[Peace-discuss] [sf-core] Ron Paul, Electoral Politics, and the Workers' Movement

[C. G. Estabrook]

Death squads are now called "Special Operations" and are the principal  
tactic employed by the US in Obama's expanded wars in Asia and Africa.  
The US military's murderous mind-set is described most recently in  
Michael Hastings' book, just out, "The Operators."

Assassinations are also the tactic of choice in Obama's expansion of  
the war into Asia and Africa with his "secret" (and illegal) drone  
strikes, which have appalled the world. He hasn't hesitated at even  
the summary execution of Americans (Anwar Alawlaki, his associate, and  
his teen-aged family members - all US citizens.)

Today the US government is threatening, invading, and occupying  
countries from the Maghreb to the Subcontinent, and from Central Asia  
to Central Africa - a vast circle with more than 2,000-mile radius,  
sometimes called the Greater Middle East: the US military calls it  
"Central Command." This region has the world's greatest concentration  
of oil and natural gas, and our government is spending hundreds of  
billions of dollars, month after month, to control it. Control and not  
just access to these energy resources is what the USG wants: we in  
fact import very little oil from the Mideast, contrary to what you've  
heard, but control gives the USG an unparalleled advantage over its  
oil-hungry rivals in Europe and Asia.

We're killing people in the Mideast and North Africa because China  
needs oil, and our government wants to control where they get it. Our  
government says that we're conducting these vastly expensive wars to  
stop terrorism and protect civilians; but we can see that, instead,  
we're killing civilians and creating terrorists. These wars are in the  
interests of the 1% - and against the interests of the vast majority  
of Americans, as well as people in the rest of the world.

The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg called the waging of  
aggressive war "essentially an evil thing ... to initiate a war of  
aggression ... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme  
international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it  
contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." Barack  
Obama and his associates should be in cells at The Hague, awaiting  
trail on those charges. (Unlike him, international law doesn't  
countenance indefinite imprisonment without charge or trial.)  --CGE


On Jan 23, 2012, at 8:38 PM, Roger Helbig wrote:

> You seem to have not gotten beyond being a radical in the 60's -  
> death squads and assasinations - where?
>
> On Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 6:34 PM, C. G. Estabrook <cge at shout.net>  
> wrote:
> Obama is killing people every day with his expanding wars in Asia  
> and Africa, his drone strikes, his death squads and assassinations.   
> To say that one will countenance that, because it's possible that an  
> opponent's views on climate change, if acted upon, might have a  
> catastrophic effect, is mad. "Go ahead and kill people, Barack,  
> because the only candidate opposing your crimes doesn't believe in  
> global warming, so we'll give you a second term..."
>
>
> On Jan 23, 2012, at 6:59 PM, Brussel Morton K. wrote:
>
>>
>> Most of us already know that Ron Paul is a reactionary on economic  
>> policies, essentially isolationist in foreign policy (although I'm  
>> not sure about how he would treat oil and resource extraction  
>> corporations, e.g., how to protect them for our national interest),  
>> and a "libertarian" on certain civil rights, (excepting women's  
>> choice issues)—i.e., let anyone do mostly what they want,  
>> discriminate, carry guns wherever, get rid of public education, any  
>> social or health safety net,  ….  On the other hand, It might not  
>> be a bad idea to advertise/promote his anti-war foreign policy  
>> statements vis-a vis Obama and the other Repubs in the interest of  
>> popular education, but how could anyone with a humane social  
>> concern domestically ever vote for him? The havoc and misery his  
>> domestic policies would entail is inestimable. As Carl's opponent,  
>> John Reimann, in Dave Johnson's program noted, a dying off (call it  
>> murder?) of large segments of our populations could be expected in  
>> such an advent. Like in Russia after the USSR was dissolved. If you  
>> look at the details, it is simply crazy.
>>
>>
>> My impressions from that fascinating program.
>>
>> --mkb
>>
>>
>> On Jan 23, 2012, at 5:50 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> And here's an account of what John was upset about: <http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/12/matt-stoller-why-ron-paul-challenges-liberals.html
>>> >.
>>>
>>> On Jan 21, 2012, at 7:43 PM, C. G. ESTABROOK wrote:
>>>
>>> >
>>> > On Saturday 21 January, David Johnson, Bob Paleczny, Bill Gorrell,
>>> > and Tom Thomas hosted a debate - "Ron Paul, Electoral Politics,  
>>> and
>>> > the Workers' Movement" - between Carl Estabrook of News from  
>>> Neptune
>>> > and labor activist John Reimann on the Illinois World Labor Hour.
>>> >
>>> > Thanks to David who arranged it, and Bob, who made it available
>>> > online. The first hour of the show is at <http://radio4all.net/index.php/program/57180
>>> > > - the debate begins in the last third; the second hour,  
>>> containing
>>> > the majority of the debate, is at <http://radio4all.net/index.php/program/57182
>>> > >.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > --CGE
>>> >

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