(Sorry, no post. A family emergency that requires some travel etc. keeps me busy.)
News & views …
(..and pleaze behave …)
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January 17, 2015
Open Thread 2015-04
Comments
1) September last year – Georgia offers US training camp for Syrian rebels
2) just in – Russian Official: ‘Chechen’ IS Warlords Are U.S.-Trained Georgians
Posted by: somebody | Jan 19 2015 20:50 utc | 101
@JFL (#99): I don’t think Obama “endorses” all the actions of the US “deep state”. It’s more like that the White House & Congress fears the Deep State (& the neocons) and bows to its wishes. But that’s my personal opinion.
It’s indeed a GIANT disgrace that Obama has received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.
Posted by: Willy2 | Jan 19 2015 21:12 utc | 102
Did the readers of this blog watch the 2009 Obama speech in Cairo ??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_889oBKkNU
Posted by: Willy2 | Jan 19 2015 21:14 utc | 103
watch this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcBF6xlER7E
Posted by: okie farmer | Jan 19 2015 21:18 utc | 104
“Anti-Islamist group Pegida spreads across Europe”
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/anti.islamist.group.pegida.spreads.across.europe/46055.htm
Posted by: Willy2 | Jan 19 2015 21:19 utc | 105
That video came from a Paul Craig Roberts piece on Information Clearing House
Another video, which seems to be part of a news report, shows a large force of police waiting as the metal screen over the deli storefront rises. This is the deli in which Amedy Coulibaly is reported to be holding hostages.
As the metal screen rises, police fire into the deli. There seems to be no return fire, and
it is unclear who the police are shooting at. Perhaps it was the heavy firing by the police that killed the hostages.
Police enter and turn to the right. Then Coulibaly appears from the same direction as the police entered. He is in a running stumble as if he has been pushed into the line of fire. There is no weapon in his hands, which appear to be tied together. He falls or is shot down at the door in front of the police, who then fire more bullets into the downed man.
It looks like an execution. It most certainly is not a gun fight. Coulibaly was down and could easily have been captured and questioned.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article40731.htm
Posted by: okie farmer | Jan 19 2015 21:30 utc | 106
@102
I understand the ‘tell me it ain’t so, Joe’ feeling … but if he looks like duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck … he’s a duck. His mom was USAID/CIA, he was CIA, he bought the Company line a long, long time ago. John Brennan has been his right hand man since the get-go (the other way round is more nearly accurate I imagine).
I can’t say it amazes me that people ‘still’ want to believe … but turn off the soundtrack and watch the movie.
Posted by: jfl | Jan 19 2015 22:34 utc | 107
@JFL: Obama was USAID ??? CIA ??? (That’s still one station too far for me, but I could be wrong ……………..)
Posted by: Willy2 | Jan 19 2015 22:42 utc | 108
@JFL: Sorry. So, his mom was USAID & CIA ??? Yes, the USAID has some “questionable” reputation.
Posted by: Willy2 | Jan 19 2015 22:45 utc | 109
S@101
Your misinformation continues to mount, if you actually read the Russian report you linked anyone who can read would see that it stated that Georgian military personnel, who were trained by the US, like thousands of others around the world, actually trained the Chechens.
The headline is misinformation.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Jan 19 2015 23:32 utc | 110
@108
See THE STRANGE RISE OF OBAMA, for one. Sam Smith just put a few loose ends together. I think its clear that Obama was involved with the CIA, low level – he’s still taking orders from the ‘wiseguys’, who have always included the financial aristocracy.
And I think the CIA is like the mafia and the Jesuits … you ‘retire’ feet-first, when you’re six-feet underground. Especially if you ‘owe’ them.
Posted by: jfl | Jan 20 2015 0:03 utc | 111
in re fete at 82 — as always, thanks for the update.
I’m no expert in int’l. law, but I’d say that, should this acc’t. Fete provides prove true (certainly rings true, IMO), this is a war crime.
Sources from diplomatic missions in Kiyev [report]…Ukrainian officers… in private conversations with the diplomats acknowledge receiving instructions of daily strikes at residential quarters… as well as at infrastructure targets (intersections, electric power lines, power substations, etc.) directly from Administration of President of Ukraine….
As high-ranking Ukrainian military officials view it, these strikes intend to create in Donbass “unbearable living conditions… worse than anywhere in Ukraine….”
In addition, the foreign diplomats say, the Kiyev authorities hope that the severe living conditions would enable Novorossian population’s critical attitude toward Russia, which “can not provide so needed necessities”.
So in order to terrorize the civilian population into turning against the People’s Republics, we’ll make ’em suffer. Hey, how’s that working out for your Israeli backers? If it does work, no Moskals. If it doesn’t, Moskal resources used up, right Barry Bandera?
Your tax dollars at work. Or the money we borrowed/stole from you, as the case may be.
Posted by: rufus magister | Jan 20 2015 0:12 utc | 112
@110
Your attempt to smear somebody is getting old, and making me, at least, wonder … why is he doing that?
Posted by: jfl | Jan 20 2015 0:24 utc | 113
jfl@113
So you are not contesting the facts I uncovered just my agenda, whatever that may be?
Some smears his own reputation by promoting faulty and false information.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Jan 20 2015 0:42 utc | 114
@Uncle $cam – “DEA maintained secret database of Americans’ phone calls”
One of the earliest revelations from the Snowden leaks was that prosecutors had made use of NSA intercepts of American citizens to surreptitiously use them as part of prosecutions – a wildly unconstitutional, completely illegal move.
And then we never heard about it again.
link
Posted by: guest77 | Jan 20 2015 1:28 utc | 116
Very interesting political analysis, from Fort Russ, the redoubtable J. Hawk, trans. “Nobody can stop cornered Poroshenko” Parmen Posokhov describes the situation on the ground a bit over a week ago, but I think his analysis is correct and the overall political scene largely the same. He notes that most major political and media figures have gone quiet of late, despite the abundance of war news.
Wheels are turning, and neither Obama nor Putin can stop them, although they started turning rather sooner than they expected. Poroshenko had no choice. He had to choose between a bad option and a very bad option….
Poroshenko is now motivated by his self-preservation instinct.
Continuing the ceasefire only hastens his demise, while the war makes the situation more uncertain, from which he is hoping to find an acceptable exit…[and] stopping the militia now, after the bloodshed of civilian population, will be very difficult if not impossible. In his attempt to save himself or, what’s more likely, to delay the inevitable, he made the war unavoidable…..Nobody can stop cornered Poroshenko.
Hawk says “The fighting has been going on for a few days now, it’s as if the West has written off the post-Maidan crew but has no post-post-Maidan team in mind, waiting to take over. Which suggests that Ukraine is facing the possibility of a power vacuum at the center, leading to the splintering of the former Ukrainian state.”
And if I may —
Wayout at 114 — Forgive me for saying so, but I think you’re gettin’ a little way out on this.
You’ll need to give chapter and verse on what sort of false info. is being spread about.
Yeah, the headline from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a little deceptive, you think maybe it’s a little click-bait? You yourself note they cop to their little ploy.
Maybe RFE would have liked Wash. to have trained them directly? And now a friendly local camp where they learn their craft, courtesy of your generous Uncle Sam, how nice! IMHO, more evidence of some sort of Georgian involvement as a local DC proxy is the real story.
Posted by: rufus magister | Jan 20 2015 1:36 utc | 117
RM@117
I would write longer explanations in my comments but my comment page times our in a short time, I do usually leave enough direction as your reply shows.
We know very little about what type of training the US supplied the Georgians and if it has any relevance to the Chechens in IS today.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Jan 20 2015 2:30 utc | 118
hey kids,
there’s a jungle out there, what with all those nk, russkies, chicoms hackers fooling around with your bank accounts, your facebook secrets. those chicoms are the worst, they stole all our top secrets stuffs like that dud state of art f35 [cough , cough], they have been probing our electrical/water grid with malicious intent [puke puke]. [1]
its not safe to play outside anymore , come to mummi now….
http://anothervoicerev184.blogspot.sg/2015/01/yup-hack-hoax-after-hack-hoax-and-sure.html
[1]
here’s the best part, there’r many *savvy* people who swallow this hook line and sinker 😉
Posted by: denk | Jan 20 2015 3:05 utc | 119
WOW at 118 —
Common enough prob., I usually have the opposite sort….
I think we can presume that they were given a fairly std. sort of basic drill/PT & small arms training course. Get ’em in shape, used to taking orders, and familiar with the tools of the trade.
The US has been passing out weapons and training or otherwise motivating jihadis since Afghanistan in the 70’s, cozy with Wahabist Saudis far longer. So, substantial blowback for which to account.
What we may or may not have done to train a few ersatz Chechens is small potatoes. Deepening Georgian involvement in US schemes is interesting, though.
Posted by: rufus magister | Jan 20 2015 3:22 utc | 120
There is no doubt about it: Russian liberals really do hate Russia.
PowerPoint given by Russian opposition leader blueprints US-backed violent overthrow of Russian government.
And the Polish government is now officially Nazi:
Putin Excluded from Holocaust Commemorations
Europe once again approaches precariously the precipice of self-inflicted tragedy. Fascism both old and new is festering and spreading in all directions as European leaders and the special interests that direct them seek a familiar ploy used when all else fails to unite and regiment their peoples. Once again Russia seems to be standing alone in the face of this growing menace along their border, and once again the Russian people are quietly preparing to make sacrifices befitting the heroic deeds of their fore-bearers.
Demian characterizing Ponomarev as a liberal is a little over the top. He’s a neoliberal PoS. More like a CIA asset.
Posted by: okie farmer | Jan 20 2015 4:30 utc | 122
Russian Spring
01/19/2015-23:27
Combatant Aleksandr Zhuchkovskiy informs of continuing battles in area of settlement Peski and city Avdeevka:
So far in Peski changes are superficial; we secured positions in a part of the settlement; battles are being waged.
We are being seriously bombarded by artillery and bear losses (4 “200th” and 6 “300th” today). Significant problems with communications. Head-on attack is not reasonable; we will not lay people senselessly on the approaches to the city (Avdeevka) nor will bombard the city.
To press Ukrainians will take time, may be few weeks, unless drastic change in “military market” (combatants’ logistics).
Russian Spring
01/19/2015-12:01
Chief Donetsk Republic Intelligence general Petrovskiy expressed his vision of development of the current offensive by the Ukrainian military forces:
Although “military market” (combatants’ logistics) is fully prepared (whatever Ukrainian offensive would be), the city (Donetsk) population is not.
Recent strikes target even the downtown – a high-riser was hit. It is URGENT to knock Ukrainians off the track – to take Avdeevka; otherwise panic in the city is imminent.
Analyzing past Ukrainian military offensives, a tendency could be traced – whenever Ukrainians run in to active resistance, they peter out in 4, maximum 5 days; yet, if they are shocked, for instance if positions or columns hit by “Grads”, they fall in stupor much earlier; self-confidence vanishes completely.
Thus, today is the SECOND day of the active phase; therefore, one would expect further attack Monday or Tuesday and, less likely, Wednesday. This exempts the artillery.
Ukrainian’s capacity is just enough for ONE decisive offensive, but this will be carried out INVARIABLY.
I think a tactics of scorched earth will be employed – flattening by “Grads” quarter after quarter and advancing over ruins.
Plus subversion-reconnaissance groups. To be serious, Donetsk will not fall, but destruction will be severe.
Posted by: Fete | Jan 20 2015 5:03 utc | 123
Reading James Risen’s book, Pay any price, about the wars. Having been a NYTimes reporter for 15 years – he wielded the hatchet on Weh Ho Lee – Risen still pulls his punches, whether from an inability to imagine the rot at the nihilistic core of the USG or from a ‘reluctance’ to report on it I do not know, but he tells ‘as much as he can’.
In the very first chapter, ‘Pallets of cash’, there is an account of an operation Brick Tracker, which tells the tale of nearly 2 billion dollars in 100 dollar bills disappeared from US accounting in a ‘bunker’ in Lebanon. Risen goes through some perfunctory speculation on who … but marvels at the lack of interest on the part of anyone in Washington to do anything about it.
Risen fails to connect the dots, as far as I can see. This is a CIA stash of money and its been used to destroy Syria and build the ISIS. That’s my guess anyway. Answers all the questions Risen’s story poses.
Posted by: jfl | Jan 20 2015 5:54 utc | 124
@121, not only have the Russians not been invited, but according to German version of Sputink, Poroschenko has now been invited. Polen lädt Poroschenko zu 70-Jahr-Feier der Befreiung von Auschwitz ein / Sputnik Deutschland – Nachrichten, Meinung, Radio
2705783Polens Regierungschefin Ewa Kopacz hat den ukrainischen Präsidenten Pjotr Poroschenko zu den Feierlichkeiten anlässlich des 70. Jahrestags der Befreiung des faschistischen KZ Auschwitz-Birkenau eingeladen. Das meldete die polnische Nachrichtenagentur PAP am Montag.
This is becoming scary, I really have more and more the impressions Poland, the Baltics, Ukraine and the West, mainly the US, want war with Russia at any price. US Army Command delegation ‘to arrive in Kiev this week’ — RT News
US Army Command delegation ‘to arrive in Kiev this week’
Posted by: Fran | Jan 20 2015 6:58 utc | 125
while fete documents the fukus brutal attack on russia,there’s an equally deadly assault on china going on relentlessly.
*the regime change in sri lanka outsting china friendly Mahinda Rajapakse demonstrates the relentless drive by US imperialism to draw every country in Asia into its diplomatic, economic and military confrontation with China and preparations for war. * [1]
no sooner than the new govn warm its seat when it calls for *reconsideration* of all chinese infrastructure projects in sri lanka !
*That move is bound to please Indian and Western powers concerned about Beijing’s access in the island state.* [2]
[1]
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/01/12/pers-j12.html
[2]
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/19/china-srilanka-idUSL4N0UY2UI20150119
hmmm….
india and the west on the same page …again !
Posted by: denk | Jan 20 2015 10:18 utc | 126
An anglo friend asked me what is going on, on the ground in F schools (i am in education biz.) I responded with summary/trans of 3 F teachers, less than a book page, if anyone wants to read it, I’ll post a copy.
Posted by: Noirette | Jan 20 2015 14:43 utc | 127
Posted by: Noirette | Jan 20, 2015 9:43:02 AM | 126
Please do post it. I can imagine what is is like, but reality usually surpasses the imagination.
That slogan “Je suis Charlie” -does not work at all .
Ukraine seems to be intent on a WWII replay: Now partisan warfare.
Posted by: somebody | Jan 20 2015 14:57 utc | 128
Biz education? I thought you were a Swiss banker!!
This is illuminating too: Coulibaly worked for a documentary inside a French prison with Le Monde, introducing a camera to show the daily violence.
http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2015/01/13/amedy-coulibaly-la-prison-c-est-la-putain-de-meilleure-ecole-de-la-criminalite_4555233_3224.html
One of the Kouachi had been in a rapper program as a teenager. No way out the media if you’re not a white catholic.
Posted by: Mina | Jan 20 2015 15:03 utc | 129
MH17 = silence (and US gold transfer to Holland).
Obviously this is how easy it is to ‘read’ a black box if you don’t use corrupt British & Dutch resources. Shame on them — and even more shame on the msm which refuses to ask the critical questions!
“We didn’t hear any other person, no explosion,” investigator Nurcahyo Utomo told reporters, explaining why terrorism had been ruled out.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Committee were now looking at the “possibility of plane damage and human factors”, he said, without giving further details.
As well as the cockpit voice recorder, the committee is also examining a wealth of information in the flight data recorder, which monitors every major part of the plane. A preliminary report will be released on January 28.
Posted by: x | Jan 20 2015 16:22 utc | 130
Several teachers in F have written about their class experience post C. Hebdo.
Here 3 representative ones, I read many, my résumé. My own comments in ((.))
None of them wrote about fights etc. which certainly went on, that is another topic.
Teacher A.
– no awareness of the disproportion between the insult and the revenge (pencil against Kalach)
– no compassion, they don’t know about and have never read C. Hebdo, though it could we awakened in part by the murder of a muslim and the fact that many victims were elderly.
– children say that C Hebdo deserved it because they published caricatures of the Prophet. These children have been exposed practically since ‘birth’ to the notion of RESPECT which is hammered on hard, and translated, in the school setting, to politeness rules. (Musn’t interrupt, yell, spit, hit, denigrate other for race, religion, must listen to teacher, must understand other’s pov, etc. etc.) C. Hebdo, thus, broke the rules of RESPECT. “And there is a law, Maam, it is from 1905…you have to respect other’s religion, and for islam that means no ugly pictures of the prophet.”
– the difficulty of teaching about la Guerre d’Algerie.
– in almost every discussion, Oh the Jews, they are protected, you can’t say anything about them, but about us anything goes. If you listen to the tone, you hear ‘me, me, me’ ((sees insistence on this point as egoism or making yourself important)) “Why are the Jews different? Why does the law have a special word for dissing them?” These kids want to see anti-semitism treated as racism. ((surprise)), and one has to explain over and over again the distinction between racism and anti-semitism. ((This teacher represented pretty much a PTB response, stigmatising pupils in part, which lamely ends with ‘we have to teach the values of the Republic.’))
– Teacher B. – Whole class didn’t go to the march. “Well it is good that they have solidarity amongst themselves.” (aka excluding us) “We have too much homework.” Then silence. ((Several teachers say classes refused to engage.))
– Teacher C. I was the only teach who took up the topic, I heard a mixture of conspiracy theory, anti-semitism, confusion, accusations, questions. Describing the event: “hold-up with guns”, “police attacked a mosque”, “they attacked Charlie, Sir who is Charlie”? I describe what took place. “Charlie asked for it then.” “In any case they never made fun of white ppl.” “Sir if I did something like that about you I’d be expelled.” “But but…if they were warned and had threats why did they go on?” “If they hadn’t drawn the prophet nothing would have happened.” “The Prophet is above humans, that is it, and I don’t care.” .. How to argue against such entrenched opinions? About the minute of silence, which I did not do, “Nobody cares about Palestine” … After monday 12, lots of conspiracy “The policeman wasn’t dead” “It was a CIA plot”…I advised them not to watch videos on the internet. Anti-semitism: “If the killers were Jews they wouldn’t have been killed.” “In any case if it’s about Jews then freedom of expression doesn’t exist.” I explain that one can’t insult a whole group of ppl because of their color or religion it is the law, the response is “In any case Charlie treated muslims like cunts.” I explain that C. Hebdo only made fun of intégristes (fundamentalists.) The discussion meanders about in a sterile loop. Because of the new rules, I had to report some to the Director. I feel I do my part but I have no solutions. ((This teacher seemed sincere, fond of his pupils, and rather aware. His piece got a lot of positive comments.))
Posted by: Noirette | Jan 20 2015 16:32 utc | 131
“We’ve been through asbestos. We’ve been through Macondo, we’ve been through the Iraq war. We’re the execution company.” … (yep, & we’re Dick Cheney’s company!)
Halliburton, Baker Hughes to lay off thousands as oil slumps
Posted by: x | Jan 20 2015 16:36 utc | 132
126
*That move is bound to please Indian and Western powers concerned about Beijing’s access in the island state.*
how to give *the west* an orgaism….
guess what’r these fuss all about ?
************************************************
**the gleam of light broke through the clouds.
A Gleam of Light in Asia
there is now “hope where only two weeks ago there was despair
`HOPE…WHERE ONCE THERE WAS NONE
the most historic turning point of Asia in this decade
The West’s best news for years in Asia
Vengeance with a Smile**
who ‘d have thought that……
, this was the “west” celebration of the 1965 fukus engineered bloodpath in indon, almost 3m civilians were slaughtered in probably the worst genocide of the century.
many victims were ethnic chinese who were framed by the cia/mi6 as *china’s 5 columnists*.
Time magazine celebrated “The West’s best news for years in Asia” under the heading “Vengeance with a Smile,” devoting 5 pages of text and 6 more of pictures to the “boiling bloodbath .
The new army regime is “scrupulously constitutional,” Time happily announced, “based on law not on mere power,” in the words of its “quietly determined” leader Suharto with his “almost innocent face.” The elimination of the 3 million-member PKI by its “only possible rival,” the army, and the removal from power of the “genuine folk hero” Sukarno, may virtually be considered a triumph of democracy.**
lets hear it from the venerable nyt’s james reston
“this is the most hopeful developments in Asia………………………….
“the savage transformation of Indonesia from a pro-Chinese policy under Sukarno to a defiantly anti-Communist policy under General suharto”:
http://tinyurl.com/ctddq4
**There was no condemnation of the slaughter on the floor of Congress, and no major US relief agency offered aid. The World Bank restored Indonesia to favor, soon making it the third largest borrower. Western governments and corporations followed along. **
the politicos reactions were hardly surprising, whats more illuminating was the deafening silence, or shall we say, ecstasy from the “international communities”, [ic] aka fukus
http://tinyurl.com/3prlsrv
Posted by: denk | Jan 20 2015 16:41 utc | 133
@okie farmer #122:
Demian characterizing Ponomarev as a liberal is a little over the top. He’s a neoliberal PoS. More like a CIA asset.
The word “liberal” has a different meaning in Russia than it has in the US or Europe. Given that you are a regular at MoA, I am surprised and disappointed that you can’t understand this simple fact.
This article gives a good impression of how the word “liberal” is used by Russians.
I take your referring to me in the third person to be hostile behavior, BTW.
Posted by: Noirette | Jan 20, 2015 11:32:00 AM | 131
thanks.
Because of the new rules, I had to report some to the Director.
That is a disgrace.
Posted by: somebody | Jan 20 2015 17:53 utc | 135
somebody at 135, absolutely, but there you go, terrorists are formed from a young age, thru social disadvantage, indoctrination, (etc.etc.) so one has to keep track, tabs.
Root out the evil within before it has a chance to flower, catch them early.
The teach wasn’t kidding, he was very up in the ‘new developments’, rules, etc. and obeying them bang off. He heard I’m sure the declarations of he Minister of Educ and probably even got a printed or e-mail circular.
Posted by: Noirette | Jan 20 2015 20:09 utc | 136
“Ukraine re-introduces (partial) conscription”
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/01/15/uk-ukraine-crisis-mobilisation-idUKKBN0KO10M20150115
Posted by: Willy2 | Jan 20 2015 20:21 utc | 137
Posted by: Noirette | Jan 20, 2015 3:09:51 PM | 136
Sounds like thought police. Orwellian.
Posted by: somebody | Jan 20 2015 20:42 utc | 138
Noirette
Where did you get that teacher information? Is it public or is it just something internally?
Posted by: Anonymous | Jan 20 2015 20:50 utc | 139
I tweeted this to Michael Moore as this is up his alley
Kiev sends the poorest kids to die,& lies to their families about it. #Donbas
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/01/20/ukraines-lower-class-military/ …
Posted by: brian | Jan 20 2015 22:09 utc | 140
@137 That Reuters article is very strange. No mention of Kiev forces shelling civilians in Donetsk. And why would they need conscription? Surely young Maidanistas must be volunteering in droves.
Posted by: dh | Jan 20 2015 22:50 utc | 141
Posted by: dh | Jan 20, 2015 5:50:46 PM | 141
Come here and take your sons home.
Posted by: somebody | Jan 20 2015 23:55 utc | 142
@141: LOL. I guess the Maidanistas aren’t too willing to be shot/killed. So, the average (ukrainian) Joe Sixpack has to do the fighting.
Posted by: Willy2 | Jan 21 2015 0:25 utc | 143
Likely this was posted here. It is about a month old so sorry if a repost….But it is completely obscene:
Western Media Turn Blind Eye to Shameful Vote at UN on Nazism by US, Canada and Europe
US, Canada, And Ukraine Only Countries To Oppose UN Resolution Condemning Nazism
Posted by: guest77 | Jan 21 2015 0:37 utc | 144
@131
WIlliam Blum comments on his own biography in his Anti-Empire Report #136
The human brain is an amazing organ. It keeps working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 52 weeks a year, from before you leave the womb, right up until the day you find nationalism. And that day can come very early. Here’s a recent headline from the Washington Post: “In the United States the brainwashing starts in kindergarten.”
Oh, my mistake. It actually said “In N. Korea the brainwashing starts in kindergarten.”
The US, North Korea … France … Thailand …
Counterpunch has taken to serializing Blum’s AERs. He usually treats several topics in each, so counterpunch can cut and paste and get a whole month’s worth out of each, and they’ve begun this month with Dumb and Dumber in Ukraine.
Or you can read the whole of each at William Blum’s website. More than once if you like. Counterpunch began with the second of Blum’s topics for this January, but it is the second of a pair, the first being “Murdering journalists … them and us”. The quote above is from the third such section, “Some thoughts about this thing called ideology”. I haven’t yet read “Let Cuba Live! The Devil’s List of what the United States has done to Cuba”, having taken a break when I read the line that echoed Noirette’s intelligence.
Thanks Noirette, you’ve certainly contributed to my education over the years, as has William Blum. And of course thanks to b as well, whose site this is. Thanks to you all for sharing your wealth of knowledge and insight … and for your perseverance!
Thanks for your perseverance. Someone told me that Paulo Friere said there is no love lost in this world … there is no effort toward the world’s enrichment that is lost either. ‘Say obligado, the words of a poor man’, Hermes tells poor Orpheus in Black Orpheus… and so too, to this poor man, as well. Obligado Noirette, William Blum. And of course b. Obligado.
Posted by: jfl | Jan 21 2015 1:51 utc | 145
in re the War in Novorossiya —
After a long buildup, things now seem to be moving rapidly. I strongly recommend interested parties check out Fort Russ today, at least 1/2 doz. items of interest.
The front around both Lugansk (as Novorossiyans move towards Slaviansk) and Donetsk is moving as the Ukrainians are being pushed back. Hawk, trans. for Ukrainian strongpoints overrun by LPR armor, notes in his commentary that “it would seem that LPR and DPR are better at coordinating operations than the various battalions and brigades of the various armed formations constituting Ukraine’s military power.”
The junta continues to bring in additional men and materiel to try and stem the tide. Defeat, however, has further weakened morale. In a report from Anna News in Novorossiya, appearing at Fort Russ, Kiev Throws Its (Last?) Reserves into Battle, they note:
There are cases of individual AFU, National Guard, and territorial units refusing to follow orders fom the high command; radio intercepts indicate daily requests from unit commanders to be withdrawn from the front line.
Overall, one can draw the conclusion that Kiev’s attempt to escalate the situation is failing: Kiev forces have not scored successes on any sector of the front, and losses suffered during the operations have forced Kiev to bring in reserves to repel NAF counter-attacks and hold positions. The artillery battle is also not going in Kiev’s favor.
The immediate priority, the report concludes, is to push the punitive battalions of the ATO out of artillery range, as the escalation has of course increased civilian casualties.
Finally, according to Oleg Tsarev, his contacts report that Deputies are evacuating families ahead of the upcoming coup in Kiev.
Posted by: rufus magister | Jan 21 2015 2:11 utc | 146
Noirette @131,
Thank you. I still have faith in French teachers. The govt – no.
Posted by: okie farmer | Jan 21 2015 2:38 utc | 147
The first section of Andre Vltchek’s article cited by William Blum in his AER #136…
Who Should be Blamed for Muslim Terrorism?
A hundred years ago, it would have been unimaginable to have a pair of Muslim men enter a cafe or a public transportation vehicle, and then blow themselves up, killing dozens. Or to massacre the staff of a satirical magazine in Paris! Things like that were simply not done.
When you read the memoirs of Edward Said, or talk to old men and women in East Jerusalem, it becomes clear that the great part of Palestinian society used to be absolutely secular and moderate. It cared about life, culture, and even fashion, more than about religious dogmas.
The same could be said about many other Muslim societies, including those of Syria, Iraq, Iran, Egypt and Indonesia. Old photos speak for themselves. That is why it is so important to study old images again and again, carefully.
Islam is not only a religion; it is also an enormous culture, one of the greatest on Earth, which has enriched our humanity with some of the paramount scientific and architectural achievements, and with countless discoveries in the field of medicine. Muslims have written stunning poetry, and composed beautiful music. But above all, they developed some of the earliest social structures in the world, including enormous public hospitals and the first universities on earth, like The University of al-Qarawiyyin in Fez, Morocco.
The idea of ‘social’ was natural to many Muslim politicians, and had the West not brutally interfered, by overthrowing left-wing governments and putting on the throne fascist allies of London, Washington and Paris; almost all Muslim countries, including Iran, Egypt and Indonesia, would now most likely be socialist, under a group of very moderate and mostly secular leaders.
And as the neo-NAZIs setup in power by the US and its European Unit rage and collapse, and then rage again in an even more virulent form? … Who should be blamed for the resurgence of NAZIsm in Europe?
Posted by: jfl | Jan 21 2015 2:46 utc | 148
and further to 146
More good news! The Editors of New Cold War report, when the NAF arrives, Lenin will be there to greet their liberation of Slaviansk. Local activists prevented the destruction of his statue.
Posted by: rufus magister | Jan 21 2015 3:19 utc | 149
Russian Spring
01/20/2015-23:41
The Head of Donetsk Republic (Aleksandr Zakharchenko) briefed journalists about outcome of January 19 and 20 battles in Donetsk.
Captive soldiers of the Ukraine forces were given opportunity to speak.
Contrary to claims by the Council of National Security of Ukraine of insignificant casualties in clashes for settlement Peski as well as for the new terminal of Donetsk airport, the solders confirmed loss of entire tank company in just one day.
“They described a battle one day ago, when bridge Putilovskiy (Avdeevka-Donetsk airport) was knocked down. In an attempt of pincer movement to isolate units “Sparta” and “Somali” of the Donetsk Republic army, the Ukrainian forces lost a tank company. This is 30 units of battle vehicles and about 200 soldiers”- explained a LifeNews journalist.
Also, the soldiers discussed unsuccessful attempts to take the airport today. On January 20, the Ukrainian military lost killed a company of infantry – about hundred servicemen.
Just small number of the servicemen survived because were taken captive. Aleksandr Zakharchhenko welcomed relatives to take the soldiers home without waiting for prisoners exchange. Same holds for those taking fallen.
In regard to the situation in Donetsk, strikes by “Grad” systems continued through January 20.
Russian Spring
01/20/2015-17:01
Ukrainian servicemen and journalists confirm that the Ukrainian army retreats from area of Bakhmutka.
On his Facebook page a fighter from battalion “Donbass”, Evgeniy Shevchenko wrote:
“The tanks broke into Bakhmutka; combatants had entered hamlet Zhelobok. 24th brigade, sustaining casualties, under fierce fire from all kinds of artillery, left outpost 31. The battle continues over outpost 29! We are ready for the meeting!”
Ukrainian journalist Sergey Ivanov provided similar information:
“Outpost 31 of Bakhmutka was destroyed by the combatants. Following 6-hour shelling by artillery, tanks had advanced.
We burned one, but the extent of forces and hardware participating in the operation is unclear. The operation aims to encircle hamlet Krimskoye to isolate 24th brigade of the Ukrainian forces.”
Posted by: Fete | Jan 21 2015 5:14 utc | 150
Talk of an advance by NAF has reemerged: “On To Kharkov!”
Now there exists an opportunity to completely destroy the AFU, during the winter of 2015, thus obtaining a decisive victory without a march on Kiev. As of today all of AFU’s battle assets are concentrated on the Donbass All equipment from storage facilities, anything that could have been fixed up and restored has been restored and brought to the Eastern Front. All human resources, everyone who still had a will to fight, were hastily trained, thrown together into military formations and thrown into the Donbass. Ukraine has no other reserves. A decisive defeat of the AFU will dot all the “i’s”. The task now is to destroy not 75%, like in August, but 100% of heavy equipment and 80% of manpower. Do not allow them to withdraw, regroup, retreat, but destroy everything on the spot. Ukraine no longer has an ability to restore its military—its reserves will be fully used up and in any event money for the war has run out. The economy will begin its collapse by springtime, there will be rolling blackouts, cold, and hunger. …
As far as the Mariupol-Melitopol-Kherson direction is concerned, it should be viewed as a bonus to the Kharkov direction. Once Kharkov is taken, the junta will concentrate all remaining forces on the Kiev front, because that’s the most dangerous front for them, since nobody will be about to give up Kiev and there will not be enough forces to go around. This will create conditions for an attack along the Mariupol-Melitopol-Kherson (Velikiye Kopani) axis, which will finally create a corridor to the Crimea (this was always the natural passageway during the Russian Empire, which was lost due to unfortunate historical events). …
Of course, the implementation of these and other plans to a certain degree depends on the will and decisiveness of the Kremlin, which as of late has many questions to answer.
I don’t think there’s any question that the NAF must now proceed to destroy the AFU. This stalemate must end. The NAF have a good chance of prevailing, one of the main reasons being that, as usual, the junta is throwing poorly trained troops into meat grinders.
Posted by: Fran | Jan 20, 2015 1:58:51 AM | 125
Putin’s chief of staff to attend Auschwitz memorial
Poroshenko in Switzerland – war is peace, peace is war – NZZ interview
Posted by: somebody | Jan 21 2015 10:39 utc | 152
@ 139, Here are links to the 2 amply quoted teachers bowlerized by me to fit my perception of the general ambiance, representative of others imho as per e-mail, radio, other news articles, etc. that is in the public space …in private is another story..
http://tinyurl.com/mn433fx
http://tinyurl.com/n8wprg3
see also here
http://tinyurl.com/oucphm4
okie @ 147, I too have faith in F teachers but they are facing a hard road.
Posted by: Noirette | Jan 21 2015 14:42 utc | 153
Two noteworthy items.
Just posted on Fort Russ, an interview with Oleg Tsarev, former Party of Regions deputy and presidential candidate, presently serving as chair of the joint Lugansk-Donetsk assembly. He predicts Poroshenko will be tossed by the anniv. of the Maidan coup in Feb. The exchange begins with Tsarev assessing the various sources of tension between Poroshenko and Kolomoisky, Yatsenyuk, and Turchinov.
Poroshenko has nobody to rely on. Americans don’t like him, and neither does the internal competition. So the president is in a critical position. The stakes are very high. His competitors want to carry out another armed overthrow, and might simply kill Poroshenko. So for him what’s at stake is not even money, but life….
There is no reason for optimism. The US has many scenarios…. There are no non-pro-US politicians capable of coming to power. The bench is well protected and will implement the will of the US.
During the Vietnam War, the pro-US authorities of that country changed many times. But the war continued. Every new leader shifted responsibility for earlier failures to the earlier one, and the cycle continued without pause. The war stopped only when the communist North won it. Neither the political situation nor the military nor economic influenced it.
J. Hawk, the translator comments that “Poroshenko is likely to be overthrown due to lack of US support rather than a US plot. Moreover, one has to keep in mind that should Poroshenko be overthrown, it will be difficult for the US to justify subsidizing yet another Ukrainian government that came into power through violence.” The likely suspects on the right “do not follow orders from the US or anywhere else” but are explointing “the weakness of the current system….”
Israel Shamir’s essay in CounterPunch on “Trolling Russia” is too long and far-ranging to adequately summarize. But it is quite interesting reading, sampled below. Speaking of the hardships Russia faces today against those of earlier genrations:
In the face of shrinking money, they did not buy salt and sugar, as their grandparents would have. Their battle cry against hogging was “Do not take more than two Lexus cars per family, leave something for others!”
He starts with an interesting argument — Russia blew off the “annual Canossa of Western leaders where they bewail their historic failure to protect the Jews” as it now realizes the folly of trying to fit into the mold of submission that the West prescribes. They see themselves as victims of fascism as well, and are proud of the integration and prominence of Russian Jews. I can’t say that I subscribe chapter and verse, but altogether very illuminating.
Posted by: rufus magister | Jan 22 2015 0:53 utc | 154
A little light humor, from the Ukrainian President-for-Now. I thought the source was the National Inquirer, but Russia Insider says the underlying report is from Reuters. Poroshenko Says 9,000 Russian Troops in Ukraine, High-Tech Invisibility Cloaks Prevent Detection.
Posted by: rufus magister | Jan 22 2015 1:19 utc | 155
@154 I thought the Poles didn’t want Putin to come to Auschwitz and didn’t invite him. He didn’t come last time either. Which is it, did he refuse or wasn’t he invited?
Posted by: Harold | Jan 22 2015 1:25 utc | 156
@Harold #156:
I think Israel Shamir is right about Russians not being into making a big deal out of the Holocaust. The Poles probably know that about the Russians. So maybe they didn’t invite Putin for that reason. Also, if Putin had been invited, I doubt that he would come, so whether he was invited or not is not very important. The Holocaust religion is the religion of the West. Russia is still Christian.
@157
‘ I think Israel Shamir is right about Russians not being into making a big deal out of the Holocaust. The Poles probably know that about the Russians. … ‘
I think you’re right there. The first time I, an American, was ever made aware of the magnitude of the Russian Holocaust at the hands of the Germans in WW II it was by a young Polish immigrant to the USA, who told me, “John, you have no idea, the Russians lost 20 million people in the war!‘ She was a Christian by my lights, a Catholic, although not in your blindered, nationalistic, chauvanist view.
Posted by: jfl | Jan 22 2015 2:55 utc | 158
Harold at 156 — I was looking for something that might convince folks to have a look.
Who’s spinning? Beats me, but I find the article overall interesting. I’m a little less comfortable with the religious angle Shamir presents than Demian at 157. But it is crystal clear that many/most/all (to taste) of the policies Anglo-American Imperium (and its EUHoldings subsidiary) conduct in the Middle East are more in the interests of the Zionist settler colony than of the Imperium itself. And that Russia continues to find reason to assert herself more robustly than DC is accustomed to seeing, post-Union.
Posted by: rufus magister | Jan 22 2015 3:01 utc | 159
Ukraine, Russia agree to pull back heavy weapons
Germany’s Foreign Minister, who hosted a meeting of his counterparts from Russia, Ukraine and France, said the four parties had agreed that the demarcation line defined in the Minsk agreement of last year should form the basis for the withdrawal. Under the plan, Ukraine and the pro-Russian separatists would pull back their heavy arms 15 kilometers (9 miles) on either side of the line, though there was no agreement on a withdrawal of all troops.
If this is true the Russians have sold out the people of the Dunbas. Even if the Ukrainians were to honor anything they have ‘agreed to’ … they have a ‘loophole’ big enough to annihilate the Donbas. And surely Russia knows it.
The punitives are bringing up 12 Pions to Gorlovka
According to the report of local people from Konstantinovka, 12 Pions are being sent to the side of Gorlovka by Ukrainian fighters. If you have information, you’d better report about moving of the column.
It takes the crew of seven men 5–6 minutes to come into action and 3–5 minutes to come out of action. It carries four 203 mm projectiles for immediate use. It is capable of firing nuclear ammunition. The gun has a range of 37,500 m, but this can be extended to 55,500 m by using RAPs (Rocket Assisted Projectiles).
Although no figures have been released, it is estimated that well over 1,000 have been built.[4]
Angola – 12; (Acquired in 2000 from the Czech Republic)[5]
Azerbaijan – 12; (3 acquired in 2008 and 9 acquired in 2009[6])
Belarus – 36
Georgia[7][8]
Russia – 12[9]
Slovakia – 3; (1 used for testing, 2 military museum)
Ukraine – 99, brought from reserve and restored to active service due to the War in Donbass.
Uzbekistan – 48
The people of the Donbas need to make it clear that they are not bound by anything the Russians say. Their only hope is to destroy these monstrous Russian/Ukrainian artillery pieces. Surely the Ukrainian NAZIs – unbound by any agreement the West Ukrainian Coup government makes in any case – will use them to devastate the East Ukrainian civilian centers in their ongoing attempted genocide of Donbas if they have the chance.
@rufus magister #159:
I’m a little less comfortable with the religious angle Shamir presents than Demian at 157.
So you are not comfortable with this account that Gilad Atzmon put forward which appeared in Counterpunch, which is where the Israel Shamir piece you linked to was also published:
The Holocaust Religion
“Yeshayahu Leibowitz, the philosopher who was an observant orthodox Jew, told me once: “The Jewish religion died 200 years ago. Now there is nothing that unifies the Jews around the world apart from the Holocaust.” (Uri Avnery[3])
Philosopher Yeshayahu Leibowitz, the German born Hebrew University professor, was probably the first to suggest that the Holocaust has become the new Jewish religion. ‘The Holocaust’ is far more than historical narrative, it indeed contains most of the essential religious elements: it has its priests (Simon Wiesenthal, Elie Wiesel, Deborah Lipstadt, etc.) and prophets (Shimon Peres, Benjamin Netanyahu and those who warn about the Iranian Judeocide to come). It has its commandments and dogmas (‘never again’, ‘six million’, etc.). It has its rituals (memorial days, Pilgrimage to Auschwitz etc.).
If you are not comfortable with this, why, if I may ask?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article40770.htm
Under Serious Strain: Sergey Lavrov
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s address and annual news conference on Russia’s diplomatic performance in 2014, Moscow, 21 January 2015
“Our Western partners have said repeatedly that they need to continue to contain Russia. US President Barack Obama said as much in his state of the nation address yesterday. But these attempts will fail.”
Video and Transcript
Posted January 21, 2015
Posted by: okie farmer | Jan 22 2015 4:21 utc | 162
The Poles didn’t invite Putin because they hate the Russians Is probably the reason. however without a representative from Russia the commemoration is a travesty. Poroshenko has been invited, which is insane. It is a shame that the holocaust has become an industry/religion, but that doesn’t mean the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops wasn’t a momentous event worthy of commemoration.
Posted by: Harold | Jan 22 2015 4:27 utc | 163
Demian at 161 —
I don’t have a problem with a critique of the fetishization of the Holocaust; as Shamir points out, nearly as many Russians perished as did Jews (the fascists 12 mil. victims in the camps were roughly 50/50, the gentile portion being largely Slavic).
His thinking in this vein is a little more problematic for me; as an atheist I stand in the anti-clerical secularist camp. “France has a long anti-Christian tradition, usually described as “laic”, and its grand anti-Church coalition of Atheists, Huguenots and Jews coalesced in Dreyfus Affair days. Thus Lavrov’s escape to the church was a counter-demonstration, saying: Russia is for Christ, and Russia is not against Muslims.”
My view of Christianity, esp. as practiced and politicized in No. Am., is highly practical. Reformed evangelical Frank Schaeffer is very clear on the ambitions of the “Christian” Right.
And then there are somewhat less sophisticated applications of this theology.
Pharisees, the lot of them, IMHO (in my heathen opinion). As the Irish say, saints preserve us from devout persons.
Posted by: rufus magister | Jan 22 2015 4:41 utc | 164
From Russia Insider via NewColdWar, Alexander Mercouris has an interesting view on the naure of the regime and its nationalist obsessions, Ukraine goes to war – and always will as long as Maidan holds power
The basic truth about the crisis in Ukraine and why there is a war there – the one that many people especially in the West refuse to acknowledge – is that the faction that seized power in Ukraine through the February 2014 coup is structurally incapable of negotiation or compromise with those it considers its opponents…. [T]he whole purpose of the February coup was so that the faction in Ukraine that holds power now could achieve the unrestricted dominance of Ukrainian society which is its only way of making true its vision of a unitary, monolingual, monocultural Ukraine that is forever distanced from Russia….
It is also incidentally the reason for the repeated attacks on the Lenin…. Given the regime’s overriding, aggressive drive to reshape Ukraine in its own image, it cannot tolerate the existence of these statues precisely because so many Ukrainians adhere to them and by doing so hold fast to a different vision of Ukraine from the one the regime has…. The statues have to be eliminated from Ukraine just as opponents who think of Ukraine differently must be.
I have seen little reporting on it, but the regime is moving to officially sanction the destruction of Soviet-era monuments, this is from Estonia, last week — Ukrainian Government to Encourage Dismantling of Soviet Memorials.
Posted by: rufus magister | Jan 22 2015 4:58 utc | 165
Russian Spring
01/22/2015-00:34
Overview of military campaign map (video):
…
Donetsk and adjacent settlements remain under fire of Ukrainian artillery for a number of days already.
In area of settlement Peski the cannonade of combat does not come down. The combatants of Novorossia contain incessant counter-attacks by Ukrainian forces. The territory of Donetsk airport remains under constant strikes by the Ukrainian military.
In Avdeevka, violent battles in southern part of the city are under way. The combatants with great effort, meter by meter, press the Ukrainian military toward the city center.
…
Russian Spring
01/21/2015-23:04
A combatant of Lugansk Republic army nicknamed “Sich” (“Owl”) describes battles for outposts in area of Bakhmutka:
“Finally, outpost 29 is ours. This was not easy fight! The outpost battle lasted several hours, but around 12 p.m. this fortified area was taken! Both outposts (29 and 31) were taken by Ministry of Defense of Lugansk Republic.
Outpost 31 switched hands many times; at times we were there, at times Ukrainians.
Outpost 28 (west to outposts 29 and 31) is being now stormed by Cossack’s regiment of Dremov (a commander).
According to air intercepts, the Ukrainian forces in Krinskoye are puzzled. Outpost 37 (?) was reportedly severed from Krimskoye and besieged. The first line of defense of its fortified area was breached…
Posted by: Fete | Jan 22 2015 5:07 utc | 166
@rufus magister #164:
I have absolutely no objection to your disliking Christianity because American evangelicals ignore the teachings of Christ. Thanks for the link to the Salon article: I will read it.
@#165:
I had read that piece, and think it is spot on. I must say it is impossible for me to understand this Ukrainian anti-Soviet ideology, because as a White Russian, I was brought up to hate the Soviets, but all that ended with perestroika and glasnost, and guest77 has even managed to convince me that maybe Stalin was not so bad after all. But then, I don’t understand why Poles hate Russians either.
It looks like we are at another turning point in the Ukraine crisis. The US is going to continue supporting Kiev in its genocide of Donbass. As Mercouris explains, there can be no peaceful settlement. Thus I don’t see how Moscow has any choice but to let the rebels advance into Kharkov and route the Ukrainian army.
Jeffrey Sterling: A Black Man and the CIA
Jeffrey Sterling is a former CIA case officer who stands accused of giving classified information to reporter James Risen. Risen’s book State of War included a chapter detailing how the CIA attempted to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program. Sterling was arrested in 2011 but his trial was delayed by a four year-long effort to force Risen to name his sources.
Sterling became a CIA employee in 1993. He was the case officer in charge of a Russian born agent who passed flawed nuclear plans to the Iranian government. As often happens to black people, everything changed for Sterling when he filed a discrimination complaint in 2000. The CIA successfully argued in court that Sterling couldn’t prove his discrimination claim without revealing classified information. His top secret security clearance was revoked in retaliation and he was placed on administrative leave until his termination in 2002.
Sterling lay down with dogs and got up with fleas. He is like many black people who make what appear to be good career choices by taking supposedly prestigious jobs. Inevitably the prestige doesn’t filter down to them and the missed promotions, salary inequities and various forms of mistreatment surface. The discrimination complaint is usually the last straw of suffering.
…
It is easy to feel the pull of racial solidarity when a black man is in a Virginia courtroom with his fate in the hands of an all white jury.
Of course feelings of solidarity have given cover to the biggest criminal of all, the current president Barack Obama. Ironically, the bigger criminal will escape punishment.
Barring some unforeseen stroke of luck, Sterling is on his way to jail.
Obama is on his way to book deals, corporate speeches, and a lifetime of ease and big money.
The cogs in the machine must never forget they are just that. They pay a huge price when they step out of line. Just ask Jeffrey Sterling.
The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate … he belongs in the Big House, not the Whitehouse … for his thousands of serial drone murders right off the top.
The revolving door revolution continues for those who knuckle their brows to the 1% and betray their constituents …
Darren Wilson Will Not Face Federal Civil Rights Charges
The U.S. Department of Justice decided Wednesday that it will not pursue federal civil rights charges against Darren Wilson, the white Ferguson, Missouri, police officer who shot and killed unarmed black teen Michael Brown Aug. 9, 2014.
So now U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will have the final say on whether the American justice system will close the case against Wilson. Last November the Missouri authorities concluded the investigation into Brown’s death and decided not to indict the officer.
Holder has said that he plans to close both the civil rights investigation of Wilson and the investigation of the 2012 shooting of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman before leaving the department next week.
Posted by: jfl | Jan 22 2015 7:49 utc | 169
Demian @ 168 —
Agreed, some of our loudest “Christians” not very Christlike. And I’m not to keen on Catholic League/Opus Dei or JDL types, either.
“guest77 has even managed to convince me that maybe Stalin was not so bad after all.” I don’t think I remember that exchange, sorry I missed it. I don’t like Uncle Joe, but you gotta give him his props as victor at Stalingrad, thanks to the breakneck industrialization of the first & second five year plans.
Polish views likely stem from the suppression of the anarchic Kingdom of Poland by Catherine II, with more than a dash of anti-Orthodoxy. The nobles apparently had a right of rebellion against the elected king; rather sounds like a Tea Party state.
But the big point — I would agree we’ve reached a tipping point in Banderastan. Why stop at Kharkov — on to Kiev & Lvov! Let’s hope the Kremlin agrees.
Special AM Platter — the Furs, Imitation of Christ.
Posted by: rufus magister | Jan 22 2015 12:40 utc | 171
The german magazine “Der Spiegel” (german for “the mirror”) ran a story on how the US is preparing for a cyber war.
Posted by: Willy2 | Jan 22 2015 18:14 utc | 172
The german magazine “Der Spiegel” (german for “the mirror”) ran a story on how the US is preparing for a cyber war.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/new-snowden-docs-indicate-scope-of-nsa-preparations-for-cyber-battle-a-1013409.html
Posted by: Willy2 | Jan 22 2015 18:16 utc | 173
US backed government in Yemen is very vulnerable.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/01/20/us/politics/ap-us-united-states-yemen.html
Posted by: Willy2 | Jan 22 2015 18:23 utc | 174
“F.B.I. Is Broadening Surveillance Role, Report Shows”.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/12/us/politics/beyond-nsa-fbi-is-assuming-a-larger-surveillance-role-report-shows.html
Posted by: Willy2 | Jan 22 2015 19:06 utc | 175
“Good news! — The U.S. government decided today that because I did such a good job investigating the cyber-industrial complex, they’re now going to send me to investigate the prison-industrial complex. For the next 35 months, I’ll be provided with free food, clothes, and housing as I seek to expose wrondgoing by Bureau of Prisons officials and staff and otherwise report on news and culture in the world’s greatest prison system. I want to thank the Department of Justice for having put so much time and energy into advocating on my behalf; rather than holding a grudge against me for the two years of work I put into in bringing attention to a DOJ-linked campaign to harass and discredit journalists like Glenn Greenwald, the agency instead labored tirelessly to ensure that I received this very prestigious assignment. — Wish me luck!”
An American shows the French the real meaning of satire.
Je suis Barret Brown
Posted by: jfl | Jan 22 2015 21:58 utc | 176
UN Supports Mexican Plan to Dissolve Local Governments
Among the new measures President Peña Nieto announced, he suggested dissolving 1,800 municipal police forces across the country to create 32 state police forces.
Peña Nieto may be a Mexican but he has an anglo-neoliberal … I was going to say soul – make it demon in the spot where his soul ought to be. He hates Mexico and Mexicans.
This is yet another move to solidify fascism in North America … as Mexico becomes a part of North America in more than name only.
Can anyone point me to a spot on earth with good news forthcoming? Please?
Posted by: jfl | Jan 22 2015 22:45 utc | 177
@jfl #177:
Can anyone point me to a spot on earth with good news forthcoming? Please?
Novorossiyan forces are advancing, and so far there are no signs that Moscow intends to stop them.
US General Thanks Crippled Ukrainian Soldiers with Tokens
General Ben Hodges, commanding the U.S. Army in Europe (USAREUR) gave out commemorative tokens to Ukrainian soldiers cripped in the fighting.
“They ordered us to fire on a specific location from the BMP, but it could not fire. Then they ordered the tank to fire, but it reported it does not have sufficient hydraulic pressure to fire…I was lucky, because my comrade, a grenade launcher operator whose skull was blown to pieces, fell on me,”
said the wounded 24-year-old soldier who left home two children.
The poor conscript so ‘honored’ makes it clear what a monstrous war crime – against both East and West Ukraine – the UDS/EU/West Ukraine is commiting, and that he was compelled to take part in … “They ordered us to fire on a specific location” … but ‘it was all worth it’ for a piece of tin from the war-mongering general from the country that hasn’t known war in its ‘homeland’ since 1865 … not counting false-flag, self-inflicted terrorist operations.
There should be no doubt about Obama’s intentions for the Ukraine … to fight ‘Russia’ to the last Ukrainian, and then to the last Pole, and then …
Posted by: jfl | Jan 22 2015 23:04 utc | 179
jfl @ 179 —
I saw that bit at Russia Insider earlier today; what’s up with that? How do Ukrainian fascists get American medals for war in Novorossiya?
Demian @ 178 —
“…no signs that Moscow intends to stop them” — good news indeed. So it’s on to Lvov! Let’s go!
And on the TV in the b’gd., NHK is reporting the death of King Abdullah. Busy year so far.
Posted by: rufus magister | Jan 23 2015 0:01 utc | 180
@rufus magister #180:
o it’s on to Lvov! Let’s go!
You must be joking. NAF have neither the manpower nor the hardware to go that far. Plus, in western Ukraine, Novorossiyan forces would be seen as occupiers, with all the problems that entails.
Novorossiya needs to expand into something that is economically viable, and to make the land route to the Crimea under control of friendlies once more. The rump Banderistan that remains can be left to go to hell.
Demian @ 181 —
Yeah, joking a bit, carried away in my enthusiasm.
I agree with you, the Kremlin has loosened the reins a bit, and I think Kharkov should be an immediate objective. Odessa, Dnieprpetrovsk, Mariupol needed to round it all out eventually. How to prevent further probs. w/ Kiev & Lvov?
Posted by: rufus magister | Jan 23 2015 2:35 utc | 182
*Why is it that people don’t understand that the country needs warriors like Chris Kyle?
We will always face hostile regimes or movements and we damned well need to have people who can inflict maximum damage to those troublemakers.*
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/01/22/the-trial-of-eddie-routh-the-man-who-killed-chris-kyle-will-be-american-snipers-darkest-chapter/?hpid=z6
Posted by: denk | Jan 23 2015 2:50 utc | 183
@121
The new line, “Auschwitz was liberated by the Polish Free Army and the OUN” is what we can expect to see Timothy Snyder claiming in a long forthcoming piece in the New York Review of Books, co-authored with John McCain.
Posted by: Harold | Jan 23 2015 16:06 utc | 184
Gwynne Dyer on the topic “Arab Spring” (written in early 2014):
http://www.straight.com/news/573991/gwynne-dyer-arab-spring-three-years
Posted by: Willy2 | Jan 23 2015 23:33 utc | 185
I watched some of the videos at fort russ and novorossya … this is monstrous. The peoples’ houses destroyed, the winter, the people killed by fascists.
This is all the work of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
I cannot share the ‘enthusiasm’ for war showed by some of the people above. This is monstrous, And all for nothing.
For worse than nothing, Much worse. It all only increases the suffering of the poor and dispossessed.
The fascist monsters in Ukraine, the neo-cons, Victoria Nuland, Barack Obama … monsters all of them. Criminals. They should be in prison, certainly out of power. All they do is visit death and destruction … in Ukraine, in Syria, in Iraq, certainly in Palestine … everywhere.
The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. The Norwegians are as bad as any of them.
Posted by: jfl | Jan 24 2015 1:00 utc | 186
From Wikipedia’s entry on Air Asia Flight QZ 8501:
Investigation
On 16 January 2015, the Indonesian National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT or NTSC) announced that 124 minutes of cockpit dialogue had been successfully extracted from the cockpit voice recorder and was being transcribed. Data from the flight data recorder was also being converted. KNKT plans to submit a preliminary ADREP report to the ICAO within the required 30 days after the crash,[114] or 27 January.[115]
On 20 January, it was revealed that the final minutes of the cockpit voice recording contains the sound of many alarms from the flight system, almost drowning out the voices of the pilots. The investigators ruled out a terrorist attack as the cause and said they would examine the possibility of human error or aircraft malfunction.[5]
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jan 24 2015 1:59 utc | 187
jfl at 186 —
If there is any other realistic way to end the conflict, I am open to suggestions. Sometimes it’s the only way.
From Nietzsche’s book of aphorisms, The Dawn. Can’t find my Penguin Portable Nietzsche, though I did find it online.
And perhaps there will come a great day on which a nation distinguished for wars and victories and for the highest development of military discipline and thinking, and accustomed to making the heaviest sacrifices on behalf of these things, will cry of its own free will: “We shall shatter the sword” – and demolish its entire military machine down to its last foundations. To disarm while being the best armed, out of an elevation of sensibility – that is the means to real peace. Better to perish than to hate and fear, and twofold better to perish than to make oneself hated and feared – this must one day become the supreme maxim of every individual state!”
Now that really would be worthy of a Nobel Prize, no?
Posted by: rufus magister | Jan 24 2015 2:42 utc | 188
And I’m certainly not happy about this, Ukraine flirts with declaring martial law and a war on Russia. Full of sobering stuff, folks really should take a look.
Posted by: rufus magister | Jan 24 2015 3:55 utc | 189
the japs are fully on board with the murcunts wot[erro]/wot[yrants] bs.
*Japan to reinforce SDF anti-piracy base in Djibouti for broader Middle East responses
The mission of a Self-Defense Forces base for anti-piracy operations in Djibouti is expected to be bolstered to include the dispatch of patrol aircraft and the rescue of Japanese civilians in Middle East emergencies, Defense Ministry sources said.* [1]
hmmm…
*Djibouti rests at the confluence of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, across from strife-torn Yemen, and borders the northwest corner of equally conflict-ridden Somalia..* [2]
coincidentally, Djibouti yemen happens to straddle another oil transit choke point !
*Bab el-Mandab, between Yemen, Djibouti, and Eritrea connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. Oil and other exports from the Persian Gulf must pass through Bab el-Mandab before entering the Suez Canal. In 2006, the Energy Department in Washington reported that an estimated 3.3 million barrels a day of oil flowed through this narrow waterway to Europe, the United States, and Asia. Most oil, or some 2.1 million barrels a day, goes north through the Bab el-Mandab to the Suez/Sumed complex into the Mediterranean.
An excuse for a US or NATO militarization of the waters around Bab el-Mandab would give Washington another major link in its pursuit of control of the seven most critical oil chokepoints around the world, a major part of any future US strategy aimed at denying oil flows to China, the EU or any region or country that opposes US policy*
[3]
and somalia…..
*Washington’s choice of Somalia and Yemen is a matched pair, as a look at a Middle East /Horn of Africa map will confirm.
Yemen sits at the oil transit chokepoint of Bab el-Mandap, the narrow point controlling oil flow connecting the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean.
Yemen fits nicely as an ‘emerging target’ with the other target nearby, Somalia.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/ENG502A.html
[1]
http://www.marsecreview.com/2015/01/japan-to-reinforce-sdf-anti-piracy-base/
[2]
http://www.globalresearch.ca/when-empires-join-hands-japanese-military-joins-u-s-and-nato-in-horn-of-africa/18869
[3]
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-yemen-hidden-agenda-behind-the-al-qaeda-scenarios-a-strategic-oil-transit-chokepoint/16786
Posted by: denk | Jan 24 2015 4:31 utc | 190
@rufus magister #189:
The title of that article is Украина хочет объявить России войну и умереть (Western audiences should be familiarized with the Cyrillic alphabet) – “Ukraine wants to declare war on Russia and die”. The main point of the article is that if Ukraine declares war on Russia, Russia will have a firm legal justification for destroying the junta and its power structures.
As an aside, I will observe that Russians are used to countries making war on them. So Russia takes care to have an effective military force. Its army using conventional weapons is highly capable, yet if things get out of hand, according to Russian military doctrine, nuclear weapons will be used. You don’t mess around with the bear. The resistance was able to decimate the Ukrainian army, and the resistance is just Ukrainian citizens who identify as Russian, not even the Russian army. Contrast that with the US, which endlessly starts wars but has not managed to win any since WW II (which Russia won, by the way) other than the invasions of Granada and Panama.
190
as luck would have it,
the *terrorists * in paris broadcast to the whole world they’r from yemen , which is confirmed by a top *aq* cadre in yemen 😉 [4]
as if that isnt enough, now we hear that
MURCUNTS LIVES ARE AT RISK IN YEMEN ! [5]
anybody who has been following zwo script knows that this is carte blanche for murcunt intervention !
china tried to wriggle out of the fukus death grip at the malacca straits [6]
by sourcing its oil in africa, it’s doing fine for a while until….that aq, ebola one two punch.
between aq, boko haram, ebola, fukusf[rance] already have elite troops in all of western africa. now thanks to the paris *terror* attack, soon we’d have murcunts and japs squatting at china’s jugular in yemen !
[4]
http://osnetdaily.com/2015/01/paris-terror-aftermath-media-pushes-dubious-al-qaeda-yemen-narrative/
[5]
http://21stcenturywire.com/2015/01/19/mockingbird-us-media-set-stage-for-yemen-military-intervention-ahead-of-sotu
[6]
cunt
*a huge fraction of China’s oil goes there. If we ever had to get them by the balls, this is where the US Navy would do it. We better have GREAT underwater surveys of this area, so we can better plant our listening devices and mines (and operate our attack subs). GO NAVY!*
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1323707/posts
*Straits of Malacca— chokepoint of Asia
Eighty percent of the oil shipped to China’s booming economy passes through the Straits of Malacca, the shortest sea route for oil coming from West Africa and the Persian Gulf to the South China Seas. The oil is also essential for economies and industries of Japan, malaysia, South Korea and the other East Asian countries.
The southern tip of Myanmar is strategically situated on the western entrance to the Straits of Malacca. This funnel shaped waterway, which narrows to 1.5 miles between Indonesia and Malaysia, links the Indian and Pacific Ocean. More than half of the oil tankers in the world ply this route.
the Pentagon has been trying to militarize this region since Sept. 11, 2001. The Pentagon claims this is essential for defense against terrorist attacks and pirates. It would also give the Pentagon unilateral control of the main route for China’s energy supply.
In November 2003, Xinhua News Agency quoted President Hu Jintao warning that China needed to develop a strategy because some big countries were attempting “to control the transportation channel at Malacca.*
http://www.workers.org/2007/world/myanmar-1101/
Posted by: denk | Jan 24 2015 5:10 utc | 192
re: rufus magister @189 and Demian @ 191:
Ah, just saw 189 after posting same link in the Ukraine discussion… Interesting difference in title translation. And yes, I’m enjoying brushing up on the couple of years of Russian I took way back when.
Contrast that with the US, which endlessly starts wars but has not managed to win any since WW II (which Russia won, by the way) other than the invasions of Granada and Panama.
When the US invaded Grenada a group of militarist yahoos attempted to hold a celebration rally where I was going to school; you should’ve seen their faces when I heckled from the periphery, “At least when Japan attacked by surprise they took on someone bigger than they were!”
Posted by: Vintage Red | Jan 24 2015 5:32 utc | 193
Demian at 191 —
I wish I’d checked the title, I clicked the link to make sure it was “KP”. Declare war and die pretty much sums the pc. up.
It just blew me away. It’s such a colossally stupid idea that I hope it is just a flirtation. But I’ve said before, just ’cause it’s stupid don’t mean it won’t happen.
I noted his links towards the end, citing studies by Stratfor and others, suggesting NATO forces would match up poorly with the Russians. We would be wise not to try to disprove them.
To be fair, we did win the first Gulf War. Do you remember the “Highway of Death”? It was not a particularly pretty win.
We might not have, had the Iraqis gone into Saudi Arabia and deprived the coalition of bases. I feared at the time the easy pickings in Panama and Grenada might embolden DC. Then when the Union collapsed, it was really only a matter of time.
And of course, back in ‘Nam, locals with Soviet aid held out vs. Uncle Sam.
Posted by: rufus magister | Jan 24 2015 5:57 utc | 194
@Vintage Red #193:
I’m enjoying brushing up on the couple of years of Russian I took way back when.
Cool. I flirted with learning Spanish, which wouldn’t be that difficult, since I learned French in high school. Anyway, Spanish is familiar to me, since I hung around with Spanish girls for a couple of years. That led me to the opinion that Spanish is a more beautiful language than Italian. No experience with Latin Americans, though.
@rufus magister #194:
To be fair, we did win the first Gulf War. Do you remember the “Highway of Death”? It was not a particularly pretty win.
I guess I should have thought of that. Although as I recall there were some American soldiers on the ground – I don’t know why – this war consisted almost completely of US aerial bombardment. Nobody disputes that the US can destroy the armies of third world countries with its air force, if a given army is all in one place. The Iraqis going into Saudi Arabia in that war is an interesting idea, but I think it is like the idea of the Novorossiyan Armed Forces going all the way to Lvov: I just don’t think they had the capacity for that. The way the Germans got around their shortage of manpower was by Blitzkrieg, but I don’t think anyone other than the Germans can do Blitzkrieg. (Now even they can’t do that, having become a US colony.)
I watched Dr. Strangelove a couple of days ago. It is well worth watching in these days. Interestingly, the term “Soviets” is not used in that film. Just “Russians”, “Russkies”, and “Commies”. This suggests that the United States always saw Russia as its enemy, not the transient state known as the Soviet Union.
Demian @ 195 —
The War for Kuwait had more limited aims than the Second Gulf War. We just wanted the Iraqis out of Kuwait; now we want to rework the Mid-East and through it the world. The spectacular failure of GW2 does rather crowd out other ideas. “All the kings horse and all the kings men….” aka, Powell’s “Pottery Barn” doctrine.
Kubrick really did some insightful, provocative work. I like the black-comic edge of Dr. Strangelove. Unfortunately, I think some of our more apocalyptic types in the leadership might not mind living in a bunker, provided they can think they “won” a nuclear exchange. But we’ll still have our “Purity of Essence,” makes it all worthwhile….
Do you recall Fail-Safe, — we accidentally strike Moscow, Henry Fonda takes out New York. Apparently remade for TV in 2000, but can one even imagine us doing such a selfless deed now?
Posted by: rufus magister | Jan 24 2015 15:57 utc | 196
And further to my 195 —
How could I have forgotten this, Demian?
Reds, Russkies, Commies, were all alike. Communism was the threat, the Union embodied it, and the Russians were the dominant ethno-linguistic group within it. Soviets was more used in academia, Russian in pop cult — like the 60’s comedy, The Russians are Coming. Prior to the October Revolution, US relations were traditionally good with the Empire, though with some public apprehension about the autocracy and serfdom.
In many ways, US and Russia are alike. On the edges of Western Civilization, amalgamated peoples, expansive frontiers for the unruly, ambitious, out-of-the-mainstream.
The USSR did not appear transient, even as late 1989; few in the business expected the collpase. The dissident Andrei Amalrik, however, had noted the problem of the reform and the nationalities in Will the Soviet Union Survive to 1984?. Wikipedia on Amalrik says the consensus in the business is he was both insightful and lucky.
Perestroika and glasnost show that the Soviet system was far more capable of reform than our own is, IMHO. The problem of reform in Russia/USSR is of long standing — how to make the needed changes and still keep control? The Romanovs never quite fully managed it (Cath. II, Alexander I & II, even Nicholas II made stabs at it). Khrushchev’s “Thaw” had promise, but eventually foundered on the shoals of the apparat. Had Gorbachev not erred in making Yeltsin his go-to in the Russ. Repub., perhaps the KPSU could have managed. He was Washington’s nose under the tent, so to speak.
Posted by: rufus magister | Jan 24 2015 16:32 utc | 197
The Kurds are shelling Mosul. (it would confirm the news that the Kurds have received (some) heavy weapons from Germany. Seems ISIS is forced to be on the defensive, instead of being on the offensive).
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2015/01/23/82-killed-in-iraq-peshmerga-shell-central-mosul/
(ANTIWAR.com is a good source for news from the Middle East.)
Posted by: Willy2 | Jan 24 2015 17:53 utc | 198
News from Yemen:
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/01/23/how-did-yemen-become-the-perfect-home-to-al-qaeda-training-camps/
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/22/us-yemen-security-aden-idUSKBN0KV2PU20150122
The Jerusalem Post sees a link between the Israëli attack in Syria and the israeli elections.
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/What-was-behind-Israels-strike-in-Syria-that-killed-an-Iranian-general-388759
Is this the first move of an attack on Lebanon/Hezbollah ?
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/23/us-mideast-crisis-soldiers-idUSKBN0KW2GZ20150123
Posted by: Willy2 | Jan 24 2015 18:03 utc | 199
“Kurds (to) receive more advanced weapons”.
http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/as-isil-retreats-iraqi-kurds-gain-new-ammunition
– An article from september 2014
– But pouring in more weapons also will make the region more unstable. Will there be a conflict between the Shias & the Kurds ?
– Did the Shias receive more advanced weapons from the West as well ?
Posted by: Willy2 | Jan 24 2015 21:54 utc | 200