From Paul Craig Roberts Website
Signs of American collapse are everywhere. Apparently no one notices. The world continues to vote with the US in the UN. When even Russia and China serve as handmaidens to US foreign policy by voting with Washington against North Korea, it appears that the image of America as the exceptional and indispensable country is a propaganda success even among Washington's most threatened enemies. When Russia and China follow Washington's lead, it shows the world that there is no alternative to Washington's leadership.
A country with a $20 trillion public debt, an even larger private debt, a workforce drowning in debt and employed in third world lowly paid domestic services, a stock market pumped up beyond all reason by Federal Reserve liquidity and companies using their profits to repurchase their own stock, a military that's been tied down for 16 years by a few lightly armed Muslims, a propaganda ministry instead of a media with public ignorance the consequence, and with a total collapse of morality in public and private institutions along with the disappearance of courage, is nevertheless able to make the entire world dance to its tune. Washington is the Wizard of Oz.
Washington in the past 16 years has destroyed in whole or part seven countries, murdering, maiming, orphaning, widowing, and displacing millions of peoples. Yet Washington still presents itself as the great defender of human rights, democracy, and all that is good. The American people have voiced few words of protest against the massive crimes against humanity committed by "their" government.
The UN has not passed a resolution condemning the United States government for its endless aggressions, horrendous war crimes and illegal interventions against other countries.
Washington relies on threats and not diplomacy, and this is acceptable to the world. The UN sits as an American Approval Society because it is funded by American money.
Security agencies have become police state agencies, and they have transformed the obligation in the US military code to report war crimes into acts of treason that result in prison sentences. The US military code, just like the US Constitution and the laws that enforce it, is dead letter law, ignored and unenforced.
Consider the case of Bradley/Chelsea Manning. Bradley Manning released a film showing US troops murdering journalists, pedestrians, a good samaritan and his children as if it were a video game. These murders are war crimes. But it was Manning, who revealed them, not those who committed them, who was punished.
After release from prison Chelsea Manning was recently appointed by Harvard University's Kennedy School as a visiting fellow. Most likely Harvard made the appointment to show support for the transgendered, not for truth-tellers wrongly convicted and turned into felons. The consequence was an uproar. I mean, really, how dare Harvard appoint a truth-teller. Manning might bring the entire Matrix crumbling down.
To prevent that, Mike Morell, former deputy and acting director of the CIA, resigned his non-resident senior fellowship at Harvard, on the grounds that he "cannot be part of an organization that honors a convicted felon and leaker of classified information." Morell is comfortable with his opposition to Manning as a truth-teller. Morell is concerned only that he might be perceived as biased against the transgendered. So Morell added to his resignation letter that "It is important to note that I fully support Ms. Manning's rights as a transgender American, including the right to serve our country in the US military."
Remember, Morell is the crazed immoralist who said on the Charlie Rose TV show that the US should start killing Russians to give them a message. It should scare Americans to death that such an insane person as Morell can reach the top ranks of the CIA.
Harvard, of course, collapsed under CIA pressure and cancelled Manning's appointment.
Did anyone complain to Harvard about Morell's appointment? Morell, unlike Manning, is a real felon, although a non-convicted one. As a CIA official, Morell is associated with the CIA torture program, a felony under both US and international law. Harvard and Morell are OK with torture, but telling the truth about it is a no-no. As Morell sees it, it is not damaging for America to commit war crimes as long as Manning doesn't tell anyone about it.
The only reason for classifying information is to protect the government's endless crimes from exposure. Yet the entirety of the US government, law schools, and the courts that are supposed to uphold the law, are silent about the policy that makes government crimes undiscoverable and that condemns whistleblowers who reveal the otherwise undiscoverable crimes.
So, what do we make of Harvard's courage? Is F minus a low enough grade? In my day universities were not despicable cowards who serve as front men for government crimes.
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