The book is a reference book with a list of Hollywood movies with inferences to CIA and the Department of Defence direct and indirect influence over cThe book is a reference book with a list of Hollywood movies with inferences to CIA and the Department of Defence direct and indirect influence over certain blockbuster movies. After the initial introduction and summary, a list of movies and the extent of CIA/DOD influence is detailed, which after the first few examples becomes repetitive turning eventually to tiresome....more
so the i-gen kids weaned on smartphones and games are maturing later, then the earlier generations of the non-smartphone eras. There is plenty of evidso the i-gen kids weaned on smartphones and games are maturing later, then the earlier generations of the non-smartphone eras. There is plenty of evidence around us. I was always amazed by the number of 'big kids' in the various workplaces I have come across. I thought the book does a fantastic job of outlining the change in the culture, but one area it did not deal with was accepting this new generation is here to stay and therefore suggesting ways to interact with them instead of trying to change them back.
A Very engaging political travelogue about a number of countries around the Indian Ocean. I enjoyed the historical references juxtaposed with current A Very engaging political travelogue about a number of countries around the Indian Ocean. I enjoyed the historical references juxtaposed with current issues affecting the various regions covered. The two biggest power players besides America are India and China, while the most modern Islamic country is Indonesia. Both Pakistan and Burma are frontier states which along with Bangladesh have been branded as failed states. The author predicts a gradual take over of the Indian Ocean by China slowly overtaking America as the main policeman of the sea. The change is inevitable and irreversible. Will it destabilize the region for the worst or the better? China does not seem to have as much hubris as the Americans so I expect the change to be for the better.
The book is a great read for anyone interested in the politics of the region....more
History from the people's perspective is a brilliant way to make history relevant again. History is based on factual events, but the historians presenHistory from the people's perspective is a brilliant way to make history relevant again. History is based on factual events, but the historians present a subjective analysis of these events, which leaves readers in a bit of a quandary, how much of this interpretation should we take with a pinch of salt? Zinn's presents his version of history from the point of view of the oppressed, black and white slaves, women and Mexicans, fighting for their rights against a very opportunistic and selfish elite class who are controlling the country. This control over majority of the resources has always been there and will remain there as the elites by design are hard-wired to look after their own interests, very similar to the poor and the destitute. And in order to get more rights the destitute rise from time to time, for a change of laws and a larger share of the resources. Politicians and media play a fundamental role in maintaining this structure in place. A case in point is the Trump's war on big media. No media is encouraging the people to rise against Trump even if they feel intense hate for the new President. They just want someone else to fit into the slot so that everyone can start to act normal again.
Wonder what Zinn feels about this latest turn of events?...more
Read most of the book with a persistent gnawing feeling. Why didn't I believe the two bit rickshaw wallah back home when he repeatedly criticises AmerRead most of the book with a persistent gnawing feeling. Why didn't I believe the two bit rickshaw wallah back home when he repeatedly criticises America for the all the ills in the Middle East? Why did I belittle his simple explanations?
The book has been a real humbling experience in my knowledge of the West's constant interference in the Middle East. The West has significant economic interests in the Middle East which it won't so easily give up just because the Arab people want more rights. The Arabs will have to continue their fight against their tyrant rulers and their supporters for a good few more decades before they can taste some freedom. Until then, they will continue to suffer the greed of western arm exporters and the wests demand for their oil....more
I am a narcissist. I pigeon hole women. I avoid people who criticise me. I cringe from difficult situations. It's never my faultThere is Trump inside me.
I am a narcissist. I pigeon hole women. I avoid people who criticise me. I cringe from difficult situations. It's never my fault. I love to be always right. I crave attention. I want money. I demand privileges. I want my name in the media, I want everyone to talk about me. I already know everything about anything, don't need to read or learn. I am the best one at any sports. Everyone should talk bout me. I want to advice people to improve just like me. I will use all Social media tools to further myself.
The only difference between Trump and me is that he does it on a much larger scale and has been doing it for a long long time.
Is the United Nations completely irrelevant to nations of the world or is it a vital platform for the poorer nations of the world to vent out their frIs the United Nations completely irrelevant to nations of the world or is it a vital platform for the poorer nations of the world to vent out their frustrations? UN seems similar to Sufi mazars (religious Shirins) in Pakistan where the disenfranchised and the poor Pakistanis go to vent out their frustrations and to make supplications for the Sufi to intercede on their behalf. So the poor and the powerless or in the case of UK, the once all-powerful will converge in the UN to plead their plights with the greatest powerful state of the world, USA. And the great USA, in turn, possesses this 'need' of justifying its actions from the poor, powerless and once powerful nations, which it would have done in any case anyway. So its a perfect symbiotic relationship, with both requiring each other for their own ends, which still doesn't answer my relevance question, but I guess a comparison will have to be done between a pre-UN and a post-UN world.
This book focuses on the UK-USA "special relationship". It appears that the UK needs USA for security purposes, and USA requires UK to do its foreign policy proselytizing. So although the UK had serious reservations about USA going to war with Iraq, it had to go along as there was no other choice. UK has chosen USA over EU as it knows that EU is a toothless tiger as compared to USA. Brexit has demonstrated this very obvious Europhile tilt very clearly. The once all powerful people of UK have chosen to be liberated from UK and are far happier to be subservient to the US Corporations. And now there is even talk about a common Anglophile nexus between UK and USA. But UK must remember that its main role in this 'special relationship' is to galvanize the world opinion in line with USA's which it can only do while appearing to remain a keen member of various world consortiums like EU, Commonwealth etc.
Book is composed of short snappy chapters challenging the current political narrative and destroying it completley. It is left to the reader to make hBook is composed of short snappy chapters challenging the current political narrative and destroying it completley. It is left to the reader to make his own informed judgments, which is not an easy task with the abundance of popular propoganda cheaply availible. If it is the job of the aristocrates to explain stark choice to the general population, and if the aristocracy is dependent on the people/institutions in power then the general voter is going to find it very difficult to understand the issues that matter.
Hopefully this book will help a few stranglers at least..........more
The plot is simple enough. The government will release its in-corroborative version of events, most main stream media will dutifully sex up the story The plot is simple enough. The government will release its in-corroborative version of events, most main stream media will dutifully sex up the story for the general consumption, and both will stick to this story as now their credibility depends on it. Years down the line, after much hours of painstaking effort some eccentric writer like Seymour Hersh will eventually challenge this version, but few people will believe him as for most people old news is water under the bridge, who by now are completely engrossed in the current bit of exciting news. Also people will find it tough to change their established views.
As a Pakistani, brought up in its Army culture, the version of events presented by Seymour leading to the murder of Osama are very believable. ISI paid money to tribes to buy off Osama and were holding him as an asset to constantly bargain with the Americans till one of their own betrayed their secret out of sheer greed, which I found very natural when I consider most of the Army personal I have come across over the years. Once alerted the American squeeze Pakistani army to hand over Osama with a bit of carrot and some stick. The Pakistanis do their bit as scripted but the American government cannot contain it's gloating and spill the beans fabricating a story good enough for any great Hollywood movie. Alright not a full fledged movie but a documentary at the least.
The second part of the book detailing the involvement of America partnership with Turkey in Syrian civil war has reminisces of the good old Afghan, the much vaunted Russia's Vietnam. It's clear to me that America does not care about the people of Syria or aftermath of this repeat performance on Turkish stability. Already the intensity of terrorism has increased dramatically in Turkey. I guess the rest of the world are at the dependent on the mood of the mighty Americans as it use its power wherever it chooses with impunity.
Again the powerful will assert their power as they have always done since time immemorial....more
They cannot represent themselves, they must be represented. Karl Marx
Said, for me as successfully demonstrated the crass and prejudiced treatment of IThey cannot represent themselves, they must be represented. Karl Marx
Said, for me as successfully demonstrated the crass and prejudiced treatment of Islam and the East by the Occident. With time most of the prejudices against the Chinese and Indian cultures have been successfully reversed, which for me has effectively won the debate against Orientalism which should be now treated as face reading or race based science.
Although difficult to follow at times, the argument was very invigorating as slowly the burden of blame lifted off my tiny shoulders. ...more
Should radicalization considered a solution or a problem in the West? Why is radicalization increasing in a 'free' West as well as autocratic Middle EShould radicalization considered a solution or a problem in the West? Why is radicalization increasing in a 'free' West as well as autocratic Middle East and much of the other Muslim countries? Isn't it because of lack of proper political dialogue? Why is there absolute insistence by the liberal West that Muslims are only accepted if they are completely depoliticized?
Before reading this book I thought that radicalization was a direct result of disenfranchisement, but now I am convinced that radicalization occurs in a climate of gross injustice. A fundamentalist begins to feel real pain of victims but cannot discuss his pain, which compels him to act. This Western insistence on a Moderate Muslim as someone completely depoliticized and an unquestionable supporter of Western policy abroad is the main reason why a small number of Muslim youths are being radicalized.
The book finishes off with a famous speech of Martin Luther King Jr in 1967.....
“As I have walked among the desperate, rejected, and angry young men, I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems. I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. But they ask — and rightly so — what about Vietnam? They ask if our own nation wasn’t using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.”
Terrorism is not the product of radical politics but a symptom of political impotence. The very fact of individual acts of terror, wrote Leon Trotsky, is an infallible token of the political backwardness of a country and the feebleness of the progressive forces there.
This book is a must read for all Muslims living in Europe and USA...........more
The book is a purely academic discussion of the origination and evolution of ISIS, the movement spearheading Islamic 'jihad' at the moment. I completeThe book is a purely academic discussion of the origination and evolution of ISIS, the movement spearheading Islamic 'jihad' at the moment. I completely agreed with the authors that the illegal and spurious War in Iraq was the major enabler for this super terrorist organization to grow into a state, no matter how rudimentary it is. The incarnation of ISIS leadership in Iraqi concentration camps worked like a University enabling the young men to produce an organization which has created such havoc in the Middle East. But there was far too much focus on the affects of ISIS on the West instead of highlighting the hundreds of thousands of Middle Eastern's getting directly demonized and terrorized by this vile organization. For too long, the Middle East has been used by the West powers like the British and US as well as Russia to make mine and manage at their whims. Middle East needs stable governments, whether these happen to be democratic or not is besides the point. Instability creates a vacuum in which organization like ISIS breed with impunity. The Illegality of the War in Iraq needs to be recognized widely as a major mistake, so that valuable lessons on not to meddle in other countries without provocation are not repeated by the Powerful....more
This is a very American book. Racism in America is clearly of a very different nature which this book has helped me grapple with. The White American hThis is a very American book. Racism in America is clearly of a very different nature which this book has helped me grapple with. The White American hubris is built upon the foundations of slavery, and this book explains the very subtle and nuanced references in the contemporary American dialogue. I think the other factor in the mix is the 'immigrant' nature of the American culture. It is a country which still prides its reliance on the immigrant mind set. So in order to be American you have to integrate into as an American, whatever that means. Its like the French way, which I have never really understood properly. So I think that in order to really be accepted as an American the model American has to be redefined to accept blacks and the Hispanics. Otherwise racism will keep ruling the roost. ...more
Very informative book ability the politocal and religious situation in Iraq from the invasion of Kuwait till the American attack in 2003. I had never Very informative book ability the politocal and religious situation in Iraq from the invasion of Kuwait till the American attack in 2003. I had never really digested the It is mind boggling that the great nation of United States which was seething in anger after the terrorist attack on 9/11 and commanded so much sympathy as a result of the human carnage on its innocent citizens, could be the instigator of not one but two completely needless and vicious atomic bomb attacks on Japanese cities teeming with ordinary civilians. It is clear to me that the results of this horrible act of state terror were deliberately masked by the story line by US and itself cronies that the voilence after Iraq invasion is because of the centuries old prexisting shia-sunni schism in Iraq. Patrick has exposed this narrative by pointing out Iraq Shias support for Iraq against the 10 year war against a very Shia Iraq. Also Muqtida's militia is nowbere close to the dicipline and efficient Hizbollah which arguebally is funded and trained by the Iranis which means that Iranis does not have as big a role as the Saudis and Qataris have US belive. The book finishes with a prophecy about the rise of Sunni militias to avenge attrocoties against them. And ISIS immediately makes an entry as if on queue...more
This book is a collection of transcripts of various question answer sessions of Noam around the US. As a self proclaimed dissident of the US EstablishThis book is a collection of transcripts of various question answer sessions of Noam around the US. As a self proclaimed dissident of the US Establishment hegemonic policies, implemented both abroad as well as its own population, there is no second best explanation on hand. Noam explains the political and economic reality in a simple and clear language, leaving no gaps in the narrative. Noam's counter narrative is must to counter the daily dose of healthy Big Media propaganda, if we want to maintain some level of reality of the world we live in. ...more
Strange novel which kept me glued at times but other times I became quite confused with the many stories. I failed to grasp the thread, the objective Strange novel which kept me glued at times but other times I became quite confused with the many stories. I failed to grasp the thread, the objective of the novel. There were dates of significance, the what if scenarios, the myriad locations, the many many characters, the scantness of detail, all leaving a lot of room for my imagination to fill in the blanks in the story, making the novel more of a fill in the blanks exercise book for its readers. But I did come out with my imagination in invigorated and memory flashing. Maybe that's what the writer intended?...more
Being an immigrant in England myself I was intrigued when I heard the author in an interview castigating her English home. Hence the reason why I pickBeing an immigrant in England myself I was intrigued when I heard the author in an interview castigating her English home. Hence the reason why I picked up this book. I have to agree with the author that Britain is not as accommodating to immigrants as compared with Americans but I don't think the English are to be blamed. Their social communications is based on repression, inhibition indirection which makes it difficult for most immigrants to fit in. Also no one really knows what the English people are thinking as the language is coded. For example the use of public pronouncement the impersonal 'one' , which depersonalises as well as patronises at the same time. Also the use of phrases like, Do you really think so? and Oh really? Provides implies a deeper knowledge where there is none. In short the English are masters of avoiding the direct statement or confrontation which provides few opportunities for the immigrant to blend in. I guess I will have to apply to America as well.........more
This is a very moving account of the many lost races of the American Indians, which were frightened, tricked, hounded, killed, and forced to migrate tThis is a very moving account of the many lost races of the American Indians, which were frightened, tricked, hounded, killed, and forced to migrate to far off penal colonies to make way for the White race in the USA. The narrative is unique as it is told from the Indian end for a change nicely positioned with snippets of news of the prevailing eras. Although many if the difference stories were repetitive but they give very important clues to the core nature of America and Americans. The way Indians were dehumanised is still repeated for instance in the 'War against terror', the use of orators to spread malicious disinformation now undertaken by the Big media corps like Fox and CNN, and the use of law to justify actions against the victims. Americans deep down must feel a profound remorse for the malicious actions of their forefathers against the original inhabitants of this land. Maybe this subconscious explains why stories like Hunger Games still prove great hits to this day. Is it me or does it seems a very shrewd casting of Jennifer Lawrence who does look very much like an American Indian! ...more
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