From the Off-Guardian
The best comedians are the cleverest people on the planet. I’m grateful to a BTL comment on OffGuardian, below a piece of mine on Venezuela, for linking to this forty-five minute video. It has Robert Newman saying exactly what I try to say, but with vastly greater wit and panache, on the history of oil and, more generally, a materialist perspective on history.
Performed in 2006, it could have been yesterday given the clueless way we insist on viewing each “pro-democracy” intervention – Iraq, Libya, Syria and now Venezuela – on a case by case basis.
Given too the criminal way ‘our’ media ignore the material drivers of war. In both my two posts this week on Venezuela, I described corporate media as having “abdicated a core duty in their refusal to explore motives that cast a very different light on Western interventions sold to us as humanitarian”.
Newman treads the same ground but here too – damn the man – he does it better.
Robert Newman gets to grips with the wars and politics of the last hundred years - but rather than adhering to the history we were fed at school, he places oil centre stage as the cause of all the commotion.
For more stand up visit the Stand Up Comedy playlist on my channel. Also on my channel you will find movies, music and much more.
2 comments:
The UK and USA are continually replacing democracies with dictatorships, in order to “bring them democracy.”
In some cases (e.g. Libya) the West destroys nations in order to “bring them democracy.”
Robert Newman calls the corporate media outlets naïve. His claim is itself naïve.
Newman says Britons are unique among nations in naiveté and ignorance. I take it he’s never been to the USA.
He says World War One, “Is never taught in our schools as an invasion of Iraq.” The UK did indeed invade Iraq on 6 Nov 1914, and occupied Iraq for 4 years to steal oil for the British navy.
On 2 May 1941 the UK again invaded Iraq, again to steal the oil. The UK also deposed the neutral government of Rashid Ali and replaced it with the puppet government of Prince 'Abd al-Ilah.
Three months later (25 Aug 1941) the UK (and the Soviets) invaded Iran, again to steal the oil.
Iran (like Iraq) was neutral, so the UK government deposed Reza Shah and replaced him with his young son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (the infamous Shah of Iran).
On 9 April 1914 the USA bombarded Vera Cruz Mexico to steal the oil. Now it’s Venezuela’s turn.
Invading countries to steal the oil, and replacing local democracies with puppet dictatorships, is all about “bringing them democracy.”
Virginia Ashley
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