Glenn Greenwald published a series of descriptive essays a few weekends ago that deserve thoughtful attention:

• Political harmony v. the rule of law: an easy choice for the political establishment, Salon.com, 19 July 2008;


• The AT&T Convention in Denver, Salon.com, 20 July 2008;


• Rendering public opinion irrelevant, Salon.com, 20 July 2008.

What Greenwald describes are the symptoms and consequences of Oligarchy. He has discussed this problem several times in the past; for example: here. During the time of the Bush/Cheney administration it has become obvious that the absence of a meaningful opposition party in U.S. politics and government is well explained by the existence of oligarchical government.

Political scientists have long been aware of the "Iron Law of Oligarchy", an idea attributed by Robert Michels (see his book Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy), to explain the process whereby control of a single political party (or any large human organization, it seeme to me) is captured by a small group. Further, during the Twentieth Century a system has evolved in the United States in which the two dominant political parties cooperate so that neither party's establishments nor their wealthy supporters suffer from the inconveniences of electoral politics. The rise of this cross-party oligarchical government is a major theme in the work of Walter Karp (read excerpts from Karp's books here).

Others have observed the effects of oligarchical government in the U.S. For example:

Lewis Lapham wrote and acts as a guide to the young and naive in the documentary-style film The American Ruling Class (2005). Lapham serves as the Virgil to a couple of young Dantes as they visit an impressive range of the American high and mighty to put the question to them: Is there an American ruling class? The film has much to recommend it both as a sociological study of the U.S. and as a practical guide to the ambitious on how to position oneself in order to be invited to join the ruling class. Some highlights: The film contains one of the most explicit statements I have ever seen by a member of the ruling class (James A. Baker III) that "might makes right." And Barbara Ehrenreich makes a memorable appearance along with a clever rendition of "Nickel and Dimed" (watch that section of the film here).

The face (and perhaps the color of the face) of the American oligarchy will change with this November's general election, but the oligarchy will remain. Other aspects of the American governing system are Corporatism and Corporatocracy / Plutocracy. (You must learn to name something before you can begin to understand it.)

Frank Rich.
The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth From 9/11 to Katrina.
New York: The Penguin Press, 2006.

Book information: publisher, Google Book Search, Amazon.com.

Frank Rich:

• Frank Rich, Wikipedia.


• Frank Rich at The New York Times.


• Craig Lambert, Reviewing "Reality" - a profile of Frank Rich, Harvard Magazine, March-April 2007.


• Frank Rich, 'The Secret Way to War', The New York Review of Books, Volume 53, Number 6, 06 April 2006.


• Frank Rich, Ideas for Democrats?, The New York Review of Books, Volume 53, Number 16, 19 October 2006.

Book Reviews:

• Ian Buruma, Theater of War, The New York Times, 17 September 2006.


• Christopher Hitchens, Theater of War, Claremont Review of Books, Vol. VII, No. 1, Winter 2006.


• Michael Tomasky, How Democrats Should Talk, The New York Review of Books, Volume 54, Number 9, May 31, 2007.

Video Describing the Bush/Cheney Propaganda Campaigns:
Note: Most or all of these videos are available for viewing for free on the web either at the link below or at Google Video.

• Orwell Rolls in His Grave (2003).


• Why We Fight (2005).


• Buying the War, Bill Moyers' Journal, PBS, 25 April 2007.
  (video link at bottom of webpage)


• Bush's War, Frontline, PBS, 2008.


• Last but not least: Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992).
  Although this film preceeded Bush/Cheney by about a decade, the ideas and practices discussed in the film accurately describe how Bush/Cheney and the media have behaved with respect to Iraq, and in hindsight one can see this is how the U.S. government and its media tools have acted throughout much of the 20th century and continue to do so today. In my view the actions of Bush/Cheney and their various enablers (media and both political parties) during the current decade have demonstrated that Chomsky's analysis is largely correct. (Warning: This is a relatively long and dry film that should be seen in 2 or 3 sittings. Less attentive viewers should probably watch Orwell Rolls in His Grave instead.)

Other Books:
There is a large literature on propaganda as a general topic and, in particular, propaganda in U.S. politics and society, where propaganda is pervasive but the people are usually unaware of it. I think this post would be incomplete without some recognition of these facts and thus must contain pointers to surveys and introductions on the topic. On the other hand, I have no expertise in this area and I expect anyone sentient enough to read this blog can figure out by themselves what to read next. So I'll just mention a few names (with a link to one book, usually one of many by the author(s)) that I've noticed are often associated with this topic.

• Lippmann (1922)


• Bernays (1928)


• Ellul (1962)


• Herman & Chomsky (1988; 2002)


• Chomsky (1989)


• Fallows (1996)


• Rampton & Stauber (2003)


• Taylor (2003, 3rd ed.)


• Bagdikian (2004)


• McChesney (2004)


• Jowett & O'Donnell (2005, 4th ed.)


• Bennett (2008, 8th ed.)

Tom Fleming.
Taxi to Tashkent: Two Years with the Peace Corps in Uzbekistan.
www.iUniverse.com, 2007.

Book information: book website, Amazon.com.

Fleming served in Uzbekistan from January 2003 through February 2005. As the subtitle indicates, the book is about his personal experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer: his personal impressions, his travels, and his interactions with Uzbeks, other Peace Corps volunteers, and bureaucrats (Peace Corps and Uzbek). Although Fleming provides small amounts of context of the history, culture, geography, etc. of Uzbekistan, this book is a Peace Corps memoir and not a systematic study of Uzbekistan.

Large scale geopolitical events of last couple decades (collapse of the USSR, economic rise of China, and most especially U.S. (and other nations') corporations' access or lack thereof to the unexploited hydrocarbon resources of the former Soviet republics of Central Asia) have brought this region to the forefront of attention of U.S. policymakers, though the U.S. public is largely ignorant of this (and of the relationship of those geopolitical factors in motivating the ongoing occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan). One of the few books I am aware of that directly discusses these issues, expecially the geopolitics of hydrocarbon resources in Central Asia, is Pepe Escobar's Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (2006). A little looking yields some others that sound promising: The New Great Game: Blood and Oil in Central Asia (2004) by Lutz Kleveman; Uzbekistan and the United States: Authoritarianism, Islamism and Washington's New Security Agenda (2005) by Shahram Akbarzadeh; Central Asia's Second Chance (2005) by Martha Brill Olcott.

[Addendum/correction, 6 Aug 2008: Ahmed Rashid's well known book Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia (2000) contains extensive discussion of the politics surrounding Central Asian hydrocarbon resources and Western oil companies' attempts to build pipelines in the region.]

Fleming observes (pages 82-83) that before he left for Uzbekistan there were few books available in the U.S. on the recent history of Uzbekistan and Central Asia; he mentions/recommends the works of Colin Thubron and Peter Hopkirk, but found the Lonely Planet guide to Central Asia "chockfull of misinformation." The problem of that book dearth appears to have improved; see the Amazon.com books associated with those of Kleveman, Akbarzadeh, and Olcott mentioned above.

I think many people interested in Uzbekistan and Central Asia (especially at an introductory level), or in volunteering for the Peace Corps regardless of region, will find this book insightful and worth their time. It is particularly strong in describing the Uzbek people at a personal level.

Pepe Escobar interviews Barnett Rubin about Afghanistan, http://www.TheRealNews.com, 16 July 2008:

link to interview here: http://therealnews.com/id/1886/July 16, 2008/The+Pak-Afghan+riddle.

Pepe Escobar interviews Tom Engelhardt and Nick Turse, http://www.TheRealNews.com, 17 July 2008:

link to interview here: http://therealnews.com/id/1884/July 17, 2008/Tom+%27Dispatch%27+on+Bush+and+the+media;
part 2: http://therealnews.com/.