"The United States and the globe-spanning empire structured around it have inflicted depravities upon our species".
Let's please not forget the "infliction of depravities" upon the many other species in the Biosphere. US society is a profligate waste of resources pouring human labor into implements of death — with accompanying destructive impacts on the Natural world.
So true my friend. I just read an article in Nature talking about the Billions of birds of various species missing from many parts of the u.s. : ( The article isn't specific on the cause other than to suggest, climate warmer, artificial agricultural chemicals, as well as the Colorado river at it's lowest level again which is nearing none hydropower production. We in IL. u.s. are now again in drought : ( I am planting a very long row of native wildflowers for the birds and insects in our area. I live in a typical suburban home my Son and I own. We never used lawn chemicals and enjoyed the varied plant life. Then neighbors realizing they didn't have a choice since we would not yield to the murder of wildlife for the painted looking landscape decided they would not spends hundreds and hundred of dollars contributing to the contamination of our small neighborhood water well.
My Son being a Microbiologist with two or three sentences explained what they were doing to themselves and to us. I ran several experiments in the lawn doing something I did when a won a Science Fair as a young person. I didn't mow a large 20'x 40' part of the lawn for the entire Spring, Summer, and Fall. It was amazing seeing the prairie return.
Birds, Butterflies, Dragonflies, Frogs, Toads, Rabbits, Squirrels, etc. return. The wildflowers were also there hidden in the artificial turf by a fool cutting the turf : (
I still have that lapel pin Biology first prize hahaha. My Ex-wife took it with her jewelry box and my wedding ring. She rang me up and asked if I wanted the ring, I said and you know me well enough now, NOPE keep the ring, I do however want he pin. I could almost hear the sound of disgust hahahha.
Great stories, my friend. Nature will always return to its diversity when the poisoned hands of imperialist capitalist greed are withdrawn. There are so many subtle and not-so-subtle ways in which our machinations impede the systemic marvels of the Biosphere. Your ex should have understood you better.
1) "Let's please not forget the 'infliction of depravities' upon the many other species in the Biosphere. "
See Abby Martin's Empire Files documentary "Earth's Greatest Enemy," "A look into the world's largest polluter—the US military."
2) Credit needs to be given where credit is due as to moral stature. Yemen, probably the poorest country on earth, nonetheless became the only country to take necessary, obligatory, UN-sanctioned military action against vessels carrying cargoes bound for genocidal Israel. Ships were sunk and damaged. Meanwhile, personnel serving with the US 6th Fleet - an example of what the richest country on earth spends its treasure on - consisting of two carrier task groups and based in Naples, were enjoying lattes and cappuccinos while on shore leave.
3) From the Library of Congress and the Academy of American Poets:
"'The New Colossus' is a sonnet written by Emma Lazarus in 1883... created to help raise funds for the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty." Famously including the line "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," "[t]he poem has since become a defining statement of American values regarding immigration and freedom."
The “where you’d rather live” argument also completely ignores the fact that so much of the “peace and prosperity” people have enjoyed in the west for decades depends on the looting and subjugation of other nations. In this regard, China played the US brilliantly at its own game. West thought it was using China to produce consumer goods that they could buy cheap and sell expensive. China sacrificed some pawns to lure them into complacency. The game is already over
Interesting thought. I think the Chinese are far smarter than that. Money is a tool and how you use that tool builds a sustainable future. We shall see as we in the u.s. destroy ourselves at a faster rate then the pretend enemies do : (
Yes, I am not debating that. I will debate the timeline. China is thinking so much further ahead. Iran as you say will be interesting to see how China and Russia both respond knowing their futures are tied to Iran more so now than ever. We will continue our debate my friend. I wish our friend Gypsy was here to bring more fire. She would re-heat my coffee : ) If you see her tell her I love her.
That comment perfectly illustrates the deadly hubris of the west. China’s public infrastructure vastly outstrips that of the crumbling “imperial capital”. Just compare a train journey from Washington to New York with one from Beijing to Shanghai.
So few in the u.s. understand that. We are building a Neutrino experiment using a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber the largest yet built in the u.s. DUNE Deep Underground Neutrino Exp. I am not on that experiment however I was on a very small version that demonstrated with 99.9999% pure Argon you could see Neutrino tracks looking for the flavor change. The Chinese starting 3 years late, have taken data last July with an added Anti-Neutrino source from adjacent nuclear reactors. We are still 4 years away from turning the exp. on with limited funding. We certainly were played by the Duopoly.
Iran is infinitely morally superior to US and Israel, which are on par and at the bottom of the scale.
Only USrael bombs hospitals and schools. Iran has not bombed any school or hospital and it will never do it, as it is profoundly contrary to Islamic law (sharia).
Correct. It is *now* known that Mr Trump ordered preemptive attacks on Iranian targets because he was convinced Israel would attack *prior* to US actions. He allegedly believed this would reduce Iranian retaliation against US military bases in the region. WTF? Obviously, Mr Trump (and his administration) are in well over their heads.
Netanyahu is laughing at Mr Trump for being so stupid as to preempt an Israeli inspired war.
Yeah, it's strange. The US propaganda is some variation around the theme "we are the good guys and fight the bad guys" ie play the morality card that is indeed quite effective. But on every conceivable objective criterion, China, Russia and Iran are more ethical than the US. That's blindly obvious in foreign policy: just count and compare the number of people killed, countries destroyed or invaded or bombed, governments overthrown, sanctions implemented that hurt populations. But it is also true in domestic policy: just compare how the bottom 50% of Americans have fared in the last decades, compared to the population of China, Russia (despite the sanctions), Iran (despite the sanctions). Even Europe's vassal governments care much better for their population than the US's.
It used to. Many years ago I was shocked to read in Der Spiegel an interview with a Saudi government representative who plainly said, "Only a fool would trust the US". After the betrayal of Gorbachev, the Kurds, and the Afghans; the unilateral withdrawal from numerous treaties; the destruction of Nord Stream; the support for the genocide in Gaza; and, in particular, the abandonment of all pretence under Trump, it is clear to everyone that the US is completely untrustworthy. I suppose governments around the world are only worrying about how to survive the US's accelerating decline with minimal damage to their own countries.
That said, this simply reflects their relative power. Were Iran (or anyone else) as powerful as the United States, they would behave accordingly..Israel shows what humans with de facto unlimited rights and zero responsibilities act like.
Great point. If the u.s. had not empowered israel would they have remained a peaceful group living with a multicultural society? Sounds like another thesis topic for you : )
They, with their enablers Great Britain and then the US, were from the beginning of the creation of their country, intent on eliminating all non-jews from the territory that they stole and decided was theirs. So they were never a peaceful group to start with.
I think that depends. While it might be true, and I have to give credence to the absolute power/corrupts quotation, I’d like to think there is the potential for a mindset reset along the relative power spectrum, even at the extreme, that would choose cooperation over extinction.
But that could be my inner John Lennon imagining things.
That's a typical argument of a criminal mindset, but simply is not true. Not everyone would kill, loot or steal if given the chance, but those who do rise to the top and declare themselves victors.
"Were Iran as powerful, they would behave the same way". It implies that anyone with power to do evil will do it. Respectfully disagree, but it's definitely what people in the western power structure think which is why they are so terrified of anyone being independent and strong. It's pure projection
No, it says that power attracts sociopaths. The history of the medieval Catholic Church is most instructive in this regard, and this an institution that traces its foundation to Jesus Christ Himself.
True, but not everyone wants that type of power. Just because I am strong enough to bully someone, does not mean I will do it (but yes, it also means I will not be at the top of the power structure)
It is not necessarily true that Iran would behave like the US and Israel if they were equally powerful. It seems that the Judeo-Christian capitalists are happily continuing the world domination doctrine that they believe in.
We have always been a terrorist nation... the most prolifically evil...on earth. Since 1948, when the US plunked down the fake state of Israel into the Middle East, the blood-terror bond was sealed: USRAYHELL... the US, the vassal. I marvel at the dignity of China. Dont bother tsk tsking me about Chinese "repression."
And just wait, the clowns will start belly aching about Taiwan. Because ONLY USRAYHELL has the right to exist... We are a Nazi state....an empire in collapse 🤞🤞🤞.
UN played a part, too....but I figure the US was highly involved...if a nefarious, calculating, hegemonic venture is in the making....we'll be in the mix.
Right on JennyStokes. The British empire simply shifted financial powers to the United Nations as World Bank systems, Bank(s) for International Settlement, International Monetary Fund, etc. These "policy" ploys set up fiat monopoly States such as Israel.
There's no other group of humans who built their entire power structure on the full and complete exploitation of other humans. Who did Americans have to be to sustain a 400 year crime against humanity? What kind of humans are the kinds of people who could perpetrate this kind of atrocity? And to this day they maintain the righteousness of their approach to human life. Over centuries they have spread their social disease. This is all of our problem.
My only quibble is that there maybe is a country which is "even close"--Israel. And unlike in the US, Israel's citizenry is solidly in support of its crimes. The whole argument is a bit fuzzy, because what do we mean by a country? Certainly not the territory marked on a map. But here, also not the people living therein--rather, we're talking about the governments controlling the country. The problem is that the people chosen to lead are mostly sociopaths willing to do depraved things for power and money--and no, these people are not chosen by the voters, much of anywhere--they're chosen by those who fund the campaigns.
If it ever had been a 'city on a hill,' it would have been a hill composed of bones and held together by the coagulated blood of the innumerable people whom it destroyed (25-35 million just since the end of WII, but who's counting?)
This war is about fundamentally conflicting worldviews. Iran is around today because its governing ethos is in harmony with its collective values.
Iran is an Islamic Republic because that reflects the truth of its core norms and values, and HUMILITY is among them. They are an industrious and fair minded nation that is concerned with surviving the challenges of the external world, and don’t believe that they can do so through dissembling and deception. Those are dishonorable motives that only bring pain.
This is a historic moment that millions of people in the West are missing, because they are too attached to faux values.
The can-do confidence of the brash, white man is a facade behind which a lonely, imposing hollowness resides. Trump’s refusal to ever acknowledge mistakes or ever display sincere regret for anything is a mirror for the CEO’s and their sycophantic followers and admirers. The leaders of the Christian faith have been exposed as vacant charlatans who go along with criminality to enjoy recognition and status.
Death is a part of life, and losing is an experience that nobody escapes. Westerners know this, but choose pretense because it serves the crooked system that yields their bounty.
When norms and values are shirked and mocked, nihilism replaces humility and conflict becomes inevitable.
If you had talked to Germans in the 1938 - 1942 timeframe they would have said something similar. There was full employment. The economy was better than ever. Yes, there was a war, but Germany was winning. Yes, there were stories about the secret police and camps, but they only dealt with communists, terrorists and subversive elements. Absolutely nothing to worry about until the military falters. Until Stalingrad. It is likely to be much the same for the American empire. Until someone can start shooting down stealth bombers and sinking aircraft carriers there is only one way for the stock market to go - up!
"The United States and the globe-spanning empire structured around it have inflicted depravities upon our species".
Let's please not forget the "infliction of depravities" upon the many other species in the Biosphere. US society is a profligate waste of resources pouring human labor into implements of death — with accompanying destructive impacts on the Natural world.
So true my friend. I just read an article in Nature talking about the Billions of birds of various species missing from many parts of the u.s. : ( The article isn't specific on the cause other than to suggest, climate warmer, artificial agricultural chemicals, as well as the Colorado river at it's lowest level again which is nearing none hydropower production. We in IL. u.s. are now again in drought : ( I am planting a very long row of native wildflowers for the birds and insects in our area. I live in a typical suburban home my Son and I own. We never used lawn chemicals and enjoyed the varied plant life. Then neighbors realizing they didn't have a choice since we would not yield to the murder of wildlife for the painted looking landscape decided they would not spends hundreds and hundred of dollars contributing to the contamination of our small neighborhood water well.
My Son being a Microbiologist with two or three sentences explained what they were doing to themselves and to us. I ran several experiments in the lawn doing something I did when a won a Science Fair as a young person. I didn't mow a large 20'x 40' part of the lawn for the entire Spring, Summer, and Fall. It was amazing seeing the prairie return.
Birds, Butterflies, Dragonflies, Frogs, Toads, Rabbits, Squirrels, etc. return. The wildflowers were also there hidden in the artificial turf by a fool cutting the turf : (
I still have that lapel pin Biology first prize hahaha. My Ex-wife took it with her jewelry box and my wedding ring. She rang me up and asked if I wanted the ring, I said and you know me well enough now, NOPE keep the ring, I do however want he pin. I could almost hear the sound of disgust hahahha.
Sorry about the ramblings.
Great stories, my friend. Nature will always return to its diversity when the poisoned hands of imperialist capitalist greed are withdrawn. There are so many subtle and not-so-subtle ways in which our machinations impede the systemic marvels of the Biosphere. Your ex should have understood you better.
1) "Let's please not forget the 'infliction of depravities' upon the many other species in the Biosphere. "
See Abby Martin's Empire Files documentary "Earth's Greatest Enemy," "A look into the world's largest polluter—the US military."
2) Credit needs to be given where credit is due as to moral stature. Yemen, probably the poorest country on earth, nonetheless became the only country to take necessary, obligatory, UN-sanctioned military action against vessels carrying cargoes bound for genocidal Israel. Ships were sunk and damaged. Meanwhile, personnel serving with the US 6th Fleet - an example of what the richest country on earth spends its treasure on - consisting of two carrier task groups and based in Naples, were enjoying lattes and cappuccinos while on shore leave.
3) From the Library of Congress and the Academy of American Poets:
"'The New Colossus' is a sonnet written by Emma Lazarus in 1883... created to help raise funds for the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty." Famously including the line "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," "[t]he poem has since become a defining statement of American values regarding immigration and freedom."
Well that ship has long since sailed.
Yes, Abby's doc is a great source, thanks for the reminder.
Yemenis are incredibly brave people. Deep respect. No lattés there!
My parents are [were] Italian immigrants; I'm a very old first-generation American, who is painfully aware that that ship done sailed long ago.
The “where you’d rather live” argument also completely ignores the fact that so much of the “peace and prosperity” people have enjoyed in the west for decades depends on the looting and subjugation of other nations. In this regard, China played the US brilliantly at its own game. West thought it was using China to produce consumer goods that they could buy cheap and sell expensive. China sacrificed some pawns to lure them into complacency. The game is already over
Of course. The imperial capital is always more prosperous than the sticks.
Anyway, China simply wants to make money and hopes that the Americans will turn on them last.
Interesting thought. I think the Chinese are far smarter than that. Money is a tool and how you use that tool builds a sustainable future. We shall see as we in the u.s. destroy ourselves at a faster rate then the pretend enemies do : (
I see no evidence of this, as the Americans pick off China's friends one by one and isolate China from inputs.
Yes, I am not debating that. I will debate the timeline. China is thinking so much further ahead. Iran as you say will be interesting to see how China and Russia both respond knowing their futures are tied to Iran more so now than ever. We will continue our debate my friend. I wish our friend Gypsy was here to bring more fire. She would re-heat my coffee : ) If you see her tell her I love her.
Seems to be assuming facts not in evidence.
As I say time will only tell : )
“The sticks” 😂
That comment perfectly illustrates the deadly hubris of the west. China’s public infrastructure vastly outstrips that of the crumbling “imperial capital”. Just compare a train journey from Washington to New York with one from Beijing to Shanghai.
So few in the u.s. understand that. We are building a Neutrino experiment using a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber the largest yet built in the u.s. DUNE Deep Underground Neutrino Exp. I am not on that experiment however I was on a very small version that demonstrated with 99.9999% pure Argon you could see Neutrino tracks looking for the flavor change. The Chinese starting 3 years late, have taken data last July with an added Anti-Neutrino source from adjacent nuclear reactors. We are still 4 years away from turning the exp. on with limited funding. We certainly were played by the Duopoly.
Iran Is Morally Superior To The Entire Western World.
So is Russia.
100.
That's quite a bait comment.
True, but it doesn't matter, as Iran will be dismembered.
Morally, humm. Certainly not subordinate.
Iran is infinitely morally superior to US and Israel, which are on par and at the bottom of the scale.
Only USrael bombs hospitals and schools. Iran has not bombed any school or hospital and it will never do it, as it is profoundly contrary to Islamic law (sharia).
Correct. It is *now* known that Mr Trump ordered preemptive attacks on Iranian targets because he was convinced Israel would attack *prior* to US actions. He allegedly believed this would reduce Iranian retaliation against US military bases in the region. WTF? Obviously, Mr Trump (and his administration) are in well over their heads.
Netanyahu is laughing at Mr Trump for being so stupid as to preempt an Israeli inspired war.
Yeah, it's strange. The US propaganda is some variation around the theme "we are the good guys and fight the bad guys" ie play the morality card that is indeed quite effective. But on every conceivable objective criterion, China, Russia and Iran are more ethical than the US. That's blindly obvious in foreign policy: just count and compare the number of people killed, countries destroyed or invaded or bombed, governments overthrown, sanctions implemented that hurt populations. But it is also true in domestic policy: just compare how the bottom 50% of Americans have fared in the last decades, compared to the population of China, Russia (despite the sanctions), Iran (despite the sanctions). Even Europe's vassal governments care much better for their population than the US's.
The United States has soft power, the ability to get its narratives accepted, and it uses it.
It used to. Many years ago I was shocked to read in Der Spiegel an interview with a Saudi government representative who plainly said, "Only a fool would trust the US". After the betrayal of Gorbachev, the Kurds, and the Afghans; the unilateral withdrawal from numerous treaties; the destruction of Nord Stream; the support for the genocide in Gaza; and, in particular, the abandonment of all pretence under Trump, it is clear to everyone that the US is completely untrustworthy. I suppose governments around the world are only worrying about how to survive the US's accelerating decline with minimal damage to their own countries.
Ignore what they say. Watch what they do.
Europe's vassal governments are now beginning to sacrifice their populations' well being and safety for a misguided blind hatred toward Russia.
I support Iran. Cancel Israel and its Zionist suporters. Have the Synagogues in Iran been bombed by Israel yet? Wage Peace.
This is not a high bar.
That said, this simply reflects their relative power. Were Iran (or anyone else) as powerful as the United States, they would behave accordingly..Israel shows what humans with de facto unlimited rights and zero responsibilities act like.
Who knows?
Great point. If the u.s. had not empowered israel would they have remained a peaceful group living with a multicultural society? Sounds like another thesis topic for you : )
Well, there probably wouldn't be an "Israel" the way it is today. Israel acts the way they do because they can.
They, with their enablers Great Britain and then the US, were from the beginning of the creation of their country, intent on eliminating all non-jews from the territory that they stole and decided was theirs. So they were never a peaceful group to start with.
I think that depends. While it might be true, and I have to give credence to the absolute power/corrupts quotation, I’d like to think there is the potential for a mindset reset along the relative power spectrum, even at the extreme, that would choose cooperation over extinction.
But that could be my inner John Lennon imagining things.
Power attracts the corrupt.
Leave out unguarded a few bricks of pure uncut pharmaceutical grade cocaine. Normies won't touch it. Addicts and dealers, on the other hand....
I’m just a rat in Hari’s cocaine-available rat park.
I used to think what you said here was true, too. Not anymore.
That's a typical argument of a criminal mindset, but simply is not true. Not everyone would kill, loot or steal if given the chance, but those who do rise to the top and declare themselves victors.
I didn't say everyone has a criminal mindset.
Quite the opposite.
"Were Iran as powerful, they would behave the same way". It implies that anyone with power to do evil will do it. Respectfully disagree, but it's definitely what people in the western power structure think which is why they are so terrified of anyone being independent and strong. It's pure projection
No, it says that power attracts sociopaths. The history of the medieval Catholic Church is most instructive in this regard, and this an institution that traces its foundation to Jesus Christ Himself.
True, but not everyone wants that type of power. Just because I am strong enough to bully someone, does not mean I will do it (but yes, it also means I will not be at the top of the power structure)
I keep saying that - most humans don't want that power. Those that do are precisely the ones who will do whatever it takes to get it.
Which is why power inevitably ends up int he hands of sociopaths.
It is not necessarily true that Iran would behave like the US and Israel if they were equally powerful. It seems that the Judeo-Christian capitalists are happily continuing the world domination doctrine that they believe in.
Why? AFAICT, humans are the same everywhere.
We have always been a terrorist nation... the most prolifically evil...on earth. Since 1948, when the US plunked down the fake state of Israel into the Middle East, the blood-terror bond was sealed: USRAYHELL... the US, the vassal. I marvel at the dignity of China. Dont bother tsk tsking me about Chinese "repression."
And just wait, the clowns will start belly aching about Taiwan. Because ONLY USRAYHELL has the right to exist... We are a Nazi state....an empire in collapse 🤞🤞🤞.
The evil British made Israel a State.
It's funny the only Jewish person on the Balfour signed document voted no Edwin Montague. He said, why should I leave when my life is here. Crickets
UN played a part, too....but I figure the US was highly involved...if a nefarious, calculating, hegemonic venture is in the making....we'll be in the mix.
There was no UN in 1917.
There was no state of Israel until after WWII.
We were referring to the 1917 Balfour Declaration.
Right on JennyStokes. The British empire simply shifted financial powers to the United Nations as World Bank systems, Bank(s) for International Settlement, International Monetary Fund, etc. These "policy" ploys set up fiat monopoly States such as Israel.
For evil racist reasons : (
The empire is not collapsing.
Far from it.
😒
It’s a very low bar.
There's no other group of humans who built their entire power structure on the full and complete exploitation of other humans. Who did Americans have to be to sustain a 400 year crime against humanity? What kind of humans are the kinds of people who could perpetrate this kind of atrocity? And to this day they maintain the righteousness of their approach to human life. Over centuries they have spread their social disease. This is all of our problem.
Because they can.
My only quibble is that there maybe is a country which is "even close"--Israel. And unlike in the US, Israel's citizenry is solidly in support of its crimes. The whole argument is a bit fuzzy, because what do we mean by a country? Certainly not the territory marked on a map. But here, also not the people living therein--rather, we're talking about the governments controlling the country. The problem is that the people chosen to lead are mostly sociopaths willing to do depraved things for power and money--and no, these people are not chosen by the voters, much of anywhere--they're chosen by those who fund the campaigns.
'Iran is morally superior to the United States.'
These days, that's not saying much.
100%! and to all those who always shift the blame to the Zio Cult as if the US has ever been a “shining city on the hill”
and meanwhile, spokes for many EU countries are admonishing Iran for its limited strikes without even mentioning the US/Israeli attacks
worse still, Merz implied that international laws shouldn't be applied to Iran
If it ever had been a 'city on a hill,' it would have been a hill composed of bones and held together by the coagulated blood of the innumerable people whom it destroyed (25-35 million just since the end of WII, but who's counting?)
This war is about fundamentally conflicting worldviews. Iran is around today because its governing ethos is in harmony with its collective values.
Iran is an Islamic Republic because that reflects the truth of its core norms and values, and HUMILITY is among them. They are an industrious and fair minded nation that is concerned with surviving the challenges of the external world, and don’t believe that they can do so through dissembling and deception. Those are dishonorable motives that only bring pain.
This is a historic moment that millions of people in the West are missing, because they are too attached to faux values.
The can-do confidence of the brash, white man is a facade behind which a lonely, imposing hollowness resides. Trump’s refusal to ever acknowledge mistakes or ever display sincere regret for anything is a mirror for the CEO’s and their sycophantic followers and admirers. The leaders of the Christian faith have been exposed as vacant charlatans who go along with criminality to enjoy recognition and status.
Death is a part of life, and losing is an experience that nobody escapes. Westerners know this, but choose pretense because it serves the crooked system that yields their bounty.
When norms and values are shirked and mocked, nihilism replaces humility and conflict becomes inevitable.
This is where we are.
well a government run like the mafia by pedos and rapists is not the moral superior of anyone.
If you had talked to Germans in the 1938 - 1942 timeframe they would have said something similar. There was full employment. The economy was better than ever. Yes, there was a war, but Germany was winning. Yes, there were stories about the secret police and camps, but they only dealt with communists, terrorists and subversive elements. Absolutely nothing to worry about until the military falters. Until Stalingrad. It is likely to be much the same for the American empire. Until someone can start shooting down stealth bombers and sinking aircraft carriers there is only one way for the stock market to go - up!
A great deal of truth to that. The difference is that this time around, there is no real opposition.
Russia desperately wants to be allowed to join The Club. China just wants to sell stuff and hopes that the Americans will turn on them last.