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The Forum > Article Comments > Have a nice world war, folks > Comments

Have a nice world war, folks : Comments

By John Pilger, published 31/3/2010

On both sides of the Atlantic, serious dissent exposing illegal war has become a serious crime.

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With statements like this one, John Pilger emotively summarizes an overview of world events that might otherwise only be be formed by following the news for ten years or more, being careful to disregard official spin in search of the facts all the while.

Unfortunately, armed with a perspective like Pilger's, the daily news is dismal to follow, especially with so many Australians seeming happy to support the USA and its warmongering. I'm not surprised that an increasing number of westerners are turning against their "own" governments with violent intent. It's a reaction against a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness that they would otherwise feel.
Posted by Forkes, Wednesday, 31 March 2010 11:32:29 AM
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John Pilger's may make a lot of sense to him but the rest of us are left wondering what he is raving about.
Take this sentence: "In Gaza, the sick and abandoned population, mostly children, is being entombed behind underground American-supplied walls in order to reinforce a criminal siege. In Latin America, the Obama administration has secured seven bases in Colombia, from which to wage a war of attrition against the popular democracies in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Paraguay."

Gaza: if you're talking about the walls all around the Gaza strip then you also have to blame the Egyptian government which has also restricted movement on its side, and any investigation of that move leads straight to Hamas as the main culprit. I'm not suggesting that either Israel or Egypt are squeaky clean, but Hamas must bear a large slice of the blame for the deep problems of the strip. Ranting about US involvement in this issue is dated.
Central/South America: come again? Some examples of what Pilger means by these wars would have been nice, as no one else seems to have noticed them. There is the war on drugs but armed action in other countries? Come now, a few examples please.
All in all a dated rant. Pilger hates America, I get that, but that's all I really get from the article.
Posted by Curmudgeon, Wednesday, 31 March 2010 12:53:29 PM
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John hates the USA, nothing new there, lots of people do ..

This one though is bizarre "“War is fun”, the helmets in Vietnam used to say with bleakest irony, meaning that if a war is revealed as having no purpose other than to justify voracious power in the cause of lucrative fanaticisms such as the weapons industry, the danger of truth beckons."

What a bunch of crap - you have kids painting that on their helmets as a joke - not "meaning that if a war is revealed as having no purpose other than to justify voracious power in the cause of lucrative fanaticisms such as the weapons industry, the danger of truth beckons."

Here's a man who just can't let things go without trying to find deep insightful dark depths permeating within every nuance and crack of their desire to dominate and subjugate the world.

Talk about overblown verbose diarrhea, he must be getting paid by the word.

John used to have interesting insights occassionally, but now its just strained hatred .. oh well.
Posted by Amicus, Wednesday, 31 March 2010 3:09:01 PM
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Everyone who is critical of John Pilger and there are many (not today, but over the years) and as today, find the depth of his comment somewhat complex and slightly jaundiced should remember all the years in which he covered stories that no one else would, Chile, Venezuela, other South American countries, drugs, dictators and the list goes on.
I respect him for those difficult years and those difficult stories and when I became aware of some of the worst injustices as a result of his energies. I always thought that if there was 75% of the story that was factual and unemotional, I received enough detail to do my own research if the subject was on my favourite list of don't; that is hypocrisy, injustice and the abuse of power. Did I mention hypocrisy?
Alive and well, everywhere and thriving daily in OLO.
He still has an active readership, a great following in Europe and an interesting web page.
But he can be hard and unapologetic on the subjects of his writings and at times, excessively analytical.
And yes, I found today a little tortuous as well.
Posted by rexw, Wednesday, 31 March 2010 4:35:05 PM
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Unfortunately for most of who live in our Western comfort zones John Pilger does hit the raw nerve of truth a bit too often.

The world is in huge turmoil,brought on by a corporate oligarchy who want too much power.If Israel is successful is pushing the USA into Iran,then a serious war will errupt in the Middle East, escallating oil prices and human hardship.Russia has warned the USA not to invade Iran as the consequences will be dire.

If there is an invasion of Iran,look at who benefits.Oil companies,arms dealers and banks who loan $ trillions for weapons to our Govts who then tax us.Follow the money trail.
Posted by Arjay, Wednesday, 31 March 2010 6:50:45 PM
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Arjay.
Your assessment is frightening but highly probable.
Fortunately, under Obama, the US is fast waking up to Israel so they might find that even with the insidious influences from New York bagel country to the influencial Christian right, the remaining population are tiring of wars. Most of the average middle class people, from where the young men and women are chosen to fight, when questioned, do not want to lose any more of their young for a war brought on by Israel which is being engineered right now in Tel Aviv. Australians would feel the same way too. Perhaps in the very near future the wise heads in Washington, those not influenced by Jewish lobbyists, very thick on every street corner, may legislate for a loyalty (but to the US) vote for politicians and eliminate the practice of dual passports so that one person is loyal to one country...... only.
Now that would be interesting, in Australia as well. Poor old Greg Sheridan and all his sycophants, would have to make a choice. Of course I would do all I could to tell them how lovely Israel is at this time of year. Could free up a lot of very expensive real estate, but just in the eastern suburbs.
So Arjay, keep your fingers crossed that reason will prevail and that the strength of the Russian vote acts as a deterrent to the US. Never ever thought that we would be relying on Russia for the safety of our planet.
Posted by rexw, Wednesday, 31 March 2010 7:36:12 PM
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