2011 Hopes, 2012 Realities
I began writing an article entitled €A Christmas Retrospective€ with, €The eventful year 2011 now drawing to a close may have been one filled with natural, political, and sociological disasters yet it produced unmistakable signs that all is not lost for America and the rest of humanity.€
I recounted the earthquakes, tsunamis, and tornados, the Arab Spring which portended an Arab Winter and worsening national and international tensions, the Occupy upheavals suggestive of revolution supported by Barack Hussein Obama 201 and yet I decided 2011 wasn't as much a debacle as it was a year of hope springing eternal for our beknighted planet and nation.
Scratch any suggestions of 2012 being an improvement on 2011. On re-consideration of my Chistmas-inspired attack of optimism, 2012 promises to suck big time.
In part, events occurring over the past few days forced the revisionism.
The mayhem resulting from the sale of Air Jordans, a Santa in Grapevine Texas murdering 6 relatives, riots over rappers at the Mall of America, and Tim Tebow's Denver Broncos losing all contributed to a change of perspective.
Iran taunting the U.S. Navy in the Strait of Hormuz and Obama's public approval rating rising to 47.1 didn't help, either.
Still, it was an article by Professor James Petras on GlobalResearch.ca that convinced me my rose-colored glasses had been clouded by my cataracts. Titled €Unrelenting Global Economic Crisis: A Doomsday View of 2012,€ the article makes mincemeat of fools who detected substantial brightness in the world's and America's futures.
It should be noted that Petras, a retired professor of sociology, is an ardent socialist, self-described €revolutionary and anti-imperialist,€ has been accused of anti-Semitism, and has taken distinctly anti-American positions. All that makes his views suspect but does not necessarily preclude the possibility he is wrong about the future.
Of course, too, one man's opinion is just that, an opinion, but Petras' gloomy forecast for the new year and beyond is both chilling and documented. When he writes, €The economic, political and social outlook for 2012 is profoundly negative. The almost universal consensus, even among mainstream orthodox economists is pessimistic regarding the world economy,€ the professor doesn't just predict, he substantiates his predictions.
Petras isn't merely referring to economic chaos and crises as causes for concern. His prognosis for the world in general is ominously and universally dismal, which is typical for liberals.
Among his prognostications:
. €The Collapse of the European Union€ and Europe's consequent unwillingness and inability to support United States foreign policies;
. In America, €The Recession Returns with a Vengeance,€ exacerbated by China's and India's economic downturns;
. Militarism, Wars, and Rumors of Wars, chiefly though not exclusively with Iran, an inevitable outcome instigated by € €Israel First' € followers in the US Congress, State Department, Treasury and the Pentagon;€
. And, Petras' gloomiest prediction of all, €The Coming Wars that End America €As We Know It' € designed and implemented by the Washington lobby of €mega Zionists€ which will €convert the recession of early 2012 into a major depression by the end of the year and probably provoke mass upheavals.€
At our peril, we dismiss all of James Petras' conclusions as the ravings of an aging revolutionary.
When Petras concludes that, €All indications point to 2012 being a turning point year of unrelenting economic crisis spreading outward from Europe and the US to Asia and its dependencies in Africa and Latin America,€ he could be on target.
That said, his palpable desire that €mass movements will emerge moving over time from protests and rebellions, and hopefully to social revolutions and political power€ is more reflective of wishful thinking, unless the now-worldwide Occupy movement is a portent.
Either way, forget naive expectations that 2012 will be a good year. We won't know for certain that America is going down history's tubes unless Obama is re-elected next November.
(See all sources at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=11820.)
I recounted the earthquakes, tsunamis, and tornados, the Arab Spring which portended an Arab Winter and worsening national and international tensions, the Occupy upheavals suggestive of revolution supported by Barack Hussein Obama 201 and yet I decided 2011 wasn't as much a debacle as it was a year of hope springing eternal for our beknighted planet and nation.
Scratch any suggestions of 2012 being an improvement on 2011. On re-consideration of my Chistmas-inspired attack of optimism, 2012 promises to suck big time.
In part, events occurring over the past few days forced the revisionism.
The mayhem resulting from the sale of Air Jordans, a Santa in Grapevine Texas murdering 6 relatives, riots over rappers at the Mall of America, and Tim Tebow's Denver Broncos losing all contributed to a change of perspective.
Iran taunting the U.S. Navy in the Strait of Hormuz and Obama's public approval rating rising to 47.1 didn't help, either.
Still, it was an article by Professor James Petras on GlobalResearch.ca that convinced me my rose-colored glasses had been clouded by my cataracts. Titled €Unrelenting Global Economic Crisis: A Doomsday View of 2012,€ the article makes mincemeat of fools who detected substantial brightness in the world's and America's futures.
It should be noted that Petras, a retired professor of sociology, is an ardent socialist, self-described €revolutionary and anti-imperialist,€ has been accused of anti-Semitism, and has taken distinctly anti-American positions. All that makes his views suspect but does not necessarily preclude the possibility he is wrong about the future.
Of course, too, one man's opinion is just that, an opinion, but Petras' gloomy forecast for the new year and beyond is both chilling and documented. When he writes, €The economic, political and social outlook for 2012 is profoundly negative. The almost universal consensus, even among mainstream orthodox economists is pessimistic regarding the world economy,€ the professor doesn't just predict, he substantiates his predictions.
Petras isn't merely referring to economic chaos and crises as causes for concern. His prognosis for the world in general is ominously and universally dismal, which is typical for liberals.
Among his prognostications:
. €The Collapse of the European Union€ and Europe's consequent unwillingness and inability to support United States foreign policies;
. In America, €The Recession Returns with a Vengeance,€ exacerbated by China's and India's economic downturns;
. Militarism, Wars, and Rumors of Wars, chiefly though not exclusively with Iran, an inevitable outcome instigated by € €Israel First' € followers in the US Congress, State Department, Treasury and the Pentagon;€
. And, Petras' gloomiest prediction of all, €The Coming Wars that End America €As We Know It' € designed and implemented by the Washington lobby of €mega Zionists€ which will €convert the recession of early 2012 into a major depression by the end of the year and probably provoke mass upheavals.€
At our peril, we dismiss all of James Petras' conclusions as the ravings of an aging revolutionary.
When Petras concludes that, €All indications point to 2012 being a turning point year of unrelenting economic crisis spreading outward from Europe and the US to Asia and its dependencies in Africa and Latin America,€ he could be on target.
That said, his palpable desire that €mass movements will emerge moving over time from protests and rebellions, and hopefully to social revolutions and political power€ is more reflective of wishful thinking, unless the now-worldwide Occupy movement is a portent.
Either way, forget naive expectations that 2012 will be a good year. We won't know for certain that America is going down history's tubes unless Obama is re-elected next November.
(See all sources at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=11820.)
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