CBS news yesterday showed a US war room for Syria where they electronically monitor exactly what is going on militarily. There were computer screens. infrared cameras, & control panels of all kinds. They can tell the movement on the ground & in the air & who it is that’s moving; they can target a pimple on the butt of a camel. All you have to recall is Obama, Clinton, & other US officials sitting in the White House watching the assassination of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

So people should ask themselves why US officials are cagey when asked if Russia is bombing hospitals. They know exactly who is doing what & where. They know exactly who is bombing those hospitals. When they dummy up & fumble for words, that is not evidence in Russia’s denial but suggests some kind of US complicity in supporting Assad.

It may sound snotty, but did you ever notice how many people are really eloquent writers but don’t have anything to say & use a lot of words to not say anything well? It gives being a blowhard some style. That’s good.

Whither goeth the left? Syria will decide.

Child and white phosphorous

Whither goeth the left? Syria will decide.

The left has been in sustained crisis for nearly forty years now–since the end of the Vietnam War really. It has long been divided & factional but for nearly 100 years the decisive rifts have always involved war & where you stood. So perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that a crisis is emerging so sharply among progressives about where you stand on Assad, on Syria, & on foreign military intervention.

Partially, the problem is reliable media sources of information in a complex situation; partly it’s the theoretical bankruptcy of celebrity left leaders who appear to be coasting on memes rather than political scholarship; & partly it’s the debating style of leftists who ridicule & taunt opposing views rather than politically anatomize them. Macho one-up–man-ship has replaced sharp, coherent analysis.

Quite frankly, most of us don’t know squat about the organizational & military character of ISIS. It’s very difficult to unravel the political character of the Syrian popular militias & who is arming them. Most of us can’t agree on who is actually bombing Syria or whether those bombers are going after Assad or ISIS of civilians.

But one thing is clear & that is Syria is a watershed moment for progressives–socialist & others. How we are responding, including the theoretical methods we use to understand, are creating rifts & divisions from which there will be no rapprochement–but from which many young people will learn & will emerge as new theoretical & political leaders to replace those veterans who substitute assiduous analysis with strutting. As it stands today, there is no left on Syria but only a cacophony of competing rationalizations depending on which military you support.

What’s going on in Syria is complex & confusing. Antiwar activists need to understand if this is, as some allege, a regime change situation like the US in Iraq & Libya–& if so, what can we do about it without supporting the dictatorship of Assad. There needs to be discussion on this, not snide, smart-aleck repartee where analysis is required.

But there are some red alerts that should be noted in the ongoing cacophony that can hardly be called a debate: If you support the Assad regime & sneer at the popular revolution against him, you might be a redneck. If you support or advocate military intervention by any regime for or against Assad, you might be a redneck. If you take Russian propaganda like RT as the gospel truth & sneer at the testimony of Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International, & other Syrian human rights groups, you might be a redneck. If you vilify first responders digging through rubble to rescue civilians & slander them as al-Qaeda, you might be worse than a redneck. If you slander the deceased Jo Cox as al-Qaeda for supporting those first responders, you might as well bend over & kiss your ass good-bye as a progressive.

Photo is (r) Syrian child suffering white phosphorous burns & (l) rain of white phosphorous from Russian bombers from FB wall of Syrian Organization for the Defense of Human Rights.

The historic imperative remains: rebuild the international antiwar movement.

Heil mein fuhrer Trumpf!

Drumpf in his Mein Kampf pose (Nancy Wiechec, Reuters )

Last Sunday on the CBS program “Face the Nation,” Drumpf said the US should consider racial profiling of Muslims. “It’s not the worst thing to do,” he said, & cited Israel as a successful model of profiling along with France where police are closing down mosques.

Drumpf reiterated his support for banning Muslims from entering the US, for increased surveillance at mosques, & for enhanced scrutiny of Muslims who purchase weapons. Does that mean there’ll be a religion check now when you buy a gun?

In response, Clinton said the comments show Drumpf to be unfit for president. She has a better strategy: bomb the hell out of them overseas.

(Photo of Drumpf in his heil mein fuhrer pose by Nancy Wiechec/Reuters)

Cornel West talks tough to power

Cornel West

So Cornel West, appointed by Bernie Sanders, talked tough to power at the 2016 Democratic party convention platform drafting committee–a committee stacked with Clinton & pro-Israel supporters.

Apparently nowadays, you become a people’s hero if you recognize the humanity of the Palestinians–which is nothing but a lousy discount on self-determination & justice. Why should they settle for ceremonial rhetoric & political chump change & who in the hell do we think we are in brokering the discounts?

West feigns an ambivalent relationship to the Democratic Party; his political biography is filled with mea culpas over which lesser evil he claims he was schnookered by. Talking tough to power by advocating BDS & citing the Israeli occupation is not courageous but an impotent grandstanding gesture because he knows it doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of inclusion in the DP platform. But it does assure him of substantial honoraria as an outspoken voice for people’s power.

But even if it did become platform, so what? There isn’t a single instance when US political policy has been governed or restrained by what a handful of minions & party hacks decide. It’s all for show since US policy toward Israel–which is exactly the same in both parties–is not determined by functionaries but by think tanks, special consultants, the Pentagon, CIA, & US strategic interests in the Middle East.

West is playing us for fools to maintain the hold of the Democratic Party on progressives. That’s his role as Sanders’ minion.

The point however is to build BDS to strengthen Palestinian political power & in that regard grandstanding doesn’t cut it.

Build BDS!

Bhopal petition garnered 122,727 signatures demanding US government stop obstructing justice

Bhopal child (Alex Masi)

In case anyone missed it, the petition circulated by Bhopal justice activists gathered 122,727 signatures in 30 days. It demands the US government stop obstructing justice by shielding Dow Chemical from accountability in the 1984 toxic gas release in Bhopal, India. Up to 10,000 people were killed instantly, 500,000 maimed, & it has left a legacy of second & third generation neurological health problems, serious disabilities, & environmental ruin. What kind of criminality allows a corporation to walk away from justice for such immense wreckage!?

This boy named Faizan lives near the former Union Carbide (now Dow) industrial complex. Not properly warned, his mother, a 1984 accident survivor, has been feeding Faizan red-colored contaminated water since his birth & the family relies on it for cooking, laundry, bathing. This picture is not to hold him up as an object of pity since, as we’ve learned from disability rights, everyone is perfect just as they are. It is to show the scale of the criminal legacy Dow is trying to elude. This little guy, now a teen, requires significant social assistance to lead the life he’s worthy of.

We should take a moment to honor the relentless Bhopal activists & be grateful & proud we could play a small part in supporting their efforts. Actually for those in the US, it is our duty to hold our government to account.

Special thanks to Roshen Chandran.

(Photo by Alex Masi)

My friend arranged for four of my rescue girls to get spayed through a free community program, including the full Monty of treatments for a dog–even a microchip. We took three of them yesterday. They were taken away in a van in their own little kennels looking very sad. I have a philosophy that doesn’t allow animals to be caged so maybe it was just me projecting.

When she brought them back to me they were wearing those plastic gizmos to keep them from licking their wounds & were all disoriented, doped up with pain meds, & miserable. It was an up-close & personal reminder of why I oppose testing of any kind on living animals, including mice.

When we got home I removed the collars & have been comforting them for the past several hours while they moan–& also, being dogs, milk it for the extra attention. They’re probably not so much in pain as confused. But it’s just me trying to assure them that I’m not responsible for their misery. If they understood a word I said, I’d blame it all on my friend who so generously & kindly provided this for their care.

The last one to get spayed is my big galoot who is divinely sweet & also slightly psychotic. She must have escaped a rope because if I try to leash her for a walk she goes nuts. But she’s smart enough to go to college & continually gets past my barricades–including taking them all with her into the street. One little guy had to get a leg amputated after apparently getting hit by a car in one of her escapes. She also constantly menaces my birds & killed one. When she’s fixed & chipped, I’ll get her on a caravan to Denver where they foster them, not kennel them, until they’re adopted into a forever loving family.