Law of Adverse Possession

A question which has emerged in my mind as of late – and I am certain that this question has popped up in the minds of many others either recently or in the past – is why gambling, abortion, marijuana, and prostitution are criminalized in the United States, yet genocide and torture are not. For instance, why are Paul Wolfowitz and Ben Ginsberg free and on television while others are censored and suffocated by systemic oppression and repression? The irony of it all is that the lawmakers and the ones who insist on law and religion so much are the actual lawbreakers. Also, despite how controversial and nerve-racking Donald Trump is to the psyche and social fabric of both government and society, there is nothing which stops an elected president of a country from exercising political speech guaranteed by the ‘First Amendment’ of the country’s constitution. Moreover, political speech protected by the law encompasses the actions and circumstances which enable and surround such political speech. Thus, Merrick Garland and the ‘January 6 Select Committee’ are not above the law of the land. Plus, after November of this year, there may no longer be a ‘January 6 Select Committee’ when all is said and done.

Another thought that recurs in my mind is that my parents were born and raised in Afghanistan. However, I was born in America, and I was raised in America. In turn, I do not care about Afghanistan as much as I care about what goes on in America, because I do not intend to “shit where I sleep” per se.

Likewise, a Jew who was born in the United States and raised in the United States and lives in the United States should theoretically care about what happens in the United States more than what happens in Israel. The furthest I took up interest in Afghan affairs was as a book author who was asked by an Afghan ambassador to give advice. Moreover, that is what book authors do, namely, to give advice when asked. I did not kill, torture, or take money from anyone in the name of Afghanistan. But woe unto those who did.

And contrary to conventional thinking, there are solutions in overcoming the strangulation and suffocation of petrodollars and lobbying money. For instance, in Western law, there is a law called the “Law of Adverse Possession.” In sum, the concept or idea behind the “Law of Adverse Possession” is that if property – and property includes money and natural resources – are not used efficiently and effectively, then the property can be taken by someone else who lays claim to the property. If Washington is an expert at freezing Iranian and Afghan money, then Washington should be functional and operational enough to control and manage the money and natural resources which are under its nose and in turn have been used in the way of the breakdown and disintegration of global order. By logic, breaking down and disintegrating global order is not an efficient and effective use of property.  

Moreover, the “Patriot Act” was all about controlling and surveilling the activities and money of those who were deemed as alien, foreign, and opposed to the United States and then holding them to account. Genocide and torture are alien to the laws of the United States and international law. So, it follows that the law should be applied in these particular cases.

However – and as mentioned in previous instances – genocide is central, essential, and is at the heart of Washington’s approach to the world. There is a “live and let die” policy behind everything which Washington does in terms of both domestic and foreign activities, because as mentioned before, there is cognitive dissonance underlying a “live and let die” policy due to the fact that the overarching and overriding patterns and processes of history and social change have not settled into the minds of Washingtonians. In turn, entities like Israel are merely a tool or an instrument for the execution of such a policy. Both domestically and overseas, the policy is crafted and shaped around the basic precepts and practices of genocide and torture, as well as slavery and servitude to an extractive, narrow, and specific group of people who prompt psychological warfare out of CNN and the hacking of phones and desktop computers. Moreover, the centrality of genocide, slavery, servitude, and torture are evinced not just by current events, but also by history. As Mark Twain famously said, even if history does not repeat itself, it certainly rhymes.

But in the present moment, psychological warfare and hacking are perhaps the farthest they will go, given that there is no will to confront and discuss these things face-to-face and in a public setting, in addition to what has played out in the international system over the last couple of decades. Poking and prodding those who confront and discuss these issues from a distance are things that can be overcome by those on the receiving end of such poking and prodding both psychologically and spiritually through a combination of education, experience, patience, and time. But to go against the grain per se is something which is unsustainable and unwise in the long run.