Category: Uncategorized

The “hostage” crisis is over, the 24 crew members are back-after a week or so of dim sum and air-conditioned suites at the Hotel Hainan – and all’s right with the world. But not quite. First of all, they still have our plane – and no doubt we’ll be hearing about that until the Chinese … Continue reading “Are the Chinese Nazis?”

We were bound to see it eventually. And there they were: TV pictures of jubilant Iraqis welcoming American troops – cheering them, kissing them, throwing roses at them. After all, what’s a war without triumphant liberators? Almost every war ends with the conquerors being cheered by the conquered people. It’s happened in Afghanistan three times … Continue reading “All Hail the Liberators”

Chinese coverage of the war in Iraq has been constant, repetitive and decidedly pro-peace if not anti-American. CCTV has developed into a network capable of broadcasting news from everywhere with the authority of CNN. In fact, like most news networks across the globe, CCTV has modeled their look, language, graphics, music etc. after the American … Continue reading “‘Americans Like War, Huh?’”

Empire’s cheerleaders gleefully reported last week that the Bosnian Serb Republic has been eviscerated by the Imperial Viceroy, a move aimed at "bringing the disobedient entity to heel." In yet another move towards the misguided centralization of Bosnia, the Republic lost control of its military and intelligence services, as punishment for allegedly repairing Iraqi aircraft … Continue reading “Bolsheviks in Belgrade”

The Bush administration says that this war on Iraq will not repeat the failure of Vietnam, but rather it will repeat the successful outcome of World War II (WW2). The administration has oft repeated that US postwar occupation of Iraq will follow the model of the successful US occupation of Germany and Japan. The administration … Continue reading “The ‘Successful’ Post-World War II Model for Iraq”

Due to a death in his family, Justin Raimondo will be away this week. He will return Monday. Imperialist chic is in bloom on the left as well as the right, with weepy liberals like Michael Ignatieff joining neoconservatives Max Boot and Dinesh D’Souza in hailing the American Caesar. "People are now coming out of … Continue reading “King George Returns”

Winners & Losers It\’s a good thing that this war is coming to an end soon as otherwise I don\’t think the TV companies could have afforded to continue covering it. Already several of the US networks have shipped home some of their more expensive human resources, and just think where we would be if … Continue reading “The Anglo-American Way of War”

The president asked Congress last week to authorize new funding for the war in Iraq, which was not paid for in the wasteful budget recently passed in the House of Representatives. You might assume that Congress would simply approve legislation that pays for military supplies and hardware, troop wages, ammunition, fuel, food, and the like. … Continue reading “War Profiteers”

Despite the 24/7 triumphalism on the cable news channels, the war isn’t over yet, although it’s difficult to see an outcome other than eventual U.S. and British supremacy, at least for now. The U.S. decision to send convoys of tanks and Bradley vehicles into the heart of Baghdad was a bold stroke, but it didn’t … Continue reading “Picking Up the Pieces”

The real war is quite different from the one we are seeing on television, as reported by journalists “embedded” so deeply in the militarist mystique that they no longer bother to disguise their role as cheerleaders. Their role is to shout “Hail Caesar!” at the appropriate moment, and otherwise shut their mouths. But sometimes a … Continue reading “The Real War”