John Pilger on "Imperialism in the Age of Obama"
John Pilger is an internationally renowned journalist and documentary filmmaker. Born in Australia he's been based in London for many years. He's twice won British journalism's highest award, that of
Journalist of the Year. His award-winning documentaries such as "Palestine is Still the Issue" and "The War on Democracy" are seen all over the world but rarely in the U.S. He is the author of
numerous books including "The New Rulers of the World" and "Freedom Next Time."
In this talk Pilger asks But does President Barack Obama represent genuine change from the previous regime? Obama is imbued with the same imperial mentality that prevails in Washington in that he believes America can reengineer other countries like Afghanistan. This hubris will lead to further death and destruction. Obama has declared that Afghanistan is "a war worth fighting" and has doubled the number of troops there. A little history would be instructive. The mighty British Empire, among
others, on multiple occasions, tried to conquer Afghanistan. They never succeeded. One high 19th century British official astutely observed that the Afghans "do not want us, they dread our appearance
in their country and will not tolerate foreign rule."