HermannView

mhamadac:

Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, Libya, everywhere.. God Bless and God Free the Middle East

I feel with the concentration of the media in a few corporations (six) that this is the case no doubt. I might do a story about this at some point as well (I can’t promise you completely).
(via we--might--fall)

6 months ago / 630 notes
Headlines today: a whole mix of stuff

Here’s today’s top stories:
I hope you enjoy these.
Updates from my drug war website: Does pot beat recessions? In a broadcast of CBS’s show, 60 Minutes, Matt Cook who is the the head of enforcement at the Colorado Department of Revenue says that the medical marijuana “industry has helped Denver beat the recession.” Specifically, Cook says that there was an excess of $20 million in tax revenues and it slightly lowered unemployment numbers, causing people in the community to not favor “criminal enforcement of marijuana [laws].” http://52325544.nhd.weebly.com/debate.html Some new pages: http://52325544.nhd.weebly.com/background.html http://52325544.nhd.weebly.com/reform-or-resist.html http://52325544.nhd.weebly.com/the-war-on-pot.html http://52325544.nhd.weebly.com/the-reefer-rebellion.html
6 months ago / 0 notes
The Libya war was imperialist and for oil

I thought it would be good to reblog this post I did back in June of this year, summarizing why the war in Libya was a war for oil and well, imperialist.

The Libya war was not a “good war”

Posted 4 months ago

As people across the political spectrum debate over Obama’s accomplishments, the Libya war will come up. One year ago I said: “I am in support of this U.N.-led military action. We have to stop this injustice of Gaddafi killing his own people. Rights of all people worldwide are spelled out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We need to protect those that want democracy. We need to “make the world safe for democracy” as President Woodrow Wilson once said. The UN actions at this time by the so-called coalition by BBC news should not include coming in with boots on the ground. That will start another war in the middle east. We do not need another war and the current actions are only helping the rebels win.” (http://hermannview.tumblr.com/post/3995858905/pantsless-progressive-libya-news-roundup-march-20) Not only afterwards, I did a 180 degree flip, saying I did not support military action. I wrote in my article, “Obama’s imperialist war: an unlawful conflict” that “I think the war in Libya is waste of time for the United States. The best way for America to help the rebels would be giving arms and ammunition to help them fight their revolution against Gaddafi if that at all. We should not help with the no-fly zone or indiscriminate bombings in Libya that do not protect civilian lives….They don’t need our help in enforcing the no-fly zone, it just will enrage the Arab world even more at our actions…this war is not about gaining oil rights but is about protecting the oil being pumped out and in the ground from conflict. Wall Street supports this war in Libya because it is protecting their money. If the oil is protected from the ravages of war, they can continue making all the money they want. I believe that the intervention in Libya by the so-called coalition was just to secure oil supply for selfish reasons. All the countries want a piece of the pie and that means oil rights if that don’t already have them and maintaining current oil rights if they already have them…No President since Franklin Delano Roosevelt has asked Congress to declare war on another country…President Obama’s staff argues that they did meet with Congressional leaders to brief them on Libya days before they intervened. But I think that still isn’t enough to qualify as consent of Congress. It needs to be voted on and authorized in Congress for it to count as constitutional (the Iraq war and Afghani war had authorization, why can’t this conflict in Libya?)…[also the war violated the War Powers Resolution]…Even our previous President, George W. Bush, had congressional authorization for his imperialist wars in Iraq and Afghanistan…The American public deserves to know why their President is starting a war and specifics about the war itself…I was in support of this war in Libya, but as you may have noticed from this opinion piece I am not in support of this war anymore that is conducted…[the war could] easily pass the $1 billion mark on this operation, regardless of how well things go…I believe the U.S. involvement militarily in Libyan operations should be stopped as soon as possible and if the U.S. wants to support the rebels quest to stop Gaddafi’s rampage in Libya, they should just give military weapons or maybe give nothing at all and just let the other coalition forces take the heat for the war.” (http://hermannview.tumblr.com/post/4078422843/obamas-imperialist-war-an-unlawful-conflict)

Now, looking back I have a new approach. The war in Libya was a war for oil, meaning it was really “blood for oil.” Many people that supported it said it was for “humanitarian reasons.” That’s a bunch of baloney. The war was imperialist in scope and a clear war for oil. After rebel leaders got in they gave NATO partners (France, Britain, Spain, America, etc…) who had participated in the war favorable contracts over the Russians, Chinese and others. Gaddafi was going to nationalize oil and he was going to push for an alternative to the petrodollar or oil based on dollars, oil based on another currency. This threatened the oil companies and the countries that imported oil from Libya. A huge massacre in Benghazi could cause an oil embargo with Libya and that would rile the volatile oil markets in a time of economic turmoil. As you can see my opposition to the war as continued. It was extremely distasteful and illegal to go to war. That money would have better been spent on the people. $99 million USD by Canada, $1.2 billion USD by Italy, $933 million USD by the U.K., $813 million USD by France and on top $1.3 billion by America (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_military_intervention_in_Libya#section_6). That’s $3.335 billion USD! That could been better spent on access to fresh drinking water than a war that killed between 400 and 31,108 civilians!

I hope that people keep a good lookout for wars. As Chalmers Johnson wrote in book, Blowback (2000), “blowback in its larger aspect—the tangible costs of empire—that truly threatens it…The growth of militarism in a once democratic society is another example of blowback. Empire is the problem…More imperialist projects simply generate more blowback. If we do not begin to solve problems in more prudent and modest ways, blowback will only become more intense.”

7 months ago / 1 note
Today in Egypt

goldenrouge:

zikrayat:

I wanted to take a picture of the only remaining Jewish synagogue in Cairo, and the guards said no photos. So my friend says, “Hiya Amereekia she’s American” and I said “Wahid bs only one!” and he looked at the other guard and said “…I didn’t see you”

The power of ~~America~~. Gets you anything and anyone in Arab countries. (Or .. at least it can in Libya, ‘cause they just drop at their feet if they know they’re American).

You forget there’s no such thing as a “common interest.” Those “American” gains you speak of were really gains for the American rmpire, overall the business elite & the global elite. For me, a poor college student, these “gains” didn’t make my life better but they made the rich richer.
(via freedominlibya)

8 months ago / 50 notes / Source: zikrayat
Oppress-Crackatron3000: American liberals though, listen closely because this shit is... →

aynrandinaminiskirt:

American liberals though, listen closely because this shit is important.

There’s no such thing as a lesser evil for people in countries plagued by US military aggression.

What good is the fact that Obama is the lesser evil to people in Afghanistan or Palestine or any other country which is…

I agree completely with this comment. Many progressives and liberals are suppressing their criticism with this “lesser of two evils” argument. They say Romney is worse and that Obama is a bit better. But if Bush II was doing what Obama is doing (drone strikes, an illegal & undeclared war in Libya, continuing a war in Afghanistan, etc…)

8 months ago / 179 notes / Source: dkyubey
The Libya war was not a “good war”

As people across the political spectrum debate over Obama’s accomplishments, the Libya war will come up. One year ago I said: “I am in support of this U.N.-led military action. We have to stop this injustice of Gaddafi killing his own people. Rights of all people worldwide are spelled out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We need to protect those that want democracy. We need to “make the world safe for democracy” as President Woodrow Wilson once said. The UN actions at this time by the so-called coalition by BBC news should not include coming in with boots on the ground. That will start another war in the middle east. We do not need another war and the current actions are only helping the rebels win.” (http://hermannview.tumblr.com/post/3995858905/pantsless-progressive-libya-news-roundup-march-20) Not only afterwards, I did a 180 degree flip, saying I did not support military action. I wrote in my article, “Obama’s imperialist war: an unlawful conflict” that “I think the war in Libya is waste of time for the United States. The best way for America to help the rebels would be giving arms and ammunition to help them fight their revolution against Gaddafi if that at all. We should not help with the no-fly zone or indiscriminate bombings in Libya that do not protect civilian lives….They don’t need our help in enforcing the no-fly zone, it just will enrage the Arab world even more at our actions…this war is not about gaining oil rights but is about protecting the oil being pumped out and in the ground from conflict. Wall Street supports this war in Libya because it is protecting their money. If the oil is protected from the ravages of war, they can continue making all the money they want. I believe that the intervention in Libya by the so-called coalition was just to secure oil supply for selfish reasons. All the countries want a piece of the pie and that means oil rights if that don’t already have them and maintaining current oil rights if they already have them…No President since Franklin Delano Roosevelt has asked Congress to declare war on another country…President Obama’s staff argues that they did meet with Congressional leaders to brief them on Libya days before they intervened. But I think that still isn’t enough to qualify as consent of Congress. It needs to be voted on and authorized in Congress for it to count as constitutional (the Iraq war and Afghani war had authorization, why can’t this conflict in Libya?)…[also the war violated the War Powers Resolution]…Even our previous President, George W. Bush, had congressional authorization for his imperialist wars in Iraq and Afghanistan…The American public deserves to know why their President is starting a war and specifics about the war itself…I was in support of this war in Libya, but as you may have noticed from this opinion piece I am not in support of this war anymore that is conducted…[the war could] easily pass the $1 billion mark on this operation, regardless of how well things go…I believe the U.S. involvement militarily in Libyan operations should be stopped as soon as possible and if the U.S. wants to support the rebels quest to stop Gaddafi’s rampage in Libya, they should just give military weapons or maybe give nothing at all and just let the other coalition forces take the heat for the war.” (http://hermannview.tumblr.com/post/4078422843/obamas-imperialist-war-an-unlawful-conflict)

Now, looking back I have a new approach. The war in Libya was a war for oil, meaning it was really “blood for oil.” Many people that supported it said it was for “humanitarian reasons.” That’s a bunch of baloney. The war was imperialist in scope and a clear war for oil. After rebel leaders got in they gave NATO partners (France, Britain, Spain, America, etc…) who had participated in the war favorable contracts over the Russians, Chinese and others. Gaddafi was going to nationalize oil and he was going to push for an alternative to the petrodollar or oil based on dollars, oil based on another currency. This threatened the oil companies and the countries that imported oil from Libya. A huge massacre in Benghazi could cause an oil embargo with Libya and that would rile the voalitle oil markets in a time of economic turmoil. As you can see my opposition to the war as continued. It was extremely distasteful and illegal to go to war. That money would have better been spent on the people. $99 million USD by Canada, $1.2 billion USD by Italy, $933 million USD by the U.K., $813 million USD by France and on top $1.3 billion by America (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_military_intervention_in_Libya#section_6). That’s $3.335 billion USD! That could been better spent on access to fresh drinking water than a war that killed between 400 and 31,108 civilians!

I hope that people keep a good lookout for wars. As Chalmers Johnson wrote in book, Blowback (2000), “blowback in its larger aspect—the tangible costs of empire—that truly threatens it…The growth of militarism in a once democratic society is another example of blowback. Empire is the problem…More imperialist projects simply generate more blowback. If we do not begin to solve problems in more prudent and modest ways, blowback will only become more intense.”

1 year ago / 0 notes
freetohide:

stfukyriarchy:

mehreenkasana:

This.

[Words on a black background. The words Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, Iran, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt are lined up and specific letters are highlighted to spell ‘LIBERATE’.]

<3 LIBERATE ♥ ☮

peace, freedom, and democracy now!!

(see 2010-2011 Middle East and North African protests for more information)

Its the good old ‘Liberate’ symbol again. I support the people’s movements, just not the wars and not the violence. I’m antiwar like Albert Einstein (before he told Franklin Delano Roosevelt to start looking into Atomic weapons).

1 year ago / 17,470 notes / Source: hailmika
Wayne Madsen was in Tripoli on assignment and says that what the members of the mainstream media reported while on the front “had nothing in common with what we all saw on the grounds.” With the meaning of the military initiative being blurred by the press and the president, Madsen says a gross flux of misinformation is creating a propaganda war to get American support for the Libyan mission, and a recent poll shows that it isn’t working. “The media is silent,” says Madsen. “Worse,” he adds, “they are putting out disinformation rather than reporting facts as they see them on the ground.”
Madsen says that Gaddafi is only gaining support in Tripoli, and as rebels rejoin his forces, the media in America does not bother telling people. “Many former rebels say, ‘look, we weren’t happy with Gaddafi,’” says Madsen, but as NATO is slaughtering civilians, they are becoming more in favor of the colonel, despite his reputation, because he is a Libyan national. And, most importantly, not a foreign invader.
– The media is getting it all wrong. That’s why I don’t trust them.
1 year ago / 3 notes / Source: revolutionarysoul
Events are moving quickly. Let us unite against U.S. imperialism — whose military acts, despite its cynical rhetoric, cannot and will not ever serve the interests of the people.
– Anti-Libyan war statement
1 year ago / 12 notes / Source: kasamaproject.org
The truth about Libya from the frontines →

This news source uses what is reported by numerous news sources and puts it all together in an easy to read format. It makes it easy to keep up with the Libya conflict.

1 year ago / 6 notes

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Headlines today: a whole mix of stuff

The Libya war was imperialist and for oil

Today in Egypt

Oppress-Crackatron3000: American liberals though, listen closely because this shit is... →

The Libya war was not a “good war”

The truth about Libya from the frontines →