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

Saturday, August 14, 2021

Posts that I especially recommend for Saturday, August 14, 2021

Officially, Taiwan is not a country. Not even Washington recognizes it as one. To illustrate this, for example, the US does not have an embassy in Taiwan. Instead it has what it calls the “American Institute in Taiwan.” This game of officially recognising the “One China” policy where Taiwan is recognised as part of a single China, while “unofficially” undermining the policy through de facto embassies, arms deals and America’s latest tip-toeing toward diplomatic relations with and recognition of Taiwan’s politicians, reveals the true source of tensions between Taiwan and the mainland.

Talks publicly available through the National Committee on US-China Relations feature US policymakers and politicians openly boasting about this two-faced approach to Beijing and the undermining of mainland-Taiwan relations.
 
Thus the “Taiwan question” is a pawn used by Washington for advancing US foreign policy objectives and in particular regard to encircling and containing China. Little to no regard at all is given to what is actually best for Taiwan.
 
The above paragraphs say so much about the US government (the integration of corporate American and the government has already happened) using all entities as pawns in a game of global dominance. This strategy is the game that the rich and powerful cabal of the capitalist ruling class decided to play in 1941. Remember how they actually admired Nazi Germany and their fascist government? Remember the essence of fascism is the power of the owners of private enterprises and their related financial institutions to control a nation through its government? Of course you don't because you have been fed different stories by all institutions of our society (education and entertainment). After WWII your parents and grandparents, mostly suffering from exhaustion due to the war effort, were too busy working raising their families so that you, or their children, might "get ahead" (climb the socioeconomic class system that really exists) that they didn't notice these erroneous stories. The few who did notice were easily eliminated from participating in the economy during the McCarthy period shortly after the war. 

Simultaneous to this history is the rise of socialist ideas the source of which was represented by the Soviet Union. I know that your parents and grandparents were subject to thorough indoctrination so that they came to believe such socialist ideas as equivalent to evil. Later on, the ruling class decided to redefine socialism as capitalism with a rather generous welfare state (social democracy) which the present generations of Americans have been taught. But "communism" remained totally evil, and our enemies were all the movements and nations where some kind of real socialism (elimination of private ownership of the economy) was advocated or practiced.
 
However, much of the rest of the world didn't want to play this game which favored the rich and powerful in what they recognized as a de-facto US/Anglo Empire immediately after the war, and later to become a US/Anglo/Zionist Empire. (Read this for a further explanation.)

To make a long story short, the point I would like to make is the history of the post-WWII story has been played by the ruling capitalist class through their Empire as they would play any game: the use of any pieces that contribute to the winning of their game of world dominance. Thus, the game being played in Taiwan is described in this article. But, it isn't really a game. The ruling class (remember this billionaire class is in control of our government and all other institutions) fails to recognize the welfare of the Taiwanese people. The US ruling class, and its alliance with other capitalist classes throughout the Empire, regard the game as only serving themselves of more power and wealth but not give a damn of the welfare of others. Could it be that we, ordinary Americans, are being played according to the same strategy by our capitalist masters in the ruling class?
  • Wikileaks Julian Assange and Free Press Setback by Ron Ridnour from Strategic Culture Foundation. My reaction: But what if most people don't know about his role in exposing US war crimes? This is something like asking "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does it still make a sound?" This question poses the importance of organizing a real, independent journalist network like I started to work on a few years ago. But this is not possible because our ruling class masters would not tolerate it. The latter have already diminished its possibility because of ongoing censorship of real events, and the false counter- narratives that we enjoy a free press as well as other freedoms.
  • You Need To Understand That The/ US Is The Most Tyrannical Regime On Earth by Australian Caitlin Johnstone with her American husband also reading the script (but you may miss supporting examples, illustrations, etc.)--from her weblog. My reaction: They are both unaware of the obsessive drive to control and dominate the world is, and has been since WWII, a prime motivation of what they do presently. They have, thus far, attained control over a major part of the world that is a de-facto US/Anglo/Zionist Empire. Do you think the ruling capitalist class are going to quit this objective? I think not. The billionaire members of this class are the ultimate "control freaks".
  • WWII America’s historical myths featuring Chris Hedges interviewing Danny Sjursen, Retired US Army Major, author and historian from Hedges' RT channel on YouTube. My reaction: I consider the source (Sjursen) of this interview as only revealing a military history of WWII, but it is important as an illustration of a mythical history as only scratching the surface we are taught in our schools to grossly distort reality. The history of this event (and events related to this subject) as taught by Canadian historian Jacques R. Pauwels is the very best, in my opinion.
  • Code Red: How can we prevent climate catastrophe? by Martin Empson from Climate & Capitalism. My reaction: I look all over the article to find the answer to this question. It seems that the author only implies the answer: a revolutionary change of basic systems to one of socialism. I think it is too late for that. But I wish for that to happen in order to partially redeem the human species for the ultimate sin of self-extinction. 
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