Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Black sites in the empire of bases

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Black sites in the empire of bases

by Nick Turse from Asia Times Online. He lists several hundred bases in Afghanistan alone in addition to the official 710 world wide. Many bases are "black", i.e., unknown to people in the US outside of the Pentagon. The immense cost of those in Iraq and Afghanistan suggest that they intend to be a permanent presence for US/NATO forces.