Afghanistan is often referred to as the “Heartland” in world history, the center of the “Great Game,” a colossal struggle between the British and Russian empires up until World War I. A mere glance at the map easily shows its importance, as a trade route with borders on or near China, Pakistan, India, the old Soviet republics (the ‘stans’), and leading to the Indian Ocean south and north to Russia herself. By 1979 The Soviet Union dominated the region. US power had been in decline for decades. So the decision by US planners (while Jimmy Carter happened to be president) to lure the Soviets into an Afghan trap is perhaps a pivot point in the survival of the US military empire, the only thing that has allowed survival of the US as an economic power.

So pity the poor schmucks who happen to live there. Making a living in arid soil is difficult, but tribes had perfected techniques over the eons, moving cattle and sheep from low to high pasture, and growing trees that tapped and preserved deep moisture in the soils. The US/Soviet proxy war of the 1980’s destroyed that economy. After the US succeeded, much to the delight of Zbigniew Brzezinski, both countries abandoned the region, leaving it to flail in the wind. (Zbig, easily diagnosed as a classic sociopath, delights in destruction but is short on know-how about regional development and human resources.) Without regard to anything else, the decision in 1979 to lure the Soviets into the trap devastated a fragile economy, and the lone surviving cash crop that Afghans could use for survival became opium.

In the wake of that war, both Afghanistan and Pakistan were essentially narco-states, with Afghanistan having none of the formal structure of government to gain formal recognition as a state in the world system. Its devastated economy left it as nothing more than a battleground for various drug and war lords. It was into that failed system that Pakistani intelligence, known as ISI (fostered and deeply infiltrated by the CIA), promoted the Taliban. While demonized in the US propaganda system, the Taliban were nothing more than the survivors and inheritors of a tragedy. However, to gain acceptance on the world stage, the regime cracked down on opium production, so that by 2001 the harvests had dwindled to nearly scratch.

The US had long wished for military dominance of the region, wanting to put bases on the southern perimeter of the new Russian Federations in the ‘stans. The false flag attack by the US on itself on 9/11 was used as justification for a bombing attack on Afghanistan, centered around Kabul. (Prior to 9/11, the Taliban had been warned that their territory was needed for a gas pipeline from the Caspian Basin, and were told that they would be given either a carpet of gold or be buried under a carpet of bombs.) The Taliban, which had lost most of its internal support due to its repressive policy on opium production, easily collapsed, and Afghanistan was again a battleground among competing factions for geopolitical maneuvering.

2013, the twelfth year after the US bombing attack and occupation of Afghanistan, saw the country produce a record crop of opium, historically significant. Observers wonder about this remarkable resurgence in production despite the presence of US troops. I don’t wonder about that at all. In the post-war era, drugs and the CIA and the US military have gone hand-in-hand around the world, from the Golden Triangle of Thailand, Laos and Burma, to the fields of Colombia and Mexico, to Afghanistan. Wherever there is US presence, there is a surge in drug production and trafficking.

The cash flow from opium and coca fields is an important component in many wars and armed insurgencies. The CIA usually allies itself with the cartels that produce the drugs as a matter of necessity, something that ought to be cause for wonder (why are we always allied with the bad guys?). But CIA itself is not in the drug business. It is simply that arm of capitalism that fosters war and overthrow of governments that Wall Street and London do not like. Alliance with the drug business is a necessity to achieve their end. As we saw with the Taliban, even as that regime was working diligently to end opium production in Afghanistan, CIA was working to undo the Taliban. Drugs were not an issue.

So what have we learned?

• The great powers do not care about regional people or economies.
• The great powers do not care about drugs or the devastation of lives and economies they render.
• While we know where the opium and coca fields are, the path of the crops to the labs to convert them to heroin and cocaine are shrouded in mystery.
• The money that derives from those labs are an even greater mystery. I would bet that no one on Wall Street or in London has a clue where it goes.*

Let’s be frank. A large part of the problem with opium and coca is prohibition, which increases the value of the crops and spawns criminal networks. Eradication of fields in one place merely moves them to another. Even as the US wages a two-faced battle on drugs (one to eradicate, one to foster their growth), the drug business is built on demand. The only viable option for curtailment of growth, distribution and cash flow is by lessening demand, i.e. … treatment. The problem will never go away, and a certain percentage of the population will always be drawn to addiction. We can only minimize that.

What we probably should not do is to support drug dealers, war lords, cartels, banks, and narco-states like Pakistan and Colombia to advance capitalism. That’s actually kind of cynical, ya know?
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*This is sarcasm. I always forget to tell people when I do that, leading to confusion.

Bernie Goldberg used his position as a sports analyst on Bryant Gumbel’s Real Sports last week to announce that the Russians had shot down Malaysian Flight MH17 on July 17, 2014. Goldberg had no evidence to support his view. Why he felt the need to interject it into a panel discussions on sports injuries is unknown, but prior to doing so, you can see his eyes darting to off-screen sources – he seems nervous. His use of that platform to advance the theory that the Russians did it was rude, calculated, and dishonest. It begins at 5:20 in the video that follows:

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On August 8th, Ukraine, The Netherlands, Belgium and Australia signed an agreement allowing the disclosure of information regarding the investigation of July 17 the crash of MH17 only at the consent of all parties involved. In other words, built into that investigation is a conflict of interest, for it turns out that the Kiev government was responsible for the shoot down, as evidence that follows demonstrates to be highly possible, then that government, which Vladimir Putin refers to as a “putsch,” has the power to quash the release of the information.

The following are the conclusions of a group of experts from the Russian Union of Engineers that was gathered to analyze the loss of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 on July 17, 2014.

The expert group included retired AA officers, who had combat experience with surface-to-air missile systems, as well as pilots experienced in using air-to-air weapons. The problem was also discussed at the meeting of the Academy of Geopolitical Affairs, where many different versions were tested and discussed once again. In the course of the analysis, the experts used materials received from open sources published in mass media. The situation was also analyzed with the help of the Su-25 aircraft flight simulator.

The conclusions are detailed by Ivan A. Andrievskii, First Vice-President of the All-Russian Public Organization Russian Union of Engineers, Chairman of the Board of Engineering Company “2К”. See the entire report at Voltaire Network.

Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was conducting the flight Amsterdam-Kuala-Lumpur, on 17.07.2014, according to the tunnel set by the air traffic controllers. It is most probable that manual steering was offline and the airplane was flying in autopilot mode, performing horizontal flight following the route which was laid out on the ground and adjusted by Ukrainian air traffic controllers.

At 17.17–17.20 the Boeing 777 was in Ukrainian airspace, in Donetsk area, at the altitude of 10100m. An unidentified fighter aircraft (presumably Su-25 or MiG-29), which was previously at a lower echelon, on a head-on course in a layer of clouds, ascended rapidly, unexpectedly emerging in front of the passenger plane out of the clouds and opened fire at the control cabin (cockpit), using 30mm or smaller cannon armament. The targeting could have been performed not only by the pilot of a fighter aircraft in “free hunt” conditions (using the aircraft radar), but also by a navigation officer on the ground, using the airspace data received from ground-based radars.

The cockpit of the airliner was damaged in the result of numerous rounds hitting the aircraft fuselage. The control cabin was depressurized, which caused the instant death of the crew, due to mechanical influences and decompression. The attack was quite unexpected and lasted only a fraction of a second. Due to the surprise situation, the crew was unable to give any alarm signals intended for such situations, as the flight was following its scheduled route and the attack was unexpected for everyone.

As neither the engines, nor the hydraulic system, nor other devices crucial to the continuation of the flight, were set out of operation, the Boeing 777 continued its horizontal flight in autopilot mode (which is a standard situation), perhaps gradually losing altitude.

After that, the pilot of the unidentified fighter aircraft maneuvered and repositioned himself into the rear hemisphere of the Boeing 777. He entered an engagement course, performed the targeting using onboard target tracking equipment, and launched a R-60 or R-73 air-to-air missile (one or multiple).

As a result of the missile impact, the entire cabin was depressurized, the flight control system was incapacitated, the autopilot was switched off, the plane ceased its horizontal flight and went into a tail-spin. The created g-forces caused a mechanical disruption of the airframe at high altitude.

As indicated by the available flight recorder data, the plane fell apart in the air, but this is possible mainly in the case of vertical falling from a 10000m altitude, which can typically happen only in a case of exceeding the maximum allowed g-force. As a rule, such a tail-spin can be explained by the inability of the crew to control the airplane as a result of some emergency case in the cabin and subsequent instant depressurization of the cockpit and passenger compartment. The destruction of the airplane took place at a high altitude, which explains the fact that the wreckage of the plane was dissimilated over a territory over 15 km².

Finally,

On 17.07.2014 the armed forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic possessed neither appropriate fighter aircraft capable of engaging an air target similar to the Boeing 777, nor an airfield network, nor radar detection devices, targeting and guidance equipment.

Fighter aircraft of the Russian Federation Armed Forces did not violate the airspace of Ukraine, which is confirmed by both the Ukrainian side and by third parties performing space-based reconnaissance over the territory of Ukraine and its airspace.

My ex-brother-in-law, Richard McGuire, was a retired fire fighter when on 9/11/2001 he saw that his department friends had a big job to do. Transportation to Manhattan was shut down so he got on his bicycle and rode the thirty miles from Rockville Centre, on the island, to ground zero. That’s how those guys are, tightly knit, watching each others’ backs.

Dick died in December of 2012 of cancer at age 65. 850 first responders have died of cancer since that event. That was, I swear, no ordinary fire.