Connecting the Dots

If you read a book about the history of the Ottoman Empire and the fact that in the battle for Constantinople 30,000 civilians were raped, beaten, hacked to death and left to rot is very upsetting to you - brutality unworthy of the human spirit inflicted on innocent civilians -- and you have earlier in your life been actively involved in the firebombing of Dresden - which intentionally burned to death 30,000 civilians in one night, motivated entirely by the intent to "break the will of the German population" -- would you somehow connect the dots and tell yourself "I was part of the same brutality I am abhorred by reading about the Turks"? And that was my country doing it.

Well, that did not happen in that conversation. And I find this more often than not in civilized, intelligent conversations - an inability to connect the dots. Is it an unwillingness to see because it is uncomfortable? Is it just plain lack of knowledge of current developments and recent as well as ancient history? Mental paralysis? A media-propaganda-induced accumulation of blind spots?

One current example:

Israel has 300 to 500 nuclear warheads, unacknowledged, undeclared, un-inspected, ready to be shot off at anybody who dares to threaten Israel. Iran is enriching Uranium and most probably has some wish to develop nuclear weapons because it feels threatened, but does not have any of the aforementioned capabilities, neither now nor in the foreseeable future. We, the Western bully nations keep parading our military and economic threats before Iran. Never around Israel. The dots here are not even far apart, in geography and in time. And yet very few people are able or willing to connect them. What happened to intelligence?

The Naked Man and the Hotel Maid from Guinea

Last night I happened onto a European TV newscast that described in great detail the plans the defense lawyers for Mr. Strauss-Kahn had to discredit the immigrant maid who was the victim of his alleged sexual assault.

The most ludicrous effort, I thought, was that some people flew to her native village (which she left four years ago and had no contact with since), to dig up any dirt and gossip which would make her less credible. Another venue of attack was her immigration papers. "We will comb through every entry on every document she ever filled out, because people lie to some answers since they are desperate to be admitted to the US and that is a crime" said the comfortable, heavy bodied lawyer, lodged into a couch. "We will interview all of her co-workers, boyfriends ... I am sure there are some stories we can find and use."

It went on and on, until I had to shut it off. How disgusting and totally irrelevant to what happened in the $3000 a night hotel suite. Apparently Mr Strauss-Kahn has practiced this sort of behavior before, as we come to find out from previous victims speaking up now, so who's life needs to be examined first?

Now he absolves his "house arrest" in a 14 Million Dollar mansion awaiting court action. The poor maid is scared out of her wits in face of that much money and power. I am not holding my breath until justice is done.

Will Common Sense prevail?

What You Should Know About Drones

I am quoting from Kathy Kelly's article on www.commondreams.org because it reminded me of my own experiences in Austria during WWII walking home from school after an air raid. The bombs then were a little more "benign," if I may call it that way, and I was in the shelter when they fell. But seeing the destroyed houses and knowing that people had died in them was enough for me. Here is her story (you can read the full article at http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/05/09-5).

"I’m reminded of an encounter I had, in May, 2010, when a journalist and a social worker from North Waziristan met with a small Voices for Creative Nonviolence delegation in Pakistan and described, in gory and graphic detail, the scenes of drone attacks which they had personally witnessed: the carbonized bodies, burned so fully they could be identified by legs and hands alone, the bystanders sent flying like dolls through the air to break, with shattered bones and sometimes-fatal brain injuries, upon walls and stone.

“Do Americans know about the drones?” the journalist asked me. I said I thought that awareness was growing on University campuses and among peace groups. “This isn’t what I’m asking,” he politely insisted. “What I want to know is if average Americans know that their country is attacking Pakistan with drones that carry bombs. Do they know this?”

"Truthfully,” I said, “I don’t think so.”

One more interesting fact: "As of now, worldwide, 49 companies make 450 different drone aircraft. Drone merchants expect that drone sales will earn $20.2 billion over the next 10 years for aerospace war manufacturers. Who knows? One day drone missiles may be aimed at us."

Good Luck, to all of us!

Does Anybody Care About Our Health?

Two stories on today's Common Dreams website raised alarm bells for me about governments caring at all about their people. First there is more and more evidence of the health risks following the oil gusher in the Gulf: Many residents along the Gulf Coast are exhibiting symptoms that clearly look like reactions to chemical exposure. Read the article and come to your own conclusions. http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/04/20-10 Unfortunately the article also points out that there is no concerted effort (and no funds) to collect the data needed to prove what is happening.

Then there is the little story of the well water near natural gas 'fracking' activity in rural Pennsylvania that can be set on fire because it contains methane gas. One of the wells recently blew out and spilled toxic chemicals over fields, pastures and into waterways. http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/04/20-8

Last but not least we have the situation in Japan where nobody seems to know "officially" how bad the radioactive contamination actually is and will be as the leaks keep leaking radio active water and who knows what else into the sea, air and into the soil.

What we keep hearing about these catastrophies is mostly that the Gulf is on its way to return to normal, deepwater drilling is safe and will continue, natural gas extraction is going fine with the fracking process, and atomic power plants are really safe ... very little is being said about the poor people who live, work, fish and farm in these areas. Their livelihood and their health and the health of their offspring (maybe for generations) is at risk, and the public efforts to disseminate accurate information and to organize the tracking and alleviating of the health risks are in sad shape. Any kind of public acknowledgement of the situation (other than empty words and promises)is sorely missing. Do our governments care about human beings? Not only do they kill them off by the hundreds of thousands in unjustified wars they also keep endangering them by the millions through unregulated and unsavory practices to maintain our "standard of living" - I guess that standard only goes to the (so far un-radiated)survivors. Common Sense? Where?

The Libyan Charade

George Orwell could not have put it better ... read what Glenn Greenwald posted today on Common Dreams News. I do not want to paraphrase one word. The whole story speaks for itself. What are we to do with a government like that, a world like that? http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/04/16-2

Please comment - even if just very briefly!

Eight Million per Day for War in Libya

The US is spending about $8 Million per day on its war on Libya. This of course in addition to the exorbitant amounts we are paying for our other ongoing wars. "Remarking last week on the deal he struck that slashes $38.5 billion in federal spending, President Obama said the agreement “between Democrats and Republicans, on behalf of all Americans, is on a budget that invests in our future while making the largest annual spending cut in our history.” With an untouched defense budget and no end in sight for our wars - where - what is our future? Definitely not better education, not better healthcare, still no jobs other than those making weaponry and flipping burgers. Future? Think about it. Thank you.

The Profitability of Wars - even little ones like Libya

Just found a great article by Robert C. Koehler, A Vortex of Death and Wealth, published today at CommonDreams.org He makes a case of how we -and other weapons manufacturing countries - make money off killing and destruction. He writes "And Libya is small potatoes compared to — no surprise — Saudi Arabia. Last year, according to Spiegel Online, the U.S. announced the largest arms export deal in history with the Saudis. The oil-rich kingdom will buy $60 billion worth of U.S. aircraft over the next five to ten years. “Money is no object,” the article informs us, “and the Saudi air force is to receive F-15 fighter-bombers, Apache attack helicopters, missiles, radar equipment and bombs. All together, according to the Wall Street Journal, the order is large enough to guarantee 77,000 jobs at Boeing.” So maybe this is the much taunted "Job Creation Program" of our current administration - let's go to war and sell weaponry - not only use it but also destroy it so we can eventually replace it. Since the US is not producing much else, there is our future. Unending war, unending arms sales. “This” — the Libyan no fly zone — “is turning into the best shop window for competing aircraft for years. More even than in Iraq in 2003,” said Francis Tusa, editor of the UK-based newsletter Defense Analysis, quoted in a recent Reuters article by Tim Hepher. For instance, enforcement of the no fly zone pitted two European-made jet fighters, the Typhoon and the Rafale, against one another for world leaders to view, and France, Tusa pointed out, “is particularly desperate to sell the Rafale.” This is the generally unstated truth about Western intervention in the Middle East and anywhere else in the world. The headline-generating acts of murderous repression by dictators, whether we love or abhor them, are made possible by weaponry and equipment they purchased from us. And then, when the time comes, we may have to attack our former business partners with the same weaponry we sold them." Common Sense apparently has no place in this game unless you apply it to the job creation program. Good luck to all of us.