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Here's how the Afghanistan "Graveyard of Empires' might lead from Division Champs to the World Series in ending "The Last Empire':
Interestingly, Eric Margolis recently noted the following truths about the Graveyard of the next-to-the-last Empire in Afghanistan:
1. "Taliban, (are) a militant religious, anti-Communist movement of Pashtun tribesmen"
2. "Taliban are the sons of the U.S.-backed mujahidin who defeated the Soviets in the 1980s"
3. "The Pashtun tribes want to end foreign occupation and drive out the Afghan Communists, who now dominate the U.S.-installed Kabul regime."
But today, the Pashtun / Taliban, and (surprisingly) the Russian people have something strikingly in common ---- they both previously overcame the Soviet EMPIRE, which acted as a monopoly of military power under the banner of 'communism'.
The Pashtun - Taliban kicked the Soviet EMPIRE's ass in the late 1980s, the East German people broke down the Soviet EMPIRE's wall in 1989, and the Russian people finally defeated the Soviet EMPIRE's claim of a 'monopoly on power' in the name of 'communism' in 1991.
But today, the real 'monopoly on power' in the world is not the next-to-the-last Soviet Empire's claimed communism, but the real global 'monopoly on power' exercised by the "last EMPIRE standing' on earth --- the disguised and guileful ruling-elite's corporate/financial EMPIRE, which controls "our' country by hiding behind the facade of its two-party 'Vichy' sham of democracy --- and which is rightly called "Corporate Communism" by Dylan Ratigan, as he shouts out publicly on national MSNBC TV (if GE doesn't fire him).
Unfortunately, neither the Pashtun, Taliban, German people, Russian people or any other foreign people will likely be able to revolt against this new and insidious form of global 'monopoly on power' --- the EMPIRE of "Corporate Communism'.
This 21st century disguised EMPIRE is nominally headquartered in "our' country, although it has satellite ruling-elites in countries such as the U.K., Israel, and others, and thus only Americans can confront this last EMPIRE.
Yes, only the American people, with our slight remnants of political influence can take on this world-girding political-economic EMPIRE of "Corporate Communism", which has already employed its financial and economic monopoly to weaken our political rights and take over our government by bribing, subverting, and hollowing-out our Constitutional rights of real democracy.
Just read this history of the fall of the next-to-the-last Empire, the Soviet "communist' Empire, and see if it does not ring true about the disguised ruling-elite corporate/financial EMPIRE of "Corporate Communism" in our midst today --- the last EMPIRE on Earth:
"The Soviet Union's collapse into independent nations began early in 1985.[dubious ] After years of Soviet military buildup at the expense of domestic development, economic growth was at a standstill. Failed attempts at reform, a stagnant economy, and war in Afghanistan led to a general feeling of discontent, especially[citation needed] in the Baltic republics and Eastern Europe. Greater political and social freedoms, instituted by the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, created an atmosphere of open criticism of the Moscow regime. The dramatic drop of the price of oil in 1985 and 1986, and consequent lack of foreign exchange reserves in following years to purchase grain profoundly influenced actions of the Soviet leadership.[1]
Several Soviet Socialist Republics began resisting central control, and increasing democratization led to a weakening of the central government. The USSR's trade gap progressively emptied the coffers of the union, leading to eventual bankruptcy. The Soviet Union finally collapsed in 1991 when Boris Yeltsin seized power in the aftermath of a failed coup that had attempted to topple reform-minded Gorbachev."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Soviet_Union_(1985%E2%80%931991)
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
