I smell a rat By William Bowles + Liberated Libya Rejects US Intervention

by William Bowles
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
williambowles.info
Crossposted on Strategic Culture Foundation
March 3, 2011

“[T]o be an enemy of America can be dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal.” —Henry Kissinger

From the very beginning of the Libyan uprising/coup, call it what you will, something didn’t strike me as ‘right’, events unfolded in a vacuum as if overnight, chaos took over. As I reported in an earlier piece, all the videos coming out of Libya, were grainy unattributed snatches of events, it was impossible to tell what was really going on, and accompanied by all manner of rumours about what it was alleged Ghadifi’s regime was doing.

Libya: Is Washington Pushing for Civil War to Justify a US-NATO Military Intervention?

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Image via Wikipedia

by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
Global Research, February 25, 2011
– 2011-02-24

Is Tripoli being set up for a civil war to justify U.S. and NATO military intervention in oil-rich Libya?

Are the talks about sanctions a prelude to an Iraq-like intervention?

Something is Rotten in the so-called “Jamahiriya” of Libya

There is no question that Colonel Muammar Al-Gaddafi (Al-Qaddafi) is a dictator. He has been the dictator and so-called “qaid” of Libya for about 42 years. Yet, it appears that tensions are being ratcheted up and the flames of revolt are being fanned inside Libya. This includes earlier statements by the British Foreign Secretary William Hague that Colonel Qaddafi had fled Libya to Venezuela. [1] This statement served to electrify the revolt against Qaddafi and his regime in Libya.

Noam Chomsky: Stability means obedience to US domination

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Warning

This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.

Press TV
Feb. 24, 2011

Payback: The price of colonialism by Gaither Stewart

by Gaither Stewart
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
26 February, 2011

Of all the uprisings in the Maghreb, the case of Libya is perhaps the most opaque.  Is the country a locus of true spontaneous insurrection or simply the target of an opportunistic maneuver by the West?

(Rome) Does colonialism pay off for anyone? In the long run, definitely not. There is always a payback. The events today in the North Africa reflect this story. The situation today is the living and the dying proof of the payback. An atrocious, insufferable payback. The English in Egypt, the French in Algeria, the Italians in Libya. But especially the occupied Arab peoples of Egypt, Algeria and Libya, have all paid and continue to pay the price of colonialism.

Revolution Handbook for Americans by Joel S. Hirschhorn

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

by Joel S. Hirschhorn
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.foavc.org
February 20, 2011

As recently presented, there is global respect for and use of the classic and brilliant work by Gene Sharp “From Dictatorship to Democracy.” It is credited for empowering many actions around the world to overthrow dictatorships, including recent actions in the Mideast. My thesis is that his ideas, strategies and tactics, a handbook for revolution, can and should be applied to the US where there is a form of corporate dictatorship operating.

Greg Palast: Oil Dictatorships are the bigger threat to the global economy + Chevron vs. the Amazon

with Greg Palast
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.gregpalast.com
February 15, 2011

Image by Rainforest Action Network via Flickr

RussiaToday | February 17, 2011

This time Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, talk about Guanxi schemes selling fictional forests for real money, while real farmland cant find even a virtual penny. In the second half of the show, Max talks to author and documentary filmmaker, Greg Palast, about whether it is peak oil or oil dictatorships that is the bigger threat to the global economy.

Samir Amin: Obama is Bush, but with a different language, Translated By Siv O’Neall

Translated By Siv O’Neall
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Axisoflogic.com
Feb 15, 2011

Samir Amin is a Franco-Egyptian economist, a member of the International Council of the World Social Forum and chairman of the World Forum for Alternatives. Samir Amin analyzes the political and economic crisis in Egypt.

This interview was conducted for the World Social Forum in Dakar by Rosa Moussaoui, special journalist/correspondent for ‘L’Humanité‘.

Question – Are the events that shook Tunisia and Egypt merely “popular uprisings” or are they a sign of the entry of these countries into the revolutionary process?

Once Upon a Time in the Evil Empire by Cindy Sheehan

by Cindy Sheehan
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Blog
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox
February 13, 2011

America is a Nation with a mission – and that mission comes from our most basic beliefs. We have no desire to dominate, no ambitions of empire. Our aim is a democratic peace – a peace founded upon the dignity and rights of every man and woman. — Emperor George the III

Once upon a time in the Evil Empire, there arose to the Most Powerful Office in the Land, a very stupidly evil man named, George Walker Bush (the III George of the Empire).

Gilbert Achcar: The History of Military Dictatorship in Egypt

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Image via Wikipedia

www.therealnews.com

Gilbert Achcar: Military rule in Egypt began with Nasser’s overthrow of King Farouk and increasing independence from the US.

Gilbert Achcar grew up in Lebanon, and is currently Professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) of the University of London. His books include The Clash of Barbarisms: The Making of the New World Disorder, published in 13 languages, Perilous Power: The Middle East and U.S. Foreign Policy, co-authored with Noam Chomsky, and most recently the critically acclaimed The Arabs and the Holocaust: The Arab-Israeli War of Narratives.

Robert Fisk: The Great Tragedy is Obama Chose Not to Hold Out His Hand

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Democracy Now!
Feb. 9, 2011

“The Great Tragedy is Obama Chose Not to Hold Out His Hand”: Robert Fisk on the Gap Between U.S. Rhetoric and Action in the Egyptian Uprising

Protests Demanding Mubarak’s Resignation Grow Stronger + Media Crackdown

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Democracy Now!
Feb. 7, 2011

Image by gwenflickr via Flickr

Protests Demanding Mubarak’s Resignation Grow Stronger, Despite Some Government Concessions

Newly-appointed Egyptian vice president Omar Suleiman held talks on Sunday with opposition groups in Cairo in an attempt to stem the anti-government protests that continue across the country. Suleiman agreed to several major concessions, including ending the country’s decades-old emergency laws he did not say when, allowing a free press even as another Al Jazeera reporter was arrested, and creating a constitutional reform committee. The top demand of demonstrators–the immediate removal of President Hosni Mubarak-was not addressed. Protests continue today across Egypt, and tens of thousands of demonstrators have held their ground in Tahrir Square amidst a heavy military presence. We go to Cairo to speak with Democracy Now! senior producer Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Hossam Bahgat, an Egyptian human rights activist. [includes rush transcript]

Time for Democracy in Egypt by Ralph Nader

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Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page
Feb. 7, 2011

Those politically savvy people who thought strongman, Hosni Mubarak would be out before the end of the first week of the Egyptian uprising better rethink the odds. For thirty years Mubarak has developed what can be called a deeply rooted dictatorial regime with regular White House access and annual largesse of some $1.3 billion in military equipment and payroll.

His Master’s Voice By William Bowles

By William Bowles
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
williambowles.info
6 February, 2011

Image by Takver via Flickr

On the 5 February, the New York Times published a piece entitled ‘West Backs Gradual Egyptian Transition‘ that illustrates exactly how the media and the state collude in presenting the imperial line.

Effectively, it’s a distillation of the corporate state’s changing public response to the Egyptian insurrection as presented by one of its leading mouthpieces, the New York Times and it doesn’t beat about the obamabush in telling it like it is.

US Media and Egypt Coverage: Dodging the Real Issues and Fudging the Real Culprits by Sibel Edmonds

by Sibel Edmonds
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Originally published by Boiling Frogs Post
February 4, 2011

$60 Billion US Aid to Egypt=$60 Billion Current Net-worth of Mubarak Family

With all eyes and attention on Egypt, the unsavory ‘US Foreign Policy’ has become the topic of choice among the intelligentsia, journalists, and the overly populated US analyst colony. There are scores of analyses out there; thousands of articles, millions of blog threads and unending ‘update’ headlines on TV screens. Yet, at least in ‘popular’ outlets, reality appears to be the missing link. Don’t worry, I am not about to hit you with a long-winded article on Egypt. If you are masochistic enough to actually want my take (pages and pages of  history/analyses) you can revisit a few of our pieces on the topic of nefarious US foreign policy practices here, here and here; timeless and equally applicable to what we are witnessing with Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia today. Instead, I want to share with you a few select points and coverage that got my attention:

Egypt’s Revolution: US Imperialism Brought to Heel by Finian Cunningham

by Finian Cunningham
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
2 February, 2011

With up to eight million Egyptian people defying nearly a week of military curfew in that country to insist implacably on the overthrow of the US-backed Mubarak regime, there can be little doubt that this is a people’s revolution.

In this way alone, the people have succeeded already in defying bravely – over 300 have been killed by the regime in the past week – a brutal dictatorship that has ruled their country with an iron fist.