Exclusive: As national Democratic leaders continue to blame Russian President Putin for their 2016 defeat, they’re leading their party into a realignment with the neocons and other war hawks, reports Robert Parry.
By Robert Parry
The Washington establishment’s hysteria over its favorite new “group think” – that Russian President Vladimir Putin put Donald Trump in the White House – could set the stage for the Democratic Party rebranding itself as America’s “war party” alongside the neoconservative wing of the Republican Party.
Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses a crowd on May 9, 2014, celebrating the 69th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany and the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Crimean port city of Sevastopol from the Nazis. (Russian government photo)
This political realignment – with the Democrats becoming the party of foreign interventionism and the Trump-led Republicans a more inwardly looking America First party – could be significant for the future. However, in another way, what we’re seeing is not new. It is a replay of other “group thinks” in which some foreign leader is demonized beyond all reason allowing any accusation to be lodged against him with virtually no pushback from anyone interested in maintaining a U.S. mainstream career.
We saw this pattern, for instance, in the run-up to the Iraq War when Saddam Hussein was demonized to such a degree that any accusation against him was accepted without question, such as him hiding WMDs and colluding with Al Qaeda. In that context, some individuals supposedly with “first-hand knowledge” – “Iraqi defectors” – showed up to elaborate on and personalize the anti-Saddam propaganda message. We learned only later that many were scripted by the U.S.-government-funded Iraqi National Congress.
Since 2011, we saw the same demonization treatment applied to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who was depicted as a ruthless monster opposed by a “moderate opposition” which, in turn, was embraced by “human rights” groups, touted by Western media and applauded even by citizen “peace groups” around the United States and Europe. The Assad demonization obscured the fact that many “opposition” groups were part of an externally funded “regime change” project spearheaded by radical jihadists connected to Al Qaeda.
A Reagan Strategy
For me, this pattern goes back even further. I have witnessed these techniques since the 1980s when the Reagan administration tapped into CIA psychological warfare methods to rally the American people around a more interventionist foreign policy – to “kick the Vietnam Syndrome,” the public skepticism toward war that followed the Vietnam debacle.
Back then, senior CIA propagandist Walter Raymond Jr. was assigned to the National Security Council staff where he tutored young neocons, the likes of Elliott Abrams and Robert Kagan, drumming into them that the key was to personalize the propaganda by demonizing a particular leader, making him eminently worthy of hate.
Raymond counseled his acolytes that the goal was always to “glue” black hats on the side in Washington’s crosshairs and white hats on the side that Washington favored. The grays of the real world were to be avoided and any politician or journalist who sought to deal in nuance was disparaged as a fill-in-the-blank “apologist.”
So, in the 1980s, the Reagan administration targeted Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega, “the dictator in designer glasses,” as President Reagan dubbed him.
In 1989, before the invasion of Panama, Gen. Manuel Noriega got the treatment. In 1990, it was Saddam Hussein’s turn, deemed “worse than Hitler” by President George H.W. Bush. During the Clinton administration, the demon du jour was Serbia’s Slobodan Milosevic. In all these cases, there were legitimate criticisms of these leaders, but their evils were inflated to fantastical proportions to justify bloody military interventions by the U.S. government and its allies.
Regime Change in Moscow?
The main difference in recent years is that Official Washington’s neocons and liberal interventionists have taken aim at Russia with the goal of “regime change” in Moscow, a strategy that risks the world’s nuclear annihilation. But except for the stakes, the old script is still being followed.
A wintery scene in Moscow, near Red Square. (Photo by Robert Parry)
Rather than a realistic assessment of what happened in Ukraine, the American people and the West in general have been fed a steady diet of propaganda. As U.S. neocons and liberal interventionists pushed for and achieved the violent overthrow of elected President Viktor Yanukovych, he was lavishly smeared as the embodiment of corruption over such items as a sauna in his official residence. Yanukovych wore the black hat and the street fighters of the Maidan, led by ultra-nationalists and neo-Nazis, wore the white hats.
However, after Yanukovych’s unconstitutional ouster, his supporters, concentrated in Ukraine’s ethnic Russian areas, resisted the putsch. But the Western storyline was simply a Russian “invasion.” The absence of any evidence – like photos of an amphibious landing in Crimea or tanks crashing across Ukraine’s borders – didn’t seem to matter. Since Americans and Europeans had already been prepped to hate Putin, no evidence apparently was needed. The New York Times and other mainstream publications just reported any accusations as flat fact.
Even the exposure of a pre-coup phone call in which neocon U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland discussed with U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt who would lead the post-coup regime and how to “glue this thing” or “midwife this thing” didn’t matter either. Evidence of U.S. coup plotting wasn’t welcome because it didn’t fit the narrative of brave young Ukrainians promoting democracy by overthrowing the democratically elected leader.
Indeed, the leaked phone call, which the Western media attributed to Russian intelligence, became – rather than proof of U.S. coup plotting – an example of Moscow’s use of “kompromat” (i.e., compromising material) against the “victim,” Assistant Secretary Nuland, who was embarrassed because she had also disparaged the European Union’s lack of aggressiveness with the pithy remark, “Fuck the E.U.”
So, while many of these U.S. propaganda patterns can be traced back to Reagan and his desire to “kick the Vietnam Syndrome,” they have truly become bipartisan. Up had become down whichever party was in office with the mainstream media reinforcing the propaganda themes and deceptions.
The Trump Future
One can expect that the Trump administration will come to enjoy its own control over the levers of propaganda – especially given President Trump’s obsession with always being right no matter what the contrary evidence – but there has been some addition by subtraction in the changeover of administrations.
Donald Trump speaking with the media at a hangar at Mesa Gateway Airport in Mesa, Arizona. Dec. 16, 2015. (Flickr Gage Skidmore)
Many of the neocons and liberal hawks who nested in the Obama administration – people like Victoria Nuland – are gone. That at least creates the possibility for some fresh thinking on such issues as continuing the “information war” against Putin and Russia. A more realistic assessment regarding the Kremlin may be possible given the fact that Secretary of State-designate Rex Tillerson and National Security Advisor Michael Flynn are not Russo-phobes and have personal experience with the Kremlin.
But the Democrats – and even progressives – appear determined to keep alive the anti-Russian hysteria that reached “group think” levels in the final weeks of the Obama administration and is now being carried forward by leading liberal organizations.
As James W. Carden reported for The Nation, “In the time between the November election and [Trump’s] inauguration, the Center for American Progress (CAP) and its president, former Hillary Clinton aide Neera Tanden, have been at the forefront of what some are calling ‘the resistance.’ Yet one troubling aspect of ‘the resistance’ seems to be its belief that Trump owes his surprise victory in the early morning hours of November 9 to the Russian government.”
Carden cited a session at CAP’s Washington headquarters at which Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, and Tanden hammered home the U.S. intelligence community’s still evidence-free claims that Putin ordered his intelligence services to sabotage Clinton’s campaign and help Trump. Again, details and nuance were unwelcome and unnecessary since the villains were the thoroughly demonized Putin and the widely despised (at least in Democratic circles) Trump.
But there are multiple dangers from the continuation of this propaganda narrative: the obvious one is the risk that the Washington establishment will make the Putin-Trump “guilt” a certified “group think” rather than a charge that needs careful analysis and that certitude could lead to an eventual nuclear showdown with Russia.
Democratic Delusions
Another risk, however, is that the Democrats will come to believe that Putin’s interference defeated Hillary Clinton and thus a desperately needed self-evaluation won’t happen.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with former U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and astronaut Mark Kelly speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at Carl Hayden High School in Phoenix, Arizona. March 21, 2016. (Photo by Gage Skidmore)
Even if Putin did have his intelligence agents hack Democratic emails and then slipped them to WikiLeaks (although its founder Julian Assange and an associate, former U.K. Ambassador Craig Murray, have denied this), it is clear that the contents of the emails were legitimate and revealed some newsworthy facts about both the Democratic National Committee’s tilting the playing field against Sen. Bernie Sanders and what Clinton told Wall Street bankers in paid speeches that she was hiding from the voters. In other words, the emails weren’t disinformation; they provided real facts that the American people had a right to know before heading to the polls.
But the other key point is that these emails had little impact on the election. Even Clinton herself initially put the blame for her defeat on FBI Director James Comey for briefly reopening and then re-closing an investigation into her use of a private email server as Secretary of State. It was then that her poll numbers began to crater – and Putin had nothing to do with either her reckless decision to conduct State Department business through her private email server or Comey’s decisions regarding the investigation.
But the blame-Putin diversion has enabled the national Democratic Party to avoid reexamining its own contributions to Trump’s Electoral College victory, particularly its insistence on nominating Clinton despite many polls showing her high unfavorable numbers and a widespread recognition that 2016 was an anti-establishment year. The Democratic Party put on blinders to ignore the grave vulnerabilities of its candidate and the sour mood of the electorate.
In a larger sense, the Democratic Party ignored its own reputation as a home for internationalists, elitists and interventionists. Indeed, Clinton chose to cater to the neocons who are very influential in Official Washington but carry little weight in Middle America. Then, she made things worse by insulting many white blue-collar Americans as “deplorables.”
Yet, instead of conducting a thorough autopsy of their demise – sinking into minority status in Congress and across the country – the Democrats apparently think they can whistle past their political graveyard by blaming their defeat on Putin and by building a movement based on attacking Trump’s erratic and offensive behavior, very similar to the failed strategy that Clinton employed last fall.
Not only does this negative strategy threaten again to backfire but – by feeding into a new and dangerous Cold War – it risks tying the Democrats to conflict and militarism and letting the Trump Republicans position themselves as the alternatives to endless and escalating wars.
Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, America’s Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com).
Thanks for the insight!! Please forward copies to African American “Misleaders” John Lewis and Elijah Cummings-Owen Lawson. III
Americans, whether D or R, need some cosmic enemy to be against at all time. For now, it’s Russia. All that Cold War political education, decades ago, is still working in peoples’ minds. Probably China will be next.
Everyone but the Jews in name
Yawn
” there were legitimate criticisms of these leaders, but their evils ” Really? Their evils? How about flaws. Here’s how evil is defined in the internet dictionary.
e·vil
??v?l/Submit
adjective
1.
profoundly immoral and malevolent.
“his evil deeds”
synonyms: wicked, bad, wrong, immoral, sinful, foul, vile, dishonorable, corrupt, iniquitous, depraved, reprobate, villainous, nefarious, vicious, malicious; More
noun
1.
profound immorality, wickedness, and depravity, especially when regarded as a supernatural force.
“the world is stalked by relentless evil”
synonyms: wickedness, bad, badness, wrongdoing, sin, ill, immorality, vice, iniquity, degeneracy, corruption, depravity, villainy, nefariousness, malevolence; More
Otherwise, I agree with every point made in this article.
“liberal” illusions? ….EU’s transatlantic puppets and …Victoria Nuland’s “Fu.. EU”!!! State’s DNA culture.
Charles E. Schumer, Richard Blumenthal, Carl Levin, Brian Schatz,
Benjamin Cardin, Al Franken, Dianne Feinstein, Ron Wyden, Barbara Boxer …..ICJP Members of United States Senate
Eliot L. Engel, Henry Waxman, Eric Cantor, Steve Israel, Adan Schiff,
Brad Schneider, Sander Levin, Ted Deutch, Jerrold Nadler, John Yarmuth,
Jan Schakowsky, Brad Sherman, Alan Lowenthal, Nita Lowey, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, David Cicilline, Jared Polis, Susan Davis, Lois Frankel, Alan Grayson, Steve Cohen ….ICJP Members of Congress
Democracy and intellectual freedom preachers and their’s dogma contradiction.
To keep Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s spirit alive! And free press “presentation” of English speaking world. ……We are in year 2017 with old habits and remaining unfinished goals. Bigotry is still around, only it depends who is selecting whom, to stigmatize and stiffen! People who deny access to intellectual freedom act are overstepping their moral obligation to Americans ( English speaking world ) and getting us into Orwellian world of arrogance and hypocrisy. Chabad-Lubavitch Russian speaking communities in USA have free choice to read, not to read (or to ignore) Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s books Two Hundred Years Together as are offered on Amazon, but to the “rest” of Americans this is absolutely denied! Who is writing reviews actually for these Solzhenitsyn’s books? …not the “rest”!!!
Bolshevik’s ban versus ADL, AJC, AIPAC, ICJP, Kennan, NED, CSIS, Cato, ….American academia’s ban?
Dear friends!
You as institution of higher learning in history, world affairs, journalism, literature,….teaching, researching influence of information medium (and its interpretations, manipulation) to be aware and I would like to ask You to help me into finding who gained “publishing rights in English” of Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s books “Two Hundred Years Together” and remind to English speaking politicians, dignitaries that it was never printed globally in English for more than ten years after its issue. Are we in Newspeak age? Process of rewriting the past, control of the past being a vital aspect of the Commissars control over the present. Monopolized press, publishers and distributors are using theirs establishment to manipulate or even suppress information and intellectual freedom act for theirs own interpretations, as I am pointing in mine inquiry:
“Intellectual freedom is the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction.” American Library Association
Away from commissars in the candle’s light we read samizdats pages of this Great Humanist writer with hope to get into hands few more typewritten following pages (in 1960’s) and now…….few decades later, several time zones west we are back to candle’s light in regard of Solzhenitsyn’s work. Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s books “Two hundred years together” still not published in English (lingua franca) after more then 10 years. Is this corporate abuse, conspiracy, censorship (Thought Police)?
Solzhenitsyn and his books including “200 years together” should be part of educational curriculum pointing to man who stand-up to the evils of totalitarian oppression,…..and opening window to those events.
Commissars of Thought Police in the forefather’s footsteps as in early years of last century Great Russia regions are mostly giving literary reviews to the contemporary goyims, as the historians, professors in higher learning. With Solzhenitsyn’s publication it is in conflict with there’s interpretation of some events, as documented in Wikipedia. Behind accusation of “anti semitism” they are imposing their supreme judge newspeak correctness via ownership of media. Solzhenitsyn’s “200 years together” is not on book shells of “free press” distributors. Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote not because of Nobel Price, but as human being who stand-up to the evils of totalitarian oppression with their Gulags and Thought Police.These western commissars at the time of Cold War priced Solzhenitsyn’s bravery, admired underground samizdats of forbidden literature and smuggling Bibles and other books into USSR.
But now, because of Solzhenitnyn’s “200 years together” they missed to burn him as Jan Hus was in 1415; maybe they will unearth his bones and burn as heretic,with ashes into Jordan river-Death Sea(thoughts), it was done with John Wycliffe’s bones in 1428;…… or just burn books as the 7th Century BC when Jehoiakim, King of Judah, burned part of the prophet Jeremiah’s scroll, (Jeremiah 36). To the present day, the burning of books has a long history as a tool wielded by authorities in efforts to suppress dissenting or heretical views that are perceived as posing a threat to the prevailing commissars of Thought Police. But better ways is even not to allow to be this heretical book published…plebeians don’t deserve it. As was done in Chinese and Moslem world for several centuries without Gutenberg’s modern printing press.No press,no heretical prints to censor. Zealous “New speakers” gained English publishing rights for the purpose to actually completely block globally printing of Solzhenitsyn’s books. Maybe we should ask Mr.Putin to samizdat Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s “200 years together” in English and underground smuggling into “free press” our world.This is “free press” witch is lecturing others all over the world. In these case, will You provide space on book shells for these smuggled Mr.Putins English samizdats? Please I would like to have one.
You know,……. there should be room for two more books on the shells of “free press” distributors, when You offering selection of thousands, or are we really free from this new correctness, or in Dark Age under totalitarian Thought Police?
Because You are part of this information chain (corporation), are You involve in this conspiracy ? I hope, You are not hiding behind the screens of new correctness as “human rights, women rights, gay rights, anti-semitism,…..” with black list, white list of forbidden literature, which can corrupt plebeian’s mind.
We, as human being are different, we have different opinions, different goals,….just look at election of any developed country. I believe there are people who don’t like presentation of contents in Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s “200 years together” books,
I would not argue, but facts are facts in some events.
Taboo discourse addressed by Solzhenitsyn’s books was well documented in the writings of 1920’s, 30’s,….(as Winston Churchill)..but it was pronounced as anti-semite, lunatic and sealed in “Taboo box” by these historians, professors of higher learning commissars, it did not fit in theirs interpretation of “Official History”.Now, we entered with English non publication of Solzhenitsyn’s books into another stage of “Pandora Taboo Box” to be kept closed.
P.S. I red 50-70% of this book in Czech PDF, but I would like have English edition of books. Czech books are not available and reediting got into International Tribe of Thought Police death hole. What coincidence? ….German and French editions have been published,….most likely it is not dangerous to mankind (for the reading)!!!
I admire Alexander Solzhenitsyn for his bravery,spirit,..to stand for free thought.
Thank You. To keep Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s spirit alive!
Mr.Karel Vesely, 79 Shadberry Dr. Toronto M2H-3C9
I can’t thank you enough Mr Vesely for your response today. I have mentioned this book on this site before as being too controversial to publish in English (A truly stunning insight for me) but I believe that Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a truly great writer, having access to both American political culture and Russian/Soviet history, is a unique voice in our current dilemma. That he has been “silenced” in English, is unforgivable…
A review of “Two Hundred Years Together” is at this link:
http://www.vho.org/tr/2004/3/Strauss342-351.html
I will try to follow up with a PDF link to some chapters of the book.
A Barnes Review is here:
http://vho.org/aaargh/fran/livres10/WALENDYsolje.pdf
A. PDF can be downloaded here…
http://ebooktake.in/pdf/title/solzhenitsyn-200-years-together.html
Why do people on this website always POST THE SAME COMMENTS! Everyone gets them already! We’re idiots!
Sad to report ,Both parties take turns ruling America, like clock work ever 8 years. Poor Jimmy Carter broke the clock and only serving 4 years because he supported Palestine state. 2016 election was another circus pony dog monkey act.
hysteria that reached “group think” levels “liberal” illusions? ….EU’s transatlantic puppets and …Victoria Nuland’s “Fu.. EU”!!! State’s DNA culture.
Charles E. Schumer, Richard Blumenthal, Carl Levin, Brian Schatz,
Benjamin Cardin, Al Franken, Dianne Feinstein, Ron Wyden, Barbara Boxer …..ICJP Members of United States Senate
Eliot L. Engel, Henry Waxman, Eric Cantor, Steve Israel, Adan Schiff,
Brad Schneider, Sander Levin, Ted Deutch, Jerrold Nadler, John Yarmuth,
Jan Schakowsky, Brad Sherman, Alan Lowenthal, Nita Lowey, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, David Cicilline, Jared Polis, Susan Davis, Lois Frankel, Alan Grayson, Steve Cohen ….ICJP Members of Congress
Democracy and intellectual freedom preachers and their’s dogma contradiction.
To keep Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s spirit alive! And free press “presentation” of English speaking world. ……We are in year 2017 with old habits and remaining unfinished goals. Bigotry is still around, only it depends who is selecting whom, to stigmatize and stiffen! People who deny access to intellectual freedom act are overstepping their moral obligation to Americans ( English speaking world ) and getting us into Orwellian world of arrogance and hypocrisy. Chabad-Lubavitch Russian speaking communities in USA have free choice to read, not to read (or to ignore) Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s books Two Hundred Years Together as are offered on Amazon, but to the “rest” of Americans this is absolutely denied! Who is writing reviews actually for these Solzhenitsyn’s books? …not the “rest”!!!
Bolshevik’s ban versus ADL, AJC, AIPAC, ICJP, Kennan, NED, CSIS, Cato, ….American academia’s ban?
Dear friends!
You as institution of higher learning in history, world affairs, journalism, literature,….teaching, researching influence of information medium (and its interpretations, manipulation) to be aware and I would like to ask You to help me into finding who gained “publishing rights in English” of Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s books “Two Hundred Years Together” and remind to English speaking politicians, dignitaries that it was never printed globally in English for more than ten years after its issue. Are we in Newspeak age? Process of rewriting the past, control of the past being a vital aspect of the Commissars control over the present. Monopolized press, publishers and distributors are using theirs establishment to manipulate or even suppress information and intellectual freedom act for theirs own interpretations, as I am pointing in mine inquiry:
“Intellectual freedom is the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction.” American Library Association
Away from commissars in the candle’s light we read samizdats pages of this Great Humanist writer with hope to get into hands few more typewritten following pages (in 1960’s) and now…….few decades later, several time zones west we are back to candle’s light in regard of Solzhenitsyn’s work. Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s books “Two hundred years together” still not published in English (lingua franca) after more then 10 years. Is this corporate abuse, conspiracy, censorship (Thought Police)?
Solzhenitsyn and his books including “200 years together” should be part of educational curriculum pointing to man who stand-up to the evils of totalitarian oppression,…..and opening window to those events.
Commissars of Thought Police in the forefather’s footsteps as in early years of last century Great Russia regions are mostly giving literary reviews to the contemporary goyims, as the historians, professors in higher learning. With Solzhenitsyn’s publication it is in conflict with there’s interpretation of some events, as documented in Wikipedia. Behind accusation of “anti semitism” they are imposing their supreme judge newspeak correctness via ownership of media. Solzhenitsyn’s “200 years together” is not on book shells of “free press” distributors. Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote not because of Nobel Price, but as human being who stand-up to the evils of totalitarian oppression with their Gulags and Thought Police.These western commissars at the time of Cold War priced Solzhenitsyn’s bravery, admired underground samizdats of forbidden literature and smuggling Bibles and other books into USSR.
But now, because of Solzhenitnyn’s “200 years together” they missed to burn him as Jan Hus was in 1415; maybe they will unearth his bones and burn as heretic,with ashes into Jordan river-Death Sea(thoughts), it was done with John Wycliffe’s bones in 1428;…… or just burn books as the 7th Century BC when Jehoiakim, King of Judah, burned part of the prophet Jeremiah’s scroll, (Jeremiah 36). To the present day, the burning of books has a long history as a tool wielded by authorities in efforts to suppress dissenting or heretical views that are perceived as posing a threat to the prevailing commissars of Thought Police. But better ways is even not to allow to be this heretical book published…plebeians don’t deserve it. As was done in Chinese and Moslem world for several centuries without Gutenberg’s modern printing press.No press,no heretical prints to censor. Zealous “New speakers” gained English publishing rights for the purpose to actually completely block globally printing of Solzhenitsyn’s books. Maybe we should ask Mr.Putin to samizdat Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s “200 years together” in English and underground smuggling into “free press” our world.This is “free press” witch is lecturing others all over the world. In these case, will You provide space on book shells for these smuggled Mr.Putins English samizdats? Please I would like to have one.
You know,……. there should be room for two more books on the shells of “free press” distributors, when You offering selection of thousands, or are we really free from this new correctness, or in Dark Age under totalitarian Thought Police?
Because You are part of this information chain (corporation), are You involve in this conspiracy ? I hope, You are not hiding behind the screens of new correctness as “human rights, women rights, gay rights, anti-semitism,…..” with black list, white list of forbidden literature, which can corrupt plebeian’s mind.
We, as human being are different, we have different opinions, different goals,….just look at election of any developed country. I believe there are people who don’t like presentation of contents in Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s “200 years together” books,
I would not argue, but facts are facts in some events.
Taboo discourse addressed by Solzhenitsyn’s books was well documented in the writings of 1920’s, 30’s,….(as Winston Churchill)..but it was pronounced as anti-semite, lunatic and sealed in “Taboo box” by these historians, professors of higher learning commissars, it did not fit in theirs interpretation of “Official History”.Now, we entered with English non publication of Solzhenitsyn’s books into another stage of “Pandora Taboo Box” to be kept closed.
P.S. I red 50-70% of this book in Czech PDF, but I would like have English edition of books. Czech books are not available and reediting got into International Tribe of Thought Police death hole. What coincidence? ….German and French editions have been published,….most likely it is not dangerous to mankind (for the reading)!!!
I admire Alexander Solzhenitsyn for his bravery,spirit,..to stand for free thought.
Thank You. To keep Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s spirit alive!
Mr.Karel Vesely, 79 Shadberry Dr. Toronto M2H-3C9
I checked that book on Wikipedia. Fuck off.
This process didn’t start with Reagan. Every unnecessary war requires pre-staging a black hat. You can see it before all of our wars from 1776 to 2016, with the single exception of WW2, which was the only necessary war. Our media described the actions of Germany and Japan objectively until Japan actually attacked us. We weren’t happy to see Europe and Asia consumed, but it wasn’t OUR PROBLEM until Pearl Harbor.
Yawn
Dumb historian
Thank you, Robert, for writing a clear, concise and all so needed article about one important dimension of what is so deplorable about today’s Democratic Party. Please continue to write articles of this kind for the sake of all of us who care about the welfare of our country let alone the welfare of the world.
I agree with Mr. Parry, as I usually do.
“Dump Trump” Cannot Win
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Dump-Trump-Cannot-Win-by-Michael-Morrissey-Dump-Trump_Intelligence_Putin_Trump-Protesters-170202-214.html
I had wondered if you are one and the same…thanks for “The Transparent Conspiracy” …excellent read.
Hysteria has reached fever pitch. Russia’s fake news is apparently so beguiling that it even threatens western democratic discourse. Combine this with its cyber weaponry and Moscow, so we are told, may interfere in this year’s German elections to benefit the hard-right. Such incessant fear mongering has already prompted calls for the censorship of Russian propaganda. It won’t be long before a witch-hunt emerges, directed against ‘fellow travellers’, those who dare to doubt the Russian threat.
They insist the west made matters worse in Ukraine by not acknowledging that it was a classic example of a young state that didn’t naturally command the allegiance of all its peoples. Other examples are Georgia’s Abkhazians and South Ossetians, Moldova’s Trans-Dniester Slavs and Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians.
They also doubt the Russian threat to the Baltic states. What is amazing is Moscow’s temperate response to Estonia and Latvia’s gross violation of international norms in denying citizenship to those of its Russian minority who are not conversant in Estonian and Latvian respectively. Nato and the EU turned a blind eye when membership was granted to these two states.
Fellow travellers furthermore claim the west will keep on floundering in the Middle East as long as it persists in treating Saudi Arabia as a valued ally, while viewing Iran as a permanent enemy. We have for far too long ignored Saudi Arabia’s promotion of Wahhabism and its playing of the destructive sectarian card against ‘apostate’ Shiites. Take the merciless attacks on Shiite worshippers by Sunni jihadis of a Wahhabist persuasion. It occurs with sickening regularity throughout the Middle East. The terrorists attacking westerners are invariably Sunni jihadis, not Shiites. Worse still, Saudi Arabia together with Nato member Turkey facilitated the emergence of Isis. We bizarrely gave priority to toppling Syria’s secular regime.
The first loyalty of these fellow travellers is to their nation state rather than unfettered globalism. No wonder the western elite disparage their national patriotism, calling it populism. It was, after all, the Achilles Heel of Homo Sovieticus. The elite fear the same fate awaits Homo Europaeus and globalist Homo Economicus.
I was amped up supporting trump in comment section in washington post then i saw Globalist Hooligands doing hit job on Tulsi gabbard , smearing her in every way possible. It is dawned on me. Trump was selected. Hillary email hack was done by Israel. Only CIA knows. They blame it on russia. They want to attack Iran next and iran will be next syria. Then they will attack russia. First though they test out iran by bombing nuke fascilities to see how Iranian react. if there is any missiles on israel it will become world war and Neocons already ready to nuke russia. They may have an idea on russia’s nuke pile. The way putin ready to bend to USA means Russian nukes and missiles not in good condition. America is JEWISH FIRST STATE. They have 100% Jewish ( catholic are crypto jews anyway) in supreme court and probably everywhere. They run it like its their house. George soros try to take over the world by destroying america and spread the power /money outside america. Trump goes faster and get rid of iran theorcrazy. They already wiped out yemen for saudi. Then regime change in russia will happen. Putin won’t sacrifice russia , he will retire. All the people who support Putin and Trump will realize they are basically Jewish plant. Good people can not allowed to exist in Western Jewish Imperialism System. It is not for people with weak HEART
Catholics are Jews? Stop rambling.
There is news in the “you cannot make this up” category: after floating a trial balloon about hosting her own tv show, Hillary now promises to write a book analyzing why she lost the election-seriously!
Talk about an exercise in total self-unawareness, this should be it-it will also allow all of her handlers to weigh in on putin, comey, wikileaks, etc, etc.
Then again, it may not get anywhere unless it is self published or one of her bag men step up with funding. Let’s see, the line forms . . .
I would add that the emails contained not only information the American public needed to know to make an informed decision before the voted, but were evidence of criminality, and, colorably, federal felony violations in addition to the 16 or 17 for which Hillary Clinton could and should have been charged – and that Neera Tanden herself was implicated, not only by the DNC emails, but also her subsequent comments about them.
If, at some future time, it is proven that Seth Rich was assassinated on the express or implied orders of the DNS for having leaked the DNC emails to Wikileaks, I would hope the whole DNC, and those Democrats in the vanguard, e.g., Schumer, Durbin, Schiff and Engel are brought crashing down, and Tanden with them.
If Trump wants to nail Clinton and her cohorts (notwithstanding the grants of immunity to some of them), and/or investigate that murder, he now has important tools at his disposal to get to the bottom of it.
There also needs to be an investigation into the death of the young man who served the DNC with a law suit charging them with election fraud in the primary. I don’t remember his name, but I’m sure it’s searchable. He was found dead 2 weeks later on his bathroom floor. It was reported he died of a drug overdose, but there was never any report of an official investigation.
The Democrats were already a “war party” under Obama. Putin/Russia bashing just an excuse to continue funding the MIC coffers. We are really, really lucky that Russia has such a patient, rational leader in V. Putin.
Trump has already positioned himself as the peace candidate when compared to the WAR CRIMINAL.
Charles Ferguson, who made the documentary “Inside Job” re the 2008 financial crisis, was asked by CNN to make a documentary on Hillary Clinton back in 2013, but no one, including Democrats and Republicans, would talk to him. He even describes speaking to Bill Clinton about it:
“In June, I attended a dinner for Bill Clinton, which was educational. Clinton spoke passionately about his foundation, about African wildlife, inequality, childhood obesity, and much else with enormous factual command, emotion, and rhetorical power. But he and I also spoke privately. I asked him about the financial crisis. He paused and then became even more soulful, thoughtful, passionate, and articulate. And then he proceeded to tell me the most amazing lies I’ve heard in quite a while.
For example, Mr. Clinton sorrowfully lamented his inability to stop the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which banned all regulation of private (OTC) derivatives trading, and thereby greatly worsened the crisis. Mr. Clinton said that he and Larry Summers had argued with Alan Greenspan, but couldn’t budge him, and then Congress passed the law by a veto-proof supermajority, tying his hands. Well, actually, the reason that the law passed by that overwhelming margin was because of the Clinton Administration’s strong advocacy, including Congressional testimony by Larry Summers and harsh public and private attacks on advocates of regulation by Summers and Robert Rubin.
Wow, I thought, this guy is a really good actor.”
Bill Clinton stood right in front of Charles Ferguson and lied. Eventually Charles Ferguson had to shelve his project because only two people out of 100 he approached would talk to him about Hillary Clinton. So I guess we were extremely fortunate re the DNC and Podesta emails to have gotten any information on her at all, because the political elite, journalists and media organizations (and their archives) sure weren’t going to be talking. He concluded:
“It’s a victory for the Clintons, and for the money machines that both political parties have now become. But I don’t think that it’s a victory for the media, or for the American people.”
From his article entitled “Why I Am Cancelling My Documentary on Hillary Clinton”. In an interview I saw of Bill Clinton, he said that he never used social media or email because he said these things come back to haunt you. Smart! Most likely he did everything face to face, like meeting Loretta Lynch on the Arizona tarmac. No written record, nothing to hack or leak.
And Charles Ferguson’s article also stressed that the Republicans were as protective of Hillary Clinton as were the Democrats. Isn’t that interesting? That tells me that it’s all one big club, as George Carlin said, and we’re not in it. So these politicians might argue back and forth about things they really don’t care about one way or the other (special interest fights), but when it comes to protecting one of their own, they’re thick as thieves. Lips are zipped.
Even Bernie Sanders defended Hillary Clinton’s emails, said they were no big deal. The disclosure of the emails provided a glimpse inside the machine. Can you just imagine what else is lurking behind sealed lips (on both sides of the aisle)? Government needs to be more transparent, and whistle blowers need to be protected. Here’s a guy like Snowden informing people that their government is spying on them, and he has to flee to a foreign country. Chelsea Manning imprisoned. It’s all backward.
Yes, if they were exposing corruption in private enterprise rather than government, they would get triple damages and whistleblower awards. Which for the test of us, at least underscores the facts of corruption.
Bill Clinton lied? Really? I find that hard to believe. I would explain why, but I just got a call from a guy in Brooklyn who has a bridge to sell and I don’t want to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Bill – that’s funny!
Oh, give it a rest! You goofed, you lost. Admit, grow up and move forward.
Parry,
An excellent article. Thank you. Well written and comprehensive in its assessment of supporting facts.
Of course the following, which you quote, is silly and undermines the Democrats ability to assess why they lost the election and so badly:
“In the time between the November election and [Trump’s] inauguration, the Center for American Progress (CAP) and its president, former Hillary Clinton aide Neera Tanden, have been at the forefront of what some are calling ‘the resistance.’ Yet one troubling aspect of ‘the resistance’ seems to be its belief that Trump owes his surprise victory in the early morning hours of November 9 to the Russian government.”
As for this: “the Democrats apparently think they can whistle past their political graveyard by blaming their defeat on Putin and by building a movement based on attacking Trump’s erratic and offensive behavior, very similar to the failed strategy that Clinton employed last fall. Not only does this negative strategy threaten again to backfire but – by feeding into a new and dangerous Cold War – it risks tying the Democrats to conflict and militarism and letting the Trump Republicans position themselves as the alternatives to endless and escalating wars.”
There is no risk there. The Democrats are already tied at their belly buttons to the neoconservatives and the Deep State which is trying to discredit or assassinate or impeach Trump. The fact is, that Trump has already positioned himself as the peace alternative. That is already part of our political status quo in the United States.
The nonstop media Trump bashing and the Soros-backed “color revolution” demonstrations, reminiscent of those of the Maidan, are underway but need not succeed. Because Trump threatens the entire imperial system of the last 25 years, in particular, by establishing a partnership with Russia, peace in the world as well as taking on the financial crisis and crushing terrorism are now possible for the first time in the last 16 years. Trump seems serious regarding his intent to end regime change wars, but if he is to make good on his goal of an economic revival, he must also be held to his campaign promise to restore FDR’s Glass-Steagall law and pull the nomination of Steven Mnuchin at Treasury, the 15 year Soros employee and partner who has clearly stated his opposition to that fundamental statute.
Because Trump threatens the entire imperial system of the last 25 years, in particular, by establishing a partnership with Russia, peace in the world as well as taking on the financial crisis and crushing terrorism are now possible for the first time in the last 16 years.
Peace in the world? Not likely with Trump and his fellow Islamophobes calling the shots.
Bill I’m all for keeping our country safe, and I had hoped that Trump would team up with Putin to defeat the Saudi funded head choppers ISIS, Daesh, or whatever name al Queda is using this week as a cover. Where Trump proves no better than what came before him, was by his drilling down on the immigration policy which is where he banned refugees so quick as to make everyone’s head spin, and possibly violated the U.S. Constitution with his advocacy to put Christians towards the head of the line, is in my view all wrong. He could have left this alone considering we already have a political persecution policy which will work for those who need to flea their hostile country immediately…or at least until they are approved.
In March of 2015 the Obama Administration listed these nations for refugee admittance, and lengthen the procedures for vetting these people to almost a two year process. At the time these nations were called ‘nations of concern’. You need this, especially when you are attacking the people who didn’t attack you, and out of fear of blowback you establish some immigration ground rules to keep your shores, and landscapes, safe. Not to worry about budget cuts though, because we still have our ever trusted allies terrorist mercenaries for when we need them, and who will strike when required….this keeps the bombs and bullets, and the suppression of civil rights going strong, and you need that to be an empire in these days we live in.
Yet, even with all of that, I still think we are aiming at all of the wrong countries, if we were to really want to put an end to this terrorist world we now live in. Besides that no country who did have any terrorist attack us Americans, I find it most interesting the close comparison there is to between the Saudi establishment and the head chopping ultra Islamic ISIS dudes. So for the last ten years we have been fighting all the wrong people, and funding all the very wrong so called friends, and yet we continue to believe we are doing what’s right…amazing, isn’t it? Oh, and before I forget, have you noticed how big our Homeland Security apparatus has become? This whole affair starting way back in 1991 with Desert Storm is nothing but a scam, and all build on a cover story which is a lie of the highest order.
Yes, the Trump seems largely a broad recognition of the extensive Washington lying, with Hillary seen as the establishment shill, despite some apparent Trump leanings that way.
Sam F 2016 was a ‘give me a break’ moment….you want good leadership, give me a choice. We voters were screwed from the opening of the gate. Although I have been, and will continue to be critical of our new president, I wouldn’t be unhappy if Trump does what’s right for America and mankind, so I guest we can always have hope. Joe
“Yet, even with all of that, I still think we are aiming at all of the wrong countries,…”
Joe, Craig Murray seems to share your view, In a recent post, he refers to “the twisting of US foreign policy.” He then tackles Trump’s immigration ban. Pointing to research by the Cato Institute, he shows that between 1975 and 2015, no one from the seven countries listed in the ban has killed Americans here at home. The same cannot be said of four countries excluded from the ban, namely, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, and Lebanon. You might want to take a look:
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2017/01/clinton-gang-push-war-iran/
Diana, I like that guy Craig Murray, he seems genuine…let’s hope he really is, because the durability of our heroes these days is in short supply.
Did you know that the FBI never charged Osama bin Laden with the crime of 911, due to the lack of evidence? The more I learn about the Saudi’s and bin Laden, the more I take seriously the story of Benazir Bhutto’s claim that Osama died in 2001. The crummy part is, is that talk like this gets you all the frills of being labeled a conspiracy nut, and a tinfoiled hat to cover your strange brain.
Thanks for the reply Diana have a good one Joe
Joe J Tedesky, Benazir Bhutto made that comment in one interview and it is believed that she misspoke. Several times in the months before she was killed, she specifically referred to bin Laden in the present tense. She said that bin Laden had evaded capture because the pursuit was not “hard enough” and needed to be “consistent and persistent”. She said that the people who were hiding bin Laden would not cooperate with her in tracking him down because they were “dead scared of democracy”. She told the BBC that, if the American military discovered bin Laden’s location, she hoped that the Pakistani military would be able to eliminate him without American assistance, but if Pakistan couldn’t do it alone she would work with the United States.
Thank you for mentioning Glass-Steagall and Mnuchin-the-Soros/Wall Street/London-mole. This is indeed the very first thing that must happen. You know who’s been advocating for this policy?…LaRouche. Trump could be safely steered through rocky and treacherous political shoals if he would take on one of LaRouche’s senior associates as an advisor. They are, at the moment, the only group who will get the straight scoop on Trump (they aren’t called Executive INTELLIGENCE Review for nothing; if THEY go thumbs-down on Trump, you can bank on it, time to bail). They recognize that some very good things are possible to get done by the Trump Administration, but some of his proposed methods to accomplish them won’t work…and the thoroughly filthy and corrupt Establishment is really gunning for Trump. He needs sound advice, and the Larouche people can give it (he can also advise Trump on how to dodge bullets; the Establishment’s been gunning for LaRouche for decades now).
Another ‘danger’ for Democrats is that a large majority of the country will finally come to realize what a steaming pile of BS the whole ‘Russia did it’ thing is. I’ve been a Democrat my whole life, and they have lost me with this dishonest, dangerous, and ‘deplorable’ crap. I find myself cheering more for Trump every day.
The DemReps or Repocrats are just revealing that they are controlled by the same oligarchy, bribed by the Jews and Saudis and MIC/WallSt, but the Dems use identity activists, while the Reps use greed activists.
Everyone but the mindless knows that Russia-bashing is a lie. The problem is that many women “identified” with the warmonger Hillary, just as many blacks and liberals fell for Obama, and signed on to outright fascism to get one of their own in power. The first candidate of an under-represented group is always financed by their oppressors, and they never see it. I would be shaken from my advocacy of feminism if I did not see men so often winning the stupidity contest.
We need a progressive party that accepts only small individual donations, run by fighters for justice able to take hits, persuade all sorts of people, and make coalitions with other populist parties to restore democracy.
Well said, Sam
It’s called the Green Party.
Correct. I’m one of those small donors; ten bucks a month. I hope millions of citizens join me in being small donors to the Greens.
Hahahahahahaha
Right Einstein
“The problem is that many women “identified” with the warmonger Hillary, just as many blacks and liberals fell for Obama, and signed on to outright fascism to get one of their own in power. ”
Yep, and Hillary win would have eviscerated the Dem Party even more with the same identity dynamic.
But it looks like the party is now committed to committing Hara Kiri anyhow.
I feel sorry for these Hillary-bots who are now FOR the TPP!! And FOR the CIA!! And FOR hostilities with Russia.
If Donald Trump supports abortion choice for women, they will be against it!!!
What has happened to these females parading around in genitalia costumes?
If a man went out in public dressed up as a penis they would be laughing their heads off (one hopes . . .).
Rebranding????
Probably the worst case of demonization is Moamar Qadaffi. In the lead up to his violent overthrow, there were some horrific lies told about him. Even in death he was mocked, “We came, we saw, he died.”
” Even in death he was mocked, “We came, we saw, he died.””
Let’s just go ahead and use the active voice:
Even at his death Hillary Clinton ghoulishly mocked Qadaffi, chortling, “We came, we saw, he died.” Puke.
This comment by Hillary Clinton should have been the the mother of all wake up calls.
The mask behind her sickening smile came off.
I don’t know that having allowed themselves to sink into the behaviors employed to knock off Sanders, then expanding these to Russia-bashing, as the Dems and Clinton did, will likely take them in the direction of an oh, let’s get honest here and see why we lost the election, and straighten ourselves right out to become an actually decent alternative to offer to the American people. “Risks tying the party to militarism”? I do believe it’s well established in that direction. The sheer corruption of the DNC in its Faustian guile to prevail over Sanders, followed by the work of its own hired investigative agency, crowdstrike, which then influenced the supposedly non-political US Intelligence agencies doing the recent reports on Russia’s “interference,” suggests criminal elements, not statespersons, have led us on into this worst case of bamboozling the public since WMD’s in 03. Worse, we are now so beguiled with the Russia demonizing there is very little effort to call these people to account, and to set ourselves forward to the possibility of a clean election process versus the polluted cynicism activated to defeat Sanders. Pollution builds, as we know.
The Democratic (?) party leadership need their John Dean to tell them there is a cancer in the party, but that would probably be as much of a waste of time as when Dean spoke to Nixon. The party leadership is probably too far gone for remediation. They might, however, be content just to collect donations from their enabling moneybags.
Fact is the neocons have a home wherever they choose. They are not rejected by the Republicans nor the Democrats. Although Bernie Sanders was touted as above all this, there were at least signs they were welcomed by him, too. Finding progressives who are not PEPs, Progressives Except for the Palestinians is very hard to do. The hopeful sign is that there are many, many intelligent people who understand that the Neocon agenda is not in our national interest and hopefully some of that wisdom will work its way into the psyche of the electorate, who will use the neocon advocates as a sign of who not to vote for.
Thanks Bob. Important piece.
Last week I had two personal experiences with the Outraged-That-Hilliary-Had-Presidency-Stolen-From-Her-By-Putin Center for American Progress Action Fund and its current president Neera Tanden and other Dem functionaries. John Podesta (now taking an intensive course in computer security) founded the Center.
Last week the Center hosted two picnics sorely in need of a skunk, so I thought someone should oblige. Below is a link to my two-minute conversation on Wednesday with the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, showing how he ducked my question with the disingenuous “I can’t tell you because it’s classified.” The day before Jan. 24) I had a two-minute exchange there with Dick Durbin, asking him basically the same questions. (See raymcgovern.com for more video and comment on both encounters.) Here’s what Moxnews.com did with that segment:
“THAT’S BOGUS!” Ray McGovern PWNS Congressman Schiff On Russian Hacking Fairy Tale.
Moxnews.com has put on YouTube the discrete 2-minute segment of Ray’s indiscreet question of Adam Schiff on January 25:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdOy-l13FEg
The bogus-ness of Schiff’s answer is shown in the January 17 VIPS Memorandum for President Barack Obama, “A Demand for Russia ‘Hacking’ Proof.”
https://consortiumnews.com/2017/01/17/a-demand-for-russian-hacking-proof/
Schiff’s explanation is, of course, a common subterfuge – “I can’t share the evidence with you; it’s classified.” This is precisely why VIPS had addressed the “sources and methods” issue head-on in our January 17 Memo to the President.
Ray
I could tell you but…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuE_jqYNi3c
Ray McGovern – that was beautiful: “Do you know more than Obama?” I am not impressed with that Adam Schiff at all. I’ve watched Tucker Carlson all of about three times, and one segment I watched was with Adam Schiff. Tucker owned him, and I actually felt embarrassed for Schiff. At 6:35 the real fun begins. Carlson tells Schiff that he’s dodging, “hiding behind weasel words”. Carlson also asked Schiff to look at the camera and declare that he knew for a fact that the Russians hacked John Podesta’s email. As Schiff squirms and deflects, Carlson says: “If you could say it, you would, and you can’t and you know that.” Schiff then accuses Carlson of “carrying water for the Kremlin”. It’s actually quite laughable and makes Schiff, a member of the Intel Committee, appear like a fool.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osRcP9DYjAQ&t=38s
Good for you, Ray McGovern!
The practicing of demonizing one leader after another in order to manipulate American public opinion is what I call the “Hitler of the Month Club.”
Daniel Platt:
“Hitler of the Month Club”: Excellent! That smears the tactic with the derision it deserves.
The Emanuel Goldstein (target of two minutes of hate in1984) that changes as necessary.
Thanks for your insightful analysis, Mr. Parry.
Re:
“So, in the 1980s, the Reagan administration targeted Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega, “the dictator in designer glasses,” as President Reagan dubbed him.”
Reagan himself was fully propagandized against the Sandinistas and for the Contras. I will never forget the vicious look on the old man’s face, his mouth twisted in hatred toward Daniel Ortega in one brief news clip.
Re:
“Hillary Clinton aide Neera Tanden ….. at the forefront of what some are calling ‘the resistance.’ ”
I have to admit that I was unable to drag myself to the women’s march because I was unsettled by the concern that it was being used, perhaps, to try to keep Hillary Clinton’s foot in the door.
So thanks, Robert Parry, for trying your very best to help us dig down through the muck of black and white propaganda to the “gray areas” of nuance that provide a truer picture of reality.
Excellent summary Robert Parry. Given a totally corrupted Democratic Party, and a pro-Russian Republican Party acting like modern day Fascists…What is to be done?
One of my contemporary heroes at the time was John Kenneth Galbraith, (link below) and his theory of countervailing power. I believed in him as a teacher and accurate analyst of economics and politics when he published his book on that subject. He as special advisor to President Kennedy, he warned the President about the Vietnam quagmire and the political environment in which they participated. I’m convinced that our current problems are a logical conclusion to their failed attempts to alter the course of government as they saw it. James Galbraith, J.K.’s son, has published a book explaining his work on the failure of the Greek Economy (linked below) that can offer insights as to what we now face and how we might proceed…
James is the chairman of Economists for Peace and Security.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kenneth_Galbraith
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_K._Galbraith
https://www.amazon.com/Welcome-Poisoned-Chalice-Destruction-Greece/dp/0300220448/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1485962283&sr=1-3&keywords=james+galbraith
Thank you, Bob Van Noy! I loved JKG too and appreciate his son’s work very much. He’s a prof, I think, at the LBJ School of public policy at University of Texas.
And he was one of the 150+ economists that signed a letter of support for Bernie’s economic plan pushing back against the NEOLIBERAL dogma.
Thanks, Bob. I met JKG in 1960 while working for the JFK campaign and was extremely impressed. Really respect James also.
Thanks evelync and floyd gardner, l appreciate the replies…
In my world I have noticed that due to my getting the news of world events from sites such as consortiumnews I see Russia, and Putin, from a whole entirely different angle. The people I know who gather their news more from the cable tv networks, and sites such as HuffPo see Russia as an intruder of the highest level. With this observation of those who relie more on MSM news agencies, and don’t dig down any deeper to get their news, that this observation allows me to believe that these people who stick to more conventional news intake were more influenced to vote for Hillary. The ones I know who read Drudge or Breibart, are more likely to have voted against Hillary because of the leaked emails which I believe we’re more leaked than hacked.
In my circle of family and friends, there were more Hillary voters (not supporters) than Trump, but for those who will admit it, I believe there were many who didn’t either bother to vote for president, ot didn’t vote at all.
What Hillary’s people have to come to grips with, is how they had no strategy to win the Electoral College. If Hillary’s campaign would have focused better on winning the Rust Belt states, such as what Trump did, then we wouldn’t be sitting here talking about Putin’s interference. It comes down to not even how many votes she got, but how she suffered from the lack of Electoral delegates she should have concentrated on to have won. For Democrate’s to place blame upon any other person or country’s doorstep, is just another lie to stack on top of the many other lies we have all heard come out of both of these presidential candidates this past election season….one lies leads to another lie.
Now I could never stand to listen to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannitty, Glenn Beck or any of the other ultra-right wingers talkers. Too many insults, personal mockery and ad hominem attacks. Also too many lies and exaggerations. But I always did check out the Drudge Report, Free Republic, Luci Ann, and other winger web sites to apprise myself of what the whack jobs on the other side believed.
I’ll tell you what: in the past three years or so the left has become just as crazy as the right, and, in many cases, such as the ones that Robert Parry outlines here, they have actually flipped positions, reversed roles! It was a totally unanticipated world in which I find myself agreeing more with Pat Buchanan’s restrained common sense than the Huffington Post’s top-of-the-header to bottom-of-the-page screeds against everything and anything Trump and/or Putin. Huffington Post actually inserted a boilerplate blanket smear of Trump’s total character, past actions and supposed beliefs at the end of every single article devoted to him in any given issue (which meant most of the current articles). It was a very formal and comprehensive demonisation of the man, basically equating him to the residue left on your Charmin after use.
Now this tells me right away, without a whole lot of introspection needed that the Huffpo has degenerated into a completely irrational biased mechanism for the distribution of pure propaganda rather than a source of unbiased news and analysis. I have seen the whole “Putin Derangement Syndrome” come to infect most of the formerly rational liberal analysts and pundits out there: people like the entire MSNBC lineup, Keith Olbermann, and Randi Rhodes. These and others are all dead to me now because they ceased having a functional brain and have nothing useful or constructive to say, not about national interests, foreign affairs, or even the future of the Democratic Party–because it will NOT have one if left in the care of such people, as I think Mr. Parry obliquely alludes to in this essay.
With their continuous sniping against Trump, based mostly on emotion and false premises rather than substantive issues and fact-based realities, they may well have a chance of defeating him in 2020 should he decide to run for a second term, especially if the economy does not improve and we are still engaged in wars all across the globe, but not if they run Hillary or a Hillary-clone from the neocon wing of the Democratic Party. Then again, by then people may catch on to the fact that the Democrats, in general, are simply deceiving gas bags just like the Republicans have been for so many years, and their candidate will again be rejected for being some deceitful tool of Wall Street and the MIC.
Their credibility is presently quite low and they stand to take another shellacking in the Senate in 2018, which can be made even worse if their M.O. is to simply oppose everything Trump proposes. Yes, obstructionism worked for the GOP but the Dems, who condemned it but now embrace it, will look like hypocrites. Democratic prospects will be especially poor if they make their trademark issue the New Cold War against Russia and Putin. As a general rule, people want to vote for peacemakers, not warmongers. By 2018, GOP campaign managers will re-condition the electorate to believe that the old song and dance of “It’s all Russia’s fault” is just a whiney excuse by a bunch of sore losers–which it is. People don’t like losers, and especially not shrill kvetchy ones.
Realist, with everything you stated, please know you are not a lone. Joe
What did the Dems do to correct their losing stratedgy? They put Israel?Wall Street’s senator Shyster/Schuster in the lead!
It should be called the Huffing & Puffing Post now, cause all they do is hyperventilate. Olbermann is a real headscratcher for me…I thought he had some common sense, which is all it takes to know the election wasn’t nabbed by the Bear. His performance on Bill Maher’s show the other weekend was ridiculous.
I came across consortium news recently and was very glad to find this kind of high quality journalism. Are there any other similar news sites that do not follow main stream media hysteria? I am trying to stay well informed and enlightened in the current media mess…
Check into CommonDreams, CounterPunch, AlterNet, OffGuardian. And of course, RTNews – with, especially, Countertalk (world foreign policy) and the Keiser Report (economics).
Truthout is increasingly a favorite. Consortium ..and especially Parry…has gotten to be “jonny one note”. We need more than the same ol same ol…though he IS correct in most of his observations.
Truthout was purely Clintonite warmongering.
Same with Alternet/Salon
Don’t forget Common Nightmares -news and views for the NeoCon Community.
Especially after their purge of commenters last year (whoever did not bow down to Lady Macbeth…
Counterpunch is good. Black Agenda Report is good. The Intercept has a few good writers (Greenwald especially). Moon Of Alabama is good. WSWS is is usually good. Global Research is generally good.
You mean Crosstalk, right?
As you may know, NYC, you have your very own Democracy Now, broadcasting daily from the Firehouse station. Amy Goodman’s done a great job keeping up with the national news, IMO, with in depth interviews that often provide an alternative perspective.
And if you check out the links that writers and commenters add, they can be interesting too!
If you have time you can always look back through the articles for references and links.
Welcome!
Amy Goodman has become the very kind of anti-Trump/antiPutin fanaticist Robert warns against.
Greetings from NYC:
Linda Furr has given you an excellent list. Have a look also at Truthdig, This Can’t be Happening, Paul Craig Roberts, and The Saker.
The Intercept. MintPress, Democracy Now and Buzzflash/Truthout also have some interesting articles in addition to some pieces that appear to be supportive of the neocon/neoliberal establishment.
This comment looks familiar. I am quite sure I have seen it fairly recently earlier Consortium News threads.
Has Greetings from NYC posted it previously? Is he/she on the level?
Just curious.
Alternate news sites are quite easy to find.
Cruise the following websites on a regular basis. Bookmark them.
You won’t agree with all that you read, but you will get alternative viewpoints and often very good research and links:
##Information Clearing House
##The Vineyard of the Saker
##Dmitri Orlov–Club Orlov
##Strategic Culture (including contributions by the great Wayne Madsen)
##New East Outlook (including contributions by William Engdahl)
##Voltaire Net (Thierry Meyssan)
##Moon of Alabama
##Mondoweiss
##Unz Review (here you can find a little bit of everything)
##WhoWhatWhy (Russ Baker)
Add the Jimmy Dore show on YouTube! Truely outstanding analysis.
OpEdNews and tune in to the Sane Progressive on Face Book or You Tube. She is rockin’ it!
Watch: The Real News Network. Read: Tom Dispatch, Naked Capitalism, Wall Street on Parade and Wolf Street.
I’ll second your Naked Capitalism suggestion. 98% of the time I’m nodding with agreement. And the sheer range of the links they provide makes for mind-expanding reading.
Much skepticism for TomDispatch these days. William DeBuys over there is convinced that the Russians are directly responsible for the election results, and that anyone who doesn’t believe this as an act of faith is just a deluded fanatic:
“At this point no one aside from Trump die-hards and maybe Trump himself…denies that the hackers were Russian and acted under some kind of official instruction, even possibly from the highest levels of Kremlin authority, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.”
“None of the meddling was as blatantly subversive as taking electronic control of voting machines and altering vote counts. Nor did the Russian hackers disable vote-tallying computers…but they achieved the next best thing. In our information-drenched world, the drumbeat of background noise can be as powerful as what one hears in the foreground. The Russians and their allies, in part through WikiLeaks, parceled out the juiciest tidbits from the stolen material over the course of the summer and fall, and the news media ate it up.”
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176232/tomgram%3A_william_debuys%2C_how_to_hijack_an_election/#more
He doesn’t really deliver a convincing argument and he shares no convincing evidence to support his claims. The supermarket gossip rags’ anti-Hillary headlines in the run-up to the election probably had more sway with many Trump voters, but no corporate media outlet is accusing the National Enquirer of “hacking” the election.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=national+enquirer+hillary+clinton&t=hb&iax=1&ia=images
caveat emptor.
Oops…I forgot “Political Research Associates.”
The American public has taken economic blow after blow in the years since Reagan. The Constitution has been throughly gutted. Freedoms lost. Freedom of speech sacrificed on the alter of political correctness. Greed is good took over the entire conversation in the US. Losers? Well they were just losers. If they complained they were poor losers. If they tried to organise they were labeled as jealous or creating class warfare. To try and preach the bennefits of NAFA in the Rust Belt in 2016 is something only a person in an iron clad bubble of denial would try and do. And the national mood is for real change, not incremental change which would have amounted to giving even more of the national wealth to the 1/10th of 1% of the population.
A blind man could see what was coming. The MSM, Hillary, and the Hoilywood Establishment extoling the virtues of the status quo while mainstreet USA wanted to send the establishment to the guillotine.. While they were doing this of course, most people were in their backyard sheds sharpening up their pitchforks. And Trump? Although the MSN is calling him stupid, a buffoon and every other vile name they can label him with, pegged that national mood perfectly. Ergo he is President and Hillary is not.
Since the Clintons slimed into the White House the Democratic party has been controlled by the neocon element of the corporate-Wall Street-war industry global establishment. Obama’s eight years, controlled and directed by neocons and corporatists, smugly institutionalized and expanded the worst of the Bush foreign and domestic policies. The corporate media ignored Obama’s smug savagery and whitewashed his corporate-servicing domestic policies. Dangers? The “dangers” have already happened. The global fascist establishment is in complete control of the Republicrat party, and the “two-party” theatrics are a purposeful distraction from what has been done, and what will be done, to complete the slow-walking fascist coup d’etat that has taken place in full view over the last thirty years. We are witnessing an attempt to overthrow our government. What we need to hear now is how we go about establishing a second political party in the poisonous Soros-funded media-produced color revolution that is being attempted before our eyes.
Parry’s comment is excellent and a must read for everybody, as is this response. What it means is the final destruction of the democratic party as a vehicle for any progressive movement, leaving, for the moment, the populist Trump foreign policy with its flaws as the only way left to avoid the destruction promised by the DLC democratic party. What we have is real fascism versus accused fascism, and survival in a negative situation versus the real threat of death, with the rationale for death being refusal to support barbaric elements being used by imperialist thugs. Former adherents of the democratic party retaining their ability not to vote for a sack of excrement labelled “democrat” will entail supporting new elements untainted by the hostile takeover such as congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and recognizing that a war criminal imperialist element has effected a takeover of the democratic apparatus which has become an enemy of the people and of civilization. The propaganda apparatus supporting the democratic mainstream, meanwhile, does have goebbels-esque aspects. Those caught in the group-think are themselves partially at fault. Hopefully enough will wake up from their stupor before 2020. If they mount a successful coup in the meantime, it has to be resisted for the risk of armageddon to be averted.
I’m a concerned about Tulsi Gabbard. If you read up on her, she’s a “over the top” Hundu who associates with fringe, cult like forces in India. I don’t have the references ready but did find this article.
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/curious-islamophobic-politics-dem-congressmember-tulsi-gabbard
I wouldn’t be surprised to find her jumping to the GOP/fascist tent at the earliest convenience.
I do however, share some of the opinions on “regime change”. Though, I suspect it’s already been discredited enough for the moment. The war mongers will have to find another “reason”.
There is no need for you to slander Capt. Gabbard, a congresswoman of great courage and integrity, who served in Iraq. There will be plenty of that coming from the Obama Dems and their right-wing allies.
that alternet hit job on gabbard was suspicious from the very beginning but when i saw good-guy reference to tom lantos, a charter member of the israel-is-more-important-than-the-usa movement i stopped reading…at this moment, gabbard is worth far more, morally and intellectually, than any other member of congress..granted, that isn’t saying much, but when reduced to starvation a piece of stale bread can seem a delicious meal and this woman seems more like very fresh bread.
She went to Standing Rock.
She acted as a Bernie surrogate.
Thus, she is slandered because she has shown integrity.
Final destruction, fascism, barbaric elements, imperialist thugs, war criminal imperialist element, Gobbels like propaganda apparatus describes the 527 elected salaried USA but Americans are quite different and will probably rise to the occasion as the need surfaces into plain view.
Electing a Democrat or a Republican, a white or black person, a Muslim, Jew or Christian have all proven to result in no change. Americans are just now figuring that out.. and are beginning to direct their attention to the problem of an out of control system of governance. It might take a few more years, but the change that never happened, is still in extremely high demand.
JOURNEY80,
Your comment is exactly on the mark. As I wrote in my comment (way below somewhere): ” The Democrats are already tied at their belly buttons to the neoconservatives and the Deep State which is trying to discredit or assassinate or impeach Trump. The fact is, that Trump has already positioned himself as the peace alternative. That is already part of our political status quo in the United States.”
All true about the Dems and their Putin-derangement syndrome, but Trump as the peace alternative is as goofy as believing in the Rooskies hacking the election. As Consortium News noted yesterday, Trump’s the double-down-on-the-Israeli-and-Saudi-dogs-wagging-the-US-tail alternative. Today, less than two full weeks into his administration, Spicer declared that Iran (false) had fired on a US (false) warship off the Yemeni coast, then stated flatly that the US believes Iran is in violation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Full stop.
The clowns around Trump want to go to war with Iran so badly they make Nuland look like a witness for peace volunteer.
I meant third last paragraph.
Great column!
A minor correction is needed to the third last line where you have “has” where I think you mean “as.”