Weather in Brum Where The Sun Always Shines On The Blues.

Sunday 11 December 2011

What's Going On In America?

David Attenborough and the ARKive
Image via Wikipedia of David Attenborough
Guantanamo
Image by GEEKSTATS via Flickr
English: Two U.S. Air Force Boeing B-52D Strat...
Image via Wikipedia
WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 15:  Prince Turki Al...
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
 Liberals in the USA are becoming increasingly disenchanted with Obama and the Republican presidential candidates are inept and none of them looks to be able to fulfil the role of leader of the free world. But wait a minute, did I say free world? Whenever I have been to America the first thing that strikes me, as a European, is that most folks don't even know about Europe or the wider world.  Look no further than some of those in the Tea Party or those in the presidential race whose knowledge of world affairs is non existent.

 Their foreign policy is to succour those evil regimes, like the Saudis, and bomb the shit out of anyone that they don't like - from Vietnam, to Afghanistan via The Dominican Republic, Chile and Nicaragua and anywhere else that gets in the way of their global rule book. Meanwhile Obama's promise to release those held illegally and inhumanely in Guantanamo have disappeared like most of his other pre-election promises. And his petulant action of withdrawing funding for UNESCO, because they had the temerity to vote in The Palestinian State as a member, was a disgrace, and the act of someone in hock to the far right Jewish lobby in America. If peace is ever to be achieved  then it is the responsibility an American president to bang heads together rather than take sides. The Nobel prize winner Jimmy Carter realised that but don't expect any action on that front from Obama or Clinton. Talking of which I know well from my days in the British intelligence services that Kissinger was just about the biggest warmonger in the middle east, and I had reports suppressed by him that showed what a duplicitous liar he was. Anything that tarnished his image in government was redacted and he no more deserved a Nobel prize than Hitler.

 In the last few days world leaders have been trying to agree a policy to urgently prevent the increase in global warming and three of the main polluters China, India and the USA ran away from their responsibilities to future generations, who will pay dearly for the short sighted economic interests of their governments. The USA is largely controlled by the ultra right media and I am becoming increasingly aware of how the news is censored over there and anything unpalatable is suppressed. The widely respected broadcaster Sir David Attenborough has just completed an outstanding series on the BBC called, "The Frozen Planet" and the last episode provided conclusive proof of the effects that this warming is having on the poles. This man is a  respected member of the British establishment and yet the American network that was broadcasting the series chose not to show this final episode. If I was in America now I would be angry at what is going on and the suppression of the basic freedom to hear what is going on in our world.
 I have met hundreds of decent Americans, who I respect and admire, and am sure that millions exist but to those people I say be afraid, be very afraid of what is going on in your country. This programmes is repeated on the BBC's I-player but is not available to citizens outside of the UK, for copyright reasons. To the technically savvy you can get around this by using a proxy ip address which effectively creates a UK ip address for you and I suggest that you take a look at this programme, if for no other reason than it is the BBC at its best and the filming is stunningly beautiful. If you are not technically savvy then there is plenty of software available that will do this for you. Post a comment if you have a problem with this.



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