rn: John Pilger: globalization, war breeding seeds of revolution?

1999-06-29

Jan Slakov

Dear RN list,

I got the following mesasge from a Dr. I Crow X and have no idea how I got
on his list (although given his sig, maybe it is because I am on a list of
Mumia supporters). I went to the web site in his sig and see that he is an
Afrikan American who recently lived for an extended period in Ghana and was
impressed with the warmth of the people there and the poverty... and is very
much opposed to imperialism, maybe especially of Afrikans.

I'm sending this message to this list partly because it states that Britian
has approved arms sales to India and Pakistan and Indonesia. Truly criminal.
But, in truth, all our Western "democracies" are engaged in this most
disgusting type of trade...

But also because the author of the article, John Pilger, sees some seeds of
discontent, at least, if not outright revolution and I, for one, find these
seeds seem to be few and far between!

all the best, Jan
P.S. Given that this list is dedicated to helping get a democratic,
nonviolent revolution underway that would put an end to corporate
globalization, another reason for this posting is to possibly build a link
with others who are working on the same project, I hope....

********************************************************

Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 03:25:31 -0700
From: "Dr. I Crow X" <•••@••.•••>
Subject: "Humanitarian Intervention"


"HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION" IS THE LATEST BRAND NAME OF IMPERIALISM 
AS IT BEGINS A RETURN TO RESPECTABILITY
                                              by John Pilger
                                              The New Statesman
                                              June 28, 1999

In Newsweek last week Tony Blair described the "new moral crusade" 
that is to follow NATO's attack on Yugoslavia. 
"We now have a chance to build a new internationalism 
based on values and the rule of law," he wrote. George Robertson was more
blunt. 
The "Rubicon has been crossed," he said, 
paving the way for the end of the UN charter that protects the sovereignty
of nations. 
Robin Cook chimed in, making threats 
towards "governments using aggression against their own people." 

This warning did not apply to the government of Turkey, a NATO member, 
whose aggression against its own people has left 3,000 Kurdish villages
ethnically cleansed, 30,000 people dead and three million refugees. 
Atrocities committed by the authorities in Indonesia, Israel, Colombia 
and other countries where western "interests" are in safe hands will also be
exempt.

Those who recognize the standard hypocrisy will easily translate the
euphemisms. 
In these days of political disorientation, translation is all important; 
for imperialism is not part of the modern lexicon in the west. 
In the best Stalinist tradition, it no longer exists. 

What western power does is always benevolent. 
Blair can spout his breathtaking drivel about internationalism 
and morality while zealously enforcing genocidal sanctions that kill 4,000
Iraqi infants every month, and the connection is seldom made. 
NATO's aggressive expansion into eastern Europe, 
the Balkans and the oil-rich Caucasus, attended by a $22 billion
Anglo-American arms bazaar, is unworthy of mainstream discussion.

This is understandable. Since fascism expounded its notions 
of racial superiority, the imperial "civilizing mission" has had a bad name. 
Since the end of the cold war, however, the economic 
and political crises in the developing world, 
precipitated by debt and the disarray of the liberation movements, 
have served as retrospective justification for imperialism. 
Although the word remains unspeakable, 
the old imperial project's return journey to respectability has begun. 

New brand names have been market tested. "Humanitarian intervention" 
is the latest to satisfy the criterion of doing what you like where you like, 
as long as you are strong enough. 

The killing or maiming of 10,000 civilians in Serbia and Kosovo by a
bombing-machine
representing two-thirds of the world's military power and the clear
provocation of the
"entirely predictable" Serb atrocities - all of it avoidable, 
since Slobodan Milosevic had agreed in effect to give up 
Kosovo six weeks before the bombing began - is called a "moral victory."
George Orwell could not better it.

The ideological climate and disorientation among those on the liberal left,
created by the western powers' hijacking of "human rights," 
is especially dangerous. 

The other day Mikhail Gorbachev sought to interrupt the victory celebrations 
with a speech in which he warned that NATO's assault on Yugoslavia 
had given impetus to a new global nuclear arms race. 
He said: "Smaller countries - among them the 31 'threshold' states capable of
developing nuclear weapons - are looking to their own security with growing
trepidation. 
They are thinking they must have absolute weapons to be able to defend
themselves, 
or to retaliate if they ae subjected to similar treatment.'

Under Blair's "internationalism" any country can be declared a "rogue state" 
and attacked by the U.S. and Britain, with or without NATO. 
Read the NATO and U.S. planning literature; it is all on the record. 

There is a Pentagon strategy called "offensive counter-proliferation," 
which means that, if the Americans cannot prevent a "rogue" country 
developing and building types of weapons of which they disapprove, 
they may well nuke them. North Korea is a likely candidate, 
allowing Washington to settle a historical score. 

The Russians fully understand the dangers. 
The defense ministry in Moscow has already announced plans 
to deploy new tactical nuclear weapons near Russia's western border. 
Russia's National Security Council has quietly dropped 
its long-standing doctrine of "no first use" of nuclear weapons. 
In the U.S., Clinton has sent to Congress a nuclear weapons rebuilding program 
unmatched since the early Reagan years. 
If we are to speak of truly "rogue" powers, the U.S. leads the pack.

Blair's reference to the new "rule of law" is quite obscene. 
One of the world's nuclear flashpoints is the Indian subcontinent, 
where India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers, 
are on the edge of all-out war over Kashmir. 

In the first year after coming to power, 
Blair and his government approved 500 licenses 
for the export of weapons to the two countries - 
they also approved 92 licenses for arms shipments to the Indonesian military, 
which is currently arming and training death squads 
to prevent East Timor achieving its independence.

New Labour's fake internationalism is part of "economic globalization," 
a project as old as gunboats. 
The gathering assault on the principle of the sovereignty of nations, however, 
marks a new phase in the global war against democracy. 
Blair, essentially an opportunist, and his spinners 
trust that his cold-war-style belligerence will invoke the Thatcher factor 
and ensure him a long reign. 

There are important differences. 
In the midst of the 1982 Falklands war, 
Thatcher did well in local elections. 
In striking contrast, Blair has just been crushed in the Euro elections 
by a lame-duck Tory leader. 

More significant, Labour voters stayed at home in record numbers, 
just as they did in the Scottish and Welsh devolutionary polls. 
They are not apathetic, as reported. 
They are on to him at last; and their growing awareness is crucial 
as he aspires to lead us across the Rubicon.



Yeah.

  ++++ stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal ++++
>   ++++ if you agree copy these 3 sentences in your own sig ++++
>  ++++ see: http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/spg-l/sigaction.htm ++++
>
>Dr. Crow
>http://www.angelfire.com/sc/doctorcrow/index.html