If I said something like this on Facebook, I know for a fact certain folks (you know who you are) would attack me with comments like “oh here we go again, everything is always American’s fault”.
Well it looks like Obama agrees with those of us who have been saying for the last year that the US-lead invasion of Iraq in 2003 indirectly lead to the creation of Daesh. In this VICE NEWS interview, he says (at 11’50”):
“Two things: One is, ISIL is a direct outgrowth of Al-Qaeda in Iraq that grew out of our invasion, which is an example of unintended consequences, which is why we should generally aim before we shoot.”
That’s pretty bold for a sitting American President to admit. He continues to make sense:
What I’m worried about” he said, “is even if ISIL is defeated, the underlying problem of disaffected Sunnis around the world – but particularly in some of these areas including Libya, including Yemen – where a young man who’s growing up has no education, has no prospects for the future, is looking around and the one way he can get validation, power, respect, is if he’s a fighter.”
“That’s a problem we’re going to have, generally. And we can’t keep on thinking about counterterrorism and security as entirely separate from diplomacy, development, education.”
He goes on to talk about why it is in the best self-interests of the US to fund education in the Middle East. I agree. Unfortunately he didn’t go the final step and connect the US’ desire to control to oil of the Middle East, and it’s long history of interfering in the politics of the region to control that oil, with the rise if Sunni and Wahhabist extremism – but it was a good and surprising start.
But then he says legalisation of marijuana shouldn’t be young people’s top priority. Really? When the US has the world’s largest prison population and much of that is being driven by the drug laws? I definitely think legalisation of all drugs, not just marijuana, should be a top priority of American’s youth.
The outrage over the suggestion that Russia might have provided or sold the rocket launcher that downed MH17 and killed 300 civilians is such a joke when the annual total of civilians deaths from small arms sales by the permanent members of the UNSC makes that 300 look like a blip.
My data is a little out of date, but I’m sure nothing much has changed. Here are some facts for you to consider.
1. Some 300,000 to half a million people around the world are killed by them each year. (globalissues.org 2006)
2. World military expenditure in 2012 is estimated to have reached $1.756 trillion. (globalissues.org 2012)
3. The 5 UN Security Council permanent members are generally the largest arms dealers. (globalissues.org 2013)
5. Therefore, if there are between 300K – 500K people killed by small arms every year, and the USA is responsible for 44% of arms sales, then we can assume that the USA is responsible for somewhere in the region of 176,000 deaths every year.
Remember this the next time you hear Obama or Abbott decrying Putin.
This week I try to get down to basics – how do we form our political beliefs? Is government really about ethics? What political ethics do we want our society to strive towards? Are psychopaths screwing up the world? Do they make up a large percentage of the 1%?
My guests today are J. David Markham, my regular co-host on the much-loved Napoleon Bonaparte Podcast, and his friend of 35 years, a regular guest on this show, Doug LaFollette, Secretary of State of Wisconsin. They joined me this morning to discuss the recent US government shutdown and the forces at play behind it. If you, like me, have been trying to understand how something like this could happen in the world’s leading economic power, then I hope this conversation will shed some light on the issue. As David and Doug are both Democrats, I, being an Australian, try to throw in some counter-arguments into the conversation for balance.
BTW, if you’re having trouble getting the show to download in iTunes, please try deleting the feed from iTunes and re-adding it using this link.
