- Written by William Bowles
Capitalism – past its sell-by date?
Review: The Chávez Code – Cracking US Intervention in Venezuela by Eva Golinger
Perhaps the greatest triumph of modern capitalism has been its ability to sell itself and to do it by fair means and foul with the emphasis on the foul.Historically, it has been the CIA which up until the 1990s did the dirty work for US imperialism as the record clearly shows. However, the CIA’s record in overthrowing foreign governments is far from being a success story. A new strategy was needed, and one which was untainted with the ‘dirty tricks’ label of the Nixon years and which could be sold to the public under the umbrella of ‘spreading democracy’, Western-style of course.
Aside from the obvious harnessing of the corporate and state media in this process has been the creation of innumerable ‘foundations’, ‘NGOs’ and spin-offs of the various organs of the state such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and a plethora of quasi-governmental structures like the National Endowment for Democracy [sic] or NED.
Big business has been an integral part of this process funnelling literally billions of dollars into a plethora of foundations and ‘think tanks’ which work hand-in-glove with the state in not only projecting the capitalist way of life but in directly interfering in the internal affairs of foreign countries whenever ‘private property’ is seemingly threatened.
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Jimmy Carter was the latest to use the M Word. The former president said he
believes the "occupancy of Iraq and all the consequences of it are a big
mistake." This echoes John Kerry's infamous 1971 question: "How do you ask a
man to die for a mistake?" Hmm...perhaps recalling a few details about the
Vietnam "mistake" might shine some light on the Iraq "blunder."
Well, the New York Times just got sucked in again to help the Bush
Administration make the case for starting a war with Iran and Syria. Sorry, but how obtuse can some folks be? I refer to the so-called news
reported by 
You would think that
by now we would have "supp'd full with horrors" on the New York Times
op-ed pages. What could be worse than the atrocities that have filled
those gray columns in the past few years,
the loud brays for war, the convoluted excuses for presidential
tyranny, the steady murmur of chin-stroking bullshit meant to comfort
the comfortable elite and confirm them -- at all times, at any cost --
in their well-wadded self-righteousness? Surely, you would think, we
have seen the worst.
On my way to the elevated subway station today, I caught sight of my
neighborhood's most clearcut (pun very much intended) sign that Santa season
is fully upon us: Christmas tree lots. I detect the familiar faces of the
folks‹positioned, as always, in front of Rite Aid‹hawking pines and firs
long since separated from their roots. According to the National Christmas
Tree Association, approximately 30-35 million "real" Christmas trees are
sold in the U.S. every year and roughly 100,000 people are employed in the
Christmas tree industry.
Noam
Chomsky needs no introduction. He's MIT Institute Professor Emeritus of
linguistics and a leading anti-war critic and voice for over 40 years for
social equity and justice. He's also one
of the world's most influential and widely cited intellectuals on the
Left. Gilbert Achcar is a
Lebanese-French academic, author, social activist, Middle East expert and
professor of politics and international relations at the University of
Paris. Their new book, Perilous Power,
is based on 14 hours of dialogue between them over three days in January, 2006
and updated six months later in July in a separate Epilogue at the end. It covers US foreign policy in the most
volatile and turbulent region in the world, the Middle East, and discusses the
wars in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and Afghanistan as well as such key issues as
terrorism, fundamentalism, oil, democracy, possible war against Iran and much
more. Chomsky and Achcar collaborated
with Stephen Shalom, Professor of Political Science at William Paterson
University acting as moderator to pose questions and keep the discussion on track. 
Think of it as a Tomdispatch.com milestone. This is now the first website to "indict" the President, the Vice President, and their colleagues for defrauding us into war in Iraq. I put that "indict" in quotes because what follows, as former federal prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega makes clear in her new book United States v. George W. Bush et al., is "not an actual indictment." It can't be, of course; but consider it the second best thing. 
As long as there has been a
U.S. military, people have been
leaving it. That choice has never
been more appropriate than today. Individuals who signed up to defend the United States are engaged in a
war that was sold on the basis of lies, was entirely unnecessary, is making us
less safe, has nothing to do with defending anyone, and which involves the
horror of slaughtering men, women, and children by the hundreds of
thousands. The majority of
Americans want the war to end and just voted accordingly in the Congressional
elections. The majority of Iraqis
want the war to end. The majority
of American service men and women in Iraq want the war to end. And taking part in this war is illegal,
whether you are ordered to do so or not.
Keep in mind, I've run Tomdispatch.com for only a few years, but I've
been a book editor in mainstream publishing for over 30 years. Sometime
last spring, I was on the phone with former federal prosecutor
Elizabeth de la Vega talking about books she might someday write, when
she suddenly said to me, "You know what I'd like to do?" When I asked
what, she replied, "What I've done all my life."