Exclusive: If the U.S. government and mainstream media are really concerned about foreign influence in American politics, they might look at Israel and other nations with much more clout than Russia, notes Robert Parry.
By Robert Parry
The core absurdity of the Russia-gate frenzy is its complete lack of proportionality. Indeed, the hysteria is reminiscent of Sen. Joe McCarthy warning that “one communist in the faculty of one university is one communist too many” or Donald Trump’s highlighting a few “bad hombres” raping white American women.
Russians taking part in an Immortal Regiment march on May 9, 2017, honoring relatives who died in the Nazi invasion and the eventual defeat of Germany in World War II.
It’s not that there were no Americans who espoused communist views at universities and elsewhere or that there are no “bad hombre” rapists; it’s that these rare exceptions were used to generate a dangerous overreaction in service of a propagandistic agenda. Historically, we have seen this technique used often when demagogues seize on an isolated event and exploit it emotionally to mislead populations to war.
Today, we have The New York Times and The Washington Post repeatedly publishing front-page articles about allegations that some Russians with “links” to the Kremlin bought $100,000 in Facebook ads to promote some issues deemed hurtful to Hillary Clinton’s campaign although some of the ads ran after the election.
Initially, Facebook could find no evidence of even that small effort but was pressured in May by Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia. The Washington Post reported that Warner, who is spearheading the Russia-gate investigation in the Senate Intelligence Committee, flew to Silicon Valley and urged Facebook executives to take another look at possible ad buys.
Facebook responded to this congressional pressure by scouring its billions of monthly users and announced that it had located 470 suspect accounts associated with ads totaling $100,000 – out of Facebook’s $27 billion in annual revenue.
Here is how the Times described those findings: “Facebook officials disclosed that they had shut down several hundred accounts that they believe were created by a Russian company linked to the Kremlin and used to buy $100,000 in ads pushing divisive issues during and after the American election campaign.” (It sometimes appears that every Russian — all 144 million of them — is somehow “linked” to the Kremlin.)
Last week, congressional investigators urged Facebook to expand its review into “troll farms” supposedly based in Belarus, Macedonia and Estonia – although Estonia is by no means a Russian ally; it joined NATO in 2004.
“Warner and his Democratic counterpart on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam B. Schiff of California, have been increasingly vocal in recent days about their frustrations with Facebook,” the Post reported.
Facebook Complies
So, on Thursday, Facebook succumbed to demands that it turn over to Congress copies of the ads, a move that has only justified more alarmist front-page stories about Russia! Russia! Russia!
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg.
In response to this political pressure – at a time when Facebook is fending off possible anti-trust legislation – its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg added that he is expanding the investigation to include “additional Russian groups and other former Soviet states.”
So, it appears that not only are all Russians “linked” to the Kremlin, but all former Soviet states as well.
But why stop there? If the concern is that American political campaigns are being influenced by foreign governments whose interests may diverge from what’s best for America, why not look at countries that have caused the United States far more harm recently than Russia?
After all, Saudi Arabia and its Sunni Wahabbi leaders have been pulling the U.S. government into their sectarian wars with the Shiites, including conflicts in Yemen and Syria that have contributed to anti-Americanism in the region, to the growth of Al Qaeda, and to a disruptive flow of refugees into Europe.
And, let’s not forget the 8,000-pound gorilla in the room: Israel. Does anyone think that whatever Russia may or may not have done in trying to influence U.S. politics compares even in the slightest to what Israel does all the time?
Which government used its pressure and that of its American agents (i.e., the neocons) to push the United States into the disastrous war in Iraq? It wasn’t Russia, which was among the countries urging the U.S. not to invade; it was Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Indeed, the plans for “regime change” in Iraq and Syria can be traced back to the work of key American neoconservatives employed by Netanyahu’s political campaign in 1996. At that time, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith and other leading neocons unveiled a seminal document entitled “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm,” which proposed casting aside negotiations with Arabs in favor of simply replacing the region’s anti-Israeli governments.
However, to make that happen required drawing in the powerful U.S. military, so after the 9/11 attacks, the neocons inside President George W. Bush’s administration set in motion a deception campaign to justify invading Iraq, a war which was to be followed by more “regime changes” in Syria and Iran.
A Wrench in the Plans
Although the military disaster in Iraq threw a wrench into those plans, the Israeli/neocon agenda never changed. Along with Israel’s new regional ally, Saudi Arabia, a proxy war was fashioned to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
President Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York on Sept. 18, 2017. (Screenshot from Whitehouse.gov)
As Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren explained, the goal was to shatter the Shiite “strategic arc” running from Iran through Syria to Lebanon and Israel’s Hezbollah enemies.
How smashing this Shiite “arc” was in the interests of the American people – or even within their consciousness – is never explained. But it was what Israel wanted and thus it was what the U.S. government enlisted to do, even to the point of letting sophisticated U.S. weaponry fall into the hands of Syria’s Al Qaeda affiliate.
Israel’s influence over U.S. politicians is so blatant that presidential contenders queue up every year to grovel before the Israel Lobby’s conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. In 2016, Donald Trump showed up and announced that he was not there to “pander” and then pandered his pants off.
And, whenever Prime Minister Netanyahu wants to show off his power, he is invited to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress at which Republicans and Democrats compete to see how many times and how quickly they can leap to their feet in standing ovations. (Netanyahu holds the record for the number of times a foreign leader has addressed joint sessions with three such appearances, tied with Winston Churchill.)
Yet, Israeli influence is so engrained in the U.S. political process that even the mention of the existence of an “Israel Lobby” brings accusations of anti-Semitism. “Israel Lobby” is a forbidden phrase in Washington.
However, pretty much whenever Israel targets a U.S. politician for defeat, that politician goes down, a muscle that Israel flexed in the early 1980s in taking out Rep. Paul Findley and Sen. Charles Percy, two moderate Republicans whose crime was to suggest talks with the Palestine Liberation Organization.
So, if the concern is the purity of the American democratic process and the need to protect it from outside manipulation, let’s have at it. Why not a full-scale review of who is doing what and how? Does anyone think that Israel’s influence over U.S. politics is limited to a few hundred Facebook accounts and $100,000 in ads?
A Historical Perspective
And, if you want a historical review, throw in the British and German propaganda around the two world wars; include how the South Vietnamese government collaborated with Richard Nixon in 1968 to sabotage President Lyndon Johnson’s Paris peace talks; take a serious look at the collusion between Ronald Reagan’s campaign and Iran thwarting President Jimmy Carter’s efforts to free 52 American hostages in Tehran in 1980; open the books on Turkey’s covert investments in U.S. politicians and policymakers; and examine how authoritarian regimes of all stripes have funded important Washington think tanks and law firms.
President Ronald Reagan, delivering his Inaugural Address on Jan. 20, 1981, as the 52 U.S. hostages in Iran are simultaneously released.
If such an effort were ever proposed, you would get a sense of how sensitive this topic is in Official Washington, where foreign money and its influence are rampant. There would be accusations of anti-Semitism in connection with Israel and charges of conspiracy theory even in well-documented cases of collaboration between U.S. politicians and foreign interests.
So, instead of a balanced and comprehensive assessment of this problem, the powers-that-be concentrate on the infinitesimal case of Russian “meddling” as the excuse for Hillary Clinton’s shocking defeat. But the key reasons for Clinton’s dismal campaign had virtually nothing to do with Russia, even if you believe all the evidence-lite accusations about Russian “meddling.”
The Russians did not tell Clinton to vote for the disastrous Iraq War and play endless footsy with the neocons; the Russians didn’t advise her to set up a private server to handle her State Department emails and potentially expose classified information; the Russians didn’t lure Clinton and the U.S. into the Libyan fiasco nor suggest her ghastly joke in response to Muammar Gaddafi’s lynching (“We came, we saw, he died”); the Russians had nothing to do with her greedy decision to accept millions of dollars in Wall Street speaking fees and then try to keep the speech contents secret from the voters; the Russians didn’t encourage her husband to become a serial philanderer and make a mockery of their marriage; nor did the Russians suggest to Anthony Weiner, the husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, that he send lewd photos to a teen-ager on a laptop also used by his wife, a development that led FBI Director James Comey to reopen the Clinton-email investigation just 11 days before the election; the Russians weren’t responsible for Clinton’s decision not to campaign in Wisconsin and Michigan; the Russians didn’t stop her from offering a coherent message about how she would help the struggling white working class; and on and on.
But the Russia-gate investigation is not about fairness and balance; it’s a reckless scapegoating of a nuclear-armed country to explain away – and possibly do away with – Donald Trump’s presidency. Rather than putting everything in context and applying a sense of proportion, Russia-gate is relying on wild exaggerations of factually dubious or relatively isolated incidents as an opportunistic means to a political end.
As reckless as President Trump has been, the supposedly wise men and wise women of Washington are at least his match.
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).
The Russians posted 3000 ads (that Facebook has now admitted to – more to come?) which were carefully targeted to specific types of voters. Some of the ads were for Black Lives Matter events (and apparently those ads were targeted to whites and had an undertone of violence to them). Some of the ads were for gun rights, and they even orchestrated (from Moscow) rallies in the USA. The Russians are now involved in advertising against NFL players for kneeling (yes, they care so much about American patriotism that they are doing that). It is very likely that what Facebook has found thus far is just the tip of the iceberg. Republicans would be calling for investigations and probably impeachment if Hillary Clinton had been supported by Russia in this manner.
Absolutely EXCELLENT article. Best of the year!!!!
Well done Robert Parry!
Thank you!
Israel is extremely unhappy about Russia’s interference in Syria and saving the Assad regime so they’ve let loose their agents in Congress and the media to stir up trouble for Russia. That is the root cause for all this anti Russian propaganda.
Agreed. With US increasingly marginalised in the Middle East, Israel is in a real state of panic. They have called in favours from their useful idiots in Congress and the MSM.
This all brings to mind what Geoffrey Robertson QC had to say about Ian Cobain’s excellent book, The History Thieves.; “This important and highly readable book proves that, in a so-called age of transparency, official secrecy is actually increasing. Censorship is often imposed to hide embarrassment, but also to prevent accountability for malfeasance and illegality and to distort deliberately the historical record. The issue does indeed lie within Israel but the unknown is, who controls it.
Oh just one thing. As my name might suggest a Russian connection. I am in fact Irish.
Who besides Israel, and when?
Britain pulled the US into both world wars, with organized propaganda campaigns here.
The China Lobby was a major player in the early Cold War.
This has a long history, of doing far more damage than $100,000 for Facebook ads.
Did the author mean Libya? “set in motion a deception campaign to justify invading Iraq, a war which was to be followed by more “regime changes” in Syria and Iran.”
Well said, Robert Parry.
It is indeed refreshing to have a person with your journalistic skills and independence stating what should be, after all, obvious to all.
Perhaps the most evil influence in history are the Zionists, Israelis, fellow travellers, most of the House of Representatives and The Senate in the USA.
The USA is totally controlled by such people. The Adelson’s of this world, the Neocons, the corrupted politicians like McCain and Graham and those senior public servants that are in the body America, like evil parasites. What a country you were and could be again without such insidious influences. As Israel has said on more than one occasion “we own America and they know it”. Yes, you do Netanyahu, thanks to the ability to corrupt almost anything of value in what was once a fine and respected country….finance, banks, government, Military / Industrial, security, and on it goes. But corrupted politicians, answering daily to AIPAC, have sold America out, lock, stock and barrel. They do it every day of their lives. It’s the norm now. It is what America has become. Dancing to Israel’s dictates.
The compliant tail on a mad Israeli dog. Un-American activities a thousand times worse than the 1950’s? Where are you, Joe McCarthy?
We need a few more like you, Robert Parry, to tell the apathetic world that being anti-Zionist should be a badge of honour as these evil people laugh and joke on how the USA tows their line…..billions in funding, weapons, buying votes in the UN, hatred for Iran and Russia, any country that is a threat to Israel and that sees you, the USA, do their dirty work, willingly, on command. Yet another lie as they happily bask in their ability to treat with disdain the Non Proliferation Treaty with their “illegal” 400 nuclear warheads. And who assists them along that road? The good old USA, that’s who. And you all know it. Think on 9/1i, USS Liberty, JFK and his fate and on. And where are the problems in the world today? 90% in the area known as…the Middle East, that is Israel’s ambition, to own “Greater Israel”. So Libya goes down, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, in bed with the Saudis (at the moment) killing Yemenis by the thousands)….all the problems are the Middle East. Ask yourself why?
Look at your Constitution. It’s a useless scrap of paper these days. Foreign ownership of media, lies, loss of personal liberties, electronic surveillance, wars based on more lies and now, just for good measure, off to Afghanistan again. Why? Well for those that are totally naive, the local condition of significance is that Afghanistan supplies 93% of the world’s heroin according to the UN Drug Agency. Opium production, from which heroin is derived, had virtually ceased under the Taliban prior to the invasion in 2001. Production rebounded under American and allied patronage reaching a new record level in 2016. Coincidence? Hardly. One crop dusting aircraft could wipe out all the crops in a week. In 16 years, not an acre touched. An evil drug? Not when the USA uses it to suit their purposes.
The use of illegal narcotics to finance CIA and other clandestine operations is well documented (Alfred McCoy The Politics of Heroin 1972, 2003; Peter Dale Scott, Drugs, Oil and War 2003; Scott, American War Machine 2010). Heroin addiction is used as a means of destabilising target countries, and Russia and Iran have significant addiction problems as a consequence.
But nothing will change until the ordinary people realise the core of all the world’s troubles…”Eretz Israel” and all that means. They won’t until they see the New York Times and 80% of the US media and 60% of all politicians for what they are…not loyal Americans but corrupted tools of Israel. Then there is the US veto control in the feeble UN an organisation which has ignored the plight of Palestine for 50 years, as apartheid Israel do to the owners of that land exactly what Hitler did to Jews. Ethnic cleansing, this time for Palestinians over 50 long, inhumane years and who cares in the USA? You vote down any resolution in the UN that would give Palestine statehood, all on the direction of Netanyahu, the de facto President of the USA.
Don’t you feel humiliated?
Since World War 2 as William Blum (America’s Deadliest Export: Democracy, 2nd ed 2008) and others have made clear, the past 72 years have seen unparalleled death, destruction and pillaging of other countries’ resources by the American empire. You are now seen for what you have become. A bully boy, corrupt top to tail. The world’s #1 terrorist, world hegemony under Israel’s control, your single objective.
You have therefore lost your right to be regarded with any respect, America, and if you are honest, you know it. And now with a man like Trump as your President you have hit rock bottom. You couldn’t get any lower.
Hardly the result planned by your Founding Fathers; John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington.
They would turn in their graves with what the USA has now become.
I really enjoyed reading this Rex
I noticed this last election cycle was really affected by social media. The MSM propaganda pushers were having a problem setting the narrative and influencing opinion like elections in the past. More people get news from the internet than from television. Most internet news sites get feedback in the comments section that calls out bullshit. Usually explaining why it’s bullshit. I told my wife that this will be fixed before the next election. Practically every source of television news has been taken over by agenda driven people that filter and manipulate information to create whatever reality they choose. Billions were spent by them to achieve this. Why would they stand by and let social media screw it up for them? When they can just claim Russia did it every time a comment or a post contradicts the official narrative. That democracy must saved through censorship using moderators to remove so called Russian comments or posts. Or banishment of undesirable alleged a Russians. This is already happening at alternet, raw sewage, and many other sites. There also many paid misinformation spreaders that argue tirelessly on these sites. I expect that some serious internet censorship laws will be passed soon. All in the name of patriotism, saving America from this manufactured Russian bullshit. I think that’s main reason of the made up Russian crap. It’s gonna be the excuse.
You got that right Billy. With every earth shattering event which strikes the U.S. more of the average Americans civil rights, and freedoms, are loss. The Shadow Government makes very sure too never let a good crisis go to waste. This is without a doubt where the real war is won. All this fuss over Russia-Gate is certainly, as you well put it Billy, a slippery slope, and a distraction. Joe
My favorite is Benjamin holding a bowling ball bomb with a wick in front of Congress, says a lot about him and Congress. They stood up and applauded the picture, guess they thought it was a Van Gogh!
Seems I’ve been worried about the wrong religion taking over America. It’s not Christianity after all, and it’s already firmly in place. I am not against the Jewish people, per se – what I am against is religion in all its ugly manifestations – that includes Islam, Christianity, Judaism. This unholy trinity is causing most of the chaos in the world today. I would ban them all.
Yes, it is time to address the blood thirsty, insatiable elephant in the room. The US has given Israel a nation, our valuable youth, their very own nuclear program and carte blanche foreign policy control… but maybe it’s time they moved out of the basement?? There are many countries with a similar population and they stand alone just fine. How? By abiding by international law.
There is a factor which is usually ignored by the Corporate Media – the relentless support for Holy Israel by US Fundamentalists.
h**ps://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.coldtype.net/Assets.13/PDFs/Joe.Kingdom.pdf&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwjv2IKF2bvWAhVp_4MKHXw0AwYQFggUMAA&usg=AFQjCNGCSkr7lH0NCiETNzfkNmxLQHNrcg
If that nightmare link doesn’t work, cut the following and past it into a search window:
bageant “the covert kingdom” pdf
Saving the world is going to be problematical, for a substantial chunk of the population actively wants it to end, and many in the Power Elites are psychopaths who don’t give a hoot so long as they can continue to rake in the big money.
Zachary,
Kudos to you! You get it! I was one of the millions of American children born into Evangelical Fundamentalism. As an adult it took 10 years of intense weekly therapy and research to break the brainwashing you and Baigent describe. Anyone interested in reading a memoir depicting how fundamentalists are literally brainwashing children to support Israel and to be willing to sacrifice their life as the Lord’s army might appreciate my memoir available on Amazon. Shattered Diana: A Memoir Documenting How Trauma and Evangelical Fundamentalism Created PTSD, Bipolar and Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personality Disorder) in Me. For those who do not know this is who the Freedom Caucus is, this is who MANY around Trump are —– including those many investigative reporters are raising flags about—–including many of our cabinet secretaries who clearly have a dominionist/reconstructionist/destructive agenda.
That’s the outcome of owing both houses of the US Congress. Not to mention thirty years of “embedding” neocons in positions of power in the US government. And of course having “Sugar Daddies” like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos buying himself a newspaper which he uses primarily to advance the interests of Greater Israel.
I’ll admit that I’m mighty impressed with the sheer chutzpah of the latest Russia-Election crap. I’m to the point of wondering what THEY will do next when that one starts to fade away.
No matter: the goal remains the same – On To Iran!
I wonder if the Zionists back home in their tiny murderous and thieving little criminal nation-state have a word in Hebrew for “Nipper”?
h**ps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Master%27s_Voice
As further back-up of incontrovertible evidence of Israel’s influence people should read The Israel Lobby by John Mearsheimer & Stephen Walt. Very enlightening & revealing.
Thank you for that referral Paranam Kid, here is an excellent lecture that John Mearsheimer delivered on the subject…
https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2017/03/31/john-mearsheimer-what-has-changed-since-publication-of-the-israel-lobby-and-what-the-new-administration-can-do-differently/
Many thanks, Bob, for that link. Having read Mearsheimer’s 2006 article, it is interesting to read his comments about what has & has not changed since, and what his outlook is.
Mr Parry doesn’t say anything new about Russiagate but there’s no harm in looking at the conduct of other countries. Mr Parry himself has drawn attention to the activities of the CIA and US NGOs in manipulating politics in other countries and it was alleged in a recent book that the CIA is “running” the flood of refugees currently arriving in Europe with a view to destroying the EU. If that is true, how many of Europe’s other “crises” is the Agency involved in? It’s established that a company belonging to Breitbart financial backer Robert Mercer provided computer analysis services free of charge to the British anti-EU campaign. In France, the Front National admits to having received money from a Russian banker and a Russian and two Americans were caught red-handed in the MacronLeaks affair. What if, therefore, the CIA and Putin were in cahoots? And not just in Ukraine. What if CIA agents colluded with Russians to manipulate the US election? Now, wouldn’t that be a beautiful scandal!
By the way, Estonia has a large Russian minority as a result of post-WWII colonisation by Stalin. Not all have integrated into Estonian society and it’s easy to imagine that some might be nostalgic for “the old days”. Trolling as such is not a crime in the European democracies and it’s hard to see how the Estonian government could stop it, even if they wanted to.
Mr. Kenny never says anything new either, so there is no harm in mentioning that he is either an amateur or professional troll.
On Thursday Mark Zsuckerberg gave a sound-bite on CBS Radio’s national news. He promised to demand that the true identity of political ad placements be made known to FecaBook (such as Super PACs? Yeah, right.) The relevant stats were revealed on CBS to be $100, 000 garnered by FB from 3,000 political ad placements by Russian operatives. The CBS account did not do the math though; FB received an average of $33.33 per ad. That means essentially nobody responded to the Russian “Click-Bait”.
“That means essentially nobody responded to the Russian “Click-Bait”.”
Exactly. Crucial details and context are missing from most of this reporting. It is all a deliberately manufactured hysteria, motivated, as others have suggested, by the realization that the mainstream media is not always successful with establishing the preferred narrative or influencing behavior. It is highly irresponsible, but at stake is control of the Democratic Party by its corporate wing.
Is it not amusing that elitists in the form of Samanta Power and the New York Times editorial board are now calling for censorship of the internet and the appointment of “gatekeepers” to control information flows, using the biggest fake news story running in a bid to supposedly protect people from the same?
Today during my morning read I cam across this article written by Robert David Steele. Mr Steele doesn’t hold back on his criticism one bit, and his message actually comes with a solution. I’m leaving this link for you all to read, and process, as for now I’m still doing that.
https://ahtribune.com/world/unga/1913-enemy-is-us.html
Thanks for that link, Joe.
I was going to mention Cynthia McKinney and her ousting by AIPAC, and I see her referenced at this site.
Among many of the things Steele brought up in his hard hitting article, I thought his speculation over Trump taking a 40 billion dollar bribe to his possibly being blackmailed, left no trace of the author holding back from making his case that AIPAC now sits firmly in the Oval Office.
There is a picture that stays with me of Congressman following Netanyahu around as he walked someplace within the capitol. There was a look of rapture on the faces of the Congressman who appeared like teenagers reaching out to touch a rock star. Yes it is money, but it is more. You have to believe that our representatives were nurtured from the time they decided they would like to be elected and the feelings they express are mostly genuine. That is more frightening than mere corruption by money and other favors.
It is disgusting to look at the pictures of politicians like Nancy Pelosi and other members of the congress at the AIPAC gatherings outdoing each other with their smiles and all that to please their real Masters – at the AIPAC. How servile and demeaning it is! And they have been doing it all their political life.
I imagine Hillary Clinton spent more than 100,000 in ad agency fees, let alone millions more on the actual ads and air time, media spend etc.
Maybe she should have sacked her Madison Ave agency/ies and signed some Russian ad agency if they are such geniuses they can win an election on such a miniscule budget compared to what the Democrats spent!
That’s golden!
That’s rich. I immediately pictured a Russian Don Draper handling Hillary’s campaign account. Would the tv series be called ‘Mad Comrades’ or is that title to passé? In any regard nice comment John A. Joe
Regarding Macedonia: an invitation for Macedonia, and its professional army of 8,500 soldiers, to join NATO, was issued at the Bucharest summit in 2008. It was only blocked by Greece, which has always opposed the relatively new nation adopting the name of one of Greece’s most historical regions.
Erwan Fouéré, a former EU Ambassador in Macedonia, once stated that Nikola Gruevski, who was prime minister of Macedonia from 27 August 2006 up until January last year, “… had turned Macedonia into a nightmare with his serial abuse of human rights, widespread government surveillance, repression and attacks on press freedom.” He was one of 94 individuals charged in June this year by Katica Janeva, the special prosecutor, in relation to 17 corruption cases.
Note that NATO’s invitation to Macedonia was issued while Gruevski was in power.
Incidentally, around the time of the Ukraine coup John Kerry was recorded as saying “Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia, Georgia, Moldova, Transnistria; they are on the line of fire.” he didn’t specify what the line fire meant.
Fuck it. The US and Israel should just nuke themselves.
Parry’s purpose here is to point out the hypocrisy, the clear anti-Russia bias of the supposedly objective New York Times not dredge up the Protocols of Zion. Yes, Israel and its lobby do effect elections but he also mentions Turkey and the UK and Germany. Why aren’t you anti-Zoinist sharpshooters, “Remember the Liberty” knuckleheads screaming about the evils engendered by Neville Chamberlain, the Kaiser and Ataturk? Jesus, there is a whole world of hypocrites and liars to be exposed but no, like the NYT is 24/7 Russia Russia Russia, you lunkheads do the same. It’s always Israel Israel Israel.
Why do we keep referring to the Israeli Elephant in our living room? Because it does it’s business on the floor, and constantly demands we feed it.
Mike…you’re ready for Comedy Central…but I’m afraid you would get censored!
” like the NYT is 24/7 Russia Russia Russia, you lunkheads do the same. It’s always Israel Israel Israel.”
Yes, the NYT is non-stop “Russia Russia Russia.” And, yes, it IS always “Israel Israel.”
Glad to be able to help you see facts in your own writing!
Who will you fool that Ataturk, Chamberlain, and the Kaiser control US mass media and elections? Turkey, UK, and Germany have almost zero effect on US politics, either by media ownership or campaign funding. So where is your argument?
The “official” case against Russia as promulgated by the two colluding major political parties, the evasive intelligence communities and the totally owned mainstream media is clearly nonsense, backed up by no evidence whatever. How many times must this be said and evidence demanded before the narrative changes? It’s been a year and a month now since Hillary first made the accusations at the Democratic National Convention. If this were a trial, the charges would have been dropped by the judge due to the prosecution submitting zero evidence on day one. That’s assuming due process still obtains in this country and that accusations alone prove nothing. But maybe that’s been thrown out along with the rest of the constitution.
What do $100,000 worth of ads (chicken feed in the mass media) amount to beyond a teeny tiny dab of free speech? Rachel Maddow delivers more than $100,000 worth of slander against Russia nightly in her first five minutes on the air. Does anyone think any Russian ad against Hillary (if such a thing even existed) would have been more strident or convincing than the most innocuous Republican ad against her? Was it the Russians who carped 24/7 about Benghazi, her private server, Libya, Gaddaffi, her vote on Iraq, Bill’s philandering, her choice of campaign managers…the list goes on…? Did the Russians encourage her to call working class Americans “a basket full of deplorables?” Did they draw up her campaign schedule that bypassed the critical states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania?
Be honest, Hillary (an impossible challenge, I know), the Russians didn’t have a damned thing to do with your loss to Donald Trump, an opponent who was basically hand-picked for you to shellac by the American media, the smart money and the political establishment. Every Democratic candidate polled ahead of him, except for you! What did you and the Democrats expect to happen when you rigged the primaries, ensuring that the weakest Democratic candidate (yourself) would be the nominee? As Jimmy Dore has recently stated in a couple of his shows, the only thing your book reveals is the depth of your mental illness. You are totally out of touch with reality and have dragged the entirety of the Democratic Party along with you on the road to destruction. For good measure, you and your partisan gang have also seen fit to destroy any chance for reasonable governance of this country and peace in the world by sabotaging Trump at every turn, making him paranoid and unstable, as we saw on display at the U.N. He gets a cookie and a pat on the head by the media and the pols only when he dispenses lies and threats towards America’s favorite international punching bags. You would have given us instant war, had you been elected, but you are still trying to arrange for that behind the scenes with your reprehensible machinations.
I always enjoy reading your comment post Realist. Your writing is as always thorough when it comes to recalling important events, and you spare no details, and I like that. This comment you left here today is no exception to your other postings you have graced this comment board with.
To define Hillary one only need to take a look at her well promoted book ‘What Happened’ where she accused everybody, and anybody, but herself for her loss regarding her 2016 presidential bid, and with this book Hillary proves she is beyond pathetic. She used every word in her repertoire to describe her opposition voters. Remember the ‘BernieBro’ title that her campaign used to describe the misogyny that existed among her Democratic primary rivals male followers? This was exploited as a sexist misogyny problem which Hillary’s campaign insisted existed, but the reality was woman voters were split by age, as older women preferred Hillary over the younger women who cheered on a Bernie victory. The same demographics held true for the men, except older men voters swung towards Trump, those damn chauvinist pigs them. Hey Hillary it had nothing to do with what was between the voters legs, as much as it had everything to do with what was in their heads, and that thought was you are a terrible candidate to vote for. Nothing more, nothing less, but simple deduction of values and past performances brought these voters to this opinion, and Hillary your past spoke for this turnout whether you blame Vladimir or not, the ball was totally in your field of court, so live with your loss and leave the world progress to where it will go.
You mentioned Realist where any judge worth their salt being a qualified person to hold court would have thrown out Hillary’s Russia interferences allegations day one on the grounds that there is no evidence to support her claims. If I may add to that analogy that any news agency worth a hill of beans would have relegated Hillary’s ‘crying poor me’ story to page 82 next to the classified section, as likewise any televised news broadcaster would have by now used this Hillary story as a sequel to a commercial break (emphasis on the anchor persons smirk and eye roll) well that at least is what others would be experiencing by now if they had had a hard time accepting their defeat.
At the same time one has to wonder if the donkey party isn’t killing itself with its stubbornness to reject this Russian interference story, as important issues do pile up, but to no avail do the Democrates seem ready to tackle these many hard issues of our time. So when in 2018 the voters don’t show up to support the local Democratic representative will this lack of turn out be blamed on Vladimir Putin as well? If this is the case, then may I use Russia as an excuse if I sell you inferior work?
If the Democrates want to be taken seriously, then they should quit with this Russia bashing, and start listening and working on the hard issues which face their potential voters. If the Democrates continue to get in line behind this Clinton inspirited conspiracy of ‘Russia did it’ stupidity then the Democrates should expect nothing less than to follow their lying leader to the dust bin of the loser party, as it goes.
Looking forward to read more of what you have too say Realist, and hope you don’t mind my jumping in here. Joe
Interesting factoid. Israel has a guaranteed right to healthcare. Wonder if they could afford it if not for US “aid?” US taxpayers could be said to be subsidizing Israel’s superior healthcare system while US taxpayers’ “representative” are largely trying to undermine US healthcare. Oh, sorry, our problems are the Russians…
The US also subsidizes the massive Israeli campaign bribes of Congress, and that is certainly quid-pro-quo with full understanding of where that money comes from. Congress is 98% racketeers and should be sent to Club Fed Guantanamo along with the 98% corrupt judiciary and intel agencies.
This guy right here… says it’s dubious that all the russians mentioned were “linked to the Kremlin”, but then goes on to assert that the neocons all work as Israeli agents… never trust a guy who refers to himself in the third person…
Foreign Influence In Our Great Democracy? OMG!
by frank scott
What used to be called liberal in the narrow band American politics which finds two sides of the same coin defined as different currency has become embarrassingly reactionary and seems bordering on insanity. While a substantial minority of citizens are rightfully distressed and angry over the dictatorship of much of our foreign and even domestic affairs by a tiny nation in the Middle East, a near majority has been manipulated into a frenzy over the new slack jawed and drooling depiction of Russia as enemy of democracy in America. Yes, a nation in which more than half the electorate usually stays home and in which there has never in its history been a president elected by an actual majority of the electorate and not simply the usual minority who show up on voting day. That, students of mass psychosis, is what passes for our cherished, sacred, founded by Indian killers, land thieves and slave owners, democracy. But given that millions of us do buy our marketplace political product of a ruling class owned two party system, have we reason for anger at a foreign power exercising so much control over this sincerely sought but not yet found ideal of democracy? You bet, especially when it has played the major role in creating and sustaining our longest war in history; the war against terror which would not exist without our foreign policy that creates terror. That foreign power is, of course, Israel. But our unquestioned-by-official-ruling-power policy allows this domination, at cost of trillions of american dollars and hundreds of thousands of foreign lives, while it howls at the moon and every media professional with a microphone or lap top about the horrors that Putin and Russia have inflicted upon our religious electoral temple where billions are spent putting the proper clergy in office.
Since the election of Trump, a rich pinhead never expected to win over the less rich airhead selected by our rulers, they have been in near panic and thus dis-organized a great mass of people to gather in opposition to him before he totally screws up their imperial operation with his brash, thoughtless and egotistical exercise of a totally american behavior pattern. Part of this attack on what remains of collective intelligence – after we go shopping and consume enough waste and idiocy to put banking and finance at peace with their profit margins – has been the alleged Russian plan to unseat her holiness and inseat her opponent. With much evidence involving the shocking news that people hack online information, as in nearly 150 million americans having all but – maybe – their bedroom and toilet habits pilfered from a market manipulating firm, and lots of implications of allegations of possibly real leaks of possibly unreal alleged factoids bartered by market pimps and other representatives of un-intelligence government services, great suspicion has been raised in the minds of people who don’t just watch but believe the nightly news casts, that our democracy has been sabotaged by this evil outsider force. Golly, Captain Brain-Dead, can you stand the pain?
Our great nation that spends hundreds of billions on warfare and pet care while hundreds of thousands of its people live in the street is having its sacred bought and paid for political marketplace infiltrated by foreign money? Our cherished, fought for and died for by heroic souls misled into murdering foreigners so that “our” economy could prosper enough to ship out decent paying jobs to other countries while bringing low paid immigrants to work here, is in danger of being bought and paid for by outsiders? Jeepers, Captain Sub-moron, can’t we stop this?
While “our” Knesset caucus attempts to move a bill through “our” congress that would make it all but a capital offense to dare support any opposition to doing business with firms which support Israeli domination over occupied territory in Palestine, feverish liberals screech about tampering with this master-race-chosen-people bipartisan attack on the evils of Putin and his vile atrocities committed on our priestly temple of market merchandising that interferes with us getting the best and most honest price for our political pimps in their service to, um, love.
While her holiness editorializes about the various plots, conspiracies and hate campaigns that cost her the throne she so richly deserved and not only approaches but surpasses the ego-that-looks-like-a-person in her ravings, this should cause a public some concern not only for the bozo that’s in but for the bimbo who might have been. This same entity called it a conspiracy to get her husband when he suffered a savage oral attack on his genitalia conducted by a vicious non-feminist who took advantage of a poor defenseless president of the United Sates of America. And rest assured that Bozo and Bimbo are of one voice when it comes to allegiance to a foreign power that all but rules America and isn’t Russia.
email: [email protected]
Frank Scott writes political commentary and satire which appears online at the blog Legalienate
??http://legalienate.blogspot.com
Very well put Frank Scott. I particularly liked on your blog the ‘Rocket Man vs AssholeMan’, short but sweet and right on.
I like that you mention how many have died only that their relatives jobs could be offshored to foreign lands for larger profit. The sooner the people of earth corral these out of control mega-corporations the sooner we may pave a pathway to peace. Although clamping down onto the mega-corporation alone without putting Israel in its place, will be a fools errand, for the latter I mention here is the bigger threat to the world’s peace and tranquility.
The longer the Democrates dwell on this Russia-Gate nonsense the deeper their defeat will be in 2018, and possibly all the way to 2020. Democrates need to get over Hillary’s loss. Democrates need to face the reality that through one thing and the other, and especially by her cheating the Sanders Campaign out of their moment of glory, that this, and mostly this, was Hillary’s demise. She did it to herself. Vladimir Putin could not have hurt her any more than she hurt herself.
Now we live with nuance, allegations, innuendo, all pointing to a Russian conspiracy to flip our American elections in favor of Russia’s preferred U.S. Presidential candidate, but where’s the smoking gun? Rachel Maddow will spend a whole hour making hay out of nothing, but her visuals of Putin sporting around with some Russian oligarch gets the Maddow audience up and out of their seats demanding that Congress impeach Trump as a Russian imposter posing as an American president.
One more thing. What is the difference between Hillary (originally it was Jeb Bush) commissioning a MI6 Spy Christopher Steele to obtain information from undisclosed Russia officials regarding Trumps Pee-Gate which supposedly took place in Moscow, as opposed to Trump Jr meeting in a Trump Tower conference room with Russians who possibly, and I mean possibly, have official connections to the Kremlin government? What am I missing here?
Man I’m really tired of our country wasting all this time on Russian interference in our American democracy, if you can still call it a democracy. I wish we citizens had leaders who would take us where we need to go. Why, between a decent healthcare system, and no more wars, we Americans have more than enough to do to try and get this right, so why with the Russia-Gate nonsense?
Frank I enjoyed your comment and your blog. Joe
I guess you could say that every Russian has “ties” to the Kremlin, it being their seat of government. Just as every American has ties to the White House and every Arkansan had ties to the Clinton State House while they were there. But it is really astounding that the MSM would stoop to this kind of word game to implicate guilt by imaginary association. It is time for an Israel-gate investigation. The ties are much less ethereal.
This Facebook ad purchase “outrage” is just another “vegetable” to be thrown at Russia … more “see what will stick to the wall” while also bolstering “liberal” or “Democratic Loyalist” (Samantha Power, NYT) calls for control of the internet … it’s just another flavor in that vegetable stew that is still largely without any “meat” …
The “Liberal” media needs a full roster of issues (plot lines) that it can revisit to maintain ratings of their Impeach Trump telenovela …
I’m finding it remarkable that the “campus rape epidemic” and Emily Yoffee’s recent Atlantic 3 Parter and Beverly DeVos’s roll back of Obama campus rape protocols is being largely ignored … and I will notice again that those darling student activist campuses of 2 years ago have never been revisited … Even the current St. Louis days-of-rage protests are barely front-page-news … where is all the past enthusiasm and solidarity with those beautiful young black-lives-matter activists … (oh, right, they failed as faithful Clinton party loyalists)
Sander’s “our revolution” — in comparison — at least seems to be alive and kicking. “The Resistance” seems to be MIA wrt to most major Trump outrages … Sunday will see the sunsetting of the original “travel ban” … who shows up willing to revisit those issues this time … longevity and commitment doesn’t seem to be a strong suit.
The U.S. has been interfering in foreign elections for years, including torturing people who dared to win. Examples: Jose Napoleon Duarte in El Salvador. Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, Salvador Allende in Chile. Arbenz in Guatemala ( the last two were actually murdered ) because they not only dared to win but they didn’t comply with Washington’s orders.
And in 2009 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton greased the wheels of a right wing coup in Honduras. She refused to declare that the military kidnapping of democratically elected Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya, was a military coup. He was flown still wearing his pajamas out of the country in a military plane. Had she and Obama done so it would have by U.S. law frozen military aide to Honduras. Instead the next day Zelaya’s right wing replacement started a violent crackdown on protesters especially women. Hillary Clinton referred to it as he of her “hard “choices”.
Greg Grandin at NYU:
“Before Her Assassination, Berta Cáceres Singled Out Hillary Clinton for Backing Honduran Coup”
https://www.democracynow.org/2016/3/11/before_her_assassination_berta_caceres_singled?autostart=true
Dana Frank at University of California Santa Cruz:
“She’s Baldly Lying”: Dana Frank Responds to Hillary Clinton’s Defense of Her Role in Honduras Coup
https://www.democracynow.org/2016/4/13/shes_baldly_lying_dana_frank_responds
If all that was needed to secure an election in the U.S. was a mere $100,000 in ads, then the Russians would have to have been absolute geniuses ! Hillary had tons of money poured into her campaign and lost, but somehow… it was the Russians fault, not her own. Nope ! not because she is dishonest and untrustworthy etc. It is the tried & tested trick of demonising the very thing they intend to attack so later on, they can justify that attack to the American people. The U.S. has been circling Russia in all its borders like vultures about to pounce, all they need is a convincing excuse to do it.
There are great research articles from “global research” that pins the tail on the financial donkey concerning the dual citizens with unbelievable power…..Janet Yellen, Stanley Fisher, Gary Cohn, Steven Mnuchin and the list go on……..The “Israel First” crowd controls the financial agenda for the USA …period…..The USA has been hacked and sacked…..but not by Russia……
The American people are the biggest suckers on the planet. You only have to tell them how great they are and how all their problems are due to some other nations or “terrorists” – and you can rob them blind.
The US government is a fraud. When you really deeply understand that, then things begin to make sense. If you think there is any kind of honesty or good intentions behind what our rulers are up too, you will never have a clue to what is really going on. Once you do get clear of all their lies and posturing, then you will understand once and for all: these are very bad people, and they are not your friends; their actions all mean harm to you, and to all living beings on this planet.
mike, POWER is a fraud. It’s nothing but a big deception: folks need to understand that nature is full of deception and that humans are OF nature. Get off your knees!
Many thanks to you, Robert Parry, for providing an opening (increasingly rare) to this deeply troubling subject about the role Israel plays in America.
The American Deep State is the Zionist State of Israel operating via the Rothschild/Rockefeller world cartel and its handmaidens: the Federal Reserve, the United Nations, the World Bank and the IMF, in addition to traitorous members of the US Congress and highly infiltrated US intelligence organizations, including the FBI, the CIA and related so-called security agencies. The ultimate goal is a New World Order which will be a totalitarian state requiring the elimination of most of the world’s population. This is now in progress via genetic engineering of the food supply, vaccines that cause autism and sterility, in addition to weaponized viruses and related modes of bio-terrorism that kill at a distance, slowly or quickly, and have the useful side effect of subtle and/or blatant intimidation of anyone who speaks against the government or Israel, or Israel and the government, now virtually one and the same.
Intimidation is also being carried out openly by AIPAC, B’nai Brith, JDL, ADL and other Jewish organizations that have assumed the right to determine who is or is not fit to teach in America’s universities. This is decided based upon educational content that favors Israel and explains why legislation has been introduced to legally penalize anti-Israel activity and/or speech.* The FEMA camps surrounded by barbed wire that are now appearing across the American landscape further throw into relief the death-driven landscape that is now America, fostered by Zionist Israel. Call it the Palestinianization of America.
We give Israel how many billions per year in taxpayer dollars so they can turn around and use that money to bribe our Congressional representatives and get them to institute laws that make it illegal to criticize Israel, to boycott products made in Israel or to say anything negative about the Holocaust?! (See Proposed Congressional Bill S 720). What happened to the Bill of Rights? to free expression of opinion?, to the US Constitution? Ask Israel.
Every patriotic American should be VERY concerned about the role Israel plays in our national life. The Neocon Zionists are traitors. Watch very carefully how your representatives respond to the above legislation. And make sure they know what the history of Zionism in Russia was: There, Anti-Semitism (whatever that is)… was penalized by death!
The Zionists were behind the overthrow of the Czarist regime in Russia… They fomented insurrections, boycotts and treasonous events in and against Germany. And they are busy at work undermining America with intentions that differ not one iota from the works they are known for in the past.
It has never become more critical that Americans wake up to what is being done to them and their country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5hxKh5gCr4
The Golden-like commentaries seem to ignore how Trump’s victory surprised everybody, as though there had been a long pervasive campaign by a foreign element which had a) caused a lot of head scratching by voters saying, gee by golly them Russians got it right, better vote for Donald; or b) them Russians actually got in control of our voting machines! All of them discrete processes, just took ’em right over, got into the counties, got into the state elections systems, yup indeedy; or c) thanks heavens now Donald has straightened out and is running right, but you know back then he was actually an agent of them Russians, doing deals with them and planning to help them take over the country!
This line of (I won’t call it “thinking”) reminds me of how W Bush and Cheney back in 03 with straight faces told us we should cover our houses with plastic because Saddam had chemical weapons and was coming for us. I recall a local radio announcer responding sardonically, “Are we scared yet?”
Mr. Golden, yes, let’s get proportional and precise. Let’s stop a) succumbing to being terrified because government representatives are trying to frighten the bejeeburs out of us or b) performing another troll ballet using words like “precise and proportional” as we pander to the hysteria.
Meanwhile, Mr. Golden, let’s use our brains indeed and ask questions, without fear of being called “Russian sympathizers” for doing what the Constitution of this country gives us a right to do. That is, question authority. Exclamation mark.
Despair rides winds in a sky full of ravens, and in our cities and our towns, blind and deaf but not yet dumb, we sit and bicker.
WELL DONE.
That is just about perfect, Robert. I keep thinking you can’t get better and then you do. This gets forwarded to all my lingering neo-conish friends, who just can’t let go of what they’ve been taught for the past 50 years or so. I think you pretty much demolished the Hillary meme that Russia is to blame for her loss.
Thanks for clarifying the facebook thing. I just couldn’t seem to make sense of it from the MSM. I’d say $100,000 compared to $27 Billion paid in by other accounts is like getting all upset over a claim that someone dumped a teaspoon of arsenic into the Pacific ocean, as if it would have some affect on anything. I’m not a mathematician, but even I can see that the idea that $100,000 in ads of some sort added to the sea of everything else on facebook adds up to zilch.
If you know, Robert, can you tell us what the ads were?
I’m glad you like math because then you understand it was a very close election. While Clinton won the popular vote, the election turned on the electoral vote count, in a few states. You must also have a grasp on the philosophy of science, and understand that events have multiple causes. No one has ever argued Russian interference was the sole cause of the outcome. In fact, when you look at the closeness of the outcome a minor contributory cause could have made the difference. Since neither of us has all of the facts, it’s premature to draw conclusions on the significance of Russian intervention, and/or Trump collusion.
I don’t think Russian intervention was as large of a factor as the 5 B in free media promotion, the MSM gave to Trump. I think the free pass the MSM gave to Trump, even though 75% (Politico) of what he claimed was false, was a significant factor. Comey’s behavior was also a significant contributory factor, as others have analyzed quantitatively. If it is shown that there was collusion between the Trump’s campaign and Russia, this would certainly be sufficient by itself, to be an important factor.
Republican, voter suppression efforts, particular in states Clinton was expected to win is another significant factor. I could go on and on. There were multiple explanations, and each one is important to document, and prevent in the future. The interaction of many of these causes, were promoted by the Russians and Trump seemingly in concert, and this allowed Trump a particularly toxic set of innuendos and claims. Trump was able to refresh the e-mail and Benghazi issues, from the hacked e-mails, even though Clinton had been cleared, prior to their seemingly coordinated release. He was also able to make other false accusations the hacked e-mail release enabled. So the first 100k in Russian ads on Facebook is not the main argument. Nor is the fact they started interfering in 2015, or the fact they intruded into our voting machines, or the roles Flynn and Manafort played. The question is do all the pieces of this puzzle form a criminal intent and behavior. It’s not about balance, it’s about a search for the truth. I think there is a reason why Trump has already risked a clear obstruction of justice:)
“No one has ever argued Russian interference was the sole cause of the outcome.”
And YET, even without there being any actual proof of interference the Dems have make such an issue of it. Sorry, “Robert,” the stench of this propaganda (that you’re continuing to help support) stinks to high heaven.
Bengazi, sigh, maybe if Clinton hadn’t looked to illegally kill another country’s leader that this “event” wouldn’t have hounded her?
“Nor is the fact they started interfering in 2015”
Yeah, you say it so it must be true!
The damage done by the state of Israel in their meddlings in US politics so overshadows anything that Russia could dream of is of no concern?
“it’s about a search for the truth”
Anyone can have their “truth.” It’s FACTS that stand up to hard scrutiny. So far you position is woefully lacking in facts.
Remember the U.S.S. Liberty.
“Nor is the fact they started interfering in 2015”
Hey, it has a history NYT suggested just now in 22 Sept 2017
“probably helped John Kennedy get elected president in 1960.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/science/sputnik-replica-auction.html
Keep it up in fighting your internal politics with having foreign policy hostage to Dems or Reps failure at the polls.
You omitted to mention that Hillary was a terrible candidate. After 30 years of voting Dem, I refused to vote for her.
(I voted for Obama twice. Am regretting both of those votes.)
I’ve also exited the Democratic Party because of lying liars such as yourself.
Your persistent effort to defend Hillary–a warmonger and bought Wall Street puppet–with excreble judgment–is sad.
Again, to those to misuse the word “meme”….”the Hillary meme that Russia is to blame…” : PLEASE DON’T.
Speaking about Russian influence into our “democratic” elections, let’s be proportional, and precise. Our intelligence agencies and special counsel investigation, as well as congressional investigations all agree the interference was significant, and sufficient to swing an election. In fact, the only exception is the author, and/or Russian authorities. We learn more everyday how Russian interference may have gotten help from the Trump campaign, which would make Trump an illegitimate President, and subject to impeachment. Additionally, Trump has lied about his involvement with Russia, during the campaign and since the election. The cover-up and obstruction alone is sufficient to impeach. The best way to understand the significance and global context of this problematic issue is to read the following:
https://www.brookings.edu/testimonies/the-impact-of-russian-interference-on-germanys-2017-elections/
In other words, we can’t investigate this issue deeply enough, and calls of disproportional and imbalance make no sense, given the stakes involved. We should also have a discussion about the democratic institutions. In an age of gerrymandering, systematic voter suppression, unlimited dark money, the Koch ownership of the Republican party, and corporate ownership of the MSM we are in need of political reform. Publicly financed elections, equal time provisions, fair campaign practices, a new Fairness doctrine, repeal of CU, and other reactionary trends would go a long way towards healing our democratic process.
“The interference was significant, and sufficient to swing an election.” Let’s have it from here–your specifics please. Lay it out.
And which FB ads were the bad ones? How did I miss them?
Heh. $100K in FB advertising by Russian-affiliated agents “swung the election”? That’s all it took? Hillary must have been a very weak candidate.
The anti-Russia propaganda by NYT, etc. does the opposite of what they intend–because it is so weak and sad. Ludicrous.
This country has become a joke.
So where is the full assessment of ALL 17 of the intelligence agencies?
As for the Brookings article, did you actually read it? Sounded very much like the normal spying/intelligence gathering that we can assume all countries still carry on, and the crucial point is laughable: “oh yes by the way, Germans still use paper ballots, so Russia is really messing with their heads.” Brookings speculative bs, hardly “hard” evidence. Or as the January report put it, an “assessment.”
The whole “All 17 Intelligence Agencies Blah Blah” thing has been like a big, Blob-wide “oops” event, a la Rick Perry, except without the ridicule.
“All 17” was ubiquitous in the media and Congress for months. Even when former-DNI Clapper (iirc) called a questioner on it in a Congressional hearing, that didn’t stop it.
The NY Times seems to have ruined the fun by putting it in the paper in a way that, in accord with their noble self-image, forced them to print a correction. I haven’t actually heard it much from Beltway elites since then.
If the tip of the ice berg stinks to high heavens, the bottom must really be bad. Mueller is not playing games.
” the bottom must really be bad” – is it based on “assessment” or actual facts?
“If the tip of the ice berg stinks to high heavens” – surely your “IF” has opposite “IF NOT”, otherwise why do you use “IF”?!
Tony Litwinko – Brookings is filled up with Zio-Neocons as well like all other Think Tanks in Washington; psychopaths bent upon perpetrating wars for imposing complete hegemony over the World’s Nation States – for economic exploitation. I watched few times on C-Span some speakers at the symposiums at Brookings. Very discouraging to think of it – what U.S. has come to be.
Mr. Golden has been a zionist troll consistently. He never responds with evidence.
He tries to hide his lack of evidence and logic behind a “kindly uncle” manner. It’s a widely used tactic on the web by people who have no case. It will fool a few people who are afraid to think for themselves.
http://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/feds-inform-21-states-they-were-targeted-by-russian-hackers-1053083204001
You may not be aware of this, but MSNBC is owned by Comcast which is owned by zionists. Here are two articles from a Jewish-run, anti-Zioninst, high-quality, professional news site of current events and analysis.
“Rachel Maddow’s lineup of crazy U.N. speeches spotlights Arafat– and leaves out Netanyahu!”
http://mondoweiss.net/2017/09/speeches-features-netanyahu
“Israel lobby is never a story (for media that is in bed with the lobby)”
http://mondoweiss.net/2017/09/israel-lobby-never
Citing MSNBC is citing the oligarchy. Of course they will say this Russia-gate thing is super important but that Israel-gate thing is an unimportant, anti-Semitic lie. Rachel & crew don’t even make a half of a half-hearted effort to be objective journalists about Russia-gate or Israel-gate. When you know the facts, their betrayal is so obvious that it’s hard to watch. Chris Hayes seems especially pathetic somehow. Maybe he’s a little too transparent.
If you haven’t looked at it yet, I’d recommend key hidden history in
“War Profiteers and the Roots of the War on Terror”
http://warprofiteerstory.blogspot.com
“Terrorism: How the Israeli state was won”
http://mondoweiss.net/2017/01/terrorism-israeli-state
“Targeted” is proof of action? Yeah, you’re “golden” alright! FAIL!
Robert-
Our intelligence agencies and our special council investigation are in bed with the MIC which simply must have the “evil Ruskies” as their boogeyman. They offer no hard evidence. You are either a paid troll, or have been sheep-dipped in MSM propaganda to the point of not being able to tell the difference between a rational argument based on evidence and pure propaganda.
However, you are correct about needed reforms of our so-called democratic institutions.
You mean, the $100.000 on FaceBook, which was “probably” connected to Russians who were “probably” involved in influencing the US elections? What do you mean when writing, “Our intelligence agencies and special counsel investigation, as well as congressional investigations all agree the interference was significant?” Seventeen agencies or three agencies? Are you with Clinton on this or against her? As for the special council, is not it time to talk about Imran Awan and the documented breach of national cyber-security under the aegis of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz? This breach is documented. Do you understand the difference? Documented. Factual. The Congressional classified information was readily available to anybody, for years. And you are not concerned at all with this crime.
What about the murder of Seth Rich? – You are seemingly not interested in this murder and in the documented fact that the Democratic Party showed no desire to help with Seth Rich murder investigation, but the Democrats have found funding for the defense of Imran Awan. You have interesting choice of worries, Mr. Golden
What about factual involvement of ziocons in designing the US foreign policies and in cheerleading the slaughter in the Middle East? Perle, Kristols, Feith, and Wolfowitz were directly involved in planning the wars of aggression. Ledeen is a first-order war criminal (check the aluminum tubes story, as well as the neo-Nazi Gladio chronicles). Your Judy Miller is a first-order propagandist of the wars of aggression. When the logic of Nuremberg is applied to the US/UK ziocons, the ziocons come out as who they really are – war criminals. What are you trying to peddle here with your story of an “alleged” and “probable” influence of Russians on the US elections? – That the US democracy is a feeble senescent creature unable to function on its own? The US is Oligarchy. What we are witnessing is a fight between different oligarchic groups with, perhaps, some sane heads among them trying to prevent the nuclear worldwide holocaust, despite the ziocons machinations in the Middle East.
The Red Scare is a diversion for the feeble-minded.
You are using the term feeble minded, and at the same time referencing a completely debunked fiction about Seth Rich? Why not focus on the dangerous idiot running the country? In his speech to the UN, he claimed he would murder 200 M people, in one breath, and then move on to Iran, without even knowing what countries border his two targets, and completely ignoring the distinct possibility of WWIII, and /or global depression.
Robert, I’m not being obstinate to the claims you are making, I actually like the debates you bring up. Tell me though, how the Seth Rich murder investigation has been debunked. The last news I recall hearing about Seth Rich’s murder was that the Rich family had asked that Seth’s demise not be publicly debated, and used as a political football. Even I out of respect for the Rich family hate bringing up Seth’s untimely and mysterious death, out of respect for the Rich family’s wishes. So, Robert if there is more, and if the Rich mystery has been debunked, then please provide a reference to this claim.
Joe,…it looks like they’ve abandoned the trail with the body…all their bloodhounds are on the “Russian” trail!
I get that BobH but where, and when was the Rich murder investigation with it’s links to Wikileaks’s, coupled with Seth’s disenchantment with the DNC committee to sabotage the Sanders campaign gone and become debunked? The only thing I’ve noticed, is that the Rich murder story has fallen out of the news, and now has been put upon the pile of conspiracy theories to be laughed at and scoffed at for all of those with higher minds (sarcasm) to find comfort in. Collectively we Americans can’t process anything in a logical way, and most of the blame for this falls upon our media for their lack of responsible reporting. This is the same media which identified the Rich murder story to be a bogus wildass conspiracy. I just want to know how this story has been debunked, that’s all, and I’m waiting for the debunking evidence to prove that this Rich murder is not worth investigating.
Anyway Joe, it’s good that CN keeps bringing it up because I suspect this website is being monitored carefully by those who make the decisions and the concealment of evidence is a bit more than a misdemeanor. Even if we don’t influence the outcome of Mueller’s investigation it’s quite possible that the msm will be a bit more introspective when the shit hits the fan(another war,the collapse of the economy or both).
It’s NOT Trump that is advocating. Yes, the words may be coming out of his mouth, but nothing that he is telegraphing is in any way significantly different than what previous administrations were pushing. Hillary Clinton was/is little different: but, she actually has real blood on her hands (already a proven mass murderer).
New flash: Global depression WILL occur. Guaranteed. Mathematical certainty: perpetual growth on a finite planet is NOT possible; as such, growth HAS to decline; add in all massive outstanding debt (tucked away in “bad banks”) and yessiree, it’s all going to blow. And here is what is really being hidden, the reason for all these attempts at scapegoating and finger pointing, it’s the prelude to the coming collapse- for wars have always been the means of clearing the books; and the books are in dire need of clearing.
Brooking Institute vested interest
https://www.counterpunch.org/2015/08/05/the-brookings-institute-plan-to-liquidate-syria/
Linda Jean Doucet – Good article, thanks for the link. I have watched on C-span, some speakers like Martin Indyk , former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, and others like him at Brookings symposiums. They are so arrogant as if they are rulers of the Earth. Finding ways to obliterate Nations, changing regimes, rearranging societies and cultures through wars and destruction is their main occupation. It is very discouraging sometimes to watch these psychopaths. How can you stop them? One feels helpless. They have made the World a very unpleasant place.
Thanks for the link to this article. Made me furious. O’Hanlon laying out a plan for Syria without a shred of morality when deciding the fate of millions is despicable. Brookings Institute has no conscience whatsoever. Where do they get their arrogance? It’s shameful that our government listens to think tanks such as this one.
When do you intend to stop trolling and discuss the huge elephant in the room – Israel. That is, when were you planning on discussing our intelligence agencies and special counsel investigation, as well as congressional investigations all agree the Israeli interference is significant? There is no need to respond as your history of trolling here at CS makes your response very predictable.
When you acknowledge that the main US political problem relates to the fossil fuel, reactionary, billionaires running this country, who are completely undermining any semblance of our democracy.
Robert when was the last time an oil executive received 29 standing ovations while speaking to the U.S. Congress?
In fact I know oil executives who would argue that possibly George Marshall had it right when Marshall warned Truman that by supporting the Zionist Israeli’s that the U.S. was going against it’s better interest in the Middle East. Below Robert is a snippet from Stephen J Sniegoski who’s book ‘The Transparent Cabal’ delves deeply to inside the Neocon/Zionist influence which has shaped America’s foreign policies.
“James Baker certainly speaks for the oil industry, and most of corporate America thinks America has problems far more pressing than Iraq. The libertarian, and old conservative wing of the Republican Party has never liked this war. But the Israel lobby, which pitched the war to Bush and got America into it, is still deeply committed and retains considerable power both in the government, the Congress and the paragovernment of Institutes, Centers and Think-tanks that throttle Washington like kudzu.”
THE TRANSPARENT CABAL, the Neoconservative Agenda, War in the Middle East, and the National Interest of Israel – by Stephen J. Sniegoski.
Robert- Every one of President Obama’s cabinet appointed in 2009 came from a must-do list provided by Michael Froman, then of Citicorp, and later Obama’s Trade Representative choreographing the secret negotiations of the TPP, and TISA, all of which were designed to preempt Federal and State sovereignty in favor of the multinationals, Trump and George W. Bush may have mugged the American public, but Barry picked their pockets while distracting with smooth talk.
You sound like an dick-sucker of authoritarian USA and Israel propaganda –and a moron.
He is a zionist troll, here solely to make trouble, and best ignored.
> Robert Golden
> September 22, 2017 at 4:22 pm
> The best way to understand the significance and global context of this problematic issue is to read the following:
> https://www.brookings.edu/testimonies/the-impact-of-russian-interference-on-germanys-2017-elections/
I did. And since I am familiar with all the groups mentioned, I can assure the readers here it is all the standard Russia-gate hogwash, without any facts worth mentioning to support the spurious claims.
Good piece as usual from Robert Parry.
But I have a problem with the section imputing responsibility for the 2003 Iraq war to Israel:
“Which government used its pressure and that of its American agents (i.e., the neocons) to push the United States into the disastrous war in Iraq?”
Yes, the neocon mob of Perle, Feith, Wolfowitz and the rest is rabidly pro-Israel, and a lot of them are Jews, but nothing above, and very little I have ever seen, points to Israel actually fomenting that particular atrocity.
I believe that after the 1991 war, Israel saw Saddam’s Iraq for what it was: a beaten and tamed power that was useful as a bulwark against the new designated existential threat, namely Iran, next on the dance card for destruction, where it remains today (the warmongers unsated by Libya, Syria, etc.).
The obsession with Saddam and the utopian/dystopian dreams of what would ensue after his ouster were the product of the hermetically sealed Beltway echo chamber, just like today’s anti-Russia lunacy.
The devastation of Iraq: made in the USA.
1. This was the declared policy of Israel;
2. Israel controls nearly all US mass media directly or indirectly;
3. Israel controls nearly all of Congress through campaign bribes and mass media;
4. Zionists all: Defsec Wolfowitz installed Perle, Wurmser, and Feith (Israeli agents) to run the offices at NSA, CIA, and DIA that faked up and “stove-piped” discredited info on WMD in Iraq that they knew was false.
5. The above had previously worked together to convince Netanyahu to trick the US into wars for Israel.
See Bamford’s Pretext for War for the details.
There is no problem of evidence at all.
Poor, hapless Americans. Just puppets on a string.
Pure Hasbara
Sam F – Your invaluable comments are always straight on the mark – and illuminating.
The governments were Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, BP, US MIC, Halliburton, GE, et al.
Super Hasbara….
I would suggest you read Walt and Mearsheimer’s book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy for starters. Perle and Wolfowitz and others of their ilk should have to register as Israeli agents. The Israel lobby and the NRA are the two most effective lobbies in Washington. You want to be president or have a long career in congress then you better learn to bow and scrape. Elected officials that forget or don’t understand who their real constituents are soon shown the door. And guess what? We the wee people are not their constituents.
Nothing in that book contradicts what I said.
In the early 2000s, Israel was focused on containing or, with any luck, destroying Iran – just as they are now, in league with their head-chopping friends in Riyadh. They realized that removing Saddam would only improve Iran’s position, as indeed it did.
Of course Israel couldn’t and didn’t identify itself with the anti-Bush opposition to the war. The American authors of the war likely thought they were doing Likud some kind of favor, but that was yet another delusion.
Read my comment above, Mr. G, and read Bamford’s Pretext for War. The zionist faction under Bush 2 certainly did intend and cause war with Iraq, however stupidly they blundered into Shiite control of Iraq. There may have been internal disagreements, but no one else wanted war against Iraq as they did. The MIC would have been happy with war anywhere.
The MIC preferred the Middle East. Relatively easy terrain. No more nasty jungles after Viet Nam. Afghanistan-not so much.
You are wasting your time. “David G” and “Robert Golden” is the same person. He is here to muddy the waters and lead us “down the garden path” regarding Israel’s control of Congress and the media
The Mossad was involved in fabricating and passing on some of the faked intelligence, just as it did with Iran.
A liberal, Democratic, Jewish colleague of mine– who is a very upstanding, decent, smart, caring person–voted for Bush in 2004–amid the obviously disastrous and criminal Iraq invasion. Even though Bush was clearly awful and incompetent–and run by Cheney.
I was flabbergasted. Baffled. Made no sense. Steve was way too smart and decent to vote for Bush. ???
(I was also naive. Hated politics and didn’t pay much attention then, cause all the national leaders on both sides spouted anodyne b.s. and didn’t address real issues.)
I said to him–HUH? You’re a liberal Democrat Jew. Why on earth did you vote for BUSH???
He looked sheepish and embarrassed. “Because of Israel,” he said.
I didn’t understand. He explained to me that Israelis and their U.S. Jewish supporters thought deposing Saddam and bringing Iraq under U.S. control was a good thing. For embattled beleaguered tiny Israel–in a “bad neighborhood.”
News to me. I was confused and astounded. Like I said, very naive at the time. I had no idea then that Israel wants to destroy every functional Arab state in the Middle East–and how much power Israel wields over the U.S. Congress and president.
13 years later, I am “woke,” as the kids say.
I hate Israel. I hate that the USA is so in the bag for this racist, apartheid state. I resent that my tax dollars support this shitty,self-pitying, hypocritical, violent, racist state. Makes a mockery of everything the USA is supposed to be about.
And I hate all USA Israel supporters–who tend to be the same people promulgating bullshit anti-Russia conspiracy theories.
I’ve had to ban myself from FB because all my highly educated, prosperous, liberal FB friends are uncritically anti-Trump and in the bag for anti -Russia, NYT-promulgated conspiracy theories.
It’s been eye-opening. And SAD!
Well put. I’m sure that many have had these experiences, or something similar.
David G, you are thinking of the PNAC (Project for a New American Century)…that’s the cabal behind the plan to illegally take over seven mideast sovereign countries. And, yes, many in that group are Zionists, whether Christian or Jew. The fact that none of the invasions in the mideast area have left those countries with anything resembling peace or democracy that we promised, doesn’t mean the invasions haven’t had the exact desired effect intended behind the scenes. “Peace” and “democracy” being brought to heathens was a false flag Americans got behind. The goal was complete chaos before the theft of all the resources in whatever country the US invaded. “The Shock Doctrine” (Naomi Klein) explains this coherently.
Reading this essay fills me with such contradictory emotions! On the one hand, I am thrilled by its display of good old-fashioned rationality. Parry’s analysis is spot on from beginning to end: the continuing puniness of the case against Russia; the dire inadequacies of the Clinton candidacy; the far worse ‘meddling’ (and with such tragic results!) by, uh … ‘other countries.’
On the other hand, it fills me with despair. All of this common sense is, incomprehensibly, not only ‘counter-cultural’ — most of it is positively taboo.
Today the truth is taboo in zionist-controlled territory.
We now have the Russian military accusing American Intelligence of organizing an attack by Al Nusra in Idlib province of Syria to try to capture a platoon of Russian military police enforcing the ‘de-escalation zone’. The Syrian army also came under fire in Deir ez-Zor from our Kurdish allies. The Russians have warned they will suppress those attacks by all ‘necessary means’.
So, with this hysteria in place, what happens if an American solider is killed by a Russian response to an attack on the Syrian Arab Army?
The US brass follows orders from Bibi (the Golan Heights) and multinational war profiteers, including weapon producers and oilmen of Cheney kind: http://www.businessinsider.com/israel-grants-golan-heights-oil-license-2013-2: “A local subsidiary of the New York-listed company Genie Energy — which is advised by former vice president Dick Cheney and whose shareholders include Jacob Rothschild and Rupert Murdoch — will now have exclusive rights to a 153-square mile radius in the southern part of the Golan Heights”.
The US boys and girls are dying for the scoundrels’ profits. It is time for the Jewish communities in the US and UK to show their moral fiber and to denounce the warmongers.
The Amerikan govt. in the shadows but sadly they’re out from behind the curtains do to nothing seems to be able to stop them
https://www.activistpost.com/2017/09/high-ranking-cia-whistleblower-deep-state-shadow-government.html
https://www.sott.net/article/362574-Former-CIA-officer-Philip-Giraldi-American-Jews-drive-Americas-wars
Hit piece on VP
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/why-did-valerie-plame-tweet-anti-semitic-conspiracy-theory
Thanks again Mr. Parry for reminding us that America doesn’t have clean hands. I find it sad and somewhat “amusing” that our political leaders are screaming bloody hell when we’re one of the biggest bullies and always into regime change
Everyone, at one point or another, has said or done something that upon reflection (or someone else pointing it out) is revealed as being hypocritical. My own reaction to being revealed as a hypocrite is one of embarrassment, followed by a quick apology. Seriously, how humiliating to find out that you are guilty of the exact same thing that you just accused someone else of being? Anyone with a shred of dignity and self-worth and humility would feel the same way.
But not the U.S, or any of its “leaders.” We are the biggest hypocrites in the world – literally – and it is there for all the world to see. But despite this, we nor them ever show the slightest bit of embarrassment. We just keep doubling down on our hypocrisy. We scream about Russian interference in our elections – but we do the same thing X 10 to dozens of other countries. We scream about integrity and national sovereignty and respecting other countries – but we have actively overthrown or assisted in the overthrow of dozens of democratically-elected governments the world over, and we have ignored national borders and put our military inside of other sovereign nations without permission countless times. Are in fact doing so this very second. We scream bloody murder about other countries interfering in our politics, but it’s perfectly OK for Israel/AIPAC to buy our own members of Congress lock,stock, and barrel on a daily basis.
I am embarrassed to be an American.
This is not the USA anymore, this is the ZUSA – the zonist united states of A
Really? I thought the Koch Brothers and Mercers owned the Republican party that is ruling America. Then there is their salesman and reality TV star Trump the Destroyer. Try reading up on it. You can start here:
http://billmoyers.com/story/five-myths-about-the-koch-network-and-why-it-matters-to-set-them-straight/
When money interests converge, it does not matter what political party, religious affiliation, or non religious affiliation, or for that matter what country, one is affiliated with. The only thing that matters is getting all the resources (humans included) at the lowest price possible and selling them or it to the highest bidder. What is so hard to understand about this? I love this world.
The zionist troll “Golden” knows that the Kochs are zionists.
Are you seriously of the opinion that prior to Zionist influence in Warshington, so prior to 1967 that is according to Norman Finkelstein, the US regime was a pure, democratic expression of fairness and freedom throughout the world?
The Anglo-American empire is hundreds of years old, the mainly British controlled Zionists just joined the frenzy much later. They’re basically the turd in the backwash of Anglo-American fascism and they sure are enjoying the bath.
Anna noted the present zionist control of the US, and said nothing about the timeline.
We all know that zionists paid Truman to twist arms at the newly-formed UN to establish Israel. So their corruption of US government long predated 1947. Why would anyone cite a Jewish source that zionist influence in the US began in 1967. Obviously the zionist fascists are not rationalized by prior wrongdoings.
See Weir’s work on this. See Against Our Better Judgment. Many other sources.
Amen!
What more can I add? BRAVO!!
Yes, Israel-gate is the story here, not the “Russia-gate” propaganda war, a coverup by the zionist-controlled mass media. The traitors are Hillary’s major campaign sponsors (top 10 all zionists) and foundation donors (Saudis and MIC): Both Dems and Reps are foreign agents taking bribes from Israel.
US mass media are directly and indirectly controlled by zionists, to spread propaganda that Jews should be accorded special privileges:
1. to control US foreign policy to dump money on Israel as “aid”;
2. to control US mass media so that nearly everyone accepts zionist lies about the Mideast and special privileges;
3. to control nearly every US politician through bribes, like those of all of the top ten donors to Clinton;
4. to rent the US military for pennies on the dollar to Israel to kill hundreds of thousands of innocents in the Mideast for the benefit of Israel;
5. to terminate democracy in the US for the advantage of one of the most racist groups in history;
6. that anyone who opposes zionist racism is “anti-semitic” although semites includes Arabs, almost no one is anti-Jewish, and zionism is a primitive tyranny that subverts the interests of Jewish people.
All of these zionist acts are racist propaganda and treason.
The US has no humanitarian policy in its foreign interventions, which serve only zionism in the Mideast, and anti-socialism everywhere else. Those are the interests of economic oligarchy and no one else.
We cannot begin to stop the wars, establish a humanitarian democracy, nor achieve benefits for the people, until the oligarchy is deposed; this is the greatest problem of civilization. The only historical meaning of our era and our lives in the US, is the overthrow of the zionist/MIC oligarchy and the restoration of democracy.
Succinctly and well put.
Here’s an excellent run-down on Israeli “meddling” in US politics, at a professional, Jewish-run, anti-Zionist website.
“Let’s talk about Russian influence”
http://mondoweiss.net/2016/08/about-russian-influence
More information from Consortium News.
“Why Not a Probe of ‘Israel-gate’?”
https://consortiumnews.com/2017/04/20/why-not-a-probe-of-israel-gate
Additional relevant history hidden from Americans by the oligarchy media.
“War Profiteers and the Roots of the War on Terror”
http://warprofiteerstory.blogspot.com
So you are saying the Koch Bros and the Mercers are Zionists? Aside from mental dexterity, do you have any facts to support your thesis? Last time I checked the USA was a predominately a Christian country, and currently ruled by far right, fossil fuel billionaires. I didn’t know the Kochs and Mercers were Jewish? They deny it and contend they are Christians, but maybe you have more info? Is Trump Jewish too? Steve Bannon?
Did you even read Robert Parry’s article? How much more proof do you need to see that Israel owns the US politicians, the MSM, and the Wall Street. You have latched on to two names. Koch brothers opposed Trump and yet he was elected. So much for their control of the Republican party. Mercer was a late comer. How about Sheldon Adelson who bought Trump for Israel? Trump’s daughter and son-in-law are Jewish. Even a person with less than average intelligence knows that Israel is the main cause of US problems.
I don’t know the ethnic lineage of the Koch Bros, but the name ‘Mercer’ is dated from the 16/17th centuries when French Protestants – with names such as Mercer, Hazard, Duncan and Montague – sought political asylum in protestant England from persecution in Catholic France.
Apart from one or two notables I can think of – viz., Chomsky and Finklestein – most Jews I have met or come across tend to be uncritical supporters of Israel. And it is pointless trying to deny this, since it is self-evident; nor is it ‘anti-semitic’ to state this blatant fact – th fact being the disproportionate influence that the US Jewish community holds in key areas of American life.
It has been pointed out that
“Since the 1960s, Jews have come to wield considerable influence in American economic, cultural, intellectual and political life. Jews played a central role in American finance during the 1980s, and they were among the chief beneficiaries of that decade’s corporate mergers and reorganizations. Today, though barely two to three percent of the nation’s population is Jewish, close to half its billionaires are Jews. The chief executive officers of the three major television networks and the four largest film studios are Jews, as are the owners of the nation’s larg¬est newspaper chain and the most influential single newspaper, the New York Times … The role and influence of Jews in Ameri¬can politics is equally marked …
“Jews are only three percent of the nation’s population and com¬prise eleven percent of what this study defines as the nation’s elite. However, Jews constitute more than 25 percent of the elite journalists and publishers, more than 17 percent of the leaders of important voluntary and public interest organiza¬tions, and more than 15 percent of the top ranking civil ser¬vants.”
‘’Stephen Steinlight, former Director of National Affairs of the American Jewish Committee, similarly notes the “disproportionate political power” of Jews, which is “pound for pound the greatest of any ethnic/cultural group in America.” He goes on to explain that “Jewish economic influence and power are disproportionately concentrated in Hollywood, television, and in the news industry.’’
Two well-known Jewish writers, Seymour Lipset and Earl Raab, point¬ed out in their book, Jews and the New American Scene: “During the last three decades Jews [in the United States] have made up 50 percent of the top two hundred intellectu¬als… 20 percent of professors at the leading universities … 40 percent of partners in the leading law firms in New York and Washington … 59 percent of the directors, writ¬ers, and producers of the 50 top-grossing motion pictures from 1965 to 1982, and 58 percent of directors, writers, and producers in two or more primetime television series.”
Vanity Fair magazine in 2007 published a list of what it calls “the world’s most powerful people” – a lineup of the one hundred most influential media bosses, bankers, publishers, image makers, and so forth, who determine how we view ourselves and the world, and who – directly and indirectly — shape our lives and our futures. Jews made up more than half of the powerful men and women on the Vanity Fair list, reported a leading Israeli newspaper, The Jerusalem Post.
The Jewish role in American political life is similarly lopsided. The American magazine Mother Jones compiled a list of the 400 leading contributors to the 2000 US national elections. Seven of the first ten were Jewish, as were twelve of the top 20, and 125 of the top 250.
In recent years the single biggest donor to American politicians, by far, has been Sheldon Adelson, a vehemently pro-Zionist Jewish billionaire. In the 2012 US election campaign, the gambling casino magnate and his wife gave tens of millions of dollars to Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney and other pro-Israel candidates, groups and organizations. As The New York Times reported: “Mr. Adelson, whose $38 billion fortune makes him among the richest men in the world, poured roughly $100 million into Republican campaigns in 2012 …”
The biggest donor to Democratic Party candidates in recent years has been Haim Saban, an Israeli billionaire and global media mogul. Taking note of Saban’s ardent devotion to the Jewish state, The New York Times reported: “He has since emerged as perhaps the most politically connected mogul in Hollywood, throwing his weight and money around Washington, and increasingly, the world, trying to influence all things Israeli. ‘I’m a one-issue guy and my issue is Israel,’ he said.” / 10 M. J. Rosenberg, a political affairs analyst for The Nation, observed: “Adelson and Saban are top funders, respectively, of the Republican and Democratic parties, although as Adelson points out, ‘when it comes to Israel we’re on the same side’.”
A Grip on Hollywood
Michael Medved, a well-known Jewish author and film critic, has written: “It makes no sense at all to try to deny the reality of Jewish power and prominence in popular culture … Any list of the most influential production executives at each of the major movie stu¬dios will produce a heavy majority of recognizably Jewish names.”
One person who has carefully studied this subject is Jonathan J. Goldberg, editor of the influential Jewish community weekly Forward. In his 1996 book, Jewish Power, he wrote:
“In a few key sectors of the media, notably among Hollywood stu¬dio executives, Jews are so numerically dominant that calling these businesses Jewish-controlled is little more than a sta-tistical observation …
“Hollywood at the end of the twentieth century is still an industry with a pronounced ethnic tinge. Virtually all the senior executives at the major studios are Jews. Writers, pro¬ducers, and to a lesser degree directors are disproportionately Jewish — one recent study showed the figure as high as 59 per¬cent among top-grossing films.
“The combined weight of so many Jews in one of America’s most lucrative and important industries gives the Jews of Hollywood a great deal of political power. They are a major source of money for Democratic candidates.”
Joel Stein, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, has written: “As a proud Jew, I want America to know about our accomplishment. Yes, we control Hollywood … I don’t care if Americans think we’re running the news media, Hollywood, Wall Street or the government. I just care that we get to keep running them.”
A Well-Entrenched Factor
Over the years, this clout has had a profound impact on how Americans feel, think and act. One prominent political figure who has publicly acknowledged this reality is Vice President Joe Biden. In a remarkable address in May 2013, he said that what he called the “immense” and “outsized” Jewish role in the US mass media and cultural life is the single most important factor in shaping American attitudes over the past century, and in driving major cultural-political changes.
Vice President Biden said: “I bet you 85 percent of those [social-political] changes, whether it’s in Hollywood or social media, are a consequence of Jewish leaders in the industry. The influence is immense.” He went on to say: “Jewish heritage has shaped who we are – all of us, us, me – as much or more than any other factor in the last 223 years. And that’s a fact.”
As Biden notes, the Jewish role in American life has long been a formidable one. In 1972, during a private White House meeting that was secretly recorded, President Richard Nixon and the Rev. Billy Graham — the nation’s best-known Christian evangelist — spoke frankly about the Jewish grip on the media. Graham said: “This stranglehold has got to be broken or the country’s going down the drain.” To which the president responded: “You believe that?” “Yes, sir,” said Graham. “Oh, boy,” replied Nixon. “So do I. I can’t ever say that [publicly], but I believe it.”
How could all this have happened? Jewish American scholar Alfred M. Lilienthal provided an answer in his detailed 1978 study, The Zionist Connection. He wrote:
“How has the Zionist will been imposed on the American people?… It is the Jewish connection, the tribal solidarity among themselves and the amazing pull on non-Jews, that has molded this unprecedented power … The Jewish connection covers all areas and reaches every level. Most Americans may not even sense this gigantic effort, but there is scarcely a Jew who is not touched by its tentacles…
“The extent and depth to which organized Jewry reached – and reaches – in the U.S. is indeed awesome … The most effective component of the Jewish connection is probably that of media control … Jews, toughened by centuries of persecution, have risen to places of prime importance in the business and financial world… Jewish wealth and acumen wields unprecedented power in the area of finance and investment banking, playing an important role in influencing U.S. policy toward the Middle East … In the larger metropolitan areas, the Jewish-Zionist connection thoroughly pervades affluent financial, commercial, social, entertainment, and art circles.”
Foreign Policy Role
Because US military might is the most formidable and intrusive in the world, the Jewish-Zionist role in setting American policy has consequences for people far beyond the borders of the United States. In the administration of President George W. Bush a group — a cabal — of high-level “neoconservative” Jews played a key role in prodding the United States into war in Iraq. They included: Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense; Richard Perle of the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board; David Wurmser in the State Department; and, Douglas Feith, the Pentagon’s Undersecretary for Policy. These men acted in accord with Zionist plans to overthrow the Iraqi regime that were already in place well before Bush became president in early 2001.
For well-informed people, this reality is no secret. In Britain, a veteran member of the House of Commons candidly declared in May 2003 that pro-Israel Jews had taken control of America’s foreign policy, and had succeeded in pushing the US and Britain into war in Iraq. Tam Dalyell, a Labour party deputy known as “Father of the House” because he was the longest-serving Member of Parliament, said: “A Jewish cabal have taken over the government in the United States and formed an unholy alliance with fundamentalist Christians … There is far too much Jewish influence in the United States.”
In Washington, Senator Ernest Hollings was moved to declare that Iraq was invaded to “secure Israel,” and that “everybody” knows it. Referring to the reluctance of his Congressional colleagues to openly acknowledge this reality, Hollings said that “nobody is willing to stand up and say what is going on.” Members of Congress, with few exceptions, uncritically support Israel and its policies due to what Hollings called, “the pressures that we get politically.”
With Zionist leaders now prodding the United States into new wars against Israel’s adversaries, the cost of the US alliance with the Jewish state is likely to rise even higher in the years to come.
To sum up: Jews wield immense power and influence in the United States. The “Jewish lobby” is a decisive factor in US support for Israel. Jewish-Zionist interests are not identical to American in¬terests. In fact, they often conflict.
As long as the “very powerful” Jewish lobby remains entrenched, there will be no end to the Jewish-Zionist domination of the US polit¬ical system and the American media, the Zionist oppression of Palestinians, the Israeli threat to peace, and the bloody con¬flict between Jews and non-Jews in the Middle East.
For better or worse that’s how it is. Furthermore, charges of anti-semitism won’t alter these facts, in fact such cliched ripostes are likely to create anti-semitism.
Lee Francis – Thank you for these very illuminating comments. I have been reading about it – the Zionist control of the West’s Foreign Policy – here and there in news articles for half a century now, and have it seen it grow that it has become in fact the greatest threat to human survival on the planet now. This whole Russia-Gate is perpetrated by this Lobby. Russia is on the chopping block as it is the only obstacle to their agenda for complete domination of the World. But Russia is heavily nuclear armed country.
You quoted Vice President Biden: “I bet you 85 percent of those [social-political] changes, whether it’s in Hollywood or social media, are a consequence of Jewish leaders in the industry. The influence is immense.” He went on to say: “Jewish heritage has shaped who we are – all of us, us, me – as much or more than any other factor in the last 223 years. And that’s a fact.”
And here in lies the danger. The world had seen Hitler, and Goebbels shaping the Germans into who they became – the supporters of what followed – World War II with over 27 millions Russians killed and Russia completely destroyed. And Jews suffered too. We are in the same situation now. Most of the Americans have absolutely no clue as was the case with Germans.
As least Germans were more well read than the Americans are now and there were dissident voices in Germany which the Nazis had to eliminate. We do not have any left here except these few websites. It is the responsibility of Jewish intellectuals to raise their voices before it is too late. But I do not see any one who is doing it. Bernie Sanders has always been in their camp. Even the voices like Amy Goodman and Katerina Vanden Heuvel have fallen in line in calling Putin as an Evil. The late Alexander Cockburn used to call names and tell the Truth as it was – Stephen Cohen and Marshiemer are just a few of them left now. But they are not really very forceful voices.
I have had many very interesting Jewish friends – from from USSR – at work place for many years. But they always seemed to avoid this topic.
The zionist “Golden” tries as usual to obscure the truth:
1. No mention was made of Trump or Bannon;
2. No mention was made of the Kochs or Mercers as Jewish;
3. Most zionists in the US are Christian opportunists seeking money;
4. The “fossil fuel billionaires” such as KSA are in league with the zionists.
No one gets far in business in the US without capitulation to the zionists, as you surely know.
Whether or not the Kochs are zionists is irrelevant to the main point of Robert Parry’s article, which is that Israel and some of its most ardent supporters have had an outsized influence on American politics with disastrous results to American interests, not to mention the interests of millions of people living within the Middle East. One could easily argue that American neocons and the Israeli right wing are actually doing great harm to Israel’s own long term interests, but that is a topic for a different discussion. Nevertheless, American and Israeli interests are not identical. To claim that they are borders on treason.
You state, “… American and Israeli interests are not identical. To claim that they are borders on treason.”
Their interests may not be identical, but that’s a moot point. What Israel wants, the US does, so if there are any differences, they are of no consequence. And, in any case, it hardly borders on “treason” to say their interests are the same. The interests of the American public are the interests that differ from both Israel and our Congress, but those interests have no bearing on the decisions of the US/Israel alliance. None whatsoever. Is it in the citizens’ interests to have our politicians so terrified of Israeli influence that they won’t stand up against that country for fear of having their reelections jeopardized if they say one word critical of Israel? The tail wags the dog and no one is brave enough to stop it.
You are right, though, the topic is Russia and Parry knows the case against Putin is ‘built’ on hot air.
Please. All this Zionist conspiracy talk is distasteful BS. However, the Kochs’ have ( when it suits them) allied themselves with the Christian Right who fervently believe the land of Israel is reserved by God for the Jewish people. Also, a good portion of Trump’s family IS Jewish.
As the self proclaimed world’s super power, the US is subject to the influences of governments and peoples from across the world. Maybe if we pulled back and acted like a normal country instead of a corrupt failing empire, our politics would be less the subject of constant foreign meddling from all corners.
I’d like to add that Israel, through AIPAC and its other lobbying groups forces every candidate and member of Congress to go through a vetting process to ensure that they are solidly behind the pro-Israel line, and if they fail to pass the test or deviate in any way, they are attacked and their opponent (who has also been vetted, and presumably passed) is funded. The fear of being marginalized, demonized, blackmailed and/or out of a job has put our legislators in a strait-jacket and highjacked our country’s foreign policy.
At the very least AIPAC and its associated groups should be required to comply with the Foreign Agents Registration Act, and disclose names and contributions of their members and their ties to their foreign handlers.
As for those legislators or other members of the government with dual citizenship (whether Israeli, or otherwise), they should be barred from any sensitive national security positions, or access to sensitive intelligence, since that duality and their oath sworn to both countries raises a clear conflict of interest that compromises their loyalty to the United States.
Incontinentreader, thank you for an excellent comment (as so often you offer on this site).
Excellent overview of this overriding issue again by Parry. It does amount to treason and a dangerous hostile takeover by Israeli influence, especially since, as Parry notes, the target state has a huge supply of nuclear weapons. Sam F.’s comment cogently lays out the issues illuminated by Parry’s commentary.
Amen
Here is a hilarious (but at the same time, sad) look at how three members of Congress are attempting to put an end to the purveying of Russian propaganda in the United States:
https://viableopposition.blogspot.hk/2017/09/the-anti-russia-movement-and.html
Sadly, these are the men and women that we have elected to lead us.
Congress has certainly betrayed the United States.
Thanks to Mr. Parry for this essential counterpoint to the mass media propaganda.
Those who would like to petition the NYT to make Robert Parry their senior editor may do so here:
https://www.change.org/p/new-york-times-bring-a-new-editor-to-the-new-york-times?recruiter=72650402&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink
While Mr. Parry may prefer independence, and we all know the NYT ownership makes it unlikely, and the NYT may try to ignore it, it is instructive to them that intelligent readers know better journalism when they see it. A petition demonstrates the concerns of a far larger number of potential or lost subscribers.
Would you fuck off with this shit?