Wag the dog … welcome to election year
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With respect, the fact that you take a feminist slant on my comment actually helps me answer your question. Of course it isn’t for me to tell you what to do but the first thing I can think of would be to help get the vote out in November. I can assure you I would be doing that except that it would look weird with a Canadian driving people to the polls! The second would be help heal the divisions on the left, not exacerbate them. Divisions between folks on the left, center-left and center is a big part of the problem. Nothing new, but they appear be increasing, perhaps even encouraged by internet discourse, callout culture and the like. Intolerance in all walks of life is on the upsurge and lurks in every single '‘ism’ we humans invent. One thing that really resonates on the right is the criticism of identity politics and political correctness. The typical middle-aged mid-westerner is an easy-going, ‘live and let live’ type person, that is until you admonish her about LGBTQ rights or criticize her religion. Then she votes Republican. So sincerely work to unite the left I guess would be my second suggestion. Godspeed.
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While he grossly misunderstands nearly everything, the US power really does seem to be exerted by unilaterally demanding things of other countries, and using military power to terrorize them into submission (for example double-tap drone strikes definitely are terrorism). If you add methods like destabilizing other countries and helping replace their democratically elected governments with dictatorships, the picture would be entirely correct in my opinion.
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But you’re here offering advice to the USians anyway?
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You mean racism. This has been proven in two major studies now.
Republicans have fallen all over themselves to say they want the ‘brutal honesty’ and to get rid of ‘politically correct’ language. I agree with them so I’m going to call them what they are.
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The problem is that with modern weapons there don’t have to be any casualties on US side. They can destroy the country with drone strikes, causing untold misery without facing any risks for themselves. Without apparent risk the decision to start a war will be easier, it may be even touted as “patriotic” thing to do by conservative media, just like the attack on military airport in Syria was called “very presidential”.
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As long as USA thinks it rules the world and has the right to bomb any country it wants to, you’ll have to live with foreigners having an opinion about how you act. Be happy as long as it is just peaceful Canadians offering advice, not pissed off people from any of the countries you’ve invaded throwing bombs. Oh, wait, you did invade Canada too once, but it was so long ago I think they have forgiven you.
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That worked with Saddam who was too timid to strike back, I doubt Iran will be as polite, and they have plenty of drones and rockets of their own.
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One bigly suspect
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Another interesting thing is this song came out in 1988. That’s really interesting about Karbala, I did not know that (and it doesn’t help that Skinny Puppy often has distorted and hard to understand vocals).
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The US has been assassinating people we deem “enemies” for decades. However, it has usually been carried out by the CIA, which of course doesn’t make it better but it does offer just enough plausible deniability so that diplomacy can step in and prevent further escalation, if that is desired. This case, where the action is openly ordered by a democratically-elected leader, has broken a kapu that probably can’t be unbroken. Of all the bad things Trump has done, even those with long-term consequences, this might well be the worst, with the most persistent consequences.
God damn this guy.
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Well, this is looking like an Archduke Ferdinand moment more and more as the day progresses.
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While true, I don’t have to live with foreigners pretending not to criticize while simultaneously criticizing. I was only calling out passive-aggressive discourse.
As if it really needed stating…
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He was a terrorist on the terror list. Responsible for slaughter of hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrians, hundreds of US troops. And you call him a dignitary?!?
And speaking of imperialism - imperialism is exactly what Iran is doing all over the world, using terrorism and military proxies. Proxies led by your “dignitary” soldier. Proxies which themselves are officially terrorist groups. Proxies which just attacked the US embassy in Iraq, which is why the Iranian butcher was there, meeting with other Iranian terrorist butchers.
This was a surgical strike on known terrorists, who work for the chief exporter of terrorism around the world, a radical fundamentalist theocracy hell-bent on obtaining nuclear weapons and publicly vowing to use them genocidally against the US and Israel.
There is no good solution to that save what we have just seen. And what we have just seen is the opposite of boots-on-the-ground war, and may well prevent that.
And… White supremacists? Seriously?
How is that different from US imperialism?
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Labeling him a terrorist is a bit of a simplification, he was a high ranking general and very well known in Iran. For a USA equivalent of how well known he was, and he would have been the general in charge of Army special forces and for running US support for the Iraqi army, and a regular on Fox News.
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And Bush is a terrorist on the terror list of other countries, responsible for the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi’s and Afghans in wars caused by the destruction of two towers in New York, primarily carried out… by Saudi’s. But Saudi Arabia wasn’t touched or punished and was the continual beneficiary of our largess and military sales. As Iraq once was in the 80’s.
But yeah, please school us on who is a terrorist. I’ve been watching these right-wing GOP fuckers for fifty years now, the biggest exporter of terrorism in the world is my own country, wrapped in a pretty flag and filled with jingoistic “support the troops!” bullshit.
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He is on the official terrorism list, as is his Al Quds proxy.
