The Digger

Excerpt: In his masterpiece,  Killing Hope: U.S. Military and C.I.A. Interventions Since World War II , William Blum, who died in December 2018, wrote chapter-length accounts of 55 U.S. regime change operations against countries around the world, from China (1945-1960s) to Haiti (1986-1994).  Noam Chomsky’s blurb on the back of the latest edition says simply, “Far and away the best book on the topic.” We agree. If you have not read it, please do. It will give you a clearer context for what is happening in Venezuela today, and a better understanding of the world you are living in. Since Killing Hope was published in 1995, the U.S. has conducted at least 13 more regime change operations, several of which are still active: Yugoslavia; Afghanistan; Iraq; the 3rd U.S. invasion of Haiti since WWII; Somalia; Honduras; Libya; Syria; Ukraine; Yemen; Iran; Nicaragua; and now Venezuela. William Blum noted that the U.S. generally prefers what its planners call “low intensity conf...

Excerpt: "Republicans: The President Frames the Debate On the Republican side, Trump has split conservatives into two camps. The status quo camp — perhaps better described as “status quo ante” — remains staunchly committed to the open internationalism and muscular American leadership of the Reagan era. Rooted in a firm belief in American exceptionalism, this approach emphasizes the defense of democracy and spread of American values. [...]  At present, the president and his allies have the momentum in the battle to define conservative foreign policy. He may have failed to transform American foreign policy completely in his first two years in office, but there is no doubt that he has  changed the terms of debate  within conservative circles. Indeed, Trump’s electoral success drew our attention to the fact that  many voters believe  America’s traditional approach to foreign policy has not worked for them. [...] Democrats: In Search of a Strong Opposit...

Link:   Green New Deal Advocates Should Address Militarism  — by Medea Benjamin, Alice Slater Excerpt: " Where is the call for the New Peace Deal that would free up hundreds of billions from the overblown military budget to invest in green infrastructure? Where is the call to close a majority of our nation’s over 800 military bases overseas, bases that are relics of World War II and are basically useless for military purposes? Where is the call for seriously addressing the existential threat posed by nuclear weapons? [...] Environmentalists need to contest the Pentagon’s staggering global footprint. The US military is the world’s largest institutional consumer of fossil fuels and the largest source of greenhouse gasses, contributing about 5 percent of global warming emissions. Almost 900 of the EPA’s 1,300 Superfund sites are abandoned military bases, weapons-production facilities or weapons-testing sites. The former Hanford nuclear weapons facility in Washingto...

Link:   USA – The World’s Invasion Nation   — by  Eric Zuesse Excerpt: "On November 29th, Gallup headlined  “Democrats Lead Surge in Belief US Should Be World Leader”  and reported that “Three-fourths (75%) of Americans today think the United States has ‘a special responsibility to be the leading nation in world affairs,’ up from 66% in 2010. The surge is driven by Democrats, whose belief in this idea has increased from 61% eight years ago to 81% now.” This finding comes even after the lie-based and catastrophic US invasions of Iraq in 2003, and of Libya in 2011 (and of so many others, such as Afghanistan, where the US and Sauds  created the Taliban  in 1979). Americans — now even increasingly — want ‘their’ (which is actually  America’s billionaires’)  Government to be virtually the world’s government, policing the world. They want this nation’s Government to be determining what international laws will be enforced around the ...