Scenes from the empire. posted by Richard Seymour

Another day, another massacre in Afghanistan, another claim of irresponsibility. Interesting that this rolling wave of slaughter is going on precisely as the liberal media are trying to assure us that Blair was a great guy until he 'made a tragic error' over Iraq. Evidently fearing that the insurgency will spread and take on a fully national character, Karzai's pathetic warlord-gangster-puppet regime desperately wants to negotiate a ceasefire with the 'Taliban', but the masters prefer more head smashing. Intriguingly, one senior regime figure, the mass murderer General Dostum, reckons he can finish the Taliban off within six months by raising 10,000 of his notorious goons. I bet they take him up on that offer. Meanwhile, there's a great fuss about Iran allegedly backing the insurgents (again), but as Malalai Joya points out, Iran's supporters are embedded in the regime that America created. At any rate, since it has been revealed that the US (and Saudi Arabia) are sponsoring terrorist activities in Iran, this whole industry devoted to blaming Iran for the failings of Western imperialism ought surely to be bankrupt by now.

Meanwhile, interesting developments in other outposts of the Empire. Veils are being burned in Somalia, Iraqi oil-workers are striking against privatisation. The escalation in Iraq is being sustained at least until next year, so that they can mount up more bodies to piss on. The government seems to be getting out of line as well - for the first time, it seems to have decided to represent Iraqis in some fashion, and demand a timetable for US withdrawal. Much luck it will have.

Anyway, here's some footage you probably haven't seen on the news. This is footage of US troops gunning down protesters in the streets, shown on Japanese television a few months ago, but not anywhere in the UK or America, so far as I'm aware:

Labels: 'war on terror', afghanistan, blair, empire, iran, iraq, Saudi Arabia, warmongers