Why Washington’s Iran Policy Could Lead to Global Disaster

Juan Cole argues Why Washington’s Iran Policy Could Lead to Global Disaster: What History Should Teach Us About Blockading Iran. The conclusion is:

As the sanctions morph into a virtual blockade, they raise the specter that all blockades do — of provoking a violent response. Just as dangerous is the specter that the sanctions will drag on without producing tangible results, impelling covert or overt American action against Tehran to save face. And that, friends, is where we came in.

Cole argues that the Iranian leadership has consistently argued that nuclear weapons are immoral and against the Islamic religious precepts. This has been a consistent position of the Islamic Republic of Iran since its founding. Yet, the sanctions are changing Iranian public opinion:

Only a few years ago, a majority of Iranians disapproved of the idea of having an atomic bomb. Now, according to a recent Gallup poll, more support the militarization of the nuclear program than oppose it.

The sanctions exist as a sop to the Israelis in order to stop them from taking military action against Iran. Cole argues that these sanctions could cripple Western economies through higher oil prices despite assurrances from the Saudis about replacing lost Iranian oil production.

These sanctions are actively undermined by China and India who are getting discounted oil for their economies, and boosts to their economies as they pay for the Iranian oil in their own currencies.

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Why Are Americans Killing More Cops?

Ted Rall asks Why Are Americans Killing More Cops? His conclusion is:

Harsh sentencing laws are killing police officers.

He says that:

Violent crime in general is decreasing. But more cops are being killed in the line of duty. According to the FBI, 72 police officers died under fire in 2011. That’s up 25 percent from 2010 and up 75 percent from 2008.

The Honour Roll of the NSW Police lists all of the police officers killed on duty since the formation in 1862. In the past ten (10) years, four (4) police officers have been killed by offenders escaping arrest:

Date	Name	Manner of Death
3 Apr 2002	Const Glenn McEnallay	shot by an offender following a pursuit (posthumously awarded Commissioner's Valour Award)
11 Nov 2006	Sen Const Gordon Wilson	struck by motor vehicle at a vehicle stop
9 Sept 2010	Det Const William Arthur George Crews	shot during the execution of a search warrant in Bankstown NSW. (Posthumously awarded Commissioner's Valour Award).
2 Mar 2012	Senior Constable David James Rixon	shot whilst conducting a traffic stop in Tamworth NSW. (Posthumously awarded Commissioner's Valour Award).

Rall argues that due to the “three-strikes” laws in place, crimminals are no worse off if they do shot at police officers. The law has lost its deterrent effect due to its harshness.

Rall continues:

Another factor that authorities and “tough on crime” politicians fail to consider is how the increased militarization of civilian police forces dehumanizes them in the eyes of the public. Police outfitted in riot gear respond to peaceful protests attended by families with swinging batons and pepper spray. Traffic cops dress like they’re patrolling the Sunni Triangle rather than the suburbs, scowling at the taxpayers who pay their salaries as they sweat under their Kevlar vests.

We have now entering the realm of Fourth Generation Warfare where the state is at war with its citizens. Marxists would call it the intensification of the class war. The capitalists have become more ruthless in their exploitation of the workers.

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PRESS RELEASE: Occupy the East End Rejects MoveOn.org Takeover Attempt

Ted Rall reposts PRESS RELEASE: Occupy the East End Rejects MoveOn.org Takeover Attempt:

We had been silent. We had hoped that the organizations that are attempting to co-opt and dilute the Occupy Wall Street movement would stop. The Occupy movements across the country are fighting for better lives of the 99% of Americans who work for a living. We had hoped that these interlopers would recognize that what they are doing is wrong.

These interlopers, such as moveon.org, can never see their actions as wrong because they firmly believe in the system as it stands. They see the fundamentals of the system as sound and just. Any current problems are just an aberration that requires people to more fully commit to working within the system.

The press release concludes that:

Occupy the East End is in no way affiliated with MoveOn.org, nor does it wish to become so. The attempt to take over OEE is a hostile takeover attempt to capitalize on the Occupy movement as a whole. Occupy Wall Street and Occupy the East End as a movement rejects the political system as a broken structure that needs to be overhauled from the bottom up.

So we see a move to recognise the political system as broken. But there is no awareness of the economic system that requires such a political system. Still, these are still early times.

The consciousness of the masses cannot be forced to change quickly. The people have to learn by their own experiences.

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Fault Lines – Occupy Wall Street: Surviving the Winter

Yves Smith reposts a viedo from Al Jazeera about the Fault Lines – Occupy Wall Street: Surviving the Winter.

Even if the camps were cleared, it’s clear that Occupy considered as a movement changed the discourse to include 7ldquo;income inequality” (class), has not (perhaps not yet) been co-opted, has not (perhaps not yet) been successfully demonized by our famously free press, and has also built up social capital, and not in bowling leagues or rotisserie baseball, either.

There is a conflict between the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) and the unions. The report sees the tension between organised activities of unions and the free-wheeling politics of the OWS.

The overall aim of the OWS people interviewed is reformist. They are hoping to influence the current system without understanding the class nature.

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