No ideas out there about the revolution? Okay, how about this: Bush's 180 degree turnabout on greenhouse gases results from the Neocon realization that it might just be too much trouble to conquer the Middle East with its oil fields, and we better have a back-up.
The problem is, the media still treats the various conflicts involving Muslims as separate problems. But they are not.
From Lebanon to Afghanistan, Muslim populations are in revolt against two things: rule by elites (Shia vs Sunni) and American interference in their internal affairs, which at best involves coopting the elites, in most cases involves setting up governments disposed to do our bidding.
This co-opting of the elites has been going on since the end of World War II, but a remarkable piece by William Pfaff in the current New York Review traces the policy back to our involvement in World War I and Wilson's obssession with internationalism.
Pfaff's piece is the culmination of half a century of pondered attention to the world scene. It ranges widely over the factors that brought the United States to the dire straits it is in today. The somewhat misleading title is; A Manifest Destiny: A New Direction for America, and its conclusions, which may seem surprising represent a wisdom which is entirely appropriate for our times.
The piece is too complex to be expedited in a few words, and deserves to be read in its entirety. I recommend it to anyone who wants to get a more helpful idea of what needs to happen than can be found on the op-ed pages of even our best newspapers, or in the sound bites of our clamorous visual media.
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