It’s an ObamaNation!

“Obama is a visual aid for white Americans who just don’t get it yet that we have lost control of our country and unless we get it back, we are heading for complete annihilation as a people.” ~ David DuKKKe

So Barack Hussein Obama got himself elect. And poor old Joe the Plumber (Samuel J. Wurzelbacher) is in tears. In Orstralia, PM KRudd reckons Obama has realised Martin Luther King Jnr’s dream: “Forty-five years ago Martin Luther King had a dream of an America where men and women would be judged not on the colour of their skin but on the content of their character. Today, what America has done is turn that dream into a reality,” Mr Rudd told report[er]s in Launceston” (Obama has realised King’s dream: Rudd, The Age, November 5, 2008. KRudd is also under fire for “reportedly leaking embarrassing details of a phone call with US President George W. Bush… During the call to discuss the global financial crisis on October 10, Bush reportedly responded to a suggestion by Rudd for a summit of the G20 group by saying: “What’s the G20?” D’oh!). Elsewhere:

By most accounts, yesterday was an inspiring, world-changing moment. Of course, the election of Barack Obama as President means a lot because of who he is, but in getting there, he also appears to have redrawn America’s political map.

Many conservatives – including Tim Blair – managed to be gracious in the face of this historic shift. Even John McCain – who was utterly thrashed – was able to make a pretty moving speech that acknowledged the importance of Obama’s victory. Fair play to all of them.

But you may be asking yourselves: on such an auspicious day, is there any way for an Australian conservative to turn this into an attack on the filthy habits of teh left? Could the election of Obama possibly be tarnished by associating it with something eee-vil? Come on down, Miranda Devine… ~ Devine wisdom, Jason (GrodsCorp) November 6, 2008

obama vs. afghanistan, iraq and pakistan

In July, Obama stated:

My first order as Commander in Chief will be to end the war in Iraq and refocus our efforts on Afghanistan and our broader security interests. Let me be clear–my plan would not abandon Iraq. It is in our strategic interest to maintain a residual force that will go after al-Qaeda, train Iraqi security forces and protect U.S. interests. But we must recognize that the central front in the war on terror is not in Iraq, and it never was. The central front is in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is unacceptable that almost seven years after 9/11, those responsible for the attacks remain at large. If another attack on our homeland occurs, it will likely come from this same region where 9/11 was planned. Yet today we have five times more troops in Iraq than Afghanistan…

As well as pledging to send additional troops (“at least two additional combat brigades”) to Afghanistan and to dragoon NATO forces (and finances), Obama pledged $1 billion (such a nice round number) in ‘aid’. As for Pakistan: “…if we have actionable intelligence about high-level al-Qaeda targets, we must act if Pakistan will not or cannot.” In other words, Obama will continue to reserve the right — fulsomely proclaimed by George II, and every other modern US President — to act unilaterally, and to kill people, chiefly civilians, in Pakistan, with or without the approval of the Pakistani government. On the other hand, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani stated this week that “No matter who the President of America will be, if he doesn’t respect the sovereignty and integrity of Pakistan … anti-America sentiments and anti-West sentiment will be there”. (According to CBC: “Over the last two months, the United States has launched at least 17 strikes on militant targets in the region of Pakistan that borders Afghanistan. The strikes have reportedly killed at least 168 people, many of whom were civilians, according to Pakistani officials.”)

On the history of US/Pakistani relations, see Tariq Ali, The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power, TomDispatch, September 14, 2008 [Video]

As for Iraq, Tariq has some interesting things to say about that too: ‘AFGHANISTAN: MIRAGE OF THE GOOD WAR’, Editorial, New Left Review, March/April 2008. More generally, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) provides important news coverage. They also issued an important statement (October 7, 2008) on the 7th anniversary of the US invasion:

Neither the US nor Jehadies and Taliban, Long Live the Struggle of Independent and Democratic Forces of Afghanistan!

Seven years back the US government and its allies were successfully able to legitimize their military invasion of Afghanistan and deceive the people of the US and the world under the banners of “liberating Afghan women”, “democracy” and “war on terror”. Our people, who had been tormented and oppressed by the Taliban’s dominance, were filled with hope but soon their dream of the establishment of security, democracy and freedom was shattered in the most painful manner.

By the installation of the puppet government of Karzai [appointed ‘Chairman of the Transitional Administration’ in December 2001, then Interim President in 2002, and elected President on December 7, 2004], the US reused its creations and continued its deal with the Jehadi criminal warlords. From the very start, Mr. Karzai shunned the demands and trusts of the people and chose to compromise with the criminals of the “Northern Alliance” [National Islamic United Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan and placed the filthiest faces in the key posts of the government. In contradiction to the shameless claims of the ministers and other treacherous and corrupt officials, our people feel more ill-fated; the country has been turned into a mafia state and self-immolation, rape and abduction of women and children has no parallel in the history of Afghanistan.

Despite Karzai’s pretence and crocodile tears, we witness that rapists are not only protected from persecution but forgiven, as Karzai announced amnesty for the people who had raped and then killed a woman and with this filthy act, soaked his hands in crime too!

[Continued…]

Finally:

obama vs. reality

INTERVIEW WITH NOAM CHOMSKY [October 10, 2008]
‘The United States Has Essentially a One-Party System’

The linguist and public intellectual Noam Chomsky has long been a critic of American consumerism and imperialism. SPIEGEL spoke to him about the current crisis of capitalism, Barack Obama’s rhetoric and the compliance of the intellectual class…

SPIEGEL: “Change” is the slogan of this year’s presidential election. Do you see any chance for an immediate, tangible change in the United States? Or, to use Obama’s battle cry: Are you “fired up”?

Chomsky: Not in the least. The European reaction to Obama is a European delusion.

SPIEGEL: But he does say things that Europe has long been waiting for. He talks about the trans-Atlantic partnership, the priority of diplomacy and the reconciling of American society.

Chomsky: That is all rhetoric. Who cares about that? This whole election campaign deals with soaring rhetoric, hope, change, all sorts of things, but not with issues.

For what it’s worth — and with Gub’mint coffers supposedly empty — Obama “has vowed to tackle climate change, cut taxes for 95 percent of working Americans, and guarantee near-universal health care”; on the other hand, “Obama does not have the luxury of time as more than a trillion dollars is dispensed to bail out Wall Street [and three trillion has already been spent on the invasion and occupation of Iraq]. Obama has hinted at possible names to take over as treasury secretary. He noted to CNN last week that his economic advisers include Clinton’s last treasury secretary Larry Summers, 53, as well as former Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker, 81; and mega-rich investor Warren Buffett, 78.” He is also reportedly happy for Robert Gates to become defense secretary; Robert Gates is reportedly happy for the US to engage in pre-emptive nuclear missile strikes.

Ho hum.

See also : The election of Barack Obama, wsws.org, November 5, 2008 | Behind the nationwide sweep by Democratic Party, Patrick Martin, wsws.org, November 6, 2008 | OBAMA AND THE SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS, Nikolas Kozloff, NACLA News: “For a candidate who talks the talk on human rights, Barack Obama has little to say about the infamous School of the Americas (SOA). Originally established in the Panama Canal Zone in 1946, the school later moved to Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1984. Since its inception, the institution has instructed more than 60,000 Latin American soldiers in military and law-enforcement tactics…”