Bread and Circuses
Rixon Stewart
In ancient Rome they had bread and circuses, today we have bread and the modern media. A whole cavalcade of various entertainments: from TV talk shows and soap operas to films and newspapers of every description. They may appear a little different but the effect is the same: to divert attention with illusions and fantastic amusements, and in doing so silence voice of conscience.
Even those media that claim to be serious bastions of journalistic integrity are no exception. In fact they are often more culpable than most. Thus we’ve witnessed two momentous events and in each case the mainstream media has woven a web of deceit around them masquerading as news. The first occurred on August 31st 1997 when Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris. In the months and years that followed many began to question events as portrayed by the mainstream media. And with each unanswered question doubts about the integrity of our so-called “free press” have grown.
Why, for instance, have editors and news commentators carefully avoided mentioning Tomlinson’s historic affidavit? Could it be in response to some unspoken agenda? As authors Jon King and John Beveridge point out in “Diana: The Hidden Evidence” there are indications that the BBC actually conducted “dress rehearsals” to announce the “death of a British Royal” weeks before Diana’s fatal crash. Then on Saturday 30th August, the eve of her death, the authors were informed that another such rehearsal had taken place announcing the death of the Princess “in a road traffic accident”.
As you might expect the BBC has denied these claims.
The events of September 11th 2001 have brought a similar flurry of questions and -- like Diana’s death -- the mainstream media has been unable to provide any credible answers. Indeed almost without exception they have confused the issue still further.
So what exactly happened on September 11th 2001?
In attempting to answer that it’s worth bearing in mind that when the Ruling Elite embark on a project the aim is often to achieve a NUMBER of different objectives; in other words to kill two or even three birds with one stone. For example the Gulf War was to enrich the Bush family and their friends in the oil business. But it was also used to introduce the public at large to the very notion of a New World Order. Remember George Bush Senior's famous speech? And, moreover it was used take a few steps toward establishing a real global army and to prepare the way for a global peacekeeping force, at least in the public mind.
So in view of the current ‘War on Terror’ we should ask ourselves: who exactly profits?
Well, amongst other beneficiaries, the oil business is once again set to embark on a bonanza. Current estimates indicate that, in addition to huge gas deposits, the Caspian basin may hold as much as 200 billion barrels of oil with a current value of $4 trillion. That’s enough oil to meet the U.S. energy needs for decades ahead. So it’s significant that its potential was recognised back in 1998 when current Vice President Dick Cheney, then CEO at Halliburton, a leading oil industry and military supplier, announced: “I cannot think of a time when we have had a region emerge as suddenly to become as strategically significant as the Caspian.”
There was however one small problem: getting oil out of the Caspian would mean laying a pipeline through Afghanistan and that was something its then rulers, the Taliban, were not amenable to. So the executives at Halliburton must be rubbing their hands together in glee at the “War on Terror.” Their profits are about to surge and in the process help pay for the whopping twenty million dollar retirement package they granted Dick Cheney when he retired last year to run for Vice President.
And Dick Cheney has had plenty of experience with this sort of operation. As CEO of Halliburton Cheney was among the chief profiteers of the Kosovo war: Brown & Root, a Houston subsidiary of Halliburton, was awarded the engineering contract to house, feed, and otherwise amuse the US “peacekeepers”.
All of which gives new meaning to the term the “Military Industrial Complex.”
Remember though: when the Ruling Elite embark on a project the payback is usually manifold. So the oil industry and military suppliers are not the only ones who will profit from the ‘War on Terror’. Others will too, and not just in material terms either. Since the September 11th attacks Israel has come under far less intense media scrutiny. And as Israel Shamir points out in “On The Move” the consequences of the troubles in Afghanistan could reach further than many yet realise.
While Imperial Rome had its circuses and intrigues it was nothing compared to its modern day counterpart. The New World Order is bigger, nastier, more decadent, corrupt and repressive than ancient Rome ever was. But like they say: the bigger the come, the harder they fall, and like the World Trade Centre it may yet come crashing down in tumult of dust and rubble.
A review of 'Princess Diana: The Hidden Evidence' can be found at:
http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=186
While Israel's Shamir's 'On the Move' can be found here:
http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=189
Last updated 01/12/2003