Friday, March 29, 2013

Syrian Conflict: The Price of Defying the West

Haaretz has recently published an exceptionally revealing article, confirming that the Brooking Institution's "Which Path to Persia?" report - a plan for the undermining and destruction of Iran - had indeed been set in motion, and that the current Syrian conflict is a direct result of Syria and Iran defying the West and disrupting what was to be a coup de grĂ¢ce delivered to Tehran.

The article is titled, "Assad’s Israeli friend," appears at first to be a ham-handed attempt to portray Syrian President Bashar Al Assad as somehow allied with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Instead, it actually reveals that Israel had attempted to execute verbatim, the strategies prescribed in the Brookings Institution's "Which Path to Persia?" report, where Israel was to lure Syria away from Iran ahead of a US-Israeli strike and subsequent war with Tehran.

Syria obviously did not fall into the trap, and as a result, has been plunged into a destructive, spiteful war of proxy aggression by the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia and their regional allies.

The Haaretz piece states specifically: 
In moving closer to Assad, Netanyahu had a number of motives. First, he wanted to put some space between Syria and Iran, in the hope that Damascus would stand aside in the event of an Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear facilities in Natanz and Fordow.

Second, Israel’s loss of its alliances with Turkey and later with Egypt, compounded by apprehension about a deteriorating security situation in the south, pushed Jerusalem into buying quiet on its northern borders.
Read the entire article
 

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

The Militarization of American Life

As the American Empire transforms itself from a constitutional republic into a social democratic monstrosity – where everyone is "equal," and no one is free – egalitarianism is the fuel that runs the engine of imperialism. A perfect example is the recent announcement that the US military is getting with the times and allowing women in combat. What’s pretty disheartening is that not even the woman’s-place-is-in-the-home Neanderthals of the "traditionalist" camp even bothered to oppose this: for them, a more efficient war machine is much more important than any attachment to such "archaic" ideas as the men do the fighting while the women wait at home.

This innovation was followed up pretty quickly by a new proposal: that as long as we allow gays in the military we ought to allow transsexuals in, too. After all, the usual objections to women in combat don’t apply to them: they have the genetic makeup of men, and the sexual equipment of women (or as close as surgical science can conjure) – so why not?

In America, everyone has the "equal right" to kill, torture, maim, and otherwise abuse those who dare defy the wishes of our wise and benevolent rulers. This is what happens when egalitarianism displaces liberty at the core of the American psyche.

Women, gays, transsexuals, and presumably dwarves afflicted with Tourette’s Syndrome – all have an "equal right" to commit mass murder. Did the leftists who brought this Political Correctness down on our heads ever dream of the uses to which it would be put? And now that they’ve "grown up" and made their peace with the Empire, do they even care? Of course they don’t. All they care about is the great god Equality, on whose altar every value they every pretended to hold is being slaughtered.

It isn’t just them, however: militarism is a disease that spreads without effort, once it’s implanted in the body politic. It quite naturally infects the sciences, what with the diversion of scientific and technical talent that might have gone into productive civilian projects, and I’m not just talking about the hard sciences. Witness the co-opting of the "soft" science of anthropology by the same people who brought us the war in Afghanistan and the "COIN" strategy that was supposed to give us victory. These folks have created the so-called Human Terrain System, which seeks to utilize anthropology as a weapon in counterinsurgency warfare. Billions are being poured into "scientific research" on how best to subdue recalcitrant natives out in the colonies: when you’re talking about the military-industrial complex, it isn’t just Lockheed-Martin and Boeing.

Read the entire article

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Monday, March 25, 2013

Kevin McDonald: Psychological Mechanisms of White Dispossession

I discuss three mechanisms basic to the psychology of White dispossession — runaway displays of White guilt and abasement, social learning, and being a member of a moral ingroup. Self-interest is often front and center, or at least in the background. For example, it’s pretty clear that many if not most Whites who make effusive declarations of allegiance to the multicultural reign of terror are acting out of self-interest. Such people are plugging into the contemporary structure of rewards and punishments created by our hostile elites. Even White heterosexual males have much to gain by making such displays; simply attending a job talk at a university, especially for an administrative position, makes it clear that explicit affirmations of allegiance to multiculturalism, White guilt, and acquiescence to White dispossession are de rigueur.
Runaway Displays of White Guilt and Abasement
So part of the psychology of displacement among Whites is simply self-interest. Anthony Hilton’s article (“Giving away the farm: Why?”)  adds the suggestion that there can be a runaway process resulting from competition among displayers to the point that their declarations become more and more grotesque and removed from rationality. Just as peahens select for more and more cumbersome, costly tail feathers in peacocks, we can expect that the bar for successful displays of White self-deprecation and guilt to be continuously raised.
One might suppose then, that the White Privilege Conference to be held in Seattle in April would be an ideal arena for such displays. Here are some quotes from some of the presentations that caught my eye. 
“The Color of Empire / The Cost to Our Humanity: Dismantling White Privilege and Class Supremacy Using Cellular Wisdom” … The session begins with mind and body grounding in processes, proceeds to examining the biological wisdom of the human cell  [???], moves to an analysis of race and class oppression / liberation dynamics in the U.S. (with particular attention to class supremacy and white privilege), and concludes with a range of applications of cellular wisdom to participants’ racial and economic justice work personally and professionally. … 
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Thursday, March 21, 2013

Ten Years Later: Iraq war criminals still at large

Is the New Order taking charge, or is the world simply falling apart at the seams; literally, geologically, and socially?

There comes a time when every individual however innocent of personal wrong-doing or inactivity in the face of wrong-doing, who has taken advantage of or benefited from the wrong-doings of his family, tribe, cult, nation or culture, must pay the price for the collective wrong-doing of that family, tribe, cult, nation or culture, whether he actively participated in their crimes or not.

Having accepted the advantage and benefit of his personal identity with that group, he has no complaint, and cannot plead innocent, when he is called to account for the behavior of that group, participant or not.

As I have said before, revolutions usually destroy more than they develop, and few of them result in much more than new names, old games, amidst a lot of new ruins and destruction.
Evolution is natural… Revolution is man-made. 
 
Man is the one singular, sole, contaminant, a pollutant on the face of the earth, which has become the greatest threat to all living matter and animals on the planet, including himself.
Reading history and about the human condition,is development upon which is based personal growth and maturity, the sum of which is wisdom.

A Farewell Address by Philip Giraldi, is worth re-visiting.

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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Tenth Anniversary of Iraq Invasion: Lessons & Warnings for an Illegal War on Iran

March 19 is the tenth anniversary of invasion of Iraq by the United States, Britain and their allies. George W. Bush declared that the goals of the invasion were "to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people." Bush’s poodle, British Prime Minister Tony Blair claimed that Iraq was invaded due to its failure to take a “final opportunity” to disarm itself of its arsenal of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons that it presented an immediate and intolerable threat to world peace. Both lied and deceived the public, and did so intentionally. Bush’s infamous sixteen words, "The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa," turned out to be a lie. The CIA had actually warned Bush’s national security adviser Condoleezza Rice about it, but she had ignored it. The speech in the United Nations Security Council by Bush’s Secretary of State Colin Powell on February 5, 2003 became a "blot" in his record. In his speech Powell declared that "there can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more," but the "evidence" that he presented for his claims turned out to be utterly wrong. The devastation to Iraq, its infrastructure, and its people have been documented and enumerated by many, including the author, and need not be repeated here. Toppling Saddam Hussein’s regime was supposed to bring peace to the Middle East, but the region is currently in complete turmoil.

According to former NATO and the U.S. Southern Command commander General Wesley Clark, after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S. the Bush administration was to invade seven countries in the Middle East and Africa and topple their regimes. In addition to Iraq, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran were also the target. But, despite huge setbacks, the plan has been more or less implemented. The war between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah during summer of 2006 was supposed to represent the beginning of a "new Middle East" and remaking of Lebanon, but failed. The so-called "humanitarian intervention" in Libya by the U.S., NATO, and Saudi Arabia was nothing but naked military aggression, with the carnage there continuing. Washington is involved in a "secret" war in Somalia, and has also been deeply involved in South Sudan for years due to the region’s significant oil reserves. Needless to say, the bloody sectarian war in Syria has been raging for two years, with U.S. allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar arming the Salafi-Wahabi extremist and terrorist forces in Syria, the worst possible mistake that any nation can make.

This leaves only Iran, the prime

 target of the War Party in the U.S. and its Israeli allies. In May 2003, only two months after the invasion when Bush made the foolish declaration "mission accomplished," a senior official in his administration said, "Anyone can go to Baghdad. Real men go to Tehran." Ever since then the War Party and Israel lobby have been trying to send the American youth to war with Iran, spill the American blood, and waste trillions of dollars for another war, just so that Israel can feel "safe." The current situation regarding Iran is eerily similar to the run-up to the war with Iraq.

Just as Hans Blix, former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) , warned the U.S. not to rush a war with Iraq, he is doing the same now regarding Iran.

Read the entire article

Friday, March 15, 2013

The United States, and President Obama, Arm al-Qaeda

A massive 3,000 ton weapons airlift from Croatia to Syrian rebels, reported two weeks ago by the New York Times then further detailed by a Croat newspaper and the London Telegraph on Friday, appears to breach the U.S. National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), theoretically subjecting high level U.S. officials and allies to arrest.

The weapons, destined for groups attempting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, have a high possibility of ending up in the hands of al-Qaeda affiliates.

On February 25, the New York Times revealed that “Saudi Arabia has financed a large purchase of infantry weapons from Croatia and quietly funneled them to antigovernment fighters in Syria,” adding that U.S., European, Jordanian and CIA officials all declined comment.

On March 8, The London Telegraph, citing a newspaper article published in Croatia, said the operation required 75 cargo flights to deliver the weapons, beginning in November. Most of the cargo flights landed in Jordan before the arms were moved over the border into Syria, according to reports.

“The first cargo planes involved with the shipment were from Turkey, but most have been from Jordanian International Air Cargo, whose Russian-made Ilyushin jets have been seen regularly at Zaghreb airport in recent months” reported the Telegraph, citing the Croat newspaper.

The Telegraph says Saudi Arabia financed the shipments “at the bidding of the United States,” which assisted in supplying the weapons. The paper says the shipments “transited Turkey and Jordan on their way to Syria.”

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

The War Against Bradley Manning

“I wanted the American public to know that not everyone in Iraq and Afghanistan are targets that needed to be neutralized, but rather people who were struggling to live in the pressure cooker environment of what we call asymmetric warfare.”—Bradley Manning

Time and again, throughout America’s history, individuals with a passion for truth and a commitment to justice have opted to defy the unjust laws and practices of the American government in order to speak up against slavery, segregation, discrimination, and war. Even when their personal safety and freedom were on the line, these individuals spoke up, knowing they would be chastised, ridiculed, arrested, branded traitors and even killed.

Indeed, while brave men and women such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Henry David Thoreau, Susan B. Anthony and Harriet Tubman are lauded as American heroes today, they were once considered enemies of the state.

Thanks to the U.S. government’s growing intolerance for dissidents who insist on transparency and accountability, oppose its endless wars and targeted killings of innocent civilians and terrorists alike, and demand that government officials abide by the rule of law, that list of so-called “enemies of the state” is growing.

One such “enemy of the state” is Bradley Manning, an intelligence analyst who has been targeted by the Obama administration for holding up a mirror to the bloated face of American empire. Manning is being prosecuted for leaking classified government documents which, like the Pentagon Papers a generation ago, expose systemic corruption within America’s military and diplomatic apparatus. The embarrassment caused by showing that the emperor has no clothes, as it were, has made Bradley Manning public enemy number one in the eyes of the federal government.

Read the entire article



Monday, March 11, 2013

US Plots Conquest of Venezuela in Wake of Chavez’ Death

US corporate-financier funded think-tank, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), declared in its “post-ChĂ¡vez checklist for US policymakers,” that the US must move quickly to reorganize Venezuela according to US interests. Upon its checklist were “key demands”:

■The ouster of narco-kingpins who now hold senior posts in government

■The respect for a constitutional succession

■The adoption of meaningful electoral reforms to ensure a fair campaign environment and a transparent vote count in expected presidential elections; and

■The dismantling of Iranian and Hezbollah networks in Venezuela

In reality, AEI is talking about dismantling entirely the obstacles that have prevented the US and the corporate-financier interests that direct it, from installing a client regime and extracting entirely Venezuela’s wealth while obstructing, even dismantling the progress and geopolitical influence achieved by the late President Hugo Chavez throughout South America and beyond.

The AEI “checklist” continues by stating:

Now is the time for US diplomats to begin a quiet dialogue with key regional powers to explain the high cost of ChĂ¡vez’s criminal regime, including the impact of chavista complicity with narcotraffickers who sow mayhem in Colombia, Central America, and Mexico. Perhaps then we can convince regional leaders to show solidarity with Venezuelan democrats who want to restore a commitment to the rule of law and to rebuild an economy that can be an engine for growth in South America.

Read the entire article



Thursday, March 7, 2013

Skull and Bones blueblood John Kerry seeks destruction of Syria

John Forbes Kerry, the current United States Secretary of State, is a blue-blooded patrician oligarch and member of the infamous Yale Skull and Bones secret society.

Kerry has already signaled that he will be more aggressive and ruthless than his predecessor, Hillary Rodham Clinton, when it comes to implementing the US program of destroying the sovereign and independent nation states of the world, and replacing them with micro states, mini states, rump states, failed states, warlords, and chaos. Accordingly, Kerry wants to increase aid to the Syrian rebels, whom his own department has branded as terrorists.

Even in a millionaire’s club like the United States Senate, Kerry stood out as the richest senator. His father, Richard Kerry, was a foreign service officer for the US State Department involved in United Nations affairs. Kerry’s paternal grandparents, the Silesian Fritz Kohn and the Budapest-born Ida Löwe were Jews from a suburb of Vienna, Austria-Hungary who came to the United States and converted to Roman Catholicism at the beginning of the 20th century, changing their name to Kerry after selecting it at random from a map of Ireland. Fritz Kohn/Kerry had a shoe business which went bankrupt during the crash of 1921, leading to his suicide. Today’s John Forbes Kerry was raised as a Roman Catholic, which he says he has remained.

John Kerry’s pedigree and the initial money for his education come from his mother, who was born Rosemary Isabel Forbes. The Forbes family had arrived in Massachusetts in the mid-18th century, much later than many of the Boston Brahmins, but Ralph Bennett Forbes soon married Margaret Perkins, a daughter of the notorious family controlling Perkins & Co., one of the selected American firms partnering with the British East India Company in shipping opium from India to China, and tea from China to Europe and North America. Thanks to this strategic marriage, the Forbes were directly allied to families like the Cabots, the Cushings, and others. Ralph Bennett Forbes worked for the Perkins syndicate as an opium-runner. His son, John Murray Forbes, was for a time one of the dominant personalities of the foreign clique controlling the Chinese emperor.

John Murray Forbes made a strategic move for the family to go legit, shifting their fortune from opium and slaves into investments in US railroads. John Murray Forbes later played a prominent role in the committee of Boston Brahmins who financed and incited John Brown to carry out murderous provocations against the slaveholding states, not with the goal of ending slavery, but rather with the goal of fomenting a civil war which would destroy the United States government.

Read the entire article

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Congress Goes Bipartisan—Against Civil Liberties

Civil liberties are theoretically a bipartisan concern. Conservative Republicans who don’t like Obamacare’s “death panels” should be outraged by presidential kill lists. Liberal Democrats who defend due process ought to be offended by secret surveillance law. Protectors of the First and Second Amendments should have a high regard for the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth.

Yet restricting civil liberties is what actually commands bipartisan support in Washington. The same Congress that barely averted the fiscal cliff swiftly passed extensions of warrantless wiretapping and indefinite detention, assuring Americans that only the bad guys will be affected but evincing little interest in establishing whether this is really the case.

The same Congress that failed to come up with an agreement to avoid sequestration appears to have bipartisan majorities in favor of profligate drone use at home and abroad. Lawmakers are generally less exercised about the confirmation of likely CIA chief John Brennan than Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

At the very time it appears Washington is so dysfunctional that the two parties cannot get anything done, Democrats and Republicans cooperate regularly—when it it comes to jailing, spying on, and meting out extrajudicial punishments in ways that on their face contradict the Bill of Rights.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid argued that preserving the Bush administration’s national surveillance program—now for the benefit of the Obama administration—was more important than Christmas. Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss didn’t even want any amendments.

Read the entire article

Friday, March 1, 2013

AIPAC Lobbyists to Congress: Despite Sequester, Don’t Touch Israel Aid

Douglas Bloomfield at The Jewish Week informs us that 13,000 lobbyists from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) will descend upon Capitol Hill this weekend for their annual conference to order members of Congress not to cut $3 billion-plus in aid to Israel, even as automatic budget cuts are set to take place in a matter of days.
At a time when sequestration is about to take a big bite out of the Pentagon budget, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) will be sending thousands of its citizen lobbyists to Capitol Hill next week to make sure Israel is exempted from any spending cuts.

This could prove a very risky strategy at a time when millions of Americans will be feeling the bite of the sequestration debacle, from the defense budget to the school lunch program.

But not aid to Israel, which will be untouched if AIPAC gets its way.
People are coming up with all kinds of things that will need to be cut if (when) this sequester takes place. At Wired‘s Danger Room, for example, it was reported that cuts to the military budget “will mean delays for veteran funerals at Arlington National Cemetery.” So grieving American families may have to wait longer to bury their loved ones who died fighting in Afghanistan, but Israel won’t suffer one bit. Nothing could be more important than contributing money to the apartheid state.

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