Western society is awash in propaganda, and we dare make fun of the North Koreans.

Posted by: P Walker | Aug 24 2017 14:16 utc | 1

The political directorate has basically become a group of surrogates for corporate/banking interests, while the military elite have moved into the political space along with the banksters. The third element of non-democratic rule in the US is the judiciary front men/women who are essentially putting the interests of the corporate elite into their interpretations of statuatory law.

Posted by: yancey | Aug 24 2017 14:48 utc | 2

There is another story percolating out on the web - Iran is building a secret rocket factory in Syria close to the Mediterranean coast, so secret that parts of it are visible on Google Map, and according to Terraserver the construction work commenced in 2015 when an access road was built. I suspect it's a conventional explosive/ammunition factory - I don't know where Syria previously had explosive/ammunition factories but it's likely that some were overrun and destroyed by the terrorists or SAAF. This one seems in a fairly safe location in Latakia and is probably safe from rocket fire from Idlib - guided missiles might be a threat though. And if Syria are manufacturing their own rockets, why does Iran need a land corridor to deliver them? All Syria needs is the raw materials.
BTW, was anybody aware that hexamine (of Khan Shaykoun infamy) is used in the manufacture of RDX, one of the best military grade explosives.

Posted by: Ghostship | Aug 24 2017 14:54 utc | 3

Meanhwhile NATO join Sweden in tremendous military exercise next month.
But western outlet propaganda journalists wont tell you about that...
Exercise: "Aurora 17"
"Is a planned military exercise that will take place in Sweden during a three-week period, from 11 through 29 September 2017.[1] It is expected to be the largest military exercise in 20 years to take place on Swedish soil.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_17

Also:
Mattis mulls supplying Ukraine with lethal weapons after visit
https://www.sott.net/article/360000-Mattis-mulls-supplying-Ukraine-with-lethal-weapons-after-visit

Posted by: Anonymous | Aug 24 2017 14:58 utc | 4

As Western propaganda rapidly collapses, Washington's hawks start to retire from searching for pretexts

Posted by: nmb | Aug 24 2017 14:59 utc | 5

Retching (aka projectile vomiting) is what you do when your fear level has been ratcheted up.

Posted by: Ghostship | Aug 24 2017 15:03 utc | 6

@b

This was written before the inauguration - during the transition:

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/james-mattis-iran-secretary-of-defense-214500

A good dissection of Mad Dog

Posted by: Yul | Aug 24 2017 15:20 utc | 7

BTW: Mad Dog has thrown the Kurds under the bus:
YPG:
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ypg-not-a-choice-but-necessity-us-tells-turkey.aspx?pageID=238&nID=117126&NewsCatID=409

PKK:

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/08/mattis-pledges-support-erdogan-pkk-turkey.html

Posted by: Yul | Aug 24 2017 15:23 utc | 8

More anti-Iranian propaganda from the UK, this is not a coincidence IMHO:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4815440/Iranian-backed-fighters-close-corridor-Med.html

Posted by: Jonesy | Aug 24 2017 15:25 utc | 9

thanks b..
on the first part, i quote you "But he does not like to be controlled. I expect him to revolt one day. He will then find that it is too late and that he is actually powerless." i fully agree with what you say here..however, i think this has probably already happened and will happen again.

point 2 - israel wants a war with iran.. they will dream up anything they can to keep the usa military on alert for whatever hairbrained warmongering act they have in mind next..

point 3.. more bullshit to sprinkle with what is not bullshit - nato war exercises as @4 anonymous points out...

Posted by: james | Aug 24 2017 15:25 utc | 10

@8 Mad Dog might as well come right out and tell the YPG/PKK/SDF they are dispensable. Time for another rabies shot.

Posted by: dh | Aug 24 2017 15:40 utc | 11

...

The new system, laid out in two memos co-authored by [General] Kelly and Porter and distributed to Cabinet members and White House staffers in recent days, is designed to ensure that the president won’t see any external policy documents, internal policy memos, agency reports, and even news articles that haven’t been vetted.

Trump has a weakness for the military since he attended a New York military academy during his youth. But he does not like to be controlled. I expect him to revolt one day. He will then find that it is too late and that he is actually powerless.
...

I agree it's beginning to LOOK grim for Trump, b.
But I'm optimistic that He's still got a few tricks up his sleeve. I've never watched The Apprentice but EVERY real CEO has a stool pigeon or two, or more, within the organisation. The CEO of Oz Branch of the last multinational corp I worked for had 4 (according to the Credit Manager(!?) who gave me a list of their names).
Trump was a CEO. There's no way he would take a CEO job without making sure that he could install his own stoolies. Imo.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Aug 24 2017 15:49 utc | 12

The Zionists have an Iranian Brain Freeze as NuttyYahoo displayed in his Moscow visit, http://www.fort-russ.com/2017/08/netanyahu-meets-putin-rants-about-iran.html

I suspect he's feeling the heat of the corruption investigation that will hopefully land him in prison, thus his ranting.

As for Russiagate, it's collapse is due to the VIPS metadata analysis published recently that provides irrefutable facts. Yet, it's very clear so-called liberals and Democrats are incapable of admitting defeat and have doubled down yet again trying to prove something nefarious occurred between Russia and Trump, https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/08/23/follow-money-they-say-it-was-about-russian-orphans-theyre-lying The comment made to that article by HisStory torpedoes it rather well.

So, we have an inside-out version of Seven days in May. I wonder if the generals are as hip to escalate the hybrid war against China and Russia as those the Clintons represented? Something tells me they're not so keen; perhaps the initial volleys made by the Outlaw US Empire have drawn some return fire we are yet to become privy to.

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 24 2017 15:57 utc | 13

You know the empire is loosing its' grip when it scrambles around... and it is on the ropes when it flails.

@8 Is the US scrambling or flailing as it tries to get Turkey back in bed? No sooner than Russia-Turkey-Iran launch a 7 billion oil production program do US and 'friends' (Netanyahoo) come out screaming against Iran. Between Turkey purchasing the S400 and Iran-Turkey cooperating against Kurdish independence (all against the backdrop of the failed US coup)it seems US actions are getting more desperate.

Is the re-focus of attention on Russia and military exercises because it is going ahead with their oil swap program with Iran?

This actually may be an extension of things that started in the spring when Qatar opened negotiations with Iran to do a joint pipeline through Syria and out to the EU - so bringing the world's largest natural gas field into reach for the Europeans. (http://thedailycoin.org/2017/06/25/washington-lost-middle-east-qatar/ Engdhal is a great researcher and writer) It should be remembered that in about 2014 the Russians met with the Qatari's to set up an unofficial natural gas cartel. Since then Qatari funding for the Syrian war has steadily fallen off. Turkey-Iran deals would see Turkish support for CIA backed rebels fall off. Qatar, seeing the tide turn with Russian involvement decided if you can't beat'em, join'em. So by doing a deal with Iran, Qatar would not undermine Russia in gas supply to Europe, but it would get the access it tried to get by fomenting the war in Syria in the first place.

This is the reason for the sudden rupture in Saudi-Qatari relations. It must have come as a surprise for the Saudis to find out that Europe may soon have access to clean natural gas instead of their oil. So the Saudis declare Qatar a sponsor of terrorism just when Qatar had stopped supporting those groups. But their intimidation failed mainly due to Iran stepping in to protect their new 'partner' (only some sort of pipeline deal would explain this as Iran had been fighting Qatar's goons in Syria for years)

As far as US sanctions, it seems these are payback for China buying its' natural gas from Qatar using contracts priced in Chinese yaun. This may be a message to the Europeans to not desert the petro-dollar by pricing their future contracts for natural gas in their own currencies.

This kind of payback routine also fits the pattern seen in Afghanistan where this last week unidentified helicopters delivered ISIS militants to conduct the massacre of Shi'ites - threatening unrest in the Russian under-belly - why? perhaps because they kept silent as N.Korea got missile tech and engineers from Ukraine.

It seems there is an element of desperation to the way the US scrambles to control the damage it has done itself.

Posted by: les7 | Aug 24 2017 16:20 utc | 14

Thanks for the posting b.

That said, again the private finance folk are not included in your analysis. The private finance folk are certainly part of Trump's inner circle and none of them have been ejected. Then there is the MIC corporations that rotate leadership of generals through their organizations......

I now think this is about old big money/values versus new (past 40 years) upstart money/values. But what we are seeing are the troops/puppets.....and that is internally. Internationally, the internal conflict is focused, like Bannon says, around trying to contain the China/Russia axis and maintain global private finance control versus haggling about LGBT issues.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 24 2017 16:24 utc | 15

The latest U.S. Navy collision is fourth involving a Seventh Fleet warship this year.

Is Someone Attacking the US Navy?

"we should at least consider the possibility that someone’s combining cyberwarfare with kinetic techniques to attack our ships. In other words, hacking into a system to turn a civilian merchant vessel into a battering ram to attack our vessels remotely."

Posted by: Laura Roslin | Aug 24 2017 16:31 utc | 16

Western Society is awash in propaganda as it is enveloped in a Homeland Security/Domestic Surveillance Police State - New World Order - Juggernaut.

Interesting that 20 years ago USA Americans were taught that "The Evil Red Soviet Union" committed these horrible acts (state propaganda and domestic surveillance) and that because of these things its people were not FREE like USA Americans.

(Homeland Security is budgeted such that airport security personnel are hired not out of necessity, but simply to soak up the funding.)

Posted by: fastfreddy | Aug 24 2017 16:45 utc | 17

"Only recently did the "collusion with Russia" nonsense suddenly die down."

My short letter to the editor of The New Yorker (see last sentence):

Raffi Katchadourian (“Julian Assange, a man without a country,” Aug. 21, 2017) didn’t mention Wikileak’s Vault 7 release includes revelation of CIA capability to allow it to misdirect the attribution of cyber attacks. According to Wikileaks, the U.S. false-flag technology consists of “leaving behind the ‘fingerprints’ of the very groups that the attack techniques were stolen from.” Karchadourian's omission belies his assertion: "Whatever one thinks of Assange’s election disclosures, accepting his contention that they shared no ties with the two Russian fronts requires willful blindness.” His article, of near-record length for the magazine, exhaustively attempts to resuscitate speculation about a Russian cyber connection to the Clinton meltdown.

Posted by: Robert Beal | Aug 24 2017 16:47 utc | 18

In the Guardian the other day they had a poll;54

''''5

In the Guardian the other day;54% to 27% saying leave the Con. monuments alone.

Posted by: dahoit | Aug 24 2017 16:47 utc | 19

>>>> Jonesy | Aug 24, 2017 11:25:12 AM | 9

More anti-Iranian propaganda from the UK, this is not a coincidence IMHO:

You always need to be extremely cynical when reading a British newspaper.

Thousands of Iranian-backed fighters are battling their way through the Middle East in a bid to secure a corridor from the Tehran through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon to the Mediterranean.

That's just about everybody except the Russians fighting on the government side in Syria. Small matter that they're the only people doing a good job at liquidating Al Qaeda and ISIS.

Previously, the route has not been possible due to Iraqi resistance,...

Iraqi resistance aka ISIS.

Sunni Arab countries

The countries that have been funding, arming and supporting Al Qaeda and ISIS all along.

Israel, the nemesis of both Iran and Hezbollah

That's the wrong way round, it should read "Iran and Hezbollah, the nemeses of Israel".

Posted by: Ghostship | Aug 24 2017 16:56 utc | 20

Regarding the Iraniuan taking over Syria BS, Netanyahu, and the the heads of Mossad and Israel military intelligence have scuttled off to Moscow to plead with Putin to stop destroying Israel's terrorists in Syria. The Russians aren't fooled by Netanyahu's duplicity nor are they intimidated by claims of 'anti-semitism'.

Israel fears the collapse of its strategy in Syria

Netanyahu Meets Putin, Rants About Iran, Putin Ignores Him

Posted by: Anonymous | Aug 24 2017 16:59 utc | 21

@14
https://www.corbettreport.com/episode-315-meet-goldman-sachs-the-vampire-squid/

Everyone sing.....

" Goldman Sachs and Military Hunta are just plain Evil ,they are Evil as can be...."

Posted by: Brad | Aug 24 2017 17:01 utc | 22

>>>> karlof1 | Aug 24, 2017 11:57:18 AM | 13

The Zionists have an Iranian Brain Freeze as NuttyYahoo displayed in his Moscow visit...

According to Al-masdar News it's way beyond bipolar disorder into paranoid schizophrenia

Netanyahu claims Israel is defeating ISIL in Syria, demands Iran leaves..

Netanyahu stressed that “with joint efforts we are defeating Islamic State,” which he said “is a very important thing.”

In former years he would have been shipped off to the Deolali Transit Camp in India.

Posted by: Ghostship | Aug 24 2017 17:13 utc | 23

No one is talking much about this except to point the finger at Cuba:

https://www.justsecurity.org/44289/sonic-attacks-diplomats-cuba-dont-rush-conclusions/

While I have not served in Cuba, my experience in a number of similar hostile, high counterintelligence threat countries suggests that this is more likely a surveillance effort gone wrong, than the use of an offensive sonic weapon. We have very little experience anywhere in the world with directed attacks designed to physically harm to our diplomats. However, the use of intrusive technical collection and surveillance which sometimes causes harm in its own right, is consistent with past practice in Cuba and elsewhere.

Why don’t I believe this was an attack intended to harm diplomats?

Posted by: Yul | Aug 24 2017 17:36 utc | 24

Thanks b, I would agree that a military Junta has the reins and Trump's ear, but, as

psycho @ 14 said.."Then there is the MIC corporations that rotate leadership of generals through their organizations......

The Generals are held captive by that big $ welded, and promised to them for their "second lives" in various MIC corporations after their "retirements".

Posted by: ben | Aug 24 2017 18:10 utc | 25

The raucous clamor painting Trump as a Russkie collaborator has now sputtered, frizzled out, to be replaced by the equally lame ‘Trump is a neo-nazi fascist racist mysoginist’ as his supporters ‘mow down ppl’, etc. or whatever. All these elements were present before he was elected. (Trump is less racist than Obama..not that it matters..)

As, let’s not forget, Trump’s cloudy common sense, his semi-isolationist nationalist attitude, trade protectionism (etc.) actually appealed to voters, which is unbearable to the PTB, out of bounds, leading to covert hysteria, burning up the wires. The sheeples are supposed to vote as the Media Spin ordains, not ever for their own interests or for a disgusting deplorable person like pussy-grabbing Trump. Unthinkable! that the PTB would ever be bothered by ‘voter’ crap. The Gore-Bush II standoff was splendiferous, a tight contest, etc. and who won might be suspense but not more, policies would be in the ‘same system.’ Arguments about Supreme Court decisions, yeah, only evidence a genuine 'rule of law' method..

The no.1. faction that can dominate Trump, also many others, is the Military. (Second are the banks, third Big Corps.) For now their position is shadowed and ambiguous, but a military Junta is perhaps not so fanciful. Thing is, a Junta solves many problems for many ppl, so in certain conditions it is embraced.

Posted by: Noirette | Aug 24 2017 18:25 utc | 26

B- Great article,just a few thoughts
re the surfeit of military
I think Trump may have so deeply surrounded (embedded may be the better word) himself primarily to protect himself from the intelligence community. JFK was not a one off in my opinion and probably not in Trump's.
re Trump info access
He has people who can and do provide him with info galore outside of the office, he is not as isolated as you suggest, and he is out of the office a lot:)
re Wars
IMO no wars with anyone will happen; those Navy ships that are being hit are IMO being hit because ALL ArcGIS systems have been compromised. Remember that ship in the Black Sea that had its operating systems shut down by a Russian plane flyover?
No US ship, plane, tank, missile that uses ArcGIS is operable in combat or the open sea apparently and it will be quite a while before the military is able to correct the problem and then reprogram all its weaponry.
re Afghanistan
The new troops may be a Pentagon face saving measure if the ArcGIS issue is correct. Or they may be a sop to the CIA, those poppy fields won't guard themselves:)

Posted by: frances | Aug 24 2017 18:30 utc | 27

Re Laura 15
""we should at least consider the possibility that someone’s combining cyberwarfare with kinetic techniques to attack our ships. In other words, hacking into a system to turn a civilian merchant vessel into a battering ram to attack our vessels remotely.""
I suggest this "hacking" is of the US ships not the tankers, look at the available photos, I believe all of them have been hit while stationary in mid-ocean.
Why do I think that; because the mark of the tanker hulls can clearly be seen on the US ships, if the US ships were moving the hit would have been smeared along the side of the ship and probably right to the stern or bow but it isn't, it is as clear as a stamp.
It appears to me that the US navy ships are being "hacked" to a standstill and are completely helpless as tankers, which take miles to stop never mind turn, steam right into them.
The only wonder is why the tankers didn't go straight through them, perhaps because they are battle ships?

Posted by: frances | Aug 24 2017 18:44 utc | 28

It could probably be proven that the USA's been ruled by a Junta since 1787; even more so since 1861.

I know several here toss their eyes to the sky whenever they see a link to or citation of Paul Craig Roberts, but he must be admired for trying to establish the Truth of our Condition. I don't think these two essays have been linked here yet, so here goes. The Battle of Charlottesville is still being fought: "How We Know the So-Called 'Civil War' Was Not over Slavery," https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2017/08/24/how-we-know-so-called-civil-war-was-not-over-slavery.html within which is linked an essay by Loyola University in Maryland Professor Thomas DiLorenzo, "The Lincoln Myth: Ideological Cornerstone of the America Empire," http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2017/08/21/lincoln-myth-ideological-cornerstone-america-empire/

I Highly Recommend reading, saving and sharing Prof. DiLorenzo's essay due to its persuasive power and use of original source materials to prove his thesis. Yes, it totally upends much of US History since 1856 as currently taught. The Secondary Works he cites also ought to be appraised. So, isn't the current Junta just the same old Junta wearing different lipstick?

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 24 2017 18:54 utc | 29

@26/27 frances... i couldn't open @15 laura's post without pop ups, but i appreciate your comments on this and tend to strongly agree. thanks..

Posted by: james | Aug 24 2017 19:00 utc | 30

What you are saying is that General Jack D Ripper is now president and Dr. Strangelove is Trump's top security advisor?

Posted by: Carol Davidek-Waller | Aug 24 2017 19:13 utc | 31

At Frances 27

I second your observation as to the US Aegis vessels having been struck at a standstill, as there is no longitudinal elements to the ramming.

The Navy is then justly alarmed at whatever is causing this anomaly and has ordered its vessels to seek shelter in ports.

Think about this happening in the Persian Gulf. Pretty soon there would be nary a US naval vessel in the area.

Sacking of the commanding officers is then merely a face saving gesture by the Navy. For how to you explain that the pride and joy of the US are sailing coffins?

Posted by: CarlD | Aug 24 2017 19:20 utc | 32

Those freighters are so slow to change course it is hard to see how hacking into them could somehow remove the nimble navy ships from responsibility for these collisions. I suspect alcohol use among the crews and hubris, "We are the US Navy. No one would dare approach us."

Posted by: Ike | Aug 24 2017 19:28 utc | 33

Regardless of technical explanations, it seems more than bizarre to me that ships which supposedly can track warheads going 17,000 mph in space cannot avoid hitting a quarter-mile long tankers going 18 mph.

Call it "conspiracy theory" but I am much more inclined to think that Electronic Warfare is at work here than sheer coincidence.

Posted by: Perimetr | Aug 24 2017 19:37 utc | 34

@ Ike 32

A navy ship is "nimble" when it has full power and control. When nothing works it is just a sitting duck. Remember the Donald Cook incident in the Black Sea?

Or maybe it is just blind with radars and comm not working?

Anyway that bulbous bow of the tanker was neatly impressed on the side of the John S. McCain. The tanker must have been on ballast for the bow to be at that level, only half submerged. A really big radar signal would be generated. How could it not be seen? These straits are really busy. Bad place to be partying.

Posted by: CarlD | Aug 24 2017 19:41 utc | 35

@ Ike and Frances

If this collision had been with a pre bulbous bow era vessel of that tonnage, the McCain would have been submerged by the impact and cut in half.

The impacting vessel would have had its bow chattered and depending on how loaded would probably have gone to the bottom also.

Posted by: CarlD | Aug 24 2017 19:47 utc | 36

A small obvious point, but is anybody supposed to be impressed by statements like "Western officials and analysts (unnamed) estimate (that is, guess) up to (but probably less, as in 'up to 50% savings!') ... could (but might not) participate..."

How many "maybe's" can be packed into one sentence? Maybe it is the best the professional fear mongers can do these days.

Posted by: NotBob | Aug 24 2017 19:51 utc | 37

Ike and Frances,

Probably the striking tanker was desperately trying to stop and while doing so could not steer as the rudders are not very effective when not subjected to prop wash. I would gather that at the moment of impact the Tanker was doing around four knots or less. Still a lot of momentum but not enough to kill the Mc Cain.

Posted by: CarlD | Aug 24 2017 19:52 utc | 38

Thomas DiLorenzo is a fraud. If you want just one example, DiLorenzo, in the link cited, claims the French peacefully abolished slavery in their empire. First, the French Revolution wasn't peaceful. It took the overthrow of the Bourbons to even raise the issue. Second, even with a revolutionary government it took the Haitian Revolution to actually end slavery on the ground. Disappearing two revolutions? That takes a liar without shame.

As for Phil Magness proving Lincoln planned to deport all the freedmen, well, I can only say it's a shame he wasn't around to explain to John Wilkes Booth that Lincoln hadn't advocated a Negro franchise in his last public speech. Booth might not have been so enraged he carried through on his plotting. I've seen Phil Magness intervening in public debate. He's not a very scrupulous historian when writing for the population and he definitely pushes a right-wing agenda. For example, he found he necessary to rant about Hamilton the musical falsifying history. This is wacky enough, but his idea of evidence was to hold up Thomas Jefferson as the example of an anti-slavery advocate. But Hamilton's actual policies when in power, which included ditching slaver claims for compensation from England after the Revolutions, somehow don't count. The only way that makes sense is his determination to prove his criticism of Hamilton fans "correct."

C. Wright Mills wasn't a fraud, but his power elite theory just isn't right. The political directorate should mostly be thought of as a combination of a sales force and attorneys for the owning class. And unlike European countries where the officer caste has roots in a landed aristocracy, the US military should be thought of more as a quasi-mercenary force. As such, it is only quasi-independent.

Posted by: steven t johnson | Aug 24 2017 19:54 utc | 39

CarlD @35--

Yep! Good thing it wasn't a VLCC loaded or unloaded that hit the McCain amidships for a PT-109 replay. IMO, those targeted by the Outlaw US Empire's Hybrid Third World War are firing back as I mentioned to Grieved a few threads ago. Drones are falling out of the air too, perhaps you've noticed. And those are the incidents that've been reported by media. Yes, I'm implying many haven't.

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 24 2017 19:58 utc | 40

steven t Johnson @38--

Here's the only quote related to the French, and it's not the French Revolution: "Nobel prize-winning economist Robert Fogel and co-author Stanley Engerman, in their book, Time on the Cross, describe how the British, Spanish, and French empires, as well as the Swedes, Danes, and Dutch, ended slavery peacefully during the nineteenth century."

It seems it's you that is the fraudster.

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 24 2017 20:04 utc | 41

It's normally a principle that generals don't want to go to war, as they know how awful war is. The point needs to be elaborated, as to why the present lot may be different.

Of course, they tend to seek a military solution for political problems, like the Argentinian junta in the Falklands.

Afghanistan is willy-waving, unable to admit defeat.

That doesn't mean that they're going to launch new military adventures. I would have thought them hesitant.

Posted by: Laguerre | Aug 24 2017 20:06 utc | 42

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-21/one-statistics-professor-was-just-banned-google-here-his-story

A large more universally imprisoning threat looms that far surpasses war with bombs. Is it the use of technology and media ownership to reverse 1st amendment infringement against target people, to remove their writings and sayings and to deny others not only to access the expressions and documentations of the target person, but also to deny all others from even knowing such information and such person is even available? The first amendment guaranteed freedom to speech, but may have failed to guarantee that audiences seeking to hear that speech be guaranteed access to hear the expressions and speech of target persons. This is happening in scientific articles and journals,as well..

The world is moving to a fully controlled Information society where the lower classes will be treated like rats in a psychiatrist controlled cage. karlof1 says it well. the empire took democracy from the people of America in 1788..

Posted by: fudmier |

Posted by: fudmier | Aug 24 2017 20:15 utc | 43

Iran is building a secret rocket factory in Syria close to the Mediterranean coast

Are you sure they aren't mass producing miniaturized nuclear warheads for ICBM's ready to hit NYC and Tel Aviv? It makes sense that Iran would offshore this since Haley is pushing for more onsite inspections (I am joking, I'm not brain damaged and I know you were quoting a brain damaged article).

The Shiite Crescent
Why wouldn't Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Iran foster mutual defense? Since 2010 they have collectively suffered 100k's of deaths at the hands of Sunni fanatics.

Is it reasonable for Iran to have 1,000 tanks next to the Golan Heights? -No.
Is it reasonable for Iran to build an infrastructure so that they could move troops in to respond to ISIS 2.0? -Yes.

So Netanyahu's position is that these four states have to accept massive civilian deaths but it is unacceptable for a single Israeli to ever be frightened. He will not allow anyone of his citizens to suffer anxiety. He will kill those Arab dogs first!

I have really come to hate Netanyahu.

Posted by: Christian Chuba | Aug 24 2017 20:40 utc | 44

re fudmier

You know, the invention of the world-wide web by Tim Berners-Lee was one of the greatest liberating events in human history. To know what things were like before, you have to have experienced the French Minitel.

The attempts by governments to shut down discourse have been feeble, and rightly so. You can't get round it now. And the example you quote is typical.

Posted by: Laguerre | Aug 24 2017 20:49 utc | 45

DiLorenzo did not properly cite Engerman and Fogel and probably misrepresents what they did write. Nonethless, slavery was abolished during the French Revolution. Your distinction between first-hand lying on his own hook and second-hand lying on theirs, makes no difference. Napoleon's effort to re-establish slavery did fail in the eighteenth century. But he lost an entire army, including his own brother-in-law, so that still wasn't peaceful. If he doesn't know about the French and Haitian Revolutions, he is not a historian. If he does know, he's a liar. DiLorenzo is a fraud either way.

And here's a second instance of his fraudulence. His case is thoroughly dishonest if it refuses to acknowledge the very words of the secessionists themselves. Many of the ordinances of secession openly acknowledged the issue to be slavery, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_the_Immediate_Causes_Which_Induce_and_Justify_the_Secession_of_South_Carolina_from_the_Federal_Union) See also the infamous "Cornerstone" speech of Judah Benjamin, the Vice President of the CSA: "Our new government is founded upon exactly [this] idea; its foundations are laid, its corner- stone rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery -- subordination to the superior race -- is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_Speech)

DiLorenzo is scum, and Phil Magness is shady.

Posted by: steven t johnson | Aug 24 2017 21:29 utc | 46

NATO makes the Russian maneuvers look like preparation to invade Europe.
Why?
Because NATO is preparing for its future invasion of Russia coordinated with a color revolution (fascist insurrection).

Posted by: AriusArmenian | Aug 24 2017 21:31 utc | 47

NMB, could you be so kind as to learn to post URL's normally. It's extremely rude of you to be tracking other people at Moon of Alabama.

Posted by: Uncoy | Aug 24 2017 21:48 utc | 48

"...At the core of Trump’s circle is a seasoned trio of generals with experience as battlefield commanders: White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and national security adviser H.R. McMaster...."

These three basically complete the militarization of the executive branch and the Political Elites. They've all pushed for or have been intimately involved in wars in which the US has lost or never been able to 'win'. This is Trump's best and the brightest

Kelly: In 2002, Kelly again served with the 1st Marine Division, this time as the assistant division commander. Much of Kelly's two-year assignment was spent deployed in Iraq. In March 2003, while in Iraq, Kelly was promoted to brigadier general..... later, he served as the commanding general of the Multi-National Force West in Iraq from February 2008 to February 2009....

Mattis: During the initial planning for the War in Afghanistan, Mattis led Task Force 58 in operations in the southern part of the country; In May 2004, Mattis ordered the 3:00 a.m. bombing of a suspected enemy safe house near the Syrian border, which later came to be known as the Mukaradeeb wedding party massacre, and which resulted in the deaths of 42 civilians; Mattis played key roles in combat operations in Fallujah, including negotiation with the insurgent command inside the city during Operation Vigilant Resolve in April 2004, as well as participation in planning of the subsequent Operation Phantom Fury in November; responsible for American military operations in the Middle East, Northeast Africa, and Central Asia, from August 11, 2010, to March 22, 2013; etc etc

In other words, Mattis is responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity during the destruction of Fallujah.....

H.R. McMaster: Director of the Combined Joint Interagency Task Force-Shafafiyat at the International Security Assistance Force Headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan... He is known for his roles in the Gulf War, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. From August 2007 to August 2008 McMaster was part of an "elite team of officers advising US commander" General David Petraeus on counterinsurgency operations (perhaps known as how to kill Iraqis who resisted the US invasion and occupation)

Posted by: michaelj72 | Aug 24 2017 22:59 utc | 49

Well I would not worry. The US millitary has proven good at nothing. Afghanistan? Iraq? Syria?
They are utterly incompetent all of them, Navy is colliding with whatever ship is nearby, its a fu**ing Marx brothers movie...
"I have never seen so many accomplish so little in so long a time. " WC
The US is utterly screwed up, it is only of importance because of the petro- Dollar. US manufacture , anybody ?
Americans themselves, fuelled up on opiods, low wage jobs, and little else!!
What a sorry bunch of losers!
Start Euthanasia , compulsory, start with the GOP, and maybe the will shout be-be.

Posted by: KingKong | Aug 24 2017 23:11 utc | 50

I would recommend the following analysis:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-19/gavekal-coming-clash-empires-russias-role-global-game-changer

Only in his analysis I think that Turkey can substitute for Germany if it balks and Iran can substitute for the Saudi's.

Posted by: les7 | Aug 24 2017 23:41 utc | 51

The American method of military production is deeply flawed via contracts, politicians, corporations, dickheads, states, cronyism, corruption, final assembly of parts manufactured in different states, shipping, cost overruns, waste, skimming, cocaine, hookers, golf outings.

It is no wonder that the latest and greatest equipment (AEGIS) is shit.

Posted by: fast freddy | Aug 24 2017 23:59 utc | 52

@49 KingKong: "Well I would not worry. The US millitary has proven good at nothing. Afghanistan? Iraq? Syria?"

Tell that to the families of the millions killed over the last few years.

Look, It should be kinda obvious that someone is disabling Aegis and spoofing GPS at opportune moments. (This impresses me, because you would
have to localize the gps spoof to a small area otherwise it would be more likely exposed.) Mind you, the destroyers and drones
that have been being destroyed/damaged that we have heard about are only the obvious ones which could not be easily covered up. Russia has demonstrated
its ability to disable Aegis and Iran has successfully hijacked, landed recovered and reverse engineered our most advanced drones, so its not like it can't
be done.

There have been seven Russian diplomats who have died in abnormal manners.

Trump surrounding himself with Generals is the safest path for him, as he finds himself in an environment he has no knowledge of. They
have the biggest guns and he is going to need their protection. b is correct he will revolt and if he does follow
their instructions it will be in the same manner in which he did not mention the names of the two senators from Arizona
he was not to criticize. That is a learning curve for whoever is giving him instructions. [Advisor: "Mr. President, it is
imperative that you do not attack McCain and Flake in their home state, so whatever you do, please do not mention
McCain or Flake in your speech this evening".] [DTrump: "Okay."] They'll know better next time.

Its a lot going on in the US recently. Things I know are that the white supremacists are even more active than they
were after Obama got elected. If it devolves into a fist fight, they are going to win. (I frequent their sites also,
to keep my world vision squared.)

Antifa has been pretty much taken over by the anarchists, and the anarchists are organized well. These are not your
millennials living with their parents. These are people with good paying jobs but they do not like the direction
the US has been taking, they want to tear it down. (My money is on them, mostly because they will be more prepared
to assert themselves into positions of power when the economy collapses.)

When Putin took office,he put in a plan to modernize the military by 2020. They are ahead of schedule and will be ready
by 2018. That is my guesstimate, because in matters of grave import, you always overestimate and this fits his pattern.
(i.e. they have very recently paid off the remaining debt of the former Soviet Union.)

The MSM has lost all credibility with so many people of the left and the right,it has exceeded my wildest dreams. The
Drawback is people mostly getting their info from facebook and it remains to be seen how that is going to play out. Still,
a major cultural shift for people schooled in the USA.

I believe China and Russia along with a few smaller states are drawing America out. They know America wants a war to
reset its economy, but I feel that China and Russia are wanting a quick decisive victory over the U.S. and are
allowing the U.S. to show its true colors to the world while they bide their time and get their final pieces in place
on the board. The U.S. is going to be put into a position where it cannot go nuclear and its conventional forces will
quickly be taken out of action. (I did not say blown up.)

Still, too many Americans are oblivious. I envy them. I challenge them. We are going to need them.

America has done a lot of wrong in its time and its time is coming to an end. I hope to see the change in my lifetime,
and I know to be careful what I wish for. America has been a lie since its inception, a spawn of Britain and focused
on money uber alles. In a just world, its acts would be immediately condemned and reversed, but in a world run
by humans too many psychopaths find their way into positions of power.

That's my fifty cents..

@karlof1 I appreciate and value your posts very highly. I wish I had your knowledge of history. Course, sometimes you
fuck up my day by exposing another something I believed to be true as a deception, but that is what I label "growth"and I
run and go tell my neighbors. :) Keep postin! ^5

b4real

p.s. don't blame me for the formatting, I didn't screw this sheet up.

Posted by: b4real | Aug 25 2017 1:46 utc | 53

>>>> frances | Aug 24, 2017 2:44:44 PM | 27

I suggest this "hacking" is of the US ships not the tankers, look at the available photos, I believe all of them have been hit while stationary in mid-ocean.

How would this be done? I doubt the ship management systems (steering, engines, etc) are connected to the internet or even networked for that matter given their age.
What hardware does it run on? PDP-11s? Given the propensity in the past of the USG to buy IBM, is it some old IBM system that's been knocking around for almost 50 years? What language was used? Some assembler? ADA? The Ticonderogas date back to the 80s while the Arleigh Burkes started being commissioned in the early 90s. So, unless all the computer hardware has been updated they're running historic applications on historic hardware. Could it just be that the ship management systems are running into unexpected conditions that are causing the software to fail? Is the hardware going tits up for some reason? Have upgrades to the Aegis radar system resulted in damage to the ship management system hardware?

Posted by: Ghostship | Aug 25 2017 1:53 utc | 54

Don't Panic!

Steve Bannon is PUTTING OUT ARTICLES on breitbart.com.

As we speak!

And what can Trump supporters do?

Keep posting your best memes!

Take that Trump administration bankers and military industrial complex scum!

Posted by: Vannok | Aug 25 2017 2:14 utc | 55

Trump's administration is now billionaires and generals. What could possibly go wrong?

Posted by: gepay | Aug 25 2017 2:26 utc | 56

steven t johnson @ 45

You appear to be obsessed with shallow symbols that the Democratic party are using to create a purple revolution:
http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2016/11/11/clintons-and-soros-launch-america-purple-revolution.html
See also Mike Krieger On Charlottesville: "Don't Play Into The Divide & Conquer Game"
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-14/mike-krieger-charlottesville-dont-play-divide-conquer-game

As a fellow traveller (Paveway IV) clearly stated: “The events leading up to the US Civil War and the war itself were for reasons far more numerous and complex then slavery. Emancipation was a fortunate and desirable outcome and slavery was an issue, but saying the entire war was about ending slavery is the same as saying WW II was mostly about stopping Nazis from killing Jews. Dumbing down history serves nobody.”

It is strange that the Democratic Party and fellow travellers want to destroy Confederate monuments but not those of Northern leaders and fellow Jews who also supported slavery. See also the previous comments presented by:
woogs | Aug 16, 2017 2:27:34 PM | 25
karlof1 | Aug 16, 2017 3:51:18 PM | 45
JAimeInTexas | Aug 17, 2017 11:15:52 AM | 131 and 132

You also made errors in your comment:

(1) You are mistaken as Judah Philip Benjamin not vice president of the CSA.
He was a Jewish slave owner (some 140 slaves) and ultimately rose to the office of Secretary of State of the CSA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judah_P._Benjamin

Judah Benjamin fled to the United Kingdom at the end of the war and was sponsored by Benjamin D’Israeli who became Prime minister in1868. Another leading Jewish (converted to Christianity) Confederate slave owner, David Levy Yulee, was captured and spent nine months in prison. Ultimately, Judah Benjamin escaped justice and went on to become Queen's Counsel.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Benjamin-Disraeli
http://www.unz.com/isteve/the-gay-jewish-confederate-leader-without-a-statue-to-tear-down/

Ironically American Jews since the 1930s have praised Judah Philip Benjamin, while William Mahone the Confederate General who created the post war Readjuster Party was widely hated through the 1940s and then forgotten: https://www.theautomaticearth.com/2017/08/debt-rattle-august-23-2017/

(2) Slavery was not the reason for the Civil war except in economic terms: “Lincoln and the U.S. Congress publicly declared that their invasion of the southern states was not about slavery but “saving the union… So if the North was unequivocally not fighting to end slavery, how could it be that the South went to war only to protect slavery?”
https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/know-civil-war-not-slavery/

Slavery was also practiced in the more Republican North and Morris Raphall the principal Rabbi in the North was a proponent of slavery (as was Mordecai M. Noah), and spoke at Southern Democratic party function in support of slavery:
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/112312/new-yorks-pro-slavery-rabbi

President Grant was the last President to have owned slaves and no one is threatening to tear down his monuments:
http://www.factcheck.org/2007/12/presidents-who-owned-slaves/
U.S. Grant was also considered an anti semite was issuing his anti-semitic General Order 11 expelling jews from the Department of Tennessee on trumped-up charges of “war profiteering”

Please note that slavery persisted in some Northern States after the end of the Civil War. The slave trade was even a profit center in the North:
http://www.tracingcenter.org/resources/background/northern-involvement-in-the-slave-trade/

Ironically, a case can be made for the Clintons to “owning slaves”
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/06/the-clintons-had-slaves

(3) The French did not abolish slavery during the French Revolution
Actually in 1789 “the National Assembly adopts the Declaration of the Rights of Man, one of the fundamental charters of human liberties. The first of 17 articles states: “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.””
http://www.freetheslaves.net/about-slavery/slavery-in-history/

This failure of the French to ban slavery in the colonies until 1848 was used by the French as a political tool by the British in their war with France: As a result, “The 1807 British Parliament makes it illegal for British ships to transport slaves and for British colonies to import them. Interesting that U.S. President Thomas Jefferson signs into law the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, forbidding the importation of African slaves into the United States.”

Posted by: Krollchem | Aug 25 2017 2:31 utc | 57

@41
"That doesn't mean that they're going to launch new military adventures. I would have thought them hesitant."

In the current geopolitical and economic landscape (truthful reckoning, not as propagandized), warfare is a tool whose use has been redefined from its past incarnations.
Warfare today not so much about defeating an enemy, as it is about preventing any enemy from appearing.
Despite knowing full well the horrors of war, we are reaching the crucial stage of empirical decline where the sufferings of not going to war are looking to be worse than going to war. And in those times we will have war whether we like it or not.

Posted by: insanity | Aug 25 2017 2:51 utc | 58

No supporters here for Netanyahu.
What's your opinion of the current Supreme Leader of Iran?
The man who tweeted "Israel Is A Hideous Entity In the Middle East Which Will Undoubtedly Be Annihilated."

Posted by: From The Hague | Aug 25 2017 3:16 utc | 59

Earlier in the week I wrote a couple posts which I didn't follow through on given that much of this board concentrates on the 'big ticket' items much beloved of the media but really imo, of SFA significance to the bigger picture.
The first was a follow up to an article about the US navy collisions published in Foreign Policy DOT com .
As well as the USS McCain and USS Fitzpatrick there was also a grounding of a much larger Aegis platform class cruiser, USS Antietam, off the coast of Japan which caused a oil spill destroying delicate ecosystems in a marine area, in and around Yokosuka base, that is already a cause of considerable friction between Japanese people and amerika's imperial enablers and apologists.

I prefer using Occam's razor in these situations - that is go with facts and the fewest assumptions. We know that the skippers of both the Fitzpatrick and the Antietam have been turfed outta their gigs following the boards of inquiry into the incidents. As tough as the navy is on those skippers held responsible for career destroying collisions with either ships or the planet earth, I doubt that these idjits would have copped the boot if there had been the least indication something other than incompetence was at work.
AFAIK in all three cases it was the USN which was at fault/in breach of the rules of marine navigation and there has been nothing other than the usual D of D initial disingenuousness in the face of a major fuck up to indicate otherwise.

So the razor. What do we know? A/ that the navy was at fault and B/ this is a portion of the armed forces which has failed to play a major role in the outcome of any conflict since at least 1914.

The navy was an essentially useless drain of resources during the second half of the 20th century eurowar, in fact it was also about as much worth as tits on a bull in the first half altho it called be argued that during 1914-18 no one had the hands on experience to be able to prove navies with their herds of huge and expensive phallus substitutes, were outmoded.

By 39 to 45 they did; yet the englanders, germans and amerikans all wasted resources that would be better spent actively and effectively protecting citizens on these farcical dick measuring contests.
The few limited naval battles only occurred if and when a white elephant cruiser or battleship poked its head outta port -so mostly they didn't they sat in docks diverting anti aircraft resources away from population centers while they guzzled oil, men and munitions on sweet fuck all.
What about anti-submarine tasks I hear some say? Well it is true that during the battle of the atlantic there was an ever shrinking zone about midway between europe and amerika that land based aircraft could not reach.
As I have said here previously my otherwise worthless old man flew a Mk 1 Avenger off aircraft carrier then off freighters by steam catapult chasing uboats. In addition before the tech on planes was sufficiently perceptive and air to sea weapons advanced enough, some destroyers also proved useful for hunting and depth-charging submarines.
There were not nearly enough destroyers or planes though. A major reason for that was the waste on useless big boats. Cruisers Battle-Cruisers and Battleships - much loved by the phallicly challenged but otherwise useless. Too slow, too obvious and far too fucking expensive.

Now that aircraft (manned & missile), ranges have become sufficient to reach pretty much everywhere, still tipping trillions into the navy trough has no conceivable justification. Other than for a MIC who consider navies an invaluable trough.
e.g. The englanders plan on spending up to £200 trillion over the lifetime of the farcical Trident boondoggle. (Yep GBP not dollars and trillions not billions) Enough resources to keep every Brit citizen housed, healthy and well educated for at least 50 years is gonna be blown on what is essentially a payoff to the amerikan corporate protection racket - with a soupcon for local englander standover corporates. Needless to say, amerikans are hanging onto the keys - the missiles cannot be launched without amerikan approval - the same people who support Trident are, also needless to say, vocal proponents of england 're-establishing sovereignty' by leaving the EU. (anyone for dissonance?)
So no I don't think for one moment that there is any conspiracy afoot regarding the US Navy's inability to get its boats from point A to point B without incident. I reckon the incidents are an obvious symptom of the realisation by navy middle-management that they got themselves into an archaic service of no worthwhile military value.

The other subject which held my attention for an instant was a report (IIRC originally sourced outta england's Daily Mail & reprinted in some southern fishwrap) that amerikan and Canadian diplomats were being attacked by 'sonic weapons' in Cuba.
Drag out the razor on this one and ask yourself which is more likely - should this rather off the wall story have any grounding in reality at all; that the government of Cuba attacks those humans engaged in engineering some sort of rapprochement between Cuba and amerika, or whether remnants of the old hispanic fascist cohort which once saturated the CIA could decide to attack by stealth, those they believe to be facilitating 'treason'?

Posted by: Debsisdead | Aug 25 2017 3:28 utc | 60

Les7 @50

The cited sea power vs land power anticidents don't reflect today's matchup. Aerospace and cyberspace are new battlegrounds that are not mentioned. India is also not mentioned.

Who might be interested in promoting the likelihood that the West prevails?

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Aug 25 2017 5:44 utc | 61

AriusArmenian | Aug 24, 2017 5:31:35 PM | 46

Two Rules of Warfare –
1) Never March on Moscow and;
2) Never March on Moscow

I suppose one could substitute Russia for Moscow...

Posted by: V. Arnold | Aug 25 2017 6:14 utc | 62

KingKong | Aug 24, 2017 7:11:54 PM | 49

The Marx brothers didn't have nukes and were only "acting" mad; the U.S. government really is, mad as a hatter.

Posted by: V. Arnold | Aug 25 2017 6:18 utc | 63

b4real | Aug 24, 2017 9:46:48 PM | 52

If one applies Occam's razor; incompetence would be a logical assunption.
Having worked at sea; if there were systems failures; the crew would have doubled down on watches and flares would be at the ready.
Too bloody many conspiracy theories; when simple incompetence more than accounts for these failures.

Posted by: V. Arnold | Aug 25 2017 6:25 utc | 64

Debsisdead | Aug 24, 2017 11:28:32 PM | 59

+1

Posted by: V. Arnold | Aug 25 2017 6:28 utc | 65

reply to Ghostship 53

All good/great questions and you answered them,"..So, unless all the computer hardware has been updated they're running historic applications on historic hardware."
When the first ship was taken out in the Black Sea, and later with the US ship that had problems in Japan, stories on their difficulties all mentioned that they, as well as the rest of the US fleet had all had recent, costly upgrades to their systems.
As for how such compromised systems might be accessed; the CIA has back doored every system out there and as Wikileaks noted, access to these back doors and related systems have been sold enmasse to the highest bidders. That being said, I think the ships compromised systems are being accessed by satellite, possibly even via our own. After all, revenge is a dish best served cold and how much better the revenge if the meal is served using the target's utensils:)
Just a last thought; there was some former US intelligence official some months ago who said something to the effect that Putin was going to be punished. Then Putin's favorite driver was killed in a very suspicious car accident,it looked like a classic example of Boston Brakes.
When that happened, my first reaction was to remember what Putin said (video online) when in charge of St Petersburg re mafia hits on police, "They kill one of us,we kill ten of them. Legally of course". And now it would appear his infinite patience with the US is at an end as in, "You take a car, I take your fleet. Your move." Could be wrong, maybe the source of these multiple fleet failures is "human error" but I doubt it.

Posted by: frances | Aug 25 2017 6:37 utc | 66

i am with frances on this.. would like to be proven wrong, but it looks that way to me...

Posted by: james | Aug 25 2017 7:06 utc | 67

Posted by: V. Arnold | Aug 25, 2017 2:25:35 AM | 63

If one applies Occam's razor; incompetence would be a logical assumption

And arrogance on part of the higher ups on the ship - the “Herrenvolk” mentality - and blind trust on all their high-tech radar systems.

As for “cyber-attacks”, it is almost certainly of the type Pokemon Go or Candy crush or whatever is the fashionable game of the day.

Debsisdead | Aug 24, 2017 11:28:32 PM | 59

ditto that.

PS - AEGIS has nothing to do with the ability of a ship to navigate / monitor its immediate surrounding. It is a weapons system.

Posted by: Philippe | Aug 25 2017 8:52 utc | 68

59
Warfare has moved to cyber. Cyber warfare can bloodlessly take out a digitalized country very easily and maybe even without fingerprints.

Hardly any money is spent on cyber security - it is spent on attack.

Those ships

In a little noticed June 22 incident, someone manipulated GPS signals in the eastern part of the Black Sea, leaving some 20 ships with little situational awareness. Shipboard navigation equipment, which appeared to be working properly, reported the location of the vessels 20 miles inland, near an airport.

That was the first known instance of GPS “spoofing,” or misdirection.

Much more serious than jamming, spoofing interferes with location even as computer screens offer normal readouts. Everything looks normal – but it isn’t.

Those election machines

Russian intelligence agents hacked a US voting systems manufacturer in the weeks leading up to last year’s presidential election, according to the Intercept, citing what it said was a highly classified National Security Agency (NSA) report.

The revelation coincided with the arrest of Reality Leigh Winner, 25, a federal contractor from Augusta, Georgia, who was charged with removing classified material from a government facility and mailing it to a news outlet.

The hacking of senior Democrats’ email accounts during the campaign has been well chronicled, but vote-counting was thought to have been unaffected, despite concerted Russian efforts to penetrate it.

Russian military intelligence carried out a cyber-attack on at least one US voting software supplier and sent spear-phishing emails to more than a hundred local election officials days before the poll, the Intercept reported on Monday.

This would explain the US deep state fury beyond the Democrats fury on Hillary losing the election. It would also explain how exit polls were so strangely off.

Recall some of the dire polling he faced as a candidate. More than 60 percent of voters didn’t think he was qualified to be president; not even 20 percent thought he had the temperament and personality to serve; more than half of Republicans said they weren’t satisfied with him as their nominee. On Election Day, 60 percent of the electorate said it didn’t like him.

By any historical standard, these were also politically catastrophic numbers, and yet, well, Trump is in the White House. In 2016, the numbers didn’t mean quite what we thought they did.

If this is true, the US system is beyond repair. They would not be able to openly say that the voting machines were hacked, as then they would be stuck with an illegitimate government and no constitutional way out.

Posted by: somebody | Aug 25 2017 9:56 utc | 69

And of course - it might have been any hacker - which would be even more painful to admit for the US deep state.

Hackers breach US voting machines in 90 minutes in Defcon competition

Posted by: somebody | Aug 25 2017 10:12 utc | 70

Remember that ship in the Black Sea that had its operating systems shut down by a Russian plane flyover?

Posted by: frances | Aug 24, 2017 2:30:39 PM | 26

&

Remember the Donald Cook incident in the Black Sea?

.Posted by: CarlD | Aug 24, 2017 3:41:12 PM | 34

The only incident in the black sea involving USS Donald Cook that I remember occurred when Russian jets repeatedly buzzed that Ship but did so without carrying any weapons. As far as I am aware the are no credible reports of any other activity affecting the ship in the manner you seem to both be claiming.

What is the evidence for you claim of the ship being completely incapacitated?

could you provide links to reliable sources?

Posted by: Just Sayin' | Aug 25 2017 10:25 utc | 71

In a little noticed June 22 incident, someone manipulated GPS signals in the eastern part of the Black Sea, leaving some 20 ships with little situational awareness. Shipboard navigation equipment, which appeared to be working properly, reported the location of the vessels 20 miles inland, near an airport.

That was the first known instance of GPS “spoofing,” or misdirection.Much more serious than jamming, spoofing interferes with location even as computer screens offer normal readouts. Everything looks normal – but it isn’t.

Posted by: somebody | Aug 25, 2017 5:56:56 AM | 68

Far as I recall that incident occurred in close conjunction with NATO air war gaming in the region.

Since the yanks control the GPS system, application of the razor would lead one to conclde that if anyone, twas the yanks wot done it.

========

Re: USS Donald Cook. Several months after the ship was buzzed in the Black sea by unarmed Russki jet in the same ship was in the Baltic just off the coast of Kalliningrad, doing exactly the same thing it had been doing in the Black Sea. The ship was once again buzzed by Russki jets. Video evidence from on board the ship when it was being buzzed in the Baltic seemed to show nothing more than the ship being buzzed by unarmed russki jets.

The crew in the video can be heard laughing.

Again the razor would suggest that nothing more than buzzing by jets, a retatively normal event, given the circumstances, occurred in both instances.

Posted by: Just Sayin' | Aug 25 2017 10:54 utc | 72

Those election machines

Yeah, but other than the alleged NSA document claiming this, there is ZERO evidence to back up any claims of Russian Hacking of election machines

Zero, nada, none, zilch.

All there was were mostly anonymous "claims" made by alleged US Intell insiders, and the msm. All made in the middle of what was a very transparent anti russian propaganda blitz. So transparent in fact that even someone like you would have a hard time denying it was nothing more than a baseless smear campaign. (But I'm sure you'll give it a go nonetheless, being what you are)

Posted by: Just Sayin' | Aug 25 2017 11:10 utc | 73

Just Sayin' | Aug 25, 2017 6:25:22 AM | 70

The USS Donald Cook got EMD'd and had to leave the Black Sea for a friendly port (its electronics got fried).
You didn't know that?
Incredible; kindly do your home work. ;-)

Posted by: V. Arnold | Aug 25 2017 11:11 utc | 74

Ps

RE: USS Donald Cook

You chaps are aware that the Russkis are just as capable as the perfidious yanks of playing ridiculous propaganda games, chock full of juicy incredible details, specifically designed to gull the willingly gullible, right?

Posted by: Just Sayin' | Aug 25 2017 11:17 utc | 75

Here;
http://www.voltairenet.org/article185860.html
An interesting read.
Given the ship's leaving the Black sea shortly after, and finding a near, friendly, port
Would tend to validate the incedent.

Posted by: V. Arnold | Aug 25 2017 11:17 utc | 76

You didn't know that?Incredible; kindly do your home work. ;-)

Posted by: V. Arnold | Aug 25, 2017 7:11:06 AM | 73

If you go back and read what I actually wrote, and this time try real hard to pay attention, you'll see that I asked for reliable sources for those rather incredible claims.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

You naturally, of course, completely failed to provide any.

Try again.

Posted by: Just Sayin' | Aug 25 2017 11:23 utc | 77

Just Sayin' | Aug 25, 2017 7:23:09 AM | 76
Snark aside; what is the above link?
And this again;
http://www.voltairenet.org/article185860.html

Not a Russian propaganda site.
Try some critical thinking skills; it can do wonders...

Posted by: V. Arnold | Aug 25 2017 11:26 utc | 78

75

I saw no evdience sourced from reliable sources, in that link.

None whatsoever, merely a collection of claims, none backed up by evidence of any sort.

Try again.

Posted by: Just Sayin' | Aug 25 2017 11:26 utc | 79

Try some critical thinking skills; it can do wonders...

Posted by: V. Arnold | Aug 25, 2017 7:26:15 AM | 77

It certainly can, you should take your own advice and try it some time

Also perhaps aquainting yourself with the definition of the phrase "confirmation bias" might be of some future, however distant, benefit to you

Posted by: Just Sayin' | Aug 25 2017 11:30 utc | 80

VArnold

You provided 2 links to the same article.

Linking twice to an article containg zero evidence, is not doing much for your credibility.

It contained no evidence to substantiate the extraordinary claim the first time you linked to it and, surprise surprise, it also contained zero evidence to substantiate the extraordinary claim the 2nd time you linked to it either.

Don't be too downhearted though, and credit where it is due: at least you are demonastrating consistency of approach, if nothing else.

Posted by: Just Sayin' | Aug 25 2017 11:36 utc | 81

The USS Donald Cook got EMD'd and had to leave the Black Sea for a friendly port (its electronics got fried).

Posted by: V. Arnold | Aug 25, 2017 7:11:06 AM | 73

If it got "EMD'd" (LOL, seriously?) as you claim, and its electronics "fried" how did it "leave", under its own power, for any port, let alone a "friendly" one?

Posted by: Just Sayin' | Aug 25 2017 11:45 utc | 82

Just Sayin' | Aug 25, 2017 7:36:15 AM | 80
Twice linking was intentional; and your arrogant attitude of assumed superiority is definitely off putting.
That you do not accept the source is you opinion, but far from discrediting said article. After all; who are you?
It could be said, your ignorance of EMD's is why you dismiss that link.
A more careful read, with an informed mind about EMD attacks, might conclude differently.
In any event; I'll not engage your boorishness further...
And please; don't do a quick google search and come back edumacated about an EMD attack...

Posted by: V. Arnold | Aug 25 2017 11:52 utc | 83

V Arnold, you have claimed that the site you linked to is "Not a Russian propaganda site."

yet in its opening sentence it makes a rather extraordinary claim:

The State Department acknowledged that the crew of the destroyer USS Donald Cook has been gravely demoralized ever since their vessel was flown over in the Black Sea by a Russian Sukhoi-24

This is a claim which one would certainly expect any honest author to substantiate immediately after making. Instead the author links to a Ruptly (Russia Today media company) video which does not even contain a voice over let alone anything related to the US State Dept acknowledging anything at all.

It contain 2 other videos again none of which containing anything that could be claim to substantiate the opening claim quoted above.

Nowhere in the article does the author ever attempt to provide evidence for the extraordinary claim made in its opening sentence. Whatever that is, it's not journalism.

The only attempt it makes to substantiate anything at all is that it claims that the original claim is sourced from one single Russian media website, Rossiyskaya Gazeta. Suspiciously it does not even bother to provide an actual working link to the Rossiyskaya Gazeta website, so that we could check for ourselves at the website where the auther says the claim was originally made.

So despite your claims that your sources are not un-evidenced claims originating as a result of "Russian propaganda", what you provide looks exactly like un-evidenced claims originating as a result of "Russian propaganda".

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and shits like a duck . . . . it's probably a duck

If this is your standard of "evidence" perhaps you might want to also research, when you are looking up the definition of "confirmation bias", the definition of "evidence" itself.

Posted by: Just Sayin' | Aug 25 2017 12:06 utc | 84

but far from discrediting said article

the article discredits itself by making the claim "The State Dept acknowledged . . . " without ever attempt to substantiating it in anyway.

even a child could see that.

And please; don't do a quick google search and come back edumacated about an EMD attack...

Posted by: V. Arnold | Aug 25, 2017 7:52:44 AM | 82

oh have no fear, I won't

Posted by: Just Sayin' | Aug 25 2017 12:09 utc | 85

It could be said, your ignorance of EMD's is why you dismiss that link.

Posted by: V. Arnold | Aug 25, 2017 7:52:44 AM | 82

equally it could be said your general all round gullibility is why you don't

Posted by: Just Sayin' | Aug 25 2017 12:11 utc | 86

Curious if anyone has caught Channel 4's 'The State' and what they think the purpose of it is.

From what I can see the mini-series primary focus is to have us sympathise with new IS recruits, essentially painting them as naive mujahideen who join IS expecting a pure, slightly less brutal jihad, i.e. killing Syrian army soldiers is fine, no one ever questions IS terrorism in Europe, and torture, executions & slavery is fine (as long as its not someone they know personally). The main characters are all morally reprehensible yet framed as though the makers expect us to somehow see them as victims of circumstance.

From the Guardian (who, of course, loved it): "Charlie Winter, a senior research fellow at the international centre for the study of radicalisation (ICSR) at King’s College London, who has studied Isis closely. “It had very clearly been extremely well researched,” Winter said. “It certainly wasn’t superficial research going into this. I was really impressed."

This is utter nonsense and Winter should be disregarded as an authority on the subject. The show paints a ridiculously sanitised version of areas under IS control, clearly suggesting the majority of people they govern are happy with their ultra-harsh sharia system. The conditions they live in are also perfectly comfortable and suggest people moving to a region plagued by war, lack of energy, sanitation, medicine and food, could live easy lives. The recruits themselves are presented as smart, well-educated and good-looking people, rather than social misfits with serious psychological or emotional issues. A surprisingly large percentage of the recruits are also white but there is no prejudice or suspicion among IS all are accepted warmly as brothers and sisters, their past lives and sins forgotten as long as they swear loyalty to their new group (EXACTLY the type of thing that will attract vulnerable and impressionable young people to any type of cult). The entire first episode has nothing negative to say or show about IS.

It goes on to use a graphic scene of babies killed by anti-IS airstrikes and a fabricated mass execution and rape by Alawites against Sunni as justification for IS barbaric tactics. Note that while its happy to show numerous dead babies it cuts away every time an IS member is about to behead someone. There is so much else wrong with it: slaves developing Stockholm syndrome for their master being portrayed in a positive, if not romantic, light, teenage brides falling immediately in love with their much older IS husbands, the respect shown by all to those who martyr themselves. The question of whether this is deliberate propaganda or a criminal level of incompetence and ignorance can easily be answered by "its both".

The shows director, Kosminsky, has admitted he wanted to humanise IS and make people view them as "not all bad". (Again from the Guardian) "He said he had wanted to create the graphic drama as “an antidote to simplistic thought. Saying they are all mad doesn’t really help us to try to understand it, get to the bottom of it and ultimately try to combat it.”

This could have been done in a VERY different way: Start of with vulnerable youths living in the UK, maybe a drug addict, someone with psychological issues, a victim of spousal abuse, etc. People not educated enough to really comprehend what IS has done. Show them being groomed and manipulated to join up, making people aware of the techniques that cults use to cut people off from friends and families. Then reveal both the reality of the situation (that they are moving to an absolute shithole) and the utter brutality of IS (killing children, throwing gays of buildings, using chemical weapons, carrying out massive bombings against civilian targets, plotting attacks in the EU, etc.) This show went in a very different direction and has ended up giving a very different, and very dangerous, message to audiences.

Posted by: Brannagyn | Aug 25 2017 13:03 utc | 87

There is no television programming that is not (at least) condoned by the CIA. Operation Mockingbird.

Posted by: fastfreddy | Aug 25 2017 13:30 utc | 88

It would not be logical for the CIA (which by all indications has grown exponentially) - in having instituted an effective program of manipulation and control of the media - to simply pack it in and go home after a spell. On the contrary, this program was expanded.

Media Consolidation (six war-profiteering corporations) and then "Propaganda made legal by congress" dovetail nicely with Operation Mockingbird.

Posted by: fastfreddy | Aug 25 2017 13:57 utc | 89

Krollchem @56 Yes, you're right, it was Secretary of State, not Vice President. Which still means his public justifications were significant, and are still evidence that DiLorenzo ignores to falsify history.

The dishonesty of a DiLorenzo and his cothinkers is so complete they do not even explain why the South seceded before Lincoln came into office. The answer briefly is that the southern defense of slavery required the expansion of slavery. That's why filibusters in Central America, where William Walker briefly restored slavery. That's why plots to seize Cuba. That's why the Lincoln's principled commitment to stopping the spread of slavery to new territories was intolerable to them. That's why the Corwin Amendment wasn't good enough. Eventually, the new free states would be able to legally rescind the Corwin Amendment, if only by calling a new constitutional convention. The defense of slavery required a control of the national government, at the least in the Senate. When the south lost the guarantee of a Senate they could use to block threats to slavery, the south seceded to defend slavery. As to why the north refused to abandon democracy, freedom and the nation? No national government commits suicide without a fight, except possibly Czechs.

Lastly, the disappearance of one Sonthonax from history is par for the course for the liar DiLorenzo. The French Revolution was intimately involved in the abolition of slavery in Haiti in his person alone. Slavery was abolished in Haiti in 1793. The fact that violence by Haitians had something to do with it refutes DiLorenzo, and Engerman and Fogel, insofar as he correctly represents them. But if DiLorenzo, Engerman and Fogel are somehow still convinced that slavery was peacefully abolished, gradually, through the nineteenth century, what ever happened in the Congo? It seems to me that Leopold of Belgium enslaved many Congolese on rubber plantations. The mortality rate was horrific, but it wasn't random slaughter. Leopold's victims weren't sold abroad, but how does that make it not-slavery?

Posted by: steven t johnson | Aug 25 2017 14:19 utc | 90

No supporters here for Netanyahu. What's your opinion of the current Supreme Leader of Iran? The man who tweeted "Israel Is A Hideous Entity In the Middle East Which Will Undoubtedly Be Annihilated."

Hague, I don't know if this is directed at me but I'll field it since I wrote about the Shiite Crescent.

1. Under his rule, Iran has gone from using terrorism to using conventional soft power as a means to exert influence.

2. Like his predecessor, Iran has demonstrated that their desire to live exceeds their desire to kill. There has been only one Shiite suicide bomber since 1982 and no reckless attacks on Israel or U.S.

3. If you wade through all of his tweets, I used to read them, you could interpret that statement to mean that he believes Israel will implode. I recall a tweet where his plan was to fully enfranchise the Palestinians causing Israel to disappear demographically, ridiculous but not a genocidal threat. He has disavowed nuclear weapons and first use of ballistic missiles.

I would love it if he recognized Israel but don't think that his words can be used to justify preemptive attacks without other events corroborating hostile intent. Iran under his leadership can be treated as a rational but suspiciously hostile actor by us. I hope that Israel treats them as a hostile but rational actor.

Posted by: Christian Chuba | Aug 25 2017 14:31 utc | 91

Excellent ANALYSIS and Honest NARRATIVE, and may I say, very RARE in America today

Posted by: Freespirit | Aug 25 2017 15:09 utc | 92

If you ask the question what does the military, the systemically important corporations and the government and its Continuity of Agenda agencies, being the CIA et al, require to carry out their day to day operations you will in formulating an answer get an idea of who actually runs the big show. The answer to the question is an uninterrupted flow of money. Even the covert trade in illicit drugs requires a flow of money and a means to launder trade profits so that this money can re enter the normal commercial sphere as allmoney must eventually in a debt based monetary system. These individuals, working together, who own the debt based (all debts being owed to themselves) money and credit creation business must then have a strangle hold over the government, military, Continuity of Agenda agencies and the systemically important corporations as a management complex. While the individual owners of money creation are beholden to their management 'team', these individuals have their hands of the levers of power that can exert undue pressure to see that agenda proceeds as desired under this feudalistic system. They are the individuals that are pushing for a 'One World Order' (OWO) - Peter Koenig's term - by using their management proxies to achieve this OWO. All the rest is playing a game of obfuscation to this agenda because this ruling apex elite must pay lip service to the management structure society has taken on. In America this is a democratic Republic. In the British Commonwealth it is a system of Parliamentary democracies. All these forms of societal structure are controlled by their central banks which are either privately owned or under the influence, as in the case of Canada, by the over arching international authority over all central banks of the Bank of International Settlements. Most of these central banks would show the same individuals as owners if that information was publicly available, which it is not and never has been since the first central bank, The Bank of England, was formed in 1694 and granted the omnipotent power to create from nothing Great Britain's money supply and credit. How can it be otherwise?

Posted by: BRF | Aug 25 2017 15:19 utc | 93

"If one applies Occam's razor; incompetence would be a logical assunption."

I tend to suspect this as well. In fact, it's far more likely the Navy would be blaming Russia, Iran, or anyone they possibly could for sabotage rather than fess up to being incompetent. Here's a pretty good little overview article that explains some of the factors involved, and appears to come to the same conclusion:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/08/with-the-uss-mccain-collision-even-navy-tech-cant-overcome-human-shortcomings/

Posted by: J Swift | Aug 25 2017 15:29 utc | 94

steven t johnson | Aug 25, 2017 10:19:57 AM | 89

Again you make mistakes in recalling history.
“The first inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as the 16th President of the United States was held on Monday, March 4, 1861”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_inauguration_of_Abraham_Lincoln

“Hostilities began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter.” Several border states chose secession at a later date when a Union invasion was imminent:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War

Yes, I know that Belgium killed some 10 million Congo blacks. See Mark Twain’s essays on this crime as well as the book King Leopold's ghost. However, this is not germane to the points you brought up earlier.

Please consider Smidley Butler's book "war is a racket" for more on US slavery/occupation in Central and South America. America currently uses the "Angola Variant" approach to slavery of whole countries. Authors such as Michael Hudson and Charles Hugh Smith have made the case that even America itself is a plantation economy.

I am fortunate that my Grandfather was slightly too young to have been drafted to fight in the US Civil War. My father was too young during WWI and too old during WWII. Avoid war if possible, even the upcoming US Civil War II.

Posted by: Krollchem | Aug 25 2017 16:16 utc | 95

@59 "Those election machines

Russian intelligence agents hacked a US voting systems manufacturer in the weeks leading up to last year’s presidential election, according to the Intercept, citing what it said was a highly classified National Security Agency (NSA) report."

It wasn't the voting machines that were hacked. It was the voter check in system.
Or more specifically, voter registration software used on the electronic poll books.

When this happened in Durham County North Carolina, they went back to using the paper poll books to check people in. Some polling places (like with older poll workers who aren't tech savy) do that anyway. The electronic poll books are a convenience but not all poll workers in North Carolina want to use them, and it isn't required.

See: Alleged Russian Hack Reveals a Deeply Flawed Election System
https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2017-06-07/alleged-russian-hack-reveals-a-deeply-flawed-election-system

Yes voting machines can be hacked, as can the vote accumulation software (that the votes are uploaded to) and as can be the state elections boards reporting software (that publishes the results online). There are checks and and balances, accounting tapes etc, but yes there can be undetectable hacks.

Posted by: Laura Roslin | Aug 25 2017 16:39 utc | 96

#90 Christian Chuba
Hague, I don't know if this is directed at me

Yes it is.
And also directed to
karlof1 #13
Anonymous #20
Ghostship #22

and b

The Zionist propaganda is claiming that Iran is taking over Syria and that its sole concern is to create a land-corridor between Iran and Lebanon.

"Israel Is A Hideous Entity In the Middle East Which Will Undoubtedly Be Annihilated."
just words, a joke.

We're all rational people!

Posted by: From The Hague | Aug 25 2017 16:54 utc | 97

I have to disagree with b about the irrelevance of the "land bridge" between Iran and Syria. The AP reporters probably do not realize its significance but it will represent a geopolitical fact that will make it very difficult for US imperialism to control the Levant. Perhaps "land bridge" doesn't accurately describe the situation but maybe China and Russia's Belt Road Initiative (BRI) does. Look at a map. If Iraq and Syria can expunge the US and Saudi backed Sunni jihadist from their countries it opens up a land corridor linking Russia, Iran, Iraq and Syria to the Eastern Mediterranean. This would be one major trade and economic link between the Eurasian land mass and the entire Mideast. The US Navy could control all of the sea lanes surrounding Asia and Europe but they would be unable to do much to interfere with the desert silk roads. If Afghanistan and Pakistan were part of the BRI initiative it makes the Eurasian economic integration even more solid (anyone wonder why the US military pushed Trump to agree to the latest surge in Afghanistan?).

However it plays out, the US is now looking at the very real possibility that Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon will be tied together in an alliance of common interests that will be encouraged by Russia and China. If that alliance looks successful then it would pull in Turkey, Pakistan, Azerbaijan and Turkistan along with India wanting to join in trade agreements.

Now this would be one major threat to US world hegemony. I think we should expect that the US will resist this mightily in coming years once they fully realize the geopolitical threat to US imperialism.

Posted by: ToivoS | Aug 25 2017 18:09 utc | 98

Hague, the Ayatollah hates Israel and wants to see it go away. I won't nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Israel should take reasonable steps to defend themselves; not seek to keep their neighbors weak and defenseless.

This is only a hair worse than what Netanyahu said about Iran during his speech to the U.S. Congress. While Netanyahu says that he accepts Iran's right to exist he proceeded to condemn them as the world's greatest evil. He might as well have said wipe them off the map. The more over the top the accusation the greater the applause by our elected morons. Netanyahu was speaking to the world's most powerful assembly. Rohrbacher was present, the man who applauded the subsequent ISIS attack on Iran's Parliament and suggested that we should arm other groups to destabilize Iran. Our Administration now openly talks about regime change. Netanyahu knows his audience. I suppose that it's not his fault that we are governed by imbeciles.

I condemn any statement by any person that suggests directly or indirectly that a country should be destroyed or harmed. Unfortunately, they are all too common.

Posted by: Christian Chuba | Aug 25 2017 18:26 utc | 99

@Christian Chuba | 99

Hague, the Ayatollah hates Israel and wants to see it go away.

There is a difference between hating Jews (whom Iran doesnt hate one bit, just ask Jews living in Iran) and hating Israel's genocidal occupant regime, which Iran's leadership said will hopefully implode and vanish from the pages of history.

I won't nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Ayatollah is by FAR and away more peaceful than Obama or EU, both got Nobel peace prizes.

Israel should take reasonable steps to defend themselves; not seek to keep their neighbors weak and defenseless.

Its like saying Nazi Germany should have taken reasonable steps to defend itself from Alies. Do they? In occupied territories and performing genocide? On top of that, Israel never took "reasonable steps", its policy always was ultra aggressive "offense is the best defense".

He might as well have said wipe them off the map.

While Israel and its supporters likes to accuse of Iran saying that, but it never happened. The usual fake claim.

Posted by: Harry | Aug 26 2017 13:14 utc | 100