William Bowles – Essays
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Now here’s a thought… By William Bowles
21 October 2003 The UK is de-industrialising at a rapid rate, yet the bulk of its exports are manufactured goods. As it’s cheaper to export manufacturing to ‘developing’ countries, UK factories are closing down, and newer, more efficient and cheaper plants are being built abroad. Continue reading
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Iran: Two lies and why By William Bowles
These two lies are historically connected via the role Iran used to play in the Cold War and of course because of its possession of oil, lots of oil. And like Iraq and its changing role in the making of our current reality, Iran’s relationship to the West has changed to suit whatever policies of… Continue reading
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Plato Rules Okay! By William Bowles
The core of the Straussian vision of the world is based on the idea that there are the rulers and the ruled – not a new idea by any means – and that this is a ‘natural state’ of affairs. Most of us are just too venal to be trusted with the responsibilities of governing. Continue reading
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When thieves fall out By William Bowles
The real danger inherent in the Bush imperium’s strategy, is the threat to what’s left of US democracy after it’s been subjected to the depredations of the military-industrial clique and its parallel attack on the nation’s civil liberties. It points to the fact that without a massive campaign of lies, the American public would never… Continue reading
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Listen to your ancestors By William Bowles
This essay was triggered by a play on the radio by Margaret Buzby about the Ashanti rebellion in what is now Ghana, at the turn of the 19th century, seen largely through the eyes of Queen Asentewas who led the rebellion. At the end, defeated and old, she is exiled to the Seychelles along with… Continue reading
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Amateurs at Empire By William Bowles
It could be argued that the US emperium has bitten off more than it can chew but it’s even worse than that. They are rank amateurs at empire-building who are now faced with the insurmountable problem of effectively administering a country they claim to have liberated but which in reality has been occupied but without… Continue reading
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Book Review: The best democracy money can buy By William Bowles
In the grand tradition of Hunter S Thompson, Palast’s book is witty, irreverent and written from the hip, as if he’s running out of time, or out the door. I got breathless reading it. Continue reading
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Life’s a Roundup By William Bowles
There’s no doubting that the accumulation of wealth (and the power that inevitably goes with it) has all the hallmarks of a disease, or a fetish as K Marx described it. And as anyone with a fetish knows, money and power is powerful stuff, an addiction as strong as crack cocaine, perhaps even stronger because… Continue reading
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With friends like these… By William Bowles
Did Israel try to trigger WWIII with the attack on the USS Liberty in 1967? Continue reading
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Neo-con or just plain ol’ imperialism unleashed? By William Bowles
What is a neo-con and what are the objectives of the so-called neo-conservative agenda? Most importantly, do their policies represent a radical departure from previous US strategy and if so, how and why? Continue reading
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Out of Control By William Bowles
If there was ever time since the worst period of the Cold War (the early 1950s) for the creation of a global movement to try and halt this insanity, this is it! Methinks we only have one chance, a narrow window of oportunity to try and halt the slide and it’s right now. Can we… Continue reading
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This is how it goes… By William Bowles
The BBC is directly complicit in absolving the occupying forces from responsibility for the current state of affairs in Iraq. It’s this kind of ‘distancing’ between the media and the state that is so difficult to deal with as a kind of ‘osmosis of attitudes’ is taking place. Articulate these small lies often enough, and… Continue reading
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180 days of Empire By William Bowles
Presenting us with some kind of ‘checklist’ of a calamity that somehow is meant to inform us, is disingenuous reporting at its worst with its mixture of fact, fiction, supposition and just plain omission of critical information about the reality of six months of imperialist occupation. Continue reading
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Noticeable by its absence By William Bowles
As to what’s actually happening in the press is a reflection of the unspoken alliance between the media and the state over what constitutes ‘news’ these days. The turnaround came about six weeks ago when the media announced that it was ‘time’ to focus on domestic issues, too long overshadowed by the Iraqi ‘sideshow’. And… Continue reading
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Let the reader be aware By William Bowles
Oh what an irony that the ‘responsible’ press is so prone to quoting Goebbels’ famous line as if by saying it somehow cancels out the lies they tell us. It’s as if they’re telling us, ‘If, by some chance you should be on to us, this is our caveat emptor that lets us off the… Continue reading
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Israel’s Proxy War By William Bowles
Israel’s attack on Syria this past weekend revives an aspect of the Cold War period that most thought a thing of the past, namely utilising a third party to do your fighting for you – war by proxy – a tactic used so effectively by the US in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Afghanistan, Angola and elsewhere… Continue reading
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David Kay and the CIA By William Bowles
As I suggested in a previous piece (“Bush spells it out”), the Iraq Survey Group’s interim report infers that Saddam pulled a ‘fast one’ on the USUK by ‘conning’ them into thinking Iraq had WMDs whereas in fact they didn’t and that this led to Iraq being invaded. Continue reading
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Blair builds the corporate state William Bowles
Blair is playing the leadership ‘take me or leave me’ shtick borrowed, lock, stock and barrel from Thatcher. In a pitch aimed directly at Labour Party members who are extremely unhappy with the direction that the government is going, Blair harked back to previous Labour governments, that, much as the Democracts in the US did,… Continue reading
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Two into one won’t go By William Bowles
The whys and wherefores of the massive con job that the rulers of Israel have done on the people of this planet will no doubt be the subject of innumerable books at some time in the future. A future that’s not afraid to speak out on the issue of Israeli racism and imperialism and the… Continue reading
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Bush spells it out: The politics of desperation By William Bowles
Bush the smaller’s speech at the UN on 23/09/03 finally spells out the conditions the imperialists want in exchange for recognising the UN’s role in the world, namely for the UN to alter its charter to recognise the right of the US to invade whoever the hell it feels like and under whatever pretext. Continue reading
The New Dark Age 