2021-08-17: News Headlines

The Conversation (2021-08-17). As Afghanistan falls, what does it mean for the Middle East? juancole.com By Tony Walker |- In the 19th century, the phrase "The Great Game" was used to describe competition for power and influence in Afghanistan, and neighbouring central and south Asia territories, between the British and Russian empires. Neither side prevailed in what became known as the "graveyard of empires". Two centuries later, an American superpower …

Jack Rasmus (2021-08-17). Afghanistan & the American Imperial Project. zcomm.org The US is pulling out because, for the first time since 1945, it has decided to cut its costs in less strategic areas in order to be able to finance the growing costs of empire elsewhere…

Riz Wakil (2021-08-17). Afghan-Australian: 'Democracy and safety not a priority for West'. greenleft.org.au The West was never in Afghanistan to bring democracy or assure safety for ordinary Afghans. Riz Wakil said the warmongers orchestrated not only the occupation of Afghanistan but many parts of the Middle East: Iraq, Syria and also Libya.

Aída Chávez (2021-08-17). West Virginia Activists Are Coming for Joe Manchin. thenation.com West Virginia Activists Are Coming for Joe Manchin…

Editor (2021-08-17). 'We are in nobody's backyard': rejecting geopolitical and historical fatalism. mronline.org The catch-phrases "transnational criminal organizations," "humanitarian assistance" and even "disaster relief operations" are worn-out euphemisms for the neo-colonial presence of the U.S. Empire and its European allies in Guyana and throughout the region.

_____ (2021-08-17). Calling Out The Greatest Culprit Behind The Climate Crisis. popularresistance.org Abby Martin and Mike Prysner of The Empire Files are producing a new feature-length documentary that exposes the US military as "Earth's Greatest Enemy." Left out of the conversation about the climate crisis is the fact that even if every person, vehicle and factory stopped emitting carbon, as long as the US military continues on as it is, the earth will still be headed for disaster. Clearing the FOG speaks with war and climate journalist Dahr Jamail and Mike Prysner about the state of the climate crisis, the extent of environmental destruction caused by the military both in the United States and abroad and the n…

C.J. Atkins (2021-08-16). As U.S. empire falters, people of Afghanistan pay the price. peoplesworld.org The U.S.' war in Afghanistan—a war that never should have happened—is ending, finally. The chaotic imagery from Kabul flashed across the world's televisions and smartphones over the last 24 hours has captured the final moments of U.S. imperialism's longest military misadventure, the symbolic conclusion of an effort of conquest and control that was doomed from …

Andrea Germanos (2021-08-16). Flawed From the Start, Afghan War's Bitter End Was 'Inevitable'. zcomm.org "No one will look back through history with anything but shame and sorrow for the human suffering wrought and the repeated failures of the U.S. war machine."

Raouf Halaby (2021-08-16). Déjà Vu: Saigon, Vietnam, 1975; Kabul, Afghanistan, 2021. counterpunch.org In addition to global warming (floods, fires, destructive storms, water shortages and water pollution) a pernicious COVID virus with all its offspring variants, a depressed economy, abuse of power, rabid racism, graft and corruption at all levels – Hubris and Arrogance, the afflictions to which all empires succumb, are America's tragic flaws.

Moderator (2021-08-16). Anti-War Voices Say Afghanistan Shows Need to Stop Any Further March to War. scheerpost.com By Brett Wilkins / Common Dreams Amid the lightning collapse of Afghanistan's U.S.-backed government and the all-but-certain return of Taliban rule, anti-war activists on Monday stressed that diplomacy, not bombs or the military-industrial complex, is the only path to lasting peace. The stunning but predictable Taliban reconquest of Afghanistan marks the end of the nearly 20-year U.S. |

_____ (2021-08-16). What AIDS Activists Can Teach Us About The Covid Pandemic. popularresistance.org While health advocacy organizations have urged the federal government to learn from the HIV/AIDS crisis to more effectively respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, both within America and abroad, many HIV/AIDS organizers argue that the government has now failed twice in its responsibility to the nation's‚Äâ—‚Äâand the world's‚Äâ—‚Äâmost vulnerable people.

Real Progressives (2021-08-16). What America's social justice activists can learn from past movements for civil rights. realprogressives.org The challenging lesson from our history is that a deep well of strength and resilience are required for the long struggle to make equity and equality under the law a reality in the United States.

Moderator (2021-08-16). What the Classroom Didn't Teach Me About the American Empire. scheerpost.com Perhaps even more relevant today than it was in 2008, when it was first published, is the remarkable Howard Zinn's writing on how, from his childhood in school to his years as a bombardier with the Eighth Air Force in the Second World War and beyond, he had to discover for himself that his country was an imperial power of the first order, another empire in a long history of them.

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