CN‘s editor addressed Massachusetts Peace Action (MAP) on how we got into this mess in Ukraine — and how to get out of it.
American Empire, Analysis, Cold War, Germany, History, Intelligence, International, Media, Protest, Russia, U.S., Ukraine
Volume 29, Number 332— Thursday, November 21, 2024
Can hardly imagine how much work it is to keep us informed of all the history, all the goings on daily. Joe Lauria is our amazing best example. Huge work to keep it even all online! Join anti-war work in gigantic numbers and fund this astounding group here. Thank you-all.
The mainstream press will ignore small rallies, if they grow to a noticeable size and persist, the power base will set up violent disruptions to discredit them. if I were a lot younger I would be there… though I would not like to go to jail which is going to be a risk,
There is nothing off limits to our chosen leaders.
I am afraid for all of us, the destruction of Ukraine is just a side dish . I cannot see the power in Washington …. which now has a solid hold on public information …. allowing their plans to be disrupted. The main dish is Russia and I cannot see Russia allowing the destruction of Russia.
“which now has a solid hold on public information”
It’s not just the USA. Worldwide, we are being monitored, surveilled and tracked. They even know which kind of apparatus we are using for our internet connection.
Thanks Joe for taking the time to educate people via this webinar. I’m a member of MAPA and attended. My takeaway is that many people in attendance did not know many of the details you articulated in your presentation and answers to questions. It’s through discussions like this that we can counter the state propaganda people have been indoctrinated with. Knowledge is power.
Back in the day, there was a famous quote attributed to Professor Howard Zinn.
Since he was a well-known peace activist opposed to the Vietnam War, a corporate reporter tried to trip him up with a question. Of course, there was much in the corporate news about how we just had to be in Vietnam, and lurid reports of all the dominoes that would fall if we did not fight them over there.
So, the corporate reporter asked, from this point of view “How can we leave Vietnam?”
Professor Zinn’s famous reply … “on boats.”
Or as John Lennon put it … its easy if you try.
Or maybe we need to channel a little Paul Simon … there must be fifty ways to leave a war.
P.S.
A very good sense of humour is also required to survive in this dangerous, crazy and armed world.
Thankyou Mr. Lauria for that remarkable presentation. I totally understand your feeling of “powerlessness” and realize we have so much in common as far as seeing things from the other side’s position. The ability to do this I believe stems from extensive travel and living in other countries. I too have spent most of my adult life living in many countries outside my country of origin. To see different cultures and learn different languages expands ones perspective. However, I’m not nearly as good at history as you. But thankyou for that concise lesson. All the bits and pieces I’ve read here and there about the reasons for this scenario suddenly coalesced.
I think a major component of dispelling the hysterical anti-Russian attitude in the US right now has to be exposing the lies and finally discrediting those who built this xenophobic climate in the first place. When someone has a deeply entrenched belief you have to get at the core of that belief before they can start to think critically again. And the core of anti-Russian attitudes in the US right now is nothing less than the six years of evidence-free “foreign influence” propaganda known as Russiagate. Until there is a complete reckoning from the public against the media that constructed this narrative, there is little hope of a paradigm shift.
Propaganda is most effective when the public is forced to move from one lie on to the next one before they have had time to fully ponder the previous lie. Don’t let them move on. I would honestly suggest some kind of ongoing series akin to a Russiagate Retrospective or something that regularly returns to some particular lie of Russiagate and reminds people who did the lying.