John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY SAMUEL OSBORNE IN THE INDEPENDENT
“Germany obtained novichok nerve agent sample in 1990s, reports say
“Development could help explain how Britain was able to analyse poison it says was used to attack former double agent, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter”
Oh, please, this suggestion is nothing more than a new distraction from one of the extreme implausibilities involved in the Skripal Affair. It is disinformation, based on a bit of real information, itself incomplete, and given no context.
The Czechs (and others) have made this stuff, as the government there has already told us.
Its formula was published years ago. I am sure military labs in many advanced countries, including Britain, have worked with it and have samples.
It is one of the jobs of military chemical labs is to investigate and classify the characteristics of potential chemical weapons, and the Porton Down facility, just a few miles down the road, cannot be any different in this respect.
You absolutely must administer an antidote for any nerve agent almost immediately - and there are many such agents, including Saran, VX, and Tabun. Saran, at least, is still heavily stocked in the arsenals of America and Israel.
You wouldn’t even know what antidote to administer at first, even if you suspected nerve agent, which no one did in the early period. And why would they?
The antidote must be administered in minutes, not a half hour or more later. It was that long until these people were discovered, sick on a bench, a place where still more time was consumed by emergency responders, including a local woman doctor who said she spent a half hour with the victims.
So then, the victims were eventually taken to a hospital, where they were treated how, no one having the least notion of such a poison?
And all the people handling the Skripals noticed nothing unusual in smell or appearance, and they themselves had no ill effects. One pin-point drop of nerve agent on the skin is lethal.
The Skripals are said to have been very sick, unconscious, with vomiting and diarrhea and breathing difficulties.
The emergency measures people strongly suspected a Fentanyl overdose. They are common in Salisbury.
Another strong candidate is food poisoning from the fresh shellfish pizza they had both eaten.
The whole story stinks to high heaven, still, after all this time, but the press makes no effort to investigate.
And, of course, it simply should not stink. All the facts could have been published quickly, but were not, and still have not been. Why not?
The British government simply blundered in, making public charges against a major government and taking punitive measures without one scintilla of anything a thinking person would call evidence. Almost laughable were it not such a serious matter.
And why can't even a relative talk to them? Why can't they be interviewed, under guard, if that is felt necessary? Bizarre.
The daughter left a whole world behind in Russia, including a fiancé, a job, and family, but no communication is allowed them?
Essentially, you are re-publishing government press releases.
____________________
Response to another comment:
The entire business is a cover-up. Of just what? Who knows?
We don't have the least idea what actually happened.
And the press makes no effort to find out. None, at all.
See my detailed post above.
Friday, May 18, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: SYRIA'S AIR DEFENSE SYSTEMS AGAINST ISRAELI ATTACKS - QUESTION OF RUSSIAN S-300 ANTI-AIRCRAFT MISSILES - TODAY'S ENTIRE SYRIA-RUSSIA-IRAN-ISRAEL RELATIONSHIP IS "A RIDDLE WRAPPED IN A MYSTERY INSIDE AN ENIGMA"
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY THE SAKER IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“There Is an Easy and Cheap Way for Russia to Secure Syrian Airspace -- Without the S-300
“Russia's empty talk of possible S-300s for Syria was a mayor fiasco but the cheapest and most realistic way of securing Syria's skies was always by spamming many more short-range Pantsirs”
To my mind, there is a big and unwelcome note of back-pedaling propaganda here.
Some of the tone is quite objectionable actually.
Just as was the tone of the official Russian statements after the Israeli raid.
But it is difficult to understand just what game is being played. We have, for example, never clearly been told what the targets of Israel’s aggression were. Iranian? Syrian?
Just as our corporate press deliberately confused stories of the “provocation.”
The missiles fired were said to be Iranian and were said to have been fired first. This, of course, is the official Israeli version of events, something never to be trusted from a government which calls the mass ambush killing of civilians in Gaza “restraint’ and the work of “the world’s most moral army.”
That initial firing of missiles, as an act by Iran, never made sense because the Iranians would have no reason to do that, have nothing to gain, and frankly, the Iranians are just cleverer than that.
But in the press-trained minds of many in the West, functioning much like Pavlov’s dogs, once you mention “Iran,” anything unpleasant is accepted automatically. Just as once you mention “Israel,” anything unpleasant could not possibly be the case.
That state of public awareness is of course ridiculous, but that is the Twilight Zone world of foreign affairs today that has been carefully constructed by a hyper-aggressive American government, its disinformation agencies, and its press, always pretending to journalism while acting as cheer leaders.
Orwell’s words on the nature of big brother’s state, Oceania - which was actually intended as a dark, fierce parody of Stalin’s Soviet Union – apply exactly, "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength."
Other stories about the missile attack, which seemed more credible, said they were Syrian missiles, and were fired in response to Israel’s attack. Some of these stories also asserted that by that missile-firing response, now Syria had laid down a new set of rules for Israel. Who knows? Israel hasn’t confirmed anything about the responding missiles or their targets.
There was speculation about one of the Israeli targets actually being a senior Iranian military commander, but who knows? We have no good information.
Just as we have no good information on the relations between Iran and Russia inside Syria. Are they closely coordinating their efforts? Do they disagree on some matters? Are they even agreed on goals or are they each there because they invited to help Syria while each having its own reasons for doing so?
The nature of the situation and the nature of the threat Israel represents are what should determine the military hardware to be employed.
But the author of the article makes only some quasi-technical arguments about this or that air-defense system, but not about what best suits the situation in Syria, which, of course, he also may not completely understand.
The bottom line considerations in the whole matter, though, are pretty straightforward.
Syria has a right, and under international law, to protect itself from attack by Israel or anyone else.
Russia is an ally of Syria, one benefiting from important military bases and one who has invested a fair amount of treasure, and some blood, into helping it eliminate the phony-jihadi mercenaries dumped into the country by outsiders in an effort to destroy its integrity.
Those outsiders are primarily America, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France, and originally Turkey.
When you say Saudi Arabia these days, you are talking about a bizarre new associate of Israel’s, now really a close secret ally, owing to efforts taken out of fear of American invasion after 9/11, both of them concerned with protecting privileged positions in the region.
When you speak of the governments of America, Britain, and France, you are talking about governments under almost unbelievable influence of lobbies working for Israel’s benefit.
So, Israel is at the very center of the entire situation, even though in our press you would never know that. And Israel’s bloody-minded leader was talking to Putin just before the attack. About what, we’ll likely never know.
Of course, when someone gets “permission” to attack, defense mechanisms become somewhat irrelevant.
AFTERWORD
We have this:
https://russia-insider.com/en/there-easy-and-cheap-way-russia-secure-syrian-airspace-without-s-300/ri23489
and this:
https://www.activistpost.com/2018/05/russias-relationship-with-israel-and-the-s-300-controversy.html
plus a lot of confusion.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY THE SAKER IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“There Is an Easy and Cheap Way for Russia to Secure Syrian Airspace -- Without the S-300
“Russia's empty talk of possible S-300s for Syria was a mayor fiasco but the cheapest and most realistic way of securing Syria's skies was always by spamming many more short-range Pantsirs”
To my mind, there is a big and unwelcome note of back-pedaling propaganda here.
Some of the tone is quite objectionable actually.
Just as was the tone of the official Russian statements after the Israeli raid.
But it is difficult to understand just what game is being played. We have, for example, never clearly been told what the targets of Israel’s aggression were. Iranian? Syrian?
Just as our corporate press deliberately confused stories of the “provocation.”
The missiles fired were said to be Iranian and were said to have been fired first. This, of course, is the official Israeli version of events, something never to be trusted from a government which calls the mass ambush killing of civilians in Gaza “restraint’ and the work of “the world’s most moral army.”
That initial firing of missiles, as an act by Iran, never made sense because the Iranians would have no reason to do that, have nothing to gain, and frankly, the Iranians are just cleverer than that.
But in the press-trained minds of many in the West, functioning much like Pavlov’s dogs, once you mention “Iran,” anything unpleasant is accepted automatically. Just as once you mention “Israel,” anything unpleasant could not possibly be the case.
That state of public awareness is of course ridiculous, but that is the Twilight Zone world of foreign affairs today that has been carefully constructed by a hyper-aggressive American government, its disinformation agencies, and its press, always pretending to journalism while acting as cheer leaders.
Orwell’s words on the nature of big brother’s state, Oceania - which was actually intended as a dark, fierce parody of Stalin’s Soviet Union – apply exactly, "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength."
Other stories about the missile attack, which seemed more credible, said they were Syrian missiles, and were fired in response to Israel’s attack. Some of these stories also asserted that by that missile-firing response, now Syria had laid down a new set of rules for Israel. Who knows? Israel hasn’t confirmed anything about the responding missiles or their targets.
There was speculation about one of the Israeli targets actually being a senior Iranian military commander, but who knows? We have no good information.
Just as we have no good information on the relations between Iran and Russia inside Syria. Are they closely coordinating their efforts? Do they disagree on some matters? Are they even agreed on goals or are they each there because they invited to help Syria while each having its own reasons for doing so?
The nature of the situation and the nature of the threat Israel represents are what should determine the military hardware to be employed.
But the author of the article makes only some quasi-technical arguments about this or that air-defense system, but not about what best suits the situation in Syria, which, of course, he also may not completely understand.
The bottom line considerations in the whole matter, though, are pretty straightforward.
Syria has a right, and under international law, to protect itself from attack by Israel or anyone else.
Russia is an ally of Syria, one benefiting from important military bases and one who has invested a fair amount of treasure, and some blood, into helping it eliminate the phony-jihadi mercenaries dumped into the country by outsiders in an effort to destroy its integrity.
Those outsiders are primarily America, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France, and originally Turkey.
When you say Saudi Arabia these days, you are talking about a bizarre new associate of Israel’s, now really a close secret ally, owing to efforts taken out of fear of American invasion after 9/11, both of them concerned with protecting privileged positions in the region.
When you speak of the governments of America, Britain, and France, you are talking about governments under almost unbelievable influence of lobbies working for Israel’s benefit.
So, Israel is at the very center of the entire situation, even though in our press you would never know that. And Israel’s bloody-minded leader was talking to Putin just before the attack. About what, we’ll likely never know.
Of course, when someone gets “permission” to attack, defense mechanisms become somewhat irrelevant.
AFTERWORD
We have this:
https://russia-insider.com/en/there-easy-and-cheap-way-russia-secure-syrian-airspace-without-s-300/ri23489
and this:
https://www.activistpost.com/2018/05/russias-relationship-with-israel-and-the-s-300-controversy.html
plus a lot of confusion.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: EUROPE'S NEED TO STAND UP TO HYPER-AGGRESSIVE AMERICA - THAT'S NOT DIVORCE JUST A RESPECTFUL RELATIONSHIP - TRUMP'S APPOINTMENTS LITERALLY FROM HELL
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY BRUNO TERTRAIS IN THE GUARDIAN
“Trump is wrong over Iran, but Europe can’t afford to divorce the US
“No other US president has been as antagonistic to European principles. But there’s no alternative to a strong transatlantic partnership”
Oh, please, there is something between subservient, abusive marriage and divorce.
It's called a respectful relationship.
But the United States has no understanding or tolerance for that.
“It's my way or the highway,” quite literally is what everyone is told.
Trump has now surrounded himself with the most grotesque retinue imaginable - Haley, Pompeo, Bolton, Haspel, and others.
My God, any of these people born many decades earlier and in Germany would have been leading figures in the Third Reich, serving it happily. They really are that ghastly, the lot of them.
The United States no longer loses moral ground, it simply has none. Washington operates from a thick haze of lies and greed and brutality.
Many once thought of it as "Leader of the Free World." Well, that expression today doesn't even qualify as sarcasm.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY BRUNO TERTRAIS IN THE GUARDIAN
“Trump is wrong over Iran, but Europe can’t afford to divorce the US
“No other US president has been as antagonistic to European principles. But there’s no alternative to a strong transatlantic partnership”
Oh, please, there is something between subservient, abusive marriage and divorce.
It's called a respectful relationship.
But the United States has no understanding or tolerance for that.
“It's my way or the highway,” quite literally is what everyone is told.
Trump has now surrounded himself with the most grotesque retinue imaginable - Haley, Pompeo, Bolton, Haspel, and others.
My God, any of these people born many decades earlier and in Germany would have been leading figures in the Third Reich, serving it happily. They really are that ghastly, the lot of them.
The United States no longer loses moral ground, it simply has none. Washington operates from a thick haze of lies and greed and brutality.
Many once thought of it as "Leader of the Free World." Well, that expression today doesn't even qualify as sarcasm.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: THE GUARDIAN SEEMS LIKE THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WITH A SPLASHY MAKE-OVER BUT STILL THE SAME STUFF - AND ITS NOT JUST IN ALL THE HARRY AND MEGHAN PROMOTION
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN
‘Want to avoid the royal wedding? Here's an alternative TV guide”
Avoid the royal wedding?
Not if you read The Guardian.
Every single day, some new approach is taken for publicizing the non-event, many of them using a kind of indirect route but still achieving the same purpose.
On the front page, as I write this, are four stories, each featured with photos. Undoubtedly, buried in the bodies of other items too, are mentions or references.
And that's how it is daily.
Really, sometimes I think of the contemporary Guardian as a made-over Daily Telegraph. Different tone, splashier look, but the same basic stuff.
And it's not just in royal wedding matters.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN
‘Want to avoid the royal wedding? Here's an alternative TV guide”
Avoid the royal wedding?
Not if you read The Guardian.
Every single day, some new approach is taken for publicizing the non-event, many of them using a kind of indirect route but still achieving the same purpose.
On the front page, as I write this, are four stories, each featured with photos. Undoubtedly, buried in the bodies of other items too, are mentions or references.
And that's how it is daily.
Really, sometimes I think of the contemporary Guardian as a made-over Daily Telegraph. Different tone, splashier look, but the same basic stuff.
And it's not just in royal wedding matters.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: HOW LONG CAN YOU "NOT BE STEPHEN HARPER" AS YOUR CHIEF MERIT? - CANADA'S JUSTIN TRUDEAU IS A BIG DISAPPOINTMENT AND NOT JUST FOR HIS MANY APOLOGIES
JohnChuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN
“Sorry not sorry: is Canada apologising too much?
“Canada’s sorriest prime minister is getting on people’s nerves. ‘What else does he do, besides apologize for things that happened years and years ago’”
Trudeau is a big disappointment for many Canadians.
And despite a huge amount of public goodwill when he started out, he has achieved remarkably little of real substance.
His only great merit has been that he is not Stephen Harper, the thin-lipped, grimacing Conservative who preceded him - and whose electoral success was largely the result of the Liberal Party being in self-inflicted tatters for years. Harper ranks in the opinion of a great many Canadians as the most unpleasant personality ever to hold the office.
But you can "not be Stephen Harper" for only so long, then you really have to show what you are. So far, it's not too promising, I am sorry to say.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN
“Sorry not sorry: is Canada apologising too much?
“Canada’s sorriest prime minister is getting on people’s nerves. ‘What else does he do, besides apologize for things that happened years and years ago’”
Trudeau is a big disappointment for many Canadians.
And despite a huge amount of public goodwill when he started out, he has achieved remarkably little of real substance.
His only great merit has been that he is not Stephen Harper, the thin-lipped, grimacing Conservative who preceded him - and whose electoral success was largely the result of the Liberal Party being in self-inflicted tatters for years. Harper ranks in the opinion of a great many Canadians as the most unpleasant personality ever to hold the office.
But you can "not be Stephen Harper" for only so long, then you really have to show what you are. So far, it's not too promising, I am sorry to say.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: EVEN THE RECIPES SECTION OF THE NEWSPAPER GETS TURNED INTO HARRY AND MEGHAN PUBLIC RELATIONS
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN
“Six of the best party cakes by Harry and Meghan's wedding-cake maker”
These look awfully good.
But, please already, give us a break on Harry and Meghan.
Boring drivel, every word. Insufferable posing, every photo.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN
“Six of the best party cakes by Harry and Meghan's wedding-cake maker”
These look awfully good.
But, please already, give us a break on Harry and Meghan.
Boring drivel, every word. Insufferable posing, every photo.
Thursday, May 17, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: WITH AMERICA'S GORILLA IN DESIGNER CLOTHES (NIKKI HALEY) MASS MURDER BECOMES "RESTRAINT" - TRUMP'S RECENT HIRES ALL ARE THE KIND OF FOLKS WHO WOULD HAVE HAPPILY SERVED THE FUHRER IF BORN EARLIER IN GERMANY
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT
‘US Ambassador Nikki Haley tells UN 'no country in this chamber would act with more restraint than Israel has'”
The woman is a gorilla in designer clothes.
___________________________
Response to a comment, “The arrogant cynicism of these people is beyond belief”:
Yes, it truly is.
We've passed from polite pretense in American foreign affairs into gross crudity.
Americans can now have no claims to moral superiority over any hateful tyranny you care to name.
Trump has surrounded himself with the most grotesque retinue imaginable - Haley, Pompeo, Bolton, Haspel, and others.
My God, any of these people, born many decades earlier and in Germany, would have been leading figures in the Third Reich, serving it happily. They really are that ghastly, the lot of them.
The United States can no longer lose moral ground, it simply has none. Washington operates from a thick haze of lies and greed and brutality.
Many once thought of America as "Leader of the Free World." Well, that expression today doesn't even qualify as sarcasm.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT
‘US Ambassador Nikki Haley tells UN 'no country in this chamber would act with more restraint than Israel has'”
The woman is a gorilla in designer clothes.
___________________________
Response to a comment, “The arrogant cynicism of these people is beyond belief”:
Yes, it truly is.
We've passed from polite pretense in American foreign affairs into gross crudity.
Americans can now have no claims to moral superiority over any hateful tyranny you care to name.
Trump has surrounded himself with the most grotesque retinue imaginable - Haley, Pompeo, Bolton, Haspel, and others.
My God, any of these people, born many decades earlier and in Germany, would have been leading figures in the Third Reich, serving it happily. They really are that ghastly, the lot of them.
The United States can no longer lose moral ground, it simply has none. Washington operates from a thick haze of lies and greed and brutality.
Many once thought of America as "Leader of the Free World." Well, that expression today doesn't even qualify as sarcasm.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: ASTOUNDING STUFF ABOUT THE DEATH OF STALIN AND CHURCHILL FROM AN EXPERT ON OLD SOVIET ARCHIVES - NOTE ON CHURCHILL'S TARTED-UP REPUTATION IN THE WEST - NOTE ON HOW WE ARE STILL GOVERNED
John Chuckman
COMMENTS POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
Churchill Had Stalin Killed, US Bombed Russian Far East in 50s - Top Russian Official (Video - Mikhail Poltoranin)
"We hid this from the rest of the world? - We hid a lot of things. Actually, we live in a fog of historical myth..."
Astounding stuff, if true.
There have always been questions about the death of Stalin, of course.
But this set of assertions is something I've never heard of. They are to be taken seriously coming from such an expert on the archives.
If true, all the major Stalin biographers of recent years are in error.
Would it be possible to do a follow-up article on this?
A few more details would be appreciated.
As for Churchill, his reputation in the West has never reflected the true man.
He is the one who started the bombing of civilians in cities in Germany before Germany bombed England.
He was a true imperialist, a war monger, and a considerable racist.
He was quite ruthless in enforcing order in the Empire where he had anything to do with it. Nothing wrong in his mind with machine-gunning down restless natives.
In private, he laughed about meeting the average British voter on the hustings. Never mind all that sentimental clap-trap about democracy.
I believe from his memoirs he actually had rather a grudging admiration for Stalin in private.
__________________
Response to a comment:
Yes, I know Churchill fairly well, having read several of the major biographies as well as his own set of books on the war.
I've never heard anything like that about Roosevelt. He really was a very sick man when he died, supposedly of a stroke, although, I note there was a book saying he actually had cancer which he kept hidden.
But anything is possible with the powerful, as I've well learned.
In general, it is not sheer ability or heroism or principles which guide major leaders, it is greed for money and/or power or some blinding driving ideology, and they faithfully serve those who can offer them what they want.
All the modern European history since the Enlightenment, with rise of voting and rights, etc., has a good deal of falsehood to it. Money still rules in society, with the very odd exception here or there. And of course, some wealthy people are a little more generous in their attitudes than others.
Political structures are arranged so that, despite elections, nothing can go too far from where those with money want to see it go. Some societies, as in the US, are just more blatant about it.
COMMENTS POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
Churchill Had Stalin Killed, US Bombed Russian Far East in 50s - Top Russian Official (Video - Mikhail Poltoranin)
"We hid this from the rest of the world? - We hid a lot of things. Actually, we live in a fog of historical myth..."
Astounding stuff, if true.
There have always been questions about the death of Stalin, of course.
But this set of assertions is something I've never heard of. They are to be taken seriously coming from such an expert on the archives.
If true, all the major Stalin biographers of recent years are in error.
Would it be possible to do a follow-up article on this?
A few more details would be appreciated.
As for Churchill, his reputation in the West has never reflected the true man.
He is the one who started the bombing of civilians in cities in Germany before Germany bombed England.
He was a true imperialist, a war monger, and a considerable racist.
He was quite ruthless in enforcing order in the Empire where he had anything to do with it. Nothing wrong in his mind with machine-gunning down restless natives.
In private, he laughed about meeting the average British voter on the hustings. Never mind all that sentimental clap-trap about democracy.
I believe from his memoirs he actually had rather a grudging admiration for Stalin in private.
__________________
Response to a comment:
Yes, I know Churchill fairly well, having read several of the major biographies as well as his own set of books on the war.
I've never heard anything like that about Roosevelt. He really was a very sick man when he died, supposedly of a stroke, although, I note there was a book saying he actually had cancer which he kept hidden.
But anything is possible with the powerful, as I've well learned.
In general, it is not sheer ability or heroism or principles which guide major leaders, it is greed for money and/or power or some blinding driving ideology, and they faithfully serve those who can offer them what they want.
All the modern European history since the Enlightenment, with rise of voting and rights, etc., has a good deal of falsehood to it. Money still rules in society, with the very odd exception here or there. And of course, some wealthy people are a little more generous in their attitudes than others.
Political structures are arranged so that, despite elections, nothing can go too far from where those with money want to see it go. Some societies, as in the US, are just more blatant about it.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: LABOUR PARTY OFFICIAL SAYS A TRUTH WE SO RARELY HEAR - SYRIA'S ASSAD HAS POPULAR SUPPORT - SOME FACTS - I COMPARE SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL'S GOVERNMENT IF YOU COUNT ALL THE RESIDENTS LIVING UNDER IT
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT
“Emily Thornberry claims public support for Syria's Bashar al-Assad has been 'underestimated'
“Shadow foreign secretary refuses to denounce Russia for vetoing UN Security Council resolutions”
You bet it has.
He has long had a popular following.
Syria's Christians, too, regard him as a genuine protector of their rights, and he is.
Syria's army has remained loyal despite six years of the most horrible war induced by outsiders supporting mercenary armies of fake jihadis to destroy the country.
Until the outsiders decided to start destroying this beautiful land, it was at peace under Assad.
Indeed, when you consider the totality of residents, say, in Israel, including of course the poor Palestinians held in perpetual bondage with no rights and endless abuse, Syria to an objective observer was a better place than Israel, despite all Israel's blubbering about democracy.
And the series of massacres we see in Gaza underlines that even to a greater extent. This is the third wave of mass killings by the Netanyahu government, and that's apart from all its hostilities carried out abroad, including being a major player in Syria's misery.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT
“Emily Thornberry claims public support for Syria's Bashar al-Assad has been 'underestimated'
“Shadow foreign secretary refuses to denounce Russia for vetoing UN Security Council resolutions”
You bet it has.
He has long had a popular following.
Syria's Christians, too, regard him as a genuine protector of their rights, and he is.
Syria's army has remained loyal despite six years of the most horrible war induced by outsiders supporting mercenary armies of fake jihadis to destroy the country.
Until the outsiders decided to start destroying this beautiful land, it was at peace under Assad.
Indeed, when you consider the totality of residents, say, in Israel, including of course the poor Palestinians held in perpetual bondage with no rights and endless abuse, Syria to an objective observer was a better place than Israel, despite all Israel's blubbering about democracy.
And the series of massacres we see in Gaza underlines that even to a greater extent. This is the third wave of mass killings by the Netanyahu government, and that's apart from all its hostilities carried out abroad, including being a major player in Syria's misery.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: WITH ITS ELECTION COLUMNIST SAYS IRAQ IS SHAKING OFF "INTERVENTION" - HIS WORD FOR AN "INVASION" WHICH KILLED A MILLION - COUNTRY IS STILL OCCUPIED AND CIA BUILT ITSELF A FORTRESS
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY PATRICK COCKBURN IN THE INDEPENDENT
“Election success for Muqtada al-Sadr shows Iraqi voters shaking off foreign intervention
“Analysis: Nationalist populist has always rejected any external presence in his country, be it the UK, Iran or the US’
Hardly.
The country is still occupied.
And the CIA has built itself a massive fortress-embassy there.
Also, I do object to the Orwellian euphemism, “intervention.” It was an invasion, a massive, totally illegal invasion.
_____________________
Response to a comment:
Americans support democracies they like, and they overthrow democracies they don't like. They’ve done so many times.
The key words for America are not about "democracy,' they are "we like."
Dictators, kings, and tyrants are treated in an identical fashion. There are ones “we like” and ones “we don’t like.”
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY PATRICK COCKBURN IN THE INDEPENDENT
“Election success for Muqtada al-Sadr shows Iraqi voters shaking off foreign intervention
“Analysis: Nationalist populist has always rejected any external presence in his country, be it the UK, Iran or the US’
Hardly.
The country is still occupied.
And the CIA has built itself a massive fortress-embassy there.
Also, I do object to the Orwellian euphemism, “intervention.” It was an invasion, a massive, totally illegal invasion.
_____________________
Response to a comment:
Americans support democracies they like, and they overthrow democracies they don't like. They’ve done so many times.
The key words for America are not about "democracy,' they are "we like."
Dictators, kings, and tyrants are treated in an identical fashion. There are ones “we like” and ones “we don’t like.”
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: TRULY SHABBY CLOSET-TORY GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER IS AT IT AGAIN - THIS TIME SMEARING ANOTHER OF OUR MOST HONORABLE MEN - JULIAN ASSANGE
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN INVESTMENTWATCH
“The Guardian Publishes Smear Against Isolated, Arbitrarily Confined Journalist Julian Assange”
The Guardian is shamelessly prejudiced in many things.
Despite its old identity of a sober left-wing voice, its current management has turned it into an establishment mouthpiece which fogs its trail with loads of silly articles about millennial angst and fluff.
It stands today squarely for a Tony Blair-type Labour Party, attacks the party’s actual leader, Jeremy Corbyn, countless times, and it ceaselessly runs mindless items on anti-Semitism in Britain.
It is virulently anti-Russian, showing no understanding at all. For days, it ran articles with no facts supporting the government on the phony Skripal Affair and on the phony gas attack in Douma, Syria.
Commenting was excluded. It is slavishly pro-American, as was its criminal hero, Tony Blair.
Virtually no article relating to Israel is ever open to comment.
Assange is without question one of the most honorable figures in our world, and of course The Guardian doesn't like him. He made some of its heroes look bad, as in the case of Hillary Clinton, for whom during the election, the paper did daily rhetorical somersaults and backflips to praise and encourage.
Readers may enjoy:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/04/13/john-chuckman-comment-the-guardians-worst-propagandist-at-it-again-jonathan-freedland-says-we-should-make-syrias-assad-pay-pay-for-what-guardian-editors-have-no-tolerance-for-such-honest/
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/03/26/john-chuckman-comment-yet-another-round-of-attacking-jeremy-corbyn-for-supposed-anti-semitism-in-the-labour-party-its-become-a-sickeningly-regular-practice-at-the-guardian-and-the-independent/
https:/chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/03/20/john-chuckman-comment-the-game-of-violating-community-standards-on-comment-sections-further-words-on-the-guardian-and-what-it-represents-today-certainly-not-the-left/
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/05/15/john-chuckman-comment-fears-the-new-government-of-ecuador-is-negotiating-with-britain-about-handing-over-julian-assange-the-high-price-to-be-paid-for-honesty/
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN INVESTMENTWATCH
“The Guardian Publishes Smear Against Isolated, Arbitrarily Confined Journalist Julian Assange”
The Guardian is shamelessly prejudiced in many things.
Despite its old identity of a sober left-wing voice, its current management has turned it into an establishment mouthpiece which fogs its trail with loads of silly articles about millennial angst and fluff.
It stands today squarely for a Tony Blair-type Labour Party, attacks the party’s actual leader, Jeremy Corbyn, countless times, and it ceaselessly runs mindless items on anti-Semitism in Britain.
It is virulently anti-Russian, showing no understanding at all. For days, it ran articles with no facts supporting the government on the phony Skripal Affair and on the phony gas attack in Douma, Syria.
Commenting was excluded. It is slavishly pro-American, as was its criminal hero, Tony Blair.
Virtually no article relating to Israel is ever open to comment.
Assange is without question one of the most honorable figures in our world, and of course The Guardian doesn't like him. He made some of its heroes look bad, as in the case of Hillary Clinton, for whom during the election, the paper did daily rhetorical somersaults and backflips to praise and encourage.
Readers may enjoy:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/04/13/john-chuckman-comment-the-guardians-worst-propagandist-at-it-again-jonathan-freedland-says-we-should-make-syrias-assad-pay-pay-for-what-guardian-editors-have-no-tolerance-for-such-honest/
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/03/26/john-chuckman-comment-yet-another-round-of-attacking-jeremy-corbyn-for-supposed-anti-semitism-in-the-labour-party-its-become-a-sickeningly-regular-practice-at-the-guardian-and-the-independent/
https:/chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/03/20/john-chuckman-comment-the-game-of-violating-community-standards-on-comment-sections-further-words-on-the-guardian-and-what-it-represents-today-certainly-not-the-left/
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/05/15/john-chuckman-comment-fears-the-new-government-of-ecuador-is-negotiating-with-britain-about-handing-over-julian-assange-the-high-price-to-be-paid-for-honesty/
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: THERE'S NOTHING "CONTROVERSIAL" ABOUT PUTIN'S NEW BRIDGE TO CRIMEA - IT'S A BOON AND AN ENGINEERING MARVEL - TRUMP GRIMACES AND THREATENS - PUTIN BUILDS USEFUL NEW THINGS
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT
“'It's a real celebration!' Russia opens controversial 12-mile bridge to annexed Crimean peninsula
“Completed ahead of schedule, the bridge has cost £2.7bn”
There's nothing controversial about it, at least for thinking people.
The bridge is a magnificent achievement. Its first day, it carried heavy traffic.
It's brilliantly designed with four-lane highway and a double rail line. The engineering efforts to account for everything from strong winds to earthquakes are extraordinary.
It is also very symbolic. Apart from signifying that Crimea is now a permanent part of Russia, the project says Putin is a bridge builder. He's actually built several important ones in Russia. But this one, Europe’s longest and finished in record time, is the topper.
While Trump is always photographed with his mouth open, grimacing and threatening people.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT
“'It's a real celebration!' Russia opens controversial 12-mile bridge to annexed Crimean peninsula
“Completed ahead of schedule, the bridge has cost £2.7bn”
There's nothing controversial about it, at least for thinking people.
The bridge is a magnificent achievement. Its first day, it carried heavy traffic.
It's brilliantly designed with four-lane highway and a double rail line. The engineering efforts to account for everything from strong winds to earthquakes are extraordinary.
It is also very symbolic. Apart from signifying that Crimea is now a permanent part of Russia, the project says Putin is a bridge builder. He's actually built several important ones in Russia. But this one, Europe’s longest and finished in record time, is the topper.
While Trump is always photographed with his mouth open, grimacing and threatening people.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: YET ANOTHER TIRESOME STAR WARS SHOOT-'EM-UP - I WONDER DOES THE PENTAGON PAY A SUBSIDY THE WAY IT DOES TO NFL TO HAVE PLAYERS ON FIELD FOR ANTHEM? IT HELPS RECRUITING
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO A FILM REVIEW IN THE GUARDIAN
“Solo: A Star Wars Story review – Han Solo origins film is boisterous bromance’
Beyond tiresome.
In creative terms, Star Wars has been the living dead since the first film.
And what a pathetically dull vision of space and other worlds.
Battleships and guns strapped to hips.
I wouldn't be surprised to find the Pentagon offers quiet support here to fire-up young male minds for war.
After all, the Pentagon, some years ago, began paying the NFL to have the players come out and stand on the football field for the national anthem. It increases military recruitment.
Before that, the players just stayed inside until the game actually started.
Star Wars is, after all, Disney now. Long a source of the mother's milk of fantasies making friendly and cozy the working of the American empire.
COMMENT POSTED TO A FILM REVIEW IN THE GUARDIAN
“Solo: A Star Wars Story review – Han Solo origins film is boisterous bromance’
Beyond tiresome.
In creative terms, Star Wars has been the living dead since the first film.
And what a pathetically dull vision of space and other worlds.
Battleships and guns strapped to hips.
I wouldn't be surprised to find the Pentagon offers quiet support here to fire-up young male minds for war.
After all, the Pentagon, some years ago, began paying the NFL to have the players come out and stand on the football field for the national anthem. It increases military recruitment.
Before that, the players just stayed inside until the game actually started.
Star Wars is, after all, Disney now. Long a source of the mother's milk of fantasies making friendly and cozy the working of the American empire.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: REMARKABLE NEST OF EGGS DINOSAUR DISCOVERY IN CHINA
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY EMILY CHUNG IN CBC NEWS
“How huge dinosaurs nested without crushing their eggs
“Larger oviraptosaurs laid eggs in a stacked ring to keep eggs close without sitting on them’
I just love the pictures of the fossilized ring of eggs from China.
My God, they have done some amazing paleontology in China in recent years.
Things such as this and the discovery of dinosaur feathers.
Concepts of dinosaurs from the time I was a boy have changed remarkably. Their variety of types, their characteristics are a new world compared to the wonderful old murals of big reptiles by Charles R. Knight in old museums such as the Field Museum in Chicago.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY EMILY CHUNG IN CBC NEWS
“How huge dinosaurs nested without crushing their eggs
“Larger oviraptosaurs laid eggs in a stacked ring to keep eggs close without sitting on them’
I just love the pictures of the fossilized ring of eggs from China.
My God, they have done some amazing paleontology in China in recent years.
Things such as this and the discovery of dinosaur feathers.
Concepts of dinosaurs from the time I was a boy have changed remarkably. Their variety of types, their characteristics are a new world compared to the wonderful old murals of big reptiles by Charles R. Knight in old museums such as the Field Museum in Chicago.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: TRULY MEDIOCRE MODIGLIANI NUDE - TRULY LITTLE MORE THAN AN ADVERTISING POSTER - FETCHES LESS THAN ANTICIPATED BUT FAR MORE THAN ITS VALUE
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY JONATHON JONES IN THE GUARDIAN
“Modigliani's Nu Couché is a trite pastiche – and the buyers saw through the hype”
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/may/15/modigliani-nu-couche-sur-le-cote-gauche-sothebys-new-york-157m#comments
I don't understand even that amount.
While I sometimes like Modigliani, this particular painting reminds me of commercial art, advertising art. A poster.
It's, to my mind, very self-conscious, much like a figure suggesting why don't you smoke Kools or drink Pepsi?
The distance between this and Ingres or Titian is close to infinite.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY JONATHON JONES IN THE GUARDIAN
“Modigliani's Nu Couché is a trite pastiche – and the buyers saw through the hype”
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/may/15/modigliani-nu-couche-sur-le-cote-gauche-sothebys-new-york-157m#comments
I don't understand even that amount.
While I sometimes like Modigliani, this particular painting reminds me of commercial art, advertising art. A poster.
It's, to my mind, very self-conscious, much like a figure suggesting why don't you smoke Kools or drink Pepsi?
The distance between this and Ingres or Titian is close to infinite.
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: FEARS THE NEW GOVERNMENT OF ECUADOR IS NEGOTIATING WITH BRITAIN ABOUT HANDING OVER JULIAN ASSANGE - THE HIGH PRICE TO BE PAID FOR HONESTY
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“Assange BETRAYED: Ecuador Negotiates With UK to Hand Him Over
“Ecuador's leadership continues alarming remarks that it may hand over Assange to authorities”
He is one of the most important and principled and thoughtful men of our time.
He made a lot of other people think and gave them something to think about.
He brought more truth to light than all the pathetic major Western corporate press put together.
A man dedicated to rule of law, democratic rights, freedom of speech, opposition to tyranny and oppression, and an inspiration to others.
If anyone deserves a Nobel Peace Prize, it's Assange, but I know perfectly well the sniveling Norwegian Nobel Committee that hands them out would never do that.
But isn't this to be expected in a corrupt society, which establishment Britain most certainly is?
Remember Doctor Stockmann in Ibsen's moving play, “An Enemy of the People”?
Nothing has changed. Those who, in any way, threaten the comfort of those with power are considered a threat to society.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“Assange BETRAYED: Ecuador Negotiates With UK to Hand Him Over
“Ecuador's leadership continues alarming remarks that it may hand over Assange to authorities”
He is one of the most important and principled and thoughtful men of our time.
He made a lot of other people think and gave them something to think about.
He brought more truth to light than all the pathetic major Western corporate press put together.
A man dedicated to rule of law, democratic rights, freedom of speech, opposition to tyranny and oppression, and an inspiration to others.
If anyone deserves a Nobel Peace Prize, it's Assange, but I know perfectly well the sniveling Norwegian Nobel Committee that hands them out would never do that.
But isn't this to be expected in a corrupt society, which establishment Britain most certainly is?
Remember Doctor Stockmann in Ibsen's moving play, “An Enemy of the People”?
Nothing has changed. Those who, in any way, threaten the comfort of those with power are considered a threat to society.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: SHOULD TRUMP HAVE MOVED THE EMBASSY? - IN ONE DAY'S GRISLY WORK ISRAEL'S ARMY SHOOTS 2,400 PEOPLE KILLING 58 INCLUDING 6 KIDS WHILE IVANKA SMILES AND TWIRLS FOR THE CAMERAS
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY CHRIS BLACK IN INVESTMENTWATCH
“Should President Trump Have Moved the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem?”
Trump is just trying to buy his 2020 election. Principles get tossed. Israel's Lobby in America will see that he gets what he needs.
Trump's decision is totally illegal under international law and has no sanction from the UN.
But that kind of thing has never bothered Israel, the world's worst country so far as law-breaking and violating all principles of rule of law are concerned.
And the US anymore is not far behind. It has evolved into a truly ugly thing once outside of its borders. Extrajudicial killing. Torture. Coups. Mercenary wars. Pushing people around everywhere. Always ordering sanctions without any compliance with international institutions. Just a rogue state.
It almost makes me ill to my stomach to see someone using the friendly nickname "Bibi," as this author does, for one of the world's greatest mass killers (he's into his third Gaza massacre plus lots of other bloodshed) and a figure of utter corruption, Netanyahu.
This article is replete with ignorant statements. It’s a mind-numbing collection of clap-trap propaganda for anyone who knows anything.
Just consider this absurdity: "the Middle East doesn’t just belong to the Muslims, it belongs to Christians and Jews alike."
No, it belongs to the people who live there, the people of each country and community, including the great diversity of Syrians and the people of Gaza and the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
What we see in and from Israel is simply the ugly and dangerous principle of might makes right and absolutely nothing else.
You know that was the principle guiding all of our past dictators and tyrants.
Readers may enjoy:
https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/2014/06/05/understanding-israels-corrosive-influence-on-western-democracy/
https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/2014/02/16/understanding-modern-israel-why-it-is-driving-the-world-towards-madness/
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/05/12/john-chuckman-comment-two-peas-in-a-pod-israel-and-saudi-arabia-what-they-have-in-common-and-its-a-whole-lot-more-than-you-might-think/
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/04/04/john-chuckman-comment-another-gaza-massacre-by-israel-the-modern-re-creation-of-israel-has-sadly-proved-a-pretty-inglorious-chapter-in-modern-history-some-facts-behind-all-that-bloodshed/
___________________________
Response to another reader’s comment:
Yes, well said.
We hear endlessly from lobby organizations about increasing "anti-Semitism" in the "West."
Many of the claims, taken from data bases maintained by Jewish organizations, are likely spurious or counted in such a fashion that many would not agree. You have to analyze data before you just accept it as valid. someone with pre-conceived notions ticking off boxes on a form does not necessarily constitute valid data recording.
However, it is impossible that there would not be seriously negative feelings aroused in tens of millions of people by Israel's barbaric and savage behavior right before cameras and witnesses.
There is no other appropriate description for what is going on in Israel than "Nazi-like.'
And there's Trump's ridiculous daughter, smiling and twirling around in a costly dress, at the front door of this new (illegal) embassy while people are shot down by the score as though they were unwanted wild dogs.
It is chilling beyond words.
And I think it is going to become something of a turning point. It is too gross and overwhelming, and there will be effects for the horrible government of Israel.
AFTERWORD
I note in this morning's papers that the government of Israel has just threatened publicly to kill Gaza's leader, the head of the Hamas Party, if he does not stop holding public demonstrations.
Well, "the Middle East’s only democracy" has spoken, and you had better listen.
I guess Israeli soldiers are fatigued by yesterday’s heavy work of wounding 2,400 people and killing 58, six of whom were children. Even “the world’s most moral army” has its limits.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY CHRIS BLACK IN INVESTMENTWATCH
“Should President Trump Have Moved the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem?”
Trump is just trying to buy his 2020 election. Principles get tossed. Israel's Lobby in America will see that he gets what he needs.
Trump's decision is totally illegal under international law and has no sanction from the UN.
But that kind of thing has never bothered Israel, the world's worst country so far as law-breaking and violating all principles of rule of law are concerned.
And the US anymore is not far behind. It has evolved into a truly ugly thing once outside of its borders. Extrajudicial killing. Torture. Coups. Mercenary wars. Pushing people around everywhere. Always ordering sanctions without any compliance with international institutions. Just a rogue state.
It almost makes me ill to my stomach to see someone using the friendly nickname "Bibi," as this author does, for one of the world's greatest mass killers (he's into his third Gaza massacre plus lots of other bloodshed) and a figure of utter corruption, Netanyahu.
This article is replete with ignorant statements. It’s a mind-numbing collection of clap-trap propaganda for anyone who knows anything.
Just consider this absurdity: "the Middle East doesn’t just belong to the Muslims, it belongs to Christians and Jews alike."
No, it belongs to the people who live there, the people of each country and community, including the great diversity of Syrians and the people of Gaza and the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
What we see in and from Israel is simply the ugly and dangerous principle of might makes right and absolutely nothing else.
You know that was the principle guiding all of our past dictators and tyrants.
Readers may enjoy:
https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/2014/06/05/understanding-israels-corrosive-influence-on-western-democracy/
https://chuckmanwords.wordpress.com/2014/02/16/understanding-modern-israel-why-it-is-driving-the-world-towards-madness/
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/05/12/john-chuckman-comment-two-peas-in-a-pod-israel-and-saudi-arabia-what-they-have-in-common-and-its-a-whole-lot-more-than-you-might-think/
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2018/04/04/john-chuckman-comment-another-gaza-massacre-by-israel-the-modern-re-creation-of-israel-has-sadly-proved-a-pretty-inglorious-chapter-in-modern-history-some-facts-behind-all-that-bloodshed/
___________________________
Response to another reader’s comment:
Yes, well said.
We hear endlessly from lobby organizations about increasing "anti-Semitism" in the "West."
Many of the claims, taken from data bases maintained by Jewish organizations, are likely spurious or counted in such a fashion that many would not agree. You have to analyze data before you just accept it as valid. someone with pre-conceived notions ticking off boxes on a form does not necessarily constitute valid data recording.
However, it is impossible that there would not be seriously negative feelings aroused in tens of millions of people by Israel's barbaric and savage behavior right before cameras and witnesses.
There is no other appropriate description for what is going on in Israel than "Nazi-like.'
And there's Trump's ridiculous daughter, smiling and twirling around in a costly dress, at the front door of this new (illegal) embassy while people are shot down by the score as though they were unwanted wild dogs.
It is chilling beyond words.
And I think it is going to become something of a turning point. It is too gross and overwhelming, and there will be effects for the horrible government of Israel.
AFTERWORD
I note in this morning's papers that the government of Israel has just threatened publicly to kill Gaza's leader, the head of the Hamas Party, if he does not stop holding public demonstrations.
Well, "the Middle East’s only democracy" has spoken, and you had better listen.
I guess Israeli soldiers are fatigued by yesterday’s heavy work of wounding 2,400 people and killing 58, six of whom were children. Even “the world’s most moral army” has its limits.
Monday, May 14, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: SARAH ABDALLAH IS A RATHER REMARKABLE YOUNG WOMAN WHO TWEETS OUT ACCURATE OBSERVATION ABOUT WHAT GOES ON IN SYRIA - NATURALLY ESTABLISHMENT PRESS ATTACKS HER
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“I'm Just a Girl Who Likes to Tweet About Syria - I'm Real' - We Chat with Sarah Abdallah, the Girl the BBC Loves to Hate
"... yes I am a real person. Yes, I’m the girl in the photos; these are my personal photos. Yes, I operate my own Twitter account (and all my other social media accounts) all by myself."
https://russia-insider.com/en/im-just-girl-who-likes-tweet-about-syria-im-real-we-chat-sarah-abdallah-girl-bbc-loves-hate/ri23455
Sarah Abdallah is a rather remarkable young woman.
There's no question that in matters of substance here, Sarah has it right.
I look at some British papers daily on-line, and I am well aware of the various efforts made to “muddy the waters" as it were, just as with the ceaseless attacks on Russia, one of the only sane players in the region.
I also think that the equilibrium she demonstrates, as about what happened in Lebanon's past, is at the level of some good statesman.
That is a fairly rare capacity, and it is very much needed for Syria's ability to get through all the horrors they have had inflicted on them by outsiders - eg., by America, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France, and, originally, Turkey.
You really have to wonder how the leaders in some of those countries can get to sleep at night.
But apparently, they do. Of course, the usurper Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia helps himself get to sleep, it is said, by counting heads chopped off.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“I'm Just a Girl Who Likes to Tweet About Syria - I'm Real' - We Chat with Sarah Abdallah, the Girl the BBC Loves to Hate
"... yes I am a real person. Yes, I’m the girl in the photos; these are my personal photos. Yes, I operate my own Twitter account (and all my other social media accounts) all by myself."
https://russia-insider.com/en/im-just-girl-who-likes-tweet-about-syria-im-real-we-chat-sarah-abdallah-girl-bbc-loves-hate/ri23455
Sarah Abdallah is a rather remarkable young woman.
There's no question that in matters of substance here, Sarah has it right.
I look at some British papers daily on-line, and I am well aware of the various efforts made to “muddy the waters" as it were, just as with the ceaseless attacks on Russia, one of the only sane players in the region.
I also think that the equilibrium she demonstrates, as about what happened in Lebanon's past, is at the level of some good statesman.
That is a fairly rare capacity, and it is very much needed for Syria's ability to get through all the horrors they have had inflicted on them by outsiders - eg., by America, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France, and, originally, Turkey.
You really have to wonder how the leaders in some of those countries can get to sleep at night.
But apparently, they do. Of course, the usurper Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia helps himself get to sleep, it is said, by counting heads chopped off.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: COULD GERMANY'S CHANCELLOR MERKEL WORK WITH PRESIDENT PUTIN TO SAVE THE IRAN NUCLEAR AGREEMENT? - NOTE ON JEWS IN MODERN GERMANY
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY DANIEL LAZARRE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“With Merkel's Backing Putin Could Save the Iran Deal
“He can't do it alone and China, France and the UK won't be much help. That leaves Frau Merkel”
Well done analysis of the situation. Not sure about every detail, but overall well worth reading.
Chancellor Merkel, I fear, has a lot of residual resentments from growing up in East Germany.
And, at least when someone she likes has power in America, she is pro-American, although she well knows how they have hurt her with everything from spying on her private phone to creating all those desperate refugees with their idiotic bombing and turmoil all over the Middle East.
Hard to see her make much of a stand about anything like this, although I would love it if she did.
A turn for her would be wonderful for Europe's future too.
It really needs to start moving in steps to de-couple itself from the US. There is no long-term future in being close-to-subservient to an increasingly belligerent and arrogant American state.
Germany and the best part of Europe definitely have the ability to become a competitive force in the world, equal or superior to the US.
And Germany and Russia have always been a marriage made in heaven, as a look at a map tells you. That has been a concept in many minds for a century or more.
And American awareness of the fact has influenced Washington for decades to try killing sensible economic links like sales of Russian natural gas. "F--k Europe" as a much-loved American State Department Neocon official said not very long ago.
______________________________
Response to a comment, “Beware......Does Germany really have `clout` with Israel or is it the exact opposite?”
Good point. German guilt gets played upon tremendously by folks like Netanyahu.
Although, there are many little things at work here, too. Many Jews and Israelis living in Germany find the life so economically superior - the prices of goods and housing plus the range of work opportunities - to what they had in Israel that eventually a new consensus in attitudes could emerge.
Germany ain't the same folks as three-quarters of a century ago, and Israel very much has demonstrated it is anything but the Promise Land.
You can only live in ancient myths for so long.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY DANIEL LAZARRE IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“With Merkel's Backing Putin Could Save the Iran Deal
“He can't do it alone and China, France and the UK won't be much help. That leaves Frau Merkel”
Well done analysis of the situation. Not sure about every detail, but overall well worth reading.
Chancellor Merkel, I fear, has a lot of residual resentments from growing up in East Germany.
And, at least when someone she likes has power in America, she is pro-American, although she well knows how they have hurt her with everything from spying on her private phone to creating all those desperate refugees with their idiotic bombing and turmoil all over the Middle East.
Hard to see her make much of a stand about anything like this, although I would love it if she did.
A turn for her would be wonderful for Europe's future too.
It really needs to start moving in steps to de-couple itself from the US. There is no long-term future in being close-to-subservient to an increasingly belligerent and arrogant American state.
Germany and the best part of Europe definitely have the ability to become a competitive force in the world, equal or superior to the US.
And Germany and Russia have always been a marriage made in heaven, as a look at a map tells you. That has been a concept in many minds for a century or more.
And American awareness of the fact has influenced Washington for decades to try killing sensible economic links like sales of Russian natural gas. "F--k Europe" as a much-loved American State Department Neocon official said not very long ago.
______________________________
Response to a comment, “Beware......Does Germany really have `clout` with Israel or is it the exact opposite?”
Good point. German guilt gets played upon tremendously by folks like Netanyahu.
Although, there are many little things at work here, too. Many Jews and Israelis living in Germany find the life so economically superior - the prices of goods and housing plus the range of work opportunities - to what they had in Israel that eventually a new consensus in attitudes could emerge.
Germany ain't the same folks as three-quarters of a century ago, and Israel very much has demonstrated it is anything but the Promise Land.
You can only live in ancient myths for so long.
Sunday, May 13, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: BRITISH ACADEMIC COMPARES TRUMP'S LEADERSHIP TO BORIS YELTSIN'S WITH GOOD POINTS - I ADD SOME TOUGH OBSERVATIONS ON TRUMP'S NATURE AND WHAT HE IS ACHIEVING AND WHY
John Chuckman
LARGE EXPANSION OF COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY RUTH DEYERMOND IN THE INDEPENDENT (AND QUICKLY TAKEN DOWN)
“Why Trump's presidency is almost identical to Boris Yeltsin's Russian premiership
“Trump is often compared to other political figures from US history, including Richard Nixon, but perhaps the most striking parallel of all is not with a figure from the American past but with a Russian: Boris Yeltsin, post-Soviet Russia’s first president”
I thought this a good piece.
There's some I disagree with, but it is definitely well worth reading.
Yeltsin was an interesting public figure, although without a doubt, a very destructive one.
But one can say that of many figures in history. In America, Lyndon Johnson is a strong example. Very able in political machinations, but a failed leader with his personal qualities of deviousness and greed driving him to disaster.
So, too, Trump, although a far less interesting and sympathetic figure. He's actually a pretty twisted personality with his teetotaling ways - please remember, Hitler was a teetotaler - and his complete wrong-headedness in listening to the words of others. In that, he is like a very egocentric child.
The relationship with the daughter is also strange. She has been proven to be a not a very capable person. She's not even charming, as both she and daddy very much think she is. She shares his ego, almost like the Greek myth where three sisters shared an eye.
Her and Daddy's performance at a world summit was breathtakingly dumb. All the leaders have kids or grandkids they could have insisted on putting into official group pictures of leaders, but only Trump did it and only Ivanka was thick enough to smilingly go through with it with no sense of embarrassment over her performance in front of infinitely more qualified and experienced people.
The Trumps have proven to be genuine American grotesques.
There was an underlying appealing human quality in Yeltsin that is missing almost completely from Trump. One would likely have enjoyed sharing a bottle with Yeltsin while vigorously chatting away, as many did.
But we got Trump through the badly-failed American political system. A choice between Trump and Clinton? What kind of a "choice" was that?
America has just reached a stage of corruption I think with no turning back. Money is totally at the center of national politics, and big money means only big and powerful interests having any influence. It has pretty much reached the stage of a plutocracy which goes through an elaborate and costly play of elections, elections in which only the wealthy and influential have any role that counts. The ordinary voter is treated like the ordinary consumer, someone to be subjected to immense campaigns of advertising and marketing. The establishment wins no matter what the outcome because both parties vet candidates to be acceptable to imperial interests.
Now, Trump slipped through that vetting process as a genuine political outsider who only succeeded because the Democrats insisted on running the very much disliked Hillary Clinton. And Americans do like mavericks, which is what Trump seemed to be, but he has proven to be quite the opposite of a maverick.
The establishment took him by the hand very early and explained the rules of the game, which he has embraced enthusiastically, with virtually every maverick hint or suggestion from his campaign forgotten. Get along better with Russia? Get out of Syria, leaving it to the Russians to clean up? Why can’t Israel pay for its own defense? Why is the Middle East on fire? Those and other important questions are gone, leaving something which is almost pathetically laughable, a big-mouthed provincial who blunders around, posing for pictures with stern face and jutted jaw, while carrying out his establishment-set tasks faithfully.
The egomaniacal signatures on documents in almost Crayola-thick lettering ten inches high are held proudly before the cameras each time, as if to say, see, folks, I signed an order. He’s an embarrassment to many Americans of both parties, but so long as he does what he is supposed to do, he is tolerated by the people who matter.
Trump is making an unholy mess of the Middle East for that very reason of America’s money-drenched politics. He knows he will need a lot of money for any chance of success in 2020, so he caters to the likes of multi-billionaire Sheldon Adelson to get it. And money does matter – for advertising, for polls, for marketing, for travel, for campaign-stop preparations, for clever organizational people, for speech-writers, for bands, for flags, for make-up, for photographers, and on and on. American elections have very costly production values.
So does good press, and I thought from the start the embassy move to Jerusalem, a completely unnecessary, clumsy, and complicating act, was about securing some more sympathetic press for the future. It is just a fact that virtually all of America’s high-end press and broadcasting are in hands very sympathetic with Israel. At any rate, there was nowhere to go but up from what he experienced in his campaign.
Adelson eats and breathes Israel. It is hard to understand why he spends any time in America except that it is where the source of his wealth is located and it is the location of politicians to influence on Israel’s behalf.
The proven psychopath, Netanyahu, is always ready to encourage and flatter, too, as with a new Israeli coin to be issued with Trump's portrait commemorating the foolish embassy re-location to Jerusalem. It's all a pretty sick way - real insider, money-driven stuff - to make policy affecting hundreds of millions of people in the Middle East.
Policy artificially constructed to benefit a few million in Israel against the interests of hundreds of millions of others is not sound and is mighty dangerous stuff, but for all one can see, Trump never gives it a thought, but then neither does a great part of the American establishment, some maybe being quite happy in private that Trump can take the flak for doing what they wanted done. Israel is a cozy partner with the American political establishment and powerful agencies like CIA.
In matters like that, Trump does act much like a drunken Yeltsin dancing around.
Trump's situation is also complicated by the American establishment's own perception of the country's relative decline in the world - an inevitability given that "the American Dream" was built on the temporary circumstances of the post-WWII - and its determination of how to react, which is extremely aggressively, as though they thought it possible to bully their way through continued leadership in a changed world. A big-mouthed bully like Trump is only too glad to accommodate and act as though he is leading the charge.
Trump's showy ego and empty knowledge enable him to play the role of vainglorious fool leading the enterprise. Things here get very muddled with the powerful role of the Neocons who advocate an aggressive America, the better to defend Israel. Trump is now thoroughly caught in a thick web of these interests. And one can have no trust in his ability to negotiate his or America's way.
Trump also is a prisoner of American Nativism, people with baseball caps comprising his primary political base. It is odd that this group so embrace a billionaire wheeler-dealer from New York, New York City for many of them always having represented almost a symbol of Eastern putridness, but they very much do. Just as a lot of Christian fundamentalists embrace this worldly, cynical, and often quite immoral man (as a recently married man paying for sex with a porn star) and he has no church affiliation. This base support represents another dangerous situation, especially where matters of migration and religious identity are concerned. These are groups which do not care that Trump, the supposed super-Patriot, weaseled his way out of military service, so long as he salutes the flag and condemns (legitimate) shows of protest at football games. Facts don’t matter to people who don’t think.
LARGE EXPANSION OF COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY RUTH DEYERMOND IN THE INDEPENDENT (AND QUICKLY TAKEN DOWN)
“Why Trump's presidency is almost identical to Boris Yeltsin's Russian premiership
“Trump is often compared to other political figures from US history, including Richard Nixon, but perhaps the most striking parallel of all is not with a figure from the American past but with a Russian: Boris Yeltsin, post-Soviet Russia’s first president”
I thought this a good piece.
There's some I disagree with, but it is definitely well worth reading.
Yeltsin was an interesting public figure, although without a doubt, a very destructive one.
But one can say that of many figures in history. In America, Lyndon Johnson is a strong example. Very able in political machinations, but a failed leader with his personal qualities of deviousness and greed driving him to disaster.
So, too, Trump, although a far less interesting and sympathetic figure. He's actually a pretty twisted personality with his teetotaling ways - please remember, Hitler was a teetotaler - and his complete wrong-headedness in listening to the words of others. In that, he is like a very egocentric child.
The relationship with the daughter is also strange. She has been proven to be a not a very capable person. She's not even charming, as both she and daddy very much think she is. She shares his ego, almost like the Greek myth where three sisters shared an eye.
Her and Daddy's performance at a world summit was breathtakingly dumb. All the leaders have kids or grandkids they could have insisted on putting into official group pictures of leaders, but only Trump did it and only Ivanka was thick enough to smilingly go through with it with no sense of embarrassment over her performance in front of infinitely more qualified and experienced people.
The Trumps have proven to be genuine American grotesques.
There was an underlying appealing human quality in Yeltsin that is missing almost completely from Trump. One would likely have enjoyed sharing a bottle with Yeltsin while vigorously chatting away, as many did.
But we got Trump through the badly-failed American political system. A choice between Trump and Clinton? What kind of a "choice" was that?
America has just reached a stage of corruption I think with no turning back. Money is totally at the center of national politics, and big money means only big and powerful interests having any influence. It has pretty much reached the stage of a plutocracy which goes through an elaborate and costly play of elections, elections in which only the wealthy and influential have any role that counts. The ordinary voter is treated like the ordinary consumer, someone to be subjected to immense campaigns of advertising and marketing. The establishment wins no matter what the outcome because both parties vet candidates to be acceptable to imperial interests.
Now, Trump slipped through that vetting process as a genuine political outsider who only succeeded because the Democrats insisted on running the very much disliked Hillary Clinton. And Americans do like mavericks, which is what Trump seemed to be, but he has proven to be quite the opposite of a maverick.
The establishment took him by the hand very early and explained the rules of the game, which he has embraced enthusiastically, with virtually every maverick hint or suggestion from his campaign forgotten. Get along better with Russia? Get out of Syria, leaving it to the Russians to clean up? Why can’t Israel pay for its own defense? Why is the Middle East on fire? Those and other important questions are gone, leaving something which is almost pathetically laughable, a big-mouthed provincial who blunders around, posing for pictures with stern face and jutted jaw, while carrying out his establishment-set tasks faithfully.
The egomaniacal signatures on documents in almost Crayola-thick lettering ten inches high are held proudly before the cameras each time, as if to say, see, folks, I signed an order. He’s an embarrassment to many Americans of both parties, but so long as he does what he is supposed to do, he is tolerated by the people who matter.
Trump is making an unholy mess of the Middle East for that very reason of America’s money-drenched politics. He knows he will need a lot of money for any chance of success in 2020, so he caters to the likes of multi-billionaire Sheldon Adelson to get it. And money does matter – for advertising, for polls, for marketing, for travel, for campaign-stop preparations, for clever organizational people, for speech-writers, for bands, for flags, for make-up, for photographers, and on and on. American elections have very costly production values.
So does good press, and I thought from the start the embassy move to Jerusalem, a completely unnecessary, clumsy, and complicating act, was about securing some more sympathetic press for the future. It is just a fact that virtually all of America’s high-end press and broadcasting are in hands very sympathetic with Israel. At any rate, there was nowhere to go but up from what he experienced in his campaign.
Adelson eats and breathes Israel. It is hard to understand why he spends any time in America except that it is where the source of his wealth is located and it is the location of politicians to influence on Israel’s behalf.
The proven psychopath, Netanyahu, is always ready to encourage and flatter, too, as with a new Israeli coin to be issued with Trump's portrait commemorating the foolish embassy re-location to Jerusalem. It's all a pretty sick way - real insider, money-driven stuff - to make policy affecting hundreds of millions of people in the Middle East.
Policy artificially constructed to benefit a few million in Israel against the interests of hundreds of millions of others is not sound and is mighty dangerous stuff, but for all one can see, Trump never gives it a thought, but then neither does a great part of the American establishment, some maybe being quite happy in private that Trump can take the flak for doing what they wanted done. Israel is a cozy partner with the American political establishment and powerful agencies like CIA.
In matters like that, Trump does act much like a drunken Yeltsin dancing around.
Trump's situation is also complicated by the American establishment's own perception of the country's relative decline in the world - an inevitability given that "the American Dream" was built on the temporary circumstances of the post-WWII - and its determination of how to react, which is extremely aggressively, as though they thought it possible to bully their way through continued leadership in a changed world. A big-mouthed bully like Trump is only too glad to accommodate and act as though he is leading the charge.
Trump's showy ego and empty knowledge enable him to play the role of vainglorious fool leading the enterprise. Things here get very muddled with the powerful role of the Neocons who advocate an aggressive America, the better to defend Israel. Trump is now thoroughly caught in a thick web of these interests. And one can have no trust in his ability to negotiate his or America's way.
Trump also is a prisoner of American Nativism, people with baseball caps comprising his primary political base. It is odd that this group so embrace a billionaire wheeler-dealer from New York, New York City for many of them always having represented almost a symbol of Eastern putridness, but they very much do. Just as a lot of Christian fundamentalists embrace this worldly, cynical, and often quite immoral man (as a recently married man paying for sex with a porn star) and he has no church affiliation. This base support represents another dangerous situation, especially where matters of migration and religious identity are concerned. These are groups which do not care that Trump, the supposed super-Patriot, weaseled his way out of military service, so long as he salutes the flag and condemns (legitimate) shows of protest at football games. Facts don’t matter to people who don’t think.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: BRITISH ARMS INDUSTRY CYNICISM - THE ACCIDENTAL DISCOVERY BRITAIN IS USING THERMOBARIC BOMBS FROM ITS DRONES IN SYRIA - AND ALL THAT TALK ABOUT ASSAD'S DREADFUL WAYS!
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT
“BAE Systems 'does not know' if British weapons used to commit war crimes, chairman admits
“Chairman told shareholders gathered at the company’s annual general meeting they were not complicit in war crimes allegedly committed by Saudi Arabia using BAE-made planes and bombs in Yemen.”
Well, something we have learned just recently is that Britain has been using thermobaric bombs in Syria. I am not aware of the manufacturer, but the Ministry of Defence apparently accidentally revealed they are used from drones.
These horrible weapons are like a hi-tech version of fire-bombing in WWII.
They use the oxygen in the air to create an extremely intense force, the pressure alone can crush internal organs.
This is barbaric. No wonder the British press is always going on with security service disinformation about Assad's army using poison gas and "barrel" bombs.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT
“BAE Systems 'does not know' if British weapons used to commit war crimes, chairman admits
“Chairman told shareholders gathered at the company’s annual general meeting they were not complicit in war crimes allegedly committed by Saudi Arabia using BAE-made planes and bombs in Yemen.”
Well, something we have learned just recently is that Britain has been using thermobaric bombs in Syria. I am not aware of the manufacturer, but the Ministry of Defence apparently accidentally revealed they are used from drones.
These horrible weapons are like a hi-tech version of fire-bombing in WWII.
They use the oxygen in the air to create an extremely intense force, the pressure alone can crush internal organs.
This is barbaric. No wonder the British press is always going on with security service disinformation about Assad's army using poison gas and "barrel" bombs.
Saturday, May 12, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: TWO PEAS IN A POD - ISRAEL AND SAUDI ARABIA - WHAT THEY HAVE IN COMMON AND IT'S A WHOLE LOT MORE THAN YOU MIGHT THINK
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY PATRICK COCKBURN IN THE INDEPENDENT
“The Iraqi elections and the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem will illuminate the damage Trump has really done to the Middle East
“As one commentator put it, there are more unpredictable ‘moving parts’ than ever before in the different crises, parts which may break loose at any moment”
______________________________________
Response to a comment about Israel and Saudi Arabia:
Actually, they are somewhat like two peas in a pod.
They have secretly worked together for years, as in Syria.
Of course, all their mutual work is destructive to others, others who do not toe the American imperial line.
These two states have a very great deal in common, as might not be clear at first glance, including intense antipathy towards democracy in the region or towards independent-minded nationalistic leaders like Assad or Qaddafi. I know, I know that sounds odd to some who embrace that advertising slogan, "The Middle East's only democracy," but is true.
Israel loves dictators and absolute monarchs around it. It loves people like Mubarak or el-Sisi who keep their people in line. It loves the King of Jordan. The Saudi Crown, too, now that it no longer embraces its pre-9/11 attitudes. It cannot stand genuine democracies around it, which is why it hates Hamas and hated the first elected government of Egypt. Iraq is okay because it was half destroyed and is still heavily occupied by America.
You could credibly argue that Israel’s presence and influence are important explanations for the retarded development of democracy in the region.
Both states, Israel and Saudi Arabia, represent privilege, the privilege of birth and wealth in Saudi Arabia’s case, and the privilege of massive foreign subsidy plus a large population of people alien to the region in Israel.
They both have their extremist sects, but the Wahhabi, I do not believe, have driven Saudi policies quite the way settler/orthodox types have in Israel.
That's because in part Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy. Its leaders only have to appear to be respecting the religious views of their extremists. They know how to fake it. And most of those princes are extremely corrupt too, religious devotion being a necessary pretense between fly-overs to Vegas’ sin pits.
Israel is an impossible mess of a kind of democracy (what kind of democracy has pretty much only one class of people who can vote and accepts only one category of people for in-migration? The kind we called the American Confederacy and the kind we called Nationalist South Africa) with an electorate so splintered that coalitions with the settler/orthodox types are always necessary. So, these unbalanced people drive much of Israeli policy. The lunatics really are running the asylum.
Saudi Arabia has been reaching out for American approval and acceptance since 9/11 when they very much feared American military action. That's why it has secretly cooperated with Israel in a list of things since that time. Syria, Yemen, etc. For America's establishment, that is the acid-test of having the right attitude.
The Saudis earned a place at the table, so to speak, and now have gone even further with the new usurper Crown Prince beginning to be open about what was secret. And look at how he has been rewarded, with the sale of hundreds of billions in American weapons, making Saudi Arabia a regional military heavyweight (something that Israel would never have allowed at an earlier time, but he is family now), and a grand American tour visiting many important national figures. In the corporate press of Britain and America, there have been the most transparent attempts to build his image as a reformer (possibly the world’s first usurper-killer-kidnapper-thief reformer). He even talks about developing nuclear weapons, predicated on Iran’s obtaining them, without a word of reprimand from Washington.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY PATRICK COCKBURN IN THE INDEPENDENT
“The Iraqi elections and the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem will illuminate the damage Trump has really done to the Middle East
“As one commentator put it, there are more unpredictable ‘moving parts’ than ever before in the different crises, parts which may break loose at any moment”
______________________________________
Response to a comment about Israel and Saudi Arabia:
Actually, they are somewhat like two peas in a pod.
They have secretly worked together for years, as in Syria.
Of course, all their mutual work is destructive to others, others who do not toe the American imperial line.
These two states have a very great deal in common, as might not be clear at first glance, including intense antipathy towards democracy in the region or towards independent-minded nationalistic leaders like Assad or Qaddafi. I know, I know that sounds odd to some who embrace that advertising slogan, "The Middle East's only democracy," but is true.
Israel loves dictators and absolute monarchs around it. It loves people like Mubarak or el-Sisi who keep their people in line. It loves the King of Jordan. The Saudi Crown, too, now that it no longer embraces its pre-9/11 attitudes. It cannot stand genuine democracies around it, which is why it hates Hamas and hated the first elected government of Egypt. Iraq is okay because it was half destroyed and is still heavily occupied by America.
You could credibly argue that Israel’s presence and influence are important explanations for the retarded development of democracy in the region.
Both states, Israel and Saudi Arabia, represent privilege, the privilege of birth and wealth in Saudi Arabia’s case, and the privilege of massive foreign subsidy plus a large population of people alien to the region in Israel.
They both have their extremist sects, but the Wahhabi, I do not believe, have driven Saudi policies quite the way settler/orthodox types have in Israel.
That's because in part Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy. Its leaders only have to appear to be respecting the religious views of their extremists. They know how to fake it. And most of those princes are extremely corrupt too, religious devotion being a necessary pretense between fly-overs to Vegas’ sin pits.
Israel is an impossible mess of a kind of democracy (what kind of democracy has pretty much only one class of people who can vote and accepts only one category of people for in-migration? The kind we called the American Confederacy and the kind we called Nationalist South Africa) with an electorate so splintered that coalitions with the settler/orthodox types are always necessary. So, these unbalanced people drive much of Israeli policy. The lunatics really are running the asylum.
Saudi Arabia has been reaching out for American approval and acceptance since 9/11 when they very much feared American military action. That's why it has secretly cooperated with Israel in a list of things since that time. Syria, Yemen, etc. For America's establishment, that is the acid-test of having the right attitude.
The Saudis earned a place at the table, so to speak, and now have gone even further with the new usurper Crown Prince beginning to be open about what was secret. And look at how he has been rewarded, with the sale of hundreds of billions in American weapons, making Saudi Arabia a regional military heavyweight (something that Israel would never have allowed at an earlier time, but he is family now), and a grand American tour visiting many important national figures. In the corporate press of Britain and America, there have been the most transparent attempts to build his image as a reformer (possibly the world’s first usurper-killer-kidnapper-thief reformer). He even talks about developing nuclear weapons, predicated on Iran’s obtaining them, without a word of reprimand from Washington.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: PRESS DROWNS PEOPLE IN MEGHAN AND HARRY TREACLE - THERE IS A LESSON HERE ABOUT PRESS ABILITY TO SUSTAIN ILLUSIONS - CRITICAL TO EVENTS IN SYRIA RUSSIA AND SALISBURY
John Chuckman
EXPANSION OF COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN
“The royal wedding: is there too much TV coverage of Meghan and Harry’s big day?”
You must be kidding? We’re drowning in this treacle.
And why are newspapers left out?
There is at least one little real lesson in this.
And that is the illusion that the press and broadcasting are able to produce and sustain that something of importance or significance is happening.
That in the face of the manifest truth that any royal wedding is close to meaningless, and that this particular one sets a record for vapidity.
Intensely ambitious, aging B-actress is determined to marry a Prince who has, time and again, demonstrated himself as unbalanced and uninteresting. So what?
By the way, that ability to create and sustain a public illusion plays a much more consequential role in foreign affairs, as we can see with recent events in Syria or Russia or Salisbury.
EXPANSION OF COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN
“The royal wedding: is there too much TV coverage of Meghan and Harry’s big day?”
You must be kidding? We’re drowning in this treacle.
And why are newspapers left out?
There is at least one little real lesson in this.
And that is the illusion that the press and broadcasting are able to produce and sustain that something of importance or significance is happening.
That in the face of the manifest truth that any royal wedding is close to meaningless, and that this particular one sets a record for vapidity.
Intensely ambitious, aging B-actress is determined to marry a Prince who has, time and again, demonstrated himself as unbalanced and uninteresting. So what?
By the way, that ability to create and sustain a public illusion plays a much more consequential role in foreign affairs, as we can see with recent events in Syria or Russia or Salisbury.
Friday, May 11, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: CLAIM MADE THAT ISRAEL HAS NO REAL DESIRE FOR WAR WITH IRAN - I SERIOUSLY DOUBT THAT AND IT ALL DEPENDS WHAT YOU MEAN BY "WAR"
John Chuckman
COMMENT ON AN ARTICLE BY PATRICK COCKBURN IN THE INDEPENDENT (AND REMOVED BY EDITORS)
“Israel has no real desire for armed conflict with Iran, but Trump might stumble into war against Tehran
“Analysis: If Donald Trump does lead US to attack Iran directly, it will be due to a misunderstanding of the real options available”
'Israel has no real desire for armed conflict with Iran'
Well, one could only wish that were so.
But the words of a Lieberman or a Netanyahu are of no real value as testimony in any court.
And it depends on what you mean by "war," too.
Not all wars involve soldiers marching in with flags flying and tanks rumbling.
Just look at what has been done to beautiful Syria with hired mercenary-phony jihadis. The governments responsible – America, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Britain, France, and originally Turkey – have lied to the public every step of the way for half a dozen years.
I think it fair to say Israel is right now conducting a kind of hybrid war against Iran.
We know, some years back, it was busy assassinating Iranian scientists.
Trump is pushed – and how easily done with this unthinking egomaniac - into tearing up the nuclear agreement that has been scrupulously kept by Iran and into imposing harsh new sanctions for no acceptable reason.
The CIA and Mossad both are busy with all kinds of schemes to hurt and destabilize Iran, including its finances and currency.
And we have the continuous lying, the war-is-peace stuff right out of Orwell, as about the recent missile exchange in Syria. The dozy corporate press has reported Israel's version of Iran fired first, which is just completely false.
Israel fired first, and it was a well-planned, deliberate ambush. Iran in fact never fired any missiles. Syria did. After all, it’s their country Israel illegally attacks. We have several solid sources for those points, yet our corporate press doggedly runs with Israel’s false story of what happened.
When Netanyahu visited Putin at Russia’s Victory Day celebrations, he is reported to have said to Putin, “Iran wants to kill another six million Jews.” A baseless charge but hardly the words of a man with peaceable intentions.
This is an extremely complex and dangerous situation. Russia winked at this attack, but I do not understand why. I’m sure Putin has a reason. Of course, he was privately assured no Russian forces would be affected.
I think that Russia cannot afford to wink at its important potential ally, Iran, going under.
You know who is next in the American imperial cross-hairs. Russia itself. There have already been many efforts in that direction.
Israel doesn't say so in public, but it must regard Russia as a long-term threat simply because it is not a faithful follower of American policy and it is in a position to check many actions Israel might view favorably. The American Neocon-inspired attitude of "full-spectrum dominance" in the world is challenged only by Russia and China, rendering them adversaries implicitly.
Israel is comfortable with a highly aggressive and demanding America because that's how they feel safest and best able to run their ongoing efforts to dominate the Middle East region as a miniature replica of what America does internationally.
The kind of ginned-up aggression and complete dishonesty we experience are dangerous to all of us, and for various reasons, Israel is always found right at the very heart of things.
COMMENT ON AN ARTICLE BY PATRICK COCKBURN IN THE INDEPENDENT (AND REMOVED BY EDITORS)
“Israel has no real desire for armed conflict with Iran, but Trump might stumble into war against Tehran
“Analysis: If Donald Trump does lead US to attack Iran directly, it will be due to a misunderstanding of the real options available”
'Israel has no real desire for armed conflict with Iran'
Well, one could only wish that were so.
But the words of a Lieberman or a Netanyahu are of no real value as testimony in any court.
And it depends on what you mean by "war," too.
Not all wars involve soldiers marching in with flags flying and tanks rumbling.
Just look at what has been done to beautiful Syria with hired mercenary-phony jihadis. The governments responsible – America, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Britain, France, and originally Turkey – have lied to the public every step of the way for half a dozen years.
I think it fair to say Israel is right now conducting a kind of hybrid war against Iran.
We know, some years back, it was busy assassinating Iranian scientists.
Trump is pushed – and how easily done with this unthinking egomaniac - into tearing up the nuclear agreement that has been scrupulously kept by Iran and into imposing harsh new sanctions for no acceptable reason.
The CIA and Mossad both are busy with all kinds of schemes to hurt and destabilize Iran, including its finances and currency.
And we have the continuous lying, the war-is-peace stuff right out of Orwell, as about the recent missile exchange in Syria. The dozy corporate press has reported Israel's version of Iran fired first, which is just completely false.
Israel fired first, and it was a well-planned, deliberate ambush. Iran in fact never fired any missiles. Syria did. After all, it’s their country Israel illegally attacks. We have several solid sources for those points, yet our corporate press doggedly runs with Israel’s false story of what happened.
When Netanyahu visited Putin at Russia’s Victory Day celebrations, he is reported to have said to Putin, “Iran wants to kill another six million Jews.” A baseless charge but hardly the words of a man with peaceable intentions.
This is an extremely complex and dangerous situation. Russia winked at this attack, but I do not understand why. I’m sure Putin has a reason. Of course, he was privately assured no Russian forces would be affected.
I think that Russia cannot afford to wink at its important potential ally, Iran, going under.
You know who is next in the American imperial cross-hairs. Russia itself. There have already been many efforts in that direction.
Israel doesn't say so in public, but it must regard Russia as a long-term threat simply because it is not a faithful follower of American policy and it is in a position to check many actions Israel might view favorably. The American Neocon-inspired attitude of "full-spectrum dominance" in the world is challenged only by Russia and China, rendering them adversaries implicitly.
Israel is comfortable with a highly aggressive and demanding America because that's how they feel safest and best able to run their ongoing efforts to dominate the Middle East region as a miniature replica of what America does internationally.
The kind of ginned-up aggression and complete dishonesty we experience are dangerous to all of us, and for various reasons, Israel is always found right at the very heart of things.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: NEW LEADER OF HAMAS WARNS OF HUMAN CATASTROPHE COMING - NOT A THREAT JUST A TERRIBLE FACT MUCH RESEMBLING WHAT HAPPENED IN RUSSIA WITH COLLAPSE OF USSR
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT
“Hamas Gaza leader hints at mass breach of Israel border fence as he compares Palestinians to 'starving tiger'
“Analysis: In his first briefing to foreign press since taking his position, Yahya Sinwar makes clear just how desperate the people of Gaza have become”
He's only right.
And it’s not a threat.
It just is a reality Israel ignores.
When Russia went into its terrible decline after the fall of the USSR, there was a similar possibility for Europe.
America ignored it, thinking cynically any hurt to Russia was good for America, just the way Israel thinks about Gaza.
But Germany thought very differently at the time and gave billions in assistance to Russia. It was humanitarian, but it was also out of fear of millions of desperate people migrating.
You know, General Dayan, after his victory in Israel’s planned Six Day War conquering the territories still occupied half a century later, said it would be necessary to make the Palestinians miserable so that they would want to leave.
Well, that's just what Israel has done for all those years, but nowhere more so than in Gaza. Every past Israeli Prime Minister has given desperate thought to getting rid of Gaza, a place which started as a giant refugee camp for people running from Israel’s 1949 terrors. One Israeli Prime Minister was quoted saying he had nightmares over Gaza.
Well, the blood-soaked hands of Netanyahu have made a heroic effort to do what eluded others. Three mass slaughters, an immoral years-long blockade, and a host of unbelievably abusive measures stretching from turning electricity off to spraying large swathes of land with dangerous herbicides.
It is a humanitarian disaster, and the West's governments just ignore it and let Israel carry right on. Our press and others go on and on about the Rohingya crisis in Burma, and it is a crisis, but here in Gaza we have something just as terrible before our vey eyes, something not being conducted by a junta as in Burma, but by a self-proclaimed democratic government which supposedly adheres to Western principles. A government whose leader repeatedly calls a gang of bloody murderers “the most moral army in the world.”
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT
“Hamas Gaza leader hints at mass breach of Israel border fence as he compares Palestinians to 'starving tiger'
“Analysis: In his first briefing to foreign press since taking his position, Yahya Sinwar makes clear just how desperate the people of Gaza have become”
He's only right.
And it’s not a threat.
It just is a reality Israel ignores.
When Russia went into its terrible decline after the fall of the USSR, there was a similar possibility for Europe.
America ignored it, thinking cynically any hurt to Russia was good for America, just the way Israel thinks about Gaza.
But Germany thought very differently at the time and gave billions in assistance to Russia. It was humanitarian, but it was also out of fear of millions of desperate people migrating.
You know, General Dayan, after his victory in Israel’s planned Six Day War conquering the territories still occupied half a century later, said it would be necessary to make the Palestinians miserable so that they would want to leave.
Well, that's just what Israel has done for all those years, but nowhere more so than in Gaza. Every past Israeli Prime Minister has given desperate thought to getting rid of Gaza, a place which started as a giant refugee camp for people running from Israel’s 1949 terrors. One Israeli Prime Minister was quoted saying he had nightmares over Gaza.
Well, the blood-soaked hands of Netanyahu have made a heroic effort to do what eluded others. Three mass slaughters, an immoral years-long blockade, and a host of unbelievably abusive measures stretching from turning electricity off to spraying large swathes of land with dangerous herbicides.
It is a humanitarian disaster, and the West's governments just ignore it and let Israel carry right on. Our press and others go on and on about the Rohingya crisis in Burma, and it is a crisis, but here in Gaza we have something just as terrible before our vey eyes, something not being conducted by a junta as in Burma, but by a self-proclaimed democratic government which supposedly adheres to Western principles. A government whose leader repeatedly calls a gang of bloody murderers “the most moral army in the world.”
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: TRUMP'S BULLYING AND THE PRESENT AMERICAN PURPOSES FOR NATO - EUROPE REALLY NEEDS TO WORK TOWARDS ITS INDEPENDENCE
John Chuckman
EXPANSION OF A COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY IAN BOND IN THE INDEPENDENT
“As a former diplomat to the US, I know how Britain needs to respond to Trump after his Iran deal decision with realism
“European leaders have to deal with the president they have, not the one they wish they had”
The piece starts off well, but then goes downhill.
Europe should start to pull its weight in NATO? That sounds like Trump.
In fact, Europe should work towards its own defense and saying good-bye to NATO. It would be the most adult thing that it could do, as well as being something very much in its own long-term interests.
NATO was created in 1949. That was literally in another era. It offered defense to a war-weakened Europe against legitimately-feared possible aggression by the USSR still led by Stalin and with its massive war-winning Red Army intact.
In normal life and in government – yes, government can be quite a different thing from normal life – it is not often that a special-purpose costly institution still operates nearly three-quarters of a century later. Everything you can name has changed dramatically in that time. The nature of Russia. The nature of Europe. And certainly, the nature of America. Computers. The Internet. Satellites. The very nature of weapons.
NATO in its original role has been obsolete for a very long time, even in the later years of the USSR when it certainly had ceased being an imminent threat and focused on trying to live compatibly with “the West.” That phrase, “the West,” is one I do not especially like because it was fixed in Cold war thinking, but it is still sometimes used.
It almost reminds of something from the early days of one of America’s Neocon Wars of recent years. I think it was during the invasion of Iraq, when the sometimes very silly New York Times started using the WWII expression “GIs” to try sentimentalizing the fact that non-conscript, professional American armies were busy with an illegal invasion and a great deal of killing.
With America’s new Russophobia, its efforts at firing up Cold War 2.0, there has been an effort to re-spark the old purpose, but it is welcomed not even half-heartedly. Europeans understand the situation. Many of the leaders know Putin personally and get on well with him. They know also the feeble ineffective and remarkably corrupt government America installed in Ukraine with its five-billion-dollar coup there. So, while Europe plays along with the American game of rolling tanks up to the border, its heart is very much not in it.
Well, America quite some time ago “re-purposed” NATO, rather than see such a large organization fade naturally as it should, it now serves new American purposes.
One, something never discussed in public but an implicit fact, NATO represents a kind of peaceful occupation of Europe, which is, after all, a potential world rival in trade and other matters. Europe’s political tone is definitely affected, its outspokenness muted, by this de facto occupation.
Two, America now uses NATO as a kind of elaborate theatrical convenience with much of its imperial dirty work abroad. Newspaper headlines, back home, no longer read, "US jets bomb such and such." They read instead, "NATO jets bomb such and such." This creates an implicit sense of “Western” consensus. “Hey, folks, this is not just another squalid little American imperial war, it’s the ‘West’ taking action against bad guys, various swarthy third-world nasties.”
Three, Europe is pressured to buy costly American weapons systems such as the Trident submarine or the F-35 fighter. This provides the Pentagon with subsidies for some of its sinfully expensive projects. Arguments include notions like we should have standardized and interchangeable weapons, but also arguments along the lines of if we’re defending you, you should buy from us. Of course, this only more tightly binds Europe to America. In effect, Europe is at least partially removed as a competitor in the huge world arms market that America literally dominates.
Overlooked is the fact of an organization long ago created for Europe being bent out of shape in places like Libya or Afghanistan. Overlooked also is the fact that what was a defensive organization has been turned into one for aggression.
None of this is in Europe's long-term interest, to say nothing of the entire world’s interests.
Trump's ugly bullying - in everything from who you may buy natural gas from and whom you should trade and do deals with to how much you should spend in your budgets - hopefully may create a European backlash that may see work towards a new more appropriate order.
Remarkably, Mrs. Merkel herself has suggested something along these lines, and she is not known for opposing American policies. She has stated more than once Europe cannot now see America as a dependable partner, and she is right. The destruction of the Iran nuclear agreement is just one major recent example pointing to the truth of the assessment.
It was an act which can only bring instability and danger and which reduces the readiness of anyone to take America’s promises seriously. Here was a perfectly-operating agreement, a fact with which all experts agreed, serving peace and non-proliferation just wantonly destroyed, as by an angry child.
And when America starts pressuring its new unfair sanctions against a peaceful Iran upon European governments and companies, there is going to be some unholy arguments. Of course, in effect, when America plays these ugly games with sanctions, it is effectively being protectionist for its own industries.
EXPANSION OF A COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY IAN BOND IN THE INDEPENDENT
“As a former diplomat to the US, I know how Britain needs to respond to Trump after his Iran deal decision with realism
“European leaders have to deal with the president they have, not the one they wish they had”
The piece starts off well, but then goes downhill.
Europe should start to pull its weight in NATO? That sounds like Trump.
In fact, Europe should work towards its own defense and saying good-bye to NATO. It would be the most adult thing that it could do, as well as being something very much in its own long-term interests.
NATO was created in 1949. That was literally in another era. It offered defense to a war-weakened Europe against legitimately-feared possible aggression by the USSR still led by Stalin and with its massive war-winning Red Army intact.
In normal life and in government – yes, government can be quite a different thing from normal life – it is not often that a special-purpose costly institution still operates nearly three-quarters of a century later. Everything you can name has changed dramatically in that time. The nature of Russia. The nature of Europe. And certainly, the nature of America. Computers. The Internet. Satellites. The very nature of weapons.
NATO in its original role has been obsolete for a very long time, even in the later years of the USSR when it certainly had ceased being an imminent threat and focused on trying to live compatibly with “the West.” That phrase, “the West,” is one I do not especially like because it was fixed in Cold war thinking, but it is still sometimes used.
It almost reminds of something from the early days of one of America’s Neocon Wars of recent years. I think it was during the invasion of Iraq, when the sometimes very silly New York Times started using the WWII expression “GIs” to try sentimentalizing the fact that non-conscript, professional American armies were busy with an illegal invasion and a great deal of killing.
With America’s new Russophobia, its efforts at firing up Cold War 2.0, there has been an effort to re-spark the old purpose, but it is welcomed not even half-heartedly. Europeans understand the situation. Many of the leaders know Putin personally and get on well with him. They know also the feeble ineffective and remarkably corrupt government America installed in Ukraine with its five-billion-dollar coup there. So, while Europe plays along with the American game of rolling tanks up to the border, its heart is very much not in it.
Well, America quite some time ago “re-purposed” NATO, rather than see such a large organization fade naturally as it should, it now serves new American purposes.
One, something never discussed in public but an implicit fact, NATO represents a kind of peaceful occupation of Europe, which is, after all, a potential world rival in trade and other matters. Europe’s political tone is definitely affected, its outspokenness muted, by this de facto occupation.
Two, America now uses NATO as a kind of elaborate theatrical convenience with much of its imperial dirty work abroad. Newspaper headlines, back home, no longer read, "US jets bomb such and such." They read instead, "NATO jets bomb such and such." This creates an implicit sense of “Western” consensus. “Hey, folks, this is not just another squalid little American imperial war, it’s the ‘West’ taking action against bad guys, various swarthy third-world nasties.”
Three, Europe is pressured to buy costly American weapons systems such as the Trident submarine or the F-35 fighter. This provides the Pentagon with subsidies for some of its sinfully expensive projects. Arguments include notions like we should have standardized and interchangeable weapons, but also arguments along the lines of if we’re defending you, you should buy from us. Of course, this only more tightly binds Europe to America. In effect, Europe is at least partially removed as a competitor in the huge world arms market that America literally dominates.
Overlooked is the fact of an organization long ago created for Europe being bent out of shape in places like Libya or Afghanistan. Overlooked also is the fact that what was a defensive organization has been turned into one for aggression.
None of this is in Europe's long-term interest, to say nothing of the entire world’s interests.
Trump's ugly bullying - in everything from who you may buy natural gas from and whom you should trade and do deals with to how much you should spend in your budgets - hopefully may create a European backlash that may see work towards a new more appropriate order.
Remarkably, Mrs. Merkel herself has suggested something along these lines, and she is not known for opposing American policies. She has stated more than once Europe cannot now see America as a dependable partner, and she is right. The destruction of the Iran nuclear agreement is just one major recent example pointing to the truth of the assessment.
It was an act which can only bring instability and danger and which reduces the readiness of anyone to take America’s promises seriously. Here was a perfectly-operating agreement, a fact with which all experts agreed, serving peace and non-proliferation just wantonly destroyed, as by an angry child.
And when America starts pressuring its new unfair sanctions against a peaceful Iran upon European governments and companies, there is going to be some unholy arguments. Of course, in effect, when America plays these ugly games with sanctions, it is effectively being protectionist for its own industries.
Thursday, May 10, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: AMERICAN DIVISION OF WEALTH - HOW YOU CONVERT A SOMEWHAT DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT INTO PLUTOCRACY - U.S. NATIONAL GOVERNMENT HAS SIMPLY IGNORED A BASIC RESPONSIBILITY FOR YEARS
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN INVESTMENTWATCH
“The Division Of Wealth Is Staggering And Growing And Historic In Proportions.”
That is over any period of time exactly the result capitalism produces. It is a very productive system, which tends to concentrate capital, but there is no accounting for political or social implications in its workings.
There's nothing unusual in the result, just that, for some years now, the American government has chosen to abandon one of the historic, legitimate, and important functions of a national government.
And that function is to set appropriate taxation to provide it with sufficient revenue to pay its own bills and to do some degree of redistribution to the bottom through any of various mechanisms and assistance.
This neglect of an historic role has many consequences which are extremely serious, including the concentration of political power in the hands of a few. After all, in politics, wealth cannot be ignored or denied.
Push this far enough, and you end up with plutocracy or a kind of aristocracy, names which might well be applied today to American government. Democratic institutions just become so much window dressing.
Surely, even conservatives recognize this danger.
It has been brought on by years of cheap politicians using phrases about individuals keeping the fruits of their own labor, etc.
You see, it isn't just a matter of helping others, it is a matter of keeping intact a society.
A whole new generation of monstrously powerful private entities has been permitted to grow dangerously large - as Google or Amazon or Facebook.
The neglect of the national government is seen too in the most laughable laws governing the role of money in election campaigns and the operating limits for lobbies.
Both of these things, right at the very center of power, are literally out of control in America, causing a rot which threatens everything.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN INVESTMENTWATCH
“The Division Of Wealth Is Staggering And Growing And Historic In Proportions.”
That is over any period of time exactly the result capitalism produces. It is a very productive system, which tends to concentrate capital, but there is no accounting for political or social implications in its workings.
There's nothing unusual in the result, just that, for some years now, the American government has chosen to abandon one of the historic, legitimate, and important functions of a national government.
And that function is to set appropriate taxation to provide it with sufficient revenue to pay its own bills and to do some degree of redistribution to the bottom through any of various mechanisms and assistance.
This neglect of an historic role has many consequences which are extremely serious, including the concentration of political power in the hands of a few. After all, in politics, wealth cannot be ignored or denied.
Push this far enough, and you end up with plutocracy or a kind of aristocracy, names which might well be applied today to American government. Democratic institutions just become so much window dressing.
Surely, even conservatives recognize this danger.
It has been brought on by years of cheap politicians using phrases about individuals keeping the fruits of their own labor, etc.
You see, it isn't just a matter of helping others, it is a matter of keeping intact a society.
A whole new generation of monstrously powerful private entities has been permitted to grow dangerously large - as Google or Amazon or Facebook.
The neglect of the national government is seen too in the most laughable laws governing the role of money in election campaigns and the operating limits for lobbies.
Both of these things, right at the very center of power, are literally out of control in America, causing a rot which threatens everything.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: "STUDY" ON "CONSPIRACY THEORY" AND BELIEF IN CLIMATE CHANGE - TRUTH IS THAT THERE ARE GENUINE CONSPIRACIES AND THERE IS CLIMATE CHANGE BUT IT'S NOT CLEAR WE CAN HELP
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT (AND QUICKLY REMOVED)
“Americans who believe in conspiracy theories about 9/11 and Princess Diana's death more likely to doubt climate change
“Scientists inspired by Donald Trump tweet investigate roots of scepticism and connection with political views”
'Americans who believe in conspiracy theories about 9/11 and Princess Diana's death more likely to doubt climate change'
That is too simplistic a concept to even be graced with the name "study."
Sounds like kind of a cheesy indirect way to call people names, which is hardly science.
I believe in climate change. Facts are facts. It does not follow, however, that the change underway was caused by human activity or that, even if it was so caused, any human effort could possibly avert it. Those are two separate matters almost always ignored by those who use the term “climate change” loosely.
I also believe that there are clearly unexplained matters both in Diana's death and most certainly in 9/11.
I do not believe Diana was assassinated. The fact is she was not important enough to bother assassinating. But absolutely, there are a number of mysterious details that have been deliberately ignored by officials.
I don't know the intention in hiding certain things about her death, such as avoiding embarrassment to other parties, but the fact is that they have done so and doing so just feeds fears.
In the case of 9/11, there is simply no doubt that we have been lied to, almost completely. It has never been explained. There's immense sound science saying that the official explanation is no explanation at all. Almost everything about the official explanation stinks.
And there are all kinds of hints and clues. Not trivial stuff, such as the CIA explosives contractor who died a little while back - a very respectable mainstream business person - and who made a deathbed confession of having wired building seven (the last one to fall well after the twin towers) under a contract for demolition.
People who try reducing complex matters to simple matters generally are themselves simple. Just so the authors of this "study."
ON THE MATTER OF 9/11, READERS MAY ENJOY:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2016/09/11/john-chuckman-comment-a-survivor-says-even-the-simplest-questions-around-911-have-not-been-answered-by-government-yes-and-some-disturbing-truths-around-those-events-the-saudi-arabian-nonsense/
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT (AND QUICKLY REMOVED)
“Americans who believe in conspiracy theories about 9/11 and Princess Diana's death more likely to doubt climate change
“Scientists inspired by Donald Trump tweet investigate roots of scepticism and connection with political views”
'Americans who believe in conspiracy theories about 9/11 and Princess Diana's death more likely to doubt climate change'
That is too simplistic a concept to even be graced with the name "study."
Sounds like kind of a cheesy indirect way to call people names, which is hardly science.
I believe in climate change. Facts are facts. It does not follow, however, that the change underway was caused by human activity or that, even if it was so caused, any human effort could possibly avert it. Those are two separate matters almost always ignored by those who use the term “climate change” loosely.
I also believe that there are clearly unexplained matters both in Diana's death and most certainly in 9/11.
I do not believe Diana was assassinated. The fact is she was not important enough to bother assassinating. But absolutely, there are a number of mysterious details that have been deliberately ignored by officials.
I don't know the intention in hiding certain things about her death, such as avoiding embarrassment to other parties, but the fact is that they have done so and doing so just feeds fears.
In the case of 9/11, there is simply no doubt that we have been lied to, almost completely. It has never been explained. There's immense sound science saying that the official explanation is no explanation at all. Almost everything about the official explanation stinks.
And there are all kinds of hints and clues. Not trivial stuff, such as the CIA explosives contractor who died a little while back - a very respectable mainstream business person - and who made a deathbed confession of having wired building seven (the last one to fall well after the twin towers) under a contract for demolition.
People who try reducing complex matters to simple matters generally are themselves simple. Just so the authors of this "study."
ON THE MATTER OF 9/11, READERS MAY ENJOY:
https://chuckmanwordsincomments.wordpress.com/2016/09/11/john-chuckman-comment-a-survivor-says-even-the-simplest-questions-around-911-have-not-been-answered-by-government-yes-and-some-disturbing-truths-around-those-events-the-saudi-arabian-nonsense/
Wednesday, May 09, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: RUSSIAN VICTORY DAY PARADE IGNORANTLY CALLED "DEFIANT" - RUSSIA'S WWII EXPERIENCE HAS NO PARALLEL IN ALL HUMAN HISTORY DWARFING AMERICAN AND FRENCH AND BRITISH LOSSES - NOW AMERICA AGAIN THREATENS IT
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT (AND PROMPTLY REMOVED, WHICH IS NOT COMMON WITH THIS PAPER)
“Defiant Russia showcases new weapons in Victory Day parade
“Moscow debuts new hypersonic missile systems, drones, robotic fighting vehicles and stealth fighter jets’
"Defiant Russia showcases new weapons in Victory Day parade’?
Really shabby headline.
Why is this characterized as "defiant"?
It is Russia's Victory Day, the most important day in their calendar, marking the most colossal event in all of human history, Russia's defeat of Germany.
The Soviets lost 27, 000, 000 souls in an effort which dwarf's the efforts of Britain or France or America. It dwarfs the toll of the Holocaust, too.
In the course of it, they experienced such events as most of us cannot even imagine.
The greatest single battle in all of history at Stalingrad. The greatest tank battle ever fought at Kursk. The terrifying siege of Leningrad which saw about a million perish.
They have every right and duty to parade and commemorate such events. And to remind the world of who actually won the war and defeated Germany. Three out of every four German soldiers killed in the war were killed by Soviets.
And, yes, it is an opportunity to display some new forces and weapons, but, my God, Russia is being threatened at this moment by the United States and its cowardly and unquestioning allies in Europe.
You've rolled tanks up right to their border, military planes approach their skies regularly, military ships are in the Black Sea and the Baltic, Russia's leader is openly maligned, irrational sanctions are imposed regularly, it has been ringed with missiles, and America instigated a paid coup in Ukraine against a democratic government right on Russia's doorstep, installing an incompetent government which has sent Ukraine's economy into a tailspin.
Do you have no understanding?
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT (AND PROMPTLY REMOVED, WHICH IS NOT COMMON WITH THIS PAPER)
“Defiant Russia showcases new weapons in Victory Day parade
“Moscow debuts new hypersonic missile systems, drones, robotic fighting vehicles and stealth fighter jets’
"Defiant Russia showcases new weapons in Victory Day parade’?
Really shabby headline.
Why is this characterized as "defiant"?
It is Russia's Victory Day, the most important day in their calendar, marking the most colossal event in all of human history, Russia's defeat of Germany.
The Soviets lost 27, 000, 000 souls in an effort which dwarf's the efforts of Britain or France or America. It dwarfs the toll of the Holocaust, too.
In the course of it, they experienced such events as most of us cannot even imagine.
The greatest single battle in all of history at Stalingrad. The greatest tank battle ever fought at Kursk. The terrifying siege of Leningrad which saw about a million perish.
They have every right and duty to parade and commemorate such events. And to remind the world of who actually won the war and defeated Germany. Three out of every four German soldiers killed in the war were killed by Soviets.
And, yes, it is an opportunity to display some new forces and weapons, but, my God, Russia is being threatened at this moment by the United States and its cowardly and unquestioning allies in Europe.
You've rolled tanks up right to their border, military planes approach their skies regularly, military ships are in the Black Sea and the Baltic, Russia's leader is openly maligned, irrational sanctions are imposed regularly, it has been ringed with missiles, and America instigated a paid coup in Ukraine against a democratic government right on Russia's doorstep, installing an incompetent government which has sent Ukraine's economy into a tailspin.
Do you have no understanding?
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: ON HUMAN DEPRAVITY - WE COMFORT OURSELVES WITH THE THOUGHT OF ITS BEING PART OF THE MAKE-UP ONLY OF CERTAIN TWISTED GROUPS - BUT A GLANCE AT THE WORLD'S EVENTS SHOWS HOW VERY WRONG THAT IDEA IS
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN GOV’T SLAVES
“Doctor For Billionaire Sex Slave Ring NXIVM, Charged for Conducting Horrific Human Experiments”
Pretty horrifying stuff.
We always like to comfort ourselves with naive notions such as the Nazis or the Klu Klux Klan or other twisted organizations are the locus of human depravity.
And if they are just defeated or eliminated, society can go back to normality.
But, no, depravity is a quality found here and there throughout the entire human population.
Of course, I'll just add that the kind of stuff done on an official-government level by the United States in Vietnam, Cambodia, Somalia, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and a whole lot of other places is exactly of the same nature, as is the grisly work of Israel in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and other places.
And I could not have imagined as a young man, growing up in America, a time coming when the United States would have an entire industry in the grisly work of extrajudicial killing, much like the old military junta in Argentina which used to make people disappear off the streets regularly. No charges, no trial, no rights - just a name on a "Kill List" and incineration by Hellfire missile.
Of course, all the actual American targets are completely legally innocent, but the teams of killers at computer screens also frequently incinerate others, too, the kind of bystanders the Pentagon likes to label “collateral damage.”
One can get a remarkable perspective on the journey America has traveled by comparing the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution to a copy of a Kill List.
It's been a remarkable trip, from idealistic aspirations about liberty and rights, straight to hell.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN GOV’T SLAVES
“Doctor For Billionaire Sex Slave Ring NXIVM, Charged for Conducting Horrific Human Experiments”
Pretty horrifying stuff.
We always like to comfort ourselves with naive notions such as the Nazis or the Klu Klux Klan or other twisted organizations are the locus of human depravity.
And if they are just defeated or eliminated, society can go back to normality.
But, no, depravity is a quality found here and there throughout the entire human population.
Of course, I'll just add that the kind of stuff done on an official-government level by the United States in Vietnam, Cambodia, Somalia, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and a whole lot of other places is exactly of the same nature, as is the grisly work of Israel in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and other places.
And I could not have imagined as a young man, growing up in America, a time coming when the United States would have an entire industry in the grisly work of extrajudicial killing, much like the old military junta in Argentina which used to make people disappear off the streets regularly. No charges, no trial, no rights - just a name on a "Kill List" and incineration by Hellfire missile.
Of course, all the actual American targets are completely legally innocent, but the teams of killers at computer screens also frequently incinerate others, too, the kind of bystanders the Pentagon likes to label “collateral damage.”
One can get a remarkable perspective on the journey America has traveled by comparing the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution to a copy of a Kill List.
It's been a remarkable trip, from idealistic aspirations about liberty and rights, straight to hell.
Tuesday, May 08, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: WHAT A WAY TO RUN THE WORLD'S MOST CONSEQUENTIAL GOVERNMENT - TRUMP WITHDRAWS FROM THE IRAN NUCLEAR TREATY WHILE BLUBBERING CHILDISH DRIVEL - WHAT INSPIRED HIS UTTERLY INSANE ACT?
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT
“Iran nuclear deal - live updates: Trump withdraws US from 'disastrous' accord and imposes 'highest level' of sanctions’
Trump is killing the treaty for one reason only.
The government of Israel wants it killed. Netanyahu went out of his way to thank Trump immediately for this grotesque blunder.
By pleasing the government of Israel in a big way – and there’s the double-plus of the insane embassy move - Trump is assuring himself of the most generous support possible in 2020 from the American Israel Lobby.
It could be called playing the Truman card, President Truman having won the 1948 election he had been forecast to lose after bowing to pressure, and against his best judgment as he told us in memoirs, from Israel supporters to immediately recognize the self-declared state of Israel.
He has assured himself lots of good publicity in high-end newspapers and by the major broadcasters plus generous campaign finance contributions.
That is the way politics work in America.
All at the cost to the world of stability and security.
And at the cost to America’s reputation for holding to its agreements, something which could prove extremely costly in the near future.
And the cost of adding a new element of hostility and risk of war in a very turbulent world.
What a way to run a government, the most consequential government on earth.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT
“Iran nuclear deal - live updates: Trump withdraws US from 'disastrous' accord and imposes 'highest level' of sanctions’
Trump is killing the treaty for one reason only.
The government of Israel wants it killed. Netanyahu went out of his way to thank Trump immediately for this grotesque blunder.
By pleasing the government of Israel in a big way – and there’s the double-plus of the insane embassy move - Trump is assuring himself of the most generous support possible in 2020 from the American Israel Lobby.
It could be called playing the Truman card, President Truman having won the 1948 election he had been forecast to lose after bowing to pressure, and against his best judgment as he told us in memoirs, from Israel supporters to immediately recognize the self-declared state of Israel.
He has assured himself lots of good publicity in high-end newspapers and by the major broadcasters plus generous campaign finance contributions.
That is the way politics work in America.
All at the cost to the world of stability and security.
And at the cost to America’s reputation for holding to its agreements, something which could prove extremely costly in the near future.
And the cost of adding a new element of hostility and risk of war in a very turbulent world.
What a way to run a government, the most consequential government on earth.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: CHINA-AMERICA RIVALRY - ISSUE OF AMERICA'S ECONOMICALLY-BACKWARD POLICIES - YOU CAN'T BOMB YOUR WAY TO PROSPERITY - "AMERICAN DREAM" GONE - TRUMP'S EFFORT TO MAKE IT 1952 AGAIN DOOMED
John Chuckman
EXPANSION OF COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN INVESTMENTWATCH
“US-China Rivalry Is More Than a Trade War”
http://www.investmentwatchblog.com/us-china-rivalry-is-more-than-a-trade-war/
In many respects, a good article.
However, it is more than a little too American in its perspective.
If you have an international problem, it can only be properly discussed, and dealt with, from an international perspective.
That is something too many Americans either do not understand or refuse to understand.
The article looks at China's great economic outreach programs as something vaguely threatening.
I don't see it all that way. Everything here can be understood by another perspective.
China is doing marvelous, constructive projects which will better the lives of millions, while the US spends sinful amounts of money bombing people in one part of the world and offering intimidating displays in others.
China is building infrastructure, and on a grand scale, while America lets its infrastructure rot. Bridges count for the long-term future. Bombs and bombast do not. Indeed, they work against the future by squandering resources on the most unproductive investment you can make, a giant military. Everyone needs some military, but when you go beyond a reasonable level, you are literally burning money.
For example, the South China Sea, why is the US, in high imperialist fashion, intent on sending its navy there regularly? Does China send military fleets on displays all around the Gulf of Mexico? Such actions are unmistakable in their meaning, and there is nothing positive about them. Just as the American navy has been busy recently in the Black Sea where it truly has no business beyond intimidating Russia.
There is no good reason for American military behavior. It is a fairly explicit and constant threat to other countries, like China. Not exactly the way to create a better world.
It really is a form of imperialism, of aggression, disguised as disinterested oversight of the sea lanes.
Given all America's vast economic and financial problems, it would be wise to cut the military - very, very substantially - and quit treating the world's people as subservient. Focus on improving your country and its competitiveness as China and others do.
As it is, with the Pentagon’s adopted motto of “full-spectrum dominance,” you are committed to the idea of not competing and influencing the world but of trying to dominate it militarily. That cannot be a substitute for the old-fashioned hard and productive work of building things and carrying on trade. Indeed, it implicitly carries the risk of wars in addition to all of its economic emptiness.
America is on a one-way trip to nowhere under current priorities, and loose-cannon Trump only compounds the problems.
He really thinks he can make it 1952 again for America, a time when all America's competitors were still flattened and American companies and workers had the entire planet as their market.
That is not going to happen again. It was a “one-off” set of circumstances in world history. The unique and fortunate (for Americans) opportunity created a myth in the country, complete with its own accompanying advertising slogan, “the American Dream.”
I find it remarkable how many Americans think that slogan has some kind of substance, some kind of enduring reality. It gets all jumbled up with everything from the Founding Fathers to apple pie, too, like some secular religious set of notions.
But it has no substance. It is just a happy-sounding phrase describing a brief era that is already gone. It is now a different world altogether, and this world not only includes the resurrected old competitors but many new ones coming along. It just will never be the same again as it was in the postwar era.
"Make America great again" is another empty slogan, wistfully reflecting back on the American Dream myth. Repeating it is a bit like repeating some old verse from the Bible in hopes "God" will come sweeping down out of the sky to your assistance with a chorus of angels singing “God Bless America.”
EXPANSION OF COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN INVESTMENTWATCH
“US-China Rivalry Is More Than a Trade War”
http://www.investmentwatchblog.com/us-china-rivalry-is-more-than-a-trade-war/
In many respects, a good article.
However, it is more than a little too American in its perspective.
If you have an international problem, it can only be properly discussed, and dealt with, from an international perspective.
That is something too many Americans either do not understand or refuse to understand.
The article looks at China's great economic outreach programs as something vaguely threatening.
I don't see it all that way. Everything here can be understood by another perspective.
China is doing marvelous, constructive projects which will better the lives of millions, while the US spends sinful amounts of money bombing people in one part of the world and offering intimidating displays in others.
China is building infrastructure, and on a grand scale, while America lets its infrastructure rot. Bridges count for the long-term future. Bombs and bombast do not. Indeed, they work against the future by squandering resources on the most unproductive investment you can make, a giant military. Everyone needs some military, but when you go beyond a reasonable level, you are literally burning money.
For example, the South China Sea, why is the US, in high imperialist fashion, intent on sending its navy there regularly? Does China send military fleets on displays all around the Gulf of Mexico? Such actions are unmistakable in their meaning, and there is nothing positive about them. Just as the American navy has been busy recently in the Black Sea where it truly has no business beyond intimidating Russia.
There is no good reason for American military behavior. It is a fairly explicit and constant threat to other countries, like China. Not exactly the way to create a better world.
It really is a form of imperialism, of aggression, disguised as disinterested oversight of the sea lanes.
Given all America's vast economic and financial problems, it would be wise to cut the military - very, very substantially - and quit treating the world's people as subservient. Focus on improving your country and its competitiveness as China and others do.
As it is, with the Pentagon’s adopted motto of “full-spectrum dominance,” you are committed to the idea of not competing and influencing the world but of trying to dominate it militarily. That cannot be a substitute for the old-fashioned hard and productive work of building things and carrying on trade. Indeed, it implicitly carries the risk of wars in addition to all of its economic emptiness.
America is on a one-way trip to nowhere under current priorities, and loose-cannon Trump only compounds the problems.
He really thinks he can make it 1952 again for America, a time when all America's competitors were still flattened and American companies and workers had the entire planet as their market.
That is not going to happen again. It was a “one-off” set of circumstances in world history. The unique and fortunate (for Americans) opportunity created a myth in the country, complete with its own accompanying advertising slogan, “the American Dream.”
I find it remarkable how many Americans think that slogan has some kind of substance, some kind of enduring reality. It gets all jumbled up with everything from the Founding Fathers to apple pie, too, like some secular religious set of notions.
But it has no substance. It is just a happy-sounding phrase describing a brief era that is already gone. It is now a different world altogether, and this world not only includes the resurrected old competitors but many new ones coming along. It just will never be the same again as it was in the postwar era.
"Make America great again" is another empty slogan, wistfully reflecting back on the American Dream myth. Repeating it is a bit like repeating some old verse from the Bible in hopes "God" will come sweeping down out of the sky to your assistance with a chorus of angels singing “God Bless America.”
Monday, May 07, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: TIRESOME ANTI-PUTIN PROPAGANDA JUST NEVER STOPS - EDITORS ASSUME READERS ARE IGNORANT - IN SOME WAYS RUSSIA DOES COMPARE FAVORABLY TO AMERICA OR ISRAEL - JAILS AND STATE VIOLENCE
John Chuckman
COMMENT TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT
“Putin to be inaugurated for fourth term as Russian president with lavish ceremony in former tsars' throne room”
What rubbish propaganda this article is.
My God, the American President is inaugurated with the most lavish set of ceremonies and entertainments on earth.
Russia keeps and uses its historical buildings and furniture for many occasions. It is ridiculous to associate that with the suggestion of Putin's being a Czar.
As far as your "hundreds of demonstrators arrested," please keep in mind that American police actually kill more than 1, 100 citizens on the streets each year, most of them unarmed.
Keep in mind, too, that America maintains the largest prison population of earth, by far exceeding that of any other country. And America has some of the most brutal prisons on the planet, the so-called Super-Max prisons, which are literally a national disgrace.
America has about one percent of its entire population in prisons and jails. Another full two percent of its population is on probation or parole. That makes literally millions of citizens.
Not only that, but in many parts of the US, convicted felons lose the right to vote. You effectively stop being a citizen. It is an extremely harsh place.
And how about Israel's platoons of snipers almost daily shooting and killing unarmed Gaza protesters? Imagine, posting snipers, some of whom use dum-dum bullets, to confront unarmed protesters?
Israel also keeps something like 7,000 Palestinians in prison without any legal charges or trial. They are subjected to stress and torture, too, as we well know.
This is a country where a young girl, Ahed Tamimi, 17 years old, is sent to prison for merely slapping the face of an insulting and brutal Israeli soldier.
And this is country where a government official recently said in public that she should at least have been shot in the kneecap.
And it is only recently revealed in a published book that Israel has conducted at least 2,700 assassinations.
Putin's Russia looks like Nirvana by comparison.
COMMENT TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT
“Putin to be inaugurated for fourth term as Russian president with lavish ceremony in former tsars' throne room”
What rubbish propaganda this article is.
My God, the American President is inaugurated with the most lavish set of ceremonies and entertainments on earth.
Russia keeps and uses its historical buildings and furniture for many occasions. It is ridiculous to associate that with the suggestion of Putin's being a Czar.
As far as your "hundreds of demonstrators arrested," please keep in mind that American police actually kill more than 1, 100 citizens on the streets each year, most of them unarmed.
Keep in mind, too, that America maintains the largest prison population of earth, by far exceeding that of any other country. And America has some of the most brutal prisons on the planet, the so-called Super-Max prisons, which are literally a national disgrace.
America has about one percent of its entire population in prisons and jails. Another full two percent of its population is on probation or parole. That makes literally millions of citizens.
Not only that, but in many parts of the US, convicted felons lose the right to vote. You effectively stop being a citizen. It is an extremely harsh place.
And how about Israel's platoons of snipers almost daily shooting and killing unarmed Gaza protesters? Imagine, posting snipers, some of whom use dum-dum bullets, to confront unarmed protesters?
Israel also keeps something like 7,000 Palestinians in prison without any legal charges or trial. They are subjected to stress and torture, too, as we well know.
This is a country where a young girl, Ahed Tamimi, 17 years old, is sent to prison for merely slapping the face of an insulting and brutal Israeli soldier.
And this is country where a government official recently said in public that she should at least have been shot in the kneecap.
And it is only recently revealed in a published book that Israel has conducted at least 2,700 assassinations.
Putin's Russia looks like Nirvana by comparison.
Sunday, May 06, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: SOME VERY DARK THOUGHTS OF WHERE AMERICA IS GOING IN ITS RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA AND IRAN - I DO THINK WE LIVE IN DANGEROUS TIMES AND THEY ARE DELIBERATELY MANUFACTURED
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY DAN GLAZEBROOK IN RUSSIA INSIDER
https://russia-insider.com/en/war-iran-has-already-begun-and-russia-must-end-it/ri23373
"The War on Iran Has Already Begun — and Russia Must End It
"The destruction of states such as Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Iran will isolate Russia when its own turn comes"
An interesting and perceptive article.
While offering genuine insight into what is taking place, it also is rather bleak and distressing.
Russia is in a critical position, and failure to act, after all the hard work in Syria and other places, would be extremely dangerous long term.
Iran is clearly in Washington’s cross-hairs, and largely owing to the inordinate influence and rather savage demands of Israel, its de facto colony. America has already worked to destroy Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Syria, and others for the benefit of Israel and what it narrowly sees as its interests in the Middle East.
If Iran is allowed to be destroyed or dismembered, it represents the loss of a very substantial ally, and there is little doubt who is next on the checklist.
I think there can be little doubt that somewhere in Pentagon and CIA vaults, there are plans – likely various and alternate ones - for the destruction of Russia, or at least for its dismemberment.
“Delenda est Carthago” is truly what the establishment in Washington thinks to itself. The place is rife with hostile words and the smell of aroused hormones twenty-four hours a day now. The American press, while it may not be much for conveying the news, conveys this reality unmistakably.
This is an establishment clearly dedicated to dominating the planet militarily now that it understands its economy is in relative decline in an evolving world, an economy with no hope of regaining anything like the accidental golden period of post WWII. And America’s Neocons, out of their own concerns for reborn Israel, are on the sidelines cheering all the way.
I am not even sure there can be any effective opposition anymore in America. Both major parties are committed to American imperial efforts completely. One is no better than the other, both hiding ugly drives under the guise of that American secular religion called Patriotism, much as the brutal Crusades of the Middle Ages hid their greed and bloodlust behind a symbol of Christianity.
And American society at large, under the pretext of international terror, has been totally wired and rigged to detect and deal with opposition. The gigantic security establishment - 17 agencies and all of them better funded than you can imagine - is unprecedented in American history for its elaborate spying and snooping and interfering, but then so is the entire arrogant, imperious attitude of America’s establishment.
That is an absolutely deadly mixture brewing and bubbling away. It is hard even to imagine it changing anytime soon. An economic catastrophe, which in one form or another is definitely on the horizon, may contribute to its fizzling out, but that is not at all certain. The establishment in Washington is better insulated against shocks than most parts of American society. Trump’s maladroit efforts on trade and other matters will only hasten its coming and perhaps deepen its effects.
Russia is the only country now capable of obliterating America, so unless it chooses unilaterally to disarm and commit itself to Washington’s tender mercies, it will remain a menace to American plans for complete dominance.
We've already seen numerous moves – some big, some small - along this line with Chechnya, Ukraine, Armenia, sending tanks and troops to Russian borders, ringing Russia with anti-missile missiles, readiness to nullify important treaties like INF, committing a fortune to new-generation nuclear weapons, a stream of contrived personal attacks on Putin, sanctions and still more sanctions, pressuring other countries not to buy Russian goods and weapons, and many others, some of which would not be public knowledge.
It is already pretty close to war by another name.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY DAN GLAZEBROOK IN RUSSIA INSIDER
https://russia-insider.com/en/war-iran-has-already-begun-and-russia-must-end-it/ri23373
"The War on Iran Has Already Begun — and Russia Must End It
"The destruction of states such as Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Iran will isolate Russia when its own turn comes"
An interesting and perceptive article.
While offering genuine insight into what is taking place, it also is rather bleak and distressing.
Russia is in a critical position, and failure to act, after all the hard work in Syria and other places, would be extremely dangerous long term.
Iran is clearly in Washington’s cross-hairs, and largely owing to the inordinate influence and rather savage demands of Israel, its de facto colony. America has already worked to destroy Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Syria, and others for the benefit of Israel and what it narrowly sees as its interests in the Middle East.
If Iran is allowed to be destroyed or dismembered, it represents the loss of a very substantial ally, and there is little doubt who is next on the checklist.
I think there can be little doubt that somewhere in Pentagon and CIA vaults, there are plans – likely various and alternate ones - for the destruction of Russia, or at least for its dismemberment.
“Delenda est Carthago” is truly what the establishment in Washington thinks to itself. The place is rife with hostile words and the smell of aroused hormones twenty-four hours a day now. The American press, while it may not be much for conveying the news, conveys this reality unmistakably.
This is an establishment clearly dedicated to dominating the planet militarily now that it understands its economy is in relative decline in an evolving world, an economy with no hope of regaining anything like the accidental golden period of post WWII. And America’s Neocons, out of their own concerns for reborn Israel, are on the sidelines cheering all the way.
I am not even sure there can be any effective opposition anymore in America. Both major parties are committed to American imperial efforts completely. One is no better than the other, both hiding ugly drives under the guise of that American secular religion called Patriotism, much as the brutal Crusades of the Middle Ages hid their greed and bloodlust behind a symbol of Christianity.
And American society at large, under the pretext of international terror, has been totally wired and rigged to detect and deal with opposition. The gigantic security establishment - 17 agencies and all of them better funded than you can imagine - is unprecedented in American history for its elaborate spying and snooping and interfering, but then so is the entire arrogant, imperious attitude of America’s establishment.
That is an absolutely deadly mixture brewing and bubbling away. It is hard even to imagine it changing anytime soon. An economic catastrophe, which in one form or another is definitely on the horizon, may contribute to its fizzling out, but that is not at all certain. The establishment in Washington is better insulated against shocks than most parts of American society. Trump’s maladroit efforts on trade and other matters will only hasten its coming and perhaps deepen its effects.
Russia is the only country now capable of obliterating America, so unless it chooses unilaterally to disarm and commit itself to Washington’s tender mercies, it will remain a menace to American plans for complete dominance.
We've already seen numerous moves – some big, some small - along this line with Chechnya, Ukraine, Armenia, sending tanks and troops to Russian borders, ringing Russia with anti-missile missiles, readiness to nullify important treaties like INF, committing a fortune to new-generation nuclear weapons, a stream of contrived personal attacks on Putin, sanctions and still more sanctions, pressuring other countries not to buy Russian goods and weapons, and many others, some of which would not be public knowledge.
It is already pretty close to war by another name.
Saturday, May 05, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: 35 YEARS SINCE THE INFAMOUS FRAUD OF THE HITLER DIARIES CAUGHT AN EMINENT PROFESSOR IN EMBARRASSING ERRORS - WHICH REMINDS ME OF DEVELOPMENTS IN TWO CURRENT FRAUDS - BOTH FAR MORE DEADLY
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT
“The Hitler Diaries: How hoax documents became the most infamous fake news ever
“Thirty-five years after forensic tests showed the diaries to have been forged, Adam Lusher recalls an extraordinary story of deception, delusion and incredulity”
Professor Hugh Trevor-Roper got things wrong a number of times.
The case of his authenticating the forged diaries is, of course, the most glaring.
Obviously, he should have backed off doing it if he could not do it, and the now recognized shoddiness of the forgery tells us clearly that he could not.
But further, his book "The Last Days of Hitler," commissioned by British intelligence at the end of WWII, is now known to be terribly flawed.
Just shows you, even experts fall flat on their faces, like circus clowns into cream pies.
How much more so in the case of mediocre politicians like Theresa May and Boris Johnson, experts in absolutely nothing, claiming to authenticate what they cannot possibly authenticate, events in Douma, Syria, and those of the Skripal Affair in Salisbury?
In the Skripal Affair, we still have not been offered one shred of real evidence. The “victims” still aren’t even allowed to talk to anyone. And the President of the Czech Republic has only just confirmed his country used to make the very nerve poison in question. Undoubtedly just one of many countries and scientific establishments which have done so.
Already we know to a certainty that the Douma Incident was a cheap fraud by the White Helmets. In case you hadn’t heard, the United States just quietly dropped funding this propaganda branch of al-Qaeda.
It is a remarkable case where independent reporters, actually working in Syria, had already conclusively shown with photos and interviews what not a single major newspaper or broadcaster ever hinted at, the White Helmets were frauds. But then, why would major newspapers and broadcasters discover that when they do absolutely no reporting from Syria and work assiduously to buttress the unsupported claims of the American and British governments? Journalism at its finest.
In the best traditions of Professor Trever-Roper, a shabbily-assembled fraud from Douma didn’t stop Theresa May and Donald Trump from concluding Syria was responsible and hurling a fleet of missiles at an innocent country, a war crime in and of itself.
In retrospect, Professor Trevor-Roper’s errors look pretty harmless.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT
“The Hitler Diaries: How hoax documents became the most infamous fake news ever
“Thirty-five years after forensic tests showed the diaries to have been forged, Adam Lusher recalls an extraordinary story of deception, delusion and incredulity”
Professor Hugh Trevor-Roper got things wrong a number of times.
The case of his authenticating the forged diaries is, of course, the most glaring.
Obviously, he should have backed off doing it if he could not do it, and the now recognized shoddiness of the forgery tells us clearly that he could not.
But further, his book "The Last Days of Hitler," commissioned by British intelligence at the end of WWII, is now known to be terribly flawed.
Just shows you, even experts fall flat on their faces, like circus clowns into cream pies.
How much more so in the case of mediocre politicians like Theresa May and Boris Johnson, experts in absolutely nothing, claiming to authenticate what they cannot possibly authenticate, events in Douma, Syria, and those of the Skripal Affair in Salisbury?
In the Skripal Affair, we still have not been offered one shred of real evidence. The “victims” still aren’t even allowed to talk to anyone. And the President of the Czech Republic has only just confirmed his country used to make the very nerve poison in question. Undoubtedly just one of many countries and scientific establishments which have done so.
Already we know to a certainty that the Douma Incident was a cheap fraud by the White Helmets. In case you hadn’t heard, the United States just quietly dropped funding this propaganda branch of al-Qaeda.
It is a remarkable case where independent reporters, actually working in Syria, had already conclusively shown with photos and interviews what not a single major newspaper or broadcaster ever hinted at, the White Helmets were frauds. But then, why would major newspapers and broadcasters discover that when they do absolutely no reporting from Syria and work assiduously to buttress the unsupported claims of the American and British governments? Journalism at its finest.
In the best traditions of Professor Trever-Roper, a shabbily-assembled fraud from Douma didn’t stop Theresa May and Donald Trump from concluding Syria was responsible and hurling a fleet of missiles at an innocent country, a war crime in and of itself.
In retrospect, Professor Trevor-Roper’s errors look pretty harmless.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: MAHMOUD ABBAS'S RECENT CONTROVERSIAL COMMENT CONCERNING ISRAEL PUT INTO SOME PERSPECTIVE - SOMETHING THE PRESS COULD NOT CARE LESS ABOUT
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT
“Mahmoud Abbas apologises to Jewish people after Holocaust comments”
I am sorry Abbas spoke the way he did.
All he achieved was to give genuine Israeli fascists, Netanyahu and Liberman, the opportunity to go into a melodramatic flap about not making peace with such horrible people.
Which is mighty handy for them because they never intended to make peace. Quite the opposite, their course, as anyone can see, has always been set on stealing all the additional property of others that they can while expelling or degrading the people who now live there.
And I fail to see how a few words can in any way be compared to Israel's current savage behavior, literally shooting unarmed demonstrators by the thousands, sometimes with dum-dum bullets to leave horrible injuries for those not killed.
This is the third massacre of Gaza's people in a decade.
And, while they are at that hideous business, they do everything they can think of to promote a war with Iran to kill still more people. Peace-loving, decent men, that’s for sure.
The entire atmosphere of these events is simply Twilight Zone stuff. Much of the press ignores or minimizes mass slaughter and mistreatment while they give publicity to a few poorly-chosen words.
So, we have a former bar-room bouncer, seething with often-expressed hatred for Palestinians (Liberman), and an absolutely corrupt politician and mass killer (Netanyahu) receive get-out-jail-free cards by those manipulating public opinion.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT
“Mahmoud Abbas apologises to Jewish people after Holocaust comments”
I am sorry Abbas spoke the way he did.
All he achieved was to give genuine Israeli fascists, Netanyahu and Liberman, the opportunity to go into a melodramatic flap about not making peace with such horrible people.
Which is mighty handy for them because they never intended to make peace. Quite the opposite, their course, as anyone can see, has always been set on stealing all the additional property of others that they can while expelling or degrading the people who now live there.
And I fail to see how a few words can in any way be compared to Israel's current savage behavior, literally shooting unarmed demonstrators by the thousands, sometimes with dum-dum bullets to leave horrible injuries for those not killed.
This is the third massacre of Gaza's people in a decade.
And, while they are at that hideous business, they do everything they can think of to promote a war with Iran to kill still more people. Peace-loving, decent men, that’s for sure.
The entire atmosphere of these events is simply Twilight Zone stuff. Much of the press ignores or minimizes mass slaughter and mistreatment while they give publicity to a few poorly-chosen words.
So, we have a former bar-room bouncer, seething with often-expressed hatred for Palestinians (Liberman), and an absolutely corrupt politician and mass killer (Netanyahu) receive get-out-jail-free cards by those manipulating public opinion.
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: NO-FOOD POLICY FOR THE "ROYAL WEDDING" - SEEMS FITTING ENOUGH TO ME CONSIDERING THE NATURE OF THE EVENT - THIS WILL BE ALMOST A PARODY OF A WEDDING AND ON A BIG SCALE
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY JOHN GRACE IN THE GUARDIAN
“Let them eat nothing: on this Harry, Meghan and Sajid Javid agree”
It does seem to me that the "no food" policy for the royal wedding is fitting.
After all, what's to celebrate here?
We have a prince who's demonstrated in public many times that he is unbalanced and has an almost complete lack of judgment.
And he is marrying an American B-actress who is past her prime for the kind of acting she does (a Glenda Jackson, she is not), and, who in any event would have to be insanely ambitious to seek a new place in the limelight at the cost of spending the rest of her days with Harry.
So, Britain adds another life-time hanger-on in high style at taxpayer expense.
Just a tremendously exciting event.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY JOHN GRACE IN THE GUARDIAN
“Let them eat nothing: on this Harry, Meghan and Sajid Javid agree”
It does seem to me that the "no food" policy for the royal wedding is fitting.
After all, what's to celebrate here?
We have a prince who's demonstrated in public many times that he is unbalanced and has an almost complete lack of judgment.
And he is marrying an American B-actress who is past her prime for the kind of acting she does (a Glenda Jackson, she is not), and, who in any event would have to be insanely ambitious to seek a new place in the limelight at the cost of spending the rest of her days with Harry.
So, Britain adds another life-time hanger-on in high style at taxpayer expense.
Just a tremendously exciting event.
Friday, May 04, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR HILLARY'S CAMPAIGN MAKES RATHER ASININE STATEMENT ABOUT WHY SHE LOST - AMERICANS REALLY DO BELIEVE IF JUST USE THE RIGHT MUMBO-JUMBO YOU CAN SELL MANURE AS PATE
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN
The communications director who ran Clinton’s 2016 US election campaign says America was not ready for a woman in the White House – but it soon will be
"We reduced Hillary to a female facsimile of a male president”
That is not my perception, at all, and there would be nothing wrong with that if you had done so.
Maggie Thatcher was viewed as pretty masculine by some, but she was a very able leader, even if you didn't like her views.
I am not even sure that statement about a “female facsimile of a male president” even makes a great deal of sense, but it definitely demonstrates pretension in the power of consultants.
In the end, you cannot make a silk purse out of sow's ear, as the old proverb goes. Even when you spend over 1.2 billion dollars as Hillary did.
Hillary has always been perceived negatively by a large portion of Americans.
She has said and done many unpleasant things quite on her own over the years without help from others.
Here's one: ""We came, we saw, he died. Ha ha, ha!" This, about the murdered leader of a country he had always kept at peace and one who greatly helped his people.
Here's another: "Can't we just drone him or something?" This about Julian Assange, one of the most honorable people of our day, and a man who really does deserve a Peace Prize.
If someone else had run, Trump would have lost, full stop. Many people perceived Trump's faults, but many did think he had a little of something else he might give, at least when compared to Hillary.
The Clintons have been a literal money machine for the Democratic Party for years with their connections and Foundation. And money is what counts in American politics. Lots of it. That's how she was able to get two nominations despite the doubts of expert observers concerning her viability as a candidate.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN
The communications director who ran Clinton’s 2016 US election campaign says America was not ready for a woman in the White House – but it soon will be
"We reduced Hillary to a female facsimile of a male president”
That is not my perception, at all, and there would be nothing wrong with that if you had done so.
Maggie Thatcher was viewed as pretty masculine by some, but she was a very able leader, even if you didn't like her views.
I am not even sure that statement about a “female facsimile of a male president” even makes a great deal of sense, but it definitely demonstrates pretension in the power of consultants.
In the end, you cannot make a silk purse out of sow's ear, as the old proverb goes. Even when you spend over 1.2 billion dollars as Hillary did.
Hillary has always been perceived negatively by a large portion of Americans.
She has said and done many unpleasant things quite on her own over the years without help from others.
Here's one: ""We came, we saw, he died. Ha ha, ha!" This, about the murdered leader of a country he had always kept at peace and one who greatly helped his people.
Here's another: "Can't we just drone him or something?" This about Julian Assange, one of the most honorable people of our day, and a man who really does deserve a Peace Prize.
If someone else had run, Trump would have lost, full stop. Many people perceived Trump's faults, but many did think he had a little of something else he might give, at least when compared to Hillary.
The Clintons have been a literal money machine for the Democratic Party for years with their connections and Foundation. And money is what counts in American politics. Lots of it. That's how she was able to get two nominations despite the doubts of expert observers concerning her viability as a candidate.
Wednesday, May 02, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: ARTICLE ON ISRAELI INFLUENCE ON INTERNET SITES - MY OBSERVATIONS OF THE SAME THING IN OUR MAINLINE PRESS - THE DEGREE OF CENSORSHIP AND EFFORT TO INFLUENCE IS ASTONISHING
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY ALISON WEIR IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“How Israel and Its Partisans Work to Censor the Internet
“Numerous well-funded, organized projects by and for Israel work to flood social media with pro-Israel propaganda, while blocking facts Israel dislikes.”
https://russia-insider.com/en/how-israel-and-its-partisans-work-censor-internet/ri22743
I don’t generally look at YouTube, so I am not as aware as Ms. Weir of what happens there. But I follow world affairs fairly closely and read many newspapers on the Internet.
And, yes, all of the points the author discusses are very much in evidence in our corporate and even our state (CBC, BBC, etc.) press.
If you want an excellent example of Israeli students or army groups at work on the Internet, go to the comments section concerning any story about, or of importance to, Israel.
You will invariably find comments under pseudonyms whose tone and wording are just so painfully obvious as to their origin, you just wonder why they bother, but they do.
You find certain ritualized sets of "facts" repeated time and again, as though from a crib sheet. You find utterly preposterous claims of various kinds. And you find hateful attacks on Palestinians, Syria, Russia, and others not in Israel’s good graces. At times, you even get some slurs and ethnic insults resembling the flavor of the recent appalling remarks by Israel’s Chief Rabbi about black people resembling monkeys.
I've always thought of the effort as kicking up lots of dust into the middle of discussions just to make them messy and confusing.
The Independent is particularly a target for them because it is, without a doubt, on the subject of Israel-Palestine the freest newspaper I am familiar with in "the West." Not that it is like that in all things, far from it, but on that subject, comment is almost always open and is relatively uncensored.
Over at The Guardian, it is quite a different story, and the Israelis do not have to follow these practices.
The Guardian is the most flagrantly biased newspaper I know on the subject of Israel and anything concerning it, as well as on the related topic of American imperial affairs.
No more so, of course, than The New York Times (which we now know passes every single story concerning Israel by the official Israeli censor before publishing), but the Times is a little subtler about its bias. The Guardian comes pretty close at times to being crude, like someone stomping into your house with dirty boots on.
Virtually no story about Israel-Palestine is open for comment. So, no concerns for the flocks of Israel’s paid commenters.
Also, The Guardian has an elaborate systematic form of censorship for comments. Comments are freely and often removed by editors. For those who make too many such comments, a warning is given every time you go to comment about your comments being pre-moderated. Finally, if they don't like your performance under that regime, they simply cancel your account's commenting privilege.
I know. I’ve been through the entire process and now am forced to comment under a pseudonym, something which has never been my practice anywhere. However, even under the pseudonym, I have arrived at the pre-moderation warning stage.
This is, of course, all done under the pretext of not following “house rules,” but I can assure you it is nothing of the kind. It is all about saying too much of the wrong kinds of things from The Guardian’s point of view or countering too strongly an article by one of their regular staff. I still make some effort there because there are now so very few papers without paywalls where you can comment, and a fair proportion of my comments do get through.
The Guardian, years ago, was a rather dull, serious paper in support of the Labour Party and things reasonably progressive. Its new management has changed it entirely, it resembles a pop magazine with lots of photos, and it has a great many silly and faddish articles that just fill lots of space and cost them nothing.
As with so many papers today, under the new economic circumstances induced by changing technology, The Guardian does virtually no real reporting or investigating, especially with regard to such matters abroad as Syria or Ukraine or Yemen or Palestine. Many of its writers and editors appear to know few more hard facts about such topics than the man on the street they are supposedly informing.
The Guardian constantly promotes the American-Israeli narrative of Russia is bad and NATO must be on its toes. It constantly promotes tales of anti-Semitism in Britain, despite that country being one of the more peaceful in the world in which you could live and despite a great deal of success for Jewish people in British society. There have been days, and I am not exaggerating, when that the paper’s front page has three stories related to supposed anti-Semitism. It does get a bit tiring.
In Canada, the CBC has long enjoyed some reputation for fairness and other good things, but it certainly no longer deserves it at all. On all its news-related talk shows, the bias is painfully obvious. The host of its Sunday morning long news and events show has done such charming things as call President Putin a thug on air. Now, that’s sure my idea of journalism.
Obvious, too, is the just plain misinformation at times, especially on subjects like Syria or Russia. It suffers, too, from the changed economics of press and broadcasting, maintaining relatively few foreign correspondents and little real journalism even at home. It is almost humorous to hear its correspondent for the whole Middle East reporting from Jerusalem. And does he ever spend time in Damascus or Tehran or Beirut, to talk to leaders and influential figures there? The answer is the same as for every corporate newspaper. Yet they all keep pretending to tell us what is happening.
So, that is the situation in the corporate and state press, in America, in Canada, and in Britain. I understand that it is much the same in Germany. It truly is rather distressing the way subjects can be so controlled in what we have been trained to think of as a free press. But I always remember the famous saying about the only way to have freedom of the press is to own one.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY ALISON WEIR IN RUSSIA INSIDER
“How Israel and Its Partisans Work to Censor the Internet
“Numerous well-funded, organized projects by and for Israel work to flood social media with pro-Israel propaganda, while blocking facts Israel dislikes.”
https://russia-insider.com/en/how-israel-and-its-partisans-work-censor-internet/ri22743
I don’t generally look at YouTube, so I am not as aware as Ms. Weir of what happens there. But I follow world affairs fairly closely and read many newspapers on the Internet.
And, yes, all of the points the author discusses are very much in evidence in our corporate and even our state (CBC, BBC, etc.) press.
If you want an excellent example of Israeli students or army groups at work on the Internet, go to the comments section concerning any story about, or of importance to, Israel.
You will invariably find comments under pseudonyms whose tone and wording are just so painfully obvious as to their origin, you just wonder why they bother, but they do.
You find certain ritualized sets of "facts" repeated time and again, as though from a crib sheet. You find utterly preposterous claims of various kinds. And you find hateful attacks on Palestinians, Syria, Russia, and others not in Israel’s good graces. At times, you even get some slurs and ethnic insults resembling the flavor of the recent appalling remarks by Israel’s Chief Rabbi about black people resembling monkeys.
I've always thought of the effort as kicking up lots of dust into the middle of discussions just to make them messy and confusing.
The Independent is particularly a target for them because it is, without a doubt, on the subject of Israel-Palestine the freest newspaper I am familiar with in "the West." Not that it is like that in all things, far from it, but on that subject, comment is almost always open and is relatively uncensored.
Over at The Guardian, it is quite a different story, and the Israelis do not have to follow these practices.
The Guardian is the most flagrantly biased newspaper I know on the subject of Israel and anything concerning it, as well as on the related topic of American imperial affairs.
No more so, of course, than The New York Times (which we now know passes every single story concerning Israel by the official Israeli censor before publishing), but the Times is a little subtler about its bias. The Guardian comes pretty close at times to being crude, like someone stomping into your house with dirty boots on.
Virtually no story about Israel-Palestine is open for comment. So, no concerns for the flocks of Israel’s paid commenters.
Also, The Guardian has an elaborate systematic form of censorship for comments. Comments are freely and often removed by editors. For those who make too many such comments, a warning is given every time you go to comment about your comments being pre-moderated. Finally, if they don't like your performance under that regime, they simply cancel your account's commenting privilege.
I know. I’ve been through the entire process and now am forced to comment under a pseudonym, something which has never been my practice anywhere. However, even under the pseudonym, I have arrived at the pre-moderation warning stage.
This is, of course, all done under the pretext of not following “house rules,” but I can assure you it is nothing of the kind. It is all about saying too much of the wrong kinds of things from The Guardian’s point of view or countering too strongly an article by one of their regular staff. I still make some effort there because there are now so very few papers without paywalls where you can comment, and a fair proportion of my comments do get through.
The Guardian, years ago, was a rather dull, serious paper in support of the Labour Party and things reasonably progressive. Its new management has changed it entirely, it resembles a pop magazine with lots of photos, and it has a great many silly and faddish articles that just fill lots of space and cost them nothing.
As with so many papers today, under the new economic circumstances induced by changing technology, The Guardian does virtually no real reporting or investigating, especially with regard to such matters abroad as Syria or Ukraine or Yemen or Palestine. Many of its writers and editors appear to know few more hard facts about such topics than the man on the street they are supposedly informing.
The Guardian constantly promotes the American-Israeli narrative of Russia is bad and NATO must be on its toes. It constantly promotes tales of anti-Semitism in Britain, despite that country being one of the more peaceful in the world in which you could live and despite a great deal of success for Jewish people in British society. There have been days, and I am not exaggerating, when that the paper’s front page has three stories related to supposed anti-Semitism. It does get a bit tiring.
In Canada, the CBC has long enjoyed some reputation for fairness and other good things, but it certainly no longer deserves it at all. On all its news-related talk shows, the bias is painfully obvious. The host of its Sunday morning long news and events show has done such charming things as call President Putin a thug on air. Now, that’s sure my idea of journalism.
Obvious, too, is the just plain misinformation at times, especially on subjects like Syria or Russia. It suffers, too, from the changed economics of press and broadcasting, maintaining relatively few foreign correspondents and little real journalism even at home. It is almost humorous to hear its correspondent for the whole Middle East reporting from Jerusalem. And does he ever spend time in Damascus or Tehran or Beirut, to talk to leaders and influential figures there? The answer is the same as for every corporate newspaper. Yet they all keep pretending to tell us what is happening.
So, that is the situation in the corporate and state press, in America, in Canada, and in Britain. I understand that it is much the same in Germany. It truly is rather distressing the way subjects can be so controlled in what we have been trained to think of as a free press. But I always remember the famous saying about the only way to have freedom of the press is to own one.
Tuesday, May 01, 2018
JOHN CHUCKMAN COMMENT: YET ANOTHER ARTICLE BEMOANING THE INACTION OF "THE WEST" IN SYRIA - BUT IT IS PRECISELY THE OPPOSITE - "THE WEST" IS ENTIRELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS HORROR
John Chuckman
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY DIANA DARKE IN THE GUARDIAN (AND SURPRISINGLY LEFT UP)
“The ruins I saw in Syria stand as a rebuke to western inaction
“The time for military intervention has passed. But we must still do all we can to make Assad feel the heat”
"The ruins I saw in Syria stand as a rebuke to western inaction"
I simply think Diana Darke has that about as wrong as it can be.
What she saw in Syria is precisely the result of Western action.
Six years of it.
Arming, paying, and supporting the gangs of mercenary thugs, posing as jihadis, who have wrought this horror on a peaceful and beautiful land.
They weren't all Westerners, some contributors were non-Westerners who do the bidding of Westerners.
We have simply countless bits of evidence that the main players in this human catastrophe are the United States, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Britain, and France. Turkey originally played an important role too.
COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY DIANA DARKE IN THE GUARDIAN (AND SURPRISINGLY LEFT UP)
“The ruins I saw in Syria stand as a rebuke to western inaction
“The time for military intervention has passed. But we must still do all we can to make Assad feel the heat”
"The ruins I saw in Syria stand as a rebuke to western inaction"
I simply think Diana Darke has that about as wrong as it can be.
What she saw in Syria is precisely the result of Western action.
Six years of it.
Arming, paying, and supporting the gangs of mercenary thugs, posing as jihadis, who have wrought this horror on a peaceful and beautiful land.
They weren't all Westerners, some contributors were non-Westerners who do the bidding of Westerners.
We have simply countless bits of evidence that the main players in this human catastrophe are the United States, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Britain, and France. Turkey originally played an important role too.
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