Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2002 13:46:47 -0500
From: "Kevin Sanchez" <heliogabalus-AT-eudoramail.com>
Subject: Re: Round the rampant rugged rocks  Rude and ragged rascals run.  


well Eric has apparently gone speechless on us. in a post in which i make note the histories of US military intervention in four areas in the middle east (lebanon, iran, iraq, and palestine), Eric chooses first to indict a paranthetical statement i made about the effect of uraninium-bullets (responding adriotly that they are 'less radioactive' than plain uranium), second a rhetorical question i asked, and third some background info on the colonialist break-up of the Ottaman empire. absent is any response to why US aggression was justified, or why hatred of the US military by middle eastern peoples is not. guess he's just given up his claim to rationality and is going totally on ultra-nationalism, oh excuse me, patriotism.

i'll do a couple lexis-nexis searches to back up the radioactivity thing this evening - i'm quite certain there've been studies on it, and i'm also certain that chemical weapons (as bad as they are) don't explain the doubling of birth defects in iraq (as they were used mainly against iran and the isolated kurds in northern iraq, and not against in any major population center in iraq proper).

second, i'm not a 'progressive' - the fact that i think only anti-american terrorism will effectively combat US terrorism disqualifies me as a leftist, since they're usually a bit soft. and regardless, your country is socialism-in-disguise : a. because the social security system FDR installed and the Keseyian economic rationality thats been the fad since ww2 obligates your state to provide for your people's welfare - even if economic redistribution is not a high priority, its still a welfare state, any way you look at it. b. because your government transfer massive amounts of taxpayer money directly to business, effectively making them state-subsidized - just listen to the rhetoric of Dubya on 'corporate greed'; despite token statments regarding about 'free markets' (ha!), it sounds quite 'progressive' to me. i doubt Raider-Nader could be more harsh.

third, the Brits and the Frenchies were the main players; its actually a pretty funny story: they got their markers out, and re-drew the map while smoking some cigars. and then, at the treaty meeting, these delegates from the middle east came and said 'it'd be nice if we had political independence, and here's how we think you should parition the states so that no civil wars occur and everybody's ethnic heritage is respected' and the Brits and Frenchies said 'oh, thats all well and good, chap, but we've already made arrangements' and so they created all the countries as western-styled constitutional monarchies, most of which fell apart within the decade, except of course, for jordan, saudi arabia, kuwait, and others where oil-money ran the whole show. guess ya can't count on imperialists to respect cultural distinctions, now can you? the kurds and the palestinians are the real victims, though; left stateless and oppressed for generations. not that the current empire cares either, as long as gas prices remain low.

its kinda humorous though, the US only gets like 10% of its oil from iraq (which is still like half of iraq's sells), yet it must have its fat nose in all its political decisions ('no, we want this guy in power, you idiot muslims') ... and why? because its economic allies get most of their oil there (unless this caspian thing works out, then the US is set). basically, this empire is the world's rent-a-cops, and what it surrendered in economic prowess (to its rebuilt conquered territories, japan and germany) it makes up for in military might. weapons and prisons, man - without em the US would be gone tomorrow, and both those industrial complexes function by creating enemies, and in thats how every empire dooms itself.
      :kev




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