John Chuckman
EXPANSION OF COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN BREITBART
“British Baroness Tonge Blames Israel, Netanyahu for ‘Reigniting’ Hatred Against Jews”
She may well be right. Her statement is not something to be casually dismissed. It does seem to me that you cannot assert increased anti-Semitism in the world while at the same time instantly rejecting a quite plausible explanation for its rise.
Yet, that is just what we see being done in article after article and speech after speech. Yes, they say, anti-Semitism is growing fiercely, but, no, Israel’s often-appalling behavior could not possibly have contributed, and for anyone to say that it did, just represents more anti-Semitism.
I don't know how anyone can see Israel's horrors in Gaza and not think they would exert influence on the attitudes and perceptions of many people. It could not be otherwise.
Of course, it is important to keep in mind that Jews are not the same as Israelis. Most of the world’s Jews do not live in Israel, but it is Israel itself which insists on blurring the distinction in so many matters, including its latest racist-tinged laws, its efforts to inject itself into Jewish affairs in other countries, and in its incessant pressure on Western governments to pass unjust laws equating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism.
But I still question the whole idea of appreciably increased anti-Semitism in the world. I read a good deal of the press every day, and I see very little credible support for the notion.
It is unproved, being supported only by "stats" generated by diligently pro-Israeli organizations, the idea of widespread anti-Semitism being a founding principle for Israel and a key element in its defense by all supporters.
We have some very revealing events in the recent long and terrible campaign against Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party. It was a campaign marked by all the ugly features of the late Senator Joseph McCarthy’s campaigns in 1950’s America against “commies in government.”
The campaign against Corbyn was nothing less than a witch hunt by a minority who regularly hurled accusations of anti-Semitism against a thoroughly decent and fair-minded man, all without ever a piece of supporting evidence. Indeed, a couple of times, what proved to be embarrassingly spurious “evidence” was produced. Someone actually busied themselves producing such things.
The pressure was so intense, Corbyn was forced to win his leadership a second time, which he handily succeeded in doing. We even saw the Prime Minister of Israel join the attacks (directly interfering in another county’s politics) with statements which proved he did not know what he was talking about. So, important recent experience demonstrates how readily charges of anti-Semitism are used as a tool for political advantage.
Why was Corbyn, a man with a lifelong record of decent and fair behavior, so viciously attacked? Because his views on Israel and Palestine are also decent and fair, and that really isn’t allowed by some.
In today’s political environment, when we hear charges of anti-Semitism or blanket statements about rising anti-Semitism, we have every reason to remain skeptical. We have a number of ugly examples of the words being unconscionably used for political advantage.
The inconsistencies and the effort at cheap exploitation of the terrible crime in Pittsburgh are simply appalling.
I am always distressed by senseless killings. We have far too many, a sad reflection on the human condition.
But just because one obviously sick man said something about Jewish people has nothing to do with the assertion of increased anti-Semitism.
When Anders Breivik slaughtered about 70 children in Norway, one of the most terrible crimes of our lifetime, did people immediately start talking about a rise in hatred for children? The talk about Pittsburgh and anti-Semitism really does make as much sense as doing that would have made.
I could cite many instances of hideous crimes by sick people - Columbine, Las Vegas concert shooting - but it should be obvious that generalizing from any of them about numbers of people is completely wrong-headed.
I feel fairly confident in saying that talk here about rising anti-Semitism exploits the crime in Pittsburgh to provide cover for other, even larger, crimes - in particular, Israel's ongoing military ambushes in Gaza, shooting literally thousands and slaughtering about two hundred unarmed people. It is just utterly unethical.
Readers may enjoy:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/10/01/john-chuckman-comment-my-definitive-points-against-the-ongoing-shabby-effort-to-conflate-criticism-of-israels-behavior-with-the-prejudice-of-anti-semitism-those-two-things-are-no-more-the-same-th/
AFTERWARD
Mike Pence, in his appearance at Pittsburgh, brought with him a Rabbi from the organization, Jews for Jesus, an organization many American Jews regard as offensive and as merely a gimmick for evangelizing Jews. It was an exercise in bad taste by both Pence and the Rabbi.
The Rabbi managed to offend even further by invoking prayers for the Republicans Party in upcoming midterm elections. It was the trashiest injection of politics and personal views into a terrible event that I recall.
Clearly, the fact is that there are always people ready to politically exploit tragedy. Here was the Vice-president of the country doing just that.
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
Sunday, October 28, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: THE SAD STATE OF JOURNALISM - REALITIES OF CORPORATE PRESS AND BROADCASTERS - THE IMPORTANCE OF ALTERNATIVE PRESS BUT THE FEEBLE POSITION IT IS IN FOR REAL INFLUENCE - OURS IS NEITHER AN ORWELL NOR A HUXLEY WORLD BUT SOMETHING MUCH STRANGER
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY JOHN SCALES AVERY IN RUSSIA INSIDER
"The Importance of Alternative Media
"The Roman emperors gave their people bread and circuses to numb them into political inactivity. The modern mass media seem to be playing a similar role."
Overall, a good piece. I like the Huxley-Orwell comparison.
Neil Postman was, of course, an eloquent and interesting social critic.
But I do think our situation is a little darker and less susceptible to change and improvement than the author seems to think.
"...today there is an urgent need to make public opinion aware of the serious problems facing civilization, and the steps that are needed to solve these problems."
While I recognize the importance of that statement, I think it misses something. That "something" has to do with who it is that has an urgent need.
Certainly, it is not the power establishment. They have in fact single-handedly created what we see.
And part of that establishment is the mainline press. It is not a "fourth estate" as the press used to like calling itself in the United States.
It is not a “tribune of the people,” a reference to an ancient Roman office privileged with rights to speak out, an office the old names of some newspapers try to recall.
And, in truth, it is no longer dedicated to the kind of journalistic ideals we would have heard from an I.F. Stone and as I’m sure some journalism schools are still feeding their naïve and optimistic students.
No, American mainline journalism is a corporate entity, much consolidated over the years by mergers and take-overs.
And the economics of many aspects of this corporate entity reflect hard realities of changing technology. Most do not any longer do anything that could be honestly called “investigative reporting,” and most no longer even have staff assigned all over as foreign correspondents.
Those activities are just too costly even if we found some publication or broadcaster willing in spirit to undertake them.
There are no signs that major publishers and broadcasters today are even willing in spirit. They have to be extremely careful about their balance sheets and survival. They would not even think of offending an important corporation, something which could cause additional economic difficulties.
And they have to be extremely careful about government. After all, it is government agencies which shape many aspects of their corporate life, as, for example, whether they will be able to do a merger or take-over. It is also government sources which quietly hand-out leaks and tips for valuable stories. If you aren’t cooperative with government, you will simply be left out in the future and immediately rendered non-competitive vis-à-vis your peers.
There is also the intense nonsense in the United States over patriotism and supporting the country in its wars (not one of which has anything to do with defense). You could be branded almost as a a traitor in today’s America for printing or broadcasting the wrong words, and that would have extremely grave consequences for your audience, for you advertisers, and for your relationship with government.
So, I see no possibility of America’s press now ever rising to the challenges the author outlines.
We actually aren’t in quite an Orwell or a Huxley world but in something much stranger than either of them.
For quite a while, too, in America, citizens have not been referred to as citizens, with the obligations that name entails, by politicians, but as “consumers,” reflecting the immense influence of corporations in America, or as “the middle class,” whatever that may mean, although it is always treated as something important that no one wants to be left out of.
Even people working at Walmart or McDonald’s want be regarded as “middle class” in America, and America’s generous politicians oblige them, the honorific being one of the few things ever bestowed on the people.
America has ended the “working class” through some social and economic miracle. Even referring to it today can get you labelled as an advocate of class warfare or worse, a commie.
No, it is a greatly changed environment, one with no room for the principles of classical journalism, although everyone will continue to make appeals to those, aware of the “resonance” of such appeals, but they mean no more than the often-heard appeals to some of the Bill of Rights, every article of which has been violated by modern American governments.
America lives in an environment where the Department of “Defense” is continuously engaged in aggression or threatening people. Not a single war or action in the post-WWII period has remotely had anything to do with defense.
It also lives in an environment in which the CIA, the NSA, and FBI give the lie daily to ideas of rights and privacy and even decency, and they are only three of America’s current seventeen national security agencies.
Both the Pentagon and the security establishment literally crowd out spending on anything new or beneficial to average Americans. Their budgets are vast and grow like metastasizing cancer. And the last thing such immensely powerful agencies want is interference from the press. The bigger such agencies are, the more the humiliation piled on anyone daring to investigate or attack them.
Indeed, the greater America’s imperial drives are in the world – the very jobs of the Pentagon and CIA - the greater are the numbers and extent of dark operations and dark programs and things labelled “national security.” There is no room for journalism there, except in a kind of superficial re-assuring role and in the role of “getting the message out there.” “Getting the message out there” used to be called propaganda or disinformation, but not anymore in America, unless they are speaking of Russian journalism.
It is what America’s mainline press does 24-hours a day. The only exception is in the case of harmless local news or business news or travel news or events where journalism can still be done.
Just think about it. How easily even several top-notch journalists, given the assignment and the needed resources, could have discovered the truth of the Syrian War or the truth of the Iraq War or Libya or the collapse of Ukraine. But it never happened, and it won’t in a world shaped as ours is.
Yes, some independent journalists have done reporting, but they have no resources, they have their efforts made difficult by government, whose spokespeople even contradict them, and the general public mostly never reads their stuff. They have no big outlets for their product. The general public wants, just as at the grocery store, national brand names, not Brand X. So, independents cannot even reach the audience they should.
The system works perfectly for supporting the dark plans of a determined power establishment while leaving a semblance of press influence.
But that influence is as illusory as America’s national elections where each citizen gets to vote for a candidate who will change nothing important. Democrat or Republican, you get wars, dark operations, a privileged establishment, bloated security agencies and the Pentagon all working with the wealthy individuals and corporations which the establishment serves and protects.
No other outcome is realistically possible. And just so for America’s press and mainline journalism. I think no other outcome than what we see is possible. Since they are part of that same establishment.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY JOHN SCALES AVERY IN RUSSIA INSIDER
"The Importance of Alternative Media
"The Roman emperors gave their people bread and circuses to numb them into political inactivity. The modern mass media seem to be playing a similar role."
Overall, a good piece. I like the Huxley-Orwell comparison.
Neil Postman was, of course, an eloquent and interesting social critic.
But I do think our situation is a little darker and less susceptible to change and improvement than the author seems to think.
"...today there is an urgent need to make public opinion aware of the serious problems facing civilization, and the steps that are needed to solve these problems."
While I recognize the importance of that statement, I think it misses something. That "something" has to do with who it is that has an urgent need.
Certainly, it is not the power establishment. They have in fact single-handedly created what we see.
And part of that establishment is the mainline press. It is not a "fourth estate" as the press used to like calling itself in the United States.
It is not a “tribune of the people,” a reference to an ancient Roman office privileged with rights to speak out, an office the old names of some newspapers try to recall.
And, in truth, it is no longer dedicated to the kind of journalistic ideals we would have heard from an I.F. Stone and as I’m sure some journalism schools are still feeding their naïve and optimistic students.
No, American mainline journalism is a corporate entity, much consolidated over the years by mergers and take-overs.
And the economics of many aspects of this corporate entity reflect hard realities of changing technology. Most do not any longer do anything that could be honestly called “investigative reporting,” and most no longer even have staff assigned all over as foreign correspondents.
Those activities are just too costly even if we found some publication or broadcaster willing in spirit to undertake them.
There are no signs that major publishers and broadcasters today are even willing in spirit. They have to be extremely careful about their balance sheets and survival. They would not even think of offending an important corporation, something which could cause additional economic difficulties.
And they have to be extremely careful about government. After all, it is government agencies which shape many aspects of their corporate life, as, for example, whether they will be able to do a merger or take-over. It is also government sources which quietly hand-out leaks and tips for valuable stories. If you aren’t cooperative with government, you will simply be left out in the future and immediately rendered non-competitive vis-à-vis your peers.
There is also the intense nonsense in the United States over patriotism and supporting the country in its wars (not one of which has anything to do with defense). You could be branded almost as a a traitor in today’s America for printing or broadcasting the wrong words, and that would have extremely grave consequences for your audience, for you advertisers, and for your relationship with government.
So, I see no possibility of America’s press now ever rising to the challenges the author outlines.
We actually aren’t in quite an Orwell or a Huxley world but in something much stranger than either of them.
For quite a while, too, in America, citizens have not been referred to as citizens, with the obligations that name entails, by politicians, but as “consumers,” reflecting the immense influence of corporations in America, or as “the middle class,” whatever that may mean, although it is always treated as something important that no one wants to be left out of.
Even people working at Walmart or McDonald’s want be regarded as “middle class” in America, and America’s generous politicians oblige them, the honorific being one of the few things ever bestowed on the people.
America has ended the “working class” through some social and economic miracle. Even referring to it today can get you labelled as an advocate of class warfare or worse, a commie.
No, it is a greatly changed environment, one with no room for the principles of classical journalism, although everyone will continue to make appeals to those, aware of the “resonance” of such appeals, but they mean no more than the often-heard appeals to some of the Bill of Rights, every article of which has been violated by modern American governments.
America lives in an environment where the Department of “Defense” is continuously engaged in aggression or threatening people. Not a single war or action in the post-WWII period has remotely had anything to do with defense.
It also lives in an environment in which the CIA, the NSA, and FBI give the lie daily to ideas of rights and privacy and even decency, and they are only three of America’s current seventeen national security agencies.
Both the Pentagon and the security establishment literally crowd out spending on anything new or beneficial to average Americans. Their budgets are vast and grow like metastasizing cancer. And the last thing such immensely powerful agencies want is interference from the press. The bigger such agencies are, the more the humiliation piled on anyone daring to investigate or attack them.
Indeed, the greater America’s imperial drives are in the world – the very jobs of the Pentagon and CIA - the greater are the numbers and extent of dark operations and dark programs and things labelled “national security.” There is no room for journalism there, except in a kind of superficial re-assuring role and in the role of “getting the message out there.” “Getting the message out there” used to be called propaganda or disinformation, but not anymore in America, unless they are speaking of Russian journalism.
It is what America’s mainline press does 24-hours a day. The only exception is in the case of harmless local news or business news or travel news or events where journalism can still be done.
Just think about it. How easily even several top-notch journalists, given the assignment and the needed resources, could have discovered the truth of the Syrian War or the truth of the Iraq War or Libya or the collapse of Ukraine. But it never happened, and it won’t in a world shaped as ours is.
Yes, some independent journalists have done reporting, but they have no resources, they have their efforts made difficult by government, whose spokespeople even contradict them, and the general public mostly never reads their stuff. They have no big outlets for their product. The general public wants, just as at the grocery store, national brand names, not Brand X. So, independents cannot even reach the audience they should.
The system works perfectly for supporting the dark plans of a determined power establishment while leaving a semblance of press influence.
But that influence is as illusory as America’s national elections where each citizen gets to vote for a candidate who will change nothing important. Democrat or Republican, you get wars, dark operations, a privileged establishment, bloated security agencies and the Pentagon all working with the wealthy individuals and corporations which the establishment serves and protects.
No other outcome is realistically possible. And just so for America’s press and mainline journalism. I think no other outcome than what we see is possible. Since they are part of that same establishment.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: BLOOD-SOAKED AMERICAN ALLY SAUDI ARABIA - ACTUAL DEATH TOLL IN YEMEN - ONLY CIRCUMSTANCES WHERE WASHINGTON ATTACKS TYRANTS - COMPARE THE GLARING HYPOCRISY OF THE KHASHOGGI AND SKRIPAL AFFAIRS - AN UPSIDE-DOWN WORLD WHERE POWER AND MONEY ALWAYS TRUMP PRINCIPLE
John Chuckman
COMMENTS POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY ANN WRIGHT IN CONSORTIUM NEWS
“America’s Bloody Ally
“The U.S. continues to support the dictatorship of Saudi Arabia—as a key ally—even after the horrific murder of Jamal Khashoggi and the horrendous five-year bombing campaign on Yemen…”
On the deaths inflicted in Yemen by Saudi Arabia, Patrick Cockburn offers a convincing argument that the number is five times larger than what we typically read:
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/yemen-war-death-toll-saudi-arabia-allies-how-many-killed-responsibility-a8603326.html
_______________________
Response to a comment:
Yes, but it is all about world empire.
Nothing better illustrates the actual nature of America abroad than the friends and allies that it keeps.
Some truly disgusting people, but they are useful to Washington's power establishment.
When America goes after a "tyrant" it is only because he does not toe the policy line or he has shown some independence of mind in some matter of consequence. That isn't allowed.
In many cases, America actually effectively grants licenses to kill to favored governments. In Central America. In Syria. In Saudi Arabia. In Egypt. In Israel. And other places.
I truly think the average American still does not understand this basic truth and naively believes his country stands internationally for principles of human and democratic rights. Of course, that is the official, often-repeated State Department line and the view promoted by America’s corporate press.
Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s like believing some old sobby Jimmy Stewart movie reflects real life rather than melodramatic fantasy.
And as I often stress, there is absolutely no difference between Republicans and Democrats in this matter. None.
They are only separated by rhetoric about domestic social issues, and it is just rhetoric because there's no real will or resources left after imperial efforts for doing anything decent for ordinary citizens. Those with investment in empire get all the attention and resources of government. The pretense of vital differences between the two parties keeps Americans involved emotionally and blinded to reality.
__________________
Response to a comment:
Perfect illustration of what I wrote above.
The Crown Prince is very useful to Washington, especially because of his warm relationship with Israel and his ready willingness to kill, as demonstrated in Yemen.
Putin is the opposite, he represents a barrier to American imperial interests and drives. He represents a multi-polar world loathed in Washington.
So, the two cases – Khashoggi and Skripal - get completely different treatments from governments and their faithful script-readers in the press.
The Prince gets away with grisly murder, and the proof of his guilt is there because everything we know comes from actual Turkish audio and video recordings, some of which the government of Turkey leaked to the Turkish press.
To this day, no one even knows what happened to the Skripals in Britain. No one can see or talk to either of them, and no hard evidence of anything asserted by the government has been provided to the public. We have only government innuendo and accusations, but the fact that we know nothing didn’t prevent, or even slow down, a huge diplomatic row with new sanctions against the accused.
We really do live in an upside-down world.
As I said above, America actually effectively gives some its helpers abroad a licence to kill.
For its imagined enemies, as Russia, it has only contempt and threats and belligerence.
COMMENTS POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY ANN WRIGHT IN CONSORTIUM NEWS
“America’s Bloody Ally
“The U.S. continues to support the dictatorship of Saudi Arabia—as a key ally—even after the horrific murder of Jamal Khashoggi and the horrendous five-year bombing campaign on Yemen…”
On the deaths inflicted in Yemen by Saudi Arabia, Patrick Cockburn offers a convincing argument that the number is five times larger than what we typically read:
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/yemen-war-death-toll-saudi-arabia-allies-how-many-killed-responsibility-a8603326.html
_______________________
Response to a comment:
Yes, but it is all about world empire.
Nothing better illustrates the actual nature of America abroad than the friends and allies that it keeps.
Some truly disgusting people, but they are useful to Washington's power establishment.
When America goes after a "tyrant" it is only because he does not toe the policy line or he has shown some independence of mind in some matter of consequence. That isn't allowed.
In many cases, America actually effectively grants licenses to kill to favored governments. In Central America. In Syria. In Saudi Arabia. In Egypt. In Israel. And other places.
I truly think the average American still does not understand this basic truth and naively believes his country stands internationally for principles of human and democratic rights. Of course, that is the official, often-repeated State Department line and the view promoted by America’s corporate press.
Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s like believing some old sobby Jimmy Stewart movie reflects real life rather than melodramatic fantasy.
And as I often stress, there is absolutely no difference between Republicans and Democrats in this matter. None.
They are only separated by rhetoric about domestic social issues, and it is just rhetoric because there's no real will or resources left after imperial efforts for doing anything decent for ordinary citizens. Those with investment in empire get all the attention and resources of government. The pretense of vital differences between the two parties keeps Americans involved emotionally and blinded to reality.
__________________
Response to a comment:
Perfect illustration of what I wrote above.
The Crown Prince is very useful to Washington, especially because of his warm relationship with Israel and his ready willingness to kill, as demonstrated in Yemen.
Putin is the opposite, he represents a barrier to American imperial interests and drives. He represents a multi-polar world loathed in Washington.
So, the two cases – Khashoggi and Skripal - get completely different treatments from governments and their faithful script-readers in the press.
The Prince gets away with grisly murder, and the proof of his guilt is there because everything we know comes from actual Turkish audio and video recordings, some of which the government of Turkey leaked to the Turkish press.
To this day, no one even knows what happened to the Skripals in Britain. No one can see or talk to either of them, and no hard evidence of anything asserted by the government has been provided to the public. We have only government innuendo and accusations, but the fact that we know nothing didn’t prevent, or even slow down, a huge diplomatic row with new sanctions against the accused.
We really do live in an upside-down world.
As I said above, America actually effectively gives some its helpers abroad a licence to kill.
For its imagined enemies, as Russia, it has only contempt and threats and belligerence.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: WIKILEAKS HAS EXPOSED A GOOD DEAL OF BRITISH-UNITED STATES COMPLICITY - WHY ASSANGE IS SO HATED EVEN THOUGH THE TWO GOVERNMENTS KEEP THEIR PUBLIC RHETORIC QUITE LOW - NATURE OF SECRETS
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY MARK CURTIS IN CONSORTIUM NEWS
“WikiLeaks’ Legacy of Exposing US-UK Complicity
“WikiLeaks is vilified by governments (and increasingly by journalists) for its exposures, including of the U.S.-UK “special relationship” in running a joint foreign policy of deception and violence that serves London and Washington’s elite interests…”
The label “secret” is largely used by governments to cover up blunders and what would be regarded as dark practices from their own citizens.
This is especially true for a government like America’s which constantly is doing dirty deeds and manipulations for its huge empire. There simply is no other way to have an empire, a fact I think most ordinary Americans still have no appreciation of.
Britain has become a kind of constant maidservant in the effort, demonstrating no independence at all. This especially true in the Middle East because Britain is under just as heavy an influence from the Israel Lobby as is the United States. We saw this with blinding clarity during the long siege effort, assisted by most of the press, to unseat Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party.
WikiLeaks has worked against these government practices with secrecy, and with considerable effect.
That’s why Assange is so hated and under threat, even though they try to be restrained and not make too much public noise about him. They work behind the scenes as with pressure against Ecuador’s government. Assange has a gained a good deal of almost-mythical hero status, and going after him too openly looks bad.
WikiLeaks truly has only done what old-fashioned investigative reporting did.
But we don’t have investigative reporting anymore. We have a consolidated corporate press working loyally to protect the privileges and prerogatives of empire.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY MARK CURTIS IN CONSORTIUM NEWS
“WikiLeaks’ Legacy of Exposing US-UK Complicity
“WikiLeaks is vilified by governments (and increasingly by journalists) for its exposures, including of the U.S.-UK “special relationship” in running a joint foreign policy of deception and violence that serves London and Washington’s elite interests…”
The label “secret” is largely used by governments to cover up blunders and what would be regarded as dark practices from their own citizens.
This is especially true for a government like America’s which constantly is doing dirty deeds and manipulations for its huge empire. There simply is no other way to have an empire, a fact I think most ordinary Americans still have no appreciation of.
Britain has become a kind of constant maidservant in the effort, demonstrating no independence at all. This especially true in the Middle East because Britain is under just as heavy an influence from the Israel Lobby as is the United States. We saw this with blinding clarity during the long siege effort, assisted by most of the press, to unseat Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party.
WikiLeaks has worked against these government practices with secrecy, and with considerable effect.
That’s why Assange is so hated and under threat, even though they try to be restrained and not make too much public noise about him. They work behind the scenes as with pressure against Ecuador’s government. Assange has a gained a good deal of almost-mythical hero status, and going after him too openly looks bad.
WikiLeaks truly has only done what old-fashioned investigative reporting did.
But we don’t have investigative reporting anymore. We have a consolidated corporate press working loyally to protect the privileges and prerogatives of empire.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE REASON WHY AMERICAN-RUSSIAN RELATIONS HAVE HIT ROCK BOTTOM
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY M K BHADRAKUMAR IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“Ahead of Putin-Trump Summit US-Russian Relations Hit Rock Bottom
"Clearly, the US is hoping to achieve military superiority over Russia by vastly expanding its nuclear capability and developing new weapons so as to reach a position where it can dictate to Moscow"
"US-Russian Relations Hit Rock Bottom"
You can say that again.
And whose fault is that?
Could it possibly be the man responsible for appointing animals like Bolton and Pompeo?
Of course, it is.
He is in fact not your friend, Russia, because he is simply too weak, despite the empty bluster, to be an effective friend. The bluster only makes him more dangerous.
If the Neocon establishment lets him be re-elected, he'll do literally anything for them in return. Anything.
A very dangerous man, as weak men in powerful positions always are.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY M K BHADRAKUMAR IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“Ahead of Putin-Trump Summit US-Russian Relations Hit Rock Bottom
"Clearly, the US is hoping to achieve military superiority over Russia by vastly expanding its nuclear capability and developing new weapons so as to reach a position where it can dictate to Moscow"
"US-Russian Relations Hit Rock Bottom"
You can say that again.
And whose fault is that?
Could it possibly be the man responsible for appointing animals like Bolton and Pompeo?
Of course, it is.
He is in fact not your friend, Russia, because he is simply too weak, despite the empty bluster, to be an effective friend. The bluster only makes him more dangerous.
If the Neocon establishment lets him be re-elected, he'll do literally anything for them in return. Anything.
A very dangerous man, as weak men in powerful positions always are.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: THE "NATURAL" MARRIAGE OF GERMANY AND RUSSIA - BOTH COULD BENEFIT IMMENSELY BY A CLOSE RELATIONSHIP - BUT THIS IS AN IDEA WASHINGTON LOATHES AND IT WILL DO EVERYTHING IN ITS POWER TO PREVENT
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“Moscow's Astonishing Infrastructure Boom - 25 New Metro Stops, Massive Roads, Tunnels, Bridges”
_________________
Response to a comment saying, “peace will bring Russia everything it needs..... that's why NATO is pushing war...because economically she will naturally bind Germany to her and eastern Europe ...:”
That's a very true observation.
Germany and Russia are a marriage made in heaven.
Geography, resources, history - all demonstrate it.
Both would become stronger by a close relationship.
But for the US this idea is anathema, and they will do everything they can to be disruptive.
It is no understatement to say the US today is the most dangerous nation on earth.
I don't know that they want actual war, but they do want a constant state of tension, of threats, of unpredictability.
The American establishment just cannot accept its relative decline in the world, a decline that comes naturally through the growth of others, and it has adopted a whole new strategy of aggressiveness to grab whatever advantages it can in every part of the world.
Very dangerous. Readers may enjoy:
https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/2015/05/08/john-chuckman-essay-dangerous-flailing-and-bellowing-of-the-beast/
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/10/09/john-chuckman-comment-americas-unmistakable-relative-economic-decline-the-hopeless-and-dangerous-assaults-of-trump-and-the-american-establishment-on-the-world-a-clear-drift-towards-fascism-im/
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“Moscow's Astonishing Infrastructure Boom - 25 New Metro Stops, Massive Roads, Tunnels, Bridges”
_________________
Response to a comment saying, “peace will bring Russia everything it needs..... that's why NATO is pushing war...because economically she will naturally bind Germany to her and eastern Europe ...:”
That's a very true observation.
Germany and Russia are a marriage made in heaven.
Geography, resources, history - all demonstrate it.
Both would become stronger by a close relationship.
But for the US this idea is anathema, and they will do everything they can to be disruptive.
It is no understatement to say the US today is the most dangerous nation on earth.
I don't know that they want actual war, but they do want a constant state of tension, of threats, of unpredictability.
The American establishment just cannot accept its relative decline in the world, a decline that comes naturally through the growth of others, and it has adopted a whole new strategy of aggressiveness to grab whatever advantages it can in every part of the world.
Very dangerous. Readers may enjoy:
https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/2015/05/08/john-chuckman-essay-dangerous-flailing-and-bellowing-of-the-beast/
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/10/09/john-chuckman-comment-americas-unmistakable-relative-economic-decline-the-hopeless-and-dangerous-assaults-of-trump-and-the-american-establishment-on-the-world-a-clear-drift-towards-fascism-im/
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND SOCIETY'S APPROACH TO THE PROBLEMS IT REPRESENTS
John Chuckman
EXPANSION OF A COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN CBC NEWS
"Here's what climate change could look like in Canada"
First, "could" isn't "will," and I think that important to say.
Humanity has adjusted to many big changes, including ice ages, over tens of thousands of years.
It will adjust to this, too.
I don't doubt in the least that climate change is underway.
But that is not the same thing as saying we can control it, by a carbon tax or any other means.
Nor does it mean that we humans caused the change.
The great Roman writer, Tacitus, referred to North Africa as "the granary of Rome."
No one would call it that now, and the change had nothing to do with people.
Alberta was once largely under a sea millions of years ago.
Sixty million years ago, dinosaurs ruled the earth, and there was not a human in sight, but every last one of the dinosaurs is gone.
The earth is simply a dynamic place, sometimes violently so as with great storms and earthquakes, not some static idyll that humans came along and disturbed and now need to set right again. To my mind, that view much resembles some feeble Bible story like the Garden of Eden, but it is implicit in a great deal of what one hears today from self-proclaimed champions of the earth.
Indeed, adjusting to change over time is likely to be far less costly, and far more certain in its effect, than any grand and costly schemes to prevent it.
Every time I hear of such schemes, I think of the Soviets in, say, the 1950s. They had many huge and ambitious schemes for changing the very physical face of their country, but all came to naught or, worse, when done, created terribly adverse effects.
The drying-up and shrinking of the Aral Sea was one of these. The mountain waters which naturally replenished the sea were in part diverted to create irrigation to vast new lands put under agriculture. Today, the sea has immense parched, cracked-earth areas, and one sees old fishing ships rotting in the sun.
We simply do not know enough to re-engineer the earth.
EXPANSION OF A COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN CBC NEWS
"Here's what climate change could look like in Canada"
First, "could" isn't "will," and I think that important to say.
Humanity has adjusted to many big changes, including ice ages, over tens of thousands of years.
It will adjust to this, too.
I don't doubt in the least that climate change is underway.
But that is not the same thing as saying we can control it, by a carbon tax or any other means.
Nor does it mean that we humans caused the change.
The great Roman writer, Tacitus, referred to North Africa as "the granary of Rome."
No one would call it that now, and the change had nothing to do with people.
Alberta was once largely under a sea millions of years ago.
Sixty million years ago, dinosaurs ruled the earth, and there was not a human in sight, but every last one of the dinosaurs is gone.
The earth is simply a dynamic place, sometimes violently so as with great storms and earthquakes, not some static idyll that humans came along and disturbed and now need to set right again. To my mind, that view much resembles some feeble Bible story like the Garden of Eden, but it is implicit in a great deal of what one hears today from self-proclaimed champions of the earth.
Indeed, adjusting to change over time is likely to be far less costly, and far more certain in its effect, than any grand and costly schemes to prevent it.
Every time I hear of such schemes, I think of the Soviets in, say, the 1950s. They had many huge and ambitious schemes for changing the very physical face of their country, but all came to naught or, worse, when done, created terribly adverse effects.
The drying-up and shrinking of the Aral Sea was one of these. The mountain waters which naturally replenished the sea were in part diverted to create irrigation to vast new lands put under agriculture. Today, the sea has immense parched, cracked-earth areas, and one sees old fishing ships rotting in the sun.
We simply do not know enough to re-engineer the earth.
Friday, October 26, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: THE "PIPEBOMB" AFFAIR AND THE PROMINENT ROLE OF LUNACY IN AMERICA
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“Suspicious Packages Could Be ‘Russian Operation,’ Says MSNBC Host
“That didn't take long”
“I have this fear that it could be some Russian operation,” Chuck Todd told his guests, explaining his reasoning as, “It is dividing us.”
Well, the ridiculous claims and suggestions just never stop oozing out of Americans, much resembling some unstoppable leak of toxic sludge.
This television host's statement truly is as disturbingly stupid as the handiwork of the man who has been arrested and appears to have made and sent these "bombs."
I've read now a couple of times from experts that these were not bombs.
They were movie props in effect, made to look intimidating.
Of course, they could scare someone, but they were really incapable of hurting anyone.
The pipes didn't even contain an explosive, but a sulphur compound.
The man responsible is simply mentally disturbed, and believe me you will find many of those walking the streets of America.
And you'll find them even sitting in front of television cameras for a major American network.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“Suspicious Packages Could Be ‘Russian Operation,’ Says MSNBC Host
“That didn't take long”
“I have this fear that it could be some Russian operation,” Chuck Todd told his guests, explaining his reasoning as, “It is dividing us.”
Well, the ridiculous claims and suggestions just never stop oozing out of Americans, much resembling some unstoppable leak of toxic sludge.
This television host's statement truly is as disturbingly stupid as the handiwork of the man who has been arrested and appears to have made and sent these "bombs."
I've read now a couple of times from experts that these were not bombs.
They were movie props in effect, made to look intimidating.
Of course, they could scare someone, but they were really incapable of hurting anyone.
The pipes didn't even contain an explosive, but a sulphur compound.
The man responsible is simply mentally disturbed, and believe me you will find many of those walking the streets of America.
And you'll find them even sitting in front of television cameras for a major American network.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: SAUDI ARABIA REALLY HAS ONE KEY PROBLEM GENERATING VARIOUS THREATS TO ITS STABILITY - ITS CLOSE ASSOCIATION WITH ISRAEL AND THE UNITED STATES - MY ANSWER TO SOMEONE TELLING AMERICANS TO STOP TALKING AND JUST VOTE
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY DANIEL LAZARE IN CONSORTIUM NEWS
“The Khashoggi Affair and the Future of Saudi Arabia
“If the Saudi power structure were to crumble in the wake of the Khashoggi scandal there would be chaos at home and a shift in power around the Gulf”
Saudi Arabia’s biggest problem is being in bed with Israel.
That now-intimate, but still-covert, connection is at the root of many Saudi problems
Heavy involvement in supporting the Syrian terror – an Israeli project from the beginning. The horror in Yemen. The extreme antagonism towards Iran.
If there is one person in the entire region who is more brutal and ruthless than the Saudi Crown Prince, then that person is Netanyahu.
Cozying up to Israel has been a way to supposedly gain greater influence with America, and it does do that, but at an immense price, a price Saudi Arabia perhaps cannot bear.
Readers may enjoy:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/10/18/john-chuckman-comment-the-israeli-saudi-de-facto-alliance-what-the-murderous-crown-prince-represents-for-america-re-making-the-planet-and-hitlers-willing-helpers/
____________________
Response to a comment, “it serves no purpose going over the same old arguments. Act. Vote.”:
Vote for what?
Obama was in all the blood and dirt up to his armpits.
He just comes off better in public speaking. More graceful, less argumentative than Trump. But every bit the same ruthless killer and supporter of scum like the Crown Prince.
And Hillary? A natural born killer.
Joe Biden? He pushed Obama to create America’s massive hi-tech extrajudicial killing industry run by CIA.
What choice do Americans have?
Close to zero in my view.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY DANIEL LAZARE IN CONSORTIUM NEWS
“The Khashoggi Affair and the Future of Saudi Arabia
“If the Saudi power structure were to crumble in the wake of the Khashoggi scandal there would be chaos at home and a shift in power around the Gulf”
Saudi Arabia’s biggest problem is being in bed with Israel.
That now-intimate, but still-covert, connection is at the root of many Saudi problems
Heavy involvement in supporting the Syrian terror – an Israeli project from the beginning. The horror in Yemen. The extreme antagonism towards Iran.
If there is one person in the entire region who is more brutal and ruthless than the Saudi Crown Prince, then that person is Netanyahu.
Cozying up to Israel has been a way to supposedly gain greater influence with America, and it does do that, but at an immense price, a price Saudi Arabia perhaps cannot bear.
Readers may enjoy:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/10/18/john-chuckman-comment-the-israeli-saudi-de-facto-alliance-what-the-murderous-crown-prince-represents-for-america-re-making-the-planet-and-hitlers-willing-helpers/
____________________
Response to a comment, “it serves no purpose going over the same old arguments. Act. Vote.”:
Vote for what?
Obama was in all the blood and dirt up to his armpits.
He just comes off better in public speaking. More graceful, less argumentative than Trump. But every bit the same ruthless killer and supporter of scum like the Crown Prince.
And Hillary? A natural born killer.
Joe Biden? He pushed Obama to create America’s massive hi-tech extrajudicial killing industry run by CIA.
What choice do Americans have?
Close to zero in my view.
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: SAUDI ARABIA'S KILLER CROWN PRINCE MAKING HIS FIRST POST-KHASHOGGI SPEECH - WHY I AM REMINDED OF SOLZHENITSYN'S GULAG ARCHIPELAGO
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE ON CBC NEWS
“Saudi crown prince to give first speech since journalist's killing”
There's a powerful scene in Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago in which Stalin is giving a speech to a packed hall.
Members of the audience clap very hard in response to his every sentence because members of the NKVD (forerunner of the KGB) stride up and down the aisles, looking here and there for people who are not clapping.
I imagine the atmosphere for the Crown Prince's speech will much resemble Solzhenitsyn's scene.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE ON CBC NEWS
“Saudi crown prince to give first speech since journalist's killing”
There's a powerful scene in Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago in which Stalin is giving a speech to a packed hall.
Members of the audience clap very hard in response to his every sentence because members of the NKVD (forerunner of the KGB) stride up and down the aisles, looking here and there for people who are not clapping.
I imagine the atmosphere for the Crown Prince's speech will much resemble Solzhenitsyn's scene.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: THE UNFORTUNATE TIMING OF THE LATEST CARAVAN OF REFUGEES HEADING TOWARDS THE AMERICAN BORDER - APPEAL TO AMERICAN XENOPHOBIA LIKELY TRUMP'S STRONGEST POLITICAL ASSET AND IT MAY HELP HIM SURVIVE MIDTERM CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS
John Chuckman
EXPANSION OF A COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE ON CBC NEWS
“If Trump's talk of Democratic 'mobs' is meant to scare Republicans to the polls, it's working”
I am sympathetic with the Central American refugees.
And I know they form caravans for their own safety, not for any sinister reasons, although the Trump crowd works itself up with talk of invading armies.
The refugees pass through some pretty dangerous territory on their search for a better, safer life, and of course they include many women and children.
And so much of what people are fleeing in Central America is the result of destructive American policies and interference in the internal affairs of other countries, fomenting civil ways and barbarous government behavior.
But could organizers have picked a worse time to form up the latest group approaching the American border?
Fear and loathing of migrants and refugees is likely Trump's single strongest political appeal factor.
It is simply an ugly truth about United States' voters.
Right before the Midterm Congressional Elections, which, were they to go the right way, would turn Trump into a lame duck for the balance of his term.
EXPANSION OF A COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE ON CBC NEWS
“If Trump's talk of Democratic 'mobs' is meant to scare Republicans to the polls, it's working”
I am sympathetic with the Central American refugees.
And I know they form caravans for their own safety, not for any sinister reasons, although the Trump crowd works itself up with talk of invading armies.
The refugees pass through some pretty dangerous territory on their search for a better, safer life, and of course they include many women and children.
And so much of what people are fleeing in Central America is the result of destructive American policies and interference in the internal affairs of other countries, fomenting civil ways and barbarous government behavior.
But could organizers have picked a worse time to form up the latest group approaching the American border?
Fear and loathing of migrants and refugees is likely Trump's single strongest political appeal factor.
It is simply an ugly truth about United States' voters.
Right before the Midterm Congressional Elections, which, were they to go the right way, would turn Trump into a lame duck for the balance of his term.
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: A VERY SAD EVENT - THE RECENT WOMEN'S DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE PENTAGON - WHAT IT REALLY TELLS US - AMERICA NOW EVERYTHING THE JACK-BOOTED STATES OF THE 1930s WERE - ONLY JACK-BOOTS ARE OUT OF STYLE
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY JOE LAURIA IN CONSORTIUM NEWS
“Women March on the Pentagon
“Fed up with ongoing wars depleting innocent lives and the U.S. Treasury, more than a thousand women marched on the Pentagon on Sunday to declare their opposition to the continuing slaughter.”
I could not possibly be more in sympathy with the cause these marchers represent.
I wouldn't want to demean or diminish them for any reason.
But I think the main thing a march like this one tells us about is an extremely unhappy fact.
1,500 people? My God that wouldn't fill the auditorium of a big movie theater.
America, collectively, simply does not care that its government is now in the full-time killing business.
Which of course precludes so very many activities governments are supposed to be concerned with, from health care to building needed bridges.
The sad facts just reinforce my view of contemporary America as an extremely dangerous force in the world.
America’s government literally burns resources on wars, needless wars, and does next to nothing for and about the people it is supposed to govern, supposed to represent, and from whom it collects taxes to pay for the dark work that it is involved in.
There is a huge disconnect there between the American people and “their” government.
So, not only are American national elections close to a charade as to real choice - Trump versus Clinton? What a choice the plutocrats offer people - but the national government seems to enjoy virtually complete freedom to kill on a massive scale with unwarranted geopolitical wars, support tyrants also engaged in killing, men like the Saudi Crown Prince and Israel's Netanyahu, and it even freely and openly conducts a program of extrajudicial killing on an industrial scale.
My God, there's just no pretence anymore. America is about killing and bullying the planet, and America's own citizens remain pretty well completely indifferent.
The basic structure and dynamics of a situation like this are extremely threatening for the entire world. America today much resembles the 1930s jack-booted states of Europe marching around to threaten everyone. The only difference now is that jack-boots have gone out of style.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY JOE LAURIA IN CONSORTIUM NEWS
“Women March on the Pentagon
“Fed up with ongoing wars depleting innocent lives and the U.S. Treasury, more than a thousand women marched on the Pentagon on Sunday to declare their opposition to the continuing slaughter.”
I could not possibly be more in sympathy with the cause these marchers represent.
I wouldn't want to demean or diminish them for any reason.
But I think the main thing a march like this one tells us about is an extremely unhappy fact.
1,500 people? My God that wouldn't fill the auditorium of a big movie theater.
America, collectively, simply does not care that its government is now in the full-time killing business.
Which of course precludes so very many activities governments are supposed to be concerned with, from health care to building needed bridges.
The sad facts just reinforce my view of contemporary America as an extremely dangerous force in the world.
America’s government literally burns resources on wars, needless wars, and does next to nothing for and about the people it is supposed to govern, supposed to represent, and from whom it collects taxes to pay for the dark work that it is involved in.
There is a huge disconnect there between the American people and “their” government.
So, not only are American national elections close to a charade as to real choice - Trump versus Clinton? What a choice the plutocrats offer people - but the national government seems to enjoy virtually complete freedom to kill on a massive scale with unwarranted geopolitical wars, support tyrants also engaged in killing, men like the Saudi Crown Prince and Israel's Netanyahu, and it even freely and openly conducts a program of extrajudicial killing on an industrial scale.
My God, there's just no pretence anymore. America is about killing and bullying the planet, and America's own citizens remain pretty well completely indifferent.
The basic structure and dynamics of a situation like this are extremely threatening for the entire world. America today much resembles the 1930s jack-booted states of Europe marching around to threaten everyone. The only difference now is that jack-boots have gone out of style.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: WHY TRUMP DOES NOT CONTROL THE AMERICAN MILITARY - THE CIA'S ROLE - KENNEDY'S ASSASSINATION - DRUG-DEALING AND OTHER OFF-THE-BOOKS MONEY-MAKERS FOR CIA SUPPORTING PROGRAMS NO POLITICIAN EVEN KNOWS ABOUT - A VERY THREATENING NATION
John Chuckman
COMMENTS POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY PAUL KINDLON IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“Why Trump Cannot Control the American Military
“Trump's admirable talk about pulling out of global conflicts is meaningless"
"Perhaps this is the reason JFK was assassinated – a man who was on the verge of dismantling the CIA and pulling out U.S troops from Vietnam."
I don't think there is any "maybe" about it, although I believe the issue of Cuba and the CIA’s years-long terror campaign there, was more central to the assassination than the matters the writer mentions. So, too, were Kennedy’s various arrangements and agreements (as “backchannel” communications) with the USSR concerning Cuba and the general state of the Cold War.
See:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/07/13/john-chuckman-comment-the-first-genuine-information-in-the-kennedy-assassination-records-release-to-give-us-some-genuine-information-about-what-happened/
On the wider topic of military and security services control of government, there also is little doubt.
Indeed, if people just think about it, they will realize that it would be virtually impossible to run a massive global empire on the basis of elected officials whose views might be different every 4 to 8 years.
It's something not many Americans have given much thought to - see:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/10/02/john-chuckman-comment-why-modern-presidents-cannot-set-american-foreign-policy-even-if-they-want-to-do-so-founding-of-american-empire-after-ww-ii-the-needs-all-empires-share-whether-american-or-s/
All of which, in addition to the ugly reality we see of new hyper-aggressive efforts by Washington to extend its authority, demonstrates just why America is in fact the most dangerous nation on earth today.
_________________
Response to a comment about the US not being very good at winning wars:
No, they aren’t, but if you notice, when they do win, as at the close of WWII, it is by being absolutely ruthless and using terrible weapons. That, they can do.
They considered the same weapons against the USSR (something Kennedy was sickened by after a briefing by the Joint Chiefs) and against China and North Vietnam.
___________________
Response to a comment about the CIA being the world’s biggest drug dealer:
Oh, that's been clear for a while.
The CIA does whatever it takes to make plenty of money, off-the-books, needed to run operations no politician even knows anything about
Gun-running has been a big one for them, too.
I suspect counterfeiting, too, sometimes.
Remember, a few years back, when perfect one-hundred-dollar counterfeits were showing up for quite a while? There were a number of newspaper stories about it.
The story was "put out there" that it was North Korea, but I doubt North Korea ever had the technology to do that.
The CIA very much does, excellent quality counterfeiting having been used against countries they don't like to degrade their currency.
COMMENTS POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY PAUL KINDLON IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“Why Trump Cannot Control the American Military
“Trump's admirable talk about pulling out of global conflicts is meaningless"
"Perhaps this is the reason JFK was assassinated – a man who was on the verge of dismantling the CIA and pulling out U.S troops from Vietnam."
I don't think there is any "maybe" about it, although I believe the issue of Cuba and the CIA’s years-long terror campaign there, was more central to the assassination than the matters the writer mentions. So, too, were Kennedy’s various arrangements and agreements (as “backchannel” communications) with the USSR concerning Cuba and the general state of the Cold War.
See:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/07/13/john-chuckman-comment-the-first-genuine-information-in-the-kennedy-assassination-records-release-to-give-us-some-genuine-information-about-what-happened/
On the wider topic of military and security services control of government, there also is little doubt.
Indeed, if people just think about it, they will realize that it would be virtually impossible to run a massive global empire on the basis of elected officials whose views might be different every 4 to 8 years.
It's something not many Americans have given much thought to - see:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/10/02/john-chuckman-comment-why-modern-presidents-cannot-set-american-foreign-policy-even-if-they-want-to-do-so-founding-of-american-empire-after-ww-ii-the-needs-all-empires-share-whether-american-or-s/
All of which, in addition to the ugly reality we see of new hyper-aggressive efforts by Washington to extend its authority, demonstrates just why America is in fact the most dangerous nation on earth today.
_________________
Response to a comment about the US not being very good at winning wars:
No, they aren’t, but if you notice, when they do win, as at the close of WWII, it is by being absolutely ruthless and using terrible weapons. That, they can do.
They considered the same weapons against the USSR (something Kennedy was sickened by after a briefing by the Joint Chiefs) and against China and North Vietnam.
___________________
Response to a comment about the CIA being the world’s biggest drug dealer:
Oh, that's been clear for a while.
The CIA does whatever it takes to make plenty of money, off-the-books, needed to run operations no politician even knows anything about
Gun-running has been a big one for them, too.
I suspect counterfeiting, too, sometimes.
Remember, a few years back, when perfect one-hundred-dollar counterfeits were showing up for quite a while? There were a number of newspaper stories about it.
The story was "put out there" that it was North Korea, but I doubt North Korea ever had the technology to do that.
The CIA very much does, excellent quality counterfeiting having been used against countries they don't like to degrade their currency.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: TURKEY'S ERDOGAN SPEAKS OF THE KHASHOGGI MURDER WITH LESS THAN THE FULL DISCLOSURE HE PROMISED - LACK OF WESTERN RESPONSE TO A PUBLICLY-CONDUCTED ATROCITY - AMERICA'S PIVOTAL ROLE IN THE RESPONSE
John Chuckman
EXPANSION OF COMMENTS POSTED TO AN ARTICLE ON CBC NEWS
“Saudis plotted journalist's 'savage murder' for days, Turkish president says
“Suspects should be tried in Turkey, Erdogan says, after 18 arrested in Saudi Arabia”
__________________________
Response to a comment:
Because those countries you listed, except for Germany, are not "calling out” Saudi Arabia, any more than their ally the US.
Only Ms. Merkel has taken a somewhat serious step in halting arms deals.
The West's reactions here have been pathetic, and even distasteful, but then that has long been the case for the "butcher of Yemen" and the man who has pay-rolled many of the terrorists operating in Syria. And I never heard anyone speak of his atrocities inside Saudi Arabia against its minority Shia.
Our Foreign Minister's one frail little effort at something, over the arrest of one woman, touched on none of these horrors. It itself was, to my mind, pathetic. She earned no “creds,” creating a big international disruption over the very smallest of any of Saudi Arabia’s many crimes. One could seriously question her judgment, quite apart from the ethics of silence in the face of true horror.
When Theresa May put on her big hate-Russia show months ago, the Skripal Affair, everyone immediately jumped on the bandwagon, including Canada, with expelling diplomats and piling up more American sanctions, even though to this day we do not know what happened to Skripal. He's alive, but no one can even talk to him., many months after the event, whatever its actual nature.
Here, we have an almost an open-and-shut case of the most gruesome political murder at the top, and no one, except Ms. Merkel in Germany, has done a thing, except utter platitudes.
The key difference in the reactions to the two events is simply that, in the one, a man America treats as an enemy (and with no justification, other than he has proved an inconvenience to some of their dirty work abroad) was accused and, in the other case, a man America regards as a useful associate in some of that same dirty work abroad, is accused. America much values the Killer Crown Prince.
That's some idea of justice, isn't it? And values? But that's our current American imperial world. Power corrupts… and, my God, is America corrupt.
___________________
Response to another comment on Erdogan’s own dark record:
Erdogan is no hero, as all informed people know, but remember that in our courts of law, many important convictions take place only because a criminal is given immunity in exchange for his testimony.
Also, this is not the Crown Prince's only crime, only the most public in details.
Almost no one speaks of his butchery in Yemen and in Syria because that involves activities the United States values.
________________________
Response to another comment about how Erdogan’s statement failed to fulfill his pledge to reveal all Turkey knows about the killing:
Erdogan got some late urgent phone calls, I'm sure, and I guarantee they were not in favor of revelation.
We are dealing with very dark forces here, and I'm not referring to Turkey or Saudi Arabia, but a power much closer to home.
EXPANSION OF COMMENTS POSTED TO AN ARTICLE ON CBC NEWS
“Saudis plotted journalist's 'savage murder' for days, Turkish president says
“Suspects should be tried in Turkey, Erdogan says, after 18 arrested in Saudi Arabia”
__________________________
Response to a comment:
Because those countries you listed, except for Germany, are not "calling out” Saudi Arabia, any more than their ally the US.
Only Ms. Merkel has taken a somewhat serious step in halting arms deals.
The West's reactions here have been pathetic, and even distasteful, but then that has long been the case for the "butcher of Yemen" and the man who has pay-rolled many of the terrorists operating in Syria. And I never heard anyone speak of his atrocities inside Saudi Arabia against its minority Shia.
Our Foreign Minister's one frail little effort at something, over the arrest of one woman, touched on none of these horrors. It itself was, to my mind, pathetic. She earned no “creds,” creating a big international disruption over the very smallest of any of Saudi Arabia’s many crimes. One could seriously question her judgment, quite apart from the ethics of silence in the face of true horror.
When Theresa May put on her big hate-Russia show months ago, the Skripal Affair, everyone immediately jumped on the bandwagon, including Canada, with expelling diplomats and piling up more American sanctions, even though to this day we do not know what happened to Skripal. He's alive, but no one can even talk to him., many months after the event, whatever its actual nature.
Here, we have an almost an open-and-shut case of the most gruesome political murder at the top, and no one, except Ms. Merkel in Germany, has done a thing, except utter platitudes.
The key difference in the reactions to the two events is simply that, in the one, a man America treats as an enemy (and with no justification, other than he has proved an inconvenience to some of their dirty work abroad) was accused and, in the other case, a man America regards as a useful associate in some of that same dirty work abroad, is accused. America much values the Killer Crown Prince.
That's some idea of justice, isn't it? And values? But that's our current American imperial world. Power corrupts… and, my God, is America corrupt.
___________________
Response to another comment on Erdogan’s own dark record:
Erdogan is no hero, as all informed people know, but remember that in our courts of law, many important convictions take place only because a criminal is given immunity in exchange for his testimony.
Also, this is not the Crown Prince's only crime, only the most public in details.
Almost no one speaks of his butchery in Yemen and in Syria because that involves activities the United States values.
________________________
Response to another comment about how Erdogan’s statement failed to fulfill his pledge to reveal all Turkey knows about the killing:
Erdogan got some late urgent phone calls, I'm sure, and I guarantee they were not in favor of revelation.
We are dealing with very dark forces here, and I'm not referring to Turkey or Saudi Arabia, but a power much closer to home.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: THE THINGS NIKKI HALEY AND DONALD TRUMP SAY SHOW VIVIDLY HOW DEGRADED AMERICAN POLITICS HAVE BECOME - NO ETHICS OR DECENCY - I SUSPECT IT HAS SOMETHING TO WITH A NATION BUSY IN THE BUSINESS OF KILLING PEOPLE ALL THE TIME
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN INVESTMENTWATCH
“BOOM! After Elizabeth Warren Fails DNA Test Nikki Haley BRUTALLY ROASTS Her In Front Of Hundreds”
Why should this matter be of any concern to Nikki Haley? And why should Haley’s ugly behavior be celebrated here or anywhere?
Elizabeth Warren is rather a silly woman, an eccentric, and a bit pitiful with her stuff about descent from Native Americans, but since when do such topics become the focus of national politics? Since when is it even acceptable to make fun of someone like that?
People like Haley and Trump only prove how utterly degraded American politics have become. No civility. No decency. No ethics. Talk about “a swamp,” this is it.
Their words and behavior resemble those of some ugly bullies standing on a street corner insulting and attacking people with deformities or mental problems who happen to pass by.
Is that the required mindset now for a country busy killing people abroad, day-in and day-out?
I think there's actually something to that thought.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN INVESTMENTWATCH
“BOOM! After Elizabeth Warren Fails DNA Test Nikki Haley BRUTALLY ROASTS Her In Front Of Hundreds”
Why should this matter be of any concern to Nikki Haley? And why should Haley’s ugly behavior be celebrated here or anywhere?
Elizabeth Warren is rather a silly woman, an eccentric, and a bit pitiful with her stuff about descent from Native Americans, but since when do such topics become the focus of national politics? Since when is it even acceptable to make fun of someone like that?
People like Haley and Trump only prove how utterly degraded American politics have become. No civility. No decency. No ethics. Talk about “a swamp,” this is it.
Their words and behavior resemble those of some ugly bullies standing on a street corner insulting and attacking people with deformities or mental problems who happen to pass by.
Is that the required mindset now for a country busy killing people abroad, day-in and day-out?
I think there's actually something to that thought.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: HUMAN SEXUAL IDENTITY AND ALL THE IGNORANCE WE HAVE ABOUT IT - AN INTERESTING ARTICLE ABOUT TRANSGENDER IDENTICAL TWINS
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE ON STATIONGOSSIP
“Identical twins, 23, who were born female are now brothers after BOTH coming out as transgender - and they're going through the transition process together (14 Pics)”
http://www.stationgossip.com/2018/10/identical-twins-23-who-were-born-female.html
This article is interesting in that it points out some of the immense complexity, not all of it even understood, involved in human sexual identity.
The Internet is used by many ignorant and cruel people to make fun of transgender people or, indeed, anyone who is different in any way.
But the reality is that transgender people are a normal result of genetics and how brains work, matters that we do not at all thoroughly understand.
There is a proportion of transgender people occurring in every human population, just as is the case for gays or still other sexual identities.
I can't help thinking what a terrible ordeal these young men have put themselves through, but they simply cannot help it. This is what they must do.
We do know that human sexual identity involves far more than the particular set of organs with which you are born, but that simplistic view remains fairly common.
There are portions of the brain involved and perhaps other organs.
Just think about the immense range of feelings and attitudes around what people find attractive and unattractive, just in the heterosexual population. “A leg man,” “a breast man,” fetishes over things like feet, etc. The variety is almost endless with many subtle variations.
Think about the immense range of behaviors we observe, from asexuality, a very real phenomenon, to those who are sex addicts.
None of the differences seem to involve sexual organs. They all involve the mind and how it is wired or how some aspect of its chemistry works.
We have so very much yet to learn, just about ourselves.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE ON STATIONGOSSIP
“Identical twins, 23, who were born female are now brothers after BOTH coming out as transgender - and they're going through the transition process together (14 Pics)”
http://www.stationgossip.com/2018/10/identical-twins-23-who-were-born-female.html
This article is interesting in that it points out some of the immense complexity, not all of it even understood, involved in human sexual identity.
The Internet is used by many ignorant and cruel people to make fun of transgender people or, indeed, anyone who is different in any way.
But the reality is that transgender people are a normal result of genetics and how brains work, matters that we do not at all thoroughly understand.
There is a proportion of transgender people occurring in every human population, just as is the case for gays or still other sexual identities.
I can't help thinking what a terrible ordeal these young men have put themselves through, but they simply cannot help it. This is what they must do.
We do know that human sexual identity involves far more than the particular set of organs with which you are born, but that simplistic view remains fairly common.
There are portions of the brain involved and perhaps other organs.
Just think about the immense range of feelings and attitudes around what people find attractive and unattractive, just in the heterosexual population. “A leg man,” “a breast man,” fetishes over things like feet, etc. The variety is almost endless with many subtle variations.
Think about the immense range of behaviors we observe, from asexuality, a very real phenomenon, to those who are sex addicts.
None of the differences seem to involve sexual organs. They all involve the mind and how it is wired or how some aspect of its chemistry works.
We have so very much yet to learn, just about ourselves.
Friday, October 19, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: IS SOMETHING BIG ABOUT TO BREAK IN SAUDI ARABIA? - WE HAVE THE MOST FASCINATING BIT OF DIRTY WORK IN YEARS REVEALING FLAT-FOOTED LIES AND HYPOCRISY FROM THE UNITED STATES - IT'S ALL WORKADAY STUFF FOR THEM BUT THEY USUALLY KEEP IT HIDDEN
John Chuckman
COMMENT ON POSSIBLE BREAKING EVENTS IN SAUDI ARABIA
Is something big about to happen in Saudi Arabia, big, as in the replacement of the Crown Prince?
In Paris, Le Figaro reports Saudi King Salman wants to replace Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
In Britain's Guardian, a former head of MI6 said all the evidence suggests Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was behind the death of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi and that the theory of rogue (a word Trump has used) elements was “blatant fiction”
Sir John Sawers’ remarks are extraordinary for a man of his past position, and they are not likely to be received well in Washington. In American power establishment circles, the ruthless Crown Prince is much valued as a key player in bloodily rearranging the Middle East to please their vision of how things should be.
The Prince has amply demonstrated that he doesn’t hesitate when it comes to killing lots of people. Israel’s government, whose chief members are cut from the same cloth as this wealthy thug, just loves the guy.
It is said that Trump’s administration officials are pressing the Crown Prince to blame one of his favourite generals, the deputy head of Saudi intelligence.
That ruse is thought to provide a way out of the embarrassing crisis, but I’m not so sure that would work at this point. The horses are out of the barn, so to speak.
We already know enough, thanks to leaks from Turkey, to be confident the Crown Prince himself was involved. And Turkey, for its own reasons, is “out there” dropping more clues and hints.
Could the ugly Crown Prince be the victim of a plot? Not an innocent victim of course, but a guilty victim in the same sense that Saddam Hussein was a guilty victim of the H W Bush administration which secretly led him to believe they would wink at an invasion of Kuwait. He didn’t have to take the bait, but he did, as they knew he would, and he paid the price.
The ruthless, likely psychopathic, Crown Prince, good friend to Washington and Israeli power interests, may well have been offered the same kind of temptation by someone with regard to eliminating Khashoggi, assured it would be winked at if he did a thorough job.
Who might do that? The Prince has many powerful enemies, including, importantly, other major branches of the Royal Family whose relatives he kidnapped, imprisoned, and from whom he extracted tens of billions in ransom.
Clearly, there are also interests in Turkey who are hostile, or we would never have learned anything about this affair beyond the fact Khashoggi disappeared. Turkey has certainly heavily bugged Saudi government facilities for the reason that it does not trust the Crown Prince, and with good reason. Some of these bugs captured the whole ghastly event. Although Turkey claims not to have let any foreign source actually hear the material, there is an ongoing flow of hints and leaks.
This is one of the more fascinating episodes of dirty work to come along for watchers of international affairs in years, revealing as it does so much hypocrisy and flat-out lies from actors, especially from the United States, hypocrisy which is quite the norm but is usually kept well hidden from the public, as in Syria or Yemen or Libya or, indeed, in Israel.
The threat to the stability of so important an American imperial friend in the Middle East is serious stuff.
By the way, on the secret friendship and alliance between Israel and Saudi Arabia, I recently listed in a comment some of the realities supporting that relationship. Well, here’s another. Saudi Arabia has become Washington’s biggest customer for armaments, overwhelmingly so with hundreds of billions committed to sophisticated weapons.
Even fifteen years ago, Israel would not have permitted that to happen. It would have pulled out all stops to halt such sales to a potential “existential threat,” but that is no longer the case. The Crown Prince has earned Israel’s overwhelming confidence through all his blood-letting and his refusal even to speak against Israel’s atrocities, as Saudi Arabia commonly used to do years ago.
AFTERWORD:
It will be of continuing interest to see whether the phony story Saudi Arabia has just put out to explain the killing - one suggested earlier by Pompeo, such is America's keenness not to see justice done when it means losing their beloved Killer Crown Prince, and one Trump immediately warmly embraced - will be able to stand.
Anyone who thinks about just the facts we know, understands that it simply cannot be true.
But we do now live in a nightmarish world where fairly obvious lies are regularly solemnly recited and supported when they have a bearing on American imperial power. We see Theresa May's contrived Skripal Affair, America's "Israel's Army is showing restraint," American forces openly encamped in Eastern Syria where they have no business, America's insane mantra about Russia and influencing the election, etc, etc, etc.
Interestingly, here is a new bit of information. I think Khashoggi, in his last interview, makes it clear what his killer's motives were, blindingly clear:
https://sputniknews.com/world/201810201069059153-khashoggi-secret-interview-death-confirmed/
COMMENT ON POSSIBLE BREAKING EVENTS IN SAUDI ARABIA
Is something big about to happen in Saudi Arabia, big, as in the replacement of the Crown Prince?
In Paris, Le Figaro reports Saudi King Salman wants to replace Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
In Britain's Guardian, a former head of MI6 said all the evidence suggests Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was behind the death of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi and that the theory of rogue (a word Trump has used) elements was “blatant fiction”
Sir John Sawers’ remarks are extraordinary for a man of his past position, and they are not likely to be received well in Washington. In American power establishment circles, the ruthless Crown Prince is much valued as a key player in bloodily rearranging the Middle East to please their vision of how things should be.
The Prince has amply demonstrated that he doesn’t hesitate when it comes to killing lots of people. Israel’s government, whose chief members are cut from the same cloth as this wealthy thug, just loves the guy.
It is said that Trump’s administration officials are pressing the Crown Prince to blame one of his favourite generals, the deputy head of Saudi intelligence.
That ruse is thought to provide a way out of the embarrassing crisis, but I’m not so sure that would work at this point. The horses are out of the barn, so to speak.
We already know enough, thanks to leaks from Turkey, to be confident the Crown Prince himself was involved. And Turkey, for its own reasons, is “out there” dropping more clues and hints.
Could the ugly Crown Prince be the victim of a plot? Not an innocent victim of course, but a guilty victim in the same sense that Saddam Hussein was a guilty victim of the H W Bush administration which secretly led him to believe they would wink at an invasion of Kuwait. He didn’t have to take the bait, but he did, as they knew he would, and he paid the price.
The ruthless, likely psychopathic, Crown Prince, good friend to Washington and Israeli power interests, may well have been offered the same kind of temptation by someone with regard to eliminating Khashoggi, assured it would be winked at if he did a thorough job.
Who might do that? The Prince has many powerful enemies, including, importantly, other major branches of the Royal Family whose relatives he kidnapped, imprisoned, and from whom he extracted tens of billions in ransom.
Clearly, there are also interests in Turkey who are hostile, or we would never have learned anything about this affair beyond the fact Khashoggi disappeared. Turkey has certainly heavily bugged Saudi government facilities for the reason that it does not trust the Crown Prince, and with good reason. Some of these bugs captured the whole ghastly event. Although Turkey claims not to have let any foreign source actually hear the material, there is an ongoing flow of hints and leaks.
This is one of the more fascinating episodes of dirty work to come along for watchers of international affairs in years, revealing as it does so much hypocrisy and flat-out lies from actors, especially from the United States, hypocrisy which is quite the norm but is usually kept well hidden from the public, as in Syria or Yemen or Libya or, indeed, in Israel.
The threat to the stability of so important an American imperial friend in the Middle East is serious stuff.
By the way, on the secret friendship and alliance between Israel and Saudi Arabia, I recently listed in a comment some of the realities supporting that relationship. Well, here’s another. Saudi Arabia has become Washington’s biggest customer for armaments, overwhelmingly so with hundreds of billions committed to sophisticated weapons.
Even fifteen years ago, Israel would not have permitted that to happen. It would have pulled out all stops to halt such sales to a potential “existential threat,” but that is no longer the case. The Crown Prince has earned Israel’s overwhelming confidence through all his blood-letting and his refusal even to speak against Israel’s atrocities, as Saudi Arabia commonly used to do years ago.
AFTERWORD:
It will be of continuing interest to see whether the phony story Saudi Arabia has just put out to explain the killing - one suggested earlier by Pompeo, such is America's keenness not to see justice done when it means losing their beloved Killer Crown Prince, and one Trump immediately warmly embraced - will be able to stand.
Anyone who thinks about just the facts we know, understands that it simply cannot be true.
But we do now live in a nightmarish world where fairly obvious lies are regularly solemnly recited and supported when they have a bearing on American imperial power. We see Theresa May's contrived Skripal Affair, America's "Israel's Army is showing restraint," American forces openly encamped in Eastern Syria where they have no business, America's insane mantra about Russia and influencing the election, etc, etc, etc.
Interestingly, here is a new bit of information. I think Khashoggi, in his last interview, makes it clear what his killer's motives were, blindingly clear:
https://sputniknews.com/world/201810201069059153-khashoggi-secret-interview-death-confirmed/
Thursday, October 18, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: THE ISRAELI-SAUDI DE FACTO ALLIANCE - WHAT THE MURDEROUS CROWN PRINCE REPRESENTS FOR AMERICA - RE-MAKING THE PLANET AND HITLER'S WILLING HELPERS
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN MONDOWEISS
“The US mainstream media is ignoring the Israel-Saudi Arabia de facto alliance”
Yes, and it's all part of American effort to reshape the entire Middle East, an effort which so far has cost about 2 million lives.
The Crown Prince is regarded as a key part of the future of that effort.
He serves the hyper-aggressive new American drive for empire worldwide.
And, of course, Israel really is a de facto American colony in the Mideast.
Actually, the Saudis and Israelis have always had a lot in common, contrary to popular notions.
Both represent privilege in the region, extreme privilege.
Both represent forms of wealth. The Saudis, oil. The Israelis, American and British dual-citizen investors.
Both want to have a lot of "clout" in the region. That’s the problem with Iran for both of them. Its size - about the population of Germany – and oil wealth make it the “natural” dominant country in the region.
Israel’s problems with Iran have nothing to do with anti-Semitism. That accusation is just another weapon for beating down an unwelcome competitor for influence.
Importantly, both represent outsider interests. The House of Saud only goes back a little while, a decade or so, before re-created Israel. It is not an ancient kingdom, although they like to create that impression.
Israel was re-created and is run by Ashkenazim, a group of Germanic origin whose native language is Yiddish, a derivative of German. The word Ashkenazi means "German." Nothing Middle Eastern about it, except a sentimental attachment to the land of the Bible for believers, but belief gives you no legitimate real estate claims. If it did, the world would be an even bigger mess than it is.
After 9/11, the Saudis were desperately looking for ways to improve their standing in Washington's eyes.
They did not "do" 9/11 but there were lots of shady matters that made them look bad. Payments to Osama intended only to keep him out of Saudi Arabia. Saudi citizens in the hijack crowd.
After all, from almost any point of view, America’s invading Saudi Arabia, even though they weren’t guilty, would have made immensely more sense than the pointless invasion of Afghanistan. So, the Saudis felt keenly the need to please.
Cozying up to Israel was one of their main methods of attacking the problem. They've been working on it now for years. The tone of all press and publicity coming out of Saudi Arabia is unrecognizable from, say, 15 years ago.
And the Crown "usurper" Prince takes things even further, just what Washington wants.
Washington loves men with highly flexible morals and principles. They are useful to the cause of empire. A version of Hitler's willing helpers, if you will.
The Saudis won creds for covertly supporting the slaughter in Syria, a pet project of Israel's.
Bombing the crap out of Yemen gave them some gold stars too.
As did their internal assaults on a small Shia minority, Shia Islam being identified with some of Israel's most hated states.
The Khashoggi Affair is an embarrassment, but they're doing their best to work around it.
The extra couple of days Pompeo gave them for a "thorough" investigation is for them to get their story straight and decide on the fall guys.
Interestingly, Turkey keeps revealing grisly details to pressure for things they want. They do know exactly what happened.
Here is some additional information on the Saudi-Israeli alliance:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/10/19/john-chuckman-comment-is-something-big-about-to-break-in-saudi-arabia-we-have-the-most-fascinating-bit-of-dirty-work-in-years-revealing-flat-footed-lies-and-hypocrisy-from-the-united-states-it/
Readers may enjoy:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/10/17/john-chuckman-comment-here-is-what-the-turks-know-about-the-khashoggi-murder-there-really-cannot-be-a-doubt-that-this-was-planned-to-happen-exactly-as-it-did-and-no-doubt-authority-came-from-the-to/
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN MONDOWEISS
“The US mainstream media is ignoring the Israel-Saudi Arabia de facto alliance”
Yes, and it's all part of American effort to reshape the entire Middle East, an effort which so far has cost about 2 million lives.
The Crown Prince is regarded as a key part of the future of that effort.
He serves the hyper-aggressive new American drive for empire worldwide.
And, of course, Israel really is a de facto American colony in the Mideast.
Actually, the Saudis and Israelis have always had a lot in common, contrary to popular notions.
Both represent privilege in the region, extreme privilege.
Both represent forms of wealth. The Saudis, oil. The Israelis, American and British dual-citizen investors.
Both want to have a lot of "clout" in the region. That’s the problem with Iran for both of them. Its size - about the population of Germany – and oil wealth make it the “natural” dominant country in the region.
Israel’s problems with Iran have nothing to do with anti-Semitism. That accusation is just another weapon for beating down an unwelcome competitor for influence.
Importantly, both represent outsider interests. The House of Saud only goes back a little while, a decade or so, before re-created Israel. It is not an ancient kingdom, although they like to create that impression.
Israel was re-created and is run by Ashkenazim, a group of Germanic origin whose native language is Yiddish, a derivative of German. The word Ashkenazi means "German." Nothing Middle Eastern about it, except a sentimental attachment to the land of the Bible for believers, but belief gives you no legitimate real estate claims. If it did, the world would be an even bigger mess than it is.
After 9/11, the Saudis were desperately looking for ways to improve their standing in Washington's eyes.
They did not "do" 9/11 but there were lots of shady matters that made them look bad. Payments to Osama intended only to keep him out of Saudi Arabia. Saudi citizens in the hijack crowd.
After all, from almost any point of view, America’s invading Saudi Arabia, even though they weren’t guilty, would have made immensely more sense than the pointless invasion of Afghanistan. So, the Saudis felt keenly the need to please.
Cozying up to Israel was one of their main methods of attacking the problem. They've been working on it now for years. The tone of all press and publicity coming out of Saudi Arabia is unrecognizable from, say, 15 years ago.
And the Crown "usurper" Prince takes things even further, just what Washington wants.
Washington loves men with highly flexible morals and principles. They are useful to the cause of empire. A version of Hitler's willing helpers, if you will.
The Saudis won creds for covertly supporting the slaughter in Syria, a pet project of Israel's.
Bombing the crap out of Yemen gave them some gold stars too.
As did their internal assaults on a small Shia minority, Shia Islam being identified with some of Israel's most hated states.
The Khashoggi Affair is an embarrassment, but they're doing their best to work around it.
The extra couple of days Pompeo gave them for a "thorough" investigation is for them to get their story straight and decide on the fall guys.
Interestingly, Turkey keeps revealing grisly details to pressure for things they want. They do know exactly what happened.
Here is some additional information on the Saudi-Israeli alliance:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/10/19/john-chuckman-comment-is-something-big-about-to-break-in-saudi-arabia-we-have-the-most-fascinating-bit-of-dirty-work-in-years-revealing-flat-footed-lies-and-hypocrisy-from-the-united-states-it/
Readers may enjoy:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/10/17/john-chuckman-comment-here-is-what-the-turks-know-about-the-khashoggi-murder-there-really-cannot-be-a-doubt-that-this-was-planned-to-happen-exactly-as-it-did-and-no-doubt-authority-came-from-the-to/
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: HERE IS WHAT THE TURKS KNOW ABOUT THE KHASHOGGI MURDER - THERE REALLY CANNOT BE A DOUBT THAT THIS WAS PLANNED TO HAPPEN EXACTLY AS IT DID AND NO DOUBT AUTHORITY CAME FROM THE TOP - TRUMP IS TRYING TO LIE HIS WAY THROUGH BUT IT WILL BE HARD IN VIEW OF THIS EVIDENCE - AND WHERE'S THERESA MAY'S VOICE?
John Chuckman
COMMENT ON THE KHASHOGGI MURDER – FACTS REVEALED BY TURKISH SOURCES
Here is a summary of the known facts. They come from several major newspaper reports which I have consolidated.
The Turks have recordings – audio ones from inside the Saudi Consulate and video from security cameras outside - and they know exactly what happened, and they know the identities of the perpetrators.
A 15-man squad, all from the Crown Prince’s personal security detail, arrived to do the job.
Khashoggi was attacked almost immediately as he showed up for some documents he needed.
The Consul himself was in the room.
The body was dragged, not yet dead, from the Consul’s office to his study next door.
A Saudi military forensics expert, after putting on some headphones with music, began to cut the body up right on top of a table in the study. He advised others, including the Consul, to leave the room.
The man with headphones and the cutting tool holds a senior position in Saudi Interior Ministry.
Obviously, with that kind of person assigned in the first place and with him having brought the necessary tools to cut the body up, this was a meticulously planned murder, not an interrogation that somehow went wrong.
Is there anyone on the planet, outside of Trump’s office, who can believe that the order for this did not come from the top? I sincerely hope not.
Oh, Theresa May, where is your brave voice when it comes to an authentic, proven state murder?
I guess it makes a difference when the killer is someone who buys billions of pounds of armaments?
"Rogue elements," Trump? "Something went wrong in an interrogation"? Clearly lies.
COMMENT ON THE KHASHOGGI MURDER – FACTS REVEALED BY TURKISH SOURCES
Here is a summary of the known facts. They come from several major newspaper reports which I have consolidated.
The Turks have recordings – audio ones from inside the Saudi Consulate and video from security cameras outside - and they know exactly what happened, and they know the identities of the perpetrators.
A 15-man squad, all from the Crown Prince’s personal security detail, arrived to do the job.
Khashoggi was attacked almost immediately as he showed up for some documents he needed.
The Consul himself was in the room.
The body was dragged, not yet dead, from the Consul’s office to his study next door.
A Saudi military forensics expert, after putting on some headphones with music, began to cut the body up right on top of a table in the study. He advised others, including the Consul, to leave the room.
The man with headphones and the cutting tool holds a senior position in Saudi Interior Ministry.
Obviously, with that kind of person assigned in the first place and with him having brought the necessary tools to cut the body up, this was a meticulously planned murder, not an interrogation that somehow went wrong.
Is there anyone on the planet, outside of Trump’s office, who can believe that the order for this did not come from the top? I sincerely hope not.
Oh, Theresa May, where is your brave voice when it comes to an authentic, proven state murder?
I guess it makes a difference when the killer is someone who buys billions of pounds of armaments?
"Rogue elements," Trump? "Something went wrong in an interrogation"? Clearly lies.
AFTERNOTE:
The next day, we had this:
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: ONE MORE REMINDER OF THE BIZARRE STRANGELOVIAN WORLD IN WHICH WE NOW LIVE - "CERTIFICATES OF APPRECIATION" FOR MASS MURDER - YES, I KID YOU NOT
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE ON MPN NEWS
“IDF Awards Israeli Soldiers for Deadly Crackdown on Gaza Protests”
“The chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Gadi Eisenkot, awarded the IDF’s Gaza Division with a “certificate of appreciation” for contributing to “Israel’s security” by brutally suppressing protests, ongoing since March in the Palestinian enclave.”
A “certificate of appreciation”?
For sniper killings of unarmed civilians?
For firing indiscriminately into crowds of thousands only demonstrating for basic human rights?
This has almost a sense of black comedy.
Only in Israel are such things thought worthy of praise.
Which should tell us a lot about Israel's ability to live in peace with its neighbors.
Readers may enjoy this on related matters:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/10/11/john-chuckman-comment-a-writer-says-we-can-be-hopeful-about-palestine-i-wish-it-were-so-but-i-see-no-reason-for-optimism-quite-the-opposite-when-you-appreciate-the-actual-behavior-of-israel-and/
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE ON MPN NEWS
“IDF Awards Israeli Soldiers for Deadly Crackdown on Gaza Protests”
“The chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Gadi Eisenkot, awarded the IDF’s Gaza Division with a “certificate of appreciation” for contributing to “Israel’s security” by brutally suppressing protests, ongoing since March in the Palestinian enclave.”
A “certificate of appreciation”?
For sniper killings of unarmed civilians?
For firing indiscriminately into crowds of thousands only demonstrating for basic human rights?
This has almost a sense of black comedy.
Only in Israel are such things thought worthy of praise.
Which should tell us a lot about Israel's ability to live in peace with its neighbors.
Readers may enjoy this on related matters:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/10/11/john-chuckman-comment-a-writer-says-we-can-be-hopeful-about-palestine-i-wish-it-were-so-but-i-see-no-reason-for-optimism-quite-the-opposite-when-you-appreciate-the-actual-behavior-of-israel-and/
Monday, October 15, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON IN SAUDI ARABIA AND TURKEY WITH THE APPARENT BRUTAL MURDER OF JOURNALIST JAMAL KHASHOGGI INSIDE A SAUDI CONSULATE IN TURKEY? - TRUTH AND JUSTICE UNDER AMERICAN EMPIRE - IF SOMETHING SERVES THE EMPIRE IT SERVES GOD
John Chuckman
EXPANSION OF A COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN CONSORTIUM NEWS BY AS’AD ABUKHALIL
"The Strange Disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi
"Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist, who disappeared in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last week is not quite the critic of the Saudi regime that the Western media says he is, writes As’ad AbuKhalil."
Sorry, but I think this article a bit of what they call a "straw man" argument in logic.
You might even call it a red herring.
Refuting the hyped and exaggerated claims of the "western press" about an event like this has almost nothing to do with the actual event or its importance.
It's rather like entering the ridiculous set of false and uninformed arguments, on all sides of the American political establishment, about Russian influence, which, in fact, any critical observer instantly can see is virtually zero, all while Washington and those allies under its thumb scream and whoop, "the sky is falling."
The Crown Prince is a usurper, kidnapper, extortionist, murderer, and a war criminal, full stop.
He is also a supreme narcissist and is well known for having a very thin skin.
Look at the way he furiously retaliates at anything he regards to be a slight, as at Trump and his “pay for your security,” and as at Canada and its pitifully little squeak of a remark about human rights.
The Washington power establishment likes the prince, exceedingly. Remember how he was taken around on a grand goodwill tour, meeting American officials and important people, almost as though he were the new President of France rather than a murderous, usurper absolute monarch of a desert kingdom? He’s proven his worth in waging aggressive war in Syria, covertly, and, openly, in Yemen.
He has also proven his worth in ending Saudi Arabia’s old antagonisms towards Israel and, indeed, in becoming virtually a secret ally of that state. Just the kind of thing the Neocon empire-builders in Washington want to see. So, he is a key player in Neocon plans for the Middle East. He has embraced Israel’s antagonism towards Iran, too, which has nothing to do with threats and security and anti-Semitism but everything to do with who is to be the most influential country in the region.
The Crown Prince, also, something rarely noticed, has a great deal in common with Israel, representing monied privilege in the region, relative newcomers ruling over ancient residents (the Royal Family does not go back much longer than re-created Israel itself), antagonists against both indigenous democracy in the region and independent-minded other leaders, and both are shills for American influence.
This is an extremely dangerous man, even though our mainline press has dedicated itself, at least until now, to building him up in an almost laughable manner with lines straight out of a disinformation crib sheet from Langley Virginia. Our press made a huge big deal out of a few privileged women in Saudi Arabia now getting driver’s licences while this Crown Prince busied himself slaughtering thousands of women in Yemen and in Syria and in brutally suppressing Shia minorities in parts of Saudi Arabia itself – all of the latter activity going without comment.
It would not have taken much for Khashoggi to earn the prince’s enmity. Stuff about being Khashoggi being a resistance figure for enlightened values is as silly as the streams of garbage about Putin determining American national elections. It represents noise covering other matters. He only had to look vaguely like a threat or roadblock, for whatever reasons, to the path of a murderous prince. The prince is also quite nervous about opposition to himself by other clans of the large Royal Family - people he has already deeply offended and committed crimes against, his acts generating opposition both open and covert. The usurper Prince’s position is not a one-hundred percent stable and secure.
My guess is that the prince arrogantly over-played his hand in getting rid of someone he resented, for whatever reasons, overplayed his hand because now at least part of western interests cannot just ignore such obvious butchery.
God, we even have security-camera views of the gang of Saudi security forces-related killers (some identified) coming and going, and the Turks have secret recordings of Khashoggi being tortured and killed. Our good old dependable press tried a planted story about how maybe Khashoggi’s smart-watch had recorded his torture and execution, but the recording likely came from planted Turkish security spyware in the Saudi consulate. We have Khashoggi photographed going into the Saudi consulate and never coming out. We have his fiancé waiting for him. We have pictures of a van parked by the consulate, a van whose licence was not immediately traced.
They are now going through the dumb-show of allowing Turkey to search the Saudi consulate, after a considerable delay. Unless they bring a gallon jug of luminal (to check for invisible blood traces), they won’t find a thing. And unless they were simultaneously searching the Saudi consul’s house and digging up the garden where Khashoggi’s butchered body parts were likely buried, they still won’t find a thing. Everything will have been disposed of.
Current delays in the West are just cover for behind-the-scenes scrambles, scrambles to create a covering story, for a way to exonerate this very useful murderer-prince, and perhaps to create a fall-guy. After all, Putin only has to hiccough to be instantly subjected to new sanctions and condemnations.
But here we have something close to an open-and-shut case of high-level political murder, and we see no sanctions, we see no slowing-up in hundreds of billions in arms sales, we hear no false clamoring over human rights or even journalistic freedom. We see no diplomatic personal being expelled, as we saw Theresa May doing against Russia without a shred of evidence anyone could credit.
It all makes Theresa May’s unsupported claims in the Skripal Affair really look silly. Here’s the real thing, right out a John le Carré novel, but we see no ethics-inspired acts or hear no histrionic words by British or American or Canadian authorities which might endanger hundreds of billions in arms sales.
You see, it really isn’t that anyone cares about the fate of a man like Khashoggi, whether he was a decent man or not, whether he was a journalist or not. These events concern the very public tipping of the imperial apple cart, which cannot be just ignored. The prince’s blundering act threatens a vast, partly-secret engineering project in the Middle East. Now, in Washington, that has to be taken seriously.
Here, once again, is the kind of ugly business to which we are regularly exposed in Washington’s vast new drive for world dominance.
Just as we see the regular line-up of Israel snipers shooting unarmed demonstrators in Gaza from behind a fence, including women and children and medics and journalists. And then we have the brutally black humor of Israel’s halting fuel shipments into Gaza until “the violence stops.” Do we see one serious effort in the West to question public butchery? Do we see one serious call for a mass-murderer Prime Minister to receive justice?
No, because if something serves the American empire, it serves God.
AFTERWORD:
Only just now I read this in The Guardian:
'After speaking to the Saudi king by phone, the US president said Salman “denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened” to the journalist and was “working closely with Turkey” to find out what happened to him.
'“The denial was very, very strong,” Trump told reporters. “It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows?”
"Rogue killers"? So, the games of cover-up begin. That's the morality of America's empire.
EXPANSION OF A COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN CONSORTIUM NEWS BY AS’AD ABUKHALIL
"The Strange Disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi
"Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist, who disappeared in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last week is not quite the critic of the Saudi regime that the Western media says he is, writes As’ad AbuKhalil."
Sorry, but I think this article a bit of what they call a "straw man" argument in logic.
You might even call it a red herring.
Refuting the hyped and exaggerated claims of the "western press" about an event like this has almost nothing to do with the actual event or its importance.
It's rather like entering the ridiculous set of false and uninformed arguments, on all sides of the American political establishment, about Russian influence, which, in fact, any critical observer instantly can see is virtually zero, all while Washington and those allies under its thumb scream and whoop, "the sky is falling."
The Crown Prince is a usurper, kidnapper, extortionist, murderer, and a war criminal, full stop.
He is also a supreme narcissist and is well known for having a very thin skin.
Look at the way he furiously retaliates at anything he regards to be a slight, as at Trump and his “pay for your security,” and as at Canada and its pitifully little squeak of a remark about human rights.
The Washington power establishment likes the prince, exceedingly. Remember how he was taken around on a grand goodwill tour, meeting American officials and important people, almost as though he were the new President of France rather than a murderous, usurper absolute monarch of a desert kingdom? He’s proven his worth in waging aggressive war in Syria, covertly, and, openly, in Yemen.
He has also proven his worth in ending Saudi Arabia’s old antagonisms towards Israel and, indeed, in becoming virtually a secret ally of that state. Just the kind of thing the Neocon empire-builders in Washington want to see. So, he is a key player in Neocon plans for the Middle East. He has embraced Israel’s antagonism towards Iran, too, which has nothing to do with threats and security and anti-Semitism but everything to do with who is to be the most influential country in the region.
The Crown Prince, also, something rarely noticed, has a great deal in common with Israel, representing monied privilege in the region, relative newcomers ruling over ancient residents (the Royal Family does not go back much longer than re-created Israel itself), antagonists against both indigenous democracy in the region and independent-minded other leaders, and both are shills for American influence.
This is an extremely dangerous man, even though our mainline press has dedicated itself, at least until now, to building him up in an almost laughable manner with lines straight out of a disinformation crib sheet from Langley Virginia. Our press made a huge big deal out of a few privileged women in Saudi Arabia now getting driver’s licences while this Crown Prince busied himself slaughtering thousands of women in Yemen and in Syria and in brutally suppressing Shia minorities in parts of Saudi Arabia itself – all of the latter activity going without comment.
It would not have taken much for Khashoggi to earn the prince’s enmity. Stuff about being Khashoggi being a resistance figure for enlightened values is as silly as the streams of garbage about Putin determining American national elections. It represents noise covering other matters. He only had to look vaguely like a threat or roadblock, for whatever reasons, to the path of a murderous prince. The prince is also quite nervous about opposition to himself by other clans of the large Royal Family - people he has already deeply offended and committed crimes against, his acts generating opposition both open and covert. The usurper Prince’s position is not a one-hundred percent stable and secure.
My guess is that the prince arrogantly over-played his hand in getting rid of someone he resented, for whatever reasons, overplayed his hand because now at least part of western interests cannot just ignore such obvious butchery.
God, we even have security-camera views of the gang of Saudi security forces-related killers (some identified) coming and going, and the Turks have secret recordings of Khashoggi being tortured and killed. Our good old dependable press tried a planted story about how maybe Khashoggi’s smart-watch had recorded his torture and execution, but the recording likely came from planted Turkish security spyware in the Saudi consulate. We have Khashoggi photographed going into the Saudi consulate and never coming out. We have his fiancé waiting for him. We have pictures of a van parked by the consulate, a van whose licence was not immediately traced.
They are now going through the dumb-show of allowing Turkey to search the Saudi consulate, after a considerable delay. Unless they bring a gallon jug of luminal (to check for invisible blood traces), they won’t find a thing. And unless they were simultaneously searching the Saudi consul’s house and digging up the garden where Khashoggi’s butchered body parts were likely buried, they still won’t find a thing. Everything will have been disposed of.
Current delays in the West are just cover for behind-the-scenes scrambles, scrambles to create a covering story, for a way to exonerate this very useful murderer-prince, and perhaps to create a fall-guy. After all, Putin only has to hiccough to be instantly subjected to new sanctions and condemnations.
But here we have something close to an open-and-shut case of high-level political murder, and we see no sanctions, we see no slowing-up in hundreds of billions in arms sales, we hear no false clamoring over human rights or even journalistic freedom. We see no diplomatic personal being expelled, as we saw Theresa May doing against Russia without a shred of evidence anyone could credit.
It all makes Theresa May’s unsupported claims in the Skripal Affair really look silly. Here’s the real thing, right out a John le Carré novel, but we see no ethics-inspired acts or hear no histrionic words by British or American or Canadian authorities which might endanger hundreds of billions in arms sales.
You see, it really isn’t that anyone cares about the fate of a man like Khashoggi, whether he was a decent man or not, whether he was a journalist or not. These events concern the very public tipping of the imperial apple cart, which cannot be just ignored. The prince’s blundering act threatens a vast, partly-secret engineering project in the Middle East. Now, in Washington, that has to be taken seriously.
Here, once again, is the kind of ugly business to which we are regularly exposed in Washington’s vast new drive for world dominance.
Just as we see the regular line-up of Israel snipers shooting unarmed demonstrators in Gaza from behind a fence, including women and children and medics and journalists. And then we have the brutally black humor of Israel’s halting fuel shipments into Gaza until “the violence stops.” Do we see one serious effort in the West to question public butchery? Do we see one serious call for a mass-murderer Prime Minister to receive justice?
No, because if something serves the American empire, it serves God.
AFTERWORD:
Only just now I read this in The Guardian:
'After speaking to the Saudi king by phone, the US president said Salman “denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened” to the journalist and was “working closely with Turkey” to find out what happened to him.
'“The denial was very, very strong,” Trump told reporters. “It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers. Who knows?”
"Rogue killers"? So, the games of cover-up begin. That's the morality of America's empire.
Saturday, October 13, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: HOW THE "RUSSIA HOAX" IS USED AND ABUSED ON ALL SIDES - NEITHER AMERICA'S PRESS NOR ANY POLITICIAN SEEKS TRUTH ABOUT THE NATION'S PROBLEMS BECAUSE THEY ARE JUST TOO DARK AND UGLY AND BASIC TO FACE
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“Sean Hannity Is Doing a Great Job Covering Russia Hoax
“Hannity’s bottom line point is: if we don’t win the mid-terms, we’re never going to get to the bottom of any of this. It's a very big deal.”
Sean Hannity is just conducting a more sophisticated form of propaganda. We are talking about Fox News, after all, not one of the world’s seekers after truth.
The bottom line here is that the people Hannity represents are afraid of big Democratic gains in the Congressional elections, which are indeed expected.
This would turn Trump into a "lame duck" for his last two years.
There simply are no truths “anyone is going to get to the bottom of” in this corrupt matter, any more than Trump is going to “drain the swamp” or “send Hillary to jail.”
It’s all laughable. America’s is simply not a rational, rule-of-law government. It more resembles what it must have sounded and smelled like after forty days on Noah’s Ark. A huge cesspool, and those playing in the filth have completely lost their sense of smell.
Of course, all the noise on all sides over matters like this keeps the people occupied and distracted from the country’s real problems, problems which are never even discussed.
The truth is dirty behavior occurs regularly by both American political parties and that American agencies like the FBI are used and bent in all directions to serve power, over and over.
America is just plain corrupt, but it never stops pretending otherwise.
There’s that stupidly childish illusion about “if you could just drain the swamp, everything would be okay." The only cleansing of American government that would actually mean anything would be shutting it all down and starting over from scratch. The reality is truly that bad, but that, obviously, is not going to happen.
So, the world is stuck with this corrupt, selfish, and unthinking giant, stumbling along into its decline, hurling threats and challenges in every direction, spending money like a drunken sailor, money it doesn’t even have, wasting immense resources on destruction and dominance rather than improving anything anywhere, making enemies and offending friends and only effectively speeding its own decline. Hating Russia is just part of the establishment’s new cult of “America first everywhere and in everything.”
And it's all as American as apple pie, as they say, America having gone through past periods of temporary insanity, insanity not of all its people but of its privileged leaders and their powerful servants. Power is power, no matter how it is obtained, and those with real power in America have no thoughts for all the people, ever.
“All the people” simply do not count for much, although lip service is paid. The increasing anger in American political discourse on all sides and from top to bottom, I believe, in part reflects a perception – almost a kind of vague, dumb animal perception rather than any clear understanding – by great parts of the population that some things are very wrong.
And they are right, some things are very wrong, but they aren’t the fault of Muslims or refugees or illegal aliens or liberals or gays or Russians or Chinese. What is wrong is that plutocracy has become the day-to-day reality of American government, and all the agencies of government serve it slavishly as do both political parties.
A world empire driven by plutocratic government and frighteningly powerful agencies in its service has no time for “all the people,” ever, and most of what it spends resources and effort on is utterly selfish and corrupt.
“All the people” are kept misinformed by streams of prejudiced nonsense from leaders and the faithful press – all in the service of billionaires, gigantic corporations, and a world empire which operates like a giant gambling casino generating wealth and opportunity for its owners.
The "Russia hoax" thrived, and survives still, not because of Hillary, not because of Democrats, not because of the FBI, but because the entire American establishment is united in its Russophobia, as in a new cult religion. It’s just one tenet of the “Full spectrum dominance” cult violently embraced by an American establishment that sees itself being diminished by the natural growth and development of others coming up in the world. We hear members of the establishment saying the same things day after day, not just Democrats.
The American Naval commander on the aircraft carrier, Harry S. Truman, going into Norwegian waters made truly stupid remarks earlier today concerning Russia. He does not speak for a party. And his boss, Commander-in-Chief Trump, obviously accepted both the aggressive naval move and the dumb words from a subordinate commander.
We all hoped Trump could bring some end or diminishment to the dangerous Russophobia, but he has absolutely proven that he is not able to do so, that he is, indeed, weak despite his constant bluster.
For hopeful people in the world, Trump is a total failure. He hasn't made any progress on any things worth talking about - like relations with Russia or getting out of Syria - he has only made a lot of noise and threats and created still other problems. He represents no hope of any kind.
So, it is good if the mid-term elections paralyze him for the next two years. Very good.
Getting wound-up about Clinton - who indeed is as crooked as they come - removes attention from the next important goal, paralyzing Trump and his many stupidities.
Look at the hideous cabinet Trump has appointed. Look at Trump insulting friends and allies while pursuing chaotic goals. Look at the way the mass murderer who leads Israel has been treated as a favorite son. Look at the threats against the volume of world trade and a fragile world economy.
He's best hog-tied in November.
That won't change the total outlook - Russophobia we have to live with, I fear, for a long time - but it will change enough other, perhaps not-quite-so-big things so that it can be counted a gain.
Any expectations that someone will come along and change or enlighten America’s establishment with facts and rationality and courage are just foolish. And there are no knights on white chargers waiting in the wings.
Why, just in the last day, there was presidential-hopeful, Joe Biden, waving his arms, bugging his eyes, and saying things about Russia for which he should have been laughed out of the room. But he wasn’t, and neither is Britain’s Prime Minister May, someone just totally under America’s imperial thumb, making unsupported charge after unsupported charge.
Trump has proven more of a drunken, farting fool riding an ass than a knight on a charger, but his desperate followers manage to convince themselves they see something else.
The biggest danger he represents is upping the ante constantly with the establishment. He’ll literally do anything to stay in office. He already literally sold American foreign policy in the Middle East for the promise of tens of millions in campaign funds in 2020. His is about as dangerous a motivation as I can imagine, whining to the super-rich establishment: “Please, just keep me in office, and I’ll give everything you ever wanted, and more!”
The American sickness must run its course until it abates. So, plan for the worst, and you cannot go too far wrong. We are past hoping for America in this generation. With its continued inevitable relative decline plus the realization of all the damage to relationships being done by throwing its weight around, eventually realism must set in.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“Sean Hannity Is Doing a Great Job Covering Russia Hoax
“Hannity’s bottom line point is: if we don’t win the mid-terms, we’re never going to get to the bottom of any of this. It's a very big deal.”
Sean Hannity is just conducting a more sophisticated form of propaganda. We are talking about Fox News, after all, not one of the world’s seekers after truth.
The bottom line here is that the people Hannity represents are afraid of big Democratic gains in the Congressional elections, which are indeed expected.
This would turn Trump into a "lame duck" for his last two years.
There simply are no truths “anyone is going to get to the bottom of” in this corrupt matter, any more than Trump is going to “drain the swamp” or “send Hillary to jail.”
It’s all laughable. America’s is simply not a rational, rule-of-law government. It more resembles what it must have sounded and smelled like after forty days on Noah’s Ark. A huge cesspool, and those playing in the filth have completely lost their sense of smell.
Of course, all the noise on all sides over matters like this keeps the people occupied and distracted from the country’s real problems, problems which are never even discussed.
The truth is dirty behavior occurs regularly by both American political parties and that American agencies like the FBI are used and bent in all directions to serve power, over and over.
America is just plain corrupt, but it never stops pretending otherwise.
There’s that stupidly childish illusion about “if you could just drain the swamp, everything would be okay." The only cleansing of American government that would actually mean anything would be shutting it all down and starting over from scratch. The reality is truly that bad, but that, obviously, is not going to happen.
So, the world is stuck with this corrupt, selfish, and unthinking giant, stumbling along into its decline, hurling threats and challenges in every direction, spending money like a drunken sailor, money it doesn’t even have, wasting immense resources on destruction and dominance rather than improving anything anywhere, making enemies and offending friends and only effectively speeding its own decline. Hating Russia is just part of the establishment’s new cult of “America first everywhere and in everything.”
And it's all as American as apple pie, as they say, America having gone through past periods of temporary insanity, insanity not of all its people but of its privileged leaders and their powerful servants. Power is power, no matter how it is obtained, and those with real power in America have no thoughts for all the people, ever.
“All the people” simply do not count for much, although lip service is paid. The increasing anger in American political discourse on all sides and from top to bottom, I believe, in part reflects a perception – almost a kind of vague, dumb animal perception rather than any clear understanding – by great parts of the population that some things are very wrong.
And they are right, some things are very wrong, but they aren’t the fault of Muslims or refugees or illegal aliens or liberals or gays or Russians or Chinese. What is wrong is that plutocracy has become the day-to-day reality of American government, and all the agencies of government serve it slavishly as do both political parties.
A world empire driven by plutocratic government and frighteningly powerful agencies in its service has no time for “all the people,” ever, and most of what it spends resources and effort on is utterly selfish and corrupt.
“All the people” are kept misinformed by streams of prejudiced nonsense from leaders and the faithful press – all in the service of billionaires, gigantic corporations, and a world empire which operates like a giant gambling casino generating wealth and opportunity for its owners.
The "Russia hoax" thrived, and survives still, not because of Hillary, not because of Democrats, not because of the FBI, but because the entire American establishment is united in its Russophobia, as in a new cult religion. It’s just one tenet of the “Full spectrum dominance” cult violently embraced by an American establishment that sees itself being diminished by the natural growth and development of others coming up in the world. We hear members of the establishment saying the same things day after day, not just Democrats.
The American Naval commander on the aircraft carrier, Harry S. Truman, going into Norwegian waters made truly stupid remarks earlier today concerning Russia. He does not speak for a party. And his boss, Commander-in-Chief Trump, obviously accepted both the aggressive naval move and the dumb words from a subordinate commander.
We all hoped Trump could bring some end or diminishment to the dangerous Russophobia, but he has absolutely proven that he is not able to do so, that he is, indeed, weak despite his constant bluster.
For hopeful people in the world, Trump is a total failure. He hasn't made any progress on any things worth talking about - like relations with Russia or getting out of Syria - he has only made a lot of noise and threats and created still other problems. He represents no hope of any kind.
So, it is good if the mid-term elections paralyze him for the next two years. Very good.
Getting wound-up about Clinton - who indeed is as crooked as they come - removes attention from the next important goal, paralyzing Trump and his many stupidities.
Look at the hideous cabinet Trump has appointed. Look at Trump insulting friends and allies while pursuing chaotic goals. Look at the way the mass murderer who leads Israel has been treated as a favorite son. Look at the threats against the volume of world trade and a fragile world economy.
He's best hog-tied in November.
That won't change the total outlook - Russophobia we have to live with, I fear, for a long time - but it will change enough other, perhaps not-quite-so-big things so that it can be counted a gain.
Any expectations that someone will come along and change or enlighten America’s establishment with facts and rationality and courage are just foolish. And there are no knights on white chargers waiting in the wings.
Why, just in the last day, there was presidential-hopeful, Joe Biden, waving his arms, bugging his eyes, and saying things about Russia for which he should have been laughed out of the room. But he wasn’t, and neither is Britain’s Prime Minister May, someone just totally under America’s imperial thumb, making unsupported charge after unsupported charge.
Trump has proven more of a drunken, farting fool riding an ass than a knight on a charger, but his desperate followers manage to convince themselves they see something else.
The biggest danger he represents is upping the ante constantly with the establishment. He’ll literally do anything to stay in office. He already literally sold American foreign policy in the Middle East for the promise of tens of millions in campaign funds in 2020. His is about as dangerous a motivation as I can imagine, whining to the super-rich establishment: “Please, just keep me in office, and I’ll give everything you ever wanted, and more!”
The American sickness must run its course until it abates. So, plan for the worst, and you cannot go too far wrong. We are past hoping for America in this generation. With its continued inevitable relative decline plus the realization of all the damage to relationships being done by throwing its weight around, eventually realism must set in.
Thursday, October 11, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: THE DISAPPEARANCE OF A SAUDI JOURNALIST WHO WORKED FOR THE WASHINGTON POST WHILE VISITING A SAUDI CONSULATE IN TURKEY TELLS US SOMETHING IMPORTANT ABOUT THE BRAVE NEW WORLD AMERICA IS BUSY CREATING
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN MOON OF ALABAMA
“U.S. Intelligence Had A 'Duty To Warn' Khashoggi - Why Didn't That Happen?”
An excellent piece which covers many aspects of this dark affair in which a well-known Saudi figure, a critic of the Crown Prince, was simply “disappeared” while visiting Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul to get some papers.
And you are right, no one even questions the Saudi Usurper over mass killing in Yemen. Or his dark work in Syria. Or his abuse of Shia Muslims in Saudi Arabia. So, why expect a lot of to-do over journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, Washington Post connection or not?
It does appear that we increasingly live in a world where the right kind of people can get away with murder, more or less in broad daylight.
To my mind, it's all just part of the damage done by American hyper-aggressive efforts to assert Washington's authority in every corner of the world.
Saudi Arabia is important because of the new relationship it has formed with America's privileged imperial colony, Israel. The United States is using the murderous Crown Prince as part of its campaign to re-make the Middle East, an effort which has already cost about two million lives.
After all, Israel doesn't have to account for its savage line-ups of soldiers behind fences shooting into unarmed crowds at Gaza, people who are only demonstrating for basic human rights.
These big-game hunting parties with human beings as targets make the old days of Bull Connor in Alabama look almost gentle by comparison.
Yet our press and politicians say almost nothing.
Well, not quite.
The savages are actually publicly praised for their "restraint" in an increasingly-bizarre America.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN MOON OF ALABAMA
“U.S. Intelligence Had A 'Duty To Warn' Khashoggi - Why Didn't That Happen?”
An excellent piece which covers many aspects of this dark affair in which a well-known Saudi figure, a critic of the Crown Prince, was simply “disappeared” while visiting Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul to get some papers.
And you are right, no one even questions the Saudi Usurper over mass killing in Yemen. Or his dark work in Syria. Or his abuse of Shia Muslims in Saudi Arabia. So, why expect a lot of to-do over journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, Washington Post connection or not?
It does appear that we increasingly live in a world where the right kind of people can get away with murder, more or less in broad daylight.
To my mind, it's all just part of the damage done by American hyper-aggressive efforts to assert Washington's authority in every corner of the world.
Saudi Arabia is important because of the new relationship it has formed with America's privileged imperial colony, Israel. The United States is using the murderous Crown Prince as part of its campaign to re-make the Middle East, an effort which has already cost about two million lives.
After all, Israel doesn't have to account for its savage line-ups of soldiers behind fences shooting into unarmed crowds at Gaza, people who are only demonstrating for basic human rights.
These big-game hunting parties with human beings as targets make the old days of Bull Connor in Alabama look almost gentle by comparison.
Yet our press and politicians say almost nothing.
Well, not quite.
The savages are actually publicly praised for their "restraint" in an increasingly-bizarre America.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: A WRITER SAYS WE CAN BE HOPEFUL ABOUT PALESTINE - I WISH IT WERE SO - BUT I SEE NO REASON FOR OPTIMISM - QUITE THE OPPOSITE WHEN YOU APPRECIATE THE ACTUAL BEHAVIOR OF ISRAEL AND AREN'T BLINDED BY IDEOLOGY AND FANCIFUL MYTHS
John Chuckman
EXPANSION OF COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY PETER F COHEN IN MONDOWEISS
“Why we can be hopeful on Palestine”
I very much wish the title represented something more than a new version of Candide’s optimism.
The single state solution is an idea that has been around a long time.
If I'm not mistaken, the late Edward Said embraced it many years ago.
It's perfectly rational, but that is part of the reason that the bitter, brutal men running Israel will never accept it.
They are harsh ideologues, embracing a dark fantasy, the re-creation of an ancient land based on doubtful religious texts of 2,500 years, or more, ago. Texts in which people are stoned for doing things we do every day. Texts in which certain kinds of cloth and certain kinds of food, things we all use, are forbidden. Texts in which a great many events are either fantasies – Jonah and the whale or Lot’s wife as a pillar of salt or the Tower of Babel or Noah’s Ark - or things which never occurred – Israel’s captivity in Egypt and the reign of King David.
Those are hardly a sound basis for modern political affairs and the founding of a state which is heavily armed. But the truth is they provide only the start of a grim list of problems associated with today’s Israel.
Jews in fact flourish in a number of places in far better situations than they do in Israel. It seems to me that there is something in the Israeli temperament resembling the reclusive religious institutions of the Middle Ages, the ones where self-flagellation and other extremes were the norm – not the kind of people ready to embrace large numbers of outsiders with different ways. We find the same qualities in cults sometimes, the desire for separateness and unwillingness to mingle with others.
If Zionists had taken Albert Einstein’s advice, embracing the native people and living among them without iron walls, there could have been something harmonious and peaceful and constructive for everyone over the last 70 years.
But they did not embrace that vision. They embraced instead a bitter and hostile vision of iron walls and racial segregation. And militarism and police and security forces everywhere.
Moreover, Israel is the most heavily subsidized entity on earth, counting both government and private subsidies, and we all know the highly debilitating effects of subsidy over time. And subsidies cannot continue indefinitely. People do not endlessly give away money and resources, particularly when they see the recipient makes absolutely no progress at creating an improved situation.
It would be wise to seriously start making peace with the neighbors and cooperating because what we see today in Israel simply is not a situation which can be sustained long term, that is, without the kind of endless harshness we see, much the same kind of harshness we saw in the old Soviet Union, a state whose circumstances also were not sustainable. But fanatics, like the men who run Israel, do not look at hard realities.
Israel deliberately maintains an embattled situation, making life far more difficult for most there than in, say, Canada or the US or France or many other places.
Israel’s open abuse of millions causes its citizens to be greatly disliked in the world, too, and I don't really think most people enjoy being disliked.
The place is an armed camp, a crusader fortress. The level of military and security services make it in many ways resemble the old USSR. A state top-heavy with military and police and spies is not a healthy one for the long term. A recent book revealed that Israel’s security services have conducted 2,700 assassinations. Serial murder, then, is a founding value of the nation.
The cost of living in Israel is very high, houses are hard to buy, and career opportunities are quite limited. It is a small place, with about half the population of Ecuador. It can never enjoy great economies of scale, and its international trade literally is force-fed by American subsidies and pressures on others.
People only voluntarily live that way - having actually gone out of their way to create the circumstances - when a fantasy or a fanatical belief dominates rational thinking. Fanatical beliefs provide no sound foundation for anything.
I wouldn't care if Israelis wanted to indulge their fantasies, providing they could do so without hurting and abusing millions of others.
But they are hurting and abusing millions of others. That fact is at the heart of the matter.
It is not a matter of a war or conflict, as it is so often inaccurately and lopsidedly presented in our press and by our politicians, when you have a situation where other people’s farms and houses are regularly stolen. It represents a state where the rule of law does not apply, a kind of ongoing criminal enterprise with no justice for its victims.
The rule of law simply is not to be found in Israel and the territories it occupies. Something called the law exists, but it is the same kind of law we saw in places like the American Confederacy and in Nationalist South Africa. It is law to protect only a specific group of residents, and it is law which oppresses all others.
You simply cannot have a viable country in the long term without the stability of the rule of law, yet the people running Israel appear to believe that you can.
You know, it is impossible to look at images of Gaza and not immediately think of a giant concentration camp. And what we see there is Israel’s doing completely. Penning people in with fences and guard towers, including towers with automated, radar-activated machine guns. Bombing them frequently, invading them periodically, blockading their imports, even the materials required for repairs and rebuilding. Curtailing all their natural rights such as how far fishermen can go out in their boats and whether people can travel anywhere, even for medical care or education.
Just imagine how Israel would thrive treated the same way. Of course, it wouldn’t. It couldn’t. It would stagnate and begin to rot. In a way, Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians provides a self-fulfilling prophecy for them. Many Israelis really do believe it is only themselves capable of making a thriving place. You can very much see that notion on display in propaganda films and lobbying efforts. It surely represents a form of racism which just jumps out at us periodically.
And when peaceful, desperate people protest for rights to which they are entitled by all the reckonings of Western tradition, Israel can only think of lining up firing squads of soldiers to shoot into the crowds from behind fences. Where in God’s name does such behavior take you? It is a one-way trip to nowhere.
The idea of a mixed state is abhorrent to a great many Israelis because it violates the confused dream that dominated the founders’ thinking.
It would only be possible if the United States used its inordinate power and authority to push for justice. Indeed, that is the reality for any settlement, whether two states or one. But how likely is that? It is not only unlikely, it is impossible given the political realities of America with its money-driven elections and its tolerance for powerful lobbies to supply money along with other assistance such as favorable press treatment.
The lobby for Israel in the United States is one of the most powerful and well-run in the country. It is for many a political death sentence to oppose it. It will maintain the status quo so long as the leaders in Israel want it to be so. There is a kind of vicious circle involved in all discussions of Israel-Palestinian peace.
Only in the remote case of American Jews becoming convinced that Israel should no longer be supported so vigorously, or in the equally remote case of America changing its terrible laws around money in politics and the governance of political lobbies, would there be a possibility for America to use its strength and influence for justice. Well, it’s gone on the way it is for seventy years, and there seems little reason to expect change in either of those American circumstances which support Israel.
Further contributing to Israel’s distaste for a single-state solution is the fact that, in general, Arab birth rates are higher, considerably, than Israeli ones. Of course, keeping Palestinians in relative poverty only helps to extend that reality since we know birth rates invariably drop with prosperity. So, how long would it be before Jews became a minority? I know Israel’s leadership is keenly aware of this reality and greatly fears it.
Israel plays an intellectual game around the concept of democracy, always trying to gain plaudits as the “only democracy in the Middle East.” But what kind of democracy is it where only certain people can immigrate, become full citizens, and vote? Yes, there is a minority population of Palestinians who are citizens (now about 20% of total population), but their status was an accident of history, of events around 1948.
It was never intended to be so, and many Israelis would like to change their status. Prominent people have addressed that very subject. Netanyahu once described them as a “demographic bomb,” such are his fair-minded views.
And this minority is treated unfairly with specialized laws against their interests. It is even spoken out against and threatened by some Israeli politicians, men of the caliber of Avigdor Lieberman, of which Israel has considerable numbers, their presence being consistently required in the formation of governments under Israel’s political system.
In effect, some of the darkest voices in Israel always have a seat at the table of government. They provide the required margin to form a government, and they employ that margin to maintain disproportionate influence.
As well, whenever Israel meets democracy in the Arab world around it, it treats it with open hostility. It loved the long-term dictator of Egypt, Mubarak, hated and worked against Egypt’s one brief democratic government, and now embraces the new Egyptian dictator, el-Sisi. It embraces the bloody tyrant in Saudi Arabia. It embraces the King of Jordan.
It tried to totally destroy democratically-elected Hamas in Gaza, whose original non-corrupt and democratic ways only got it labelled as “terrorist.” It somewhat supports the so-called President of Palestine, Abbas, a man whose legitimate mandate ended many years ago and who has not faced an election since. Its tepid tolerance for Abbas is based only on his relative ineffectiveness and his opposition to Hamas in Gaza.
Israel has little prospect for healthy future in-migration of Jews. Indeed, it experiences some years with net out-migration. Jews are a relatively small group in the world, and not many would trade their prosperity and opportunity and freedom for the intense stress and unpleasant realities of Israel.
The Russians were the world’s last remaining large source for serious immigration, and now that's used up.
It is important for understanding Israel’s political psychology to realize that many of its leaders and leading economic citizens have dual citizenships, as American or British, and they are secure in the backs of their minds that they can always pack-up and leave should the situation become too nasty. That is not the case for many ordinary citizens now born there. They are stuck.
Israel’s prospects, with relatively low birth rates and limited in-migration are for population decline and a whole lot more of the same grief and violence, given the extreme ideologue beliefs of its leaders and the inherent instability of its situation.
It's a bleak long-term outlook.
But accept Palestinians? Whew, that's like telling devout, old-fashioned Catholics they should accept abortion and married priests and stop reciting the Rosary.
Modern Israel, by all objective evidence, is, in fact, a pretty racist society, too. We’ve seen ugly controversy and manipulation at every turn involving race. Black refugees were treated terribly. Black Jews from Africa, too, were not even allowed to live in some neighborhoods. Of course, the same is true for Arabs who cannot rent or buy in many places and face open hostility. Some national laws, too, are different for Jews versus non-Jews.
I just do not see how a hopeful future can come from that.
It really was a hopeless enterprise from the beginning, creating a nation based on ancient myths and mumbo-jumbo texts, an enterprise based on anger and desperation with no larger guiding vision. But, again, if it could have been done without hurting millions of others, that would be only Israel’s’ business. But it cannot be done without hurting millions of others, and things continues along that path without any signs of let-up.
There can be no repeat of the Holocaust. It was a unique event under unique circumstances, not to be repeated, which is indeed the case with all truly terrible events. New horrors will happen somewhere to someone, but they won’t be a repeat of the Holocaust. A brilliant ancient Greek compared history to a flowing river into which you could never step into the same place twice.
Yet the Holocaust is used almost as raison d’etre for Israel. It truly is not since most of the world’s Jews do not live there. Of course, this also ignores the fact that the Holocaust was an event in another continent, involving one group of Germans against another. The Ashkenazim who created Zionism and who dominate Israel are a Germanic, Eastern European people. The word Ashkenazi means German.
So, what are they doing in the Middle East generating misery for still another people, people who had nothing to do with the Holocaust? Well, again, who would care about them being in the Middle East so long as they respected their neighbors and lived in peace. But they do not.
It’s nonsense to believe that the Holocaust could be repeated, but holding it over people’s heads serves much like the threat of hell does in American Christian fundamentalism or did in the Catholic Church for centuries of the Dark Ages.
The phrase “never again” contains no hint of reality, both because history never repeats itself and because the very people uttering it have demonstrated insincerity and hypocrisy in their efforts. Again, just look at images of Gaza and see what Israel has consciously created while uttering the words. It’s beyond shameful.
I regret to say that I see virtually nothing in the entire situation about which to be optimistic.
EXPANSION OF COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY PETER F COHEN IN MONDOWEISS
“Why we can be hopeful on Palestine”
I very much wish the title represented something more than a new version of Candide’s optimism.
The single state solution is an idea that has been around a long time.
If I'm not mistaken, the late Edward Said embraced it many years ago.
It's perfectly rational, but that is part of the reason that the bitter, brutal men running Israel will never accept it.
They are harsh ideologues, embracing a dark fantasy, the re-creation of an ancient land based on doubtful religious texts of 2,500 years, or more, ago. Texts in which people are stoned for doing things we do every day. Texts in which certain kinds of cloth and certain kinds of food, things we all use, are forbidden. Texts in which a great many events are either fantasies – Jonah and the whale or Lot’s wife as a pillar of salt or the Tower of Babel or Noah’s Ark - or things which never occurred – Israel’s captivity in Egypt and the reign of King David.
Those are hardly a sound basis for modern political affairs and the founding of a state which is heavily armed. But the truth is they provide only the start of a grim list of problems associated with today’s Israel.
Jews in fact flourish in a number of places in far better situations than they do in Israel. It seems to me that there is something in the Israeli temperament resembling the reclusive religious institutions of the Middle Ages, the ones where self-flagellation and other extremes were the norm – not the kind of people ready to embrace large numbers of outsiders with different ways. We find the same qualities in cults sometimes, the desire for separateness and unwillingness to mingle with others.
If Zionists had taken Albert Einstein’s advice, embracing the native people and living among them without iron walls, there could have been something harmonious and peaceful and constructive for everyone over the last 70 years.
But they did not embrace that vision. They embraced instead a bitter and hostile vision of iron walls and racial segregation. And militarism and police and security forces everywhere.
Moreover, Israel is the most heavily subsidized entity on earth, counting both government and private subsidies, and we all know the highly debilitating effects of subsidy over time. And subsidies cannot continue indefinitely. People do not endlessly give away money and resources, particularly when they see the recipient makes absolutely no progress at creating an improved situation.
It would be wise to seriously start making peace with the neighbors and cooperating because what we see today in Israel simply is not a situation which can be sustained long term, that is, without the kind of endless harshness we see, much the same kind of harshness we saw in the old Soviet Union, a state whose circumstances also were not sustainable. But fanatics, like the men who run Israel, do not look at hard realities.
Israel deliberately maintains an embattled situation, making life far more difficult for most there than in, say, Canada or the US or France or many other places.
Israel’s open abuse of millions causes its citizens to be greatly disliked in the world, too, and I don't really think most people enjoy being disliked.
The place is an armed camp, a crusader fortress. The level of military and security services make it in many ways resemble the old USSR. A state top-heavy with military and police and spies is not a healthy one for the long term. A recent book revealed that Israel’s security services have conducted 2,700 assassinations. Serial murder, then, is a founding value of the nation.
The cost of living in Israel is very high, houses are hard to buy, and career opportunities are quite limited. It is a small place, with about half the population of Ecuador. It can never enjoy great economies of scale, and its international trade literally is force-fed by American subsidies and pressures on others.
People only voluntarily live that way - having actually gone out of their way to create the circumstances - when a fantasy or a fanatical belief dominates rational thinking. Fanatical beliefs provide no sound foundation for anything.
I wouldn't care if Israelis wanted to indulge their fantasies, providing they could do so without hurting and abusing millions of others.
But they are hurting and abusing millions of others. That fact is at the heart of the matter.
It is not a matter of a war or conflict, as it is so often inaccurately and lopsidedly presented in our press and by our politicians, when you have a situation where other people’s farms and houses are regularly stolen. It represents a state where the rule of law does not apply, a kind of ongoing criminal enterprise with no justice for its victims.
The rule of law simply is not to be found in Israel and the territories it occupies. Something called the law exists, but it is the same kind of law we saw in places like the American Confederacy and in Nationalist South Africa. It is law to protect only a specific group of residents, and it is law which oppresses all others.
You simply cannot have a viable country in the long term without the stability of the rule of law, yet the people running Israel appear to believe that you can.
You know, it is impossible to look at images of Gaza and not immediately think of a giant concentration camp. And what we see there is Israel’s doing completely. Penning people in with fences and guard towers, including towers with automated, radar-activated machine guns. Bombing them frequently, invading them periodically, blockading their imports, even the materials required for repairs and rebuilding. Curtailing all their natural rights such as how far fishermen can go out in their boats and whether people can travel anywhere, even for medical care or education.
Just imagine how Israel would thrive treated the same way. Of course, it wouldn’t. It couldn’t. It would stagnate and begin to rot. In a way, Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians provides a self-fulfilling prophecy for them. Many Israelis really do believe it is only themselves capable of making a thriving place. You can very much see that notion on display in propaganda films and lobbying efforts. It surely represents a form of racism which just jumps out at us periodically.
And when peaceful, desperate people protest for rights to which they are entitled by all the reckonings of Western tradition, Israel can only think of lining up firing squads of soldiers to shoot into the crowds from behind fences. Where in God’s name does such behavior take you? It is a one-way trip to nowhere.
The idea of a mixed state is abhorrent to a great many Israelis because it violates the confused dream that dominated the founders’ thinking.
It would only be possible if the United States used its inordinate power and authority to push for justice. Indeed, that is the reality for any settlement, whether two states or one. But how likely is that? It is not only unlikely, it is impossible given the political realities of America with its money-driven elections and its tolerance for powerful lobbies to supply money along with other assistance such as favorable press treatment.
The lobby for Israel in the United States is one of the most powerful and well-run in the country. It is for many a political death sentence to oppose it. It will maintain the status quo so long as the leaders in Israel want it to be so. There is a kind of vicious circle involved in all discussions of Israel-Palestinian peace.
Only in the remote case of American Jews becoming convinced that Israel should no longer be supported so vigorously, or in the equally remote case of America changing its terrible laws around money in politics and the governance of political lobbies, would there be a possibility for America to use its strength and influence for justice. Well, it’s gone on the way it is for seventy years, and there seems little reason to expect change in either of those American circumstances which support Israel.
Further contributing to Israel’s distaste for a single-state solution is the fact that, in general, Arab birth rates are higher, considerably, than Israeli ones. Of course, keeping Palestinians in relative poverty only helps to extend that reality since we know birth rates invariably drop with prosperity. So, how long would it be before Jews became a minority? I know Israel’s leadership is keenly aware of this reality and greatly fears it.
Israel plays an intellectual game around the concept of democracy, always trying to gain plaudits as the “only democracy in the Middle East.” But what kind of democracy is it where only certain people can immigrate, become full citizens, and vote? Yes, there is a minority population of Palestinians who are citizens (now about 20% of total population), but their status was an accident of history, of events around 1948.
It was never intended to be so, and many Israelis would like to change their status. Prominent people have addressed that very subject. Netanyahu once described them as a “demographic bomb,” such are his fair-minded views.
And this minority is treated unfairly with specialized laws against their interests. It is even spoken out against and threatened by some Israeli politicians, men of the caliber of Avigdor Lieberman, of which Israel has considerable numbers, their presence being consistently required in the formation of governments under Israel’s political system.
In effect, some of the darkest voices in Israel always have a seat at the table of government. They provide the required margin to form a government, and they employ that margin to maintain disproportionate influence.
As well, whenever Israel meets democracy in the Arab world around it, it treats it with open hostility. It loved the long-term dictator of Egypt, Mubarak, hated and worked against Egypt’s one brief democratic government, and now embraces the new Egyptian dictator, el-Sisi. It embraces the bloody tyrant in Saudi Arabia. It embraces the King of Jordan.
It tried to totally destroy democratically-elected Hamas in Gaza, whose original non-corrupt and democratic ways only got it labelled as “terrorist.” It somewhat supports the so-called President of Palestine, Abbas, a man whose legitimate mandate ended many years ago and who has not faced an election since. Its tepid tolerance for Abbas is based only on his relative ineffectiveness and his opposition to Hamas in Gaza.
Israel has little prospect for healthy future in-migration of Jews. Indeed, it experiences some years with net out-migration. Jews are a relatively small group in the world, and not many would trade their prosperity and opportunity and freedom for the intense stress and unpleasant realities of Israel.
The Russians were the world’s last remaining large source for serious immigration, and now that's used up.
It is important for understanding Israel’s political psychology to realize that many of its leaders and leading economic citizens have dual citizenships, as American or British, and they are secure in the backs of their minds that they can always pack-up and leave should the situation become too nasty. That is not the case for many ordinary citizens now born there. They are stuck.
Israel’s prospects, with relatively low birth rates and limited in-migration are for population decline and a whole lot more of the same grief and violence, given the extreme ideologue beliefs of its leaders and the inherent instability of its situation.
It's a bleak long-term outlook.
But accept Palestinians? Whew, that's like telling devout, old-fashioned Catholics they should accept abortion and married priests and stop reciting the Rosary.
Modern Israel, by all objective evidence, is, in fact, a pretty racist society, too. We’ve seen ugly controversy and manipulation at every turn involving race. Black refugees were treated terribly. Black Jews from Africa, too, were not even allowed to live in some neighborhoods. Of course, the same is true for Arabs who cannot rent or buy in many places and face open hostility. Some national laws, too, are different for Jews versus non-Jews.
I just do not see how a hopeful future can come from that.
It really was a hopeless enterprise from the beginning, creating a nation based on ancient myths and mumbo-jumbo texts, an enterprise based on anger and desperation with no larger guiding vision. But, again, if it could have been done without hurting millions of others, that would be only Israel’s’ business. But it cannot be done without hurting millions of others, and things continues along that path without any signs of let-up.
There can be no repeat of the Holocaust. It was a unique event under unique circumstances, not to be repeated, which is indeed the case with all truly terrible events. New horrors will happen somewhere to someone, but they won’t be a repeat of the Holocaust. A brilliant ancient Greek compared history to a flowing river into which you could never step into the same place twice.
Yet the Holocaust is used almost as raison d’etre for Israel. It truly is not since most of the world’s Jews do not live there. Of course, this also ignores the fact that the Holocaust was an event in another continent, involving one group of Germans against another. The Ashkenazim who created Zionism and who dominate Israel are a Germanic, Eastern European people. The word Ashkenazi means German.
So, what are they doing in the Middle East generating misery for still another people, people who had nothing to do with the Holocaust? Well, again, who would care about them being in the Middle East so long as they respected their neighbors and lived in peace. But they do not.
It’s nonsense to believe that the Holocaust could be repeated, but holding it over people’s heads serves much like the threat of hell does in American Christian fundamentalism or did in the Catholic Church for centuries of the Dark Ages.
The phrase “never again” contains no hint of reality, both because history never repeats itself and because the very people uttering it have demonstrated insincerity and hypocrisy in their efforts. Again, just look at images of Gaza and see what Israel has consciously created while uttering the words. It’s beyond shameful.
I regret to say that I see virtually nothing in the entire situation about which to be optimistic.
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: AMERICAN POLITICS' CONSTANT TOYING WITH ADVERTISING SLOGANS AVOIDS DEALING WITH REALITY - AMERICAN DREAM AND MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN ARE FANTASIES - HERE'S A FEW HARD REALITIES - A NEW GREAT DEPRESSION?
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN INVESTMENTWATCH
“Middle Class Erosion: 33 Million Americans Will Not Travel During The Holidays Because They Can’t Afford To Do So”
You are crying, as my mother used to say, over spilt milk.
The American Middle Class has been on the decline for decades.
The truth is that it was artificially fattened up in the glory days following WWII when the US had virtually no competition on the planet.
That was the fantasy time of "the American Dream."
It was unique. It is gone, and forever.
Now, there are many countries vying for their place in the sun, and the truth is that in many things America cannot compete with them.
Subsidies, whether direct or indirect, and special temporary privileged position, vis-a-vis others, does not breed competitive abilities and skills.
I think we all know that from our everyday lives.
So, why does anyone think it should be any different for a nation? It's not.
"The American Dream," always reflected a temporary special privileged position. It was never possible that it should be sustained indefinitely.
Trouble is that someone like Trump is playing politics with the nonsense of saying that it is possible.
"Make America Great Again" is just a new slogan for a tired, inaccurate, and out-of-date notion.
It much resembles the blind faith of a religion or cult.
There is absolutely no substance to it because it reflects fantasy notions in a changed reality, a world immensely different than that of, say, 1959.
The danger with it is that it will generate a permanent state of the kind of combative economic policies pursued by Trump. They lead nowhere but ruin for everyone.
The notion that you can enrich your own nation at the expense of others derives from centuries ago with Mercantilism and Imperialism.
It simply cannot work in a modern world, except to help destroy global economic and trade foundations, ultimately making everyone poorer.
Trump’s approach rather resembles - given America's vast and irresponsible accumulated debt and the weaknesses we see in many economies - a deliberate effort to bring on a new Great Depression.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN INVESTMENTWATCH
“Middle Class Erosion: 33 Million Americans Will Not Travel During The Holidays Because They Can’t Afford To Do So”
You are crying, as my mother used to say, over spilt milk.
The American Middle Class has been on the decline for decades.
The truth is that it was artificially fattened up in the glory days following WWII when the US had virtually no competition on the planet.
That was the fantasy time of "the American Dream."
It was unique. It is gone, and forever.
Now, there are many countries vying for their place in the sun, and the truth is that in many things America cannot compete with them.
Subsidies, whether direct or indirect, and special temporary privileged position, vis-a-vis others, does not breed competitive abilities and skills.
I think we all know that from our everyday lives.
So, why does anyone think it should be any different for a nation? It's not.
"The American Dream," always reflected a temporary special privileged position. It was never possible that it should be sustained indefinitely.
Trouble is that someone like Trump is playing politics with the nonsense of saying that it is possible.
"Make America Great Again" is just a new slogan for a tired, inaccurate, and out-of-date notion.
It much resembles the blind faith of a religion or cult.
There is absolutely no substance to it because it reflects fantasy notions in a changed reality, a world immensely different than that of, say, 1959.
The danger with it is that it will generate a permanent state of the kind of combative economic policies pursued by Trump. They lead nowhere but ruin for everyone.
The notion that you can enrich your own nation at the expense of others derives from centuries ago with Mercantilism and Imperialism.
It simply cannot work in a modern world, except to help destroy global economic and trade foundations, ultimately making everyone poorer.
Trump’s approach rather resembles - given America's vast and irresponsible accumulated debt and the weaknesses we see in many economies - a deliberate effort to bring on a new Great Depression.
Tuesday, October 09, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: AMERICA'S UNMISTAKABLE RELATIVE ECONOMIC DECLINE - THE HOPELESS AND DANGEROUS ASSAULTS OF TRUMP AND THE AMERICAN ESTABLISHMENT ON THE WORLD - A CLEAR DRIFT TOWARDS FASCISM - IMPOVERISHMENT THROUGH DEPRESSION MIGHT MAKE IT DECISIVE
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“Trump’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad National Security Team”
_____________________________
Response to a comment which said, “America is declining and has been for years. It struggles on and the question is, will it give up gracefully as the USSR did, or will the current neocons go out with a bang?”:
The decline is very real.
In the postwar period, America's glory days and the time when the expression "the American Dream" was popularized, America was responsible for over 40% of the globe's output.
After all, everyone else was flat on their backs.
Today, that has declined to 20-odd %.
It isn't just America falling behind, it's others, inevitably, coming up.
The Washington power establishment's new efforts at being aggressive everywhere are in large part based in recognition of this fact. It is also vociferously supported by the influential Neocons who see an aggressive America as the best possible thing for Israel.
They want to use Washington's still-immense military and financial strength to push their way to advantages all over the globe. Literally, a kind of Mafia protection-racket approach.
Clearly, some of the people in Trump's crew - Haley, Pompeo, Bolton, and others - couldn't be distinguished from Mafiosi, or perhaps fascists. He appointed these horrible creatures to appease an establishment which does not like him.
It is obviously a very dangerous philosophy and is not all that different than old-fashioned imperialism.
Trump's silly slogan about "Making America Great Again" comes right out of this reality. It's just a new formulation of “the American Dream,” but you cannot re-create 1953, so it will remain a largely empty phrase. But it is also a dangerous phrase in a number of ways, including its potential to leave his followers extremely enraged by failure.
And if he keeps attacking global economic and trade arrangements - activity which appears to be his only strategy to “making America great again” - he is, in fact, going to make America a whole lot worse off, with global recession, changed arrangements among other countries resentful of American belligerence, perhaps losing the dollar's privileged position, and new alliances forming.
Very short-sighted, to say the least.
However, for now, his ugly, bellowing rhetoric about other countries is somewhat in step with the power establishment's new goals, who also I believe are destined to fail utterly unless America really does transform itself into a fascist, aggrandizing state.
It already has taken many steps in this direction, in matters as wide-ranging as violating every American’s privacy to pushing the enforcement of American laws onto other countries and to supporting a number of governments who work against human rights and working to destroy international institutions dedicated to fairness among nations.
America's becoming a fascist state is a genuine possibility, and we have Israel, already one in all but name with the way it holds millions as prisoners and regularly steals their land and ignores all international law and custom, pushing America in that direction every step of the way.
Clear back in the 1930s, the great American journalist and chronicler of Nazi Germany, William L. Shirer, said he believed it was possible America could be the first country to go fascist by choice.
He was referring to attitudes and sympathies he observed in America, and not to the same world situation we see, but those attitudes and sympathies are still there, as we are reminded often when Trump or other senior American officials open their mouths.
Just give America another Great Depression, which the combination of Trump’s browbeating trade and America’s recklessness with its financial affairs both work towards, and all bets are off. Nazism arose out of the despair of millions crushed by economic catastrophe.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“Trump’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad National Security Team”
_____________________________
Response to a comment which said, “America is declining and has been for years. It struggles on and the question is, will it give up gracefully as the USSR did, or will the current neocons go out with a bang?”:
The decline is very real.
In the postwar period, America's glory days and the time when the expression "the American Dream" was popularized, America was responsible for over 40% of the globe's output.
After all, everyone else was flat on their backs.
Today, that has declined to 20-odd %.
It isn't just America falling behind, it's others, inevitably, coming up.
The Washington power establishment's new efforts at being aggressive everywhere are in large part based in recognition of this fact. It is also vociferously supported by the influential Neocons who see an aggressive America as the best possible thing for Israel.
They want to use Washington's still-immense military and financial strength to push their way to advantages all over the globe. Literally, a kind of Mafia protection-racket approach.
Clearly, some of the people in Trump's crew - Haley, Pompeo, Bolton, and others - couldn't be distinguished from Mafiosi, or perhaps fascists. He appointed these horrible creatures to appease an establishment which does not like him.
It is obviously a very dangerous philosophy and is not all that different than old-fashioned imperialism.
Trump's silly slogan about "Making America Great Again" comes right out of this reality. It's just a new formulation of “the American Dream,” but you cannot re-create 1953, so it will remain a largely empty phrase. But it is also a dangerous phrase in a number of ways, including its potential to leave his followers extremely enraged by failure.
And if he keeps attacking global economic and trade arrangements - activity which appears to be his only strategy to “making America great again” - he is, in fact, going to make America a whole lot worse off, with global recession, changed arrangements among other countries resentful of American belligerence, perhaps losing the dollar's privileged position, and new alliances forming.
Very short-sighted, to say the least.
However, for now, his ugly, bellowing rhetoric about other countries is somewhat in step with the power establishment's new goals, who also I believe are destined to fail utterly unless America really does transform itself into a fascist, aggrandizing state.
It already has taken many steps in this direction, in matters as wide-ranging as violating every American’s privacy to pushing the enforcement of American laws onto other countries and to supporting a number of governments who work against human rights and working to destroy international institutions dedicated to fairness among nations.
America's becoming a fascist state is a genuine possibility, and we have Israel, already one in all but name with the way it holds millions as prisoners and regularly steals their land and ignores all international law and custom, pushing America in that direction every step of the way.
Clear back in the 1930s, the great American journalist and chronicler of Nazi Germany, William L. Shirer, said he believed it was possible America could be the first country to go fascist by choice.
He was referring to attitudes and sympathies he observed in America, and not to the same world situation we see, but those attitudes and sympathies are still there, as we are reminded often when Trump or other senior American officials open their mouths.
Just give America another Great Depression, which the combination of Trump’s browbeating trade and America’s recklessness with its financial affairs both work towards, and all bets are off. Nazism arose out of the despair of millions crushed by economic catastrophe.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: A LIST OF REASONS TO DOUBT THE OFFICIAL STORY OF 9/11 IS INTERESTING BUT IT MISSES SOME VITAL POINTS - I THINK YOU CAN ONLY REJECT THE OFFICIAL STORY OF 9/11 IF YOU INFORM YOURSELF EVEN A LITTLE
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN GOV’T SLAVES
“Top 40 Reasons To Doubt The Official Story Of 9/11”
https://govtslaves.info/2018/10/07/the-top-40-reasons-to-doubt-the-official-story-of-9-11/
This is an excellent summary so far as it goes, but it does miss vitally important points.
What were the two groups of Mossad spies doing as they followed the presumed 9/11 actors?
How could Mossad run at least two gangs of spies inside the United States for an extended period of time without CIA being aware?
There is no doubt of their extensive activity - from a gang of "art students" travelling around, as in Florida where Atta was, to the fake “house movers” in New York area who filmed the plane strike and were witnessed high-fiving gleefully?
Indeed, sometimes Mossad does work for CIA where it would not be possible for CIA to work, the CIA supposedly not able to work inside the US by law.
What about the former CIA operative, Malcom Howard, a building demolition expert, who died recently and made a deathbed confession to having wired Building 7?
What about the State Department employee who spoke with concern about the large number of visas from abroad he was pressured by CIA to issue in advance of 9/11 events?
Osama bin Laden is endlessly assumed to have been involved, but we have never been given a single credible piece of evidence supporting the notion. You might think that if any evidence existed, officials would be only too happy to produce it.
Indeed, when the US requested his extradition from Afghanistan, the Taleban government did not refuse but it simply requested some evidence first, a request which is normal in all such extradition requests, but the United States refused and, a short while later, they invaded.
As to physical and other circumstances, again, readers might enjoy:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2016/09/11/john-chuckman-comment-a-survivor-says-even-the-simplest-questions-around-911-have-not-been-answered-by-government-yes-and-some-disturbing-truths-around-those-events-the-saudi-arabian-nonsense/
Or, indeed, any of the items contained in this search of one of my Internet sites:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/?s=9%2F11
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN GOV’T SLAVES
“Top 40 Reasons To Doubt The Official Story Of 9/11”
https://govtslaves.info/2018/10/07/the-top-40-reasons-to-doubt-the-official-story-of-9-11/
This is an excellent summary so far as it goes, but it does miss vitally important points.
What were the two groups of Mossad spies doing as they followed the presumed 9/11 actors?
How could Mossad run at least two gangs of spies inside the United States for an extended period of time without CIA being aware?
There is no doubt of their extensive activity - from a gang of "art students" travelling around, as in Florida where Atta was, to the fake “house movers” in New York area who filmed the plane strike and were witnessed high-fiving gleefully?
Indeed, sometimes Mossad does work for CIA where it would not be possible for CIA to work, the CIA supposedly not able to work inside the US by law.
What about the former CIA operative, Malcom Howard, a building demolition expert, who died recently and made a deathbed confession to having wired Building 7?
What about the State Department employee who spoke with concern about the large number of visas from abroad he was pressured by CIA to issue in advance of 9/11 events?
Osama bin Laden is endlessly assumed to have been involved, but we have never been given a single credible piece of evidence supporting the notion. You might think that if any evidence existed, officials would be only too happy to produce it.
Indeed, when the US requested his extradition from Afghanistan, the Taleban government did not refuse but it simply requested some evidence first, a request which is normal in all such extradition requests, but the United States refused and, a short while later, they invaded.
As to physical and other circumstances, again, readers might enjoy:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2016/09/11/john-chuckman-comment-a-survivor-says-even-the-simplest-questions-around-911-have-not-been-answered-by-government-yes-and-some-disturbing-truths-around-those-events-the-saudi-arabian-nonsense/
Or, indeed, any of the items contained in this search of one of my Internet sites:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/?s=9%2F11
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