16 May 2011

Gullible 9/11 Americans Contrast with Skeptical Post-Soviet Russians

 

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1997 MAGELLAN Geographix www.maps.com

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Shock

The strange story of the killing and disposal of someone who may have been Osama bin  Laden brought back the confusion, disbelief, and sadness I felt in the first years after 911. 

It was then that I read 911Timeline.net and other material which convinced me that parts of the US government and elements in Israel had a hand in the staging, execution, and/or cover-up of this horrible event.  The stand-down of our air defenses, cheering Mossad agents in New Jersey, and the stonewalled official investigation led me to my belief.

Since 1989 America has had the Gulf War, combat in the former Yugoslavia, action in Somalia, the Afghan War, and the Iraq War.  The United States has around 1000 foreign military bases (which rankle the local populations), and has assumed an aggressive militarism few anticipated 20 years ago.  The US now has a compulsion to kill, not capture, enemy leaders.

We have met the enemy and he is us --- Pogo

We like to believe we are a just and compassionate country but sometimes our history shows the opposite.  The contrast between high American promise and (at times) low American reality (often covered with glib hypocrisy), can make foreigners either cynical or angry towards the United States.

The recent execution was orchestrated and timed for domestic political advantage.  Once again, Americans have focused on one man as a comic book symbol of Ultimate Evil.  Obama doesn’t seem to care there is little evidence Bin Laden had anything to do with 911.

Wanted... Skeptical Americans!

Americans are increasingly open to lies and manipulation, resulting in more militarism. What is it about human nature that when people feel threatened they are more likely to stop thinking rationally?  It’s easy to lead and control a people if they feel under attack. 

The United States lives in a thought straightjacket.  If you veer from Acceptable Truth you risk harsh criticism, ostracism, perhaps even will lose your job.  To question official history requires a lot of reading, thinking, and an ability to deal with depressing facts.  Most people just don’t want to go there.  Many of our journalists are lazy or too timid to pursue investigative reporting. But the stink of 9/11, and now the Bin Laden execution, won’t go away.

920,000 killed in American wars since September 2001

The world has been in worse shape since 911 because of the way the Bush and Obama governments chose to respond to our loss of 2,403 American lives.  Our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have cost around 920,000 lives.  For all that, we have not ended the reasons why some people are infuriated by America. The tactical response of terrorism continues.

But It’s hard to scare a Russian!

I have noticed the Russians do not scare easily.  Perhaps their (sometimes foolhardy) bravery is the reason they are not easily stampeded towards aggressive war.  Their collective memory includes years of bad tsarist and communist direction.  They experienced horrible loss of life through war, political oppression, and famine.  Their heavy history adds to cynicism already prevalent in their thinking.

How about 20 years of no foreign wars?

People who do not scare easily are harder to manipulate.  Their experience has made them dubious by nature, not so gullible.  Since 1989, the end of fighting in Afghanistan, the Russians have had no foreign wars.

Russia has a more low key attitude about conflict now.  Putin has said the Russian proverb... “A bad peace is better than a good war.”  The result (except for the brutal fighting within Russia in Chechnya) has been 20 years of Russia at peace with the world... while those same 20 years have been filled with largely meaningless war for America. 

 

Further reading...

Gullible Americans by Paul Craig Roberts

People killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, Unknown News

There is no evidence that Muslims committed the crime of 9/11 by Elias Davidsson

 

6 comments:

  1. Why do Russians keep voting with their feet; leaving for other countries at the rate of 4.5 million in the last three years? I don't understand this considering how wonderful life is in your descriptions.

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  2. Thank you, Tony, for your comment. It got me thinking and researching for a few hours! You hit on an important issue.

    People leave for many reasons - economic opportunity, restlessness, marriage. It's surprising but it's estimated around 3 million people leave the US every year... many of whom will eventually return. Russia too has this ebb and flow.

    Life in general is harder in Russia than the USA. It has some severe problems that do not seem to be close to solution. I try to be even-handed, and try not come down like a ton of bricks on Russia, my host country.

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  3. Some of us leave America and never have a desire to return to that land either! Life in Russia is wonderful but you have to have an open mind to see the wonderful. I think that from what I see the whole world has a percentage of people that come and go. If for no other reason just curiosity. To point at one country and say that they have too many leaving is usually a propaganda issue...

    Your article is good and hits the nail on the head. Ben Laden has been a made bigger than life...

    I guess with how tony looks at Russians "voting with their feet" then I voted with my feet and left America for freedom and peace...

    Thanks for a good article...

    Kyle Keeton

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  4. Hi Kyle,

    Freedom and peace are worthy ambitions. I wish America could think less in terms of good and bad guys, and look for more peaceful solutions.

    Thanks for your much appreciated comment.

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  5. "Since 1989, the end of fighting in Afghanistan, the Russians have had no foreign wars". Really? I am sure people from Georgia (Not US Georgia, the former Soviet one) would disagree.

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  6. Reply

    You got me there, Anonymous!

    The distinction is that unlike Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya... Russia had to respond to an act of aggression fueled by the USA, and next to its border... not on the other side of the world.

    This Georgian fiasco last just a few days, from 8-7 to 8-16-08.

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