James Petras : The Decline of the US (and Everyone Else) Comments

Buddha Nature

Tue, 26 Nov 2013 13:41:13 +0000

The bottom of line of foreign policy of any nation is this, as was once said and at the moment I cannot recall by whom, "countries do not have permanent allies, just permanent interests".

Syed Zaidi

Tue, 26 Nov 2013 12:16:35 +0000

Okay, have found the original, Petras' own website, http://petras.lahaine.org.

Syed Zaidi

Tue, 26 Nov 2013 12:14:22 +0000

I have looked around for the original article, but the only link I can find is to this website. In which case, why do you cite Title 17 USC Section 107?

Syed Zaidi

Tue, 26 Nov 2013 12:06:43 +0000

It would be a mark of respect to the website from which you lifted this article to provide a link to the original. Or is there something one is missing?

Joe

Tue, 26 Nov 2013 06:45:30 +0000

“What civilization is, is 7 billion people trying to make themselves happy by standing on each other’s shoulders and kicking each other’s teeth in. It’s not a pleasant situation. And yet, you can stand back and look at this planet and see that we have the money, the power, the medical understanding, the scientific know-how, the love, and the community to produce a kind of human paradise. But we are led by the least among us: the least intelligent, the least noble, the least visionary. We are led by the least among us and we do not fight back against the dehumanizing values that are handed down as control icons. Culture is not your friend. It is not your friend. It insults you. It disempowers you. It uses and abuses you. The culture is a perversion. It fetishizes objects, creates consumer mania, it preaches endless forms of false happiness, endless forms of false understanding in the form of squirrelly religions and silly cults. It invites people to diminish themselves and dehumanize themselves by behaving like machines; meme processors of memes passed down from Madison Avenue and Hollywood.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYB0VW5x8fI

Abaddon441

Tue, 26 Nov 2013 03:32:24 +0000

For the first time in a while a piece that's truly enlightening regarding the machinations of political power - one largely stripped of ideology so that only the cogs and gears of the machine are visible. I have to agree with many of the author's conclusions - it's true that the Western imperialists are in decline, yet as of now there aren't any strong anti-imperialist coming to the forefront. But I think that this is all just a necessary part of the collapse: these localized forces that are the only ones fighting back, regardless of their ideology or lack of "progressive" ethics, are the ones that are laying the groundwork for the death of modern imperialism - I ask my fellow readers to look past their brutality and social ignorance so that one might see the methods they use to keep the beast at bay. "It's right to learn, even from the enemy.” - Ovid

camus10

Tue, 26 Nov 2013 03:30:17 +0000

they are running out of potable water after completing gleaming asian metropolis. Customers are ransacking stores finding no acceptable infant milk formula. Soon they will be out of radiation free fish poultry. Will moderation be forced on capitalist forces turning people into flies. see phillipines capitalism is leading to total mayhem for the planet

Subluna

Tue, 26 Nov 2013 03:02:29 +0000

Always were Arsestralians in they Lucky Country, Arsetralia. First licked the British arses, now the Zionist's and Zionist dominated American arses. Our Pride? The Murdoch Press and Canberra's Puppet Government tells Arsetralians to show our pride on ANZAC Day and Arsestralia Day of course.

al92653

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 21:32:06 +0000

Capitalism & moderation DO NOT go together!

Guest

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 17:24:32 +0000

Belicose Baird speaking for the canadian corporation. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/otta... As the eyes grow. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1BhmVAzjhg

Andre

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 13:57:57 +0000

Yes. Our collective humanity is hard at work. Millions of good people are fighting for fairness, justice, sustainability, compassion, and whatever it takes to develop a high quality of life for all. Life would be boring if we didn't have goofballs interfering with good intentions, at every turn.

Andre

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 13:53:29 +0000

The Scandinavian standard is definitely the best that humanity has come up with so far, but the US has been fighting for decades to offset the fine balance of capitalism/socialism, in favor of predatory capitalism, to its gross detriment. It's difficult to do a complete 180 turnaround from that which made the 1% super wealthy. They don't want to change a thing, but rather to continue to exploit the 99%, an obviously failed strategy.

Joe

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 12:56:41 +0000

“To be GOVERNED is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so. To be GOVERNED is to be at every operation, at every transaction noted, registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorized, admonished, prevented, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished. It is, under pretext of public utility, and in the name of the general interest, to be place under contribution, drilled, fleeced, exploited, monopolized, extorted from, squeezed, hoaxed, robbed; then, at the slightest resistance, the first word of complaint, to be repressed, fined, vilified, harassed, hunted down, abused, clubbed, disarmed, bound, choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned, shot, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed; and to crown all, mocked, ridiculed, derided, outraged, dishonored. That is government; that is its justice; that is its morality." "General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century", Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, 1923.

camus10

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 10:00:58 +0000

the only hope for capitalism is moderation. For new voices to call for restraint. Slave labor capitalism spurned by asian manufacturing bases is depleting the planet faster. Check the coal powered economies graying the asian skies. The wests labor markets need relief from the rampant asian factories. Moderation demands a rapid re-balance, the imposition of trade tariffs and import quotas. Petras has laid it out, but where is the prognostication. Who will save capiltalism and its degenerate consequence - our collective humanity.

Anymouse

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 09:03:56 +0000

James you're getting old and sound like you may have recently had bad news from your physician. Don't despair, don't falter now. The emperor is STILL naked and those without the zionist tinted glasses, those who are not card carrying psychopaths waging an unlimited attack on the planet itself can see the future clearly. In that future Pentacon Kill Industries and its North Atlantic Terror Organ have no part to play. Good news this weekend from Ukraine and Dallas where Mercans finally laid the blame on its CIA KGB for killing hope, and the interim agreement with Iran in Geneva has the Urupp mutts and the Apartheid abomination in occupied Palestine ranting and raving. Russia marches on with Edward Snowden holding the standard for government transparency and the collapse of the USan Saudi petroscrip is just a whisper away. Don't look farther than your local slums, crumbling highways , bridges, schools and privatized prison/slavery complex to see the true level of US decline. The rest is simply global posturing by a rusted military machine already routed.

David G

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 06:33:14 +0000

Australia's grovelling to Israel is nearly as abhorrent as its grovelling to the U.S.! We have become a nation of bum-kissers, followers, toadies, sycophants. Where is our pride?

John Adams

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 05:40:44 +0000

Australia and the US are going down together. Thanks to our spying on Indonesia to promote US interests and the latest, today is Australia's support for Israel against the Palestinians. http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/politic...

jimmyd

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 04:14:05 +0000

Maybe we should have taken history for lessons we've only lasted a mere 200 yrs....and still are an extension of the socalled royalty of Europe....

Wreckedearth

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 00:37:12 +0000

The decline of the USA would definitely be a good thing, but on the other hand what will replace it. Perhaps we should all be looking to the Scandinavian standard!!

Anti_

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 00:03:30 +0000

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/10/25/331248/us... US must end kowtowing to Israel on Syria: Ex-US Marine Ken O’Keefe said in an interview with Press TV on Thursday that Washington is meddling with the Middle East affairs, particularly those of Syria, in order “to carry out wars” for Israel. He added that “Israel has a long-term agenda of the Greater Israel Project and to destabilize the surrounding nations and making sure that there is no form of representative Arab nationalist unity, in which a strong leadership that represents the true interest of the people can emerge and that the people themselves can enjoy some form of dignity and liberty in their lives.”