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

Sunday, August 14, 2011

NATO reneges on its mission

Click here to access article by Thierry Meyssan from Voltaire. 

This astute observer fills in the missing news about Libya on US mainstream media. Nothing of the NATO campaign has been reported in the US for many weeks simply because the news is not good. The campaign is in shambles, and extensive efforts are underway to salvage something for the Empire from the disaster. The author presents a very different view of Libyan society that may offer some insights for NATO's defeat:
The country is ruled by people’s congresses and Muammar Gaddafi has reduced most of the administrations to their simplest expression. There are no grand ministries to be found here, only small offices. The ministers are not high-profile personalities, but simply team leaders. They are the advisers who are assisting the people through their powerful skills. Power is diluted and elusive. What used to be a headache for the businessmen who visited Libya, i.e. finding the right interlocutors, has now become an enigma for NATO strategists: who should one target? After five months of bombardments, they still have to figure it out.
See also this report by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya.