Corbin, unfortunately your article is accurate. The USA is a hostile nation as it was even before our founding. The fruit never falls far from the tree so we should not be surprised.
Can we change the ethos of our nation and live up to the ideals of freedom, free speech, liberty and justice for ALL and not just the wealthy white?
It will take a radical change of direction and the leadership of uncorrupted youth guided by sage uncorrupted elders. Let's see if this can be done.
Personally, I think it's a lost cause and has been for some time, now. There is something very sinister about us. The whole "we're the greatest country on earth" thing is troubling and caustic. And embarrassing.
The wealthy have always justified their actions and usually consider everyone not in their class as servants. Unfortunately, there are wannabes who are willing to bootlicker until they become the overlords.
No idea. Willing to wash my hands of the whole caustic mess as I am certain that I will not live long enough to see any improvement. This country is so far gone that, even if there were enough sane people left to make a stab at improving, there are too many MAGA plodders to allow it to happen. This is a whole different country than it was when I got here. I fear that intelligent, compassionate and peaceful people are outnumbered--by a lot. "Department of War", indeed. No way back from that.
Hi Linda, I hear you but hope you will consider that every nation rises and falls and can rise again. We have a lot of truth-telling to do about our own national history. As the air clears more ease will set in, more hands and hearts will be willing to go to work. We can't live on lies about history, party machinations, or current White House madness. Every truth told knocks the pegs from under the history of lies. The Catholics' Pope, an American, just reminded us that to be Woke is a good thing. Today's bullies are nourished by lies. We have only to speak what is true to be a powerful citizen agent for our country.
The only way I would stay is if Citizens United were abolished, Roberts, Thomas and Alito were set adrift on a raft south of Tierra del Fuego, and Elon took the Koch brothers and the Heritage Society on a rocket ship to the moon with no option to return. Aƒter that, there might be a glimmer of hope.
And, isn't it ironic, as the most "powerful nation on earth, feared by all," that we might also be the most insecure. Secure people are not the playground bullies who grow up to be war mongers.
With Iran, if you don't go back to 1953 you won't understand it. With our governance you have to understand the tension between a centralized, unitary system and a decentralized divided governance. It is a system of compromise, but when dominated by liars, at least from Nixon, but perhaps way before that, it is corruptible. You are correct, the only difference between now and then is the present transparency and stupidity dominating the executive branch. We have long used a big stick, sometimes with soft talk, sometimes not, but the victims of our big stick are both internal (blacks, people of color, native peoples) and external. Iran is just the latest victim, and the clarity about our unjust action more broadly held.
Right, Wayne. We overthrew their democratically elected govt for the Anglo-Iranian oil company - now BP. We installed the brutal Shah and turned a blind eye to his murderous regime that inspired the Islamic Revolution. We also provided Iraq - Rumsfeld went to Baghdad, personally - with chemical weapons they used on Iran. Whole villages were wiped out. Pets were dying in the streets. Yeah - Iran is a threat to us and the whole world if you listen to Netanyahu (like we did over Iraq). Lebanon, Syria, Iraq have all been neutralized. The last strong resistance to Greater Israel is Iran. That is "the problem".
I'm reminded of the saying, "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."
That's an apt description of American foreign policy since the Korean War.
Just think of the victims: Vietnam, Cambodia, Cuba, Iraq, Gaza, now Iran. With no doubt more to come, especial with the current warmongers in power, aided and abetted by a corrupt Congress & Supreme Court. Who's to stop them??
As I see it, we're on a downhill slope with nothing to grab on to. The endless "USA! USA!" propaganda in all the mainstream media makes sure of that.
Spot on, as usual. Thank you for saying this. The unconscionable atrocities we've committed and enabled in Latin America alone should make any decent human being want to crawl into a hole and die of shame. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Americans have no idea what our government does or who it serves. The most f'd up veneer is that we live in anything resembling a functioning democracy.
Also, my Senator Chuck Schumer (D-Israel) and his mini-me, my congresscritter Dan Goldman, need to go away and STFU FOREVER. Now I'm wondering whether Goldman's primary challenger Brad Lander passes the PAC screen.
Democrats have to DO different, not just TALK different. Do everything FDR did. Crack down hard on all economic theft (stock trading, AI, bitcoin. betting). Crack down on real crime. Build infrastructure and give useful jobs to young men so they can be proud of building the country. Encourage local culture instead of forcing SF culture on the rest of the country. Don't make unnecessary wars.
I’m almost twice your age and have been watching what you describe so accurately since before you were born. Thank you for your ongoing clarity. I wish I could do more to help AFight Worth Having. I’ll be working to help Rachel Peace win the Primary in NJ District 4. I’m sure she would qualify for your list on her merits but the district is so Red I worry our time and money will not be enough to oust Chris Smith
Next time someone says that Iran is dangerous and they need to be stopped…here’s some history to share.
1901: A British businessman secures exclusive rights to Iran’s oil. Iran gets almost nothing from its own resource.
1908: Oil is struck. Anglo-Iranian Oil Company is formed. It later becomes BP. The British Royal Navy converts from coal to oil, making Iranian petroleum a strategic military asset for the British Empire.
For the next 50 years, Iran’s oil is extracted by a foreign corporation. Iran receives a fraction of the profits. Saudi Arabia negotiates a 50-50 profit split with ARAMCO. Iran asks for the same terms. Britain refuses.
1951: Iran’s democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, nationalizes Iran’s oil through a unanimous vote in parliament. Completely legal. Completely constitutional. His argument was simple: this is our oil.
Britain responds with an international blockade. No negotiation. No compromise. They want their oil back.
1953: The CIA (Operation Ajax) and MI6 (Operation Boot) overthrow Mossadegh. They bribe politicians, clerics, journalists, and military officers. They fund fake protests. They run disinformation campaigns through newspapers they secretly own. MI6 operatives kidnap and murder Iran’s chief of police and dump his body in public as a warning.
They reinstall the Shah — a monarch who serves Western oil interests. The CIA officially acknowledged its role in 2013.
After the coup, BP retains a 40% stake. American oil companies including Exxon and Mobil get significant shares. Iran’s democratic government is gone. Its oil is back under foreign control.
1953-1979: The Shah rules for 26 years as a Western-backed authoritarian. His secret police, SAVAK, is trained by the CIA and Mossad. SAVAK tortures and kills political dissidents systematically. Iran becomes one of the largest purchasers of American weapons. The Shah lives in extraordinary luxury while much of the population remains poor.
During this entire period, Israel and Iran are close allies. SAVAK and Mossad share intelligence. Israel sells weapons to Iran. Nobody in the West calls Iran a “terrorist state” because the dictator is their dictator.
1979: The Iranian people overthrow the Shah in a popular revolution. This is where your list begins — as if the revolution appeared out of nowhere, motivated by nothing but religious fanaticism.
Now let’s talk about the US embassy that was attacked.
The US news likes to paint the 1979 hostage crisis as an unprovoked attack on America. The revolutionaries seized the embassy because the last time there was a democratic movement in Iran, the CIA ran the coup to crush it from that same embassy. They weren’t being paranoid. They were being historically accurate.
Britannica’s own assessment: “It is generally agreed today that the 1953 coup sowed the seeds for the Islamic Revolution of 1979.”
That’s not a conspiracy theory. That’s the encyclopedia.
Now let’s ask a couple more questions.
Why are there U.S. military bases in Iraq? Because the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003 on claims of weapons of mass destruction that turned out to be false. Over a million Iraqi civilians died. No American official was ever prosecuted.
Why is there conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon? Because Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 and occupied southern Lebanon for 18 years.
Why are Houthi rebels attacking ships? Because a U.S.-backed Saudi coalition bombed Yemen for years, creating what the UN called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Over 150,000 dead. Famine. Cholera outbreaks...
Corbin, the most lucid view of 'murka I have ever seen in print. Denial is the deadliest Lie of all. It mocks reality, which by any definition implies that this animal we call ourselves is capable of self-awareness. As the rednecks say - 'All hat, no cattle.' My dad used to say that the greatest liars in the world are those who believe their own lies. There is little more to be said here, we have, so to say, screwed the pooch. And let's see our Constitution for what it really is: best fluff job ever done on a people. I have started to call the Founders the Flounders, cuz that is what has happened to those lofty ideals, they have floundered on the rocks of history. And to question whether Lincoln's 'nation divided against itself' can remain upright, my observation is that it NEVER was united, from the get-go. Now he was an imperfect noble man, a begrudging learner who encountered his own flawed ego and actually progressed from that. He was murdered in cold blood for that. Now his alter ego, the least noble man to ever walk the soil of these shores, is murdering anyone who might pull back the curtain in Oz. All the enablers who have grossly profited from 250 years of egregious usury are laying down cover fire as they head for their fortresses in the hills. Since the beginning of 'civilization' we humans have denied our savagery, our barbarism, hiding behind illusionary gods and angels and divine clergy and 'genius' leaders whose sole mission in life was to profit from and wreak havoc with these illusions. Yes, there are some really good humans out here, and many still working on that never-ending goal, but they are not 'murkans, they are Earth citizens. For the rest: Denial, liars who believe their own lies with zeal and rage and devastation. 'Believe me, the check is in the mail, and I will destroy you if you dare utter the truth that there is no check and I can never be believed.'
Lives of the vast majority of humans and other animals have always been miserable, rooted in cruelty and violence. These are the ways of natural evolution on this planet. So far people have been very similar to other animals in the ways to survive and dominate. At most, human societies have managed to produced relatively decent life for absolute minorities at the expense of the rest of the world. This, historically, has been a natural way of human social evolution. At present time human civilization has full potential capacity to provide decent life for the entire population of our planet. The main obstacle is the level of human consciousness, which evolution lags far behind the scientific, technological, economic, etc. progress. Spontaneous ("natural") evolution of consciousness doesn't seem to fit the needs and demands of humanity. Unless we realize an urgent need for transformation of consciousness and apply conscious efforts in that direction, standard solutions (e.g. democracy) will consistently fail to resolve our problems.
I'm sure many (on here) know that the genocidal program that's been going on for quite some time...now overtly includes most of us. It's been a long time plan and it's speeding up. We need to continue to develop parallel economies, self reliance, self subsistence, gatherings and sharings of all kinds of the like minded. We can still support the very few who bravely jump into the cesspool of the political game, but it appears that's a minor (if not futile) aspect of the a solution that will perist.
Drumpf the Nazi has torn the mask off. He is not a caricature; he is a portrait. He is what is under the mask. CNN and the New York Times, handwringing and pearlclutching as always, merely recoil from the portrait, not the creature beneath. A nation founded upon genocide, rape, slavery, theft, and extortion, whose true creed is "greed is good," has found a leader who exactly suits a majority of its citizens, too ignorant to see where their true interests lie.
Some discussion about voting. For the record, I stopped voting for D's and R's during Obama 1. The PROBLEM, as I see it is control by the D's and R's. They control the primaries so they decide WHO CAN AND CANNOT run for office. There is no room for Independents. If you don't sign on to the uniparty, you can't get enough money to run for office.
It costs, what? $2 Billion to run for president. $100 Million to run for Congress ? We need open primaries run by each state. We need more control over PAC money and other "gray" area mass contributions and let me name AIPAC and the Israel lobby. Overwhelming influence (money) from Zionists has gotten into several wars in the mid-East. Like Iraq - based on lies, and now Iran.
Iran has not attacked another country in centuries. Very peaceful. They support their Shia allies like Hezbollah that defends Lebanon from Israel and the Houthis who defend Yemen from Saudi and the US. REAL terrorists: al Qaeda created by US support for bin Laden and ISIS created by US support for al Baghdadi. We had al Baghdadi in Abu Ghraib, but released him - he turned up in Mosel preaching ISIS, then swept into Syria with a couple hundred white pickup trucks (from where ?) to overthrow Assad. WE have created al Qaeda and ISIS and used them to cause terror and chaos on others that we demonize with the same playbook of lies.
You can find long lists of terror activities by al Qaeda and ISIS. Not for Hezbollah or Houthis - yet we repeat over and over that it is Hezbollah, for example, that are the terrorists even though they stood up for the Lebanese as a people's militia to defend themselves from invasions and attacks by Israel - the REAL problem. Greater Israel is the Zionist version of LEBENSRAUM.
Sorry for being so verbose, but I can hardly stand what we are doing to Iran BASED ON LIES.
Good comment. I follow Lisa Savage's Substack for similar analysis. Re: "If you don't sign on to the uniparty, you can't get enough money to run for office." Sad but true, and Graham Platner has said that this is why he is running as a D--for Act Blue access. I'm damn proud of Maine for getting behind him, with the very high likelihood of thwarting the Schumer/DSCC attempt to install Janet Mills as the party's chosen one for ME's next senator. Maybe naive, but I am hoping the next couple of election cycles catapult the "Democratic" party in the direction of democratic socialism. At age 64, I've been waiting for "generational change" my whole life.
I complimented your post. No one said you shouldn't throw in the towel. But I'm saying that I'm hoping for a moment of generational change. Then again I've waited 50 years for men to stop trying to have the last word, and look where that's gotten me. You get the point, yes?
Absolutely. Just look at Hegseth - an immature, macho troglodyte. Profoundly ignorant (as is Trump) of geography, history, geopolitics, statecraft.
Gets excited speaking of "lethality". Sick.
troglodyte /trŏg′lə-dīt″/
noun
A member of a prehistoric race of people that lived in caves, dens, or holes. A person considered to be reclusive, reactionary, out of date, or brutish. A nonhuman ape. Not in scientific use.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition •
Sorry bud, it's not a uni-party and they don't control the primaries. I couldn't be more enthusiastic to vote for Democrats Diop Harris and Abdul Al-Sayed in the Michigan primaries. Look them up, they are excellent candidates. I'm sure there are excellent democrats you can vote for in the primaries as well. If your retired, you could even join the campaign and help them get elected.
Respectfully, Gary, I am NOT bud. David. I was a registered democrat for 40 years. I actually worked for George McGovern, against Nixon, in 1972. Both parties vote for everything Israel (check AIPAC, https://www.trackaipac.com/), every bloated military budget and every support for war. AND, the 2 parties DO control the primaries which is why we have no third choice 99% of the time.
Disrespectfully, they absolutely do not control the primaries. Start a third party. Raise money for them. Ensure you raise enough money every year to reserve a line on the ballot.
The problem is, you're an idiot. Given the rules of our constitution and basic game theory, you are going to have a duopoly. Smart people have realized that rather than changing the constitution to a parliamentary system, it makes sense to get involved in the primaries and get better people into the party.
If you think there aren't any good Dems to vote for in primaries your are ignorant, lazy, or both.
Smart people like you ? You expose your immaturity, incivility and ignorance by calling names and assuming you know things you obviously know nothing about. Do you also expose yourself to women in the park ?
We are the Good Guys...as long as "we" define "good" to our liking--and that you meet our standards of our conclusions. Otherwise, we might be your worst nightmare.
We are truly an enigma to me, at this point. Our societal power has been largely based on rhetoric, idealism, and marketing. And, in that line of thinking, our drive (aka rugged individualism). But for the sake of what? We have blatantly benefited as the society of opportunists (in the neutral sense of that word) and innovation, much of it inadvertently poached/received/gifted from a slew of other countries and societies. But to what end? To become a monster, drunk on our own power and greed, and snarling at every passer-by? Is this the self-actualization of the pathway we've been on for decades, if not centuries? Or...where did we either deviate from that good pathway, or fail to launch? I don't think there is a clear answer--our individualism and non-conformist tendencies have muddied the tank.
I've long been fascinated by the classic Russian novelists, artists, musicians, conductors, dancers, and humanitarians, who worked their magic under great, great duress and the extreme brutality of their government(s). How were they not crushed in spirit? What was or is their hope in creating, in the midst of a gulag or persecution, threat, repression, poverty, ________?
So, how are we to "not be crushed" as our government becomes extremely "Russian"? I don't know. But I am thankful for this wave of existentialist awareness, and Corbin, your article is both excellent and encouraging, to that end.
It was just never supposed to be "this way." It wasn't. My American brain (which is not ignorant) keeps telling me that. And it's hard to accept that "yeah, but it is." We have work to do.
Are Americans finally realising that they aren’t “the good guys”? Decades of watching Hollywood propaganda films like Top Gun and Black Hawk Down have totally brainwashed people into believing they are in the right.
Spot on. This America as the "Good Guy" is just another aspect of the MYTH of America. I love this from your piece:
Trump is a clarifying force.
He didn’t create our system. He just makes lying about it harder. His selfishness, corruption, cruelty, and vulgarity strip away the rituals of denial. He is not a departure from American history. He is a caricature of it. America without the niceties. America without the pretense. America without the patience for the stories that help us feel righteous.
Hopefully, enough sanity will survive to harness these profoundly dark times to genuinely evolve the American Dream and systems.
America's greatest strength is its open culture and imperfect system(s) of self-reflection and -correction. What fuels democracy's potential is active citizen participation. Voting is a right - exercise it. Voting is the US Constitution in-action.
Voting is good and necessary, but it is not sufficient. Compare, for example, the words of candidate Obama and the actions of President Obama. No one gets anywhere near real power in this country without the blessing of America's Owners.
I'm 75. I've been voting for "The Lesser of 2 Evils" all my Life. I have voted against war and for family leave (a simplification, but I hope the point is made) all my Life.
I stopped voting for D's and R's in the last century.
Corbin, unfortunately your article is accurate. The USA is a hostile nation as it was even before our founding. The fruit never falls far from the tree so we should not be surprised.
Can we change the ethos of our nation and live up to the ideals of freedom, free speech, liberty and justice for ALL and not just the wealthy white?
It will take a radical change of direction and the leadership of uncorrupted youth guided by sage uncorrupted elders. Let's see if this can be done.
Personally, I think it's a lost cause and has been for some time, now. There is something very sinister about us. The whole "we're the greatest country on earth" thing is troubling and caustic. And embarrassing.
But what are the alternatives?
The wealthy have always justified their actions and usually consider everyone not in their class as servants. Unfortunately, there are wannabes who are willing to bootlicker until they become the overlords.
No idea. Willing to wash my hands of the whole caustic mess as I am certain that I will not live long enough to see any improvement. This country is so far gone that, even if there were enough sane people left to make a stab at improving, there are too many MAGA plodders to allow it to happen. This is a whole different country than it was when I got here. I fear that intelligent, compassionate and peaceful people are outnumbered--by a lot. "Department of War", indeed. No way back from that.
Hi Linda, I hear you but hope you will consider that every nation rises and falls and can rise again. We have a lot of truth-telling to do about our own national history. As the air clears more ease will set in, more hands and hearts will be willing to go to work. We can't live on lies about history, party machinations, or current White House madness. Every truth told knocks the pegs from under the history of lies. The Catholics' Pope, an American, just reminded us that to be Woke is a good thing. Today's bullies are nourished by lies. We have only to speak what is true to be a powerful citizen agent for our country.
I must leave all that to those much younger than I am. Old age clarifies and narrows possibilities very strictly. It is a kind of freedom.
We elders don’t get a free pass, to push this to the youth to fix our mess. We need to do the work.
The only way I would stay is if Citizens United were abolished, Roberts, Thomas and Alito were set adrift on a raft south of Tierra del Fuego, and Elon took the Koch brothers and the Heritage Society on a rocket ship to the moon with no option to return. Aƒter that, there might be a glimmer of hope.
The Moon is too close! Mars maybe. Don’t want to send them too far away where they might mess up some other intelligent extraterrestrials.
And, isn't it ironic, as the most "powerful nation on earth, feared by all," that we might also be the most insecure. Secure people are not the playground bullies who grow up to be war mongers.
With Iran, if you don't go back to 1953 you won't understand it. With our governance you have to understand the tension between a centralized, unitary system and a decentralized divided governance. It is a system of compromise, but when dominated by liars, at least from Nixon, but perhaps way before that, it is corruptible. You are correct, the only difference between now and then is the present transparency and stupidity dominating the executive branch. We have long used a big stick, sometimes with soft talk, sometimes not, but the victims of our big stick are both internal (blacks, people of color, native peoples) and external. Iran is just the latest victim, and the clarity about our unjust action more broadly held.
Right, Wayne. We overthrew their democratically elected govt for the Anglo-Iranian oil company - now BP. We installed the brutal Shah and turned a blind eye to his murderous regime that inspired the Islamic Revolution. We also provided Iraq - Rumsfeld went to Baghdad, personally - with chemical weapons they used on Iran. Whole villages were wiped out. Pets were dying in the streets. Yeah - Iran is a threat to us and the whole world if you listen to Netanyahu (like we did over Iraq). Lebanon, Syria, Iraq have all been neutralized. The last strong resistance to Greater Israel is Iran. That is "the problem".
Spot on, Corbin!
I'm reminded of the saying, "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."
That's an apt description of American foreign policy since the Korean War.
Just think of the victims: Vietnam, Cambodia, Cuba, Iraq, Gaza, now Iran. With no doubt more to come, especial with the current warmongers in power, aided and abetted by a corrupt Congress & Supreme Court. Who's to stop them??
As I see it, we're on a downhill slope with nothing to grab on to. The endless "USA! USA!" propaganda in all the mainstream media makes sure of that.
Mark Twain's War Prayer comes to mind.
Spot on, as usual. Thank you for saying this. The unconscionable atrocities we've committed and enabled in Latin America alone should make any decent human being want to crawl into a hole and die of shame. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Americans have no idea what our government does or who it serves. The most f'd up veneer is that we live in anything resembling a functioning democracy.
Also, my Senator Chuck Schumer (D-Israel) and his mini-me, my congresscritter Dan Goldman, need to go away and STFU FOREVER. Now I'm wondering whether Goldman's primary challenger Brad Lander passes the PAC screen.
Democrats have to DO different, not just TALK different. Do everything FDR did. Crack down hard on all economic theft (stock trading, AI, bitcoin. betting). Crack down on real crime. Build infrastructure and give useful jobs to young men so they can be proud of building the country. Encourage local culture instead of forcing SF culture on the rest of the country. Don't make unnecessary wars.
The Democrats, just like the Republicans ARE THE PROBLEM. They control the primaries. WRONG.
I’m almost twice your age and have been watching what you describe so accurately since before you were born. Thank you for your ongoing clarity. I wish I could do more to help AFight Worth Having. I’ll be working to help Rachel Peace win the Primary in NJ District 4. I’m sure she would qualify for your list on her merits but the district is so Red I worry our time and money will not be enough to oust Chris Smith
Next time someone says that Iran is dangerous and they need to be stopped…here’s some history to share.
1901: A British businessman secures exclusive rights to Iran’s oil. Iran gets almost nothing from its own resource.
1908: Oil is struck. Anglo-Iranian Oil Company is formed. It later becomes BP. The British Royal Navy converts from coal to oil, making Iranian petroleum a strategic military asset for the British Empire.
For the next 50 years, Iran’s oil is extracted by a foreign corporation. Iran receives a fraction of the profits. Saudi Arabia negotiates a 50-50 profit split with ARAMCO. Iran asks for the same terms. Britain refuses.
1951: Iran’s democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, nationalizes Iran’s oil through a unanimous vote in parliament. Completely legal. Completely constitutional. His argument was simple: this is our oil.
Britain responds with an international blockade. No negotiation. No compromise. They want their oil back.
1953: The CIA (Operation Ajax) and MI6 (Operation Boot) overthrow Mossadegh. They bribe politicians, clerics, journalists, and military officers. They fund fake protests. They run disinformation campaigns through newspapers they secretly own. MI6 operatives kidnap and murder Iran’s chief of police and dump his body in public as a warning.
They reinstall the Shah — a monarch who serves Western oil interests. The CIA officially acknowledged its role in 2013.
After the coup, BP retains a 40% stake. American oil companies including Exxon and Mobil get significant shares. Iran’s democratic government is gone. Its oil is back under foreign control.
1953-1979: The Shah rules for 26 years as a Western-backed authoritarian. His secret police, SAVAK, is trained by the CIA and Mossad. SAVAK tortures and kills political dissidents systematically. Iran becomes one of the largest purchasers of American weapons. The Shah lives in extraordinary luxury while much of the population remains poor.
During this entire period, Israel and Iran are close allies. SAVAK and Mossad share intelligence. Israel sells weapons to Iran. Nobody in the West calls Iran a “terrorist state” because the dictator is their dictator.
1979: The Iranian people overthrow the Shah in a popular revolution. This is where your list begins — as if the revolution appeared out of nowhere, motivated by nothing but religious fanaticism.
Now let’s talk about the US embassy that was attacked.
The US news likes to paint the 1979 hostage crisis as an unprovoked attack on America. The revolutionaries seized the embassy because the last time there was a democratic movement in Iran, the CIA ran the coup to crush it from that same embassy. They weren’t being paranoid. They were being historically accurate.
Britannica’s own assessment: “It is generally agreed today that the 1953 coup sowed the seeds for the Islamic Revolution of 1979.”
That’s not a conspiracy theory. That’s the encyclopedia.
Now let’s ask a couple more questions.
Why are there U.S. military bases in Iraq? Because the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003 on claims of weapons of mass destruction that turned out to be false. Over a million Iraqi civilians died. No American official was ever prosecuted.
Why is there conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon? Because Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 and occupied southern Lebanon for 18 years.
Why are Houthi rebels attacking ships? Because a U.S.-backed Saudi coalition bombed Yemen for years, creating what the UN called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Over 150,000 dead. Famine. Cholera outbreaks...
Corbin, the most lucid view of 'murka I have ever seen in print. Denial is the deadliest Lie of all. It mocks reality, which by any definition implies that this animal we call ourselves is capable of self-awareness. As the rednecks say - 'All hat, no cattle.' My dad used to say that the greatest liars in the world are those who believe their own lies. There is little more to be said here, we have, so to say, screwed the pooch. And let's see our Constitution for what it really is: best fluff job ever done on a people. I have started to call the Founders the Flounders, cuz that is what has happened to those lofty ideals, they have floundered on the rocks of history. And to question whether Lincoln's 'nation divided against itself' can remain upright, my observation is that it NEVER was united, from the get-go. Now he was an imperfect noble man, a begrudging learner who encountered his own flawed ego and actually progressed from that. He was murdered in cold blood for that. Now his alter ego, the least noble man to ever walk the soil of these shores, is murdering anyone who might pull back the curtain in Oz. All the enablers who have grossly profited from 250 years of egregious usury are laying down cover fire as they head for their fortresses in the hills. Since the beginning of 'civilization' we humans have denied our savagery, our barbarism, hiding behind illusionary gods and angels and divine clergy and 'genius' leaders whose sole mission in life was to profit from and wreak havoc with these illusions. Yes, there are some really good humans out here, and many still working on that never-ending goal, but they are not 'murkans, they are Earth citizens. For the rest: Denial, liars who believe their own lies with zeal and rage and devastation. 'Believe me, the check is in the mail, and I will destroy you if you dare utter the truth that there is no check and I can never be believed.'
Lives of the vast majority of humans and other animals have always been miserable, rooted in cruelty and violence. These are the ways of natural evolution on this planet. So far people have been very similar to other animals in the ways to survive and dominate. At most, human societies have managed to produced relatively decent life for absolute minorities at the expense of the rest of the world. This, historically, has been a natural way of human social evolution. At present time human civilization has full potential capacity to provide decent life for the entire population of our planet. The main obstacle is the level of human consciousness, which evolution lags far behind the scientific, technological, economic, etc. progress. Spontaneous ("natural") evolution of consciousness doesn't seem to fit the needs and demands of humanity. Unless we realize an urgent need for transformation of consciousness and apply conscious efforts in that direction, standard solutions (e.g. democracy) will consistently fail to resolve our problems.
I'm sure many (on here) know that the genocidal program that's been going on for quite some time...now overtly includes most of us. It's been a long time plan and it's speeding up. We need to continue to develop parallel economies, self reliance, self subsistence, gatherings and sharings of all kinds of the like minded. We can still support the very few who bravely jump into the cesspool of the political game, but it appears that's a minor (if not futile) aspect of the a solution that will perist.
Drumpf the Nazi has torn the mask off. He is not a caricature; he is a portrait. He is what is under the mask. CNN and the New York Times, handwringing and pearlclutching as always, merely recoil from the portrait, not the creature beneath. A nation founded upon genocide, rape, slavery, theft, and extortion, whose true creed is "greed is good," has found a leader who exactly suits a majority of its citizens, too ignorant to see where their true interests lie.
Some discussion about voting. For the record, I stopped voting for D's and R's during Obama 1. The PROBLEM, as I see it is control by the D's and R's. They control the primaries so they decide WHO CAN AND CANNOT run for office. There is no room for Independents. If you don't sign on to the uniparty, you can't get enough money to run for office.
It costs, what? $2 Billion to run for president. $100 Million to run for Congress ? We need open primaries run by each state. We need more control over PAC money and other "gray" area mass contributions and let me name AIPAC and the Israel lobby. Overwhelming influence (money) from Zionists has gotten into several wars in the mid-East. Like Iraq - based on lies, and now Iran.
Iran has not attacked another country in centuries. Very peaceful. They support their Shia allies like Hezbollah that defends Lebanon from Israel and the Houthis who defend Yemen from Saudi and the US. REAL terrorists: al Qaeda created by US support for bin Laden and ISIS created by US support for al Baghdadi. We had al Baghdadi in Abu Ghraib, but released him - he turned up in Mosel preaching ISIS, then swept into Syria with a couple hundred white pickup trucks (from where ?) to overthrow Assad. WE have created al Qaeda and ISIS and used them to cause terror and chaos on others that we demonize with the same playbook of lies.
You can find long lists of terror activities by al Qaeda and ISIS. Not for Hezbollah or Houthis - yet we repeat over and over that it is Hezbollah, for example, that are the terrorists even though they stood up for the Lebanese as a people's militia to defend themselves from invasions and attacks by Israel - the REAL problem. Greater Israel is the Zionist version of LEBENSRAUM.
Sorry for being so verbose, but I can hardly stand what we are doing to Iran BASED ON LIES.
Good comment. I follow Lisa Savage's Substack for similar analysis. Re: "If you don't sign on to the uniparty, you can't get enough money to run for office." Sad but true, and Graham Platner has said that this is why he is running as a D--for Act Blue access. I'm damn proud of Maine for getting behind him, with the very high likelihood of thwarting the Schumer/DSCC attempt to install Janet Mills as the party's chosen one for ME's next senator. Maybe naive, but I am hoping the next couple of election cycles catapult the "Democratic" party in the direction of democratic socialism. At age 64, I've been waiting for "generational change" my whole life.
I'm 75. I've voted against war and for family leave for 50 years. Has my vote counted ?
You get the point, yes ?
I complimented your post. No one said you shouldn't throw in the towel. But I'm saying that I'm hoping for a moment of generational change. Then again I've waited 50 years for men to stop trying to have the last word, and look where that's gotten me. You get the point, yes?
Absolutely. Just look at Hegseth - an immature, macho troglodyte. Profoundly ignorant (as is Trump) of geography, history, geopolitics, statecraft.
Gets excited speaking of "lethality". Sick.
troglodyte /trŏg′lə-dīt″/
noun
A member of a prehistoric race of people that lived in caves, dens, or holes. A person considered to be reclusive, reactionary, out of date, or brutish. A nonhuman ape. Not in scientific use.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition •
Sorry bud, it's not a uni-party and they don't control the primaries. I couldn't be more enthusiastic to vote for Democrats Diop Harris and Abdul Al-Sayed in the Michigan primaries. Look them up, they are excellent candidates. I'm sure there are excellent democrats you can vote for in the primaries as well. If your retired, you could even join the campaign and help them get elected.
Respectfully, Gary, I am NOT bud. David. I was a registered democrat for 40 years. I actually worked for George McGovern, against Nixon, in 1972. Both parties vote for everything Israel (check AIPAC, https://www.trackaipac.com/), every bloated military budget and every support for war. AND, the 2 parties DO control the primaries which is why we have no third choice 99% of the time.
Disrespectfully, they absolutely do not control the primaries. Start a third party. Raise money for them. Ensure you raise enough money every year to reserve a line on the ballot.
The problem is, you're an idiot. Given the rules of our constitution and basic game theory, you are going to have a duopoly. Smart people have realized that rather than changing the constitution to a parliamentary system, it makes sense to get involved in the primaries and get better people into the party.
If you think there aren't any good Dems to vote for in primaries your are ignorant, lazy, or both.
Smart people like you ? You expose your immaturity, incivility and ignorance by calling names and assuming you know things you obviously know nothing about. Do you also expose yourself to women in the park ?
I wish you luck.
Ok bud...
I’m going to try to help.
We are the Good Guys...as long as "we" define "good" to our liking--and that you meet our standards of our conclusions. Otherwise, we might be your worst nightmare.
We are truly an enigma to me, at this point. Our societal power has been largely based on rhetoric, idealism, and marketing. And, in that line of thinking, our drive (aka rugged individualism). But for the sake of what? We have blatantly benefited as the society of opportunists (in the neutral sense of that word) and innovation, much of it inadvertently poached/received/gifted from a slew of other countries and societies. But to what end? To become a monster, drunk on our own power and greed, and snarling at every passer-by? Is this the self-actualization of the pathway we've been on for decades, if not centuries? Or...where did we either deviate from that good pathway, or fail to launch? I don't think there is a clear answer--our individualism and non-conformist tendencies have muddied the tank.
I've long been fascinated by the classic Russian novelists, artists, musicians, conductors, dancers, and humanitarians, who worked their magic under great, great duress and the extreme brutality of their government(s). How were they not crushed in spirit? What was or is their hope in creating, in the midst of a gulag or persecution, threat, repression, poverty, ________?
So, how are we to "not be crushed" as our government becomes extremely "Russian"? I don't know. But I am thankful for this wave of existentialist awareness, and Corbin, your article is both excellent and encouraging, to that end.
It was just never supposed to be "this way." It wasn't. My American brain (which is not ignorant) keeps telling me that. And it's hard to accept that "yeah, but it is." We have work to do.
Are Americans finally realising that they aren’t “the good guys”? Decades of watching Hollywood propaganda films like Top Gun and Black Hawk Down have totally brainwashed people into believing they are in the right.
Spot on. This America as the "Good Guy" is just another aspect of the MYTH of America. I love this from your piece:
Trump is a clarifying force.
He didn’t create our system. He just makes lying about it harder. His selfishness, corruption, cruelty, and vulgarity strip away the rituals of denial. He is not a departure from American history. He is a caricature of it. America without the niceties. America without the pretense. America without the patience for the stories that help us feel righteous.
Hopefully, enough sanity will survive to harness these profoundly dark times to genuinely evolve the American Dream and systems.
America's greatest strength is its open culture and imperfect system(s) of self-reflection and -correction. What fuels democracy's potential is active citizen participation. Voting is a right - exercise it. Voting is the US Constitution in-action.
Voting is good and necessary, but it is not sufficient. Compare, for example, the words of candidate Obama and the actions of President Obama. No one gets anywhere near real power in this country without the blessing of America's Owners.
While I agree with your post in theory, I do not see very many in my orbit who are reflecting, honest with themselves, engaged, etc. This concerns me.
I'm 75. I've been voting for "The Lesser of 2 Evils" all my Life. I have voted against war and for family leave (a simplification, but I hope the point is made) all my Life.
I stopped voting for D's and R's in the last century.