The Real Face of The Empire
By Andreas Toupadakis, PhD
People worldwide need to decide soon what this global war
without end, as described by the so-called superpower, is all about. Is it
against terrorists or is it against humanity and human dignity? Is the
government agenda of war widening the gap between rich and poor, and setting
brother against brother? Is this not state terrorism? If it is not, then what
is it? And is it worth reacting, or should we just continue to go on with our
everyday chores as usual?
How ordinary people answer these questions in the coming
months and years will determine how their life dreams unfold. If they knew
their true condition and what will be coming upon them if they do not get up
from their comfortable chairs, they would not wait even for a minute to
fiercely resist their comfortable yoke.
To move towards safety and freedom we need to redefine what
civilization is.
Do we have time to do that? Who knows?
Many writers and spokesmen of good intention almost
exclusively present only a general large picture. But what is the small
picture? There are many small pictures that make up the big picture.
Will the man or woman who is working at the detention center
or the weapons laboratory realize that she/he is serving a system, which is
corrupted, bloodthirsty and deceiving? And if these people do understand, will
they take the leap of faith and abandon it? And if they do, will more of their
friends and co-workers follow their example? And will the people around these
people support them until they stand on their feet? Can people around them
support them even just in word when they themselves do not live a simple life
because their livelihood depends on the system that destroys the earth and its
people? Would it not then be a better direction for us all to move towards a
sustainable way of living?
These are the questions that we need to answer soon. We have
forgotten that the clock hand has almost reached midnight. Should we remind
ourselves of it or not?
Have the Europeans already forgotten the results of World
War II? At that time, weapons of mass destruction were in their infancy. Now
they have matured because of the work of our scientists and engineers trying to
save the world by making the tool that can destroy it forever, even by mistake.
Why do European leaders not see what is at stake? Why doesn’t the majority of
European citizens rise to demand life? Why have not American citizens
participated in world affairs so far? Why have they allowed their
representatives to lie to them and work in secrecy? Why have they allowed their
foreign policy to be a policy of murder and injustice for so long? Have they
ever wondered who makes their foreign policy? Do they still believe in the
American dream?
Was the American dream about gated communities and millions
of people working in more than one part time job in order to hardly make ends
meet? Was the American dream about going to country after country and region
after region and turn it into dust for more world control? How long do they think
their tanks and smart bombs will support their unsustainable way of life?
How long will the other nations be deceived and bribed? Is
this the kind of culture they want to export to every other country? Do they
really believe that their country can maintain military bases on the soil of
other countries around the world without building resentment and hatred in the
hearts and minds of the citizens of these countries? Do they really believe
that their war machine is about maintaining peace around the world and not
exploitation and misery? Have they ever realized that their country is the only
one that has ever used nuclear weapons and what the social, political and
military implications of this unspeakable murder are? Have they ever tried to
find out why the second bomb was dropped?
Jacqueline Cabasso, executive director of the Western States
Legal Foundation, a nuclear disarmament advocacy group in California has said:
“Whether Iraq
still has weapons of mass destruction remains to be seen. Meanwhile its chief
accuser, the United States, is blatantly brandishing its own. The ‘National
Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction‘ released by the White House…
combines the worst features of the ‘Nuclear Posture Review’ and the September
2002 ‘National Security Strategy of the United States’ by openly threatening
the first use of nuclear weapons. This deadly international double-standard is
a recipe for endless arms racing and endless death and destruction. The Bush
administration… turned the concept of non-proliferation on its head and made a
mockery of international law. If having weapons of mass destruction and a
history of using them is a criterion, then surely the United States must pose
the greatest threat to humanity that has ever existed. Sustainable global
security will require the elimination of nuclear, chemical and biological
weapons — without exception.”
And last, do they really believe that their country is about
supporting democracy, education, and freedom around the world when the U.S.
military budget tops the rest of the world by far? When while the rest of the
world is cutting military spending, the United States is adding billions to its
military budget? Reality has started to hit, and it will hit harder as the days
go by unless the people worldwide find the courage to rise, and speak, and do
their duty. The real face of the empire is manifesting itself at last to its
own citizens and allies. The real face of the governments of the nations around
the world is being recognized. It is not a pretty face. It widens the gap
between rich and poor, and it sets brother against brother.
The question is not “What are our leaders doing for our
world?” The question is “What are we not doing for our world? What are we not
doing for the Earth, the people next to us, or ourselves?”
Power without Ethics and Common Sense
“When I look at
mankind today, nothing astonishes me quite so much as the shortness of man’s
memory with regard to political developments. Yesterday the Nuremberg trials,
today the all-out effort to re-arm Germany.
“In seeking for
some kind of explanation, I cannot rid myself of the thought that this, the
last of my fatherlands, has invented for its own use a new kind of colonialism,
one that is less conspicuous than the colonialism of old Europe. It achieves
domination of other countries by investing American capital abroad, which makes
those countries firmly dependent on the United States. Anyone who opposes this
policy or its implications is treated as an enemy of the United States. It is
within this general context that I try to understand the present-day policies
of Europe, including England.”
~ Einstein’s
letter to the Queen Mother of Belgium, January 2, 1955.
The human species has not yet learned from history that war
only creates conditions that beget further war.
The superpower’s new policy of preventive war is destined to
bring chaos on Earth if it is allowed to be practiced. We might as well call it
the policy of global terror. Why have we become so mad? Who is pushing the
world to its total destruction along with unspeakable agony and fear? Would it
be an exaggeration to say that madness rules the world? For those who know the
facts about the number and nature of weapons of mass destruction, it would be a
true statement.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter, delivering his Nobel
Lecture in the Oslo City Hall on December 10, 2002, stated:
“For more than
half a century, following the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, the
Middle East conflict has been a source of worldwide tension. At Camp David in
1978 and in Oslo in 1993, Israelis, Egyptians, and Palestinians have endorsed
the only reasonable prescription for peace: United Nations Resolution 242. It
condemns the acquisition of territory by force, calls for withdrawal of Israel
from the occupied territories, and provides for Israelis to live securely and
in harmony with their neighbors. There is no other mandate whose implementation
could more profoundly improve international relationships.”
And while Mr. Jimmy Carter speaks the truth in the previous
statement, surprisingly he continues:
“Perhaps of more
immediate concern is the necessity for Iraq to comply fully with the unanimous
decision of the Security Council that it eliminate all weapons of mass destruction
and permit unimpeded access by inspectors to confirm that this commitment has
been honored. The world insists that this be done.”
However, as much praise as the first statement deserves to
receive for its truthfulness, the second statement deserves as much
condemnation because of its egocentrism. No, the world does not “insist that
this be done.” The world
insists that all nations disarm and the ones that have the most should start
first. The responsibility of the United Nations is not to disarm a few nations
and keep the rest armed to their teeth. The responsibility of the United
Nations and the Security Counsel is to make sure that the superpower starts
first and then with inspections in place they make sure that all other nations
follow. Surely, if they cannot do that, their existence is meaningless.
Globalization is a fact, but how does the United Nations
prevent economic exploitation of the small nations? How do they act when they
see the doors closed to the media and to the weaker nations during the world
economic conferences?
The world asks, “Why can Israel have hundreds of nuclear
weapons but Iraq and North Korea cannot? Why does Turkey still occupy the
northern part of Cyprus and why does Israel still occupy Palestine?”
Who is “the world?”
The world is not the superpower and its allies. The world is all nations, an
elementary grade student will tell us. How far the West has gone! Why is it a
crime for Iraq, North Korea or any other nation to even think of making weapons
of mass destruction when other nations have thousands in their arsenals?
In fact, at the same time they threaten to enforce their
absurd standards, they are making more weapons of mass destruction.
But the world knows the obvious. It is not about weapons of
mass destruction and it is not about changing this or that regime. Virtually
all people of the world know that it is about total world domination, which can
only come by ensuring control of the oil and placing military bases on the soil
of other nations. And this has been accomplished for many years almost
exclusively by killing millions of innocent people, mutilating many more around
the globe for life, and devastating the environment. If this is not terrorism,
then what is it?
We fail to realize the obvious, that there is only one
superpower manipulating politics and the economy, but there are many
superpowers that have the capacity to bring the world to its knees at any
moment, even by mistake. Any nation with weapons of mass destruction is a
superpower. There really is no world king. And the so-called globalization and
world government will be nothing but the most inhumane government ever devised
on the face of the earth. It will be based on terror and extortion. What good
will that do the world? But the people will revolt sooner or later as they have
always done, and who will be able to bring order? Will the self-proclaimed
builders of nations be able to rebuild the world? What can be built from ashes
and without survivors? That is what we need to contemplate.
Unless we realize our hypocrisy, madness, and absurd logic,
we will never see peace on Earth. That is a given. Threats beget threats, and
terror begets terror. Weapons beget weapons and hate begets hate. Has the world
been transformed into a madhouse, giving praise to lies and condemnation to
truth? If we have reached that kind of maturity, what remains? Should we expect
a global Hiroshima in order to understand how blind we are? It would be too
late.
Why do the United Nations and the Security Counsel enforce
international law in places like Kuwait but do not in other places like Israel
and Palestine or Turkey and Cyprus? Why do they have double standards? It seems
then an obvious fact to any ordinary and honest observer that the dogma ‘an eye
for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ has taken dominion of the international
institutions, which proclaim that they work for world peace.
But what then? If such is our current condition, who will
deliver the world from the coming catastrophic consequences? What will the
nations do in order to avoid having such a calamity come from the practice of
such a dogma? How long will the people of the world wait? Until they see their
lives ruled by a minority of people with absurd desires? Until they see their
world gone forever and their lives taken in agonizing death? Can’t they see
where they are headed?
Why did the United States of America long ago choose the
path of threats and killing to serve the world? What would the result have been
if only a fraction of the resources that have been used to create and support
the awesome and simultaneously diabolical war machine had been given to poor
nations? Those who have searched the numbers know well that our world would not
be the same. But power corrupts. Power without ethics is destined to destroy
not only the weak but also the strong. Nevertheless, physical power never broke
the spirit of freedom, and it never will.
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