The Last Crusade
Pope John Paul II had successfully rewritten the script of the smouldering remains of the 'Holy' Roman Empire. From the compromise of Constantine, to the rise of Justinian and Constantinople, and the subsequent reconquest of Rome from the (relatively more peace-loving and civilised) Goths, the remnants of the Roman empire had malingered on in scarlet and gold through military might and tribute. The first and last great European Emperor Charlemagne saved Rome from Lombardy (AD 774) and was cunningly crowned Holy Roman Emperor by a grateful Pope Leo III, simultaneously reviving the Holy Roman Empire and placing the Pope above all Kings of Europe. From that day on, the Pope could call upon all the Kings of Europe to launch wave upon wave of brutal attacks upon the relatively cultured, peaceful and properous Muslim world to 'liberate' Jerusalem. In these crusades (1099-1271) rape, cannibalism and massacre were commonplace, and to this day the Crusader cross has remained a symbol of terror in the Middle East, and the word crusade has become synonymous with genocide.
Unfortunately our populist gunslinger Bush has reintroduced the dreaded C-word into foreign policy addresses, undoubtedly as a religious smokescreen for expanding the Bush family businesses of arms and oil, much as Medieval Popes did before him. In one generation John Paul had succeeded in recreating the Papal image as being the benign father of all the world, and in one year our new Pope has succeeded in returning the West to the Dark Ages of bigotry and religious feuding.
America's economy is in melt-down, held together only by the petrodollar cycle and through sustaining unsustainable levels of spending and imports. Internal strife is rising as more and more Americans find their American dream rapidly turning into the new slavery and mire of debt. What better way to expand national revenues and to restore cash flow than to capture foreign commodities and markets, and how better to distract domestic angst than with the tool of foreign wars.
There is of course nothing new under the sun - the Emperor Trajan had the same idea some 2,000 years ago....Rejecting a previous policy of diplomacy and alliances, Trajan found in favour of military expansion to overcome the Roman Empire's cash flow crisis and impending bankruptcy. The solution was acquisition and invasion (sound familiar?), and the unfortunate target the gold and metal rich kingdom of Dacia just across the Danube (modern day Romania & Hungary). In 101 AD the Roman armies of Trajan defeated the Dacians, and in 105AD, after an uneasy truce, systematically massacred them, a genocide which may still be found celebrated on Trajan's Column.
So now we have a Pope who served in the Hitler Youth, decrying Islam as a war-like religion (of all the crusading hypocrisy...), and reinvoking the anti-semitic symbolism of the Cross. As if this were not enough we have a US President acting under the 'influence of God' who has a commercial interest in war and oil, and is quite happy to invade any Islamic nation on the grounds of the 'moral right of way' of the Largest Superpower. After all why should an irresponsible, aggressive, and extremist nation like Iran have nuclear weapons, and join the enlightened West in hegemony.
The Russians and the Chinese of course have had enough, let alone the Muslims, and are presently holding joint military exercises. Now take into account that a majority of Americans not only believe the surreal and woolly predictions of the Book of Revelations, but are prepared to commit to a self-fulfilling prophesy of Doomsday and Armageddon according to their own literal mistranslation. We appear to be heading for global conflict on an unimaginable scale which will inevitably engulf Europe and the Middle East.
In God's name (like everyone else I seem to be invoking the creator to embellish my viewpoint), when are the next US Presidential elections? The last Bush-Gore showdown almost split the nation in two in an embittered rage of allegations and tears. Perhaps a second American Civil War is not such a fantastical thought, or, dare I say it, even so undesirable?
Unfortunately our populist gunslinger Bush has reintroduced the dreaded C-word into foreign policy addresses, undoubtedly as a religious smokescreen for expanding the Bush family businesses of arms and oil, much as Medieval Popes did before him. In one generation John Paul had succeeded in recreating the Papal image as being the benign father of all the world, and in one year our new Pope has succeeded in returning the West to the Dark Ages of bigotry and religious feuding.
America's economy is in melt-down, held together only by the petrodollar cycle and through sustaining unsustainable levels of spending and imports. Internal strife is rising as more and more Americans find their American dream rapidly turning into the new slavery and mire of debt. What better way to expand national revenues and to restore cash flow than to capture foreign commodities and markets, and how better to distract domestic angst than with the tool of foreign wars.
There is of course nothing new under the sun - the Emperor Trajan had the same idea some 2,000 years ago....Rejecting a previous policy of diplomacy and alliances, Trajan found in favour of military expansion to overcome the Roman Empire's cash flow crisis and impending bankruptcy. The solution was acquisition and invasion (sound familiar?), and the unfortunate target the gold and metal rich kingdom of Dacia just across the Danube (modern day Romania & Hungary). In 101 AD the Roman armies of Trajan defeated the Dacians, and in 105AD, after an uneasy truce, systematically massacred them, a genocide which may still be found celebrated on Trajan's Column.
So now we have a Pope who served in the Hitler Youth, decrying Islam as a war-like religion (of all the crusading hypocrisy...), and reinvoking the anti-semitic symbolism of the Cross. As if this were not enough we have a US President acting under the 'influence of God' who has a commercial interest in war and oil, and is quite happy to invade any Islamic nation on the grounds of the 'moral right of way' of the Largest Superpower. After all why should an irresponsible, aggressive, and extremist nation like Iran have nuclear weapons, and join the enlightened West in hegemony.
The Russians and the Chinese of course have had enough, let alone the Muslims, and are presently holding joint military exercises. Now take into account that a majority of Americans not only believe the surreal and woolly predictions of the Book of Revelations, but are prepared to commit to a self-fulfilling prophesy of Doomsday and Armageddon according to their own literal mistranslation. We appear to be heading for global conflict on an unimaginable scale which will inevitably engulf Europe and the Middle East.
In God's name (like everyone else I seem to be invoking the creator to embellish my viewpoint), when are the next US Presidential elections? The last Bush-Gore showdown almost split the nation in two in an embittered rage of allegations and tears. Perhaps a second American Civil War is not such a fantastical thought, or, dare I say it, even so undesirable?
posted by The Angry Man at 5:23 PM
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