WAR TO RIGHTS, RIGHT TO WAR.
Synopsis: Non violence against infamy is infamy.
By not striking down someone who kills children with gas, the Republic becomes an accomplice. By not destroying a little contemporary Hitler, the Republic encourages the propagation of a mood of contempt for the Public, and Human Rights. We have seen enough. It’s time to take out Assad, and strike terror in those who think they can trample the Republic under foot.
Indeed, no need to repeat the experiment of the 1930s. On this small planet, only regimes compatible with the Republic can exist. After Libya, and Mali, the time to illustrate that principle anew has come again. The Syrian Red Line is crossed.
That Dozens Of Children Were Simultaneously Killed By Gas, There Is No Doubt
The French Republic has threatened a unilateral military strike, overriding the United Nations (that has happened many times before). PM Cameron, two days later, moved by the pictures of dozens of gazed little corpses, spoke about addressing an ultimatum to Assad. The USA needs to join France and Britain. (Yes, I know, the People of the USA is against it; it was also against hurting Hitler in 1939.)
With nuclear weapons around, it’s time for the Republic to show resolve for tackling hard cases.
***
OUR LEADERS SET THE STAGE FOR DISRESPECTING THE WEST:
The West was taken flat-footed by the events in Egypt. Perfidious Western leaders had naively self hypnotized with the theory of “Islamophobia”. According to this grotesque, illogical, insulting, racist and viciously manipulative theory, it’s racist not to respect Wahhabist Islam.
Well, I don’t respect religious cannibalism, either, so let them call me racist twice. I will call them inferior twice.
Wahhabist Islam said that Sharia, the Islamist so-called “law” ought to apply.
Women ought to be kept inside, wear tents, not travel unaccompanied by an adult male from their family (a provision the Muslim Brotherhood wanted to legislate in Egypt).
Individuals once called “Muslim” and who are deemed behaving in a non-Muslim way are to be put to death (that’s why Syria is such a massacre), etc. Depending upon the place, the local Sharia forces various degrees of sexual mutilations (mandatory on males).
This sort of arbitrary terror has never been tolerated much in the West. But the West wanted to impose it on the Middle-East, in the name of Islamophilia.
As general George Washington said when he was president:“The USA has nothing to do with Christianity”. It should have nothing to do with Islam, either. Washington would have certainly supported the Egyptian generals, as far as cracking down on Islamists.
Now the Egyptian generals, supported by Israel, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia’s wise king Abdullah, have constituted the “Axis of Reason” as a high level Israeli official with an excellent sense of macabre humor, put it.
***
DISRESPECT FOR REPUBLIC IS CONTAGIOUS:
How can the erratic Western leaders beg for forgiveness?
Give an ultimatum to the mass murderous plutocrat Assad. The West has nothing to do with Christianity, or Islam, but the West has everything to do with Human Rights. The West was founded when the secular Salic Law of the Franks put an end to Christianism’s violation of Human Rights, and when it outlawed slavery.
Indeed, the way Western leadership by plutocracy was set-up, it helped the mass murdering Assad.
The Egyptian generals treated the Western leaders as they deserved, as vulgar allies of Al Qaeda.
Visualize this: Assad laughing, while Western leaders parroted Al Qaeda’s Zawahiri. Everybody got distracted by the revelation of the sordid instrumentalization of Islam of the Western leadership. Assad obviously thought it was a perfect time to use the neurotoxic gas Sarin massively in the suburbs of Damascus. 355 were killed by neurotoxins according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF). 3655 showed symptoms. This, in only three hospitals MSF collaborates with.
Meanwhile, Erdogan, the Islamist Sultan of Egypt, had dozens of top academics, including ex-university heads, condemned to prison, under charges of high treason. Yes, he can! Change the Sultan can believe in! Erdogan has also been riding the Western leadership’s affected love of Salafism.
***
WE DON’T WANT TO DUPLICATE THE 1930’s:
It’s one of these times, as in the 1930s, when democracies get no respect, Human Rights get trampled underfoot. The danger is that that disrespect gets completely out of control.
It’s like the “Rim Fire” west of Yosemite: to make economies, no VLA (Very Large Aircraft) were sent in the first three days. When the jumbo jets were finally sent, dumping swimming pools on the fire, they were very efficient. But, by then, the fire was already gigantic.
The obvious analogy is with what happened in the 1930s. Then only the French Republic was deadly opposed to the Hitlerian dictatorship. The most senior German generals wanted to make a coup against the Nazis, but, with the United kingdom and the USA apparently to Hitler’s side, they were nervous to make a coup, as if they were France’s allies.
I am not making these things up. The Anglo-German Naval Agreement of June 18, 1935, was viewed by the Germans as an anti-French Anglo-Nazi alliance. And the support of American plutocrats for Hitler was decisive, not just in creating Nazism, but in making its early military victories possible.
The story of the 1930s was the complicity of much of the Anglo-Saxon plutocracy, and a Non-Violence-Is-The-Only-Way approach to evil, with the ultimate rule of Pluto.
We want to avoid the same mistakes. Chop it down as soon as it shows its ugly muzzle.
How to re-establish respect for Human Rights and the Republic? Respect was re-established the hard way in the 1940s, and the work was only partial (as Hitler’s accomplice, Stalin, was given half of Europe).
France, Britain and the USA should simply give an ultimatum to Assad, and get ready to attack. For real. Enough talk.
Some will lift an eyebrow and wonder how the republic could find itself allied to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Erdogan? don’t I usually rage against them? Well, yes and no. The 89 year old king of Saudi Arabia is an excellent man, not corrupt at all (an anomaly among Saudi princes).
Well, that’s basic Machiavellism. We want to co-opt Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The best way to co-opt is to instill respect. The best way to instill respect is to make an inspiring show of unstoppable force. Roman style.
***
DO AS THE ROMANS DID: PROPAGATE THE REPUBLIC:
The Roman Republic, as it grew, and was then very democratic, did not hesitate to make unsavory allies, with the idea of changing their minds towards the Republic. Most ended siding up with the Republic, in depth.
The annihilation of the capital of Bosnia, Sarajevo went on, until French guns applied radar guided counter artillery fire, knocking off Serbian artillery. Although the French military loved the Serbs since WWI, they had enough. At some point, “qui aime bien, chatie bien.”(“who loves well, chastens well”.)
The Kosovo bombing campaign was decided unilaterally by NATO, over Moscow’s vociferous objections. It was thorough, ferocious. At some point USA’s B52s surprised gathering Serbian troops in the open, killing thousands in seconds. The air war worked splendidly.
Now a chastened Serbia is thinking of better things, like being a republic, and applying to European Union membership. Kosovo is also learning the same.
The French republic, ever since attacking unilaterally Adolf Hitler’s garden of the beasts in September 1939, knows very well that, confronted with unspeakable evil, attack is the only way. And the earlier, the better.
So give an ultimatum to Assad. First, to allow international inspector to go anywhere in Syria and inspect immediately all and any apparent chemical attack (Assad pretended the “terrorists” brought the chemicals). If he refuses, or it’s confirmed he used neurotoxins, he should be ordered to leave power, and to surrender to the International Court of Justice.
And if Assad accepts continual, open monitoring? Well, then he would have submitted to the rule of the Republic. A lesson for all.
A lesson, not just for the generals in Burma, but also for the plutocrats all over: force can be, and ought to have been used already, against them too. It turns out the financial plutocrats (Summers, Geithner, etc.) were engaged in more than a conspiracy, but a worldwide plot to take over the world (thanks to Jennet for informing me of this!) Maybe banksters don’t use gas, directly, just like Mafia bosses don’t go around directly shooting people. They use soldiers to do that.
And, indeed, the Assad family was part of the global plutocratic network. The mood of violence against the Public is global, and self encouraging. Regretfully, only the usage of force by the Republic will subdue it, and break the cycle.
The Romans used to say: “Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum.” (If you want peace, prepare for war.) Yes. However, in the most dreadful cases, war is the only way to peace.
***
Patrice Ayme
***
Note: Let me repeat, the aim is behavior modification. Technically, a little bombing raid on Assad’s palace may do wonders. French Rafales with American cruise missiles could do it, Lybian style. Guernica in reverse: public saved, fascists bombed.
Some military men will say it’s too late to intervene in Syria. But it’s not a question of invading Syria, but just punish Assad (be it only by degrading his military capability; for example by imposing an embargo with no fly-no ship zone).
I am all for cracking down on the Salafists Assad opposes, but he is greatly the one who created them (in the style of Western support for the Muslim Brotherhood/Al Qaeda). He actually release thousands of Islamists, a bit like hunters release phaesants. What is intolerable is that he would keep on using Weapons of Mass Destruction, although he had warned not to do so.
Patrice Ayme's Thoughts 
August 26, 2013 at 1:55 am |
But Patrice, how can one deal with Assad in August ? One must have one’s vacation on Nantucket. Biking and golf with ones future employers (or perhaps, current) are activities that must be attended to.
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August 26, 2013 at 5:33 am |
Dear Roger: yes, yes, I see the difficulty. But his masters gave him only a short vacation: tomorrow is back to the grind.
Meanwhile the French ex-PM, Fabius, who I used to dislike, decades ago, but now appreciate, Laurent Fabius, went to see Isreali’s PM Netanyahu. To out-tough the Israelis. Funny the all-French Fabius (Roman name) looks more Jewish than the Israeli PM (well, he is Jewish, so it makes sense!)
The French have long been incenced about Assad. (Maybe something about him being more connected to the British aristocracy.)
I think the French want to get at the Russians, and the Islamist Turks. in this light, I have another argument, particularly outrageous, that I am going to roll out.
So Obama will march because he is being told to march by his betters. There is little doubt that France and Britain are on the war path. It a question of establishing who are the dominates of the mediterranean, and Middle East. Too bad for Assad that Putin put it that way.
PA
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August 26, 2013 at 10:17 am |
Ok Patrice,
for sure France is able to make a show of force alongside some allies.
The big problem is what after ?
To be very contradictive, I thing the russians are right !
Why not to consider what is the real northen european population ?
US interventions in the Middle East are all of
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August 26, 2013 at 11:21 am |
…all off from beeing successfull !
President Bush the 2nd should be passed in front the TPI to have decided an illegal war in Iraq.
A real disaster since for as we all know it today.
The facts are : wars are always awfull with a lot of casualties.
To react too much fast in front of mediats sensibilites is it not abble to put ourselves in global chaos ?
Be carefull about Syria, if not able to look forward
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August 26, 2013 at 5:01 pm |
Cher Paul: The situation in Iraq was completely different. The war there was indeed illegal, I was massively AGAINST it, still is. The Bush administration lies were huge, obvious, ridiculous. The reasons evoked were themselves crimes against humanity (pay for USA war, by selling Iraqi oil is a IV Geneve Convention crime).
In Syria we have the commission of crimes against humanity. Just in that gasing in Damascus’ suburbs, 3,500 may have died. Gased.
The Republic can’t tolerate this. it’s encouraging more of the same, bigger, more unstoppable…
PA
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August 26, 2013 at 2:38 pm |
Dear Patrice, your advice to teach “president” Assad a lesson can be kind of Ahithophel’s advice. I read somewhere about 10 years ago that some experts to say, that if free elections will be held in the Arab world, the Muslim brotherhood will win it. And so they did. If you count all the Muslim religious parties even in “secular” Tunisia they got more than 50% of the votes. This is much more than the 33% of the Nazi party at 1933.
This causes me to ask several questions;
a. How come at 2010- so many people vote for a party that has obviously no solution to any of the practical problems of the Arab society, which are economic and social functionality. The answer will be probably in the high level of illiteracy, (Even in most advanced Tunisia 30% of the women are illiterate).
Here i would like to mentioned a long forgotten fact, the Afghan uprising against the Soviets and the communistic government started because the communists wanted to educate the girls and give equal rights to women.
Illiteracy is more than just statistics. It gives high ground to ignorance about the world out of the family circle and definitely to the out of the Arab world. Just try to think what it means to be illiterate in today’s world, littered with written words. It is almost like to be blind.Then you should not be surprised by what is happening in Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, etc.
b. What to do with it? I lately overheard a joke, “What to do do if the election results doesn’t bring the right results? Change the people”.
No need to say, societies that are not supportive to education (Apparently learning religious studies is not an education, that makes people more literate to understand how to create a economically and socially functioning society.)
c. Can Europe and the world close its eyes and let these societies opposing real education to solve its problems alone? The answer seems to be, NO! The problems these societies create will be eventually exported to Europe, and even beyond it.
I have no solution
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August 26, 2013 at 2:46 pm |
Sorry, the same with some corrections,
Dear Patrice, your advice to teach “president” Assad a lesson can be kind of Ahithophel’s advice. I read somewhere about 10 years ago some experts to say if free elections will be held in the Arab world, the Muslim brotherhood will win it. And so they did. If you count all the Muslim religious parties even in “secular” Tunisia they got more than 50% of the votes. This is much more than the 33% of the Nazi party at 1933.
This causes me to ask several questions;
a. How come at 2010- so many people vote for a party that has obviously no solution to any of the practical problems of the Arab society, which are economic and social functionality. The answer will be probably in the high level of illiteracy, (Even in most advanced Tunisia 30% of the women are illiterate).
Here i would like to mentioned a long forgotten fact, the Afghan uprising against the Soviets and the communistic government started because the communists wanted to educate the girls and give equal rights to women.
Illiteracy is more than just statistics. It gives high ground to ignorance about the world out of the family circle and definitely to the out of the Arab world. Just try to think what it means to be illiterate in today’s world, littered with written words. It is almost like to be blind.Then you should not be surprised by what is happening in Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, etc.
b. What to do with it? I lately overheard a joke, “What to do do if the election results doesn’t bring the right results? Change the people”.
No need to say, societies that are not supportive to education have no chance to create decent life to their citizens. (Apparently learning religious studies is not an education, that makes people more literate to understand how to create a economically and socially functioning society.)
c. Can Europe and the world close its eyes and let these societies opposing real education to solve its problems alone? The answer seems to be, NO! The problems these societies create will be eventually exported to Europe, and even beyond it.
I have no solution
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August 26, 2013 at 5:10 pm |
Dear Eugen: Rushed now, so partial answer. My solution with Islamist parties is simple: OUTLAW them all.
Why?
Because they want to impose the Sharia (by definition). That’s arguably unlawful. For two reasons. I am going to argue that in the next essay.
PA
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August 27, 2013 at 1:14 am |
Dear Eugene
You are right about the education issue. But because the need for education is irresistible, that is precisely the reason why Islamic fundamentalism is doomed in the long term – whatever it does or we do.
I would even say that actions taken by the West, unless carefully weighed and planned, can lengthen the beast’s death throes. What can happen is that education works in the reverse way – educated people (including women!) resent what they see as foreign meddling and side with the forces of backwardness and illiteracy. That is exactly the process whereby Al Qaida has been able to recruit skilled, trained people rather than the scruffy peasant types the Western public loves to visualize.
An example: let’s assume so-called Islamic finance has a few superior products to offer. (I’m not saying it has, or not). Now let’s also assume that Islamic banks grow impatient at the West’s reluctance to use these instruments and start applying force. Would we look closer at the thing’s merits, or would we quickly put the issue of merit on the back burner and head for the gun room?
On another plane: your joke about the need to change the people if it votes wrongly is a very old one. It harks back to Stalin. And the original wording was not “change” the people – but “dissolve” it. A lesson not lost on Assad (or Saddam), whose critics always paint them with an Adolf mustache, when an Uncle Joe one would fit them much better.
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August 27, 2013 at 3:48 am |
Dear Dominique: Killing education can kill a civilization. Christianism nearly succeeded in the 4C, 5C and the 6C (the latter in the Orient alone).
PA
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August 27, 2013 at 10:22 am |
Dear Dominique, i don’t like to sound as a bore, but as an economist i just cannot not to cite J.M.Keynes saying “On the long run everybody dies”. I am also not 100% sure about education being all powerful. I know many scholars whose fundamental opinion about God would surprise you.
But as to the Muslim banking, in my book i oddly admitted, that the Islam banking system is maybe after all not such a bad idea. Let me cite from my book;
………. in the modern market economy the charging of interest has ceased to be the object of moral disapproval and is a practice considered wholly respectable and engaged in by reputable and very influential banks. It is also why when an economy is based on credit, for which interest is charged, it needs to grow continuously. ………………….
…. it means that the banks will have mounting problems getting repayment of the loans they gave to the borrowers, not to speak of the interest they charge on them, unless someone else among the employees, employers, depositors, investors, gives up his share of the product cake.
If the credit-based private economy needs continuous economic growth to secure financial stability, governments need increased tax collection which can be secured in the long run only by the increased tax base of the private sector. And here you have the basis all over the world for the comprehensive support for economic policy encouraging continuous economic growth. Most economists, bankers, politicians and other economic leaders are even afraid to ask publicly the question – “Is this economic growth ultimately beneficial for the people?” Maybe the price of this economic growth, in the form of destruction of the natural environment, inevitable uneven distribution of the wealth, etc. is higher than the benefit of such continuous economic growth? ……………………It seems as if today, given the existing economic financial system, an economy with zero-growth is not a relevant political or economic option.
This also means that if for some reason the politicians after all decide to freeze further economic growth, the whole financial and bank system will have to be changed. (Maybe Islamic Banking is not such a bad idea after all).
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August 28, 2013 at 12:57 am |
Aisha, Muhammad’s baby bride, also thought Muslim Fundamentalism was doomed, but she lost the Battle of the Camel, and here we are, nearly 14 centuries later…
PA
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August 27, 2013 at 3:41 am |
Eugen: 1)About Afghanistan; hitting the girls’ schools was mostly the CIA’s bright idea.
2) About Islamists winning elections; first, it won’t happen if all superstition based parties were outlawed worldwide. second the West has been practicing Islamophilia. Having endowed Islam with respect, and having identified it with so called “”Arabs””, it’s not very surprising the Islamists win.
As I have explained, Islamophilia is a racist exploitation trick promoted by plutocrats (Western or not).
3) For Islamophilia, contemplate Krugman’s recent ignorant craziness about Ibn Khaldun. He is following there some colleagues who are psycho-historians, and, Islamophiliacs, first class.
4) Of course, one can change the People. It’s elementary. One just ask the plutocrats and their servants to change the propaganda.
I agree about the fact one cannot separate the orient (of Rome) with the Occident (of Rome).
PA
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August 27, 2013 at 10:50 am |
Dear Patrice, to my opinion, (not a scientific opinion, but created by watching people around me), i don’t believe in tools like propaganda. It may work in the short term, people eat MacDonald, until they find it causes obesity. On the long run the truth will win. But who has time to wait for this “final” victory?
As to CIA, of course they have done many bad things while fighting one of the worse evils humanity ever created, (USSR). To be and behave evilly is the core of every intelligent service. Yet can the free world stand against fascistic-communistic and fundamentalistic religious regimes without it?
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August 27, 2013 at 10:29 pm |
Dear Eugen: I am not saying that the CIA ought not to exist, just that it ought to do the right things. The Afghan war of 1979 (and prior!) was a VERY bad idea. The USSR would have collapsed anyway. Because of its self contradictions.
Propaganda is everywhere. Islamophilia, Krugman style (Ibn Khaldun invented everything! Aristotle, Polybius never existed!!) is also propaganda.
Bad education can lead to mass death (recent example: Nazism, Stalinism, Maoism; and even the non-intervention of the USA in 1939, 1940). Just ask the departed souls of millions of American Indians, who just did not have the means to resist from…lack of education. The Japanese, by contrast, were making their first guns, 22 years after the first contact with Europeans… They were technologically more educated (a bit the same in Dahomey, too!)
PA
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September 2, 2013 at 7:03 pm |
Hi Eugine R:
Propaganda is highly effective. Monetary sovereignty is almost unknown for example.
There are 2 kinds of debt. Private debt is bad. Govt debt (the DEFICIT) is good. They move in opposite directions. See the plots in
Jobs are created when govt produces more deficits. Empiirically 1$ of deficit produces $5 of GDP. The created money will find its way into the economy (the private sector.)
Welfare is a peoples’ need. If no welfare why do we need a govt?
Deficits automatically require a work force and produce prosperity.
Regulation (a peoples’ need) is required to prevent poisoning of the biosphere.
Taxes are not required for the federal govt which can create all the money required.
MORE deficits will cure the economy painlessly with zero risk.
Money is merely a token and a bookkeeping tool.
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September 2, 2013 at 11:04 pm
Agreed, Partha. That’s why economy ought to be built around energy, that is, work, employment. Everything else, including property, is convention.
PA
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September 2, 2013 at 11:45 pm
Dear Pshakotay, Is it really all so easy? If so why should the government bother to collect taxes at all, and more than that, if the government distributes freely money (welfare), why to bother to go to work at all?
If you have answer how it can work i am happy to listen. Or maybe you say, the government should distribute the money only to chosen ones (Plutocrats), while the others not and let those others go to work? Do you like this solution?
To be more serious, government deficit can be helpful to economy and start economic growth, if it is a temporary and marginal phenomena during times of recession, when part of the production capacities are not utilized. Yet even then the increased government expenditures has to be used very carefully not to create a long term precedents, that may destroy the production capacity of the economy. Like if you are too liberal with unemployment allowances. This is why at times of recession the governments prefer rather to invest the deficit in infrastructure than to consumerism.You probably wonder how come the US Fed prints so much money and still there is no inflation in US. The reason is that this newly printed cash money is exchanged against government bonds and securities. Since the money in circulation is mostly created by the commercial banks and not by the Fed, the question is what the commercial banks are doing with this additional cash as compared to what they have done with the government bonds, meaning did they accept the bonds as securities against loans and by doing it the bonds were very similar to cash? Probably yes. It is a very common practice. What i know for sure is that the extra cash the Fed poured into economy, went back to the Fed in form of increased commercial banks reserves deposited in the Feds vault and had mainly negative influence on the monetary liquidity. This is why the monetary easement did not work as it was expected. This phenomena will exist until the banks and the borrowers not feel that the economic entities are over-exposed to credit they took in the past.
You can read in my blog about the subject;
and some more
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September 2, 2013 at 11:52 pm
dear Eugen: The government can run the full gamut, from total command and control to total freemarket. Yet, in the latter case, still submitted to the law. So, only C&C can be total. The free market is just a toy. So is currency. I’m not talking out of fishy theory, just, but also direct historical examples.
PA
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September 3, 2013 at 11:51 pm
Partha to EugenR Says:
Is it really all so easy? YES.
If so why should the government bother to collect taxes at all, and more than that, if the government distributes freely money (welfare), why to bother to go to work at all?
Federal Govt should not bother to collect taxes at all. Tax collection is entirely unnecessary.
The economies of states and the federal govt that creates money are totally different.
There are two kinds of economies. Monetary sovereign (USA) and non-sovereign (Greece, Spain, Germany, California, Chicago) and Goldman sachs.
For states and euro nations and USA before 1971(the gold standard)
A. tax +net export = spending + govt_savings = spending – govt_debt.
For USA and other sovereign currency issuers after 1971(fiat money, Santa Claus economy)
B. Govt_spending – tax = Deficit = private savings + net imports. Equation B is the MMT equation which has been verified by me in
http://pshakkottai.wordpress.com/2012/03/30/another-proof-of-mmt-4/
Taxes are not required for Type B. Only deficits greater than net imports. Deficit is always required for growth. No special status is required for type B. By special status I mean a reserve currency. All monetary sovereigns are equally strong.
The solution for our economy is deficit fund like mad. India does.
All (deficits- net imports) sums to national wealth.
http://pshakkottai.wordpress.com/2012/07/31/cumulative-deficit-vs-household-net-worth/
If you have answer how it can work i am happy to listen. Or maybe you say, the government should distribute the money only to chosen ones (Plutocrats), while the others not and let those others go to work? Do you like this solution?
The question is how to prevent Goldman Sacs from stealing all that money.
To be more serious, government deficit can be helpful to economy and start economic growth, if it is a temporary and marginal phenomena during times of recession, when part of the production capacities are not utilized. Yet even then the increased government expenditures has to be used very carefully not to create a long term precedents, that may destroy the production capacity of the economy.
Like if you are too liberal with unemployment allowances. There is more about too liberal unemployment in how-would-you-make-disemployment-work.
“1.Legally reduce the traditional 40 hour work week to 30 hours and less.
2. Prevent hunger for lack of dollars. The government could provide for everyone’s basic food supplies by paying grocery stores to offer free milk, meat, fish and vegetables.
3. Provide health care for everyone. The government could pay for 100% Medicare for every American of all ages.
4. Keep people from suffering homelessness. The government to pay for home mortgages at a minimum level (Rather than “minimum wage,” we could have “minimum home mortgage,” where people could add dollars for more expensive homes. Or “minimum rent,” something akin to the government paying for hotel stays).
5. Just as today we provide free education, grades 1-12, the government should provide free college and advanced degree education to every American.
6. Begin with government-paid-for local, public transportation, then expand this by paying airlines and railroads for free national public transportation.
We began this discussion with three facts. There is a fourth fact: Disemployment is the future. As winter follows fall, nothing will stop it.
At first blush, some ideas may seem outlandish, if based on yesterday’s employment reality. But, disemployment already has begun. The coming years will continue to see less and less need for human labor. We can close our eyes to change, and follow the increasingly obsolete “full-employment” paradigm. Or we can begin to discuss ways to meet this challenge.
Summer has ended. Fall has just begun. We can buy heavy clothing for winter – clothing which may seem outlandish based on yesterday’s warm reality – or we can ignore the occasional chilly breeze, and allow ourselves to freeze when the snow falls.
Disemployment is not an “if.” It’s a “when” and the when is upon us. We can rail against the cold, or we can prepare. We should stop looking at unemployment as a problem to be solved, but rather as an eventuality and an opportunity to
loosen the binds of obligatory labor.”
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August 26, 2013 at 7:50 pm |
[…] https://patriceayme.wordpress.com/2013/08/25/peace-from-war/ […]
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August 27, 2013 at 3:47 am |
Dear Dominique: Killing education can kill a civilization. Christianism nearly succeeded in the 4C, 5C and the 6C (the latter in the Orient alone). That way Christianism was actually WORSE than Islamism. The Franks domesticated Christianism, using overwhelming force, and co-optation. Nobody has domesticated Islamism, but for war, Ataturk, the Soviets.
Now is the time to finish the job. No choice. Agreed, one has to be subtle, hence the need to sort of side with some Islamists in Syria, as was done in Libya. Be it only because, as BHL observed correctly, that can help change their minds.
But the fundamental reason is to be on the right side of right.
PA
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August 27, 2013 at 5:39 am |
Please don’t run out of energy! Because I’m here to tell you that your essays have been instrumental in moulding my views about the American Empire! And if anyone reading this is not familiar with Patrice’s essays then without delay go to Patrice’s blogsite and browse a rich commentary on the affairs of man.
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August 28, 2013 at 6:10 pm |
According to Winston Churchill, who then held the position of Britain’s Secretary of State for War and Air, “I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas. I am strongly in favour of using poisonous gas against uncivilised tribes.”
http://fpif.org/the_us_and_chemical_weapons_no_leg_to_stand_on/
Patrice, what say you about your initial argument that intervention in Syria is necessary by the powers, (UK and US) who have employed chemical warfare in the past. What say you about the hypocrisy of the western powers’ positions, And how exactly do you justify action in Syria without standing to understand the consequences to the region post Assad’s ouster?
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August 28, 2013 at 9:59 pm |
Hi Erik, and welcome to the comments! Thanks for the provocative questions!
Well, Churchill had rigged Britain for an all out war against the Nazis in South East England, even standing ready to poison the water supplies! This being said, he refused to order personal assassinations (say against Hitler, although the top SS, Heydrich, was targetted and killed).
There is a convention from 1925 outlawing the usage of gas in combat. Even the Nazis respected it. As I have explained it in “Syrian Red Line”, gas was massively used first against the French. The attack failed, because German troops were not enthusiastic about the gas.
At this point “Assad’s ouster” is neither here, nor there. If there are names for those who deliberately ordered the usage of gas, they should be targetted for termination. It’s a question of fighting fire with fire.
Fire crews today in Yosemite are planning to set fire over a line in excess of 15 miles… To try to stop the raging “Rim Fire”.
We are in a situation where fire lines have to be drawn somewhere. Otherwise the planet will become, first, a mix between a Putinocracy, and a Plutocracy.
As I have tried to explain, the Western leaders, political or intellectual, have been lying through and through about Islam for decades, as it gave them a tool to manipulate. Thus they wanted Egypt to stay weak and corrupt, under their secret allies of the Muslim Brotherhood/Al Qaeda. However the Egyptian generals put an end to that non sense.
Assad’s family was long respected inside the world plutocracy, investing back enormous sums in the West (don’t look any further for Switzerland’s lack of certainty about gas!).
I’m sure plenty of more reasonable, unsullied generals can be found in the Syrian army.
PA
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September 2, 2013 at 9:03 am |
Hi Patrice,
the main reason for the reluctance to intervene is that this is a war Godzilla vs King-Kong or Alien vs Predator in a more modern version, i.e. there seems to be no right side: On the one hand you have Assad and Hizbullah and on the other an initial popular uprising taken over by AlQueda(partially similar to Mali) whose biggest turn-on is the thought of sharia and who make Assad and co look like the tolerant one(apparently non-muslims have better prospects under Assad and Hizbullah than AlNusra).
Leaving aside the issue of chemical weapons(why is it more ‘acceptable’ to be killed by a ‘smart’ bomb, a shell, or a bullet than gas? I’d say if you bomb civillian areas the ‘collateral damage’ theory is very thin.), one line of thinking is that by making war drag on longer, one is actually increasing the human losses(take for example Hiroshima &Nagasaki where the casualties were probably much smaller than what an invasion would cost in both US and Japanese lives-that’s not to say that the A-bomb was a good choice, rather that in war there are only bad and worse choices).
Thus, if there is no ‘right’ side, ending the war as fast as possible may be best for the real victims, e.g. civillian population.
So that line of thinking goes as follows:
1)This is not a children’s game-people die and suffer
2) hence, it is not enough to ‘teach Assad a lesson’, but the aim should be to help those that suffer
3)Therefore, one must help one or the other side win ASAP or else reach a negotiated settlement ASAP
4) Will a win for AlNustra improve the situation? I think we agree not
5) Can the rebels contain if not eliminate AlNustra? Then they will be a prime candidate for support. The problem is that apparently the AlNustra people are also their best fighing units.
6)Can a few ‘surgical ‘ strikes bring Assad to the bargaining table? Judging from the fate of Mubarak(not to mention Milosevic), who was much softer, probably not.
7) Sort of that, letting Assad win may be a logical -though extremely unpleasant-option. Obviously nobody likes this option, so I hope we can go back to 5), help the rebels eliminate AlNustra and then support them. Easier said than done.
Last, but not least I have already explained the vast disparity in sensitivity exhibited when moslem lives are lost vs when non-moslem lives are lost(e.g. Yugoslavia).
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September 2, 2013 at 5:37 pm |
Dear TomAlex: More detailled answer coming as a main essay (I hope). Here is an apetizer:
1) Chemical and biological weapons are weapons of mass eradication. They are designed for this, and are much less effective against military personnel. It’s known that in the latest (of 14) gas attack, at least 500 children died. According to French Intelligence (DGRSE & DRM) Assad has more than 1,000 tons of neurotoxins (Sarin, VX, Hyperite). He can put them in a variety of vectors, including Scud C, range 500kms.
2) Kim of Korea is following this very carefully. His target is Seoul. Just in case he gets some heat for having killed his mistress’ family, threatening a VX attack on Seoul should prove alluring. However VX on Los Angeles would do wonders too.
3) Hitler’s main argument was that democracies were all bark, and no bite.
Moreover, only France was really barking. The French offensive of September 1939 would have worked if Standard Oil and the ethyl Corporations of America had not supplied Hitler’s Air Force with lead tetra ethyl.
4) To say that World War Two would have worked better if one had let Hitler kill all he wanted is not a valid argument: Hitler killed more than twenty million, in extermination camps alone (that does not count the open field massacres of millions). The Nazis’ aim was to kill ALL Jews, Gypsies, Slavs, Communists. The idea was to empty Mittel Europa und Oster Europa of all populations, and fill it up with the Aryan population (produced in baby factories). That was for starters. Christians were also on the (secret) list.
The plan of Assad and company is to kill, or at least forcefully, torturously subjugate, ALL those not of his religious-ethnic group. Aside from the humanitarian aspect, it’s a really bad example.
It will encourage the Han to do the same to the 99 or so non Han ethnic groups in the PRC’s jurisdiction. Of course same throughout Eurasia. The strongest of these fasco-exterminationist regimes will struggle for resources (Second Reich and Imperial Japan style), and threatened democracies on the way.
5) France has had humanitarian, administrative and offensive agents on the ground in Syria for years (and spies since 635 CE!). NGOs have been thick on the ground. The napalming of a school in Alep last week was witnessed by British doctors and BBC journalists
5) the French republic recognized first the Conseil National Syrien. These are the good guys. It’s not excluded that France could pull its levers in the area and get the Qatar-Saudi Islamists to behave. Notice France is still waiting for Armageddon, I mean, Qaeda demons for her all-out intervention in Mali, reconquering more than twice Texas, and organizing (successful!) free election making president (at 80%, and higher participation than in the USA) a famous, respected Malian politician, Keita, a grandfather from Mali’s most prestigious politician family.
Reason why Qaeda leaders are quiet: because French intelligence knows where they are, and will not hesitate to eliminate them. Not much collateral damage: drones, the way Obama has tended to use them, is the weapon of the weak (physically weak, and mentally retarded, deliberately so).
Those who do not think human rights are worth defending believe that they, themselves, are not worth defending.
Strange that you say that “I have already explained the vast disparity in sensitivity when Moslem lives are lost vs when non-Moslem lives are lost (e.g. Yugoslavia)”. France went to war in Bosnia against her old ally Serbia to save Muslims. The UK followed, and, after years of heistation, NATO, led by the USA. Remember Kosovo?
PA
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September 3, 2013 at 6:05 am |
Patrice,
my point was that reluctance to intervene is understandable.
The key to my comment was ” IF there is no ‘right’ side”. And obviously Al Nusra is no ‘right side’. I’m not sure what Assad’s plan is, e.g. up until the uprising, there was no record of systematically exterminating non-Alawites(that would mean basically exterminate the vast majority of syrians). Mind you I have no sympathy for Assad, he is way beyond scum.
Your reply that the Al Nusra scum can be easily eliminated by french forces is welcome news, though it has proved hard to do for US forces in the past, at least if collateral damage is a concern. It would be the solution.
Last on moslem vs non-moslem lives, the point was exactly what you say: France (and others) went to war to save muslims, they bombed a country which had always been their ally back to the stone age(after giving them a completely unacceptable ultimatum in Rambouillet) and every time CIVILLIAN targets were deliberately hit with the associated CIVILLIAN damage, the NATO spokesman reply was that “therefore we must intensify the bombing”(and have more “collateral damage”). In contrast, western forces are much more apologetic and careful when moslem lives or even sensitivities are involved, e.g. when drones kill moslem civillians the lesson is “we must revise our policies”.
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September 3, 2013 at 12:19 pm |
Dear TomAlex: The French army was the first to be sorry to have to fire on Serbs, and did so very reluctantly. Hopefully the Yougoslav problem is over, everybody will get into the EU, borders will be down, and everybody will be holding hands. Croatia had to surrender its bad actors to get in, Serbia has done the same.
I have neither Islamophobia, nor Islamophilia, although I certainly have Salafistophobia.
Al Qaeda, Al Nusra, etc. are fed a lot by their superiors, and they are just not only in the Middle East (Washington has long instrumentalized various Muslims, as I have explained). If France can explain to them slowly that this is not in their best interest, the problem will go away.
The feverish Islamophilia blatant in the West is, and was manipulative, and even the Egyptians saw through it. Marine Lepen, head of the FN, and a Euro deputy, is put under “examen”, after lifting her immunity, for having said she did not like Muslim prayers in the streets (or something similar)…
PA
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September 3, 2013 at 5:23 pm |
[…] Ayme Says: August 27, 2013 at 10:29 pm | Reply Dear Eugen: Propaganda is everywhere. Islamophilia, Krugman style (Ibn Khaldun invented […]
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September 4, 2013 at 6:08 am |
What? I thought France was immune to that kind of nonsense! What happened to Voltaire and free speech? And yes, prayer is a personal thing, not a demonstration of power-hence no reason for street prayer, especially since there are plenty of mosques in France for that kind of thing.
As for AlQueda/Al Nusra, the ‘superior’ link in this case is Saudi Arabia and to a lesser degree Erdogan (Washington has probably learned or, I cannot think of anyone there bold enough to take the risk of even talking to them). I wish France all the luck in the world trying to reason with them.
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September 4, 2013 at 7:56 am |
Dear TomAlex: Nowadays, Voltaire, who wrote an entire play excoriating the stupid prophet, would be sued, and jailed, for “Islamophobia”. Funny for a country where Christianophobia was, and partly still is, a well deserved religion…
I call that “Islamophilia”. It got to a sort of orgasm in the love delirium for the Muslim Brotherhood recently… Which is just the internal version of… Al Qaeda!!!!! Rightly the generals in Egypt are having none of that non sense.
PA
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September 4, 2013 at 7:30 pm |
[…] Abstract: More reasons for attacking Assad beyond what I wrote two years ago, “Force Works, Syria Next?“, and more recently (“Syrian Red Line” and “Peace From War“). […]
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