The United States, Cuba, And This Thing Called Democracy

more wit and wisdom from the late great william blum:

https://williamblum.org/essays/read/the-united-states-cuba-and-this-thing-called-democracy

William Blum

i just used this blog's search engine to search for william blum and was surprised to discover i've yet to mention him. i've long been acquainted with blum's great writings exposing the horrid role that american imperialism, militarism, and the cia have had in shaping our modern dystopian world (subverting democracy while claiming to support it, sponsoring countless political assassinations and coups around the world in favor of oligarchy and brutal right wing dictatorships and against progressive populism or socialism), and have certainly written about it previously in other venues, but it's been less than 3 years since i started dystopian and doomed, and apparently this will be my first mention of blum's work here.

anyway, anyone who wants to know the truth about these things should familiarize themselves with blum's books as well as his other writings and speeches. here's a sample:

https://williamblum.org/essays/read/building-a-new-world-conference-speech-radford-university

“Building A New World” conference speech, Radford University “Building A New World” conference speech, Radford University. By William Blum. What follows is the text of a speech delivered at the ”Building A New World” conference, Radford University, Virginia on May 23rd 2008. williamblum.org

note i'm pretty sure blum was being sarcastic and satirical when he offhandedly remarked that he hadn't spoken to (osama) bin laden in months, just as he was when he states further into this speech that 'george' (w. bush) (who was well known for his mangling of many words and phrases) 'almost' speaks english. also keep in mind this is from a 2008 speech, which is why it focuses a lot on the bush 43 administration and events of the first years of the 21st century in its remarks. (pasted below is the paragraph with the bin laden reference):

'A few people who called into the TV and radio programs I was on attacked me as if I and bin Laden were friends and I had asked him for the endorsement. I had to point out that he and I were not really friends; in fact, I hadn’t spoken to him in months.'

i also wish to note that as smart and extremely well informed blum generally was re. american foreign policy and propaganda, he apparently was clueless re. 9/11 truth (that it was an inside job, with the official narrative being a pack of lies, as i've mentioned previously and often in past posts, backed up by references), as evidenced by this sentence copied from the speech:

'The 9-11 hijackers, or alleged hijackers, were not a bunch of poor peasants; they were largely middle and upper class, and educated.'