Get This! South America getting ready to fight ....US!!!!

[Gloria]

It's in the new World Media Watch but it's not up yet because of troubles with the FTP...
Up tomorrow at Buzzflash.com

This is a very serious website with scholars writing for it....this article really amazes me!!! Even though I sure can understand South America's worries....



5//Global Politician, US 7/26/2005
http://www.globalpolitician.com/articledes.asp?ID=1023&cid=7&sid=67

SOUTH AMERICA’S NEW MILITARISM
Raúl Zibechi

South American societies are militarizing as a result of the regional superpower’s intervention, which is undoubtedly a crucial factor on the continent, but also as a consequence of the profound economic and political changes we have come to call neoliberalism.

Several months ago, an official Brazilian commission visited Vietnam. With the goal of “sharing information about resistance doctrine,” the commission composed of colonels and lieutenant-colonels visited Hanoi, Ho Chi Min City (formerly Saigon), and the Cu Chi Province, where 250 kilometers (150 miles) of underground tunnels constructed during the war with the United States still remain. On the Brazilian army’s webpage, Gen. Claudio Barbosa Figuereido, head of the Amazon Military Command, asserts that Brazil will face actions similar to those that have taken place in Vietnam, and now in Iraq, should the Amazon come into conflict.

The resistance strategy does not differ much from guerrilla warfare, and it is an option the army will not hesitate to adopt facing a confrontation with another country or group of countries with greater economic and military power.” He added, “The jungle itself should serve as an ally in combating the invader.” The news had little impact on the media, but it demonstrates that Brazil’s armed forces have their own strategic plans and that they see the United States as a potential military enemy.

SNIP

Nonetheless, and though it may seem contradictory, there can be legitimate discussion of a growing militarization on the continent. But it is passing through new channels, which have little to do with previous military strategies. In broad terms, four reasons for the emergence of a new militarism can be established: Washington’s new Plan Colombia strategy for the region, which includes combating drug trafficking, guerrilla warfare, and controlling the biodiversity of the Andean region from Venezuela to Bolivia; the new forms war has taken in the neoliberal era, that is, the privatization of war; and Brazil’s new role on the continent, that of being the only poor nation of the South that has strategic military autonomy. The fourth factor is a consequence of the attempts of each country’s elite class, driven by Washington, to contain social protest through the militarization of society and the criminalization of social movements.

(MORE)

[Eric J in MN]

1. Why do some people write "neo-liberal" instead of "neo-con?"

nt

[Tux]

3. Here

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=define%3A+neoliberalism&btnG=Google+Search

Neoliberals want the same basic things as neocons.

[lvx35]

4. It gives more choices that writing "neo-nazi".

Which is sort of bland...

[MisterP]

5. neocon, with more emphasis on pretending to be "open-minded"

and "compassionate" and with direct exploitation over invasions and warfare; nonetheless, they go hand-in-hand--witness The Poodle and The Chimp

[RoyGBiv]

7. Neo-liberal ...

Well, for one, neoliberals are the progenitors of neocons. That may or may not have anyting to do with the reason people prefer one term over another, but it's the origin of the confusion.

[wli]

9. neoliberal refers to economics, neoconservative to social/political

The intersection of neoliberal and neoconservative is approximately 100%.

[skids]

11. Or if you don't like any of the above answers....

...because they are from Europe. :hide:

[Fridays Child]

20. Using a clock face to show the spectrum of political ideologies...

[Peace Patriot]

22. I would put L-E-F-T in the middle of that circle in very large letters

representing most of the people on earth--the billions and billions of poverty-stricken victims of liberalism, centrism, conservatism, neo-Liberalism and neo-Conservatism. We want peace, justice, fairness, our human right to creative work and a decent living, a bountiful earth, and beauty and community. These others want POWER, over all of us and all resources. Liberalism, centrism, conservatism, neo-Liberalism and neo-Conservatism are the political categories of our corporate overlords. LEFT is the VAST MAJORITY.

(Note: Liberalism may once have meant education for all, enlightened tolerance, a belief in science and progress, and a sort of trickle down theory of wealth, mostly based on upper middle class business--the well-to-do will be noble and share and do good works, and will be the agents for creating wealth, and will act with human decency toward their workers and communities. But liberalism has been torn asunder by big, bad, global corporate predators, whose mouthpieces--our politicians--have trashed education with budget cuts and, at the college level, ever-increasing tuition; have trashed collective bargaining and workers' rights and permitted the outsourcing of zillions of the best jobs; have permitted pharmaceutical and insurance companies to drive health care costs beyond the reach of the poor--and even the middle class; and have no sincerity any more, except perhaps on certain issues of enlightened tolerance (social, racial and religious). They are bought and paid for, by the "free trade," laissez faire" global pirates. So I include them as the enemies of the world's billions and billions of exploited poor. The only exception to the Leftism of the majority may be Islamic societies, which are struggling to maintain community and equity by use of religion, in very exploited, post-colonial conditions, but would certainly like to throw off dictators like the highly corrupt Saudi royals.)

---------

The South Americans are very wise to be thinking how to defend themselves--and the Vietnam example is a good one. Little brown people in sandals and straw hats defeated the most powerful military machine in human history--by disappearing down a million small pre-dug rabbit holes, and creating barracks and whole munitions factories in underground caves. As the US napalmed the surface, and turned vast swaths of land into "free fire" zones, and bombed and bombed and bombed the villages, and roads, and rice fields, the Vietnamese just somehow kept popping up out of the ground, in ever-replenished numbers, motivated by a 5,000 year commitment to Vietnamese sovereignty. It was the most amazing military victory ever fought. They completely routed our awesome military might--but not before we had bombed and napalmed one million people.

Our military might is our Achilles' heel. It can never defeat other peoples' love of their country. And yet its very existence is an overwhelming temptation to tyrants like Bush/Cheney. The madness of it seized LBJ, McNamara and Westmoreland, for which they paid dearly in both military and political defeat. It has, of course, seized the Bush Cartel and filled them with delusions of grandeur (not to mention their lust for vast war profits).

It makes you wonder about our keeping this military machine. What is it for, except for creating disaster? When has it "defended" us--other than way back in WW II?

The Vietnamese know this. The South Americans are getting wise to it--and probably everybody else in the world. Our brute power is our Achilles' heel--our fatal weakness.

[Freedomfried]

23. Excellent post

[Fridays Child]

27. I see the point you're making...

...but, as pure political ideology, Liberalism is still superior to the others. You could say that, after learning that the other ideologies fail to advance mankind's interests, ours is what's Left.

[Mairead]

24. 'Neo-liberalism' is the economic philosophy espoused by neo-cons (nt)

[izzybeans]

26. neo-liberal = "free" market robot

[lvx35]

2. Anybody with a brain is militarizing against US right now.

Chimpy has made it clear that we are a threat to anybody who he sees fit, and the Iraq war has made it clear that violent guerilla resistance to chimpy, even if you are a small nation, is very effective. I'm not suprised one bit!

[FreedomAngel82]

6. Oh yes

If I was a leader of another country (especially one close by like Canada or Mexico etc) I would be doing everything I could to protect my country from Bush. :crazy: Bush mostly attacks countries who don't have any way to protect themselves so he can appear macho and suprerior and a "brave leader" and manipulate everything like they did with Saddam and the hole and what not. Plus, they have to have a key factor. Oil.

[lvx35]

8. There's absolutly no telling who Bush will attack.

That's what he made clear by leaving the UN behind. And yeah, I agree...If I were somebody like Venezuela I would be militarizing! Oh wait, they are...

[AwakeAtLast]

10. My nom put your over.

Thanks for the post. This, I'm afraid, is just a glimpse of the coming trend. :(

:hi: Gloria!


:kick:

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bobbieinok]

13. links????? sources?????? BACK UP YOUR STATEMENTS

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Spiffarino]

14. Thanks NewsMax!!

:eyes:

[FredStembottom]

15. Troll! n/t

[Robbien]

16. Someone should step back from the koolaid

fuzzy Bushbot thinking rots braincells.

[lvx35]

18. The only person arming against his own people

that I'm concerned about is Bush. Patriot Act? Merging foreign INTELLIGENCE SERVICES with FBI??? Chavez doesn't compare, and the american people don't give a rat's ass about him. We care about our own freedoms here and now, and that's what shill's like you don't care about. So quit your baby whining about Chavez and Castro and stand up for the american people!

[madeline_con]

21. Have a sip o' kool-aid.

:spray:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

19. Given our stirling record in Latin America, they'd be fools not to.

From the Mexican War to the attempt to subvert Chavez there is little, if any, reason for them to look upon us with anything but fear. We've been colonizing, exploiting, subverting, and warring against them since the early 19th century.

[K-W]

25. This just in, South Americans plan to defend selves. Scandal ensues.

How dare they!!

[pitohui]

28. a nightmare i had last night

woke in a sweat

dreamed brazil and us in undeclared war

no more travel between the two, people trapped in the middle

bush seems determined to insult this great nation and pitting us in opposition

we have to accept that other great nations grow and exist

not just the us