Surviving Capitalism (Not) : The "Threat" of Iran? Or the Threat of Saying "No" to Washington?

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, July 6, 2014

The "Threat" of Iran? Or the Threat of Saying "No" to Washington?

Click here to access article by SteveMC from his blog Reports from Underground.

A ruling class of an imperial nation must always convince its citizens that its aggressive actions are always legitimate. Whenever another nation stands in the way of its imperial ambitions by objecting to their actions, such nations become a target. To do this, they often portray the other nation as a threat. The author in this article explains how the Empire currently uses this ruse in the face of startlingly contradictory facts, and comes to this conclusion:

...we should look critically at the validity of any media or politicians claims in relation to the existence of an outside threat, we should understand that the US is the world’s largest and quite possible will be the only truly global, hegemonic superpower, and that a superpower of this magnitude, and power systems in general, necessitate a perceived outside threat as a means of mobilizing popular support for imperialistic military ventures, as well as to justify the containment of other powers, the domination of strategic regions, and the acquisition of resources conducive to global power and influence.