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Apr 18, 2017 | www.nakedcapitalism.com
DJG , April 17, 2017 at 11:09 amNeoliberalism is creating loneliness. That's what's wrenching society apart George Monbiot, GuardianKatharine , April 17, 2017 at 11:39 amGeorge Monbiot on human loneliness and its toll. I agree with his observations. I have been cataloguing them in my head for years, especially after a friend of mine, born in Venice and a long-time resident of Rome, pointed out to me that dogs are a sign of loneliness.
A couple of recent trips to Rome have made that point ever more obvious to me: Compared to my North Side neighborhood in Chicago, where every other person seems to have a dog, and on weekends Clark Street is awash in dogs (on their way to the dog boutiques and the dog food truck), Rome has few dogs. Rome is much more densely populated, and the Italians still have each other, for good or for ill. And Americans use the dog as an odd means of making human contact, at least with other dog owners.
But Americanization advances: I was surprised to see people bring dogs into the dining room of a fairly upscale restaurant in Turin. I haven't seen that before. (Most Italian cafes and restaurants are just too small to accommodate a dog, and the owners don't have much patience for disruptions.) The dogs barked at each other for while–violating a cardinal rule in Italy that mealtime is sacred and tranquil. Loneliness rules.
And the cafes and restaurants on weekends in Chicago–chockfull of people, each on his or her own Powerbook, surfing the WWW all by themselves.
That's why the comments about March on Everywhere in Harper's, recommended by Lambert, fascinated me. Maybe, to be less lonely, you just have to attend the occasional march, no matter how disorganized (and the Chicago Women's March organizers made a few big logistical mistakes), no matter how incoherent. Safety in numbers? (And as Monbiot points out, overeating at home alone is a sign of loneliness: Another argument for a walk with a placard.)
DJG , April 17, 2017 at 11:48 amI particularly liked this point:
In Britain, men who have spent their entire lives in quadrangles – at school, at college, at the bar, in parliament – instruct us to stand on our own two feet.
With different imagery, the same is true in this country. The preaching of self-reliance by those who have never had to practice it is galling.
Katherine: Agreed. It is also one of the reasons why I am skeptical of various evangelical / fundi pastors, who are living at the expense of their churches, preaching about individual salvation.
So you have the upper crust (often with inheritances and trust funds) preaching economic self-reliances, and you have divines preaching individual salvation as they go back to the house provided by the members of the church.
Dec 30, 2017 | www.unz.com
TT , December 29, 2017 at 5:23 pm GMT
Saker, this article has only general facts without your usual sharp analysis. It even contradict your own previous NK war analysis. Has Crazy Trumps & his WH really disheartened you so much? But some said Trumps is godsend, he has bared all US(Nato & Israel too) hypocrisy, destroying whole US in every aspects, either intentionally to reconstruct the ultra corrupted & manipulated US, or unintentionally hasten the empire collapse. Cheer up, look at the bright side like China, they are very positive about Trumps(he only love $, not war).1. Afghanistan: Yes nothing will happen, unless US attack Russia army in Syria, then this will be one hot spot that Russia can heat up by equipping whoever(Taliban) to inflict heavy casualties for US.
The rockets attacked in Afghanistan airport during US Defense Secretary Mad Dog visit is to sent a very clear warning signal to US incharged, what Russia can pay back for the death of its General in Syria? To kill a few generals won't scare off Mattis, this will.
2. Syria: Russia has been very restraint to avoid direct conflict with US even under attacked. This emboldened US & Nato. So its likely US/Israel will conduct some air raids or missiles attack on SAA, Iran, Hezbollah, but no suicidal ground attack with these war harden formidable fighters.
3. Russia: Swift & Assets freeze -- Russia already has its own clearing system set up for this. China got its warning from WH too. When US did that to Russia, the world will hasten the Petrol dollar replacement with Yuan. So its unlikely US like it, unless direct war break out.
Shoot down Russia plane? Not likely, Syria plane Yes -- Recent Su35 chasing off F22 showed US is just a paper tiger. S400 can bring down some US birds too in return. Come to direct conflict, Russia is fully capable to inflict greater damage to many US bases in Middle East with missiles. So US can only continue using its "moderate" terrorists to harass but not shoot down Russia plane directly.
There is probably agreement in place, No SAM equipment to terrorists(ISIS hasn't got any SAM in entire Syria war), as it can threaten US too when moderates switch camp. Certainly Israel know Russia has no lack of SAM to equip Hezbollah as a return courtesy.
That's right, when Putin failed to direct attack Turkey after its Su24 is shot down, it emboldened US Nato. But Putin is a cold Grand chess player. He won't let a impulse lost his entire game. Sure he had exacted the revenge later. As a starter, he had the entire Turkey's Uyghur Turks terrorists army that killed the pilot carpet bombed, making Turkey Erogan thumping chest. Doubt US want its whole terrorists with its embedded Special force get carpet bombed yet.
Russia know Erogan is only the meganomania fool puppet. A Russia counterstrike will activate NATO obligation. So Putin ingeniously bring Turkey to his side, finished off terrorists, have whole Syria, Iran & Hezbollah so indebted, perpetual base in Syria, showcase Russia weapons and power, take high moral ground to raise Russia status in world stage as indispensable leader of Middle East, that's true Art of War -- Winning everything at least cost. Humiliating US is the biggest revenge.
4. Iran May be more than tearing off Nuclear deal, Trumps is all in with Israel. So everything is possible, including US limited missiles attack to Iran to fulfil Israel wish, but not full scale war which need much preparation.
5. Ukraine US sure love to escalate this proxy war to suck in Russia for full scale war. Its depends whether Ukraine will get force into this bloody shit hole . which is very likely with its manipulated leaders.
6. Korea War No war, all hot air, as your last analysis shown its gonna too bloody for US to contemplate. Biggest factor is Russia and China behind, not about $. US knew too well in Vietnam war and previous Korea war. FB has some good analysis in this.
Myanmar is certainly a cakewalk, but why for last 50 years US didn't attempt to attack for its tremendous rich unexplored resources? Its the China factor.
7. Venezuela This is the easiest sweetest soft target for Trumps if he ever need a war. Army is weak. There is no China Russia next door factor. And it has the world largest oil to pay. At the same time can destroy China and Russia dominant investments like Libya case, also removing their present at its backyard. Venezuela is what US capable to bully, not Iran or DPRK.
Dec 30, 2017 | ronpaulinstitute.org
This is a classic example of flip-flop policy. In November, the US promised Turkey to stop arming Kurdish militias in Syria after the Islamic State was routed. Brett McGurk, the US Special Presidential Envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat Islamic State, explained that after the urban fighting in Raqqa was over "adjustments in the level of military support" would be made. "We had to give some equipment – and it's limited, extremely limited – all of which was very transparent to our NATO ally, Turkey," he said during a special briefing on December 21. In June, the US told Turkey it would take back weapons supplied to the Kurdish the People's Protection Units (YPG) militia in northern Syria after the defeat of Islamic State.
But sophisticated weapons will continue to be sent to Syria in 2018, including thousands of anti-tank rocket launchers, heat seeking missiles and rocket launchers. The list of weaponry and equipment was prepared by US Department of Defense as part of the 2018 defense budget and signed by Trump of Dec. 12. It includes more than 300 non-tactical vehicles, 60 nonstandard vehicles, and 30 earth-moving vehicles to assist with the construction of outposts or operations staging areas. The US defense spending bill for 2018 ("Justification for FY 2018 Overseas Contingency Operations / Counter-Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Train and Equip Fund") includes providing weapons worth $393 million to US partners in Syria. Overall, $500 million, roughly $70 million more than last year, are to be spent on Syria Train and Equip requirements. The partners are the Kurds-dominated Syria Democratic Forces (SDF). The YPG – the group that is a major concern of Turkey – is the backbone of this force.
The budget does not refer to Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) but instead says "Vetted Syrian Opposition". According to the budget list, there are 25,000 opposition forces supported as a part of the train and equip program in Syria. That number is planned to be increased to 30,000 in 2018. The arming of Kurdish militants with anti-tank rockets is a sensitive topic because of Turkey's reliance on its armored Leopard tanks in northern Syria.
Talal Sillo, a former high-ranking commander and spokesperson of the US-backed SDF, who defected from the group last month to go to Turkey, divulged details of the US arming the Kurdish group.
The list does not detail which vetted Syrian groups will receive certain pieces of equipment. In northern Syria, there is the SDF, including the YPG, and the Syria Arab Coalition -- a group of Arab fighters incorporated into the SDF. The Maghawir al-Thawra and Shohada al-Quartayn groups are operating in the southeastern part of Syria. They are being trained by US and British instructors at the al-Tanf border crossing between Syria and Iraq.
Besides the SDF and the groups trained at al-Tanf, the US is in the process of creating the New Syria Army to fight the Syrian government forces. The training is taking place at the Syrian Hasakah refugee camp located 70 kilometers from the border of Turkey and 50 kilometers from the border of Iraq.
Around 40 Syria opposition groups on Dec. 25 rejected to attend the planned Sochi conference on Syria scheduled to take place in January. They said Moscow, which organizes the conference, was seeking to bypass the UN-based Geneva peace process, despite the fact that UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said that Russia's plan to convene the congress should be assessed by its ability to contribute to and support the UN-led Geneva talks on ending the war in Syria. If fighting starts, these groups are likely to join the formations created by the US.
So, the United States not only maintains its illegal military presence in Syria and creates new forces to fight against the Syrian government, it appears to be preparing for a new war to follow the Islamic State's defeat. The continuation of arming and training Kurdish militias will hardly improve Washington's relations with Ankara, while saying one thing and doing another undermines the credibility of the United States as a partner.
Reprinted with permission from Strategic Culture Foundation .
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- 2017
- December
- All Is Not Quiet on the Syrian Front: US to Launch Another War
29th December 2017
- New Trump Executive Order: Good Move Or Global Asset Forfeiture?
28th December 2017
- Who Are the Leading State Sponsors of Terrorism?
28th December 2017
- Reasons to Doubt the Veracity of the 'Steele Dossier' on Trump are Still Emerging
28th December 2017
- Heaven Forbid! China Sells Oil To North Korea!
27th December 2017
- Whither the Antiwar Movement?
27th December 2017
- Homeland Security's Multi-Billion Dollar Comedy Show
26th December 2017
- US Decides to Provide Ukraine with Lethal Weapons
26th December 2017
- Intel Vets Tell Trump Iran Is Not Top Terror Sponsor
26th December 2017
- Merry Christmas To All Our Friends...
25th December 2017
- Political Immorality and Personal Immorality
25th December 2017
- Iraq Redux in the Making? US Rhetoric on Iran Brings Back Memories of 2003
22nd December 2017
- De Facto Travel Restrictions Now Exist For Americans
21st December 2017
- 'A Stunning Rebuke' - 128 Nations Support UN Call For Trump To Withdraw Jerusalem Decision
21st December 2017
- Another Flip-Flop: Trump Approves Lethal Arms To Ukraine
21st December 2017
- 'Forcing' North Korea Denuclearization...But Does South Korea Agree?
20th December 2017
- Trump's National Security Speech
19th December 2017
- Will Nikki Haley Get Her Iran War?
19th December 2017
- The RussiaGate Witch-Hunt - The Deep State's 'Insurance Policy'
18th December 2017
- 'Make 'Em Pay'? Trump Spends $5 Billion On Europe's Defense
18th December 2017
- Who to Believe on Washington's Korea Policy, Tillerson or Trump?
18th December 2017
- US Defense Secretary Mattis Rejects War on Iran
17th December 2017
- Heads Up, President Trump, Secretary Tillerson: Beware 'Project Overreach'
17th December 2017
- Deconstructing the Almighty Russian Hackers Myth
16th December 2017
- Weapons Went From The CIA To ISIS In Less Than Two Months
15th December 2017
- The Foundering Russia-Gate 'Scandal'
15th December 2017
- 'Everyone is Worried About War'
14th December 2017
- Trump To Release New US Strategy: Will Neocons Cheer?
14th December 2017
- Why America's Law Enforcement Empire Resembles Secret Police in a Dictatorship
14th December 2017
- Tillerson Ready For North Korea Talks...But Is Trump?
13th December 2017
- Russia's Pulling Out Of Syria...Why Can't We?
12th December 2017
- The Non-Crime of 'Lying to the FBI'
12th December 2017
- Pentagon Audit - Just Another Cover-Up!
11th December 2017
- The Enemy Within - the 'Intelligence Community'
11th December 2017
- Yes, the FBI is America's Secret Police
11th December 2017
- Government Should Leave Bakers Alone
11th December 2017
- Strzok-Gate and the Mueller Cover-Up
10th December 2017
- State Department, Meet the New Boss, Same/Worse as the Old Boss?
9th December 2017
- US Made Secret Deal With ISIS to Let Thousands of Fighters Flee Raqqa to Battle Assad in Syria, Former Ally Says
8th December 2017
- The US Just Announced It Will Stay in Syria Even After ISIS Is Defeated: Here's Why
7th December 2017
- Bipartisanship On Jerusalem: Does It Make Us Safer?
7th December 2017
- Israel's Capital: Who Decides?
6th December 2017
- Bake The Cake? How Should The Supremes Rule?
5th December 2017
- The FBI's Perjury Trap Of The Century
5th December 2017
- From 'Russia-Gate' to 'Israel-Gate'
4th December 2017
- 'Fair' Tax, Just War, Houston Astros and more...#AskRonPaul!
4th December 2017
- The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Of The Flynn Plea
4th December 2017
- Good News: Young Americans Want a New Political Party
4th December 2017
- ABC News Retracts Flynn Bombshell Story
2nd December 2017
- Slave Markets in 'Liberated' Libya and the Silence of the Humanitarian Hawks
2nd December 2017
- The Case Against Michael Flynn: Lying to the FBI About Asking Russia's Help to Protect Israel
1st December 2017
- November
- How Hitler Analogies Obscure Understanding of Mideast Power Struggle
30th November 2017
- What If Trump Dismantled the State Department, and It Didn't Matter?
30th November 2017
- Massacre In Somalia: US Troops To Blame?
30th November 2017
- The Trump Era and Weaponization of the Media
29th November 2017
- 'Turning The Corner' in Afghanistan...Again
29th November 2017
- US & Europe's Farcical Hypocrisy Over Russian Foreign Media Law
29th November 2017
- What Good Are Domestic Military Bases?
29th November 2017
- Iran Re-Certified; Washington In Denial
28th November 2017
- Russiagate Explained
27th November 2017
- Hypocrisy: US Meddling In Hungarian Elections
27th November 2017
- Is North Korea Really a 'State Sponsor of Terrorism'?
27th November 2017
- Washington's Wars
25th November 2017
- Routed in Syria, the US Should Admit Its Crime, Face Punishment
25th November 2017
- Thanksgiving 2017 - Why There Is No Peace On Earth
24th November 2017
- Being Thankful in Difficult Times...
23rd November 2017
- US-Led Anti-ISIS Coalition Ignores Civilian Deaths – and the Media Let Them Get Away With It
23rd November 2017
- A Basic Principle About Drug Laws
23rd November 2017
- US Military Fraud Endemic in Overseas Operations
23rd November 2017
- JFK, the CIA, and Secrecy
22nd November 2017
- Abolish The TSA As Soon As Possible. With Guest Jim Bovard
22nd November 2017
- Who's A 'Foreign Agent'?
21st November 2017
- Saudi Purges Explained, With Marwa Osman Live From Lebanon
21st November 2017
- Did the US Allow ISIS to Escape to Keep the Fighting Going?
21st November 2017
- DOD Conference Bill Passed...Yet We're Less Safe & Poorer
20th November 2017
- Why Are We Helping Saudi Arabia Destroy Yemen?
20th November 2017
- Thanksgiving Travel: Trump's Holiday Gift is More Invasive Airport Security
18th November 2017
- Attack on RT Is Another Step Towards Sovietization of American Media
18th November 2017
- Secretary Mattis Is Off Base: US Military Presence in Syria Has No Legal Grounds
17th November 2017
- How America's Deep State Operates to Control the Message
17th November 2017
- The Real Cost Of War: Three Times More Than The Government Admits
16th November 2017
- There is Nothing Patriotic or Conservative About Our Bloated Defense Budget
16th November 2017
- Do Trump's Liberal Critics Seem Increasingly Unhinged?
15th November 2017
- America's Righteous Russia-gate Censorship
15th November 2017
- War on ISIS - Whose Side Are We Really On?
15th November 2017
- Bombshell Report Confirms US Coalition Struck A Deal With ISIS
14th November 2017
- Kochs Spend Big On Foreign Policy Realism...Should Neocons Be Worried?
14th November 2017
- Is Trump Getting A Bad Rap On His Asia Trip?
13th November 2017
- Mocking Trump Doesn't Prove Russia's Guilt
13th November 2017
- Saudi Arabia and Israel Know They Cannot Defeat Iran, Want to Drag the US into an Uncontainable War
13th November 2017
- Education Scholarship Tax Credits Help Children and Advance Liberty
13th November 2017
- US Demand for RT FARA Registration 'Sounds Like Desperation' - Daniel McAdams
12th November 2017
- Foreign Agents Registration Act Marked by History of Politicization, Selective Enforcement
11th November 2017
- Can Trump Salvage his Presidency?
11th November 2017
- America's 'Allies' Are Setting Up Another Trap for US in the Middle East
10th November 2017
- Manipulation: The US State Department's New Program to Take On Hungarian Media
10th November 2017
- Saudi Escalation: Lebanon And Yemen In The Crosshairs
9th November 2017
- South Korea Should 'Brexit' the United States
8th November 2017
- Deconstructing 'Russia-Gate'
8th November 2017
- The Creation of 'Russia-Gate'
8th November 2017
- Ducks Lining Up: Saudi, Israeli, US Moves On Iran, Lebanon
7th November 2017
- America Breaks Down: The Anatomy of a National Nervous Breakdown
7th November 2017
- Trump In Asia: Diplomacy Or Sabre-Rattling?
6th November 2017
- Dubious Osama bin Laden Documents: A Pretext for a War on Iran
6th November 2017
- GOP Tax Plan Increases the Most Insidious Tax
6th November 2017
- Visitors to the Colony of Afghanistan
4th November 2017
- Facebook Farce Shows Lawmaker Deviousness, Demagoguery
4th November 2017
- Mission Creep in Darkest Africa
4th November 2017
- 'It Sure Looked Unethical': Brazile Discloses Deal That Gave Hillary Clinton Control Over DNC Before Primary
3rd November 2017
- Bombshell Revelation of US and Saudi Culpability in Creating ISIS Ignored by Mainstream Media – and by Team Trump
3rd November 2017
- How Obama and Hillary Clinton Weaponized the 'Dossier'
3rd November 2017
- 'US Govt Undermines Democracy' Seeking More Control Over Social Media
2nd November 2017
- Oliver Stone Was Right About the CIA
2nd November 2017
- War on Terror Costs Taxpayers $250 Million a Day
2nd November 2017
- Revealed: How The Russians Stole Our Election
1st November 2017
- Tragic Horrors...From New York To Yemen
1st November 2017
- October
- Mueller Mugs America: The Case Of Baby George Papadopoulos
31st October 2017
- How to End the Endless War
31st October 2017
- Do We Need A New War Authorization?
31st October 2017
- NATO Threatens Turkey...
30th October 2017
- The Rise of MEK/NCRI in Washington: Pay Off The Right People and You Are No Longer A Terrorist
30th October 2017
- Neocons Hijack Trump's Syria Policy
30th October 2017
- In Shocking, Viral Interview, Qatar Confesses Secrets Behind Syrian War
29th October 2017
- Deciphering Trump's Foreign Policy
28th October 2017
- Russia-gate Breeds 'Establishment McCarthyism'
27th October 2017
- Twitter Rescues American Democracy By Banning Ads From RT And Sputnik
27th October 2017
- US Allows Saudi Arabia To Plant Wahhabi Seed In Raqqa Rubble
26th October 2017
- Congress Passes 'Harshest' Sanctions On North Korea...And The People Suffer
26th October 2017
- Are Republicans Libertarians?
25th October 2017
- Jeff Flake and The DC Impasse: Who's At Fault?
25th October 2017
- The Harmful Effects of Antifa
25th October 2017
- Pentagon Expands 'Terror War' To Africa: Where Is Congress?
24th October 2017
- In A Dramatic Pivot, Shia Militia Leader Tells US: 'Get Ready To Leave Iraq'
24th October 2017
- Mutual Assured Destruction: Missile Defense Might be a Lie
24th October 2017
- Cold War Returned: B-52s Back On 'Ready Alert'
23rd October 2017
- Winning in Africa
23rd October 2017
- Trump's Fed Picks? More of the Same!
23rd October 2017
- Great News, Everyone! The CIA Has Promised To Become 'Much More Vicious'!
21st October 2017
- 'The Police Just F**ked My Life' - Alabamians Outraged As Civil Asset Forfeitures Soar
21st October 2017
- Raqqa Destroyed to Libertate it
21st October 2017
- Torturer-in-Chief Turned Savior of Freedom?
20th October 2017
- Mogadishu Attack Was Revenge for Murderous US-Somali Raid
20th October 2017
- An Attack on Iran or North Korea Wouldn't Be Putting 'America First'
20th October 2017
- Donald Trump Didn't Create Danger of Presidential Dictatorship, He Inherited it
19th October 2017
- Killing For Peace? More Civilian Deaths Now Than Under Obama
19th October 2017
- McCain As Metaphor
19th October 2017
- Saudi Money In Syria - Sowing The Seeds Of ISIS 2.0
18th October 2017
- Blowback In Africa - Mogadishu Again!
18th October 2017
- How Trump Is Fueling the Refugee Crisis He Despises
18th October 2017
- The Battle Of Kirkuk - All About Oil?
17th October 2017
- Hillary Clinton Just Told Five Blatant Lies About WikiLeaks
17th October 2017
- This Is How Tyranny Rises and Freedom Falls: The Experiment in Freedom Is Failing
17th October 2017
- Trump And Iran: Have The Neocons Won?
16th October 2017
- US Deploys Special Forces 'Decapitation' Team To South Korea
16th October 2017
- President Trump Beats War Drums For Iran
16th October 2017
- Trump Shoot The US in The Foot Over Iran
15th October 2017
- The Russiagate Scandal Descends into Total Absurdity
14th October 2017
- This Is What Americans Heard During The Mysterious Cuban Sonic Attacks, And Why Experts Don't Buy It
14th October 2017
- Eager To Kill Iran Deal, Trump Finds Allies In Iraq WMD Peddling Neocons
13th October 2017
- The Deep State's Bogus 'Iranian Threat'
12th October 2017
- Russia Wades into Saudi-Iran Rift
12th October 2017
- 'Russiagate' And The Decline Of Journalism - With Robert Parry
12th October 2017
- Did Trump Call For Ten Times More Nukes?
11th October 2017
- Horrific New Revelations On CIA Torture
10th October 2017
- Sputnik and RT Under Investigation
10th October 2017
- Trump's 70-Point Immigration Reform - Here's A Better Way
9th October 2017
- Antifa in Theory and in Practice
9th October 2017
- Will Tax Reform Increase or Limit Liberty?
9th October 2017
- Longest War in US History Turns 16 Today – Thousands Dead, No End in Sight & It's Getting Worse
7th October 2017
- Trump Will Declare Iran Nuclear Deal 'Not in the National Interest'
6th October 2017
- Ron Paul: The Revolution At Ten Years
6th October 2017
- Russia Issues Third Warning Against US Cooperation With Terrorists in Syria
5th October 2017
- Britain Moves To Criminalize Reading Extremist Material On The Internet
5th October 2017
- USA LIBERTY Act - Making Spying On You Permanent
5th October 2017
- Cuba's 'Sonic Weapons' - Real Or Imagined?
4th October 2017
- Trump and 'His Generals' on Collision Course Over Iran
4th October 2017
- Whose Bright Idea Was RussiaGate?
3rd October 2017
- US Violence Abroad Begets Violence at Home
3rd October 2017
- America: The Dictatress of the World
2nd October 2017
- Trump Vs. Tillerson: War Or Diplomacy?
2nd October 2017
- What Did Washington Achieve in its Six Year War on Syria?
2nd October 2017
- Vietnam Déjà Vu
1st October 2017
- September
- Ron Paul: Anti-Russia Campaign Stems From Bias and Desire to Limit Free Speech
30th September 2017
- Congress Relying On Debunked 'Guilt By Association' Online Tool To Track 'Russian Influence'
30th September 2017
- Coverup? FBI, DOJ Refuse To Comply With Congressional 'Trump Dossier' Subpoena
29th September 2017
- Dissonance: When Cult of Personalities Gets in the Way of Understanding
29th September 2017
- 'US in Grip of Anti-Russia Hysteria, Worse Than Days of Salem Witch Trials'
29th September 2017
- The Push To 'Fight Foreign Propaganda' Is The Same As Government Book Burning
28th September 2017
- North Korea Would Be Stupid to Trust the US
28th September 2017
- Surviving The Coming Bond Crash
28th September 2017
- The Atlantic Council: 'Debates' Between People Who Hate Russia & People Who Really Hate Russia
27th September 2017
- Trump Says 'No' To Catalan Independence
27th September 2017
- Christians Return to Syria- But Not to Iraq
27th September 2017
- Washington Post Pushes More Dubious Russia-Bashing
26th September 2017
- Kurd Independence Vote - Progress Or Danger?
26th September 2017
- More on Imran Awan - Where Are All Those Congressional Emails?
26th September 2017
- Syria - US CentCom Declares War On Russia
25th September 2017
- Trump Vs The NFL - The Right To Protest
25th September 2017
- How to End the Korea Crisis
25th September 2017
- How World War One Still Haunts America
23rd September 2017
- Trump's UN Speech: the Swamp's Wine in an 'America First!' Bottle
22nd September 2017
- Oil, Gas, Geopolitics Guide US Hand In Playing The Rohingya Crisis
22nd September 2017
- Hysteria in America: Congress Filled With 'Totalitarians' Who Oppose 'Free Market of Ideas'
21st September 2017
- Defense Secretary Mattis: US Cannot Survive On 'Puny' Military Budget
21st September 2017
- Juggalo Blues: Their Beef With FBI No Laughing Matter
21st September 2017
- The Worst Mistake in US History
20th September 2017
- Trump's UN Speech: A Neocon Dream?
20th September 2017
- US Sanctions Against Venezuela Will Hurt Americans
20th September 2017
- Let Catalonia Decide
20th September 2017
- The US Has New Red Line in Syria -- And It's...Ridiculous!
19th September 2017
- President Trump To Unleash The CIA Drones
19th September 2017
- Korea Solution Needs US to Sign a Peace Treaty
19th September 2017
- Scandal: The Pentagon's $2 Billion Underground Syria Weapons Pipeline
18th September 2017
- America's Slow-Motion Military Coup
18th September 2017
- Rand Paul's Senate Vote Rolls Back the Warfare State
18th September 2017
- Accused of War Crimes, Saudis Investigate Themselves and Find No Wrongdoing
16th September 2017
- Afghanistan - US Resolved To Repeat Failures
15th September 2017
- Janet Reno: Saint or Tyrant?
15th September 2017
- Reagan Documents Shed Light on US 'Meddling'
15th September 2017
- The Neocon Case Against The Iran Nuclear Deal - One Big Lie!
14th September 2017
- Six Major US Foreign Policy Failures of the Post-Cold War Era
14th September 2017
- Sen. Rand Paul Forces Vote On 16 Year Undeclared War
13th September 2017
- Bombshell Report Catches Pentagon Falsifying Paperwork For Weapons Transfers To Syrian Rebels
13th September 2017
- The UN Losing Poker Hand in Libya
12th September 2017
- Welcome to 1984: Big Brother Google Now Watching Your Every Political Move
12th September 2017
- What We Lost on September 11th
11th September 2017
- The Case Against the Iranian Nuclear Deal is One Big Lie
11th September 2017
- Why Did Robert Mueller Obstruct Congress's 9/11 Probe?
11th September 2017
- Congress Exploits Hurricane to Raise Debt Ceiling
11th September 2017
- Israel Launches Air Strikes On Syria And Assad's Waiting Game'
8th September 2017
- The Bombast of Nikki Haley
8th September 2017
- The USS Liberty Wins One!
7th September 2017
- GOP Congressman: Trump Losing Me on Foreign Policy
6th September 2017
- Interventionism and the Korean Crisis
6th September 2017
- What Michael Moore Gets Right and Wrong about the Police State
6th September 2017
- American Jackboot Diplomacy
5th September 2017
- Trump Bumbling Into Unnecessary War With North Korea
4th September 2017
- Government 'Aid' Makes Disasters Worse
4th September 2017
- Russia Responds to Netanyahu's Ultimatum in Syria With a Warning to Israel
3rd September 2017
- Three Dangerous Delusions about Korea
3rd September 2017
- Always Planning Never Winning: While US Wins Some Battles, Insurgents Win the Wars
2nd September 2017
- Time To Listen to Our Korean Allies
2nd September 2017
- Last Eight Months Prove United States a Bonafide 'Regime'
1st September 2017
- August
- What Afghan 'Stalemate' is All About
31st August 2017
- Is a Militarized Police The Answer To Inner City Turmoil?
30th August 2017
- Making Stuff up on Twitter is the New 'Journalism' -- and We Deserve it
30th August 2017
- Ruby Ridge Lessons for Fighting Right-Wing Extremism
29th August 2017
- Iran, Again...Will Israel Start a New War?
29th August 2017
- Will Congress and Trump Declare War on WikiLeaks?
28th August 2017
- Wikileaks' Julian Assange to Join RPI Conference!
26th August 2017
- One Way to End Drug War Violence
26th August 2017
- I Predict a 'RIOT' as Dissent in American Media Becomes Illegitimate
26th August 2017
- Trump and Korea. I'm Also Scared
25th August 2017
- Trump's New Strategy for Afghanistan Is Neither New, nor a Strategy, nor Trump's
25th August 2017
- Unlike Trump, JFK Didn't Bend the Knee
24th August 2017
- US Liberals Cozy up to Antifa, America's Anti-Free Speech 'Taliban'
23rd August 2017
- The Mini-Skirt Deception: How McMaster Got His Afghan 'Surge'
23rd August 2017
- Freedom for the Speech We Hate: The Legal Ins and Outs of the Right to Protest
22nd August 2017
- The International Criminal Court is the Antithesis of Justice
22nd August 2017
- One Step Closer to War: US, South Korea Hold New Military Drills
21st August 2017
- Oppose Fascism of the Right and the Left
21st August 2017
- Escape from Aleppo
20th August 2017
- Everyone Is Wrong About North Korea
19th August 2017
- Weapons Money Intended for Economic Development Being Secretly Diverted to Lobbying
18th August 2017
- Marco Rubio Says It's OK To Beat People For Their Thoughts
18th August 2017
- Iran Will be Trump's Nemesis
17th August 2017
- Korea and Venezuela: Flip Sides of the Same Coin
15th August 2017
- The Wrong Narrative in Charlottesville
14th August 2017
- North Korea and The Unintended Consequences of Trump
14th August 2017
- Attack Venezuela? Trump Can't be Serious!
14th August 2017
- Trump Isn't Going to Invade Venezuela, But What He's Planning Might be Just as Bad
12th August 2017
- If War Comes, Don't Blame the 'Military-Industrial Complex' – Things Are Even Worse Than You Think
12th August 2017
- End Democracy Promotion Balderdash
11th August 2017
- Bring the Troops Home From Korea
11th August 2017
- Why President Donald Trump May Let Hillary Clinton Walk Scot-Free
10th August 2017
- Pentagon Unveils Plan For 'Pre-Emptive Strike' On North Korea
10th August 2017
- US Military Presence Overseas Mushrooming: Here, There and Everywhere
10th August 2017
- The Unsung Summit of Putin and Trump
9th August 2017
- If America Was Trying to Start a World War, This Is How It Would Happen
9th August 2017
- Reports of Hungary's Slide into 'Dictatorship' Have Been Exaggerated
8th August 2017
- The Tale of the Brothers Awan
8th August 2017
- Jeff Sessions Endorses Theft
7th August 2017
- NATO Beefs Up Logistics Infrastructure for Offensive Operations
6th August 2017
- McMaster: U.S. Preparing For 'Preventive War' With North Korea
5th August 2017
- Time to End the Lost Afghan War
5th August 2017
- Where Trump Might Be Vulnerable
4th August 2017
- Isolated Trump Flails Helplessly as He Bows to Irrational Policies on Russia and Europe Imposed by Congress
4th August 2017
- Russia Sanctions and The Coming Crackdown on Americans
3rd August 2017
- US Ignores Saudi Beheading of 14 Activists, Labels Venezuela Dictatorship Despite Elections
2nd August 2017
- Groupthink at the CIA
1st August 2017
- Trump Calls On Police To Be Rougher In Handling Suspects In Speech Denounced By Police Organizations
1st August 2017
- July
- America Declares Economic War Against Europe
31st July 2017
- Russia's Expulsion of Staff From the US Embassy in Moscow is Unprecedented and Huge
31st July 2017
- North Korea or Iran Where Will President Trump Attack First?
31st July 2017
- Countdown To War On Venezuela
29th July 2017
- Bipartisanship! The Evil Party and Stupid Party Team Up to Cripple Trump, Subvert the Rule of Law, and Put the US on a Road to War
29th July 2017
- Get Out of Afghanistan and Go Home
28th July 2017
- US Sanctions Aimed at Russia Strike Western European Allies
28th July 2017
- Home Alone – Trump Is the Kevin McCallister of American Politics
27th July 2017
- The Atlantic Council: Experts on the Front Line of Disinformation
27th July 2017
- President Trump: The Only America First Afghan Policy is to Get Out of Afghanistan
26th July 2017
- Trump Is Being Moved Aside So That Conflict with Russia Can Proceed
26th July 2017
- Israel Anti-Boycott Act - An Attack On Free Speech?
25th July 2017
- Mr. Trump: Veto This Bill! - Sanctions Lead To War
24th July 2017
- Sour Grapes: Iran Wins the Iraq War, and I Scooped the NYT by Six Years on the Story
24th July 2017
- US Ends CIA Program in Syria but Continues Preparations for Big War
24th July 2017
- Trump Should Veto Congress' Foolish New Sanctions Bill
24th July 2017
- Five Weird Conspiracy Theories from CIA Director Mike Pompeo
22nd July 2017
- Syria Gas Attack and Russian Election Hacking...Debunking Fake News With Scott Ritter
21st July 2017
- Trump Ends Syrian Regime Change Campaign
21st July 2017
- US Urges All Nationals In North Korea To 'Depart Immediately,' Bans Tourists From Visiting
21st July 2017
- RPI's Peace and Prosperity 2017 Conference: 'Where We're Going and How We'll Get There!'
20th July 2017
- 40,000 Civilian Dead In Mosul?
20th July 2017
- New Survey: Americans Afraid Of Major War. Whose Fault?
19th July 2017
- Silencing War Criticism: The Iraq Invasion of 2003
19th July 2017
- It Took Obama More Than Two Years to Kill This Many Civilians. It Took Trump Less Than Six Months.
19th July 2017
- Jeff Sessions Declares War On Liberty
18th July 2017
- US Stumbling into War with Iran
18th July 2017
- How to Sustain Perpetual War (It's Easy!)
18th July 2017
- Four Major Famines - Unintended Consequences Of US Foreign Policy
17th July 2017
- Photos Of Aleppo Rising: Swimsuits, Concerts And Rebuilding In First Jihadi-Free Summer
17th July 2017
- Big Military Spending Boost Threatens Our Economy and Security
17th July 2017
- Democrats Gone Mad: The Year of Living Stupidly
16th July 2017
- 20th Anniversary, Asian Financial Crisis: Clinton, The IMF And Wall Street Journal Toppled Suharto
15th July 2017
- Obama's AWOL Antiwar Protest
15th July 2017
- Tucker Carlson, Neocon Slayer
14th July 2017
- Aleppo and Mosul: A Tale of Two Liberated Cities
14th July 2017
- Return of Pentagon Mercenaries Worries US Active Duty Military
14th July 2017
- US Taxpayers Will be 'Crying in Their Beers' When Iraqi Reconstruction Bill Arrives
13th July 2017
- Can Tillerson Referee The Qatar/Saudi Crisis?
13th July 2017
- Mosul: Another 'Mission Accomplished'
12th July 2017
- The Destructiveness of America's Alliances
12th July 2017
- Back To Benghazi - Are More US Troops The Answer?
11th July 2017
- Who Is the Real Enemy?
11th July 2017
- Partial Syria Ceasefire (Again). Who's Winning, Trump Or Putin?
10th July 2017
- Russophobia Hits the Libertarian Movement
10th July 2017
- Janet Yellen: False Prophet of Prosperity
10th July 2017
- The Unspeakable Crime of Viktor Orban
8th July 2017
- Why Imperial Washington Should Cool it On North Korea
8th July 2017
- New Syria Ceasefire Deal May Be US Attempt to Save Rebels From Defeat
7th July 2017
- Don't Be Surprised to See Trump Bomb North Korea
7th July 2017
- Trump Meets Putin - Who Has the Upper Hand?
6th July 2017
- Trump Sends in the Gun Confiscation Cops
6th July 2017
- 'Russiagate': The Stink Without a Secret
6th July 2017
- Let South Korea Be South Korea
5th July 2017
- Anti-Interventionist Voters Elected Trump
5th July 2017
- Time to End Our 14 Year Middle East Misadventure
5th July 2017
- Declaring Independence - A Novel Idea!
4th July 2017
- The Fraud of the White Helmets
4th July 2017
- Trump Appoints Himself Chicago Police Chief
3rd July 2017
- You Want a Picture of the Future? Imagine a Boot Stamping on Your Face
3rd July 2017
- We Must Declare Independence
3rd July 2017
- How Accidental are America's Accidental Civilian Killings Across the Middle East?
1st July 2017
- June
- 'The Putin Interviews' - Oliver Stone Speaks Out!
30th June 2017
- NYT Finally Retracts Russia-gate Canard
30th June 2017
- Mad Dog's Pathetic Syrian Chemical Attack Propaganda
30th June 2017
- Fake News Media Suppress Two Blockbuster Stories on Syria
29th June 2017
- Peace Is Popular
29th June 2017
- Is Civil War Coming To Saudi Arabia?
29th June 2017
- More Americans See Liberty In Decline. Why?
28th June 2017
- Trump's Super Fake Syria News: More US Attacks Expected
27th June 2017
- Trump's Reckless Syria Folly
27th June 2017
- Intel Behind Trump's Syria Attack Questioned
26th June 2017
- The Age of No Privacy: The Surveillance State Shifts Into High Gear
26th June 2017
- Republicans Still Pushing False Flags In Syria And Cold War With Russia
26th June 2017
- Republican Healthcare Plan Fails the 'Jimmy Kimmel Test'
26th June 2017
- Tyranny at Home to Fight Tyranny Abroad
24th June 2017
- Snowden Part Two: Edward Interviews Ron!
24th June 2017
- The Saudi-Qatar Spat - An Offer To Be Refused
23rd June 2017
- Groundhog Day in Iraq? Nope, Worse
23rd June 2017
- How America Armed Terrorists In Syria
22nd June 2017
- Russia/Iran Sanctions Delayed In House: Policy Change...or Deep State Pressure?
22nd June 2017
- Ron Paul: 'US Should Mind its Own Business; It Shouldn't be in Syria'
21st June 2017
- Paul Ryan's Tax 'Reform' -- Beware!
21st June 2017
- Our Rush to War in Syria -- It's a Disaster in the Making
21st June 2017
- Supreme Court Rules Overwhelmingly To Strike Down 'Disparagement Clause' Used To Bar Offensive Trademarks
20th June 2017
- Self-Defense Is No Defense for US Acts of War in Syria
20th June 2017
- Security...or Surveillance? The Edward Snowden Interview
20th June 2017
- Escalation! US Hits Syrian Jet, Russia Cuts Communications
19th June 2017
- Hodgkinson's Disease: Politics and Paranoia in the Age of Trump
19th June 2017
- Trump Turns Back the Clock With Cold War Cuba U-Turn
19th June 2017
- The ICC Should be on Trial not Saif Gaddafi
18th June 2017
- It's the Russia, Stupid
16th June 2017
- Derangement And Danger On The Potomac
16th June 2017
- Trump Administration Following in Obama Administration's Footsteps on Marijuana
16th June 2017
- The War In Afghanistan Is A Racket
15th June 2017
- New Russia Sanctions: The Deep State Unifies Congress
15th June 2017
- Tyranny Over There but Not Over Here
15th June 2017
- Gen. Mattis Admits Afghanistan Truth: After 15 Years, No End In Sight
14th June 2017
- The Saudi War Against Qatar
14th June 2017
- Lynching Free Speech: The Intolerant State of America
13th June 2017
- Global Peace Index: Where Do We Rank...And Why?
13th June 2017
- Liars Lying About Nearly Everything
13th June 2017
- Qatar Chaos: Washington's Middle East Mass Confusion
12th June 2017
- Understanding the Cost of War: Moral Injury
12th June 2017
- Why Are We Attacking the Syrians Who Are Fighting ISIS?
12th June 2017
- Saudi Arabia is Destabilizing the World
11th June 2017
- Can Gaddafi Save Libya?
11th June 2017
- The Surveillance State and Big Brother Trump
10th June 2017
- Terror in Tehran, Qatar Spat, and Race for Syria-Iraq Border: the Washington 'Swamp' Gives Green Light for Saudi Arabia's Jihad Agenda
9th June 2017
- Russia-gate's Mythical 'Heroes'
9th June 2017
- The Imperial City Unhinged -- J. Edgar Comey's Big Fat Nothingburger
9th June 2017
- Comey Under The Gun: Truth-Telling...Or Just Politics?
8th June 2017
- Trump -- Blundering into European Truths
8th June 2017
- Punishing People for Helping Dying Children is Evil Too
8th June 2017
- CrowdStrike, The DNC's Security Firm, Was Under Contract With The FBI
7th June 2017
- Russia: US-Declared 'De-Confliction Zone' In Syria Illegitimate
7th June 2017
- Hey Intercept, Something is Very Wrong with Reality Winner and the NSA Leak
7th June 2017
- Twilight of the Courts: The Elusive Search for Justice in the American Police State
6th June 2017
- Bring the Troops Home, Mr. President
6th June 2017
- London Attacks: Don't Blame Iran
5th June 2017
- Is Libya War Coming to an End?
5th June 2017
- Beyond 'Blowback': Islam and Terror
5th June 2017
- Trump's Budget: Radical Change or More of the Same?
5th June 2017
- Haven't We Had Enough of Afghanistan?
2nd June 2017
- Washington's War on Food is Making Us Sick!
2nd June 2017
- Five Bad Arguments the Left is Using to Restrict Speech from the Right
1st June 2017
- May
- An Update on Blocking The Saudi Arms Deal with Senator Rand Paul
31st May 2017
- Libya's Post-Gaddafi Chaos: Is There Any Way Out?
31st May 2017
- What Did John Brennan and Anonymous Sources Really Say?
30th May 2017
- World in Flames - the Deadly Legacy of Cold War Warrior Brzezinski
30th May 2017
- Memorial Day: What Should We Remember?
29th May 2017
- The Troops Don't Defend Our Freedoms
29th May 2017
- 'Libya's Utterly Predictable Chaos Perfect for Exporting Weapons & Jihadists into Syria'
29th May 2017
- Are We Fighting Terrorism, Or Creating More Terrorism?
28th May 2017
- The Great White Father Comes to Saudi Arabia
27th May 2017
- Blame David Cameron for Manchester Bombing!
26th May 2017
- Lying DEA Officials Get a Pass (Just Like Clapper)
26th May 2017
- Rebels 'Went to Libya With MI5 Blessing' Amid Abedi Probe
26th May 2017
- NSA Spying On Americans 'Widespread' - Let Sec. 702 Expire!
25th May 2017
- Was Manchester Blowback?
24th May 2017
- Slovakia: NATO Exit Idea Gains Momentum
24th May 2017
- The 'War On Terrorism' Isn't Working
24th May 2017
- The Republic Has Fallen: The Deep State's Plot to Take Over America Has Succeeded
23rd May 2017
- Manchester Tragedy: Understanding The Big Picture
23rd May 2017
- Trump In Saudi Arabia - 'Peace In Our Time?'
22nd May 2017
- Donald of Arabia: A Disgusting Spectacle
22nd May 2017
- Will the Trump Administration Overdose on Authoritarianism?
22nd May 2017
- US Attacks Syrian Government Forces - It Now Has To Make Its Choice
21st May 2017
- The Russian Obsession Goes Back Decades
20th May 2017
- The Assault on Trump
20th May 2017
- Seth Rich, Craig Murray and the Sinister Stewards of the National Security State
20th May 2017
- Black Swans And Interventionistas...With Special Guest Nassim Nicholas Taleb
19th May 2017
- The Special Counsel Comes to Town: It's the Moscow Trials, Revisited
19th May 2017
- While the Deep State 'Death Star' Seeks to Finish Off Trump, 'Mr. Massacre' Returns Pushing for Greater Albania
19th May 2017
- US Thinking on Arming the Kurds: Complex, Intricate, Nuanced, or Just Plain Stupid?
18th May 2017
- Mueller Appointed 'Chief Prosecutor' -- 'Russiagate' Crisis Over...Or Just Beginning?
18th May 2017
- The 'Giuliani Moment' 10 Years On: What Does It Mean Today?
17th May 2017
- America's Reign of Terror: A Nation Reaps What It Sows
17th May 2017
- 'Russiagate' -- National Security Threat...Or Just Politics?
16th May 2017
- Israel Minister: 'The Time Has Come To Assassinate Bashar Assad'
16th May 2017
- Are They Really Out to Get Trump?
16th May 2017
- Jeff Sessions' Authoritarian Drug Crackdown Won't Work
15th May 2017
- President Trump: Toss Your Generals' War Escalation Plans In the Trash
14th May 2017
- Ron Paul Rewind (2010): 'End the War in Afghanistan Now!'
13th May 2017
- Comey Fring Justly Knocks FBI off its Pedestal
13th May 2017
- Shut Down the 'Russia-gate' Farce
13th May 2017
- Will Trump Agree to the Pentagon's Permanent War in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria?
12th May 2017
- Watergate Redux or 'Deep State' Coup?
12th May 2017
- No Evidence of Russian Intrusion in US Political System
11th May 2017
- Arming The Kurds - A Dangerous Idea
11th May 2017
- Syria Doesn't Need Our Help Against Terrorists
10th May 2017
- Comey Fired...Now Fire The FBI!
10th May 2017
- McCain Hammers Tillerson On Human Rights: Why The Panic?
9th May 2017
- On That Day Began Lies
9th May 2017
- Trump's First Trip: Will He 'Stabilize' The Middle East?
8th May 2017
- ProPublica Attacks First Amendment, Cloudflare Edition
8th May 2017
- President Trump: Cancel Your Saudi Trip, Play More Golf
7th May 2017
- How Berkeley and NYU's Anti-Free Speech Actions are as Unconstitutional as Hell
6th May 2017
- Pre-emptive War Is A Pandora's Box
5th May 2017
- What the North Korean 'Crisis' Is Really About
4th May 2017
- Madison Was Right About War
4th May 2017
- Syria Safe Zones Declared: Will The Killing Finally End?
4th May 2017
- Welcome to the White House, President Duterte
3rd May 2017
- Ask Ron Paul: NAFTA, Obamacare, Taxes, State Rights, And More...
3rd May 2017
- War or Peace?
3rd May 2017
- Enemy Of The Week: US To Slap Iran With New Sanctions
2nd May 2017
- The Real WMD in Syria – West's Weapon of Mass Disorientation
2nd May 2017
- Big Brother Is Still Watching You: Don't Fall for the NSA's Latest Ploy
1st May 2017
- As Expected, A 'Bipartisan' Budget...More Spending!
1st May 2017
- Peace: Neither Ink nor Blood
1st May 2017
- Save Liberty, Shut Down the Government
1st May 2017
- April
- Two Western Narratives on North Korea; Both Cannot be True
30th April 2017
- President Trump: You Can't Fight the Whole World
30th April 2017
- Saddam Hussein at 80: Iraq Without its 'Liberation'
29th April 2017
- Gen Mattis' Syria Chemical Claim Smacks of Politicized Intelligence
29th April 2017
- Julian Assange Speaks Out: The War On The Truth
28th April 2017
- Phony Hysterics Over North Korea
28th April 2017
- Trump's Foreign Policy after 100 Days: Tweeting with Bombs?
28th April 2017
- Do American Airports Suck? Yes, Yes They Do
28th April 2017
- A Libertarian Laughs At The State, With Dave Smith
27th April 2017
- CIA Director Pompeo Doesn't Understand the First Amendment
27th April 2017
- Our Turk Allies Just Attacked Our Kurd Allies - Whose Side Are We On?
26th April 2017
- What Comes After the US Missile Strike in Syria?
26th April 2017
- State Governments Are Becoming the Biggest Drug Lords of All
26th April 2017
- New Syria Sanctions; Gas Attack Claims Still Unproven
25th April 2017
- The Iron Jaws of the Police State: Trump's America Is a Constitution-Free Zone
25th April 2017
- Why is US Media Ignoring Prof. Postol's Study on Syria Chemical Weapons Attack?
24th April 2017
- Tell Us Why We're At War, President Trump
24th April 2017
- Will the FBI Spy on the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity? It Wouldn't Surprise Me
24th April 2017
- Candidate Trump: 'I Love Wikileaks.' President Trump: 'Arrest Assange!'
24th April 2017
- France: Will 'La Morosite' Win the Vote?
22nd April 2017
- US 'Deep State' Sold Out Counter-Terrorism to Keep Itself in Business
22nd April 2017
- On Interventionistas and their Mental Defects
22nd April 2017
- The Spy State Unleashed
21st April 2017
- Berkeley Cancels Coulter Speech . . . Coulter Vows To Defy University
20th April 2017
- Tillerson Threatens Iran: 'The Great Destabilizer'?
20th April 2017
- President Trump's Disappearance
20th April 2017
- More US Troops To Afghanistan: Will A New 'Surge' Work?
19th April 2017
- How the US Government Spins the Story
18th April 2017
- 'Doing Time Like A Spy' - With Guest John Kiriakou
18th April 2017
- Why The Donald Should Cool It On North Korea
18th April 2017
- Run for Your Life: The American Police State Is Coming to Get You
17th April 2017
- Who 'Provoked And Destabilized' North Korea? China?
17th April 2017
- The Federal Reserve Is, and Always Has Been, Politicized
17th April 2017
- Did Al Qaeda Fool the White House Again?
15th April 2017
- Trump's Middle East Policy: Shifting 'America First' to 'America Omnipresent'
15th April 2017
- Tillerson in Moscow: Is World War III Back on Track?
14th April 2017
- Trump Walks Into Syria Trap Via Fake 'Intelligence'
14th April 2017
- If You're Wondering Why Trump Can Just Bomb Countries, Ask Obama, Bush, and Clinton
14th April 2017
- Does Anybody Know What Our Russia Policy Is?
13th April 2017
- President Trump, with respect, start ruthlessly purging the US general officer corps
13th April 2017
- Donald J. Trump: The Empire's Spanker-In-Chief
12th April 2017
- Why Does Assad Have To Go? -- With Lew Rockwell
11th April 2017
- Is There A New US Syria Policy? Is There One At All?
11th April 2017
- Iran the Destabilizer
11th April 2017
- After Trump Bombed Syria, Are We All Neocons Now?
10th April 2017
- After Trump's Syria Attack, What Comes Next?
10th April 2017
- If you have time, Mr. President, Senator Paul can help you learn the Constitution means what it says
9th April 2017
- Bomb the Usual Arabs
9th April 2017
- Syria: New US Air Support On Request Scheme For Al-Qaeda
7th April 2017
- US Bombs Syria - National Security Or Aggression? With Guest, US Rep. Thomas Massie
7th April 2017
- WWI Anniversary: 100 Years Of 'Making World Safe For Democracy'
6th April 2017
- Another Dangerous Rush to Judgment in Syria
6th April 2017
- Woodrow Wilson Made Democracy Unsafe for the World
6th April 2017
- Syria Gas Attack: Assad's Doing...Or False Flag?
5th April 2017
- By Jingo, an 'Act of War!'
4th April 2017
- Susan Rice Spy Scandal: Was Trump Right? And What It Means.
4th April 2017
- Just Bring the Troops Home
3rd April 2017
- Threatening China Over Korea: Grandstanding...Or Wise Diplomacy
3rd April 2017
- Does it Matter Who Pulls the Trigger in the Drone Wars?
3rd April 2017
- Yes, Let's Allow The Syrian People To Decide For Themselves
3rd April 2017
- The Sleazy Origins of Russia-Gate
1st April 2017
- March
- Ron Paul Rewind (1999): 'Our Foolish Policy in Iraq Invites Terrorist Attacks Against US Territory'
31st March 2017
- There Was No 'Russian Hacking' of the 2016 Election
31st March 2017
- Mosul: Where Obama's Last Gambit Could Ruin Trump
31st March 2017
- War Between US And China Brewing in South China Sea?
31st March 2017
- Free Market Healthcare? Favorite Country? Ron Paul Answers Viewer Questions
30th March 2017
- Constitutional Q&A: The Legality of Stop and ID Procedures
29th March 2017
- Escalation Everywhere: Will Trump's Foreign Policy Succeed?
29th March 2017
- Ending Syria's Nightmare will Take Pressure From Below
28th March 2017
- Dick Cheney Surfaces: Claims Interfering In Elections 'An Act Of War'
28th March 2017
- Death at Your Door: Knock-and-Talk Police Tactics Rip a Hole in the Constitution
28th March 2017
- Trump's War on Terror Has Quickly Become as Barbaric and Savage as He Promised
27th March 2017
- Game of Thorns: Revelations From The 2016 Campaign
27th March 2017
- Did the Government Spy on Trump? Of Course. It Spies on All of Us!
27th March 2017
- Macedonia to George Soros and USAID: Go Away
24th March 2017
- 'Has America become North Korea, where speaking to Russia is forbidden?'
24th March 2017
- The evidence that the Russians hacked the DNC is collapsing
24th March 2017
- Is Tillerson Skipping NATO for Russia a Crisis? (No.)
23rd March 2017
- Comey Lied? Trump Vindicated? Nobody's Safe From PATRIOT Act
23rd March 2017
- Fool Me Once: Crowdstrike Claimed Two Cases Of 'Russian Hacking.' One Has Been Proven Wrong.
22nd March 2017
- Is North Korea An 'Imminent Threat'?
22nd March 2017
- 'US Democrats and Neocons Need Some Anti-Psychotic Medication Over Trump'
21st March 2017
- House Russia Hearing: Revelations Or More Speculation?
21st March 2017
- Israel Precipitates New Tensions in Syria
21st March 2017
- McCain and Montenegro: The Anatomy of a Conspiracy Theory
21st March 2017
- Trump Budget Cuts Bankroll New Waste
20th March 2017
- Neocons Strike Back: Kagan Family On The Warpath (Again)
20th March 2017
- Mainstream Media in Total Collapse
20th March 2017
- Obamacare Repeal or Obamacare 2.0?
19th March 2017
- Why Are Americans Searched at the Border?
18th March 2017
- No One Needs Another Korean War
18th March 2017
- How To End the Korean War
17th March 2017
- Jeff Sessions is Less of a Threat to Marijuana Legalization than You May Think
17th March 2017
- The Kagans Are Back; Wars to Follow
16th March 2017
- Fed Hikes Rate - Stagflation Ahead?
16th March 2017
- The Four Horsemen Of The Trumpocalypse
15th March 2017
- Trump/Saudi Collusion: Laying Plans For More War In The Middle East
15th March 2017
- State Department: Is America's Oldest Cabinet Agency Trumped?
15th March 2017
- US Practices 'Taking Out' Kim Jong-Un -- What Will Be The Consequences?
14th March 2017
- What Is the CIA Hack All About?
14th March 2017
- New Rules Of Engagement: More Authority To The Generals
13th March 2017
- More Mideast Madness as Trump Prepares to March
13th March 2017
- Why Trump's Syria 'Surge' Will Fail
13th March 2017
- Assad Calls US Forces In Syria 'Invaders,' Loses Faith In Trump
12th March 2017
- Death in Ghayil
11th March 2017
- Do We Live in a Police State?
10th March 2017
- When Whistleblowers Tell The Truth They're Traitors. When Government Lies It's Politics
9th March 2017
- The Lynching of Lynne Stewart (1939-2017)
9th March 2017
- Race For Raqqa: Major US Escalation In Syria
9th March 2017
- Truman Was Right About the CIA
8th March 2017
- Trump's Global Hot Spots - Is He Losing Control?
8th March 2017
- Spygate: America's Political Police vs. Donald J. Trump
8th March 2017
- The CIA Leak Casts Doubt on Russian Involvement in the DNC/Podesta Leaks
7th March 2017
- New TSA Rules -- More Aggressive Pat-Downs!
7th March 2017
- The Left's Great Russian Conspiracy Theory
6th March 2017
- Reflections on the Revolution in Middlebury
6th March 2017
- Trump Tapped? President Accuses Obama Of Spying On His Campaign
6th March 2017
- Arizona Challenges the Fed's Money Monopoly
5th March 2017
- Why Libya's Cry for Justice Must be Heard
5th March 2017
- TSA Launches 'Invasive' Pat-Downs With 'More Intimate Contact Than Before'
4th March 2017
- Obama Ordered Abuse Of Intelligence To Sabotage Trump Policies
3rd March 2017
- GOP - Which Way?
3rd March 2017
- Dissent and the State Department: What Comes Next?
3rd March 2017
- The Basic Formula For Every Shocking Russia/Trump Revelation
2nd March 2017
- Lobbyists Concealed Their Saudi Paymasters From Veterans Pressed to Lobby Against 9/11 Bill
2nd March 2017
- Will The Neocons 'Flynn' Jeff Sessions?
2nd March 2017
- US-Backed Siege of Mosul Shows How Hypocritical Media Manipulates Us
1st March 2017
- Was Trump's Speech Libertarian?
1st March 2017
- Expect Increased Spending under President Trump, and Not Just on the Military
1st March 2017
- February
- Trump's 'Obsolete NATO' Means Europe Paying for US Militarism
28th February 2017
- A Troubled CIA Analyst Finds Jesus (and the devil is spelled T-R-U-M-P)
28th February 2017
- What's Going On In Djibouti? US/China Face-off in Africa
28th February 2017
- War And Peace In The Age Of Trump
27th February 2017
- Trump and Haley's Uncoordinated and Contradictory Syria Paths
27th February 2017
- On Military and Spending, It's Trump Versus Trump
27th February 2017
- Sleepwalking Into a Nuclear Arms Race with Russia
24th February 2017
- The Futility and Corruption of the Drug War
24th February 2017
- Shock Poll: Is Russia Friend Or Foe?
23rd February 2017
- Trump's First Terror Arrest: A Broke Stoner The FBI Threatened at Knifepoint
23rd February 2017
- The Sacrifice of Tulsi Gabbard
22nd February 2017
- CIA Weapons Pause In Syria - Are We Backing Off...Or Escalating?
22nd February 2017
- Why Do 'Progressives' Like War?
21st February 2017
- McMaster To NSC - More Troops To Middle East?
21st February 2017
- Veterans Being Misled On JASTA, Says International Law Expert
21st February 2017
- The 'Blind Sheik' And The CIA - Media Bury US Support For Radical Islamism
20th February 2017
- More Troops: Why Trump's ISIS Strategy Will Fail
20th February 2017
- McCain in Munich: The War Party Fights Back
20th February 2017
- Trump's ISIS Plan: Another US Invasion?
20th February 2017
- Red Hysteria Engulfs Washington
19th February 2017
- 'America wants empire and for Europeans to remain subservient'
18th February 2017
- Bribes, Catapults, and Corruption Trump Trumps Wall
17th February 2017
- Flynn's Gone But They're Still Gunning For You, Donald
17th February 2017
- You Are Forbidden to Talk with Russians!
16th February 2017
- Is The Intelligence Community At War With Trump?
16th February 2017
- Trump and Duterte: Birds of a Feather
15th February 2017
- Trump Caves on Flynn's Resignation
15th February 2017
- Ignore The Tough Talk - Trump's Iran Policy Will be Much Like Obama's
14th February 2017
- Gen. Flynn Out At NSC -- Winners and Losers
14th February 2017
- Can't Judge Fake News in the Dark
13th February 2017
- Saudi Lobbyists Recruiting Veterans to Kill 9/11 Lawsuit
13th February 2017
- Will Congress Stop Forcing Pro-Life Americans to Subsidize Abortion?
13th February 2017
- US Special Forces Deployed To 70 Percent Of The World In 2016
11th February 2017
- The Warlords of Kiev
10th February 2017
- Trump is Wrong - Saudi Arabia, Not Iran is the World's 'Number One Terrorist State
10th February 2017
- Trump's Fearmongering is White House Tradition
10th February 2017
- Are the Neocons Slithering into the New Administration?
8th February 2017
- 'Extreme Vetting' - Homeland Security's Attack On Liberty?
8th February 2017
- The FBI: The Silent Terror of the Fourth Reich
8th February 2017
- 'When Trump won, Ukraine's Poroshenko put himself in pretty bad position'
7th February 2017
- US Tanks, Troops Arrive In Estonia As Part Of NATO Anti-Russia Build Up
7th February 2017
- Elliott Abrams To State Dept: You Can't Be Serious!
7th February 2017
- Business As Usual - Is Trump's Foreign Policy Just More Bush And Obama?
6th February 2017
- Cut, Don't Reform, Taxes
6th February 2017
- 'The Media Coverage on Syria is the Biggest Media Lie of our Time' -- Interview with Flemish Priest in Syria
4th February 2017
- 'America: Please Stop Intervening in Our Affairs'
3rd February 2017
- A Billion Dollars of Federally Funded Paranoia
3rd February 2017
- Trump Team Gone Wild: Now UN Ambassador Threatens Russia!
2nd February 2017
- What Will Rex Tillerson Inherit at the State Department?
2nd February 2017
- Iran 'On Notice' - Will Trump Pull The Trigger?
2nd February 2017
- Ukraine - Coup Government Tries To Sabotage US-Russia Rapprochement
1st February 2017
- Settled Science? A 'Climate Change' Dissident Speaks Out
1st February 2017
- January
- Like Saudi Arabia, Israel Has a Soft Spot for Sunni Extremism
31st January 2017
- Rule by Brute Force: The True Nature of Government
31st January 2017
- Droning On: More US Bombs On Yemen
31st January 2017
- Obama Killed a 16-Year-Old American in Yemen. Trump Just Killed His 8-Year-Old Sister.
30th January 2017
- Trump's Travel Ban: Targeting Terrorism...Or Iran?
30th January 2017
- A Better Solution Than Trump's Border Wall
30th January 2017
- About That Trump - Putin Phone Call...
29th January 2017
- The End Of Mingling - 'Moderate Rebels' Join Al-Qaeda In Syria
28th January 2017
- Did the CIA Ruin Classical Music for the Masses?
28th January 2017
- The Birth Of The American Empire
27th January 2017
- Trump Bull in the Mideast China Shop
27th January 2017
- Those 'Resignations': What Really Happened at the State Department
27th January 2017
- The Syrian People Desperately Want Peace
26th January 2017
- Trump Proposal For Syria 'Safe Zones' To Escalate US Military Involvement In The Region
26th January 2017
- Perpetual Drug War Deja Vu
25th January 2017
- How To Really Reform Military Spending : Is Cutting Waste Enough?
25th January 2017
- Has the American Dream Become the American Nightmare?
24th January 2017
- The Neocon Lament Nobody wants them in Trump's Washington
24th January 2017
- Trump's 31 Airstrikes - A Taste Of Things To Come?
24th January 2017
- Is Medical Marijuana A Crime?
23rd January 2017
- Trump's Foreign Policy: An Unwise Inconsistency?
23rd January 2017
- US intervention in Syria? Not under Trump
21st January 2017
- What Trump Could Do
20th January 2017
- We're Still Here, 1/20/17, Consumed Most of All by Our Fears
20th January 2017
- Obama's Wasted, Deadly, and Destructive Presidency
19th January 2017
- McCain's $5 Trillion Military Budget: Will It Make America Great Again?
19th January 2017
- Obama's Achievement: Whitewashing Permanent Warfare With Eloquence
18th January 2017
- Chelsea Manning Clemency: Did Obama Do The Right Thing?
18th January 2017
- A Demand for Russian 'Hacking' Proof
18th January 2017
- Executive Power In The Age Of Trump
17th January 2017
- Who Is Michael Morell?
16th January 2017
- Antiwar And Anti-Violence: The Revolutionary MLK
16th January 2017
- Abolish the CIA
16th January 2017
- Protesters Succeed In Preventing Conservative Speakers From Appearing At The University of California At Davis
15th January 2017
- Will Trump Continue the Bush-Obama Legacy?
15th January 2017
- Is Trump Already Finished?
14th January 2017
- The Secret Trump Dossier -- What Does It Mean?
13th January 2017
- One Final Expansion of the Surveillance State as Obama Heads for the Door
13th January 2017
- Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich Ask President Obama to Free Chelsea Manning
12th January 2017
- The Tillerson Hearing: Will Trump Have A Neocon Foreign Policy?
12th January 2017
- American Troops 'Roll Into Poland' In Largest Deployment Since The Cold War
12th January 2017
- Will the CIA Retaliate Against Trump?
11th January 2017
- Where Was Meryl Streep When Obama Was Prosecuting Whistleblowers & Bombing Weddings?
10th January 2017
- Confirmation: Tillerson's Turn In The Hot Seat
10th January 2017
- Washington Invented Hacking and Interfering in Elections
10th January 2017
- Sen. Jeff Sessions: Libertarian Or Authoritarian?
9th January 2017
- The Globalists' Russia Game
9th January 2017
- Trump Must Expose Obama-era Power Grabs
9th January 2017
- Will Obama's 'Good War' in Afghanistan Continue?
8th January 2017
- Stop Demonizing North Korea and Talk Business
7th January 2017
- Is That All There Is? Intel Community Releases Its Russia 'Hacking' Report
6th January 2017
- Here's Why the US Elite Fear RT
6th January 2017
- 'Surreal Echo Chamber' - Challenging the 'Russia Hacked US Elections' Narrative
6th January 2017
- Purge the CIA
6th January 2017
- The Coup Against Truth
5th January 2017
- Can Trump Rein In The CIA?
5th January 2017
- Foreign Policy Blowback in Germany
3rd January 2017
- Facts Or Fakes: Can We Trust The Washington Post?
3rd January 2017
- America or Israel? Quislings in Congress and the Media Need to Decide Which Comes First
3rd January 2017
- Good News: Washington Frozen Out of Syria Peace Plan
2nd January 2017
- 2016
- December
- Russia Hysteria Infects WashPost Again: False Story About Hacking US Electric Grid
31st December 2016
- Another 50 Years of Mideast Strife
31st December 2016
- Symbolic Failure Point: Female Afghan Pilot Wants Asylum In The US
30th December 2016
- Obama Under 'Intense Pressure' To Release Evidence Proving Russians Hacked The Election
29th December 2016
- Does the Cause of Peace Have a Future?
29th December 2016
- Peace and Prosperity in 2017?
28th December 2016
- Trump's Pentagon Budget Time Bomb
28th December 2016
- 2016: The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Year
28th December 2016
- Syria - Peace Talk Rumors And Parameters
28th December 2016
- Behind the Real US Strategic Blunder in Syria
27th December 2016
- Why Did 'Faithless Elector' Bill Greene Vote For Ron Paul?
27th December 2016
- Obama Quietly Signs The 'Countering Disinformation And Propaganda Act' Into Law
26th December 2016
- New Year's Resolutions for Donald Trump and Congress
26th December 2016
- Trump's Need to Trust Americans
24th December 2016
- The Fraudulent Obama War on Corruption
22nd December 2016
- Meltdown in Turkey?
21st December 2016
- Global War On Terrorism: Are We Winning?
20th December 2016
- The War on Terror: Anyway You Look at it, it's a Failure
20th December 2016
- Electoral College - Should We Abolish It?
19th December 2016
- The Bad Losers and What They Fear Losing
19th December 2016
- After Aleppo: We Need a New Syria Policy
19th December 2016
- Moscow Attacks!
18th December 2016
- Ron Paul: What's Missing From The Russian Hack Argument?
17th December 2016
- Guess Who's Behind Facebook's New 'Fake News' Detector?
16th December 2016
- You Opened the Box
16th December 2016
- Getting Real News From Aleppo - With Vanessa Beeley
15th December 2016
- Credibility Tips for Journalists
14th December 2016
- Bipartisan War: New Study Urges More US Interventions
14th December 2016
- Will Congress Roll Over On Trump's Economic Stimulus?
13th December 2016
- Peace in Syria - It's the Last Thing the US Wants
12th December 2016
- Election 'Hack' - Do We Believe Snowden And Assange...Or McCain And Graham?
12th December 2016
- Karma Over Russia?
12th December 2016
- War on 'Fake News' Part of a War on Free Speech
11th December 2016
- US Sends 200 More Troops To Syria Days After Obama Lifts Ban On Arms Supplies To Rebels
10th December 2016
- Japan's 'Nobility of Failure' in 1941
10th December 2016
- Freedom's Just Another Word
10th December 2016
- Washington Post Issues Correction To 'Fake News' Story
9th December 2016
- Hillary Reemerges, Slams 'Dangerous Epidemic' Of Fake News
8th December 2016
- The Horrific Consequences of US Interventionism
8th December 2016
- Will Gen. Kelly Re-Militarize The Drug War?
8th December 2016
- Requiem for the Obama Administration, Trump Edition
7th December 2016
- After Libya, NATO Looks To Montenegro
7th December 2016
- US Strikes on Syrian Troops: Report Data Contradicts 'Mistake' Claims
7th December 2016
- Gen. Mattis: Can Trump Leash His Pentagon 'Mad Dog'?
6th December 2016
- PropOrNot Doesn't Identify Russian Propaganda
6th December 2016
- Trump's Taiwan Call - What's The Motive?
5th December 2016
- Trump's Promised 'New Foreign Policy' Must Abandon Regime Change for Iran
4th December 2016
- Mr. Trump: Use Your America-First Instincts to Pick a Secretary of State
3rd December 2016
- Will Obama be Named Russian Agent for Saying US Elections Reflect Will of American Voters?
2nd December 2016
- Presidential War is Unconstitutional
2nd December 2016
- Mr Trump, Don't Tear Down This Deal
2nd December 2016
- The End Of Globalism - With Doug Casey
1st December 2016
- OSU's Foreign Policy Blowback
1st December 2016
- November
- The Uselessness of NATO: Do We Really Need to Defend Montenegro?
30th November 2016
- Ron Paul: 'Fake News Comes From our Own Government'
30th November 2016
- The Only Way Trump Could Actually 'Drain the Swamp'
30th November 2016
- The Coming Fall Of Aleppo: Victory For Whom?
29th November 2016
- Iranophobes on Parade: Will Iran be the Target of the Trump Regime?
29th November 2016
- The War Against Castro Comes to an End
29th November 2016
- More Fake News: Who's On The Washington Post Blacklist?
28th November 2016
- The Western War On Truth
28th November 2016
- To Really 'Make America Great Again,' End the Fed!
27th November 2016
- Suez: The End of Europe's Empires
27th November 2016
- RPI's Daniel McAdams on the Washington Post 'Fake News' Attack Piece
26th November 2016
- Washington Post Peddles Tarring of Ron Paul Institute as Russian Propaganda
25th November 2016
- Ron Paul Rewind: Ron Paul on Julian Assange
25th November 2016
- Things We Are Thankful For, Thanksgiving 2016
24th November 2016
- After 2016: What Is The Future Of Libertarianism?
23rd November 2016
- What Would an 'America First' Foreign Policy Look Like?
23rd November 2016
- Trump's Tulsi Gabbard Factor
23rd November 2016
- When It Comes to Fake News, the US Government Is the Biggest Culprit
22nd November 2016
- Re-Branding Libertarianism: The Silver Lining of the 2016 Election
21st November 2016
- Mr. Trump: Here is a Worthy, Perhaps Final Opportunity to Put America First
21st November 2016
- Education System Broken: Let's Try 'Ed-Exit'
21st November 2016
- Help Wanted, Apply Now!
21st November 2016
- War Breaks Out Between Neo-Cons And Libertarians Over Trump's Foreign Policy
20th November 2016
- Those Damn Emails
19th November 2016
- The Russians are Coming – By Sea!
19th November 2016
- Donald and Vladimir
18th November 2016
- Memo To Congress: Bring Back Earmarks!
17th November 2016
- The Best Iran Deal Is Unilateral Hands-Off Iran
16th November 2016
- For A Libertarian Foreign Policy: Five Key Fixes
16th November 2016
- Trump and Putin Begin Work on US-Russia Reset
16th November 2016
- The Bolton Threat to Trump's Middle East Policy
15th November 2016
- China And Middle East Hot Spots: Diplomacy Or Militarism?
15th November 2016
- US Elections Shockwaves Hit Europe
14th November 2016
- Assad Must Stay: US Policy Shift In Syria?
14th November 2016
- Bulgaria & Moldova Switch from Hillary's Euro-Atlantic Column
14th November 2016
- Memo to the Next Administration: Defense Spending Must Be For Actual Defense
13th November 2016
- Long Live the Establishment!
12th November 2016
- Commander-In-Chief Donald Trump Will Have Terrifying Powers. Thanks, Obama.
11th November 2016
- Ron Paul to Trump: Don't Listen to Neocons!
11th November 2016
- Trump: Don't Follow the Bush-Obama Foreign Policy Legacy
10th November 2016
- Tug Of War Between NATO And Trump: Who Will Win?
10th November 2016
- Post-Election Roundup: How Did Liberty Do?
9th November 2016
- Election 2016 - Prediction Of Things To Come
8th November 2016
- Strange Silence of Neo-Con Trolls as Mikheil Saakashvili Stabs His Patron Poroshenko in the Back
8th November 2016
- Oh, What a Lovely War!
8th November 2016
- Another US Massacre in Afghanistan
7th November 2016
- Raqqa/Mosul: Politicians Fiddle As Middle East Burns
7th November 2016
- Regardless of How America Votes, Americans Want a Different Foreign Policy
7th November 2016
- US Hypocrisy: Bombing of Aleppo is No Worse Than What Happened in Gaza and Iraq
5th November 2016
- Washington's Meddling in Foreign Elections
5th November 2016
- Will the Media Reset After the Election or Are We Stuck With This Tabloid Stuff?
4th November 2016
- Twenty Years of a Dictatorial Democracy
4th November 2016
- Sleepwalking into a New Cold War, Pentagon Style
4th November 2016
- ISIS: Mortal Threat Or Paper Tiger?
3rd November 2016
- Bill Weld is Hillary Clinton's Libertarian Party Surrogate
3rd November 2016
- The Rise of Mandatory Vaccinations Means the End of Medical Freedom
3rd November 2016
- Purchasing Loyalty with Foreign Aid
2nd November 2016
- Turkey Prepares to Intervene in Mosul
2nd November 2016
- Who Will Weed Out the Warmongers?
1st November 2016
- New Poll: Americans Feel Less Safe After 15 Years Of War
1st November 2016
- Obama's Victory Lap?
1st November 2016
- October
- Not Guilty: The Power of Nullification to Counteract Government Tyranny
31st October 2016
- Will The Deep State Win The Election?
31st October 2016
- Raqqa Now Key to US Strategy in Syria and the Wider Region
31st October 2016
- Blame Government, Not Markets for Monopoly
31st October 2016
- Selling 'Regime Change' Wars to the Masses
29th October 2016
- Comey Sends Letter To Congress Citing New Evidence (and An Investigation) In The Clinton Email Scandal
28th October 2016
- Paper Tiger ISIS Digs Into Mosul
28th October 2016
- Should America Pardon the National Security State?
27th October 2016
- PATRIOT Act At 15: Do You Feel Safer?
27th October 2016
- Why Is the Foreign Policy Establishment Spoiling for More War? Look at Their Donors.
26th October 2016
- What Did Sen. Richard Black Learn In Syria?
26th October 2016
- Looking Ahead: Clinton's Plans for Syria
25th October 2016
- Hypocritical Air Force Secretary Deborah James Wants to Draft Women (Other Than Herself)
25th October 2016
- The Battle For Mosul: Who Benefits?
25th October 2016
- The Path to Total Dictatorship: America's Shadow Government and Its Silent Coup
24th October 2016
- Philippine Pivot To China: What Does It Mean?
24th October 2016
- Obama's Pivot to Asia Hits a Roadblock in the Philippines
24th October 2016
- Khadaffi's Murder
22nd October 2016
- Former Hungarian Communist Party Paper Goes Bankrupt, Washington Panics
21st October 2016
- Paranoid Apoplexy Over the Russkies
21st October 2016
- Obama and Hillary's Two-Minutes of Hate for Russia
21st October 2016
- An 'Epidemic of Graft' – Anti-Corruption Efforts in Afghanistan Fail Hard
20th October 2016
- Are The Russians Rigging Our Elections?
20th October 2016
- Assange's Fate
19th October 2016
- Trump/Clinton Final Debate: Questions We Would Ask
19th October 2016
- Western Doublethink on Aleppo & Mosul Obscures Terror Complicity
19th October 2016
- After Mosul Falls, ISIS will Flee to Syria. Then What?
18th October 2016
- CNN: It Is Illegal For Voters To Possess Wikileaks Material
18th October 2016
- Battle For Mosul: Not False Flag, False Hope!
18th October 2016
- The Horror of Endless Interventionism
17th October 2016
- Who Brought the World to the Brink of World War III?
17th October 2016
- Iceland Today, the US Tomorrow?
17th October 2016
- The Real Humanitarian Crisis Is Not Aleppo
16th October 2016
- WikiLeaks: The Two Faces of Hillary Clinton on Syria
15th October 2016
- Russia-US Relations: Inevitable Clash?
14th October 2016
- West is Gunning for Russian Media Ban
14th October 2016
- DOJ Drops Charges Against Arms Dealer - Why?
13th October 2016
- Prepare Yourself for Blowback From Yemen
13th October 2016
- The Imperial President's Toolbox of Terror: A Dictatorship Waiting to Happen
12th October 2016
- FBI Comes Clean On Homegrown Terror
12th October 2016
- The Legacy of United States Interventionism
11th October 2016
- Hillary's Public Vs. Private Positions - Deceit?
11th October 2016
- Enough Sabre Rattling Already!
11th October 2016
- Kerry's Anger as Assad Poised to Win; the US Still Serves Israel and Saudi Arabia
10th October 2016
- Debate Round Two: Issues Vs. Character
10th October 2016
- A Government is Seizing Control of Our Election Process, and It Is Not the Russians
10th October 2016
- Fifteen Years Into the Afghan War, Do Americans Know the Truth?
9th October 2016
- Obama's Syria Policy and the Illusion of US Power in the Middle East
9th October 2016
- America's Longest War Gets Longer
8th October 2016
- A Sandy Beach and Constitutional Political Economy
8th October 2016
- Why Snowden the Movie Matters
7th October 2016
- Syria -- What Cost 'Victory'?
6th October 2016
- Free Speech Victory: The 'Ron Paul' Sign Can Stay!
6th October 2016
- Destroying Syria: A Joint Criminal Enterprise
5th October 2016
- VP Debate: Hawk Versus Hawk
5th October 2016
- CNN Celebrates Iraqi Housewife Who Beheaded and Then Cooked the Skulls of ISIS fighters
4th October 2016
- Inside the Shadowy PR Firm That's Lobbying for Regime Change in Syria
4th October 2016
- Iraq Will Use Sept 11 Bill To Sue US Government For 2003 Invasion, Demand Compensation
3rd October 2016
- War Profits: PR Firm Gets $500 Million To Spin Iraq War
3rd October 2016
- After Peres, Is Peace Possible in the Middle East?
3rd October 2016
- How Far Are We From War With Russia Over Syria?
2nd October 2016
- Pentagon Paid PR Firm $540 Million to Make Fake Terrorist Videos
2nd October 2016
- Russia Warns US Military 'Aggression' In Syria Would Lead To 'Terrible, Tectonic' Consequences
1st October 2016
- September
- Libertarianism and War: The Rothbard Rule
30th September 2016
- Russia-US relations: Increased Tensions
30th September 2016
- Syria - The US Propaganda Shams Now Openly Fail
30th September 2016
- The US is Your Know-it-All Friend Who Should Just Keep His Mouth Shut
29th September 2016
- Why Everything You Hear About Aleppo Is Wrong
29th September 2016
- Obama Humiliated: For The First Time, Congress Votes To Override President's 'Sept 11' Bill Veto
28th September 2016
- Al-Qaeda: 'America Is On Our Side'
28th September 2016
- The Symbiotic Relationship Between Central Banking and Total War
28th September 2016
- Israel's $38 Billion Scam
27th September 2016
- The 'Great Debate' - Who Won?
27th September 2016
- George Soros's False Flag Factories
27th September 2016
- A Few Uncomfortable Truths You Won't Hear from the 2016 Presidential Candidates
26th September 2016
- The Hillary Clinton Presidency Has Already Begun As Lame Ducks Promote Her War
26th September 2016
- Wells Fargo or the Federal Reserve: Who's the Bigger Fraud?
26th September 2016
- How the Pentagon Sank the US-Russia Deal in Syria – and the Ceasefire
24th September 2016
- Journey To Aleppo: Exposing The Truth Buried Under NATO Propaganda
23rd September 2016
- What Trump Should Do - With David Stockman
23rd September 2016
- The US Road Map to Balkanize Syria
22nd September 2016
- Mission Accomplished? More US Troops To Iraq
22nd September 2016
- How American Media Serves as a Transmission Belt for Wars of Choice
22nd September 2016
- Syria - The Aid Convoy Attack Points To Further Escalation
21st September 2016
- Liberty In The House - With US Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY)
21st September 2016
- Syria Ceasefire In Tatters - Why And What's Next?
20th September 2016
- Deep State America
20th September 2016
- Time to Admit Washington's Syria Policy Has Gone Completely Off the Rails
20th September 2016
- What Lesson To Take From 'Snowden' Movie?
19th September 2016
- Why Are We Sending $38 Billion to Rich and Powerful Israel?
19th September 2016
- Western Media Credibility In Free Fall Collapse
17th September 2016
- American Commandos 'Forced to Run Away' From US-Backed Syrian Rebels
16th September 2016
- Two Boys in Aleppo
16th September 2016
- Who Are The Crazies on Korea?
16th September 2016
- Israel To Get Biggest US Aid Package In History - A Good Idea?
15th September 2016
- Oliver Stone's New Movie 'Snowden' Tackles the Myth
15th September 2016
- Can New Syria Ceasefire Hold?
14th September 2016
- Israel Wins in November - It Doesn't Matter Who is Elected
14th September 2016
- Republic Not Empire
14th September 2016
- The Truth About War and the State
12th September 2016
- Truth About 9/11
12th September 2016
- The Fed Plans for the Next Crisis
12th September 2016
- The Trumpillary War Machine Is Bad News
8th September 2016
- Top 10 Western Lies About Syrian Conflict
8th September 2016
- Iran: The Inside Story
7th September 2016
- Newly Released FBI Records Raise Questions of Intentional Destruction of Evidence By Clinton Contractor
7th September 2016
- US Blocks Former British Ambassador From Entering America to Honor CIA Whistleblower
7th September 2016
- Battling Big Government...From Washington!
6th September 2016
- For What Do We Stand?
6th September 2016
- John Kerry is Wrong – Media Shouldn't Stop Covering Terrorism, But They Should Start Explaining it
5th September 2016
- How to Solve the Illegal Immigration Problem
5th September 2016
- Is the United States Trying to Incite Unrest in Venezuela?
3rd September 2016
- US V US in Syria
2nd September 2016
- Acceptable Losses: Aiding and Abetting the Saudi Slaughter in Yemen
2nd September 2016
- The Campaign to Blame Putin for Everything
1st September 2016
- Traveling To Cuba: An Idea Whose Time Has Come
1st September 2016
- August
- Homeland Security To Save Us From 'Rigged Elections'?
31st August 2016
- Ron Paul's Quick Conference Update
30th August 2016
- The Real US Syria Scandal: Supporting Sectarian War
30th August 2016
- Is There a Turkish-Russian Alliance: Why Should We Care?
30th August 2016
- The Election Has Been Hacked: The Dismal Reality of Having No Real Electoral Choices
29th August 2016
- The USS Gerald Ford - A $13 Billion Boondoggle?
29th August 2016
- Tell Us Why We're At War, Candidates
29th August 2016
- US in Denial Over Sponsoring Terrorism is Why Syrian War Rages On
28th August 2016
- The Right Lessons from Obamacare's Meltdown
28th August 2016
- The Man Who Captured Abu Zubaydah Says It's Time to End His Ordeal and Send Him Home
27th August 2016
- Do You Want a Peaceful and Prosperous Society or Not?
26th August 2016
- Kerry In Kenya - Spreading 'American Exceptionalism'
25th August 2016
- The Alternate Reality of Anders Fogh Rasmussen
25th August 2016
- America's Communist Program
24th August 2016
- Turkey/US Invade Syria - Hillary Gets 'No-Fly' Zone
24th August 2016
- The Blessing of Cash
23rd August 2016
- The Neoconservatives, the War on Iraq, and the National Interest of Israel
23rd August 2016
- What's Iran Up To; Fed Plans New $4 Trillion QE
23rd August 2016
- Children of the American Police State: Just Another Brick in the Wall
22nd August 2016
- US Policy Shift In Syria; Pentagon's Lost Trillions
22nd August 2016
- Follow the Money Trail for Source of 'Russian Threat' Paranoia
22nd August 2016
- What Should We Do About Crimea?
21st August 2016
- Leaked Memo Proves Soros Ruled Ukraine In 2014: Minutes From 'Breakfast With US Ambassador Pyatt'
20th August 2016
- US Defense Contractors Tell Investors Russian Threat Is Great for Business
20th August 2016
- Leaked Memo Shows George Soros Worked to Push Greece to Support Ukraine Coup, Paint Russia as Enemy
19th August 2016
- NED, the Legal Window of the CIA
18th August 2016
- Bin Laden Speaks...Should We Listen?
18th August 2016
- Will Hungary Be Next to Exit the EU?
18th August 2016
- Turkey Harmonises With Russia, Iran on Syria
17th August 2016
- Ninth Circuit Bars Federal Medical Marijuana Prosecutions; Full Protection Requires Congress Action
17th August 2016
- US Weapons Fuel Saudi Slaughter In Yemen
17th August 2016
- Trouble Follows When the US Labels You a 'Thug'
16th August 2016
- Trump Foreign Policy Speech - Cheers Or Jeers?
16th August 2016
- While Beijing and Manila Talk, Washington Spoiling for a Fight
16th August 2016
- New Yemeni Government Ready To Accept Al-Saud's Capitulation
15th August 2016
- It's August 15th - Where Is Your Gold?
15th August 2016
- Rethinking The Cold War
15th August 2016
- Election 2016: Liberty Loses No Matter Who Wins
14th August 2016
- Shocking Report Finds U.S. Military Consistently 'Distorted, Suppressed, Or Substantially Altered' ISIS-Related Intel
14th August 2016
- Even Nukes Grow Old
13th August 2016
- The Ron Paul Conference
12th August 2016
- In Vilifying Russian Swimmer Yulia Efimova, Americans are Splashing Murky Waters
12th August 2016
- Bush Administration Official: Saudi Ties to 9/11 Hidden to Protect Iraq War Narrative
11th August 2016
- War Clouds Gathering Over Crimea
11th August 2016
- Recovered Emails Show Clinton Foundation Officials Intervening For Donors and Aides With State Department
11th August 2016
- 'Prague Calling, Prague Calling' - The Alternative Reality of RFE/RL
10th August 2016
- The Military Base Dole
10th August 2016
- War With China Unthinkable? Think Again!
10th August 2016
- Killer Instincts: When Police Become Judge, Jury and Executioner
9th August 2016
- CIA's Morell Cozies Up To Clinton - Looking For Work?
9th August 2016
- Chemical Weapons in Syria: Methods of Waging Information Wars
9th August 2016
- Pentagon, CIA Form Praetorian Guard for Clinton as Warmonger President
8th August 2016
- Iran Executes Scientist/Spy - What's Hillary's Role?
8th August 2016
- The Phony Job Recovery
8th August 2016
- Hiroshima: the Crime That Keeps on Paying, But Beware the Reckoning
7th August 2016
- Trump's Mouth is His Worst Enemy
6th August 2016
- The Sham Rebrand of al-Qaeda's Nusra Front
5th August 2016
- Kerry's And Al-Qaeda's 'Very Different Track' Attack On Aleppo Fails
4th August 2016
- McCain's Nightmare - Dr. Kelli Ward For US Senate
4th August 2016
- Milosevic Exonerated, as the NATO War Machine Moves On
3rd August 2016
- Should The IMF Director Be Fired...And Does It Matter?
3rd August 2016
- Captain Khan Was Waging an Unconstitutional War
2nd August 2016
- Libya War Escalates - Congress AWOL
2nd August 2016
- As Israel Prospers, Obama Set to Give Billions More in Aid While Netanyahu Demands Even More
1st August 2016
- Capt. Humayun Khan: Sacrifice Or Victim?
1st August 2016
- Can Hillary Clinton Be Pro-War and a Progressive?
1st August 2016
- Americans Are Going to be Disappointed in Election Outcome
1st August 2016
- July
- America's Longest War Gets Longer
31st July 2016
- Gaddafi's Ghosts: Return of the Libyan Jamahiriya
30th July 2016
- Strategic Shift? Putin to Receive Erdogan in Hometown
29th July 2016
- Who Hacked the DNC?
29th July 2016
- Just Who Is The War Party?
28th July 2016
- The Secret Rules That Allow the FBI to Spy on Journalists
28th July 2016
- Trump: Siberian Candidate?
27th July 2016
- Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin: Potential Partners – Not Allies or Even Friends
26th July 2016
- Stop Drinking the Kool-Aid, America: Political Fiction in an Age of Televised Lies
26th July 2016
- A Tipping Point for Liberty
26th July 2016
- Clinton, Wasserman Schultz and the Wheezing Corpse of the Democratic Process Revealed
25th July 2016
- Can Bombs Win War on ISIS?
25th July 2016
- New From RPI: A Tipping Point for Liberty
25th July 2016
- Defeating Islamic Terrorism. Here's How
25th July 2016
- The Path to Fed-Exit
24th July 2016
- The Real Story Behind The Turkish Coup
23rd July 2016
- 28pages.org Founder Brian McGlinchey to Speak at RPI Conference!
21st July 2016
- Cleveland Police to RNC Protesters: Don't Hide Your Faces (Facial Recognition)
21st July 2016
- The 28 Pages - Finally Revealed
21st July 2016
- 9/11: Bush's Guilt and the 28 Pages
21st July 2016
- Syria's 'Moderate Rebels' are Not Moderate, Not Rebels
20th July 2016
- Orlando Shooter's Statements Vindicate Ron Paul
20th July 2016
- Iraq War Families Seek Crowdfunding to Sue Tony Blair
19th July 2016
- Millennials Are Facing Existential Crisis
19th July 2016
- Turkey Coup - Is It Over?
18th July 2016
- The Saudis Did 9/11
18th July 2016
- My Senator Thinks Drafting Women Gives Equal Opportunity
18th July 2016
- Don't Reform the Fed, Fed-Exit!
17th July 2016
- Great News: Turks Closed US Incirlik Base
16th July 2016
- The Counter-Coup Begins: Erdogan Purges 2,745 Judges, Prosecutors; Arrests Hundreds
16th July 2016
- The Horror in Nice
15th July 2016
- After Nice Attack - Round Up Usual Suspects?
15th July 2016
- The Risky Business of Being a US Ally
14th July 2016
- Lena Dunham Encourages People To Tear Apart The Movie Posters Of Other Artists
14th July 2016
- How Disinformation Feeds The War Machine
14th July 2016
- Time to Talk to Syria
13th July 2016
- State Department Stonewalls On Syria Weapons
13th July 2016
- Connecting the Dots
13th July 2016
- Brexit: A Win For Localism?
12th July 2016
- Don't Just Blame the Cops: Who Is Responsible for America's Killing Fields?
12th July 2016
- Fool's Errand: NATO Pledges Four More Years of War in Afghanistan
11th July 2016
- Whitewash Won't Cover Blair's Guilt
9th July 2016
- A Primer: USAID & US Hegemony
9th July 2016
- Why Dallas Happened
8th July 2016
- The Baghdad Bombings, Islamic State, and What America Still Hasn't Learned
8th July 2016
- 'FBI's failure to prosecute Clinton is essentially a political coup'
7th July 2016
- NATO's Warsaw War Plans
7th July 2016
- Programmed to Kill: The Growing Epidemic of Cops Shooting Dogs
6th July 2016
- Is NATO necessary?
6th July 2016
- UK's Chilcot Report Exposes Iraq War Lies
6th July 2016
- Conspiracy Fact: NATO's Russia War Push
5th July 2016
- On July 4th Demand Freedom, Don't Celebrate The State
3rd July 2016
- America Should Exit From NATO and the National Security State
3rd July 2016
- Confessions Of A War Propagandist
2nd July 2016
- Stop Giving Chickens Away, Bill Gates
1st July 2016
- June
- RPI Conference Update: Paul and Rockwell Together Again in DC!
30th June 2016
- Ask Ron Paul - Cuba, Bureaucracy, Benghazi, And More
30th June 2016
- Obama's 'New Beginning' was the Beginning of the End
30th June 2016
- Istanbul Bombing - Who's At Fault?
29th June 2016
- The Syria 'Dissent' Memo and US Bureaucratic Pressure Strategy
29th June 2016
- The Magnitsky Hoax?
28th June 2016
- 'We the Prisoners': The Demise of the Fourth Amendment
28th June 2016
- A New European Superstate Is Hardly The Answer
28th June 2016
- Google, YouTube, Facebook, Others, Now Using Automated Blocking of 'Extremist' Content
27th June 2016
- Brexit: Truth And Consequences
27th June 2016
- After 'Brexit,' Can We Exit a Few Things Too?
27th June 2016
- Do We Really Want War With Russia?
25th June 2016
- The Brexit Vote - What Does it Mean?
24th June 2016
- Saudis Push Washington Revolt Against Obama on Syria
23rd June 2016
- Teen Sues US Over Cavity Drug Search for Which She was Billed $575
23rd June 2016
- Fifty-One Foreign Service Officers Can't be Wrong Or Can They? More bombs and Less Talk on Syria
21st June 2016
- 'Hello, Lenin!' Three Components of America's Misguided Foreign Policy
21st June 2016
- Orlando: Islam or Blowback?
20th June 2016
- Nazis Have Rights Too
20th June 2016
- Orlando: The New 9/11?
20th June 2016
- Huge Scandal Erupts Inside NATO: Alliance Member Germany Slams NATO 'Warmongering' Against Russia
19th June 2016
- Why Are Defense Policy Wonks So Ineffectual?
18th June 2016
- Interventionism is a Rotten Tree With Rotten Fruit
17th June 2016
- US Senate Votes to Legalize Kidnapping of Women (AKA: Military Draft)
16th June 2016
- Militarized USDA and EPA using SWAT Teams to Terrorize Innocent People Including Lemon Growers and Small Farmers
16th June 2016
- BREXIT: Boon Or Bust For UK?
16th June 2016
- Join us in September at the 'Peace and Prosperity 2016' Conference
15th June 2016
- Clinton Discussed Top Secret CIA Drone Info, Approved Drone Strikes, Via Her Blackberry
14th June 2016
- Violence Begets Violence: The Orlando Shootings and the War on Terror
14th June 2016
- Orlando: Was It LGBT, Radical Islam, Guns...Or Something Else?
13th June 2016
- Fascism: A Bipartisan Affliction
13th June 2016
- The Peacemaker and the Psychopath
12th June 2016
- State Department Emails Reveal How Unqualified Clinton Donor Was Named to Intelligence Board
11th June 2016
- A Champion of Peace - The Walter Jones Interview
11th June 2016
- Democrats Are Now the Aggressive War Party
10th June 2016
- US Unleashes the Dogs of War in Afghanistan
10th June 2016
- Sometimes You Eat the Bear and Sometimes the Bear Eats You - Thoughts on Syria
9th June 2016
- Rep. Walter Jones - The Neocon Slayer
9th June 2016
- Playing With Fire: NATO Launches Massive Wargame In Russia's Backyard
8th June 2016
- Rehearsing for World War III
8th June 2016
- Color Revolutions – Opium of the People
7th June 2016
- State Department Tries to Send Embarrassing Press Video Down the Memory Hole
7th June 2016
- Ali Won His Greatest Fight
6th June 2016
- Next Time Someone Says Nothing Is Made in the USA Anymore, Show Them This
6th June 2016
- The Keynesians Stole The Jobs
6th June 2016
- Muhammad Ali Risked It All When He Opposed The Vietnam War
4th June 2016
- The Census Bureau's Latest Peril to Freedom
3rd June 2016
- War Criminal Blair Warmongers for Ground Invasion of Syria and Iraq
2nd June 2016
- Hawks Hand Hillary A Foreign Policy Blueprint: Will She Bite?
2nd June 2016
- No "Glitch": State Department Admits That Press Briefing Was Intentionally Edited To Remove Passage . . . But Insisted It Cannot Find Official Responsible
2nd June 2016
- Clinton Offers New Explanation For Email Scandal
1st June 2016
- Was the White Rose Right or Wrong on Patriotism?
1st June 2016
- May
- Congress' Treachery, the FBI's Double-Crossing and the American Citizenry's Cluelessness: With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies?
31st May 2016
- Obama and the Myth of Hiroshima
31st May 2016
- Third Battle For Fallujah -- Time To Finally Come Home?
31st May 2016
- Thank The Troops for Destroying Our Country
30th May 2016
- Government Can't Help; It Can Only Hurt
29th May 2016
- As Our Past Wars Are Glorified This Memorial Day Weekend, Give Some Thought To Our Prospects Against The Russians And Chinese In World War III
29th May 2016
- Memorializing the Horrors of War with 10 Must-See War Films
28th May 2016
- Europe Revolts Against Russian Sanctions
27th May 2016
- The New State Department Report on Hillary's Email, and Why it Matters
27th May 2016
- State Department Refutes Key Statements By Clinton On Email Scandal; Finds That She Violated Clear Rules
26th May 2016
- My Dreams Seek Revenge: Hiroshima
26th May 2016
- More Syrian Refugees To US: Costs And Consequences
25th May 2016
- Kosovo: Hillary Clinton's Legacy of Terror
25th May 2016
- Intel Vets Urge Fast Report on Clinton's Emails
24th May 2016
- Court Decision Grants Shocking New Government Powers
24th May 2016
- How the World Ends - Baiting Russia is Not Good Policy
24th May 2016
- Poof! Our Wars are All Forgotten
23rd May 2016
- Obama in Vietnam: Diplomacy Or Deep State Duplicity?
23rd May 2016
- Much Ado About Restrooms
22nd May 2016
- Beware What You Wish For: Russia is Ready for War
22nd May 2016
- America – the Most Frightened Nation on Earth
21st May 2016
- Ron Paul Rewind: Repeal Indefinite Detention!
20th May 2016
- Merle Haggard vs. Eliot Cohen
20th May 2016
- Obama's Global Anti-Corruption Cops Should Call Internal Affairs
20th May 2016
- Bill Clinton to Poland and Hungary: Do As We Say on Immigration, You Dirty Little Putins!
20th May 2016
- Lavender Leninists and Heretic-Hunters: The Thoughtcrime Prosecution of Ruth Neely
19th May 2016
- TSA Total Failure - No Surprise!
19th May 2016
- Anti-War is Pro-American
19th May 2016
- Return Of The Gold Standard? Why Now?
18th May 2016
- The Police State and License Plate Scanners
18th May 2016
- The Facebook Facedown
17th May 2016
- Architects of Disastrous Iraq War Still at Large
17th May 2016
- The Civil War Inside the US Military
16th May 2016
- Kurd Fighter in Iraq Destroys U.S.-Made Turkish Helo With Russian-Model Missile
16th May 2016
- NDAA 2017: Military Industrial Complex Wins, People Lose
16th May 2016
- Defense Bill Coming This Week: A Boost for War and Tyranny
15th May 2016
- Ellen Brown Scripps Would Have Been Proud
14th May 2016
- Washington Coup in Brazil? Was Incoming President US Embassy Informant?
13th May 2016
- Showdown: Poland Refuses To Accept Any Refugees, Will Not Comply With European 'Blackmail'
13th May 2016
- US Asia 'Rebalance' Threatened With Meltdown
12th May 2016
- America's War For The Greater Middle East
12th May 2016
- Another Needless US/China Clash In South China Sea
11th May 2016
- Against the Feel-Good Study of History and Literature
11th May 2016
- Syria, ISIS, and the US-UK Propaganda War
11th May 2016
- US Escalation in Afghanistan: A 'Recipe For Disaster'
10th May 2016
- Turkey's Erdogan Gives Europe the Middle Finger
9th May 2016
- Secret Service Handcuffs The First Amendment
9th May 2016
- Trump's Wall vs Kerry's Open Border - Is There A Libertarian Option?
9th May 2016
- What Happened to the Revolution?
9th May 2016
- Mr. Trump, Explain Why America First Must Mean Ending Foreign Aid and Foreign Military Assistance
6th May 2016
- US Ambassador to Hungary: Overthrow Assad, Let in Refugees, and Fight Russia...or Else!
6th May 2016
- Aleppo – Syria's Stalingrad?
6th May 2016
- Texas Teachers and Police Launch Absurd Investigation After Eighth Grader Attempted To Pay for Lunch With $2 Bill
5th May 2016
- Are Young People Really Going Socialist?
5th May 2016
- Suspect Held in Solitary for Seven Months for Forgetting Hard Drive Passwords
4th May 2016
- Mandatory Draft Registration: A Victory For Women?
4th May 2016
- What Is the US Military Doing in the Baltics?
4th May 2016
- Remember How We Got Out of Vietnam
4th May 2016
- Torture: Stopping Terrorism...Or IS It Terrorism?
3rd May 2016
- Iraq: The Interventionist Hellhole
2nd May 2016
- 'Green Zone' Breached: Iraq Falling Apart?
2nd May 2016
- 'This Is A Game': The Clintons Continue To Mock Email Investigation
2nd May 2016
- Drafting Women Means Equality in Slavery
1st May 2016
- April
- US-Created System In Iraq Is Collapsing: Protesters Storm Parliament, State of Emergency Declared
30th April 2016
- State Department Follies
29th April 2016
- Remember the Golan Heights?
29th April 2016
- Obama Went to Germany to Deliver Europe's Latest Report Card
28th April 2016
- iPhone Ruse: FedGov Now Demands Backdoor To All Devices
28th April 2016
- How NATO-Linked Think Tanks Control EU Refugee Policy
27th April 2016
- Is This What's in Those 28 Pages? And Does it Matter?
27th April 2016
- The Pentagon Gong Show
27th April 2016
- The Classified '28 Pages': A Diversion From Real US-Saudi Issues
26th April 2016
- Wartime Washington Lives In Luxury...Guess Who Pays The Bills?
26th April 2016
- The Hell on Earth Paved by Samantha Power's Good Intentions
26th April 2016
- Censored, Surveilled, Watch Listed and Jailed: The Absurdity of Being a Citizen in the American Police State
25th April 2016
- Escalation Without Representation: Syria, Iraq, and Black Sea
25th April 2016
- Yes, Prince Faisal, We Need to 'Recalibrate' Our Relationship
24th April 2016
- Defending Democracy to the Last Drop of Oil
23rd April 2016
- Ron Paul Rewind: 'You're Painting an Overly Optimistic Picture of Afghanistan Success' (2004)
22nd April 2016
- US-Saudi Relations: Yesteryear Days are Gone Forever
22nd April 2016
- US Assaults British Sovereignty
21st April 2016
- US Protects Saudis From Terror Suits, Yet Backs Suits Against Iran
21st April 2016
- Saudis To Kerry: We Created ISIS...And CIA Knew
21st April 2016
- Collateral Damage - Obama OKs More Civilian Drone Deaths
20th April 2016
- Sue Saudis for 9/11 and the US For All its Wars
20th April 2016
- Nation-Building: Global Hegemony Without Local Knowledge
20th April 2016
- Enemies Everywhere - The US War On The World
19th April 2016
- Washington's War Against the World
19th April 2016
- The Terrorist iPhone Snow Job
18th April 2016
- After Vote to Remove Brazil's President, Key Opposition Figure Holds Meetings in Washington
18th April 2016
- Saudi 9/11 Blackmail: 'We'll Dump Dollar!'
18th April 2016
- What Did Fed Chairman Yellen Tell Obama?
17th April 2016
- The Phony War in Syria
16th April 2016
- Deadly Myths: Iraq 'Surge' General Calls for 'Surge 2.0'
16th April 2016
- Ron Paul's 'What If' Speech - Like You've Never Seen it Before
15th April 2016
- Does Over-Classification Matter With the Hillary Emails?
15th April 2016
- President Killary: Would The World Survive Another President Clinton?
13th April 2016
- Plan B - US Arms Syria Rebels...AGAIN!
13th April 2016
- John Kerry, and the Legacy of Hiroshima
13th April 2016
- On 60 Minutes, A Compelling Case for Releasing 28 Pages on 9/11
12th April 2016
- Military Suicides - Not Combat Related?
12th April 2016
- Fleecing the American Taxpayer: The Profit Incentives Driving the Police State
12th April 2016
- In India, Defense Secretary Carter to Push Anti-China Alliance
11th April 2016
- The Enemy Within: Terrorist Enablers on the Potomac
11th April 2016
- As Ukraine Collapses, Europeans Tire of US Interventions
10th April 2016
- A Media Unmoored from Facts
8th April 2016
- Syria - As Rebels Break Ceasefire Army Gathers For New Campaign
8th April 2016
- Dutch People Say 'No' To Ukraine Treaty - Big Blow To The NWO?
7th April 2016
- Congress Shirks War Responsibility-What Are The Costs?
6th April 2016
- Fixing The Intelligence Around The Policy...In Syria
5th April 2016
- Happy Birthday, NATO: It's Time to Retire!
5th April 2016
- Ron Paul Rewind: Condemns US Support of Terrorist Insurrection in Syria (2012)
4th April 2016
- Selective Leaks Of The 'Panama Papers' Create Huge Blackmail Potential
4th April 2016
- 'The Boys Who Said No!': New Documentary About War Resisters
4th April 2016
- Vietnam War at 50: Have We Learned Nothing?
3rd April 2016
- The Cover-Up of the Damning 9/11 Report Continues
1st April 2016
- March
- US Troops To Russia's Border - To Fight 'Russian Aggression'
31st March 2016
- Bill Buckley Conservatism Is Dead...Meanwhile, Rothbard Soars
30th March 2016
- Japan Goes Neocon - Dumps Antiwar Constitution
30th March 2016
- Can the State Enforce Virtuous Behavior?
29th March 2016
- Greatest Terror Attack In Modern History - Guess Where?
29th March 2016
- Iraq Invasion – Anniversary of The Biggest Terrorist Attack in Modern History
29th March 2016
- All Quiet on Western Front After Syrian Forces Recapture Palmyra From ISIS
28th March 2016
- No Matter How You Vote, The Insiders Decide
28th March 2016
- A European PATRIOT Act Will Not Keep People Safe
28th March 2016
- Back to the Future: The Unanswered Questions from the Debates
26th March 2016
- Ukraine is Turning into Liberia
25th March 2016
- Should Europeans Sacrifice Liberty For Promises Of Security?
24th March 2016
- How Narratives Killed the Syrian People
24th March 2016
- A Better Approach To Terrorism
23rd March 2016
- Trump vs. Clinton on Foreign Policy
23rd March 2016
- Reporting (or Not) the Ties Between US-Armed Syrian Rebels and Al Qaeda's Affiliate
22nd March 2016
- My Too-Intimate Relations With The TSA
22nd March 2016
- Brussels Attack, Back To Iraq - What Would Reagan Do?
22nd March 2016
- Obama in Cuba - Too Soon Or Too Late?
21st March 2016
- Google This! Hillary Clinton and the Syrian Regime-Change Conspiracy
21st March 2016
- Soros Disruption: American-Style
21st March 2016
- Beltway Conservative Budget Plans Are Big Spending and Anti-Liberty
20th March 2016
- The Kurdish Genie - A Case of Complexity Papered Over by Arrogance and Ignorance
20th March 2016
- The Islamic State Is Pretext To Again Mug Libya
18th March 2016
- The Conceit of Humanitarian Intervention
17th March 2016
- Kurds Declare Autonomous Region: Self-Determination Or Foreign Mischief?
17th March 2016
- Republicans Are The Big Spenders - Does Anybody Care?
16th March 2016
- America Doesn't Need a National-Security State
16th March 2016
- Russia Leaves Syria...When Do We?
15th March 2016
- America's Gestapo: The FBI's Reign of Terror
15th March 2016
- The US Middle East Killing Racket
15th March 2016
- Kerry Sought Missile Strikes to Force Syria's Assad to Step Down
14th March 2016
- Chicago Political Violence: Whose Fault?
14th March 2016
- Loretta Lynch and the Government War on Free Speech
13th March 2016
- The Queen of Chaos and the Threat of World War III
12th March 2016
- Food Farm Freedom: Mr. Salatin Goes to Washington
12th March 2016
- Alternative Germany Speaks Up
11th March 2016
- Clinton Declares That She Will Never Be Indicted And Insists That Her 'Predecessors Did The Same Thing' On Emails
10th March 2016
- Conservatives Want More War Spending, The People Disagree
10th March 2016
- Washington Hubris on Full Display at London Foreign Policy Speech
9th March 2016
- FBI vs. Apple: Why You Should Care
9th March 2016
- Smelling EU fear, Turkey Moves in for $6.6bn Kill
8th March 2016
- You Should Care About Apple, Your iPhone, and the FBI
8th March 2016
- Neocon Games: Warhawks Looking For New War Party?
8th March 2016
- Hungarian Revolution: Orban Says 'No!' to Brussels Migration Plan
7th March 2016
- Just Shut Up and Vote: The Futility of Representative Government in an Age of Robber Barons
7th March 2016
- Hillary's Libya: Arab Spring Or Dark Winter?
7th March 2016
- Do We Need To 'Rebuild The Military'?
6th March 2016
- US Sends 'Small Armada' to Confront China as Beijing Accuses Washington of 'Containment'
5th March 2016
- Getting Intervention 'Just Right': The West's Goldilocks Strategy in Libya
5th March 2016
- Murder Is Washington's Foreign Policy
4th March 2016
- Libya: How Hillary Clinton Destroyed a Country
4th March 2016
- Hillary's Emails: Is The End At Hand?
3rd March 2016
- Ron and Bernie
3rd March 2016
- US Military Contractors Return In Droves to Iraq
2nd March 2016
- FBI 1, Apple 1: Congress To Step In?
2nd March 2016
- 'Plan B' and the Bankruptcy of US Syria Policy
2nd March 2016
- Washington's Neocon Occupation Upholds Illusion Of Choice In The Two-Party Duopoly
1st March 2016
- Intel Agencies: Clinton Emails Match Top Secret Documents
1st March 2016
- February
- Reality Check: No Matter Who Wins the White House, the New Boss Will Be the Same as the Old Boss
29th February 2016
- Migrant Crisis: The End Of The EU?
29th February 2016
- First They Came For the iPhones...
28th February 2016
- US Plotting Color Revolt in Russia?
28th February 2016
- NATO Weakens As Old Alliances Break Down
27th February 2016
- The US Banking System as an Arm of US Foreign Policy
26th February 2016
- The New Bipolar World Has Arrived
26th February 2016
- What's Wrong With Regime Change? RPI's Daniel McAdams on LibertyTalkRadio
25th February 2016
- The Media are Misleading the Public on Syria
25th February 2016
- Guantanamo Travesty: A Consequence Of Unconstitutional War
24th February 2016
- Killing by Sanctions
23rd February 2016
- Syria Ceasefire: More War Or Chance For Peace?
23rd February 2016
- Will Syria Ceasefire Deal End War, or Lead to Nuclear Exchange?
23rd February 2016
- The Age of Authoritarianism: Government of the Politicians, by the Military, for the Corporations
22nd February 2016
- CIA Sends Torture Report Down Memory Hole
22nd February 2016
- Intervention Fail: Back to Libya
21st February 2016
- Bush Haunts The GOP
21st February 2016
- Reading Ron Paul in Beijing
19th February 2016
- Aleppo Notebook: The City's Terrorist Besiegers Will Now Be Besieged
18th February 2016
- FBI vs. Apple: Is Liberty At Stake?
18th February 2016
- Terror in Turkey: Is Erdogan Playing Washington?
18th February 2016
- Obama's 'Moderate' Syrian Deception
18th February 2016
- Supreme Court - The Soft Tyranny Of Judicial Review
17th February 2016
- NATO -- America's Misguided Instrument of Leadership
17th February 2016
- Federal Magistrate Orders Apple To Help FBI Hack Its Own Phones . . . Apple Refuses
17th February 2016
- Turkey Bombing Syria - The Start Of Something Big?
16th February 2016
- Cold War Redux: Dishing it to the Russkies
16th February 2016
- Ron Paul Rewind: All US Supreme Court Justices are Good and Bad
16th February 2016
- Presidents Day 2016: Who Was Best? Who Was Worst?
15th February 2016
- Turkey Flexes Muscle in Syria
15th February 2016
- What Markets Are Telling Us
14th February 2016
- The Future of Banking: The Dangers of Electronic Currency
14th February 2016
- Coming to Terms With Iraq
12th February 2016
- The Three Republican Stooges Who Would Draft Your Daughters
11th February 2016
- Anatomy Of The Deep State: An Open Conspiracy
11th February 2016
- Washington's Libido for the Ugly
10th February 2016
- Drafting Women - Equality Or Equal Slavery?
10th February 2016
- Not-So-Convincing Anti-Second Amendment Arguments
10th February 2016
- Will Geneva Talks Lead Right Back to Assad's 2011 Reforms?
10th February 2016
- FDA Wants to Jail Sam Girod for 48 Years, for Making Salves People Love
9th February 2016
- Saudis Poised For Syria Invasion?
9th February 2016
- Obama Caves To Neocons - Military Spending To Skyrocket
8th February 2016
- Coincidence? Baltic Invasion Story Reappears as Pentagon Seeks to Quadruple Europe Spending
8th February 2016
- An Exasperated John Kerry Throws In Towel On Syria: 'What Do You Want Me To Do, Go To War With The Russians?!'
8th February 2016
- Mandatory Depression Screening is A Depressing Thought
7th February 2016
- The Super Bowl Promotes War
7th February 2016
- Giving Peace Very Little Chance
6th February 2016
- Ron Paul Says Entering Presidential Race as Libertarian Party Candidate 'Not in the Cards'
5th February 2016
- German Spy Chief Says ISIS Operatives Have Infiltrated Europe Disguised As Refugees
5th February 2016
- The Washington Post's Interventionist Mindset
5th February 2016
- Your Perception Is Worth Big Bucks To The Military-Industrial Complex
5th February 2016
- Rand Out - Victory For Hawks?
4th February 2016
- Free State Project - Is It Happening?
3rd February 2016
- Breaking The Neocon Stranglehold On Washington
2nd February 2016
- Delusions on Syria Prevail in Official Washington
2nd February 2016
- Remember Kosovo?
1st February 2016
- January
- Is Congress Declaring War on ISIS or on You?
31st January 2016
- State Department: 22 Emails Will Not Be Released As "Top Secret"
31st January 2016
- Ron Paul: Congress is AWOL on US Wars
29th January 2016
- American Take on the Freedom of the Press
29th January 2016
- Why Adolf Eichmann's Final Message Remains so Profoundly Unsettling
29th January 2016
- Six Years and $17 Billion Wasted in Afghanistan
28th January 2016
- 'Carpet Bomber' Cruz: Libertarian or Neocon?
28th January 2016
- The Continuing Demonization Of Cash
27th January 2016
- Presidential Crimes Then And Now
27th January 2016
- Saudi Arabia Is Killing Civilians with US Bombs
26th January 2016
- However You Vote, The Secret Government Always Wins
26th January 2016
- You Won't Like It, But Here's the Answer to ISIS
25th January 2016
- Senate To Offer President Total War Authority
25th January 2016
- Here Come the Free Staters!
25th January 2016
- Congress is Writing the President a Blank Check for War
24th January 2016
- Pentagon Chief Says 'Boots On The Ground' Part Of 'Accelerated' Strategy For ISIS Fight
22nd January 2016
- Hillary to Bernie: Stop Sounding Like Ron Paul on Iran!
22nd January 2016
- Syria's Moment: RPI's Daniel McAdams on Crosstalk
22nd January 2016
- Democrats in 'Group Think' Land
21st January 2016
- The Injustice Of Mandatory Minimums
21st January 2016
- The Riverine Mysteries
20th January 2016
- The Right to Tell the Government to Go to Hell: Free Speech in an Age of Government Bullies, Corporate Censors and Compliant Citizens
19th January 2016
- When Free Trade Fails, War Follows
19th January 2016
- Missing from the 'State of the Union'
19th January 2016
- When Peace Breaks Out With Iran
17th January 2016
- Caught With Our Pants Down in the Gulf
15th January 2016
- Ron Paul on MSNBC: Talking Presidential Race and Rise of Libertarian Ideas
15th January 2016
- Neocons Furious: Diplomacy Worked With Iran
14th January 2016
- Why Brookings Institution and Establishment Love Wars
14th January 2016
- Obama Speech Ignored His Death Toll at Home and Abroad
13th January 2016
- Executive Order: Will Background Checks Solve The Gun Problem?
13th January 2016
- Cold War Fearmongering on Cuba and Korea
13th January 2016
- What's the Real Story Behind Saudi Arabia's Execution of Shia Cleric al-Nimr?
12th January 2016
- B-52s Over Korea...Protecting Our Homeland?
11th January 2016
- The State of the Nation: A Dictatorship Without Tears
11th January 2016
- American Foreign Policy Oxymorons
11th January 2016
- Oregon Standoff: Isolated Event or Sign of Things to Come?
10th January 2016
- Nearly 60 Percent of Republicans Support Candidates Who Oppose Ousting Assad
9th January 2016
- Gun Control? What About US Arms Sales?
7th January 2016
- US (In)Justice Department Created Mess In Oregon
7th January 2016
- New 'Jihadi John?' ISIS Video Features English-Speaker
7th January 2016
- North Korea Nukes: A Case For Non-Intervention?
6th January 2016
- Enough Already! It's Time To Send The Despicable House Of Saud To The Dustbin Of History
6th January 2016
- Dollar Dominance: Deconstructing the Myths, Untangling the Web
5th January 2016
- US Politicians On Saudi Beheadings: It's All Iran's Fault!
5th January 2016
- 2016: An Explosive New Year?
4th January 2016
- US Military Leadership Resisted Obama's Bid for Regime Change in Syria, Libya
4th January 2016
- About That ISIS Plan to Attack Munich
4th January 2016
- Purism is Practical
3rd January 2016
- US Should Stop Supporting Likely Saudi War Crimes
3rd January 2016
- Why There Is No Peace On Earth
1st January 2016
- 2015
- December
- Soros Plays Both Ends in Syria Refugee Chaos
31st December 2015
- The Washington Post's World of Good and Evil
30th December 2015
- Make Your Year-End Donation To RPI!
30th December 2015
- Syria: It's Not a Civil War and it Never Was
29th December 2015
- What's in Store for Our Freedoms in 2016? More of Everything We Don't Want
29th December 2015
- Retro Cold War Guff From the NY Times
28th December 2015
- What Are The Chances For Peace in 2016?
28th December 2015
- The FBI's 1,800-Page Obsession With Peace Activist Pete Seeger
27th December 2015
- A Call for Proof on Syria-Sarin Attack
24th December 2015
- Ron Paul Warned About This: TSA Removes Opt-Out From Full Body Scanners
24th December 2015
- Your Business Been Hacked? Thanks NSA!
24th December 2015
- Kerry In Moscow: Assad Can Stay?
22nd December 2015
- The SEALS Beat a Man to Death -- Should We Care?
22nd December 2015
- What If Jesus Had Been Born 2,000 Years Later in the American Police State?
22nd December 2015
- Congress Passes PATRIOT Act II In Secret
21st December 2015
- Do We Need the Fed?
21st December 2015
- The Clash of Stupidity: Republican Debate Part V
19th December 2015
- Why the US Pushes an Illusory Syrian Peace Process
18th December 2015
- Obama Administration Fights To Withhold Over 2,000 Photos Of Alleged US Torture and Abuse
18th December 2015
- Washington to Whomever: Please Fight the Islamic State for Us
17th December 2015
- Washington's 'Plan B' in Syria: Renewed Military Intervention to Oust Assad?
17th December 2015
- How US and EU Manipulate Public Consciousness: Montenegro
16th December 2015
- GOP Debate: Fear Won, Liberty Lost
16th December 2015
- 'Washington Has Gone From "Regime Change" to "Political Transition" in Syria, But We are Not Stupid'
16th December 2015
- Ron Paul Rewind: Smacking Down Militarism and Liberty Abuses in 2011 CNN Debate
15th December 2015
- ISIS Is Big Winner In Saudis' Yemen War
15th December 2015
- Turkey's Dangerous Game
15th December 2015
- What Truly Conservative Foreign Policy Looks Like
14th December 2015
- Cheap Oil: Great For The Economy?
14th December 2015
- If You Want Security, Pursue Liberty
14th December 2015
- Israel's al-Qaeda Rescue Program
12th December 2015
- The Second Cold War
11th December 2015
- What ISIS Really Has in Mind
11th December 2015
- From Crisis Comes Leviathan
10th December 2015
- Losing The 'Good War': Taliban Returns In Afghanistan
10th December 2015
- Trump Didn't Vote to Kill One Million Muslims in Iraq, Hillary Did
9th December 2015
- Congress Plans To Tax and Spy On You More
9th December 2015
- Don't Believe the Hype About Gun Shootings in the US
9th December 2015
- Saudis Bomb Doctors Without Borders Hospital in Yemen
8th December 2015
- Women In Combat: An Issue Of Rights?
8th December 2015
- Up From Imperialism: How to End the Terrorist Threat and Return to Normalcy
7th December 2015
- Obama Speech: Don't Give In To Fear...But Be Scared To Death
7th December 2015
- Will the IRS Take Your Passport?
6th December 2015
- 'No Gun for You!': Obama's 'Soup Nazi' Gun Control Proposal
6th December 2015
- Are We In A Clash Of Civilizations?
6th December 2015
- Are We in a Clash of Civilizations?
5th December 2015
- War With Russia or With ISIS: What Ever Happened to Peace?
5th December 2015
- Rep. Tulsi Gabbard: 'Is Overthrowing the Syrian Government Worth Risking Nuclear War with Russia?'
4th December 2015
- Think Before You Rush to War!
4th December 2015
- After 13 Years in Gitmo, Pentagon Says Detainee is Case of 'Mistaken Identity'
4th December 2015
- CA Shooting Reaction: Wrong Diagnosis, Wrong Treatment
3rd December 2015
- TSA Bombs the Holidays
3rd December 2015
- After PATRIOT Act Reform, Spying Continues
2nd December 2015
- Iraqis Swear: US "In Cahoots With ISIS It Is Not In Doubt"
2nd December 2015
- Turkey, Russia, and the Fallacy of 'Collective Security'
1st December 2015
- COP21: Climate Action Or Pushing A Hoax?
1st December 2015
- November
- Life in the Electronic Concentration Camp: The Surveillance State Is Alive and Well
30th November 2015
- Sen. Lindsey Graham In Iraq - Wants US Troops To Come Back!
30th November 2015
- Russia Bans Soros Foundation as a 'Threat To National Security And Constitutional Order'
30th November 2015
- The War on Terror is Creating More Terror
30th November 2015
- 'Deadliest Terror Group in the World': The West's Latest Gift to Africa
28th November 2015
- Two Reasons The 'War on Terror' Will Always Fail
28th November 2015
- The Most Dangerous Time in Our History?
26th November 2015
- Massachusetts Cheerleader Tweets Criticism Of Illegal Immigration, School Bans Her From Team
26th November 2015
- US Blames Afghanistan Hospital Massacre On 'Malfunctioning Sensors,' 'Human Error'
26th November 2015
- Who Is Protecting ISIS And Why?
25th November 2015
- This Thanksgiving, Let's Say 'No Thanks' to the Tyranny of the American Police State
25th November 2015
- Turks Hit Russian Fighter - What's Next?
24th November 2015
- On the ISIS Terrorist Threat
23rd November 2015
- Standard Narrative on Syria Conflict Whitewashes US Role
23rd November 2015
- The Morality of Conscientious Objection
23rd November 2015
- Who Should Pay For the Syrian Refugees?
23rd November 2015
- Michael Scheuer: US Foreign Policy is Leading 'Directly to Fascism in America'
22nd November 2015
- How Terror in Paris Calls for Revising US Syria Policy
21st November 2015
- Hillary Clinton's Road to War
21st November 2015
- Ron Paul: Foreign Intervention Will Motivate 'A Lot More' Blowback Like in Paris
21st November 2015
- US Special Forces in Combat: Nothing New for Iraq and Syria
20th November 2015
- The Most Important Question About ISIS That Nobody Is Asking
19th November 2015
- Does ISIS Exist? Some Say No
18th November 2015
- Stopping ISIS: Follow the Money
18th November 2015
- Saudi Arabia: Friend Or Foe?
17th November 2015
- Someone Wants War with Russia
17th November 2015
- Blowback -- The Washington War Party's Folly Comes Home To Roost
17th November 2015
- Paris Attack Motivation: Retaliation?
16th November 2015
- Paris and What Should Be Done
15th November 2015
- The City of Light Falls Dark
15th November 2015
- Opting Out: A Small Step for Peace
15th November 2015
- Paris: You Don't Want to Read This
14th November 2015
- Paid Patriotism: The Artist Formerly Known as 'Propaganda'
13th November 2015
- America's Dedication to Regime Change in Syria Halting Peace Process
13th November 2015
- US Isolationists Still Block Iran Trade
12th November 2015
- How Ukraine's Finance Chief Got Rich
12th November 2015
- Thanking Iraq War Veterans For Their Service
11th November 2015
- NATO Admits Afghan Mission Failure
11th November 2015
- The Deep State: The Unelected Shadow Government Is Here to Stay
10th November 2015
- Missile Test Terrorism Over Los Angeles
10th November 2015
- A Warmonger's Guide to Militarism and Imperialism
9th November 2015
- Does the Bell Toll for the Fed?
9th November 2015
- Reinventing Guns and Butter Politics for the 21st Century
7th November 2015
- TSA Trained Disney World in Goofy 'Terrorist Detection' Methods
7th November 2015
- US Air Force Blames Lack Of October ISIS Strikes On 'Poor Weather'
7th November 2015
- The Sham Syrian Peace Conference
7th November 2015
- An Age of Innocence, in Retrospect
6th November 2015
- Who Downed Metrojet Flight 9268?
6th November 2015
- Gitmo Reflects Disdain For The Constitution
5th November 2015
- Without Authority, Obama's Syria War Illegal
5th November 2015
- CIA, Saudis To Give 'Select' Syrian Militants Weapons Capable Of Downing Commercial Airliners
5th November 2015
- Washington DC's 'Missing' Memorial
5th November 2015
- Is Germany's Migrant Crisis Leading To War?
4th November 2015
- US Officials Outline 'Secret' Summer Operation To Stop Flow Of Dollars To ISIS
3rd November 2015
- The Rise Of America's Secret Government
3rd November 2015
- Erdogan's Victory is a Threat to Turkish Stability
2nd November 2015
- Russian Plane Down Over Egypt. Blowback?
2nd November 2015
- Save The Apologies, Just Stop Promoting War!
1st November 2015
- US Special Forces Deployed as 'Human Shields' to Salvage Terror Assets in Syria
1st November 2015
- October
- Tell Us Why We're At War in Iraq Again, Mr. President
30th October 2015
- Saudi Arabia vs. Iran: Why Are We In The Middle?
30th October 2015
- Breaking: Obama Puts US Boots in Syria - Where is Congress?
30th October 2015
- NATO Looks To Station Thousands Of Troops On Border With Russia
29th October 2015
- Is Liberty Rising?
29th October 2015
- Hill Budget Battle: Another D.C. Charade?
28th October 2015
- We Must Oppose Obama's Escalation in Syria and Iraq!
27th October 2015
- Are We Looking For A Fight In The South China Sea?
27th October 2015
- About That Delta Force Guy Killed in Iraq
27th October 2015
- Fear of the Walking Dead: The American Police State Takes Aim
26th October 2015
- Syrian War Ends West's Dominance of Middle East
26th October 2015
- Blair's Iraq 'Apology': Sincere Or Spin?
26th October 2015
- House Benghazi Hearings: Too Much Too Late
25th October 2015
- The Older, Better Canada is Back Again
25th October 2015
- The Benghazi Hearing: What Neither Hillary nor the Republicans Want to Talk About
23rd October 2015
- Israeli Nuclear Panel Supports Iran Deal
23rd October 2015
- America's Civilian Killings are No Accident
22nd October 2015
- Benghazi Questions No One Dares Ask
22nd October 2015
- Fox, Daily Beast Stories on Cubans in Syria Lack One Thing: Evidence of Cubans in Syria
21st October 2015
- Yes, There Still are Some Benghazi Questions Worth Asking
21st October 2015
- Our Syria War Is Over - Time To Come Home
21st October 2015
- General In Charge Of 'Total Failure' Syrian 'Train And Equip' Program Gets Promotion
20th October 2015
- Things Are Getting Scary: Global Police, Precrime and the War on Domestic 'Extremists'
20th October 2015
- Irwin Schiff - A 'Most Dangerous Man'
20th October 2015
- CNN Anchor Demands Americans 'Stop Swooning Over Putin'
18th October 2015
- Debt Ceiling Debate: Don't Mention Warfare/Welfare State!
18th October 2015
- Want to Understand Syria?
18th October 2015
- Turkey: Slow-Motion Crash
17th October 2015
- Assassinations: Is This 'American Exceptionalism'?
16th October 2015
- Is Hillary Clinton Above the Law?
16th October 2015
- Obama Won't Admit the Real Targets of Russian Airstrikes
16th October 2015
- ISIS In 'Retreat' As Russia Destroys 32 Targets While Putin Trolls Obama As 'Weak With No Strategy'
15th October 2015
- Obama's New War In Africa: Do We Need It?
15th October 2015
- How Can Anyone Still Be An Interventionist?
14th October 2015
- MH-17 Final Report: Who Shot Down The Plane?
14th October 2015
- The New McCarthyism
14th October 2015
- The "A" Word That Terrifies Washington
14th October 2015
- Syria Quagmire? Copyright Tyranny. Weird Politics. Around the World With Lew Rockwell
13th October 2015
- Global Freedom Index: We're Number 20!
12th October 2015
- Politicians Exploit School Shooting While Ignoring Bombing Victims
12th October 2015
- Two Minutes of Hate For Belarus
11th October 2015
- A Decisive Shift In The Power Balance Has Occurred
11th October 2015
- The Mystery of ISIS' Toyota Army Solved
9th October 2015
- The Impulsiveness of US Power
8th October 2015
- Neocons Demand Escalation in Syria
8th October 2015
- Syria Intervention is a Mistake: US Can't Run Entire Middle East
7th October 2015
- Turkey's 'Bear Trap' Option in Syria
7th October 2015
- This Has Become Routine
7th October 2015
- Ron Paul on Fox Business: 'No Reason in the World for us to Be Involved in Syria'
7th October 2015
- How to Sustain Perpetual War (It's Easy!)
6th October 2015
- Seize the Chaos: Israel, the Neocons, and their Bloody, Blundering 'Art' of War
6th October 2015
- Gun Violence - More Control Needed?
5th October 2015
- The Russian Bear Growls
5th October 2015
- I Wish Nobody Was Bombing Syria
5th October 2015
- A Useful Prep-Sheet on Syria for Media Propagandists
3rd October 2015
- On The Ropes: 60 % Don't Trust Media
3rd October 2015
- War Party Hates Putin and Loves al-Qaeda
2nd October 2015
- Obama's Ludicrous 'Barrel Bomb' Theme
2nd October 2015
- Assad Must Go; Assad Must Stay. Who's Right?
1st October 2015
- September
- Will Migrant Crisis Kill EU?
30th September 2015
- The Government We Deserve?
30th September 2015
- Orwell at the UN: Obama Re-Defines Democracy as 'a Country That Supports US Policy'
30th September 2015
- Obama Deifies American Hegemony
29th September 2015
- Deserting Libya: The Rhetoric of British Foreign Policy
29th September 2015
- 'Minority Report' Is 40 Years Ahead of Schedule: The Fictional World Has Become Reality
28th September 2015
- Intel Analysts: US Fixing Facts Around Policy
28th September 2015
- Congress and the Fed Refuse to Learn From Their Mistakes
27th September 2015
- Catalonia Vote - Will They Secede?
26th September 2015
- The Harsh Lessons of History: Faux Reports of Progress Against IS
25th September 2015
- Saving Syria
25th September 2015
- Good News: Gallup Finds Half of US Fears Government
24th September 2015
- The Rape of Afghanistan
23rd September 2015
- Iran's Parchin Nuclear Myth Begins to Unravel
23rd September 2015
- Foreign Policy by Intimidation: GOP Candidates Show How It's Done
22nd September 2015
- Putin's Consistency on Syria has Washington Fuming
20th September 2015
- Blame America? No, Blame Neocons!
20th September 2015
- Was Ahmed Mohamed's Arrest Really All About Religion and Race?
19th September 2015
- Washington Wants 'Regime Change' in Ecuador
18th September 2015
- The Russians are Coming!
18th September 2015
- Russia Exposes US Hidden Agenda in Syria
16th September 2015
- In Syria, More Lies Brings More Chaos
15th September 2015
- Public School Students Are the New Inmates in the American Police State
15th September 2015
- How to End the Refugee Flood
14th September 2015
- Madness of Blockading Syria's Regime
14th September 2015
- Congress Fiddles While the Economy Burns
13th September 2015
- America's Police State is Rooted in Four Federal Wars
11th September 2015
- Should Tweeting Be A Capital Offense?
9th September 2015
- Why The US and Iran Aren't Cooperating Against ISIS
9th September 2015
- A Russian Buildup in Syria? The Propaganda Machine Strikes Again
8th September 2015
- 'Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death': The Loss of Our Freedoms in the Wake of 9/11
8th September 2015
- Turning the Cradle of Civilization Into its Graveyard
7th September 2015
- Color Revolution 2.0 in Lebanon: From Piles of Trash to Piles of Rubble
7th September 2015
- The Real Refugee Problem – And How To Solve It
6th September 2015
- 'Refugees' Arrive in Munich, Hungary Demonized: What's The Endgame?
5th September 2015
- False Flag Alert on Refugee 'Crisis'?
4th September 2015
- War Drums Beating - Real Or Imagined?
3rd September 2015
- Ron Paul and Lost Lessons of War
3rd September 2015
- Buy the Rights-Abusing Cops Lunch Says Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick
3rd September 2015
- Abusing Dead Syrian Children
3rd September 2015
- Refugee Crisis - Demise Of The EU?
2nd September 2015
- Sheep Led to the Slaughter: The Muzzling of Free Speech in America
1st September 2015
- August
- Why the War on Terror is Failing
31st August 2015
- Saudi Coalition Bombs Yemen Water Bottling Plant, Killing Dozens of Civilians
31st August 2015
- ISIS Gold Standard: Will it Work?
31st August 2015
- Blame the Federal Reserve, Not China, for Stock Market Crash
30th August 2015
- Beijing Bingo
29th August 2015
- Follow the Money? Not with Hillary, Follow Pat
28th August 2015
- Sanders' Foreign Policy - Not Antiwar
28th August 2015
- Syria: The Propaganda Ring
27th August 2015
- 'Unprivileged Belligerents' - The US War On Journalists
27th August 2015
- Weaponizing Migrants
26th August 2015
- Who Tipped Off Al-Qaeda in Syria?
26th August 2015
- UK Police Scanned the Faces of 100,000 People at Music Festival
26th August 2015
- Markets Crash - Is China to Blame?
25th August 2015
- The Raping of America: Mile Markers on the Road to Fascism
24th August 2015
- Western Complicity in Yemen Genocide Met With Media Silence
24th August 2015
- For Immigration Answers, Look to Liberty
23rd August 2015
- Hillary Clinton, A Friend of International Terrorism?
22nd August 2015
- Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran With Lies, Lies, Lies
21st August 2015
- Tony Blair Holds up Iraq Inquiry Report Over Tough Criticism?
20th August 2015
- Undiplomatic Power
19th August 2015
- Rabbis For Iran Deal - Is Schumer Wrong?
19th August 2015
- We Are the Government: Tactics for Taking Down the Police State
18th August 2015
- Did Iranian Weapons Kill Americans?
18th August 2015
- Who is the West's Lead MH17 Investigator?
17th August 2015
- Twisting The Truth On The Iraq War
17th August 2015
- The Seamless Web of Liberty
17th August 2015
- 'Deal or War': Is Doomed Dollar Really Behind Obama's Iran Warning?
15th August 2015
- Republicans Can't Face the Truth About Iraq
15th August 2015
- Iran Deal's Surprising Supporters
14th August 2015
- Full-Scale War Looms in Donbass
14th August 2015
- Iran Nuclear Deal: Why Empire Blinked First
14th August 2015
- Predisposed to Peace: Ron Paul's Faith in Basic Human Decency and the Power of Ideas
13th August 2015
- Iraq and American Sniper
13th August 2015
- Understanding Why the Clinton Emails Matter
11th August 2015
- The Aspen War Games -- No Place For Old Peaceniks
11th August 2015
- Don't Be Fooled by the Political Game: The Illusion of Freedom in America
11th August 2015
- ISIS Winning? Will Trump's Plan Work?
10th August 2015
- The Return of Ron Paul
10th August 2015
- Islamic State is Winning, America Must Soon Use Its One Remaining Option
10th August 2015
- Real Education Reform Leaves the Government Behind
9th August 2015
- Why Do We Lament A-Bombs But Not Firebombs?
8th August 2015
- US Intelligence Confirms US Support for ISIS
8th August 2015
- My Dreams Seek Revenge: Revisiting Hiroshima One More Time
7th August 2015
- Hiroshima at 70: Have We Learned Anything?
6th August 2015
- Ron Paul Takes On The War Party
6th August 2015
- US Drone War Accelerates - Victims Unknown
5th August 2015
- Power in the Service of Power
5th August 2015
- Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and My Lai Were All War Crimes
4th August 2015
- Ron Paul Plays Hardball
4th August 2015
- Assad's 'Barrel Bombs'...and Ours
4th August 2015
- Washington's Fifth Columns Inside Russia and China
3rd August 2015
- Politics Is Not the Path to Pro-Life Victory
2nd August 2015
- Ron Paul, Champion of God's Peace
1st August 2015
- July
- Dealing With The Cops
31st July 2015
- Monsters of Ukraine: Made in the USA
31st July 2015
- How Did the Turkish Peace Process Collapse?
30th July 2015
- Post-Constitutional America, Where Innocence is a Poor Defense
30th July 2015
- MH-17 Shootdown After One Year: What Do We Know?
30th July 2015
- Drivers, Beware: The Costly, Deadly Dangers of Traffic Stops in the American Police State
29th July 2015
- ISIS 'Ally' Turkey Seeks NATO Support As Two-Front 'War' Escalates
29th July 2015
- $100 Million to Sink Iran Peace Effort
28th July 2015
- Do We Need to Bring Back Internment Camps?
27th July 2015
- Obama's Line on The Iran Nuclear Deal: A Second False Narrative
26th July 2015
- Must We Really Know What Merkel is Having for Dinner?
25th July 2015
- State Department and Intelligence Agencies Ask For Criminal Investigation in the Clinton Email Scandal
25th July 2015
- Wesley Clark Calls for Internment Camps for 'Radicalized' Americans
24th July 2015
- The Kagans: Seeking War to the End of the World
23rd July 2015
- Sandra Bland is Everyman
23rd July 2015
- Obama Should Release MH-17 Intel
22nd July 2015
- The American Nightmare: The Tyranny of the Criminal Justice System
22nd July 2015
- US Military Seeks Reasons To Prolong Afghanistan Occupation
20th July 2015
- Ron Paul at His Best
20th July 2015
- Iran Agreement Boosts Peace, Defeats Neocons
20th July 2015
- Praise To Barack Obama For Stiffing The War Party -- Peace Is Finally Being Given A Chance
18th July 2015
- US/Israeli/Saudi 'Behavior' Problems
17th July 2015
- In His Own Words: Ron Paul On His New Book, Swords into Plowshares
17th July 2015
- Central Banking and War: Ron Paul's 'Swords Into Plowshares' reviewed
17th July 2015
- New Law Says Web Sites Would Have to Inform Law Enforcement about Readers' 'Terrorist Activity'
16th July 2015
- It's Official: ISIS is No Threat to the US Homeland
16th July 2015
- Freedom or the Slaughterhouse? The American Police State from A to Z
15th July 2015
- 'EU Periphery Countries Taking Brunt of US/EU Interventionist Policies in Ukraine'
14th July 2015
- MH17: The Blaming Putin Game Goes On
14th July 2015
- Greece Today, America Tomorrow?
12th July 2015
- Destroying Syria to Make it Safe for American Values
12th July 2015
- Do Flags Kill People?
11th July 2015
- Demanding What You Can't Get: Obama's Gamble with the Iran Talks in Vienna
11th July 2015
- When Money Dies
10th July 2015
- Pentagon Concludes America Not Safe Unless It Conquers The World
10th July 2015
- Obama Fails to Make the Strategic Case for an Iran Nuclear Deal
8th July 2015
- Government Warmongering Criminals: Where Are They Now?
7th July 2015
- Jade Helm, Terrorist Attacks, Surveillance, and Other Fairy Tales for a Gullible Nation
6th July 2015
- For Normal Relations With Cuba, End US Interventionism
6th July 2015
- ISIS Makes the British Lion a De-Clawed and Shabby Cat
4th July 2015
- Independence Day: Celebration or Sadness?
3rd July 2015
- Greek Crisis Awaits Other NATO Partners
3rd July 2015
- What It Really Takes For a US-Iran Deal
3rd July 2015
- California's 'Corporate Fascist' Vaccine Law
2nd July 2015
- Greece Shows Why Banks & Governments Hate Cash: Bank Runs
1st July 2015
- New Embassy in Cuba - But Will Congress Kill the Deal?
1st July 2015
- Clean Break to Dirty Wars
1st July 2015
- June
- Are Neocons Embracing Al-Qaeda?
30th June 2015
- Electric Yerevan and Lessons on the Color-Spring Tactic
29th June 2015
- The Emergence of Orwellian Newspeak and the Death of Free Speech
29th June 2015
- Obamacare's Best Allies: The Courts and the Republicans
28th June 2015
- NATO Hypes Russia Threat While NATO Members Reduce Military Spending
27th June 2015
- Battlefield America
26th June 2015
- The National Security State's Crisis Racket
26th June 2015
- Greek Crisis: How Long Before a Fed Bailout?
25th June 2015
- Five Things That Won't Work in Iraq
25th June 2015
- US Spoiling for More Wars, But Why?
24th June 2015
- If You Want to Get Rid of 'Racist Flags,' How About Starting with the American Flag?
24th June 2015
- Shona Banda Drug Arrest: A Prime Case for Jury Nullification
23rd June 2015
- Keeping Government Bureaucrats Off the Backs of the Citizenry: The Supreme Court Responds
22nd June 2015
- Echoes of Vietnam, or Between Iraq and a Hard Place
22nd June 2015
- One Person Dead, a Tragedy; A Million Dead, a Statistic
22nd June 2015
- Will Seizure of Russian Assets Hasten Dollar Decline?
21st June 2015
- If Greece Defaults, Will the Fed Bailout Europe?
20th June 2015
- Why The US Military Opposed New Combat Roles in Iraq
20th June 2015
- National Endowment for Democracy? Hardly!
19th June 2015
- Road Pirates: Assemble! 'Desert Snow' is Coming to Idaho
19th June 2015
- House Refuses to Curb Obama's Middle East War
18th June 2015
- Policing and Defending Then and Now
17th June 2015
- Samantha Power: Liberal War Hawk
16th June 2015
- Congress Blocks Nazi Training in Ukraine
16th June 2015
- The Magna Carta at 800 Years: Is it Still Alive?
15th June 2015
- Dangers of a Declining Global Power
15th June 2015
- Recent Syrian Rebel Gains Result From US Support Of Extremists
15th June 2015
- Death Penalty: The Ultimate Corrupt, Big Government Program
14th June 2015
- Soros - An American Oligarch's Dirty Tale of Corruption
13th June 2015
- The Prosecution of Dennis Hastert and the Government's War on Cash
13th June 2015
- Europeans Reject NATO's War
12th June 2015
- US Planning to Send 450 More Military Personnel to Iraq
11th June 2015
- Iraq in Chaos: An Excuse to Escalate?
11th June 2015
- Saudi Arabia's Yemen Offensive, Iran's 'Proxy' Strategy, and the Middle East's New 'Cold War'
11th June 2015
- Maidan 3.0: Another Revolution in Ukraine?
10th June 2015
- Are Waco Bikers Getting Justice?
9th June 2015
- Cold War II to McCarthyism II
9th June 2015
- The Washington Intellectual Gravy Train
8th June 2015
- Afghan Drone Strike: Expect More Blowback
8th June 2015
- Soros Pushes US Bailouts and Weapons for Ukraine
7th June 2015
- Military Madness: US Officials Consider Nuclear Strikes against Russia
7th June 2015
- TSA Has No Excuse to Continue the Groping
6th June 2015
- Brzezinski's Delusion of Eurasian Conquest
6th June 2015
- Demands in US-Iran Nuclear Talks as Political Kabuki Theatre
5th June 2015
- Macedonia: Another Color Revolution
5th June 2015
- Free Speech, Facebook and the NSA: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
4th June 2015
- Insanity's Definition is Sending More US Ground Troops to Iraq
3rd June 2015
- Soros Seeks to Expand War in Ukraine...Why?
3rd June 2015
- ISIS, Assad Regime Now Fighting Together In Syria, US Alleges
3rd June 2015
- TSA is The Danger - 95% Fail Rate
2nd June 2015
- Hope for Iraq? Depends on What You're Hoping For
1st June 2015
- The CIA: Providing Security or Threatening Liberty?
1st June 2015
- May
- Ex-Im Bank is Welfare for the One Percent
31st May 2015
- Will Congress Save PATRIOT Act...And Does It Matter?
30th May 2015
- Whether in the USSR or USSA, Politicians Come and Go -- But the Security Organs Remain
29th May 2015
- The Hollywoodization Of War
28th May 2015
- To Beat ISIS, Kick Out US-Led Coalition
27th May 2015
- The NSA's Technotyranny: One Nation Under Surveillance
26th May 2015
- Who Won't Fight in Iraq?
26th May 2015
- A Color Revolution for Macedonia
26th May 2015
- New Evidence US Backed ISIS
25th May 2015
- Iraq and Another Memorial Day
25th May 2015
- Janet Yellen is Right: She Can't Predict the Future
24th May 2015
- Obama's Fail on Saudi-Qatari Aid to al-Qaeda Affiliate
23rd May 2015
- A Military 'Pivot to Asia'
22nd May 2015
- This Is How You 'Boost' GDP: US Sells Over $4 Billion In Weapons To Israel, Iran, And Saudi Arabia
22nd May 2015
- A Rough Week in Iraq, But It Will Get Rougher
21st May 2015
- US Failure in Iraq and Syria: Troops on the Way?
21st May 2015
- Militarization Is More Than Tanks and Rifles: It's a Cultural Disease, Acclimating the Citizenry to Life in a Police State
21st May 2015
- Pity the Poor Stormtroopers: Baby Bou-Bou Ambushed Them
20th May 2015
- Cashless Society: More Attacks on Our Privacy
19th May 2015
- Making the World Less Safe: Sending the Wrong Message to Russia, China, and Iran
19th May 2015
- More Evidence of Israel's Dirty Role in the Syrian Proxy War
19th May 2015
- US Allies Flee Ramadi, US Weapons to ISIS
18th May 2015
- New Military Spending Bill Expands Empire But Forbids Debate on War
17th May 2015
- Garland's Lesson? Democrats, Republicans, and Neocons Bring The Jihad to America
17th May 2015
- Bin Laden Killing: Who's Telling The Truth?
16th May 2015
- US Drone Program 'Should've Never Started' - Ron Paul
15th May 2015
- Love, Visas, and Marriage in Post-Constitutional America
14th May 2015
- 'We the People' Need to Circle the Wagons: The Government Is on the Warpath
13th May 2015
- FBI Monitored Peaceful Demos in Baltimore with High-Tech Surveillance
13th May 2015
- Why is Terrorism on the Rapid Rise?
12th May 2015
- Free Speech, Property, and Provocations
11th May 2015
- NSA Spying Ruled Illegal, But Will Congress Save the Program Anyway?
10th May 2015
- Pinpoint Drone Attacks? There's No Such Thing!
10th May 2015
- The Real Victor of World War II in Europe
9th May 2015
- Are We A Nation of Wimps?
9th May 2015
- State Department Won't Review Clinton Ethics
8th May 2015
- NSA Spying: Not 'Authorized' or Not Constitutional?
8th May 2015
- The Cold War Against Cuba Changed Us
7th May 2015
- The Choice Before Europe
7th May 2015
- Is NATO Looking For a New War?
6th May 2015
- In a Cop Culture, the Bill of Rights Doesn't Amount to Much
6th May 2015
- The Media Misses The Point on 'Proxy War'
5th May 2015
- ISIS in Texas?
5th May 2015
- The Neoconservatives: Tyranny's Fifth Column
5th May 2015
- Who Lost Iraq and Syria?
4th May 2015
- Washington Post Blames Obama for Syrian Mess
4th May 2015
- USA FREEDOM Act: Just Another Word for Lost Liberty
3rd May 2015
- The Ghosts of Vietnam Should Haunt Us – But Don't
2nd May 2015
- Patriot Act Reform: A Hoax
1st May 2015
- Saudi Succession Struggles: Who's on Top and Why
1st May 2015
- April
- Jade Helm: A Military Takeover?
30th April 2015
- General Dempsey Errs by Telling The Truth, But Quickly Recants
29th April 2015
- Who's Starving Yemen's Children?
29th April 2015
- Unending War on Terror
28th April 2015
- A Return to the Peace Party
28th April 2015
- Ron Paul: Why Are US Special Forces in 81 Countries?
27th April 2015
- Crisis, What Crisis? -- The al-Qaeda Takeover of Syria
27th April 2015
- The Real War on the Middle Class
26th April 2015
- Morsi Jailed: Another Mission Accomplished
26th April 2015
- Libya Migrant Crisis: Whose Fault?
24th April 2015
- Obama's Drone Strike: A Targeted Assassination
23rd April 2015
- First They Came for the Anti-Vaxxers
23rd April 2015
- Houthi Arms Bonanza Came From Saleh, Not Iran
23rd April 2015
- US-backed Criminal Slaughter in Yemen Revealed
22nd April 2015
- Protecting the Vicious, Punishing the Virtuous: Marijuana Prohibition and Idaho's Prison-Industrial Complex
21st April 2015
- Biased Reporting on Syria in the Service of War
20th April 2015
- Political Murders in Kiev, US Troops to Ukraine
19th April 2015
- Ron Paul Celebrates Two Years With the Ron Paul Institute!
17th April 2015
- Wolf Pack vs. Bear
17th April 2015
- The $1.4 Billion Ebola Scam
17th April 2015
- Why Does The World Wage War Against The People Of Yemen?
17th April 2015
- Ron Paul: Political Moves Behind Iran Deal
16th April 2015
- Inflicting the Death Penalty Before Trial
15th April 2015
- Venezuela: An 'Extraordinary Threat'?
14th April 2015
- Christians in Peril Because of Western Foreign Policy
13th April 2015
- The New Militarism: Who Profits?
12th April 2015
- What Was US Defense Secretary Doing in Japan?
10th April 2015
- Obama Should Rescind Sanctions Against Venezuela
10th April 2015
- Obama Inherits Saudi Arabia's Yemeni War
10th April 2015
- Does The Government Make Us Safe?
10th April 2015
- Kick Open the Doorway to Liberty: What Are We Waiting For?
9th April 2015
- More Weapons for the Yemen War
8th April 2015
- $416 Million Afghan Program to Empower Women: No 'Tangible Benefit'
7th April 2015
- All Praise To The Iranian Nuclear Framework -- It Finally Exposes The War Party's Big Lie
7th April 2015
- Mysterious Deaths in Ukraine
7th April 2015
- Reality Check: America Needs Iran
7th April 2015
- Lawrence Wilkerson: Iran 'Win-Win' Announced but Many Congressional Republicans Still Want War
6th April 2015
- The IRS and Congress Both Hold Our Liberty in Contempt
5th April 2015
- Soros Looks to Co-Own Ukraine
4th April 2015
- NATO is Building Up for War
4th April 2015
- America's Warfare State Revolution
3rd April 2015
- Yemen: The Stage is Set
3rd April 2015
- Ron Paul: Why Can't the US Let Go of Iranian Sanctions?
1st April 2015
- Iran Demands Lifting of Sanctions for 'Irreversible' Moves, Says Insider
1st April 2015
- March
- The Biggest Threat to American Liberty
31st March 2015
- Ron Paul: Is Indiana Law a Good Answer?
30th March 2015
- After HIV Spike, Drug Warrior Governor Grants Limited Temporary Needle Exchange
30th March 2015
- Repeal, Don't Reform the IMF!
29th March 2015
- Ron Paul: Is Yemen the Next Big War?
27th March 2015
- Sanctions and the Fate of the Nuclear Talks
27th March 2015
- Leave the Houthis Alone!
27th March 2015
- Yemen Exploding: Is The Stage Set for the Big War?
26th March 2015
- For Once, Don't Blame the Israelis
26th March 2015
- Ron Paul: Another Letter on Iran? House Sends Message to President...
25th March 2015
- How Will The Yemeni Civil War End?
25th March 2015
- Ron Paul Rewind: 2007 Presidential Exploratory Committee Announcement
24th March 2015
- Congress Demands War in Ukraine!
23rd March 2015
- After a Twelve Year Mistake in Iraq, We Must Just March Home
22nd March 2015
- A Family Business of Perpetual War
22nd March 2015
- Cold War II: This Time, The Commies Are In Washington
21st March 2015
- 'Ukraine New Spy Law Designed as Provocation, Opens Whole Can of Worms'
20th March 2015
- Why Do American Weapons End Up in Our Enemies' Hands?
19th March 2015
- Rep. Walter Jones: No More Dollars for Afghanistan
18th March 2015
- White House Email Archiving Office Exempts Self from FOIA Disclosures
18th March 2015
- Republican 'Balanced' Budget Boosts Military Spending
17th March 2015
- The Wolf Is Guarding the Hen House: The Government's War on Cyberterrorism
17th March 2015
- US Intel Stands Pat on MH-17 Shoot-down
16th March 2015
- Iran Fighting ISIS – Is it Really a Problem?
15th March 2015
- CNN is Beating the Drums of War
15th March 2015
- Ron Paul on the 'Green Light for American Empire'
14th March 2015
- A Green Light for the American Empire
14th March 2015
- Get Out Peacefully: The Libertarian Principle of Secession
13th March 2015
- Ron Paul: Will the US and Israel Send a 'Thank You' Note to Iran?
12th March 2015
- Obama's Venezuelan Dictatorship
11th March 2015
- Ron Paul: Why is Libya Going to ISIS?
11th March 2015
- The Intellectual as Servant of the State
11th March 2015
- Ron Paul Rewind: Iran Sanctions Are 'One More Step to Another War We Don't Need'
10th March 2015
- Azerbaijan Should be Very Afraid of Nuland
10th March 2015
- How DNA Is Turning Us Into a Nation of Suspects
9th March 2015
- Don't Be Fooled by the Federal Reserve's Anti-Audit Propaganda
8th March 2015
- The Future of Mosul is Kobane
7th March 2015
- Ron Paul: 'Netanyahu's US Trip is All About Politics'
7th March 2015
- The Long History of Israel Gaming the 'Iranian Threat'
6th March 2015
- 'Nuland Ensconced in Neocon Camp Who Believes in Noble Lie'
5th March 2015
- America Must Reject Netanyahu's War Cry on Iran
4th March 2015
- Ron Paul: Syrian 'Moderates' Again Join al-Qaeda
4th March 2015
- Private Police: Mercenaries for the American Police State
3rd March 2015
- Ron Paul: Killing of Boris Nemtsov and War Propaganda
2nd March 2015
- Department of Homeland Security: What is it Good For?
1st March 2015
- February
- Liberty in Search of Protector - Interview With Vaclav Klaus
28th February 2015
- Ron Paul: Is Government Regulation of Internet Helpful?
27th February 2015
- State Department Gives 87 Percent of Afghan Funds to Only Five Recipients
27th February 2015
- Stephen Hawking and the Meaning of Non-Aggression
27th February 2015
- 'US Spends Millions on Overseas Propaganda, But No One is Buying it'
26th February 2015
- Domestic Fear is the Price of Empire
26th February 2015
- Janet Yellen On Capitol Hill - Ron Paul Liberty Report
25th February 2015
- Ukraine: A Cuban Missile Crisis in Reverse
24th February 2015
- The Washington Post's Gross Mischaracterization of Ron Paul's Message
23rd February 2015
- Another Nail in The Coffin of The Case for Libyan 'Intervention'
23rd February 2015
- Interventionism Kills: Post-Coup Ukraine One Year Later
22nd February 2015
- Ukraine Coup One Year On and Does Obama Hate America? - Ron Paul Liberty Report
21st February 2015
- How US Diplomatic Strategy Gave Netanyahu Leverage
21st February 2015
- Operation Iraqi 'Freedom'
19th February 2015
- Happy Kosovo Independence Day?
18th February 2015
- Libya: A Perfect Storm of Interventionist Failure
17th February 2015
- Ron Paul Liberty Report: President's Day and Washington, D.C. Speech
17th February 2015
- Putin Heads Off a US-Russia War
16th February 2015
- How Many More Wars?
16th February 2015
- Ron Paul: 'I Am Not Pro-Putin, I Am Not Pro-Russia, I Am Pro-Facts'
15th February 2015
- The Real Problem of 'Getting to Yes' With Iran
14th February 2015
- What You Should Know About the New Defense Secretary
13th February 2015
- What Will 'Minsk II' Agreement be Worth?
12th February 2015
- The Seduction of Brian Williams: Embedded with the Military
12th February 2015
- Yemen Today: Another 'Fall of Saigon' Moment for US
11th February 2015
- Obama's Force Authorization is a Blank Check for War Worldwide
11th February 2015
- Brian Williams Helped Pave the Way to War
10th February 2015
- Sami Al-Arian and the Defining Moral and Political Challenge of Our Time
9th February 2015
- Kiev's Bloody War Is Backfiring
9th February 2015
- Were the Saudis Behind 9/11?
8th February 2015
- Vaccine Controversy Shows Why We Need Markets, Not Mandates
8th February 2015
- Ron Paul Liberty Report: Behind the Scenes on Vaccines and Ukraine
7th February 2015
- Greece: The Problem with Playing Hardball
7th February 2015
- Supreme Court Rules in Favor of TSA Whistleblower Robert MacLean
6th February 2015
- No Doubt: US Taxpayers Will be Robbed to Arm Poroshenko
4th February 2015
- America's James Bond Complex
4th February 2015
- History In the Balance: Why Greece Must Repudiate Its 'Banker Bailout' Debts And Exit The Euro
3rd February 2015
- Netanyahu's Speech and the Politics of Iran Policy
2nd February 2015
- Mini-Maidan Picks Up Steam in Budapest
2nd February 2015
- The Failed Yemen Model
1st February 2015
- January
- March to Folly in Ukraine
31st January 2015
- Surrendering Liberty: America's Fatal Freedom Apathy
29th January 2015
- China Looks West: What Is at Stake in Beijing's 'New Silk Road' Project
28th January 2015
- 'Two Percent Inflation' and The Fed's Current Mandate
28th January 2015
- Beware the Two Percent!
28th January 2015
- New Russia 'Spy' Scandal: US Foreign Policy Goes Retro
28th January 2015
- After The 'Syriza Shock' - Now Comes The Hard Choice Of Escape Or Merely Re-setting The Terms of Greece's EU Servitude
26th January 2015
- Education is Too Important Not to Leave to the Marketplace
25th January 2015
- Adios Cuba!
25th January 2015
- Beware a New Cold War
23rd January 2015
- A Second Even More Unjustifiable Episode of Government Collection of Phone Records
23rd January 2015
- The Ambiguity of Charlie Hebdo: France Under the Influence
21st January 2015
- Ron Paul: The Real State of Liberty 2015
20th January 2015
- The Danger of an MH-17 'Cold Case'
20th January 2015
- Why Should Charlie Hebdo Deaths Mean More Than Those in E.Ukraine?
19th January 2015
- If the Fed Has Nothing to Hide, It Has Nothing to Fear
18th January 2015
- Fed Asset Seizures Rollback Less Than Advertised
18th January 2015
- Will New US Training Program Produce More ISIS Fighters in Syria?
17th January 2015
- Do You Believe it Was a False Flag? Ron Paul on Paul Craig Roberts' Controversial Article
16th January 2015
- The Open Society and its Worst Enemies
16th January 2015
- America Is Open for Business in Iraq (Psst... Wanna Buy an M1 Tank?)
15th January 2015
- 'US Incapable of Backing Down on Russia Over Ukraine'
15th January 2015
- CIA on Trial in Virginia for Planting Nuke Evidence in Iran
14th January 2015
- From Neighborhood Cops to Robocops: The Changing Face of American Police
14th January 2015
- Charlie Hebdo Shootings: False Flag?
14th January 2015
- Lessons from Paris
12th January 2015
- The Police Threat Is Too High
10th January 2015
- EU-Backed Libyan Government Bombs EU Citizens But No New No Fly Zone in Sight
9th January 2015
- Inner City Turmoil and Other Crises: My Predictions for 2015
8th January 2015
- Paris Slayings: What Do You Say When You Have Nothing to Say?
8th January 2015
- Ron Paul: Paris Attack 'Obscene,' But Blowback for French Interventionism
7th January 2015
- Welcome to the Matrix: Enslaved by Technology and the Internet of Things
7th January 2015
- What Didn't Happen in 2014: The Paranoia Year in Review
6th January 2015
- Blowback on the Saudi Border – Senior General Killed
5th January 2015
- Total National Security Spending Is Much Greater than the Pentagon's Base Budget
5th January 2015
- Ten New Year's Resolutions for Congress
4th January 2015
- Without 'Qualified Immunity,' Would Cops Be So Quick to Kill?
1st January 2015
- 2014
- December
- A Radical Question About the CIA in the Mainstream Press
31st December 2014
- The Victory of 'Perception Management'
30th December 2014
- America: Australia's Dangerous Ally
29th December 2014
- Why is it Illegal to Buy Food From Your Neighbors?
29th December 2014
- The Real Meaning of the 1914 Christmas Truce
28th December 2014
- 'The Interview' Flops, FBI 'North Korean Hack' Story Also Debunked
28th December 2014
- 2014: The Year Propaganda Came Of Age
27th December 2014
- Why Obama Won't Reach an Agreement With Iran
27th December 2014
- US Looks to Israel to Justify Torture
26th December 2014
- Should You Condemn the CIA for Torture If You Don't Condemn the Iraq War?
26th December 2014
- Why Millions of Christians Will Mourn This Christmas
23rd December 2014
- Janet Yellen's Christmas Gift to Wall Street
21st December 2014
- Cold War Spy Games Show the Moral Bankruptcy of the US National Security State
20th December 2014
- Regime Change in Cuba
19th December 2014
- US Overlooks Russia Sanctions Backlash on Own Economy
18th December 2014
- Bombs Away! Obama Signs Lethal Aid to Ukraine Bill
18th December 2014
- Torture and the Destruction of the Human Being Shaker Aamer by the United States
18th December 2014
- For Truly Better Relations with Cuba, Open the Door and Get Out of the Way!
17th December 2014
- The Cold War Has Never Ended for the CIA
17th December 2014
- Three Members of Congress Just Reignited the Cold War While No One Was Looking
16th December 2014
- BBC US Editor Parrots CIA, Republican Talking Points on Senate Torture Report
16th December 2014
- After Ukraine: Are the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary Veering Off The NATO/EU Reservation?
15th December 2014
- All I Want for Christmas is a (Real) Government Shutdown
14th December 2014
- Eric Garner, the Torture Report, and Authoritarian Psychology
12th December 2014
- Torture and the Myth of Never Again: The Persecution of John Kiriakou
11th December 2014
- Do They Really Oppose Torture?
11th December 2014
- US Foreign Policy: Into the Heart of Darkness
10th December 2014
- 'A Litany of Federal Crimes' - Judge Napolitano on the CIA Torture Report
9th December 2014
- Washington's Frozen War Against Russia
9th December 2014
- The Long Arm of US Law
8th December 2014
- Our Enemies, the Presidents
7th December 2014
- House Chooses New Cold War With Russia
7th December 2014
- Ukraine's Made-in-USA Finance Minister
6th December 2014
- Ron Paul: Anti-Russia Bill Passed by Congress 'Part of the War Propaganda Machine'
6th December 2014
- US Army Sends 100 Tanks To Eastern Europe To 'Deter Russian Aggression'
5th December 2014
- Reckless Congress 'Declares War' on Russia
4th December 2014
- Just Like the Stasi...
4th December 2014
- Fear is a Political Instrument, but Knowledge is Power
3rd December 2014
- Ron Paul on the Next US Defense Secretary
3rd December 2014
- No to War, Hot or Cold, With Russia
2nd December 2014
- Why Not Pardon Drug War Victims in Addition to Turkeys?
1st December 2014
- MH17: Barring Malaysia From Investigation Reeks of Cover-up
1st December 2014
- November
- Who Wants to be Defense Secretary?
30th November 2014
- Nuclear Chicken in the Mideast
29th November 2014
- Darren Wilson and the Reality of 'Blue Privilege'
28th November 2014
- Syrian Christians: 'Help Us to Stay - Stop Arming Terrorists'
26th November 2014
- We Are the Enemy: Is This the Lesson of Ferguson?
25th November 2014
- 'Coercive Diplomacy' and the Failure of the Nuclear Negotiations
25th November 2014
- What Does Hagel's Ouster Mean for US Syria Policy?
24th November 2014
- Reform the CIA? What Good Would That Do?
24th November 2014
- Defeat of USA FREEDOM Act is a Victory for Freedom
23rd November 2014
- ISIS: Fighting the Modern Wahabis
22nd November 2014
- Lew Rockwell: Europe Bowing to US Hegemon on Russia Sanctions
22nd November 2014
- Ron Paul: 'Help!'
20th November 2014
- Biden in Ukraine, War Surely to Follow
20th November 2014
- The United States Lost the Cold War
20th November 2014
- Still Letting the Neocons Lead
19th November 2014
- Russia invades Ukraine. Again. And Again. And Yet Again!
19th November 2014
- Voiceprints: Time to be Afraid Again
18th November 2014
- Are 'We the People' Useful Idiots in the Digital Age?
17th November 2014
- Do Wars Really Defend America's Freedom?
17th November 2014
- Internet Gambling Ban: A Winner for Sheldon Adelson, A Losing Bet for the Rest of Us
16th November 2014
- No Good War; No Bad Peace
15th November 2014
- Anti-Assad Propaganda Tricks MSM 'Sophisticates'
14th November 2014
- When Henry Kissinger Makes Sense...
14th November 2014
- Hungary's Orban Threatened by Maidan-Style Protest Movement
13th November 2014
- A Lesson in Intervention in Iraq
12th November 2014
- American Journey From Terror to Peace, 9/11 to 11/11
11th November 2014
- US: Kicking Vietnam Syndrome Once and for All
11th November 2014
- The Devil's Bargain: The Illusion of a Trouble-Free Existence in the American Police State
10th November 2014
- Iraq War 3.0: What Could Possibly Go Right?
10th November 2014
- What The Mid-Term Elections Really Mean For Peace and Liberty
9th November 2014
- NYPD Union Leader: Reducing Marijuana Arrests is "Beginning of the Breakdown of a Civilized Society"
9th November 2014
- Dennis Kucinich: 'The US Must Work to Reestablish Friendly Relations With Russia'
7th November 2014
- Obama Demands Another 1,500 Troops and $5.6 Billion for War Expansion
7th November 2014
- Why US Anti-ISIS Videos Don't Work
6th November 2014
- Ron Paul's Take on the 2014 Midterm Elections
5th November 2014
- Washington-Backed 'Rebels' Surrender US Arms to Al Qaeda in Syria
5th November 2014
- The FBI: America's Secret Police
4th November 2014
- US Destroying Syria's Oil Infrastructure Under Guise of Fighting ISIS
3rd November 2014
- More Guns Plus Less War Equals Real Security
2nd November 2014
- Afghanistan: None Dare Call it a Defeat
1st November 2014
- In Ukraine, A Tale of Two Elections
1st November 2014
- October
- US Post Office Spying on Americans Without Oversight
31st October 2014
- The Iranian Nuclear Issue and Sino-Iranian Relations
31st October 2014
- The Cheney-Powell-Rumsfeld-Wolfowitz Strategy: An Evaluation
30th October 2014
- Obama's Phony Foreign-Aid Reform
29th October 2014
- Putin's Complaint: Is Washington a Revisionist Power?
29th October 2014
- Time Mag to Ron Paul: Stop Telling The Truth!
28th October 2014
- Don't Let Lunatics Make Our Policies
27th October 2014
- Once-Peaceful Canada Turns Militaristic; Blowback Follows
26th October 2014
- Anti-Assad Warmongers Drag in the Holocaust
25th October 2014
- Fragile Fact-Checking: How The Media Fell in And Out of Love With The Sikorski 'Revelations'
23rd October 2014
- Hollow Justice and Courts of Order in an Age of Government-Sanctioned Tyranny
22nd October 2014
- The Cuban Embargo is an Attack on Both Cubans And Americans
20th October 2014
- National Service is Anti-Liberty and Un-American
19th October 2014
- The Real Secret of Iraq's Germ Weapons
18th October 2014
- The Neocons -- Masters of Chaos
18th October 2014
- Warmongering Washington Hunting for Ebola, Russia and Islamic State
17th October 2014
- Ron Paul Blasts 'Deeply Flawed' US Foreign Policy - Interview With Larry King
17th October 2014
- The Politicians Are Scaring You Again
16th October 2014
- Seven Worst-Case Scenarios in the Battle With the Islamic State
16th October 2014
- Committing Highway Robbery to Fund Police Militarization
15th October 2014
- Where Did Iraq Get Its Weapons of Mass Destruction?
15th October 2014
- Shielded from Justice: The High Cost of Living in a Police State
14th October 2014
- US/Afghan Pact: Permanent Occupation
14th October 2014
- Again the Peace Prize Not for Peace
13th October 2014
- Liberty, Not Government, is Key to Containing Ebola
12th October 2014
- A 'Final Solution' to the 'Muslim Problem'?
11th October 2014
- From Pol Pot to ISIS: 'Anything That Flies on Everything That Moves'
11th October 2014
- Celebrating Ron Paul's Forty Years in the Political Arena
11th October 2014
- Afghanistan Faces Uncertain Future
9th October 2014
- The Abominable No Fly List
9th October 2014
- Urgent: Right-Left Alliance Needed to Stop This War!
8th October 2014
- Pennsylvania Legislature Moves To Pass Injunctive Law In Wake Of Abu-Jamal Commencement Speech
8th October 2014
- Presidents and the War Power
8th October 2014
- Washington Is Destroying The World
7th October 2014
- The Siege Of Kobani: Obama's Syrian Fiasco In Motion
6th October 2014
- The Real Status of Forces in Afghanistan and Iraq
5th October 2014
- Hong Kong Boiling -- But Gently So Far
4th October 2014
- War, The Fed, and More Wars: Ron Paul's LPAC 2014 Speech!
3rd October 2014
- America's Never-Ending War in the Middle East
1st October 2014
- September
- There is Much to Fear
30th September 2014
- Obama Invented Fake 'Threat' to Launch War on Syria
29th September 2014
- Scottish Referendum Gives Reasons to be Hopeful
28th September 2014
- Western-Backed Kiev Regime Burying the Truth About Its Atrocities?
27th September 2014
- Ron Paul: Obama Has Started 'Immoral and Illegal' War in Iraq and Syria
27th September 2014
- Syria/Iraq/Afghanistan: As Bad As a Crime, a Blunder
27th September 2014
- Gateway Policies: ISIS, Obama and US Financial Boots-on-the-Ground
26th September 2014
- Is Obama Misleading the World to War? Depends How You Define 'Misleading'
26th September 2014
- The Airwaves Are Still Heaving With Spin Two Days After US Airstrikes Against Syria
26th September 2014
- Welcome To Barack Obama's Syrian Gong Show
25th September 2014
- The Real Reason We Are Bombing Syria
24th September 2014
- Apocalypse Now, Iraq Edition
23rd September 2014
- Breaking: US Attacks Syria!
22nd September 2014
- Turning Americans into Snitches for the Police State: 'See Something, Say Something' and Community Policing
22nd September 2014
- NATO vs. ISIS?
21st September 2014
- Congress Votes for More War in the Middle East
21st September 2014
- The Disastrous Myth of Airpower Victory
20th September 2014
- Anarchy in Washington: Is Anybody in Charge?
19th September 2014
- The Tower Of Babel Comes To Paris: The Folly Of Obama's War On ISIS
18th September 2014
- Poroshenko in Washington: A Marriage Made in Heaven?
17th September 2014
- 8 Reasons Why Congress Should Vote No on Training and Funding Syrian Rebels
17th September 2014
- Ron Paul: War on ISIS is Foolish Continuation of 24 Years of US War in Middle East
16th September 2014
- An Unbearable and Choking Hell: The Loss of Our Freedoms in the Wake of 9/11
16th September 2014
- Under Cover of Ceasefire, NATO-Armed Kiev Poised to Attack
16th September 2014
- Washington's War Against Russia
15th September 2014
- Are You Going to LPAC?
14th September 2014
- Will The Swiss Vote to Get Their Gold Back?
14th September 2014
- Neocons Revive Syria 'Regime Change' Plan
13th September 2014
- Obama's ISIL Speech: Five Lies, Four Truths, and a Potential War Crime
12th September 2014
- Obama, Speak Plainly: This is War!
12th September 2014
- Obama Distorts Founders and Constitution to Promote War and Worldwide Domination
12th September 2014
- Barack, We Hardly Knew Ye
11th September 2014
- Obama's Speech: 'Bush on Steroids'
11th September 2014
- Obama Follows Bush's Iraq Playbook
10th September 2014
- Obama: I Do Not Need Congressional Approval To Go To War With ISIS
10th September 2014
- Resistance is Futile: The Violent Cost of Challenging the American Police State
10th September 2014
- 'Think Tank-Gate': Corruption Is the Price of Empire
8th September 2014
- Stop Being Mean to Tony Blair!
8th September 2014
- Nixon's Vindication
7th September 2014
- Desperate Drug War Beneficiaries Spread Marijuana Legalization Disinformation
6th September 2014
- Mr. President, The Less You Do Overseas The Better
6th September 2014
- Iraq Has WMDs and Russia Has Invaded!
4th September 2014
- US Boots in Iraq and Baltics, Authorization to Attack Syria...and US Troops in Ukraine!
4th September 2014
- Remembering Eugene V. Debs' Imprisonment for Speaking Against War
3rd September 2014
- Western Doublethink on Blind Path to War
3rd September 2014
- Top Ten Ways You Can Tell if Russia Has Invaded Ukraine
1st September 2014
- US Slouches Toward Syria, Again...
1st September 2014
- August
- Obama Has No Middle East Strategy? Good!
31st August 2014
- Is This The Libertarian Moment?
30th August 2014
- The Mother of All Blowback
30th August 2014
- Washington Piles Lie Upon Lie
29th August 2014
- Red Alert: NATO Mission Creep Advancing to Russian Border
28th August 2014
- Bombs Away Over Syria! Washington Has Gone Stark Raving Mad
27th August 2014
- The Murder of James Foley
27th August 2014
- Ron Paul and Mark Spitznagel Talk Freedom, Farming, and the Fed
26th August 2014
- Peace President Plots War on Syria
26th August 2014
- The Syrian Arab Government and ISIS Have Always Been Enemies
25th August 2014
- Missed Ron Paul's Birthday? It's Not Too Late To Claim Your Gift!
25th August 2014
- Ferguson: The War Comes Home
24th August 2014
- Obama's Skewed Policy Priorities in Middle East
24th August 2014
- Cautious Outrage Over Alleged Foley Execution
23rd August 2014
- US/NATO Slam Russian Aid to Eastern Ukraine
22nd August 2014
- Hagel and Dempsey: We Must Attack Syria! Get Ready!
21st August 2014
- Obama, Democrats, Republicans, and NATO: Still Playing the Islamists' Foil
21st August 2014
- Ron Paul, the Gateway Drug
20th August 2014
- It's Ron Paul's Birthday. Guess What He Wants?
20th August 2014
- Ukraine Crisis Continues
20th August 2014
- Ron Paul: Mission Creep in Iraq...and Missouri!
18th August 2014
- The Terrorists Fighting Us Now? We Just Finished Training Them.
18th August 2014
- What Have We Accomplished in Iraq?
17th August 2014
- Police Have No Right to Shoot Someone Running Away
15th August 2014
- From Boston to Ferguson: Have We Reached a Tipping Point in the Police State?
15th August 2014
- Iraq Policy: Washington's Puzzle Palace Keeps Getting Curiouser
12th August 2014
- Ron Paul: 'US Out of Iraq Now!'
12th August 2014
- Why Obama is bombing the Caliph
12th August 2014
- A Faul's Errand: Washington's Amateur Diplomacy – An Obituary
11th August 2014
- Why Reform the CIA?
11th August 2014
- America Started This Ukraine Crisis
10th August 2014
- US Sanctions on Russia May Sink the Dollar
10th August 2014
- What if There's a Real War in Ukraine?
9th August 2014
- Washington Opened The Gates Of Hell In Iraq: Now Come The Furies
8th August 2014
- Crushing Protests in Kiev: Neocons Never Liberate Twice
7th August 2014
- US Government Still Trying for Cuba Regime Change
7th August 2014
- Ron Paul Rewind: 'Bombing Yugoslavia Cannot Be a Proud Moment'
6th August 2014
- Bill Clinton's Body-Snatchers: The Truth About the 'Humanitarian' War on Yugoslavia
6th August 2014
- Flight 17 Shoot-Down Scenario Shifts: White House vs. Intelligence Community?
5th August 2014
- Ron Paul: Don't Palestinians Have a Right to Defend Themselves Too?
5th August 2014
- Crimes Against Humanity in Gaza: Is it Really a 'Buffer Zone' – or a Bigger Plan?
5th August 2014
- We're All Criminals and Outlaws in the Eyes of the American Police State
4th August 2014
- Ron Paul on C-SPAN, Ron Paul on Everything
4th August 2014
- The State's Worst Atrocity
4th August 2014
- Why Won't Obama Just Leave Ukraine Alone?
3rd August 2014
- Political Purges Loom as Ukraine Falls Apart
2nd August 2014
- 'We Tortured Some Folks' -- Obama Admits United States Committed Acts Violating Federal and International Law
1st August 2014
- Not Talking to Vladimir Putin Signals Impotence, Not Strength
1st August 2014
- CIA Admits Hacking Senate Computers After Months of Denials
1st August 2014
- July
- The Rise of the 'Petro-yuan' and the Slow Erosion of Dollar Hegemony
31st July 2014
- New Post
31st July 2014
- Stop! Thief! Stop! -- The Looting of Ukraine
30th July 2014
- On Dominoes, WMDs And Putin's 'Aggression': Imperial Washington Is Intoxicated By Another Big Lie
29th July 2014
- In Foreign Affairs, Not Doing Anything Is The Thing To Do
29th July 2014
- The Absurd, Bureaucratic Hell That Is the American Police State
28th July 2014
- End Torture, Shut Down the CIA!
27th July 2014
- Israel's 155mm Cure For 'Terrorism'
27th July 2014
- Another 'Saigon': US Evacuates From Libya
26th July 2014
- What Does the U.S. Support When It Supports Israel?
26th July 2014
- 'Hard-Core Libertarian' Austin Petersen's Advice for 'Soviet' Ron Paul
25th July 2014
- Ron Paul: 'I Don't Blame America, I Blame Neocons'
25th July 2014
- Breedlove...or Strangelove?
25th July 2014
- Ron Paul: What's So Bad About a Split-Up Ukraine?
24th July 2014
- 9/11 Commission: 10th Anniversary of a Bootlicking National Disgrace
23rd July 2014
- Parallel Construction: Unconstitutional NSA Searches Deny Due Process
23rd July 2014
- On Malaysian Crash, Obama's Case Against Russia Disintegrates
23rd July 2014
- Kerry's Latest Reckless Rush to Judgment
21st July 2014
- The Stealing of America by the Cops, the Courts, the Corporations and Congress
21st July 2014
- What the Media Won't Report About Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17
20th July 2014
- What Happened to the Malaysian Airliner?
20th July 2014
- What Gaza's Crisis Shows About Israel's Ambitions and America's Decline
19th July 2014
- David Versus Goliath in Gaza
19th July 2014
- Blood, Treasure and Soul: The Exorbitant Price of the American Empire
18th July 2014
- New Post
18th July 2014
- US Foreign Food Aid Hurts the Poor
17th July 2014
- Neocons Go Undercover
16th July 2014
- New Post
16th July 2014
- West's Confusing Foreign Policy Contradictions
15th July 2014
- Ron Paul Institute Now in Texas!
13th July 2014
- What's Missing in the Current Immigration 'Crisis' Debate
13th July 2014
- How to Lose Friends and Make People Hate You
12th July 2014
- In Washington's View, It's Still 1945 in Europe
12th July 2014
- Ron Paul Rewind: Israel Encouraged Growth of Hamas
11th July 2014
- Inside the Strange Mind of NATO's Anders Fogh Rasmussen
11th July 2014
- Don't Cry For Me, Shevardnadze...
10th July 2014
- Fox News and Terrorist Propaganda
9th July 2014
- Media Blaming Libertarians for Republican Candidates' Losses Four Months Before Election
9th July 2014
- The Emperor's New Clothes: The Naked Truth About the American Police State
8th July 2014
- Why it's OK to arm 'Moderate' jihadists in Syria
8th July 2014
- Iraq: What They Died For
7th July 2014
- Hobby Lobby Decision Creates Small Island of Freedom in Ocean of Statism
6th July 2014
- Payback Time For Sarko In France's Dirty Politics?
6th July 2014
- Dennis Kucinich: 'Interventionism Is Not The Wave of The Future'
4th July 2014
- The National-Security State's Murder of Two Americans
3rd July 2014
- Empire's Age-Old Aim: Wealth and Power
1st July 2014
- June
- Celebrate Independence Day By Opposing Government Tyranny
29th June 2014
- Cold War Renewed With A Vengeance While Washington Again Lies
29th June 2014
- Hell No! Taxpayers Shouldn't Go To Syria
28th June 2014
- Ron Paul: No More US Aid to Syria Insurgents; Better for House to Impeach than Sue Obama
28th June 2014
- Iraq: The Things Warmongers Said
28th June 2014
- Obama's Self-Made Foreign Policy Problem
27th June 2014
- Ron Paul, the CIA, and Dr. Zhivago
27th June 2014
- Federal Court Rules Government's No-Fly List Is Unconstitutional
25th June 2014
- The US Supreme Court Is Marching in Lockstep with the Police State
24th June 2014
- Opt-Out of Common Core, Opt-In to The Ron Paul Curriculum
22nd June 2014
- The Orwellian Daily Mail
20th June 2014
- Eric Margolis: 'Any US Move in Iraq Will Be Wrong'
20th June 2014
- Iraq, Foreign Policy, Amnesty, John Bolton: Ron Paul Interviewed By Mike Church
19th June 2014
- The Blair Peace Project: Serial Warmonger's Call For New Iraq War Will Have Opposite Effect
18th June 2014
- Iraq: Will the Neocons Get Away With It Again?
18th June 2014
- Has the Dept. of Homeland Security Become America's Standing Army?
17th June 2014
- How to Evolve an Exit Strategy From America's Foreign Policy Shambles -- The Polk Report
17th June 2014
- America's Middle East Delusions
16th June 2014
- Stop Calling the Iraq War a 'Mistake'
16th June 2014
- Haven't We Already Done Enough Damage in Iraq?
15th June 2014
- Iraq Blows Wide Open
14th June 2014
- Don't Compound the Damage Already Done in Iraq by Doubling Down in Syria
13th June 2014
- Once Again Into The Breach: U.S. Shipping More Weapons and Preparing More Military Aid To Iraq
13th June 2014
- Ron Paul Rewind: 'Do Not Attack Iraq!' (2002)
13th June 2014
- Ground Hog Day in the Drug War
13th June 2014
- Critiquing America's Brain-Dead Foreign Policy 'Debate'
11th June 2014
- Why Should Anyone Trust a Government That Kills, Maims, Tortures, Lies, Spies, Cheats, and Treats Its Citizens Like Criminals?
9th June 2014
- Obama's Foreign Policy Rhetoric Does Not Match US Actions
8th June 2014
- The Big Snub in Paris
7th June 2014
- Washington's Iron Curtain in Ukraine
7th June 2014
- Washington's Only Standards Are Double Standards
6th June 2014
- The Disaster That is US Foreign Policy
6th June 2014
- America's Shale Revolution and the Dangerous Myth of Energy Independence
5th June 2014
- US Turns Blind Eye to Lugansk Massacre
4th June 2014
- Ron Paul: 'Get Rid Of the NSA'
4th June 2014
- Obama: Stop The Sanctimonious Kidstuff; Let Europe Fund Its Own Security
3rd June 2014
- Ron Paul Rewind: Legalize Medical Marijuana and Hemp
2nd June 2014
- Just Shoot: The Mindset Responsible for Turning Search Warrants into Death Warrants, and SWAT Teams into Death Squads
2nd June 2014
- What Obama Told Us At West Point
2nd June 2014
- Mental Health Screening a Good Way to Decrease Liberty, Poor Way to Increase Security
1st June 2014
- May
- Trivial Pursuit: Obama Versus the Interventionists
30th May 2014
- A Middle East Tragedy: Obama's Syria Policy Disaster
29th May 2014
- Ukraine Asks for Lend-Lease from US
29th May 2014
- Boko Haram a Blessing for Imperialism in Africa: U.S. Training Death Squads
29th May 2014
- Ukraine and EU Integration of Popular Revolt against Oligarchs
27th May 2014
- Why War Is Inevitable
26th May 2014
- Western Media Coverage of the Ukraine Crisis Is as Distorted as Soviet Propaganda
26th May 2014
- The VA Scandal is Just the Tip of the Military Abuse Iceberg
25th May 2014
- No Water For You: Obama Administration Moves To Cut Off Water To Pot Growers In Washington and Oregon
24th May 2014
- The Great Western Gas Fiasco
24th May 2014
- Judge Napolitano: US Troops to Nigeria is Illegal
24th May 2014
- The War on America's Military Veterans, Waged with SWAT Teams, Surveillance and Neglect
23rd May 2014
- The Sino-Russian Hydrocarbon Axis Grows Up
21st May 2014
- Just Imagine... If Russia Had Toppled the Canadian Government
21st May 2014
- Militarist Bunkum: July 4 and the Lies of the Empire
19th May 2014
- The Chicoms Are Coming! Reflections On The Folly Of The War On Vietnam And Its Progeny
18th May 2014
- Tax Reform is Useless Without Spending Reform
18th May 2014
- Why Won't Kerry Leave Syria Alone?
16th May 2014
- Ron Paul on Boom/Bust: US Interventionism Always Leads to Trouble
15th May 2014
- No Nation Left Un-Invaded: Sen. McCain Would Put US Military Into Nigeria In 'A New York Minute'
14th May 2014
- Killing Your Own People -- a Brief Guide
13th May 2014
- 400 US Mercenaries in Ukraine?
12th May 2014
- What Does The US Government Want in Ukraine?
11th May 2014
- Ukraine Military Attacks Anti-Coup Civilians, US Silent
9th May 2014
- Syria: The Hidden Massacre
8th May 2014
- To Understand Or Not to Understand Putin
8th May 2014
- Western Warmongering Based on Lies and Fabrication
7th May 2014
- Bravo, Rep. Walter Jones! Primary Win Sends Neocons Packing
7th May 2014
- Syria Election: Vote The Right Way -- Or Else
6th May 2014
- Slaughter in Ukraine and US Government Lies
6th May 2014
- The Devil's Beltway Workshop: Why The Warfare State Must Be Dismantled
5th May 2014
- Another NYT 'Sort of' Retraction on Ukraine
5th May 2014
- Why We're No Longer Number One
4th May 2014
- Why Deal When Israel Holds All The Cards
4th May 2014
- Don't Invite More Presidential Wars
3rd May 2014
- Ron Paul on Ukraine: 'Why Are We Are Making Things Worse?'
2nd May 2014
- The 'Eastern Partnership' is Fading Away Before Our Very Eyes
2nd May 2014
- Ron Paul Speaks: 'Liberty Defined and The Future of Freedom'
1st May 2014
- April
- Obama Administration Quietly Strips Senate Bill Of Provision Requiring Disclosure Of Annual Drone Kills
29th April 2014
- Ron Paul: 'No Russia Sanctions and Leave Ukraine Alone!'
28th April 2014
- Western Democracy-Mongers Prefer War To Admitting a Mistake on Ukraine
28th April 2014
- Obama's Drone Wars Undermine American Values
27th April 2014
- The Dirty Hand of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) in Venezuela
26th April 2014
- Ron Paul Rewind: A Warning Against Arming the BLM...in 1997!
25th April 2014
- Obama Wants Parents to be Snitches, Terrorism Recruiters, and Target-Spotters
24th April 2014
- US Botches Ukraine: 'Who's Sorry Now?'
24th April 2014
- Obama Plays With Fire in Ukraine
23rd April 2014
- Shocking Photos From Bundy Raid
22nd April 2014
- The Bundy Paradigm: Will You Be a Rebel, Revolutionary or a Slave?
22nd April 2014
- The Smoking Pop-Gun: Obama Endorses a Forgery
21st April 2014
- Amateur Hour in Ukraine
21st April 2014
- Nevada Standoff a Symptom of Increasing Authoritarianism
20th April 2014
- Ron Paul Rewind: 'Disband NATO!'
19th April 2014
- What John Kerry Didn't Say in Geneva
18th April 2014
- Ranchers vs. Regulators: The Clark County Range War
18th April 2014
- Congress Investigates "Slush Fund" At USAID Used To Get Lawmakers To Pass Reforms
16th April 2014
- CIA Terror Chief Pulls Rank in Kiev
16th April 2014
- I'm Confused, Can Anyone Help Me?
16th April 2014
- Ron Paul On Bundy Ranch Showdown: Cautious Optimism
15th April 2014
- Nevada: Early Lessons of Bunkerville
14th April 2014
- Another Phony Budget Debate
13th April 2014
- Patriotism is The Platform of Fools
12th April 2014
- Stephen Colbert's Ron Paul Interviews
12th April 2014
- The Cliven Bundy Standoff: Wounded Knee Revisited?
12th April 2014
- The American Spring
12th April 2014
- Kucinich: NATO 'Anachronistic Nightmare' and Should Be Disbanded
10th April 2014
- Is the US or the World Coming to an End?
10th April 2014
- Hayden: Feinstein Too 'Emotional' To Discuss The Torture Program
9th April 2014
- Ron Paul Blasts US Ukraine Policy
8th April 2014
- Why Are Americans Paying to Be Searched, Spied On, Shot At and Robbed Blind by the Government?
7th April 2014
- Can the West Get Out of Its (Self-Made) Cul-de-Sac in Syria?
6th April 2014
- Ft. Hood: An Avoidable Tragedy
6th April 2014
- US Government's Regime Change Obsession Rears Its Ugly Head Again
5th April 2014
- For America, Perhaps Now is The Time For Neutrality
5th April 2014
- Afghan Elections for Another Fake Regime
5th April 2014
- NATO Exploits Ukraine Crisis to Demonstrate Its Relevance
4th April 2014
- The Theory Behind USAID Is Wrong...And in Practice It's Worse!
4th April 2014
- The US Government Should Butt Out of Venezuela
3rd April 2014
- Senate Report Exposes Torture and Misrepresentations By CIA Officials . . . But Recommends No Prosecution
1st April 2014
- Targeting Iran
1st April 2014
- March
- 'Just Salute and Follow Orders': When Secrecy and Surveillance Trump the Rule of Law
31st March 2014
- Ron Paul Rewind: 'Repeal the Whole War on Drugs'
31st March 2014
- Ron Paul, Richard Cobden, and the Risks of Opposing War
31st March 2014
- Aid to Ukraine a Bad Deal For All
30th March 2014
- We Really Do Not Need Saudi Arabia Any Longer
29th March 2014
- The Danger of False Narrative
28th March 2014
- Non-Intervention is Non-Negotiable!
27th March 2014
- Ukraine and the Deferential Press
26th March 2014
- A Military Plot to Take Over America: Fifty Years Later, Was the Mission Accomplished?
25th March 2014
- Meet the Americans Who Put Together the Coup in Kiev
25th March 2014
- How US 'Democracy Promotion' Destroys Democracy Overseas
23rd March 2014
- War in Syria Set to Intensify
22nd March 2014
- New Sanctions on Russia -- What's the Endgame?
21st March 2014
- Kto Kogo?* The NATO Syndrome, the EU's Eastern Partnership Program, and the EAU
21st March 2014
- Drug Warriors Just Don't Get It
21st March 2014
- Crimean Referendum Ilegal? Nonsense!
20th March 2014
- RPI's Laughland on the Crimea Referendum
19th March 2014
- Help Ron Paul Fight Back Against The Neocons!
19th March 2014
- Simple Stuff About Ukraine
18th March 2014
- The Use of Force, the Reflexive Resort to Economic Sanctions, and the Trials of America's Hegemonic Mindset
17th March 2014
- Disband NATO!
17th March 2014
- If Spying on Senate is So Bad, Why is it OK For Them To Spy On Us?
16th March 2014
- After the Referendum...
16th March 2014
- Neocons Have Weathered the Storm
15th March 2014
- Against Ukraine War? Obama May Seize Your Assets
14th March 2014
- The Failure of German Leadership on Ukraine
13th March 2014
- Absolute Perversion of the Law in US Drone Killings
13th March 2014
- Ron Paul on CIA Targeting Congress
13th March 2014
- Russia Annexing Crimea is the Cost of US/EU intervention in Ukraine
13th March 2014
- Sanctions Against Russia 'Absurd'
12th March 2014
- Lights, Camera, Arrested: Americans Are Being Thrown in Jail for Filming Police
11th March 2014
- Pledging American Lives in the Defense of NATO
10th March 2014
- How NGOs Helped Plan Ukraine War
10th March 2014
- Can We Afford Ukraine?
9th March 2014
- Gen. Dempsey Pushes Back Against War Fever
9th March 2014
- 'Vlad the Bad' Moves His Chess Pieces
8th March 2014
- Forgetting His Own History: William Hague Once Understood a Black Sea Crisis
7th March 2014
- Ukraine and The US National Security State
6th March 2014
- Ron Paul: No US Bailout for Ukraine
6th March 2014
- Regime Change Blueprint: The NED At Work
6th March 2014
- Ukraine Uprising: A Western Conspiracy?
5th March 2014
- Ukraine: Ron Paul Could be America's Solzhenitsyn
5th March 2014
- Russia Reminds Us of Us
4th March 2014
- 'US and EU Played Central Role in Supporting Protestors in Kiev'
3rd March 2014
- Bombshell: Ukraine President Requested Russian Assistance
3rd March 2014
- Free Speech, RIP: A Relic of the American Past
3rd March 2014
- Hagel's 'Defense Cuts' Are Smoke And Mirrors
2nd March 2014
- 'NATO Countries Unleashed Nationalism And Fear in Ukraine'
2nd March 2014
- The Crimea Will Soon Be Back in Russia
1st March 2014
- February
- Obama Draws Red Lines As World Lurches Toward War
28th February 2014
- Did Ukraine's Regime Change Go According to Western Plan?
28th February 2014
- Judge Andrew Napolitano: Supreme Court Makes 'U-Turn' Away from Protecting Privacy
27th February 2014
- 'West Plays With Fire to Drive the Russian Naval Base Out of Crimea'
27th February 2014
- Ukraine's Fractured Future
24th February 2014
- Leave Ukraine Alone!
23rd February 2014
- EU Writes Ukraine's Eulogy
23rd February 2014
- In Ukraine, EU and US Interventionists Nearing the Civil War They Caused
23rd February 2014
- A No-Fly Zone is an Act of War
22nd February 2014
- 'Ukraine is in Revolutionary Situation'
22nd February 2014
- Ukraine: It's Not About Europe vs Russia
21st February 2014
- Ron Paul Rewind: Questions US Meddling in Ukraine...in 2004!
19th February 2014
- 'Whole of Ukraine held hostage by a small group of radicals'
19th February 2014
- Invasions of the Mind Snatchers
19th February 2014
- Western Imperialism's Creative Destruction in Syria
19th February 2014
- Paranoia, Surveillance and Military Tactics: Have We Become Enemies of the Government?
18th February 2014
- At the Fed, The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same
16th February 2014
- The US Government Makes a Mockery of the Principal-Agent Relationship
14th February 2014
- On Cuba, The Times Just Might Be A'Changin'
14th February 2014
- Ron Paul Rewind: 'What If..."
13th February 2014
- Russia's Right Turn
12th February 2014
- Washington Orchestrated Protests Are Destabilizing Ukraine
12th February 2014
- America and the Arab Awakening: Déjà Vu?
12th February 2014
- Judge Andrew Napolitano: Targeted Killings of Americans are Illegal and Unconstitutional
11th February 2014
- Victoria Nuland Comes Clean with Dirty Language
11th February 2014
- Diagnosing Sochi Media Coverage: Virulent Russophobia
10th February 2014
- Will No One Challenge Obama's Executive Orders?
9th February 2014
- Victoria Nuland's 'Ukraine-gate' Deceptions
9th February 2014
- 'F**k the EU': Tape Reveals US Runs Ukraine Opposition
6th February 2014
- Is a New Cold War Brewing?
5th February 2014
- Victoria Nuland: The Bride At Every Wedding
5th February 2014
- Nice Job, Conservatives
5th February 2014
- What is the Real Price of Starting Another Cold War?
3rd February 2014
- The Continuing Al-Qaeda Threat
2nd February 2014
- Stalin's Crimes Haunt Sochi Games
1st February 2014
- January
- The Year of Iran: Tehran's Challenge to American Hegemony in 2014
31st January 2014
- Kerry's Astounding Hypocrisy on Ukraine
31st January 2014
- Obama and Kerry Jeopardize Peace With Iran
30th January 2014
- New Post
29th January 2014
- Radical Ukraine?
29th January 2014
- How Waist Deep in the Big Muddy Finally Got on Network Television in 1968
29th January 2014
- US 'Elephant in the Room' at Russia-EU Summit
29th January 2014
- The Persecution of Justin Bieber
29th January 2014
- Winning the New York Times Prize!
27th January 2014
- Ron Paul: Do We Live in a Police State?
26th January 2014
- The Economics of the Police State
24th January 2014
- Ukrainian Opposition and the West 'Playing with Fire Siding With Extreme Nationalists'
23rd January 2014
- 'Foreign Pressure on Ukraine Will Only Make Matters Worse'
23rd January 2014
- Radicals in Riots? 'Euromaidan Failed to Separate From Neo-Nazis'
22nd January 2014
- The Ugly American (and Friends) in Geneva
22nd January 2014
- The US Wager on Moderate Islam in Syria an Utter Failure
21st January 2014
- Warfare, Welfare, and Wonder Woman -- How Congress Spends Your Money
21st January 2014
- Ron Paul Rewind: Battling The Surveillance State Back In 1984
20th January 2014
- Foreign Aid is a Real Joke
20th January 2014
- American Fascism
20th January 2014
- Obama's NSA Speech: What Reform?
18th January 2014
- Breaking: Obama Declares NSA 'Reforms' While Dismissing Influence Of Snowden Leaks
17th January 2014
- You Can't Opt Out: 10 NSA Myths Debunked
17th January 2014
- New Post
16th January 2014
- 'We Need Iran in Geneva to Stop Spread of Terror Throughout Middle East'
15th January 2014
- A Tipping Point For Liberty Against Leviathan
14th January 2014
- Who's To Blame For More Violence Against Afghan Women?
14th January 2014
- Is Obama Trying to Resolve or Prolong the Conflict in Syria?
13th January 2014
- Congress Defers to President On NSA Reform
12th January 2014
- Al-Qaeda is Everywhere!
11th January 2014
- In Defense of Dennis Rodman
10th January 2014
- Morality versus the National Security State
10th January 2014
- Peace is the Enemy of Empire
9th January 2014
- The Reactionary Essence of the Syrian Insurgency
7th January 2014
- Ron Paul Rewind: Defense Spending vs. Empire Spending
7th January 2014
- Life in the Electronic Concentration Camp: The Many Ways That You're Being Tracked, Catalogued and Controlled
6th January 2014
- Iran, the United States, and the Middle East in 2014
5th January 2014
- Iraq: The 'Liberation' Neocons Would Rather Forget
5th January 2014
- World Danger Spots for 2014
4th January 2014
- I Worked On the US Drone Program. Here's What Really Goes On
2nd January 2014
- 2013
- December
- 11 Good Things for Liberty in 2013
31st December 2013
- Ron Paul Rewind: End US Marijuana Prohibition and War on Drugs
31st December 2013
- Life in the Emerging American Police State: What's in Store for Our Freedoms in 2014?
31st December 2013
- 'NSA Has Become a Four-Letter Word in US'
29th December 2013
- Vitali Klitschko's American Coaches
28th December 2013
- Turkey's Role in Syria's Unfolding Crisis
27th December 2013
- Saudi Anger Has Many Faces
27th December 2013
- Ron Paul Rewind: Who Warned Us About Sudan?
27th December 2013
- We're The Good Guys
26th December 2013
- NSA Task Force Member Says Program Should Be Expanded Not Limited
23rd December 2013
- Ron Paul Rewind: North Korea?
23rd December 2013
- Progress Toward Peace in 2013, But Dark Clouds Remain
22nd December 2013
- Washington Acts Like Government-in-Exile For Ukraine
21st December 2013
- Syria Conflict: You Can't Make Sound Policy by Disregarding Reality
19th December 2013
- A Christmas To-Do List for a Better World
19th December 2013
- Washington Has Discredited America
19th December 2013
- Ron Paul Rewind: You Can't Manage A Bad War
18th December 2013
- McCain in Ukraine: What Is He Really Up To?
17th December 2013
- Sen. McCain, Interventionism's 'Energizer Bunny'
17th December 2013
- Is NATO's Trojan Horse Riding Toward the 'Ukraine Spring'?
16th December 2013
- Breaking: Federal Court Declares NSA Program Unconstitutional
16th December 2013
- Ron Paul Rewind: They Don't Attack Us Because We're Free & Prosperous
15th December 2013
- Washington Drives the World Toward War
15th December 2013
- Is The US Waking Up To The Insanity of its Syria Policy?
14th December 2013
- Kiev Protests: Another CIA-Coordinated Color Revolution In Progress
13th December 2013
- Congress Scares The People
13th December 2013
- Sinister Fruits of The West's Alliance with Jihad Warriors in Syria
13th December 2013
- Ron Paul Rewind: Ignore The Calls For Sacrifice...Cut The Empire!
12th December 2013
- What We Missed in the Hunger Games
11th December 2013
- Ron Paul And Lew Rockwell: The Interview!
11th December 2013
- 'Parade of Losers': EU Delegation to Kiev Threatens Democracy
11th December 2013
- Ron Paul Rewind: Are the Palestinians An Invented People?
10th December 2013
- Hobby Lobby Case is About Rights, Not Contraceptives
8th December 2013
- The Phony Pullout From Afghanistan
7th December 2013
- Israel Aims to Sabotage the Geneva Agreement with Iran
7th December 2013
- Welcome To The Memory Hole
5th December 2013
- We Are All Non-Interventionists Now!
5th December 2013
- Ukraine: What Would Washington Do?
4th December 2013
- 'Despite Rumors of a Coup, Another Orange Revolution in Ukraine is Unlikely'
4th December 2013
- The Unwelcome Return of Navi Pillay
3rd December 2013
- Prof. Mark Almond: Ukraine Protestors May Topple Government
2nd December 2013
- You Cannot Negotiate With Iran?
1st December 2013
- Syria's Mother Agnes Mariam: In Her Own Words
1st December 2013
- November
- Iran Gets Short End Of The Nuclear Deal
30th November 2013
- The National-Security State's Dangerous China Taunt
28th November 2013
- Ukraine Refused to Sign EU's 'Suicide Note'
28th November 2013
- On Being Thankful...For State Violence?
28th November 2013
- Is The Iran Agreement a Good Deal?
27th November 2013
- The Globalization of NATO: Military Doctrine of Global Warfare
26th November 2013
- Judge Andrew Napolitano: Congress Can Cut the NSA Budget
26th November 2013
- US Dead-Enders Still Dream of Color Revolutions
26th November 2013
- What We Should Not Be Thankful for This Thanksgiving
26th November 2013
- America's Little Spy Helpers Down Under Create an Uproar
25th November 2013
- Can Karzai Save Us?
24th November 2013
- Terrorism and the Bill of Rights
22nd November 2013
- P5+1 Talks With Iran Headed For Failure?
22nd November 2013
- Free Speech Repressing Bureaucrat Threatens Alex Jones and Hundreds at Dallas Gathering
22nd November 2013
- Obama Сhanges Direction in the Middle East
20th November 2013
- Veterans Day and Foreign Interventionism
19th November 2013
- Exclusive: Watch Ron Paul's 'Plea For Peace'
18th November 2013
- Drones, Tanks, and Grenade Launchers: Coming Soon to a Police Department Near You
18th November 2013
- Ron Paul: The US is in the Middle of an Intellectual Revolution
17th November 2013
- Understanding Media Propaganda About Recent Talks Over Iran's Nuclear Program
17th November 2013
- The Iran Question – What Next?
16th November 2013
- Quitting Over Syria
15th November 2013
- Handing Off Ron Paul's Chevette 'Green Pea'
14th November 2013
- What Is The Real Agenda Of The American Police State?
14th November 2013
- Obama's Refusal to Respect Iran's Sovereignty and Treaty Rights is Leaving America on the Self-Defeating Path to War
14th November 2013
- FBI v. The First Amendment: The US Government's Investigation of Antiwar.com
13th November 2013
- Who's to Blame for Battlefield America? Is It Militarized Police or the Militarized Culture?
11th November 2013
- Thoughts on Veterans Day
11th November 2013
- US Expands Missile Defense Plans in Romania
9th November 2013
- Welcome to Deming, New Mexico -- Where Police Rape is a Matter of 'Protocol'
8th November 2013
- How America Was Lost
8th November 2013
- What I Told The Homeland Security Committee
7th November 2013
- America's Moment of Truth About Iran
7th November 2013
- Syria Analysts, Impartial? Not likely!
6th November 2013
- America's Lead Iran Negotiator Misrepresents U.S. Policy (and International Law) to Congress
5th November 2013
- Welcome to the United Police States of America, Where Police Shoot First & Ask Questions Later
4th November 2013
- Ramblin' Man: John Kerry is a Figure of His Times (and That's Not a Good Thing)
4th November 2013
- What Was Not Said About Iraq
3rd November 2013
- Ben Franklin Was Right About the NSA
2nd November 2013
- October
- Overreach: MN Judge Puts Crimp in MDA's 10-Year Pursuit of Raw Dairy Farmer Hartmann
31st October 2013
- Obama, NSA Spying and the Dangers of Secretive, Authoritarian Government
30th October 2013
- Ron Paul: How Americans Rejected War
29th October 2013
- Israel and the NSA: Partners in Crime
29th October 2013
- Rep. Rogers To The French: You're Welcome
28th October 2013
- A Welcome US/Saudi 'Reset'
27th October 2013
- Al-Qaeda's Corridor Through Syria
26th October 2013
- Stasi Meets Steve Jobs
26th October 2013
- Crying Wolf Over Iran
26th October 2013
- Beirut Bombings at 30: Interventionism Kills
23rd October 2013
- As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap
23rd October 2013
- Who Will Protect You from the Police? The Rise of Government-Sanctioned Home Invasions
22nd October 2013
- Washington Casts Blame for Expansion of Al-Qaeda on Turkey
21st October 2013
- Ukraine: Europe's Partner or Puppet?
20th October 2013
- British Press Shills for Syria War With 'Baby Snipers' Story
20th October 2013
- Does Our Military Spending Really Make Us Better Off?
18th October 2013
- Obama Sidesteps Detractors to Engage Iran
18th October 2013
- American Hemp Farming Poised for Resurgence Despite US Prohibition
17th October 2013
- The OPCW wins Nobel by default
16th October 2013
- Will Obama Blow His Diplomatic Opportunity with Iran?
14th October 2013
- Obscuring the Details: A Panoramic Look at America's Case Against Syria
14th October 2013
- That Big Salmonella Outbreak: Chickens Coming Home to Roost on Bankrupt Food Safety Double Standard
12th October 2013
- The Myth of American Exceptionalism
11th October 2013
- The Fourth Branch of Government
10th October 2013
- Saudis to Unify Hardline Islamist Groups in Syria
10th October 2013
- St. Tony Does Tirana...Again
9th October 2013
- Is Turkey on the Cusp of Rethink on Syria?
8th October 2013
- Transforming America's Schools into Authoritarian Instruments of Compliance
7th October 2013
- An Opening to Iran?
6th October 2013
- CIA Activities in Syria: Stepped Up Aid to Islamists
6th October 2013
- Libya in Chaos Two Years After NATO's 'Humanitarian Liberation'
4th October 2013
- What Can Be Learned From the Golden Dawn Arrests?
3rd October 2013
- Mother Agnes Mariam Attacked...By Human Rights Watch!
2nd October 2013
- September
- Own a Piece of Ron Paul History
30th September 2013
- From NSA Spying and VIPR Sweeps to Domestic Drones: A Round-Up of the Police State Programs NOT Affected by a Government Shutdown
30th September 2013
- AFRICOM: The US Pivot to Africa
29th September 2013
- The Dragon Enters NATO's Orchard
29th September 2013
- A Grand Bargain for Liberty?
29th September 2013
- East Ghouta: False Flag Chemical Attack
28th September 2013
- Ron Paul Electrifies on Jay Leno
27th September 2013
- Obama at the UN: Syrian Blues and a Persian Puzzle
25th September 2013
- Kenya Mall Attack: The Bitter Fruits of Interventionism
25th September 2013
- US Policy is to Prolong the Violence in Syria
24th September 2013
- Washington's Tyranny
24th September 2013
- Can Washington Reciprocate Iran's 'Constructive Engagement'?
23rd September 2013
- Lawrence Wilkerson Interview: 'John McCain and Lindsey Graham Need to Shut Their Mouths'
22nd September 2013
- Ron Paul Institute at LPAC Conference
21st September 2013
- Ron Paul With Charlie Rose: 'The Meaning of Non-Interventionism'
20th September 2013
- Serving America's War Machine
19th September 2013
- RPI Advisor Kucinich Interviews Syrian President Assad
19th September 2013
- McAdams Talks New Ron Paul Book, Syria With Jay Taylor
18th September 2013
- Five Lies Invented to Spin UN Report on Syria
18th September 2013
- RPI at the Liberty Political Action Conference
17th September 2013
- A Short History of the War on Syria, 2006-2014
17th September 2013
- Licensed to Kill: The Growing Phenomenon of Police Shooting Unarmed Citizens
17th September 2013
- Has The Tide Turned Against the Warmongers?
16th September 2013
- Marching Into Uncertain Future Requires Leadership
15th September 2013
- The People Against the 800 Pound Gorilla
15th September 2013
- Ron Paul Brings Down House at DePauw
15th September 2013
- American Exceptionalism: Putin, the Neocons, and Ron Paul
13th September 2013
- Holding Assad Accountable
13th September 2013
- Putin Steps Into World Leadership Role
13th September 2013
- Hillary Mann Leverett: 'Obama Made Two Unforced Errors, in Libya and Syria'
10th September 2013
- Ron Paul on Geraldo Rivera Radio
10th September 2013
- What's the Evidence Behind the Case for War?
10th September 2013
- Obama, Syria, and Interventionism: Ten Questions Worth Pondering
10th September 2013
- The Golan Heights as a Key to Understanding the Problems of Syria
9th September 2013
- The Wishful Thinking Left: Unwitting Agents of the Imperial Order
8th September 2013
- The Intelligence Community's Revolt Against Obama on Syria
7th September 2013
- Syria and Lessons Unlearned from The Bombing of Kosovo
6th September 2013
- US/Russia Summit Urgently Needed
6th September 2013
- Syria: The Iron in Obama's Soul
5th September 2013
- Ron Paul Takes on Obama-Cultists on MSNBC
5th September 2013
- Ron Paul on Cavuto: 'We are joining up with a group of thugs who kill Christians'
5th September 2013
- Ron Paul on Syria With Wolf Blitzer
4th September 2013
- Libya Has Moved On...Into Lawlessness and Ruin
4th September 2013
- Iraq: A Seething Boiler About to Explode
4th September 2013
- No War for Bernard Henri Lévy
3rd September 2013
- Call It War, Not a Shot Across the Bow
3rd September 2013
- Obama Nearing Point of No Return
3rd September 2013
- Congressional Danse Macabre Has Begun
2nd September 2013
- Surveillance State: We Are One Step Away from Glass Houses
2nd September 2013
- Lapdog Regime Journalists versus a Bona Fide Expert: Watch the Sparks Fly!
1st September 2013
- Will Congress Endorse Obama's War Plans? Does it Matter?
1st September 2013
- The Real Reason for US Syria Attack
1st September 2013
- August
- Syria and the Waning of American Hegemony
30th August 2013
- Obama's Syria Dossier: 'Trust Us'
30th August 2013
- Ron Paul on Cavuto on the Baying Dogs of War
30th August 2013
- Obama's Flimsy Case For Attacking Syria Falls Apart
29th August 2013
- Iran Can Finesse Obama's Legacy
28th August 2013
- Obama Set for Tomahawk War: Responsibility to Attack
28th August 2013
- Syria: Another Western War Crime In The Making
27th August 2013
- Justifying the Unjustifiable: US Uses Past Crimes to Legalize Future Ones
25th August 2013
- US Set to Launch 'Iraq, The Sequel', in Syria
24th August 2013
- Ron Paul Interviewed by Larry King on Politicking Program
24th August 2013
- Making the World the 'Enemy'
23rd August 2013
- The West Strikes Back in Syria
22nd August 2013
- Ron Paul Talks Egypt and US One Party State on Cavuto Today
20th August 2013
- The NSA: 'The Abyss from Which There Is No Return'
20th August 2013
- Rep. Dennis Kucinich: NSA Should be Abolished
20th August 2013
- Should You Be Able to Buy Food Directly From Farmers? The Government Doesn't Think So
18th August 2013
- Why The 2,776 NSA Violations Are No Big Deal
18th August 2013
- NSA 'Violations' Irrelevant
17th August 2013
- Storm on the Nile
17th August 2013
- Egypt's Junta Has Nothing to Lose
16th August 2013
- McCain and Graham's Strange Egyptian Adventure
12th August 2013
- Why Are We At War in Yemen?
11th August 2013
- How Ron Paul Changed My Heart and Mind on War
10th August 2013
- Washington's Drive For Hegemony Is A Drive To War
9th August 2013
- Does Washington Post Purchase Create Spooky Conflict of Interest?
8th August 2013
- US Egypt Policy: Democracy Promotion?
8th August 2013
- Welcome to Post-Constitution America: The Weapons of War Come Home
7th August 2013
- The Ron Paul Channel Will Launch August 12th
7th August 2013
- Are Police in America Now a Military, Occupying Force?
5th August 2013
- President José Mujica Versus the United Nations
5th August 2013
- Why Won't They Tell Us the Truth About NSA Spying?
4th August 2013
- NSA Spying: Fiction versus Fact
3rd August 2013
- McCain Declares War on Russia
2nd August 2013
- Rouhani's Inauguration and the West's Strategic Suicide
1st August 2013
- Time to Abolish the DHS?
1st August 2013
- July
- The American Surveillance State Is Here. Can It Be Evaded?
29th July 2013
- Japan Must Face Up To China
28th July 2013
- A House Divided Over NSA Spying on Americans
28th July 2013
- Kafka's America: Secret Courts, Secret Laws, and Total Surveillance
24th July 2013
- Sen. Ron Wyden's Warning on the Surveillance State
24th July 2013
- NRA vs Medical Associations: Guess Who Wants You in the Government Database?
23rd July 2013
- The Kurdish Spring in Turkey's Backyard
22nd July 2013
- The Road to Nowhere: Kerry's Mideast Journey
20th July 2013
- The Homeland Security Monstrosity
18th July 2013
- Adam Kokesh and the Drugs and Guns Prosecution Trap
18th July 2013
- William Hague: The Foolish Puppet
17th July 2013
- The disease is war, Not Snowden
17th July 2013
- The Government's 'Passion' to Protect Us
15th July 2013
- RT on Ron Paul Institute and Ron Paul Channel
13th July 2013
- A Possible Change in Turkey's Syria Policies?
12th July 2013
- Why the EU is Also Desperate for Snowden's Capture
11th July 2013
- Ron Paul Talks the Coming Ron Paul Channel!
8th July 2013
- New Egyptian War: Americans Lose, Again
7th July 2013
- New Post
5th July 2013
- US Egypt Policies Don't Pass the Laugh Test
4th July 2013
- What is Happening in Egypt?
4th July 2013
- Snowden Case Highlights Deep Constitutional Erosion
1st July 2013
- If You Like the Surveillance State, You'll Love E-Verify
1st July 2013
- June
- Ron Paul: Against Neocon Domination
29th June 2013
- Will Egypt Implode Tomorrow?
29th June 2013
- Obama's Wild Neo Con Dream
29th June 2013
- Why Is No One Listening to the US Government?
24th June 2013
- The Death of Daniel Somers
24th June 2013
- What We Have Learned From Afghanistan
23rd June 2013
- Nobody is Listening to Our Phone Calls?
21st June 2013
- Obama Chooses Intensified but Strategically Useless Violence over Serious Diplomacy in Syria
20th June 2013
- A Tipping Point in Syria Conflict
19th June 2013
- Ron Paul Talks NSA Spying on Neil Cavuto Today
18th June 2013
- It's Obama's Safari – But We're the Ones Taken for a Ride!
17th June 2013
- Rouhani Won the Iranian Election. Get Over it
16th June 2013
- US Mass Spying Loses Obama's 'Shoddy Coat of Legitimacy'
16th June 2013
- Obama's Syria Policy Looks a Lot Like Bush's Iraq Policy
16th June 2013
- Ron Paul Talks About Obama's Syria Claims
14th June 2013
- Obama Signals Start of US War in Syria
14th June 2013
- The Uprising Against Brother Erdogan
12th June 2013
- Iran's Presidential Election Will Surprise America's So-called Iran 'Experts'
12th June 2013
- Turkish Protests: A Backlash Against Interventionism?
12th June 2013
- Ron Paul on MSNBC: 'NSA leakers are "the real heroes"'
11th June 2013
- Turkey: Another Egypt?
10th June 2013
- Government Spying: Should We Be Shocked?
9th June 2013
- Ron Paul Warned Us About "1984" -- in 1984!
9th June 2013
- Iraq Collapse Shows Bankruptcy of Interventionism
2nd June 2013
- Those Old Colonial Lusts
1st June 2013
- Turkey's Erdogan Gets Taste of His Own Medicine?
1st June 2013
- May
- Illinois School District Forces Students to Self-Incriminate
31st May 2013
- The Self-Defeating Dynamics of American Hegemony in the Middle East
28th May 2013
- US Makes Syria an 'Offer it Can't Refuse' – again
27th May 2013
- The Real Meaning of President Obama's National Security Speeches
25th May 2013
- When Terrorism Comes Home
23rd May 2013
- Tony Does Tirana
21st May 2013
- As Scandals Deepen, Obama, His Party, and Republicans Will Militarily Intervene in Syria
21st May 2013
- The Great Peacemaker U.S. and Its Benevolent Effort to Bring Peace to Syria
21st May 2013
- Dealing remote-control drone death
17th May 2013
- Boston Becomes Toxic
16th May 2013
- Washington's Hegemonic Ambition and U.S. Policy Toward Syria (excerpts)
16th May 2013
- The Rise and the Fall of the Humanitarian Interventionists
15th May 2013
- What No One Wants to Hear About Benghazi
13th May 2013
- The Iranian Nuclear Issue: What's at Stake for the BRICS
3rd May 2013
- The Neo-Jacobin Ideology of American Empire
3rd May 2013
- April
- Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Sequester - Trust?
30th April 2013
- Liberty Was Also Attacked in Boston
28th April 2013
- Scenes From the Ron Paul Institute Press Conference
22nd April 2013
- Congress Exploits Our Fears to Take Our Liberty
22nd April 2013
- New Post
17th April 2013
- News Analysis
16th April 2013
- The Coming Non-Intervention Revolution
16th April 2013
Dec 30, 2017 | www.moonofalabama.org
Here is the latest from ZH on Syria
Russian Foreign Minister: US Military Must Leave All Of Syria
The take-away quote
"Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated on Thursday that US forces must leave all of Syria. Speaking to Interfax news agency, Lavrov stated that the UN Security Council has not approved the work of the United States and its coalition in Syria, nor has been invited by the legitimate Syrian government.
Concerning a prior statement by US Defense Secretary James Matisse voicing the intent for US troops to stay in Syria until achieving progress in a political settlement, Lavrov pointed out that such statement is "surprising" because it means that Washington reserves the right to determine such progress and wants to maintain control over parts of Syrian territory in order to achieve the result it wants."
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 28, 2017 5:03:22 PM | 6
elsi , Dec 28, 2017 5:50:04 PM | 7
@Jen | Dec 28, 2017 4:10:15 PM | 4psychohistorian , Dec 28, 2017 8:43:51 PM | 18Well, it took also the "casuality" that the Russian Syrian base of Hmeimim was attacked by missiles launched by terrorists today...Of course, not only St. Petersburg, but the world is wide and huge...but, eventhough, I think that all these "terrorist attacks" are related...to the current insistence by Russian officials on US troops leaving Syria asap....
Sometime ZH has news that is portrayed more in a propaganda manner than other times or authors...whatever. That said the link and quotes below show how the ME rhetoric is marching alongnottheonly1 , Dec 29, 2017 4:40:00 AM | 25US And Israel Reach "Secret Plan" To Counter Iran
"One month after we reported that Israel would take the unprecedented step of sharing intelligence with Saudi Arabia as the two countries ramped up efforts to curb what they perceive as "Iranian expansion" in the region, on Thursday Israel's Channel 10 reported that Israel has also pivoted to the US and reached a similar plan to counter Iranian activity in the Middle East. As Axios adds, U.S. and Israeli officials said the joint understandings were reached in "a secret meeting" between senior Israeli and U.S. delegations at the White House on December 12th."
"Meanwhile, apparently unconcerned by the Saudi-Israeli-US axis that has formed to contain his nation, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that US President Donald Trump would fail in his hardened stance towards Iran, saying Tehran is stronger than during the time of Ronald Reagan.
"Reagan was more powerful and smarter than Trump, and he was a better actor in making threats, and he also moved against us and they shot down our plane,"
Khamenei said in a speech carried on state television.
For now, the Iranian's Trump-tautning has remained unanswered. The problem is that if Iran continues to dare the US, and its new regional allies Israel and Saudi Arabia, now that there is a regional axis meant to "contain" Iran by any means necessary, it won't take much for the US, and especially Israel, to respond accordingly."
Beat those drums! Beat those drums! There must be a war for Trump to be a Real US President and cover for the posturing of the other two "new"(grin) regional allies.
My hope is that instead of a war, Trump gets to oversee the US default on the national debt, which he has some experience with personally. That would be the precipitation event for the new Bretton Woods agreement about global finance going forward.
What is the next chapter in this story and is everyone fearful enough yet?
Who Are The Leading State Sponsors of Terrorism?For many, that has not been a serious question for a very long time. The answer reveals, that the umpire has only two possible exit strategies. One is that start WW3 and the other one is actually not a strategy - only an exit from the world.
Pretty much everybody is no longer wearing clothes. The naked truth is for all decent people to see. The implosion is underway and can no longer be averted. The only question that remains is how many lives will be lost/wasted and how many can be saved.
The more desperate the establishment grows, the more rabid it will turn. For those, for whom cannot be what can't be, devastating times lie ahead. The polarization of the planet has reached a new dimension.
And yes, I am convinced that the inability to post and glitches when typing have nothing to do with b. or this website, but everything to do with the manipulation of the internet and all it's users.
USS America is sinking. No iceberg was needed.
Dec 28, 2017 | www.moonofalabama.org
Ghost Ship , Dec 27, 2017 10:17:37 AM | 92
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Dec 26, 2017 3:56:16 PM | 35On your surmise that Putin prefers Trump to Hillary and would thus have incentive to influence the election, I beg to differ. Putin is one smart statesman; he knows very well it makes no difference which candidates gets elected in US elections.I accept your point that the Democrats and the Republicans are two sides of the same coin, but it's important to understand that Putin is deeply conservative and very risk averse.
Hillary Clinton may be a threat to Russia but she knows the "rules" and is very predictable, while Trump doesn't know the rules and appears to act on a whim , so if Putin were to have interfered in the 2016 presidential election, logic would suggest that he would do so on Hillary Clinton's side. However, given the problems that Hillary Clinton had to overcome to get elected, backing her against Trump would be risky. So the highly risk averse Putin would logically stay out of the election entirely and all the claims of Russia hacking the election are fake news.
As for the alleged media campaign, my response is "so what!". Western media, including state-owned media, interferes around the world all the time so complaining about Russian state-owned media doing the same is pure hypocrisy and should be ignored.
Dec 26, 2017 | www.unz.com
If one takes Trump at his word, the U.S. will use force worldwide to make sure that only Washington can dominate regionally, a frightening thought as it goes beyond even the wildest pretensions of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. And equally ridiculous are the potential consequences of such bullying – the White House clearly believes that it will make other nations respect us and follow our leadership whereas quite the reverse is likely to be true.
On the very limited bright side, Trump did have good things to say about the benefits derived from intelligence sharing with Russia and he also spoke about both Moscow and Beijing as "rivals" and "adversaries" instead of enemies. That was very refreshing to hear but unfortunately the printed document did not say the same thing.
The NSS report provided considerably more detail than did the speech but it also was full of generalizations and all too often relied on Washington group think to frame its options. The beginning is somewhat terrifying for one of my inclinations on foreign policy:
"An America that is safe, prosperous, and free at home is an America with the strength, confidence, and will to lead abroad. It is an America that can preserve peace, uphold liberty, and create enduring advantages for the American people. Putting America first is the duty of our government and the foundation for U.S. leadership in the world. A strong America is in the vital interests of not only the American people, but also those around the world who want to partner with the United States in pursuit of shared interests, values, and aspirations."
One has to ask what this "lead" and "leadership" and "partner" nonsense actually represents, particularly in light of the fact that damn near the entire world just repudiated Trump's decision to move the American Embassy in Israel as well as the nearly global rejection of his response to climate change? And Washington's alleged need to lead has brought nothing but grief to the American people starting in Korea and continuing with Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and numerous lesser stops along the way in places like Somalia, Panama and Syria. The false narrative of the threat coming from "foreigners" has actually done nothing to make Americans safer while also diminishing constitutional liberties and doing serious damage to the economy.
The printed report is much more brutal than was Trump about the dangers facing America and it is also much more carefree in the "facts" that it chooses to present. It says, with extreme hyperbole, that "China and Russia challenge American power, influence, and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity. They are determined to make economies less free and less fair, to grow their militaries, and to control information and data to repress their societies and expand their influence. At the same time, the dictatorships of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Islamic Republic of Iran are determined to destabilize regions, threaten Americans and our allies, and brutalize their own people."
A somewhat more detailed account of what Moscow is up to is also contained in the written report, stating that "Russia is using subversive measures to weaken the credibility of America's commitment to Europe, undermine transatlantic unity, and weaken European institutions and governments. With its invasions of Georgia and Ukraine, Russia demonstrated its willingness to violate the sovereignty of states in the region. Russia continues to intimidate its neighbors with threatening behavior, such as nuclear posturing and the forward deployment of offensive capabilities."
Nearly every detail in the indictment of Russia can be challenged. Most notably, if anyone is forward deploying offensive capabilities in Eastern Europe or invading other countries it is the United States, a trend that continues under Donald Trump. Just this past week, Trump approved the sale of offensive weapons to Ukraine, which has already drawn a warning from Moscow and will make any dialogue with Russia unlikely.
And, of course, there is the usual softball for Israel claiming that "For generations the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has been understood as the prime irritant preventing peace and prosperity in the region. Today, the threats from jihadist terrorist organizations and the threat from Iran are creating the realization that Israel is not the cause of the region's problems." It is a conclusion that must make the unspeakable Benjamin Netanyahu smile. One might observe that as Israel has attacked all of its neighbors since it was founded, holding its governments blameless is a formulation that others in the region might well dispute.
So the Donald Trump National Security Strategy will be more of the same, a combination of the worst ideas to emerge from his two predecessors with little in the way of mitigation. Trump might balk at going toe-to-toe with North Korea because they have the actual capability to strike back and might think they have nothing to lose if they are about to be incinerated, something no bully likes to see, but Iran is certainly in the cross hairs and you best believe they have taken notice and will be preparing. Vladimir Putin too can sit back and wonder how Trump could possibly have gotten everything so ass-backwards when he had so much latitude to get at least some things right. The National Security Strategy will deliver little in the way of security but it will provide an answer to why most of the world has come to hate the United States.
Dec 23, 2017 | marknesop.wordpress.com
Cortes , December 18, 2017 at 11:19 am
Quite the week of Ancient History here the last few days, what with Lesbians torn between the Spartans and the Athenians (!) and the daddy of Western lawgivers, Solon, has snuck in.Cortes , December 18, 2017 at 11:25 amWitnesseth:
conspiracy-theories
Here's the article author's "bio":
https://muckrack.com/oliviasolon/bio
Seems (selon Solon as they'll be saying at Charlie Hebdo) that those cuddly White Helmets really ARE good guys in the parallel universe Guardian readers are thought to inhabit. The Russians done calumnify those latter day saints.
Oops!marknesop , December 18, 2017 at 1:13 pmhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/18/syria-white-helmets-conspiracy-theories
And, yes, the Imp of the Perverse forced me to use THAT word.
What a pity, such upstanding citizens smeared. Perhaps next year for the Nobel, what?Fern , December 19, 2017 at 5:29 amAh, the pain of these folk in the MSM as they experience losing control of the narrative ..we should be more understanding and compassionate. I also love the conjugation of the Guardian's irregular verbs we are independent, impartial journalists who are experts on Syria because we talk only to those people who share our views, you are a mere blogger, they, being courageous folk like Vanessa Beeley and Eva Bartlett who've actually been to Syria and talked to people outside the western bubble are Assad and Putin stooges.
Dec 23, 2017 | marknesop.wordpress.com
Northern Star , , December 21, 2017 at 1:13 pm
Uh Oh Slovenia is among the Coalition of the 128 NOT willing to be punked by USA..Jen , December 21, 2017 at 2:48 pmMaybe some panic stricken late night 911 DV calls from the WH??
Melania better keep a low profile around Trump and Nikki !!!!!! LOL!!
India was naughty as well and Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley ought to have taken the Indian ambassador's name down as well. Maybe she'll even declare she won't ever set foot in India again. Her relatives there will breathe sighs of relief!Cortes , December 21, 2017 at 4:27 pmShe's made herself untouchable.Jen , December 21, 2017 at 8:03 pmHa ha!Moscow Exile , December 21, 2017 at 8:41 pmShe makes me Sikh
Dec 22, 2017 | www.unz.com
German_reader , December 18, 2017 at 9:51 pm GMT
@Art Deco US elites and media are constantly freaking out about some Iranian "empire" supposedly being created and threatening US allies in the mideast since you seem to put great trust in their credibility, shouldn't that concern you?German_reader , December 18, 2017 at 10:46 pm GMTPersonally I think those fears are exaggerated, but how can it be denied that Iran's influence has increased a lot in recent years and that the removal of Saddam's regime facilitated that development?
Iranian revolutionary guards and Iranian-backed Shia militias operate in Iraq, the Iraqi government maintains close ties to Iran, and Iran is also an active participant in the Syrian civil war would that have been conceivable like this before 2003?
@Art DecoRandal , December 18, 2017 at 11:14 pm GMTNo, they aren't.
The supposed threat of an Iranian empire is a common theme in interventionist US media and in certain think tanks/pressure groups, even five minutes of googling produced this:
https://nypost.com/2015/02/01/the-iranian-dream-of-a-reborn-persian-empire/
http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/may-clifford-d-the-new-persian-empire/ (btw, the Foundation for defense of democracies agrees with me that the removal of Saddam's regime was to Iran's benefit).
Obviously I don't want Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, though imo US policy in this regard has been rather counter-productive recently.
Regarding the Iraq war, it's probably pointless to continue the discussion, if you want to continue regarding it as a great idea, I won't argue with you.
@German_readerAnd after 9/11 I was very pro-US, e.g. I argued vehemently with a stupid leftie teacher who was against the Afghanistan war (and I still believe that war was justified, so I don't think I'm just some mindless anti-American fool). But Iraq was just too much, too much obvious lying and those lies were so stupid it was hard not to feel that there was something deeply wrong with a large part of the American public if they were gullible enough to believe such nonsense. At least for me it was a real turning point in the evolution of my political views.
The common factor amongst you, reiner and myself here is that none of us come from a dogmatically anti-American background or personal world-view, nor from a dogmatically pacifist one.
As I've probably noted here previously, I grew up very pro-American and very pro-NATO in the late Cold War, and as a strong supporter of Thatcher and Reagan. I saw the fall of the Soviet Union as a glorious triumph and a vindication of all the endless arguments against anti-American lefties and CND numpties. I also strongly supported the Falklands War (the last genuinely justified and intelligent war fought by my country, imo) and also the war against Iraq in 1990/1, though I'm a little less certain on that one nowadays. I'm significantly older than you both, it seems, however, and it was watching US foreign policy in the 1990s, culminating in the Kosovo war, that convinced me that the US is now the problem and not the solution.
When the facts changed, I changed my opinion.
So I was a war or two ahead of you, chronologically, because I'm older, but we've travelled pretty much the same road. Our views on America have been created by US foreign policy choices.
Dec 18, 2017 | www.zerohedge.com
Deep State's "Insurance Policy" Tyler Durden Dec 18, 2017 11:05 PM 0 SHARES Authored by David Stockman via Contra Corner blog,
There was a sinister plot to meddle in the 2016 election, after all. But it was not orchestrated from the Kremlin; it was an entirely homegrown affair conducted from the inner sanctums---the White House, DOJ, the Hoover Building and Langley----of the Imperial City.
Likewise, the perpetrators didn't speak Russian or write in the Cyrillic script. In fact, they were lifetime beltway insiders occupying the highest positions of power in the US government.
Here are the names and rank of the principal conspirators:
- John Brennan, CIA director;
- Susan Rice, National Security Advisor;
- Samantha Power, UN Ambassador;
- James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence;
- James Comey, FBI director;
- Andrew McCabe, Deputy FBI director;
- Sally Yates, deputy Attorney General,
- Bruce Ohr, associate deputy AG;
- Peter Strzok, deputy assistant director of FBI counterintelligence;
- Lisa Page, FBI lawyer;
- and countless other lessor and greater poobahs of Washington power, including President Obama himself.
To a person, the participants in this illicit cabal shared the core trait that made Obama such a blight on the nation's well-being. To wit, he never held an honest job outside the halls of government in his entire adult life; and as a careerist agent of the state and practitioner of its purported goods works, he exuded a sanctimonious disdain for everyday citizens who make their living along the capitalist highways and by-ways of America.
The above cast of election-meddlers, of course, comes from the same mold. If Wikipedia is roughly correct, just these 10 named perpetrators have punched in about 300 years of post-graduate employment---and 260 of those years (87%) were on government payrolls or government contractor jobs.
As to whether they shared Obama's political class arrogance, Peter Strzok left nothing to the imagination in his now celebrated texts to his gal-pal, Lisa Page:
"Just went to a southern Virginia Walmart. I could SMELL the Trump support......I LOATHE congress....And F Trump."
You really didn't need the ALL CAPS to get the gist. In a word, the anti-Trump cabal is comprised of creatures of the state.
Their now obvious effort to alter the outcome of the 2016 election was nothing less than the Imperial City's immune system attacking an alien threat, which embodied the very opposite trait: That is, the Donald had never spent one moment on the state's payroll, had been elected to no government office and displayed a spirited contempt for the groupthink and verities of officialdom in the Imperial City.
But it is the vehemence and flagrant transparency of this conspiracy to prevent Trump's ascension to the Oval Office that reveals the profound threat to capitalism and democracy posed by the Deep State and its prosperous elites and fellow travelers domiciled in the Imperial City.
That is to say, Donald Trump was no kind of anti-statist and only a skin-deep populist, at best. His signature anti-immigrant meme was apparently discovered by accident when in the early days of the campaign he went off on Mexican thugs, rapists and murderers----only to find that it resonated strongly among a certain element of the GOP grass roots.
But a harsh line on immigrants, refugees and Muslims would not have incited the Deep State into an attempted coup d'état; it wouldn't have mobilized so overtly against Ted Cruz, for example, whose positions on the ballyhooed terrorist/immigrant threat were not much different.
No, what sent the Imperial City establishment into a fit of apoplexy was exactly two things that struck at the core of its raison d' etre.
First was Trump's stated intentions to seek rapprochement with Putin's Russia and his sensible embrace of a non-interventionist "America First" view of Washington's role in the world. And secondly, and even more importantly, was his very persona.
That is to say, the role of today's president is to function as the suave, reliable maître d' of the Imperial City and the lead spokesman for Washington's purported good works at home and abroad. And for that role the slovenly, loud-mouthed, narcissistic, bombastic, ill-informed and crudely-mannered Donald Trump was utterly unqualified.
Stated differently, welfare statism and warfare statism is the secular religion of the Imperial City and its collaborators in the mainstream media; and the Oval Office is the bully pulpit from which its catechisms, bromides and self-justifications are propagandized to the unwashed masses---the tax-and-debt-slaves of Flyover America who bear the burden of its continuation.
Needless to say, the Never Trumpers were eminently correct in their worry that Trump would sully, degrade and weaken the Imperial Presidency. That he has done in spades with his endless tweet storms that consist mainly of petty score settling, self-justification, unseemly boasting and shrill partisanship; and on top of that you can pile his impetuous attacks on friend, foe and bystanders (e.g. NFL kneelers) alike.
Yet that is exactly what has the Deep State and its media collaborators running scared. To wit, Trump's entire modus operandi is not about governing or a serious policy agenda---and most certainly not about Making America's Economy Great Again. (MAEGA)
By appointing a passel of Keynesian monetary central planners to the Fed and launching an orgy of fiscal recklessness via his massive defense spending and tax-cutting initiatives, the Donald has more than sealed his own doom: There will unavoidably be a massive financial and economic crisis in the years just ahead and the rulers of the Imperial City will most certainly heap the blame upon him with malice aforethought.
In the interim, however, what the Donald is actually doing is sharply polarizing the country and using the Bully Pulpit for the very opposite function assigned to it by Washington's permanent political class. Namely, to discredit and vilify the ruling elites of government and the media and thereby undermine the docility and acquiescence of the unwashed masses upon which the Imperial City's rule and hideous prosperity depend.
It is no wonder, then, that the inner circle of the Obama Administration plotted an "insurance policy". They saw it coming-----that is, an offensive rogue disrupter who was soft on Russia, to boot--- and out of that alarm the entire hoax of RussiaGate was born.
As is now well known from the recent dump of 375 Strzok/Gates text messages, there occurred on August 15, 2016 a meeting in the office of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe (who is still there) to kick off the RussiaGate campaign. As Strzok later wrote to Page, who was also at the meeting:
" I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy's office -- that there's no way he gets elected -- but I'm afraid we can't take that risk......It's like an insurance policy in the unlikely event that you die before you're 40."
They will try to spin this money quote seven-ways to Sunday, but in the context of everything else now known there is only one possible meaning: The national security and law enforcement machinery of Imperial Washington was being activated then and there in behalf of Hillary Clinton's campaign.
Indeed, the trail of proof is quite clear. At the very time of this August meeting, the FBI was already being fed the initial elements of the Steele dossier, and the latter had nothing to do with any kind of national security investigation.
For crying out loud, it was plain old "oppo research" paid for by the Clinton campaign and the DNC. And the only way that it bore on Russian involvement in the US election was that virtually all of the salacious material and false narratives about Trump emissaries meeting with high level Russian officials was disinformation sourced in Moscow, and was completely untrue.
As former senior FBI official, Andrew McCarthy, neatly summarized the sequence of action recently:
The Clinton campaign generated the Steele dossier through lawyers who retained Fusion GPS. Fusion, in turn, hired Steele, a former British intelligence agent who had FBI contacts from prior collaborative investigations. The dossier was steered into the FBI's hands as it began to be compiled in the summer of 2016. A Fusion Russia expert, Nellie Ohr, worked with Steele on Fusion's anti-Trump research. She is the wife of Bruce Ohr, then the deputy associate attorney general -- the top subordinate of Sally Yates, then Obama's deputy attorney general (later acting AG). Ohr was a direct pipeline to Yates.....
Based on the publication this week of text messages between FBI agent Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, the FBI lawyer with whom he was having an extramarital affair, we have learned of a meeting convened in the office of FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe...... right around the time the Page FISA warrant was obtained......
Bruce Ohr met personally with Steele. And after Trump was elected, according to Fusion founder Glenn Simpson, he requested and got a meeting with Simpson to, as Simpson told the House Intelligence Committee, "discuss our findings regarding Russia and the election."
This, of course, was the precise time Democrats began peddling the public narrative of Trump-Russia collusion. It is the time frame during which Ohr's boss, Yates, was pushing an absurd Logan Act investigation of Trump transition official Michael Flynn (then slotted to become Trump's national-security adviser) over Flynn's meetings with the Russian ambassador.
Here's the thing. There is almost nothing in the Steele dossiers which is true. At the same time, there is no real alternative evidence based on hard NSA intercepts that show Russian government agents were behind the only two acts----the leaks of the DNC emails and the Podesta emails----that were of even minimal import to the outcome of the 2016 presidential campaign.
As to the veracity of the dossier, the raving anti-Trumper and former CIA interim chief, Michael Morrell, settled the matter. If you are paying ex-FSA agents for information on the back streets of Moscow, the more you pay, the more "information" you will get:
Then I asked myself, why did these guys provide this information, what was their motivation? And I subsequently learned that he paid them. That the intermediaries paid the sources and the intermediaries got the money from Chris. And that kind of worries me a little bit because if you're paying somebody, particularly former [Russian Federal Security Service] officers, they are going to tell you truth and innuendo and rumor, and they're going to call you up and say, 'Hey, let's have another meeting, I have more information for you,' because they want to get paid some more,' Morrell said.
Far from being "verified," the dossier is best described as a pack of lies, gossip, innuendo and irrelevancies. Take, for example, the claim that Trump lawyer Michael Cohen met with Russian Federation Council foreign affairs head Konstantin Kosachev in Prague during August 2016. That claim is verifiably false as proven by Cohen's own passport.
Likewise, the dossier 's claim that Carter Page was offered a giant bribe by the head of Rosneft, the Russian state energy company, in return for lifting the sanctions is downright laughable. That's because Carter Page never had any serious role in the Trump campaign and was one of hundreds of unpaid informal advisors who hung around the basket hoping for some role in a future Trump government.
Like the hapless George Papadopoulos, in fact, Page apparently never met Trump, had no foreign policy credentials and had been drafted onto the campaign's so-called foreign policy advisory committee out of sheer desperation.
That is, because the mainstream GOP foreign policy establishment had so completely boycotted the Trump campaign, the latter was forced to fill its advisory committee essentially from the phone book; and that desperation move in March 2016, in turn, had been undertaken in order to damp-down the media uproar over the Donald's assertion that he got his foreign policy advise from watching TV!
The truth of the matter is that Page was a former Merrill Lynch stockbrokers who had plied his trade in Russia several years earlier. He had gone to Moscow in July 2016 on his own dime and without any mandate from the Trump campaign; and his "meeting" with Rosneft actually consisted of drinks with an old buddy from his broker days who had become head of investor relations at Rosneft.
Nevertheless, it is pretty evident that the Steele dossier's tale about Page's alleged bribery scheme was the basis for the FISA warrant that resulted in wiretaps on Page and other officials in Trump Tower during September and October.
And that's your insurance policy at work: The Deep State and its allies in the Obama administration were desperately looking for dirt with which to crucify the Donald, and thereby insure that the establishment's anointed candidate would not fail at the polls.
So the question recurs as to why did the conspirators resort to the outlandish and even cartoonish disinformation contained in the Steele dossier?
The answer to that question cuts to the quick of the entire RussiaGate hoax. To wit, that's all they had!
Notwithstanding the massive machinery and communications vacuum cleaners operated by the $75 billion US intelligence communities and its vaunted 17 agencies, there are no digital intercepts proving that Russian state operatives hacked the DNC and Podesta emails. Period.
Yet when it comes to anything that even remotely smacks of "meddling" in the US election campaign, that's all she wrote.
There is nothing else of moment, and most especially not the alleged phishing expeditions directed at 20 or so state election boards. Most of these have been discredited, denied by local officials or were simply the work of everyday hackers looking for voter registration lists that could be sold.
The patently obvious point here is that in America there is no on-line network of voting machines on either an intra-state or interstate basis. And that fact renders the whole election machinery hacking meme null and void. Not even the treacherous Russians are stupid enough to waste their time trying to hack that which is unhackable.
In that vein, the Facebook ad buying scheme is even more ridiculous. In the context of an election campaign in which upwards of $7 billion of spending was reported by candidates and their committees to the FEC, and during which easily double that amount was spent by independent committees and issue campaigns, the notion that just $44,000 of Facebook ads made any difference to anything is not worthy of adult thought.
And, yes, out of the ballyhooed $100,000 of Facebook ads, the majority occurred after the election was over and none of them named candidates, anyway. The ads consisted of issue messages that reflected all points on the political spectrum from pro-choice to anti-gun control.
And even this so-called effort at "polarizing" the American electorate was "discovered" only after Facebook failed to find any "Russian-linked" ads during its first two searches. Instead, this complete drivel was detected only after the Senate's modern day Joseph McCarthy, Sen. Mark Warner, who is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a leading legislator on Internet regulation, showed up on Mark Zuckerberg's doorstep at Facebook headquarters.
In any event, we can be sure there are no NSA intercepts proving that the Russians hacked the Dem emails for one simple reason: They would have been leaked long ago by the vast network of Imperial City operatives plotting to bring the Donald down.
Moreover, the original architect and godfather of NSA's vast spying apparatus, William Binney, has essentially proved that the DNC emails were leaked by an insider who downloaded them on a memory stick. By conducting his own experiments, he showed that the known download speed of one batch of DNC emails could not have occurred over the Internet from a remote location in Russia or anywhere else on the planet, and actually matched what was possible only via a local USB-connected thumb drive.
So the real meaning of the Strzok/Gates text messages is straight foreword. There was a conspiracy to prevent Trump's election, and then after the shocking results of November 8, this campaign morphed into an intensified effort to discredit the winner.
For instance, Susan Rice got Obama to lower the classification level of the information obtained from the Trump campaign intercepts and other dirt-gathering actions by the Intelligence Community (IC)--- so that it could be disseminated more readily to all Washington intelligence agencies.
In short order, of course, the IC was leaking like a sieve, thereby paving the way for the post-election hysteria and the implication that any contact with a Russian--even one living in Brooklyn-- must be collusion. And that included calls to the Russian ambassador by the president-elect's own national security advisor designate.
Should there by any surprise, therefore, that it turns out the Andrew McCabe bushwhacked General Flynn on January 24 when he called to say that FBI agents were on the way to the White House for what Flynn presumed to be more security clearance work with his incipient staff.
No at all. The FBI team was there to interrogate Flynn about the transcripts of his perfectly appropriate and legal conversations with Ambassador Kislyak about two matters of state----the UN resolution on Israel and the spiteful new sanctions on certain Russian citizens that Obama announced on December 28 in a fit of pique over the Dems election loss.
And that insidious team of FBI gotcha cops was led by none other than......Peter Strzok!
But after all the recent leaks---and these text messages are just the tip of the iceberg-----the die is now cast. Either the Deep State and its minions and collaborators in the media and the Republican party, too, will soon succeed in putting Mike Pence into the Oval Office, or the Imperial City is about ready to break-out in vicious partisan warfare like never before.
Either way, economic and fiscal governance is about ready to collapse entirely, making the tax bill a kind of last hurrah before they mayhem really begins.
In that context, selling the rip may become one of the most profitable speculations ever imagined.
CuttingEdge -> The_Juggernaut , Dec 19, 2017 2:05 AM
A Sentinel -> BennyBoy , Dec 19, 2017 2:23 AMNot sure why Stockman went off on a tangent about Trump's innumerate economic strategy - kinda dilutes from an otherwise informative piece for anyone who hasn't a handle on the underhand shit that's been hitting the fan in recent months. Its like he has to have a go about it no matter what the main theme. Like PCR and "insouciance". And then there's the texting...
Clue yourself in, David.
A very small percentage of the public are actually informed about what is really going down. Those that visit ZH or your website. Fox is the only pro-Trump mainstream TV news outlet, and as to the NYT, WP et al? The media disinformation complex keep the rest in the matrix, and it has been very easy to see in action over the last year or so because it has been so well co-ordinated (and totally fabricated).
Given the blatant and contemptous avoidance of the truth by the MSM (the current litany of seditious/treasonous actions being a case in point), it is fair to say that Trump's tweets provide a very real public service - focussing the (otherwise ignorant) public's attention on many things the aforementioned cunts (I'll include Google and FaecesBook) divert from like the plague (and making them look utter slime in the process).
Don't knock it
redmudhooch -> BennyBoy , Dec 19, 2017 1:14 PMI do respect stockman but here's bullshit-call #1: he says that the deep state doesn't like the divisiveness he causes: bush certainly did that and Obama' did so at an order of magnitude higher. I don't believe that the left is more upset by trump than we were by Barry- we're just not a bunch of sniveling, narcissistic babies like they are.
Wage Slave 927 -> shitshitshit , Dec 19, 2017 1:45 AMHondurans accuse US of election meddling
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/hondurans-accuse-election-meddling...
The US embassy in Honduras has been surrounded by protesters infuriated by the three-week-wait for the definitive result of the presidential election.
Demonstrators accuse the US of meddling in last month's vote which both candidates say they won.
enough of this , Dec 18, 2017 11:19 PMWhen the details of the FISA warrant application are revealed, it will be like a megaton-class munition detonating, and the Deep State will bear the brunt of destruction.
SheHunter , Dec 18, 2017 11:25 PMThe Comey - Strzok Duet satire:
http://investmentwatchblog.com/the-comey-strzok-duet-on-the-eve-of-the-c...
zagzigga -> Mini-Me , Dec 18, 2017 11:48 PMFor those of you who have not yet discovered it Mr. Stockman's Contra Corner is a hands-down great blog well worth a nightly read.
Anunnaki , Dec 18, 2017 11:31 PMSimilar mass deception was in play to start the Iraq war as well. Constant bombardment led to public consensus and even the liberal New York Times endorsed the war. Whenever we see mass hysteria about something new, we should just go with the flow and not ask any questions at all. It is best for retaining sanity in this dumbed down and getting more dumber world.
Tapeworm -> Anunnaki , Dec 19, 2017 8:25 AMSusan Rice and Obama should be indicted for illegally wiretapping Trump Towers for the express purpose of finding oppo research to help Hellary's late term abortiion of a campaign
Cardinal Fang , Dec 18, 2017 11:40 PMThis one is deeper but well laid out. Comey & Mueller Ignored McCabe's Ties to Russian Crime Figures & His Reported Tampering in Russian FBI Cases, Files
https://truepundit.com/comey-mueller-ignored-mccabes-ties-to-russian-cri...
I damned near insist that y'all read this one. Please???
GoldHermit , Dec 18, 2017 11:58 PMGreat read, loved the 'Imperial City's immune system' analogy...
I disagree about the economy though.
It feels strange to me that the architect of the Reagan Revolution is unable to see the makings of another revolution, the Trump Revolution.
We have had 10-20 years of pent up demand in the economy and instead of electing another neo-Marxist Alynski acolyte, the American people elected a hard charging anti-establishment bull in a China shop.
Surely Dave can see the potential.
It kills me when people are surprised by a 12 month, 5000 point run up on Wall Street.
For God's sake the United States was run by a fucking commie for 8 years, what the fuck did you think was gonna happen?
Jeez
Not My Real Name -> GoldHermit , Dec 19, 2017 1:21 AMAmerica is divided and will remain divided. I think it will last at least for the next 50 years, maybe longer. The best way out is to limit the federal government and give each state more responsibility. States can succeed or fail on their own. People will be free to move where they want.
bh2 , Dec 19, 2017 12:01 AM"The best way out is to limit the federal government and give each state more responsibility."
Oh, you mean follow the Constitution as it was written. Good one, Hermit!
MrSteve -> bh2 , Dec 19, 2017 12:29 AMSomewhere there is a FISA judge who should be defrocked and exposed as a fraud. No sober judge would accept such evidence for any purpose, much less authorizing government snooping on a major party candidate for president.
RonBananas , Dec 19, 2017 4:51 AMThis makes FISA a totalitarian joke and that should be investigated.
Pol Pot -> RonBananas , Dec 19, 2017 4:57 AMThe CIA holds all the videos from Jeff Epstein's Island (20 documented trips by Bill, 6 documented trips by Hillary), I'm sure Bill doing a 12 year old, Hillary and Huma doing an 8 year old girl together, etc. So what are they willing to do for the CIA? Anything at any cost, getting caught red handed with a dossier is chump change when you look at the big picture..they don't care and will do anything...ANYTHING to get rid of Trump.
This is the only reason they are so frantic. There is absolutely no other reason they would play at this level.
shutterbug , Dec 19, 2017 5:47 AMCorrect on all except it's the Mossad and not the CIA who ran flight Epstein.
Stud Duck , Dec 19, 2017 6:42 AMTrump is gone in a few months or the DoJ, FBI and all others connected to FBI-gate are prosecuted...
Session's (in-)action will be crucial to one of these paths...
Occams_Razor_Trader , Dec 19, 2017 7:25 AMAs always, Dave puts it all into prospective for even the brain dead. Ya think Joe and his gang will be talking about this article on their morning talk show today?? I wonder how Brezenski's daughter is going to tell daddy that the gig is up and they may want to look into packing a boogie bag just to play it safe?
David Stockman is a flame of hope in a world of dark machievellian thought!
MATA HAIRY , Dec 19, 2017 7:34 AMWhy did the alt media and the msm all stop reportinmg that McCabe's wife recieved 700 thousand dollars from Terry McAulife (former Clinton campaign manager times 2!) for a Virginia State Senate run? Quid pro quo? Oh no, never the up and up DemonRats.
So when I hear that the conversation was held in McCabe's office- I want to puke first then start building the gallows.
insanelysane , Dec 19, 2017 8:14 AMfucken brilliant article!! There is a lot I don't like about trump (some of which stockman discusses above), but as a retired govt worker, I can tell you that he right about what he is saying here.
unklemunky , Dec 19, 2017 8:20 AMOne little tidbit that has been lost in all of this:
If the FBI was willing to use their power to back Hillary and defeat Trump at the national level, what did they try to do in McCabe's wife's state senate campaign? She is a pediatrician and she ran for state senate. ??? WTF is that about? She's not only a doctor but a doctor for children. Those people are usually wired to help people. Yet she was going to for-go being a doctor for a state senate position. ??? And the DNC forked over $700,000 to put her on the map.
I'm sure the people meeting daily in Andy's office were not pleased with the voter resistance to his wife and to Hillary. The FBI needs to be shut down. They have become an opposition research firm for the DNC. Even if they can't find dirt on candidates using the NSA database, they are able to tap that database to find out political strategies in real time on opposition The fish is rotten from the head down to the tail.
insanelysane , Dec 19, 2017 8:24 AMNo matter what article you read here, and don't get me wrong, I love the insight, but every fucking article is "it's all over. America is doomed, the petro dollar days are over, China China China. It's getting a bit old. The charts and graphs about stock market collapse......it becoming an old record that needs changed. If I say it's going to rain every fucking day, at some point I will be right. That doesn't make me a genius....it makes me persistent.
MrBoompi , Dec 19, 2017 4:25 PMIt's a Deep State mess and Sessions is trying his best as he cowers in a corner sucking his thumb.
If they continue to go after Trump, the FBI is going to be found guilty of violating the Hatch Act by exonerating Hillary. See burner phones. See writing the conclusion in May when the investigation supposedly ended with Hillary's interview on July 3rd. The FBI will also be exposed for sedition as they then carried out the phony Russiagate investigation as their "insurance policy."
However, they have created an expectation with the left that Trump and his minions will be brought to "justice." If we thought the Left didn't handle losing the election well, they will not be pleased at losing Russiagate.
How dare anyone contradict or go against the wishes of ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, or MSNBC? Don't you know they understand what's best for us?
Mar 23, 2017 |
fresno dan March 22, 2017 at 6:56 pmcraazyboy March 22, 2017 at 8:45 pmSo I see where Nunes in a ZeroHedge posting says that there might have been "incidental surveillance" of "Trump" (?Trump associates? ?Trump tower? ?Trump campaign?)
Now to the average NC reader, it kinda goes without saying. But I don't think Trump understands the scope of US government "surveillance" and I don't think the average citizen, certainly not the average Trump supporter, does either – the nuances and subtleties of it – the supposed "safeguards".I can understand the rationale for it .but this goes to show that when you give people an opportunity to use secret information for their own purposes .they will use secret information for their own purposes.
And at some point, the fact of the matter that the law regarding the "incidental" leaking appears to have been broken, and that this leaking IMHO was purposefully broken for political purposes .is going to come to the fore. Like bringing up "fake news" – some of these people on the anti Trump side seem not just incapable of playing 11th dimensional chess, they seem incapable of winning tic tac toe .
Was Obama behind it? I doubt it and I don't think it would be provable. But it seems like the intelligence agencies are spending more time monitoring repubs than Al queda. Now maybe repubs are worse than Al queda – I think its time we have a real debate instead of the pseudo debates and start asking how useful the CIA is REALLY. (and we can ask how useful repubs and dems are too)
Irredeemable Deplorable March 23, 2017 at 2:57 amIf Obama taped the information, stuffed the tape in one of Michelle's shoeboxes, then hid the shoebox in the Whitehouse basement, he could be in trouble. Ivanka is sure to search any shoeboxes she finds.
Lambert Strether Post author March 23, 2017 at 4:08 amOh the Trump supporters are all over this, don't worry. There are many more levels to what is going on than what is reported in the fakenews MSM.
Adm Roger of NSA made his November visit to Trump Tower, after a SCIF was installed there, to .be interviewed for a job uh-huh yeah.
Freedom Watch lawyer Larry Klayman has a whistle-blower who has stated on the record, publicly, he has 47 hard drives with over 600,000,00 pages of secret CIA documents that detail all the domestic spying operations, and likely much much more.
The rabbit hole goes very deep here. Attorney Klayman has stated he has been trying to out this for 2 years, and was stonewalled by swamp creatures, so he threatened to go public this week. Several very interesting videos, and a public letter, are out there, detailing all this. Nunes very likely saw his own conversations transcripted from surveillance taken at Trump Tower (he was part of the transition team), and realized the jig was up. Melania has moved out of Trump Tower to stay elsewhere, I am sure after finding out that many people in Washington where watching them at home in their private residence, whichi is also why Pres Trump sent out those famous angry tweets 2 weeks ago. Democrats on the Committee (and many others) are liars, and very possibly traitors, which is probably why Nunes neglected to inform them. Nunes did follow proper procedures, notifying Ryan first etc, you can ignore the MSM bluster there ..observe Nunes body language in the 2 videos of his dual press briefings he gave today, he appears shocked, angry, disturbed etc.
You all should be happy, because although Pres Trump has been vindicated here on all counts, the more important story for you is that the old line Democratic Party looks about to sink under the wieght of thier own lies and illegalities. This all stems from Obama's Jan 16 signing of the order broadening "co-operation" between the NSA and everybody else in Washington, so that mid-level analysts at almost any agency could now look at raw NSA intercepts, that is where all the "leaks" and "unmasking" are coming from.
AG Lynch, Obama, and countless others knew, or should have known, all about this, but I am sure they will play the usual "I was too stupid too know what was going on in my own organization" card.
> Was Obama behind it? I doubt it and I don't think it would be provable
I think he knew about it. After fulminating about weedy technicalities, let me just say that Obama's EO12333 expansion made sure that whatever anti-Trump information got picked up by the intelligence community could be spread widely, and would be hard to trace back to an individual source .
Dec 19, 2017 | www.moonofalabama.org
ben , Dec 19, 2017 10:10:35 PM | 53
"I won't be optimistic about AmeriKKKa until Russia and/or China announce a Zero Tolerance policy toward US military adventurism in countries on the borders of Russia/China - by promising to bomb the continental USA if it attacks a Russia/China neighbor.Alexander P , Dec 19, 2017 10:17:08 PM | 54Imo it's absolutely essential to light a big bonfire under AmeriKKKa's Impunity. And it would be delightful, sobering, and a big boost for Peace and Diplomacy to hear the Yankees whingeing about being threatened by entities quite capable of following through on their threats."
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Dec 19, 2017 11:10:32 AM | 14
Hell yes, I'd love that scenario, but never happen. Too much $to be made by kissing up to the empire.
Sad Canuck @ 31: Abso fukken 'lutely!!
b, you better change what you're smoken' if you believe the empire is going isolationist.
@48 They did not want him lol? So many comments in here make me chuckle.dh , Dec 19, 2017 10:27:40 PM | 55Ok, he has been called the most pro Israel President by Netanyahu himself, his administration just recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, something even most ardent analysts in here did not predict. His son-in-law who he listens to is a pure Zionist and the neo-con lap dog Hailey is quite clearly gearing the audience up for a confrontation with Iran. One way or another....watch out 2018.
But no he is not controlled enough by the Zionists? The overall direction of the empire was never going to change with or without Trump and we are seeing it play out now.
@26 "I think you would find that the vast majority of Americans would be quite happy to disengage militarily from the rest of the world, and put resources at work on domestic problems."psychohistorian , Dec 19, 2017 10:42:31 PM | 56Disengage militarily? I would like to think so sleepy but why do they keep getting so involved internationally? Instead of concentrating on domestic issues putting 'America first' seems to mean bullying any country that doesn't do what it's told.
@ Debsisdead with the end of his commentDaniel , Dec 19, 2017 10:51:15 PM | 57
"
America is a particularly vivid example of indoctrinated groupthink and I just cannot see anyone/movement espousing alternative ways of operating getting traction.
"There are those that say the same (vivid example of indoctrinated groupthink) about China, so there might be some competition in our world yet.
I , for one, want to end private finance and maybe give the China way a go. Anyone else? I did future studies in college and am intrigued by planning processes at the scale that China has done 13 of....their 5-year plans.
May we live to see structural change in the way our species comports itself......soon, I hope
NemesisCalling, I suggest paying little to know attention to Trump's (or any other politician/oligarch) platitudes.Don Bacon , Dec 19, 2017 10:52:39 PM | 58Simply pay attention to what those monsters actually do. The Trump Administration has continued and expanded US domestic and foreign policy precisely as has his predecessors. NATO is bigger, better funded, and more heavily deployed along Russia's "near abroad" than at any time in history. The Pentagon now admits we have 2,000 to 5,000 active "boots on the ground" in Syria, and they have no intention of ever leaving. Goldman Sachs is embedded in every Executive Branch office. Taxes on the wealthy and corporations are being slashed soon to be followed in social services, as neo-liberal economics remains the god worshipped by all.
I remain amazed that people who KNOW that the MSM lies to us constantly, about things big and small, still believe with all their hearts the MSM narrative that Trump is an "outsider" whom the Establishment hates and has fought against ever since they gave him $5 billion in free advertising.
Disengage? In 2017, U.S. Special Operations forces, including Navy SEALs and Army Green Berets, deployed to 149 countries around the world, according to figures provided to TomDispatch by U.S. Special Operations Command. That's around 75 percent of the nations on the planet.What the vast majority of Americans might want has been cast aside by this president after he got their votes. There go hope and change again, damn.
Dec 16, 2017 | www.unz.com
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) of Saudi Arabia is the undoubted Middle East man of the year, but his great impact stems more from his failures than his successes. He is accused of being Machiavellian in clearing his way to the throne by the elimination of opponents inside and outside the royal family. But, when it comes to Saudi Arabia's position in the world, his miscalculations remind one less of the cunning manoeuvres of Machiavelli and more of the pratfalls of Inspector Clouseau.
Again and again, the impulsive and mercurial young prince has embarked on ventures abroad that achieve the exact opposite of what he intended. When his father became king in early 2015, he gave support to a rebel offensive in Syria that achieved some success but provoked full-scale Russian military intervention, which in turn led to the victory of President Bashar al-Assad. At about the same time, MbS launched Saudi armed intervention, mostly through airstrikes, in the civil war in Yemen. The action was code-named Operation Decisive Storm, but two and a half years later the war is still going on, has killed 10,000 people and brought at least seven million Yemenis close to starvation.
The Crown Prince is focusing Saudi foreign policy on aggressive opposition to Iran and its regional allies, but the effect of his policies has been to increase Iranian influence. The feud with Qatar, in which Saudi Arabia and the UAE play the leading role, led to a blockade being imposed five months ago which is still going on. The offence of the Qataris was to have given support to al-Qaeda type movements – an accusation that was true enough but could be levelled equally at Saudi Arabia – and to having links with Iran. The net result of the anti-Qatari campaign has been to drive the small but fabulously wealthy state further into the Iranian embrace.
Saudi relations with other countries used to be cautious, conservative and aimed at preserving the status quo. But today its behaviour is zany, unpredictable and often counterproductive: witness the bizarre episode in November when the Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri was summoned to Riyadh, not allowed to depart and forced to resign his position. The objective of this ill-considered action on the part of Saudi Arabia was apparently to weaken Hezbollah and Iran in Lebanon, but has in practice empowered both of them.
What all these Saudi actions have in common is that they are based on a naïve presumption that "a best-case scenario" will inevitably be achieved. There is no "Plan B" and not much of a "Plan A": Saudi Arabia is simply plugging into conflicts and confrontations it has no idea how to bring to an end.
MbS and his advisers may imagine that it does not matter what Yemenis, Qataris or Lebanese think because President Donald Trump and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and chief Middle East adviser, are firmly in their corner. "I have great confidence in King Salman and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, they know exactly what they are doing," tweeted Trump in early November after the round up and confinement of some 200 members of the Saudi elite. "Some of those they are harshly treating have been 'milking' their country for years!" Earlier he had tweeted support for the attempt to isolate Qatar as a supporter of "terrorism".
But Saudi Arabia is learning that support from the White House these days brings fewer advantages than in the past. The attention span of Donald Trump is notoriously short, and his preoccupation is with domestic US politics: his approval does not necessarily mean the approval of other parts of the US government. The State Department and the Pentagon may disapprove of the latest Trump tweet and seek to ignore or circumvent it. Despite his positive tweet, the US did not back the Saudi confrontation with Qatar or the attempt to get Mr Hariri to resign as prime minister of Lebanon.
For its part, the White House is finding out the limitations of Saudi power. MbS was not able to get the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to agree to a US-sponsored peace plan that would have given Israel very much and the Palestinians very little. The idea of a Saudi-Israeli covert alliance against Iran may sound attractive to some Washington think tanks, but does not make much sense on the ground. The assumption that Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and the promise to move the US embassy there, would have no long-term effects on attitudes in the Middle East is beginning to look shaky.
It is Saudi Arabia – and not its rivals – that is becoming isolated. The political balance of power in the region changed to its disadvantage over the last two years. Some of this predates the elevation of MbS: by 2015 it was becoming clear that a combination of Sunni states led by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey was failing to carry out regime change in Damascus. This powerful grouping has fragmented, with Turkey and Qatar moving closer to the Russian-backed Iranian-led axis, which is the dominant power in the northern tier of the Middle East between Afghanistan and the Mediterranean.
If the US and Saudi Arabia wanted to do anything about this new alignment, they have left it too late. Other states in the Middle East are coming to recognise that there are winners and losers, and have no wish to be on the losing side. When President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called a meeting this week in Istanbul of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, to which 57 Muslim states belong, to reject and condemn the US decision on Jerusalem, Saudi Arabia only sent a junior representative to this normally moribund organisation. But other state leaders like Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, King Abdullah of Jordan and the emirs of Kuwait and Qatar, among many others, were present. They recognised East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital and demanded the US reverse its decision.
MbS is in the tradition of leaders all over the world who show Machiavellian skills in securing power within their own countries. But their success domestically gives them an exaggerated sense of their own capacity in dealing with foreign affairs, and this can have calamitous consequences. Saddam Hussein was very acute in seizing power in Iraq but ruined his country by starting two wars he could not win.
Mistakes made by powerful leaders are often explained by their own egomania and ignorance, supplemented by flattering but misleading advice from their senior lieutenants. The first steps in foreign intervention are often alluring because a leader can present himself as a national standard bearer, justifying his monopoly of power at home. Such a patriotic posture is a shortcut to popularity, but there is always a political bill to pay if confrontations and wars end in frustration and defeat. MbS has unwisely decided that Saudi Arabia should play a more active and aggressive role at the very moment that its real political and economic strength is ebbing. He is overplaying his hand and making too many enemies.
Svigor , December 16, 2017 at 6:24 am GMTThe only hope someone as cloistered as a Saudi crown prince can have of being an effective ruler is either by being an extraordinary person (very curious, love learning for its own sake, etc), or be at least moderately intelligent, and listen to consensus.Avery , December 16, 2017 at 6:28 am GMTFor its part, the White House is finding out the limitations of Saudi power. MbS was not able to get the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to agree to a US-sponsored peace plan that would have given Israel very much and the Palestinians very little.
Lies and Jew-hatred. Everyone knows that despite their infamous sharpness in business dealings, the world's longest history of legalism, a completely self-centered and ethnocentric culture, and their longstanding abuse of the Palestinians, every single deal the Jews try to sign with the Palestinians heavily favors the Palestinians, and the only reason the Palestinians won't sign is because they're psychotic Jew-haters.
The idea of a Saudi-Israeli covert alliance against Iran may sound attractive to some Washington think tanks, but does not make much sense on the ground. The assumption that Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and the promise to move the US embassy there, would have no long-term effects on attitudes in the Middle East is beginning to look shaky.
Hey, you skipped the part where you did anything to support the idea that a Zionist-Saudi alliance doesn't make sense.
K, let's all wait for Art Deco to come in and spew some Hasbara then tell us he's not a Zhid.
{Mohammed Bin Salman's Ill-Advised Ventures Have Weakened Saudi Arabia}Tammy , December 16, 2017 at 9:51 am GMTGREAT news. Hopefully the evil, cannibalistic terrorism spreading so-called 'kingdom' of desert nomads will continue on its path of self destruction, and disappear as a functioning state.
Once more a Saudi Firster was detained in KSA. This time the owner of Arab Bank, a Jordanian with dual Jordan and KSA citizenship. Saad Hariri a Lebanese was the first one who was dual Lebanon and KSA citizens and who lost his diplomatic immunity in KSA.Jake , December 16, 2017 at 12:31 pm GMTI wonder if the Israel Firster who are dual citizens are now sweating? Wonder, if Netanyahu is still an USA citizen? Happy days are coming back .
"Saudi relations with other countries used to be cautious, conservative and aimed at preserving the status quo. But today its behaviour is zany, unpredictable and often counterproductive:"cbrown , December 16, 2017 at 1:07 pm GMTSaudis allied with Israelis, backed by the wealth and might of the US? Guaranteed to bring out the worst in Saudis (which is bad enough at base) and Israelis and Americans.
Machiavellian skills really ? I'd see 6 months ahead if this was true. MBS just made a show that they are a de facto Mafia not a businessman to the whole world. I'd bet he just quashed a lot of efforts and money spent on raising the racing horses of the saud monarch and in turn destroyed some serious connection that were vital but aren't readily available to them. Just how potent money they thought it would be ? Sure all is businesses and it will work so long you can pay the right person. The problem is where to find the right person.Joe Hide , December 16, 2017 at 1:53 pm GMTCome on Cockburn, look at the Big Picture, not the little one. This the old fallacy of looking at the trees and not seeing the forest. What is happening in Saudi Arabia is a piece of the much bigger puzzle being put together over years, decades, and maybe generations.EliteCommInc. , December 16, 2017 at 2:25 pm GMTThe psychopaths at the top of the power pyramid have been engaged in this hidden global game for generations, it's always been part of their longterm strategy.
Very recently Highly intelligent, realistic, morally and ethically centered, and practically oriented individuals, have also formed secret powerful groups to arrive at beneficial goals for humanity. These truly Good Guys have learned that the criminal, murderous, lecherous, degenerate, deviate, psychopaths in positions of great power are irredeemable and should be eliminated where possible. What you see in Saudi Arabia is merely a tree, not the forest. Just the same, to the author, keep writing but research the subject much much more before you put pen to paper, as you do have apersuasive and talented style.
I am going to come to the defence here.DESERT FOX , December 16, 2017 at 2:39 pm GMT1. We have been screaming about the unintended consequences of Saudi giving to charities since 2004.
2. We removed the buffer of Iraq from Iranian ambitions (as unclear as it may be debated) creating issues not only for Saudi Arabia, but others in the region as well.
3. We are the ones who have been fomenting destabilization all throughout the region some of whom would have been allies of the Saudis in some common cause.
4. No one is escaping the negative consequences of our Iraq invasion.
5. We have been complaining about rogue and irresponsible wealthy Muslims ad naseum.
Now when someone steps up the plate to meet the challenges many caused by the US – our first complaint is not astute counsel but rather a series of articles highlighting failure. I would not contend that I support every choice. But I think we should at least take a wait and see perspective. He is operating in a region rife with intrigue and ambitions, not to mention -- Muslims bent on spreading Islam as one would expect a muslim to do. Frankly I am not sure how one governs in the arena of the middle east – especially now – it's a region in major shift.
I think there are more effective choices concerning Yemen and Qatar. But figuring out what the choices are is not going to be easy. And harder still perhaps is implementing them. As for backfire -- we are just not in a position to judge, at the moment. Anyone hoping that another major state collapses in that region is probably miscalculating the value of instability.
The Saudis are the U.S. and ISISRAELS puppet, they do what the Zionist neocons tell them to do, which is to be the Zionist agent provocateur in the Mideast.Anon , Disclaimer December 16, 2017 at 4:55 pm GMTThe Saudis have helped the U.S. and ISISRAEL create and finance ISIS aka AL CIADA and for this the Saudis can rot in hell, and by the way the reason for the attack on Yemen is that the Saudis oil reserves are diminishing and so the Saudis figured they would take Yemens oil.
The main creators of ISIS aka AL CIADA are the U.S. and ISISRAEL and BRITAIN ie the CIA and the MOSSAD and MI6.
The irony is that Saudis, before MbS and during his dominance, are making exactly the same suicidal blunders as the US. No enemy could have damaged the US and its positions in the world more than its Presidents and the Congress in the last 17 years. The same is true for KSA, with the same mistakes being made: undermining the financial system of the country, global over-reach that forces all opposition to unite, crazy military expenses, etc.Art , December 16, 2017 at 5:57 pm GMTSorry, but these people dressed in 14 century robes and garb, cannot be taken seriously. They look like play-people feigning a furious grandeur. Without their petrochemicals – they would be laughed at by everyone – including their own kind. They should not be respected because they are religious – they are old world tribalist thugs hiding behind a religion. They use and abuse their people – holding them back from modernity.Anon , Disclaimer December 16, 2017 at 6:17 pm GMTThink Peace -- Art
@Z-manneutral , December 16, 2017 at 6:31 pm GMTThing is, Saudi regime was rotten through and through before MbS, remains rotten under his rule, and will remain rotten when some other jerk kicks him out and establishes himself at the helm.
It does not matter how smart Saudi Arabia is with their foreign policy now, they became allies with Israel, that means Saudi Arabia can never claim to be a power working for the interests of Islam. MBS is a marked man, no matter how many purges he undertakes in his army, or even if he just hires Pakistani soldiers, if he has Muslims fighting in his army he will always be carrying the risk of being assassinated by somebody who has seen him cross the red line and become pro jewish.Svigor , December 16, 2017 at 6:51 pm GMTI don't really understand the constant hopes that the Saudi regime will fall. How is that any different from cheering Bush's disastrous regime change in Iraq? How will the fallout be any better in Arabia than it was in Iraq, Libya, etc?cbrown , December 16, 2017 at 7:43 pm GMT@Svigorneutral , December 16, 2017 at 8:14 pm GMTIt's not that there's a constant hope it's just they'd fall in the near future and fortunately it will balance the geopolitical power in the future. Their fallout aren't going to be as bad unless the people pulling their string persistent in keeping them in power.
@Svigorsomeone , December 17, 2017 at 12:14 am GMTIt will be better because it means Israel loses an ally, also with the Saudis gone Egypt will also be unable to keep their population in check. The fall of the Saudis means that Israel will be surrounded by regimes that oppose it...
Another Junior Gaddafi that is going to ruin his entire nation while intoxicated with NYT or other Western media coverage. He talks of corruption after spending 1.1 Billion dollars on a yacht and a painting.anon , Disclaimer December 17, 2017 at 12:33 am GMT
Netenyahu is much the same. He has weakened Israel immensely by playing the scary wolf.@neutralSouth Africa was never in danger from their hostile neighbors . They committed suicide. Egypt cannot control its own territory let alone start wars , ditto for Syria and Lebanon. Jordan is a client state of Israel and lacks a functioning army. ...
Dec 13, 2017 | www.unz.com
Introduction
The American welfare state was created in 1935 and continued to develop through 1973. Since then, over a prolonged period, the capitalist class has been steadily dismantling the entire welfare state.
Between the mid 1970's to the present (2017) labor laws, welfare rights and benefits and the construction of and subsidies for affordable housing have been gutted. ' Workfare' (under President 'Bill' Clinton) ended welfare for the poor and displaced workers. Meanwhile the shift to regressive taxation and the steadily declining real wages have increased corporate profits to an astronomical degree.
What started as incremental reversals during the 1990's under Clinton has snowballed over the last two decades decimating welfare legislation and institutions.
The earlier welfare 'reforms' and the current anti-welfare legislation and austerity practices have been accompanied by a series of endless imperial wars, especially in the Middle East.
In the 1940's through the 1960's, world and regional wars (Korea and Indo-China) were combined with significant welfare program – a form of ' social imperialism' , which 'buy off' the working class while expanding the empire. However, recent decades are characterized by multiple regional wars and the reduction or elimination of welfare programs – and a massive growth in poverty, domestic insecurity and poor health.
New Deals and Big Wars
The 1930's witnessed the advent of social legislation and action, which laid the foundations of what is called the ' modern welfare state' .
Labor unions were organized as working class strikes and progressive legislation facilitated trade union organization, elections, collective bargaining rights and a steady increase in union membership. Improved work conditions, rising wages, pension plans and benefits, employer or union-provided health care and protective legislation improved the standard of living for the working class and provided for 2 generations of upward mobility.
Social Security legislation was approved along with workers' compensation and the forty-hour workweek. Jobs were created through federal programs (WPA, CCC, etc.). Protectionist legislation facilitated the growth of domestic markets for US manufacturers. Workplace shop steward councils organized 'on the spot' job action to protect safe working conditions.
World War II led to full employment and increases in union membership, as well as legislation restricting workers' collective bargaining rights and enforcing wage freezes. Hundreds of thousands of Americans found jobs in the war economy but a huge number were also killed or wounded in the war.
The post-war period witnessed a contradictory process: wages and salaries increased while legislation curtailed union rights via the Taft Hartley Act and the McCarthyist purge of leftwing trade union activists. So-called ' right to work' laws effectively outlawed unionization mostly in southern states, which drove industries to relocate to the anti-union states.
Welfare reforms, in the form of the GI bill, provided educational opportunities for working class and rural veterans, while federal-subsidized low interest mortgages encourage home-ownership, especially for veterans.
The New Deal created concrete improvements but did not consolidate labor influence at any level. Capitalists and management still retained control over capital, the workplace and plant location of production.
Trade union officials signed pacts with capital: higher pay for the workers and greater control of the workplace for the bosses. Trade union officials joined management in repressing rank and file movements seeking to control technological changes by reducing hours (" thirty hours work for forty hours pay "). Dissident local unions were seized and gutted by the trade union bosses – sometimes through violence.
Trade union activists, community organizers for rent control and other grassroots movements lost both the capacity and the will to advance toward large-scale structural changes of US capitalism. Living standards improved for a few decades but the capitalist class consolidated strategic control over labor relations. While unionized workers' incomes, increased, inequalities, especially in the non-union sectors began to grow. With the end of the GI bill, veterans' access to high-quality subsidized education declined.
While a new wave of social welfare legislation and programs began in the 1960's and early 1970's it was no longer a result of a mass trade union or workers' "class struggle". Moreover, trade union collaboration with the capitalist regional war policies led to the killing and maiming of hundreds of thousands of workers in two wars – the Korean and Vietnamese wars.
Much of social legislation resulted from the civil and welfare rights movements. While specific programs were helpful, none of them addressed structural racism and poverty.
The Last Wave of Social Welfarism
The 1960'a witnessed the greatest racial war in modern US history: Mass movements in the South and North rocked state and federal governments, while advancing the cause of civil, social and political rights. Millions of black citizens, joined by white activists and, in many cases, led by African American Viet Nam War veterans, confronted the state. At the same time, millions of students and young workers, threatened by military conscription, challenged the military and social order.
Energized by mass movements, a new wave of social welfare legislation was launched by the federal government to pacify mass opposition among blacks, students, community organizers and middle class Americans. Despite this mass popular movement, the union bosses at the AFL-CIO openly supported the war, police repression and the military, or at best, were passive impotent spectators of the drama unfolding in the nation's streets. Dissident union members and activists were the exception, as many had multiple identities to represent: African American, Hispanic, draft resisters, etc.
Under Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, Medicare, Medicaid, OSHA, the EPA and multiple poverty programs were implemented. A national health program, expanding Medicare for all Americans, was introduced by President Nixon and sabotaged by the Kennedy Democrats and the AFL-CIO. Overall, social and economic inequalities diminished during this period.
The Vietnam War ended in defeat for the American militarist empire. This coincided with the beginning of the end of social welfare as we knew it – as the bill for militarism placed even greater demands on the public treasury.
With the election of President Carter, social welfare in the US began its long decline. The next series of regional wars were accompanied by even greater attacks on welfare via the " Volker Plan " – freezing workers' wages as a means to combat inflation.
Guns without butter' became the legislative policy of the Carter and Reagan Administrations. The welfare programs were based on politically fragile foundations.
The Debacle of Welfarism
Private sector trade union membership declined from a post-world war peak of 30% falling to 12% in the 1990's. Today it has sunk to 7%. Capitalists embarked on a massive program of closing thousands of factories in the unionized North which were then relocated to the non-unionized low wage southern states and then overseas to Mexico and Asia. Millions of stable jobs disappeared.
Following the election of 'Jimmy Carter', neither Democratic nor Republican Presidents felt any need to support labor organizations. On the contrary, they facilitated contracts dictated by management, which reduced wages, job security, benefits and social welfare.
The anti-labor offensive from the ' Oval Office' intensified under President Reagan with his direct intervention firing tens of thousands of striking air controllers and arresting union leaders. Under Presidents Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush and William Clinton cost of living adjustments failed to keep up with prices of vital goods and services. Health care inflation was astronomical. Financial deregulation led to the subordination of American industry to finance and the Wall Street banks. De-industrialization, capital flight and massive tax evasion reduced labor's share of national income.
The capitalist class followed a trajectory of decline, recovery and ascendance. Moreover, during the earlier world depression, at the height of labor mobilization and organization, the capitalist class never faced any significant political threat over its control of the commanding heights of the economy.
The ' New Deal' was, at best, a de facto ' historical compromise' between the capitalist class and the labor unions, mediated by the Democratic Party elite. It was a temporary pact in which the unions secured legal recognition while the capitalists retained their executive prerogatives.
The Second World War secured the economic recovery for capital and subordinated labor through a federally mandated no strike production agreement. There were a few notable exceptions: The coal miners' union organized strikes in strategic sectors and some leftist leaders and organizers encouraged slow-downs, work to rule and other in-plant actions when employers ran roughshod with special brutality over the workers. The recovery of capital was the prelude to a post-war offensive against independent labor-based political organizations. The quality of labor organization declined even as the quantity of trade union membership increased.
Labor union officials consolidated internal control in collaboration with the capitalist elite. Capitalist class-labor official collaboration was extended overseas with strategic consequences.
The post-war corporate alliance between the state and capital led to a global offensive – the replacement of European-Japanese colonial control and exploitation by US business and bankers. Imperialism was later 're-branded' as ' globalization' . It pried open markets, secured cheap docile labor and pillaged resources for US manufacturers and importers.
US labor unions played a major role by sabotaging militant unions abroad in cooperation with the US security apparatus: They worked to coopt and bribe nationalist and leftist labor leaders and supported police-state regime repression and assassination of recalcitrant militants.
' Hand in bloody glove' with the US Empire, the American trade unions planted the seeds of their own destruction at home. The local capitalists in newly emerging independent nations established industries and supply chains in cooperation with US manufacturers. Attracted to these sources of low-wage, violently repressed workers, US capitalists subsequently relocated their factories overseas and turned their backs on labor at home.
Labor union officials had laid the groundwork for the demise of stable jobs and social benefits for American workers. Their collaboration increased the rate of capitalist profit and overall power in the political system. Their complicity in the brutal purges of militants, activists and leftist union members and leaders at home and abroad put an end to labor's capacity to sustain and expand the welfare state.
Trade unions in the US did not use their collaboration with empire in its bloody regional wars to win social benefits for the rank and file workers. The time of social-imperialism, where workers within the empire benefited from imperialism's pillage, was over. Gains in social welfare henceforth could result only from mass struggles led by the urban poor, especially Afro-Americans, community-based working poor and militant youth organizers.
The last significant social welfare reforms were implemented in the early 1970's – coinciding with the end of the Vietnam War (and victory for the Vietnamese people) and ended with the absorption of the urban and anti-war movements into the Democratic Party.
Henceforward the US corporate state advanced through the overseas expansion of the multi-national corporations and via large-scale, non-unionized production at home.
The technological changes of this period did not benefit labor. The belief, common in the 1950's, that science and technology would increase leisure, decrease work and improve living standards for the working class, was shattered. Instead technological changes displaced well-paid industrial labor while increasing the number of mind-numbing, poorly paid, and politically impotent jobs in the so-called 'service sector' – a rapidly growing section of unorganized and vulnerable workers – especially including women and minorities.
Labor union membership declined precipitously. The demise of the USSR and China's turn to capitalism had a dual effect: It eliminated collectivist (socialist) pressure for social welfare and opened their labor markets with cheap, disciplined workers for foreign manufacturers. Labor as a political force disappeared on every count. The US Federal Reserve and President 'Bill' Clinton deregulated financial capital leading to a frenzy of speculation. Congress wrote laws, which permitted overseas tax evasion – especially in Caribbean tax havens. Regional free-trade agreements, like NAFTA, spurred the relocation of jobs abroad. De-industrialization accompanied the decline of wages, living standards and social benefits for millions of American workers.
The New Abolitionists: Trillionaires
The New Deal, the Great Society, trade unions, and the anti-war and urban movements were in retreat and primed for abolition.
Wars without welfare (or guns without butter) replaced earlier 'social imperialism' with a huge growth of poverty and homelessness. Domestic labor was now exploited to finance overseas wars not vice versa. The fruits of imperial plunder were not shared.
As the working and middle classes drifted downward, they were used up, abandoned and deceived on all sides – especially by the Democratic Party. They elected militarists and demagogues as their new presidents.
President 'Bill' Clinton ravaged Russia, Yugoslavia, Iraq and Somalia and liberated Wall Street. His regime gave birth to the prototype billionaire swindlers: Michael Milken and Bernard 'Bernie' Madoff.
Clinton converted welfare into cheap labor 'workfare', exploiting the poorest and most vulnerable and condemning the next generations to grinding poverty. Under Clinton the prison population of mostly African Americans expanded and the breakup of families ravaged the urban communities.
Provoked by an act of terrorism (9/11) President G.W. Bush Jr. launched the 'endless' wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and deepened the police state (Patriot Act). Wages for American workers and profits for American capitalist moved in opposite directions.
The Great Financial Crash of 2008-2011 shook the paper economy to its roots and led to the greatest shakedown of any national treasury in history directed by the First Black American President. Trillions of public wealth were funneled into the criminal banks on Wall Street – which were ' just too big to fail .' Millions of American workers and homeowners, however, were ' just too small to matter' .
The Age of Demagogues
President Obama transferred 2 trillion dollars to the ten biggest bankers and swindlers on Wall Street, and another trillion to the Pentagon to pursue the Democrats version of foreign policy: from Bush's two overseas wars to Obama's seven.
Obama's electoral 'donor-owners' stashed away two trillion dollars in overseas tax havens and looked forward to global free trade pacts – pushed by the eloquent African American President.
Obama was elected to two terms. His liberal Democratic Party supporters swooned over his peace and justice rhetoric while swallowing his militarist escalation into seven overseas wars as well as the foreclosure of two million American householders. Obama completely failed to honor his campaign promise to reduce wage inequality between black and white wage earners while he continued to moralize to black families about ' values' .
Obama's war against Libya led to the killing and displacement of millions of black Libyans and workers from Sub-Saharan Africa. The smiling Nobel Peace Prize President created more desperate refugees than any previous US head of state – including millions of Africans flooding Europe.
'Obamacare' , his imitation of an earlier Republican governor's health plan, was formulated by the private corporate health industry (private insurance, Big Pharma and the for-profit hospitals), to mandate enrollment and ensure triple digit profits with double digit increases in premiums. By the 2016 Presidential elections, ' Obama-care' was opposed by a 45%-43% margin of the American people. Obama's propagandists could not show any improvement of life expectancy or decrease in infant and maternal mortality as a result of his 'health care reform'. Indeed the opposite occurred among the marginalized working class in the old 'rust belt' and in the rural areas. This failure to show any significant health improvement for the masses of Americans is in stark contrast to LBJ's Medicare program of the 1960's, which continues to receive massive popular support.
Forty-years of anti welfare legislation and pro-business regimes paved the golden road for the election of Donald Trump
Trump and the Republicans are focusing on the tattered remnants of the social welfare system: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security. The remains of FDR's New Deal and LBJ's Great Society -- are on the chopping block.
The moribund (but well-paid) labor leadership has been notable by its absence in the ensuing collapse of the social welfare state. The liberal left Democrats embraced the platitudinous Obama/Clinton team as the 'Great Society's' gravediggers, while wailing at Trump's allies for shoving the corpse of welfare state into its grave.
Conclusion
Over the past forty years the working class and the rump of what was once referred to as the ' labor movement' has contributed to the dismantling of the social welfare state, voting for ' strike-breaker' Reagan, ' workfare' Clinton, ' Wall Street crash' Bush, ' Wall Street savior' Obama and ' Trickle-down' Trump.
Gone are the days when social welfare and profitable wars raised US living standards and transformed American trade unions into an appendage of the Democratic Party and a handmaiden of Empire. The Democratic Party rescued capitalism from its collapse in the Great Depression, incorporated labor into the war economy and the post- colonial global empire, and resurrected Wall Street from the 'Great Financial Meltdown' of the 21 st century.
The war economy no longer fuels social welfare. The military-industrial complex has found new partners on Wall Street and among the globalized multi-national corporations. Profits rise while wages fall. Low paying compulsive labor (workfare) lopped off state transfers to the poor. Technology – IT, robotics, artificial intelligence and electronic gadgets – has created the most class polarized social system in history. The first trillionaire and multi-billionaire tax evaders rose on the backs of a miserable standing army of tens of millions of low-wage workers, stripped of rights and representation. State subsidies eliminate virtually all risk to capital. The end of social welfare coerced labor (including young mother with children) to seek insecure low-income employment while slashing education and health – cementing the feet of generations into poverty. Regional wars abroad have depleted the Treasury and robbed the country of productive investment. Economic imperialism exports profits, reversing the historic relation of the past.
Labor is left without compass or direction; it flails in all directions and falls deeper in the web of deception and demagogy. To escape from Reagan and the strike breakers, labor embraced the cheap-labor predator Clinton; black and white workers united to elect Obama who expelled millions of immigrant workers, pursued 7 wars, abandoned black workers and enriched the already filthy rich. Deception and demagogy of the labor-
Issac , December 11, 2017 at 11:01 pm GMT
"The military-industrial complex has found new partners on Wall Street and among the globalized multi-national corporations."whyamihere , December 12, 2017 at 4:24 am GMT"The collaboration of liberals and unions in promoting endless wars opened the door to Trump's mirage of a stateless, tax-less, ruling class."
A mirage so real, it even has you convinced.
If the welfare state in America was abolished, major American cities would burn to the ground. Anarchy would ensue, it would be magnitudes bigger than anything that happened in Ferguson or Baltimore. It would likely be simultaneous.Disordered , December 13, 2017 at 8:41 am GMTI think that's one of the only situations where preppers would actually live out what they've been prepping for (except for a natural disaster).
I've been thinking about this a little over the past few years after seeing the race riots. What exactly is the line between our society being civilized and breaking out into chaos. It's probably a lot thinner than most people think.
I don't know who said it but someone long ago said something along the lines of, "Democracy can only work until the people figure out they can vote for themselves generous benefits from the public treasury." We are definitely in this situation today. I wonder how long it can last.
While I agree with Petras's intent (notwithstanding several exaggerations and unnecessary conflations with, for example, racism), I don't agree so much with the method he proposes. I don't mind welfare and unions to a certain extent, but they are not going to save us unless there is full employment and large corporations that can afford to pay an all-union workforce. That happened during WW2, as only wartime demand and those pesky wage freezes solved the Depression, regardless of all the public works programs; while the postwar era benefited from the US becoming the world's creditor, meaning that capital could expand while labor participation did as well.Wally , Website December 13, 2017 at 8:57 am GMTFrom then on, it is quite hard to achieve the same success after outsourcing and mechanization have happened all over the world. Both of these phenomena not only create displaced workers, but also displaced industries, meaning that it makes more sense to develop individual workfare (and even then, do it well, not the shoddy way it is done now) rather than giving away checks that probably will not be cashed for entrepreneurial purposes, and rather than giving away money to corrupt unions who depend on trusts to be able to pay for their benefits, while raising the cost of hiring that only encourages more outsourcing.
The amount of welfare given is not necessarily the main problem, the problem is doing it right for the people who truly need it, and efficiently – that is, with the least amount of waste lost between the chain of distribution, which should reach intended targets and not moochers.
Which inevitably means a sound tax system that targets unearned wealth and (to a lesser degree) foreign competition instead of national production, coupled with strict, yet devolved and simple government processes that benefit both business and individuals tired of bureaucracy, while keeping budgets balanced. Best of both worlds, and no military-industrial complex needed to drive up demand.
"President Obama transferred 2 trillion dollars to the ten biggest bankers and swindlers on Wall Street " That's twice the amount that Bush gave them.jacques sheete , December 13, 2017 at 10:52 am GMTDen Lille Abe , December 13, 2017 at 11:09 am GMTThe American welfare state was created in 1935 and continued to develop through 1973. Since then, over a prolonged period, the capitalist class has been steadily dismantling the entire welfare state.
Wrong wrong wrong.
Corporations [now] are welfare recipients and the bigger they are, the more handouts they suck up, and welfare for them started before 1935. In fact, it started in America before there was a USA. I do not have time to elaborate, but what were the various companies such as the British East India Company and the Dutch West India Companies but state pampered, welfare based entities? ~200 years ago, Herbert Spencer, if memory serves, pointed out that the British East India Company couldn't make a profit even with all the special, government granted favors showered upon it.
Corporations not only continuously seek monopolies (with the aid and sanction of the state) but they steadily fine tune the welfare state for their benefit. In fact, in reality, welfare for prols and peasants wouldn't exist if it didn't act as a money conduit and ultimate profit center for the big money grubbers.
Well, the author kind of nails it. I remember from my childhood in the 50-60 ties in Scandinavia that the US was the ultimate goal in welfare. The country where you could make a good living with your two hands, get you kids to UNI, have a house, a telly ECT. It was not consumerism, it was the American dream, a chicken in every pot; we chewed imported American gum and dreamed.wayfarer , December 13, 2017 at 1:01 pm GMTIn the 70-80 ties Scandinavia had a tremendous social and economic growth, EQUALLY distributed, an immense leap forward. In the middle of the 80 ties we were equal to the US in standards of living.
Since we have not looked at the US, unless in pity, as we have seen the decline of the general income, social wealth fall way behind our own.
The average US workers income has not increased since 90 figures adjusted for inflation. The Scandinavian workers income in the same period has almost quadrupled. And so has our societies.The article is dismal reading, and evidence of the failings of the "unregulated" society, where the anything goes as long as you are wealthy.
Anonymous , Disclaimer December 13, 2017 at 1:40 pm GMTBetween the mid 1970's to the present (2017) labor laws, welfare rights and benefits and the construction of and subsidies for affordable housing have been gutted. 'Workfare' (under President 'Bill' Clinton) ended welfare for the poor and displaced workers. Meanwhile the shift to regressive taxation and the steadily declining real wages have increased corporate profits to an astronomical degree.
source: http://www.unz.com/jpetras/rise-and-decline-of-the-welfare-state/
What does Hollywood "elite" JAP and wannabe hack-stand-up-comic Sarah Silverman think about the class struggle and problems facing destitute Americans? "Qu'ils mangent de la bagels!", source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_them_eat_cake
... ... ...
@Greg FraserAnonymous , Disclaimer December 13, 2017 at 2:43 pm GMTLike the Pentagon. Americans still don't readily call this welfare, but they will eventually. Defense profiteers are unions in a sense, you're either in their club Or you're in the service industry that surrounds it.
As other commenters have pointed out, it's Petras curious choice of words that sometimes don't make too much sense. We can probably blame the maleable English language for that, but here it's too obvious. If you don't define a union, people might assume you're only talking about a bunch of meat cutters at Safeway.animalogic , December 13, 2017 at 2:57 pm GMTThe welfare state is alive and well for corporate America. Unions are still here – but they are defined by access and secrecy, you're either in the club or not.
The war on unions was successful first by co-option but mostly by the media. But what kind of analysis leaves out the role of the media in the American transformation? The success is mind blowing.
America has barely literate (white) middle aged males trained to spout incoherent Calvinistic weirdness: unabased hatred for the poor (or whoever they're told to hate) and a glorification of hedge fund managers as they get laid off, fired and foreclosed on, with a side of opiates.
There is hardly anything more tragic then seeing a web filled with progressives (management consultants) dedicated to disempowering, disabling and deligitimizing victims by claiming they are victims of biology, disease or a lack of an education rather than a system that issues violence while portending (with the best media money can buy) that they claim the higher ground.
@WallyReg Cæsar , December 13, 2017 at 3:08 pm GMT""Democracy can only work until the people figure out they can vote for themselves generous benefits from the public treasury." We are definitely in this situation today."
Quite right: the 0.01% have worked it out & US democracy is a Theatre for the masses.
Reg Cæsar , December 13, 2017 at 3:20 pm GMTThey elected militarists and demagogues as their new presidents.
Wilson and FDR were much more militarist and demagogic than those that followed.
@whyamiherephil , December 13, 2017 at 4:48 pm GMTI don't know who said it but someone long ago said something along the lines of, "Democracy can only work until the people figure out they can vote for themselves generous benefits from the public treasury."
Some French aristocrat put it as, once the gates to the treasury have been breached, they can only be closed again with gunpowder. Anyone recognize the author?
The author doesn't get it. What we have now IS the welfare state in an intensely diverse society. We have more transfer spending than ever before and Obamacare represents another huge entitlement.HallParvey , December 13, 2017 at 4:57 pm GMTIntellectuals continue to fantasize about the US becoming a Big Sweden, but Sweden has only been successful insofar as it has been a modest nation-state populated by ethnic Swedes. Intense diversity in a huge country with only the remnants of federalism results in massive non-consensual decision-making, fragmentation, increased inequality, and corruption.
@AnonymousAnonymous , Disclaimer December 13, 2017 at 4:57 pm GMTThe welfare state is alive and well for corporate America. Unions are still here – but they are defined by access and secrecy, you're either in the club or not.
They are largely defined as Doctors, Lawyers, and University Professors who teach the first two. Of course they are not called unions. Access is via credentialing and licensing. Good Day
@Linda GreenAnonymous , Disclaimer December 13, 2017 at 5:54 pm GMTBernie Sanders, speaking on behalf of the MIC's welfare bird: "It is the airplane of the United States Air Force, Navy, and of NATO."
Elizabeth Warren, referring to Mossad's Estes Rockets: "The Israeli military has the right to attack Palestinian hospitals and schools in self defense"
Barack Obama, yukking it up with pop stars: "Two words for you: predator drones. You will never see it coming."
It's not the agitprop that confuses the sheep, it's whose blowhole it's coming out of (labled D or R for convenience) that gets them to bare their teeth and speak of poo.
@HallParveyLogan , December 13, 2017 at 9:10 pm GMTWhat came first, the credentialing or the idea that it is a necessary part of education? It certainly isn't an accurate indication of what people know or their general intelligence – although that myth has flourished. Good afternoon.
@RealistLogan , December 13, 2017 at 9:19 pm GMTFor an interesting projection of what might happen in total civilizational collapse, I recommend the Dies the Fire series of novels by SM Stirling.
It has a science-fictiony setup in that all high-energy system (gunpowder, electricity, explosives, internal combustion, even high-energy steam engines) suddenly stop working. But I think it does a good job of extrapolating what would happen if suddenly the cities did not have food, water, power, etc.
Spoiler alert: It ain't pretty. Those who dream of a world without guns have not really thought it through.
@philIt has been pointed out repeatedly that Sweden does very well relative to the USA. It has also been noted that people of Swedish ancestry in the USA do pretty well also. In fact considerably better than Swedes in Sweden
Dec 15, 2017 | www.zerohedge.com
FBI Edits To Clinton Exoneration Go Far Beyond What Was Previously Known; Comey, McCabe, Strzok Implicated Tyler Durden Dec 15, 2017 10:10 AM 0 SHARES detailed in a Thursday letter from committee chairman Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) to FBI Director Christopher Wray.
James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok
The letter reveals specific edits made by senior FBI agents when Deputy Director Andrew McCabe exchanged drafts of Comey's statement with senior FBI officials , including Peter Strzok, Strzok's direct supervisor , E.W. "Bill" Priestap, Jonathan Moffa, and an unnamed employee from the Office of General Counsel (identified by Newsweek as DOJ Deputy General Counsel Trisha Anderson) - in what was a coordinated conspiracy among top FBI brass to decriminalize Clinton's conduct by changing legal terms and phrases, omitting key information, and minimizing the role of the Intelligence Community in the email investigation. Doing so virtually assured that then-candidate Hillary Clinton would not be prosecuted.
Heather Samuelson and Heather Mills
Also mentioned in the letter are the immunity agreements granted by the FBI in June 2016 to top Obama advisor Cheryl Mills and aide Heather Samuelson - who helped decide which Clinton emails were destroyed before turning over the remaining 30,000 records to the State Department. Of note, the FBI agreed to destroy evidence on devices owned by Mills and Samuelson which were turned over in the investigation.
Sen. Johnson's letter reads:
According to documents produced by the FBI, FBI employees exchanged proposed edits to the draft statement. On May 6, Deputy Director McCabe forwarded the draft statement to other senior FBI employees, including Peter Strzok, E.W. Priestap, Jonathan Moffa, and an employee on the Office of General Counsel whose name has been redacted. While the precise dates of the edits and identities of the editors are not apparent from the documents, the edits appear to change the tone and substance of Director Comey's statement in at least three respects .
It was already known that Strzok - who was demoted to the FBI's HR department after anti-Trump text messages to his mistress were uncovered by an internal FBI watchdog - was responsible for downgrading the language regarding Clinton's conduct from the criminal charge of "gross negligence" to "extremely careless."
"Gross negligence" is a legal term of art in criminal law often associated with recklessness. According to Black's Law Dictionary, gross negligence is " A severe degree of negligence taken as reckless disregard ," and " Blatant indifference to one's legal duty, other's safety, or their rights ." "Extremely careless," on the other hand, is not a legal term of art.
According to an Attorney briefed on the matter, "extremely careless" is in fact a defense to "gross negligence": "What my client did was 'careless', maybe even 'extremely careless,' but it was not 'gross negligence' your honor." The FBI would have no option but to recommend prosecution if the phrase "gross negligence" had been left in.
18 U.S. Code § 793 "Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information" specifically uses the phrase "gross negligence." Had Comey used the phrase, he would have essentially declared that Hillary had broken the law.
In addition to Strzok's "gross negligence" --> "extremely careless" edit, McCabe's damage control team removed a key justification for elevating Clinton's actions to the standard of "gross negligence" - that being the " sheer volume " of classified material on Clinton's server. In the original draft, the "sheer volume" of material "supports an inference that the participants were grossly negligent in their handling of that information."Also removed from Comey's statement were all references to the Intelligence Community's involvement in investigating Clinton's private email server.
Director Comey's original statement acknowledged the FBI had worked with its partners in the Intelligence Community to assess potential damage from Secretary Clinton's use of a private email server. The original statement read:
[W]e have done extensive work with the assistance of our colleagues elsewhere in the Intelligence Community to understand what indications there might be of compromise by hostile actors in connection with the private email operation.
The edited version removed the references to the intelligence community:
[W]e have done extensive work [removed] to understand what indications there might be of compromise by hostile actors in connection with the personal e-mail operation.
Furthermore, the FBI edited Comey's statement to downgrade the probability that Clinton's server was hacked by hostile actors, changing their language from "reasonably likely" to "possible" - an edit which eliminated yet another justification for the phrase "Gross negligence." To put it another way, "reasonably likely" means the probability of a hack due to Clinton's negligence is above 50 percent, whereas the hack simply being "possible" is any probability above zero.
It's also possible that the FBI, which was not allowed to inspect the DNC servers, was uncomfortable standing behind the conclusion of Russian hacking reached by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.
The original draft read:
Given the combination of factors, we assess it is reasonably likely that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clinton's private email account."
The edited version from Director Comey's July 5 statement read:
Given that combination of factors, we assess it is possible that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clinton's personal e-mail account.
Johnson's letter also questions an " insurance policy " referenced in a text message sent by demoted FBI investigator Peter Strzok to his mistress, FBI attorney Lisa Page, which read " I want to believe the path you threw out to consideration in Andy's office -- that there's no way he gets elected -- but I'm afraid we can't take that risk." It's like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you're 40...."
One wonders if the "insurance policy" Strzok sent to Page on August 15, 2016 was in reference to the original counterintelligence operation launched against Trump of which Strzok became the lead investigator in "late July" 2016? Of note, Strzok reported directly to Bill Priestap - the director of Counterintelligence, who told James Comey not to inform congress that the FBI had launched a counterintelligence operation against then-candidate Trump, per Comey's March 20th testimony to the House Intelligence Committee. (h/t @TheLastRefuge2 )
Transcript , James Comey Testimony to House Intel Committee, March 20, 2016
The letter from the Senate Committee concludes; "the edits to Director Comey's public statement, made months prior to the conclusion of the FBI's investigation of Secretary Clinton's conduct, had a significant impact on the FBI's public evaluation of the implications of her actions . This effort, seen in the light of the personal animus toward then-candidate Trump by senior FBI agents leading the Clinton investigation and their apparent desire to create an "insurance policy" against Mr. Trump's election, raise profound questions about the FBI's role and possible interference in the 2016y presidential election and the role of the same agents in Special Counsel Mueller's investigation of President Trump ."
Johnson then asks the FBI to answer six questions:
- Please provide the names of the Department of Justice (DOJ) employees who comprised the "mid-year review team" during the FBI's investigation of Secretary Clinton's use of a private email server.
- Please identify all FBI, DOJ, or other federal employees who edited or reviewed Director Comey's July 5, 2016 statement . Please identify which individual made the marked changes in the documents produced to the Committee.
- Please identify which FBI employee repeatedly changed the language in the final draft statement that described Secretary Clinton's behavior as "grossly negligent" to "extremely careless. " What evidence supported these changes?
- Please identify which FBI employee edited the draft statement to remove the reference to the Intelligence Community . On what basis was this change made?
- Please identify which FBI employee edited the draft statement to downgrade the FBI's assessment that it was "reasonably likely" that hostile actors had gained access to Secretary Clinton's private email account to merely that than [sic] intrusion was "possible." What evidence supported these changes?
- Please provide unredacted copies of the drafts of Director Comey's statement, including comment bubbles , and explain the basis for the redactions produced to date.
We are increasingly faced with the fact that the FBI's top ranks have been filled with political ideologues who helped Hillary Clinton while pursuing the Russian influence narrative against Trump (perhaps as the "insurance" Strzok spoke of). Meanwhile, "hands off" recused Attorney General Jeff Sessions and assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein don't seem very excited to explore the issues with a second Special Counsel. As such, we are now almost entirely reliant on the various Committees of congress to pursue justice in this matter. Perhaps when their investigations have concluded, President Trump will feel he has the political and legal ammunition to truly clean house at the nation's swampiest agencies.
swmnguy -> 11b40 , Dec 15, 2017 4:42 PMAll I see in this story is that the FBI edits their work to make sure the terminology is consistent throughout. This is not a smoking gun of anything, except bureaucratic procedure one would find anywhere any legal documents are prepared.
That's not to say Hillary shouldn't have been prosecuted. But what we're seeing here looks like perfectly normal behavior once the decision has been made not to prosecute; get the statements to be consistent with the conclusion. In a bureaucracy, that requires a number of people to be involved. And it would necessarily include people who work for Hillary Clinton, since that's whose information is being discussed.
Now, if Hillary hadn't been such an arrogant bitch, we wouldn't be having this conversation. If she had just take the locked-down Android of iOS phone they issued her, instead of having to forward everything to herself so she could use her stupid Blackberry (which can't be locked down to State Dep't. specs), everything would have been both hunky and dory.
And the stuff about how a foreign power might have, or might possibly have, accessed her emails is all BS too. We already know they weren't hacked, they were leaked.
Maybe people who don't understand complicated organizations see something nefarious here, but nobody who does will. Nothing will come of this but some staged-for-TV dramatic pronouncements in the House, and on FOX News, and affiliated websites. There's nothing here.
youarelost , Dec 15, 2017 8:59 AM
E.F. Mutton -> youarelost , Dec 15, 2017 9:04 AMWhat did Obozo know and when did he know it
Bigly -> E.F. Mutton , Dec 15, 2017 9:14 AMFalse Flag time - distraction needed ASAP
shitshitshit -> Bigly , Dec 15, 2017 9:16 AMWe need to look for this as there are a LOT of people who need to be indicted and boobus americanus needs distraction.
My concern is that there are not enough non-corrupts there to handle and process the swamp as Trump did not fire and replace them 10 months ago.
cheka -> eclectic syncretist , Dec 15, 2017 9:45 AMI wonder how high will this little game go...
That obongo of all crooks is involved is a sure fact, but I'd like to see how many remaining defenders of the cause are still motivated to lose everything for this thing...
In other terms, what are the defection rates in the dem party, because now this must be an avalanche.
macholatte -> cheka , Dec 15, 2017 10:23 AMapplied neo-bolshevism
Bay of Pigs -> macholatte , Dec 15, 2017 12:02 PMI am tired of this shit. Aren't you?
Please, EVERYONE with a Twitter account send this message Every Day (tell your friends on facebook):
Mr. President, the time to purge the Obama-Clinton holdovers has long passed. Please get rid of them at once. Make your base happy. Fire 100+ from DOJ - State - FBI. Hire William K. Black as Special Prosecutor
send it to:
@realDonaldTrump
@PressSec
@KellyannePolls
@WhiteHouse
Does anybody know how to start an online petition?
Let's make some NOISE!!11b40 -> Bay of Pigs , Dec 15, 2017 1:22 PMSadly, I don't see this story being reported anywhere this morning. Only the biggest scandal in American history. WTF?
grizfish -> Bay of Pigs , Dec 15, 2017 1:53 PMDebatable re. biggest story being kept quiet. The AWAN Brothers/Family is a Pakistani spy ring operating inside Congress for more than a decade, and we hear nothing. They had access to virtually everything in every important committee. They had access to the Congressional servers and all the emails. Biggest spy scandal in our nations hsitory, and........crickets.
Of course, they may all be related, since Debbie Wasserman-Shits brought them in and set them up, then intertwined their work in Congress with their work for the DNC.
ThePhantom -> grizfish , Dec 15, 2017 3:35 PMThey have had a year to destroy the evidence. Why should the CIA controlled MSM report the truth? It's just like slick willy. Deny. Deny. Deny.
grizfish -> Bay of Pigs , Dec 15, 2017 4:29 PMThe Media is "in on it" and just as culpabale.... everyone's fighting for their lives.
Lanka -> macholatte , Dec 15, 2017 2:27 PMJust more theater. Throwing a bone to the few citizens who think for themselves. Giving us false hope the US legal system isn't corrupt. This will never be prosecuted, because the deep state remains in control. They've had a year to destroy the incriminating evidence.
TerminalDebt -> cheka , Dec 15, 2017 12:43 PMTillerson is extremely incompetent in housecleaning. He needs to be replaced by Fred Kruger, Esq.
Joe Davola -> TerminalDebt , Dec 15, 2017 1:27 PMI guess we know now who the leaker was at the FBI and on the Mule's team
eclectic syncretist -> eclectic syncretist , Dec 15, 2017 10:01 AMI'm guessing the number of leakers is bigger than 1
Overfed -> eclectic syncretist , Dec 15, 2017 10:58 AMWhat's next? The FBI had Seth Rich killed? Is that why Sessions and everyone else appears paralyzed? How deep does this rabbit hole go?
Mr. Universe -> Overfed , Dec 15, 2017 11:24 AMI'm sure that Chaffets and Gowdy will hand down some very stern reprimands.
Duane Norman -> Mr. Universe , Dec 15, 2017 11:31 AMRyan and his buddies in Congress will make strained faces (as if taking a dump) and wring their hands saying they must hire a "Special" Investigator to cover up this mess.
Gardentoolnumber5 -> Overfed , Dec 15, 2017 3:12 PMhttp://fmshooter.com/claiming-fbis-reputation-integrity-not-tatters-comp...
Yeah, but it won't make a difference.
ThePhantom -> eclectic syncretist , Dec 15, 2017 3:38 PMChaffets left Congress because he couldn't get any more help from Trump's DOJ than he did from Obama's. Sad, as he was one of the good guys. imo
grizfish -> ThePhantom , Dec 15, 2017 4:38 PMdid you notice the story yesterday about "Russian hacker admits putin ordered him to steal dnc emials" ? someones worried about it....
Bush Baby -> eclectic syncretist , Dec 15, 2017 11:37 AMThey tweet that crap all the time. Usually just a repeat with different names, but always blaming a Ruskie. About every 6 months they hit on a twist in the wording that causes it to go viral.
eclectic syncretist -> Bush Baby , Dec 15, 2017 11:57 AMBefore Trump was elected , I thought the only way to get our country back was through a Military Coup, but it appears there may be some light at the end of the tunnel.
rccalhoun -> eclectic syncretist , Dec 15, 2017 12:43 PMI wonder if that light is coming from the soon to be gaping hole in the FBI's asshole when the extent of this political activism by the agency eventually seeps into the public conciousness.
Lanka -> rccalhoun , Dec 15, 2017 2:31 PMyou can't clean up a mess of this magnitude. fire everyone in washington---senator, representative, fbi, cia, nsa ,etc and start over---has NO chance of happenning
the only hope for a non violent solution is that a true leader emerges that every decent person can rally behind and respect, honor and dignity become the norm. unfortunately, corruption has become a culture and i don't know if it can be eradicated
shankster -> eclectic syncretist , Dec 15, 2017 4:11 PMJust expose the Congress, McCabe, Lindsey, McCabe, Clinton, all Dem judges, Media, Hollywood, local government dems as pedos; that will half-drain the swamp.
lew1024 -> Bush Baby , Dec 15, 2017 2:54 PMDoes the US public have a consciousness?
checkessential -> BennyBoy , Dec 15, 2017 1:00 PMIf Trump gets the swamp cleaned without a military coup, he will be one of our greatest Presidents. There will be people who hate that more than they hate being in jail.
TommyD88 -> checkessential , Dec 15, 2017 1:09 PMAnd they say President Trump obstructed justice for simply asking Comey if he could drop the Michael Flynn matter. Wow.
Overfed -> redmudhooch , Dec 15, 2017 2:47 PMAlinsky 101: Accuse your opponent of that which you yourself are doing.
A Sentinel -> TommyD88 , Dec 15, 2017 2:13 PMGetting rid of the FBI (and all other FLEAs) would be a good thing for all of us.
lurker since 2012 -> checkessential , Dec 15, 2017 4:09 PMPrecisely. That's actually a very good tool for decoding the Clintons and Obama. "You collaborated with Russia." Means "I collaborated with Saudi Arabia." It takes a little while and I haven't fully mastered it yet, but you can reverse alinsky-engineer their statements to figure out what they did.
Ramesees -> BaBaBouy , Dec 15, 2017 9:31 AMAnd get this, Flynn was set up! Yates had the transcript via the (illegal) FISA Court of warrant which relied on the Dirty Steele Dossier, when Flynn deviated from the transcript they charged him Lying to the FBI. Comey McCabe run around lying 24/7. Their is no fucking hope left! The swamp WINS ALWAYS.
A Sentinel -> Ramesees , Dec 15, 2017 2:14 PMI have - it's was NBC Nightly News - they spent time on the damning emails from Strozk. Maybe 2-3 minutes. Normal news segment time. Surprised the hell out of me.
ThePhantom -> Ramesees , Dec 15, 2017 3:41 PMSomeone probably got fired for that.
the "MSM" needs to cover their own asses ...like "an insurance policy" just in case the truth comes out... best to be seen reporting on the REAL issue at least for a couple minutes..
consortiumnews.com
Zachary Smith , December 13, 2017 at 11:00 pm
Steven A , December 14, 2017 at 8:36 amI've been seeing all sorts of places where this fellow Strzok's name pops up. Things like a FISA judge recusing himself. Things like him possibly arranging things so Hillary was able to continue her run for President. At a super-right-wing site I found these "questions".
- Did Peter Strzok receive the Steele Dossier from Hillary Clinton on July 4th when he interviewed her?
- If Hillary didn't give Strzok the dossier, who did?
- Did Peter Strzok put together the FISA Court material, which included the Steele Dossier?
- Did Peter Strzok go to the FISA Court and ask for the surveillance of the Trump team based on the Steele Dossier?
- Did James Comey assign Peter Strzok to the Clinton email case?
- Did James Comey assign Peter Strzok to the Trump surveillance case?
- Did James Comey know that Peter Strzok was compromised when he sent him to interview Michael Flynn (where surveillance was used to interview him based on the Steele Dossier that was presented to the FISA Court that Strzok put together?)
Neither the New York Times nor the Washington Post paid any price for their promotion of the invasion and destruction of Iraq. They might not get off as easy this time. One can hope.
I can add one more. It's been suggested that Strzok's job as counterintelligence deputy would have made him the principal FBI liaison to CIA Director Brennan. At least this point was made explicitly in a recent LarouchePAC Live broadcast on Youtube (perhaps Will Wertz's presentation at last Saturday's Manhattan Project event) though I don't know what their evidence is. So we can ask: Was Peter Strzok the principal FBI liaison to CIA Director John Brennan?
Dec 14, 2017 | consortiumnews.com
Exclusive: Taking on water from revealed FBI conflicts of interest, the foundering Russia-gate probe – and its mainstream media promoters – are resorting to insults against people who note the listing ship, writes Robert Parry.
By Robert Parry
The disclosure of fiercely anti-Trump text messages between two romantically involved senior FBI officials who played key roles in the early Russia-gate inquiry has turned the supposed Russian-election-meddling "scandal" into its own scandal, by providing evidence that some government investigators saw it as their duty to block or destroy Donald Trump's presidency.
Peter Strzok, who served as a Deputy Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, second in command of counterintelligence.
As much as the U.S. mainstream media has mocked the idea that an American "deep state" exists and that it has maneuvered to remove Trump from office, the text messages between senior FBI counterintelligence official Peter Strzok and senior FBI lawyer Lisa Page reveal how two high-ranking members of the government's intelligence/legal bureaucracy saw their role as protecting the United States from an election that might elevate to the presidency someone as unfit as Trump.
In one Aug. 6, 2016 text exchange, Page told Strzok: "Maybe you're meant to stay where you are because you're meant to protect the country from that menace." At the end of that text, she sent Strzok a link to a David Brooks column in The New York Times, which concludes with the clarion call: "There comes a time when neutrality and laying low become dishonorable. If you're not in revolt, you're in cahoots. When this period and your name are mentioned, decades hence, your grandkids will look away in shame."
Apparently after reading that stirring advice, Strzok replied, "And of course I'll try and approach it that way. I just know it will be tough at times. I can protect our country at many levels, not sure if that helps."
At a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, criticized Strzok's boast that "I can protect our country at many levels." Jordan said: "this guy thought he was super-agent James Bond at the FBI [deciding] there's no way we can let the American people make Donald Trump the next president."
In the text messages, Strzok also expressed visceral contempt for working-class Trump voters, for instance, writing on Aug. 26, 2016, "Just went to a southern Virginia Walmart. I could SMELL the Trump support. it's scary real down here."
Another text message suggested that other senior government officials – alarmed at the possibility of a Trump presidency – joined the discussion. In an apparent reference to an August 2016 meeting with FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, Strzok wrote to Page on Aug. 15, 2016, "I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy's office -- that there's no way he gets elected -- but I'm afraid we can't take that risk."
Strzok added, "It's like an insurance policy in the unlikely event that you die before you're 40."
It's unclear what strategy these FBI officials were contemplating to ensure Trump's defeat, but the comments mesh with what an intelligence source told me after the 2016 election, that there was a plan among senior Obama administration officials to use the allegations about Russian meddling to block Trump's momentum with the voters and -- if elected -- to persuade members of the Electoral College to deny Trump a majority of votes and thus throw the selection of a new president into the House of Representatives under the rules of the Twelfth Amendment .
The scheme involved having some Democratic electors vote for former Secretary of State Colin Powell (which did happen), making him the third-place vote-getter in the Electoral College and thus eligible for selection by the House. But the plan fizzled when enough of Trump's electors stayed loyal to their candidate to officially make him President.
After that, Trump's opponents turned to the Russia-gate investigation as the vehicle to create the conditions for somehow nullifying the election, impeaching Trump, or at least weakening him sufficiently so he could not take steps to improve relations with Russia.
In one of her text messages to Strzok, Page made reference to a possible Watergate-style ouster of Trump, writing: "Bought all the president's men. Figure I needed to brush up on watergate."
As a key feature in this oust-Trump effort, Democrats have continued to lie by claiming that "all 17 U.S. intelligence agencies concurred" in the assessment that Russia hacked the Democratic emails last year on orders from President Vladimir Putin and then slipped them to WikiLeaks to undermine Hillary Clinton's campaign.
That canard was used in the early months of the Russia-gate imbroglio to silence any skepticism about the "hacking" accusation, and the falsehood was repeated again by a Democratic congressman during Wednesday's hearing of the House Judiciary Committee.
But the "consensus" claim was never true. In May 2017 testimony , President Obama's Director of National Intelligence James Clapper acknowledged that the Jan. 6 "Intelligence Community Assessment" was put together by "hand-picked" analysts from only three agencies: the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency.
Biased at the Creation
And, the new revelations of high-level FBI bias puts Clapper's statement about "hand-picked" analysts in sharper perspective, since any intelligence veteran will tell you that if you hand-pick the analysts you are effectively hand-picking the analysis.
Although it has not yet been spelled out exactly what role Strzok and Page may have had in the Jan. 6 report, I was told by one source that Strzok had a direct hand in writing it. Whether that is indeed the case, Strzok, as a senior FBI counterintelligence official, would almost surely have had input into the selection of the FBI analysts and thus into the substance of the report itself. [For challenges from intelligence experts to the Jan. 6 report, see Consortiumnews.com's " More Holes in the Russia-gate Narrative. "]
If the FBI contributors to the Jan. 6 report shared Strzok's contempt for Trump, it could explain why claims from an unverified dossier of Democratic-financed "dirt" on Trump, including salacious charges that Russian intelligence operatives videotaped Trump being urinated on by prostitutes in a five-star Moscow hotel, was added as a classified appendix to the report and presented personally to President-elect Trump.
Though Democrats and the Clinton campaign long denied financing the dossier – prepared by ex-British spy Christopher Steele who claimed to rely on second- and third-hand information from anonymous Russian contacts – it was revealed in October 2017 that the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign shared in the costs, with the payments going to the "oppo" research firm, Fusion GPS, through the Democrats' law firm, Perkins Coie.
That discovery helped ensnare another senior Justice Department official, Associate Attorney General Bruce Ohr, who talked with Steele during the campaign and had a post-election meeting with Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson. Recently, Simpson has acknowledged that Ohr's wife, Nellie Ohr, was hired by Fusion GPS last year to investigate Trump.
Bruce Ohr has since been demoted and Strzok was quietly removed from the Russia-gate investigation last July although the reasons for these moves were not publicly explained at the time.
Still, the drive for "another Watergate" to oust an unpopular – and to many insiders, unfit – President remains at the center of the thinking among the top mainstream news organizations as they have scrambled for Russia-gate "scoops" over the past year even at the cost of making serious reporting errors .
For instance, last Friday, CNN -- and then CBS News and MSNBC -- trumpeted an email supposedly sent from someone named Michael J. Erickson on Sept. 4, 2016, to Donald Trump Jr. that involved WikiLeaks offering the Trump campaign pre-publication access to purloined Democratic National Committee emails that WikiLeaks published on Sept. 13, nine days later.
Grasping for Confirmation
Since the Jan. 6 report alleged that WikiLeaks received the "hacked" emails from Russia -- a claim that WikiLeaks and Russia deny -- the story seemed to finally tie together the notion that the Trump campaign had at least indirectly colluded with Russia.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at Carl Hayden High School in Phoenix, Arizona. March 21, 2016. (Photo by Gage Skidmore)
This new "evidence" spread like wildfire across social media. As The Intercept's Glenn Greenwald wrote in an article critical of the media's performance, some Russia-gate enthusiasts heralded the revelation with graphics of cannons booming and nukes exploding.
But the story soon collapsed when it turned out that the date on the email was actually Sept. 14, 2016, i.e., the day after WikiLeaks released the batch of DNC emails, not Sept. 4. It appeared that "Erickson" – whoever he was – had simply alerted the Trump campaign to the public existence of the WikiLeaks disclosure.
Greenwald noted , "So numerous are the false stories about Russia and Trump over the last year that I literally cannot list them all."
Yet, despite the cascade of errors and grudging corrections, including some belated admissions that there was no "17-intelligence-agency consensus" on Russian "hacking" – The New York Times made a preemptive strike against the new documentary evidence that the Russia-gate investigation was riddled with conflicts of interest.
The Times' lead editorial on Wednesday mocked reporters at Fox News for living in an "alternate universe" where the Russia-gate "investigation is 'illegitimate and corrupt,' or so says Gregg Jarrett, a legal analyst who appears regularly on [Sean] Hannity's nightly exercise in presidential ego-stroking."
Though briefly mentioning the situation with Strzok's text messages, the Times offered no details or context for the concerns, instead just heaping ridicule on anyone who questions the Russia-gate narrative.
"To put it mildly, this is insane," the Times declared. "The primary purpose of Mr. Mueller's investigation is not to take down Mr. Trump. It's to protect America's national security and the integrity of its elections by determining whether a presidential campaign conspired with a foreign adversary to influence the 2016 election – a proposition that grows more plausible every day."
The Times fumed that "roughly three-quarters of Republicans still refuse to accept that Russia interfered in the 2016 election – a fact that is glaringly obvious to everyone else, including the nation's intelligence community." (There we go again with the false suggestion of a consensus within the intelligence community.)
The Times also took to task Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, for seeking "a Special Counsel to investigate ALL THINGS 2016 – not just Trump and Russia." The Times insisted that "None of these attacks or insinuations are grounded in good faith."
But what are the Times editors so afraid of? As much as they try to insult and intimidate anyone who demands serious evidence about the Russia-gate allegations, why shouldn't the American people be informed about how Washington insiders manipulate elite opinion in pursuit of reversing "mistaken" judgments by the unwashed masses?
Do the Times editors really believe in democracy – a process that historically has had its share of warts and mistakes – or are they just elitists who think they know best and turn away their noses from the smell of working-class people at Walmart?
Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, America's Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com ).
mike k , December 13, 2017 at 9:54 pm
mike k , December 13, 2017 at 10:00 pmThe NYT is just another tool of the multi-billionaire oligarchs who rule this USA from the shadows. They fear nothing more than the light. When that investigative light gets strong enough, more and more ordinary folks will begin to awake to the massive fraud that has been perpetrated at their expense. And when that happens, we will finally see the Oligarchy begin to crumble under the pressure of the 99%. The truth will out, then heads will roll ..
incontinent reader , December 14, 2017 at 12:04 amKeep up the pressure – get your friends interested, tell them about CN, Counterpunch, Strategic-Culture, Chris Hedges, etc. Pursuing the truth can be a fascinating hobby, that leads to a person awakening. Make it interesting, awaken your friend's curiosity.
T.J , December 14, 2017 at 8:45 amHow about also including RT in your list? It's a news and commentary site with strong journalistic values and credibility, notwithstanding what the Administration or the MSM may say or imply.
Adam Kraft , December 14, 2017 at 11:59 amIf RT didn't have the qualities you describe, attempts by the Administration and the MSM to discredit it would have been successful. However they will attempt to silence it by other means.
tina , December 14, 2017 at 11:06 pmVery true TJ. I found counterpunch when wapo / propornot blacklisted them. Gave 'em creds imo. I also like mint press, occupy, naked capitalism, **world socialist website**, disobedient media, truthout, some of Glenns work on the Intercept and my youtube subs include: wearechange, **anonymous Scandinavia**, **the jimmy dore show**, RT America, TeleSUR English*, Zoon Politikon, **democracy at work**, HA Goodman, theRealNews*, mintpressnews, watching the hawks, secular talk, laura kinhtlinger, judicial watch, empire files, redacted tonight, TBTV, a little from Julian Assange's twitter.
Erik G , December 14, 2017 at 8:03 amwhat about Al-Jazeera?
Amyg , December 14, 2017 at 1:40 pmGood suggestion; in such persuasion, one must respectfully suggest better sources and avoid any conflict.
Mr. Parry has well summarized for beginners these essential counterpoints to the mass media propaganda.
Those who would like to petition the NYT to make Robert Parry their senior editor may do so here:
https://www.change.org/p/new-york-times-bring-a-new-editor-to-the-new-york-times?recruiter=72650402&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink
While Mr. Parry may prefer independence, and we all know the NYT ownership makes it unlikely, and the NYT may try to ignore it, it is instructive to them that intelligent readers know better journalism when they see it. A petition demonstrates the concerns of a far larger number of potential or lost subscribers.Walter Devine , December 13, 2017 at 10:15 pmI like this use of "awakened," in contrast to the establishment culture's fascination with "woke." People don't need to get woke. They need to become awakened. Thanks to Robert Parry.
Robert Gardner , December 13, 2017 at 10:45 pmI thought we were waiting to hear what the evidence is found. The lack of discussion about what they have uncovered seems to me to speak of a professional operation. Once they are done and present what they have found, then everyone can get on their soap boxes and let loose. As for Bias, that exists in everyone to some extent or another, where was the moral outrage from the Republicans charging this today when the Benghazi investigation was being conducted by folks with known axes to grind themselves? It is the Washington hypocrisy machine at its most obvious. As for the media, print or otherwise, they are just preaching to their choirs in order to sell whatever their particular consumers are buying. Frankly I have come to expect more from you than this article Mr. Parry, here's hoping
tina , December 13, 2017 at 11:42 pmI've been skeptical out the Russian conspiracy so far, but I agree with what Walter Devine wrote.
incontinent reader , December 14, 2017 at 12:08 amI am still waiting . Mr. Parry can ride on his story back in the 1980's. We are in 2017, The internet is good. What did those people in Washington do today? get rid of net neutrality? Love you all people on CN, Happy Hanukah Merry Christmas, and Kwanzaa, And the winter solstice. Peace to all. Love, tina everyone is going to believe that they want to believe.
Larco Marco , December 14, 2017 at 4:32 amAre you kidding about Benghazi? Obviously you have still not informed yourself about the egregious security breakdown of the Administration or how the Benghazi facility factored into the CIA's proxy war in Syria. (And, btw, where was Hillary "Rod up her Hiney" Clinton when that '3AM call' came in at 4pm?
Anna , December 14, 2017 at 12:56 amHillary Rodham Clinton AND William Hamrod Clinton
bobzz , December 14, 2017 at 3:06 pmThank you for bringing attention to the Benghazi scandal: "FBI Chief Instructed Agents To Lie About Benghazi To Protect Hillary" http://yournewswire.com/fbi-lie-benghazi-hillary/
"By placing the interests of the Obama administration over the public's interests, the order is yet another data point highlighting the politicization of the FBI: After the September 11, 2012 attack against U.S. government facilities in Benghazi, Libya, the Obama administration peddled a lie, telling the public that the attack was related to Muslims who had become enraged at an anti-Islam YouTube video, and not a planned act of terrorism – despite Hillary Clinton emailing Chelsea Clinton from her unsecure @clintonemail.com server the night of the attack to say exactly that."
-- On a topic of evidence: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-13/anti-trump-texts-between-fired-fbi-agents-having-extramarital-affair-leak-and-theyre "
In 2016, [the FBI] received the infamous anti-Trump "dossier" The "dossier" was a compendium of allegations about then-candidate Trump and others around him that was compiled by the opposition research firm Fusion GPS. The firm's bank records, obtained by House investigators, revealed that the project was funded by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
Weeks before the 2016 election, Peter Strzok's FBI team agreed to pay former MI6 agent and Fusion GPS operative Christopher Steele $50,000 if he could verify the claims contained within the dossier – which relied on the cooperation of two senior Kremlin officials. (One more time for you, Walter Devine -- "if he [Steele] could verify the claims"). When Steele was unable to verify the claims in the dossier, the FBI wouldn't pay him according to the New York Times.
Despite the fact that Steele was not paid by the FBI for the dossier, Peter Strzok used it to launch a counterintelligence investigation into President Trump's team. Steele was ultimately paid $168,000 by Fusion GPS to assemble the dossier.
-- More evidence" "FBI Texts Reveal "Insurance Policy" To Prevent Trump Presidency" http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-13/we-cant-take-risk-fbi-texts-reveal-insurance-policy-prevent-trump-presidency
-- Have you noticed the numbers for payments? The bank records? The names? -- these are the evidence. Or you believe that there a Bias against the miserable Steele?
Skip Scott , December 14, 2017 at 4:28 pmOf interest to me is why the Republicans did not hammer Hillary for placing an ambassador in what was essentially a CIA compound in the first place. My guess and I can only guess is that they no objection to its being a ratline to ship Libya's stolen armaments to head-chopping jihadists (with USA blessing) fighting Assad. So to raise the issue of why putting an ambassador there would have opened the door to sensitive questions -- if the press would ask them, of course.
Jon Adams , December 14, 2017 at 6:17 pmThat's the real Benghazi story the MSM won't talk about. Although I suspect the armaments were given to the head choppers by the CIA, and then they rebelled at having them transferred to the head choppers in Syria after they had succeeded in killing Ghaddafi.
Kiza , December 14, 2017 at 7:16 pm"Madame Secretary, WHY was it necessary to destroy Libya?" No republican asked THAT question.
Adrian Engler , December 14, 2017 at 3:44 amHello Skip, nice to read your good comments again and to exchange info. Here is an article which talks about the weapons ratline in Syria. Within four days, the powerful anti-tank missiles that CIA bought in Bulgaria and (supposedly) delivered to "moderate" rebels, ended up in ISIS hands. The only problem with the article's narrative is that it is still drawing the official line that the lack of oversight is to blame for such, whilst it was clearly a deliberate action to supply weapons to ISIS wrapped up in plausible deniability of passing them through the hands of some poor inept souls serving as intermediaries.
Thus, the CIA kept being surprised that its powerful weapons kept ending up in ISIS hands but kept doing the same over and over: oops an oversight mistake, oops and another one, oops one more, and another one, . the two hundredth one
Antiwar7 , December 14, 2017 at 7:24 amStarting a grand-scale investigation on the basis of allegations of conspiracy with another government and treason is rather dubious when these allegations from dirty campaign tactics are not based on any tangible facts. It is true that the Muller team does not leak as much to the press as the intelligence services did previously. This investigation still plays an important role for the media propaganda that still pushes the Russiagate conspiracy theory even though there had never been any factual basis for it and no evidence has been found in over a year. Since there is still this investigation is going on, they can use it for justifying their daily minutes of hate against Russia, their calls for censorship and denounciation of any political position that diverges from the neoconservative and neoliberal ideology.
I wonder how long this can go on. So far, the indictments of the Muller team have had nothing to do with the Russiagate conspiracy theory. Paul Manafort was indicted for tax evasion related to lobbying business with Ukraine, mostly years ago. Michael Flynn was indicted because when he reported a call from his holidays to the Russian ambassador to the FBI more than three weeks later, he left out two elements (the FBI had the recordings from the NSA, anyway, so they wouldn't have had to ask him about the telephone call). There was nothing illegal about the contents of the telephone call (the most dubious thing was, of course, the lobbying related to a UN security council resolution vote, but that might at best hint at colluding with Israel, it certainly does not fit the Russiagate conspiracy theory). It seems quite plausible that Flynn just forgot these two elements of a telephone call in which quite a large number of points was raised and that he pleaded guilty because of a plea deal (otherwise he might have been indicted in connection with his lobbying work for Turkey). Superficially, the closest to the idea of Russiagate is the indictment of Papadopoulos, someone who played a minor role in the Trump campaign and was looking for contacts with Russians, but, as it seems did not get very far (for some reasons he seemed to think a Russian woman he was talking with was a relative of Putin). His actions may have been naïve or misguided, but nothing about them was illegal, like in the case of Michael Flynn, he is only accused of lying to the FBI about normal, legal actions.
So, if we judge the Muller investigation by its results, it is not going anywhere. Obviously, that is what should be expected when a commission is set up for investigating a conspiracy theory for which there had never been any evidence to begin with. I suppose the result would be similar if the Illuminati, the Elders of Zion, or reptiloids were officially investigated.
The question is how they will wind down. If they just say that apart from things like Manafort's possible tax evation and Flynn's lobbying for Israel, they have not found anything – certainly nothing that confirms the Russiagate conspiracy theory -, that will be quite difficult, people will demand that it is investigated how it came about that such a conspiracy was spread and played such an influential role in political discourse for some time. It seems that the Muller team wants to delay that moment when they have to confess that the conspiracy theory has broken down, but that won't necessarily make it easier, either.
bobzz , December 14, 2017 at 3:09 pmHow long should we wait until we hear of ONE, that's right, ONE piece of evidence backing these claims up? Please answer: 2 years? 10 years? The only evidence so far amounts to "trust us".
And that's ignoring the monumental number of pieces of false evidence that have been put forward. That in itself makes the whole "investigation" suspicious. On top of the long, documented history of the CIA planting false stories in the press.
Dunno , December 14, 2017 at 4:43 pmI don't know. How long did it take the Dutch to cook the evidence to condemn Russian partisans for the downing of the Malaysian airliner -- with Ukraine holding a gun to their heads.
Lois Gagnon , December 14, 2017 at 8:24 pmDear Mr. 7, I have come to the grudging conclusion that Russia-gate is and has always been more about Russia and Putin than about the crooked Don. If we stop to think about it, Trump has succumbed to the deep control of the Deep-State colossus. Russia evil; Israel good! Got it? When the pathetic wiener & crotch-grabber isn't bitchin' for Bibi and doing little pooch tricks for Israel, he is being programmed by the pentagon and the Deep State, and making sure that the super-rich get super richer. His own SOS Tillerson called him an effin' moron. Enough said!
Therefore, 7, Russia-gate is all about keeping the pot boiling for the presidential election in Russia next year. Demonizing Putin and Russia is the new great game of our era. The NWO Nebula lusts after Russia's geostrategic location and its abundant resources. It's 1905-1925 all over again. Read the book, "Wall Street and the Russian Revolution 1905-1925" by Richard B. Spence and also take a gander at Trine Day books' website of suppressed books. The deep-state Plutocrats and their secret societies hatch their evil little plots, while trying to keep the rest of us in the dark. Right now, Trump is a convenient platform for anti-Russian propaganda.
Sam F , December 14, 2017 at 8:10 amThink you nailed it. The bankster regime changers already tried once to structurally adjust Russia into being a US puppet state in the 90s under Clinton. Russia was robbed blind while Yeltzin drank himself into a stupor. Putin is the one who put a stop to the looting. That is his crime against the western oligarchs and why he is enemy #1.
Lois Gagnon , December 14, 2017 at 8:43 pmOnce more the standard troll line about being a prior supporter, which plainly "Devine" is not.
We are well over a year into this matter with nothing but speculation and manufactured claims.
It is clear that Russia-gate = Israel-gate, a diversion from zionist control of the DNC.
Where is the concern of "Devine" for the lack of investigation of control of elections and mass media by Israel?
Why does he seek to cover up the complete destruction of democracy by the foreign power Israel?Adam Kraft , December 14, 2017 at 12:16 pmOliver Stone had this to say on the matter on FaceBook. If you're on FB, here is the link.
Lois Gagnon , December 14, 2017 at 8:49 pmfacts don't show bias walt. yeah, media sells to the public, but they're also selling (or trading narratives for access) to the gov't. Wikileaks exposed the MSM – DNC collusion and we've witnessed the leaks and anonymous sources from the IC. Trust the CIA?
There's no 'lack of discussion about what they have uncovered' which has basically amounted to a pile of dirt. Have not read from the VIPS and William Binney? Uncovering shady business with oligarchs doesn't show collusion, but the dossier oppo does, but it's business as usual. Denying the FBI-DNC server subpoena was odd don't you think?
I personally believe that progressive hope dies at the DNC and exposing the party's lies (their private and public views) and undemocratic practices (preliminary process, fundraising) is the best thing for the country. It brings us one step closer to potentially building a third party that represents the proletariat and petty bourgeois classes.
Anna , December 14, 2017 at 1:56 pmI agree with your sentiment, but I'm finding it disturbing how many so called progressives are convinced beyond any doubt, despite the evidence I produce to instill doubt, that Russia interfered in "our democracy."
They have come unglued to the point of idiocy over Trump. They are firmly in the clutches of the CIA Deep State apparatus.
Paul E. Merrell, J.D. , December 14, 2017 at 3:06 pmHey, Walter Devine, here is more for your whining about evidence: There are plenty of evidence when the disgusting clintonistas are concerned: http://theduran.com/fusion-gps-admits-that-it-hired-wife-of-doj-official-to-investigate-then-candidate-trump/
"Fusion GPS appears to be in the center of a web of corruption. Who hired Fusion GPS to ramp up its opposition research against Trump? Hillary Clinton and the DNC. the wife of Justice Department official Bruce G. Ohr worked for Fusion GPS during the 2016 presidential election. Nellie Ohr is listed as working for the CIA's Open Source Works department in a 2010 DOJ report." Look how the CIA, FBI, and DNC have found each other and made a friendship forever.
Also, do you personally have any concern about the murder of Seth Rich? -- Donna Brazil has become afraid of being Seth-Riched. How come? What kind of scum the Democratic apparatus has become? -- Guess Tony Podesta and Bill Clinton and madame "we came, we saw, he died ha, ha, ha " are the composite face of the Democratic Party today.
Gregory Herr , December 14, 2017 at 8:22 pm@ Walter Devine: "Once they are done and present what they have found, then everyone can get on their soap boxes and let loose."
But overlook that the Democrats and mainstream media are doing the opposite? It seems to me that this is precisely the point that Mr. Parry's reporting has been aimed at, that the Democrats and mainstream media are jumping enormously to RussiaGate conclusions without disclosing any evidence to back up their incredibly dangerous claims and that there *is* very strong evidence of ulterior motives.
Peter de Klerk , December 14, 2017 at 8:53 pmHave at it Walter. What exactly have they uncovered? The "process" lost credibility long ago. The "intelligence" report of January 6th was garbage and it's been all downhill since.
falcemartello , December 13, 2017 at 10:28 pmI had great respect Parry's earlier writing which had a healthy dose of MSM skepticism (albeit largely for personal reasons). This whole business of jumping to conclusions on the Russia meddling has put me off him totally. All the reporting seems to be in service of defending a forgone conclusion. I wonder if this has anything to do with fundraising.
john wilson , December 14, 2017 at 6:00 amThis whole Russia ate my lunch has entered the realm of alternate truth. The MSM are now actually stating that the Russian hacking the 2016 election as fact. Just like all the other false and fabricated statements of world events in the last 20 years . Fro Yugoslavia, Milosovic exonerated for the falsely laid charges of genocide . How convenient after his death . Qadaffi murdering and slaughtering his own people hence RPL interventionist and voila the highest standard of living in the African continent is now reduced to takfiri heaven for the NATO proxy army recruiting centre. MH17 disaster is still being paroled as Russian deliberate murder. No facts no evidence that would stand even in a Stalinist show trial. Assad gassing his own people. More than debunked by multiple sources and US academics to boot no still being paroled as fact by western MSM.
The whole charade post 9/11 has gone into this Orwellian nightmare that just keep on growing and news and information has become pure Hollwoodian fantasy that the sheeple are sleep walking into this futuristic hell hole that these vile masters of the universe will not be able to back track without losing face and without causing the populace to stand up and be counted and kick tjhese vile players out for good.
Skip Scott , December 14, 2017 at 8:15 amTake heart Falcemartello, its not all bad. Over here in the Britain RT has its own free to view TV channel which sits next to the BBC news and the parliament programme. It is now widely watched by the public and has millions of viewers with many using RT as their main news source. The fact that the American deep state criminals have made things difficult for RT America in the US, is a clear indication that the fake news masters otherwise known as the MSN, and their handlers in the deep state are rattled by the ever growing alternative voice. Its up to you, me and the rest of the posters on CN to tell our friends colleagues and others about CN, RT etc. If only one percent take a look then alternative opinion will start to filter through and more importantly, show the public what liars and criminals are in charge of their country.
BobS , December 14, 2017 at 11:36 amThanks for the info John. I am really glad that at least Britain has a reasonable degree of freedom of the press. If it spreads across Europe, the USA may eventually find itself so isolated by its own propaganda that the whole evil empire scheme will implode, and we will have to learn to wage peace in a multi-polar world. That is my Christmas wish.
rosemerry , December 14, 2017 at 4:48 pmIt's not difficult to get RT in the US- I watch it regularly on Dish Network. Youtube is another option- I'm guessing it's big and rich enough to survive any changes in net neutrality that will result from the Trump/Pai FCC (of course, Obama and Clinton were just as bad, DEEP STATE!!!!, etc.).
If you're going to tout conspiracies, get your facts straight.rosemerry , December 14, 2017 at 5:06 pmJohn Pilger has an article in counterpunch explaining the importance of documentaries (not just his!). It is notable that his first one, on Cambodia, in 1970, was shown free to air on TV in the UK and thirity other countries, with huge audience impact, but refused by PBS as too disturbing!!
The free press in the USA is in tune with the ptb.
Kiza , December 14, 2017 at 7:58 pmI see the Pilger article is here on consortiumnews. It is worth a read, like the rest here!
Kiza , December 14, 2017 at 8:00 pmWhat you wrote john wilson is simply not the complete truth, although I wish it was. It is true that RT UK has its own terrestrial digital TV channel. It appears that Margarita Simonyan bid for such channel at an auction when Britain was converting from analogue to digital TV and got it. Thus, the British TV viewers can now see RT without any subscription or special equipment, "next to BBC" as you optimistically say.
What you did not mention john wilson is that the British Government regulator Ofcom is putting severe pressure on RT because their news offered an alternative view to the British propaganda. They rinse and repeat the same biased-news allegations almost every year, keeping RT UK under constant threat of the loss of its broadcasting licence due to "breach of truth standards" = "fake news". They even banned the lightbox, radio and other media advertising campaign of RT in Britain, the so called "RT is the second opinion", only because the campaign claimed that if RT existed before UK attack on Iraq in 2003, Tony Blair may have not been successful in passing the war resolutions through the parliament.
What most people do not appreciate is that the methods of suppression are not the same in all Western countries, and why should they be? Simonyan got a terrestrial TV channel and the broadcasting licence because of the British propaganda hubris – the British still believed that their post-imperial propaganda is the best in the World, just because it was the best in the world during the empire. They simply never expected the Russians to be so successful, just the same as US.
In summary:
US => force RT to register as a foreign agent to force reporting of every little detail of its operations; refuse journalistic credentials to Congress etc to disadvantage its reporting
UK => keep constant threat of the loss of broadcasting licence to skew the reporting towards the British Government version of the newsI post the links relevant to what I wrote here separately to avoid being put on hold.
Joe Tedesky , December 13, 2017 at 10:32 pmhttps://www.rt.com/about-us/press-releases/rt-uk-second-opinion/
https://theintercept.com/2015/03/02/uk-media-regulator-threatens-rt-bias-airing-anti-western-views/
rosemerry , December 14, 2017 at 4:52 pmPhilip Giraldi writes about a shift occurring over at the CIA in Trump's favor, Politico's interview with a somewhat repentant Trump hater Mike Morell now saying 'maybe our plan wasn't that well thought out' , and now these MSM Russia Gate screwups coupled with a discovery of FBI Trump haters, is a result of Trump's recognizing Jerusalem as it being Israel's capital? Just say'n.
BobH , December 14, 2017 at 1:43 pmObama's expulsion of the Russian diplomats after Trump's election, with no reason based on fact/danger to the USA gave a good start to the Russophobia encouraged by the Clinton losers and leading on to the ludicrous extreme situation still going on.
Kiza , December 14, 2017 at 8:19 pmAmen
Lois Gagnon , December 14, 2017 at 9:04 pmSpot on Bob, the unfortunate and idealistic Mr Seth Rich became the DNC's bottom line, the shining example of its "anything goes as long as we have friends in the right places" (FBI, DOJ, CIA, etc etc).
Anon , December 14, 2017 at 8:23 amAgreed. Let's not forget Process Server for the DNC Fraud Lawsuit Shawn Lucas who died mysteriously 2 weeks after serving the DNC either.
I never would have believed the rot in the Democratic Party establishment would rival the Republicans, but here we are.
Steven A , December 13, 2017 at 11:16 pm"Tina" is a troll assigned to CN to claim extremism, and never presents evidence or argument.
incontinent reader , December 14, 2017 at 12:12 amThis is another great review by Robert Parry. However, he again uses the formulation that "WikiLeaks published" and "WikiLeaks released" purloined DNC emails on September 13, 2016. Greenwald and the Washington Post have stated, more carefully, that WikiLeaks "promoted" the data source of these emails by means of a Tweet on that date.
Adam Carter noted in a comment under Parry's previous article that the DNC emails in question are the NGP/VAN files associated with Guccifer 2.0's pre-announced "hack" on July 5, 2016 and reportedly released by him on Sept 13, 2016.
In fact, they are certainly not part of WikiLeak's official archive. One can see from their website that they published nothing between the times of the DNC emails release of July 22, 2016 and the Podesta emails release of October 7. So "published" is clearly the wrong word.
Whether or in what sense it may fairly be stated that WikiLeaks "released", "promoted" or "uploaded" (as according to the Erickson email, which probably represents nothing more than an outsider's impression) the September 13 files needs to be cautiously assessed. Their Tweet did include an access key, as did the Erickson email, and the address for the file given in the latter was a "mega.nz" address. I assume that this address is associated with Kim Dot Com, who also claims to have been involved with WikiLeaks.
Did Guccifer 2.0 himself upload the files to mega.nz? Did he play Kim Dot Com to use the latter's association with Wikileaks to get Wikileaks itself to put out the Sept 13 Tweet advertising the data release? I'm not sure how this all worked, but it seems that it is misleading to simply refer to this set of emails as having been "published" by Wikileaks.
Steven A , December 14, 2017 at 8:21 amDidn't you read the VIPS analyses of the DNC leaks?
mike k , December 14, 2017 at 11:08 amYes, I did, but not while writing my comment above. Do they say anything relevant to the question of whether it is accurate to correct the false media report that the Trump campaign was given access to the NGP/VAN DNC emails before WikiLeaks published them with a "corrected" statement that the Trump campaign was notified (but may never have noticed) of a link to those files by a random member of the public _after WikiLeaks had already published them_? As I recall, the original VIPS memo was itself somewhat confused about the distinction between the NGP/VAN material and the five DNC documents made public by "Guccifer 2.0" on June 15, 2016, so I'm not sure one will find anything relevant to my question there.
While it is true that the "correction" here is _much_ closer to the truth than the original misinformation, the underlined part at the end of my question still seems misleading in that the "publication" is attributed to WikiLeaks without qualification. And it seems Parry is not the only one to make this mistake. As Adam Carter pointed out two days ago, he was very surprised that almost no one has been noticing that the files in question came from "Guccifer 2.0" and not from WikiLeaks. While Parry's attribution misleading, I am still not clear in my own mind about precisely what did happen, i.e. how WikiLeaks came to "promote" the release of the files and whether in some loose or indirect sense WikiLeaks did "release" them.
Steven A , December 14, 2017 at 2:05 pmIs there really any other purpose in your involved questioning but seeking to cloud and confuse the obvious issues in the "Russia hacked" affair?
Paul E. Merrell, J.D. , December 14, 2017 at 2:33 pmHow is it clouding the issue to suggest, as Adam Carter did, that one element in Parry's (and others') description of the facts in an otherwise excellent article seems to be misleading?
Steven A , December 14, 2017 at 3:17 pm@ "the address for the file given in the latter was a "mega.nz" address. I assume that this address is associated with Kim Dot Com, who also claims to have been involved with WikiLeaks."
Kim Dot Com's relationship with Mega was already extremely strained by the time of the Guccifer leaks and to the extent he ever had control of the company it had apparently ended. See e.g., https://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-warns-mega-users-to-backup-their-files-160421/
robjira , December 14, 2017 at 12:17 amThese are the sort of details I haven't been familiar with and about which I was hoping to learn more – so thanks! I was relying on a vague impression from memory when I made the link between the "mega.nz" address seen in the email from Erickson and Kim Dot Com.
Since the whole Guccifer 2.0 operation appears to be an attempt to falsely smear WikiLeaks as a Russian agent (by publicly claiming to be a hacker associated with WikiLeaks and then being "caught" releasing documents (the ones of June 15, 2016) with "Russian fingerprints"), perhaps his uploading files (Sept 13, 2016) to a server with (past) ties to someone associated with WikiLeaks (Kim Dot Com) would have been part of the same effort.
A contemporary article says this about the release: "'Guccifer 2.0' released over 670 megabytes of documents at a cybersecurity conference in London Tuesday . The documents were released on a file storage system and not on WikiLeaks or on Guccifer 2.0's website." https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/hacker-guccifer-2-0-releases-more-dnc-docs-including-tim-n647921
Thus the statement that "WikiLeaks published" the files in question (repeated by Parry, Justin Raimondo and others) appears to be false. I share the surprise expressed by Adam Carter (under Parry's previous piece) that few appear to have noticed or bothered to correct this error – even though they were on target in exposing the main part of the latest MSM lie.
Bob Van Noy , December 14, 2017 at 4:37 pmGreat related reporting on BAR.
https://www.blackagendareport.com/entire-russian-hacking-narrative-invalidated-single-assange-tweet
https://www.blackagendareport.com/russsiagate-and-collapse-obamas-war-against-syriaKarl Sanchez , December 14, 2017 at 12:57 amExcellent links, robjira. Thanks.
Marko , December 14, 2017 at 2:22 amThose of us who live within the Outlaw US Empire have been seduced by lies Big and small since we could understand language. RussiaGate is an example of a Big Lie, just as the Outlaw US Empire being a democracy is a Big Lie–both are indoctrinational. Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Great Pumpkin, Sand Man, Cupid, et al are other excellent examples of indoctrinational Big Lies. One of the most severe is the maxim delivered from parents: You must share and play nice, when the real world acts in the exact opposite fashion. What's more, RussiaGate serves as a cover-up for several major crimes–some by Clinton, some by DNC, some by FBI, some by Justice Department, and some by CIA: None of them are being actively investigated despite there being lots of evidence existing in the public domain, which is why we know those crimes occurred.
I very highly suggest reading this article, https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/12/13/the-u-s-is-not-a-democracy-it-never-was/
irina , December 14, 2017 at 4:03 amThe last great hope for the Dems :
"A Russian hacker accused of stealing from Russian banks reportedly confessed in court that he hacked the U.S. Democratic National Committee (DNC) and stole Hillary Clinton's emails under the direction of agents from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB)"
PUTIN ORDERED THEFT OF CLINTON'S EMAILS FROM DNC, RUSSIAN HACKER CONFESSES
BY CRISTINA MAZA ON 12/12/17http://www.newsweek.com/russian-hacker-stealing-clintons-emailshacking-dnc-putinsfsb-745555
Bob Van Noy , December 14, 2017 at 9:57 amAnd on PBS tonite the author of this Atlantic article got to put in her two cents about Putin:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/01/putins-game/546548/
in which she stated that not only did Putin 'annex Crimea' but also invaded Ukraine, among other things. None of her statements were backed up by any facts, which apparently are irrelevant anymore. Wikipedia has an interesting bio on her.
Sam F , December 14, 2017 at 8:56 amThank you irina for that "catch". I'm a long time reader of "The Atlantic Magazine" well aware of its long, liberal history and was surprised to find David Frum reporting there. David was a speech writer for W. Bush and apparently came up with the infamous "Axis of Evil" tag for President Bush's State Of The Union speech. I'll link the Wikipedia page below for those interested. I'm concerned that propaganda has spread far and wide
exiled off mainstreet , December 14, 2017 at 3:13 pmDespite its extremely conclusive title and substance, the Newsweek article later admits the extremely suspect nature of the accusation, and the lack of any evidence whatsoever:
"Andrei Soldatov an expert on Russian cybersecurity, said he believes Kozlovsky invented the story about his direction from the FSB for personal gain. 'I've been communicating with [Kozlovsky] for four months, and he has failed to give me any proof or answer my questions," Soldatov told Newsweek .'He was put in jail by these guys so it could be out of revenge, or he wanted to make a deal with the FSB,'"
Such a reversal of evidence and conclusion bespeaks deliberate deception. The motive is unclear, as the failed Newsweek is said to have been revived in 2013 by a Korean-American Christian fundamentalist David Jang formerly of Moon's Unification Church, whose followers consider him the Second Coming of JC, according to the linked source. http://www.motherjones.com/media/2014/03/newsweek-ibt-olivet-david-jang/
Perhaps another quasi-religious CIA front like Fethullah Gulen's madrassas in Turkey and across central Asia.
Manfred Whimplebottem , December 14, 2017 at 9:20 pmThey keep publishing the same horseshit just like Pravda did in the Soviet era and just like the Voelkischer Beobachter and Stuermer did during the Nazi era. I guess the uninformed hoi polloi get so used to it in these situations that they accept the situation, like ducks and frogs accept watery ponds as their environments.
Wm. Boyce , December 14, 2017 at 2:33 amI think I heard a similar story from newsweek months ago, looks like someone took the deal(?).
FBI Probe Into Clinton Emails Prompted Offer of Cash, Citizenship for Confession, Russian Hacker Claims
"On October 5, 2016, days before U.S. intelligence publicly accused Russia of endorsing an infiltration of Democratic Party officials' emails, Nikulin was arrested in Prague at the request of the U.S. on separate hacking charges. Now, Nikulin claims U.S. authorities tried to pin the email scandal on him."
"ikulin's lawyer, Martin Sadilek, [claims] that the FBI visited him at least a couple of times, offering to drop the charges and grant him U.S. citizenship as well as cash and an apartment in the U.S. if the Russian national confessed to participating in the 2016 hacks of Clinton campaign chief John Podesta's emails in July."
"[They told me:] you will have to confess to breaking into Clinton's inbox for [U.S. President Donald Trump] on behalf of [Russian President Vladimir Putin]," Nikulin wrote"
http://www.newsweek.com/fbi-investigation-clinton-emails-russia-hack-607538
Marko , December 14, 2017 at 4:43 amI'm curious as to why this is still an issue. Here's a link to an article from last August:
http://www.businessinsider.com/top-fbi-investigator-peter-strzok-steps-away-from-russia-probe-2017-8At that time, it wasn't known why Mr. Strzok was transferred/whatever from counter-intelligence, but since then it has been revealed that Mr. Mueller did so for his ( Strzok) political opinions. That would seem a fair thing to do. What's the problem? Might be right-wing fear.
exiled off mainstreet , December 14, 2017 at 3:16 pm" What's the problem? "
C'mon , man. Given Strzok's position and his influence on Russiagate AND the earlier Hillarygate investigations , the fact that he was transferred in July is of little comfort. Any damage he could do he'd already done by then. Jim Jordan will explain it to you , in six minutes :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=69&v=cShxjlUfmhk
Realist , December 14, 2017 at 2:43 amThe problem is that when that story first appeared, nothing else was disclosed. The damning material took months to emerge, as did Strzok's links to the Clinton coverups and the links to the fake dossier and the FBI's "anti-Trump" insurance policy. Those who want to believe the regime's falsehoods can always come up with rationales such as "I guess the government people know best" which was typical of the answers to sceptics against the Viet Nam war in the mid '60s.
Homina , December 14, 2017 at 3:48 amIt's been a year and a half since Hillary Clinton first accused Donald Trump of being a Putin puppet and in collusion with the Kremlin. Any fool should be able to understand that if there existed any real evidence to support this accusation the world would have seen it under banner headlines long ago. Instead, we get nothing but one set of sensational fake headlines unsupported by any actual facts time and again, all in an attempt to fool the mentally-challenged public. Yet the NYT and the rest of the yellow press continue to insist that the evidence continues to mount against Trump. What a laugh. Moreover, these deceivers are the people that want what they define as "fake news" to be systematically rooted out and stricken from the public record so no thinking person can ever see it. And, they tell us this is a free and democratic country. Got any more jokes?
exiled off mainstreet , December 14, 2017 at 3:30 amTotally agree. And it reminds me of some reality "quest" shows about finding Bigfoot or the Oak Island treasure, etc.
If those were actually found, it would be reported a day or two later, unless every single one of the producers, actors, workers, etc. were under an NDA enough to wait until some season finale a year or two later. Ridiculous. If Bigfoot exists that will come to us on news, and big news, international. It won't come on a 4th season of some Bigfoot-finding show.
So yeah, season two of the Trump-Russia whatever.
Maddow/MSNBC and the likes have gone utterly insane. Bigfoot behind every door. Scant or zero facts, who cares. This isn't like Benghazi or White Water or Bush's air service this is 24/7 inane terrible journalism from nearly every journalist publisher in the US.
Homina , December 14, 2017 at 3:40 amI think that the new evidence discussed provides Trump the cover to pull the plug on the whole Mueller operation despite the Alabama debacle. Sure the media talkers would compare it to the Saturday Night Massacre, but the proven falsity of the whole absurd circus renders risible such comparisons. While I don't expect much out of Trump, the championing of this absurd theory by the mainstream democrats renders them an existential threat to civilization itself based on the fact that enmity with Russia seems to be their be-all and end-all. It is all not only criminal but profoundly stupid.
Sam F , December 14, 2017 at 6:27 pm"The primary purpose of Mr. Mueller's investigation is not to take down Mr. Trump. It's to protect America's national security and the integrity of its elections by determining whether a presidential campaign conspired with a foreign adversary to influence the 2016 election – a proposition that grows more plausible every day."
1. How is Russia an "adversary"? And even if Russia is, that's weasel-words and subjective. Is Turkey a foreign adversary? Is Israel? China? Mexico?
2. Why wasn't there decades ago a special Election Panel looking into foreign influence? I guess it just started to happen in this last election though .Only with Putin!
3. "more plausible" .this fucking idiot. After a year of headlines of "this is what will finally take down Trump" and such, all with zero reasons, zero facts .Is naught more plausible than naught?
4. I detest Trump. I more detest hypocrites and idiots.
But sure, "blah blah more possible take trump down" says some idiot or collective NYT idiocy. Bore me more your next op-ed, you partisan morons.
Rich Monahan , December 14, 2017 at 3:57 amYes, the NYT is mere propaganda. We already know that "a presidential campaign conspired with a foreign adversary to influence the 2016 election" because Clinton's top ten donors were all Zionists, and she supported all wars for Israel.
Skip Scott , December 14, 2017 at 8:59 amThank you for your spot-on analysis! The motives of the deep state – including FBI operatives, NY Times and WAPO – is crystal clear. They do not want Trump to be president, and are determined to either remove him or handcuff him indefinitely. But why? Why has the establishment gone crazy? Is it simply political, or something deeper and darker?
M C Martin , December 14, 2017 at 6:08 amThe real "deep" reason is the PNAC plot to make sure that the USA remains the sole super power that can impose its will anywhere in the world. Trump's campaign position of seeking detente with Russia would have led us into a multi-polar world giving Russia a sphere of influence. That is unacceptable to the empire.
RussiaGate is an attempt to remove Trump from power, or at a minimum make it impossible for him to seek detente. I am no Trump apologist, but I do think our only hope for a future in this nuclear age is to seek peace and cooperation in a multi-polar world that respects national sovereignty and the rule of law. I suspect Trump will continue to be brought to heel, with or without the success of RussiaGate. And there is always the JFK solution as a last resort.
Where is William Binney's "Thin String" signals intelligence (SIGINT) software when it's needed? Wouldn't it be lovely to focus it on the communications of our own government? Binney says applying it after 9/11 to the pre-9/11 communications streams did successfully predict the 9/11 attacks. If only we had stored all communications of government officials dating back to . hey, let's say 1774 or so, what truths might we now know, and what proofs might we now have? What would FDR's communications prior to Pearl Harbor reveal? What about the JFK, Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X assassinations?
While I can't endorse our government's illegal and immoral collection and storing of virtually all communications among people, if the store is there and is used against petty criminals, why couldn't or shouldn't it be used to detect and prove the illegal acts of our government power brokers?
What's good for the goose
Dec 14, 2017 | www.unz.com
BigAl , December 13, 2017 at 1:17 pm GMT
The 1970's was in many ways the watershed decade for the radical transformation of the American economy and society, even more than the 1960's (I lived through both as a young man). I have yet to read the definitive social-critical analysis of these years to explain the changes that, looking back, seem to have taken the country of my childhood right out from under me, gone forever, increasingly difficult to remember through the fog of nostalgia that tends to distort as much as to reveal.Some of the things I do remember about this time include the PATCO (air traffic controllers) strike, very well. What is often not mentioned is that PATCO was attempting to do something that had not been permitted under federal civil service law, that is, bargain for wages as well as working conditions. Wage bargaining, PATCO correctly assessed, was the issue that made or broke unions and had enabled state and local public employees to finally begin to earn a decent, living wage beginning in the 1960's (think the iconic Mike Quill and the NYC TWU).
Reagan correctly (from his point of view) saw that to fail to break PATCO on this issue was to open the floodgates and turn the U.S. civil services into something akin to its European counterpart, with the possibility of general strikes and the rest. And of course to encourage private sector unions in their drive to organize and to change federal and state labor laws to strengthen the right to picket strike and organize.
What I also remember well however, is how little support PATCO was able to garnish from other unionized workers (and in many cases from union leadership as well). It seemed to me at the time that some of the strongest hostility came from rank and file of trade and utilities unions. Of course Reagan, following the Nixon playbook, shrewdly played the patriot-nationalist card, painting PATCO as a threat to national security as well as composed of a bunch of ingrates who should have been happy to have jobs. But by then the segmentation of the American workforce, a tactic that played right into the hands of the corporate-capitalist class was in full swing. The American worker lucky enough to possess a decent paying skilled or semi-skilled union job was being taught to see their situation as morally "deserved" and to see newer aspirants to similar positions, whether recently arrived immigrants or members of racial-ethnic groups previously suppressed by law, custom and prejudice as threats/dangers/enemies of their own recently won status.
I recall too that it was in the 1970's that the threat of "relocation", at that time mainly from the more heavily unionized north and northeastern states to the union-hostile south began to play a major role in the destruction of the power of labor. This was the beginning of the "globalization" factor and of the off-shoring of manufacturing jobs that has been commented on extensively and that took off a decade or so later. What is often not recalled is that unions and other pro-labor groups attempted to lobby Congress to amend the NLRA (National Labor Relations Act) and to appoint labor-friendly members to the NLRB to ensure that plant relocation would be a mandatory subject of bargaining and thus prevent unilateral (by capital ownership) relocation or the threat of relocation as a means to destroy the power of labor. They were, of course, not successful, and factories and business continued to move away from traditional centers of labor power and worker-protections, first to so-called "right-to-work" states and eventually to Asia.
And I remember the beginning of the financialization of the American corporation that I experienced on a "micro" scale, a kid lucky enough to have a summer job while in university at a large resource-extraction corporation's HQ in NYC. I recall white-collar conversations about compensation and about how salaries had steadily risen over the past decade (the company was said to be doing "really well"). And I remember how towards the end of my summer stints more and more conversation was about stock prices and Wall Street favor and about the new executive managerial style brought in by "those young MBA"s", and about (for the first time) worries of a "take-over" by "outsiders" (the company, although public, had had family leadership for many years).
And most of all I remember how gradually the material-economic components to the identity of the blue-collar and middle class worker were written out of existence. The great narrative, the myth that explains to us what it means to be "an American," no longer included any hint of class solidarity, of the kind of work we did, the pay we earned, the common living conditions in the small towns and urban neighborhoods and "cookie-cutter" suburbs of America.
Formerly the struggle of economic and material improvement was seen by most ordinary Americas as a struggle for certain necessary conditions to maintain, strengthen, and perpetuate a way-of-life in which the common core assumptions about the "good life" remained basically stable and unchallenged: family, stable job, residential security, public schools, public places -- neighborhood bars, coffee shops, civic clubs, parks and playgrounds -- where people could meet and interact as social equals.
The financialization of the economy, indeed of social life itself to a great extent, meant the drive for the maximization of private profit and the pursuit of interests and 'efficiencies" conceived entirely apart from any impact of the common good of society as a whole, and should have been seen as a grave threat to the very conditions of material and economic security, only recently achieved, that were the foundation of these other civic and social institutions.
Instead, through a grand and diabolical deceit cynically promulgated by a mostly Republican capitalist class of privilege, but also aided and abetted by a "new Left" that increasingly postured itself as the enemy of this older and more traditional way of life, the enemy was reconceived as the new "elites", the young, urban, hipster "Leftist" who despised the old ways and represented a singular assault on everything good about America.
Meanwhile, steadily, relentlessly, the material conditions and hard-won economic improvements that had gradually made small town, urban-neighborhood, and inner-suburban life decent and livable were being destroyed by a class that paid lip-service to Capra's Bedford Falls while at the same time endlessly working to transform it into Pottersville.
Dec 13, 2017 | www.theguardian.com
Mueller will have to thread very carefully because he is maneuvering on a very politically charged terrain. And one cannot refrain from comparing the current situation with the many free passes the democrats were handed over by the FBI, the Department of Justice and the media which make the US look like a banana republic.ID1456161 -> Canadiman , 4 Dec 2017 08:30The mind blowing fact that Clinton sat with the Attorney General on the tarmac of the Phoenix airport "to chit-chat" and not to discuss the investigation on Clinton's very wife that was being overseen by the same AG, leaves one flabbergasted.
And the fact that Comey essentially said that Clinton's behaviour, tantamount in his own words to extreme recklessness, did not warrant prosecution was just inconceivable.
Don't forget that Trump has nearly 50 M gun-toting followers on Tweeter and that he would not hesitate to appeal to them were he to feel threatened by what he could conceive as a judicial Coup d'Etat. The respect for the institutions in the USA has never been so low.
Anna Bramwell -> etrang , 4 Dec 2017 08:28...a judge would decide if the evidence was sufficient to warrant a trial.
Actually, in the U.S. a grand jury would decide if the evidence was sufficient to warrant formal charges leading to a trial. There is also the possibility that Mueller has uncovered both Federal and NY State offenses, so charges could be brought against Kushner at either level. Mueller has been sharing information from his investigation with the NY Attorney General's Office. Trump could pardon a federal offense, but has no jurisdiction to pardon charges brought against Kushner by the State of NY.
I watched RT for 24 months before the US election. They favoured Bernie Saunders strongly before he lost to Hilary. Then they ran hustings for the smaller US parties, eg Greens, and the Libertarians , which could definitely be seen as an interference in the US election, but which as far as I know, was never mentioned in the US. They were anti Hilary but not pro Trump. And indeed, their strong anti capitalist bias would have made such support unlikely.EduardStreltsovGhost -> JonShone , 4 Dec 2017 08:28What's he lying about? More like he's denying the story peddled by the Democrats in some vain attempt at reducing his legitimacy over smashing Hillary in the elections.pretzelattack -> Atticus_Finch , 4 Dec 2017 08:28Obama and Hillary met hundreds of foreign officials. Were they colluding as well?
What is he going to prison for, again? Colluding with Israel?oddballs -> Taf1980uk , 4 Dec 2017 08:26The most anger in the media against the POTUS seems to be directed against Russia gate. Time and energy is wasted on conjecture, most 'probables will not stand in a court of law. This media hysteria deflects from the destruction of the affordable healthcare act and the tax changes good for the rich against the many. I think the people are being played.Krautolivier , 4 Dec 2017 08:21In the 1990s and 2000s a large section of the American establishment was effectively bought off by people like Prince Bandar. These are the ones that are determined that the anti-Russian policy then instigated be continued, even at the cost of slandering the current President's son-in-law. The irony is that in the meantime an effective regime change has taken place in Saudi and Bandar's bandits are mostly locked up behind bars.zerohoursuni -> damientrollope , 4 Dec 2017 08:19
It's all too funny.True, and not just hypocrisy either. This has to be seen in the context of a war, cold for now, on Russia - with China, via Iran and NK, next in line. Dangerous times, as a militarily formidable empire in economic decline looks set to take us all out. For the few who think and resist the dominant narrative - and are thereby routinely called out as 'kremlin trolls' - it is dismaying how easily folk are manipulated.cookcounty , 4 Dec 2017 08:15Your points are valid but, alas, factual truths are routinely trumped (!) by powerful mythology. Fact is, despite an appalling record since WW2, Washington and its pet institutions - IMF/World Bank/WTO - are still seen as good guys. How? Because (a) all western states have traded foreign policy independence for favoured status in Washington, (b) English as global lingua franca means American soft propaganda is lapped up across the world via its entertainment industry, and (c) all 'our' media are owned by billionaire corps or as with BBC/Graun, subject to government intimidation/market forces.
Truth is, DRT is not some horrifically new entity. (Let's not forget how HRC's 'no fly zone' for Syria promised to take us into WW3, nor her demented "we came, we saw, he died - ha ha" response to Gaddafi's sodomisation by knife blade, and more importantly to Libya's descent into hell.) As John Pilger noted, "the obsession with Trump the man – not Trump as symptom and caricature of an enduring system – beckons great danger for all of us".
I missed Jill Abramson's column about all the meetings the Obama administration held -- quite openly -- with foreign governments during the transition period between his election and his first inauguration.themandibleclaw -> SteveMilesworthy , 4 Dec 2017 08:12But since she's been demonstrably and laughably wrong about predicting future political events in the USA (see her entire body of work during the 2016 election campaign), why should she start making sense now?
It's completely possible, of course, that some as-yet-to-be-revealed piece of evidence will prove collusion -- before the election and by candidate Trump -- with the Russians. But the Flynn testimony certainly isn't it. All the heavy breathing and hysteria is simply a sign of how the media, yet again, always gravitates toward the news it wishes were true, rather than what really is true. If all Meuller has is Flynn and the Russians during the transition period, he's got nothing.
Flynn was charged with far more serious crimes which were all dropped and he was left with a charge that if he spends any time in prison, it will be about 6 months. Now, you could say for him to agree to that, he must have some juicy info - and he probably does - but what that juicy info is is just speculation. And if we are speculating, then maybe what he traded it for was nothing to do with Trump? After all, one of the charges against him was failing to register as a foreign agent on behalf of Turkey.WallyWillage , 4 Dec 2017 08:05It's alleged that Turkey wanted Flynn to extradite Gullen for his alleged involvement in Turkey's failed coup. Just this weekend, Turkey have issued an arrest warrant for a former CIA officer in relation to the failed coup. So, IF the CIA were behind the failed coup and Flynn knows this - well, a good way to silence him would be to charge him with some serious crimes and then offer to drop them in return for his silence. But, like your theory, it's just speculation.
Still no evidence of Russian collusion in Trump campaign BEFORE the election...... whatever happened after being president elect is not impeachable unless it would be after taking office.EduardStreltsovGhost -> CitizenOfTinyBlue , 4 Dec 2017 08:03The secret deep state security forces haven't been this diminished since Carter cleared the stables in the 70's - they fought back and stopped his second term ...
oddballs -> Taf1980uk , 4 Dec 2017 07:58if that were the case, Clinton, Bush and Obama would be sitting in jail right now.You can easily impeach Trump for bombing Syria's military airfield, which is by UN definition war crime of war aggression
Seeing how the case against Trump and Flynn is based on 'probable' and not hard proof its 'probable that the anti Trump campaign is directed from within the murky enclaves of the US intelligence community.EduardStreltsovGhost , 4 Dec 2017 07:52Trumps presidency could have the capability of galvanising a powerful resistance against the 2 party state for 'real change, like affordable healthcare and affordable education for ALL its people. But no its not happening, Trump is attacked on probables and undisclosed sources. A year has passed and nothing has been revealed.
Hatred against Trump deflects the anger, see the system works the US is still a democracy. Well it isn't, its a sick oligarchy run by the mega rich who own the media, 90% is owned by 5 corporations. Americans are fed the lie that their vast military empire with its 800 overseas bases are to defend US interests.
Well their not, their only function is, is to spend tax dollars that otherwise would be spent on education, health, infrastructure, things that would 'really' benefit America. Disagree, well go ahead and accuse me of being a conspiracy nut-job, in the meantime China is by peaceful means getting the mining rights in Africa, Australia, deals that matter.
The tax legislation for the few against the many is deflected by the anti-Trump hysteria based on conjecture and not proof.
Wow this is like becoming McCarthy Era 2.0. I'm just waiting for the show trials of all these so-called colluders.RelaxAndChill -> Silgen , 4 Dec 2017 07:46Crimea was and is Russian. Your mask is slipping, Vlad .StillAbstractImp , 4 Dec 2017 07:40Your ignorance is showing. I have no connection to Russia what so ever. Crimea was legally ceded to Russia over 200 years ago, by the Ottomans to Catherine the Great. Russia has never relinquished control. What the criminal organization the USSR did under Ukrainian expat Khrushchev, is irrelevant. And as Putin said , any agreement about respecting Ukraine's territorial integrity was negated when the USA and the EU fomented and financed a rebellion and revolution.
Decelerating Fascism - Is Kushner a Putin operative, too?mikedow -> Karantino , 4 Dec 2017 07:35Australia, Canada, and S. Africa supply the lion's share of gold bullion that London survives on. And the best uranium in the world. All sorts of other precious commodities as well. If you're not toeing the line on US foreign policies religiously, the Yanks will drop you.themandibleclaw -> Toastface_Killah , 4 Dec 2017 07:34backstop -> EdwardFatherby , 4 Dec 2017 07:31You are selectively choosing to refer to this one instance, but even here Obama administration were still in charge - so not very legal, was it.
I am "selectively choosing to refer to this one instance" because that's all Flynn has been charged with. Oh, and it is totally legal for a member of the incoming administration to start talks with their foreign counterparts. Here's a quote from an op-ed piece in The Hill from a law professor at Washington University.
the interest of (Russian Ambassador) Kislyak in determining the position of the new administration on sanctions is not unheard of in Washington, or necessarily untoward to raise with one of the incoming national security advisers. Ambassadors are supposed to seek changes in policies and often seek to influence officials in the early stages of administrations before policies are established. Flynn's suggestion that the Russians wait as the Trump administration unfolded its new policies is a fairly standard response of an incoming official .
http://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/362813-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-the-flynn-indictment
"The problem is charging Flynn for lying. A technicality. But not charging Hillary for email server. Another technicality. That's all the public will see if no collusion proved, and will ruin credibility of the FBI and the Dems"BustedBoom , 4 Dec 2017 07:31It's not just collusion is it, what about the rampant, naked nepotism, last seen on this unashamed scale in ancient Rome?
CitizenOfTinyBlue , 4 Dec 2017 07:26So he lobbied for Israel not Russia then? Whoops. How does the author even know where Mueller's probe is heading, and which way Flynn flipped? Flynn worked much longer for the Obama administration than for Trump's.He then pushed Flynn hard to try to turn Russia around on an anti-Israel vote by the UN security council.
ConCaruthers , 4 Dec 2017 07:25You can easily impeach Trump for bombing Syria's military airfield, which is by UN definition war crime of war aggression, starting war without the Congress approval; and doing so by supporting false flag of AQ, is support of terrorists and so onOh you can't do it, of course, it was so - so presidential to bomb another country and it is just old habit and no war declaration, if country is too weak to bomb you back. And you love this exiting crazy balance of global nuclear annihilation too much, so you prefer screaming Russia, Russia to keep it hot, for wonderful military contracts.
Oh, and I have to be supporter of Putin's oligarchy with dreams of great tsars of Russia, if I care about humans survival on this planet and have very bad opinion about suicidal fools playing this stupid games.
If the US wanted to do itself a massive favour it should shine the spotlight on Robert Mueller, the man now in charge of investigating the President of these United States for "collusion" with Russia and possible "obstruction of justice" himself obstructed a congressional investigation into the 9/11 terrorist attacks.moonsphere -> Hydro , 4 Dec 2017 07:24Dealing with western backed coups on its own doorstep and being the only country actually to be legally fighting in Syria - a war that directly threatens its security - does not amount to global belligerence.etrang -> CraftyRabbi , 4 Dec 2017 07:14John Edwin -> OlivesNightie , 4 Dec 2017 07:13Mueller could charge/indict Kushner or Trump Jr under New York state criminal statutes
But not for crimes relating to federal elections or conspiring with Russia.
Clinton lied under oathJohn Edwin -> SoAmerican , 4 Dec 2017 07:11The logan act is a dead law no one will be prosecuted for a act that has never been used... plus the president elect can talk to any foreign leader he or she wishes to use and even talk deals even if a current president for 2 months is still in office...emiliofloris -> Sowester , 4 Dec 2017 07:08Billsykesdoggy -> reinhardpolley , 4 Dec 2017 06:55I am not sure any level of scandal will make much difference to Trump or his supporters. They simply see this as an elitist conspiracy and not amount of evidence of wrongdoing will have an impact.
So far the level of scandal is below that of Whitewater/Lewinsky, and that was a very low level indeed. What "evidence of wrongdoing" is there? Nothing, that's why they charged Flynn with lying to investigators. It's important to keep in mind that the he did nor lie about actual crimes. Perhaps that's going to change as the investigation proceeds, but so far this is nothing more than a partisan lawfare fishing expedition.
<blockquoteSpecifically, it prohibits citizens from negotiating with other nations on behalf of the United States without authorization.>braciole -> Karantino , 4 Dec 2017 06:55So Trump authorized Obama's talks with Macron last week?
Don't think so.
emiliofloris -> Karantino , 4 Dec 2017 06:53Because they attempted to covertly influence a general election in order to weaken the US.
And your evidence for this is what exactly? As for countries trying to influence elections in other countries, I'm all for it particularly when one of the candidates is murderous, arrogant and stupid.
BTW, in Honduras after supporting a coup against the democratically-elected president because he sought a referendum on allowing presidents to serve two terms, you'd think the United States would interfere when his non-democratically-elected replacement used a "packed" supreme court to change the constitution to allow presidents to serve more than one term to at least stop him stealing an election as he is now doing/has done. But they didn't and that hasn't stopped the United States whining that Evo Morales is being undemocratic by trying to extend the number of terms he can serve.
technotherapy , 4 Dec 2017 06:46Because they attempted to covertly influence a general election in order to weaken the US.
Should all countries which try to influence elections be treated as enemies? Where do you set the threshold? If we go by the actual evidence, Russia seems to have bought some Facebook ads and was allegedly involved in exposing HRC's meddling with the Democratic primaries. Compare that to the influence that countries like Israel and the Gulf Arabs exert on American politics and elections. Are you seriously claiming that Russia's influence is bigger or more decisive?
The goal of weakening the US is also highly debatable. Accepting for a moment that Russia tried to tip the balance in favor of Trump, would America be stronger if it were engaged more actively in Syria and Ukraine? Is there a specific example where Trump's administration weakened the American position to the advantage of Russia? And how is the sustained anti-Russian information warfare helping anyone but the Chinese?
themandibleclaw -> Simon Denham , 4 Dec 2017 06:44The clues that Kushner has been pulling the strings on Russia are everywhere... He then pushed Flynn hard to try to turn Russia around on an anti-Israel vote by the UN security council.And Russia didn't turn, so hardly a clue that Kushner was pulling strings with any effect. What this clue does suggest however, is that Israel pressured/colluded with the Trump Team to undermine the Obama administrations policy towards a UN resolution on illegal settlements. The elephant in the room is Israels influence on US politics.
moonsphere -> SoAmerican , 4 Dec 2017 06:44Can someone please actually tell us what Flynn/Jared/Trump is supposed to have done.
In relation to the "lying" charge - In December, Flynn (in his role as incoming National Security Advisor) was told to talk to the Russians by Kushner (in his role as incoming special advisor). In these conversations, Flynn told the Russians to be patient regarding sanctions as things may change when Trump becomes President. All of this is totally legal and is what EVERY new adminstration does. Flynn had his phoned tapped by the FBI so they knew he had talked to the Russian about sanctions - they also knew the conversation was totally legal - but when they asked him about it, he said he didn't discuss sanctions. So Flynn is being charged about lying about something that was totally legal for him to do. That's it.
These days "US influence" seems to consist of bombing Middle Eastern countries back to the bronze age for reasons that defy easy logic. Anything that reduces that kind of influence would be welcome.reinhardpolley -> Simon Denham , 4 Dec 2017 06:33The Logan Act (18 U.S.C.A. § 953 [1948]) is a single federal statute making it a crime for a citizen to confer with foreign governments against the interests of the United States. Specifically, it prohibits citizens from negotiating with other nations on behalf of the United States without authorization.themandibleclaw , 4 Dec 2017 06:22
https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Logan+ActAll those thinking this is the beginning of the end of Trump are going to be disappointed. Just look at the charges so far. Manafort has been charged with money laundering and not registering as a foreign agent - however, both of those charges pre-date him working for Trump. Flynn has been charged with lying to the FBI about speaking to the Russians - even though him speaking to the Russians in his role as National Security Advisor to the President-elect was not only totally legal, it was the norm. And this took place in December, after the election.damientrollope , 4 Dec 2017 06:15So the 2 main players have been charged with things that have nothing to do with the Trump campaign, and lets not forget the point of the investigation is to find out if Trump's campaign colluded with the Russians to win the election. Manafort's charges related to before working for the Trump campaign whilst Flynn's came after Trump won the Presidency, neither of which have anything to do with the election. As much as I wish Trump wasn't President, don't get your hopes up that this is going anywhere.
Gross hypocrisy on the US governments side. They have, since WW2 interfered with other countries elections, invaded, and killed millions worldwide, and are still doing so. Where were the FBI investigations then? Non existent. US politicians and the military hierarchy are completely immune from any prosecutions when it comes down to overseas illegal interference.Boojay , 4 Dec 2017 06:15But now this Russian debacle, and at last they've woken up, because another country had the temerity to turn the tables on them. And I think if this was Bush or Obama we would never have heard a thing about it. Everybody hates the Dotard, because he's an obese dick with an IQ to match.
Nothing will happen to Trump, It's all bollocks. You've all watched too many Spielberg films, bad guys win, and they win most of the time.formerathlete -> vacantspace , 4 Dec 2017 06:15
Trump is the real face of America, America like all governments are narcissistic, they will cheat, steal, kill, if it benefits them. It's called national interest, and it's number one on any leader's job list. Watch fog of war with Robert McNamara, fantastic and terrifying to see how it works.Hugh Mad -> JonShone , 4 Dec 2017 06:10when American presidents were rational, well balanced with progressive views we had.... decent American healthcare? Equality of opportunity? Gun laws that made it safe to walk the streets?
Say who, what an a where now????????? Since when has the US EVER had any of the three things that you mentioned???
If ever, then it was a loooooong time before the pilgrim fathers ever landed.
JonShone -> Hugh Mad , 4 Dec 2017 06:06The US has also been meddling in other countries elections for years, and doubtless most Americans neither know or care about that! So it's perhaps it's best to simply term them a 'rival', most people should be able to agree on that.
That is the bottom line, yes. People view the world through west = good and Russia = bad, while both make economic and political decisions that serve the interests of their people respectively. Ultimately, I think people are scared that the West's monopoly on global influence is slipping, to as you said, a rival.
You are right that calling Russia the US enemy needs justification, but these threads often deteriorate into arguments of the yes it is/no it isn't variety.RelaxAndChill , 4 Dec 2017 05:59Gallup have been polling Americans for the past couple of decades on this. The last time I read about it a couple of years ago 70% of Americans had unfavourable views of Russia, ranging from those who saw them as an enemy (a smaller amount) through to those who saw them as a threat.
It's certain that their ideals and goals run counter to those generally held in the US in many ways. But let's not forget that the US' ideals are often, if not generally, divergent from their interests and US foreign policy since 1945 has been responsible for countless deaths, perhaps more than Russia's.
The US has also been meddling in other countries elections for years, and doubtless most Americans neither know or care about that! So it's perhaps it's best to simply term them a 'rival', most people should be able to agree on that.
variation31 -> Sowester , 4 Dec 2017 05:50All the signs in the Russia probe point to ..How the liberals and the Democrats don't give a damm about the USA or the world's political scene, just some endless 'sore loser' witch hunt. So much could be achieved by the improving of relations with Russia. Crimea was and is Russian. Let Trump have a go as POTUS and then judge him. He wants to befriend Putin and if done it would help solve Syrian, Nth Korean and other global problems.
They simply see this as an elitist conspiracy and not amount of evidence of wrongdoing will have an impact
Whereas if it's a Democrat in the spotlight, these same dipshits see it as an élitist cover-up and no lack of evidence of wrongdoing will have an impact. If anything, lack of evidence is evidence of cover-up which is therefore proof of evidence.
These cynical games they play with veracity and human honesty are a very pure form of evil.
Dec 12, 2017 | www.unz.com
Mark James , December 12, 2017 at 5:57 am GMT
Anonymous , Disclaimer December 12, 2017 at 7:22 am GMTI'm really concerned an attack on Iran is a correct assessment Philip. They are not a threat to the US and while I think we will be in a support capacity -- with Israel obviously -- to a bunker buster attack it will be regarded as US backed war throughout the Islamic world. Trump may be too weak to resist Netanyahu's best sales pitch.
Tillerson will be gone sooner or later: No question, perhaps the week between Christmas and New Year?
Cotton and Pompeo: Pompeo may have problems with the Mueller probe. Cotton has a number of rumors in his past and maybe they are just unfortunate talk? But I don't see him at CIA (we shall see?)
The Neocons are turning up at MSNBC of late. In addition to Podhoretz, Brooks, Kristol, we are now seeing E. Johnson, B. Stephens, D. Pletka on the scene as regular rotation players. No doubt where they will be leading. Moving in where opportunities abound for some reason? At least two (Halperin, Ford) aren't around anymore on Coffee Joe.
Well, if the rumours about Cotton and Pompeo appointments materialise, Trump might as well move his own office to JerusalemFran Macadam , December 12, 2017 at 7:42 am GMTWe're all just hapless passengers on the Neocon Titanic, unable to influence what's playing out on the bridge. Steady as she goes on the unsinkable U.S.S.Realist , December 12, 2017 at 9:08 am GMT@Mark JamesPhilip Smeeton , December 12, 2017 at 11:02 am GMT"Trump may be too weak to resist Netanyahu's best sales pitch." Trump is an Israeli sycophant ..a loser.
From the movie Iron Sky, meant as a condemnation of Nazism, but inadvertently conveying a sensible message about the merits of purity.Anonymous , Disclaimer December 12, 2017 at 11:23 am GMTRenate Richter:
This is very simple. The world is sick, but we are the doctors. The world is anemic, but we are the vitamin. The world is weary, but we are the strength. We are here to make the world healthy once again, with hard work, with honesty, with clarity, with decency. We are the product of loving mothers and brave fathers. We are the embodiment of love and bravery! We are the gift of both God and Science. We are the answer to the question. We are the promise delivered to all mankind. For that, we raise our hands to one Nation. We step to the beat of one drum. We march to the beat of one heart and it is this song that we will sing to this world. We are the people who carry the children on our shoulders in the same way that our fathers carried us and their fathers carried them. We are the one people united and strong. We are the one people with certainty, moral certainty. We are invincible and we have no fear because the truth makes us wise.
@peterAUSjacques sheete , December 12, 2017 at 11:53 am GMTWell, if conflict is simply air assault on Iranian nuclear facilities that shouldn't be a problem for either party. Israelis/Americans bomb a bit and then everything goes back to normal. Something as that cruise missile launch on Syria.
That US missile attack on the Syrian airport cost Trump a lot of domestic and international support for zero benefit...
Greg Bacon , Website December 12, 2017 at 12:46 pm GMTI do not even want to guess at what kind of insanity
Insanity. That's the key. Sick beyond redemption. No rational person could ever begin to understand their motives. Somehow the jackals need to be restrained.
We see the same usual suspects time and again, waving their pom-poms lustily cheering on endless war that does NOT help or benefit the USA. In fact, it is destroying our nation economically, spiritually and politically.Den Lille Abe , December 12, 2017 at 1:43 pm GMTFrom an April 2003 Haaretz article:
The war in Iraq was conceived by 25 neoconservative intellectuals, most of them Jewish, who are pushing President Bush to change the course of history. Two of them, journalists William Kristol and Charles Krauthammer, say it's possible.
This is a war of an elite. [Tom] Friedman laughs: I could give you the names of 25 people (all of whom are at this moment within a five-block radius of this office) who, if you had exiled them to a desert island a year and a half ago, the Iraq war would not have happened.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/white-man-s-burden-1.14110
Yet if you point out the obvious, that our foreign policy has been hijacked by an element whose first loyalty is to Israel, you will catch all sorts of hell, be banned from making comments on blogs and news sites, or like the brave Mr. Giraldi, lose your job. And be blasted with the worn-out canard of being an anti-Semite. Maybe even a Jew hater, all because you show concern for the nation you love and are loyal to.
Will Americans ever realize they are being played for fools by a country and Zionist con artists which doesn't give a tinkers damn about us or will we keep jumping up and down to the pom-pom waving?
Yes all this Newspeak, to hide the fact that the US is a threat in anyone that disagrees with themZ-man , December 12, 2017 at 2:18 pm GMTOf course I hope you're wrong Phil. While Pompeo would be not good, Tillerson has been a big disappointment with his latest statements on Crimea and Ukraine included.Zumbuddi , December 12, 2017 at 2:22 pm GMTCotton would be another matter altogether and even though there is a 'collegial spirit' in the Senate I would hope that Rand Paul and other senators with common sense would squash this guys nomination. Even if he has to carry himself back from Kentucky, broken ribs and all, to squash this Neocon stooge Cotton. Also, I'm hopping there are some boys in the closet when it comes to Cotton. lol
@LondonBobAnonymous , Disclaimer December 12, 2017 at 3:10 pm GMTFaith in Bush the OLDER is misplaced. In 1979 he stood shoulder to shoulder w/ Bibi and Benzion Netenyahu, and Midge Decter & other neocons, in Jerusalem, as they drafted the blueprint for GWOT. Planning went so far as to name the 7 states to take out. USSR was #1 at the time. Jews got Jews Who had been highly educated at Russian expense – out of Russia, now Russia is back in the crosshairs.
... ... ...
nsa , December 12, 2017 at 3:24 pm GMTAmericans are stoopid and cowardly fucks for being so easily manipulated by the Jew.
Not so much anymore. Meanwhile, didn't the Muslims spend five years fighting each-other right on the Israeli border? But wait – they did attack Israel once – and apologised:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-28/isis-apologized-israel-attacking-idf-soldiers
I don't know what to tell you
@peterAUSMichael Kenny , December 12, 2017 at 3:41 pm GMT"the American public isn't as gullible as before ."
Ha, Ha. You obviously do not live here. 99% of Americans have a flat screen TV installed in their living rooms and believe everything (jooie managed images and info) spewing forth from it. More than 50% of Americans have multiple flat screen TV in their homes so they can be sure not to miss the latest disinfo or lies.
.... ... ...
The "problem" is that the whole American "business model" is based on global economic supremacy, which means, essentially, the dollar as world reserve currency. If that goes, the whole US house of cards will probably implode, Soviet-style. That requires unchallenged American "world leadership". The big threat to the "American model" isn't the EU and certainly not the Russian Federation. It's China. 1.4 billion people and rapidly heading for global economic hegemony. To say nothing of a rising India at 1.2 billion. At 300 million, the US is small beans. How to ward off the Yellow Peril? That's the problem the US hegemonists had to resolve.DaveE , December 12, 2017 at 3:45 pm GMT... ... ...
@Anonymousanonymous , Disclaimer December 12, 2017 at 3:47 pm GMTYeah, yeah, yeah big bad ISIS. The Israeli Secret Intelligence Service. "Keeping Fools and Idiots At Each Other's Throats". Since 1950. I don't know what to tell you ..
@jacques sheeteanonymous , Disclaimer December 12, 2017 at 3:58 pm GMTSomehow the jackals need to be restrained.
It's not that difficult to strategize HOW to go about "restraining the jackals." 99 44/100% of what ziocons accuse others of is projection. They say, "They [_____ Iran, ISIS, Palestinians, Russians - fill in the blank] understand only force." This projects that the only thing that will restrain psychopathic Israel is force.
When an Iranian nuclear engineer was assassinated in Tehran, Ronen Bergman told Brian Williams that "Israel has used assassination more than any other state; not even Stalin or Hitler used assassination as much as Israel. . . ."
... ... ...
@Ben Frankanonymous , Disclaimer December 12, 2017 at 3:58 pm GMTSo far the President has proved much smarter than most people expected him to be
Exactamundo, Ben Frank (any relation to Anne, Princess of the Ballpoint Pen?). Naming Jerusalem the capital of Israel was fucking brilliant. Don't you worry your pretty little head about all the US forces in the multiple bases in the region that are accessible to mad-as-hornets Muslims; Israel will have their backs, fer shur.
--
Come to think of it, maybe Trump can burnish his "much smarter-ness" by taking a page out of Reagan's playbook: Immediately after the first US soldier is plinked by an Angry Arab, Trump should pull ALL US FORCES out of the region: do a Reagan-post-Black Hawk down.
If the Israelis want to stir the pot, let them stand over the steam-heat and wield the spoon. We're outa there.
The people of the ME can't catch a break. Since being pried away from the Ottoman empire a hundred years ago they've been the plaything of various western countries. Their national borders drawn up by distant foreigners, they've been interfered with constantly, their regimes dictated by foreigners. Then the selfsame westerners turn around and point to their backwardness as proof that they're incapable of doing anything on their own.Rurik , December 12, 2017 at 4:21 pm GMTThe US is expansionist, projecting itself all over the globe and uses force against anyone who resists. Force is all it understands. What happens when the irresistible force bumps into the immovable object? War hysteria, of which we've had an unending amount for the past three generations. Objectively there's nothing conservative about the so-called neocons. They're hardly any different from fascists except the rhetoric is different. Mussolini had limits as to how much territory he wanted to conquer for his empire unlike the US which recognizes no limits.
SolontoCroesus , December 12, 2017 at 4:39 pm GMTreplaced at CIA by Senator Tom Cotton.
it was faint, and barely perceptible, but at some level, I did actually tremble when I read those words. Cotton is the new John McCain. The ultimate traitor to this nation and its people and all people of good will on the planet and every tenet of decency known to the universe
a lickspittle to Sheldon Adelson and everything that repulsive toad represents. if Cotton is exalted to head the CIA, I'll have to think very hard about leaving these shores. perhaps Bobby Fischer was right, and the ZUSA is endemically, irredeemably evil.
there can be no doubt that the zio-Fiend is the incarnation of evil itself, but I always keep hoping that the good people of the ZUS will repudiate the zio-Fiend- that has them waging serial wars all over the planet to benefit the Jews. As their infrastructure crumbles back home, and their veterans can't get health care, and the jobs are 'in' and outsourced to the third world. what will it take to wake up the bovine, cud-chewing sheople?!
their children come home in body bags, or with their souls so eviscerated by the sheer evil of the wars they're forced to fight, that they often just 'snuff it' as the only escape from their nightmares. (and the realization that the ZUSA is a drooling fiend and that they've murdered innocent people and destroyed nations on its behalf)
those young people can not abide the evil that the ZUS government has become, and their only salvation is to end their young lives.
for those of us with more choices at hand, why can't we finally and simply repudiate the zio-scum who've done us and so many others so much harm?!
NOT TOM COTTON!!!!!
fuck no!@SolontoCroesusAstuteobservor II , December 12, 2017 at 4:43 pm GMTPS If the USA / American people and their representatives conformed foreign as well as economic policy to the vision of George Washington rather than Louis Brandeis -- > Benjamin Netanyahu & fellow psychopaths and traitors, USA would engage with OBOR rather than attempt to destroy it.
Check out anon20171212′s comment at #21, above http://www.unz.com/pgiraldi/bad-moon-rising/#comment-2115106
Destruction (and deception) are the way of the Talmudists. Even Heinrich Graetz, the Germanophilic Jew who authored the first modern history of the Jewish people, had nothing but opprobrium to heap on Talmudists.
https://archive.org/details/historyofthejews014022mbp
The American 'way' is not the way of the Talmud. Christian values are not Talmudic values. George Washington's legacy was not Talmudic, it was America First :
@AnonymousKen S , December 12, 2017 at 4:47 pm GMTdoesn't matter, we are still the ones doing the dirty work. there is no escape from the responsibility. it is like a hitman claiming he is a professional, it is just business. that doesn't fly.
What's with it with neoconservative Israel lackeys like Tom Cotton and Ted Cruz graduating from a prestigious and supposedly left-wing school like Harvard? Are they book-smart without common sense? The country would be better off if Cotton stayed in the Senate. He can do less damage if 1 of 100. Plus, the shelf-life of anyone in the Trump admin seems to be very short – and he'd better not have groped any Harvard classmates, who might just be waiting in the wings to destroy his career.Seamus Padraig , December 12, 2017 at 5:34 pm GMTAs recently as a month ago, I was still willing to give Trump the benefit of the doubt. But it should now be obvious to all what a total zio-muppet he really is. If there's any silver lining in all of this, it's the fact that the Jew-media have expended so much effort in attacking Trump that he'll now make a very poor spokesman for their cause abroad.Frank Walus , December 12, 2017 at 7:24 pm GMTBTW, I still don't see an attack on Iran as being very likely. If Russia and China would not greenlight an attack on Syria, they will be doubly reluctant to greenlight an attack on Iran.
The "democracy" the neocons want to push is the one in which (((mass media))) successfully lobotomizes the electorate into thinking it has democracy. The zombies then make their way to the polls seeking "hope & change" but with no choice. Hegemony is the goal, not democracy.Joe Wong , December 12, 2017 at 8:04 pm GMTTrump may have been skeptical as a candidate about America's role as policeman of the world, but the establishment knives are out and he might (correctly?) surmise that the only way to stay in office is to make the ziocons happy. Even Bill Kristol would see the error in never-Trump_vs_deep_state if bombs started falling on Iran.
@peterAUSCharles Pewitt , December 12, 2017 at 8:14 pm GMTAmerican has an all volunteer armed forces (mercenary), they are paid to kill or be killed, their fates is only a few seconds on the screens if the MSM decided to air them, otherwise the wars and the American soldiers' lives have nothing to do with the American public. Mayhem in far away land in out of sight and out of mind. Citing the American public gullibility is really a residual sentiment of old days cold war mentality and trying to attach some kind of morality to the wars the American has been fighting. American has long been demonstrated they are just as morally defunct imperialist as the British and their mentor, the Romans.
The real issue is how to finance the war, as long as the war does not cause hyper inflation in the USA, the warmongers in the Washington beltway will go ahead with the war without much concern, with EU, Australia, Japan and S Korea in line paying the bills, the American should be able to wage another regime change war in the ME without much difficulty.
Tom Cotton is not to be trusted. Many gave US Senator Tom Cotton credit for his offering a bill that would cut legal immigration in half and would significantly reduce illegal immigration. It is now clear that the immigration reduction ploy proffered by Tom Cotton was a sneaky way to mollify the White Core American voter base of President Trump.Z-man , December 12, 2017 at 8:22 pm GMTTom Cotton is a stooge for Sheldon Adelson and the Neo-Conservatives. The Neo-Conservatives know they are highly vulnerable on the immigration issue and the national question. That is why they sent their puppet Tom Cotton out with instructions to bang the pot on reducing immigration.
Recently, the Neo-Conservative-controlled, Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal gave Tom Cotton a half page, above the fold puff piece where Tom Cotton is said to be offering a foreign policy fit for "Jacksonian America." I think Tom Cotton must be referring to Michael Jackson or some other Jackson, and not General Andrew Jackson. Having some small portion of Scotch-Irish ancestry myself, and having ancestors who pioneered Tennessee, I don't think General Andrew Jackson would support the Israel First foreign policy of Tom Cotton.
IMMIGRATION and the NATIONAL QUESTION are the two things that will finally dislodge the nation-wrecking Neo-Conservatives and their politician puppets from the ruling class of the American Empire.
@Greg BaconVeranon , December 12, 2017 at 8:25 pm GMTYet if you point out the obvious, that our foreign policy has been hijacked by an element whose first loyalty is to Israel, you will catch all sorts of hell, be banned from making comments on blogs and news sites, or like the brave Mr. Giraldi, lose your job. And be blasted with the worn-out canard of being an anti-Semite. Maybe even a Jew hater, all because you show concern for the nation you love and are loyal to.
If you remember what happened to Rick Sanchez, the former talking head of NBC and CNN when he was pushed into calling out the Jew in a 'gotcha' interview as he sarcastically replied that yeah Jews are underrepresented in the media. He was gone in '60 seconds'!
Whatever happened to Rick Sanchez??? LOL!!!
Re: At the time, I agreed, but I did note that the neoconservatives have proven to be remarkable resilient, particularly as many of them have remained true to their Democratic Party values on nearly everything but foreign policy, where they are irredeemable hawks, hostile to Russia and Iran and always reliably in the corner of Israel.Priss Factor , Website December 12, 2017 at 9:50 pm GMT
-- -- -- -- -
Of course. The Jewish Neocons and their "useful idiots," whether "bought and paid for" or voluntarily enlisted, are necessarily "liberal" in relation to domestic policy because the idea is to destroy all Western and Christian norms and values by means of cultural marxist "critical theory." And it's working very well. The mass media and the educational system have hopelessly corrupted American and European minds with this profoundly subversive "intellectual" garbage.And when it comes to foreign policy, of course the Neocons are globalists, like the international bankers whom they serve. Israel first, because they are not there to defend their country's interests, but to defend Israel's, in accordance with the permanent goal of Eretz Ysrael and world hegemony in accordance with the ultimate goal of Jewish supremacy via the money power, and in preparation for their "messiah". It's all disguised as for the sake of American greatness and "our values."
The Neocons are nothing less than a parasitical foreign body which has us thinking in accordance with its interests; in fact they are mortal enemies, nothing less. The Western goyim–as well as innocent Jews here and in Israel itself–will be cheerfully sacrificed by the Zionists, who serve darker forces and interests than those of their people. Western humanity has been rendered helpless because they are intellectually helpless and because in consequence they have been dispossessed of deep faith and corresponding real virtues. This was noted years ago by Solzhenitsyn, among others. Ideas rule human beings for good or ill, since we are thinking beings. But when the ideas that determine us are profoundly wrong and when intellectual chaos and unbridled individualism reign, nothing real can be accomplished. However, in due time vincit omnia veritas –the Real has the last word. "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord."
North Korea's survival strategy is "If you invade us, we will blow up South Korea and maybe even Tokyo." Ruled by a vile regime but with rational concern for survival, even if it has no moral right to survive. But then, what is the other option? South Korea is a puppet state of US globalist empire. If NK was ruled by wiser people, its case would be made more intelligently. It would tell the world community that it needs for defense given US record in the Middle East and North Africa. But it's ruled by some egotistical brat-boy whose idea of culture is Dennis Rodman and Rap trash-talking.JackOH , December 12, 2017 at 10:04 pm GMTAs different as NK and Jewish Power, they have one thing in common: WGYG or We Go, You Go. The idea is that if they are destroyed, they will take others with them.
Jewish Power pulled this off in 2008. When Lehman Brothers wasn't bailed out by the government, Wall Street pushed a 'too big to fail' scheme and threatened Total Collapse of the Economy UNLESS it was showered with super-generous bailouts that would eventually come to enrich the banks during a severe recession for most Americans. Bush couldn't do anything about it except go along. Obama bailed out Wall Street. And McCain would have done the same had he won. Jewish Wall Street power held a gun to the head of the entire US economy and said 'Give us money, OR we will take ALL OF YOU down with us.'
The system is rigged so that a major collapse of Jewish Power will trigger total collapse of the entire system. It's been wired that way. The whole tower will collapse. So, if anyone tries to cut the wire of Jewish Power, kaboom, the whole thing blows up, and everyone dies. Gentiles must carry Jewish Power like a crate of nitroglycerin. One false step and Kaboom.
Phil, thanks.anon , Disclaimer December 12, 2017 at 10:52 pm GMT"Tom [Cotton] is completely owned by the Israeli lobby."
" . . . [Nikki] Haley is stupid. And ambitious. And is also owned by the Israeli lobby . . .".
My knowledge of foreign policy is headline-quality only. My knowledge of some domestic policy is pretty good. I've been on the public stump in my area. The reality of American policy, as I've seen it, is that it's bought and paid for. There is no "public interest", no "national interest". I'm not even sure there's an America, in the sense of a people joined by some common values. Sometimes I think of America as an agglomeration of rackets. You're goddamned right I don't like thinking this way.
There are only insider players who bankroll and blackmail their way into getting the decisions they want. I wish I could say something high-minded, but I can't.
@Priss FactorFB , December 13, 2017 at 12:03 am GMTIndia and Pakistan have nukes. How would they respond to an Israeli Sampson Option?
How about China? An Izzie attack on European capitals could destroy a lot of Chinese investment. China has sufficient nuclear capability to detach Israel from the Mediterranean littoral and create an irradiated submerged island.
Does van Crevald think Putin will sit on his hands and wait a thousand years for the dust to clear?
van Crevald says Israel can hit Rome. That's zionism's wet dream, to completely obliterate Rome.
How many Jews live a parasitical life in Rome and other European capitals?Can Izzies reach USA? Didn't think so. What do they think would happen to hundreds of Jewish institutions, and Jewish people, in USA if Israel destroys Europe -- again?
People need to let go of the idea that Dump is anything but a conman and a weak one at thatFB , December 13, 2017 at 12:14 am GMTThe office of President holds a lot of authority that Dump has not been able [or willing] to wield that speaks to his own weakness as a leader
It's time to admit that he is not the messiah that many Lunchpail Joes wanted to believe
As to the specifics of this article yes I agree with Mr. Giraldi that the neocons are back in the driver's seat if they ever left in the first place
Exhibit One is Jared Kushner the Clown Prince of the Shite House. This is the guy who has inflicted most of the damage on Dump starting with his advice to dump Flynn. Dump was under zero pressure to do any such thing the neocon Pence is the one who demanded Flynn's head. Dump could have pushed back there was nothing wrong with Flynn the incoming National Security Adviser speaking to the Russians or anyone else and what he spoke of with the Russians was in lobbying THEM in the US interest not the other way round
Dump's second big mistake was firing Comey again on the advice of Kushner. Which got the Mueller ball rolling. Some have rightly drawn the parallels of Kushner whispering in Dump's ear to the same role of Kissinger vis a vis Nixon's downfall
Then Kushner appeared to connive with his buddy KSA Clown Prince MBS to engineer the Hariri fiasco [which Tillerson managed to "deftly undo..."]
' Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was accompanying the president during his Asia tour at the time of the Saudi-engineered initiative, was "completely blindsided" by the move, as several senior Middle East diplomats confirmed to TAC.
While Tillerson would later be accused of being "totally disengaged" from the crisis, several former and current U.S. diplomats have told us that just precisely the opposite was the case '
' The unlikely hero in all of this might well be Rex Tillerson, who quietly engineered a U.S. policy at odds with the views of Donald Trump -- and his son-in-law. The exact details of how Tillerson pulled this off remain unknown ("I think Tillerson just told Trump what he was going to do," the senior diplomat with whom we spoke speculates, "and then just did it.") '
So that's the backstory right there about why the neocons are agitating for Tillerson's ouster. I have to strongly disagree with Mr. Giraldi's characterization of Tillerson as
' a somewhat bumbling businessman adept at dealing in energy futures contracts who has been struggling with reducing State's enormously bloated payroll '
That is a useless statement on many levels Tillerson deftly managed what is arguably America's most important corporation in what is surely the most strategic and geopolitical global industry energy
The global oil trade is 14 trillion dollars even at today's prices and the petrodollar is the underpinning of the entire US system a free ride for printing free money because every nation has to buy US dollars to buy or sell oil. In 1971
' I was informed at a White House meeting that U.S. diplomats had let Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries know that they could charge as much as they wanted for their oil, but that the United States would treat it as an act of war not to keep their oil proceeds in U.S. dollar assets '
Writes economist Michael Hudson" from personal recollection of the many meetings he had at the WH
This whole saga surrounding Dump's readiness to tie the can to Tillerson is proof positive if any more were needed that conman Dump has been a fake from the beginning
If the neocons are ascendant and back in the driver's seat it is no one's fault but the Dumpster
He has cast his lot with Kushner who appears to be the neocons' Trojan Horse
There can be no more sympathy or understanding anymore for Dump
If we recall his campaign rhetoric of 'draining the swamp' and rebuilding America's failing infrastructure improving relations with Russia all good things
we must also recall that he has been vehemently anti-Iran from the get-go
One has to ask why ?
Iran is a completely Israeli-owned issue Iran has nothing to do with the interests of the US other than to benefit leading US industries like aircraft manufacturing which were immediately rewarded with a $100 billion order of Boeing aircraft in the aftermath of the Obama nuclear deal
That vehement anti-Iran attitude even on the campaign trail should have been a red flag to everyone
Even Hellary would have been better in that regard and as for the Russia 'issue' what could Hellary or the US to do Russia anyway ?
Militarily nothing even in Syria the US military would certainly not go for an open war against Russia neither would the regional players hosting US bases which would need to be on board for such an adventure
same goes for the breakaway region of eastern Ukraine
Germany and France are anyway moving closer to Russia, which has de facto established itself as an energy distribution superpower for the continent and for China
The big picture is that the petrodollar and the free ride for US prosperity is living on borrowed time China is the world's biggest energy importer and is not going to support the petrodollar forever
Already an alternative financial architecture is being built and the BRICS countries now outpace the combined GDP of the G7 so the writing is on the wall
Dump has shown himself to be a conman first and an incredibly weak president he deserves no sympathy or support
The neocons are of course insane they are picking fights with Iran, Venezuela and others who are going to be the first to ditch the petrodollar and accelerate the tipping point to the new global financial order that is going to impoverish the US overnight
The same neocons are also the ones who are undermining US demographics because their Ponzi scheme economy is based on perpetual growth which, in turn, requires perpetual population growth which means more immigration. Also the immigration keeps the wages low which is just extra gravy for the Plutocracy
The US will be a white-minority country by 2050 much of the Southwest already is
None of that is going to change when the party is over and the Titanic sinks the handful of necons and Plutocrats will have their lifeboats ready
@FBSorry my link to the Kushner role in the Hariri circus and Tillerson's save did not come through here it is: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/kushner-kept-tillerson-in-the-dark-on-saudi-lebanon-move/
Dec 10, 2017 | consortiumnews.com
When a Department of Defense intelligence report about the Syrian rebel movement became public in May 2015, lots of people didn't know what to make of it. After all, what the report said was unthinkable – not only that Al Qaeda had dominated the so-called democratic revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for years, but that the West continued to support the jihadis regardless, even to the point of backing their goal of creating a Sunni Salafist principality in the eastern deserts.
Journalist James Foley shortly before he was executed by an Islamic State operative in August 2014.
The United States lining up behind Sunni terrorism – how could this be? How could a nice liberal like Barack Obama team up with the same people who had brought down the World Trade Center?
It was impossible, which perhaps explains why the report remained a non-story long after it was released courtesy of a Judicial Watch freedom-of-information lawsuit . The New York Times didn't mention it until six months later while the Washington Post waited more than a year before dismissing it as "loopy" and "relatively unimportant." With ISIS rampaging across much of Syria and Iraq, no one wanted to admit that U.S. attitudes were ever anything other than hostile.
But three years earlier, when the Defense Intelligence Agency was compiling the report, attitudes were different. Jihadis were heroes rather than terrorists, and all the experts agreed that they were a low-risk, high-yield way of removing Assad from office.
After spending five days with a Syrian rebel unit, for instance, New York Times reporter C.J. Chivers wrote that the group "mixes paramilitary discipline, civilian policing, Islamic law, and the harsh demands of necessity with battlefield coldness and outright cunning."
Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, assured the Washington Post that "al Qaeda is a fringe element" among the rebels, while, not to be outdone, the gossip site Buzzfeed published a pin-up of a "ridiculously photogenic" jihadi toting an RPG.
"Hey girl," said the subhead. "Nothing sexier than fighting the oppression of tyranny."
And then there was Foreign Policy, the magazine founded by neocon guru Samuel P. Huntington, which was most enthusiastic of all. Gary Gambill's " Two Cheers for Syrian Islamists ," which ran on the FP web site just a couple of weeks after the DIA report was completed, didn't distort the facts or make stuff up in any obvious way. Nonetheless, it is a classic of U.S. propaganda. Its subhead glibly observed: "So the rebels aren't secular Jeffersonians. As far as America is concerned, it doesn't much matter."
Assessing the Damage
Five years later, it's worth a second look to see how Washington uses self-serving logic to reduce an entire nation to rubble.
First a bit of background. After displacing France and Britain as the region's prime imperial overlord during the 1956 Suez Crisis and then breaking with Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser a few years later, the United States committed itself to the goal of defeating Arab nationalism and Soviet Communism, two sides of the same coin as far as Washington was concerned. Over the next half-century, this would mean steering Egypt to the right with assistance from the Saudis, isolating Libyan strong man Muammar Gaddafi, and doing what it could to undermine the Syrian Baathist regime as well.
William Roebuck, the American embassy's chargé d'affaires in Damascus, thus urged Washington in 2006 to coordinate with Egypt and Saudi Arabia to encourage Sunni Syrian fears of Shi'ite Iranian proselytizing even though such concerns are "often exaggerated." It was akin to playing up fears of Jewish dominance in the 1930s in coordination with Nazi Germany.
A year later, former NATO commander Wesley Clark learned of a classified Defense Department memo stating that U.S. policy was now to "attack and destroy the governments in seven countries in five years," first Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran. (Quote starts at 2:07 .)
Since the United States didn't like what such governments were doing, the solution was to install more pliable ones in their place. Hence Washington's joy when the Arab Spring struck Syria in March 2011 and it appeared that protesters would soon topple the Baathists on their own.
Even when lofty democratic rhetoric gave way to ominous sectarian chants of "Christians to Beirut, Alawites to the coffin," U.S. enthusiasm remained strong. With Sunnis accounting for perhaps 60 percent of the population, strategists figured that there was no way Assad could hold out against religious outrage welling up from below.
Enter Gambill and the FP. The big news, his article began, is that secularists are no longer in command of the burgeoning Syrian rebel movement and that Sunni Islamists are taking the lead instead. As unfortunate as this might seem, he argued that such a development was both unavoidable and far from entirely negative.
"Islamist political ascendancy is inevitable in a majority Sunni Muslim country brutalized for more than four decades by a secular minoritarian dictatorship," he wrote in reference to the Baathists. "Moreover, enormous financial resources are pouring in from the Arab-Islamic world to promote explicitly Islamist resistance to Assad's Alawite-dominated, Iranian-backed regime."
So the answer was not to oppose the Islamists, but to use them. Even though "the Islamist surge will not be a picnic for the Syrian people," Gambill said, "it has two important silver linings for US interests." One is that the jihadis "are simply more effective fighters than their secular counterparts" thanks to their skill with "suicide bombings and roadside bombs."
The other is that a Sunni Islamist victory in Syria will result in "a full-blown strategic defeat" for Iran, thereby putting Washington at least part way toward fulfilling the seven-country demolition job discussed by Wesley Clark.
"So long as Syrian jihadis are committed to fighting Iran and its Arab proxies," the article concluded, "we should quietly root for them – while keeping our distance from a conflict that is going to get very ugly before the smoke clears. There will be plenty of time to tame the beast after Iran's regional hegemonic ambitions have gone down in flames."
Deals with the Devil
The U.S. would settle with the jihadis only after the jihadis had settled with Assad. The good would ultimately outweigh the bad. This kind of self-centered moral calculus would not have mattered had Gambill only spoken for himself. But he didn't. Rather, he was expressing the viewpoint of Official Washington in general, which is why the ultra-respectable FP ran his piece in the first place.The Islamists were something America could employ to their advantage and then throw away like a squeezed lemon. A few Syrians would suffer, but America would win, and that's all that counts.
The parallels with the DIA are striking. "The west, gulf countries, and Turkey support the opposition," the intelligence report declared, even though "the Salafist[s], the Muslim Brotherhood, and AQI [i.e. Al Qaeda in Iraq] are the major forces driving the insurgency."
Where Gambill predicted that "Assad and his minions will likely retreat to northwestern Syria," the DIA speculated that the jihadis might establish "a declared or undeclared Salafist principality" at the other end of the country near cities like Hasaka and Der Zor (also known as Deir ez-Zor).
Where the FP said that the ultimate aim was to roll back Iranian influence and undermine Shi'ite rule, the DIA said that a Salafist principality "is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want in order to isolate the Syrian regime, which is considered the strategic depth of Shia expansion (Iraq and Iran)."
Bottle up the Shi'ites in northwestern Syria, in other words, while encouraging Sunni extremists to establish a base in the east so as to put pressure on Shi'ite-influenced Iraq and Shi'ite-ruled Iran.
As Gambill put it: "Whatever misfortunes Sunni Islamists may visit upon the Syrian people, any government they form will be strategically preferable to the Assad regime, for three reasons: A new government in Damascus will find continuing the alliance with Tehran unthinkable, it won't have to distract Syrians from its minority status with foreign policy adventurism like the ancien régime, and it will be flush with petrodollars from Arab Gulf states (relatively) friendly to Washington."
With the Saudis footing the bill, the U.S. would exercise untrammeled sway.
Disastrous Thinking
Has a forecast that ever gone more spectacularly wrong? Syria's Baathist government is hardly blameless in this affair. But thanks largely to the U.S.-backed sectarian offensive, 400,000 Syrians or more have died since Gambill's article appeared, with another 6.1 million displaced and an estimated 4.8 million fleeing abroad.
U.S.-backed Syrian "moderate" rebels smile as they prepare to behead a 12-year-old boy (left), whose severed head is held aloft triumphantly in a later part of the video. [Screenshot from the YouTube video] War-time destruction totals around $250 billion , according to U.N. estimates, a staggering sum for a country of 18.8 million people where per-capita income prior to the outbreak of violence was under $3,000. From Syria, the specter of sectarian violence has spread across Asia and Africa and into Europe and North America as well. Political leaders throughout the advanced industrial world are still struggling to contain the populist fury that the Middle East refugee crisis, the result of U.S.-instituted regime change, helped set off.
So instead of advancing U.S. policy goals, Gambill helped do the opposite. The Middle East is more explosive than ever while U.S. influence has fallen to sub-basement levels. Iranian influence now extends from the Arabian Sea to the Mediterranean, while the country that now seems to be wobbling out of control is Saudi Arabia where Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman is lurching from one self-induced crisis to another. The country that Gambill counted on to shore up the status quo turns out to be undermining it.
It's not easy to screw things up so badly, but somehow Washington's bloated foreign-policy establishment has done it. Since helping to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, Gambill has moved on to a post at the rightwing Middle East Forum where Daniel Pipes, the group's founder and chief, now inveighs against the same Sunni ethnic cleansing that his employee defended or at least apologized for.
The forum is particularly well known for its Campus Watch program, which targets academic critics of Israel, Islamists, and – despite Gambill's kind words about "suicide bombings and roadside bombs" – anyone it considers the least bit apologetic about Islamic terrorism.
Double your standard, double the fun. Terrorism, it seems, is only terrorism when others do it to the U.S., not when the U.S. does it to others.
Daniel Lazare is the author of several books including The Frozen Republic: How the Constitution Is Paralyzing Democracy (Harcourt Brace).
Babyl-on , December 8, 2017 at 5:26 pm
john wilson , December 9, 2017 at 6:31 amI do not believe than anyone in the civil or military command ever believed that arming the jihadists would bring any sort of stability or peace to the region. I do not believe that peace was ever an interest of the US until it has once again gained hegemonic control of central Asia. This is a fight to retain US global domination – causalities do not matter. The US and its partners or co-rulers of the Empire the Saud family and the Zionist oligarchy will slaughter with impunity until someone stops them or their own corruption defeats them.
The Empire can not exist without relentless ongoing slaughter it has been at it every day now for 73 years. It worked for them all that time but that time has run out. China has already set the date for when its currency will become fully freely exchanged, less than 5 years. When that happens the world will return to the gold standard + Bitcoin possibly and US dollar hegemony will end. After that the trillion dollar a year military and the 20 trillion debt take on a different meaning. Before that slaughter non-stop will continue.
Jerald Davidson , December 9, 2017 at 11:53 amReally, Baby-lon, your first short paragraph sums this piece by Lazare perfectly and makes the rest of his blog seem rather pointless. Even the most stupid person on earth couldn't think that the US was using murdering, butchering head choppers in a bid to bring peace and stability to the middle East. The Neocons and the other criminals that infest Washington don't want peace at any price because its bad for business.
BannanaBoat , December 9, 2017 at 4:31 pmBabyl-on and John Wilson: you have nailed it. The last thing the US (gov't.) wants is peace. War is big business; casualties are of no concern (3 million Koreans died in the Korean War; 3 million Vietnamese in that war; 100's of thousands in Iraq [including Clinton's sanctions] and Afghanistan). The US has used jihadi proxies since the mujahedeen in 1980's Afghanistan and Contras in Nicaragua. To the US (gov't.), a Salafist dictatorship (such as Saudi Arabia) is highly preferable to a secular, nationalist ruler (such as Egypt's Nasser, Libya's Gaddafi, Syria's Assad).
So the cover story of the jjihadi's has changed – first they are freedom fighters, then terrorists. What does not change is that in either case they are pawns of the US (gov't.) goal of hegemony.
(Incidentally, Drew Hunkins must be responding to a different article.)Richard , December 9, 2017 at 5:24 pmExactly Baby right on, Either USA strategists are extremely ignorant or they are attempting to create chaos, probably both. Perhaps not continuously but surely frequently the USA has promoted war prior to the last 73 years. Native Genocide , Mexican Wars, Spanish War, WWI ( USA banker repayment war)
Sam F , December 10, 2017 at 8:50 amExactly Babylon! Looks like consortiumnews is turning into another propaganda rag. Assad was allied with Russia and Iran – that's why the U.S. wanted him removed. Israel said that they would preferred ISIS in power over Assad. The U.S. would have happily wiped out 90% of the population using its terrorist proxies if it thought it could have got what it wanted.
Richard , December 10, 2017 at 10:27 amCN tends to make moderate statements so as to communicate with those most in need of them. One must start with the understandings of the audience and show them that the evidence leads further.
Drew Hunkins , December 8, 2017 at 5:31 pmSam F, no, it's a DELIBERATE lie in support of U.S. foreign policy. The guy wrote: "the NAIVE belief that jihadist proxies could be used to TRANSFORM THE REGION FOR THE BETTER." It could have been written as: "the stated justification by the president that he wanted to transform the region for the better, even though there are often ulterior motives."
It's the same GROTESQUE caricature of these wars that the mainstream media always presents: that the U.S. is on the side of good, and fights for good, even though every war INVARIABLY ends up in a bloodbath, with no one caring how many civilians have died, what state the country is left in, that civilian infrastructure and civilians were targeted, let alone whether war could have been prevented. For example, in 1991, shortly after the first Gulf War, Iraqis rose up against their regime, but George H. Bush allowed Saddam to fly his military helicopters (permission was needed due to the no-fly zones), and quell the rebellion in blood – tens of thousands were butchered! Bush said that when he told Iraqis to rebel, he meant the military generals, NOT the Iraqi people themselves. In other words, the U.S. wanted Saddam gone, but the same regime in place. The U.S. never cared about the people!
Either Robert Parry or the author wrote that introduction. I suspect Mr Parry – he always portrays the president as having a heart of gold, but, always, sadly, misinformed; being a professional journalist, he knows full well that people often only read the start and end of an article.
Abe , December 8, 2017 at 7:57 pmWhat we have occurring right now in the United States is a rare divergence of interests within our ruling class. The elites are currently made up of Zionist-militarists. What we're now witnessing is a rare conflict between the two factions. This particular internecine battle has reared its head in the past, the Dubai armaments deal comes to mind off the top of my head.
Trump started the Jerusalem imbroglio because he's concerned about Mueller's witch hunt.
The military-industrial-complex sicced Mueller on Trump because they despise his overtures towards rapprochement with the Kremlin. The military-industrial-complex MUST have a villain to justify the gigantic defense [sic] spending which permeates the entire U.S. politico-economic system. Putin and Russia were always the preferred demon because they easily fit the bill in the minds of an easily brainwashed American public. Of course saber rattling towards Moscow puts the world on the brink of nuclear war, but no matter, the careerism and fat contracts are all that matter to the MIC. Trump's rhetoric about making peace with the Kremlin has always mortified the MIC.
Since Trump's concerned about 1.) Mueller's witch hunt (he definitely should be deeply concerned, this is an out of control prosecutor on mission creep), and 2.) the almost total negative coverage the press has given him over the last two years, he's made a deal with the Zionist Power Configuration; Trump, effectively saying to them: "I'll give you Jerusalem, you use your immense influence in the American mass media to tamp down the relentlessly hostile coverage toward me, and perhaps smear Mueller's witch hunt a bit ".
This is a rare instance of our elites battling it out behind the scenes, both groups being reprehensible power hungry greed heads and sociopaths, it's hard to tell how this will end.
How this all eventually plays out is anyone's guess indeed. Let's just make sure it doesn't end with mushroom clouds over Tehran, Saint Petersburg, Paris, Chicago, London, NYC, Washington and Berlin.
Drew Hunkins , December 8, 2017 at 8:10 pmTrump's purported deviation from foreign policy orthodoxy regarding both Russia and Israel was a propaganda scam engineered by the pro-Israel Lobby from the very beginning. As Russia-gate fiction is progressively deconstructed, the Israel-gate reality becomes ever more despicably obvious.
The shamelessly Israel-pandering Trump received the "Liberty Award" for his contributions to US-Israel relations at a 3 February 2015 gala hosted by The Algemeiner Journal, a New York-based newspaper, covering American and international Jewish and Israel-related news.
"We love Israel. We will fight for Israel 100 percent, 1000 percent." VIDEO minutes 2:15-8:06 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiwBwBw7R-U
After the event, Trump did not renew his television contract for The Apprentice, which raised speculation about a Trump bid for the presidency. Trump announced his candidacy in June 2015.
Trump's purported break with GOP orthodoxy, questioning of Israel's commitment to peace, calls for even treatment in Israeli-Palestinian deal-making, and refusal to call for Jerusalem to be Israel's undivided capital, were all stage-managed for the campaign.
Cheap theatrics notwithstanding, the Netanyahu regime in Israel has "1000 percent" support from the Trump regime.
Abe , December 8, 2017 at 10:59 pmIf Trump were totally and completely subservient to Netanyahu he would have bombed Damascus to remove Assad and would have bombed Tehran to obliterate Iran. Of course thus far he has done neither. Don't get me wrong, Trump is essentially part and parcel of the Zionist cabal, but I don't quite think he's 1,000% under their thumb (not yet?).
I don't think the Zionist Power Configuration concocted Trump's policy of relative peace with the Kremlin. Yes, the ZPC is extremely powerful in America, but Trump's position of detente with Moscow seemed to be genuine. He caught way too much heat from the mass media for it to be a stunt, it's almost torpedoed his presidency, and may eventually do just that. It was actually one of the very few things Trump got right; peace with Russia, cordial relations with the Kremlin are a no-brainer. A no-brainer to everyone but the military-industrial-complex.
WC , December 9, 2017 at 3:44 pmRussian. Missiles. Lets be clear: The military-industrial-complex wants plenty of low intensity conflict to fuel ever more fabulous weapons sales, not a really hot war where all those pretty expensive toys are falling out of the sky in droves.
Whether it was "bird strike" or something more technological that recently grounded the "mighty" Israeli F-35I, it's clear that America isn't eager to have those "Inherent Resolve" jets, so busily not bombing ISIS, painted with Russian SAM radar.
Russia made it clear that Trump's Tomahawk Tweet in April 2017 was not only under totally false pretenses. It had posed a threat to Russian troops and Moscow took extra measures to protect them.
Russian deployment of the advanced S-400 system on the Syrian coast in Latakia also impacts Israel's regional air superiority. The S-400 can track and shoot down targets some 400 kilometers (250 miles) away. That range encompasses half of Israel's airspace, including Ben Gurion International Airport. In addition to surface-to-air missiles installations, Russian aircraft in Syria are equipped with air-to-air missiles. Those weapons are part of an calculus of Israeli aggression in the region.
Of course, there's much more to say about this subject.
john wilson , December 9, 2017 at 6:34 amHere's a good one from Hedges (for what little good it will do). https://www.truthdig.com/articles/zero-hour-palestine/
Drew Hunkins , December 9, 2017 at 1:34 pmSurely, Drew, even the brain washed sheep otherwise known as the American public can't seriously believe that their government armed head choppers in a bid to bring peace to the region, can they?
mike k , December 8, 2017 at 5:34 pmYup Mr. Wilson. It's too much cognitive dissonance for them to process. After all, we're the exceptional nation, the beacon on the hill, the country that ONLY intervenes abroad when there is a 'right to protect!' or it's a 'humanitarian intervention.' As Ken Burns would say: Washington only acts "with good intentions. They're just sometimes misplaced." That's all. The biggest global empire the world has ever seen is completely out of the picture.
john wilson , December 9, 2017 at 6:36 amWhen evil people with evil intentions set out to do something in the world, the result is evil. Like Libya, or Iraq, or Syria. Why do I call these people who killed millions for their own selfish greed for power evil? If you have to ask that, then you just don't understand what evil is – and you have a lot of company, because many people believe that evil does not even exist! Such sheeple become the perfect victims of the evil ones, who are destroying our world.
mike k , December 9, 2017 at 5:41 pmCorrection, Mike. The public do believe that evil exists but they sincerely think that Putin and Russia are the evil ones'
Mild - ly Facetious , December 8, 2017 at 6:22 pmOne of the ways to avoid recognizing evil is to ascribe it to inappropriate, incorrect sources usually as a result of believing misleading propaganda. Another common maneuver is to deny evil's presence in oneself, and believe it is always "out there". Or one can feel that "evil" is an outmoded religious concept that is only used to hit at those one does not like.
Abe , December 8, 2017 at 6:24 pmOh Jerusalem: Requiem for the two-state solution (Gas masks required)
https://electronicintifada.net/content/oh-jerusalem-requiem-two-state-solution/22521
Abe , December 8, 2017 at 6:27 pmOn 24 October 2017, the Intercept released an NSA document unearthed from leaked intelligence files provided by Edward Snowden which reveals that terrorist militants in Syria were under the direct command of foreign governments from the early years of the war which has now claimed half a million lives.
https://theintercept.com/2017/10/24/syria-rebels-nsa-saudi-prince-assad/
Marked "Top Secret" the NSA memo focuses on events that unfolded outside Damascus in March of 2013.
The US intelligence memo is evidence of internal US government confirmation of the direct role that both the Saudi and US governments played in fueling attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, as well as military targets in pursuit of "regime change" in Syria.
Israel's support for terrorist forces in Syria is well established. The Israelis and Saudis coordinate their activities.
Abe , December 9, 2017 at 12:26 pmAn August 2012 DIA report (written when the U.S. was monitoring weapons flows from Libya to Syria), said that the opposition in Syria was driven by al Qaeda and other extremist groups: "the Salafist, the Muslim Brotherhood, and AQI are the major forces driving the insurgency in Syria." The "deterioration of the situation" was predicted to have "dire consequences" for Iraq, which included the "grave danger" of a terrorist "Islamic state". Some of the "dire consequences" are blacked out but the DIA warned one such consequence would be the "renewing facilitation of terrorist elements from all over the Arab world entering into Iraqi Arena."
The heavily redacted DIA memo specifically mentions "the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist principality in eastern Syria (Hasaka and Der Zor), and this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime, which is considered the strategic depth of the Shia expansion (Iraq and Iran)."
To clarify just who these "supporting powers" were, mentioned in the document who sought the creation of a "Salafist principality," the DIA memo explained: "The West, Gulf countries, and Turkey support the opposition; while Russia, China, and Iran support the regime."
The DIA memo clearly indicates when it was decided to transform US, Saudi, and Turkish-backed Al Qaeda affiliates into ISIS: the "Salafist" (Islamic) "principality" (State). NATO member state Turkey has been directly supporting terrorism in Syria, and specifically, supporting ISIS. In 2014, Germany's international broadcaster Deutsche Welle's reported "'IS' supply channels through Turkey." DW exposed fleets of hundreds of trucks a day, passing unchallenged through Turkey's border crossings with Syria, clearly bound for the defacto ISIS capital of Raqqa. Starting in September 2015, Russian airpower in Syria successfully interdicted ISIS supply lines.
The usual suspects in Western media launched a relentless propaganda campaign against Russian support for Syria. The Atlantic Council's Bellingcat disinformation operation started working overtime.
The propaganda effort culminated in the 4 April 2017 Khan Shaykhun false flag chemical incident in Idlib. Bellingcat's Eliot Higgins and Dan Kaszeta have been paraded by "First Draft" coalition media "partners" in a vigorous effort to somehow implicate the Russians.
Abe , December 9, 2017 at 12:44 pmIn a January 2016 interview on Al Jazeera, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency Michael Flynn admitted that he "paid very close attention" to the August 2012 DIA report predicting the rise of a "declared or undeclared Salafist Principality" in Syria. Flynn even asserts that the White House's sponsoring of terrorists (that would emerge as Al Nusra and ISIS) against the Syrian regime was "a willful decision."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6Y274U7QIs
Flynn was interviewed by British journalist Mehdi Hasan for Al Jazeera's Head to Head program. Flynn made it clear that the policies that led to the "the rise of the Islamic State, the rise of terrorism" were not merely the result of ignorance or looking the other way, but the result of conscious decision making:
Hasan: "You are basically saying that even in government at the time you knew these groups were around, you saw this analysis, and you were arguing against it, but who wasn't listening?"
Flynn: "I think the administration."
Hasan: "So the administration turned a blind eye to your analysis?"
Flynn: "I don't know that they turned a blind eye, I think it was a decision. I think it was a willful decision."
Hasan: "A willful decision to support an insurgency that had Salafists, Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood?"
Flynn: "It was a willful decision to do what they're doing."
Holding up a paper copy of the 2012 DIA report declassified through FOIA, Hasan read aloud key passages such as, "there is the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist principality in Eastern Syria, and this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime."
Rather than downplay the importance of the document and these startling passages, as did the State Department soon after its release, Flynn did the opposite: he confirmed that while acting DIA chief he "paid very close attention" to this report in particular and later added that "the intelligence was very clear."
Lt. Gen. Flynn, speaking safely from retirement, is the highest ranking intelligence official to go on record saying the United States and other state sponsors of rebels in Syria knowingly gave political backing and shipped weapons to Al-Qaeda in order to put pressure on the Syrian regime:
Hasan: "In 2012 the U.S. was helping coordinate arms transfers to those same groups [Salafists, Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaeda in Iraq], why did you not stop that if you're worried about the rise of quote-unquote Islamic extremists?"
Flynn: "I hate to say it's not my job but that my job was to was to to ensure that the accuracy of our intelligence that was being presented was as good as it could be."
Flynn unambiguously confirmed that the 2012 DIA document served as source material in his own discussions over Syria policy with the White House. Flynn served as Director of Intelligence for Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) during a time when its prime global mission was dismantling Al-Qaeda.
Flynn's admission that the White House was in fact arming and bolstering Al-Qaeda linked groups in Syria is especially shocking given his stature. The Pentagon's former highest ranking intelligence officer in charge of the hunt for Osama bin Laden confessed that the United States directly aided the Al Qaeda terrorist legions of Ayman al-Zawahiri beginning in at least 2012 in Syria.
Abe , December 9, 2017 at 2:11 pmMehdi Hasan goes Head to Head with Michael Flynn, former head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency
Full Transcript: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/headtohead/2016/01/transcript-michael-flynn-160104174144334.html
Abe , December 9, 2017 at 3:08 pm"Flynn would later tell the New York Times that this 2012 intelligence report in particular was seen at the White House where it was 'disregarded' because it 'didn't meet the narrative' on the war in Syria. He would further confirm to investigative journalist Seymour Hersh that Defense Department (DoD) officials and DIA intelligence in particular, were loudly warning the administration that jihadists were leading the opposition in Syria -- warnings which were met with 'enormous pushback.' Instead of walking back his Al Jazeera comments, General Flynn explained to Hersh that 'If the American public saw the intelligence we were producing daily, at the most sensitive level, they would go ballistic.' Hersh's investigative report exposed a kind of intelligence schism between the Pentagon and CIA concerning the covert program in Syria.
"In a personal exchange on his blog Sic Semper Tyrannis, legendary DoD intelligence officer and former presidential briefer Pat Lang explained [ ] that the DIA memo was used as a 'warning shot across the [administration's] bow.' Lang has elsewhere stated that DIA Director Flynn had 'tried to persuade people in the Obama Administration not to provide assistance to the Nusra group.' It must be remembered that in 2012 what would eventually emerge as distinct 'ISIS' and 'Nusra' (AQ in Syria) groups was at that time a singular entity desiring a unified 'Islamic State.' The nascent ISIS organization (referenced in the memo as 'ISI' or Islamic State in Iraq) was still one among many insurgent groups fighting to topple Assad.
"In fact, only one year after the DIA memo was produced (dated August 12, 2012) a coalition of rebels fighting under the US-backed Revolutionary Military Council of Aleppo were busy celebrating their most strategic victory to date, which served to open an opposition corridor in Northern Syria. The seizure of the Syrian government's Menagh Airbase in August 2013 was only accomplished with the military prowess of fighters identifying themselves in front of cameras and to reporters on the ground as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.
"Public embarrassment came for Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford who reluctantly confirmed that in fact, yes, the US-funded and supplied FSA commander on the ground had personally led ISIS and Nusra fighters in the attack (Ford himself was previously filmed alongside the commander). This after the New York Times publicized unambiguous video proof of the fact. Even the future high commander of Islamic State's military operations, Omar al-Shishani, himself played a leading role in the US sponsored FSA operation."
Obama and the DIA 'Islamic State' Memo: What Trump Gets Right
By Brad Hoff
https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2016/07/01/obama-and-the-dia-islamic-state-memo-what-trump-gets-right/BobH, December 8, 2017 at 7:13 pm"one first needs to understand what has happened in Syria and other Middle Eastern countries in recent years. The original plan of the US and Saudi Arabia (behind whom stood an invisible Israel) was the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad and his replacement with Islamic fundamentalists or takfiris (Daesh, al-Qaeda, Jabhat al-Nusra).
"The plan involved the following steps:
- sweep away a strong secular Arab state with a political culture, armed forces and security services;
- generate total chaos and horror in Syria that would justify the creation of Israel's 'security zone', not only in Golan Heights, but also further north;
- start a civil war in Lebanon and incite takfiri violence against Hezbollah, leading to them both bleeding to death and then create a "security zone", this time in Lebanon;
- prevent the creation of a "Shiite axis" of Iran/Iraq/Syria/Lebanon;
- continue the division of Syria along ethnic and religious lines, establish an independent Kurdistan and then to use them against Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran.
- give Israel the opportunity to become the unquestioned major player in the region and force Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and everyone else to apply for permission from Israel in order to implement any oil and gas projects;
- gradually isolate, threaten, undermine and ultimately attack Iran with a wide regional coalition, removing all Shiite centers of power in the middle East.
"It was an ambitious plan, and the Israelis were completely convinced that the United States would provide all the necessary resources to see it through. But the Syrian government has survived thanks to military intervention by Russia, Iran and Hezbollah. Daesh is almost defeated and Iran and Hezbollah are so firmly entrenched in Syria that it has driven the Israelis into a state of fear bordering on panic. Lebanon remains stable, and even the recent attempt by the Saudis to abduct Prime Minister Saad Hariri failed.
"As a result, Saudi Arabia and Israel have developed a new plan: force the US to attack Iran. To this end, the 'axis of good"' (USA-Israel-Saudi Arabia) was created, although this is nothing new. Saudi Arabia and the other Arab States in the Persian Gulf have in the past spoken in favor of intervention in Syria. It is well known that the Saudis invaded Bahrain, are occupying it de facto, and are now at war in Yemen.
"The Israelis will participate in any plan that will finally split the Sunnis and Shiites, turning the region into rubble. It was not by chance that, having failed in Lebanon, they are now trying to do the same in Yemen after the murder of Ali Abdullah Saleh.
"For the Saudis and Israelis, the problem lies in the fact that they have rather weak armed forces; expensive and high-tech, but when it comes to full-scale hostilities, especially against a really strong opponent such as the Iranians or Hezbollah, the 'Israel/Wahhabis' have no chance and they know it, even if they do not admit it. So, one simply needs to think up some kind of plan to force the Shiites to pay a high price.
"So they developed a new plan. Firstly, the goal is now not the defeat of Hezbollah or Iran. For all their rhetoric, the Israelis know that neither they nor especially the Saudis are able to seriously threaten Iran or even Hezbollah. Their plan is much more basic: initiate a serious conflict and then force the US to intervene. Only today, the armed forces of the United States have no way of winning a war with Iran, and this may be a problem. The US military knows this and they are doing everything to tell the neo-cons 'sorry, we just can't.' This is the only reason why a US attack on Iran has not already taken place. From the Israeli point of view this is totally unacceptable and the solution is simple: just force the US to participate in a war they do not really need. As for the Iranians, the Israeli goal of provoking an attack on Iran by the US is not to defeat Iran, but just to bring about destruction – a lot of destruction [ ]
"You would need to be crazy to attack Iran. The problem, however, is that the Saudis and the Israelis are close to this state. And they have proved it many times. So it just remains to hope that Israel and the KSA are 'crazy', but 'not that crazy'."
The Likelihood of War with Iran By Petr Lvov https://journal-neo.org/2017/12/09/the-likelihood-of-war-with-iran/
Linda Wood , December 8, 2017 at 10:24 pmThe article raises a very serious charge. Up till now it appeared that supplying weapons to Al Qaeda affiliates in Syria was just another example of Pentagon incompetence but the suggestion here is that it was a concerted policy and it's hard to believe that there was no one in the Pentagon that was privy to that policy who wouldn't raise an objection.
That it conformed with Israeli, Saudi and CIA designs is not surprising, but that there was no dissension within the Pentagon is appalling (or that Obama didn't raise objections). Clark's comment should put him on the hot seat for a congressional investigation but, of course, there is no one in congress to run with it. The policy is so manifestly evil that it seems to dwarf even the reckless ignorance of preceding "interventions".
BobH , December 8, 2017 at 10:55 pmThere WAS dissension within the Pentagon, not only about being in a coalition with the Gulf States and Turkey in support of terrorist forces, but about allowing ISIS to invade Ramadi, which CENTCOM exposed by making public that US forces watched it happen and did nothing. In addition, CENTCOM and SOCOM publicly opposed switching sides in Yemen.
A senior commander at Central Command (CENTCOM), speaking on condition of anonymity, scoffed at that argument. "The reason the Saudis didn't inform us of their plans," he said, "is because they knew we would have told them exactly what we think -- that it was a bad idea.
Military sources said that a number of regional special forces officers and officers at U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) argued strenuously against supporting the Saudi-led intervention because the target of the intervention, the Shia Houthi movement -- which has taken over much of Yemen and which Riyadh accuses of being a proxy for Tehran -- has been an effective counter to Al-Qaeda.
The DIA report released by Gen. Flynn in 2012 predicted the Islamic State with alarm. That is why Flynn was fired as Director of DIA. He objected to the insane policy of supporting the CIA/Saudi madness and saw it as not only counter-productive but disastrous. His comments to AlJazeera in 2016 reinforced this position. Gen Flynn's faction of the American military has been consistent in its opposition to CIA support of terrorist forces.
Sam F , December 10, 2017 at 8:57 amThanks, I never read anything about it in the MSM (perhaps Aljazeera was an exception?). However, this doesn't explain Gen. Flynn's tight relationship with Turkey's Erdogan who clearly backed the Al Qaeda affiliated rebels to the point of shooting down a Russian jet over Syria.
Linda Wood , December 8, 2017 at 10:28 pmThe fighter shoot-down incident was before Erdogan's reversals in Syria policy.
j. D. D. , December 9, 2017 at 8:33 amI see Gen. Flynn as a whistleblower. The 2012 report he circulated saw the rise of the Salafist Islamic state with alarm.
B. THE SALAFIST, THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD, AND AQI ARE THE MAJOR FORCES DRIVING THE INSURGENCY IN SYRIA.
C. THE WEST, GULF COUNTRIES, AND TURKEY SUPPORT THE OPPOSITION; WHILE RUSSIA, CHINA, AND IRAN SUPPORT THE REGIME.
C. IF THE SITUATION UNRAVELS THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING A DECLARED OR UNDECLARED SALAFIST PRINCIPALITY IN EASTERN SYRIA (HASAKA AND DER ZOR), AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE SUPPORTING POWERS TO THE OPPOSITION WANT, IN ORDER TO ISOLATE THE SYRIAN REGIME, WHICH IS CONSIDERED THE STRATEGIC DEPTH OF THE SHIA EXPANSION (IRAQ AND IRAN).
D. THE DETERIORATION OF THE SITUATION HAS DIRE CONSEQUENCES ON THE IRAQI SITUATION AND ARE AS FOLLOWS:
–1. THIS CREATES THE IDEAL ATMOSPHERE FOR AQI TO RETURN TO ITS OLD POCKETS IN MOSUL AND RAMADI, AND WILL PROVIDE A RENEWED MOMENTUM UNDER THE PRESUMPTION OF UNIFYING THE JIHAD AMONG SUNNI IRAQ AND SYRIA ISI COULD ALSO DECLARE AN ISLAMIC STATE THROUGH ITS UNION WITH OTHER TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS IN IRAQ AND SYRIA, WHICH WILL CREATE GRAVE DANGER IN REGARDS TO UNIFYING IRAQ AND THE PROTECTION OF ITS TERRITORY
https://geopolitics.co/2015/12/22/dempseys-pentagon-aided-assad-with-military-intelligence-hersh/
London Review of Books Vol. 38 No. 1 · 7 January 2016
Military to Military: US intelligence sharing in the Syrian war
Seymour M. HershLieutenant General Michael Flynn, director of the DIA between 2012 and 2014, confirmed that his agency had sent a constant stream of classified warnings to the civilian leadership about the dire consequences of toppling Assad. The jihadists, he said, were in control of the opposition. Turkey wasn't doing enough to stop the smuggling of foreign fighters and weapons across the border. 'If the American public saw the intelligence we were producing daily, at the most sensitive level, they would go ballistic,' Flynn told me. 'We understood Isis's long-term strategy and its campaign plans, and we also discussed the fact that Turkey was looking the other way when it came to the growth of the Islamic State inside Syria.' The DIA's reporting, he said, 'got enormous pushback' from the Obama administration. 'I felt that they did not want to hear the truth.'
Abbybwood , December 9, 2017 at 11:24 pmThank you. Gen Flynn also urged coordination with Russia against ISIS, so it doesn't take much to see why he was targeted. Ironically, the MSM is now going bananas over his support for nuclear power in the region, which he had tied to desalination of sea water, toward alleviating that crucial source of conflict in the area.
jaycee , December 8, 2017 at 7:19 pmI believe Wesley Clark told Amy Goodman that he was handed the classified memo regarding the U.S. overthrowing seven countries in five years starting with Iraq and ending with Iran, in 2001, not 2006. He said it was right after 9/11 when he visited the Pentagon and Joint Chief of Staff's office and was handed the memo.
turk151 , December 9, 2017 at 10:03 pmThe use of Islamist proxy warriors to help achieve American geo-political ends goes back to at least 1979, including Afghanistan, Bosnia, Libya, and Syria. One of the better books on 9/11 is Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed's "The War On Truth: 9/11, Disinformation, and the Anatomy of Terrorism". The first section of that book – "The Geopolitics of Terrorism" – covers, across 150 well-sourced pages, the history and background of this involvement. It is highly recommended for anyone who wishes to be better informed on this topic.
One disturbing common feature across the years have been US sponsored airlifts of Islamist fighters facing defeat, as seen in Afghanistan in late 2001 and just recently in eastern Syria. In 2001, some of those fighters were relocated to North Africa, specifically Mali – the roots of the Islamist insurgency which has destabilized that country over the past few years. Where exactly the ISIS rebels assisted some weeks ago were relocated is yet unknown.
j. D. D. , December 8, 2017 at 7:57 pmJaycee, actually you have to go back much further than that to WW2. Hitler used the marginalized Turkic people in Russia and turned them into effective fighters to create internal factions within the Soviet Union. After Hitler lost and the Cold War began, the US, who had no understanding of the Soviets at the time radicalized and empowered Islamist including the Muslim Brotherhood to weaponize Islam against the Soviet Union.
Hence the birth of the Mujaheddin and Bin Laden, the rest is history.
David G , December 9, 2017 at 7:25 amThe article does not support the sub-headline. There is no evidence provided, nor is there any evidence to be found, that Washington's policy in the region was motivated by anything other than geopolitical objectives.
Anon , December 9, 2017 at 9:14 amI think that phrasing may point to the hand of editor Robert Parry. The incredible value of CN notwithstanding, Parry in his own pieces (erroneously in my eyes) maintains a belief that Obama somehow meant well. Hence the imputation of some "naïve" but ultimately benevolent motive on the part of the U.S. genocidaires, as the whole Syria catastrophe got going on Obama's watch.
Skip Scott , December 9, 2017 at 9:45 amThe imputation of naivete works to avoid accusation of a specific strategy without sufficient evidence.
Stephen , December 9, 2017 at 2:49 pmAlthough I am no fan of Obama, and most especially the continuation of the warmongering for his 8 years, he did balk at the "Red line" when he found out he was being set up, and it wasn't Assad who used chemical weapons. I don't think he "meant well" so much as he knew the exact length of his leash. His bragging about going against "The Washington playbook" was of course laughable; just as his whole hopey/changey thing was laughable with Citigroup picking his cabinet.
Lois Gagnon , December 8, 2017 at 8:41 pmOff topic but you can listen to some of Obama's banking handiwork here: https://sputniknews.com/radio_loud_and_clear/201712091059844562-looming-government-shutdown-will-democrats-fight-trumps-pro-rich-plan/ It starts at about minute 28:14. It explains the whole reaction by Obama and Holder to the banking fiasco in my mind. Sorry but I had to get it from the evil Rooski radio program.
Stephen J. , December 8, 2017 at 8:42 pmAll these western imperial geostrategic planners are certifiably insane and have no business anywhere near the levers of government policy. They are the number one enemy of humanity. If we don't find a way to remove them from power, they may actually succeed in destroying life on Earth.
MarkU , December 8, 2017 at 10:00 pmThere is a volume of evidence that the war criminals in our midst were arming and training "jihadists." See link below. http://graysinfo.blogspot.ca/2016/10/the-evidence-of-planning-of-wars.html
Linda Wood , December 8, 2017 at 10:37 pm"Official Washington helped unleash hell on Syria and across the Mideast behind the naïve belief that jihadist proxies could be used to transform the region for the better, explains Daniel Lazare." What a load of old rubbish, naïve belief indeed. it is difficult to believe that anyone could write this stuff with a straight face.
Zachary Smith , December 8, 2017 at 11:37 pmIncompetence and stupidity are their only defense because if anyone acknowledged that trillions of dollars have been made by the usual suspects committing these crimes, the industrialists of war would face a justice symbolized by Nuremberg.
Zachary Smith , December 8, 2017 at 11:37 pmThat Gary Gambill character "outed" himself as a Zionist on September 4 of this year. He appears to have mastered the propaganda associated with the breed. At the link see if you can find any mention of the murders, thefts, ethnic cleansing, or apartheid of his adopted nation. Blaming the victim may be this fellow's specialty. Sample:
The well-intentioned flocked in droves to the belief that Israeli- Palestinian peace was achievable provided Israel made the requisite concessions, and that this would liberate the Arab-Islamic world from a host of other problems allegedly arising from it: bloated military budgets, intolerance of dissent, Islamic extremism, you name it.
Why tackle each of these problems head on when they can be alleviated all at once when Israel is brought to heel? Twenty years later, the Middle East is suffering the consequences of this conspiracy of silence.
Gerry , December 9, 2017 at 4:51 amTheo , December 9, 2017 at 6:35 amThe American groupthink rarely allows propaganda and disinformation disturb: endless wars and endless lies and criminality, have not disturbed this mindset. It is clever to manipulate people to think in a way opposite of truth so consistently. All the atrocities by the US have been surrounded by media propaganda and mastery of groupthink techniques go down well. Mention something unusual or real news and you might get heavily criticized for daring to think outside the box and doubt what are (supposedly) "religious truths". Tell a lie long enough and it becomes the truth.
It takes courage to go against the flow of course and one can only hope that the Americans are what they think they are: courageous and strong enough to hear their cherished truths smashed, allow the scales before their eyes to fall and practise free speech and free thought.
Josh Stern , December 9, 2017 at 6:49 amThanks for this article and many others on this site.In Europe and in Germany you hardly hear,read or see any of these facts and their connections.It seems to be only of marginal interest.
triekc , December 9, 2017 at 8:27 amThe CIA was a key force behind the creation of both al Qaeda and ISIS. Most major incidents of "Islamic Terrorism" have some kind of CIA backing behind them. See this large collection of links for compiled evidence: http://www.pearltrees.com/joshstern/government-supporting/id18814292
Joe Tedesky , December 9, 2017 at 11:27 amThis journalist and other journalists writing on some of my favorite Russian propaganda news websites, have reported the US empire routinely makes "deals with the devil", the enemy of my enemy is my friend, if doing so furthers their goal of perpetual war and global hegemony. Yet, inexplicably, these journalists buy the US empire's 911 story without question, in the face of many unanswered questions.
Beginning in the 1990's, neocons who would become W's cabinet, wrote detailed plans of military regime change in Middle East, but stating they needed a "strong external shock to the United States -- a latter-day 'Pearl Harbor", to get US sheeple to support increased militarism and global war. Few months after W took office, and had appointed those war mongering neocons to positions of power, Bin Laden (CIA staffer) and a handful of his men, all from close allied countries to the US, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, delivered the 2nd Pearl Harbor on 911. What a timely coincidence! We accept the US Empire provides weapons and military support to the same enemy, and worse, who attacked us on 911, but one is labeled a "conspiracy nut" if they believe that same US Empire would orchestrate 911 to justify their long planned global war. One thing about being a "conspiracy nut", if you live long enough, often you will see your beliefs vindicated
Christene Bartels , December 9, 2017 at 8:53 amYou commented on what I was thinking, and that was, 'remember when al Queda was our enemy on 911'? So now that bin Laden is dead, and his al Queda now fights on our side, shouldn't the war be over? And, just for the record who did attack us on 911?
So many questions, and so much left unanswered, but don't worry America may run out of money for domestic vital needs but the U.S. always has the money to go fight another war. It's a culture thing, and if you ain't into it then you just don't pay no attention to it. In fact if your life is better off from all of these U.S. led invasions, then your probably not posting any comments here, either.
Knowing the Pentagon mentality they probably have an 'al Queda combat medal' to pin on the terrorists chest. Sarcasm I know, but seriously is anything not within the realm of believable when it comes to this MIC establishment?
Gregory Herr , December 9, 2017 at 1:00 pmGreat article and spot on as far as the author takes it. But the world is hurtling towards Armageddon so I'd like to back things up about one hundred years and get down to brass tacks.
The fact of the matter is, the M.E. has never been at total peace but it has been nothing but one colossal FUBAR since the Ottoman Empire was defeated after WWI and the Allied Forces got their grubby, greedy mitts on its M.E. territories and all of that luscious black gold. First up was the British Empire and France and then it really went nuclear (literally) in 1946 when Truman and the U.S. joined in the fun and decided to figure out how we could carve out that ancient prime piece of real estate and resurrect Israel. By 1948 ..violà ..there she was.
So now here we sit as the hundred year delusion that we knew what the hell we were doing comes crashing down around us. Seriously, whoever the people have been who thought that a country with the historical perspective of a toddler was going to be able to successfully manage and manipulate a region filled with people who are still tribal in perspective and are still holding grudges and settling scores from five thousand years ago were complete and total arrogant morons. Every single one of them. Up to the present moment.
Which gets me down to those brass tacks I alluded to at the beginning of my comment. Delusional crusades lead by arrogant morons always, always, always end up as ash heaps. So, I would suggest we all prepare for that rapidly approaching conclusion accordingly. For me, that means hitting my knees.
Gregory Herr , December 9, 2017 at 10:07 pmMiddle Eastern people are no more "tribal" or prone to holding grudges than any other people. Middle Eastern people have exhibited and practiced peaceful and tolerant living arrangements within several different contexts over the centuries. Iraq had a fairly thriving middle class and the Syrians are a cultured and educated people.
BASLE , December 9, 2017 at 10:46 amSyrian society is constructed very much within the construct of close family ties and a sense of a Syrian homeland. It is solely the business of the Syrian people to decide whether the socialist Ba'ath government functions according to their own sense of realities and standards. Some of those realities may include aspects of a necessitated national security state (necessitated by CIA and Israeli subterfuge) that prompts shills to immediately characterize the Assad government as "an authoritarian regime" and of course that's all you need to know. Part of what pisses the West off about the Syrians is that they are so competent, and that includes their intelligence and security services. One of the other parts is the socialist example of government functioning in interests of the general population, not selling out to vultures.
It bothers me that Mr. Lazare wrote: "Syria's Baathist government is hardly blameless in this affair." Really? Well the Syrian government can hardly be blamed for the vile strategy of using terrorist mercenaries to take or destroy a people's homeland–killing horrific numbers of fathers, mothers, and children on the way to establish some kind of Wild West control over Damascus that can then be manipulated for the typical elite deviances. What was purposely planned and visited upon the Syrian people has had human consequences that were known and disregarded by the planners. It has been and continues to be a grave crime against our common humanity that should be raised to the roof of objection! People like Gambill should be excoriated for their crass appraisal of human costs .and for their contrived and twisted rationalizations and deceits. President Assad recently gave an interview to teleSUR that is worth a listen. He talks about human costs with understanding for what he is talking about. Gambill doesn't give a damn.
Sam F , December 10, 2017 at 9:08 amFrom the October 1973 Yom Kippur War onward, the United States had no foreign policy in the Middle East other than Israel's. Daniel Lazare should read "A clean break: a new strategy for the Realm".
Herman , December 9, 2017 at 10:47 amYes, Israel is the cut-out or fence for US politicians stealing campaign money from the federal budget. US policy is that of the bribery sources and nothing else. And it believes that to be professional competence. For the majority of amoral opportunists of the US, money=power=virtue and they will attack all who disagree.
Marilyn Vogt-Downey , December 9, 2017 at 11:18 am"Official Washington helped unleash hell on Syria and across the Mideast behind the naïve belief that jihadist proxies could be used to transform the region for the better, explains Daniel Lazare."
Lazare makes the case very well about our amoral foreign policy but I think he errs in saying our aim was to "transform the region for the better." Recent history, going back to Afghanistan shows a very different goal, to defeat our enemies and the enemies of our allies with little concern for the aftermath. Just observing what has happened to the people where we supported extremists is evidence enough.
Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward men. We hope the conscience of our nation is bothered by our behavior but we know that is not true, and we sleep very well, thank you.
Randal Marlin , December 9, 2017 at 11:26 amI am stunned that anyone could be so foolish as to think that the US military machine, US imperialism, does things "naively", bumbling like a helpless giant into wars that destroy entire nations with no end in sight. One need not be a "conspiracy theorist" to understand that the Pentagon does not control the world with an ever-expanding war budget equal to the next 10 countries combined, that it does this just because it is stuck on the wrong path. No! US imperialism develops these "big guns" to use them, to overpower, take over and dominate the world for the sake of profits and protection of the right to exploit for private profit.
There is ample evidence–see the Brookings Institute study among many others–that the Gulf monarchies–flunkies of US imperialism–who "host" dozens of US military bases in the region, some of them central to US war strategy–initiated and nourished and armed and financed the "jihadi armies" in Syria AND Libya AND elsewhere; they did not do this on their own. The US government–the executive committee of the US ruling class–does not naively support the Gulf monarchies because it doesn't know any better! Washington (following British imperialism) organized, established and backed these flunky regimes. They are autocratic, antediluvian regimes, allowing virtually civil rights, with no local proletariat to speak of, no popular base. They are no more than sheriffs for imperialism in that region of the world, along with the Zionist state of Israel, helping imperialism do the really dirty work.
I research this and gathered the evidence to support what I just asserted in a long study printed back in Dec. 2015 in Truthout. Here is the link: http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/34151-what-is-the-war-on-terror-and-how-to-fight-it
Look at the evidence. Stop the totally foolish assessment that the US government spends all this money on a war machine just to "naively" blunder into wars that level entire nations–and is not taking on destruction of the entire continent of Africa to eliminate any obstacles to its domination.
No! That is foolish and destructive. Unless we look in the face what is going on–the US government since its "secret" intervention in Afghanistan in the 1970s and 1980s, has recruited, trained, armed, funded and relied on jihadi armies to unseat regimes and destabilize and destroy populations and regimes the US government wants to overthrow, and destroy, any that could potentially develop into an alternative model of nationalist, bourgeois industrial development on any level.
Wake up!!! The evidence is there. There is no reason to bumble and bungle along as if we are in the dark.
Zachary Smith , December 9, 2017 at 2:43 pmDaniel Pipes, from what I've read of him, is among those who counsel the U.S. government to use its military power to support the losing side in any civil wars fought within Israel's enemy states, so that the wars will continue, sparing Israel the threat of unified enemy states. What normal human beings consider a humanitarian disaster, repeated in Iraq, Syria and Libya, would be reckoned a success according to this way of thinking.
The thinking would appear to lead to similar treatment of Iran, with even more catastrophic consequences.Behind all this is the thinking that the survival of Israel outweighs anything else in any global ethical calculus. Those who don't accept this moral premise but who believe in supporting the survival of Israel have their work cut out for them. This work would be made easier if the U.S. population saw clearly what was going on, instead of being preoccupied with salacious sexual misconduct stories or other distractions.
Zachary Smith , December 9, 2017 at 2:43 pmA Russian interceptor has been scrambled to stop a rogue US fighter jet from actively interfering with an anti-terrorist operation, the Russian Defense Ministry said. It also accused the US of provoking close encounters with the Russian jets in Syria.
A US F-22 fighter was preventing two Russian Su-25 strike aircraft from bombing an Islamic State (IS, former ISIS) base to the west of the Euphrates November 23, according to the ministry. The ministry's spokesman, Major General Igor Konashenkov described the episode as yet another example of US aircraft attempts to prevent Russian forces from carrying out strikes against Islamic State.
"The F-22 launched decoy flares and used airbrakes while constantly maneuvering [near the Russian strike jets], imitating an air fight," Konashenkov said. He added that the US jet ceased its dangerous maneuvers only after a Russian Su-35S fighter jet joined the two strike planes.
If this story is true, then it illustrates a number of things. First, the US is still providing ISIS air cover. Second, either the F-22 pilot or his commander is dumber than dirt. The F-22 may be a fine airplane, but getting into a contest with an equally fine non-stealth airplane at eyeball distances means throwing away every advantage of the super-expensive stealth.
Pablo Diablo , December 9, 2017 at 2:53 pmAbe , December 9, 2017 at 2:54 pmGotta keep the War Machine well fed and insure Corporate control of markets and taking of resources.
mike k , December 9, 2017 at 6:38 pmIn October 1973, a nuclear armed rogue state almost triggered a global thermonuclear war.
Yom Kippur: Israel's 1973 nuclear alert
By Richard Sale
https://www.upi.com/Yom-Kippur-Israels-1973-nuclear-alert/64941032228992/Israel obtained operational nuclear weapons capability by 1967, with the mass production of nuclear warheads occurring immediately after the Six-Day War. In addition to the Israeli nuclear arsenal, Israel has offensive chemical and biological warfare stockpiles.
Israel, the Middle East's sole nuclear power, is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
In 2015, the US-based Institute for Science and International Security estimated that Israel had 115 nuclear warheads. Outside estimates of Israel's nuclear arsenal range up to 400 nuclear weapons.
Israeli nuclear weapons delivery mechanisms include Jericho 3 missiles, with a range of 4,800 km to 6,500 km (though a 2004 source estimated its range at up to 11,500 km), as well as regional coverage from road mobile Jericho 2 IRBMs.
Additionally, Israel is believed to have an offshore nuclear capability using submarine-launched nuclear-capable cruise missiles, which can be launched from the Israeli Navy's Dolphin-class submarines.
The Israeli Air Force has F-15I and F-16I Sufa fighter aircraft are capable of delivering tactical and strategic nuclear weapons at long distances using conformal fuel tanks and supported by their aerial refueling fleet of modified Boeing 707's.
In 1986, Mordechai Vanunu, a former technician at Dimona, fled to the United Kingdom and revealed to the media some evidence of Israel's nuclear program and explained the purposes of each building, also revealing a top-secret underground facility directly below the installation.
The Mossad, Israel's secret service, sent a female agent who lured Vanunu to Italy, where he was kidnapped by Mossad agents and smuggled to Israel aboard a freighter. An Israeli court then tried him in secret on charges of treason and espionage, and sentenced him to eighteen years imprisonment.
At the time of Vanunu's kidnapping, The Times reported that Israel had material for approximately 20 hydrogen bombs and 200 fission bombs by 1986. In the spring of 2004, Vanunu was released from prison, and placed under several strict restrictions, such as the denial of a passport, freedom of movement limitations and restrictions on communications with the press. Since his release, he has been rearrested and charged multiple times for violations of the terms of his release.
Safety concerns about this 40-year-old reactor have been reported. In 2004, as a preventive measure, Israeli authorities distributed potassium iodide anti-radiation tablets to thousands of residents living nearby. Local residents have raised concerns regarding serious threats to health from living near the reactor.
According to a lawsuit filed in Be'er Sheva Labor Tribunal, workers at the center were subjected to human experimentation in 1998. According to Julius Malick, the worker who submitted the lawsuit, they were given drinks containing uranium without medical supervision and without obtaining written consent or warning them about risks of side effects.
In April 2016 the U.S. National Security Archive declassified dozens of documents from 1960 to 1970, which detail what American intelligence viewed as Israel's attempts to obfuscate the purpose and details of its nuclear program. The Americans involved in discussions with Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and other Israelis believed the country was providing "untruthful cover" about intentions to build nuclear weapons.
Den Lille Abe , December 9, 2017 at 8:54 pmThe machinations of those seeking to gain advantages for themselves by hurting others, are truly appalling. If we fail to name evil for what it is, then we fail as human beings.Those who look the other way as their country engages in an organized reign of terror, are complicit in that enormous crime.
turk151 , December 9, 2017 at 10:20 pmThe path the US has chosen since the end of WWII has been over dead bodies. In the name of "security", bringing "Freedom" and "Democracy" and complete unconstrained greed it has trampled countless nations into piles of rubble. To say it is despised or loathed is an overwhelming understatement. It is almost universally hated in the third world. Rightly. Bringing this monstrosity to a halt is a difficult task, and probably cannot be done militarily without a nuclear war, economically could in the end have the same outcome, then how?
Easy! Ruin its population. This process has started, long ago. The decline in the US of health, general wealth, nutrition, production, education, equality, ethics and morals is already showing as cracks in the fabrics of the US.
A population of incarcerated, obese, low iQ zealot junkies, armed to teeth with guns, in a country with a crumbling infrastructure, full of environmental disasters is 21 st century for most Americans. In all the areas I mentioned the US is going backwards compared to most other countries. So the monster will come down.
Linda Wood , December 10, 2017 at 1:52 amI think you are being a little hard on the incarcerated, obese, low iQ zealot junkies, armed to teeth with guns
I am not sure who is more loathsome the evangelicals who were supporting the Bush / Cheney cabal murderous wars until the bitter end or the liberal intelligentsia careerist cheerleaders for Obama and Hilary's Wars in Iraq and Syria, who also dont give a damn about another Arab country being destroyed and sold into slavery as long as Hillary gets elected. At least with the former group, you can chalk it up to a lack of education.
Barbara van der Wal-Kylstra , December 10, 2017 at 2:46 amThis is possibly the most intelligent and hopeful discussion I have read since 9/11. It says that at least some Americans do see that we have a fascist cell in our government. That is the first step in finding a way to unplug it. Best wishes to all of you who have written here. We will find a way to put war out of business.
Sam F , December 10, 2017 at 9:18 amI think this pattern of using Salafists for regime change started already in Afghanistan, with Brzezinski plotting with Saudi-Arabia and Pakistan to pay and train Osama bin Laden to attack the pro Russia regime and trying to get the USSR involved in it, also trying to blame the USSR for its agression, like they did in Syri"r?
Luutzen , December 10, 2017 at 9:15 amYes, the Brzezinski/Reagan support of fanatic insurgencies began in AfPak and was revived for the zionists. Russia happened to be on the side more or less tending to progress in both cases, so it had to be opposed. The warmongers are always the US MIC/intel, allied with the anti-American zionist fascists for Mideast wars.
mike k , December 10, 2017 at 11:05 amSheldon Adelson, Soros, Saban all wanted carving up of Arabic states into small sectarian pieces (No Nasseric pan-Arabic states, a threat to Israël). And protracted wars of total destruction. Easy.
Joe Tedesky , December 10, 2017 at 11:12 amThe US Military is part of the largest terrorist organization on Earth. For the super rich and powerful rulers of that US Mafia, the ignorant religious fanatics and other tools of Empire are just pawns in their game of world domination and universal slavery for all but themselves. These monsters of evil delight in profiting from the destruction of others; but their insatiable greed for more power will never be satisfied, and will become the cause of the annihilation of every living thing – including themselves. But like other sold out human addicts, at this point they don't really care, and will blindly pursue their nightmare quest to the very end – and perhaps they secretly hope that that final end of everything will at last quench their burning appetite for blood and gold.
Brendan , December 10, 2017 at 12:09 pmI'm leaving a link to a very long David Swanson article, where Mr Swanson goes into quite a lot of detail to how the U.S. wages war.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2017/12/76-years-pearl-harbor-lies.html
What's interesting of course is how not just Washington, but much of the 'left' also cheered on the jihadists.
Of course, they were told (by whom?) that the jihadists were 'democratic rebels' and 'freedom fighters' who just wanted to 'bring democracy' to Syria, and get rid of the 'tyrant Assad.' 5 years later, so much of the nonsense about "local councils" and "white helmets" has been exposed for what it was. Yet many 'free thinking' people bought the propaganda. Just like they do on Russiagate. Who needs an "alt-right" when America's "left" is a total disgrace?
Nov 13, 2017 | www.truthdig.com
Nearly a year after the presidential election, the scandal over accusations of Russian political interference in the 2016 election has gone beyond Donald Trump and reached into the nebulous world of online media. On November 1, Congress held hearings on "Extremist Content and Russian Disinformation Online." The proceedings saw executives from Facebook, Twitter and Youtube subjected to tongue-lashings from lawmakers like Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, who howled about Russian online trolls "spread[ing] stories about abuse of black Americans by law enforcement."
In perhaps the most chilling moment of the hearings, and the most overlooked, Clint Watts, a former U.S. Army officer who had branded himself an expert on Russian meddling, appeared before a nearly empty Senate chamber. Watts conjured up a stark landscape of American carnage, with shadowy Russian operatives stage managing the chaos.
"Civil wars don't start with gunshots, they start with words," he proclaimed. "America's war with itself has already begun. We all must act now on the social media battlefield to quell information rebellions that can quickly lead to violent confrontations and easily transform us into the Divided States of America."
Next, Watts suggested a government-imposed campaign of media censorship: "Stopping the false information artillery barrage landing on social media users comes only when those outlets distributing bogus stories are silenced: silence the guns and the barrage will end."
The censorious overtone of Watts' testimony was unmistakable. He demanded that government news inquisitors drive dissident media off the internet and warned that Americans would spear one another with bayonets if they failed to act. And not one member of Congress rose to object. In fact, many echoed his call for media suppression in the House and Senate hearings, with Democrats like Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Jackie Speier agreeing the most vehemently. The spectacle perfectly illustrated the madness of Russiagate, with liberal lawmakers springboarding off the fear of Russian meddling to demand that Americans be forbidden from consuming the wrong kinds of media -- including content that amplified the message of progressive causes like Black Lives Matter.
Details of exactly what transpired vis a vis Russia and the U.S. in social media in 2016 are still emerging. This year, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence published a declassified version of the intelligence community's report on "Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent U.S. Elections," written by CIA, FBI and NSA, with its central conclusion that Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election represent the most recent expression of Moscow's longstanding desire to undermine the U.S.-led liberal democratic order."
To be sure, there is ample evidence that Russian-linked trolls have attempted to exploit wedge issues on social media platforms. But the impact of these schemes on real-world events appears to have been exaggerated. According to Facebook's data , 56 percent of Russian-linked ads appeared after the 2016 presidential election, and another 25 percent "were never shown to anyone." The ads were said to have "reached" over 100 million people, but that assumes that Facebook users did not scroll through or otherwise ignore them, as they do with most ads. Content emanating from "Russia-linked" sources on YouTube, meanwhile, managed to rack up hit totals in the hundreds , not exactly a viral smash.
Facebook posts traced to the infamous Internet Research Agency troll factory in Russia amounted to only 0.0004 percent of total content that appeared on the social network. (Some of these posts targeted "animal lovers with memes of adorable puppies," while another hawked an LGBT-themed " Buff Bernie coloring book for Berniacs.") According to its " deliberately broad" review , Twitter found that only 0.74 percent of its election-related tweets were "Russian-linked." Google, for its part, documented a grand total of $4,700 of "Russian-linked ad spending" during the 2016 election cycle. While some have argued that the Russian-linked ads were micro-targeted, and could have shifted key electoral voting blocs, these ads appeared in a media climate awash in a multi-billion dollar deluge of political ad spending from both established parties and dark money super PACs.
However, a blitz of feverish corporate media coverage and tension-filled congressional hearings has convinced a whopping 82 percent of Democrats that "Russian-backed" social media content played a central role in swinging the 2016 election. Russian meddling has even earned comparisons by lawmakers to Pearl Harbor, to "acts of war," and by Hillary Clinton to the attacks of 9/11 . And in an inadvertent way, these overblown comparisons were apt.
As during the aftermath of 9/11, the fallout from Russiagate has spawned a multimillion-dollar industry of pundits and self-styled experts eager to exploit the frenetic atmosphere for publicity and profits. Many of these figures have emerged out of the swamp that flowed from the war on terror and are gravitating toward the growing Russia fearmongering industrial complex in search of new opportunities. Few of these characters have become as prominent as Clint Watts.
So who is Watts, and how did he emerge seemingly from nowhere to become the star congressional witness on Russian meddling?
Dubious Expertise, Impressive Salesmanship
A former U.S. Army officer who spent years in obscurity at a defense industry funded think tank called the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), Watts has become a go-to source for cable news producers and print journalists on the subject of Russian bots, always available with a comment that reinforces the sense that America is under sustained cyborg attack. This September, his employers at FPRI hailed him as "the leading expert on developments related to Russian-backed efforts to not only influence the 2016 presidential election, but also to inflame racial and cultural divisions within the U.S. and across Europe."
Watts boasts an impressive-looking bio that is replete with fancy sounding fellowships at national security-oriented outfits, including George Washington University's Center Cyber and Homeland Security. His bio also indicates that he served on an FBI Joint Terror Task Force.
Though Watts is best known for his punditry on Russian interference, it's fair to say he is as much an expert on Russian affairs as Harvey Weinstein is a trusted voice on feminism. Indeed, Watts appears to speak no Russian, has no record of reporting or scholarship from inside Russia, and has produced little to no work of any discernible academic value on Russian affairs.
Whether or not he has the substance to support his claims of expertise, Watts has proven a talented salesman, catering to popular fears about Russian interference while he plies credulous lawmakers with ease.
Before Congress, a String of Deceptions
Back on March 30, as the narrative of Russian meddling gathered momentum, Watts made his first appearance before the Senate Select Intelligence Committee.
Seated at the front of a hearing room packed with reporters, Watts introduced Congress to concepts of Russian meddling that were novel at the time, but which have become part of Beltway newspeak. His testimony turned out to be a signal moment in Russiagate, helping transition the narrative of the scandal from Russia-Trump collusion to the wider issue of online influence.
In the widely publicized testimony, Watts explained to the panel of senators that he first noticed the pernicious presence of Russian social media bots after he co-authored an article in 2014 in Foreign Affairs titled, " The Good and The Bad of Ahrar al Sham ." The article urged the US to arm a group of Syrian Salafi insurgents known for its human rights abuses , sectarianism and off-and-on alliances with Al Qaeda. Watts and his co-authors insisted that Ahrar al-Sham was the best proxy force for wreaking havoc on the Syrian government weakening its allies in Iran and Russia. Right below the headline, Watts and his co-authors celebrated Ahrar al-Sham as "an Al Qaeda linked group worth befriending."
Watts rehashed the same argument at FPRI a year later, urging the U.S. government to harness jihadist terror as a weapon against Russia. "The U.S. at a minimum, through covert or semi-covert platforms, should take advantage and amplify these free alternative [jihadist] narratives to provide Russia some payback for recent years' aggression," he wrote. In another paper, Watts asked , "Why shouldn't the U.S. redirect some of the jihadi hatred towards those with the dirtiest hands in the Syrian conflict: Russia and Iran?" Watts did not specify whether the theater of covert warfare should be limited to the Syrian battlefield, or if he sought to encourage jihadists to carry out terrorist acts inside Russia and Iran.
The premise of these op-eds should have raised serious concerns about Watts and his colleagues, and even questions about their sanity. They had marketed themselves as national security experts, yet they were lobbying the US to "befriend" the allies of Al Qaeda, the group that brought down the Twin Towers. (Ahrar al-Sham was founded by Abu Khalid al-Suri, a Madrid bombing suspect who was named by Spanish investigators as Osama bin-Laden's courier.) Anyone cynical enough to put such ideas into public circulation should have expected a backlash. But when the inevitable wave of criticism came, Watts dismissed it all as a Russian bot attack.
Addressing the Senate panel, Watts said that those who took to social media to mock and criticize his Foreign Affairs article were, in fact, Russian bots. He provided no evidence to support the claim, and a look at his single tweet promoting the article shows that he was criticized only once (by @Navsteva, a Twitter user known for defending the Syrian government against regime change proponents, not an automated bot). Nevertheless, Watts painted the incident as proof that Russia had revived a Cold War information warfare strategy of "Active Measures," which was supposedly aimed at "crumbl[ing] democracies from the inside out [by] creating political divisions."
Next, Watts introduced his signature theme, claiming that Russia manipulated civil rights protests to exploit divisions in American society. Declaring that "pro-Russian" outlets were spreading "chaos in Black Lives Matter protests" by deploying active measures, Watts did not bother to say what those measures were. In fact, the only piece of proof he offered (in a Daily Beast transcript of his testimony) was a single link to an RT article that factually documented a squabble between Black Lives Matter protesters and white supremacists -- an incident that had been widely covered by other outlets, from the Houston Chronicle to the Washington Post . Watts did not explain how this one report by RT sowed any chaos, or whether it had any effect at all on actual events.
Watts then moved to the main course of his testimony, focusing on how Trump employed Russian "active measures" to attack his opponents. Watts told the Senate panel that the Russian-backed news outlets RT and Sputnik had produced a false report on the U.S. airbase in Incirlik, Turkey being "overrun by terrorists." He presented the Russian stories as the anchor for a massive influence operation that featured swarms of Russian bots across social media. And he claimed that then-Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort invoked the incident to deflect from negative media coverage, suggesting that Trump was coordinating strategy with the Kremlin. In reality, it was Watts who was spreading the fake news.
In the articles cited by Watts during his testimony, neither RT nor Sputnik made any reference to "terrorists" taking over Incirlik Airbase. Rather, these outlets compiled tweets by Turkish activists and sourced their coverage to a report by Hurriyet, one of Turkey's largest mainstream papers. In fact, the incident was reported by virtually every major Turkish news organization ( here , here , here and here ). What's more, the events appeared to have taken place approximately as RT and Sputnik reported it, with protesters readying to protect the airbase from a coup while Turkish police sealed the base's entrances and exits. A look at RT's coverage shows the network even downplayed the severity of the event, citing a tweet by a U.S.-based national security analysis group stating, "We are not finding any evidence of a coup or takeover." This stands entirely at odds with Watts' claim that RT exaggerated the incident to spark chaos.
Watts has pushed his bogus narrative of RT and Sputnik's Incirlik coverage in numerous outlets, including Politico . Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen echoed Watts' false account on the Senate floor while arguing for legislation to force RT out of the U.S. market on political grounds. And Jim Rutenberg, the New York Times' media correspondent, reproduced Watts' distorted account in a major feature on RT and Sputnik's "new theory of war." Almost no one, not one major media organization or public figure, has bothered to fact check these false claims, and few have questioned the agenda behind them.
Questions emailed to Watts via his employers at FPRI received no reply.
Another Watts Deception, This Time Discredited in Court
During his Senate testimony, Watts introduced a second, and even more distorted claim of Trump employing Russian "active measures" to attack his political foes. The details of the story are complex and difficult for a passive audience to absorb, which is probably why Watts has been able to get away with pushing it for so long.
Watts' testimony was the culmination of a mainstream media deception that forced an aspiring reporter out of his job, drove him to contemplate suicide, and ultimately prompted him to take matters into his own hands by suing his antagonists.
The episode began during a Trump rally at the height of the 2016 presidential campaign, when Trump read out an email purportedly from longtime Hillary Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal (the father of this writer), hoping to embarrass Clinton over Benghazi. The text of the email turned out to be part of a column written by the pro-Clinton Newsweek columnist Kurt Eichenwald, not an email by Blumenthal.
The source of Trump's falsehood appeared to have been a report by Bill Moran, then a reporter for Sputnik, the news service funded by the Russian government. Having confused Eichenwald's writing for a Blumenthal email, Moran scrubbed his erroneous article within 20 minutes. Somehow, Moran's retracted article had found its way onto the Trump campaign's radar, a not atypical event for a campaign that had relied on material from far-out sites like Infowars to undercut its opponents.
In his column at Newsweek, Eichenwald framed Moran's honest mistake as the leading edge of a secret Russian influence operation. With help from pro-Clinton elements, Eichenwald's column went viral, earning him slots on CNN and MSNBC, where he howled about the nefarious Russian-Trump-Wikileaks plot he believed he had just exposed. (Glenn Greenwald was perhaps the only reporter with a national platform to highlight Eichenwald's falsifications .) Moran was fired as a result of the fallout, and would have to spend the next several months fighting to correct the record.
When Moran appealed to Eichenwald for a public clarification, Eichenwald staunchly refused. Instead, he offered Moran a job at the New Republic in exchange for his silence and warned him, "If you go public, you'll regret it." (Eichenwald had no role at the New Republic or any clear ability to influence the magazine's hiring decisions.) Moran refused to cooperate, prompting Eichenwald to publish a follow-up piece painting himself as the victim of a Russian "active measures" campaign, and to cast Moran once again as a foreign agent.
When Watts revived Eichenwald's bogus version of events in his Senate testimony, Moran began to spiral into the depths of depression. He even entertained thoughts of suicide. But he ultimately decided to fight, filing a lawsuit against Newsweek's parent company for defamation and libel.
Representing himself in court, Moran elicited a settlement from Newsweek that forced the magazine to scrub all of Eichenwald's articles about him -- a tacit admission that they were false from top to bottom. This meant that the most consequential claim Watts made before the Senate was also a whopping lie.
The day after Watts' deception-laden appearance, he was nevertheless transformed from an obscure national security into a cable news star, with invites from Morning Joe, Rachel Maddow, Meet the Press, and the liberal comedian Samantha Bee, among many others. His testimony received coverage from the gamut of major news outlets, and even earned him a fawning profile from CNN. From out of the blue, Watts had become the star witness of Russiagate, and one of corporate media's favorite pundits.
FPRI, a Pro-War Think Tank Founded by White Supremacist Eugenicists
Before he emerged in the spotlight of Russiagate, Watts languished at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, earning little name recognition outside the insular world of national security pundits. Based in Philadelphia, the FPRI has been described by journalist Mark Ames as "one of the looniest (and spookiest) extreme-right think tanks since the early Cold War days, promoting 'winnable' nuclear war, maximum confrontation with Russia, and attacking anti-colonialism as dangerously unworkable."
Daniel Pipes, the arch-Islamophobe pundit and former FPRI fellow, offered a similar characterization of the think tank, albeit from an alternately opposed angle. "Put most baldly, we have always advocated an activist U.S. foreign policy," Pipes said in a 1991 address to FPRI. He added that the think tank's staff "is not shy about the use of force; were we members of Congress in January 1991, all of us would not only have voted with President Bush and Operation Desert Storm, we would have led the charge."
FPRI was co-founded by Robert Strausz-Hupé, a far-right Austrian emigre, with help from conservative corporations and covert funding from the CIA From the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, Strausz-Hupé gathered a "Philadelphia School" of Cold War hardliners to develop a strategy for protracted war against the Soviet Union. His brain trust included FPRI co-founder Stefan Possony, an Austrian fascist who was a board member of the World Anti-Communist League, the international fascist organization described by journalists Scott Anderson and Jon Lee Anderson as a network of "those responsible for death squads, apartheid, torture, and the extermination of European Jewry." True to his fascist roots, Possony co-authored a racialist tract, " The Geography of Intellect ," that argued that blacks were biologically inferior and that the people of the global South were "genetically unpromising." Strausz-Hupé seized on Possony's racialist theories to inveigh against anti-colonial movements led by "populations incapable of rational thought."
While clamoring for a preemptive nuclear strike on the Soviet Union -- and acknowledging that their preferred strategy would cause mass casualties in American cities -- Strausz-Hupé and his band of hawks developed a monomaniacal obsession with Russian propaganda. By the time of the Cuban missile crisis, they were stricken with paranoia, arguing on the pages of the New York Times that filmmaker Stanley Kubrick was a Soviet useful idiot whose film, Dr. Strangelove , advanced "the principal Communist objectives to drive a wedge between the American people and their military leaders."
Ultimately, Strausz-Hupé's fanaticism cost him an ambassadorship, as Sen. William Fulbright scuttled his appointment to serve in Morocco on the grounds that his "hard line, no compromise" approach to communism could shatter the delicate balance of diplomacy. Today, he is remembered fondly on FPRI's website as "an intellectual and intellectual impresario, administrator, statesman, and visionary." His militaristic legacy continues thanks to the prolific presence -- and bellicose politics -- of Watts.
The Paranoid Style
This year, FPRI dedicated its annual gala to honoring Watts' success in mainstreaming the narrative of Russian online meddling. Since I first transcribed a Soundcloud recording of Watts' keynote address, the file has been mysteriously scrubbed from the internet. It is unclear what prompted the removal, however, it is easy to understand why Watts would not want his comments examined by a critical listener. His speech offered a window into a paranoid mindset with a tendency for overblown, unverifiable claims about Russian influence.
While much of the speech was a rehash of Watts' Senate testimony, he spent an unusual amount of time describing the threat he believed Russian intelligence agents posed to his own security. "If you speak up too much, you'll get knocked down," Watts said, claiming that think tank fellows who had been too vocal about Russian meddling had seen their laptops "burned up by malware."
"If someone rises up in prominence, they will suddenly be -- whoof! -- swiped down out of nowhere by some crazy disclosure from their email," Watts added, referring to unspecified Russian retaliatory measures. As usual, he didn't produce concrete evidence or offer any examples.
"Anybody remember the reporters that were outed after the election? Or maybe they tossed up a question to the Clinton campaign and they were gone the next day?" he asked his audience. "That's how it goes."
It was unclear which reporters Watts was referring to, or what incident he could have possibly been alluding to. He offered no details, only innuendo about the state of siege Kremlin actors had supposedly imposed on him and his freedom-fighting colleagues. He even predicted he'd be "hacked and cyber attacked when this recording comes out."
According to Watts, Russian "active measures" had singlehandedly augmented Republican opinion in support of the Kremlin. "It is the greatest success in influence operations in the history of the world," Watts confidently proclaimed. He contrasted Russia's success with his own failures as an American agent of influence working for the U.S. military, a saga in his career that remains largely unexamined.
Domestic Agent of Influence
"I worked in influence operations in counter-terrorism for 15 years," Watts boasted to his audience at FPRI. "We didn't break one or two percent [increase in the approval rating of US foreign policy] in fifteen years and we spent billions a year in tax dollars doing it. I was paid off of those programs. We had almost no success throughout the Middle East."
By Watts' own admission, he had been part of a secret propaganda campaign aimed at manipulating the opinions of Middle Easterners in favor of the hostile American military operating in their midst. And he failed massively, wasting "billions a year in tax dollars."
Given his penchant for deception, this may have been yet another tall tale aimed at burnishing his image as an internet era James Bond. But if the story was even partially true, Watts had inadvertently exposed a severe scandal that, in a fairer world, might have triggered congressional hearings.
Whatever took place, it appears that Watts and his Cold Warrior colleagues are now waging another expensive influence operation, this time directed against the American public. By deploying deceptions, half-truths and hyperbole with the full consent of Congress and in collaboration with the mainstream press, they have managed to convince a majority of Americans that Russia is "trying to knock us down and take us over," as Watts remarked at the FPRI's gala.
In just a matter of months, public consent for an unprecedented array of hostile measures against Russia, from sanctions and consular raids to arbitrary crackdowns on Russian-backed news organizations, has been assiduously manufactured.
It was not until this summer, however, that the influence operation Watts helped establish reached critical capacity. He had approached one of Washington's most respected think tanks, the German Marshall Fund, and secured support for an initiative called the Alliance for Securing Democracy. The new initiative became responsible for a daily blacklist of subversive, "pro-Russian" media outlets, targeting them with the backing of a who's who of national security honchos, from Bill Kristol to former CIA director and ex-Hillary Clinton surrogate Michael Morrell, along with favorable promotion from some of the country's most respected news organizations.
In the next installment of this investigation, we will see how a collection of cranks, counter-terror retreads and online vigilantes overseen by the German Marshall Fund have waged a search-and-destroy mission against dissident media under the guise of combating Russian "active measures," and how the mainstream press has enabled their censorious agenda.
Read part two here .
Max Blumenthal is a senior editor of the Grayzone Project at AlterNet, and the award-winning author of " Goliath ," " Republican Gomorrah ," and " The 51 Day War ." He is the co-host of the podcast, Moderate Rebels . Follow him on Twitter at @MaxBlumenthal .
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Dec 09, 2017 | www.theamericanconservative.com
As 2017 comes to a close, the warring parties in Syria are moving towards reconciliation -- but the U.S. is not among them.
The Islamic State is all but defeated, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allies are now closing in on the few remaining pockets occupied by other extremists, and Iranians, Russians, and Turks are mapping out the peace to come.
Then there's America. Donald Trump may have hinted at changes up his sleeve, but he's treading the same tired path as his predecessor on Syria.
Determined to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as a means to weaken Iran and re-establish U.S. regional hegemony, Barack Obama's White House placed its bets on two pathways to this goal: 1) a military strategy to wrest control over Syria from the regime, and 2) a UN-sponsored and U.S.-backed mediation in Geneva to transition Assad out.
Washington lost its military gamble when the Russian air force entered the battle in September 2015, providing both game-changing air cover and international clout to Assad's efforts.
So the U.S. turned its hand to resuscitating a limp Geneva peace process that might have delivered a Syrian political settlement sans Assad.
Instead, two years on, the tables have turned in this sphere, too. Today, it is the Iranians, Turks, and Russians leading reconciliation efforts in Syria through a process established in Astana and continued last week in Sochi -- not Geneva. The three states have transformed the ground war by isolating key extremists, carving out ceasefire zones, and negotiating deals to keep the peace.
To nobody's surprise, the Americans are neither part of this new initiative, nor have they offered any constructive counters. Meanwhile, the UN's Geneva framework, after eight rounds of talks, has not once been able to bring the two Syrian sides face-to-face at the Big Table.
To illustrate, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, who leads these talks, now says things like this with a straight face: "We have started very close proximity parallel meetings. In fact, I have been shuttling between two rooms at a distance of five meters from each other."
In short, the U.S.'s Syrian efforts have hit a brick wall, while new regional and international power brokers have stepped in to pick up the slack.
Geneva: A process designed to fail
Just one week ago, with great media fanfare, we were promised a fresh start and new twists in Syria. For the first time since the Geneva I conference launched in June 2012, we were told the opposition was "unified" and there were no "pre-conditions" that might hold up talks.
Those expectations were shattered almost immediately when various Syrian opposition members went off-message and insisted that "Assad must go" at some point during a future transition period. Unified they were not. And the Syrian government didn't hide their disgust. They arrived a day late and scurried back to Damascus just as quickly.
And here is why Geneva negotiations will never, ever get off the ground.
Firstly, the "Syrian opposition" do not actually represent "the Syrian people." Most of these individuals have been selected by foreign governments -- until recently, mainly by U.S. allies in Riyadh, Doha, Ankara -- to do their bidding in Geneva, and have been "elected" by no more than a few dozen other Syrians in foreign capitals.
UN envoy de Mistura didn't bother to hide that fact last week when he thanked the Saudis for facilitating "the establishment of a unified opposition delegation."
The UN-led process -- like the U.S. administration -- has created conditions that exclude Syria's more independent and nationalistic domestic opposition from negotiations. These are people who have largely rejected foreign intervention and the militarization of the conflict, rail against Western-imposed sanctions, and signal actual readiness to talk to Assad's government about the reforms they desire.
The Russians and Iranians have kept open channels to these individuals and groups, and many of them have beaten a path to Moscow over the years to strike compromises and seek solutions. A few even made the cut, for the first time, at this eighth round of Geneva talks.
Secondly, the Syrian opposition have lost the war -- victors decide the peace, not the vanquished. The team sitting in Geneva seems oblivious to the fact that the Syrian government and its allies have now gained an almost-irreversible military advantage on the battlefield. These are not two parties on equal footing -- and no great-power mentors in the world can change that fact.
Assad's government has said on numerous occasions that it is willing to sit with any Syrian who comes without preconditions and negotiates in good faith. Years of "reconciliations" on the ground between the government, local citizens, NGOs, friendly foreign state-guarantors, and rebel fighters lend a proven track record to those claims. This is the format for future negotiations -- it is a tested, homegrown Syrian solution, not one made-in-America-or-Riyadh.
"Ceasefires" struck in Astana
The breakthrough came in late 2016. Turkey, the main adversary state through which weapons and jihadists flowed into Syria, made a U-turn on its Syria strategy, driven by U.S. military support for Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, which Ankara views as a national security threat. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan began a tactical engagement with Russia and Iran, and pulled Qatar and its respective Syrian rebel allies along with him. These moves tipped the balance on the battlefield, allowing the SAA and its allies to liberate Aleppo (a turning point in the war) and launch their ultimately successful campaign against ISIS.
Shortly afterward, delegations consisting of the Syrian government and a dozen opposition rebel factions convened in Astana, Kazakhstan, for indirect talks sponsored by Turkey, Iran, and Russia.
By early May, the three countries had signed a memorandum to establish four "de-escalation zones" in rebel-occupied areas in Syria. The zones cover key hotspots in northern Homs, southern Syria, eastern Ghouta, and Idlib province, and are renewable at six-month intervals. While some armed groups have rejected the concept, the de-escalation zones have largely succeeded at halting hostilities and, importantly, have helped create separation between extremists and rebels willing to participate in ceasefires.
Furthermore, for the more than two million people believed to reside in these zones, the Astana process also guarantees humanitarian and medical access, the return of displaced persons to their towns and homes, the reconstruction of vital infrastructure, and other benefits.
In July, the U.S. and Jordan joined Russia to broker the details of the southern Syrian de-escalation zone, with a joint command established in Jordan. And in September, Iran, Russia, and Turkey agreed to implement the fourth and final de-escalation zone in Idlib, a stronghold of the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra terrorist group.
In short, within eight months, four key areas of Syria demilitarized under the watch of three countries: Turkey, a major supporter of Syrian opposition militants, and Iran and Russia, both close allies of the Syrian government.
A "political solution" in Sochi next?
Ceasefires are, incidentally, one of the two primary objectives of the Geneva process. They are the military part of a Syrian solution.
The other objective is the political settlement of the Syrian conflict, envisioned by Geneva's architects as the establishment of a transitional government that would generate a revised constitution, prepare elections, and the like.
Last week, on the eve of Geneva-8, the three Astana sponsors convened in Sochi after an unexpected meeting there between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin that appeared to signal an official Syrian approval for what came next.
In a joint statement , the presidents of Iran, Russia, and Turkey called for a "Syrian National Dialogue Congress" to be held in Sochi in the near future, consisting of the Syrian government and "the opposition that are committed to the sovereignty, independence, unity, territorial integrity and non-fractional character of the Syrian state."
While they were careful to point out that the initiative is intended to "complement" Geneva, not act as an "alternative," the statement also made clear that "Iran, Russia and Turkey will consult and agree on participants of the Congress."
Will this be another rubber-stamped opposition directed by foreign mentors? An informed source says no, "any Syrian who does not exclude him or herself can participate."
It is highly likely that hardliners and extremists will exclude themselves from the Sochi talks -- they have consistently rejected direct interactions with the Syrian government and will never accept a future with Assad at the helm. Instead, Sochi is likely to draw interest from a larger cross-section of Syrian society closer to the views of Syria's traditional domestic opposition , who were never given a chance in Geneva.
In the end, it is altogether conceivable that a final Syrian political solution will look very similar to the reforms Assad offered up in 2011 and 2012. His proposals were never given the time or space to mature and were, at the time, rejected outright by foreign governments and their Syrian allies.
But most importantly, if Sochi can finish what Geneva could never start, we will be thrust into a genuine post-American era where alternative regional actors will be able to broker globally significant peace deals.
The resolution of a conflict of this magnitude largely outside the umbrella of a UN- or U.S.-led framework breaks with the assumption that major geopolitical solutions need be made-in-America.
The most common refrain in a disgruntled Middle East today is that "Americans don't solve conflicts, they manage them."
Trump this week forever dispelled the notion that America is an honest mediator in Middle East peace efforts when he unilaterally recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital. It is not surprising that the Saudis , Jordanians Qataris Sudanese Egyptians, and others are now beating a path to Moscow for some fresh thinking.
Sharmine Narwani is a commentator and analyst of Mideast geopolitics based in Beirut. 12 Responses to Mideast Peacemaking is No Longer Made-in-America
No Daylight Pariah December 7, 2017 at 11:04 pm
Yeah, especially after Trump's pointless, ridiculous Jerusalem move, more negotiations and multilateral deals will be struck without US involvement. Our hyper-militarized approach to diplomacy, and a Middle East obsessed foreign policy dictated by Israel, has shocked and disgusted the world, including our actual treaty allies, who are now moving on without us.Our Shift Is Over (finally) , says: December 7, 2017 at 11:14 pm"But most importantly, if Sochi can finish what Geneva could never start, we will be thrust into a genuine post-American era where alternative regional actors will be able to broker globally significant peace deals."Whine Merchant , says: December 8, 2017 at 12:00 amI pray that you're right. America must disentangle itself from the legacy of failure, futility, and colossal expense of the "peace process". Let others do it. It sounds like the Turks, Russians, Qataris, and Iranians have had some success at this. Fine. Let them take over Israel / Palestine. And let the US get the hell out and come home to do some of the "America First" stuff that Trump promised. Like withdrawing our troops from the Middle East and defending our own borders with them instead.
Well, Kim-il-Trump has eliminated the US as a participant in any settlement. Putin and Erdogan will get whatever they want while the US stands on the sidelines, a diminishing power. Maybe Jared can get his family permission to build a few more settlements in the occupied territories, sited on a Palestinian olive grove.MEOW , says: December 8, 2017 at 3:22 amAll the while, Xi Jinping grows stronger as he guides China to be the last remaining superpower.
Make America Great Again [pass he fries]
Very interesting article. Thank you. Having worked in the Middle East the U.S. is regarded as nothing more than a pawn of Israel. Sad but true. This by people who often have relatives and friends living well in the U.S. who understand that the shackles on U.S. foreign policy are tight and well-controlled from Tel Aviv and now Jerusalem. These people cede the goodwill of the American people and love us for it, but know the reality of decision-making is made by neocons with dubious loyalties to the U.S. Trump's Jerusalem decision will put QED to these assumptions as to who is the boss. Many of us will have lived our mortal span under this most frustrating and counter-productive phenomenon. Will future generations throw off this heavy and unbearable yolk? It will take courage.Mccormick47 , says: December 8, 2017 at 11:17 amAfter invading Iraq twice, once at the behest of the House of Saud, the second time for no reason at all, why would anyone in the Mideast listen to us about peace?Youknowho , says: December 8, 2017 at 12:17 pmConsidering that the US has become the bull in the China shop in the area, the sooner it is out of it, the better.This Holy Land , says: December 8, 2017 at 1:11 pmPeople cut us a lot of slack because they know we're hamstrung by the Israel Lobby buying, threatening, or blackmailing our politicians. But after a while it's like the Germans and Nazism: there's the question "why didn't you do anything? It's your country. How could you let this happen?"midtown , says: December 8, 2017 at 1:41 pmNow that Trump has starkly, publicly dramatized the problem by putting America at further risk of terror attacks in order to please Israel and Israel's American agents, it becomes harder for others to believe that Americans don't really know what's going on. And it becomes likelier we'll be held responsible, likelier that the rest of the world will distance itself from us, likelier that Americans will be attacked and killed.
One thing's for sure. You don't make America great again by doing what Obama called "stupid s***" for Israel.
In fact, our relationship with the modern state of Israel has been a steadily worsening burden and curse. Which suggests (to this Christian American) that the modern state that calls itself "Israel" is not the Israel that the Bible says we should bless. He is punishing us, His people, Americans, and our land, America, with war and staggering costs for worshiping the false idol of "Israel".
This is all good news for the United States and its citizens. Not so much for the war party of McCain and Romney.Alex , says: December 8, 2017 at 1:43 pmThe US has never had any influence in Syria whereas Russia always had. So, I do not understand what all that noise is about.Michael Kenny , says: December 8, 2017 at 1:56 pmBTW, it was not the US who started all that mess in Syria. It was a civil/religious war.
The weakness in all this is that Putin has bogged himself down irreversibly in Syria, just as the Soviets did in Afghanistan and for exactly the same reason. Putin has made himself Assad's protector and must now prop him up for all time and against all comers. The US can lower the boom on him at any time by simply re-launching the war, for example, as a terrorist campaign which can penetrate all the way up to the Mediterranean coast and inflict casualties directly on the Russians.Janwaar Bibi , says: December 8, 2017 at 4:17 pmTrump this week forever dispelled the notion that America is an honest mediator in Middle East peace efforts when he unilaterally recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital. It is not surprising that the Saudis, Jordanians, Qataris, Sudanese, Egyptians, and others are now beating a path to Moscow for some fresh thinking.PR Doucette , says: December 8, 2017 at 4:38 pmThis is excellent news. One reason why the US felt free to attack country after country at the behest of its Israeli and Saudi masters is that after the collapse of the USSR, there were no countries left to challenge its actions. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
If Russia and China can provide a counterweight to US power, the likelihood of the US behaving like a rogue nation goes down drastically, and that will be good for everyone, the US included.
While some reasonable long term level of peace in Syria would be a welcome outcome of these negotiations, it will be interesting to see how far Assad is willing to go in ceding power away from himself and the minority Alawites who have historically held many of the senior positions in the Syrian government and military if this is what is required to get a peace agreement. Whatever is agreed it seems likely the Syrian people will have to accept the presence of the Russian military for years to come.
Mar 28, 2015 | Foreign Affairs
How did twenty-first-century Russia end up, yet again, in personal rule? An advanced industrial country of 142 million people, it has no enduring political parties that organize and respond to voter preferences.The military is sprawling yet tame; the immense secret police are effectively in one man's pocket. The hydrocarbon sector is a personal bank, and indeed much of the economy is increasingly treated as an individual fiefdom. Mass media move more or less in lockstep with the commands of the presidential administration.
Competing interest groups abound, but there is no rival center of power. In late October 2014, after a top aide to Russia's president told the annual forum of the Valdai Discussion Club, which brings together Russian and foreign experts, that Russians understand "if there is no Putin, there is no Russia," the pundit Stanislav Belkovsky observed that "the search for Russia's national idea, which began after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, is finally over. Now, it is evident that Russia's national idea is Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin."
Russia is classified as a high-income economy by the World Bank (having a per capita GDP exceeding $14,000). Its unemployment remains low (around five percent); until recently, consumer spending had been expanding at more than five percent annually; life expectancy has been rising; and Internet penetration exceeds that of some countries in the European Union.
But Russia is now beset by economic stagnation alongside high inflation, its labor productivity remains dismally low, and its once-vaunted school system has deteriorated alarmingly. And it is astonishingly corrupt. Not only the bullying central authorities in Moscow but regional state bodies, too, have been systematically criminalizing revenue streams, while giant swaths of territory lack basic public services and local vigilante groups proliferate.
Across the country, officials who have purchased their positions for hefty sums team up with organized crime syndicates and use friendly prosecutors and judges to extort and expropriate rivals. President Vladimir Putin's vaunted "stability," in short, has turned into spoliation. But Putin has been in power for 15 years, and there is no end in sight. Stalin ruled for some three decades...
Jamil M Chaudri
Interesting but slanted and one-sided, myopic analysis. Why would the 1.6 billion Muslims spread over three continents, accept Mr Kotkin's concept of "World Order".There is no World Order; it is the predatory West's efforts to enslave people to the European weltanschauung. It is an effort by the colonialists to prolong their hegemony over Muslim lands and people.
One of the biggest mistakes Pakia made was to join the West in destroying Soviet Russia. A bi-polar world was a better world than a unipolar world, where the west is destroying Muslim nations (one after the other).
This is no World Order: it a man eat man world that has been created.
Jamil M Chaudri -> JACK RICE
Before the invasion (and total destruction) of Afghanis there was no daily violence in Afghania. Before the invasion (and total destruction) of Iraqia, there is no daily violence in Iraqia. Before Pakia allied itself with America (leading to the further debasement of an evolving state) there were no (practically) daily suicide bombings in Pakia. Before America decided to aid Ethiopia (and joined it) in destroying Somalia, the state of Somalia had a pretty vibrant civil society, and no gangster precipitate violence.
Before America decided to KILL Gadhafi by indiscriminatingly arming gangsters to carry out their will, the incipient-unity state of Libya did not have the sectarian violence that we presently hear about. Before America decided to Destroy the Syrian State, by leading a crusade (guised as a push for, of all things, DEMOCRACY), Syria was a fast-developing state. ......... This list could be stretched back to the days of Pilgrim Fathers. But I am hoping you follow the drift.
If the hat fits, wear it! If the shoe fits, wear them!! From the top of the head to the sole of the shoes, everything is dyed deep in BLOOD.
At the moment with more than 2'000'000 deaths in Iraqia, and more than 250'000 deaths in Afgania and more than 10'000 deaths in Pakia,
Jamil M Chaudri -> BAKER ALLON
Take some smelling salts, and read what happened in North and South America, when whole nations were destroyed by the colonialists, and kept in RESERVATIONS; their children were taken to missions for conversion to Christianity, their dwellings were destroyed. Read about the Trail of Tears, when a whole nation was banished from their ancestral lands. Read about 2'000'000 deaths in Afghania. For you destruction of HUMAN LIFE is less important than destruction of statues? Shows the kind of person you are. There are many clips available on the internet showing the destruction of Human Life in most parts of Iraqia(including Mosel) by the blood thirsty invaders. Harping about statues and museums, and totally callus about human lives (millions of them) you are indeed a museum piece! Go back to the shelf you have come off.
Renee Barclay -> Jamil M Chaudri • 19 days ago
Bush was a moron but that doesn't change the fact that Saddam was a murderous dictator. And Saddam's sons were known rapists and murderers.
Iraqi Sunnis and Shiites turned on each other after Bush eliminated Saddam and that's the simple fact. And they're STILL killing each other to this day. Google it.Jamil M Chaudri -> Renee Barclay
I do not have to Google such assertions. They are non sequitur, in nature. Even then, let us examine your assertion for a moment: Bush was a Moron but Saddam was a murderous dictator. By your logic we American must be the epitome of Moron-ness, for we ELECTED Bush; Iraqis must be a gentle and good people who were overpowered by the Saddam, the Murderous Dictator..
By the way, how many Iraqis did Saddam murder? And then, how many Iraqis were murdered, at the command of Bush? Since the Iraqis were killed/murdered at the command of Bush, and Americans elected Bush, Americans are responsible for the murders. We Americans have blood on our hands!
My assertion is that America is responsible for 2'000'000 deaths in Iraq.
On your non-sequitur. If a good man has evils sons, does the man become evil? Again, Sunnis turned against Shias; so what? About the American Civil War, Google says: Though the number of killed and wounded in the Civil War is not known precisely, most sources agree that the total number killed was between 640,000 and 700,000.
There was no civil war in Iraq before American Invasion and destruction of Iraqi State and Society. Thus, America is TOTALLY responsible for 2'000'000 deaths in Iraq.
Vivienne Perkins -> Jamil M Chaudri
Dear Jamil: As an American citizen, I take my hat off to you for telling the exact truth -- that the terrorist state is the United States of America and our media's propaganda stream is now in overdrive, especially in regard to Russia, which is our latest target.
The US State Department's Victoria Nuland and our CIA (+ Blackwater mercenaries) installed the puppet Yatsenyuk/Poroshenko govt. in Kiev (to do our bidding) and CIA Dir. James Brennan himself went to Kiev to launch the civil war against the Eastern provinces that Europeans, at least, are now trying to bring to a halt. The US does leave nothing but failed states behind it, and Western Ukraine will be the next failed state in a long list. Since the end of WWII, the best estimate is that the United States, in 67 military operations and countless covert CIA operations, has destroyed between 20 and 30 million people world-wide, largely in the interest of commandeering their resources or serving the interests of the banks to which they owe money--money they were usually cajoled into borrowing.
As for political corruption, I don't know much about Russian levels of corruption, but I know a lot about the total corruption of our system of government and the evisceration of all of our civil liberties, subsequent to the passage of the so-called and mis-named Patriot Act. By the provisions of the NDAA, any US citizen can be picked up and held in indefinite military detention without charge or trial. I wonder how much worse is Russia than that?
And since Citizens United, nearly every legislator in our Congress is absolutely bought and paid for. Maybe we should leave Russia alone and think about how to restore what we once thought of as a democratic system of governance h ere in the United States.
jlord37 -> Vivienne Perkins
One thing has nothing to do with the other. While I'm in agreement with you on the Ukrainian matter, lets not forget that Vladimir Putin's Russia also has a very big problem with Islamic extremists in their territories as does a number of countries around the world .
Vivienne Perkins -> jlord37
I'm not sure I get your point. Maybe we should think about why the West has trouble with Islamic extremists. Might it be because for over a hundred years the Western powers have chosen the dictatorial rulers of Muslim countries, drawn their boundaries, supported leaders or removed them at its own whim (as S. Hussein in Iraq, the Shah in Iran, Mubarak in Egypt, Khaddafi in Libya, etc.) and inserted Israel into Arab territory for its own reasons. Has it ever occurred to you that if Muslim nations had been allowed to develop according to their own preferences, we might possibly have a more rational and peaceful world today? I can't prove this obviously, but it does seem clear that the more the US attacks and interferes, the more hostile the Muslims become. As an American I would like to see my country behave in a more decent way and with less self-serving propaganda.
jlord37 -> Vivienne Perkins
And was America to blame for Jihadi activity thousands of years ago before its existence? Do you not realize that their actvity is given full sanction, and indeed commands them to go to war with the Kufar? Currently, there is Jihadi activity in countries stretching from India toChechnya and in several African countries. They all have to do with Islamic aggression against there neighbors and almost nothing to do with " western imperialism'
Vivienne Perkins -> jlord37
"Thousands of years ago" Islam did not exist. I hold to my original point that Islamic terrorism has been created by unjustified Western interference.
jlord37 -> Vivienne Perkins
Islam first appeared on the world stage in about the year 620 AD.
Vivienne Perkins -> jlord37
Which means it is now 1,395 years old (not thousands) and I doubt that it's legitimate to equate its idea that it was entitled to make forcible conversions to the present situation, which seems to me to have arisen fairly recently as a response to Western meddling in Arab lands.
Jamil M Chaudri -> jlord37
The answer to the one of your question is a LOWD Yes: It was the FIRST CRUSADES that brought religiosity into the GAME OF KINGS: enlarging kingdoms at the expense of neighbouring kingdoms. The First Crusade was indeed nearly a thousand years ago. The only differences between JIHAD and CRUSADE are:
1. CRUSADERS are more cruel, surreptitious, deceptive, etc.
2. Crusades have no moral component, the goal is political supremacy. Jihad is about moral supremacy, justice and equality.
Since you bring religion into the mix, try to re-read the bible (the new and the old, both of which) PRESCRIBE DEATH to heretics and non-believers. Here is a action in pursuance of such biblical dictate:
"A Spanish missionary, Bartolome de las Casas, described eye-witness accounts of mass murder, torture and rape. 2 Author Barry Lopez, summarizing Las Casas' report wrote:
"One day, in front of Las Casas, the Spanish dismembered, beheaded, or raped 3000 people. 'Such inhumanities and barbarisms were committed in my sight,' he says, 'as no age can parallel....' The Spanish cut off the legs of children who ran from them. They poured people full of boiling soap. They made bets as to who, with one sweep of his sword, could cut a person in half. They loosed dogs that 'devoured an Indian like a hog, at first sight, in less than a moment.' They used nursing infants for dog food." 3
Currently there is CRUSADING MISSIONARY activity in all non-Christian lands by religious warrior-fanatics (wearing the piety hat of the Christian hue). Read about the recent reaction local Hindu population in India against such activity.
First the Western nations used the RELIGION hat to subdue MORALLY SUPPERIOR but less BLOOD-THURSTY peoples; When that strategy ceased to work they rolled out a second version called DEMOCRACY. The second is as much of a sham as the earlier attempt.
Even internal to American, the "down trodden" masses are beginning to cry foul. The prevailing poverty rate in America is staggering. See the figures in most authoritative publications.
Reading does bring enlightenment. That is why I read from diverse sources.
jlord37 -> Jamil M Chaudri
Yes that's why millions of people are seeking to emigrate by any means necessary., and not the reverse. I can assure the " impoverished masses" in the west are in a lot better shape than they are in your neck of the woods.
But I think your trying to deflect once again. That Christianity ad well as other religions has had a bloody past, is no revelation, band I for one am no big fan. But steps have been taken since than, to temper the extremism that brought on these acts. One does not read of to many beheadings and or sucide bombings in the name of Jesus, Buddha, or Shiva. This is not meant as a criticism of Muslim people per se, or a put down of that particular of the world, it is merely mea by as a critique of some of the problems that I, and countless others see in the Islamic faith. There's no question that the leadership in the west, can be very corrupt and rapacious at times, but I think the general trend is towards an attempt at understanding and accommodation. Now, I think it is time for the Muslim world to attempt some sort of inner dialogue where they take steps towards a dressing and correcting their own problems. I enjoyed our discussion, and I hope we will be able to part in civil terms. Best wishes.
Jamil M Chaudri -> jlord37
First of all let me disabuse your notion of "my neck of the woods". In one of my earlier posting I have clearly stated that I am a proud American Citizen, living in a well wooded and watered part of the US of A. But as my country has gone wayward (essentially in pursuit of the buck) from its charter I am trying to bring America back to its promise.
You have levied accusation against me of "deflecting" arguments. Let me tell you what your problem is: you want to levy unsubstantiated accusations against others, and when they, with references, confront your falsehoods and soothsaying, you accuse the other of "deflecting" or "hijacking" the discussion! Pot calling the kettle black? Man, it is you who is unable to stick to the argument – but then, as you have no argument, of course, you have nothing to stick to. Your statements are based on your penchant for name-calling, bad mouthing, others. Perhaps your mind-set suggests that with such strategies, you will be the last "man standing" (?).
.
In my first posing on Dr Kotkin's article, I simply wanted to repudiate the so called "World Order". By what right have Great Britain and France seats at the Security Council. By definition in a democratic set-up, every unit has equal rights. What Dr Kotkins calls a World Order is therefore a sham democracy, created to benefit the West.Under the guise of bringing democracy to Iraqia, Afghania, Libya, the Yemen, etc. the west is simply trying to prolong its hegemony. It is a sham democracy they impose on weak nations. Pliant regimes are being installed, and millions of people being killed. Any voice that is raised against such pseudo-democracy is silenced by force, by the thugs installed as "democratic" regimes. This is western patronage.
Presently, you read about EXCESSES done by the lunatic fringes of the Muslim Society (these groups, by the way, were created by and operate with the support of CIA – so that organisations like HOMELAND Security can get more dollars), because 90% of the news buzz is created by American media.
The USA is a state trying to improve its democracy on a continuous basis. In 1777 did America treat all people the same way? When was the promulgation of freedom (of SLAVES) passed in America? When was the voting rights acts passed? Are the economic developments of the Whites and Blacks (call it Afro-American, if you like) even TODAY at the same level?
I wish you and your, the very best. May Allah have his mercy on us as a Nation, so that we can STANDING TOGETHER still sing the Star-Spangled Banner.
jlord37 -> Jamil M Chaudri
We currently have a black president, black attorney General, a black director of homeland security, and a black national security adviser. That's not to mention the various statutes and regulations on the books that are strictly enforced to prevent discrimination and instances of inequality. Are these details of such small consequence? With regards to your observations of so called regime change, I am in complete agreement with you . I against such interventions wether it is Cairo or Kiev. It is up to the indigenous population of that country to determine the course that their country should take, and not have to be subjected to outside interference. However, I have to ask the question, do you really think that the CIA bears the sole responsibility for the for the existence of these groups? Could it be that they're trying to co opt them and use them for their own purposes? Im almost certain that the CIA didn't create the leaders who take certain texts and use them for recruitment purposes. All I'm suggesting is that we need to hear more from the moderate elements, and that some sort of reformation May have to be undertaken, much in the way it occurred in other religions. ( Christianity for example )
Finally, Im not sure where you got the idea that I " have a penchant of bad mouthing others" but nevertheless, I sincerely apologize if I have offended you in anyway. You are a worthy opponent, and it's been an enlightening discussion to say the least.
Robert Munro -> Jamil M Chaudri
Stephen Kotkin is a Jewish shill for the oligarchy.
Jamil M Chaudri -> Robert Munro
I only knew Dr Kotkin's background as a historian; his religious affiliation did not concern me. The only part of his writing that offended me was the concept of "World Order". I do not accept nor do I want anybody else to be suppressed by the unbridled-capitalists.
Unfortunately, to exercise unbridled capitalism, the underpinning is provided by exercise of power over others. It is the RAPE OF NATIONS.
Robert Munro -> Jamil M Chaudri
I've read Kotkin before. He advocates a world ruled by an elite (unspecified). However, from his background and affiliations, it's very possible that his mind-set matches that of Baruch Levy, below..........
"The Jewish people as a whole will become its own Messiah. It will attain world domination by the dissolution of other races, by the abolition of frontiers, the annihilation of monarchy and by the establishment of a world republic in which the Jews will everywhere exercise the privilege of citizenship.
In this New World Order, the children of Israel will furnish all the leaders without encountering opposition. The Governments of the different peoples forming the world republic will fall without difficulty into the hands of the
Jews. It will then be possible for the Jewish rulers to abolish private property and everywhere to make use of the
resources of the state.Thus will the promise of the Talmud be fulfilled, in which it is said that when the Messianic time is come, the Jews will have all the property of the whole world in their hands."
Baruch Levy, Letter to Karl Marx (1879), printed in La Revue de Paris, p. 574, June 1, 1928
Given the 3000 year history of Judaism, its religious writings, its possession of nuclear weapons and control of the American government/economy/media, it seems appropriate to take such claims very seriously.
Robert Munro -> BAKER ALLON
Here's some more "fantasy" about your barbaric cult............
http://www.haaretz.com/news/di...
http://www.richardsilverstein....
http://www.btselem.org/downloa...
BTW- All three of the links above are to Jewish web sites - civilized Jews.
Robert Munro -> BAKER ALLON
It is the cult for which you shill that is the disease.......for 3000 years you have been a malignant cancer trying to metastasize throughout our world.
Robert Munro -> BAKER ALLON
The disease that sickens and, hopefully, will kill your cult is truth...............
"To communicate anything with a Goy about our relations would be equal to the killing of all Jews, for if the Goyim knew what we teach about them, they would kill us openly." (found in both the Torah and Talmud)
Jamil M Chaudri -> ARJAN VELLEKOOP
Of course, of course. But then, there are even some people with eyes who do not see. For them it is a blessing, for they see no evil. It is really a mental condition due to aberrant eye. By the way, Yogi Berra is supposed to have said: "You can observe a lot just by watching". But perhaps street-walkers in Europe do not watch, because their game is different, and they are enjoying the benefits of their game.
I do not want to shatter your innocence, but slaves are not seen by street-walkers: Slaves are consigned to SLAVE QUARTERS. Present day, western world has built slave quarters in India, Pakistan, Sudan, Congo, etc. This is where the Western Worlds Slaves Live. If you want to read the whole report goto: http://www.globalslaveryindex....
India has the largest number of slaves in the world (14 million).
Mind you, A related concept is "wage slavery". To understand this concept requires sensibility.
Yet another but even more subtle concept is "mental slavery". A variation of this is known as the Stockholm Syndrome. Mental Slavery is a totally abject state where the person ceases to think eigenartig but assumes the likes and hates of the person/people who have programmed him/her.
From the last line in your post, I can only assume that deep programming has been done. Programmed consciousness is virtual reality.
ARJAN VELLEKOOP -> Jamil M Chaudri
So, now the west should care for what governments in other countries do with their citizens? I thought you hated imperialists! Your reference to India is just idiotic. Why should the west feel responsible for the condition India is in?! You are probably going to say the colonial past. Well, thats bullcrap since there are plenty of countries which have grown, since their liberty, into decent and reasonably wealthy states. The west is not responsible for India, India is responsible for itself.
Particularly the Middle Eastern countries have shown behaviour to shift the blame away from their own failures. Maybe it have to do with their Islamic background, in which so many actions are based/motivated from religious basis. And of course the prophet is never wrong, so it must be the fault of a imperialist outsider.
Get real. The countries which contain these so called slaves, can make their own choices. They dont have to be part of the capitalist terrible world order. They can make the better choice like you and other believe it. Sadly enough, that idea is, apparently, not that good. Because good ideas sell itself.
Jamil M Chaudri -> ARJAN VELLEKOOP
You seem unable to differentiate between an imperialist and a "good Samaritan". You had earlier written that, as a street walker in Europe you had not seen any slaves, my response to that posting simply told you where you could go to see slavery. And specific reference to India was simply to help you find slavery most easily - with 14 million slaves India is the centre of Modern Slavery. However, in my conversations with Indians, especially the demi-literate ones, instead of admitting to the prevailing REALITY in India, they do not admit to seeing it. With their eyes open, the street walkers do not see it.
There is absolutely no religious underpinning for State Government in any of the states where Muslims are in Majority. The Saudi Family are are there because of America; the present rule in Iran is a reaction to America (re-)installing the 2-cent "SHAH" to rule the Iranian Nation. The present excesses of the Iranian state are essentially defense postures against America intransigence, and mechanisms to harm (and if possible) destroy the Iranian Nation.
I experience reality every day. If you would just come out of your VIRTUAL REALITY, you might by just watching observe some. I know deprogramming is not easy, and self-deprogramming is even more difficult.
All the same, I suggest that you wake up and smell the Coffee; if not try some smelling salts.
Robert Munro -> ARJAN VELLEKOOP
And we have read the drivel of thousands of shills for the oligarchy and the Zionist/Fascist cult...............such as yourself.
Ivan Night Terrible
Putin-Putin-Putin-Putin-Putin-Putin... :)) Hmmm... oк, about Putin: Look at Putin's foreign agenda this past year: Latin America just as the sanctions came in - an intentional finger in Washington's eye, as I read it - then China, China again recently, Turkey more recently, India just now. He has not been to Iran, but there, as in all these other places, he has forged or reiterated promising relations. The deals cut are too numerous to list. A couple are worth mentioning. The twin gas deals with China, worth nearly three-quarters of a trillion dollars, are historic all by themselves. In six years' time China will be buying more gas from Russia than the latter now sells to Europe. And do not miss this: My sources tell me that this gas can be priced such as to crowd the U.S. at least partially out of the Asian market. Other side of the world: Putin has just canceled a planned pipeline to southeastern Europe, the South Stream. This is the defeat Western media put it over as, surely: Russia loses some customers. But two points:
- One, it was soon enough clear that the Europeans, having used South Stream as leverage in the sanctions game, probably overplayed their hand. The day following the announcement they were struggling for composure so far as I can make out.
- Two, Putin stunned everyone with his decision from Ankara, where he stood with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to announce that South Stream would be rerouted to serve the Turkish market. Think about this: It is more than a new deal; there are significant political and diplomatic implications in this, given Turkey's traditional alliances, its EU aspirations and so on.
Dec 01, 2017 | www.unz.com
Report on the US-Russian War
I am often asked if the US and Russia will go to war with each other. I always reply that they are already at war. Not a war like WWII, but a war nonetheless. This war is, at least for the time being, roughly 80% informational, 15% economic and 5% kinetic. But in political terms the outcome for the loser of this war will be no less dramatic than the outcome of WWII was for Germany: the losing country will not survive it, at least not in its present shape: either Russia will become a US colony again or the AngloZionist Empire will collapse.
In my very first column for the Unz Review entitled " A Tale of Two World Orders " I described the kind of multipolar international system regulated by the rule of law that Russia, China and their allies and friends worldwide (whether overt or covert) are trying to build and how dramatically different it was from the single World Hegemony that the AngloZionists have attempted to establish (and almost successfully imposed upon our suffering planet!). In a way, the US imperial leaders are right , Russia does represent an existential threat, not for the United States as a country or for its people, but for the AngloZionist Empire, just as the latter represents an existential threat to Russia. Furthermore, Russia represents a fundamental civilizational challenge to what is normally called the "West" as she openly rejects its post-Christian (and, I would add, also viscerally anti-Islamic) values. This is why both sides are making an immense effort at prevailing in this struggle.
Last week the anti-imperial camp scored a major victory with the meeting between Presidents Putin, Rouhani and Erdogan in Sochi: they declared themselves the guarantors of a peace plan which will end the war against the Syrian people (the so-called "civil war", which this never was) and they did so without inviting the US to participate in the negotiations. Even worse, their final statement did not even mention the US, not once. The "indispensable nation" was seen as so irrelevant to even be mentioned.
To fully measure how offensive all this is we need to stress a number of points:
First, led by Obama, all the leaders of the West declared urbi et orbi and with immense confidence that Assad had no future, that he had to go, that he was already a political corpse and that he would have no role whatsoever to play in the future of Syria.
Second, the Empire created a "coalition" of 59 (!) countries, which failed to achieve anything, anything at all: a gigantic multi-billion dollar " gang that could not shoot straight " led by CENTCOM and NATO, which only proved its most abject incompetence. In contrast, Russia never had more than 35 combat aircraft in Syria at any time and turned the course of the war (with a lot of Iranian and Hezbollah help on the ground).
Next, the Empire decreed that Russia was "isolated" and her economy " in tatters " – all of which the Ziomedia parroted with total fidelity . Iran was, of course, part of the famous " Axis of Evil ," while Hezbollah was the " A-Team of terrorism ". As for Erdogan, the AngloZionists tried to overthrow and kill him. And now it is Russia, Iran, Hezbollah and Turkey who defeated the terrorists and will call the shots in Syria.
Finally, when the US realized that putting Daesh in power in Damascus was not going to happen, they first tried to break up Syria (Plan B) and then tried to create a Kurdish statelet in Iraq and Syria (Plan C). All these plans failed, Assad is in Russia giving hugs to Putin , while Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp Quds Force Commander General Soleimani is taking a stroll through the last Syrian city to be liberated from Daesh .
Can you imagine how totally humiliated, ridiculed, and beaten the US leaders feel today? Being hated or resisted is one thing, but being totally ignored – now that hurts!
As for a strategy, the best they could come up with was what I would call a "petty harassment of Russia": making RT sign up as a foreign agent, stealing ancient art from Russia , stripping Russian athletes from medals en masse , trying to ban the Russian flag and anthem from the Olympics in Seoul or banning Russian military aircraft from the next Farnborough airshow. And all these efforts have achieved is making Putin even more popular, the West even more hated, and the Olympics even more boring (ditto for Farnborough – the MAKS and the Dubai Air Shows are so much 'sexier' anyway). Oh, I almost forgot, the "new Europeans" will continue their mini-war against old Soviet statues to their liberators. It's just like the US mini-war on the Russian representations in the US, a clear sign of weakness .
Speaking of weakness.
This is becoming comical. The US media, especially CNN, cannot let a day go by without mentioning the evil Russians, the US Congress is engaged in mass hysteria trying to figure out which of the Republicans and the Democrats have had more contacts with the Russians, NATO commanders are crapping their pants in abject terror (or so they say!) every time the Russian military organizes any exercise, the US Navy and Air Force representatives regularly whine about Russian pilots making "unprofessional intercepts", the British Navy goes into full combat mode when a single (and rather modest) Russian aircraft carrier transits through the English Channel – but Russia is, supposedly, the "weak" country here.
Does that make sense to you?
The truth is that the Russians are laughing. From the Kremlin, to the media, to the social media – they are even make hilarious sketches about how almighty they are and how they control everything. But mostly the Russians are laughing their heads off wondering what in the world the folks in the West are smoking to be so totally terrified ( at least officially ) by a non-existing threat.
You know what else they are seeing?
That western political leaders are seeking safety in numbers. Hence the ridiculously bloated "coalitions" and all the resolutions coming out of various European and trans-Atlantic bodies. Western politicians are like schoolyard nerds who, fearing the tough kid, huddle together to look bigger. Every Russian kid knows that seeking safety in numbers is a surefire sign of a scared wimp. In contrast, the Russians also remember how a tiny nation of less than 2 million people had the courage to declare war on Russia and how they fought the Russians hard, really hard. I am talking about the Chechens of course. Yeah, love them or hate them – but there is no denying that Chechens are courageous. Ditto for the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan. The Russians were impressed. And even though the Nazis inflicted an unspeakable amount of suffering on the Russian people, the Russians never deny that the German soldiers and officers were skilled and courageous. There is even a Russian saying "I love/respect the courageous man in the Tatar/Mongol" (л юблю молодца и в татарине). So Russians have no problem seeing courage in their enemies.
... ... ...
Russia: the Russian strategy towards the Empire is simple:
Try to avoid as much as possible and for as long as possible any direct military confrontation with the US because Russia is still the weaker side (mostly in quantitative terms). That, and actively preparing for war under the ancient si vis pacem para bellum strategy. Try to cope as best can be with all the "petty harassment": the US still has infinitely more "soft power" than Russia and Russia simply does not have the means to strike back in kind. So she does the minimum to try to deter or weaken the effects of that kind of "petty harassment" but, in truth, there is not much she can do about it besides accepting it as a fact of life. Rather than trying to disengage from the AngloZionist controlled Empire (economically, financially, politically), Russia will very deliberately contribute to the gradual emergence of an alternative realm. A good example of that is the Chinese-promoted New Silk Road which is being built without any meaningful role for the Empire.US: the US strategy is equally simple: Use the Russian "threat" to give a meaning and a purpose to the Empire, especially NATO. Continue and expand the "petty harassment" against Russia on all levels. Subvert and weaken as much as possible any country or politician showing any signs of independence or disobedience (including New Silk Road countries)
Both sides are using delaying tactics, but for diametrically opposite reasons: Russia, because time is on her side and the US, because they have run out of options.
It is important to stress here that in this struggle Russia is at a major disadvantage: whereas the Russians want to build something, the Americans only want to destroy it (examples include Syria, of course, but also the Ukraine or, for that matter, a united Europe). Another major disadvantage for Russia is that most governments out there as still afraid of antagonizing the Empire in any way, thus the deafening silence and supine submissiveness of the "concert of nations" when Uncle Sam goes on one of his usual rampages in total violation of international law and the UN Charter. This is probably changing, but very, very slowly. Most world politicians are just like US Congressmen: prostitutes (and cheap ones at that).
The biggest advantage for Russia is that the US are internally falling apart economically, socially, politically – you name it. With every passing year the once most prosperous United States are starting to look more and more like some backwater Third World country. Oh sure, the US economy is still huge (but rapidly shrinking!), but that is meaningless when financial wealth and social wealth are conflated into one completely misleading index of pseudo-prosperity. This is sad, really, a country that ought to be prosperous and happy is being bled to death by the, shall we say, "imperial parasite" feeding on it.
At the end of the day, political regimes can only survive by the consent of those they rule. In the United States this consent is clearly in the process of being withdrawn. In Russia it has never been stronger. This translates into a major fragility of the US and, therefore, the Empire (the US are by far the biggest host of the AngloZionist imperial parasite) and a major source of staying power for Russia.
All of the above applies only to political regimes, of course. The people of Russia and of the US have exactly the same interests: bringing down the Empire with the least amount of violence and suffering as possible. Like all Empires, the US Empire mostly abused others in its formative and peak years, but as any decaying Empire it is now mostly abusing its own people. It is therefore vital to always repeat that an "Empire-free US" would have no reason to see an enemy in Russia and vice-versa. In fact, Russia and the US could be ideal partners, but the "imperial parasites" will not allow that to happen. Thus we are all stuck in an absurd and dangerous situation which could result in a war which would completely destroy most of our planet.
For whatever it's worth, and in spite of the constant hysterical Russophobia in the US Ziomedia, I detect absolutely no sign whatsoever that this campaign is having any success with the people in the US. At most, some of them naively buy into the "the Russians tried to interfere in our elections" fairy tale, but even in this case this belief is mitigated by "no big deal, we also do that in other countries". I have yet to meet a American who would seriously believe that Russia is any kind of danger. I don't even detect superficial reactions of hostility when, for example, I speak Russian with my family in a public place. Typically, we are asked what language we are speaking and when we reply "Russian" the reaction normally is "cool!". Quite often I even hear "what do you think of Putin? I really like him". This is in severe contrast with the federal government whom the vast majority of Americans seem to hate with a passion.
To summarize it all, I would say that at this point in time of the US-Russian war, Russia is wining, the Empire is losing and the US is suffering. As for the EU it is "enjoying" a much deserved irrelevance while being mostly busy absorbing wave after wave of society-destroying refugees proving, yet again, the truth of the saying that if your head is in the sand, your ass is in the air.
This war is far from over, I don't even think that we have reach its peak yet and things are going to get worse before they get better again. But all in all, I am very optimistic that the Axis of Kindness will bite the dust in a relatively not too distant future.
yurivku , December 1, 2017 at 7:16 am GMT
Reading texts from Saker is a sip of fresh water in a rotten pool. His words "things are going to get worse before they get better again" could come true, but also could never happen cause current Cold War very likely may be converted to very hot one. And they will not get better. The common West doing everything for it.MarkU , December 1, 2017 at 10:40 am GMTSaker said "Russians laughing" – yes, we do sometimes, but when we hear last news from "soft harassment" like attacks on our sportsmen, diplomats or reporters we are clenching our fists. We do not feel bad on western people, but this is not the case when to talk about the country as whole, counry which being determinated by its tops. There is a limit to any patience.
Amount of idiocy of current American authorities and society as whole is amazing. Looking in the past I can't see such desperate clowns as those on the top: McCains, Clintons, Haleys at last Trump! and hundreds of powerful people who can not distinguish between Austria and Australia, all of those stupid askin to punish Russia!
So, I'd like to be mistaken, but I'm not optimistic about the future of our planet and I believe it is the "West" who can change something, not Russia, we are staying near the last red line and not gonna retreat.The financial dynasties which have ruled the western world for the last few centuries are evidently in the final stages of degeneration. Their ancestors were at least intelligent people whatever one might think about their ethics. So far as I am able to tell we are now being ruled by people who only have one notable characteristic, arrogance. They are to the western world what Caligula and Nero were to Rome, poison and delusion. I doubt very much that there will be a happy outcome.Randal , December 1, 2017 at 10:53 am GMTInherited wealth on a massive scale is the problem, when individuals are born with enough wealth to confer political influence even over the wealthiest countries, then democracy can only be a sham. Bill Gates (of all people) was on the right track a few years ago when he declared that he was only going to pass down to his descendants enough money to live comfortably for one lifetime. Until some sort of sane cap is placed on inherited wealth then we will continue to be ruled by people with mediocre ability advised by second-rate intellectuals who are prepared to tell them what they want to hear.
The biggest threat to our continued existence is not the strength of the Russian federation but its weakness. Outspent and outnumbered hugely by the EU alone (whatever the paid liars in Washington say) their only credible defence in the event of open warfare is their nuclear arsenal, we can only hope they never need to use it.
The Scalpel , Website December 1, 2017 at 12:26 pm GMTCan you imagine how totally humiliated, ridiculed, and beaten the US leaders feel today? Being hated or resisted is one thing, but being totally ignored – now that hurts!
Saker could have added to the list of self-inflicted defeats for the US regime and foreign policy elites their ongoing humiliation over North Korea, where they have endlessly tried to insist that the US has some kind of special right for its enemies not to be allowed even to possess weapons that could potentially attack them, and postured and menaced in response to the NK government's defiance, but have so far been forced to accept that they can do nothing about it, as Pat Buchanan discusses today . And as Pat points out, this is a situation entirely of the US regime's making – by operating a sustained policy of military aggressions, and especially of attacking those that foolishly rely upon submission to their demands (Gaddafi) and undermining any agreements they make (Iran), they created the situation in which going all out for a nuclear deterrent became the most rational course available for NK.
The US might yet choose to wage another war of aggression in order to avoid yet another self-inflicted humiliation, or an unintended war might start as a result of the US regime's irresponsible military buildup and provocations, but if either happens, the costs will be colossal and any gains trivial, "win" or lose.
But mostly the Russians are laughing their heads off wondering what in the world the folks in the West are smoking to be so totally terrified (at least officially) by a non-existing threat.
That's not the only gross absurdity in US sphere society that Russians are laughing at, apparently:
Russian TV defends men over sex pest claims
Nor is Russia resisting the opportunity to twist the knife on the US's Korean nightmare:
North Korea: Russia accuses US of goading Kim Jong-un
Lavrov, like Putin, has made a practice of dropping such truth-bombs on the US regime. And who can blame them, if the US regime insists on handing them the ammunition, time after time?
Over the past thirty years, at least, the US regime has ensured that the truth is anti-American.
yurivku , December 1, 2017 at 1:07 pm GMT"US would have no reason to see an enemy in Russia and vice-versa. In fact, Russia and the US could be ideal partners"This is the dream I had when the "wall" came down. But instead, I saw that my belief that the US government was a "white knight in shining armor" acting for "truth, justice, and the american way" and to "make the world safe for democracy" was only a dream, a foolish fantasy. I had been deceived. I had wanted to be an Army general and was a Distinguished Graduate of the USMA. Now I resigned my commission as an Army officer, took off my uniform, and extended my arm to stop the tanks.
I hope to live to see the day of a multipolar world in peace. It is possible, but it must come from below. An "American Spring" is essential. I hope my complacent countrymen will see this before it is too late.
@The ScalpelAndrei Martyanov , Website December 1, 2017 at 2:05 pm GMTNow I resigned my commission as an Army officer, took off my uniform, and extended my arm to stop the tanks.
I took off the uniform of Soviet Army officer more than 30 years ago. Was an officer in anti aircraft division.
I hope to live to see the day of a multipolar world in peace. It is possible, but it must come from below.
I hope too, but currenly a ball is on your side of a field. We (Russians) actually can't retreat any more. If US will keep its "soft harrasment" the result could be extremly bad. And I see no reason to expect sane behaviour from US establishment. They are insane, what about a majority of american people ? I don't know. But its must "come from below" of US society, not from us, we already did.
@The ScalpelAndrei Martyanov , Website December 1, 2017 at 2:10 pm GMTThis is the dream I had when the "wall" came down.
At that time (early 1990s) this was almost a consensus among many professionals on Russian side that this was possible. By 1999 it became clear that situation degenerated to such a degree that no compromise was possible anymore. Part of it was rooted in the nature of re-emerging genuine Russian state, the lion share, however, was in neocons completely subverting US foreign policy.
@MarkUTomSchmidt , December 1, 2017 at 3:17 pm GMTtheir only credible defence in the event of open warfare is their nuclear arsenal
Sir, don't repeat discredited propaganda memes. If you don't trust me, which is fine, read opinion on the man who has decades of working and serving with this very NATO, not to mention his deep knowledge on military-diplomatic terms of Russia.
https://patrickarmstrong.ca/2017/11/23/nato-a-dangerous-paper-tiger/
In fact, it is the United States who is the most likely user of its nuclear arsenal and it has nothing to do with Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing.
At the end of the day, political regimes can only survive by the consent of those they rule. In the United States this consent is clearly in the process of being withdrawn.nickels , December 1, 2017 at 7:01 pm GMTThat really is the nub of the matter there. The elites are fumbling about, trying to save themselves in the USA and their unearned perquisites. As the Saker says, the imperial parasite is sucking dry what should be a wealthy and peaceful land.
Too much depends on China, and I don't trust them. The godless money grubbers may chose to ally with the (((Anglos))) and stab Russia in the back just like Russia allied with the (((Brits))) to stab Germany in the back. The world pivots on the Yellow Peril.Andrei Martyanov , Website December 1, 2017 at 7:12 pm GMT@Hank ReardenCurmudgeon , December 1, 2017 at 7:45 pm GMTexcept for the reference to Conchita Wurst, of which I'm unfamiliar. I was curious enough to google it, and now I can't unsee that. Dear God, I need a brainwash.
LOL, tell me about that – same here. I heard of IT (This, that, creature etc.) but at some point of time I took a look. Boy, was I sorry:))
@Priss FactorCyrano , December 1, 2017 at 8:06 pm GMTAmerica's Founding was also marked by this great contradiction. It was, in one sense, a universal republic committed to principles that rose above tribe or nation.
..
Given that the Naturalization Act of 1790 allowed for Whites only, the concept of a universal republic was, obviously, not entirely universal.
As for Anglo-Americans, their importation of large numbers of black Africans to toil as slaves and then huge numbers of 'ethnic' European immigrants -- especially the feisty and pushy Jews -- led to increasing pressure to transform America into a 'proposition'
There was already a steady supply of White slaves (indentured servants) coming from the UK. The importation of Africans was mainly in Jewish hands, as the (((reviled))) Tony Martin pointed out. This ramped up considerably after Anthony Johnson, a Black landowner who was a former indentured servant, sued and won the right to keep slaves for life. Ironically, his two white slaves were also included in the judgement. So much for White privilege.
At one point the US was so confident that they managed to "fix" the middle east, that they were talking about "pivot" to Asia, which was nothing more than a veiled threat to China that they are next on the list to be "fixed". So the pivot to Asia didn't really happen, as it turns out the middle east wasn't really "fixed", not the way the wanted it anyway. Then the fiasco in Ukraine happened where they had to turn their attention to Russia.Anon , Disclaimer December 1, 2017 at 8:14 pm GMTMay I be so bold as to suggest few names for the new US policies towards Russia after 2014 – using "pivot to Asia" as a guidance? How about:
1. Somersault to Russia? Or,
2. Cartwheel to Russia? Or maybe,
3. Backflip to Russia?
Note that all 3 suggested choices try to point out to the acrobatic skills needed in order for the missions named after them to succeed.
First, there is no war. The real/unreal "war" continues because it serves the powers that be on both sides. On the US side, it serves as an excuse for an enormous "defense" spending that now exceeds defense spending of the rest of the world combined. This massive flow of taxpayers' money into the pockets of the few who feed at the Pentagon trough needs some "justification", and "evil Russia" serves admirably.Andrei Martyanov , Website December 1, 2017 at 8:29 pm GMTOn the Russian side, Putin's generally anti-US foreign policy, which is supported by the great majority of Russians, "justifies" his grip on power despite the fact that the internal policies of his government, which also enrich very few at the expense of the rest, are very unpopular.
The US never wages a real war on anyone who has WMDs. North Korea is the most up-to-date example of this. The very fact of the US invasion of Iraq or bombing of Syria showed that the US was 100% sure that neither Saddam nor Assad have WMDs. The US elites, dumb and shortsighted though they are, understand deep down that they need to stay alive to enjoy their loot. As Ukrainian saying puts it, "coffins have no pockets".
But there is a stiff competition: the US Empire is going downhill, like the British Empire a century ago, and the Chinese are happy to have Russia spearhead the resistance (which they quietly support in many ways). I doubt that Chinese domination would be any more benign than shameless and brutal US domination, but we'll see soon enough: in 20-30 years the US will be relegated to the position of a second-tier power. I am not even sure that Chinese domination would be in Russia's interests any more than the US domination, but US elites in their incredible stupidity forced Russia to ally with China and all anti-American forces in the world, as diverse as Iran and North Korea.
The US is losing so fast due to blind greed and overall degradation of its elites, who keep biting off a lot more than they can chew and behaving like it's 1990. But the ultimate win would be more China's than Russia's, unless Russia manages to create a tri-polar world with China and India, which would be certainly better than any unipolar world can possibly be.
Erebus , December 2, 2017 at 2:51 am GMT1. Somersault to Russia? Or,
2. Cartwheel to Russia? Or maybe,
3. Backflip to Russia?
Without jokes, but that is a perfect visual representation of a contemporary American foreign policy.
@CyranoLow Voltage , December 2, 2017 at 3:52 am GMT1. Somersault to Russia? Or,
2. Cartwheel to Russia? Or maybe,
3. Backflip to Russia?Note that all 3 suggested choices try to point out to the acrobatic skills needed in order for the missions named after them to succeed.
In the end, it will be a spastic lurch and a nosedive into the ditch on the road to Moscow.
Instead of AngloZionist Empire, I like just to call it the "Confederacy."Beckow , December 2, 2017 at 4:19 am GMT1. The Southern Generals strut around the globe like they own the place.
2. We're a resource-based economy with a free trade mantra.
3. Slave labor camps litter the Empire (though only in prisons in Confederate Homeland).
4. Hyper Police State.
5. Everyone defines themselves by their skin color.Would anyone else care to add this list?
@peterAUSErebus , December 2, 2017 at 8:48 am GMT"The same "hegemon with allies/vassals" as it is now, only in that case divided in three"
Why? There is absolutely nothing about 'multipolar' that dictates three, or four 'hegemons', or even lists who would the 'multis' be. The idea is simply that most people, most of the time are better off left alone.
Is that so hard to understand? Why should people in Washington (or Moscow, Beijing, Brussels, ) be intimately involved with how others live their lives, with their fights and alliances? Knowledge always dissipates with distance, and most of the 'masters of the universe' are not that smart to start with.
Multipolar is just that – leave exercise of power and responsibility as close to the local situation as possible. Brussels telling Poland who should be a TV presenter, or Washington deciding what people in rural Hungary should read is idiotic. What's the point of all this busy-body behaviour? It is always justified by some slogans about preventing 'human rights violations'. Right. We have seen the results – a lot more people have died and suffered because of 'humanitarian' interventions than from anything else in the last 20+ years.
I do find the current rapprochement between Russia and the major Moslem states amusing. It goes beyond Turkey and Iran, Moscow is working all of them, Egypt, Sudan, I suspect it is a clever attempt to beat US at its own game – US has spent about four decades arming and unleashing any Islamic force it could find against Russians (and Slavs in general), using methods that were beyond brutal and hypocrisy that eventually backfired. Maybe turning it around is a good strategy. It is inconsistent, but when you fight extreme stupidity, often the only thing that works is to use more stupidity
@BeckowBrzez , December 2, 2017 at 9:58 am GMT"The same "hegemon with allies/vassals" as it is now, only in that case divided in three"
Why? There is absolutely nothing about 'multipolar' that dictates three, or four 'hegemons', or even lists who would the 'multis' be. The idea is simply that most people, most of the time are better off left alone.
Peter's is the apocalyptic view made famous by Orwell. He may be right, it may all unravel and Oceania, Eurasia & Eastasia run a classic 3-power calculus of shifting alliances in a struggle for control of the "hinterlands". Not at all impossible, but certainly not what the proponents of the multipolar world want.
The idea is much more than the notion that most people want to "be left alone". The Multipolar world as it is actually being constructed by its proponents, from its monetary structures to its security, commercial and trade regimes, is precisely the attempt to prevent that Orwellian development in the face of Western decline. Their foundational tenet is that Globalization as a world-historical trend is here to stay (for at least the next few generations), and the "compartmentalization" of the world into alliances and hegemonies as historically occurred is no longer a viable option. The 3 Orwellian powers are all nuclear now, and the #1 priority is to mitigate the risk of war between them. Best to do that by dissolving them into a matrix of commercial and developmental programs that they'd be loathe to destroy.
EG: Though Russia considers both China and Iran "strategic partners", there is no formal alliance with either of them, and there won't be. Alliances cannot be "forbidden", but the countries that have signed onto the multipolar world program view alliances with suspicion.
As a introduction to the coming multipolar world, Kupchan's Western-centric analysis is a good place to start: https://www.amazon.com/No-Ones-World-Council-Relations/dp/0199325227
"Kupchan provides a detailed strategy for striking a bargain between the West and the rising rest by fashioning a new consensus on issues of legitimacy, sovereignty, and governance."
Assuming he even knows the least thing about what the multipolar world is trying to do, Peter's view is that their attempt will fail. Maybe so.
To "fashion a new consensus on issues of legitimacy, sovereignty, and governance" requires that the professional criminal class that grabbed the remains of Western power a decade and a half ago has been forced to let go. If not, the world indeed faces an abyss.Orwell's vision is but one of the possibilities. Another is Armageddon. Yet another is a "(Failed) West and a multipolar Rest". The latter is what I think will actually happen in the near and medium term. Things being what they are, it may even be the best we can hope for.
@The ScalpelBeckow , December 2, 2017 at 9:32 pm GMT"The white knight in shining armor" actually turned out to be a cowardly greedy coyote who unsuccessfully tried to fit into a stolen somewhere sheep skin.
@peterAUSBeckow , December 2, 2017 at 9:48 pm GMT"Russians shouldn't have raped all those German women"
Yeah, that's the problem – WWII was all about Russians raping. Not about Germans attacking east and murdering tens of millions. How many Russian women do you think Germans 'raped'? Or maybe they just killed them, 'ubermensch', right. It doesn't seem to bother you and that is sick.
Or this vignette:
The regime in Moscow has one and only one goal: own hold on power"
While, of course the 'regimes' in Washington or Berlin spend all their time worrying about the well-being of their citizens. You really cannot be that dumb, or can you?
I made mistake responding to you, you are hopeless.
@ErebusBeckow , December 2, 2017 at 10:49 pm GMT"(Failed) West and a multipolar Rest". The latter is what I think will actually happen in the near and medium term.
I think we already have it, except I don't think West has failed yet. Or it has in a way, the process of failing goes on, but the consequences have not been felt much in the West yet.
I don't see any other power than the West (=US) aspiring to 'manage the world'. Maybe some ISIS fanatics have the same dream, but they are not in a position to achieve it. West has 'managed' it very poorly: mindless interventions, wars, migrants, hypocrisy, threats and blackmail.
The other 'powers' have very modest, regional aspirations. Russia or China really don't care that much who wins the elections in Portugal, or what regional papers write in Hungary – US seems to be obsessed with it. And the only justification that Western defenders offer when pressed is that 'there would be a vacuum' and 'Russians would move in'. This is obvious nonsense and only elderly paranoid Cold Warrior types believe it (peterAUS?). What is really going on is that West has over-reached and can barely handle its own problems. So they scream 'Russians are coming' to distract, or to prolong the agony. Russians are not coming, they don't care in 2017, they can barely control their huge territory today. More you see squealing and lying in the Western media, more it shows that they have not much else to work with.
@peterAUSIs it possible to see BOTH as bad
You only mentioned one. You always only mention one, the same one.
To be fair, Germans started the war and killed a lot more people in the east. They deserved what they got.
how about ALL those regimes (Washington, Berlin, Moscow) first and foremost care about own survival and own success
You say that now because you got caught – again – with a one-sided biased view. If people have to remind you that rules should be applied equally, you are either too far gone or have issues with basic logic. Try to be objective to start with, not after you produce a biased rant and people point it out to you.
Apr 15, 2015 | antiwar.com
Former Washington insider and four-star General Wesley Clark spilled the beans several years ago on how Paul Wolfowitz and his neoconservative co-conspirators implemented their sweeping plan to destabilize key Middle Eastern countries once it became clear that post-Soviet Russia "won't stop us."As I recently reviewed a YouTube eight-minute clip of General Clark's October 2007 speech, what leaped out at me was that the neocons had been enabled by their assessment that -- after the collapse of the Soviet Union – Russia had become neutralized and posed no deterrent to U.S. military action in the Middle East.
While Clark's public exposé largely escaped attention in the neocon-friendly "mainstream media" (surprise, surprise!), he recounted being told by a senior general at the Pentagon shortly after the 9/11 attacks in 2001 about the Donald Rumsfeld/Paul Wolfowitz-led plan for "regime change" in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran.
This was startling enough, I grant you, since officially the United States presents itself as a nation that respects international law, frowns upon other powerful nations overthrowing the governments of weaker states, and – in the aftermath of World War II – condemned past aggressions by Nazi Germany and decried Soviet "subversion" of pro-U.S. nations.
But what caught my eye this time was the significance of Clark's depiction of Wolfowitz in 1992 gloating over what he judged to be a major lesson learned from the Desert Storm attack on Iraq in 1991; namely, "the Soviets won't stop us."
That remark directly addresses a question that has troubled me since March 2003 when George W. Bush attacked Iraq. Would the neocons – widely known as "the crazies" at least among the remaining sane people of Washington – have been crazy enough to opt for war to re-arrange the Middle East if the Soviet Union had not fallen apart in 1991?
The question is not an idle one. Despite the debacle in Iraq and elsewhere, the neocon "crazies" still exercise huge influence in Establishment Washington. Thus, the question now becomes whether, with Russia far more stable and much stronger, the "crazies" are prepared to risk military escalation with Russia over Ukraine, what retired U.S. diplomat William R. Polk deemed a potentially dangerous nuclear confrontation, a "Cuban Missile Crisis in reverse."
Putin's Comment
The geopolitical vacuum that enabled the neocons to try out their "regime change" scheme in the Middle East may have been what Russian President Vladimir Putin was referring to in his state-of-the-nation address on April 25, 2005, when he called the collapse of the Soviet Union "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the [past] century." Putin's comment has been a favorite meme of those who seek to demonize Putin by portraying him as lusting to re-establish a powerful USSR through aggression in Europe.
But, commenting two years after the Iraq invasion, Putin seemed correct at least in how the neocons exploited the absence of the Russian counterweight to over-extend American power in ways that were harmful to the world, devastating to the people at the receiving end of the neocon interventions, and even detrimental to the United States.
If one takes a step back and attempts an unbiased look at the spread of violence in the Middle East over the past quarter-century, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Putin's comment was on the mark. With Russia a much-weakened military power in the 1990s and early 2000s, there was nothing to deter U.S. policymakers from the kind of adventurism at Russia's soft underbelly that, in earlier years, would have carried considerable risk of armed U.S.-USSR confrontation.
I lived in the USSR during the 1970s and would not wish that kind of restrictive regime on anyone. Until it fell apart, though, it was militarily strong enough to deter Wolfowitz-style adventurism. And I will say that – for the millions of people now dead, injured or displaced by U.S. military action in the Middle East over the past dozen years – the collapse of the Soviet Union as a deterrent to U.S. war-making was not only a "geopolitical catastrophe" but an unmitigated disaster.
Visiting Wolfowitz
In his 2007 speech, General Clark related how in early 1991 he dropped in on Paul Wolfowitz, then Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (and later, from 2001 to 2005, Deputy Secretary of Defense). It was just after a major Shia uprising in Iraq in March 1991. President George H.W. Bush's administration had provoked it, but then did nothing to rescue the Shia from brutal retaliation by Saddam Hussein, who had just survived his Persian Gulf defeat.
According to Clark, Wolfowitz said: "We should have gotten rid of Saddam Hussein. The truth is, one thing we did learn is that we can use our military in the Middle East and the Soviets won't stop us. We've got about five or 10 years to clean up those old Soviet client regimes – Syria, Iran (sic), Iraq – before the next great superpower comes on to challenge us."
It's now been more than 10 years, of course. But do not be deceived into thinking Wolfowitz and his neocon colleagues believe they have failed in any major way. The unrest they initiated keeps mounting – in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Lebanon – not to mention fresh violence now in full swing in Yemen and the crisis in Ukraine. Yet, the Teflon coating painted on the neocons continues to cover and protect them in the "mainstream media."
True, one neocon disappointment is Iran. It is more stable and less isolated than before; it is playing a sophisticated role in Iraq; and it is on the verge of concluding a major nuclear agreement with the West – barring the throwing of a neocon/Israeli monkey wrench into the works to thwart it, as has been done in the past.
An earlier setback for the neocons came at the end of August 2013 when President Barack Obama decided not to let himself be mouse-trapped by the neocons into ordering U.S. forces to attack Syria. Wolfowitz et al. were on the threshold of having the U.S. formally join the war against Bashar al-Assad's government of Syria when there was the proverbial slip between cup and lip. With the aid of the neocons' new devil-incarnate Vladimir Putin, Obama faced them down and avoided war.
A week after it became clear that the neocons were not going to get their war in Syria, I found myself at the main CNN studio in Washington together with Paul Wolfowitz and former Sen. Joe Lieberman, another important neocon. As I reported in "How War on Syria Lost Its Way," the scene was surreal – funereal, even, with both Wolfowitz and Lieberman very much down-in-the-mouth, behaving as though they had just watched their favorite team lose the Super Bowl.
Israeli/Neocon Preferences
But the neocons are nothing if not resilient. Despite their grotesque disasters, like the Iraq War, and their disappointments, like not getting their war on Syria, they neither learn lessons nor change goals. They just readjust their aim, shooting now at Putin over Ukraine as a way to clear the path again for "regime change" in Syria and Iran. [See Consortiumnews.com's "Why Neocons Seek to Destabilize Russia."]
The neocons also can take some solace from their "success" at enflaming the Middle East with Shia and Sunni now at each other's throats – a bad thing for many people of the world and certainly for the many innocent victims in the region, but not so bad for the neocons. After all, it is the view of Israeli leaders and their neocon bedfellows (and women) that the internecine wars among Muslims provide at least some short-term advantages for Israel as it consolidates control over the Palestinian West Bank.
In a Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity memorandum for President Obama on Sept. 6, 2013, we called attention to an uncommonly candid report about Israeli/neocon motivation, written by none other than the Israel-friendly New York Times Bureau Chief in Jerusalem Jodi Rudoren on Sept. 2, 2013, just two days after Obama took advantage of Putin's success in persuading the Syrians to allow their chemical weapons to be destroyed and called off the planned attack on Syria, causing consternation among neocons in Washington.
Rudoren can perhaps be excused for her naïve lack of "political correctness." She had been barely a year on the job, had very little prior experience with reporting on the Middle East, and – in the excitement about the almost-attack on Syria – she apparently forgot the strictures normally imposed on the Times' reporting from Jerusalem. In any case, Israel's priorities became crystal clear in what Rudoren wrote.
In her article, entitled "Israel Backs Limited Strike Against Syria," Rudoren noted that the Israelis were arguing, quietly, that the best outcome for Syria's (then) 2 ½-year-old civil war, at least for the moment, was no outcome:
"For Jerusalem, the status quo, horrific as it may be from a humanitarian perspective, seems preferable to either a victory by Mr. Assad's government and his Iranian backers or a strengthening of rebel groups, increasingly dominated by Sunni jihadis.
"'This is a playoff situation in which you need both teams to lose, but at least you don't want one to win - we'll settle for a tie,' said Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli consul general in New York. 'Let them both bleed, hemorrhage to death: that's the strategic thinking here. As long as this lingers, there's no real threat from Syria.'"
Clear enough? If this is the way Israel's leaders continue to regard the situation in Syria, then they look on deeper U.S. involvement – overt or covert – as likely to ensure that there is no early resolution of the conflict there. The longer Sunni and Shia are killing each other, not only in Syria but also across the region as a whole, the safer Tel Aviv's leaders calculate Israel is.
Favoring Jihadis
But Israeli leaders have also made clear that if one side must win, they would prefer the Sunni side, despite its bloody extremists from Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. In September 2013, shortly after Rudoren's article, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren, then a close adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told the Jerusalem Post that Israel favored the Sunni extremists over Assad.
"The greatest danger to Israel is by the strategic arc that extends from Tehran, to Damascus to Beirut. And we saw the Assad regime as the keystone in that arc," Oren said in an interview. "We always wanted Bashar Assad to go, we always preferred the bad guys who weren't backed by Iran to the bad guys who were backed by Iran." He said this was the case even if the "bad guys" were affiliated with Al-Qaeda.
In June 2014, Oren – then speaking as a former ambassador – said Israel would even prefer a victory by the Islamic State, which was massacring captured Iraqi soldiers and beheading Westerners, than the continuation of the Iranian-backed Assad in Syria. "From Israel's perspective, if there's got to be an evil that's got to prevail, let the Sunni evil prevail," Oren said.
Netanyahu sounded a similar theme in his March 3, 2015 speech to the U.S. Congress in which he trivialized the threat from the Islamic State with its "butcher knives, captured weapons and YouTube" when compared to Iran, which he accused of "gobbling up the nations" of the Middle East.
That Syria's main ally is Iran with which it has a mutual defense treaty plays a role in Israeli calculations. Accordingly, while some Western leaders would like to achieve a realistic if imperfect settlement of the Syrian civil war, others who enjoy considerable influence in Washington would just as soon see the Assad government and the entire region bleed out.
As cynical and cruel as this strategy is, it isn't all that hard to understand. Yet, it seems to be one of those complicated, politically charged situations well above the pay-grade of the sophomores advising President Obama – who, sad to say, are no match for the neocons in the Washington Establishment. Not to mention the Netanyahu-mesmerized Congress.
Corker Uncorked
Speaking of Congress, a year after Rudoren's report, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, who now chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, divulged some details about the military attack that had been planned against Syria, while lamenting that it was canceled. In doing so, Corker called Obama's abrupt change on Aug. 31, 2013, in opting for negotiations over open war on Syria, "the worst moment in U.S. foreign policy since I've been here." Following the neocon script, Corker blasted the deal (since fully implemented) with Putin and the Syrians to rid Syria of its chemical weapons.
Corker complained, "In essence – I'm sorry to be slightly rhetorical – we jumped into Putin's lap." A big No-No, of course – especially in Congress – to "jump into Putin's lap" even though Obama was able to achieve the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons without the United States jumping into another Middle East war.
It would have been nice, of course, if General Clark had thought to share his inside-Pentagon information earlier with the rest of us. In no way should he be seen as a whistleblower.
At the time of his September 2007 speech, he was deep into his quixotic attempt to win the Democratic nomination for president in 2008. In other words, Clark broke the omerta code of silence observed by virtually all U.S. generals, even post-retirement, merely to put some distance between himself and the debacle in Iraq – and win some favor among anti-war Democrats. It didn't work, so he endorsed Hillary Clinton; that didn't work, so he endorsed Barack Obama.
Wolfowitz, typically, has landed on his feet. He is now presidential hopeful Jeb Bush's foreign policy/defense adviser, no doubt outlining his preferred approach to the Middle East chessboard to his new boss. Does anyone know the plural of "bedlam?"
Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, a publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. He is a 30-year veteran of the CIA and Army intelligence and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS). McGovern served for considerable periods in all four of CIA's main directorates.
Reprinted with permission from Consortium News.
Nov 30, 2017 | www.theamericanconservative.com
According to recent reports the Heritage Foundation, clearly the most established and many would say politically influential conservative think tank in Washington, is considering David Trulio, Lockheed Martin vice president and longtime lobbyist for the defense industry, to be its next president. While Heritage's connection to Washington's sprawling national security industry is already well-established, naming Trulio as its president might be seen as gilding the lily.If anything, reading this report made me more aware of the degree to which the "conservative policy community" in Washington depends on the whims and interests of particular donors.
And this relationship is apparently no longer something to be concealed or embarrassed by. One can now be open about being in the pocket of the defense industry. Trulio's potential elevation to Heritage president at what we can assume will be an astronomical salary, will no doubt grease the already well-oiled pipeline of funds from major contractors to this "conservative" foundation, which already operates with an annual disclosed budget of almost $100 million.
A 2009 Heritage Foundation report, " Maintaining the Superiority of America's Defense Industrial Base ," called for further government investment in aircraft weaponry for "ensuring a superior fighting force" and "sustaining international stability." In 2011, senior national security fellow James Carafano wrote " Five Steps to Defend America's Industrial Defense Base ," which complained about a "fifty billion dollar under-procurement by the Pentagon" for buying new weaponry. In 2016, Heritage made the case for several years of reinvestment to get the military back on "sound footing," with an increase in fiscal year 2016 described as "an encouraging start."
These special pleas pose a question: which came first, Heritage's heavy dependence on funds from defense giants, or the foundation's belief that unless we steadily increase our military arsenal we'll be endangering "international stability"? Perhaps the answer lies somewhere in the middle: someone who is predisposed to go in a certain direction may be more inclined to do so if he is being rewarded in return. Incidentally, the 2009 position paper seems to be directing the government to throw more taxpayer dollars to Boeing than to its competitor Lockheed. But it seems both defense giants have landed a joint contract this year to produce a new submersible for the Navy, so it may no longer be necessary to pick sides on that one at least. No doubt both corporations will continue to look after Heritage, which will predictably call for further increases, whether they be in aerospace or shipbuilding.
Although one needn't reduce everything to dollars and cents, if we're looking at the issues Heritage and other likeminded foundations are likely to push today, it's far more probable they'll be emphasizing the national security state rather than, say, opposition to gay marriage or the defense of traditional gender roles. There's lots more money to be made advocating for the former rather than the latter. In May 2013, Heritage sponsored a formal debate between "two conservatives" and "two liberals" on the issue of defense spending, with Heritage and National Review presenting the "conservative" side. I wondered as I listened to part of this verbal battle why is was considered "conservative" to call for burdening American taxpayers with massive increases in the purchase of Pentagon weaponry and planes that take 17 years to get off the ground.
Like American higher education, Conservatism Inc. is very big business. Whatever else it's about rates a very far second to keeping the money flowing. "Conservative" positions are often simply causes for which foundations and media enterprises that have the word "conservative" attached to them are paid to represent. It is the label carried by an institution or publication, not necessarily the position it takes, that makes what NR or Heritage advocates "conservative."
In any event, Mr. Trulio won't have to travel far if he takes the Heritage helm. He and his corporation are already ensconced only a few miles away from Heritage's Massachusetts Avenue headquarters, if the information provided by Lockheed Martin is correct. It says: "Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 98,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services." A company like that can certainly afford to underwrite a think tank -- if the price is right.
Paul Gottfried is Raffensperger Professor of Humanities Emeritus at Elizabethtown College, where he taught for twenty-five years. He is a Guggenheim recipient and a Yale PhD. He writes for many websites and scholarly journals and is the author of thirteen books, most recently Fascism: Career of a Concept and Revisions and Dissents . His books have been translated into multiple languages and seem to enjoy special success in Eastern Europe.
Nov 30, 2017 | www.unz.com
Money Imperialism Introduction to the German Edition Michael Hudson November 29, 2017 3,500 Words 1 Comment Reply
In theory, the global financial system is supposed to help every country gain. Mainstream teaching of international finance, trade and "foreign aid" (defined simply as any government credit) depicts an almost utopian system uplifting all countries, not stripping their assets and imposing austerity. The reality since World War I is that the United States has taken the lead in shaping the international financial system to promote gains for its own bankers, farm exporters, its oil and gas sector, and buyers of foreign resources – and most of all, to collect on debts owed to it.
Each time this global system has broken down over the past century, the major destabilizing force has been American over-reach and the drive by its bankers and bondholders for short-term gains. The dollar-centered financial system is leaving more industrial as well as Third World countries debt-strapped. Its three institutional pillars – the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and World Trade Organization – have imposed monetary, fiscal and financial dependency, most recently by the post-Soviet Baltics, Greece and the rest of southern Europe. The resulting strains are now reaching the point where they are breaking apart the arrangements put in place after World War II.
The most destructive fiction of international finance is that all debts can be paid, and indeed should be paid, even when this tears economies apart by forcing them into austerity – to save bondholders, not labor and industry. Yet European countries, and especially Germany, have shied from pressing for a more balanced global economy that would foster growth for all countries and avoid the current economic slowdown and debt deflation.
Imposing austerity on Germany after World War I
After World War I the U.S. Government deviated from what had been traditional European policy – forgiving military support costs among the victors. U.S. officials demanded payment for the arms shipped to its Allies in the years before America entered the Great War in 1917. The Allies turned to Germany for reparations to pay these debts. Headed by John Maynard Keynes, British diplomats sought to clean their hands of responsibility for the consequences by promising that all the money they received from Germany would simply be forwarded to the U.S. Treasury.
The sums were so unpayably high that Germany was driven into austerity and collapse. The nation suffered hyperinflation as the Reichsbank printed marks to throw onto the foreign exchange also were pushed into financial collapse. The debt deflation was much like that of Third World debtors a generation ago, and today's southern European PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain).
In a pretense that the reparations and Inter-Ally debt tangle could be made solvent, a triangular flow of payments was facilitated by a convoluted U.S. easy-money policy. American investors sought high returns by buying German local bonds; German municipalities turned over the dollars they received to the Reichsbank for domestic currency; and the Reichsbank used this foreign exchange to pay reparations to Britain and other Allies, enabling these countries to pay the United States what it demanded.
But solutions based on attempts to keep debts of such magnitude in place by lending debtors the money to pay can only be temporary. The U.S. Federal Reserve sustained this triangular flow by holding down U.S. interest rates. This made it attractive for American investors to buy German municipal bonds and other high-yielding debts. It also deterred Wall Street from drawing funds away from Britain, which would have driven its economy deeper into austerity after the General Strike of 1926. But domestically, low U.S. interest rates and easy credit spurred a real estate bubble, followed by a stock market bubble that burst in 1929. The triangular flow of payments broke down in 1931, leaving a legacy of debt deflation burdening the U.S. and European economies. The Great Depression lasted until outbreak of World War II in 1939.
Planning for the postwar period took shape as the war neared its end. U.S. diplomats had learned an important lesson. This time there would be no arms debts or reparations. The global financial system would be stabilized – on the basis of gold, and on creditor-oriented rules. By the end of the 1940s the United States held some 75 percent of the world's monetary gold stock. That established the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency, freely convertible into gold at the 1933 parity of $35 an ounce.
It also implied that once again, as in the 1920s, European balance-of-payments deficits would have to be financed mainly by the United States. Recycling of official government credit was to be filtered via the IMF and World Bank, in which U.S. diplomats alone had veto power to reject policies they found not to be in their national interest. International financial "stability" thus became a global control mechanism – to maintain creditor-oriented rules centered in the United States.
To obtain gold or dollars as backing for their own domestic monetary systems, other countries had to follow the trade and investment rules laid down by the United States. These rules called for relinquishing control over capital movements or restrictions on foreign takeovers of natural resources and the public domain as well as local industry and banking systems.
By 1950 the dollar-based global economic system had become increasingly untenable. Gold continued flowing to the United States, strengthening the dollar – until the Korean War reversed matters. From 1951 through 1971 the United States ran a deepening balance-of-payments deficit, which stemmed entirely from overseas military spending. (Private-sector trade and investment was steadily in balance.)
U.S. Treasury debt replaces the gold exchange standard
The foreign military spending that helped return American gold to Europe became a flood as the Vietnam War spread across Asia after 1962. The Treasury kept the dollar's exchange rate stable by selling gold via the London Gold Pool at $35 an ounce. Finally, in August 1971, President Nixon stopped the drain by closing the Gold Pool and halting gold convertibility of the dollar.
There was no plan for what would happen next. Most observers viewed cutting the dollar's link to gold as a defeat for the United States. It certainly ended the postwar financial order as designed in 1944. But what happened next was just the reverse of a defeat. No longer able to buy gold after 1971 (without inciting strong U.S. disapproval), central banks found only one asset in which to hold their balance-of-payments surpluses: U.S. Treasury debt. These securities no longer were "as good as gold." The United States issued them at will to finance soaring domestic budget deficits.
By shifting from gold to the dollars thrown off by the U.S. balance-of-payments deficit, the foundation of global monetary reserves came to be dominated by the U.S. military spending that continued to flood foreign central banks with surplus dollars. America's balance-of-payments deficit thus supplied the dollars that financed its domestic budget deficits and bank credit creation – via foreign central banks recycling U.S. foreign spending back to the U.S. Treasury.
In effect, foreign countries have been taxed without representation over how their loans to the U.S. Government are employed. European central banks were not yet prepared to create their own sovereign wealth funds to invest their dollar inflows in foreign stocks or direct ownership of businesses. They simply used their trade and payments surpluses to finance the U.S. budget deficit. This enabled the Treasury to cut domestic tax rates, above all on the highest income brackets.
U.S. monetary imperialism confronted European and Asian central banks with a dilemma that remains today: If they do not turn around and buy dollar assets, their currencies will rise against the dollar. Buying U.S. Treasury securities is the only practical way to stabilize their exchange rates – and in so doing, to prevent their exports from rising in dollar terms and being priced out of dollar-area markets.
The system may have developed without foresight, but quickly became deliberate. My book Super Imperialism sold best in the Washington DC area, and I was given a large contract through the Hudson Institute to explain to the Defense Department exactly how this extractive financial system worked. I was brought to the White House to explain it, and U.S. geostrategists used my book as a how-to-do-it manual (not my original intention).
Attention soon focused on the oil-exporting countries. After the U.S. quadrupled its grain export prices shortly after the 1971 gold suspension, the oil-exporting countries quadrupled their oil prices. I was informed at a White House meeting that U.S. diplomats had let Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries know that they could charge as much as they wanted for their oil, but that the United States would treat it as an act of war not to keep their oil proceeds in U.S. dollar assets.
This was the point at which the international financial system became explicitly extractive. But it took until 2009, for the first attempt to withdraw from this system to occur. A conference was convened at Yekaterinburg, Russia, by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The alliance comprised Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kirghizstan and Uzbekistan, with observer status for Iran, India, Pakistan and Mongolia. U.S. officials asked to attend as observers, but their request was rejected.
The U.S. response has been to extend the new Cold War into the financial sector, rewriting the rules of international finance to benefit the United States and its satellites – and to deter countries from seeking to break free from America's financial free ride.
The IMF changes its rules to isolate Russia and China
Aiming to isolate Russia and China, the Obama Administration's confrontational diplomacy has drawn the Bretton Woods institutions more tightly under US/NATO control. In so doing, it is disrupting the linkages put in place after World War II.
The U.S. plan was to hurt Russia's economy so much that it would be ripe for regime change ("color revolution"). But the effect was to drive it eastward, away from Western Europe to consolidate its long-term relations with China and Central Asia. Pressing Europe to shift its oil and gas purchases to U.S. allies, U.S. sanctions have disrupted German and other European trade and investment with Russia and China. It also has meant lost opportunities for European farmers, other exporters and investors – and a flood of refugees from failed post-Soviet states drawn into the NATO orbit, most recently Ukraine.
To U.S. strategists, what made changing IMF rules urgent was Ukraine's $3 billion debt falling due to Russia's National Wealth Fund in December 2015. The IMF had long withheld credit to countries refusing to pay other governments. This policy aimed primarily at protecting the financial claims of the U.S. Government, which usually played a lead role in consortia with other governments and U.S. banks. But under American pressure the IMF changed its rules in January 2015. Henceforth, it announced, it would indeed be willing to provide credit to countries in arrears other governments – implicitly headed by China (which U.S. geostrategists consider to be their main long-term adversary), Russia and others that U.S. financial warriors might want to isolate in order to force neoliberal privatization policies. [1] I provide the full background in "The IMF Changes its Rules to Isolate China and Russia," December 9, 2015, available on michael-hudson.com, Naked Capitalism , Counterpunch and Johnson's Russia List .
Article I of the IMF's 1944-45 founding charter prohibits it from lending to a member engaged in civil war or at war with another member state, or for military purposes generally. An obvious reason for this rule is that such a country is unlikely to earn the foreign exchange to pay its debt. Bombing Ukraine's own Donbass region in the East after its February 2014 coup d'état destroyed its export industry, mainly to Russia.
Withholding IMF credit could have been a lever to force adherence to the Minsk peace agreements, but U.S. diplomacy rejected that opportunity. When IMF head Christine Lagarde made a new loan to Ukraine in spring 2015, she merely expressed a verbal hope for peace. Ukrainian President Porochenko announced the next day that he would step up his civil war against the Russian-speaking population in eastern Ukraine. One and a half-billion dollars of the IMF loan were given to banker Ihor Kolomoiski and disappeared offshore, while the oligarch used his domestic money to finance an anti-Donbass army. A million refugees were driven east into Russia; others fled west via Poland as the economy and Ukraine's currency plunged.
The IMF broke four of its rules by lending to Ukraine: (1) Not to lend to a country that has no visible means to pay back the loan (the "No More Argentinas" rule, adopted after the IMF's disastrous 2001 loan to that country). (2) Not to lend to a country that repudiates its debt to official creditors (the rule originally intended to enforce payment to U.S.-based institutions). (3) Not to lend to a country at war – and indeed, destroying its export capacity and hence its balance-of-payments ability to pay back the loan. Finally (4), not to lend to a country unlikely to impose the IMF's austerity "conditionalities." Ukraine did agree to override democratic opposition and cut back pensions, but its junta proved too unstable to impose the austerity terms on which the IMF insisted.
U.S. neoliberalism promotes privatization carve-ups of debtor countries
Since World War II the United States has used the Dollar Standard and its dominant role in the IMF and World Bank to steer trade and investment along lines benefiting its own economy. But now that the growth of China's mixed economy has outstripped all others while Russia finally is beginning to recover, countries have the option of borrowing from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and other non-U.S. consortia.
At stake is much more than just which nations will get the contracting and banking business. At issue is whether the philosophy of development will follow the classical path based on public infrastructure investment, or whether public sectors will be privatized and planning turned over to rent-seeking corporations.
What made the United States and Germany the leading industrial nations of the 20 th century – and more recently, China – has been public investment in economic infrastructure. The aim was to lower the price of living and doing business by providing basic services on a subsidized basis or freely. By contrast, U.S. privatizers have brought debt leverage to bear on Third World countries, post-Soviet economies and most recently on southern Europe to force selloffs. Current plans to cap neoliberal policy with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA) go so far as to disable government planning power to the financial and corporate sector.
American strategists evidently hoped that the threat of isolating Russia, China and other countries would bring them to heel if they tried to denominate trade and investment in their own national currencies. Their choice would be either to suffer sanctions like those imposed on Cuba and Iran, or to avoid exclusion by acquiescing in the dollarized financial and trade system and its drives to financialize their economies under U.S. control.
The problem with surrendering is that this Washington Consensus is extractive and lives in the short run, laying the seeds of financial dependency, debt-leveraged bubbles and subsequent debt deflation and austerity. The financial business plan is to carve out opportunities for price gouging and corporate profits. Today's U.S.-sponsored trade and investment treaties would make governments pay fines equal to the amount that environmental and price regulations, laws protecting consumers and other social policies might reduce corporate profits. "Companies would be able to demand compensation from countries whose health, financial, environmental and other public interest policies they thought to be undermining their interests, and take governments before extrajudicial tribunals. These tribunals, organised under World Bank and UN rules, would have the power to order taxpayers to pay extensive compensation over legislation seen as undermining a company's 'expected future profits.' "
This policy threat is splitting the world into pro-U.S. satellites and economies maintaining public infrastructure investment and what used to be viewed as progressive capitalism. U.S.-sponsored neoliberalism supporting its own financial and corporate interests has driven Russia, China and other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization into an alliance to protect their economic self-sufficiency rather than becoming dependent on dollarized credit enmeshing them in foreign-currency debt.
At the center of today's global split are the last few centuries of Western social and democratic reform. Seeking to follow the classical Western development path by retaining a mixed public/private economy, China, Russia and other nations find it easier to create new institutions such as the AIIB than to reform the dollar standard IMF and World Bank. Their choice is between short-term gains by dependency leading to austerity, or long-term development with independence and ultimate prosperity.
The price of resistance involves risking military or covert overthrow. Long before the Ukraine crisis, the United States has dropped the pretense of backing democracies. The die was cast in 1953 with the coup against Iran's secular government, and the 1954 coup in Guatemala to oppose land reform. Support for client oligarchies and dictatorships in Latin America in the 1960 and '70s was highlighted by the overthrow of Allende in Chile and Operation Condor's assassination program throughout the continent. Under President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the United States has claimed that America's status as the world's "indispensible nation" entitled it back the recent coups in Honduras and Ukraine, and to sponsor the NATO attack on Libya and Syria, leaving Europe to absorb the refugees.
Germany's choice
This is not how the Enlightenment was supposed to evolve. The industrial takeoff of Germany and other European nations involved a long fight to free markets from the land rents and financial charges siphoned off by their landed aristocracies and bankers. That was the essence of classical 19 th -century political economy and 20 th -century social democracy. Most economists a century ago expected industrial capitalism to produce an economy of abundance, and democratic reforms to endorse public infrastructure investment and regulation to hold down the cost of living and doing business. But U.S. economic diplomacy now threatens to radically reverse this economic ideology by aiming to dismantle public regulatory power and impose a radical privatization agenda under the TTIP and TAFTA.
Textbook trade theory depicts trade and investment as helping poorer countries catch up, compelling them to survive by becoming more democratic to overcome their vested interests and oligarchies along the lines pioneered by European and North American industrial economies. Instead, the world is polarizing, not converging. The trans-Atlantic financial bubble has left a legacy of austerity since 2008. Debt-ridden economies are being told to cope with their downturns by privatizing their public domain.
The immediate question facing Germany and the rest of Western Europe is how long they will sacrifice their trade and investment opportunities with Russia, Iran and other economies by adhering to U.S.-sponsored sanctions. American intransigence threatens to force an either/or choice in what looms as a seismic geopolitical shift over the proper role of governments: Should their public sectors provide basic services and protect populations from predatory monopolies, rent extraction and financial polarization?
Today's global financial crisis can be traced back to World War I and its aftermath. The principle that needed to be voiced was the right of sovereign nations not to be forced to sacrifice their economic survival on the altar of inter-government and private debt demands. The concept of nationhood embodied in the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia based international law on the principle of parity of sovereign states and non-interference. Without a global alternative to letting debt dynamics polarize societies and tear economies apart, monetary imperialism by creditor nations is inevitable.
The past century's global fracture between creditor and debtor economies has interrupted what seemed to be Europe's democratic destiny to empower governments to override financial and other rentier interests. Instead, the West is following U.S. diplomatic leadership back into the age when these interests ruled governments. This conflict between creditors and democracy, between oligarchy and economic growth (and indeed, survival) will remain the defining issue of our epoch over the next generation, and probably for the remainder of the 21 st century.
Endnotes
[1] I provide the full background in "The IMF Changes its Rules to Isolate China and Russia," December 9, 2015, available on michael-hudson.com, Naked Capitalism , Counterpunch and Johnson's Russia List .
[2] Lori M. Wallach, "The corporation invasion," La Monde Diplomatique , December 2, 2013, http://mondediplo.com/2013/12/02tafta . She adds: "Some investors have a very broad conception of their rights. European companies have recently launched legal actions against the raising of the minimum wage in Egypt; Renco has fought anti-toxic emissions policy in Peru, using a free trade agreement between that country and the US to defend its right to pollute ( 6 ). US tobacco giant Philip Morris has launched cases against Uruguay and Australia over their anti-smoking legislation." See also Yves Smith , " Germany Bucking Toxic, Nation-State Eroding Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership ," Naked Capitalism , July 17, 2014 , and " Germany Turning Sour on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership ," Naked Capitalism, October 30, 2014 .
Priss Factor , Website November 30, 2017 at 5:28 am GMT
More like Dollar SupremacismThe Alarmist , Next New Comment November 30, 2017 at 8:02 am GMT
"Austerity" is such a misused word these days. What the Allies did to Germany after Versailles was austerity, and everyone paid dearly for it.jilles dykstra , Next New Comment November 30, 2017 at 8:15 am GMTWhat the IMF and the Western Banking Cartel do to third world countries is akin to a pusher hopping up addicts on debt and then taking it away while stripping them of their assets, pretty much hurting only the people of the third world country; certainly not the WBC, and almost certainly not the criminal elite who took the deal.
The Austerity everyone complains about in the developed world these days is a joke, hardly austerity, for it has never meant more than doing a little less deficit-spending than in prior periods, e.g. UK Labour whining about "Austerity" is a joke, as the UK debt has done nothing but grow, which in terms understandable to simple folk like me means they are spending more than they can afford to carry.
" The immediate question facing Germany and the rest of Western Europe is how long they will sacrifice their trade and investment opportunities with Russia, Iran and other economies by adhering to U.S.-sponsored sanctions "jacques sheete , Next New Comment November 30, 2017 at 11:29 am GMTIn the whole article not a word about the euro, also an instrument of imperialism, that mainly benefits Germany, the country that has to maintain a high level of exports, in order to feed the Germans, and import raw materials for Germany's industries.
Isolating China and Russia, with the other BRICS countries, S Africa, Brazil, India, dangerous game.
This effort forced China and Russia to close cooperation, the economic expression of this is the Peking Petersburg railway, with a hub in Khazakstan, where the containers are lifted from the Chinese to the Russian system, the width differs.
Four days for the trip.
The Berlin Baghdad railway was an important cause for WWI.
Let us hope that history does not repeat itself in the nuclear era.Edward Mead Earle, Ph.D., 'Turkey, The Great Powers and The Bagdad Railway, A study in Imperialism', 1923, 1924, New York
Another excellent article.skrik , Next New Comment November 30, 2017 at 11:29 am GMTThe U.S. response has been to extend the new Cold War into the financial sector, rewriting the rules of international finance to benefit the United States and its satellites – and to deter countries from seeking t o break free from America's financial free ride .
Nah, the NY banksters wouldn't dream of doing such a thing; would they?
jacques sheete , Next New Comment November 30, 2017 at 12:04 pm GMTThis is not how the Enlightenment was supposed to evolve
What I said, and beautifully put, the whole article.
World War I may well have been an important way-point, but the miserable mercantile modus operandi was well established long before.
An interesting A/B case:
a) wiki/Anglo-Persian Oil Company "In 1901 William Knox D'Arcy, a millionaire London socialite, negotiated an oil concession with Mozaffar al-Din Shah Qajar of Persia. He financed this with capital he had made from his shares in the highly profitable Mount Morgan mine in Queensland, Australia. D'Arcy assumed exclusive rights to prospect for oil for 60 years in a vast tract of territory including most of Iran. In exchange the Shah received £20,000 (£2.0 million today),[1] an equal amount in shares of D'Arcy's company, and a promise of 16% of future profits." Note the 16% = ~1/6, the rest going off-shore.
b) The Greens in Aus researched the resources sector in Aus, to find that it is 83% 'owned' by off-shore entities. Note that 83% = ~5/6, which goes off-shore. Coincidence?
Then see what happened when the erstwhile APOC was nationalized; the US/UK perpetrated a coup against the democratically elected Mossadegh, eventual blow-back resulting in the 1979 revolution, basically taking Iran out of 'the West.'
Note that in Aus, the democratically elected so-called 'leaders' not only allow exactly this sort of economic rape, they actively assist it by, say, crippling the central bank and pleading for FDI = selling our, we the people's interests, out. Those traitor-leaders are reversing 'Enlightenment' provisions, privatising whatever they can and, as Michael Hudson well points out the principles, running Aus into debt and austerity.
We the people are powerless passengers, and to add insult to injury, the taxpayer-funded AusBC lies to us continually. Ho, hum; just like the mainly US/Z MSM and the BBC do – all corrupt and venal. Bah!
Now, cue the trolls: "But Russia/China are worse!"
Biff , Next New Comment November 30, 2017 at 12:39 pm GMTThe immediate question facing Germany and the rest of Western Europe is how long they will sacrifice their trade and investment opportunities with Russia, Iran and other economies by adhering to U.S.-sponsored sanctions.
US banking oligarchs will expend the last drop of our blood to prevent a such a linking, just as they were willing to sacrifice our blood and treasure in WW1 and 2, as is alluded to here.:
Today's global financial crisis can be traced back to World War I and its aftermath.
Excellent.:
The principle that needed to be voiced was the right of sovereign nations not to be forced to sacrifice their economic survival on the altar of inter-government and private debt demands Without a global alternative to letting debt dynamics polarize societies and tear economies apart, monetary imperialism by creditor nations is inevitable.
This is a gem of a summary.:
The past century's global fracture between creditor and debtor economies has interrupted what seemed to be Europe's democratic destiny to empower governments to override financial and other rentier interests. Instead, the West is following U.S. diplomatic leadership back into the age when these interests ruled governments. This conflict between creditors and democracy, between oligarchy and economic growth (and indeed, survival) will remain the defining issue of our epoch over the next generation, and probably for the remainder of the 21st century.
Instead, the West is following U.S. diplomatic leadership back into the age when these interests ruled governments. It's important to note that such interests have ruled (owned, actually) imperial Britain for centuries and the US since its inception, and the anti-federalists knew it.
Here is a revolution as radical as that which separated us from Great Britain.
You will find all the strength of this country in the hands of your enemies [ ed comment: the money grubbers ]
Patrick Henry June 5 and 7, 1788―1788-1789 Petersburg, Virginia edition of the Debates and other Proceedings . . . Of the Virginia Convention of 1788
The Constitution had been laid down under unacceptable auspices; its history had been that of a coup d'état.
It had been drafted, in the first place, by men representing special economic interests. Four-fifths of them were public creditors, one-third were land speculators, and one-fifth represented interests in shipping, manufacturing, and merchandising. Most of them were lawyers. Not one of them represented the interest of production -- Vilescit origine tali.
- Albert Jay Nock [Excerpted from chapter 5 of Albert Jay Nock's Jefferson, published in 1926]
The golden rule is one thing. The paper rule is something else. May you live in interesting times.Jake , Next New Comment November 30, 2017 at 2:09 pm GMT"After World War I the U.S. Government deviated from what had been traditional European policy – forgiving military support costs among the victors. U.S. officials demanded payment for the arms shipped to its Allies in the years before America entered the Great War in 1917. The Allies turned to Germany for reparations to pay these debts." The Yank banker, the Yankee Wall Street super rich, set off a process of greed that led to Hitler.Joe Hide , Next New Comment November 30, 2017 at 2:12 pm GMTBut they didn't invent anything. They learned from their WASP forebears in the British Empire, whose banking back to Oliver Cromwell had become inextricably entangled with Jewish money and Jewish interests to the point that Jews per capita dominated it even at the height of the British Empire, when simpleton WASPs assume that WASPs truly ran everything, and that WASP power was for the good of even the poorest WASPs.
To Michael Hudson,The Alarmist , Next New Comment November 30, 2017 at 2:13 pm GMT
Great article. Evidence based, factually argued, enjoyably readable.
Replacements for the dollar dominated financial system are well into development. Digital dollars, credit cards, paypal, stock and currency exchange online platforms, and perhaps most intriguing The exponential rise of Bitcoin and similar crypto-currencies.The internet is also exponentially exposing the screwing we peasants have been getting by the psychopath, narcissistic, hedonistic, predatory lenders and controllers. Next comes the widespread, easily usable, and inexpensive cell phone apps, social media exposures, alternative websites (like Unz.com), and other technologies that will quickly identify every lying, evil, jerk so they can be neutrilized / avoided
Astuteobservor II , Next New Comment November 30, 2017 at 2:26 pm GMT"Textbook trade theory depicts trade and investment as helping poorer countries catch up, compelling them to survive by becoming more democratic to overcome their vested interests and oligarchies along the lines pioneered by European and North American industrial economies."
I must be old; the economic textbooks I had did explain the benefits of freer trade among nations using Ricardo and Trade Indifference Curves, but didn't prescribe any one political system being fostered by or even necessary for the benefits of international trade to be reaped.
to be honest, this way of running things only need to last for 10-20 more years before automation will replace 800 million jobs. then we will have a few trillionaire overlords unless true AI comes online. by that point nothing matters as we will become zoo animals.jacques sheete , Next New Comment November 30, 2017 at 2:36 pm GMT@The Alarmistjacques sheete , Next New Comment November 30, 2017 at 2:48 pm GMTWhat the IMF and the Western Banking Cartel do to third world countries is akin to a pusher hopping up addicts on debt and then taking it away while stripping them of their assets, pretty much hurting only the people of the third world country; certainly not the WBC, and almost certainly not the criminal elite who took the deal.
That's true and the criminals do similar asset stripping to their own as well, through various means.
It's always the big criminals against the rest of us.
@jilles dykstrajacques sheete , Next New Comment November 30, 2017 at 2:51 pm GMTThe Berlin Baghdad railway was an important cause for WWI.
Bingo. Stopping it was a huge factor. There was no way the banksters of the world were going to let that go forward, nor were they going to let Germany and Russia link up in any other ways. They certainly were not about to allow any threats to the Suez Canal nor any chance to let the oil fields slip from their control either.
The wars were also instigated to prevent either Germany or Russia having control of, and free access to warm water ports and the wars also were an excuse to steal vast amounts of wealth from both Germany and Russia through various means.
All pious and pompous pretexts aside, economics was the motive for (the) war (s), and the issues are not settled to this day. I.e., it's the same class of monstrously insatiable criminals who want everything for themselves who're causing the major troubles of the day.
Unfortunately, as long as we have SoB's who're eager to sacrifice our blood and treasure for their benfit, things will never change.
Michael Kenny , Next New Comment November 30, 2017 at 3:01 pm GMTThe golden rule is one thing. The paper rule is something else.
May you live in interesting times.
The golden rule is for dreamers, unfortunately. Those who control paper money rule, and your wish has been granted; we live in times that are both interesting and fascinating, but are nevertheless the same old thing. Only the particular particulars have changed.
Essentially, the anti-EU and anti-euro line that Professor Hudson has being pushing for years, which has now morphed into a pro-Putin line as the anti-EU faction in the US have sought to use Putin as a "useful idiot" to destroy the EU. Since nobody in Europe reads these articles, Ii doesn't really matter and I certainly don't see any EU leader following the advice of someone who has never concealed his hostility to the EU's very existence: note the use of the racist slur "PIIGS" to refer to certain EU Member States. Thus, Professor Hudson is simply pushing the "let Putin win in Ukraine" line dressed up in fine-sounding economic jargon.jacques sheete , Next New Comment November 30, 2017 at 3:54 pm GMTAnonymous , Disclaimer Next New Comment November 30, 2017 at 4:08 pm GMTSince nobody in Europe reads these articles, Ii doesn't really matter
None of it rally matters anyway, no matter how valid. To paraphrase Thucydides, the money grubbers do what they want and the rest of us are forced to suck it up and limp along.
and I certainly don't see any EU leader following the advice
I doubt that that's Hudson's intent in writing the article. I see it as his attempt to explain the situation to those of us who care about them even though our concern is pretty much useless.
I do thank him for taking the time to pen this stuff which I consider worthwhile and high quality.
That sounds good but social media is the weapon of choice in the EU too. Lot's of kids know and love Hudson. Any half capable writer who empathetically explains why you're getting fucked is going to have some followers. Watering, nutrition, weeding. Before too long you'll be on the Eurail to your destination.Wally , Website Next New Comment November 30, 2017 at 4:23 pm GMT@Jakenickels , Next New Comment November 30, 2017 at 4:48 pm GMTsaid: "The Yank banker, the Yankee Wall Street super rich, set off a process of greed that led to Hitler." If true, so what? That's a classic example of 'garbage in, garbage out'. http://www.codoh.com
William McAdoo , Next New Comment November 30, 2017 at 5:08 pm GMTThis is not how the Enlightenment was supposed to evolve
In fact, this is exactly how it was supposed to work. The wave of liberal democracies was precisely to overturn the monarchies, which were the last bulwark protecting the people from the full tyranny of the financiers, who were, by nature, one-world internationalists.
The real problem with this is that any form of monetary arrangement involves an implied trusteeship, with obligations on, as well as benefits for, the trustee. The US is so abusing its trusteeship through the continual use of an irresponsible sanctions regime that it risks a good portion of the world economy abandoning its system for someone else's, which may be perceived to be run more responsibility. The disaster scenario would be the US having therefore in the future to access that other system to purchase oil or minerals, and having that system do to us what we previously did to them -- sanction us out.joe webb , Next New Comment November 30, 2017 at 10:11 pm GMTThe proper use by the US of its controlled system thus should be a defensive one -- mainly to act so fairly to all players that it, not someone else, remains in control of the dominant worldwide exchange system. This sensible course of conduct, unfortunately, is not being pursued by the US.
there is fuzzy, and then there is very fuzzy, and then there is the fuzziness compounded many-fold. The latter is this article.Wally, Next New Comment December 1, 2017 at 1:49 am GMTHere from wiki: "
" Marx believed that capitalism was inherently built upon practices of usury and thus inevitably leading to the separation of society into two classes: one composed of those who produce value and the other, which feeds upon the first one. In "Theories of Surplus Value" (written 1862-1863), he states " that interest (in contrast to industrial profit) and rent (that is the form of landed property created by capitalist production itself) are superfetations (i.e., excessive accumulations) which are not essential to capitalist production and of which it can rid itself."
Wiki goes on to identify "rentier" as used by Marx, to be the same thing as "capitalists." What the above quotation says is that capitalism CAN rid itself of genuine rent capital. First, the feudal rents that were extracted by landowners were NOT part of a free market system. Serfdom was only one part of unfree conditions. A general condition of anarchy in rules and laws by petty principalities characteristic of feudalism, both contained commerce and human beings. There was no freedom, political or economic.
The conflation (collapsing) of rents and interest is a Marxist error which expands into complete nonsense when a competitive economy has replaced feudal conditions. ON top of that, profits from a business, firm, or industrial enterprise are NOT rents.
Any marxist is a fool to pretend otherwise, and is just another ideological (False consciousness ) fanatic.
... ... ...
@Michael KennyThreeCranes , December 1, 2017 at 3:34 am GMTIndeed, Putin should be praised & supported. But where is the proof that 'Russia & Trump colluded to get Trump elected'? You also ignore the overwhelming Crimean support for returning to Russia. And you won't like this at all: Trump Declares "National Day for the Victims of Communism." https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/11/07/national-day-victims-communism Hence, the Liars of the scamming "Holocau$t Industry" go crazy: https://www.salon.com/2017/11/07/trumps-national-day-for-the-victims-of-communism-is-opposite-of-holocaust-statement/
@jilles dykstraGermany loans money back to the poorer nations who buy her exports just as China loans money to the United States (they purchase roughly a third of our Treasury bonds) so that Americans can continue to buy Chinese manufactured goods.
The role to be played by the USA in the "new world order" is that of being the farmer to the world. The meticulous Asians will make stuff.
The problem with this is that it is based on 19th century notions of manufacturing. Technique today is vastly more complicated than it was in the 1820′s and a nation must do everything in its power to protect and nurture its manufacturing and scientific excellence. In the United States we have been giving this away to our competitors. We educate their children at our taxpayer's expense and they take the knowledge gained back to their native countries where, with state subsidies, they build factories that put Americans out of work. We fall further and further behind.
foreignpolicy.com
Moscow may no longer be a superpower, but its revanchist politics are unsettling the international order. How should Donald Trump deal with Vladimir Putin?
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It did not have to be this way. Twenty-five years ago, the dissolution of the Soviet Union marked not only the end of the Cold War but also the beginning of what should have been a golden era of friendly relations between Russia and the West. With enthusiasm, it seemed, Russians embraced both capitalism and democracy. To an extent that was startling, Russian cities became Westernized. Empty shelves and po-faced propaganda gave way to abundance and dazzling advertisements.
Contrary to the fears of some, there was a new world order after 1991. The world became a markedly more peaceful place as the flows of money and arms that had turned so many regional disputes into proxy wars dried up. American economists rushed to advise Russian politicians. American multinationals hurried to invest.
Go back a quarter century to 1991 and imagine three more or less equally plausible futures. First, imagine that the coup by hard-liners in August of that year had been more competently executed and that the Soviet Union had been preserved. Second, imagine a much more violent dissolution of the Soviet system in which ethnic and regional tensions escalated much further, producing the kind of "super-Yugoslavia" Kissinger has occasionally warned about. Finally, imagine a happily-ever-after history, in which Russia's economy thrived on the basis of capitalism and globalization, growing at Asian rates.
Russia could have been deep-frozen. It could have disintegrated. It could have boomed. No one in 1991 knew which of these futures we would get. In fact, we got none of them. Russia has retained the democratic institutions that were established after 1991, but the rule of law has not taken root, and, under Vladimir Putin, an authoritarian nationalist form of government has established itself that is notably ruthless in its suppression of opposition and criticism. Despite centrifugal forces, most obviously in the Caucasus, the Russian Federation has held together. However, the economy has performed much less well than might have been hoped. Between 1992 and 2016, the real compound annual growth rate of Russian per capita GDP has been 1.5 percent. Compare that with equivalent figures for India (5.1 percent) and China (8.9 percent).
Today, the Russian economy accounts for just over 3 percent of global output, according to the International Monetary Fund's estimates based on purchasing power parity. The U.S. share is 16 percent. The Chinese share is 18 percent. Calculated on a current dollar basis, Russia's GDP is less than 7 percent of America's. The British economy is twice the size of Russia's.
Moreover, the reliance of the Russian economy on exported fossil fuels - as well as other primary products - is shocking. Nearly two-thirds of Russian exports are petroleum (63 percent), according the Observatory of Economic Complexity.
... ... ...
Nevertheless, it is important to remember what exactly Putin said on that occasion. In remarks that seemed mainly directed at the Europeans in the room, he warned that a "unipolar world" - meaning one dominated by the United States - would prove "pernicious not only for all those within this system but also for the sovereign itself." America's "hyper use of force," Putin said, was "plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts." Speaking at a time when neither Iraq nor Afghanistan seemed especially good advertisements for U.S. military intervention, those words had a certain force, especially in German ears.
Nearly 10 years later, even Putin's most splenetic critics would be well-advised to reflect for a moment on our own part in the deterioration of relations between Washington and Moscow. The Russian view that the fault lies partly with Western overreach deserves to be taken more seriously than it generally is.
Is the West to blame?
If I look back on what I thought and wrote during the administration of George W. Bush, I would say that I underestimated the extent to which the expansion of both NATO and the European Union was antagonizing the Russians.
Certain decisions still seem to me defensible. Given their experiences in the middle of the 20th century, the Poles and the Czechs deserved both the security afforded by NATO membership (from 1999, when they joined along with Hungary) and the economic opportunities offered by EU membership (from 2004). Yet the U.S. decision in March 2007 to build an anti-ballistic missile defense site in Poland along with a radar station in the Czech Republic seems, with hindsight, more questionable, as does the subsequent decision to deploy 10 two-stage missile interceptors and a battery of MIM-104 Patriot missiles in Poland. Though notionally intended to detect and counter Iranian missiles, these installations were bound to be regarded by the Russians as directed at them. The subsequent deployment of Iskander short-range missiles to Kaliningrad was a predictable retaliation.
A similar act of retaliation followed in 2008 when, with encouragement from some EU states, Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia. In response, Russia recognized rebels in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and invaded those parts of Georgia. From a Russian perspective, this was no different from what the West had done in Kosovo.
The biggest miscalculation, however, was the willingness of the Bush administration to consider Ukraine for NATO membership and the later backing by the Obama administration of EU efforts to offer Ukraine an association agreement. I well remember the giddy mood at a pro-European conference in Yalta in September 2013, when Western representatives almost unanimously exhorted Ukraine to follow the Polish path. Not nearly enough consideration was given to the very different way Russia regards Ukraine nor to the obvious West-East divisions within Ukraine itself. This was despite an explicit warning from Putin's aide Sergei Glazyev, who attended the conference, that signing the EU association agreement would lead to "political and social unrest," a dramatic decline in living standards, and "chaos."
This is not in any way to legitimize the Russian actions of 2014, which were in clear violation of international law and agreements. It is to criticize successive administrations for paying too little heed to Russia's sensitivities and likely reactions.
"I don't really even need George Kennan right now," President Obama told the New Yorker's David Remnick in early 2014. The very opposite was true. He and his predecessor badly needed advisors who understood Russia as well as Kennan did. As Kissinger has often remarked, history is to nations what character is to people. In recent years, American policymakers have tended to forget that and then to wax indignant when other states act in ways that a knowledge of history might have enabled them to anticipate. No country, it might be said, has had its character more conditioned by its history than Russia. It was foolish to expect Russians to view with equanimity the departure into the Western sphere of influence of the heartland of medieval Russia, the breadbasket of the tsarist empire, the setting for Mikhail Bulgakov's The White Guard, the crime scene of Joseph Stalin's man-made famine, and the main target of Adolf Hitler's Operation Barbarossa.
One might have thought the events of 2014 would have taught U.S. policymakers a lesson. Yet the Obama administration has persisted in misreading Russia. It was arguably a mistake to leave Germany and France to handle the Ukraine crisis, when more direct U.S. involvement might have made the Minsk agreements effective. It was certainly a disastrous blunder to give Putin an admission ticket into the Syrian conflict by leaving to him the (partial) removal of Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons. One of Kissinger's lasting achievements in the early 1970s was to squeeze the Soviets out of the Middle East. The Obama administration has undone that, with dire consequences. We see in Aleppo the Russian military for what it is: a master of the mid-20th-century tactic of winning victories through the indiscriminate bombing of cities.
Left: Free Syrian Army fighters fire an anti-aircraft weapon in Aleppo on Dec. 12. (Photo by AFP/Getty Images); Right: Far-right Ukrainian activists attack the office of the pro-Russian movement "Ukrainian Choice" in Kiev on Nov. 21. (Photo by SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images)
What price peace?
Yet I remain to be convinced that the correct response to these errors of American policy is to swing from underestimating Russia to overestimating it. Such an approach has the potential to be just another variation on the theme of misunderstanding.
It is not difficult to infer what Putin would like to get in any "great deal" between himself and Trump. Item No. 1 would be a lifting of sanctions. Item No. 2 would be an end to the war in Syria on Russia's terms - which would include the preservation of Assad in power for at least some "decent interval." Item No. 3 would be a de facto recognition of Russia's annexation of Crimea and some constitutional change designed to render the government in Kiev impotent by giving the country's eastern Donbass region a permanent pro-Russian veto power.
What is hard to understand is why the United States would want give Russia even a fraction of all this. What exactly would Russia be giving the United States in return for such concessions? That is the question that Trump's national security team needs to ask itself before he so much as takes a courtesy call from the Kremlin.
There is no question that the war in Syria needs to end, just as the frozen conflict in eastern Ukraine needs resolution. But the terms of peace can and must be very different from those that Putin has in mind. Any deal that pacified Syria by sacrificing Ukraine would be a grave mistake.
President Obama has been right in saying that Russia is a much weaker power than the United States. His failure has been to exploit that American advantage.
... ... ...
The Russian Question itself can be settled another day. But by reframing the international order on the basis of cooperation rather than deadlock in the Security Council, the United States at least poses the question in a new way. Will Russia learn to cooperate with the other great powers? Or will it continue to be the opponent of international order? Perhaps the latter is the option it will choose. After all, an economic system that prefers an oil price closer to $100 a barrel than $50 benefits more than most from escalating conflict in the Middle East and North Africa - preferably conflict that spills over into the oil fields of the Persian Gulf.
However, if that is the goal of Russia's strategy, then it is hard to see for how much longer Beijing and Moscow will be able to cooperate in the Security Council. Beijing needs stability in oil production and low oil prices as much as Russia needs the opposite. Because of recent tensions with the United States, Russia has been acquiescent as the "One Belt, One Road" program extends China's economic influence into Central Asia, once a Russian domain. There is potential conflict of interest there, too.
... ... ...
Nov 28, 2017 | www.theamericanconservative.com
How Washington's chronic deceit -- especially towards Russia -- has sabotaged U.S. foreign policy.
For any country, the foundation of successful diplomacy is a reputation for credibility and reliability. Governments are wary of concluding agreements with a negotiating partner that violates existing commitments and has a record of duplicity. Recent U.S. administrations have ignored that principle, and their actions have backfired majorly, damaging American foreign policy in the process.
The consequences of previous deceit are most evident in the ongoing effort to achieve a diplomatic solution to the North Korean nuclear crisis. During his recent trip to East Asia, President Trump urged Kim Jong-un's regime to "come to the negotiating table" and "do the right thing" -- relinquish the country's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. Presumably, that concession would lead to a lifting (or at least an easing) of international economic sanctions and a more normal relationship between Pyongyang and the international community.
Unfortunately, North Korean leaders have abundant reasons to be wary of such U.S. enticements. Trump's transparent attempt to renege on Washington's commitment to the deal with Iran known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) -- which the United States and other major powers signed in 2015 to curb Tehran's nuclear program -- certainly does not increase Pyongyang's incentive to sign a similar agreement. His decision to decertify Iran's compliance with the JCPOA, even when the United Nations confirms that Tehran is adhering to its obligations, appears more than a little disingenuous.
North Korea is likely focused on another incident that raises even greater doubts about U.S. credibility. Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi capitulated on the nuclear issue in December of 2003, abandoning his country's nuclear program and reiterating a commitment to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. In exchange, the United States and its allies lifted economic sanctions and welcomed Libya back into the community of respectable nations. Barely seven years later, though, Washington and its NATO partners double-crossed Qaddafi, launching airstrikes and cruise missile attacks to assist rebels in their campaign to overthrow the Libyan strongman. North Korea and other powers took notice of Qaddafi's fate, making the already difficult task of getting a de-nuclearization agreement with Pyongyang nearly impossible.
The Libya intervention sullied America's reputation in another way. Washington and its NATO allies prevailed on the UN Security Council to pass a resolution endorsing a military intervention to protect innocent civilians. Russia and China refrained from vetoing that resolution after Washington's assurances that military action would be limited in scope and solely for humanitarian purposes. Once the assault began, it quickly became evident that the resolution was merely a fig leaf for another U.S.-led regime-change war.
Beijing, and especially Moscow, understandably felt duped. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates succinctly described Russia's reaction, both short-term and long-term:
The Russians later firmly believed they had been deceived on Libya. They had been persuaded to abstain at the UN on the grounds that the resolution provided for a humanitarian mission to prevent the slaughter of civilians. Yet as the list of bombing targets steadily grew, it became obvious that very few targets were off-limits, and that NATO was intent on getting rid of Qaddafi. Convinced they had been tricked, the Russians would subsequently block any such future resolutions, including against President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
The Libya episode was hardly the first time the Russians concluded that U.S. leaders had cynically misled them . Moscow asserts that when East Germany unraveled in 1990, both U.S. Secretary of State James Baker and West German Foreign Minister Hans Dietrich Genscher offered verbal assurances that, if Russia accepted a unified Germany within NATO, the alliance would not expand beyond Germany's eastern border. The official U.S. position that there was nothing in writing affirming such a limitation is correct -- and the clarity, extent, and duration of any verbal commitment to refrain from enlargement are certainly matters of intense controversy . But invoking a "you didn't get it in writing" dodge does not inspire another government's trust.
There seems to be no limit to Washington's desire to crowd Russia. NATO has even added the Baltic republics, which had been part of the Soviet Union itself. In early 2008, President George W. Bush unsuccessfully tried to admit Georgia and Ukraine, which would have engineered yet another alliance move eastward. By that time, Vladimir Putin and other Russian leaders were beyond furious.
The timing of Bush's attempted ploy could scarcely have been worse. It came on the heels of Russia's resentment at another example of U.S. duplicity. In 1999, Moscow had reluctantly accepted a UN mandate to cover NATO's military intervention against Serbia, a long-standing Russian client. The alliance airstrikes and subsequent moves to detach and occupy Serbia's restless province of Kosovo for the ostensible reason of protecting innocent civilians from atrocities was the same "humanitarian" justification that the West would use subsequently in Libya.
Nine years after the initial Kosovo intervention, the United States adopted an evasive policy move, showing utter contempt for Russia's wishes and interests in the process. Kosovo wanted to declare its formal independence from Serbia, but it was clear that such a move would face a certain Russian (and probable Chinese) veto in the UN Security Council. Washington and an ad-hoc coalition of European Union countries brazenly bypassed the Council and approved Pristina's independence declaration. It was an extremely controversial move. Not even all EU members were on board with the policy, since some of them (e.g., Spain) had secessionist problems of their own.
Russia's leaders protested vehemently and warned that the West's unauthorized action established a dangerous, destabilizing international precedent. Washington rebuffed their complaints, arguing that the Kosovo situation was unique. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs R. Nicholas Burns made that point explicitly in a February 2008 State Department briefing. Both the illogic and the hubris of that position were breathtaking.
It is painful for any American to admit that the United States has acquired a well-deserved reputation for duplicity in its foreign policy. But the evidence for that proposition is quite substantial. Indeed, disingenuous U.S. behavior regarding NATO expansion and the resolution of Kosovo's political status may be the single most important factor for the poisoned bilateral relationship with Moscow. The U.S. track record of duplicity and betrayal is one reason why prospects for resolving the North Korean nuclear issue through diplomacy are so bleak.
Actions have consequences, and Washington's reputation for disingenuous behavior has complicated America's own foreign policy objectives. This is a textbook example of a great power shooting itself in the foot.
Ted Galen Carpenter, a senior fellow in defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, is the author of 10 books, the contributing editor of 10 books, and the author of more than 700 articles and policy studies on international affairs.
Magdi , says: November 28, 2017 at 5:46 am
you are dead ON! I have been saying this since IRAQHerbert Heebert , says: November 28, 2017 at 7:47 am
fiasco (not one Iraqi onboard on 9/11) we should have invaded egypt and saudi arabia. how the foolish american public(sheep) just buys the american propaganda is beyond me.. don't blame the Russians one spittle!!A few points:Viriato , says: November 28, 2017 at 9:25 am1. I think North Korea might also be looking at the example of Ukraine, and Russia's clear violation of the Budapest Memorandum.
2. It's silly to put so much weight on Baker's verbal assurance re: NATO expansion.
3. I would suggest Mr. Carpenter make a list of Russia's betrayals. But I have the impression he is not interested.
Excellent piece. The US really has destroyed its credibility over the years.craigsummers , says: November 28, 2017 at 10:09 amThis points Ted Galen Carpenter makes in this piece go a long way toward explaining Russia's destabilizing behavior in recent years.
One point in particular jumped out at me:
"Kosovo wanted to declare its formal independence from Serbia, but it was clear that such a move would face a certain Russian (and probable Chinese) veto in the UN Security Council. Washington and an ad-hoc coalition of European Union countries brazenly bypassed the Council and approved Pristina's independence declaration. It was an extremely controversial move. Not even all EU members were on board with the policy, since some of them (e.g., Spain) had secessionist problems of their own. Russia's leaders protested vehemently and warned that the West's unauthorized action established a dangerous, destabilizing international precedent. Washington rebuffed their complaints, arguing that the Kosovo situation was unique."
This -- in the context of the long history of US and EU deceit and duplicity in their dealings with Russia is why Russia is supporting Catalan separatism (e.g. RT en Español's constant attacks on Spain and promotion of the separatists). The US and the EU effectively gave Russia permission to do this back in the 1990s. We set a precedent for their actions in Catalonia -- and, more famously, in Ukraine.
This
Mr. CarpenterDOD , says: November 28, 2017 at 10:23 amYou have made a reasonable case that the US and Europe have not always been reliable, but the expansion of NATO is not one of them. No one forced any eastern European country to join NATO and the EU – decisions that indicate these countries feared a Russian revival after the collapse of the USSR. Russia always believed that these countries were in their near abroad or backyard.
The idea of a "sphere of influence" is a cold war relic which Russia invoked with the Medvedev Doctrine in 2008. This is currently on display in Ukraine. Russia is aggressively denying Ukraine their sovereignty. Who could possibly blame former Soviet Block countries for hightailing it to NATO during a lull in Russian aggression?
One could scarcely ask for a better summary of why the Cold War seems, sadly, to be reheating as well as why Democratic attempts to blame it on Russian meddling are a equally sad evasion of their share of bipartisan responsibility for creating this mess. Reinhold Niebuhr's prayer for, "the courage to change the things I can," is painfully appropriate.Michael Kenny , says: November 28, 2017 at 12:12 pmThe whole weakness of the author's argument is a classic American one: very few Americans seem to be able to get their heads around the fact that the Soviet Union ceased to exist 26 years ago! They are still totally locked into their cold war mentality. He thus unquestioningly accepts Putin's pre-1789 "sphere of influence" theory in which there are "superior" and "inferior" races, with only the superior races being entitled to have a sovereign state and the inferior races being forced to submit to being ruled by foreigners. Mr Carpenter really needs to put his cold war mentality aside and come into the 21st century!Will Harrington , says: November 28, 2017 at 12:58 pmMost seriously of all, Mr Carpenter offers no solution for improving relations between the US and Russia. Saying that past US actions were wrong, even if true, says nothing about the present and offers nothing for the future. At best, Mr Carpenter's article is empty moralising.
And the unspoken, but perfectly obvious, subtext, namely that the US should "atone for its sins" by capitulating to Putin, is morally reprehensible and politically unrealistic. Since, by Mr Carpenter's own account, the problem is caused by US wrongdoing, isn't it for the US to put things right (for example, by getting Putin out of Ukraine) and not simply make a mess in someone else's country and then run for home with its tail between its legs? Who gave Americans the right to give away other people's countries?
Herbert HeevertWill Harrington , says: November 28, 2017 at 1:15 pmThe one problem with your argument if, you are an american as I am, is that Russia is not acting in our names. If the US government, supposedly a government of, by, and for the people breaks its word, then you and I are foresworn oathbreakers as well because the government is (theoretically, at least) acting on OUR authority.
Craig SummersNoldorElf , says: November 28, 2017 at 1:31 pmReally?! "Russia always believed that these countries were in their near abroad or backyard."
I think that if you look at a map or a globe, you will find that this is not a belief but a fact. How you could overlook this, I don't know.
"The idea of a "sphere of influence" is a cold war relic "
If you are going to try and use history to influence opinion, it is best to check your facts. This is a very old concept.What do you think the Great Game between Imperial Russia and the British Empire in Central Asia was about? For that matter, what we call the Byzantine Commonwealth was a clearly attempt by the Romaoi to establish a political, cultural, and religious sphere of influence to support the power of the Empire, much as the United States has been doing over the past several decades.
You could make the case that Iraq too in 2003 is another reason why the Russians and the North Koreans distrust the US.Jeeves , says: November 28, 2017 at 1:42 pmAt this point, it is fairly certain that the Bush Administration knew that Saddam was not building nuclear weapons of mass destruction, which is what Bush strongly implied in his ramp up to the war.
One other takeaway that the North Koreans mag have from the 2003 Iraq invasion is that the US will lie any way to get what it wants.
Not saying that Russia or North Korea are perfect. Far from it. But the US needs to take a hard look in the mirror.
What Craigsummers said.SteveM , says: November 28, 2017 at 1:49 pmAnd, Mr. Carpenter, when you have time off from your job as Russian apologist, learn the meaning of "verbal." It's not a synonym for "oral."
Re: craigsummers, "No one forced any eastern European country to join NATO and the EU – decisions that indicate these countries feared a Russian revival after the collapse of the USSR. Russia always believed that these countries were in their near abroad or backyard."b. , says: November 28, 2017 at 2:33 pmExcept both here and abroad, the Global Cop Elites in Washington shape the strategy space through propaganda, fear-mongering and subversion. Moreover, the Eastern European countries are happy to join NATO when it's the American taxpayers who foot a large percentage of the bill.
Standard U.S. MO: create the threat, inflate the threat, send in the War Machine at massive cost to sustain the threat.
Rather than being broadened, NATO should have been ratcheted back after the fall of the Soviet Union, and the U.S. military presence in Europe massively reduced. Then normalized relations between Europe and Russia would have been designed and developed by Europe and Russia. Not the 800 pound Gorilla Global Cop that is good at little more than breaking things. (And perversely, after flushing TRILLIONS of tax dollars down the toilet, duping Americans to wildly applaud the "Warrior-Heroes" for a job well done.)
The 2008 war between Georgia and Russia was, per observers at the time, in Russian word and thought directly linked to the Balkan 's precedent.Janek , says: November 28, 2017 at 2:45 pmThe subtext here – of nation states, sovereignty, separatism and secessionist movements – is even more relevant with respect to US-China relationships. Since WW2 and that brief, transient monopoly on nuclear weapons, US foreign policy has eroded the Peace of Westphalia while attempting to erect an "international order" of convenience on top if it.
Both China and Russia know that nothing will stop the expansionism of US "national interests". In response to the doctrinal aspirations of the Soviets, the US has committed itself to an ideology that is just a greedy and relentless. In retrospect, it is hard to tell how many decades ago the Cold War stopped being about opposition to Soviet ideology, and instead became about "projecting" – in every sense of the word – an equally globalist US ideology.
We are the redcoats now. Now wonder the neocons and neolibs are shouting "Russia!" at every opportunity.
I am amazed how many masochistic conservatives are in USA conservative circles especially in the CATO institute. Mr. T. G. Carpenter, as is clear from not only this and other articles, is a staunch defender of Yalta and proponent of Yalta 2 after the Cold War ended. As far as I remember Libya was the hatchet job of the Europeans especially the French and British. B. Obama at first didn't want to attack Libya but gave in after lobbying by the French, British and the neoliberal/neo-conservative lobby and supporters of the Arab Spring in the USA. America lost credibility after and only since the conservatives neoliberals and neocons manipulated USA and the West's foreign politics for thirty plus years. USA is still a democratic country so it is easy to blame everything on the US. In today's Putin's Russia similar critics of the Russian politics wouldn't be so "easy".SteveM , says: November 28, 2017 at 2:45 pmThe Central Europe doesn't want Russia's sphere of influence precisely because of centuries of Russian occupation and atrocities in there especially after WW2, brutal and bloody invasion of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, the Cuban Crisis, Afghanistan, Chechnya etc. Now you have infiltration by Russia of the American electoral process and political system and some conservatives still can't connect the dots and see what is going on. I wonder why the western conservatives and US in particular are such great supporters of Russia. If Russia should be allowed to keep her sphere of influence after the Cold War then what was the reason to fight the Cold War in the first place. Wouldn't it be easier to surrender to Russia right after WW2.
One other observation about Russia that should be made but isn't is that the Russia-phobes can't point to an actual motive for Russian military aggression. There is no "Putin Plan" for conquest and domination by Russia like in Das Kapital or Hitler's Mein Kampf . What strategic value would Russia see from overrunning Poland and then having to perpetually suppress 35 million resistors? Or retaking the Baltic states that have only minority ethnic Russian populations?Mark , says: November 28, 2017 at 3:00 pmPutin is a rationally calculating man. He has made his strategic objectives well known. They are economic. He sees Russia as the great linchpin of the pan-Eurasian One Belt/One Road (OB/OR) initiative proposed by China as well as the AIIB. In that construct, Europe and East Asia are Russia's customers and bilateral trading partners. Military conquest would wreck that vision and Putin knows it.
In the gangster movies, a mob boss often says that he hates bloodshed because it's bad for business. That's Putin. He's been remarkably restrained when egged on by Big Mouth Nikki Haley, Mad Dog Mattis or that other Pentagon nutcase Phillip Breedlove (former Supreme Commander of NATO) who have gone out of their way to demonize Russia. Unfortunately, with those Pentagon hacks whispering in Trump's ear, too much war-mongering is never enough.
U.S. foreign policy is an unmitigated disaster. The War Machine Hammer wrecks everything that it touches while sending the befuddled taxpayers the bill.
"And, Mr. Carpenter, when you have time off from your job as Russian apologist, learn the meaning of "verbal." It's not a synonym for "oral."I imagine you thought you were being funny; and you were, just not in the way you foresaw. In fact, verbal is a synonym for oral; to wit, "spoken rather than written; oral. "a verbal agreement". Synonyms: oral, spoken, stated, said, verbalized, expressed."
Of course anyone who attempts to portray the United States as duplicitous and sneaky (those are synonyms!)is immediately branded a "Russian apologist". As if there are certain countries which automatically have no rights, and can be assumed to be lying every time they speak. Except they're not, and the verbal agreement that NATO would not advance further east in exchange for Russian cooperation has been acknowledged by western principals who were present.
As SteveM implies, NATO's reason for being evaporated with the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, and was dead as a dodo with the breakup of the Soviet Union. Everything since has been a rationalization for keeping it going, including regular demonizations of imaginary enemies until they become real enemies. You can't just 'join NATO' because it's the in-crowd, you know. No, there are actually criteria, one of which is the premise that your acceptance materially enhances the security of the alliance. Pretty comical imagining Montenegro in that context, isn't it?
When you meet individual Americans, they are frequently so nice and level-headed that you are perplexed trying to imagine where their leaders come from. And while we're on that subject, America does not actually have a foreign policy, as such. Its foreign policy is to bend every other living soul on the planet to the service of America.
Nov 28, 2017 | www.moonofalabama.org
President Trump is attempting to calm down the U.S. conflict with Turkey . The military junta in the White House has different plans. It now attempts to circumvent the decision the president communicated to his Turkish counterpart. The result will be more Turkish-U.S. acrimony.
Yesterday the Turkish foreign minister surprisingly announced a phone call President Trump had held with President Erdogan of Turkey.
United States President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke on the phone on Nov. 24 only days after a Russia-Turkey-Iran summit on Syria, with Ankara saying that Washington has pledged not to send weapons to the People's Protection Units (YPG) any more ."President Trump instructed [his generals] in a very open way that the YPG will no longer be given weapons. He openly said that this absurdity should have ended much earlier ," Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told reporters after the phone call.
Trump had announced the call:
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrumpWill be speaking to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey this morning about bringing peace to the mess that I inherited in the Middle East. I will get it all done, but what a mistake, in lives and dollars (6 trillion), to be there in the first place!
12:04 PM - 24 Nov 2017During the phone call Trump must have escaped his minders for a moment and promptly tried to make, as announced, peace with Erdogan. The issue of arming the YPG is really difficult for Turkey to swallow. Ending that would probably make up for the recent NATO blunder of presenting the founder of modern Turkey Kemal Atatürk and Erdogan himself as enemies.
The YPG is the Syrian sister organization of the Turkish-Kurdish terror group PKK. Some weapons the U.S. had delivered to the YPK in Syria to fight the Islamic State have been recovered from PKK fighters in Turkey who were out to kill Turkish security personal. Despite that, supply for the YPG continued. In total over 3,500 truckloads were provided to it by the U.S. military. Only recently the YPK received some 120 armored Humvees , mine clearance vehicles and other equipment.
The generals in the White House and other parts of the administration were caught flat-footed by the promise Trump has made. The Washington Post writes : "Initially, the administration's national security team appeared surprised by the Turks' announcement and uncertain what to say about it. The State Department referred questions to the White House, and hours passed with no confirmation from the National Security Council."
The White House finally released what the Associated Press called :
a cryptic statement about the phone call that said Trump had informed the Turk of "pending adjustments to the military support provided to our partners on the ground in Syria."Neither a read-out of the call nor the statement AP refers to are currently available on the White House website.
The U.S. military uses the YPG as proxy power in Syria to justify and support its occupation of north-east Syria, The intent of the occupation is , for now, to press the Syrian government into agreeing to a U.S. controlled "regime change":
U.S. officials have said they plan to keep American troops in northern Syria -- and continue working with Kurdish fighters -- to pressure Assad to make concessions during peace talks brokered by the United Nations in Geneva, stalemated for three years now. "We're not going to just walk away right now," Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said last week.To solidify its position the U.S. needs to further build up and strengthen its YPG mercenary forces.
When in 2014 the U.S. started to use Kurds in Syria as its foot-soldiers, it put the YPG under the mantle of the so called Syrian Democratic Forces and paid some Syrian Arabs to join and keep up the subterfuge. This helped to counter the Turkish argument that the U.S. was arming and supporting terrorists. But in May 2017 the U.S. announced to arm the YPG directly without the cover of the SDF. The alleged purpose was to eliminate the Islamic State from the city of Raqqa.
The YPG had been unwilling to fight for the Arab city unless the U.S. would provide it with more money, military supplies and support. All were provided. The U.S. special forces, who control the YPG fighters, directed an immense amount of aerial and artillery ammunition against the city. Any potential enemy position was destroyed by large ammunition and intense bombing before the YPG infantry proceeded. In the end few YPG fighters died in the fight. The Islamic State was let go or eliminated from the city but so was the city of Raqqa . The intensity of the bombardment of the medium size city was at times ten times greater than the bombing in all of Afghanistan. Airwars reported :
Since June, an estimated 20,000 munitions were fired in support of Coalition operations at Raqqa . Images captured by journalists in the final days of the assault show a city in ruinsSeveral thousand civilians were killed in the indiscriminate onslaught.
The Islamic State in Syria and Iraq is defeated. It no longer holds any ground. There is no longer any justification to further arm and supply the YPG or the dummy organization SDF.
But the generals want to continue to do so to further their larger plans. They are laying grounds to circumvent their president's promise. The Wall Street Journal seems to be the only outlet to pick up on the subterfuge:
President Donald Trump's administration is preparing to stop sending weapons directly to Kurdish militants battling Islamic State in Syria, dealing a political blow to the U.S.'s most reliable ally in the civil war, officials said Friday....
The Turkish announcement came as a surprise in Washington, where military and political officials in Mr. Trump's administration appeared to be caught off-guard. U.S. military officials said they had received no new guidance about supplying weapons to the Kurdish forces. But they said there were no immediate plans to deliver any new weapons to the group. And the U.S. can continue to provide the Kurdish forces with arms via the umbrella Syrian militant coalition
The "military officials" talking to the WSJ have found a way to negate Trump's promise. A spokesperson of the SDF, the ethnic Turkman Talaf Silo, recently defected and went over to the Turkish side. The Turkish government is certainly well informed about the SDF and knows that its political and command structure is dominated by the YPK. The whole concept is a sham.
But the U.S. needs the YPG to keep control of north-east Syria. It has to continue to provide whatever the YPG demands, or it will have to give up its larger scheme against Syria.
The Turkish government will soon find out that the U.S. again tried to pull wool over its eyes. Erdogan will be furious when he discovers that the U.S. continues to supply war material to the YPG, even when those deliveries are covered up as supplies for the SDF.
The Turkish government released a photograph showing Erdogan and five of his aids taking Trump's phonecall. Such a release and the announcement of the call by the Turkish foreign minister are very unusual. Erdogan is taking prestige from the call and the public announcement is to make sure that Trump sticks to his promise.
This wide publication will also increase Erdogan's wrath when he finds out that he was again deceived.
Posted by b on November 25, 2017 at 12:14 PM | Permalink
WorldBLee | Nov 25, 2017 12:48:12 PM | 1
Sometimes it's hard to see if Trump actually believed what he was saying about foreign policy on the campaign trail -- but either way it doesn't matter much as he seems incapable of navigating the labyrinth of the Deep State even if he had in independent thought in his head. I don't expect US weapons to stop making their way into Kurdish hands as they try to extend their mini-Israel-with-oil foothold in Syria. But it would certainly be a welcome sight if the US left Syria alone for once!Red Ryder | Nov 25, 2017 12:49:33 PM | 2Trump personally sent General Flynn to recruit back Erdogan and the Turks right before the election. Flynn wrote his now infamous editorial "Our ally Turkey is in crisis and needs our support" and published in "The Hill". http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/foreign-policy/305021-our-ally-turkey-is-in-crisis-and-needs-our-supportHarry | Nov 25, 2017 1:18:07 PM | 3Some interpret this act on Election eve as a pecuniary fulfillment by Flynn of a lobbying contract (which existed).
But if you know the role he played for Trump in the campaign and then the post-election role as soon to be NSC advisor, you will see that Trump was sending him to bring Turkey back into the fold after the coup attempt by CIA, Gulen and Turkey's AF and US State Dept failed.
Flynn understood the crucial need for US and NATO to hold Turkey and prevent the Russians from getting Erdogan as an ally for Syria and the Black Sea, the Balkans and Mediterranean as well as Iran, Qatar and Eurasia. Look at what has transpired between Turkey and Russia since. Gas will be flowing through the Turkish Stream and Erdogan conforms to Putin's wishes.
Trump wanted to prevent the Turkish Stream. It was a huge rival to his LNG strategy. All these are why Flynn did what he did for Trump. Now Trump has to battle CIA and State, as well as the CENTCOM-Israeli plans for insurgencies in Syria. It's not just the Kurd issue or the other needs of NATO to hold the bases in Turkey. It's the whole southwest containment of Russian gas and Russian naval power, and the reality of sharing the Mediterranean as well as MENA with the Bear.
Flynn was on it for Trump. And the IC and State want him prosecuted for defying their efforts to replace Erdogan with a stooge like Gulen. It looks like Mueller is pursuing that against the General.
Its not a problem for US to drop Kurds if they are no longer needed, BUT for now they are essential for US/Israel/Saudi goals, therefore you can bet 100% Kurds support will continue. Trump's order (he hasn't made it official either) will be easily circumvented.alabaster | Nov 25, 2017 1:19:42 PM | 4The real question is, what Resistance will do with the backstabbing Kurds? It wont be easy to make a deal while Kurds maintain absurd demands and as long as they have full Axis of Terror support.
Go Iraq's way like they reclaimed Kirkuk? US might have sitten out that one, I doubt they'll allow this to happen in Syria as well, unless they get something in return.
While America's standard duplicity of saying one thing while doing the opposite has been known for decades, they have been able to play games mainly because of the weakness of the other actors in the region.Jean | Nov 25, 2017 1:35:55 PM | 5
The tables have turned now, but America still thinks it holds top dog position.
Wordplay, semantics and legal loopholes wont be tolerated for very long, and when hundreds of US boots return home in body bags a choice will have to be made - escalate, or run away.
Previous behavior dictates run away, but times have changed.
A cornered enemy is the most dangerous, and the USA has painted itself into a very small corner...Gee. While reading B's article what got to my mind is: "Turkey is testing the ground". Whatever Trump said to Erdogan on the phone, it seems to me that the Turks are playing a card to see how the different actors in the US that seems to follow different agendas will react. If Turkey concludes that the US will continue to back YPG, it's split from the US and will be definitive.Peter AU 1 | Nov 25, 2017 1:36:09 PM | 6Erdogan is shifting away from US/NATO. He even hinted today that he might talk to Assad. That's huge! I wouldn't be surprised if Turkey leaves NATO sooner than later. And if it's the case, it will be a major move of a tectonic amplitude.
Trump.. "Will be speaking to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey this morning about bringing peace to the mess that I inherited in the Middle East. I will get it all done, but what a mistake, in lives and dollars (6 trillion), to be there in the first place!"Jen | Nov 25, 2017 2:36:10 PM | 7General Wesley Clark - seven countries in five years with Iran last on the list = "Get it all done"?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RC1Mepk_SwSurely by now Erdogan must realise that whatever the US President says and promises will be circumvented by the State Department, the Pentagon, the 17 US intel agencies (including the CIA and the NSA) and rogue individuals in these and other US government departments and agencies, and in Congress as well (Insane McCain comes to mind)? Not to mention the fact that the Israeli government and the pro-Israeli lobby on Capitol Hill exercise huge influence over sections of the US government.Hausmeister | Nov 25, 2017 3:37:06 PM | 8If Erdogan hasn't figured out the schizoid behaviour of the US from past Turkish experience and the recent experience of Turkey's neighbours (and the Ukraine is one such neighbour), he must not be receiving good information.
Though as Jean says, perhaps Erdogan is giving the US one last chance to demonstrate that it has a coherent and reliable policy towards the Middle East.
Jen | Nov 25, 2017 2:36:10 PM | 6stonebird | Nov 25, 2017 3:44:32 PM | 9Well, the US policy has been coherent and reliable in the last years. It enhanced local conflicts, supported both sides at the same time but with different intensities. Whoever wins would be "our man". Old stuff since the Byzantine period. It always takes a lot of time to prove the single actions that were done. In most cases we learn about it years later. The delay is so big and unpleasant that quite a number of folks escapes to stupid narratives that explain everything in one step, and therefore nothing. By the way: is the interest of Kurds to remain under the umbrella of the Syrian state but not be governed by Baath type of Arabic nationalism illegitimate?
How can Trump have his cake and eat it?james | Nov 25, 2017 4:00:51 PM | 10The Kurds (PKK basically) are only necessary to give a "face" to the force the US is trying to align in E. Syria. The "fighting" against ISIS (if there really was any) is coming to a close. The Chiefs of ISIS have been airlifted to somewhere nearby, and the foreign mercenary forces sent elsewhere by convoy. ALL the valuable personnel have now become "HTS2" with reversible vests. These, plus the US special forces are the basis of a new armed anti-Syrian force. (Note that one general let slip that there are 5'000 US forces in E-Syria - not the 500 spoken of in the MSM).
So Trump may well be correct in saying that the Kurds (specifically) will not get any more arms - because they have other demands and might make peace with the Syrian Government, to keep at least some part of their territorial gains. The ISIS "bretheren" and foreign mercenaries do not want any peaceful solution because it would mean their elimination.. So The CIA and Pentagon will probably continue arms supplies to "HTS2" - but not the Kurds.(ex-ISIS members; Some are from Saudi Arabia, Qatar - the EU and the US, as well as parts of Russia and China. They are not farming types but will find themselves with some of the best arable land in Syria. Which belonged to Syrian-arabs-christians-Druzes-Yadzis etc. Who wil want their properties back.)
Note that the US forces at Tanf are deliberately not letting humanitarian help reach the nearby refugee camp. Starvation and deprivation will force many of the younger members to become US paid terrorists.
thanks b.. i tend to agree with @4 jean and @5 jen... the way i see it, there is either a real disconnect inside the usa where the president gets to say one thing, but another part of the establishment can do another, or trump has made his last lie to turkey here and turkey is going to say good bye to it's involvement with the usa in any way that can be trusted.. seems like some kind of internal usa conflict to me at this point, but maybe it is all smoke and mirrors to continue on with the same charade.. i mostly think internal usa conflict at this point..A P | Nov 25, 2017 4:34:19 PM | 11Odd that no one has mentioned the fact the US was behind the attempted coup, where Erdogan was on a plane with two rogue Syrian jets that stood down rather than execute the kill shot. I have read opinion that the fighter pilots were "lit up" by Russian missile batteries and informed by radio they would not survive unless they shut down their weapons targeting immediately. This is probably a favour Putin reminds Erdogan of on a regular basis, whenever Erdo tries to play Sultan. The attempted coup/asassination also shows Erdogan exactly how much he can trust the US/Zionists at any level.Virgile | Nov 25, 2017 5:09:38 PM | 12And Edrogan must also know Syria was once at least partly in the US-orbit, as Syria was the destination for many well-documented US-ordered rendition/torture cases. It is probable Mossad (or their proxy thugs) killed Assad's father and older brother, so Erdo knows he's better relying on Putin than Trumpty Dumbdy.
Erdogan is about to make a u-turn toward Syria. He is furious at Saudi Arabia for boycotting its ally Qatar, for talking about owning Sunni Islam and by the continuous support of Islamists and Sunni Kurds in Syria.dirtyoilandgas | Nov 25, 2017 6:13:37 PM | 13
Erdogan is preparing the turkish public opinion to a shift away from the USA-Israeli axis. This may get him many points in the 2019 election if the war in Syria is stopped, most Syrian refugees are back, Turkish companies are involved in the reconstruction and the YPG neutralized. Erdogan has 1 year and half to make this to happen. For that he badly needs Bashar al Assad and his army on his side.Therefore he is evaluating what is the next move and he needs to know where the USA is standing about Turkey and Syria. Until now the messages from the USA are contradictory yet Erdogan keeps telling his supporters that the USA is plotting against Turkey and against Islam. Erdogan's reputation also is been threatened by the outcome of Reza Zarrab's trial in the US where the corruption of his party may be exposed.
That is why Erdogan is making another check about the US intentions before Erdogan he starts the irreversible shift toward the Iran-Russia (+Qatar and Syria) axis.
missing in this analysis is oil gas ... producers, refiners, slavers, middle crooks, and the LNG crowd :Israel, Fracking, LNG and wall street... these are the underlying directing forces that will ultimately dictate when the outsiders have had enough fight against Assad over Assad's oil and Assad's refusal to allow outsiders to install their pipelines. Until then, gangland intelligence agencies will continue the divide, destroy and conquer strategies sufficient to keep the profits flowing. The politicians cannot move until the underlying corruptions resolve..les7 | Nov 25, 2017 6:59:27 PM | 14The word 'byzantine' has been used for centuries to describe the intricate and multi-leveled forms of agreement, betrayal, treachery and achievement among the shifting power brokers in the region. The US alone has three major and another three minor players at work - often fighting each other. If however, it thinks it can outplay people whose lives are steeped in such a living tradition, it is sadly deluded and will one day be in for a very rude surprise. Even the Russians have had difficulty navigating that maze.flankerbandit | Nov 25, 2017 7:53:29 PM | 15When confronted with such a 'Gordian knot' of treachery and shifting alliances, Alexander the Great drew his sword and cut through it with a vision informed by the sage Socrates as taught by Aristotle.
Despite claiming to represent such a western heritage, the US has no such Socratic wisdom, no Aristotelian logic, and no visionary leadership that could enable it to do what Alexander did. Lacking this, it is destined to get lost in its' own hubris, and be consumed by our current version of that region's gordian knot.
'Hausmaus' @7 says...Daniel | Nov 25, 2017 7:55:00 PM | 16'...By the way: is the interest of Kurds to remain under the umbrella of the Syrian state but not be governed by Baath type of Arabic nationalism illegitimate?..'...showing that he either knows only the crap spouted by wikipedia...or nothing at all about the Baath party...
...which happens to be a socialist and secular party interested in pan-Arab unity...not nationalism...[an obvious oxymoron to be pan-national and 'nationalist' at the same time...]
Of course there is always a 'better way'...right Hausmaus...?
The Baath socialism under Saddam in Iraq was no good for anyone we recall...especially women, students, sick people etc...
A 'better way' has since been installed and it is working beautifully...all can agree...
Same thing in Libya...where the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya was no good for anyone...
Of course everyone wanted the 'Better Way'...all those doctoral graduates with free education and guaranteed jobs...a standard of living better than some European countries...etc...
Again...removing the 'socialist' Kadafi has worked out wonderfully...
We now have black African slaves sold in open air markets...where before they did all the broom pushing that was beneath the dignity of the Libyan Arabs...
...and were quite happy to stay there and have a job and paycheck...instead of now flooding the shores of Italy in anything that can float...
Oh yes...why would anyone in Syria want to be governed by the socialist Baath party...?
...especially the Kurds...who just over the border in Turkey are not even recognized as humans...never mind speaking their own language...
Oh yes yes yes...we all want the 'Better Way'...
It's a question of legitimacy you see...
I'd really hoped that Donald Trump® would be the "outsider" that both the MSM and he have been insisting he is for the past couple of years. Other than the Reality TV Show faux conflicts with which the MSM entertains us nightly, I see no such "rogue" Administration.flankerbandit | Nov 25, 2017 8:16:50 PM | 17This say one thing, and do the other has been US foreign policy forever.
Recall, for instance that on February 21, 2014, Obama's State Department issued a statement hailing Ukrainian President Yanukovych for signing an agreement with the "pro-democracy Maidan Protest" leaders in which he acquiesced to all of their demands.
Then, on February 22, 2014, the US State Department cheered the "peaceful and Constitutional" coup after neo-nazis stormed the Parliament.
A few months later, Secretary of State Kerry hailed the Minsk Treaty to end the war in Ukraine. Later that day, Vickie Nuland said there was no way her Ukies would stop shelling civilians, and sure enough they didn't (until they'd been on the retreat for weeks, and came whimpering back to the negotiations table).
A couple years later, Kerry announced that the US and Russia would coordinate aerial assaults in Syria. The next day, "Defense" Secretary Carter said, "no way," and within a week or so, we "accidentally" bombed Syrian forces at Deir ez Zoir for over an hour.
From my perspective, they keep us chasing the next squirrel, while bickering amongst each other about each squirrel. But the wolves are still devouring the lambs, with only the Bear preventing a complete extinction.
Some good comments here with food for thought...Yeah, Right | Nov 25, 2017 9:44:37 PM | 18What we know with at least some level of confidence...
Dump is not the 'decider'...the junta is...he's just a cardboard cutout sitting behind the oval office desk...
And he's got no one to blame but himself...he came in talking a big game about cleaning house and got himself cleaned out of being an actual president...
This was inevitable from the moment he caved on Flynn...the only person he didn't need to vet with the senate...and a position that wields a lot of power...
This was his undoing on many levels...not only because he faced a hostile deep state and even his own party in congress with no one by his side [other than Flynn]...
...but because it showed that he had no balls and would not stand by his man...
This is not the stuff leaders are made of...
The same BS we see with Turkey is playing out with Russia on the Ukraine issue...
Now the junta and their enablers in congress want to start sending offensive arms to Ukraine...Dump and his platitudes to Putin...no matter how much he may mean it...mean nothing...he's not in charge...
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/410942-trump-putin-friendly-words/
I think that Jean @4 has the best take on this: Erdoğan went very public on Trump's "promise" in a classic put-up-or-shut-up challenge to the USA.ritzl | Nov 25, 2017 11:08:38 PM | 19Either the word of a POTUS means something or it doesn't, and if it doesn't then Turkey is going to join Russia in concluding that the USA as simply not-agreement-capable.
Erdoğan will then say "enough!!!", give the USA the two-finger-salute, and then take Turkey out of NATO.
And the best thing about it will be that McMaster, Kelly and Mathis will be so obsessed with playing their petty little games that they won't see it coming.
It's hard to tell what Erdoğan is doing or intending other than that he is navigating something - objective TBD. It'll be interesting to see if he constrains the use of Incirlik airbase should the US keep arming the YPG/PKK forces. Airpower is the enabler (sole enabler, IMO) of the/any Kurdish overreach inside Syria. Seems like Erdoğan holds the ace card in this muddle but has yet to play it.Grieved | Nov 25, 2017 11:32:17 PM | 20@18 ritzlJackrabbit | Nov 25, 2017 11:42:26 PM | 21Seems like Turkey has more than one card to play. A commenter on another site mentioned recently that the US really doesn't want Erdogan to have that S-400 system from Russia. Got me thinking, could Russia have deliberately loaded Erdogan's hand with that additional card to help him negotiate with the US?
Turkey may well leave NATO and as others have pointed out, this would be a game changer far beyond the matter of the US's illegal presence in NE Syria. This possibility brings immense existential gravitas to Erdogan's position right now. He could ask for many concessions at this point, not to leave. And from the Eurasian point of view, it doesn't matter if he leaves or stays, while from the western view, it matters greatly.
Would the US give up Syria, in order to keep Turkey in NATO? It's a western dichotomy, not one that affects Asia. It would be simple to throw S-400 at that dynamic to watch it squirm.
Seby | Nov 26, 2017 12:25:05 AM | 22The plays the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King.- Hamlet
As the endgame plays out, Erdogan's conscience may be revealed.
b has made the point that the partition that US-led proxy forces have carved out is unsustainable. But it would be sustainable if Erdogan can be convinced to allow trade via Turkey.
For that reason, I thought Trump's ceasing direct military aid to the Kurds made sense as it provided Erdogan with an excuse to allow land routes for trade/supply. Erdogan can argue that he wants to encourage such good behavior and doesn't want to make US an enemy (Turkey is still a NATO country).
Furthermore, I've always been suspicious of Erdogan's 'turn' toward Russia. Many have suspected that the attempted coup was staged by Erdogan (with CIA help?) so as to enable Erdogan to remain in office. IMO Erdogan joined the 'Assad must go!' effort not just because he benefited from the oil trade but because he leans toward Sunnis (Surely he was aware of the thinking that: the road to Tehran runs through Damascus .)
Hasn't Erdogan's vehement anti-Kurdish stance done R+6 a disservice? It seems to me that it has helped USA to convince Kurds to fight for them and has also been a convenient excuse for Erdogan to hold onto Idlib where al Queda forces have refuge. If Erdogan was really soooo angry with Washington, and soooo dependent on Moscow, then why not relax his anti-Kurdish stance so as to bring Kurds back into the Syrian orbit?
tRump just wants to hide the truth that he is castrated and with a tiny penis, like his hands.Ian | Nov 26, 2017 12:29:05 AM | 23Also just cares about money and soothing his narcissism. So f***'in American, in the worst sense!
Jackrabbit @20:Fernando Arauxo | Nov 26, 2017 1:45:51 AM | 24
Erdogan may feel that if he relaxed his stance against the Syrian Kurds, it could embolden Turkish Kurds to further pursue their agenda. It would also make him appear weak towards his supporters.Erdogan is NOT going to leave NATO. Why should he? It would be the stupidest chess move ever? He's in the club and they can't kick him out. He can cause all the trouble he wants and hobble that huge machine that is the western alliance. He will not get EU membership, but he has his NATO ID CARD and that ain't bad. Erdo now knows that the poor bastard Trumps is WORTHLESS that he is a toothless executive in name only. This is a wake up call, if I were Erdo, I would be very afraid of the USA and it's Syria, MENA policy. It is being run by LUNATICS and is a slow moving train wreak. So for now, Erdo must be looking at Moscow, admiring Putin for this is a man who has his shit together and truly knows how to run a country. Maybe even a sense of admiration and more respect for Putin is even present. If I were Erdo, I'd double down in my support for Russia's Syria policy.Hausmeister | Nov 26, 2017 3:46:55 AM | 25@ flankerbandit | Nov 25, 2017 7:53:29 PM | 14Anon | Nov 26, 2017 5:11:53 AM | 26You do not get it:
„...which happens to be a socialist and secular party interested in pan-Arab unity...not nationalism..."
According to this ideology the coherence of a society comes from where? And who is excluded if one applies it?
So your contribution is just a rant using rancidic rhetoric tools. But I will not call you „flunkerbandit". My advice is to move to this area and have a look into such a society from a more close position. Armchair type of vocal leadership does not help.
In the Obama years there was a:Jen | Nov 26, 2017 6:38:32 AM | 27
- Whitehouse policy
- Army Policy
- CIA policy
- State department policy.
Which policy is Trump really up against?
Anon @ 25: Tempted to say Trump is up against all of them plus NSA policy, FBI policy, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) policy and the policies of, what, 12 other intel agencies?Yeah, Right | Nov 26, 2017 7:27:43 AM | 28
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/17-agencies-of-the-us-intelligence-community-2013-5?r=US&IR=T@23 "Erdogan is NOT going to leave NATO. Why should he?"arbetet | Nov 26, 2017 10:14:56 AM | 29I guess one possible reason would be this: as long as Turkey remains in NATO then he is obliged to allow a US military presence in his country, and that's just asking for another attempt at a military coup.
After all, wasn't Incirlik airbase a hotbed of coup-plotters during the last coup attempt?
This came up:Harry | Nov 26, 2017 10:33:01 AM | 30@ arbetet | 29dan of steele | Nov 26, 2017 11:00:06 AM | 31"when the Syrian settlement is achieved, Syria's democratic forces will join the Syrian army."
"When the Syrian state stabilizes, we can say that the Americans did what they said, then withdraw as they did in Iraq and set a date for their departure and leave."Nothing new here, nothing good either. Kurds so far are keeping up their demands of de-facto independence under fig-leaf of "we are part of federalised Syria" with weak central government and autonomous Kurds. Thats how US plan to castrate Syria. Russia offered cultural autonomy, Kurds rejected.
As for Americans "withdrawing" willfully, it never happened. Iraq had to kick them out, and then US used ISIS and Kurds to get back in.
As for Syria's stabilization part, US is doing everything in its power to prevent it.
@Yeah Right #26Yeah, Right | Nov 26, 2017 5:18:37 PM | 32
Turkey is not obliged to keep foreign troops in their country to remain in NATO. De Gaulle invited the US to leave France in 1967 but is still a member of NATO@31 France actually withdrew from NATO in 1966. It remained "committed" to the collective defence of western Europe, without being, you know, "committed" to it.fast freddy | Nov 26, 2017 6:21:33 PM | 33So, yeah, France kicked all the foreign troops out of France in 1967, precisely because its withdrawal from NATO's Integrated Military Command meant that the French were no longer under any obligation to allow NATO troops on its soil.
But France had to formally withdraw from that Command first, and the reason that de Gaulle gave for withdrawing were exactly that: remaining meant ceding sovereignty to a supra-national organization i.e. NATO Integrated Military Command.
That France retained "membership" of NATO's political organizations even after that withdrawal was little more than a fig-leaf.
After all, NATO's purpose isn't "political", it is "military".
"The Decider" is Trump's apparent self image. He can't be enjoying the Presidency and the controls exerted upon him by others among the "Deep State" (whom I suppose have effectively cowed him into behaving via serious threats).psychohistorian | Nov 26, 2017 11:30:16 PM | 34If he already had money and power, as it appears that he had, he gained little by taking the crown. He has less power because he is now controlled by a number of forces (CIA, NSA, Media, MIC and etc.) as he remains under constant assault by his natural opposition.
Big mistake dumping Flynn.
Now you take another kind of asshole in the person of Obama - a guy that had nothing - you have a malleable character who enjoys the pomp and circumstance. Really didn't need any persuading to do anything required of him.
Here is a recent report from the Turkish Prime Minister supporting Trump's "lie" about ending support for the Kurds....what will history show occured?Julian | Nov 27, 2017 12:47:45 AM | 35ISTANBUL, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Sunday that his country is expecting the United States to end its partnership with the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its military wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG).
"Since the very beginning, we have said that it is wrong for the U.S. to partner with PKK's cousin PYD and YPG in the fight against Daesh (Islamic State) terrorist group," Yildirim told the press in Istanbul prior to his departure for Britain.
Ankara sees the Kurdish groups as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighting against the Turkish government for over 30 years, while Washington regards them as a reliable ground force against the Islamic State (IS), also known as Daesh.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday spoke to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the phone, pledging not to provide weapons to the YPG any more, an irritant that has hurt bilateral ties, according to the Turkish side.
Yildirim noted that Washington has described it as an obligation rather than an option to support the Kurdish groups on the ground. "But since Daesh (IS) is now eliminated then this obligation has disappeared," he added.
It would be nice if Erdogan when withdrawing from NATO (Assuming he does this in the next 12-18 months) would say something like.Quentin | Nov 27, 2017 8:48:51 AM | 36"We really like President Trump - and we trust his word implicitly. The problem is, although we trust his word, we know he is not in control so his word is useless and best ignored. Though of course - we still trust he means well."That would be a nice backhander to hear from Erdopig.
Speculation about Turkey leaving NATO seems farfetched. Turkey has NATO over a barrel. It has been a member for decades and what would it gain by leaving? Nothing. By staying it continues to influence and needle at the same time. Turkey will only leave when NATO throws it out, which isn't going to happen.Willy2 | Nov 27, 2017 11:53:09 AM | 37- According to Sibel Edmonds there're 2 coups being prepared. One against Trump and one against Erdogan.
Nov 28, 2017 | www.zerohedge.com
But on Tuesday Israel's own Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman flatly contradicted the prime minister's jingoistic alarmism by saying that there are no Iranian military forces in Syria, but instead merely stuck to acknowledging "experts and advisers". In comments to Israel's Ynet news, Lieberman admitted , "We must preserve our security interests. It is true that there are a number of Iranian experts and advisers, but there is no Iranian military force on Syrian land."
The comments came on the same day that the IDF Spokesperson made provocative and controversial statements , announcing that in the next Israel-Hezbollah War, "Nasrallah is a target" for assassination and that Israel is currently conducting psychological and media warfare against Hezbollah. But Defense Minister Lieberman's statement flies in the face of claims made by Netanyahu in his speech before the UN General Assembly this year when he said, "We will act to prevent Iran from establishing permanent military bases in Syria for its air, sea and ground forces. We will act to prevent Iran from producing deadly weapons in Syria... And we will act to prevent Iran from opening new terror fronts against Israel along our northern border."
According to a BBC report dubiously sourced to "a Western intelligence source" from earlier this month, Syria stands accused of hosting a sizable Iranian military base south of Damascus, a story which Israel utilized to ratchet up rhetoric in preparing its case before the international community for further attacks on supposed Iranian targets inside Syria. Israel has long justified its attacks inside Syria by claiming to be acting against Hezbollah and Iranian targets.
But Lieberman's surprising comments represent a significant potential backing away from what appeared to be Israel's long running official stance on the issue. According to Tel Aviv based Haaretz newspaper, Lieberman responded as follows when presented with the contradiction :
Netanyahu has said Iran is working to build military bases in Syria, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and its leader there, Qassem Soleimani, have been photographed in the war-torn country neighboring Israel to the north. When asked about this discrepancy, Lieberman said that "all the regional forces know we are the strongest power in the area. Israel is a regional power."
"Iran has a strategy to creating proxies everywhere. Obviously, they are not physically in Lebanon, that's what's Hezbollah is for. In Yemen, they're not physically present, they created the Houthi rebels. They have the same plan in Syria: creating different kinds of militias."
It could be that this new emphasis on acknowledging Iranian "proxies" while stopping short of claiming direct Iranian military presence - a clear lessening of Israel's intensifying rhetoric of late - is connected to a potential Syria-Israeli back channel deal to demilitarize the Golan region. We reported yesterday that unconfirmed Israeli sources are claiming that Putin is personally mediating demands issued between Assad and Netanyahu after both leaders traveled to meet with Putin within the past months.
The Jerusalem Post published a story early this week based on a well placed Israeli source privy to diplomatic maneuvering between Moscow, Tel Aviv, and Damascus. The report said, "the source, who remains unnamed, said that during Syrian President Bashar Assad's surprise visit to Russia last week, Assad gave Russian Premier Vladimir Putin a message for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Damascus will agree to a demilitarized zone of up to 40 kilometers from the border in the Golan Heights as part of a comprehensive agreement between the two countries, but only if Israel does not work to remove Assad's regime from power."
Meanwhile, both Israel and Saudi Arabia have increasingly gone public with their covert relationship based on intelligence sharing against what both sides perceive to be a strong and expansionist Iran.
Earlier this month Israel Defense Force (IDF) chief-of-staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot gave an unprecedented interview to a prominent Saudi newspaper in which he said that, "Israel is ready to share intelligence with Riyadh on their shared arch-foe Iran." Eizenkot explained further, according to Tel Aviv based i24NEWS , that "Israel and Riyadh - which he noted have never fought one another - are in complete agreement about Iran's intentions to dominate the Middle East."
And like Israel, Saudi Arabia has long scapegoated Iran and the region's Shia for all of it's problems , especially as it wages its brutal war on Yemen.
But on Tuesday Iranian President Hassan Rouhani hit back. In comments picked up by Reuters , he said that Saudi Arabia presents Iran as an enemy because it wants to cover up its defeats in the region. Rouhani said in the midst of a live interview on state television, "Saudi Arabia was unsuccessful in Qatar, was unsuccessful in Iraq, in Syria and recently in Lebanon. In all of these areas, they were unsuccessful," and added further, "So they want to cover up their defeats."
These words of course could just as well be aimed at Israel too. And with today's surprise admission by Israel's defense minister - that there is "no Iranian military force on Syrian land" - it could be that Israel's bluff has finally been called.
Nov 22, 2017 | turcopolier.typepad.com
Earlier today this tweet by Elijiah Magnier caught my eye.
"USA protects SDF and ISIS east of the Euphrates and agreed that Russia won't fly over the area occupied by the US Forces in north-east Syria. USA is officially an occupation force in the Levant."
Seems the US and Russia have agreed to using the Euphrates as a de facto border between the SAA and its allies and the US-supported YPG/SDF at least for a while. This is in line with statements made by Tillerson prior to the G20 summit held on 7 July in Hamburg.
"The United States is prepared to explore the possibility of establishing with Russia joint mechanisms for ensuring stability, including no-fly zones, on the ground ceasefire observers, and coordinated delivery of humanitarian assistance"
This temporary arrangement makes sense for Damascus. There are still plenty of fires to extinguish on Syrian territory west of the Euphrates. Why spread their forces thin again just when they are now able to concentrate their forces to address those fires. Besides, there is still plenty of time for the negotiation and reconciliation process to achieve victory without further bloodshed. I have no doubt. Syria will be whole once again.
I'm sure CENTCOM sees this differently. I think the grand scheme was to establish an enduring US-controlled enclave encompassing all of Iraqi Kurdistan, Rojava and the Arab lands of eastern Syria. I bet there was a plan for establishing a new CENTCOM forward headquarters in Erbil to oversee this vast enclave. The premature Kurdish bid for independence blew a gaping hole in that plan. Iraqi Kurdistan lost its border with Syria. With that loss went CENTCOM's secure land route from Kirkuk and Erbil to its growing bases in northeast Syria.
Another purpose of this "CENTCOM Caliphate" was to prevent the establishment of a land route from Teheran to Damascus and on to Beirut. With the liberation of Abu Kamal by a combined force of SAA, IRGC, Hezbollah and allied militias, that part of the CENTCOM plan also floundered on the rocks. The presence of Qassem Soleimani at this victory must have been a bitter pill to swallow at CJTF -- OIR headquarters.
Another disappointment CENTCOM must face is their now useless base at Al Tanf and the Rukban refugee camp. This base was meant to support our "moderate jihadis" and to help prevent the establishment of the Shia Crescent. Another dream dashed. We are now faced with a near abandoned base and a dire and embarrassing humanitarian crisis at Rubkan.
CENTCOM has always wanted a major physical presence in their AOR. They've had that for a long time now, ever since Desert Storm. Prior to that, they were bitterly jealous of EUCOM and PACOM. They would be much smarter to forgo their dreams of forward-based grandeur and return to being a CONUS-based command headquarters controlling training, exercise and limited operational deployments in their AOR. And for God's sake, get out of Syria. Between the Astana meetings and the upcoming Sochi National Dialogue Conference, Russia has this covered.
TTG
Nov 22, 2017 | turcopolier.typepad.com
There are only a couple of dozen hardcore BORG-ists (to use Col Lang's useful description) trolling for war against Iran, but they are irrationally consistent. The names are familiar: Ledeen, Richard Perle, Woolsey, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), etc. Now, enter JINSA.
This week, another piece of the drive for war against Iran has manifested itself on the pages of the Jewish Institute for National Security for America (JINSA) www.jinsa.org , with a November 20, 2017 report, Countering Iranian Expansion in Syria. It says:
"Consistent with the Trump Administration's stated intention of pushing back against Iran's increasingly malign behavior throughout the Middle East, American policymakers urgently need to rebuild credibility and positions of strength by contesting Iran's rising influence across the region. Most urgently, the United States must impose real obstacles to Tehran's pursuit of total victory by the Assad regime in Syria. Time is of the essence, as Iranian-backed forces recently have retaken nearly all the country, save lands liberated from Islamic State (IS) by the U.S.-led coalition. These, and any further, strategic gains threaten to entrench Tehran as the arbiter of postwar Syria and consolidate its control of a "land bridge" connecting Iran directly to Lebanon and Hezbollah."
The heart of Israeli penetration of the U.S. national security sector has long been JINSA -- Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA). JINSA was founded in 1973, immediately following the outbreak of the Arab-Israeli War, to assure U.S. military support for all future Israeli wars. JINSA 's mission was to recruit large numbers of recently retired U.S. military officers to the Israeli cause, by, among other techniques, sponsoring all-expenses-paid junkets to Israel, or exchange programs at Israeli military academies. It is long term. It is steady. It keeps the same core directors. It is not distracted. It is a mostly-overlooked component of the Israel Lobby.
Today, the JINSA website boasts:
"The annual Generals and Admirals Program to the Middle East, in which recently retired American generals and admirals are invited to visit Israel with JINSA to meet the top echelon of the Israeli military and political leadership, ensures that the American delegation is well briefed on the security concerns of Israel, as well as the key role Israel plays as a friend and ally of the U.S. To date, JINSA has taken more than 400 retired officers to Israel, many of whom serve on JINSA's Board of Advisors."
JINSA's board is a hotbed of neo-cons, some of whom have been investigated for spying for the Israeli state. Board members include former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Steven D. Bryen, former National Security consultant Michael Ledeen, Bush-Cheney's director of the Defense Policy Board Richard Perle, Kenneth Timmerman, and former CIA Director James Woolsey. Steven Bryen's wife, Shoshanna Bryen was long time executive director of JINSA, involved in profiling likely military officers to be recruited to the junkets to Israel.
In 2001, after the 9/11 attack, JINSA's own website boasted of its dedication to the primacy of the US-Israeli relationship above all else. "Only one think tank puts the U.S.-Israel strategic relationship first -- JINSA."
On Sept. 12, 2001 JINSA issued a call for precisely the kind of U.S. war against the Arab world that has embroiled the U.S. in endless wars in the region. At that time, JINSA said the response to the 911 attack had to be larger than an attack on Al Qaeda's bases in Afghanistan: "The countries harboring and training [terrorists] include not just Afghanistan -- but Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Syria, Sudan, the Palestinian Authority, Libya, Algeria, friends Saudi Arabia and Egypt."
Get a score card, and see whether JINSA's interests have taken hold: Invasion of Iraq (2003), Regime change in Iran (still trying and 2017, the Number One priority), Syria (ongoing war to unseat Assad), Sudan (country divided), Libya (2011 overthrow of Qadaffi and failed state), Palestinian Authority (chaos and Jewish settlement expansion especially since the 2006 Hamas election victory), Egypt (two revolutions in two years, absolute economic desperation). Not targeted so far: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Algeria (kind of).
No wonder Saudi Arabia's Salman team is salivating over making alliances with Netanyahu.
Posted at 01:07 PM in Decameron , Middle East Permalink Comments (1)
jjc said...
Israel hosted the Jerusalem Conference on International Terrorism way back in the summer of 1979 where the foundations of the War On Terror were set, although in that day the ultimate sponsor of international terrorism was said to be the Soviet Union. "The mortal danger to Western security and democracy posed by the worldwide scope of this international terrorist movement required an appropriate worldwide anti-terrorism offensive, consisting of the mutual coordination of Western military intelligence services."This conference was hosted by Netanyahu and featured numerous high level Israeli politicians and military figures, as well as Americans such as Henry Jackson, George HW Bush, Richard Pipes, Ray Cline, and right-leaning officials from Britain and France. "US, Israeli and British elites were actively constructing 'international terrorism' as an ideology..." (see Nafeez Ahmed, War On Truth: 9/11, Disinformation, and the Anatomy of Terrorism, pp 3-6)
Nov 22, 2017 | www.unz.com
Israel, Saudi Arabia Setting Preconditions for War with HezbollahI think something completely different is going on. Global alignments are changing fast, and MENA is currently at the focal point. Every player there is looking at a radically different deck of cards than the one in play just 3 years ago, and radically different players. Confusions reign, both internal and between nations. Events will move along a sum vector which is itself a sum of the various vectors their respective internal elite factions are pulling. Internal policy and power struggles will surface, and there will be lots of false signals. I think war with Iran/Hezbollah is one of them.
In such conditions, we can expect a lot of noise and very little signal, but the trajectories are coming clear. The over-riding trajectory of course is the ongoing fall of Pax Americana, and its replacement by a Pax Multiplicita. Nobody really knows what the latter will look like, and so nations and their elite factions will be trying everything to jockey themselves into an advantageous position both internally and externally. We see this process everywhere, including in the USA itself as well as Europe and Asia.
The resurrection of Syria and Iraq, under the wings of Russia and Iran, has shocked MENA. Things ain't what they used to be, and there's no going back. The KSA, as both the linchpin of Pax Americana's dollar system, and as the least socially developed country in MENA faces the greatest challenges in adapting itself to whatever is coming next. Its demographics are a powder keg, with more than 50% of the disenfranchised population <25 yrs of age and chaffing under a medieval death cult that has ruled for a century. It is now or never for the KSA. Change now, or societal chaos and a bloody collapse will be the KSA's contribution to Pax Multiplicita.
I think the new Crown Prince understands that, and while still wet-behind-the-ears is determined to change it Now! He's no Wahhabi, and he recognizes Wahhabism for the dead end it is. Last month, in a speech to an investment forum in Riyadh he declared:
"We will return to the former state of affairs, to moderate Islam, which is open to the world, and all other religions. We will not wait for 30 years, we will swiftly deal a blow to extremist ideologies,"Let those words sink in. No Saudi, royal or otherwise, has dared to utter their equal. In the event, swift he was. He drained the Saudi swamp in a (fort)night of the long knives, reportedly incarcerating 2400+ elites, including some of the wealthiest and most powerful, 1000 Imams and 30+ Generals. That alone is a remarkable fact, showing he has shrewdly developed a like-thinking power base under the noses of the KSA's Pax Americana sycophants and fanatical Wahhabis. This is not a man to be trifled with.By way of international support, the old King made what amounted to pilgrimages to Beijing and then to Moscow to seek their blessing (inter alia). In Beijing he got $120B+ in commitments for development projects, in Moscow he got cooperation in oil markets and (crucially) S-400 Air Defense systems. After his "palace coup" he got words of support, with Xi Jingping being particularly warmly supportive.
Yes he's young, inexperienced, and has had to fight internal battles we'll never know about which no doubt contributed to some of his apparent international blunders, but to think that he will now willingly opt for war with a Moscow ally is to think him either mad, or an imbecile. I don't think he's either. He's delivering Trumpian campaign promises to the KSA (to the wild approval of the country's youth) and quite probably suckering the Israelis into a stupid move while at it.
Watch that space. It's cooking.
The term "Pax Americana" seems ironic because of the lack of Pax in the post Cold War era of America pushing the limits of its power projection. Maybe a better term would be "Bellus Americana."
Nov 22, 2017 | www.unz.com
Boy, Is This Stupid or What? Did the US allow ISIS to escape to keep the fighting going? Philip Giraldi November 21, 2017 1,600 Words
Americans have been living in a country that has not known peace since 9/11, when President George W. Bush and his posse of neoconservatives delivered the message to the world that "you are either with us or against us." The threat was coupled with flurry of hastily conceived legislation that opened the door to the unconstitutional "war on terror" carried out at the whim of the Chief Executive, a conflict which was from the start conceived of as a global military engagement without end.
Bush and his handlers might not have realized it at the time but they were initiating a completely new type of warfare. To be sure, there would be fighting on the ground worldwide against an ideologically driven enemy somewhat reminiscent of communism, but there would also be included "regime change" of governments in countries that were not completely on board with the direction coming out of Washington. Instead of invading and occupying a country in the old-fashioned way, so the thinking went, far better to just knock off the top levels and let the natives sort things out while acting under direction from the pros in Washington.
Even though "regime change" in Iraq and Afghanistan did not work out very well, Bush saw himself as a triumphant war leader with his vainglorious "Mission Accomplished," and he later dubbed himself the "decider." He insisted that his reelection in 2004 when running against a weak John Kerry was a validation of his policies by the American people, but one has to wonder how many voters really understood that they were signing on for perpetual war that would of necessity also diminish their most cherished liberties.
Nobel Peace Prize winner and U.S. President Barack Obama followed Bush and made it clear that there would be no stepping back from a policy of proactively "protecting" the American people. Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton destroyed Libya, a disaster that is still playing out, increased involvement in Syria, and introduced death by drone for both American citizens who have transgressed and random foreigners who fit a profile. And to eliminate any pushback to what he was doing, Obama relied on invoking the state secrets privilege to block legal challenges more times than all his predecessors in office combined.
And now we have President Donald Trump, whose foreign policy is particularly unarticulated, though in many ways similar to that of his predecessors. The United States is increasing its involvement in Afghanistan, where it has been engaged for longer than in any previous war, is threatening both Iran and North Korea with annihilation, and is hopelessly entangled in Trump's pledge to completely eliminate ISIS. Indeed, destroying ISIS (and al-Qaeda) has been the one clearly articulated part of the Trump foreign policy, though there are also occasional assertions that it should be accompanied by yet one more try at regime change in Damascus.
And the grand tradition of using military might to back up diplomacy has certainly found little favor, so much so that it is certainly clear even to the supine American public and a risk averse congress that there is something wrong in Foggy Bottom. It is astonishing to note the mainstream media, which reviled George W. Bush when he was in office, describing him currently as a voice of moderation and restraint due to his recent criticism of the White House. You can't go wrong if you pile on Trump.
Even the U.S. media has been reluctantly reporting that ISIS has been rolled back in Syria by the joint efforts of the Syrian Army and the Russian air force with the United States and its allies playing very much secondary roles in the conflict. The Russians have, in fact, complained that Washington seemed just a tad disinterested in actually cooperating to destroy the last remnants of ISIS in the few areas that the group still controls, citing most recently an alleged incident during the Syrian government liberation of the town of Abu Kamal in which U.S. air assets on site appear to have allowed ISIS fighters to escape.
The shambles of American policy as it applies to the Middle East was highlighted by yet another similar and particularly bizarre episode that was revealed initially by the BBC on Monday of last week. In early October, when the Syrians and Russians were closing in from the west on Raqqa, the "capital" of the ISIS caliphate while the U.S supported Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which predominantly consists of the Kurdish militias, was closing in from the east, a deal was reportedly struck to permit an evacuation of the remaining ISIS fighters and their families.
According to the BBC investigative report , the SDF and Kurds were wary of clearing out the remaining fighters from the ruins of the city and so negotiated an agreement whereby the ISIS fighters from Syria and Iraq and their families would be able to leave and be allowed to either go home and face the consequences or proceed to ISIS controlled areas about one hundred miles away. The objective was to avoid a final assault from the air and using artillery that would have produced a bloodbath killing thousands, including large numbers of civilians. The agreement stipulated that only ISIS fighters who were local would be allowed to leave. Others, referred to as "foreigners," from Europe, Africa or Asia would have to surrender in order to avoid their going free and getting involved in new terrorist activity after returning home.
U.S. and British military advisers who were with the SDF and Kurds reported, somewhat improbably, that they had not been party to the negotiations, that it was "all-locals," though they later admitted that there had been some involvement on their part. In the event, trucks and busses were assembled on October 14 th , formed into a convoy, and were loaded with more than 4,000 fighters and families. More than 100 ISIS-owned vehicles also were allowed to leave and there were ten trucks filled with weapons. The convoy stretched for more than four miles and film footage shows trucks pulling trailers filled with militants brandishing their weapons. The fighters were not allowed to display flags or banners but they were not forced to disarm and in fact loaded all the vehicles with as many weapons as they could carry, so much so that one truck broke its axle from the weight. The BBC reported that "This wasn't so much an evacuation – it was the exodus of so-called Islamic State."
The drivers reported that they were abused by the ISIS fighters, many of whom were wearing explosive belts, and they also claimed that there was a large percentage of foreigners among those escaping. Various drivers told the BBC that there were French, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Pakistani, Yemeni, Saudi, Chinese, Tunisian and Egyptian nationals among their passengers. The evacuees made it safely to ISIS controlled territory and presumably will be ready, willing and able to fight again.
The escape of the Islamic State from Raqqa is, to put it mildly, bizarre. One might accept that avoiding the carnage that would have been part and parcel of an assault on the shattered city should have weighed heavily on the decision making by the attacking forces, but allowing hardened fighters to escape with their weapons would hardly seem a good way to end the conflict. In May, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said on television that the war against ISIS was one of " annihilation. Our intention is that the foreign fighters do not survive the fight to return home to north Africa, to Europe, to America, to Asia, to Africa. We are not going to allow them to do so."
Well, Mattis was possibly lying back then, or at least saying what he thought would play well on television and in the newspapers. On November 14 th , the day after the BBC story about Raqqa broke, he lied again, saying that the United States is in Syria under a U.N. authorization to fight ISIS, which is not true. The Russians have been invited into the country by its legitimate government but the U.S. is not there legally. The Turks are claiming that there are 13 U.S. military bases already in Syria, some of which are permanent.
Mattis added to his bit of fiction by stating , somewhat ominously, that while the first phase of the ISIS war is coming to an end "Basically we can go after ISIS. And we're there to take them out. But that doesn't mean we just walk away and let ISIS 2.0 pop back around. The enemy hasn't declared they're done with the war yet. So, we'll keep fighting them as long as they want to fight."
A waggish friend of mine suggested that Mattis might be deliberately selectively releasing ISIS fighters so the U.S. will never have to leave Syria, but my own theory is somewhat different. I think that Washington, which has done so little to defeat ISIS, wants some threat to continue so it can keep its own "resistance forces" in place and active to give it a seat at the table and a voice at the upcoming Geneva discussions for a political settlement in Syria. Otherwise Washington will be outside looking in. The unspeakable Nikki Haley at the U.N. appears to endorse that line of thinking by asserting that Washington will continue "to fight for justice" in Syria no matter what the rest of the world decides to do.
Does this mean that we can expect considerable fumbling and a game with no exit strategy, something like a replay of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya? You betcha.
Cloak And Dagger , November 21, 2017 at 5:59 am GMT
Another great article, Phil! I hope those jerks at TAC with their rapidly declining readership are realizing how idiotic it was to fire you.chris , November 21, 2017 at 6:12 am GMTYour waggish friend may have a point, but there are several parties that would benefit from the continuing conflict in that region:
– Arms manufacturers lose money in times of peace, so the MIC is clearly an important beneficiary.
- Israel benefits as long as there is chaos in the Middle East and no unification of its enemies. It also benefits by keeping the boogeyman alive so that it can continue to siphon off our largesse in terms of military aid "to defend itself".
- The US government benefits by continuing to have a reason to be there in order to thwart Russia's growing influence in the region.
- The Russians benefit by continuing to demonstrate their military prowess and gaining both allies in the region as well as customers for their advanced weaponry.Who doesn't benefit?
- We and our fellow citizens don't, as our taxes continue to fund this mayhem while our own economy and our standard of living plummets (except for the elite).
- The people of that region continue to live their lives in hell without any normalcy, and so see no benefits.
- The European countries become hosts to the tide of refugees escaping from the region, mixed with enough mischief makers to increase social tension in major European cities, so the Europeans don't benefit.Wouldn't it be great if we could get rid of our war-mongering interventionists, fueled by Israel-firsters, and gain influence in the world as China does, by focusing on trade instead of wars? Couldn't we just buy the resources we need as China does, rather than stealing them by force from others?
Couldn't we, once more, become manufacturers and traders, rather than mercenaries for Israel? That would Make America Great Again .
If wishes were horses
MEexpert , November 21, 2017 at 6:49 am GMT"The enemy hasn't declared they're done with the war yet. So, we'll keep fighting them as long as they want [us] to fight."
I think, maybe 'Mad Dog' was talking about Israel here.
As long the axis of evil consisting of "the most moral and exceptional nation," "the nation with the best and moral army," and "the nation of corruption fighters" continues to dominate the world scene the Muslim blood will continue to be spilt. I could have never imagined that the United States will lose every fiber of decency and morality for the sake of few AIPAC dollars.jilles dykstra , November 21, 2017 at 7:58 am GMTThe American public is brain dead. If you repeat lies enough times they become the truth and the American public will swallow it hook-line and sinker.
Iraq had weapons of mass destruction
Syrian President Assad gassed his people
US is in Syria by UN consent
US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia/UAE are fighting terrorism
Iran has nuclear weapons
These are few of the lies that have been told by our politicians and the MSM. Just ask any average American and he will tell you that yes these are true statements. As long as the present state of affairs continues the mayhem in the Middle East will continue.
I am not at all surprised that the US and her allies helped escape ISIS fighters. Remember that ISIS, AL-Qaeda and all the other alphabet fighters were created by the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia. These three have to protect their investment of man-power and weapons to be used some other place. In Fourteen years, ISIS or Al-Qaeda has never attacked Israel. Coincidence? Hmmmm.
How do we stop it? The only way to end this slaughter of innocent Muslims is by eliminating every zionist/neocon from the face of this earth. As long as even one zionist/neocon remains he will sprout up evereywhere and continue this corruption. And, please spare me the indignation at my calling Muslims "innocent." Before the Palestinian issue there were no hijackings, kidnappings, or killings of non-Muslim by Muslims. This started when the benevolent Western nations got rid of the Jews from the Europe and put them in the Middle east.
Does this mean that we can expect considerable fumbling and a game with no exit strategy, something like a replay of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya?
Yes, indeed.
IS in my opinion is an idea, the idea that western neocolonialism cannot be accepted.Alfred , November 21, 2017 at 8:51 am GMT
One cannot contain ideas, moreover, as Keynes already understood, 'ideas are the most powerful forces in the world'.
There is a british expression, what confirms this, I think, 'one can do a lot with bayonets, except sit on them'.
So indeed, the USA industrial military complex, against which Eisenhower in his farewell speech already warned, may welcome an ongoing war.
The USA taxpayer pays with money, low income USA citizens also pay with blood and disabilities.This article is based on a false premise – that the USA is an enemy of ISIS and al-Qaeda etc. That is nonsense.Greg Bacon , Website November 21, 2017 at 9:33 am GMTHere is the ex-prime minister of Qatar – an ally of the USA – and one of the richest men in the world admitting that the USA and its allies (including Qatar) created, trained, equipped and financed the terrorists in Syria.
A few days ago, former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar Hamad Bin Jassim in an interview with the BBC announced that his country had been providing all sorts of assistance to the armed opposition groups in Syria through Turkey for years. At the same time, Doha wasn't alone to show its supports to anti-Assad forces, as it was joined by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE and Turkey itself. All this began back in 2007 after Israel suffered a humiliating defeat in South Lebanon, while being unable to overcome Hezbollah's resistance in 2006. According to the former Qatari Prime Minister, Qatar was in charge of the so-called "Syrian Dossier" on behalf of the US and Saudi Arabia, adding that he had access to both American and Saudi paperwork on the staging of a so-called "Syrian civil war."
"Revelations of a High-Profile Qatari Official Reveal a Wider anti-Syria Conspiracy"
300 ISIS thugs moved by the USAF and the CIA into Europe, maybe even the USA, where they can be counted on to be used as patsy's for a decades worth of False Flags, or maybe even let them do the killing and terrorizing, since they have experience in murdering women and children in Syria and Iraq.Z-man , November 21, 2017 at 9:49 am GMTThis is the USG at work, setting up terrorist networks in Syria and Iraq and paying the Taliban off in Afghanistan so they can have an excuse to keep that phony war going, in order to keep US troops there guarding those poppy fields which those TBTF Wall Street banks need so they can launder the illegal drug profits and stay afloat.
Now that the Zionists Yinon Project in Syria has failed, looks like Israel will have to use other intrigues to keep its theft of Syrian and Lebanese land vital and ongoing.The real terrorist isn't some guy shouting Allahu Akbar™ and detonating his suicide vest or driving his truck into people, it's the scuzzy POS USG that has become nothing more than a vicious gangster outfit that is using terrorism to scare the hell out of Americans so we'll keep cowering in fear, while the thieves rob us blind and wreck our economy and nation and get us ever so closer to a state of complete tyranny.
Yeah I noticed that story and I wonder why the BBC didn't follow up with some pointed questions to the US Defense Department, 'slurpy dog' Mattis et al. Are they all in cahoots??LondonBob , November 21, 2017 at 10:01 am GMTThe unspeakable Nikki Haley
LOL and so true. She is Trump's Hillary Rotten Clinton that Obama disappointedly put in at 'State' 9 years ago. Wow, 9 years time flies!
On a side note Charlie Rose is the latest 'celebrity' to get the 'sexual abuse' ax. I had written a post on The Myth of American Meritocracy article by Ron Unz just a few days ago pointing out Charlie Rose's connections to CBS, so double LOL!! Charlie being a crypto Zionist makes his predicament extra special. (Very wide grin)I wonder if Cheney and Rumsfeld are pleased Bush junior has claimed full credit for all his foreign policy disasters. It would be nice if Obama gave up his ludicrous Nobel peace prize and instead offered it to Admiral Fallon.Biff , November 21, 2017 at 10:17 am GMTLets hope those US troops don't go home in body bags, but I am not sure whether there is anyone there to remind Trump of his commitment that US troops were just there to fight IS.
Twodees Partain , November 21, 2017 at 11:51 am GMTNobel Peace Prize winner and U.S. Corporate house negro Barack Obama followed Bush and made it clear that there would be no stepping back from a policy of proactively "protecting" the American people.
There I fixed it for ya. Do you really think that the owners are going to give what they consider a ni ** er from Chicago any real power?
Frontmen stooges – all of them.
It seems that the American "intelligence community" is trying to protect its ISIS forces in order to avoid future problems with recruitment. If they allowed these ISIS soldiers to be captured or killed, they'd have a hard time putting together another such army in the future. Even muslim fanatics would have sense enough to know that they were being set up for abandonment and betrayal should they join the next CIA army in a regime change project..Jake , November 21, 2017 at 12:23 pm GMTThe Saudis would ally with Satan himself, signing in their own blood, agreeing to give tens of thousands of their poorest children to Satan for direct use, as well as promising all the Shia and Christian children they could round up, in order to take out the Assad family and use Syria as Base Camp for the destruction of Iran and Shiite Mohammedanism.jacques sheete , November 21, 2017 at 12:56 pm GMTThe Israelis want the Assads ousted as much as do the Saudis and are as happy as the Saudis to pervert everything they touch in order to get the job done.
The Americans look on with parental delight at the two main products of WASP hegemony over the Middle East, handed from the English to the Yanks.
Sorry to nitpick , PG ,and sorry to be so redundant, but I must once again appeal to authors to quit calling the presstitutes and cesspool media "mainstream."jacques sheete , November 21, 2017 at 1:05 pm GMTIt is the voice of plutoligarchs and is in no rational way, mainstream. The term lends an air of credibility to utter trash when it deserves, instead, to be discredited at every opportunity.
@Twodees PartainIncredulous Phil , November 21, 2017 at 1:11 pm GMTEven muslim fanatics would have sense enough to know that they were being set up for abandonment and betrayal should they join the next CIA army in a regime change project..
This is the first time I've ever seen that concept in print, but it is as valid as it is obvious. I've often wondered what motivated people to sign on with the world's most corrupt entities when it's obvious that they are not and probably never have been reliable or trustworthy partners.
The US betrays its allies, the Arab peoples, just as it betrayed the Philippine freedom fighters (against the Spanish Empire) 20 years previously.:
CAIRO, Egypt, May 27, -- The last hope of 30,000,000 Arabs to win freedom for their race without further bloodshed vanished when cables from Washington announced that the United States had concluded an agreement with Great Britain The Arabs came into the war on the side of the allies against their Turkish co-religionists in- response to the allies' promise of freedom The Arab support" was determined and effective."
Newspaper article by Junius B. Wood on the American recognition of Britain's mandate in Palestine, Chicago Daily News,27 May 1922 (also The Sunday Star, Washington)
http://dcollections.oberlin.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/kingcrane/id/1686/rec/18
this site is an odd mix of excellent analysis and obvious nonsense for angry dullards.Erebus , November 21, 2017 at 1:33 pm GMTthis article is the latter.
"all war is deception" -some Asian fella
keep howling at the moon!
(((they're))) coming for your guns!
hahahahahaaaaa
@Alfredn230099 , November 21, 2017 at 1:36 pm GMTYou beat me to it.
I was going to post this Zerohedge version, which includes parts of the interview in translation, and other juicy tidbits.
Here's another, that dates back to the time when Qatar was isolated by the GCC (probably not a coincidence).
All 3 links are worth reading to get a picture of the resources and organization a rather sordid coalition of govts applied to regime change in Syria, and what their failure may come to mean. Assad stood up against a formidable force, and eventually outsmarted them by putting together an even smarter coalition.
One hopes Syria sues them all for reparations.
This piece hits on something some friends and I spoke of years ago. We said then, this ISIS is the neocolonialists new 'moneymaker'. When ISIS started holding up severed heads they knew they'd found gold or struck oil as they say.Wizard of Oz , November 21, 2017 at 1:50 pm GMT"diminish their most precious liberties". Would you care, PG, to spell out what you mean and why you nominate the particular liberties you identify as "their most precious".neprof , November 21, 2017 at 2:00 pm GMTHow many Americans do you think have been materially affected, and care, and how many care even if not affected personally?
Interesting article about Putin's meeting with Bashar al-Assad at a Sochi resort:Michael Kenny , November 21, 2017 at 2:04 pm GMTPutin to talk to Trump via phone today.
Logically, the US would want to keep on good terms with ISIS so as to be able to use it later against Putin in Syria (or Chechnya!). As always, Putin is the centrepiece of the problem. Ukraine? Syria? Iran? North Korea? No Putin, no problem.DESERT FOX , November 21, 2017 at 2:15 pm GMTThe fact is that ISIS aka AL CIADA was created by the U.S. and Israel and Britain ie the CIA and the MOSSAD and MI 6 to be their proxy mercenaries to do regime change and this is what they did at a cost of thousands of American servicemen and millions of civilians dead and over 6 TRILLION dollars pissed away for the benefit of ISRAEL and the Zionist bankers and the Zionist controlled MIC.Anon , Disclaimer November 21, 2017 at 2:18 pm GMTThe Zionists control the U.S. and this was proven by the coverup of the attack on the USS LIBERTY and the coverup of ISRAELS attack on the WORLD TRADE CENTER on 911, there is no end to the hell that Zionist Israel will inflict on America.
@chrisAvery , November 21, 2017 at 2:20 pm GMTThe Coalition of Dishonest, US & Israel, are trying to protect their investment, ISIS:
"The Russians have, in fact, complained that Washington seemed just a tad disinterested in actually cooperating to destroy the last remnants of ISIS in the few areas that the group still controls, citing most recently an alleged incident during the Syrian government liberation of the town of Abu Kamal in which U.S. air assets on site appear to have allowed ISIS fighters to escape."The US brass has been exposed as a bunch of liars:
"In May, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said on television that the war against ISIS was one of " annihilation. Our intention is that the foreign fighters do not survive the fight to return home to north Africa, to Europe, to America, to Asia, to Africa. We are not going to allow them to do so." Well, Mattis was possibly lying back then, or at least saying what he thought would play well on television and in the newspapers. On November 14th, the day after the BBC story about Raqqa broke, he lied again, saying that the United States is in Syria under a U.N. authorization to fight ISIS, which is not true."The US has become an internationally recognize liar and aggressor. Thanks, Israel.
Meanwhile, in Russia: "I'd like to introduce you to the people who played a key part in saving Syria," Putin told Assad as he introduced the men in green uniforms. "Of course, Mr. Assad knows some of you personally. He told me during our talks today that thanks to the Russian Army, Syria has been saved as a state." Assad used the opportunity to relay the gratitude of his government and the Syrian people to those involved in the two-year operation in the war-torn nation. "I would like to underline the effort made by the armed forces of the Russian Federation, the sacrifices they have made," he said." https://www.rt.com/news/410467-putin-assad-meet-syria/
@Michael KennyAnon , Disclaimer November 21, 2017 at 2:22 pm GMT{ to use it later against Putin in Syria}
You just woke up from hibernation?
US has been using ISIS in Syria for 4-5 years against Assad, and Putin's AF has been chopping the head-choppers to little of chunks of burnt swine.
Unfortunately the number of ISIS cannibals available for pulverizing by RuAF has greatly diminished lately: just when Russian AF was getting warmed up, they ran out of juicy ISIS targets.{(or Chechnya!)}
Wow (!).
Are you delusional or what (!!).Whom does the US military really fight against in Syria? – Not the ISIS, for sure. https://southfront.org/syrian-war-al-bukamal-is-liberated-what-now/Anonymous , Disclaimer November 21, 2017 at 2:24 pm GMT
"The at-Tanf area on the Syrian-Iraqi border is controlled by the US-led coalition and a few US-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups. FSA units are concentrated around the US garrison at at-Tanf and in the nearby refugee camp. The US says that it needs this garrison to fight ISIS while in fact it is just preventing Syria and Iraq from using the Damascus-Baghdad highway as a supply line. US forces respond with airstrikes and shelling to any Syrian Arab Army (SAA) attempts to reach at-Tanf."This is a great article, although it would be easier to understand with ✡proper✡ punctuation, e.g., (((posse of neo-cohens))), (((ISIS))), (((US media))).Anon , Disclaimer November 21, 2017 at 2:28 pm GMT@ErebusAnon , Disclaimer November 21, 2017 at 2:32 pm GMTAgree.
The Nuremberg Protocols have set the precedent for reparations for the Jews.
Syria has been a victim of the US/Israel/Saudis aggression. Time to pay for the destruction and slaughtered civilians of all ages. .@Michael KennyAnon , Disclaimer November 21, 2017 at 3:03 pm GMTIt is not so much the US that "want to keep on good terms with ISIS" in Syria. It is the Jewish state that wants Syria to disintegrate. Have not you heard the Israelis' squealing about "bad Iran?" – Here we are. Israelis/Israel-firsters want to keep the US fighting for Jewish Lebensraum in the Middle East.
@AveryAnon , Disclaimer November 21, 2017 at 3:06 pm GMTHe is just a regular Israel-firster. For Mr. Kenny, the humanity be sacrificed in the name of the apartheid Jewish State.
More on the situation in Syria and the phony "war on terror:" https://www.globalresearch.ca/saudi-israeli-friendship-is-driving-the-rest-of-the-middle-east-together/5619176Zumbuddi , November 21, 2017 at 3:11 pm GMT
"Mohammed bin Salman, son of King Salman, began his internal purge of the Kingdom's elite by removing from the line of succession Bin Nayef, a great friend of the US intelligence establishment (Brennan and Clapper). Bin Nayef was a firm partner of the US deep state. Saudi Arabia has for years worked for the CIA, advancing US strategic goals in the region and beyond. Thanks to the cooperation between Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, Bin Nayef, and US intelligence agencies, Washington has for years given the impression of fighting against Islamist terrorist while actually weaponizing jihadism since the 1980s by deploying it against rival countries like the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, the Iraqi government in 2014, the Syrian state in 2012, and Libya's Gaddafi in 2011 ."I meant to AGREE to #27, not 28.bliss_porsena , November 21, 2017 at 3:34 pm GMTIsrael's evil schemes and malign influence of Izzie lovers are real enough, but the American people have got to grow up & grow a pair -- realize that their representatives are themselves corrupt & warmongering for evil, unlawful motives.
A four-mile long convoy and who stood down the Russkies?Chu , November 21, 2017 at 3:58 pm GMTIt Never endsJoaoAlfaiate , November 21, 2017 at 4:26 pm GMTSimply the continuation of the US policy of Obama/Clinton under a new administration designed to weaken or remove the Syrian Gov't for Israel's benefit. The Israelis routinely treat ISIS and al-Qaeda fighters and return them to the battlefield while shelling the Syrian Arab Army whenever they have an excuse. Same stuff, different day.TruthtellerAryan , November 21, 2017 at 4:37 pm GMTHi PG, great observation. They can't kill all their "hitman thugs", the mass bombing was not done to destroy ISIS, a group that was created by ZIA, Mossad, and Wahabi thugs to destroy the ME, kill as many Muslim civilians and others, and send the rest packing to Europe, while keeping the "fake war on terror " alive and kicking. Russia and Iran have put their noses in a " well thought plan", spoilers that have to be dealt with. But their hands can only reach Iran , except it might burn.anonymous , Disclaimer November 21, 2017 at 4:39 pm GMT
Letting ISIS go unmolested is one proof they are in cahoots
Anyone announcing, "ISIS is our greatest threat " and calling those helping get rid of this threat as a "threat ", that's a definite suspect.
ISIS is only continuing the 9/11 narrative. Iran and Russia have to be stopped at any cost, the Zionists have to fulfill their dreams .@Zumbuddirenfro , November 21, 2017 at 4:43 pm GMTAn idea that the Christian West will exorcise itself from Judenevil, is simply not rooted in reality. See what happened with Christian Italy's opposition to BDS, a moral cause, clearly a Juden vs Muslim cause.
The Christian West fears Islam the most, not as a nations conquering power, but as a spiritual mind conquering power, given Islam's undeniable focus on true monotheism an ideological power which Christendom finds itself impotent against, given it own foundations in pagan polytheism.
Even if we agree that Europeans for the most part will never accept true monotheism, but would rather wallow in the godlessness of Atheism, Gnosticism, or whatever, as is happening now, the fact that by numbers alone Christianity would play second fiddle to Islam, would be psychologically crushing to the supremacist West, a culture which prides its glory on its Christian faith.
The Christian West has no such fear of Judenism, the exclusive membership cult , even if Juden faithful clearly revile their "deity," and his holy mother, herself a perceived "deity," no less. Your nations will always keep Judens close (sure, preferably not inside), because that cult will always remain the implacable enemies of Islam (you know, enemy of my enemy, and all).
So, why does the Christian West fear Islam's consistent message of True Monotheism? Because, I believe most Christians know that at its core, their faith is simply, Polytheism.
" I think that Washington, which has done so little to defeat ISIS, wants some threat to continue so it can keep its own "resistance forces" in place and active to give it a seat at the table and a voice at the upcoming Geneva discussions for a political settlement in Syria.">>TruthtellerAryan , November 21, 2017 at 4:50 pm GMTYou are 100% Philip.
And Isr'merica has to keep terriers alive and well to continue 'the threat' to civilization.@DESERT FOXAnon , Disclaimer November 21, 2017 at 5:07 pm GMTRight on. And all the espionage that have been going on and covered up for decades.
Jews or Jewish "converts" in the thousands from France and other European countries have joined ISIS, which should tell you all there is to know about ISIS. Only reason for a Muslim to join ISIS is if they are a government agent of a Western or West-supported puppet country . any other type of Muslim joining this CIA created bullshit called "isis" is just plain a hopeless foolSane Left Libertarian , November 21, 2017 at 5:08 pm GMTWe're probably now in a permanent state of war, until we go the way of the USSR. With fewer and fewer civilian peacetime jobs that actually pay the rent available, the MIMC (Military-Industrial-Media Complex) is the only thing keeping the economy from flatlining. As others have pointed out, cui bono? Read Kevin Phillips' House of Bush, House of Saud for some background. You can bet the Bush family is making money off of it.Talha , November 21, 2017 at 5:08 pm GMT@anonymousTruthtellerAryan , November 21, 2017 at 5:10 pm GMTThe Christian West fears Islam the most
I think you are making this far too intellectual. I don't think many people operate at this level.
The reason why most people in the West fear Islam is likely because too many Muslims have done a piss-poor job in becoming boons for their host countries and too many act like jack-asses (and dangerous ones at that).
Our community needs to do some serious self-reflection and reign in some of the idiot youth we have running around before we start taking it up to the level of debate about theological points. Nobody's going to listen to you debate Trinitarianism if they are afraid you're looking to steal their lunch money.
Read up on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs
You are trying to punch way above where we are at right now. Trust me, people who are dissatisfied with Trinitariansim don't need advertising.
Wa salaam.
@Michael KennyAstuteobservor II , November 21, 2017 at 5:42 pm GMTTroll!!!!
the goal is to mess syria up, just like libya, iraq and all the other countries in the ME. for the 17 years of continuous wars waged by the us, the ME will take at least a few decades just to recover to pre 2003 lvls. and the 17 years isn't the end. this will continue. turkey almost got taken over in a us backed insurrection. when russia got involved in syria, that wasn't just a wrench in the american planning cogs, that was like a wrecking ball.Cloak And Dagger , November 21, 2017 at 5:42 pm GMTwhen I look at pictures and videos of the devastation, I get the feeling we are evil as fuck as a country.
ps: look at yemen. that is a proxi war too by using SA. all the deaths in that country is also on us.
@Michael KennyCloak And Dagger , November 21, 2017 at 5:43 pm GMTWere you born an idiot or did you go to college?
@ChuFlavius , November 21, 2017 at 6:00 pm GMTSomething tells me that the end is approaching. It won't be pleasant for us, though.
It's not or what, Phil. It's incorrigible stupidity.Anon , Disclaimer November 21, 2017 at 6:30 pm GMT
When the US Government playmaker is an amalgam of the Quiet and the Ugly American and has charged himself with 'doing something about' changing political and social conditions in a country he knows nothing about, considers himself too superior to learn anything about, and knows that he personally will be immune from the consequences of failure, decapitation as a policy comes readily and easily to his mind: Ngo Dinh Diem; Saddam Hussein; Muammar Qaddafi. Sometimes when decapitation seems to be not immediately practicable, he takes out an option on the future with mere demonization: Assad; of course Putin; countless others.
But this has to be on Trump. Russia, China and the far east, the Middle East are now policy realities that are unfolding on his watch. He entered office without political friends and surrounded himself with generals and family whose only favorable qualification is that they are not generals: the very predictable results have not been impressive. I can only surmise that the execrable Nikki Haley holds a chip against her firing. The woman cannot open her mouth without causing real fear that there is literally no reasonable person in our entire foreign policy apparatus who is holding the reins.
The trajectory does not look good. If there is someone out there who could point to a calamity averting firewall in this Administration, a George Schultz, a Jim Baker, just somebody who is recognizably adult, stable and sane and is not a general, I would very much like to know who it is. I would sleep better.@Michael KennyAnon , Disclaimer November 21, 2017 at 6:40 pm GMTIsraeli parasite: http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2017/11/httpssouthfrontorgisraels-military-expenditures-and-military-industrial-complex-overview-and-dynamics.html
"The biggest element of US-Israeli military-technical cooperation is military aid. Israel is the main recipient of US military aid in the form of grants and direct deliveries of equipment on advantageous terms. Since 1976, Israel has been the biggest recipient of annual US aid, and since 1987 of US military aid. In addition, by some estimates Israel receives $1 billion a year in the form of charity contributions, and a similar sum through short- and long-term funds. US provide aid to Israel in various forms: Foreign Military Sales, Direct Commercial Sales, Excess Defense Articles, and also funds to support research and development. Moreover, the Foreign Military Financing program implemented by the US Department of State has become, over the years, the largest of all such programs implemented by the US. One should note that, for example, out of $5.7 billion budgeted for this program in 2014, $3.1 went to Israel, In other words, Israel obtains more military assistance through this program than the rest of the world combined. This sum does not include the financing for Israel's ABM programs, which are estimated at another $500 million. Unlike other programs, FMF allows Israel to spend up to 25% of US-provided funding on own military programs. All other countries receiving military aid must spend it only on US weapons and equipment."@DESERT FOXphil , November 21, 2017 at 7:13 pm GMTFrom Sic Semper Tyrannis: http://turcopolier.typepad.com
" what's theirs [Israelis] is theirs, and what's yours is theirs as well. I don't doubt that US government gifts to Israel benefit American defense industry, but these gifts come right out of the pocket of the American taxpayer and what do we get for it? Israeli forces are in no way at the disposition of the US. They are not assets of American policy. Israel sees itself as an self-defining island in the world and the only real home for Jews. As such it thinks it cannot afford to be sentimental about any predominately gentile state, in other words, all others. And then, there is the repeated phenomenon of Israel either skirting the provisions of proprietary agreements about equipment sales or shared R&D or simply outright violations of these agreements in sales to third parties."
– In short, Israelis are cheaters and thieves and no friends to the US; they are just parasites.@Incredulous PhilAnon , Disclaimer November 21, 2017 at 7:25 pm GMTPlease improve the site by making constructive comments.
I guess the Iranian president's statement is premature then.Zumbuddi , November 21, 2017 at 7:25 pm GMT@anonymousArt , November 21, 2017 at 7:57 pm GMTAgree with Talha that you are over thinking the situation. Wouldn't have used the Maslow thing, but no matter --
imo religion-theology-sectarian conflict are at the bottom of barrel in explaining the wars.
Muslims are pissed at USA/West because USA/WEST INVADED them & killed their people. It's not much more complicated then that.
It is hideous that Islam is demonized and Muslims made the fall guy -- that is a specialty of Jews–drumming up gut-level hate. Other cultures use propaganda in war -- Romans did,Napoleon was a master propagandist.
But Jews (no, not Nazis/ Goebbels but Jews)own the franchise on ginning up hate.In the '60s and '70s US universities overflowed with Iranian Paki Indian grad students. It was a dynamic time. Now Jews are all over our best universities & it"s ugly.
But my original point was, American citizens have to take responsibility for the CRIMES of their leaders.
@Cloak And DaggerDelinquent Snail , November 21, 2017 at 8:10 pm GMTCouldn't we, once more, become manufacturers and traders, rather than mercenaries for Israel? That would Make America Great Again .
Sorry – but Trump has one giant chink in his armor – he is Netanyahu's fluffer – he supports the Jew's hardon for humanity.
Think Peace -- Art
@MEexpertDelinquent Snail , November 21, 2017 at 8:14 pm GMTPretty sure the people of spain would disagree with "Before the Palestinian issue there were no hijackings, kidnappings, or killings of non-Muslim by Muslims. This started when the benevolent Western nations got rid of the Jews from the Europe and put them in the Middle east." the crusades werent just Christians fighting Muslims, muslims pushed back and did more damage then the european Christians did.
@AnonDelinquent Snail , November 21, 2017 at 8:27 pm GMT" US/Israel/Saudis aggression. Time to pay for the destruction .."
As long as payment is put up by our "leaders" and not the average american, i agree. Start building the gallows!
@jacques sheetec matt , November 21, 2017 at 8:31 pm GMTIt is the mainstream tho. We know it is bullshit, but its still the main "news" outlet. They controll the narrative, and they have the majority of listeners/watchers. That makes them mainstream.
Mainstream doesn't have to mean "good", "honest" or "accurate", just popular and widely consumed.
@MEexpertDelinquent Snail , November 21, 2017 at 8:45 pm GMTI could have never imagined that the United States will lose every fiber of decency and morality for the sake of few AIPAC dollars.
Imagination has nothing to do with it – it is simple observation.
@anonymousGrandpa Charlie , November 21, 2017 at 9:01 pm GMTYou have a high opinion of westerners. Most are too dumb or busy to even look at the differences between islam and whatever the west believes.
If all peoples would just abandon the religions of their grandfathers and take responsibility for their actions in life (instead of taking a back seat and allowing a mythical "judge" to have a say after death), this planet would be a better place.
Most people agree that kindness, decency and respect are the cornerstones of all the moral principles that religions impose on their followers. So why do we need the mythical stories and outdated traditions to be good?
@MEexpertAnon , Disclaimer November 21, 2017 at 9:20 pm GMT"Iran has nuclear weapons" etc.
"These are few of the lies that have been told by our politicians and the MSM. Just ask any average American and he will tell you that yes these are true statements."
-- MEexpert
MEexpert must not live in USA. If you ask "any average American" who lives in this country about such things, he will probably mutter a perfunctory "yeah, right," and then walk away from you, thinking to himself, "ay-ho", meaning "AH".
Percentage of Americans with any confidence in Congress? Maybe just barely in double digits, and maybe not. Same for MSM oh, sure, some people still have their favorite TV news channel, but that's only because talking heads can't say often enough that it's all BS, present company excepted and anyway very few people watch any TV news. Those that do are partisan and get told by their favorite talking head exactly what they think they want to hear.
So if you ask a guy if Iran has nukes, he'll likely say, "Yeah, sure" but he will actually be remembering that it came out a few years ago that Iran had no WMDs. And then if you ask, "Iran and Iraq: they're the same country, aren't they?" he'll likely say, "Yeah, sure." And now with Iraq having a Shiite government, that'll be pretty much true see how that works .. like a stopped clock just give it some time and it will be accurate, at least for a while. But if you would wind up the clock, it would still work, it's just that nobody winds anything up any more . it's all battery powered .or maybe solar
"Braindead"? It's more like parts of the brain have been put to sleep. Those parts can be woke in an election year to temporarily take some interest, but now that the election is old news, we return to the basic truth: "nobody cares."
Politics? Don't ask, don't tell -- that's the policy of Joe Sixpack. Sally Sixpack? "Trump is a serial groper, it's disgusting." To which, Joe says, "Yeah sure."
Americans are practical people. A lot of guys, if you get to where you are exposing the whole rotten system, they'll say, "Well, let me know where we're going to form up, and I'll grab a couple of my guns and meet you there."
"Yeah, sure."
@Delinquent SnailChuckOrloski , November 21, 2017 at 9:26 pm GMTFirst, we should redirect the hefty allowance for Israel to the restoration of Syria.
Meanwhile, Israel continues protecting ISIS and invading Syria: http://thesaker.is/syrian-war-report-november-20-2017-government-troops-liberated-al-bukamal-from-isis/
"In southern Syria, the SAA entered into the villages of Kafr Hawar, Bayt Sabir, Baytima and established control over them. HTS militants had withdrawn from the area thanks to the SAA actions and protests of the locals. Israel responded to the SAA operations with two shelling incidents from its battle tanks. The first took place on November 18. The second was reported on November 20. The SAA suffered no casualties. Tel Aviv is upset that the Syrian government is restoring control over the areas previously seized by militants."Hey Phil,Jake , November 21, 2017 at 9:29 pm GMTMust assert what the American-Israeli military did with ISIS is far from "stupid."
Such action was practical.
Copying the genius of Henry Ford, the leftover ISIS remnant is become interchangeable parts which can get readily reactivated within the next popularized wave of "Radical Islam" which will likely appear in order to wage merciless war , uh on Lebanon.
I am figuring (brand name) al-Qaeda will soon get a curtain call.
Thank you very much.
@jacques sheeteJake , November 21, 2017 at 9:33 pm GMTThe US betrays its allies because that is what the English did. Palmerston may have expressed it best: "We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow."
It's a WASP imperial thing.
@Delinquent SnailOne Tribe , November 21, 2017 at 9:39 pm GMTMarx, Lenin, Trotsky, Mao, Fanon, Marcuse, and Soros agree with your Deep Thoughts 100%.
Delinquent understanding of history:Jake , November 21, 2017 at 9:42 pm GMT"Pretty sure the people of spain would disagree with "Before the Palestinian issue there were no hijackings, kidnappings, or killings of non-Muslim by Muslims."
You should carefully validate your historical ' facts ', especially when describing "hijackings, kidnappings, or killings of non-Muslim", in Spain after the Islamic 'Moorish' conquest; try Douglas Reed "The Controversy of Zion" p.89 ish at: https://archive.org/details/TheControversyOfZion
You will see how events of our current era from 1800, follow a pattern traceable for 25 centuries.
@anonymousjjc , November 21, 2017 at 9:48 pm GMTChristianity is Trinitarianism. Mohammedanism is a Gnostic heresy of both Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism, mixed together with some nicely disguised aspects of Arabic paganism.
The purpose of ISIS was to provide a rationale for the reestablishment of US/NATO permanent military bases in Iraq and also Syria. Statements made during the year or so after ISIS appeared and before Russia's intervention in 2015 consistently referred to a "30 year" time period required by US/NATO forces to ultimately defeat ISIS. During that year, US/NATO never attempted to disrupt ISIS' supply lines or interdict the Gulf States' funding of the group, all the while the Western media was constantly publishing ISIS atrocity videos and politicians were claiming the fight against ISIS was the most important struggle of all.Art , November 21, 2017 at 10:49 pm GMTIn my opinion, the sudden release of Syrian refugees into Europe in September 2015, after they had been warehoused in Turkey until that moment, was meant to serve as a manufactured crisis which would lead to the insertion of a large US/NATO force into Iraq and Syria with both a "humanitarian" pretext and the fight against ISIS, leading to military bases,Syrian regime change, and probably from there the targeting of Hezbollah and later Iran. Russia's sudden intervention prevented this scenario from playing out.
@MEexpertTwodees Partain , November 21, 2017 at 10:59 pm GMTI could have never imagined that the United States will lose every fiber of decency and morality for the sake of few AIPAC dollars.
MEexpert,
The AIPAC stick is much mightier then the AIPAC carrot. It is amazing for how little these politicians sell out America.
The Jew MSM has the hammer. (All the media types live in fear of the Jew – just like the politicians.)
Think Peace -- Art
@jacques sheeteRJJCDA , November 21, 2017 at 11:45 pm GMTYes, there's a long history of this kind of betrayal by the US government. I can only guess that Saudi agents ran the front end of the recruitment of ISIS. Otherwise it's a little hard to feature so many of these foot soldiers coming to join the mission.
Thanks for the excerpt and the link.
The game (and perceived necessity) is to block China.Renoman , November 21, 2017 at 11:50 pm GMTDraw a horizontal line from the Chinese population centers below Beijing westward and you go through the "stans," Iran, under the Caspian Sea, and finally to Syria. This will be the the One Belt, One Road, the new Silk Road, etc., with rails, pipelines and what not.
It is no accident that the action is near the western terminus of that line. If implemented, future world dominance could be achieved.
USA, what an embarrassing Country.Cygnus , November 21, 2017 at 11:58 pm GMTThanks for this article; it seems to show the activities of the war profiteers; those who own shares in the armament industries, and those who loan money to countries to pay these armament indusries. They are probably the same group of people. Perpetual war as a business model.LauraMR , November 21, 2017 at 11:59 pm GMT@Fran MacadamIvy Mike , November 22, 2017 at 12:01 am GMTNo, it isn't accurate.
Consider this:
Americans have been living in a country that has not known peace since 9/11,
Now, tell me. When was the last decade our country was not at war? The 20′s?
The early photos of Isis on the move showed them in shiny new white Toyota pickups. Looks like they've learned to camouflage them. Sinister and brilliant.ChuckOrloski , November 22, 2017 at 12:49 am GMT@Twodees PartainAnon , Disclaimer November 22, 2017 at 1:30 am GMTHey Twodees Partain,
Uh , practical "Muslim fanatics" need to find work too!
Does the official 9/11 report claim that the hijackers got help from the Saud royals?
(Zigh) Who the hell really knows who were Mohammed Atta's alleged handlers in Hamburg, Germany?
At the time, Germany was host to five-star military bases under leftover WW II treaties. Hm. Where were CIA and Mossad HQ' s located in Hamburg.
(Zigh) Even lookalike Mohammed Atta' s must had difficulty in figuring out exactly who wanted to employ them.
Can one imagine a washed-up ISIS warrior somehow gaining entry into uh, say Scranton, and undergoing a "dream" terror-job search? (Zigh) Joining up would depend upon (up front) receipt of a "sign-on" bonus check that did not bounce. (Zigh)
Pardon my cynicism, and thanks Twodees Partain for the solid thinking!
@ChuckOrloskiAnon , Disclaimer November 22, 2017 at 1:37 am GMTHere is a nice outline on training American Fifth column by Israel-firsters -- "The U.S. Military as a Zionist Organization," by Shoshana Bryen: https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/2017/11/20/u-s-military-zionist-organization/
"I have taken more than 400 American security professionals – primarily retired American Admirals and Generals – to Israel in more than 30 trips. And at the other end of their careers, I have sent more than 500 cadets and midshipmen of our service academies to Israel before they received their commissions. I never found one that didn't believe in the relationship between Jews and the land of Israel. The United States military, then, is a Zionist institution ."
Rejoyce, Americans -- Israel-firsters are satisfied with your brass.@JakeChuckOrloski , November 22, 2017 at 1:40 am GMTHe does not profess zionism – what's your problem?
@jjcRurik , November 22, 2017 at 1:59 am GMTjjc,
The V.T. article linked below goes deep into what scary war is about to be launched perhaps prior to the New Year.
Thanks very much for your logical thought process which is appreciated here.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-21/putin-holds-surprise-meeting-assad-will-call-trump-phone-later-tuesdaySolontoCroesus , November 22, 2017 at 2:04 am GMT@RJJCDADESERT FOX , November 22, 2017 at 2:26 am GMTIs the Yemen war to do with the Bridge of the Horns project that bin Laden family is spearheading?
@Anonjacques sheete , November 22, 2017 at 2:37 am GMTIsrael will destroy America, just as a parasite eventually kills its host, so shall Israel kill America.
@Delinquent Snailjacques sheete , November 22, 2017 at 2:41 am GMTIt is the mainstream tho.
Still, using the term legitimizes it somewhat more than it deserves. And it supports the agendas of the plutoligarchs and they are not mainstream by any means.
@Jakeanon , Disclaimer November 22, 2017 at 2:45 am GMTIt's a WASP imperial thing.
I do not disagree, but I would add that it's a Zionist (not necessarily Jewish) imperial thing as well.
The surviving jihadists are pretty much stateless; there's no going back to their home countries now. The promised caliphate they expected to live in didn't materialize. They are now totally dependent on whoever is willing to shelter them which makes them a useful commodity for the US. They can be held on the back burner until the next project comes along. There's all sorts of countries that could become the next target should they refuse to capitulate to US demands. They're all probably being secreted in various places awaiting a call.Joe Wong , November 22, 2017 at 3:57 am GMT
It's a mistaken notion that the US is against radical Islam. On the contrary it not only wants it but tries to create it. Look at it's assembling of zealots to fight in Afghanistan against the Russians and the use of them against secular nationalist in Islamic areas. ISIS fanatics are deluded cannon-fodder, not realizing they're just furthering US aims, the US working through various fronts so as to hide the actual authorship of what's taking place.Anon , Disclaimer November 22, 2017 at 4:46 am GMTAmericans have been living in a country that has not known peace since 9/11,
This is simply not true. War has not happened in the USA since the American Civil War 160 years ago. All wars the American military fought since then are fought in somebody else homeland, those wars to the Americans are just some kind of odd news competing eyeballs with pro sport news, celebrity gossips, gun violence or commercials, if they did not read it, those wars never happen, never heard of it, and it is out of sight and out of mind, the wars have nothing to do with them. The USA itself is all peaceful other than occasional gun violence.
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/translated-doc-debunks-narrative-of-al-qaeda-iran-alliance/
Nov 22, 2017 | original.antiwar.com
Investigative journalist Gareth Porter has published two exclusives whose import is far greater than may be immediately apparent. They concern Israel's bombing in 2007 of a supposed nuclear plant secretly built, according to a self-serving US and Israeli narrative, by Syrian leader Bashar Assad.
Although the attack on the "nuclear reactor" occurred a decade ago, there are pressing lessons to be learnt for those analyzing current events in Syria.
Porter's research indicates very strongly that the building that was bombed could not have been a nuclear reactor – and that was clear to experts at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) even as the story was being promoted uncritically across the western media.
But – and this is the critical information Porter conveys – the IAEA failed to disclose the fact that it was certain the building was not a nuclear plant, allowing the fabricated narrative to be spread unchallenged. It abandoned science to bow instead to political expediency.
The promotion of the bogus story of a nuclear reactor by Israel and key figures in the Bush administration was designed to provide the pretext for an attack on Assad. That, it was hoped, would bring an end to his presidency and drag into the fray the main target – Iran. The Syrian "nuclear reactor" was supposed to be a rerun of the WMD deception, used in 2003 to oust another enemy of the US and Israel's – Saddam Hussein of Iraq.
It is noteworthy that the fabricated evidence for a nuclear reactor occurred in 2007, a year after Israel's failure to defeat Hizbullah in Lebanon. The 2006 Lebanon war was itself intended to spread to Syria and lead to Assad's overthrow, as I explained in my book Israel and the Clash of Civilisations .
It is important to remember that this Israeli-neocon plot against Syria long predated – in fact, in many ways prefigured – the civil war in 2011 that quickly morphed into a proxy war in which the US became a key, if mostly covert, actor.
The left's Witchfinder General
The relevance of the nuclear reactor deception can be understood in relation to the latest efforts by Guardian columnist George Monbiot (and many others) to discredit prominent figures on the left, including Noam Chomsky and John Pilger, for their caution in making assessments of much more recent events in Syria. Monbiot has attacked them for not joining him in simply assuming that Assad was responsible for a sarin gas attack last April on Khan Sheikhoun, an al-Qaeda stronghold in Idlib province.
Understandably, many on the left have been instinctively wary of rushing to judgment about individual incidents in the Syrian war, and the narratives presented in the western media. The claim that Assad's government used chemical weapons in Khan Sheikhoun, and earlier in Ghouta, was an obvious boon to those who have spent more than a decade trying to achieve regime change in Syria.
In what has become an ugly habit with Monbiot, and one I have noted before, he has enthusiastically adopted the role of Witchfinder General. Any questioning of evidence, skepticism or simply signs of open-mindedness are enough apparently to justify accusations that one is an Assadist or conspiracy theorist. Giving house room to the doubts of a ballistics expert like Ted Postol of MIT, or an experienced international arms expert like Scott Ritter, or a famous investigative journalist like Seymour Hersh, or a former CIA analyst like Ray McGovern, is apparently proof that one is an atrocity denier or worse.
Inconvenient facts buried
Monbiot's latest attack was launched at a moment when he obviously felt he was on solid ground. A UN agency, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), issued a report last month concluding that the 100 people killed and 200 injured in Khan Sheikhoun last April were exposed to sarin. Monbiot argues that the proof is now incontrovertible that Assad was responsible – a position that he, of course, adopted at the outset – and that all other theories have now been decisively discounted by the OPCW .
There are reasons to think that Monbiot is seriously misrepresenting the strength of the OPCW's findings, as several commentators have observed. Most notably, Robert Parry, another leading investigative journalist, points out that evidence in the report's annex – the place where inconvenient facts are often buried – appears to blow a large hole in the official story.
Parry notes that the time recorded by the UN of the photo of the chemical weapons attack is more than half an hour after some 100 victims had already been admitted to five different hospitals, some of them lengthy drives from the alleged impact site.
But potentially more significant than such troubling inconsistencies are the conclusions of Gareth Porter's separate investigation into Israel's bombing of the nonexistent Syrian nuclear reactor. That gets to the heart of where Monbiot and many others have gone badly wrong in their certainty about events in Syria.
Extreme naivety
Monbiot has been only too willing to promote as indisputable fact claims made both by highly compromised and unreliable western sources and by supposedly reputable and independent organizations, such as international human rights groups and UN agencies. He, like many others, assumes that the latter can always be relied upon to stand apart from western interests and can therefore be implicitly trusted.
That indicates an extreme naivety or possibly the lack of any experience covering on the ground highly charged conflicts in which western interests are paramount.
I have been based in Israel for nearly two decades and have on several occasions taken to task Human Rights Watch (HRW), one of the world's most esteemed human rights organizations. I have shown that assessments it has made were patently not rooted in evidence or even credible interpretations of international law but in geopolitical considerations. That was especially true in the case of the month-long fighting between Israel and Hizbullah in 2006. (See here and here .) My concerns about HRW's work, I later learnt from insiders, were shared in its New York head office, but were silenced by the organization's most senior staff.
Nuclear plant deception
But Porter helps shine a light on how even the most reputable international agencies can end up similarly following a script written in Washington and one that rides roughshod over evidence, especially when the interests of the world's only superpower are at stake. In this case, the deceptions were perpetuated by one of the world's leading scientific organizations: the International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors states' nuclear activities.
Porter reveals that Yousry Abushady, the IAEA's foremost expert on North Korean nuclear reactors, was able immediately to discount the aerial photographic evidence that the building Israel bombed in 2007 was a nuclear reactor. (Most likely it was a disused missile storage depot.)
The Syrian "nuclear plant", he noted, could not have been built using North Korean know-how, as was claimed by the US. It lacked all the main features of a North Korean gas-cooled reactor. The photos produced by the Israelis showed a building that, among other things, covered too small an area and was not anywhere near high enough, it had none of the necessary supporting structures, and there was no cooling tower.
Abushady's assessment was buried by the IAEA, which preferred to let the CIA and the Israelis promote their narrative unchallenged.
Atomic agency's silence
This was not a one-off failure. In summer 2008, the IAEA visited the area to collect samples. Had the site been a nuclear plant, they could have expected to find nuclear-grade graphite particles everywhere. They found none. Nonetheless, the IAEA again perpetrated a deception to try to prop up the fictitious US-Israeli narrative.
As was routine, they sent the samples to a variety of laboratories for analysis. None found evidence of any nuclear contamination – apart from one. It identified particles of man-made uranium. The IAEA issued a report giving prominence to this anomalous sample, even though in doing so it violated its own protocols, reports Parry . It could draw such a conclusion only if the results of all the samples matched.
In fact, as one of the three IAEA inspectors who had been present at the site later reported, the sample of uranium did not come from the plant itself, which was clean, but from a changing room nearby. A former IAEA senior inspector, Robert Kelley, told Parry that a "very likely explanation" was that the uranium particles derived from "cross contamination" from clothing worn by the inspectors. This is a problem that had been previously noted by the IAEA in other contexts.
Meanwhile, the IAEA remained silent about its failure to find nuclear-grade graphite in a further nine reports over two years. It referred to this critical issue for the first time in 2011.
Chance for war with Iran
In other words, the IAEA knowingly conspired in a fictitious, entirely nonscientific assessment of the Syrian "nuclear reactor" story, one that neatly served US-Israeli geopolitical interests.
Porter notes that vice-president Dick Cheney "hoped to use the alleged reactor to get President George W Bush to initiate US airstrikes in Syria in the hope of shaking the Syrian-Iranian alliance".
In fact, Cheney wanted far more sites in Syria hit than the bogus nuclear plant. In his memoirs, the then-secretary of defense, Robert Gates, observed that Cheney was "looking for an opportunity to provoke a war with Iran".
The Bush administration wanted to find a way to unseat Assad, crush Hizbullah in Lebanon, and isolate and weaken Iran as a way to destroy the so-called "Shia crescent".
That goal is being actively pursued again by the US today, with Israel and Saudi Arabia leading the way. A former US ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, recently warned that , after their failure to bring down Assad, the Saudis have been trying to switch battlefields to Lebanon, hoping to foment a confrontation between Israel and Hizbullah that would drag in Iran.
Abandoning science
Back in 2007, the IAEA, an agency of scientists, did its bit to assist – or at least not obstruct – US efforts to foster a political case, an entirely unjustified one, for military action against Syria and, very possibly by extension, Iran.
If the IAEA could so abandon its remit and the cause of science to help play politics on behalf of the US, what leads Monbiot to assume that the OPCW, an even more politicized body, is doing any better today?
That is not to say Assad, or at least sections of the Syrian government, could not have carried out the attack on Khan Sheikhoun. But it is to argue that in a matter like this one, where so much is at stake, the evidence must be subjected to rigorous scrutiny, and that critics, especially experts who offer counter-evidence, must be given a fair hearing by the left. It is to argue that, when the case against Assad fits so neatly a long-standing and self-serving western narrative, a default position of skepticism is fully justified. It is to argue that facts, strong as they may seem, can be manipulated even by expert bodies, and therefore due weight needs also to be given to context – including an assessment of motives.
This is not "denialism", as Monbiot claims. It is a rational strategy adopted by those who object to being railroaded once again – as they were in Iraq and Libya – into catastrophic regime change operations.
Meanwhile, the decision by Monbiot and others to bury their heads in the sands of an official narrative, all the while denouncing anyone who seeks to lift theirs out for a better view, should be understood for what it is: an abnegation of intellectual and moral responsibility for those around the globe who continue to be the victims of western military supremacism.
Jonathan Cook won the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His latest books are Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East (Pluto Press) and Disappearing Palestine: Israel's Experiments in Human Despair (Zed Books). His website is www.jonathan-cook.net .
Read more by Jonathan Cook Israel Lobby Is Slowly Being Dragged Into the Light – November 13th, 2017 Why Israel Supports Kurdish Independence – October 4th, 2017 Clinton's Defeat and the 'Fake News' Conspiracy – December 18th, 2016 Adam Curtis: Another Manager of Perceptions – October 20th, 2016 In the US, Money Talks When It Comes to Israel – July 20th, 2016
Nov 22, 2017 | www.unz.com
survey-of-disinfo , November 20, 2017 at 1:50 pm GMT@ErebusJust imagine what songs Bandar Bush is singing in "the Ritz" these days. Want to sue Saudi Arabia for money because of 9/11? No problem, judge. Here are the names, here are the numbers, and here are the facts.
Disagree regarding multipolar order. The super structures for Globalism are untouched in all this theatrical displays. All parties seem to participate actively in key Globalist institutions.
Petrodollar is not and was never a component of NWO. It was an instrument of American supremacy. There are no planned superpowers in the NWO vision. Only Super-Institutions .