With another year drawn to a close, many of the serious calamities and disasters that the world faced entering 2007 still remain. The US's attempts to colonise Iraq and Afghanistan are still under hot pursuit by die-hard pockets of resistance from the White House Republican Guard, falsely buoyed by its support from right-leaning Western sycophants or donor-dependent developing nations looking to move up the food chain by casting favour with the Emperor in Washington.
The legitimacy of this war, the tactics employed, and the original US objectives are now coming under scrutiny and questions are finally being asked; but it seems that no organisation, international or otherwise, has the power to reign in a rogue state, especially when that rogue state happens to be the most powerful in the world. It appears that the killings, the privatization of Iraq's resources, and the siphoning of its wealth will continue until either the US economy collapses and the US war machine runs out of steam, the insurgency gathers momentum and routes out the US forces and their puppet administrators, or the United Nations reclaims the moral high-ground and demands a US withdrawal from the region.
The Israel/Palestine conflict is another issue that remains unresolved, but this, of course, has remained unresolved since 1967, despite the United Nations' Resolution 242, ruling that Israel should leave the 'occupied' territories. Of course, Israel's protector, the US government, is central to the enforcement of this ruling, so the likelihood of Resolution 242 coming to pass any time in the near or distant future looks grim, at best. The US shamelessly panders itself to the world as the 'independent' arbitrator of peace to the Israel/Palestine conflict while simultaneously continuing to provide both military hardware and financial assistance to Israel, stifling Palestinian independence and nationhood to further its own geo-political interests whilst hypocritically canvassing for the federalisation of Iraq, independence and nationhood for Kosovo, and autonomy for Kurdistan. The US is the architect of 'Camp David,' 'The Road Map,' and a whole fleet of other dubious peace initiatives it has used to garner world support for one colonial venture or another. From the first Gulf War to the invasion of Iraq, the US government has promised a solution and priority to the Israel/Palestine situation if the world supports its imperial adventures. Yet again, the world has been deceived and short-changed.
Behind the backdrop of these major events, the world ticks on. Islamophobia is envogue, 'Black on Black' violence has migrated to the white suburbs, thus mutating within the eyes of the media to 'Youth Violence,' Benazir Bhutto will not be the next President of Pakistan, and, despite all of the propaganda from both sides, Fidel Castro may yet outlive George W. Bush.
We at Rice N Peas would like to thank you for your continued support, your readership, your purchase of our DVDs, your attendance at our film screenings, and your words of encouragement. We are currently in Australia documenting the effects of racist intervention and quarantine laws which have been imposed upon various Aboriginal communities and hope to have this documentary ready for May 2008. As the New Year begins, we look forward to keeping our readers informed of our progress and activities from the Australian Outback.
Ishmahil Blagrove, Jr.
Editor, riceNpeas.com
1st December 2007
