The U.S. Ruling Class Will Never Allow America’s Wars To End + Neoliberalism Is Going To Keep Us In A Perpetual Health Crisis, by Rainer Shea

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by Rainer Shea
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Rainer Shea: Anti-Imperialist Journalist, July 1, 2020
July 6, 2020

This last week, U.S. intelligence officials and their allies in the corporate media spread the evidence-free claim that Russia has put bounties on American troops in Afghanistan. This propaganda campaign was both an attempt to reinforce anti-Russian sentiment, and a subtle way to manufacture consent for the ongoing Afghanistan war. Which prompts one to ask: why is the empire so committed to perpetuating war? Why haven’t any of the wars it’s started since 9/11 been ended, and why does it evidently have every intention of making sure they don’t end?

Michael Parenti: Welfare for the Wealthy

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with Michael Parenti
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally posted Nov. 27, 2011

“And they launch military spending programs that have transformed the United States into a permanent war economy. Rather than a laissez-faire government that does little, we have a corporate state that plays an increasingly active role in sustaining the process of capital accumulation for big corporations.” — Michael Parenti

Why We Need Decolonization in 2020 by David Swanson

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by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy
January 14, 2020

South Korea cannot choose to make peace with North Korea without the consent of a foreign power that keeps thirty thousand troops in South Korea, makes South Korea pay much of the cost of housing them, commands the South Korean military in war, holds veto power at the United Nations, and is not accountable to the International Criminal Court or the International Court of Justice.

Max Blumenthal: What Really Happened on the Colombian-Venezuelan Border + Wilkerson: The Permanent War State Aims to Plunder Venezuela

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Dandelion Salad

Updated: Feb. 26 and Feb. 27, 2019

TeleSUR English on Feb 24, 2019

LIVE | From the South: Journalist Max Blumenthal joins us live to discuss the latest developments in Venezuela, and Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel speaks after casting his ballot in the country’s historic constitutional referendum. More on these and other stories now.

Peter Phillips: The Global Power Elite: A Transnational Class

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Dandelion Salad

TheRealNews on Dec 26, 2018

Peter Phillips, the author of the book, “Giants: The Global Power Elite,” examines the roles and networks of the world’s richest and most powerful. This class is no longer bound to national concerns, only to the expansion of its own power, says Phillips.

Regulating Apocalypse by David Swanson

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by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy
October 29, 2018

“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good!”
“Don’t be such a purist!”
“Be strategic!”
“Do what’s possible!”
“You can’t deny reality/human nature/religious text.”

17 Years of Getting Afghanistan Completely Wrong by David Swanson

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by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy, Sept. 28, 2018
September 30, 2018

We expect 17-year-olds to have learned a great deal starting from infancy, and yet full-grown adults have proven incapable of knowing anything about Afghanistan during the course of 17 years of U.S.-NATO war. Despite war famously being the means of Americans learning geography, few can even identify Afghanistan on a map. What else have we failed to learn?

John Pilger: The Contamination of the Corporation Runs Right Through Our Lives

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Dandelion Salad

with John Pilger

Melbourne Press Club on Mar 1, 2018

“John Pilger has always been hopelessly romantic about journalism, he told a 2 March Press Club lunch, and the day he got a cadetship on the Daily Telegraph was one of the happiest of his life.

The War of US and NATO Imperialism in Afghanistan by Fazal Rahman, Ph.D.

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by Fazal Rahman, Ph.D.
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Originally published on imperialismandthethirdworld, Oct. 14, 2017
October 16, 2017, revised October 19, 2017

Sixteen years of war in Afghanistan by US and NATO imperialism is the longest in their history. In spite of their incomparable high tech military and economic superiority, and after gathering the military forces of 50 client countries there, committing diabolical atrocities, and spending close to a trillion dollars, they have essentially lost the war against the poorly equipped Taliban and their allies that have been waging an effective and experienced guerrilla warfare against the invaders and becoming stronger in the process, again demonstrating the accuracy of dialectical theories of guerrilla warfare by Mao Zedong, Vo Nguyen Giap, and Ernesto Che Guevara.

Quadriga by Gaither Stewart

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by Gaither Stewart
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Rome, Italy
September 27, 2017

A five-meter tall resplendent Quadriga sculpture tops the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the Wellington Arch in London, The Bolshoy Theater in Moscow, the Victor Emmanuel Monument in Rome, and other important structures elsewhere. Quadriga  is a Latin word (quad=square plus yoke or iugum), the name of the two-wheel chariot drawn by four horses (not three as the Russian Troika) yet harnessed abreast, one beside the other, projecting an image of unusual power. The four-horse Quadriga was used in chariot races by Greeks, Romans and Byzantines and its drivers, the charioteers, were popular heroes like Formula One race drivers today. Some were even driven by gods and the Quadriga image was used also on coins. So the Quadriga became a symbol of war, victory and also the peace following a military victory.

Chris Hedges and Matthew Hoh: Afghanistan War Keeps Going Because the Money Keeps Flowing In

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Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on Jul 15, 2017

On this week’s episode of On Contact, Chris Hedges takes an in-depth look at the 16-year-old conflict in Afghanistan with Matthew Hoh, a Marine Corps veteran and diplomat who resigned his State Department post in Afghanistan in protest over the war. RT Correspondent Anya Parampil looks at the decades of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan.

George Orwell’s 1984

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Dandelion Salad

Originally posted February 7, 2008

Warning

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

1984 George Orwell (1954)

Emmanuel Goldstein on Sep 26, 2013

BBC Television’s live production of George Orwell’s “1984”. Produced in 1954. Creative Commons license: Public Domain.

Sheldon Wolin: Can Capitalism and Democracy Coexist? Parts 1-8, interviewed by Chris Hedges

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Dandelion Salad

Posted previously Oct 22, 2014

Journalist Chris Hedges interviews political philosopher Sheldon Wolin, who says democracy cannot exist without continuous opposition and vigilance on the part of the citizenry.

Trump Dredging the Swamp to Empower the Worst Elements of the ‘Shadow World’ + Shadow World (must-see)

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Dandelion Salad

Updated: Nov. 26, 2017, added full film

The Story Behind the Gripping New Documentary ‘Shadow World’ (1/5)

TheRealNews on Dec 16, 2016

In part one, Andrew Feinstein discusses being witness to a corrupt weapons deal in post-apartheid South Africa sparked his quest to uncover the world of war profiteers and weapons contractors.

How We Could End the Permanent War State by Gareth Porter (#NoWar2016)

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by Gareth Porter
Writer, Dandelion Salad
worldbeyondwar.org
September 26, 2016

Remarks at #NoWar2016

My remarks are related to the problem of media as a factor in the war system but not focused primarily on that. I have experienced first hand as a journalist and as an author how the corporate news media hews to a set of well-delineated lines in the coverage of issues of war and peace that systematically block out all data that conflict with those lines. I’d be glad to talk about my experiences especially in covering Iran and Syria in Q and A.