where Jews and Muslims had lived together in friendship for generations. The European Jews stormed into Palestine,,, abusing, killing Muslims on the way.
Those are the Jews WE created by our own anti-semitism. And they and we are the ones who destroyed traditional Jewish values. I detest most of the Israeli leadership we have seen. But that leadership is not a product of Judaism. It's a product of Christian bigotry.
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51907.htm
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In two of my grad years in university, borrowed so much just to eat (and little of it), I ran up enough debt to be paying it for ten years. At that, I was lucky because in my last three years of grad school I had scholarships. I now have threee children in university, and despite savings going back to their infancy, they will owe far, fare more than I ever did.
University is impossible for most working class kids. They can never get the benefit of more education . It's just out of their life circle. They're down, and they stay down. They lose - and we lose what they could have been. University expenses are what keep down millions of children. They are what preserves a social structure that maintains a rigid hold on one's place in life. So it is that rich morons can drift into life at a comfortable level, while poor geniuses can stay at minimum wage.
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/07/10/opinion/governments-can-afford-make-student-debt-disappear-so-why-dont-they
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https://theantimedia.com/palestinian-boy-shot-head-israeli-forces/
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