"From the Barrel of the Gun"
So that's it, the war is, like... over. I placed a bet it would start before the beginning of April,
Gulf II is over before the end of April - who would have guessed?
Apart from the sadness and terrifying aspects of *war*,
the international community has to take into account some new facts:
- world peace seems farther away than ever, considering unilateral "police"ing Inc. by the US & the UK
- a deeper continental divide? It appears even more clearer that the Island of the UK is closer to the North American shelf than to the Old Continent
- a weakened European position, illustrating yet again that the EU union has not achieved political unity, let alone united foreign policy
- corporate intrests are already set on fire, frantic is the race to "rebuild Iraq".... Bechtel just secured a multi-millions dollar contract to "repair" damaged electrical grids, and other little handyworks...
- what about the Muslim Voices? Where were the big demonstrations?
- and ... Who's Next? Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, North Corea, Liechtenstein, Switzerland?
The spectre of the American military tactics and "global firepower, to police the World" is indeed frightening... the US military doctrine presents some interesting points to cast a haunting view of the future:
1. strike first, ask questions later, and if they're not cheering by the time we "liberate" them, shoot them again
2. diplomacy as a smokescreen, and a
3 Pre-emptive strike capacity now finds a deeper application: once suspected of possessing ABC weapons, or harbouring so-called dictators-who-once-were-close-allies-and-friends-it-was-fun-while-it-lasted, the so called "rogue nations" might find themselves nuked before you can pronounce "Alice in Wonderland"
4. If you compare British and American Forces' tactics to kindle friendship fires in the hearts of "formerly oppressed, yet now liberated", it is sad to note, as some do: that all those decades of "fighting urban guerilla warfare" in Ireland has thaught the Royal Marines better psy-ops... Ouch, what a compliment.... You see, dear Members of Parliament, we practive for almost a hundred years, and then we are allowed to assist the US....
5. one more note on doctrine: the US doctrine to win dual-conflicts in dual-theatre operations, enables the US Defense industry to secure high orders in a slacking conjuncture, and the largest Budget of the world (US Defense equals or > all other global military spending)...
6. "Embedded media" & so-called real-time frontline reporting clearly loose against the Web and the Free Blog Movement. Numerous journalists were trying to b=publish personal accounts, and were shut down by their corporate watchdogs: "war reporting is a full-time activity"... Hell yeah, these guys just sit around all day, waiting for the military briefings to feed them cookies...
A sad, yet true comparison
"Liberated from a dictator", it is almost as sad as saying:
"hell, yeah, you do not have access to clean drinking water and sanitation systems, causing millions to die, but rest in peace, o you poor and underdevelopped populations of the world, at least you are not being subdued by private corporations reaping massive profits - and do not worry, your so called democracy (note: or "rogue state"= a country not part of the "coalition of the willing") will take care of you...." - Quote overheard in Kyoto at the Thrid World Water Forum by some NGO tourists. Note: This is an outrageous lie: when will the nations of the world finally commit real budgets to development programs for water and sanitation? Imagine: with all the monney spent in over the past decades, bribing Iraq, buying expensive and limited and non-replacable natural resources from them (i.e. OIL), while all the while, R&D budgets to come up with clean energy solutions were also slashed, ... could have helped all poor countries world wide to install proper water distribution networks.... What a dream, what a goal, what peace and prosperity that would have brought....
No, i'm being carried away here.... World Peace by World War, in the name of what/whom???
