A thrwarted false-flag attack at Donetz?

This from my own blog post a couple of days ago:

But will Russia be used as the perpetrator behind a new false flag attack? Are we looking at a Cold War franchise reboot?

From Diane Johnstone, Counterpunch (h/t Lizard):

It is not impossible that the pullback order [of Russian troops on the Eastern Ukrainian border] was linked to a Novosti RIA report dated May 6, which indicated that the Ukrainian secret service was planning an imminent false flag operation in order to accuse Russia of violating the border with Ukraine.

Novosti said it had learned from security circles in Kiev that the Ukrainian secret service SBU had secretly shipped about 200 Russian army uniforms and some 70 forged Russian officer ID into the Eastern Ukrainian protest stronghold of Donetz, to be used to stage a false attack on Ukrainian border patrols.

Continue reading “A thrwarted false-flag attack at Donetz?”

A disgusting ad from the John Walsh campaign

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Democrat candidates need to appeal to the nurturing instincts of their party’s natural base when campaigning. The ad men are working the numbers, trying to help him appeal to various factions. This ad was designed to reach teachers and appears via Facebook.

John Walsh is yet to utter an original thought, typical of a military man. He’s not had to think for himself throughout his life, and won’t start in the Senate if, God forbid, he’s elected instead of, God forbid, Steve Daines.

Montana teachers: Walsh’s people are making a run at you, but you won’t even get a cuppa joe with this guy if he wins. That’s now it works – they want you to show up, vote for him, and then go away and let him work for his money backers. That is his real constituency.

There is a candidate for Senate in Montana, Dirk Adams, who is talking progressive talk. I dunno … I fell for Jon Tester’s pwoggie talk in 2006. Tester played us and won and then quickly turned on us. Dirk Adams could be Lucy holding the football for the Charlie Brown progressives again, but if there is any real choice in the senate field in Montana in 2014, Adams appears to be the guy worthy of support from the left, such as it is.

What fresh hell awaits?

This is troubling: In a speech targeted at our elite planners Defense Chuck Hagel is warning people that cutting war spending is not a good course of action for the United States. But according to the linked Business Insider article, about 47 percent of the public wants the US to cut back.

The three major conflicts of the postwar were Korea and Indochina (1946-1975), and the Middle East (1967 to present). Perhaps encirclement of China was the objective of the first two, and encirclement of oil fields for the latter. But the human toll in these wars was staggering – millions of non-combatants killed. Carpet bombing, as a military strategy, came out of World War II, the US and Britain the major players. Dead civilians and destroyed buildings was the objective. As a war strategy it is not terribly effective. As a means of expending resources, it is.

The Orwellian side of the coin is as follows:

War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent.

The United States has not been threatened by any other power on earth in the postwar era, but that does not matter. We are constantly attacking other countries. The “Cold War” was a mere cover story to justify the attacks, and when the Soviet Union receded, our leaders in short order staged an ineffective “War on Drugs.” It did not have enough propaganda bite to be a really effective motivating tool. They then staged 9/11, and that put us back on permanent war footing. Our propaganda was revamped to make “terrorism” the new “communism.” Then came business as usual … here a war, there a war, everywhere a war war.

“Killing” Osama bin Laden in 2011 perhaps signified a rift among state planners, or perhaps from a marketing standpoint, merely cleared the way for an introduction of new products. The Boston Bombing, which evidence easily shows to be another false flag event, featured Chechnyan patsies, a far cry from the usual Middle East ones.

The media currently wants us to focus our attention on Ukraine, but the MIC is not about to go to war against a powerful country like Russia, so other objectives are in play
here. I am not on the Twitter feed that sends out the explanations. I do not know the future, but there will not be a major confrontation with Russia. That is a given – we do not attack countries that can defend themselves and inflict comparable damage on us. But will Russia be used as the perpetrator behind a new false flag attack? Are we looking at a Cold War franchise reboot?*

In the larger framework, Hagels’s remarks, though deeply embedded in euphemism, are clear in meaning: Our military-industrial complex is worried that the American public does not have the stomach for more wars.

What fresh hell lay in store for us?
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*Seen in this light, the great efforts being expended to demonize Vladamir Putin make perfect sense. He would serve as the new Osama.

The world seen through the American news lens: ass backwards

This video came to mind this morning for two reasons: One, listening to RT news I was reminded of the courage of the Russian people in defeating fascism. Here is JFK speaking at American University, June of 1963:

No nation in the history of battle ever suffered more than the Soviet Union suffered in the course of the Second World War. At least 20 million lost their lives. Countless millions of homes and farms were burned or sacked. A third of the nation’s territory, including nearly two-thirds of its industrial base, was turned into a wasteland – a loss equivalent to the devastation of this country east of Chicago.

I do not think I was supposed to learn about World War Two this way, not as an American. The European War started on D-Day. That’s when fearlessness struck at the heart of evil.

The Russians know their own history. They know about fascism. People on the streets of Odessa interviewed by RT speak freely on the neo-Nazis and fascists that have taken control of their country. RT is a Russian propaganda outlet, of course. These days it has more viewers than the American propaganda outlet, CNN.

I also listened to the American propaganda outlet NPR. There I learned that Americans are worried that Russia will try to disrupt the election to be held later this month in Ukraine. That is so typical of American treachery – to disrupt a country, instigate a violent coup d’état, support a reign of terror, and also call for an election. If they like the election outcome, fair or not, it will be a fair election. If they dislike the election outcome, fair or not, it will be ignored.

Which is why this video came to mind of that stupid, stupid movie. As John Wayne and the young boy head down the beach, it is sunset. The only problem is that the Vietnam coastline faces east, so that there is no sunset from that direction. It is ass backwards.

The American world view is ass backwards too, just like that movie.

You thought it was just the Monkees?

I’ll get to the Monkees in a minute.

In the video above, it is suggested to us that the man firing the gun is shooting at people trying to escape the fire at the union hall in Odessa. That would be SOP in terrorist acts, the same reason why the US will attack with drones, and then later return when people are helping the victims to attack again. It’s called the “double tap.”

RT presents an interesting chronology of events that led up to that fire. Judge for yourself.
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From my vantage point, it helps to remember that the Americans are very good at agitation by use of media and professional agents provocateur. Some of the most memorable battles in our history involved people sent in to stir up violence to justify a police response. Two such events in my lifetime were at the Chicago Democratic convention in 1968, where a police riot was depicted as rioting kids, and the so-called Battle in Seattle in 1999, where a peaceful demonstration against the WTO become a bloody confrontation due to agents provocateur.

So much of what became media spectacle in our past was put there on purpose, to keep public opinion under control. I don’t think that Kiev set out to create the Odessa fire, but that is certainly the source of the agitation that led to the event (which it is now blaming on the victims).
Continue reading “You thought it was just the Monkees?”

Shit happens, I guess

Here’s some advice to readers on how to read American news coverage of any event where the truth is being kept from us: Look for “scare quotes” and passive voice.

Examples: Soviet President Putin says “American agents” are behind violence in Eastern Ukraine. Those quotation marks are a signal to American readers not to believe the words contained therein.

Passive voice merely means events occur without cause. When the US is fomenting violence, wars break out, violence occurs, tensions mount, all in the same manner that rain storms occur. The Russians have strong evidence that Kiev agents set the fire that killed so many in Odessa, but according to American sources, people were arguing and the damned fire just broke out! Huffington Post tells us that sides clashed and unrest gripped the place.

“Sides” and “unrest” are the agents behind the violence. Thanks HuffPo. You’re on top of your game, as usual.

That’s how it rolls here. That’s now our news media covers the news without actually giving us any useful information or saying anything true.
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Update: UK’s Daily Mail does not use passive voice, and says that violence is caused by “pro-Russian thugs with baseball bats.” We all know that baseball is a big sport over there, so those bats surely came from Russia. In fact, the bats say right on them that they are “Moscow Sluggers.”

Things said only for effect

”You just don’t in the 21st century behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped-up pretext.” (US Secretary of State John Kerry, concerning Russia)

We always have to ask ourselves, when public officials make such odd-sounding statements as Kerry’s above, “Who is the intended audience?” In this case, Kerry was on Face the Nation, a US news talk show, and so knew his audience would not be surprised by the remark. It was intended for effect, and had no substantial content. That’s all those shows exist for – effect.

This from Moon of Alabama:

Obama mentor and Russophob Zbigniew Brzezinski seems to push for escalation of the situation as he envisions U.S. weaponized “urban resistance” in Ukraine against an (unlikely) Russian invasion. His rant includes this most hypocritical beauty:

“Above all the president must clarify why we cannot tolerate an international system in which countries are invaded by thugs and destabilized from abroad.”

Ahem.

This quote is from Politico, and again intended for an elite American audience. The Sunday news shows and Politico are organs of propaganda for our more politically astute subculture of college graduates, political scientists, and people who like to stay abreast of the news. These people naturally do not believe in propaganda, or at least know that it has no effect on them. The American state propagandists are aware that in order to reach someone, that person must first be convinced that propaganda is ineffectual and not very clever. Convinced of their own superiority, the audience members for these two outlets are absolutely the easiest target for the lies being told. Hence, Kerry and Zbig know what they are saying, who they are saying it to, and what they are after.

The effect, as far as I can guess, is to instill a sense of moral superiority in the audience as the US goes about its usual criminal bullying abroad. Support from the intellectual classes is an important pillar of American imperialism – it is absolutely essential that these people buy in. Hence they are special targets of Sunday TV and outlets like Politico.

US stepping up violence in Ukraine

31 people have died in fire in a trade union facility in Odessa.

The Trade Unions House was set on fire by pro-Kiev radicals after they surrounded and destroyed the tent camp of anti-government activists that stood in front of the building on Odessa’s Kulikovo Field Square. It was torched in a storming attempt after some of the anti-Maidan activists rallying in the square barricaded themselves inside the building.

What is interesting to me is how the US, at least within our borders (under our bubble), manages to distance itself from this violence, just like it has from the massive violence against Syria since 2011. Russian President Putin makes no bones, saying the US is orchestrating everything. The possibility – even the possibility – is never broached on our state-controlled news media in any its thousands of outlets. Such control of information is impressive.

Something so obvious should not be ignored so often

From Huffington Post:

Starkly different views on poverty and inequality rose to the fore again on Wednesday as Democrats in the Senate were unable to muster the supermajority of 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster of a proposal to raise the incomes of the working poor by lifting the national minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.

Left unsaid: The need for 60 votes is a requirement put there by the Democrats, who then complain about it.
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PS: The following four senators all voted “yes” on this proposal: Jon Tester, D-MT; John Walsh, D-MT, Michael Bennet, D-CO, and Mark Udall, D-CO.

I am not familiar with Udall other than knowing some of his family history, which is favorable. But the other three votes are “cloaked” – it is important to understand this if you want to understand American politics. The Democrats created a false barrier, the filibuster, that allows them to cast false votes that have no impact. Tester, Walsh and Bennet are Republicans who ran as Democrats on the theory that the best way to control the opposition is to lead the opposition.

If there were a real vote on raising the minimum wage, and if their votes mattered, I assure you, these three poseurs would vote “No!” (Yes, they would put an exclamation point by their vote.)

America’s Health Care System: A Moral Hazard

Amid all of the hubbub about Obamacare working, signing up new people, and more people being allowed access to the health care system, it does not hurt now and then to say something that is true. Here goes:

Countries with socialized medicine have far lower costs, 100% coverage, and better outcomes.

America’s Health Insurance Providers (AHIP) gave us Obamacare to ward off single payer. That program, if implemented even in a small-scale, would work and drive them out of business one state at a time, Canadian style. There were rumblings in places like Vermont and California. 2008 was the time for action. Obama was AHIP’s point man, along with Max Baucus. These two very corrupt politicians managed to stave off true health care reform for a generation, perhaps longer.
Continue reading “America’s Health Care System: A Moral Hazard”