To the Tune of O Tanumbaum-
O Wikileaks O wikileaks how unsurprising are your cables..
O wikileaks..O wikileaks just a shocker for those not in the know
You share info – that’s a no brainer
That has people blushing at our lack of ethics
O wiki leaks O wikileaks!!!
How great is our geo politic influence?
Ok.. so thats the end of my spoof song career. Needless to say there has been a flurry or should I say snow storm >winks at the UK readers< of reaction and individual in certain positions scrambling to shore up *ahem* leaks in their agencies and in their citizens confidence in their governments.
I have to admit that most individuals don’t spend their times reading the heavy stuff I do or really desire to sit down and study current events let alone – the historical events that affect what is happening now.
Many people don’t even really know or understand what geopolitical influence is or how it plays out in their daily lives.
To not be surprised by what Wikileaks is sharing with the world means you can see the link between natural gas – designer hand bags made in China – military bases – stock prices – nuclear weapons and how much a loaf of bread costs and understand the interplay between them.
Most people specifically American’s don’t care why people on the other side of the globe are being killed as along as the status quo remains the same. What makes the average citizen care is when they can no longer afford the basic items they use to be able to such as bread or it seriously hurts their wallet to do so.
So far there have been no bread riots – yet.
I wonder who cares that now even I an average American citizen can be killed by my own government or you my reader – if deemed a threat to national security – I have to wonder how they define “threat” and “national security”. My citizenship doesn’t protect me from my government – oh how times have changed.
Now people want to be shocked that Muslim governments are urging the preemptive bombing of Iran. I assure you this is not a new idea and something that even the U.S. government has been mulling for a while. The acceptable loss ratios have already been calculated and the government of Iran knows that. If they didn’t – they wouldn’t have strategically placed all of the nuclear enrichment sites next to major population centers.
Is it just me who notices that no one tried to invade North Korea once they joined the Nuclear Club? The biggest threat to the United States geopolitical influence in the Middle East region is another nuclear state – never mind if its Muslim.
Libya was but gave up their nuclear ambitions in the face of pressure from the US and other regional partners such as Israel and Saudi Arabia. The United States worries that Iran gaining a nuclear weapon would lead to a nuclear arms race in the Middle East given the polarization between Iran as a Shia Muslim nation and the rest of the region as majority Sunni nations.
Israel also of course doesn’t want a Muslim nation with nuclear weapons because it completely shifts the power balance in the region. No longer would that one nation have to bow to the whims of the West or Israel. How many individuals dream of that? – Let alone whole nations?
Then there is the worry among the Sunni nations that a Shia nuclear power wouldn’t represent their interests and that they would have a new power to be sub servant to in the region besides the United States and Israel.
So why not bomb the crap out of Iran.. before we prove that they are truly creating a nuclear weapons program? I can totally understand why people question Iran’s motives given its huge natural gas reserves – why would they suddenly want to go with nuclear power given the government hasn’t made any larger environmental or pollution initiatives in other policy areas.
Wikileaks is doing a good job in creating transparency and accountability where governments prefer to have free reign to do what they want without repercussions of public knowledge.
Most American’s are living in a constant state of fear. A fear of loss. Loss of a job. Loss of money. Loss of health insurance. Loss of food. Loss of relationships. Our daily existence revolves around preventing loss of material or immaterial goods and gaining them when possible. Now we can add a fear of our government to the list for those who were in the dark until Wikileaks came along.
I have to ask.. What am I afraid of losing? What are you afraid of losing?
At what cost do we work so hard to keep what we have and prevent experiencing loss?
We keep what we have by giving up our individual freedoms and protections that used to be guaranteed under the Constitution. We give up the right to have our voice heard in a system that elects only the wealthy to serve as representatives for the wealthy with no system for recourse other than the next election. We sacrifice other people in other areas of the globe to continue our consumption – their health, their eco systems and their communities.
So bravo for wikileaks because it does what so many are unwilling to do – do whats right not what is popular.
“Common experience shows how much rarer is moral courage than physical bravery. A thousand men will march to the mouth of the cannon where one man will dare espouse an unpopular cause.” -Clarence Darrow
American Muslimahs Musings 