We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

A Disastrous Error in Syria

Click here to access article by Patrick Cockburn from CounterPunch.

I am posting this article, not because of its merits, but because it is an excellent example of a liberal journalist's interpretation of a political-military disastrous event. Yes, the US attack on the Syrian army that was fighting ISIS terrorists was all a mistake! It's amazing to see all the rational contortions he goes through to explain US involvement in that conflict.

Liberals serve to celebrate the pseudo democracy that capitalists like to perform as a ruse on their populations and to hide or obscure their major crimes. They will skirt the edges of capitalist ruling class tolerance by criticizing many of their other actions, but tend to stop short of criticizing or identifying the system and by obscuring the class that so enormously benefits from the system.

(If you are confused about all these Cockburns as I was, this link and another, serves to explain all their relationships. Patrick is a brother along with Andrew (another journalist) of the late Alexander Cockburn who was a co-founder of the CounterPunch website. They all seem to have the same liberal politics.)

After reading this article, you may be interested in an article about the same subject by Finian Cunningham, a more independent journalist, entitled "Why US Had to Kill the Syrian Ceasefire". 

Or this one by independent French journalist Thierry Meyssan entitled "The pretence of peace".

And this one about confusing pictures of US soldiers in Syria by Isiah Holmes entitled "Questions Remain Over Photos Of US Troops In Syria, ...".