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That Was No Small War in Georgia — It Was the Beginning of the End of the American Empire
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Mark Ames / Radar | December 15, 2008
(This article was published in the final issue of Radar magazine, which was bought out and shuttered just as this issue went to print. This is the first online publication of this article. It has been updated by the author.)
The war in Georgia will be remembered as the place where the American Empire fell on its face.
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia — On the sunny afternoon of August 14, a Russian army colonel named Igor Konashenko is standing triumphantly at a street corner at the northern edge of Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, his forearm bandaged from a minor battle injury. The spot marks the furthest point of the Georgian army’s advance before it was summarily crushed by the Russians a few days earlier. "Twelve Georgian battalions invaded Tskhinvali, backed by columns of tanks, armored personal carriers, jets, and helicopters," he says, happily waving at the wreckage, craters, and bombed-out buildings around us. "You see how well they fought, with all their great American training — they abandoned their tanks in the heat of the battle and fled."
Konashenko pulls a green compass out of his shirt pocket and opens it. It’s a U.S. military model. "This is a little trophy — a gift from one of my soldiers," he says. "Everything that the Georgians left behind, I mean everything, was American. All the guns, grenades, uniforms, boots, food rations — they just left it all. Our boys stuffed themselves on the food," he adds slyly. "It was tasty." The booty, according to Konashenko, also included 65 intact tanks outfitted with the latest NATO and American (as well as Israeli) technology.
Technically, we are standing within the borders of Georgia, which over the last five years has gone from being an ally to the United States to a neocon proxy regime. But there are no Georgians to be seen in this breakaway region — not unless you count the bloated corpses still lying in the dirt roads. Most of the 70,000 or so people who live in South Ossetia never liked the idea of being part of Georgia. During the violent land scramble that occurred after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the South Ossetians found themselves cut off from their ethnic kin in North Ossetia, which remained part of Russia. The Russians, who’ve had a small peacekeeping force here since 1992, managed to keep the brewing conflicts on ice for the last 15 years. But in the meantime, the positions of everyone involved hardened. The Georgians weren’t happy about the idea of losing a big chunk of territory. The Ossetians, an ethnic Persian tribe, were more adamant than ever about joining Russia, their traditional ally and protector.
The tense but relatively stable situation blew up late in the evening of August 7, when on the order of president Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia’s army swept into South Ossetia, leveling much of Tskhinvali and surrounding villages and sending some 30,000 refugees fleeing north into Russia. Within hours, Russia’s de facto czar Vladimir Putin counterattacked — some say he’d set a trap — and by the end of that long weekend the Georgians were in panicked retreat. The Russian army then pushed straight through South Ossetia and deep into Georgia proper, halting less than an hour’s drive from Saakashvili’s luxurious palace. All around me is evidence of a rout. A Georgian T-72 tank turret is wedged into the side of a local university building, projecting from the concrete like a cookie pressed into ice cream. Fifty yards away you can see the remains of the vehicle that the orphaned turret originally was part of: just a few charred parts around a hole in the street, and a section of tread lying flat on the sidewalk. Russian tanks now patrol the city unopposed, each one as loud as an Einstrzende Neubauten concert, clouding the air with leaded exhaust as they rumble past us.
But listening to Colonel Konashenko, it becomes clear to me that I’m looking at more than just the smoldering remains of battle in an obscure regional war: This spot is ground zero for an epic historical shift. The dead tanks are American-upgraded, as are the spent 40mm grenade shells that one spetznaz soldier shows me. The bloated bodies on the ground are American-trained Georgian soldiers who have been stripped of their American-issue uniforms. And yet, there is no American cavalry on the way. For years now, everyone from Pat Buchanan to hybrid-powered hippies have been warning that America would suddenly find itself on a historical downslope from having been too reckless, too profligate, and too arrogant as an unopposed superpower. Even decent patriotic folk were starting to worry that America was suffering from a classic case of Celebrity Personality Disorder, becoming a nation of Tom Cruise party-dicks dancing in our socks over every corner and every culture in the world, lip-synching about freedom as we plunged headfirst into as much risky business as we could mismanage. And now, bleeding money from endless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we’re a sick giant hooked on ever-pricier doses of oil paid for with a currency few people want anymore. In the history books of the future, I would wager that this very spot in Tskhinvali will be remembered as both the geographic highwater mark of the American empire, and the place where it all started to fall apart.
I first visited Georgia in 2002 to cover the arrival of American military advisers. At the time, the American empire was riding high. A decade after the Soviet Union’s collapse, Russia seemed to be devolving into an anarchic and corrupt failed state, while the U.S. just kept getting stronger. Within months of President George W. Bush’s swearing-in, Time ran a column boasting that America didn’t need to accommodate Russia anymore because it had become "the dominant power in the world, more dominant than any since Rome." That same year we invaded Afghanistan without breaking a sweat. The New York Times magazine proclaimed: "The American Empire: Get Used to It." A new word, hyperpower, was being used to describe our history-warping supremacy.
The military advisers were dispatched to Georgia ostensibly to train that country’s forces to fight local Al Qaeda cells, which everyone knew didn’t exist. In reality, we were training them for key imperial outsourcing duties. Georgia would do for the American Empire what Mumbai call centers did for Delta Airlines: deliver greater returns at a fraction of the cost. They became a flagship franchise of America Inc. It made sense for the Georgians, too: Their erratic and occasionally violent neighbor Russia wouldn’t fuck with them, because fucking with them would be fucking with us — and nobody would dare to do that.
The imperial masterminds who fixated on Georgia as an outsourcing project must have figured we’d score a two-fer by simultaneously winning strategic control of the untapped oil in the region and also managing to stick a giant bug up the raw southern rim of our decrepit old rival Russia.
To enact this plan, America deftly organized and orchestrated the so-called Rose Revolution, which I witnessed in Tblisi in 2003. Saakkashvili’s predecessor, Eduard Shevardnadze, was judged unreliable, so in a multilayered soft putsch that used every lever of influence at our disposal, the U.S. replaced him with Saakashvili, a Columbia-educated hothead who speaks perfect neocon. In the Western media, the Rose Revolution was portrayed as 1776 redux (starring Saakashvili as George Washington with a permanent five o’clock shadow). A more perfect vassal for George W. Bush’s foreign policy could not have been found than "Misha," as he is fondly known. He stacked his cabinet with young right-wing fanatics, and made sure he had a coterie of mountain-biking American advisers with him at all times. This crew included John McCain’s chief foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann, whom Misha paid more than $1 million in lobbying fees.
This project in Georgia was just a high-profile example of a broader Bush strategy. All around Russia’s southern border, America laid claim to former Soviet domains. After 9/11, Putin infuriated many of his army commanders and security chiefs by agreeing to let the U.S. set up bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan for the Afghan invasion. Once the Taliban was removed from power, America decided that it felt like staying. After all, who was going stop us? Given the sorry state of their affairs, the Russians certainly weren’t. So by 2002, Putin was stuck with American pie dripping down his cadaverous bloodless face. But after years in which Russia rebuilt itself on the back of soaring commodity prices (today it’s the world’s largest producer of oil), our advantages in global power politics have started to tilt Putin’s way. Slowly and quietly he got American forces thrown out of Uzbekistan and all but sidelined in Kyrgyzstan. And then, here in Georgia, he seized the opportunity to really hammer home his point.
During my visit to Georgia in 2003, if someone had told me that in five years American military advisers would be hightailing it from their main base in Vasiani to avoid getting slaughtered by advancing Russian forces, I would have slapped him with a rubber chicken for insulting my intelligence. Yet there they were: gasping for air in the lobby of the Tblisi Sheraton, insisting off the record that the conflict was all the Georgians’ fault, not theirs.
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December 15th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
You do not want to War with Russia or China!
December 15th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
but, wait! I thought russia invaded georgia – that’s what MSM said.
December 15th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
One can’t begin to assume that we know the true intentions behind the swift retreat of American support from these countries. Yes, the whole thing stinks of NEOCON agenda through and through, this is a game of geopolitical chess in which moves are played out 10 moves in advance. Ultimately the objective is Eurasia and its natural wealth/resources, Zbigniew Brzezinski explained it all in detail over a decade ago in “The Grand Chessboard”. Claiming America had better not allow a Eurasian contender to step up and oppose American dominance in the region. Well, I guess Putin has a library card and did some homework. … Wake up people, your time is NOW!
http://www.latruth.com
December 15th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
War with Russia? it will gaurantee more money for the Military Industrial Complex and Population Reduction.
Ohh wait, these things are what the Elites want!
December 15th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
great article, sad radar is gone
December 15th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
poon hunterz unite
December 15th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
its all about china really, not russia
December 15th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Georgia might be the beginning of the end of America’s role as ubber-policeman for the World, Universe etc., but it was many years after the beginning of the end of America as a Nation. The end of America will – no question – go back to when the American people joyfully and willingly drank Ronald Reagan’s “trickle down”, “deregulate”, “government is the enemy” koolaid.
From there, all roads led to hell.
December 15th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
and russia does not want war with the USA either #1 david lee’ our military would still kick their ass at this point…
December 15th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
#1 you’re exactly right, I for one don’t WANT war with anyone! But you can want in one hand and shit in the other and you just see which one gets full first. Too many people will die, many will live, and in the end, we all know there was a good fight from both sides
December 15th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
America will be a fully socialized country within 12 months.
December 15th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
This upcoming Depression is about to make the Great Depression like a picnic.
December 15th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
#9 We The People
Kick their ass……………
Your’e just another big mouth amerkin with a real small dick.
China has a military force that is bigger than amerkas entire population.
I think you might get to LICK that ass.
December 15th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
And some of these moles on here keep writing
that this vaunted bunch of candy-@ss frauds are
gonna just up and whip the American people
without a whimper…?
They think they got their sorry butts in a meat-
grinder over there, wait til they see what happens
if they dare tangle with 8 MILLION CITIZEN MILITIA!
December 15th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Did you not read what happened to the Georgian troops? Troops that have no ambition to shed their lives for an idea they do not believe in-fail. America will not be successfully socialized into the neo-con’s one world slave pit by means of starvation or military operations without dedicated troops to enforce a total police state.
December 15th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
We should praise anyone who will help pound back the evil neocon empire.. i dont think the sheeple will be willing to take america back.
In the last couple of years i have seen nothing but truth and honesty from russia and the west just lies and lies while talking tough and down right mean ru.
We all know whats going on in the world, and i feel bad for the people of russia knowing what the bilderberg group has in store for them.
I’ll bet they feel alot like us patriots do.
December 16th, 2008 at 12:51 am
americans only fuck with 3 world countries, they ran like dogs against the ruskies
December 16th, 2008 at 12:58 am
hahahahaha
RUSSIA FOR THE WIN!
I LOVE THE MOTHER RUSSIA, I WANT TO DIE FOR RUSSIA!
SAVE US RUSSIA, DESTROY THE FUCKING ELITE-AMERICA!
December 16th, 2008 at 1:02 am
I hope our country’s fall brings the fall of corporations as well
December 16th, 2008 at 1:32 am
Amerika already is a socialized country. But the real fight hasn’t even begun. Believe me the world will know when it starts.
December 16th, 2008 at 1:48 am
if any of the 3, russia, usa or china, go to war with one of the other, i don’t really think it will matter who has the biggest dick.
I don’t believe this event is the downfall of USA, but it certainly didn’t help. Europeens, Russian, chineese are far from being stupid like most americans think. Hell, most of them who have access to education are probably smarter than the average american is…
So they all saw the patern. They knew USA was going on the ‘control freaks’ road. And everything blew up when USA decided to invade Irak…the second time.
From exemple to the world, americans became dangerous, self centered rigthous freaks that needed to be slowed down. That is what will creat the downfall of the country. Georgia was just another step in the process.
Russians would have been a little bit less hotheaded in their reactions if they didn’t knew they could have allies on this in the long term like China and europe.
If a really major conflict happens in the world, i wouldn’t be surprise to see USA alone VS the world…Wich would still don’t matter for us, ordinary people, as we would be fucked anyway….
December 16th, 2008 at 2:04 am
Why don’t people look to the Scriptures for answers as to what will happen to Babylon? America by the way is the revived Babylonian/Roman empire of the Scriptures…it is the modern Israel of the Scriptures too, as the gestalt of the evidence shows…
The prophet Jeremiah, in 626 BC warned about the illegal alien Mexican invasion of America as recorded in Jeremiah 51:2:”I will send foreigners to Babylon to winnow her and to devastate her land; they will oppose her on every side in the day of her disaster.” …he further says in chapter 50 that America will be surrounded by her enemies and will be utterly destroyed for her sins….and Jeremiah 51:3 says that America’s entire army will be destroyed, totally and utterly…don’t hang on Alex Jones’s every words…how it will supposedly be the US army doing the destroying…the nations who will be doing the destroying are listed by their ancient names in Isaiah and Jeremiah (and their comparison with modern maps show who they are today).
Think this is all bullshit? Why don’t you look at all of the websites that document the thousands of UN-passenger type vehicles, along with the thousands of UN-marked military vehicles, that are in the US and have been for about 14 years already, stored at various US military and government installations all over America, and well guarded….the UN forces will be comprised of those nations that the Scriptures state will invade Babylon/America… Look to the Scriptures for answers to what the very near future holds…not Alex Jones and other end times false prophets claiming the NWO will be defeated.
http://www.artisanpublishers.com is a very good information source for who modern Israel is…(The Lost Ten Tribes…and how they were prophesied to be in the Isles of the West (Britain and her offshoots/America) in the End Times…Britain in Hebrew literally means “covenant land”…its not an accident…the Most High is always in control….(Isa 42:4, 41:1, 5, 51:5, 24:15, 42:12, 49:1-3, 12, Jer 3:18, Jer 3:18, 23:8, 31:10-12…HOS 1 and 2….and many more)
December 16th, 2008 at 2:10 am
The NeoCons are traitors to this country. They are modern-day Fascists. The times we live in now very closely resemble 1930’s Germany: National Hubris, war mongering, mass delusion. This is not the real America…it has been hypmotized by the evil men in government and corporations.
Just like in Germany, the People will see just how much they have brought misery upon themselves…and all of a sudden wake up and begin resisting the very monster they built out of their own country.
Our foreign policy has been the exportation of pure evil. Just like in the first Medeval times, when thousands slaughtered in the name of religion, now thousand are slaughtered in the name of democracy.
We make people “free”, one invasion at a time.
There will have to be a reckoning for our national sins…I pray that it’s a peaceful reckoning.
December 16th, 2008 at 2:19 am
I have researched 8 presidents back to Jfk and I have concluded that every president has went through a major crisis ….. Obama will also go through a major crisis , whether it be economic , terror attacks or both . I think it will be Something very overwhelming and hard to deal with so everyone get prepared !!!! Alex thanks for the preperation , I am happy that I am mentally prepared for the future ! Check out the research I have done and please support my cause !
http://posmedprod.webs.com/presidentialhistory.htm
December 16th, 2008 at 3:30 am
What’s with all of the profanity in this article? It’s totally uneccessary.
December 16th, 2008 at 5:07 am
#22 you’re Jehovah’s Witness huh?
December 16th, 2008 at 6:09 am
Rest of the article:
Why Misha decided to attack is still a mystery. He claims he was forced to level Tskhinvali to preempt a Russian invasion, but that doesn’t make military sense, and has since been debunked by both Georgians and OSCE monitors on the ground; others believe that he struck because, with Bush on his way out, he thought this would be his last chance to regain control of South Ossetia. Another theory popular among journalists and pundits is that the notoriously “hotheaded” (some would say “mentally unstable”) Saakashvili was suckered into his doomed invasion by a clever Russian ruse, part of Putin’s plan to punish the West for recognizing Kosovo and other crimes of imperial insensitivity. Personally, I’d vote for number two. (Putin has offered an alternative hypothesis: that Misha intentionally sparked a war in order to boost John McCain’s prospects in the U.S. election.) Prior to the offensive of August 7, Georgians cut off Russian television and Internet sites in South Ossetia, then rained Grad rockets and artillery on the capital and surrounding villages. The early-hours blitz was, as one Ossetian told me the day before, “shock and awe.” At least half the population fled into Russia. People I spoke to in the refugee camps, mostly women, were still in a daze — they told of fleeing their burning villages under fire, of Georgians raping and murdering, of grenades thrown into civilian bomb shelters, of tanks running over children. (It was impossible to corroborate these individual stories, as is generally the case in trying to sift fact from inflamed rumor in refugee camps.)
Reliable casualty counts for the broader conflict are still all but impossible to get, but as of late August the Russians admit having lost 64 soldiers, and the Georgians a combined 215 soldiers and civilians. In both cases, the real number is probably much higher. On the civilian front, Ossetian sources claim that 1,500 were killed in the Georgian assault — Putin called it a “genocide” — but many Westerners dismiss that figure.
Privately, however, American advisers and defeated Georgian commanders admit to “total defeat.” Indeed, Arkady Ostrovsky of the Economist, a British reporter who has long been close to Saakashvili, told me that on the day of the cease-fire, the Georgian leader spoke of shooting himself, and was only dissuaded when word came of a supportive statement by Condi Rice. “It was sad to watch,” Ostrovsky told me. “I should have been more critical of Saakashvili back when it might have counted. A lot of us should have.”
That’s exactly the kind of full-spectrum smackdown the Russians were aiming for. And Konashenko wants us all to see it, so he offers to take me and some other reporters to the city of Gori in occupied Georgia. Russia seized control of the city at the end of hostilities, essentially cutting its foe in two and leaving it exposed to Vladimir Putin’s whims. “We’ll show you Gori — the city is spotless,” Konashenko says cheerfully. “We could have destroyed it, but we didn’t. Of course, there’s a little bit of damage here and there”
The next morning, I head toward Georgia in the back of a Russian army truck, winding through the countryside of South Ossetia. Many villages have been burned and completely leveled. In the minority ethnic- Georgian communities, the sour odor of death hangs in the air, as those who survived the Ossetians’ reprisal attacks had little time to bury their dead friends and relatives.
When we arrive in Gori, the locals seem unnerved by our presence. They shy away as aggressive reporters point cameras and pursue them along the cobblestone streets for a quote. At first, some say that they are grateful that the Russian forces are there to protect them from marauding Ossetian and Chechen irregulars, who had swept through parts of Georgia murdering civilians and looting homes before the Russians arrived. After a half hour, the Georgians we talk with get used to our presence. A few summon the nerve to quietly pull me aside and whisper things like, “Are the Russians ever going to leave?” and “We don’t have any information here. Is this going to be Russian territory forever?”
In Gori’s vast central square there is shattered glass on the sidewalks, but as Konashenko promised, the city is largely intact. It is also starkly empty, as if a virus or neutron bomb had wiped out the civilian population. Most of the city’s inhabitants have long since fled to Tblisi, along with the soldiers.
As we hop out of the army trucks, one of the Russian commanders points to a limp banner flying at half-mast over the polished-granite administration building on the far side of the square, “You see?” he says. “The Georgian flag is still flying. This is Georgian territory — we’re not annexing it like the media says.” This kind of boast, conquering a country and then making a big noble show of respecting its sovereignty, was something that had once been reserved for America’s forces. How quickly history has turned here.
The other Western journalists fan out for some atrocity hunting, digging for signs that the Russians might have dropped a cluster bomb or massacred civilians. The foreign-desk editors back home have been demanding proof of Russian evil, after largely ignoring Georgia’s war crimes in South Ossetia. It’s a sordid business, but the reporters are just following orders.
After an hour in the 90-degree heat, I head over to the city’s central square, where I stumble across a stunning spectacle: dozens of Russian soldiers doing a funky-chicken victory dance in the Georgian end zone. They’re clowning around euphorically, shooting souvenir photos of each other in front of the administration building and the statue of Stalin (Gori’s most famous native son) while their commanders lean back and laugh. I approach Lieutenant Colonel Andrei Bobrun, assistant commander of the Russian land forces’ North Caucasus Military District — the roughest neighborhood in Western Eurasia — and ask him how he feels now, as a victorious military leader in a proxy war with America.
“I have never been so proud of Russia — magnificent Russia!” Bobrun crows, an AK strapped over his shoulder. “For twenty years we just talked and talked, blabbed and blabbed, complained and complained. But we did nothing, while America ran wild and took everything it could. Twenty years of empty talk. Now Russia is back. And you see how great Russia is. Look around you — we’re not trying to annex this land. What the fuck do I need Georgia for? Russia could keep this, but what for? Hell, we could conquer the whole world if we wanted to. That’s a fact. It was Russia that saved Europe from Genghis Khan. Russia could have taken India and the Middle East. We could take anything — we took Alaska, we took California. There is nothing that Russia could not take, and now the world is being reminded again.”
“Why did you give California back?” I asked. It has always baffled me why a country would abandon prime coastal real estate for the frozen swamps of Siberia — I always assumed it was because the Russians were ashamed when they found themselves holding onto a chunk of this planet as perfect as California: like B-list nerds who successfully crash a Vanity Fair Oscar party, but within minutes of their little triumph, skulk out of the tent out of sheer embarrassment, knowing they never belonged there in the first place.
“We gave it all back because we don’t need it,” Borisov boasted, puffing out his chest. “Russia has enough land, what the hell do we need more for. But if others want to start something, this is what will happen. Russia is back, and I am so proud.”
As the day wore on, the Kremlin press pool organizers finally rounded us up, and we headed back again along the same victory trail. It was on this second visit to ruins of Tskhinvali, as dusk approached and the violence seemed to already acquire a kind of abstract tone, that I started to realize that I was looking at something much bigger than the current debate about Russian aggression or who was more guilty of what — pulling the camera much farther back on this scene, I understood that I was looking at the first ruins of America’s imperial decline. It’s not an easy thing to spot. It took years after the real collapse for Russians to finally accept that awful reality, and to adjust accordingly, first by retrenching, not overplaying an empty hand, slowly building up without making any loud noises while America ran wild around the world bankrupting itself and bleeding dry.
And now it’s over for us. That’s clear on the ground. But it will be years before America’s political elite even begins to grasp this fact. In the meantime, Russia is drunk on its victory and the possibilities that it might imply, sending its recently-independent neighbors into a kind of frenzied animal panic. Experience has taught them that it’s moments like these when Russia’s near abroad becomes, once again, a blood-soaked doormat in the violent epochal shifts — history never stopped here, it just froze up for a decade or so. And now it’s thawing, bringing with it the familiar stench of bloated bodies, burned rubble, and the sour sweat of Russian infantry.
We have entered a dangerous moment in history — America in decline is reacting hysterically, woofing and screeching and throwing a tantrum, desperate to prove that it still has teeth. Which it does — but not in the old dominant way that America wants or believes itself to be. History shows that it’s at this moment, tipping into decline and humiliation, when the worst decisions are made, so idiotically destructive that they’ll make the Iraq campaign look like a mere training exercise fender-bender by comparison.
Russia, meanwhile, is as high as a Hollywood speedballer from its victory. Putting the two together in the same room — speedballing Russia and violently bad-tripping America — is a recipe for serious disaster. If we’re lucky, we’ll survive the humiliating decline and settle into the new reality without causing too much damage to ourselves or the rest of the world. But when that awful moment arrives where the cognitive dissonance snaps hard, it will be an epic struggle to come to our senses in time to prevent the William Kristols, Max Boots and Robert Kagans from leading us into a nuclear holocaust which, they will assure us, we can win against Russia, thanks to our technological superiority. If only we have the will, they’ll tell us, we can win once and for all.
December 16th, 2008 at 7:07 am
USA, China…..Russia…Whilst were sitting here debating who would win in a war why dont we realise they are all still attached to the same strings of the NWO puppet-masters. When the people are on the battle fields defending their countries the leaders will be meeting for coffee to discuss their next moves and how best to profit themselves and deceive us…
December 16th, 2008 at 7:32 am
The failure of georgia cost John McCain the presidency. Now they’re onto the Central Asian WWIII option.
December 16th, 2008 at 7:34 am
Indeed Georgia, Venezuela, Lebanon, Thailand, and the list keeps getting longer -monumental failures of this Anglo-American/Israeli cabal to establish let alone maintain world hegemony. The real problem is there are already too many people waking up – there are still way too many local power brokers who will never give up their piece of the pie to a one world government – and technology is reaching a threshold where even a single, smart, determined individual can out fox multi-billion dollar corporations, trillion dollar armies, and mountains of bureaucracy.
They can still succeed though – if people don’t realize that government/democracy/patriotism is not the answer and education, self-sufficiency, and personal sovereignty is the answer.
They are indeed poisoning us, intellectually, physically, financially, and morally. No matter how weak they are – we will be no match for them if we are all sick, dying, or killing each other.
December 16th, 2008 at 7:42 am
Good point #28 camo … that really is the truth – I’d like to second that. The people all the way at the top, like in industry and finance are always making the most comfortable arrangements for themselves, minimizing competition, maximizing profit and power, while throwing their people upon the crucible of war and poverty to fuel their machine.
December 16th, 2008 at 7:58 am
Actually, signs of the fall began with the Korean and Vietnam wars.
December 16th, 2008 at 7:58 am
fuck the ruling elite
December 16th, 2008 at 8:20 am
Ya know it’s funny, Georgia was on the virge of teaching the peaceful soloution just as we started the war in afghanistan, now had they taught it, things would of course been a whole lot different, but since none of you even know what the peaceful soloution is, I’m talking to the wall, but that is the way it is today, even here where the people think they are informed, they still don’t know what really drives things today.
December 16th, 2008 at 8:25 am
#15, I hope you aren’t trying to say that there are people here,,,HERE that have ambition, other than stuffing their faces with big-macs and keeping up with sports and the jones. Well at least the number(8million) seems quite high to me. I haven’t met but 1 person in person where I live that gives a rats ass about anything but himself, and even then they don’t seem to even care about themselves or their children. Try to tell someone about the poisons lurking around every corner, and it’s the same thing, I’m crazy, so I’d just like to know where you got that number of 8 million my friend. Seems a little high to me.
December 16th, 2008 at 8:40 am
#30 said They are indeed poisoning us, intellectually, physically, financially, and morally. No matter how weak they are – we will be no match for them if we are all sick, dying, or killing each other.
and I can’t agree more, perfect as perfect gets,
December 16th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Yes we were on the brink of world war 3 if God hadn’t intervened and kept the Russians from attacking us!! But then too; the Russians were not ready to attack us yet!! For they have a plan of world conquest so that they can overthrow the luciferic new world order!! Yet; we have to fight them because we have to protect our nation and families because they will not have any pity on those of us who they see as aiding and abetting their mortal enemies!! So the Russians will be defeated when they attack us and Israel whom the antichrist rules!! And the Great God of Heaven will fight for Israel because He made their Father Abraham a promise that He would take care of the Righteous in Israel !! And He will protect those of us who know Him and are His Children also!!
And the antichrist beast system will flourish for a little while; until they martyr millions and millions of God true Children who will not take their zombie making beast chip which will turn its recipients into Christ hating zombie slaves!! AS THE FATHER GOD WILL SEND HIS ALMIGHTY SON JESUS AND HIS MIGHTY ANGELS TO DEFEAT THEM IN HOURS !!
December 16th, 2008 at 9:42 am
SolidRock
Your new testament accumine is commendable. Combined with old testament history (and geneology) one can get a clear picture of what is happening today.
Esau disguised as his brother Jacob (Israel) has the world believing he is the jewish nation. Finally he has the opportunity to kill his brother as he swore when Jacob stole the blessing (by disguising himself as Esau). These children (Esau) are masters of disguise who were those at the time of the exodus turning Moses away from the easy path, who at the time of Christ killed him as a group of Pharisee and who today (as “ashkinazm Jews”) will attempt to kill the remainder of Jacob’s sons.
Soon Esau will cast off the yoke of his brother Jacob and take possesion of the world. Those who have not been killed will be tagged and marked as slaves. They will set up their own god from the seed of Abraham and he will not worship the God of his fathers.
But have no fear for God made a promise to Esau and to Jacob from which neither can escape. Esau will melt like the chaff before Jacob who will be God’s battle axe and broadsword. Esau will raise up (the false nation of Israel) and God will tear down. Esau will be the stubble and Jacob the flame.
The time ahead will be a trouble like the world has never seen. Do we stand. Or do we remember the other promises God made to Jacob.
“And with thee will I break in pieces the nations and with thee will I destroy kingdoms” surely I say God’s will be done.
December 16th, 2008 at 9:59 am
i think more and more countries are starting to see america as DANGEROUS! Not leaders of the free world,but dangerous thugs of the world.
December 16th, 2008 at 10:01 am
You know I understand that American has to shrink it Empire a bit but I Really hate articles like this. Some of these stories and the headlines look as if the person who’s writing it is excited about America’s downfall and if I wanted to read Articles that were anti-American I would read a Russian or North Korean papers.
We need to discuss this from the point of view that we love America and anything is possible, writing articles or blogs with headlines like The Down Fall of the American Empire or This is the beginning of the end of the American empire, these stories all go to push farther and farther away the people we need desperately to join our Movement. We need to keep thing like these in Context on how our positions will strengthen America, make it more prosperous and loved through out the world if we do that we’ll get more converts to the Patriot movement.
I’m a member of the Patriot movement and seeing articles with these headline make me cringe no matter what is in the body of the piece.
December 16th, 2008 at 10:04 am
It’s all so stupid, if we met a russian or a georgian or an iraqi or an afghani person face to face we would probably get along really well(if they spoke english or vice versa) but our governments make us fight eachother and the hate boils up :*( Disarm the world is the only true solution, but I fear the only way that would happen is with something like the NWO which sucks also. Catch 22
December 16th, 2008 at 10:09 am
all this, and we have the tech to cut the oil use is half. humans are weird.
December 16th, 2008 at 10:10 am
I do primarily blame the american government for todays mess. I live in england and to hear things like: anglo-american-isreali alliance makes me sick. We did record breaking protests about the iraq war and still america went and invaded and our government(mostly tory’s-blairs opposition) backed them up like sheep. WTF!!!! The people have no say and now were dragged into this shit
December 16th, 2008 at 10:33 am
I live in America.
I am not proud to be American.
Call me a red, but I’m siding with Russia on this one…we as a nation should have kept it basic colonies. We’ve extended our reach for the obvious, money. It’s been doing us no good for a long time now and its now about to be the thing that kills us all.
Save the planet, punch a member of congress.
December 16th, 2008 at 10:49 am
That was a damn good article. Where is Mark Ames going to write next. I want to read more from him.
December 16th, 2008 at 10:52 am
America is a weak broken nation no doubt about that, but the Russian bear is going to be stronger than ever very soon.. Its just a pity that 300million Americans will soon pay with their lives for a handfull of wankers who they allow to ruin their country with lies and corruption.
I hope Hugo Chavez allows Russia to place Nuclear weapons on Venezeilan soil, this would wipe that silly smirk off the faces of the Neo-Cons.
December 16th, 2008 at 11:14 am
haha…So they have our technology now? More like we have had their technology for decades! Russia has some of the smartest scientists in the world and we are NOW worrying because they saw whats inside our sand box? Russia is going to be broke if Oil and Commodity prices continue to flat line. Im more worried about our American Constitution being stepped on.
December 16th, 2008 at 11:32 am
I hate Communists, that’s why I hate neocon Trotskyites. The most disgusting thing was when the western peacekeepers in South Ossetia slit the throats of their fellow Russia peacekeepers by supprise, which sounds like a Isreali tactic. I was wrong the most disgusting thing I heard was the NATO tank running over an eighty year old woman running with two children.
December 16th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Ah no.America started to fall when we started trusting neo-cons and commies.Ah and anymore the neo-cons.Are acting like there funded by the cremlin.Just look at there policies.SCREW ALL COMMUNISM.
December 16th, 2008 at 11:56 am
#41 Wide-eyes. You’re right about we the people, Americans, Afghans, Iraqis, Russians – if we met we’d probably get along – sort of like the British and German troops during WW1 having Christmas together.
We have the technology, now is the time for a paradigm shift – forget the government – forget corporations. We can do everything on our own – CNC machining, online collaboration, open source, and aquaponics.. .
Right now I am growing my own food, teaching myself welding, machining, and casting (gingery book series) and plan on taking a class soon. By using the vast resources of the Internet we can regain our independence and personal sovereignty. I encourage everyone to keep up the infowar and start the battle to regain your self-reliance. Just growing your food is a huge leap forward. Getting off the water grid, then the power grid are probably the next 2 easiest. After that you can incrementally get yourself independent on a local and personal level as far as manufacturing things.
You will then be able to pick and choose from the system what you want – and be isolated from it if you choose.
December 16th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Wise words ‘b’. Problem is most people can’t be bothered and I don’t have a garden lol. Still it’s a very good point. The sooner people realise how much power they have to change things in their personal realm the better
December 16th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Also keep up the good work B. Live long and prosper lol
December 16th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Well, aren’t we all dillusionists in one way for or another.
December 16th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
So, real freedom-loving Americans win wars and false, bullying Americans lose them. That’s very comforting, and expected.
Pack a gun anf pay no taxes.
December 16th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
The American empire should be dissolved. Long live the American republic.
December 16th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
#2
Yeah all the news said it was Russia that invaded. As a matter of fact so did McCain and Obama. Right up until after Bama was elected. Then it came out in the NYTimes that Georgia in fact invaded Ossetia. That was a little over a month now and those who followed it realized that Bush pulled this crap undercover at the Start of the Olympics so no one would pay attention to their lies. You may recall Sacka shiti eating his tie back then after Russia stomped his ass and he was clamering for NWO on Mainstream media…of course still blaming Russia.
December 16th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Great article.
December 16th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
I love this article Mother Russia kicked ass in Tsinhvali. It was about time some one put them back in their place, these bullies and slapped them back to Washington. Keep fucking with us (Russians) and they will see where that will lead. They are being soooo patriotic and courageous dropping bombs from the air. They wouldn’t dare put their troops their because they know they will get slaughtered.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
#49
What do you know about Communis? i bet only what COXnews told you?
Becides Russia is not Communist country over 18 years already
USA began to decay after FBI crooks and mafia killed Kennedy and get away with it
December 16th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Hey Akoola your a dumb ass. I know US tatics,training,and our will to fight. I know for a FACT we have the best Special Forces in the world. I have seen soilders from other nations to include Russian. Im a realist not to blow smoke up our asses but we would stomp the shit out of anyone guy. Russian forces have very basic tatics, there spetznas are mediocre at best(At the top level of spetznas). US citizens and US military personal are two VERY diffrent type of people.
December 16th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
This was a great article and I believe it was a tipping point as well.
December 16th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Everybody I would talk to would say Russia is no more.The Georgia takeover is proof that Russia was quietly rebuilding herself into being a big super power.This story is the truth.America is on the decline.The wars for the control of oil has drained us.It was not about 9/11.It was for oil now you are seeing what greed is doing to are once great Republic.
China is also another one to watch.
December 16th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Go Russia!!!
December 17th, 2008 at 2:35 am
I fucks with Russia!
I wish i were Russian or atleast if i could flee to Russia, America is going to burn in nuclear fire!!!!
December 17th, 2008 at 3:40 am
What a load of propaganda bullshit. You gullible bastards make me laugh. Russia will NEVER regain her past glory. All her satellite countries have abandoned her and her economy is in the same shape as ours. Do your research about what went on over there, don’t believe one dipshit’s article.
December 17th, 2008 at 5:32 am
It doesn’t matter what anyone says or thinks. The Prophecies will be
fulfilled. Of course every citizen of every nation is Patriotic to his nation.
However the Prophecies will take Precidence, and they will be fulfilled.
Russia will be Victorious in the future too, and they will expand their
world wide power as Amerika’s power declines. This trend will continue,
up untill Russia, China & their allies decide to invade Israel. Then the
Great God of Creation will arise and defeat those invading force’s and
they shall all be destroyed. This will be done by God’s Great Power, and
not by man’s. After this last great battle, the prophecies state that they
will burn their chariots and weapons of war for 7 Years. That is how long
it will take to rid the land of the war chariots that will be piled up for burning.
The ” Great King – Jesus Christ ” will then rule the whole world for 1,000 Years.
December 17th, 2008 at 6:10 am
Very well written article.
Who ever thought Russia’s rise to power would be a benefit to us…
At this point, though, whatever weakens the American-Zionist empire is the best thing that can happen.
December 17th, 2008 at 8:43 am
word to comment 66: your deluded, religious, non-sensical babble only serves to further entrench my views that the illuminati have the right idea when it comes to eradicating religion.
Russia is far from being in any position to challenge US millitary force. Their army is usually up to their eyeballs in vodka! Their equipment is sub-standard. The only thing they have is sh!t loads of nukes and even Putin is not silly enough to use them.
December 17th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Hey spool what do you know about spetsnaz? Only what you’ve heard from msm here or read online? I have family that was in the army in spetsnaz from Afghanistan in 80’s to now. And as far as us citizens I’ve been living in this country for over 20 years now and I know people here very well. These are not fighters, please who are you kidding. For the most part these are fat, lazy, spoiled people. I think the only way they fight is if you cancel American idol or survivor or fill in the blank here show. Your talking about a WILL to fight? HA maybe 60 years ago but not now. What’s is happening here now is very similar to what the Germans did to the Jews. Put them on the train to slaughter. Plus your American training and tactics did very well in Georgia, so well in fact that from the first Russian shot fired all your AMERICAN trainers and their pupils dropped everything and ran. Was this the tactic you were boasting about. America is like a bully. It will terrorize you until you hit it on the mouth and then they run. Give me a break. So who’s the Dumb ASS now mother fucker. PS after what happened in Georgia If I was American I would be embarrassed to write about American tactics and training.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:15 am
LOL AKOOLA, good response
December 17th, 2008 at 10:54 am
akoola11
Well said
P.S. spool! – we are not goint to give back those supersecret recon-command hammers that your instructors and their sick pupils droped in georgia
Entire planet saw how your instroctors from your mega-special forces and their students FLED droping a shit on the road using what ever they can find to FLEE FASTER
Dream on spool – but reality puts you back on the ground
December 17th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Why do I have this terrible feeling that if things keep going this way, before too long nukes will start getting thrown around? I wish the American people would rise up and flush the psychotic shits that are doing this in our government down the toilet. Sadly though, I think its gonna get a lot worse before people wake up and try to throw off these goons in office. By that time, it’ll be sadly too late…
December 17th, 2008 at 11:38 am
“In reality, we were training them for key imperial outsourcing duties. Georgia would do for the American Empire what Mumbai call centers did for Delta Airlines: deliver greater returns at a fraction of the cost…”
Call Centers in Mumbai do something Delta needs done. What, exactly, are you suggesting Georgian soldiers supposed to do for us? What “service” have we “outsourced” to Georgia?
Let’s see…hmmm…none? What can Georgia do for us other than defend their own territory and hunt terrorists? Are you suggesting that maybe an American-armed Georgia can invade Russia? Please.
You make a big deal about the destroyed American hardware in Georgia, suggesting, “Look at that! We gave them our best weapons and our best training and they still got beat! That must mean our stuff and training sucks. We’re headed down the tubes.”
Uh, wrong. Soldiers could be armed with laser rifles, plasma tanks, and flying saucers, but if they do not have the will, courage, and/or determination to remain on the field, they will be beaten every time.
Who are you, anyway?
December 17th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
l
December 17th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
“A good friend of ours said that if the same laws were applied to U.S. presidents as were applied to the Nazis after World War II that every single one of them, every last rich white one of them from Truman on would have been hung to death and shot – and this current administration is no exception. They should be hung, and tried, and shot. As any war criminal should be. But the challenges that we face, they go way beyond administrations, way beyond elections, way beyond every four years of pulling levers, way beyond that. Because this whole rotten system has become so vicious and cruel that in order to sustain itself, it needs to destroy entire countries and profit from their reconstruction in order to survive – and that’s not a system that changes every four years, it’s a system that we have to break down, generation after generation after generation after generation after generation… Wake up.”
-NOAM CHOMSKY REGARDING THE NUREMBERG PRINCIPLES
December 17th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Russia, the Prince of Rush, children of Esau.
December 17th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
How do you drum up the courage to come to infowars.com of all places and disagree with, it could be argued, the most informed readers, listeners, audience, that’s not a part of the elite, in the world?
People like Jeff Hardy, attacking even this mainstream article, against US, no less, just boggles the mind.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
I hate to say this, but it was not an American loss… Nor was it a failure of American technology..
What it was, was the weight of the Russian Military, aginst a smaller foe..
To quote an American general:
He who goes to war the fastest , with the mostest wins, and that is pretty much it.
I am a pacifist, I hate all war.
I wonder how many of those bloated bodies were innocent…
December 20th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Once again brainless boys and girls: There is no American Empire. There never was an American Empire.
We would not give the latest technology to anybody, anywhere, for any reason.
All you do is look for the worst; well, imagine your surprise when you find nothing good. Pull your heads out of your asses, think for yourself.
Why would any nation give any other nation the latest military technology? No nation would do that.
January 6th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Had to end sometime. Rome fell after a thousand years, how fast will America fall?