April 14th, 2016
by Stephen Lendman.
US installed Ukrainian PM Yatsenyuk is out. Did he resign or was he ousted? The latter most likely to install a new puppet, serving Washington’s interests, using the country as a dagger targeting Russia’s heartland.
Media scoundrels tell readers and viewers everything except what they most need to know – the truth about major world and national issues directly or indirectly affecting their lives and welfare.
Commenting on Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s ouster, The
New York Times ignored Washington’s February 2014 coup, Nazi putschists replacing democratic governance – referring instead to Ukraine’s nonexistent “revolution.”
So-called Maidan protests were made in the USA, things staged to look like popular anger. So-called “heady days of the pro-European street movement” The Times cited never existed.
Most IMF and other Western supplied financial aid disappeared into a black hole of corruption, Yatsenyuk’s dirty hands grabbing all he could along with other regime thugs.
The
Washington Post highlighted Ukraine’s “worst political crisis since (Obama’s coup it called) the ‘Euromaidan’ revolution of 2014.”
It noted his force-fed austerity, enforcing IMF diktats, colluding with corrupt oligarchs – ignoring what’s most important.
The problem with Ukraine is US installed Nazi infested governance, the nation used to serve Washington’s imperial interests.
The
Wall Street Journal said Yatsenyuk’s “resign(ation) open(s) the way for the formation of a new government and the potential for urgently needed reforms” without explaining putschist regimes have no legitimacy.
Nazis replaced democrats, waging war on their own people. Donbass freedom fighters reject fascist governance. Their liberating struggle deserves universal support.
Western media perpetuate the myth of legitimate Ukrainian governance, ignoring Washington’s role in installing it.
The scourge of fascism returned to Europe’s heartland for the first time since WW II – making the horror of another global one more possible.
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April 3rd, 2016
by Stephen Lendman.
America is a one-party state with two wings, its bipartisan supported rogue state agenda threatening world peace, its money controlled electoral process too corrupted to fix.
Democracy is pure fantasy. Voters have no say whatever. Party bosses complicit with Wall Street, war profiteers and other corporate interests decide who’ll be president, hold top congressional posts and be chosen for the nation’s courts, notably its highest.
Government in America serves its privileged class exclusively. No matter who succeeds Obama, the incumbent will follow tradition.
Trump is like the rest. His unorthodox style makes him appear different. He didn’t become a billionaire by being anti-establishment.
His one redeeming quality is he’s less likely to start WW III than Clinton. As a businessman, he’d rather make money than war, but make no mistake.
America has been at war internally and/or abroad every year in its history since before gaining independence from Britain – notably post-9/11 in multiple theaters.
Trump won’t change a thing. Wars of aggression called democracy building and humanitarian intervention will continue – at best maybe fewer in number than if Clinton succeeds Obama, the most recklessly pro-war US political operative in memory.
Power brokers oppose Trump because he sounds anti-establishment, unsure if they can entirely control him.
He’s used to being boss, likely unwilling to let others do his decision-making, the way Washington works.
Big money is mobilized to stop him. Protests targeting his rallies are staged. Paid operatives are involved.
Congressional Trump supporter Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY) says they’re part of the “Democrat playbook…There’s no question. These are paid protesters…not a bunch of college kids showing up because they’ve got an issue here or there.”
A previous article explained longtime Democrat party supporter George Soros’ involvement, financing anti-Trump protests, planning disruptive actions in April.
Republican Big Money aims to derail him, perhaps part of a bipartisan effort. Reports suggest people are being paid to protest.
Arizona resident Paul Horner said he was paid “$3,500 to protest Trump’s rally in Fountain Hills” (AR).
He “answered a Craigslist ad…about a group needing actors for a political event. (He) interviewed with them and got the part.”
He thinks Hillary Clinton’s campaign hired him, saying “(t)he actual check I received after I was done with the job was from a group called ‘Women Are The Future.’ “
“After I was hired, they told me if anyone asked any questions about who I was with or communicated with me in any way, I should start talking about how great Bernie Sanders is.”
“Almost all of the people I was protesting with I had seen at my interview and training class.”
“At the rally, talking with some of them, I learned they only paid Latinos $500, Muslims $600 and African Americans $750.”
“I don’t think they were looking for any Asians. Women and children were paid half of what the men got and illegals received $300 across the board.”
“I think I was paid more than the other protesters because I was white and had taken classes in street fighting and boxing a few years back.”
Horner explained he and others completed a six-hour training class before Trump’s scheduled rally, instructed on how to act.
Republicans have been involved in their own dirty tricks. So far, everything thrown at Trump hasn’t stuck.
He’s a deplorable choice for president but so are the other duopoly aspirants, Clinton arguably the most ruthless and dangerous.
Most likely, she and Trump will contest for the presidency in November. Days earlier,
Politico called Trump’s Republican adversaries “dazed and demoralized,” millions of dollars spent to undermine him so far failed.
“(T)here’s growing worry” that using a brokered convention to stop him “could be traumatic for the party,” said Politico.
He’s far and away the most popular Republican choice. Manipulating convention delegates to stop him could be hugely disruptive, conceding the election to Clinton.
Perhaps Republican power brokers prefer her to a Trump administration.
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March 28th, 2016
by Stephen Lendman.
Western presstitutes I call media scoundrels make street whores look good by comparison – bashing Russia relentlessly, substituting state-sponsored propaganda for responsible journalism.
Print and electronic media march in lockstep, mouthpieces for power, blasting Big Lies worldwide about nonexistent “Russian aggression,” Russian hoards threatening Europe, Russian warplanes in Syria killing nonexistent “moderate rebels” and civilians, not ISIS and other terrorist fighters.
Hillary Clinton compared Putin to Hitler. She’s militantly anti-Russian. If elected president to succeed Obama, maybe direct confrontation will follow, risking WW III with nuclear weapons able to end life on earth.
Western media propaganda is despicable, truth its mortal enemy. A daily drumbeat of managed news misinformation rubbish drowns out what people most need to know.
On Saturday, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov blamed information war waged by Western media for Russia’s undeserved “bad” public image.
Putin is the world’s preeminent world leader – polar opposite Obama. World peace and stability are his top geopolitical priorities. He’s committed to democratic governance by rule of law principles.
He endorses multi-world polarity and mutual cooperation among all nations. Peskov believes infowar harms Moscow and Washington.
“They say that Russia has a bad public image,” he explained on Saturday. “Do you know who else now has a bad image – the United States.”
“We are currently in a state of information warfare with the trend-setters in the information space, most notably with the Anglo-Saxons, their media” – deplorably substituting anti-Russian propaganda for hard truths.
He believes greater Russian integration into the world economy can help change things. “We need to advocate for it,” he maintains.
“We need to make our economy more competitive and involved in global competition. Only then will we confidently stand on our feet.”
At the same time, he has no “illusions” about easily improved relations after nearly a century of US hostility.
As long as Washington wants Western controlled puppet governance replacing sovereign Russian independence, normalized relations remain unattainable.
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March 28th, 2016
by Stephen Lendman.
Aided by Russian air power, Syrian forces liberated the strategic city of Palmyra, called the pearl of the Syrian desert, a UNESCO world heritage site, held by US-supported ISIS fighters since last May.
A Syrian military source announced the victory, saying “Palmyra city is now fully cleared of ISIS terrorists after the army established complete control over all its (territory), including the archeological site and airport.”
Efforts are underway to remove mines and other explosive devices. A government offensive to liberate the city began on March 7. It was accomplished successfully.
Palmyra is located on a highway between Damascus and Deir Ezzor. Its capture enables Syrian forces to advance to Raqqa, ISIS’ declared Syria capital, about 160 km east of Aleppo.
Liberating it along with Deir Ezzor appears just a matter of time. Syrian forces advanced to Qariatin, southwest of Palmyra, infested with ISIS fighters. Its outskirts were taken.
The Russian Center for the Syrian Ceasefire said its warplanes flew 40 sorties over the area in the past 24 hours against 158 ISIS targets, killing scores, destroying heavy weapons, munitions and vehicles.
Since taking control of Palmyra last May, ISIS destroyed the ancient fortress of Emir Fakhr-al-Don, the city’s Arch of Triumph, its Baalshamin and Ba’al temples – along with looting ancient artifacts from the Palmyra Museum and Necropolis.
A Syrian military spokesman called retaking the city the beginning of ISIS’ collapse. Months of Russian airstrikes weakened its forces considerably.
Syria’s antiquities head, Mamoun Abdelkarim, said efforts will be made to restore historic sites. “We will rebuild them with the stones that remain and with the remaining columns…bringing life back to Palmyra,” he said.
UNESCO’s Emergency Preparedness and Response Unit head Giovanni Boccardi expressed concern about about the extent of damage inflicted, saying an assessment on the ground is needed once security conditions permit to determine what can be restored.
Liberating Palmyra constitutes a major Syrian strategic victory, a significant ISIS setback, “a launchpad to expand military operations” against areas it still controls, according to the general in charge of operations.
He promised to “tighten the noose on the terrorist group and cut their supply routes” ahead of retaking Raqqa and Dier Ezzor, strongholds under its control.
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March 28th, 2016
by Stephen Lendman.
The post-9/11 climate was the wrong time to be Muslim in America. Disturbing witch-hunt persecution and injustice followed.
Muslims threatening no one were and continue to be hounded for their faith, ethnicity, and at times prominence and charity.
They’re hunted down, rounded up, held in detention, kept in isolation, denied bail, restricted in their right to counsel, tried on secret evidence, convicted on bogus charges, given long sentences, then incarcerated for extra harsh treatment as political prisoners in segregated Communication Management Units (CMUs) in violation of US Prison Bureau regulations and the Supreme Court’s February 2005 Johnson v. California ruling.
Anti-Muslim policies are flagrantly unconstitutional. Targeting a religious group violates First Amendment freedoms. The 1964 Civil Rights Act banned segregation based on race, color, religion, gender or national origin.
Islamophobes and media scoundrels proliferate anti-Islamic sentiment, blaming victims for crimes committed against them.
Trump wants Muslims temporarily banned from entering America, a shameless proposal exceeded by Cruz, a neocon/fascist lunatic Islamophobe.
He wants America’s borders closed to Muslims, their US city neighborhoods militarized, “patrol(led) and secur(ed).” As president, maybe he’ll order them ghettoized the way Hitler oppressed Jews and Israel terrorizes Palestinians.
It’s time for law enforcement to act, he blustered. Muslims “want to come in. They want to do big damage, and I would be extremely careful about that.”
Trump called Cruz’s scheme a “good idea (he supports) 100%.” Clinton revealed her Islamophobic viciousness by supporting and direct involvement in all US post-9/11 wars – entirely against Muslim countries, killing millions.
Numerous Muslims are political prisoners in America, countless others tortured, abused and murdered in the nation’s offshore gulag, operating in numerous countries, Guantanamo the tip of a diabolical iceberg.
Whoever succeeds Obama in January 2017, America’s endless war on Islam will continue – its enemy of choice the way communists were from the 1917 Russian revolution to Soviet Russia’s 1991 dissolution.
His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”
Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.
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March 16th, 2016
by Stephen Lendman.
A separate article discussed it in detail. When strategic objectives are achieved, tactics change.
Putin ordered most Russian aerial assets and supportive ground personnel withdrawn from Syria, redeployed home, saying his mission was “generally accomplished,” the scourge of terrorism weakened in disarray.
A Russian Defense Ministry statement said Khmeymin airbase “personnel…have started preparing (military) aircraft for performing a distance flight to home airfields in the Russian Federation.”
“The personnel are loading equipment, material and technical supplies and property to the aircraft of the military-transport aviation.”
On Tuesday, the first group of Tupolev Tu-154 and Sukhoi Su-34 warplanes departed from Khmeimim airbase heading home, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported.
Putin and Assad agreed on pulling out the major portion of Russian aerial forces since they “fulfilled the fundamental missions” assigned them.
Moscow will maintain a small force in Syria along with an aerial control center to monitor conditions on the ground.
During an official visit to Malaysia on Tuesday, Russian upper house Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said “(a)s part of the Geneva negotiating process, we will do everything possible for implementing the road map for peaceful settlement of the Syrian conflict” – aiming for “a government of national consent” agreed on by Syrians alone.
She stressed the fight against international terrorism continues, a longterm struggle until it’s completely destroyed.
New York Times editors ignored Putin’s strategic success, foiling Washington’s regional imperial aims, along with greatly weakening the scourge of US-supported terrorism in Syria.
Instead they claimed he “abruptly declared victory,” intends withdrawing the “main part” of his forces in Syria, “reflecting a desire not to get bogged down in the Syrian morass indefinitely.”
He’s been involved less than six months, a skirmish compared to endless US wars.
Wall Street Journal editors claimed he “achieved (his) goal of propping up Assad…bombing (nonexistent) moderate (rebels), not the Islamic State.”
They maintain the myth of “Syrian civil war,” ignoring US naked aggression, using ISIS and other terrorists groups as imperial foot soldiers.
They turned truth on its head, claiming “countering terrorism never was Mr. Putin’s aim. (He solely wants) new leverage in the Middle East and Europe.”
He wants world peace and stability, free from the scourge of US-led imperialism, ravaging the Middle East and elsewhere – humanity’s greatest threat.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”
http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.
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March 16th, 2016
by Stephen Lendman.
Obama and Hillary Clinton as secretary of state bear full responsibility for raping and destroying Libyan sovereign independence – including the deaths of many tens of thousands from war, related violence, preventable or untreated diseases, deprivation and continued chaos.
They committed Nuremberg-level high crimes against peace, violating international and constitutional law.
US-led terror-bombing ravaged Libya from February through late October 2011. Calling naked aggression civil war mocks premeditated mass slaughter, devastation, human misery, continued violence and turmoil.
Renewed US-led aggression looms on the phony pretexts of confronting chaos, humanitarian intervention and combating ISIS – US-created foot soldiers, used as death squads wherever they’re deployed.
Longstanding imperial plans call for transforming all independent nations into US controlled vassal states, balkanizing them for easier control, plundering their resources, exploiting their people.
Naked aggression is America’s longstanding strategy of choice to achieve its objectives. Millions of corpses attest to its barbarity.
Libyans continue dying from ravages unleashed in 2011, endless violence continuing, human suffering beyond comprehension, the pure evil legacy of America’s imperial agenda.
Obama is an unaccountable war criminal, a notorious serial liar. In an interview with
The Atlantic, he absolved himself from unforgivable criminality in Libya – shifting blame for ongoing chaos to Britain’s David Cameron and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, partners in America’s high crimes.
He lied claiming a UN mandate to wage war. Security Council Resolution 1973 authorized no military action. Many tens of thousands died.
Obama saying “(w)e averted large-scale civilian casualties” was a bald-faced lie. Claiming US and so-called coalition partners “prevented what almost surely would have been a prolonged and bloody civil war” was a despicable perversion of truth.
Libya was largely peaceful, stable and prosperous under Gaddafi for decades. US aggression turned it into a raped and destroyed failed state, endless violence and chaos continuing, ISIS controlling part of the country, expanding its foothold with US help.
“…Libya is a mess,” Obama acknowledged, failing to accept responsibility for his Nuremberg-level high crimes.
Gaddafi didn’t fall. He was sodomized to death. Hillary Clinton mocking his cold-blooded murder, saying “(w)e came, we saw, he died” will long be remembered as an example of her pure evil.
The tragedy of Libya is it was well-known in advance what chaos would be unleashed in the wake of US-led terror-bombing.
Peace and stability defeat America’s diabolical agenda. Violence and chaos serve it, a phony pretext for US global military involvement, its empire of bases, its endless wars, its contempt for fundamental rule of law principles – human lives and welfare of no consequence.
Just societies would hang Obama and Hillary Clinton from the gallows for high crimes against peace. America vilifies its best, honors its worst.
Imagine the horrors ahead if Clinton becomes president next year, perhaps intending WW III.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.
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March 1st, 2016
By Stephen Lendman.
The Times operates as a quasi-official ministry of state propaganda, featuring misinformation and Big Lies on major issues mattering most – systematically suppressing what readers need to know. Its two-part misreporting on US-led NATO’s war on Libya was called “Hillary Clinton, ‘Smart Power’ and a Dictator’s Fall” (Part I) and “A New Libya, With ‘Very Little Time Left’ “ (Part II) – a shameless perversion of truth, an utter disregard for the raping and pillaging of a sovereign independent state, the immiseration of its people. North Africa’s most developed nation was transformed into a cauldron of endless violence, instability, turmoil, deep poverty, mass unemployment and appalling human misery. Hillary Clinton’s contemptible October 2011 remark after hearing of Muammar Gaddafi’s death, saying “(w)e came, we saw, he died” will long define her pure evil. A shocking graphic video showed US-supported terrorists sodomized him to death with a knife. Clinton was directly involved in orchestrating US-led NATO terror-bombing, wanting Libya’s sovereign independence destroyed, its oil wealth pillaged, its people exploited – its popular government providing social services most Americans can’t imagine replaced by US-installed puppets serving its interests. Claiming Washington’s aim was establishing a democratic Libya was pure subterfuge. Clinton is a notorious war criminal, supporting all US naked aggression during her roles as first lady, US senator and secretary of state. The Times claiming she “belie(ved) in America’s power to do good in the world” was pure rubbish. Longstanding US imperial policy tolerates no sovereign independent states, wanting them all eliminated by coups or brute force. Clinton supports US interventionist policy, flagrantly breaching core international law. She declined to be interviewed for The Times report. Ludicrously in public she said it’s “too soon to tell” how things will turn out in Libya. It’s a failed state, raped and destroyed by US imperial viciousness, human misery afflicting its people, no end of violence and turmoil in sight. US, UK and French policymakers knew attacking Libya would create the out-of-control conditions affecting the country today. Endless wars, turbulence and chaos serve US imperial interests. Peace and stability defeat it. Wherever America shows up, dystopian harshness follows. Conditions following Washington’s intervention in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Ukraine, Somalia, Libya and elsewhere reflect pure US imperial evil. The Times claiming Clinton helped orchestrate humanitarian intervention in Libya mocks its US-led rape and destruction. Times editorial policy endorses all US imperial wars and others planned, ignoring their objectives, mindless of the horrors they inflict. Protests in Libya preceding US-led NATO aggression were orchestrated in Washington, war planned months in advance. Obama, Clinton and likeminded administration policymakers wanted Gaddafi removed for multiple reasons. He supported pan-Africanism, a United States of Africa free from imperial domination. He wanted Libyans sharing in the country’s oil wealth, a notion foreign to America and other Western powers. Under his 1999 Decision No. 111, all Libyans got free healthcare, education, electricity, water, training, rehabilitation, housing assistance, disability and old-age benefits, interest-free state loans, as well as generous subsidies to study abroad, buy a new car, help couples when they marry, practically free gasoline, and more. Literacy under Gaddafi rose from 20 – 80%. Libya’s hospitals and private clinics were some of the region’s best. Now they’re in shambles. Vital public services he provided no longer exist. Pre-war, Libyans had African’s highest standard of living. Homelessness was nonexistent. Gaddafi believed all Libyans had a right to a home or rent-free apartment, notions unheard of in the West. He rejected farcical Western-style money-controlled so-called democracy, deplored crony capitalism and neoliberal harshness. During his tenure, women had the right to vote, participate politically, as well as own and sell property independently of their husbands. Clause 5 of Libya’s 1969 Constitution granted them equal status with men, notably for education and employment. In January 2011, weeks before US-led NATO naked aggression, the UN Human Rights Council praised Gaddafi’s instituted political, economic, education, social and cultural rights. It lauded his treatment of religious minorities. He had nothing to do with downing Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, nor did falsely accused Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi. He called his Great Man-Made River (GMMR) development of an ocean-sized aquifer beneath Libya’s sands the “Eighth Wonder of the World” – wanting all Libyans sharing in its benefits. Washington and rogue Western partners wanted it privatized for exclusive corporate gain. Under Gaddafi, the Central Bank of Libya was state-owned, the interest-free Libyan dinar used for productive economic growth, not speculation, profits and bonuses for predatory bankers. Gaddafi funded Africa’s only communications satellite, saving hundreds of millions of dollars for low-cost incoming and outgoing calls. He provided two-thirds of the $42 billion needed to launch a public African Central Bank, Monetary Fund and Investment Bank. He advocated a new gold standard, replacing dollars with gold dinars, aiming to provide real monetary wealth and value, free from predatory Western lending agencies. Washington wants dollar hegemony as the world’s reserve currency maintained, an agenda challenged by Russia, China and other nations increasingly trading bilaterally in their own currencies. In 1977, Gaddafi transformed the Libyan Republic into the Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya – a “state of the masses.” In 1979, he established direct participatory democracy, devolving power to tribal leaders. In 1986, Libya became the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. Gaddafi was no dictator. He was a visionary, a revolutionary leader, wanting Libyan society based on equity, justice and fair distribution of national wealth. He enjoyed strong popular support. He was a marked man. Washington wanted him eliminated, his progressive anti-Western policies replaced by predatory capitalist rapaciousness. The deplorable Times report reinvented Clinton’s war on Libya, ignored Gaddafi’s vibrant model social state. It played a leading role in endorsing US-led naked aggression, misportrayed as humanitarian intervention. It supports Hillary Clinton, backs her presidential aspirations – instead of exposing her war crimes, denouncing her pure evil, and demanding she be held fully accountable. Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.” http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.
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September 26th, 2015
By Stephen Lendman.
America is a warrior state, waging direct and/or proxy wars at home and abroad throughout its entire history – today on a global scale, with an arsenal of weapons of unimaginable destructive power able to end life on earth, and lunatics in charge perhaps planning to use them.
In September 2010, Stop NATO editor Rick Rozoff said the Pentagon is using Baltic states as “training grounds for Afghan and future wars.”
After NATO expanded from 16 – 28 members from 1999 – 2009 by adding all former Warsaw Pact countries, including former Soviet republics Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Washington used their territory for military bases, troop and weapons deployments, regional “air patrols and the initial stages of a continent-wide anti-ballistic missile system beyond” NATO plans for an Active Layered Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence Programme.
Positioning US and other NATO forces near Russia’s border violated the 1991 (ratified) Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), limiting “several categories of conventional military equipment in Europe,” Rozoff explained.
New NATO members Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland were “transformed into training grounds for the Pentagon’s and NATO’s wars abroad” – including potential confrontation with Russia, regular large-scale military exercises conducted for this purpose, literally readying for possible WW III.
Large numbers of US-led NATO troop deployments and provocative military exercises close to Russia’s borders should scare everyone. Last spring, US-installed NATO Secretary-General Jens Stolenberg said dealing with Russia requires “a strong collective alliance” – code language for preparing for military confrontation?
He, US officials and other Western ones consistently lie about nonexistent “Russian aggression” in Ukraine, as well as deploying troops and warplanes in Syria.
Moscow threatens no one. It’s the continent’s leading peacemaker. Washington threatens world peace, security and stability. Its permanent war agenda risks the unthinkable – possible nuclear armageddon.
On September 25, Sputnik News and RT International both discussed German newspaper Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten’s (DWN) report about Washington preparing for possible hybrid war with Russia in the Baltics region – focusing on irregular troop deployments, destabilization, provocative rallies and cyber attacks.
Former US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy was quoted, saying “Russia’s (nonexistent) invasion of Eastern Ukraine urged the US to dust off its emergency plans. They were pretty outdated.”
Washington’s coup followed by orchestrated Kiev aggression on Donbass is used as a pretext to blame Moscow for their crimes – the Big Lie repeated ad nauseam by Western officials and media scoundrels, knowingly and willfully turning truth on its head as part of a longstanding plan to marginalize, weaken, contain, isolate, destabilize and weaken Russia, America’s key rival along with China.
DWN said hyping a “Russian threat” is used to justify deploying large numbers of heavily armed US troops in Eastern Europe, hold large-scale provocative war games near its borders and get NATO nations to increase military spending.
German ZDF television reported US plans to position powerful B61 thermonuclear bombs at the Luftwaffe’s Buchel Air Base. It’s Germany’s only military base with US nuclear weapons already – 20 since 2007.
Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded, calling Washington’s intention a “violation of the strategic balance in Europe…And without a doubt, it would demand that Russia take necessary countermeasures to restore the strategic balance and parity.”
An unnamed Russian “military-diplomatic” source said Moscow may respond by deploying Iskander-M tactical missiles in Kaliningrad, its Eastern European enclave bordering Lithuania and Poland.
“The issue is being studied,” the source said. “A final decision will be made after a detailed analysis of the potential threats.”
In 2010, Bundestag opposition members called for removing US nuclear weapons from German territory entirely. At the time, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said “(t)he time is right for a new beginning on nuclear disarmament.” Polls show strong anti-nuclear public sentiment.
Former German Defense Ministry Parliamentary State Secretary Willy Wimmer told ZDF television Washington’s plan to deploy B61s to Buchel gives it “new attack options against Russia.” It’s “a conscious (anti-Russian) provocation…”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told ZDF “(t)he comprehensive analysis of the situation points to the threat posed by the increasing military capability of NATO and its endowment with global functions, which it performs in violation of the international law, as well as the encroachment of the military infrastructure of NATO members on the borders of the Russian Federation.”
America positioning nuclear weapons on European territory breaches NPT’s letter and spirit – prohibiting the transfer of nuclear weapons to non-nuclear states.
Washington’s claim about them being under US control doesn’t wash. Most important is their potential use, the risk of nuclear war, the top priority for world leaders to avoid at all costs.
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August 14th, 2015
By Stephen Lendman.
Washington and Turkey are allied against sovereign Syria and regional Kurds on the pretext of fighting ISIS.
They’re imported terrorists from scores of countries serving US imperial interests – using chemical weapons against Syrian civilians. Germany’s Defense Ministry says they’re used against Kurdish forces in northern Iraq – maybe supplied by Turkey or Washington.
A spokesman said “a chemical weapons attack” occurred southwest of Abril – delivered with mortar or artillery shells. ISIS and other imported terrorists used chlorine gas, sarin and other toxic agents in Syria and Iraq numerous times earlier.
In late June, Syria’s Rajm al-Tfihi village in northeastern Al-Hasakah governorate was targeted. An undetermined poison gas was used. Victims experienced vomiting, breathing difficulties, eyes, nose and throat burning, severe headaches, muscle pain, as well as impaired concentration and mobility.
Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) issued a statement saying chemical attacks were likely. Militia fighters captured industrial grade gas masks from ISIS – “confirming that they are prepared and equipped for chemical warfare along this sector of the front.”
Northern Iraq Kurdish authorities cited evidence of ISIS terrorists using chlorine gas in a January car bomb attack.
In July, the Conflict Armament Research group and Sahan Research reported ISIS targeted Kurdish peshmerga fighters with one or more projectiles containing an unknown toxic chemical agent weeks earlier.
Clinical effects observed were “consistent with a chlorine chemical agent,” both groups reported. Projectiles released a yellow gas “with a strong smell of rotten onions.”
Imported terrorists are responsible for all chemical weapons attacks – not the Assad government wrongfully blamed. No evidence against it exists. Yet false accusations persist.
Last December, Iraqi News.com reported “ISIL terrorists bombarded Baghdadi district of western Anbar province with mortar shells loaded with chlorine gas,” – citing an unnamed security official.
“Baghdadi district suffers from lack of food, medical supplies and milk for children which caused death for four children,” he said. Water is in short supply.
Last fall, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) reported the near-total destruction of Syrian chemical weapons. Yet baseless accusations of Assad using them persist.
Last weekend, Sergey Lavrov said “(s)ometimes there are publications that (say) undeclared (chemical weapons) could remain in Syria. They are all being checked. In regard to this matter, it is necessary to avoid any unfounded accusations, and to present only the facts that confirm (alleged) fears.”
“I guarantee that all these facts will be rechecked, and we have every reason to believe that the Syrian government will continue to work closely with us.”
Last week, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution to identify parties responsible for using chemical weapons in Syria – so perpetrators can be held accountable.
Ban Ki-moon and OPCW authorities will establish a “joint investigative mechanism” – a panel of experts to “identify to the greatest extent feasible individuals, entities, groups or governments who were perpetrators, organizers, sponsors or otherwise involved in the use of chemicals as weapons.”
Work will continue for a year or longer. Syria and other parties involved in the conflict are required to cooperate. It’s laughable to expect cooperation from terrorists entirely responsible for these incidents.
When they persist, expect Washington and rogue partners to wrongfully blame Assad every time. Obama’s war to topple Syria’s government is in its fifth year. Nothing in prospect suggests resolution.
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February 5th, 2015
By Stephen Lendman
US-dominated NATO is the greatest threat to world peace, stability and security. Washington wants regime change in Russia.
Economic and political wars rage. Ineffective in achieving America’s aims. Russia is strong and resilient.
Putin is a master chess player. Obama is buffoon-like in comparison. His neocon infested administration threatens world peace.
Lunatics influencing policies promote permanent wars. Challenge Moscow irresponsibly.
Use Kiev’s military as a proxy US force against Russia. Getting battered in the process. More on this below.
Deputy NATO Secretary-General/former US Defense Secretary for International Affairs Alexander Vershbow effectively runs the organization.
He played a major role in expanding NATO. Including outside Europe. Establishing new bases in Central Asia. Surrounding Russia with US military strength.
He calls the Russian Federation “more of an adversary than a partner.” Vows “NATO enlargement will continue.”
Lied saying its “core task is collective defense. We’re taking legitimate steps to deal with instability created by Russia’s illegal actions.”
Asked earlier about deploying US forces to Eastern European states close to or bordering Russia, he said “I would not write off contributions from any nation.”
NATO defense ministers agreed to strengthen the Alliance’s Eastern European presence. Setting up a network of command centers to counter nonexistent “threats from Russia.”
US ambassador to NATO, Douglas Lute, said Alliance flags will fly over its command centers in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.
Will new US regional bases provocatively follow close to Russia’s border? Raising the specter of Cold War turning Hot.
On February 2, Vershbow highlighted nonexistent “threats pressing in on us from the East and from the South.”
“To the East, Russia has torn up the international rule book,” he absurdly claimed.
“It has returned to a strategy of power politics. It threatens not just Ukraine, but European and global security more generally.”
Moscow threatens no one. Putin is committed to regional peace and stability. He’s gone all-out for it throughout months of conflict. Thwarted by Washington’s rage for war.
No Russian aggression exists. Not now or earlier. Not according to Vershbow.
Turning truth on its head saying its “aggression against Ukraine is not an isolated incident, but a game-changer in European security.”
“It reflects an evolving pattern of behavior that has been emerging for several years, despite our efforts to reach out to Russia and build a cooperative European security system with Russia.”
Washington deplores peace. Wages permanent wars. Plans new ones. Challenges Russia irresponsibly. Goes all-out to subvert cooperative relations.
Vershbow repeated familiar Big Lies. Russia destabilizes Europe, he said. “(U)sed force to alter legally recognized borders…”
“(A)ctively subvert(s) the government of a neighboring state…(U)ndermine(s) (Ukraine’s right) to choose (its) own future.”
Putin “detach(ed) (Russia) from Europe.” His “raison d’etre…is defined by opposition to the West.”
“Russia’s narrative – a false narrative, let me stress – is one of a country humiliated by a West that has tried to take advantage of its weakness since the end of the Cold War.”
Its “current policy (is) confrontation with the West (and) unprovoked aggression against its neighbors.”
Verhsbow has it backwards. Russia is the world’s greatest force for peace and stability. US-dominated NATO policy is polar opposite.
Waging war on humanity. Naked aggression against one country after another. Risking direct confrontation with Russia.
Provocatively heading this way. Vershbow lied claiming “more Russian pressure against its neighbors” ahead.
“NATO (will) have no option but to respond,” he said. Barely stopping short of declaring war.
Direct confrontation with Russia ahead looms increasingly possible. The unthinkable may become reality.
Especially given conditions in Ukraine. Its military battered. In disarray.
Facing increasing numbers of desertions. Mobilization stalled. Thousands of youths ignore conscription notices. Flee to Russia and other neighboring states.
Newsweek reported women aged 20 – 50 conscripted for war in Donbas. Maybe the lame, halt and blind are next.
The anti-regime hacktivist CyberBerkut group published Ukrainian Judge Advocate General documents Kiev wants suppressed.
Showing rebel forces routing its military. Inflicting devastating losses.
In the past two weeks alone, at least 1,100 Ukrainian troops were killed. Many more wounded.
Large numbers surrendered to rebel forces. Kiev lost over 100 tanks and armored vehicles.
So-called barrier squads fire on their own troops to prevent retreats. According to Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Defense Ministry spokesman Eduard Basurin:
“Ukrainian troops are demoralized, which is proven by an unprecedented incident…” A captured Kiev soldier said “anti-retreat units from territorial defense battalions were used against Ukrainian troops.”
Poorly trained reserves are being rushed to the front. Making up for huge combat losses, mass desertions and defections.
Commanders are switching sides. Leaving subordinates to run things. RT International said “(t)he zone along the frontline is full of prowling deserters and bloodthirsty psychopaths dressed up in Ukrainian uniforms.”
Citing CyberBerkut as its source. Saying “(w)e’re CyberBerkut. We don’t forget. We don’t forgive.”
Promising more information on “criminal organizations” responsible for starting “civil war in Ukraine.”
John Kerry and outgoing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel flew to Europe to discuss Ukraine and related issues.
Joe Biden will follow “in the next day or so,” according to State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.
On Thursday, Kerry arrived in Kiev. He’ll meet with regime officials. Discussing war on Donbas. Washington supplying more heavy weapons.
Getting more directly involved. Perhaps heading toward US boots on the ground. A provocative escalation if initiated. A game-changer.
Kiev’s military is a spent force. Unable to defeat Donbas self-defense forces on their own. Washington didn’t initiate war to quit.
It wants total control over its newest colony. A dagger used to target Russia. What’s next remains to be seen.
Polls show Ukrainians strongly oppose war. Kiev’s junta and Washington deplore peace. Plan conflict without end.
Manufacture threats justifying the unjustifiable. Perhaps a major false flag coming.
A previous article discussed a possible coup with hardcore Nazis assuming full power.
At a time war without end rages. Despite devastating regime losses. Ukraine’s economy deteriorating toward collapse.
Extreme poverty and human misery increasing nationwide. How long will ordinary Ukrainians put up with regime policies destroying their welfare and futures?
Is Maidan 2.0 likely? This time grassroots, not Western planned and implemented.
Ukraine is a hotbed of fascist extremism, state terror, war without end and instability. What’s ongoing should scare everyone.
Anything ahead is possible. From revolutionary change to WW III.
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December 28th, 2014
by Stephen Lendman.
The Times is America’s leading establishment publication. Its longstanding history is unprincipled.
Supporting wealth, power and privilege. At the expense of populist interests.
Functioning as a quasi-official propaganda ministry. Offering a daily diet of managed news misinformation rubbish. On issues mattering most.
It bears repeating what other articles stressed. All the new it claims fit to print isn’t fit to read.
No nation in world history committed more high crimes against humanity than America. The Times supports its worst policies.
Ignoring rule of law principles. Supporting might over right. When America goes to war or plans one, it marches in lockstep.
When sitting governments are opposed, it vilifies them supportively. Backing numerous ruthless regimes Washington supports. Including ones installed by rigged elections, coups or US wars.
Throughout his tenure, The Times vilified Hugo Chavez. After his 1998 election, its Latin American correspondent, Larry Roher, lied calling him a “populist demagogue. (A)n authoritarian. (A) caudillo (strongman).”
On April 13, 2002, a Times editorial headlined “Hugo Chavez Departs,” saying:
“With yesterday’s resignation of President Hugo Chavez, Venezuelan democracy is no longer threatened by a would-be dictator.”
“Mr. Chavez, a ruinous demagogue, stepped down after the military intervened and handed power to a respected business leader, Pedro Carmona.”
Carmona represented business interests. Corporate predators. Chavez established model democracy. Bolivarian fairness.
Removing him was short-lived. Lasting two days. Overwhelming public support returned him to office. Including from Venezuela’s military.
Times editors endorsed his ouster. Consistent bashing followed throughout his tenure.
Continuing against current President Nicholas Maduro. Carrying Chavez’s torch. Honorably. Serving all Venezuelans responsibly.
After Washington toppled democratically elected Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004, The Times lied.
Claiming he resigned. Sending in Marines to abduct him was “the right thing to do,” it said. Arriving after “Mr. Aristide yielded power.”
Blaming him for “contribut(ing) significantly to his own downfall.” Because of his “increasingly autocratic and lawless rule.”
Accusing him of manipulating 2000 elections. Not “deliver(ing) the democracy he promised.”
Aristide’s tenure was Haiti’s only democratic governance since its short-lived 1804 independence. Times editors didn’t explain. Substituting Big Lies for hard truths.
Discredited correspondent Judith Miller represented one of the most deplorable chapters in Times history. In the run-up to Bush’s Iraq war.
Functioning as weapon of mass deception. Writing daily propaganda rubbish.
Pentagon press releases masquerading as real news and information. Featuring a Noah’s Ark of scam artists.
The late Gore Vidal called The Times the “Typhoid Mary of American journalism” for good reason.
Currently bashing Russia relentlessly. Targeting Putin irresponsibly. Practically labeling him public enemy number one.
Backing fascists running Ukraine. Ones Washington lawlessly installed. The most brazen European coup since Mussolini’s 1922 march on Rome.
Supports Obama’s war on Syria. His Iraq war. His 2011 Libya war. Bush I’s Iraq war. Years of illegal sanctions. Responsible for killing around 5,000 Iraqi children monthly.
Bush II’s Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Homeland force-fed austerity when vital stimulus is needed.
During protracted Main Street Depression conditions. Pretending phony numbers claiming otherwise are real.
“Magic growth numbers,” according to Paul Craig Roberts. Manufactured. Not real. “Not from rising real consumer incomes,” he explained.
Or growing consumer credit. Or higher retail sales. Or an improving housing sector.
Economist John Williams reengineers phony government data. Offering a true picture of economic conditions. Calling recent US growth numbers “nonsense.”
Misleading garbage. Not according to The Times. Citing the “fastest” economic growth “in over a decade.”
Providing “the strongest evidence to date that the recovery is finally gaining sustained power…” Despite hard truths proving otherwise.
Including sharply lower commodity prices. A key indicator of economic weakness. At a time “30% of 30-year old Americans and almost 50% of 25-year olds liv(e) with parents,” said Roberts.
Because of unemployment or underemployment. After six years of fake economic recovery, Eurozone countries face deflation and recession.
Economist Jack Rasmus calls Japan’s economy “a spent force since the late 1990s.” China’s economy is slowing.
So are emerging markets. Real US growth is subpar. Global debt levels are unprecedented. Leaving world economies vulnerable to financial crisis.
Roberts calls America’s economy “a house of cards.” Don’t expect the Times to explain. Or promote healthy eating.
Last February, it gave agricultural economist Jayson Lusk and right-wing Hoover Institution fellow Henry I. Miller op-ed space. They took full advantage.
Headlining “We Need GMO Wheat.” Saying “not a single acre of genetically engineered wheat being grown commercially in the United States.”
Claiming wheat farmers and consumers lack “the benefits of (so-called) newer molecular techniques of genetic engineering.”
A litany of misinformation followed. Touting nonexistent benefits of GMO crops. Ignoring their hazards to human health.
Vandana Shiva calls genetically transformed seeds “food totalitarianism.” Waging war on human health. By corporate giants like Monsanto.
“We would have no hunger in the world if” ordinary farmers controlled their own seeds and land, she maintains.
Calling enormous sums the Bill and Linda Gates Foundation spends on agricultural research and assistance “the greatest threat to farmers in the developing world.”
“If you look at the graph of the growth of GMOs, the growth of application of glyphosate and autism, it’s literally a one-to-one correspondence,” she explains.
“And you could make (the same) graph for kidney failure…for diabetes…for Alzheimer’s.” For other diseases.
Clear evidence shows GMO foods and ingredients are toxic. Unsafe to eat. Harmful to human health.
Producing hazardous intestinal bacteria. Responsible for numerous illnesses. infertility. Immune problems. Accelerated aging.
Faulty insulin regulation. Gastrointestinal abnormalities. Major organ changes. Lower life expectancy.
Roundup pesticide used for GM crops causes birth defects. GM soy causes sterility.
Americans don’t know what they’re eating. Labeling is prohibited. Violating First Amendment rights.
The Center for Food Safety (CFS) calls GM plants and animals “one of the greatest and most intractable environmental challenges of the 21st century.”
Over 90% of US soybeans are genetically engineered. Around 85% of corn. About 88% of cotton. Cottonseed oil commonly used in processed foods.
Over 80% of them contain GM ingredients. From soda pop to soup to salad dressings. Crackers to condiments. Potatoes to “super” pigs. Bananas to baked beans.
Despite known harm to human health, no congressional legislation regulates GM foods and ingredients.
Americans are human guinea pigs without knowing it. Part of an unregulated mass experiment, Entailing enormous risks.
Once GM seeds are planted, nothing known to science can reverse their contamination. Over two-thirds of arable US farmland is affected.
Despite known human health risks. US politics trumps science. Unsafe foods and ingredients are declared fit to eat.
So far, wheat is GMO free. For how long remains to be seen. It’s one of America’s three major crops. Along with corn and soybeans.
GMO crops are toxic. Poison. Hazardous to human health. Banning them should be mandated. Don’t expect The Times to explain.
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December 19th, 2014
By Stephen Lendman.
Obama is right. Sanctions don’t work. Not against Cuba. Russia. Iran or other countries. Provided they stay firm.
Defending their sovereign rights. Cuba did admirably. For over half a century. Against US imperialism.
Its leadership a testimony to successful sovereign resilience. Prevailing against long odds.
Longstanding US Cuban policy failed. Washington’s objective remains unchanged. Regime change! Installing pro-Western stooge governance. Returning Cuba to its bad old days.
Castro gained power on January 1, 1959. Transforming a repressive brothel into a populist state. Ousting Washington’s man in Havana. Fulgencio Batista. A despot by any standard.
Franklin Roosevelt once called former Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza “a son of a bitch. (B)ut he’s our son of a bitch,” he explained.
America supports many like him. Batista’s fascist regime earlier. Current repressive Central America/Caribbean governments. In Honduras. Guatemala. Haiti.
Saudi Arabia. Other Gulf states. Ukraine in central Europe. Fascists running Israel. Numerous other repressive regimes.
Obama’s new Cuba gambit reflects imperial policy by other means. Hold the cheers. More on this below.
Until illness in 2006 forced him to step down, Fidel was the world’s longest serving political leader. Now aged 88, its preeminent elder statesman.
Still expressing important views. “Reflections of Fidel.” In September saying “just ideas or disaster will triumph.”
“Global society has known no peace in recent years.” Because of US/European policies. Threatening world peace. With “weapons which could mean the end of human existence.”
He called Western regimes “unscrupulous actors.” Especially America. “(I)nterven(ing) militarily in Cuba…” Earlier owning most of the country. Raping it for profit.
Preventing Cubans from “produc(ing) enough grain to feed the population…Cynicism is something which has become symbolic of imperial policy.”
Rapaciousness defines it. “(O)ur interests,” said Obama. Castro knows them well. Duplicity writ large. Plotting control over Cuba again.
Intending to colonize it for profit. Plunder its resources. Including offshore oil. Exploit its people. Obama is a serial liar.
Claiming US policy is “rooted in the best of intentions…” Brazen dishonesty. Willful deception. Longstanding US policies speak for themselves.
Serving monied interests exclusively. At the expense of beneficial social change. Mindless of democratic rights. Rule of law principles.
Including prohibitions against interfering in the internal affairs of other nations. Sovereign independence is inviolable.
Not according to Washington rules. Imposing them lawlessly. With full scoundrel media support. The New York Times outrageously calls Cuba “a repressive police state.”
Ignoring decades of ruthless US anti-Castro policy. Hailing a “historic move.” “Transformational.”
Claiming Washington is right in demanding “greater personal freedoms and democratic change.”
Instead of exposing it as the world’s most egregious civil and human rights abuser. None match America’s abusive record. Longstanding. Horrific by any standard.
The Times was right calling US Cuban policy “one of the most misguided chapters in American foreign policy.” Mindless of Obama’s intent.
Opening Cuba to America’s monied interests spells trouble. Like it always does. US policies aren’t benign.
Cuba already infested with US anti-government operatives. USAID. The National Endowment for Democracy (NED).
International Republican Institute (IRI). Freedom House. Center for a Free Cuba. Institute for Democracy in Cuba. Cuba Dissidence Task Group.
Various other groups and initiatives. Raul Castro warned earlier about “attempts to subtly introduce platforms for neoliberal thought and for the restoration of neocolonial capitalism.”
Saying he “reiterated on many occasions our willingness to hold a respectful dialogue with the United States on the basis of sovereign equality in order to deal reciprocally with a wide variety of topics without detriment to the national Independence and self-determination of our people.”
“We propose to the Government of the United States the adoption of mutual steps to improve the bilateral atmosphere and advance towards normalization of relations between our two countries, based on the principles of International Law and the United Nations Charter.”
“We don’t demand that the US change its political or social system and we don’t accept negotiations over ours.”
It bears repeating. Longstanding US policy call for regime change. Obama’s pronouncement shows tactics alone changing.
By establishing diplomatic relations. Opening a Havana embassy. Regime change headquarters. Infested with CIA operatives for sure. Plotting destabilization tactics.
Obama loosening embargo conditions. As much as possible by executive order. Without congressional approval. Unlikely with Republicans in charge next year.
Or Democrats like current Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Robert Menendez (D. NJ). Blasting Obama.
Turning truth on its head saying his “actions have vindicate the brutal behavior of the Cuban government. (S)et(ting) an extremely dangerous precedent.”
“(I)nvit(ing) dictatorial and rogue regimes to use Americans serving overseas as bargaining chips. I fear that today’s actions will put at risk the thousands of Americans that work overseas to support civil society, advocate for access to information, provide humanitarian services, and promote democratic reforms.”
The New York Times cited unnamed administration officials. Saying Treasury will issue easing Cuban trade regulations. On US agricultural exports. Banking relations.
Commerce Department will permit exports of construction materials. Telecommunications equipment. Scientific, athletic and cultural products. Various other goods.
Efforts will move quickly to replace old rules with new ones. Facilitating travel. Financial dealings. Exports. According to US officials.
“The Office of Foreign Assets Control at the Treasury Department will scrap a measure that requires people who are already eligible for travel to Cuba to receive special permission from the government for trips such as those involving family visits, professional, religious or cultural programs and humanitarian projects,” said The Times.
“New rules will also make it easier to get there, by allowing the direct purchase of airline tickets to Cuba rather than requiring travelers to go through a travel agent and charter a flight.”
Treasury is increasing how much money Americans may send Cubans. Fourfold. From $500 to $2,000.
The State Department may end Cuba’s unjust state sponsor of terrorism designation. Longstanding US Cuban policy reflects it writ large. Don’t expect The Times to explain.
According to US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Roberta Jacobson:
“We would anticipate that we will have an embassy before” nominating an ambassador.
“That process is relatively straightforward, frankly, from a legal perspective. We can do that via an exchange of letters or of notes. It doesn’t require a formal sort of legal treaty or agreement.”
White House officials said they spent months determining how far to go unilaterally. Without violating the letter of embargo conditions. Or “eviscerat(ing)” them.
Washington’s Havana Interests Section will serve as its embassy. A future nest of destabilizing spies.
Political analyst Andrew Korybko asked if Raul Castro “reverse(d) the entire Cuban revolution.” Did he make “a fatal mistake?”
By getting in bed with the devil. It remains to be seen how much. Will color revolution follow? At age 88, Fidel’s time is passing. Whether soon or later who knows.
Korybko believes he’s closer to death than Havana admits. An era will pass with his loss. Inevitable sooner or later. Key is what follows.
Raul is 83. Reportedly in good health. Last year saying he’ll step down in 2018. “This is my last term,” he said. Shortly after National Assembly members reelected him for another five years.
At the same time naming Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez First Vice President. Next in line to Raul.
Cuba’s current government appears its last under Fidel and Raul. Possible succession figures include Diaz-Canel. Four other vice presidents.
Including Jose Machado Ventura. Aged 82. Ceding his first vice presidential position to Diaz-Canel.
Commander of the Revolution Ramiro Valdes. Aged 80. Comptroller General Gladys Bejerano. Aged 66. Both vice presidents.
Others include First Secretary of the Communist Party Mercedes Lopexz Acea. Aged 48. Labor federation head Salvador Valdes Mesa. Aged 64.
In 2013, 68-year-old former vice president Estaban Lazo was named National Assembly president. Replacing longtime leader Ricardo Alarcon.
Earlier he commented on who would succeed Fidel, saying:
“All those who have been trying to fool the world and put out the idea that something terrible would happen in Cuba, that people would take to the streets, that there would be great instability, the door slammed on them and they must have very swollen hands now.”
Cuban policy going forward remains to be seen. New leaders will replace old ones. Hopefully revolutionary spirit won’t change.
Remaining vibrant. Resilient. Redoubtable. Too precious to lose.
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November 6th, 2014
By Stephen Lendman.
Ignore scoundrel media who won, who lost horserace rubbish. US electoral politics is too debauched to fix. Big money corrupts it.
Democracy is pure fantasy. None whatever exists. Most bums are reelected. New ones replace others.
Things change but stay the same. Special interests rule. People have no say. US-style democracy mocks the real thing. Key points bear stressing.
Fact: America’s electoral process is farcical.
Fact: Kabuki theater.
Fact: Illegitimate by any democratic standard.
Fact: Things aren’t what they seem.
Fact: Skim milk masquerades as cream, wrote WS Gilbert.
Fact: Candidates are pre-selected, pre-packaged cardboard cutouts.
Fact: Powerful interests choose them.
Fact: Big money owns them.
Fact: Key outcomes are predetermined.
Fact: Voters get the best democracy money can buy.
Fact: Media critic Robert McChesney calls America’s system a “dollarocracy.”
Fact: Big money and media election complex controlled.
Fact: Monied interests win every time.
Fact: Ordinary people lose.
Fact: Duopoly power rules.
Fact: Republicans and Democrats are two sides of the same coin.
Fact: Interchangeable with each other.
Fact: Not a dime’s worth of difference separates them on issues mattering most.
Fact: Including corporate empowerment, imperial wars, police state justice, Big Brother surveillance, and capital’s divine right to exploit workers, control markets, plunder world resources, and rule without challenge.
Fact: Beneficial social change doesn’t matter.
Fact: Independents are shut out.
Fact: Media scoundrels ignore them.
Fact: Issues mattering most go unaddressed.
Fact: Horse race journalism and trivia substitute.
Fact: Millions of Americans are disenfranchised.
Fact: Millions more don’t vote.
Fact: Half the electorate or more opts out.
Fact: Why bother. Their interests aren’t represented.
Fact: Tuesday’s turnout was a pathetic 38%. In California, barely above one-third.
Fact: Despite almost $4 billion spent campaigning.
Fact: The most expensive midterm ever.
Fact: The supremely pro-business High Court’s Citizen United ruling gave monied interests virtually unlimited power to control things.
Fact: One dollar now = one vote. Trampling on democratic freedoms. Affording them to special interests only. Denying them to all others.
Ralph Nader denounced Citizens United, saying:
It “shreds the fabric of our already weakened democracy by allowing corporations to more completely dominate our corrupted electoral process.”
“It is outrageous that corporations already attempt to influence or bribe our political candidates through their political action committees (PACs), which solicit employees and shareholders for donations.”
“With this decision, corporations can now also draw on their corporate treasuries and pour vast amounts of corporate money, through independent expenditures, into the electoral swamp already flooded with corporate campaign PAC contribution dollars.”
“This corporatist, anti-voter decision is so extreme that it should galvanize a grassroots effort to enact a Constitutional Amendment to once and for all end corporate personhood and curtail the corrosive impact of big money on politics.”
“It is indeed time for a Constitutional amendment to prevent corporate campaign contributions from commercializing our elections and drowning out the civic and political voices and values of citizens and voters.”
“It is way overdue to overthrow ‘King Corporation’ and restore the sovereignty of ‘We the People’ “!
Fact: Dirty money infests politics.
Fact: Duopoly power corrupts it.
Fact: Corporations and powerful interests groups decide things.
Fact: Democracy is a convenient illusion.
Fact: Constitutionally flawed by design.
Fact: Wealth, power and privilege alone count.
Fact: Government serves their interests only.
Fact: Shutting out all others.
Fact: We the People don’t matter.
Fact: For sure not now.
Fact: Egalitarian principles exist in name only.
Fact: Checks, balances, equity, justice and democratic values are meaningless figures of speech.
Fact: Plutocrats rule America. Wall Street. Corporate bosses. Billionaires.
Fact: What they say goes.
Fact: Not according to laws, high moral or ethical standards.
Fact: Executive, congressional, and judicial officials systematically lie, connive, and pretty much do what they please for their own self-interest.
Fact: America more than ever reflects plutocracy, hypocrisy, not democracy.
Fact: Freedom, fairness, equity and justice are figures of speech. Four-letter words.
Fact: US elections were never open, free and fair.
Fact: Electoral fraud is rife.
Fact: Corporate-controlled touchscreen electronic voting machines are rigged.
Fact: Programmed with secret software.
Fact: Easy to manipulate.
Fact: Used to steal elections.
Fact: Things are pre-scripted.
Fact: Secrecy and back-room deals substitute for governance of, by and for everyone equitably.
Fact: Losers are declared winners.
Fact: Polls show only 21% of Americans call economic conditions good or excellent.
Fact: Around one-fourth alone see improvement next year.
Fact: US-style representative democracy is fake. A cruel sham. Neither representative or democratic.
Fact: Grassroots direct democracy alone works. People power.
Fact: America is too corrupted to fix.
Fact: Debauched beyond repair.
Fact: Unfit to live in.
Fact: Symbolizing absolute power corrupting absolutely.
Fact: Scattered reforms won’t work.
Fact: Transformational change is needed.
Fact: So is disruptive people power more than ever.
Fact: Making it the new normal is vital.
Fact: Resisting tyranny is a universal right.
John McMurtry was this writer’s Progressive Radio News Hour Tuesday guest. Discussion focused on his new book titled “The Cancer Stage of Capitalism: From Crisis to Cure.”
His first edition was published over a decade ago. His new one greatly expands and updates it.
It’s must reading. Connecting important dots. Explaining a global disorder. Headquartered in America.
“As in any cancer system, the life host is increasingly plundered, but the cancer is masked from immune recognition or response,” says McMurtry.
“The cancer stage of capitalism is not a metaphor.” It’s “a world-system disorder.”
“(A)n explanatory model.” Explaining the “characteristics of cancer invasion.”
“Proliferat(ing), decoupl(ing) from, and attack(ing) the productive functions of life hosts.” Genocide becomes its “leading edge.”
“Transnational money sequencing” becomes a be all and end all. Manipulated to make more of it.
Multiplying like cancer cells. Self-destructive and then some. Endless wars best explain. So does predatory finance.
“(W)hole societies and tens of millions of people pay the price in mass disemployment, social system dismantling, and foreign expropriation,” says McMurtry.
“The life-blind private conglomerate money-sequences precipitat(e) collapse across nations.” Victims are blamed for what’s done to them.
” ‘Contagion’ conceals every moment of the cancer system at work.”
Monied interests crowd out life sustaining systems. Mainstream economics ignores what’s wrong.
“The people must pay for the money-sequence cancer growth, and so more public wealth and individual savings must be taken away to do it,” McMurtry explains.
Operating by “debt multiplication.” Piled on governments and individuals. Done to enrich bankers and other corporate favorites. Profits matter more than people.
A slippery slope to carcinogenic self-destruction. US electoral politics sustains the unsustainable.
Cumulatively worse the longer it’s unrecognized. Destroying ecological, social and organic life.
The “Great Sickness,” according to McMurtry. Global ecogenocide. Degrading air, soil and water. Destabilizing climates and oceans.
Destroying species. Endangering life systems. Creating intolerable levels of world poverty, inequality and human misery. Benefiting privilege few at the expense of most others.
Producing health destroying “junk” unfit to eat. Indebtedness crowds out productive investments.
Wars take precedence over peace. Corporate empowerment matters more than life.
McMurtry says a “social immune response” is required to fight “macro cancer.”
More than ever a viable alternative is needed. Sustaining societies requires a universal commitment to life and nature.
Entirely absent in Western societies. Mainly America. On a fast track toward decline. Self-destruction.
Money-controlled politics corrupts. Unsustainable longterm. Revolution is the only solution. Survival depends on it.
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October 25th, 2014
By Stephen Lendman.
Foreign relations minister of Russia Sergi Larov
It bears repeating what other articles stressed. He’s a world-class diplomat. Polar opposite his Western counterparts. On the right side of history.
John Kerry’s demagogic bullying, bluster and Big Lies makes him look like a buffoon by comparison. A provocateur.
Shaming the office he holds. Caught red-handed numerous times in bald-faced lies. Disdaining rule of law principles.
Supporting war. Deploring peace. Indifferent to human suffering. A monument to wrong over right. Disgracing his country, position and humanity.
Lavrov discussed issues “direct(ly) affecting the Russian people…” National development plans. Geopolitical issues. The “future world order…”
Current international conditions reflect transition worldwide, he said. “We are dealing not just with the beginning of another historical stage, but, it would seem, with a change of eras.”
“Such pivotal moments are usually characterised by a substantial increase in instability and unpredictability in international affairs, which is what we see today in individual regions and globally.”
Global “balance of forces” are “realingn(ing).” “Deconcentrati(ing).” It’s “the hallmark of our time,” said Lavrov.
“Most clearly, this can be seen in the greater economic power and increasing political clout of the Asia-Pacific Region.”
“These countries have largely assumed the role of a driver of global economic growth, a role which was traditionally performed by the United States,Western Europe and Japan.”
“That’s a totally new picture of the world that does not fit into the centuries-old notion of Western dominance in the global economy, finance and politics.”
“The global financial and economic crisis acted as a catalyst for change, and drew a line under the reasoning about the global victory of the liberal capitalist model and the imperative need for everyone to fit that mold.”
“The ‘end of history’ proclaimed in the early 1990s failed to materialise. (E)fforts to build a new world are accompanied by numerous other factors that add complexity and new dimensions to international relations.”
“The importance of common cross-border challenges, such as the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, international terrorism, drug trafficking, organised crime, scarcity of resources and food, mass epidemics, illegal migration and much more, has increased dramatically.”
“Globalisation has made national borders much more transparent and has contributed to the demise of closed societies, which previously accounted for most of humankind.”
Especially “in the Middle East and North Africa, which may become an explosive pole of attraction for crises that originated at different times in different countries.”
Regional destabilization “adversely affects the situation around the globe. (E)xacerbat(ing) chaos and anarchy in world affairs…”
(E)rod(ing) the effectiveness of the global governance system, which is already compromised.”
Challenges require joint efforts, Lavrov stressed. Mutual cooperation. Steps to strengthen international security and stability.
Multipolarity more than ever is needed. At a time Washington force-feeds unipolarity. For its own interests at the expense of others.
“(F)rom the standpoint of supremacy, exceptionality and domination. (A)t variance with (today’s) compelling and objective need,” Lavrov said.
America’s agenda runs counter to “core principles of the UN Charter, which forms the cornerstone of international law – sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-interference in the internal affairs of other nations, and the peaceful resolution of conflicts.”
“The United States and its allies have claimed the right to interfere, sometimes brazenly, in the events of other countries under the mantle of protecting human rights and promoting democratic values, up to an including sanctions and the use of force.”
Its “military interventions in Yugoslavia, Iraq and Libya (as well as Afghanistan and Syria) were either not backed by UN Security Council resolutions or exceeded (its) original mandate.”
Washington unilaterally claims the right to use force. In “any part of the world when (its) interests are at stake.”
Its 2010 National Security Strategy “states outright that (it) will not necessarily follow UN Security Council resolutions when its interests demand otherwise…”
Including unilaterally using force lawlessly. Recklessly. Ruthlessly.
“(D)estabilising countries whose governments do not satisfy it for various reasons…”
Initiating ” ‘colour revolutions,’ ” Longstanding US policy. “(N)ot only does interference fail to help end conflict(s), it actually exacerbates armed confrontation, making the plight of civilians even worse.”
“Notorious double standards are employed to attain geopolitical goals. Of particular concern is the tendency to deviate from the universal principle of combatting terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.”
Washington’s war on terrorism reflects state terrorism against its adversaries. Independent governments. Posing no threat. Manufactured ones to justify regime change wars.
Russia “advocate(s) the consolidation of international efforts to counter the common threat of terrorism,” said Lavrov.
“At the same time, our country is not part of the US-led international coalition. We are confident that antiterrorist efforts have to rest on a solid foundation of international law under the auspices of the UN Security Council -the body that shoulders the responsibility for maintaining international peace and security.”
Bombing Syria without its permission “does not fit with these principles. (They’re) accompanied by the armed support rendered to the opposition forces fighting the Bashar Assad regime alongside the Islamic State.”
“Yet, the US considers this support ‘moderate’ and therefore acceptable.” No so-called “moderate” elements exists.
At issue is helping “Syrian opposition…overthrow” Assad’s sovereign government. “The controversial and paradoxical nature of these actions is obvious, in my view,” said Lavrov.
“We have been discussing this with our US counterparts, trying to understand their logic, but have not received any clear explanations so far.”
“In our opinion, the rapid degradation of the Middle East situation requires a comprehensive analysis. The region’s most critical issues need to be considered within a context of their interrelations, including the Arab-Israeli conflict.”
It’s “pushed to the margin for various reasons, but we believe that this unsettled dispute, which has been ongoing for over 70 years, is one of the main reasons that promote extremists to recruit new adepts, including Jihadists who are prepared to perform attacks and even suicide attacks.”
“We want all of these factors to be considered under UN Security Council leadership. This initiative has met with growing interest, at least from countries which have a responsible attitude to the situation in the region.”
Washington’s presence in Afghanistan is “(un)satisfactory,” said Lavrov. Conditions are hugely unstable.
It “re-affirms the fact that modern problems, including regional conflicts, can only be resolved based on comprehensive approaches providing for the active involvement of all stakeholders.”
“We have always called our partners’ attention to this.” Most often in vain. Washington wants things its way. Interests of other countries don’t matter. Hegemons operate this way.
“Despite drastic worldwide changes, Western states have not stopped trying to ‘swim against the tide,’ and continue holding dominant positions in the world, contrary to the objective processes leading to a multipolar world,” said Lavrov.
“This policy has had a major negative impact on the situation in Europe.” Including successive waves of NATO’s eastward expansion, with NATO infrastructure being moved closer to the Russian border.”
Its presence is hugely destabilizing. US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ludicrously claims Russia’s army is “at NATO’s doorstep.”
“…Russian leadership has undertaken and continues to undertake all necessary measures to secure protection of our country’s security,” said Lavrov.
“Regarding the statements of our US colleagues, I believe they reveal who is actually undermining trust in Europe, and is doing so using not only statements, but most importantly, concrete actions.”
“The EU Eastern Partnership programme was also designed to expand the West-controlled geopolitical space to the east.”
“This was its true aim, and it is perhaps for this reason that the promises to offer us trilateral projects involving the EU, the so-called ‘focus states’ and Russia have never materialised.”
“There is a policy to confront the CIS countries with a hard, absolutely contrived and artificial choice – either you are with the EU or with Russia.”
Doing so created Ukrainian crisis conditions, Lavrov explained. “The US and EU support for the unconstitutional coup in Ukraine and the subsequent acts committed by the Kiev-based ‘party of war’ that used armed force in an attempt to make the population in southeastern Ukraine renounce the right to their native language, culture, traditions and habitual lifestyle is at odds with the generally accepted democratic values and principles of peaceful conflict settlement, including those contained in the OSCE’s fundamental documents.”
“The actions of the ultranationalist neo-Nazi forces that seized power in Kiev have become the cause of bloodshed on ‘Maidan.’ ”
“The radicals attempted to terrorise the population in the Crimea and impose (hardline) order in Odessa and Mariupol.”
“The Agreement of 21 February 2014 was broken off. It is quite natural under these circumstances that the overwhelming majority of people in the Crimea opposed these plans and freely expressed their will for reunification with Russia in keeping with peoples’ right to self-determination enshrined in the UN Charter.”
“After the tragedies in Odessa and Mariupol and the discovery of mass graves near Donetsk, we know for certain what fate was in store for Russians in the Crimea.”
“All these crimes, including the Malaysian plane incident, should be thoroughly investigated under international control.”
“We have been insisting on this, because there are attempts to water down, sweep under the rug, postpone or delay all these cases without exception.”
Key questions are unanswered, Lavrov explained. Key issues remain unaddressed.
Policies pursued are polar opposite alleged Western concern for “human rights and (so-called) European values.”
Russia’s responsible geopolitical agenda shames what Western nations represent. It’s the world’s moral leader.
On the right side of history. A long way from its dark past. At a time full-blown American tyranny is a hair’s breadth away.
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October 22nd, 2014
By Stephen Lendman.
Turkey reflects rogue state governance. It’s a NATO member. Part of Washington’s war on Syria. Partnering with US crimes.
Training Islamic State fighters. Doing so covertly on its territory. Smuggling them lawlessly cross-border against Assad. Stop NATO founder/editor Rick Rozoff said earlier:
“If confirmation was required that a neo-Ottoman Turkey is determined to reassert (its regional) influence gained 700 years before and lost a century ago and…doing so as part of a campaign by self-christened global NATO to expand into the Arab world, the Turkish head of state’s threat to militarily intervene in Syria with the support of its 27 NATO allies should provide it.”
Reporters Without Borders calls Turkey the world’s largest prison for journalists for good reason. Press freedom is verboten. It’s nonexistent.
No country imprisons more journalists. An atmosphere of fear prevails. Widespread arrests follow. No one’s safe.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ):
Turkish authorities wage “one of the world’s biggest anti-press campaigns in recent history.”
“Dozens of writers and editors are in prison, nearly all on terrorism or other anti-state charges. The evidence against them? Their journalism.”
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan imprisons journalists “on a mass scale.” He delplores free expression. He tolerates none.
Censorship is official state policy. Pro-Kurdish news is called terrorism. Kurdish journalists are especially vulnerable.
Many face charges of participating in anti-government plots. Others for belonging to outlawed political groups. Belonging to the wrong ones risks imprisonment or death.
Officials say news coverage creates societal chaos. Conducive to coup plotters, they claim. Allegations made to bring charges. Spurious ones follow.
In recent decades, dozens of Turkish journalists were murdered. Anyone criticizing government policy is vulnerable.
Ankara tolerates no dissent. Extrajudicial assassinations are commonplace. Human and civil rights are non-starers. Rogue states operate this way.
London-based political analyst Shabir Hassan Ali said Shim was “assassinated by the government of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.”
She “was hounded…by Turkish intelligence.” She reported truths Ankara wants suppressed.
On October 19, Press TV headlined “Press TV reporter in Turkey killed in suspicious car accident, saying:
It occurred “near the Turkey-Syria border. (She) was killed on Sunday as she was on a working mission in Turkey to cover the ongoing war in the strategic Syrian town of Kobani.”
“She was going back to her hotel from a report scene in the city of Suruç in Turkey’s Urfa Province when their car collided with a heavy vehicle.”
“The identity and whereabouts of the truck driver remain unknown.” The motive is clear. Ankara wanted her silenced.
Dead correspondents tell no tales. Ones rogue Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants suppressed.
Shim was a 30-year old Lebanese American. She reported from Lebanon, Iraq, Ukraine, and Turkey. She covered Obama’s war on Syria. Partnering with Ankara. Using proxy IS fighters.
She operated from Suruc in Urfa Province. A rural area near Syria’s border.
On October 17, she said Turkish National Intelligence accused her of spying. “Probably due to some of the stories (she) had covered about Turkey’s stance on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants in Kobani,” she said.
She reported IS fighters covertly smuggledcross-border into Syria. On trucks bearing NGO markings. She had images proving it, saying:
“We were some of the first people on the ground – if not the first people – to get that story of…militants going in through the Turkish border…”
“I’ve got images of them in World Food Organization trucks. It was very apparent that they were militants by their beards, by the clothes they wore, and they were going in there with NGO trucks.”
She expressed fear about what Ankara “might use against her.” Perhaps arrest her or worse.
She was killed returning to her hotel with her camerawoman, Judy Irish. A heavy vehicle smashed into her rental car. Ruthlessly enough to kill her. Irish was hospitalized with injuries.
Press TV called her death “suspicious…Just a couple of days ago she had been threatened by Turkish intelligence.”
News director Hamid Reza Emadi wants Turkey “to find out exactly what happened.”
No details were released. Including the truck driver’s identity. Turkey called Press TV’s claims “completely baseless. (A)ttempts to put Ankara in a difficult situation.”
Shim was one of the few correspondents reporting accurately from the region. About Turkey in league with Takfiri extremists. Smuggling them cross-border against Syria.
Partnering with Washington’s crimes. Its imperial agenda. A reliable US stooge.
Deploring peace. Breaching rule of law principles. Waging war on freedom. Suppressing vital truths.
Wanting Assad removed. Going all-out extrajudicially to do so. Wanting pro-Western puppet governance replacing him.
On October 21, Press TV reported a memorial service held in Lebanon in Shim’s honor. A “heartbreaking scene filled with tears, pain and grief,” it said.
Family members “in anguish.” Saying she sacrificed her life telling important truths. Ones Turkey, Washington, EU partners and regional rogue states want suppressed.
Her “father was speechless,” said Press TV. Her friends explained her important work. How much it meant to her.
Telling Press TV viewers what they most need to know. Real news and information. Polar opposite scoundrel media rubbish.
“Serena left behind two beautiful children, Ali and Ajmal,” said Press TV. Ages 2 and 4.
Her “tragic death has left pain and sorrow in all our hearts,” Press TV added. “Her family is calling on the Turkish government to provide answers over the circumstance leading to her death.”
“At the same time, they say, Serena’s death has brought pride and dignity to the family.”
She died doing what she loved best. Reporting important truths for Press TV world viewers.
She knew the risks. She took them. Honorably. Forthrightly. No matter the cost. She paid the price. The ultimate one. She’s sorely missed.
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October 10th, 2014
By Stephen Lendman.
They’re in lockstep with US imperial policy. They support its dark side unapologetically. They’re propaganda bullhorns for wrong over right. They’re de facto Washington house organs.
Readers and viewers are irresponsibly cheated. They’re willfully misinformed. They’re treated like mushrooms. Well-watered and in the dark.
Everything they most need to know is suppressed. Truth is systematically buried.
Doing so blocks accurate news, information and analysis. Managed news misinformation substitutes.
All rubbish all the time persists. It doesn’t rise to the level of bad fiction. It gives Big Lies new meaning.
MSM press freedom is pure fantasy. Why anyone follows their reporting, they’ll have to explain.
Increasing numbers are opting out for good reason. Cable news channels are losing viewers.
Major newspapers and other publications are going bankrupt. Social media have many more followers than MSM.
Outrageous reports like the Wall Street Journal calling America “Freedom’s Indispensable Nation” explain why.
Its editors find new ways to turn truth on its head. They shamelessly call US power “crucial to liberty.”
It’s responsible for more misery to more people over a longer duration than history’s worst dictatorships. None match its ruthlessness.
None its horrendous human rights record. None its barbarity. Its lawlessness. Its self-righteous hypocrisy. Its threat to humanity.
Not according to Journal editors. Pax Americana prevented global war for two generations, they claimed.
It’s been ongoing since Truman violated international and constitutional law. In various theaters globally.
Ravaging one country after another. Killing tens of millions. Creating unspeakable human misery.
Journal editors call it “progress,” “freedom,” “an historic achievement,” “statesmanship.” Where would today’s world be today “without American leadership,” they ask?
Perhaps peace and stability would arrive. Permanent wars on humanity would end.
America’s empire of bases would vanish. Token force strength at most would replace overpowering military might.
Nations would be safer to live in. Fear of mushroom cloud denouement would subside. WMDs might be eliminated.
Rule of law principles would mean something. Demilitarization makes anything possible. Imagine a world at peace.
Imagine economic development replacing belligerence. Imagine it potentially lifting all boats.
Don’t expect Journal editors to explain. Or other MSM scoundrels. MInd-numbing misinformation proliferates. Big Lies substitute for truth and full disclosure.
It’s longstanding MSM policy. It mocks legitimate journalism. It does so disgracefully.
It turns increasing numbers of readers and viewers away. Maybe they’ll all opt out one day.
What better way to make them all go away. They’re a machine for the destruction of truth.
They’re a cancer affecting everything they touch. They’re worst of all when America goes to war or plans one.
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) provides an important service. It’s a vital media watchdog.
A credible one. It exposes media misinformation, bias and censorship.
It promotes truth and full disclosure. It does so because it matters. More than ever now for sure.
On September 29, it headlined “TV Generals and Precision Bombs: Corporate Media Go to War.”
“Want to know what corporate media look like when they’re reporting for duty,” it asked?
Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer is one of many MSM scoundrels. Viewers tuning in get all rubbish all the time.
In times of war, from a parade of Pentagon generals, administration officials, congressional hawks and former CIA operatives.
Peace promoters aren’t welcome. They’re consistently shut out. On September 28, Schieffer previewed his guests, saying:
“We will get the latest on (America’s latest war) mission and what it entails from Deputy National Security Adviser Anthony Blinken, retired General Carter Ham, former Pentagon official Michele Flournoy and former Deputy Director of the CIA Mike Morell.”
Getting it from Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daffy Duck, Goofy and Pluto would be preferable.
Schieffer’s weekly lineup gives diversity a bad name. He’s not alone.
Martha Raddatz’s same day ABC This Week reported from Bahrain. It’s home to America’s Fifth Fleet.
It’s run by one of the region’s most brutal dictators. Police state terror is official policy.
Fundamental freedoms don’t exist. Raddatz didn’t explain. Her segment was a US Navy infomercial, said FAIR.
“These sailors understand their jobs are critical,” she said. Waging war on invented enemies wasn’t explained. Or doing so to replace independent government with pro-Western stooge ones.
“We watched these men and women assemble bombs, putting together a 500-pound precision-guided weapon capable of leveling a building, and above them, the bombs were loaded onto aircraft bound for the war zone,” she continued.
“(T)he deck of an aircraft carrier is an incredibly dynamic place.”
(T)hroughout this deployment, there has not been a single serious mishap and well over 250 missiles and bombss have been dropped on Iraq and Syria.”
Doing so lawlessly wasn’t explained. Media scoundrels promote might over right.
America uber alles. Whatever it says goes. Opposition views aren’t welcome.
Raddatz featured a former military official like other hosts. According to FAIR:
“(F)or the sake of diversity, (he) was balanced later on by throwing softballs to a current military official:
Raddatz: “And we are now back on land, and joining us now is Vice Admiral John Miller, who is the commander of US naval forces for Central Command and the commander of Fifth Fleet here in Bahrain.”
“Admiral Miller, let’s start with what you really have accomplished with those air strikes.”
FAIR touched the right nerve, saying:
“When government officials launch an ill-defined war based on dubious claims about a threat to the ‘Whathomeland,’ you might hope that would be the time for reporters to aggressively examine and question government claims.”
“But corporate media see things differently. War time is when TV screens are full of former generals and hawkish politicians, and reporters are busy transmitting official claims.”
It bears repeating. Truth is consistently shut out. It’s verboten on MSM news programs.
On September 24, CBS news reporter Bob Orr regurgitated Pentagon Big Lies, saying:
Its officials said US “bombs and missiles hit every intended target.”
FAIR: “When have they ever said any(thing) different?”
When have they admitted mistakes? When have they explained why America really goes to war?
When are readers and viewers told what they most need to know? When do facts substitute for fiction?
Truth for propaganda Big Lies! Responsible journalism for rubbish!
Unacceptable/outrageous programming is daily fare.
It’s standard operating procedure. It’s longstanding. It blocks out what’s most important to report. It’s duplicity writ large.
Selling war takes precedence. It’s glorified in the name of peace. It rages against one country after another. It’s official US policy.
Media scoundrels march in lockstep. Doing so enlists public support. Famed US journalist Walter Lippmann coined the phrase “manufacture of consent.”
It’s a euphemism for mind control. In 1917, George Creel first used it successfully to turn pacifist Americans into raging German-haters.
It works the same way now. In 1916, Woodrow Wilson was reelected on a pledge of: “He Kept Us Out of War.” Straightaway, he planned US involvement.
In April 1917, he established the Committee on Public Information (CPI or Creel Committee). It operated through August 1919.
Its mission was enlisting public support for war and undermining opposition sentiment. It was tougher then without television.
It worked like it does now. Propaganda manipulates public minds effectively. Australian-born social psychologist Alex Carey helped pioneer how it works.
His seminal work is titled, “Taking the Risk Out of Democracy: Corporate Propaganda versus Freedom and Liberty.”
He said “The twentieth century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: the growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy.”
It’s verboten. America tolerates none at home or abroad. It wants nothing compromising its service to monied interests. Or its imperial agenda.
It wants free rein to carve up whole continents for profit. To exploit people worldwide. At home and abroad. Turning workers into wage slaves.
Removing independent governments. Replacing them with pro-Western vassal ones.
Eliminating all potential rivals. Stealing world resources. Cracking down hard on nonbelievers. Creating a world unfit to live in.
Waging wars based on misinformation, deception and Big Lies. Enlisting public support perhaps impossible otherwise.
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August 25th, 2014
By Stephen Lendman.
Longstanding US-led Western support lets Israel get away with genocidal mass murder and destruction. More on this below.
Israel’s Operation Protective Edge is the latest example of well planned, premeditated Israeli aggression on Palestine.
It has nothing to do with Hamas rocket attacks, self-defense or security.
It has everything to do with maintaining occupation harshness, assuring unchallenged control of all valued parts of Judea and Samaria, denying Palestinians self-determination, stealing their land and resources, as well as pursuing a longstanding Greater Israel objective.
Israel believes its “promised land” extends from the Nile Valley to the Euphrates. It includes parts of Syria, Jordan and Lebanon at least to the Litani River.
It lawlessly occupies Syria’s Golan Heights, as well as Lebanon’s Ghajar village and 14-square mile water-rich Sheba Farms.
In 1982, Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs senior adviser Oded Yinon published “A Strategy for Israel in the 1980s.” It’s a regional conquest and dominance plan.
For Israel to survive, Yinon believed it must dominate the Middle East. It must become a world power.
All challengers must be eliminated. Israel wants Arab nations balkanized along ethnic and sectarian lines.
It wants weakened, fragmented, divided, reconfigured controllable satellites. Its Judaization of Palestine master plan involves slow-motion genocide.
It wants Arabs excluded from all valued Judea and Samaria areas. It wants irreversible facts on the ground established.
Ideally, it wants Palestine entirely Judaized. It wants Arabs ethnically cleansed by whatever means possible.
In February 2012, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Raquel Rolnik, commented after visiting Israel and Occupied Palestine, saying:
“From the Galilee and the Negev to East Jerusalem and the West Bank, the Israeli authorities promote a territorial development model that excludes, discriminates against and displaces minorities, particularly affecting Palestinian communities.”
“Throughout my visit, I received repeated complaints regarding lack of housing, threats of demolitions and evictions, overcrowding, the disproportional number of demolitions affecting Palestinian communities side by side with the accelerated development of predominantly Jewish settlements.”
“The policies adopted by Israeli authorities severely restrict Palestinians from building legally through various means.”
“Among others, Israel has not provided Palestinians with the necessary planning framework to ensure that their basic housing and infrastructure needs are met.”
“Currently, tens of thousands of Palestinians are estimated to be at risk of their homes being demolished due to unregulated building.”
At issue is pursuing maximum Judaization with minimum Arabs. Current policies reflect Yigal Allon’s post-Six Day War plan.
It called for permanent militarized occupation. It mandated “maximum land with minimum Arabs.” Its other elements included:
- dispossessing Palestinians from areas Israel wants exclusively for Jews;
- annexing all valued parts of Judea and Sumaria;
- controlling Greater Jerusalem;
- claiming it as Israel’s exclusive capital;
- establishing settlements, military bases, free-firing zones, commercial locations, tourist sites, nature reserves, no-go areas, Jews-only roads, checkpoints, barriers, and other exclusively Jewish areas;
- stealing Palestinian resources; and
- crushing resistance by brutal subjugation and genocidal wars of aggression.
The late Edward Said once said “(y)ou cannot continue to victimize someone else” because of your own previous victimization or for any extrajudicial reason.
“We cannot fight for our rights and our history as well as future until we are armed with weapons of criticism and dedicated consciousness.”
Mahatma Gandhi once said “Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French.”
“It is wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs.”
“Surely it would be a crime against humanity to reduce the proud Arabs so that Palestine can be restored to the Jews partly or wholly as their national home.”
Bertrand Russell once asked “(h)ow much longer is the world willing to endure this spectacle of wanton cruelty?
In his book titled “Peace Not Apartheid,” Jimmy Carter said:
“Peace will come to Israel and the Middle East only when the Israeli government is willing to comply with international law.”
“The United States is squandering international prestige and goodwill and intensifying global anti-American terrorism by unofficially condoning or abetting the Israeli confiscation and colonization of Palestinian territories.”
President Nicolas Maduro said “(t)he Bolivarian Government of Venezuela vigorously condemns the unfair and disproportionate military response by the illegal state of Israel against the heroic Palestinian people.”
Israel believes it has a divine right to operate extrajudicially. Western leaders offer full support.
Obama supports Israeli aggression. So do nearly all congressional members. They lie calling it Israel’s right to self-defense.
The Jewish state’s only enemies are ones it invents. It does so as pretexts for colonization, occupation, apartheid, ruthless militarized repression and wars of aggression.
A July State Department statement lied saying “(n)o country should be expected to stand by while rocket attacks from a terrorist organization are launched into their country.”
Fact: Hamas is no terrorist organization.
Fact: It’s Palestine’s democratically elected government.
Fact: It responds solely to Israeli aggression.
Fact: International law affirms its right to do so.
Fact: Israel is one of the world’s most egregious human rights abusers.
Fact: It ignores international laws, norms and standards.
Fact: It operates extrajudicially.
Fact: It’s guilty of virtually every crime imaginable and then some.
Fact: Western leaders turn a blind eye to what demands universal condemnation and accountability.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is a convenient imperial tool. He shames the office he holds.
He urged Israel to exercise maximum restraint. He was laregly silent on its genocidal war.
He called legitimate Gazan rocket attacks in response to Israeli aggression “unacceptable.”
British Prime Minister David Cameron “strongly condemned the appalling attacks being carried out by Hamas against Israeli civilians…and underlined Israel’s right to defend itself from them.”
He ignored what speaks for itself. Hamas responds solely in self-defense.
Its rockets are pinpricks compared to Israeli firepower. They killed two Israeli civilians and one Thai national.
Israel’s genocidal war murdered over 2,065 Palestinians so far. It injured over 10,300 others. Many seriously. Some will die. Others will be maimed for life. Over 80% are civilians. Over 550 are children.
Israel indiscriminately turned large parts of Gaza to rubble. Entire residential neighborhoods were destroyed.
Schools, hospitals, UN shelters and mosques were bombed and shelled. Not one square inch of Gaza is safe.
State terrorism is official Israeli policy. So is lawless collective punishment.
Israel considers civilian men, women and children legitimate targets. So are civilian structures and infrastructure unrelated to military necessity.
Rogue terror states operate this way. America and Israel are the world’s worst.
Ireland’s Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore “condemn(ed) unreservedly the indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel which pose such a grave threat to the population.”
At the same time, he criticized mounting civilian casualties in Gaza.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy earlier told Israeli Knesset members:
“I have come to tell you that the French people will always stand at the State of Israel’s side whenever its existence is threatened.”
He failed to explain its existence never faced existential threats except briefly during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. For sure it faces none now.
Current French President Francois Hollande strongly supports Israel’s right to “self-defense.”
At the same time, he said “(a)ll efforts must be boosted to impose, now more than ever, a ceasefire in Gaza and end the suffering of the civilian population.”
His government so far did nothing to do it. Nor any other Western one.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier said “(i)t’s the legitimate right of Israel to protect its own people.”
She turns truth on its head holding Hamas alone responsible for current and past conflicts with Israel.
GW Bush earlier said “Hamas…show(s) its true colors as a terrorist organization that refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist.’
“In order for the violence to stop, Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel, and agree to respect a sustainable and durable ceasefire.”
Fact: Hamas will recognize Israel when it unconditionally accepts Palestinian self-determination within 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its exclusive capital.
Fact: Israel bears full responsibility for sabotaging current and earlier efforts for sustainable peace and stability.
Israel is a lawless rogue terror state. Washington supports its brutal occupation and genocidal wars. So do other Western nations.
As long as status quo conditions remain, justice for long-suffering Palestinians will remain elusive.
Israeli genocidal wars of aggression will repeat. Unaccountable mass murder and destruction will follow.
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August 19th, 2014
By Stephen Lendman.
Call it a billion dollar + scam. Add another congressionally funded $225 million tax dollars. Expect millions more on request.
In April 2002, noted MIT physicist Theodore Postol headlined his Technology Review article “Why Missile Defense Won’t Work.”
The notion is more hoax than possibility. His reasoning was detailed and technical. What’s supposed to work doesn’t as claimed
Hitting and destroying a missile with another one isn’t possible. It may never be other than occasional lucky exceptions.
Claims otherwise are fabricated to maintain funding and deceive populations into believing they’re safe.
According to Postol, “(t)his should be of profound concern to every US citizen” and every Israeli one.
“The officers and program managers involved in developing the antimissile system have taken oaths to defend the nation.”
“Yet they have concealed from the American people and Congress the fact that a weapon system paid for by hard-earned tax dollars to defend our country cannot work.”
The same holds for Israel’s Iron Dome. Postol asks is it more sieve than effective missile shield?
Israel’s early warning system alone works as intended. It gives people time to shelter for safety.
According to Postol, “the probability of (Iron Dome) destroying the artillery rocket warhead is essentially zero.”
The same holds for Iron Dome intercepts “chasing rockets from behind. Occasional Iron Dome intercept attempts arise in a near-vertical trajectory.
“That is the only engagement geometry where (it) has a non-zero chance of destroying the rocket – the artillery rocket warhead,” says Postol.
At least 95% of ID attempts fail. During the 1991 Gulf War, fabricated Patriot missile defense success was reported as 96% or greater.
Postol and others at MIT analyzed the data. They called likely Patriot success ZERO.
When Israelis see overhead explosions erroneously called successful intercepts, they’re observing ID warhead explosions.
Money spent on ID and other missile defense hoaxes are wasted taxpayer dollars and shekels. People are deceived to believe otherwise. Safety is available in shelters alone.
“I would not spend money on an interceptor that has a near-zero chance of intercepting an artillery rocket,” says Postol.
A July 10 erroneous Reuters report is typical of major media lies. It claimed Israel’s Iron Dome interceptor has shot down some 90 percent of Palestinian rockets it engaged during this week’s surge of Gaza fighting, up from the 85 percent rate in the previous mini-war of 2012.”
Postol calls these type reports media deception. “(T)he press needs to engage in more due diligence on these matters,” he says.
Verifiable facts, not fabrications, should be reported. People have a right to know. ID intercept attempts fail the great majority of the time.
Crude Hamas rockets with 10 – 20 pound warheads “are not lethal weapons,” says Postol.
They don’t work as intended. Sheltering in time is the best defense. ID success is a political deception.
At the same time, it’s expensive. It’s a small missile. It weights about 200 pounds.
It costs $400,000 each, not $20,000 according to some Israeli sources. Raytheon produces it in America.
According to Postol, “(t)here’s a significant question there about whether the Congress and the American people have accurate information about what this system is really costing.”
Most important is its ineffectiveness. People are deceived. Huge amounts of money are wasted. Big Fat Lies substitute for truth and full disclosure.
Media scoundrels are complicit. They regurgitate fiction, not verifiable facts. Israelis and Americans are willfully deceived.
On July 19, Postol headlined his Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists article “The Evidence that shows Iron Dome is not working.”
He explained much of what’s covered above. “Close study of photographic and video imagery of Iron Dome engagements with Hamas rockets (currently and during 2012 Pillar of Cloud hostilities) shows that the low casualties…can be ascribed to Israeli civil defense efforts,” not ID effectiveness.
Data show its performance hasn’t improved from two years earlier. It’s a failed system. It’s willful deception. It’s a hoax.
Effectiveness requires destroying rocket warheads. Their back ends are empty pipes.
If destroyed, warheads will fall and explode on the ground. Destroying a rocket warhead “is a considerably more demanding mission than damaging other parts of the targeted rocket,” says Postol.
Success depends on approaching the rocket almost directly head-on. Engaging from the side or back has virtually no chance of success.
Photos of ID contrails show most AD intercept attempts either chase Hamas rockets from behind or the side.
“In both such cases, geometry and the speed of the interceptors and rockets make it extremely unlikely the interceptor will destroy the rocket’s warhead,” says Postol.
AD can miss many ways. “Because of the uncertainties in the exact crossing speed and geometry of two high-speed missiles, even a perfectly operating Iron Dome fuse may fail to place lethal fragments onto an artillery rocket’s warhead,” Postol explained.
“In addition, unless the distance between the Iron Dome warhead and the warhead of an artillery rocket is small (roughly a meter or so), there will be a greatly diminished chance that a fragment from the Iron Dome warhead will hit, penetrate, and cause the detonation of the artillery-rocket warhead.”
Front-on engagements guarantee no success. Their “geometry merely indicates that an AD interceptor has a greater-than-zero chance of destroying the target-artillery rocket warhead.”
Small-sized incoming rockets pose other problems. Successful intercepts are even harder to achieve.
When AD interceptors explode overhead, but have contrails showing they crossed the expected rocket trajectory from behind or either side, “it can be said with a high degree of certainty, that no intercept could have occurred,” says Postol.
“It is absolutely clear: There is no evidence in the public record to show that Iron Dome is performing at an intercept rate of nearly 90 percent.”
At best, it’s 5% or less. Perhaps it’s close to ZERO. Willful public deception deprives Israelis of information they need to know.
Transparency is nonexistent. Big Fat Lies substitute for truth and full disclosure.
AD is a hoax. It doesn’t worked as claimed. Perhaps it never will. Hitting a missile with another one is like hitting a bullet with one fired at it.
Success may be a scientific impossibility other than occasional lucky exceptions.
Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on failure. Willful deception keeps people from knowing they’ve been had. According to Postol:
“In the absence of Israeli data backing claims of Iron Dome efficiency, and based on the unambiguous evidence I have reviewed, a conclusion seems clear:”
“The Israeli government is not telling the truth about Iron Dome to its own population, or to the United States, which has provided the Israeli government with the bulk of the funding needed to design and build the much-heralded but apparently ineffective rocket-defense system.”
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May 19th, 2014
By Stephen Lendman.
India is like America. Democracy is fantasy. Two major parties dominate.
In India most often. Others compete. At most, some become junior coalition partners.
Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governance control things. They take turns. They’re largely two sides of the same coin.
Indian elections ran in nine phases. From April 7 to May 12. The longest election in Indian history. Over 800 million were eligible to vote.
Over 8,000 candidates competed. They did so for India’s Lok Sabha. It’s House of the People. Its lower house. Parliamentarians represent 543 constituencies.
Turnout exceeded 66%. Highest ever for general elections. On May 16, results were announced.
Ruling Congress party candidates were trounced. They won 44 of 554 seats. BJP aspirants won a majority 282 seats. The BJP National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won 336 seats.
Money power triumphs no matter who wins. Like in America. In Europe. In Israel. Most elsewhere . Democracy is fantasy.
Narendra Modi is India’s new prime minister. He’s no democrat. Or agent of change.
He’s pro-business writ large. He’s notoriously anti-populist. He’s neoliberally one-sided. He represents strongman rule. His Gujarat tenure was ruthless.
He was responsible for its 2002 massacre. Up to 2,000 Muslims were slaughtered. Thousands more were injured. Hundreds went missing.
Children were burned alive. Rape and other atrocities were committed. Widespread looting occurred. Property destruction was vast.
Modi initiated what happened. He condoned it. He remains unaccountable. In 2012, a Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team cleared him of involvement.
Muslims justifiably were enraged. Cold-blooded mass murder was whitewashed. State terrorism triumphed. Perhaps more of the same ahead with Modi in charge.
Not according to New York Times editors. They headlined “With Narendra Modi, a Change in India.”
They praised what demands denunciation. They lied claiming Modi’s victory “reflects a changing country more willing to extend governance to those outside the established elite.”
Obama congratulated him. He invited him to Washington. Modi promised “economic revival.”
“He set a good tone…(He) promised to work for the good of all Indians,” said Times editors. He omitted explaining which ones he means.
Wall Street Journal editors headlined “India’s Modi Moment,” saying:
“(H)e has a rare mandate to enact (greater) market-opening reforms” than already. “Indian equities soared…”
“Mr. Modi’s record offers reason for optimism.” He’s an “archetypal energetic executive…(He) welcomes foreign investment.”
“He has a gut sense of the economic aspirations of ordinary Indians.”
“Picking (men) of ideas to balance his own strength as a man of action would be a winning combination.”
Washington Post editors called Modi “a compelling alternative as a leader with a record of overseeing a decade-long boom in the state of Gujarat, primed by aggressively tackling infrastructure and energy bottlenecks, paring excessive regulation and attracting private investment.”
“He has promised to do the same for the country at large, sketching ambitious plans for new cities linked by bullet trains.”
Arundhati Roy calls India’s model one “designed to uphold the consensus of the elite for market growth” at the expense of fairness.
It “metastasized into something dangerous.” High-level corruption reflects it. So does hardline rule.
Roy compared Hindu persecution of Muslims to Hitler’s treatment of Jews. “What kind of India do they want,” she asked earlier?
She described a “limbless, headless, soulless torso left bleeding under the butcher’s clever with a flag driven deep into her mutilated heart?”
She commented on India’s election, saying:
“…”(W)e’re always told there’s going to be a trickle-down revolution.”
“You know, that kind of opening up of the economy that happened in the early ’90s was going to lead to an inflow of foreign capital, and eventually the poor would benefit.”
“Well, trickle down hasn’t worked, but gush up has. After the opening up of the economy, we are in a situation where…100 of India’s wealthiest people own 25 percent of the GDP.”
“Whereas more than 80 percent of its population lives on less than half a dollar a day.”
Roy noted horrendous malnutrition, hunger and human misery.
India’s growing middle class comes at the expense of a “much larger (permanent) underclass.”
Small farmers among others suffer. Around 250,000 committed suicide. “If you try to talk about (it) on Indian television channels, you actually get insulted…”
Roy’s new book is titled “Capitalism: A Ghost Story.” It explains well. It makes a strong case. It shows globalized capitalism created unprecedented inequality, violence, racism and ecocide.
Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian/journalist/sharp critic of New Delhi policy.
He called BJP candidates winning decisively a clear mandate. He’s not encouraged. He expects worse of what voted rejected ahead.
He commented on Hinduism’s strong pro-Israeli sentiment. “Hindutva and Zionism shared a muscular nationalism that developed – because of their context – a programmatic apathy to Islam and Muslims,” he said.
In 1884, BJP candidates won two seats. This year “the tide turned,” said Prashad.
It did so despite Modi’s genocidal legacy. Anti-Congress sentiment mattered more.
India has “a powerful Hindu Right government with a very weak opposition,” Prashad added. “It is the worst of all worlds.”
Congress prioritized neoliberal policies. They combined “liberalization, privatization and globalization.”
Prashad calls it “an explosive mix that brought India in line with the planet’s rising inequality.”
It’s grown steadily for years. Especially so in the new millennium. Extreme depravation affects around “680 million Indians.”
Congress policies exacerbated things. Inequality escalated during its tenure. Voters reacted.
Its candidates were rejected. BJP ones replaced them and then some. Both parties represent monied elites. Corruption is deep-seated.
BJP and Congress largely govern the same way. Prashad said Modi’s Gujarat “malnutrition rate is so high that it is worse than the average…in sub-Saharan Africa.”
Its development model is exclusively pro-business. Modi family-controlled companies profit handsomely.
He “ran as a development candidate with a carefully calibrated argument,” said Prashad.
He turned truth on its head. He claimed neoliberalism didn’t create inequality. He blamed corruption. He “tied it to the mast of Congress.”
He rode an anti-ruling party wave. He did so successfully. He reflects hard right Hindu nationalist extremism.
He’ll form his government going forward. He’ll have to decide whether it’s “the ideology he concealed in plain sight or from the campaign rhetoric…he delivered,” said Prashad.
Election results showed India’s left considerably weakened. Its alternative is rebuilding “strength outside parliament through popular political struggles,” Prashad stressed.
Did ordinary Indians get what they wanted, he asked? Was it “good governance or Hindu nationalism?”
On the one hand, they get what they voted for, good or bad.
On the other, they’re stuck with the worst of both worlds they deplore. Hardline pro-business Hindu nationalists are empowered for the next five years.
For hundreds of millions of deeply impoverished Indians, it’ll feel like a lifetime.
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