It is amazing how accurate George Orwell was about how he saw the future. As an active participant in the Spanish Civil War he witnessed first hand the mailed fist of the emerging fascist powers of the 1930s, the duplicity of the Soviet rulers, and the hypocrisy of Western elites.
Although I don't approve of his name calling, I share in the author's astonishment about US officials always bringing up the tiresome human rights issue whenever they negotiate with Chinese officials. It must gall Chinese officials and the rest of the world given the atrocious record of the US in that regard.
I really don't see China as replacing bin Laden. China is by far too powerful a world player to be regarded as an individual rogue. There are, and will be, plenty of others in 3rd world countries to take his place: anyone who fights back effectively against the Empire's domination and exploitation of their countries.
Most importantly Roberts is offering valuable evidence of the growing fascist behavior of government authorities within the US. Because mainstream media serves mostly to dis-inform and distract the American populace, reports such as the incident in Illinois need to get out.
The executive branch of the federal government, to whom we used to look to protect us from abuses at the state and local level, acquired the right under the Bush regime to ignore both US and international law, along with the US Constitution and the constitutional powers of Congress and the judiciary. As long as there is a “state of war,” such as the open-ended “war on terror,” the executive branch is higher than the law and is unaccountable to law. Amerika is not a democracy, but a country ruled by an executive branch Caesar.
