no third solution

Blogging about liberty, anarchy, economics and politics

The Real Problem

August 1st, 2010

In my estimation this is the only problem that really matters. It’s all encompassing, and it’s practically insurmountable. Commenter Don sums it up succinctly:

These monsters have done things that can never be undone and the total consequences will never be known.

You’re right, Don, but I will go one further: It’s not just depleted uranium or agent orange or Nigerian oil spills that nobody in the developed world ever hears about or the other explicit (albeit hidden) costs of imperialism. The stockpiles of nuclear and other weapons of mass- and indiscriminate destruction; the use of such weapons including depleted uranium, etc., the de facto strip-mining of the Earth’s resources — these are globally existential threats to peace and humanity.

Most people are probably aware of nuclear stockpiles, that cold war remnant with which nobody knows exactly what to do. But there is a reason you’ve probably never heard about the Nigerian oil spills or countless other exploitations of a people and an ecosystem; a reason you’ve probably never heard much about depleted uranium or white phosphorous. They do not want you to know.

And so you don’t.

These aren’t naturally occurring, rather the people at large were manipulated in to sowing the seeds (which will probably one day become the source of our collective destruction), all of these threats had their genesis in the ruling classes’ interests, as a means towards achieving some outcome they desired, consequences be damned.

The issue is this: There are simply no means available to deal with or to mitigate the loss or potential for loss attributable to  many of the problems that the State has created.  Even if we could abolish the state tomorrow, these problems they created which nobody wanted in the first place, remain.

Confessions of an Economic Hitman

May 2nd, 2010

Confessions of an Economic Hit ManI finished John Perkins’ Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, as well as some lighter reading, on the way to and from London a few weeks ago. To be quite honest, once I started reading it I couldn’t put it down. If you haven’t read it, I definitely recommend it.

If you were ever curious about how global empire is maintained in the 20th and in to the 21st centuries, this book will probably tie up a lot of loose ends for you. If you were ever curious about why people all over the globe hate the American government, this book will make sense of it all.

It’s the type of stories you hear from conspiracy theorists and categorically reject as crazy and implausible, like how the World Bank and the IMF, in collusion with big businesses, conspire to keep the third world poor, to exploit their human and natural resources for profit, and suppress any popular dissent.

Here’s Anti-flag song of the same name, inspired by Perkins’ book.

…Abrenz, Mossadeq, Allende
Roldos, Torrijos, Aristide
Elected democratically,
All snuffed out by the CIA
The truth will cause your heart to seize,
Shed light on the true enemies…

I Finally Saw Avatar

April 14th, 2010

I finally saw Avatar. Needless to say, the 4″ LCD in the back of seat 24E on Delta flight 6 to LHR was probably not optimal viewing conditions, but my Skullcandy headphones work awesome on airplanes, but I digress.

I’m not going to bore you with a review (plenty of other libertarians have already done this). And I’m not going to bore you with a summary of the story. Here’s just my thoughts, much as I put them on paper halfway through the movie—unable to wait for fear of losing the thoughts.

This is how it works: when people are sitting on shit that you want, you make them your enemies. Then you justify taking it.

The basic premise of the story in Avatar is exactly how empires have always behaved. And it is exactly how the corporate interests which control the world’s governments operate today: Exploit some people and/or resources (preferably beyond the fictional lines which define our national “borders”). Take everything from them—materials, resources, labor, life, dignity; and get drunk on the profits.

The movie saddened me, not because it was a particularly compelling story (although I do think it was a very good movie, c’mon, is “unobtanium” the best they could come up with?), but because I understand that this “fiction” is anything but.

Avatar is not an allegory. It is not a clever fairy-tale tree-hugger imagination, dramatization, or exaggeration. Look at the history of the world, the rise and fall of empire after empire. The names of the people and places may well have changed, but the story has played on a thousand stages.

no third solution

Blogging about liberty, anarchy, economics and politics