RE: Shiite anger

[Gary MacLennan <g.maclennan@xxxxxxxxxx>]

At 09:13  11/10/03 -0400, Mark wrote:
> In one of the most sterling examples of an awful prediction I've ever
> made--the worst was in 1980, when I confidently predicted that the
> country wasn't quite so barking mad as to elect that stupid actor--I
> predicted that the US would never invade Afghanistan.  It made no sense,
> given the obvious problems that would follow a relatively easy military
> occupation.  If I could see those problems--I reasoned--surely the
> boneheads in Washington would see them.
>
> Reason has nothing to do with it.
>
> At this stage, I am more astonished at the superficially complacent
> state of the people.

It would appear that you and I keep banging our heads against the same
wall, Mark. Perhaps the basic flaw is indeed that we expect the bourgeoisie
at some stage to line up with logic and to act in their own best
interests.  But something Tom O' Lincoln said over 20 years ago to me has
stuck with me.  He  spoke to the effect that the American ruling class was
so arrogant that they did not make the kind of cautious each way type of
decisions that other ruling classes adhered to.  They were more of the
crash through variety.

If the reports coming out about Israeli plans to bomb Iran are true then we
are indeed in the crash through phase.

I would like to point out again here that the bombing of Syria and Iran are
perfect instances of how Israel serves American interests in the region and
how Sharon has morphed from doing the dirty business of Zionism to doing
the dirty business of American Imperialism. In effect Israel is filling the
probably temporary void created by the obvious disaster of the Iraq invasion.

It looked like Iraqi resistance was buying time for Syria and
Iran.  However that is where the Likud government comes in.  Their air
Force will act as proxies for the Americans.

The aim is a range of neo-liberal Arab and other Governments totally tied
into American (and by definition Israeli) interests. I suspect we are only
at the beginning of a series of further Imperialist adventures.

regards

Gary


~~~~~~~
PLEASE clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.