Tuesday, December 12, 2006

America vs. Democracy (lessons from Greece, Italy & beyond)

President Lyndon Johnson summoned the Greek ambassador for a brief—and very instructive—lesson on how America handles its affairs. “Fuck your parliament and your constitution,” said LBJ. “America is an elephant, Cyprus is a flea. If these two fleas continue itching the elephant, they may just get whacked by the elephant’s trunk, whacked good...We pay a lot of good American dollars to the Greeks, Mr. Ambassador. If your Prime Minister gives me a talk about democracy, parliament, and constitutions, he, his parliament, and his constitution may not last very long.”

You can read the entire article here

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As far as I’m concerned, we can’t put forward enough reminders of how the U.S. government—and the corporations that own it—do business. Platitudes about peace, freedom, justice, etc. aside, the land of the free is not even remotely interested in spreading democracy. There is an abundance of evidence to back up this assertion. For now, I offer the example of post-World War II Italy. Mussolini was gone but the U.S. elites had no intention of letting Italy slip through the cracks.

Full article here

Remember: When the U.S. and its allies call the shots, this is what we get.


Wake up and smell the coffee...

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Posted on 12/12 at 05:21 AM
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