Fri 2010-04-02 19:53 EDT

Homage To Haiti: A War Nerd Classic - By Gary Brecher - The eXiled

Haiti popped into the news again, and I decided it was time to tell the whole military history of the place. It's got to be the most amazing, bloodsoaked, heroic, messed-up story in the Western Hemisphere: slave armies defeating Napoleon's troops, huge castles built in the middle of the jungle, endless three-cornered war between whites, blacks and mulattos...Haiti's history isn't just a lot of killing, either. A lot of Haitian leaders were brilliant guys who weren't afraid of anybody -- not Napoleon, not Jesus, not nobody. These guys were self-made black Roman Emperors. They came up the hard way, out of slavery in the cane fields, and beat the European armies that tried to take the place back. All comers--French, British, Spanish -- the Haitians took them all on and put the fear into them.

exiled; Gary Brecher; Haiti; homage; War Nerd Classic.

Fri 2009-10-23 08:41 EDT

The US as Failed State

Paul Craig Roberts:

The US has every characteristic of a failed state. The US government's current operating budget is dependent on foreign financing and money creation. Too politically weak to be able to advance its interests through diplomacy, the US relies on terrorism and military aggression. Costs are out of control, and priorities are skewed in the interest of rich organized interest groups at the expense of the vast majority of citizens. For example, war at all cost, which enriches the armaments industry, the officer corps and the financial firms that handle the war's financing, takes precedence over the needs of American citizens. There is no money to provide the uninsured with health care, but Pentagon officials have told the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee in the House that every gallon of gasoline delivered to US troops in Afghanistan costs American taxpayers $400.

failed state.

Sun 2008-07-06 00:00 EDT

naked capitalism: On Banks Ignoring Risk Warnings From the Troops

"despite all the talk of economies of scale, it's utter rubbish"

Banks Ignoring Risk Warnings; naked capitalism; troop.