As part of our Winter Fund Drive, Consortium News is asking readers to name the top ten articles CN published during 2018. The results will be announced on Dec. 31.
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Vote for the Top 10 CN Stories of the Year
List your top ten choices in the comments section. Among the themes we covered most in 2018 were Iran, Palestine, Syria, Russia-gate, European popularism, Intelligence, Media, North Korea, Empire, Immigration and Julian Assange/WikiLeaks.
Here is a list of 50 original stories we have nominated in chronological order but you can choose any that you favor:
Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews
The Mueller Indictments: The Day the Music Died
How ‘Operation Merlin’ Poisoned U.S. Intelligence on Iran
The National Endowment for (Meddling in) Democracy
American Public Troubled by ‘Deep State’
America’s Complicated Relationship with International Human Rights Norms
King’s Legacy Betrayed
America’s ‘Unlimited Imperialists’
‘A Very Different Journalist’: John Pilger’s Tribute to Bob Parry
Bob Parry: Holding Government and Media to Account
It Started Over Lunch and Led to the Exposure of One of the Greatest Scandals in U.S. History
War Fever
May Day ‘71: When Bob Parry Went to Jail in the Biggest Mass Arrest in U.S. History
Robert Mueller: Gone Fishing
The Latest Act in Israel’s Iran Nuclear Disinformation Campaign
Haspel Says CIA Won’t Torture Again as Ray McGovern is Dragged Out of Hearing
U.S. Media Whitewashes Gaza Massacre
A Tale of Two Tortures
European Earthquake as Populist Government Forms in Italy
Spooks Spooking Themselves
Distorting the Life of Bobby Kennedy
Democrats Put Partisanship Before Prospects for Peace
Letter From Britain: An Establishment Blinded By Russophobia
The Legacy and Fallacies of Bernard Lewis
Corporate Media’s About-Face on Ukraine’s Neo-Nazis
Clinging to Collusion: Why Evidence Will Probably Never Be Produced in the Indictments of ‘Russian Agents’
US Media is Losing Its Mind Over Trump-Putin Summit
Inside WikiLeaks: Working with the Publisher that Changed the World
The Case for Stripping Former Officials of their Security Clearances
The Gray Lady Thinks Twice About Assange’s Prosecution
Letter from Britain—Lost in a Brexit Maze: a Baffled Political Class Dreads the Prospect of Jeremy Corbyn
Ahed Tamimi and Her Mother are Freed from Jail
VIPS to Trump: Intel on Iran Could be CATASTROPHIC
Giving Trump Carte Blanche for War
Senator Richard Burr: a Longtime Fan of Torture
The Other Side of John McCain
How the Department of Homeland Security Created a Deceptive Tale of Russia Hacking US Voter Sites
Letter from Britain: The Real Reason for the ‘Anti-Semite’ Campaign Against Jeremy Corbyn
How Yasser Arafat Led the Palestinians to Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century’
The New York Times as Judge and Jury
The Battle for Our Minds
Seven Days in September
The Shaky Case That Russia Manipulated Social Media to Tip the 2016 Election
Khashoggi Was No Critic of Saudi Regime
Welcome to the Jungle
The Saudi-US Crisis Will Pass
The West is Failing Julian Assange
National Exclusive: Former Sen. Barbara Boxer’s Son and California Powerbroker Found Bilking Indian Tribe
Israel’s Overlooked Strategic Losses in Wars Against Arabs
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No top ten list .. but a highlight for me was “1918” by the great Michael Parenti who has all but disappeared from the Web…. many thanks for featuring him!
The “Battle for our Minds” is the article that really stands out for me? It really debunks this hysterical, deceitful & false Russiagate narrative, a Democratic Party creation, to provide a excuses for HRC & the Democratic Party’s hopeless & dismal loss, in the 2016 Election, to Trump, a man that was never supposed to win the Presidency? Russiagate serve’s a lot of Political purposes?? First of all it provided a convenient excuse why HRC lost to Trump, thanks to the lie that Trump was elected courtesy of Russia & that Trump is a Putin puppet or Manchurian Candidate? Secondly it covered up HRC & also the Democrats Election meddling to spy on the Trump campaign under Obama with the illegal FISA warrants? And more importantly it’s main purpose is to invalidate the results of the 2016 Election result & to get Trump impeached & removed from office via a soft coup?So if anyone should be investigated for Election meddling by Mueller it is the Democratic Party under Obama & HRC not Russia or the Trump Campaign! The article really exposed the massive battle for our minds & the pure psy-ops propaganda operation that has being relentlessly propagated since 2016 & continues today in 2018 & unabated in it’s destructive negativity, 24/7, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, to drown out deserting voices & gaslight our common sense & reason? It’s unprecedented in Modern history & you only need to go back in time to Nazi Germany & Joseph Goebels Nazi propagandist programme’s to find a comparison? I’ll just conclude with a quote from the dystopian movie V for Vendetta & it’s a quote referring to the corrupt Mainstream Media & it’s complicity in the fake Russiagate psy-ops operation? A BTN News reader states “ Our job is to report the news, not fabricate it, that’s the Governments job”! Sound familiar?
Sorry meant to say Russiagate was meant to drown out our desenting voices as well thanks to the White noise of propaganda!
Eeny, meeny mo but the best ten I just don’t know. What I do tend to look for are examples of the massive fraud perpetrated on the people of the world, with the relentless propaganda coming from a tiny minority of powerful people and institutions and how reckless and arrogant they have become.
Perhaps the most reckless is the ongoing attempt to unseat an elected president using the same clumsy but effective tactics they might have used when they have set their minds to regime change in weaker countries. They seem to have decided if we can do it in Ukraine, why not in America
What is at stake of course is the power of ordinary people to decide who shall govern, although this has already been compromised by the power of money and media concentration. Still the recent regime change attempt in America becomes a critical test for us.
I pondered and come to similar conclusions, I also just don’t know and agree – Herman points to the important themes that echo in most of the articles. The different contributors all have different approaches to the subjects, analytical, factual, diagnostic, providing examples or clarifying the whole picture, historical etc. Together, they provide insight.
You manage to provide equally vital coverage of US and non-US affairs. Among the latter very important insights on Ukraine, Europe, the UK, Brazil, Russia. Thanks.
Yes Herman, I suppose “Fake News” sums it up to some degree, with “gullibility” being the lamentable phenomenon we watch incredulously. However, there ARE signs of a “turning tide”, “uprising”, or signs of change, which we must note with interest rather than incredulity. I refer to Brexit, Trump election, Yellow Vests, and the many other so called anti establishment “surprises”.
We must take heart that at least SOME are resisting being hooroo ed into the cage. There is much to be learnt from the analogy of the “battery chooks”.
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/11/06/the-west-is-failing-julian-assange/
How Yasser Arafat Led the Palestinians to Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century’
Seven Days in September
The Other Side of John McCain
Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews
It Started Over Lunch and Led to the exposure of One of the Greatest Scandals in U.S. History
VIPS to Trump: Intel on Iran Could be CATASTROPHIC
‘A Very Different Journalist’: John Pilger’s Tribute to Bob Parry
Ahed Tamimi and Her Mother are Freed from Jail
America’s ‘Unlimited Imperialists’ Haspel Says CIA Won’t Torture Again as Ray McGovern is Dragged Out of Hearing
My top ten for 2018:
Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of The Mueller Indictments
The Day the Music Died
Robert Mueller: Gone Fishing
The Latest Act in Israel’s Iran Nuclear Disinformation Campaign
The West is Failing Julian Assange
The Shaky Case That Russia Manipulated Social Media to Tip the 2016 Election
The New York Times as Judge and Jury
Letter from Britain: The Real Reason for the ‘Anti-Semite’ Campaign Against Jeremy Corbyn
Corporate Media’s About-Face on Ukraine’s Neo-Nazis
Seven Days in September
1. Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews; 2. The National Endowment for (Meddling in) Democracy;
3. The West is Failing Julian Assange; 4. Khashoggi Was No Critic of Saudi Regime; 5. ‘A Very Different Journalist’: John Pilger’s Tribute to Bob Parry; 6. Letter from Britain: The Real Reason for the ‘Anti-Semite’ Campaign Against Jeremy Corbyn; 7. How the Department of Homeland Security Created a Deceptive Tale of Russia Hacking US Voter Sites; 8. The Other Side of John McCain; 9. Bob Parry: Holding Government and Media to Account; 10. The New York Times as Judge and Jury
Best Story: National Exclusive: Former Sen. Barbara Boxer’s Son and California Powerbroker Found Bilking Indian Tribe
How the Department of Homeland Security Created a Deceptive Tale of Russia Hacking US Voter Sites
Letter from Britain—Lost in a Brexit Maze: a Baffled Political Class Dreads the Prospect of Jeremy Corbyn
National Exclusive: Former Sen. Barbara Boxer’s Son and California Powerbroker Found Bilking Indian Tribe
The Shaky Case That Russia Manipulated Social Media to Tip the 2016 Election
Clinging to Collusion: Why Evidence Will Probably Never Be Produced in the Indictments of ‘Russian Agents’
The New York Times as Judge and Jury
The Gray Lady Thinks Twice About Assange’s Prosecution
The Battle for Our Minds
Welcome to the Jungle
VIPS to Trump: Intel on Iran Could be CATASTROPHIC
1. Letter from Britain: The Real Reason for the ‘Anti-Semite’ Campaign Against Jeremy Corbyn
2. The Battle for Our Minds
3. The National Endowment for (Meddling in) Democracy
4. Ahed Tamimi and Her Mother are Freed from Jail
5. U.S. Media Whitewashes Gaza Massacre
6. The Shaky Case That Russia Manipulated Social Media to Tip the 2016 Election
7. The Other Side of John McCain
8. How Yasser Arafat Led the Palestinians to Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century’
9. ‘A Very Different Journalist’: John Pilger’s Tribute to Bob Parry
10. US Media is Losing Its Mind Over Trump-Putin Summit
There are some dogs that didn’t bark, an afterthought, I might remark,
Though casual it seems perhaps, one wonders at the seeming lapse.
A few days left could still produce a bombshell story to adduce.
The fields are fertile. Fevered brows could still achieve and might arouse
That gnawing doubt that deeply binds those curious, inquiring minds.
Returning faithful pilgrims wait, though revelations abdicate,
Unfinished stories tantalize, without the scope to galvanize,
They disappear or then diverge, the denouement fails to emerge.
The ship has cast its lines unmoored, the swimmers left behind are lured,
There’s little hope salvation waits, their hope misplaced, delusion baits-
How fine their courage now prevails against the tide and billowed sails?
The time to get aboard has passed, alas the distance now amassed
Precludes redemption there afloat, because when needed to promote,
Their courage failed when names were called and falsehood was installed.
To state the obvious was banned. “Outrageous theories mustn’t stand”,
The labels they astutely planned succeeded and the guns were manned.
Relentless doubt fails to demand and Reichstag fires still command,
The “triumph of the will” astounds and “victory of faith” confounds,
Courage found too late betrays the truth as but an empty phrase:
Consensus lays to waste with lies repeated thus to canonize.
There are some tales still left untold, perhaps in time they may unfold,
The time is short, the stakes are high, the ship has sailed, but some may try.
The distance gathers with the storm, the pundits scoff and chide reform,
The ship of reason still in view has sailed abandoned by its crew,
Her banners wave and rigging sings, her sails once vanquished tyrant kings,
Too late the far horizon hails, the eye now scarcely spots her sails,
Upon the mists of glories past soon disappears her tallest mast,
A few intrepid swimmers race against the tide her ghost to pace,
Their chances slim and maybe none, such denizens to be outdone
Are lurking in the murky deep intent upon a rendezvous such myrmidons must keep.
I can’t thank you enough F. G. Sanford…
After looking up myrmidons to be sure what you meant, I am left with amazement of your ability to write hard hitting on the mark prose that rhymes. Either one is impressive, putting them together something else.
Thank you and happy new year.
Perhaps we should also vote on the top five FG Sandford poems of the year. Thank you for enlivening our comments section.
I make my comment as an endorsement of F.G.Sanford’s contribution. The articles set a tone, but the “intrepid swimmers” are largely the reactors, commenters, and readers. In a world where debate is virtually forbidden, my vote goes to those articles which created the most CONTROVERSY.
Thank you Joe Lauria and CN., you’ve presented a remarkable lineup of exceptional reporting.
My personal favorite is “Distorting the Life Of Bobby Kennedy” by James DiEugenio because it is looking more and more like solving JFK’s Assassination will be accomplished by solving and highlighting Bobby’s, and Jim DiEugeno will be a large part of that understanding.
The reports and people devoted to Consortiumnews, are literally the most hopeful element remaining of our tattered fourth estate…
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/06/04/distorting-the-life-of-bobby-kennedy/
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/04/19/war-fever/
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/04/04/kings-legacy-betrayed/
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/04/15/john-pilgers-tribute-to-bob-parry/
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/05/10/haspel-says-cia-wont-torture-again-as-ray-mcgovern-is-dragged-out-of-hearing/
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/06/13/democrats-put-partisanship-before-prospects-for-peace/
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/07/16/us-media-is-losing-its-mind-over-trump-putin-press-conference/
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/08/28/how-the-department-of-homeland-security-created-a-deceptive-tale-of-russia-hacking-u-s-voter-sites/
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/09/25/the-battle-for-our-minds/
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/11/06/the-west-is-failing-julian-assange/
Bob-
I’ll second your list. I too think that it all goes back to Nov.22,1963., the day our government was stolen. Until Deep State perpetrators are brought to justice, there is no hope for a government “of, by, and for the People”.
Many Thanks Skip.
Yeah, I’d have to go along with almost anything written by Jim DiEugenio, though you gotta admit, McGovern ranks right up there. All I really want for Christmas is my America back. Not just any America, either. I want the one I had when I was a kid, the day before they shot JFK. It had lots of problems, but hope was real, pride was real, and there were solutions offering promise. John Barbour recently produced a video in which he talks about his plans for imminent release of the Jim Garrison files – Garrison’s personally accumulated documentation which led to the indictment of Clay Shaw. That was two weeks ago, but it’s only gotten about fifteen hundred views. You can put a video on Youtube which shows how to poach an egg or peel a pomegranate, and it gets 650,000 views. I think Consortium News ought to get feisty, cantankerous old John for an interview before his subscription expires. He’s one of a kind, and has never given up. I bet he’d agree to do it before the New Year. Just tell him, “F. G. Sanford sent me,” and see what he says.
Hey Mr Sanford thanks for that reference to John Barbour….i found that, watched it….very powerful. Here’s the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsEPn_zEdWk if anyone else is interested. And thanks for the wonderful thought provoking poem !
“All I really want for Christmas is my America back. Not just any America, either. I want the one I had when I was a kid, the day before they shot JFK. It had lots of problems, but hope was real, pride was real, and there were solutions offering promise.”
Me too F.G. Sanford, me too…
“The Stone was at the bottom of the hill, and we were alone” (A quote by Jack Newfield from “A Lie Too Big To Fail” by Lisa Pease
Do you remember the movie ‘Pleasantville ?’ That is basically what you are asking for, back.
Good for white males, not so great for the rest of us. With a nuclear-armed America, fresh
off its Big Victory in the War which never reached its shores (excepting a few remote Aleutian
islands), wanging its new-found power around indiscriminately. (As it has done ever since).
My wish would be to revisit the entire ‘American mystique’ and acknowledge what it really means.
Oh, and for the whole World Trade Center thing to be thoroughly examined, once and for all.
Pleasantville or Camelot, both mythical idyllic strains,
Whose soft nostalgic lost refrains in moments of distraction creep
To rearrange perspective lost upon the waking reasoned schemes
Of plans implying treason couched in dreams invading sleep.
Knights of old in armor white, the Cross emblazoned on their shields,
Have rallied to the killing fields in every epoch ink records.
Each telling written down affords another flight of fancy glorified,
The pen with black on white has verified what little truth affords.
To rearrange the ordered might, what’s now reduced to black or white
Relies on instigated hate to blight objective reasoned thought.
The crowd is turned against itself as easy images propose,
Such Manichaean constructs chose defeat in every quarter sought.
Lumumba and Sukarno tried, when Camelot inspired pride,
And Harlem greeted young Fidel before the cartels broke his spell,
Algeria cast off its chains, Makeba’s lyrics mystified,
More than just a song had clicked before the legend fell.
Men of color, black and white, and women too would join the fight,
Behind the scenes the councils worked, exploiting icons they contrived.
Those Janus-faced deceivers lurked creating stooges talking talk
While all the while they knew the walk would never be revived.
Camelot, the thousand days, the cynics scoff withholding praise,
Colonial usurpers fell, but soon would reimpose their will,
The killing fields again would fill with blood and carnage profit bent:
Three million lives for nothing spent their coffers to refill.
So Camelot has been forgot, a white man’s dream was all for naught,
But in his stead came “Hope and Change”, the balance left to rearrange,
And women too would have a chance, the Albright doctrine could advance,
John Yoo’s torture memos prove diversity promotes…exchange.
Charming Jeane Kirkpatrick’s scowl and lovely Nikki Haley’s sneer,
Debbie Schultz can fowl elections, scoffing at those quaint protections,
Condi Rice was awful nice, with mushroom clouds she added spice
To Colin Powell’s misplaced advice regarding war and other misdirections.
We mustn’t shortchange Eric Holder, jurisprudence can’t be bolder,
Clarence Thomas stands between Anita Hill and profane scandal,
Sodomy made Clinton cackle with delight when she received the news!
America once had a “Dad”, to Cosby’s image none could hold a candle.
So black or white, I cannot choose, it seems that either way we lose,
Corruption comes in every shade, bereft of dreams our prophets had,
The Kennedys and Kings have failed, distilled corruption has prevailed,
Semantic tricks like “Pleasantville” are black and white and ironclad.
The arguments are simplified to cloud the truth, deceive and hide
The myth invoked serves but to chide those deeds with stories misportrayed.
Murdered prophets black and white succumbed despite the soul within,
But they live on in Camelot, a destiny betrayed.
F.G.-
I think this is your best poem yet! Thank you so much for giving us a taste of clarity, and fine art as well.
please consider using an online survey tool for this, it would make everyone’s part easier
Top 7
The Other Side of John McCain
Spooks Spooking Themselves
The Battle for Our Minds
May Day ‘71: When Bob Parry Went to Jail in the Biggest Mass Arrest in U.S. History
America’s ‘Unlimited Imperialists’
Letter from Britain—Lost in a Brexit Maze: a Baffled Political Class Dreads the Prospect of Jeremy Corbyn
The Legacy and Fallacies of Bernard Lewis