[Peace-discuss] American imperial terrorism

[C. G. Estabrook]

"American imperial influence has diminished, but we should remember that American power has been on the wane since 1945. The peak of US power was immediately after the Second World War and it has been declining steadily since then.

"Since the late 1940s, power has been diversified. In 1949, China became independent, which was a serious blow to the US imperial system based on the idea of controlling Asia via the control of China. Since then, Latin America has also escaped US control.

"Inside the US, policies undertaken by elite groups -- such as the offshoring of production and the financial shenanigans which led to the current financial recession -- have enriched these elite groups, but have severely harmed US power...

"There was a drought of unprecedented scale in Syria which devastated the agricultural community, so people streamed into the cities to survive. There was serious social disruption. Therefore, the tragedy that has unfolded in Syria is partly a consequence of global warming...

"Syria took in a million or so refugees from Iraq, and on top of that came the huge immigration into the cities. Then events saw some towns emulate the Arab Spring uprisings to which Assad reacted with extreme brutality. The country then entered into the standard dynamics of military conflict.

"The Syrian government was supported by Russia and Iran, from whom it received arms. Later, the growing groups of rebels, some of whom were local militias, jihadis and secular democrats, began to receive arms flown in from Qatar by the CIA.

"As things are moving, downtown Damascus is under the control of President Bashar al-Assad's government while the suburbs are under rebel control. Things are moving in the direction of national suicide with crimes and atrocities on both sides. The country is also moving towards partition with a sector controlled by Assad including Damascus, and a sector controlled by a variety of rebel groups.

"It is likely that Kurdish areas, which are gaining some autonomy, may gain complete autonomy and link up with Kurdish areas in northern Iraq to create a broader Kurdish entity...

"Under those conditions there will never be negotiation because Assad is not going to negotiate his suicide.

"And the US government and population are not interested in an armed invasion. The phrase is 'no boots on the ground.' But other kinds of intervention, like the sanctions regime against Iran, can be carried out which won't cost US casualties.

"This UN proposal has been supported by Russia, but the US position is a little hard to determine. The US seems to be dragging its feet. There is a formulation of the US position stated by France, but it's pretty much the US position."

"The US policies being enacted are basically Obama's. Obama greatly expanded the drone campaign. That's the most extreme terrorist campaign going on in the world today.

"In the Arab world, the dictators are strongly opposed to Iran and want the US to take action, but the populations don't. The populations don't like Iran, but they don't regard Iran as a threat. That's a western obsession. The populations in the Arab world regard the US and Israel as threats."

--Noam Chomsky [http://chomsky.info/onchomsky/20131002.htm]
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