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LIES, WITH A LIFE OF THEIR OWN
By George Gregoriou
Greek News
http://www.greeknewsonline.com/modules.php?na me=News&file=article&sid=7961
Jan 21 2008
New York
The White House is at a loss without militarism and a culture of
fear. It is the only way to keep the people at bay (powerless),
do with less, and obey the rules, rigged against them. The old Cold
War served this purpose. But, the war on terrorism in Afghanistan
and Iraq is like poking a stick into a hornetʼs nest, stirring
an angry feeling and a serious sting. It is fear al-right, but it is
too much. It backfired. The new encirclement of Russia by Washington
is not working either. Russia, China, the EU, and South America, are
opposed to American unilateralism. Most Americans are fed up with the
Iraq war. But, the White House is determined to stir the pot. It is
determined to install anti-missile systems in the Czech Republic and
Poland, to defend Europe (and Russia?) from possible missile attacks
from Iran! The Iranians do not have them now, but they could have them
15 years from now. Washington cannot wait that long. A dose of fear
is needed, but an overdose will stir the pot at home. It will have to
create the excuses for a confrontation now. Putin is not buying it. He
is ready to point the Russian missiles at Europe. The new regime in
Poland is already having second thoughts on the missiles. Anyway, this
is Cold War II talk. Imperial America needs enemies, real or imagined.
The White House is already talking about WWIII, with Iran. Iran has
an economy the size of Connecticut. In a WWIII climate, other powers,
big and small, have to get involved, to make World War III talk more
realistic. The White House also claims the death of American soldiers
in Iraq is due to Iranians providing training and weapons to the
Shiite terrorists in Iraq. The "surge" is working, though there were
more US soldiers killed in 2007 than in 2006. How dare these Iranians
do such a thing? The message is simple. The US mission is to destroy
and rebuild Iraq. This is done in every conflict. We are good at it.
That is legitimate, but Iranian assistance to its co-religious
neighbors in Iraq (or the Syrians to the Sunnis) is illegitimate.
Iran is a threat to peace in the Middle East. The US invasion
and occupation of Iraq, its support for the Israeli occupation of
Palestinian land, the Turkish persecution of 15 million Kurds, and
the occupation of northern Cyprus by Turkey is for peace. George
Orwell still makes sense in 2008: "Peace is War and War is Peace".
The White House has a global perspective. It warned Cuba that the
transition of power from Fidel to Raul Castro is not acceptable.
Washington did control the fate of Cuba since the Spanish-American
War of 1898, until the Cuban Revolution of 1960. How dare they go
their own way? They have no respect for the big brother in the north,
nor the need for Cuban votes in Florida and New Jersey, for the
Republican Party? The White House and its cheerleaders are always
up to something. Fox News, announced that those fires in California
(caused by arsonists or campers?), the rumor has it, that Al Queda was
behind them! These terrorists must be brilliant or they may be working
for developers? This claim proved me wrong. When I read the Koran I
came across "Allah Is Great" 13 times in just two pages. I said to
myself "OK, Allah, I got the message the first time. Anyone who has
to hear it thirteen times to get it must be an idiot." Greeks thrive
on rumors, in coffee shops, and cabs. After WWII they were saturated
with rumors. Everything, from crop failures to natural poverty, was
blamed on the communists in the north and their fellow travelers in
Greece. Vasilis Vasilikos and Costas Gavras tell that story in Z. The
White House learned something from the Anglo-American intervention
in Greece or taught the Greeks to be vigilant against the threat of
communism, not Turkey our friend and ally, thanks to US-NATO dollars
and guns. But, we came a long way. At least, in the recent fires in
Greece, Greeks blamed on tourists and developers, not KKE.
The Greek national issues were always sacrificed to the sake of
the alliance. For the greater part of the 20th century, the Greek
people were literally on their knees~Kthe Asia Minor catastrophe,
the royalist-Venizelist feuding, the Great Depression, the "fascism"
of Metaxas, the Nazi occupation, the Civil War, the US-NATO hegemony
during the Cold War, and the never-ending Cyprus problem, the military
junta, and the Turkish occupation and ethnic cleansing in northern
Cyprus. Speaking for myself, I do not forget nor forgive those who
had a hand in these tragic events, symptoms of a malaise, a powerless
Greece and powerful bullies in the neighborhood.
We, Greek-Americans, live in the belly of the super-bully. I am told
that as a US citizen and a veteran, I have rights. The only right I
seem to exercise is to make the insults more insulting by discussing
them. Why do Greeks pay a high price for US geopolitical interests?
Why are Greek political leaders spineless? If the expenditures on
health in the US are over 2 trillion dollars, why are health services
not improving or affordable? Bills seem to pile up, and the collection
agencies call in the morning or at dinner time. Why the millions of
home foreclosures? Who is benefiting from the oil prices going sky
high? We are told it is happening because of the oil cartel profits,
the Kurdish-Turkish border crisis, and the threats by the White House
to bomb Iran. I was just reminded by an economist that as Barack
Obama goes up in the polls, the stock market goes down. Obama is not
trusted. Bush is. I asked my friend to do the Hillary Clinton thing,
shedding tears and denouncing Obama at the same time!
The most heated discussions we will have during the election will be
the undocumented immigrants, gay marriages, abortion, guns, and the
flag, and the need to make sacrifices, be tough in fighting terrorism,
not the causes which create terrorism. It is that simple, and it does
not cost money to get votes. Undocumented immigrants are not welcome,
gays cannot have full rights, and the need to make sacrifices is
understood to be trillions of $ tax cuts for the super-rich, the
"free market" will decide who will return from Iraq in a body bag
or maimed for life, sent by a White House full of draft dodgers. The
Republicans want a small government when it comes to health, education,
the environment, welfare, and social security (the nanny state). They
want a big government when it comes to militarism, defense contracts,
and curtailment of our civil liberties (police state).
It is what it is. At universities and in the entire culture we are
taught that all human beings are self-oriented. It is their human
nature. So is the nature of the state, self-oriented. This is a
universal principle, basic to market fundamentalism and the utilitarian
philosophy, and all right-wing ideologies, including 17 & 18 century
liberalism, known today as modern conservativism. Let us say, this
makes sense, it is after all the official ideology, subscribed to by
political and corporate leaders (though the handouts they get from
the government are based on connections, not the market). As far as
the lower classes, why are they not selfish? If they are selfish,
it is for small things, jobs, including petty theft. And, they seem
to do very little to promote their "natural" selfishness, through
the electoral process or taking to the streets.
They even make sacrifices to feed themselves and their families,
and they are the first to go to battle because of the lack of jobs or
phony patriotism. Quite a few leaders in government are super-patriotic
when sending others to war, though in their days, I suggested above,
they were draft dodgers.
In the pursuit of the US national interest (identified with corporate,
not peoples interests) Washington uses its military power (including
nuclear weapons) or threatens to use it to impose its policy on other
countries. It has done so on 242 occasions from 1793 to 1993. At times,
the official reasons were: ³they insulted the American flag. So,
the US bombed them, "or the US was conducting negotiations and the
President sent the navy near the shores of the other country to
guarantee success in the negotiations!"
Of the 242 times, 136 of the military threats or the use of military
force took place before the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Hence, the
threat of communism as an excuse did not exist. And in all 242 times,
the blame for US militarism was cast on the "other" side. Not once,
the officials in Washington admitted they had anything to do with
instigating the conflict, resorting to bombings, occupation, or war.
Somehow, Washington could not uphold its own principle that everyone
and every state is selfish. It was always the other side which provoked
the conflict!
Unfortunate are the people in Iraq or Iran. They are provoking
the White House, and are demonized for causing so many problems in
the M.E. The mess with Iran, does it have anything to do with the
US-engineered overthrow of Mossadegh in 1953, or the $5 billion
Washington and its allies gave Saddam Hussein to destroy Iran,
with a million Iranians and Iraqis dead, in the 1980s? Does it have
anything to do with the refusal of Saddam Hussein refusal to allow a
pipeline through Iraq from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf? Does
it have anything to do with the oil in this neighborhood? It is like
stepping on the cats tail and it jumps up and bites you, and you say
it is the fault of the cat! Does this oil belong to us, we are the
almost Chosen People and we deserve it to maintain our way of life and
the profits for the corporations? Does it have anything to do with
the US support for the bullies and repressive regimes in the Middle
East, or as I suggested before the occupation of the Palestinians,
the occupation of northern Cyprus by Turkey, and the persecution of
15 million Kurds by Turkey who are allowed 1/2 hour TV programming
per week, titled "Our Common Heritage" (how to be good Turks)? Why
would anyone tolerate these policies? Those who benefit from these
policies and those who groan or throw their hands in the air saying
"there is nothing I can do."
There is no limit to this insanity. I stated in Part I that I find it
exhausting to follow these trouble spots and listen to the same lies.
The food or design channels are still options, though I have to weigh
the benefits: being silent or boiling inside me and getting things off
my chest. The advice I got from a psychiatrist in the audience when
I gave a lecture at a United Nations NGO on international political
events and their relationship to families and individuals was this:
"I have to let go, reconcile myself to the realities (embrace and
kiss-and-make-up?), that is, normalize my life." What I am angry at,
is all history. I thought it was good advice, from a psychiatrist
who practices, I assume, the "touchy feeling" therapy.
My response was: "I am sure life will be less stressful for me, and my
blood pressure will go down. But, in the end, there would be no closure
to what is troubling me inside. Nor would there be a resolution to the
conflicts I referred to in my talk (the genocide of Greeks, Armenians,
and Assyrians, the Turkish occupation and ethnic cleansing in Cyprus
in place for 33 years, the occupation of the Palestinians, and the US
occupation of Iraq). I asked the psychiatrist if this was the right
advice to give the descendants of the genocide or the refugees still
carrying the scars of Turkish barbarism, from generation to generation,
to let go? The whole world knows this genocide took place, including
Turkish scholars, the US government officials (the eyewitness reports
of Robert Morgenthau and George Horton), the German officials, and
the British government. Why allow the Turkish officials, because
of Turkeyʼs geopolitical importance to the United States, to
get away with this butchering of millions? Why submit to these lies,
coming from Ankara and the White House? As for myself, I suggested to
the audience, I can let go, get over the trauma, my health may improve,
but I can only do it with a heavy dose of drugs." Most of the people
in the audience, which included about a dozen professionals in the
psychiatric field, looked on, with a smile. I smiled back.
--Boundary_(ID_Tat4weQ0vqOTB4PiNJHaJA)--
By George Gregoriou
Greek News
http://www.greeknewsonline.com/modules.php?na me=News&file=article&sid=7961
Jan 21 2008
New York
The White House is at a loss without militarism and a culture of
fear. It is the only way to keep the people at bay (powerless),
do with less, and obey the rules, rigged against them. The old Cold
War served this purpose. But, the war on terrorism in Afghanistan
and Iraq is like poking a stick into a hornetʼs nest, stirring
an angry feeling and a serious sting. It is fear al-right, but it is
too much. It backfired. The new encirclement of Russia by Washington
is not working either. Russia, China, the EU, and South America, are
opposed to American unilateralism. Most Americans are fed up with the
Iraq war. But, the White House is determined to stir the pot. It is
determined to install anti-missile systems in the Czech Republic and
Poland, to defend Europe (and Russia?) from possible missile attacks
from Iran! The Iranians do not have them now, but they could have them
15 years from now. Washington cannot wait that long. A dose of fear
is needed, but an overdose will stir the pot at home. It will have to
create the excuses for a confrontation now. Putin is not buying it. He
is ready to point the Russian missiles at Europe. The new regime in
Poland is already having second thoughts on the missiles. Anyway, this
is Cold War II talk. Imperial America needs enemies, real or imagined.
The White House is already talking about WWIII, with Iran. Iran has
an economy the size of Connecticut. In a WWIII climate, other powers,
big and small, have to get involved, to make World War III talk more
realistic. The White House also claims the death of American soldiers
in Iraq is due to Iranians providing training and weapons to the
Shiite terrorists in Iraq. The "surge" is working, though there were
more US soldiers killed in 2007 than in 2006. How dare these Iranians
do such a thing? The message is simple. The US mission is to destroy
and rebuild Iraq. This is done in every conflict. We are good at it.
That is legitimate, but Iranian assistance to its co-religious
neighbors in Iraq (or the Syrians to the Sunnis) is illegitimate.
Iran is a threat to peace in the Middle East. The US invasion
and occupation of Iraq, its support for the Israeli occupation of
Palestinian land, the Turkish persecution of 15 million Kurds, and
the occupation of northern Cyprus by Turkey is for peace. George
Orwell still makes sense in 2008: "Peace is War and War is Peace".
The White House has a global perspective. It warned Cuba that the
transition of power from Fidel to Raul Castro is not acceptable.
Washington did control the fate of Cuba since the Spanish-American
War of 1898, until the Cuban Revolution of 1960. How dare they go
their own way? They have no respect for the big brother in the north,
nor the need for Cuban votes in Florida and New Jersey, for the
Republican Party? The White House and its cheerleaders are always
up to something. Fox News, announced that those fires in California
(caused by arsonists or campers?), the rumor has it, that Al Queda was
behind them! These terrorists must be brilliant or they may be working
for developers? This claim proved me wrong. When I read the Koran I
came across "Allah Is Great" 13 times in just two pages. I said to
myself "OK, Allah, I got the message the first time. Anyone who has
to hear it thirteen times to get it must be an idiot." Greeks thrive
on rumors, in coffee shops, and cabs. After WWII they were saturated
with rumors. Everything, from crop failures to natural poverty, was
blamed on the communists in the north and their fellow travelers in
Greece. Vasilis Vasilikos and Costas Gavras tell that story in Z. The
White House learned something from the Anglo-American intervention
in Greece or taught the Greeks to be vigilant against the threat of
communism, not Turkey our friend and ally, thanks to US-NATO dollars
and guns. But, we came a long way. At least, in the recent fires in
Greece, Greeks blamed on tourists and developers, not KKE.
The Greek national issues were always sacrificed to the sake of
the alliance. For the greater part of the 20th century, the Greek
people were literally on their knees~Kthe Asia Minor catastrophe,
the royalist-Venizelist feuding, the Great Depression, the "fascism"
of Metaxas, the Nazi occupation, the Civil War, the US-NATO hegemony
during the Cold War, and the never-ending Cyprus problem, the military
junta, and the Turkish occupation and ethnic cleansing in northern
Cyprus. Speaking for myself, I do not forget nor forgive those who
had a hand in these tragic events, symptoms of a malaise, a powerless
Greece and powerful bullies in the neighborhood.
We, Greek-Americans, live in the belly of the super-bully. I am told
that as a US citizen and a veteran, I have rights. The only right I
seem to exercise is to make the insults more insulting by discussing
them. Why do Greeks pay a high price for US geopolitical interests?
Why are Greek political leaders spineless? If the expenditures on
health in the US are over 2 trillion dollars, why are health services
not improving or affordable? Bills seem to pile up, and the collection
agencies call in the morning or at dinner time. Why the millions of
home foreclosures? Who is benefiting from the oil prices going sky
high? We are told it is happening because of the oil cartel profits,
the Kurdish-Turkish border crisis, and the threats by the White House
to bomb Iran. I was just reminded by an economist that as Barack
Obama goes up in the polls, the stock market goes down. Obama is not
trusted. Bush is. I asked my friend to do the Hillary Clinton thing,
shedding tears and denouncing Obama at the same time!
The most heated discussions we will have during the election will be
the undocumented immigrants, gay marriages, abortion, guns, and the
flag, and the need to make sacrifices, be tough in fighting terrorism,
not the causes which create terrorism. It is that simple, and it does
not cost money to get votes. Undocumented immigrants are not welcome,
gays cannot have full rights, and the need to make sacrifices is
understood to be trillions of $ tax cuts for the super-rich, the
"free market" will decide who will return from Iraq in a body bag
or maimed for life, sent by a White House full of draft dodgers. The
Republicans want a small government when it comes to health, education,
the environment, welfare, and social security (the nanny state). They
want a big government when it comes to militarism, defense contracts,
and curtailment of our civil liberties (police state).
It is what it is. At universities and in the entire culture we are
taught that all human beings are self-oriented. It is their human
nature. So is the nature of the state, self-oriented. This is a
universal principle, basic to market fundamentalism and the utilitarian
philosophy, and all right-wing ideologies, including 17 & 18 century
liberalism, known today as modern conservativism. Let us say, this
makes sense, it is after all the official ideology, subscribed to by
political and corporate leaders (though the handouts they get from
the government are based on connections, not the market). As far as
the lower classes, why are they not selfish? If they are selfish,
it is for small things, jobs, including petty theft. And, they seem
to do very little to promote their "natural" selfishness, through
the electoral process or taking to the streets.
They even make sacrifices to feed themselves and their families,
and they are the first to go to battle because of the lack of jobs or
phony patriotism. Quite a few leaders in government are super-patriotic
when sending others to war, though in their days, I suggested above,
they were draft dodgers.
In the pursuit of the US national interest (identified with corporate,
not peoples interests) Washington uses its military power (including
nuclear weapons) or threatens to use it to impose its policy on other
countries. It has done so on 242 occasions from 1793 to 1993. At times,
the official reasons were: ³they insulted the American flag. So,
the US bombed them, "or the US was conducting negotiations and the
President sent the navy near the shores of the other country to
guarantee success in the negotiations!"
Of the 242 times, 136 of the military threats or the use of military
force took place before the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Hence, the
threat of communism as an excuse did not exist. And in all 242 times,
the blame for US militarism was cast on the "other" side. Not once,
the officials in Washington admitted they had anything to do with
instigating the conflict, resorting to bombings, occupation, or war.
Somehow, Washington could not uphold its own principle that everyone
and every state is selfish. It was always the other side which provoked
the conflict!
Unfortunate are the people in Iraq or Iran. They are provoking
the White House, and are demonized for causing so many problems in
the M.E. The mess with Iran, does it have anything to do with the
US-engineered overthrow of Mossadegh in 1953, or the $5 billion
Washington and its allies gave Saddam Hussein to destroy Iran,
with a million Iranians and Iraqis dead, in the 1980s? Does it have
anything to do with the refusal of Saddam Hussein refusal to allow a
pipeline through Iraq from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf? Does
it have anything to do with the oil in this neighborhood? It is like
stepping on the cats tail and it jumps up and bites you, and you say
it is the fault of the cat! Does this oil belong to us, we are the
almost Chosen People and we deserve it to maintain our way of life and
the profits for the corporations? Does it have anything to do with
the US support for the bullies and repressive regimes in the Middle
East, or as I suggested before the occupation of the Palestinians,
the occupation of northern Cyprus by Turkey, and the persecution of
15 million Kurds by Turkey who are allowed 1/2 hour TV programming
per week, titled "Our Common Heritage" (how to be good Turks)? Why
would anyone tolerate these policies? Those who benefit from these
policies and those who groan or throw their hands in the air saying
"there is nothing I can do."
There is no limit to this insanity. I stated in Part I that I find it
exhausting to follow these trouble spots and listen to the same lies.
The food or design channels are still options, though I have to weigh
the benefits: being silent or boiling inside me and getting things off
my chest. The advice I got from a psychiatrist in the audience when
I gave a lecture at a United Nations NGO on international political
events and their relationship to families and individuals was this:
"I have to let go, reconcile myself to the realities (embrace and
kiss-and-make-up?), that is, normalize my life." What I am angry at,
is all history. I thought it was good advice, from a psychiatrist
who practices, I assume, the "touchy feeling" therapy.
My response was: "I am sure life will be less stressful for me, and my
blood pressure will go down. But, in the end, there would be no closure
to what is troubling me inside. Nor would there be a resolution to the
conflicts I referred to in my talk (the genocide of Greeks, Armenians,
and Assyrians, the Turkish occupation and ethnic cleansing in Cyprus
in place for 33 years, the occupation of the Palestinians, and the US
occupation of Iraq). I asked the psychiatrist if this was the right
advice to give the descendants of the genocide or the refugees still
carrying the scars of Turkish barbarism, from generation to generation,
to let go? The whole world knows this genocide took place, including
Turkish scholars, the US government officials (the eyewitness reports
of Robert Morgenthau and George Horton), the German officials, and
the British government. Why allow the Turkish officials, because
of Turkeyʼs geopolitical importance to the United States, to
get away with this butchering of millions? Why submit to these lies,
coming from Ankara and the White House? As for myself, I suggested to
the audience, I can let go, get over the trauma, my health may improve,
but I can only do it with a heavy dose of drugs." Most of the people
in the audience, which included about a dozen professionals in the
psychiatric field, looked on, with a smile. I smiled back.
--Boundary_(ID_Tat4weQ0vqOTB4PiNJHaJA)--