World in Crisis: Ferguson, Ukraine, and Iraq
It is a dangerous sign when events begin to speed up to such an extent. Even for the empire of chaos it was an extremely eventful 2 weeks. In Ferguson, Missouri what can only be described as an american intifada took place. Novorossiya had a mysterious change in government but still managed to repel yet another major push by the Kiev army to conquer Lugansk and Donetsk. Meanwhile Gaza suffers under diplomacy as an instrument of war as they are kept in constant suspense as too when this latest butchery will end. Iraq saw the fall of Maliki and an escalation in American involvement in their civil war.
A little known fact of American history is that our police force evolved from the armed bands of slave catchers that patrolled the south. A fact I learned from watching a clip from Scott Noble's Film in progress "Plutocracy." Since forever the US police force has been waging a low intensity war on the black community. Mass incarceration has been used as a continuation of slavery with millions behind bars. The war on drugs and the Prison Military Industrial complex making Billions off Imprisoning millions. As if that isn't bad enough the police have seemingly been given a license to kill and do whatever else they Please. An unarmed black man dies every 28 Hours. Even ordinary citizens seem to be able to get away with murder provided they are white and the victims black. One would expect the uprising to occur in Michigan which seems to be the Laboratory of a Neo-Liberal Post-Democratic experiment in looting the populace while denying them their democratic and even Human Rights. Instead Ferguson, Missouri unexpectedly exploded in protest when a black Teenager Mike Brown was shot by police officer Darren Wilson while on the way to visit his grandmother. It was the latest in a long line of incidents that usually cause momentary outrage and are soon forgotten. Police Brutality and the Murder of unarmed civilians are daily facts of life in the US. This time however there was an unusually strong reaction as protestors faced down the Blatantly Militarized Police and their brutal attempted crackdown. Perhaps it was the fact that Mike Brown had his hands raised in surrender and was killed anyway that caught the public imagination. The gesture was transformed overnight from a sign of Surrender into a sign of resistance. Upon viewing the scenes coming out of Ferguson. Ordinary Americans were shocked to discover what the Alternative Media had long warned of. The police have been armed and trained to suppress the American public should it ever rise up and demand change. The police have long been trained to view the public as enemies. Every youth, every minority, every protestor knows this. Only by "programing" (What sinister terminology "television programs") the public with hour after hour of procedural crime dramas can they be made to forget that simple fact. Ferguson however revealed the police state on full display. The protestors were faced by police armed to the teeth only distinguishable from the military by the fact that their black uniforms were scarier. Even the subservient corporate media was targeted by out of control police and threatened with death if they continued to film the brutal crackdown. America got a mild taste of what it exports around the world but instead of the war being waged in some hapless third world country it was taking place in the US. Still even this was nothing new American cities rose frequently in open revolt most famously throughout the 60's but it's happened many times before and since. Thus the Government has launched many brutal crackdowns sending in the national guard. Doubtless you could write a whole series of books The History of Riots in America. Someone should. Except for the Boston massacre (the rioters got to name it) where Ironically the first person shot happened to be black Riots are suppressed from our history. It is not good for the masses to realize just how many times they have spontaneously risen up. Unfortunately until the population begins to organize itself these momentary clashes between the powers of resistance and oppression will not lead to any real lasting changes. Still the riots did reveal one thing the power of our interconnected world. In a heartbreaking show of Sympathy Palestinians in Gaza tweeted out advice to the People of Ferguson on how to stand up to a brutal occupying force. They explained how to treat yourself for exposure to tear gas and how to organize to provide food and medical care for the protestors. Despite having survived yet another round of shootings, shelling, and bombing they were feeling sorry for black America. All over the world people followed events in Ferguson. Increasingly there seems to be a growing international community of alt media savvy youth who see things on a global scale and understand that all the various crises of the world our part of one interconnected whole. Syria tied to Ukraine tied to the Israeli Occupation of Palestine tied to Venezuela tied to Ferguson. In Ferguson for example it was revealed that the police had trained in Israel as if American cops needed special training in treating blacks as second class citizens. This practice is disturbingly widespread.
Events in Ukraine were also extremely eventful. Novorossiya (The region of South Eastern Ukraine rebelling against the Kiev Regime) experienced a mysterious wave of Resignations. Alexander Borodai the Prime Minister of the Donetsk People's Republic Resigned. So did Valery Bolotov the Prime Minister of the Lugansk People's Republic. Even the now Legendary Igor Strelkov resigned. It's still unclear why this happened or what the implications will be. For now I'll resist the urge to speculate until I can learn more. There are a lot of Ugly rumors floating around. At least the more alarmist speculation that this signaled some sort of imminent surrender have proved groundless so far. Despite the change in leadership the Anti-Fascist forces have managed so far to repel a major offensive launched by Poroshenko who hoped to smash the NAF (Novorossiyan Armed Forces) and reoccupy Lugansk and Donetsk in time for Ukrainian independence day August 24th. Unfortunately for Poroshenko each new disastrous offensive supplies the NAF with more equipment. Although the NAF are still outnumbered and outgunned they are steadily growing in strength. The Ukrainian armed forces are only good at shelling unarmed civilians. They have suffered appalling casualties. Against all the odds the NAF continue to successfully resist the masses of troops sent against them. The mainstream media which is claiming imminent victory for Kiev is in store for yet another embarrassment.
Then there is the Russian aid convoy which is in typical Orwellian fashion is considered some sort of war crime. How dare Russia feed the unpeople of south eastern Ukraine many of whom are without food medicines and running water. I call them unpeople since for months it has been clear that for the Media and for western governments the people of south eastern Ukraine simply do not exist. Whether they are shelled to death in the thousands or forced to flee by Kiev's ethnic cleansing plan in the hundreds of thousands the people of Novorossiya receive not one word of sympathy. Meanwhile Kiev receives more cash more weapons more reinforcements from Poland, more CIA advisers and more western mercenaries. Simply sending one truck by Russia would have been one to many since it demonstrates to the world that Kiev has created a massive Humanitarian crisis by waging a months long war against their own people. The media has been driven into high gear selling the Idea that the humanitarian aid convoy is really some sort of covert invasion. Whether or not Russia actually supplies covert support to the rebels it's absurd to think they would use such a public occasion to ship in weapons.
However Absurdity is the order of the day. In a war full of absurd lies the media really topped itself in a recent incident. First two british Papers published an account of Russian armored vehicles crossing the border but since it was a figment of their imagination they were unable to capture the invasion on film. Then the Kiev regime announced that they had destroyed the nonexistent invasion with an artillery barrage. Astute observers were laughing all over the world but the media with zero regard for their credibility reported the story. So far the non-existent wreckage of the non-existent Russian invasion force has yet to be located. Forget George Orwell this is like something out of Lewis Carroll. Poroshenko at least was able to score his first glorious victory it is so much easier to defeat an enemy that doesn't exist.
After more then a week of delays the Russian's sent their aid convoy in without permission. The Red Cross refused to accompany them because one of the goals of Poroshenko's offensive is to block the route and they have been bombing the roads. The Red Cross pullout however was blamed by the west on the Russians. They are portraying the humanitarian aid convoy as a Russian invasion but since they constantly issue false reports of Russian invasions it will probably all be forgotten in a few weeks time and they'll be hyping some new imaginary threat. However along with the trucks Russia issued a warning that it will hold Kiev responsible if the convoy comes under attack. There are unconfirmed reports that the the a truck was targeted with a mortar but Russia will probably show it's usual restraint. Aid has already arrived in Lugansk. The west has warned that Russia will face further sanctions for the crime of supplying food water and medicine to the Unpeople of Novorossiya.
Yes feeding the hungry and treating the sick are considered crimes. Cuba and Nicaragua were also brought under sanctions for trying to feed their people. As William Blum reported the US is the only country that voted against the Idea that food was a human right at the UN. In Michigan the Obama administration does nothing to prevent the right wing governor's minions in places like Detroit and Benton Harbor from attempting to cut off large swathes of the population from water. A few minutes thought reveal why this is insane. Preventing people from bathing or having access to the sewage system would create enormous risks to public health. Medieval conditions would be created easily preventable diseases would spread. Just imagine the stench the death the misery. This insane scheme was only prevented by a well organized grass roots campaign of protest.
In Iraq meanwhile Maliki was ousted in a US backed coup. Of course the US wasn't the only one glad to see him go. Ayatollah Sistani greatly revered usually reclusive Shia religious figure called for him to step down as did Fiery Shia Cleric Muqtada al Sadr. Obviously he had even more enemies among the Sunnis and Kurds. Still despite the claims that the whole mess was Maliki's fault doubtless the civil war will continue. Haider Jawad Al Abadi Maliki's replacement is so far an unknown quantity the product of secret back room negotiations. The US waged a phony humanitarian bombing campaign to protect the Yezidi's who were according to Pepe Escobar actually saved by the PKK (a kurdish guerrilla group) a long time ally of US enemy Syria and enemy of US ally Turkey. Then a reporter who used to praise the "Syrian rebels" James Foley was supposedly killed on camera by three british ISIS members known as the Beatles. Of course many are calling the tape a fake since people generally bleed when their throats are slit which Foley failed to do. Foley was kidnapped back in 2012 and was probably already dead. That hasn't stopped the incident from being used to argue both for an expansion of the war into Syria and as a test case to try and censor social media. Twitter and YouTube banned the video even though both are filled with much gorier images. The british even declared that distributing it could be considered an act of terrorism. Thus this incident could be used to attempt to ban people from distributing other footage from war zones exposing the brutality of wars in Gaza or Ukraine for example. At the very least these new rules will be used to prevent people from exposing the probably phony nature of the James Foley execution footage. This will make it easier for them to use the incident to expand the war into Syria. We'll need a new nickname for the Syria Iraq war theatre like the current AF/Pak for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Another Triumph for the American attempt to create an arc of crisis across Eurasia. In fact the war has already expanded into Lebanon as well but Lebanon has been a target from the beginning. According to Seymour Hersh the failed Israeli invasion of Lebanon lead to the current strategy called the redirection aimed at using Wahabi extremists to further destabilize the region. Thus Lebanon has been a target of terror attacks by the same forces terrorizing Iraq and Syria for years. However the US has decided to use the Crisis to expand their influence with the Lebanese army.
The Ukraine war also could be on the verge of expansion. As if starting a war in Ukraine was not dangerous enough the west has been stoking tensions between Moldova and breakaway Transnistria and between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Armenia and Transnistria are both Russian allies. Transnistria is garrisoned with Russian troops. Thus both these situations could have dangerous future consequences. Just how many proxy wars with Russia does the west intend to launch? Syria could also lead to war with Russia. With events speeding up so fast it is easy for things to spiral out of control. Of course that is actually the game plan in the US empire of chaos. I didn't even have time to talk about Ebola or Gaza, the USAfrica summit, protests in Portugal tensions with china etc. Whether in Iraq, Ukraine or it's own cities, America and it's allies war on the planet continues to expand. So too must global awareness and resistance.
Sources
Heres are a couple of great articles on Ferguson Police Brutality and how to organize an effective resistance.
http://libya360.wordpress.com/2014/08/20/ferguson-unmasks-the-war-on-black-america/
Here is an article on the Russian Convoy by Steven Lendman he recently recovered from a health Crisis and is back to producing his great articles.
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2014/08/russian-humanitarian-aid-reaches-lugansk.html
Another Lendman article on the cynical use of the negotiations to further oppress Gaza
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2014/08/pro-israeli-security-council-gaza.html
And Pepe Escobar on Iraq
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID-01-210814.html
Tony Cartalucci on Syria
http://syria360.wordpress.com/2014/08/22/us-begins-selling-syria-intervention-using-isis-pretext/
And that film clip About the origins of the american police
http://vimeo.com/97074965
Check out Metanoia films for great Documentaries donate and Help Scott Noble complete his new film Plutocracy. (my Favorite is Counter-Intelligence)
http://metanoia-films.org
No comments:
Post a Comment