Droning On 285

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It turns out that the CIA has realised for years that drone attacks are of very limited utility. Like so many of the injustices of the “War on Terror”, they are in fact a driver for armed hatred of the West, not least because they kill more civilians than targets.

But of course, the “war on terror” is very much about boosting the standing of politicians who are “fighting terror” on behalf of their citizens, and about boosting the ever-inflating powers – and budgets – of the security services. SO counterproductive measures are, paradoxically, the most attractive to those whose aim is not to obtain peace, but rather to maintain the concentration of power and finance consequent upon an eternal state of phoney war.

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285 thoughts on “Droning On”

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  • Tony_0pmoc

    We are as honest as we can be, we are allparts of the world and the web…we come from nearly everywhere on the planet and we communicate our thoughts and our feelings …and sometimes in English and sometimes we need to translate and sometimes we misunderstand…but we nearly all can tell the difference between good and evil..the takers and the snakes..the light and the dark…the poor who share everything…the up and down…

    We are turning This World Around…We are still in the dark..but we can see the glints of light…

    But seriously we have to Prosecute These War Criminals First…and Focus…

    In the UK

    Number 1. ANTHONY CHARLES LYNTON BLAIR

    We are on The Case.

    Tony

  • Iain Orr

    Habbabkuk @ 4.45 pm on 26 December correctly pointed out that I was not saying that terrorism and illness are synonymous (or indeed, identical or similar). My point was how polemicists [not just politicians – academics, NGOs, journalists do it too] use metaphorical language to obscure and to bully as much as to enlighten and inform. “War on Terrorism” “War on Ebola/ Cancer/ AIDS” “War on Drugs” “War on Illiteracy” and “War on Want” are all metaphorical wars, with the underlying “warlike” similarity being that the ”X” of “War on X” is a problem of such magnitude that it needs the total mobilisation of the resources of a whole nation, group of nations or even of “the world community”, if the “enemy” is to be overcome.

    The model – certainly in the West – is that of “good wars”, unwelcome but necessary: like, above all, WWII. That is a narrative (together with its associated vocabulary of “appeasement”, “resistance”, “evil”, “genocide” and “criminals”) which even most (but not all) 21st century citizens and politicians of Germany, Japan and other former “Axis Powers” are willing to share in, at least in international meetings. 9/11 hardly needed the psycho-dramas of the Bush Dynasty to make it inevitable that all the WWII Hollywood tropes and rhetoric would be given a new lease of life into the 21st century.

    The best example of cynically making a partisan political project into a war zone is the absurdist “War on Benefit Cheats”. That was formally declared by David Cameron on 8 August 2010 – see http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/192057/David-Cameron-declares-war-on-benefit-cheats . IDS was of course not Ambassador to the Republic of Fecklessness, just a noisy “quiet” has-been promoted to raucous Sergeant-Major.

    All PR warmongering rhetoric needs to be seen for what it is: training heavy artillery on the Treasury in order to secure funding for measures that have nothing to do with fighting on the beaches against new invaders from continental Europe and further afield. It would be wrong, however, to ignore the military skills and security processes that have a part to play in real problems, even when these are miscast as pseudo-wars. Logistics, supply lines and quarter-mastering skills matter when tackling medical epidemics, especially in remote areas or places made more remote by floods or earthquakes. And home security skills matter when drug barons and their funds are on the move.

    But the rhetoric of warfare, of being “under attack” (cf the nightly Blitz, the daily sinkings by U-boats), is also the cover for a completely phony war, that on the freedom and privacy of citizens in a country not “at war” with anyone. [The UK (UN) /North Korea truce still holds: but there is a slight historical worry that Berwick-on-Tweed may still be at war with Russia.]

  • BrianFujisan

    Scouse Billy,

    Cheers, i was unaware of that incident, very interesting stuff. Thanks for the Links. Shall look into more on this tomorrow.

    Mark

    Cheers too for Info / Links

    If i recall.. there was an earlier example of Russian Capability Re Syria, When Last September, the US fired two ballistic missiles from Spain towards Damascus but were immediately intercepted by Russian missiles… Would that have Hint number 1 ( excluding the Nukes )

  • Mary

    Hahhabkuk did not answer/avoided answering the question. Maybe just s plain old Ashkenazi playing the usual mind games.

  • Mary

    Another voice for free thought is stifled. I have followed this along.

    A MESSAGE FROM 19,195 SUPPORTERS OF PROFESSOR SALAITA

    Rima Merriman
    Bloomington, IN

    25 Dec 2014 — Dear Chancellor Wise and Members of the Board of Trustees:

    I am writing again on behalf of the 19,195 supporters who have signed on to the Change.org petition calling for the reinstatement of Professor Steven Salaita. I am prompted to do so by the recent report of the Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure (CAFT), which states: “In light of the irregular circumstances leading up to the Board of Trustees’ disapproval of an appointment for Dr. Salaita, the Committee recommends that Dr. Salaita’s candidacy be remanded to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for reconsideration by a committee of qualified academic experts.”

    Since, as you know, we have been following Professor Salaita’s case from the very beginning, we were not surprised that this report finds your actions in this matter to be unprofessional and that the cover of “civility” you used to fire Professor Salaita unacceptable. We further note that “qualified academic experts” from your own university have already assessed Professor Steven Salaita’s scholarship, teaching practices and collegiality and found them to be very “fit.” We therefore urge you again, without further ado, to reinstate Professor Salaita.

    https://www.change.org/p/phyllis-m-wise-we-demand-corrective-action-on-the-scandalous-firing-of-palestinian-american-professor-dr-steven-salaita

    Sincerely,
    Rima Najjar Merriman

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2764443/Professor-not-sorry-anti-Israel-tweets-cost-job-US-university.html

    http://mondoweiss.net/2014/08/salaita-beginning-blacklist GOOD

  • Jay

    @ Iain Orr

    So you are not willing to lose freedoms and privacy even though it may be beneficial to a large part of society.
    How un democratic.
    Best examples not given….

  • Briar

    Interesting to hear some BBC hack on the Toady Programme praising that movie (which he watched with a South Korean and an American in Seoul) as cutting edge satire. No doubt about where the instruction to be fulsome in praise originates.

  • Habbabkuk (la vita è bella)

    Mary

    “We must thank Habbabkuk for his Christmas greeting. Is he perchance what is described as a Christian Zionist?”

    followed by

    “Hahhabkuk did not answer/avoided answering the question. Maybe just s plain old Ashkenazi playing the usual mind games.”

    _____________________

    Sorry, I hadn’t realised that that was a real question addressed to me and not a rhetorical one.

    Neither a Christian Zionist not Ashkenazi, I’m afraid.

    Sorry to disappoint! 🙂

  • Habbabkuk (la vita è bella)

    nor Sephardic (just to close off a possible clever-clever retort) 🙂

  • Habbabkuk (la vita è bella)

    Iain Orr

    Thank you for your confirmation at 02h41.

    I can’t resist saying that you’ll probably need to simplify your language and discourse if you want some of the more excitable minds on here to understand what you’re getting at….

  • Mark Golding

    lol Scouse Billy according to Madsen ‘fag’ is fitting. Sexuality is of course inconsequential when we examine Obama’s sodality or association with the Irgun scion, Rahm Emanuel, the endorser of the term, ‘fucking retard’ and advocate of “muscular projection of force” in Iraq.

    A close friend of Zionist and fellow Chicagoan, David Axelrod, Mayor Emanuel has torn up teachers and security staff, demolished a women’s hospital, belittled the Palestinian struggle for freedom and NOW tabbed for alleged fraud.

    A former Washington gate-keeper Emanuel is in my bulls-eye as re-election threatens.

    http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/Rahm-Talks-Syria-Chicago-With-David-Letterman-223069101.html

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/19/rahm-emanuel-sec_n_6187820.html

  • Mark Golding

    According to RELIABLE insiders the The Rt. Hon. Sajid Javid MP may be made known or revealed soon as candidate for Conservative leader and intended Prime Minister as agent Cameron’s popularity nose-dives.

    Friends of Israel Javid (he would move to Israel) is currently the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. His current task is to brain-storm with others as to how the Russian broadcaster RT UK can be taken off-air in Britain in similar fashion to Press TV.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sajid_Javid

    http://lucas2012infos.wordpress.com/2014/11/12/rt-on-ofcom-ruling-impartiality-requirements-must-apply-to-all-media-equally-12-november-2014/

  • Anon

    Mark Golding

    “Friends of Israel Javid (he would move to Israel) is currently the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.”

    Not quite accurate. He said if he had to move from Britain to the Middle East, he would choose Israel. And that would be a sensible choice, wouldn’t it, Mark.

  • John Goss

    Node, thanks so much for the cabinet. Amazing piece of engineering. I think you put a lot of thought into those gifts for everyone and I am sure I speak for all in saying thank you because it really is the thought that counts.

  • Anon

    OldMark

    “UKIP supporter and fat city cat Jon Moulton sacks 2,727 of his staff on Xmas Day”

    The timing is obviously unfortunate, but the accountants would have been acting illegally had they sought to delay until after Christmas by covering up the insolvency.

    Still, “Businessman Jon Moulton makes 2,727 of his staff redundant on 29th December” wouldn’t have made for such a juicy headline, would it.

  • Peacewisher

    @anon. Depends on your perspective! Tony Benn was about humanity and principle… about putting people before power and money. That actually puts him completely off the left-right continuum which is really about different ways of controlling people using those means. Not surprising that he was equally reviled by politicians of all complexions.

    My perspective would be that a society should empower people to take personal responsibility, and state institutions should be geared towards encouraging personal development towards that goal. We’ve been in reverse for last 30 years, and who’s to say what would have happened if Benn became labour’s deputy leader?

  • Iain Orr

    Jay @ 8.49 am: I am willing to lose freedoms and privacy as part of a genuine war effort; but not for false wars that mainly benefit the consultants who charge large fees for selling the tools – material and ideological – for waging them. What better examples had you in mind?

    On your other point, I set more store by that old windbag, Polonius (“…to thine own self be true”..) than by the flawed variants of democracy on offer in the UK and USA.

  • Iain Orr

    Habbabkuk @ 10.06 am – If you are able to teach writing skills that confer immunity from misunderstandings, I will be a willing paying student in your Guardian Masterclass.

    Should I accompany my comments with the request “Please read what I have written”? That calls to mind the excellent reminder at the top of my old Scottish Higher exam papers: “Read the questions carefully”. None so blind as those who won’t look.

  • Mark Golding

    My own reminder:

    Exitable no, emotional yes. Emotion drives intention. John Calvin spoke of the word ‘vengeance’ – a function, Calvin said, that must be used to refer to the repression or deterrence of violence and not to angry retaliation.

    Thomas Aquinas quoting Augustine said, “if we are not motivated by hate, gain or power, then we make every possible effort for peace…

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