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Kultur Dokumente
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Muhammed A. Asadi
1
IN THE SHADOW
OF EMPIRE
Life & Death under US Domination
MUHAMMED A. ASADI
Lulu, Inc
Morrisville, North Carolina.
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CONTENTS
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Introduction
In his pioneering work, The Power Elite
(1956), C. Wright Mills pointed out that the powerelite (as applied to the U.S. elite) involves the (1)
Uneasy coincidence of economic, military and
political power (Mills 1956:278), where (2) Chosen
elites (chosen through co-optation and socialization)
move within and between these three institutional
structures. Further, this power-elite possesses a (3)
specific and clear class consciousness and unique
image of self as a psychological fact (considering
themselves separate and superior to the rest of
society), regardless of ideological label or party
membership. Factions might exist among the powerelite but their coinciding (4) community of
interests and the resulting inner discipline bind
them together even across differences (Mills
1956:283). Given these forces that are at play among
them, the way they have emerged and the (5)
institutions that have shaped them, it is impossible
for them to break away from the corporate world
and its interests in the decisions they make while in
public office. These interests are driven by their
worldview, (6) the Military Metaphysic, which has,
since the end of the Second World War, come to
describe the economic life of the U.S, in the form of
a permanent war economy.
The Mills model, having its origin in 1956,
still has pragmatic strength of prediction within the
hegemonic power-state itself, as well as the
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MILITARIZED
POLITICAL ECONOMY
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5. Public Relations:
Manipulation Replaces Authority
Posted: September 2005
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923 AD) and Ibn Hisham (d. 834 AD) and there
also, many versions of the events are given), date
from around 200 years after the prophet (d. 632
AD). Those who study Islam based upon historical
evidence, reason and reflection (recommended by
the Quran itself), would reject these extra-Quranic
sources immediately
(http://hadith.rationalreality.com). Just because
many believe in them dogmatically does not mean
that the prophet said those words or that those
words are what Islam is. Islam is defined by its
source, which is the Quran and the Quran alone.
Ibn Khaldun, the founder of Sociology, and
historiography recognized the shortcomings in the
accuracy of these pseudo-historical reports regarding
Islam and the prophet, and he quoted the Quran
defending his position, even as he developed
historiography in his Muqaddimah. That IbnKhaldun was a better authority on historical records
than the ideologically charged hadith collectors is
something most historians will not argue over, given
the unique position he occupies in the evolution of
their field. The verse Ibn-Khaldun quoted is the
same that Muslims quote today when informing
dogmatic traditionalists that these "extra Quranic"
(from outside the Quran) reports are not always
accurate (Quran 31:6): And among humankind are
those that purchase frivolous tales (Lahwal Hadith),
so that they may mislead from the path of Allah
(those) without knowledge, and to make them an
excuse to ridicule with.
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a look into the future for the rest of us. The look
into the future, according to their reports
implications, should always be 9/11.
As we read Schmitts advocacy of a new war
even though such a war might have practical
problems according to him, we are reminded of
these prophetic words from the 1950s, by C.
Wright. Mills, from his book, The Causes of World
War III (1958):
"The expectation of war solves many problems of the
"crackpot realists"; it also confronts them with many
new problems. Yet these, the problems of war, often
seem easier (for them) to handle.(compared) to
political policies that are distasteful to many
politicians...The terms of their long term solutions,
under conditions of peace, are hard for the capitalist
elite to face." (page, 87)
What is distasteful to these NeoConservative "crackpot realists" is peace in the
Middle East, and the resulting effect that might have
on regional development in the Arab world. In their
uneasy alliance with corporations, whose leadership
positions they normally hold when they are not
posing as politicians, the Neo-Cons have found a
dual fulfillment of purpose. The terms of the "long
term solution" to the "Palestinian problem" are what
they do not want to face. If that can be avoided, any
"practical problems" that a new war might bring are
easier for them to handle. The civilians who get killed
in the thousands and the US soldiers (chosen from
the lower socioeconomic classes) that become
casualties of war are of no consequence to them.
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Howard Zinn
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19. DECLARATIONS OF
INDEPENDENCE
A common argument used by supporters of
U.S. global hegemony, runs as follows: the U.S. as a
human society has human shortcomings, the faults
that are all too "human", it might not be perfect (they
say) but it is still better than most other societies
around the globe. There are several problems with this
line of argumentation. First, it erroneously assumes that
societies are mere sums of individuals that inhabit
them. The total, society, is greater than the sum of its
parts. Problems of societal structure might not be
problems of individual members that inhabit those
structures. Such reasoning confuses public issues,
things that have to do with social structure and
institutions that transcend individuals, with personal
troubles of individual character. Take the example of
marriage: Inside a marital relationship, personal
problems might exist between the couple which may
lead to divorce, but when almost half of all marriages
attempted end in divorce in a society, it has to do with
the social institution of marriage and family, how it is
changing and how other institutions are affecting or
causing such change; in short it is a issue involving
social structure.
Arguments that seek to excuse social issues as
mere human shortcomings assume, as a premise, that
what is happening in the various countries of the world
is happening in vacuum-like conditions, where all
nations are separate and compete fairly based upon
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Appendix
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ISBN: 1411612612
Order Information:
http://www.amazon.com or http://www.bn.com
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