That's a safe bet, Doug, but so what? Dictators often hold bogus elections...some with the approval of the USA and some without. The fact that they are in any case dictators is not the part that truly concerns the American government, but rather how well and how willingly they cooperate with America's strategic and financial agendas.

It's exactly like the days of the big city gangster mobs out there. He who cooperates is a friend of the Boss, he who doesn't is a target. Don't forget that the Boss also does nice things now and then, like providing Christmas turkeys for poor widows or something like that, but if you ain't got the Boss on your side you can figure to be pushin' up daises or wearin' cement overshoes in pretty short order...

None of this brouhaha has anything whatsoever to do with "democracy" or freedom or the pretense of either one. It has to do with realpolitik...which is money, resources, voter support, maintaining a propaganda image, markets, and guns. The other stuff is window dressing for the poor saps who still believe there's a Santa Claus in Washington and a tooth fairy at the Pentagon...or the other poor saps who believe that blowing themselves up and becoming "martyrs" will secure them a place in heaven. Equally out of touch in either case, I'd say.

The people I feel much in common with are the ordinary folks on both sides who want nothing else but to live a quiet, peaceful, and productive life, and not hurt people who happen to be different in some way from themselves. I believe those people constitute the majority of humanity, but they have precious few representatives speaking out for them in the halls of power.

- LH