PSmith—Brown, black and yellow people kill brown, black and yellow people too. There have been very violent non-white empires in the past, though not so much in the 19th-21st centuries. It always seems to come down to economics, limited resources, power. 

Also think class, religion, nationalism etc. still enters into it, in many of the countries.

The good news may be that our days as an empire are winding down. What a relief to be a second or third-rate power.

IT’S AN EMPIRE. NOT A SEWING CIRCLE, Part 2

NEOCON ‘POLITICAL PEDOPHILE GROOMING’

LEFT, RIGHT, FURTHER RIGHT AND BONKERS RIGHT - THE US

As for leftists or rightists; inside the US they are meaningless terms, imo; outside the US the terms have generally held meanings, below.

Europe has Marxist-Leninists, Trotskyites and Maoists on the (far) left. It has Socialists on the left. It has Labour just left of the middle. It has Social-Democrats in the middle. Then Christian Democrats on the right. It has Conservatives on the (far) right. Then there are the (US) Democrats and Republicans on the (very far) right. And Margaret Thatcher. Mussolini is just beside her with ‘her greatest achievement’ - Tony Blair’s New Labour. 

Adolf Hitler is lined up right beside (HA!) the Neocons. Just east of Mussolini and Margaret Thatcher. The (ultra-far) right.

Notice where the Democrats and Republicans are. Six inches apart and off the scale for any hope of governing, were they in Europe. They would be right beside Jean-Marie Le Pen in France and Jorg Haider in Austria; would be fascists.

Why would I care? Imagine that you grew up and were ‘educated’ to believe that between the Democrats and Republicans is the ‘middle ground’. You would have no clue that you had been steered to regard the far right as ‘moderate’ and ‘normal.’  Consider that ‘education’ the Neocon political pedophile grooming of children - namely YOU.

To a European, this is self-evident. As obvious as night and day. But in the US - as rare as hen’s teeth.

IT’S AN EMPIRE. NOT A SEWING CIRCLE

THERE IS NO WAR ON TERROR - THERE IS ONLY A WAR OF TERROR. BY USUK

Create an enemy. Fight the enemy. Trouser the money. And walk away whistling and looking the other way, ready to say “Who US?” in amazement, when accused of being a murderous torturing behemoth.

@ Sepharad, July 13 at 7:23 pm #
> I think the Brits are in Afghanistan for the same reason most Westerners are—fear of the threat of terrorists bombing their mass transit system, flying planes into buildings, etc. The roots of terror may or may not be affected by what is going on in Afghanistan.

POINT OF VIEW (POV)

To have a point of view is admirable. To have a correct point of view even better. But very rare in the US, imo. Due primarily to the US MSM. ‘The LA times should be called ‘US officials say’ ’ - Robert Fisk, based on an article with umpteen ‘US officials said’, ‘one US official said’ quotes and no other sources’. Ditto the Wall Street Journal. And the so-called newspaper of record, the New York Times. Which Chomsky has demonstated brilliantly to be masterful at propaganda; and Gore Vidal to show _exactly_ how the truth is buried in paragraph sixteen (or worse).

Chomsky - Watchers of Noam Chomsky, or Danny Schechter, on video will not be surprised that the so-called paper of record - the New York Times - was, and is, extremely biased. Chomsky was one of very few with the ability, the willingness and the time to decipher its arcane systems of disingenuous manipulation of its ‘news’. - Manufacturing Consent - Google and trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LVsiP0s33A

Gore Vidal wrote a classic article deciphering the NYT"s lying-through-its-teeth reporting of the 2000 election. The truth was artfully hidden in paragraph sixteen. Vidal’s description of the deception was a thing of beauty. Noam Chomsky thus suggests reading stories backwards - way too much hard work for mere mortals. “Times Cries Eke! Buries Al Gore. - http://www.thenation.com/doc/20011217/vidal

To quote the NYT about anything, except to point out where they are being disingenuous, is to cease to use independent or presumed-accurate sources, imo.

AFGHANISTAN

Your view of why the UK / US is in Afghanistan is not the correct view, imo. Pepe Escobar, Peter Dale Scott, Tariq Ali, Michael Parenti and Nafeez Mossadeq Ahmed have lots of suggestions about why the USUK are in Afghanistan. None of which have anything to do with so-called terror. Or the US’s War of Terror.

Pepe Escobar - The Balkanization of Pakistan - Baluchistan is the ultimate prize -  Asia Times - http://www.atimes.com/atimes/others/Escobar.html

Real News - search for ‘Pepe’, _not_ complete - http://therealnews.com/t/index.php

Peter Dale Scott with Tariq Ali and Michael Parenti - On US bases - China’s reaction and US control of Pakistan via Zardari - @  9:20 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ1TX-QwtGo#t=09m20s

Nafeez Mossadeq Ahmed - ‘They invent an enemy’ - see video links - http://nafeez.blogspot.com/

US EMPIRE

A high speed overview of the US Empire by Noam Chomsky. See intro.

“But he will not be bullied. He will not be intimidated. He is a fearless, formidable, totally independent voice. He does something which is really quite simple but highly unusual. He tells the truth.” Harold Pinter Introduces Noam Chomsky. St. Pauls Cathedral, London, 2002. -

http://tinyurl.com/6o8sqh

_That’s_ what Empires do. Kill brown people and pocket the money. It’s not original. But it still works. Very well. Ask a Neocon; except that they only lie.

PSmith, thanks for the humorous takes on the British Empire. (I don’t agree with Kipling’s imperialist-based sentiments but still find his writing, particularly short stories and poetry, irresistable.)

I think the Brits are in Afghanistan for the same reason most Westerners are—fear of the threat of terrorists bombing their mass transit system, flying planes into buildings, etc. The roots of terror may or may not be affected by what is going on in Afghanistan.

Terror is not a simplistic phenonema; yesterday’s NYTimes carried a lengthy, interesting article about young men among Somalian refugees who have been in America a long time—many since childhood. A small number of them are returning to Somalia as fighters, including a suicide bomber, some on different sides in Somalia’s chaotic clan-based society and some clearly opposed to Ethiopian Christians in their country. No one knows if they will focus their Islamic anger at America or not but it seems not so likely. One young man, a high achiever in an American college when he went back to be a jihadi in Somalia, was asked by one of the many young Somalians to contact him on his Facebook whether he would come back and bomb America. He responded, “No. Why would I do that? My mom might be walking down the street.”

People are more complicated than we think, whether “we” or leftists or rightists or whatever religion, etc.

DYING FOR THE EMPIRE. THE _WRONG_ EMPIRE

Back in the good old days, when men were men and sheep were nervous, Britain had an Empire. And it had tame hacks to promote mindless jingoism. Take Rudyard Kipling. No. Please. Take him. Far, far away.

But now, in 2009, Britain hasn’t had an empire for sixty years. And in a world of nuclear families with one or two children, laying down the life of one son for the Empire is one son too many. At one hundred percent of one’s children. Or of one’s sons. Gone are the days of seven or eight children and the acceptable loss of three sons in the trenches of some Flanders field.

Not only that, but Britain is now in the position of the Irish, Scottish, and yes, even Welsh, janissaries of the British empire—those lesser breeds, whose lack of prospects at home, due to the Imperial system, led young men with energy and ambition to the only opportunity open to them—Namely, to join the Imperial forces, go to some hellish outpost of Empire and inflict murder and mayhem on the local brown race as had been done on their own people for centuries. By the British.

Britain invaded and slaughtered the Afghans twice previously in The Great Game. In the nineteenth century. Which spurred Rudyard Kipling to heights of jingoistic ecstasy at the prospect of pointless death. For the Empire.

If your officer’s dead and the sergeants look white,
Remember it’s ruin to run from a fight:
So take open order, lie down, and sit tight,
    And wait for supports like a soldier.
        Wait, wait, wait like a soldier . . .

When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
  An’ go to your Gawd like a soldier.
    Go, go, go like a soldier,
    Go, go, go like a soldier,
    Go, go, go like a soldier,
      So-oldier of the Queen!

The Young British Soldier, Rudyard Kipling - http://www.zeitcom.com/majgen/09kipling.html

The other difficulty for the British - the Empire is the US Empire. And they really don’t like the US. Something to do with being usurped as the rulers of the world. Monty Python - American Beer - but you get the idea - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9cTXl5ApEk

The Good Old Days—When Britain owned the Falkland islands, where men were men and sheep were nervous. (Aka Las Malvinas but don’t tell the Brits). Monty Python - Ripping Yarns (of Empire) - Across the Andes by Frog - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU18d6VseKk

US EMPIRE

And now, to bring the story up to date, we turn to George Carlin, telling it like it is, in the US. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjRQwvnjpPw

The English, like the Americans, get an enormous, long lasting hard-on through the Viagra of imperialism and killing lesser peoples.  The rat Gordon Brown, like the rat Tony Blair, has now grafted himself onto Obama’s backside and they will go down together.