John Chuckman
COMMENT ABOUT AN ARTICLE BY CARL BERNSTEIN AT CNN (YOU CAN’T POST COMMENTS AT CNN)
“From pandering to Putin to abusing allies and ignoring his own advisers, Trump's phone calls alarm US officials”
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/29/politics/trump-phone-calls-national-security-concerns/index.html
In a sense, this lengthy Carl Bernstein piece – despite revealing some hair-raising details of language Trump has used on phone calls with foreign leaders – tells us nothing new.
There is no reason to expect Trump speaking differently to foreign leaders than the way we hear him speak almost daily.
He's a crude, brutal man. Surely, the crudest ever to hold his office.
And I think he has few important facts at his command to impart to anyone. We’ve yet to see him at a podium and getting his facts straight about almost anything, from coronavirus to Syria.
Indeed, I believe Trump often says things from his own fantasies and presents them as facts, believing them himself, a pattern which is certainly part of a mental disorder. So why would that be any different with foreign leaders?
But I am suspicious of Bernstein’s piece, very suspicious, and what makes me suspicious is his treatment of Putin and Trump’s supposed interaction with him.
The words give off the distinct odor of propaganda.
It is yet one more effort to tie Trump to Putin in a way Americans would regard unfavorably.
It is one more effort at what the Democratic Party has tried so hard to do for four years, even abusing major government agencies in the efforts of the Obama administration.
And sadly, it is one more effort to stoke hatred of Russia in America. Bernstein even repeats some demeaning words describing Russia, something which isn’t necessary to the piece and isn’t reporting at all. It’s planting nasty whispers and suggestions for readers. That’s what propaganda does.
We’ve had a number of highly-connected individuals, including past and present military leaders and a former National Security Advisor, coming out in public against Trump on various matters recently. Not that he doesn’t deserve it, but where were they for the last four years of horrible and embarrassing government?
We just had that planted story in the New York Times and the Washington Post about Russians paying Taliban bounties to shoot Americans – the clearest nonsense from the same security service creative department that gave us Iraqi soldiers ripping babies from respirators in Kuwait, an updated rehash of Germans bayoneting babies in WW I.
Even Joe Biden has picked up the phony theme in campaign accusations against Trump. It’s a two-for-one story, featuring blame for Trump not doing anything and hatred for Russia. The shabbiness of Biden in picking this up – shabby because, as connected as he is, he has to know the truth – just reemphasizes the fact that even if the world sees the last of Trump in November, it will have gained nothing with Biden except a lower-volume setting on the stream of crap from Washington.
Now we have Bernstein, a highly political and connected journalist – indeed, perhaps more a political operative than a journalist, going back to the days of Watergate, which many thoughtful people believe was a subtle CIA operation to dump Nixon – writing this lengthy piece, which involved high-level blabbing to him.
I, of course, don’t give a damn about Trump and what they manage to do to him – and they are very much trying to do something to him in a coordinated effort – but it is disturbing that they are again stoking hatred for Russia. Hatred that never stops, just as the dishonest and illegal sanctions piled against Russia never stop.
Just as is the case with China or Syria or Iran or Venezuela or Cuba. Once America’s establishment has decided it doesn’t like you, because you do not dance to its tune, dirty tricks and name-calling become elevated to diplomacy. Too bad the State Department will lose Mike Pompeo if Trump departs. It has never had a more able man with dirt and name-calling. He’s just a natural with his rotund fundamentalist-preacher style.
America is simply a lunatic asylum anymore. Corruption and power breed derangement, and on all sides.
NOTE
The very morning this article appeared on CNN, I saw excerpts or references to it on news sites from several other countries. Just classic CIA style.
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: TRUMP’S ABUSIVE TELEPHONE CALLS WITH FOREIGN LEADERS REVEALED USING THE EXALTED BYLINE OF CARL BERNSTEIN – A LONG PIECE AT CNN IMMEDIATELY MIRRORED IN SEVERAL FOREIGN NEWS SOURCES IN CLASSIC SECURITY-SERVICE PROPAGANDA STYLE – NOT THAT TRUMP MATTERS (HE DOESN’T) BUT THE FOLKS PUTTING THIS “OUT THERE” ARE ALSO PUSHING HATRED FOR RUSSIA – ODD HOW THAT EXACTLY FITS CIA AND PENTAGON PRIORITIES – WHEN AMERICA’S ESTABLISHMENT DOESN’T LIKE YOU, DIRTY TRICKS AND NAME-CALLING ARE ELEVATED TO DIPLOMACY – TOO BAD, IF TRUMP GOES, AMERICA WILL LOSE MIKE POMPEO AT THE STATE DEPARTMENT – THE ROTUND FUNDAMENTALIST PREACHER IS WORLD-CLASS AT DIRT AND NAME-CALLING – CORRUPTION AND POWER BREED DERANGEMENT IN WASHINGTON
Monday, June 29, 2020
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: SOME PEOPLE WANT TO CHANGE THE AMERICAN NATIONAL ANTHEM BECAUSE THE AUTHOR OF ITS WORDS, FRANCIS SCOTT KEY, WAS A SLAVEHOLDER – THERE ARE OTHER GOOD REASONS FOR DUMPING THE ANTHEM, INCLUDING THE FACT FEW CAN EVEN SING IT, MANY OF ITS WORDS ARE VERBAL KITSCH, AND THE TUNE COMES FROM AN OLD ENGLISH DRINKING SONG – LINK TO A NASTY AMERICAN CONTROVERSY OVER A SPANISH VERSION OF THE ANTHEM SOME YEARS AGO
John Chuckman
EXPANSION OF COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN YOUR DESTINATION NOW
“Outrage as activists and journalists say the Star Spangled Banner should no longer be the National Anthem because it was written by slave owner Francis Scott Key”
“The lyrics come from Key’s 1814 poem Defence of Fort M'Henry”
Calling Key's words a "poem" is stretching things a bit.
It is a kind of patriotic verbal kitsch.
Histrionic and almost silly in places.
Although, considering what the United States has become, a song about a fort and bombs bursting in the air seems fitting.
And as to the music the words are set to, it is an old English gentlemen’s club drinking song, "To Anacreon in Heaven."
Few can even sing it, with its operatic flourishes. And how often have guest singers at public events blown this anthem?
By the way, when I was a young boy in grade school, we sang “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” rather than “The Star Spangled Banner.” It is set to the tune of Britain’s ‘God Save the Queen.” It has some over-the-top words too, such as “Land of the Pilgrims’ pride,” referring to the extremely intolerant and murderous Puritans who were running from genuine hatreds they had incited in Europe and killed many Indigenous people as they settled into America, but it is quieter and people can manage to sing it.
NOTE
Here is an interesting and revealing anecdote about the American anthem having been translated into Spanish some years ago and enjoying some popularity in the United States in that form. It includes a Francis Scott Key descendant making himself especially odious:
https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/2009/06/04/oh-say-can-you-see-xenophobia-in-a-land-of-immigrants/
EXPANSION OF COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN YOUR DESTINATION NOW
“Outrage as activists and journalists say the Star Spangled Banner should no longer be the National Anthem because it was written by slave owner Francis Scott Key”
“The lyrics come from Key’s 1814 poem Defence of Fort M'Henry”
Calling Key's words a "poem" is stretching things a bit.
It is a kind of patriotic verbal kitsch.
Histrionic and almost silly in places.
Although, considering what the United States has become, a song about a fort and bombs bursting in the air seems fitting.
And as to the music the words are set to, it is an old English gentlemen’s club drinking song, "To Anacreon in Heaven."
Few can even sing it, with its operatic flourishes. And how often have guest singers at public events blown this anthem?
By the way, when I was a young boy in grade school, we sang “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” rather than “The Star Spangled Banner.” It is set to the tune of Britain’s ‘God Save the Queen.” It has some over-the-top words too, such as “Land of the Pilgrims’ pride,” referring to the extremely intolerant and murderous Puritans who were running from genuine hatreds they had incited in Europe and killed many Indigenous people as they settled into America, but it is quieter and people can manage to sing it.
NOTE
Here is an interesting and revealing anecdote about the American anthem having been translated into Spanish some years ago and enjoying some popularity in the United States in that form. It includes a Francis Scott Key descendant making himself especially odious:
https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/2009/06/04/oh-say-can-you-see-xenophobia-in-a-land-of-immigrants/
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: SPIES FOR THE SOVIETS IN THE 1940s AND 1950s – THE STORY OF URSULA BEOURTON ASSISTING PHYSICIST KLAUS FUCHS IN BRITAIN - ATOMIC SECRETS REVEALED – THE CAMBRIDGE CIRCLE AND OTHERS INCLUDING MI5’S GUY LIDDELL – THE SOVIETS WERE REMARKABLY SUCCESSFUL IN RECRUITING HIGH-LEVEL AGENTS ABROAD BECAUSE OF A STRONG APPEAL TO IDEALISM AND FEARS OF AMERICA AS AN ATOMIC MONOPOLY – RATHER THAN FOCUSING ON THE NOTION OF TREACHERY, I THINK THE WORLD OWES THEM THANKS FOR PREVENTING AN AMERICAN NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST IN THE POSTWAR PERIOD
John Chuckman
COMMENT TO AN ARTICLE ON SCOOPY WEB
“Did a staggering British blunder hand Stalin the atomic bomb? Startling new evidence suggests Agent Sonya who passed nuclear secrets to Moscow was recruited to work here by MI6”
http://www.scoopyweb.com/2020/06/did-staggering-british-blunder-hand.html
“Ursula Beurton presented herself as a bicycling housewife and mother of two
“She was a well-respected Soviet Union intelligence officer called Agent Sonya
“She acted as a courier for Dr Klaus Fuchs and at least two other British traitors
“Agent Sonya transmitted messages back to Moscow from a home-made radio
“Analysis of files suggests it was MI6 that brought her to Britain in the first place
“It blew up in the face of both services [MI5 and MI6]”
Well, it wouldn't be the first time.
The entire notorious Cambridge Circle of spies – Kim Philby, Donald Maclean, and three others - operated right under the security services' noses for years and provided the USSR with immense amounts of information on many topics.
It is also believed that MI5’s Guy Liddell, who rose in the service almost to becoming its director, was a double agent.
And in Japan, the Soviets had the extraordinary Richard Sorge, a German journalist secretly working for Soviet military intelligence.
The Soviets were exceptionally good at recruiting high-value agents abroad. Their flow of what today is termed “humint” was so extensive, sometimes Stalin became suspicious and ignored things to which he should have paid attention.
I do believe there was far more than "treachery" involved in this work, just as was the case for the physicist, Klaus Fuchs. Soviet success involved genuine appeals to idealism and to fears about America.
Many of these spies were concerned about America having a postwar monopoly on atomic weapons and what they might do with it.
Which was exactly America's secret aim, to have a monopoly, effectively rule the planet, and be able to eliminate challengers.
The more thoughtful spies could see the frightening anti-communist fanaticism in America.
And we know that on more than one occasion the Pentagon did plan a pre-emptive, all-out attack on the USSR, even after the Soviets had nuclear weapons.
I sometimes think the Soviet spies did humanity a great service, preventing America from creating a nuclear holocaust, something it was perfectly capable of. Consider its fire-bombing and atomic-bombing later in Japan and, a little later still, its horrific three-year campaign of carpet-bombing in North Korea, something few Americans even know about.
Literally one-fifth of that country’s entire population was exterminated, and that is a Pentagon estimate. It should be no mystery today why a country like North Korea wants to keep its atomic weapons.
COMMENT TO AN ARTICLE ON SCOOPY WEB
“Did a staggering British blunder hand Stalin the atomic bomb? Startling new evidence suggests Agent Sonya who passed nuclear secrets to Moscow was recruited to work here by MI6”
http://www.scoopyweb.com/2020/06/did-staggering-british-blunder-hand.html
“Ursula Beurton presented herself as a bicycling housewife and mother of two
“She was a well-respected Soviet Union intelligence officer called Agent Sonya
“She acted as a courier for Dr Klaus Fuchs and at least two other British traitors
“Agent Sonya transmitted messages back to Moscow from a home-made radio
“Analysis of files suggests it was MI6 that brought her to Britain in the first place
“It blew up in the face of both services [MI5 and MI6]”
Well, it wouldn't be the first time.
The entire notorious Cambridge Circle of spies – Kim Philby, Donald Maclean, and three others - operated right under the security services' noses for years and provided the USSR with immense amounts of information on many topics.
It is also believed that MI5’s Guy Liddell, who rose in the service almost to becoming its director, was a double agent.
And in Japan, the Soviets had the extraordinary Richard Sorge, a German journalist secretly working for Soviet military intelligence.
The Soviets were exceptionally good at recruiting high-value agents abroad. Their flow of what today is termed “humint” was so extensive, sometimes Stalin became suspicious and ignored things to which he should have paid attention.
I do believe there was far more than "treachery" involved in this work, just as was the case for the physicist, Klaus Fuchs. Soviet success involved genuine appeals to idealism and to fears about America.
Many of these spies were concerned about America having a postwar monopoly on atomic weapons and what they might do with it.
Which was exactly America's secret aim, to have a monopoly, effectively rule the planet, and be able to eliminate challengers.
The more thoughtful spies could see the frightening anti-communist fanaticism in America.
And we know that on more than one occasion the Pentagon did plan a pre-emptive, all-out attack on the USSR, even after the Soviets had nuclear weapons.
I sometimes think the Soviet spies did humanity a great service, preventing America from creating a nuclear holocaust, something it was perfectly capable of. Consider its fire-bombing and atomic-bombing later in Japan and, a little later still, its horrific three-year campaign of carpet-bombing in North Korea, something few Americans even know about.
Literally one-fifth of that country’s entire population was exterminated, and that is a Pentagon estimate. It should be no mystery today why a country like North Korea wants to keep its atomic weapons.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: CANADA’S TERRIBLE STATE OF RELATIONS WITH CHINA – THE RESULT OF JUSTIN TRUDEAU’S COSTLY BLUNDERS AT THE BEHEST OF TRUMP – A COLUMNIST SHILLS FOR TRUDEAU TRYING TO PORTRAY HIM AS TOUGH AND PRINCIPLED IN FOREIGN AFFAIRS – HE IS ANYTHING BUT – CANADIANS ASSUME TWO CANADIANS HELD IN CHINA ARE TIT-FOR-TAT FOR CANADA’S (AMERICAN-REQUESTED) ARREST OF A SENIOR HUAWEI COMPANY EXECUTIVE – CHINA SAYS THE CANADIANS ARE SPIES – TRUDEAU HAS THE ABILITY TO INTERVENE AND FREE THE CHINESE EXECUTIVE BUT HE REFUSES TO DO SO FOR SUPPOSEDLY HIGH PRINCIPLES – THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER – AMERICA’S RELENTLESS ASSAULT ON CHINA AND ALL THINGS CHINESE – JUSTIN TRUDEAU SHARPLY CONTRASTED WITH HIS BRAVE AND ABLE FATHER, PIERRE, IN FOREIGN POLICY AND DEFERENCE TO THE UNITED STATES
John Chuckman
EXPANSION OF COMMENTS POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY AARON WHERRY IN CBC NEWS
“Those arguing for Meng's release still have to acknowledge what it might cost”
“Letting Meng go might free Kovrig and Spavor — but it probably wouldn't end there”
This is a piece of journalistic shilling for Justin Trudeau, one trying to build him up as a tough and principled statesman, something he decidedly is not.
It also makes an unwarranted assumption about the arrest of two Canadians in China, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, assuming their arrest is a tit-for-tat for Canada’s arrest of Meng Wanzhou, CFO of Huawei and daughter of the company’s founder, an arrest made at America’s request. China says there is no relationship between the two cases.
There are no large issues in this matter, as the article asserts. That's a pretense.
There is, hiding behind the big-sounding principles, a Prime Minister who has done virtually nothing right with China.
There is the awkward fact that Justin Trudeau blundered terribly in arresting Meng Wanzhou. It was avoidable. Completely. But Trudeau chose not to avoid it.
And he continued blundering afterward, as when he fired an excellent Canadian ambassador, one who had offered a few wise words in public, and then didn’t appointment a new one for a long time.
And, as when Trudeau suddenly flew down to Washington, like a child running to Daddy about a sore finger, to plead for help from Trump, who has to be the most hated and uninfluential man in China. As well as a man quoted by more than one source as saying he just doesn’t like Trudeau, so Trudeau’s embarrassing (for Canadians) desperation was perhaps mixed with a little Masochism? He got no help, of course, beyond a quickie return visit from the always-unhelpful and belligerent Mike Pompeo. Morale-booster from a thug.
And somewhere along the way, Trudeau ordered a Canadian destroyer to pass through the Strait of Taiwan, an egregious insult to China's feelings, promoted by Trump, no doubt, as everything else Trudeau does in foreign affairs is, including selling armored cars to the mass-killers in Saudi Arabia who just happen to be good working associates of Trump and Pompeo.
Imagine, the son of Pierre Trudeau having Canada serve as Chair of a CIA-front organization like the Lima Group designed to help topple the twice-elected government of Venezuela? America hates President Maduro of Venezuela because he is independent and he is popular. (His predecessor, Hugo Chavez, also hated by America and the target of American dark operations, had been elected four times). After several outbreaks of independence under democratic principles, America wants all of Latin America returned to loyal plantation status under the creepy two-century old Monroe Doctrine. That’s what Justin agreed to, whereas Pierre openly opposed America’s dreadful policies against Cuba and built a good relationship with that country.
Justin Trudeau continues blundering, offering no leadership out of the hopeless mess he has made of Canada’s once-excellent relations with China. And they were truly excellent, as I learned firsthand from the many Chinese students I knew. They loved Canada.
Now, when it has been publicized that under the extradition treaty with America, Trudeau is entitled to intervene in Meng’s case, he declines to do so, citing non-existent or nebulous large principles.
In fact, he is just afraid to act, afraid of Trump. I think Trump makes him wet his pants, My God, he’s made of different stuff than his late father, Pierre, a fiercely independent and brilliant statesman.
I should also note that when Trump started his crusade against China and all things Chinese, Trudeau missed a wonderful opportunity to benefit Canada by increased trade and perhaps new agreements with China.
The arrest of two Canadians in China, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, for all we know, has nothing to do with Meng. Many in Canada assume that it does, but China’s government maintains that the detention of the two Canadians has no relationship to the arrest of Meng. China refers to her arrest as “a serious political incident.” The Canadians are charged with spying, and the claim is made that there is good evidence.
After all, Canadian-born Paul Whelan, when first arrested a while back in Russia was widely proclaimed in Canada to be innocent of spying for America. But he was in fact guilty, as a court there just convicted him, and convincingly, sentencing him to sixteen years.
ADDITIONAL NOTE REGARDING CANADA AND THE US AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS UNDER JUSTIN TRUDEAU
Unfortunately, for a lot of liberal-minded Canadians, it is enough that Trudeau is on the side of the angels in matters such as climate change and feminist principles. They pay no close attention to foreign affairs, or they would quickly be horrified by how tightly aligned with Trump Trudeau actually is. Trump himself is regarded in almost demonic terms by Canada’s “small-l” liberals (a much larger percentage of the population than in the United States), but it is clear that among a good many, Justin Trudeau is in a different category despite supporting Trump almost every step of the way in hurting and abusing hundreds of millions of people in the world.
Canada’s opposition Conservatives, traditionally quite deferential to the United States, offer voters no real election choice in matters of foreign affairs. The Liberals, before Justin Trudeau, were quite different, and a series of distinguished prime ministers from that party – Lester Pearson, Pierre Trudeau, Jean Chretien, and Paul Martin – established an enviable reputation for Canada in international affairs. Canada was admired, and with good reason. That has been lost with Justin Trudeau, as demonstrated publicly recently by his costly, time-consuming effort to be elected to a temporary UN Security Council seat. He was turned down handily by the UN membership. Canada is not viewed any longer, as Jean Chretien so liked to say with his charming Quebec accent, “as the best country in the world.” And Justin has nothing to offer but a soft echo of American policies.
No, with a few warm and friendly words to Canadian voters about favorite Millennialist topics, Trudeau is given a free ride to support what I regard as no less than a campaign of international terror – in Venezuela, in Bolivia, in Cuba (where his father’s enlightened policies are now being eroded by Trump), in Brazil, in Syria, in Iran, in Palestine, in Saudi Arabia, in China, and in still more places.
I have remarked many times in my writing about how distressing it is the way Americans, in large part, offer no opposition to the country’s brutal empire abroad with its endless bloody wars and coups and incursions killing millions, creating millions of refugees, and collapsing whole decent societies, so long as things are pretty good on the home front. That has in fact been the working policy outline for the Democratic Party for many decades: talk about social policies here and there and support the troops no matter what hellish business they are up to. The Democrats are a war party, no different than the Republicans, because that is part of the fundamental identity of America, war and empire. Hundreds of billions of dollars are spent every year on destruction and killing.
Well, the experience under Justin Trudeau has revealed not entirely different tendencies now in Canada I much regret to say. But the great historian, Carlyle, said that history is biography, and I have never quarreled with the proposition. The quality of leadership is everything for a society advancing in the largest sense of the word, and Canada simply has none.
NOTE ON MENG’S CHARGE
" She is accused of lying to banks about Huawei's relationship with a company that prosecutors claim was violating U.S. economic sanctions against Iran"
That is not a crime in Canada, nor anywhere else. After all, US sanctions are American laws applied to people who are not American.
US sanctions are themselves illegal by international standards, but no one has the power to enforce that fact, the US recognizing no one's authority, including the UN’s.
The US enforces its laws on others through economic bullying and military threats.
So, for that lame American accusation against Meng, just one of its many false claims about China, Justin Trudeau and Chrystia Freeland, his former foreign minister, destroyed relations with one of the most important governments on earth?
I just do not see how any Canadian views that as being anything but the worst incompetence. The relationship with China is no small matter.
NOTE
Readers may enjoy this earlier set of comments:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2019/07/14/john-chuckman-comment-what-every-canadian-should-know-about-canada-foreign-minister-chrystia-freeland-and-what-justin-trudeaus-sad-legacy-as-prime-minister-will-be/
EXPANSION OF COMMENTS POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY AARON WHERRY IN CBC NEWS
“Those arguing for Meng's release still have to acknowledge what it might cost”
“Letting Meng go might free Kovrig and Spavor — but it probably wouldn't end there”
This is a piece of journalistic shilling for Justin Trudeau, one trying to build him up as a tough and principled statesman, something he decidedly is not.
It also makes an unwarranted assumption about the arrest of two Canadians in China, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, assuming their arrest is a tit-for-tat for Canada’s arrest of Meng Wanzhou, CFO of Huawei and daughter of the company’s founder, an arrest made at America’s request. China says there is no relationship between the two cases.
There are no large issues in this matter, as the article asserts. That's a pretense.
There is, hiding behind the big-sounding principles, a Prime Minister who has done virtually nothing right with China.
There is the awkward fact that Justin Trudeau blundered terribly in arresting Meng Wanzhou. It was avoidable. Completely. But Trudeau chose not to avoid it.
And he continued blundering afterward, as when he fired an excellent Canadian ambassador, one who had offered a few wise words in public, and then didn’t appointment a new one for a long time.
And, as when Trudeau suddenly flew down to Washington, like a child running to Daddy about a sore finger, to plead for help from Trump, who has to be the most hated and uninfluential man in China. As well as a man quoted by more than one source as saying he just doesn’t like Trudeau, so Trudeau’s embarrassing (for Canadians) desperation was perhaps mixed with a little Masochism? He got no help, of course, beyond a quickie return visit from the always-unhelpful and belligerent Mike Pompeo. Morale-booster from a thug.
And somewhere along the way, Trudeau ordered a Canadian destroyer to pass through the Strait of Taiwan, an egregious insult to China's feelings, promoted by Trump, no doubt, as everything else Trudeau does in foreign affairs is, including selling armored cars to the mass-killers in Saudi Arabia who just happen to be good working associates of Trump and Pompeo.
Imagine, the son of Pierre Trudeau having Canada serve as Chair of a CIA-front organization like the Lima Group designed to help topple the twice-elected government of Venezuela? America hates President Maduro of Venezuela because he is independent and he is popular. (His predecessor, Hugo Chavez, also hated by America and the target of American dark operations, had been elected four times). After several outbreaks of independence under democratic principles, America wants all of Latin America returned to loyal plantation status under the creepy two-century old Monroe Doctrine. That’s what Justin agreed to, whereas Pierre openly opposed America’s dreadful policies against Cuba and built a good relationship with that country.
Justin Trudeau continues blundering, offering no leadership out of the hopeless mess he has made of Canada’s once-excellent relations with China. And they were truly excellent, as I learned firsthand from the many Chinese students I knew. They loved Canada.
Now, when it has been publicized that under the extradition treaty with America, Trudeau is entitled to intervene in Meng’s case, he declines to do so, citing non-existent or nebulous large principles.
In fact, he is just afraid to act, afraid of Trump. I think Trump makes him wet his pants, My God, he’s made of different stuff than his late father, Pierre, a fiercely independent and brilliant statesman.
I should also note that when Trump started his crusade against China and all things Chinese, Trudeau missed a wonderful opportunity to benefit Canada by increased trade and perhaps new agreements with China.
The arrest of two Canadians in China, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, for all we know, has nothing to do with Meng. Many in Canada assume that it does, but China’s government maintains that the detention of the two Canadians has no relationship to the arrest of Meng. China refers to her arrest as “a serious political incident.” The Canadians are charged with spying, and the claim is made that there is good evidence.
After all, Canadian-born Paul Whelan, when first arrested a while back in Russia was widely proclaimed in Canada to be innocent of spying for America. But he was in fact guilty, as a court there just convicted him, and convincingly, sentencing him to sixteen years.
ADDITIONAL NOTE REGARDING CANADA AND THE US AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS UNDER JUSTIN TRUDEAU
Unfortunately, for a lot of liberal-minded Canadians, it is enough that Trudeau is on the side of the angels in matters such as climate change and feminist principles. They pay no close attention to foreign affairs, or they would quickly be horrified by how tightly aligned with Trump Trudeau actually is. Trump himself is regarded in almost demonic terms by Canada’s “small-l” liberals (a much larger percentage of the population than in the United States), but it is clear that among a good many, Justin Trudeau is in a different category despite supporting Trump almost every step of the way in hurting and abusing hundreds of millions of people in the world.
Canada’s opposition Conservatives, traditionally quite deferential to the United States, offer voters no real election choice in matters of foreign affairs. The Liberals, before Justin Trudeau, were quite different, and a series of distinguished prime ministers from that party – Lester Pearson, Pierre Trudeau, Jean Chretien, and Paul Martin – established an enviable reputation for Canada in international affairs. Canada was admired, and with good reason. That has been lost with Justin Trudeau, as demonstrated publicly recently by his costly, time-consuming effort to be elected to a temporary UN Security Council seat. He was turned down handily by the UN membership. Canada is not viewed any longer, as Jean Chretien so liked to say with his charming Quebec accent, “as the best country in the world.” And Justin has nothing to offer but a soft echo of American policies.
No, with a few warm and friendly words to Canadian voters about favorite Millennialist topics, Trudeau is given a free ride to support what I regard as no less than a campaign of international terror – in Venezuela, in Bolivia, in Cuba (where his father’s enlightened policies are now being eroded by Trump), in Brazil, in Syria, in Iran, in Palestine, in Saudi Arabia, in China, and in still more places.
I have remarked many times in my writing about how distressing it is the way Americans, in large part, offer no opposition to the country’s brutal empire abroad with its endless bloody wars and coups and incursions killing millions, creating millions of refugees, and collapsing whole decent societies, so long as things are pretty good on the home front. That has in fact been the working policy outline for the Democratic Party for many decades: talk about social policies here and there and support the troops no matter what hellish business they are up to. The Democrats are a war party, no different than the Republicans, because that is part of the fundamental identity of America, war and empire. Hundreds of billions of dollars are spent every year on destruction and killing.
Well, the experience under Justin Trudeau has revealed not entirely different tendencies now in Canada I much regret to say. But the great historian, Carlyle, said that history is biography, and I have never quarreled with the proposition. The quality of leadership is everything for a society advancing in the largest sense of the word, and Canada simply has none.
NOTE ON MENG’S CHARGE
" She is accused of lying to banks about Huawei's relationship with a company that prosecutors claim was violating U.S. economic sanctions against Iran"
That is not a crime in Canada, nor anywhere else. After all, US sanctions are American laws applied to people who are not American.
US sanctions are themselves illegal by international standards, but no one has the power to enforce that fact, the US recognizing no one's authority, including the UN’s.
The US enforces its laws on others through economic bullying and military threats.
So, for that lame American accusation against Meng, just one of its many false claims about China, Justin Trudeau and Chrystia Freeland, his former foreign minister, destroyed relations with one of the most important governments on earth?
I just do not see how any Canadian views that as being anything but the worst incompetence. The relationship with China is no small matter.
NOTE
Readers may enjoy this earlier set of comments:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2019/07/14/john-chuckman-comment-what-every-canadian-should-know-about-canada-foreign-minister-chrystia-freeland-and-what-justin-trudeaus-sad-legacy-as-prime-minister-will-be/
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: A FASCINATING VIDEO OF RUSSIA’S TREMENDOUS PARADE FOR THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF VICTORY DAY, WHICH IS A MAJOR HOLIDAY IN RUSSIA – WHAT A SHAME THE US AND ITS CLOSELY-CAPTIVE ALLIES CANNOT JOIN IN THIS MAGNIFICENT CELEBRATION OF THE GREATEST STRUGGLE IN ALL OF HUMAN HISTORY – THE GREATEST BUT ALSO THE MOST COSTLY AND PROFOUNDLY TRAGIC – LINK TO THE VIDEO AND OTHER LINKS ABOUT HITLER’S INVASION OF RUSSIA
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE AND VIDEO IN FORT RUSS
WATCH: Highlights and New Weapons Unveiled During The 75th Victory Day Parade
https://www.fort-russ.com/2020/06/watch-highlights-and-new-weapons-unveiled-during-the-75th-victory-day-parade/
The shortened video is fascinating.
Some dramatic shots of military equipment on the ground and in the air.
And talk about sharp-looking troops, Russia has them. Impressive.
It all speaks to pride, pride in one of the greatest achievements in history, defeating Hitler.
But also the most costly and profoundly tragic.
What a shame the US and its most closely-captive allies cannot join in the celebration and let their people understand what happened in 1945.
I've written a good deal around Hitler's invasion of Russia. Readers may enjoy:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2020/06/25/john-chuckman-comment-putins-victory-day-essay-some-moving-words-from-a-great-leader-my-additional-reflections-on-hitlers-invasion-of-the-soviet-union-the-most/
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2020/02/15/john-chuckman-comment-the-extremely-sensitive-topic-of-holocaust-denial-the-holocausts-connection-with-the-invasion-of-russia-the-bloodiest-event-in-human-history-the-losses-of-russia-and-amer/
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2019/03/28/john-chuckman-comment-hitlers-invasion-of-russia-some-important-points-against-the-notion-held-by-some-that-hitler-was-motivated-out-of-fear-that-stalin-was-about-to-strike-germany/
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2020/03/20/john-chuckman-comment-a-bit-more-about-hitlers-invasion-of-russia-americas-sad-record-since-the-end-of-wwii-its-own-bloody-global-empire-and-its-support-for-many-bloody-tyrants-just-so-long-a/
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE AND VIDEO IN FORT RUSS
WATCH: Highlights and New Weapons Unveiled During The 75th Victory Day Parade
https://www.fort-russ.com/2020/06/watch-highlights-and-new-weapons-unveiled-during-the-75th-victory-day-parade/
The shortened video is fascinating.
Some dramatic shots of military equipment on the ground and in the air.
And talk about sharp-looking troops, Russia has them. Impressive.
It all speaks to pride, pride in one of the greatest achievements in history, defeating Hitler.
But also the most costly and profoundly tragic.
What a shame the US and its most closely-captive allies cannot join in the celebration and let their people understand what happened in 1945.
I've written a good deal around Hitler's invasion of Russia. Readers may enjoy:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2020/06/25/john-chuckman-comment-putins-victory-day-essay-some-moving-words-from-a-great-leader-my-additional-reflections-on-hitlers-invasion-of-the-soviet-union-the-most/
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2020/02/15/john-chuckman-comment-the-extremely-sensitive-topic-of-holocaust-denial-the-holocausts-connection-with-the-invasion-of-russia-the-bloodiest-event-in-human-history-the-losses-of-russia-and-amer/
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2019/03/28/john-chuckman-comment-hitlers-invasion-of-russia-some-important-points-against-the-notion-held-by-some-that-hitler-was-motivated-out-of-fear-that-stalin-was-about-to-strike-germany/
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2020/03/20/john-chuckman-comment-a-bit-more-about-hitlers-invasion-of-russia-americas-sad-record-since-the-end-of-wwii-its-own-bloody-global-empire-and-its-support-for-many-bloody-tyrants-just-so-long-a/
Friday, June 26, 2020
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: INTERDICTION AND SANCTIONS - AMERICAN PIRACY ON THE HIGH SEAS COVERED BY THE FAUX LEGALITY OF SANCTIONS, SANCTIONS WHICH ARE AMERICAN LAWS BEING APPLIED TO PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT AMERICAN – WITH SOME MONUMENTS TO HISTORICAL CRIMES NOW BEING PULLED DOWN, IT WOULD BE NICE TO SEE CONCERN FOR CRIMES BEING COMMITTED RIGHT NOW IN THE NAME OF AMERICANS – THE COUNTRY IS NOT ONLY LOSING ITS RELATIVE ECONOMIC POSITION IN THE WORLD THROUGH NATURAL PROCESSES, IT IS LOSING ITS PRESTIGE AND MORAL AUTHORITY THROUGH CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR – HITLER’S GREAT “PEACE” SPEECH BEFORE WW II AND AMERICA’S ABUSE OF WORDS LIKE “DEMOCRACY” AND “HUMAN RIGHTS” - THE POST-WWII ORDER IS GOING TO SHATTER LIKE A BRONZE STATUE UNDER HAMMERS - A BRAVE NEW WORLD IS ON ITS WAY
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY PATRICK LAWRENCE IN CONSORTIUM NEWS
“Iranian Tankers & the Age of Interdiction”
“Two forms of interdiction — the steady expansion of U.S. sanctions and our stunning drift toward unmasked censorship — have begun to intersect”
"Interdiction" is too neutral-sounding a word for what the United States routinely does now on the high seas and in other people’s waters.
It's simply a form of piracy. Stopping people's trade and commerce by armed threat. Hurting the sick and poor by depriving them of needed supplies.
And the Washington-issued sanctions, giving the piracy a faux legal framework, are nothing more than American laws applied to people who are not Americans, and without any legitimate international authority such as the UN. Well, it does come from the same gangsters who literally threaten judges of an international court, the ICC.
I think the world is growing rather tired of America’s high-handed, self-serving methods and views. None of them relates to genuine principles, although the words “democracy” and “human rights” often are tossed around. America’s acts violate democratic and human rights and the rule of law.
People should remember that not long before the outbreak of WWII with its unprecedented carnage and destruction, Adolph Hitler gave Germans what some, including journalist/historian William L Shirer, called one of the greatest speeches about peace ever made. The words about principles used by American authorities as they bully the planet much resemble the authenticity of Hitler’s words about peace.
Trump and Pompeo and Bolton and Grenell and Abrams quite literally resemble an old Sicilian Mafia gang enforcing who may or may not live in the villages and territories they dominate and under what conditions and from whom they may purchase their needs. It is a throwback to another era. It is lawlessness posing as law. And they only get away with it through force of arms and economic predation.
As statues to ugly past events are pulled down, it would be nice to see concern from Americans about crimes being committed right now in their name.
When we eventually get through the current storm of disease and economic crisis, America is going to stand hugely diminished in the world’s respect and in its own influence. It has provided no leadership to anyone. It has been seen as selfishly seizing things for its own interests. It has viciously attacked other societies rather than cooperating. And it is even seen busily conducting war against hundreds of millions of people, mostly the poor and the weak, with sanctions and blockades.
Natural evolutionary forces at work over recent decades affecting America’s relative economic decline – as new places emerged as superior competitors – will be mightily reinforced in their effects by the loss of American prestige and moral authority. Much of the post-WWII world order is going to shatter like a bronze statue under hammers. A brave new world is on its way.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY PATRICK LAWRENCE IN CONSORTIUM NEWS
“Iranian Tankers & the Age of Interdiction”
“Two forms of interdiction — the steady expansion of U.S. sanctions and our stunning drift toward unmasked censorship — have begun to intersect”
"Interdiction" is too neutral-sounding a word for what the United States routinely does now on the high seas and in other people’s waters.
It's simply a form of piracy. Stopping people's trade and commerce by armed threat. Hurting the sick and poor by depriving them of needed supplies.
And the Washington-issued sanctions, giving the piracy a faux legal framework, are nothing more than American laws applied to people who are not Americans, and without any legitimate international authority such as the UN. Well, it does come from the same gangsters who literally threaten judges of an international court, the ICC.
I think the world is growing rather tired of America’s high-handed, self-serving methods and views. None of them relates to genuine principles, although the words “democracy” and “human rights” often are tossed around. America’s acts violate democratic and human rights and the rule of law.
People should remember that not long before the outbreak of WWII with its unprecedented carnage and destruction, Adolph Hitler gave Germans what some, including journalist/historian William L Shirer, called one of the greatest speeches about peace ever made. The words about principles used by American authorities as they bully the planet much resemble the authenticity of Hitler’s words about peace.
Trump and Pompeo and Bolton and Grenell and Abrams quite literally resemble an old Sicilian Mafia gang enforcing who may or may not live in the villages and territories they dominate and under what conditions and from whom they may purchase their needs. It is a throwback to another era. It is lawlessness posing as law. And they only get away with it through force of arms and economic predation.
As statues to ugly past events are pulled down, it would be nice to see concern from Americans about crimes being committed right now in their name.
When we eventually get through the current storm of disease and economic crisis, America is going to stand hugely diminished in the world’s respect and in its own influence. It has provided no leadership to anyone. It has been seen as selfishly seizing things for its own interests. It has viciously attacked other societies rather than cooperating. And it is even seen busily conducting war against hundreds of millions of people, mostly the poor and the weak, with sanctions and blockades.
Natural evolutionary forces at work over recent decades affecting America’s relative economic decline – as new places emerged as superior competitors – will be mightily reinforced in their effects by the loss of American prestige and moral authority. Much of the post-WWII world order is going to shatter like a bronze statue under hammers. A brave new world is on its way.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: PUTIN’S VICTORY DAY ESSAY – SOME MOVING WORDS FROM A GREAT LEADER – MY ADDITIONAL REFLECTIONS ON HITLER’S INVASION OF THE SOVIET UNION, THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE EVENT IN ALL OF HISTORY, GREATER IN SCOPE THAN ANY WAR OR ANY NATURAL DISASTER – AND REMARKABLY FEW AMERICANS ARE EVEN AWARE OF IT - HITLER’S ESPECIALLY BRUTAL APPROACH TO THE INVASION – THE SOVIET RESILIENCE AFTER THE INITIAL TERRIBLE SHOCK – STALIN’S PLACE
John Chuckman
COMMENT ON AN ARTICLE BY ROY MCGOVERN IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“'A Lump in the Throat' - Putin's Extraordinary Essay on WW2 Origins and What It Means for Today”
https://russia-insider.com/en/lump-throat-putins-extraordinary-essay-ww2-origins-and-what-it-means-today/ri30732
Putin's words are very moving.
It is fitting that he should write this on the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory.
The invasion of Russia was, as still few Americans have any idea, the most terrible event in all of human history.
The events and the numbers are staggering and dwarf anything else, whether wars or natural disasters. And Hitler at the start had given his commanders direct orders to show utter ruthlessness.
Not all his generals agreed, but Hitler wanted to completely destroy the Soviet system and to shorten the effort with ruthlessness, ruthlessness always appealing to Hitler as a sign of strength. There were countless war crimes, such as captured Soviet Commissars being summarily executed.
Hitler had assembled the finest army ever seen in Europe, and it had many innovations and new advanced armor. But because there was a belief that the Soviets could be finished off quickly – Hitler did seriously believe in the inferiority of Slavs - the troops did not carry adequate winter gear. Russian Winter soon joined the ranks of the Soviet armies in the fight.
Here are a few measures of the scale of the invasion.
The Siege of Leningrad - 900 days of horror and starvation with bodies piled up like cordwood in the streets. About a million dead.
Stalingrad - the greatest single battle in all of history, and an absolutely decisive turning point in the war.
Kursk - the greatest tank battle ever fought. Russia's homegrown armor proved it could stand up to what had been the best equipped army on the planet.
The invasion was so vast and destructive that, as many people do not appreciate, it was used as the cover for the serious operations of the Holocaust getting underway.
On September 22, 1941, there were a number of Germans in authority who thought the whole matter might be ended in about three weeks.
While the first terrible shock suggested Russia could not withstand the Germans, things fairly quickly stabilized, and talk of three weeks ended.
It is said that with the first shock, Stalin got so drunk he was incapacitated in the Kremlin. I don't know because only some books claim this, but clearly, he too came back and proved a terrifying opponent for Hitler after Hitler's many comparatively easy victories in Europe.
In his Berlin bunker, near the end in April, 1945, Hitler is reported to have said the Russians with Stalin had proved they were more worthy of victory than Germany.
COMMENT ON AN ARTICLE BY ROY MCGOVERN IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“'A Lump in the Throat' - Putin's Extraordinary Essay on WW2 Origins and What It Means for Today”
https://russia-insider.com/en/lump-throat-putins-extraordinary-essay-ww2-origins-and-what-it-means-today/ri30732
Putin's words are very moving.
It is fitting that he should write this on the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory.
The invasion of Russia was, as still few Americans have any idea, the most terrible event in all of human history.
The events and the numbers are staggering and dwarf anything else, whether wars or natural disasters. And Hitler at the start had given his commanders direct orders to show utter ruthlessness.
Not all his generals agreed, but Hitler wanted to completely destroy the Soviet system and to shorten the effort with ruthlessness, ruthlessness always appealing to Hitler as a sign of strength. There were countless war crimes, such as captured Soviet Commissars being summarily executed.
Hitler had assembled the finest army ever seen in Europe, and it had many innovations and new advanced armor. But because there was a belief that the Soviets could be finished off quickly – Hitler did seriously believe in the inferiority of Slavs - the troops did not carry adequate winter gear. Russian Winter soon joined the ranks of the Soviet armies in the fight.
Here are a few measures of the scale of the invasion.
The Siege of Leningrad - 900 days of horror and starvation with bodies piled up like cordwood in the streets. About a million dead.
Stalingrad - the greatest single battle in all of history, and an absolutely decisive turning point in the war.
Kursk - the greatest tank battle ever fought. Russia's homegrown armor proved it could stand up to what had been the best equipped army on the planet.
The invasion was so vast and destructive that, as many people do not appreciate, it was used as the cover for the serious operations of the Holocaust getting underway.
On September 22, 1941, there were a number of Germans in authority who thought the whole matter might be ended in about three weeks.
While the first terrible shock suggested Russia could not withstand the Germans, things fairly quickly stabilized, and talk of three weeks ended.
It is said that with the first shock, Stalin got so drunk he was incapacitated in the Kremlin. I don't know because only some books claim this, but clearly, he too came back and proved a terrifying opponent for Hitler after Hitler's many comparatively easy victories in Europe.
In his Berlin bunker, near the end in April, 1945, Hitler is reported to have said the Russians with Stalin had proved they were more worthy of victory than Germany.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: AMERICA, RUSSIA, ISRAEL, AND IRAN – THE NEOCON’S NEOCON, VICTORIA NULAND, MAKING UGLY NEW NOISES ABOUT RUSSIA – HOW A CLASH HAPPENS DESPITE PUTIN’S EFFORTS TO MAINTAIN GOOD RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL – THE SITUATIONS IN SYRIA AND IN IRAN CANNOT MAKE SOMEONE LIKE NULAND HAPPY – SO DESPITE ALL THE IMMENSE PROBLEMS OF DISEASE AND ECONOMIC DISASTER AND IRRESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT IN THE WORLD, NULAND WANTS TO PUSH NEW DANGERS ONTO A FRAGILE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY – SOMETHING THAT SHOULD SIGNAL JUST HOW DANGEROUS SHE AND OTHERS LIKE HER ARE
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY PHILIP M. GIRALDI IN SOUTHFRONT
“VICTORIA NULAND ALERT”
https://southfront.org/philip-m-giraldi-victoria-nuland-alert/
A good article about an extremely dangerous person, Victoria Nuland, and the cause she represents
One of the great influences over American Neocon attitudes towards Russia – and Nuland is a Neocon’s Neocon – Is the set of relationships between Russia, the US, and Israel.
Israel and its American Neocon supporters implicitly regard Russia as an impediment to Israel.
For them, a strong, swaggering Israel in the Middle East is best assured by a highly aggressive US military posture. Full-spectrum dominance et al.
While Russia maintains excellent relations with Israel, Russia absolutely must respond to an aggressive US, and that is where the conflict between Russia and Israel and its Neocon supporters enters.
The perfect recent example of the conflict is in Syria. The horrible war in Syria is not of course a civil war as the West's press insists on describing it.
No, the war in Syria is the result of deliberately introduced mercenaries recruited from many lands. They have a facade of being jihadists, but it is only a facade. They are paid and supplied by Western interests, including Saudi Arabia in that category. Unlike some real jihadists might do, they never attack Israeli interests or territory and they never attack the corrupt Saudi Princes that genuine jihadists would despise.
No, they attack only those Israel and the Neocons regard as enemies. Very odd jihadists indeed.
Their task is, and always has been, to topple the stable government of Syria – much as the stable government of Libya was toppled - a project dear to the hearts of Israel’s right-wing government and its American Neocon fan club. The Syrian War is a kind of unconventional, hybrid warfare involving many dark tactics, including the odd set-up scenario with poison gas to be blamed on the national government so that America is provided an excuse to bomb the hell out of the country.
When Putin decided to help his ally, Syria, in its struggle with terror, he made an instant enemy of the Israeli and allied Neocon interests at work in Syria.
As Putin and Assad largely proved successful in the fight against the mercenaries and reclaimed much of Syria’s territory, those interests have come up with dirty plan after dirty plan to prevent the full recovery of Syria, the last being Trump’s laughable claim about liking to steal oil in Syria, the idea there being to occupy an important resource and prevent Assad from fully recovering his territory and using its resources in the country’s postwar recovery.
Putin’s air forces could in theory attack and drive out the relatively small American forces involved, but that would likely mean war with America, and Putin is a very sensible statesman.
So, there is a kind of stalemate. People like Victoria Nuland would undoubtedly like to see that situation turned back to something more proactively aggressive.
She, of course, also cannot be happy over the stability of Iran under Trump’s campaign of “maximum pressure,” a campaign artificially induced by American Neocons and Israel’s Netanyahu, not because they genuinely fear Iran creating nuclear weapons – all experts agree that Iran has never had a program to create any - but because Iran is the natural hegemon in the region by virtue of its size, and that is a role Israel covets for itself. The hegemonic situation for Iran was even further enhanced by the outcome of America’s disastrous Iraq War, again a war deliberately instigated by Israel and its Neocon allies in Washington, but without a great deal of foresight into its ultimate consequences.
Iran’s impressive domestically-built missile defenses, well demonstrated for their precision and accuracy, have effectively created something of a stalemate there also. America and Israel cannot now attack Iran without paying quite a price, a remarkable achievement given the terrible sanctions under which Iran works. Iran also has a “strategic relationship” with Russia.
Nuland making new noises about how the US should deal with Russia only adds new dangers to a to a terribly uncertain world plagued by disease and economic crisis and inept government.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY PHILIP M. GIRALDI IN SOUTHFRONT
“VICTORIA NULAND ALERT”
https://southfront.org/philip-m-giraldi-victoria-nuland-alert/
A good article about an extremely dangerous person, Victoria Nuland, and the cause she represents
One of the great influences over American Neocon attitudes towards Russia – and Nuland is a Neocon’s Neocon – Is the set of relationships between Russia, the US, and Israel.
Israel and its American Neocon supporters implicitly regard Russia as an impediment to Israel.
For them, a strong, swaggering Israel in the Middle East is best assured by a highly aggressive US military posture. Full-spectrum dominance et al.
While Russia maintains excellent relations with Israel, Russia absolutely must respond to an aggressive US, and that is where the conflict between Russia and Israel and its Neocon supporters enters.
The perfect recent example of the conflict is in Syria. The horrible war in Syria is not of course a civil war as the West's press insists on describing it.
No, the war in Syria is the result of deliberately introduced mercenaries recruited from many lands. They have a facade of being jihadists, but it is only a facade. They are paid and supplied by Western interests, including Saudi Arabia in that category. Unlike some real jihadists might do, they never attack Israeli interests or territory and they never attack the corrupt Saudi Princes that genuine jihadists would despise.
No, they attack only those Israel and the Neocons regard as enemies. Very odd jihadists indeed.
Their task is, and always has been, to topple the stable government of Syria – much as the stable government of Libya was toppled - a project dear to the hearts of Israel’s right-wing government and its American Neocon fan club. The Syrian War is a kind of unconventional, hybrid warfare involving many dark tactics, including the odd set-up scenario with poison gas to be blamed on the national government so that America is provided an excuse to bomb the hell out of the country.
When Putin decided to help his ally, Syria, in its struggle with terror, he made an instant enemy of the Israeli and allied Neocon interests at work in Syria.
As Putin and Assad largely proved successful in the fight against the mercenaries and reclaimed much of Syria’s territory, those interests have come up with dirty plan after dirty plan to prevent the full recovery of Syria, the last being Trump’s laughable claim about liking to steal oil in Syria, the idea there being to occupy an important resource and prevent Assad from fully recovering his territory and using its resources in the country’s postwar recovery.
Putin’s air forces could in theory attack and drive out the relatively small American forces involved, but that would likely mean war with America, and Putin is a very sensible statesman.
So, there is a kind of stalemate. People like Victoria Nuland would undoubtedly like to see that situation turned back to something more proactively aggressive.
She, of course, also cannot be happy over the stability of Iran under Trump’s campaign of “maximum pressure,” a campaign artificially induced by American Neocons and Israel’s Netanyahu, not because they genuinely fear Iran creating nuclear weapons – all experts agree that Iran has never had a program to create any - but because Iran is the natural hegemon in the region by virtue of its size, and that is a role Israel covets for itself. The hegemonic situation for Iran was even further enhanced by the outcome of America’s disastrous Iraq War, again a war deliberately instigated by Israel and its Neocon allies in Washington, but without a great deal of foresight into its ultimate consequences.
Iran’s impressive domestically-built missile defenses, well demonstrated for their precision and accuracy, have effectively created something of a stalemate there also. America and Israel cannot now attack Iran without paying quite a price, a remarkable achievement given the terrible sanctions under which Iran works. Iran also has a “strategic relationship” with Russia.
Nuland making new noises about how the US should deal with Russia only adds new dangers to a to a terribly uncertain world plagued by disease and economic crisis and inept government.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: A WRITER NOTES BIDEN’S NEW STRIDENT RHETORIC ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS – HE COMES AT A SITUATION LIKE TRUMP’S VICIOUSNESS IN VENEZUELA WITH AN ATTACK FROM THE RIGHT (YES, THAT’S CORRECT, FROM THE RIGHT) – NOTING A FEW ENCOURAGING NOISES BIDEN HAS MADE ABOUT THE PLIGHT OF AMERICA’S MILLIONS OF ILLEGAL RESIDENTS, WE SEE THE CLASSIC OPERATION OF THE MODERN DEMOCRATIC PARTY – STRONG SUPPORT FOR BLOODSHED ABROAD WITH FRIENDLY WORDS ABOUT DOMESTIC POLICIES – MAYBE EVEN A DARK PURPOSE FOR BIDEN’S OTHERWISE HUMANE-SOUNDING ADVOCACY OF LEGALIZING THE STATUS OF AMERICA’S MILLIONS OF ILLEGALS?
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY CAITLIN JOHNSTONE IN CONSORTIUM NEWS
“Biden And His Ventriloquists Keep Out-Hawking Trump”
“In a series of truly chilling and ominous tweets, Joe Biden shows us he would dispense with Trump’s even minimal non-interventionism and return the U.S. to full-bore aggression”
Yes, of course. The Democrats are a war party, and Joe Biden has a long career of never opposing or criticizing America's wars and coups and incursions. He was a strong advocate for Obama’s industrial-scale system of extra-judicial killing. And he took a direct part as Obama’s proconsul in America’s coup in Ukraine
He stood shoulder-to-shoulder with that truly bloody pair, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, in killing at least a million people, in reducing millions more to refugee status, and in destroying several well-run countries.
Elections in America are not permitted to affect the dark work of the Pentagon and CIA.
Clearly, some of the elections Washington disparages - as those in Bolivia or Venezuela - were more democratic in nature than America’s own are. If you cannot change the course of huge and destructive policies, what's the point of bothering about an election? Political theater, and nothing more.
I am very glad Ms. Johnstone is featuring this dark interventionist side of Joe Biden.
He is otherwise busy trying to portray himself as a humane and decent politician. Following the traditional path of modern Democrats, he toys with friendly-sounding domestic programs while fully supporting mass murder abroad.
In almost all cases, the social programs never see the light of day while the slaughter continues unabated.
Biden’s recent promise to send a bill to Congress on his first day in office to legitimize millions of illegal American residents and to create a path for them to citizenship is a good one, but if America continues its bloody activity abroad, and even increases it, Biden’s proposal can be seen as just a way of creating a new pool of grateful recruits for a Pentagon which cannot now keep its ranks full.
Willing bodies for the 800 or so military bases abroad and the dozen or so countries under American siege.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY CAITLIN JOHNSTONE IN CONSORTIUM NEWS
“Biden And His Ventriloquists Keep Out-Hawking Trump”
“In a series of truly chilling and ominous tweets, Joe Biden shows us he would dispense with Trump’s even minimal non-interventionism and return the U.S. to full-bore aggression”
Yes, of course. The Democrats are a war party, and Joe Biden has a long career of never opposing or criticizing America's wars and coups and incursions. He was a strong advocate for Obama’s industrial-scale system of extra-judicial killing. And he took a direct part as Obama’s proconsul in America’s coup in Ukraine
He stood shoulder-to-shoulder with that truly bloody pair, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, in killing at least a million people, in reducing millions more to refugee status, and in destroying several well-run countries.
Elections in America are not permitted to affect the dark work of the Pentagon and CIA.
Clearly, some of the elections Washington disparages - as those in Bolivia or Venezuela - were more democratic in nature than America’s own are. If you cannot change the course of huge and destructive policies, what's the point of bothering about an election? Political theater, and nothing more.
I am very glad Ms. Johnstone is featuring this dark interventionist side of Joe Biden.
He is otherwise busy trying to portray himself as a humane and decent politician. Following the traditional path of modern Democrats, he toys with friendly-sounding domestic programs while fully supporting mass murder abroad.
In almost all cases, the social programs never see the light of day while the slaughter continues unabated.
Biden’s recent promise to send a bill to Congress on his first day in office to legitimize millions of illegal American residents and to create a path for them to citizenship is a good one, but if America continues its bloody activity abroad, and even increases it, Biden’s proposal can be seen as just a way of creating a new pool of grateful recruits for a Pentagon which cannot now keep its ranks full.
Willing bodies for the 800 or so military bases abroad and the dozen or so countries under American siege.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: TRUMP’S WEAKENED POSITION – HIS FAILED POLITICAL RALLY IN TULSA AND BAD NEW POLLS – BUT IT IS FAR TOO EARLY TO COUNT HIM OUT – HE ENJOYS AN IMMENSELY POWERFUL OFFICE, A GREAT HOARD OF CAMPAIGN FUNDS, A SECURE POLITICAL BASE, AND HE IS RUTHLESSLY WILLING TO DO ALMOST ANYTHING TO GET WHAT HE WANTS – INDEED ONE OF THE THEMES OF BOLTON’S BOOK IS THAT TRUMP HAS NO POLICIES BECAUSE EVERYTHING HE DOES IS DIRECTED TOWARDS RE-ELECTION – TRUMP ALSO HAS THE STRENGTH OF HATRED AND CONTEMPT ON HIS SIDE AND THOSE ARE POWERFUL FORCES IN AMERICA - JOE BIDEN IS NOT A STRONG OPPONENT AND HE CERTAINLY IS NO PRINCE CHARMING ON A WHITE CHARGER, HAVING A LONG RECORD OF COOPERATING WITH CORRUPTION AND EMBRACING VIOLENCE – HORRIBLE AS IT HAS BEEN, THE TRUMP EXPERIENCE HAS TAUGHT THE WORLD IMPORTANT LESSONS ABOUT AMERICA
John Chuckman
EXPANSION OF COMMENTS POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN CBC NEWS
“Trump rally features empty seats, staff with coronavirus infections”
“Campaign blames protesters, media for thousands of empty seats at Oklahoma event”
Response to a comment below, “The most recent poll has trump's approval rating at 40%, disapproval at 56%. That is wipe out territory”
I would not yet count Trump out. The months ahead are a long time period in America's volatile politics.
Trump has proven capable of doing almost anything towards achieving his personal goals, bending even the country’s foreign policy to advance personal ambition. He is a relentless, unforgiving political predator.
His possibilities include a dramatic development in world affairs, either positive or negative. A positive one to surprise and attract marginal voters back. Or a negative one to make Americans rally around their President, as they always do in time of war or crisis. They rallied even behind the lamentable George Bush.
Trump’s capacity for attacking Biden is immense – hostility and nastiness are what he does best, and Biden has many skeletons in his closet. He doesn't have an ugly mouth like Trump does, but his political career is filled with smarmy and crooked stuff. He worked intimately with the corruption of Hillary Clinton and the violence and lying of Barack Obama. And Trump has been given just truckloads of money by special interests.
The Trump experience has not been without value to the world.
It provides something of a diagnostic x-ray of American society.
And what we see in the x-ray photo is an extraordinary number of nasty, brutish figures. People untroubled by lying, not keeping your word, and making outrageous claims. People untroubled by hatreds and name-calling. People untroubled by misery and death needlessly caused at home and abroad.
For those who analyze America's actual behavior in the world, none of that is a discovery, but now it should be apparent to almost everyone.
Unfortunately, even Trump’s defeat comes with nasty side-effects.
Joe Biden is no prize, not at all, and with all the euphoria over a Trump defeat, the American establishment will powerfully reconfirm its place for a time. Its horrors – Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Palestine, and others - will just be carried right on.
EXPANSION OF COMMENTS POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN CBC NEWS
“Trump rally features empty seats, staff with coronavirus infections”
“Campaign blames protesters, media for thousands of empty seats at Oklahoma event”
Response to a comment below, “The most recent poll has trump's approval rating at 40%, disapproval at 56%. That is wipe out territory”
I would not yet count Trump out. The months ahead are a long time period in America's volatile politics.
Trump has proven capable of doing almost anything towards achieving his personal goals, bending even the country’s foreign policy to advance personal ambition. He is a relentless, unforgiving political predator.
His possibilities include a dramatic development in world affairs, either positive or negative. A positive one to surprise and attract marginal voters back. Or a negative one to make Americans rally around their President, as they always do in time of war or crisis. They rallied even behind the lamentable George Bush.
Trump’s capacity for attacking Biden is immense – hostility and nastiness are what he does best, and Biden has many skeletons in his closet. He doesn't have an ugly mouth like Trump does, but his political career is filled with smarmy and crooked stuff. He worked intimately with the corruption of Hillary Clinton and the violence and lying of Barack Obama. And Trump has been given just truckloads of money by special interests.
The Trump experience has not been without value to the world.
It provides something of a diagnostic x-ray of American society.
And what we see in the x-ray photo is an extraordinary number of nasty, brutish figures. People untroubled by lying, not keeping your word, and making outrageous claims. People untroubled by hatreds and name-calling. People untroubled by misery and death needlessly caused at home and abroad.
For those who analyze America's actual behavior in the world, none of that is a discovery, but now it should be apparent to almost everyone.
Unfortunately, even Trump’s defeat comes with nasty side-effects.
Joe Biden is no prize, not at all, and with all the euphoria over a Trump defeat, the American establishment will powerfully reconfirm its place for a time. Its horrors – Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Palestine, and others - will just be carried right on.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: NEW TARIFFS COMING FROM TRUMP AT A TIME OF GREAT ECONOMIC RISK – WHAT AMERICA’S “STABLE GENIUS” HAS GIVEN THE WORLD – LEADERSHIP IN NOTHING – NOT PANDEMIC, NOT ECONOMICS, NOT TRADE, NOT FOREIGN AFFAIRS – AND REMEMBER, IT WAS AMERICAN TARIFFS IN 1930 THAT HELPED SPEED ALONG THE GREAT DEPRESSION
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY DON PITTIS IN CBC NEWS
“As Trump talks tariffs, IMF warns protectionism will worsen a dire economic crisis”
Suffering won't be evenly shared as post-COVID crisis lingers for world's poorest
New tariffs in a world on the edge of a depression?
What a stunning fellow Donald Trump is.
Of course, his incessant attacks on the world's other great economy, China, and his attacks on trade, as against the WTO, can only make the world's economic situation worse.
And he is suppressing a lot of economic activity in a number of countries with illegal sanctions, American laws imposed by force on people who are not Americans.
His leadership through the pandemic was phenomenal too. A Columbia University study concluded 58,000 additional Americans would die because Trump did not respond to the original information he was given early.
And there are all the poor nations under sanctions struggling with disease and not enough supplies and necessities.
His magnificent leadership skills were perhaps best displayed in cutting ties with the WHO during a pandemic and in numerous cases of taking other countries’ medical supplies while creating real misallocations in his own country.
And then he set the fine example of never wearing a mask, a serious study having proved that masks were the single most effective measure the public can take for prevention.
__________________
Let's not forget the second wave of the coronavirus heading our way.
It has already appeared in some countries, and it may well be worse than the first wave according to some experts.
With, of course, still further massive economic implications.
But Trump is always ready for more tariffs and sanctions and unsafe political rallies, even if he is ready for nothing else.
“Stable genius,” indeed, that America has gifted the world.
And never forget, it was bone-headed American tariffs - the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. 1930 - that helped generate the Great Depression.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY DON PITTIS IN CBC NEWS
“As Trump talks tariffs, IMF warns protectionism will worsen a dire economic crisis”
Suffering won't be evenly shared as post-COVID crisis lingers for world's poorest
New tariffs in a world on the edge of a depression?
What a stunning fellow Donald Trump is.
Of course, his incessant attacks on the world's other great economy, China, and his attacks on trade, as against the WTO, can only make the world's economic situation worse.
And he is suppressing a lot of economic activity in a number of countries with illegal sanctions, American laws imposed by force on people who are not Americans.
His leadership through the pandemic was phenomenal too. A Columbia University study concluded 58,000 additional Americans would die because Trump did not respond to the original information he was given early.
And there are all the poor nations under sanctions struggling with disease and not enough supplies and necessities.
His magnificent leadership skills were perhaps best displayed in cutting ties with the WHO during a pandemic and in numerous cases of taking other countries’ medical supplies while creating real misallocations in his own country.
And then he set the fine example of never wearing a mask, a serious study having proved that masks were the single most effective measure the public can take for prevention.
__________________
Let's not forget the second wave of the coronavirus heading our way.
It has already appeared in some countries, and it may well be worse than the first wave according to some experts.
With, of course, still further massive economic implications.
But Trump is always ready for more tariffs and sanctions and unsafe political rallies, even if he is ready for nothing else.
“Stable genius,” indeed, that America has gifted the world.
And never forget, it was bone-headed American tariffs - the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. 1930 - that helped generate the Great Depression.
Monday, June 15, 2020
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: “DEFUNDING POLICE” IS A SLOGAN AND NOT A POLICY – IT’S NOT EVEN DEFINED BY ITS USERS - ALL POSSIBLE POLICE REFORMS ARE COSTLY – MOST OF THE ESTABLISHMENT ALMOST CERTAINLY BELIEVE EXISTING PROBLEMS ARE NOT WORTH THE COST SINCE THEY AFFECT THE POOR AND POWERLESS – AND FOR SURE TRUMP’S POLITICAL TRIBE BELIEVES THAT – THE ESTABLISHMENT IS EMBARRASSED BY ALL THE UGLY PUBLICITY, BUT THAT WILL PASS - SPEECHES WILL SAY OTHERWISE BUT THEY WILL BE AS INSINCERE AS AMERICA’S SIGNATURE ON AN INTERNATIONAL TREATY – MAINLY THE POOR AND DISADVANTAGED ARE HURT BY POLICE BRUTALITY AND WE HAVE AMPLE PROOF NO ONE CARES MUCH ABOUT THEM - GUNS AND POLICE IN AMERICA AS CAPTURED BY A DISTURBING BRIEF SCENE IN THE OTHERWISE CHARMING FILM, “IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE” – DANIEL BOONE AS THE BEST EARLY REPRESENTATIVE OF WHAT AMERICA WOULD BECOME
John Chuckman
EXPANSION OF A COMMENT TO AN ARTICLE IN PRESS T V
“Joe Biden does not support defunding police”
"Defunding the police" is a slogan rather than a policy, and slogans do not help real problems.
America's police are over-militarized, have poor hiring practices, and are often badly trained and supervised.
Were it otherwise, we'd see a serious improvement over time in the shabby performance of the country’s many police forces.
The term "defund" isn't even well defined by its users, and that is why it is a slogan, not a policy.
To somehow create an entirely new system of law enforcement would be extremely costly, and it would require the dedicated hard work of tens of thousands of qualified people.
America’s establishment is highly embarrassed right now by the sudden blinding glare of publicity revealing some of the worst of American society, but that will pass. They will make speeches and favorable sounds, but I believe, on the whole, privately, they would not agree that existing problems are worth the cost of fixing them. They have been going on a very long time. And, after all, most of the people hurt or killed by American police are poor or disadvantaged, and they simply do not count for much in America, no matter what the political speeches and grade-school civics texts say.
That is underscored, too, by Trump’s readiness to blunder right into raw events with what was implicit support for police brutality and severe criticism of demonstrators. Trump knows his political base. While establishment figures don’t approve of his crude ways, many harbor sympathies which are not wildly different. Otherwise the problem would not exist, and it has existed almost forever.
The US can be a pretty harsh and brutal place (as I well know because I grew up there), and many Americans like it that way, taking a kind of muscular pride in the swagger and readiness to use force. Many Americans actually support police brutality as a "necessity" in fighting crime in “the urban jungle.”
For me, American attitudes around violence and police were perfectly captured by a scene in the otherwise charming, sentimental film, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The hero of the movie, played by Jimmy Stewart, is dazed and confused and runs away from the small town’s cop, Bert, played by a gruff Ward Bond. Bert promptly pulls out his pistol to start shooting at Stewart’s back, and in a busy commercial street. It is a quietly disturbing scene in what otherwise is a Christmas fantasy film.
This is a country with a large population which virtually worships guns, with an estimated three hundred million of them in private hands. There are many jurisdictions where you can actually “open carry” (visible in a holster) a gun or carry a concealed one.
And it is a country constantly engaged in wars and brutality around the globe. This is not, overall, a tender or even terribly caring society, despite a great deal of sentimentality in its popular culture. Tens of millions of its own people have no healthcare, attend terrible schools, and live in squalor. Some don’t even have decent drinking water. You do not find such things in a caring society.
It is a society whose police and prison guards have had a reputation for excessive force all of my lifetime. Local politicians in hundreds of jurisdictions were never ready to undertake the expense and trouble of doing anything about it.
A national, enforceable code for the hiring and training and supervision of police would be fitting, but I doubt the will is there for that. Properly administered, it would be costly, and the issue of federal versus state and local jurisdictions immediately enters the matter, something always of passionate concern in America. The country’s chaotic jumble of political jurisdictions, reverently embraced as a form of freedom by many, has always helped preserve and protect dark practices.
In the end, it is fair to say America very much is a “I, Me, Mine” society. That has been part of its character from the beginning and distinguishes it from many societies in Asia and in Europe.
Daniel Boone – a tough, harsh man, encroaching on Indigenous lands through early Kentucky, fighting and killing and constantly restlessly moving on to clear a new piece of land, leaving a despoiled one behind - was perhaps the best early representative for what America would become.
EXPANSION OF A COMMENT TO AN ARTICLE IN PRESS T V
“Joe Biden does not support defunding police”
"Defunding the police" is a slogan rather than a policy, and slogans do not help real problems.
America's police are over-militarized, have poor hiring practices, and are often badly trained and supervised.
Were it otherwise, we'd see a serious improvement over time in the shabby performance of the country’s many police forces.
The term "defund" isn't even well defined by its users, and that is why it is a slogan, not a policy.
To somehow create an entirely new system of law enforcement would be extremely costly, and it would require the dedicated hard work of tens of thousands of qualified people.
America’s establishment is highly embarrassed right now by the sudden blinding glare of publicity revealing some of the worst of American society, but that will pass. They will make speeches and favorable sounds, but I believe, on the whole, privately, they would not agree that existing problems are worth the cost of fixing them. They have been going on a very long time. And, after all, most of the people hurt or killed by American police are poor or disadvantaged, and they simply do not count for much in America, no matter what the political speeches and grade-school civics texts say.
That is underscored, too, by Trump’s readiness to blunder right into raw events with what was implicit support for police brutality and severe criticism of demonstrators. Trump knows his political base. While establishment figures don’t approve of his crude ways, many harbor sympathies which are not wildly different. Otherwise the problem would not exist, and it has existed almost forever.
The US can be a pretty harsh and brutal place (as I well know because I grew up there), and many Americans like it that way, taking a kind of muscular pride in the swagger and readiness to use force. Many Americans actually support police brutality as a "necessity" in fighting crime in “the urban jungle.”
For me, American attitudes around violence and police were perfectly captured by a scene in the otherwise charming, sentimental film, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The hero of the movie, played by Jimmy Stewart, is dazed and confused and runs away from the small town’s cop, Bert, played by a gruff Ward Bond. Bert promptly pulls out his pistol to start shooting at Stewart’s back, and in a busy commercial street. It is a quietly disturbing scene in what otherwise is a Christmas fantasy film.
This is a country with a large population which virtually worships guns, with an estimated three hundred million of them in private hands. There are many jurisdictions where you can actually “open carry” (visible in a holster) a gun or carry a concealed one.
And it is a country constantly engaged in wars and brutality around the globe. This is not, overall, a tender or even terribly caring society, despite a great deal of sentimentality in its popular culture. Tens of millions of its own people have no healthcare, attend terrible schools, and live in squalor. Some don’t even have decent drinking water. You do not find such things in a caring society.
It is a society whose police and prison guards have had a reputation for excessive force all of my lifetime. Local politicians in hundreds of jurisdictions were never ready to undertake the expense and trouble of doing anything about it.
A national, enforceable code for the hiring and training and supervision of police would be fitting, but I doubt the will is there for that. Properly administered, it would be costly, and the issue of federal versus state and local jurisdictions immediately enters the matter, something always of passionate concern in America. The country’s chaotic jumble of political jurisdictions, reverently embraced as a form of freedom by many, has always helped preserve and protect dark practices.
In the end, it is fair to say America very much is a “I, Me, Mine” society. That has been part of its character from the beginning and distinguishes it from many societies in Asia and in Europe.
Daniel Boone – a tough, harsh man, encroaching on Indigenous lands through early Kentucky, fighting and killing and constantly restlessly moving on to clear a new piece of land, leaving a despoiled one behind - was perhaps the best early representative for what America would become.
Sunday, June 14, 2020
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: AMERICA’S CIVIL UNREST IS UNLIKELY TO PRODUCE REAL CHANGE IN ANY OF THE MATTERS DISTURBING SO MANY – PROTESTS LIKELY WILL LOSE STEAM GRADUALLY – AMERICAN SOCIETY LITERALLY IS STRUCTURED TO RESIST CHANGE – NONE OF THE COUNTRY’S IMPORTANT INTEREST GROUPS SEE IT AS TO THEIR BENEFIT – WITH COUNTLESS BILLIONS AT RISK, CHANGE IS NOT VIEWED AS A FRIEND - AMERICA’S MAJOR PROBLEM IS ACTUALLY SOMETHING ELSE, ITS DEEP DIVISIONS ALONG MANY LINES – AND THERE IS NO LEADERSHIP, NONE AT ALL, TO BRIDGE THOSE DIVISIONS – AND NOW IT IS SPREADING DIVISION IN THE WORLD
John Chuckman
COMMENT - AMERICA’S DEEPENING DIVIDE
I tend to doubt that the civil unrest in America will result in fundamental reform. The truth is that the set of problems involved is just too massive to be dealt with by anything less than heroic effort, and where is the leadership for such an effort? There is none. Absolutely none.
Disturbing as it is, the civil unrest is not the country’s greatest problem.
America’s greatest problem is a deeply divided society. I do not mean division along party lines, which is to a great extent an artificial division. No, the division is along fundamental lines, and there is absolutely no leadership to bridge those divisions.
The nation’s political system actually contributed to creating some divisions and to deepening others. It is likely incapable of supplying remedies.
It contributed, through taxation and other policies, to an unprecedented, lopsided division of wealth between the One Percent and the great mass of citizens. You do not have to be a socialist advocating for equality of some kind – always an elusive notion – to appreciate that the balance between “haves” and “have-nots” has entered socially destructive territory.
It only exacerbates other existing divisions. After all, America is a highly heterogeneous society, and has always been so. Immigrant-versus-native born divisions. Ethnic and racial divisions. Cultural and religious divisions. Class divisions. And still more.
It is the responsibility of government, any government, to maintain a balance in the distribution of wealth that is healthy for its society. That balance will vary between societies owing to historical, cultural, and other differences. There is no one formula. Close observers know however when things have become badly out of balance, as they very much have in America. It is an ongoing responsibility of government to be aware of the situation and to redress grotesque imbalance.
But we see no impulse for this in American society except for a few voices. America’s underlying deep, narrowly-defined conservativeness and its impulse towards “each man for himself” work against the interests not only of the society as a whole but against even the interests of many of the individuals embracing the ideologies.
If you keep effectively telling great numbers of your people that they are not part of the society and they can influence nothing, the result is absolutely destructive. And that is what America has done for a long time. And I am not thinking only of the stark case of the racial divide. It comes right down to such practical, everyday matters as healthcare. Some get it, others do not, a reality which has been painfully obvious during the pandemic.
It comes down to many everyday matters. Totally decayed neighborhoods, resembling Berlin in 1946, versus extremely refined places to live. Terrible schools versus high-quality schools. Police who behave like an occupying army versus respectable and responsible law enforcement.
The extreme division in wealth is not just about wealth. In America’s money-driven politics, it immediately translates into further political division. It’s a self-reinforcing mechanism. The One Percent gains more leverage over government and its policies daily while the great mass of citizens have no one to speak or act for them.
Democrats pretend to do so in their discussions of various desirable social programs, but it is only a kind of political theater. The Democratic Party is just as dependent on the One Percent for its financing as the Republican Party. I saw a refence in the press a couple of times recently to a meeting Joe Biden attended with some weighty donors, and he is said to have pledged that they would not be affected by economic shifts if he were president. Why not? Some shifting is very much in order.
He is quoted as saying to the donors that if he is elected, “Nothing would fundamentally change" and "No one's standard of living will change."
The Democrats, very much, join the Republicans in the close embrace of war and empire. There is no difference, except in rhetoric, between the two. And the massive, costly unproductive industry of the Pentagon and security services and empire serve the One Percent.
The stronger the institutions of war and empire are in a society, the more strongly the nation becomes committed to hostilities and aggression, which in truth are not in the interest of anyone outside the elites. The false religion of Patriotism is used to keep the crowd motivated to support it.
And the more strongly the society becomes committed against improvements which would benefit all citizens, because resources are limited and the attention and talents of all rising members of the establishment are riveted to where the resources are to be had. Note public improvements do not just serve the ordinary citizens. Better national infrastructure and better education and training improve the entire economy’s international competitiveness.
Look at China’s phenomenal concept of the New Silk Road – also called Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – a massive set of projects across much of the world that will improve infrastructure and competitiveness while generating employment for many years to come. Brilliant. Compare the concept and its potential to the steady work of destruction by America’s military and security services.
Or for that matter, compare it to Trump’s barren concept of trying to take value away from everyone else in the world through demands, intimidation, tariffs, sanctions, and destructive trade policies. You cannot improve the world’s economic well-being by attacking major parts of it. It truly represents the trade and economic equivalent of America’s endless go-nowhere wars, which serve only to control what is not legitimately America’s to control. It builds precisely nothing.
Although it is not certain, especially given continuing additional brutal police acts, the civil unrest we’ve seen likely will lose its steam gradually. It is very difficult for large movements of this kind to maintain momentum. And in the end, I doubt it will have produced much in the way of meaningful change. America is literally structured to resist change.
Certainly, the military-security complex does not welcome change of any kind except new weapons systems and technologies for spying and controlling. The One Percent is extremely adverse towards change, especially any change which will cost them something, as all real change must. The political establishment serving the One Percent’s interests does not welcome change. They are comfortably ensconced in a rewarding relationship with the elites they serve and with the military and security institutions who support that service.
America’s divided society is now spreading division through much of the world. It resembles a cancer metastasizing. Division against China. Division against Russia. Division against Iran and others. And it is not a danger only for trade and the cooperation in a world economy needing cooperation to recover from the effects of pandemic. It is a serious danger for war.
COMMENT - AMERICA’S DEEPENING DIVIDE
I tend to doubt that the civil unrest in America will result in fundamental reform. The truth is that the set of problems involved is just too massive to be dealt with by anything less than heroic effort, and where is the leadership for such an effort? There is none. Absolutely none.
Disturbing as it is, the civil unrest is not the country’s greatest problem.
America’s greatest problem is a deeply divided society. I do not mean division along party lines, which is to a great extent an artificial division. No, the division is along fundamental lines, and there is absolutely no leadership to bridge those divisions.
The nation’s political system actually contributed to creating some divisions and to deepening others. It is likely incapable of supplying remedies.
It contributed, through taxation and other policies, to an unprecedented, lopsided division of wealth between the One Percent and the great mass of citizens. You do not have to be a socialist advocating for equality of some kind – always an elusive notion – to appreciate that the balance between “haves” and “have-nots” has entered socially destructive territory.
It only exacerbates other existing divisions. After all, America is a highly heterogeneous society, and has always been so. Immigrant-versus-native born divisions. Ethnic and racial divisions. Cultural and religious divisions. Class divisions. And still more.
It is the responsibility of government, any government, to maintain a balance in the distribution of wealth that is healthy for its society. That balance will vary between societies owing to historical, cultural, and other differences. There is no one formula. Close observers know however when things have become badly out of balance, as they very much have in America. It is an ongoing responsibility of government to be aware of the situation and to redress grotesque imbalance.
But we see no impulse for this in American society except for a few voices. America’s underlying deep, narrowly-defined conservativeness and its impulse towards “each man for himself” work against the interests not only of the society as a whole but against even the interests of many of the individuals embracing the ideologies.
If you keep effectively telling great numbers of your people that they are not part of the society and they can influence nothing, the result is absolutely destructive. And that is what America has done for a long time. And I am not thinking only of the stark case of the racial divide. It comes right down to such practical, everyday matters as healthcare. Some get it, others do not, a reality which has been painfully obvious during the pandemic.
It comes down to many everyday matters. Totally decayed neighborhoods, resembling Berlin in 1946, versus extremely refined places to live. Terrible schools versus high-quality schools. Police who behave like an occupying army versus respectable and responsible law enforcement.
The extreme division in wealth is not just about wealth. In America’s money-driven politics, it immediately translates into further political division. It’s a self-reinforcing mechanism. The One Percent gains more leverage over government and its policies daily while the great mass of citizens have no one to speak or act for them.
Democrats pretend to do so in their discussions of various desirable social programs, but it is only a kind of political theater. The Democratic Party is just as dependent on the One Percent for its financing as the Republican Party. I saw a refence in the press a couple of times recently to a meeting Joe Biden attended with some weighty donors, and he is said to have pledged that they would not be affected by economic shifts if he were president. Why not? Some shifting is very much in order.
He is quoted as saying to the donors that if he is elected, “Nothing would fundamentally change" and "No one's standard of living will change."
The Democrats, very much, join the Republicans in the close embrace of war and empire. There is no difference, except in rhetoric, between the two. And the massive, costly unproductive industry of the Pentagon and security services and empire serve the One Percent.
The stronger the institutions of war and empire are in a society, the more strongly the nation becomes committed to hostilities and aggression, which in truth are not in the interest of anyone outside the elites. The false religion of Patriotism is used to keep the crowd motivated to support it.
And the more strongly the society becomes committed against improvements which would benefit all citizens, because resources are limited and the attention and talents of all rising members of the establishment are riveted to where the resources are to be had. Note public improvements do not just serve the ordinary citizens. Better national infrastructure and better education and training improve the entire economy’s international competitiveness.
Look at China’s phenomenal concept of the New Silk Road – also called Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – a massive set of projects across much of the world that will improve infrastructure and competitiveness while generating employment for many years to come. Brilliant. Compare the concept and its potential to the steady work of destruction by America’s military and security services.
Or for that matter, compare it to Trump’s barren concept of trying to take value away from everyone else in the world through demands, intimidation, tariffs, sanctions, and destructive trade policies. You cannot improve the world’s economic well-being by attacking major parts of it. It truly represents the trade and economic equivalent of America’s endless go-nowhere wars, which serve only to control what is not legitimately America’s to control. It builds precisely nothing.
Although it is not certain, especially given continuing additional brutal police acts, the civil unrest we’ve seen likely will lose its steam gradually. It is very difficult for large movements of this kind to maintain momentum. And in the end, I doubt it will have produced much in the way of meaningful change. America is literally structured to resist change.
Certainly, the military-security complex does not welcome change of any kind except new weapons systems and technologies for spying and controlling. The One Percent is extremely adverse towards change, especially any change which will cost them something, as all real change must. The political establishment serving the One Percent’s interests does not welcome change. They are comfortably ensconced in a rewarding relationship with the elites they serve and with the military and security institutions who support that service.
America’s divided society is now spreading division through much of the world. It resembles a cancer metastasizing. Division against China. Division against Russia. Division against Iran and others. And it is not a danger only for trade and the cooperation in a world economy needing cooperation to recover from the effects of pandemic. It is a serious danger for war.
Friday, June 12, 2020
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT : TEARING DOWN STATUES – THERE INDEED ARE MANY THAT DESERVE TEARING DOWN – THEY HONOR MEN AND MATTERS WHICH SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN HONORED, RATHER THAN HONESTLY TELLING A NATION’S HISTORY – MONUMENTS IN WASHINGTON TO GREAT AND DEDICATED SLAVEHOLDERS – THE LACK OF ANY GENUINE MEMORIAL TO AMERICAN SLAVERY – THE BRUTALITY OF EMPIRE – HOW IS AMERICA’S TREATMENT OF VENEZUELA OR CUBA ANY DIFFERENT THAN THE WORK OF PLANTATION OVERSEERS? – SOME VIEWS ON BRITAIN’S WINSTON CHURCHILL
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY JONATHAN COOK IN CONSORTIUM NEWS
“When Tearing Down Statues Isn’t Vandalism
“It should have been obvious to Bristol’s authorities that it was offensive to revere a slave trader in a public square”
"Colston [a British slave trader] and his statue represent everything ugly and debased about our past and our present. If British leaders are still in thrall to the poison of our imperial history, then ordinary people must show the way through protest, defiance and disobedience – as they have done down through the ages. As they did once again at the weekend."
Quite powerful, and I think entirely right.
Statues of this nature do need pulling down.
You could almost view the act as a public baptism towards entering a better future.
And I say that as someone with considerable reverence towards history and its commemoration.
Yes, slavery is part of history, but the kind of monuments that should be erected are the kind we see nowhere.
Along the lines of Rodin's “Burghers of Calais.”
Washington has no great monument to slavery. I don’t think the Lincoln Memorial qualifies at all. Lincoln did not fight the Civil War over slavery. He hated the institution but was willing to see it remain if it meant peace. He said so himself.
A bas relief of that slave ship deck illustration in the article would be mighty suitable.
Yet Washington has many monuments to great slaveholders: Washington (his will freed his slaves but only following his own and his wife’s death), Jackson (right in that Lafayette Square location Trump immortalized - Jackson of course is infamous too for the brutal Trail of Tears), Madison, George Mason (more than a hundred slaves including children), and the greatest rogue of all, Thomas Jefferson (more than two hundred slaves, never earned his own living, and died a bankrupt owing friends money he borrowed – he also openly wrote in “Notes from Virginia” of black inferiority and supported Napoleon in trying to end the slave rebellion in Haiti).
_____________________
Response to a comment saying, “Colston and his statue represent everything ugly and debased about our past and our present. ”
So does the imprisonment and torture of Julian Assange.
Indeed. The clearest public evidence of the brutality of the American empire.
You simply cannot have an empire without brutality. The very nature of empire parallels closely in many respects the institution of slavery.
Of course, the millions of bodies abroad from America's imperial wars since WWII are even more powerful evidence, but Americans don't see the Pentagon's handiwork for the most part. The establishment works pretty diligently to keep its horrors away from public view.
The estimates run from about eight to twenty million killed in America's series of wars and coups and incursions, and the country is still busily at it in at least half a dozen places.
How is America’s treatment of Venezuela or Bolivia or Cuba any different than the work of plantation overseers?
Over in Britain, Boris Johnson is playing cheap word games, talking about “lying about our history”
The kind of statues being attacked glorify things which should never have been glorified.
They do not tell us about genuine history.
They are props used to cover over genuine history, hiding all the sordid bits from viewers.
A statue to a slave trader has no business being anywhere.
And even Churchill himself - except during the "hero of democracy" period of WWII which represented about five percent of his more than ninety years - was not an admirable political figure, not at all. Charismatic and very talented as a speaker and writer, but not admirable. He did not stand for great principles, even though he used great words.
His talents were dedicated to serving domination and control.
He absolutely relished empire and imperialism.
And empire is the polar opposite of democracy. Closely akin to slavery and dictatorship.
Churchill was willing to be quite brutal in protecting or expanding the empire. He never flinched from killing.
He expressed contempt for many other peoples and their ways, and on many occasions. Being quite sarcastic at times.
The heroic parliamentary statue basically uses a tiny fraction of his life to make him seem to be what he was not. He was not at all an admirer of democracy, offering some very sneering words about it during his career.
_____________________
Churchill was ruthless against the Germans.
He is the one who started the bombing of civilians in cities.
Only after his efforts did Germany begin bombing London.
Churchill typically called the Germans "the Hun," a totally derogatory term.
What Churchill fought for was not minorities threatened by the Nazis, it was an old British imperial policy of not letting any European power dominate the continent.
Hence, the Napoleonic Wars and that grand folly, WWI, which only set the stage for WWII.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY JONATHAN COOK IN CONSORTIUM NEWS
“When Tearing Down Statues Isn’t Vandalism
“It should have been obvious to Bristol’s authorities that it was offensive to revere a slave trader in a public square”
"Colston [a British slave trader] and his statue represent everything ugly and debased about our past and our present. If British leaders are still in thrall to the poison of our imperial history, then ordinary people must show the way through protest, defiance and disobedience – as they have done down through the ages. As they did once again at the weekend."
Quite powerful, and I think entirely right.
Statues of this nature do need pulling down.
You could almost view the act as a public baptism towards entering a better future.
And I say that as someone with considerable reverence towards history and its commemoration.
Yes, slavery is part of history, but the kind of monuments that should be erected are the kind we see nowhere.
Along the lines of Rodin's “Burghers of Calais.”
Washington has no great monument to slavery. I don’t think the Lincoln Memorial qualifies at all. Lincoln did not fight the Civil War over slavery. He hated the institution but was willing to see it remain if it meant peace. He said so himself.
A bas relief of that slave ship deck illustration in the article would be mighty suitable.
Yet Washington has many monuments to great slaveholders: Washington (his will freed his slaves but only following his own and his wife’s death), Jackson (right in that Lafayette Square location Trump immortalized - Jackson of course is infamous too for the brutal Trail of Tears), Madison, George Mason (more than a hundred slaves including children), and the greatest rogue of all, Thomas Jefferson (more than two hundred slaves, never earned his own living, and died a bankrupt owing friends money he borrowed – he also openly wrote in “Notes from Virginia” of black inferiority and supported Napoleon in trying to end the slave rebellion in Haiti).
_____________________
Response to a comment saying, “Colston and his statue represent everything ugly and debased about our past and our present. ”
So does the imprisonment and torture of Julian Assange.
Indeed. The clearest public evidence of the brutality of the American empire.
You simply cannot have an empire without brutality. The very nature of empire parallels closely in many respects the institution of slavery.
Of course, the millions of bodies abroad from America's imperial wars since WWII are even more powerful evidence, but Americans don't see the Pentagon's handiwork for the most part. The establishment works pretty diligently to keep its horrors away from public view.
The estimates run from about eight to twenty million killed in America's series of wars and coups and incursions, and the country is still busily at it in at least half a dozen places.
How is America’s treatment of Venezuela or Bolivia or Cuba any different than the work of plantation overseers?
Over in Britain, Boris Johnson is playing cheap word games, talking about “lying about our history”
The kind of statues being attacked glorify things which should never have been glorified.
They do not tell us about genuine history.
They are props used to cover over genuine history, hiding all the sordid bits from viewers.
A statue to a slave trader has no business being anywhere.
And even Churchill himself - except during the "hero of democracy" period of WWII which represented about five percent of his more than ninety years - was not an admirable political figure, not at all. Charismatic and very talented as a speaker and writer, but not admirable. He did not stand for great principles, even though he used great words.
His talents were dedicated to serving domination and control.
He absolutely relished empire and imperialism.
And empire is the polar opposite of democracy. Closely akin to slavery and dictatorship.
Churchill was willing to be quite brutal in protecting or expanding the empire. He never flinched from killing.
He expressed contempt for many other peoples and their ways, and on many occasions. Being quite sarcastic at times.
The heroic parliamentary statue basically uses a tiny fraction of his life to make him seem to be what he was not. He was not at all an admirer of democracy, offering some very sneering words about it during his career.
_____________________
Churchill was ruthless against the Germans.
He is the one who started the bombing of civilians in cities.
Only after his efforts did Germany begin bombing London.
Churchill typically called the Germans "the Hun," a totally derogatory term.
What Churchill fought for was not minorities threatened by the Nazis, it was an old British imperial policy of not letting any European power dominate the continent.
Hence, the Napoleonic Wars and that grand folly, WWI, which only set the stage for WWII.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT : THE EXTRAORDINARY TOM PAINE – AN 18TH CENTURY POLITICAL WRITER FAR AHEAD OF HIS TIME – HIS UNPLEASANT RELATIONSHIP WITH GEORGE WASHINGTON – AND REMEMBERING THAT GREATEST HYPOCRITE IN AMERICAN HISTORY, THOMAS JEFFERSON
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY RUSSELL BENTLEY IN FORT RUSS NEWS
“TOM PAINE – THE ORIGINAL CHE GUEVARA”
Paine was one of our great, non-academic political writers. His words may still be profitably read. A very eloquent and thoughtful man, and given to sharp sarcasm.
George Washington treated him shamefully.
Paine's writing – In the form of pamphlets like "Common Sense" – was highly influential in the cause of the American Revolution.
Paine later traveled to France during the Great Revolution, and he ended up in prison during The Terror.
There was a plea for Washington's intervention, but it was coldly ignored.
Many Americans do not realize what an aristocratic figure Washington indeed was. He had not a trace of revolutionary spirit or even progressive spirit. He actually admired the British nobility’s way of doing many things, and his earliest burning ambition was to win a regular British Army commission, but that really was not done in those days, and Washington’s desperate efforts followed by disappointment likely pushed him in the direction of later supporting the colonial revolt.
His form of support was odd though. When he was commissioned by the Continental Congress to take command – effectively at his own suggestion by wearing a uniform of his own design to the Continental Congress, and he was known for having been an officer in the Virginia Militia at the time of the Seven Years War – over the revolt which had started spontaneously against Britain in New England, he saw his first task as bringing harsh discipline.
He instituted flogging and hanging, as in the regular British Army, on the militiamen who had volunteered and previously elected their own officers. He wrote unpleasant letters about what filthy rabble they were.
Eventually, he had uniforms designed along the lines of British ones but in different colors, as well as having standard arms and drill practices introduced. He in effect created the feeling of a British Army commission for himself.
He even wore the traditional sash and sword of European nobles, continuing the practice as President on formal occasions.
And though Washington was not a religious man at all, he did not approve of the kind of critical and satirical writing Paine did on the subject of religion. Washington was a privileged American aristocrat – one of richest men in all the colonies – and very much worked towards “keeping up appearances."
Paine managed to survive, but no thanks to Washington.
One European writer nicely summed up the American "revolution" as a revolt which saw foreign aristocratic rulers displaced by local aristocratic rulers. It is a very accurate observation.
_______________________________
Response to a flattering comment from the author, Russell Bentley:
Thank you, Russell.
I too admired Ben Franklin, and I was distressed to fInd he had dabbled in slavery for a while.
There are no words for Thomas Jefferson, the greatest hypocrite in American history.
Jefferson owned more than 200 slaves until his death, as a bankrupt. He never earned his own living.
You may enjoy:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2019/04/03/john-chuckman-comment-the-remarkable-case-of-thomas-jefferson-he-wasnt-at-all-what-so-many-think-he-was-how-the-needs-of-politics-can-twist-and-exploit-historical-figures-and-myth-making-as-a/
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/02/22/john-chuckman-comment-how-using-quotes-from-famous-historical-figures-can-be-sometimes-misleading-what-they-said-was-not-always-how-they-lived-orwell-and-jefferson/
https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/2014/07/07/reflections-on-the-origins-and-meaning-of-americas-independence-day-re-posted-from-6-years-ago-nothing-having-changed/
______________________
Response to a further comment from Russell Bentley:
Thanks for the kind words.
Yes, it is hard to beat a fine line like Paine's "My country is the world, and my religion is to do good."
Or "He who dares not offend cannot be honest."
That last, while I'm sure bent by some whose main point is to offend, is a profound truth about human affairs, as sharply true now as the day he wrote it.
As to the first line, H. G. Wells said more than a century later, "Our true nationality is mankind." Paine was far ahead of his time.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY RUSSELL BENTLEY IN FORT RUSS NEWS
“TOM PAINE – THE ORIGINAL CHE GUEVARA”
Paine was one of our great, non-academic political writers. His words may still be profitably read. A very eloquent and thoughtful man, and given to sharp sarcasm.
George Washington treated him shamefully.
Paine's writing – In the form of pamphlets like "Common Sense" – was highly influential in the cause of the American Revolution.
Paine later traveled to France during the Great Revolution, and he ended up in prison during The Terror.
There was a plea for Washington's intervention, but it was coldly ignored.
Many Americans do not realize what an aristocratic figure Washington indeed was. He had not a trace of revolutionary spirit or even progressive spirit. He actually admired the British nobility’s way of doing many things, and his earliest burning ambition was to win a regular British Army commission, but that really was not done in those days, and Washington’s desperate efforts followed by disappointment likely pushed him in the direction of later supporting the colonial revolt.
His form of support was odd though. When he was commissioned by the Continental Congress to take command – effectively at his own suggestion by wearing a uniform of his own design to the Continental Congress, and he was known for having been an officer in the Virginia Militia at the time of the Seven Years War – over the revolt which had started spontaneously against Britain in New England, he saw his first task as bringing harsh discipline.
He instituted flogging and hanging, as in the regular British Army, on the militiamen who had volunteered and previously elected their own officers. He wrote unpleasant letters about what filthy rabble they were.
Eventually, he had uniforms designed along the lines of British ones but in different colors, as well as having standard arms and drill practices introduced. He in effect created the feeling of a British Army commission for himself.
He even wore the traditional sash and sword of European nobles, continuing the practice as President on formal occasions.
And though Washington was not a religious man at all, he did not approve of the kind of critical and satirical writing Paine did on the subject of religion. Washington was a privileged American aristocrat – one of richest men in all the colonies – and very much worked towards “keeping up appearances."
Paine managed to survive, but no thanks to Washington.
One European writer nicely summed up the American "revolution" as a revolt which saw foreign aristocratic rulers displaced by local aristocratic rulers. It is a very accurate observation.
_______________________________
Response to a flattering comment from the author, Russell Bentley:
Thank you, Russell.
I too admired Ben Franklin, and I was distressed to fInd he had dabbled in slavery for a while.
There are no words for Thomas Jefferson, the greatest hypocrite in American history.
Jefferson owned more than 200 slaves until his death, as a bankrupt. He never earned his own living.
You may enjoy:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2019/04/03/john-chuckman-comment-the-remarkable-case-of-thomas-jefferson-he-wasnt-at-all-what-so-many-think-he-was-how-the-needs-of-politics-can-twist-and-exploit-historical-figures-and-myth-making-as-a/
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/02/22/john-chuckman-comment-how-using-quotes-from-famous-historical-figures-can-be-sometimes-misleading-what-they-said-was-not-always-how-they-lived-orwell-and-jefferson/
https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/2014/07/07/reflections-on-the-origins-and-meaning-of-americas-independence-day-re-posted-from-6-years-ago-nothing-having-changed/
______________________
Response to a further comment from Russell Bentley:
Thanks for the kind words.
Yes, it is hard to beat a fine line like Paine's "My country is the world, and my religion is to do good."
Or "He who dares not offend cannot be honest."
That last, while I'm sure bent by some whose main point is to offend, is a profound truth about human affairs, as sharply true now as the day he wrote it.
As to the first line, H. G. Wells said more than a century later, "Our true nationality is mankind." Paine was far ahead of his time.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: A WRITER SPEAKS OF ISRAEL LOSING ITS BEST - EMIGRATION FROM ISRAEL REFLECTS LIMITED POSSIBILITIES OF THE SOCIETY AND THE SOCIAL CONSCIENCE OF THOSE LEAVING – THE HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT ISRAEL REPRESENTS – ISRAEL’S EFFECT ON ITS REGION AND ITS DISCOURAGEMENT OF ARAB DEMOCRACY – SOME VALID POINTS OF COMPARISON BETWEEN ISRAEL AND THE FORMER SOVIET UNION – THE LEGITIMACY OF CRITICIZING A HEAVILY-ARMED AND OPPRESSIVE STATE
John Chuckman
EXPANSION OF COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY LAWRENCE DAVIDSON IN CONSORTIUM NEWS
“Israel Loses Its Best
“While economics is certainly playing a role in this emigration, it is not the only factor. There is also a question of conscience”
https://consortiumnews.com/2020/06/10/israel-loses-its-best/
A first-class piece.
You could call the phenomenon a human-migration version of Gresham's law that says bad money drives out good.
Who would want to raise children in a place so loaded with hatreds and brutality? Certainly not many of humanity's most thoughtful and feeling.
By so many measures, Israel is such a huge disappointment. It is anything but a point of light for humanity.
Apart from so many other considerations, just the fact that it is such a militarized society and packed with security services. It is literally a garrison state.
And of course, armies and security services inherently have values that are different than the values of democracy and human rights. They are authoritarian organizations. The bigger the role they play in a society, the more impoverished ethically and morally that society will be. Just look at the United States, a similar though less intense case.
Israel’s practices and methods and prejudices have played a major role in perpetuating tyrannies in the region too. Israel always likes leaders like President Mubarak or Field Marshal El-Sisi, leaders who suppress their own people’s hopes and dreams. The bloody Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia is almost a bosom-buddy with Netanyahu. The democratic Hamas is castigated while a long-unelected and ineffective man is propped up in Fatah.
Absolutely, Israel’s influence has contributed to the lack of democratic development in the Arab world. Why? Because leaders like Netanyahu or Sharon are comfortable with masses of people being suppressed.
I often think of the old USSR when I think of Israel. There are many striking parallels. A national ideology that allows little or no deviance. Military Frankenstein monsters. Highly aggressive towards neighbors. Riddled with suspicions and spy agencies and police of every description. Heavily distorted and unbalanced economies. Powerful limits on human rights. Resentment of criticism from outsiders. Claims to being democratic not supported by actual arrangements.
The entire trail of destruction of the Pentagon’s Neo-con Wars – wars killing several million and creating many millions into desperate refugees – owes a great deal to the drives of Israel and its right-wing supporters in America. Men like Ariel Sharon were intense advocates. As were men like Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz in America.
I also think of the USSR when I hear Israel’s most vicious, unthinking defenders accuse those who criticize a heavily armed state which ignores rule of law of being anti-Semitic. The charge is ridiculous on its face.
It is intended to defend the indefensible. The charge is exactly parallel to having accused those who criticized the USSR of being Russophobes. Nonsense, at least in the overwhelming number of cases.
I disliked and criticized the USSR, yet always was and remain an admirer of the Russian people – their literature, their music, their magnificent churches and historic buildings, the very sound of their language, and their unbelievable bravery and heroism in the face of war and horror.
And just so, the case of Israel and the Jewish people, people who have given so many admirable things to the world.
EXPANSION OF COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY LAWRENCE DAVIDSON IN CONSORTIUM NEWS
“Israel Loses Its Best
“While economics is certainly playing a role in this emigration, it is not the only factor. There is also a question of conscience”
https://consortiumnews.com/2020/06/10/israel-loses-its-best/
A first-class piece.
You could call the phenomenon a human-migration version of Gresham's law that says bad money drives out good.
Who would want to raise children in a place so loaded with hatreds and brutality? Certainly not many of humanity's most thoughtful and feeling.
By so many measures, Israel is such a huge disappointment. It is anything but a point of light for humanity.
Apart from so many other considerations, just the fact that it is such a militarized society and packed with security services. It is literally a garrison state.
And of course, armies and security services inherently have values that are different than the values of democracy and human rights. They are authoritarian organizations. The bigger the role they play in a society, the more impoverished ethically and morally that society will be. Just look at the United States, a similar though less intense case.
Israel’s practices and methods and prejudices have played a major role in perpetuating tyrannies in the region too. Israel always likes leaders like President Mubarak or Field Marshal El-Sisi, leaders who suppress their own people’s hopes and dreams. The bloody Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia is almost a bosom-buddy with Netanyahu. The democratic Hamas is castigated while a long-unelected and ineffective man is propped up in Fatah.
Absolutely, Israel’s influence has contributed to the lack of democratic development in the Arab world. Why? Because leaders like Netanyahu or Sharon are comfortable with masses of people being suppressed.
I often think of the old USSR when I think of Israel. There are many striking parallels. A national ideology that allows little or no deviance. Military Frankenstein monsters. Highly aggressive towards neighbors. Riddled with suspicions and spy agencies and police of every description. Heavily distorted and unbalanced economies. Powerful limits on human rights. Resentment of criticism from outsiders. Claims to being democratic not supported by actual arrangements.
The entire trail of destruction of the Pentagon’s Neo-con Wars – wars killing several million and creating many millions into desperate refugees – owes a great deal to the drives of Israel and its right-wing supporters in America. Men like Ariel Sharon were intense advocates. As were men like Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz in America.
I also think of the USSR when I hear Israel’s most vicious, unthinking defenders accuse those who criticize a heavily armed state which ignores rule of law of being anti-Semitic. The charge is ridiculous on its face.
It is intended to defend the indefensible. The charge is exactly parallel to having accused those who criticized the USSR of being Russophobes. Nonsense, at least in the overwhelming number of cases.
I disliked and criticized the USSR, yet always was and remain an admirer of the Russian people – their literature, their music, their magnificent churches and historic buildings, the very sound of their language, and their unbelievable bravery and heroism in the face of war and horror.
And just so, the case of Israel and the Jewish people, people who have given so many admirable things to the world.
Wednesday, June 03, 2020
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: AMERICAN RACISM AND POLICE BRUTALITY – BUT THERE ARE OTHER TOXIC INGREDIENTS IN THE SOCIAL MIX PRODUCING WHAT WE’VE SEEN ON AMERICA’S STREETS – A LIST OF TERRIBLE PRACTICES IN AMERICAN POLICING, INCLUDING ITS MILITARIZATION AND HIRING SOLDIERS FROM AMERICA’S BRUTAL COLONIAL WARS AS POLICE - TERRIBLE PRACTICES USED TO RUN A VAST PRISON SYSTEM WITH THE WORLD’S LARGEST POPULATION OF PRISONERS – THE NEGLECT OF ORDINARY PEOPLE AS NATIONAL GOVERNMENT FOCUSES ENTIRELY ON THE MEANS OF WAR AND EMPIRE AND SERVING WEALTH – THE IMMENSE DISPARITY IN AMERICAN SOCIETY CREATED THROUGH ITS POLITICS - THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE WORD “CITIZEN” IN AMERICAN POLITICS - ORDINARY AMERICANS INCREASINGLY SEEN BY THE ESTABLISHMENT AS A HERD
John Chuckman
COMMENT – AMERICAN RACISM AND POLICE BRUTALITY
Racism is certainly a problem in America, a profound and very longstanding one. Its origins trace their roots to the very Founding.
But events like the gruesome police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis bring other harsh matters to our attention.
A crucial one is the very nature of policing in America, and I discuss that below.
Another important one, closely related to the quality of policing, is the immense disparity that has mushroomed in American society. It has been created by wrongheaded laws and tax “reforms” of recent decades. Created by selfish politicians serving selfish elites who assume little-to-no responsibility about the society in general, including the astounding debts they are largely responsible for incurring and even the society’s basic healthiness.
The country, while never a democracy, unquestionably has moved steadily towards being an outright plutocracy, a state which further corrupts and distorts all politics, leaving no room for proper representation of the interests of the vast majority and keeping government closely tied to the service of the privileged.
Both major parties, dependent on wealth for their immense funding needs, effectively have no independence and offer little in the way of genuine alternatives. It is extremely costly to run large political campaigns in America, at least given the way it is done with huge amounts of first-class travel and countless polls and never-ending advertising, and laws and court rulings have only served to keep it costly. That fact also makes it almost impossible for anyone outside the two establishment parties to even think of seriously competing.
As I’ve said before, that political structure is what ties America to a gigantic military, intrusive security agencies, and global empire, an empire serving the interests of elites. But the existence of empire also very much has an impact on domestic affairs. Big social programs of almost any description are simply out of the question, and legislation to support the always-evolving domestic interests of the source of all political-financing bounty, the wealthy, become a priority. The working of the mechanism over time only more deeply entrenches plutocracy and the lack of political support for any interests of ordinary Americans – eg, as for national healthcare.
Much of the harshness of American law enforcement reflects a focus on protecting those with wealth, both individuals and corporations, and promoting an attitude of indifference or contempt for a great many other people. The mass of Americans is treated increasingly as though it were a herd of some kind. Just minimal efforts and precautions are taken for its benefit and general social order. We no longer even hear the word “citizens” even used in political speech, a word that has historic resonance and implies obligations.
Police officers, while largely originating from ordinary people, are encouraged to think of themselves as having been raised out of that status, almost as being “knighted” for the special front-line service of America’s most privileged. Most people like the idea of being considered special and jealously guard their status, and America’s public culture almost deifies police work.
American law enforcement has an international reputation for brutality. Years ago, it was cited by Amnesty International for dark excess.
On average, American police kill 3 citizens each day, and that’s apart from the far greater number they assault and injure and terrify.
Use of choke holds, like the one that killed George Floyd, is common.
Many police departments are heavily militarized. The Pentagon has a regular program for distributing unneeded military supplies to local police. Some departments can put on displays similar to those of some small nation-state militaries, complete with armored vehicles, machine guns, helicopters, and drones.
The attitudes of military thinking come with the supply and use of that equipment, as well as from the nature of training and recruiting (mentioned below), and they are not attitudes to be encouraged in a civilian force.
Men leaving the military after their term often become police officers. America has a very large military, so there is a constant flow of police recruits. Of course, the record of the American military abroad in its many brutal colonial wars – as, Vietnam, Cambodia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, etc. - is not one of civilian-oriented restraint or caution. It is one of “shoot first, ask questions later.”
Those ugly imperial wars saw countless atrocities and war crimes, but remarkably few soldiers ever were held accountable. American police-hiring practices bring something of that war-time sense of atrocity-with-impunity entitlement to the streets and citizens of America.
Many police forces do not even use all the safeguards available to them in hiring, as always testing candidates for sociopathic or sadistic tendencies. Police work, like the military, is a natural attractant for sociopaths and sadists.
As a recent trend, many local American police forces receive some training in Israel. Israel earns a good flow of funds from the contracts. Since Israel occupies a large population against its will, a population with no citizenship or rights, it is a very questionable practice to send civilian police there for training – at least if your intention is just fair and capable law enforcement by American police.
America's prisons are notoriously violent places where prisoners can die mysteriously. One study a while back counted 800 such deaths in a year.
Solitary confinement, virtually a form of torture, is widely practiced in America. And the country has a set of hideous institutions called “Super-max prisons” where the conditions are severe and frightening.
A number of American states contract-out running their prisons to private companies to save money, and you can imagine the quality of staff and supervision when saving money is the goal.
America has the largest number of incarcerated people in the world.
Compared to their share of population, heavily disproportionate numbers of blacks are incarcerated in America. I am not arguing about the fairness of their charges or sentences, of which I know nothing, but given America’s endemic and intense racism, you can imagine the harsh conditions for many of them as prisoners. Prison guards, of course, do not tend to come from an educated or refined pool of people.
Training for prison guards is often poor, as it very much is for the local police in America’s huge number of towns incorporated out of suburban sprawl, a distinctly American phenomenon.
It is important to recognize that America, contrary to many pleasant stories told about it, is an extremely harsh society. You could not have the kind of imperial wars America has otherwise. You cannot have an empire without brutality. Empire and militarism fundamentally negate all principles one may claim to embrace, such as human and democratic rights. Millions of people are treated like crap around the world by America every year.
The state of American society not only is affected by the military and empire, it almost serves as a proving ground in the production of soldiers and leaders and public opinion for all that aggression and hostility.
I’ve said it many times, but it is a fundamental truth not widely understood: you cannot have both a decent society and an empire. You must choose, and America’s choice has been clear for a very long time.
You do have to ask yourself, “Do the people who truly run America, those who profit from its wars and empire, have any serious interest in changing those arrangements?”
COMMENT – AMERICAN RACISM AND POLICE BRUTALITY
Racism is certainly a problem in America, a profound and very longstanding one. Its origins trace their roots to the very Founding.
But events like the gruesome police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis bring other harsh matters to our attention.
A crucial one is the very nature of policing in America, and I discuss that below.
Another important one, closely related to the quality of policing, is the immense disparity that has mushroomed in American society. It has been created by wrongheaded laws and tax “reforms” of recent decades. Created by selfish politicians serving selfish elites who assume little-to-no responsibility about the society in general, including the astounding debts they are largely responsible for incurring and even the society’s basic healthiness.
The country, while never a democracy, unquestionably has moved steadily towards being an outright plutocracy, a state which further corrupts and distorts all politics, leaving no room for proper representation of the interests of the vast majority and keeping government closely tied to the service of the privileged.
Both major parties, dependent on wealth for their immense funding needs, effectively have no independence and offer little in the way of genuine alternatives. It is extremely costly to run large political campaigns in America, at least given the way it is done with huge amounts of first-class travel and countless polls and never-ending advertising, and laws and court rulings have only served to keep it costly. That fact also makes it almost impossible for anyone outside the two establishment parties to even think of seriously competing.
As I’ve said before, that political structure is what ties America to a gigantic military, intrusive security agencies, and global empire, an empire serving the interests of elites. But the existence of empire also very much has an impact on domestic affairs. Big social programs of almost any description are simply out of the question, and legislation to support the always-evolving domestic interests of the source of all political-financing bounty, the wealthy, become a priority. The working of the mechanism over time only more deeply entrenches plutocracy and the lack of political support for any interests of ordinary Americans – eg, as for national healthcare.
Much of the harshness of American law enforcement reflects a focus on protecting those with wealth, both individuals and corporations, and promoting an attitude of indifference or contempt for a great many other people. The mass of Americans is treated increasingly as though it were a herd of some kind. Just minimal efforts and precautions are taken for its benefit and general social order. We no longer even hear the word “citizens” even used in political speech, a word that has historic resonance and implies obligations.
Police officers, while largely originating from ordinary people, are encouraged to think of themselves as having been raised out of that status, almost as being “knighted” for the special front-line service of America’s most privileged. Most people like the idea of being considered special and jealously guard their status, and America’s public culture almost deifies police work.
American law enforcement has an international reputation for brutality. Years ago, it was cited by Amnesty International for dark excess.
On average, American police kill 3 citizens each day, and that’s apart from the far greater number they assault and injure and terrify.
Use of choke holds, like the one that killed George Floyd, is common.
Many police departments are heavily militarized. The Pentagon has a regular program for distributing unneeded military supplies to local police. Some departments can put on displays similar to those of some small nation-state militaries, complete with armored vehicles, machine guns, helicopters, and drones.
The attitudes of military thinking come with the supply and use of that equipment, as well as from the nature of training and recruiting (mentioned below), and they are not attitudes to be encouraged in a civilian force.
Men leaving the military after their term often become police officers. America has a very large military, so there is a constant flow of police recruits. Of course, the record of the American military abroad in its many brutal colonial wars – as, Vietnam, Cambodia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, etc. - is not one of civilian-oriented restraint or caution. It is one of “shoot first, ask questions later.”
Those ugly imperial wars saw countless atrocities and war crimes, but remarkably few soldiers ever were held accountable. American police-hiring practices bring something of that war-time sense of atrocity-with-impunity entitlement to the streets and citizens of America.
Many police forces do not even use all the safeguards available to them in hiring, as always testing candidates for sociopathic or sadistic tendencies. Police work, like the military, is a natural attractant for sociopaths and sadists.
As a recent trend, many local American police forces receive some training in Israel. Israel earns a good flow of funds from the contracts. Since Israel occupies a large population against its will, a population with no citizenship or rights, it is a very questionable practice to send civilian police there for training – at least if your intention is just fair and capable law enforcement by American police.
America's prisons are notoriously violent places where prisoners can die mysteriously. One study a while back counted 800 such deaths in a year.
Solitary confinement, virtually a form of torture, is widely practiced in America. And the country has a set of hideous institutions called “Super-max prisons” where the conditions are severe and frightening.
A number of American states contract-out running their prisons to private companies to save money, and you can imagine the quality of staff and supervision when saving money is the goal.
America has the largest number of incarcerated people in the world.
Compared to their share of population, heavily disproportionate numbers of blacks are incarcerated in America. I am not arguing about the fairness of their charges or sentences, of which I know nothing, but given America’s endemic and intense racism, you can imagine the harsh conditions for many of them as prisoners. Prison guards, of course, do not tend to come from an educated or refined pool of people.
Training for prison guards is often poor, as it very much is for the local police in America’s huge number of towns incorporated out of suburban sprawl, a distinctly American phenomenon.
It is important to recognize that America, contrary to many pleasant stories told about it, is an extremely harsh society. You could not have the kind of imperial wars America has otherwise. You cannot have an empire without brutality. Empire and militarism fundamentally negate all principles one may claim to embrace, such as human and democratic rights. Millions of people are treated like crap around the world by America every year.
The state of American society not only is affected by the military and empire, it almost serves as a proving ground in the production of soldiers and leaders and public opinion for all that aggression and hostility.
I’ve said it many times, but it is a fundamental truth not widely understood: you cannot have both a decent society and an empire. You must choose, and America’s choice has been clear for a very long time.
You do have to ask yourself, “Do the people who truly run America, those who profit from its wars and empire, have any serious interest in changing those arrangements?”
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: RUSSIA AND AMERICA – RUSSIAGATE AND DNC “HACKING” – AN EXCELLENT ARTICLE SHEDS SOME LIGHT ON AMERICAN-RUSSIAN RELATIONS AND THE BEHAVIOR OF KEY AMERICAN PLAYERS - BUT THE ARTICLE MISSES A KEY POINT – THE QUESTIONS RAISED BY THAT POINT ARE ALMOST TOO OVERWHELMING FOR AMERICA TO DEAL WITH – THE MATTER OF SETH RICH’S DEATH – HIGH OFFICIALS WHO ACTED AND LIED THEIR WAY THROUGH THE HORRORS OF SYRIA AND LIBYA WERE PERFECTLY CAPABLE OF BRINGING SUCH BEHAVIOR HOME – THEY SAW IT PROVEN TO WORK ABROAD MANY TIMES AND THEY WERE NEVER HELD ACCOUNTABLE – THERE IS NO INVISIBLE BARRIER AT THE BORDER OF THE UNITED STATES TO STOP HIGH-LEVEL POLITICAL MURDER – KENNEDY’S DEATH IN DALLAS EMPHASIZES THE POINT
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY RAY MCGOVERN IN CONSORTIUM NEWS
“US-Russia Ties, from Heyday to MayDay
“Whatever hopes Russia’s leader may have had for a more workable relationship with the U.S. have been “trumpled,” so to speak.”
https://consortiumnews.com/2020/06/03/ray-mcgovern-us-russia-ties-from-heyday-to-mayday/
An excellent piece with some real bits of insight into American-Russian relations.
But at least one very important thing is missing.
The author says, "the faux-story [DNC Russian hacking] is simply too big to fail"
Indeed, but why?
If the official line isn't so, and it is not, we get to the point, "Then, who downloaded the data from the DNC?"
Several analysts have made suggestions in the past, and Julian Assange himself hinted around the subject.
I believe that the “Russian-hacking” story can't fail because the alternative is that a Democratic Party insider downloaded the material and supplied it to Assange.
And the absolutely best candidate for having done that was Seth Rich, a young, idealistic political worker who was likely shocked by some of the material to which he had access.
Further, since I just do not believe in coincidence, especially where such high-level matters are involved, we are left asking, "Then, who killed Seth Rich, or had him killed?"
The only serious candidates for that are at the top of the Democratic Party.
The article speaks of the kind of lying and subterfuge and attempts to hurt that go on in foreign affairs – as with the Sarin gas in Syria - and those practices are a major part of America's entire set of foreign policies today, not just for relations with Syria or Russia.
I do not believe people can follow such practices abroad for years without eventually bringing them home. After all, they’ve seen how well they can work and they know there is virtually no risk for themselves, so why not use them at home where the stakes are great?
That is just one of the ways, empire and militarism corrupt a nation and crumble any principles it may have once operated under.
In the article, we have John Kerry openly lying about something that has vicious consequences.
And we know from Seymour Hersh, the great investigative reporter, that among the things Hillary Clinton was secretly having shipped from smashed-up Libya to the mercenary forces trying to destroy Syria also, was a small quantity of Sarin nerve agent from the dead Qadhafi’s stocks. The intention was for it to be used to provide the “red line” Obama had talked about.
I just don’t accept that such evil abroad can never come home to roost in America. Indeed, I think it has many times, going back to Dallas, 1963.
NOTE
Readers may enjoy:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2019/01/23/john-chuckman-comment-on-re-opening-the-kennedy-assassination-investigation-why-it-would-be-a-waste-of-time-the-nature-of-truth-where-empire-or-great-power-is-involved-some-truth-about-the-fbi/
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY RAY MCGOVERN IN CONSORTIUM NEWS
“US-Russia Ties, from Heyday to MayDay
“Whatever hopes Russia’s leader may have had for a more workable relationship with the U.S. have been “trumpled,” so to speak.”
https://consortiumnews.com/2020/06/03/ray-mcgovern-us-russia-ties-from-heyday-to-mayday/
An excellent piece with some real bits of insight into American-Russian relations.
But at least one very important thing is missing.
The author says, "the faux-story [DNC Russian hacking] is simply too big to fail"
Indeed, but why?
If the official line isn't so, and it is not, we get to the point, "Then, who downloaded the data from the DNC?"
Several analysts have made suggestions in the past, and Julian Assange himself hinted around the subject.
I believe that the “Russian-hacking” story can't fail because the alternative is that a Democratic Party insider downloaded the material and supplied it to Assange.
And the absolutely best candidate for having done that was Seth Rich, a young, idealistic political worker who was likely shocked by some of the material to which he had access.
Further, since I just do not believe in coincidence, especially where such high-level matters are involved, we are left asking, "Then, who killed Seth Rich, or had him killed?"
The only serious candidates for that are at the top of the Democratic Party.
The article speaks of the kind of lying and subterfuge and attempts to hurt that go on in foreign affairs – as with the Sarin gas in Syria - and those practices are a major part of America's entire set of foreign policies today, not just for relations with Syria or Russia.
I do not believe people can follow such practices abroad for years without eventually bringing them home. After all, they’ve seen how well they can work and they know there is virtually no risk for themselves, so why not use them at home where the stakes are great?
That is just one of the ways, empire and militarism corrupt a nation and crumble any principles it may have once operated under.
In the article, we have John Kerry openly lying about something that has vicious consequences.
And we know from Seymour Hersh, the great investigative reporter, that among the things Hillary Clinton was secretly having shipped from smashed-up Libya to the mercenary forces trying to destroy Syria also, was a small quantity of Sarin nerve agent from the dead Qadhafi’s stocks. The intention was for it to be used to provide the “red line” Obama had talked about.
I just don’t accept that such evil abroad can never come home to roost in America. Indeed, I think it has many times, going back to Dallas, 1963.
NOTE
Readers may enjoy:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2019/01/23/john-chuckman-comment-on-re-opening-the-kennedy-assassination-investigation-why-it-would-be-a-waste-of-time-the-nature-of-truth-where-empire-or-great-power-is-involved-some-truth-about-the-fbi/
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: THE ROLE OF CORPORATE NEWS MEDIA IN GREAT EVENTS LIKE AMERICA’S RIOTS AND DEMONSTRATIONS AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY – THE LIMITS TO PUBLISHED TRUTH ABOUT DEADLY SERIOUS MATTERS – CORPORATE JOURNALISM FOR THE MOST PART IS NOT JOURNALISM – IT HAS OTHER JOBS - WRITERS AND EDITORS AND PRODUCERS HAVE LITTLE CHOICE OR DISCRETION IN WHAT EVENTS THEY COVER AND HOW THEY COVER THEM – IN REAL-LIFE EVENTS, PERSPECTIVE IS EVERYTHING, BUT WHEN DEALING WITH CORPORATE REPORTING OF EVENTS, PERSPECTIVE IS ALMOST AN UNACCEPTABLE WORD
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY DANIELLE K. KILGO IN CONSORTIUM NEWS
“UPRISING: Riot or Resistance: Media Framing Shapes Public View
“The role journalists play can be indispensable if movements are to gain legitimacy and make progress”
I'm not sure that I accept the idea of "media framing."
Too many think of the major media as separate actors who may choose to wrongly influence the public or not, who may shade or distort events or not, who may honestly report or not.
America's major media are just tools of the power establishment, themselves a set of corporations in a corporate/wealth-directed state.
They couldn't do anything differently if they somehow wanted to.
They are as dependent as that young man in the street was with the policeman’s knee on his neck.
Few recognize the way corporate media are indistinguishable from old state media, such as those of the USSR.
A newspaper publisher or a broadcaster who suddenly decided to be as scrupulously honest as possible about important matters would quickly suffer dire consequences.
Advertising revenue cut off. Access in Congress and the White House cut off. Cut off from any important leaks or other information. Access to federal agencies cut off. Licence renewals endangered. Merger or other business requests denied on trumped-up excuses.
In other words, a great wave of severe pressure from powerful actors, the kind of activity America regularly engages in against governments it does not like, as we see with Venezuela or Bolivia or Cuba.
It would be a journalistic death sentence. Indeed, a corporate death sentence.American journalism cannot possibly reform itself. Or do anything much differently than what it does. It is as free as a fly trapped in amber.
Until the very way America is governed changes - and what are the chances of that? - American journalism will remain just what it is, an elaborate outlet for official views, propaganda, and disinformation.
At least that’s what it is when it comes to vital topics, like war and political corruption. All the other stuff published or broadcast – from sports scores or stock prices to election results or travel information – are authentic, their authenticity only helping the other stuff “go down,” like fruit flavoring for a pill.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY DANIELLE K. KILGO IN CONSORTIUM NEWS
“UPRISING: Riot or Resistance: Media Framing Shapes Public View
“The role journalists play can be indispensable if movements are to gain legitimacy and make progress”
I'm not sure that I accept the idea of "media framing."
Too many think of the major media as separate actors who may choose to wrongly influence the public or not, who may shade or distort events or not, who may honestly report or not.
America's major media are just tools of the power establishment, themselves a set of corporations in a corporate/wealth-directed state.
They couldn't do anything differently if they somehow wanted to.
They are as dependent as that young man in the street was with the policeman’s knee on his neck.
Few recognize the way corporate media are indistinguishable from old state media, such as those of the USSR.
A newspaper publisher or a broadcaster who suddenly decided to be as scrupulously honest as possible about important matters would quickly suffer dire consequences.
Advertising revenue cut off. Access in Congress and the White House cut off. Cut off from any important leaks or other information. Access to federal agencies cut off. Licence renewals endangered. Merger or other business requests denied on trumped-up excuses.
In other words, a great wave of severe pressure from powerful actors, the kind of activity America regularly engages in against governments it does not like, as we see with Venezuela or Bolivia or Cuba.
It would be a journalistic death sentence. Indeed, a corporate death sentence.American journalism cannot possibly reform itself. Or do anything much differently than what it does. It is as free as a fly trapped in amber.
Until the very way America is governed changes - and what are the chances of that? - American journalism will remain just what it is, an elaborate outlet for official views, propaganda, and disinformation.
At least that’s what it is when it comes to vital topics, like war and political corruption. All the other stuff published or broadcast – from sports scores or stock prices to election results or travel information – are authentic, their authenticity only helping the other stuff “go down,” like fruit flavoring for a pill.
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