Are we in the midst of World War III? Or is this merely the third global battle in a
One Hundred Years' War? The debate had already begun by the time Newt Gingrich recently opined that the current conflict is World War III. More recently,
Media Matters for America noted that CNN Headline News host
Glenn Beck began his program of July 12 with a discussion with former CIA officer Robert Baer by saying "we've got World War III to fight"! He warned of an impending apocalypse. On July 13, in a similar discussion, Beck said of World War III: "It is here."
Former US House Speaker Newt Gingrich says America is in World War III and President Bush should say so. In an interview in Bellevue this morning Gingrich said Bush should call a joint session of Congress the first week of September and talk about global military conflicts in much starker terms than have been heard from the president."We need to have the militancy that says 'We're not going to lose a city,' " Gingrich said. He talks about the need to recognize World War III as important for military strategy and political strategy.
Gingrich said he is "very worried" about Republicans facing fall elections and says the party must have the "nerve" to nationalize the elections and make the 2006 campaigns about a liberal Democratic agenda rather than about President Bush's record. ...
Some background on the road to World War III. The 20th Century proved to be the most tragic, the most horrific century in human history --an outcome that might have been avoided had we but listened to a single voice, the economist
John Maynard Keynes. Keynes (1883-1946), an important English economist, wrote the prescient
The Economic Consequences of the Peace. He attacked the effects of
Versailles Settlement for its disastrous effects on Germany. It is widely believed that the Settlement contributed to beginning World War II.
Keynes
revolutionized economics with
The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936), generally regarded as the most influential social science treatise of the 20th Century. It changed the way the world looked at economics and the role played by government in society. Few books have had such impact. We are still not paying attention to Keynes! Pete Seeger asked: "...when will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?"
If the European civil war is to end with France and Italy abusing their momentary victorious power to destroy Germany and Austria-Hungary now prostrate, they invite their own destruction also, being so deeply and inextricably intertwined with their victims by hidden psychic and economic bonds.--John Maynard Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace, 1919
Keynes understood as perhaps no one else the long term effects that punitive reparations would have on Germany and, eventually, the rest of the world.
The 21st Century promises to be at least as horrific, at least as tragic. For the same reasons, Bush's campaign of atrocity, torture and oil theft lays the ground work for an endless series of future wars. It is the self-fulfilling prophecy of those who have seen in the Middle East a powder keg. Unless Bush can scrape off the tar baby, the quagmire will morph into a wider war. This may have been what Bush had in mind when he urged Israel to attack Syria during Israel's recent incursion into Lebanon. Certainly, that action would have led to a longer, wider war. Possibly World War III.
By Patrick Hennessy, Political Editor
Last Updated: 1:46am BST 09/07/2007
Britain faces a 15-year battle to end the threat posed by Islamist terrorists, the Government's new security supremo has admitted.
Admiral Sir Alan West, the former First Sea Lord, said the overall danger facing the country, from both home-grown and foreign terrorists, was at its greatest ever level and that a new approach was badly needed to tackle it.
In his first interview since his surprise appointment by Gordon Brown as security minister, Sir Alan called on people to be "a little bit un-British" and even inform on each other in an attempt to trap those plotting to take innocent lives.
"Britishness does not normally involve snitching or talking about someone," he said. "I'm afraid, in this situation, anyone who's got any information should say something because the people we are talking about are trying to destroy our entire way of life."
Talk about World War III risks becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. This war has already lasted as long as World War II and there is no end in site. Bush policies are wedded to the ruthless ambitions of big oil --Bush's partners and sponsors. There is no chance that Bush will change his policies. Impeachment and removal are our only options.
We had been promised a different kind of war, a shadowy war in which "evil doers" would be smoked out and brought to justice. Typical of a "bait and switch" administration, we got a quagmire! Promised limited government, we got Big Brother. Promised no "nation building", we got "nation destruction". Promised "faith based initiatives", we got a half-assed theocracy based on junk theology and claptrap!
This war will be more ambiguous, more shadowy. In at least one respect, it will resemble the French and Indian War of the 18th century, fought in the wilderness by small, mobile forces. It will be more like the war on drugs, or the war on poverty, or the ongoing war against crime, in that it is unlikely ever to be won decisively. Unconditional surrender by the terrorists is an unreasonable expectation, and the defeat of "every terrorist group of global reach," as promised by Bush, is a hugely ambitious goal.--Is this WWIII, how will we know who's winning?
Bush's war began with a crisp new look and soon morphed into tired old Viet Nam, a bog of discredited ideology and even less effective strategies. Certainly, Viet Nam portended the future of warfare. In Viet Nam, the US took on the un-winnable task of defending a "string of faceless generals" none of whom had real legitimacy or the widespread support of the people. Despite CIA skullduggery, the US eventually lost because it never found a legitimate government to defend. Nor has it in Iraq.
Failed Presidents are most likely to kick off World War III. Bush is most certainly a failed President who sees in military adventure some "cover". When Israel attacked Lebanon, Bush encouraged the Israelis to take on Syria as well. Had Bush seen in a wider conflict some relief from his deteriorating position at home? There is a special place in hell reserved for Bush, indeed, anyone who finds in universal suffering and tragedy his own wasted "salvation".
In the latter stages of the war all the belligerent governments practised, from necessity or incompetence, what a Bolshevist might have done from design. Even now, when the war is over, most of them continue out of weakness the same malpractices. But further, the governments of Europe, being many of them at this moment reckless in their methods as well as weak, seek to direct on to a class known as 'profiteers' the popular indignation against the more obvious consequences of their vicious methods. These 'profiteers' are, broadly speaking, the entrepreneur class of capitalists, that is to say, the active and constructive element in the whole capitalist society, who in a period of rapidly rising prices cannot but get rich quick whether they wish it or desire it or not.--John Maynard Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace
Why the United States will continue to threaten the entire world:
So, I see a customer I hadn't seen in a couple months. He's ex-Navy, Republican, NRA member, mid-fifties. I've known him 15 years and he's always been a decent enough guy. Yeah, he watches Fox 'News' but he'd always listen to reason. He's really pissed off about the way Iraq was botched and about how it's all gone to Hell over there. So I ask him today, "I bet you're gonna vote Democrat next year."
"Nope," he says. "Republican across the board."
So I gotta ask. "Even after all this horseshit in Iraq?"
"Yup," he nods.
"How come?" I ask.
"Niggers and spics," he replies.
My jaw drops open. "What?"
"Niggers and spics," he says again. "The Republicans don't like 'em and neither do I."
--Alternate Brain
The fault lines run deep.
A good investigative journalist, if needed, can hide aboard a cruise full of white supremacists and manage not only to escape without punching someone and thereby blowing their cover, but also get out with one hell of a story. That is exactly what Johann Hari did when he joined the National Review cruise and their motley of hate. The result is breathtaking and incredibly frightening. One has to wonder how Jewish travlers aboard this hate vessel did not recognize the rhetoric and make way directly to the nearest inflatable device.From the masterful Hari article, I give you The Ship of Fools:"I am standing waist-deep in the Pacific Ocean, both chilling and
burning, indulging in the polite chit-chat beloved by vacationing Americans. A sweet elderly lady from Los Angeles is sitting on the rocks nearby, telling me dreamily about her son. "Is he your only child?" I ask. "Yes," she says. "Do you have a child back in England?" she asks. No, I say. Her face darkens. "You'd better start," she says. "The Muslims are breeding. Soon, they'll have the whole of Europe.""
If you are concerned that the hate constituency hates only Muslims, don't worry, they hate everyone who is unlike them and suggest not so novel ideas for taking care of undesirables (emph mine): "I am getting used to these moments – when gentle holiday geniality bleeds into... what? I lie on the beach with Hillary-Ann, a chatty, scatty 35-year-old Californian designer. As she explains the perils of Republican dating, my mind drifts, watching the gentle tide. When I hear her say, " f course, we need to execute some of these people," I wake up. Who do we need to execute? She runs her fingers through the sand lazily. "A few of these prominent liberals who are trying to demoralise the country," she says. "Just take a couple of these anti-war people off to the gas chamber for treason to show, if you try to bring down America at a time of war, that's what you'll get." She squints at the sun and smiles." Then things'll change.""
The gas chamber, eh? Executions for fellow citizens? Is that where we are now?
Looks like the "cultural war" has gone psycho! The GOP is a crime syndicate. The right wing exemplifies
institutionalized psychosis. However repugnant this notion is for liberals, it is time that we armed. If someone tries to "gas" you or herd you into a gas chamber, shoot to kill the sonovubitch!
Although Bush administration officials have frequently lashed out at Syria and Iran, accusing it of helping insurgents and militias here, the largest number of foreign fighters and suicide bombers in Iraq come from a third neighbor, Saudi Arabia, according to a senior US military officer and Iraqi lawmakers. ...
Bill Moyers’ Roundtable On Impeachment Of Bush & Cheney
Naturally, you can expect the Faux Network to censor one of the most brilliant TV programs ever:
Additional ResourcesDiscoveries
The Existentialist CowboyConservative LiesIndict BushWhy Conservatives Hate AmericaGOP Crime SyndicateBushSpread the word:
Bush has put forward a theory so stupid and so full of holes that I am amazed that anyone believes it. Is this what is meant by the dumbing down of America?
