A year ago, the U.S. government issued a sketchy report on the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 shoot-down citing “social media” and other flimsy data implicating eastern Ukrainian rebels and Russia, but then as hard intelligence became available went silent. Now, U.S. intelligence veterans are demanding release of that intel.
MEMORANDUM FOR: The President
FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)
SUBJECT: Releasing an Intelligence Report on Shoot-Down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
It has been a year since the shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine, resulting in the death of 298 passengers and crew. The initial response by the U.S. government supported the contention that the likely perpetrators were anti-government forces in southeastern Ukraine (the customary media misnomer for them is “separatists”), and that they were possibly aided directly by Moscow.
On July 29, 2014, we Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) suggested that the United States Government report publicly what intelligence it actually had relating to the shoot-down lest the incident turn into another paroxysm of blaming Russia without cause. We are still waiting for that report.
President Barack Obama delivers a statement on the situation in Ukraine, on the South Lawn of the White House, July 29, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
Executive Summary
Tensions between the United States and Russia over Ukraine are fast reaching a danger point. A major contributing factor in the American public’s negative perception of Moscow is last year’s downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.
A public report detailing the investigation of the incident by the Dutch Safety authorities is expected by October but the draft is reportedly already in the hands of the United States government. There is speculation that the report will dovetail with media and leaked government sources that have placed primary blame on the ethnic Russian Ukrainians in southeastern Ukraine opposed to the government put in place after the Western-engineered coup of Feb. 22, 2014, in Kiev.
As the relationship with Moscow is of critical importance, if only because Russia has the military might to destroy the U.S., careful calibration of the relationship is essential. If the United States signs on to a conclusion that implicates Russia without any solid intelligence to support that contention it will further damage an already fractious bilateral relationship, almost certainly unnecessarily. It is our opinion that a proper investigation of the downing would involve exploring every possibility to determine how the evidence holds up.
Currently, the only thing the American public and worldwide audiences know for sure is that the plane was shot down. But the shoot-down might have been accidental, carried out by any one of a number of parties. Or it might have been orchestrated by anti-government forces, with Moscow either conniving in some way in that action or not. It is also possible that the downing was deliberately carried out by the Kiev government or one of Ukraine’s powerful oligarchs to implicate the anti-Kiev forces and Russia in this mass murder. And finally, though less likely, it might even be that based on the available intelligence it is impossible to determine who did it.
In light of the high stakes involved both in terms of our extremely important relationship with Russia as well as in establishing a trustworthy narrative that does credit to the White House, the failure of the Administration to issue a coordinated intelligence assessment summarizing what evidence exists to determine who was responsible is therefore puzzling. If the United States government knows who carried out the attack on the plane it should produce the evidence. If it does not know, it should say so.
In what follows, we former intelligence professionals with a cumulative total of some 360 years in various parts of U.S. intelligence provide our perspective on the issue and request for a second time that the intelligence over the downing be made public to counter the fuzzy and flimsy evidence that has over the past year been served up some of it based on “social media.”
The Russian Dimension
It would not be the first time for a tragic incident to be exploited for propaganda reasons with potentially grave consequences. We refer to the behavior of the Reagan administration in the immediate aftermath of the shoot-down of Korean Airlines Flight 007 over Siberia on August 30, 1983.
Hours after the tragic shoot-down on August 30, 1983, the Reagan administration used its very accomplished propaganda machine to manage a narrative emphasizing Soviet culpability for deliberately killing all 269 people aboard KAL-007 in full knowledge that it was a civilian airliner. In reality, the airliner had been shot down after it strayed hundreds of miles off course and penetrated Russia’s airspace over sensitive military facilities in Kamchatka and Sakhalin Island. The Soviet pilot tried to signal the plane to land, but the KAL pilots did not respond to the repeated warnings. Amid confusion about the plane’s identity a U.S. spy plane had been in the vicinity hours earlier Soviet ground control ordered the pilot to fire.
The Soviets soon realized they had made a horrendous mistake. U.S. intelligence also knew from sensitive intercepts that the tragedy had resulted from a blunder, not from a willful act of murder (much as on July 3, 1988, the USS Vincennes shot down an Iranian civilian airliner over the Persian Gulf, killing 290 people, an act which President Ronald Reagan dismissively explained as an “understandable accident”).
The story of KAL-007 should come to mind when considering the fate of MH-17. There might be legitimate reasons for opposing the increasingly authoritarian government of President Vladimir Putin, but exploiting a tragedy does not equate to constructive statecraft for dealing with an adversary.
At a minimum, the White House and State Department one year ago displayed unseemly haste in deciding to be first out of the starting gate with a narrative implicating Russia, at least indirectly a narrative that may not be based on fact. That twelve months have passed and there has been no effort made to either correct or amplify the record is unacceptable.
Someone Is Lying
Both Russia and Ukraine deny any active role in the MH-17 shoot down. So do the anti-coup forces in southeastern Ukraine. Someone knows something and is lying to conceal a role in the incident. From the U.S. perspective what happened needs to be clarified and become a matter of public record. No other nation has the resources that the U.S. had to come up with an evidence-based answer; and intelligence collection and analysis are the tools that must be used. The information released to date does not bear close scrutiny; it does not permit an informed judgment as to who is lying about the shoot-down of Flight 17.
One year ago today, National Intelligence Director James Clapper authorized a background briefing including some sketchy talking points in a very short “Government Assessment” for selected mainstream journalists. It was just five days after the shoot-down and two days after Secretary of State Kerry pointed the finger of blame at anti-coup Ukrainians and Russia. Understandably, corroboration was being sought.
Like Kerry’s presentations on the Sunday talk shows of July 20, 2014, however, much of the “Government Assessment” was derived from postings on “social media.” The July 22, 2014 briefing addressed, inconclusively, the key issue of who fired the Buk anti-aircraft missile widely believed to have downed the airliner on July 17, 2014.
No update to that five-day-after “Government Assessment” has been provided over the past year. Are we asked to believe that one year later the intelligence community still cannot adduce evidence that goes beyond insinuation regarding the Buk missile?
The July 22, 2014 briefing also suggested that the missile might have been fired by a Ukrainian “defector.” Has there been no clarification on that point? It is, frankly, very hard for us to believe that the U.S. intelligence community has been unable to expand its understanding of these key issues over the past year.
To be sure, there has long been a tendency in Washington to “fix the intelligence around the policy,” to quote the Downing Street memo relating to the inglorious start of the Iraq War. More recently, we note the claim repeatedly made by Secretary of State John Kerry on August 30, 2013, that “we know” the regime of Bashar al-Assad was responsible for the chemical incidents near Damascus nine days before.
In that case, Kerry also cited a “Government Assessment” to support his charges. We saw the introduction of this unique genre of “assessment,” instead of the normally required “Intelligence Assessment,” as evidence that honest intelligence analysts were refusing to go along with the preferred narrative. In fact, Kerry’s accusations turned out to have been based on false and even fabricated intelligence provided by opponents of the Syrian government.
Choosing to Reveal the Truth
If the White House has concrete, probative intelligence regarding MH-17, we strongly suggest that the time is right to approve it for release before the “blame Russia” narrative becomes completely dominant. The American people are perfectly capable of judging for themselves what took place but they need to have all the information presented without bias and without any attempt to evade unpleasant conclusions. And it should be done even given the risk of compromising “sources and methods,” as the broader issue of war or peace with Russia is something that should be of paramount concern to every American.
What is needed is an Interagency Intelligence Assessment the mechanism used in the past to present significant findings. We are hearing indirectly from some of our former colleagues that the draft Dutch report contradicts some of the real intelligence that has been collected. Resorting to another “Government (not Intelligence) Assessment” to sidestep the accountability issue is not appropriate and is itself an insult to the integrity and professionalism of the intelligence community.
Mr. President, we believe you need to seek out honest intelligence analysts now and hear them out, particularly if they are challenging or even opposing the prevailing groupthink narrative. They might well convince you to take steps to deal more forthrightly with the shoot-down of MH-17 and minimize the risk that relations with Russia might degenerate into a replay of the Cold War with the threat of escalation into thermonuclear conflict. In all candor, we suspect that at least some of your advisers fail to appreciate the enormity of that danger.
The courtesy of a reply is requested.
For the Steering Group, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
William Binney, former Technical Director, World Geopolitical & Military Analysis, NSA; co-founder, SIGINT Automation Research Center (ret.)
Thomas Drake, former Senior Executive, National Security Agency
Daniel Ellsberg, former State Department and Defense Department Official (VIPS Associate)
Philip Giraldi, CIA, Operations Officer (ret.)
Matthew Hoh, former Capt., USMC, Iraq & Foreign Service Officer, Afghanistan (associate VIPS)
Larry Johnson, CIA & State Department (ret.)
John Kiriakou, Former CIA Counterterrorism Officer
Karen Kwiatkowski, former Lt. Col., US Air Force (ret.), at Office of Secretary of Defense watching the manufacture of lies on Iraq, 2001-2003
Edward Loomis, NSA, Cryptologic Computer Scientist (ret.)
David MacMichael, National Intelligence Council (ret.)
Ray McGovern, former US Army infantry/intelligence officer & CIA analyst (ret.)
Elizabeth Murray, Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Middle East (ret.)
Todd E. Pierce, MAJ, US Army Judge Advocate (Ret.)
Coleen Rowley, Division Counsel & Special Agent, FBI (ret.)
Peter Van Buren, US Department of State, Foreign Service Officer (ret.) (associate VIPS)
Kirk Wiebe, former Senior Analyst, SIGINT Automation Research Center, NSA
Ann Wright, Col., US Army (ret.); Foreign Service Officer (resigned)
Worth consideration.
http://fortruss.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/ukrainian-military-acknowledges-it-may.html
FIRM acts on call for Pan AM 103 public inquiry
The letter below was sent to Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill today, following the FIRM’s online poll in which 86% of respondents called for a public inquiry into the Lockerbie airliner event:
15 July 2009
Kenny MacAskill
Cabinet Secretary for Justice
The Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh
EH99 1SP
Dear Mr MacAskill,
FIRM magazine
The Firm magazine recently ran a poll of its readers, which found that 86% of respondents supported a public inquiry into the downing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie.
A copy of the news story which ran in the July issue of the Magazine is appended below for your reference, and a copy of the magazine is enclosed.
I can add that solicitors and advocates, in addition to the general public, have frequently and consistently expressed to me their despair at the damage that has been inflicted upon the law of Scotland by this case. No doubt you are already aware that the Scots legal system was once rightly regarded as among the best and most effective in the world. Regardless of its present efficacy, it is now regarded both domestically and (especially) internationally as an embarrassment, principally because of the damning reflection cast upon it by the passage of the Lockerbie case through it.
On behalf of the readers of The Firm – including over 10,000 solicitors and 500 or so advocates who wish to see the reputation of Scots law restored and be certain the legal system they work for and within is a source of pride to them, and not of shame- I am duty bound to ask for you to address their wishes for a public inquiry. Like them, it is my fervent wish that the legal system of Scotland, and those who work within it, can be certain that the law which is applied in their name is done so honourably and with full accountability, devoid of the stains and shadows that this case has thrown upon it.
http://www.firmmagazine.com/news-exclusive-firm-acts-on-call-for-pan-am-103-public-inquiry/
The letter below was sent to Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill today, following the FIRM’s online poll in which 86% of respondents called for a public inquiry into the Lockerbie airliner event:
15 July 2009
Kenny MacAskill
Cabinet Secretary for Justice
The Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh
EH99 1SP
Dear Mr MacAskill,
FIRM magazine
The Firm magazine recently ran a poll of its readers, which found that 86% of respondents supported a public inquiry into the downing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie.
A copy of the news story which ran in the July issue of the Magazine is appended below for your reference, and a copy of the magazine is enclosed.
I can add that solicitors and advocates, in addition to the general public, have frequently and consistently expressed to me their despair at the damage that has been inflicted upon the law of Scotland by this case. No doubt you are already aware that the Scots legal system was once rightly regarded as among the best and most effective in the world. Regardless of its present efficacy, it is now regarded both domestically and (especially) internationally as an embarrassment, principally because of the damning reflection cast upon it by the passage of the Lockerbie case through it.
”On behalf of the readers of The Firm – including over 10,000 solicitors and 500 or so advocates who wish to see the reputation of Scots law restored and be certain the legal system they work for and within is a source of pride to them, and not of shame- I am duty bound to ask for you to address their wishes for a public inquiry. Like them, it is my fervent wish that the legal system of Scotland, and those who work within it, can be certain that the law which is applied in their name is done so honourably and with full accountability, devoid of the stains and shadows that this case has thrown upon it. ”
http://www.firmmagazine.com/news-exclusive-firm-acts-on-call-for-pan-am-103-public-inquiry/
This memorandum issued by Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity is clear and illuminating. Yet, there is something peculiar about its assumptions concerning the motivations of the US government. The authors assume that the â€blame Russia†mentality is a dangerous phenomenon and that the release of all available intelligence findings would have a constructive and settling effect. I think this is questionable. If available intelligence findings implicate Russia in the downing of MH17, the “blame Russia†mentality will be super-sized in an instant and the possibility of war would rise dramatically. On the other hand, if these findings exculpate Russia and identify anti-Russian interests as the perpetrators of the atrocity the damage to the prestige of the US government – which so enthusiastically and promptly championed the “blame Russia†mentality – would suffer terrible damage.
Unless these findings harmlessly implicate some lone wolf renegade who could be easily disowned by either side, I think their release would be damaging either to the real interests of the US or some perceived interest which has been so enthusiastically embraced that its proponents cannot distinguish it from a real interest.
Radicals love the “speak truth to power†mantra. But it is often rather shallow. In this case, those of us on the outside have no truth to speak and those who have power already have the truth – in fact they are sitting on it. It might be more practical for the Veteran Intelligence Professionals to speak to the powerless – we are the ones who need all the truth we can get.
If there had been any actual evidence implicating Russia or the eastern Ukrainians we would have been hearing it non-stop 24/7 for over a year now. We haven’t. We haven’t heard a word about the flight data recorders or the Ukie control tower logs. All we have heard is endless speculation from the same idiots who brought us the Iraq War, the war on Libya, and the seemingly endless conflict against the Syrian people. That right there tells anyone with a brain all you need to know. As for the rest of you, go consult Twitter.
???? 13 3 NOV 2014 Ukraine Objectives and supporting information on Ukraine’s proposal UKR/84/1 (document 84 rev.1) on Draft New Resolution [UKR-1] “Assistance and support to Ukraine for guaranteeing the use of frequency and numbering resources in the territories of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol”
http://wcitleaks.org/
The official report on the investigation of the MH17 crash will be published in October. Sharing information beforehand will help the perpetrators clear their tracks and make relevant people ”disappear”.
I for one am glad the US haven’t helped the people who killed 298 innocent civilians get away scot-free.
Readers,
We have had our share of anguish as a result of this shoot-down. We saw 38 passengers as casualties.
Australia has just ‘enjoyed’ a series of public performances to mark this event and as usual, as with all other staged events for which we are well known, it was accompanied by the usual feckless Prime Ministerial comments, ‘shirt-fronting’ to you, the innuendos from the likes of just-as-feckless Foreign Affairs Minister types and all the local media brouhaha. And brouhaha there was by the truckload.
It is after all, our trade mark, overdoing things, feeding the cultural cringe. We love it.
But during the past 12 months comments from the USA stooges who control our government today have gone out of their way to point the bone at Vladimir Putin.
For this uninitiated in the way of the aborigines in this country point the bone at someone, it is designed to ritually execute them with sorcery. The man who actually “points” the bone is a a specialist, a ritual expert. In the Arrente language of central Australia he is called a ‘Kaditcha’, and this term has been adopted into English as a general label for the office, even though other tribes have their own words for it. The Kaditcha is a wise and learned senior man with great spiritual power. If a group decide that someone is to be killed – for example as punishment for a crime – the Kaditcha may be engaged to perform the execution. I am sure other countries haver similar procedures, not in place today, I trust.
I would like it known that even in a country as old as Australia, there probably are not enough bones to point at all the Zionists, neocons, ne’er-do-wells, Israeli sycophants and politicians to make any appreciable difference to the world as it is today. This sorry matter of the MH 17 and all its devious variations from those with vested interests, such as ‘doughnut Dolly’ Nuland, a disgrace to her once respected country, together with her whole tribe of miscreants working daily to bring America down.
I would like also it known that I do NOT position any blame in the direction of Russia because I do not think Putin or Russia had anything to gain when compared to the Ukrainian Nazis, the USA and its CIA-Zionist domination and anyone else that sees world conflict as a benefit to their long range objectives, like Eretz Israel, Saudi and others. What is a plane load of passengers mean to them? Saudi probably kills that many Yemeni people every day and the UN just looks on while the USA supports them.
Now there is the weakness of this corrupt world. The toothless tiger known as the UN, dominated by the US veto in the Security Council. It is and has been past its use-by-date for decades, an anachronism if ever there was one.
But like this article from the publication that has provided more items to consider than any other, Consortiumnews, including pointing out the fakery of 60 Minutes, I also believe the US has the information that has been asked for in this article today.
Whether we see it ever, is a matter of chance. I would say never. The US hero whistleblower, Edward Scowden is not around to tell us the real truth and it is only through the likes of him that any truth has come from the USA in the last decade.
So don’t hold your breath for Obama to get a dose of conscience any time soon. He wants to stay alive and retire to Hawaii and not end up as an assassination like JFK when he tried to have Israel’s nuclear program monitored. He died and Israel now controls the USA, lock, stock and barrel.
Not a lot of future there for Obama with just 15 months to go to rid himself of the ‘crown of thorns’, know as US politics.
So on behalf of the families of those 38 Australians who died in this sad event, full marks for effort, Robert Parry. Put aside your words on this subject, now a year old and gird your loins for ‘ US election 2016 ‘ when the US and the world continues to disintegrate.
The prospects indicate that there is nowhere else to go but further down the greasy pole..
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty reports:
Sturmabteilung Stabschef states, “What the ridiculous corporal declared doesn’t apply to us… We’ll manage the whole thing without him.”
http://www.rferl.org/media/video/ukraine-right-sector/27142662.html
Adolf Hitler to SA and SS before Ernst Röhm is killed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFP1SCzCScA
What appears certain at this point is that there was no intent on the part of the seperatists to shoot down a civilian airliner. What appears likely at this point is that the circumstances leading to the shoot-down were intentionally created by people aligned with the Kiev government. What seems difficult to excuse at this point is how the US played this tragedy to the max as a propaganda gimmick against Russia, especially while keeping quiet about what they knew or didn’t know.
I wish that VIPS would call on Obama to release ALL of the JFK/MLK/RFK assassination files as well. Obviously, I know the files are “supposed” to be released in 2017…That leaves too much up in the air for me–especially with a presidential election in between. Considering Obama has made his living quoting JFK/MLK/RFK–it does not seem too much to ask that he actually DO something about the heavily redacted and thousand of unreleased files. Obama literally has quoted JFK/MLK/RFK from his days as a senator, his run for president and even the State of the Union…
I would also like to bring everyone’s attention to the extreme length of time which the U.S. goverment agencies feel they are allowed to keep files from the public. Author and Yale history professor Beverly Gage was unable to get any new files released for her 2008 book “The Day Wall Street Exploded” (the 1920 bombing of Wall Street). NINETY years later–and a Yale professor, whom you would think might have some good contacts, was unable to get any files released (or any redactions lifted)!!!
I know there are also files from WWII which have not been fully released–I would bet there are also World War One files as well. In England, the royal family is allowed to put a 100 year time stamp on their files–it semms as if the three letter agencies in the U.S. are claiming their own Nobility here as well.
We, the People have PAID the U.S. government to run these agencies in the best interest of the nation–but there has never been discussion on how long these files can be kept from the tax payers. How can we analyze the conduct of the government agencies (and the people who run them) if we don’t even have access to the files?
We, the People DESERVE to know our own history!!!
Timestamp or no, then as now:
Oligarchs and Royals — They’re Just Like Us!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU55Bxr7T6E
Oligarchs and Royals — They’re Just Like Us!
In an unofficial trip to Germany soon after Hitler seized power in 1933, Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, hobnobbed with Robert Ley, head the German Labor Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront, DAF).
Photographs of the 1933 visit show Edward giving the Nazi salute
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/07/21/13/2AB93FA200000578-0-image-a-77_1437482748289.jpg
After ascending to the British throne in 1936, Edward abdicated to marry his American mistress Wallace Simpson.
In October 1937, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor visited Germany, against the advice of the British government, and met Hitler at his Obersalzberg retreat. The visit was much publicized by the German media. During the visit the Duke gave full Nazi salutes.
Like many British aristocrats of his era, Edward was instinctively sympathetic to the Hitler regime’s treatment of the working class.
Hitler had appointed Ley to suppress the trade unions and the prevent wage increases. Ley abused his power in a way that was conspicuous even by the standards of the Nazi regime, and the DAF quickly established a reputation as perhaps the most corrupt of all the major institutions of the Third Reich.
Until the last months of the war, Ley was part of Hitler’s inner circle along with Martin Bormann and Joseph Goebbels.
At the Nuremberg Trials in 1945, Ley was indicted under Count One (“The Common Plan or Conspiracy to wage an aggressive war in violation of international law or treaties”), Count Three (War Crimes, including among other things “mistreatment of prisoners of war or civilian populations”) and Count Four (“Crimes Against Humanity – murder, extermination, enslavement of civilian populations; persecution on the basis of racial, religions or political grounds”).
Ley was indignant at being regarded as a war criminal. Three days after receiving the indictment, he strangled himself in his prison cell using a noose made by tearing a towel into strips, fastened to the toilet pipe in his cell.
I had just watched “Edward VIII: The Traitor King” (BBC) a couple of weeks ago…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHgtUNVlFJc
I have never read up too much on Robert Ley–thanks for the info…Martin Bormann is a dark and fascinating character…Wish someone would throw his diary up online (every once in a while it comes up on amazon for $100+ used)…I think there is still much being kept from the public about the post-WWII period. With the technology we have today there is no reason that the public shouldn’t be allowed to research WWII documents online, as it is now, many of the documents are in stored away in DC and the public must make the journey to review the documents. I assume they must also be pre-approved to enter and there are most likely restrictions on taking notes and/or receiving copies of the original documents.
Robert Ley with the Windsors in 1937 Nazi Germany
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atXRw_G-uTw
https://germanwarmachine.com/images/uploads/timeline-photos/third-reich/1937/windsorlrg.jpg
http://cdns.yournewswire.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Windsor_Hitler-660×463.jpg
https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/duke_duchess_of_windsor_hitler.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Bundesarchiv_Bild_102-17964,_Ordensburg_Kr%C3%B6ssinsee,_Herzog_von_Windsor.jpg
The last photo shows the Duke of Windsor reviewing an SS honor guard at Ordensburg Krössinsee in Pomerania during his 1937 visit to Germany.
A vast complex of rustic stone buildings with granite foundations, Ordensburg Krössinsee was located near the city of Falkenburg, today Złocieniec in Poland.
In Nazi Germany, the NS-Ordensburgen (“National Socialist Order Castles”, singular Ordensburg), also called Schulungsburgen, were schools developed for elite Nazi military echelons.
The cadets or Ordens Junkers at Ordensburg Krössinsee shared the facility with members of the Hitlerjungend or Hitler Youth.
With the Invasion of Poland (1939) and the start of World War two, a very high percentage of Junkers were killed in action. The Hitler Youth boys between 12–18 years old eventually became the sole occupants of all three Order Castles until Nazi Germany was defeated in 1945.
It is perhaps interesting to note that in September 2013, the Polish Foreign Minister RadosÅ‚aw Sikorski, the mastermind behind Poland’s integration into NATO, invited members of the Neo-Nazi Right Sector (Sector Pravy) to train in Poland in preparation for the protests that resulted in the February 2014 coup d’etat in Ukraine.
Ukraine: Poland trained putchists two months in advance
By Thierry Meyssan
http://www.voltairenet.org/article183373.html
Just what I suspected all along. The NAZI/Fascist Movement was just a “modern” facelift for hoary old, Imperial Europe. The real target of their ire were the massive, revolutionary, Republics; USA, USSR, Republic of China. It didn’t play out that way, but the Oligarchs are still gunning for us, Russia, and China, trying to goad us into fighting one another. The Patriots of both USSR and USA were smart enough to keep it a cold war. We’ll be Allies once again, we three. Mark my words, and the Western Empire of the Oligarchs will be the last Empire upon the Earth to collapse and crumble,never to see another for a long long time.
Foreign policy run on “faith based intelligenceâ€.
Domestic policy run on “faith based economicsâ€.
Both reliably lead to war.
No wonder the US and NATO retain such a peculiar affection for national socialism.
It’s the tried-and-true politics of belief.
http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/ley2.htm
Andrew Everett, you are a man after my own heart. There are a few of us who frequent this site, who feel as you do. The assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the cover up in my opinion, was the start of the modern era of government lies. After four weeks of testimony and over 70 witnesses in a civil trial in Memphis, Tennessee, twelve jurors reached a unanimous verdict on December 8, 1999 after about an hour of deliberations that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated as a result of a government conspiracy. Ask anyone you know if they know this about the King assassination, and I will bet they don’t know this. While you are at it ask anyone you know, if they have ever heard of the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty. I have yet to run into anyone who knows about this attack. Research on the RFK assassination will certainly raise questions to whether Kennedy was killed by Sirhan Sirhan. So, when it comes to believing the official narrative surrounding 9/11, well….
I’m afraid this terrible downing of MH17 has now been filed alongside these other tragic events in our country’s history. Good luck, ever finding out the truth!
Agree with you on JFK/MLK/RFK…Haven’t looked into MH-17 too much…
As for 9/11: JAMES BAMFORD has just called out the NSA regarding the Yemen phone number which they were watching pre-9/11…
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/07/21/missed-calls-nsa-terrorism-osama-bin-laden-mihdhar/
In his last discussion with Allen Dulles as POTUS, President Eisenhower worried that he would leave his successor a “Legacy of Ashes” (page 194, Legacy of Ashes by Tim Weiner).
I truly wish a writer would dig in and do some research on the History of Excessive Secrecy which the U.S. is allowing to take place–a TIMELINE of historical events since 1900 along with some research on the availability of documents to the public (including if there are redactions). It would certainly be great to see some historical perspective–as it is, I feel we are only looking at the short-term and missing the Big Picture.
Andrew Everett, you may already be aware of this, but this book I am referencing is a good read (1300 pages worth).
Tragedy and Hope, subtitled “A History of the World in Our Time”, is an epic and scholarly work of history written by Carroll Quigley. The book covers the period of roughly 1880 to 1963 and is multidisciplinary in nature though perhaps focusing on the economic problems brought about by the First World War and the impact these had on subsequent events. While global in scope, the book focusses on Western civilization, because Quigley has more familiarity with the West.
The book has attracted the attention of conspiracy theorists due to Quigley’s assertion that a secret society initially led by Cecil Rhodes, Alfred Milner and others had considerable influence over British and American foreign policy in the first half of the twentieth century. From 1909-1913, Milner organized the outer ring of this society as the semi-secret Round Table groups.
Just thought I would mention Professors Quigley’s writing. Tradegy and Hope, with its 1966 book release was in its day a ‘conspiracy theorist’ literature dream. Macmillan publishing after selling out 8000 copies, suddenly broke the printing plates. Beware, we are not sure that the re-released version is actually a true copy of the first book release, but it’s all we have. I will tell you this Carroll Quigley’s really gets into the details of these historical times. Also, Professor Quigley’s mentions decision makers who’s names are not the usual names you learned about in world history 101. Quigley’s was given access to the Council on Foreign Relations memos and papers…whoops!
Thanks for the info on Professor Quigley…
Carroll Quigley has posted a pdf of the 1966 version: http://www.carrollquigley.net/pdf/Tragedy_and_Hope.pdf
I will check it out…CFR secrets, mmmm.
I have been reading The Brothers: John Foster Dulles and Allen Welsh Dulles by Stephen Kinzer (most excellent)…I found a free pdf online–but I would much rather have the book to read from.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pz7qm4vwhh942k6/The%20Brothers-%20John%20Foster%20Dulles%2C%20Allen%20Dulles%2C%20and%20Their%20Secret%20World%20War%20by%20Stephen%20Kinzer.pdf?dl=0
Andrew – A great source for information on Martin Bormann is a book called, “Martin Bormann, Nazi in Exile” by Paul Manning. The book is out of print, but a pdf is available at http://www.spitfirelist.com for free download. DISCLAIMER: I don’t buy Manning’s premise that Bormann survived the war, but the book offers excellent insight into how the financial machine he created did survive, along with most of the guiltiest Nazis. Allen Dulles told Manning he was “on the right track”, which tells me that he wasn’t regarding Bormann, but the book is still an invaluable resource. This site also pushes Peter Lavenda’s book claiming Hitler survived the war – lots of sloppy history there, and my background in Forensic Anthropology tells me it’s complete balderdash – but like anything else, you’ve got to draw your own conclusions. The site has several other free pdf’s of old antifascist works; all in all, lots of worthwhile and fascinating material.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsohFzbJ-vs#t=16
This is a pretty convincing video from the designers and builders of Buk missiles.
In a nutshell, they show how the missile destroyed the individual parts of the plane
and they show exactly from what position on the earth, the missile was fired from.
The only thing that they can’t say is who pushed the button.
However they also say that the Americans have the satellites that confirm all of their conclusions and they leave the impression that neither Russians nor the separatists
fired the missile.
Rather long but the first 45 minutes basically proves their points. The rest is questions.
I can’t say why there was no vapour trail, but that is the only loose end here.
I question why the MSM did not carry this news. The Kiev people I understand why they would not have talked about it if they shot the plane down.
Agree with most of the comments, especially Abe’s. However, these are all points to be considered in an NIE, not necessarily in a memo requesting an NIE which is inclusive enough in its scope.
I would also endorse the Russian proposal for the UN to convene not a tribunal, as the British and Dutch have prevailed upon the Malaysians to propose, but a continuation of the investigation, except this time one that is truly independent and comprehensive.
Either case- i.e., a U.S. NIE or UN ‘NIE’ type investigation- would require the full cooperation of all of the US intelligence services, all foreign intelligence services – including the British, German, and Ukrainian- and the Dutch investigators. Would that ever happen? Or, would the publication of a truthful narrative with fact-based findings be too explosive, embarrassing and threatening for the Administration, its neocon handlers, and their political and economic agenda for Ukraine, even if the cover-up of a mass murder would be the price?
Shortly after the crash agents from Ukraine’s SBU security service entered the tower and confiscated recordings of conversations between Ukrainian air traffic control officers and the crew of the airliner. The recordings have never been made public and I’d bet they have been “lost.”
Here’s the question, why did the Kiev Nazi government’s air traffic controllers allowed MH17 to attempt a fly over a war zone? Has there ever been an inventory report stating how many BUK missiles were in the Kiev Nazi’s arsenal as of July 18th (the day after the shoot down)? Has anyone inquired to see the flight records of the Kiev Nazi’s air force, especially paying attention to their SU25’s?
I like this letter, but a good defense attorney wouldn’t bring up so many outs, which this letter does. Bringing up all the who could have done it, may turn around and bite the authors of this well meaning plead. In the end I believe our news should point out how terrible life has been for the people of Donbass under this horrible Nazi regime which overthrew a democratically elected government. Come on people this should be where the American publics attention is focused. Here’s an idea, get Donald Trump to read this letter, because he is all cable news is talking about this week.
Joe Tedesky, I think that I have many of the same questions! Shouldn’t our media be pointing out the culpability of the Ukrainian Government to allow a civilian airliner to fly over a war zone (where I believe a Ukrainian military jet was shot down the week before)? Had the Ukrainian Government shut down that airspace then all of the people of MH-17 would be alive today! Also, if the rebels in Eastern Ukraine are so guilty of shooting down MH-17 then why would they ever hand over the black box? If I killed someone, and claimed that I was innocent, I don’t think I would hand over the knife. Doesn’t make sense to me.
I think also a lot of the reporting on Ukraine is dependent on people’s ignorance of the world or Ukraine. If anyone listens to Hillary Clinton then the simple fact that there are Russian made weapons in Ukraine is evidence that this is all Russia’s fault meanwhile the actual fact is that most of Ukraine’s weapons are Russian made, the Ukrainian military has all of what the US has claimed was “evidence” – BUK Missile Systems (I believe Ukraine was trying to sell BUK Missile Systems to Georgia in 2008), T-62 tanks (many of these were left over from Soviet times), T-72 tanks (I believe the Kyiv Post reported that one of Ukraine’s T-72 tanks went missing) etc. So who to believe? I don’t know everything that is going on in Ukraine but when I see the continued use of photos from 2008, a totally different conflict, or Moscow Air Shows to prove of a Russian invasion today in Ukraine! Even hearing Victoria Nuland say in March 2015 that Crimeans were under a “reign of terror” meanwhile in March 2015 Forbes comes out with an article citing Gallup and GFK polls which all say the exact opposite and that Crimeans are happy to be Russian again! This all makes my Spidey Sense tingle. Too many questions and too much dishonesty…
I think the biggest crime is that we do not realize that we are being propagandized by our own government’s and mainstream media every day – this makes it much easier to sell wars, regime change, or anything our government wishes to do in the world and they wrap it all up in tales of “democracy” and “freedom”. I just wonder how many times do we have to put our hands on the hot stove to realize that it is hot? The other day I was watching our CTV news, I am Canadian, and they reported the muslim independent shooter of a 4 military men as a “terrorist” and then the very next story went to James Holmes who shot 71 people and killed 12 meanwhile he was described as a “shooter”. Are not both of these people guilty of acts of terror? Shouldn’t they be described in the same fashion? Doublespeak at its’ finest…
I just watched the documentary by award winning journalist, John Pilger, called “The War You Don’t See” on Vimeo. I highly recommend that people watch this and maybe you will come to realize that it is really “truth” and our push for truth that is the enemy of our governments – this includes the people that report the truth (or an alternate viewpoint) such as the targeting, and killing, of Al Jazeera reporters in Iraq by the US military.
https://vimeo.com/67739294
John Pilger on “The Invisible Government” and war by journalism
Text
http://johnpilger.com/articles/the-invisible-government
Part 1/4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-uq7O1RqQQ
Part 2/4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kA0_xV2QLs
Part 3/4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtpU2ORFyeo
Part 4/4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqff-glEqkE
We journalists… have to be brave enough to defy those who seek our collusion in selling their latest bloody adventure in someone else’s country… That means always challenging the official story, however patriotic that story may appear, however seductive and insidious it is.
For propaganda relies on us in the media to aim its deceptions not at a far away country but at you at home…
— John Pilger
http://johnpilger.com/videos/the-war-you-dont-see
With its fascist past, and present, Ukraine is now a CIA theme park, a colony of Nato and the International Monetary Fund. The fascist coup in Kiev in February was the boast of US assistant secretary of state Victoria Nuland, whose “coup budget” ran to $5 billion. But there was a setback. Moscow prevented the seizure of its legitimate Black Sea naval base in Russian-speaking Crimea. A referendum and annexation quickly followed. Represented in the West as the Kremlin’s “aggression”, this serves to turn truth on its head and cover Washington’s goals: to drive a wedge between a “pariah” Russia and its principal trading partners in Europe and eventually to break up the Russian Federation. American missiles already surround Russia; Nato’s military build-up in the former Soviet republics and eastern Europe is the biggest since the second world war.
During the cold war, this would have risked a nuclear holocaust. The risk has returned as anti-Russian misinformation reaches crescendos of hysteria in the US and Europe. A textbook case is the shooting down of a Malaysian airliner in July. Without a single piece of evidence, the US and its Nato allies and their media machines blamed ethnic Russian “separatists” in Ukraine and implied that Moscow was ultimately responsible. An editorial in The Economist accused Vladimir Putin of mass murder. The cover of Der Spiegel used faces of the victims and bold red type, “Stoppt Putin Jetzt!” (Stop Putin Now!) In the New York Times, Timothy Garton Ash substantiated his case for “Putin’s deadly doctrine” with personal abuse of “a short, thickset man with a rather ratlike face”.
The Guardian’s role has been important. Renowned for its investigations, the newspaper has made no serious attempt to examine who shot the aeroplane down and why, even though a wealth of material from credible sources shows that Moscow was as shocked as the rest of the world, and the airliner may well have been brought down by the Ukrainian regime.
With the White House offering no verifiable evidence – even though US satellites would have observed the shooting-down – the Guardian’s Moscow correspondent Shaun Walker stepped into the breach.
Breaking the last taboo – Gaza and the threat of world war
By John Pilger
http://johnpilger.com/articles/breaking-the-last-taboo-gaza-and-the-threat-of-world-war
Abe, I have to say that I have a lot of respect for Mr. Pilger and his very impressive resumé which stretches back to Vietnam, Cambodia, Nicaragua etc. I believe that he is rare, much like Mr. Parry, in questioning the real reasons why our foreign policy is the way it is based on “history”. Since I found out about Mr. Pilger, I have been watching documentary after documentary and what he uncovers is truly shocking. Even listening to people like former CIA Senior Official, Duane Clarridge, when he exclaims that the US had the divine right to overthrow the “democracy” in Chile in 1973 because it served US interests and the world just needs to accept this (War on Democracy).
For me, now, I have come to believe the very opposite of what the US Government claims right out of the gate since I have found people like Mr. Pilger, Mr. Parry, Mr. Hersh, Mr. Hedges etc. – all award winning and challenging the US Government line. I believe the US in an Empire and the western world are their satellites, I am Canadian by the way. I don’t believe in Empire and I don’t want to be ruled by the US or China or Russia or anyone else. I hope the US will be the last Empire, that when it declines that we will not see another one and that we move into a true multipolar world, a fairer world for all. We will have to see…
Abe, I also think that the only thing that was missing from MSM coverage of the Iraq War, or even before the Iraq War, was “pom poms”. Sadly, even though it is very clear that the coverage was propaganda and spread US and British Government lies most people freely accepted the story about Assad in Syria using chemical weapons ironically just after he had invited UN inspectors into Syria, and were on the ground, and did not report anything about Al Nusra being caught in Turkey with 2kg of Sarin Gas. Meanwhile no news agencies reported on Pulitzer Prize Winner, Seymour Hersh’s, report on Syria which challenged the administrations story (“The Red Line and the Rat Line” & “Whose sarin?”) – I believe Robert Parry also challenged the US Government narrative. How did people forget so quickly? Now, I believe, that the US Government is perpetuating false information about what is actually happening in Ukraine and the role of the US in Ukraine before and after the coup. I guess I sometimes wonder how many times do we have to put our hands on a hot stove to realize that it is “Hot”?
Well,the MSM did say the shrub was a college cheerleader,so a visual of pom poms was implanted.
Motive;How the Russians would have a motive to shoot down this plane while they were already under MSM Zionist attack is beyond possibility.A mistake,by the separatists?Possibly,but the only people who would have a motive by blaming Russians would be the Ukrainians or one of the militia.
\ And no smoke trail documentation anywhere,at least not yet,but highly doubtful it would come so late in the game to be believable.
It was a clear day from photos.
In an August 2, 2014 article written by Higgins entitled “MH17 Missiles Can’t Hide From These Internet Sleuths,†Higgins claims to have concluded that Russia or the anti-Kiev rebels must have shot down the plane with a Buk missile launcher – a weapons system also in the possession of Kiev’s military. What is his evidence? It’s a series of photographs published in various media outlets that he cannot corroborate in any way. Instead, this “sleuth†is making his case based on faith – faith that the photographs were taken where and when they claim to have been, and show what they claim to show.
Of course, it has since been publicly acknowledged on more than one occasion that photographs purporting to show Russian military incursions into Ukraine have been fabricated and/or misrepresented causing tremendous embarrassment for US and European governments that have repeatedly claimed to have such evidence. But our dear BM is unfazed by such revelations. Instead, he seems to simply shriek louder. Rather than leaving analysis of MH 17 to aviation and military experts, he peddles his “opinion.†Rather than acknowledging the bias in his own reporting, to say nothing of the limitations of armchair technical analysis, he continues to grow his image, and with it, the lies, omissions, and distortions he propagates.
And so we return to the new “study†by Higgins and his Bellingcat group of “digital detectives.†They are obviously front-and-center in the western media because their conclusions are aligned with the US-NATO political agenda. They are a de facto arm of the western corporate media and military-industrial complex, providing the veneer of “independent analysis†in order to penetrate the blogosphere and social media platforms where the mainstream narrative is being questioned, scrutinized, and discredited. Bellingcat and Higgins’ names should be known to everyone, but not because their analysis is worthwhile. Rather, they need to become household names so that those who understand how western propaganda and soft power actually works, will be on the lookout for more of their disinformation.
Perhaps The Guardian should also be more careful in how it presents its information. By promoting Higgins and his discredited outfit, they are once again promoting disinformation for the purposes of selling war. The US almost went to war with Syria (which it is doing now anyway) based on the flawed intelligence and “analysis†of people like Higgins. Naturally, everyone remembers how The Guardian, like all of its corporate media brethren, helped to sell the Iraq War based on complete lies. Have they learned nothing? It would seem so.
But those interested in peace and truth, we have learned something about propaganda and lies used to sell war. We who have called out these lies repeatedly – from Iraq in 2003, to Syria and Ukraine today – we once again repudiate the false narrative and the drumbeat for war. We reject the corporate media propagandists and their “alternative media†appendages. We stand for peace. And unlike The Guardian and Higgins, we stand on firm ground.
Lying About Ukraine…Again!
By Eric Draitser
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/02/20/the-guardian-lying-about-ukraine-again/
Link broken
Link updated
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/02/20/there-goes-the-guardian-lying-about-ukraineagain/
The memorandum notes that “much” of the “Government Assessment†of the MH-17 crash was derived from postings on “social media.’
More accurately, British blogger Eliot Higgins and Bellingcat “investigation” reports have been the primary source of US and NATO government accusations against Russia.
On July 15, 2014, the day of the mysterious airstrike on the separatist-held town of Snizhne in eastern Ukraine, and three days before the MH-17 crash, Higgins launched the Bellingcat website.
Higgins and Bellingcat serve as deception “conduits†as defined by the Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms (Joint Publication 1-02), a compendium of approved terminology used by the U.S. military.
Within military deception, “conduits†are information or intelligence gateways to the “deception target.â€
A “deception target†is defined as the “adversary decision maker with the authority to make the decision that will achieve the deception objective.â€
The primary “deception targets†are the public and “policy makers†of the United States and Europe Union.
Higgins advertised this deception strategy in his article, “Social media and conflict zones: the new evidence base for policymaking†https://blogs.kcl.ac.uk/policywonkers/social-media-and-conflict-zones-the-new-evidence-base-for-policymaking/
Citing “Bellingcat’s MH17 investigationâ€, Higgins declared that “a relatively small team of analysts is able to derive a rich picture of a conflict zone†using online information and social media.
Higgins extolled the virtues of this “new evidence base†of “open source†information — side-stepping the obvious opportunities for deceptive information being planted in these media from not-so-open sources.
The “overarching point†concludes Higgins, is that “there is a real opportunity for open source intelligence analysis to provide the kind of evidence base that can underpin effective and successful foreign and security policymaking. It is an opportunity that policymakers should seize.â€
It appears that the US and NATO have seized the opportunity to use deception operatives like Higgins and Bellingcat to disseminate propaganda.
The Atlantic Council, a “regime change†think tank, recently released a report titled, “Hiding In Plain Sight: Putin’s War in Ukraineâ€.
A key author of the Atlantic Council report, Higgins is listed as a Visiting Research Associate at the Department of War Studies at the King’s College in London, UK.
On page 1 of the report, the Atlantic Council praises “the ingenuity of our key partner in this endeavor, Eliot Higgins of Bellingcat. The information documented in this report draws on open source data using innovative social media forensics and geolocationâ€.
The Atlantic Council claim that “Russia is at war with Ukraine†and is summarized in the following key statement on page 8 of the report:
“Separatist forces have been relying on a steady flow of Russian supplies, including heavy weapons such as tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery, and advanced anti-aircraft systems, including the Buk surface-to-air missile system (NATO designator SA-11/17) that shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in July 2014. 26″
The Atlantic Council’s claim that Russia supplied a Buk missile that shot down MH-17 has a single footnote. Footnote 26 directs the reader to the Bellingcat website and a pdf report by Higgins titled “MH-17: Source of the Separatist’s Bukâ€.
Since July 2014, the profusion of Higgins and Bellingcat “investigation” reports about MH-17 have not been publicly contradicted by Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity or any other notable figures in the Western defense, security and intelligence communities.
The fact that Higgins apparently has more credibility than the signatories of the above letter reinforces my point: the Western public absolutely insists upon having a foreign enemy, and facts and truth do not come into play at all.
I will disagree with several of your statements. Much of what Freud believed turned out to be absolute bunk. It’s not the public that “insists” on having an enemy. It is the individuals and groups in power that insists on manipulating the public — at the publics expense while “special interests” profit, benefit or “perceive” to benefit.
Much more goes into all of this, but if the public was content would they need an enemy?
And if the public understood that absolutely they were and are being played for fools, by their own government and media, to benefit themselves and their cronies, who do you think the public would recognize as the enemy?
As things stand, and have been since 9/11, how long do you think the government can keep the truth from being understood?
I neglected to ask.
How many more domestic and international crimes do you think “our” US government would have committed if all the people that speak up against it, had been quiet before and since 9/11?
SMALL VOICES AND SCREAMS
There are many intelligent contributions by commenters to CONSORTIUMNEWS.
Of course, I don’t agree with all of them but am thankful that together they
make for fascinating and learned reading. Thanks to all seekers of truth
or its nearest approximation.
—Peter Loeb, Boston, MA, USA
This letter will be ignored. If answered, the answer will take the form of a polite brush-off. As far as the neocons are concerned, it really doesn’t matter at all if a tiny number of ex-intelligence analysts and a slightly larger number of blog readers have serious doubts about the “official story”. All that matters is that the other 300 million or so Americans, and similar proportions of people around the world, believe it. Neither detailed technical evidence nor even a coherent narrative are needed to that end. All that is necessary is a blanket condemnation of Russia, and the collaboration of the mainstream media. It’s a done deal.
In his book “Civilization and its Discontents”, written in 1930, Sigmund Freud stated that human beings can be made to cooperate in a civil society and even (mostly) treat one another decently; but only when they are given an external, alien enemy on whom to vent their aggression. This conclusion could have come straight out of “Mein Kampf”; unfortunately it appears to be completely true.
Applying Freud’s insight to the societies of the USA and the UK, it turns out that if the governments of those countries want to keep their social pressure cookers from exploding they need a safety valve in the form of a hateful, insidious, foreign threat. Step forward, Vladimir Putin! As it happens, this particular choice of “Emmanuel Goldstein” is exceptionally revealing, in that Putin is known to be honest, decent, and truthful. Nevertheless, he can safely be compared to Hitler by Western governments and mainstream media. That proves beyond a shadow of doubt that facts and truth do not come into play at all.
Right you are. Facts and truth don’t matter. For those Americans that are awake, we are dismayed at the vastness of the Forces arrayed against us, We The People. All the high ground, we see, is already held by the enemy (same old enemy in different clothes…no obvious Redcoats this time). And only fools trust in up-hill, frontal assaults. All that is left is The Detective’s Game; motive, who are the perps, who benefits from this scenario, likelihood of failure of The Enemy’s Plans (sometimes success breeds its’ own failure)…also, stay down.
The role of the Dutch in this matter is puzzling. Is this another example of Dutch cowardice like in Srebrénica? The 100% repatriation of Dutch gold in secrecy leads one to suspect that a deal was made.
It is worthwhile to return to cogent observations made in the immediate aftermath of this heinous crime. To wit, I submit the Justin Raimondo article dated 21 July, 2014 entitled, “MH17: The Exploitation of a Tragedy”. Referring to the feverish attempts to immediately pin the blame on Putin, he refers to the tapes played nonstop on American media purported to be “intercepts” of separatist forces communications provided by Kiev’s SBU. The article states: “One tape presented as a conversation between a rebel commander and his henchman on the ground was apparently made the day ‘before’ the plane was downed – sloppy work, but good enough for cable news.”
It is worthwhile to recall that Kiev immediately began shelling the crash site with heavy artillery in an attempt to a) destroy evidence b) prevent evidence collection c) gain control of the crash site or d) all of the above. “Social media” pictures of Buk-1 missile batteries taken on open roads in broad daylight began to appear with the gratuitous implication that they were in transit to or from Russia, despite the reality that professional military organizations NEVER move such weapons in broad daylight due to the effectiveness of aerial and satellite surveillance.
So, between the pre-planned and pre-posted tapes and the confiscation of the taped ATC communications with MH-17 by Kiev’s SBU, where does that leave us? “Faith based intelligence” may provide a clue. Perhaps precognition, predestination, premonition or prestidigitation holds the answer. “Geo-spatial calibration” (Who thinks up this crap?) of social media pictures offers another avenue. But skeptic that I am, “premeditation” seems the likeliest explanation, and the perpetrators weren’t Russian.
One positive outcome of the cooked up intelligence on Iraq’s WMD and the subsequent blame placed on the intelligence professionals was that it became much harder now to cook it up. Now, the intelligence professionals will rather resign immediately then go along with fabrications and have to resign in shame later. This puts US intelligence on MH17 in a stalemate position – cannot support the initial statements of the leaders, but cannot be cooked to support them either. Stalemate, thus no intelligence released at all. It is likely to never be released, MH17 will be blamed on the rebels by the official report, and it will continue on after the report as a conspiracy theory due to a lack of facts. Hmm, reminds me of some other event …
Good article!
I’m beginning to doubt that the BHO Administration has any evidence which wouldn’t be instantly dismantled. I may be wrong about that, but why else would they have not already provided it?
Even though he’s successfully dismantled large parts of The Constitution he’ll plead The Fifth.
Mel,
That is a childish answer. If you cared about the Constitution Bush and Cheney would be in jail. Spewing general statements like that just shuts down any honest debate. The neocons are playing with our lives. Their influence in D.C. has not waned even though they have been so wrong and cost this country many lives, dollars and reputation.
I have not agreed with Obama on everything and in some cases (drones, trade deals, bank bail outs) I have been VERY disappointed, but the real danger we face is stopping the arrogant, hegemonic ideology of the neocons.
Thank you, Lynne Gillooly for a dignified answer.
Look again, its hardly “dignified” “spewing”, as it does, false attribution and generalities which are driven by an emotional position rather than one based on the comment in front of her.
I seem to have been misconstrued on this but “spewing” is hardly a dignified or grown-up word to use in “honest debate” as well. I’m flattered that you think that there is a danger that any comment of mine might shut down debate. It obviously hasn’t in this case and if “I cared” Bush and Cheney would be in jail”. Really? Little ol’ me? If I cared?. I do, along with millions but it hasn’t and won’t lead to jail time. If even subordinates didn’t go to jail over My Lai, a turning point in American justice with the intervention of a President, people with power never will. Nor will Obama comply with this request for honest investigation of MH17 if the misinformation encouraged by the Whitehouse can be linked with him and no doubt it does. By “pleading the fifth” I meant that he is unlikely to fully cooperate with any investigation which implicates him in the policy of misinformation – or official silence – the “dog not barking” which is the silence of the plethora of American intelligence agencies for over a year. If they had real evidence against Moscow it would be carved in stone by now. No, the evidence they have is likely not to fit the Washington narrative which many senior people have hitched their wagon to.
Obama is the greatest disappointment in the history of American democracy and has allowed American foreign policy to become an inconsistent, incomprehensible murderous mess which will ensure that the US will have no shortage of enemies for generations to come. The is something worse than a neocon and that’s a presidential stooge.
Lynne:
Do you seriously believe prosecutors could find 12 people (+ alternates) who could answer “no” to the question “Do you already have an opinion on the guilt or innocence of the accused?”
Your remark is a little flippant or under-serious for the subject matter? However you are not wrong.
On the subject of MH17 and the handling and mishandling of the aftermath.. The authors of this appeal are making a miscalculation.. That being; at this point whatever information is revealed, it will be cooked and nuanced and it will not be the whole of the information held under wraps.
There should never have been a secret investigation.. it’s only purpose was to obfuscate the facts. Secondarily to create a story line fertile for Washington’s political agendas. Even if the facts ultimately point directly to Putin (highly unlikely) the delays and manipulations of the ‘investigation’ themselves constitute serious crimes. Look at the deaths and more that could have been avoided if a clearer picture of the conflict had been allowed quickly to emerge.
Have a super day.
“Flippant” I thought concise and I had a super day, thank you. A “clearer picture …had been allowed to emerge? It will never be allowed. “Determined to enforce the “group think†on Ukraine, the editors of The New York Times (last Thursday) lashed out at Russia for urging an expanded inquiry into last year’s MH-17 shoot-down. But the Times won’t join calls for the U.S. government to release its intelligence on the tragedy” (Robert Parry).
To avoid the deaths you speak of the American people should have been told the truth behind many things but that wouldn’t be in the interests of the corporate media and those behind it – the truth about the Nazi backed riots in the Maidan, the illegal removal of a democratically elected government sponsored by the US to the tune of $5bn and orchestrated by Victoria “Fuck the EU” Nuland and which had already agreed to expedited elections, the non-existence of any Russian soldiers under orders in Ukraine, the shelling of civilians and the destruction of the infra structure in the East, the fact the Nazi “Right Sector” have started to murder each other to grab the spoils in the East, the referendum in Crimea …it goes on.
The truth will never “quickly” emerge in the States because the people appear to have relinquished their right to it from the media and the government. People around the world are urging the American people to wake up before there’s not a single friend left.