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War is peace. Ignorance is strength : Comments
By John Pilger, published 21/10/2009Barack Obama, the man of peace, has approved a military budget exceeding that of any year since the end of World War II.
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Posted by Little Brother, Wednesday, 21 October 2009 12:34:00 PM
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Seems the Yanks can't do without a War .
It must be a deep aberration a bread in fault in their psyche . Another clarification is required eg; West , Middle East , East and Bent , would be good . Perhaps it harks back to the Battle at Wounded Knee , Blood and Guts on a grand scale including children , seniors , pregnant mums etc..... And then cause could be apportioned to their Constitution the right to bear Arms ; why get all messed up in a fist fight , just intelligently stand back a bit and part their brains with a Colt 45 Too easy . Wounded Knee was a lot like Vietnam only the Good Guys lost . Did the yanks learn anything in Nam ? I envisaged Obarma as a Saviour to Lead the United States away from Mafia Tactics that have reduced their Country to something that Hitler might have envisaged . While ever they keep burgling other Peoples Countries in the name of National Security the West and the Bent will be assaulted by Suicide Bombers . Posted by ShazBaz001, Wednesday, 21 October 2009 12:46:44 PM
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Pilger is an ideologue and his discourse is generally delivered in black and white terms - Israel as the bad oppressor and the Palestinians as the oppressed victims. These terms leave little room for the complexity of the conflict. Pilger's view of Israel/Palestine is based on the binary opposites of good and bad nations. The Israelis, except for a small number of token good Jews, are universally depicted as evil and immoral oppressors engaged in human rights abuses and war crimes.
Interestingly, the famous US war correspondent (and socialist) Martha Gellhorn, who seems to have acted as somewhat of a mentor to Pilger, was a lifelong supporter of the State of Israel. She reported on Israel's victory in the Six Day War with overwhelming enthusiasm, and expressed little sympathy for the defeated Arab armies, or the Palestinian refugees. This was a sentiment of the times, undoubtedly we should no longer show such antipathy toward any refugee. In writing a preface to Pilger's Distant Voices, Gellhorn herself commented: "We agree on every political subject except Israel and the Palestinians. John was born in October 1939, an infant in Australia during the Second World War. He was eight years old when the Jews of Palestine, who had accepted the UN Partition Plan, were forced to fight practically with their hands to survive the first combined Arab onslaught and declared their state. Perhaps nobody can understand Israel who does not remember the Second World War and why the nation came into being" (Gellhorn 1994:xiii). Pilger’s humanity certainly seems devoid of the necessary understanding in order to fulfill a basic peace. Posted by relda, Wednesday, 21 October 2009 1:54:31 PM
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Who needs a real crisis when you can simply invent one.
John Pillager makes a good read as long as you can suspend reason. Posted by Shadow Minister, Wednesday, 21 October 2009 3:36:15 PM
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Shadow Minister has suspended all perception.John Pilger speaks the
truth.I'm from the right side of politics and weeks ago on OLO gerneral discussion posted the Pittsurgh riots where students were attacked on their own campus just for gathering in a group. Dr Ron Paul the Congressman for Texas USA is also from the right side of politics and he is singing the same tune as John Pilger a left winger.Obama works for the industrial military complex that JFK and many others have alluded to.Obama works for the same people that Bush worked for.The name has changed but the story is worse. He has kept all the powers of Bush which virtually make him a dictator. See the Pittsburgh police attacks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etv8YEqaWgA Who are we kidding, "I here by declare this to be an unlawful assembly." There was no violence on the behalf of the students. The moronic masses are just seduced by the spin of the pop media. Posted by Arjay, Wednesday, 21 October 2009 7:32:52 PM
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There is no reason for the left to support the war in Afghanistan, but all the morons attacking Pilger advance no argument but personal insult.
Check this out: U.S. as a Failed State: http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts276.html Posted by Peter Hume, Friday, 23 October 2009 9:15:22 AM
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Really Peter who’s insulting who, when you call “morons” those who might stand up to a self-righteous ‘prophet’? To highlight Pilger’s ignorance of the issue is perhaps certain reason to give him and his followers offence; nevertheless, balance given is often a little unsettling for the unbalanced.
Quite true, Pilger’s journalism has often uncovered gross injustice, but the lens through which he portrays it generally distorts the truth behind it. Roberts says, “Americans have no greater enemy than their own government.” In the world’s ‘greatest’ so called ‘democracy’ I’d say “the people” are their own worst enemy. Posted by relda, Friday, 23 October 2009 9:58:27 AM
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John Pilger,
You have given of the best of your life and at times risked it to document the injustices and associated cruelties of the world’s powerful. Your dedication has revealed only part of what goes on behind their well guarded doors. But even this little has and is incomparable with naught your critics have ever been willing to sacrifice in order to disprove your disclosures. Your ability to report your findings in an engaging manner have procured you enough means to maintain your independence from the corruptions usually paving the paths of journalists, though, at times you had to accept the sharing of platforms with questionable ideologues. For this dedication I, an ordinary observer, have admired you, but not totally. In fact I hackled you some months ago in Melbourne, trying and not succeeding, to express my doubts about the total validity of your findings in the world as a stage of ideas. My opinion is that what you describe, now attributable mainly to the current American Hegemony, would not change a bit were the dominant power be any other. Should I put this argument by mentioning The English Empire or the ones preceding it and skip, in order not to irritate the faithful readers of OLO, the Papal Empire, which effectively took over from the Roman one and, one way or another, subdued people. John Pilger, humanity set its path to an early disappearance by not challenging the Politics of Aristotle in the way Galileo and Kepler challenged his Physics. It is the State, as structure for administering the wealth of nations, at the basis of all ills. State implies privilege. Privilege causes wars. Wars kill humanity Posted by skeptic, Friday, 23 October 2009 10:18:36 AM
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I think that finally people are beginning to grasp the reality of the industrial military complex that JFK and others have alluded to.
It is in fact the Global Reserve Banks and Wall Street that are the manipulators behind the scenes.They create wars for profit,oil and resources.They have destroyed the US economy and now are seeking more ways to steal wealth from the masses. Posted by Arjay, Friday, 23 October 2009 4:24:47 PM
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John Pilger, you have an amazing ability to ignore both facts and reason while apparantly convincing many that you have done credible research to support your assertions. It would be useful (though impossible)for you to document your "opinions".
Posted by Joe in the U.S., Friday, 23 October 2009 5:00:24 PM
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Joe ,You need to access Ron Paul's site http://www.ronpaul.com/
and learn the truth from the great Congressman of Texas.He speaks the truth just like John Pilger.Now that takes courage and integrity. Are you up to the task? Posted by Arjay, Friday, 23 October 2009 8:42:25 PM
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Arjay, Thanks for providing the website for Dr. Ron Paul. As I’m sure most know, Paul ran for President in 1988 as the nominee of the Libertarian Party and in 2008, he was soundly defeated as he ran in the Republican Primary for President. I agree with your view of his courage as many of his views take guts to express. But I have no problem agreeing with some of his views and he is on target about our “willy nilly” jumping into wars. It surprised me to see Aussies suggesting that those on the left are interested in pursuing the war in Afghanistan. As Johnny Mac, one of our former tennis players used to say, they “can't be serious”! I am squarely on the left and we are in favor of negotiation and never in favor of war while the right has never seen a war that they disliked. The right even believes in preventive war, that is, a war like we started in Iraq!
Ron Paul understands that there is no “win” possible in Afghanistan and that regardless of who is elected there, the winner’s influence would be minimal and not extend beyond his immediate area. Ron Paul cannot get elected President here. He openly expresses what is going on but his inability to convince the masses in U.S. of these destructive policies buries him. I have no doubt that Obama knows of the futility of a continued war in Afghanistan and that he knew this before his election. He also understood that if he had a platform of withdrawing from both Iraq and Afghanistgan, he could not have been elected. Identified as “soft” he would have been clobbered while running against a war-loving confidant military man who was planning to “win” in both Iraq and Afghanistan. If I knew these things, I'm sure Obama knew them. Ron Paul is an OK guy but my friends, Pilger is no Ron Paul! Posted by Joe in the U.S., Thursday, 29 October 2009 6:28:25 PM
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The paranoia is breathtaking.
No doubt he blames Bush,Blair and Howard for climate change as well.