There is a fever that seizes this land from time to time and it is the fever of war, a condition that this time seems immune to all known cures, starting with reason, as Daniel Lazare explores.
By Daniel Lazare Special to Consortium News
What happens when an unthinkable war meets an unbeatable case of war fever? Thanks to Russia-gate, unsubstantiated reports about the use of poison gas in Syria, and a slew of similar factoids and pseudo-scandals, the world may soon find out.
In saner times, including during the Cold War at even its most heated, political leaders knew not to push a conflict with a rival nuclear power too far. After all, what was the point of getting into a fight in which everyone would lose?
Cooler heads thus prevailed in Washington while more excitable sorts were shipped off to where they could do no harm. This is what kept the peace during the U-2 affair, the Berlin Wall, and the Cuban missile crisis and what promised to continue doing so even after the advent of American “unipolarity” in 1989-92.
But that was then. Today, the question is no longer how to avoid a fight that can only lead to catastrophe, but how to avoid a showdown with a country that “in the past four years has annexed Crimea, intervened in eastern Ukraine, sought to influence the American election in 2016, allegedly poisoned a former Russian spy living in Britain and propped up the murderous government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria,” to quote the bill of indictment in a recent front-page article in The New York Times.
Given that the list of alleged atrocities expands with virtually each passing week, the answer, increasingly, is: no way, no how. Since Russia is bent on spreading “conflict and discord” throughout the west – if only in the eyes of the U.S., that is – confrontation grows more and more likely.
A Very American Coup
This is despite the fact that the offenses cited by the Times
The neo-Nazi Wolfsangel symbol on a banner in Ukraine.
are each more complex or dubious than the “newspaper of record” is willing to concede. The annexation of the Crimea, for instance, was a response to a US-financed, neo-Nazi-spearheaded coup in Kiev in February 2014 that caused the rickety Ukrainian state to collapse and sent Russophones in the east fleeing for protection into the arms of Moscow. After investing more than $5 billion to steer the Ukraine in such a disastrous direction according to then-Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, the US blamed Russia for the consequences. (See quote beginning at 7:42.) As for charges of interference in the 2016 election, the Times itself noted back in January 2017 that the formal CIA-FBI-NSA “assessment” blaming the Kremlin was notably bereft of factual back-up. As the paper put it:
“[T]he declassified report contained no information about how the agencies had collected their data or had come to their conclusions. So it is bound to be attacked by skeptics and by partisans of Mr. Trump, who see the review as a political effort to impugn the legitimacy of his election.”
Quite right. But now evidence-free assertions are accepted as fact while anyone who says otherwise is ignored or shouted down. Questions linger with regard to the March 4 poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, most notably why a supposedly ultra-powerful nerve agent would not take effect for more than seven hours. (Someone supposedly smeared the nerve agent on the front door of Sergei’s home in Salisbury, England, which he and his daughter left around nine in the morning. Yet it was not until 4:15 p.m. that they were found incapacitated on a park bench after visiting a pub and eating at a local restaurant.)
As for “the murderous government of President Bashar al-Assad,” such talk would be silly if the consequences weren’t so dire. After all, it wasn’t Assad who flooded Syria with tens of thousands of jihadis bent on massacring Christian, Druse, Alawites, and secularists. To the contrary, it was the U.S., Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the other Arab Gulf states. As a now declassified Defense Intelligence Agency report noted back in August 2012:
— “The Salafist[s], the Muslim Brotherhood, and AQI [i.e. Al Qaeda in Iraq] are the major forces driving the insurgency”;
— “The West, Gulf countries, and Turkey support the [rebel] opposition”;
— “If the situation unravels further, there is the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist principality in eastern Syria”;
— “…[T]his is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition [i.e. the US, Turkey, and the gulf states] want in order to isolate the Syrian regime, which is considered the strategic depth of the Shia expansion….”
A Sectarian War
In other words, the US and its Sunni Arab allies launched a sectarian war against the Alawite-backed Syrian regime with the full knowledge that an Al Qaeda state in eastern Syria might well be the result. Yet now they blame Assad for defending himself against the Salafist onslaught and Russia for helping him. It is a case of launching a neo-medieval sectarian war and then crying foul when the other side dares to fight back.
One would think that cooler heads might inject a note of sanity before things get completely out of hand. But the opposite seems to be the case. The more temperatures rise, the more congressmen, journalists, think-tank experts, and other hangers-on conclude that it is advantageous to jump on the bandwagon and drive passions up even more. Pro-war frenzy leads to more of the same. The more reason is needed, the scarcer it becomes.
Reason is scare. (Illustration by Chesley Bonestell of nuclear bombs detonating over New York City, entitled “Hiroshima U.S.A.” Colliers, Aug. 5, 1950.)
Indeed, it sometimes seems that the only halfway sane person left in Washington is Donald Trump, who, according to a strange report in Sunday’s Washington Post, is fighting a desperate rear-guard action against neocons bent on ratcheting up tensions to ever higher levels.
Reporters Greg Jaffe, John Hudson, and Philip Rucker described a bizarre scene at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Florida resort last month in which aides were only able to persuade the president to expel sixty Russian diplomats in retaliation for the Skripal poisoning by promising him that allies would toss out an equal number in Europe. When France and Germany only expelled four Russians each, Trump felt double-crossed. “I don’t care about the total,” he reportedly screamed when the aides tried to explain that the number expelled by all European nations would eventually approach the U.S. figure. “There were curse words,” one official told the Post, “a lot of curse words.”
Similarly, when Congress approved a new round of anti-Russian sanctions in July, the article says it took aides four days to persuade Trump to sign the bill even though it had cleared with a veto-proof majority that made it a virtual fait accompli. The Post said the same thing occurred when aides tried to convince him to sell antitank missiles to the Ukraine for use against pro-Russian separatists. “Why is this our problem?” he reportedly asked. “Why not let the Europeans deal with Ukraine?” When CIA Director Mike Pompeo, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis added their voices to the chorus, all the president could do was whine, “I just want peace.”
Everyone Agreed–Except Trump
Trump: Out of step.
Of course, when Donald Trump is the sole remaining voice of reason, then we’re really in trouble. The infighting escalated even further on Monday after Haley vowed to slap still more sanctions on Russia for the crime of backing Assad. “They have done nothing but brutalize their people and destroy their land, all in the name of power,” she said of the Baathists on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.” So Russia would have to pay the price.
Everyone agreed, Republicans, Democrats, and the corporate media – everyone, that is, except Trump. Defying his neocon captors, he undercut Haley by declaring that sanctions would not be forthcoming after all. White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders was left to gamely assert that “the president has been clear that he’s going to be tough on Russia, but at the same time he’d still like to have a good relationship with them.”
Times columnist Michelle Goldberg was so flabbergasted by Trump’s about-face that she wondered whether reports that Putin was using a secret “pee tape” to force him into line might not be true after all.
But of course – who else would want an end to hostilities with Russia other than a crazy man or someone under duress? War with a nuclear power is something that no sane person really wants to avoid, right?
U.S. foreign policy is caught in a powerful contradiction. A military showdown with a fellow nuclear power is unthinkable. Yet pausing for a moment to consider where all this madness is leading is out of the question. Two forces are colliding, war on one hand and a general inability to think things through in a clear-headed way on the other.
It’s a case of a herd of independent minds stampeding over a cliff – not because someone is forcing them to, but because they don’t know how to stop.
Daniel Lazare is the author of The Frozen Republic: How the Constitution Is Paralyzing Democracy (Harcourt Brace, 1996) and other books about American politics. He has written for a wide variety of publications from The Nation to Le Monde Diplomatique, and his articles about the Middle East, terrorism, Eastern Europe, and other topics appear regularly on such websites as Jacobin and The American Conservative.
All these wars have pointed to an ultimate goal which is to destabilize all the Arab countries in the Middle East — the more infighting among Arabs, the better Israel has a chance to conquer them all.
Daniel Lazare – what a great article you’ve written! No doubt there are many on this site who would have been unhappy with your portrayal of Trump fighting back, getting angry over the Russian diplomat expulsions, about Trump wondering why we can’t just mind our own business and get out of Syria. That takes guts to speak the truth, to provide all sides of the equation, not just one. Thank you.
Patrick Buchanan, in his article entitled “Trump: Prisoner of the War Party?”, quotes Trump:
“No amount of American blood and treasure can produce lasting peace in the Middle East.”
So far Trump has bombed Syria twice, after forewarning everyone involved, and these hits have been very limited in scope. Jeffrey Sachs said that “Trump should listen to his instincts on this.” So he should, because he’s right on wanting to get out.
The chronological order of the comments has been fouled up and incoherent. There is no way to know who wrote what when and in response to whom. What’s going on here? It used to be LOGICAL, TEMPORAL, now it’s anything and everything in any order and impossible to follow.
Somebody’s been messing with it. Big Brother?
The neocons suspect Trump is a commie agent embedded 30 yrs ago. That’s why everyone is pressuring him to do Putin in and which Trump will not do. Which makes him more suspect. The cycle goes on and on until someone gives up, or war breaks out. Either way no good will come out of it.
Funny how there is not one mention of Israel in this article. Even my pet rabbit knows they are as much a factor as anybody. If anything, even more.
Fever is an imprecise metaphor for what’s happening now. War as a infectious disease suggests that the population has influence on policy. The US public has no say in US wars.
This is a closer fit:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fungus-makes-zombie-ants/
The ant is the US state. The infecting fungus is CIA. CIA infests the US command structure to force the American peoples into war. The CIA fungus benefits by creating chaos that favors CIA criminality: entrepots for drug, arms, and human trafficking, brutalized armed irregulars, and theft or corruption opportunities, all protected as state secrets. The infection is institutional, and social indoctrination serves solely to paralyze civil society.
And this is nothing new. The CIA infested America in 1949 and the state has been a zombie host of CIA parasites ever since. There are no cooler heads. CIA infestation has locked the country into a rigid behavior pattern that will kill the host.
Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction
Sorcerers of death’s construction
In the fields the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds
Oh lord yeah!
Politicians hide themselves away
They only started the war
Why should they go out to fight?
They leave that role to poor
Time will tell on their power minds
Making war just for fun
Treating people just like pawns in chess
Wait ’til their judgement day comes
Yeah!
Now in darkness world stops turning
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has struck the hour
Day of judgment, God is calling
On their knees the war pig’s crawling
Begging mercy for their sins
Satan laughing spreads his wings
All right now!
Sorry, we’re to blame for our own crimes and mistakes. We are condemned to freedom.
Absolutely.
Too many people interpret real life in terms of movies and video games and “American Exceptionalism” theology. :-(
In fact, Joe and all:
The purpose of Hasbara propaganda trolls is to distract, divert, distort, dismiss, and disrupt online discussion of Israeli government actions, pro-Israel Lobby influence, and Israeli-Saudi-U.S. Axis warmongering.
Hasbara trolls also attempt to deceive and dismay by using “resistance is futile” propaganda rhetoric.
Let’s be clear, the term “Hasbara troll” is not name-calling or a term of abuse.
The term “Hasbara troll” accurately describes a specific form of online propaganda activity.
It’s not merely inconvenient or annoying distraction. Hasbara is targeted distraction and diversion with a distinct political agenda.
Most readers understandably prefer to “not feed the trolls” and to avoid engagement.
However, in the case of Hasbara propaganda trolls, it is a legitimate response to point out the distortions, deceptions, logical fallacies, and Hasbara rhetorical manipulations.
– Conventional Hasbara (overtly pro-Israel / pro-Zionist) propaganda includes appeals to “alt-right” so-called “theories”
– Inverted Hasbara (false flag “anti-Israel” / “anti-Zionist” and fake “anti-Jewish” / “anti-Semitic”) propaganda includes extremist rhetoric and bogus incitements to “hatred”
Trolls typically mutter deceptive rhetorical appeals for “conversation”, “engagement” and “exchanging ideas”.
But as Hasbara troll “WC” has repeatedly demonstrated, no actual conversation takes place with trolls.
When their distortions and logical fallacies are exposed, Hasbara trolls like “WC” simply roll on to their next propaganda declaration.
It is entirely appropriate for administrators to moderate troll comments that violate the CN comment policy. That is not “censorship” as trolls like “WC” loudly complain. Moderating trolls who violate comment policy is responsible site administration.
In the information warfare that accompanies ongoing Israeli-Saudi-U.S. Axis military assaults, both Conventional Hasbara and Inverted Hasbara propaganda trolls have been more and more aggressive, probing to see how far they can push the propaganda and how much distraction they can get away with.
If readers have concerns about the site moderation or spot violations of Comment Policy, we can bring them to the attention of CN at [email protected].
Now would be a very good time.
Abe- thank you, spot on. I have been studying the subject matter for over 25 years or so, and have had just about every hasbara/sayanim encounter possible. The problem is compounded by censorship and outright bias against criticizing, or even conversationally mentioning the offending group, or tribe, if you will. I was banned from Facebook multiple times before I deleted my account. The very words “hasbara troll” got me banned for 30 days for “bullying”. In another instance, I gave a germane response (just one comment) to a thread discussing israel, and it’s attendant self made and perpetuating problems. My exact verbatim post was: “the J*ws are often their own worst enemy”. Banned for another SIXTY days. Multiple attempts to get an explanation were ignored. I told them to stuff it at that point. Similar comments will get you at a minimum shadow banned on many Youtube channels. Thank God CN is, at this point, open to valid comments. My opinion, as it relates the hasbara troll, or any troll, is, unless they are taking too much bandwidth, if you will, to let them blabber on. They always expose themselves, and it is a good tutorial for newbies who might have been, up until now, actually deceived by them. As long as there are wise, educated people to expose them, it is an opportunity, IMO. The ultimate reward is when they resort to smears and ad hominem attacks.
From “time to time” 222 years out of 242 years the U.S. has been at war.
“that the only halfway sane person left in Washington is Donald Trump” couldn’t read anymore Bull
Crazy clown just bombed Syria for no good reason—sorry my mistake—get the news off from Israel killing the poor Palestinians.
The causes of US wars are primarily:
1. The need of right wing tyrants for a foreign enemy to pose falsely with the flag and demand power as fake protectors, and to accuse their opponents of disloyalty;
2. The corruption of mass media and elections by money, allowing the MIC/zionists to bribe Congress for wars for factional gain;
3. In early historical cases, theft of land in US westward expansion, while more recent efforts to steal oil failed.
All such wars are prohibited by the Constitution, in limiting federal military action to repelling invasions and suppressing insurrections, and can be lawful only under treaties. The founders sought to avoid foreign entanglements, but NATO has been used since WWII by US warmonger tyrants to create foreign enemies to demand power and attack their moral superiors. NATO must be repudiated or reworked to permit solely defensive actions.
Eliminating US warmongering requires:
1. Amendments to the Constitution to restrict funding of mass media and elections to limited individual contributions;
2. Renegotiation of the NATO treaty to be purely defensive, or its repudiation;
3. Undertaking foreign military action solely under UN auspices;
4. Prosecution of US war criminals and corrupt politicians, and banning of lobbyists;
5. Monitoring public officials and their families and associates for corruption during their lives;
6. Repurposing about 80 percent of the military to building infrastructure in developing nations;
7. Signing the treaty of Rome to submit to ICC jurisdiction in most matters.
We cannot do these things only because we no longer have a democracy, because elections and mass media are controlled by money, so there is no basis of facts for policy debate, and no public debate, just the money propaganda.
Thanks Dan,
For that historical review of the failure of our neocon leadership to see that the pursuit of American corporate interests under the umbrella of the projection of democracy has done nothing but decimate the populations of Iraq, Libya and Syria and create an immmigratiion wave of havoc for our European allies. Truth has been thrown to the winds as public opinion is manufactured to support “American interests” before sensible investigations can be followed and we use stereotypes for justifications.
You’d think by now the warty US citizen-consumer would know when they are being had after a century of psychologiacl conditioning, Madison Avenue style. But no, the events you cite and more (American Exceptionalism for example) are leading us into dark places – maybe good for the world’s corporations, but what do they care if the fundamental human concerns of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness when “Americn Interests” are at stake. When all the parrots are facing the same direction, that’s the time “war fever” is supplanting reason and compassion for the people we should be cooperating with in this world – not full spectrum dominating. Damn!
I can no longer think of a serious downside to WWIII. Do it and get it over with. This planet cannot any longer afford to put up with us.
If the World at War is what you find that has no downside in your opinion then I expect you will sign up for the next war and volunteer as you say, “Do it and get it over with.” You will be the first victim of such a war. How do you want to die? Let me count the ways. Would you be happy to be incinerated up in an atomic fireball as you and all of the folks you love perish in an instant?
Perhaps that would be too easy. Perhaps you want to slowly die in a wasteland of radioactive dust along with the rest of humanity scraping an existence off the Plutonium salted Earth after the lack of your understanding magnified by others ends the World.
Your capitulation in which you “can no longer think” of a serious downside to WWII is not helpful for the rest of us.
Please report to the nearest molecular disintegration chamber and fulfill your destiny.
“Do it and get it Over With.”
Wait till I’m dead. Apres moi, le Deluge!
Any children?
Great article. I couldn’t have said it better. While Donald Trump is attacked from all sides over everything and he probably deserves much of it since he doesn’t seem to care one bit about others opinions he seems to be the little dutch boy with his finger in the crack of the dam which will lead to war if he relents as his tormentors burn his feet with matches and pummel him with refuse while they break out pick axes and start excavating the base of the dam while claiming foreign enemies are “hard at work” trying to defeat democracy and freedom by breaking the dam!!!
The only reason most folks cannot see it is they are confused as to what the real fake news is. If they have just recently tuned into this concept they may think it represents liberal media (which doesn’t even exist) or perhaps the “Russians”. As a long time study, I can tell you it is as old as democracy itself. Sometimes it has benefited us and sometimes we have gotten stuck in quagmires. As a later article in this website recommends to study the case of the USS Maine and Tonkin Gulf incident. You should also look at the Lusitania disaster. A cruise ship loaded with arms in broad daylight with German spies watching which went into U-Boat infested waters off Ireland and wandered around aimlessly in wolf pack territory until she was torpedoed.
War fever has gripped the hearts of the greedy since civilization began. Read the history books. The only difference between us spectators and those with power who dream of reliving some past war of conquest is the difference between money and wealth and greed vs. humanity.
They probably do not really care about the fact that today nuclear weapons are involved. When have warlords ever shied away from shiny new weapons of mass destruction like siege cannons.
So now the “European Alliance” is basically rubber stamping outlandish claims. Excuse me for criticizing these Genteel Folks but when did they ever get it right? Was it the vacillation and appeasement strategy leading up to WWII? Was it the plans for surrender to the Germans? Perhaps it was the vengeful and greedy war reparations against Germany after the Great War. It took the US to come up with the Marshall Plan. That worked.
I just do not trust these European bureaucrats who have their heads up bankers butts to come to a legitimate conclusion as to how Russia is somehow at the root cause of every double cross. We are being played for fools because we are.
How can we accept that all the evidence for such atrocities has to be locked away under lock and key to preserve state intelligence. Perhaps more simply it is guarded to cover up lies?
We are foolish to trust the governments after such a proven shoddy history of fake news designed to manipulate all of us to bend to the will of the masters.
I will try to cite my favorite Mike Rivero: Let all of these war hawks take parachutes, bright suites and guns and go fight Putin (we would informed Putin they are on their way to Russia). Personally I bet and cheer for Putin.
Chesley Bonestell did the illustrations for The Conquest Of Space.
It was a Christmas present in 1950, I think.
That illustration of nyc being hit by 2 atomic bombs, is what we Americans deserve.
Today I read about a WW2 bomb causing mass evacuation in Berlin.
After all the damage the US has caused the world….
Nobody deserves what is coming. But we all played some part in it. The way out of this is love and forgiveness. Let’s keep that door open……….
It’s always easier to forgive yourself. “Forget the past, let by-gones be by-gones” is what child molestors and war criminals like to say.
“It is a case of launching a neo-medieval sectarian war and then crying foul when the other side dares to fight back.”
Launching neo-medieval sectarian wars funded by the US, Saudi Arabia, and Israel throughout the Middle East and Africa–i.e.. Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen, etc….was a way to dismember sovereign states creating chaos and ultimately achieving unilateral hegemony–a bloodbath of millions of Muslims was never a consideration.
If they say that we have to bomb Syria because Assad used chemical weapons on his own people, then we have to bomb Saudi Arabia for using cluster bombs on Yemen children, Israel for using white phosphorus on Palestinians, the U.K., France and our other allies for also using them on Iraqis. Then some country needs to bomb the USA for using both white phosphorus and depleted uranium on Iraq too.
Or countries need to place sanctions on us for our military interventions. This would show the world that the use of drones, invasions and chemical weapons will not be tolerated. The chance of that happening is nil because we’re exceptional, right?
It’s our hubris, arrogance and hypocrisy that gets me. Why the American people can’t see who we are is baffling.
Historians’ rule no. 1: Giant c*ck-ups explain more and better than conspiracies. US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were for short-term gains.
No, that doesn’t work. Mistakes fail in all directions. Some screwups even lead to unexpected good results.
US actions since 1989 are uniformly in the same direction. Constant aggressive wars with NO GAIN AT ALL. Not short-term or long-term. NO GAIN.
Millions of foreigners are killed by bullets and bombs, and ordinary Americans are dying of poverty and despair.
This means the actions are planned and coordinated by PERFECTLY EVIL people with influence and power.
This dovetails well with the comments made by Stephen F. Cohen on an interview disseminated by The Nation. He said that the Russia-gate narrative was now thoroughly entrenched in Washington and contrary accounts are treated as if they were the product of Russia-controlled dupery.
This is so very unfortunate! How do you convince the world of your good intentions when you punish an accused before carefully analyzing and appraising the evidence for guilt? Not only that, but in the course of the punishment you destroy some of the possible evidence?
My mother used to say you are known by the company you keep. Bolton, Pompeo, “Mad Dog” Matis, et all. Really? America will have its War and afterwards I would strongly suggest executions for the traitors who caused many millions of deaths. Trump among other things is a very poor judge of character, but then again, he is another “friend” of the Israeli government Follow the money..
Right on the money—Cheers to Charles Ferguson
That fever is in Washington D.C. specifically K Street. That 700 + billion dollar virus is compounded by a corrupt appropriation process that no one is allowed to question.
Cheney was Darth NEOCON, not Bush. Why does Trump seem hell bent on war with IRAN? If he was such a peacenik, how does pushing arms sales to the Saudis to use in Yemen and elsewhere, blowing as many innocent children to bits as Assad may have done in Syria, fit into the picture. Can’t buy your premise. Oh yes, and let’s not forget Kushner’s alleged passing of names of US informers to the Saudis in possible exchange for some needed business funding.
Why not cut to the chase ?
HEADLINE: America’s Jews Are Driving America’s Wars
http://www.unz.com/pgiraldi/americas-jews-are-drivi.ng-americas-wars/
The author is a career CIA agent and contributor to Consortium News.
Your link is bad – it has a period in “drivi.ng” which must be removed. Geraldi got carried away, in my opinion. Unless he has evidence all, or even most, American Jews are the problem, he shouldn’t say so. For the time being the high moral ground ought to mean concentrating on the Holy Cesspool Nation, American Christian Zionists, and known (!) American Jewish Zionists.
I know quite a few Protestants and Catholics who aren’t at all religious – they’ll be seen in church for weddings and funerals. I don’t want to be responsible for damning Jewish Joe Sixpack who has the same attitudes.
Nope. Born-again Protestant Dispensationalists, eager to speed up the Rapture, the Second Coming.
Gotta keep the War Machine well fed so it can continue to pay for politicians who support War. The Media is also well under “control”. Seems the end of The American Empire. Afterwards, the Rich will move on to extract wealth out of new targets (India?)
I take no satisfaction in sharing the bad news that I often do on these pages, but I am committed to the truth, and feel that it is our last hope, however shocking or depressing it’s impact might be. True things are not always sweet, and sweet things are not always true.
Backing up the piece linked by Abe is this analysis on NEO:
https://journal-neo.org/2018/04/20/the-stench-of-imperialism-the-statement-of-theresa-may/
World War is coming, indeed it has already started. It can go white hot at any time now.
“Britain’s carefully calibrated efforts to create a worldwide diplomatic break with Russia can now clearly be seen as a prelude to what was almost certainly planned to be – and may yet become – an all-out war with Iran on the Syrian battlefield. This scenario appears to have been averted for now by Russia’s refusal to countenance it, and the West’s fear of launching such an operation in the face of direct Russian threats, but such incidents are only likely to increase. It is only a matter of time before Russia will be put to the test.
“It is easy to see how the Syrian war could lead to a major escalation: indeed, it is difficult to see how it could not. In Washington, there is much talk of the need to ‘confront’ Iran in Syria, and recent Israeli attacks on Iranian positions in Syria indicate that they are itching to get this confrontation under way, with or without prior US approval. Once underway, however, an Iranian-Israeli conflict could very easily draw in Russia and the US. Russia could hardly be expected to stand back whilst Israel reversed all its hard fought gains of the past two and a half years – whilst demonstrating the feebleness of Russian ‘protection’ – and would likely retaliate, or at the very least (and more likely) provide its allies with the means to do so. Indeed, Putin reportedly warned Netanyahu last week that he can no longer expect to attack Syria with impunity. And once Israelis start getting killed by Russian hardware, it is hard to see how the US could not get involved.
“This is just one possible scenario for the kind of escalation that would lead to war with Russia. Economic war with China is already underway, and US warships are already readying themselves to cut off China’s supply lines in the South China Sea. Each specific provocation and escalation may or may not lead to a direct showdown with one or both of these powers. What is clear, however, is that this is the direction in which Western imperialism is clearly headed. ”
World War is Still in the Cards
By Dan Glazebrook
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/04/20/world-war-is-still-in-the-cards/
Cancers take over the functioning apparatus of cells, and trick them into multiplying without limit, and eventually destroying themselves and their host. Result: a planet devoid of one cancer riddled species called homo too smart for it’s own good.
sadly I agree. Humanity is looking just like other creature about to eat itself out of house and home and destroy itself. Thousands of years of religion and philosophy is no match for human ambition, avarice, arrogance, mendacity, and greed. The blindness of Science is marvelous, said Dostoyevsky. I suspect in the end it will have accomplished little else but help the forces of evil listed above hasten our demise.
Dostoyevsky was my mentor of spiritual and social awakening when I was twelve years old. I feel he was my teacher, and my brother. I owe him a great debt. He helped save me from a meaningless life.
Out of control growth is cancer. Cancer is difficult to cure, but that is our problem – lethal, uncontrolled growth – some call it capitalism, some call it war – no difference really.
It is not reasonable to believe what you have written, i.e.: : “Indeed, it sometimes seems that the only halfway sane person left in Washington is Donald Trump, who, according to a strange report inSunday’s Washington Post, is fighting a desperate rear-guard action against neocons bent on ratcheting up tensions to ever higher levels. ”
Trump would be pressing for evidence of the Syrian chemical weapons attack, and would disclose what evidence they had to the public. HE DECIDES what is classified and what is not classified. Furthermore, within 24 hours after the attack, he signed onto Assad having done it. Within 24 hours, Trump said he did it and he was an animal and that there would be a response.
If Trump were truly “fighting a desperate rear guard action against neocons”., he could have done that and won. The only reasonable inference to be drawn by his actions is that Trump is a neo-con globalist. As a matter of fact, he is their CHIEF NEO-CON.
Good point Anastasia. Actually Trump is not anything as focused as a neocon. He is just one untogether, scattered dude, who doesn’t know what to do or think next. He lacks any center. And that is very dangerous for one placed as he is now.
Obama had no center either. He was intelligent, Trump is a knucklehead, but it seems to make very little difference.
George W Bush is a neocon. Trump is a useful stooge. Don’t conflate the two.
Try as I can, I have never been able to convince myself that George W. Bush *ever* made any decisions in the White House. I can only picture him as a pure figurehead. And while leaks as to the circumstances of Trump actually making governmental decisions is practically an everyday occurrence, I don’t recall ever reading of such a moment with W.
Paul – I for one agree with you entirely on that point. W was more like a ‘frontman’ for Cheney. It sounds like that arrangement was made after the election, as I recall. It was like the 1999 Republicans had to find someone that looked good on TV, get him elected, and then surround him with their Neo-con stalwarts who would make all the big decisions while their POTUS was kept occupied with the minor ceremonial functions. I still think that ‘feckless frat-boy’ best describes him.
To me T Rex left on his own is a nationalist but is vulnerable to being manipulated into globalist actions.
Yes, it certainly is a fever, really a pandemic. I like the line mike posted from a poem “It’s a sad thing to witness the widespread condition of critical faculties out of commission”.
“It’s a case of a herd of independent minds stampeding over a cliff…”
In this context the word “minds” is a gross exaggeration. Small knots of neural tissue, like those found at one end of a nematode worm, perhaps.
“There is a fever that seizes this land from time to time”
The framing of opponents is always interesting.
In this case the threat is perceived as external (not our fault) and periodic (time to time) instead of systemic and hence the norm of varying amplitude.
Perhaps a regurgitation of and variations upon “We the people hold these truths to be self-evident”
Yes. Our US National Character is way out of joint. And that is a big, deep source of our difficulties. The problem is that it is very difficult for anyone to cast off this ingrained from birth National Character. The Ugly American needs something that goes a lot deeper than a face lift and a few cosmetics.
“The problem is that it is very difficult for anyone to cast off this ingrained from birth National Character.”
Ideology is immersive and is akin to a swimming pool – when you start to emerge from it you still carry water droplets, which require rigorous effort to remove.
“The Ugly American needs something that goes a lot deeper than a face lift and a few cosmetics.”
This is an example of ideology conflating two continents (the Americas) with a temporary socio-economic arrangement misleadingly entitled “The United States of America”
Some others who were similarly immersed in the ideologic conflation resorted to “The Quiet American” ergo remained within a linear spectrum positing that death of “Americans” was a solution – SIS/MI6 was often misguided and reliant on dogma.
“needs something that goes a lot deeper than a face lift and a few cosmetics.”
An increasing sum of some realise that transcendence – lateral change is required – although some immersed in the ideological conflation with an added dosage of “exceptionalism” seek to freeze time, resort to belief obfuscating/denying thermodynamics.
This has given rise to levels of merriment for some akin to the merriment ocassioned by “full spectrum dominance”, “the end of history” and opportunities derived therefrom.
Enjoy your journey.
Just what is it that the maniacs in Washington think they stand to gain by overthrowing Assad, besides a pipeline route? Is that (merely more money in the pockets of a handful of rich oligarchs) worth the lives of over half a million human beings and counting? And the displacement of 14 million more? Just what is it we are angling for in Ukraine? We’ve made that country an economic basket case in the vain attempt to disadvantage Putin. Any notions of driving him from office (after just being re-elected with a 77% majority) is delusional thinking. Moreover, whoever would replace him would be a hard line nationalist reactive against OUR meddling in Russian affairs. Maybe Washington should start thinking about what it may lose–what the American people may lose–if their bellicosity brings the unintended consequences of nuclear retaliation against the United States. Absolutely none of the neocon scenarios add up. Forrest Gump could provide a more coherent and constructive foreign policy.
To begin understanding, you have to appreciate that the people in power are not normal human beings like you and me. Althoguh the analogy may seem unduly dramatic, they are more like vampires or werewolves. Vampires crave blood above all; little else matters to them. Once a man transforms into werewolf shape, his human morals and inhibitions lose most of their strength; he cannot subdue his lust to tear flesh, crunch bone and drink blood.
To those people – perhaps I should call them “creatures” – money has much the same allure as blood to a vampire. They can never have enough, because they do not want it to spend on the good things of life, but to pile up more than the other fellow. To them, life is like a game of Monopoly played out with real money and real property, at the expense of real people. The one who dies with the most wins. Of course this is insane in a number of ways. First, when you die it doesn’t matter how rich you were. Second, there are thousands (at least) of those creatures all desperately trying to be the richest – but only one can achieve that goal at any time. Third, by taking untold billions – or even trillions – of dollars out of circulation, they are actively and deliberately depriving other people of badly-needed food, clothing, shoes, homes, education, medical help, and all the other good things of life. Not only does this not bother them; they positively exult in it. The more poor people die of starvation or disease, the happier the creatures are.
Naturally, they quite enjoy a good war too.
What you are describing Tom is the behavior of addicts. In these folks it is primarily addiction to power, often expressed in the form of monetary wealth. For the overboard addict, their craving trumps every other consideration. They will kill their own mother to get what they must have. They are immune to anything that stands in their way, and will act to destroy it. As you say, they want it ALL , and nothing less will satisfy them. With power addiction, they want all the money in the world, so they are never satisfied because nothing less than everything will give them peace – they think. Actually they would eventually discover that even having all the money in the world would not satisfy them, their craving has grown beyond all limits – it is INSATIABLE. Sanity is the ability to say ENOUGH. These addicts have lost that ability, their lives are defined by their unending search for MORE.
There is a way out of dead end addictions, but it requires a change of heart and a willingness to admit defeat, and accept the help of others. I know this from my own experience. Unfortunately the power addicts who are on course to destroy all of us in their mad and hopeless quest, are very unlikely to swerve from their deadly course. I wish I had found a way to deter them, and help them to recover their sanity, but so far I have not found it.
They are not addicts. They no what they are doing. That’s the problem with your analogy. You assume the addiction is the cause of their action. It is not. This is American Imperialism. Best to understand that.
Would you argue to a cigarette smoker that they are not an addict, because “They know what they are doing”? Would the Surgeon General agree with your definition? .. How about the American Medical Association?
In 1966, the United States became the first nation in the world to require a health warning on cigarette packages.
In 1999, Philip Morris U.S.A. purchased three brands of cigarettes from Liggett Group Inc. The brands were: Chesterfield, L&M, and Lark. At the time Philip Morris purchased the brands from Liggett, the packaging for those cigarettes included the statement “Smoking Is Addictive”. After Philip Morris acquired the three Liggett brands, it removed the statement from the packages.
Though the United States started the trend of labeling cigarette packages with warnings, today the country has one of the least restrictive labelling requirements on their packages.
But getting rid of that word “Addictive” that wasn’t good enough.
No, warning labels are also usually now in small typeface that is placed along one of the sides of the cigarette packs with colors and fonts that closely resemble the rest of the package. So, nine new graphic warning labels were announced by the FDA in June 2011 and were required to appear on packaging by September 2012, but this was delayed by legal challenges. In August 2011, five tobacco companies filed a lawsuit against the FDA in an effort to reverse the new warning mandate. Tobacco companies claimed that being required to promote government anti-smoking campaigns by placing the new warnings on packaging violated the companies’ free speech rights.
~ From the American Medical Association; November 15th, 2017:
“.. In 2006, a U.S. federal district court found several tobacco companies, including Phillip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, in violation of the U.S. Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act—noting that their goal has been to increase revenues with little regard for individual illness and suffering or soaring health costs. Now, more than 10 years later, a U.S. Court of Appeals has finalized the content of the corrective statements, which are required to make the public aware of the adverse health effects of smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke, the addictiveness of smoking and nicotine, and the lack of any significant health benefit from smoking “low tar,” “light,” “ultralight,” “mild,” and “natural” cigarettes. ”
Also, prior to the discovery of insulin, the diabetic was often diagnosed to be “crazy.” (..was that the real reason why Sherman marched through Georgia, and normalized a whole new form of warfare?) .. But up until 1930, and depending on the type and the progression of the disease, you just might find the victim of diabetes to be locked in a white padded room.
But, the research continues into drug addictions and similar impulsive/compulsive disorders.
A two second search on duckduckgo provided me with this result:
Brain Chemical Tied to Drug Addiction
” Brain Chemical Dopamine May Affect Impulsivity, Drug Abuse ” By Miranda Hitti; March 1, 2007
” A brain chemical called dopamine may affect impulsivity and drug addiction, British researchers report.
The researchers included Jeffrey Dalley, PhD, of the University of Cambridge in England. Their findings, published in Science, could help explain the brain’s role in drug addiction.
“The next step is identifying the gene or genes that cause this diminished supply of brain receptors,” Dalley says in a University of Cambridge news release.
Addiction to stimulants “is often linked to excessive risk taking, sensation seeking, and impulsivity, but in ways that are poorly understood,” write Dalley and colleagues.
Their goal was to see which comes first: impulsivity or drug addiction; and how dopamine influences impulsivity and addiction.
Tests on Lab Rats:
Dalley’s team studied male rats, not people.
When the study started, none of the rats had been exposed to any drugs.
First, the rats spent three weeks taking impulsivity tests.
In those tests, researchers shone a bright light a fraction of a second in one of five spots in the rats’ cage. The rats had no way of knowing where the light would shine next.
The rats were rewarded with a food pellet if they quickly scurried to the light’s location. They got no food if they impulsively dashed to the wrong spot.
The tests show that some rats were highly impulsive. The impulsive rats had fewer dopamine receptors in a key brain area than less-impulsive rats, according to brain scans using positron emission tomography (PET scans).
Drug Test:
Next, the researchers surgically attached an intravenous (IV) tube to the rats.
About two weeks later, after getting used to their IV tubes, the rats could get a liquid laced with a small amount of cocaine through the tube by pressing on levers in their cages.
The amount of cocaine was limited, but the highly impulsive rats gave themselves more cocaine than other rats, the study shows.
Dalley and colleagues only studied cocaine, but they suggest their findings may also apply to other abused drugs — including nicotine and opiates — linked to dopamine receptors.”
As always, I fully agree with Mike K. .. And I sincerely hope that the medical community will make significant advances in their continued research of addictions, and impulsive/compulsive diseases. .. But until then, let’s do thank the churches. .. And their basements.
When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.
Frederic Bastiat – (1801-1850) in Economic Sophisms
“In these folks it is primarily addiction to power”
Practice suggests that your contention is approximately valid.
“I wish I had found a way to deter them”
Some have but this is not “in the literature” but communicated through implementation of strategies derived therefrom.
“and help them to recover their sanity”
Some don’t since their behaviours facilitate their own complicity as accelerators in their own transcendence.
” but so far I have not found it.”
The search for the holy grail of omniscience is a odyssey of futility since time is laterally inter-dynamic and “knowledge” social.
Like in all “scientific endeavours”, some have been active in lateral processes informed by futilities of holy grails, whilst some when outcome and expectation vary tend to attempt to bridge doubt by belief to attain closure/expectation, thereby attempting to deny that the catalyst of “science” is doubt.
You said it well. These creatures have lost their humanity somewhere along the way so it’s pointless to expect them to behave like humans and care about the consequences of their actions on the rest of us. It’s quite horrifying.
Sometimes I think that the best I could do is to STOP. Stop reading, listening, watching the world rushing toward a cliff that always seems close yet somehow never arrives, always looming in front of us while we are in a permanent state of low grade terror at the anticipation of what will be the end, brought on by these addicts, psychopaths, lizard people, whatever you want to call them. Maybe I am the addict. Addicted to watching, reading, waiting…addicted to indignation, to fear, to seeking answers, seeking the truth and justice. Maybe the best thing to do is turn away, stop casting my benevolence outward but concentrate it into my little corner of the world. Afterall if I ever see a mushroom cloud outside my front window, it won’t matter how informed I am or that I was right all along. And nobody that matters is ever going to ask me what they should do. Protests (for the most part) don’t work, at least in bringing about the changes that will save us all. Hell the powers that be have even managed to virtually nullify my vote. Don’t worry despite all my disillusioned talk, I can’t help but to keep reading, watching, and waiting. I think deep down I realize “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice” (MLK). I dare say that I bet you all do too.
And I just read that MLK was citing 19th century clergyman Theodore Parker.
All while they look down on us and accuse us of hating our Country if we don’t stand at attention with our hands over our hearts… They have no concern at all cor the common good… me thinks they have a warped view of patriotism……….
Of course at the top this is all for zionist bribes to political; campaigns; elsewhere it is zionist opportunists threatening or rewarding those they manage, who thereby become more zionist opportunists. No one who works in a large organization is safe from zionist opportunists, although few get outside rewards. They do not have or seek reasons, they have threats and rewards before them.
If all of this looks like it is out of control, points to desperation.
Following the money gives (me at least) some answers. :)
This is an excellent article revealing a frightening truth. The power structure, deep state, or whatever you want to call it, is out of control and has lost touch with what the consequences of their belligerency will bring unless they are somehow curbed.
These days the only way to show “sanity” and preserve “credibility” is to buy into and echo the official narrative, no matter how full of lies and contradictions it may be.
The only sanity is outside the spin doctor’s web of lies; that’s why we are here at CN.
The American Govt needs to take a good look at the illustration shown here of the mushroom clouds of nuclear bomb’s exploding over New York City? That’s where all this is heading if they continue to poke & provoke the Russian bear with this suicidal, Russiophobia BS? The absolute arrogance & ignorance of the US is astounding & tells you that they haven’t learned the lessons from 9/11? The 9/11 attacks really exposed how vulnerable the USA was to random attacks? For all their Nuclear bomb Arsenal’s & trillion dollar weapons & missile systems, along with the Military might & power of their Navy & Airforce, all of it was rendered as useless as a US Politician, by a bunch of Walhabi, Saudi Arabian Terrorists, armed with box cutters & using commercial airliners as missiles to attack America? The US only managed to scramble one F16, who flew to the wrong place in the confusion of that event? America’s humiliation, from the 9/11 event & the ease of how it happened, doesn’t inspire confidence in America’s ability to ward off a nuclear attack from Russia with its hypersonic delivery system capabilities of eluding US defences? I suggest they rent out that old movie from the 1980’s called “Wargames” which depicted the absolute lunacy of the zero sum game America thinks it can win in a Nuclear conflict with Russia? There are no winners only losers!
The problem is, KiwiAntz, there isn’t any really properly functioning government as most of us think of it. Its obvious that there’s powerful cabal of psychopaths who are really in charge and as you know, they are known collectively as the deep state. If you think these criminals should have learned a lesson from 9-11 etc then you too are delusional, because they most certainly did 9-11 themselves. These people don’t need to learn lessons, the public will now believe almost anything they are told and as you can see, the Syrian chemical poisoning farce, is a case in point.
Yes. Expecting rationality to pay any part in our poorly organized Mafia government, only lands you in a maze of illusions – like poor Joseph K in the Trial and The Castle by Kafka.
“like poor Joseph K in the Trial and The Castle by Kafka.”
Perhaps Alice in Wonderland where linear variations on themes are explored would be more appropriate given context?
The ziocons are scoundrels but of course they do not seek war with Russia: see for example their careful coordination with Russia on the two Syria missile attacks.
The zionists want more wars for Israeli land thefts; the MIC wants handouts to the military; the bribed politicians want a stable foreign enemy to pose with the flag as protectors and accuse their moral superiors of disloyalty. These gangsters control US elections and mass media. There has been no real US democracy for many years.
One puzzle is why Trump did not make sure to have some aids sharing his “I just want peace” sentiment. it is not like paleo-cons are as extinct as passenger pigeons. His thinking is incoherent and infantile. He gave a scant impression of following an ideology, but he defers a lot to selected acquaintances. Like John Bolton whom he admired for years. Like a son-in-law and his father pair (the Kushners).
One could ponder a hypothetical President Sanders. A bit like Trump, Sanders lacked interest in foreign affairs and spent the initial part of his campaign avoiding those issues. But in time he elaborated his ideas, and assembled a bevy of sympathetic foreign policy experts. This guys would surely infuriate the insiders of The Belt, and some of them would be eliminated in various ways, e.g. that happened to Obama. And to Trump if one could call Bannon an expert. So Sanders would be inclined to nominate “his person” to NSC where he needs to Congressional approval, and would not be surrounded by “hawks” baying for blood.
Sanders has been noncommittal on foreign policy, never an accident, so is certainly zionist. Appointing one person to an NSC of over 2400 warmongers would have zero effect. What flavor of hopey changey will sell? How about wars for Israel with some token concessions of domestic policy improvement to mollify identity ideologues.
Sanders is not a Zionist. You can stop the smear campaign. He is clearly in favor of a two state solution and has called out Israel for its attacks on the Palestinians.
Sanders most certainly is a Zionist, and in foreign affairs would have been at least as bad as Hillary. I’ll confess I’d have voted for the man anyhow because everybody in sight was loudly in bed with Israel, and the Palestinians were shafted no matter what. We might have gotten a few domestic goodies with Sanders, assuming he wasn’t a liar in the class of Obama.
Excellent independent analysis,
clearly by someone who does NOT
listen to the Fake News Establishment news media
and repeat their Big Lies.
My nomination for “Understatement Of The Year” so far. We do have to keep in mind that the warmongering dingleberries were supposedly Trump’s own choices. The possibility he “farmed” out the selection of them to somebody in Israel can’t be dismissed out of hand. After all, Trump promised he’d do that for the Supreme Court. After putting Gorsuch in the Stolen Seat:
By Daniel Lazare’s depiction I can see a frustrated Trump resisting the hordes of the DC Group Think. After reading Obama’s Jeff Goldberg Atlantic piece, I sensed Obama was captured by this same warring ideology that always seems to be behind the curtain in our nation’s capital.
I worry that the Neo/Zionist who are concerned of Russia’s defense advances may wish to strike Russia now, before the Kremlin improves their arsenals any further. I also feel the American Neo led powers are acting out in a very bad way, as they themselves see their empire in decline. This global military program is a great example of the more you have the more you have that can or will go wrong.
America needs to join the rest of the world. It’s that simple.
Good one Joe!
Yes, Trump is surrounded by the NSC manipulators, a horde of over 2000 who view their job as pressuring the Pres to war for their own egos. They do not think, they work for the group rewards. Obama was indeed captured by them, as shown in Woodward’s The War Within for the AfPak “surge” case. Hillary gave the boys with the medals all that they asked, Obama demanded reason that it would work, and they stonewalled him until he capitulated. Biden objected mildly that it was irrational, and was excluded from NSC meetings. They simply outnumber, surround, and bully the administration. No one is prepared to fire them all. We need exactly zero of them, and could eliminate 80 percent of the military with no ill effects at all.
The ziocons are unlikely to attack Russia but may trap themselves. The Repubs and Dems want to attack Iran to get the 3 billion annual US “aid” to Israel into their pockets and campaign accounts, and the zionists want the same. The MIC wants another long-term foreign enemy to get money to steal and waste.
Thanks Sam for furthering my thought out to it’s elusive end. I think that what we citizens are witnessing through the lens of ‘Russiagate’ is a bureaucracy civil war of sorts. A lobby rubber stamp Congress doesn’t help. In that legislative clique goes our check and balances, but who cares when they side step Constitutional powers on a daily basis. The system is broken, and they have run out of bandaids enough to cover the open wounds this Republic has amassed from the corrupt bastards who has inflicted them upon us all. Joe
Thank you mike for your show of support. Joe
Obama stonewalled them by bombing 7 countries and running out of bombs?
No, they stonewalled Obama. No answers to his demand for rationales that a surge would work. Apparently a long enough immersion among those whose only tool is a hammer, and most problems look like nails. What else is there? The NSC certainly doesn’t know or care, and the Pres is given no alternatives by them. Just let us hit one more nail. The NSC is just what the US does not need.
“America needs to join the rest of the world. It’s that simple.”
Practice suggests that this is neither simple nor binary.
Present perception suggest that a transcendence of socio-economic relations based on equal but different where “but” precludes equal thereby facilitating conflict, by socio-economic relations based upon equal and different where “and” facilitates both equal and difference facilitating co-operation is a strategic purpose, transcendence being a lateral process accelerated/fissioned through the complicity of opponents where their hubris is a vector, but not the sole vector to use linear metaphors.
Joe, Russia can burn America to ashes from one end to the other, without any new weapons. The new weapons are to dissuade America from thinking that ABM systems or anything else could prevent total destruction of the country in a Russian counter-strike, no matter how potent. A single Russian strategic sub, hiding under the arctic ice, has 16 missiles with 10 warheads each. Even this one weapon would devastate the US. Of course we can destroy Russia, but MAD is still in place. I heard one summary of Putin’s March 1 address that I find perfectly succinct. ‘Nuclear War is unthinkable, so kindly stop thinking about it’.
I’m waiting for the idealists to label your links “Doom Porn!” ;)
Lazare’s essay on “War Fever” skirted direct mention of Israel, but Hasbara propaganda troll “WC” is visibly nervous that discussion about “where all this madness is leading” may turn to the pro-Israel Lobby “bent on ratcheting up tensions to ever higher levels”.
To understand why comrade “WC” is so fixated on those darn “idealists”, see the CN comments here:
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/04/15/bob-parry-holding-government-accountable/
My laugh for the day from our resident academic theorist. At least I am consistent, whereas Ol’ Abe goes from idealistic visions of change to being full of despair, posting links to Orwell. Talk about an emotional roller-coaster!
This is what happens when the “normalcy bias” is threatened.
Consistently hilarious Hasbara frenzy from “WC”.
The Hasbara trolls whine about “hate” because reality conflicts with their grotesque ideological bias.
Of course, the Israeli-Saudi-U.S. Axis dimwits can easily unleash nuclear hell. At least the Russians and Chinese have proven less prone to reckless warmongering.
But there’s calm clarity and no despair whatsoever because not buying the manufactured perpetual two minute hate.
If you gave fact and argument people would listen; they correctly reject your paid efforts to sour the discussion.
I have given lots of “fact and argument”, just not the kind you want to hear.
Also, Abe and I do not need you interjecting in our conversations in an attempt to spoil our fun. In case it has escaped your attention, neither Abe or I have any difficulty speaking for ourselves. :)
I do not take “Doom porn” or denunciations of idealists as fact or argument.
No Anon, you want bed-time stories. :)
You have to date not spoken rationally, WC, you just interject distractions and seek to demoralize and insult. If you had any rational view I’m sure that you would have argued it by now.
This is another, up and coming bankers’ war. In reality, Western Occident fiat currencies, their Federal Reserve Systems, are now all, in the (death) throes of a- many decades long, fight against BRICS, SCO and the Central Bank of Russia. Not to mention, those truly sovereign country(s) who refuse to negotiate, trade with, financial instruments of international exchange unconnected to the USD i.e., sovereign coinage. Examples are many and span over a historical period of one hundred hundred years: Czarist Russia, Hitler, Saddam, Qaddafi, the Mullah(s) of Iran, several South American governments-have all, resisted a USD hegemony. The hegemony that is instigated, promoted, initiated, by London’s two CBD district bankers, the Rothschild(s) family and of course, at the very top, the World Bank, with cooperation from it’s very own son, Wall Street….
Yes! all true, and with, a nod from,those corrupt billionaire CEO’s living here in America.
Lots of theories floating around. Here’s one of interest.
http://www.alt-market.com/articles/3414-syrian-conflict-is-a-distraction-from-a-secret-war
My guess is we will find out when it’s too late to do anything about it. ;)
By all means go read this link – if you have the need for a good belly-laugh. You’ll learn the the True Story about the destruction of Syria.
It’s one of the great mysteries, and that Syria stands in the way of Land Grab #3 is entirely a coincidence. Ditto for the fact that Holy Israel has been working as hard as it can to make sure the job of smashing Syria is done thoroughly and well. By the admission of the thieving and murdering little apartheid cesspool of a criminal gang it has sent over 100 air raids into Syria all by itself. And the outhouse “nation” is currently raging because Trump’s latest work in Syria was so ineffectual, despite Israeli instructions and helpful maps.
Source: Yadid, Judd. “Israel’s Iron Lady unfiltered: 17 Golda Meir quotes on her 117th birthday,” Haaretz (May 3, 2015) – Jewish Virtual Library
It’s just awful how God’s Very Most Favorite Nation is so misunderstood. That they laugh and applaud the murders and maimings in Gaza are symptoms of that. The snipers of the Most Moral Army in the world do High Fives because it just hurts too much to cry when they blow the brains out one of the Paleos.
Hasbara 101: The “globalists want us to beg for their rule” troll
Hasbara propaganda troll “WC” finds an “alt-market” article of “interest”.
Of course, it only mentions Israel once and in passing.
“WC” dredged up a screed about “global elites” that ‘splains’ the “Syrian quagmire” as “a smoke and mirrors game” (OK), a “path to engineered and guided calamity” (yeah, right), designed to…
wait for it…
bring about a “global economic reset”.
Listen up, you stupid “idealists”.
What this is all REALLY all about is “banker centralization of assets and consolidation of power. Beyond that, it is about the public ACCEPTING the reset as necessary and ‘good’ for society”.
Doesn’t it all just “begin to make sense”?
So stop all that talk Israel’s meddling in your elections, pro-Israel Lobby influence, and Israeli interference in American (and increasingly, British) foreign policy in the Middle East.
Can’t you idiots see the “big picture”?
Don’t you fools understand the “end game”?
It’s crystal clear that the “true war, a secret war, is being fought between liberty champions and lying globalists”.
Forget the “hailstorm” of “distractions” like all that talk about Israel.
We’ve got to “see through the fog of this hidden war” and live in the “real world”.
‘Cause it’s a sure bet that “One day this war will become a hot one”.
But isn’t there a “solution”?
How can we “liberty champions” ever hope to “come out the other side”?
Glad you asked.
Turns out the “author” of the li’l “hidden war” screed “WC” dredged up has a “solution” ready for us:
http://www.snakebitetactical.com/
Got the “big picture” now?
Baiting a hook on this site is so easy, I got two bites on a single cast! :) :)
Like many on this site, I read all kinds of stuff on the Internet. Having thrown the TV out the window 15 years ago gives me the time.
So far, no one on this comments section has come up with a valid reason for what is really going on, let alone a solution. Abe, Zac and others yammer on incessantly about the middle east, Israel, Zionists. Others say it’s them “globalists” that are the villains, while others blame the central bankers and the multinationals. And maybe you are all right! But it sure as hell doesn’t show any coordination.
But . . . but . . . but . . . we are coordinated in a unified effort to overcome evil and tyranny!
Bullshit. You don’t even know what the overall strategy is. And until you have that figured out you will never be able to unify to any degree to control the narrative on the overall strategy.
So fly around in all of your different directions if you really think this will work.
Meanwhile, here’s another opinion of what is going to happen. I am not endorsing this view anymore than I endorse the views of Alt-Market. But this is a good one for the so-called Progressives.
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2018/04/jim-quinn/winter-is-coming/
Thanks for admitting that your posts are bait made of trash.
He’s not just admitting it, Anon, but actually bragging about it. Perhaps the Troll Agency the fellow works for has some kind of compensation system which considers “bites”.
Idiots. The only way to engage ya in conversation that is not controlled by your narrative is to bait you.
And of course you avoid my very valid points like the plague. I’m beginning to think Quinn’s piece is probably correct. :) :)
Hasbara “Winning Charlie” propaganda troll “WC” is a master “baiter”
…it’s how you perceive it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0zzaiXn3Cc
The troll declares victory.
This is a variation of the line he has been pitching for a while. ADMIT DEFEAT. He/She has said this before.
God’s Favorite Thieves and Murderers are ALWAYS right, no matter what they do. Their “points” are ALWAYS valid, no matter what they are. Right now they’re killing and maiming Palestinians, and the trolls like WC have been given the job of changing the subject.
Mysterious “globalists”, “end games”, and anything else which pops into his head must be discussed, and on his terms!
If you do that, he wins. If you don’t, he declares victory. Us stupid goyim just aren’t any match for super-troll.
https://consortiumnews.com/2017/11/29/us-bows-to-israeli-saudi-alliance-in-blaming-iran/
More idiocy. And now I am “super-troll”. What I pointed out about Israel having raw power and all that you protestors will get in the end is some meaningless “feel good” concession Is simply the truth. And “YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!” :) :)
Look around, Zac. What indications can you point out that the status quo is even paying so much as the slightest attention to what you are saying except to give your complaints lip-serve from the politicians? Meanwhile they are rolling along doing exactly what they want, and you don’t even have an answer for what that is. :(
“Winning Charlie” swallows some 70th anniversary “miracle” Viagra and fantasizes about Israel “having raw power” and “rolling along doing exactly what they want”.
Hasbara “information war” hilarity ensues.
Something tells me Israel is not alone, there Abe. If that doen’t qualify as “raw power” in your books, we have a difference of opinion.
“Something tells” resident Hasbara troll “WC” that “Israel is not alone”.
The murderous escapades of the Israeli-Saudi-U.S. Axis and its Al Qaeda and ISIS terrorist allies are no secret.
if Israel has such awesome “power”, then why all the Hasbara ‘splainers slithering around the internet trying to change the subject whenever Israel and the pro-Israel Lobby are mentioned?
Something tells me “Winning Charlie” has been slamming more than a few bottles of that 70th anniversary Viagra.
Hasbara 101: The “floating lots of theories” troll
Hasbara propaganda troll “WC” finds another “alt-right” barnacle of “interest”. Right wing babbler Jim Quinn
Of course, Quinn’s “Winter Is Coming” doesn’t mention Israel, not even once.
Quinn is so mentally fractured that he can’t decide whether “War is the only effective means for defeating evil” (Quinn’s “Rules of war) or “War is good business and further enriches the Deep State” (Quinn’s latest screed cited by “WC”).
Hasbara propaganda trolls fly around in all different directions trying to deflect and divert attention away from Israel and the pro-Israel Lobby.
– Conventional Hasbara (overtly pro-Israel) propaganda embraces various “alt-right” lunatic “theories”
– Inverted Hasbara (false flag “anti-Israel” / fake “anti-Jewish”) propaganda masquerades as “anti-Zionism” and “Jew hatred”.
Meanwhile hapless Hasbara troll “WC” keeps yammering his “But… but… but…” off.
Hilarity ensues.
And Ol’ Abe won’t touch my points either. Enter the Israeli/Zionist obsession (Abe’s single-minded view of the world) and the need to control the narrative on this comments section to that single issue. Needless to say, I disagree with this sort of one-track mind. This leaves out the “banksters”, “multinationals”, and the “globalists”. But … but… but… maybe ya all think they are all part of the same group. WOW! What a concept!! A “Big Club” that makes all of the important decisions! Gee, I wonder what they want (for themselves, of course)??
If one ignores all of the troll fetish and wishful thinking, Ol’ Abe is right on the money. He could have written the “Worthy and Unworthy Victims” piece on CN. In fact, I had to double check that it wasn’t his work. And while all of this is to the good, doesn’t change the fact that none of these views matter anymore. The agenda (whatever the hell it is) of the status quo will not be impeded by legal terminology they disagree with or unworthy pests that stand in their way of achieving their final objective (whatever in the hell that is).
The troll thoughtfully adds even more complications. Syria is about anything and everything except Racially/Morally/Intellectually Superior Israel going for Land Grab #3. Just ask the troll.
Here comes the other half of the tag-team. No one (least of all me) is arguing your noble points on the middle east. I simply see this as a narrow view of a bigger picture. But that constitutes taking your candy away and you can’t have that! :)
I’ll be surprised if the troll EVER speaks of Israel’s land grabs and casual murders and evolution into a theocratic state populated by worse fanatics than found in Iran. I’d also expect him to avoid the topic if the USS Liberty too. He sure has up till now. Come to think of it, has he ever remarked about Religious Nuts With Nukes? That’s a very real situation in Israel.
No, we’ve got to respectfully drool at his Big Picture instead of the “narrow view” seen with our tiny little one-track minds.
Let’s see now, the USS Liberty was a spy ship that was shot up by Israelis in order for LBJ to blame it on Egypt. That’s how I understand the story and I am open to correction. The death toll was considerable.
As for “land grabs” “casual murders” and the rest, yes, and welcome to the Real World. That’s a bitter pill to swallow for sure!
Conventional Hasbara (overtly pro-Israel) propaganda articulated by Hasbara troll “WC” repeatedly demonstrates the complete intellectual and moral bankruptcy of Apartheid Israel’s position.
Murder, racist degradation, and aggressive war are the “Real World” of Apartheid Israel.
Take that in.
And remember.
Remember when bombs and missiles devastate Israel and loud cries of a “second Holocaust” are trumpeted by the very same media that had cheered on the war.
Remember when Israel threatens to drop nuclear fire on Jewish communities in France, United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Canada, and the United States unless the world suddenly rushes to its aid.
Remember this revolting troll and all the rest of the Hasbara troll army incessant war propaganda pukers.
Remind them about the “Real World”.
Tell them to keep the “Bigger Picture” in view.
Urge them to swallow the “bitter pill”.
And help them remember that it was always the foreseeable end of the Israeli Apartheid “End Game”.
Nuclear-armed Apartheid Israel’s concept of deterrence is an auto-genocide strategy that uses Jews of the world as human shields.
So when the “End Time” comes for Israel, and that’s likely to be very soon if things continue on their present course, remember that’s simply how it works in the “Real World”.
Hasbara 101: The “none of these views matter” troll
Hapless Hasbara troll “WC” finds no market for his signature “fetish” for distractions and diversions
Incapable of controlling the narrative in the comments at CN, Hasbara “Charlie” simply declares that he’s “winning”, the same way Israel incessantly yammers that it’s “winning”.
The book of Mishlei (Proverbs) is the second book in the Ketuvim (Writings), the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). Modern scholars set the book’s completion in the post-exile period, long after King Solomon’s reign.
Mishlei 26:11 provides a key to understanding Hasbara propaganda.
The defining trait of Hasbara propaganda is habit.
In his 1930 essay Proust, Samuel Beckett refers to Mishlei 26:11 when he describes habit as “the ballast that chains the dog to his vomit”.
Hasbara trolls like “WC” and pals exhibit this “pernicious devotion”, a peculiar passion for puking propaganda.
The Hasbara heaving habit is the “guarantee of a dull inviolability”. Indeed, most Hasbara trolls view themselves as “lions” for Israel.
As demonstrated by hapless “Charlie” here, Hasbara fools return ever more zealously to their folly.
“Charlie” prizes his piles of puke as “my very valid points”. These trolls are “exceptional” only in their profound enthusiasm for their own vomit.
Given recent shenanigans by “1000 percent” Israel Firster Trump, the Hasbara troll army is busier than ever, frantically disgorging all over the internet.
I’ll dismiss with Ol’ Abe here, as he is beginning to take on his habit of sounding like Tonya Harding’s acid-tongued mother.
Let me try for some clarification now from the troll. Does he condemn the attack by Israel on the USS Liberty? Does he condemn the effort by Israel to send the ship to the bottom with the entire crew murdered?
Does the troll have anything specific to say about Land Grab #1? For example, what does the troll have to say about the massacres designed to terrify the Palestinians into running for their lives? What does the troll have to say on the subject of reparations for the Palestinians in Land Grab #1?
Land Grab #2: Was this or was it not a deliberate war of aggression by Israel? Does the troll believe Israel is entitled to retain a single square inch of the stolen lands?
Current situation: Does the troll condemn the starvation of Gaza? Does the troll condemn the casual murders by airplanes, artillery, tanks, and snipers of the people in Gaza?
Does the troll approve or disapprove of the second-class citizenship of the Muslim and Christian Israeli Arabs?
Vague blather about End Games or Globalists does not answer any of these queries, but a simple “Yes”/”No” to most of them will suffice.
Who ordered the attack on the USS Liberty? And while following orders is not an excuse according to the RULES, it does have some merit, given the purpose of government control in general. From a moral perspective this action, ordered or otherwise, is condemnable. But from my perspective that’s not the way the world works. This is not a personal choice, but rather an acceptance of what is real as opposed to what would be nice.
Yammering on about land grabs is equally pointless, and who is getting screwed over in the process doesn’t matter. It matters to you because you are emotionally involved. From the Ruthless Perspective, there are too many people on the planet and the herd could use thinning simply from the practical perspective of preserving the species from eating its way out of house and home.
Don’t you get it? This is what they do. When you have money enough to buy anything you want and the raw power that comes with that sort of vast wealth, there is only so much time one can lay on a tropical beach before it gets boring. Ol’ Abe spelled out what the End Game is for the middle east. Do you have any doubt this is exactly what they are going to try to do?? This is where the JUICE is! not laying under a palm tree.:)
The vague blather was what I expected, for how could a dedicated & patriotic troll for the crap-hole face his co-workers by answering any of those questions. Another reason I anticipated this response was the nature of the remark the troll made regarding Rachel Corrie. It was of the “I hear you” type which most people assume is agreement, but in actuality says nothing at all.
Hasbara “Charlie” thumbs through a stack of Robert Greene books while fantasizing about “raw power” and “vast wealth”
“Ruthless” hilarity ensues.
What my troll co-workers really want is for you to push back rather than fold like a cheap deck chair. You had a conversation with a fellow some months back (foreign sounding name, sorry can’t remember) and you were brilliant. What happened to that Zachary Smith?
Great points regarding the USD, however it’s the Petrodollar system that enable’s America’s endless warmongering & the corrupt & undeserving advantage of the USD being the Worlds reserve currency, which further enables the Federal Reserve to print trillions of dollars of worthless paper backed by nothing but the US Military? Notice how any Countries that have challenged or threatened this Petrodollar system & tried to get out of it, such as Iraq, Libya & now Syria have been destroyed by the US? Venezuela is being sanctioned as they attempt to bypass this rotten system & it’s little wonder Russia & China are coming under huge pressure as they are challenging the US Petrodollar system by totally bypassing it in a Oil for Chinese Yuan dollars, easily convertible to gold? The US knows that the gigs up, if other Countries adopt the same strategy because it effectively ends the USD advantage & ends America’s ability to wage endless wars & to use economic soft power with arm twisting via sanctions to enforce America’s will on others? The US Deepstate Nation is prepared to go to War, even a World War, to prevent their Petrodollar system from collapsing because they know if that happens it’s the end of their entire war based economy & Military might as they won’t be able to afford or finance either as the entire economy is built on debt & debt servicing which will collapse the whole Ponzi scheme run Country!
Elmer corrects himself (again) ..I meant connected to the USD , not unconnected….creeping senile dementia!
“Shout! Shout out his name!”
War Fever:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox-shlDXKO4
Two Minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KeX5OZr0A4