I think this essay is very important reading. Professor Bacevich - a retired colonel in the US Army - synthesizes the macro, the big picture of where the American empire has now arrived (or descended, depending upon one's point of view!)
He concludes with a very crucial question our leaders in Washington DC, and other collaborators in London, Canberra and Jerusalem, etc, seemingly refuse to ask (regarding the "utility" of war and other opportunist demonstrations of military superiority) even after it has become obvious to everyone that a military "solution" is almost always impossible:
The End of (Military) History? The United States, Israel, and the Failure of the Western Way of War - By Andrew J. Bacevich - currently a professor of history and international relations at Boston University.
The role of the nonviolent peacemaker, grounded in faith and conviction, is crucial now more than ever. So how long will "the beat" go on?
Today I received a fresh report circulated by CPT News - another striking example of the systemic barbarism Professor Bacevich critiqued above. It's a good illustration of blatant apartheid policies officially condoned by the State of Israel and continuously enforced by Israel's military (IDF) with apparent American support for this sort of "democracy."
Keep in mind this is not a response by the IDF trying to control violent action. In contrast, it is the IDF's own violent action taken against NONVIOLENT local and international activists in Hebron. If this happened in America today it would, without a doubt, resurrect distinct images of hateful and racist actions taken by officials in the Deep South prior to and during the Civil Rights marches in the 50's and 60's. Here is the story along with a link to some photos of what happened.
-Clair Hochstetler in Canberra
Tell the whole truth Clair,it may be uncofortable I know, but let people read the other side of the story at www.camera.org
ReplyDeleteIf what you say is the whole truth then you won't have a problem. I thought Mennonites believed in truth telling?
Don't you just love it when people post their comments anonymously? I decided to break my own rules and let this one through so that others who read here can have opportunity to read about CAMERA and see for themselves what it is:
ReplyDeleteIn May 2008, five Wikipedia editors involved in a secret CAMERA campaign to edit Wikipedia were banned by Wikipedia administrators, who wrote that the project's open nature "is fundamentally incompatible with the creation of a private group to surreptitiously coordinate editing by ideologically like-minded individuals" (Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_for_Accuracy_in_Middle_East_Reporting_in_America#CAMERA_campaign_in_Wikipedia )
I would never try to put something in my blog that I knew was untrue. The source of my story in the column I posted are people personally known to me. Can you say the same "Ms. Anonymous"? -Clair
I would say that MCC and CPT are, collectively, ideologically like - minded individuals and they seem to have no problem in editing others who post at wikipedia and other anabaptists web sites.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it is simple case that you did not know the other side of the story or were misled? In this case you would be innocent of any wrong doing. I tend not rely on people I "personally know", rather I do my own "digging" to be sure of all of the facts, or each side of the story.Unfortunately the people we know the best are sometimes the ones who manipulate us the most because we have absolute trust in them. We lose our objectivity in these situations. I remain anonymous because I am Mennonite and know the consequences of falling foul of the herd mentality which we Mennonites tend to have.
ReplyDelete