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U.S./U.K. Allies Grab Congo Riches and Millions Die
Prof. Peter Erlinder
Once again, the suffering of African people caught up in a war that makes little sense to non-Africans has made the front pages in western media, as more than a million people have been displaced in the past week by re-newed fighting in the Eastern Congo. For most Americans who don’t pay much attention to the details of African history and politics, the humanitarian disaster in the Congo has exploded into public consciousness, as if the 25-year war to control Central Africa began only yesterday. The "Congo story" Behind the Headlines: But, in fact, the human rights disaster that the people of the world are watching on our TV screens is just the most recent human tragedy in a 25 year struggle for economic and political dominance in Central Africa that has been raging since the decline and eventual collapse of the Soviet influence in Africa in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. A sad fact of the 20th Century is that, even after the end of formal "colonialism" in the mid-20th Century, ruling African elites in virtually every African nation have looked to one or more powerful "sponsors" in the developed world to gain or retain power. And, to grab the personal wealth that goes with political/military power in Africa.
Towards a deeper understanding
Xymphora
From the Daily Star (Lebanon):
"Two men arrested for running an Israeli spy ring in the Bekaa Valley are relatives of a suicide hijacker who piloted a plane in the September 11, 2001, attacks, a security source told The Daily Star on Sunday. The Lebanese Army announced on Saturday that it had arrested two people suspected of involvement with a spy network that gathered information for Israel's intelligence services.
The army said that the men had been arrested on Friday, but the source said that they were actually captured two weeks ago and the discovery of the arrests by the media prompted the army to announce their capture. The army said the men had admitted 'gathering information on political party offices and monitoring the movements of party figures for the enemy.'
Asleep at the Wheel
Fred Reed
The US Becomes What It Wasn't. The Pentagon, methinks, is out of control. We no longer have a military in service to the state, but a state in service to the military. Few notice (I suspect) because of two ingrained habits of mind.
First, we think of the President as just that, the President, the country’s civilian governor who, oh yeah, is technically the Commander-in-Chief. “Technically,” because he isn’t really in the military and doesn’t strut about in a uniform with ribbons and feathers. He seems more a CEO than a general.
Second, we tend to think of the military as a federal department under civilian control. The Pentagon carries out policy, we believe, but doesn’t make it. Would it were so.
It’s The Money, Stupid!: Over $1 Billion Raised for Prez Race!
William Hughes
“Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated.” - Will Rogers
Back in the late 50s, I was an aide-de-camp to the Hon. Michael J. “Iron Mike” McHale, 6th District City Councilman in Baltimore City. Around that time, there was a hotly contested citywide municipal election going on. McHale, now deceased, went to a meeting with the then leader of his South Baltimore organization, Julian “Fats” Carrick. They met in a downtown office, with Philip H. Goodman--one of the key political bosses in town, who later served as a mayor of Baltimore (1962-3). According to McHale, Goodman tossed a stack of twenty dollar bills on the table. “This is your ‘walk around money’ for your organization’s support,” Goodman cracked. (1) Carrick, now deceased, nodded his approval and scooped up the cash. On the ride back home, Mr. Carrick told Councilman McHale: “Without these greenbacks, Thomas Jefferson couldn’t get elected today!!”
Liars
Khalid Amayreh
Palestinian Authority (PA) officials and spokesmen have been lying through their teeth lately about their increasingly vile treatment of the Palestinian people.
These people have been claiming, nearly on a daily basis, that their American-paid and trained forces are not arresting political activists and that only “criminals” and “terrorist elements” are being hounded and arrested.
Well, we who live here in the West Bank, don’t have to be presumptive about what is happening in our neighborhoods, streets, towns and villages these days. We see the daily arrests with our own eyes, we know the detainees, we know their families and their friends. Hence, we don’t even have to compare and contrast various accounts of the disgraceful onslaught by the PA against the Palestinian masses. Things are simply too plain to be controversial.
A voice From Gaza: Let's vote for Obama
By Sameh A. Habeeb
We, Palestinians, are aspiring to any glimpse of hope to establishing our promising country of Palestine. Originally, that glimpse of hope grew when Israelis realized in the nineties that a real peace will not be achieved apart from an Independent Palestinian state. That time, the world agreed on that concept and peace deal (Oslo) was held in Washington D.C, after the first Bush had left office.
Regardless of Oslo and its disadvantages we started the self governing in the West Bank and Gaza Strip awaiting the transitional period in the next stages. But as many expected things went deep down after Israel approved that, it was unconcerned in any peace agreement that relied on giving us land in exchange for peace.
Hoping to Avoid Another GOP Disaster
Len Hart
If you believe that Sarah Palin is an exemplary product of what can be achieved with the GOP in charge of the nation's education, then --by all means --vote for McCain/Palin. Knowing that what Sarah Palin achieved educationally, your own daughter might come to believe that the human beings walked beside dinosaurs only six thousand years ago.
It was on this day four years ago that George W. Bush 'won' a second term with a promise to help the 'democracies' of Afghanistan and Iraq 'grow in strength and freedom'.
More from the Front Lines of the Financial Crisis
Stephen Lendman
In its latest economic outlook, Merrill Lynch economists "worry about inflation, or more precisely," a lack of it. From crashing global equity markets, falling commodity prices, rising unemployment, stagnant wages, over-indebted households, declining production, the continuing housing crisis, and more. All pointing to several future quarters of negative growth. Showing that Fed chairman Bernanke will face "his greatest fear: deflation." An analysis of the coincident to lagging indicators signals "deep recession."
How McCain Could Win
Greg Palast
Two Obama canvassers prepare their pitch before knocking on registered Republicans' doors in Arvada, Colorado. (Photo: Kevin Moloney / The New York Times)
It's November 5 and the nation is in shock. Media blame it on the "Bradley effect":
Americans supposedly turned into Klansmen inside the voting booth, and Barack Obama turned up with 6 million votes less than calculated from the exit polls. Florida came in for McCain and so did Indiana. Colorado, despite the Democrats' Rocky Mountain high after the Denver convention, stayed surprisingly Red. New Mexico, a state where Anglos are a minority, went McCain by 300 votes, as did Virginia.
That's the nightmare. Here's the cold reality.
The Darkness that Brims with Light
Les Visible
Life’s like the ocean in a way. The tides bring things in and the tides take things out. There’s a lot more going on below the surface than above the surface. Sometimes it’s stormy and wave-tossed and sometimes it’s calmer but it is never still. You could say that the mind is like the ocean; all those thought fishes swimming in and out. You could say your life is like your mind and reflects the state of it.
The reason I bring this up is because of trends that I see coming in on the tides of life. The trends of the moment aren’t different, essentially from the trends of any time. They’re all made out of the same thing; the same thing that you and I and the Earth and the sky are made out of. The thing that I notice the most about trends and conditions is that they always involve conflict. It could be the simple conflicts of fashion and color; the clash of styles, cultures and climates that always create new weather when they meet. It might be the darker conflicts of stressed economies and war. Wherever people are more concentrated, the conflicts are more dramatic simply from the press of so many individuals with different perspectives and attitudes; different needs, different levels of awareness, different agendas and moral codes.
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