Exclusive: The anti-Russia hysteria – now rivaling past Red Scares with Russians hiding under every bed – has led to factual errors in press accounts and has erased standards of political fairness, reports James W. Carden.
By James W. Carden
One of the more extraordinary developments since the U.S. presidential election is that the paranoia and the grotesque disregard for facts, evidence and logic that characterized the Trump-inspired “birther movement” can now be reasonably said to characterize the Left’s stance toward Donald J. Trump.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, following his address to the UN General Assembly on Sept. 28, 2015. (UN Photo)
There seems to be nothing that Trump opponents will not say and no charge, however low, they will not stoop to making as long as it furthers the goal of removing Trump from office. But, alas, the liberal case against Trump rests upon little more than widely shared fictions and unsubstantiated claims about Trump’s alleged ties to Russia.
For instance, testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8, former FBI Director James Comey cast doubt on a Feb. 14 New York Times report titled “Trump Campaign Aides Had Repeated Contacts With Russian Intelligence.”
The article, which relied on “four current and former government officials,” said that “Phone records and intercepted calls show that members of Donald J. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election” and that “the intercepts alarmed American intelligence and law enforcement agencies, in part because of the amount of contact that was occurring while Mr. Trump was speaking glowingly about the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin.”
Comey was asked about the report during an exchange with Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho.
RISCH: I remember, you — you talked with us shortly after February 14th, when the New York Times wrote an article that suggested that the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians. This is not factual. Do you recall that?
COMEY: Yes.
RISCH: OK. So — so, again, so the American people can understand this, that report by the New York Times was not true. Is that a fair statement?
COMEY: In — in the main, it was not true.
Later in the hearing, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, asked Comey: “Would it be fair to characterize that story as almost entirely wrong?” To which Comey replied: “Yes.”
Spreading Hysteria
However, the anti-Russian hysteria has spread well beyond the pages of The New York Times and even beyond the circumstances of the 2016 presidential campaign. Allegations about Russian meddling have included U.S. government attacks on Russia’s RT network for allegedly undermining Americans’ faith in their democracy by broadcasting debates among third-party presidential candidates and covering the Occupy Wall Street movement.
The Washington Post building in downtown Washington, D.C. (Photo credit: Washington Post)
Even American journalists have come in for a taste of the lash for not joining in the Russia-bashing. Last Thanksgiving Day, The Washington Post ran a front-page story based on an anonymous Web site called PropOrNot that accused 200 Web sites – including Consortiumnews.com, Counterpunch, Truthout, Truthdig and other leading independent news sources in America – of peddling “Russian propaganda,” presumably in part, because they questioned the State Department’s narratives about the Ukraine crisis or the Syrian conflict.
The Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank founded by Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta, recently issued a report warning that Russian President Putin is building a European “5th column” to advance a goal of undermining Western democracy. Anybody who does not join in the ritual denunciations of Putin and Russia is under suspicion.
Yet in light of Comey’s testimony, perhaps it is worth recalling a number of other instances in which Russia was accused of seeking to disrupt and discredit Western democracies and see how well they’ve held up.
In April of last year, Dutch voters rejected a referendum on whether to approve an Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine. Russia was quickly accused of meddling in the referendum.
One New York Times headline screamed: “Fake News, Fake Ukrainians: How a Group of Russians Tilted A Dutch Vote.” The Times reported that two Russians had worked against the referendum for the Dutch Socialist Party.
But, as the Dutch journalist and author Chris Kaspar de Ploeg points out, the Times story credits “these mere two (!) individuals” with having “tilted the Dutch vote.” In the end, De Ploeg notes, the Times was forced to admit that “no one has yet come up with concrete evidence that the Russian state, rather than individual Russians, is working to skew the election and many wonder why Moscow would even bother trying to do so in a small country.”
Brexit Accusations
Similar accusations of meddling were leveled against Russia in the run-up to the June 2016 Brexit vote. Joerg Forbrig of the German Marshall Fund told the Daily Beast, “I do think that the Kremlin has been trying to reach out to the leave campaign. There may well be support but it will be very hard to find out about this because they will be extremely discrete.”
Russians taking part in an Immortal Regiment march, honoring family members who died during World War II, on May 9, 2017.
“We do know,” said Forbrig, “that the Kremlin is also materially supporting other actors that have potential to undermine European unity, and the European Union.”
After the “Leave” campaign emerged victorious, Labour MP Ben Bradshaw told the House of Commons “I don’t think we have even begun to wake up to what Russia is doing when it comes to cyber warfare.”
And yet, despite all the handwringing, U.K. Foreign Minister Boris Johnson was recently forced to admit: “We have no evidence the Russians are actually involved in trying to undermine our democratic processes at the moment. We don’t actually have that evidence. But what we do have is plenty of evidence that the Russians are capable of doing that.”
A December 2016 New York Times editorial also expressed concern that Putin had set his sights on Europe, citing “ominous signs that Russia is spreading propaganda and engaging in cyberattacks in Europe in advance of several national elections next year.”
And yet, according to Politico Europe, a year-long investigation by German intelligence issued in February 2017 “failed to uncover evidence of Kremlin-backed meddling” and “found no concrete proof of disinformation campaigns targeting the government.”
In the run-up to May’s presidential election in France, Sen. Richard M. Burr, R-North Carolina, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told the New York Times: “I think it’s safe by everybody’s judgment that the Russians are actively involved in the French elections.”
Speculation about Russian interference went into overdrive just hours before the vote when emails from the campaign of pro-E.U. candidate Emmanuel Macron were leaked. The culprit? You guessed it! According to a May 6 report in The Independent, “Vitali Kremez, director of research with US-based cyber intelligence firm Flashpoint, said his analysis indicated that APT 28, a group tied to Russia’s GRU military intelligence directorate, was behind the leak.”
But once again, no evidence was to be found. In an interview with the Associated Press, Guillaume Poupard, director general of France’s cyber-defense agency, said his agency “found no trace that the Russian hacking group known as APT28, blamed for other attacks including on the U.S. presidential campaign, was responsible” for the leak.
But that didn’t stop Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, from repeating the accusations. After all, why let facts get in the way of a good story? Raskin screeched to protesters at the so-called “March for Truth” that Russia “hacked and trashed Macron, in a bid to elect the right-wing, immigrant bashing Marine Le Pen.”
Viral Distortions
Needless to say there have been many reports of Russian cyber attacks in the U.S. that have gone viral but were quickly shown to be untrue.
A busy tourist scene in St. Petersburg, Russia. (Photo by Robert Parry)
Of these, perhaps the best known was a story in Slate by former New Republic editor Franklin Foer in which Foer claimed a computer server belonging to the Trump Organization was secretly communicating with what Hillary Clinton described as a “Putin-tied bank” in Russia.
And yet, as On the Media’s Bob Garfield sardonically noted, “it took cyber experts about 5 minutes to knock that story down.” As it turns out, the “secret server” wasn’t secret and the domain in question didn’t even belong to Trump; it belonged to a marketing company called Cendyn.
The link to the Russia’s Alfa bank? Executives from Alfa frequented Trump hotels and as a matter of course received marketing/promotional emails from Cendyn on behalf of the Trump Organization. Cyber expert Robert Graham described Foer’s story as “nonsense.”
Yet Foer, was if anything, in good company. The Washington Post, in a December 2016 story accused the Russian government of hacking into an electrical grid in Burlington, Vermont. The sensational headline read: “Russian operation hacked a Vermont utility, showing risk to U.S. electrical grid security, officials say.”
Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin was quick to denounce the Kremlin, declaring “Vermonters and all Americans should be both alarmed and outraged that one of the world’s leading thugs, Vladimir Putin, has been attempting to hack our electric grid, which we rely upon to support our quality-of-life, economy, health, and safety.”
But, alas, the story was quickly debunked by the electrical utility in question, which released a statement, which read, in part: “There is no indication that either our electric grid or customer information has been compromised. Media reports stating that Burlington Electric was hacked or that the electric grid was breached are false.” The Post had to append an embarrassing editor’s note explaining why their story didn’t hold up to the minutest scrutiny.
Given all this, our hardy band of “Russia Truthers” might do well to curb their hysteria until such time as Independent Counsel Robert Mueller concludes his investigation. Maybe then there might be at least some evidence attached to the various allegations. But the prospects for such self-control are not good. There is too much momentum – and political self-interest – behind the sordid campaign to paint the 2016 election result as the product of sinister Russian interference.
James W. Carden served as an adviser on Russia policy at the US State Department. Currently a contributing writer at The Nation magazine, his work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Quartz, The American Conservative and The National Interest. He has reported from both rebel- and government-held eastern Ukraine.
About the french election :
Wladimir Putin taking pictures with then presidential candidate Marine Le Pen and the financing of Front National by a russian bank do indicate a will to meddle in the election and weaken the EU, if not by propaganda.
Consortium News’ masthead notes, “Independent Investigative Journalism” and the “About” text above states its ambition to be an “investigative news magazine.” I have read a number of articles recently which have caused me to question the use of “investigative.”
Just now, I read “The Fallacies of the Russia-Truthers” and was left with only one impression: it is only one-sided; is this is a brainwashing piece? Who is this James W. Carden? At the bottom of the article, it offers little biographical information. It seems Carden “…served as an adviser on Russia policy at the US State Department.” Who was Carden working for when he was this adviser? Why was that omitted from this mini-bio?
On the internet, there are few entries, maybe 7, related to a James W. Carden. Not even a Wikipedia bio. Russia Direct has on their Profile page this Biography on Carden: “James Carden served as an Advisor to the US-Russia Presidential Commission at the US State Department. Since then, he has contributed articles on US-Russia policy to The National Interest, The Moscow Times and was featured in the BBC’s ‘best of’ global opinion roundup. He graduated from the Johns Hopkins University and the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. Currently he is a Contributing Editor to The Nation.” This thin bio is the most I could find on the internet.
What is interesting about Carden is, according to Russia Direct, a graduate of Moscow State Institute. Why is that not noted at the start of the article or at the article bottom? Such omissions are significant.
Who publishes his writings? Consortium News, The Nation magazine, the Los Angeles Times, Quartz, The American Conservative (views Consortium News as “completely respectable), and The National Interest. Quite a mix of left and right publications. Also, there is The Moscow Times which is excluded from the Consortium bio. Why? And, what is Russia Direct? It is also headquartered in Moscow and it is “…a small analytical journal that is financed by the Russian government.” Again, how could this be omitted from the Consortium News bio?
Why are facts that might offer an opposing – balanced – view omitted from Carden’s article? Instead, the formula is: factual information that utilizes loaded words obviously intended to influence the reader in only one way.
Scanning the list of articles on your site’s home page today include: “anti-Russia hysteria,” “Russia-Bashing,” “The U.S. political/media demonization of Russia’s Putin is unrelenting…,” “…a demonized foreign leader, like Vladimir Putin…,” “The Russia hysteria sweeping America’s political-media world…,” etc. More loaded words. You know where this is going, the case is obvious, and I could go on but will close with this: I really thought Consortium News was a bona fide news source, meaning objective investigative journalism. Once again, I am disappointed. No source of news can be trusted; they manage to remind the reader, always mistrust until what has been published is proven from reputable sources to be true.
Whenever anyone mentions Consortium News, the foregoing will be my reply.
” Scanning the list of articles on your site’s home page today include: “anti-Russia hysteria,” “Russia-Bashing,” “The U.S. political/media demonization of Russia’s Putin is unrelenting…,” “…a demonized foreign leader, like Vladimir Putin…,” “The Russia hysteria sweeping America’s political-media world…,” etc. More loaded words”>>>>>>>>>>>>>
oh plezzzzze……these ‘loaded words’ describe exactly what is going on.
Are you a troll?….you sound like one.
The real LOADED words are coming from the politicians and pundits on the msm.
“Why are facts that might offer an opposing – balanced – view omitted from Carden’s article?”
If you are in possession of facts that offer an opposing view, come forth with them. And I dislike the idea some people seem to have that there is a “balance” to be found by opposing a fact or idea just for the sake of finding said “balance”. Truth is truth…sometimes bashing and hysteria are just that….bashing and hysteria. Those words have meanings and are are not necessarily “loaded”.
And really, that is not such a thin bio…how much do you need to know about the messenger? Mr. Carden seems pretty well credentialed to me. I should think the fact that he is published across a “spectrum” of publications would please someone like you looking for “balance”. I respect the fact that Mr. Carden was educated at an elite university, but certainly don’t evaluate an article based on bio or prior publication…any “message” should stand or not stand on its own merits. If you pick up what you perceive to be an unwholesome “slant”, a dereliction of truth, then challenge that slant with something tangible, not a rant about “who is this guy anyway”.
Amen Gregory. PlutoC and Michael Kenny are cut from the same cloth. They both come in late to avoid any rebuttal, and their criticisms are not logically sound. PlutoC proposes Mr. Carden includes balanced facts, but fails to give any himself. Balancing truth with lies does not add depth. As for investigative journalism, there are few websites that equal CN.
Amen Skip.
The Democrats should really be interested in prosecuting the voter fraud and registration fraud, and campaign fraud, and unlawful dealings with Russians committed by our own people, but most of that this time around was done by Democrats.
I wish you wouldn’t muddy the name of truthers by connecting that term with the Russia conspiracy theory invented by Hillary. The democrats and media promoting this theory have nothing to do with truth. The truthers have legitimate questions, are seeking the truth, and deserve a a new investigation.
I really thought we could have good relations with Russia by now if it weren’t for these idiots.
Mr. Carden, I would not be quite so confident in Mr. Mueller. According to former FBI Agent Colleen Rowley, he is a pliable political tool: https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/06/08/comey-and-mueller-russiagates-mythical-heroes/
The more I look at the Reality Winter leak deal the more I am leery of the story.
The NSA report she copied was posted in NSA files on May 6 and she copied it on May 9th.
Was she inspired by the msm chatter about Russian hacking or what?
She was a Trump hater but mostly over environmental issues according to all her internet postings.
I also have questions about how she was traced. The story is the Intercept posted her leak exactly as they received it and it has yellow dots that are used on all print outs to identify who accessed and copied the document.
Wouldn’t she, since holding a top security clearance, have know about that identifier and removed it before sending it to the Intercept? And since the Intercept claims they know how to protect identities and sources have know nabout the tracing dots themselves and removed them before publishing the document?
And then for those who are convinced the CIA is into getting Trump there is this connection between the CEO of Pluribus and the CIA.
Pluribus International Corporation is a company providing contracted services to the National Security Agency. It is based in Alexandria, Virginia.[1] Pluribus is owned by Nathan McCarry, who is also the company’s chief executive officer.[2] He is the son of former CIA employee and spy novelist, Charles McCarry
Charles McCarry
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Charles McCarry (born in 1930, in Massachusetts, USA) is an American writer, primarily of spy fiction and former undercover operative for the Central Intelligence Agency who The Wall Street Journal, in 2013, described as being the dean of American spy writers
I need to repost this comment since it was held up for moderation because I suggested we have a ‘preemptive war on’ the neos…..I was being snarky about the Bush and US new ‘preemptive strike doctrine. …so I will leave it off this time.
I would like to think the self serving anti Russia retards in congress understand what they are toying with—but I doubt it. They are truly delusional.
Consider the FACTS:
The Federation of Atomic Scientist
https://fas.org/issues/nuclear-weapons/
..is the best source for accurate info on who has what nuclear weapons.
See this chart
https://fas.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Inventories2017-2.jpg
The US and Russia have 93% of the world’s nukes and Russia has more than the US …..and more ‘deployed’ nukes than the US about 300 more total . Then consider what other nuclear capable countries have and who would align with the US and who with Russia. If you add China’s nukes on Russia’s side it would cancel out the 280 and 300 France and UK have. Israelis with only 80 nukes would likely shit their pants and hide in their bomb shelters so I think they are useless on the US side.
Russia has also developed a nifty new bomb that sucks all the oxygen out of the air without destroying the infrastructure…and can evade all the current US missile interceptions.
The U.S.-Russia Nuclear Arms Race Is Over, and Russia Has Won
http://www.newsweek.com/us-russia-nuclear-arms-race-over-and-russia-has-won-581704
Apr 12, 2017 – The U.S.-Russia Nuclear Arms Race Is Over, and Russia Has Won … “Object 4202” was a new kind of weapon, a hypersonic warhead capable …
Unconfirmed reports say China has moved ballistic missiles to Russian border
I would like to think the self serving anti Russia retards in congress understand what they are toying with—but I doubt it. They are truly delusional.
Consider the FACTS:
The Federation of Atomic Scientist
https://fas.org/issues/nuclear-weapons/
..is the best source for accurate info on who has what nuclear weapons.
See this chart
https://fas.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Inventories2017-2.jpg
The US and Russia have 93% of the world’s nukes and Russia has more than the US …..and more ‘deployed’ nukes than the US about 300 more total . Then consider what other nuclear capable countries have and who would align with the US and who with Russia. If you add China’s nukes on Russia’s side it would cancel out the 280 and 300 France and UK have. Israelis with only 80 nukes would likely shit their pants and hide in their bomb shelters so I think they are useless on the US side.
Russia has also developed a nifty new bomb that sucks all the oxygen out of the air without destroying the infrastructure…and can evade all the current US missile interceptions.
The U.S.-Russia Nuclear Arms Race Is Over, and Russia Has Won
http://www.newsweek.com/us-russia-nuclear-arms-race-over-and-russia-has-won-581704
Apr 12, 2017 – The U.S.-Russia Nuclear Arms Race Is Over, and Russia Has Won … “Object 4202” was a new kind of weapon, a hypersonic warhead capable …
Unconfirmed reports say China has moved ballistic missiles to Russian border
I suggest a ‘preemptive ‘ war on the neos and zios—-kill them off now to prevent a nuclear war…..
Anyone watching the four hours of Oliver Stone/Pres. Putin tapes would be hard pressed to keep on with the ubiquitous “thug” tag they like to use for Putin. His words are carefully chosen and he is seemingly unwilling to speak against almost anyone. Today he praised Helmut Kohl, often he meets Netanyahu, Erdogan, Saudi princes, even 43 POTUS (!) but his diplomatic standards put any of the Western diplomats to shame.
I am in France, and if Pres. Putin’s Russia “hacked and trashed Macron, in a bid to elect the right-wing, immigrant bashing Marine Le Pen.” then he seems to have been mistaken!
btw the EU/Rothschild/corporations/rich people’s man Micron(sic) was crowned by all the media well in advance, and the “legislatives” to give him greater powers, are now showing an abstention rate at the level of 42%, extremely high in France.
I lost my interest immediately when blame was assigned … as if it’s all a liberal imagination run wild … it’s as if I’m reading the written version of Faux News.
There definitely are questionable issues, especially when Miss Hillary refused to allow the FBI to examine their infected hardware, but if the US Spy Agencies, Inc are capable of doing what they brag, they should have trace routes on all correspondence detailing where traffic came from and where it was heading. It the road map of activity that will tell all.
So instead on placing blame, try uncovering facts.
Duh! How about the “facts” of the vault 7 releases? The intel agencies can fake point of origin. They can say anything and pin it on anyone. And you trust them to uncover the facts?
I bet Uranus Hertz, you’re getting screwed and don’t even realize it.
Blowback from the phony effort against Trump could possibly be WWIII incineration based on his thinking that he would prove his anti- Russian-ness by attacking the Syrian government and bringing on WWIII with the Russians defending civilization there against the yankee-backed barbarians.
Ah, the trolls come in at the end. Your comment says nothing, really. Who said anything about Putin’s purity (in fact, according to myth there are angels who aid Satan)? The point of discussing this is because these allegations which have not been proved have gone on so long and the “investigation” is, to use your term, a one-sided rant of the Democrats. (hi, mike, I didn’t’ know you were commenting, too. Good.. )
I check back in from time to time.
Let’s see. This article is a one-sided rant. It must be because Putin is an angel. He is of course. There are only accusations and Putin actions none of which can ever be considered reason to speculate about the angel, Putin. This is not an objective investigation; it is brainwashing.
re you speaking for all plutocrats?
re should be are.
Do a check on James W. Carden and you will find little and that he is directly linked to Russian entities: the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (an alumnus), The Moscow Times (pays him for articles), Russia Direct? It is also headquartered in Moscow and it is “…a small analytical journal that is financed by the Russian government,” and was an “…adviser on Russia policy at the US State Department.” Except for the adviser role, none of these affiliations were mentioned in his article. To have had this information in the intro to the article would have altered the tenor of the article and introduced just consideration for the possibility of bias and motive.
BS
The US could use a leader like Putin–he’s a nationalist. And nationalism, despite how the definition has been smeared and despite what the zios, the elite, the global financial vultures and liberal pussies preach, is necessary to a nations survival—to maintain its ‘unity’ and sovereign interest.
The strategy to remove Trump is degenerating into tormenting him in hopes he self-destructs. He might give them that. There is nothing there in what they torment him with, but that does not matter to the strategy.
It’s so comforting to know that the secret police are always their watching us, listening to all our communications,keeping us safe,
Their should be there. It doesn’t take a lot of text for me to make a typo!
This is getting more interesting. Senator Grassley, Chair of Senate Judiciary Committee, wants the investigation to be thrown open to investigate both sides including Comey’s firing, AG Lynch possible collusion with Comey to downplay the Clinton email matter and also to investigate Clinton.
You go Grassley. Let’s find ALL the witches.
They’ll need plenty of ducks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrzMhU_4m-g
Jessica K – I sure hope Grassley is successful. The Rule of Law must be restored, which means Clinton’s dealings should definitely be investigated.
Things that need to change:
– all money taken out of politics. Get caught taking money, you’re going to jail.
– wars stopped (except for defensive ones)
– single-payer healthcare
– enforce existing monopoly laws (split up big banks, big media, big insurance)
If those things were done, there would be hope.
Why the Elites Hate Russia –the would be masters of the universe
1. Russia is an independent country. It’s not possible to manipulate Russia via external remote control, like it is most countries. The Elite don’t like that! Russia kicked out Soros “Open Society”:
2. Russia is not easy to cripple via clandestine means, whether it be CIA, MI6, or outright military conflict. Some other BRICs however, that’s not the case. Say what you will about Russia’s military – it’s on par and in many cases, advanced, compared to the US military. And that’s not AN opinion, that’s in the opinion of top US military commanders:
3. Russian culture, and language, is too complex for the average “Elite” who pretends to be internationally well versed because they had a few semesters of French.
4. Plain and simple, the Elite do not control Russia.
While there are backchannels of Russian oligarchs that work directly with Western Rothschild interests, for example, they simply don’t have the same level of control as they do European countries, like Germany for instance.
zero hedge
Cal: I agree with most of the points you made. I am glad Russia kicked out Soros’s “Open Society”. But I do not understand why Countries like India, Russia allow entities like Brookings Institute, Carneige Endowment for Peace, National Endowment for Democracy to function in their countries. Do those countries have their Organizations like these in U.S.? I don’t think, these countries have any resources to finance such organizations.
Putin is working with the Russians.
This is very smart of Putin. From an RT article entitled “Putin’s comment on Comey reflects ‘circus-like Russia nonsense gripping US pundits’”:
“On Thursday, President Vladimir Putin held his annual live marathon Q&A session with the public, titled: “Direct Line with the president.” During the session, he said Russia was ready to grant former FBI director James Comey asylum. “[Comey] suddenly said that he had recorded a conversation with the president, and then gave the recording of this conversation to the media via his friend. Well, that sounds very strange when a special service chief records a conversation with the commander-in-chief and then gives it to the media via his friend. Then what’s the difference between the FBI director and Mr. [Edward] Snowden? Then he is not the head of the special services, but a human rights advocate who defends a certain position,” Putin said.
Political analyst Adam Garrie described the parallel between Comey and Snowden as “brilliant.” “It was a masterful moment for Vladimir Putin,” he told RT. “With all the lies and disinformation about the Russian president in Western mainstream media, people forget that, like most intelligent men, he’s got a wonderful sense of humor, he can be very cheeky, he can be sarcastic.” “Like Snowden, who thought he was doing a public good, Comey said that he thought he was doing the same. Should things get hairy for Comey, the doors to Russia are equally open to him.”
Link:
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/392484-putin-comey-russia-us-relations/
The whole (non-) story gets better by the day. Now the Russia-Truthers can take on Comey. If Comey gets offered asylum in Russia and if he had been leaking an illegal recording via a friend, then it’s “proof” that Comey had been working for Russia all along. ;) If someone also considers that he had been flip-flopping on Hillary Clinton, people might actually start to think that he had been working for the Russians, instead of realizing that he had been a power-hungry corrupt politician all along. People will also willingly ignore that Comey acted the way he did in order to get a special investigator appointed to look further into Trump. It’s hilarious, I’m downright waiting for the first articles to appear with this twisted kind of logic.
Trump Moves to Reverse Cuba Policy, Limiting Travel and Business Dealings
Business Groups Criticize Move as ‘Political Grandstanding’
Jason Ditz/ Posted on June 15, 2017/Categories News/Tags Cuba, Trump
In a move expected since he took office, President Trump is finally set to reverse large portions of President Obama’s efforts to restore US ties with Cuba, with an announcement planned for Friday which will see substantial new limits on Americans’ ability to travel to Cuba, and make business dealings.”.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
O.K., this is it…get this idiot out of the WH…reversing the Cuba agreement is going to cost a lot of American business…and along with that jobs that wont be created.
I am convinced now that the Donald is a total phony –he cant think his way out of a paper bag.l
Cal – seems strange Trump would do this. Maybe Obama’s move was going to be good for U.S. multinationals, but not so good for American jobs? Were jobs heading for Cuba?
No jobs wern’t headed to Cuba —–but the US business community especially the farming, auto and machinery industry have lobbied for opening up trade with Cuba for a long long time –it would be profitable for them and up US exports a bit—-it was one of the few right FP moves Obama made.
My (now dead ) Senator Jesse Helms was the sob who was owned by the Cuban exiles and pushed the embargo of Cuba. Research the Cuban exile honchos in Miami and the US congress.
There are too many Cubans in congress who think they are going to use their US political offices to ‘reclaim’ Batista’s Cuba so they can go back home and have 2 dozen poor Cubans as servants like they use to under Batista’s corrupt regime.
The main fifth column Cubans in congress are :
Mother Jones
The Hardliners
Sen. Marco Rubio, though his parents came to Florida before the Cuban Revolution, has made anti-Castro opposition central to his political career. He vows to roll back Obama’s efforts to normalize relations once he is in the White House.
Jeb Bush, whose political roots lie in Miami’s Cuban exile community, has called Obama’s policy a “tragedy.” But his opposition has been less aggressive than Rubio’s, a reflection of changing attitudes in Florida and disagreement among his own advisers.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who fled Havana when she was eight, began her political career in the Florida Legislature in 1982, when a tough position on Cuba was a political necessity. The Republican has slammed normalization with Cuba as a “propaganda coup for the Castro brothers.”
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, another Republican, hails from a powerful Miami family—his father was a Cuban politician before Fidel Castro seized power, and his aunt was Fidel’s first wife. A member of the House appropriations committee, he has tried to undermine Obama’s policy by attaching riders to spending bills—including a provision blocking flights and cruise ship routes to Cuba.
Gus Machado, a wealthy Miami auto dealer and Republican donor, is the treasurer of the US-Cuba Democracy PAC, the main political advocacy group opposing normalization.
Remedios Diaz-Oliver, the Miami-based CEO of a major plastic container company and a board member of that PAC, has called Obama’s policy of normalization “Bay of Pigs II.”
Mel Martinez, a former GOP senator from Florida who fled Cuba as a teenager, supported Obama’s 2009 decision to lift travel restrictions for people visiting relatives in Cuba, but he has blasted the president’s decision to normalize relations.
Al Cardenas, the former head of the Florida GOP, is now a lobbyist and adviser to Jeb Bush. His opposition to normalizing relations has put him at odds with others in Bush’s inner circle.
There has been Cuban exile ‘terrorism also. A series of bombings in Miami in the mid-1970s led to hearings before a U.S. Subcommittee to investigate internal security. Notable cases of violence targeting individuals include that of Luciano Nieves, who was murdered after advocating peaceful coexistence with Cuba, and WQBA-AM news director Emilio Milian who survived a car bomb but lost his legs after he publicly condemned Cuban exile violence.In 1992 Human Rights Watch released a report stating that hard-line Miami exiles have created an environment in which “moderation can be a dangerous position.”
The Cuban Project, also known as Operation Mongoose, played a significant role in the events leading up to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The operation was suspended on October 30, 1962, but three six-man sabotage teams had already been deployed to Cuba, and on November 8, 1962, one six-man CIA team blew up a Cuban industrial facility without permission. Bombing of Cubana Flight 455.
On October 6, 1976, two time bombs planted on an aircraft exploded, killing all 73 people on board. Evidence implicated several anti-Castro Cuban Exiles and members of the Venezuelan secret police, DISIP. Suspects were linked to the CIA prior to the incident, though at the time they were only contacts to the agency.
Dulles’ brothers may have diverted one six-man CIA team controlled by HW to Dallas
Cal, thanks for the insights. I’m reading “Trained To Kill” by Antonio Veciana right now and finding it credible and very helpful new information for me. I’ll link it below as well as a site to explain who Antonio Veciana is. Thanks.
https://www.amazon.com/Trained-Kill-Inside-against-Kennedy/dp/1510713565
http://spartacus-educational.com/JFKveciana.htm
Very interesting Bob….thanks for link.
Cal – thanks for the info. I’ll read up on it. Sounds like these U.S. politicians don’t care about the poor Cuban people, and wouldn’t mind opening up trade with Cuba, so long as they profited big time from it.
I lived/worked in Florida for a time and liked to talk to the older Cuban men about things in general but the younger men had a chip on their shoulder – I thought. Obama made a deal to let Cubans come to the US for 3 mos. at a time and were allowed to work. This may be the excuse Trump is using to dump Obama’s plan. Maybe Trump will do what the US/ Cuban mafia in Miami want and there is probably a bunch of money in it for him – obviously – Gracias Cal
Right now, I ‘am spending 10 to 15 hours a week circulating two Referendums.
The first is to try and reverse a State Law that was passed in our State Legislature earlier in the year, which made Ballot Measures (Initiatives/Referendums) much harder for citizens to bring to the Ballot. The Law was acted on by the Legislature because the Business Establishment was really “pissed” that the people had passed an Initiative last year that increased the minimum wage.
The second is a Referendum to a Law that was made in our State Legislature to ramp up and annually increase the percentage of voucher’s to travel with the departing student from a Public school to the Private and Parochial schools. .. We are already dead last in the Country for teacher’s salary.
Guess how much “real work” the two Major Parties and their “Heat Sink” Clubs are contributing to the efforts? (.. you guessed it..)
.. So, my best friend volunteers are usually older and very altruistic people. (.. and often, they are from the churches)
I ‘ve got 30+ years of watching circuses and engineered fallacies.. .. Which have all become, a “legitimate” excuse – for the bystanders..
”John Podesta, recently issued a report warning that Russian President Putin is building a European “5th column” to advance a goal of undermining Western democracy. ”
Poor America…….a Russian fifth column and an Israeli fifth column.
‘BWTTGASO !!!!
I agree for the most part except this Russiagate bullshit is coming from the center right “democratic” party not the left, the left knows Russia had nothing to do with Seth Rich leaking those emails to Wikileaks or the Democrats fraudulently nominating the only candidate Trump had a chance against.
The democrats unfortunately have permanently destroyed their legitimacy with this nihilist anti-Russian campaign, particularly since the Russians have been defending civilization in Syria against thugs paid yankee dollars, and the blowback from the raghead elements supported by “western” sources is now destabilizing western countries. The logical end result of the anti-Russian campaign meanwhile, is a life-destroying nuclear war with Russia. Those propagating this absurd conspiracy theory are traitors to civilization and to survival itself.
The term “liberal” is used twice in this piece, and it is not at all appropriate in either instance. For DC “liberals” to be against Trump means they have to exist, and I’ve no evidence they’re any more common than the Tooth Fairy.
“The Center for American Progress” was for ramping up the war in Afghanistan, and against “single payer” health coverage. The organization sucks up to AIPAC and Netanyahu. In my book none of this is “liberal”.
The corrupt Establishment is in dire need of a major deflection away from their criminal doings. Who better than Putin who replaced their patsy puppet Yeltzin? The western power structure loathes any foreign leader who doesn’t follow orders and Putin is no Yeltzin. He has wrecked their plans for turning Russia into another resource rich vassal state.
So far, the tactic is working like a charm on the faux left who trust MSDNC, the Clinton News Network, the Washington Compost and the New York Neocon Times. As domestic conditions continue to deteriorate however, it will be more difficult to distract the public from the true villains undermining our ability to survive. I shudder to think who the scapegoat will be then.
After reading that 7% of 1000 Americans thought that chocolate milk comes from brown cows, and 48% did not know what constitutes chocolate milk, is it any wonder?
Wow, that does seem a little high, even for Americans.
You mean there are no such animals as chocolate cows?
Welcome to the Post-Modernist Generations World of fabulation instead of facts and fake news just for laughs. That is the real loss: …”the paranoia and the grotesque disregard for facts, evidence and logic”
Old school “intelligence community” agencies once suffered the indignities of supplying “magic bullets” and “magic passports” to plug enormous plot holes in “regime change” narratives, both foreign and domestic.
New school “intelligence community” agencies have outsourced the indignities to digital “magic passport” suppliers like CrowdStrike, and virtual “magic missile” and “magic bomb” launderers like UK-based deception operative Eliot Higgins and Bellingcat.
DMITRI ALPEROVITZ AND CROWDSTRIKE
A key “source” for ODNI allegations of cyber activity is CrowdStrike, an American cybersecurity technology firm based in Irvine, California. Dmitri Alperovitz, co-founder and chief technology officer of CrowdStrike, is a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council “regime change” think tank.
Like Higgins and Bellingcat, Alperovitz and Crowdstrike provide on-demand “regime change” propaganda material.
Alperovitz, quoted frequently as the main source of the Russian hacker/Trump “compromised” story, has said that Crowdstrike has “high confidence” it was “Russian hackers”.
“But we don’t have hard evidence,” Alperovitch said in a June 16 Washington Post article.
Allegations of Russian perfidy are routinely issued by private companies with lucrative US Department of Defense (DoD) contracts. The companies claiming to protect the nation against “threats” have the ability to manufacture “threats”.
The US and UK possess elite cyber capabilities for both cyberspace espionage and offensive operations.
Both the US National Security Agency (NSA) and the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) are intelligence agencies with a long history of supporting military operations. US military cyber operations are the responsibility of US Cyber Command, whose commander is also the head of the NSA.
US offensive cyber operations have emphasized political coercion and opinion shaping, shifting public perception in NATO countries as well as globally in ways favorable to the US, and to create a sense of unease and distrust among perceived adversaries such as Russia and China.
The Snowden revelations made it clear that US offensive cyber capabilities can and have been directed both domestically and internationally. The notion that US and NATO cyber operations are purely defensive is a myth.
Recent US domestic cyber operations have been used for coercive effect, creating uncertainty and concern within the American government and population.
The perception that a foreign attacker may have infiltrated US networks, is monitoring communications, and perhaps considering even more damaging actions, can have a disorienting effect.
US offensive cyber warfare operations work in tandem with aggressive US and NATO propaganda efforts against governments that fail to cooperate with Washington’s diktats.
ELIOT HIGGINS AND BELLINGCAT
Eliot Higgins and collaborators at Bellingcat, and the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensics Research Lab (DFRL), are the primary “fake news” teams tasked with propaganda laundering in the aftermath of alleged “chemical attacks” in Syria.
Bellingcat “investigation reports” are a signature mix of disparate so-called “open source” elements and spurious reasoning.
The deeper layer of deception underlying last year’s Washington Post / ProporNot debacle was that PropOrNot functioned as a conspicuous straw man.
Repudiation of PropOrNot was leveraged to project the appearance that Higgins and Bellingcat, and other and ProporNot “Related Projects” (Interpreter Mag, Atlantic Council’s DFRL, Kiev’s StopFake) are “professional” organizations of true “independent researchers” by comparison.
This disinformation strategy is reinforced by the fact that Bellingcat is directly allied with the Washington Post and New York Times, the two principal mainstream media organs for “regime change” propaganda in the United States, via the Google-founded “First Draft” network.
GOOGLE RE-DEFINES EVIL
Google, the company that runs the most visited website in the world, the company that owns YouTube, is very snugly in bed with the US military-industrial-surveillance complex.
In fact, Google was seed funded by the US National Security Agency (NSA) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The company now enjoys lavish “partnerships” with military contractors like SAIC, Northrop Grumman and Blackbird.
Google’s mission statement from the outset was “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”.
In a 2004 letter prior to their initial public offering, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin explained their “Don’t be evil” culture required objectivity and an absence of bias: “We believe it is important for everyone to have access to the best information and research, not only to the information people pay for you to see.”
The corporate giant appears to have replaced the original motto altogether. A carefully reworded version appears in the Google Code of Conduct: “You can make money without doing evil”.
This new gospel allows Google and its “partners” to make money promoting propaganda and engaging in surveillance, and somehow manage to not “be evil”. That’s “post-truth” logic for you.
Google has quite the history of malicious behavior. In what became known as the “Wi-Spy” scandal, it was revealed that Google had been collecting hundreds of gigabytes of payload data, including personal and sensitive information. First names, email addresses, physical addresses, and a conversation between two married individuals planning an extra-marital affair were all cited by the FCC. In a 2012 settlement, the Federal Trade Commission announced that Google will pay $22.5 million for overriding privacy settings in Apple’s Safari browser. Though it was the largest civil penalty the Federal Trade Commission had ever imposed for violating one of its orders, the penalty as little more than symbolic for a company that had $2.8 billion in earnings the previous quarter.
Google is a recent joint venture partner with the CIA. In 2009, Google Ventures and In-Q-Tel invested “under $10 million each” into Recorded Future shortly after the company was founded. The company developed technology that strips information from web pages, blogs, and Twitter accounts.
GOOGLE SUPPORTS HIGGINS AND BELLINGCAT
Google has been enthusiastically promoting Eliot Higgins “arm chair analytics” since 2013. Indeed, a very cozy cross-promotion is happening between Google and Bellingcat.
In November 2014, Google Ideas and Google For Media, partnered the George Soros-funded Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) to host an “Investigathon” in New York City. Google Ideas promoted Higgins’ “War and Pieces: Social Media Investigations” song and dance via their YouTube page.
Higgins constantly insists that Bellingcat “findings” are “reaffirmed” by accessing imagery in Google Earth.
Google Earth, originally called EarthViewer 3D, was created by Keyhole, Inc, a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) funded company acquired by Google in 2004. Google Earth uses satellite images provided by the company Digital Globe, a supplier of the US Department of Defense (DoD) with deep connections to both the military and intelligence communities.
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is both a combat support agency under the United States Department of Defense, and an intelligence agency of the United States Intelligence Community. Robert T. Cardillo, director of the NGA, lavishly praised Digital Globe as “a true mission partner in every sense of the word”. Examination of the Board of Directors of Digital Globe reveals intimate connections to DoD and CIA.
Google remains an enthusiastic supporter of Higgins despite Bellingcat’s track record of debunked claims about Syria and Russia. Google formed the “First Draft” coalition in 2015 with Bellingcat as a founding member.
In a triumph of Orwellian Newspeak, this Google’s new “post-Truth” propaganda coalition declares that member organizations will “work together to tackle common issues, including ways to streamline the verification process”.
Apparently the key method of “verification” is to cite Higgins, his collaborators at Bellingcat, and the Atlantic Council.
Designated reporters at the New York Times, Washington Post, BBC, UK Guardian, and other “First Draft” media “partners” write articles based on the “findings” of Higgins & Co.
Regime change groups like the Atlantic Council, and compromised human rights organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International also cite Higgins “findings as having been “confirmed” by reporters at key “First Draft” coalition media outlets.
This highly streamlined game of fake journalistic “verification” has intensified in the aftermath of the Khan Shakhun attacks in Syria. The misinformation process enabled the Trump administration to launch its Tomahawk missile attack against Syria without significant resistance from the American public.
GOOGLE SUPPORTS CROWDSTRIKE
Google has a cozy $100 million “shared kindred spirit” with Crowdstrike. A video featuring Google Capital’s Gene Frantz and Dmitri Alperovitch’s buddy George Kurtz explains Google’s decision to financially back “best in class” Crowdstrike.
Google invested in the company’s Series C funding round in 2015. To date, CrowdStrike received total funding of $156 million from Google Capital, Accel Partners, and private equity firm Warburg Pincus.
According to Crowdstrike, its customers include three of the 10 largest global companies by revenue, five of the 10 largest financial institutions, three of the top 10 health care providers, and three of the top 10 energy companies. CrowdStrike also keeps “Partners” like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform out of the clutches of invisible bears.
CrowdStrike still “stands fully by its analysis and findings” – aka evidence-free allegations – of “Russian intelligence-affiliated adversaries present in the DNC network” in 2016.
As indicated, bellingcat is no more than a cutout stooge of the yankee deep state and its satellites. Alperovitz is directly associated with the satellite coup installed fascist state in the Ukraine.
Thanks Abe. I have to say that your posts are as interesting as the articles here on CN.
Thank you Abe.
Actually Trump doesn’t fit the definition of a ‘thug’. He is a brash, big-mouth, blustering businessman in a country that has a lot of them, and he gained notoriety for all the bluster early in his career. I really wince at use of the word ‘thug’ unless there’s evidence of knocking off someone, as the Yakuza do in Japan and the gangs in LA, e.g.
A beautifully alliterative expression of truth.
The favoritism granted Trump’s hotel due to his position in government doesn’t seem to me nearly as askance as the backscratching profiteering by the Clintons with respect to the uranium deal greased by Hilligula’s position in government.
The world is dominated by oligarchs, they are involved in business dealings on every continent except Antarctica (although I am sure there are energy business deals being planned for there, too). Russia tolerates oligarchs the same as the US, England, France, Germany, etc. What’s the point about Putin as leader of a state capitalistic country that has oligarchs, Mr Reed? Trump is a businessman so he undoubtedly does business with oligarchs, wherever, some of whom may have Mafia connections, because organized crime operates everywhere they can. The Clintons profited through their foundation by selling 20% of US uranium to Russia through their billiionaire friend and Canadian mining magnate, Frank Giustra, a major contributor to the Clinton Foundation and friend of Bill Clinton, while Hillary was Secretary of State, the sale approved by her. Talk about doing business with Russians.
In the autumn of 2016, the “Russian hackers” meme was being amplified to mask the mountain of propaganda generated by the Atlantic Council’s Eliot Higgins and the Bellingcat disinformation site.
Bellingcat generated “fake news” undergirded not only the the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report on the 2014 shootdown of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, but all of the Washington/NATO “hybrid war” efforts against Russia and Syria.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russian-hackers-harass-researchers-who-documented-russian-involvement-in-shootdown-of-malaysian-jetliner-over-ukraine-in-2014/2016/09/28/d086c8bc-84f7-11e6-ac72-a29979381495_story.html
Higgins has repeatedly claimed to be under attack by the Kremlin:
https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins/status/781245897732722688
Somebody needs to point out that Bellingcat’s “crowdsourcing” investigations are no more reliable than George Webb’s.
“Lies, my dear boy, are found out immediately, because they are of two sorts. There are lies that have short legs, and lies that have long noses. Your lie, as it happens, is one of those that have a long nose.” – Fairy to Pinnochio
– from Carlo Collodi’s “The Adventures of Pinocchio” (serialized in 1881-1883) – the original text for the Walt Disney adaptation
Evidence-free RussiaGate allegations get mentioned in the most interesting places.
As if on cue, on 13 April 2017, MIT Technology Review published an ominous article purportedly revealing sinister “Russian Disinformation Technology” https://www.technologyreview.com/s/604084/russian-disinformation-technology/
The article presents a dire description of supposed Kremlin misdeeds:
“It took the weaponization of information in the 2016 U.S. presidential election for the Western world to start to notice. We now know of e-mails stolen from the Democratic National Committee by Russian hackers, of sophisticated botnets, of similar attacks across Europe; but the full extent of Russia’s activities is still being uncovered. Realizing that we are at war, and understanding how we can fight back, is now urgent business.”
As a “grim but useful case study” of alleged Russian perfidy, author Jason Pollock presents Eliot Higgins and Bellingcat’s “story of MH17”.
Pollock depicts Higgins as a “highly regarded citizen journalist” and Bellingcat as “a self-organized group” using “little more than laptops, open-source materials, and relentless dedication” to battle those treacherous Russians.
Pollock’s mashup of Bellingcat articles is a fitting homage to Higgins, whose Bellingcat “Investigation Reports” and Atlantic Council “reports” themselves are little more than mashups of Bellingcat blog posts.
Like the majority of mainstream media, Pollock is oblivious to the self-referential game of “post-truth” propaganda that is the Bellingcat long-nosed brand.
But Pollock’s article is interesting not only because it fails to present evidence of an alleged Russian “net of disinformation” supposed to underpin RussiaGate.
More interesting is the fact that the article appeared two days after MIT professor Theodore A. Postol, a long time contributor to MIT Technology Review, presented analysis of the report released by the Trump White House concerning the Khan Shaykhun attack in Syria.
On 11 April 2017, physicist and defense technology expert Postol wrote that Trump’s report “contains absolutely no evidence that this attack was the result of a munition being dropped from an aircraft” and that photographic evidence used by the White House pointed to an attack by people on the ground.
Higgins and the gang at Bellingcat blog vigorously backed the narrative of an air-dropped bomb.
Back in September 2013 and January 2014, Postol and former UN Weapons Inspector Richard Lloyd published important investigations of faulty US technical intelligence in the Damascus nerve agent attack of 21 August 2013. Analyzing available data, they found a number of items to be inconsistent with the Obama White House’s narrative of the incident.
Postol and Lloyd concluded that the Ghouta chemical attack did not seem to have been launched by the Syrian government. Their investigations were attacked by self-appointed “citizen investigative journalist” Higgins and his collaborator, self-declared “chemical weapons expert”
Postol and Lloyd repeatedly debunked the claims of Higgins and Kaszeta. Nevertheless, Higgins has continued to be cited by mainstream media, human rights organizations, and Western governments.
Debunkings of Higgins’ “findings” are typically ignored by the media while Higgins hurls Twitter insults at any and all critics.
Once again, Higgins’ nose is protruding in the form of Bellingcat “findings” about the Khan Shaykhun attack.
Once again, we find what Pollock describes as “a charade, wrapped in a travesty, inside a miasma: a relentless campaign of abuse and deceit, trying to entangle every fact of the matter” with Higgins and Bellingcat leading the charge.
What is the standard here? Is it that Russian officials, whether FSB or not, were contacted by Trump or others representing him? Or is it something that transpired such as an agreement to work together? Or something more sinister that Trump or one his people suggested they would work together for a specific purpose, such as moving out missiles from Poland in exchange for something the Russians would do?
All of these scenarios seem something one might do since each understood that they are not in a position to do what was hoped for. Trump was not the president and whatever was said was just talk. And since when does talk become a crime. Apparently, since the witch hunt began, such contacts are criminal acts.
The obstruction of justice ploy now being bandied about is the weapon of desperation, since not being truthful or omitting something puts you in a position of performing a criminal act. With all the accusation about Trump flying about and his tendency to say whatever pops in his head, it is bound to produce fodder for the accusers who happen to be wearing cop hats. Shouldn’t be hard to find and if it is and Trump is impeached or forced to resign it will be one of the greatest travesties ever performed by a nation where the peoples’ voice are supposed to determine who will be our president.
A lot of people in power don’t like anyone being friendly with the Russians, but we are not at war with Russia, and all those who want us to be or keep things as they are should understand that words like treason have no place in our discourse.
When “Reality Winner” was a blip in the news I thought that they were trying our patience. We’re devolving to puppet shows where the puppets beat each other with sticks. Good v. Evil. And now down among the propaganda streams of sewage pouring out we have a winner. Reality Winner. The assholes in Langley are bad punsters.
It would be funny if it weren’t so true.
“Reality Winner” has got to be funny and true, funny for the lack of imagination at NSA and CIA.
Media gossip website Page Six, associated with New York Post tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, claimed that a “source who was in the audience” for the taping of the CBS network’s “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” claimed that “Stone said words to the effect of: ‘Israel had far more involvement in the US election than Russia.'”
The anonymous Page Six “source” described the alleged statement as “a classic antisemitic canard.”
Pro-Israel websites like PTNJ (“Proclaiming Justice to the Nations”), whose mission is “to increase awareness and action by educating Christians about their Biblical responsibility to stand with their Jewish brethren and the State of Israel”, ran with the story.
The Algemeiner, a New York-based newspaper and website covering Jewish and Israel-related news, claimed that Stone “went on an anti-Israel tirade”.
Hillary Clinton’s neoconservative allies and her abject obedience to the Israel Lobby are well known.
Donald Trump’s purported “deviation from foreign policy orthodoxy” was a propaganda scam engineered by the Israel Lobby from the very beginning.
At a 3 February 2015 gala hosted by the Algemeiner, Trump received the “Liberty Award” for his contributions to US-Israel relations:
“We love Israel. We will fight for Israel 100 percent, 1000 percent.”
VIDEO minutes 2:15-8:06
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiwBwBw7R-U
After the event, Trump did not renew his television contract for The Apprentice, which raised speculation about a Trump bid for the presidency. Trump announced his candidacy in June 2015.
Trump’s purported break with GOP orthodoxy, questioning of Israel’s commitment to peace, calls for even treatment in Israeli-Palestinian deal-making, and refusal to call for Jerusalem to be Israel’s undivided capital, were all stage-managed for the campaign.
Cheap theatrics notwithstanding, the Zionist Power Configuration continues to enjoy front-door access to the White House and unconditional support from Trump.
Regardless of any specific reference to Israel purportedly made by Stone during the interview with Colbert, it is a legitimate question whether the 2016 election result was more the product of sinister Israel Lobby interference.
Our hardy band of “Russia Truthers” seem bound and determined to distract from any investigation of pro-Israel influence.
With respect to the Russians, I am of two minds:
First, two Directors of National Intelligence (Coats and Clapper) as well as the Director of the NSA (Rogers) and FBI Director Comey have all testified under oath before Congress that Russia attempted to interfere with the 2016 election. In addition to hacking the DNC and leaking unflattering emails, they also planted fake news stories on Facebook and probed the elections systems in 39 of our states. This would seem to be a big deal.
I am not yet convinced that the Trump Campaign colluded with the Russians interfering in the election. However, we do know that The President has sold real estate to Russian oligarchs at inflated prices and his son-in-law had a business meeting with the Director of a Russian bank under sanction by the U. S. Government. We also know that Russian oligarchs only exist at the pleasure of Vladimir Putin and serve his interests. We also know the President and his associates have favored the lifting of sanctions imposed because of the annexation of Crimea, their involvement in Ukraine and their inference in the 2016 election. It would appear from a counter intelligence viewpoint, we need to know the President’s and his family’s business dealing with these Russian oligarchs to assess where President’s loyalties lie, to the U. S, or to these possible investors and/or creditors.
Secondly, all of this might not have ever had been an issue had the U. S. not supported the expansion of NATO to the Russian border after the fall of the Soviet Union, contributing to the ill will and contributing to Putin’s rise and his nationalism.
.
That Trump is a thug is unquestionable. But we need evidence for the claims you make in your first paragraph.
Ha! I already got cobwebs on me waiting for proof. It is a new world Danny, in which they do not have to always hire crisis actors to create the evidence, sometimes statements only will have to do.
Trolling is real cheap, but there are too many comment sections.
I feel real generous today and I’m going to say maybe 10 percent of Americans think. You sir do not fall into the 10 percent. You are in the other 90 percent that are in la la land. I just hope that the 10 percent do something real soon before it all falls apart. Eisehower warned you all fifty years ago and very few paid any attention. You all better get smart very quickly before its to late. You all have a nice Peacefull day. YAHANPD
Isn’t Clapper this trustworthy guy who also testified under oath that US citizens are not spied upon?
Each and every person can “testify” rumors and allegations. Didn’t you read this article? It shows that Comey played word games. Clinton played similar word games when she said that she didn’t send and receive messages marked “classified”. The words “top secret” or “confidential” signal the rating of a classification. In this specific detail of wording Clinton didn’t lie, nevertheless she sent and received confidential mails. Another aspect of that scandal had been that she ordered her underlings to remove the label of classification. If you’re rich enough and smart enough a sophisticated way of expressing your orders doesn’t get you into legal trouble.
Does anyone remember the deflection used to justify the private server Clinton used? She excused the usage by pointing out that Colin Powell did the same. This was a blatant lie. Colin Powell used a private mail account. There’s a big difference between a private mail account and a private server. The majority of people didn’t seem to care at all.
With regard to the scandal about classified mails and the private server Comey also played word games.
With regard to your statement about the oligarchs “under” president Putin I came across some interesting article a few years ago. The article stated that many of those oligarchs got rich in the 90s by very shady deals. If you look at the career of the Russian president you’ll come across the information that he had been recommended as the successor of Yeltsin by Boris Berezovsky (an oligarch). Probably those oligarchs thought they got a puppet into the office of the Russian president. The Russian population can be glad that it didn’t turn out that way. President Putin is a servant to those people that he rules – the citizens. Also, the aforementioned article stated that president Putin made a deal with those oligarchs. As long they didn’t interfere with his politics, he wouldn’t look too hard at their criminal past. Those who didn’t go along with his wish are the ones who’re touring the West and whining about the oppressive Russian system.
Do you really think that US citizens have a say in US politics? Whenever it comes to the interests of US oligarchs or large corporations, their well being has a higher priority than that of US citizens. US oligarchs aren’t called oligarchs in the media – MSM and alternative media. They’re labeled as One-Percenter, but there isn’t any difference. It’s all the same. In the US you’re free to screw ordinary citizens, but dare you if you’re screwing oligarchs. The movie “Wolf of Wall Street” is based on the life of former investment banker Jordan Belfort. Nowadays Belfort works as a motivational trainer. (Yes, he is not in prison.) Mr. Belfort did the right thing: he screwed ordinary people. If Bernard Madoff would’ve done the same, he probably would be free. Madoff’s mistake had been that he took on the rich folks and those can’t take a joke.
Selling some real estate at inflated prices doesn’t proof anything, even if the buyer had been a Russian oligarch. Isn’t selling things at inflate prices the whole point of making money in the US society (pushing wages down or using prison slave labor at a few cents an hour whilst simultaneously whining about expensive raw materials as justification for extraordinary high yields)? Apple has a profit margin of about 38%! Would people think differently of Tim Cook if Apple’s profits were far lower?
Whilst it is important that a president (in this case Trump) should work for the benefit of the people that he governs, the hysteria about former business partners is hyperbolic.
Joe Average
P.S.: Crimea hadn’t been annexed, it rejoined the Russian Federation. Surveys done by PEW and GfK confirmed that local people are happy with that choice.
Excellent and true response with all of your points. Interesting to compare Belfort and Madoff…it is who you are allowed to screw, isn’t it?
“Putin made a deal with those oligarchs. As long they didn’t interfere with his politics, he wouldn’t look too hard at their criminal past.”
The explanation of Putin’s deal with (mostly Jewish) oligarchs is that the conditions were not those that you describe, at least not officially. The key conditions for ignoring how the oligarchs got their money was that they:
1) keep all their money in Russia and use it to employ the Russians,
2) pay Russian taxes, and
3) stop doing anything illegal any more.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky for example, ran afoul of number 2) the most, but conditions 3) and 1) as well. This is why he was in jail and is now the opposition overseas.
This move by Putin was fairly smart because it divided the oligarchs into the loyal and disloyal to Russia, practically setting them against each other instead of taking on all of them head on. There is no way Putin would have survived if he took all oligarchs on. The Russian state would probably have fallen apart if all oligarchs were removed (imagine removing all biggest champions of industry in US). Instead, Putin came up with the best compromise possible. Even Putin’s political party is a party of unity between the patriotic oligarchs and ordinary people (unofficially). Capitalism at work.
Putin’s showing with Oliver Stone has me thinking that in this example, and many others, his savvy as a political strategist is credible.
Kiza,
thank you for the addition. Basically you specified my point “no interference in politics” in a more precise way than I did.
Yes, you are right, mine is just an expanded view. Thanks.
Kiza: Excellent analysis and conclusions. Putin is very smart and shrewd, otherwise he would not have survived as you said.
” The Russian state would probably have fallen apart if all oligarchs were removed (imagine removing all biggest champions of industry in US). Instead,”
Not necessarily true. Putin could have ‘nationalized’ all the major resources—taking it out of the hands of the oligarchs returning them to state owned industries., That he didnt do this tells me he is playing some kind of ultimate ‘long game’. Maybe controlling the oligarchs while avoiding the charge of being a communist/facist country.
Examine Putin’s speeches at the UN—he has become ‘the darling of many member countries.
Joe Average-
Actually, annexation is not a dirty word. It just means taking on more territory, it doesn’t mean doing so by force. The USA annexed the “Republic of Texas”. In both cases it was mutually agreed upon.
‘we need to know the President’s and his family’s business dealing with these Russian oligarchs to assess where President’s loyalties lie, to the U. S, or to these possible investors and/or creditors. ‘….>>>>>
Here’s your need to know below.
Trump doesn’t have to be in ‘direct cooperation with Putin..
A mixture of money and social ties thru these Jews is Trump’s main tie to Russia and Putin.
Its a very tight group. Trump is in over his fucking head—–he got a lot of help and deals thru them.
Bit they will cost him in the WH.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/04 the-happy-go-lucky-jewish-group-that-connects-trump-and-putin-215007
The Happy-Go-Lucky Jewish Group That Connects Trump and Putin
AND these Jewish and Russian oligarch friends will serve Russia’s interest or Else….Putin lets the oligarchs be useful to him as long as they break none of his rules,..if they do …well then, they end up like these formerly rich now dead oligarchs::
Khodorkovskyis who is in a Siberian jail
Boris Berezovsky just found dead in his bathroom.
Litvinenko – allegedly killed by a former KGB agent using radioactive polonium-210 .
Now there are only 3 major oligarchs left…Roman Abramovich said to be the closest one to Putin and also a close social (and investor) friend of Jared Kushner.
Trump is up to his ears in this snake pit and doesn’t have the balls or brains to bust out because he really doesn’t know what he’s doing.
I frankly am ready for him to go.
Are you trying to spread main stream propaganda?
“A mixture of money and social ties thru these Jews is Trump’s main tie to Russia and Putin.”
What are you intending to tell us? Guilt by association? I know someone who knows someone who is in contact with Trumps “adversary”. It’s a pretty ordinary attempt at smearing someone. Simply throw enough dirt, something will always stick.
“…well then, they end up like these formerly rich now dead oligarchs::”
You’re writing in plural, but you don’t mention any names of dead oligarchs. Khodorkovsky is still alive. More important: he’s free. He got pardoned. Where did you get the information from that he had been in prison in Siberia? He had been arrested in Siberia and then taken to Moscow. Please stay with the facts.
With regard to Litvinenko you’re wrong. He was never an oligarch. He seems to have been killed, but the case had never been solved satisfactory. All you can read in the news are allegations without any proof.
According to several western news sources there had been nothing suspicious about Berezovsky’s death. However Sergei Sokolov, Berezovsky’s former head of security, thinks that his former boss had been murdered by Western intelligence services (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3011021/Exiled-oligarch-Boris-Berezovsky-murdered-hand-Putin-evidence-coup-plot-claims-former-head-security.html). If you’re interested in the illustrious career of Mr. Berezovsky you may find some information in the book “Once Upon a Time in Russia: The Rise of the Oligarchs?A True Story of Ambition, Wealth, Betrayal, and Murder” written by Ben Mezrich. Another book dealing with his career is “The Tragedy of Russia’s Reforms: Market Bolshevism Against Democracy” by Peter Reddaway and Dmitri Glinski.
The hints that you’re throwing around shall bring the reader to think of the bad CIA. (Or did you intend to smear Russian services?) Rule number one when it comes to propaganda is repeating, repeating and repeating. Mention often enough the connection of CIA officer George H. W. Bush and people will instantly remember that Bush I had been a CIA agent. It gets even better if you consider that the Bush fortune is based upon Nazi connections.
In terms of sudden deaths surrounding certain people I would recommend you to have a close look at the Clinton family. There are probably as many theories about the deaths as there are deceased people that once had a connection with them.
I recommend you grow up average Joe…..all your links and suggested reading are old news to me.
The account of Trumps ‘friends’….if you bothered to read it… has appeared in dozens of publications for a long time .
I dont give a rats ass about Hillary Clinton or Trump or little guys like you who try to spread your own kind of propaganda by defending this, that or the other because of some uninformed personal preference. or prejudice of your own..
If I was trying to spread propaganda I guarantee you wouldnt be able to recognize it as such…..I got my propaganda training from the masters…the Jesuits.
You have been spreading fact-bent propaganda and bs. You are not contributing then subtracting from this discussion. A good debater fact checks what he is going to comment, you just throw here any turds that stuck on you whilst consuming the Main Sewer Media.
Kiza
June 17, 2017 at 4:05 pm
You have been spreading fact-bent propaganda and bs.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Put up or shut up as the saying goes—-Back up your mouth fellow by pointing out examples of my ‘fact bent propaganda.’
You cant and your remark is a prime example of a ‘ knee jerk ‘ commenter ‘throwing out little turds’.
“We also know that Russian oligarchs only exist at the pleasure of Vladimir Putin and serve his interests. ”
This sounds just like the USA, which of course is on a HUUUGE scale.
Actually in the USA it is reversed. The president serves the oligarchs interests.
There must be a way to push for an investigation of Hillary Clinton given her egregious violations during the campaign and as Secy of State. Do we have to sit back and take this without protesting for a counter-investigation?
Only through crowd sourcing. No officials will touch it. The Clintons have blackmail material on so many.
C’s have developed a powerful death ray.
A very important article.
Evidentiary thinking or critical thinking is not something Americans, most anyway, do well. They are not taught in home, school or culture to critically think; to demand evidence, assess points of view, understand when assumptions falsely appear as facts. As a result, the corporate media can get away with all of this and they know it.
Most Americans look for ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’ and once they are told who is good and who is bad they generally take their posts as servile members of the citizenry.
In this case the issue is more calamitous:
1. Trump does have connections with Russian organized crime and has for some time. Felix Slater is one name you should know but he is not alone. Go to http://www.madcownews and you will see all of these oligarch ties by a very good independent writer and researcher, Daniel Hopiscker. But ties to the Russian oligarch are not the same as ties to Russian government officials.
2. It should be obvious now that part of the new ‘cold War’ and in fact, the new century wars will be cybernetic. And this means we will never know what is and what is not. Confusion will be our epitaph;
3. Given the state of cyber war and the confusion it sows, one must look closely at the Internet celebrity hackers. Why is Glenn Greenwald sitting on 90 percent of the documentation Snowden released? Why is the information not given to us at once. Seems that Greenwald sold a book that revealed much of the information. Why? And why was hacker, Andrew Aurenheimer, a neo-Nazi and founder of ‘The Daily Storm’, a fascist online news site a guest of honor at Glenn Greenwald’s ‘bash’ for the Intercept? He now lives in the fascist Ukraine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weev. And just what is the Intercept and why does its founder, Pierre Omydar (the eBay founder and billionaire now dressed up as a ‘philanthropirate’,want to start such a journalistic endeavor? Ask Ken Silverstein a great reporter. http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/02/ken-silverstein-the-intercept-115586
4. Who is behind Wikileaks? What is the role of cyber hackers like Jacob Appelbaum who went with Snowden to Tokyo before Snowden went on to Russia? Where are the troves of information we have been promised? And does Tor and similar encryption devices really receive funding from the CIA and DIA front groups or directly?
5. And one must ask whose class interests all this Russia is coming crap benefit? Obviously the ruling class, for with all the attention on ‘straw man’ Trump, the entertainer in Chief, one can barely see any news about the hand of the reactionary republicans in cutting $1.7 trillion, which is what they want, from domestic programs.
This is the cyber future we have unleashed. It is a dangerous future that is bereft with cyber war. And it is being controlled by members of the deep state.
”Confusion will be our epitaph.” I hope you’re wrong Danny Weil, but thanks for the wisdom.
If President Trump survives this, dozens of “insiders” face long prison terms for violations of Title 18 United States Code – among many other statutes. Mueller isn’t going to do anything that could potentially jail his old buddies. If the DOJ were interested in enforcing the law, Hillary would be facing about 250 years for combined felony violations. Both parties, upon realizing how far the ramifications could reach, are more likely than not to “see their way clear to letting this go”. I’m still betting they’ll all back down before this creates a “Zombie Apocalypse”. But based on the Sessions questioning by John McCain and Ron Wyden, it looks like Hollywood has already prepared them with appropriate makeup. Better send out for cold beer and popcorn…
Well, said. But in order to send out for the popcorn and butter we will need money or community or both. There is little of either in the hands of the American people.
F.G.: I do not think they are going to back down. They know their end point. They are going to cook something against Russia – connection between Trump’s people and Russian official. Trump will go – this Whole Scam is about vilifying Russia and getting rid of Trump. They are going to go after Russia, one way or the other.
Who is there to stop them whatever they want to come up with. There is no entity left to question them except these few websites. It is way beyond the capabilities of the Soviet State. As to the Foreign Policy, U.S. now is virtually a Corporate Fascist State with unlimited powers.
One may easily convict T of violating the Geneva Conventions “War Against the Peace” prohibition, a capital crime. The last five USA (not the misnomer American) presidents are also clearly guilty of the same capital crime, ” War Against the Peace”. The current investigations concerning T are not meant to serve justice, but nefarious political agendas.
Hey F.G. don’t knock it, it all makes for great tv.
F.G. Sanford – Jeff Sessions is said to be a gentleman, an honorable man. Does he have the balls to go after these guys? Maybe they confirmed him for a good reason – because he wouldn’t go after them? Maybe Trump should have picked someone who was a scrapper, but then maybe that guy wouldn’t have gotten confirmed?
Maybe they were hard with Jeff Sessions for a reason, wanting him to get the message not to go after any insiders. To my mind, that is exactly what Jeff Sessions needs to do. He, through Trump, needs to tell the American people that if the country doesn’t have a Rule of Law, it has nothing. He needs to go after these guys and hit them hard.
Robert Mueller is out there, leaking to his heart’s content. Sessions and his team need to up their game, send some heat back.
Backwardsevolution: I liked what you said. But it seems to me that Jeff Sessions does not have any back bone either. He is going to go along with the wind.
As for Rule of Law, there is any thing left like that. The new ‘Rule of Law’ is made by the Washington Political Salons of people like Madam Albright, Paul wolfowitz and the Salons of those Wall Street Powerful in New York. If people believe otherwise, they are kidding themselves. Trump is like a prisoner now, waiting for the Sentence.
Except for a brave few, there isn’t a soul left in Washington Political Establishment, who have any authentic beliefs of their own – it may be in the Rule of Law or any other area. People are still acting as if there is a democracy out there.
In any society, where people completely loose the Control of Media, and of Finance, there is no Real Freedom left so to speak. People like Soros and Murdoch have been planning for the last three or four decades, what kind of World they wanted it to be – while the rest of the population was sleeping or were helpless spectators. We are there now in that New World.
A correction to above comments : ” As for Rule of Law, there isn’t anything left like that. . . .”
Dave P. – yeah, it’s going to get interesting, I think. The Rule of Law is what separates Third World countries from First World countries. This does not bode well for the West.
You’re right, these guys have been planning for decades (at places like the Council on Foreign Relations). They are very organized, and that takes time. Immigration should be halted for awhile; that would put some power back in the hands of the people. When the unions were crushed, the people had no voice, no central place to get information. Kind of like the Temple, a place of worship, but also a place of information.
You can see why kings had such a tough road centuries ago. They were always surrounded by schemers and planners, trying to gain the upper hand. The king always had to keep these psychopaths happy or else they’d overthrow him (just like a coup). These are the same types of people (and they always seem to gravitate to the top of organizations) who have got the President by the throat.
Their world is all planned out, they’re getting filthy rich off that world, and beware the man who tries to throw a wrench in their machine.
All this immigration which took place is by design – of these Neocon Neoliberal Globalists. These people like Soros, Murdoch, Sandy Weill, they have no loyalty to any country, except money, and their own group. I have been against this immigration all along. During Reagan years, and afterwards, I used to talk to my brother-in-law in Indianapolis about it. He would resent it, and accuse me that I am against their Capitalist System, that I am some kind of a radical, and that I should not be living here. I wanted the way it was during 1960’s – Unions, protections against imports, no technology sharing with Japan, South Korea, Taiwan etc.- and very controlled immigration. The Politicians of this country have sold the whole shop, and impoverished a very large number of people in the hinterland. I feel for these people.
It is race to the bottom, as Noam Chomsky calls it. People simply do not understand anything here. They are confused. First they instilled this Russia Scare in them, and they got trained in them. Then Trump came along last year, and told them Putin is a strong leader, he wants to get along with Russia. I visited Michigan last September. I talked to my other brother-in-law ( A staunch Republican, was captain in the Air Force during 1960’s) there. He used to be very anti-Russian like most of the other relatives. Now Trump, last year start telling them that Russians are O.K.. He started thinking about this issue, but still somewhat confused.
I completely agree with Trump on that. Immigration should be rigidly controlled, and the borders secured. That is the first step in domestic policy to halt the onslaught of Neoliberal Globalism. And a Libertarian Foreign Policy. No more interventions in Foreign Countries.
The big “if” is Trump surviving this. “Selective prosecution” is America’s mainstay nowadays. Sessions is also a target, and as A.G. he would be the one to do the counter-offensive. I suspect he has already been hamstrung.
I lived through the McCarthy period, Did the American public learn anything then? I doubt it. Will they learn anything this time? I doubt that too. Most Americans show little interest in the things which are determining their fate. Their knowledge of their government, or foreign affairs is laughably superficial. And yet they appear very sure of their beliefs and convictions.
No, they cannot learn. The post-Modern cyber world of confusion and distrust is now firmly reorganizing the brain. It is having an actual physical effect on how people think. Read the book: “The Shallows: what the Internet is doing to our brain”, by Nicholas Carr.
The machines are and have evolved faster than the human mind and with the means of production firmly in the claws of the global elite, things will get worse.
Mike, you said ” . . . Most show little interest in the things which are determining their fate ” . I am going to tell a hilarious personal story which I hope will clear up your doubts if you have any about what you said.
I have been married here over forty six years now. Around 2009, We received a letter from my brother-in-law, who is in sales, and his wife. They live in a suburb of Indianapolis. In the letter was enclosed a sheet of their local city newspaper with pictures of a Temple, and people, some clean shaven, some with turbans, women with different type of clothes and all that. My brother-in-law called a few days later and asked ” Dave, they seem be your type of People, who are they? I said ” Gary, they are not my type, they are my people. ” I will conclude the story at the end.
I came to this country during mid 1960’s. – as a graduate student in School of Engineering , University of Michigan at Ann arbor. Very active campus during those hippie, anti-Vietnam war days. I just fit in, it matched my nature. I simply loved it, the way it was during those 1960’s and 70’s. America at it’s peak during those 1960’s. For four years, I had good time in Ann Arbor.
I came from a village in North India, a village with a high school and a bazaar; kind of a cultural center for the small villages around our Village. The school was built with the money sent by the village people, who had some how immigrated to California, and British Columbia at the turn of the century. These were the days after independence from the British rule in 1947. China had their revolution in 1949. In India, it was a vibrant democracy – Ruling Congress Party, Socialists, Communists. Communist Party was number two in the country after the ruling Congress Party who adopted some aspects of Democratic British Socialism. There were campaign rallies in the village, debates in the homes, and all that. My parents, who owned two acres of land who never went to school, and self taught themselves in our language, knew a lot about the political systems. In a nut shell, by tenth grade we knew a lot about the World.
Shortly after my graduation at University of Michigan, I married, and inherited lots of relatives in the great Lakes states. My wife’s parents had summer cottage, and I had good time. We have lived in small towns, I found America, and Americans very good people. I never had any overt discrimination against me as being a Foreigner. May be because of my open and outgoing nature, or may be because of my color – I am not white, and I am not dark – I just kind of fit in the middle somewhere. Compared to my education and training at young age, I found Americans very simple people. They had all these material advantages, they had good life, they did not need to learn about other people. They just accepted whatever their government told them.
To come back to my brother- in-law’s question, I said ” Gary, they are my people.”. In the picture, there were names of the people. From the last name, I could tell where they are from. I told Gary, that some of these people are from my mother’s village. May be, when we visit, I can find some connection with them. How these people got to the Indianapolis suburb? Around 2007, the home prices shot up in California. They sold their homes in California, in the San Jaoquin valley- Fresno, Bakersfield -, at very high prices and bought nice homes in that Indianapolis suburb at 1/4 of the price of their California homes. With the money left over, they bought all these businesses; truck stops on Freeways, gas stations, Seven Elevens, and all that. Most of these people had come from India just twenty years ago or so, and they own lot of businesses.
After forty six years, my brother-in-law does not know, where I am from in India, or who I am. There was no need for him to know these things.
This latest scam by the Masters who rule us is going to work the same way as during the McCarthy Era. Most of the masses will accept everything, the Rulers tell them.
The word turban in the second paragraph was a giveaway. A few sentences later you confirmed my suspicion that you’ve been born in India.
The ignorance of which you’re reporting may cause for some trouble in the future. As long as our Western MSM continues to stoke the flames with those memes of Russian scare and Muslim scare there will be many problems to tackle (now and in the future). Abby Martin has produced a documentary about Sikhs living in the US. Since the “war on terror” gained traction attacks on Sikhs living in the US increased (Empire Files: The Sikh Experience in America; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXIJBWFC4mk). The best someone can do is to “educate” those people someone is in contact with. You don’t have to fall back on complicated examples. In many cases a simple solution will work.
Joe average: You are right. As I wrote above, I grew up in left progressive era in India. There were Capitalists, Socialists, Communists, Nationalists, in cities, and in villages debating their philosophies. It was very educational at that young age. By the time I was fourteen, I stopped being religious. I do not have any religion since then. In that land of Hindu Religion in thousand different varieties, Sikhism is the latest started by a Hindu reformer in North India about five hundred years ago. I am not sure, India needed another religion.
In the present era, people have become kind of consumption oriented citizens all over the World. In rich countries, people are very susceptible to whatever lies their government and media tells them. In poor, and not so poor countries, people are more skeptical.
I remember reading Arundhati Roy’s comments about her childhood in Kerala,where “there were forests, rice paddies, peasants, Communists” which made her very fearful of the Americans then fighting in Vietnam, which sounded very familiar to her as a child!!
The need for enemies and the apparent need to dominate and destroy make the USA’ “exceptionalism” dangerous for those countries who try to be independent. Pres. Putin has made that clear, and of course we all saw Libya, Iraq, now Syria as well as Venezuela and Honduras.
Dave P. – Sikh from the Punjab area.
“Compared to my education and training at young age, I found Americans very simple people. They had all these material advantages, they had good life, they did not need to learn about other people. They just accepted whatever their government told them.”
They had abundance of food, water, clean air, space, but most of all they had no predators. Kind of like the Dodo Bird before the guns came. Innocent and easily taken over. No necessity to know more. That will change, though. They will get knowledgeable out of necessity.
East Indians, on the other hand, are very pointed at where they go; they go for the money right up front, no dicking around. And only because they’ve lived with no abundance.
backwardsrevolution: “East Indians. on the other hand, are very pointed . . .” . You are hundred percent right on that. Some how I grew up not learning that art – not even a bit. In fact, I came to be just the opposite. I just loved that hippie Era. All kind of things going on there in Ann Arbor ; Sexual and Consciousness enhancing workshops, marijuana fests, and all that. I really thought that it is as good as it gets. I still believe that 1960’s was the best time in U.S. History – like a golden age. I did not have a clue what I wanted to do once I got out of the School. I was just happy to be there in Ann Arbor. I did not have those Indian Type family responsibilities, and I did not take any my whole life.
I did all right. A glass or two of wine in the evening, books, and fresh air from the Pacific – I like it.
And I am glad that I passed most of life before Globalism hit hard. Americans do not comprehend that things are going to change under full scale Globalism. I feel for them. Globalism stands for Exploitation and Slavery on a world wide scale. I am not made for to live under Neo-liberal Globalism.
Dave P. – “I am not made for to live under Neo-liberal Globalism.” I agree with you there! Only the rich fare well under that system. I guess that’s why they brought it in. Enjoy your wine, Dave.
Robert Mueller is buddies with James Comey, which seems a bit awkward. The Democrats will go crazy if Mueller doesn’t deliver them something really good. He’s a loyal party man so he’ll find them something. It will most likely involve the many thousands of telephone calls the NSA has recorded.
Of course, they are all careerists or what Ward Churchill called, “little Eichmanns’. They are the banality of evil Hannah Arendt warned us about some decades ago.
Comey represented Mark Rich, the millionaire fugitive from justice and got him a ‘pardon’ by who? Bill Clinton the last day Clinton was in office. Now Rich lives like a king in Switzerland.
Comey is the quintessential insider. Comey indicted Martha Stewart, investigated the White Water Clinton scandal.
Mueller, a good German name, is another insider and careerist.
All of these careerists are pawns, they are used by the oligarchs and ruling elites to deflect attention, commit crimes and lie on TV and radio.
Mueller was in place for 9/11. I suspect he’s very good at screening information.
Indeed, the amount of distortion and dishonesty in the media about this has been astonishing, and I fear it will only get worse. In case you’re interested, I have just published a post on my blog in which I point out that, when it comes to stories about Russian hacking, the media is being extremely selective. It completely ignores information that exonerate Russia, while hyping stories that seem to indict Moscow.
If people would only see and listen to the Showtime Tapes with an effort to be fair, they may even be able to learn from Putin’s sensible and clear comments and explanations for actions we only hear about from the US point of view.
rosemerry, any fair-minded person would take note of Putin’s cordiality, cooperation, attention to detail, sensibility, and good humor. Whether one favors or disfavors his views, it at least must be admitted that he expressed himself with consistency, coherency, and humanity.
@ U.K. Foreign Minister Boris Johnson was recently forced to admit: “We have no evidence the Russians are actually involved in trying to undermine our democratic processes at the moment. We don’t actually have that evidence. But what we do have is plenty of evidence that the Russians are capable of doing that.”
I am capable of robbing a bank. Is that sufficient evidence to convict me of having robbed a bank?
Please do not forget that ideology is only a JUSTIFICATION for the money interest. The Western countries, led by US, are like a travelling pillage show, which busts one country after another by bombing or government-changing or both. Following in the wake of the military and/or CIA are the NGOs which consume the carcass of the busted up country (whilst it is still hot from bombs). These NGOs do post-change clean ups, provide security to the Westerners “working” in the busted up country, help organize a new regime, provide media consultancy for any post-coup elections, strip off any assets that US “investors” are interested in, set the central bank of the busted up country to depend on the Western financial system, prepare government assets and companies for privatization, ship out the national gold and replace it with IMF loans, assist in changing the education system to teach children the virtues of the new regime and so on and so on. These NGOs are financed by both the US government money and private money, “rebuilding” money working on privatizing and dismembering the “democratized country” for the benefit of the private interests. This is US tax-payers money at work for the benefit of US “investors”. Any resource of the busted up country is good for the “investors”, oil or any other commodity (lithium) or even economic slave labor (people) is not bad either.
It is really when the MSM in US and EU finally fall silent about the busted up country (Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine, Iraq, Libya etc) that these civilian worms start crawling out onto the knocked out body of a country.
Therefore, any story about how bad Russia/Putin is has the ultimate goal to regime-change Russia. Russia is the first bird, whilst Trump is just a second, still important but collateral bird to be killed by the same propaganda stone. Please never lose sight that Russia is the main target, the biggest prize on the planet for this regime-change travelling show, that the whole complex and high structure of regime-changers, from the “investors” on top, through the previously unemployed Americans managing the process, down to the coal-face locals desperate for a left-over bone from their country’s carcass to be thrown to them, is salivating and soling their PJs at night dreaming about Putin being taken out. The value of Russia to the regime changers is in trillions, it would be the biggest injection of real assets into the Western financial house of cards ever, easily ten years or more of NGO contracts on the “transformation”.
Simply put – regime change is the biggest business on the planet, mostly related to banks and finance (investment), which overshadows oil, pharma, weapon sales, drug sales, women & children sales and any other highly profitable business. The hate of Putin personally standing in the way of this profit is immense.
Kiza, they really are “thorough” aren’t they? And so are you…an excellent post that gets to the endgame…they want every last resource they can get their hands on with no respect for the life of common humanity.
Spot on Greg, Russia is the ultimate end-game, you found the best expression. China is just a competitor to be dealt with, of a low regime-change value: who is going to manage 1B+ Chinese economic slaves without opium? The Chinese Communist Party does it much better with hopium, if we could only strike some profit sharing deal. But Russia, the biggest land on the planet, left almost virgin because the human technology of the past could not deal with its harsh, cold conditions, my oh my…
opium-hopium! good one!
People often say that MIC wants war or at least constant tensions with Russia, but this is only partially true – there is an even bigger war daddy, The Regime Change Industry of which weapon merchants are only one member.
I wonder if Trump, when he was talking about normalizing relations with Russia was deliberately pandering to the wishes of his electorate or he was naively believing that the Regime Change Industry would allow him to pull the biggest prize on the planet away from under their noses. Then, it is not hard at all to deduce the genesis of the invented link between Trump and Russia – it is the Western pragmatism – two birds with one stone, two propaganda targets for the price of one. But Trump will go before Russia, no doubt.
I am sure that the Western oligarchy would rather take its chances with a nuclear war (if they could strike Russia first) then leave an ideological competitor such as Putin through a detente with Russia. Putin is such a terrible example, because without him some countries would fold even without employing the two big sticks, Pentagon and/or CIA, to bust them up. Even State Department alone could fold up some countries and initiate regime change by threats only (US diplomacy in action). Trump is giving Russia breathing space and time to develop some new weapons and thus become an even more expensive regime-change target. The Russians have some truly impressive war toys at different stages of roll-out, whilst most of the latest US weapon development programs have been expensive disasters (F35, Zumwalt navy destroyers etc).
The best bet is to assassinate Putin at the next international conference he attends. This is why the Russian fleet, including nuclear missile submarines usually follow behind Putin during his conference attendances and he stays away from US and the most dedicated EU countries (e.g. Britain).
Kiza while I agree with you that Russia is the real prize, there is something on top of that which bothers me to no end. What nags me most, is that these geniuses at the top of our American government seriously do believe in their idea that they could take all of Russia out, without a scratch on a nuclear first strike. These are the same people who told us Iraq had WMD, the same bunch who invested in the F15 and the Zumwalt destroyers, and the same crew who swear that Vladimir Putin put Donald Trump in the Oval Office. With all of that, what possibly could go wrong?
This reply is directed at Joe Tedesky’s comment (June 16, 2017 at 10:03 pm). Since there’s no “Reply” button I’ll use this comment for my take on that situation.
You’re wondering if the crazies would risk a nuclear first strike? According to reports that can be found on the internet, several rich people have been buying land in New Zealand for escaping the US in the case of collapse (or maybe even a nuclear war). Other reports say that sales of nuclear shelters surge.
Several European countries have reintroduced “civil preparedness”. The citizens are urged to stockpile food that might last for about two weeks. Around the time the concept was reintroduced there was also talk about hardening of buildings. In my opinion there are two possible scenarios that may require to be prepared. The first one is another financial crisis (this time around far more devastating than the one of 2008). The second one is a nuclear war. Civil preparedness is also a NATO topic (http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_49158.htm). Whilst searching for some wikihow article I came across the book of Cresson Kearny. On page 19 of his book he describes nuclear winter as a propaganda myth that has to be refuted by “real scientists” (http://www.oism.org/nwss/s73p912.htm). The New York times even lauded Mr. Kearny as an expert (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/12/us/cresson-kearny-expert-on-nuclear-survival-dies-at-89.html). After the short detour I would like to get back the indicators that may hint at plans for a possible nuclear war. Wikihow explains the steps for increasing the probability of surviving a nuclear attack (http://www.wikihow.com/Survive-a-Nuclear-Attack). Aside from recommending bunkers (a “hardened building”), the following point (number 5) advises people to stay in the shelter for a minimum of 200 hours. Is this just a coincidence with the concept of “civil preparedness”?
Another indicator that a nuclear confrontation may be planned is that the US military reactivated the Cheyenne Mountain Complex (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3031041/Why-military-moving-Stargate-base-deep-Rocky-Mountains-decade-abandoned.html).
Either the crazies want to start a nuclear war first or they’re planning for a possible blowback of their continuing confrontation of Russia.
Dear Joe, the strangest is how almost nobody in US even thinks about the implications of what has been just said on TV, or presented in NYT and WP. As Realist said in comments to another article of this zine, all 17 US intelligence agencies should drop down on their knees and beg the omnipotent villain Vladimir Putin not to elect the next US President, Congress and Senate. Instead, all of these agencies are falling over each other blaming Putin for electing Trump as if their principal duty was not to prevent something like that happening instead of diagnosing post festum. Has anybody in the US Government been doing his or her job? How much money does US spend on these intelligence agencies without signs of intelligence? Total cognitive dissonance of the population wanting to have its Russia cake and eat it: It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge.
Kiza, Greg, Joe, thanks for the “thread”, I’d like to try to make what I think is a prescient point: The “missing point” is that the working part of the Military is probably used up…. Empire ultimately always fails because the boots on the ground loose their “purpose” and are easily defeated by superior “ideology” or passion (if you will). Our leadership, from political (Cheney) to military seem totally oblivious to this phenomenon, which I think is classic…
Please look at this article to support my case…
https://theintercept.com/2017/06/17/brad-pitts-war-machine-offers-an-absurd-and-scathing-critique-of-americas-delusional-generals/
Joe Average, Kiza, Bob, and Greg, thanks for the links Joe, I can’t say that a positive outlook given to the aftermath of a nuclear war isn’t well appreciate. While Cresson Kearny steps outside the box with his view, I only need to look back on the bumbling efforts of FEMA’s attempt to control the chaos of Hurricane Katrina to lose faith in what our government would be capable of doing in the case of a nuclear attack. I mean seriously with highways, railways, and the like being damaged to the point of there being no quick fix, I doubt that even the best made plans could prevent the mayhem that would follow a nuclear war.
Kiza I too find our intelligence agencies to be nothing more than a banging gong show, filled with careerist who would write anything to please their bosses. Pick any event you like, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Cuba, and Ukraine (just to mention a few), and then tell me how right the intelligence was as opposed to how crafted the intelligence was around certain selected facts. Almost always, the intelligence has been crafted to fit the agenda, and with that all becomes a failure. Although even failures are attractive, maybe even especially failures add value, since failures makes the arms industry that much more lucrative. Winning has a shelf life, quagmires short of total loss is a continual profit maker…which one would the MIC prefer?
Bob to prove your point, of boots on the ground losing interest without a clear directive, all you need to do is talk to a Vietnam vet. I might add, that while these strangers occupy a country, they are met with heavy on going resistance from their indigenous enemy. Think about it, if you were fighting in a far off land what skin in the game do you have, on the other hand if you were fighting front the front of your house to protect what’s yours, then how much harder would you fight?
All I’m saying Greg is our government leadership is easily fooled by their own arrogance. When you feel so entitled to claim your exceptionalism along with your indispensability to the rest of the world, well that maybe more of a proclamation of your stupidity. Why in America are we not even speaking out publicly about what to do in case of a nuclear war, so what’s that tell you? Our government doesn’t find it to be productive nor convenient enough, to talk to it’s citizens in a honest and truthful manner, so why start now?
Thanks all for allowing me to join in on this important conversation. Now I just want to go an apologize to the puppy, the scurrying chipmunks, the branch jumping squirrels, the jumping bunny, the graceful deer who thrive in my yard, for all of the awfulness us humans have brought upon this earth.
Thanks Bob…
The War Machine points out “the willing delusion of senior officers whose egos and ambitions are the pillars of perpetual warfare.”
“Our delusional leaders finally have the movie their insanity deserves.”
And I suspect, as you do, that there are a good many Lakeith Stanfields who feel the same way.
Really good comments here and my input is that the USG has put billions if not trillions into the underground bases, railway lines and has entire towns underneath the states. Obviously. these facilities are for certain individuals that work or are affiliated with the USG. And I’m assuming that the scientists and geologists that have designed this NWO underground US of A has rubber stamped the efficiency of these facilities for nuclear, climate change, alien warfare and even pole shift disasters. And these bases must be completed since the Washington generals and politicians are advocating ” first strike legislation”. And since Switzerland, Russia and a few others have underground bases, its safe to say that Russia has a few underground non manned bases in order to strike months after the nuclear war is deemed over by the US. Putin says that the entire world will be wiped out and stands by a ” no first strike policy”. The US has totally lost it and thinks the rest of the world believes it’s BS media lies, but it’s these lies that have turned into the weapons against humanity. Spacibo
Here is what gets me in all of this propaganda/foreign policy:
Trump decides that Obama’s softening of relations with Cuba must be reversed due to “human rights considerations”??!!
Yet the old double standard of China and Saudi Arabia rears their ugly heads!
What “human rights” are their in China and Saudi Arabia that the world should be celebrating??
Maybe (depending on who does the “programming”) it will be BETTER when AI can decide who to have sanctions against for human rights violations and who shouldn’t! It would be funny to have a robot declare that the ultimate sanctions should be against Saudi Arabia and other Muslim states that treat women like cattle (or worse), murder people for being gay, mutilate little girls clitoris’, chop off hands for robbery and on and on. Imagine a robot putting ISRAEL at the top of the list where there should be sanctions! Ha!!
Honestly, comparing Saudi Arabia and Cuba should make every sensible member of Congress choke on their own saliva. What a travesty of justice!
Not to mention that the recent vote of sanctions against Russia which was nearly unanimous with NO EVIDENCE is actually an act of war.
I have watched Oliver Stone’s interviews with Putin on Showtime and seriously, Putin seems like the sensible guy in the room!
Excellent, excellent post.
excellent comment
Thanks for pointing out that regime change is, in fact, a very profitable business for US companies. With plenty of meaty bones thrown off to the NGOs.
NGOs make me angry. So many self-satisfied liberals make an excellent living working for them. They don’t pay income tax, often, and they live, for free, in the abandoned mansions of the host countries’ former oligharchs, with cooks, maids and drivers. While patting themselves on the back for helping the local people, impoverished and oppressed by US actions and policy.
Feeling so good about themselves in their cushy, secure jobs, while the people they claim to be helping continue to suffer.
In reality, they are the handmaidens and enablers of the regime-changers. One of the USA’s most profitable growth industries, along with marketing and the financialization of the US economy in a stagnant growth era where we no longer actually make stuff.
“…I am capable of robbing a bank. Is that sufficient evidence to convict me of
having robbed a bank?”
THE SIN OF CAPACITY
Every time I see the word “capacity” I want to die of shame.. It is the most
abused word in the current rhetorical lexicon.
This observer never “followed” the SHOW on TV/radio etc. that
riveted much of the world. Both Democrats and Republicans
shared in shouts of “the Russians are Coming”.
(No one seemed aware that the US is constantly involved in
influencing elections in foreign nations. The assumption may
be that the US has an inalienable right.)
In tone, what I heard was reminiscent of’ McCarthyism”, its
rants. It should be noted that the undistinguished Senator from
Wisconsin was hardly the first, but liberal/progressives seem to
conveniently forget similar situations during Democratic
Administrations. The Truman Doctrine. The loyalty oath.
The attorney general’s list. Bribing foreign nations for
consideration for “aid from the Marshall Fund” And so on.
Perhaps the coup of the Ukraine is more in our minds.these days.
An ezxcellent article Mr. Carden.
The Democrats did not sound much different from “Pitchfork”
Ben, the segregationist from the South.
—Peter Loeb, Boston, MA, USA
The lack of critical thinking in the US populace is astonishing.They take whatever is dished out by our wonderful propaganda outlets.
Hmm. We have plenty of evidence that the US govt is capable of undermining any democracy on the planet. Is this a problem?