Freedom Rider: U.S. continues its war on the rest of the world

The duopoly corporate parties enforce silence and ignorance on foreign policy to ensure that Americans have neither the knowledge nor the tools to resist their country’s policy of endless war.

It isn’t clear who the next president of the United States will be but the terrible handiwork of Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Donald Trump are creating terrible suffering for millions of people around the world.

Donald Trump is making a big show of a phony peace agreement with the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Taliban were given life by Jimmy Carter, who sought to undermine the sovereign government of that country. We were told that the Soviets had invaded when in fact the government of president Najibullah had invited them, an act he had every right to undertake.

What followed was years of civil war, billions of dollars funneled to the mujahadeen, including the likes of Osama bin Laden, who subsequently turned against his sponsors and killed 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001. No one wanted to remember that bin Laden was originally lauded as a freedom fighter by Carter and Reagan, only to be rubbed out years later by Barack Obama.

Carter began the use of jihadist proxies and all of his predecessors followed in his footsteps. The current turmoil in Syria is a direct result of Obama’s turn at creating disaster. Along with his partners in NATO, and Israel, and Gulf monarch states, he sought regime change against Bashar al-Assad. Now the Syrians are on the verge of taking back their country with the help of their allies but NATO member Turkey has again proved itself to be treacherous and makes a last stand with its jihadist proxies to continue the suffering of the people there.

The presidential campaign is a farce, as foreign policy is treated like a frill that need not be mentioned. That is because the war party duopoly has no intention of changing U.S. foreign policy in any significant way. The cynical maneuvers continue as Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar drop out in order to help Joe Biden. Elizabeth Warren hangs on and the hapless Biden is used to convince fearful black voters that he is the only hope of defeating Trump.

Bernie Sanders may be the most progressive on domestic issues, but his foreign policy positions are no better than those of the men who previously filled the job he hopes to hold. When he isn’t calling Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping thugs, he is supporting the destruction of Venezuela and other countries targeted by the United States. Tulsi Gabbard questions the regime change concept but she has been barred from debates and is thus rendered invisible to the electorate. Her invisibility is hardly coincidental.

While Democrats sound alike, the Trump administration enters into an agreement with the Taliban to reduce the number of U.S. troops. Trump has a bit of a foreign policy victory, a slight undoing of a 40-year long crime against the Afghan people who have suffered after the U.S. intervened on behalf of jihadists.

This information is rarely shared with the American people. The average voter seldom thinks about foreign policy for the simple reason that they aren’t asked to do so. When Syria, Afghanistan or any other faraway place breaks into the news cycle they are told little more than that foreign leaders who work with the U.S. are good but that all others are consigned to thuggery.

Americans should know that Turkey’s gambit of unleashing refugees into Europe is a direct result of its acting in concert with the U.S. regime change plot. Of course the Europeans now wringing their hands in fear of newcomers went along with the scheme and share in the blame as they continue their role as America’s vassal states.

The foreign crises that are treated like background music are in fact very important. No one knows if Turkey’s rampage on behalf of the United States can start a hot war that candidates will suddenly have to address.

The consensus for imperialism is no accident. The military industrial complex makes sure that its gravy train continues in Afghanistan and elsewhere and presidential candidates don’t even pretend to change a corrupt system. After inauguration day on January 20, 2021, the United States will continue to be the biggest threat to peace in the world. Millions of people will be bombed or sanctioned and Americans will continue to live in ignorance as they wonder why their country is hated. They need only look at the presidential candidate debate stage to answer the question.

Margaret Kimberley’s Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well at patreon.com/margaretkimberley and she regularly posts on Twitter @freedomrideblog. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com.