Comments on: The Anti-Empire Report http://dissidentvoice.org/2007/07/the-anti-empire-report/ a radical newsletter in the struggle for peace and social justice Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:51:44 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: swin http://dissidentvoice.org/2007/07/the-anti-empire-report/#comment-3320 swin Thu, 26 Jul 2007 07:50:46 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/07/the-anti-empire-report/#comment-3320 Oh my, surely we didn't rig elections in albania! I thought we only did that in South America. My bad ; ) Oh my, surely we didn’t rig elections in albania! I thought we only did that in South America. My bad ; )

]]> By: Hue Longer http://dissidentvoice.org/2007/07/the-anti-empire-report/#comment-2713 Hue Longer Wed, 11 Jul 2007 10:50:00 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/07/the-anti-empire-report/#comment-2713 I always look forward to my report, Bill...keep 'em coming (did that sound like a ditto head? Shit, I'm too drunk and impressed to add anything original here...you do kick ass and minds though) I always look forward to my report, Bill…keep ‘em coming (did that sound like a ditto head? Shit, I’m too drunk and impressed to add anything original here…you do kick ass and minds though)

]]> By: Weed http://dissidentvoice.org/2007/07/the-anti-empire-report/#comment-2706 Weed Wed, 11 Jul 2007 08:21:59 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/07/the-anti-empire-report/#comment-2706 You live with this lion. And man is it a big lion. Every day you have to feed this giant cat of the forest. And when you feed it, it has to be fresh meat. Fresh meat is what it likes. After ten years the fresh meat gets to expensive for the zoo. You are told to feed this new meat. You do or lose your job. After three days the cat eats you..... How do you feel about that? How do you think the zoo feels? What do you think the costumers know or even feel about you're demize? And should the ending be a fertilizer for the new field? You live with this lion. And man is it a big lion. Every day you have to feed this giant cat of the forest. And when you feed it, it has to be fresh meat. Fresh meat is what it likes. After ten years the fresh meat gets to expensive for the zoo. You are told to feed this new meat. You do or lose your job. After three days the cat eats you…..
How do you feel about that?
How do you think the zoo feels?
What do you think the costumers know or even feel about you’re demize?
And should the ending be a fertilizer for the new field?

]]> By: Weed http://dissidentvoice.org/2007/07/the-anti-empire-report/#comment-2705 Weed Wed, 11 Jul 2007 08:04:11 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/07/the-anti-empire-report/#comment-2705 We can't change it. We were there. We did it. I did it. I was there. I was one that went in "before". I saw what the Iraquians did. I saw first hand thier rape and murder. So stop the whining about how they are unjustly treated. As far as I am concerned, the entire country should be turned into a glass factory. We can’t change it. We were there. We did it. I did it. I was there.
I was one that went in “before”. I saw what the Iraquians did. I saw first hand thier rape and murder. So stop the whining about how they are unjustly treated. As far as I am concerned, the entire country should be turned into a glass factory.

]]> By: Lila Rajiva http://dissidentvoice.org/2007/07/the-anti-empire-report/#comment-2690 Lila Rajiva Tue, 10 Jul 2007 23:39:28 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/07/the-anti-empire-report/#comment-2690 Mr. Blum - I have great respect for your work. But please don't blame traditional, non-interventionist conservatives for US interventionism. That turn was the fault of Buckley and the CIA dominated National Review -- the foundation of our present neo-con faction now thickly populated by former leftists turned Cold War hawks. Russell Kirk would have rolled in his grave at the transformation. To say nothing of great libertarian non -interventionists like Rothbard. Mr. Blum -
I have great respect for your work. But please don’t blame traditional, non-interventionist conservatives for US interventionism. That turn was the fault of Buckley and the CIA dominated National Review — the foundation of our present neo-con faction now thickly populated by former leftists turned Cold War hawks. Russell Kirk would have rolled in his grave at the transformation. To say nothing of great libertarian non -interventionists like Rothbard.

]]> By: William Blum http://dissidentvoice.org/2007/07/the-anti-empire-report/#comment-2686 William Blum Tue, 10 Jul 2007 22:02:09 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/07/the-anti-empire-report/#comment-2686 Response to Michael Kenny's letter re my article on Albania and Bulgaria. He writes: "I note that the only “authority” Mr Blum cites for his claims is his own book! I’m not surprised he found no other source!" But my book -- duh! -- gives many sources! In fact Kenny doesn't even have to buy the book; the chapter in question is on my website and I gave the URL for it in my article and if Kenny went to it, which he apparently hasn't, he'd see lots of sources given. It's all documented. Duh! Response to Michael Kenny’s letter re my article on Albania and Bulgaria. He writes: “I note that the only “authority” Mr Blum cites for his claims is his own book! I’m not surprised he found no other source!”
But my book — duh! — gives many sources! In fact Kenny doesn’t even have to buy the book; the chapter in question is on my website and I gave the URL for it in my article and if Kenny went to it, which he apparently hasn’t, he’d see lots of sources given. It’s all documented. Duh!

]]> By: Hue Longer http://dissidentvoice.org/2007/07/the-anti-empire-report/#comment-2681 Hue Longer Tue, 10 Jul 2007 21:16:53 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/07/the-anti-empire-report/#comment-2681 and Greece? and Greece?

]]> By: Doug D. http://dissidentvoice.org/2007/07/the-anti-empire-report/#comment-2663 Doug D. Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:59:23 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/07/the-anti-empire-report/#comment-2663 "The first multiparty general elections were held on March 31, 1991 and saw the Communist Party (PPSH) win the majority. Opposition parties accused the government of manipulation and called for new elections, which were held on March 22, 1992 and resulted in a coalition (composed of the Democratic Party, the Social-Democrats, and the Republican Party) coming to power." Quoted from Wikipedia, not known to have a pro-Communist bias. Whether or not the initial PPSH victory was fraudulent, I don't know. This information would appear to contradict Mr. Kenny's claim. “The first multiparty general elections were held on March 31, 1991 and saw the Communist Party (PPSH) win the majority. Opposition parties accused the government of manipulation and called for new elections, which were held on March 22, 1992 and resulted in a coalition (composed of the Democratic Party, the Social-Democrats, and the Republican Party) coming to power.”

Quoted from Wikipedia, not known to have a pro-Communist bias. Whether or not the initial PPSH victory was fraudulent, I don’t know. This information would appear to contradict Mr. Kenny’s claim.

]]> By: Michael Kenny http://dissidentvoice.org/2007/07/the-anti-empire-report/#comment-2658 Michael Kenny Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:07:09 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/07/the-anti-empire-report/#comment-2658 Mr Blum's claim that "communists" won elections in Albania and Bulgaria is untrue. No communist party has ever won a democratic election in Europe and few, nowadays, get more than a handful of votes. Equally, there is no evidence of any US "plot" to overthrow the governemnt anywhere in Europe. In Albania and Bulgaria specifically, the various democratic political parties have been in and out of power several times since the fall of the communist dictatorships. I note that the only "authority" Mr Blum cites for his claims is his own book! I'm not surprised he found no other source! Mr Blum's problem is that he lives in a 1965 time warp and is unable to comprehend anything that has happened since. He reasons in "theorems" in which the final conclusion is pre-determined: the US is the "bad guy" and the communists are the "good guys". Hence, in a world which to him is utterly immutable , anyone who opposes the US is automatically a good guy and is deemed to be a "communist" and any defeat of these "communists" must be attributed to the magical powers of the gringo master race, since we poor European Untermanschen do not have the intelligence to do such things ourselves or, indeed, to cop on to "gringo" plots to manipulate us! The reality is then twisted to fit in with that pre-ordained conclusion. The result, of course, bears no ressemblance to the European reality! Mr Blum’s claim that “communists” won elections in Albania and Bulgaria is untrue. No communist party has ever won a democratic election in Europe and few, nowadays, get more than a handful of votes. Equally, there is no evidence of any US “plot” to overthrow the governemnt anywhere in Europe. In Albania and Bulgaria specifically, the various democratic political parties have been in and out of power several times since the fall of the communist dictatorships. I note that the only “authority” Mr Blum cites for his claims is his own book! I’m not surprised he found no other source!

Mr Blum’s problem is that he lives in a 1965 time warp and is unable to comprehend anything that has happened since. He reasons in “theorems” in which the final conclusion is pre-determined: the US is the “bad guy” and the communists are the “good guys”. Hence, in a world which to him is utterly immutable , anyone who opposes the US is automatically a good guy and is deemed to be a “communist” and any defeat of these “communists” must be attributed to the magical powers of the gringo master race, since we poor European Untermanschen do not have the intelligence to do such things ourselves or, indeed, to cop on to “gringo” plots to manipulate us! The reality is then twisted to fit in with that pre-ordained conclusion. The result, of course, bears no ressemblance to the European reality!

]]> By: Karl Brehmer http://dissidentvoice.org/2007/07/the-anti-empire-report/#comment-2657 Karl Brehmer Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:41:27 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/07/the-anti-empire-report/#comment-2657 Good, solid writing and thinking as always from William Blum - but this time in need of a factual correction. While Albania was originally a Soviet satellite after the war, it broke with the USSR in the early 1960s - and officially left the COMECON and the Warsaw Treaty in 1968. It would be far more apt to refer to its recent past as Maoist - and in the end completely "independent communist" (after breaking with China). It was probably the politically and economically most isolated country in the world. Good, solid writing and thinking as always from William Blum – but this time in need of a factual correction. While Albania was originally a Soviet satellite after the war, it broke with the USSR in the early 1960s – and officially left the COMECON and the Warsaw Treaty in 1968. It would be far more apt to refer to its recent past as Maoist – and in the end completely “independent communist” (after breaking with China). It was probably the politically and economically most isolated country in the world.

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