Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Stunned Silence on the Mall

I saw it twice, so I’m not imagining things: President Obama’s affirmation that international affairs do not have to be solved through war elicited no reaction from the public on the Washington Mall.

That same public reacted enthusiastically to Obama’s endorsements of solidarity, education, immigration reform, gay rights, and even global warming.  But the the faces in the crowd looked perplexed at the announcement from its president that the United States - which has a thousand foreign military bases - does not have to resort to war in its dealings with the wider world.

This would seem to indicate that the devoted work of peace groups around the country is not reaching those who braved the cold to watch the President take office for the second time amidst growing U.S. involvement in disputes around the globe.

8 comments:

  1. Or perhaps because it"s a "no brainer". Unlike Bush who made up stuff to feed the Military Industrial Cabal, Obama is just stating the obvious. War was so yesterday! It was a mistake, its over! Moving right along...

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  2. Really? Then why so many new involvements: Pacific, Mali etc.?

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  3. We're not in Mali... yet! Though our drones may be. The rest of it is just the "Big Stick" philosophy of T.R. Countries that have "hosted" our troops have not returned to their militaristic traditions (Germany, Japan e.g.)

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  4. Through our proxies we are in Mali. And I'm not referring to Germany and Japan, but to a host of countries who
    unlike them do not have militaristic traditions - but our quickly learning our ways.

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  5. "Through our proxies" sounds a wee bit delusional. But you're right. We (the French) and their African allies are out to deny these poor Islamists the right to self determination, to subjugating their women, to mount attacks on Christians and Zionists. Just who do we and the French think we are, the guardians of civilization? Yes, we are.

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  6. Why do you think Islamists gained followers? Because of the excesses of our civilization as well as our
    determination to spread these excesses militarily - not to mention appropriating every bit of mineral -
    and now agricultural - wealth we can get our hands on.

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  7. No, they are not poor innocents fighting for the rights of the victims of capitalist aggression. They are bullies who victimize their own for the sheer pleasure of it. The world cannot be oversimplified into evil imperialists against pure socialists. To get back to the people who were unimpressed by Obama not declaring another senseless war there is no need to applaud the obvious. It was a no-brainer.

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  8. If these people are bullies, what are we, taking countries' assets with the pretense of democracy. As for the no-brainer, so are health care and education....

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