Bad Things

Let's run through some really suck situations.

The Burmese are screwed absent real pressure on China. We may not like it, but that's just the way it is. As long as the Junta has foreign money coming in they don't need the monks or the majority of the population to pay their army. All they need is some slave labor. Odds are very strong that the monks died in vain, except perhaps in terms of religious merit. If the monks do succeed it will be because they shamed the outside world into real action (a la what happened to South Africa. May it be so. Wouldn't bet on it. China hasn't interfered in Darfur's little genocide either.)

The US isn't leaving Iraq any time soon, and that won't change under the most likely Democratic nominees for president - they plan on staying till they get some sort of "win". The US's ruling class is hopelessly corrupt and believes in Imperialism, torture and the end of the fourth and first amendments of the US Constitution. This isn't really in question anymore - even under a Democratic congress they've been good with this stuff (see:FISA).

The US is far beyond the numbers where any other economy in the world would have crashed out. What can't go on, doesn't, and it's only a matter of time until it doesn't. The only reason the US hasn't crashed out yet is because foreign countries keep giving it its fix, while they pick its pockets, strip the house bare, and buy stuff on its credit card "we'll take that manufuacturing industry. Oh, and that one!". They're propping you up for the same reason hangers-on give rich people drugs and make them dependent. Until, of course, there's nothing left to leach out of the sucker.

American citizens are those suckers. Their pockets are being picked by your their rich, by their own politicians, by their major corporations - all of whom figure (if they're smart enough to look that far forward) that they'll still be rich when it all goes to hell. But most Americans won't be middle class, you can be sure of that.

America has lost is technological lead in most areas - telecom, computers, electronics, renewable energy of practically every kind, cars, trains, hell, probably even aviation. Since, as Stirling has pointed out, you have offshored and outsourced the supply chains - which is where most innovation comes from, odds are the next big technological revolution won't happen in the US.

The US has an army it simply cannot afford that is a piece of crap except for fighting against an enemy (the USSR) who doesn't exist any more. Honestly, here the US is paying over 50% of the world's military budget and it can't beat two packs of armed rabble whose combined budgets aren't even a rounding error on a typical lard-loaded swill of an American defense appropriations bill. It's a disgrace and all Americans should be outraged, but instead everyone "rallies around the military" and demands that everyone pretend it's the "greatest military in the world". Yeah, greatest at everything except, like, winning agains the people its fighting, or accomplishing its mission. Sure, make excuses, give "reasons" still, bottom line is that the US is spending half the world's military budget and getting its ass kicked.

Surveillance technology and its deployment is increasing. Once there is reliable face recognition software, combined with surveillance, your privacy is gone. This ain't that far out. In ten years many major metropolitan centers will be under centralized 24/7 surveillance, and over time that will spread. And they will be able to track your movements, specifically.

Blackwater and the various mercenary companies are, as Naomi Wolf points out, the core of a brown shirt paramilitary which could easily be deployed against Americans. They were during Katrina and all evidence is they had no hesitation blowing people away. Don't think they won't blow you away. You're dirty hippies, traitors to America and you caused America to lose Iraq. These boys have been indoctrinated a long time. They'll kill you and feel good about it afterwards. (The Minutemen are another attempt at forming brown shirts.)

The US doesn't have any problems it can't theoretically fix. Neither does the world, as far as that goes. It wouldn't cost that much to make it so that those Burmese monks didn't die in vain, for example. Pull out all foreign business and the regime would collapse, since it wouldn't be able to keep its army running. And the amount of money involved while large, is small in global terms, or even for the Chinese economy.

But there's no will to do that just as there's no will to fix the things that are wrong with the US. Because the people in power are making money from things being screwed up. It's a good world for them - they've haven't been this rich and powerful since the late nineteenth century.

When people sleep. When they get fat and happy and think they can live their lives and let other people take care of politics. When they think they don't /have/ to vote. When they think that politics doesn't matter and that how much money someone else makes (or rather how they make it) isn't their business, well, people who are smart enough to know that politics means power, and power means money and the joys of lording it over others, they take over.

Eternal vigilence is the price of liberty, and we haven't been vigilent. And now we're going to pay the price. The Burmese monks just paid it - not for their lack of vigilance, but for ours. Those of us, fat and happy (or not so fat and happy, as the case may be) in the first world shouldn't think that sort of thing only happens over there.

A lot of us are going to find out we're wrong.

Ian Welsh October 5, 2007 - 5:00am

Ian Welsh's diary | printer friendly version |

( categories: Global Politics and Culture | Liberties | USA )

light a match, but don't burn down the house

there's a line in the movie Scarface:

In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women.

what are you gonna do?
be at peace my brother

dk October 5, 2007 - 6:55am

sitting in the morning sun, earlier today

I was cogitating on the two morality threads, and the enhanced interrogation methods no the word is torture threads.

and realised how true the "money, sex, power adage" is.

There is an alternate, but it comes at a price.

Hopefully Ian is integrating himself, and not aiming at a conflagration.

both of you are doing a great job "afflicting the comfortable, and comforting the afflicted.

Graham October 5, 2007 - 9:31pm

Good, but one quibble

Our army is good for something: beating up defenseless nations. And this may be another reason the world continues to give us a free ride.

I did inhale.

Don October 5, 2007 - 7:21am

outraged indeed

Yea, I'm outraged not that we're getting our ass handed to us but that we're occupying these countries at all. There was some half-assed justification for Afghanistan at the start but what the hell are we still doing there besides murdering lots and lots of civilians?

As to Iraq, we have NO GODDAMN BUSINESS there. it's a massive and despicable war crime that we invaded and are permanently occupying a country that was never a threat to us based on a pack of risible lies.

I'd also quibble with your charaterization of the resistance as "armed rabble". In particular the non-AQ Sunnis have proven to be formidable adversaries who are incredibly innovative and resilient particularly in the IED space where even the Pentagon will admit they've stayed a step ahead. These guys aren't mere thugs.

ran October 5, 2007 - 7:23am

They may not be mere thugs

but given they are fighting an armed force that spends HALF the ENTIRE world's miltiary budget, well... let's just say I'd expect more.

Ian Welsh October 5, 2007 - 7:59am

well

I don't actually want the military to be competent at illegal criminal invasions and permanent colonial occupations and imperialism in general.

I'd appreciate it if they could competently defend this nation from invasion. Beyond that I cannot support. That they could do with a tiny fraction of our current grotesque "defense" spending.

ran October 5, 2007 - 8:37am

money doesn't always mean results

sometimes it's just a shell game, and what you're "buying" is the more or less direct fattening of some rich guy's wallet. so spending doesn't make us "the greatest" military, it just makes it the biggest boondoggle. as the soviets found out. oops, i guess it did matter that domestic conditions have to be somewhat stable or the current political regime can fall. and again- russia provides a scary example of where we're headed; the replacement of one corrput and oppressive system with another.

but ian, i believe you are too harsh on the people. many, a great many, understand that they are under the system you describe. single mothers, spanish speakers, extended families surviving on one or two low incomes...they both know, and are brutally oppressed enough (in economic and social terms) that there is very little they can do until "fat" moderates and low information types get on the bandwagon. and the poor, black and minority communities have repeatedly turned out for social actions. so please don't paint "america" with too broad a brush. how many americans watch an hourly news program daily? a tiny fraction. most people still make up their minds based on what their friends, coworkers and neighbors are saying. which is entirely different than the mainstream political discourse in the media or the Village.

chicago dyke October 5, 2007 - 8:20am

You made my point CD

how many americans watch an hourly news program daily? a tiny fraction. most people still make up their minds based on what their friends, coworkers and neighbors are saying. which is entirely different than the mainstream political discourse in the media or the Village.

Staying informed is one of the duties/prices of citizenship. Don't do it, and you get ridden over.

Ian Welsh October 5, 2007 - 8:46am

Though which of CD's

Though which of CD's alternatives there would qualify you as being informed, I'm having a hard time choosing... I think I have to go with word of mouth over TV news, especially the hourly broadcast news programs. It's those things that have taught my family everything they know, very little of which matches up with the actual world.

tatere@drupal.org October 5, 2007 - 9:14am

then thank your lucky stars for Tina

you ungrateful motherfuckin Canadian "news analyst".
geez, Ian, where the fuck have you been? you think this shit started yesterday? you blame the populace when you have only recently reached your own breaking point of comprehension? this shit is eternal, read Confucious. where've you been?
wise up, young man.

I'm sorry, but it needed to be said

dk October 5, 2007 - 9:18am

Language

Not acceptable language when addressing another commenter or contributor. Don't do it again.

Ian Welsh October 5, 2007 - 9:30am

thanks dk

:), although a bit harsh on Ian

Tina October 5, 2007 - 8:47pm

ouch dk

glad to see the passion lives. :)

Graham October 5, 2007 - 9:33pm

Apparently a further

response is needed, so listen up.

I was writing about these things before I was ever at the Agonist; before I even knew the Agonist existed; indeed before the Agonist ever existed. I am not new come to anything. You presume, and you are simply wrong, and I am tired of taking shit from people that I would never passively take if I were not an editor.

Shit is eternal, but some societies handle it better than others. The US is not handling its shit very well. It is different. And woman, I've read my Confucious, and had read it back when I was indeed a "young man".

You are, simply, wrong, and full of it yourself.

Ian Welsh October 5, 2007 - 11:53pm

you're absolutely right

n/t

dk October 6, 2007 - 1:24am

woof to both of you: -)

_{1."George Washington did not cross the Delaware for Capitalism," -Shmuley Boteach.
2.The Dems haven't punished the GOP enough, so you're going to reward the Republicans?}

nymole October 6, 2007 - 9:29am

what is this woof you speak of?

is this one of those new phrases all the cool kids know but me?

dk October 6, 2007 - 9:35am

I am not cool alas- but thought a friendly animal greeting

was in order:-)

No subtext. Just reaction.

_{1."George Washington did not cross the Delaware for Capitalism," -Shmuley Boteach.
2.The Dems haven't punished the GOP enough, so you're going to reward the Republicans?}

nymole October 6, 2007 - 9:53am

lol

maybe I should stick to just grunting, barking and tail wagging and leave the words and thoughts alone :D

dk October 6, 2007 - 3:30pm

You're not required to sniff his butt, tho.

_{Turn back to the Constitution - and READ it.}

Rick October 8, 2007 - 9:24am

One problem:

how many americans watch an hourly news program daily?

I would rather, at this point, that Americans NOT watch hourly news programs. I have some relatives who do, and lets just say that they buy into the lies and propaganda even more heavily than those who get news from word of mouth. They may be better informed in general, but they also absorb the opinions and biases that are presented to them.

TV news is not an ally right now--it too has been infiltrated by millionaires intent on protecting the system that makes them rich. The Daily Howler has been in business for about a decade pointing this out. I want people to be informed and know what's going on, but TV news is a very poor avenue for doing so at this point.

Bolo October 5, 2007 - 11:13am

Time is of the essence

17 year olds think everything's normal, and for them, things relatively are. Indoctrination proceeds apace.

Meanwhile, given the NWO machine crosses the big Two party lines, and base lawlessness, *and* the lack of vote security on many fronts....

2008's campaign is moot and pointless. 2008 itself brings RealID and other further civil amputations.

-Alternate communication must be established now.
-A structure must be created wholecloth, an entirely new form, to represent the disenfranchised citizenry or their simple concensus at the least.
-Our borders are closed to our exit.
-The camps are built or in the process thereof.
-The bottomline question is of protection.

I'm not concerned with the latter, not for my own sake. I'm not raising a family. (I want to live among the civilized, if in a camp, so be it, but I really really don't want to be separated from my gal or her from me....)

There will be few 'good germans' soon enough; no one will remain uninvolved, and the prisoners of conscience shall become the Disappeared. The unbelieveable has *already* manifestly occurred.

Time is nigh.
Some one will do something, to be sure, many will, and I pray the most serviceable endeavor will quickly and clearly arise forthwith.

We as a whole people had different plans for our live's time than to address such madness, it would be good to remember to not let our indignation and vexation dominate our perspective. No shock, no awe.

No conformity, no inaction.

And no cottage industry of it all.

Zuma October 5, 2007 - 8:34am

And you didn't even mention peak oil

And that will be the one that finishes it off. Unless the technofixes start really soon. I also want a pony for Christmas too. Remember, capitalism depends on growth. The supply of fuel that feeds that growth has peaked. The ride down the slope is gonna be a trip.

JT October 5, 2007 - 9:48am

Peak oil

could be dealt with by a competent administration which wanted to act in the best interests of the country. It'd hurt, but done right it could lead to another long period of prosperity. Oil, for the last thirty odd years, has been the invisble monkey on the world's back.

Global warming, now, I think that's beyond the point where we can do much but brace for the conflagaration and stop pouring fuel on the fire.

Ian Welsh October 5, 2007 - 9:52am

Just a thin thread of hope left

"It took some doing to drain the enormous US treasury, and destroy our industrial base, and disenfranchise the powerful middle class. It took wild, unheard-of spending---opening flood gates of cash---and 24/7 media manipulation to stem the tide of public fury and resistance. But they persevered, and they didn't care what we thought of them, and they didn't care about elections or parties because they had figured out how to handle those. They made up their own "new rules" and new reality, where the strong will rule the weak. Those who are late to catch on to the new plan will be devoured in the Darwinian struggle. "
Verda Ingle

"There are two types of folk music:
quiet folk music and loud folk music.
I play both."

Dave Alvin

Peter C October 5, 2007 - 10:05am

The future

does look pretty bleak. If you go to Wayne Madsen't site, $30 per year alas, you'd read today that the Comptroller General is urging journalists to become more honest with the American people about the coming financial crisis.

I am a lifelong Democrat who sees that the only real candidate running who has the answers to address all of our problems is Dr Ron Paul. He has pledged to bring all our troops home (not just from Iraq and Afghanistan, but all of them). I know there will be some real financial nightmares for all of us if he is elected but we're going to be worse off if he isn't.

The dollar is plunging just as the baby-boomer are reaching retirement age. Many thought they would be comfortably off and even be able to afford a trip to Europe someday, that's nigh near impossible now as it's just too expensive if you are in dollars.

I'm happy to see Ian taking a tough stance on foul language.

Bill W NH October 5, 2007 - 11:10am

Just a heads up -

there's two kinds of information at Wayne Madsen's site - information that has been obtained and verified by others, and information solely originating with Wayne.

I'll make no comment on the second kind, but IMHO the first kind of information is better gathered at much more reputable locations.

"The best-informed man is not necessarily the wisest. Indeed there is a danger that precisely in the multiplicity of his knowledge he will lose sight of what is essential."

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Escher Sketch October 5, 2007 - 3:26pm

This just up today in the NYT

Go here to see where the contractors are in the world and what part of the U.S. government pays them:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/05/opinion/05stanger.html

Be sure to click and enlarge the chart.

BC Nurse Prof October 5, 2007 - 12:45pm