Saturday, February 23, 2013

The Cold War, Etc.


The Cold War is another controversial part of World War II. Instead of having Henry Wallace's vision of peaceful coexistence in the globe, the Cold War witnessed conflicts globally (and America and the Soviet Union were almost at a stage of nuclear exchange in many instances). The roots of the Cold War came from WWII. Democracy, capitalism, communism, socialism, and other ideologies existed all over human history. Yet, by WWII, humans had a capacity in the first time in human history to kill all human life with the advent of nuclear technology. The Cold War existed when the Portuguese, Dutch, British, and French colonial empire were starting to end. That was a good thing since colonial Empires in the globe are always immoral. To Franklin Delano Roosevelt's credit, he was a vigorous opponent of colonialism. He wanted nations to have independence and be free from colonial, nefarious oppression. FDR agreed with the Atlantic Charter that allowed nations to be free in formulating their own system of government excluding economic exploitation or inherit oppression. It is also important to note that in this time period, African Americans strongly advanced independence for former colonized human beings as well like Paul Robeson. Elliott Roosevelt or FDR's son said that FDR was fighting WWII to see former colonies to develop economically. Roosevelt wanted Vietnam to be independent from French colonialism as well before he died. Nationalists like Sukarno of Indonesia, India's Jawaharlal Nehru, Zhou Enlai of China wanted freedom. Sukarno said that he wanted equality and social justice in the realm of nationalism and internationalism. He said that Internationalism cannot grow without the soil of nationalism. Sukarno gave the Panca Sila or the Five Principles to the word. It included nationalism, internationalism, representative government, social justice, and a belief in God. The African/Asian Bandung Conference of 1955 wanted a neutral Non-Aligned Movement as a means for human beings to advance their own interests without being manipulated by mainstream Capitalists or mainstream Communists. When FDR died, Harry Truman took on a more reactionary approach to foreign policy affairs. Dean Acheson and Averell Harriman (a Bonesman) stirred President Harry Truman to advance recolonization and Cold War near hysteria. Humans are not cattle. Man is made in the image of God, so the nation state ought to reject feudalism and advance human liberty. The state should serve human beings and allow every male and female to contribute their talent to the civilization of the world as a whole.  Mountbatten was a British military leader who led imperialism after WWII as well. The elite used unjust wars and placed the total blame on America as a means to try to slander Americans collectively (when the new world order system and its imperialist aims came from European elitists not all Europeans). Now, Truman allowed more agitation in the Cold War. Eisenhower became more reasonable in foreign policy though since he seen war up close and personal. He lived it. Winston Churchill made his Iron Curtain speech where he talked about Communism and the Soviet Union as an evil empire bent on world domination. Churchill and other extremists exploited the rise of Mao over China and other events in Greece (like the late 1940's Greek civil war) as an excuse to talk about the Red Scare (or the silly view that all Communists collectively wanted to dominate all aspects of the world society via in a totalitarian fashion). You can easily disagree with Communism and allow nations to accept or reject Communism as an economic system if they want to in a peaceful fashion.

 

 

Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain speech increased anti-Communist paranoia. This caused many sincere nationalists to be slandered as communists. In Thailand, the Free Thai's Pridi was replaced by Philbun, who agreed with allying with the Anglo-American Cold warriors. Stalin used a blockade of Berlin; he occupied Czechoslovakia, and had a more confrontational policy in Asia. These actions were a part of the Cold War history. Many Western imperialists and many communists acted against the nationalists. That is why some falsely subscribed to the notion that any nationalist action is equivalent to communism. Many in the West failed to assist nationalists and some leaders joined with the Soviets since the West refused to assist them (like Ho Chi Minh asking America for help in building Vietnam back in 1949. They refused, so Ho Chi Minh received assistance from the Soviet Union). Even the Cold Warrior John Foster Dulles (back in the 1950's) pressured the French to continue their colonialism against Vietnam until they were defeated in Dien Bein Phu (in 1954). John Foster Dulles was an enemy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Dulles refused to recognize the People's Republic of China. Regardless if you agree with all of China's policies or not, even Richard Nixon recognized China when he was President. When Eisenhower was discussing even détente with China, Dulles refused to accept that goal. Dulles didn't even like China being allowed to participate in the Korean armistice talks. He hated the Geneva talks of 1954 with Chinese involvement. Eisenhower continued with the talks anyway. Dulles refused to shake the hand of Zhou Enlai. He or Enlai wanted peaceful coexistence with China's neighbors and Western powers. Before the Geneva Convention on Vietnam, which was back in April of 1954, Zhou made bilateral agreements with India and Burma. This caused the Five Peaceful Coexistence. These principles talked about mutual respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, equality, and non-interference in internal affairs. The Spirit of Bandung is influenced by this initiative as advanced by Zhou, Nehru, and U Nu. Sukarno opened the Bandung Conference as being the: "...first international conference of colored peoples in the history of mankind..." The Bandung Conference led African and Asian to not worship NATO or the Cominform, but the can just be independent nations. Neither capitalism nor communism is God. Almighty God is God. The Conference wanted peaceful solutions to solve issues internationally. John Foster Dulles still rejected neutrality as obsolete, which was naïve on his part. The Non Aligned Movement was made up of African and Asian nations that wanted to be politically neutral during the Cold War. They didn't want to ally with the Anglo-American empire or the Soviet Union. This came as a fruit of the Bandung Conference indeed. The Cold War has interesting history indeed.

 

King David is one of the famous men of history. He was known as a warrior and writer of Psalms. He is held into great esteem by Jewish human beings and Gentile human beings. He ruled Eretz Yisrael for 40 years from ca. 1010-970 B.C. He was a great uniter of the tribes of Yisrael. He led Israeli forces to win battles and he ruled lands. His reign paved a way for his son named Solomon to build up the First Temple (where the Shekinah Glory of God was found). The Books of the Prophets and the Writings describe his life in great detail. David was the 8th and youngest son of Jesse. Jesse was from the kingly tribe of Judah. David was the direct descendant of Ruth the Moabite. David worked as a shepherd in Bethlehem. Sound familiar. The prophet Samuel allied him out of the field and anointed him without the knowledge of the then current King Saul. David returned to his sheep. King Saul wanted someone to play music for him, so the King's attendant summoned the skilled David to play for him. Saul respected David and kept him as a musician. David had courage when he used a stick and a few stones to confront the nine foot bronze Philistine giant Goliath of Gath. Many other skilled warriors had fear for 40 days. David had a single slingshot, invoked God's name, and killed the giant. Saul later took David as his commander of his troops and he had a close friendship with Jonathan or Saul's son. David won battles against the Philistines. Saul became jealous and tried to kill David by throwing a spear at him. Saul wanted to kill David on many occasions. David went into Moab to escape Saul. David gained the support of 600 men. In Ein Gedi, David confronted Saul instead of trying to kill him. Saul broke down and told David that he would one day be King and asked David to swear that he would destroy Saul’s descendants or wipe out Saul’s name. David swore to this, but it did not stop Saul from continuing to pursue him. Finally, David and his supporters joined the service of Achish, the Philistine king of Gath who entrusted David with control of the city of Ziklag. Under Achish’s employ, David raided the cities of nomads who harassed the Jews and gave the spoils as gifts to the leaders of Judah to win their support for him against Saul. King Saul and Jonathan died when they were fighting the Philistines in Mt. Gilboa. David would be King of all of Israel at the age of 30 years old. He ruled over Judah for 7 years and 6 months. He had numerous wives and he had many children. He built up Jerusalem and brought the Holy Ark into Jerusalem as well. The prophet Natan said David would not build the Temple since he had been a warrior and shed blood. Natan said that David's son would build the Temple, which was King David's desire. He defeated the Moabites, the Edomites, the Ammonites, and the Arameans. King David continued the growth of the Davidic Empire from the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea. David allowed districts to pay taxes and the people made pilgrimages to Jerusalem each year on the holidays of Passover, Shavout, and Sukkot. King David was known for his errors. He slept with a married woman named Bathsheba (who David sent her husband Uriah the Hittite to his death in battle) after looking at her from his rooftop. When confronted by Natan the prophet, David admitted his sin. Bathsheba and David conceived a second son named Solomon. David's own son Absalom wanted to conquer his Kingdom. King David anointed Solomon as the future King of Israel to the opposition of David's oldest son named Adonijah. David delivered a last set of instructions to his son Solomon, telling him to follow the words of God and to repay in kind specific people that had either wronged David or helped him. David then died after 40 years as king, 33 of those in Jerusalem. He was buried in the City of David. Rabbis believe that David wrote the Book of Psalms. Two archaeological finds, the Tel Dan Stele and the Mesha Stele, have direct bearing on the question of the existence of a historical David. The first of these is an Aramean victory stele (inscribed stone) discovered in 1993 at Tel Dan and dated c.850–835 BCE: it contains the phrase ביתדוד (bytdwd), and the reading "House of David" for this "is now widely accepted." The Mesha Stele from Moab, dating from approximately the same period, may also contain the name David in line 12, where the interpretation is uncertain, and in line 31, where one destroyed letter must be supplied. King David was a poet. The Messiah is the son of David since the Messiah is from the Davidic dynasty. The Messiah Yeshua will build the real Third Temple. Even today, Jewish human beings and Christians pray for the coming of the Messiah.



 

Kwame Ture is heavily featured in the documentary called "Black Power Mixtape." I saw the whole video before. It was an excellent documentary that listed unseen footage from black human rights leaders from Dr. King to Angela Davis. It offered the years of the intermediate period of the civil rights movement. It was from 1967 to the 1970's. This was after the old successes of the civil rights movement, but before the modern era of 21st century Black society. Kwame Ture talked about liberation of colonized human beings from the oppressor. He talked about himself as being an African American and disagreeing vehemently with the Vietnam War. He spoke of these words in Stockholm, Sweden, which was where a lot of anti-war Americans came into. Also, Sweden is a place where there were a lot of progressive political policies existed at. This appealed to numerous social activists and revolutionaries. Kwame Ture respected Dr. King immensely. When Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated, it is said, that he shed tears. He just believed that nonviolence was one tactic out of many wherefore oppressed human beings can have true liberty and social tranquility. Kwame wanted self defense as a means where black human beings can maintain their cultural humanity. Dr. King on the other hand believed that nonviolent resistance was the only satisfactory method in engineering profound social change in the Earth. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. articulately outlined his position. I respect his position as a man. The Vietnam War was immoral, because it or the Vietnamese people harbored no direct threat to American soil (it was a civil war, which was limited. The civil war can easily ended via a peaceful, political process) and it was based on the deception of the Gulf of Tonkin incident. Wars are readily enacted based upon lies and deception. The Vietnam War caused millions of Vietnamese people and over 50,000 American soldiers to be killed. Many of American GIs have suffered mental hurt and even substance abuse as a product of that immoral, illegal, and unjust war in Vietnam. There can be a peaceful, negotiated settlement that can end the conflict in the Vietnam peninsula. It could of happened in 1968, but Nixon's cronies prevented it via agitation. That was a disgrace indeed. If Humphrey was President, the war could of ended a lot sooner than it did. The documentary talked about negative impacts of drug addiction & crime in the black community. Drug addiction is a complicated subject matter. The reason is that some individuals are on drug addiction, because of hurt, pain, and negative socioeconomic factors. Some human beings suffer through humiliation and such a great amount of suffering, that they feel that using drugs recreationally is the only way to compensate for their issues. I disagree with that, because drug treatment (including compassion, and rebuilding communities) not drug addiction can alleviate that form of pain.

 

 

There is no such thing as a humanitarian war. It is an oxymoron. 100 billion dollars have been spent in the Afghan reconstruction by the USA and it has improved little for the Afghan people. The Afghanistan war occurred when I was a Freshman in college. I remember it like it was yesterday. 2 billion dollars a week have been spent for over 10 years to fight 55 Al-Qaeda operatives. Hamid Karzai does little to nothing when US/NATO kills even civilians in a regular basis. The Nobel Peace Prize winner President Barack Obama said that he wants to get the heart of Al-Qaeda when Al-Qaeda has a long, complex history. Even the U.S. tortured human beings in Afghanistan. After close to a dozen extended trips to Afghanistan, 3 time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Kathy Kelly, the co-coordinator for Voices for Creative Nonviolence spoke to the VOR’s John Robles about all of the above and more, painting a horrendously grim picture of the U.S. “success” in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is in trouble of suffering more. Kathy Kelly talks about the corruption as it pertains to the reconstruction effort in Afghanistan. She said that the 100 billion dollars supposed spent on Afghanistan's reconstruction (of its healthcare, education, infrastructure, etc.), but into other areas. There is billions spent in the war on terror every week, while starvation, disease, and unemployment are on the rise in Afghanistan. One out of eleven Afghan women dies in childbirth. One of five children doesn't live beyond their fifth birthday. 1 in 3 folks in mostly peaceful provinces like Bamyan lack electricity in the morning. 1 million children suffer from acute malnutrition in Afghanistan, especially in its southern region. There are 400 new refugees every day that are driven into Afghan cities via the war. These camps have poorly constructed tents during the harsh cold. This is not representative of a humanitarian war at all. The National Directorate of Security is a secret police agency or the NDS. We know that over half of the Afghan human beings in jail have been tortured. President Hamid Karzai knows about the civilian deaths in Afghanistan. There was an USA aerial attack that killed ten human beings (who were four little girls and a little boy and five women, and one man and they were all civilians). Karzai says that this act is unacceptable, but not much more. Kelly said that many Afghanis are held without charge for months and tortured by Afghan authorities. There are complaints about the Bagram prison having the US doing torture. If the USA experienced, we will fight invaders to the last person. The night raids in Afghanistan allowed dishes to be broke, furniture destroyed, and households are hog tied. This isn't me typing these words down. These words are not just said by Kelly. One staff sergeant doesn't care if these sick, demented actions would be recruiting grounds for more of the Taliban. Leon Panetta admitted in December of 2011 that only 55 major Al Qaeda operatives live in Afghanistan. This is wild. The truth is that Al-Qaeda has roots from Saudi Arabia, the ISI, and Western intelligence agencies. They are being used as well as the Taliban as a means to advance militarism in the region and throughout the Earth. A military action can never cause peace fundamentally. Only peace can create peace. A peaceful, political settlement can solve the issues in Afghanistan.

 

By Timothy


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