Blase's Blog

How To Start A Civil War

How is a civil war started? Actually it is quite easy. Here are the directions:
First, you must be the superior military power in the region.
Next, you must occupy the territory of a weaker polity.
Third, you must establish a puppet government in the region you have occupied.

This puppet government can be structured by way of demonstration elections, that is elections which are designed for public relations reasons and propaganda regarding democracy. Once you have developed a docile, servile, dependent government in the occupied area and you begin to favor your obedient selectees with money, homes, status and armed security, a predictable result will follow.

The people who refuse to accept the new puppet government will rightfully consider the new regime to be traitors to their nation and they will revolt.

Now the occupiers have the civil war they wanted in the first place. The occupying country then begins to crank out predictable propaganda saying, "See how violent those people are. They simply have no idea how to govern themselves. Think how fortunate they are that we can govern for them." And then the blood bath is underway.

There is one problem here. History tells us that the imperial state, that is the state with the power to begin the occupation, simply cannot hold on to its surrogate government. The government they have selected will be corrupt, inept, and will self destruct. As the empire tries desperately to maintain its chosen opportunists, the opposition gains strength every day and ultimately the empire has to leave or disintegrate.

Friends, this is what we have witnessed in India as the Brits finally backed off and compacted their empire into the British Isles. This is what we witnessed in Vietnam, and Latin America and this is what we are witnessing in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine and Lebanon. The occupying power can foster civil wars but they cannot endure. It is so unfortunate that those who use the logic of power and authority do not yet understand that power and authority have absolutely no value and no legitimacy in making a valid argument. The occupiers have the brutality to start a civil war. But they do not have the humanity necessary to build a peaceful future. If there is to be a peaceful future, it can only be built by humanists with a functional sense of morality and ethics.

Please listen to world focus on Sunday, May 27th at 10:00 AM. My guests will be Army Medic Agustin Aguayo who has refused to serve in Iraq and Frida Berrigan, Senior Research Associate with the Arms Trade Resource Center of the World Policy Institute.