Global

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Grim-faced rescuers were tying ropes to the stiff, jutting legs and arms of bloated corpses floating in the Andaman Sea, and bringing them to shore after an earthquake under the Indian Ocean triggered the giant pulverizing waves of the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami.

Tourists were thronging Thailand's gorgeous southwest coast where Phuket island and the granite-studded, sandy beaches of Khao Lak became the hardest hit zones amid estuaries, mangroves, and sea cliffs.

The doomed coast's exquisite Buddhist temples crumbled. Five-star resorts, tropical villages, and virtually everything else became smithereens when the tsunami hit.

Rare surviving Buddhist temples became storage grounds for bodies smelling of formaldehyde and packed in dry ice, shrouded, and left outdoors next to stacks of plywood coffins awaiting cremations or burials.

"The horrible thing about this is, we could tell that they were male or female, but beyond that it was very hard to differentiate whether they were Asian or foreign," Canadian volunteer Scott Murray said in an interview at the time after collecting the dead.

Just so we’re all clear, it is a fully established fact that the IDF is directly, deliberately killing civilians in Gaza. There was a time in the early days of the genocide when this could be disputed, but that is no longer true. The facts are in and the case is closed. It’s happening.

Something good happened in Washington last week, suggesting that the year might actually end on a high note without Joe Biden starting World War 3 and opening up all the country’s prisons for the on-the-street rehabilitation of the inmates where they will undoubtedly learn new skills. The good thing was the signing by Biden of a bill, perhaps with a little bit of help from his friends to make sure he spelled his name correctly, to make the Bald Eagle the official bird of the United States of America. The Eagle has been around the American Republic virtually since its foundation, appearing on the Great Seal and on various documents and even on currency, but it has never been officially dubbed the national bird.

This week, the New York Times reported that the U.S. government made war in Afghanistan while helping to “recruit, train and pay for lawless bands of militias that pillaged homes and laid waste to entire communities.” Those militias “tortured civilians, kidnapped for ransom, massacred dozens in vendetta killings and razed entire villages, sowing more than a decade of hatred toward the Afghan government and its American allies.”

 Written by a former Kabul bureau chief for the Times, the article appeared under a headline saying that “U.S.-backed militias” in Afghanistan were “worse than the Taliban.”

 Now they tell us.

The American Empire: What is in a name?

When I write about American foreign policy, I never refer to America or to the United States, but rather always use the term “American Empire” or simply “the Empire”. I suspect many readers find this to be uncomfortable or even offensive terminology. Once upon a time, when writing I would use the term “we” or “our” when referring to the behavior of “our” government towards other nations. But as “our” government became more obnoxious and aggressive, I could no longer take any ownership to that behavior. I could no longer use pronouns indicating possession as I reject this behavior. For example, the coup in Ukraine in 2014 could not be described as something that “we” did, when “we” indicates that the American people and myself were supportive of that action.

Dig, ponder, dig some more.

A year ago I wrote a column about some of the early moments of my growing up – not just memories but profound moments of awareness; flickers, you might say, of becoming who I am. I was 77 at the time. Now I’m . . . oh yeah, 78. Can you believe it? Another year is almost over. Holiday season shimmers, the smell of pine is in the air. It’s Christmas: a perfect time to open, once again, the stocking known as memory.