As Democrats express disgust at and prepare massive protests against Trump on his inauguration day (as was also done regarding Bush Jr.), respected analysts detail how the public has been kept ignorant of Obama’s actual policies and instead exposed to sycophantic praise, distortion, and omission regarding his actions.
“But the grace. The all-encompassing grace: in manner and form, in argument and intellect, with humour and cool ….[He] is a blazing tribute to what has been, and what can be again … He seems ready to keep fighting, and remains a formidable champion to have on our side … … The grace … the almost surreal levels of grace …”
Nicolas J S Davies outlines the reality: Obama, whose political career has been sponsored by, among many other similar elements, lethal weapons manufacturer General Dynamics, “has increased U.S. military spending beyond the post-World War II record set by President George W. Bush. Now that Obama has signed the military budget for FY2017, the final record is that Obama has spent an average of $653.6 billion per year, outstripping Bush by an average of $18.7 billion per year (in 2016 dollars).
In historical terms, after adjusting for inflation, Obama’s military spending has been 56 percent higher than Clinton’s, 16 percent higher than Reagan’s, and 42 percent more than the U.S. Cold War average…
Under Obama, “…the U.S. and its allies dropped 20,000 bombs and missiles in his first term. In his second term, they have dropped four times that number, bringing the total for Obama’s presidency to over 100,000 bombs and missiles striking seven countries, surpassing the 70,000 unleashed on five countries by George W. Bush.”
Davies continues that Obama has used the US’s Central American model of favoring proxy-armies and death-squads over sending in US troops, and has thus provided arms and ignited and fueled conflicts that have killed hundreds of thousands around the world.
But the strategy has also included “a massive expansion of U.S. special operations forces, now deployed to 138 different countries, compared with only 60 when Obama took office.”
Pilger notes this “amounted to a full-scale invasion of Africa.”
Highlighting what these operations and hegemonic expansion mysteriously achieve, Oxfam this week released a report noting that about 8 people now control as much wealth as half the world’s population. This is down from 16 people within the past year or so, and around 70 people before that.
In the US, while thousands of the poorest people in places like Detroit had their water turned off in violation of the universal declaration of human rights, Obama allocated a trillion dollars to the nuclear arsenal, in violation of legal obligations and agreements.
And while he has refused to prosecute torturers and war criminals from the Bush Jr. regime (let alone his own), he has waged a campaign of persecution against those who have exposed torture and war crimes.
Amnesty International and other groups note a highlight of Obama’s presidency was his recent commutation of the sentence of US political prisoner Chelsea Manning, who released documents exposing some US war crimes. But the commutation came conveniently after an offer from another, higher-value whistle-blower and political prisoner, Julian Assange, to accept extradition to the US in exchange for clemency for Manning.
Other note Obama has deported millions of people and increased military aid to major human rights violators like Israel and Saudi Arabia more than any other president.
While at least some Democrats would express opposition to these actions if they were performed by Trump, this cannot necessarily be called hypocrisy, since the US and Western propaganda model (corporations dumping billions into favored media outlets to overwhelm the market) prevents the vast majority of them from knowing Obama undertook the actions himself.
Robert J. Barsocchini is an independent researcher and reporter who focuses on global force dynamics and has served as a cross-cultural intermediary for the film and Television industry. His work has been cited, published, or followed by numerous professors, economists, lawyers, military and intelligence veterans, and journalists. Updates on Twitter.
If most of the Democrats did not know the real face of Obama ‘ Peace’ human carnage throughout the world, these innocent / ignorant politicians should not have been elected as representatives at all. This shows serious loopholes in american election system.
Even when many reports projected Sanders as better choice to defeat Trump, the Democrats did not analyse and made Hilary Clinton the candidate. This is, again, a subject for introspection.
There are some serious lapses the Democrats should discuss.
My hunch is that Obama, who is essentially a decent, naive and honest guy, got the memo from the deep state very early in his presidency, as they all have since Eisenhower. It’s message is simple: “tow the line” for the massive military industrial complex or “dig your grave”. Kennedy blew it, obviously. To imagine that the subversive Trumpsters can defy this marching order is somewhat comical. If the POTUS doesn’t comply, a hit or a crisis will be manufactured to force the issue, and the target will be the least capable of defense. Last time it was the FAA, hopelessly confused by the war games on 9/11. Next time, since upping the ante is part the game, it’s likely to be nuclear.