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

Friday, December 6, 2013

A bunch of sexy, badass patriots

Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from Asia Times Online. 

This Brazilian journalist, who specializes in uncovering the lies of the Empire, reviews a book by Eric Prince entitled Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater and the Unsung Heroes of the War on Terror, and fills in the wider truth that Prince leaves out. 

Escobar finds that one thing is for certain in the neoliberal world of today: the outsourcing of military campaigns to private armies. Prince has reaped a bonanza of profits in this growth industry.
And the revolving door is not going away - with so many aspiring Princes of War leaving the sprawling Pentagon-centric system to launch their own start-ups and sell stuff to their former buddies on the inside, not to mention ensuring that the militarized assembly line keeps churning "unsung heroes". So many wars on myriad global terrors to prosecute, so precious few surrogate armies.
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