Bill Van Auken

Captain America: The First Avenger. Working for Israel.

US militarist policy stands naked before the world.

US President Barack Obama delivered his fifth address to an opening session of the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday, mixing sanctimonious rhetoric about democracy and humanitarianism with naked threats of US military aggression.

While the media obsessed over whether the US president would stage a handshake with his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani—a meaningless gesture that the Iranians reportedly rejected—the real content of Obama’s 50-minute address was the elaboration of a foreign policy doctrine under which Washington arrogates to itself the right to militarily intervene in the Middle East as it sees fit to protect its “core interests.”

The speech made clear that the “turn to diplomacy” in relation to both Syria and Iran represents not some fundamental turn away from the predatory policy pursued by US imperialism in the region through the wars of the last decade, but rather a tactical shift imposed upon the Obama administration by the emergence of overwhelming and unanticipated popular hostility to yet another war of aggression in the Middle East.

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Stephen Lendman

His address didn't surprise. It was beginning-to-end demagogic boilerplate. It featured imperial mumbo jumbo. He turned truth on its head like he always does.

A year ago he claimed intervening in Libya was to "cope with violent conflict, care for the wounded, and craft a vision for the future in which the rights of all Libyans would be respected."

"And after the revolution, (he) supported the birth of a new democracy, as Libyans held elections, and built new institutions, and began to move forward after decades of dictatorship."

Fact check: Libya was Africa's most developed country. Most Libyans supported Gaddafi. They did so for good reasons. He provided free healthcare, education and much more. His Libya no longer exists. Obama turned it into a charnel house. Tens of thousands were slaughtered. Multiples more were injured. Many more were displaced. Mostly civilians were harmed. NATO willfully targeted them. At issue was replacing another independent government with a puppet one. Violence persists daily. So do human need, suffering and misery. Now Libya's a failed state. Divergent factions run things. No legitimate government exists. For sure no democracy. Obama lied claiming otherwise. He bears full responsibility for what happened.

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Chris Floyd

Shoppers sprint through a department store on Saturday
as gunmen open fire in a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya.

This article is originally from 24 November 2008.

The idea that a democratic government would deliberately create fake "extremist groups" then send them out to foment violence and terrorism -- in order to discredit legitimate opposition to elite rule and to "justify" authoritarian powers -- has long been derided in "serious" circles as that worst of modern heresies: "conspiracy theory." Anyone advancing such a preposterous notion is instantly relegated to the ranks of the "lunatic fringe," and dismissed with varying degrees of contempt and condescension.

And the woeful fact that millions of the ruminants out there in the vast public herd swallow these wild tales and believe that their betters are up to no good is also widely deplored in the higher circles of public discourse. As any fully-accredited, perk-laden, sinecured think-tanker can tell you, democratic governments are led by men and women devoted to public service. Sure, there can be fierce disputes over policies and approaches and outcomes and ideologies and competence. Sure, some people may step over a line here and there in their pursuit of what they believe is the nation's best interests. But just as western democracies do not torture, do not launch aggressive wars, do not spy upon their own people or imprison them by the millions, they most assuredly do not create and support extremist groups and instigate acts of terror and chaos to advance authoritarian agendas.

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