A Confession on Meeting a Russian

Though now billed as a “spymaster,” Russian Ambassador Kislyak was well known as a social butterfly, meeting a wide range of Americans, including politicians, academics and activists, which led David Swanson to this “confession.”

By David Swanson

It was August 2014. Our secret and nefarious meeting had to be disguised as a public event. So, the Russian Ambassador to the United States, Sergey Ivanovich Kislyak, spoke at the University of Virginia, in an event organized by the Center for Politics, which no doubt has video of the proceedings and was of course in on the conspiracy.

Russia’s Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak. (Photo from Russian Embassy)

Kislyak was once ambassador to Belgium and to NATO. He served an eight-course Russian dinner for select guests prior to the public forum in an underground lair deep inside Observatory Hill.

Kislyak spoke to a packed auditorium at UVA and took, I think, well over an hour of questions. He spoke frankly, and the questions he was asked by students, professors, and other participants were polite and for the most part far more intelligent than he would have been asked on, for example, Meet the Press.

He told the audience that Russia had known there were no WMDs in Iraq, and had known that attacking Iraq would bring “great difficulties” to that country. “And look what is happening today,” he said. He made the same comment about Libya. He spoke of the U.S. and Russia working together to successfully remove chemical weapons from the Syrian government. But he warned against attacking Syria now.

There will be no new Cold War, Kislyak said, but there is now a greater divide in some ways than during the Cold War. Back then, he said, the U.S. Congress sent delegations over to meet with legislators, and the Supreme Court likewise. Now there is no contact. It’s easy in the U.S. to be anti-Russian, he said, and hard to defend Russia. He complained about U.S. economic sanctions against Russia intended to “suffocate” Russian agriculture.

Asked about “annexing” Crimea, Kislyak rejected that characterization, pointed to the armed overthrow of the Ukrainian government and insisted that Kiev must stop bombing its own people and instead talk about federalism within Ukraine.

There were remarkably few questions put to the ambassador that seemed informed by U.S. television “news.” One was from a politics professor who insisted that Kislyak assign blame to Russia over Ukraine. Kislyak didn’t.

Swanson’s ‘Contact’

I always sit in the back, thinking I might leave, but Kislyak was only taking questions from the front. So I moved up and was finally called on for the last question of the evening. For an hour and a half, Kislyak had addressed war and peace and Russian-U.S. relations, but he’d never blamed the U.S. for anything in Ukraine any more than Russia. No one had uttered the word “NATO.”

Image of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, after a NATO bombing raid in 1999.

So I pointed out the then upcoming NATO protests. I recalled the history of Russia being told that NATO would not expand eastward. I asked Kislyak whether NATO ought to be disbanded.

The ambassador said that he had been the first Russian to “present his credentials” to NATO, and that he had “overestimated” NATO’s ability to work with Russia. He’d been disappointed by NATO actions in Serbia, he said, and Libya, by the expansion eastward, by NATO pressure on Ukraine and Poland, and by the pretense that Russia might be about to attack Poland.

“We were promised,” Kislyak said, that NATO would not expand eastward at all upon the reunification of Germany. “And now look.” NATO has declared that Ukraine and Georgia will join NATO, Kislyak pointed out, and NATO says this even while a majority of the people in Ukraine say they’re opposed.

The ambassador used the word “disappointed” a few times.

“We’ll have to take measures to assure our defense,” he said, “but we would have preferred to build on a situation with decreased presence and decreased readiness.”

Wouldn’t we all. I mean, all of us who aren’t interested in risking World War III as long as it can gin up a pretense that Hillary Clinton lost because of Russian evil.

David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He is director of WorldBeyondWar.org and campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org. Swanson’s books include War Is A Lie. He blogs at DavidSwanson.org and WarIsACrime.org. He hosts Talk Nation Radio. He is a 2015, 2016, 2017 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee. Follow him on Twitter: @davidcnswanson and FaceBook. [This story previously appeared at http://davidswanson.org/node/5468]

58 comments for “A Confession on Meeting a Russian

  1. March 8, 2017 at 16:00

    “The US was the overwhelming choice (24% of respondents) for the country that represents the greatest threat to peace in the world today. This was followed by Pakistan (8%), China (6%), North Korea, Israel and Iran (5%).” —Gallup poll, surveying 66,000 people in 65 countries, Sept-Dec 2013

    BBC graph displaying more data from this poll: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-25496299

  2. March 3, 2017 at 23:06

    More info at link below:
    ———————————————————–
    IMPEACH: Nancy Pelosi Met With Russian President Dmitry Medvedev In 2010

    Matt Vespa
    |
    Posted: Mar 03, 2017 5:30 PM
    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2017/03/03/impeach-nancy-pelosi-met-with-russian-president-in-2010-n2293837

  3. Joe_the_Socialist
    March 3, 2017 at 18:35

    ***

    Contact your federal legislators, RIGHT NOW, and ask them to call for the immediate resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

    ***

    FREE AMERICA

    DIRECT DEMOCRACY

    ***

    • Kiza
      March 3, 2017 at 22:20

      I wrote here before that the current US left consists only of two types: the dumb and the paid. Which one are you?

      • b.grand
        March 4, 2017 at 04:05

        Thank you Kiza. I’m guessing dumb, and that’s why I’m not for “DIRECT DEMOCRACY” either. This anti-Sessions nonsense is more from dumb and dumber Pussycrats.

  4. Kalen
    March 3, 2017 at 18:24

    Against the Obama created Orwellian Ministry of Truth I must remind people that Putin did not retaliate for Obama expulsion of dozens of Russian diplomat without any shred of evidence, confirmed later by those who saw full classified CIA reports and judged them as baseless.

    Instead Flynn was fired for nothing and anti-Russian hysteria continues and escalates.

    It is clear that if Trump does not stop this madness soon he will be next to go.
    I am afraid it is his role to be a polarized figure to divide people otherwise united against Obama/Clinton clique epitomized by Deep State.

    • Lisa
      March 3, 2017 at 19:09

      Yes, there were 35 Russian diplomats expelled from the US just before the New Year. Putin’s “retaliation” was to extend an invitation to a New Year’s party in Kremlin to 35 US diplomats (in Moscow) and family members, incl. children.
      Does anyone know if the Americans actually attended the party?

      Obama did all he possibly could to complicate Trump’s future relations with Russia. Whatever Trump does, he is either a warmonger or Putin’s puppet.

  5. Bill Bodden
    March 3, 2017 at 17:33

    I haven’t had a chance to read this, but it appears to be related: “Most of the World is Just Collapsing in Laughter” on Claims that Russia Intervened in the US Election: An Interview with Noam Chomsky by David N. Gibbs – http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/03/03/most-of-the-world-is-just-collapsing-in-laughter-on-claims-that-russia-intervened-in-the-us-election-an-interview-with-noam-chomsky/

    • rosemerry
      March 5, 2017 at 10:00

      Bill, this link is just newly published in counterpunch-thanks. Chomsky puts things in context, and this is an excellent summary. I also heard Ralph Nader on the Real news Network yesterday reminding us that 5000 people die a week from diseases obtained in hospitals in the USA. All the fuss about terrorism, even 9/11, is shown up by this kind of figure, ans Chomsky describes the real dangers on a big scale.

  6. March 3, 2017 at 16:39

    info at link below:
    ————————————————————————
    Russian Ambassador Visited Obama White House Nearly Two Dozen Times

    Leah Barkoukis
    |
    Posted: Mar 03, 2017 2:30 PM
    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2017/03/03/russian-ambassador-visited-obama-white-house-nearly-two-dozen-times-n2293731

  7. evelyn
    March 3, 2017 at 16:26

    It’s taken me a while to recognize that NATO does not represent the best interests (IMO) of average people living in the countries that comprise its membership.

    Based on my perceptions of the foreign policy views of “she who will not accept that she is not trusted by a large enough swath of average American voters to win in 2004, 2008 and 2012”
    and the alignment of those views with NATO’s actions,
    I have come to the conclusion that delusional Neocons/Neoliberals apparently dictate NATO’s actions, not based on reasonable judgment but their singular goal of trying to prove their own pitiful relevance.

    Their choices are unsustainable, have terrible “unintended” consequences and make this country less safe.

    They are bullies and suffer from the delusion that their policies will enhance their own power. they always end badly….

    • evelync
      March 3, 2017 at 17:51

      sorry 2008 and 2016

    • rosemerry
      March 5, 2017 at 09:39

      Right on the point, evelyn. NATO helps the military personnel in charge of it, gives power to the USA (which complains it costs too much and tries to get the rest of the members to waste their money too) and insists on interfering wherever it can to prove it has some meaning. Many people in Europe are against it, especially as it makes war (with Russia, for example!) more likely, and we are in the line of fire if this is forced on Russia to respond.

  8. jaycee
    March 3, 2017 at 16:16

    I am still trying to figure out the argument that political leaders must always follow through on their promises, even if faced with new information (i.e. the EU association agreement has this mandatory austerity program attached), and if they don’t then insurrectionary protests and regime change become legitimate. Is a democratic polity a static or dynamic system? What was truly accomplished by overthrowing the elected government in Ukraine, and why do the aspirations of one segment of the population take priority?

    Ukraine and Russia’s sphere of influence: no, the people of Ukraine do not have to accept limitation to their lives based on Russian interests, but there were obvious cultural, historic and economic ties and the EU association agreement required fully severing at least the economic ties. In concert with the mandated austerity program, Ukraine’s economy would have imploded. What would be intelligent about that? The implications of the EU association are never discussed or allowed context in what happened in Ukraine. Instead, it’s all flighty nonsense about “western values.”

    As well, the finger-pointing and vitriol at Russia over their alleged cruel mandate of a sphere of influence is loudest in a country which has its own history of mandating spheres of self-interest, and sponsoring incredible levels of violence to maintain it. Forty years of Central American history since the Arbenz coup in 1954 was testament to that.

  9. Montse
    March 3, 2017 at 15:34

    Well said David Swanson. I wish more people were aware of the witch hunt that is going on against Russia and anybody who dares to say anything, that they perceive whether factual or imaginary, favorable towards Russia. These undercurrent in progress is utterly toxic and madness. For the sake of the planet: STOP the insanity.

    • Joe Tedesky
      March 3, 2017 at 15:53

      I agree to put Russia under such an evil light is unfortunate, especially when we know this ugliness is being used for American politicians to further their selfish political gain. We Americans should lock hands and demand our politicians stop wasting our national treasure on killing people through out this world. Nothing good can come from all this madness.

  10. Mao Cheng Ji
    March 3, 2017 at 14:58

    Thank you, David Swanson.

  11. mike k
    March 3, 2017 at 14:34

    What kind of idiots would fancy dance on a tightrope with the fate of billions of people at stake? Meet our esteemed leaders….

  12. Stiv
    March 3, 2017 at 14:32

    Inventive use of sly sarcasm….

    Certainly things have gotten a little out of control with the “Russians are Coming” hysteria, but there’s too much smoke around Trump’s cadre to not investigate for fire. If anyone has proof one way or another let them bring it.

    So, far….there seems to be a lot of defensiveness and head faking. What were these people thinking? Sessions? This “I don’t remember” excuse is a bunch of shit. Very Reaganesque. Your ex CIA contributors know that Sessions was briefed extensively over this exact question…and it seems that obfuscation was their method for avoiding a “difficult truth”. Sessions and the ilk need to be “waterboarded” LOL. Black site rendition..

    But thanks for the humorous article that still makes point.

    • mike k
      March 3, 2017 at 14:45

      “there’s too much smoke around Trump’s cadre to not investigate for fire” How about investigating the smoke generators at CNN and the CIA for starters? I hear those guys are really good at smoke screens and unsupported allegations, not to speak of outright lies and propaganda. Come to think of it, I smell something really foul from those outfits, sorta like rotten red herrings….

      • Investigate McCain
        March 3, 2017 at 17:21

        Also. How come John McCain always gets a free pass? There’s photographic evidence of him meeting with ISIS leaders in Syria in2014. He went to Syria illegally again this month and again met with ISIS.
        He went to Ukraine in Dec 2016 and promised the Ukonazis the US would support them and encouraged further viollence along the contact line.
        McCain is a traitor. His contact with states and groups in conflict with US interests should be investigated.

        • March 3, 2017 at 17:22

          McCain
          Ukraine:
          http://theduran.com/these-are-the-six-photos-that-prove-ukraine-is-overrun-by-us-sponsored-neo-nazis
          McCain was repeatedly photographed with Oleh Tyahnybok, the leader of the right wing nationalist Svoboda. Party. When it was founded in 1995, it called itself the Social-National Party of Ukraine (SNPU), and it had a swastika-like logo.

          March 1 2017 || DONI news agency
          https://dninews.com/article/us-arms-deliveries-ukraine-may-turn-new-tragedies-russian-diplomat

          Chairman of the US Senate Committee on Armed Services John McCain and Chairman of the House Committee on Armed Services Republican Mac Thornberry earlier urged US President Donald Trump to send defensive armaments to Ukraine.

          Thornberry stressed that the idea of providing defensive armaments to Ukrainians enjoyed wide support both in the US Republican and Democratic Parties.

          The current Act on the activity and the financing of the US Department of Defense for fiscal year 2017 allows the head of the Pentagon to provide defensive lethal force weapons to the Ukrainian army. Most frequently, anti-tank weapons are mentioned among these armaments. A total of $350 million has been set aside for these purposes.

          *************

          2017 visits to Syria. Discuss “safe zones”.
          Also history of him using Senate role to seal records of Viet MIAs.
          http://www.blacklistednews.com/John_McCain_Illegally_Travels_To_Syria%2C_Meets_With_Leaders_And_Fighting_Groups%3B_No_Criticism_From_MSM/56992/0/38/38/Y/M.html

          In 2008 he asked for campaign donations from Russia!!!
          http://stateofthenation2012.com/?p=66915
          Wikileaks released documents this week following the sudden death of Russian UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin.

          There are several documents on McCain’s request for donations from the Russians.

          In 2008 the Russian mission released a letter on a fundraising attempt from John McCain.

          According to Reddit users John McCain illegally asked for campaign donations from the Russian Ambassador. (the same ambassador that died suddenly on Monday) This globalist shrieks about Russian influence while he himself participated in it.

          The Russians told McCain they would not donate to his campaign.

          • Joe Tedesky
            March 4, 2017 at 14:00

            Johnny McCain is ‘old money’ and that is what protects his bumbling ass. You lose a Navy plane, just go ahead lose just one of our aircraft and see what happens to you. McCain I believe lost three Navy planes. Then there’s the S&L Scandal, boy was that a close one, but still Johnny survives. McCain continues to urge our nation to stay the course with all these failed wars, but yet he’s still the go to guy on Sunday morning talking head shows with his vast foreign policy opinions….really, this is how stupid we all have become, because we continue to listen to this aged spoiled brat. McCain is protected by his all American heritage, and that is what is considered in this country as being a good Patriot.

          • rosemerry
            March 5, 2017 at 09:33

            “Russian Insider” has a recent video on McCain’s “cruel treatment” as a pow in Vietnam, with interviews on those who were with him, and those who knew that his father and grandfather were military men, and insisted that he was carefully tended and well- treated while there.

      • b.grand
        March 3, 2017 at 18:21

        “STIV” is a SHIV.

        Consortium’s resident limited hangout TROLL.

    • John
      March 3, 2017 at 15:54

      It is generally accepted in jurisprudence and debate that those making the accusation are responsible for the burden of proof. The reason for this is that it is understood by people capable of rational thought that it is impossible to prove a negative.

      Yes, while on the Senate Intelligence committee, Sessions met with the Russian Ambassador. From what I understand, this was done in the presence of multiple other ambassadors from multiple other countries. Have any of them come forward to say that anything improper was discussed?

      A basic fundamental aspect of the Rule of Law is the presumption of innocence until guilt has been proven.

      Let me be clear, I have no love of Sessions. This is a man who stated that he thought the KKK was OK until he found out that they smoked pot. However, my dislike of him does not mean that I think it prudent to set the precident of abandoning the basic precepts of Rule of Law.

      • Kiza
        March 3, 2017 at 22:14

        MSM and their owners are making the Courts of Law obsolete.

        It is becoming a true Idiocracy.

    • John
      March 3, 2017 at 21:51

      Stiv, why would talking with the Russians be such a bad idea….You tell us with documented evidence why the Russians/ Putin must be put down. Everything in the MSM about the mid-east including Syria is propaganda which end results is market share or illegal land grab……The real reason Russia is portrayed as the ultimate devil is because of market share/profit/geographical influence …in which that influence could led to less market share for the famous “greenback” which is beyond total bankruptcy. The land grab is all about who controls the energy for the EU……It’s all bull shit my friend and innocent people are dying daily……Now that’s funny…isn’t it Stiv…

    • March 4, 2017 at 10:12

      You make very good points The VIPs know a lot more than they are telling. They could say a lot more than they have said so far. Silence can be political as can cheering leading. Tell the bad along with the good.

      • March 4, 2017 at 10:14

        This statement was in reply to Stiv.

  13. mike k
    March 3, 2017 at 14:29

    Our problem is that the idiots who would control our foreign policy want to use the same forceful methods when they are in a Mexican stand off with a nation who can destroy them. To understand this does not require subtle diplomacy, just simple common sense and survival instinct. The sign says: WALK SOFTLY. JARRING MOVEMENTS MAY DETONATE NUCLEAR WEAPONS ON HAIR TRIGGER ALERT!!

  14. mike k
    March 3, 2017 at 14:19

    On the other hand, the deep state’s idea of diplomacy is, “Here are our demands, meet them or we will destroy you.” If you want to know how this works in more detail, read Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins. Standard Mafia protocol actually.

  15. David Smith
    March 3, 2017 at 14:14

    Kiev could implement Minsk II Accords if it really wants peace in Donbass, so the obvious conclusion is Kiev wants war with Donbass. The Autonomous Republic Of Crimea under international law can, by referendum, vote to become a sovereign state therefore it can vote to join the Russian Federation, Crimea was not “annexed”.

    • John
      March 3, 2017 at 15:41

      It was not annexed by force, but it was annexed, much like many cities in the US annex subdivisions on their outskirts as the city grows. Such annexation allows the city to cover these subdivisions with fire and police coverage, as well as linking them to the city’s sewer and water infrastructure.

      Annexation is a relatively value-neutral term which has no real connotations of force, violence, or illegitimacy.

  16. mike k
    March 3, 2017 at 14:12

    Branding all your adversary’s ambassadors as criminal spies is not a good way to start a dialog. On the other hand it is a great way to start a war.

  17. mike k
    March 3, 2017 at 14:08

    “the democratic coup in Ukraine” ?? Take it easy on that kool-aid you’re drinking Craig. That stuff is really toxic. A few more swigs of that stuff and you’ll be glowing in the dark!

    • David Smith
      March 3, 2017 at 14:29

      craigsummers is not drinking kool-aide, craigsummers is MAKING kool-aide, Langley’s Mockingbird brand.

  18. Sam F
    March 3, 2017 at 14:02

    “Ukrainians have been dominated by Russian politics for the past century”

    That simply is not true. Crimea was part of Russia from the 18th century, and was given to Ukraine by influence of USSR premier Kruschev (apparently from Ukraine).

    You neglect the fact that democracy in Ukraine was not working. The 80% Russian East was in conflict with the ethnically and linguistically distinct West Ukraine, which apparently contains many anti-Russia neofascists. So the only moral course for external powers was to assist in reconciliation of factions over the long term, in concert with other external powers, or simply stay out.

    The US took its usual corrupt course of secret shopping for excuses to take sides, followed by secret militant disruption, making war on all other sides, and lying about everything to its own people.

    I suggest caution with mass media narratives, provided in lieu of fact. The truth usually lies between the extremes, but very seldom very close to mass media propaganda. You will find that none of the excuses for US aggression are accompanied by the evidence that one would expect.

    “Spreading democracy” is not done by secret militant disruption of a fragmented democracy. And none of the US advocates have any history of attempting to spread democracy, nor any other humanitarian act, nor do they even approve of democracy in the US.

    • Bill Bodden
      March 3, 2017 at 15:06

      Very well said, Sam .

    • akech
      March 3, 2017 at 17:30

      If capitalism and democracy are very two good products on the world markets, then there should be very high demands for them around the world!

      Why on earth are these two products being forced down the throats of the world population under the barrels of guns and bombs and, in the process, mowing down millions and millions of humans around the globe? Why must the senseless slaughtering of innocent humans by the millions be defended by any sane person?

  19. X54
    March 3, 2017 at 13:57

    No one besides Russia is claiming that annexing Crimea was a “legitimate response to western aggression.” Given the importance of Russia’s naval base at Sevastopol, however, said response was expected. Which begs the question: what was the intent behind provoking said illegitimate response? The answer seems clear: to provoke an armed confrontation with Russia. Obama’s stubborn refusal to arm Ukraine, despite bipartisan support for doing so, was, in my opinion, the high point of his lackluster foreign policy track record.

  20. Bill Bodden
    March 3, 2017 at 13:47

    David: You have a typo in your very interesting article. “Meet the Press” should be “Meet the Presstitutes.”

    The ambassador’s performance at this event suggests that he, like Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and others in the Russian foreign services, got his job because of what he knew, unlike many of our ambassadors who got their jobs by who they knew or as rewards for campaign donations.

    • March 3, 2017 at 22:03

      thanks for correction

      • rosemerry
        March 5, 2017 at 09:28

        Thanks for the article, David. I always observe the difference between ambassadors of most countries, who tend to be diplomatic and knowledgeable, and those of the USA, who are chosen for other reasons. I hope Mr Kislyak does not meet the untimely end of some of his recent colleagues.

  21. Roza Shanina
    March 3, 2017 at 13:29

    We should stop calling it Cold War 2.0 and use perhaps a more proper term… Lebensraum / Barbarossa 2.0. Also, mainstream media could start being referred to as the Fourth Estate.
    Thank you Consortium News.

    • Kiza
      March 3, 2017 at 22:04

      Yes, true. But I would modify it a little: Verdienenraum would probably be more relevant than Lebensraum. I remembered the German history between the two wars when I was reading about US PNAC and the stated goal to prevent the emergence of a competitive power. This was not much different than Hitler’s thinking in Mein Kampf and other writings. Hitler wanted better and larger Living Space for the World dominant German Nation. The Ziocon PNAC wants a global Profit Space for their financial tricksters (money printers), protected from any alternative and competing models. Naturally, PNAC has nothing to do with true interests of the US nation, which is only paying with money and blood for the domination it mostly does not want.

      See, Hitler was also very much against any competitive models of social arrangement. Very, very similar.

  22. Brad Owen
    March 3, 2017 at 13:21

    Nice try. The real reason for how things went down: the Song of the East (of which Russia is a main partner)= New Silk Road, win-win,cooperative development projects for infrastructure, industrial, agricultural development. The Song of the West (TransAtlantic Community)= war, austerities, geopolitics, war, if-you’re-not-with-us-you’re-against-us, war, austerities, it’s good to be colonized by EU, war, austerities. The government decided it was best for the Country to face East. The Stephan Bandera NAZI creeps, sponsored by our war criminals, said “we’ll FORCE you to face West”. Outcome=war,austerities, geopolitics, war…

  23. BannanaBoat
    March 3, 2017 at 12:58

    reset

  24. Lois Gagnon
    March 3, 2017 at 12:16

    You know the Deep State fears its days are numbered when it collectively pushes for WWlll with a nuclear armed Russia. Every one of them playing this insane game of chicken with Putin needs to be tried for attempted mass murder, convicted and thrown in the pokey for life. Humanity has never witnessed a more depraved lot of deranged psychopaths.

    • Sam F
      March 3, 2017 at 14:14

      Agreed. We may have a need for club fed Guantanamo after all.

    • Bob Van Noy
      March 3, 2017 at 16:18

      Thank you Lois Gagnon for your comment, I not only agree but I add, that any military confrontation seems to me to be uncalled for. If there were ever a time for diplomacy between the US and Russia, this would be it…

  25. Joe Tedesky
    March 3, 2017 at 10:42

    It’s easy to drive us towards war when your not the ones who will fight them. I swear at times I get the impression after watching such programs as ‘Meet the Press’ that our legislators, media pundits, and even many of the generals don’t believe anything bad can, or will happen to us. To think like the bulk of our establishment thinks you would need to be either very courageous or crazy, and besides that blinded by all of the propaganda of their own hubris.

    On the subject of Russia, if we aren’t going to partner up with Putin, then leave the Russians be Russian. I often find you catch more bees with honey. NATO has outgrown it’s shelf life, and now it is just another money pit and nothing more. The real crime is to how much we could have aided and helped humanity, but instead we invested in war products. Russia didn’t start any of these problems we now are to live with. The real culprit was the war industry, and with that I will wish you all a nice day.

    • Kiza
      March 3, 2017 at 22:42

      “I get the impression after watching such programs as Meet the Press that our legislators, media pundits, and even many of the generals don’t believe anything bad can, or will happen to us.”

      Well, if you are a realist in the US, you are a defeatist. If you want to advance in your career you have to be gang-ho, fearless with other people’s lives and money, undestructable in your own eyes. Smash those Russian spies and hackers, show the Russians who’s the boss. I sometimes wonder if it us a lunacy of the leadership or of the population, how to explain that so many want to fight someone who can obliterate them from the face of the planet?

      One more thing. When I lived under communism we had an expression Negative/Nepotistic Selection in administrative cadres (public positions were not filled on the basis of personal abilities then on the verbalised willingness to serve the Party). Yet, I could have never imagined that I would experience something even worse in the US, best described with a great phrase Failing Upwards (the worse your performance track record, the better chance of promotion). There are many, many examples but the best example, of course, is HRC. Failed to get elected in 2004, 2008 and 2016, but she still looks like the Party’s preferred candidate for the 2020 election. What would she have to do to lose favor?

      • Joe Tedesky
        March 4, 2017 at 03:10

        A few years ago I sat with some corporate executives who were bragging how global their corporation had become. These executives all nice people were in the process of selling my company their American tooling which the corporation no longer needed since the corporation was going off shore to China to have their product made, or better said replicated. That’s not a knock on China that’s what the corporations want. I asked what the corporation was saving in labor, and these executives commented on how the reduction in labor was great but only part of the bonanza that await their large corporate relationship with China. The executives were more excited about that large Chinese market that they would acquire. I then said why wouldn’t the Chinese just develop their own brands and labels and take their market for themselves….the silence was deafening.

        BTW that’s is exactly what’s happening now, the Chinese have produced their own brands.

        As smart as these people were I came away stunned at how stunned my question left them. Had no one among their group ever brought this aspect of Chinese manufacturing up before? Well later one of those executives when he spoke alone on the phone to me told me how I had really upset some of his team. I joked at how they should see me at family reunions, but the executive went on to tell me how he and some others in private wondered the same thing as I had mentioned, but hey group think and promotions should never be held back by the truth.

        I once asked an employee where he had been so long, and simply put he replied, I was F-ing off! I gave him an extra hour overtime pay that day.

        • Kiza
          March 4, 2017 at 03:54

          Joe, since I worked for two US corporations in my life, I can quite relate to your personal story. But you have to admit that most of those executives are probably enjoying limitless golfing or cool cocktails in Bahamas, whilst their US-everything is gone. And the funniest thing is that the corporations still keep doing this, and their managers are getting promotions for a short-term profit boost, as if no-one has learned any lesson. Shorttermism still rules in management.

          I also remember arguing at my MBA business school that the highly fashionable intangible value companies (we keep the design and the brand and the Thirld World manufactures) cannot survive even in the medium term. But they used profits and promotions to silence me down – so you know better than people who increased profit by 70%!

          • Joe Tedesky
            March 4, 2017 at 11:22

            A corporate Vice President said to me once I talked to much about business. This particular VP only liked to talk about sports. The same VP loss a 200 million dollar account. I by accident got to meet the purchasing agent of that 200 million dollar account, and he said this VP I’m telling you about never talked business only talked about sports. So the corporation fired this VP for losing the 200 million dollar account. The following week this sports fan VP took a VP position at the corporations competitor. My guess another sports fan hired him.

            I’m not crazy about ‘to big to fail’, mostly because the bigger something is the more you will find this type of culture survives. I seriously don’t know how it’s all been able to go on this long. I think between the stockholder to the tax payer infusions of capital these monster entities roll along by cutting, and taking out more loans for bad ideas, but none the less they do things to survive to another day….smoke and mirrors is what some call it. The lower rung of these beasts do the best they can to make things work enough to keep it afloat…but most of it is a game going on at the top that only enriches the top as well.

            The U.S. Government is a prime example of this culture run amuck, but yet it moves along from day to day regardless. History proves that this massiveness of empire finally does crumble, or better put it decays from within. In the case of our military what is sad and scary all at the same time, is innocent people do die. And no I have no idea to how you change any of this, and besides any suggestion I may make will only get laughed at. These are smart clowns who know more than you and me.

            Sorry for the rant KIza, but our conversation here in my mind is the root of all our problems we see in modern day America. In many ways for some when Donald Trump spoke to buying planes at good prices, or when he mentioned using more common sense, that this was what his voters saw as his potential to make America great again…I suspect that this will be the reason why the Deep State will need to get rid of him, because he messed with their corrupted system, and by doing so he’s messing with these crooks money tree.

            Trump’s chain of command will be his worst enemy, I think we are already seeing signs of this mutiny on the rise. Trump’s lack of experience in DC will be his biggest down fall, and his enemies know this is his weak spot. For proof, listen to what Trump says, and then watch what his Cabinet does. Be ready to see more debacles as the premature ‘Muslim ban’ come to make Trump look stupid and mean. Getting the boss fired can be easy, because the buck got to stop somewhere so why not stop it in the Oval Office…Harry might have been a jackass, but he sounded good taking responsibility.

  26. BART GRUZALSKI PROF. EMERITUS
    March 3, 2017 at 10:34

    David Swanson,

    There should be more confessions like yours. I’ve always been impressed with the knowledge of the Russian diplomats, who can speak about history and economics and contemporary “tensions.”

    Your Russian is absolutely correct about the Ukraine. What the heck was NATO and Obama/Hilliar thinking? Nuland tried to set up a puppet state and she succeeded, with the help of the American presstitutes and the Deep State, which is currently looking to have President Trump impeached or assassinated—as is Obama, and I think he should be prosecuted for sedition or treason or both. (As should Hilliar, who is participating in the movement fueled by the Deep State, as I prove in my most recent book on our POTUS.)

    More confessions like yours would be a welcome relief and perhaps make a crack in the propaganda put forward by the NYT, CNN, Wash Po, and even Democracy Now!—the latter is an insult to its history as a radio station trying to speak to power: now it is a prostitute mouthpiece for power. Amy Goodman should quite in shame.

    Thanks for your piece. I will cite it on Facebook. It’s a very good read and a welcome relief from the anti-Trump bullshit being pushed by the snowflakes, by Ph.D.s, and by the Deep State.

    Well done.

    Cordially,

    Dr. Bart Gruzalski, Professor Emeritus, Philosophy and Public Policy, Northeastern University, Boston, MA—the ONLY Ph.D. philosopher I know (and I know lots) who supported and continues enthusiastically to support POTUS Donald Trump

    • Stiv
      March 3, 2017 at 14:40

      Hope you get some help with that Bart… Only goes to show…the world is full of educated derelicts. I suppose the truth will come in time. Of course…by then it might only be so much paper.

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