Azenha: "A política por trás da escolha de Obama"

  

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por Luiz Carlos Azenha

O prêmio Nobel da Paz é um prêmio eminentemente político. Os outros, não. Os de física ou medicina obedecem acima de tudo a critérios científicos.

Podemos discutir até amanhã se Barack Obama merece ou não o prêmio.

Mas não podemos descartar o contexto em que a escolha aconteceu.

Obama fez mudanças tênues na política externa americana, até agora. Houve, com certeza, alguma distensão. Inevitável. Obama não teria mais como tensionar o mundo, mesmo que quisesse, diante de dois escoadouros de dinheiro público como são o Iraque e o Afeganistão e uma crise econômica que abalou profundamente os Estados Unidos.

O fato concreto é que, em nove meses de mandato, Obama foi obrigado a apagar um enorme incêndio, resultado das políticas desastrosas de George W. Bush. Hoje, é como se Bush nem tivesse existido. É como se as políticas de Bush, propagandeadas mundo afora pelos neocons, não tivessem enterrado os Estados Unidos num tremendo pântano econômico, político e militar.

Como eu já escrevi aqui, cravar uma cruz no coração dos neocons não é tarefa fácil. Em primeiro lugar, porque os neocons não obedecem às mesmas regras políticas às quais se sujeitam os meros mortais. Eles podem apanhar continuamente dos fatos que não se fazem de rogados. Continuam lutando a mesma guerra e usando os mesmos argumentos milenaristas — se não for do jeito que eu penso, o mundo vai acabar.

Apenas para ilustrar, uso como exemplo o caso das cotas raciais no Brasil. Se fossem adotadas, argumentam os que se opõem a elas, haveria uma guerra civil no Brasil. Porém, as cotas foram adotadas e o mundo não acabou. Pelo contrário, em várias universidades públicas brasileiras as cotas foram bem sucedidas.

Mas os neocons não trabalham com a razão. Trabalham com a emoção dos ouvintes, telespectadores e leitores. Eles não estão em busca do convencimento tradicional. Buscam tropas de choque que compensem sua falta de votos ou de argumentos.

A serpente representativa do PMDB na capa da Veja, o rosto “diabólico” de João Pedro Stedile na capa da Veja, a ficha falsa da candidata-terrorista na capa da Folha de S. Paulo – tudo isso faz parte da imagética dos neocons. É o uso do pânico como instrumento da luta política.

Nos Estados Unidos, neste exato momento, os neocons estão concentrados em tentar repetir o que fizeram com Bill Clinton, no início dos anos 90, quando o governador do Arkansas mal tinha assumido a Casa Branca. Impor ao presidente Barack Obama uma derrota doméstica na questão da reforma do sistema de saúde.

No caso de Clinton, a reforma do sistema de saúde desenvolvida pela primeira-dama Hillary foi derrotada no Congresso. Bill Clinton “caiu para dentro”. Quase duas décadas depois, contando com maioria nas duas casas do Congresso, Obama tenta fazer o que Bill Clinton não conseguiu. Tem ao lado dele a maioria da opinião pública.

Tudo indica que algum tipo de reforma será aprovada pelo Congresso antes do fim de 2009. Porém, o que interessa aos neocons é derrotar a “opção pública”, que tornaria o governo dos Estados Unidos concorrente das grandes empresas que vendem seguros de saúde no país. É o que tenho repetido aqui no blog, sempre que escrevo sobre os neocons: a batalha ideológica na verdade encobre a defesa de interesses econômicos muito específicos.

O que ajuda a explicar as teorias aparentemente malucas atiradas contra Obama: de que ele seria “nazista”, ou “fascista”, ou nem teria nascido nos Estados Unidos. Àqueles que combatem Barack Obama não importa se essas acusações são factíveis ou não, se tem ou não sustentação na realidade. Lembre-se, estamos no campo da emoção, não da razão.

Os neocons se lixam para os fatos. Se houver uma pessoa disposta a acreditar que Obama tem parentesco com belzebu o presidente americano será acusado disso.

Alijados do poder pelo voto, eles agora tratam de travar uma guerra de guerrilha nos meandros da burocracia americana, onde deixaram muitos seguidores: contra o fechamento de Guantanamo, contra a retirada das tropas do Iraque, pelo aumento das tropas no Afeganistão, contra a distensão com Cuba, em defesa do governo golpista de Honduras, por um ataque militar contra o Irã.

Barack Obama, nesse contexto, é como John Kennedy, que assumiu o poder em plena guerra fria e morreu por ter dito não ao uso de aviões americanos contra as tropas cubanas que repeliram a invasão patrocinada pela CIA na baía dos Porcos. Disse não, também, à escalada militar dos Estados Unidos no Vietnã, com o despacho de tropas de combate.

Por isso, estou entre os que dão boas vindas à escolha de Obama para o Nobel da Paz. Prematuro, sim. Mas ele precisa de todo o capital político que conseguir angariar para derrotar os neocons. Será bom para ele, agora. E, para nós, um pouco mais adiante.

PS: De Rush Limbaugh, o campeão da direita americana:  “Something has happened here that we all agree with the Taliban and Iran about and that is he doesn’t deserve the award”; “Algo aconteceu aqui que nos faz concordar com o talibã e o Irã: ele não merece o prêmio

Fonte: Vi o mundo ( http://www.viomundo.com.br/opiniao/a-politica-por-tras-da-escolha-de-obama/

http://viomundo.com.br/ ) do Luiz Carlos Azenha

Postado por

Luiz Albuquerque

Muhammad Ali Adidas och floppen av årets fredspris

Så, då var det dax att köpa sig ett par nya skor. Det fick bli ett par Adidas som jag haft senaste 10 åren men nu i Muhammad Ali-edition. Snygga vill jag själv påstå. Jag har fastnat i Bangkok. Verkar ha stora svårigheter att ta mig härifrån. Jag ska ju återvända till Thailand i mars så det finns ju mer utrymme för utforskning av öarna och övriga områden då, om jag nu alltså inte lyckas ta mig härifrån innan mitt flyg tar mig till Hanoi i Vietnam den 20:e oktober.

Sedan kan jag inte hålla mig från den politiska arenan, även om jag hade tänkt vara opolitisk i denna blogg. Men hur tänker egentligen norska nobelkommittén med valet av Obama? Vad har han hunnit uträtta egentligen eller är det ett pris för vad som komma skall? Mig veterligen ska priset ges till den som under det gångna året gjort mest för världsfreden. Jaha, Obama blev president en vecka innan nomineringstiden löpte ut i början av året. Vad har Obama gjort innan dess då, valkampanjat? Nej, jag har absolut inget emot Obama (än) men norska nobelkommittén har skämt ut sig totalt.

Så här ligger det till: norska kommittén måste på något vis hävda sig mot den svenska och utmärka ena megakändisen efter den andra för att försöka ha ett större jippo än det svenska. Eller är det för att Norge köpte amerikanska stridsflyg och gärna vill ligga i ännu mer god kant med USA?

Som utmärkelsen är nu har Norge gett priset till någon som förväntas göra något, inte som Alfred Nobel bad om att ge priset till den som faktiskt gjort något. Nästa år föreslår jag – om ni läser det kära norska nobelkommitté – att ni ger priset till Nordkoreas diktator Kim Jong-il. För kanske börjar han då uträtta något positivt för världsfreden i och med pressen han då får av utmärkelsen..

Nej, nu lämnar jag er norden åt ert eget öde och tar mig en Heineken vid poolen istället.

<i>Get Off Obama's Back</i>: Second Thoughts From Michael Moore

Posted by TheLCster

Michael Moore—Last night my wife asked me if I thought I was a little too hard on Obama in my letter yesterday congratulating him on his Nobel Prize. “No, I don’t think so,” I replied. I thought it was important to remind him he’s now conducting the two wars he’s inherited. “Yeah,” she said, “but to tell him, ‘Now earn it!’? Give the guy a break — this is a great day for him and for all of us.”
I went back and re-read what I had written. And I listened for far too long yesterday to the right wing hate machine who did what they could to crap all over Barack’s big day. Did I — and others on the left — do the same?
We are weary, weary of war. The trillions that will have gone to these two wars have helped to bankrupt us as a nation — financially and morally. To think of all the good we could have done with all that money! Two months of the War in Iraq would pay for all the wells that need to be dug in the Third World for drinking water! Obama is moving too slow for most of us — but he needs to know we are with him and we stand beside him as he attempts to turn eight years of sheer madness around. Who could do that in nine months? Superman? Thor? Mitch McConnell?
Instead of waiting to see what the president is going to do, we all need to be pro-active and push the agenda that we want to see enacted. What keeps us from forming the same local groups we put together to get out the vote last November? C’mon! We’re the majority now — the majority by a significant margin! We call the shots — and we need to tell this wimpy Congress to get busy and do what we say — or else.
All I ask of those who voted for Obama is to not pile on him too quickly. Yes, make your voice heard (his phone number is 202-456-1414). But don’t abandon the best hope we’ve had in our lifetime for change. And for God’s sake, don’t head to bummerville if he says or does something we don’t like. Do you ever see Republicans behave that way? I mean, the Right had 20 years of Republican presidents and they still couldn’t get prayer in the public schools, or outlaw abortion, or initiate a flat tax or put our Social Security into the stock market. They did a lot of damage, no doubt about that, but on the key issues that the Christian Right fought for, they came up nearly empty handed. No wonder they’ve been driven crazy lately. They’ll never have it as good again as they’ve had it since Reagan took office.
But — do you ever see them looking all gloomy and defeated? No! They keep on fighting! Every day. Our side? At the first sign of wavering, we just pack up our toys and go home.

More @

Michael Moore’s First Thoughts

Congratulations President Obama on the Nobel Peace Prize — Now Please Earn it!

Washington State taxable sales decline 14% during second quarter

Taxable retail sales declined 14 percent to $25 billion during the second quarter of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008, the Washington State Department of Revenue reported today.
The April-through-June sales decline is the largest one on record. Sales dropped 12.8 percent during the first quarter of 2009, and 10.8 percent during the fourth quarter of 2008, the second- and third-largest declines since reliable records have been kept beginning in 1974.

Pierce County was even worse than the state average with a drop in taxable retail sales of 14.1 percent.

Retail trade, a component of all taxable retail sales that includes retailers, but excludes other industries such as services and construction, dropped 10.7 percent to $11.1 billion.

Among the largest industries, retail sales from construction dropped 26 percent to $4.3 billion; motor vehicle and parts dropped 21 percent to $2.3 billion; accommodations and food services dropped 5.2 percent to $2.7 billion; general merchandise stores declined 0.4 percent to $1.6 billion, the retail component of wholesale trade declined 18.8 percent to $1.9 billion, miscellaneous retailers dropped 17.3 percent to $1.2 billion, information services dropped 4.1 percent to $1.2 billion, and building materials, garden equipment and supplies dropped 11.5 percent to $1.3 billion.

Did Glenn Beck discover the "Mark of the Beast"? Veri-Chip and Swine Flu Vaccination Scares !

10-8-2009

Veri-Chip is a real company and they spoke with Beck.

Glenn Beck said he will discuss Veri-Chip and Swine Flu on tonight’s show. Putting chips in people with the H1N1 Flu shot- he said is NOT true, but that Veri Chip has a Gov’t contract because they have a “Swab Test” to determine if you have H1N1. Veri Chip also has a chip which they told Beck has “no tracking device” but contains a 16 digit number which can be scanned and then it shows that you’ve had the flu, been vaccinated, etc and it can be injected into you !

Beck stressed that this is NOT Happening NOW and his investigation shows there is no proof that any chips are being injected at this point – but he stresses that the technology DOES exist and that in an event of a national emergency – could it happen?

You will have to watch the show this evening to get the information for yourself – he just did a teaser on the radio !

Will the Health Care Bill mandate all of us being chipped? From Veri-Chips website:

VeriMed Health Link
Health Link is the connection between you and your personal health record. Health Link utilizes a tiny, passive microchip (the first and only microchip cleared for patient identification by the FDA) and a secure online database that links you to your personal health record.

Listen to this:

International concerns grow over the safety of the Indian Nuclear Arsenal

The Naxalite Threat

LONDON – Far removed from the photo-shopped images of ‘Shining India’, lies a dark and sinister shadow that stalks the Indian Republic. The spectre of the Naxalite threat now has middle-class urban Indians nervous as they watch increasingly worrisome media reports of the repeated failures of Indian Security Forces in containing the ‘red menace’ in the jungles and hinterlands of India.

What was once only a peripheral threat to the Indian State has now reached a critical mass that has left even the ivory-tower Indian elites in New Delhi with furrowed brows. An embarrassing problem once ignored and neglected has now broken out into the worlds glare. And rightly so. As the vigour of the Reds grows from strength to strength, and the impotence of the Indian Army and Paramilitary is increasingly apparent, questions are being raised of the safety and security of India’s nuclear weapons arsenal. Similar concerns were raised internationally only a few months ago when the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan were said to be within spitting distance of Islamabad and Pakistan’s own nuclear arsenal was seen as an obvious target. But whereas the Pakistan Army swiftly and efficiently routed the militants from a standing start within just a few weeks, their colleagues in India have struggled to contain an irresistibly growing Naxalite movement that has pledged to bring New Delhi down.

In fact, there are few parallels that can be drawn with the Pakistani case. Whereas the Pakistani militants numbers in a few thousand and were confined to a tiny fraction in the north of the country, their Indian equivalents boast ranks of at least 20,000 strong (and growing) and have had significantly greater success. Now infesting massive swathes of Indian territory, India’s Naxalite problem is the most prolific and violent insurgency in any nuclear armed nation, and leaves Pakistan’s recent troubles far behind in terms of the implications for regional and indeed international security.

According to Indian government sources, the insurgency, which started in 1967 as a peasant uprising, has now spread to 20 of India’s 28 states – and is showing no signs of exhaustion. A staggering 700 people, including civilians and police, have been killed in the rebellion so far this year, up from 638 in total last year. Observers may be shocked that such dangerous developments have been scarce reported in the world’s media, but in September the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh – probably on a break from being feted in world capitals – let the cat out of the bag when he described Naxalism as India’s greatest security threat, and said that security forces were failing to halt it.

With the rebel movement seemingly unstoppable, the international community is becoming increasingly vocal in its concerns of the very dangerous prospect of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of fanatical extremists. A the same time, the Indian government is desperate to save face and avoid derailing its recent global public relations blitz. Thus it is planning a major assault on the rebels across the four states where their presence is strongest. The move comes as new evidence emerges the Naxalites are stepping up their military and operational deployments as their successes have won them thousands of new recruits across the country.

But commentators are sceptical about what this new campaign can possibly achieve considering all of India’s recent botched attempts to stamp out the growing menace. Ajay Sahni, executive director of the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi, says Indian forces do not have the strength – in terms of “numbers, training, transportation, arms” – to gain control over such vast swaths of territory. “Until there’s been a steady, tremendous capacity-building, all deployments will be irrational,” he says. “It will just be a nibbling away at the peripheries, and a lot of security forces will be killed.”

As Indian forces are sent into the rebel-infested eastern states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, and Bihar, the world will watch with baited breath. It is too early to say whether international concerns over the security of the Indian state and nuclear arsenal will be alleviated, but considering past performance, the prospect does not look good. The Indian Army may buck past trends and achieve its objectives, but more likely, there will be a great deal of movement in international capitals as contingencies are drawn for the worst-case-scenario.

Atif F Qureshi  PKKH Editorial Team and www.PakDestiny.net

Obama's Permanent Depression

Obama may be remembered for permanent depression, the way that Leon Trotsky’s name is linked with permanent revolution. Fiscal stimulus combined with near-zero interest rates have proven to be a toxic cocktail for the United States, the macroeconomic equivalent of barbiturates and alcohol.

Keynesian spending creates a deficit that sucks all the available capital out of the grassroots economy and transfers it to the Treasury market. Easy funding terms from the Federal Reserve allow financial institutions to make money in government bonds while shutting off credit to the rest of the economy. It’s classic crowding out, in which the government’s misguided effort to spend its way out of recession pushes the productive economy deeper into the hole.

Panic is starting to take hold at the Obama White House over the relentless deterioration of the job market. US jobs in September declined by about 263,000 jobs, worse than the 175,000 drop expected by Wall Street economists. To the 15.1 million on the official unemployment count, add 9.2 million “involuntary part-time workers” and 2.2 million who were dropped from the tally because they had not sought work in the past month, and the unemployment rate would rise to 17.1 million.

That doesn’t include another three million long-term discouraged workers – those who want to work but who have long since stopped looking. That would take the number up to 20%. In past recoveries, a number of economists observed, all the job growth came from small business, but small business is lagging in the present crisis. The financial crisis crushed the entrepreneurs, as surely as Joseph Stalin crushed the kulaks, the relatively affluent peasants.

Obama inherited a crisis, to be sure, but he has made it much worse. America is in the kind of trap into which Japan fell during the “lost decade” of the 1990s, whence it never really emerged. In the Keynesian world of Larry Summers, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, and the Obama economics team, the problem is that Americans save too much and spend too little. To restart the economy, the government has to spend money for them – hence the US$800 billion stimulus package.

There are two things terribly wrong with this notion. The first is that it is simply a matter of what John Maynard Keynes called the “marginal propensity to consume”. Americans have saved almost nothing during the past 10 years, relying instead on home equity that now has vaporized. The proportion of Americans over 60 will jump to 25% from 19% during the next 10 years, an unprecedented shift. Americans must save to compensate for past profligacy, from a lower starting point after the destruction of so much wealth, and with lower prospective returns. The demand for savings is bottomless.

The second problem is that even if the government borrows money, the money has to come from somewhere. Right now it’s coming from households who choose to save rather than borrow, and from the balance sheet of the Federal Reserve or the banks, as well as foreign investors.

A quick walk through the numbers puts the problem in context.

To read the rest of this Asia  Times article go to http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/KJ06Dj04.html