At least in wartime you can argue that there isn’t usually time to take the best decisions. But the same short-time thinking is ubiquitous, and not just for the US – the entire western world is heading down the no-return zone.

Take, for comparison, China. In 1950 they decided they would own industrial manufacture. And because they never let up on that policy they now do.

Japan issued hefty subventions to their new electronics industry which sold color televisions below cost for a few years while continually improving manufacturing techniques. After ten years they started making small profit – but then owned the US market.

And then they did it the same way with cars.

The west has become increasingly unable to think long-term and this is indeed a problem not only in the market arena.

The major difference between what is happening today and what occurs in “1984″ is that today’s population is largely unaware of the extent of the situation. The people in “1984″ on the other hand, knew about it.

Government always introduces some surreptitious bullshit under an innocuous name (Patriot Act) which is meant to lull the average citizen into thinking it is something “good” and will support its introduction. There were a few who understood the “bad” in it, but their voices were drowned out by all of the ridiculous, “If you’re not doing anything wrong, why worry about it?”

The articles hi-light the fact of ever-increasing surveillance by private companies of which the NSA has access (covert or otherwise). Security cameras everywhere and the increasing use of automobile license plate scanners. It’s true now that you can’t really go anywhere without “them” having the ability to track exactly where you went (GPS and “black box” recorders in new cars also) and how you got there.

Wireless phones and our computers are just a tip of the iceberg in this “Brave New World.” Bio-tech is going down the same road with implantable chips and nano-technology. Surveillance drones are being miniaturized to the size of insects.

“The entire middle east policy of the US looks like a continual exercise in setting up one monster in order to contain the previous sock puppet gone rogue.”

Precisely! Osama bin Laden was a “good guy” when we were aiding him as a “mujahideen” fighting against Russia when they occupied Afghanistan.

As you are well-aware, he is just one of many who came back to haunt us. Our foreign policy doesn’t seem to ever have any real long-range thinking behind it other than, “What advantage does it give us at this moment in time?”

Then when things break down we start all over again and make the same mistakes once again; kicking the can down the road so we can do it again.

“About Afghanistan and Iraq — totally dumb-shit wars which have accomplished nothing at all except making the world hate us and thousands of needless deaths.”

Iraq alone has a death toll of over half a million civilians as a direct result of either the war – or because vital infrastructure such as water treatment plants were targeted.

Worse, i’m not sure if you recall the newsfeeds, but the planning for the Iraq invasion took place six months in advance. Deciding what to actually do after winning the war took place only after the war was effectively won.

Providing a whopping three weeks for the US to come up with a plan on how to administrate the place. Which is why the place turned into a free-for-all insurrection zone. After that comes Abu Ghraib and the handover of the country to Iraqi shi’ite fanatics aligned with their Iranian spiritual brethren…

People forget – Saddam was originally the US greatest ally against Khomeini the same way khomeini was their greatest ally against Mossadieq. The entire middle east policy of the US looks like a continual exercise in setting up one monster in order to contain the previous sock puppet gone rogue.

As for bringing about “1984″…I hate to say it but we’ve long exceeded that point. Read these links for some perspective:

http://falkvinge.net/2013/06/19/how-todays-nsa-is-much-much-worse-than-stasi-or-orwells-1984/

http://falkvinge.net/2013/07/05/stasi-vs-the-u-s-nsa-back-to-back-whos-worse-and-by-how-much/