Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Freedom Rider: U.S. Continues Its War on the Rest of the World
Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
04 Mar 2020
🖨️ Print Article
Freedom Rider: U.S. Continues Its War on the Rest of the World
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.

“The average voter seldom thinks about foreign policy for the simple reason that they aren’t asked to do so.”

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.

“bin Laden was originally lauded as a freedom fighter by Carter and Reagan.”

Carter began the use of jihadist proxies and all of his predecessors followed in his foot steps. 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 have 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. 

“The war party duopoly have no intention of changing U.S. foreign policy in any significant way.”

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 far away 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. 

“Tulsi Gabbard questions the regime change concept but she has been barred from debates and is thus rendered invisible to the electorate.”

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.  

COMMENTS?

Please join the conversation on Black Agenda Report's Facebook page at http://facebook.com/blackagendareport

Or, you can comment by emailing us at comments@blackagendareport.com

duopoly

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Arnold August
Genocide as the Principal Cause of the Democrat’s Crushing Defeat
04 December 2024
While genocide is a clear cause of the democrats' defeat, economic issues are usually mentioned.
Black Alliance For Peace
No Matter Who Sits in the White Peoples’ House, the War Being Waged by the U.S. Colonial/Capitalist Class Against the Black Colonized Working Class and All Oppressed Peoples and Nations Will Continue
20 November 2024
Originally published in Black Alliance for Peace
Malaika Jabali
In Milwaukee, Many Black Voters Aren’t On Board With Either Party
31 July 2024
The city’s abstainers could determine who wins Wisconsin, a critical swing state, this November.
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
War, Genocide and Coups: Biden/Harris and The Irreversible Crisis of Neoliberal Fake Democracy
24 July 2024
One of the defining characteristics of the current crisis is the speed at which contradictory social, political and ideologic
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
For African/Black Working Class and Colonized Peoples, Midterm Elections in the U.S. Offer No Relief from War, Repression and Capitalist Misery
10 July 2024
This article was
Democratic Party Betrayal, Abortion, and the Supreme Court
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Democratic Party Betrayal, Abortion, and the Supreme Court
08 December 2021
Democrats have been fooled into thinking that only the courts can protect abortion rights.
Elections and the Illusion of Black Political Power
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Elections and the Illusion of Black Political Power
03 November 2021
Black politicians may be openly conservative or pretend leftists but their constituents rarely get what they need.
Biden is No FDR  and Build Back Better Legislation Proves It
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
Biden is No FDR and Build Back Better Legislation Proves It
27 October 2021
The idea that Joe Biden is the "most progressive president since FDR" is a propaganda device meant to quiet the Democratic Party left and force
Senators Bonnie and Clyde - 1% soldiers of fortune
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Senators Bonnie and Clyde - 1% soldiers of fortune
27 October 2021
                                         
Some provisions of Biden’s “Build Back Better” legislation benefit the masses of Black people, but this legislation is a bare minimum effort to blunt some of the sharpest contradictions of the system while attempting to maintain the neoliberal order.  
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
Build Back Better Legislation: New Keynesianism or Neoliberal Public Relations Stunt?
06 October 2021
Some provisions of Biden’s “Build Back Better” legislation benefit the masses of Black people, but this legislation is a bare minimum effort to

More Stories


  • Oliver Robinson
    Trump Terror, Complicit Local Leadership, and the Assault Against Southeast D.C.
    09 Apr 2025
    Donald Trump’s new “Safe and Beautiful” task force is little more than a thinly veiled assault on Black working-class communities in Southeast D.C., accelerating policing, displacement, and white…
  • Orinoco Tribune
    Ecuador’s Ex-Diplomat: Far-Right Can Do Anything to Sway Election (Interview)
    09 Apr 2025
    As Ecuador heads into a pivotal runoff election, left-wing candidate Luisa González emerges as the favorite—but the shadow of foreign interference and political violence looms large. In an exclusive…
  • Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
    Remembering Mario Joseph, BAI Managing Attorney
    09 Apr 2025
    The world has lost a champion of justice with the passing of Mario Joseph, a Haitian human rights lawyer who spent nearly three decades fighting for victims of state violence, cholera negligence, and…
  • Palestine Chronicle Staff
    Sole Survivor of ‘Paramedics Massacre’ in Rafah Exposes Israeli War Crime
    09 Apr 2025
    Monther Abed, the sole survivor of the Israeli attack on paramedics in Rafah, reveals the details of the crime in which 15 humanitarian workers were killed.
  • Alan MacLeod
    Betar: the Far-Right Hate Group Helping Trump Deport Israel’s Critics
    09 Apr 2025
    Betar U.S., a far-right Zionist organization with ties to violent extremism, is quietly shaping Trump administration policy, compiling lists of pro-Palestine activists for deportation while openly…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us