Bishop Williamson on Orwell's 1984 & 9/11
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Dwight E. Eisenhower on War
"I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity."
"Every gun that is made, every warship that is launched, every rocket that is fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who are hungry and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its labors, the genius of its scientists, and the hope of its children."
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9743.htm
Please watch Eisenhower's speech here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg-jvHynP9Y
Dennis Edwards: The Bible tells of the Four Horses of the Apocalypse are four spiritual forces going forth to act upon mankind. One of the horses is the Red horse. The Bible says,
"And power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword."[Revelations 6:4]
Closely related to the War horse is the Black horse of the Apocalypse. We read in the Bible,
And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine." [Revelation 6:5-6]
From the Old Testament we get the interpretation.
"He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loves to oppress." [Hosea 12:7]
In another section we see the prophet exposing the deceitful merchant who oppresses and deceives. We read,
As Eisenhower so warned the industrial-military complex together pushes for war. The merchants make their greatest profits from the sales of arms, the reconstruction of nations, the debts incurred by nations and guaranteed by governments. See the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lglMx3_kKcc War is big business as Congressional Honor Brigadier General Smedley Butler said after WWI.
"God keep us from war," prayed Dwight L. Moody before the Spanish American War. He went on to say,
"Never has our country had more need of your prayers than at the present time....I have not met a man who served in the last war who wants to see another. God knows that I do not want to see the carnage and destruction that such a war would bring.... There are many mothers who will be bereaved, many homes broken up, if we have war. Have you thought of this?"[http://www.biblebelievers.com/moody/12.html]
Are you praying for peace or are you patting yourselves on the back for Trump's victorious bombing? Please be peace-makers. Pray for peace.
The Syria ‘Chemical Attack’: Cui Bono?
By Uri Avnery, Antiwar.com, April 14, 2017
Cui bono–“who benefits”–is the first question an experienced detective asks when investigating a crime.
Since I was a detective myself for a short time in my youth, I know the meaning. Often, the first and obvious suspicion is false. You ask yourself “cui bono”, and another suspect, who you did not think about, appears.
For two weeks now, this question has been troubling my mind. It does not leave me.
In Syria, a terrible war crime has been committed. The civilian population in a rebel-held town called Idlib was hit with poison gas. Dozens of civilians, including children, died a miserable death.
Who could do such a thing? The answer was obvious: that terrible dictator, Bashar al-Assad. Who else?
And so, within a few minutes (literally) the New York Times and a host of excellent newspapers throughout the West proclaimed without hesitation: Assad did it!
No need for proof. No investigation. It was just self-evident. Of course Assad. Within minutes, everybody knew it.
A storm of indignation swept the Western world. He must be punished! Poor Donald Trump, who does not have a clue, submitted to pressure and ordered a senseless missile strike on a Syrian airfield, after preaching for years that the US must under no circumstances get involved in Syria. Suddenly he reversed himself. Just to teach that bastard a lesson. And to show the world what a he-he-he-man he, Trump, really is.
The operation was an immense success. Overnight, the despised Trump became a national hero. Even liberals kissed his feet.
But throughout, that question continued to nag my mind. Why did Assad do it? What did he have to gain?
The simple answer is: Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
(“Assad” means “lion” in Arabic. Contrary to what Western experts and statesmen seem to believe, the emphasis is on the first syllable.)
With the help of Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, Assad is slowly winning the civil war that has been ravishing Syria for years, He already holds almost all the major cities that constitute the core of Syria. He has enough weapons to kill as many enemy civilians as his heart desires.
So why, for Allah’s sake, should he use gas to kill a few dozen more? Why arouse the anger of the entire world, inviting American intervention?
There is no way to deny the conclusion: Assad had the least to gain from the dastardly deed. On the list of “cui bono”, he is the very last.
Assad is a cynical dictator, perhaps cruel, but he is far from being a fool. He was raised by his father, Hafez al-Assad, who was a longtime dictator before him. Even if he were a fool, his advisors include some of the cleverest people on earth: Vladimir Putin of Russia, Hassan Rouhani of Iran, Hassan Nasrallah of Hizbullah.
So who had something to gain? Well, half a dozen Syrian sects and militias who are fighting against Assad and against each other in the crazy civil war. Also their Sunni Arab allies, the Saudi and other Gulf Sheikhs. And Israel, of course. They all have an interest in arousing the civilized world against the Syrian dictator.
Simple logic.
A military act must have a political aim. As Carl von Clausewitz famously said 200 years ago: war is the continuation of politics by other means.
The two main opponents in the Syrian civil war are the Assad regime and Daesh. So what is the aim of the US? It sounds like a joke: The US wants to destroy both sides. Another joke: First it wants to destroy Daesh, therefore it bombs Assad.
The destruction of Daesh is highly desirable. There are few more detestable groups in the world. But Daesh is an idea, rather than just an organization. The destruction of the Daesh state would disperse thousands of dedicated assassins all over the world.
(Interestingly enough, the original Assassins, some 900 years ago, were Muslim fanatics very similar to Daesh now.)
America’s own clients in Syria are a sorry lot, almost beaten. They have no chance of winning.
For me, a professional journalist most of my life, the most depressing aspect of this whole chapter is the influence of the American and Western media in general.
I read the New York Times and admire it. Yet it shredded all its professional standards by publishing an unproven assumption as gospel truth, with no need for verification. Perhaps Assad is to blame, after all. But where is the proof? Who investigated, and what were the results?
Worse, the “news” immediately became a worldwide truth. Many millions repeat it unthinkingly as self-evident, like sunrise in the east and sunset in the west.
No questions raised. No proof demanded or provided. Very depressing.
Back to the dictator. Why does Syria need a dictator? Why isn’t it a beautiful US-style democracy? Why doesn’t it gratefully accept US-devised “regime-change”?
The Syrian dictatorship is no accidental phenomenon. It has very concrete roots.
Syria was created by France after World War I. A part of it later split off and became Lebanon.
Both are artificial creations. I doubt whether there are even today real “Syrians” and real “Lebanese”.
Lebanon is a mountainous country, ideally suited for small sects which need to defend themselves. Over the centuries, many small sects found refuge there. As a result, Lebanon is full of such sects, which distrust each other–Sunni Muslims, Shiite Muslims, Maronite Christians, many other Christian sects, Druze, Kurds.
Syria is much the same, with most of the same sects, and the addition of the Alawites. These, like the Shiites, are the followers of Ali Ibn Abi Talib, cousin and son-in-law of the prophet (hence the name). They occupy a patch of land in the North of Syria.
Both countries needed to invent a system that allowed such diverse and mutually-suspicious entities to live together. They found two different systems.
In Lebanon, with a past of many brutal civil wars, they invented a way of sharing. The President is always a Maronite, the Prime Minister a Sunni, the commander of the army a Druze, and the Speaker of Parliament a Shiite.
The Syrians found another solution. They willingly submitted to a dictatorship, to hold the country together and assure internal peace.
The Bible tells us that when the Children of Israel decided that they needed a king, they chose a man called Saul who belonged to the smallest tribe, Binyamin. The modern Syrians did much the same: they submitted to a dictator from one of their smallest tribes: the Alawites.
The Assads are secular, anti-religious rulers–the very opposite of the fanatical, murderous Daesh. Many Muslims believe that the Alawites are not Muslims at all. Since Syria lost the Yom Kippur war against Israel, 44 years ago, the Assads have kept the peace on our border, though Israel has annexed the Syrian Golan Heights.
The civil war in Syria is still going on. Everybody is fighting against everybody. The diverse groups of “rebels”, created, financed and armed by the US, are now in a bad shape. There are several competing groups of Jihadists, who all hate the Jihadist Daesh. There is a Kurdish enclave, which wants to secede. The Kurds are not Arabs, but are mainly Muslims. There are Kurdish enclaves in neighboring Turkey, Iraq and Iran, whose mutual hostility prevents them making common cause.
And there is poor, innocent Donald Trump, who has sworn not to get involved in all this mess, and who is doing just that.
A day before, Trump was despised by half the American people, including most of the media. Just by launching a few missiles, he has won general admiration as a forceful and wise leader.
What does that say about the American people, and about humanity in general?
You’re middle-aged—this is the perfect time to work on staying healthy
Choices people make in their 20s and 30s about exercise, eating and handling health issues set the stage for the future, but in your 50s and 60s you still have time to make up for any mistakes and increase your odds of healthful aging. Eating well, spending time with others, getting screened for some health problems and tending to your emotional needs are all important.
Here’s what experts had to say about some simple changes you can make or measures to adopt to maximize your chances of aging well from middle age on.
Joy Bauer, a nutritionist and the author of “From Junk Food to Joy Food”:
Metabolism slows with age, so it’s vital to eat voluminous and tasty meals without bumping up calorie intake. Fruits and vegetables are high in volume and low in calories, so they fill you up without filling you out. They are also loaded with antioxidants to boost memory and brain power. Eat a vegetable with every meal–veggies are packed with potassium, calcium and magnesium, which help lower blood pressure and protect bones and joints.
Andrew Weil, a physician and the director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona, and author of “Mind Over Meds”:
To reinforce healthy habits, spend more time with people who have them. To improve eating habits, spend time with people who eat well; if you want to be physically active, associate with active people. Maintain social and intellectual connectedness: They correlate strongly with healthy aging.
Richard A. Friedman, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York:
At every age, there is strong evidence that you can improve thinking and physical fitness. Baby boomers might be tempted by the lure of brain training, but there are no credible data that practicing brain games transfers to any other cognitive skill other than the game itself. Instead, physical exercise has been shown in numerous studies to enhance memory and performance speed.
Gunnar Peterson, a Los Angeles-based personal trainer:
Focus more on recovery–sleep, water and bodywork–because you are a little more: “seasoned,” but you are by no means limited. Make sure your strength training is comprehensive and “pre-habilitative.” At 65, you should challenge your balance system, keep lifting weights. And have fun–you’ve earned it.
How the Middle East is depleting American power
Michael Brendan Dougherty, The Week, April 11, 2017
Once upon a time, a man could write checks his bank account couldn’t cover. Since shops and banks wouldn’t know for a few days, he had time to live large. And when his scam went sideways, the crook could always skip town and forge some new documents: Find a new bank, and a new set of marks. A con artist could live life this way. But a nation can’t. And a superpower really can’t.
That’s why it’s more than a little frightening that President Trump, a man who knows bankruptcy law as well as any crook and has done enough bad deals he can’t get American banks to finance his ventures, is now in charge of the country’s foreign policy.
Right now, the U.S. military has a lot of credit on the world stage. But the way Trump seems ready to write checks on its account should make us nervous. Trump watched a few horrifying cable news segments and now the United States may have a new objective in the Syrian Civil War: the removal of the Bashar Al-Assad’s regime.
But unlike your local shopkeepers, the other great powers of the world have an idea of what’s in the U.S. account. They know what our navy can do, and how far each model of our airplanes can fly on one tank of gas. They know where we’re vulnerable. They can estimate, roughly, what the tolerance for war is among American people.
They know that previous administration bequeathed to Trump some combination of ground troops, special forces, and air operations in six Muslim countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Syria, and Somalia. And they get the breaking news alerts just like you, showing that Trump seems to be deciding to join the U.S. more directly to more fronts in the Syrian Civil War. Here in America, many commentators interpreted Trump’s decision to go after Assad as a sign that America had gotten its swagger back.
But great powers around the world noticed that the U.S. has a tighter monthly budget on power right now and is not in a position to be demanding. A professor of international relations at Fudam University in Shanghai described the feeling in China over this development.
Mr. Shen added that many Chinese were “thrilled” by the attack because it would probably result in the United States becoming further mired in the Middle East.
“If the United States gets trapped in Syria, how can Trump make America great again? As a result, China will be able to achieve its peaceful rise,” Mr. Shen said, using a term Beijing employs to characterize its growing power. “Even though we say we oppose the bombing, deep in our hearts we are happy.” [The New York Times]
Speaking of China, the U.S. has several priorities near it. We want to keep the trading routes in the South China Sea accessible, and the prosperous city states there as independent as possible. We want to see our allies like South Korea and Japan thrive. And we want China to help contain North Korea, in case its insane ruler threatens our friends. We also probably don’t want China to do anything really provocative in Siberia, which it easily could. This week the U.S. is sending ships to the Korean peninsula, to send more messages about the North Korean regime and what will, won’t, or can’t be tolerated from it.
It’s easy to imagine China soon finding itself in a position to ask us to alter one or more of our positions in its neighborhood. The U.S. just has to be distracted by its quest to find the Thomas Jeffersons from Yemen to Libya, and then be met with a crisis. That crisis could be the North Korean regime collapsing from its internal corruption, and South Korea asking for help securing its weapons, or preventing the spillover of people from overwhelming their society overnight.
Even a relatively weakened state like Russia can find itself in more favorable negotiating circumstances with the U.S. merely because of our promiscuity in making promises. Want their help in transitioning Syria away from Assad? Want greater Russian assistance in guaranteeing that Iran sticks to its commitments? Then Nikki Haley may have to stop talking about Crimea and Ukraine.
For some hawks in the U.S., everything is a priority, and backing down anywhere is a sign of lost credibility. But if the United States cannot properly rank priorities, or husband its power, it will find that the value of its commitments can fall in a cascade and reduce to zero very quickly. Our Middle Eastern interventions since 2001 have resulted in few gains and a multiplication of ongoing debits on America’s account. America’s critical allies and rivals in Europe and in Asia are asking themselves what will be left over for them in the American treasury of power after our Middle Eastern adventures. So should we.
