I believe that the real goal of the United States war against Iraq is to return to the "good old days" when the U.S. and some European countries totally plundered the resources of the Middle East. Five of the twelve largest corporations in the United States are oil monopolies. Before the rise of Arab nationalism and the anti-feudal revolutions that swept out colonialist regimes in Iraq and other Middle Eastem countries in the 1950s and 1960s, U.S., British, and Dutch oil companies owned Arab and Iranian oil fields outright. Between 1948 and 1960 U.S. oil companies received $13 billion in profit from their Persian Gulf holdings. That was half the return on all overseas investment by all U.S. companies in those years.
In recent decades U.S. companies no longer directly own the oil fields of the Middle East, but they still get rich from them. That is because the royal families of the oil-rich Arabian peninsula, who were put on their thrones by the British empire and are kept there by the U.S. military and the CIA, have loyally turned their kingdoms into cash cows for Wall Street banks and corporations.
This is one way it works. Money spent on Saudi Arabian oil, for example, once went into the accounts of Rockefeller-controlled oil corporations at the Rockefeller-controlled Chase Manhattan Bank. Now it is deposited in the Saudi king's huge account at Chase Manhattan which reinvests it at a hefty profit to the Rockefellers. Chase Manhattan also manages the Saudi Industrial Development Fund and the Saudi Investment Bank. Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, which is linked to Mobil and Texaco, has a representative on the Board of the Saudi Monetary Authority and controls another big chunk of the kingdom's income. Citicorp handles much of the Emir of Kuwait's $120 billion investment portfolio. The total amount that the Gulf's feudal lords have put at the disposal of the western bankers is conservatively estimated at $1 trillion. It is probably much more.
While the big oil companies have a going partnership with the feudal rulers of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, etc., they are relatively locked out of Iraq, Iran, Libya, Yemen, and Algeria. The goal of the U.S. war is to roll back the Arab revolution and all the other revolutionary movements that have swept the region since World War II.
The New World Order that Bush has in mind is, in fact, not so new. It is an attempt to turn the clock back to the pre-World War II era of unchallenged colonial domination and plunder of the land, labor, and resources of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East by a handful of industrialized capitalist countries. Unlike the old world order of outright colonialism, the new world order will be imposed by Stealth aircraft, guided missiles, smart bombs, and tactical nuclear weapons - not l9th-century gunboats. This is based on grand geopolitical strategy that flows like water from Pentagon-sponsored think tanks in Washington. It leaves out the most important factor in the equation of the Middle East - the broad mass of the people whose hatred for foreign domination and capacity to struggle remains as powerful as ever.
The U.S. and its imperialist allies have won a temporary victory in the Middle East. But their policy of military domination to stop the natural progression of history - for people to liberate themselves from the yoke of colonialism - cannot succeed.
Call to action: No work, No school on September 11, 2008. It also includes "no shopping;" a suspension of all purchasing during the strike. 75% of our economy is consumer spending, when Bush says to shop, we must STOP!
The general strike calls for participants to "Hit the Streets." But whyspend our time protesting in DC to be ignored? Unless we get in the streets outside our rep.s personal residences- who is going to care?
We need to mobilize locally- & demand national action. Few of us could go to Washington- but many of us- can go to our city halls or state legislatures- or local Congressional offices.
"It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error".
U.S. Supreme Court, in American Communication Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 442
In order to get involved, here are the five best steps to take now:
1) Sign up with your email address HERE in order to get updates,
2) Mark the day on your calendar and plan to be at a protest in your community,
3) Send this URL to all your friends, post it to forums, put it on your personal pages, http://www.votestrike.com
4) Take the time to help organize a protest. We'll send news on coordinators in your community,
5) Take the lead and help organize a protest on 9/11.
www.votestrike.com
I created a website www.votestrike.com for you the voters because whichever party you belong to they have failed you.
The website has ambitious goals of how to end the two party system & the third party myth. Modeled after the fall of the Berlin wall, the Polish overthrow of the communist government & the Phillipines removal of Marcos. All accomplished without firing a shot.
But we do not rely on the failed tactics of the past instead we use the election system & the very votes & voters this system relies upon.
And the site also offers campaign funding sources- who's bought off your candidate? As well as your solutions to education, lobbyist, healthcare, illegal immigration, the war on terror, the war in Iraq, crime, drugs, pedophiles, taxes. And a link page with 1000 links to more on these topics.
I'm here to ask you to check it out, it's free. And you can submit content. Thanks for your time, my name is chris.
It's about making the Mideast safe for an expansionist-hegemonist Israel that never has to sit down and negotiate a just peace with its neighbors. Nothing else fits the facts.
by
Harold Smith (0 articles, 2 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 297 comments)
on Thursday, May 8, 2008 at 11:44:54 AM
The propagandistic bull$hit story that U.S. belligerence toward Iran is somehow all about "oil" has been thoroughly debunked many times by many authors; e.g., here.
It wasn't oil company executives dancing and partying and high-fiving each other in Liberty Park on 9/11, with the burning WTC towers in the background.
It wasn't oil company executives caught on 9/11 driving vans with traces of explosives, that subsequently failed lie detector tests; it wasn't an oil comapny executive that fled to Israel in such a hurry after 9/11 as to leave half-eaten sandwiches and coffee on the desk...it was Israeli agents.
It wasn't oil company executives that came up with the PNAC agenda that Bush is obviously trying to follow.
Lastly, it wasn't oil company executives that pressured Pelosi into giving Bush a congressional green light to attack Iran...as Pat Buchanan explains here, it was, once again, Israeli agents.
by
Harold Smith (0 articles, 2 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 297 comments)
on Thursday, May 8, 2008 at 5:16:14 PM
"Iran is somehow all about "oil" has been thoroughly debunked many times by many authors;"
You're right. Nothing is ever about 'one' thing. China plays a part as well.
But let me explain it like this. I grew up like most of you. In school we learned to break off into 'social' groups & then fight each other. As I got older I learned that was a tactic called 'divide & conquer'. So then I fought the law until I learned that they are just pawns that take their orders from politicians. So I fought City Hall, but I soon learned that politicians take their orders (write our legislation/foriegn policy) from corporations. So now I fight CEOs, generals & robber barons.
Part of their arsenal in the Middle East or in Latin America or anywhere is just as you have described it. If I am missing or leaving anything out please let me know...I'm always learning new tricks.
by
chris rice (12 articles, 0 quicklinks, 9 diaries, 68 comments)
on Thursday, May 8, 2008 at 7:19:06 PM
These so called "strikes" are toothless, useless, empty gestures unless they are extended and deep. Here's why. Take a gasoline strike for example: people won't by gas on one day? Big effing deal since everyone has to have gas, they tank up the day before or the day after... No real impact since the same amount of gas gets sold. Same with food and other commodities and services.
When the coup d' etat that installed the fascist Bushite regime in power by a decision of the "supreme court" took place, I decided to limit my participation with the fascists by cutting my income and therefore my TAXES as much as I could and still live a semi decent lifestyle. My income has dropped to 25% of what it was during the Clinton years. This has been REALLY difficult and I am NOT recommending it. (NOT to everyone.) I had no idea how difficult it is to change all your habits and thinking to live on 1/4 of what you were accustomed to! I think I am getting a handle on it... (Some hints: Rice and Beans, used clothing from the thrift store, the public library, USED books, cook at home (don't eat "out", no more deli take out or $3 lattés) NO credit card purchases. NO credit cards. Public transportation. (THAT takes a lot more time.) No foreign travel. No movies. No cable. Read a lot. Dig in the garden.
OF course the eventual result of this NON-PARTICIPATION - "hey look the economy is in the toilet... No one is spending money!"
My point (if I have one) is this: IF we want to "bring it down" (because it IS big corporations behind this mess) we have to be willing to MAKE THE ECONOMY SCREAM.
We have to be willing to make the necessary sacrifices to
MAKE THE ECONOMY SCREAM for MERCY!
Corporations live and die by the bottom line. IF we want to get our message to them that the trajectory they have set this nation on is unacceptable - we all have to have the guts and determination to make them HURT and hurt REALLY B.A.D. ! That does not mean a strike for a day or a week. That means we will shut it ALL DOWN and effing SMASH it for MONTHS or until we see some improvement in the general attitude of the corporate and government mutherfukkers who have their greasy hands on the levers of power.
We have to make them realize they have to stay locked up like prisoners in their gated communities and cannot even go out for a new box of cigars or a meal in a fancy restaurant. MAYBE they will start to rethink the plan. I could go on...
Think about it. As Jim said: "They've got the guns, but we've got the numbers." We need to realize what our options and what leverage we have to make our message heard. We DO have some power to make a general strike work - but it HAS to be more than a one day token affair. It has to be a real in your freakin' face mash-it-up. We have to be willing to make our voices heard and make our message CLEAR.
...YOUR thoughts?
by
mrk * (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 277 comments)
on Thursday, May 8, 2008 at 1:41:56 PM
Check the site, this is no one day strike. We won't waste time protesting in DC when our rep.s homes are in our own states. And we won't back down- Tom Petty. A strike requires: 1. Strikers 2. grievenses 3. negotiation & 4. settlement. You in?
by
chris rice (12 articles, 0 quicklinks, 9 diaries, 68 comments)
on Thursday, May 8, 2008 at 6:52:17 PM
Man... I've been striking for eight long years already!
I don' even have a car anymore:
No car = no buy gas...
No fat income = no income tax.
No credit cards = pay no interest.
Buy only USED goods = not supporting corporations.
No travel = no airport lines (and no stinky TSA nazis.)
ALL those things I did BEFORE this president and this fascist government... Now I've given them up, live cheap, pay no taxes, no support government and no corporate overlords...
I AM strikin' man. I'm waiting for everybody else to catch up!
by
mrk * (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 277 comments)
on Friday, May 9, 2008 at 12:13:52 AM
There is no reason to wait 'till Sept. to strike & every reason to strike now!
When Bush says to shop, WE MUST STOP!
Congress has borrowed trillions of dollars on top of our outrageous debt to hand out tax rebates to folks that don't even pay taxes. Why? To save the New World Order. This is our time to STRIKE BACK!
I've been told that people won't take a day off during an economic downturn BUT that is when you strike. When the BEAST is weak. Now is the time, the only time that a few days of empty Wal Marts & theatres will send the economy reeling & give this strike the bite that it needs to succeed.
Bring them to their knees. STRIKE today, strike everyday. Buy nothing you don't absolutely need.
by
chris rice (12 articles, 0 quicklinks, 9 diaries, 68 comments)
on Friday, May 9, 2008 at 11:17:56 AM
I for one think your idea of a one day strike is a great begining Chris. I have written to the heads of the UAW with a similar proposal. As you stated, we can no longer depend on our elected representatives; for both parties are owned by the transnational corporations. The great American middleclass must stand up and take matters to the streets if need be. The inflation and coming deep depression will be a clarion call for the second American Revolution. Stock up on food and gas, and call off sick for 2 or 3 days. What are they going to do, fire everyone?
by
ronheri (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 80 comments)
on Friday, May 9, 2008 at 9:58:09 PM
Unlike a shipyard, uranium enrichment facilities can be located underground without much difficulty.
The facility you descibe is 0.0077 square kilometers.
Iran has a land area of 1,636,000 square kilometers.
Even without allowing for overlap, there are 212,467,532 possible sites in Iran for a nuclear enrichment facility.
Assuming the Iranians have hidden our imaginary nuclear weapons facility, our odds of hitting it are considerably less than your odds of winning the lottery today if you bought a single ticket.
Considering the very real costs to America of an unprovoked airstrike against Iran, it is not worth it.
Not even close.
by
hlg (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 76 comments)
on Sunday, May 11, 2008 at 11:22:36 PM
June 28th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
Ahh, now we’re getting somewhere, BRD.
Unlike a shipyard, uranium enrichment facilities can be located underground without much difficulty.
The facility you descibe is 0.0077 square kilometers.
Iran has a land area of 1,636,000 square kilometers.
Even without allowing for overlap, there are 212,467,532 possible sites in Iran for a nuclear enrichment facility.
Assuming the Iranians have hidden our imaginary nuclear weapons facility, our odds of hitting it are considerably less than your odds of winning the lottery today if you bought a single ticket.
Considering the very real costs to America of an unprovoked airstrike against Iran, it is not worth it.
Not even close.