Thursday, March 11, 2021
ABOUT ME
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| ME, ROUGHLY: THE DECLINE IS SO RAPID NOW |
John Chuckman is former chief economist for a large Canadian oil company. He has many interests and is a lifelong student of history. He writes with a passionate desire for honesty, the rule of reason, and concern for human decency. John regards it as a badge of honor to have left the United States as a poor young man from the South Side of Chicago when the country embarked on the pointless murder of something like 3 million Vietnamese in their own land because they embraced the wrong economic loyalties. He lives in Canada, which he is fond of calling “the peaceable kingdom.”
John’s writing appears regularly on many Internet sites. He has been translated into at least ten languages and has been regularly translated into Italian and Spanish. Several of his essays have been published in book collections, including two college texts. He has published a book, The Decline of the American Empire and the Rise of China as a Global Power, published by Constable and Robinson, London. John also writes book reviews.
Apart from his writing since retiring from the oil industry, John has taught university courses in economics, done a good deal of private tutoring, served as a professional newspaper restaurant reviewer (he likes cooking), followed his favorite hobby of photography, and created a popular family of image blogs on the Internet.
John may be reached directly at: formersouthsideboy@gmail.com
SOME INTERNET SITES FROM JOHN CHUCKMAN:
CHUCKMAN'S PLACES ON WORDPRESS: FEATURING THE BELOVED URBAN VILLAGE OF SOUTH SHORE CHICAGO
CHUCKMAN'S PHOTOS ON WORDPRESS: CHICAGO NOSTALGIA AND MEMORABILIA
CHUCKMAN'S PHOTOS ON WORDPRESS: TORONTO NOSTALGIA
CHUCKMAN’S MONTREAL
CHUCKMAN'S PHOTOS ON WORD PRESS
CHUCKMAN'S KODACHROMES ON WORDPRESS: JOHN AND BOBBY LONG AGO
CHUCKMAN'S PORT STANLEY
CHUCKMAN'S BAYFIELD
CHUCKMAN'S GODERICH
CHUCKMAN'S ILES DE LA MADELEINE (MAGDALEN ISLANDS)
CHUCKMAN'S ART
CHUCKMAN'S ROBOTS
CHUCKMAN'S GALLERY OF GROTESQUES
CHUCKMAN'S CARTOON COMMENTS
CHUCKMAN'S PHOTOS ON WORDPRESS: 1920s ARCADE CARD BEAUTIES – THEIR CHARM AND GRACE AND WHIMSY
CHUCKMAN'S WORDS ON WORDPRESS: POLITICAL ESSAYS
CHUCKMAN'S WORDS ON WORDPRESS: COMMENTS FROM THE WORLD'S PRESS
CHUCKMAN'S MISCELLANEA OF WORDS
CHUCKMAN'S NON-SPORTS TRADING CARDS OF THE 1950S VOLUME 01 (OF 4 VOLUMES)
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: A NAZI UNIFORM AND BLOOD EARRINGS AND THE PRESS – I AM NOT AT ALL INTERESTED IN HARRY AND MEGHAN, NOR IN ANY OTHER CELEBRITIES – BUT I AM VERY MUCH INTERESTED IN THE PROCESS UNDERWAY WITH THIS COUPLE – IT IS IDENTICAL TO WHAT WE SEE WEEK-IN AND WEEK-OUT WITH AMERICA’S MOST HELLISH ACTIVITIES – MASS KILLING, DESTRUCTION, ABUSE, AND THE SUPPORT OF MONSTERS GET TURNED INTO WORKS FOR ENLIGHTENMENT VALUES LIKE DEMOCRATIC AND HUMAN RIGHTS – SOME OF THE EFFORT IS NOT EVEN BADLY INTENDED, JUST UTTERLY UNEXAMINED BY JOURNALISTS FILLING SPACE TO BE SOLD TO ADVERTISERS IN A JUGGERNAUT PRESS MACHINE WHICH MANY TIMES CAN’T TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRUTH AND FICTION BECAUSE IT CANNOT BE BOTHERED SPENDING THE RESOURCES TO INVESTIGATE – IT IS JUST ONE SMALL CORNER OF THE CORRUPTION THAT IS MODERN AMERICAN SOCIETY
John Chuckman
COMMENT - A NAZI UNIFORM AND BLOOD EARRINGS AND THE PRESS
There are many reasons to criticize Meghan and Harry for
what they have done in their self-indulgent and destructive television
interview.
But perhaps none is more telling than the fact that the Queen is nearly 95 years old and Prince Philip is 100 and quite ill.
It is widely recognized, no matter what you may think of monarchy, that the Queen has served well and honorably. She commands great respect, and not just because of her title.
What kind of people deliberately create immense stress for two such aged and venerable figures?
Utterly thoughtless and unpleasant ones, for sure.
Just pure poison from a woman who could not handle the responsibilities she voluntarily assumed and, I am sure, was extremely closely advised of. She earned a reputation right from the start as a demanding, raging person in private. And a lot of that came from servants, not big shots. What kind of a person abuses servants? And later makes toxic excuses against others for the reputation she has earned?
As for Harry, he has a long track record of not just bad judgment, but genuinely unbalanced behavior, from demanding to be sent to Afghanistan in the Army and afterward bragging about killing a man there to once wearing a set of custom-made pajamas designed to resemble a Nazi officer’s uniform at a cocktail party (see the third photo here: https://www.rt.com/uk/517524-piers-morgan-skeptical-meghan-markle/ ).
Some judgment, but if you look back at the Spencer family, his maternal line, going back to the 18th century, you will find a good deal of that sort of thing.
The couple well suit each other, but it would demonstrate a little class – and people pretending to royalty are supposed to demonstrate class if nothing else – to keep these self-serving stories to themselves.
By the way, here is a superb example of Meghan’s grotesque lack of judgment.
Meghan was given a wedding gift of earrings by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, certainly one of the world’s bloodiest tyrants.
Despite warnings from others about their source, she proudly wore them at a State Dinner three weeks after Jamal Khashoggi’s grisly murder on orders from the Crown Prince. She still has them. There are many photos of her wearing them.
They are dazzling long dangles of diamonds.
Some effort toward making the world a better place, as she pretentiously likes to talk about doing in her self-promotional publicity, and just another example of stunningly bad judgment.
I wonder just whose ears the Crown Prince had them ripped from?
Friday, March 05, 2021
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: THE LOOMING PRESENCE OF TRUMPISM IN AMERICA
John Chuckman
COMMENT - THE LOOMING PRESENCE OF TRUMPISM IN AMERICA
There can be little doubt that Donald Trump will contest the
Republican Party’s nomination for president in 2024, and I think there can be
little doubt that the nomination is his for the asking. Who else brings such a
massive base of support to the party?
Tens of millions, brimming with enthusiasm.
As for the notion that two impeachments will stop him, that is just silly. In many people’s eyes, those rather lame efforts at impeachment only succeeded in diminishing the austere and rarified sense of the term. For his people, they only mean he beat the rap, twice.
If you note the statements of various Republicans who reportedly had set their sights on the same prize – Nikki Haley or Mike Pompeo – you will note a definite change in the tone of their rhetoric from the days around the “insurrection” in the Capitol, a low point for Trump. You observe the same change in tone of Republican figures who have no intention of running for president, notably Mitch McConnell, leader of the Senate’s Republicans.
Being a bastard in Washington is no disadvantage, so long as you are a successful bastard. That is a value of a militaristic society. After all, the military has always valued psychopaths and other “natural-born killers.” Look at some of the pardons Trump granted, to the most grotesque war criminals. There are many reasons to believe that not only will Trump return, but that he has a very good chance at being re-elected. This possibility hangs like a dark cloud over domestic politics as well as international affairs.
The international community was set back on its heels by four years of Trump’s crude brutality. There were very strong words quietly uttered, like America can no longer be depended upon, extraordinary words for an alliance going back three-quarters of a century. Its more intelligent leaders I’m sure recognize that the threat is not gone.
Joe Biden’s fatuous slogan, “America is back,” is recognized for what it is, a feel-good advertising slogan. It almost sounds like something for a breakfast cereal. It is wrong on two levels. First, on basic drives and policies – like American global supremacy – Biden represents no change but one of tone and civility, with a bit of embroidery around the edges in an effort to make threadbare goods look fresh.
Second, they have now seen, under Trump, an America many of them did not know existed, the America of Trump’s base, a huge segment of extremely unhappy and bellicose people. Even if Trump goes away, these demanding people remain. They add a strong element of instability and threat to what was once regarded as a settled social order.
And note, even before the next presidential election, mid-term Congressional elections could easily wipe away what little influence Biden has.
Trump’s people reflect many influences, but I think the greatest is one I’ve written about many times, the relative decline of America’s economy since the halcyon days of the 1950s. Many of these are people who do not understand and cannot accept the hard reality.
Having competition in anything makes a world of difference. In the 1950s, America had no competition in a war-flattened world. In 2020, it has lots of competition, very strong competition, with more coming along. The good jobs and incomes which once were treated by Americans as entitlements have of course migrated to the places doing great business.
Opportunities and resources shift with relative success. It represents no underhandedness, just the relentless fact of competition.
Americans, right down to the most modest workers, took that lucky and temporary situation of the postwar period as the way things were meant to be. America was just the best. God had especially blessed her. But that belief had no more substance than the many conflicting beliefs of various religions. It was comforting for the believers, but that is all. Beliefs don’t build cars or ships or create new technology or launch space craft.
Trump promised discontented Americans that he could do something for them, but, as in so many matters, he was wrong. Starting trade wars will not enrich American workers. But his people do not understand that he was wrong. They simply believe strongly that he was not given a chance to finish his work. It is a version of Hitler’s politically-effective “stab in the back” claim. So, they await his return or the coming of an equivalent figure.
There is more than a little of the Second Coming of Christ in these matters, the Lord returning to set things right for his people, which is why the irreligious Trump does stunts like pose for pictures with a Bible.
Trump’s people are not going away. They represent a genuine political force now in America. A very large one.
Joe Biden is proving even more ineffective than some believed he would be. Already he has broken promises for domestic policy. Notable ones, such as the kind of assistance people can expect from the COVID recovery efforts. In foreign affairs, he has made – with one or two exceptions, like renewing the New START Treaty with Russia – the same major errors as Trump. Aggression towards China, aggression towards Iran, aggression towards Russia, aggression towards Venezuela and Cuba and a number of other states. Support for 13th century princes and tyrants and war criminals, just so long as they serve America’s purposes in their region.
He has greatly increased troops in Iraq, where they are not welcome. He has re-supplied troops illegally occupying Syria while stealing its resources, and it appears he will not leave Afghanistan. He has also bombed the Syrian border and killed twenty-two government militia who had every right to be there and are in the business of genuinely fighting the terrorists of ISIS. And so far, he has made a complete mess of returning to the Iran nuclear agreement (JCPOA) Trump stupidly discarded.
It is not a promising start. Exactly such action leaves Trump room to come along and say. “See, I told you about forever wars,” and there are a good many who will listen. Given his large base, Trump only needs an increment from the center to win again.
America’s attention remains focused on telling others how to run their affairs. It is a dead-end policy that does not recognize the many ongoing changes in the world. And, of course, continued focus on empire and the military means ignoring the needs of your own people. The need for better education and training, for infrastructure of every description, the need of alleviating poverty – in sum, the need to make Americans more competitive than they are.
But Biden is dutifully following the elites and their interest in maintaining control and their own privileged positions in the world. It is a pursuit that does nothing for a great many Americans while consuming vast resources.
Can you even imagine what it costs to send an aircraft carrier and its accompanying ships to the South China Sea? Thousands of men to be fed morale-boosting meals every day? Eight thousand miles from the coast of America? And for what? So arrogant men like Secretary of State Blinken can feel important.
I do not think Biden is going to be a very successful president. That creates an opening for Trump and his red-meat crowd.
Clearly, a political system which offers voters a choice between Biden and Trump is bankrupt. It reflects the elites looking only after themselves. The resources of the country – physical, monetary, and human capital – are focused on the system of empire which benefits America’s plutocracy and its serving elites.
America’s long-term political irresponsibility, through such matters as taxation and anti-trust, has allowed a monstrously unequal society to evolve. And this comes at a time of great and rapid change in the world, change which America is not really equipped to handle.
We likely face a great deal of disappointment and grief before America can come to grips with the fact that it is not exceptional.
Joe Biden will be too old to contest the next election, and
likely Kamala Harris will be the Democrats’ candidate. While Harris has a
number of appealing qualities, I think it clear she is pretty much Biden with a
warm smile and a white pants suit.
Thursday, March 04, 2021
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: RECENT BITS AND PIECES – BIDEN AND RELEASING THE CIA REPORT ON JAMAL KHASHOGGI’S BRUTAL MURDER – WHY IT TELLS US NOTHING – I SEE NO OUTRAGE IN BIDEN’S MOTIVE FOR RELEASING THE REPORT, ONLY HIS PUBLIC-RELATIONS EFFORTS TO APPEAR HUMANE AND SYMPATHETIC – JUST RECALL BIDEN’S FIFTY-YEAR RECORD ON IMPERIAL BRUTALITY – REFERENCE TO AN INTERESTING AND INFORMATIVE ARTICLE ON THE UIGHUR PEOPLE OF CHINA WITHOUT AMERICA’S SICK FANTASIES ABOUT GENOCIDE – AMERICAN DEMOCRACY IN ACTION: NEW SECRETARY OF STATE TALKS WITH UNELECTED NOTHING, JUAN GUAIDO, IN VENEZUELA INSTEAD OF THE DULY ELECTED GOVERNMENT OF PRESIDENT MADURO – A COMPARISON OF THE MAIN INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS OF AMERICA AND CHINA – PRESIDENT XI’S EXTREMELY IMPORTANT RECENT WORDS ABOUT AMERICA – TRUDEAU AND BLINKEN FARCE ABOUT CANADA’S (SELF-MADE) PROBLEMS WITH CHINA – CANADA’S IDIOTIC RECENT GENOCIDE CHARGES AGAINST CHINA – AUSTRALIA’S DESTRUCTIVE PRIME MINISTER MORRISON AND IGNORING HIS COUNTRY’S FUTURE
John Chuckman
COMMENTS - RECENT BITS AND PIECES – VOLUME NINE
“Biden’s Waning Outrage at MbS”
I don't believe there ever was outrage.
Biden and Obama helped kill so many people, many hundreds of thousands, and create so many millions of refugees, I don’t see how outrage over one more death could possibly affect them.
And the truth is, we have learned nothing new about the murder.
From Turkish President Erdogan’s first revelations of the butchery, using espionage recordings and photos, we really have known.
The people doing the grisly work were insiders, a privileged elite group in Saudi Arabia. There was no way the gang of them could just fly somewhere and kill someone without top-level authority.
Shortly later, Gina Haspel, Director of CIA, was reported to have told Trump the Crown Prince was responsible.
Still later, the truly sick Trump made a public joke about having protected the Crown Prince and how the Prince owed him for doing so.
The hideous Crown Prince is central to the American Dark State’s intentions for the region.
No one was ever going to disturb that cozy, settled arrangement over the mere dismembering of an unconscious man with a bone saw, spattering his blood all over the floor of the study in the Saudi Istanbul Consulate, even a man with good American connections like Jamal Khashoggi who wrote for the Washington Post.
The report really adds nothing.
The story of America’s global empire since the end of WWII is one running with rivers of blood – all the wars and coups and incursions and assassinations, all of them about brutal control, having nothing to do with principles or self-defense.
It has been estimated the US has killed 20 million through it all.
Joe Biden was around for nearly fifty years of that effort and supported everything.
Gee, he even got the Medal of Freedom, joining such American humanitarian luminaries as Madeleine Albright and Henry Kissinger.
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Here is a well-done article on Xinjiang Region of China and the real situation of the Uighur (Muslim) people there, not the sick American fantasy of genocide.
I think readers would find it interesting.
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“Reminiscent of Trump era, US secretary of state speaks
with Venezuela’s Guaido”
American democracy in action.
Ignore the seven-times elected government of the country, one it does not like, and sneak around dealing illegally with an unelected “opposition.”
Can you imagine what American officials would say and do if another major country behaved that way inside the United States?
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China builds, everywhere. It forms partnerships, everywhere.
HI-speed railroads, highways, dazzling bridges, tunnels through mountains,
airports, ports. It works to improve life for hundreds of millions of people.
While America conducts wars and coups and blockades and makes constant threats and sanctions even against sick people and spends a trillion dollars a year on its military and security services.
Which approach do you think builds a better world?
Americans like Secretary of State Blinken are just afraid of losing their class’s privileged positions dating back to the postwar period. They want to lead everyone and tell everyone what to do even though they cannot compete. They want gold medals for losing the race.
China has the world’s most dynamic economy. And China threatens no one. Talk about containing it is like talk about containing a hurricane, a force of nature.
The words of proud fools.
I very much like what President Xi said recently, “The biggest source of chaos in the present-day world is the United States.”
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“U.S. stands with Canada on efforts to free Kovrig,
Spavor from China: secretary of state”
What is news about that?
Only the stock photo of the American Secretary of State has changed over two years.
Trudeau and Blinken know perfectly well what should be done to resolve this problem – releasing the inappropriately-detained Meng Wanzhou of Huawei, a victim of Washington’s jealous rage and resentment over China’s economic success – but they will not do it.
Not only that, but Canada just got through insulting China once again with its absurd American-generated “genocide” charges – these around an ethnic population that is actually growing healthily.
This is leadership?
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Australia’s Prime Mister Morrison may well go down as the
most destructive leader in the country’s history.
He has managed literally to destroy a good fraction of the country’s vital trade and spoil its relations with the country which one glance at a map will tell you represents Australia’s future prosperity.
His reward? A pat on the head from Washington.
Let’s just see how important that empty gesture is as China overtakes the American economy in just a few years and, after that, proceeds to build an economy several times the size of America’s.
Saturday, February 27, 2021
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: WHAT WE LEARN FROM BIDEN’S OWN WORDS – TWO STATEMENTS FROM A SPEECH ON FOREIGN POLICY WHICH REVEAL A GREAT DEAL, AND NONE OF IT GOOD
John Chuckman
COMMENT – JOE BIDEN’S OWN WORDS
What follows are two quotes from a recent speech by Joe Biden. They illustrate with unusual clarity what is wrong, when
it come to foreign affairs, with Biden and with the United States, a country
with immense problems it refuses to face. Of course, if the United States has problems,
then almost by definition, the world does. The United States is the world’s
epicenter for conflict.
“I made it clear to President Putin, in a manner very different from my predecessor, that the days of the United States rolling over in the face of Russia’s aggressive actions — interfering with our elections, cyberattacks, poisoning its citizens — are over. We will not hesitate to raise the cost on Russia and defend our vital interests and our people.”
“If we invest in ourselves and our people, if we fight to ensure that American businesses are positioned to compete and win on the global stage, if the rules of international trade aren’t stacked against us, if our workers and intellectual property are protected, then there’s no country on Earth — not China or any other country on Earth — that can match us.”
What Is wrong with these statements?
The first one, about Russia, is a fabrication from beginning to end. It represents just another big glob of regurgitated Hillary Clinton Russophobia. Rather than being informative or helpful, it promotes hostility and misunderstanding.
Putin has little patience for fools, so I doubt Biden spoke to him in this “I made it clear” tone. If Biden truly did touch on any of this nonsense, then I’m sure it was in a vein which allowed Putin to listen politely, fully understanding the strange demands made by politics, while perhaps briefly rolling his eyes for listening associates.
How can you build anything, much less international relationships between major powers, based on statements which simply are not true?
You cannot, but the real truth, hidden under the lies and braggadocio, is that the United States does not want to build a relationship with Russia. Not at all. It must pretend to want to do so for appearances to allies and the world.
America views Russia as a competitor and a potential competitor in many things. And America does not welcome competitors. Particularly when it comes to matters like Europe. America, for seventy-five years has kept Europe in a “friendly occupation,” cutting it off from developing relationships with Russia which any glance at a map will tell you are natural and inevitable. European industry with Russian energy and resources becomes a much stronger world competitor with America.
Over time, America has made many adjustments in the relationship with Europe to make Europe feel more like a partner than a dependent. Europe is held captive in part by its own geopolitical Stockholm Syndrome, identifying with its captor. America has also turned Europe into a captive market for costly military goods, becoming in effect a kind of “company store.” Still, in the end, economics will tell, and the economics are with a European-Russian relationship.
Keeping Russia as a kind of enemy is a way to hide fear of competition, quite apart from a convenient excuse and motivator in domestic politics. The spillover effects don’t hurt America’s voracious defense industry either.
So, what is wrong with Biden’s second statement, the one about “no one matching us”?
It is just pure childish fantasy, but it, too, is larded with lies, like the one about the rules of international trade being stacked against the United States. For decades after WWII, America’s heyday on the world scene, America itself helped create those rules and build the organizations to which they belong.
Suddenly, new competitors come along, notably China, and somehow the rules are “stacked against” poor old America. It is a ridiculous thing to say. And it comes out of the hard fact that in many things, America cannot compete with China. China will overtake America before very long and ultimately have an economy several times the size of America’s.
And just the same for the “protection of intellectual property.” Intellectual property is protected, but it is something by its very nature impossible to do perfectly, especially in the Age of Electronics. Anyway, the use of other people’s intellectual property is not a one-way street. America uses its massive, intrusive NSA facilities and other means to steal intellectual property, including from its own allies.
And if you study the history of the United States, you will learn that it was notorious for stealing inventions and copyrighted materials from Europe from the late Eighteenth Century right through much of the Nineteenth. Charles Dickens was angered on his visit to America to find his latest book from London reprinted in a new edition in Boston for which he received no royalties.
It was the same with all kinds of gadgets and farm implements. A visitor to Britain would buy or steal a copy or a drawing and bring it home where craftsmen worked hard to duplicate it.
The sense of much of the statement is right in keeping with Trump’s colossally ignorant stuff about making America great again. It is comic-book stuff about a superhero being tied down by rules and pygmies.
The lies are a little more palatable for being embedded in wishful childish thinking rather than hostility to others, as in the first statement. But they are still lies, and you cannot build sound policy or relationships based on lies.
Both statements demonstrate what a limited man Biden is, limited in powers of observation and limited in thinking.
Saying that is to give Biden maximum credit.
What he really may be doing here is just retailing fables to the public with every intention of ultimately letting the Dark State – Pentagon, CIA, State Department – clear the matter up in its own inimitable way. He has always been a friend of the military and of empire. He is not the least squeamish about spilling other people’s blood.
In either case, we have nothing to feel comfortable about – an ignorant man spouting ignorance or a shill for the Dark State
SOME BACKGROUND REFERENCES READERS MAY ENJOY:
BIDEN HIMSELF:
THE NATURE OF AMERICAN POLITICS:
NATO:
WORLD AFFAIRS:
Thursday, February 25, 2021
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: RECENT BITS AND PIECES – CHINA’S WONDERFUL, YEARS-LONG EFFORT TO ELIMINATE EXTREME POVERTY THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY IS COMPLETE – PRESIDENT XI DESERVES THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE FOR TWO REASONS – WHY HE WON’T GET IT – THE LIMITS EMPIRE AND POWER PUT ON HUMANITARIAN EFFORTS LIKE PEACE PRIZES – AMERICA AND LOOKING AFTER ITS OWN PEOPLE – AMERICA’S LONG HISTORY OF TERRIBLE OBSESSIONS – A LIST – INFLUENCE OF PURITANISM IN AMERICA – LEADING POSITION VERSUS LEADERSHIP – AMERICA TRYING TO RETURN TO THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL AND WHY NO COUNTRY IS LESS FIT TO SERVE – A “NEW NORMAL” IN CANADIAN-AMERICAN RELATIONS? – THE EU AND NEW MINDLESS SANCTIONS AGAINST POOR VENEZUELA – THE PARLIAMENT OF CANADA’S RIDICULOUS VOTE ABOUT “GENOCIDE” IN CHINA – VOTING ABOUT SOMETHING YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT – A CHEAP POLITICAL STUNT COURTESY OF TRUDEAU AND HIS TIRELESS EFFORTS TO PLEASE WASHINGTON
John Chuckman
COMMENTS – RECENT BITS AND PIECES – VOLUME EIGHT
President Xi’s wonderful program to eradicate extreme
poverty makes a second achievement worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize.
It is simply not the kind of massive national task we see undertaken by many states. China can be proud.
The other reason President Xi deserves the Peace Prize is his Belt and Road Initiative (the BRI -the New Silk Road).
It connects many parts of the world in worthy tasks. It promotes cooperation and understanding. It will change the world’s economic geography while improving the lives and prospects of hundreds of millions.
But, sadly, the US has long had a lock on who gets the prizes.
Norway would never dare offend American geopolitical sensitivities, which is the reason so many mediocrities and nobodies receive the Prize.
For example, worthy figures like Julian Assange or Chelsea Manning would never be considered.
Much as in the days of the British Empire, the world’s most notable peace figure, Gandhi, never received the Prize for fear of offending Britain.
Peace Prize or not, President Xi is a truly exceptional national leader, one of the greatest we've seen.
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America looks after its wealthy corporations and people and, to some extent, the armies which maintain and expand its empire.
It has never looked after its people.
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Why is the US obsessed with smearing Xinjiang through gimmicks?”
Obsession is an American national trait.
The long-term history of the United States is packed with obsessions. Aboriginal people. Black slavery. The Spanish Empire. Guns. Mexico. Alcohol. Drugs.
A good many Americans have roots back to the Puritans (called the Pilgrims in the US), an extreme Protestant sect known to serious historians for a great deal of ugly behavior.
For example, after the Reformation, they ran through the ancient cathedrals of England, breaking glorious stained-glass windows and monuments and even destroying the burial places of ancient saints.
They were kicked out of some European countries for just that reason. But when they came to America, they came to be regarded as religious refugees. Religious terrorists might be closer to the mark.
Puritanism is in the gene pool of America. Here is just a sample of the destructive obsessions it generated.
America was for decades obsessed with communism. It was said that the American Communist Party only survived with all the membership dues of undercover FBI agents.It was obsessed with Cuba and Castro and literally had a small army of CIA people working full-time against their interests. There were literally hundreds of attempts on Castro’s life.
It was obsessed with Russia during the Cold War. The fading Cold War obsession has taken on a new form and central importance, so we just had a Pentagon general dangerously talking about Russia as an “existential threat.”
It is obsessed by poor Venezuela and its seven-times elected government, and it is doing everything it can think of to destroy it. It hurts millions of ordinary people.
It has been obsessed by Iran for over forty years. It encouraged war against Iran by Iraq and saw Iraq supplied with illegal chemical weapons. It has used sabotage and terror and assassination against Iran.
It was obsessed by Vietnam and spent ten years there killing and destroying and achieving absolutely nothing. For the last twenty years, it has had a similar obsession with Afghanistan, where it has killed many peasants and achieved nothing.
It is obsessed with China today because in many things it cannot compete. It is intensely resentful and jealous of China’s success and fears losing its leading position in the world. I say “leading position” because for the most part the United States does not offer genuine leadership, leadership being much larger than just your own interests.
Extreme obsession is a form of madness, and madness takes no interest in facts.
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Actually, there is no country on earth which less deserves to be on the UN Human Rights Council than the US.
Since WW II, the US is estimated to have killed about 20 million people with all its many wars, coups, and incursions – none of them having anything to do with defense.
Many died horribly from weapons like napalm, white phosphorus, cluster bombs, and poison gas (as supplied to Iraq in the terrible Iran-Iraq War), It also has left such departing gifts as tons of Agent Orange, tons of depleted uranium dust, the unholy pollution of “burn pits,” and countless landmines.
It hurt and injured still more, and it generated many millions of desperate refugees. A very substantial part of America’s population, including the last President, treats those refugees with contempt, too.
It has befriended and supplied some of the world’s worst dictators and tyrants and war criminals where it was geopolitically advantageous to do so. It still does in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the Gulf States, Israel, plus other places.
The terrible torture of prisoners of conscience, like Julian Assange or Chelsea Manning, means nothing. It long maintained an international gulag of black sites to do its own torturing.
Human rights, democratic values, and rule of law are only phrases for America’s government.
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“Enjoy this new normal of Canada-U.S. relations while it lasts”
What “new normal” relations?
I see no change at all, except the superficial change of tone and language.
It is still, in every important detail of Canada’s external affairs under this government, a relationship of doing just as Washington suggests.
Canada today stands for no important principles, as against the persecution of Julian Assange or the mass killing of Saudi Arabia or the tyranny of Egypt or America’s endless wars or terrible treatment of Venezuela.
We sell weapons to monsters in Saudi Arabia. We support the toppling of a seven-times elected government in Venezuela and favor an unelected Washington servant, Juan Guaido. We regularly make unsupported statements about China, about Russia, and about Iran.
We support the baseless claim that Russia’s Alexei Navalny – a convicted felon, a man of prejudice, an extreme nationalist, and a frequent liar – is a prisoner of conscience. Even Amnesty International has dropped that tissue of lies.
We do nothing to see a just settlement for the suffering in Eastern Ukraine in line with the Minsk Accords, which Russia helped negotiate. Instead, we jump on the American bandwagon of “What can we do today with ships and tanks to irritate Russia?”
So much so, it is rather depressing. We have an echo chamber, not a government.
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Nothing better demonstrates what a mindless servant of the United States the EU has become than it creating more sanctions on Venezuela, a country which has suffered terribly under US abuse.
The government of Venezuela has been freely elected seven times, counting the political party’s previous leader.
If that isn’t democracy, I don’t know what is.
And just look at the farce that passes for democracy in the US.
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“Canada’s Parliament Votes to Condemn Genocide in China”
What is genocide, which, for many reasons is one of the misused words of our day?
The effort to kill a great number of a particular kind of people.
Is this happening in China?
Absolutely not, and the facts speak for themselves.
The Uighur (Muslim) population in China is growing healthily. Indeed, faster than the Han population.
Canada should be ashamed to be talking about “genocide” in China.
Trudeau again has taken some of the worst of American vicious politics to embrace in Canada. Did he not learn with such fiascos as Huawei or his repulsive support for overthrowing an elected government in Venezuela?
Do our Parliamentarians know anything about the internal workings of China?
Absolutely not. So why do they discuss what they know nothing about when there are important matters that should be dealt with?
By the way, those who follow affairs even know where this shabby rumor, promoted by the US in its jealousy and resentment of China, originated. It is totally without credibility.
If there really were genocide in China, or anywhere, does anyone in his or her right mind think a call to move the Olympics would be a proper response?
Of course not.
This is just a cheap stunt.
Sunday, February 21, 2021
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: DANGEROUS INDICATORS IN BIDEN’S FOREIGN POLICY – MAKING A MESS OF IRAN AND THE MIDDLE EAST – RUSSIA AND CHINA – THE TASK OF THE MAINLINE PRESS WITH BIDEN: REASSURING AMERICANS THAT THEIR “DEMOCRACY” WORKS AND THEIR VOTES BROUGHT REAL CHANGE TO THE COUNTRY – THE TRUTH IS ALMOST THE OPPOSITE
John Chuckman
COMMENT – THE PROMISE OF CHANGE FROM BIDEN HAS QUICKLY ASSUMED
THE SHAPE OF “MORE OF THE SAME”
Biden hasn’t even begun to undo all the damage inflicted by Trump,
both at home and abroad, let alone launching any new, imaginative initiatives.
Yet we have constant press coverage of him as though he were FDR lifting up a broken-down nation. The American mainstream press has been cloyingly dishonest.
Biden is lifting up nothing, and he certainly is no FDR. Both in domestic and foreign affairs his efforts are paltry, although the press coverage is in CinemaScope and Technicolor.
The work of the press just brings home once again a basic truth of American government. The people are being conditioned to believe their wonderful democracy has delivered big changes for them, but there is not the slightest truth in that daydream fantasy when it comes to matters of any importance, especially, as we will see, in foreign affairs.
Bolstering the notion of “American democracy” is a constant and demanding task, almost like the effort the CIA puts into the stream of manufactured publicity it generates for one of its many coups, so that the real work of the nation may proceed unhindered, serving its plutocracy and the global empire by which it enriches itself.
In just one vital area of foreign affairs, the Iran nuclear agreement (JCPOA) Trump ignorantly destroyed, Biden has made absolutely no real effort. It should be a relatively simple thing – and in agreement with what Iran, the aggrieved party here, expects – to return to what was a working agreement, but, no, we see no honest effort that way.
Biden’s advisors insist on putting the cart before the horse – that is, holding talks about an agreement of which America is no longer a part and while punishing, unwarranted sanctions remain in place, The sanctions are illegal and were laid by Trump when Iran had done nothing wrong and had abided by all its obligations in the nuclear agreement. He wanted to strong-arm a new and different agreement.
I’ll remind readers that the original agreement was about removing then-existing harsh sanctions on Iran in return for its compliance with restrictions designed to allow it to do needed scientific work – Iran has a sizable and growing nuclear power industry - while blocking any work towards creating weapons, Although there has never been any credible evidence that Iran worked towards nuclear weapons and the country stands committed to a policy of never developing them, Iran gladly accepted the restrictions, and the agreement worked smoothly for almost four years.
Biden’s people appear determined to change an agreement of which they are no longer part, although every kind of roundabout and dishonest language is used to camouflage the intent. That was Trump’s very goal. Iran has always said it is willing to talk to the United States about any concern, once the US rejoins the agreement and assumes obligations it has ignored.
Truly, what is the point of discussing new terms for an agreement when the United States has not even fulfilled its obligations under the original terms?
Judging by the fact that some other co-signers (there were a total of six alongside the US and Iran) to the original agreement have intervened – Germany and France – and in ways that are quite revealing, it is clear Israel is behind Biden’s ineffectual efforts.
What Israel has always wanted is literally to disarm Iran by destroying its highly successful, pinpoint-accurate missile program, its major element of defense against two relentlessly hostile states, the United States and Israel.
Israel hates Iran because it is so large (more than 80 million people) and stands in the way of Israel’s dominating the region. It has nothing to do with nuclear weapons, but that makes a good, fear-filled excuse. We know from the best authorities that Israel has about 90 nuclear warheads and fissile material for maybe 60 more. Iran has none. By the way, Israel’s bomb-making factory, the Dimona reactor, is undergoing expansion, as captured in independent satellite images. Our mainline press does not discuss it, nor are we given any explanation for a very disturbing matter.
Iran will not agree to change what was a working agreement it never violated. It certainly will never sacrifice its national defense to please two hostile states, both of which have committed major terrorist acts against it. And if the United States does not agree to end its illegal sanctions – and they are illegal, having no authority other than America’s own say-so - that agreement isn’t worth the paper it is written on. It will almost certainly wither on the vine. How’s that for successful diplomacy?
Iran has been taking very gradual steps away from the pattern it previously followed under the agreement in order to pressure the United States. It has said clearly, many times, these steps will all be reversed if the US just rejoins the agreement and meets its obligations. Iran remains part of the agreement. The steps it has taken are actually permitted as remedial measures under the agreement.
There are other worrying moves by Biden’s people in the Middle East, despite Biden’s promise to end “forever wars.“ The unwanted American occupation in Eastern Iraq is now to be heavily reinforced with four times the number of troops. The illegal occupation in Eastern Syria was just reinforced with weapons and supplies. The evacuation of Afghanistan, after twenty years of killing peasants, it now appears may not take place. Remember, many of the “forever wars” were the work of Obama with Joe Biden serving as vice President.
There are serious new signs of hostility towards Russia, too. Biden has made several totally unwarranted statements about a peaceful Russia. America’s Charlie McCarthy NATO ventriloquist dummy, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, has been making noises about new measures against Russia.
The hopeless, blundering words of the EU’s Josep Borrell around a visit to Russia were met by Russia’s incomparable Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, telling him that if Europe laid any truly damaging new sanctions on Russia’s vital interests, Russia could end relations with the EU, regarding it as an undependable partner.
New attacks on Russia have been made over the Navalny Affair, an obviously stage-managed stunt by Western security services. It has been so clumsily handled; it should be more of an embarrassment than anything else. But nothing is too low a farce when it comes to attacking Russia. Russia is peaceful and willing to cooperate, but it is not willing to bend the knee to America’s self-proclaimed indispensable status and authority. Carthago delenda est remains America’s secret working goal for Russia.
See for background on the Navalny nonsense, see:
It is reported that new sanctions against Russia’s work on construction of the Nord Stream II gas pipeline (Russia to Germany and about 95% complete) are being prepared in Washington.
NATO – and please note, whenever you read “NATO,” it really Is just the Pentagon in geopolitical drag – Is making new noises in the Black Sea, Russia’s backyard. It is to build naval facilities in Ukraine, which shares the coast of the Black Sea. America’s coup in Ukraine, 2014, against an elected government – a coup now rebaptized in CIA outlets like Wikipedia as “the Revolution of Dignity” – is proving its value (an American State Department official, Victoria Nuland, was overheard some years ago saying that it cost five billion dollars) by providing new opportunities to threaten Russia.
The current elected government in Ukraine – under the ever-watchful eyes of outfits like the Azov Battalion and Right Sector, genuine 1930s-style fascist street gangs covertly supported by the US to keep elected post-coup Ukrainian governments on the path of righteousness – is making no effort to solve the mess the coup created In Eastern Ukraine, the Donbass. Europe makes no effort to push it either, even though Germany and France were part of creating the Minsk Accords, the accepted formula for Eastern Ukraine to be reincorporated into post-coup Ukraine. All the focus seems to be on what Ukraine can contribute to irritating Russia.
What I really fear about relations with China is a move away from the violent economic acts of Trump towards greater militarization. Biden appointed several people who sound like General Ripper in “Doctor Strangelove” when talking about China. The effort to form blocs of nations against China begins to resemble the formation of military alliances, although it Is not at all clear this will be successful.
And there is no letting up on the destructive American nonsense about Taiwan and the South China Sea. America conveniently forgets that it recognized Taiwan as part of China in 1972. It keeps toying with the idea of encouraging Taiwan’s independence, a guaranteed path to war.
China has assumed a role in the South China Sea because that is such a vital pathway for its massive global trade. There are also some historical documents supporting its claims. There is free passage for all countries with no hostile intentions. China even provides services such as search and rescue. China is ready to settle any dispute amicably.
There is no need for naval fleets from a country 8,000 miles away to guarantee anything, much less free passage. Sending them only communicates hostility and creates opportunities for deadly error.
Despite the silly Valentine’s photos of Joe and Jill Biden kissing, I’m afraid there is not a lot to feel good about. Indeed, quite the opposite.
Friday, February 19, 2021
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: LEADERSHIP NO ONE WOULD CHOOSE - AMERICA’S IMPOVERISHED VIEW OF THE WORLD COMES FROM PUTTING ITSELF AT THE CENTER – FEAR OF COMPETITION DISGUISED AS FEAR OF MILITARY AGGRESSION – NEW COLD WAR A SURE SIGN OF COMPLETE LACK OF IMAGINATION - EXPECT NOTHING OF JOE BIDEN AND YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED
John Chuckman
EXPANSION OF A COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN GLOBAL TIMES
“US is losing leadership, attempt of ‘Western unity’
through G7 hard to tick off: experts”
Who wants the leadership of a lunatic, which is exactly what
the United States offered the world for four years?
But even now, with the lunatic gone, who wants the leadership of a country that simply does not recognize new realities, that insists on fantasies of the past?
That last describes Joe Biden’s America.
On almost every matter, Biden's actions and words demonstrate that he does not see the multi-polar world that is emerging. His America sees itself as central to the planet’s welfare – an impoverished concept to ask others to embrace. It looks backward, not forward. It is selfish, not generous. It is small, not large. It is anti-scientific, almost religious in nature.
Biden doesn’t spit in people’s faces as did Trump, but he is just as small and unrealistic about America’s place in the world. He and his key advisors really think, just as did Trump’s mob, that it can be 1959 again, and the whole world will look gratefully to America for leadership.
Sorry, America, but the world does not need the kind of leadership you offer, leadership which is not cooperative and partnering, but demanding. Leadership which does not see realities, but wishes only to shape reality for its own benefit. Leadership based on a kind of Cult of America.
Many new economic successes have arisen since America had its heyday as “Leader of the Free World.” Still more are coming, and many new international arrangements are underway, plus new great trading blocs have been established. The world’s economic geography has changed and is changing more rapidly still.
None of that great change pre-ordains any country as leader. Rather the opposite, the changes mean new international leadership arrangements must be established. America, your expectations and demands are out-of-date and inappropriate.
No one wants leadership whose goal is to turn the clock back to serve itself. It really is an almost laughable idea. Perhaps the clearest measure of that is your effort to start a new Cold War. Russia and China are both peaceful and cooperative countries today, ready to do business with anyone.
Yet your ceaseless new propaganda and very aggressive military arrangements treat them almost as enemies. This is dangerous and self-serving, self-serving because you want everyone else to follow and do business only with you, even if you are uncompetitive.
You genuinely fear new and efficient competitors, and you try to disguise the fear as fear of potential military aggressors. Well, you have between 800 and 1,000 military bases abroad. China and Russia have a couple. You spend about three times what China spends on its military and about ten times what Russia does.
In fact, the only thing Russia and China are enemies of is your delusional claim to be the center of humanity’s future. It is to be a shared future, whether you like it or not, and a far more prosperous future than can be imagined under your notions. The more trade, the more projects, the more investment, the more competition, the more room for new ideas, the greater is the wealth to be shared by all.
As one example of many, your recent witch-hunt against Huawei cost Western economies tens of billions of dollars and set them all back technologically. Just foolish and destructive, but beneficial to your control of affairs. China has already constructed about 700,000 5G stations and is far ahead of Western countries in its ability to do new things at a distance. Of course, that leads to all kinds of new inventions too.
I say ‘almost laughable” because the relatively declining United States remains, for a while, a military Frankenstein, and it proves, time and time again, that it is willing to use brute force to cripple or crush others who stand in its way.
We see it cruelly treating people in many lands, such as Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, Palestine, Syria, and Yemen.
We see it interfering in the internal affairs of countries everywhere, even in the affairs of its allies, like Germany or Turkey, telling them, as though they were children, what products or services they may buy and from whom.
And we see America genuinely helping no one, as with the pandemic it mismanaged with its own people.
We see it working to intimidate and insult, effectively flirting with war, countries like China and Russia and Iran on their borders or nearby territories. Each of them peaceful countries at war with no one.
We also see America’s political system in tatters, its social system exposed to international shame and ridicule, its medical system for ordinary people revealed as nonexistent, its public education as poor, and we see the most grotesque poverty widespread across the country. What do you think entitles you to lead anyone, United States?
Thursday, February 18, 2021
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: RECENT BITS AND PIECES – NATO AND ITS ABSURD JENS STOLTENBERG – AMERICA’S REAL PURPOSE IN STRENGTHENING AND EXPANDING NATO – FEAR OF A PEACEFUL AND COOPERATIVE RUSSIA WORKING WITH EUROPE – TROOPS IN WASHINGTON AND TROOPS ANYWHERE – THE NEW YORK TIMES MISQUOTES WHO EXPERTS – TRUTHS ABOUT THE NEW YORK TIMES, A PRESS HANDSERVANT TO AMERICAN IMPERIAL AIMS ALWAYS – BIDEN BANNING WEAPONS DOESN’T GO FAR ENOUGH – BIDEN AND A NEW UN REPORT ON TERRIBLE MALNUTRITION IN YEMEN – HE COULD PREVENT IT, BUT WHY HE WILL DO NOTHING – AMERICAN SANCTIONS ON VENEZUELA DO NOTHING BUT CAUSE MISERY, YET BIDEN IS TO KEEP THEM – REMEMBER CUBA AND AMERICA’S BRUTALITY FOR SIXTY YEARS – RUSSIA’S NAVALNY AND HIS LATEST STUPDITY – AMERICA’S HOPELESS TASK OF CREATING ANTI-CHINA GROUPS AND JUST WHY IT IS HOPELESS – THE FACT THAT AMERICA WORKS ON SUCH UNCREATIVE TASKS RATHER THAN ON ITS OWN COMPETITIVENESS HELPS EXPLAIN ITS DECLINE – JUSTIN TRUDEAU AND ACTING WITHOUT THINKING – THE DISAPPOINTMENT OF MODERN SWEDEN - MORE ON THE IRAN NUCLEAR AGREEMENT (JCPOA) – GERMANY’S CHANCELLOR MERKEL MEETS WITH IRAN’S PRESIDENT ROUHANI – UNFAIR AND UNREALISTIC DEMANDS BEING PUT ON IRAN, BUT WHEN WAS EMPIRE EVER FAIR?
John Chuckman
COMMENTS – RECENT BITS AND PIECES – VOLUME SEVEN
“NATO ready for peace with Moscow…or confrontation,
Stoltenberg claims after ordering funding boost for troops on Russian border”
Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO, has to be the
worst possible advertisement for tourism to Norway.
Who on earth would want to go to a place this bizarre and confusing man might be said to fairly represent?
Europe has had peace with Russia for decades.
And not because of NATO’s spending more money or sending more troops or soliciting more members.
What Stoltenberg’s NATO is really doing is securing America’s hold on the continent. It’s America’s mechanism for continuing to occupy Europe, a potential world competitor.
America feels that is more necessary than ever because Putin’s Russia is attractive and ready to do business with anyone. America doesn’t want new economic relationships forming which could strengthen Europe and weaken America’s relative position.
That’s why America wanted all those insignificant new members with old grudges against Russia to join. They can outvote the old stable members who might want change.
The new states have little to contribute to any alliance, either militarily or economically, but additional risks and liabilities. However, they put NATO threateningly right on Russia’s border, and they are very grateful to the United States for wanting them to join, almost like homely girls being asked on a date by a football hero.
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“Troops in Washington Are Disaster Waiting to Happen”
The military, always and everywhere, represents exactly the opposite of good government, human and democratic values, and rule of law.
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“WHO experts slam NYT for twisting, misquoting their words on virus origins probe”
For those who’ve followed international events closely over the years, the New York Times’ reputation for integrity is not high, and in recent years of intense American efforts abroad, it has only declined.
The Times has even been discovered in the past with CIA associates on its staff.
Some of its regular staff writers, people like, say, Thomas Friedman, might just as well be members of the security service. Tliey literally eat and breathe the American Gospel in everything they say and write. It’s appalling stuff to an open-minded outsider.
The Times’ reputation for being “liberal” is a mystery, at least when it comes to foreign affairs and matters of the American empire.
I think it is only by comparison with an American press that is mostly Right-wing. The Times has supported the United States in every ugly war, coup, and dirty trick it has ever been involved with. It regularly has beat the drum leading to war – no matter how unjust.
The Times is a fierce defender of Israel and everything it does, much of it being illegal and inhumane. Israel is, of course, in reality a de facto American colony in the Middle East, and it was the foundation cause of all America’s many recent wars in the region, a set of wars which killed a couple of million people, injured millions more, and made refugees of many millions more. It also reduced several well-run societies, like Libya, to chaos.
And, please remember, all of these imperial wars - often collectively called the Neocon Wars - involved immense lies and deception, just like the lies being hurled at China. And immense wars like Vietnam were nothing but a tissue of destructive lies.
Many years ago, an old CIA publicity/propaganda specialist spoke about sitting down to his giant Wurlitzer organ and hitting the keys to “get the story out there,” the keys on the organ being certain cooperative key media outlets.
The New York Times has always been one of those keys, perhaps the first one hit.
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“Biden calls on Congress to ban assault weapons, pass gun control laws’
Why stop with the US?
The world would a happier place if the US banned its weapons from the streets of all the other countries where they are used to intimidate and threaten people.
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“New UN Report: Millions of Yemeni Children Face Acute Malnutrition”
You could end this savagery, Joe Biden, in a heartbeat.
Stop playing games about this filthy war America helped start and has supplied and supported.
All you have done is try to improve America’s public-relations profile, not end the slaughter.
Get on the phone and tell the Prince it is to stop, immediately. Good God, it is American weapons they mainly use. You could sign an executive order halting all sales.
But I know you won’t do that.
You are a fifty-year veteran of supporting America’s brutality abroad and its alliances with human monsters like the Crown Prince and the Generalissimo of Egypt and the war criminal Prime Minister of Israel.
And I don’t recall a single act of courage in your career.
Politicians like you are a big part of what is wrong with America.
The games being played here I am afraid presage future events in the Middle East.
Just as the other day, the pirate American soldiers in Syria apparently secretly brought in a new supply of weapons to secure their illegal occupation and theft of resources – all intended, of course, to keep Syria weak and in ruins and its millions of refugees painfully scattered.
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“US hard to form anti-China choir in G7 summit; China engine for world economy rather than challenge: experts”
It is the height of folly to speak of forming anti-groups
against a country that is, by a huge measure, the most important in its region.
A country that is growing rapidly, offering new opportunities to everyone, and is soon to become the most important in the world.
And, importantly, a country which is engaged in no serious hostilities and certainly no wars.
A country that is setting a new global standard of partnership and cooperation with the BRI and other efforts.
And just who is it trying to organize destructive efforts against it?
A country which has been almost continuously at war since the end of WWII.
A country whose primary national purpose is telling others what to do and even what they may buy or not buy.
A country which thinks nothing of starving and depriving others of necessities to get what it wants – as we’ve seen amply demonstrated in Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, Yemen, Palestine, and many other places.
A country noted for helping no one without hefty charges, a place where cooperation and genuine partnership are treated as words sissies use.
If ever an idea was doomed to fail from the start, this is it.
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“US sanctions on Venezuela have failed to achieve anything but needless death and misery. Against all reason, they are set to stay”
So much for the public-relations garbage about a kinder,
gentler Joe Biden.
But so much, too, for the morals and ethics of Europe, conscienceless, do-nothing states who stand by and watch human misery.
Remember poor, brave little Cuba? America beat it to a pulp for sixty years, achieving nothing but the satisfaction of a sadistic bully.
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“Russian prosecutors demand fine against Navalny in slander trial”
In the United States, with its hyper-patriotic excesses,
insulting a war veteran can get you a punch in the nose, or worse.
Russia fought the bloodiest war in all of human history, losing 27 million people to Germany’s invasion.
Yet Navalny feels entitled to insult an old WWII veteran just because he supports Putin, the leader of the country?
The incident only reveals further what an idiot Navalny truly is.
Of course, his entire “poisoning” adventure was a charade choreographed by western security services. There is not an ounce of proof provided to support any of it. (See my site, Chuckman’s Comments on WordPress for some analysis)
Cooperating with western security services, as he did, could certainly be viewed as betraying his country in light of the fact that they are working very hard with the US to hurt or topple a peaceful Russia.
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Agreed. But when did logic ever count with people who don’t think?
Justin Trudeau, Canada’s Prime Minister, has a long record of acting without thinking.
From his “blackface” minstrel routines as a school drama coach to his numerous serious scandals in political office and his embarrassing, farcical antics abroad, as famously on a trip to India, and, worst of all, his thoughtless echoing of Donald Trump’s every vicious and inhumane foreign policy.
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What a disappointment Sweden has become.
It was once admirably independent, much like Switzerland.
Today, it follows American imperial policy like a baby duckling waddling after its mother.
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“Rouhani tells Merkel: Adding anything to nuclear deal ‘impossible’”
Germany’s Chancellor Merkel is just carrying out a task
assigned by the United States and Israel, something she sadly has done a great
many times. A woman of great natural talent – she has a doctorate in physics
and an agreeable temperament, and she leads a powerful country – has often
acted the part of a flattering courtier.
The US and Israel are especially interested in attacking Iran's marvelous missile defenses, leaving the country open to two states which have demonstrated only hostility and hatred for over forty years, states which have committed many acts of terror, including murder and sabotage.
The idea she presents, expanding the JCPOA, is a non-starter. The concept of the nuclear agreement (JCPOA) was about nuclear matters, and Iran faithfully kept its obligations for almost four years until the lunatic Trump decided suddenly to tear up a working treaty, an act which earned him praise from Israel’s war-criminal Prime Minister, Netanyahu, and, undoubtedly, additional political donations from fanatical supporters of Israel in the US, American foreign policy in the Middle East being virtually for sale.
Indeed, Iran, at the highest level of government, has recently renewed its commitment to never pursue nuclear weapons, although technologically it would be perfectly capable of doing so. The country’s current nuclear work is more open than that of anyone else, being subject to regular close international inspection. There are no secrets, quite unlike the case of Israel.
It is the United States which must bring matters back to the status quo ante, a statement which summarizes Iran’s reasonable position.
In addition, the co-signatories to the nuclear agreement, including Germany, have done virtually nothing since Trump unilaterally destroyed a treaty which included half a dozen others. Germany and France and Britain and the EU have done nothing worth talking about to fulfill their obligations as co-signatories.
And now, they attempt to put new obligations on Iran. I believe the fact vividly demonstrates what complete servants they are of American empire. They show no independent thought, no sense of keeping their obligations, and not even any decent sense of pride.
How is it now that Iran, and Iran alone, is suddenly obligated to new steps? It is an illogical and unfair position.
President Rouhani gave her just the right answer.
Saturday, February 13, 2021
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: RECENT BITS AND PIECES – IMMENSE BRUTALITY USED IN KOREAN WAR – AMERICA AND BIOLOGICAL WARFARE – JAPAN’S INFAMOUS WWII UNIT 731 IN CHINA – AMERICAN SANCTIONS AND PIRACY ONLY SPEED THE COUNTRY’S DECLINE – FRANCE’S PRESIDENT MACRON AS PRETTY MUCH A WASTE OF TIME – ELECTRIC VEHICLES BEGIN TO FIND THEIR PLACE IN THE TRANSPORTATION MIX BUT HYDROCARBONS WILL BE IMPORTANT FOR A LONG TIME – THOUGHT ON AIRCRAFT CARRIERS AND ANTI-SHIP MISSILES – IRAN’S AMAZING SUCCESS THROUGH MORE THAN FORTY YEARS OF HOSTILITY AND AGGRESSION AGAINST IT – JUST PART OFTHE REASON CHINA WILL INHERIT THE EARTH – THE WHO COVID FINDINGS IN CHINA – DESTRUCTIVE TRADE WARS AND THE FAILURE OF TRUMP TO ACHIEVE ANYTHING WITH CHINA – BIDEN’S PHONY PUBLIC-RELATIONS MOVES AGAINST A BLOODY WAR IN YEMEN AMERICA HELPED START AND REFUSES TO END – THE TURKISH COUP AND WHO WAS LIKELY BEHIND IT – THE EU’S UNBELIEVABLY GROSS HYPOCRISY TOWARDS RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA – AN AMERICAN GENERAL FOOLISHLY SPEAKS OF NUCLEAR WAR – CANADA’S JUSTIN TRUDEAU AND HIS NONEXISTANT RECORD ON HUMAN RIGHTS – TRUDEAU’S EMBRACE OF VAST AND GRISLY TERROR WHILE PULLING A STUNT ABOUT DECLARING THE SILLY PROUD BOYS AS TERRORISTS – TRUDEAU’S DAMNABLE RECORD IN SAUDI ARABIA AND VENEZUELA AND PALESTINE AND IRAN – HIS EMBRACE OF THE POLICIES OF THE GODFATHER OF THE PROUD BOYS, DONALD TRUMP – AN INTERESTING OBSERVATION ABOUT IRAN'S REVOLUTION AND ITS PLACE IN THE WORLD
John Chuckman
COMMENTS – RECENT BITS AND PIECES – VOLUME SIX
Just one added thought.
When we discuss such dark matters as biological warfare, it is important to understand, just as with nuclear weapons, we are talking not about something theoretical but something the United States has actually used in the past.
During the Korean War, the United States used extremely brutal methods. It carpet-bombed North Korea for three years, destroying one-fifth of its entire population. (Note, that brutality was a major reason for North Korea’s costly pursuit of nuclear weapons as a deterrent.)
The US committed a number of terrible atrocities like the massacre at No Gun Ri, where it shot hundreds of civilians, including women and children, as they were fleeing and looking for refuge.
And, it used biological weapons in North Korea and nearby China. This is documented, although the US always denies it.
Japan’s infamous Unit 731 was set up in occupied China in 1938. Many Chinese were killed by its biological weapons and many suffered from hideous Nazi-like “experiments.’
The American occupation forces in Japan decided not to prosecute any of the war criminals and indeed covered up Unit 731’s existence. Undoubtedly, American officials learned something about the use of such weapons from investigating the Unit’s past work.
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US sells over a million barrels of seized Iranian fuel headed for Venezuela”
It is simply piracy and theft by the United States.
US laws written by and for Americans have absolutely no legal authority over others in the absence of support from the United Nations.
Every time the US engages in this kind of behavior, its moral and ethical credibility is only further reduced.
It has foolishly “weaponized” its dollar. And it has foolishly grabbed other people’s assets. If you think that kind of behavior will not have a long-term effect on trust and faith in the United States, I suggest you study some economic history.
America’s political reputation is already in tatters. Few anymore regard it as a model. Its social problems, especially its inequality and division, are immense, and they are ignored by its government. And its economic status is in steady relative decline because it simply cannot compete with some other countries.
Effectively, America’s government, not knowing how to respond to its many problems but muscle-bound with ignorant military power, participates in accelerating its own decline.
It truly is a sad spectacle.
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It is almost a waste of time to talk to Macron about
anything serious.
He is ineffective, he is visibly servile to the interests of others, and, as he demonstrated on the streets of Paris, he is quite a brutal thug pretending to be a very civilized man.
He has lied countless times, and I have a hard time even thinking of any sensible idea he has contributed to international affairs. Good God, Saudi Arabia should join a new JCPOA?
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Electric vehicles are assuming a place in the transportation
mix.
But it will remain a minor part until some serious new technology comes along, especially in batteries.
Electric power cannot even begin to replace the totality of trucks and buses and trains and other vehicles.
We are going to need hydrocarbons for a good long while. And we should take care of the industry that produces them.
As far as the generation of electricity itself, it is hard to see where any great progress can be made without either nuclear or natural gas.
A real economy cannot be run on pipedreams if you want real jobs and real growth.
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Given China’s latest hypersonic anti-ship missiles, it’s
possible to imagine American aircraft-carrier pilots in the South China Sea one
day taking off and returning only to find nowhere to land.
Carriers still make intimidating displays, especially against smaller countries, but against a major opponent, they are reduced to very costly targets.
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The very continued existence of Iran with its several
regional allies and its remarkable weapons program is proof of a kind of
victory after more than forty years of the most intense hostility from the US
and Israel.
Even overcoming the terrible ordeal of a long war encouraged by the US in which many war crimes were committed.
It is a set of achievements of which to be proud, and I hope Iran will continue to uphold its worthiest principles in the region.
It's about 8,000 miles from the South China Sea to the West Coast of the US.
What on earth are American warships doing there?
As though these thousands-of-year-old Asian societies could not work out their own practices?
And we’ve certainly seen from recent events, how very well America runs its own society and how much it has to offer others.
It's beyond arrogant. It is just plain stupid.
And that kind of stupidity by America’s privileged elites is just part of why China is going to inherit the earth.
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The WHO findings in China confirm what thoughtful people
have believed from the beginning.
We have a long history of viruses in nature changing slightly and jumping from one host to humans, as was the case, famously, with AIDS.
As for the world’s supply of ignorant and hateful people, no facts will ever stand in the way of their promoting malicious ideas.
It is just a shame that one such person happened to be President of the United States at the time of this virus’s emergence.
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“EU-Russia ties far from satisfactory: Top EU diplomat”
Do you think the mere fact that the EU has accused Russia of poisoning a man and done so with no evidence it will provide could possibly have something to do with the state of relations?
In fact, it’s the second time such an ugly, unsupported accusation has been made. The elaborate and costly charades in both cases were certainly the work of Western security services.
And then there’s all the nonsense about Ukraine when in fact the source of all problems there is Ukraine itself, the Ukraine as governed after an American coup the EU doesn’t even acknowledge.
It is almost impossible to believe the asinine level on which many foreign relations are conducted today.
But that’s what happens when an international bully dominates everyone and demands its sick lies and fantasies be supported.
“Nuclear war with China, Russia is 'real possibility': US
commander”
A truly stupid thing for anyone to say.
But still immensely more stupid for a high-ranking general to say.
Perhaps, the United States has too many of these uniformed, beribboned popinjays sitting at desks in the Pentagon with little real to do?
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Biden lacks clarity in most large foreign-policy issues.
Already, his statements in many matters are contradictory or confused.
For example, with Russia he has taken the positive step of renewing the New START Treaty.
At the same time, though, he makes ridiculous accusations about election interference and Navalny and other matters which are Russia’s internal affairs.
And he is still trying to stop Russia from supplying natural gas to Germany, a grotesque interference into the business affairs of others.
In the matter of Iran, he talks of going back to the JCPOA (Iran Nuclear Agreement) yet makes statements ignoring Iran’s reasonable expectations, statements almost guaranteeing no return to a working treaty that the United States, and the United States alone, destroyed.
Iran only asks for a return to the status quo ante, but Biden’s statements suggest Iran must act first and the need for other terms That is, understandably for Iran, a non-starter. Not a hopeful situation.
I think the basic problem is that Biden and his people want him to appear fair and reasonable, but underneath, when it comes to foreign affairs, the same intense hostilities and jealousies are hard at work, the ones that motivated Trump.
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Economists and serious statesmen and economic historians do
not like trade wars, and for very good reasons. They are destructive, and they
always carry the risk of exploding into real wars.
The only authority for the benefits of trade wars is Donald Trump, a man so ignorant he suggested fighting COVID by injecting antiseptic products like counter cleaners. He is a thoroughly discredited man who failed at almost everything he tried and created a lot of human misery along the way.
One quality study recently showed that at the height of Trump’s malignant efforts against China, the United States actually lost 245,000 jobs.
The illusion of a strong Trump economy is just that, an illusion. It was the result of monstrous tax cuts for the wealthy and the continued easing of money creation – neither of which is sustainable for any time and both of which have negative long-term consequences.
Trump was about as astute in his assessment of trade wars as he was in the management of America’s COVID crisis.
In a post-pandemic world, we will need every bit of trade and investment possible. Letting political attitudes prevail over economics only will impoverish all of us more than need be.
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“We consider any move that does not end the siege and aggression against Yemen as just a formality and do not pay any attention to it,”
Wise words from Yemen.
If the US were determined to end this ugly war, it could do so in a moment.
The Saudis would absolutely not act against direct instructions from the US.
What Biden is doing is just a cheap public relations ploy to separate the US from all the terrible publicity associated with this filthy war it helped start.
It is hypocrisy. And it is the kind of dishonesty which promises no great changes for the Middle East.
Biden is, after all, a fifty-year political veteran of supporting wars and coups and death.
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“Ankara says US behind 2016 abortive coup in Turkey
against Erdogan”
I’ve never doubted it from the beginning.
The US had motive, means, and opportunity.
The big opportunities for Turkish (disloyal) officers and American officers to exchange information were at the Incirlik Air Base.
Erdogan is too independent-minded for America’s liking.
The coup did provide a great opening for Russia, and Russia’s masterful statesman, President Putin, took full advantage of It. He has even managed to sell Turkey the S-400 anti-aircraft missile system.
Not a lot of people realize it, but apart from the system’s excellence, a key reason Erdogan wanted it was that, unlike the US or France or Britain, Russia does not keep a control key to the missile systems it sells.
Libya’s Ghaddafi had just bought an expensive system from France when his country was attacked. The French simply switched the missile system off, so that he was completely vulnerable to air attack.
That’s why Erdogan will not give up his S-400s just because the US demands it.
I wish Iran were in a position to buy these missiles also. It is rumored, too, that their radar can see America’s F-35 stealth jets.
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“Canadian government designates ‘Proud Boys’ as terrorist
group”
Just a ridiculous, cheap stunt to gain some credit in progressive political circles.
Trudeau’s own record as a leader for human and democratic rights in the world is nonexistent. And genuine terror, on a vast and grisly scale, has simply been ignored by Justin Trudeau.
The Proud Boys may be distasteful and unwelcome, but they are not terrorists. I consider that an abuse of language, and, God knows, we already have far too much of that in our politics.
Trudeau has never objected to the terrors of Saudi Arabia, both at home and abroad – indeed, Trudeau has sold the good Prince billions of dollars’ worth of armored cars while the Prince’s armies slaughtered thousands of women and children in Yemen and oppressed minorities at home.
Trudeau never objected to America’s horrific treatment of Venezuela and its seven-times elected government – rather, he joined right in calling for an end to the government and welcoming the sleazy, unelected Juan Guido, as though Venezuela’s politics were any of Canada’s business.
Trudeau never raised his voice once against crude dirty tricks like America’s shutting down Venezuela’s electricity grid several times. You can just imagine the misery and difficulties that caused for millions of ordinary people.
Trudeau never objected to Israel’s shooting down unarmed protesting Palestinians in Gaza with soldiers ambushing them from behind a wall. A couple of hundred were killed and thousands wounded, some mangled for life.
Trudeau never objected to the American horrors imposed on Iran, a country that did nothing wrong and met its obligations under a treaty Trump decided to rip up. America assassinated a number of important people, put eighty million innocent people under siege, and contributed to death and disease with its sanctions in a pandemic.
Trudeau closely aligned himself with Trump’s foreign policies for four years, demonstrating no independence and no courage and certainly no conscience.
And who is the honorary godfather of the Proud Boys? The very same Trump whose policies Trudeau slavishly followed. He even destroyed Canada’s once excellent relations with China in doing so.
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“Iran’s Islamic Revolution set the stage for a new global
anti-imperialist struggle”
That is a very true and interesting observation.
Of course, it is part of why the US has maintained such vicious hostility towards Iran for over forty years.
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