John Chuckman
EXPANSION OF A COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN CBC NEWS
"Can Morneau keep his G7 gathering from being entirely about Trump?
"The meeting of finance ministers threatens to turn into a G6 gathering of nations offended by Trump's actions"
____________________________
Response to a comment, “If the CBC spent less time on conjecture, hypotheses, opinions, and more time on actual fact finding maybe we all would know a bit more about this issue:”
You are right, for sure.
But CBC does what all mainline journalism in North America does, and it’s not a set of practices they can avoid, even if they wanted to.
First, real journalism costs money, lots of it, and all of the traditional press and broadcasting are under great financial pressure. Old-fashioned investigative journalism, for example, is extremely costly, and that’s why we see none of it except from independent sources. Putting a qualified person on all kinds of expenses for weeks or months at a time in hopes of getting one big story which may never come is a bet that is no longer made.
Wherever you look, you see newspapers stuffed with opinion pieces, feel-good fluff, and promotional material. It's what book publishers used to call "filler." It's cheap to produce, comparable to cheap reality television shows versus shows with teams of writers and actors and directors and technical support. Indeed, a good deal of it is free, some of the promotional stuff is even a source of revenue, but the value of any of it as information is thin. As any economist can tell you, information is not free, and good quality information is costly. That general principle applies to any field you care to mention, and not just to journalism.
CBC today is quite terrible on some subjects, every bit as bad as any corporate newspaper, especially when it comes to international affairs. It writes stories, for example, about what is going on in Syria without ever having anyone there to investigate. It never interviews the important actors there either, but somehow it keeps doing stories that are supposed to tell us what it does not know itself, and that is what is happening. That’s as far removed from journalism as you can get.
Which brings me to the other huge force working on journalism in the contemporary world, the geopolitical maneuvering of major countries, and especially the United States. America has wars and dark projects - Syria is just one of them - going on in a dozen places. Publishers are under great restraint against investigating and reporting the truth about any of them, even if they were able to do so.
It would be viewed as unpatriotic or dealing with the enemy or even treasonous, and the publication would very much be made to feel the consequences. It would, at minimum, result in losing advertising revenue and the future helpful cooperation of the national government, not something to be taken lightly.
At the really dark end of things, we have the not-uncommon killing of journalists who go where they are not supposed to go. We think of this as the kind of thing which happens only in third-world countries, but that is not accurate. There’s quite a list of unexplained deaths of independent journalists in the West. And just in recent weeks, you could see Israeli soldiers brazenly shoot and kill several journalists who were wearing identifying vests in Gaza.
Journalism-school notions of the principles and practices of the profession are just that, notions, and they literally find no home in today’s mainline news business. They are about as real and applicable as discussing modern politics in the classroom terms of political science.
So, an old truth is truer than ever: if you want freedom of the press, you must own one.
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: CANADA'S GOVERNMENT SET TO BUY TRANS MOUNTAIN PIPELINE TO ASSURE ITS EXPANSION FOR CRUDE EXPORTS TO ASIA - A PRIVATE PROJECT LONG HELD-UP IN GREEN CONTROVERSY
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE ON CBC NEWS
“Bill Morneau's Kinder Morgan surprise comes with huge price tag, lots of political risk
“Ottawa says buying the company's Trans Mountain pipeline is the only way to ensure the expansion gets built”
Bill Morneau has finally delivered something worth having from the Justin Trudeau government.
And thanks for that, Mr. Morneau.
No matter what your views on green matters, the fact is that the world still runs on oil, and it will continue to do so for a very long time.
We are so far from having practical, everyday substitutes that it makes no sense to go on and on about them. When the technology arrives, as it will, we will happily all embrace it.
In Alberta, Canada has one of the world's great hydrocarbon resources in the tarsands, but because of limited access to markets, the industry suffers.
Just across the Pacific are huge, booming markets for our hydrocarbons, and putting the two together is so basic and sensible, I shouldn't think it needs explaining.
You know, too, that our world faces terrific economic threats owing to reckless acts by the United States. We need to do everything possible for our future, diversifying and expanding, and this very much represents an opportunity to do so.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE ON CBC NEWS
“Bill Morneau's Kinder Morgan surprise comes with huge price tag, lots of political risk
“Ottawa says buying the company's Trans Mountain pipeline is the only way to ensure the expansion gets built”
Bill Morneau has finally delivered something worth having from the Justin Trudeau government.
And thanks for that, Mr. Morneau.
No matter what your views on green matters, the fact is that the world still runs on oil, and it will continue to do so for a very long time.
We are so far from having practical, everyday substitutes that it makes no sense to go on and on about them. When the technology arrives, as it will, we will happily all embrace it.
In Alberta, Canada has one of the world's great hydrocarbon resources in the tarsands, but because of limited access to markets, the industry suffers.
Just across the Pacific are huge, booming markets for our hydrocarbons, and putting the two together is so basic and sensible, I shouldn't think it needs explaining.
You know, too, that our world faces terrific economic threats owing to reckless acts by the United States. We need to do everything possible for our future, diversifying and expanding, and this very much represents an opportunity to do so.
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: TRUMP AND IVANKA SHARE FAMILY VALUES? - I DON'T THINK SO - BUT THEY VERY MUCH DO SHARE ONE THING AND IT IS TRULY BIZARRE AND CREEPY - A WORD ON THAT PHRASE "FAMILY VALUES"
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY RICHARD WOLFFE IN THE GUARDIAN
"Ivanka Trump embodies her father's family values"
I wasn't aware The Great Orange One possessed anything you could describe as "family values."
By the way, that is a very loaded term, family values, because it was a constant theme of Republican Party notables looking for a purpose back in the 1990s. I can just hear the likes of Newt Gingrich or Pat Robertson blubbering on about it along with the dire need for a flag-burning Amendment to the Constitution.
The term meant something along the lines of a mishmash of what you saw in Walt Disney films of the 1950s and what you heard from the Christian Right, which was something of a power then in the party.
Trump's only observable value is satisfying his ego, which gives all indications of being insatiable.
Ivanka is less of almost everything than her father. Less intelligent. Less loud-mouthed. Less irreligious. Less able to push others.
But what Ivanka and Daddy do share, and to a startling extent, is an ego.
They remind me of the Greek myth about the three sisters who shared an eye, passing it back and forth to each other as they spoke with anyone.
I don’t quite remember seeing anything quite like this before. It is genuinely the stuff of old circus freakshows, and more than a little creepy.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY RICHARD WOLFFE IN THE GUARDIAN
"Ivanka Trump embodies her father's family values"
I wasn't aware The Great Orange One possessed anything you could describe as "family values."
By the way, that is a very loaded term, family values, because it was a constant theme of Republican Party notables looking for a purpose back in the 1990s. I can just hear the likes of Newt Gingrich or Pat Robertson blubbering on about it along with the dire need for a flag-burning Amendment to the Constitution.
The term meant something along the lines of a mishmash of what you saw in Walt Disney films of the 1950s and what you heard from the Christian Right, which was something of a power then in the party.
Trump's only observable value is satisfying his ego, which gives all indications of being insatiable.
Ivanka is less of almost everything than her father. Less intelligent. Less loud-mouthed. Less irreligious. Less able to push others.
But what Ivanka and Daddy do share, and to a startling extent, is an ego.
They remind me of the Greek myth about the three sisters who shared an eye, passing it back and forth to each other as they spoke with anyone.
I don’t quite remember seeing anything quite like this before. It is genuinely the stuff of old circus freakshows, and more than a little creepy.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: ARTICLE SAYS SKYSCRAPERS WRECK CITIES - I DON'T AGREE - BUT IT'S ALL IN HOW IT'S DONE - LONDON'S JUST PLAIN AWFUL CONTEMPORARY BUILDINGS
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY SIMON JENKINS IN THE GUARDIAN
"Skyscrapers wreck cities – yet still Britain builds them"
I cannot agree with that as general statement. There is great beauty in some skyscraper skylines. Readers should see some of the images collected here:
https://chuckmanchicagonostalgia.wordpress.com/
However, I do agree that London in particular has done a terrible job in building its new skyline, and I’m sure that would influence your view.
I wonder, is it old village-common attitudes - which I find very agreeable where they suit - that somehow contaminate the thinking and efforts of those involved in London's last twenty years or so of building? Kind of a, “Oh, well, who cares, it will be crap anyway” subtext?
London truly has put together a collection of new buildings that could be billed as a Madame Tussaud's Chamber of Horrors in Architecture.
Everything I can think of from the security services building on the Thames (American suburban sprawl shopping-center architecture plunked into a prime urban location) to Tony Blair’s hideous punctured balloon called Millennium Dome, from the Gherkin or Dildo (either suits) to the skewed tower that looks like something built for the Smurfs – just ghastly, all of it with no sense of coherence to boot.
Yes, that kind of thing does ruin a city.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY SIMON JENKINS IN THE GUARDIAN
"Skyscrapers wreck cities – yet still Britain builds them"
I cannot agree with that as general statement. There is great beauty in some skyscraper skylines. Readers should see some of the images collected here:
https://chuckmanchicagonostalgia.wordpress.com/
However, I do agree that London in particular has done a terrible job in building its new skyline, and I’m sure that would influence your view.
I wonder, is it old village-common attitudes - which I find very agreeable where they suit - that somehow contaminate the thinking and efforts of those involved in London's last twenty years or so of building? Kind of a, “Oh, well, who cares, it will be crap anyway” subtext?
London truly has put together a collection of new buildings that could be billed as a Madame Tussaud's Chamber of Horrors in Architecture.
Everything I can think of from the security services building on the Thames (American suburban sprawl shopping-center architecture plunked into a prime urban location) to Tony Blair’s hideous punctured balloon called Millennium Dome, from the Gherkin or Dildo (either suits) to the skewed tower that looks like something built for the Smurfs – just ghastly, all of it with no sense of coherence to boot.
Yes, that kind of thing does ruin a city.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: TRUMP AS A DANGEROUS REVOLUTIONARY - MARRIED TO A NOW ANGRY AND HYPER-AGGRESSIVE AMERICAN POWER ESTABLISHMENT - A TRILLION DOLLARS A YEAR FOR DEATH AND DESTRUCTION
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY DON PITTS ON CBC NEWS
“Trump, not Canadian auto industry, may be the threat to U.S. national security
“Claim that Canadian cars threaten U.S. security was just one in a week full of destabilizing pronouncements”
Good summary of the insanity we are experiencing.
The United States, already, without Trump, has over the last couple of decades grown into a rather menacing and destabilizing actor in the world.
Two million people killed in the Middle East and millions more turned into hopeless refugees is not a blissful situation. Plus threats made towards a number of other counties, including Russia and China.
And a lot of that was the work of the man with the boyish smile, whom many still regard with nostalgia, as was the creation of an industrial-scale extrajudicial killing regime which has murdered several thousand legally-innocent people.
But I'm afraid horrors inflicted abroad - as I well recall intimately from the Vietnam era - never have quite the same impact at home - and that sadly goes pretty much today for Canada as it does for the United States - as acts affecting our people directly, even if those acts include only their pocketbooks and not napalm, white phosphorus, and carpet bombing.
So, Trump's crude voice, lacking any empathy except for guns and power, hits home, with his serious attacks on trade and stability.
I do think we can almost view him as a revolutionary force, and I don't mean that in a good sense. Real revolutions – such as the historic ones in France or Russia - are bloody and savage, howling times of human brutality bursting through the relatively calm surface of society. The romantic idea of them is just that, romantic.
It is a very dangerous combination we have. An American establishment, aware of its inevitable relative decline in the face of great new world competition, already determined to reassert its authority in the world by hyper-aggressiveness, is now married to a raving narcissist who cares about virtually no one.
And just think, today the United States spends almost a trillion dollars a year on its military - that's what it comes to if you take its regular military expenditure, as great as the rest of the planet at $700 billion and add hidden costs like veterans affairs and hospitals. That should tell us all something. A trillion dollars a year for death and destruction.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY DON PITTS ON CBC NEWS
“Trump, not Canadian auto industry, may be the threat to U.S. national security
“Claim that Canadian cars threaten U.S. security was just one in a week full of destabilizing pronouncements”
Good summary of the insanity we are experiencing.
The United States, already, without Trump, has over the last couple of decades grown into a rather menacing and destabilizing actor in the world.
Two million people killed in the Middle East and millions more turned into hopeless refugees is not a blissful situation. Plus threats made towards a number of other counties, including Russia and China.
And a lot of that was the work of the man with the boyish smile, whom many still regard with nostalgia, as was the creation of an industrial-scale extrajudicial killing regime which has murdered several thousand legally-innocent people.
But I'm afraid horrors inflicted abroad - as I well recall intimately from the Vietnam era - never have quite the same impact at home - and that sadly goes pretty much today for Canada as it does for the United States - as acts affecting our people directly, even if those acts include only their pocketbooks and not napalm, white phosphorus, and carpet bombing.
So, Trump's crude voice, lacking any empathy except for guns and power, hits home, with his serious attacks on trade and stability.
I do think we can almost view him as a revolutionary force, and I don't mean that in a good sense. Real revolutions – such as the historic ones in France or Russia - are bloody and savage, howling times of human brutality bursting through the relatively calm surface of society. The romantic idea of them is just that, romantic.
It is a very dangerous combination we have. An American establishment, aware of its inevitable relative decline in the face of great new world competition, already determined to reassert its authority in the world by hyper-aggressiveness, is now married to a raving narcissist who cares about virtually no one.
And just think, today the United States spends almost a trillion dollars a year on its military - that's what it comes to if you take its regular military expenditure, as great as the rest of the planet at $700 billion and add hidden costs like veterans affairs and hospitals. That should tell us all something. A trillion dollars a year for death and destruction.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: AMY CHUA SPEAKS ON TRIBALISM AND THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM - GOOD STUFF AS FAR AS IT GOES - BUT THERE ARE LARGER MORE PROFOUND THINGS SHE IGNORES - STATE OF AMERICA'S RULING CLASS - WHY THEY HATE RUSSIA
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN INTERVIEW WITH AMY CHUA IN CBC NEWS
" when tribalism takes over a political system, 'that's dangerous, because then you start to see everything through the lens of your own tribe and facts start not to matter.' "
I like that statement very much. it is genuine insight.
My only problem with Amy Chua is that her vision doesn't seem to be a little larger.
The tribalism is occurring especially in the Trump political base, and I think there are many reasons for it.
However, something even larger is happening at a much higher level, and it is the effects of this other activity which to a great extent drives the tribalism.
I'm referring to the American power establishment's new hyper-aggression. Over the last 15 or so years, they've managed to kill about 2 million souls, destroy several countries which were well-run for their people, and to create tens of millions of refugees.
Those refugees the United States refuses to take any responsibility for, and reports of their difficulties and the difficulties of European countries trying to deal with them are a lot of what is driving the tribalism of Trump's ugly crowd. And Trump openly encourages it, willing to take any political support he can get and having zero empathy for others also.
America's establishment senses its relative decline in the world from post-WWII glory and unparalleled prosperity, and its reaction is anger and aggression. It wants to dominate and direct future affairs across the planet for its own benefit. You talk about dangerous, this is the real thing.
A sense of frustration and anger over the abilities of the only two countries in the world, Russia and China, to stand in its way is what is driving the flood of hate and hostility in America towards them, especially in the case of Russia.
And that's because Russia has been able directly to thwart the American dark intentions in two major events. In the US-induced and paid-for coup in Ukraine – we know these facts from former State Department Neocon, Victoria Nuland, who used to brag a good deal - against an elected government, the coup intended to render a major border of Russia insecure.
And again, Russia was able to thwart American dark operations in Syria – undertaken in covert partnership with Saudi Arabia, Israel, Britain, France, and originally Turkey - intended to topple a government America doesn't like (though most of its people do) and to Balkanize Syria for the benefit of Israel, its colony in the Middle East.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN INTERVIEW WITH AMY CHUA IN CBC NEWS
" when tribalism takes over a political system, 'that's dangerous, because then you start to see everything through the lens of your own tribe and facts start not to matter.' "
I like that statement very much. it is genuine insight.
My only problem with Amy Chua is that her vision doesn't seem to be a little larger.
The tribalism is occurring especially in the Trump political base, and I think there are many reasons for it.
However, something even larger is happening at a much higher level, and it is the effects of this other activity which to a great extent drives the tribalism.
I'm referring to the American power establishment's new hyper-aggression. Over the last 15 or so years, they've managed to kill about 2 million souls, destroy several countries which were well-run for their people, and to create tens of millions of refugees.
Those refugees the United States refuses to take any responsibility for, and reports of their difficulties and the difficulties of European countries trying to deal with them are a lot of what is driving the tribalism of Trump's ugly crowd. And Trump openly encourages it, willing to take any political support he can get and having zero empathy for others also.
America's establishment senses its relative decline in the world from post-WWII glory and unparalleled prosperity, and its reaction is anger and aggression. It wants to dominate and direct future affairs across the planet for its own benefit. You talk about dangerous, this is the real thing.
A sense of frustration and anger over the abilities of the only two countries in the world, Russia and China, to stand in its way is what is driving the flood of hate and hostility in America towards them, especially in the case of Russia.
And that's because Russia has been able directly to thwart the American dark intentions in two major events. In the US-induced and paid-for coup in Ukraine – we know these facts from former State Department Neocon, Victoria Nuland, who used to brag a good deal - against an elected government, the coup intended to render a major border of Russia insecure.
And again, Russia was able to thwart American dark operations in Syria – undertaken in covert partnership with Saudi Arabia, Israel, Britain, France, and originally Turkey - intended to topple a government America doesn't like (though most of its people do) and to Balkanize Syria for the benefit of Israel, its colony in the Middle East.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: ARTICLE ASKS WHAT YOU WOULD DO IF YOU WERE KIM JONG-UN ? - AT LEAST I KNOW WHAT I WOULD NOT DO
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY TIMOTHY BANCROFT-HINCHEY IN PRAVDA
“What would you do if you were Kim Jong-un?”
A very difficult question.
Yet there is one thing I know I wouldn't do, and I rather think Kim, who is known to be quite an intelligent man despite his press image in the West as a rather clownish figure, will not do it either, and that is to accept any promises from the Great Orange One as a secure basis for anything.
As Gorbachev and Reagan used to say, "Verify...." Only here, it is not just “verify,” it is the need for clear physical acts.
As the White House has already suggested America's large well-armed military sitting on North Korea's border since the Korean War will not be leaving, the prospects for meaningful American acts do not seem encouraging.
You know, few Americans are even aware of the history which Kim and his people can never forget. American carpet-bombing of the North in the early 1950s literally killed about 20 percent of the country's entire population, leaving it absolutely devastated.
For good old brutal America, it was just a practice run for the coming holocaust in Vietnam - a completely unnecessary war, intended only to keep an American pied-a-terre in Asia - which would see America slaughter 3 million people, cripple countless others, and leave a sea of Agent Orange and land mines to keep killing for decades.
America’s secret bombing and incursions into neighboring Cambodia also caused the collapse of a peaceful neutral government there and the coming to power of those who created the Killing Fields where another million or so people died, America never lifting a finger to do anything to stop it. Altogether, it made the greatest savage horror since WWII.
The carpet-bombing of North Korea ranks as a close second to America’s handiwork in Vietnam. If you want to see something on that little-known set of events, see:
https://theintercept.com/2017/05/03/why-do-north-koreans-hate-us-one-reason-they-remember-the-korean-war/
_____________________________
Response to another commenter:
I am not so sure it's the stupidity of Americans that is the problem, although there is sure plenty of that.
America is simply corrupt, almost beyond measure. Its leadership in particular. It is fueled entirely on money, and there is no place at all for principles or ethics in their considerations and activities. Lord Acton told us about how power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Well, his is not just a neat little aphorism, it's a profound truth about human society.
Further to this, readers may enjoy:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/05/10/john-chuckman-comment-american-division-of-wealth-how-you-convert-a-somewhat-democratic-government-into-plutocracy-u-s-national-government-has-simply-ignored-a-basic-responsibility-for-years/
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/05/08/john-chuckman-comment-china-america-rivalry-issue-of-americas-economically-backward-policies-you-cant-bomb-your-way-to-prosperity-american-dream-gone-trumps-effort-to-make-it-1952-a/
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY TIMOTHY BANCROFT-HINCHEY IN PRAVDA
“What would you do if you were Kim Jong-un?”
A very difficult question.
Yet there is one thing I know I wouldn't do, and I rather think Kim, who is known to be quite an intelligent man despite his press image in the West as a rather clownish figure, will not do it either, and that is to accept any promises from the Great Orange One as a secure basis for anything.
As Gorbachev and Reagan used to say, "Verify...." Only here, it is not just “verify,” it is the need for clear physical acts.
As the White House has already suggested America's large well-armed military sitting on North Korea's border since the Korean War will not be leaving, the prospects for meaningful American acts do not seem encouraging.
You know, few Americans are even aware of the history which Kim and his people can never forget. American carpet-bombing of the North in the early 1950s literally killed about 20 percent of the country's entire population, leaving it absolutely devastated.
For good old brutal America, it was just a practice run for the coming holocaust in Vietnam - a completely unnecessary war, intended only to keep an American pied-a-terre in Asia - which would see America slaughter 3 million people, cripple countless others, and leave a sea of Agent Orange and land mines to keep killing for decades.
America’s secret bombing and incursions into neighboring Cambodia also caused the collapse of a peaceful neutral government there and the coming to power of those who created the Killing Fields where another million or so people died, America never lifting a finger to do anything to stop it. Altogether, it made the greatest savage horror since WWII.
The carpet-bombing of North Korea ranks as a close second to America’s handiwork in Vietnam. If you want to see something on that little-known set of events, see:
https://theintercept.com/2017/05/03/why-do-north-koreans-hate-us-one-reason-they-remember-the-korean-war/
_____________________________
Response to another commenter:
I am not so sure it's the stupidity of Americans that is the problem, although there is sure plenty of that.
America is simply corrupt, almost beyond measure. Its leadership in particular. It is fueled entirely on money, and there is no place at all for principles or ethics in their considerations and activities. Lord Acton told us about how power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Well, his is not just a neat little aphorism, it's a profound truth about human society.
Further to this, readers may enjoy:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/05/10/john-chuckman-comment-american-division-of-wealth-how-you-convert-a-somewhat-democratic-government-into-plutocracy-u-s-national-government-has-simply-ignored-a-basic-responsibility-for-years/
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/05/08/john-chuckman-comment-china-america-rivalry-issue-of-americas-economically-backward-policies-you-cant-bomb-your-way-to-prosperity-american-dream-gone-trumps-effort-to-make-it-1952-a/
Sunday, May 27, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: HOW LOW WILL AMERICA GO? ASKS AN ARTICLE - YES INDEED - A LESSON ON AMERICA'S FOUNDING AND CONSTITUTION FOR AN AMERICAN WHO CLEARLY DOESN'T UNDERSTAND THEM IN HIS SMUG COMMENTS - NOTE ON TRUMP
John Chuckman
EXPANSION OF COMMENTS POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY DAVID R. HOFFMAN LEGAL EDITOR IN PRAVDA
‘How low will America go?
‘One of the slogans hyperbolized by the racist, narcissistic, venal, inept, sociopathic, demagogic fraud who now occupies the White House is "Make America Great Again." One question this slogan fails to answer is "For Who?"’
The article is perhaps excessively strong in its language and with the odd small misinterpretation, but it is overwhelmingly accurate.
Americans are extremely hostile when they come across an honest view of their country today, and to be honest about America today, you must say some quite harsh things. It is not a pretty place, and its international behavior is staggeringly brutal.
America has morphed into an ugly, predatory thing run by its elites and privileged insiders with no regard for any of the people in the world, and certainly none for its own average citizens. It is a powerful, angry, frustrated country today with almost no principles in its affairs, and it is very dangerous.
It's not just Trump, but the whole American establishment. Trump’s just the latest really ugly, bellowing voice, but much of what he bellows about is the American establishment’s religion. Not all of it, he does go beyond them on some subjects, but a good deal of it.
Here are some informative references on the subject:
https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/2015/05/08/john-chuckman-essay-dangerous-flailing-and-bellowing-of-the-beast/
https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/2015/03/13/the-cia-and-americas-presidents-some-rarely-discussed-truths-shaping-contemporary-american-democracy/
https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/2014/07/07/reflections-on-the-origins-and-meaning-of-americas-independence-day-re-posted-from-6-years-ago-nothing-having-changed/
______________________________
Response to another commenter on the article:
And you have the Electoral College even more wrong in your rather smug answer.
The Electoral College was viewed by the Founders as a mechanism against "excessive" democracy.
In its original form, it basically gave a group of elite insiders (those chosen as members) the ability to ignore the popular vote, and they did. It's ironic because so few people could vote anyway at the time of the Founders. You had to be male, of a certain age, white, and must have a certain net worth.
These weren't what we think of as voters, they were a minor aristocracy, a small rural nobility. It is estimated that in early Virginia, that so-called "home of Presidents," about one-percent of the population could vote. Do you know that that is just about the same percentage of population represented by members of the Communist Party in China who elect that country’s leadership?
Whether you know it or not, most of the Founders did not like the very idea of democracy, and that includes Morris, Washington, Hamilton, Adams, and many others. Jefferson felt the same way, but he was not a Founder, even though he had written the first draft, much changed after, of the Declaration of Independence. They viewed democracy in much the way Americans would come to look at communism in the 1950s. They were all elite, propertied men - big planters, merchant-traders, lawyers – and they actually discussed the possibility of a democratic government voting to take property from people like themselves.
That's why America is called a "republic," that most vague and undefined terms for government. At the time of the Founders, it pretty well meant nothing more than not having a king plus having some kind of representatives, not at all necessarily popularly selected, who legislated.
Much earlier, there had been several countries in Europe styling themselves as republics, including the Dutch Republic and the Republic of Venice. Indeed, Britain herself, had she not had a monarch – who by that day already had very little real power – might well have been called one with its pretty undemocratic and privileged Parliamentary system.
Of course, for those who studied the matter, most of the American Constitution was little more than a set of variations on Britain’s unwritten Constitution. Little was really new in any of the important elements of America’s founding document. Some of the Founders even wanted a kind of king or quasi-king with a President who was either elected for a very long term or for life. Being above the masses was a constant theme, and something reflected again in set-up of the Senate which until 1913 was an appointed body of elites.
George Washington was very much in harmony with these views. He was a thoroughgoing aristocrat who resented the hoi-polloi and was deeply offended if anyone even touched him. He wore, as President, a formal sash with a sword, in the style of European aristocrats of the day.
If anyone wants to learn more, see:
https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/2009/06/05/decline-of-the-american-empire/
https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/2014/07/07/reflections-on-the-origins-and-meaning-of-americas-independence-day-re-posted-from-6-years-ago-nothing-having-changed/
___________________________________
Response to an unbelievable comment about God blessing Trump for his “steady hand” on North Korea:
And how about Israel, which has ten times the nuclear weapons of North Korea and is ten times as abusive with millions of lives? It literally runs a concentration camp at Gaza?
No, for Israel, Trump has only gifts, but these are gifts that are not even legally his to give, as his blundering recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel.
Your man is an ugly bully, who, by the way in his private life is quite irreligious, so I doubt God is going to be handing out a lot of blessings.
Really, what asinine words you have written, but they are on a level of understanding of unfortunately far too many Americans who appreciate almost nothing of what their government really is doing in the world.
EXPANSION OF COMMENTS POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY DAVID R. HOFFMAN LEGAL EDITOR IN PRAVDA
‘How low will America go?
‘One of the slogans hyperbolized by the racist, narcissistic, venal, inept, sociopathic, demagogic fraud who now occupies the White House is "Make America Great Again." One question this slogan fails to answer is "For Who?"’
The article is perhaps excessively strong in its language and with the odd small misinterpretation, but it is overwhelmingly accurate.
Americans are extremely hostile when they come across an honest view of their country today, and to be honest about America today, you must say some quite harsh things. It is not a pretty place, and its international behavior is staggeringly brutal.
America has morphed into an ugly, predatory thing run by its elites and privileged insiders with no regard for any of the people in the world, and certainly none for its own average citizens. It is a powerful, angry, frustrated country today with almost no principles in its affairs, and it is very dangerous.
It's not just Trump, but the whole American establishment. Trump’s just the latest really ugly, bellowing voice, but much of what he bellows about is the American establishment’s religion. Not all of it, he does go beyond them on some subjects, but a good deal of it.
Here are some informative references on the subject:
https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/2015/05/08/john-chuckman-essay-dangerous-flailing-and-bellowing-of-the-beast/
https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/2015/03/13/the-cia-and-americas-presidents-some-rarely-discussed-truths-shaping-contemporary-american-democracy/
https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/2014/07/07/reflections-on-the-origins-and-meaning-of-americas-independence-day-re-posted-from-6-years-ago-nothing-having-changed/
______________________________
Response to another commenter on the article:
And you have the Electoral College even more wrong in your rather smug answer.
The Electoral College was viewed by the Founders as a mechanism against "excessive" democracy.
In its original form, it basically gave a group of elite insiders (those chosen as members) the ability to ignore the popular vote, and they did. It's ironic because so few people could vote anyway at the time of the Founders. You had to be male, of a certain age, white, and must have a certain net worth.
These weren't what we think of as voters, they were a minor aristocracy, a small rural nobility. It is estimated that in early Virginia, that so-called "home of Presidents," about one-percent of the population could vote. Do you know that that is just about the same percentage of population represented by members of the Communist Party in China who elect that country’s leadership?
Whether you know it or not, most of the Founders did not like the very idea of democracy, and that includes Morris, Washington, Hamilton, Adams, and many others. Jefferson felt the same way, but he was not a Founder, even though he had written the first draft, much changed after, of the Declaration of Independence. They viewed democracy in much the way Americans would come to look at communism in the 1950s. They were all elite, propertied men - big planters, merchant-traders, lawyers – and they actually discussed the possibility of a democratic government voting to take property from people like themselves.
That's why America is called a "republic," that most vague and undefined terms for government. At the time of the Founders, it pretty well meant nothing more than not having a king plus having some kind of representatives, not at all necessarily popularly selected, who legislated.
Much earlier, there had been several countries in Europe styling themselves as republics, including the Dutch Republic and the Republic of Venice. Indeed, Britain herself, had she not had a monarch – who by that day already had very little real power – might well have been called one with its pretty undemocratic and privileged Parliamentary system.
Of course, for those who studied the matter, most of the American Constitution was little more than a set of variations on Britain’s unwritten Constitution. Little was really new in any of the important elements of America’s founding document. Some of the Founders even wanted a kind of king or quasi-king with a President who was either elected for a very long term or for life. Being above the masses was a constant theme, and something reflected again in set-up of the Senate which until 1913 was an appointed body of elites.
George Washington was very much in harmony with these views. He was a thoroughgoing aristocrat who resented the hoi-polloi and was deeply offended if anyone even touched him. He wore, as President, a formal sash with a sword, in the style of European aristocrats of the day.
If anyone wants to learn more, see:
https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/2009/06/05/decline-of-the-american-empire/
https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/2014/07/07/reflections-on-the-origins-and-meaning-of-americas-independence-day-re-posted-from-6-years-ago-nothing-having-changed/
___________________________________
Response to an unbelievable comment about God blessing Trump for his “steady hand” on North Korea:
And how about Israel, which has ten times the nuclear weapons of North Korea and is ten times as abusive with millions of lives? It literally runs a concentration camp at Gaza?
No, for Israel, Trump has only gifts, but these are gifts that are not even legally his to give, as his blundering recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel.
Your man is an ugly bully, who, by the way in his private life is quite irreligious, so I doubt God is going to be handing out a lot of blessings.
Really, what asinine words you have written, but they are on a level of understanding of unfortunately far too many Americans who appreciate almost nothing of what their government really is doing in the world.
Saturday, May 26, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: OBAMA IS WIDELY REGARDED AS A LIBERAL - BUT NOTHING COULD BE MORE FALSE - HERE'S HIS BLOODY RECORD ABROAD AND HIS DO-NOTHING ONE AT HOME - DO-NOTHING EXCEPT FOR MASSIVE SPYING THAT IS - BRUTAL EMPIRES DON'T HAVE LIBERALS
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY SAMUEL MOYN IN THE GUARDIAN
“The problem with Democrats is substance, not style
"Following Trump’s election, US liberals have blamed their failure on rhetoric. But politics is about much more than baiting voters"
The author starts with inaccurate assumptions.
Democrats and liberals are not the same thing at all.
Of course, some Democrats are liberals, but this is not a liberal party overall.
It is a war and empire party for sure.
The last Democratic President, Obama, still often is referred to as liberal, and I challenge anyone to support the characterization.
He was bombing people somewhere for every day of his eight years.
He was responsible for the chaos made out of Libya, a country whose leader, like him or not, kept his country at peace and was generous with the needs of his people.
He was also responsible for the start of the horror in Syria, which still continues, having killed about half a million.
He created millions of desperate refugees in Europe from his bombing in the Middle East.
He was responsible for the ominous "pivot" towards China after his march of destruction through the Middle East.
He started the American industrial-scale extrajudicial killing system using drones, something I would never have dreamed of seeing in the US years ago.
It was under his watch that the NSA and its massive domestic spying got really rolling.
He was almost a fanatic about secrecy and leaks and was always ready to punish leakers.
His one big domestic program, Obamacare, was a poorly-done compromise with big private health interests in the US. It never gained any affection from people with its very complicated and costly nature.
He did absolutely nothing for his own people, the poor blacks to whom he appealed in his campaign with "Yes, we can!" delivered in the rhythm of a black preacher.
He was involved in some pretty shady stuff we do not completely understand during the election with spying and other matters.
Please, there are no liberals in American, except some folks who gather in a few quaint shops in Vermont and Oregon and some professors no one listens to.
This is a massive brutal empire, and both parties fully support that central reality, which also leaves little resources or time or concern for the ordinary citizen. Indeed, years ago, both parties stopped talking about citizens and talked about consumers. They stopped talking about the poor and started talking about the middle class. The differences between the two parties are of the profound nature of any duopoly, as Coke versus Pepsi or McDonald's versus Burger King.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY SAMUEL MOYN IN THE GUARDIAN
“The problem with Democrats is substance, not style
"Following Trump’s election, US liberals have blamed their failure on rhetoric. But politics is about much more than baiting voters"
The author starts with inaccurate assumptions.
Democrats and liberals are not the same thing at all.
Of course, some Democrats are liberals, but this is not a liberal party overall.
It is a war and empire party for sure.
The last Democratic President, Obama, still often is referred to as liberal, and I challenge anyone to support the characterization.
He was bombing people somewhere for every day of his eight years.
He was responsible for the chaos made out of Libya, a country whose leader, like him or not, kept his country at peace and was generous with the needs of his people.
He was also responsible for the start of the horror in Syria, which still continues, having killed about half a million.
He created millions of desperate refugees in Europe from his bombing in the Middle East.
He was responsible for the ominous "pivot" towards China after his march of destruction through the Middle East.
He started the American industrial-scale extrajudicial killing system using drones, something I would never have dreamed of seeing in the US years ago.
It was under his watch that the NSA and its massive domestic spying got really rolling.
He was almost a fanatic about secrecy and leaks and was always ready to punish leakers.
His one big domestic program, Obamacare, was a poorly-done compromise with big private health interests in the US. It never gained any affection from people with its very complicated and costly nature.
He did absolutely nothing for his own people, the poor blacks to whom he appealed in his campaign with "Yes, we can!" delivered in the rhythm of a black preacher.
He was involved in some pretty shady stuff we do not completely understand during the election with spying and other matters.
Please, there are no liberals in American, except some folks who gather in a few quaint shops in Vermont and Oregon and some professors no one listens to.
This is a massive brutal empire, and both parties fully support that central reality, which also leaves little resources or time or concern for the ordinary citizen. Indeed, years ago, both parties stopped talking about citizens and talked about consumers. They stopped talking about the poor and started talking about the middle class. The differences between the two parties are of the profound nature of any duopoly, as Coke versus Pepsi or McDonald's versus Burger King.
Friday, May 25, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: AN ARTICLE ON PARTS OF THE LAST CENTURY OF AMERICAN HISTORY RAISES THOUGHTS OF THE DEADLY MIX OF INGREDIENTS FOR WAR BREWING NOW IN AMERICA'S ESTABLISHMENT - NOTE ON KENNEDY ASSASSINATION
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY DAVID STOCKMAN IN RUSSIA INSIDER
"Woodrow Wilson Created the Fed, Which Gave Us a War Finance System for the Next 100 Years
"Indeed, Thomas Woodrow Wilson is the father of most of the last century’s ills. His grand crusade gave the world the curse of Stalin and Hitler, which, in turn, fostered the fallacy of the Indispensable Nation and gave rise to Imperial Washington and its destructive projects of global Empire."
I think, despite some pretty great overstatements as with the 1000-year totalitarianism stuff, this is in many respects a good summary of some important historical developments.
What I think most interesting to observe about today's United States' capacity for war- and trouble-making, is that it is not bound by any limits.
No limits on finances, as there would be with responsible taxation and spending and budgets.
And no limits from public pressures about "the boyz dyin'," because they use mercenaries from home, men who would have no jobs otherwise and, increasingly, use mercenary rabble gathered internationally for dirty projects, as we see in Syria and as we saw in other countries of the great American rampage through the Middle East.
While those two unbounded capacities are dangerous at any time, I think they are particularly so now that the American establishment has gone into hyper-aggressiveness over its relative decline in world competitiveness and influence.
This movement into hyper-aggressiveness is further encouraged by the influence of the Israel lobby which very much likes what an aggressive United States means for far-off Israel. And it goes beyond mere encouragement, as we see in Trump’s totally illegal recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and in the wanton destruction of a stable and well-operating international nuclear agreement with Iran.
Those reckless acts were done to secure some big influence for the coming mid-term Congressional elections, which threaten to reduce Trump to a lame-duck, as well as to secure the same influence for his own possible pursuit of re-election in 2020. So, here is a powerful lobby both cheering the hyper-aggression and suggesting to its leadership new and dangerous tasks.
America’s establishment consists of spoiled and dangerous people who feel their future role as international leaders is threatened by a now rapidly-evolving world economy and political order.
They are spoiled by having lived through a unique period of time – post-WWII - which saw almost everything literally fall into their laps. It really is difficult to face giving up the sense of entitlement as well as enjoying a sense of being “uniquely blessed.”
Wealth, power, and influence, all with heavenly blessings thrown in. And giving up all that, or even some portion of it, is about as agreeable a prospect as that of an addict facing withdrawal from drugs.
They are determined to use their still-existing great power to control future events in their favor as much as they can. And they are restrained by no budgets for finances or public pressures over dead soldiers. As well as being cheered for doing dangerous things.
That is a very explosive combination, to say the least.
And the current President has I think, despite the establishment’s early doubts, proved himself overall an ally, albeit a rather crude one. He also brings with him to the establishment’s tasks the support of a good portion of America’s great underclass, certainly not support they would normally receive or care about. But Trump’s “bringing it home to America” and telling-off foreigners and being hostile to international organizations and migrants and his affection for guns have them in the palm of his hand.
He simply has no limits himself on careless rhetoric or on making threats, and he is busy ripping up international cooperation and trade everywhere in the name of "I want it all for America," which is, of course, not only greedy and obnoxious but impossible, and when you pursue the impossible, you are doing very dangerous things.
_________________________
Response to a comment about the cause of Kennedy’s assassination:
Sorry, but that is close to nonsense.
JFK died for some very glaring reasons of challenging powerful elements of the American establishment. We don't know just what deadly combination it was, but we know the list of enemies.
His powerful enemies included CIA, J Edgar Hoover, Lyndon Johnson, the Cuban migrant community, the Mafia, and he was seriously disturbing the government of Israel about not permitting them to continue with their covert development of nuclear weapons. Take your pick or a combination.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY DAVID STOCKMAN IN RUSSIA INSIDER
"Woodrow Wilson Created the Fed, Which Gave Us a War Finance System for the Next 100 Years
"Indeed, Thomas Woodrow Wilson is the father of most of the last century’s ills. His grand crusade gave the world the curse of Stalin and Hitler, which, in turn, fostered the fallacy of the Indispensable Nation and gave rise to Imperial Washington and its destructive projects of global Empire."
I think, despite some pretty great overstatements as with the 1000-year totalitarianism stuff, this is in many respects a good summary of some important historical developments.
What I think most interesting to observe about today's United States' capacity for war- and trouble-making, is that it is not bound by any limits.
No limits on finances, as there would be with responsible taxation and spending and budgets.
And no limits from public pressures about "the boyz dyin'," because they use mercenaries from home, men who would have no jobs otherwise and, increasingly, use mercenary rabble gathered internationally for dirty projects, as we see in Syria and as we saw in other countries of the great American rampage through the Middle East.
While those two unbounded capacities are dangerous at any time, I think they are particularly so now that the American establishment has gone into hyper-aggressiveness over its relative decline in world competitiveness and influence.
This movement into hyper-aggressiveness is further encouraged by the influence of the Israel lobby which very much likes what an aggressive United States means for far-off Israel. And it goes beyond mere encouragement, as we see in Trump’s totally illegal recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and in the wanton destruction of a stable and well-operating international nuclear agreement with Iran.
Those reckless acts were done to secure some big influence for the coming mid-term Congressional elections, which threaten to reduce Trump to a lame-duck, as well as to secure the same influence for his own possible pursuit of re-election in 2020. So, here is a powerful lobby both cheering the hyper-aggression and suggesting to its leadership new and dangerous tasks.
America’s establishment consists of spoiled and dangerous people who feel their future role as international leaders is threatened by a now rapidly-evolving world economy and political order.
They are spoiled by having lived through a unique period of time – post-WWII - which saw almost everything literally fall into their laps. It really is difficult to face giving up the sense of entitlement as well as enjoying a sense of being “uniquely blessed.”
Wealth, power, and influence, all with heavenly blessings thrown in. And giving up all that, or even some portion of it, is about as agreeable a prospect as that of an addict facing withdrawal from drugs.
They are determined to use their still-existing great power to control future events in their favor as much as they can. And they are restrained by no budgets for finances or public pressures over dead soldiers. As well as being cheered for doing dangerous things.
That is a very explosive combination, to say the least.
And the current President has I think, despite the establishment’s early doubts, proved himself overall an ally, albeit a rather crude one. He also brings with him to the establishment’s tasks the support of a good portion of America’s great underclass, certainly not support they would normally receive or care about. But Trump’s “bringing it home to America” and telling-off foreigners and being hostile to international organizations and migrants and his affection for guns have them in the palm of his hand.
He simply has no limits himself on careless rhetoric or on making threats, and he is busy ripping up international cooperation and trade everywhere in the name of "I want it all for America," which is, of course, not only greedy and obnoxious but impossible, and when you pursue the impossible, you are doing very dangerous things.
_________________________
Response to a comment about the cause of Kennedy’s assassination:
Sorry, but that is close to nonsense.
JFK died for some very glaring reasons of challenging powerful elements of the American establishment. We don't know just what deadly combination it was, but we know the list of enemies.
His powerful enemies included CIA, J Edgar Hoover, Lyndon Johnson, the Cuban migrant community, the Mafia, and he was seriously disturbing the government of Israel about not permitting them to continue with their covert development of nuclear weapons. Take your pick or a combination.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: LATEST INSTALLMENT OF THE YEARS-LONG FOOT-DRAGGING INVESTIGATION INTO THE DOWNING OF FLIGHT MH-17 OVER UKRAINE RAISES OLD CONCERNS
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN PRAVDA
“Blame MH17 on Russia: International investigation turns into demonic circus”
Good summary of events. What has always most impressed me is the vivid memory of some early images I saw on the Internet of the wreckage on the ground.
In the frame of the pilot's seat and in some of metal skin of the cabin, there were the clearest possible perfectly round holes, as would have been made by a machine gun or small-caliber canon from a fighter plane. The image was unmistakable.
Then, when after much delay, the pilot's body was sent home for burial, his family were ordered not to open the coffin. I couldn't help but wonder about that. Was it so they didn't see bullet holes?
I just don't know. There clearly was other damage too. The holes I saw were definitely not from missile warhead shrapnel, although other damage suggests that too.
The bottom line for me is the inordinate length of time deliberately taken. This was not a difficult case at all. Everything should have been out to the public within weeks, but it was not.
Also, the investigators failed to comprehensively collect evidence on the ground - something always demanded in such investigations. Locals still had pieces long after and likely still do. The considerable time the investigators took to get around to collecting material gave the Ukrainians an extended opportunity to fiddle with the site.
Investigators also refused to use certain data supplied by Russian authorities and did not allow Russian collaboration. Why?
And then we get periodic announcements, after long intervals of time, always with imprecise conclusions and no new hard evidence. The pattern resembles nothing we’ve ever seen before in a crash investigation. It just screams cover-up with the vague conclusions at each announcement. The Dutch have undoubtedly been put under intense pressure by America in defense of its interests in the coup-induced Ukrainian government, who I think more than likely shot the plane down in stupid error after stupidly not closing the air space over a war zone as they were required to do.
_________________________
Response to a comment:
The Dutch are pretty fair people, and that is part of why they were selected, for credibility. I've always thought highly of them.
But even honest people can be pressured behind the scenes.
Especially by a muscle-bound bully like today's America, which busied itself back then with projects like overthrowing Ukraine's elected government and lying about all the mercenaries fighting in Syria posed as jihadists and a whole bunch of other dirty operations.
Do you even know what Hillary's scandal at Benghazi was about? What they were doing was collecting weapons and cut throats to ship to poor old Syria, assistance for all the creepy al-Nusrah and ISIS types. But some of the thugs killed the ambassador instead.
Clinton and Company also, we know, sent very limited amounts of Qaddafi's stock of poison gas to help create a "red line" incident in Syria so that good old smiley Obama could begin bombing the crap out of them. It all went wrong in part thanks to Putin, providing still another reason for disliking him.
The US spent $5 billion on the Ukraine coup. We know that amount accidentally from big-mouthed former State Department Neocon, Victoria Nuland, the same charmer who was overheard once shouting "F-ck Europe!"
How would you react if some American thug of the quality of a Nuland or today's Pompeo or Bolton told you that if you didn't cooperate, you were going to endanger a $5 billion investment by the United States? And if you did that, there would be serious repercussions for Dutch investments and banking, etc.?
America today, sadly, is country almost without honor.
_____________________
Additional comment:
‘"It is also worth mentioning that the United States has not provided satellite images, the presence of which was announced immediately after the catastrophe," Zakharova said as quoted on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry.’
It should be noted that America's "Keyhole" spy satellites have camera equipment not so very different from the space telescope. And we know these satellites are active especially in any area of conflict. Nothing could be more suspicious than the failure to produce the images.
FOOTNOTE: A MUCH LATER STATEMENT FROM THE MALAYSIAN PRIME MINISTER AS QUOTED IN "SOUTHFRONT"
“WHERE IS THE EVIDENCE?”: MALAYSIAN PM SLAMS MH17 INVESTIGATION AS NOT IMPARTIAL AND POLITICALLY MOTIVATED
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said that the investigation into the 2014 crash of the Malaysia Airlines-operated Boeing in Ukraine was not conducted in an impartial manner, but was rather focused on simply pinning the blame on Russia for political reasons.
“For some reasons, Malaysia was not allowed to check the black box to see what happened. We don’t know why we are excluded from the examination but from the very beginning, we see too much politics in it and the idea was not to find out how this happened but seems to be concentrated on trying to pin it to the Russians. This is not a neutral kind of examination,“ the prime minister said, as quoted by the Malaysian National News Agency.
“They are accusing Russia but where is the evidence? We know the missile that brought down the plane is a Russian type missile, but it could also be made in Ukraine. You need strong evidence to show it was fired by the Russians, it could be by the rebels in Ukraine, it could be Ukrainian government because they too have the same missile”.
Both Malaysia and Russia were excluded from partaking in the investigation.
If one translates the recent remarks by the Malaysian prime minister from diplomatic language to direct speech, we see that he stated that Malaysia has little doubts that the MH17 was intentionally shot down by the Ukrainian government. He also points out that the side controlling the JIT and thus the investigation is concealing the criminals, hiding data, and limiting the participation of third parties in the ‘international’ investigation.
COMMENT ON CHARGES NOW LAID BY DUTCH INVESTIGATORS OF MH-17
With the announcement of charges being laid by Dutch investigators, a British newspaper used the headline “MH17 suspects charged with murder over 298 deaths will likely escape justice”
What justice?
This American-appointed investigation has ignored all kind of evidence.
Including the fact that the Russians have shown that the BUK missile serial numbers found at the scene correspond to a unit sold to Ukraine many years ago.
The investigators have pulled this stunt of charging four men knowing full well that the individuals named cannot be extradited. They just wanted names for sensational headlines.
The entire performance is shameful.
Such a relatively simple crash, normally solved in weeks by professionals, has had its investigation stretched to years, with still no clear and indisputable findings.
Many pieces of evidence supplied by Russia were simply cast aside by these investigators. Pieces of physical evidence were left on the ground, some of them still in the possession of locals. The effort to collect physical evidence, normally meticulous and scrupulous after air crashes, was careless, and the effort came only after a substantial delay, allowing Ukraine plenty of time to sanitize things before investigators set to work. Still other pieces of potential evidence were never supplied, such as images or radar tracks from an American spy satellite working over the area at the time.
Shame on the Dutch, a people I’ve always admired, but there they are, under the American thumb, America trying to protect a coup-installed government from humiliation over its incompetence.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN PRAVDA
“Blame MH17 on Russia: International investigation turns into demonic circus”
Good summary of events. What has always most impressed me is the vivid memory of some early images I saw on the Internet of the wreckage on the ground.
In the frame of the pilot's seat and in some of metal skin of the cabin, there were the clearest possible perfectly round holes, as would have been made by a machine gun or small-caliber canon from a fighter plane. The image was unmistakable.
Then, when after much delay, the pilot's body was sent home for burial, his family were ordered not to open the coffin. I couldn't help but wonder about that. Was it so they didn't see bullet holes?
I just don't know. There clearly was other damage too. The holes I saw were definitely not from missile warhead shrapnel, although other damage suggests that too.
The bottom line for me is the inordinate length of time deliberately taken. This was not a difficult case at all. Everything should have been out to the public within weeks, but it was not.
Also, the investigators failed to comprehensively collect evidence on the ground - something always demanded in such investigations. Locals still had pieces long after and likely still do. The considerable time the investigators took to get around to collecting material gave the Ukrainians an extended opportunity to fiddle with the site.
Investigators also refused to use certain data supplied by Russian authorities and did not allow Russian collaboration. Why?
And then we get periodic announcements, after long intervals of time, always with imprecise conclusions and no new hard evidence. The pattern resembles nothing we’ve ever seen before in a crash investigation. It just screams cover-up with the vague conclusions at each announcement. The Dutch have undoubtedly been put under intense pressure by America in defense of its interests in the coup-induced Ukrainian government, who I think more than likely shot the plane down in stupid error after stupidly not closing the air space over a war zone as they were required to do.
_________________________
Response to a comment:
The Dutch are pretty fair people, and that is part of why they were selected, for credibility. I've always thought highly of them.
But even honest people can be pressured behind the scenes.
Especially by a muscle-bound bully like today's America, which busied itself back then with projects like overthrowing Ukraine's elected government and lying about all the mercenaries fighting in Syria posed as jihadists and a whole bunch of other dirty operations.
Do you even know what Hillary's scandal at Benghazi was about? What they were doing was collecting weapons and cut throats to ship to poor old Syria, assistance for all the creepy al-Nusrah and ISIS types. But some of the thugs killed the ambassador instead.
Clinton and Company also, we know, sent very limited amounts of Qaddafi's stock of poison gas to help create a "red line" incident in Syria so that good old smiley Obama could begin bombing the crap out of them. It all went wrong in part thanks to Putin, providing still another reason for disliking him.
The US spent $5 billion on the Ukraine coup. We know that amount accidentally from big-mouthed former State Department Neocon, Victoria Nuland, the same charmer who was overheard once shouting "F-ck Europe!"
How would you react if some American thug of the quality of a Nuland or today's Pompeo or Bolton told you that if you didn't cooperate, you were going to endanger a $5 billion investment by the United States? And if you did that, there would be serious repercussions for Dutch investments and banking, etc.?
America today, sadly, is country almost without honor.
_____________________
Additional comment:
‘"It is also worth mentioning that the United States has not provided satellite images, the presence of which was announced immediately after the catastrophe," Zakharova said as quoted on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry.’
It should be noted that America's "Keyhole" spy satellites have camera equipment not so very different from the space telescope. And we know these satellites are active especially in any area of conflict. Nothing could be more suspicious than the failure to produce the images.
FOOTNOTE: A MUCH LATER STATEMENT FROM THE MALAYSIAN PRIME MINISTER AS QUOTED IN "SOUTHFRONT"
“WHERE IS THE EVIDENCE?”: MALAYSIAN PM SLAMS MH17 INVESTIGATION AS NOT IMPARTIAL AND POLITICALLY MOTIVATED
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said that the investigation into the 2014 crash of the Malaysia Airlines-operated Boeing in Ukraine was not conducted in an impartial manner, but was rather focused on simply pinning the blame on Russia for political reasons.
“For some reasons, Malaysia was not allowed to check the black box to see what happened. We don’t know why we are excluded from the examination but from the very beginning, we see too much politics in it and the idea was not to find out how this happened but seems to be concentrated on trying to pin it to the Russians. This is not a neutral kind of examination,“ the prime minister said, as quoted by the Malaysian National News Agency.
“They are accusing Russia but where is the evidence? We know the missile that brought down the plane is a Russian type missile, but it could also be made in Ukraine. You need strong evidence to show it was fired by the Russians, it could be by the rebels in Ukraine, it could be Ukrainian government because they too have the same missile”.
Both Malaysia and Russia were excluded from partaking in the investigation.
If one translates the recent remarks by the Malaysian prime minister from diplomatic language to direct speech, we see that he stated that Malaysia has little doubts that the MH17 was intentionally shot down by the Ukrainian government. He also points out that the side controlling the JIT and thus the investigation is concealing the criminals, hiding data, and limiting the participation of third parties in the ‘international’ investigation.
COMMENT ON CHARGES NOW LAID BY DUTCH INVESTIGATORS OF MH-17
With the announcement of charges being laid by Dutch investigators, a British newspaper used the headline “MH17 suspects charged with murder over 298 deaths will likely escape justice”
What justice?
This American-appointed investigation has ignored all kind of evidence.
Including the fact that the Russians have shown that the BUK missile serial numbers found at the scene correspond to a unit sold to Ukraine many years ago.
The investigators have pulled this stunt of charging four men knowing full well that the individuals named cannot be extradited. They just wanted names for sensational headlines.
The entire performance is shameful.
Such a relatively simple crash, normally solved in weeks by professionals, has had its investigation stretched to years, with still no clear and indisputable findings.
Many pieces of evidence supplied by Russia were simply cast aside by these investigators. Pieces of physical evidence were left on the ground, some of them still in the possession of locals. The effort to collect physical evidence, normally meticulous and scrupulous after air crashes, was careless, and the effort came only after a substantial delay, allowing Ukraine plenty of time to sanitize things before investigators set to work. Still other pieces of potential evidence were never supplied, such as images or radar tracks from an American spy satellite working over the area at the time.
Shame on the Dutch, a people I’ve always admired, but there they are, under the American thumb, America trying to protect a coup-installed government from humiliation over its incompetence.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: ART CRITIC WAXES NOSTALGIC ON SENTIMENTAL AMERICANA PICTURES - AMERICA'S HISTORY IS NOT GOLDEN BEAMS OF LIGHT BUT A POUNDING FIST ON THE TABLE - THE SOVIETS HAD SIMILAR QUALITY PROPAGANDA - NOTE ON FDR AND LYNCHINGS
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ART SHOW REVIEW BY JONATHAN JONES IN THE GUARDIAN
“Four Freedoms at 75: Norman Rockwell's paintings come to life again at New York Historical Society
“A new touring exhibit celebrates the ‘lofty’ ideals of Rockwell’s work at a time when America is in need of harmony”
Rockwell was a brilliant draftsman, and the sheer quality of the physical work almost pushes you to embrace the themes.
Almost.
The themes are simplistic, Walt Disneyish, and in truth, if you know America well, not very accurate.
They represent wishes or fantasies of what America is like, but they are not genuine observations.
Most of the pictures I believe do qualify as propaganda works - pleasant, soft, lulling propaganda, but propaganda just the same.
The Soviets also did just such highly-skilled sugar-plum work as part of their output. Soviet propaganda was not all harsh images of Stalin and machinery and tanks. You can find close counterparts to the Rockwell pictures.
The Four Freedoms of President Roosevelt were just one of his great rhetorical flourishes. He was a truly gifted man that way. Absolutely inspiring at times, as with his magnificent, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
But his words little more represent the realities of America in his day than do Rockwell's pictures.
Did you know in the 1930s, Eleanor approached Franklin in the White House, asking him to speak out about the still-common lynchings in the South, a solidly Democratic Party region? He explained that he could not for political reasons, and that's where it was left.
So, the family picnics on the grass that were sometimes organized in the South for a public lynching, the kind of thing Eleanor had read about, went right on.
And there are many such other matters, perhaps as dark. America’s authentic story is not told in golden beams of sunlight. It is more about Big Daddy’s “pounding fist.”
We really need to keep our eyes and ears focused for truth in these dangerous days. Allowing our minds to drift off on pleasant fantasy is no help at all and may add to the dangers before us.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ART SHOW REVIEW BY JONATHAN JONES IN THE GUARDIAN
“Four Freedoms at 75: Norman Rockwell's paintings come to life again at New York Historical Society
“A new touring exhibit celebrates the ‘lofty’ ideals of Rockwell’s work at a time when America is in need of harmony”
Rockwell was a brilliant draftsman, and the sheer quality of the physical work almost pushes you to embrace the themes.
Almost.
The themes are simplistic, Walt Disneyish, and in truth, if you know America well, not very accurate.
They represent wishes or fantasies of what America is like, but they are not genuine observations.
Most of the pictures I believe do qualify as propaganda works - pleasant, soft, lulling propaganda, but propaganda just the same.
The Soviets also did just such highly-skilled sugar-plum work as part of their output. Soviet propaganda was not all harsh images of Stalin and machinery and tanks. You can find close counterparts to the Rockwell pictures.
The Four Freedoms of President Roosevelt were just one of his great rhetorical flourishes. He was a truly gifted man that way. Absolutely inspiring at times, as with his magnificent, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
But his words little more represent the realities of America in his day than do Rockwell's pictures.
Did you know in the 1930s, Eleanor approached Franklin in the White House, asking him to speak out about the still-common lynchings in the South, a solidly Democratic Party region? He explained that he could not for political reasons, and that's where it was left.
So, the family picnics on the grass that were sometimes organized in the South for a public lynching, the kind of thing Eleanor had read about, went right on.
And there are many such other matters, perhaps as dark. America’s authentic story is not told in golden beams of sunlight. It is more about Big Daddy’s “pounding fist.”
We really need to keep our eyes and ears focused for truth in these dangerous days. Allowing our minds to drift off on pleasant fantasy is no help at all and may add to the dangers before us.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: BALTIC STATES ASK FOR MORE NATO TROOPS - A POINTLESS EXPENSE FOR ALL CONCERNED - ALL THE BORED TROOPS WITH NOTHING TO DO WILL MAKE LOTS OF BAR FIGHTS AND BUSY BROTHELS
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“Baltic States Ask for More US Troops on Russia's Doorstep
“The Balts' politicians are doing it because they equate US bases with revenue but Russia can hardly ignore tens of thousands of non-native troops a stone throw from its border”
The truth is that the Baltic states should never have been taken into NATO. They have nothing of substance to contribute, they will be a continuing source of annoyance and even embarrassment, and foreign troops placed there, on Russia's doorstep, are a needless provocation.
Well, I hope they enjoy having all those extra bozo troops hanging around with nothing to do but visit bars and brothels, start fist-fights and harass women on the streets.
What a truly stupid thing to do to yourself when there is no threat.
As for the countries contributing troops, well, I guess they have money to burn.
Although you certainly wouldn't think that from the deficits and disorder in their budgets, which is what we find in America, Canada, and certainly the poor old UK which is about to make itself even poorer with Brexit.
The fact is, we are led by nincompoops, and it will only be a matter of luck or accident if we avoid war.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“Baltic States Ask for More US Troops on Russia's Doorstep
“The Balts' politicians are doing it because they equate US bases with revenue but Russia can hardly ignore tens of thousands of non-native troops a stone throw from its border”
The truth is that the Baltic states should never have been taken into NATO. They have nothing of substance to contribute, they will be a continuing source of annoyance and even embarrassment, and foreign troops placed there, on Russia's doorstep, are a needless provocation.
Well, I hope they enjoy having all those extra bozo troops hanging around with nothing to do but visit bars and brothels, start fist-fights and harass women on the streets.
What a truly stupid thing to do to yourself when there is no threat.
As for the countries contributing troops, well, I guess they have money to burn.
Although you certainly wouldn't think that from the deficits and disorder in their budgets, which is what we find in America, Canada, and certainly the poor old UK which is about to make itself even poorer with Brexit.
The fact is, we are led by nincompoops, and it will only be a matter of luck or accident if we avoid war.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: JUSTIN TRUDEAU GIVES ANOTHER HINT OF NAIVETE ABOUT DONALD TRUMP - SO WE HAVE THE RECKLESS MET BY THE INEFFECTUAL - ODDS ON NAFTA'S FUTURE DON'T LOOK TOO GOOD - WORDS ON TRUMP'S REAL NATURE
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO CBC NEWS (AND TAKEN DOWN BY EDITORS)
“Trudeau says threatened U.S. auto tariffs based on flimsy logic
“Trump has threatened tariffs of up to 25 per cent on all cars imported into U.S.”
I think this is revealing about Trudeau.
Trudeau is welcome to say the logic of Trump's threatened tariffs is 'flimsy" or to use any other pejorative he chooses.
But, in fact, as with so many actions and statements of Trump's, the words have nothing to do with logic.
Trump operates from the gut.
And his gut is full of the kind of stuff you would hear muttered at NASCAR meets, gun shows, in Denny's Restaurants, and in trailer parks. He definitely embraces the "I want it all, and I want it now," common street philosophy of many Americans.
Those are Trump's people, his political base, and truly his own native sympathies, "native" being a very fitting word because Trump's personality is heavily colored by a kind of American Nativism.
He's a strange man, a rich hillbilly who lives on top of a skyscraper in Manhattan, goes to some fancy clubs, never drinking anything, and likes McDonald's hamburgers in bed while watching three television sets. No reading, no listening to experts, and no respect for the opinion of others.
You really do not talk logic to or about a man like this, and I think Trudeau should know better, but he apparently does not.
Trudeau's observations wouldn't make it past the first line of Oval Office staff. Trump would never hear them. But if somehow, he did, they wouldn't even make an impression. He would regard them as "snowflake" prattle.
Is this all indicative of our strategy in the NAFTA negotiations? I fear it is.
So, we have a very truly reckless force at work in Washington and I'm afraid a somewhat ineffectual one in Ottawa.
I truly doubt NAFTA, at least with any substance to it, has a future. If it does, it will be a result of pure luck or accident.
COMMENT POSTED TO CBC NEWS (AND TAKEN DOWN BY EDITORS)
“Trudeau says threatened U.S. auto tariffs based on flimsy logic
“Trump has threatened tariffs of up to 25 per cent on all cars imported into U.S.”
I think this is revealing about Trudeau.
Trudeau is welcome to say the logic of Trump's threatened tariffs is 'flimsy" or to use any other pejorative he chooses.
But, in fact, as with so many actions and statements of Trump's, the words have nothing to do with logic.
Trump operates from the gut.
And his gut is full of the kind of stuff you would hear muttered at NASCAR meets, gun shows, in Denny's Restaurants, and in trailer parks. He definitely embraces the "I want it all, and I want it now," common street philosophy of many Americans.
Those are Trump's people, his political base, and truly his own native sympathies, "native" being a very fitting word because Trump's personality is heavily colored by a kind of American Nativism.
He's a strange man, a rich hillbilly who lives on top of a skyscraper in Manhattan, goes to some fancy clubs, never drinking anything, and likes McDonald's hamburgers in bed while watching three television sets. No reading, no listening to experts, and no respect for the opinion of others.
You really do not talk logic to or about a man like this, and I think Trudeau should know better, but he apparently does not.
Trudeau's observations wouldn't make it past the first line of Oval Office staff. Trump would never hear them. But if somehow, he did, they wouldn't even make an impression. He would regard them as "snowflake" prattle.
Is this all indicative of our strategy in the NAFTA negotiations? I fear it is.
So, we have a very truly reckless force at work in Washington and I'm afraid a somewhat ineffectual one in Ottawa.
I truly doubt NAFTA, at least with any substance to it, has a future. If it does, it will be a result of pure luck or accident.
Thursday, May 24, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: AMERICAN HI-TECH INTERNET COMPANIES ALL MORPHING INTO TOOLS OF THE DARK STATE - SCANDAL OVER WIKIPEDIA COMES AS NO SURPRISE - AND RISKY PROMOTER ELON MUSK JOINS THE PHONY "HERE'S THE TRUTH" CROWD
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY ERIC ZUESSE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“The Extraordinary Political Bias and Corruption Scandal at Wikipedia
“Wikipedia has been caught in a massive information fiddling operation by Craig Murray, one of Britain's most respected journalists. It's a very big deal, and it's going to get a lot bigger.
“Russia Insider is also the victim of endless manipulation of their Wikipedia page at the hands of 'globalists'”
It became clear from reading articles quite a long while ago that the original intent and nature of Wikipedia had changed greatly.
I had never had the complete faith in it some seemed to have, if only under the principle of academic research that you don’t accept a single source as an authority.
But today’s Millennials, great users of really lousy, openly dishonest sources like Facebook, are much more naïve and trusting. After all, these are people, many of whom, from one week to the next, embrace the unproved health merits of one food or supplement after another as they merely read about them. Wikipedia becomes a sufficient authority for them, which is precisely the reason the site is being used heavily today for disinformation.
Like all the other American hi-tech Internet companies - Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, etc. - Wikipedia has been reduced to a servant of American security services.
Today, articles on very timely news topics appear very quickly in what has to be a highly-organized effort.
The articles definitely come with a point of view. They are not true encyclopedia-style articles. Of course, there are still other types of articles on such harmless topics from guitars to space, but in the fields of American policy and foreign affairs and wars and of America’s operations as a political entity, the tilt is unmistakable.
Such articles represent an effort to get a story or point of view "out there."
By the way, it is no different to what CIA used to do with paper magazines years ago – Time, Life, Readers Digest, Newsweek, and many others were riddled with such stuff. Some seeming independent “worthy” publications - eg., Saturday Review - were secretly subsidized and used as an avenue of influence too.
I suppose it was inevitable for the Internet companies. Everything, literally everything in America is coming to be guided by unseen hands. George Orwell could never have imagined a Big Brother like the one who has gradually cast a shadow over everything in the country since 9/11 provided an excuse to break laws and ignore the Constitution and lie constantly.
We even have today that contemporary P.T. Barnum in America, full-time promoter, Elon Musk, talking about getting into an Internet "truth" site, a Pravda, as he called it.
Mr. Musk has no background or known abilities to be considered in any way qualified to judge what is accurate or not in news stories and certainly no qualifications to advise others, but he's doing it nevertheless, of course, trading on his name as an independent maverick type.
But that really is not what he is. He is a high-flying self-promoter whose companies, all interesting enough ideas, only exist because of subsidies. None of them would be viable as a stand-alone private company.
Even his most interesting project, the reusable rocket, has received billions in subsidies and covert assistance from NASA and the Pentagon. The thing would never have flown without it.
So, is he "connected"? You bet he is. Just like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and I'm sure we can add Wikipedia.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY ERIC ZUESSE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“The Extraordinary Political Bias and Corruption Scandal at Wikipedia
“Wikipedia has been caught in a massive information fiddling operation by Craig Murray, one of Britain's most respected journalists. It's a very big deal, and it's going to get a lot bigger.
“Russia Insider is also the victim of endless manipulation of their Wikipedia page at the hands of 'globalists'”
It became clear from reading articles quite a long while ago that the original intent and nature of Wikipedia had changed greatly.
I had never had the complete faith in it some seemed to have, if only under the principle of academic research that you don’t accept a single source as an authority.
But today’s Millennials, great users of really lousy, openly dishonest sources like Facebook, are much more naïve and trusting. After all, these are people, many of whom, from one week to the next, embrace the unproved health merits of one food or supplement after another as they merely read about them. Wikipedia becomes a sufficient authority for them, which is precisely the reason the site is being used heavily today for disinformation.
Like all the other American hi-tech Internet companies - Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, etc. - Wikipedia has been reduced to a servant of American security services.
Today, articles on very timely news topics appear very quickly in what has to be a highly-organized effort.
The articles definitely come with a point of view. They are not true encyclopedia-style articles. Of course, there are still other types of articles on such harmless topics from guitars to space, but in the fields of American policy and foreign affairs and wars and of America’s operations as a political entity, the tilt is unmistakable.
Such articles represent an effort to get a story or point of view "out there."
By the way, it is no different to what CIA used to do with paper magazines years ago – Time, Life, Readers Digest, Newsweek, and many others were riddled with such stuff. Some seeming independent “worthy” publications - eg., Saturday Review - were secretly subsidized and used as an avenue of influence too.
I suppose it was inevitable for the Internet companies. Everything, literally everything in America is coming to be guided by unseen hands. George Orwell could never have imagined a Big Brother like the one who has gradually cast a shadow over everything in the country since 9/11 provided an excuse to break laws and ignore the Constitution and lie constantly.
We even have today that contemporary P.T. Barnum in America, full-time promoter, Elon Musk, talking about getting into an Internet "truth" site, a Pravda, as he called it.
Mr. Musk has no background or known abilities to be considered in any way qualified to judge what is accurate or not in news stories and certainly no qualifications to advise others, but he's doing it nevertheless, of course, trading on his name as an independent maverick type.
But that really is not what he is. He is a high-flying self-promoter whose companies, all interesting enough ideas, only exist because of subsidies. None of them would be viable as a stand-alone private company.
Even his most interesting project, the reusable rocket, has received billions in subsidies and covert assistance from NASA and the Pentagon. The thing would never have flown without it.
So, is he "connected"? You bet he is. Just like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and I'm sure we can add Wikipedia.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: WWII A REVOLUTIONARY TURNING POINT FOR AMERICA - WITH THAT GOLDEN ERA OVER RAW UGLY AGGRESSION IS BECOMING AMERICA'S FACE TO THE WORLD
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY DAVID STOCKMAN IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“US Entry into WWI Started Her Disastrous March to Empire”
WWII was the revolutionary turning point for America.
It inherited everything. Countries like Russia paid the price, an immense price.
America entered a Golden Era with no competitors left standing and its own industry and homeland safe and booming.
That was the entire explanation behind the nonsense advertising slogan, "the American Dream."
It is fading now as many of the world's nations grow to compete, many of them better at what they do than the US.
And that inevitably is the future.
All statistics show the US in a relative decline in the world, as by share of trade.
That's what the new American aggression is all about. It is the establishment's bristling reaction to new realities they do not like. They will use the great power they have remaining to seize control of as much of the world's affairs as they can, thinking that will enable them to better bend things in America’s favor.
It's actually a pretty primitive approach to a national problem. But just look at Trump's appointments to see the raw ugly faces of primitive aggression – Haley, Pompeo, Bolton, Haspel, and others.
And the same for the chief leaders in the Congress and the Senate. Some amazingly arrogant and hard-boiled faces to be seen and harsh things to be heard. Easy to imagine you are in the last days of Rome with the reek of utter corruption. And, of course, the entire work of the Pentagon and CIA, serving those raw faces, is burning their way through unbelievable amounts of money and people to serve this primitive drive.
America is also cheered along by the influential Neocons who have their own interest in Israel's enjoying the security of a highly aggressive United States.
We live in very dangerous times.
__________________________
Response to a comment about it going back further to Cuba and the Philippines in the 1890s:
Yes, there's truth in that.
The Spanish-American War was deliberately contrived in Washington to grab some of the creaky old Spanish Empire's assets, like Cuba and the Philippines, but the true world-scale imperial leadership emerges with WWII.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY DAVID STOCKMAN IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“US Entry into WWI Started Her Disastrous March to Empire”
WWII was the revolutionary turning point for America.
It inherited everything. Countries like Russia paid the price, an immense price.
America entered a Golden Era with no competitors left standing and its own industry and homeland safe and booming.
That was the entire explanation behind the nonsense advertising slogan, "the American Dream."
It is fading now as many of the world's nations grow to compete, many of them better at what they do than the US.
And that inevitably is the future.
All statistics show the US in a relative decline in the world, as by share of trade.
That's what the new American aggression is all about. It is the establishment's bristling reaction to new realities they do not like. They will use the great power they have remaining to seize control of as much of the world's affairs as they can, thinking that will enable them to better bend things in America’s favor.
It's actually a pretty primitive approach to a national problem. But just look at Trump's appointments to see the raw ugly faces of primitive aggression – Haley, Pompeo, Bolton, Haspel, and others.
And the same for the chief leaders in the Congress and the Senate. Some amazingly arrogant and hard-boiled faces to be seen and harsh things to be heard. Easy to imagine you are in the last days of Rome with the reek of utter corruption. And, of course, the entire work of the Pentagon and CIA, serving those raw faces, is burning their way through unbelievable amounts of money and people to serve this primitive drive.
America is also cheered along by the influential Neocons who have their own interest in Israel's enjoying the security of a highly aggressive United States.
We live in very dangerous times.
__________________________
Response to a comment about it going back further to Cuba and the Philippines in the 1890s:
Yes, there's truth in that.
The Spanish-American War was deliberately contrived in Washington to grab some of the creaky old Spanish Empire's assets, like Cuba and the Philippines, but the true world-scale imperial leadership emerges with WWII.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: PRESSURE BEING PUT ON OXFORD TO ACCEPT MORE MINORITY STUDENTS - BUT OXFORD'S JOB IS ACADEMIC QUALITY NOT SOCIAL ENGINEERING - PRESS'S JOB IS TO PROVE WHAT YOU HAVE NOT, CLAIMS OF UNFAIRNESS
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY SONIA SODHA IN THE GUARDIAN
“They are so clever. So how can Oxford University get it so wrong on access?
“If it doesn’t make more effort to admit young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, the government should step in’
"So how can Oxford University get it so wrong on access?"
Seems to me it is a prestigious university's job to keep standards up and to keep attracting applications from the very best qualified in the world.
There is no other way to be in the top.
It is not the job of the universities to see to it that this or that arbitrary social quota is filled.
I assume that they are doing what I describe, but if they are not, if they are being prejudiced, of course that is wrong. But that requires proving, and you haven't done that.
Just citing a list of numbers as Guardian has done proves nothing.
It's a hard thing to say, but a true one, that intellectual talent, like other talents, is not equally distributed among all people.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY SONIA SODHA IN THE GUARDIAN
“They are so clever. So how can Oxford University get it so wrong on access?
“If it doesn’t make more effort to admit young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, the government should step in’
"So how can Oxford University get it so wrong on access?"
Seems to me it is a prestigious university's job to keep standards up and to keep attracting applications from the very best qualified in the world.
There is no other way to be in the top.
It is not the job of the universities to see to it that this or that arbitrary social quota is filled.
I assume that they are doing what I describe, but if they are not, if they are being prejudiced, of course that is wrong. But that requires proving, and you haven't done that.
Just citing a list of numbers as Guardian has done proves nothing.
It's a hard thing to say, but a true one, that intellectual talent, like other talents, is not equally distributed among all people.
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: HOW DO YOU WRITE AN ARTICLE ABOUT A SUBJECT IGNORING ITS SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT FACT? - JUST ASK NATALIE NOUGAYREDE AT THE GUARDIAN - SHE'S VERY EXPERIENCED AT IT - EUROPE AND AMERICA
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY NATALIE NOUGAYREDE IN THE GUARDIAN
“It’s far too easy to blame the east for all of Europe’s woes
“In western Europe, we conveniently ignore our own faults – and show little compassion for our neighbours’ troubled pasts”
I think the article completely ignores the big elephant conspicuously standing in the room.
It would help immensely if the United States didn't keep its own interests front and center in Europe, tromping around with its muddy combat boots into everyone's living rooms.
And the immense, artificial demands that it makes create immense stresses. Just imagine telling Germany from whom it may buy natural gas? That’s what dictators do.
Or telling Germany and France and Britain that they'll suffer if they hold to the binding Iran Agreement they all signed and the US impetuously tore up, surely an act resembling that of an enraged drunk.
America imposes a completely artificial hostility towards Russia that not only hurts Europe economically but encourages the truly extreme voices of Eastern Europe, as those in Poland or the Baltics. Europe is missing tremendous opportunities that come with that marriage made in heaven, Russian resources and German industry and other European know-how. All over some flabby, outdated ideology, imposed by a flabby, outdated leader who listens to no one.
And the U.S. encouraged, wrongly, expansion of both the EU and NATO into some of these Eastern countries, leaving Europe with new messes with which to deal. They are weak economies and not at all modern. Potential burdens, not help, besides having bad, out-of-date attitudes.
I think Europeans, left to themselves, could work out all of their problems.
But they are not allowed to do that.
And if the leaders of Europe ever get up the fortitude to be seriously more independent of the world's Great Bully, they'll likely face lots of terrible financial troubles and other pressures.
Just look at what the Bully has done at the UN and will continue doing.
That is the way the Great Bully works, all the time, everywhere, pushing people around behind the scenes while smiling for the cameras.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY NATALIE NOUGAYREDE IN THE GUARDIAN
“It’s far too easy to blame the east for all of Europe’s woes
“In western Europe, we conveniently ignore our own faults – and show little compassion for our neighbours’ troubled pasts”
I think the article completely ignores the big elephant conspicuously standing in the room.
It would help immensely if the United States didn't keep its own interests front and center in Europe, tromping around with its muddy combat boots into everyone's living rooms.
And the immense, artificial demands that it makes create immense stresses. Just imagine telling Germany from whom it may buy natural gas? That’s what dictators do.
Or telling Germany and France and Britain that they'll suffer if they hold to the binding Iran Agreement they all signed and the US impetuously tore up, surely an act resembling that of an enraged drunk.
America imposes a completely artificial hostility towards Russia that not only hurts Europe economically but encourages the truly extreme voices of Eastern Europe, as those in Poland or the Baltics. Europe is missing tremendous opportunities that come with that marriage made in heaven, Russian resources and German industry and other European know-how. All over some flabby, outdated ideology, imposed by a flabby, outdated leader who listens to no one.
And the U.S. encouraged, wrongly, expansion of both the EU and NATO into some of these Eastern countries, leaving Europe with new messes with which to deal. They are weak economies and not at all modern. Potential burdens, not help, besides having bad, out-of-date attitudes.
I think Europeans, left to themselves, could work out all of their problems.
But they are not allowed to do that.
And if the leaders of Europe ever get up the fortitude to be seriously more independent of the world's Great Bully, they'll likely face lots of terrible financial troubles and other pressures.
Just look at what the Bully has done at the UN and will continue doing.
That is the way the Great Bully works, all the time, everywhere, pushing people around behind the scenes while smiling for the cameras.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: VENEZUELA'S PRESIDENT MADURO FIGHTS BRAVELY FOR HIS DEMOCRACY IN THE FACE OF POWERFUL ENEMIES TRYING TO KILL IT - THE CIA IS VERY BUSY THERE WORKING WITH THE EXTREME RIGHT WING
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY REYNALDO TROMBETTA IN THE GUARDIAN
“Venezuela has fallen to a dictator. But we can help to restore democracy
“Nicolás Maduro has brought the country to its knees. The international community must support Venezuelans trying to restore democracy”
A truly distasteful article, calling white black and black white and bundling it all up in the word "democracy."
President Maduro has fought heroically to maintain a democracy. They keep holding elections despite immense pressures and violence and dark operations.
The CIA has been working overtime with Venezuela's extreme right-wing interests to destabilize the country and bring it to its knees.
It has manipulated the currency, likely by counterfeiting huge amounts of it. It has conducted all kinds of sabotage against the country's interests, including with markets for its products abroad.
There are constant threats and dirty tricks, just a stream of them.
The US even has recently openly threatened invasion.
The very tone of this article suggests it is written with notes from Langley, Virginia.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY REYNALDO TROMBETTA IN THE GUARDIAN
“Venezuela has fallen to a dictator. But we can help to restore democracy
“Nicolás Maduro has brought the country to its knees. The international community must support Venezuelans trying to restore democracy”
A truly distasteful article, calling white black and black white and bundling it all up in the word "democracy."
President Maduro has fought heroically to maintain a democracy. They keep holding elections despite immense pressures and violence and dark operations.
The CIA has been working overtime with Venezuela's extreme right-wing interests to destabilize the country and bring it to its knees.
It has manipulated the currency, likely by counterfeiting huge amounts of it. It has conducted all kinds of sabotage against the country's interests, including with markets for its products abroad.
There are constant threats and dirty tricks, just a stream of them.
The US even has recently openly threatened invasion.
The very tone of this article suggests it is written with notes from Langley, Virginia.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: TRUMP MAY NOT ATTEND THE KOREA SUMMIT AFTER ALL - VALUE OF HIS "PROMISES" FOR KIM OF NORTH KOREA - IF AMERICA WOULD ONLY GET OUT OF THE WAY IN KOREA THE KOREANS COULD SOLVE IT ALL
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE ON CBC NEWS
“Trump says North Korea summit might not happen on June 12
“President says he'll 'guarantee' Kim's safety if N. Korea agrees to verifiable, irreversible denuclearization”
I've been reading rumors of this for days on the Internet.
Some of Trump's advisers do not think the tone and appearances of meeting with Kim would be at all good for the midterm congressional elections, which already are expected to go somewhat against Trump's party.
If the Democrats win back some control in Congress, the Great Orange One is going to become the Great Orange Lame Duck for his last two years.
However, I think there has been too much hype about this summit. Kim has very little incentive to do as the Orange One demands.
All Trump ever does is threaten. And I do think at least a few nuclear warheads are as much safety as you can have against threats.
The whole mess is greatly the fault of America anyway. They keep a well-armed army on Kim's border, which, by the way, already the White House says will stay - almost 70 years after the Korean War.
As for Trump promises of any kind, well tearing up the Iran Agreement and illegally recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital, causing immense harm, shows you what his word is worth.
Anyway, American Presidents today are not really in charge of the military-intelligence complex when it comes to great strategic matters. Trump has been totally turned around from his campaign views on Russia, etc. He showed his total cowardice to the boys in the big suits almost immediately.
You know, not a lot of people understand North Korea's fears. The US literally wiped out an estimated twenty percent of the entire population with carpet bombing in the Korean War. It was good practice for the three million they would later slaughter in Vietnam.
But the U.S., absurdly and arrogantly, has always refused to talk directly with North Korea, refused even to recognize the country, regularly threatens and maintains intimidating forces and war games, allows South Korea absolutely no latitude in its dealings with the North, this last to the extent that the very promising new President of the South had his promising words in the election quickly and quietly suppressed, and America never stops thinking of themselves as the good guys.
The two Koreas could solve their problems together if allowed, but they are not allowed to do so, and by the same American interests which keep pressuring Europe concerning Russia.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE ON CBC NEWS
“Trump says North Korea summit might not happen on June 12
“President says he'll 'guarantee' Kim's safety if N. Korea agrees to verifiable, irreversible denuclearization”
I've been reading rumors of this for days on the Internet.
Some of Trump's advisers do not think the tone and appearances of meeting with Kim would be at all good for the midterm congressional elections, which already are expected to go somewhat against Trump's party.
If the Democrats win back some control in Congress, the Great Orange One is going to become the Great Orange Lame Duck for his last two years.
However, I think there has been too much hype about this summit. Kim has very little incentive to do as the Orange One demands.
All Trump ever does is threaten. And I do think at least a few nuclear warheads are as much safety as you can have against threats.
The whole mess is greatly the fault of America anyway. They keep a well-armed army on Kim's border, which, by the way, already the White House says will stay - almost 70 years after the Korean War.
As for Trump promises of any kind, well tearing up the Iran Agreement and illegally recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital, causing immense harm, shows you what his word is worth.
Anyway, American Presidents today are not really in charge of the military-intelligence complex when it comes to great strategic matters. Trump has been totally turned around from his campaign views on Russia, etc. He showed his total cowardice to the boys in the big suits almost immediately.
You know, not a lot of people understand North Korea's fears. The US literally wiped out an estimated twenty percent of the entire population with carpet bombing in the Korean War. It was good practice for the three million they would later slaughter in Vietnam.
But the U.S., absurdly and arrogantly, has always refused to talk directly with North Korea, refused even to recognize the country, regularly threatens and maintains intimidating forces and war games, allows South Korea absolutely no latitude in its dealings with the North, this last to the extent that the very promising new President of the South had his promising words in the election quickly and quietly suppressed, and America never stops thinking of themselves as the good guys.
The two Koreas could solve their problems together if allowed, but they are not allowed to do so, and by the same American interests which keep pressuring Europe concerning Russia.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: SAD EFFORTS STILL TO DEFEND AND SUPPORT TRUMP - TRUMP IN FACT JOINED "CLUB SWAMP" IN HIS FIRST WEEK AS A GOLD CARD LIFETIME MEMBER - AN ENTIRELY SHABBY AND COWARDLY MAN
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN INVESTMENTWATCH
“The Democrats Are Finally Out Of Ideas. They Will Now Campaign On “Draining the Swamp” For The 2018 Midterms. They Have No Clue What They’re Doing.”
Trump is about as crooked and dishonest as it is possible to be.
He joined "Club Swamp" as a Gold Card Lifetime Member during his first week as President.
I do think many people understand that.
In fact, at this stage, after stumbles and blunders galore and some of the most atrocious senior appointments ever made, I don't see how any thinking person can any longer support or defend him.
He has the world approaching war in more than one place. He has international trade and good relations shattered. He has given the U.S. a solid reputation for not keeping its word. He has broken international law, as with the Jerusalem move. He ignores the most flagrant abuse of an already abused people in Gaza. He is busy interfering in the affairs of a dozen countries, and yet the U.S. cannot even solve its own problems. He has proved he has no respect for any principle except might makes right. A truly grubby record in so short a time.
Indeed, North Korea’s Kim would be foolish to take any “promise” from Trump, and Kim is said to be quite an intelligent man.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN INVESTMENTWATCH
“The Democrats Are Finally Out Of Ideas. They Will Now Campaign On “Draining the Swamp” For The 2018 Midterms. They Have No Clue What They’re Doing.”
Trump is about as crooked and dishonest as it is possible to be.
He joined "Club Swamp" as a Gold Card Lifetime Member during his first week as President.
I do think many people understand that.
In fact, at this stage, after stumbles and blunders galore and some of the most atrocious senior appointments ever made, I don't see how any thinking person can any longer support or defend him.
He has the world approaching war in more than one place. He has international trade and good relations shattered. He has given the U.S. a solid reputation for not keeping its word. He has broken international law, as with the Jerusalem move. He ignores the most flagrant abuse of an already abused people in Gaza. He is busy interfering in the affairs of a dozen countries, and yet the U.S. cannot even solve its own problems. He has proved he has no respect for any principle except might makes right. A truly grubby record in so short a time.
Indeed, North Korea’s Kim would be foolish to take any “promise” from Trump, and Kim is said to be quite an intelligent man.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: ON THE CHARACTER OF FRANCE'S PRESIDENT EMMANUEL MACRON AND OF FRANCE'S ENTIRE MODERN POLITICAL SYSTEM
John Chuckman
COMMENT TO AN ARTICLE BY CECILE GUERIN IN THE GUARDIAN
“Macron is a fake feminist. His failure on the age of consent proves it
“In breaking his promise on the sexual and gender-based violence bill, the president has again let down French women”
But Macron is a fake, period.
I cannot think of a single matter where he stands out in any way, except in expressions of appreciation for his own ego.
He's like a packaged corporate politician. He was thrown into the election by establishment interests desperate because a real woman, a real feminist of strength, might win.
I'm sorry the people of France were fooled by him, but then the French electoral system, like the British one and the American one for sure, is jerry-rigged to keep the establishment in control.
Macron is the kind of corporate product you get. You can almost predict what he will say on any topic. And you know you will never see any heroic effort for any cause. Nor will you see any principles to be emulated and admired. Like Hollande, who was, if anything, even worse.
Like Sarkozy who took a fortune from a wealthy old heiress said to have been senile and from Qaddafi whom he then helped kill.
That's quite a political system you have now in France.
COMMENT TO AN ARTICLE BY CECILE GUERIN IN THE GUARDIAN
“Macron is a fake feminist. His failure on the age of consent proves it
“In breaking his promise on the sexual and gender-based violence bill, the president has again let down French women”
But Macron is a fake, period.
I cannot think of a single matter where he stands out in any way, except in expressions of appreciation for his own ego.
He's like a packaged corporate politician. He was thrown into the election by establishment interests desperate because a real woman, a real feminist of strength, might win.
I'm sorry the people of France were fooled by him, but then the French electoral system, like the British one and the American one for sure, is jerry-rigged to keep the establishment in control.
Macron is the kind of corporate product you get. You can almost predict what he will say on any topic. And you know you will never see any heroic effort for any cause. Nor will you see any principles to be emulated and admired. Like Hollande, who was, if anything, even worse.
Like Sarkozy who took a fortune from a wealthy old heiress said to have been senile and from Qaddafi whom he then helped kill.
That's quite a political system you have now in France.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: MEGHAN MARKLE AND FEMINISM - AN ARTICLE OF THE KIND OF UNTHINKING FLUFF THE GUARDIAN STUFFS ITS PAGES WITH - A WORD ABOUT GENUINE FEMINISM
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY SIMON JENKINS IN THE GUARDIAN
"As a feminist, why should Meghan settle for being a dutiful royal wife?"
Oh, please.
We do have much larger questions than that, and the concepts of feminism which get tossed around in the press are often little more than fluffy identity declarations.
As a feminist, why should she marry into a royal family and live off taxpayers, including lots of poor working women, in luxury for the rest of her days? is a far better question.
Actually, many concepts of feminism we often see promoted are quite threadbare.
Who are the real feminists?
The women out there working hard at no-glamour jobs to support their families.
Women out there actually doing sleeves-rolled-up work in various places to advance human rights and human worth and to help others.
Women in hellholes like Gaza still standing for the rights of their people despite oppression.
Not women in designer suits offering homilies from speakers' platforms and collecting speakers' fees.
Or the wannabe princesses of this world.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY SIMON JENKINS IN THE GUARDIAN
"As a feminist, why should Meghan settle for being a dutiful royal wife?"
Oh, please.
We do have much larger questions than that, and the concepts of feminism which get tossed around in the press are often little more than fluffy identity declarations.
As a feminist, why should she marry into a royal family and live off taxpayers, including lots of poor working women, in luxury for the rest of her days? is a far better question.
Actually, many concepts of feminism we often see promoted are quite threadbare.
Who are the real feminists?
The women out there working hard at no-glamour jobs to support their families.
Women out there actually doing sleeves-rolled-up work in various places to advance human rights and human worth and to help others.
Women in hellholes like Gaza still standing for the rights of their people despite oppression.
Not women in designer suits offering homilies from speakers' platforms and collecting speakers' fees.
Or the wannabe princesses of this world.
Monday, May 21, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: ABSURD LENGTHS TO WHICH OUR PRESS GOES TO ATTACK RUSSIA - BRITAIN'S GUARDIAN HOLDS "HATE RUSSIA DAY" TODAY - SOME OF ITS STUFF IS SO HAM-FISTED IT READS LIKE 1959 PRAVDA ATTACKING "AMERICAN RUNNING DOGS"
John Chuckman
COMMENT ON THE GUARDIAN’S EXTRAORDINARY DISPLAY TODAY OF ANTI-RUSSIAN PREJUDICE
“Russian 'dirty money' is damaging UK security, MPs say
“Government must stop money laundering by ‘kleptocrats and rights abusers’, which is helping Putin subvert international rules”
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/may/21/russian-dirty-money-is-damaging-uk-security-mps-say
Today is Hate Russia Day over at The Guardian.
Well, I know, they always hate Russia at The Guardian, but today features an especially loud and ugly outburst from this self-appointed source of “quality journalism” as the ads appealing to subscribers like to put it.
First, at the top of the front page, we have a big story about “dirty money” And “kleptocrats” and “abusers” exploiting the rules of the City of London, a world financial capital. Second, as if all that weren’t enough, The Guardian gives us, nearer the bottom of the front page, a link to an extremely long story called “Russia uncovered: writers on the World Cup host nation.” I dissect this second really gruesome effort below.
According to the first story, which reports uncritically some unsupported comments from a committee of anti-Russian MPS and even adds unrelated material to juice things up, Russians are using the financial facilities of the City of London to finance all kind of unholy deeds and activities and aggression.
Of course, a real newspaper reporting from such politicians would have asked some questions in order to get at some facts. But facts in this top-of-the-page item are strangely missing.
The idiotic story even manages, once again, to regurgitate the Skripal Affair which supposedly took place in Salisbury. That certainly has a lot to do with international finance in the City of London, but just in case you missed all the financial story’s suggested tie-ins to Russian dirt and intrigue and aggression, there it is, right before your eyes, attempted murder at the highest level.
Of course, the Skripal Affair is more an indictment against the workings of the British government and the British press than anything else. Two Russian citizens, held absolutely incommunicado for a long period, are said to have been attacked, with no evidence offered, using a poisonous substance, again with no evidence offered, that supposedly originated in Russia, yet again with no evidence offered. And the very circumstances of the attack and discovery of the “victims” are packed with implausibilities and contradictions.
So, in a sense, bringing up an alleged poisoning in a story about Russia’s unscrupulous use of public financial facilities in Britain does serve a real purpose. It tells us just how low and ridiculous the existing standards in Britain are for statements by government and by the mainline press on certain subjects.
The committee of politicians, of course, represents the same government that started a massive round of international diplomatic expulsions and public accusations against a head of state based solely on the inexplicable mysteries of the Skripal Affair.
____________________________________
For background on the Skripal Affair, readers might enjoy: https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/john-chuckman-comment-the-scandal-that-never-stops-giving-everything-that-is-but-some-truth-new-disinformation-provided-on-the-british-skripal-poisoning-affair-implausibilities-of-the-affai/
____________________________________
The finance story also carries the suggestion that Britain needs to employ all her diplomatic, military and financial resources to counter Russian aggression. Sounds like the good old boys in Langley, Virginia wrote some of their talking points. I guess that’s what they mean these days when they speak of the old “special relationship” between Britain and America.
Can you just imagine all the truly filthy money that passes through the City of London week-in, week-out? Saudi money? Money from Bahrain? Money from various juntas and dictatorships? Mafia money? Money from human trafficking? Money from drugs? CIA money? Money from bent politicians of every description? If you were able to cut out all the truly dirty lucre, the City of London would simply close down. But Russian money, there's the real problem according to this propaganda from cheap British politicians supported by press like The Guardian.
Now, remember, this is a supposedly left-wing paper effectively supporting unsupported right-wing government assertions. As I’ve said before, The Guardian is truly an establishment publication which disguises its true identity with a myriad of what Alt-right types in America might call “precious snowflake” filler stories about minorities and women and the unfortunate, but the attitudes of those kind of paste-on poster campaigns are not carried over into the paper’s core business.
As if all that weren’t enough, The Guardian gives us nearer the bottom of the front page a link to a great long story called “Russia uncovered: writers on the World Cup host nation.” I dissect it, section by section, below.
“Observer writers and Russia experts go behind the spin to analyse the host nation’s social and political landscape”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/20/russia-uncovered-world-cup-special-report-racism-pussy-riot
Well, I don’t know what qualifies someone as an expert over at the Observer (a Guardian subsidiary), but this shameful piece of gutter literature is just one long set of attacks on the host nation for the upcoming World Cup, an event of which Russia is very proud about hosting and to which it is very much looking forward. The piece is a kind of Wikipedia article on the sins of Russia that you will be exposed to if you dare attend the World Cup.
Here are the section captions, which you only have to read to grasp the intent of this long, hate-filled piece:
1) Racism
‘Young fans see the dominance of far-right chants. Anyone who challenges it faces a threat of violence’
Absolutely no evidence is offered for this, just a picture of some nasty-looking young men and some assertions. Anyway, if you want to find some extreme right-wing, you’ve come to right place if you go to the United States. Militias, Aryan Churches, the Klan, etc. A huge Nazi Bund organization in Hitler’s day. See this: http://chuckmangrotesques.blogspot.ca/2011/03/hitler-youth-american-volksbund-youth.html Or, even more ghastly for open violence, the murderous settler gangs in Israel and the former bar room bouncer who regularly threatens minorities, Avigdor Lieberman, who is today Israel’s Defense Minister.
Of course, good old Britain herself has always offered a home to this element. There was Oswald Mosley’s British Fascists in the 1930s. There was a royal family that deeply admired Hitler, and that is almost certainly the real reason Edward VIII was made to abdicate with war approaching.
You may find pictures of him and Wallis Simpson with stars in their eyes meeting Hitler. You might also enjoy this: http://chuckmangrotesques.blogspot.ca/2015/08/john-chuckman-grotesques-royal-family.html And there was arch- imperialist Churchill and the ruthless measures, including machine-gunning peasants, taken on behalf of the integrity of The Empire. You see, this kind of attack is possible against anyone, for such kinds of people live in every society.
The real question about such groups always is whether they have power in the government, as they very much do in Israel and in the United States.
2) Stadiums
‘The fabulous expense of this event has gone to some place other than good architecture’
I don’t mind criticisms of architecture. Indeed, I rather enjoy it when honestly done, and it’s something I indulge in myself, but here the nasty intent is clear by the context. What is architecture criticism, and unrelentingly negative architecture criticism, doing in a piece alongside the Russian Mafia and a voice from Pussy Riot?
3) Protest
“Pussy Riot’s Maria Alyokhina: ‘The state controls all the big media but they cannot cut out the eyes of the people’”
Can you imagine quoting a woman, an authority on absolutely nothing, from an outfit like Pussy Riot, whose only claim to fame is getting themselves into trouble years ago for desecrating a church, on the state of politics in a vast and complex nation like Russia? Were they to do same kind of nasty act in a fundamentalist church in parts of the Southern United States, they might very well have been beaten or shot. It is roughly the equivalent, but even worse, of asking Jane Fonda in 1968 to give an expert opinion of American politics.
4) Media and censorship
‘It’s only going to get worse!’
Media censorship? This from the paper which allows no comments on the first story about Russian abuse of financial institutions and which quickly closed commenting on this list of clap-trap about Russia. This from a paper which ran government story after story about the supposed poisoning in Salisbury, the Skripal affair, without allowing comment and without seeking any expert outside view on the government claims? This from a paper which ran months of Joe McCarthy-style attacks on a very decent British politician, Jeremy Corbyn, over non-existent anti-Semitism in his party? This from a paper which supported Tony Blair’s stream of lies and killing, and which supports him still, every once in a while, trying to give him a new public voice with a feature?
5) Nostalgia
“Whether Soviet simplicity or the strength of the tsars, the best of times are in the past with a poster of Stalin”
Unbelievably, The Guardian sarcastically offers us an image of an old Soviet sentimental poster of Stalin happily with a gang of kids. As though Russians were just fools about the past or indeed longed for it to be repeated. My God, there are people in Britain who still enjoy reading or watching something about Henry VIII, a murderous tyrant, going on five centuries after his reign. And Stalin, like all tyrants, did accomplish some things admired even outside Russia, like building Russia up from a peasant society to an industrial power and leading the nation through the most terrible war in history to victory. You cannot just forget such epoch events, no matter how touched by darkness.
By the way, in the nostalgia section, The Guardian also drags in the Czars. Russia has made an effort to inform people of a long-term national historical institution which was completely vilified by the Communists. It is no different than France having museums about historical characters like Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI or Napoleon. And what is wrong with that? Of course, the suggestion here is that Putin is to be seen as a modern Czar. Ridiculous. Criticism of historical royalty coming from a nation that just spent a fortune on a “royal wedding” between a B-actress and an unbalanced, ne’er-do-well prince, as though it represented the grandeur of Britain, does strike me as a little strange.
7) The mafia
‘The gangsters want the World Cup to go well. They’ve already made money and will make more’
Yes, that is the way the items are numbered, perhaps indicative of the thought going into it.
Well, here’s the good old Russian Mafia. As though Mafia organizations weren’t a major force throughout Europe - in Italy with its Sicilian Mafia, its Camorra around Naples and other parts of Italy like Lombardy, the Corsican Mafia in France, still other mafias across the continent, and, of course, the multiple major crime families of the United States who run literally multi-billion-dollar enterprises. By the way, there is a significant Camorra branch operation in Britain. Israel has several Mafia crime families, some of which are active internationally.
But never mind all those other mafias, the Russian one is especially insidious and evil because it is, after all, Russian.
COMMENT ON THE GUARDIAN’S EXTRAORDINARY DISPLAY TODAY OF ANTI-RUSSIAN PREJUDICE
“Russian 'dirty money' is damaging UK security, MPs say
“Government must stop money laundering by ‘kleptocrats and rights abusers’, which is helping Putin subvert international rules”
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/may/21/russian-dirty-money-is-damaging-uk-security-mps-say
Today is Hate Russia Day over at The Guardian.
Well, I know, they always hate Russia at The Guardian, but today features an especially loud and ugly outburst from this self-appointed source of “quality journalism” as the ads appealing to subscribers like to put it.
First, at the top of the front page, we have a big story about “dirty money” And “kleptocrats” and “abusers” exploiting the rules of the City of London, a world financial capital. Second, as if all that weren’t enough, The Guardian gives us, nearer the bottom of the front page, a link to an extremely long story called “Russia uncovered: writers on the World Cup host nation.” I dissect this second really gruesome effort below.
According to the first story, which reports uncritically some unsupported comments from a committee of anti-Russian MPS and even adds unrelated material to juice things up, Russians are using the financial facilities of the City of London to finance all kind of unholy deeds and activities and aggression.
Of course, a real newspaper reporting from such politicians would have asked some questions in order to get at some facts. But facts in this top-of-the-page item are strangely missing.
The idiotic story even manages, once again, to regurgitate the Skripal Affair which supposedly took place in Salisbury. That certainly has a lot to do with international finance in the City of London, but just in case you missed all the financial story’s suggested tie-ins to Russian dirt and intrigue and aggression, there it is, right before your eyes, attempted murder at the highest level.
Of course, the Skripal Affair is more an indictment against the workings of the British government and the British press than anything else. Two Russian citizens, held absolutely incommunicado for a long period, are said to have been attacked, with no evidence offered, using a poisonous substance, again with no evidence offered, that supposedly originated in Russia, yet again with no evidence offered. And the very circumstances of the attack and discovery of the “victims” are packed with implausibilities and contradictions.
So, in a sense, bringing up an alleged poisoning in a story about Russia’s unscrupulous use of public financial facilities in Britain does serve a real purpose. It tells us just how low and ridiculous the existing standards in Britain are for statements by government and by the mainline press on certain subjects.
The committee of politicians, of course, represents the same government that started a massive round of international diplomatic expulsions and public accusations against a head of state based solely on the inexplicable mysteries of the Skripal Affair.
____________________________________
For background on the Skripal Affair, readers might enjoy: https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/john-chuckman-comment-the-scandal-that-never-stops-giving-everything-that-is-but-some-truth-new-disinformation-provided-on-the-british-skripal-poisoning-affair-implausibilities-of-the-affai/
____________________________________
The finance story also carries the suggestion that Britain needs to employ all her diplomatic, military and financial resources to counter Russian aggression. Sounds like the good old boys in Langley, Virginia wrote some of their talking points. I guess that’s what they mean these days when they speak of the old “special relationship” between Britain and America.
Can you just imagine all the truly filthy money that passes through the City of London week-in, week-out? Saudi money? Money from Bahrain? Money from various juntas and dictatorships? Mafia money? Money from human trafficking? Money from drugs? CIA money? Money from bent politicians of every description? If you were able to cut out all the truly dirty lucre, the City of London would simply close down. But Russian money, there's the real problem according to this propaganda from cheap British politicians supported by press like The Guardian.
Now, remember, this is a supposedly left-wing paper effectively supporting unsupported right-wing government assertions. As I’ve said before, The Guardian is truly an establishment publication which disguises its true identity with a myriad of what Alt-right types in America might call “precious snowflake” filler stories about minorities and women and the unfortunate, but the attitudes of those kind of paste-on poster campaigns are not carried over into the paper’s core business.
As if all that weren’t enough, The Guardian gives us nearer the bottom of the front page a link to a great long story called “Russia uncovered: writers on the World Cup host nation.” I dissect it, section by section, below.
“Observer writers and Russia experts go behind the spin to analyse the host nation’s social and political landscape”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/20/russia-uncovered-world-cup-special-report-racism-pussy-riot
Well, I don’t know what qualifies someone as an expert over at the Observer (a Guardian subsidiary), but this shameful piece of gutter literature is just one long set of attacks on the host nation for the upcoming World Cup, an event of which Russia is very proud about hosting and to which it is very much looking forward. The piece is a kind of Wikipedia article on the sins of Russia that you will be exposed to if you dare attend the World Cup.
Here are the section captions, which you only have to read to grasp the intent of this long, hate-filled piece:
1) Racism
‘Young fans see the dominance of far-right chants. Anyone who challenges it faces a threat of violence’
Absolutely no evidence is offered for this, just a picture of some nasty-looking young men and some assertions. Anyway, if you want to find some extreme right-wing, you’ve come to right place if you go to the United States. Militias, Aryan Churches, the Klan, etc. A huge Nazi Bund organization in Hitler’s day. See this: http://chuckmangrotesques.blogspot.ca/2011/03/hitler-youth-american-volksbund-youth.html Or, even more ghastly for open violence, the murderous settler gangs in Israel and the former bar room bouncer who regularly threatens minorities, Avigdor Lieberman, who is today Israel’s Defense Minister.
Of course, good old Britain herself has always offered a home to this element. There was Oswald Mosley’s British Fascists in the 1930s. There was a royal family that deeply admired Hitler, and that is almost certainly the real reason Edward VIII was made to abdicate with war approaching.
You may find pictures of him and Wallis Simpson with stars in their eyes meeting Hitler. You might also enjoy this: http://chuckmangrotesques.blogspot.ca/2015/08/john-chuckman-grotesques-royal-family.html And there was arch- imperialist Churchill and the ruthless measures, including machine-gunning peasants, taken on behalf of the integrity of The Empire. You see, this kind of attack is possible against anyone, for such kinds of people live in every society.
The real question about such groups always is whether they have power in the government, as they very much do in Israel and in the United States.
2) Stadiums
‘The fabulous expense of this event has gone to some place other than good architecture’
I don’t mind criticisms of architecture. Indeed, I rather enjoy it when honestly done, and it’s something I indulge in myself, but here the nasty intent is clear by the context. What is architecture criticism, and unrelentingly negative architecture criticism, doing in a piece alongside the Russian Mafia and a voice from Pussy Riot?
3) Protest
“Pussy Riot’s Maria Alyokhina: ‘The state controls all the big media but they cannot cut out the eyes of the people’”
Can you imagine quoting a woman, an authority on absolutely nothing, from an outfit like Pussy Riot, whose only claim to fame is getting themselves into trouble years ago for desecrating a church, on the state of politics in a vast and complex nation like Russia? Were they to do same kind of nasty act in a fundamentalist church in parts of the Southern United States, they might very well have been beaten or shot. It is roughly the equivalent, but even worse, of asking Jane Fonda in 1968 to give an expert opinion of American politics.
4) Media and censorship
‘It’s only going to get worse!’
Media censorship? This from the paper which allows no comments on the first story about Russian abuse of financial institutions and which quickly closed commenting on this list of clap-trap about Russia. This from a paper which ran government story after story about the supposed poisoning in Salisbury, the Skripal affair, without allowing comment and without seeking any expert outside view on the government claims? This from a paper which ran months of Joe McCarthy-style attacks on a very decent British politician, Jeremy Corbyn, over non-existent anti-Semitism in his party? This from a paper which supported Tony Blair’s stream of lies and killing, and which supports him still, every once in a while, trying to give him a new public voice with a feature?
5) Nostalgia
“Whether Soviet simplicity or the strength of the tsars, the best of times are in the past with a poster of Stalin”
Unbelievably, The Guardian sarcastically offers us an image of an old Soviet sentimental poster of Stalin happily with a gang of kids. As though Russians were just fools about the past or indeed longed for it to be repeated. My God, there are people in Britain who still enjoy reading or watching something about Henry VIII, a murderous tyrant, going on five centuries after his reign. And Stalin, like all tyrants, did accomplish some things admired even outside Russia, like building Russia up from a peasant society to an industrial power and leading the nation through the most terrible war in history to victory. You cannot just forget such epoch events, no matter how touched by darkness.
By the way, in the nostalgia section, The Guardian also drags in the Czars. Russia has made an effort to inform people of a long-term national historical institution which was completely vilified by the Communists. It is no different than France having museums about historical characters like Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI or Napoleon. And what is wrong with that? Of course, the suggestion here is that Putin is to be seen as a modern Czar. Ridiculous. Criticism of historical royalty coming from a nation that just spent a fortune on a “royal wedding” between a B-actress and an unbalanced, ne’er-do-well prince, as though it represented the grandeur of Britain, does strike me as a little strange.
7) The mafia
‘The gangsters want the World Cup to go well. They’ve already made money and will make more’
Yes, that is the way the items are numbered, perhaps indicative of the thought going into it.
Well, here’s the good old Russian Mafia. As though Mafia organizations weren’t a major force throughout Europe - in Italy with its Sicilian Mafia, its Camorra around Naples and other parts of Italy like Lombardy, the Corsican Mafia in France, still other mafias across the continent, and, of course, the multiple major crime families of the United States who run literally multi-billion-dollar enterprises. By the way, there is a significant Camorra branch operation in Britain. Israel has several Mafia crime families, some of which are active internationally.
But never mind all those other mafias, the Russian one is especially insidious and evil because it is, after all, Russian.
Sunday, May 20, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: IN 20 YEARS ALL THE RECOVERABLE GOLD WILL HAVE BEEN MINED SAYS AN ARTICLE - WHY THAT IS JUST SILLY - HOW TECHNOLOGY AND RESOURCES WORK TOGETHER OVER TIME
John Chuckman
COMMENT TO AN ARTICLE IN INVESTMENTWATCH
“In Under 20 Years, All Currently Recoverable Gold Will Have Been Mined”
This is just silly. The fact is that over time...
Technology keeps changing the nature of what is a resource. Oil wasn't a resource in 1800, for example.
Technology changes the needs and demands for resources by coming up with substitutes and even eliminating some uses entirely.
It changes the ways of finding more of a resource, as the recent undersea discovery of large rare earth deposits.
It changes the way of extracting a resource, so that what was thought impossible or too costly becomes ordinary, as with today's very deep-sea oil drilling.
COMMENT TO AN ARTICLE IN INVESTMENTWATCH
“In Under 20 Years, All Currently Recoverable Gold Will Have Been Mined”
This is just silly. The fact is that over time...
Technology keeps changing the nature of what is a resource. Oil wasn't a resource in 1800, for example.
Technology changes the needs and demands for resources by coming up with substitutes and even eliminating some uses entirely.
It changes the ways of finding more of a resource, as the recent undersea discovery of large rare earth deposits.
It changes the way of extracting a resource, so that what was thought impossible or too costly becomes ordinary, as with today's very deep-sea oil drilling.
JOHN CHUCKMAN: ON SUPPORT FOR RT BROADCASTING - EVEN IF RT WEREN'T DOING WHAT IT DOES OUR WESTERN MEDIA HAVE THOROUGHLY DISCREDITED THEMSELVES IN THIS ERA OF AMERICAN HYPER-AGGRESSION
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“Why I Support RT (and So Should You)
“'It’s not about whether you “agree” or “disagree” with the Russia Today broadcast; more importantly, the principle of fair play in media access and reach is crucial for the health and future of democracy' “
And without a doubt our recent history has proven the utter dishonesty and the undependable nature of major broadcasters in the West.
That would be true even if RT didn't make the effort that it does.
At least when it comes to international affairs, certainly some of the most consequential and even deadly matters in the world.
Of course, the background reality is that there is so much dark and filthy work going on by America, with its close allies being dragged along, that reporting the truth might be made to resemble treason. After all, look at the way officials in Britain and America have attacked RT.
I include very much in my condemnation of Western broadcasters, Canada’s CBC. In foreign affairs, it has become as meaningless and dishonest as BBC or ABC or NBC or CBS, etc., etc.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“Why I Support RT (and So Should You)
“'It’s not about whether you “agree” or “disagree” with the Russia Today broadcast; more importantly, the principle of fair play in media access and reach is crucial for the health and future of democracy' “
And without a doubt our recent history has proven the utter dishonesty and the undependable nature of major broadcasters in the West.
That would be true even if RT didn't make the effort that it does.
At least when it comes to international affairs, certainly some of the most consequential and even deadly matters in the world.
Of course, the background reality is that there is so much dark and filthy work going on by America, with its close allies being dragged along, that reporting the truth might be made to resemble treason. After all, look at the way officials in Britain and America have attacked RT.
I include very much in my condemnation of Western broadcasters, Canada’s CBC. In foreign affairs, it has become as meaningless and dishonest as BBC or ABC or NBC or CBS, etc., etc.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: BLACK AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE CANDACE OWENS IS OKAY ON RUSSIA HYSTERIA - BUT OVERALL SHE RESEMBLES BARRY GOLDWATER IN 1962 - THERE IS A ROLE FOR GOVERNMENT INCREASINGLY TOO IN A GLOBALIZED WORLD
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“Candace Owens' Great Video Mocking the Russia Hysteria”
Her words on Russia are okay, but I don't care for her overall tone. It's literally a rehash of Barry Goldwater in 1962.
I see a legitimate role for government in national affairs.
Not a totally dominating one, but a moderate and helpful one. The best place to start slashing unnecessary government is the military, an unproductive and destabilizing force in society.
With no government activity for the people, we soon get some pretty awful stuff which can change the very structure of a society.
As globalization continues, which it inevitably will, government becomes increasingly important, too, in international negotiations, arrangements, and organizations. The Trump period will prove to have been nothing but a very noisy halt to progress, much resembling some madman throwing all his trash from his city balcony out into the street below.
Readers may enjoy:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/05/10/john-chuckman-comment-american-division-of-wealth-how-you-convert-a-somewhat-democratic-government-into-plutocracy-u-s-national-government-has-simply-ignored-a-basic-responsibility-for-years/
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“Candace Owens' Great Video Mocking the Russia Hysteria”
Her words on Russia are okay, but I don't care for her overall tone. It's literally a rehash of Barry Goldwater in 1962.
I see a legitimate role for government in national affairs.
Not a totally dominating one, but a moderate and helpful one. The best place to start slashing unnecessary government is the military, an unproductive and destabilizing force in society.
With no government activity for the people, we soon get some pretty awful stuff which can change the very structure of a society.
As globalization continues, which it inevitably will, government becomes increasingly important, too, in international negotiations, arrangements, and organizations. The Trump period will prove to have been nothing but a very noisy halt to progress, much resembling some madman throwing all his trash from his city balcony out into the street below.
Readers may enjoy:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/05/10/john-chuckman-comment-american-division-of-wealth-how-you-convert-a-somewhat-democratic-government-into-plutocracy-u-s-national-government-has-simply-ignored-a-basic-responsibility-for-years/
Saturday, May 19, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: DOES THE NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT HAVE A FUTURE? - AMERICA'S "TRADE CZAR" CONTRADICTS AND HUMILIATES TRUDEAU WITH HARD WORDS - AMERICA IS TODAY A FAR MEANER PLACE WITH WHICH TO WORK
John Chuckman
EXPANSION OF COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN CBC NEWS
“'Nowhere near close:' U.S. rebuffs Trudeau hope for quick NAFTA deal
“U.S. trade czar Robert Lighthizer cites 'gaping differences' after Trudeau says a 'good deal' is on the table”
This development really makes Trudeau and Freeland sound rather clueless.
____________________
Response to another comment:
There is the important point of keeping good and happy neighbors on your major borders.
I think that was unquestionably at work on the American side when the Agreement was first negotiated. America certainly was not giving stuff away, but Canada may just have received some degree of economic benefit in some of the Agreement’s terms to “buy” good will and security.
But America is a much-changed place since that time.
It is a far, far meaner place, and that is not just the effect of Trump, although he sure adds a great deal to the ugly tone.
Just look at America’s aggressive behavior all over the world. Against Russia. Against China. And the U.S. has burned down a good part of the Middle East. All of this new aggression goes back at least through three Presidents. It isn’t the individuals in office creating it, it is the power establishment they serve.
The old, sentimental U.S. of Jimmy Stewart movies is long gone. It was in fact always an illusion, but now America has stopped acting and pretending. Its power establishment, all of it, has grown quite openly ugly over the accurate perception of America's relative economic decline in the world and over the country’s self-created financial and economic woes.
America is using the military and financial muscle that it has to bully its way to a more controlling position in the world, hoping to better control events for the future.
It is an extremely unfortunate time in which to be negotiating any kind of trade agreement with America. And I think all bets are off as to whether Canada can even succeed.
In general, big trade agreements concern more than just economics, otherwise there would be no need for elaborated negotiations and documents.
Indeed, no such agreements are true free trade.
If the parties wanted free trade, they'd just throw open the borders.
Formal “free trade” agreements create not free trade but an administered trade guided by sets of rules.
The administration of such ‘free trade” cannot escape the larger social and political environment of a country.
For example, there were a number of arbitrary American behaviors under NAFTA concerning such matters as softwood lumber and pork.
Even though the quasi-judicial mechanism of the Agreement’s administration, more often than not, found such American behavior was a violation, the U.S. often just ignored it. The behavior reflected domestic political pressure, and America responded by breaking the spirit and the letter of the Agreement a number of times.
In such a situation, there isn’t a lot you can do. Of course, either party, with proper notice, is free to withdraw from the Agreement. But accepting some loss owing to the other party’s violations would always seem better to a country like Canada than losing the entire Agreement.
A smaller country such as Canada can never really be totally secure from such actions by a much larger partner.
And now the larger partner isn’t pretending to be nice to anyone.
This, in my view, is a grave error for America’s own long-term interests, to say nothing of the world’s interests, but it nevertheless is the reality we face.
If Canada does manage to secure a new agreement, it will, to a certainty, be much diminished from the existing one. Good will in today’s America gets you a cup of coffee, if you also have two dollars.
EXPANSION OF COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN CBC NEWS
“'Nowhere near close:' U.S. rebuffs Trudeau hope for quick NAFTA deal
“U.S. trade czar Robert Lighthizer cites 'gaping differences' after Trudeau says a 'good deal' is on the table”
This development really makes Trudeau and Freeland sound rather clueless.
____________________
Response to another comment:
There is the important point of keeping good and happy neighbors on your major borders.
I think that was unquestionably at work on the American side when the Agreement was first negotiated. America certainly was not giving stuff away, but Canada may just have received some degree of economic benefit in some of the Agreement’s terms to “buy” good will and security.
But America is a much-changed place since that time.
It is a far, far meaner place, and that is not just the effect of Trump, although he sure adds a great deal to the ugly tone.
Just look at America’s aggressive behavior all over the world. Against Russia. Against China. And the U.S. has burned down a good part of the Middle East. All of this new aggression goes back at least through three Presidents. It isn’t the individuals in office creating it, it is the power establishment they serve.
The old, sentimental U.S. of Jimmy Stewart movies is long gone. It was in fact always an illusion, but now America has stopped acting and pretending. Its power establishment, all of it, has grown quite openly ugly over the accurate perception of America's relative economic decline in the world and over the country’s self-created financial and economic woes.
America is using the military and financial muscle that it has to bully its way to a more controlling position in the world, hoping to better control events for the future.
It is an extremely unfortunate time in which to be negotiating any kind of trade agreement with America. And I think all bets are off as to whether Canada can even succeed.
In general, big trade agreements concern more than just economics, otherwise there would be no need for elaborated negotiations and documents.
Indeed, no such agreements are true free trade.
If the parties wanted free trade, they'd just throw open the borders.
Formal “free trade” agreements create not free trade but an administered trade guided by sets of rules.
The administration of such ‘free trade” cannot escape the larger social and political environment of a country.
For example, there were a number of arbitrary American behaviors under NAFTA concerning such matters as softwood lumber and pork.
Even though the quasi-judicial mechanism of the Agreement’s administration, more often than not, found such American behavior was a violation, the U.S. often just ignored it. The behavior reflected domestic political pressure, and America responded by breaking the spirit and the letter of the Agreement a number of times.
In such a situation, there isn’t a lot you can do. Of course, either party, with proper notice, is free to withdraw from the Agreement. But accepting some loss owing to the other party’s violations would always seem better to a country like Canada than losing the entire Agreement.
A smaller country such as Canada can never really be totally secure from such actions by a much larger partner.
And now the larger partner isn’t pretending to be nice to anyone.
This, in my view, is a grave error for America’s own long-term interests, to say nothing of the world’s interests, but it nevertheless is the reality we face.
If Canada does manage to secure a new agreement, it will, to a certainty, be much diminished from the existing one. Good will in today’s America gets you a cup of coffee, if you also have two dollars.
Friday, May 18, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: THE SCANDAL THAT NEVER STOPS GIVING - EVERYTHING THAT IS BUT SOME TRUTH - NEW DISINFORMATION PROVIDED ON THE BRITISH SKRIPAL "POISONING" AFFAIR - IMPLAUSIBILITIES OF THE AFFAIR FROM BEGINNING TO END
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY SAMUEL OSBORNE IN THE INDEPENDENT
“Germany obtained novichok nerve agent sample in 1990s, reports say
“Development could help explain how Britain was able to analyse poison it says was used to attack former double agent, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter”
Oh, please, this suggestion is nothing more than a new distraction from one of the extreme implausibilities involved in the Skripal Affair. It is disinformation, based on a bit of real information, itself incomplete, and given no context.
The Czechs (and others) have made this stuff, as the government there has already told us.
Its formula was published years ago. I am sure military labs in many advanced countries, including Britain, have worked with it and have samples.
It is one of the jobs of military chemical labs is to investigate and classify the characteristics of potential chemical weapons, and the Porton Down facility, just a few miles down the road, cannot be any different in this respect.
You absolutely must administer an antidote for any nerve agent almost immediately - and there are many such agents, including Saran, VX, and Tabun. Saran, at least, is still heavily stocked in the arsenals of America and Israel.
You wouldn’t even know what antidote to administer at first, even if you suspected nerve agent, which no one did in the early period. And why would they?
The antidote must be administered in minutes, not a half hour or more later. It was that long until these people were discovered, sick on a bench, a place where still more time was consumed by emergency responders, including a local woman doctor who said she spent a half hour with the victims.
So then, the victims were eventually taken to a hospital, where they were treated how, no one having the least notion of such a poison?
And all the people handling the Skripals noticed nothing unusual in smell or appearance, and they themselves had no ill effects. One pin-point drop of nerve agent on the skin is lethal.
The Skripals are said to have been very sick, unconscious, with vomiting and diarrhea and breathing difficulties.
The emergency measures people strongly suspected a Fentanyl overdose. They are common in Salisbury.
Another strong candidate is food poisoning from the fresh shellfish pizza they had both eaten.
The whole story stinks to high heaven, still, after all this time, but the press makes no effort to investigate.
And, of course, it simply should not stink. All the facts could have been published quickly, but were not, and still have not been. Why not?
The British government simply blundered in, making public charges against a major government and taking punitive measures without one scintilla of anything a thinking person would call evidence. Almost laughable were it not such a serious matter.
And why can't even a relative talk to them? Why can't they be interviewed, under guard, if that is felt necessary? Bizarre.
The daughter left a whole world behind in Russia, including a fiancé, a job, and family, but no communication is allowed them?
Essentially, you are re-publishing government press releases.
____________________
Response to another comment:
The entire business is a cover-up. Of just what? Who knows?
We don't have the least idea what actually happened.
And the press makes no effort to find out. None, at all.
See my detailed post above.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY SAMUEL OSBORNE IN THE INDEPENDENT
“Germany obtained novichok nerve agent sample in 1990s, reports say
“Development could help explain how Britain was able to analyse poison it says was used to attack former double agent, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter”
Oh, please, this suggestion is nothing more than a new distraction from one of the extreme implausibilities involved in the Skripal Affair. It is disinformation, based on a bit of real information, itself incomplete, and given no context.
The Czechs (and others) have made this stuff, as the government there has already told us.
Its formula was published years ago. I am sure military labs in many advanced countries, including Britain, have worked with it and have samples.
It is one of the jobs of military chemical labs is to investigate and classify the characteristics of potential chemical weapons, and the Porton Down facility, just a few miles down the road, cannot be any different in this respect.
You absolutely must administer an antidote for any nerve agent almost immediately - and there are many such agents, including Saran, VX, and Tabun. Saran, at least, is still heavily stocked in the arsenals of America and Israel.
You wouldn’t even know what antidote to administer at first, even if you suspected nerve agent, which no one did in the early period. And why would they?
The antidote must be administered in minutes, not a half hour or more later. It was that long until these people were discovered, sick on a bench, a place where still more time was consumed by emergency responders, including a local woman doctor who said she spent a half hour with the victims.
So then, the victims were eventually taken to a hospital, where they were treated how, no one having the least notion of such a poison?
And all the people handling the Skripals noticed nothing unusual in smell or appearance, and they themselves had no ill effects. One pin-point drop of nerve agent on the skin is lethal.
The Skripals are said to have been very sick, unconscious, with vomiting and diarrhea and breathing difficulties.
The emergency measures people strongly suspected a Fentanyl overdose. They are common in Salisbury.
Another strong candidate is food poisoning from the fresh shellfish pizza they had both eaten.
The whole story stinks to high heaven, still, after all this time, but the press makes no effort to investigate.
And, of course, it simply should not stink. All the facts could have been published quickly, but were not, and still have not been. Why not?
The British government simply blundered in, making public charges against a major government and taking punitive measures without one scintilla of anything a thinking person would call evidence. Almost laughable were it not such a serious matter.
And why can't even a relative talk to them? Why can't they be interviewed, under guard, if that is felt necessary? Bizarre.
The daughter left a whole world behind in Russia, including a fiancé, a job, and family, but no communication is allowed them?
Essentially, you are re-publishing government press releases.
____________________
Response to another comment:
The entire business is a cover-up. Of just what? Who knows?
We don't have the least idea what actually happened.
And the press makes no effort to find out. None, at all.
See my detailed post above.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: SYRIA'S AIR DEFENSE SYSTEMS AGAINST ISRAELI ATTACKS - QUESTION OF RUSSIAN S-300 ANTI-AIRCRAFT MISSILES - TODAY'S ENTIRE SYRIA-RUSSIA-IRAN-ISRAEL RELATIONSHIP IS "A RIDDLE WRAPPED IN A MYSTERY INSIDE AN ENIGMA"
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY THE SAKER IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“There Is an Easy and Cheap Way for Russia to Secure Syrian Airspace -- Without the S-300
“Russia's empty talk of possible S-300s for Syria was a mayor fiasco but the cheapest and most realistic way of securing Syria's skies was always by spamming many more short-range Pantsirs”
To my mind, there is a big and unwelcome note of back-pedaling propaganda here.
Some of the tone is quite objectionable actually.
Just as was the tone of the official Russian statements after the Israeli raid.
But it is difficult to understand just what game is being played. We have, for example, never clearly been told what the targets of Israel’s aggression were. Iranian? Syrian?
Just as our corporate press deliberately confused stories of the “provocation.”
The missiles fired were said to be Iranian and were said to have been fired first. This, of course, is the official Israeli version of events, something never to be trusted from a government which calls the mass ambush killing of civilians in Gaza “restraint’ and the work of “the world’s most moral army.”
That initial firing of missiles, as an act by Iran, never made sense because the Iranians would have no reason to do that, have nothing to gain, and frankly, the Iranians are just cleverer than that.
But in the press-trained minds of many in the West, functioning much like Pavlov’s dogs, once you mention “Iran,” anything unpleasant is accepted automatically. Just as once you mention “Israel,” anything unpleasant could not possibly be the case.
That state of public awareness is of course ridiculous, but that is the Twilight Zone world of foreign affairs today that has been carefully constructed by a hyper-aggressive American government, its disinformation agencies, and its press, always pretending to journalism while acting as cheer leaders.
Orwell’s words on the nature of big brother’s state, Oceania - which was actually intended as a dark, fierce parody of Stalin’s Soviet Union – apply exactly, "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength."
Other stories about the missile attack, which seemed more credible, said they were Syrian missiles, and were fired in response to Israel’s attack. Some of these stories also asserted that by that missile-firing response, now Syria had laid down a new set of rules for Israel. Who knows? Israel hasn’t confirmed anything about the responding missiles or their targets.
There was speculation about one of the Israeli targets actually being a senior Iranian military commander, but who knows? We have no good information.
Just as we have no good information on the relations between Iran and Russia inside Syria. Are they closely coordinating their efforts? Do they disagree on some matters? Are they even agreed on goals or are they each there because they invited to help Syria while each having its own reasons for doing so?
The nature of the situation and the nature of the threat Israel represents are what should determine the military hardware to be employed.
But the author of the article makes only some quasi-technical arguments about this or that air-defense system, but not about what best suits the situation in Syria, which, of course, he also may not completely understand.
The bottom line considerations in the whole matter, though, are pretty straightforward.
Syria has a right, and under international law, to protect itself from attack by Israel or anyone else.
Russia is an ally of Syria, one benefiting from important military bases and one who has invested a fair amount of treasure, and some blood, into helping it eliminate the phony-jihadi mercenaries dumped into the country by outsiders in an effort to destroy its integrity.
Those outsiders are primarily America, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France, and originally Turkey.
When you say Saudi Arabia these days, you are talking about a bizarre new associate of Israel’s, now really a close secret ally, owing to efforts taken out of fear of American invasion after 9/11, both of them concerned with protecting privileged positions in the region.
When you speak of the governments of America, Britain, and France, you are talking about governments under almost unbelievable influence of lobbies working for Israel’s benefit.
So, Israel is at the very center of the entire situation, even though in our press you would never know that. And Israel’s bloody-minded leader was talking to Putin just before the attack. About what, we’ll likely never know.
Of course, when someone gets “permission” to attack, defense mechanisms become somewhat irrelevant.
AFTERWORD
We have this:
https://russia-insider.com/en/there-easy-and-cheap-way-russia-secure-syrian-airspace-without-s-300/ri23489
and this:
https://www.activistpost.com/2018/05/russias-relationship-with-israel-and-the-s-300-controversy.html
plus a lot of confusion.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY THE SAKER IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“There Is an Easy and Cheap Way for Russia to Secure Syrian Airspace -- Without the S-300
“Russia's empty talk of possible S-300s for Syria was a mayor fiasco but the cheapest and most realistic way of securing Syria's skies was always by spamming many more short-range Pantsirs”
To my mind, there is a big and unwelcome note of back-pedaling propaganda here.
Some of the tone is quite objectionable actually.
Just as was the tone of the official Russian statements after the Israeli raid.
But it is difficult to understand just what game is being played. We have, for example, never clearly been told what the targets of Israel’s aggression were. Iranian? Syrian?
Just as our corporate press deliberately confused stories of the “provocation.”
The missiles fired were said to be Iranian and were said to have been fired first. This, of course, is the official Israeli version of events, something never to be trusted from a government which calls the mass ambush killing of civilians in Gaza “restraint’ and the work of “the world’s most moral army.”
That initial firing of missiles, as an act by Iran, never made sense because the Iranians would have no reason to do that, have nothing to gain, and frankly, the Iranians are just cleverer than that.
But in the press-trained minds of many in the West, functioning much like Pavlov’s dogs, once you mention “Iran,” anything unpleasant is accepted automatically. Just as once you mention “Israel,” anything unpleasant could not possibly be the case.
That state of public awareness is of course ridiculous, but that is the Twilight Zone world of foreign affairs today that has been carefully constructed by a hyper-aggressive American government, its disinformation agencies, and its press, always pretending to journalism while acting as cheer leaders.
Orwell’s words on the nature of big brother’s state, Oceania - which was actually intended as a dark, fierce parody of Stalin’s Soviet Union – apply exactly, "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength."
Other stories about the missile attack, which seemed more credible, said they were Syrian missiles, and were fired in response to Israel’s attack. Some of these stories also asserted that by that missile-firing response, now Syria had laid down a new set of rules for Israel. Who knows? Israel hasn’t confirmed anything about the responding missiles or their targets.
There was speculation about one of the Israeli targets actually being a senior Iranian military commander, but who knows? We have no good information.
Just as we have no good information on the relations between Iran and Russia inside Syria. Are they closely coordinating their efforts? Do they disagree on some matters? Are they even agreed on goals or are they each there because they invited to help Syria while each having its own reasons for doing so?
The nature of the situation and the nature of the threat Israel represents are what should determine the military hardware to be employed.
But the author of the article makes only some quasi-technical arguments about this or that air-defense system, but not about what best suits the situation in Syria, which, of course, he also may not completely understand.
The bottom line considerations in the whole matter, though, are pretty straightforward.
Syria has a right, and under international law, to protect itself from attack by Israel or anyone else.
Russia is an ally of Syria, one benefiting from important military bases and one who has invested a fair amount of treasure, and some blood, into helping it eliminate the phony-jihadi mercenaries dumped into the country by outsiders in an effort to destroy its integrity.
Those outsiders are primarily America, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France, and originally Turkey.
When you say Saudi Arabia these days, you are talking about a bizarre new associate of Israel’s, now really a close secret ally, owing to efforts taken out of fear of American invasion after 9/11, both of them concerned with protecting privileged positions in the region.
When you speak of the governments of America, Britain, and France, you are talking about governments under almost unbelievable influence of lobbies working for Israel’s benefit.
So, Israel is at the very center of the entire situation, even though in our press you would never know that. And Israel’s bloody-minded leader was talking to Putin just before the attack. About what, we’ll likely never know.
Of course, when someone gets “permission” to attack, defense mechanisms become somewhat irrelevant.
AFTERWORD
We have this:
https://russia-insider.com/en/there-easy-and-cheap-way-russia-secure-syrian-airspace-without-s-300/ri23489
and this:
https://www.activistpost.com/2018/05/russias-relationship-with-israel-and-the-s-300-controversy.html
plus a lot of confusion.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: EUROPE'S NEED TO STAND UP TO HYPER-AGGRESSIVE AMERICA - THAT'S NOT DIVORCE JUST A RESPECTFUL RELATIONSHIP - TRUMP'S APPOINTMENTS LITERALLY FROM HELL
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY BRUNO TERTRAIS IN THE GUARDIAN
“Trump is wrong over Iran, but Europe can’t afford to divorce the US
“No other US president has been as antagonistic to European principles. But there’s no alternative to a strong transatlantic partnership”
Oh, please, there is something between subservient, abusive marriage and divorce.
It's called a respectful relationship.
But the United States has no understanding or tolerance for that.
“It's my way or the highway,” quite literally is what everyone is told.
Trump has now surrounded himself with the most grotesque retinue imaginable - Haley, Pompeo, Bolton, Haspel, and others.
My God, any of these people born many decades earlier and in Germany would have been leading figures in the Third Reich, serving it happily. They really are that ghastly, the lot of them.
The United States no longer loses moral ground, it simply has none. Washington operates from a thick haze of lies and greed and brutality.
Many once thought of it as "Leader of the Free World." Well, that expression today doesn't even qualify as sarcasm.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY BRUNO TERTRAIS IN THE GUARDIAN
“Trump is wrong over Iran, but Europe can’t afford to divorce the US
“No other US president has been as antagonistic to European principles. But there’s no alternative to a strong transatlantic partnership”
Oh, please, there is something between subservient, abusive marriage and divorce.
It's called a respectful relationship.
But the United States has no understanding or tolerance for that.
“It's my way or the highway,” quite literally is what everyone is told.
Trump has now surrounded himself with the most grotesque retinue imaginable - Haley, Pompeo, Bolton, Haspel, and others.
My God, any of these people born many decades earlier and in Germany would have been leading figures in the Third Reich, serving it happily. They really are that ghastly, the lot of them.
The United States no longer loses moral ground, it simply has none. Washington operates from a thick haze of lies and greed and brutality.
Many once thought of it as "Leader of the Free World." Well, that expression today doesn't even qualify as sarcasm.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: THE GUARDIAN SEEMS LIKE THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WITH A SPLASHY MAKE-OVER BUT STILL THE SAME STUFF - AND ITS NOT JUST IN ALL THE HARRY AND MEGHAN PROMOTION
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN
‘Want to avoid the royal wedding? Here's an alternative TV guide”
Avoid the royal wedding?
Not if you read The Guardian.
Every single day, some new approach is taken for publicizing the non-event, many of them using a kind of indirect route but still achieving the same purpose.
On the front page, as I write this, are four stories, each featured with photos. Undoubtedly, buried in the bodies of other items too, are mentions or references.
And that's how it is daily.
Really, sometimes I think of the contemporary Guardian as a made-over Daily Telegraph. Different tone, splashier look, but the same basic stuff.
And it's not just in royal wedding matters.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN
‘Want to avoid the royal wedding? Here's an alternative TV guide”
Avoid the royal wedding?
Not if you read The Guardian.
Every single day, some new approach is taken for publicizing the non-event, many of them using a kind of indirect route but still achieving the same purpose.
On the front page, as I write this, are four stories, each featured with photos. Undoubtedly, buried in the bodies of other items too, are mentions or references.
And that's how it is daily.
Really, sometimes I think of the contemporary Guardian as a made-over Daily Telegraph. Different tone, splashier look, but the same basic stuff.
And it's not just in royal wedding matters.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: HOW LONG CAN YOU "NOT BE STEPHEN HARPER" AS YOUR CHIEF MERIT? - CANADA'S JUSTIN TRUDEAU IS A BIG DISAPPOINTMENT AND NOT JUST FOR HIS MANY APOLOGIES
JohnChuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN
“Sorry not sorry: is Canada apologising too much?
“Canada’s sorriest prime minister is getting on people’s nerves. ‘What else does he do, besides apologize for things that happened years and years ago’”
Trudeau is a big disappointment for many Canadians.
And despite a huge amount of public goodwill when he started out, he has achieved remarkably little of real substance.
His only great merit has been that he is not Stephen Harper, the thin-lipped, grimacing Conservative who preceded him - and whose electoral success was largely the result of the Liberal Party being in self-inflicted tatters for years. Harper ranks in the opinion of a great many Canadians as the most unpleasant personality ever to hold the office.
But you can "not be Stephen Harper" for only so long, then you really have to show what you are. So far, it's not too promising, I am sorry to say.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN
“Sorry not sorry: is Canada apologising too much?
“Canada’s sorriest prime minister is getting on people’s nerves. ‘What else does he do, besides apologize for things that happened years and years ago’”
Trudeau is a big disappointment for many Canadians.
And despite a huge amount of public goodwill when he started out, he has achieved remarkably little of real substance.
His only great merit has been that he is not Stephen Harper, the thin-lipped, grimacing Conservative who preceded him - and whose electoral success was largely the result of the Liberal Party being in self-inflicted tatters for years. Harper ranks in the opinion of a great many Canadians as the most unpleasant personality ever to hold the office.
But you can "not be Stephen Harper" for only so long, then you really have to show what you are. So far, it's not too promising, I am sorry to say.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: EVEN THE RECIPES SECTION OF THE NEWSPAPER GETS TURNED INTO HARRY AND MEGHAN PUBLIC RELATIONS
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN
“Six of the best party cakes by Harry and Meghan's wedding-cake maker”
These look awfully good.
But, please already, give us a break on Harry and Meghan.
Boring drivel, every word. Insufferable posing, every photo.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN
“Six of the best party cakes by Harry and Meghan's wedding-cake maker”
These look awfully good.
But, please already, give us a break on Harry and Meghan.
Boring drivel, every word. Insufferable posing, every photo.
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