• freagle@lemmygrad.ml
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    9 months ago

    The Islamic State has regained its momentum, and the Biden administration might inadvertently give it another boost.

    When we create bad situations it’s bumbling accidents. When they create bad situations it’s evil genius behavior. When we succeed it’s through our intellectual prowess. When they succeed it’s a bumbling accident coupled with propaganda and censorship.

      • Parenti Bot@lemmygrad.mlB
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        9 months ago
        The quote

        In the United States, for over a hundred years, the ruling interests tirelessly propagated anticommunism among the populace, until it became more like a religious orthodoxy than a political analysis. During the Cold War, the anticommunist ideological framework could transform any data about existing communist societies into hostile evidence. If the Soviets refused to negotiate a point, they were intransigent and belligerent; if they appeared willing to make concessions, this was but a skillful ploy to put us off our guard. By opposing arms limitations, they would have demonstrated their aggressive intent; but when in fact they supported most armament treaties, it was because they were mendacious and manipulative. If the churches in the USSR were empty, this demonstrated that religion was suppressed; but if the churches were full, this meant the people were rejecting the regime’s atheistic ideology. If the workers went on strike (as happened on infrequent occasions), this was evidence of their alienation from the collectivist system; if they didn’t go on strike, this was because they were intimidated and lacked freedom. A scarcity of consumer goods demonstrated the failure of the economic system; an improvement in consumer supplies meant only that the leaders were attempting to placate a restive population and so maintain a firmer hold over them. If communists in the United States played an important role struggling for the rights of workers, the poor, African-Americans, women, and others, this was only their guileful way of gathering support among disfranchised groups and gaining power for themselves. How one gained power by fighting for the rights of powerless groups was never explained. What we are dealing with is a nonfalsifiable orthodoxy, so assiduously marketed by the ruling interests that it affected people across the entire political spectrum.

        – Michael Parenti, Blackshirts And Reds

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    • miz@lemmygrad.ml
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      9 months ago

      Citations Needed Episode 13: The Always Stumbling US Empire

      “Stumbling”, “sliding”, “drawn into” war––the media frequently assumes the US is bumbling its way around the world. The idea that the United States operates in “good faith” is taken for granted for most of the American press while war is always portrayed as something that happens to the US, not something it seeks out.

      • supersolid_snake@lemmygrad.ml
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        9 months ago

        You would think the Kurds would learn by now but nope they keep falling for it. I don’t mean to insult the Kurds, it’s just the empire makes tempting offers and doesn’t care to follow through. Never trust imperialism.

        • SadArtemis🏳️‍⚧️@lemmygrad.ml
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          9 months ago

          I imagine it hasn’t helped their popularity in the region a bit, as well, that they keep going to bat for the US. Honestly my view on things as a result is that I have sympathy for the Kurds in Turkey- but those in Syria and Iraq deserve near anything they get.

      • plinky [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        9 months ago

        Turns tinfoil hat on:

        Thats the price for swedish nato descension, couldn’t approve f35 cause eric adams and bob menendez fucked up a deal somewhere.

        • EmmaGoldman [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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          9 months ago

          That actually wouldn’t surprise me.

          I think the f35 deal could never have happened, too likely to crash the plane somewhere that’s too close for comfort to Russia. The US is very afraid someone might learn something they will then sell or give to Russia or China. us-foreign-policy means they can’t treat anyone but the most committed and loyal vassal states