The circus that is American politics

So this is where we currently find the government of the United States of America.  In ring one we have our military situation, we are fighting a war in Iraq, a war in Afghanistan and doing a little bomb dropping in Libya.  Additionally, on just about every news show they get the chance, the government slips in a little mention of Yemen which is where I believe our next military action will occur.

http://zdeaconblue.wordpress.com/2011/01/25/the-next-big-terror-threat-part-2/

In the second ring we have the budget, the budget that our brave warriors in the house and senate barely negotiated at the last second to keep our government working.  Such proud warriors, putting their heads into the mouth of the lion to save our great nation the Republicans trying to defend us from such horrors as Sesame Street and Car Talk.  But don’t worry citizens, the republicans haven’t lost, they’ve just staged their forces for the 2012 budget fight and don’t worry, before they are done they will stop middle-class and poor women from getting low-cost health services.  And don’t even mention Obama Care, good God the very mention of the term could summon the devil and end the Mayan calendar, what was that, oops, apparently my typing it did the calendar thing, sorry.

http://examiner.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=20324:federal-shutdown-avoided-2012-budget-fight-looms-&catid=35:ap-news&Itemid=56

Finally in ring three, the center ring we have the upcoming 2012 presidential race.  Yes folks as expected President Obama has filed for re-election and we certainly have our fair share of potential challengers.  But had I told you two months ago that there would be one candidate getting the most press for their outlandish ideas, and it wouldn’t be Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich or Michelle Bachman would you have believed me?  No, my friends the monkey in the center ring with his fancy hairdo is none other than building mogul, I mean bankrupt, I mean Casino mogul, I mean bankrupt, I mean reality TV star, Donald Trump, the next President of the United States of America.  Wow what a circus that would be.

Why the military-industrial complex commanded we abandon Libya

I am not prone to flights of conspiratorial fancy but sometimes the conspiracy theory nuts get close to the truth.  So in this post I want to lay out an idea about how significant our abandonment of democratically focused freedom fighters was always a foregone conclusion.

So what is the military-industrial complex?  In 1961 President Dwight D Eisenhower made a farewell speech to the nation.  In that speech he clearly related the coming marriage between the defense industry and our nation and how powerful that new relationship would become and the impact it would have.  The most significant passage from his talk is below:

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

The amount we spent on defense in America in 2010 was $663 billion, roughly one-sixth of the entire US budget (16%).  By comparison, we spent $46 billion to fund the Department of Education.

The top ten defense lobbyist spent $27 million in the last quarter of 2009 at a time when the US had decided to ramp up the military efforts in Afghanistan.  With this type of money being spent the defense industry becomes a significant player in our government with significant influence on the policies and actions of congress and the president.

In a nutshell what this means is that the defense industry has a vested interest, which they pay heavily for, in how we conduct ourselves in the world.  Corporate leaders look for opportunities to support conflict which drives their profits, likewise they need fear to hold continued support from the public, and have an interest in maintaining a healthy economy that allows for significant defense spending.  So the military-industrial complex needs a growing economy, an American public in fear and conflict to drive military spending.

So how does this relate to Libya?  Libya is an oil rich country, granted, not a significant importer to America but an oil rich Arab nation none-the-less and let’s not forget that the defense industry is a global, not an American, phenomenon.   So as Egyptian students revolted in the streets we could be supportive, Egypt does not provide us with oil and as such is not a threat to our growing economy.  Saudi Arabia however is and literally across a causeway bridge is a burgeoning revolt in the country of Bahrain.  If the United States stepped in and helped out the Libyan rebels with military assets, it would be difficult to justify not helping similar rebels in Bahrain and then potentially, rebels in Saudi Arabia, our third largest energy provider after Canada and nearly equal to Mexico.  But North American sources are easily protected, the Saudi’s our good friends are not. 

So by not stepping in to help the Libyan rebels we do two things.  First, we stay on Gaddafi’s good side and also keep the oil fields pumping and oil profits from Libya flowing.  Secondly, we set up a situation where it would be hypocritical to go into Bahrain.  And so today, our good friends the Saudi’s moved in to help Bahrain quell their street protests with a military presence.  I’m sure this was done to send a clear message to people in Saudi Arabia that if they would use their military against protestors in Bahrain, they would certainly do the same at home.  Staying out of Libya guaranteed the Saudi’s could act with impunity.

We have one of the elements the military-industry complex needs, oil is flowing and that allows for economic growth in the world.  Now all we need is to keep the American public afraid and find a military option to make up for monies no longer being spent in Iraq.  Well my friends, both of those things can be taken care of in Yemen.  First there is a revolt going on in Yemen as well, and secondly they specter of Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula is alive and well.  Those two things give the United States all of the justification we need to perform airstrikes and missile attacks and eventually move forces into Yemen.  The purpose will be to quell the protests against the Yemeni president we support and of course to remove the bogey man of the 21^st century, the Al Qaeda terrorist threat.

Why you should care about protests in Tunisia, Yemen and Egypt

Several weeks ago there was a governmental overthrow that occurred in Tunisia and it is easy to write off Tunisia as a tiny country that has no impact on life in America, more about Tunisia at the following link:

http://www.npr.org/2011/01/16/132975274/Social-Media-Gets-Credit-For-Tunisian-Overthrow

Then there were protests in Yemen and we’ve talked about Yemen before, first a post about the recent protests:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12295864

And what we’ve discussed about Yemen previously:

http://zdeaconblue.wordpress.com/2010/12/23/the-next-big-terror-threat/

Finally, unless you’ve been in a coma for the last week you probably know that there are massive protests going on in the country of Egypt.  The protestors on the street, in what have been relatively peaceful protests so far; seem to want one thing, Hosni Mubarak out of office.  Mubarak has been the ruler of Egypt for nearly thirty years and the people of Egypt are demanding a change, you can read more about Mubarak at the following link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosni_Mubarak

At this point a natural question arises were the neocons correct about the Middle East?  Are we seeing the results of the policy of forcing democracy on other countries?  An interesting discussion on this topic is available at the following link:

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/01/30/matthews-were-neocons-right-about-middle-east-was-bush-better-equippe

Personally, I don’t see a stable democracy in Iraq or in Afghanistan, and there are still plenty of non-democratic governments in the Middle East including Iran and Saudi Arabia.  What seems to be occurring in the streets of the Arab world is not related to Islam and democracy but a very simple issue, basic human survival and the gap between those who have power, money and control and those who are struggling to survive.  Unemployment, poverty, and lack of education and opportunity is what the people are calling for in the streets of Tunisia, Yemen and especially Egypt.

So why should you care?  You are safe at home and watching Egypt on CNN, so really why should you care?  Ok, first this can impact our economy, in a minor way if Egypt’s economy generally melts down without too much violence.  If however things in Egypt really disintegrate and there is an interruption in travel through the Suez Canal, which is controlled by Egypt, then it could be a very big deal.  That interruption would cause oil coming out of the region to travel an additional 6,000 miles around Africa and that will impact oil prices.  You may have noticed gas prices creeping up recently and I think you can count on the creep continuing with what’s going on in Egypt.  If it really goes south there could be a significant increase in gas prices and as we have seen that impacts prices across the board in the US.

However, I’ll give you an even bigger reason to worry about what’s going on in these countries.  The issues that are being taken on in Egypt, poverty, education, unemployment, and the prosperity gap, do not only exist in these countries.  Looking at Greece, Spain, the UK and the United States this issue exists everywhere and is getting worse.  My friends, there is a limit to how long a person can suffer, can watch his/her children suffer while others have control of his/her life.  At some point people will say no more and express themselves, and then, all bets are off.  So why should you care, I’ll tell you, the country you live in, is not as different from Egypt as you might like to think.

The Next Big Terror Threat, Part 2

 We talked awhile back about what I think will be the next terrorist boogeyman as painted by the US Government and media, Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).   The process of building the next boogeyman is a subtle and patient process, it starts with introducing us to the monster.  Then consistently and quietly at first they work the monster and the country in which he resides into the news cycle.  Then after we all know who and where the monster is, we look for a trigger event that can be used to raise the blood pressure of the American people.  So we know who the monster is AQAP and its leader Anwar Al-Awlaki, and we know where they are, Yemen.  So friends it’s time you get to know Yemen, here is the link to the CIA Factbook entry for Yemen:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ym.html

Also we are starting to see the government increasing attention on Yemen, in the news today we see that Secretary of State Clinton made a surprise visit to Yemen:

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2011/0111/Why-Hillary-Clinton-made-a-surprise-stop-in-Yemen

Something to keep your eye on, within the next two years Yemen will be our next Afghanistan or Iraq.

The next big terror threat

So after 10 years we have effectively dispersed the original core of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Iraq, after drawing them to Iraq with a little war there.  But the problem with fighting terrorism, unlike fighting a country, is that there is no set army or location to destroy.  With cells that can develop, align themselves and then act independently of the center, it can be a never-ending project.  So unfortunately what this has set up is a permanent state of “war” for the United States a perpetual reason for the government to deploy our forces and spend money on the industrial war complex instead of those luxuries like healthcare, social security, education or the environment in America.

The next “BIG” threat is beginning to be painted in the media.  As the Iraq and Afghanistan wars start to wind down, the military industrial complex will need to create a new boogeyman for the US to focus and spend money on destroying.  So the next group that we will be told hates our freedom is Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).  These are not nice people for sure, they are aligned with Osama Bin Laden and have made similar calls for the overthrow of the Saudi Government and to destroy the west;

http://www.globaljihad.net/view_news.asp?id=1604

The leader of this organization is a man named Anwar Al-Awlaki, born in the United States of Yemeni descent who possesses both US and Yemeni citizenship.  You can read more about Anwar Al-Awlaki at the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki

Although I won’t post the links here, Al-Awlaki has a Facebook page, he has YouTube videos and has used the internet in a way no other terrorist has before, a Bin Laden for a new generation of jihadists you might say.  Is Al-Awlaki and his organization a true threat?  Well they were reported to be behind:

A recruiting office shooting in Little Rock in June, 2009

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Little_Rock_recruiting_office_shooting

the failed 2009 Christmas airline bomber:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umar_Farouk_Abdulmutallab

and the failed October 2010, cargo plane bomb plot:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_cargo_plane_bomb_plot

When you look at this activity and how frequently AQAP is being mentioned on the news, I think we know who the next boogeyman is, or put another way, the next thing that is supposed to scare the hell out of us to give the government more control over our lives and distract us from the fact that Osama Bin Laden still runs free after 10 years.