JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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1
Why do Japanese change their attitude when they communicate with foreigners?
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Confrontation
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3
U.S. Navy investigating how parts fell off aircraft near Atsugi
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4
California court to decide if SeaWorld whales are illegal 'slaves'
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5
Kuroki reported pregnant 2 weeks after denying relationship with Akanishi
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- Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in Kanto region
- RCS (RCSコーポレーション), Kanto
- Salary: ¥180,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month includes performance bonus
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- Assistant Language Teacher - TOKYO - late-March start
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥230,000 ~ ¥255,000 / Month
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- Assistant Language Teacher - Kanagawa Prefecture - late-March start
- Interac, Kanagawa
- Salary: ¥230,000 ~ ¥255,000 / Month
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taniwha
The kind of socialism envisaged by the JCP is Stalinist communism, nationalistic and so inward looking and doomed to failure. Socialism is not the same as communism. The steps are from a capitalist system to a socialist system to a communist system. And NO, Stalism and Maoism et al were not communism, as envisaged by all the great socialist thinkers from Marx on down, nor by the famous supporters of socialism such as Albert Einstein, Charles Chaplin and so on.
A nationalist form socialist state is by definition a dictatorship, and arguably Castro's Cuba apart the end result is a bloody tyranny.
Socialism to be successful entails necessarily internationalism, i.e. all countries become socialist. Is this a utopian notion? Well, at this present time it sure looks like it. But then again, if capitalism stays in place the free world expires. And by the way, Socialism necessarily entails democracy. Dictators like Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, ruled over a political and economic system that was socialist in name only, and as such proved to be a gift to the capitalist leaders worldwide who held up those tyrannies to be proof that socialism itself was actually an 'evil'.
If there is an evil system at all, it is that which we witness in place right now. Capitalism in its dying stages will kill a very large portion of the world's population if it is allowed to continue.
Capitalism more than two hundred years ago created the nation state system we have in place today. This was a necessary development, and so too has been the process of globalization. But the two things capitalism and nation states cannot co-exist forever. They are fundamentally in contradiction with one another. Now, as the world economy caves in on itself, the end result of the dying stages of capitalism when all means of production has been gathered in the hands of a few (read corporations and ruling families), and there are no more markets that can be developed, capitalism is left with one terrible solution to save itself.
That solution entails killing off it is estimated something like half the world's population. The vehicle by which this killing is done is likely to be a world war. This is the only way left for the great powers to redivide the pie. This is not the answer.
Posted in: Red star rising: With global capitalism on ropes, communism gains in Japan
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taniwha
A moderate captain at the helm of a destroyer still has the mission to complete.
May make no difference at all to those who think this financial crises will blow over in a couple of years or even in ten years. If you think this then you do not understand just how f****d the world economic system is at this point, and just how inadequate the measures taken so far are in being able to deal with the root cause.
Go watch a video of Peter Schiff on Youtube to get a picture of what is happening and what the future holds, for the US at least. Of course I don't follow Schiff's solution, principally because his medicine would be poison to the entire working class, and ultimately to the world as a whole. Nevertheless he does has the ability to describe lucidly the reality you and millions of deluded Americans, are simply not facing up to. There seems to be about umpteen dozen videos on Youtube focusing on him - including one remarkable one where CNN apparently cuts off the video link as he is in mid prediction on the US economy.
Obama will be at the helm when the new administration slices and dices all social welfare services, including medicare and medibank, education, and the care of veterans.
Obama will also as I imply here be at the helm of new major wars which were already planned by the hawks in the US war wings well prior to the Bush administration coming into power. Obama despite his pre-election promises will not be ending the war in Iraq, in fact it will likely blow up again very soon, will be fanning the war in Afghanistan into something far bigger, likely sucking in Pakistan, and of course Obama speeches have recently made it clear a direct military strike upon Iran has not been taken off the list of things-to-do before Christmas 2010.
The only jaws that will be dropping in response to Obama's leadership several months from now, will be those that remain deluded about the reality of the nature of America's fraudulent two party system, AND the reality of the state of health of capitalism itself today.
Posted in: As challenges mount, ardor for Obama cools abroad
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taniwha
Wuzz
Try reading the whole post. Capitalism was a step forward, a beneficial one initially, as I pointed out. But nothing lasts forever. To believe so is not only to delude yourself but to be a lemming in a crowd of lemmings, believing there is no other path but the one everyone is following, over the cliff. This is where we are going now. Capitalism died yesterday, it is on life support but it is virtual only. Socialism is the next step forward, but it must be international socialism and not the lie of 'socialism in one nation'.
Are you aware that the process of globalism undermines the nation state? That nation statehood and the elevation of personal profit above all other values (i.e. capitalism) is locked in contradiction, and the outcome is conflict between nations. In a situation like we have headed into, a global recession world war threatens. Another point to consider about this financial crises is that the underlying aggravating causes are intractable, far worse than those that resulted in the Great Depression. Back in the 1930's China barely suffered the kind or recession that took place in the US, the UK, and Australia. Today EVERY country is falling into recession, and EVERY economy is locked together. In other words, what is suffered by one is likely to be suffered by all. The Great Depression ended with a world war, just as did the deep recession two decades or so prior to that.
Today, with the kinds of military weapons at the disposal of the great powers, and with resources across the world vastly more diminished by comparison to all those decades ago, contemplating the outcome of the next 'solution' to a deep world recession is sobering indeed.
Moderator: Readers, please keep the discussion focused on communism's appeal in Japan.
Posted in: Red star rising: With global capitalism on ropes, communism gains in Japan
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taniwha
Wuzzademacrat --
True very true. Not surprisingly I have indeed invested accordingly. This is the point of my posts. It is vital to understand what is happening so that one can invest their 'assets' accordingly.
In fact if anyone intent on managing their capital did pay heed to the warnings my posts drew attention to since 2002 they would have greatly benefited. But of course, I have been not been focusing on the topic of investing in stocks, properties and commodities above.
Posted in: As challenges mount, ardor for Obama cools abroad
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taniwha
Yeah, well, what can I say? If it helps any I wish like hell I have been entirely wrong. But since beginning my posts here in 2000 my sources have proven to be entirely correct. It is a real bummer though, isn't it?
The upside though is that there is an alternative, and the kind of portentous future I have been describing which for the most is now becoming reality, and the near more terrifying future awaiting us doesn't at all have to eventuate. But it will, if things don't change. Really change, and very quickly.
Posted in: As challenges mount, ardor for Obama cools abroad
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taniwha
Yes, it is a lot like the tiresome persistence of the belief that capitalism is the only possible option for a political and economic system. Even now as we face the unthinkable, the reality of the utter failure of capitalism to deliver its promise of erasing world poverty, of bringing peace, and even the most basic promise attended to by every libertarian of capitalism as the driving force behind democracy for all. Even as the financial crises beats its way through our collective front door there continue to be lemmings like the above poster crying out, there is no other way but over that cliff ahead of us.
Nothing equals the mysticism of religious fervour like the belief that Adam Smith's invisible hand (i.e. the free market) will make all the right decisions for us. Right, and just look at where that has bought us to today.
You know, capitalism bought us rapid industrial development, technological innovations, and intellectual creativity in a very short time. But that does not mean that what began in the West a little more than 3 centuries ago is the final statement on reality. The world changes, discoveries are made, and what is needed now to correct the extreme disfunction bought on by capitalism in its dying stages is truly a scientific approach to politics and economy, one that embraces all of the developments. This step is what socialism entails, an historical materialist approach to the reality of living together in a world of depleted and ever diminishing resources.
To continue to listen to the irrational and reactionary voices that are driven by nothing but pure greed is to give up every intellectually and spiritually to these postmodern poststructural delusions which amount to mysticism.
Posted in: Red star rising: With global capitalism on ropes, communism gains in Japan
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taniwha
Barack Obama will turn old and grey long before the US economy pulls itself back on to its feet. The root causes to the financial crises are political as well as economic, and so long as the Democrat/Republican front for the American ruling elite stays in place so too will America's nasty domestic situation.
At the risk of sounding immensely cynical this last election became an utter farce, a veritable treasure trove of minorities were proffered as Party candidates. Offered the chance to have the oldest president, to the first women president, to the first black American actually the first non-white president of America it was the representative of arguably the one group that had the longest history of shabby treatment that won the presidential race.
It remains though. unmistakably, a standout point of where minority politics has taken America from the 1960's until now, minority rights have been all about highlighting the ability of representatives from non dominant groups in the political spectrum to be able to drink from the same trough as the dominant majority. This has meant the creation of an entire middle class of black Americans, and yet the prisons remain more than 70% full of young black Americans, the majority from the working class.
The agenda all along has been to drive class politics from the foreground, right out of the picture in fact. Reality is, Obama stands for the ruling class, his entire presidential race if not even from his initial grooming as a political footsoldier for the ruling class, was financed by the private financiers and corporations. Obama's speeches now are almost entirely devoted to wiping away any allusions his earlier presidential campaign speeches intentionally promulgated.
Obama's speeches now make clear his interests are in defending the rights of the priviliged over the rights of the working class who are and will be increasingly, those who will suffer the most as the recession deepens and lengthens. The fact is, Obama stands for the interests of the wealthy and the corporations. Any president who would be elected if it was to be other than Obama would stand exactly for the same.
So don't for one moment, think with George W Bush no longer in office everything all that was done during the past 8 years will begin to be undone. Some things will improve of course, starting with the presidential speeches themselves, but other than that things will continue to move along the path the US ruling elite decided the country to go on more than a decade ago. Wars, lots of them, the continued erosion of civil rights, the gutting of wealth from the towns and communities of the country itself. And really, it can be summed up by stating simply what American foreign policy will continue to exact on the outside world, American domestic policy will replicate on its own people.
Obama's presidency does not ensure there will be no substantial change, it simply means it will be profit making as usual, only it will be this time with a far more eloquent leader than that previous in office that is now leading the pillaging.
Posted in: As challenges mount, ardor for Obama cools abroad
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taniwha
The above article shares a number of quite remarkable similarities (be they only on the surface) with one article written by John Chan for the WSWS in November 2008. For those who are interested in a clearer picture on the JCP, and why its rising popularity go to this link below.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/nov2008/japa-n24.shtml
Anyway, Mesieur (Madam) Liddell, nevertheless I commend you for paying attention to one of the best researched sources I have routinely cited, and occasionally plagiarized, over the years I have posted here on JT.
Posted in: Red star rising: With global capitalism on ropes, communism gains in Japan
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taniwha
To be precise, Israel could have let up on the so called surgical air strikes which killed innocent victims along with their intended targets, could have let up on the ongoing for more than a year now, crippling sanctions on the Gaza economy, could and should have used their own land to build the dividing barrier on instead of Palestinian soil. They could have done that anytime.
In the entire history of the rocket attacks from Gaza, the numbers of Israeli killed reveals just how disproportionate has been the retribution exacted by Israel.
Since the year 2000, the number of Israelis killed by Palestinian violence according to Israeli figures, totals 1,176 people.
In just 3 weeks more than 1000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli forces. Around 50% of the dead alone were women and children, a lot of children. Literally thousands have been maimed and injured, and the injuries from both explosives and incendiaries has been horrific.
As the recent article in Israel's Haaretz noted, the responsibility ultimately for high numbers of innocent civilians killed lies with Israel. The reality is Gaza is one of the most intensely populated urban areas in the world, it is after all nothing but a strip of land, one which has been designated by Israel to be the prison for Palestinians who either refused to emigrate or simply were unlucky to be unable to do so. Look at the apartheid history of South Africa, the political 'solution' to having such a large number of non-white population, in order to understand the reality of Israel today. Hamas is no more and no less than the equivalent of the ANC, also designated a terror organisation during the apartheid era and freedom fighters to their own people. There is though a notable difference, Hamas won a democratic election. They have the support of the population of Gaza, whether Israel likes it or not. For this reason alone talk, rather than 'surgical' military strikes and murderous sanctions on water, food and medicines should have been the way for Israel to set out to resolve differences.
Posted in: Israel kills senior Hamas leader as strikes set Gaza ablaze
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taniwha
From reading the mindless reactionism of some posts here it would likely stun most posters on this thread to realise that there are in fact substantial number of Jews around the world who are disgusted by the murderous assault on civilians by the Israeli government.
Even in Israel itself the level of violence and the duration of the assault has driven newspapers to publish the outrage spoken against what is happening in Gaza.
In last Thursday's edition of Haaretz correspondent Gideon Levy wrote this in an article.
Levy noted that even prior to the war the IDF already had killed 952 Palestinian children and adolescents since May 2000.
Posted in: Israel kills senior Hamas leader as strikes set Gaza ablaze
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taniwha
Should Shii san ever get his political party into a position of power watch out, because his 'communism' simply-is-not.
Several points to be aware of here: Communism in fact evolves out of Socialism just as the latter emerges out of Capitalism. To hold onto a system of politics and economics that is capitalist when it has exhausted itself is to see powerful nations turn to war.
The problem with the JCP is that even while it distances itself from Stalinism, it is precisely the same. As Trotsky died pointing out, a nationalist socialism is not possible, neither theoretically as Marx and his supporters theorised it, not practically as Trotsky saw himself in historical events of the time. The only kind of socialist system that works is one that is international.
This is the understanding of successive 'Internationals' (International Socialist conferences). It is the understanding of the 4th International. Note though this is not the 'reality' depicted by those writers deluded by the fantasy of everlasting capitalism who wish for us all to believe to depart from capitalism is to step back into a tyranny of dictatorship in the image of Stalin and Mao.
Ishii has this to say above:
"the JCP started to distance itself from international communism in the ’60s and develop a more democratic and nationalistic communism that focused on the concerns and values of ordinary Japanese voters."
Ishii and his brand of communism offers no hope, no break away from the move toward nationalism over these past few years, and in fact he is echoing the call by Western leaders to answer the 'problem' of globalism by returning to protectionism itself.
The end result of a world full of nations turning inwards is ultimately military action on a grand scale, because nation states and capitalism although the first derives from the needs of the last, is ultimately a contradiction. History makes it very clear, that the only way to solve the contradiction is to bust up the status quo. In other words, a world war.
Never forget that World War 1 was preceded directly before hand by a long and deep recession across the larger part of the industrialized world, and that the Great Depression directly preceded World War 2. There is a reason that nation states go to war, that reason is resources! The fact remains that the raison d'être behind the existence of nation states is the capitalism itself, specifically the drive by elites that rule each nation to increase their profits. When resources are few conflict erupts between nations.
Global trade like the Internet is a natural progression, the need to unite to share resources is the reason International Socialism is actually inevitable. The trick is to stay alive long enough to see this system finally give us all a world we can live in. We do not want to suffer a new world war, and that as I have posted here many times in the past is, gloomy git that I am, is the very likely outcome of where we are heading.
To avoid history repeating itself yet again of course calls for a revolution, but that call cannot ever be made from those who actually own means by which most people live, that too would be a contradiction, actually an impossibility.
Posted in: Red star rising: With global capitalism on ropes, communism gains in Japan
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taniwha
The claim that it is because rockets are being shot into Israel that Gaza is being subjected to both military bombardment (of one of the most densely populated urban areas in the world) as well as a full blown ground assault is nothing but one sick joke.
Gaza has been subjected to a veritable crippling suite sanctions by Israel for over a year now, not to mention the on-going 'surgical' missile strikes deep into residential areas. Israel has been restricting critical services such as water, electricity, medicine and food supplies into the walled ghetto strip causing untold suffering. A very large percentage of the population are less than 15 years old. Many of the Palestinian wage earners have not been bringing home enough cash to buy meager food enough to feed the kids because Israel has also cut off money to the banks in Gaza.
There is no excuse for the ongoing murderous bombardment of a civilian population. Less than a decade ago the bombing of a civilian family home would have resulted in a public call for an investigation. Now, after the US Nazi-like destruction of Fallujah et al, the world is so numbed to the mass killing of civilians that it now takes a campaign lasting a seriously long time, three weeks so far, before people even begin to get overly disturbed.
What has been happening to us all?
Enough of the excuses for this mass murder.
Posted in: Israel kills senior Hamas leader as strikes set Gaza ablaze
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taniwha
The difference is in the nature of the commerce. The Somalian pirates for example are destroying commerce between nations. Most particularly they directly undermine the profitability of the Suez canal which is the main source of income for Egypt as well as threatening the profit margin of other nations requiring the short sea route the canal supplies. That shipping route affects everyone and that means the pirates are labeled internationally as criminals.
The Japanese government is exacting its own law in international waters with only its own interests at heart. They are also affecting the commerce of both NZ and Australia directly in terms of their whale watching industry. Japan is acting in this case as the rogue agent and can equally be accused of the crime of piracy just as the Sea Shephard can. That is the international law issue involved here.
Posted in: Japan to arrest anti-whaling activists, newspaper reports
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taniwha
While I go along with the general argument I wouldn't be using the word 'evil' to describe the ruling elites. Every nation has them. No point in mystifying them.
They are basically beholden to their need to maintain their position of wealth and power. Within the context of economic conditions, when times are good they can afford to be benevolent but when times are tough, like now they get mighty reactionary, extracting profit from the workers and grabbing for what ever resources they see they think they have the priviliged right and the power to snatch away from the rest of the humankind.
Wars between nations and the crushing of democratic rights within each nation are the principle tools these elites use. There is a cold logic behind the method but not a lot of rationality (its all short term goals) and certainly no mysticism.
Posted in: U.S. troops to stay in Iraqi cities after June
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taniwha
Arguably accusations of piracy can be leveled at both sides, the Japanese whalers and the Sea Shepard. While the whalers apprehending unwelcome guests is understandable, handing them over to the Japanese coastguard is not. Rather handing them over to a third party would make far more sense.
The Japanese coastguard has no jurisdiction over international waters. If the SDF or some renamed arm of it appears in the Antarctic waters effectively the Japanese government is staking a claim on what it doesn't own, and doing so using military means. In most other parts of the world, in international waters this could be seen as provocation in the extreme. Unlikely though that either New Zealand or Australia are going to go down that path. After all Japan is a prime market for what both countries are good at exporting.
The situation underlines the intractable contradiction between nation states and capitalism, and yet another example of how difficult it will be to save our natural environment and ourselves while both nation states and capitalism remain in place. Nation states were originally set up to maintain capitalist markets, and to justify forcibly creating new ones. The problem though remains the impossibility of fixing a 'dollar/yen' value to the natural world and particularly to the need to save it for future generations. Most people know it should be saved, science tells us that biodiversity is essential to a healthy environment, yet corporate profit and the driving capitalist need to ever increase profit means there is profit to be made by destroying our world. And its always only a short term profit that means there is always ever more competition to secure (i.e. destroy).
Pity the whales and the whalers. At least the crew of the Sea Shephard do their thing without a gunship standing by.
Posted in: Japan to arrest anti-whaling activists, newspaper reports
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taniwha
Gee. I thought I was the only one who could do glum posts. Get a look at yourselves here. Not that I disagree with most of the observations above. Yes, Japan has never recovered from the burst property bubble in the late 1980's/early 1990s. But neither has the US economy ever recovered from the decision in 1971 to axe the Bretton Wood system of fixing the US dollar to a gold standard, or the Democrat & Republican decision to deregulate the US financial sector in 1999 during the Clinton watch. The fact of the matter as globalization was harnessed to reap the most corporate profit by enabling cost cutting through cheap labour, land, and raw materials in far away 'developing economys' so too, globalisation drew up all economies into one world capitalist economy. And so what channelled great profit also ensures the collapse is systematic, spread amongst us all.
I've been virtually the issuer of glum warnings of what is happening in Japan and particularly the US, the apex of world capitalism for several years on JT. A funny thing but very few people have ever been interested in the truth, i.e. the bare economic facts, or for that matter the lessons of history until economic facts beat down their front door and barged into the kitchen.
The worst thing though is to think there is no way out. There is. It just means leaving a diseased and dying political and economic system behind, and taking the intelligent and optimistic alternative, which is international socialism. Democracy and peace for all. It'll be no utopia of course, it means the sanity of planned economy that takes care of the world and everyone in it, and in the true form of democracy where we really all do realize we live and share limited resources and the rights to them.
The alternative is to survive (not so likely this time) exactly what followed immediately after the Great Depression.
Posted in: Japan's recession worse than thought
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taniwha
The yen has reached an astonishing high against the US dollar. This is not good for Japanese exports and not good for the US either. How long before the big Japanese investors in the US dollar begin pulling their investment? Or for that matter those other investors in the Asian block from who the US have loaned to keep their economy afloat for these past decades, pull their investments?
The collapse of world capitalism is very likely now over the peak and picking up pace. Now is the time to consider the sane alternative.
Posted in: Japan stocks tumble on failed U.S. auto bailout
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taniwha
Anyone reading the New York Times this past Thursday will have read just what a bunch of outright lies the Obama campaign was based on. This was the Democratic candidate who initially at least promised to end the war in Iraq. Well, now we know in case we missed picking it up from his purposely misleading campaign speeches that in fact he has no such intention.
Now Obama is talking about 'reality'. So I guess he was not talking about that previous to his election. Obama now talks about the need to maintain up to 70,000 US troops in Iraq so to continue the occupation past the supposed dead line for withdrawal of December 31, 2011.
And what is to be made of Obama's announcement of his choice of Hillary Clinton as the new secretary of state, and George Bush appointed Robert Gates continuation as defense secretary? Well, remember that it was Clinton who Obama excoriated during the Democratic primary campaign for her support of the Iraq war. It that it was Gates not so long ago stated that there would be no pullout of US troops from Iraq for years into the future.
This then is the reality of the Obama administration policy, and my recent occasional posts on JT during the period leading up to the presidential elections stated as much.
The only really odd thing here is the complete failure of anti-war groups to pick up on the sad reality of the Obama administration unmasked. The New York Times report said this, "To date, there has been no significant criticism from the antiwar left of the Democratic Party of the prospect that Mr. Obama will keep tens of thousands of troops in Iraq for at least several years to come."
I guess though this isn't so odd. On one hand people will believe anything but the truth if grasping reality means letting go of the illusion they live under. On the other, there are a great many people out there, in the media, and leading these pretend opposition political parties and pretend lobby groups who will do anything to maintain the pretense for as long as possible. Reality says though, that Obama and the Democratic party represent the very same interests that ruined the American (and the world!) economy and dragged America and the world into Iraq with all the imperialist aims that has always entailed.
That's reality for you.
Posted in: Obama announces Clinton, Gates for cabinet
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taniwha
A few typos above but it'll do.
Posted in: Obama reassures nervous nation on ailing economy
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taniwha
Sushisake3
Good question. But the answer has been there waiting for everyone to fall over it for a long while. Obama is backed principally by Wall Street corporate interests, and it is those interests he will be protecting. The evidence has been there in his statements prior to his successful election campaign.
Ultimately, Obama will do much better at softening the blow for the average financially stricken American than his predecessor, simply because he represents the moderate section of America's ruling elite. They believe extreme measures without being accompanied by an apparent effort to look after the 'average' citizen will lead to a social revolt against the political structure. They are right. But this cannot be avoided. Objective conditions have smashed their way through the front door and simply denying that the capitalist system has nothing more to offer other than pain and destruction will change that fact. Capitalism has been extremely useful in that it has rocketed technological and scientific advances that mostly benefit us all, but now it has expired, as most everything does eventually. We must move on or be trapped in a terminally diseased political and social system.
Obama is unlikely to turn into a socialist. He is a protector of the present system and intends to push forward at greater speed down the path America and the world is already on. He has made serious threats of military action against Iran. He supports the war in Afghanistan. The war on terror is designed to provide a smokescreen to cover the massive and continued dismantling of democratic rights. A financial dictatorship is what we are living under at present. This will lead to a political dictatorship and that inevitably will result in a military dictatorship. The pace towards this nasty outcome increases as social pressures build, and Obama clearly understands this.
So people should stay alert and think outside of the extremely limited paradigm they are being presented with by their leaders. The destabalising effects of the continued 'war on terror' is likely to lead to major conflict between the most powerful countries in the world. A military strike against Iran would most definitely be the start of something terrible. So, yes, Obama will be investing in foreign countries, the ones targeted for the resources by America's financial elite that stand behind Obama.
Posted in: Obama reassures nervous nation on ailing economy