nuggets

blessed britons

I accuse Shell and Chevron of practising racism against the Ogoni people because they do in Ogoni what they do not do in other parts of the world where they prospect for oil. I accuse the oil companies of encouraging genocide against the Ogoni people... The profits from oil come to Britain because it is their technology that is keeping Nigerian oil going. So they have a moral responsibility to intervene... My mission has been to inform the West of the truth of what is happening in Nigeria, which has been hidden from them. I believe if people knew they’d do something about it and stop this robbery and murder that is going on in broad daylight.

— Ken Saro-Wiwa

mad world

The million Iraqi deaths from the “sanctions of mass destruction” of the 1990s is unmentioned in Samantha Power’s ludicrous treatise on genocide (“A Problem from Hell”: America and the Age of Genocide), just as she fails to deal seriously with the Indonesian massacres in East Timor. The U.S.-coalition invasion-occupation of Iraq from 2003 has added another million to the Iraqi toll, but the idea that this is “genocide” is inexpressible in the U.S. mainstream media, which is focused on the more politically convenient killings in Darfur - attributable to a Western target, the Arab government of the Sudan, hence subject to the invidious word genocidal. This is implicit but real denial, which follows from the political basis of naming and concern.

— Edward Herman

HERE TO STAY

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Submitted by antarchi on August 16, 2007 - 02:26.

'I think the message that we're trying - that we are sending to everyone, not just to Iran, is that the United States is an enduring presence in this part of the world. We have been here for a long time, we will be here for a long time. And everybody needs to remember that - both our friends, and those who might consider themselves our adversaries'

Robert Gates, US Secretary of Defence, December 2006

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From US government military strategy documents:

Quoted in Dahr Jamail's Iraq: Permanent US Colony

2002 National Security Strategy:

'Our forces will be strong enough to dissuade potential adversaries from pursuing a military build-up in hopes of surpassing, or equalling, the power of the United States'

To accomplish this, the US will 'require bases and stations within and beyond Western Europe and Northeast Asia.'

"Joint Vision 2020", from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

... whose 'vision' is "Dedicated individuals and innovative organizations transforming the joint force of the 21st Century to achieve full spectrum dominance [bold type theirs]: persuasive in peace, decisive in war, pre-eminent in any form of conflict [italics theirs]."

From the Quadrennial Defence Review Report released on February 6, 2006:

There is a stated ambition to fight "multiple, overlapping wars" and to "ensure that all major and emerging powers are integrated as constructive actors and stakeholders into the international system." The report goes on to say that the US will "also seek to ensure that no foreign power can dictate terms of regional or global security. It will attempt to dissuade any military competitor from developing disruptive or other capabilities that could enable regional hegemony or hostile action against the United States or other friendly countries, and it will seek to deter aggression or coercion. Should deterrence fail, the United States would deny a hostile power its strategic and operational objectives."

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The nuggets below mostly relate to the enormous military bases being built in Iraq. View all together here. Also recommended is the film from which many are taken: The Bases are Loaded

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nuggets

blessed britons

mad world

HERE TO STAY

From US government military strategy documents:

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