For almost 16 years, the U.S. government has stretched the military force authorization against Al Qaeda to justify a wide-ranging “war on terror” but now has gone further, attacking the Syrian military inside Syria, notes Dennis J Bernstein.
By Dennis J Bernstein
U.S. government officials, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., claim the current U.S. authority to mount military operations in Iraq and Syria is legally based on the Authorization for the Use of Military Force [AUMF] declaration to go after Al Qaeda and related terror groups after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. But how does that cover the recent U.S. attacks on Syrian government forces that have been battling both Al Qaeda and its spinoff, Islamic State?
Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, meets with members of the coalition at a forward operating base near Qayyarah West, Iraq, April 4, 2017. (DoD Photo by Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Dominique A. Pineiro)
Francis Boyle, professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law, asserts that the recent U.S. shoot-down of a Syrian government jet inside Syria on June 18 was not only illegal under international law but amounts to an impeachable act by President Trump.
In an interview with Flashpoints’ Dennis J. Bernstein, Professor Boyle said, “What the U.S. government is getting away with here is incredible.” Boyle also talked to Bernstein about the questionable Russia-gate investigation and the darker history behind Special Prosecutor Robert Swan Mueller III, the former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Dennis Bernstein: Will Syria’s hot war and the recent U.S. bombings there lead us into a hot war with Russia? Well, the generals are saying this shoot-down in Syria is legal. You want to jump into this?
Francis Boyle: You know Dunford doesn’t have a law degree that I’m aware of. But, of course, still the Pentagon is going to try to justify whatever war crimes it can. They always do.
Clearly the U.S. invasion, which we have done, and now repeated military attacks against Syria constitutes a Nuremberg crime against peace, and in violation of the Nuremberg charter, judgment and principles, and, of course, a violation of the United Nations’ charter. [It is] an act of aggression as defined by, oh even the new element of the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court that is not yet in force. But it has a definition based upon the 1974 definition of aggression which the World Court found to be customary international law in the very famous Nicaraguan case when it applied it against Nicaragua.
Indeed, it’s very interesting, you know, if you go back and read the Nicaragua case, and change Syria for Nicaragua, pretty much the law, the illegalities remain the same. Likewise, the United States Congress has never authorized any act of war against Syria.
So, this violates the War Powers clause of the United States Constitution, the War Powers Resolution of 1973, and is clearly an impeachable act against President Trump. This is a slam dunk. We don’t have time to go through all the other arguments being made on impeachment here, but for the most part, all those are being made by these totally hypocritical Democratic lawyers who never applied the same impeachable arguments against President Obama. So, I’m not going to waste time with them.
And, finally, this is existentially dangerous, what is going on right now in Syria. But Russia is there with the consent of the legitimate government of Syria. They’re not violating international law. The United States is in clear cut violation, as I have explained. And, now, Russia … has said that they are going to begin to target U.S. planes and drones. And, the problem is, of course, when you target planes, that triggers their radar and they fire back. So, we’re pretty much on a hair trigger right now in Syria for war between the United States and Russia.
And given the massive war mongering campaign we’re seeing being waged against Russia by almost all the mainstream news media, the Democrats, the whole Democratic Party, the Hillary Clinton people, etc. and sort of neo-McCarthyism against Russia, Putin and everyone else, I shudder to think what would happen if Russia were to shoot down an American pilot under these circumstances. In my lifetime, Dennis, my political lifetime, I don’t think we’ve been in such a dangerous situation since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
I mean, anything could go wrong here, soon. And, even if it’s not deliberate, as President Kennedy said when the Soviet Union shot down a U-2 spy plane at the heart of the Cuban Missile Crisis that could have resulted in World War III, he said something like, “Well, there’s always some son-of-a-bitch down the line who doesn’t get the message.” So, anything could go wrong here. And we could end up being at war with Russia momentarily.
Bombed out vehicles in Aleppo during the Syrian civil war. 6 October 2012 (Wikipedia)
DB: You want to talk a little bit about the so-called deconfliction zones, that are really conflict zones and a potential for war?
FB: Yeah, it’s clear, Dennis, and indeed [the] Financial Times now has an article on this, but I’ve said this for a while, these deconfliction zones are really de-facto partition zones for Russia and the United States. And what we’re seeing here is effectively all these surrounding states are going into Syria and grabbing a chunk of their territory.
It’s like jackals descending on a wounded animal. Iran is in there, Hezbollah is in there, Turkey is in there, the Kurds are in there, the U.S. is in there. We have our proxy terrorist groups in there. The best analogy would be a pack of jackals descending upon and eating away at a wounded animal. And the so-called deconfliction zones are just part of the de-facto carve up of Syria, in violation of Syria’s territorial integrity and political independence guaranteed by the United Nations’ charter.
DB: Well, as you say, these are incredibly dangerous times, and very, very difficult policies. Who loses, who gains on this kind of response to Syria, and bombing of Syria?
FB: Well, the United States government believes it gains because they are out — and have always been out — to overthrow the Assad government, and put a puppet in power. And, you know, continue to achieve their objectives there in the Middle East, going back for quite some time, preparing the way for future action against Iran and Russia, for sure.
So, they believe that this is to their advantage: the Pentagon, the CIA, the White House, the so-called Power Ministries, the Deep State. Call them whatever you want. They could be tragically short-sighted. I mean, this is the way the First World War and the Second World War began. What can I say, Dennis? It’s a tinder box, already.
DB: And how would you characterize Israel’s interest and their role in this policy? Do you think they’re a driving force in it?
FB: Of course. That’s got reported […] in the Wall Street Journal. I guess I should say Israel wants its chunk of Syria, too. They’ve already stolen the Golan Heights, in 1967. And they’ve been arming, equipping and supplying these terrorist organizations since the outset of the uprising in Syria. And, indeed, they’ve now carved out a further buffer zone in Syria.
So, they’re in to get their share of Syria, as well, along with everyone else. I’m not saying they’re any better or any worse than anyone else. But they’re doing exactly the same thing everyone else is doing. As I said, it’s this pack of hyenas going in there to gnaw away, and eat the flesh of Syria. And Israel is getting its pound of flesh, as it sees it.
DB: And this, you think, could easily unravel. These are perhaps, would you say, the most dangerous times of our life time, or close to it?
FB: Well, when you have Russia saying it is going to target so-called paint U.S. jet fighters, and jet fighters bombers, and their standard operating procedure when they get painted is to destroy the source that is targeting them. Yes. As I said, we could have war, at least in Syria, between the United States and Russia.
And given the anti-Russian warmongering and hysteria, and neo-McCarthyism in this country that has been deliberately orchestrated by the Clinton campaign and the Democrats and their fellow travelers in the mainstream news media since the Democratic Convention last summer, if a U.S. pilot gets killed, we could see Congress going into session, and declaring war against Russia. Sure. It’s a catastrophe, Dennis. I mean, anything could happen here. I shudder to think of the consequences.
DB: Amazing. But I do want to, just before we let you go, I want to ask you to weigh in. Because we’ve seen this amazing, as you call it, McCarthyite attack. People don’t like Trump, they find him very difficult. And it’s not hard to find him difficult. How would you describe what is happening against him in terms of … people refer to it as the Deep State, or an intelligence coup? How would you unpack that?
FB: Right, well, first of all, let me say I did not vote for either Clinton or Trump. As I saw it, it was a choice between the cholera and the plague. And I decided not to have anything to do with either of them. But I think if Clinton had been elected we’d probably be at war with Russia, right now. I think what we’re seeing is the elements in the Obama administration that was being run by [Zbigniew] Brzezinski, this ex-patriot Pole who hated the Russians with a passion, and the CIA, the FBI, the Pentagon, all moving further in the direction of a direct conflict with Russia, and especially over Ukraine.
President Barack Obama delivers a statement on the situation in Ukraine, on the South Lawn of the White House, July 29, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
As we know, it was the Obama administration, Assistant Secretary of State [Victoria] Nuland, a neo-con holdover from the Bush administration, who admitted, we had put $5 billion in there to overthrow the democratically elected government of Ukraine. Which we did. It was a standard textbook CIA coup d’etat, that followed the manual going back to the original CIA overthrow of the Mossadegh government in Iran.
Trump seemed to indicate that he was going to take a different approach, and not continue with this agenda. And so, now what we’re seeing is all the forces that had been lined up to steal Ukraine, to confront Russia, are furiously fighting back.
Now, I’m not saying Trump is a good guy here, but what I am saying, if you’re watching the mainstream news media, none of the people involved here are good guys. No one wears a white hat. And it’s an extremely dangerous situation.
[James] Comey, the FBI Director… well, first look at Wesley Swearingen, a decorated retired FBI agent, in his book FBI Secrets, has repeatedly called the FBI “the American Gestapo.” And, of course, you and I and your listening audience certainly know that, Dennis. Certainly African-Americans know the FBI is the American Gestapo. Arabs know it. Muslims know it. Communists know it. I know it since they put me on all the government’s terrorism watch lists here, because I refused to become an informant for them and the CIA on my Arab and Muslim clients.
So, Comey is no great hero here. And, indeed, when he worked for Bush Jr. he was Deputy Attorney General. He was up to his eye balls in every hideous atrocity Bush Jr. inflicted on everyone, both abroad and here at home, including the 1,100 Muslims that they summarily rounded up. Many of them were beaten up, and a few died.
As for Mueller, again, former Director of the FBI, the American Gestapo, Mueller, when he was Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division, Mueller was in charge of fixing the case against Libya and Gaddafi, for the Lockerbie bombing. When everyone knows Libya had absolutely nothing to do with the Lockerbie bombing.
Indeed, we had been told that the Lockerbie bombing effectively was revenge by Iran for the destruction of the Iran air jet by the USS Vincennes in the Persian Gulf, with the loss of all that innocent human life. And the Reagan administration refused to apologize, refused to accept responsibility, decorated the captain of the Vincennes that killed close to 270 completely innocent human beings.
Robert Mueller with President George W. Bush on July 5, 2001, as Bush nominated Mueller to be FBI Director. (White House photo)
But, in the run up to the Bush Sr.’s war against Iraq to steal Persian Gulf oil, he wanted and needed support of Iran, and also, Syria. There’s evidence Lockerbie might have been staged out of Syria. I don’t know if that’s true or it isn’t. So, we cut a deal that all of a sudden Iran, Syria, whatever the responsibility, they would be let off the hook, in return for Iran and Syria supporting the United States’ war against Iraq. And, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Libya gets blamed. Mueller was behind all of that. He fixed all that evidence that prevented us, the American people, from finding out who really was behind the Lockerbie bombing. I can’t recall the number there was [270 total people killed], [187] American civilians were killed. Mueller is truly evil. [For more on the Lockerbie bombing, see Consortiumnews “The Crumbling Lockerbie Case”]
And then, in addition, Mueller was head of the FBI, and he was in charge of the cover up of the anthrax attacks of October 2001. At the time, I had given interviews right after these attacks pointing out that this was super weapons grade anthrax that could only be manufactured in a U.S. government lab, or one affiliated, working for the United States government. And, indeed, I informed the FBI of this, given my expertise on biological warfare. And the FBI, then under Mueller, sent a team out there to the Ames Repository for Anthrax, in Ames, Iowa — where we keep our weapons strains — and destroyed them all, attempting to cover up the U.S. government’s origins of the anthrax attack.
That was all done while Mueller was head of the FBI, and under his direct supervision. So, this so-called special council that we see now is just a “fix-it man” for the CIA, the Pentagon, the military industrial complex, despite what you’re reading in the newspaper about character and integrity. This man is a criminal, he should be prosecuted and put in jail, certainly for what he did on Lockerbie, and what he did on the anthrax attacks. And I won’t go through the rest of his record here. So, this is a real scheme by, as I see it, the power ministries, what they used to call it in the Soviet Union, to continue our confrontation with Russia, and in Ukraine, in the Baltics, and also in Syria.
And in my read of the situation, that’s what’s going on. This is not to say Trump is a good guy, except to say, if Clinton had been elected I think we’d be at war with Russia. We dodged a bullet on November 8th. But I don’t know how much longer we will be able to continue to dodge the bullet.
And, again, we have to remember, Dennis, that for eight years under the Obama administration… Obama’s mentor was Zbigniew Brzezinski. Brzezinski and I went through the exact same PhD program at Harvard, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Department of Government, not the Kennedy School, which is basically a front organization for the CIA, and the Department of Defense. But the same program that produces professors of political science, like Brzezinski, like [Henry] Kissinger, and like me, like [Samuel P.] Huntington. And Brzezinski is an ex-patriot Pole who hates the Soviet Union, and Russia, and the Russians with a passion.
Former U.S. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski
Remember, it was Brzezinski who convinced President Carter to unleash Al-Qaeda [known at the time as the mujahideen] against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, in order to bring about, as he saw it, the Vietnam for the Soviet Union. And he was Obama’s mentor, at Columbia. And when Obama decided to run for president, he brought in Brzezinski to be in charge of his entire foreign affairs and defense operation, during the campaign.
And then, once Obama became president, Brzezinski stacked the Obama administration with his proteges, all up and down the State Department, the Department of Defense, and the White House, and the CIA and everywhere else he could have. So, that is what we saw for eight years of Obama. And Clinton was just continuing along those lines.
DB: Wow. Well, we just have a couple of minutes left. Today happens to be the fifth year that, shall we say, Julian Assange is trapped in the Ecuadorean embassy [in London]. What do you think U.S. and British intelligence officials are so afraid of when it comes to WikiLeaks?
FB: The truth. That’s what they’re afraid of. Well, Dennis, WikiLeaks, as far as I can tell, so far, I haven’t read all of these dispatches and everything, but I’ve read the accounts, is simply telling the truth. And we here live in a democracy. And, we, the American people are entitled to the truth.
You know, all this diddly squat about classifications and security is all baloney. We live in a democracy. We’re entitled to everything so that we can make informed decisions. And the government refuses to do it. The NSA spies on all of us, every one of us.
When the CIA and the FBI came into my office to try to interrogate me for an hour, which they did, the first question they asked me is, well, why are you giving these interviews all over the world, if you can believe that. And then they tried to get me to become an informant, on my Arab and Muslim clients. So, it’s the truth that the United States government cannot stand, and cannot withstand. And so far as I see it, Assange and WikiLeaks have tried to get the truth out.
And, remember, Mr. Justice [Louis] Brandeis of the United States Supreme Court said quite some time ago, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” And WikiLeaks has been consistently providing sunlight to us Americans, to try and disinfect our own government.
DB: Wow. Professor Boyle we appreciate always your stand, your information, and your willingness to be forthright in taking on the powers that be. We thank you so much, again, for joining us on Flashpoints.
FB: Well, thanks again, Dennis. And, remember, John Yoo to jail. [John Yoo is author of the “Torture Memos,” which advised the CIA, Department of Defense, and president on the use of torture techniques after September 11.]
John Yoo, former legal adviser to President George W. Bush
DB: John Yoo, he’s still there teaching those kids. And he’s been cleansed.
FB: The sick, demented Berkeley Law faculty gave him their most prestigious endowed chair. And that means that the Berkeley Law faculty have become accessories after the fact to the use of torture, war crimes and felonies. That’s right. They knew exactly what they were doing.
And I wouldn’t send my dog to the Berkeley Law School, these days. And I say that in sadness because the late, great dean there, Frank Newman, who taught international law and human rights, was a good friend of mine, and supported me at the beginning of my career. And then later he was on the California Supreme Court. And Yoo is now desecrating his slot there at Berkeley Law with the full cooperation of the sick and demented Berkeley Law faculties.
So I certainly would not go there for any reason. I had a son who could have gone to any top law school in the country and I said, “Don’t go to Harvard Law School, they hired a war criminal. Don’t go to Yale Law School, they have hired and still have war criminals. Don’t go to Berkeley Law School, they have a war criminal. Don’t go to the University of Chicago Law School, where I was an undergraduate, because they have a torture monger on there,” and I went right down the list.
DB: So where does he go? There’s nowhere to go.
FB: Well, he eventually went to work for the high tech business. What can I say? I lost my son… my dad was a lawyer, and I lost this boy to the law. But, regretfully, you just could see the total perversion of the American legal academy after 9/11, 2001. I regret to say that. So, what can I say?
DB: Well, we thank you for the frankness and for the information, Professor Francis Boyle, professor of international law at the University of Illinois, College of Law. Thanks again for joining us on Flashpoints.
Dennis J Bernstein is a host of “Flashpoints” on the Pacifica radio network and the author of Special Ed: Voices from a Hidden Classroom. You can access the audio archives at www.flashpoints.net.
To go to war, Trump is supposed to get Congressional approval. But he never will? Why? Because he thinks he can get away with it. Also, if Congress says no, then they’ll be labeled as “soft on terrorism”, and lose their seats. When you have the DOJ behind you, you can have them literally justify anything.
Excellent interview, and comments here. Look forward to spending more time on this site. Thanks Caitlin Johnstone for linking this article in your latest piece.
No More War
Syria sent 20,000 soldiers to join the US-led coalition that defeated the Iraqi army. Syria was our ally in the Iraq war.
They call it American Exceptionalism
http://www.raqqa-sl.com/en/
It matters little whether the official justification for the war in Syria is or is not “baseless”. The real justification for the war in Syria is Putin’s participation in it and the rest is a matter for debate among law professors and such of their dogs as have gone to law school.
There is an old lawyers’ saying that you must come to equity with clean hands. International law is like equity. Those who violate it cannot then claim its protection for themselves. By invading and annexing Crimea, fomenting “rebellions” in Donetsk and Lugansk, attempting to foment such rebellions in Kharkov and Odessa, threatening to make war on Ukraine if the Ukrainian government seeks to assert its sovereignty in the abovementioned parts of its sovereign territory, seeking to dictate the internal administrative structure of Ukraine and force it to include certain provisions in its constitution, Putin’s Russia violated Articles I to VI of the Helsinki Final Act. Nobody, not even Putin, claims that Ukraine has violated any provision of international law and the fact that any other country, for example, the US, might have done so is irrelevant in regard to Ukraine. Putin has therefore made himself an international outlaw and is fair game for all comers anywhere on the planet. Assad has allowed Putin to become the protector of his regime and has allowed Russian military forces to participate in the civil war. As long as Putin remains in Syria, therefore, neither he nor Assad can claim the benefit of rules of international law which Putin refuses to respect in regard to other sovereign states and the fact that the US might itself be in violation of international law, even the very same rules of international law, is irrelevant to that.
Michael Kenny-
Mr. “late to the party” I don’t know why you keep coming here with your MSM bulls**t. Nobody buys it, and most of the regular commenters have moved on. I’m onto your ploy to wait a few days and then post at the bottom, so as to avoid rebuttal. I won’t even bother here, since I have rebutted your BS points here in previous comment streams. I’m just wondering how much you make per comment?
unfortunately, he has proven that even on domestic issues, his main direction seems to e towards the money-men and against the ordinary person!
Military “solutions” in the middle east have been tried and failed, perhaps we should try a different tactic … https://i.imgflip.com/1cnja7.jpg
There is allot more information folk’s need to know.
May 23, 2017 U.S. “Military Aid” to Al Qaeda, ISIS-Daesh: Pentagon Uses Illicit Arms Trafficking to Channel Enormous Shipments of Light Weapons into Syria
Author’s Note and Update This article was first published by Global Research in October 2, 2016. In relation to the tragic events in Manchester, it is important that Western public opinion be informed regarding the unspoken relationship between Western governments and the ISIS.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/u-s-military-aid-to-al-qaeda-routine-shipments-of-weapons-to-syrian-freedom-fighters/5548960
April 07, 2017 Pentagon Trained Syria’s Al Qaeda “Rebels” in the Use of Chemical Weapons
The Western media refutes their own lies.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/pentagon-trained-syrias-al-qaeda-rebels-in-the-use-of-chemical-weapons/5583784
Any discussion about international law is futile as no one takes any notice of it any more. The only law that worries me is the law of unintended consequences.
This is an excellent expose on the permanent corruption of the regime and its chief acolytes. It also shows that it is no coincidence that one of the chief criminals has been delegated the task of seeing off the guy who appeared likely to overturn this corrupt system. I have always wondered about the anthrax attack and suspected it played a central role in the sidelining of the rule of law in the US. It apparently has been covered up so well that no accountability will ever attach to those engaging in the action or the coverup. I suppose our remaining time on this planet will be too limited to find this out.
A link to a book if interested: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OZ57TVE/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Here’s a link to a good interview with MacQueen…the transcript is here or you can listen.
https://lumpenproletariat.org/2016/09/07/guns-and-butter-presents-dr-graeme-macqueen-the-war-on-terror-targeting-elected-officials/
And I wonder if Israel’s attackingq now in Golan Heights indicates it feels it has to take matters into its own hands because it cannot rely on US forces, or if there is some other reason why it feels necessity to hurry up?
Israel is annoyed that its order for war on Iran is not going fast enough and is anxious to force the US to deliver sooner rather than later.no matter even if that will lead to WWIII. All evil acts of upheaval in the region were/are at Israel’s behest/instigation so that it rules supreme by imposing its hegemony unchallenged.
It’s Saudi Arabia, Israel and the US, each with different aims with some commonality. Both Israel and Saudi Arabia want to be the power brokers. Israel wants to diminish Iranian influence (Hezbollah, and Syrian leadership are on hit list) and then more land theft can take place. Saudi Arabia wants their Sunni brand dominant and to hell with rights for the Shia in their realm and their neighbourhood.
The US wants to control the region by being friendly to Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia and letting them do their thing, to hell with Palestinians, Iranians and the Shia. The US government is in step with AIPAC, the military industrial complex and to hell with international law. The US, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the military industrial complex think they will win. They haven’t considered the possible consequences executed by those opposed to such bullying tactics. Money, power greed and their corruption on logic !
John P – totally agree that that’s what is happening. Scary to think how Russia will react if pushed too far, and we have really been pushing Russia. Like a cornered animal, she might respond.
Our Brass Hats and their political pimps and coat carriers are ignorant, incompetent and Crazy Eddie INSAAAANE. The only hope in this dismal world war-mongering situation is that they will be swept away in the deluge they will cause. That would be Justice (so to speak).
Syria is a Sovereign country. the USA has not declared war upon Syria, although it has announced 15 or so years ago that it wants to take out the Syrian regime along with 6 other Mid East Regimes. I hope that Russia will stop this endless world domination that the USA appears to be on. Who in the USA has authorized the US to be the War Lords for the One World Order?
The people in power in the USA believe that you can make anyone do anything you want, and take from them whatever you choose if you have the great military power they have. This is crazy and wrong. but they are not listening to any rational voices – they are full speed ahead with blinders on. To put these threats on Russia is simply insane. Unless these maniacs are somehow stopped, we may all be nuclear barbecue any day now.
Stephen Cohen is quoted in “We are Inches From a New World War”:
“You know it’s easy to joke about this, except that we’re at maybe the most dangerous moment in US-Russian relations in my lifetime, and maybe ever. And the reason is that we’re in a new cold war, by whatever name.
We have three cold war fronts that are fraught with the possibility of hot war, in the Baltic region where NATO is carrying out an unprecedented military buildup on Russia’s border, in Ukraine where there is a civil and proxy war between Russia and the west, and of course in Syria, where Russian aircraft and American warplanes are flying in the same territory. Anything could happen.”
Notice he states “most dangerous moment in US-Russian relations in my lifetime”.
The psychopaths must have been utterly shocked when Clinton lost the election, but they obviously doubled down and said, “Let’s go on the offensive. You tell the media that we want a 24/7 war against Trump, and we don’t care how much they have to lie to do it. Fry him, vilify him, don’t give him a moment’s rest. Get guys like Soros to fund a bunch of hooded thugs to create some violence; put them anywhere, universities, Trump rallies. Get the intelligence guys out front to smear him in any way they can; make up stuff if you have to, plant stuff. Start drumming up demonstrations using the public. They’re useful idiots and fall for whatever you tell them.
We want control of the MIddle East and, God-damn it, we’re not going to let a little punk ass stop us from what we want. Get to work.”
backwardsevolution: Thanks for the excellent posts. I am losing hope bit by bit that it will end peacefully.
I read a book ” Mao Tse-Tung – Emperor of Blue Ants ” By George Paloczi-Hovrath in 1964 when it came out. That was then. What we have come to now is that it is not Chinese. These blue ants one can say are U.S. masses. There is no single Emperor we have, like old days. What we have this very Violent Ruling Establishment which is in place. It is the new Emperor. Every four years they hire a figurehead to do the job. Just like in Mao’s China, the Whole Media is Controlled by This Oligarchy. It is complete Mind control of the Blue Ants the U.S. masses are now. I doubt very much that Mao Tse-Tung propaganda could reach those thousands of small villages in China. But this complete control of media – TV, Newspapers, and other outlets – is thousand times more effective than what Mao’s China had. I have not been to China, but I think even in China – a One Party State under Communist Party – people are much more informed about the World, and their own Country than what we have here.
We are spreading “Freedom and Democracy” on Earth. What a Joke!
Dave P. – good post. “I doubt very much that Mao Tse-Tung propaganda could reach those thousands of small villages in China.” I think I read, Dave, that this is what the members of the Communist Party did, kept each village in line and then reported on wrongdoers. These people, or their families, are now being rewarded with all the corruption money they can stuff in a suitcase and flee the country with.
Yes, They are all over the West Coast buying expensive homes, and hotels. They send their kids to go to Private High Schools here. That is the Communist China of today. That is why people there are more aware of what is going on because they are very skeptical of their government.
All I wanted to say was that, our media has done a fantastic job of brainwashing the masses here – unparalleled in History.
Of course, I’m not overlooking JFK who “apparantly” lost his life for acting — planned to act — on his own convictions. I say apparent because that is as it appeared to us.
Deep questions, aren’t they? But that did occur to me last night about Trump.
From an article entitled “We are Inches From a New World War”:
“This is your fault, Clinton Democrats. You created this, and if our species is plunged into a new world war or extinction via nuclear holocaust, it will be your fault. You knuckle-dragging, vagina hat-wearing McCarthyite morons made this happen. […]
Russia has cut off its hotline with which it was coordinating operations with America to avoid aerial collisions, and has warned that all US aircraft west of the Euphrates river will now be tracked and treated as potential targets. Today, 25 miles northwest of the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, a US reconnaissance plane was intercepted by an armed Russian aircraft which came within five feet of the plane’s wingtip.
This on the same day that the US shot down yet another Iranian military drone in Syria. Clintonists have been working tirelessly since the election to manufacture these new Cold War tensions. Stephen Cohen, easily America’s foremost authority on US-Russia relations, has warned again and again that the political pressures being placed on the Trump administration to maintain escalations with Russia without conceding an inch has placed our species in a situation that is in some ways even more dangerous than those we faced at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
If KENNEDY had had to negotiate that crisis while being pressured by his entire country to keep escalating tensions with the USSR without yielding an inch, there is no way any terrestrial life would have existed beyond 1962. The Clintonists (along with their neocon buddies on the other side of the aisle) are responsible for creating those pressures.”
Incredible pressure Trump has been put under by these imbeciles.
I thought Trump was sincere about our own country and other countries having self-determination — that he would pull back on NATO, regime change goals, and the whole world would be better off. If that truly is what he wants to do but feels he cannot because of obvious pressures, then what occurred to me last night must apply to Trump. A biblical analogy, something Jesus said, that goes sort of like this: that he who seeks to save his own life losses it while he who loses his own life for my sake, (for the sake of right thinking and doing) finds it. Gains life! I fear the loss to anyone not true to himself might very well be severe indeed.
Isn’t sovereignty what both Russia and Syria want? Why don’t the NATO member countries want the same for themselves? Likely they do, except for the governments of a few such as Germany, Israel, France and the UK.
Virginia – very good points. I especially liked what you said about “finding life” by doing the right thing. Whenever you are not sitting in truth or doing the right thing, I think your body and mind let you know it. Life begins to drain from you; you get sick.
If Trump has been threatened (which seems very possible), he may not be worried about his own neck, but perhaps his children or grandchildren.
OR he may worry that if he is taken out, then Pence becomes President, and maybe he now knows that Pence would willingly go along with these warmongers. Perhaps Trump feels that by his hanging on by a thread, he at least can prevent all-out war. Stall for time, don’t go along with everything they want.
Virginia, who knows what’s going on. Sure would have been nice to have been a fly on the wall during these discussions, wouldn’t it?
Virginia – sort of like Dickens said in the Tale of Two Cities: “It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”
Back,
Yes! And we’ll continue to aim for that right here on earth, you and I!
Mike, thank you. One thing I did forget in my moment of inspiration, which I think you hinted at, it’s wise to choose the lesser of two evils. In doing so, one can still claim fidelity to truth as he sees it, but it brings in the practical. We can’t always go all the way even in one giant step, but step by step, here a little, there a little, keeping the high goal always before our thoughts.
The author makes many good points, but his equation of Iran with other countries with military forces in Syria is wrong. Iran does not fit the predator on a wounded animal metaphor he uses. Iran is not carving out territory as the others he mentions are, or were, doing. It is aiding Syria, at its request, in defending its territorial integrity. All countries act in their national self interest, as Iran is doing; but this is not the same as acting against the interests of the country in which their forces are present. We all need to speak honestly and rationally about these subjects, not with hyperbole or misdirected charges.
Peter: Thanks. I completely agree with your comments. You raised a very valid point.
Agreed.
“And, remember, Mr. Justice [Louis] Brandeis of the United States Supreme Court said quite some time ago, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”
It’s ironic that Brandeis is known for such an insightful comment considering that he was the founder of a secret Zionist organization in the U.S.
Sarah Schmidt a lecturer in Jewish and Zionist history at the University of Jerusalem wrote a paper in 1975, “THE PARUSHIM: A SECRET EPISODE IN AMERICAN ZIONIST HISTORY” in which she described how Brandeis created secret Zionist organization to promote the Zionist agenda with it’s secret initiation and vow that members commit to:
Initiation:
“You are about to take a step, which will bind you to a single cause for all your life. You will for one year be subject to an absolute duty whose call you will be impelled to heed at any time, in any place, and at any cost. And ever after, until our purpose shall be accomplished, you will be fellow of a brotherhood whose bond you will regard as greater than any other in your life-dearer than that of family, of school, of nation. By entering this brotherhood, you become a self-dedicated soldier in the army of Zion. Your obligation to Zion becomes your paramount obligation…
Sworn Vow:
To this end I enroll myself in the fellowship of the Parushim. I pledge myself utterly to guard and to obey and to keep secret the laws and the labor of the fellowship, its existence and its aims.
Thanks Chet, this is news to me – and an eye opener to boot.
Chet Roman – and it’s also interesting how Brandeis got his position on the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Shortly after President Wilson’s first inauguration, he received a visitor in the White House by the name of Mr. Samuel Untermeyer. Untermeyer was a prominent New York City attorney who contributed generously to the National Democratic committee that installed President Wilson in the White House in Washington in the 1912 election.
Untermeyer produced a packet of letters, written by President Wilson to his colleague’s wife when they were neighbors at Princeton. He had written many endearing letters to her, many of which she never destroyed. President Wilson acknowledged his authorship of the letters.”
This woman who had Wilson’s love letters wanted $40,000.00, which Wilson did not have kicking around in his bank account. Untermeyer said he would pay the woman off, but on one condition: that Wilson appoint Brandeis to the U.S. Supreme Court. Wilson did follow through with this request; Untermeyer held on to the letters, just for safe keeping and all.
This information was from a speech given by Benjamin H. Freedman, who was the author of “The Hidden Tyrany”.
“Freedman was born of Jewish parents and was a businessman in New York City. He broke with organized Jewry after World War II, and spent the remainder of his life and at least 2.5 million dollars publicizing the facts of Jewish influence on the United States.
He had been an insider at the highest levels of Jewish organizations, and was personally acquainted with Bernard Baruch, Samuel Untermeyer, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Joseph Kennedy, and John F. Kennedy, and many more of the movers and shakers of his time.”
It’s the ultimate “Catch22” – they’re looking for any excuse to impeach President Trump – but they can’t use the only foolproof legal pretext: war of aggression. Yep, what we’re doing in Syria violates The Constitution, The War Powers Act, The Kellogg-Briand Pact, The U.N. Charter, The Nuremberg Principles, and stretches the limits of the AUMF thinner than Nancy Pelosi’s facelift.
But they can’t do it, because they REALLY want the war in Syria to progress to Iran. The Neocons don’t care how many Americans are sacrificed; their primary loyalty lies elsewhere. But look what’s happening to “The Empire”. Australia backed out. Turkey, a NATO ally, is siding with Qatar against Saudi Arabia. Merkel has said, “We can no longer rely on others for our security”. That “powerful armada” in the Pacific has dropped out of the news. Moon wants the missiles out of South Korea, and China is their biggest trading partner. Pakistan needs to keep the Taliban happy because they serve as a buffer in disputed Kashmir.
Impeachment puts Pence in the White House, but he knows his way around DC’s corridors of power. That could backfire. Foreign investors could stop buying our debt any day now, unless we raise interest rates. That would force a stock market correction and expose the financial “recovery” for the fraud that it is.
Oh, the sorrows of empire. I’m still betting everybody is going to back down, because there are too many cans of worms on both sides of the aisle, and too many insiders are flashing their can openers. It’s a big rotten egg, and neither side wants it cracked. I’m betting that Ms. Pelosi takes impeachment off the table…again. It should be an exciting summer!
Sanford – IF Russia somehow gets the upper hand here, if some of the U.S. partners step to the side or back out, then the U.S. will have failed. At that point, since they’re not going to get Iran (at this moment in time), they could go after Trump and impeach him on war crimes.
“How do we get rid of this guy? What have we got on him so far? Nothing? Well, if we lose here against the Russians, then we’ll go after him on his intervention in Syria. In the meantime, as long as Trump plays along with what we want, we’ll spare him impeachment.”
Trump doesn’t care about the wars. He is interested in domestic policy, making America great again. As he wants to see his domestic ideas come to fruition, he goes along with the war plans. As Trump has never directed his mind to nuclear weapons or the study of wars/history, he probably has no idea of the peril we are all in.
A marriage made in Hell.
Good points. The madness exceeds the interlocking mutual-defense treaty situation before WWI, because many loyalties are now exposed. Here only Russia-Iran-Syria are defending real national interests, so the US could back down on the claim that Syria will be a quagmire for Russia anyway, probably true. There remains the instability of partial confrontations and the US propensity for foolish provocations, as summer temps often bring rash acts, and politicians are competing for bribes from Israel/KSA, and excuses to claim toughness.
On the “backing down” issue, this is the one part of the essay which troubled me.
Is it possible both houses of Congress are demented enough to do this? And if it happened, and Trump was crazy enough to sign the war declaration, how many of our allies in Europe would stay on board? Germany surely isn’t bent on becoming a place where stray tactical nukes and fallout lands, are they? If your heavily armed boyfriend who has been swilling beer while taking drugs says he is going to find some cops and kick their asses, it’s time to dash out of the car at the next red light. Isn’t it?
What can you do? How about whenever you greet somebody, you say, “Hi Susan ,(or James) – Are you ready for nuclear war? How’s that for a conversation starter?
You have to wonder: what the hell would it take for people to wake up to the danger that is right in front of their eyes right now?? Unfortunately I know from my experiences with addiction that most of my fellow humans are in the equivalent of a mindless make-believe trance that renders them blind to the danger facing us now. Nuclear war was something that happened long ago and far way……. It can’t happen here, not now. Everything will just go along as usual. I’m sure authorities somewhere have that all taken care of……
Besides, what can I do about it? No sense even thinking about it – it’s just a downer. Back to sleep……zzzzzz….
There are no white hats or good guys here. That’s the frightening message from this piece. We are in the hands of people without conscience or ethics of any kind. Those in power now have no fealty to humanity. Their entire motivation is for power and wealth, and for their sick ideology of world domination. These insane people have put us all in ultimate danger. The final, fatal War could start any minute now – while the masses sleep.
i’ve heard boyle intereviewed many times by alex jones. very bright star in the world of international syndicate legates. i think he lays down quite well why our justice system never goes after crimes….those at the top are spared judicial treament for the better good of the system. the bankers that plunged the world into a global depression in 2008, henry kissenger(who was also an undergraduate with boyle), george w. and tony blair for their role in the 2nd gulf war. and hillary(too many to mention crimes).
unfortunately, it seems the sword of the law can cut in both directions….