Here we have an example of 'Crazy Freedom' (America) vs 'Wise Dictatorship'. One is going to destroy the world (for freedom's sake) and the other to save it (for wisdom way).
All the Israeli crimes will be swept under the rug by American media and probably the same in Europe and Canada. They are all petrified of being called 'anti-Semitic' by powerful Jewish lobbies and interests. They have no sympathy for the victims any more than Nazis sympathized with their victims in their short rule in Germany. Very few people I interact with are even remotely aware of what is going on and if you press them they would 'rather not know about it, thank you'. How many of our politicians can we count on in Congress and Senate and in important positions ? Possibly one, possibly two ? Out of hundreds. Democrat or Republican it makes no difference. They are all for it.
This is genocide 'under the radar'. Every year survival gets more and more difficult for the people while our American media simply ignores it... but if one Israeli is killed it is on the news for weeks.
Inside the country: NRA fanatics 'standing their ground' wreaking havoc and destruction. Inside Planet Earth the US military 'standing its' ground' bringing the whole world to destruction. That is what is in store.
"Is he also an extremist... ?" A guy shoots 8 strangers dead ' not for personal reasons but for ideological ones, and you can't decide whether he is 'an extremist' ?
Every day brings a new madness, insanity on steroids so to say. The 'Nuclear button' can't be far away... The 'exceptional' nation has become extremely 'exceptional' now.
3 million Vietnamese lives and decades of Agent Orange contamination, unexploded 'ordinance' scattered throughout that country... eclipses all of the above-mentioned 'costs'.
This is starting to happen all over the place. What about that guy Gasser who murdered that football player McKnight ? What about the militias that patrol the borders ? I foresee that there will be a lot more George Zimmerman 'incidents'. With 'Stand your ground' they do not have to prove that it was not a planned murder/assassination. All they have to say is that they 'feared for their life'.
If Carter had been re-elected in 1980 I believe he might have been able to finalize the peace between Israel and the Palestinians.... and there likely would never have been a '9/11'.
Oh the US condemns Israel ? How will they be 'punished' ? By sending them billions in armaments of course ! Those poor Israelis they get punished so often for their violations and they just get more and more arms. It never seems to end.
The CIA has two souls: One is the sane/reasonable CIA that analyzes and judges according to reasonable if always opportunistic assessment of conditions. The other is filled with Donald Trumps intent on having wild adventures/escapades, anything they can get away with in secret and with malice and vindictiveness foremost, hiding behind the lawlessness they have been granted by our elected officials.
The 'two-state solution' was always 'unrealistic' because those who claimed to be in favor/support of it in the US and Israel did everything they could to undermine it. It was used as a cover for the work of destabilizing and destroying the people of Palestine which was carried out under the noses and platitudes of the Western media, which like Hollywood always tries to paint America/Americans as the 'heroes' despite the death-squad dictatorships the CIA and Pentagon created/creates all over the world.
The American media and politicians will give Israel all the cover it needs to do whatever it chooses no matter how outrageous. And if anyone dares step across the line they will be smeared/labelled as anti-Semite and will be obliterated from the public eye like Rick Sanchez and Helen Thomas.
Hollywood, video games and patriotic parades: they all seem to say the same thing. War is wonderful, war is heroic, war is glory, daring, glamour, honor, excitement, magic... War is magic! Without war there would be no 'history', no legendary heroes, no patriotism (think of it: have we ever had patriotism without war ? It is unthinkable!), no monuments, no medals, no victories, no 'glorious' defeats (the Alamo), no 'enemies' (the all-important 'enemy') ... and no military boondoggles for investors, no promotions for generals, no state funerals for veterans...War is Disneyland for realists! Peace is the (ever elusive) dream of dreamers. War is politics. Peace is 'art'. We had a 'peace parade' here in Youngstown recently. It was led by the ROTC in uniforms with guns!
When I gave up eating meat 45 years ago, some of my closest friends warned me that if I went on with it I would probably be dead within the year. 'It's the Law of Nature' they told me, 'kill or be killed'. ' I don't like it', I told them 'all the cruelty involved, I don't care if I die, I just don't want it to go on and I'll have no part of it'. Well 45 years later I am still alive, but there was a 'downside' : I still have the same weight that I had 45 years ago while my friends have gotten very fat.
They are putting a golden noose around their/our necks because the golden glitter of power/privilege is so wonderful to behold. Their children and ours will thank them with curses.
The power of the MSM to ignore/trivialize a candidate is unassailable. Even Jon Stewart ignores him preferring instead to get the cheap laughs from Trump, who is there just to serve that very purpose. The American public yearns constantly to be entertained, not educated.
'Nobody saw it coming' ? 'War is unpredictable' ? 'It takes a life of its' own' ? And yet we jump in with billions of $$$$ eager to launch this 'unpredictable' thing which destroys millions of lives and ruins entire nations... while Hollywood stands on the sidelines and salivates hoping to see examples of American heroism in action... for the next blockbuster movie
He's not a 'pre-Reagan conservative'. There is much more to him than that. The Catholic Church has become archaic, almost dead, full of superstitions and useless dogmas, but it can still play an important role and the pope can introduce a new awareness into it. It is not easy to go against entrenched power, even though you have the 'bully pulpit'. Many lunatic conservatives are starting to call him the 'anti-Christ' because he is so open. If we give him more support he may be able, and I hope he intends, to do more.
None of these arguments will ever be presented on the MSM. The 'Holocaust' overshadows/justifies everything that takes place in/from Israel. WWII is still the only war that Americans and possibly every other nation on earth can relate to, thanks to Hollywood and the international movie industry. The war that never goes away, or fades from memory. Vietnam is a distant memory but WWII is like yesterday. The power of that fixation is what keeps the 'Holocaust' foremost in our minds and hearts and as a shield for Israeli 'actions' (war crimes).
We keep hoping and wishing that after this one (more) act of cruelty and depravity Israel will finally be rejected by our leaders and Media liars, but it just keeps on going. What has happened is that even the most innocent of Palestinians are treated like criminals and identified with the Nazism that thrived in Germany 70 years ago, thanks to the constant barrage of 'Holocaust' indoctrination everywhere in our culture.
Congress loves Israel and the more mayhem and cruelty it indulges in the more the love. The way fans of certain rock/sports stars feel about their 'hero'.
Tip of the iceberg. There's plenty more where this is coming from, in possibly every country on earth (slight exaggeration, I hope), even in the US govt. which has been infiltrated and controlled remotely by CIA and other linked/related agencies. The puppet masters and their (elected) puppets.
Fine, none of us can 'stop using fossil fuels' since like the rest of us they are under the same social/govt. policies we all have to live with. But any step/effort toward change is crucial. You are indeed a jackass to demand only the ultimate or nothing. Go join your brothers in ISIS/ISIL.
Instead of trying to negotiate for the release of the 3 boys, Israel went on a rampage, killing and imprisoning(kidnapping) Palestinian boys. I don't think there could have been any other outcome frankly.
I'm dying to put solar panels on our house but there isn't even one contractor in the entire city where I live that does that. To bring somebody in from far away would probably be too costly.
Important people like Tony Blair do not lie. Everything they say is 100% true. How do we know it is true ? Because they state it with complete conviction. There is absolutely no hesitation or uncertainty ever. Regret or remorse is only an option that the weak and ordinary people succumb to. The thousands upon thousands that died do not matter. They lacked importance. None of them were billionaires or Tony Blair quality politicians/ world class leaders. The MSM had nothing to say about them and neither does Tony Blair. Tony Blair has never ever given them a second's thought. His own contributions to the world are much more valuable than all the petty contributions of the million or so that died under the Iraq invasion. If a million people were murdered and Tony Blair doesn't care about them... then how could it possibly have mattered anyway ?
This kind of thing is building up, not winding down. NRA and other fanatical groups are inciting their members more and more with their wild fantasies about police state taking away guns and Obama is a socialist etc. etc. They see what happened in Kiev and Caracas and they want to stir things up like that here too. Don't trust the CIA and other right-wing inside groups not to be assisting them too.
This is another ray of hope amidst the hysteria mongering that religion has become. We have enough hate in all of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam to last another 1000 years but only enough Love for another 10 years. Religions that condemn and traditions that kill must come to an end. Now he needs to imitate Pope Francis one more time. Just as Francis went to a prison in Rome and washed the feet of a female Muslim prisoner, he should go to the prison of Meriam Ibrahim and was her feet. This is how the power of humility can conquer the power of hatred. Blessed be the peacemakers!
Welcome back to America, Bowe, where the wolves of Fox Street are already tearing your entire family apart! They had the audacity to question American exceptionalism (greatest country on earth!) and the sense to try to reach out across the cultural abyss to the other side, not with bombs and bullets, but with books and open hearts and minds, and listening... Listening is not the way to victory! It is the way to Peace! Pat Tillman started listening... and look what we did to him. Lesson for us all. What ? You were a prisoner of the Taliban for 5 years and not once did they torture you ? Don't those fools have a CIA? Welcome back. If you can fit yourself back into the box of American cliches (greatest country on earth!) you will be fine. What size straitjacket do you wear ?
Presumably the Christ would be intelligent and decent enough to understand science and take steps to remedy a dangerous situation. What is happening is not only a matter of science but a matter of morality as well, and Hagee fails miserably on both counts. He's not even ready for the first coming of Christ, much less for the second.
Pipelines are great but they all have one final destination: global warming. We're building a bridge to the end of the world. The competition is on and the competition, in the end, will kill all of us. What is needed is global co-operation. Pie-in-the-sky ? Maybe but if we can't reach (across the abyss) for it we won't make it. Peace and co-operation have never been valued in the 'real world', only in pious platitudes. Solar will save us, pipelines will put an end to us.
Ever since 9-11 it's been a battle between vengeance and vendetta vs forgiving and reconciliation, and vengeance and vendetta are winning hands down. In fact reconciliation is not even on the horizon. The politicians are driven (and driving) to sheer madness by the media frenzy and the glorification of the military/violence. This would never have happened had we dealt properly with the conflict/oppression of Israel-Palestine more than 20 years ago when the opportunity was truly golden. Dennis Kucinich proposed a Dept. of Peace but the CIA which believes in destabilization, assassination, unrest and destruction would never allow it. The paranoid National Security Bureaucracy undermines every move towards peace that any merely elected individual politicians could or would even dare to propose if they even had that kind of daring/courage. So instead we are left with throwing gasoline unto the fire as this advertising campaign demonstrates.
Because violence and force are the answer to all challenges and problems and punishment to the extreme for all who transgress against (not the law) the rulers.
When a million people starve to death Rush couldn't care less. When a billionaire parts with a penny Rush goes into a frenzy. It's the 'principle of the thing' he will shout, 'Capitalism must never lose an inch'. On the other side, the people's Pope says we must all help each other as Jesus taught us.
We can call this a 'ray of light', but it's a tiny one. More than the solar panels we need a change in consciousness. The 'Zeitgeist' movement shows the way. The webs we have woven (socialism, capitalism, Christianity, Islam, etc.) have become prisons, and ultimately 'death traps'.
About 20 years ago I bought a 1912 Brittanica. Under the heading Palestine about 27 or 28 pages. Under Israel: not even one word. Unfortunately my wife did some housecleaning and threw the encyclopedia out about 2 years ago.
It is not a coincidence that this is happening on the 'eve' of the pope's visit. The Israelis are extremely wary of this new pope. He has a very strong streak of honesty and candidness and he is an activist for the oppressed. I believe that this incident was staged to send Pope Francis a message/warning and to demonstrate that the real power is in their hands not his.
I went out canvassing against fracking recently and one guy told me "The earth is doomed anyway, and there's nothing we can do about it, so we might as well get some jobs out of it." What can you say to that ? You can get a job blowing things and people up in the military and then be treated like a hero for it. You can get a pretty decent wage destroying the environment and if you miss out on those 'opportunities' and end up roaming the streets because of your moral qualms the only friend you'll have is your lonely conscience.
Why didn't we spend $5 billion sponsoring/defending human rights in Saudi Arabia instead of Ukraine as V. Nuland revealed ? No wonder people are suspicious of American sermons about 'freedom'.
Israel has a huge advantage and doesn't give a damn what the Palestinians do, pro or anti Peace. American media will not report on the conditions the Palestinians are forced to endure because they fear or are the Jewish/Israeli lobby. Politicians are completely frozen into undying support for Israel no matter what. Even the Pentagon and the CIA have been infiltrated by pro-Israel (volunteer for the most part) agents. Nobody of any prominence dares to speak out - except maybe for Jimmy Carter.
'Duty'. That's the name of the book. But it's really about the appearance of duty,not the reality. Politicians (and that includes career military and intelligence 'brass') are the consumate actors. They are never 'offscreen' even in their dreams. That is how they can be so devastatingly wrong. They live in an imaginary America (and world) which has no basis in reality and their personal lives are the same. It's pure Hollywood.
Who would have thought that market forces coupled with stubborn American ignorance/arrogance would prove to be more dangerous to the survival of the planet than nuclear weapons ? Americans have always claimed to have 'saved the world' in WWII. I guess they have come to believe that they own it now. In fact when you look at it the military itself has fallen under the influence/power of big business. And big business doesn't give a damn about anything but the bottom line. Even in the face of certain death. High rollers live dangerously - unfortunately they live dangerously for all of us on this planet, not just themselves.
How does this 'aid' help the people of Pakistan ? And is $1.6 bl./year worth the killing of hundreds of innocent people ? Those are the questions to be answered by Sec. Hagel, Pakistan's civilian (not military) leaders and Pres. Obama.
I used to say that Switzerland is the most corrupt country in the world because 'they drive the getaway car for all the bank robbers in the world'. In other words all the corrupt politicians, dictators, etc. stash their ill-gotten gains in Swiss bank accts. that are out of reach of the law of every country on earth. But in the end you're right, it is America, the dominant nation/economy/military in the world which wins the prize.
If Democracy Now can broadcast direct from there I don't understand why CNN, CBS, MSNBC etc. aren't doing it. What are they doing - watching their (celebrity) navel ?
Uninformed. Couldn't care less about other people. Easily entertained, yet susceptible to superstition ('prophecy'), fanatically partisan, superiority complex, materialistic.
The real 'threat' to Israel is that a friendly Iran would leave them with no more excuses to delay/deter the real 'Peace Process'with the Palestinians. Grasping at straws (or grasping at enemies) to avoid the long suffering issue before them. The Holocaust and the 'threat' of another Holocaust has become their shield behind which they can keep on doing damage to their Palestinian brothers while their military/security/police state dominates over the Middle East. The Pentagon plays along with this because this constant threat of war supports their 'need' for power/money/and resources in the US. Warmongering has become a self-perpetuating vicious circle.
Israel would like nothing better than to have this 'revelation' 'put a hold' on the 'Peace Process' at this time. Anything to delay or avoid a just settlement. Israel is doing quite well without peace. It is the Palestinians who are suffering/oppressed. The truth is that Arafat was 100% sincere in his quest for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. He did not die from poisoning. He died of a broken heart. Peace was within reach for a very brief period of time, but the enemies of peace killed Rabin and the peace process, both in Israel and the US. halls of power.
Ah, but it turns out that science is much too complicated for our simplistic legislators to understand so they would rather deny it. They can barely (mis)understand the Bible which they (mis)interpret to launch wars and build up useless armaments/killing machines while the natural world is being poisoned for profit.
Now we have a pope that is more reasonable and a Iranian president that is more reasonable. Would it be too much to ask for a John Kerry that is more reasonable ? Or (God forbid) a Netanyahu that is reasonable ?
Did you know it would be impossible to end slavery if it were still part of our 'economy' today because of the lobbyists? With global warming we are facing a danger and moral hazard as great as slavery, with no Lincoln in sight, and a very weak abolition movement. Between the CIA and the lobbyists there is no room for change. Only war and profits and the dominance of destruction.
The CIA-National Security Council took charge on Nov.22, 1963. The Secret Service which guards the president is employed and selected by the CIA. Elections are purely for display/traditional purposes.
Obama is better off meeting with the likes of Jay Leno than Vladimir Putin. America's 'diplomatic' skills have become extremely rusty, and Obama has only been pretending to be president. All the real decisions are made at the Pentagon/CIA level.
Who are the 'associated forces' ? All of us. All of us who petition/protest for peace, or against war, all of us who are Muslim, defend or sympathize with Muslims, all who have relatives or neighbours who were killed by American drones, or who have reported on the victims of drones, all who are designated 'aliens'(non-Americans), anti-Zionists, and even Obama himself may be on the list depending on whose version of it is used.
I don't think the Pentagon/White House even know who these 'associated forces' may be. But suspect: all of us. All of us who are Muslim, and/or 'alien', and/or disagree with military/security policies, and/or for human rights and civil liberties, and/or are 'anti-war', and/or whose neighbors and families have been killed by American drones, or who have reported on those drone attacks... the list is much, much longer (in fact there is no end to it just as there is no end to this 'war'). It may even include Obama himself, depending on whose version of the list you are reading from.
This was happening right from the start of the GWOT. The Bush administration allowed the war on terror to be hijacked by racist, rogue elements, many of whom were already operative within the govt. It was the same under Obama. I suspect that is why Al-Alawki became such an extremist. He was actually very moderate most of his life but when he saw what was happening both here and throughout the world to Muslims he became an extremist. Blowback. I suspect the neocons (Israel firsters) were aiming for this all along.
I have an idea: Give American citizenship to everybody in the world. They are all affected by American policies anyway. I always said that America was a democracy at home but a dictatorship throughout the rest of the world. Give everybody in the world voting rights on the candidates and issues that will inexorably affect their lives. Some people say that 'they all do it (spying)' but the truth is that most nations have a smaller GDP than the annual budgets for the NSA-CIA.
Watching this video was like watching little kids playing with fire - a lot of fire. My impression, and it could be wrong, is that these women are out for notoriety/glamour and thrills. Wayne Madsen claims that they are 'agents provocateur'. I don't know but even if they aren't I doubt they are doing their 'cause' any good. In fact just the opposite.
I was going to say that this is 'a ray of hope' amid the misery of Gazans, but it's more than that; it is actually a ray of Joy, a taste of what every people in every nation deserve to experience in their lives. May Peace and Love prevail on Earth.
The National Security State has been running the country since Nov. 1963. Sure a fellow named Jimmy Carter slipped through a crack in 1976 and became president but his administration was soon sabotaged and he lost re-election, but basically the presidency and all other elected offices are mere window dressing. The Pentagon-CIA-NSA make all the essential decisions and the elected officials rubber stamp them if they have to for demonstration purposes only.
I'll be quite frank: To me (psychologically) the veil is a shadow, the burka a coffin. It may be possible to live your whole life under a shadow - to a certain extent we all do - but to live your life in a coffin ? That would be unbearable.
My take on this is that the Israelis have started attacking Syrian forces not because they want to see the rebels win but because they want to prolong the bloodbath. Just as in the Iran-Iraq war the US instigated both sides so that they would decimate each other and weaken each other. A broken Syria is a weak Syria just like a broken Iraq is a weak Iraq and ultimately a broken Iran. That leaves Israel, the super-power of the Middle East.
I watched the news on Al-Jazeera, RT, BBC, CBC, and the Boston bombing was bigger news than the much worse ones in Iraq, Somalia, Pakistan etc. Somehow Americans always see themselves as innocents, or better yet heroic, thanks to Hollywood indoctrination. There have been 10,000 bombings in Iraq in the last 10 years that would not have occurred if we had not invaded. All of them much worse than the one in Boston. At what pt. does conscience/guilt awaken ?
Homeland ? 2000 years ? Let's see, what was my 'homeland' 2000 years ago ? Oh yeah, I wasn't alive 2000 years ago, and neither were my father and mother.
The politics of 'wishful thinking' (Obama) vs the politics of 'facts on the ground'. Platitudes don't work on Planet Earth, and they especially won't work on Planet Israel. The only thing that may work - and this is the scary part - is what Rachel Corrie did.
I don't believe that the 'tragic results regarding the Mavi Marmara were unintentional'. I believe that they were in fact very intentional. As an aside, if they were 'unintentional', I would like to see other people, such as Bill Maher apologize too. He basically said that 'they had it coming to them' on his TV show. I have refused to watch his show since then. I think the entire American congress and senate should apologize too.
Chavez may not have been a saint but he certainly wasn't a dictator or even a human-rights violator. He did not have secret prisons where prisoners were tortured and the majority of the voting population voted him in office.
If AIPAC had to register as foreign agents as you suggest, what would that make all of our senators and representatives (save almost a handful) ? Agents of foreign agents ? For that is what they are. Israel is not the 51st state as some have suggested, they are in fact the first state and all others are subordinate. Of course Israel will be exempt from the penalties of American austerity. Just as the Pentagon and Dept. of Homeland Security will, despite the phony hullabaloo. War will not go hungry in America/Israel. The key to this indoctrination is this: It is a patriotic duty to support the military and it is a religious duty to support Israel. When you mix patriotism with religion the level of fanaticism/loyalty is unparalleled.
Juan, I thought your analysis was pretty good and I appreciate it. I was born a Catholic and feel somewhat connected to it, though as someone who has studied world religions/faiths at some pt. in my life I found its' doctrines to be shallow and limiting. Liberation theology was a step in the right direction but was nipped in the bud by the 'political police'. Is there a chance that a new pope might again lead to a more democratic and open church ? I believe there is, though one must remember that the same CIA that can assassinate a president can also assassinate a pope.
The American press/media will never 'track' this story because it may lead to something called 'anti-Semitism' and that is a dead end (or end to any reporter's career). It will be ignored.
There can't possibly even one person, male or female, who has demonstrated more heart and courage than this young girl. And if you believe in 'Divine intervention/miracles' it is clearly obvious that God is on her side and not the Taliban. Her recovery is as astonishing as her courage. When all is said and done I think history will look back and say that she did more to defeat the Taliban than the entire US military with all its technological destructive paraphernalia and secret ops.
Anybody who votes for Chuck Hagel will end up getting the same kind of treatment from the 'Israel lobby' (note: the Israel lobby includes at least 98 of the 100 senators and at least 95% of the reps. In other words our government has become the 'Israel lobby'.) Israel is not the 51st state as some people have claimed. It is in fact the 1st state, more than the equal of all the others put together.
Lose another 'fruitless' war ? Wars are not engaged in to be 'won' anymore don't you know ? There need be no 'final victory' or the population behind you 100% as in 'traditional' wars. Now it's just military-business-as-usual. It's not about winning or losing, it's about keeping the engine of the military-corporate-industrial complex operating at full capacity and the profits and promotions coming in without end. The destruction of the people in Afghanistan (Iraq, Mali, Yemen, Iran etc.) doesn't matter. Even the bankruptcy of the American people doesn't matter. What matters is the 'military economy'. The US may 'lose' the war, but the military will always win. They've always regretted leaving Vietnam. They won't leave this time. It will go on and on forever.
You're absolutely right. This (global warming, and the state of the environment in general) is 1000 times more dangerous than 'terrorism' ever could be. We need to stop drilling and killing and try to bring all nations and people together to face the greatest challenge humanity has ever encountered. Save Our Planet!
The gun laws are not to take guns away from decent citizens but to regulate their sales to make it harder for the criminals and mentally unstable to obtain them. You personally wouldn't have any problem getting them. And by the way alcohol is indeed regulated and it is still freely available to all.
It doesn't matter who's president. The Pentagon-CIA cabal runs the show. If they (the presidents) give them any trouble they'll get the Kennedy Nov. 1963 treatment.
The whole thing is a deception. Israel's 'job' as it were in the Middle East is to ratchet up tensions and keep them high in order for the Pentagon to continue to justify its' huge budget and prestige as the so-called 'global security' police. Israel and the Pentagon thrive on war and would shrivel up and die if Peace ever came to pass. They make sure it never happens with their 'secret ops' and Israel's 'right to defend itself'.
I really don't believe that the sanctions were ever seriously intended to 'work' whatever that may or may not mean. I think the sanctions are intended to inflict hardship and cruelty upon the Iranian people - basically vengeance for imagined or projected 'wrongs'. The US can't come out and say this however, so they make up all kinds of rationalizations about how they are or are not 'working'.
I'm not surprised. It has been the practice of our news media to distort or interpret everything that Ahmedinejad says as being fanatical in order to demonize him. If you don't do this you are automatically labeled as being anti-Semitic and that label is a sentence worse than death in our society for one's career.
As there is as yet no proof that Iran is working on a nuclear bomb only suspicion, the sanctions are a crime against Iran's sovereignty and because of their disastrous effect on the economy of Iran, an act of war. This is the same process that preceded and eventually led to the invasion of Iraq. Obama's approach may be slower than Netanyahu's but it is leading to the same end.
Romney is blinded by American propaganda and thus cannot conceive of or perceive facts that contradict his beliefs. This in a sense is a distortion of the philosophy of 'positive thinking'. If you believe strong enough it will be true, belief changes everything. It's the basis of good salesmanship, and America more than anything else is about salesmanship. In fact you could say the elections are just that and that is why it comes down to money. The general public does not know or care about what actually took place in the Middle East. They want Hollywood heroes to lead them to victory and success.
'Hollywood, Hollywood, on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all ?"
The answer is always the same: USA! USA!
Amazing isn't it ? Without the occupation of Palestinian lands there could never have been a 911, thus no Afghan and Iraq wars among other disasters, millions killed, trillions wasted, and yet our MSM still hasn't caught on that the occupation is the very heart of the so-called Jihad. End the occupation and the beast of terrorism will die.
Excellent article. One of the best I've seen so far, along with Gareth Porter's continuing reporting on every aspect and false accusations that come along repeatedly in the MSM. Your title : It's psychological warfare... made me think: Isn't that what religion has become in our day and age - a kind of psychological warfare to rule over the people and create enemy-scapegoats who we must attack and destroy to save ourselves ? Or politics for that matter...
If what Andrew Bacevich says is true, and I believe it is, then how can we possibly condemn al-Alawki for having opposed this attack on his religion ? I think it is true that a huge segment of the American population and many of its' political leaders do believe that we are at war with Islam itself, and if we continue to pursue it and especially if we follow the influence (dictates?) of Israel we will find ourselves in the midst of utter chaos and destruction such as has never been experienced here on earth.
Romney's bad on the Palestinian issue but the substance of the Obama (non)approach is exactly the same. Obama wouldn't let the cat out of the bag as Romney has but the cat's still in there. If there ever was a sliver of hope for the Palestinians you would have to go back all the way to Carter.
Great. But we're still torturing people in secret prisons, killing innocents in drone strikes, secretly undermining governments with CIA all over the world, secret assassinations and other plots, surveillance state in America, no backbone with Israel thus prolonging a crisis in the Middle East, plotting sabotage and maybe even war against Iran, Arab Americans have no civil rights that are worth the paper they're written on... and somebody else think of the other 10 million ways we're not better while I take a break.
I completely agree with you, Carter is a hero, someone who sacrifices his wellbeing to bring succour to those in need. The Master said: 'Take your brothers' need as the measure for your action and solve the problems of the world'.
In order for Israel to lose the 'public relations battle' the American public would have to wake up and pay attention. They don't want to wake up, and most of all they don't want to pay attention. That sounds too much like learning which sounds like school (without the proms and/or the 'pranks'). The MSM will keep giving them circuses and little bits of misinformation.
Obama's entire life has been built around creating 'appearances'. He is more concerned with appearances than reality and the American people are only too eager to play along. The election is a beauty-ugly contest. One candidate tells us how beautiful he/she is while the other one tells us how ugly he/she really is. A significant portion of us vote on ideological lines, while the rest prefer to remain superficially informed and are waiting to be swayed by some visually appealing chimera. Concern for what the US is doing to the rest of the world while pursuing its' own interests would be a liability not an asset in the election. The American people prefer to be fooled by the candidates because facing up to the truth would be hard work, and I mean extremely hard work and nobody has the stomach for it except idealists who have always been despised and derided by the Media hacks.
If Saudi Arabia can afford the luxury of imprisoning and executing people for political and religious reasons, then Saudi Arabia must afford also the luxury of not selling petroleum.
'King' Bibi ? Time is playing upon people's biblical fantasies/superstitions. 'Armageddon' is the subtext. And somehow it all comes out looking rosy. The delusion before the deluge.
Hey I was a teenager back in the 60's and that was very much 'the case'. Romney couldn't have been that naive. I remember this one friend, who was not untypical saying to me 'Let's go downtown and roll some queers'. I don't recall exactly what I said but I remember I was thinking : If by roll you mean beat up someone there are several reasons why I don't like the idea. Someone might get hurt or even killed and I don't want to hurt anyone and who knows it might even be me. I don't even know how to fight. For another thing it's probably illegal, especially if we 'take his money as you are suggesting. That would be stealing on top of everything else and I even return the change when they make a mistake at the cash register and I'm supposed to steal somebody's wallet ? I don't think so.
But of course gays (or queers as they were called then) were supposed to be a kind of free-fire zone and the rules of decency and legality were often suspended or cast aside because of even the slightest suggestion that they might have made a sexual advance. Nope I really don't believe that Romney was innocent or unmalicious in that incident. It sounds too typical of what I experienced or saw and heard.
Thank you for that article and so many others based on facts and history not ideology. I read your website every day in order to be truly informed about these divisive and incendiary issues.
They sound like a bunch of foolish old men chasing after a young girl, each one bragging and posturing for her attentions, only in this case it is war they are chasing after not sex. Even the foolish old men are wiser than they are.
I sincerely hope that they pursue this venue right to the end. They will save themselves billions and protect their people and environment from the dangers of nuclear pollution which is much more destructive than we are even yet aware of.
There was only a 90% certainty that Troy Davis was innocent. The US has adopted policy that if there is even a 1% possibility of guilt the accused must be 'taken out'. This is the rule in the 'War on Terror' and it is now the rule in our Justice system. Most of the time, excuse me I meant to say all of the time, the accused are 'pre-convicted' by hearsay and hysteria in the media.
This was an excellent analysis, except in the end I am not sure if Awlaki should have been killed at all. His so-called crimes are extremely vague and dubious. He's not someone I paid any attention to until his execution I admit but since I looked his videos up on the web I can see how his views became extremely cynical towards the US, with still a touch of his earlier idealism showing through. Like the other commentator above I seriously doubt that the man who was claimed to be Osama was reaching for a weapon. That whole thing was a sham and a big show. Psy-ops not reality.
'I will leave it up to the experts...' says Sen. Graham. That would be the 'security' experts, the CIA,the Pentagon etc. It appears that our elected officials have been 'leaving it up to the experts' for some time now. In fact I wonder if we don't already have a military Junta ruling over us by 'default'. I believe that our 'security' people have their own agenda and that they don't always or even often report their operations to our elected officials who wouldn't dare question 'our brave heroes' anyway. National Security by any other name would be called dictatorship. The man who was murdered by Team 6 in Abbotabad was not Osama Bin Laden, who was already dead 5 years, for instance and I am not sure Obama even suspects it. He is kept in the dark and wants it that way as do almost all our 'representatives'. These 'security' people are always moving us towards war, despite how catastrophic it has been thus far.
Sad to see this though not surprised at all. If this war is undertaken it will bring great tragedy to the people of Iran. We can only hope in the name of Justice that that tragedy is also experienced by the aggressing parties also, and that means, you and I as citizens of the aggressing nations. We can no longer turn this cup of tragedy away for very much longer. Too many strings are being pulled in the shadows of power and the helpless or enthusiastic politicians are eager to dance to the tunes of the piper.
I think this is tremendous news, the conscience of the Jewish people has been aroused. Rachel Corrie did not die. Her spirit is growing stronger. I dreamt this would happen many years ago. I knew it would come true.
I believe he means every word of it. As for having moral authority or not, he as the same moral authority that any other world leader has. I don't see anyone out there who doesn't cast a shadow. That's the world we live in. There is a lot of truth in this message and it has a certain measure of moral power in it. I really don't believe that Iran has plans to build such a bomb. I'm not even sure the Israelis really believe it. All they want is for the world to envision a 'monster', a scapegoat in other words, that must be destroyed. The fact that millions of Iranians will be killed does not deter them, in fact it only sharpens the appetite. When a nation has turned 'wolf'' there is no stopping it.
Here we have an example of 'Crazy Freedom' (America) vs 'Wise Dictatorship'. One is going to destroy the world (for freedom's sake) and the other to save it (for wisdom way).
All the Israeli crimes will be swept under the rug by American media and probably the same in Europe and Canada. They are all petrified of being called 'anti-Semitic' by powerful Jewish lobbies and interests. They have no sympathy for the victims any more than Nazis sympathized with their victims in their short rule in Germany. Very few people I interact with are even remotely aware of what is going on and if you press them they would 'rather not know about it, thank you'. How many of our politicians can we count on in Congress and Senate and in important positions ? Possibly one, possibly two ? Out of hundreds. Democrat or Republican it makes no difference. They are all for it.
Terrorism is when an animal rights activist films what is going on at a slaughterhouse.
It has finally come to this: The label 'anti-Semite' now means the same as 'anti-fascist'...or even 'anti-Nazi'.
This is genocide 'under the radar'. Every year survival gets more and more difficult for the people while our American media simply ignores it... but if one Israeli is killed it is on the news for weeks.
Inside the country: NRA fanatics 'standing their ground' wreaking havoc and destruction. Inside Planet Earth the US military 'standing its' ground' bringing the whole world to destruction. That is what is in store.
"Is he also an extremist... ?" A guy shoots 8 strangers dead ' not for personal reasons but for ideological ones, and you can't decide whether he is 'an extremist' ?
Every day brings a new madness, insanity on steroids so to say. The 'Nuclear button' can't be far away... The 'exceptional' nation has become extremely 'exceptional' now.
3 million Vietnamese lives and decades of Agent Orange contamination, unexploded 'ordinance' scattered throughout that country... eclipses all of the above-mentioned 'costs'.
Israeli leaders : America's spoiled brats.
This is starting to happen all over the place. What about that guy Gasser who murdered that football player McKnight ? What about the militias that patrol the borders ? I foresee that there will be a lot more George Zimmerman 'incidents'. With 'Stand your ground' they do not have to prove that it was not a planned murder/assassination. All they have to say is that they 'feared for their life'.
If Carter had been re-elected in 1980 I believe he might have been able to finalize the peace between Israel and the Palestinians.... and there likely would never have been a '9/11'.
Oh the US condemns Israel ? How will they be 'punished' ? By sending them billions in armaments of course ! Those poor Israelis they get punished so often for their violations and they just get more and more arms. It never seems to end.
Soviet Florida needs a people's revolution.
At this pt. in time (after all that has happened/is happening it is almost impossible not to 'doubt everything'.
Snowden was trying to expose war crimes/atrocities. Hillary was trying to commit and cover up war crimes and atrocities.
The CIA has two souls: One is the sane/reasonable CIA that analyzes and judges according to reasonable if always opportunistic assessment of conditions. The other is filled with Donald Trumps intent on having wild adventures/escapades, anything they can get away with in secret and with malice and vindictiveness foremost, hiding behind the lawlessness they have been granted by our elected officials.
I thought I heard this story on NPR this morning... but they made it sound like it was Vladimir Putin and his cronies doing all the 'shady banking'.
The 'two-state solution' was always 'unrealistic' because those who claimed to be in favor/support of it in the US and Israel did everything they could to undermine it. It was used as a cover for the work of destabilizing and destroying the people of Palestine which was carried out under the noses and platitudes of the Western media, which like Hollywood always tries to paint America/Americans as the 'heroes' despite the death-squad dictatorships the CIA and Pentagon created/creates all over the world.
This is the kind of Hollywood magical thinking that adolescents are so fond of. Superheroes with superpowers.
The American media and politicians will give Israel all the cover it needs to do whatever it chooses no matter how outrageous. And if anyone dares step across the line they will be smeared/labelled as anti-Semite and will be obliterated from the public eye like Rick Sanchez and Helen Thomas.
Hollywood, video games and patriotic parades: they all seem to say the same thing. War is wonderful, war is heroic, war is glory, daring, glamour, honor, excitement, magic... War is magic! Without war there would be no 'history', no legendary heroes, no patriotism (think of it: have we ever had patriotism without war ? It is unthinkable!), no monuments, no medals, no victories, no 'glorious' defeats (the Alamo), no 'enemies' (the all-important 'enemy') ... and no military boondoggles for investors, no promotions for generals, no state funerals for veterans...War is Disneyland for realists! Peace is the (ever elusive) dream of dreamers. War is politics. Peace is 'art'. We had a 'peace parade' here in Youngstown recently. It was led by the ROTC in uniforms with guns!
When I gave up eating meat 45 years ago, some of my closest friends warned me that if I went on with it I would probably be dead within the year. 'It's the Law of Nature' they told me, 'kill or be killed'. ' I don't like it', I told them 'all the cruelty involved, I don't care if I die, I just don't want it to go on and I'll have no part of it'. Well 45 years later I am still alive, but there was a 'downside' : I still have the same weight that I had 45 years ago while my friends have gotten very fat.
The present disaster in ME is not a result of 'birth control' but the result of American policies, invasions, CIA -like secret ops etc.
They are putting a golden noose around their/our necks because the golden glitter of power/privilege is so wonderful to behold. Their children and ours will thank them with curses.
The power of the MSM to ignore/trivialize a candidate is unassailable. Even Jon Stewart ignores him preferring instead to get the cheap laughs from Trump, who is there just to serve that very purpose. The American public yearns constantly to be entertained, not educated.
'Nobody saw it coming' ? 'War is unpredictable' ? 'It takes a life of its' own' ? And yet we jump in with billions of $$$$ eager to launch this 'unpredictable' thing which destroys millions of lives and ruins entire nations... while Hollywood stands on the sidelines and salivates hoping to see examples of American heroism in action... for the next blockbuster movie
He's not a 'pre-Reagan conservative'. There is much more to him than that. The Catholic Church has become archaic, almost dead, full of superstitions and useless dogmas, but it can still play an important role and the pope can introduce a new awareness into it. It is not easy to go against entrenched power, even though you have the 'bully pulpit'. Many lunatic conservatives are starting to call him the 'anti-Christ' because he is so open. If we give him more support he may be able, and I hope he intends, to do more.
None of these arguments will ever be presented on the MSM. The 'Holocaust' overshadows/justifies everything that takes place in/from Israel. WWII is still the only war that Americans and possibly every other nation on earth can relate to, thanks to Hollywood and the international movie industry. The war that never goes away, or fades from memory. Vietnam is a distant memory but WWII is like yesterday. The power of that fixation is what keeps the 'Holocaust' foremost in our minds and hearts and as a shield for Israeli 'actions' (war crimes).
We keep hoping and wishing that after this one (more) act of cruelty and depravity Israel will finally be rejected by our leaders and Media liars, but it just keeps on going. What has happened is that even the most innocent of Palestinians are treated like criminals and identified with the Nazism that thrived in Germany 70 years ago, thanks to the constant barrage of 'Holocaust' indoctrination everywhere in our culture.
Uncle Sam will take care of it.
You are way too optimistic.
Congress loves Israel and the more mayhem and cruelty it indulges in the more the love. The way fans of certain rock/sports stars feel about their 'hero'.
Tip of the iceberg. There's plenty more where this is coming from, in possibly every country on earth (slight exaggeration, I hope), even in the US govt. which has been infiltrated and controlled remotely by CIA and other linked/related agencies. The puppet masters and their (elected) puppets.
Fine, none of us can 'stop using fossil fuels' since like the rest of us they are under the same social/govt. policies we all have to live with. But any step/effort toward change is crucial. You are indeed a jackass to demand only the ultimate or nothing. Go join your brothers in ISIS/ISIL.
Instead of trying to negotiate for the release of the 3 boys, Israel went on a rampage, killing and imprisoning(kidnapping) Palestinian boys. I don't think there could have been any other outcome frankly.
I'm dying to put solar panels on our house but there isn't even one contractor in the entire city where I live that does that. To bring somebody in from far away would probably be too costly.
With a God like that who needs the devil ?
Important people like Tony Blair do not lie. Everything they say is 100% true. How do we know it is true ? Because they state it with complete conviction. There is absolutely no hesitation or uncertainty ever. Regret or remorse is only an option that the weak and ordinary people succumb to. The thousands upon thousands that died do not matter. They lacked importance. None of them were billionaires or Tony Blair quality politicians/ world class leaders. The MSM had nothing to say about them and neither does Tony Blair. Tony Blair has never ever given them a second's thought. His own contributions to the world are much more valuable than all the petty contributions of the million or so that died under the Iraq invasion. If a million people were murdered and Tony Blair doesn't care about them... then how could it possibly have mattered anyway ?
This kind of thing is building up, not winding down. NRA and other fanatical groups are inciting their members more and more with their wild fantasies about police state taking away guns and Obama is a socialist etc. etc. They see what happened in Kiev and Caracas and they want to stir things up like that here too. Don't trust the CIA and other right-wing inside groups not to be assisting them too.
No, we get what they lobby for. We all get it, even though we did not want it.
This is another ray of hope amidst the hysteria mongering that religion has become. We have enough hate in all of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam to last another 1000 years but only enough Love for another 10 years. Religions that condemn and traditions that kill must come to an end. Now he needs to imitate Pope Francis one more time. Just as Francis went to a prison in Rome and washed the feet of a female Muslim prisoner, he should go to the prison of Meriam Ibrahim and was her feet. This is how the power of humility can conquer the power of hatred. Blessed be the peacemakers!
Welcome back to America, Bowe, where the wolves of Fox Street are already tearing your entire family apart! They had the audacity to question American exceptionalism (greatest country on earth!) and the sense to try to reach out across the cultural abyss to the other side, not with bombs and bullets, but with books and open hearts and minds, and listening... Listening is not the way to victory! It is the way to Peace! Pat Tillman started listening... and look what we did to him. Lesson for us all. What ? You were a prisoner of the Taliban for 5 years and not once did they torture you ? Don't those fools have a CIA? Welcome back. If you can fit yourself back into the box of American cliches (greatest country on earth!) you will be fine. What size straitjacket do you wear ?
Presumably the Christ would be intelligent and decent enough to understand science and take steps to remedy a dangerous situation. What is happening is not only a matter of science but a matter of morality as well, and Hagee fails miserably on both counts. He's not even ready for the first coming of Christ, much less for the second.
If it wasn't for RT and Democracy Now we would all be in the dark about these things.
Pipelines are great but they all have one final destination: global warming. We're building a bridge to the end of the world. The competition is on and the competition, in the end, will kill all of us. What is needed is global co-operation. Pie-in-the-sky ? Maybe but if we can't reach (across the abyss) for it we won't make it. Peace and co-operation have never been valued in the 'real world', only in pious platitudes. Solar will save us, pipelines will put an end to us.
Ever since 9-11 it's been a battle between vengeance and vendetta vs forgiving and reconciliation, and vengeance and vendetta are winning hands down. In fact reconciliation is not even on the horizon. The politicians are driven (and driving) to sheer madness by the media frenzy and the glorification of the military/violence. This would never have happened had we dealt properly with the conflict/oppression of Israel-Palestine more than 20 years ago when the opportunity was truly golden. Dennis Kucinich proposed a Dept. of Peace but the CIA which believes in destabilization, assassination, unrest and destruction would never allow it. The paranoid National Security Bureaucracy undermines every move towards peace that any merely elected individual politicians could or would even dare to propose if they even had that kind of daring/courage. So instead we are left with throwing gasoline unto the fire as this advertising campaign demonstrates.
Because violence and force are the answer to all challenges and problems and punishment to the extreme for all who transgress against (not the law) the rulers.
When a million people starve to death Rush couldn't care less. When a billionaire parts with a penny Rush goes into a frenzy. It's the 'principle of the thing' he will shout, 'Capitalism must never lose an inch'. On the other side, the people's Pope says we must all help each other as Jesus taught us.
We can call this a 'ray of light', but it's a tiny one. More than the solar panels we need a change in consciousness. The 'Zeitgeist' movement shows the way. The webs we have woven (socialism, capitalism, Christianity, Islam, etc.) have become prisons, and ultimately 'death traps'.
About 20 years ago I bought a 1912 Brittanica. Under the heading Palestine about 27 or 28 pages. Under Israel: not even one word. Unfortunately my wife did some housecleaning and threw the encyclopedia out about 2 years ago.
It is not a coincidence that this is happening on the 'eve' of the pope's visit. The Israelis are extremely wary of this new pope. He has a very strong streak of honesty and candidness and he is an activist for the oppressed. I believe that this incident was staged to send Pope Francis a message/warning and to demonstrate that the real power is in their hands not his.
I went out canvassing against fracking recently and one guy told me "The earth is doomed anyway, and there's nothing we can do about it, so we might as well get some jobs out of it." What can you say to that ? You can get a job blowing things and people up in the military and then be treated like a hero for it. You can get a pretty decent wage destroying the environment and if you miss out on those 'opportunities' and end up roaming the streets because of your moral qualms the only friend you'll have is your lonely conscience.
Why didn't we spend $5 billion sponsoring/defending human rights in Saudi Arabia instead of Ukraine as V. Nuland revealed ? No wonder people are suspicious of American sermons about 'freedom'.
Israel has a huge advantage and doesn't give a damn what the Palestinians do, pro or anti Peace. American media will not report on the conditions the Palestinians are forced to endure because they fear or are the Jewish/Israeli lobby. Politicians are completely frozen into undying support for Israel no matter what. Even the Pentagon and the CIA have been infiltrated by pro-Israel (volunteer for the most part) agents. Nobody of any prominence dares to speak out - except maybe for Jimmy Carter.
Strange isn't it: 'Religious police sounds like 'Hell on earth' and yet they claim to represent 'Heaven'.
Hurry up to do what ? Keep not making nuclear weapons ? Just not make them faster ?
The lobby may be local but it serves a foreign interest.
'Duty'. That's the name of the book. But it's really about the appearance of duty,not the reality. Politicians (and that includes career military and intelligence 'brass') are the consumate actors. They are never 'offscreen' even in their dreams. That is how they can be so devastatingly wrong. They live in an imaginary America (and world) which has no basis in reality and their personal lives are the same. It's pure Hollywood.
Who would have thought that market forces coupled with stubborn American ignorance/arrogance would prove to be more dangerous to the survival of the planet than nuclear weapons ? Americans have always claimed to have 'saved the world' in WWII. I guess they have come to believe that they own it now. In fact when you look at it the military itself has fallen under the influence/power of big business. And big business doesn't give a damn about anything but the bottom line. Even in the face of certain death. High rollers live dangerously - unfortunately they live dangerously for all of us on this planet, not just themselves.
How does this 'aid' help the people of Pakistan ? And is $1.6 bl./year worth the killing of hundreds of innocent people ? Those are the questions to be answered by Sec. Hagel, Pakistan's civilian (not military) leaders and Pres. Obama.
I used to say that Switzerland is the most corrupt country in the world because 'they drive the getaway car for all the bank robbers in the world'. In other words all the corrupt politicians, dictators, etc. stash their ill-gotten gains in Swiss bank accts. that are out of reach of the law of every country on earth. But in the end you're right, it is America, the dominant nation/economy/military in the world which wins the prize.
I once made the remark:
'The Light of God is Love
The shadow of God is superstition'.
This pope walks in the Light.
If Democracy Now can broadcast direct from there I don't understand why CNN, CBS, MSNBC etc. aren't doing it. What are they doing - watching their (celebrity) navel ?
Uninformed. Couldn't care less about other people. Easily entertained, yet susceptible to superstition ('prophecy'), fanatically partisan, superiority complex, materialistic.
The real 'threat' to Israel is that a friendly Iran would leave them with no more excuses to delay/deter the real 'Peace Process'with the Palestinians. Grasping at straws (or grasping at enemies) to avoid the long suffering issue before them. The Holocaust and the 'threat' of another Holocaust has become their shield behind which they can keep on doing damage to their Palestinian brothers while their military/security/police state dominates over the Middle East. The Pentagon plays along with this because this constant threat of war supports their 'need' for power/money/and resources in the US. Warmongering has become a self-perpetuating vicious circle.
Israel would like nothing better than to have this 'revelation' 'put a hold' on the 'Peace Process' at this time. Anything to delay or avoid a just settlement. Israel is doing quite well without peace. It is the Palestinians who are suffering/oppressed. The truth is that Arafat was 100% sincere in his quest for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. He did not die from poisoning. He died of a broken heart. Peace was within reach for a very brief period of time, but the enemies of peace killed Rabin and the peace process, both in Israel and the US. halls of power.
Too low. Much too low. The actual death toll is at least 3x that. This was an example of American 'rescue genocide'.
Ah, but it turns out that science is much too complicated for our simplistic legislators to understand so they would rather deny it. They can barely (mis)understand the Bible which they (mis)interpret to launch wars and build up useless armaments/killing machines while the natural world is being poisoned for profit.
Now we have a pope that is more reasonable and a Iranian president that is more reasonable. Would it be too much to ask for a John Kerry that is more reasonable ? Or (God forbid) a Netanyahu that is reasonable ?
Thanks to this $52.5 billion a lot of marijuana smokers have been apprehended and fined and/or jailed. Other than that... nothing to report.
Did you know it would be impossible to end slavery if it were still part of our 'economy' today because of the lobbyists? With global warming we are facing a danger and moral hazard as great as slavery, with no Lincoln in sight, and a very weak abolition movement. Between the CIA and the lobbyists there is no room for change. Only war and profits and the dominance of destruction.
I suspect that Obama may be one of the politicians under the threat of blackmail.
And somebody would have to inform them. Who owns the Media ?
The CIA-National Security Council took charge on Nov.22, 1963. The Secret Service which guards the president is employed and selected by the CIA. Elections are purely for display/traditional purposes.
Obama is better off meeting with the likes of Jay Leno than Vladimir Putin. America's 'diplomatic' skills have become extremely rusty, and Obama has only been pretending to be president. All the real decisions are made at the Pentagon/CIA level.
Who are the 'associated forces' ? All of us. All of us who petition/protest for peace, or against war, all of us who are Muslim, defend or sympathize with Muslims, all who have relatives or neighbours who were killed by American drones, or who have reported on the victims of drones, all who are designated 'aliens'(non-Americans), anti-Zionists, and even Obama himself may be on the list depending on whose version of it is used.
I don't think the Pentagon/White House even know who these 'associated forces' may be. But suspect: all of us. All of us who are Muslim, and/or 'alien', and/or disagree with military/security policies, and/or for human rights and civil liberties, and/or are 'anti-war', and/or whose neighbors and families have been killed by American drones, or who have reported on those drone attacks... the list is much, much longer (in fact there is no end to it just as there is no end to this 'war'). It may even include Obama himself, depending on whose version of the list you are reading from.
This was happening right from the start of the GWOT. The Bush administration allowed the war on terror to be hijacked by racist, rogue elements, many of whom were already operative within the govt. It was the same under Obama. I suspect that is why Al-Alawki became such an extremist. He was actually very moderate most of his life but when he saw what was happening both here and throughout the world to Muslims he became an extremist. Blowback. I suspect the neocons (Israel firsters) were aiming for this all along.
I have an idea: Give American citizenship to everybody in the world. They are all affected by American policies anyway. I always said that America was a democracy at home but a dictatorship throughout the rest of the world. Give everybody in the world voting rights on the candidates and issues that will inexorably affect their lives. Some people say that 'they all do it (spying)' but the truth is that most nations have a smaller GDP than the annual budgets for the NSA-CIA.
Watching this video was like watching little kids playing with fire - a lot of fire. My impression, and it could be wrong, is that these women are out for notoriety/glamour and thrills. Wayne Madsen claims that they are 'agents provocateur'. I don't know but even if they aren't I doubt they are doing their 'cause' any good. In fact just the opposite.
I was going to say that this is 'a ray of hope' amid the misery of Gazans, but it's more than that; it is actually a ray of Joy, a taste of what every people in every nation deserve to experience in their lives. May Peace and Love prevail on Earth.
The National Security State has been running the country since Nov. 1963. Sure a fellow named Jimmy Carter slipped through a crack in 1976 and became president but his administration was soon sabotaged and he lost re-election, but basically the presidency and all other elected offices are mere window dressing. The Pentagon-CIA-NSA make all the essential decisions and the elected officials rubber stamp them if they have to for demonstration purposes only.
I doubt if we've heard the last of Michelle Bachmann. Her announcement to leave sounds too reasonable to be true.
Excellent letter - I even thought your metaphors were rather catchy and visually effective.
Strangely enough it sounds as if both the Taliban and the US lost in this election. Politics does make strange bedfellows.
I'll be quite frank: To me (psychologically) the veil is a shadow, the burka a coffin. It may be possible to live your whole life under a shadow - to a certain extent we all do - but to live your life in a coffin ? That would be unbearable.
My take on this is that the Israelis have started attacking Syrian forces not because they want to see the rebels win but because they want to prolong the bloodbath. Just as in the Iran-Iraq war the US instigated both sides so that they would decimate each other and weaken each other. A broken Syria is a weak Syria just like a broken Iraq is a weak Iraq and ultimately a broken Iran. That leaves Israel, the super-power of the Middle East.
I watched the news on Al-Jazeera, RT, BBC, CBC, and the Boston bombing was bigger news than the much worse ones in Iraq, Somalia, Pakistan etc. Somehow Americans always see themselves as innocents, or better yet heroic, thanks to Hollywood indoctrination. There have been 10,000 bombings in Iraq in the last 10 years that would not have occurred if we had not invaded. All of them much worse than the one in Boston. At what pt. does conscience/guilt awaken ?
Homeland ? 2000 years ? Let's see, what was my 'homeland' 2000 years ago ? Oh yeah, I wasn't alive 2000 years ago, and neither were my father and mother.
The politics of 'wishful thinking' (Obama) vs the politics of 'facts on the ground'. Platitudes don't work on Planet Earth, and they especially won't work on Planet Israel. The only thing that may work - and this is the scary part - is what Rachel Corrie did.
He may not have to worry about his re-election, but his loyalty to the party will make him just as cautious in regard to his successor.
I don't believe that the 'tragic results regarding the Mavi Marmara were unintentional'. I believe that they were in fact very intentional. As an aside, if they were 'unintentional', I would like to see other people, such as Bill Maher apologize too. He basically said that 'they had it coming to them' on his TV show. I have refused to watch his show since then. I think the entire American congress and senate should apologize too.
The US is once again celebrating and parading the noose around its neck. Eternal bonds indeed. But which party is in bondage ?
Chavez may not have been a saint but he certainly wasn't a dictator or even a human-rights violator. He did not have secret prisons where prisoners were tortured and the majority of the voting population voted him in office.
With one exception: the US itself which has secret prisons where torture is practiced upon thousands of victims.
If AIPAC had to register as foreign agents as you suggest, what would that make all of our senators and representatives (save almost a handful) ? Agents of foreign agents ? For that is what they are. Israel is not the 51st state as some have suggested, they are in fact the first state and all others are subordinate. Of course Israel will be exempt from the penalties of American austerity. Just as the Pentagon and Dept. of Homeland Security will, despite the phony hullabaloo. War will not go hungry in America/Israel. The key to this indoctrination is this: It is a patriotic duty to support the military and it is a religious duty to support Israel. When you mix patriotism with religion the level of fanaticism/loyalty is unparalleled.
Juan, I thought your analysis was pretty good and I appreciate it. I was born a Catholic and feel somewhat connected to it, though as someone who has studied world religions/faiths at some pt. in my life I found its' doctrines to be shallow and limiting. Liberation theology was a step in the right direction but was nipped in the bud by the 'political police'. Is there a chance that a new pope might again lead to a more democratic and open church ? I believe there is, though one must remember that the same CIA that can assassinate a president can also assassinate a pope.
The American press/media will never 'track' this story because it may lead to something called 'anti-Semitism' and that is a dead end (or end to any reporter's career). It will be ignored.
It could have been so big that it caused the launching of nuclear weapons perhaps?
There can't possibly even one person, male or female, who has demonstrated more heart and courage than this young girl. And if you believe in 'Divine intervention/miracles' it is clearly obvious that God is on her side and not the Taliban. Her recovery is as astonishing as her courage. When all is said and done I think history will look back and say that she did more to defeat the Taliban than the entire US military with all its technological destructive paraphernalia and secret ops.
Anybody who votes for Chuck Hagel will end up getting the same kind of treatment from the 'Israel lobby' (note: the Israel lobby includes at least 98 of the 100 senators and at least 95% of the reps. In other words our government has become the 'Israel lobby'.) Israel is not the 51st state as some people have claimed. It is in fact the 1st state, more than the equal of all the others put together.
Lose another 'fruitless' war ? Wars are not engaged in to be 'won' anymore don't you know ? There need be no 'final victory' or the population behind you 100% as in 'traditional' wars. Now it's just military-business-as-usual. It's not about winning or losing, it's about keeping the engine of the military-corporate-industrial complex operating at full capacity and the profits and promotions coming in without end. The destruction of the people in Afghanistan (Iraq, Mali, Yemen, Iran etc.) doesn't matter. Even the bankruptcy of the American people doesn't matter. What matters is the 'military economy'. The US may 'lose' the war, but the military will always win. They've always regretted leaving Vietnam. They won't leave this time. It will go on and on forever.
You're absolutely right. This (global warming, and the state of the environment in general) is 1000 times more dangerous than 'terrorism' ever could be. We need to stop drilling and killing and try to bring all nations and people together to face the greatest challenge humanity has ever encountered. Save Our Planet!
The gun laws are not to take guns away from decent citizens but to regulate their sales to make it harder for the criminals and mentally unstable to obtain them. You personally wouldn't have any problem getting them. And by the way alcohol is indeed regulated and it is still freely available to all.
I think you're taking an extreme view of this... in order to avoid seeing the obvious.
Still didn't get it ? Think about it, maybe it'll come to you.
Perhaps we should change that phrase: 'the banality of evil' to 'the ambiguity of evil'.
It doesn't matter who's president. The Pentagon-CIA cabal runs the show. If they (the presidents) give them any trouble they'll get the Kennedy Nov. 1963 treatment.
The whole thing is a deception. Israel's 'job' as it were in the Middle East is to ratchet up tensions and keep them high in order for the Pentagon to continue to justify its' huge budget and prestige as the so-called 'global security' police. Israel and the Pentagon thrive on war and would shrivel up and die if Peace ever came to pass. They make sure it never happens with their 'secret ops' and Israel's 'right to defend itself'.
I really don't believe that the sanctions were ever seriously intended to 'work' whatever that may or may not mean. I think the sanctions are intended to inflict hardship and cruelty upon the Iranian people - basically vengeance for imagined or projected 'wrongs'. The US can't come out and say this however, so they make up all kinds of rationalizations about how they are or are not 'working'.
I'm not surprised. It has been the practice of our news media to distort or interpret everything that Ahmedinejad says as being fanatical in order to demonize him. If you don't do this you are automatically labeled as being anti-Semitic and that label is a sentence worse than death in our society for one's career.
As there is as yet no proof that Iran is working on a nuclear bomb only suspicion, the sanctions are a crime against Iran's sovereignty and because of their disastrous effect on the economy of Iran, an act of war. This is the same process that preceded and eventually led to the invasion of Iraq. Obama's approach may be slower than Netanyahu's but it is leading to the same end.
Romney is blinded by American propaganda and thus cannot conceive of or perceive facts that contradict his beliefs. This in a sense is a distortion of the philosophy of 'positive thinking'. If you believe strong enough it will be true, belief changes everything. It's the basis of good salesmanship, and America more than anything else is about salesmanship. In fact you could say the elections are just that and that is why it comes down to money. The general public does not know or care about what actually took place in the Middle East. They want Hollywood heroes to lead them to victory and success.
'Hollywood, Hollywood, on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all ?"
The answer is always the same: USA! USA!
Amazing isn't it ? Without the occupation of Palestinian lands there could never have been a 911, thus no Afghan and Iraq wars among other disasters, millions killed, trillions wasted, and yet our MSM still hasn't caught on that the occupation is the very heart of the so-called Jihad. End the occupation and the beast of terrorism will die.
Excellent article. One of the best I've seen so far, along with Gareth Porter's continuing reporting on every aspect and false accusations that come along repeatedly in the MSM. Your title : It's psychological warfare... made me think: Isn't that what religion has become in our day and age - a kind of psychological warfare to rule over the people and create enemy-scapegoats who we must attack and destroy to save ourselves ? Or politics for that matter...
If what Andrew Bacevich says is true, and I believe it is, then how can we possibly condemn al-Alawki for having opposed this attack on his religion ? I think it is true that a huge segment of the American population and many of its' political leaders do believe that we are at war with Islam itself, and if we continue to pursue it and especially if we follow the influence (dictates?) of Israel we will find ourselves in the midst of utter chaos and destruction such as has never been experienced here on earth.
Romney's bad on the Palestinian issue but the substance of the Obama (non)approach is exactly the same. Obama wouldn't let the cat out of the bag as Romney has but the cat's still in there. If there ever was a sliver of hope for the Palestinians you would have to go back all the way to Carter.
Great. But we're still torturing people in secret prisons, killing innocents in drone strikes, secretly undermining governments with CIA all over the world, secret assassinations and other plots, surveillance state in America, no backbone with Israel thus prolonging a crisis in the Middle East, plotting sabotage and maybe even war against Iran, Arab Americans have no civil rights that are worth the paper they're written on... and somebody else think of the other 10 million ways we're not better while I take a break.
Perfect pitch ! You got the whole story down in this one article - short and sweet. Nobody else can do that so simply and so true.
Don't call Romney out yet. All that $$$$ is going to find a way to alter our perceptions. It's just taking longer this time.
What Romney has said (in words) is reprehensible, but isn't he simply saying what Obama has already said in (in)action.
Americans better hope that Global Warming jams because that is our only prayer to stop it.
I completely agree with you, Carter is a hero, someone who sacrifices his wellbeing to bring succour to those in need. The Master said: 'Take your brothers' need as the measure for your action and solve the problems of the world'.
In order for Israel to lose the 'public relations battle' the American public would have to wake up and pay attention. They don't want to wake up, and most of all they don't want to pay attention. That sounds too much like learning which sounds like school (without the proms and/or the 'pranks'). The MSM will keep giving them circuses and little bits of misinformation.
The reason why American politicians do whatever Israel wants is that they do not want to end up like Julius Caesar (politically).
Obama's entire life has been built around creating 'appearances'. He is more concerned with appearances than reality and the American people are only too eager to play along. The election is a beauty-ugly contest. One candidate tells us how beautiful he/she is while the other one tells us how ugly he/she really is. A significant portion of us vote on ideological lines, while the rest prefer to remain superficially informed and are waiting to be swayed by some visually appealing chimera. Concern for what the US is doing to the rest of the world while pursuing its' own interests would be a liability not an asset in the election. The American people prefer to be fooled by the candidates because facing up to the truth would be hard work, and I mean extremely hard work and nobody has the stomach for it except idealists who have always been despised and derided by the Media hacks.
This is no longer an effort to fight terrorism. It is vengeance. Pure hatred. Blind hatred.
If Saudi Arabia can afford the luxury of imprisoning and executing people for political and religious reasons, then Saudi Arabia must afford also the luxury of not selling petroleum.
'King' Bibi ? Time is playing upon people's biblical fantasies/superstitions. 'Armageddon' is the subtext. And somehow it all comes out looking rosy. The delusion before the deluge.
Hey I was a teenager back in the 60's and that was very much 'the case'. Romney couldn't have been that naive. I remember this one friend, who was not untypical saying to me 'Let's go downtown and roll some queers'. I don't recall exactly what I said but I remember I was thinking : If by roll you mean beat up someone there are several reasons why I don't like the idea. Someone might get hurt or even killed and I don't want to hurt anyone and who knows it might even be me. I don't even know how to fight. For another thing it's probably illegal, especially if we 'take his money as you are suggesting. That would be stealing on top of everything else and I even return the change when they make a mistake at the cash register and I'm supposed to steal somebody's wallet ? I don't think so.
But of course gays (or queers as they were called then) were supposed to be a kind of free-fire zone and the rules of decency and legality were often suspended or cast aside because of even the slightest suggestion that they might have made a sexual advance. Nope I really don't believe that Romney was innocent or unmalicious in that incident. It sounds too typical of what I experienced or saw and heard.
Thank you for that article and so many others based on facts and history not ideology. I read your website every day in order to be truly informed about these divisive and incendiary issues.
They sound like a bunch of foolish old men chasing after a young girl, each one bragging and posturing for her attentions, only in this case it is war they are chasing after not sex. Even the foolish old men are wiser than they are.
I think it was the EPA's revenge.
What the US calls 'the real goal...' is also 'the big lie'.
I sincerely hope that they pursue this venue right to the end. They will save themselves billions and protect their people and environment from the dangers of nuclear pollution which is much more destructive than we are even yet aware of.
There was only a 90% certainty that Troy Davis was innocent. The US has adopted policy that if there is even a 1% possibility of guilt the accused must be 'taken out'. This is the rule in the 'War on Terror' and it is now the rule in our Justice system. Most of the time, excuse me I meant to say all of the time, the accused are 'pre-convicted' by hearsay and hysteria in the media.
This was an excellent analysis, except in the end I am not sure if Awlaki should have been killed at all. His so-called crimes are extremely vague and dubious. He's not someone I paid any attention to until his execution I admit but since I looked his videos up on the web I can see how his views became extremely cynical towards the US, with still a touch of his earlier idealism showing through. Like the other commentator above I seriously doubt that the man who was claimed to be Osama was reaching for a weapon. That whole thing was a sham and a big show. Psy-ops not reality.
Well, you either have to agree with A-Q or with Ahmedinejad. Either way you're a terrorist and are now on the no-fly list.
'I will leave it up to the experts...' says Sen. Graham. That would be the 'security' experts, the CIA,the Pentagon etc. It appears that our elected officials have been 'leaving it up to the experts' for some time now. In fact I wonder if we don't already have a military Junta ruling over us by 'default'. I believe that our 'security' people have their own agenda and that they don't always or even often report their operations to our elected officials who wouldn't dare question 'our brave heroes' anyway. National Security by any other name would be called dictatorship. The man who was murdered by Team 6 in Abbotabad was not Osama Bin Laden, who was already dead 5 years, for instance and I am not sure Obama even suspects it. He is kept in the dark and wants it that way as do almost all our 'representatives'. These 'security' people are always moving us towards war, despite how catastrophic it has been thus far.
Sad to see this though not surprised at all. If this war is undertaken it will bring great tragedy to the people of Iran. We can only hope in the name of Justice that that tragedy is also experienced by the aggressing parties also, and that means, you and I as citizens of the aggressing nations. We can no longer turn this cup of tragedy away for very much longer. Too many strings are being pulled in the shadows of power and the helpless or enthusiastic politicians are eager to dance to the tunes of the piper.
I think this is tremendous news, the conscience of the Jewish people has been aroused. Rachel Corrie did not die. Her spirit is growing stronger. I dreamt this would happen many years ago. I knew it would come true.
I believe he means every word of it. As for having moral authority or not, he as the same moral authority that any other world leader has. I don't see anyone out there who doesn't cast a shadow. That's the world we live in. There is a lot of truth in this message and it has a certain measure of moral power in it. I really don't believe that Iran has plans to build such a bomb. I'm not even sure the Israelis really believe it. All they want is for the world to envision a 'monster', a scapegoat in other words, that must be destroyed. The fact that millions of Iranians will be killed does not deter them, in fact it only sharpens the appetite. When a nation has turned 'wolf'' there is no stopping it.