When a country is being bombed by drones it presents a unique opportunity for capitalist imperialists to alienate people from their land. Land is the one asset that can prevent a person from falling prey to religious and capitalist fundamentalism. Take that away and you have a surefire recipe for profiteering.
In the background of drone bombings by the US, there are reports in the Pakistani media of the government giving away land for commercial farming. According to the report, irrespective of the sate of food security in Pakistan, these commercial farms can repatriate their produce (send it out of the country and into the hands of the new owners of the land).
If somebody needed a formula to create terrorists, this one seems to be close to perfect.
Bomb them with drones from above, pull the land from under their feet and deny them food when they are starving.
I am sure the Indian right-brigade is taking notes and wondering how they missed this trick of alienating people from their own land (thereby enslaving them).
When it comes to a nuclear phallus, does size really matter? Questions around an arms build up in the subcontinent is raising it's ugly head again.
At the risk of being called sexist, I would like to state on record that when it comes to nuclear armament, size does not matter - neither is it a deterrent. It is nothing but a guarantee for madness or Mutually Assured Destruction (I lifted that acronym from a really bad Hollywood flick).
There seems to be a growing number of right-wing twits and bloggers on the Internet that keep discussing the quality and quantum of the nuclear arsenal in India and Pakistan. Their posts and tweets almost always have a call for war.
While I appreciate their cynicism of peace initiatives, I would like to blame the media on all sides of all borders for fear-mongering and egging folks to demand for crazy things like "retaliation" and "destruction". These twits on the internet find their stories from the media.
If and (not when) we embark on our next war with our neighbors, I will like to put the blame on two parties who are well represented on both sides of the borders. Politicians (who are fed like stall pigs by disaster capitalists) and the media (who are paid to disseminate fear by disaster capitalists).
Trivia - name a peace expert that you have seen on NDTV, TimesNOW or CNNIBN (remember peace expert and not "strategic expert", "defence expert" or "intelligence expert").
Most people who mark 26/11 as a global watershed and all world events as its aftermath conveniently forget the elephant in the room. That elephant is arguably the single biggest terrorist organisation in the world - the government of the United States. It has been consistently condemned by international courts for acts of terrorism. The Indian media chooses to forget this easily and is ready to apportion all blame of 26/11 to Pakistan and buy into the US definition of who constitutes a terrorist or a rogue state.
When convenient, the US government has supported, and will continue to support, brutal regimes. For example - The Taliban in Afghanistan in the 80s, The Shah in Iran, Nicolae Ceaucescu in Romania, Israel and its suppression of Palestine for over 30 years, and countries across the length and breadth of South, Central and Latin America. They have repeatedly used military aggression against civilians in the name of democracy. They have done this in Panama, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and now Pakistan. How is killing people in the name of terror different from killing people in the name of democracy? The US has attacked over 50 countries in the last 50 years.
The killing of thousands of civilians in the name of “democracy” and calling it the "war on terror" has to end. We have to have the collective balls to tell the US that they are the “real” terrorists and they need to stop encouraging terrorism in their government and around the world. 26/11 allowed the media to seed fear in the minds of the urban middle class Indian. Fear sells very easily and the media has capitalised on this fear.
The US government, for several decades now, has decided that it will use repressive violence to manage world affairs and retain control of the global stage. The latest in its long list of atrocities can be found in Pakistan. The US army is indiscriminately bombing villages in Pakistan. There are hundreds of civilians dying. In fact it would not come as surprise if they are using chemical weapons. They are killing people in order to track down their brothers who they created, in order to fight a proxy war against the Soviets.
Thanks to the support of the United States, terrorist organisations have spread like wildfire from Iraq, to Pakistan and now to India. The media has us believe that Iran, like Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan is on the brink of chaos. The common thread across all these countries for decades is constant US interference. The fact that the US government manufactures the chaos is brushed under the carpet.
India is now going to be at the receiving end of the US policy of “global terror.”Our media has successfully created a fear psychosis about terrorist groups operating out of Pakistan buying right into US global rhetoric. This fear psychosis is very similar to the fear that Clinton and then Bush manufactured against Iraq with the WMD theories. They sold the fear to the media and the media in turn sold it to the people. If we continue on this path, it will not be long before an Indian attack on Pakistan will be justified with the words "just cause". America used those very same words when invading Iraq and Afghanistan.
We cannot expect Pakistan to do anything about India's concerns unless the US leaves the region permanently. An overwhelming US presence in the form of military aid and military strikes in Pakistan will be a distraction to peace and stability in the region.
The US departure will be in the interests of democracy, the South Asian Region and India in particular. If the US leaves, the civil War in Pakistan will end and the two countries (India and Pakistan) will have an opportunity to constructively resolve issues, particularly the contentious question of Kashmir. Addressing these would require an attitudanal change from all sides which can be catalysed by the absence of the US and the prevalence of peace.
The media has to be more responsible and understand that they are not dealing with a democratic government in the United States. They are dealing with a polyarchy. The US is one of the few countries in the world where corruption in the form of lobbying is legal. Special interests groups dictate US policies more than the electorate. The triangle of Dick Cheney, Halliburton and the Iraq War is probably the most conspicuous example of US polyarchy. Obama is not above this. Over thirty percent of his election funds came from lobbyists. His recent track-record is proof that he is no different from Bush, Clinton, Reagan, Carter or Nixon. Incidentally, Carter started the Afghan conflict by funding the Taliban in Pakistan. Carter is now a Nobel Laureate for peace while the region burns.
The media needs to stop breeding insecurity and focus its attention on the US stranglehold on world politics. We need to target our solutions at getting the US out of Asia permanently and disarming their ability to invade countries unilaterally. It is this irrational power that the US has over the international community that is preventing democratic forces from tackling terrorism. For example, no UN resolution against Israel and its oppression of Palestine has ever been passed because the US government vetoes it. If you prevent democracies from acting in unison in a situation like Palestine, you are bound to breed more terror on both sides of the war on terror. The US is replicating the Palestine story across Asia. Do we ignore it because we are naïve or because we are puppets? Either way, we are in grave peril if we continue to do so.
Begin Quote - As a start, on May 27th, we learned that the State Department will build a new "embassy" in Islamabad, Pakistan, which at $736 million will be the second priciest ever constructed, only $4 million less, if cost overruns don't occur, than the Vatican-City-sized one the Bush administration put up in Baghdad. The State Department was also reportedly planning to buy the five-star Pearl Continental Hotel (complete with pool) in Peshawar, near the border with Afghanistan, to use as a consulate and living quarters for its staff there. - End Quote Reminds me of Saddam's Palaces.
Thanks to countercurrents.org, I came across this report on bombings in Pakistan and the death of over 80 civilians. These civilians were attending the funeral of civilian victims of another US drone attack. If you cannot see the "cycle of violence" - you are either really stupid or the American Government.
The US is deploying it’s fool-proof war sustenance strategy. This strategy, as we have seen in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine involves using immense air power (drones, helicopters guns, and fighter planes) to bomb civilians. The moment you massacre dozens of civilians, a few people are bound to loathe you. That loathing and hatred can in-turn be used as a “just cause” and the war can continue its virtuous cycle of profit for the Halliburton’s of the world and vicious cycle of death and violence for the citizens of Asia.
I love the “Change” and “Yes We Can” approach that Obama has brought to killing civilians in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan. They do not in troops any more. They just bomb them from the sky and from un-manned planes. This strategy means Obama need not talk about war as much, because Americans do not get killed as much.
Someday in the not too distant future the Pakistan government will increase taxes. The taxes will be used to repay loans taken from the IMF, World Bank and the US government. The Pakistan Government will use the money from these loans to pay American contractors to build infrastructure (roads, hospitals and schools). This infrastructure will need to be rebuilt because it will be first destroyed by the might of the US army. But, these taxes will not be enough. In addition to the taxes US contractors will be allowed to charge locals for the use of water, air and soil.
God Bless American Business! How many more children have to die for the blessing to be complete?
