"I think that 'intervention' is a way of hiding American hypocrisy in forcing those weaker than us to kowtow to the dictates of our military and corporate leaders in the name of liberty and democracy (something that we no longer have ourselves)." - rjp
-- So what you are saying is that Mr. Obama is a pawn to our corporate leaders, using the U.S. military to do their bidding. Interesting...
Obama is certainly at the mercy of the military. The Pentagon is now a second government, beyond civilian control. Case in point is Mr. Obama's candidate promises to close and stop the prison in Guantamo Bay as well as to stop the war. He did neither. Considering Mr. Obama's political orientation (left) it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that some very powerful influence prevailed upon him. Not only did Obama NOT stop the war, but escalated it in Afghanistan.
No president since Truman has been able to successfully or willingly oppose the designs of the Pentagon. Case in point is the creation of the National Security Council in 1948. The constitutional requirement that only an act of congress could initiate American involvement in a war was thereby usurped. The Korean war that followed was thus labeled a 'police action', despite the loss of tens of thousands of American lives. Viet Nam was a reaction to the purported Domino Theory of Communist advance in South East Asia. The list goes on. Bottom line is that the LEGAL requirement of the uS Constitution calls for a declaration of war. Since there has been none recently, all these actions are ILLEGAL according to our own law!
This isn't some crazy theory that I thought up either. In his closing address to the American people in January of 1960 President Eisenhower uttered his famous warning about the power of the military industrial complex in America. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. later said that any nation that put more resources into its military than in the social infrastructure was in danger of spiritual death. King also said that the idea that America was the world's policeman flew as arrogance in the face of God and that we were in danger of divine judgment because of it. The list of voice goes on like a choir singing a dirge of warnings.
America does not listen because we are drunk on war and because we can no longer stop it. Neither can any president. Gore Vidal said that the Democratic and Republican parties are little more than two heads of the same serpent. Every election that goes by changes nothing. It matters not whether the D's or R's are in the majority.
"I think that 'intervention' is a cute little word that is used to mask something else, something called INVASION and THEFT of property that doesn't belong to us." - rjp
-- Intersting. Please list what material items the United States has stolen from either Iraq or Afghanistan.
Doesn't have to be complete, but if it truly does happen, some concrete examples should be available...
And please don't say "oil." Iraq has given their oil contracts to China and Russia, freezing out the U.S. altogether.
Sure doesn't sound like they have forced anyone to "kowtow" to our "corporate leaders.".......does it?
Remember:
The purpose of the uS military is to perpetuate itself and extend its influence.
Corporate interests for the uS war machine ARE ALWAYS are tied to military contracts.
That is the basic agenda of the uS military industrial complex. It has not changed since the days of Truman.
Booty?
Political and financial influence in the middle east has been stolen. Of what importance is that?
It is important to international investors, of which the UK and the uS are primary.
Is it any mystery that the price of oil should fluctuate violently every time some arab sneezes?
It takes six weeks for oil tankers to sail from the middle east to America (I made the run four times myself.)
Assuming that oil can be refined instantly upon arrival (which it can't), that means that there ought to be a six week delay in response to any change in middle east politics. As we all see, that isn't the way it works. Oil prices ARE NOT TIED TO THE PRODUCT. They are tied to INVESTORS and SPECULATORS. It doesn't matter who actually has possession of the stuff.
Ever notice how the price of roses goes up just before Valentine's Day? There's usualy some 'international emergency' isn't there? hmmmmm How about the price of gas just before Memorial Day or the 4th of July? Same thing. Everybody knows these 'emergencies' are fake. When a real 'emergency' comes along, the investors have a financial holiday.
What matters is speculation and investment interests, AND THAT IS WHAT AMERICA SEEKS TO PRESERVE IN THESE ENERGY WARS.
As a side note, the unrest in Egypt was triggered by a rise in the price of wheat. Guess who holds the actual wheat AS WELL AS the price futures on it? American and British speculators, that's who. The riots and governmental unrest in Egypt may have been performed by Egyptian nationals on the street, but the trigger was pulled by Anglo-American speculators. Some say the whole thing was premeditated.
In the global economy, it doesn't matter who holds the goods. What matters is the banks and investors who manage the price of the exchange of goods and that is always to their own benefit.
PLUS...
Untold hundreds of thousands of civilian lives have been lost, lives that had NOTHING to do with any assualt upon our shores.
The wars are unjust. The disruption and destruction of civilian property and lives ought to be enough to justify my point. Blood is thicker than oil.
I am not aware of the oil contracts you quote. Please provide legitimate sources.
Maintenance and security of the oil fields and trade routes is now the responsibility of the uS military (I participated in some of that at one time).
It ALWAYS goes back to the military and uS commerce. ALWAYS.
