"How Many Villages Do They Have To Massacre Before They Become Bad Guys?"
U.S. State Department Daily Press Briefing May 23 2016
QUESTION: Well, sir, I know you said that you don’t know much about Ahrar al-Sham and what they did in al-Zahraa. I have the photograph that I mentioned. I was reluctant to show it because of how graphic it was, but now I think I will do so and maybe this will prompt you to look into this group. And I want to ask you why should this group have protection under the cessation of hostilities when they clearly don’t care about cessation of hostilities?MR TONER: Look, I’m just not aware of this incident. I’m not – I was not casting doubt or not trying to – I just am not aware of it.
May 12, 2016 - Members of Ahrar al-Sham above their handiwork in Zahraa
U.S. State Department Daily Press Briefing May 24 2016
QUESTION: Yesterday, I asked a few questions that you said you would look into. First about the reported brief visit of an Ahrar al-Sham representative to Washington, D.C. Did his visit raise any red flags? Second, what does the U.S. think about this group Ahrar al-Sham, and why should they have the protection under the cessation of hostilities when, by many accounts, they don’t care much about that cessation of hostilities?MR TONER: [...] Look, I mean, we talked a little bit about this yesterday, but Ahrar al-Sham is not a designated foreign terrorist organization. And as we talked about, it is part of this vetted group of opposition forces that are part of the HNC, High Negotiating Council. That was a process mostly led by Saudi Arabia [...] You talked about the attack, and I think we did condemn that. [..] We have serious concerns about that kind of violence.
[...]
MR TONER: -- we believe that that kind of action at this point in time would have a damaging effect on the cessation, as well as on the whole political process. We agreed that this group would be a part of the HNC, with the expectation that they will not commit violations of the cessation and that they will not carry out brutal attacks. We’re aware of last week’s attacks. [...]QUESTION: Is this a yellow card?
QUESTION: Did you know that --
QUESTION: How many times – how many villages do they have to massacre before they become bad guys?
MR TONER: Look, we have – we’ve spoken out about this attack last week. I’m not going to get into soccer references.
[...]
MR TONER: First of all, no, we’re not giving them a yellow card. Second of all, they, like any member of the Syrian opposition who is part of the HNC and part of the cessation of hostilities, has to abide by it.
[...]
QUESTION: You know both Ahrar al-Sham and Jaysh al-Islam espouse exactly the same dogma as Jabhat al-Nusrah and others. They are anti-Western, they are anti-liberal, they are anti-democratic. They want to establish a very draconian caliphate and so on. What qualifies them as part of the moderate opposition?MR TONER: As I said, I don’t have the specific scorecard in front of me. This was – but it was a process that was – the process of choosing the HNC was something that was agreed upon by all the parties of the ISSG with the understanding that no one’s given a free pass, and I accept that.
Please, last question, and then I – yeah, last question.
QUESTION: I want to follow up on Said’s question.
MR TONER: No, let me go in the back.
QUESTION: Did you know that one of the founders of --
MR TONER: I’ve answered many of your questions and I have to run. Please, in the back.
On the right Abu Khalid al-Suri, a founder of "moderate" Ahrar al Sham for which the U.S. State Department runs cover. On the left the founder of another Saudi vetted "moderate" organization.
Abu Khalid al-Suri, also known as Abu Omeir al-Shami [..]: Suri was a co-founder of Ahrar al-Sham and acted as Ayman al-Zawahiri’s representative in Syria, charged with facilitating reconciliation amongst Islamist militants in the region. [...] Suri's close ties with Al Qaeda became clear after his death, when AQ commander Ayman al-Zawahiri published a eulogy for the fallen Ahrar al-Sham leader and AQ posted a video documenting his participation in Al Farouq training camp in Afghanistan, including photos of him with Osama bin Laden and Zawahiri.
Posted by b on May 25, 2016 at 9:04 UTC | Permalink
these morally decrepit shitstains will continue with their blood-soaked stint of 'three-card monte' until hell freezes over...
fascists only relinquish power when it is pried from their cold, dead hands
don't forget it.
Posted by: john | May 25 2016 9:50 utc | 2
Abu Khalid al-Suri, also known as Abu Omeir al-Shami resembles a red-haired European, Anglo or American. He doesn't look like an Arab. Sort of like the blue-eyed, fair-skinned picture of Jesus.
Did Zionist Mr. Toner compare the massacre of that family to a soccer score or a soccer game?
Posted by: fast freddy | May 25 2016 10:40 utc | 3
Our USA is the #1 state-sponsor of terrorism world wide. No one mentions it. It cannot stop until it's acknowledged.
Posted by: jfl | May 25 2016 11:48 utc | 4
From the earlier post about Syria:
@smoothie - I have read your comments both here and and on Col Langs blog aswell as yiur blog. I respect what you write and mostly agree with your pov - but in this instance I agree with Harry - Russia is the oppurtnistic "friend" to countries that want to have a full open relationship with, that say, US has with other countries. It has a zigzag approach balancing and extracting whatever benefit it can get from said country and with US/EU - Iran been casepoint. The S300 saga is a clear example and now I am reading that Russia will fufill the supplying of s300 untill Feburary 2017 - when Isreal recieves its first supply of the F35 fighter jet - thereby neutralising the potential defensive affect. This was agreed when Nutinyahoo recently visited Putin in Moscow. In Syria - its diplomacy with with US is allowing the US and the Gulfies achieve what they could not achieve in the battlefield! The US/EU happily sell whatever weapons they like to the Israelis, Saudis, Emiratis, Kuwaitis, Turks, etc. and make serious money from it. Over the last year France has made some massive arms contracts with the Gulf Arabs that it pushed them to 2nd in the league of arm sellers - overtaking Russia. Rusisia supplying weapons to Iran becomes a dipmatic/geopolitic game/leverage between Russia and US/EU/Isreal/Saudis. I rather have the US as a reliable adversary then a unfeliable Russian friend. And fyi - Russia and Syria have a defense treaty with each other - Russia should stick to that treaty.
Posted by: Irshad | May 25 2016 12:04 utc | 5
thanks to b for keeping at it re. his posts on syria. personally i find it so depressing i have no words i can write.
Posted by: Noirette | May 25 2016 13:41 utc | 6
It always helps to have a photo-opportunity
to show just who is who.
Next you need to have one with Hilary Clinton in the picture.
Posted by: chris m | May 25 2016 14:00 utc | 8
Noirette
personally i find it so depressing i have no words i can write
yeah, read and weep
Posted by: john | May 25 2016 14:15 utc | 9
7;Deserves and needs Trump desperately.
Why is it that alleged intelligent people fall for the serial lying MSM description of Trump as warmonger,when it is the current demoncrat hell bitch and Obomba that are?
Trump will end this relationship with thugs and heretic Muslim crazies that have led to the WOT and 9-11.
And hopefully,will tell the Zionists,make peace or else.
The last 2 days have seen the lying times critique Europeans turning right.
But no critique of Zion.Unbelievable.
Posted by: dahoit | May 25 2016 14:21 utc | 10
re 6
personally i find it so depressing i have no words i can write.You're so right. I've got a meeting tomorrow with a Syrian student woman, who's recently lost both her parents (to sickness), the house in Damascus ( to a bomb or shell), and effectively her country. I don't know what I'm going to say to her. It's like having your whole existence wiped away.
Posted by: Laguerre | May 25 2016 15:14 utc | 11
fast freddy | May 25, 2016 6:40:59 AM | 3
There are many Afghanis that are naturally red haired. There are some of green and blue eyed people in that part of the world as well.
Posted by: ToivoS | May 25 2016 15:32 utc | 12
Thank you b. Hoist with their own words. Sooner the tiger would change its stripes. Only the removal of the oligarchs from power will stop the arming of headchoppers and Boko Haram and other assorted barbarians. Got to decapitate the heads of the international power structure.
Posted by: Penelope | May 25 2016 15:41 utc | 13
b - thanks for continuing to shine a light on this...
i have a habit of watching the usa state dept briefs via schweijk's channel regularly.. what i have observed is that, no matter how bad an action against the syrian people is, the usa spokesperson always throw in the line that - assad regime is the most negligent in following the ceasefire.. no matter what gets said in those press briefings, the arsenic is always littered throughout the dispensing of them.. it is like their fall back position - well - assad regime is worse.. it is so predictable with these press briefings.. that, and of course 'well, we are unaware of that' being the other most used phrase when confronted with photos like the above.. the usa's shit defies logic..
Posted by: james | May 25 2016 15:52 utc | 14
And a servant of the oligarchic heads speaks out about chronic Mid East murders:
"As the United Methodist Church prepares to vote on divestment from companies that profit from Israel’s military occupation in Palestine, Hillary Clinton has penned a letter condemning the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.
The Democratic presidential frontrunner and lifelong Methodist was responding to a joint letter from two leaders of major Israel lobby organizations – David Sherman, chairperson of the Israel Action Network, and Susan Stern, vice-chair of the Jewish Federations of North America – urging her to “speak out forcefully against the divisive and destructive BDS movement” ahead of the Methodist vote."
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/hillary-clinton-attacks-her-church-over-israel-divestment-vote
Posted by: Penelope | May 25 2016 15:56 utc | 15
Posted by: Laguerre | May 25, 2016 11:14:02 AM | 11
"You're so right. I've got a meeting tomorrow with a Syrian student woman, who's recently lost both her parents (to sickness), the house in Damascus ( to a bomb or shell), and effectively her country. I don't know what I'm going to say to her. It's like having your whole existence wiped away."
Thank you. I wouldn't know what to said too if in your place. How long can we allow this to go on... endless wars?
My heart go with you, especially the Syrian's woman, Syrians, Ukraine's Separatists, Palestinians and more.....
Posted by: Jack Smith | May 25 2016 16:04 utc | 16
It's fascinating to hear the State Dept spokesmodel plead ignorance in so many different ways: haven't seen the photo, doesn't have "scorecard" in front of him, not aware, etc etc. But "serious concerns about that kind of violence." Ha.
Posted by: NoOneYouKnow | May 25 2016 16:18 utc | 17
The US CIA and Saudi Arabia created Al Qaeda and spread it to Azerbaijan, to Russia north of Georgia, to the Balkans, to Libya, to Syria.
It should not surprise us that the US will try to cover for Al Qaeda and its affiliates.
Posted by: AriusArmenian | May 25 2016 16:37 utc | 18
So then, either CENTCOM commander Gen. Votel is aiding and abetting terrorism or CIA Director Brennan is.
I say arrest both of them and wait until one squeals on a plea deal. Lesser minions will roll on their boss in a heartbeat. The U.S. can promise to turn over these war criminals to the Hague on completion of their life sentences in the U.S. for treason/sedition. I mention sedition on the rare chance they are going against the authority of the state. If they are colluding with anyone else from 'the state', then those individuals need to be arrested for undermining the Constitution as well. Preferably before tee time.
Seems pretty straight forward to me, but then so does the overruled and widely ignored U.S. Constitution.
Posted by: PavewayIV | May 25 2016 16:43 utc | 19
PavewayIV
in meatspace, what do you suppose could precipitate such a chain of events?
Posted by: john | May 25 2016 17:29 utc | 20
re 21 okie
According to Pat Lang of SST, there's no 'deep state' in the US. I think the argument is that there is no unified interest which runs the show, as there is in Egypt, for example. I would think that if major figures are never going to be prosecuted for their crimes, that happens in many countries. Britain for example, whatever their political allegiance.
Posted by: Laguerre | May 25 2016 18:39 utc | 22
Since you mentioned it - who came up with the term deep state? I don't particularly like the name
Posted by: aaaa | May 25 2016 19:35 utc | 23
Posted by: aaaa | May 25, 2016 3:35:14 PM
I think it was Peter Dale Scott that coined the term .
Posted by: Terry | May 25 2016 19:39 utc | 24
john@20 Re:"...what do you suppose could precipitate such a chain of events?..."
There is nothing that could possibly do this today. It's pure wishful thinking on my part. There are no non-psychopathic leaders that will save the U.S. - it's only a matter of which one will win the right to use the U.S. for their self-serving plans.
okie@21 Re: Deep state - I agree with Pat Lang's thought that Laguerre points out. Although I love a good conspiracy theory, I don't need to gin up a grand, dark conspiracy to explain evil (in the political ponerology, not the religious sense).
Psychopathy is just too good and simple of an explanation. The fact that I see a lot of people walking around sneezing all day does not mean there is a grand allergy conspiracy. Sometimes a disease is just a disease.
Psychopaths flock together for mutual benefit/mutual exploitation when their goals are similar. They feed off of each other's desire to acquire power through acquiring control and exploiting the weak. Stand back far enough and it starts to look like huge groups of psychopaths playing King of the Hill. The only grand conspiracy I see is they all want their group to be at the top of the hill controlling all the other groups of psychopaths. Nobody has to tell them to do that - it's just what they do 24x7. It's the nature of the disease.
They are all collectively evil in my mind and anti-survival - I've stopped caring about which group is the flavor of the day. The U.S. Constitution wasn't an attempt to eliminate psychopaths, it was an attempt to prevent anyone from building a hill(via the state or private interests). We failed to execute the Constitution in the U.S. - it has already been usurped. It's now up to some other country to save the world from itself. The U.S. will never be the solution because it has become part of the problem. How sad.
Posted by: PavewayIV | May 25 2016 19:39 utc | 25
You may know that the "White Helmets" are paid by US/NATO for their services as mercenaries and propagandists within Syria. They have now put them up for the Nobel Prize. Please help to deny them this further power and sanction.
https://www.change.org/p/nobel-prize-do-not-give-2016-nobel-peace-prize-to-syrian-white-helmets
Posted by: Penelope | May 25 2016 19:46 utc | 26
@Irshad.
Irshad, Russia can not completely extricate herself from Europe both economically and culturally. It is not Russia's choice, it is her destiny. Another matter is how Russia is going to balance her act. Russia is not, and I never stated that, infallible state. Far from it. But Russia has her interests and her strategies designed to achieve long-term results. Bismark stated that the "politics is the art of the possible", Russia tries, admittedly not always well, to play with what is possible, not just what is desired. In the end, Russia's fight is not with terrorism only, look at the institutionalized insanity of EU and US which is currently, thanks to its "elites" going off the rails completely, is in a very seriously bad shape, which spells more trouble and bloodshed around the globe. A lot also depends on how soon, if ever, Putin will remove uber-liberal so called "western" lobby from Russian power positions such as economic block. I wrote about this too, BTW. It is there that I stated that I am not a fan of Putin, despite giving him credit where the credit is due. But in the end, ask yourself a question--is Iran better off without upgraded S-300 completely, or with them, even if with a delay? First batteries already arrived in Iran. More is coming. Russia will be happy to sell Iran just about any weapon's systems. Will Iran be interested? Mind you, Russia is not USSR and if she will finance these kind of deals it will be with 100% guarantee of a payment or really good deals, such as possible contracts for rebuilding of Syria. Iran is not Syria. How the relations between Iran and Syria will develop--I don't know. I recall reading recently about not very promising (for Russia) perspectives in economic cooperation with Iran, once Iranian frozen funds become available. But it was one of the opinions.
P.S. F-35, F-22 or whatever "stealth" is hip today is not a big problem of latest AD complexes. They see them, they can jam them, while being able to conduct ECCM themselves, they can shoot them.
Posted by: SmoothieX12 | May 25 2016 19:47 utc | 27
all OT
@25 paveway quote
"Psychopaths flock together for mutual benefit/mutual exploitation when their goals are similar. They feed off of each other's desire to acquire power through acquiring control and exploiting the weak. Stand back far enough and it starts to look like huge groups of psychopaths playing King of the Hill. The only grand conspiracy I see is they all want their group to be at the top of the hill controlling all the other groups of psychopaths. Nobody has to tell them to do that - it's just what they do 24x7. It's the nature of the disease."
good comment paveway.. i agree with you.. it isn't just in the power corridors of the usa either..
speaking of which, it seems any move towards a multi polar world is not going to come easy.. war seems an obvious byproduct of it.
on russia and what it does or doesn't do.. i am mystified by those who don't understand the nature of playing a game of chess and how one has to think way beyond 1 move.. for many at the sites i visit - it is all - why doesn't russia do this or that? for me, i think the art of doing anything well is not being predictable or doing things according to some predictable pattern that anyone could read.. now, russia is not bombing the shit out of the 'moderate terrorists' in syria at the moment even though it is may 25th.. surprise, surprise and we have those bellyaching about it.. that is what i find predictable..
Posted by: james | May 25 2016 20:03 utc | 28
Correction for #27
Instead of "How the relations between Iran and Syria will develop--I don't know", read "How the relations between Iran and Russia will develop--I don't know".
Posted by: SmoothieX12 | May 25 2016 20:09 utc | 29
PavewayIV
It's pure wishful thinking on my part
Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens
Posted by: john | May 25 2016 20:17 utc | 30
@26
"They have now put them up for the Nobel Prize. Please help to deny them this further power and sanction."
Obama won a Nobel Prize. Kissinger got one too. Which he accepted 'with humility.'
Am I the only person who finds that the person who invented explosives which blow people to smithereens is honored by giving out Peace Prizes to people who are directly involved in the mass murders of millions and destruction of entire states and nations? Is it safe to say that the people who move the most 'go boom' merchandise are the people who get the Peace Prize?
Posted by: ALberto | May 25 2016 20:22 utc | 31
re 25 Päveway
The meaning of "Deep State" is up for discussion. It could mean a unified military group, as in Egypt, who expect to be in power. Or it could mean a political class, like Clinton, who expects to be elected. All the institutional and Financial support, but Trump is in advance and may well win.
Is not Clinton's position not "Deep State"?
Posted by: Laguerre | May 25 2016 20:24 utc | 32
The term "deep state" is a literal translation of the Turkish derin devlet. The term was first used in that language, to refer to the Turkish deep state. Peter Dale Scott adopted the term to refer to the deep state of the U.S. and other countries.
Posted by: lysias | May 25 2016 20:43 utc | 33
@5
"The S300 saga is a clear example and now I am reading that Russia will fufill the supplying of s300 untill Feburary 2017 - when Isreal recieves its first supply of the F35 fighter jet - thereby neutralising the potential defensive affect."
Stealth doesn't work. This has been an open secret since an F-117 was shot down over Kosovo. Stealth tech is intended to make aircraft nigh-invisible to shortwave radar, but longwave can detect them just fine. The received wisdom is that this doesn't really matter because longwave radar doesn't provide sufficient resolution to acquire a missile lock; they'll just know *something* is flying around in the area, but not much more than that. The Russians disagree, and are now multiple generations into the S-series of longwave capable missile platforms. The Serbs showed stealth could be defeated when they shot-down the F-117 with 'obsolete' longwave AA sites, and the Russians have changed their R&D focus accordingly. On top of that the Serbs shipped the wreckage off to Russia, so whatever top secret stealth materials the plane was made of are well understood now. And the F-117 was computer designed to maximize stealth; it's so un-aerodynamic that it literally can't be flown without computer aid. The F-22 and 35 are compromise designs that are inherently less stealthy.
And on top of all that, even if stealth did work, the F-35 is such a piece of garbage that it has a massive engine plume that can be targeted by heat-seeking missiles. Even from the front, no less! Russia has their own stealth fighter, the T-50, and has intentionally sacrificed stealthiness in favor of superior maneuverability, which should tell you how much stock they put in radar invisibility. I guarantee they can easily detect their own planes on S-series radar sites, and are only pursuing stealth at all because they figure that the western 'wisdom' that stealth works and that longwave is insufficient for missile lock means the Russians will mostly go up against shortwave radar that can't detect their planes. Russian ground AA sites would snipe NATO 'stealth' planes by the score, and the T-50 would mop up whatever is left with their superior maneuverability.
Posted by: Plenue | May 25 2016 21:20 utc | 36
Anybody see: http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/05/25/hillarys-cowgirl-diplomacy/
It is at Counterpunch. It speaks loudly to what a Clinton presidency, an almost inevitable outcome unless 'server-gate' takes the miserable right winger down. And, isn't Mel's comment that Killary is to the right of Trump delightful? [His source is http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/24/magazine/how-hillary-clinton-became-a-hawk.html?_r=0 for those who happen to think the NYT might periodically hint at the truth.]
And this kind of behavior is the source of the thinking that b invites us to both consider and respond to.
Posted by: rg the lg | May 25 2016 22:02 utc | 37
Laguerre@32 - Lysias points to Peter Dale Scott's adaptation of the term. In both Turkey and Scott's use for the U.S., it is a description of groups of power and control interests with self-granted power and authority that necessarily supersedes that granted by the assumed and apparent state mechanisms. It's groups of overlapping and competing groups, each with their own agendas. The only commonality is they are all willing and successful usurpers of any authority granted to them - if any was granted at all.
Clinton has many agendas and readily created and used sympathetic deep state control structures to advance them. Like any psychopath, she has little time to waste waiting to be handed the proper power and authority by the little people, the Constitution or anything else. She knows damn well what's best and will do that despite the little people or their bothersome rules. Trump has exhibited these exact same psychopathic characteristics his entire life. He will be a ready enabler of his own brand of deep state projects if he gets elected.
Other shadowy powers that already use the existing deep state, like the current neocon/PNAC/R2P scourge, will still be there and will continue to use as much as they can. The various CIA/Intel/Mil deep state projects will continue to exist regardless of who becomes president.
The deep state has to parts: corruptible components of a system of state, and powers using such corrupted components to advance their agendas. Neither exists without the other in a deep state.
Posted by: PavewayIV | May 25 2016 22:20 utc | 38
Sorry for dragging this off-topic, but it is kind of related to b's article.
A psychopathic State Department is incapable of seeing Ahrar al-Sham as evil. U.S. leaders and the psychopathic deep state are incapable of feeling any remorse for supporting Ahrar al-Sham or any other head-choppers. No amount of human suffering will register with them - they are only focused on their own self-serving agendas.
Toner is stuck having to choke out excuses as to why his bosses are so inhuman and oblivious to the pain and suffering they are causing. His bosses are not willfully ignoring that suffering - they are physically and psychologically incapable of experiencing even the remotest amount of empathy with the victims. Assad must go - nothing else matters to them.
Posted by: PavewayIV | May 25 2016 22:54 utc | 39
@paveway
I feel the same revulsion you do at the fruits of US policy all over the world, not least in the US itself, but I shy away from your refrain of 'the psychopaths' did it. I am a believer in the banality of evil. The monstrosity of the Third Reich was not the consequence of one 'madman', and neither is the present monstrosity of the USA or of Israel or of ISIS. It's everyone 'just following orders', of 'going along to get along', the pathology of the thousand lethal cuts. We are all the inattentive, rubbery, hard-boiled frogs. Looking over human history you might say the human species is psycho-pathological, but this 'few bad apples' theory doesn't convince me. The problem is that we all are capable of forming gangs that will do anything, no holds barred, to advance gang interests. Capable of severing ourselves not only from the rest of humanity - the others - in doing so, but of repudiating all the rest of living organisms and the very universe itself. It's had a great run genetically, we've slaughtered wholesale those 'ungifted' with this same capacity, yet we now have all to realize ourselves for what we are ... and consciously to change our behavior, bottom-up. We must champion the meek among us or there will be no one of us left to inherit the earth, as you say.
Posted by: jfl | May 25 2016 23:45 utc | 40
jfl@40 - "...We must champion the meek among us or there will be no one of us left to inherit the earth..."
No better what to champion them than with a champion. I have to believe there is a morally healthy human being capable of great leadership that can drive evil back into its lair.
"...Looking over human history you might say the human species is psycho-pathological, but this 'few bad apples' theory doesn't convince me..."
Lobaczewski and his collaborators tried to introduce the idea of psychopathy as a communicable social disease, capable of infecting both organizations and individuals. They moved well beyond the idea of a 'few bad apples' because it didn't even marginally explain how normal, healthy people would so willingly rat their neighbors out to the Cheka or Stazi (their particular subject of study) to be executed.
They suggested every last one of us is susceptible to the disease of psychopathy under the right conditions. They also suggested we all had a genetic built-in immunity to psychopathy - that's why humanity still exists today. Psychopathy spreads when normal, healthy people consciously or unconsciously suppress their own humanity and begin to tolerate psychopathy around them. The magic to controlling psychopathy is nothing more than being truly human. Empathy is part of our DNA - we were engineered to survive as a society, not as a bloodline or as individuals. Psychopathy is anti-survival.
Posted by: PavewayIV | May 26 2016 0:16 utc | 41
@41 pw, 'No better what to champion them than with a champion. I have to believe there is a morally healthy human being capable of great leadership that can drive evil back into its lair.'
Oh, oh.
I think this emphasis on psychopathy is yet another way of creating a sick 'other' : Psychopaths ... kill 'em all now!
I think we agree on most of the meat of this ... it's just the fad meme that repels me. And the man on the white horse.
Posted by: jfl | May 26 2016 0:29 utc | 42
I found a piece by Peter Koenig, who graces the pages here at MoA, that also appeals to massacres that 'enjoy' impunity
Thousands of extra-judiciary drone killings, all personally approved by Peace Nobel Laureate, Obama, and all with casualties and so-called ‘collateral damage’, costs the affected, mostly poor communities, tens of thousands of lives and destroyed properties and public infrastructure valued at millions of dollars; an assurance to keep them poor and submissive.
Recognition of the gang we find ourselves members of willy-nilly, that will do anything, no holds barred, to advance gang interests. Our 'leaders' - photogenic members of the audience who find themselves made king or queen for a day - act at the direction of the oligarchs, backed up by our own supposed indifference, impotence, and paralysis. A revolution will take a dozen years ... 2020, 2024, 2028 ... we better start now. If we'd begun in 2004 we'd be in good shape now. If there's one thing about the upcoming selection that might be turned to use it's the unequivocal exposure of the futility of waiting for 'leadership'. We'd better watch out we don't get it.
Posted by: jfl | May 26 2016 0:44 utc | 43
"we were engineered to survive as a society, not as a bloodline or as individuals. Psychopathy is anti-survival."
I propose we were engineered to do the bidding of those who created us. But because of our propensity to multiply, a small subset of humans were engineered slightly differently to manage the flock of slaves.
These managers are devoid of empathy towards others and it is this lack of empathy that fosters greed and violence. Royalty, clergy, nobility, etc. all exhibit the same symptoms. But, in their minds they have the justification for their behavior, genetics and entitlement. Most secret societies revelation serves just that, how to maintain the slavery system put in place Aeons ago..
Posted by: Lozion | May 26 2016 0:53 utc | 44
PavewayIV & jfl
I keep wanting to draw folks back to the owners of private finance and the Gawd of Mammon concept as the Deep State and those powers behind the curtain.
The Gawd of Mammon was what the framers of the Constitution tried to structure against like PavewayIV wrote. The American motto of E Pluribus Unum (Out of many, one) was bought out by the Edward Bernays manipulators in the early 1950's and changed to "In God We Trust" gag! I believe that Xtianity and private finance are intertwined with one another going back centuries. The church is not complaining about the change in focus of government from providing for all to managing debt and fear along with "spreading democracy" (gag!).
If we had finance as a global public utility of sovereign nations we would eliminate the greed factor from policy decisions. By eliminating private finance and putting limits on inheritance we could rid ourselves of both the bad focus of psychopaths and the global plutocratic families that fund them.
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 26 2016 1:10 utc | 45
@ Laguerre | May 25, 2016 2:39:45 PM | 22
Three books would disagree with the statement 'there is no deep state' and provide a convincing argument otherwise. They are(with ISBN):
Tom Hanahoe - "America Rules: US Foreign Policy, Globalization and Corporate USA", ISBN 0-86322-309-5
Philip Mirowski - "Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste: How Neoliberalism Survived the Financial Meltdown", ISBN-13: 978-1-78168-079-7
Corey Robin - "The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin", ISBN 978-0-19-995911-2
Sequentially these works show: The origins, the structure and development and then the personnel (ideologues) comprising what is now known as the neoliberal theology. As for a clearly written recent historical perspective and a valid alternative economic theory, neither has been written yet to my knowledge, the one dependent upon the other it would seem - an epiphany for the future. Together these books build a story every bit as convincing as:
Thomas Piketty - "Capital: in the Twenty-First Century", ISBN 978-0-674-43000-6
or
Naomi Klein - "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism", ISBN 978-1-846-14028-0
YKmMD
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | May 26 2016 1:41 utc | 46
b - Memorial Day in the U.S. coming up, so I can't help but ponder your question, "How Many Villages Do They Have To Massacre Before They Become Bad Guys?" without thinking of this picture of another unarmed civilian slaughter of 500 at Son My village in 1968. And that's just a single one that the world found out about almost by accident.
In case anyone was wondering, I'm not looking down my nose at 'the less enlightened'. I was in uniform less than a decade later without grasping the slightest bit of significance to the powers at play in the U.S. that could foment or excuse such inhumanity. I had no Mai Lai to haunt me out of sheer dumb luck and a fluke of timing - there were no morals or brain cells involved.
Should we really be shocked that the U.S. government is oblivious to the head-chopper's ball they've created in Syria? The chain of psychopathy stretches back for decades. It's maddening watching legitimate reporters troll Toner for some signs of guilt or remorse by the administration regarding al-Zaarah. Toner might as well be looking directly at the picture you posted and just retort, "I don't get it. What's there to feel bad about?"
Posted by: PavewayIV | May 26 2016 4:03 utc | 47
Moral insanity means having no concept of humanity. The opposite of humane. Toner is perfectly able to look at death and destruction perpetrated by DOS policy and answer "Yeah, so what". He has no sense of humanity. He is quite mad. Zionist neo-cons are ALL morally insane.
Those who are morally sane PROTECT themselves by disassociating from those who are INSANE. It's intuitive. Jews and Zionists have become predominant in most positions and arenas of power. Particularly media, finance, teaching and government. One assumes its simply a methodical take-over by superior intellect. That's partly true. Cuz its definitely methodical. But it's also a function of non-psychopaths abandoning those positions and circumstances so they need NOT endure systemic moral insanity of people like Toner who have overrun the joint. Sane humans have no interest in being subjected to moral-madness. The inmates have taken over the asylum. Give them a match. Watch it burn
To PavewayIV: miss reading your posts on ZH...Cheers.
Posted by: 4H | May 26 2016 5:33 utc | 48
Using western psychology to explain the anxiety of the human condition will never satisfy, never bring happiness. Western psychology is in a similar infancy to western physics, both trying without quite knowing it to catch up to what human culture has known for thousands of years.
The nature of reality that impacts everything is impermanence and therefore change.
All people act as they are now, but none of this is fixed, and all of this can change. Therefore everything we think and do and communicate is important because it can change our world, perhaps even for the better.
We should not despair simply because the true horror of our lives has begun to show itself in stark ways and sharp contrast. Seeing a thing is the beginning of its transformation. Awareness itself is the great antidote to the evils of our human experience.
Sorry for the poetry. These thoughts arise from the truth of reality as told by the Buddha, and I wanted to pass them along, because this thread is so full of hopelessness.
Yes the fix is in. But nothing is fixed.
Posted by: Grieved | May 26 2016 5:45 utc | 49
As to that photograph of Abu Khalid al-Suri and Osama, it looks so-o-o-o Photoshopped. I've been using Photoshop for seventeen years and you develop an eye for when a photo isn't authentic. The heads are angled wrong. Head sizes aren't exactly right and it's hard to imagine Osama sitting in the Afghanistan mountains carrying a weapon with that beatific smile on his face.
Study it yourself for ten minutes and your subconscious mind will begin to reject it as inauthentic. A minute or two more and the inauthenticity of it glares out at you.
On the other hand, it's a better job than those fat, round-faced Osama "look-alikes" in the post-9/11 videos the US government showed.
Posted by: Macon Richardson | May 26 2016 7:10 utc | 50
B - thank you for your blog, it is so valuable for helping to see the bigger picture.
Posted by: euclidcreek | May 26 2016 7:56 utc | 51
I assumed the photo was photo-shopped. How could it not be.
Posted by: okie farmer | May 26 2016 8:12 utc | 52
fast freddy @ 3
Red-haired, freckled Arabs aren't uncommon. This has often been (incorrectly) attributed to a gene contribution from the French Crusaders. Arabs of this red-haired variety are often colloquially referred to as 'Frankiya', ie Franks.
A usual, the truth is less fanciful- it's just a natural expression of genes in that part of the world.
Posted by: extra | May 26 2016 9:12 utc | 53
Grieved
Using western psychology to explain the anxiety of the human condition will never satisfy, never bring happiness. Western psychology is in a similar infancy to western physics, both trying without quite knowing it to catch up to what human culture has known for thousands of years
i remember reading somewhere about how the Inuits would take problematic members of their society, the liars, cheaters, thieves, and deviants, to the edge of the ice flow...and give them a gentle shove.
Posted by: john | May 26 2016 9:18 utc | 54
Psychopaths is inherited from one or both parents, just as a race horse has run in him, or not.
Posted by: okie farmer | May 26 2016 9:41 utc | 55
Red-headed, green-eyed Kurds are also not so rare---they're 'Aryans' after all, like the Iranians.
Posted by: Quentin | May 26 2016 10:51 utc | 56
Patrick Cockburn lets the truth slip out in an otherwise banal and "realist" analysis in the latest LRB:
This is scarcely surprising: the socialist and nationalist authoritarian regimes that came to power in the late 1960s or early 1970s in Syria, Iraq, Libya and beyond had by then all collapsed or turned into police states with a narrow political base. The introduction of the free market and privatisation in countries where political power was monopolised by the ruling family and those around it was invariably a recipe for plundering the state and taking over profitable enterprises. In Syria, a great many people – from farmers to the urban poor – had once benefited from jobs in state enterprises and low prices. But by 2011 Syria was an expensive place to live. Millions of young men had no work and even members of the Mukhabarat in Damascus were trying to survive on salaries of less than $300 a month. When the civil war began it was the poor rural and suburban areas – places where the ruling Baath party once found its support – that became rebel strongholds.
Posted by: Louis Proyect | May 26 2016 13:19 utc | 57
Triple bombings targeting youth and including a suicide bomber at entrance to ER gets not even a tiny bit of the coverage a phantom hospital in Aleppo gets for MAYBE being bombed from the air. Like Noirette I believe said early on this thread, no words. Horror I can't even imagine.
Posted by: Colinjames | May 27 2016 0:33 utc | 58
Just saw story at ICH that Mansour was snuffed 6 hours after crossing the border from Iran.Hmm.....
And an interesting story about insider trading pre 9-11,with Zionists at the center of it.
Posted by: dahoit | May 27 2016 15:53 utc | 59
Having read Muslim Memories of West’s Imperialism I found and read Understanding Iraq,and found it very helpful ... "A Whistlestop Tour from Ancient Babylon to Occupied Baghdad". One reference there is to Macmillan backed Syria assassination plot
Nearly 50 years before the war in Iraq, Britain and America sought a secretive “regime change” in another Arab country they accused of spreading terror and threatening the west's oil supplies, by planning the invasion of Syria and the assassination of leading figures.Newly discovered documents show how in 1957 Harold Macmillan and President Dwight Eisenhower approved a CIA-MI6 plan to stage fake border incidents as an excuse for an invasion by Syria's pro-western neighbours, and then to “eliminate” the most influential triumvirate in Damascus.
The plans, frighteningly frank in their discussion, were discovered in the private papers of Duncan Sandys, Mr Macmillan's defence secretary, by Matthew Jones, a reader in international history at Royal Holloway, University of London.
Makes me feel as though the Anglo-American vendetta against Syria, and all of the Middle East, dates to the expulsion from the Garden of Edan.
Posted by: jfl | May 28 2016 2:59 utc | 61
how many roads must a man walk down, before u can call him a man ??
....................................................................................................................
If there is anything that should fuel the outrage of the antiwar movement [in the US] it is surely the destruction of Fallujah and the war crimes inflicted by US commanders on its civilian population.
Ralph Peters, a retired US military officer,
*Even if Fallujah has to go the way of Carthage [complete annihilation], reduced to shards, the price will be worth it.
the world needs to see [Iraqi] corpses.* [1]
how many times must fallujah be reduced to shards, before murkka is outraged ?? [2]
[1]
https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/wasting-fallujah-by-scott-morris/
[2]
would this be the 4th or 5th time the residents of fallujah have to suffer another 'shock n awe' ?
Posted by: denk | May 28 2016 4:46 utc | 62
@ Macon Richardson 50
I've no reason to expect that pic hasn't been photoshopped. But if it has, it's a v.good job.
Design wise it's thoughtful to put his weapon sling over OBL's shoulder. There's no signs of aliasing around the figures, which I'd expect if either of them's been cut out and put in the pic. The jpeg artifacts are consistent throughout the whole pic. If it's "fixed" someone's gone to a lot of trouble.
There's no metadata available with this pic so provenance is indeterminate.
Mohammed Alloush is out! Is it the result of these photos? It seems that negotiations are about to become less ridiculous.
Next step is the inclusion of the Kurds despite Erdogan's objections.
Syrian oppn chief peace negotiator quits
Posted by: virgile | May 29 2016 22:16 utc | 64
The comments to this entry are closed.
Well done b for bringing our attention to this examination of our leaders. Mr Toner probably sat with his colleagues over a cup of coffee and commented on how he got away with it again.
Posted by: Midan | May 25 2016 9:38 utc | 1