Special Report: The Russia-gate hysteria has grown stronger after President Trump’s firing of FBI Director Comey, but the bigger question is whether an American “soft coup” is in the works, reports Robert Parry.
By Robert Parry
Where is Stanley Kubrick when we need him? If he hadn’t died in 1999, he would be the perfect director to transform today’s hysteria over Russia into a theater-of-the-absurd movie reprising his Cold War classic, “Dr. Strangelove,” which savagely satirized the madness of nuclear brinksmanship and the crazed ideology behind it.
A scene from “Dr. Strangelove,” in which the bomber pilot (played by actor Slim Pickens) rides a nuclear bomb to its target in the Soviet Union.
To prove my point, The Washington Post on Thursday published a lengthy story entitled in the print editions “Alarm at Russian in White House” about a Russian photographer who was allowed into the Oval Office to photograph President Trump’s meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The Post cited complaints from former U.S. intelligence officials who criticized the presence of the Russian photographer as “a potential security breach” because of “the danger that a listening device or other surveillance equipment could have been brought into the Oval Office while hidden in cameras or other electronics.”
To bolster this alarm, the Post cited a Twitter comment from President Obama’s last deputy CIA director, David S. Cohen, stating “No, it was not” a sound decision to admit the Russian photographer who also works for the Russian news agency, Tass, which published the photo.
One could picture Boris and Natasha, the evil spies in the Bullwinkle cartoons, disguised as photographers slipping listening devices between the cushions of the sofas.
Or we could hear how Russians are again threatening to “impurify all of our precious bodily fluids,” as “Dr. Strangelove” character, Gen. Jack D. Ripper, warned us in the 1964 movie.
Watching that brilliant dark comedy again might actually be a good idea to remind us how crazy Americans can get when they’re pumped up with anti-Russian propaganda, as is happening again now.
Taking Down Trump
I realize that many Democrats, liberals and progressives hate Donald Trump so much that they believe that any pretext is justified in taking him down, even if that plays into the hands of the neoconservatives and other warmongers. Many people who detest Trump view Russia-gate as the most likely path to achieve Trump’s impeachment, so this desirable end justifies whatever means.
Boris and Natasha, the evil spies from the Rocky and Bullwinkle shows.
Some people have told me that they even believe that it is the responsibility of the major news media, the law enforcement and intelligence communities, and members of Congress to engage in a “soft coup” against Trump – also known as a “constitutional coup” or “deep state coup” – for the “good of the country.”
The argument is that it sometimes falls to these Establishment institutions to “correct” a mistake made by the American voters, in this case, the election of a largely unqualified individual as U.S. president. It is even viewed by some anti-Trump activists as a responsibility of “responsible” journalists, government officials and others to play this “guardian” role, to not simply “resist” Trump but to remove him.
There are obvious counter-arguments to this view, particularly that it makes something of a sham of American democracy. It also imposes on journalists a need to violate the ethical responsibility to provide objective reporting, not taking sides in political disputes.
But The New York Times and The Washington Post, in particular, have made it clear that they view Trump as a clear and present danger to the American system and thus have cast aside any pretense of neutrality.
The Times justifies its open hostility to the President as part of its duty to protect “the truth”; the Post has adopted a slogan aimed at Trump, “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” In other words, America’s two most influential political newspapers are effectively pushing for a “soft coup” under the guise of defending “democracy” and “truth.”
But the obvious problem with a “soft coup” is that America’s democratic process, as imperfect as it has been and still is, has held this diverse country together since 1788 with the notable exception of the Civil War.
If Americans believe that the Washington elites are removing an elected president – even one as buffoonish as Donald Trump – it could tear apart the fabric of national unity, which is already under extraordinary stress from intense partisanship.
That means that the “soft coup” would have to be carried out under the guise of a serious investigation into something grave enough to justify the President’s removal, a removal that could be accomplished by congressional impeachment, his forced resignation, or the application of Twenty-fifth Amendment, which allows the Vice President and a majority of the Cabinet to judge a President incapable of continuing in office (although that could require two-thirds votes by both houses of Congress if the President fights the maneuver).
A Big Enough ‘Scandal’
That is where Russia-gate comes in. The gauzy allegation that Trump and/or his advisers somehow colluded with Russian intelligence officials to rig the 2016 election would probably clear the threshold for an extreme action like removing a President.
President Donald Trump being sworn in on Jan. 20, 2017. (Screen shot from Whitehouse.gov)
And, given the determination of many key figures in the Establishment to get rid of Trump, it should come as no surprise that no one seems to care that no actual government-verified evidence has been revealed publicly to support any of the Russia-gate allegations.
There’s not even any public evidence from U.S. government agencies that Russia did “meddle” in the 2016 election or – even if Russia did slip Democratic emails to WikiLeaks (which WikiLeaks denies) – there has been zero evidence that the scheme resulted from collusion with Trump’s campaign.
The FBI has been investigating these suspicions for at least nine months, even reportedly securing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant against Carter Page, an American whom Trump briefly claimed as a foreign policy adviser when Trump was under fire for not having any foreign policy advisers.
One of Page’s alleged offenses was that he gave a speech to an academic conference in Moscow in July 2016 that was mildly critical of how the U.S. treated countries from the former Soviet Union. He also once lived in Russia and met with a Russian diplomat who – apparently unbeknownst to Page – had been identified by the U.S. government as a Russian intelligence officer.
It appears that is enough, in these days of our New McCarthyism, to get an American put under a powerful counter-intelligence investigation.
The FBI and the Department of Justice also reportedly are including as part of the Russia-gate investigation Trump’s stupid campaign joke calling on the Russians to help find the tens of thousands of emails that Hillary Clinton erased from the home server that she used while Secretary of State.
On July 27, 2016, Trump said, apparently in jest, “I will tell you this, Russia: if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.”
The comment fit with Trump’s puckish, provocative and often tasteless sense of humor, but was seized on by Democrats as if it were a serious suggestion – as if anyone would use a press conference to seriously urge something like that. But it now appears that the FBI is grabbing at any straw that might support its investigation.
The (U.K.) Guardian reported this week that “Senior DoJ officials have declined to release the documents [about Trump’s comment] on grounds that such disclosure could ‘interfere with enforcement proceedings’. In a filing to a federal court in Washington DC, the DoJ states that ‘because of the existence of an active, ongoing investigation, the FBI anticipates that it will … withhold all records’.
“The statement suggests that Trump’s provocative comment last July is being seen by the FBI as relevant to its own ongoing investigation.”
The NYT’s Accusations
On Friday, in the wake of Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey and the President’s characterization of Russia-gate as “a total hoax,” The New York Times reprised what it called “The Trump-Russia Nexus” in a lead editorial trying to make the case of some fire behind the smoke.
Former Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page.
Though the Times acknowledges that there are “many unknowns” in Russia-gate and the Times can’t seem to find any evidence of collusion, such as slipping a Russian data stick to WikiLeaks, the Times nevertheless treats a host of Trump advisers and family members as traitors because they’ve had some association with Russian officials, Russian businesses or Russian allies.
Regarding Carter Page, the Times wrote: “American officials believe that Mr. Page, a foreign policy adviser, had contacts with Russian intelligence officials during the campaign. He also gave a pro-Russia speech in Moscow in July 2016. Mr. Page was once employed by Merrill Lynch’s Moscow office, where he worked with Gazprom, a government-owned giant.”
You might want to let some of those words sink in, especially the part about Page giving “a pro-Russia speech in Moscow,” which has been cited as one of the principal reasons for Page and his communications being targeted under a FISA warrant.
I’ve actually read Page’s speech and to call it “pro-Russia” is a wild exaggeration. It was a largely academic treatise that faulted the West’s post-Cold War treatment of the nations formed from the old Soviet Union, saying the rush to a free-market system led to some negative consequences, such as the spread of corruption.
But even if the speech were “pro-Russia,” doesn’t The New York Times respect the quaint American notion of free speech? Apparently not. If your carefully crafted words can be twisted into something called “pro-Russia,” the Times seems to think it’s okay to have the National Security Agency bug your phones and read your emails.
The Ukraine Case
Another Times’ target was veteran political adviser Paul Manafort, who is accused of working as “a consultant for a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine and for Ukraine’s former president, Viktor Yanukovych, who was backed by the Kremlin.”
New York Times building in New York City. (Photo from Wikipedia)
Left out of that Times formulation is the fact that the Ukrainian political party, which had strong backing from ethnic Russian Ukrainians — not just Russia– competed in a democratic process and that Yanukovych won an election that was recognized by international observers as free and fair.
Yanukovych was then ousted in February 2014 in a violent putsch that was backed by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt. The putsch, which was spearheaded by right-wing nationalists and even neo-Nazis, touched off Ukraine’s civil war and the secession of Crimea, the key events in the escalation of today’s New Cold War between NATO and Russia.
Nazi symbols on helmets worn by members of Ukraine’s Azov battalion. (As filmed by a Norwegian film crew and shown on German TV)
Though I’m no fan of U.S. political hired-guns selling their services in foreign elections, there was nothing illegal or even unusual about Manafort advising a Ukrainian political party. What arguably was much more offensive was the U.S. support for an unconstitutional coup that removed Yanukovych even after he agreed to a European plan for early elections so he could be voted out of office peacefully.
But the Times, the Post and virtually the entire Western mainstream media sided with the Ukrainian coup-makers and hailed Yanukovych’s overthrow. That attitude has become such a groupthink that the Times has banished the thought that there was a coup.
Still, the larger political problem confronting the United States is that the neoconservatives and their junior partners, the liberal interventionists, now control nearly all the levers of U.S. foreign policy. That means they can essentially dictate how events around the world will be perceived by most Americans.
The neocons and the liberal hawks also want to continue their open-ended wars in the Middle East by arranging the commitment of additional U.S. military forces to Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria – and perhaps a new confrontation with Iran.
Early in Obama’s second term, it became clear to the neocons that Russia was becoming the chief obstacles to their plans because President Barack Obama was working closely with President Vladimir Putin on a variety of projects that undermined neocon hopes for more war.
Particularly, Putin helped Obama secure an agreement from Syria to surrender its chemical weapons stockpiles in 2013 and to get Iran to accept tight constraints on its nuclear program in 2014. In both cases, the neocons and their liberal-hawk sidekicks were lusting for war.
Immediately after the Syria chemical-weapons deal in September 2013, key U.S. neocons began focusing on Ukraine as what National Endowment for Democracy president Carl Gershman called “the biggest prize” and a first step toward unseating Putin in Moscow.
Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland, who pushed for the Ukraine coup and helped pick the post-coup leaders.
Gershman’s grant-giving NED stepped up its operations inside Ukraine while Assistant Secretary Nuland, the wife of arch-neocon Robert Kagan, began pushing for regime change in Kiev (along with other neocons, including Sen. John McCain).
The Ukraine coup in 2014 drove a geopolitical wedge between Obama and Putin, since the Russian president couldn’t just stand by when a virulently anti-Russian regime took power violently in Ukraine, which was the well-worn route for invasions into Russia and housed Russia’s Black Sea fleet at Sevastopol in Crimea.
Rather than defend the valuable cooperation provided by Putin, Obama went with the political flow and joined in the Russia-bashing as key neocons raised their sights and put Putin in the crosshairs.
An Unexpected Obstacle
For the neocons in 2016, there also was the excited expectation of a Hillary Clinton presidency to give more momentum to the expensive New Cold War. But then Trump, who had argued for a new détente with Russia, managed to eke out an Electoral College win.
Perhaps Trump could have diffused some of the hostility toward him but his narcissistic personality stopped him from extending an olive branch to the tens of millions of Americans who opposed him. He further demonstrated his political incompetence by wasting his first days in office making ridiculous claims about the size of his inaugural crowds and disputing the fact that he had lost the popular vote.
Widespread public disgust over his behavior contributed to the determination of many Americans to “resist” his presidency at all junctures and at all costs.
Peter Sellers playing Dr. Strangelove as he struggles to control his right arm from making a Nazi salute.
Russia-gate, the hazy suggestion that Putin put Trump in the White House and that Trump is a Putin “puppet” (as Clinton claimed), became the principal weapon to use in destroying Trump’s presidency.
However, besides the risks to U.S. stability that would come from an Establishment-driven “soft coup,” there is the additional danger of ratcheting up tensions so high with nuclear-armed Russia that this extreme Russia-bashing takes on a life – or arguably many, many deaths – of its own.
Which is why America now might need a piercing satire of today’s Russia-phobia or at least a revival of the Cold War classic, “Dr. Strangelove,” subtitled “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.”
[For more on this topic, see Consortiumnews.com’s “Watergate Redux or ‘Deep State’ Coup.”]
Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, America’s Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com).
Parry’s whole basis for the Russia investigation effectively being a “soft coup” is that “no actual government-verified evidence has been revealed.” Quite fascinating that Parry uses the term “government-verified” but what will Parry say once “actual evidence” IS revealed? Certainly no impeachment can occur without the same, and should Parry insist on calling it a “soft coup” at that point, his bias becomes more clear.
Parry is confusing a process for a coup. The actual “soft coup” may well have likely already occurred, and if Parry is genuinely concerned about making a “sham of American democracy” he should remain more open minded to the the growing and overwhelming body of evidence of Russia’s disruption to our democracy.
The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming! What a joke. The establishment is likely worried that Trump will be easily beaten by Bernie Sanders in 2020, whereas Pence, should he ascend to the thrown via impeachment, would stand a fighting chance against Sanders. Removing Trump would also help normalize the next election, the better for a corporate Democrat to beat Sanders in the primary.
Trump satire at link. Not a Dr. Strangelove satire with the Russians, but a satire of Trump with Texans and his billionaire cabinet, Empire All In: A Novel of the Trump Era – https://www.amazon.com/Empire-All-Novel-Trump-Era/dp/6027354372/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1495118702&sr=1-1
Putin sees the Russiagate phobia to be paranoid and schizophrenic. So do I. The US, in its thrust toward world Empire, is guilty of every charge leveled against Russia and then some. Collusion, corruption, spying, bullying, etc.
Thanks for another excellent piece of work, Bob. Not clear from the text whether you’re aware that “Almost Everything in Dr. Strangelove Was True.” http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/almost-everything-in-dr-strangelove-was-true
Tweeted
https://twitter.com/heartdaughter/status/864557475110023168
Even if a Kubrick existed, he couldn’t POSSIBLY make a movie disagreeing with Globalist orthodoxy. Tyranny is absolute now. When he showed the slightest indication of starting such a project, he would be imprisoned for life and his equipment would be incinerated in Hazmat style.
Dean: It’s embarrassing you know.
Sam: What’s embarrassing?
Dean: All of it. The note. Crowley. Everything.
Sam: Dean, you were a demon.
Dean: Oh I was a demon, I didn’t realize.
Sam: Shut up.
Dean: Not to mention, I never said thank you. So…
Sam: You don’t ever have to say that, not to me.
Kate: But, she can be saved.
Dean: No. Tasha’s in too deep. You don’t ever come back from that. Not ever.
Paper Moon
Press is full of demons. They don’t want Trump to come back. This is London calling.
SOMETHING HAPPENING AS POTUS TRUMP IS NOT AS AGGRESSIVE ON ANY TOPIC AS HE WAS AND IT SEEMS HE IS DODGING THE MEDIA.SAVE HIS INTERVIEW WITH A FRIENDLY FOX JUDGE JEANINE .I M UNDER THE IMPRESSION HE HE HAS LOST HIS FIRE AND MAY RESIGN IF IT GETS TO STICKY. AND THEY SURE ARE PUSHING TO GET PENCE AS POTUS .THEY ARE’NT TALKING ABOUT IT YET BUT WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT THEY WILL!!!
Another fallout of this nonsense is that the Dumocratic Party is wasting political capital undoing the last election instead of cleaning up the Party to win seats in the midterm elections and the 2020 Presidential campaign. Stupid is as stupid does.
Your reporting is worth every penny & more of my monthly donation to you. Thank you for keeping this new McCarthyism/Cold War Redo in the news.
March 31, 2017 The Surveillance State Behind Russia-Gate
Although many details are still hazy because of secrecy – and further befogged by politics – it appears House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes was informed last week about invasive electronic surveillance of senior U.S. government officials and, in turn, passed that information onto President Trump.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-surveillance-state-behind-russia-gate/5582211
Parry has long been a wise and trusted source on current affairs. This very succulently sums up the problems we face in opposing both Trump, the neoliberals, and the Pentagon who all seem to be gravitating closer and closer to Armageddon.
All my friends seem hypnotized by the fairy tale of Russian collusion spun by the Democrats, the intelligence agencies, and the press. It is impossible to even reason with them or to try to get them look beyond their ‘feelings’ about Russia that are somehow all the validation they need. These are bright, intelligent, educated people. Hopeless!
The only legal process for deposing Trump is impeachment. Dissemination of false information or character assassination leading to violent overthrow of the president is treason punishable by death under the law. So far there is no evidence that the president has committed any crimes enumerated in US law or the constitution, or is not in control of his mental faculties, only that he is very unconventional in the way he executes the office. The voters have spoken, and it is their prerogative to elect our leaders. It’s only a few months into his term and he’s never held public office, which explains the apparent making and unmaking of decisions which appear chaotic to some, but are hardly illegal. Attacking an air base in Syria could be considered a violation of international law, but this would require a judgement in an international court, or be a cause for impeachment, but many of his detractors and supporters loved that action so it is doubtful it would be used to impeach him. Most of the press and Democratic protests are due to the fact that their candidate didn’t prevail. It’s time to get over it and move on with the investigations and see where it leads. This presidency could still be successful, or it could be worse than the Clinton, Bush, and Obama presidencies. Time will tell, and it’s only three and a half years to the next general election.
The “dissemination of false information” by officials or mass media generally does not encourage “violent overthrow” or assassination so it is not really “making war” which is the constitutional definition of treason.
Once again Parry is pushing his argument that it is wrong to judge Trump et al before the investigations have been completed and the evidence is made public. No one has declared Trump guilty; Trump’s comments, tweets and actions are driving the reporting. Parry’s attacks beg the question: Why can’t Parry wait until the investigations have been completed and the evidence is made public before announcing there is no evidence of wrong doing?
I have paid attention to the comments made by members of the congressional committees and others, to the testimonies, read countless articles on this Trump era, and am staying aware of the actions of Trump, his staff and appointees. Parry’s comments are harsh and unreasonable. His comments would be reasonable after the investigations have concluded and the results published clearing all, that had been smeared, not guilty if that were to be the case.
This article makes Parry look foolish. I am disappointed. It is time to take a break from Parry.
You are attacking Mr. Parry without cause. He has certainly not exonorated Trump “before the investigations have been completed and the evidence is made public.” You said yourself that Mr. Parry said that “it is wrong to judge Trump et al before” that point, and then ask “Why can’t Parry wait” until then “before announcing there is no evidence of wrong doing?”
Because there is no evidence now, and he need not wait to say that. That is the most suspicious fact of all, in all of the neocon “secret investigation” matters in recent history, in all of which we are given “confidence” judgments of partisans in government instead of facts.
Perhaps you will explain why citizens need to credit dodgy secretive partisans and wait for future whitewashes, instead of demanding that the facts before us. That would be to encourage tyranny, the opposite of the duty of the media and of all citizens. I’m sure that you didn’t miss that point on this website, so perhaps you will explain how your criticism differs from the support of secretive tyranny.
Sam-
I really like the way you use simple logic to counter spurious charges like those of PlutoC. You are a valuable asset here. PlutoC would have us all watching the MSM “theater of the absurd” without questioning it.
When it comes to issues of foreign policy I do not really see the need for a semantic distinction between neoconservatives and liberal interventionists. They fight for precisely the same foreign policy goals for precisely the same reasons. The only difference I see are slight tactical differences, namely the degree to which US “troops on the ground” are used. Ask a Syrian if it really matters to what degree American combat troops are being utilized.
ABC News reported on July 7, 2016: “Page’s lecture today was to students from the New Economic School, a prestigious liberal-minded university in Moscow, where on Friday he will give a commencement speech at a graduation ceremony. In 2009, President Barack Obama also delivered a graduation speech at the school.”
http://abcnews.go.com/International/trump-foreign-policy-adviser-calls-mutual-respect-moscow/story?id=40417854
Carter Page’s lecture is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CYF29saA9w
“The Ukraine coup in 2014 drove a geopolitical wedge between Obama and Putin,”
Perry can’t stop apologizing for Obama. Obama was the chief executive! He authorized the coup in the Ukraine and loved the results until Putin outmaneuvered him in Crimea. He was already furious with Putin over the Snowden incident. Obama even fought congress when they tried to ban him from arming Nazi groups:
https://consortiumnews.com/2015/06/12/u-s-house-admits-nazi-role-in-ukraine/
https://www.thenation.com/article/congress-has-removed-a-ban-on-funding-neo-nazis-from-its-year-end-spending-bill/
Later in a move of rank nepotism, Obama put Joe Biden’s sleazy son, Hunter, on the board of the largest gas company there:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/05/14/hunter-bidens-new-job-at-a-ukrainian-gas-company-is-a-problem-for-u-s-soft-power/
When we look at what really happened, the above quote is foolish. It seeks to paint Obama as a saint that was soiled by Nuland and others. Unfortunately, based on US law and the Nuremberg principles, Obama is fully responsible for the overthrow of the Ukraine and its Nazificantion.
The quote you comment on does not say what you imply it says. It simply states a fact. Do you dispute the fact it states – that the Ukraine coup drove a wedge between Putin and Obama? Of course it did. That Mr. Parry did not further say that Obama was behind the coup, does not necessarily mean that he was denying that. You would have to ask him about that.
The quote is pure propaganda. Obama drove a wedge with his use of Nazi battalions to overthrow the Ukraine two months before an election. Anything is else is doublethink and tautological.
Correction for Perry without the manipulations and apologetics:
“Obama’s coup in the Ukraine drove a wedge between Obama and Putin”
Yes, the Neocons want to attack Russia and China with nuclear weapons, but let us remember that this is the same crew that cannot defeat Third-World guerrilla fighters.
All these weapon systems are suspect. What ever happened to the missiles that did not land in Syria. What was the real impact of the MOAB. The MIC is extremely incompetent. They could not even get their candidate elected against a buffoon. They were too stupid to steal the vote after they stole if from Sanders.
The financial system is starting to unravel and this I think will be their ultimate downfall.
See the Saker about first strike paranoia, and the new US nuclear fuses.
Don’t go along with your hammering away with your controversial views while preventing any serious questioning of them.
I have not observed evidence of suppression of serious questioning here. You are quite welcome to introduce serious questions as others have. If you present reasoning from real evidence, readers here will take it seriously however divergent. But if it is merely questioning without evidence or argument, as sometimes happens here, readers are not likely to take it seriously.
Unfortunately I think we’ll soon look back at this article and realize that it was very prescient as soft-coup plotters, like scary Kim Jong-Un, ‘stop worrying and learn once again to love the bomb’ even though we should be very afraid about Russia-phobia!
Hillary was not “hung out to dry” at all. If Hillary Clinton’s SOSUS facilitation of the Clinton Foundation’s pay-to-play activities had really been investigated and exposed, her chances should have been skewered. Bernie Sanders would not even touch that information, nor did he expose her prime role in the overthrow of Qaddafi and Libya. And the media barely spoke of those points.
As for people who are so concerned about Trump’s possible connections to the Russian Mafia, look up the biggest Mafias in the world, there are a bunch of websites that clearly show that Mafias of numerous countries are intertwined with business and government all over the world. Casinos are big with Mafia activities everywhere. Russia has cracked down on the Mafia under Putin, as has been pointed out in various articles (except by the “reverse truth” US), but getting rid of any Mafia is an impossible task. (I read that 911 allowed the US Mafia to gain ascendance because of resources put to Homeland Security.)
The Democrats should have started asking hard questions when they lost the House in 2010. People had already started to understand that Obama was a Pied Piper and a disappointment when he bailed out the banks. Obamacare was hardly a smashing success and people clearly saw the TPP as a globalist sellout. Clinton tried to capitalize on the O administration as a success, but people didn’t buy it. The Democrats just cannot admit that they had a bad candidate, so Russia became a scapegoat. (I wonder how many of them actually went through the Cold War era.)
“The Devil’s Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America’s Shadow Government” by David Talbot, a recent book, is a fascinating read. The chapter on Nixon’s role in the Alger Hiss case has a parallel to the sketchy evidence on Russian hacking, somewhat like the “Pumpkin Papers” that were turned up as supposed incrimination of Hiss as a Communist, ludicrous planted evidence but ended up getting Hiss sent to prison.
Identity politics as well as partisan politics must be abandoned if we want to restore functioning government again. Yes, there is a “Deep State” and it is thoroughly entrenched in this corporatocracy. The Comey firing ought to reveal some of the murkier aspects of Comey and his handling of the FBI, including the sting of the “Newburgh 4”.
Thanks for another excellent, food-for-thought, post.
Lots of shadowy goings-on in multiple areas. Citizens most likely cannot or do not want to know the truth of how our government actually “works.” It’s all about money folks. Follow the money.
“Identity politics as well as partisan politics must be abandoned if we want to restore functioning government again.”
Yes, I couldn’t agree more. Thanks for the post.
Some people have told me that they even believe that it is the responsibility of the major news media, the law enforcement and intelligence communities, and members of Congress to engage in a “soft coup” against Trump – also known as a “constitutional coup” or “deep state coup” – for the “good of the country.”
Yes, well these are faux liberals who will not take the time to do organizing among working people and the disenfranchised. They are Cadillac liberals who,as you say, would rather use the level of institutional power to engage in a soft coup rather than a legitimate and earned one.
But Trump is a criminal,Bob and associates with them and many are Russian oligarchs.
“New evidence indicates that Oleg Deripaska, the Russian billionaire who paid $10 million a year to Paul Manafort between 2004 and 2009, has been in business since 2004 in Guyana with a politically powerful crime family involved in international drug trafficking whose most famous member is a drug pilot who had also been the chief pilot of the owner of the flight school in Venice Florida that taught Mohamed Atta to fly.”
“Last week’s ‘breaking news’ was ostensibly about Republican operative and all-around smart dresser—those pink ties!—Paul Manafort, who between 2004 and 2009 was paid $10 million a year by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
Some wondered, ‘Oleg Deri-what? Who dat?’ They were obviously not alone. Stories touting ‘5 things you need to know about Oleg!” spread like kudzu in warm moist weather across the internet.
I read none of them. Oleg Deripaska has been on my radar since 2005, so I’m momentarily au courant.
Russian oligarchs-wise, I’m way ahead of the curve.”
““Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska has been in business in Guyana on the northern coast of South America since 2004 with the powerful Brassington family, rumored, suspected, and finally proven to be involved in international drug trafficking.”
That I heard Oleg Deripaska’s name more than 10 years ago is a truly amazing circumstance. Or a chilling coincidence. Regardless, it was in connection with a former Guyanese military pilot named Michael Francis Brassington, who had been the chief pilot for the owner of the flight school in Venice Florida that taught Mohamed Atta to fly.”
“Pavel ‘Red Eye’ Vrublevsky, a Russian businessman under investigation in the FBI’s probe of Russian hacking in the 2016 Presidential election, shared a business address in John Gotti’s former stronghold of Howard Beach, Queens with a company led by a Tampa Mobster convicted in the “alt-right” stock fraud ring run by Sarasota’s own Andrew Badolato, business partner and Breitbart collaborator of Trump advisor Steve Bannon.
In 2003-2004, Pavel Vrublevsky’s RE Partners LLC listed its business address as 158-49 90th St, a single family residence in Howard Beach the Russians shared with a company involved in pornography and cyber crime, Blue Moon Group Inc.. ”
http://www.madcowprod.com/
Daniel Hopsicker wrote the above. And you can find more. Trump is certainly connected to these people through Manafort of Tillerson to name a few.
But this has nothing to do with the collapse of global capitalism which of course is the call for all political fall outs.
I can NOT believe how far Parry has fallen in his coverage of the Trump presidency. Robert would have us believe that Trump is somehow better than the neocons simply because of the neocons penchant for unending wars, yet Trump has upped the ante in North Korea to the point that we’re approaching Cuban Missile Crisis II and fast. If Trump has deep Russian Maffia ties they need to be exposed, whether by Congress or by the hated deep state. If there is no there there, explain to me why Mr. Flynn was fired? Why was Mr. Comey fired? Why was Ms. Yates fired? We’re barely 100 days in and we’re already at a crisis mode in this White House. Parry wants the establishment to take it easy on Trump while Hillary was hung out to dry for far less. If Hillary had won and did everything Don is accused of doing don’t you think a GOP Congress would have started impeachment proceedings already? Yet Dems and the establishment are supposed to play nice and respect “the will of the people.” Parry wants me to believe that Trump is the lesser of two evils, yet still is selling the old story that Nixon and Reagan represented a far worse evil than Don. I’d take Nixon over Trump any day of the week…at least Nixon was smart!
Spoken like a true democrat/neocon.
You forgot to include any evidence; readers here prefer a rational view:
1. No action has been taken in NK;
2. You have zero evidence of “Russian Maffia ties” and there would be plenty of evidence shown if anyone had it;
3. “Hillary was hung out to dry for far less” than what evidence that you forgot to mention?
4. No article here has suggested that “Dems and the establishment are supposed to play nice and respect ‘the will of the people.’”
Nailed it!
The connection between Trump and his Russian friends is still not completely revealed. When it is, and is publicly released, we may then know. If not, don’t expect any benefit of the doubt.
I detest Hillary, and do not believe that Russia subverted our election. William Binney, the architect of the NSA, made a convincing case that intelligence agencies would know details of a breech if one occurred. However, Trump is destroying many years of our meager progressive gains.. Trump does not believe in climate change and his actions will doom the planet. He will destroy our social safety net as well as the internet. His responses to the media and comedians show he has little regard for the first amendment. His choice of Kris Kobach to handle election integrity would be laughable if it weren’t so dangerous.
Does anyone have a good analysis of the explosive Dutch documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bEdMuKq30I? The documentary alleges members of the Russian mafia have invested in Trump properties to launder money, and that he knew of their unsavory connections. According to the documentary, this is a felony. Is this documentary part of a CIA psy ops to take down Trump, or is this the real story of Trump’s sleazy business practices?
Exploding BS.
As to business sleaze, there’s a lot of that going around…but is this being used to obscure the more important issue of quid pro quo’s (or the lack thereof) that involve state actors and intragovernmental “interference”.
I appreciate the essence of your comment, carol, but I don’t see the relation between criticism of, for example CNN as “fake news” (he’s right you know) and disregard for the first amendment. If Trump somehow personally becomes involved in restricting speech, whether on the internet or otherwise, then I will agree he is an enemy of the first amendment.
Clearly, I think it obscures “the lack thereof” and also obscures the content of the Clinton/Podesta sleaze.
Note “intragovernmental” should read “intergovernmental”
As one of the Democrats who is the obvious target of this article whose fringe extremism allegedly needs to be exposed by some Dr. Strange love-like satire, I hate to break it to Mr. Party that neither I, nor anyone I know, nor any member of Congress advocates removal of Trump from office on the basis of anything less than adequate evidence developed through legal means by a duly constituted investigative authority in a constitutionally authorized legal process. What is more distressing is that people like Trump, the Republican Party and apparently Parry would do anything up to and including sacrificing their integrity to make sure that such an investigation does not take place.
Robert, as a democrat who is a target of this article, what is your view of the DNC’s actions during the primary? What are your views of Edward Snowden and James Clapper? What are your views of detente and cooperation with Russia? What are your views of Nato expansion and the Ukrainian Coup? If you are a man of integrity, how about identifying yourself and speaking to these issues?
Attack the messenger.
Another Hillary fan unveiled.
Hillary fan comment.
I am sure that you must see that Mr. Parry has no such objection to a proper inquiry. The question is why such people as you pretend to be, have no concern about proper inquiries into the many extreme government misdeeds as Mr. Parry has exposed. And why would you not focus on the extreme misdeeds of the DNC in betraying your claimed constituents by dumping Sanders, in taking bribes from zionists and KA to cause hundreds of thousands of unjustifiable deaths in the Mideast, and in dumping endless billions on Israel to get back as campaign bribes?
You have a lot to explain, and are attempting deception here, with foul purposes.
Moscow developed the non-crisis crisis and isn’t accountable for anything. Now we have the non-crisis crisis syndrome and the USA is the fire brigade. Attack the arsonists, not the fires. Don’t operate on leaks.
Confused comment.
This thread is quite the circle jerk with all the bs about the ‘deep state’ (oooohhhh, that’s scary) and coups.
Meanwhile, real people are about to feel real pain.
One can stipulate to every bad thing- and much more- about Democrats while still remaining aware that Republicans are that much worse.
Only one party has made it a cornerstone of their ideology to deprive legitimate voters-mainly of color- of their franchise, with those tactics (along with gerrymandering) leading to the takeover of state governments in Wisconsin, North Carolina, Michigan, etc., with the resultant possibility of opening up the Constitution to some right-wing editing. Gosh, won’t things be great with right-to-work and draconian voter ID laws enshrined in the Constitution?
The recent appointment to the Supreme Court of a corporate lickspittle with a romantic view of fascism pretty much guarantees the whatever horror show is created by Republican legislation will stand as the law of the land.
The new attorney general doesn’t think the federal government is tough enough on drug crime, something that will deprive even more minority voters access to the polls while keeping stock in the private prison industry booming.
Trump appointees to the Labor Dept and NLRB have ownership and management salivating.
Overturning rules pertaining to net neutrality should assure that sites like consortiumnews will take all night to load and read.
Federal wilderness areas are about to become a corporate free-for-all of mining, grazing, and drilling.
The replacement of the extremely flawed ACA with something exponentially worse condemns tens of thousands of Americans to a preventable death.
And of course, the best for last- the gutting of the EPA after the appointment of a climate change denier, AND the added bonus of forbidding NASA and NOAA to continue climate research.
With respect to Trump’s ‘Russian Connection’, Russ Baker (at WhoWhatWhy) and David Cay Johnston have written persuasively of Trump’s business connections to Russian (as well as Italian) organized crime. I’m a little disappointed that Robert Parry hasn’t touched on that here. While the role of the Russian government on the 2016 election is certainly an example of media hyperbole, the role of the Russian mob on the Trump family fortune has been mostly ignored by mainstream and alternative media.
Democrat/neocon pitch. It’s actually a good sign that CN critics are showing up now. We must be hitting a nerve. Their shallow criticism tells me why I come to this site.
Democratic voter? Definitely, but anyone who doesn’t recognize the value of voting for the ‘lesser-of-two-evils’ in the two-party, first-to-the-finish line system we’re blessed with is both hopelessly ignorant and guilty of bestowing upon all of us right-to-work laws, voter suppression, and climate science denialists is positions of power.
Consortium News critic? I suppose, as much as someone who’s been reading the site (as well as all of Robert Parry’s books) since the 1990’s, in addition to making the occasional donation. Not to mention listening to Mr Parry whenever possible, most recently being interviewed by Mark Ames and John Dolan on the War Nerd podcast and Jeff Blankfurt at Takes on the World (other recipients of my donations). Do you put your money where your mouth is?
Neo-con? Please be very specific as to what I wrote that can be construed as advocating a neo-conservative worldview. Otherwise, just admit that ‘neocon’ and
‘deep state’ are just a couple of phrases you learned to write without actually understanding them so you might spout them in your impressively ignorant one-sentence drive-bys.
> Only one party has made it a cornerstone of their ideology to deprive legitimate voters-mainly of color-
> of their franchise, with those tactics (along with gerrymandering) leading to the takeover of state governments
> in Wisconsin, North Carolina, Michigan, etc.
May I remind you that the Demican wing of that party was at the helm of national government while all this was going on, and could have prevented it fairly easily? And what did they do to stop it? Damn all!
it is not truth that matters, but victory. DJT is succeeding. That first sentence was a quote from Adolph Hitler , from “Mein Kampf” My family comes from Koenigsberg, East Prussia, aka Kaliningrad, The city of Emanuel Kant. They and we know history. I doubt DJT knows anything about history. Hitler was correct in this way, Truth does not matter, only power. I can only hope trump will ex himself.
they couldn’t do a satire on this because the left is the party that controls the narrative in hollywood. parody that you seek plays itself out every in the guise of news, Rachel Maddow is the star of this Kubrickian insanity.
If the media alone could stage a coup then there would be a coup. The Democrats have no power but they want to whine to increase the chances of a Mid-term ictory of sorts. There are many Republicans that don’t like Trump but the Reps in the House want to be seem as men of action while Reps in the Senate want to be seen as the Voice of reason. Basically, nothing is really happening except that another Republican hack was promoted to take Scaliwags place of the Supreme Court. Other than that things are in stasis > it was surprising to see 3 Senate Republicans do the right thing and uphold Methane Standards on public lands. Do not be surprised if more reasonable things are done on Health care and elsewhere. It will be hard for the Mrdia to overthrow the Trump Administration since they have no power. the same can be said for the Democrats. Much ado about nothing. Trump has to do something impeachable and the Dems have to control the House and Senate. This is unlikely/
“The enforcement arm of the “deep state” is the CIA.” That is an inescapable conclusion of Douglas Valentine’s recent book.
Already had a soft coup, several in fact. 2001, 1974, 1963, 1933, 1913, 1897. Each coup has led us further toward an imperialistic plutocracy as predicted by William Graham Sumner The constitution today is nothing more than a historical relic we pretend has relevance today. One more coup wont solve anything since nobody is left that is not already completely corrupted or not thoroughly brainwashed with historical and current myths except for the same plutocrats behind all the previous coups.
From the above: “And, given the determination of many key figures in the Establishment to get rid of Trump, it should come as no surprise that no one seems to care that no actual government-verified evidence has been revealed publicly to support any of the Russia-gate allegations.”
It’s hard for ordinary readers to maintain this belief when seemingly well-informed people like Harvard Professor Joseph Nye make statements like the following, published in the Canadian Globe and Mail newspaper Friday, May 12, 2017:
“Then, in 2016, Russian military intelligence went a step further, by hacking into the private network of the Democratic National Committee, stealing information and releasing it online to damage Hillary Clinton’s presidential candidacy.”
Copyright Project Syndicate
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/soft-power-hard-lessons/article34958109/
Is Nye just acting as a propagandist, or does he know things we don’t know?
Nye is a hardline neoconservative propagandist. He wants us to think he knows something we don’t know (and that the intelligence professionals, i.e., VIPS and others with much more experience and inside information, know what he’s peddling is wrong).
The part in brackets makes no sense. Why would he want us to think that the experts “know what he’s peddling is wrong”?
Do you mean to say that he wants us to think the experts are on his side, but that in fact they know that what he’s peddling is wrong?
You want us to think this guy Nye is some kind of oracle who just knows things, but has no proof?
On the contrary. I remember him from university days as a very intelligent, articulate, intellectually curious student who went on to win a Rhodes scholarship. I also remember him as a man of integrity. The Harvard milieu may not favor all these features, with the government supplying consultancies, contracts and the like. So I have an open mind and genuinely want to know what the evidence is behind his unequivocal statement. So far, I’m inclined to the belief that the evidence is not enough to warrant his statement, but I’m staying tuned.
Wikileaks released it.
Yes, I recall Wikileaks releasing it, but do we know for sure who gave the information to Wikileaks?
So far, I’ve assumed the Russians would have no motive for doing this, but if the case is made that the Russians just wanted to discredit the U.S. democratic or “democratic” process, the argument that they lacked a motive doesn’t carry sufficient weight.
Other arguments I’ve seen indicate that clues identifying Russians as the source of the leak would imply stupidity on their part, and they would not be stupid enough to leave such clues if they were indeed the source.
Where I’m at on this is that Nye is not entitled, without more, to make his bald claim. But I don’t feel, with what I have read, entitled to make the bald claim that what he says is false, only that it is not proven. That’s why I’m fishing around for any more evidence that exists, supporting one side or the other.
For sure? Well, I’d say what Craig Murray and Julian Assange have said makes sense. I’d say the murder of Seth Rich is suspicious as hell. I’d say the Russians know we don’t need any help with discrediting our “democratic” processes.
But you are right about being open to new evidence. I just think if “Russia did it”, the NSA would have had the goods from day one. But the more time passes, the more skeptical I will be of “new” evidence, particularly if it comes from the NSA, CIA, or FBI.
Thanks for the Seth Rich reference. I agree.
Thanks also for the Craig Murray reference and the reminder about the unnamed officials behind Nye’s claim.
Parry, I’m a fan of yours. Therefore, this took me aback: “…a mistake made by the American voters, in this case, the election of a largely unqualified individual as U.S. president.”
Pardon my ignorance, but what mistake? The Loser-in-Chief lost the general election by 2.9 million votes.
How many popular votes would our faux president have to lose by, for you not to count the November election as a “mistake made by the American voters”?
I do agree on one point. In the 2016 election cycle, American voters did make a tragic, history-making blunder. They spinelessly tolerated the DNC’s vote-rigging (e.g., see Palast’s reportage on the California primary). In a corrupt pattern of behavior cheered by the mainstream media, the DNC essentially stole the nomination from America’s most popular politician, who would have wiped the floor with Trump in a November landslide.
Consistent evidence supports this “would have” view. In more than 150 major polls that pitted the two Dem candidates against GOP contenders, Sanders outperformed Clinton 90 percent of the time. (Source: BernieWorks.com, which tallied all such polls reported by RealClearPolitics.com.)
Arguably, that’s not the worst of it. The DNC remains incorrigible, unrepentant and, as you know, ready to flirt with nuclear war to get its way. Nothing substantial has changed.
Without this context, I believe the rest of the current melodrama is a charade.
Outside of California he did lose the popular vote.
Meant he won outside of california
California was still a part of the United States the last I looked.
> California was still a part of the United States the last I looked.
Well, at the moment — but do a Web search for “Calexit” ….
Mr. Parry is not himself referring to the American voters as “making a mistake.” His reference is to the standpoint of those who would overturn the electorate.
Don’t forget Terry Southern who wrote the screenplay for DR. STRANGELOVE! But what a great team: Southern, Kubrick, and Sellers, not to mention Sterling Hayden and George C. Scott, but especially Sellers as Strangelove who ad-libed a lot of those perfectly crazy gestures in his wheelchair, like the involuntary Nazi salute! He literally became a personification of that mentality, now reigning again, if it ever really left. Really, everyone ought to take another look at that film, if you haven’t already–as prophetic as Orwell’s 1984 and, looming on our horizon, Huxley’s BRAVE NEW WORLD: at least a few are not asleep, and have some vision, are not “insouciant” as Paul Craig Roberts keeps reiterating about American citizens, in particular..
I say they should impeach him if they can but for his real crimes, violation of the emoluments clause, rampant conflict of interest and the voter suppression carried out on his behalf that makes him an illegitimate president even if he personally did not participate. Hundreds of thousands of voters were denied the right to cast their ballots and many others had theirs cast out without being counted. So impeaching him would not be an overturning of the “will of the people” since too many of the people were not allowed to participate. You call it a “soft coup”, I call it a constitutional process for removing an unfit president.
But the grounds have to be legitimate and Russia-gate is anything but and could lead to a confrontation ending in nuclear war. There are ample legitimate grounds available. Even if it means waiting for a Democratic congress. It looks like that is the only way to achieve it anyway since most Republicans are not buying Russia-gate either.
Any particular reason you rejected my post?
Thank you, Realist, quite an important point. Now the meeting between Lavrov and the Oval Office is considered “controversial”! The “presstitutes”, as Paul Craig Roberts calls them, play right into the neocons’ playbook. How many Americans are really falling for this malarkey?
At Black Agenda Report, Margaret Kimberley of Freedom Rider has an excellent short piece titled “Do Americans Have No Shame?” I’m sending it to my senators, both are Democrats. She speaks of US meddling in other countries and writes: “People in this country ought to reflect on their own history instead of behaving as if they are entitled to rights they routinely disregard elsewhere.”
No articles have yet been written on this blog site about the WannaCry ransomware attack of yesterday. All the mainstream media notes is that the attack utilised malware devised by and “stolen from” the NSA. A lot of boo-hooing about hospitals in Britain being hit. However, if one examines the kinetic data on the world map one sees that Russia took the biggest pounding–many more hits there than anywhere else. Reports are that mostly their banks were attacked, this a day after General Hayden agreed that Putin’s personal bank accounts would be a fair target for American cyberattack. Also keep in mind that Obomber, whilst hyperventilating and issuing more sanctions against Russia for “hacking the American election,” promised to strike Russia in ways and times “of our own choosing” which could include a cyberattack on their infrastructure. I won’t flat out accuse the American spooks of perpetrating this attack against Russia, whilst conveniently including other countries as targets to deflect attention from its true intent and perhaps to once again pin the blame on Russia, that would be as dishonest as accusing Trump of colluding with Putin to steal the election on the basis of exactly zero evidence. However, it is a potential explanation that deserves some attention and I hope it is considered when an article on this crisis finally does appear on this blog. Nobody in the sell-out media ever pays attention to the blatant details. They just put out the official narrative no matter how implausible it may be.
Microsoft has now blamed NSA for harboring the knowledge of Windows vulnerabilities, claiming inherent risk in not informing MS, and they are by implication blaming leakers. But MS knew that the exploits were for sale long before the leak exposure.
Microsoft is in full collusion with NSA in creating the numerous systems within Windows that deliberately facilitate and even require that all user personal data, files, etc be turned over to unsecured “cloud” storage, sent to commercial or government exploiters, etc. So undoubtedly they created these “vulnerabilities” at NSA request, probably using NSA staff at Microsoft, and are trying to head off public recognition that they sold out everyone to totalitarian spy intrusions.
If you try to “disable” those Windows “features” some of them re-enable themselves. After a while, Windows disables the user’s access to “Settings/Security” so that the user cannot disable the spy “features.” So clearly the spy “features” cannot ultimately be disabled, showing that Microsoft intended to make them compulsory.
I should note that NSA and Microsoft have adjacent buildings at office parks, a complete coincidence of course.
A quick run down of notable lefty-liberals who have jumped on the anti-Putin-Russophobic band wagon:
1.) Rachel Maddow
2.) Glenn Greenwald (at least I think he’s now leaning this way)
3.) Michael Moore
4.) Bill Moyers
5.) most members of the Congressional African-American caucus — a totally dispiriting and authentically sad development to see these otherwise decent populist politicians actually advocating for more Washington invasions! The erstwhile civil rights leaders of the 60s are rolling in their graves!
Feel free to add to my little list. I drummed it up off the top of my head.
I don’t see Greenwald being on the list, but I would say that all of those legitimately on it have gone beyond the pale of civilization.
Dunno’s outline was great, and Joe Tedeskey is, as always, on the side of the moral high ground. Walsh’s comments make a good deal of sense. Of course, without being a ‘fly on the wall’ or a ‘bug in the sofa’, nobody can be sure. I’m seeing a ‘three card monte’ going on here. For those still rabidly defensive of Hillary, there is nothing I can say to convince you. Those of us who have served in government know beyond any doubt that she is guilty of serious crimes. Anyone else would have done ‘hard time’. Comey’s role was irrefutably a ruse to protect her from prosecution. He obstructed justice, and there is little to refute that. As a vice president and legal counsel for Lockheed Martin, he represents a “defense wing” operative of the “deep state”. By the same token, Rex Tillerson represents a modern day Clint Murchison, the “old money big oil” wing which was, if we are honest with ourselves, a major player in the assassinations of the 1960’s. The “Neocon wing” is something new, but has managed to insert itself into the “Wall Street/Big Media” wing. The enforcement arm of the “deep state” is the CIA. Whatever you think about 9/11, the glee with which it was embraced as a pretext for preemptive war to the exclusion of any other resolution should confirm a well-entrenched post-coup power configuration. It looks to me like the question is, will the neocons succeed in co-opting a wing of the deep state, or will old money/Wall Street align with the defense industry and kick them out? Hillary is out, but the Kusners are in. Comey is out, but Petraeus operates McMaster by remote control. The media is playing Comey as an unsung hero, but the right wing big money is still cheering Trump. The stock market hasn’t corrected yet, but it will. Russia’s question is – and this is important: “Who is in charge?” If they and the Chinese can’t identify a rational actor and a reliable diplomatic partner, the footing will always be preparation for preemptive attack. The Neocon wing has no concern for outcomes beyond its Middle East interests, and it runs the media. Old Money has interests in both Wall Street and Big Defense. They play along with the Neocons as long as the defense contracts are profitable. Russia can remove the only Neocon bargaining chip with just one nuclear missile. My guess is, Tillerson is in charge, and he doesn’t favor a Pence presidency. Trump dropped a few subliminal hints about 9/11 on the campaign trail. Those have been forgotten. Russia seems satisfied with the status quo. I’m looking forward to the remote possibility of a Hillary prosecution, which is as close to justice as we’re likely to get. But I’m not holding my breath.
The regime established on November 22, 1963 is fracturing, but remains intact. Let’s wait and see.
The hard coup of November 1963 delayed the opening of Dr. Strangelove
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/nov/22/news/la-sh-strangelove-president-kennedy-assassination-kubrick-20131122
There’s that scene where Slim Pickens reads off the inventory of the survival kit contents: a Colt .45 automatic and ammunition, nylon stockings, prophylactics, amphetamine tablets, chewing gum, a hundred dollars in gold rubles, etc. Then he says, “A fella could have a real good time in Vegas with that.” But, if you watch his lips carefully, he actually says, “a real good time in Dallas.” They dubbed in Vegas to “fix” the problem.
Survival Kit Contents Check
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPwW7RaPO_g
The physical requirement for producing the “v” consonant sound is not present. Clearly dubbed.
“Oh……you take the low road, and I’ll take the high road, and I’ll be in Moscow before ya”.
Could anything happened with what Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein wrote up for Trump to have cause with for firing Comey, and would Rosenstein’s writings be enough of a reason to have in order for the FBI reopen the Hillary Email Scandal?
Instead of our nation talking now 24/7 Trump, we should all be focused on the condition of our banking system. Every financial statistic you see is questionable to it’s authenticity to real money, or lives for that matter. Someday the correction as it is called rather than the rich Cashing Out, is going to have to settle into realistic numbers. Some historians would say this is a good time for history to repeat itself though, as what we are experiencing has been throughly dealt with by others who had lived before us in declining empires.
Just a note of interest; when Trump invited Lavrov and his fellow Russian press into the Oval Office a day after his firing James Comey, was Trump sending a message to the Neocon hate all things Russia group?
It looks to me like a planned fascist countercoup which, if successful, could lead to armageddon. The implications are frightening in the extreme and what should therefore be done to the perpetrators if they fail in this unprecedented threat to civilisation also gives one pause. Even if it fails, I think this coup attempt is likely fatal to the rule of law and democracy. If it succeeds, I think we’re done for.
Despite everything that Trump has done and continues to do, no Republican will dare to publically criticize him. Why? The 2018 mid terms. Even though I know he’s a racist asshole moron, in public I must always be a loyal party member. Dissent will cost me my seat. And that’s all that matters.
Just because Trump says he’s for improved relations with Russia, that justifies all of his actions? Sorry, but no it doesn’t.
You already know this. But I’ll repeat it anyway. News doesn’t exist anymore. Now, we have rolling infotainment. Actual MSM journalists don’t exist. Now, it’s multi millionaire “news stars” who do what they’re told by corporate management. Blatantly lie. Rip the shit out of everything remotely “liberal”. Right wing content makes shitloads of money. Ex: NBC continues to steal on-air people from Fox. Why? One, they’re convinced that they can market right wing as “centrist”, and the audience won’t be smart enough to see the difference. Two, Fox has always charged higher subscriber fees than MSNBC. Which means Comcast is desperate to get a piece of that.
TYT says that they’re different from corporate media. Then they spend 20 minutes on Steve Harvey’s “I Am a Douche Bag” memo to staff. Attn Cenk Uyger. Nobody cares. Doing crap like this proves that you’re just as bad as corporate media. All that matters is where’s the hype factor?
The greatest injustice to American democracy was not by that of the mythical Russian intervention, but rather by a corrupt and conniving DNC against the Sanders campaign, revealed and exposed by Wikileaks, and never disputed by the culpable parties.
I agree that the Sanders DNC sabotage should be what’s in the news, but instead we get to demonize Putin.
Edward Teller was a Hungarian physicist known colloquially as “the father of the hydrogen bomb” despite the fact that he had only a part in its development.
Teller received his Ph.D. in physics under Werner Heisenberg at the University of Leipzig. In 1930 he befriended Russian physicists George Gamow and Lev Landau, and Czech physicist George Placzek. In 1930, Teller moved to the University of Göttingen, then one of the world’s great centers of physics due to the presence of Max Born and James Franck. After Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in January 1933, the Jewish Teller left through the aid of the International Rescue Committee that was founded at the request of Albert Einstein.
In 1942, Teller was invited to be part of Robert Oppenheimer’s summer planning seminar, at the University of California, Berkeley for the origins of the Manhattan Project, the Allied effort to develop the first nuclear weapons. A few weeks earlier, Teller had been meeting with his friend and colleague Enrico Fermi about the prospects of atomic warfare, and Fermi had nonchalantly suggested that perhaps a weapon based on nuclear fission could be used to set off an even larger nuclear fusion reaction. Even though he initially explained to Fermi why he thought the idea would not work, Teller was fascinated by the possibility and was quickly bored with the idea of “just” an atomic bomb even though this was not yet anywhere near completion. At the Berkeley session, Teller diverted discussion from the fission weapon to the possibility of a fusion weapon—what he called the “Super”, an early concept of what was later to be known as a hydrogen bomb.
Teller participated in a 1946 conference at Los Alamos to review the wartime work on the Super. Teller submitted an optimistic report in which he said that a hydrogen bomb was feasible, and that further work should be encouraged on its development. Fellow physicist Klaus Fuchs also participated in this conference, and transmitted this information to the Soviets. In January 1945, Fuchs had provided technical information to Moscow disclosed the amount of uranium or plutonium the Americans planned to use in each atomic bomb. Fuchs left the thermonuclear program in mid-1946, so it is debatable whether the information he passed relating to the hydrogen bomb would have been useful to the Soviets.
By 1949, Soviet-backed governments had already begun seizing control throughout Eastern Europe, forming such puppet states as the Hungarian People’s Republic in Teller’s homeland, where much of his family still lived. Following the Soviet Union’s first test detonation of an atomic bomb on August 29, 1949, President Harry Truman announced a crash development program for a hydrogen bomb and launched a nuclear arms race.
Teller became controversial in 1954 when he testified against Oppenheimer at Oppenheimer’s security clearance hearing. Teller had clashed with Oppenheimer many times at Los Alamos over issues relating both to fission and fusion research, and during Oppenheimer’s trial he was the only member of the scientific community to state that Oppenheimer should not be granted security clearance. Teller’s testimony made him an outcast of the physics community. Teller chose to align himself with industrialists who profited handsomely from the manufacture of nuclear weapons.
Teller was rumored to be one of the inspirations for the character of Dr. Strangelove in Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 satirical film. In a 1999 Scientific American interview, Teller was reported as having bristled at the question: “My name is not Strangelove. I don’t know about Strangelove. I’m not interested in Strangelove. What else can I say?… Look. Say it three times more, and I throw you out of this office.”
For some twenty years, Teller advised Israel on nuclear matters in general, and on the building of a hydrogen bomb in particular.In 1952, Teller and Oppenheimer had a long meeting with David Ben-Gurion in Tel Aviv, telling him that the best way to accumulate plutonium was to burn natural uranium in a nuclear reactor. Starting in 1964, a connection between Teller and Israel was made by the physicist Yuval Ne’eman, who had similar political views. Between 1964 and 1967, Teller visited Israel six times, lecturing at Tel Aviv University, and advising the chiefs of Israel’s scientific-security circle as well as prime ministers and cabinet members.
In 1967 when the Israeli nuclear program was nearing completion, Teller informed Ne’eman that he was going to tell the CIA that Israel had built nuclear weapons, and explain that it was justified by the background of the Six-Day War. After Ne’eman cleared it with Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, Teller briefed the head of the CIA’s Office of Science and Technology, Carl Duckett. It took a year for Teller to convince the CIA that Israel had obtained nuclear capability; the information then went through CIA Director Richard Helms to the president at that time, Lyndon B. Johnson. Teller also persuaded them to end the American attempts to inspect the Negev Nuclear Research Center in Dimona. In 1976 Duckett testified in Congress before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, that after receiving information from “American scientist”, he drafted a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Israel’s nuclear capability.
In the 1980s, Teller again visited Israel to advise the Israeli government on building a nuclear reactor. Three decades later, Teller confirmed that it was during his visits that he concluded that Israel was in possession of nuclear weapons. After conveying the matter to the U.S. government, Teller reportedly said: “They [Israel] have it, and they were clever enough to trust their research and not to test, they know that to test would get them into trouble.”
I guess the link to the Saker article was censored. Why? Policy?
mike k – just give the site’s exact name, “The Saker”, and then put the exact title of the article in quotes. People will find it.
Anyhow, those interested in the super-fuze scare go to the current Vineyard of the Saker for an informative article.
“I realize that many Democrats, liberals and progressives hate Donald Trump so much that they believe that any pretext is justified in taking him down, even if that plays into the hands of the neoconservatives and other warmongers. ”
That’s certainly a danger, but I fear Robert Parry has fallen into the opposite trap: he has (with reason) such a consuming hatred for the neocons who ruined the 21st century for us that he thinks any pretext is justified in keeping them out of power, even if it means keeping an incipient Mussolini there.
The main weakness I see in the neocon-deep-gov hypothesis is why would they have a problem with Trump? Russia is a comparatively minor issue in geopolitics these days; militant extremist Islam is the new bogeyman, and Trump hates those towel-heads as much as the neocons do. Trump has already proved his indifference to his campaign pledges: he will cut taxes on the rich, cut services for the poor, bomb mid-eastern countries on the merest suspicion of foul play. What’s not for a neocon to like?
Maybe eventually he’ll even come around on Russia and decide he can make more money through war than business. In any case I do not believe that neocons are so upset about Trump’s russophilia that they think taking him down would even be worth the effort. But I am puzzled by it: why not take the easy route in the election campaign and make all the politically correct condemnations of Putin? Even Parry admits the man has no moral core; how could peace with Russia be the one think that Trump truly believes in? This is what makes me think Putin has something on him.
On the whole I find the idea of Putin’s collaboration in winning Trump the election less absurd than the idea of a neocon cabal trying to oust Trump because of his heartfelt love for Russia and principled pacifism. The man has no love and no principles, and I’m sure the neocons recognize that familiar dull gleam in his eyes.
Is a link to the Saker censored here?
My last two comments were said to be posted, but did not show up?
Good Stuff Robert! Now Comey is Free to say whats on his mind. he declined the secret talks with congress and is going for a Public hearing so soon he can say what he was never allowed to say when he was Director of FBI. Like my buddy Phil Ochs used to say “You can’t keep a good man down”.
I hope you are being sarcastic about Comey being a ‘good man.’
Comey is a despicable piece of trash. On just one of his terrible actions:
Either Hillary Clinton had committed indictable actions with her private email or she hadn’t. Either way Comey’s behavior is villainous.
Alternative ONE: Clinton had done indictable acts- Then she should have been indicted. Comey, if he was a good man, would have recommended that to the Justice Department and resigned if not allowed to do so and then publicly announce that. But since he didn’t do this, if this alternative of the situation is true, he obviously didn’t do that. Instead he bowed to political pressure and carried water for a person who knew had committed acts that should be indictable. In that case he is responsible for Clinton getting the nomination instead of Sanders, who would have defeated Trump in the General Election, and thus he is responsible for all the horrors of Trump.
Alternative TWO: Clinton had not done indictable acts- Then he should have simply recommended that to the Justice Department and not given a public speech accusing Clinton of wrong doing. He should have stayed out of the political aspects and let the lawyers, not the police chief, make the announcement. In October he should have communicated with his superiors in the Justice Department instead of announcing to the world more emails were being investigated. His actions in this alternative of the situation is responsible for Clinton getting the nomination but being a wounded candidate who would lose to Trump. Again, we have the police chief of the Federal Police interfering in an election, just as Clinton asserts and just as Trump asserts are the reason he fired him.
It is the height of hypocrisy that any Democrats or persons who consider themselves liberals or progressives would complain about the firing of this piece of trash.
I always like Ochs ‘Flower Lady’.
Don’t worry. Trump doesn’t care about his image in the history books, listens obsequiously to “the Generals”, and has absolutely no intention of letting the Russkies see the Big Board.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZV_lIwmz5E
Trump’s campaign rhetoric about a new détente with Russia disarmed resistance to the expensive New Cold War.
With Trump in power, exhilarated Neocons have “Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Super-Fuse”.
With a spirit of bold curiosity for the adventure ahead, the Neocons are positively leaping from their wheelchairs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so8NQficzZg
Dear Mr. Parry,
Just in case you missed them, I shall be happy to recapitulate a pair of coups that took place relatively recently here in the United States of Bananastan (USOB). In Dallas, Texas on the twenty-second of November, 1963 a rather loud coup of state was enacted by our crack deep-state apparatus. Then on June, 17, 1972 (in Washington Deceit) a “Silent Coup” commenced (which included some of the same players as in the previous coup). This WAPO-encouraged coup eventually forced the creep in CREEP to resign from the office of the presidency of the United States in August of 1974. Chalk up another victory for the Deep State (DS) apparatus and their colleagues in the MSM. The DS has been on a roll ever since. “Boy Clinton” recognized for whom he worked, when he told Sarah McClendon: “Sarah, there’s a government inside the government and I don’t control it.” No kidding Bubba; no piss ant of a middle-managing president is ever gonna control their DS board of directors.
Democracy indeed! Perhaps it is time to recognize that we have had only the illusion of a democracy since the DS deep-stated Saint Jack of Hyannis Port. Following that hit, we turned instantly into a banana republic, once the cover up of JFK’s assassination began. OSWALD DID IT, GODDAMNIT! Yeah, and them damn Russkies and Castro were behind it. Got it? Good; Now keep pretending that Bananastan is a democracy and go out there and vote for the lesser of two evils (both of whom the DS controls), while the DS expands its nasty land-destroying “American” empire across the planet for the sole benefit of the multi-national corporations, Wall Street, and the super rich. R.I.P. (Requiem In Patiens) David Rockefeller.
My god man WAPO and the NYT? They are the deep-state’s mouthpieces and; therefore, are totally useless as a source for anything but outright lies and DS propaganda. They are representative of the most-controlled of the controlled media and of this corrupt and corrupting yoke of governance under which we are forced to live. Our imperial system is a fraud that is maintained by multitudinous distractions, heavy doses of propaganda, enforced-ignorance, and steadily-applied socially engineering.
Is it really any wonder that an enslaved people could become so desperate that they would put all of their hopes and dreams into a showboating four-flusher like Donald J. Trump to set them free and make Bananastan great again? Is it any wonder that they would believe that a soulless and heartless bitch like Hillary Rodham Clinton would ever really gave a crap about anything but Wall Street or that she would not follow the orders of the Deep State? Democracy my ass; the Deep State is gonna do what the Deep State does whether you or anyone else likes it. The DS got a big thrill when they whacked Jack in ’63, and two more big thrills, when in ’68, they gunned down MLK and then finished off that damn little Bobby (three too many lone gunmen).These home-grown DS terrorists revel in getting away with murder.
The real question that you and everyone else should be asking is: Who are the current Deep State players? What are their names and their addresses? It is time to hold these comfortable neoconazi criminals accountable for their crimes.
P. S. The Russian Ambassador in Doctor Strangelove did have a camera and he did take pictures. Big effin’ deal.
I agree America must first face the music of crimes past, before it may get better to going forward with a positive agenda. Why if JFK had not been assassinated many of us would have experienced a whole different life. Of course that would have depended upon what Kennedy would have accomplished, and by what all has been revealed over the years there is every reason to believe that JFK would have drawn down our involvement in Vietnam. This is where many of our generation would have been saved as well as the poor Vietnamese souls who were loss with the 57,000 dead Americans who died defending a Military Industrial Complex. Excuse me for the angst using reverse history, but Dunno you make a strong argument as to the futility towards hoping for much change with the cast of characters we now have to deal with inside of our nations Beltway.
I agree Joe about Vietnam, and I think it was likely that Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev would have achieved a non nuclear proliferation declaration which would have prevented Israel foom getting nuclear armaments.
You probably already know about this Bob, but for the sake of others finding out about James W Douglas book ‘JFK and the Unspeakable’ where Douglas talks about Kennedy and Khrushchev’s back channeling, and how close their detente came to including Fidel Castro, should be more widely known. This close encounter to having world peace could be a viable blueprint for other world leaders to follow. I say enough with missiles and bombs, and scaring the public into their acceptance of a police state. Now is as good of a time as any to turn away from this age of destruction, and to go forward with a policy of respect for all mankind and the ever suffering environment.
Thanks for the heads up on the book- much appreciated.
Joe, thanks for the follow-up. If you’re still following this thread please see Greg Maybury’s new post at the link l’ve provided; it’s explosive!
http://poxamerikana.com/2017/05/08/of-treachery-treason-terror-truth-and-liberty-forsaken-an-american-tale-part-1/
Bob thanks that was two good things you linked me to. One the USS LIberty news, and Greg Mayberry. I really enjoyed reading what Mayberry had to say, and to this day I still find a huge amount of Americans who have never even heard about the USS Liberty attack. If people question to how fixed our news is, and how coverups and lies may be hidden, the USS LIberty story is proof of how well that can be done. Amazing and scary, is what I come away with. Thanks again Bob your okay Joe
While we have little hope of plumbing the depths of the dark state, there are ever more reasons to suspect that it is out of control:
1. The widespread assassinations and overthrows of democracies elsewhere since WWII on wildly partisan pretexts of defense;
2. The massive and growing secret agencies and their intercepts and hacking of all personal computers and cellphones;
3. Their increasing audacity and lying to the people, and the refusal of all federal branches to reign them in despite zero gains;
4. The nearly complete control of all three federal branches and the mass media by zionists, MIC and presumably secret agencies.
I sympathize with those who conclude that the secret agencies themselves are the ultimate tyrants or the tools thereof, and certainly they are an essential part of “this corrupt and corrupting yoke of governance” despite loyal elements within them.
But of course the power centers are diverse: economic, military, political, and information power are all abused together, by a loose oligarchy. New structures of democracy are needed, which may be based upon the Constitution, but must implement safeguards proven necessary more recently.
I wrote this essay back in April. I think this best explains what the Trump-Russia bull is all about:
https://caucus99percent.com/content/okeydoke-americans-were-supposed-get
In fact, this is a coup against Trump. The Deep State misjudged H. Clinton’s unpopularity. This scandal was supposed to be Clinton’s casus belli against Russia and its allies. That is what was planned, and Trump gummed up the works by being elected. Now it is being used to either get Trump out and get in a more traditional (malleable) President, Pence, or get him to recognize the actual pecking order in the halls of power. Trump may be too delusional to negotiate.
The Jews will fight until the last Gentile. They are experts at turning Gentile against Gentile. Now their ownership of pretty much all major news outlets lets than control the narrative and stur up the crowds turning man against man, mother agains children, fathers against sons, families against families.. They are experts at such conivances. There dream of exterminating the Gentiles and ruleing the world is intact and running full steam ahead.
Dan Kuhn, you should be ashamed of yourself . What DISGUSTING REMARKS,
worthy of a full-fledged NAZI.
The comment of Mr. Kuhn is careless, in over-generalizing zionists to Jews, but it is not necessarily Nazi or fascist. It is sufficient to admonish the commenter to use “zionist” instead of “Jew,” because the Jews who are not zionists are the principal ally of others in ending among Jews the fascism that is zionism.
It is when people are so fearful of zionist fascism in the US as to attack such a comment that we see the effectiveness of zionism in suppressing dissent. Zionist fascism suppresses dissent among the Jews as well, and that has made his comment more or less true despite the over-generalization.
I have no evidence that zionists (let alone Jews in general) plan to rule the world, let alone exterminate “gentiles” in general. But their control over all branches of US government and its press, and their willingness to kill anyone and everyone in the mideast to protect their theft of Palestine, makes the supposition very plausible and very nearly true. They are clearly the nastiest of fascists, and have no concern for the US or anyone else, including Jews who do not agree with them. No prejudice is required to see that they likely seek in the US the same racist dominance that they clearly seek in the mideast. The examples are in fact innumerable.
All of that makes me wonder ever more seriously whether the Nazis took a necessary course in seeking to remove zionists from Germany in the 1930s. Although no one could agree with Nazi techniques, history seldom finds a pretty way to overcome extreme injustice, and in that case the fascist Nazis arose in part to overthrow the fascist zionists. So it is not surprising that we would see the sentiments of fascism arising again to displace the zionist fascists. Indeed they may be the only strong allies against the fascist zionists. Who would not cheer if the zionists were removed from the US? That would nearly restore democracy in one move. The main problem is the problem with all revolutions, that the forces sufficient to remove tyranny is often not much better.
Dan-
You are confusing the Jews with the Zionists. I have many jewish friends who are wonderful, caring people, and no more like the actions of the Israeli government than I care for our own evil rulers and their shenanigans here in the USA.
Yes, and this is due to Israel’s move to the right and AIPAC. Zionism has caused people world wideto once again, and many never stopped, to hate Jews and mix Zionism with Judaism.
Another consequence of militarism in Zion Israel.
Bigotry is the refuge of a simple mind. Only a complete moron can’t differentiate between Judaism and Zionism. Many of the most dangerous and destructive zionists aren’t even Jewish!
Apart from his over-generalization, he is simply making accurate observations. Very few Jews are neither zionists nor glad to receive what the zionists promise, but they are the important element of reform. Over-generalization is dangerous; after all, reform of of any group containing an extreme element requires encouraging the moderate element.
But recognizing the extent to which Jews have become fascists under zionism is neither bigotry nor Naziism, it is only immoderate. The racist tyranny of zionism is a tragedy and a great irony, having been energized by Naziism.
So when the commenter expresses very proper outrage at the terrible destruction of US democracy by the Jews, it is only necessary to remind him that this is an understandable over-generalization, and should be corrected to “zionists.”. Only those who express irrational hatred should be reviled.
Don’t conflate Jews and Zionists.
Not even all Israeli Jews are Zionists.
Not all Zionists are Jewish, the most rabid American ones are Fundamentalist American Baptists or Pentecostals.
Zionists are not against Gentiles, they are against Palestinians having equal rights in the land of Canaan.
On another blog I used to frequent it came out one of the most virulent antisemitic posters. who conflated opposition to Zionism and Israeli oppression of Palestinians with hatred of Jews, turned out to actually be a rabid Zionist who was pretending to be antisemitic in order to paint opposition to Israel’s oppression as nothing but bigotry.
Every since then I suspect these kind of posts are actually done by agent provocateurs.
Zionists want a greater isreal which means All of the Middle East.
Hasbara smear tactics have intensified online due to Israel’s collusion with the United States in “regime change” projects from the Middle East to Eastern Europe, as well as Israeli military aggression and outright racism.
Hasbara deception tactics include:
1) accusing anyone who offers legitimate criticism of Israel or Zionism of being “anti-Semitic”
2) masquerading as an “anti-Semitic” commenter: deliberately posting “anti-Semitic” comments (like commenter Dan Kuhn above) or links to “anti-Semitic” material
Readers of Consortium News are alert to these deceptive tactics.
There have been a number of efforts by international and governmental bodies to define “anti-Semitism” formally.
The U.S. Department of State states that “while there is no universally accepted definition, there is a generally clear understanding of what the term encompasses.” For the purposes of its 2005 Report on Global Anti-Semitism, the term was considered to mean “hatred toward Jews – individually and as a group – that can be attributed to the Jewish religion and/or ethnicity.”
In 2005, the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (now Fundamental Rights Agency), then an agency of the European Union, developed a more detailed working definition, which states: “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
The European agency adds that “such manifestations could also target the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity,” but that “criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.”
Criticism of particular Israeli actions or policies – even harsh and strident criticism or advocacy – in and of itself does not constitute “anti-Semitism”.
Israel’s propagandist Hasbara narrative directly applies to the US/Israel-backed terrorist war against the people of Syria.
The basics of Hasbara propaganda are easy to identify: simplistic phrases, repeated over and over, designed to engage emotions rather than produce rational arguments, all shaped to fit into a narrative of good (Western-oriented Israel, the Middle East’s only true democracy) versus evil (Arab/Muslim terrorists who seek not only to destroy the Jewish state but kill all Jews).
To persuade Americans to accept this impoverished account of the conflict, Hasbara propaganda rewrites history, rejects international law and ignores the struggle over land and resources that is at the heart of the conflict.
Hasbara Propaganda Manual – “Global Language Dictionary”
https://www.transcend.org/tms/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/sf-israel-projects-2009-global-language-dictionary.pdf
Written by Republican pollster and political strategist Frank Luntz, the Hasbara handbook was commissioned by a group called The Israel Project in 2009.
Labeled “Not for distribution or publication”, the Hasbara manual is a treasure trove of scripted propaganda canards. For example, page 96 of the manual recommends: “‘Defensive’ and ‘preventative’ are the words that best describe Israeli military action.”
In 2009, Israel’s foreign ministry organized volunteers to add pro-Israeli commentary on news websites. In July 2009, it was announced that the Israeli Foreign Ministry would conduct “internet warfare” to spread a pro-Israel message on various websites.
The program has expanded to a real Hasbara troll army that promotes pro-Israel policies in the press and online media.
US/Israel-backed al-Qaeda terrorists in Syria advance the geopolitical goals of Israel, which include permanent annexation of Syria’s resource-rich Golan Heights area that Israel has occupied since 1967.
The illusion of a “threat” to Israel guarantees an ever greater cascade of military and economic aid supplied by slavishly pro-Israel politicians in the United States.
Hasbara propaganda additionally aims at promoting fake news and conspiracy theories to divert attention from an actual and very public conspiracy: the efforts of the Israel lobby to manipulate politics in the United States.
Jew qua Jew vr. Jew qua Nation
One can hold a positive opinion of a individual or individuals and at the same time have a negative opinion of the individual’s ‘group’ based on it’s activities, goals, principles or lack of principle.
Is World War Three in the Offing?
———————————————————————–
“Gearing up for World War Three: Nato tanks put on massive show of strength in Germany while Putin’s troops practise dropping their armour by parachute”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4501944/Nato-tanks-massive-strength-Germany.html
——————————————————————————————–
http://graysinfo.blogspot.ca/2017/04/the-maniacs-of-militarism.html
Russia is not the problem. It is Israel’s right wing and the Israel lobby that have corrupted all but a few members in Congress and much of the national and regional media. It was another day of infamy in the United States when both houses of Congress gave Prime Minister and butcher Netanyahu 29 standing ovations. The difference in this and the earlier day of infamy at Pearl Harbor is the first was an attack by a foreign power while the latter was a craven surrender to another foreign power.
Well said.
Talk about ‘collusion’, the US forces almost seems to be controlled by Israel’s far right Zionist ideology. The mayhem unleashed in the Middle East is a direct result of Israel’s paranoia. I suppose a peaceful solution is out of the question. What now? Russia is not the aggressor, they want peace too. Seems the psychos of the beltway are the real danger to every person and creature of Earth.
“the psychos of the beltway”. I like that! Thanks, man.
Excellent Bill, I too agree.
Bill – yeah, I can’t tell you how many times, when I was quite young and not at all paying attention to politics or foreign affairs, I looked up from whatever I was doing (the TV was on in the background) and asked: “What the heck is everybody pandering to Israel for?” It was one of the few questions I would ask, before getting back to being young.
I had absolutely nothing against Israel, but it just struck my young mind as unusual that such a powerful country (the U.S.) seemed to be being brought to its knees by Israel, and it was always over the smallest of slights, over nothing. I couldn’t wrap my mind around this. Now I understand, now I realize that this has been going on for a long time.
Just an observation that I remember. It just struck me as odd.
to Mr. Skip Scott The problem with your revolution suggestion is there is no new and improved constitutional document in place to fix the failings of the 200 year old US constitution. Obviously if things are as bad as you suggest they are, the peoples controls enabled by the constitution are insufficient to protect average Americans from the powers allowed to those who are elected to one of the 527 different USA manipulated positions. In other words, the US Constitution has failed the non elected, the people’s enforcement power is insufficient to remedy the situation you describe.
The COT PUPPETS (Clinton Obama and Trump) dance to the strings of foreign interest, war time corporate profiteers, and just about anyone with more money than an average American citizen. The problem d\n reside in “who is elected to control the political power”, instead, the problem resides in “the ability of those not in power (average Americans) to defend themselves from those who are manipulated by those who pull the strings of power”. The situation you describe is akin the situation described in the Declaration of Independence(1776).
fudmeir-
I think our constitution is fine, but our institutions have become utterly corrupted. Our last amendment was in 1971. If we could oust the utterly corrupt bas**rds, and pass some amendments to eliminate the power of money and corporations, end police state tactics, restrict the power of the classified intelligence apparatus and their agencies, reinvigorate the diversity of the press, ensure basic human rights like health care, and make for a fairer election process, I think we could leave the basic constitution alone. But first it would take a major revolution to make those things happen.
Exactly Scott, but a Coalition third party with secure voting machines might do the trick.
Great piece as usual by Robert Parry!
But scattered around in the disccussion above are comments like that of mj and the reference to David Swanson’s desire to “impeach for the right reason.” I guess Swanson wants to “do the wrong thing for the right reason,” to paraphrase the poet. But impeachment is still the wrong thing.
Why?
Because Trump after much hesitation has decided to move ahead with his promise for Detente 2.0 with Russia despite all the attacks by the ruling Elite and the “Deep State.” A bold move, certainly! That is the signifcance of the wonderful meeting with Lavrov, Tillerson and our President last Wedneday – after giving the boot to a major obstacle, Comey, on Tuesday. Hurray for that meeting. That was followed by a signing of agreements on climate change in the Arctic by Tillerson and Lavrov. Hurray for that. And then Trump has told the Samantha Power clone, Nikki Haley, to stop her Russia bashing in the UN and to clear her comments with Tillerson, a clear signal that Tillerson is in charge of foreign policy. And finally, reversing Obama and Hillary, Trump pivoted away from confrontation with China by joining the OBOR meeting, confirming his action on day one of killing off the TPP which was not only anti-democratic but a part of the Hillary/Obama Pivot to Asia which was an act of economic warfare designed to isolate Beijing. TPP gone. Hurray for that.
Now in case you have not noticed, I just gave three cheers for Trump. And each is deserved.
And here is the problem. Part of the strategy of those who are engaged in the soft coup is to shut up those of us who approve of these policies of Trump. It is quite OK to attack Trump’s attackers, but should one defend SOME of his positions, woe unto him or her. That is a sure sign that one is a Deplorable and should be excluded from polite company. But is it not a form of cowardice to refrain from giving full-throated praise where such praise is due? And does it not weaken Trump’s effort at Detente if he gets no word of support from those who agree with it?
But what about his other positions, others might say. That is not really so hard. I oppose TrumpCare just as I do ObamaCare, because I want Single Payer and have written about that. That is not really very unusual. Under Obama, those who supported ObamaCare said so but yet criticized his 3.5 million deportations, the actions of the Deporter in Chief as his critics called him. Is that so hard? It is a differentiated approach, an adult approach. In contrast, to condemn Trump for everything by calling for impeachment is the opposite. It is infantile.
So let us all grow up and work for peace.
And so three cheers for Trump’s three pro-Detente actions during this last historic week.
You perspective makes sense, and in a country which has loss all grounds for reasoning you Mr Walsh, whether you are right or wrong, give meaning to the word ‘oasis’.
Trump successes will not be aired by our eager to impeach Trump media, and without that proper news coverage we as a nation are doomed for no good. Although what does get coverage is Trump’s Cabinet Appointees and their shredding of what many feel are fundamental safe guards whether it be EPA standards, or religious liberty rights, or gas mileage requirements, none of what’s reported gives one hope for a better America. I will admit how I would love to get behind our new president, but so much of the negative news that comes out of this White House prevents me from doing that….but please continue John to bring up what our media negates to tell us.
Thanks for this. I’ve yet to get up to speed on these events but was encouraged to see Trump having meetings with an adult (Lavrov).
I guess I’m on a David Swanson kick today, but here is a link to Swanson’s impression of Russians and their acceptance of their not so pleasant past. Swanson suggests that we Americans come to grips with our own country’s not so honorable moments, and move forward the better for it.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2017/05/things-russians-can-teach-americans.html
Also I like you Gregory, was happy to see Trump greet Lavrov into the White House. We should partner with Russia not fight them at every turn.
Going by the time-stamp Joe, your post was apparently held up in moderation for quite a while. It’s a good link to an informative article that reminds us of the richness and diversity of Russian history and provides an example of the capacity (and freedom) of people in Russia to engage in honest reflection of their national history. Thanks.
You know Gregory I think we Americans can learn a lot from these older cultures and society’s. America is still young and maturing, and we Americans should develop a way of our facing up to the truths about ourselves and our country’s past. If we were to honestly take a second look at our nations past, this may help bring us to a soft landing as we are a nation in decline. America must join the world community, instead of us always creating new demons to chase after. All of this warring is a result of our country being taken over by the MIC and Wall St..
Mr. Walsh, you are the most rational adult in the room today.
John-
You make some very good points. It will be interesting to see how things play out in the near future. One thing I think Trump could do is take his time to prepare and make a statement to the American people. I thought his inaugural address was excellent (I thought Bernie Sanders could have wrote it), but we’ve had nothing like that since. The MSM can engage in all the propaganda they want, but Trump could speak directly to the American people with his vision for detente with Russia, and his other major issues. His infantile narcissism has been a major distraction. He needs to grow up and use the “Bully Pulpit” to lead this country forward. I hope that I’ve been wrong, and that he has the intelligence and integrity to do it.
Skip – this “might” be the best thing that ever happened to Trump. He actually “might” grow up and realize a strength he never knew he had, one that doesn’t come from his possessions, but from deep inside. Might.
Thanks for providing this information.
A balanced perspective is the enemy of identity politics.
” A balanced perspective is the enemy of identity politics”
Amen.
I concur with this view. In any event, the Republicans, due to residual party loyalty and the fact Trump’s antiwar partisans are back in play due to the sacking of Comey, the coup will not be very easy. There is evidence that Comey was part of the coup and had to be sidelined in a Russian hacker now in prison probably extralegally if one looks at it objectively, in the Czech republic who claims credibly in my view that the FBI tried to get him to falsely confess he had hacked the harpy’s emails for Russian authorities. He is being charged with other sorts of hacking and has probably never been in the US and probably has no real links with any US political interests. Unfortunately I can’t remember the name of the guy, but remember that on May 11 the extradition hearing was put off at least to 30 May and possibly indefinitely. This should be investigated further because it may indicate the FBI was working on entrapped type false confessions to work up a more plausible conspiracy theory despite the fact even types like uber-establishment Senator Diane Feinstein have said there is no substance to the false Russian claims.
I concur with this view, and I also note that impeachment, if attempted, is unlikely to be quick because the party loyalty of republicans is such that, even if they don’t like Trump, they don’t want to be considered traitors to their party’s president, particularly since the loyalty of Trump voters is not in doubt. Actually, the Comey sacking fortified this. It brought some of the leftist anti-deep state supporters of Trump disgusted by the Syria feint, back on board. The threat to our survival by the deep state tactics is also apparent to those not fully swallowing the koolaid of the lamestream media and its acolytes. There is also another development noted on zerohedge where a Russian hacker, Evgeny Nikulin, imprisoned possibly extralegally in the Czech republic based on a yankee extradition warrant, has claimed that FBI agents offered him US citizenship and money if he would falsely claim that Russian authorities had ordered him to hack the harpy’s emails confirming the debunked Russia story, which, it should be mentioned again that even uber establishment democratic senator Diane Feinstein has said has no merit. This should be proof enough that the continuing stories are false flag falsehoods and treasonably seditious.
John V. Walsh – great post! Thank you.
Interesting article: The plotters are organized,
——————————————————–
“The War Gangs and War Criminals of NATO to Meet in Brussels”
[Much more info link below]
http://graysinfo.blogspot.ca/2017/05/the-war-gangs-and-war-criminals-of-nato.html
Stephan, again I commend you on the number and quantity of your links. Thanks…
“the danger that a listening device or other surveillance equipment could have been brought into the Oval Office while hidden in cameras or other electronics.”
This argues that security in the White House is subpar and vulnerable to outsiders. Really? Aside from Presidential tapes, is it even a remote possibility that a recording device could operate in the White House undetected?
“Its always something, if its not one thing its another…” Roseanne Roseannadanna. 1300 + days to go (or more)
Mar 30, 2017 SHOCK! Russian Hacking Story is Unraveling!
Story #1: Trump’s Swamp Lets ISPs Sell Your Browsing History
https://youtu.be/q9cLw7ZfWaM
It is NOT Trump, a bizarre wild card! It IS the deep state that is extremely threatening to all of us, and there has been no functioning democracy for quite some time. Citizens United of 2010 did in even small vestiges of democracy completely. Neocons ARE extremely dangerous and many of them have dual citizenship between US and Israel. Trump’s erratic behavior is a threat to the imperial plans, which every president signs on to. Trump can never gain such power as to take full control of the US, any US president does not have such power.
The US is very threatened by the success of the BRICS given the US gargantuan debt of $20tn. The powermongers know very well that the US economy is very wobbly, and more nations have clearly recognized the damage done to the world by the US wars, and they don’t like it. (Right now, the CIA is working hard to bring down Maduro in Venezuela, and Global Research has an excellent article on all the lies the West is telling about Venezuela right now.)
The One Belt One Road Project is being launched very soon by China, with Russia as an important partner in that, so the entire west deep state is no doubt working overtime to counteract that project.
Trump’s campaign rhetoric about a new détente with Russia disarmed resistance to the expensive New Cold War.
With Trump in power, exhilarated Neocons have “Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Super-Fuse”.
With a spirit of bold curiosity for the adventure ahead, the Neocons are positively leaping from their wheelchairs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so8NQficzZg
i’ve given up hoping for much democracy from Congress. It has been a week reed from its beginning, but one hopes for better.
Right Mike, Power does want to throw off all restraints. And what has Trump been doing ever since the November election? Trying to throw off all restraints. Remember, those military guys on his staff and cabinet are ‘his generals’. Get rid of Dodd-Frank, EPA, etc, let the CEOs have free reign. Since when do big business types concern themselves with democracy, morality or ethics in the countries in which they operate. Stop obsessing about the neocons and ‘Deep State’, and start understanding that egomaniac Trump would just love to be another Mussolini or Tito and will use any excuse to move to that position.
Trump is like a kid turned loose in a candy shop; he doesn’t know which treats to grab next, and will end up sick as a dog, and out the door.
The real history of the US is riddled with corporate affairs being the main mission of the government. Only during the ‘new deal’ days were any concessions given to citizens. Since the end of WW II it’s been full steam ahead with corporate greed and the removal of manufacturing and the unions. It still is being played out and change is in the wind now and the movements of the 60’s and 70’s may again be coming. We’ll see.
For Christ’s sake, get a grip. It’s not Russia that I’m worried about, it’s the Republican party. With Trump (or Pence) in the White House, they’ll turn this country into a feudal state. That said, it’s unlikely that the firing of Comey is going to trigger impeachment hearings (which would be anyway a normal constitutional process, not a “soft coup”). But it’s the beginning of a downward spiral for the Republicans, or so I hope, and will certainly inspire a lot of small-d democrats to oust the Republicans and the corporation-loyal Democrats, and replace them with Democrats who will represent the 99%.
It’s not Russia nor the Republican Party I worry about.
It’s the Military Industrial Media Complex that thinks it can go to war with Russia and win.
Corporations own the DNC, if Bernie could not break through no one will. Coalition third party with secure voting machines is the only possibilty.
I have to agree with Douglas Valentine: there is only the Right and the Ultra-Right in this country. The Left is gone.
There is a competition between to soft coup projects. One among Democrats is to take down Trump. The other among neocons and hawks of both parties is to exploit Trump’s weakness to keep the Deep State in control of the projects it has pursued without change since Bush invaded Iraq. The Team Hillary people want to do either one, preferably both. They want those wars, without Trump is possible, but with him if necessary.
I guess spying and collecting all Americans data does not keep us safe? Interesting observation from a thinker!
March 31, 2017 The Surveillance State Behind Russia-Gate
Although many details are still hazy because of secrecy – and further befogged by politics – it appears House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes was informed last week about invasive electronic surveillance of senior U.S. government officials and, in turn, passed that information onto President Trump.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-surveillance-state-behind-russia-gate/5582211
Jan 2, 2017 BOOM! CNN Caught Using Video Game Image In Fake Russian Hacking Story
It looks like CNN Has tried to pull the wool over our eyes once again. This time, they used a screenshot from the Fallout 4 Video game to paint the picture of Russian Hacking.
https://youtu.be/GVEWQYbnzSs
Thank you Robert Parry for keeping us focused. I remember way back in 1997 first reading the statement put out by the then obscure non-profit PNAC and being stunned by how outrageous it seemed. Now I keep focused on the individual people who signed that document and usually the “trouble” begins and ends with them. Clearly the Deep State is made up of many interest groups but with regard to foreign intervention and war making follow the PNAC individuals (I now think of them as Neocons) and you’ll be close to the action. Now I’m more concerned with a Vice President Pence than a President Trump. And, please, I’m no Trump supporter.
A PNAC refresher here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century
David Swanson wrote a good piece describing how if you want to impeach Trump, then impeachment him for the right reasons and leave Russia alone.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/05/11/impeach-trump-for-right-reasons/
Yes. Power wants to throw off all restraints. For those seeking power, democracy is a restraint.
If a coup in Ukraine, why not? If one in Guatemala, Argentina, why not? I really believe that our elite claque believe anything is possible. Mr. Parry’s mentions Russia as a target. Why not the United States?
TARP would have been a Corporate Globalist coup.
Keep writing please. All the neoliberal bullshit is nauseating, and now the Russia-gate hysteria has infected most of the lefty blog sites I read. Most of these idiots who are pushing for war with Russia have never been under fire. This war veteran, Vietnam, found only one aspect of Trump’s campaign and presidency worthy of support and that has been his attempts to ratchet down hostility towards Russia. ( Disclosure: I voted for neither him nor Hillary.) I really don’t care what his reasons might be, even if they have to do with business interests. (Consider how many billions of Saudi money are invested in the United States yet there is no “Saudigate”.) And the Russian military is no joke, I’m talking a conventional military contest. Never mind a nuclear exchange which would be the end of it all. Are these people crazy?
Thanks, Winston. Excellent post.
Thanx, Winston. Although I didn’t serve during The ‘Nam,as I was too young by a year, I have to agree that Trump’s only redeeming quality before the election were his non interventionist stances. Well that ship has left the harbor and we get…more war with the Generals in charge of things; what could possibly go wrong? May the powers of The Universe keep the nukes out of the equation!!
One other quick note. I will not vote for either major party at the federal level. Unless things change rapidly, which probably won’t.
Winston Warfield asked, “Are these people crazy?”
From 1964’s Fail-Safe:
Female Party Guest: Two hours ago, you said a hundred million dead. Now you say sixty million.
Professor Groeteschele: I say sixty million is perhaps the highest price we should be prepared to pay in a war.
Mr. Foster: And what’s the difference between sixty million dead and a hundred million?
Professor Groeteschele: Forty million.
Mr. Foster: Some difference!
Professor Groeteschele: Are you prepared to say the saving of forty million lives is of no importance?
Mr. Foster: You miss the point, Professor! The saving of those sixty million lives is what’s important!
Professor Groeteschele: Face facts, Mr. Foster. We’re talking about war. I say every war, including thermonuclear war, must have a winner and a loser. Which would you rather be?
Mr. Foster: In a nuclear war, everyone loses! War isn’t what it used to be.
Professor Groeteschele: It’s the resolution of economic and political conflict.
Mr. Foster: But what kind of resolution with a hundred million dead?!
Professor Groeteschele: It doesn’t have to be a hundred million.
Mr. Foster: Even sixty!
Professor Groeteschele: The same as a thousand years ago, sir. We also had wars that wiped out whole peoples. The point is still who wins and who loses, the survival of a culture.
Mr. Foster: A culture?! With most of its people dead?! The rest dying, the food poisoned! The air unfit to breathe! You call that a culture?!
Professor Groeteschele: Yes, I do, Mr. Foster. I am not a poet. I am a political scientist, who would rather have an American culture survive than a Russian one.
——————————-
No, they are not crazy. They just are extremely selfish.
Anulling TARP was terrific. Trump has no financial interest in Russia, but if he did i rather see someone make money off detente , than the usual USA routine of making money from death.
Bill Maher: I Want Democrats to Say ‘You’re Either With Us or With the Russians’
I think I’m going to pick the the Russians!
Meanwhile the Trump administration has agreed to the Chinese invitation to send a delegation to the Belt and Road Conference going on in Beijing this weekend, with 110 nations attending, and 29 heads-of-state (including Putin) attending. This is the REAL reason for the Deep State decision to run a soft coup on Trump, to stop cooperation among the Great Power Republics for World development, stability, security and peace (i.e. End of Geopolitics and Anglo-American Empire of The City and The Street). The armies of tomorrow sweeping across the World will be armies of construction workers, technicians and engineers, committing willful and wanton acts of construction.
From your mouth to God’s ears, Brad! Imagine if the peoples and their nations around the world actually cooperated and started waging peace!
It’s happening, brother; it’s happening. It was a long time coming, but it’s finally here. There’s a new Zeigeist in town, and She is calling the shots now.
What exactly are you saying, Brad??? What are you dreaming???
“There’s a new Zeitgeist in town, and She’s calling the shots”????????
Whaaaaaaaat???????? Dream on, brother.
Time to wake up Orwell, Brad has nailed it. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-05/12/c_136277323.htm
J.D. has it exactly right orwell. You are the one stuck in fabian George Orwell’s 1984 dream, or rather nightmare, of the triumph of the RoundHouse Group AND Synarchist Internationale combined Movement for Global Empire. These groups spawned the fascist and NAZI movements of the 20s and 30s…that failed, so they went covert(and were “rat-lined” into USA eventually), knocking over our intelligence community in the post-war 40s, purging it of all FDR loyalists (the guys who uncovered the vast Synarchist conspiracy in 1940, involving Wall Streeters and City-of-Londoners), and filled it with agents loyal to Wall Street/City-of-London and the Synarchist agenda for Global Empire (which we saw unfold over the last 70 years). It has reached its limits of success and meets with popular revolt everywhere. China has taken up the Gauntlet dropped by FDR upon his death, shot from the hands of JFK, made sure it wouldn’t be picked up by RFK or MLK…it has fallen to China to end imperialism/colonialism (overt and covert) and actively pursue the development of the former colonies-turned sovereign nations and members of the U.N…where FDR wanted to go post-WWII. Time to wake up from the long nightmare. The new era has been announced by the Crop Circles and Sky Spirals for those who have eyes to see & understand (atheists/materialists need not bother…you are not being spoken to, simply by-passed).
Wonderful ideas, if only. During The ‘Nam a slogan I always liked was; ‘what if they gave a war and nobody came’? At least we can all dream, as they haven’t figured out how to put a price on dreams, yet.
Right on target. Well said.
I think it is “now or never” time for Trump, since he has gone forward and fired Comey. If there is any way for him to do so, he should de-classify all relevant facts about MH17, the real reasons for the Syrian war, the Libyan fiasco, the Iraq war, and maybe even go all the way back to the assassinations of the ’60’s. Then he should have Clapper arrested for lying to congress, and pardon Snowden and give him the medal of freedom. While he’s at it he could order the disbanding of the CIA and the NSA. I don’t think there is any middle ground at this point. It’s him or them. Of course they’d probably kill him, or all the Deep State lackey’s in Congress would impeach him; but if he could get the truth out before it happened, it might be enough to trigger a revolution.
You know Skip what you write here makes a lot of sense. In fact the same kind of mentally that you are describing here would no doubt be the same kind of mentally that would fear a friendly link to Viktor Yanukovych sitting in the White House, for this relationship would be unnerving to these low life instigating interventionist. Imagine if the truth came out about the Maiden Square coup, and then the other events such as you mentioned were to cascade out of the forbidden secret locker to the demise of the dirt bags hiding behind the curtain. It would be Christmas morning for many a conspiracy buff, that’s a given.
I know your no fan of Trump, but like many of us here we know that those in the establishment who oppose his presidency are not much better. The precedent being laid here is beyond Constitutional comprehension. If dumping a sitting president by use of our media, and spy agencies were to prove to be successful then ask yourself, does this kind of coup seem legitimate, or even healthy being employed inside of a country who believes it has a democracy?
I seriously don’t like having Trump in the Oval Office, but what are the alternatives? I mean we are talking our having a President Pence, break out the hymn books and say Jesus. Okay no Pense then we have Paul (Eddy Munster) Ryan either way we are screwed. What I would like to see is Trump’s Cabinet Secretaries gone before sundown, but that will never happen since most of those Trump appointed are for the most part the same ilk that is attempting to unseat Trump but of different strips.
The one thing for sure, is that we are experiencing America’s first reality TV presidency, so stayed tuned for more unraveling of the mysteries of the Trump Administration.
Thank you for pointing out what we get if/when Trump is removed. If the ever present threat of nuclear war wasn’t so in our faces I’d take Trump over the other two. Trump has already been subverted by the evil neocons. The only reason I thought Trump would be good for were his stances toward Russia and the ME before the election. Now that he turned things over to the Generals and hence more war, he’s really not much good for anything, unless, of course, you’re a billionaire.
Yes the alternatives are not much better. I don’t know, would we all be better for it if we were to just quietly ride out the Trump presidency? With Pence I don’t see it to be too much of an exaggeration that we would be by law encouraged to have prayer breaks at work, and exclude the Muslim at every turn. Okay, I’ve gone to far, but I really don’t like religion getting anymore involved into our government than it already is. There is a good reason to keep church and state separate, and we should abide by that standard for the good of our country’s diverse society.
The one thing we can count on, is that by having Trump in the White House we will be getting Breaking News by the hour, and every headline will be written as if the sky is falling….God help us!
Oh by the way, I didn’t say you can’t pray to God for good governance, but that’s where the mix of church and state must end.
You haven’t gone too far Joe!
(Also, I’m glad I’m not the only one noticing that Eddy Munster’s now running around as Speaker)
There is still a big difference between these two scenarios:
1)
The Generals: Mr. President you must act now!
The President: Let me think about it.
(next day)
The Generals: Mr. President if you don’t act now you will look weak.
The President: I am NOT weak! (Pulls out Iphone and tweets, “I am not weak.”)
(next day)
The Generals: Mr. President if you don’t act now we will speak out that you are weak.
The President: Okay, do it. But only the minimum, okay?
The Generals: Very good, sir!
2)
The President: WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM!!!!! Get those boots on the ground NOW! I want fighter jets shooting down anything that moves! I want it yesterday. Understand??
The Generals: Madam President, we have to mobilize them, transport them, and have a plan and a strategy.
The President: DO IT NOW!!!!
Joe & Skip, I just posted this in response to an exchange between you two several articles back, but, since many folks don’t go back to old material, it seems relevant to also introduce it in this ongoing conversation. The original premise by you two was that we elected Trump but still got Hillary, at least in practice. After addressing that in the first paragraph, my thoughts turned to the bigger picture of why such dysfunctional group think (downright psychotic thinking by my standards) so easily takes hold and spreads through the population. I will again renew my suggestion to Robert Parry, which I made below, to recruit some renowned psychologist to write an article analysing the psychological roots for the pathological thinking that has pervaded all American power centers and expresses as the current warmongering hubris that clearly puts great pressure, even threats, upon the elected president, like him or not.
__________________
How is the Trump presidency different from a would-be Hillary administration? Well, he is being hounded by both sides of the aisle in congress and all of the Deep State, MIC, intelligence agencies and the entire corporate media. He is accused of being a Russian puppet and traitor to his own country, even as he backpedals on all of the promises he made about pursuing peace rather than war to satisfy this rabid mob of mindless warmongers. In a Hillary presidency all of these maniacs would be on the same insane page and perhaps we’d all already be dead. The string pullers behind the scenes insist that Trump take us to the same hideous realm that Hillary would have led us, even if it takes a little longer and creates a few bothers in the media.
Reading the Saker’s last couple of essays it is clear that, as a firm religious believer, he thinks that Hillary and the people behind her are possessed by daemonic forces that want to destroy humanity and send it to hell. As a rationalist rather than a religionist, I’m not sure I see the glint in her wandering crossed eyes as the spirit of the Devil in control of her mind, but she and her slavish legion of followers who have been pursuing the destruction of the Trump presidency on the basis of the most wild-eyed concocted phony narratives are surely mentally deranged. We, in essence, have the majority of the elites who run this country all clearly suffering from a mental disorder, which has been called, half-jokingly but quite accurately, Putin Derangement Syndrome and Trump Derangement Syndrome.
The disease, not always focussed like a laser on Putin and Trump who have arrived on the scene only during their own historical time, has been festering beneath the surface for decades within power centers of the United States. It’s targets were different as human lifespans and public careers are so transitory, but the aggressive, dangerously addled thinking has determined American government policy, especially foreign policy, throughout my life of 70 years. But, I must say, things have gotten much worse most recently. Rational men of peace, like Linus Pauling, used to be given accolades by the public and institutions beyond the reach of the American Deep State, rather than being ridiculed as they are today, with institutions like the Nobel Peace Prize committee being co-opted by the Neocon octopus to reward chosen stooges like Barack Obama with money and honors for sabotaging the very principles he supposedly ran on in his elections.
The collective madness came into full flower with no longer any attempts to hide its objective of a third world war for ultimate control of all the earth when puppet Obama, loyal to his sick minders but traitorous to human kind, decided to launch the final confrontation with Russia starting in the Ukraine. You have all seen the absurd excuse of what supposedly passes for diplomacy and deliberation, reason and clear thinking, ever since Victoria Newland anointed “Yats” as our guy to start the war against Russia and to “fuck the [clueless] EU.” There has been no reason, no clear thinking, no deliberation, no diplomacy only an unstoppable rush to our own self-destruction along with the rest of the world. This may or may not be daemonic, but it is clearly insanity. I would encourage Robert Parry to find a renowned psychologist to write an essay on how pathological thinking spreads through a population like a contagion, for surely that is what has happened in America and the rest of the West in thrall to the US.
Realist I don’t have much time since someone is on there way here to give me a ride, but if you are not familiar with Phil Butler then please see this link…..
http://journal-neo.org/author/phil-butler/
If Butler is to be taken serious Putin’s biggest crime is that he kicked the Zionist oligarchs out of Russia. Boy could the U.S. use someone like Putin to do that here.
I’ll continue maybe later, but for now keep it going…I find comfort in reading what all of you here comment with, yes even the ones I don’t always agree with at least make me think. Joe
Realist you covered a lot of ground here with what you wrote. What I saw in my head while reading part of your comment was how both right left conservative liberal whatever you call these citizens, both groups have their own demons, so too speak. This is the ‘lessor of the two evils’ that voters have to put up it, or ignore this slogan for all it’s worth. Our society is at a loss at the starting gate. Seriously when all the horses are jackasses disguised as show ponies, what else should you expect to come out of this mixed breed, but dumbass things and lots of this more stupid stuff as a result…it’s a disease called “Beltway Groupthink”, but you know that.
If a viable infrastructure is only as strong as its institutions that support it, then our generation is in trouble. As for our grandchildren’s generation I’m sorry to say this, but by all the data I’m seeing going on around out here this probably means their time will be even worst for them to be having them dealing with wars, environment, money, etc. problems.
Even sadder is the conglomeration of institutions along with every nook and cranny of product consumption has been sweep up into these giants of big business concerns greedy hands. To these scoundrels they make money by leverage buying out, floating loans on cooked assets, as it’s nothing for this type of person to show sales into the future as if sold and paid for today, then they take most of that borrowed money and move on down the road. Often these crooks don’t invest a dime into these concerns…they just do it, and get away with it.
Along the way these criminals become the pillars of their society. Charities no problem, but see what their speaker fee was that event you saw them at, or see what their charity fund drive finally did spend on the receiver of their graciousness …not much, right? This isn’t all rich people, but it is about the ones who we are dealing with today….let the shoe fit.
Although I could go on about our dysfunctional institutions I want to say Realist that if I were to create a panel to rehabilitate the U.S. I would put you on it. Your analogy of the group think is worth exploring.
I read the other day that the average American male between age 9 to 79 will watch 4.2 years in their lifetime watching tv commercials? No biggie, but is it fair to ask what does that do to us? Although our ancient ancestors were probably subliminally hypnotized by something, so tv commercials aren’t as much of our society’s problem, as is the gangster banker politicians who run the errands for the majestically endowed Oz behind the curtain. The future will look back upon this time we live as the ‘Age of Corporatocracy’.
Realist-
Once again thank you for your clear thinking. I suppose that I am frustrated that Trump hasn’t been more forceful in pursuing his policy of detente with Russia, and in making his argument to the American people. As for the insanity of many in the general population, I don’t think it is insanity as much as it is mind control by the MSM. Most people are too busy to think deeply on these matters, and then they watch the TV, half tired and distracted, and absorb the propaganda rather than question it. On top of that, Hollywood inoculated them from a very young age to have unquestioning patriotism, and made them believe that putting on a uniform and killing strangers half way around the world makes them macho.
We definitely need more reason and clear thinking if we are to survive as a species. I wish I knew how to make that happen.
Realist, I agree that there is a very real psychological/sociological delusional derangement going on. Arthur Miller’s THE CRUCIBLE comes to mind. Also, JFK’s THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST who should have known better but fell into the same trap.
The farm animals who rose to power in George Orwell’s ANIMAL FARM. Kissinger’s/Nixon’s bombing of Laos and Cambodia and bloody overthrow Chilean govt, and on and on.
The difference today is the enormous magnitude of the weapons systems available to those who have clawed their way into the secretive power structure by keeping the rest of us in the dark about their nefarious plans to (try to) control what goes on in the world no matter how many people get mowed down in the process.
They use fear to get our acquiescence to terrible things – e.g. bloody regime change coups.
Maybe Hillary Clinton really believes this Cold War rhetoric crap…..When she red baited Bernie at the end of the Miami Dem Primary debate for having once criticized the use of Cold War Doctrine to subjugate South America, she sounded like a full blown McCarthyite to me.
They use secretive agencies behind which they execute these terrible policies and persuade us to pay for keeping this stuff hidden for “national security” reasons instead of holding an open democratic debate – which would bring down their house of cards.
And the chief actors have their own psychological weaknesses, delusions, and ambitions that get conflated into an alignment with the secretive greedy goals of the major business players in the power structure plus super wealthy movers and shakers. It’s all a very sick game.
They use the Cold War illusions to frighten us into lining up in favor of this crap.
And in the end, it is feeding what Eisenhower warned us about – that corrupt money machine the MIC.
For me, my best help in trying to understand these mass psychological delusions has been historian Hajimu Masuda’s COLD WAR CRUCIBLE.:
http://harvardpress.typepad.com/hup_publicity/2015/02/social-politics-imagined-realities-masuda-hajimu.html
And of course thanks to Robert Parry and those whose work he publishes here for taking us “through” our John Le Carré’s “looking glass” to help us unpack the Deep sickness that pervades our not so Democratic foreign policy.
Bottom line, we have surrendered our country to delusional ideas and third rate idiots.
I’m also reminded of the original Star Trek episode where these 2 insects (Sylvia and her cohort) who transform themselves into giant forms, including a black cat, to threaten the crew.
Excellent points, but I don’t think Trump has enough integrity, or even power, to do any of that. He’s already too busy pissing on the people who elected him when not furthering the worst of the Republican agendas.
Yeah Stephen,
I’m sure you’re right, but if you’re gonna dream, I say dream big. Deep structural change (the undoing of the Deep State) is our only hope. Right now it doesn’t matter who the President is, they march to their drum, or else.
Skip Scott, farfetched as your suggestion seems, it is within the president’s power and may be the cleanest way out. I have shared and commented on the articles of Robert Parry, Gilbert Doctorow, Daniel Lazare, and Mike Whitney till I’m blue in the face, and it is next to impossible to get a conversation started. It doesn’t matter that their articles are well-researched, well-written, and pretty much bulletproof.
My friends and my media stream are mostly “liberal” and educated so you think there would be many others who fear war more than they fear Russia, or remember the darker side of US history, but this is not the case. To mention the deep state is a conversation-stopper. Ironically there is talk of a coup by Trump and his team, where discussion of the real coup against democracy itself is taboo. In short, we have been so thoroughly propagandized that even otherwise intelligent people can’t wake up. I have become despondent.
It seems the basic choice Trump has is either to continue to suffer the death of a thousand cuts, or to risk it all and expose the truth.
Dave, thanx for the insight. The MIC/’deep state’ is now entrenched and will be most difficult to remove or even change. We will be left with wars and the US has basically been at war my whole life; 63 years. I believe there’s a power struggle between at least two ‘hidden’ factions controlling the levers of power and all we get to see is the bumbling antics of an unqualified narcissistic fool. Propaganda? Where is there not? The only sources I trust are the independently funded “alt sites” such as here and a few others. We all will follow Robert for his courage and insight gained from his relentless efforts of pursuing the truth.
Everyone should read “1984” now, even if you’ve read it many times before.
Huxley’s Brave New World is at least as relevant to what is happening, if not more so.
Both of those works were preceded (and influenced) by the little-known novella “We” by Russian (exiled to Paris)
writer Yevgeny Zamyatin. Readily available in both the original Russian and in English translation. Recommended !
Trump is not interested. Casinos pay more
Oh good grief. Some people, liberals and progressives, think the Deep State should correct the errors of American voters!?! Godalmightydamn, somebody call the House of Guelph of the Hanover Dynasty in Germany, and give him back his Crown to be King of America (King George III of the Hanover Dynasty was our last King in 1776), I guess we just made a mistake about democracy and an informed sovereign citizenry and all that stuff. Jeezus I can’t believe the stupidity.
I’ll take a King and his noblesse oblige over the bastardized authority of the blood-drenched national security Deep State any day, if those are our only two choices, and they’re not good choices (sort of like Hillary and Trump).
We have a loose tyranny of the kind that preceded even kings, without noblesse oblige.
But we have once more an essential counterpoint to the mass media propaganda led by WaPo and NYT.
Those who would like to petition the NYT to make Robert Parry their senior editor may do so here:
https://www.change.org/p/new-york-times-bring-a-new-editor-to-the-new-york-times?recruiter=72650402&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink
While Mr. Parry may prefer independence, and we all know the NYT ownership makes it unlikely, and the NYT may try to ignore it, it is instructive to them that intelligent readers know better journalism when they see it. A petition demonstrates the concerns of a far larger number of potential or lost subscribers.
Thanks Brad. I posted something similar somewhere else… ‘Duty obligates’ – including oaths to ‘defend the weak, the poor, and women’ with one’s life, with honor and loyalty, including the sacrifice of one’s life. The ‘divine right of kings’ derived from the king’s relationship to divine authority, the role of the monarch being that of intermediary for the establishment of divine justice on earth. This hierarchy of values meant the sacrifice of his or her ‘personal body and nature’ for his or her higher nature, the ‘invisible body’, or ‘body politic’, of which he was ‘head’ and in which all levels of society are ‘incorporated’ in a unified whole.
‘Classical’ European conservatism ‘conserved’ something of the old order; national healthcare, for example, was passed almost unanimously in these countries. But the US has known nothing of the kind, and ‘conservatism’ today ‘conserves’ nothing, but rapaciously asserts itself in the name of profit and self interest. It is the apotheosis of that change began in the Renaissance of the alliance of the monarch with the middle class in the formation of nation states, the hiring of mercenary armies, and national self-aggrandizement though empire and exploitation.
Note too that usury was declared heresy in the Middle Ages, and the clergy itself was unable to charge interest of more than 1%. Peasants had 80 days off, plus another 80 in the form of festivals. Everyone cared for the ‘village idiot’ while monasteries fed the poor and tended the sick. Part of the reason that we ‘are where we are’ is that, as a people, we have no understanding of the past, leaving a vacuum that is not only historical, but also cultural, intellectual and spiritual in which self-interest, power-over and greed rule and there are no stewards of the common good. Tyranny would seem the natural result.
Nice.
Great post.
The I Ching describes principles similar, in the language & customs of classical China of course.
Great observation on how European national healthcare is derived from very old cultural norms of tending the sick, including the Hippocratic Oath itself. Not sure how practically effective it is in the modern era (see ransomware virus shutting down large portions of NHS), but the First Principles should be the core of any healthcare system of a society. It’s very difficult to make that case in the US currently.
Agree with the social & economic rot that comes from the world’s practice of usury. This could very well be the Root (as Thoreau defined) of most of the world’s current problems. What I find interesting is that the Big Banks basically absolved themselves from usury after 2008 (through Fed’s discount rate) while keeping it in place for everyone else (including nation-states). Nice leash it is, isn’t it, especially when interest is charged on a compounded rate.
More stupidity? Naw. just greed. That prosecutors should seek maximum sentences to fill private corporate jails for profit. The federal government rolls out big business in the form of policing the nation and declaring war on both immigrants and american citizens for the sake of profit. Hell is right here in the usa. Democracy? That voter backed referendums hold no weight to federal dictatorship. Heil jeff sessions! The federal government is the biggest racket in the world. Now state and county prosecutors can join the club. Liberty, fraternity and justice = money, brutality and repression! The Nazi state is here.
Yes, greed and propaganda. Israel-gate is the story here, not the “Russia-gate” propaganda war, a coverup by the zionist-controlled mass media. The traitors are Hillary’s major campaign sponsors (top 10 all zionists) and foundation donors (Saudis and MIC): Both Dems and Reps are foreign agents taking bribes from Israel.
The zionist and MIC Repubs want to dump Trump because he is not militarist enough; the zionist and MIC Dems want to dump him because he is not militarist enough for Israel. Everyone else is given lies by the mass media, controlled almost entirely by zionists, that this will somehow install someone better rather than worse, which is obviously false.
The day our country’s congress or FBI investigate the Zionist interference in our U.S. Government will be the day to hoist our flag up high, for then we will all be liberated from at least one our most unfortunate foreign entanglements.
No hope. The parasitoid will not leave the host till the last drop of nutritious juice.
The US has sided with Al Qaeda in the Middle East and with neo-Nazis in Eastern Europe. The US is a cadaver morally. .
Anti-Semitism rears its ugly head.
Mr. Bloom, your use of “anti-semitism” is well understood here as a zionist propaganda gambit. We all know that
1. Semites include Arab as well as Jewish groups, so the term is incorrect;
2. there is no other group that demands a special word for discrimination against itself, and then pretends that it is a unique phenomenon not susceptible to rational analysis, but only the pronunciations of Jews themselves;
3. zionists use this unique term to denounce anyone who will not agree to their every demand for special privileges;
4. there is no racism in denouncing zionists as the racist fascists they truly are.
Perhaps you will also let us all know why Jews should have an empire in the mideast, when
1. there are no more living survivors of the Jewish disasters of WWII to gain thereby;
2. a Jewish homeland was not a sensible method of helping Jewish survivors;
3. Palestine was the worst place in the world to choose for a Jewish homeland, due to opposition there;
4. no one deserves an empire, even when their ancestors had one there;
5. everyone’s ancestors had empires there, as there were doubtless thousands of empires there in the million or so years in which all of our ancestors migrated through N Africa from our common origins in SE Africa;
We would also like to be advised by such an expert on why Jews should be accorded special privileges in the US:
1. to control US foreign policy to dump money on Israel as “aid”;
2. to control US mass media so that nearly everyone accepts zionist lies about the Mideast and special privileges;
3. to control nearly every US politician through bribes, like those of all of the top ten donors to Clinton;
4. to rent the US military for pennies on the dollar to Israel to kill hundreds of thousands of innocents in the Mideast for the benefit of Israel;
5. to terminate democracy in the US for the advantage of one of the most racist groups in history.
But then you so easily fooled the world with your concept of “anti-semitism” that you will not need to answer, will you?
No, anti-Zionism and there is a big difference.
Anti Antisemitism…That’s supposed to be the all-purpose cleansing agent that permits all sorts of perfidy
So in the end British were right that Washington was just another terrorist or rather a thief who did not want to pay taxes on land he got free from English crown.
So where is new American revolution after old one was murdered in 1789.
The agents of oppression are well paid and isolated from the rest of population and its suffering, propaganda works efficiently for majority of American courtiers of the system keeping them in check and still even somewhat happy, elite is rock solid, united in its journey to fascization, corporatization and pauperization of America.
Religious as well as Identity Politics divisions are at their heights, fear and loathing reigns supreme. What we have in America is prevalent cowardice and inherent inability to challenge status quo, inability or unwillingness to reject or boycott political system in which all social ills have their end and beginning, and instead we have hatred of everyone who dares to do it or even to talk about it.
All of that is anathema of revolution Tocqueville was talking about.
US declaration of Independence, 1776 that states:
..But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Kalen, people just don’t care. They don’t care anymore about such ideas. Fortunately, the cure for our sorry pathetic state of affairs is manifesting itself, making itself known to the whole World right now in Beijing…the Belt and Road Conference, which is bringing to the World what Royalists and republicans alike ( when under the influence of those better Angels of their natures) have always wanted for their people: development, stability, security, peace…to have Life and have it more completely.
Of course too many people, even victims of this regime do not care about what I am talking about decency, solidarity, egalitarianism, but in their torpor they care about money, the only thing human hands cannot produce but we have to sell ourselves to slavery for it.
We sell ourselves for something we do not need but we were made to crave it, to desire it, to fight for it, even to kill for it, via corrupted ideology of liberalism forced down our throats as progressive; freedom and liberty confused with separation, abandonment and promotion of individual socioeconomic interest like private property purposefully and artificially conflicted with interest of community like commons.
True deep revolution will only come only when people would understand that they do not need money since they cannot eat it or shelter with it. Otherwise cycle of growth and extermination will continue especially since global resources are scarce for the first time in this human civilization.
Scarcity is itself an obsolete concept, what with materials substitution, the Fusion Torch just around the corner, and the mineral-rich moon, Mars, and asteroid belt, beckoning. People will be forced to decide what it is they really need, as they reach the ability to produce every ridiculous thing that comes to mind.