Vietnam: Love It or Leave It - Part II

A retreat of the US from Vietnam would be a Communist victory of massive proportions and would lead to World War Three.

- Richard Nixon

I Would Never Cut You Off But...

This is why you don't see many media presentations of first hand accounts from civilians caught in war zones.

They're not as good at spinning a story as the professionals are. Luckily, our intrepid reporter is on hand to reign things in when the amateurs get off script.

Not that Russia is entirely blameless in this conflict either but the picture from the US media that the Russians are responsible start to finish with what's happening in Georgia is comically lopsided.

Free Drug Trade

Scholars of the British Empire tend to display simple amnesia: the systematic omission of subjects that are impossible to square with the idea of "liberal imperialism." For example, both Niall Ferguson and the Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire skip lightly over the fact that the empire operated the world's largest and most successful drug cartel. During the nineteenth century, Britain fought two wars of choice with China to force it to import opium. The Australian scholar Carl A. Trocki concludes that, given the huge profits from the sale of opium, "without the drug there probably would have been no British empire."

That's a quote/paraphrase from Chalmers Johnson's Nemesis, a highly recommended read.

I remember being very confused about the Opium Wars in high school. This was during the height of America's so called drug war. I found it hard to accept that Britain fought wars in order to force people to buy drugs. It's like something out of a bad Jean-Claude Van Damme movie. In the final fight scene, Van Damme does the splits and punches a snickering mustachioed Britain in the balls.



-------------
Carl A. Trocki - Opium, Empire and the Global Political Economy

Niall Ferguson - Empire

What Kind of Peace

Thanks to a dream that I had about a month ago I got a desire to watch Oliver Stone's JFK. Now, I feel that the dream was a message by whatever force it is that conjures dreams. I have a lot to say about it but it's late. I'll just quote from a speech that Kennedy gave and a University commencement that's in the beginning of the movie and was given about 6 months before Kennedy was shot.

...what kind of a peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, and the kind that enables men and nations to grow, and to hope, and build a better life for their children -- not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women, not merely peace in our time but peace in all time...

...It is discouraging to read a recent, authoritative Soviet text on military strategy and find, on page after page, wholly baseless and incredible claims, such as the allegation that American imperialist circles are preparing to unleash different types of war, that there is a very real threat of a preventive war being unleashed by American imperialists against the Soviet Union, and that the political aims -- and I quote -- "of the American imperialists are to enslave economically and politically the European and other capitalist countries and to achieve world domination by means of aggressive war."

I just want to note two things about these quotes from the speech. First, a Pax Americana could be thought of as the foundational principle of the neoconservative movement. Second, many high ranking officials in the military and government did indeed plan on using aggressive war and first strike attacks to subdue the Soviets and achieve domination. The most overt and outspoken of these people was Curtis Le May. Kennedy certainly knew of these people and their views at the time of the speech.

Labrynth 2: Electric Bogaloo

I just saw Pan's Labyrinth the other day and let me just say that

1. I was disappointed that David Bowie didn't at least make a brief reprisal in his role as the Goblin King and


2. Jim Henson has gone in an entirely new direction since he died

But seriously folks, didn't that movie make the Spanish Civil War look like the feel good war of 1944? It was a crowded field that year what with the "Saving Private Ryan Wars", the "War of Iwo Jima" and my personal favorite "Das Boot Battles" all going on at the same time. With that kind of star power to contend with, a lot of Americans except for us lefties forget about the Spanish Civil War. Kind of the same way the US forgot about Franco when we launched our war against Fascism.

And, as far as muppets and puppets go, I realized a few years ago that Jim Henson was so amazing at what he did that an entire medium of expression was weakened when he died. No more "Dark Crystal", "Muppet Movies", "The Muppet Show" or even muppet Yoda.

Clear as the Fog of War

I heard a good program on "The Story" with Dick Gordon today. In general, I'm not a big fan of the show but this one was particularly good. It's an interview with the Molly Bingham and Steve Connors, documentary filmmakers who spent almost a year in Iraq and (without intentionally trying to) ended up covering people within the Iraqi resistance. They just released a film about it called "Meeting Resistance." I highly recommend checking out the interview.

(Poster from a Chicago Daily News photographer of a French war poster 1918 via American Memory)

What is it Good For?

A couple of ongoing fictional series' have indirectly taken on the War on Terror as a subject for drama. The new Battlestar Galactica and Marvel comics Civil War certainly try. One of the most appropriate works which takes on the issues of the war is the Japanese manga turned anime Full Metal Alchemist.

If you don't like anime and you want to see what I'm talking about, you should skip ahead to 6:40.

Even without any political overtones, Full Metal Alchemist reaches the top of the anime pyramid as it alternates between comedic and dramatic, lighthearted and deep in contemplation of the darkness of the soul. It does get a bit long winded and plot twisty in the middle of the series though. Leave it to Japan to understand what it means to be a dominant colonial power as well as a satellite state.

An Idea Worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize

Native Americans had the right idea. If you really want peace, associated it with an addictive substance (peace pipe). That way, war continues until the leaders start fiending for their cigs. I think that we of the future world could go a step further with the aid of our modern super drugs. Then, some day, hundreds of years from now, our grandchildren will be able to see a peace crack pipe or peace cocaine straw in the Smithsonian. The only draw back is that your president will be addicted to cocaine. I wonder with that would be like?