The entire New York Times enterprise has reduced itself to toilet paper. It makes me physically ill to read anything from them -- and our local paper (often castigated for being "too liberal") runs NYT columns-- which I no longer read.

This is beyond politics -- the blinders are off a naked grab for empire. Congress is bent on continuing business as usual, defined as USA the sole world superpower.

History has not been kind to empires. I weep for what might have been.

Too bad, no time for self-pity.

For Silicon Valley's technologies to flourish where? In government surveillance software? In smart bombs plowing into a wedding party? The technology that has flourished in the non-American world since the war started is cell phones, dominated by Europe and Asia, and weird little cars, which America doesn't make. The most successful American technologies: airliners, subsidized by Boeing's defense contracts and now headed down the tubes, and the realm of financial technology, the rigging of exotic derivatives. Linux has done well, but then that's a net loss for Microsoft and the US.

Our military-industrial complex doesn't want the world to be safe; otherwise there'd be no market for its products. But it's nice to see confirmation from the ass' mouth for what I've been saying (paraphrased from the old KGB slogan): America is the sword and shield of capitalism.

Hezbollah is the least corrupt, most competent ruler in the Middle East. A lot of ordinary Arabs recognize that, despite their anti-Shia prejudices. It should be training community organizers, construction teams, and yes, armies from Egypt to Iran itself, spending far less money in the effort than Mubarak in Egypt steals from US taxpayers. It is very telling that America considers its greatest enemies to be those who endeavor to act as a proper government for the poor, and its greatest allies to be those who act as jailers for the poor.

We have nothing to offer these people but sweatshops.

Neither Canada nor Mexico are particularly interested in forming a joint currency with the US. It would mean that we would have to take on part of the US' 9 trillion dollar deficit and all the reckless borrowing and spending policies that has brought the US to the brink of financial collapse as it is. The Canadian government has been running huge budget surpluses for 7 years (last year over $28 billion at both the federal and provincial level) and using that paying down our debt. We currently have the 2nd lowest national debt burden in the OECD. That is the reason our currency has gone from .62 cents to the US dollar to parity over the past 5 years.

Canadians are increasingly worried about the fact that 85% of our trade is with the US and more effort is being made to unhinge the Canadian economy from the US and diversify it so that your coughs don't become our colds.

Perhaps some kind of coup d'etat or military action could occur that would force both countries to stay in bed with the US but that would costly.

Relevant quote:

I returned to civilization shortly after that and went to Cornell to teach, and my first impression was a very strange one. I can't understand it any more, but I felt very strongly then. I sat in a restaurant in New York, for example, and I looked out at the buildings and I began to think, you know, about how much the radius of the Hiroshima bomb damage was and so forth... How far from here was 34th street?... All those buildings, all smashed — and so on. And I would see people building a bridge, or they'd be making a new road, and I thought, they're crazy, they just don't understand, they don't understand. Why are they making new things? It's so useless.
But, fortunately, it's been useless for almost forty years now, hasn't it? So I've been wrong about it being useless making bridges and I'm glad those other people had the sense to go ahead.
-Richard Feynman

Then again, Darwinian sounds kind of similar with regard to peak oil. Note the last line.

Perhaps Fallon is rallying the "flag officers" right now!!! One can only hope.

All of that is why the US is likely thinking of using tactical nukes. Israeli starts the barrage with air raids and the US follows with a wave of tactical nukes on Iranian military targets. Then ground forces move in and take the oilfields adjacent to the Iraqi border. The devastation would be enormous, but the MSM would never report it.

Could they ask Poland for help? Don't forget about Poland....

*Thank you all for the essential work you do here.

I doubt very seriously they are planning to occupy anything. They will be more than happy to bomb the shit out of the country and leave it at that. Hell, if they don't invade they can claim, when Russia makes moves towards joining in, that they never invaded, just bombed a bunch of nuclear facilities and some terrorists (Those Guards, whatever they're called...).

Cheers

Consulting my handy-dandy map of Persian Gulf targets...

Qeshm Island
Lesser Tunb Island
Kish Island
Sirri Island

Why the US is one helluva country, complete with an alternative slate down toward the end of the article to make you smile in times of awakening or distress.

Ah! That's the little nugget that had me thinking Obama is just more of the machine. Before I figured he was somewhat in the machine, but perhaps a little bit of a maverick. (I found it odd that the one touting hope was the one of th final two for the dems who was offering the LEAST change... and, no, I am not a fan of Hillary.) But this crap shows he's just as deep in it as anyone else. Clinton's health care plan is better, they are a wash on energy, and her Iraq plan is better.

Americans are dumber than yeast.

Cheers

Thanks for the sane reply Alan. I often wonder if any of our "Imminent War Prognosticators" served in the military, specificly the Army, or have an historical understanding of how "Interests" move geopolitics. I have been there and study that. Someone referred to Iraq as the US "Stalingrad in the Sand," which well describes the tactical and strategic problem facing the US military.

The overall equation goes like this: The US military can inflict damage upon Iran, but the retaliation for such an attack by Iran will wreck for all time the current Golden Goose Globalized Economic Paradigm. Iranian behavior shows that they know this equation. Other players also show they know too. I would submit that the short-selling futures traders know this too, which is why they continue to bet short. Most important as I point out in the thread below, Little Oil would gain zero but rather lose it all along with everyone else if Iran is attacked. Personally, I would view an attack on Iran as an attack on my person and respond in an appropriate manner, and I know many folks who feel the same.

The US Empire has reached its zenith; all it can do now is crumble slowly or collapse spectacularly.

Oh please dear Nephilim, where do I "speak as if America tells Israel what to do?" And careful, you are guilty of using the fallacy of absolutes here: "America has ALWAYS done everything that Israel wanted done."

Interesting how the Admiral is saluting with his left arm. Too bad the last 7 years aren't the joke this photo intimates.

If he trusts those missiles he sold Iran, he may believe the Israeli-American attack will fail. That would shake the balance of power and the balance of foreign arms sales in his favor. A loss of US warships in the Gulf to Russian/Chinese missiles might have even bigger effects.

I have no idea. This sucks watching these assholes play out their grand apocalyptic chess game as the American public watches American Idol and shops at Wallmart.

And the MSM says Obama is weak on National Security. What kind of mind-altering drugs is the governing class of America on?

Sure would like to get my prescriptions filled. Sure beats trying to handle reality.

I agree that history will judge Americans harshly.
Americans should never have allowed AIPAC (American
Israel Political Affairs Committee) To take over
domestic and geo political power of America.
Americans shouldnt have allowed GWB to be coronated
for a second term.
Americans shouldnt have sat passively while Bush
fininshed his second term.
Excuses like...."We didnt want to ruin the cherry
blossoms on the cherry trees with neocon fruit
swinging from the branches the spring of 2008"
Wont suffice.
I also cant believe our military hasnt performed a coup with all the damage thats been done.
Thats why I dont hold much hope for rectifying peak
oil in America.
The strangle hold of American finacial systems, media
political strong holds is to all encompassing by these
many chosen few, too allow for mankinds natural
gift of invention and resourcefulness.
These leaches arent smart enough to realise that a
symbiotic relationship is their only hope.
That mans symbiotic relationship with the earth is
mankinds only chance.
These bloodsucking shysters are gonna be the obstacle
too humankinds pulling off that Hail Mary pass the
world needs right about now.

I'm going to try to respond to some of this type of comment again.

"I doubt that the worry for the Zionists and associated neo-con loonies and evangelicals about a Democrat victory is well-founded, as Obama was considerably more convincing in his pledge of unswerving and undying loyalty to Israel than he ever has been about his support for America - this must be the first time a pledge of allegiance has been required from a prospective head of state to a foreign power."

I would like people to just take a second and think of the double-standard that we impose on Israel vs. the rest of the world. We have defended, not just by words but actually stationing troops in Germany and South Korea for the last several decades. Why didn't I hear calls for us to abandon Germany and Europe to the Soviet Union in the 80's? We made it very clear that an attack by the Soviets on our allies would not be tolerated. How is this any different from defending Israel from it's neighbors?

We still have troops defending South Korea. Should we make it clear to North Korea that we would do nothing if they were attacked? How about defending Japan from China? We have pretty much guaranteed Japan that would defend it, and the Chinese would not risk an attack.

No, it seems to people on this board that Israel doesn't merit the same level of security that we provide to European and Asian countries. As for having pro-Israel people in Government, we do. There are also a lot of pro-UK people in goverment, but that doesn't seem to get people pissed. Do you think a president could get elected who said that an attack on the UK would be tolerated and that we had no loyalty towards them?

This seems the most dangerous time since the Cuban missile crisis.

Yes, I said the same in some writing I did last week. I know I've posted this link here once before, Operation Northwoods Plan, but the big difference between the Northwoods's Plan and 911 is the Draft was already in place and deemed "normal" by the Cold War propagandized society of the times, and Neocon dogma insists that one big reason for losing Vietnam was the Draft "democratized" the military too much. Thus, there was no call for a Draft after 911.

This item by Jim Lobe wasn't posted here until now AFAIK and contins some intersting poll results and assessments from a center-right source, The Nixon Center, which agrees with my assessment, ""I think one of the things that makes [an attack] a lot less likely is what it will actually do to the oil price," said the Nixon Center's Saunders." The poll numbers clearly indicate the American people are pissed-off, and can easily see the cause and effect relationship between BushCo and Israeli Wartalk and the rises in oil and gasoline price. Thus the new Black Propaganda piece I posted upthread that indicates the desperation of the bloody warhawks, which includes the Democrat Party leaders as the Iran targeted covert operations financing proves. As I have said before, US Imperial policy is bipartisan; far too much history proves it so.

Some general once said: All war plans immediately become worthless as soon as the first shot's fired, referring to unanticipated events and unplanned consequences. Fischer's War Aims I've cited before shows the Kaiser wanted war with Russia to rid Europe of the Slav, but the only War Plan called for attacking France first, although the Kaiser had no desire to make war with France, or the UK for that matter, as he viewed both France and UK as fellow Teutons. So yes, the Kaiser like Hitler wanted lebbenschram at the expense of the Slavs. His last gasp attempt at victory was to send that day's eqivalent of Bin-Laden, Lenin, to Russia. His gambit won, but instead of moving his armies to the West, he tried to fulfill his initial ambition in Russia, and lost the war because of the Americans, as Hindinberg admitted when interviewed by Geore Seldes in 1918 detailed in Chapter 2, which is an amazing story.

So we can see the Neocons have much historical precedent, and IMO the world is fortunate they are no better tacticians than the Kaiser and believe in their own Mythos as much as Hitler. But it is very unfortunate that Western leaders haven't awoken to the peril they are placing themselves and their countyfolk in by allying themselves with the US Empire's exploits, particularly since the 2003 escalation of the Iraqi Holocaust. That there have been no public attempts by Western leaders demanding BushCo back down from their wartalk is alarming, and I wonder why that is, or perhaps I have missed some published in non-English sources.

Well, you live in one of our occupied countries where a multitude of protests, different, but with a common denominator, have been happening almost constantly for several months; a country that had one of its citizens commit suicide at Cancun in protest of US-backed WTO trade-policies. Who do you think the South Koreans hate more: US troops or their ertswhile cousins, the North Koreans? Have you read the recent revelations of mass killings by the South government under US auspicies--even promoted by the US--during 1950, when it looked like the South and US might lose?

"Is a limited collapse possible?" Yes. I argue for the necessity of a self-imposed rollback/collapse of the Empire's overseas assets to save the Metropole, and a wholesale redesign of the Metropole's governmental structure. To your second question, a Containment policy imposed against the US Empire to force its rollback is possible, and from many POVs desirable, but at the current time would take some heroic action--EU rejection of NATO, for example. If US/Israel attack Iran, such action becomes quite probable.

The future is going to be ugly no matter what. It's the degree of ugliness that's yet to be defermined and is something we have some amount of control over.

Throughout the Iraq War, Jewish-American voters have ranked right up there with African-Americans in their overwhelming opposition to the war, a great compliment to both groups. They knew it would be bad long before the white Christians did.

However, the power cliques who moved freely between the Likud Party and the GOP (Cheney's got a ton of them working for him) have long since learned how to intimidate liberals into silence in both countries by using fear. Fear seems to cause a person to hesitate in turning his principles into an actual vote for an actual ruler. Fear seems to make a person willing to support the parties that exist but not form new parties that will express his integrity. Israel has several major political parties, but all of them support the destruction of the Palestinians by one means or another. As for America, look at the Democrats and their eternal fear of being labeled "soft" on damn near everything.

So liberal Jewish-Americans, who once organized many fine institutions to stand up for their values, could not prevent those organizations from being captured or silenced by this new crew. Worse, in Israel, piece by piece laws are being passed that call for the suppression of anyone who points out that the system can not continue as it has. Specifically, it is now a crime to question the "Jewish democracy" of Israel, when it is known by everyone that one day Jews will be a minority in Israel and cannot retain control by democratic means. Elected Arab parliamentarians who discuss this might now be threatened with expulsion from their offices. That will create an all-Jewish apartheid Knesset, which will make many things possible indeed.

I agree. I was simply pointing out that size does not always matter. :-)

Please just go cash your AIPAC check - you've earned it.

Last I knew, Ireland wasn't occupying anybody, cutting them off from fuel and water, strangling their economy, and then invading them at will because the people there are desperate.

Double standard my ass.

Show me the Irish equivalent of AIPAC. Tell me how many times we've egged Ireland on to invade another country? For that matter, show me leftist Israelis that have any influence in the US.

Did any presidential candidate go in front of a right-wing Korean-American lobbying group and make the kind of statements Obama & Clinton made to AIPAC? A right-wing German-American lobbying group? A Mexican-American one? When you can point to them, I'll believe there is a double standard.

The right wing in Israel has a disproportionate influence on US policy. I think the reasons for that are complex, but to deny it seems perverse.

Well ,

800 000 Irish just fooked the European Consitution by voting no...

God bless all here...

Now the Poles have said that there is no point in signing up, next the Czechs.

Funny that, smaller the nation, more finely tuned to loss of sovereignty.

Looks like the Bilderburgs will have to book another hotel.

Yes, Irish-Americans's loyalty was indeed questioned. Some Italian-Americans ended up in the same concentration camps as the Japanese. German-Americans would have been put in camps during WW1 had there been any due to massive British and US propaganda. Slavs were automaticly seen as subversive socialists. And I can provide more. Unvarnished US history is UGLY, which is why so little of its ugliness gets taught at any level--Post-grad included. One must actively want to learn REAL US history and World history, too. That means lots of time spent--time very few people can afford to take, and the indoctrination system knows it. And no, I don't know it all. I uncover hideous things from time-to-time that lead to others. A good place to start is The National Security Archives as most everything there is an eyeopener.

Any Jew born in America is automatically a citizen of Israel. As far as I know Ireland and Italy have not adopted such a policy. It's irrelevant because the problem is those Likudniks who have organized to take over the GOP under the Neoconservative movement after already having a great power base in the Democratic Party. How many other pressure groups do you know which have power over both the Republican and Democratic Parties?

The oil companies.
Wall Street.
Defense contractors.

And what do the neocons do? They plot the conquest of oil states, using the weapons of defense contractors, which profits Wall Street.

Now that's what I call gaming the system. There is simply nowhere you can go in our political system where you can oppose them.

I concur. Kinzer's book is one of many in my library.

Good old Ike left many thousands of surrendered German soldiers to live in utter misery, on minimum rations and dying like flies, as he blamed them all, even the 16 year old boys, for the concentration camps.
He was a war criminal, he just was never brought to book.

What solution? Isn't this cancer terminal?

Which explains why North Korea's artillery pointed at Seoul alone deters the US?

MAD is desirable from a policymakers standpoint, but its by no means necissary to deter.

I read it from the people who practically wrote the book on deterrence, nuclear arms race strategy and MAD. That is, RAND.

I agree that MAD is one deterrence strategy which has prevailed in the old discussion of USA vs former SU.

However, slow motion 'MAD' using sticks and stones is not a very heavy deterrence. It requires retaliative capability using very heavy loss weapons, such as nuclear weapons.

The point of nuclear weapons is deterrence - the potentiality of great losses through their use.

When everybody has them, who's going to start using them, when everybody gains to lose?

We did fine enough with the 'crazy communists' (sic), so I hope we can do the same with the 'terrorist islamists' (sic).

Anybody who wants a big picture view on to this manufacturing of enemies (communists, terrorists, islamists), I recommend 'The Power of Nightmares' by Adam Curtis.

Why not re-locate all of the African-Americans back to Africa? That would end all of the racial strife in the US. We could then re-locate all of the North African Europeans back to Algeria and Morocco.

Actually, I've got a better idea. Why don't we re-locate all of the white Americans back to Europe. That would clear up all sorts of problems. Oh wait, European-Americans don't want to be forcibly removed from the country they call home, where they grew up and where their parents grew up? Yeah, that's probably how the Israeli's feel.