Bombing Banks

So the institutions known as Banks have been around more or less since currency. Way back in the day temples and wealthy citizens and treasuries held the accumulated wealth of economic activity. Essentially the Bank of England was the first international such institution and was founded in 1694 to service His Majesties government in its projects both domestic and foreign. Since that time right up until present Banks have been the means by which the wealthy get wealthier and one of the primary means of measuring a peoples prosperity. In a purely materialistic capitalist state, banks are the holy of holies, the place from which the magic power of money emanates. In Iraq, insurgents have blown up two prominent banks lately. “They are targeting financial institutions to try to harm the economic situation because they want to keep international companies from investing here,” said Dr. Jabir al-Jabiri, a newly elected member of Parliament commented. It makes sense to me that in the occupied territories of the world that are being dragged kicking and screaming into the modern market matrix would attempt to destroy the Banks that are the primary vehicle for economic dominance and social control of one class over another. What makes me chuckle is that more people don't naturally vent their financial frustrations at the most visible and obvious target. Perhaps its because we all to a certain extent have to believe in these people and the paper/plastic that they issue us. A great modern mathematician named Benoît Mandelbrot said this about it "So limited is our knowledge that we resort, not to science, but to shamans. We place control of the world's largest economy in the hands of a few elderly men, the central bankers.". Maybe the people in Iraq that are attacking Banks are radical Muslim extremists alienated from a public they have been blowing up for years now, or maybe this is a vehement response to our Dollar Imperialism that has ravaged their once mighty economy for the past two decades, first in sanctions then in occupation. I guess we'd have to ask the guys who blew themselves up to be sure, which isn't likely to happen. Its odd to me that chartering banks is one of the ways in which we Americans dominate our subjects. I also find it strange that we think we can buy off these profoundly jaded and suspicious people with some monetary handouts and by imposing our economic theories upon them without the slightest consultation. No big surprise then that they take our endless charity as manipulative traps meant to enslave them all to the almighty market. Ergo no shocker that they then turn these buildings into rubble and carry on with their resistance. You gotta figure that after being bombed for so long, first by the US Air Force, then suicide missions, that these Iraqis are rather accustomed to the ultraviolence.

All Out

"The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall" -Francis Bacon
My goodness has humanity really gone all out lately. We've been pretty consistently doing increasingly gnarly stuff since the Industrial Conversion, but it seems as if the ante has been raised so high that spontaneous combustion is now a real concern. The massive oil slick that is now covering an area 45 miles by 105, an awesome testament to the ravenous appetite of America and its 300 million dependents that constitutes this social experiment we call our country. Meanwhile the cradle of Western Civilization is in a state of complete financial upheaval, which is making the rest of the EU very nervous as there ridiculously high standard of living (achieved through Imperialism and brutally ruthless economic expansionism mind you) looks as though it might float away like a dream when you awake suddenly. Developed countries can't default on their debt, because then people might not lend money to rich countries, then we couldn't have huge ass debts to service the actions of our bloated bullshit governments. The indestructible and willy Hakimullah Mehsud has once again lived through a claim of his death, and thus has the Pakistani Taliban once again proven that the US and our Pakistani proxies are habitually liars pandering to international media and myopic politicians. Speaking of which NATO has been steadily surrounding Kandahar in preparation for a major offensive in an attempt to apparently draw out and engage the Taliban in one of the larger urban centers. The people at the Pentagon who have planned this and General Patreaus, the regional commander, are professionals at warfare, so I'm sure there is some pretty sound logic behind their plan. Patreaus was quoted by reporters as saying that their is a high possibility that the Taliban will carry out "horrific actions" in desperation. Seeing as how they have already engaged in bomb attacks, assassinations and suicide raids in ever increasing numbers in mere response to the build up around the city one can only imagine what will come. Meanwhile, else on planet Earth others persevere through the fear amidst these strange and dangerous times. Bangkok is still a scene of street fighting as the red shirts and the military play chicken in the streets. The Red Shirts have been occupying the heart of the city for 7 weeks now and seem dead set on pushing the issue as far as they have to to get the election overturned. As usual there are hundreds of little events that take place on this day, but to me it seems that the shitstorm is just getting going. The Maoists of Nepal have been making themselves seen once again in the streets of Kathmandu threatening an indefinite general strike if the government isn't dissolved. And of course the World Expo in China opened with 2,300 performers involved in the uber elaborate opening display that also involved mass fireworks and lasers. I'd like to apologize for all the parts of the world deep in our eternal struggle, your are not mentioned but certainly not forgotten, I just have a limited access to accurate information. In our self evident quest to go all out I really hope we don't run all out of time to get our shit together before we've forever fucked ourselves and all out of a way to stay alive any longer as a species.

Dead Serious

So a lot of people seem disinclined to pay attention to the awesome occurrences these days on account of them not meshing very well with the various consumer delusions upon which our shaddy civilization is based. Today some pretty burly things took place on earth that make me proud to be a part of this wild and crazy ride.
Palestinians in Occupied East Jerusalem went completely ape shit over the opening of a Synagogue in close proximity to the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Street battles raged in the old City as tires were burned and stones thrown at Israeli security forces. The Arabs have always suspected the Jews of wanting to reclaim the Temple Mount for themselves and thus defile the third most sacred site in Islam (and #1 for the Hebrews). In the mindset of the age old rivalries and feuds of this God damned desert there is no more worthy cause to die for than a hotly contested holy site. Considering Israel's increasingly belligerent attitude towards its incarcerated subjects and supercilious treatment of the occasional international opposition to their policies it seems likely that this rising tension will lead to another military offensive by the IDF intended to enforce its policy of collective punishment.
On another interesting front MEND announced their return to 'diplomacy by other means' by exploding two car bombs near the administrative centers of an oil rich state in the Niger Delta. This is the first salvo after an attempted amnesty fell through on account of the government being more beholden to Multinational Oil Companies than its own people and thus having no real desire to alter the way in which resources are extracted.
Protesters in Thailand found a very innovative way to spill blood on the streets of Bangkok, showing that creativity has not yet deserted us-
Meanwhile Operation Moshtarak rumbles on in Afghanistan. Kandahar had a massive suicide attack against a police station and prison that killed some 35 people and leveled a few buildings. Some robots of ours blew up some spots in North Waziristan killing a dozen or so tribal peoples that did something to piss the US off; presumably not bending over and taking it like a good conquered people.
For many people on earth equivocation has given way to confrontation. When one lives in the consumer paradise of the West it is difficult to comprehend that the people in the reports I've just covered are clearly not fucking around. Their loyalties and convictions emanate from deep within their own experience. These people aren't risking their lives out of boredom or greed, they are doing it because they feel that these causes are even more important than their own individual lives. I understand why our armies and allies bombard and brutalize these contumacious forces, they stand in the way of our plans for the planet. The US is pretty much fucked in this conflict I think, and here is why-
"Victor and vanquished never unite in substantial agreement." -Tacitus
"Victory won by violence is tantamount to defeat, for it is momentary." -Mahatma Gandhi

Instablility

"Before the beginning of great brilliance, there must be chaos. Before a brilliant person begins something great, they must look foolish in the crowd." -I Ching
Being an initiate to the mysteries of history, I am aware of the fact that at no given time in recorded reality has human society ever tended toward order at the exclusion of chaos/anarchy/destruction. In fact the two trends seem to feed off each other with a symbiotic ferocity that is the primary culprit for the epic bloodletting and insanity of the past few lifetimes. The more our organized and disciplined societies build and create the more falls victim to desolation and exploitation. Granted going to the moon was a rather awesome thing to do with your time, but the logic behind it was purely a need to prove the superiority of our system over that of the Soviets. After the USSR threw in the towel NATO breathed a huge sigh of relief only then to realize that spending astronomical amounts of resources on the time honored European tradition of organized violence and its partner in crime- Nationalism. During the Cold War most European colonies where decommissioned into ungovernable and easily manipulated satrapies wherein all that was often need to continue the process of resource extraction and selling their manufactured goods to a dependent market was to maintain the militaries of these so called 'countries'. This of course has been known to backfire in cases like Idi Amin, Gaddafi, Saddam, Shah and plenty of others; but having said that it certainly does wonders for justifying a military supremacy of apocalyptic proportions. It seems that the West actually needs a few conflicts kept at a low boil in order to exert its moral, economic and military authority over the rest of the world. Countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia and Afghanistan are excellent examples to all those would be truly independent countries out there that the Industrialized world still has the power to go into any corner of the world, or to quarantine it off and let it die a long painful diseased death. The justification for the interventions of the modern post Cold War era are essentially the same used in the last great Imperial Era 1870's-1914 minus the overtly racist Social Darwinism dimension, which has apparently become such a well ingrained part of Western thought that it isn't necessary to openly discuss why exactly brown people are our natural subjects ,enemies, and/or desperate dependents. The sheer fact that the terms of trade demanded by the IMF, WTO and all other international trade organizations are based on blatant hypocrisy to such an extent that only people in the so called developed who enjoy the benefits can possibly believe in it. As the economic conditions become more challenging for the wealthy world mark my words concern for the human rights of those in the undeveloped parts of the globe will hit a new all time low. The fact that the system is also breeding poverty and social decay right here in America as wealth is consolidated and unemployment reaches 10%, as well as 2,304,115 were incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails in 2008 and 92,854 held in juvenile facilities as of the 2006 Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement (CJRP). I guess Napoleon's old adage 'divide and conquer' is still about as effective strategy as ever.

Rumors of their deaths and our victories have been greatly exaggerated

The way that the US Military has conducted the so called 'War on Terror' is really more of a popularity contest than a legitimate counterinsurgency. The whole premise of the invasion was to go after one man, an excuse that was essentially used in Panama and Iraq as well. Ever since it became apparent that we wouldn't be catching Willy Coyote (bin Laden)there has been no shortage of hardcore renegades to assassinate. This last week it was claimed that the popular Hakimullah Meshud had been killed in a drone attack inside Pakistan. The 28 year old had been the most vocal and visible leaders of the Pakistani Taliban. He had only recently taken over from Baitullah Meshud (droned while at Father in Law's house in August 2009) whose popularity had led some analysists to refer to him as the unofficial Amir of South Waziristan. Seeing as how both had multiple false death claims made of them it isn't certain whether Hakimullah is actually dead. He had gained great notoriety by attacking supply convoys of NATO on their way through Northern Pakistan and also for being responsible for the daring suicide attack that killed 5 CIA agents in Afghanistan a few months ago. This strategy of trying to cut the head off the hydra of resistance has produced a long list of Martyrs that have made the cause sacrosanct for those that lived to fight another day. Interestingly, the two men that hold the most sway, Mullah Mohamed Omar and Jalaluddin Haqqani seem beyond the reach of the drones and their missiles. Most intelligence reports seem to agree that they are both living in the city of Quetta in the Balochistan Provice of Pakistan. This predominately Pashtun city is in the province of the Baloch tribe, which the government has no desire to get involved in bloody fighting as it did in 2005 when it lost 60 soldier and 7 officers when they went to capture Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, a tribal leader of the Balochi. After the fighting had ended and the Pakistani troops approached the 79 year old Sheik he detonated the explosives he had been strapped with before the battle began. Quetta is supposedly a very nice city with wonderful flora and fauna in its wonderful parks with a nice lake making the mile high city rather beatiful. Being right by the border with the most volatile province of Afghanistan, it is an ideal place for a renegade sheik trying to fight a bloody war of attrition against the most technologically advanced military in history.
"don't give me your alms, just save me from your dogs"
-Pashtun Proverb

Ashura 1431 AH

“With society and its public, there is no longer any other language than that of bombs, barricades, and all that follows.” -Antonin Artaud

The Right to Exist

"I am not a terrorist, but neither am I a pacifist. I am simply a regular guy from the Palestinian street advocating only what every other oppressed person has advocated—the right to help myself in the absence of help from anywhere else."
It is often the case in human history that the course of this escapade is determined by who is allowed to exist and who is not. Everyone from Caesar to Christ to Gandhi can bear testimony to the veracity of this statement. On this very day that we have all just lived, there are a great number of people whose existence is being challenged, either through incarceration, censorship or assassination. In the amazing amalgamation that is modern human society some people therein are fiercely persecuted for merely being who they are where they are. One of these individuals is someone I've followed for eight years in the news and have been perpetually impressed with. His name is Marwan Bourghouti and he is sitting in an Israeli jail today wondering if he will ever be set free. Of all the leaders of the Palestinian resistance, Marwan stands in a category all his own. He has been likened to a Palestinian Nelson Mandela, primarily for being imprisoned for being basically a moderate and always seeking a peaceful resolution. Despite this Bourghouti will never be called a coward, because he has never once hesitated to fight for his right to be a human being born where he was who he was. Being a pivotal leader in both the First ('87-'93)and Second (2000-today) Intifadas he often led marches of thousands of regular unarmed Palestinians to Israeli checkpoints. It is difficult to fathom where courage comes from, but to live in a situation of complete vulnerability to your enemies and utter helplessness to defend against them must do something to a persons perspective. most madness ridden sliver of land in the world. For what its worth Marwan Bourghouti, I respect and admire you for your life; may you be allowed to continue and hopefully be set free.
"Rebellion, though apparently negative, since it creates nothing, is profoundly positive in that it reveals the part of man which must always be defended." -Albert Camus

Law and Order part I Dia de los Muertos

"Disobedience, in the eyes of any one who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion." -Oscar Wilde
Despite the impressive progress made in the past several decades to bring the entire world into the global market there are still regions that seem rather serious about resisting. The mindblowing spectacle of modernity is a phantasmagoria of desire difficult to resist when it is offered as a birth right. For those however that see their lands, culture and people consumed for the grand pageant there is often a point of no return were you either sign on with the New World Order or you get ready for the bombs to start falling. This conflict is most frequently painted in the West as a battle between the forward march of freedom/progress that is being impeded by anachronistic and inherently belligerent peoples. In most instances however, it is a battle against centralized authority, which is often synonymous with exploitation. British Raj era term for Waziristan mountains- Hell's Door Knocker. The Pakistani military started on Oct. 17th an offensive dubbed "Operation Path to Salvation". This is a civil war that has been on the horizon since the mass migration of people to what is today called Pakistan after the partition and subsequent wars with India. The various tribes that are hostile to the Government forces there are some of the most warlike people on the planet, so there down to throw down; not like they really had a choice anyway. We'll have to see how that one works out. Aside from resistance in this fashion, there is always the gold old fashioned cluster fuck of internecine warfare, like that in Eastern Congo. A recent statistic said that 1,200 people die from ongoing violence and its consequences every single day. The fighting hasn't really stopped in this area since the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, but ebbs and flows with the various ferocity. The UN forces just announced today that they will no longer being giving logistical or military support for the Congolese Army on account of the fact that they have been killing Hutu civilians in North Kivu. Lawlessness on a level incomprehensible to most of mankind is just how things are done in the Congo Basin. On another front in the ongoing battle between authority and anarchy, the Great Mexican Drug war is rumbling right along. Gargantuan profits lead to battles erupting along the border and smuggling routes. The "Law" in Mexico rarely wants to go engage in combat with any of the cartels because nobody really wants to have their head cut off and family murdered. Because so many of the foot soldiers the cartels employ are ex-military, using that institution often proves very difficult to say the least. One of the newer cartels, Los Zetas, is largely ex Mexican Special Forces that maintain much contact and access with the Military. These people are clearly not fucking around, in case the picture fails to convey this fact.
"Árbol que crece torcido jamás su tronco endereza"
The tree that grows bent will never get straight again."
-Mexican Proverb