One bit of good news, and I hope he's right, is that Dr Matthew Alford says we have never been anywhere near nuclear war because the West is so powerful: the West just likes to create enemies to keep military spending up. Well, Paul Craig Roberts had me hiding under the bed last year.
If you have time the embedded video is excellent, where in the second half they talk about how the CIA and the FBI have altered thousands of scripts for films and shows to portray US interventionism in other counties as a good thing. Kevin KV
One of the biggest Western foreign policy adventures in recent years is something that is underreported in the media. So-called ‘intervention’ in Libya has created a failed state that is riven with extremists all vying for power. So we ask: was this really an epic foreign policy mistake? Or was destroying Libya just another day at the office for politicians, shortsighted bureaucrats, and vulture corporates who continually try to enforce global economic supremacy.
Libya was apparently former President Barack Obama’s biggest regret. This is what his then Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton said about the then Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi:
“We came, we saw, he died”.
Renegade Inc. - Looting Libya
It's a good thing that our fabulous military is not "revenue constrained" thanks to the miracle of modern money!
ReplyDelete“Renegade Inc. say they were there on the ground during the Libyan revolution and the people there generally believed the Western lies that the West wanted to liberate them when really what they were after were their resources. Now Libya is a failed state overrun with jihadists fighting for control of Libya's resources. Many thousands have died and millions more driven into poverty, and the West takes no interest and neither does the media.”
ReplyDeleteYes, Libyans wanted to be “liberated” from free schooling, free housing, free medical care, generous stipends for married couples, and the highest living standards in all of Africa. They wanted to be “liberated” from 15-cent-a-gallon gasoline, and from having their entire education and living expenses paid for by the Libyan government if they went to college abroad. Libyan women wanted to be “liberated” from having the most equality in Africa. Migrant workers in Libya wanted to be “liberated” from enjoying their first chance to have a decent and prosperous life.
When Moammar Gaddafi retired from public life, his sons and other cronies in the government opened the door for evil. They collaborated with the IMF and World Bank to impose neoliberal “reforms” on Libyan society. The first people to suffer from these “reforms” were those in eastern Libya, such as the city of Benghazi. (These are the people in the article’s photos. They carry the flag of King Idris, a brutal monarch that the victorious Allies had installed after WWII. King Idris kept Libya in poverty until Gaddafi overthrew him in September 1969.)
In Benghazi the CIA whipped local people’s unhappiness into a frenzy, and they started to call Gaddafi a “dictator.” They cheered as NATO destroyed Libya, and now they have absolutely nothing. They were used and discarded. Libya is a wasteland. This is standard procedure for the Empire. Foreign firms are now extracting the oil, and also the fresh water from Nubian Sandstone Aquifer, using a vast system that Gaddafi had built.
“Was destroying Libya just another day at the office for politicians, shortsighted bureaucrats, and vulture corporates who continually try to enforce global economic supremacy?”
Of course it was.
“Libya was apparently former President Barack Obama’s biggest regret.”
Please. Obama was as evil as the rest. After he had destroyed Libya, Obama began the campaign to destroy Syria, which continues today with Trump. Obama pushed for the TPP, and also for his “grand bargain,” in which he sought to increase taxes on average Americans while cutting social programs. He prosecuted more whistleblowers than anyone before him.
Obama regrets his destruction of Libya? I don’t think so.
I agree with you, Konrad. I was surprised when Renagade Inc said that. The libyians had public banking too with zero interest loans. In the interview they say how the West forced privatisation on Libya threatening to topple Gaddafi if he didn't do it. I just found this -
ReplyDelete16 Things Libya Will Never See Again
There is no electricity bill in Libya; electricity is free for all its citizens.
There is no interest on loans, banks in Libya are state-owned and loans given to all its citizens at zero percent interest by law.
Having a home considered a human right in Libya.
All newlyweds in Libya receive $60,000 dinar (U.S.$50,000) by the government to buy their first apartment so to help start up the family.
Education and medical treatments are free in Libya. Before Gaddafi only 25 percent of Libyans were literate. Today, the figure is 83 percent.
Should Libyans want to take up farming career, they would receive farming land, a farming house, equipments, seeds and livestock to kickstart their farms are all for free.
If Libyans cannot find the education or medical facilities they need, the government funds them to go abroad, for it is not only paid for, but they get a U.S.$2,300/month for accommodation and car allowance.
If a Libyan buys a car, the government subsidizes 50 percent of the price.
The price of petrol in Libya is $0.14 per liter.
Libya has no external debt and its reserves amounting to $150 billion are now frozen globally.
If a Libyan is unable to get employment after graduation the state would pay the average salary of the profession, as if he or she is employed, until employment is found.
A portion of every Libyan oil sale is credited directly to the bank accounts of all Libyan citizens.
A mother who gives birth to a child receive U.S.$5,000.
40 loaves of bread in Libya costs $0.15.
25 percent of Libyans have a university degree.
Gaddafi carried out the world’s largest irrigation project, known as the Great Manmade River project, to make water readily available throughout the desert country.
http://disinfo.com/2011/10/16-things-libya-will-never-see-again/
The real enemy of empire is any system that could compete with it.
ReplyDelete"Democracy" is a code word for capitalism. You don't spread democracy at the point of a gun. When we spread democracy, we're actually spreading capitalism.
The vast number of democratic governments we've overthrown and ruthless dictators that we have installed and supported is clear evidence of this. This has been largely in countries with resources we coveted or states that nationalized those resources for the benefit of their people.
Libya is the new model for Empire. Destroy the government, destroy the infrastructure, and make it easy for multinational corporate interests to operate with impunity, supported by armies of Empire (called in to provide humanitarian aid) or private mercenaries. No dictator to bribe, no threat of nationalization, no taxes to pay.