It’s an old system, too. What’s now the Saudi royal family and the families that tend to head up Wahabbism have been buddies since Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab first founded the faith in the 1790s.
1 Like
And I can criticise rebels who can’t spell the Queen’s English properly. But I don’t, because I’m aware that not everyone writes that variant — my variant — of the language.
1 Like
I know it seems odd, but we can discuss the dehumanizing effects of prejudice and bigotry towards a group of people and at the same time we can discuss the dehumanizing effects of a repressive society.
6 Likes
Two decades? We’ve been at it a lot longer than that. Saddam Hussein? Yep, that was the US in '82. Taliban? US again! Reagan called them allies and freedom fighters. The Iranian coup d’état in '53 that replaced the democratically elected secular leader with a dictator who ultimately caused the coup that put the present regime in place? The US literally installed him. (That is specifically why much of Iran became pissed off at the US, in fact) Gaafar Nimeiry, the guy principally responsible for sparking the second Sudanese civil war? You’ll never guess who he got help from! Fun fact, Nimeiry imposed brutal fundamentalist Shariah law in 1982 and the US continued to supply him with tons of weapons for five more years–taking a blind eye toward the regime’s abhorrent behavior in favor of trying to stop Ethopian Socialists. Ferdinand Marcos? Horrible and corrupt dictator of the Philippines who ultimately enacted martial law and stole unbelievable amounts of money from his own people? Yup, US helped there to keep those scary left leaning Partido Liberal ng Pilipinas folks out of power–ironic because later Marcos ended up later deciding that communist China wasn’t so bad and normalized ties with them. (The US had worried that Chinese communism would ultimately seep into Filipino politics, which is why they supported him. That, and he was a brutal monster and brutal monsters buy lots of weapons.) Even after that, the US government welcomed him with open arms and let him live out the rest of his exiled days in Hawaii.
Anyway, I could go on for hours about this stuff, but I think that’s enough. Our government and military has been waggling its genitals in the mashed potatoes of countless countries for over half a century with little regard for the well being of the actual people in those countries, opting instead to support leaders and regimes that suit the interests of the people in power in the US at the time. It’s a pretty goddamned sad legacy to have, and apparently a third of the country wants us to do more of it. Oh well, at least I got some good laughs at the incredulity of news anchors and other people during the 2003 invasion of Iraq when they realized that the people in Iraq were not exactly happy about us attempting to “liberate” them. It wasn’t because “we’re an insulated society that dislikes outsiders and hates the West.” or, “but we all liked Saddam Hussein!” It was more of a “you people created this mess, you’ve already failed one opportunity to fix it, and we’re pretty sure you’re going to screw up your second attempt and make things even worse.”
(Potentially interesting bonus anecdote: There’s perhaps a higher than average Iraqi expat community near where I live which has given me the opportunity to have some frank discussions with Iraqi people about Hussein, their feelings about American involvement, etc. Those discussions were interesting in general, but among the most interesting things is how those same people have since told me that they’re worried because they see a lot of parallels between Trump and Hussein. Not literal parallels in terms of deeds, Trump isn’t using chemical weapons on his own people and outright murdering his opposition, but the cult of personality, the authoritarianism, the professed infallibility, and the minority factions within the US that fervently and, at times, violently support specifically him. Scary stuff to hear from people who have fled half way around the world to get away from that sort of thing.)
4 Likes
Yeah you’re right. The recent meddling in the middle east is once again a continuation of those errors. It just goes on and on and on. The US public indulges their fantasy of global do-gooder / defender of freedom and strokes it’s military fetish (my peni… military is bigger than yours hur dur) while the rest of the planet gets hit by the fallout (terrorism, refugees etc).
I’m sick of hearing “but I didn’t vote for him”. Republican or Democrat - there is no difference, every US politician has to please the US voter and the US voter wants flag waving nationalism and the military golden calf. Obama tortured and killed like G.W. Bush - it’s just degrees of awfulness.
Why aren’t those that didn’t vote for Trump (or Bush, or …) on the streets. I don’t see hundreds of thousands marching to Washington, boycotts, nationwide strikes etc right now like e.g. in Venezuela. If people are really opposed to something they have take action and do something or they’re responsible as well.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Edmund Burke
2 Likes
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
