JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: ATTACKS ON CORBYN CONTINUE WITH AN UGLY SLUR TWEETED BY "LORD" SUGAR - DEBASED LEVEL OF BRITISH POLITICS - RELATIONSHIP OF ATTACKS WITH THERESA MAY'S ATTACKS ON RUSSIA AND PUTIN

EXPANSION OF COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT

“Mocked-up tweet shows the Labour leader's head superimposed onto Hitler's companion, with the caption: 'when you're pictured at Nuremberg and claim you thought you were going to a car rally'”

This of “Lord” Sugar's, is the work of an unpleasant twelve-year old at best. It actually resembles the proto-fascist stuff you find on sites for America’s Alt-right.

Good God, Britain has reached a record level of stupidity in its political affairs.

A powerful lobby for a foreign state, the British Israel Lobby, regularly and irresponsibly accuses a fine politician of dark beliefs or tolerance, much like accusing him of being a believer in voodoo who secretly drinks blood.

What that lobby wants is Corbyn’s replacement or hobbling because he represents some things with which they don't agree, especially in his views on the Middle East which are as fair-minded and open as all of his views are.

Some respect for parliamentary government. Some respect for democracy and rule of law.

At the same time, the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister practice exactly the same lowlife tactics in relations with Russia, a country which has done absolutely nothing wrong so far as the facts we have been provided tell us.

These two efforts – the Prime Minister’s and the British Israel Lobby’s - actually are not unrelated, even though, at a casual glance, you might not think so.

Israel has a seething resentment over the failure of the murderous adventure in Syria (supported covertly by America, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Britain, and France). Its giant covert project to topple a neighboring government and balkanize its territory by employing mercenaries posing as fake jihadis has been largely a failure, thanks to Russia’s honest opposition to terror.

A costly failure, although surely not so costly as it has been to the Syrian people who have suffered approaching a half million deaths and millions of refugees running for their lives.

Israel keeps its resentment diplomatically hidden because it has the United States to act as world bully boy on its behalf, as we can all see with the way America's most atrocious-ever UN Ambassador constantly abuses the very international organization to which she is appointed.

Theresa May is simply a loyal and obedient servant of both the United States and Israel. So, we can see why she behaves in the contemptible fashion that she does towards Russia (a la Nikki Haley, we might describe it), and we can see why, as the nation's leader, she offers not a word of objection to the lowlife tactics being used against Jeremy Corbyn.

Meanwhile, Israel shoots over 700 Palestinians protesting their terrible treatment, murdering at least 15 of them just for approaching a fence. It uses sharpshooters and tanks, and now it has added the innovation of drones dropping teargas or other noxious chemicals on the crowds of protesters, a form of chemical warfare.

And do we hear one word of objection from the British government or, indeed, from any other faithful American servants in Europe over this Nazi-like behavior?

No, of course not. The British government’s time and resources are taken up with making accusations and speeches about a presumed attack on one man who may not even have been attacked, for all we know from the actual facts we have been given.

They are also taken up with efforts to politically assassinate a fair-minded, decent British citizen, the leader of a major political party, including such juvenile delinquent-style stunts as that of “Lord” Sugar.

My, Britain can certainly be proud.

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: DOES THE WEST REALLY BELIEVE IT CAN BREAK OR DESTROY RUSSIA? NO BUT IT IS VERY MUCH TRYING TO HURT OR HOBBLE IT - WHY?

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN PRAVDA

"Does the West really believe it can break and destroy Russia?"

No, of course, it does not believe that.

But it very much is confident that it can hurt and embarrass and perhaps even, to some extent, hobble Russia.

These are very dark and unpleasant men who actually run American foreign policy - the so-called Deep State.

They include the many psychopaths working at the CIA and Pentagon, and they are resentful that Russia has in any way blunted their efforts at "full-spectrum dominance, everywhere," as its effective acts did in Syria and in Ukraine.

The US has been on a rampage through much of the world for at least 15 years, killing at least a couple of million people, creating millions of hopeless refugees, and destroying perfectly well-running societies.

It is all related to the dominance in Washington of the Neocons, an influential group that believes America should openly and unashamedly use its power to dominate, leaving behind preferences of fairness and balance.

The Neocons are particularly focused on Israel, and they believe that such an aggressive America is Israel's best hope for surviving and thriving. The arguments also have some appeal to others in Washington who understand that the world is rapidly changing now. America's extraordinarily privileged position after WWII (the time of the "American Dream" advertising slogan) with all competitors flattened is over.

Others now are growing and competing and challenging economically, and they are not going away. Many in Washington see a more aggressive and demanding approach to foreign affairs as buying time and perhaps new advantages against its relative decline. So, there is a tight bond with the Neocons, a group whose narrow interests (essentially Israel, a country with the population of Ecuador) distort the world greatly now. The Neocons also necessarily see Russia as a potential block to some of their plans - hence, all the hostility towards Russia.

It is a very dangerous time.

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: ARE WE HEADED FOR WAR WITH RUSSIA? WHY NO ONE SEEMS EVEN TO CARE

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY THE SAKER IN RUSSIA INSIDER

"We're Headed to War with Russia, and No One Seems to Care”

Yes, I do think we are on a trajectory for war.

It's terrifying but simply true.

But I am not sure that no one seems to care.

It's more of a matter of inability to do anything about it. Passivity in the face of truly mad terror.

All of the West has utterly buckled to America's new hyper-aggressiveness. There isn't a voice to be heard in Europe about anything important, except, "yes, sir, yes, sir, three bags full," as the American establishment tears up and burns much of the planet.

As for Americans, they have no real choices in politics. It's a pathetic stage play of democracy. No matter who you vote for, the Washington establishment wins. Kerry vs. Bush? Romney vs Obama? Clinton vs Trump? Maybe Biden vs Trump?

There isn't a major figure in America who stands for anything different than what we see.

Big Money buying national politics plus uncontrolled lobbyists plus a cancerous Pentagon and CIA pretty well assure the results we see. Those are the rotten building materials for today's godawful Washington establishment.

Sometimes, I feel like I'm watching one of those magnificent old Greek tragedies in which, no matter how hard he struggles, the protagonist goes down to his fate.

OHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: DISHONESTY AND PREJUDICE PASSING AS A DEMAND FOR JUSTICE - YET ANOTHER BRITISH WAVE OF "GET CORBYN OVER ANTI-SEMITISM" FROM THE LOBBY WHICH JUST HATES HIM

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT

What is the row over Jeremy Corbyn and antisemitism about?

____________________________

Response to a comment, “Antisemitism has been weaponised by those in the right of the Labour party, Labour friends of Israel and the right wing media to bash Corbyn, following on from the previous Red Corbyn campaign”:

Absolutely.

It is nothing else.

Corbyn is not liked by the Israel Lobby, a very real force today in British affairs.

Their kind of man is Tony Blair or Owen Smith.

Blair's ugly influence on the general public, despite many efforts by the corporate press to revive his rotting political carcass, has been destroyed. He's widely regarded as the liar and mass killer that he is.

Owen Smith still tries, but he has always been an ineffectual and rather arrogant politician, and it was his demotion, after again trying to tell the Party leader what to do, that brought all this latest wave on.

The campaign against Corbyn has been almost continuous from his first election, just with little splutters of greater or lesser intensity.

Every Britain should ask, is it right that our democratic government and corporate press are so influenced by unproven claims from a relatively small group - a group, which never offers proof of anything and which, moreover, very much has an agenda of its own?

They also should ask, if it is true that there is so much anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, why didn't the beloved Tony Blair root it out and create a benign environment long ago?

It couldn't explode into being overnight, as it were, yet that is the nonsense idea contained in all of these vicious attacks on a decent man. It's very much akin to believing in demon possession.

This is a fraud, a very unpleasant fraud, and it is using the ugly tactics supposedly discredited long ago after the fall of Senator Joseph McCarthy and his career-destroying "commie" witch hunt.

But the tactics, in fact, have not been discredited. They still work. Throw enough crap on the walls, and some of it sticks, always. That principle is as true today as ever, and it is employed just as frequently by special interest groups and governments as it was in Joseph Goebbels’ day.

That is precisely the approach of Theresa May and Boris Johnson with their accusations of poisoning, an event which for all the world seems never to have happened. If it indeed did, we have been given not a scrap of proof regarding any aspect of it. Yet the shouting and charges just keep being hurled.

Corbyn is under attack only for his fair-minded views on Israel-Palestine, but it would never do for his opponents to say that openly since its sounds ridiculous, so we have this ugly McCarthyite campaign either to intimidate him or to unseat him, something Owen Smith, of course, already has tried doing.

Of course, over the long-term, piling on unsupported charges of “anti-Semitism,” much like the crying of “Wolf!” by the unpleasant boy in the fairy tale, only serves to bring the day when most people will simply respond with, “So what?”

AFTERNOTE:

No one can doubt that Jeremy Corbyn is one of the most decent and thoroughly liberal-spirited politicians in the western world, and you might think he would be welcomed and greeted for that very quality, but you would be wrong. That quality is precisely why he is so hated by apologists and lobbyists for Israel.

People who do not keep up with public and international affairs may not be aware of what a term of contempt "liberal" has become in Israel. It is used almost like a four-letter word, sputtered out with contempt. Liberals are widely hated for the very qualities which define liberalism: belief in human rights and dignity and the rule of law. Clearly, the Israel we see at work could not function under such assumptions.

What you find in Israel very much parallels what you find from America's Alt-right. On its Internet sites, the Alt-right almost cannot bring itself to use the word "liberal," regularly substituting (pathetically childish) pejoratives like "libtards" and "snowflakes." There obviously is no meaningful discussion possible with such people, and that is exactly the way they want things to be.

So, we have some very dark forces at work in our world, forces openly expressing contempt for fairness and decency and rule of law, forces pushing away debate or discussion, forces exhibiting extreme contempt for large groups of others, forces who want what they want regardless of how they obtain it. I do believe that gets pretty close to defining fascism.

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: EUROPE PLAYS GAMES WITH TALES OF POISONING WHERE THERE IS NO POISONING - WHY? IN OUR BIZARRE NEW WORLD SOMETHING IS TRUE IF AMERICA SAYS IT IS - PROOF? "I DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' PROOF!"

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN PRAVDA

USA expels 48 Russian diplomats, EU countries to make similar decision

We live, now, in a very bizarre world.

Any ally of the US is free to assert anything, supplying absolutely no proof for their assertion, and with a story which doesn't even add-up in many details, yet America and its allies will act as though a judge and jury had come to a legal decision following a detailed courtroom case.

This same kind of thing has happened with a number of matters in recent years.

It is in many respects stranger than the world of 1984, because it all happens with such a sense of almost everyday normality.

Of course, the EU and the US couldn't just let Theresa May dangle in the wind after all her unsupported public assertions, so they have taken some dignity-preserving action as expelling diplomats.

In the end, the action is a big game, with Russia necessarily having to make a response expulsion of diplomats, and the net effect after a lot of sound and fury is every nation being heavily inconvenienced in their diplomatic arrangements.

I do believe I understand the underlying cause, and it has largely to do with Syria and Russia’s having blocked the Pentagon from bombing Damascus. The Americans did take Russian General Valery Gerasimov very seriously when he promised not only to target missiles but to target their points of origin, as ships. But it reflects, too, the entire recent situation from Ukraine to Syria, a situation which is very frustrating to Americans wanting their own way after having spent a lot of money.

So, the angry bullies in the Pentagon found other games to play, games called “Spies Being Poisoned without any Poison” and “Blaming a Disliked Head of Government without a Shred of Evidence.”

See, the sheer weight of numbers of all those American-allied states is supposed to shout to the world that just has to the truth, but our experience of recent years with American aggression in the Middle East and in Ukraine tells us that is not the case at all. NATO countries now do absurd things in order to support America in its destructive marches in the world. They are afraid themselves to do otherwise, and there isn’t a leader in Europe who stands on principles like the rule of law.

Europe paid a terrible price for supporting American policies in receiving floods of refugees, all of them the result of America’s setting fire to the Middle East. Germany’s leader felt so bad about the results, she hurt her own country trying to help too many refugees at once. Of course, the EU pays big money to Turkey to keep the millions they have living in camps. But in all that horror, did you ever hear one word of criticism about the people responsible for it all, the United States? No, you did not.

Again, the EU countries have seriously injured their own economies in supporting billions of dollars’ worth of punitive trade measures, all the result of arbitrary American measures against Russia for aggression in Ukraine, aggression that does not exist. But they all pretend that it does exist because they fear what even more an angry US can do to their economies.

The Europeans all carefully ignore the clear fact that the US created a coup in Ukraine against an elected government, and Russia acted in the most controlled and non-aggressive way against the attack on its border.  We even learned the cost of the coup from the ugly American Neocon, Victoria Nuland, overheard bragging to someone. The same gracious lady who once said, “Fuck Europe!”

One of the European countries I long admired for its achievements and its society, Holland, has, under this same ugly American pressure, disgraced itself with a carefully constructed effort to look as though it were conducting a fair investigation of the crash of Flight MH-17 over Ukraine.

But it became obvious it was not doing so as it ignored evidence, failed to collect many pieces of evidence on the ground, and published preliminary conclusions which do not match some facts any well-informed person is aware of. But there the fraud has been allowed to sit because that is how America wants it.

Of course, for years, Europe has pretended that America – with its allies Israel, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France, and originally Turkey – is not conducting a vast proxy war against Syria, a country which has never threatened it. Its paid mercenaries, posing as jihadis, have torn a beautiful land apart.

But you’ll never hear a European leader say that. They are all cowed into submission, lying and supporting mass killing. Britain and France actually helped in many matters from supplying armaments to bombing Syrian infrastructure while telling their own people they were fighting ISIS, a creation of the same group of American allies listed above.

France and Britain paid an additional price in “terrorist attacks” which actually are blowback, retribution against their own destructive efforts in Syria, Libya, and other places. Just look at the former President of France, Sarkozy, now under arrest for having taken large secret sums of money from Libya’s Gadhafi, a man Sarkozy turned around afterward to help murder during America’s effort to reduce a well-run Libya into bloody chaos. Can you even imagine greater hypocritical and brutal behavior, all while posing as a champion of “Western values”?

But this is our glorious Western civilization today under the domination of a hyper-aggressive United States which works desperately to gain control over everyone everywhere.

Readers may enjoy:

https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/03/17/john-chuckman-comment-some-facts-about-the-nerve-agent-novichok-whose-use-is-falsely-claimed-to-prove-russia-attacked-an-ex-spy-in-britain-irresponsible-uk-government-apes-the-tony-blair-approach/

https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/03/25/john-chuckman-comment-manufactured-events-in-salisbury-are-a-response-to-recent-events-in-syria-a-fascinating-news-report-about-the-doctor-who-found-the-daughter-and-treated-her/

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: JULIAN ASSANGE CALLED A HERO - I AGREE BUT IBSEN'S "AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE" SHOWED US HOW THE ESTABLISHMENT TREATS HEROES

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN RUSSIA INSIDER

“Independent journalist Suzie Dawson has written a very important and very long (a short book really) article about Julian Assange. In a nutshell it says that he is undisputedly a hero”

And I agree with Ms Dawson.

Assange is one of our few genuine heroes, an international hero.

We never see the mislabeled Nobel Peace Prize going to people of such courage in the cause of what is right.

No, we see a long list of mediocrities, questionable characters, and even terrorists - all people who essentially serve American imperial interests.

Like Dr. Stockmann in Ibsen's "An Enemy of the People," he is made to suffer just for revealing what is wrong.

You aren't allowed by power to do that. Just look at the complete fabric of lies we live under with Syria, Israel, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, the Democratic Party, etc., etc.

Readers may enjoy:

https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2017/10/06/14011/

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: YET ANOTHER ROUND OF ATTACKING JEREMY CORBYN FOR SUPPOSED ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE LABOUR PARTY - IT'S BECOME A SICKENINGLY REGULAR PRACTICE AT THE GUARDIAN AND THE INDEPENDENT

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT

"Jeremy Corbyn is 'figurehead' for antisemitism"

What a sickening, lowlife thing to say about a thoroughly decent man. Even though the actual metaphor used is rather confused in its meaning, the vile intention is clear. I suppose the confused words arrive from excessive bile.

If Corbyn weren't a politician, he would be able to sue the person saying that successfully for libel, but politicians, of course, can't do that. They must take the insults and filth without flinching.

The reason for this new round of filth is simple. It is just more of what we have experienced ever since Corbyn came to power.

Wave after wave of Senator Joe McCarthy-style accusations against an honest and decent man.

Corbyn has a fairly balanced view on Israel and Palestine.

He is fair-minded on that as we have seen he is fair-minded on so many things.

But, you see, you are not permitted to be fair-minded on that topic. You must be a Tony Blair, as it were. Tony Blair was more than just okay, winning as he did all kinds of accolades and sinecures and the million-dollar Israel "Peace" Prize.

So, the Israel Lobby in Britain - and we well know well from recent revelations and recordings that there is just such a thing which arrogantly works to seat or unseat members of Parliament -  has worked itself into a sweat for the last year or so, trying to make Corbyn uncomfortable and very aware of its power.

He's not going to be allowed to be elected in a general election without having been subjected to immense pressure and difficulty, something for him to keep in mind when he tries leading a country on behalf of all its people’s interests, rather than those of a special interest lobby. 

We saw this when he had to win his leadership all over again against a Lobby darling like Owen Smith.

Well, you see, Corbyn has just sacked Owen Smith from his frontbench position for trying to tell the leader how he should be doing things, so a price is to be paid.

________________

Response to a comment:

That's exactly what has been going on since Corbyn was first elected leader.

If you remember, even the leader of Israel's Labour Party chimed in with a stupid public letter on the subject of anti-Semitism being tolerated in the party of another country.

As though he knew anything about the matter.

Of course, he didn't know what he was talking about, but he was cued by the Lobby in Britain to offer his views.

It was a demonstration of immense arrogance and just plain dishonesty, especially coming from a leader in a country running a concentration camp like Gaza there for all to see.

Talk about injustice and abuse of human rights.

__________________

Response to a comment whose tone and wording were clearly that of a paid Israeli commenter:

Thanks, Tel Aviv.

You guys really do focus on stories in The Independent, don't you?

There's nothing needing attention in your own country, I guess?

Not an openly corrupt Prime minister? Not threats against a peaceful, agreement-abiding Iran? Not threats against Lebanon? Not threats against Syria? Not the turning away of black refugees because Mr. and Mrs. Netanyahu do not want them living in the neighborhood? Not friendship with the murderous new ruler of Saudi Arabia? Not friendship with the dictator in Egypt? Not the horrors of the concentration camp you run in Gaza?

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: AMERICA MAKING "SHITHOLES" OF EVERYTHING IT TOUCHES

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN INVESTMENTWATCH

"The Fall of California: Within two generations the greatest place on earth has become a proverbial “shithole.”"

Well, it's not just California.

Isn't that what Americans do to most of the places they go?

Vietnam? Iraq? Syria? Libya? Ukraine?

And look at the countless ghettos and rotting dumps across America.

God, it's practically a national pastime.

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: WHEN WILL THE SUFFERING OF THE WAR IN YEMEN END?

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN

Yemen is entering its fourth year of war – when will the suffering end?

Maybe, just maybe, when Britain and Canada and other NATO allies stop selling hundreds of tons of costly weapons to one of the world's worst governments, Saudi Arabia?

Here is a government which not only kills and suppresses some of its own people, it conducts bloody war in Yemen and Syria.

Its new Crown Prince usurped his position, kidnapped a bunch of other princes, and held them to ransom for many billions.

Yet we sell them weapons, just unbelievable amounts of weapons.

But it's all just fine because women now can drive cars in Saudi Arabia?

Or is it really because a new hyper-aggressive United States says, "Do it or else, because these guys are helping with my dirty work”?

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT - THE JOE BIDEN SAGA - AMERICA'S ABSOLUTE POVERTY OF CHOICE IN ITS ELECTIONS - A CHOICE BETWEEN A SMILING KILLER AND A SCOWLING KILLER SUMS UP AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT

“Joe Biden speaks on 2020 presidential bid: 'We're in a battle for the soul of this nation'

“'I have to be able to stand in front of a mirror and know that if I don’t run, it’s not because I’m afraid of losing, it’s because there’s somebody better to do it'”

There is some truth in Biden's assertion, but what a shame there is no one better to take his place.

He's a smiling old phony, a creepy, total loyalist to Pentagon-CIA interests.

There's no salvation here, believe me, just a change of style.

_______________________

Response to a comment “Old groping Jo the darling of the Left’:

You are only partly right.

He is not a "darling of the left." He's loyal establishment, through and through. Always has been, no exceptions, and he's done some pretty ugly stuff.

But he IS a groper. There is a whole series of videos on the Internet. The guy can't keep his hands to himself when there's a woman around to paw. It is well-known.

The most important fact about Biden, however, one many in Britain may not know, is his total loyalty to the Pentagon-security establishment.

As just one example, it was Biden who convinced Obama to initiate America's current industrial-scale extrajudicial killing program. He pleaded for it quite forcefully.

He didn't get that Medal of Freedom from Obama in the last days for nothing. By the way, that's the same award given to ruthless Neocon killer, Madeleine Albright.

It's considered an extremely high award in the US. You have to do a lot of killing and groveling to get it, much like Tony Blair's Israel Peace Prize.

I don't know about you, but for me, smiles and nice words just don't sit well on a mass killer. 

Of course, what choice does America really have? This creepy killer of the creepy killer now sitting in the Oval Office?

That's called democracy in America. Choice between a smiling killer-for-empire of a scowling killer-for-empire.

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: IRAN CONSIDERS TURNING TO RUSSIA AND CHINA WITH TRUMP'S LATEST HELLISH APPOINTMENTS - ISRAEL AND AMERICA JUST WILL NOT LEAVE A PEACEFUL IRAN ALONE

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY ALAEDDIN BOROUJERDI IN THE INDEPENDENT

Iran considers turning to China and Russia after Trump appointments of 'super hawks' Bolton and Pompeo

'Americans are pushing for harder policies towards the Islamic Republic of Iran and we need to strengthen our view towards the East, especially China and Russia,'

It would be a wise move for Iran.

I'm not sure about the extent of Russian and Chinese openness to closer relations, but I think this potential bloc offers a lot of strengths to oppose the clearly hostile intentions of Washington.

Iran is such an interesting case. It is a state that has shown no aggression in its entire modern history. It takes measures to defend itself, sure, but it has no record of aggression. Yet it is ceaselessly accused and threatened.

And, indeed, its revolution was only in response to a bloody tyrant, the Shah, who had been put into power by an American coup against a democratic government toppled in the 1950s.

Yes, Iran has attacked no one while indeed being attacked and fighting for its survival in the American-inspired Iran-Iraq War, which of course involved the use of American-supplied chemical weapons to prevent Iran from winning.

Tens of thousands of Iranians were poisoned by Saddam doing America’s dirty work. It was a strategy by America of bleeding both sides. They didn’t want Saddam “getting too big for breeches” either.

Attacked no one, unlike the state which has openly threatened Iran many, many times, done covert operations against it, and closely studied - spending millions preparing a few years ago - plans to attack it.

That state is Israel, which has a long history of open hatred and hostility towards Iran.

Why should that be? Because Iran is a very large and potentially wealthy state which just naturally has influence and relations throughout the region, no different than, say, France in Europe.

But Israel thinks it is entitled to dominate the region, and it deeply resents Iran, calling all of its relationships by hostile and sinister names.

And we must remember it is Israel which literally has attacked every neighbor that it has, some of them several times. It is Israel that holds millions against their will. And it is Israel that has ignored and expressed contempt for dozens of United Nations Resolutions. It is also Israel that only has good relations in the region with tyrants or absolute monarchs who toe the American line.

Israel is able to do all this courtesy of the world's modern great bully standing behind it. What the bully gets out of the relationship is a colony in the Mideast, a willing helper in dark plots.

_______________

Response about a comment saying “West has lost the war in Syria, debacle looms that Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya will end as Syria”:

West has lost?

Who is "the West"?

Israel? Saudi Arabia? Turkey?

And how can you “lose” what never was yours?

“The West” is a propaganda expression right out of the Cold War, and its use today always denotes dishonest thinking. So, too, words about “loosing” countries, as the United States used to speak of “losing China.”

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: MANUFACTURED EVENTS IN SALISBURY ARE A RESPONSE TO RECENT EVENTS IN SYRIA - PLUS A FASCINATING REPORT ABOUT DOCTOR WHO FOUND THE DAUGHTER AND TREATED HER - NO SIGN OF CHEMICALS LIKE NOVICHOK

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY THE SAKER IN RUSSIA INSIDER

A Truly Historical Month for the Future of Our Planet

Some of the language here is definitely over-the-top in my view, but the writer has captured a basic truth in his timeline of events.

The manufactured events in Britain over nerve gas poisoning - whether it actually happened or not we have no assurance other than the words of a government committed to the principles of the detested Tony Blair - are a response to the march of events in Syria and perhaps in Ukraine.

The long and costly efforts in both places are off the rails. These efforts have always been the work of the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France, and, at least originally, Turkey. The work of tens of thousands of people and billions of dollars is pretty much going nowhere.

It is very interesting that in the current British madhouse of accusations coming from Theresa May and her court jester, Boris Johnson, Trump has only given the vaguest support. He has not, at least yet, joined the hectoring.

I truly do believe that Putin knows something highly embarrassing about Trump, but keeps it secure in his vest pocket. That is why Trump is reluctant to jump in with personal accusations. After all, Trump is a man who shows no reluctance most of the time about jumping in to anything with anyone, usually with both feet, and insulting people. He is a man of very low character.

He, of course, also - after a delay of two days, a decent nod of respect for the outrageous claims of his ally in Britain - congratulated Putin on his reelection despite what we know was the contrary advice of staff. Even the leak about the staff advice is revealing. Those things don't happen by accident.

So, the Theresa and Boris Show will keep making noise until it runs out of gas or people show their boredom with the act, but I doubt it is really going anywhere. Europe too is giving an ally a decent nod of recognition, but there seems no prospect for acting seriously on the claims. To say the least, it would be a new low to take serious actions on the basis of unsupported accusations.

AFTERNOTE – ON THE SUPPOSED USE OF NOVICHOK:

A local Salisbury doctor on the scene of the “attack” described the condition of the daughter as slumped and vomiting and having lost control of her bowels. The doctor treated her for about thirty minutes, including clearing her airway while others helped her father. There were no signs of any chemicals nor was the doctor affected by handling the daughter extensively. Emergency services at the scene suspected the narcotic drug fentanyl, something with which they have some familiarity.

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: WHAT "THE AMERICAN DREAM" WAS REALLY ABOUT - WHY "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN" IS JUST SILLY - LIVING IN A DREAM FROM 1954 REPRESENTS HUGE DANGERS TO THE WORLD

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN INVESTMENTWATCH

“Proof he American Dream Has Been Indefinitely Deferred”

Oh please, “The American Dream” is an advertising slogan from the 1950s.

It never had any substance beyond the sheer fact that in postwar America people could rise far more quickly than they could in other parts of a world where so many countries had been flattened.

It never had anything to do with any special merits of being American, although simple people and propagandists allowed themselves to slip into thinking that way.

But, in case you hadn't noticed, it is not the 1950s anymore. Countries that were once flattened are now thriving and competing.

This marks an immensely important change in the world.

And the truth is that the United States can't even effectively compete in many cases. Its costs are too high, its products are limited or inferior, its products often just don't suit others, and it wastes vast sums on its bloated military and on meaningless wars.

Many Americans, actually believing in fairy tales like "The American Dream," simply cannot “get their heads around” those facts.

Americans resemble kids raised in an indulgent, well-off family that now, after years of excess, has gone bankrupt and cannot sustain anything like the life they once knew. The kids just cannot take in the new reality. They pretend it just isn’t so, that what has happened only reflects the doings of evil neighbors who must be put in their place.

They are angry, you can feel it, and it's a good part of why they support Trump and are ready to support hostile and aggressive measures in a delusional effort to try winning back the 1950s. That anger also comes out in attitudes towards migrants and refugees.

"Make America Great Again” is nothing but a new slogan built on anger and delusions. It is offered by a leader who is ignorant of economics, ignorant of history, ignorant of diplomacy, but who is packed with attitudes and fantasy notions.

Just one of his many fantasies is his often-expressed belief in his own courage, but there is not a courageous moment in the entire life of this man. He is a bully, and bullies are always cowards.

But “Make America Great Again” is not going to happen. It literally is impossible to go back in time almost three-quarters of a century.

Not only that, but much of the situation in which America finds itself reflects innumerable bad choices over the years by a spoiled and navel-gazing establishment. They have learned no lessons, none at all.

They, too, expect a world that is no more, and that fact is the basis for the influence of the Neocons with which Trump has become so completely entangled. Their basic credo is that America should use its strength to dominate everywhere. It’s a national World Bully Policy.

No, Trump’s slogan is not going to take America back in time to what was. Where it could take us though is a world of trade wars and real shooting wars, and that's just the direction in which The Great Orange One seems headed, full-steam ahead.

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: TRUMP'S NEW APPOINTMENTS STRAIGHT FROM HELL - MAYBE NOW HIS PATHETIC TRUE BELIEVERS WILL REALIZE WHAT A FRAUD HE IS - I FEAR FOR OUR FUTURE

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN CBC NEWS AND IN THE GUARDIAN

'Pouring kerosene on hot coal': 4 takeaways on John Bolton, Trump's hawkish new security adviser

Key storylines to watch from Trump's new appointment of John Bolton

Simply unbelievable.

The only good thing we once expected from Trump was some diminishment of the role of the destructive Neocons in Washington.

The Neocons are the people who have put America on the bloody rampage that it has been on for about the last 15 years, bombing half a dozen countries, toppling governments, killing about 2 million people and creating millions of refugees who nearly destabilized Europe, as well as pursuing and threatening Russia as though it were an enemy.

The basic drive of these people is to have the United States use its power to push its supremacy everywhere in the world. They make no apologies for war. They are almost mindless defenders of Israel and its abuses and recognize virtually no legitimacy to the rights and claims of the Palestinians. They are not averse to the idea of war with Iran.

Well, here's the Great Orange One appointing one of their greatest, most unpleasant fanatics, John Bolton, a man whose career is littered with ugly statements.

And this comes after two other genuinely grotesque appointments.

Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State and Gina Haspel as CIA Director. Pompeo is a total warmonger and Haspel has been called the godmother of the CIA's vast torture program. She actually ran one of their black sites, and there is warrant for her arrest in Germany for war crimes.

I genuinely fear for the future. These appointments are straight from hell.

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: NEW FILM ON WATERGATE'S "DEEP THROAT" (MARK FELT) APPEARS VERY SHORT ON HISTORY - OBSERVATIONS ON THE WATERGATE SCANDAL AND NIXON IMPEACHMENT - WHO WAS REALLY DOING WHAT

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: THE PUREST ANTI-RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA PUBLISHED IN GUARDIAN - AND CRITICAL COMMENT REMOVED - JUST COMPARE AMERICAN TO RUSSIAN MILITARY FACTS AND COMPARE THE LANGUAGE OF THEIR GOVERNMENTS

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY GUY VERHOFSTADT IN THE GUARDIAN AND REMOVED BY EDITOR

“Europe needs a collective defence strategy to counter Russia”

"We need to stand together against Putin. If we don’t, he will become emboldened in his war with our liberal democracies"

Well, they write this kind of stuff all the time in Langley, Virginia, in the hopes of getting it “out there,” but that doesn't mean a newspaper with any integrity needs to publish it.

The article could almost be a parody of disinformation.

Putin is a threat to no one.

The United States is killing people in half a dozen countries, has military bases in literally hundreds of places, and its creature, NATO, effectively occupies Europe without firing a shot.

Russia spends about $50 billion a year on its military, enough to see to its own proper defense.

The United States spends $700 billion a year, about as much as the rest of the planet combined.

The United States also spends vast (secret) amounts on its 17 national security agencies, with the CIA, for example, serving almost as a second armed force, a non-uniformed covert one that interferes in the internal affairs of countless countries and gets involved in coups to overthrow governments it doesn't like.

If you just compare the language from Washington and Moscow, you find Moscow talking about "partners and projects and mutual respect.

You find Washington talking about threats and enemies and opponents and "full-spectrum dominance."

It's an amazing and eye-opening comparison to make, and the results are about as far as you can go from the unsupported language of this article.

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: BRITISH RECORD OF MISLEADING THE WORLD - THE GUTTER-LEVEL INSULT BY FOREIGN MINISTER BORIS JOHNSON ABOUT HITLER - WHAT RUSSIA SUFFERED FROM HITLER IS UNIMAGINABLE FOR MOST

EXPANSION OF COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN

“Russian ambassador on nerve agent claims: UK has 'record of misleading international community'”

Yes, the Russian Ambassador is right.

Really, what else can you say about the invasion of Iraq or the terrible covert efforts in Syria?

And as for the Hitler comparison, it is offensive, deeply offensive.

Russia (then the USSR) suffered 27 million deaths owing to Hitler's massive, all-out invasion. It was total war, something few have ever experienced.

The number makes the losses from that war of any other country seem almost trivial by comparison. The US, for example, lost less than 300 thousand (about one-percent of Russian losses) in the entire war (although someone with no history could be forgiven for thinking from Hollywood films that America suffered terribly and that it almost single-handedly won the war).

It was Russia who actually defeated Hitler with events like the greatest, bloodiest battle in all of human history at Stalingrad, the greatest tank battle in all of history at Kursk, and the heroism of withstanding the long and terrible siege of Leningrad.

I can't believe Boris Johnson has said something so idiotic, so prejudiced, and so offensive - the words of an ugly bully schoolboy, not a foreign minister, not even a complete human being.

This newspaper often goes on periodically about presumed anti-Semitism here or there, generally without a scrap of evidence.

But it is okay to so openly malign the people who actually defeated Hitler by uncritically publishing such outrageous stuff?

Boris Johnson should resign. Full stop.

And Britain's press needs to get a grip on itself. Some of the stuff you publish is no better than the ravings from a lunatic asylum or, indeed, common gutter literature.

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: UNHAPPY ANNIVERSARY OF WARS ON LIBYA AND IRAQ - BOTH BUILT ON LIES AND DECEPTION - THE ONLY CAUSE FOR THE MIDDLE EAST BEING ON FIRE - TRUMP'S DEMONSTRATED COWARDICE HERE - GREAT DANGER AHEAD

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN INVESTMENTWATCH

“Unhappy Anniversary: Today marks 15 years since Bush started the war on Iraq and 7 years since Obama began the war on Libya—both based on lies and deception.”

Yes, unhappy anniversary indeed.

The root cause of both was the American-Israeli relationship.

America committed, years ago, to assisting in "the birth of a new Middle East." Those are Condi Rice's words.

The phrase may freely be translated as "creating a Middle East completely compliant to America and its Mideast colony, aka, Israel."

It implied destroying independent-minded leaders like Qaddafi or Assad, and it implied breaking up some of the region's countries. It also implied killing a lot of people and creating a lot of misery.

America, over the last decade and a half, has killed at least two million people, injured countless others, and reduced millions to desperate refugees.

The poor refugees, in turn, came close to destabilizing Europe, but the US never lifted a finger to assist in the horror it created.

Pathetic European politicians like Angela Merkel were only trying to assuage their own consciences over toeing the line on atrocious American policies which caused so much human desperation by letting in vast numbers of refugees.

The real cause for setting fire to the Middle East has nothing to do with notions like gold dinars, just as the invasion of Iraq had nothing directly to do with crude oil, although that claim was made countless times by critics of the invasion. It is disinformation to confuse people, and it works, it does confuse them.

America has become a complete enabler for the aggression and oppression we've unfortunately seen from the very start of re-created Israel. More than an enabler, it has become a powerful willing helper. The cost in human terms of this twisted relationship has been immense.

The relationship is also behind much of the America-Russia poison because Israel and its supporters, the Neocons, resent Russia's ability to somewhat check American total dominance, and American aggressive dominance is the absolute cornerstone principle of the Neocons. They feel Israel is only secure with a giant bully always standing right behind it, and the bully goes along because its own establishment has the dangerous fantasy of always wanting it to be 1953 with America supreme in the world.

And the cost of the relationship may yet become far, far greater as Trump and his bosom buddy, Netanyahu, cast deadly looks towards Iran. Trump, despite some reasonable sounds made during his campaign, has become the most supine President ever for Israel's demands and interests. He is literally America’s first Doormat President.

It's just part of the reason I call him an utter coward, despite all his noise and bluster and pretended bravery on other matters. He loves sounding like a big tough guy, as he grimaces and tweets from his bed, but he bent like a frail twig to the Pentagon, the CIA, and the Israel Lobby almost from his first day of power. He literally peed his pants when he should have shown toughness.

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: GUARDIAN ANTI-PUTIN PROPAGANDA PIECE - WHY NO DEMONSTRATIONS AGAINST PUTIN'S REELECTION AS IN 2012 ? - ANSWERS BOTH SATIRICAL AND FACTUAL TO NONSENSE

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY ANASTASYA MANUILOVA IN THE GUARDIAN AND REMOVED BY AN EDITOR

“When Putin won in 2012, Russians took to the streets. Why not this time?”

I guess CIA just wasn't up to the effort.

It's just too distracted with all their many other dirty projects interfering with other people's domestic affairs.

The fact is the 2112 demonstrations were pitifully small.

It was totally unimpressive to see that there were that number of dissatisfied citizens in a country with a population almost three times the size of France.

The truth is, as has been said below, that Putin is popular, far more popular with his people than May or Trump or Macron are with theirs. Far more.

And why shouldn't he be? He has pulled that gigantic country from the abyss and set it on a path of pride and success. I wasn't aware governments were ever capable of more than that.

Dissatisfied people are everywhere, including very much in the United States and in Britain.

It would be easy for a foreign power to finance and encourage hundreds of thousands, even millions, to demonstrate against government in the United States.

The only reason they don't do so is intimidation and the very real possibility of some form of retaliation from America's vast chain of security services - 17 different ones, including FBI and CIA and NSA.

Just think of all the unhappy populations in the US.

Mexican migrants in the Southwest. Blacks in ghettos like Detroit and New Orleans and Newark and Philadelphia. Various Arian churches and other bizarre extremists in the far West. Gun nuts wherever who think their rights are about to be taken. Native Americans in many states. And these would be on top of all the regular range of political and economic discontent.

America could populate a small country with all the people who are unhappy with its government.

I find it a rather unimaginative effort to impugn Russia over the fact there are some unsatisfied citizens. Welcome to the real world, the dissatisfied you have with you always to paraphrase a verse in the New Testament.

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: BRITISH PRESS JUST WON'T GIVE UP SUPPORTING THEIR RECKLESS PRIME MINISTER'S CLAIMS - EVEN PAPERS POLITICALLY OPPOSED TO HER - HERE'S A TRIVIAL EFFORT FROM ONE

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY HARRY COCKBURN IN THE INDEPENDENT

“Soviet-era scientists appear to contradict Moscow’s claims that Russia never made Novichok nerve agent

“'Russia does not possess such agents,' Vladimir Putin said last week”

"Soviet-era scientists appear to contradict Moscow’s claims that Russia never made Novichok nerve agent”

You just won't give up this nonsense, will you?

It matters not at all whether Russia ever made this agent.

It has no bearing on the questions concerning Salisbury.

First, your own Porton Down experts would not state that the samples came from Russia, but that they were "of a type created by Russia."

Not only do we know others have made this agent, we know its formula has been published.

We also know, Russia, in keeping with international obligations, destroyed its stocks of chemical weapons, as opposed to the US, which has not.

That's quite a distinction, at least for thinking people.

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: THE GUARDIAN ON BRITAIN'S WEAKENED INTERNATIONAL STANDING WITH BREXIT - WHAT INTERNATIONAL STANDING? WITH A PRIME MINISTER AND FOREIGN MINISTER ACTING LIKE NAME-CALLING CHILDREN?

COMMENT POSTED TO AN EDITORIAL IN THE GUARDIAN (AND SURPRSINGLY LEFT UP BY EDITOR)

“The Guardian view on Britain and Europe: mixed-up messages”

Sorry, but it is not only Brexit weakening Britain's international standing.

Theresa May has gone full over to Tony Blair's level of behavior in trying to prove a deadly accusation for which there is not an ounce of real proof.

It's just shameful for a head of government to act this way.

And her court jester - aka, Britain's Foreign Minister - has literally joined the old music hall comedians for outrageous statements.

In fact, I think he missed his real calling.

But Putin, for those who study him, stands out as the greatest statesman of the era.

I don’t see a lot to be proud of, and certainly not a lot to command the world's respect.

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: SILLY OLD BERNIE SANDERS SPOUTING AGAIN - INEQUALITY - I JUST ASK HIM TO LOOK AT THE REALITY OF HIS COUNTRY AND ITS POLITICIANS INCLUDING HIMSELF

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN

Bernie Sanders: Russia and Stormy Daniels distract us from real problem of inequality

More than a million viewers watch online as Sanders joins likes of Michael Moore and Elizabeth Warren to talk poverty

Sorry, Bernie, I have a hard time taking you seriously.

You live in a country where inequality is treated as something close to the collateral damage produced year after year in all your wars.

Indeed, inequality is actually understood by many Americans with power as a necessary part of the economy, with its absence threatening inefficiency.

You work in a place, Washington, where privilege is taken for granted, a form of spoils in the political wars, with gold-plated medical care for politicians, gold-plated pensions for politicians, and all kinds of other privileges.

The entire political machine is driven by immense amounts of money from special interests, none of them the least apologetic about buying what they want and none of them the least interested in inequality.

You live in a place where not a single politician retires without having accumulated millions, no matter with whatever limited resources they may have started their careers. Clinton, Johnson, Obama, Gore – you name the American politician, the story is the same, virtually without exception.

You actually cannot name a former American President or Senator who is not a multi-millionaire, with a number of billionaires among them. Indeed, your own net worth would be envied by many Americans, as would that of Elizabeth Warren and certainly that of Michael Moore.

When I read your words, I can't help thinking of someone like Jerimiah preaching about all the sin while being ignored. Or Jesus preaching about rich men entering the Kingdom of God.

And you know what they did to Jesus.

Although those comparisons are inadequate. Neither Jerimiah nor Jesus was a multi-millionaire, as you very much are, Bernie.

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: SAUDI CROWN PRINCE SALMAN CALLED "CHARMING" ON U.S. VISIT - THAT'S LIKE CALLING RICHARD III CHARMING - HOW MONSTERS GET TO BE CHARMING IN OUR CORPORATE PRESS

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE ON CBC NEWS

Crown Prince charming: Why Saudi Arabia's reform-minded royal is courting Trump on a U.S. tour

"Crown Prince charming"

I can't believe that any informed person could write that.

This is the man who seized power.

This is the man who kidnapped a large group of other princes and held them captive until they each coughed up billions of dollars.

This is the man who has for three years run an unnecessary war in Yemen, killing thousands and thousands of women and children.

This is the man who made a record purchase (more than a hundred billion dollars) of more arms for more war.

This is the man whose forces have treated brutally, in his own country, groups of minority Shia.

This is the man who has cooperated for years with America, Israel, and others to literally turn Syria into hell on earth with mercenary killers posing as jihadis, paying thugs a salary to kill and destroy.

This is a man who has threatened to turn Saudi Arabia into a nuclear power.

But he is charming!  And women can drive!

Of course, it helps that he makes huge arms purchases, endearing him greatly to a number of Western countries, including Canada and Britain as well as, of course, the world’s greatest armaments dealer, the United States.

___________________________

Response to a comment:

I greatly fear plans are being laid for provoking war with Iran.

It's what Netanyahu wants (a few years back, he spent many millions working out detailed plans and collecting gear to attack Iran, but he realized Israel could not do it alone), and the usurper king is a good buddy of his.

It may well be what Trump wants, too, since Israel seems to get whatever it wants these days.

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: ISRAELI SOLDIER WHO KILLED A WOUNDED PALESTINIAN ON THE GROUND HAS FLIMSY SENTENCE REDUCED - WHAT DID THE PALESTINIANS EVER DO TO DESERVE SUCH TREATMENT?

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT

“Israeli soldier who shot dead wounded Palestinian has prison sentence cut by a third

“Elor Azaria will walk free after serving nine months for killing Abdul Fatah al-Sharif as he lay motionless on ground”

Nothing like the state actually encouraging brutality.

Israeli soldiers and police have been let off scores of times following cold-blooded killing or frightful abuse.

It all reminds me of backward parts of the American South where local sheriffs were long free to terrorize any blacks or liberals sympathizing with blacks. And there are still pockets of that to be found.

What on earth did the Palestinian people ever do to deserve their fate?

The Holocaust was the work of Germans against other Germanic people (the Ashkenazi who dominate Israel and Zionism) on another continent, three-quarters of a century ago.

Yet the Palestinians must endlessly pay the price, a terrible price.

And, of course, the Israeli injustice is strongly supported by America, a country which absolutely refused to take any refugees before Hitler began the Holocaust. It was quite blunt about it.

And a country whose great companies and wealthy people greatly assisted Hitler's rise and early success.

The American Bund in the 1930s was a big movement in America, one whose uniforms and practices looked for all the world like the Nazi SA.

Possibly the most anti-Semitic book ever written was written by an American, a rich and famous one, Henry Ford. Hitler quite admired him.

And America was a country which had literally institutionalized many aspects of anti-Semitism right up into the 1960s.

The Ivy League Universities (very much including Harvard) and many important institutions had strict quotas on the number of Jews who were accepted.

Many American clubs and fraternal organizations banned them completely.

Yet today, this "brave" country with its stunningly cowardly and prejudiced past is the great defender of all things Israeli, that is, so long it’s the Palestinians paying the price.

Just shameful, all of it.

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: THE COMING OF INTELLIGENT ROBOTS - WILL THEY KILL US OFF?

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT

There is little doubt that intelligent robots are destined to be the next major stage in evolution.

And I suspect a major reason for us not finding signals easily from other intelligent beings in space is that all the really advanced societies in the universe are robotic.

They have no interest in us.

When it comes to the idea of robots killing off us “advanced apes,” I think of the way we regard our predecessor species.

We certainly do some killing for various reasons, and we engage in abuse, but to a considerable extent we are tolerant of their flourishing.

But who knows, one way or the other. The only thing of which I am sure in this matter is that we are indeed going to find out.

Readers may enjoy:

http://chuckmanrobots.blogspot.ca/

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: THE GAME OF "VIOLATING COMMUNITY STANDARDS" ON COMMENT SECTIONS - FURTHER WORDS ON THE GUARDIAN AND WHAT IT REPRESENTS TODAY - CERTAINLY NOT THE LEFT

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN BREITBART

“YouTube Bans The Daily Mail For ‘Violating Community Guidelines’”

You get exactly the same kind of thing from The Guardian newspaper, these days one of the most biased and confused publications in the mainstream press.

Critical comments - good solid ones, not abusive name-calling - are very often deleted by an editor for being “against community standards.”

The selection of articles upon which readers even are allowed to comment is remarkably small, especially when you eliminate those along the lines of, "How I learned to live with underarm hair" or "Increasing numbers of women are giving bestiality a try."

The just plain news stories or editorials often allow no comments, even when it's apparent to any objective reader they are twisted and biased beyond endurance.

The Guardian goes on frequent rampages, too, like its long genuinely McCarthyite campaign against Jeremy Corbyn over imagined anti-Semitism in his party. It has been relentless and openly unfair and produces never a scrap of proof, much resembling the approach of PM Theresa May's recent accusations against Putin. And it pretty much totally threw in its lot with May’s insupportable attacks on the head of a major state.

The paper, unrecognizable from its serious old format of years ago, today resembles a hybrid cross of Millennials’ super-bounciness, an advocacy publication for minorities of every description getting close at times to excluding or abusing others, an establishment political house organ thinly disguised as progressive, and one of Britain's more outrageous outlets for the Israel Lobby – in other words, almost anything but a real newspaper with journalistic standards.

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: THE DEEP STATE AND TRUMP - TODAY THEY ENJOY A "BROMANCE" AS FELLOW SWAMP DWELLERS - TRUMP'S PATHETIC FOLLOWERS JUST DO NOT GET IT

COMMENT POSTED TO A VIDEO OF FREEDOM WATCH ON YOUTUBE

 “CIA Director Brennan has committed crimes through unconstitutional surveillance of American citizens and is now attempting to subvert the 2016 election of Donald Trump – Dec, 2016”

I'll have to agree that he sure seemed to be aiming for Trump then.

But today, America's Deep State seems to have embraced Trump because he gives them literally everything they want.

And I mean everything - more budget, more authorities, new efforts against their favorite hobby horses of Russia, China, and Syria.

And look at Trump’s ghastly made-in-hell new appointments for State and CIA. The worst resident psychopaths at the CIA and Pentagon couldn't come up more desirable names.

I think Trump and the Deep State have developed a sickening mutual affection, a kind of “bromance” bred between fellow swamp dwellers. 

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: NATURE OF TRUMP'S THINKING IN TRADE AND WAR - FROM THE GUT - HE SEEMS NOW SUPPORTED BY DEEP STATE BECAUSE THEY GET WHAT THEY WANT - HE IS VERY DANGEROUS

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY YANIS VAROUFAKIS IN THE GUARDIAN AND REMOVED BY AN EDITOR

“Trump and trade tariffs: big lies founded on small truths”

In all things, Trump's thinking works at a gut level.

It's "my side wins,” always, as his dominating theme.

All the words about workers or about anyone else are just that, words, some of them thrown out there like crumbs flung to pigeons for his trailer park-gun meet base of political followers. He is cunning.

And they very much believe him. He does have a faction that sees him as a heroic general on a white horse, rattling his sabre for them.

The image is especially gripping when it comes to matters like his wall or migrants or Muslims or gun control, but his blubbering about American workers gets some of the same reception.

Those are the core matters sustaining his support, which tells you a very great deal about him.

Ideas and principles of almost any kind are simply irrelevant.

That is why he is so dangerous. He does seem quite capable of starting a catastrophic international trade war with his “boyz” rooting for him every step of the way.

In the case of NAFTA, I don’t think Canada’s Trudeau knows completely what he is up against. Factual arguments mean nothing. Trump has told his people in effect that great piles of value were left on the negotiating table originally, and he’s here to reclaim them.

His position as head of the immensely more powerful partner plus his personality type really does mean he will push things that hurt Canada and Mexico. It’s that simple, and I don’t see how it can be avoided.

It provides a model for all his coming acts, and that model extends beyond just trade and economic issues. The same set of attitudes may well give us real war, as with Iran when he abrogates a treaty every expert worth listening to says is working perfectly.

And then there’s China, that immense rising power. He has ignored them over agreements with Taiwan. He has ignored them over their historically supported claims to the South Chins Sea. He has pressured them over North Korea. All that and more on top of the first shots over the bow in international trade with tariffs.

This is a very dangerous man, but then he does not function alone. The American Deep State is getting much of what it wants – whether globs of money and new authorities for the Pentagon and CIA or more ratcheting up of the threats against Russia - and it seems ready to back him now.

JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: RUSSIA IS NOT THE ENEMY SAYS A BREXIT SUPPORTER - FIRST PART IS RIGHT BUT A HUGE DILEMMA NOW ARISES OVER ACTUALLY LEAVING EU - AMERICA'S DISTORTION OF THE POLITICAL SPACE

COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY STEWART LEE IN THE GUARDIAN AND REMOVED BY AN EDITOR

“Stay focused Brexiters – Russia is not the enemy

“Better to live free for a day in a Britain full of rogue killers than to live a thousand years as the slaves of Brussels”

"Stay focused Brexiters – Russia is not the enemy"

I agree strongly with the headline while some of the author's individual arguments leave me cold.

The EU, as it operates today, is a rather sad organization, one with great potential unrealized.

It could have been so much more, but it has failed in many ways, from admitting far too many marginal members to taking what should have been good steps - the introduction of the Euro - but doing them badly.

Its bottom line fault has been listening far too much to the voices from Washington. Washington regards it in only two key ways. As a potential future serious competitor which must be kept under its influence (and it is effectively occupied with NATO) and as a natural ally - marrying vast resources to powerful industry - of Russia, something it works relentlessly to prevent.

So, weak leadership in the EU keeps things as they are. And, of course, the US is always quietly at work to keep it that way.

It would be nice if Britain were able to extricate itself cleanly from this poorly-run show while at the same time avoiding becoming a 51st state.

But I increasingly think that is impossible. God, look at Theresa May doing Washington's dirty work right now. I do fear Britain will become weaker over the long term as an “independent” state.

As an independent state, its negotiating position with Washington only becomes poorer, and we see today a supine national government to Washington's interests. And Washington’s demands for subservience have only been strongly growing over the last twenty years.

During the horrific and pointless crusade in Vietnam, a British Prime Minister, a Labour leader, was able to say “no” to Washington’s demands for troops. During the horrific and pointless crusade in Iraq, a British Prime Minister, also Labour, was unable to say “no.” And events in Syria have seen Conservative Prime Ministers become completely supine in demands for a savage war by hired terrorist proxies.

A choice isn’t easy with only one’s imagination being able to see Britain as in any meaningful sense independent if it leaves the EU, but with, at the same time, full recognition that the EU’s leadership and organization are seriously flawed.

As for Russia as an enemy, well, that is, as they say a “no brainer.”

Fifty years ago, we would all have been delighted with what Russia actually has become - business-oriented, modern, open, democratic - but America cannot accept any new competitor from rising. Just look at its present activities in international trade.

It is a terrible American-induced atmosphere in Europe of "hate Russia" and "let's prevent Russia's doing business in Europe" that is stupid, pig-headed, and dangerous, but don't those words exactly describe America's general behavior in the world today, in trade and everything else?