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

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Turkey is the Source, Not Solution to ISIS and the Syrian Crisis

Click here to access article by Tony Cartalucci from New Eastern Outlook

Cartalucci by referring to ruling class sources reveals the sharp contrast, or rather, the wide gulf (canyon?) between reality as promoted by the propaganda version of reality that is fed to the American public (and other publics) like garbage at the trough of a pig farm with the reality reflected in statements that investigative journalists are able to dig up from more obscure Empire sources. I have lived through an Orwellian period of Big Brother lies, but the lies our masters are now spreading are beyond anything that I've experienced before in my long life of 80 years.
Far from informing audiences, the flood of propaganda goes from absurd to surreal, aimed at provoking emotions, at persuasion, and at establishing a pretext for already long-ago, predetermined interventionism, the results of which are already on tragically stark display in Afghanistan, Iraq, and more recently Libya.

Despite the obvious truth behind interventions elsewhere – that they were intentionally designed to divide and destroy, not lift up or aid the people interventionism was used upon – the West remains committed to once again foisting this ploy upon the world, convinced it is still a viable strategy.
Cartalucci ends this essay by hinting at a hopeful outcome.
For the West, perhaps the only way to treat the mortal, self-inflicted wound to its credibility and stance upon the global stage, is to withdraw from the Syrian conflict and secure the Turkish border from within Turkish territory. Continuing on as the world increasingly realizes who and what is truly driving this conflict and toward what will leave the West – no matter what it may eventually achieve in Syria – weaker still when it makes its next move. 
This is a rational response that any sane person, or ruling class, would use to formulate their policies. But are our masters sane? Can those thoroughly addicted to wealth and power for more than sixty years act rationally and sanely? And who cares about a minority of mostly middle class people who see through the lies of the Empire's propaganda machinery? The vast majority of especially Americans are engaged in a Sisyphean struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by debt while trying to raise families and supporting children's education. Their shiny new hand-held electronic gadgets which are designed to keep them in instant touch with their friends also serve to lead them into shopping websites. They simply don't have the time or energy to seek out alternative sources of information from obscure websites.

God, I hope I'm wrong!