I read the above, carefully. My two cents is simply that Andrew Levine has an interesting article “The Clinton Myth and the Strange Case of Donald Trump” on Counterpunch today. Given that any third party is doomed by the owners of America, it is both very informative and quite depressing. Since many readers of ‘Moon’ tend to be pessimists, maybe all y’all will appreciate it.

Posted by: rg the lg | Apr 1 2016 19:00 utc | 5

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 1, 2016 2:17:39 PM | 2
Bernie Sanders new video has a powerful message about morality and justice,
No offence intended b and karlof1.
Yes, I have heard many powerful speeches in the past, one of the most powerful ones from a proven liar and murder. It was in Kerry’s Democratic party convention or coronation in 2004, an new unknown freshman’s senators from State of Illinois Barack Obama cause the present debacles we live today. The main sell pitch Change, change dreams from my father….you can believe in . . .
Bernie Sanders will not be any different from Obomo… maybe worst, and I an’t buying it. PERIOD!!
I challenge you or anyone, will Bernie is any different and will the killing stop in Palestine or in Syria, Ukraine, Libya,….? Yes, Black lives matter. Do Palestinian, Ukrainians, Afghani… lives matter too? Have you watch the 18-yr old Israeli’s soldier murdered a wounded Palestine in cold blood just a few days ago?
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israeli-forces-killing-cold-blood-palestinian-families-say
Soldier shoots, kills Palestinian attacker lying on the ground, Hebron Credit: B’Tselem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-Bl9zAM5A4
Thanks for reading 🙂

Posted by: Jack Smith | Apr 1 2016 19:36 utc | 7

Arthur Silber has a new piece on what the United States stands for.
read it and weep, or vote, or, whatever…

Posted by: john | Apr 1 2016 20:17 utc | 9

Turkey key supplier of weapons to ISIL: Russian envoy to UN.
“The main supplier of arms and military equipment to ISIL militants is Turkey, which uses non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for this purpose. The National Intelligence Organization of Turkey is in charge of the operations. Transportation is carried out mainly via automobiles, including humanitarian aid convoys, Churkin wrote in a letter to the UN Security Council (UNSC)”.http://english.almanar.com.lb/adetails.php?eid=263800&cid=22&fromval=1&frid=22&seccatid=45&s1=1

Posted by: harrylaw | Apr 1 2016 20:27 utc | 11

@ Noirette 10
Brilliant!
I would just complete the exercize as follows:
Beneath Trump, Cruz and Sanders: Three converging arrows to the question, “Will shit get fixed?,” followed by an arrow to the answer, “Are you kidding!”
Beneath Clinton and Kasich, two converging arrows to the question, “Will shit stay the same?,” followed by an arrow to the answer, “Doubt it, nothing does.”

Posted by: Malooga | Apr 1 2016 20:43 utc | 13

So much focus on ‘revolt’ in Brazil. Why not on Argentina?

Posted by: Maracatu | Apr 1 2016 21:48 utc | 15

How many votes in favour of getting Peter Lavelle to shut up and let his guests speak?

Posted by: chet380 | Apr 1 2016 22:59 utc | 17

@17 How about you shut up and go start your own TV show?

Posted by: dh | Apr 1 2016 23:12 utc | 19

@Jack Smith
Too bad your cynicism doesn’t generate electricity; you probably have enough to power New York.

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 2 2016 0:41 utc | 21

Many of you folks have short memories. Please think back to the Obama that was vying for your vote in the first election and compare that hologram to the “real” Obama we have today. Night and Day.
The only thing you can say with certainty about the current crop of candidates is they all belong to that “big club” that you don’t. Doesn’t matter which one gets in office. The USS Deep State won’t alter course by a single degree.

Posted by: Ageless Yankee | Apr 2 2016 1:14 utc | 23

@10 Noirette
here’s the link to the actual picture, I’ve fallen on bitly’s sword for us all.
@14 nmb
skipped your bitly link … sounds like old news, not worth surrendering more personal data points to retrieve
@17 chet, @19 dh, @20
I voted with my feet, chet; dh, you sound just like Lavelle himself; TV is TV when all is said and done, Jack. Turn it all off.
Here’s a link entitled Pictures reveal the extensive damage caused by Saudi airstrikes in Yemen. And there are a few of those there

Pictures taken by ITV News show what life is like for Yemen’s civilians who have been living through a civil war for more than two years.

No. The pictures show the death, devastation, and destruction brought about by the US/Saudi/Gcc aggression against Yemen over the past two years. Just as the pictures of Syria show the death, devastation, and destruction wrought by the US/Turkey/Saudi & the Gccs there over the past five years.
Chinese Dams Blamed for Exacerbating Southeast Asian Drought

Fingers are mainly pointed at the El Nino climate phenomenon, which produces drier and hotter-than-usual weather globally. But environmentalists and some officials say the situation is worsened by the 10 dams on the Mekong’s mainstream built over the past two decades, at least partly because they reduce rainy-season flooding and trap sediments, making the downstream delta more vulnerable to seawater intrusion.
The current El Nino is one of the strongest climate events in the past 60 years “that is not over yet,” said Kundhavi Kadiresan, assistant director-general at the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization. It is the main factor in the drought, but “dams along the Mekong can and certainly do cause some problems,” she said.

Yes, the Chinese dams on the Lancang/Mekong are a disaster and China:Mekong::Turkey:Euphrates::USA:Colorado river, and they and the Thais/Laos/Vietnamese/Cambodians have dammed, are damming, and plan to dam – and damn – lots of Mae Kong’s tributary rivers and Mae Kong herself … but it is no more ‘the current El Nino’ that is responsible for environmental death, devastation, and destruction in Southeast Asia and the world at large, rather it is global climate change and the fossil-fuelers behind the ferocious el nino and the rest of our climate’s disruption. But you cannot print that in the corporate media anymore than you can identify bald US-led aggression for what it is.
You can print still print a few words here at moa, though … in between the fossil-fuelers’ walls of words to the contrary. The financiers. the fusiliers, and the fossil-fuelers … the three heads of Cerberus barking and growling, welcoming us at the gates of hell.

Posted by: jfl | Apr 2 2016 1:31 utc | 25

@22 psycho
Another chance to use the occasion of a disaster to change course booted. The thing to have done was to have announced a UN-sponsored world clean-up effort at Fukushima and a simultaneous UN-sponsored world r&d project on photosynthetic hydrogen in its wake, as Vladimir Putin proposed at the UN last year. But anything like that – any action to actually change the status quo – depends on our actually seizing power.

Posted by: jfl | Apr 2 2016 1:44 utc | 27

@25 “dh, you sound just like Lavelle himself”
hah….you think? Lavelle maybe runs off at the mouth too much but I think he does a good job exposing the lies we have to deal with. Maybe chet can do better.

Posted by: dh | Apr 2 2016 2:00 utc | 29

Posted by: Ageless Yankee | Apr 1, 2016 9:14:14 PM | 23
“Many of you folks have short memories. Please think back to the Obama that was vying for your vote in the first election and compare that hologram to the “real” Obama we have today. Night and Day……
Well said! I still remember. Many have forgotten and still believe in powerful speeches.
When will they learn?

Posted by: Jack Smith | Apr 2 2016 2:06 utc | 31

@29 dh
Yeah, but he uses his ‘guests’ as props. I identify with his guests, not with him. Not with his preselected message and his orchestration of its presentation. And that’s the trouble with ‘TV’ … its all about ‘personalities’. Dictatorial personalities, in his case.

Posted by: jfl | Apr 2 2016 2:22 utc | 33

@33 Yeah but his guests know the score. He’s a long way from being a fascist IMO. I think it has a lot to do with trying to say a lot in a short time.

Posted by: dh | Apr 2 2016 2:29 utc | 35

A note on a visual effect in Erdowo etc. Erdogan did not put a blond wig on his head to participate in a Gay Pride parade, this is actually a national head dress of Turkmen from Central Asia. I was investigating “Attack of the Pink Brigade”. A civil defense unit composed of students of Beijing universities participated in the parade on 60-th Anniversary of Chinese Revolution, and they were the high point. In particular, one battalion had pink uniforms with white accessories (the blue and green battalions were in mini skirts as well) that included high white boots (a message to the enemies of the Revolution: one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you). Less well known is the pink accent on a similar parade in Tehran featuring ethnic battalions. Rather than goose steps, Iranians prefer movements that look pretty much like a dance, and they sing! On top of that, Turkmen were in pink garbs looking pretty much like dresses, and the sheep hair on their hats were enormously long and platinum blond.
In general, Tehran parade was a feast for the eyes. A Beach Boys battalion (all in dark glasses). Chubaka battalion (special forces?). Girls in glasses (and chadors). Unfortunatly, the videos on YouTube are very grainy.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Apr 2 2016 2:50 utc | 37

@10 Noirette
Fun with graphviz : Who should I vote for?

Posted by: jfl | Apr 2 2016 3:34 utc | 39

I find it hard to trust Bernie because I question:

… whether he is building a movement (the only way for real change)

Chris Hedges: Bernie Sanders Phantom Movement
Seriously, what other person or group can you name that is closely associated with Sanders – who will carry the banner after this 74 year old man has retired/died? Endorsements don’t make a movement and crowds at town halls are not marches.
Bernie’s meekness has allowed Hillary to say that SHE fights for the middle-class (“a progressive who gets things done”)!!

> … why he is soft on Hillary/Obama/Democratic Party?;

at 74, what does he have to lose? Is he really looking forward to Clinton holiday parties in the last years of his life?

> … why he is soft on the media;

Corporate MSM gets a massive infusion of money during Presidential elections – they are a part of the problem.
Sanders supporters protest Trump, yet ignore MSM’s bias for Hillary? Yeah, the Sanders campaign argues somewhat for MSM to forget the Super-delegates, but they are promptly ignored. Sanders supporters simply pout and whine about MSM/DNC ‘injustices’ then head out to protest ‘fascist’ Trump. Huh?

Bernie’s will make a seemingly heroic effort to bring his ‘message’ to the Convention, where it will do nothing more than ‘influence’ the Party platform – and provide Hillary with some sound bites to pay lip service to the left from time to time (much like Obama).

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 2 2016 4:05 utc | 41

@jfl #36
jfl, If I have offended you, I’m sorry and I mean it. 🙂
Do we have the right to disagree without felling offended? Unlike Bernie’s supporters aggressively shut down Trump’s rallies. I don’t approve it neither will you – I hope? These MoveOn “thugs” (borrowed from Obomo in Black Lives matter starting in Ferguson, Missouri to Baltimore are supporters backed by George Soros who also supports the Nazi in Ukraine.
Did I “enjoy beating the rest of us over the head as much – or more?” Lie or misinform anyone? These are facts, can be verified by Goggle. I could provide extensive websites and videos, but if you disagree nothing will ever change your mind, just as I will never vote for Bernie.
Both Jackrabbit, myself and many here don’t trust Bernie, but he’ll (Jackrabbit) vote or write-in independently for reasons he believes in and I sincerely respect his decision. I may write-in Jill Stein depend on the outcome CA primary in super Tuesday.

Posted by: Jack Smith | Apr 2 2016 4:32 utc | 43

Posted by: Tom Murphy | Apr 1, 2016 10:19:21 PM | 32
We all know they lied. If Obomo wanted Bernie for the next president, he could immediately shut off Killary by releasing all Killary’s private emails publicly and FBI investigations, especially where Ambassador Stevens killed in Benghazi and Saddam Hussein brutally murdered.
So you’re back? Who are the bloggers here voting for Bernie? About 4 hrs ago I chased off a Black kid trying to sell Democratic party snake oil and me an’t buying.
If Jill Stein or Trump’s foot-soldiers came to the door, I’ll invite them in for coffee..
.

Posted by: Jack Smith | Apr 2 2016 4:38 utc | 45

@44 jr ‘The voter logic is humorous but wrong.’
Boy you picked up on that right away! Do you think that Noirette didn’t? What’s depicted is the corporate media’s stage set of the election. Of course it’s missing everything of importance : the financiers, the fusiliers, and the fossil-fuelers.
It exists to obscure all issues of importance, to keep the choice down to distinctions without a difference and away from things that do matter.
Our mission, should we accept it, is to return the contest to one centered upon things which do matter. I have a plan, and I’m stickin’ to it. I’m beginning to sound like js. Sorry js. I guess the thing to do is to avoid open threads for the next seven or eight months.

Posted by: jfl | Apr 2 2016 6:33 utc | 47

@48
The ‘rating’ agencies had all the NY banks at the top of their ratings just before the collapse 8 years ago, didn’t they? The whole Potemkin village of economics – how money works – has been exposed as a Rube Goldberg machine, a functional definition of a non-existent system that never was. The real ‘economy’ is run from the backrooms of the casinos, and operations like ‘rating’ agencies are just there to adjust ‘indicators’ that bear relation, not to the economic standing of any realworld entity, but to the state of ‘play’ among the various groups of convenience in the war of all against all for dominance, and the ‘right’ to define ‘economics’.
Just as we must invest our energies in building an alternative to the present political world, countries like Russia, China, Iran, and all the rest need to invest their energies in building an alternative to the present financial world. Just as the political world is stacked against humans and other living beings, so too is the financial world stacked against the group of convenience sucking at the teats of the sow USA. We will never be considered political ‘players’ and they will never be considered ‘economic’ players. We and they are the ‘enemies’ in the war game of all against all. We need to build our own alternatives to these games we cannot – by definition – win.

Posted by: jfl | Apr 2 2016 9:43 utc | 49

Your silly vote “counts”? No, of course not.
Abolish the spoiler effect infested single-selection voting method. And the Soros funded “IRV”
(which is bullshit).
This is the only reasonable answer:
Old Times — Good Times — Teenage Love
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2016/02/431673.shtml
Stop The Madness!
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2016/03/431782.shtml
Without this, you have the choices the corporate parties provide.
NO CHOICES AT ALL!

Posted by: blues | Apr 2 2016 11:35 utc | 51

Will Lebanon be ‘Handed Over’ to ISIS?

Right now, Lebanon has only two places where to ask for help, for protection: Teheran and Moscow. It should approach both of them, without any delay!

I certainly agree with that last sentence. Read the whole article and weep.

Posted by: jfl | Apr 2 2016 12:07 utc | 53

jfl @47: Do you think that Noirette didn’t?
Americans don’t generally think of themselves as imperialists and don’t see the dangers. A good part of the reason for that is the propaganda machine. So it is noteworthy how imperialism is treated by the campaigns. Politicians focus on “blow-back” (terr0r!sm) instead of fundamentals. But it is NOT blow-back to the neocon imperialists, is it? To them it is collateral damage – and very useful because it cements their control.
IMO Trump’s criticism of NATO and his calling politicians “puppets” is the closest that we’ve come to getting the truth out. It is not surprising that the imperialist establishment wants to destroy him.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 2 2016 12:53 utc | 55

@42 @52
There is a two part series from 1999 by Mike Head at wsws.org, based on reportage from the Sydney Morning Herald by Marian Wilkinson, on Suharto’s/the CIA’s/Marshall Green’s massacre of a half million or more in Indonesia in 1965.

Posted by: jfl | Apr 2 2016 14:02 utc | 57

@55 jr
Don’t know about Trump, I think he has no coherent view of the world and no coherent program with regard to the world outside the US, and I think that things he’s saying now have no relation to what his actions might be if elected potus. We know all about Hillary. There is a good article on Sander’s imperialism at counterpunch.org. I’ve mentioned it before.

Highlighting Sanders imperialism is especially important because the left has been repeatedly duped by imperialist wars in recent years, to the point that imperialism is becoming increasingly ignored, and consequently strengthened.
Ultimately, the nationalist demands of the Sanders’ campaign cannot be achieved while simultaneously allowing international imperialism to thrive. Imperialism is a bogeyman that haunts social progress, re-appearing in countless forms to keep resources flowing endlessly into wars abroad that stunt domestic spending and distract from working class demands. A new military “crisis” will always strive to take priority over domestic considerations.

There is no mention of the wars or imperialism in US campaigns because all the candidates are in favor of both while the people everywhere are not. The corporate organ doesn’t want people thinking – about anything – when it comes to politics, certainly not about what is as the basis of their wealth and power.

Posted by: jfl | Apr 2 2016 14:18 utc | 59

GoraDiva 52, jfl 57
guess whats 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, probably the worst genocide of the century.
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 that almost unnoticed took 400,000 lives.” 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. **

Posted by: denk | Apr 2 2016 14:51 utc | 61

“the US’ debt is more than GDP”
So, US net savings is greater than GDP. We have more savings than Russia and this is somehow a bad thing.

Posted by: paulmeli | Apr 2 2016 15:03 utc | 63

suharto died peacefully at home 2008 at the ripe old age of 87 , lucky sob. [1]
i guess ambassador mark green was also called to his creator in the loving care of his family, lucky bastard. !
no worry, there’r a lot more where they come from…
the indon *model* applied to nicaragua
——————————————————–
harold pinter
*The United States Congress was about to decide whether to give more money to the Contras in their campaign against the state of Nicaragua. I was a member of a delegation speaking on behalf of Nicaragua but the most important member of this delegation was a Father John Metcalf. The leader of the US body was Raymond Seitz (then number two to the ambassador, later ambassador himself). Father Metcalf said:
‘Sir, I am in charge of a parish in the north of Nicaragua. My parishioners built a school, a health centre, a cultural centre. We have lived in peace. A few months ago a Contra force attacked the parish. They destroyed everything: the school, the health centre, the cultural centre. They raped nurses and teachers, slaughtered doctors, in the most brutal manner. They behaved like savages. Please demand that the US government withdraw its support from this shocking terrorist activity.’
ambassador Raymond Seitz
‘Father,’ he said, ‘let me tell you something. In war, innocent people always suffer.’
There was a frozen silence. We stared at him. He did not flinch.
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2005/pinter-lecture-e.html
[1]
clinton
* he’s our kind of guy !

Posted by: denk | Apr 2 2016 15:35 utc | 65

Any idiot who thinks the status quo of zionist control of American policy is ok to continue is worthy of ridicule.
Trump is the only candidate willing to change course regarding endless war,Russophobia,calling the shrub out for 9-11 and Iraq,the Obomba admin for Syria and libya,calls trade steals stupid,and ending open borders
Who are you gonna call ,ghostbusters?

Posted by: dahoit | Apr 2 2016 15:47 utc | 67

@ 67 dahoi
“Any idiot who thinks the status quo of zionist control of American policy is ok to continue is worthy of ridicule.”
Concur.
“Trump is the only candidate willing to change course”
You are breathtakingly naive. Trump has married off his daughter to seal his alliance with the the Zionists.
Link to Ivanka conversion
With Trump, if you like your Zionist masters, you can keep your Zionist masters.

Posted by: Ageless Yankee | Apr 2 2016 17:15 utc | 69

I am sorry, dahoit@67, sorry that reality forces many of us to be so cynical. I cannot help feeling that Sanders and Trump have carefully divided the hot button issues for the public citizenry between them – clearly you list international concerns which we ordinary citizens want to see acted upon, and Sanders hot buttons it (with music)on his video concerning the very real needs of the majority of people in this country.
Why do they divide these issues in this manner? It is the tried and true effort of the hidden duopoly – as on a recent program about illegality on Wall Street (Michael Hudson and Chris Hedges) the question was asked: Why then does Wall Street malign Obama who is doing what they want? The answer was so that he will be able to keep doing it.
Divide and conquer.
The best thing that these two candidates are doing for us, the citizenry, is currently speaking out on the real issues that concern us. Both of them. Words, these words, do matter; they matter a lot. If and when they are silenced at their conventions, that just might be a tipping point. Neither one will be able to persuade us to kowtow to whomever the bigwigs choose – the gap is too great – and we ought to remain aware that if either or both succeed at the convention, neither will ultimately have the power of the presidency.
More power to them for now. The real argument begins after those orchestrations of corporate will take place. Obama was a ‘good’ candidate vis-a-vis ideas; he has just been a terrible occupant of the White House. Now that we really know it is the arguments that have life in them, not the ones giving them, let’s look for someone who has both sets of ideas and unify behind that person or persons. Never give up, just be ready. Change isn’t something you have to believe in; change happens, sometimes when you least expect it.

Posted by: juliania | Apr 2 2016 17:54 utc | 71

State Department says halts review of Clinton emails at FBI request
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-clinton-emails-idUSKCN0WY5Q0
The U.S. State Department has suspended plans for an internal review of whether classified information was properly handled in former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails at the request of the FBI, a spokeswoman said on Friday.
Clinton, the front-runner in the race for the Democratic Party nomination in the Nov. 8 presidential election, has apologized for using a private email server for official business while in office from 2009 to 2013 and said she did nothing wrong. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing the arrangement.
[/]
At the time, the department also said it would conduct an internal review on whether the information in the emails was classified at the time it passed through Clinton’s private clintonemail.com account run on a server in her New York home.
The State Department consulted the FBI about this in February, and in March the law enforcement agency asked the State Department to halt its inquiry.
[/]
“The FBI communicated to us that we should follow our standard practice, which is to put our internal review on hold while there is an ongoing law enforcement investigation ,” State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told reporters.
[/]

Posted by: likklemore | Apr 2 2016 18:10 utc | 73

aaaa @70
This leak supports my view of the establishment/MSM collusion against Greece last year.
MSM strongly supported the establishment view: the Greeks were lazy spendthrifts led by incompetent idealists. Many on the “left”, strangely, also attacked Syriza/Greece despite (or because!) its being clear that Greece was targeted as an example to others (especially Spain).
MSM has become a handmaiden of the neolib/neocon establishment. Whatever they are pushing should be viewed very skeptically.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 2 2016 18:57 utc | 75

Since this is an open thread, I’m going to post the pair of replies that were censored at Sic Semper Tyrannis, to illustrate the sort of innocuous commentary which they refuse to publish. The thread where these comments did not appear can be found here:
http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2016/03/httpswwwwashingtonpostcomworldmiddle_eastfighting-against-is-rages-in-central-syrian-town-of-palmyra20160325446a0.html#comments
First censored comment:
The information about Russian mercenaries in Syria originated with an independent St. Petersburg newspaper, Fontanka. I have no idea whether or to what extent Russia uses mercenaries in Syria, which is why I asked. The use of contract agents is not preposterous on its face: the United States had a far larger military presence in Iraq, yet saw fit to use private firms like Blackwater, some of whose operators were publicly accused of war crimes.
The original article in Russian can be found here:
http://m.fontanka.ru/2016/03/28/171/
An English-language summary can be found here:
http://www.interpretermag.com/fontanka-investigates-russian-mercenaries-dying-for-putin-in-syria-and-ukraine/

Posted by: Emil Pulsifer | Apr 2 2016 21:57 utc | 77

Meanwhile the erdowie song hype (streisand effect etc) has got a weird twin event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMQkV5cTuoY
This piece was made by a liberal or maybe more or less radical satirist obviously for to mock the most up to date version of German nationalism. Now, not only the biggest part of the audience didn’t get the (rather simple) message but, much worse, the comment thread is now being flooded by fascists all over the world (prob caused by some Reddit link) who won’t understand the least of the original intention but since they feel this to at least spoil their Rammstein inspired picture of a hidden better Germany (hereby misunderstanding the irony involved even in the Rammstein videos as well) they brutally attack every comment with a certain liberal/cultural marxist/commie scent. The actual point of all this is: the few liberal and leftist “Germans” (or whoever wants to join them in “being” so) over there who still dare to speak out in the comment thread – they who had been supposed to laugh at (maybe, their own, or others’) “being proud of not being proud” – are totally unable to offer anything striking in reply to that increasing mass of blatant racism and self-confident boasting hate speech. Considering that mental defenselessnes, laughter will stick in the thraot. And that… is not the worst effect of that “twin event”…

Posted by: franziska | Apr 2 2016 22:17 utc | 79

Since this is an open thread, I’m going to post the replies that were censored at Sic Semper Tyrannis, just to show the sort of innocuous commentary they seem afraid to publish. I’m reconstructing this from memory and combining two comments into one for the sake of brevity, but the text should be materially the same.
* * *
The information about Russian mercenaries in Syria comes from an independent St. Petersburg newspaper, Fontanka. I have no idea whether or to what extent the Russians use mercenaries there. The concept is not preposterous on its face. The United States had a much larger military presence in Iraq and yet saw fit to employ private contract agents (e.g. Blackwater), some of whom were publicly accused of war crimes.
Skepticism about Russian military propaganda is not tantamount to American jingoism. I’d be just as skeptical of American propaganda trumpeting victory while bypassing most of the major rebel strongholds.
While it’s true that the insurgents are committed to controlling real estate (e.g. Aleppo), its also true that anti-insurgent forces have avoided a direct assault, fearing big losses from anti-tank weapons, ambushes and traps. That’s why they have resorted to a siege strategy, attempting to cut off rebel supplies and reinforcements.
That’s where the fluidity of small unit rebel guerrilla forces becomes relevant. They can infiltrate loose lines of containment, whether around cities, pockets of insurgents fighting in the countryside, or along borders into and out of Syria, far easier than a conventional army (which could more easily be trapped and minced up, or blocked).
No accusation of fraud has been made. As I said, there are few or no independent English language journalists in Syria, particularly in contested areas. The press releases of the Russian and Syrian governments are by far the most prolific, and often the only, sources available to western media outlets. It’s easy to find lots of mainstream media articles touting Russian successes in Syria, and it’s clear that they rely heavily upon the same sources. I’m not accusing them of fraud, either. But taking military propaganda at face value, whether American or Russian, may be a mistake. It is also clear to me that many of the western media outlets eager to believe the Russian narrative are motivated at least in part by neo-con foreign policy positions, regard the policies of the Obama administration as “weak”, and wish that America would emulate Russia (never mind that the Russians are there by invitation, and America is not).

Posted by: Emil Pulsifer | Apr 2 2016 23:36 utc | 81

@80 David KNZ
I never saw that documentary, but I did see, and can recommend, the cinematic “recreation” (drama based broadly on historical events), The Year Of Living Dangerously. One of the few Mel Gibson films where he isn’t running around brandishing firearms while tossing off one-liners.
I’d hate to be on a CIA (or Indonesian) list of “subversives” marked for execution or imprisonment. But I would also hate to be on a Communist list of “counter-revolutionary” class enemies doomed to execution or to long imprisonment in “reeducation camps” as happened on a large scale in Vietnam and which would have happened had the Communist takeover succeeded in Indonesia.

Posted by: Emil Pulsifer | Apr 3 2016 0:00 utc | 83

DavidKNZ 80
yes, the ghost of indon 1965 is still with us today, in the shapes of aq, boko haram, isis, xe…..jsoc ,robert ford, clinton, obama…..
the murder Inc. is very much alive !
—————————————————–
*The Indonesian covert action of 1965, reported by Ralph McGehee, who was in that area division, and had documents on his desk, in his custody about that operation. He said that one of the documents concluded that this was a model operation that should be copied elsewhere in the world. Not only did it eliminate the effective communist party (Indonesian communist party), it also eliminated the entire segment of the population that tended to support the communist party – the ethnic Chinese, Indonesian Chinese. And the CIA’s report put the number of dead at 800,000 killed. And that was one covert action. We’re talking about 1 to 3 million people killed in these things.
Two of these things have led us directly into bloody wars. There was a covert action against China, destabilizing China, for many, many years, with a propaganda campaign to work up a mood, a feeling in this country, of the evils of communist China, and attacking them [1]
——————————————-
the indon *model* in action,
chile, the other 911 !
*During his rule, Pinochet ordered strict measures against dissidents, especially Marxists. He was responsible for the murder of more than 3,000 Chileans, whereas his alliance with South American dictatorships such as those in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay — Operation Condor — resulted in the deaths of more than 60,000 people. The major purpose of this alliance was to root out socialist and communist influence from the region and suppress any potential opposition. The US was again the chief supporter of this alliance, providing the countries with important intelligence and technological support.
In all these states citizens were abducted, murdered and extra-judicially killed to silence and curb any possible opposition. Some 200,000 Chileans went into exile to different parts of Europe. Many of them took up murder charges against Pinochet in European courts but all their efforts were in vain.* [1]
———————————————————
Emil Pulsifer 81
in *saving* indons, vn from themselves, 3m indons slaughtered like sacrificial lambs, many werent even *commies* . one whole gen of vn *wasted* away.
did u ask them..
*was this worth it ?*
another example of the indon *model* applied to *democratize* those *irresonsible* [2] leftists of the world.
———————————–
vn vet
in nam, we zero in our artillery by following the cries of babies
over at sa
*They go into villages. They haul out families. With the children forced to watch, they castrate the father.
They peel the skin off his face. They put a grenade in his mouth, and pull the pin. With the children forced to watch, they gang-rape the mother, and slash her breasts off. And sometimes, for variety, they make the parents watch while they do these things to the children. *
*Dan Mitrione, the exponent of these things, spent seven years in Brazil and three in Uruguay, teaching interrogation; teaching torture. He was supposed to be the master of the business: how to apply the right amount of pain, at just the right times, in order to get the response you want from the individual. They gave them crank generators — with “U.S.A.I.D.” written on the side, so the people even knew where these things came from — and developed a wire that was strong enough to carry the current and fine enough to fit between the teeth, so you could put one wire between the teeth, and the other in or around the genitals.
You could crank, and submit the individual to the greatest amount of pain, supposedly, that the human body can register.* [3]
were they asked whether they wanna sign on to this *democratisation* therapy ?
[1]
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4068.htm
[2]
kissinger
“I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people.”
[3]
http://www.serendipity.li/cia/stock1.html

Posted by: denk | Apr 3 2016 2:22 utc | 85

uncle sham,
*every few yrs we need to throw some two bit country against the wall, just to show we mean biz*
when i heard yrs ago murkka was gearing up for a *two wars front scenario* i thought its just the usual bullying of defenceless third world countries.
now we know the *crazies* [1] in washington really mean biz, they are going for bust ,
john pilger on the coming ww3
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/336785-world-war-break-silence/
[1]
those aint *crazies*, they know what they’r doing, they know what they want.
these are psycopaths who dont mind blowing the planet up if there’r monies to be made as long as they themselves can survive and collect the booties, minus the *useless eaters*

Posted by: denk | Apr 3 2016 3:49 utc | 87

pen 86
he announced his last post here two weeks ago.

Posted by: denk | Apr 3 2016 3:59 utc | 89

@ denk
Many of us come here to rant against the current empire and its sick puppets like war criminal Kissinger. IMO, people need to be told about the atrocities committed by this empire and your details are a sick but necessary wake up for some. Please continue.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 3 2016 5:18 utc | 91

psychohistorian 89
really gratified to know u find my posts worth reading .
30 yrs back, cia whistle blower stockwell said ww3 was already fought with 6m casualties.
looks like today we’r on track to ww4!
JOHN STOCKWELL on ww3, 1987 [1]
* What we’re going to talk about tonight are the CIA’s secret wars. But the subject is much broader than merely little CIA dirty tricks and shenanigans. We’re talking about a situation ….. We’re living in a world which has grievous problems. Our planet is terminally ill, and it’s not a long term disease. We’re talking about the nuclear arms race. This is something. These 52,000, soon to be 70,000, nuclear weapons are going to be going off sooner, rather than later.
At the same time, the world is facing serious economic problems of the sort that triggered world wars in the past. Leaders of countries, leaders of banks, for purposes basically of greed, have never been able to balance their checkbooks. They always overspend. They run countries into bankruptcy.
When the world has gotten blocked up before, like a Monopoly game where everything is owned and nobody can make any progress, the way they erase the board and start over has been to have big world wars. Erase countries, bomb cities, and bomb banks, and then start from scratch again. This is not an option to us now, because of all these fifty-two thousand nuclear weapons.*
[1]
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4068.htm

Posted by: denk | Apr 3 2016 12:48 utc | 93

Shaping reality. This is how its done.
After several weeks of unrelentingly negative coverage of Trump and Trump supporters by virtually all MSM, CNN this morning cites “polls” that say that Trump can’t win the Presidency because of negative perceptions – interviews RNC Chairman to get reaction.
> No discussion of how those polls were conducted.
> No mention of the establishment’s war on Trump. RNC Chair is nominally unbiased toward any GOP candidate but the RNC is very establishment.
> No comment sought from the Trump campaign?
If they are true to form, other “news” organizations and pundits will simply (and repeatedly) cite the ‘fact’ that Trump can’t win.
Note: This comment is MSM criticism, not pro-Trump. We see the same kind of ‘shaping’ in other areas.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 3 2016 14:00 utc | 95

okie framer at 76, TED talk by Varoufakis.
Recently, various generalist arguments suggest that one can’t have, at the same time, democracy (whatever that is when at home), globalisation, and national sovereignity, have floated. (ex from a blog, link) I won’t discuss but it serves as a handy rubric for ex. understanding Trump. “Make America great again” “Peace through strength”, etc. Squaring the circle?
Varoufakis states, quote:….Our liberal democracies… (“surfaced” he says, but arose, flowered, better) only when able to separate fully the political sphere from the economic sphere, so as to define the democratic process fully in the political sphere leaving the economic sphere to .. the corporate world.. as a democracy-free-zone.
Bang on. Evident, for ex. in the narrowing of ‘democratic’ scope in the US, focussed on identity politics, personal issues, societal attitudes (racism, sex, drugs, welfare payments, etc.), identification with ‘leaders’, etc. Vacuous, distracting, dumbing-down.
He dismisses ‘marxism’ – in old style language, who controls the means of production. How can one be a Libertarian Marxist? (or pro Hayek + Marx?) It makes no sense whatsoever.
I expected him to at least touch on the facts that Corporate profits go to shareholders…duh…and to mention some in France who have been pushing the timid agenda of 3/3 – Corporate profits should go 1/3 to capitalist investors, 1/3 to workers, 1/3 to ‘investment, improvements, r _ d..etc.’, this being a way to ‘wake ppl up’ and not a hard-and-fast rule. In line with his ‘maintain the EU and reform capitalism stance.’
Note that none of these efforts / schemes / discourses ever mention ressource extraction and the environment (global warming, agri, etc.) Or WAR for that matter!
http://rodrik.typepad.com/dani_rodriks_weblog/2007/06/the-inescapable.html

Posted by: Noirette | Apr 3 2016 14:20 utc | 97

Important note
In the US ‘primary season’, candidates always play to the ‘base’. So Trump is naturally going to say things that don’t appeal to a wider audience.
Its that kind of thing that makes polls about the general election during primary season very unreliable.
Republicans have actually criticized Trump for being more liberal than they would like, saying that he is not a “true conservative” / doesn’t share “conservative values”. They note that Trump gave money to Democrats and has previously taken more liberal positions.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Apr 3 2016 14:31 utc | 99