Obama: 5 Challenges that he and his friends face together

Friendship, ties, tributes, deep respect. These are the things that bring Turkey and the USA to fight their common enemies.

This is how stately speeches work: there is a cordial introduction and then a rounding on the "Other". If states exist only by perpetuating violence then alliances between states exist to bring violent thoughts and actions together across the world.

So what and who are Obama's enemies? Well, according to his speech in Ankara, Turkey today they are the following:

An economic crisis that recognizes no borders.

1. Extremism that leads to the killing of innocent men, women and children.
2. Strains on our energy supply.
3. A changing climate (Change we can believe in).
4. The proliferation of the world’s deadliest weapons.
5. The persistence of tragic conflict.

It is encouraging to hear a world ruler speak frankly of the "strains on our energy supply". When do politicians ever even hint at Peak Oil let alone to do so as a key theme for his or her future agenda? Yet his solutions, none are given, instead he focuses on bailing out the banks and hunting down the terrorists. So no CHANGE there then. And HOPE has an even bigger carbon footprint than the WAR ON TERROR.

Obama quotes a Turkish proverb, how cute of him: “You cannot put out fire with flames.” I don't know why. It has nothing to do with the content of his speech perhpas he just wants us to look the other way a moment while he gets on with the important work of government.

Obama is marching into Jerusalem on the back of a Beast of his own

Obama is marching into Jerusalem on the back of a Beast of his own

“They say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them” (St Paul 1 Thessalonians 5:3).

In 1894, in his book “Christianity and Patriotism”, Leo Tolstoy noted that among the Russian and French political and military leaders there was much celebrating of renewed relations and present and future peace. Generals from both sides dined together at international meetings, public embraces were exchanged.

Tolstoy has great fun satirising the propaganda of these two great states and their new found affection for one another: quoting the presses eager interest in the menus and bar tabs of the soldiers and statesmen.

“With each menu a description was also given of the drinks swallowed by the festive party, some sort of 'vudka', some sort of Bourgogne vieux, Grand Moet and so on. In an English newspaper all the intoxicating drinks consumed during these fetes were enumerated, the quantity of it being so enormous that all the drunkards in Russia and in France could hardly have swallowed it in such short a time.”1

Little has changed in media obsession. It takes a second or two to discover that the G20 leaders at the London summit in April had Bakewell tart and custard for pudding coutesy of celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver.2 How much booze was involved we may never know.

In his early months as USA President, Barak Obama has made diplomatic and deliberate recourses to better relations with the Russians than Bush. And not just Russia – a video link to Iranian T.V., a change of course in Iraq and Afghanistan. It all looks pretty good. The prince of HOPE is doing the job he was elected to do.

But then again.

“It is true that in all the speeches and toasts uttered during those festivities, and in all the articles about them, it was constantly proclaimed that the object of what was happening was to secure peace. [However,...] this constant repetition of the sentence: 'We don't want war, we want peace!” and the silence about what is in everyone's mind, is a most menacing symptom.”3 Tolstoy was offering an educated and insightful guess but things were more complicated: Germany initial saw itself as having to capitulate diplomatically to Russia as Britain lost influence along the Mediterranean but the threat of Russia's greater alliance with France lead indirectly to the Schleiffen Plan and a greater alliance between German and Austria against Russia as a means of self-defense. So the Franco-Russian talk of peace was really another of the many examples of one nation posturing militarily alongside another to threaten the neighbours.

In 1894 the peace between Russia and France only made a strong alliance for war with Germany. St Paul, wise to the ways of empire, warned the Thessalonian Christians of those political leaders who made much talk of peace and held out his own hope that they would be subject to God's judgment (1 Thess. 5:3).

That is why we should take note of Obama's words in Turkey on Palm Sunday this year. He does not ride into Europe on a donkey but in “The Beast”, his armoured gas-guzzler. And like the Sanhedrin, he is looking for the next scapegoat to save a whole nation.

"All nations must come together to build a stronger, global regime. And that's why we must stand shoulder to shoulder to pressure the North Koreans to change course."
(Obama in Prague 5 April 2009)

So what does Obama mean when he calls for unity, peace, hope, and an end to the proliferation of nuclear weapons as president of a country developing “usable” nuclear weapons as we sleep and eat? He means what we must listen for in the silence.

Some requests for Mr. Obama

William Blum is summing up on foreign policy against the embodiment of Hope for Change in the USA, and it is not a pretty picture.
The surprising story is near the end: the sickening truth about Lockerbie. Sometime, when it is in the imperialist interests of the regimes in Washington and London, they will bring out the apparent truth about the responsibility for this act of state terrorism. Ironically, we should hope there will be no such opportunity. (To understand these remarks you have to read the piece by William Blum, given in the link).

One point Blum does not mention: the fate of the Chagossians. An entire people deported for a US base in the centre of the Indian Ocean, from which East Africa, the Middle East and the Subcontinent including Afghanistan can be conveniently bombed. Which has been done. With the blessing of the British law lords who decided in an amazing judgement that the State has to decide where you may end up to be living, a kind of verdict to be expected in fascist Italy or nazi Germany. Unfortunately, we are no longer surprised nor shocked by such a verdict.

Tanks into tractors

We are supposed rather not to say anything about it. But I too watched the inauguration, having crisps and a strong Bush beer (there you go! - lechayim; it is Belgian, actually) at hand and hardly hoping against hope. The bombing of Pakistan has started fully. Oh yes, we are in for change. Hope is Elsewhere.

But there was at the end the Benediction by the rev. Joseph Lowery, which stood out against the garbage poured out over us viewers. Specifically the modern version of swords into ploughshares provided a feel-good-factor even Christian anarchists may enjoy.
Here is the text in full:

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far along the way, thou who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our god, where we met thee, lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee. Shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand true to thee, o God, and true to our native land. We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we’ve shared this day.

We pray now, o Lord, for your blessing upon thy servant, Barack Obama, the forty-fourth president of these United States, his family and his administration. He has come to this high office at a low moment in the national, and indeed the global, fiscal climate. But because we know you got the whole world in your hands, we pray for not only our nation, but for the community of nations.

Our faith does not shrink, though pressed by the flood of mortal ills, for we know that, Lord, you are able and you’re willing to work through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our brokenness, heal our wounds, and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor, of the least of these, and from favoritism toward the rich, the elite of these.

We thank you for the empowering of thy servant, our forty-fourth president, to inspire our nation to believe that, yes, we can work together to achieve a more perfect union.

And while we have sown the seeds of greed, the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness and we come in a spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our president by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to turn to each other and not on each other.

And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance. And as we leave this mountaintop, help us to hold onto the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will.

Bless President Barack, First Lady Michelle. Look over our little angelic Sasha and Malia.

We go now to walk together as children, pledging that we won’t get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone. With your hands of power and your heart of love, help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nations shall not lift up sword against nation; when tanks will be beaten into tractors; when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree, and none shall be afraid; when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back; when brown can stick around; when yellow will be mellow; when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen.

The Politics of "Change"

"Even before the election was decided, we already knew a few things about the next president of the United States. First, we knew that he would be the commander of the world’s largest and most dangerous military state. Second, we knew that he would protect the interests of global capitalism with any means at his disposal. Third, we knew that he would implicitly present himself as the first bishop of the American civil religion—a religion that has always assumed that Christianity is the founding philosophy of American militarism and laissez-faire capitalism. But to go even further, we know that neither major political party will now seriously question the president’s current job description, making it obvious that the imperatives of the militarized and now hypercapitalized American state will disallow the procession of any fundamental changes from Washington itself."

- Michael van Dyke in his essay, "Anarchist imperatives and fundamental change" in which he outlines in story-form some of the important religious and political events that shape US worldviews to this day. A fascinating read for those new to the subject and those who already know a thing or two.

Obana-nomics

Mark Engler makes the important point that Obama's adivsors give us some indication as to his intention to bring about "Change" - real or imagined. If this is a return to the Clinton approach to global and domestic economics than we're still screwed just with less "shock and awe". The election of a new emperor does not mean the end of imperialism. Indeed, how could it.