Enjoy your family time 'b' well deserved !
Yesterday one hundred thousand people marched through London few polatition's were there. Time to- # rise up.
Britain USA and Israil may or may not deserve all the wealth they have now . But one thing is for sure ! They now deserve to lose it ! Time to wake up and smell the coffee.

Posted by: Mark2 | Jun 24 2018 9:33 utc | 1

Those kids are the reason to keep going b. Once we're dead and gone, we won't give a fuck and the crap that is going on now may not be finalized before we are gone.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Jun 24 2018 9:57 utc | 2

haha, yes indeed. I can just see the headlines now...."regime strikes last hospital with barrel bombs", "rebel aid convoy destroyed by Russian missiles". Fully expect this operation to be the next big "thing" for the humanitarian bombers of the Guardian and co to get their knickers in a twist about

Posted by: Nick | Jun 24 2018 10:03 utc | 3

3
With US formally announcing retreat, it will be interesting if they continue on with that crap.

Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Jun 24 2018 10:13 utc | 4

This is a promising result at an interesting moment. On the one hand, Russia is asserting itself strongly on this project with a large commitment of new troops in Syria (maybe not in this region but certainly directly relevant to the way any developments might unfold); and on the other, it is a moment when the pressures against Trump are being more and more disarmed, while his domestic popularity has increased, the investigations into the treasonist conspiracies in the FBI, DoJ and now to some extent CIA are exposing the core of the plots (too slow, too low-keyed, and far too non-aggressive, but at least key truths are coming out and it will continue), and Trump is boosted (except in some powerful factions of the elite) by his successes in Korea (erhem, but not of course the Iran affair and trade wars).

That, when these various signs come together, the US tells the rebels in the south they are on their own, is a good omen indeed - indeed that is an understatement!

Posted by: BM | Jun 24 2018 11:24 utc | 5

Somethings changed in Syria; the question is; what does this mean?
The U.S. cutting loose the FSA/al-Nusra is a curious move...

Posted by: V | Jun 24 2018 12:26 utc | 6

@6 Curious move is right. One would expect to hear loud complaints from Netanyahu.
I'm wondering what Israel gets out of all this. Recognition of Golan sovereignty?

Posted by: dh | Jun 24 2018 13:54 utc | 7

@7
No. I don't see that, the Golan.
What I do see is; the U.S. realizing its position in Syria is weak; that's a fact.
The rest, I don't know.
We'll see how this plays out...

Posted by: V | Jun 24 2018 14:15 utc | 8

I'd guess through the back channels support for USA is evaporating! It' a pivotal moment with active Russian jets in the area. They had all to chose, other nations including uk Israil know they have to much to lose and little to gain,except body bags. They' all be face safeing now. And on to over news. Look there's a squirrel! USA 'billy no mates'

Posted by: Mark2 | Jun 24 2018 14:29 utc | 9

Catlin Johnson and Wikileaks suspect Qanon to be a "pied piper" psyop.

As early as January, Catlin voiced suspicion when she tweeted:

There's good conspiracy theory and there's bad conspiracy theory. #QAnon is bad conspiracy theory. It's either a really good LARPer or a really bad psyop. Informed insiders do not leak via 4chan. Does not happen. It's an anonymous message board for trolls. Always has been.

But Catlin recently goes a bit further, warning that:

This administration is advancing longstanding neoconservative agendas with increasing aggression, perpetuating the Orwellian surveillance state of Bush and Obama, and actively pursuing the extradition and imprisonment of Julian Assange. Ignore the narratives and watch the behavior, and he [Trump] looks very much like his predecessor. So cut out the narratives. Cut out the manipulators. Cut out QAnon from the equation and look at what’s really happening here.

This is very much in line my comment at MoA on March 12

My take [on Qanon]: it is similar to the Obamabots promising good things to come. Those ‘good things’ never came, of course.

Further proof, IMHO, that Trump is the Republican Obama. The play book is the same.

I've written, here and at my blog (over a year ago!), that Trump and Obama both follow the same political model, that of the faux populist leader. They both claimed to be outsiders. They both faced crazy opposition that called into question their loyalty to America. They both had amorphous apologists (Obamabots, Trumptards) that excuse any betrayal.

Furthermore, I've said that it is logical to assume that the election of these faux populists have been arranged (by the Deep State). We have many tantalizing clues that this is so, like:

>> The nature of the US political system
No real populist has a chance in our money-driven political system

>> Non-starter opponents
McCain, Hillary are the embodiment of the establishment that everyone loves to hate.

>> Clear manipulations
In a time of great dissatisfaction, there were only TWO populists that ran for President in 2016 - Trump and Sanders. Sanders was a 'sheepdog' (bogus candidate) who pulled many punches and betrayed his base.

>> Very different stated agendas, yet staying true to Deep State goals
Tax cuts, military adventures, etc.

>> Forgiveness
"No drama Obama" refused to pursue legal action against Bush Administration officials and, immediately upon his election, Trump said that he would not pursue Hillary, saying that they Clintons had been thru enough.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jun 24 2018 14:38 utc | 10

Following on from previous thread on immig. etc.

re. Child migrants USA: easy digest.

Who is profiting from incarcerating immigrant families?

https://news.littlesis.org/2018/06/21/who-is-profiting-from-incarcerating-immigrant-families/

Mass incarceration, the whole pie

https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2017.html

Posted by: Noirette | Jun 24 2018 15:02 utc | 11

b,

The quality of your work is worth the wait. Recharge the batteries with family. Nothing better than being around the young.

Posted by: Red Ryder | Jun 24 2018 15:54 utc | 12

>>>> Nick | Jun 24, 2018 6:03:15 AM | 3
Nah, Syria and Russia have three weeks to sort out Daraa, or more precisely until 15th July.

Posted by: Ghost Ship | Jun 24 2018 16:18 utc | 13

@ Jackrabbit
"I've said that it is logical to assume that the election of these faux populists have been arranged (by the Deep State)."

While this is of course possible, and likely sometimes happens (might have been true with Obama's first run), I think the Deep State has such firm grip on power they aren't really worried about their ability to co-opt and control whoever wins. It's more about bleeding off steam from the masses, preserving the illusion of democracy. So "populists" serve a useful function, dividing would-be contenders, which along with general voter disgust means it actually takes a very small number of votes to control the ultimate outcome of the election.

Sanders was allowed to continue to energize pissed off people of the left, with the PTB knowing that when he was eventually canned and turned the vast bulk of his voters would either not vote at all or vote for their completely owned Hillary. But his presence in the Democratic mix meant the Democrats could at least pretend to have some relation to the more socially minded Dems of old.

Trump was trumped up as the foil, same as Sanders, to sweep up all the anti-establishment sentiment on the other side of the isle, and really as an ace in the hole for Hillary, as he was considered a completely unelectable baffoon who would do nothing but make a laughingstock out of all Republicans. If you recall, Hillary and the establishment press were actually giving Trump all the love early, to make him the strongest poison pill possible. Of course, much later when there began to be fears that he was actually a threat (largely because of Hillary being so painfully phony and unlikeable), all political and press guns were turned against him, but since he had positioned himself as anti-establishment, this had the unexpected effect of actually increasing his popularity.

No worries. Plenty of preemptive sabotage had been implanted prior to the election, such that long before he was even sworn in any actual populist tendencies he may have had (I suspect some were real, some were electioneering) were completely hamstrung. The Deep State flexed its muscles, and once again the US had its "populist," but the Deep State was again holding the reigns. Any time Trump gets off script (which is what makes me think he might have had some actual populist tendencies), he is quickly "corrected." So in the end, the Deep State doesn't have to actively field sleeper candidates; it has become so entrenched that it knows it can ultimately control whoever wins, and so while it has its preferences (Hillary), and will actively assist them, I don't think it feels the need to fear those it doesn't control at the outset.

Incidentally, along the same lines and to revive some of the Korea discussion, here's an interesting article discussing how the Deep State is ramping up its opposition to real peace in Korea.
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/06/21/an-elite-coalition-emerges-against-a-trump-kim-agreement/

Posted by: J Swift | Jun 24 2018 16:57 utc | 14

enjoy the break b! you deserve one!

thank you for the eva bartlett article.. it is well worth the read... given the statements of the usa backing off, this is an interesting development and change...

Posted by: james | Jun 24 2018 17:04 utc | 15

J Swift,
I dont' know if that is completely true. Although maybe the higher ups believe that. You can tell by the texts they really didn't want Trump. At least the lower level grunt workers in the deep state. Probably because they aren't completely sure he won't go off script. I do believe if they thought he would be a problem they would just kill him.

Posted by: goldhoarder | Jun 24 2018 17:44 utc | 16

anyone following the election in turkey today? i wonder if king erdogan remains on his throne, or if the people of turkey have woken up enough to smell the coffee yet?

Posted by: james | Jun 24 2018 17:57 utc | 17

Elijah J Magnier thinks the Kurds have made big mistakes in Syria..."The US President clearly attaches no importance to the fate of the Kurds. He is ready to abandon them, despite knowing that they have no other place to go or protection they can seek. The Kurds lost the trust of the government in Damascus because of their unwise political and military choices – and of course they are hunted down by Turkey who considers all Kurds in Syria to be part of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), a terrorist-affiliated group by Ankara’s standards".
Maybe Assad will offer the Kurds some form of cultural/administrative devolution within a united Syria, something all regional players could accept, when the US leaves.

Posted by: Harry Law | Jun 24 2018 18:07 utc | 18

james | Jun 24, 2018 1:57:49 PM | 17
As it seems the HDP passed the 10% threshold. Counting continues, Erdogan is ahead, but as compared to the referendum results he lags behind those figures. There is an independent organization, Adil Secim, https://twitter.com/adilsecimnet, that saw him at 43% one hour ago and Ince at 34%. But this is all preliminary. Anadolu, the official news agency, reports as usual a big advantage for Erdogan.

Posted by: Hausmeister | Jun 24 2018 18:21 utc | 19

...
Incidentally, along the same lines and to revive some of the Korea discussion, here's an interesting article discussing how the Deep State is ramping up its opposition to real peace in Korea.
(link omitted by HW)
Posted by: J Swift | Jun 24, 2018 12:57:43 PM | 14

That thought bubble seems to contradict the paragraph immediately preceding it.
i.e. The Deep State/ Swamp wants to perpetuate tensions with NK/China to keep arms sales flourishing and it's worried that Trump will cause peace to break out (which he will do - and make it look like either an accident, or (that old Right Wing Chestnut) Someone Else's Fault.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 24 2018 18:21 utc | 20

Word Cup Peeves

The use of black players by countries with heinous records of historical colonialism.
Nationalized players. (Mexico has none).
Sanctions against / shaming-of Mexico for crowd shouts deemed to be anti-Gay.

Word Cup Kudos
Dramatic matches
Overall, great play
Some world-class goals.

Posted by: Guerrero | Jun 24 2018 18:33 utc | 21

What's happening in Yemen lately? Has the offensive stalled? Last I heard airport was still contested and today Saudi missile defense was active.

Posted by: the pessimist | Jun 24 2018 19:20 utc | 22

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-election-live-updates-vote-counting-starts-as-polls-close-across-turkey-133726 writes:
„Here is our live update:
22.12 - While a number of news outlets claim Erdoğan won the election by a comfortable margin and AKP supporters celebrate in the streets, the opposition insists that millions of votes are yet to be counted. "Only 56.7 percent of ballot boxes have been opened so far. Erdoğan leads with 44 percent and İnce follow him with 40 percent," CHP MP Haluk Pekşen said. "The election is not over," he stressed.“
Puh, the whole things smells fishy. How can the official news agency claim 1 hour after the voting was closed that Erdogan won with ca. 58%? We are again in another 1001 night.

Posted by: Hausmeister | Jun 24 2018 19:40 utc | 23

SERIOUSLY?!!! - Did Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey have time to visit his home after he was exposed to the poison but before he exhibited symptoms? Or did someone deliberately pour bucketfuls of Novichok into his home?

'This Must Be a Joke!' Twitter Loses It Over UK's Latest Blunder in Skripal Saga

Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who also fell ill after being exposed to Novichok, receiving £430,000 in compensation for his family home.

Actually I suspect there is nothing wrong with the house. It is Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey that is too poisonous to be allowed to roam free. He will be given a new identity, transferred to the USA and released into the custody of some FBI witness protection program. He must never be allowed to speak to public.

The secret that Nick Bailey must never reveal is that he was poisoned two days after the Skripals, most likely in the evidence room at the police station by the £100,000 of cash in the red bag.

Posted by: Petri Krohn | Jun 24 2018 20:33 utc | 24

In Al Assad's comments to a Russian reporter he goes out of the way to assert that Turkey's behaviour in the north of Syria is completely at the beck and call of the US.

No hint of the alleged Turkish-Russian agreement talked of on sites like this, instead he speaks of the possibility of military confrontation.

While I do not foresee this materializing in the near future - it seems likely that once the Kurdish/SDF issue is resolved (the latest ISIS attack on Raqqa may be just the opening they need) the Syrian forces WILL be confronting the Turkish occupied areas - with or without Russia.

Posted by: les7 | Jun 24 2018 21:57 utc | 25

The World Cup proceeds as if carried along by an unstoppable force, pouring very positive concrete into foundations somewhere, giving ordinary people another vision of a country that has always fascinated me.

Graham Phillips, an Englishman and journalist, who joined with the Donbass people in their resistance to the coup in Ukraine made an interesting podcast echoing b.’s piece about Shaun Walker, my particular enemy. He quietly demolishes Walker’s claims that Russians were singing Nazi songs in a nightclub.

All in all there is a feeling of tensions subsiding a little, a feeling that one can carry on a bit with one’s life. The only thing I have learned is to enjoy such moments even if stuff like Yemen is agonizing. Agonizing but not existential as Syria is. But is that not just a bit cynical?

Posted by: Lochearn | Jun 24 2018 22:05 utc | 26

J Swift @14

You make some good points. There was a time when I also believed that Hillary and her cronies had masterfully set up the election so that she could win. But as it became clear how much Trump's politics resembled Obama's, I began to believe that TRUMP was meant to win all along.

My view is underscored by what I believe was a need to turn the page on the Obama years. Hillary could not have done that because she was so closely associated with Obama. This is especially true wrt USA's support for extremist proxies. A 'political reversal' can best excuse what many extremist supporters would otherwise see as a 'betrayal'. (Note: The elevation of MbS may also be a part of the necessary 'shift' - the alternative was conflict with Russia/WWIII).

I think the Deep State has such firm grip on power they aren't really worried about their ability to co-opt and control whoever wins.

That may be. But even that mild view indicates that the US govt has a legitimacy problem. A problem that they would be acutely aware of.

It seems very likely to me that the role of the President is so key that it must be secured by someone that is sure to "play ball". That means an ambitious money-driven, narcissist social climber that explicitly agrees to serve the establishment (as per our 'inverted totalitarian' form of government).

Trump was trumped up as the foil, same as Sanders ...

Maybe. One could make a case that this is how it was planned to be but Hillary's email troubles (and the need to "turn the page" on the Obama years) caused the establishment to turn on her. In fact, the efforts to paint Trump as a dupe of Putin via the 'Trump dossier' began in earnest in Spring 2016 after it was clear that Hillary's email troubles could not be swept under the rug (which prompted Bloomberg's offer to run so as to prevent the 'disaster' of Trump or Sanders winning the Presidency).

By June 2016 Trump was no longer a foil (if he ever was). Trump pushed back HARD on Hillary after the Orlando Pulse Nightclub attack. He didn't defer to Hillary's experience and the Democratic Party's ties to the gay community.

In July 2016, Hillary made herself even more hated by hiring a disgraced DWS into a high position in her campaign. That is as self-defeating as using a private email server for State Dept business. Such 'sloppiness' calls into question her desire to win the Presidency.

Trump also said, at one point, that he could kill someone in Times Square without consequence. That is a very strange statement to make. Anyone that says such a thing is either looney or believes that he has full and complete support from powerful interests.

Lastly, Hillary is simply not a populist and has too much baggage. The 'smart move' for a Deep State that is fully in control is to 'hire' someone that can perform as a faux populist. In fact, Hillary might be viewed as dangerous because Clinton loyalists that constitute a political machine.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jun 24 2018 22:09 utc | 27

re. Turkey election, Syrian MP Fares Shehabi writes:

"Do you really think Erdogan would have achieved more than 52% of the vote had he not arrested 80k (190 journalists), closed down 180 media, fired 160k employees (40% of Turkish generals), & nationalized tens of thousands of Syrian refugees?!"

That "failed coup" sure has paid off handsomely for the Sultan of Turkey.

Posted by: Daniel | Jun 24 2018 22:33 utc | 28

Jackrabbit. The very best I can say to defend the narrative we were told during and about the 2016 election is that the 0.01% were going to win whether Trump or HRC moved into the White House.

But like you, I long ago came to think it more likely that Trump was the chosen one from before he even took his escalator ride down into history (where paid actors wearing MAGA gear given to them cheered and jeered on cue).

Everyone knew this was the "election of rejection." Establishment politics was no longer acceptable by either the "left" or the "right." The Democratic Primary was so crooked that even many Democratic partisans couldn't bring themselves to support HRC. Especially after she doubled down with DWS and Tim Kaine.

In retrospect, the entire show appears to have been what they call in professional wrestling, "a work." A brilliant piece of propaganda.

Posted by: Daniel | Jun 24 2018 22:44 utc | 29

@ 28

No, Trump was not the chosen one. Hillary had been schooled and trained specifically for this. Trump was considered perfect opposition - dumb-ass but clever and likely to score with a few punches - unlike the miserable row of other Republicans. Trump is merely a symbol of an Empire coming to an end. Do you not get this?

Posted by: Lochearn | Jun 24 2018 22:53 utc | 30

I would learn how to effectively format a post.

Bold

Italics

Underline doesn't seem to work.

In its moment, the United States of America was an experiment, much like a work of art.

In 1778, a fine ship, the Amelia, fitted out for the express purpose, and at the sole charge of the vigorous Enderbys, boldly rounded Cape Horn, and was the first among the nations to lower a whale-boat of any sort in the great South Sea. The voyage was a skilful and lucky one; and returning to her berth with her hold full of the precious sperm, the Amelia's example was soon followed by other ships, English and American, and thus the vast Sperm Whale grounds of the Pacific were thrown open. But not content with this good deed, the indefatigable house again bestirred itself: Samuel and all his Sons—how many, their mother only knows—and under their immediate auspices, and partly, I think, at their expense, the British government was induced to send the sloop-of-war Rattler on a whaling voyage of discovery into the South Sea. Commanded by a naval Post-Captain, the Rattler made a rattling voyage of it, and did some service; how much does not appear. But this is not all. In 1819, the same house fitted out a discovery whale ship of their own, to go on a tasting cruise to the remote waters of Japan. That ship—well called the “Syren”—made a noble experimental cruise; and it was thus that the great Japanese Whaling Ground first became generally known. The Syren in this famous voyage was commanded by a Captain Coffin, a Nantucketer.

I'd like to get the hang of formatting a post to provide for legibility. The Blockquote command, above, seemed to work well. Now, ¿how does one return to regular size text font?

¿Qué pasó, Gerónimo?

Posted by: Guerrero | Jun 25 2018 0:36 utc | 31

Yep, Lockhearn @29, I read all that stuff, and totally believed it myself right up until about the time of the Conventions.

There it was right there, HRC's team demanding MSM to promote Trump as the "pied piper."

It was all laid out so brilliantly. We were almost all led down that pied piper path, following all the bread crumbs laid out for us to "discover," and feel so smart for having read the "hacked" emails and DNC documents (the latter of which were actually published by that Guccifer 2.0 creation).

We're to believe that CNN's Jeff Zucker did everything in his power to stop Trump. The same Jeff Zucker who broke into live programming to show Trump's escalator ride (the ONLY candidate who got live coverage of his announcement). Then, CNN aired hour after hour of live and uninterrupted coverage of Trump rallies.

"Uninterrupted" is the key word there as it puts to lie the claim he did it for "ratings." No advertising sold means ratings were not the goal. Besides, Sanders was drawing larger crowds, so if Jeff wanted ratings, he would have shown Sanders rallies, too.

Oh, and that same Jeff Zucker used to be CEO of NBC, back when it was wholly owned by GE (one of the world's largest military contractors). And he gave Trump his very own Reality TV Show which imprinted the Trump character on the minds of USAmerica. And even though its ratings dropped year after year, Jeff kept pumping more and more resources into the Trump Project.

Oh, but Jeff made fun of Trump you say. And he also ridiculed Trump supporters.

Bearing in mind that polls before the Primaries showed that at best 1/3 of USAmericans trusted the MSM, and hated MSM for condescending to us and telling us what to believe and do....

How would the brilliant propagandists behind MSM expect voters to react to being ridiculed on national TV?

You're quite intelligent enough to engage your critical thinking and reconsider the past few years of MSM coverage on all things leading up to the campaign and the campaign and Trump Administration.

Once again I ask, "what would a propaganda designed for people who know the MSM is propaganda look like?"

Posted by: Daniel | Jun 25 2018 0:40 utc | 32

@18 Hausmeister... thanks.. here is hurriyet news spin..

@27 daniel - that is what it looks like to many people, including me.. thanks..

Posted by: james | Jun 25 2018 1:05 utc | 33

@30 Guerrero

You left out the slash "/" in the second blockquote tag.

Each tag that opens a style of formatting for a piece of text carries in its ending tag a slash in front of the tag word - inside the angle brackets.

Thus, for example:

< i > Begin italic

< /i > End italic

(without the spaces)

Posted by: Grieved | Jun 25 2018 1:08 utc | 34

Personally, I'm relieved that Erdogan remains as President. I don't especially care how this came about, but just as I want to see Putin and Xi in power through the next few years, in order to cement a few things, so I also want the devil we know in Turkey to stay in place. The less moving parts in this evolving geopolitical war the better.

Posted by: Grieved | Jun 25 2018 1:17 utc | 35

President Erdogan is one of the more enigmatic world leaders, and I wouldn't claim to know where he stands overall geopolically, but the majority of the Western Borgist Media seems to be opposed to him, so I too am relieved he was reelected.

Posted by: Hassaan | Jun 25 2018 1:21 utc | 36

More on Turkey election:

"Jihadists from the Free Syrian Army are being transported to Hatay to vote in the Turkish election today - #Seçim2018"

https://twitter.com/maytham956

Posted by: Daniel | Jun 25 2018 1:23 utc | 37

I want to get the hang of formatting a post for the sake of essential legibility.

All honor to the Enderbies, therefore, whose house, I think, exists to the present day; though doubtless the original Samuel must long ago have slipped his cable for the great South Sea of the other world.The ship named after him was worthy of the honor, being a very fast sailer and a noble craft every way. I boarded her once at midnight somewhere off the Patagonian coast, and drank good flip down in the forecastle. It was a fine gam we had, and they were all trumps—every soul on board. A short life to them, and a jolly death. And that fine gam I had—long, very long after old Ahab touched her planks with his ivory heel—it minds me of the noble, solid, Saxon hospitality of that ship; and may my parson forget me, and the devil remember me, if I ever lose sight of it.

Now, returning to the normal font size. Thanks for your advice, Grieved.

Bold and Italics function fine.

Underlining code on the other hand, does NOT seem to work; I am an idiot at this.

Posted by: Guerrero | Jun 25 2018 1:33 utc | 38

@13 Mind telling us why the 15th of July is a deadline?

Posted by: Lozion | Jun 25 2018 1:34 utc | 39

@31 Daniel and #32 james

I think it's important to note that even within the clever and long practiced trickery of the powers that be, everything changes. Every move that they make means one less time that the same move can be made in the future.

Every time they perceive how the people feel, and run another lie to accord with this feeling, they come closer to burning out the entire system of trickery and foolery. And no one knows quite how burned it is today.

To think that the PTB have it all under control is - in my opinion - an error on the same scale of magnitude as thinking that the people of the US are going to keep taking it forever. Actually, no one knows what will happen. There's a lot of calculation of risk that goes into deception, and frankly I don't see the current elites as possessing much acumen in this risk evaluation. Hubris saturates deep into the bone, as deep as the state.

I haven't seen the PTB do one thing right in the last few years. They misunderstand the forces of history marching against them. Or rather, they are completely wary of these forces but don't know how to learn new ways to triumph in the face of them. They are separated from the source-beds and aquifers of real experience which feed learning. So they keep screwing up. In my view, although I don't think it matters much either way, it's more likely that Trump is in office because they screwed up than because they brilliantly planned and executed it that way.

2 cents, fwiw.

Posted by: Grieved | Jun 25 2018 1:36 utc | 40

pessimist @21

Yemeni Army spokesman: Battle for Hodeidah is won, Saudi coalition forces should surrender

"Spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Sharaf Luqman, has stated in an official press interview that the Battle of Hodeidah is basically over, calling for the surrender of the many Saudi coalition troops that are currently trapped and surrounded by Yemeni forces."

Considering that the figures I've seen have the Saudi groups outnumbering Houthi/Yemei fighters by 4:1 to 6:1, I don't know how realistic this "surrounded by" scenario is... but I LOVE the chutzpah!

Posted by: Daniel | Jun 25 2018 1:39 utc | 41

Lozion @38:

It might have to do with the coming Putin Trump summit.

Posted by: Ian | Jun 25 2018 1:46 utc | 42

@37 Guerrero

I never noticed before. Underline is said to be allowed as a tag but it doesn't work.

It's probably just as well. Links came to be underlined, which meant that something had to give, and to my mind the link is the more important use of the underline.

We must struggle along with bold and italic (fun, eh?) to make our point.

Posted by: Grieved | Jun 25 2018 1:47 utc | 43

I dunno if anyone else round here has tried to suss the CounterPunch site. You have to own a facebook account to comment which is an immediate turnoff, but I have been using a dodgy old FB account started when FB first kicked off to occasionally splatter some nonsense.

I mention this because on Friday Jeff St Clair published as his weekly commentary an article on John Lilburne entitled "Intolerable Opinions in an Intolerant Time". The article discusses how Lilburne was viciously tortured by Charles I's Star Chamber over an extended period, and how he was initially freed because the parliament in concert with the people demanded it.
Later on, after Cromwell's 'New Model Army' won the civil war Lilburne kept speaking truth to power, and naturally his leading advocate in the monarchical times, Oliver Cromwell began demanding his imprisonment or execution.

Some readers may recall that I have compared the current situation our world is in with that period in england immediately preceding the englander civil war. That opinion IMO is reinforced by St Clair's piece.
Anyway I drafted a response to the St Clair piece and posted it at the CounterPunch facebook page but it immediately disappeared without trace.
My usual reaction to that stuff is to forget about it, but because I'm convinced the two times have much in common I've pasted the piece below. Enjoy . . or not:

I have been musing for some time on the parallels between the world today and England during the reign of Charles I.
There are many similarities the most important and most obvious being the similarity between pamphleteers and bloggers. The printing press - well the widely available initially unregulated printing press and the internet which was also initially unregulated is the most likely root cause of the similarity.
I suppose some will argue that just like the internet, the immediate creation and distribution of facts plus anyone's opinion about those facts led to oppression common to both eras but that is the POV of a conservative reactionary desperate to maintain their cherished status quo when the opposite is actually the case.
It is the oppressive anti-freethinking stance Charles & his courtiers inflicted upon the population which forced John Lilburne and his comrades to reach for the most powerful tool available.
Similarly the internet has become a space for all sorts of exposition of individuals' ideas after the 21st century media clampdown in the name of 'security' caused all advocates of non-compliant viewpoints to turn to the net. That accelerated the demise of the huge media combines. Just as printing press use to expound John Lilburne & others opposing POVs caused a rise in the power of written words at the expense of oral communication, a model best illustrated by stereotypical town criers, accelerated use of the net to oppose injustice has forced the pace on destruction of ink and paper communication.

St Clair briefly mentions the role of the 'lowlands' (Holland & Belgium) as sources of printing outside the control of England's Star Chamber, this equates with contemporary ploys to avoid assorted '5 eyes' agencies from amerika, england, Canada, Australia and Aotearoa to silence troublesome websites and punish outspoken burrs under the elite's saddle.
Initially Scandinavian sovereign entities such as Finland (anonymous remailing services) and Sweden (The Pirate Bay indexing service) were used as a way to avoid anally regressive regulators who sought to force all sectors of the net under their control.

The creation of these lowland like areas of relative freedom of speech were quashed by employing a mixture of pedophile porn servers which accessed anonymous remailers and false flag terrorist 'incidents' which also were claimed to have hidden behind anonymous access to raise the level of insecurity in citizens while increasing public antipathy towards services which displayed the sheer unmitigated cheek to try and post WTF they wanted to online.

The reality, that both pr0n services and advocates of violence had their access removed as soon as these services became aware of the miscreants asocial behaviour, was deliberately ignored by a mainstream media eager to discredit this challenge to their 'news' monopolies is sadly all too predictable.

What of John Lilburne? Who is currently rotting in the tower suffering under Star Chamber excesses for the crime of speaking the truth in 2018?
Sadly that poor bugger is easily identified. Julian Assange, the man who has never wittingly or not, published an untruth, sits festering, incarcerated by the powerful & their lackeys. The chief difference this time around is that the public has been too disheartened or maybe uncommitted to raise sufficient outrage and gain his release.

There are no powerful benefactors looking out for Mr Assange as the powerful do remember the lessons of Lilburne, even if Jo/Joe Citizen does not. That is, that like Lilburne, no tyrant whatever his/her professed belief, can feel free from Assange's scrutiny and reasoned outrage.

Posted by: Debsisdead | Jun 25 2018 2:11 utc | 44

Guerrero @37, well you're doing a lot better than I. Psychohistorian kindly took me offsite to give me some lessons, and since I've figured out a bit more. But....

So, good for you. And thanks to all the barflies for bearing with my fumbling attempts.

Posted by: Daniel | Jun 25 2018 2:12 utc | 45

@b and #15 james

The Eva Bartlett piece is true journalism and a damning tale of Zionist wrongdoing, including in the reach of its tentacles into global institutions.

I have always thought that one of the greatest things about the Middle East is that Israel's neighbors have never been afraid to call Israel a Zionist state. I suspect this is the only thing that keeps the word and its ideas on the front burner. Out here in the deeply propagandized world, this kind of name-calling is tricky. Without the Middle East's calling a spade a spade, I suspect we would rarely hear the word. It would vanish, and be called old history.

Sayed Hassan Nasrallah knows how to call a thing by its name. The Saker just published a transcript and video of Nasrallah's speech of June 8:
Hassan Nasrallah: Israel Strives to Conceal Defeat in Syria, Final War to Liberate Palestine is Coming

I found the speech compelling because I had never put this together, but he says that all this talk from Israel about Iran in Syria and so forth is simply the witless babbling of an entity that has lost face and in great fear is desperately trying to appear relevant, and with legitimate geopolitical concerns.

Of course. So simple, but it had to be spelled out. I would very much like to share one of his concluding paragraphs. It sends, to me, massive waves of reassurance on the civility of the Arab world and also its determination for the future. All in the brilliant, Nasrallah style of truth:

"What we say, what the Palestinian people and the Arab and Muslim peoples say, and even what Islam says — I can say that this is the view of Islam — and what the Resistance says is this: we do not want to kill, we do not want to destroy, we do not want to throw (or drown) anyone in the sea. We tell you in a very civilized manner: embark in your ships, embark on your planes, and return to the countries from which you came. Regarding the (minority of) indigenous Jews, who are from Palestine, they are people of Palestine and they can stay there. As for the (Zionist) invaders, occupiers and settlers who came from all around the world, let them pack up their things and leave. This is the message of Islam, and this is the message of the Resistance. This is the message of the peoples of the region."

Posted by: Grieved | Jun 25 2018 2:14 utc | 46

Grieved @39. I absolutely agree that TPTSB are quite ready and willing to make changes to their tactics in response to reactions “on the ground.” Of course, as both Milton Friedman and Rahm Emanuel said, a crucial part of their planning is to have alternative plans already in place. Like in chess, it’s often a matter of how many possible moves ahead they have planned.

But if a plan really “goes south” on them, they are quite able to step in and do whatever is necessary. And yet, no matter how much we’re told the “Deep State” hates Trump, well, there he is. And his supporters even get to use the Obama-bots’ 8-year long apologia that The President is being FORCED to continue/escalate US policies by those dark forces.

Similarly, I think it wrong to assume that TPTSB are some sort of monolith. Within any group there are competitions and sometimes those are very severe differences. Recently we reread Winston Churchill’s 1920s oped about the “International Jewish Conspiracy.” He posited that even they were divided into the globalist Bolsheviks and the nationalistic Zionists (and that Britain should back the Zionists).

You write, “I haven't seen the PTB do one thing right in the last few years.”

But of course, you are assuming you know what were their goals. I don’t pretend to know. I’m mostly listing facts - things we can all see that have happened. And I ask cui bono?

Again, the 0.01% were going to win whichever of their candidates was (s)elected. But looking back at everything from the suddenly greatly increased MSM racial divisionism and Russia-demonizing starting in 2013/2014, right up to the present non-stop hysteria about the latest shocking Tweet (while no one notices Congress pass another record-breaking military budget), and I am suspicious of the official MSM narrative.

And I find it fascinating that both Trump supporters and Trump haters are completely sucked into the story the MSM presents us.

But having us divided over everything sure does help TPTSB.

Posted by: Daniel | Jun 25 2018 2:34 utc | 47

The Saker has another piece I want to share, an article by Ghassan and Intibah Kadi which serves as a useful survey of post-election Iraq and the promise that this may hold for the future of the entire region - if it can be achieved. Readers of b's reports will find much to agree with here:
Iraq on the move: the Muqdata Al-Sadr Factor

The Kadis review the position of the US. It has essentially run out of options and doesn't know what to do next. No force has appeared that seems likely to craft a narrative allowing it to declare victory and leave. Will it learn to be afraid? Or will it stay painted in its corner, as the violence draws closer and the very real teeth of the Middle East become bared for its throat?

Personally, I think the Pentagon can indeed learn to be afraid, and I can think of no nation better qualified than Iraq to frighten it.

~~

The PMU deputy leader in Iraq now says in a South Front report that the attack of June 18 which killed dozens of its soldiers was committed by the US directly, and not by Israel as the US formally claimed. The PMU regards this as a war crime and awaits Iraq as a nation to declare for the rights of the killed.

Not Israel: Iraqi PMU Accuses US-led Coalition Of Killing Its Fighters Near Al-Bukamal

By the way, the Kadis in their piece above do say that they expect Al-Sadr to make the formal governmental request for the US to leave Iraq.

I could see the PMU being the leading force to pressure the US to leave.

Posted by: Grieved | Jun 25 2018 2:36 utc | 48

One final thing on the Middle East. Two recent articles by Magnier - apologies if they've been posted and I missed this.

One from June 23 is a review of the Kurds and their hopeless position. It's a good overview, and concludes with something I had missed after all of our discussion here, namely that the Kurds have only been in Syria for 100 years. Their future in Syria can only reside in the gracious welcome of the Syrian state. Astonished that they fail to see this, we continue to await their simple recognition of this basic fact, as the US knife continues to twist in their back.
The Kurds have lost the chance to decide their fate: only Damascus can save them – Elijah J. Magnier

Even as you turn to share a piece from Magnier, he writes another piece - this one dated today and regarding the quandaries of Saudi Arabia as it seeks a way to make sense of its destiny. It's poignant that the US wonders how to proceed in the Middle East, Israel wonders how to proceed, and Saudi Arabia wonders the same. Obviously, they will all take solace in each other's hubris, and embark together on plans that stand no chance of success, and which will serve only to worsen their positions, and perhaps terminate those positions entirely, given Palestine as the moral touchstone.
After its failure in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, Saudi Arabia is looking for a “victory” in Palestine – Elijah J. Magnier

~~

When I say, regarding other matters, that I don't see the powers that be making good decisions that advance their interests - whether claimed or unstated interests - this is what I mean.

The world of privilege is fucking up everywhere it acts. The very notion of privilege allows action to occur that would otherwise be inadequate to the realities of the situation. It allows for fucking up because it shields its actors from the ordinary consequences of fucking up. We can see the inadequacies now because the privilege is eroding, noticeably, as the world changes.

It's a very simple equation. If the privilege were still in place, the defeat would not be apparent.

And privilege only arises from success. It can only diminish if success has flown.

Posted by: Grieved | Jun 25 2018 3:11 utc | 49

@39 /45 grieved... thanks for your comments... i hear what you are saying about hoping for one less moving part and that would be erdogan continuing to run turkey... i have a problem with all the jailed and silenced media and etc. etc... i am sorry, turkey can do better then that and erdogan is worse then a dictator in terms of his willingness to let other voices be heard.. he wants to silence them instead... i don't think it ends well for turkey, but i hear what you are saying.. but control of the media, judiciary and etc. etc. is a powerful thing and at present erdogan has that... i can't see that working out in the long run..

as for your quote from nasrullah.. thanks.. i always enjoy his intelligent commentary.. as for those using the term zionism - i thought it was fairly common... i am glad the syrians use it and do make a distinction between it and jewish people..

Posted by: james | Jun 25 2018 3:15 utc | 50

Debsisdead @43. I love your piece detailing things I’ve seen you post here. You’ve got my CT juices flowing more this time, though.

But regarding your query about CounterPunch, I’ve been a reader for a long time. Then, shortly after Bernie Sanders announced his campaign, CP began running what ended up being dozens of articles denouncing him.

Now, I was very slow in endorsing Sanders. I was aware of his record, and once he announced, I really dug into it, and found even more troubling stuff. Mostly it was his rather spotty foreign policy record. But eventually, I decided that he was not so much a ‘lesser evil” as the “best good” that the Democratic Party could ever nominate. Having campaigned for alternative candidates many times, I decided to give this “Occupy the DP” thing a chance.

But since I was delving into his record as CP was writing these articles, I noticed that they misstated, exaggerated and sometimes out and out lied about Sanders. I won’t f*ckbook, so didn’t reply to them, but did post their statements with citations to the correct information all over the place.

For everywhere I went, I conversed with other lefties about giving Bernie a chance in the Primaries. Sure, maybe he’ll sheepdog if he loses, but why not help him win and not have to deal with that? Surely getting even a “democratic socialist” in would awaken much of the public who would then say “I’ll have some more of that, thank you very much.” But everywhere I came across people citing CP and other “lefty” sites that denounced him as “not pure” enough.

Just before the actual election, St. Clair actually wrote an entire book on how “…Sanders campaign faltered, undone by the missteps of its leader and by sabotage from the elites of the Democratic Party.”

Well, the DP and the lefties who denounced Sanders and ridiculed his followers might have played a role, eh?

Then, last summer, CP launched a full on attack on Caitlin Johnstone.

They did publish an “In Defense of Caitlin Johnstone” the next week, but the meme that Johnstone was some sort of shill for the alt-right had been planted, and is still sprouting shoots to this day.

But even though they’d published Johnstone before, they refused to publish the rebuttal she and Cobb wrote to the piece smearing them.

Caitlin Johnstone and David Cobb Respond to Counterpunch

And of course, as regards your post, Caitlin is one of the most active defenders/supporters of Julian Assange.

Then there was that whole thing where they were publishing articles written by an avatar going by the name of Alice Donovan. I don’t know what to make that whole thing. I will say that some of her articles did discuss inconvenient truths that the MSM tries to play up as “conspiracy theories” (eg. Obama Administration sent weapons to Syria that ISIL received). But, she also wrote really bizarre stuff indicating she was not whom she claimed to be.

For any who care:

Democratic Party organ, “Think Progress” on the Alice scandal:

CounterPunch’s mea culpa:

So, what’s happened to CounterPunch since the Cockburn Dynasty splintered? I don’t know, but it’s weird.

Posted by: Daniel | Jun 25 2018 4:05 utc | 51

@47

thanks for that piece on Muqdata As Sadr. Perceptive analysis by the author IMO.

Posted by: les7 | Jun 25 2018 4:33 utc | 52

On the Middle East “quagmire” for all the chess players. I’ve asked before where has the US military ever abandoned an occupation - unless it’s forced to? The only time I can think of is Vietnam 40 years ago (and I’d love to discourse on the 3 possible reasons for that 1. the anti-war movement, 2. the Communists defeated them, 2. Chomsky’s view that the Empire achieved its military goals and pulled out).

Could it be that Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon (along with their cautious ally, Russia) are ready to play that card, and force the US/NATO military out?

I hope so. It would be the game changer in global geopolitics. With the AZW Empire’s military trump card played out, it could be forced to play a “gentleman’s hand” of economic poker instead.

But despite all the doom and gloom prognostications I see here and elsewhere, I fail to see the 0.01% hurting anywhere up to this point. They do control Iraq’s and Afghanistan’s resources. They do control almost 1/2 of Syria’s (even more if you count Genie Energy’s stolen Golan reserves). They are redrawing an African colonial map once again.

99% of all wealth increase since the Great Recession began in 2008ish has gone to the top 1%. MIC contractors and extraction industry corporations who are the principle beneficiaries of these endless wars are doing quite well, thank you. And the “too big to fail” banksters just got bigger by eating up many of the smaller ones and Hoovering in all that QE cash. The big stock market investors are rolling in it, and buying up ever more of the earth from the ever-more impoverished commoners.

And Israel? Sure looks to me like they’re accelerating their ethnic cleansing of Palestine and working out deals with Egypt and Jordan to take in any Palestinian non-Jews who survive.

And yes, this Russia/China “multipolar” economic powerhouse is continuing to come online, and will mean that Zbiginew Brzezenski’s 1997 “Grand Chessboard” plan will be scrapped. Which he actually wrote in his last public article before his long-overdue death.

But again, I cite over and over again how the very same supra-national financial interests are fully invested in BRI, etc. No one that I’ve noticed has ever responded by pointing out how any of that is wrong.

Posted by: Daniel | Jun 25 2018 4:42 utc | 53

Grieved @39:

To think that the PTB have it all under control is - in my opinion - an error ...

While its true that they can't control everything, they don't have to. They don't have to control every member of Congress, for example. But the Presidency - which is the linchpin of foreign policy as well as holder of the "bully pulpit" - is important enough that some degree of control would make sense. Especially when the country is stressed and discontent is high. Then, MAYBE, you don't want to leave anything to chance. MAYBE, you want a guy that will lie well, and do what he's told.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jun 25 2018 4:52 utc | 54

@41 Ian. Ah yes txs for that though I fail to see how this summit will change the fact that the US has lost the initiative in Syria and the Southern Front's collapse is imo a certainty in the making. The big question is will the SAA try to regain the Golan. I suppose some in the general staff or field commanders such as the Tiger Al Hassan believe a unique opportunity is presenting itself to settle the matter for good but Russia probably opposes this to prevent a widening of the conflict. In brief, I think the current political exigencies will unfortunately force the SAA to pass on this occasion, only to soon revisit it..

Posted by: Lozion | Jun 25 2018 4:54 utc | 55

Thanks Grieved for the link to Nasrallah's al Quds day speech. I'd only read/heard fragments before.

He's such a straight-shooter! Leader of the only force to militarily defeat the Zionist Entity. And not shy about facing the next round if/when the day comes.

Posted by: Daniel | Jun 25 2018 5:02 utc | 56

James @49. Agreed on the Erdogan "win." The guy did everything in his power to destroy, rape (literally and figuratively) and pillage Syria for more than 5 years. Only after Russia finally started blowing up the stop-and-go traffic of supplies/Jihadists going into Syria and the oil, factories, artifacts and slaves going out, did he finally acquiesce to put a stopper in some of those support streams.

And now he's occupying an important slice of Syria, and installing Turkic governments, schools and police there, and ethnic cleansing out not just the Kurds, but the Arab population as well.

Whatever game he's playing with the AZW Empire and Russia, he is not a good guy by any measure. His opponent promised to open diplomatic channels with the Syrian government on day one. That was a "moving chess piece" that I would have welcomed.... and based on what President Assad has said, I think he would agree.

Posted by: Daniel | Jun 25 2018 5:09 utc | 57

Daniel & Jackrabbit: Think you two describe the game that's afoot perfectly. Feeding the masses just enough distraction to fool them into thinking there is a "real" chance of "electing" real progressives. Big organised money, in the corporate form, has won the day. The own all the levers of power now. Without a "torches and pitchfork" movement from the bottom up, nothing can change. Until the masses can have a "Pearl Harbor" moment of their own, in the form of a petro-dollar collapse, don't hold your breath for real change to occur.

Posted by: ben | Jun 25 2018 5:46 utc | 58

Jackrabbit | Jun 24, 2018 10:38:59 AM | 10

Which is why voting the 2 party system is an exercise in futiliy. The is only one party; the deep state.
Since 9/11 the consistency of governance has been remarkable and remarkably bad.
But people keep voting and wonder why nothing changes for the better.
The U.S. is in a death spiral exacerbated by Syria and Israel.

Posted by: V | Jun 25 2018 6:01 utc | 59

@ Posted by: J Swift | Jun 24, 2018 12:57:43 PM | 14
Thanks for the excellent post.

@Grieved
Thanks for so many nice posts from you in this thread, one after another like machine gun fire! You only have to look at how the entire US and UK is in permanent panic mode idiocy to know for certain that the failures are unintended and are not there to hide some convoluted hidden agenda.

@ Posted by: Daniel | Jun 25, 2018 12:42:04 AM | 52
"But despite all the doom and gloom prognostications I see here and elsewhere, I fail to see the 0.01% hurting anywhere up to this point."

That the money has been rolling in up to now is one thing, but I think most of the elite can see that total unmitigated shitcreek is immediately round the corner, which is why they are in total unmitigated panic, which in turn is why every step they take is so stupid which only serves to turn the screw!

@ Posted by: BM | Jun 24, 2018 7:24:19 AM | 5
... it is a moment when the pressures against Trump are being more and more disarmed, while his domestic popularity has increased, the investigations into the treasonist conspiracies in the FBI, DoJ and now to some extent CIA are exposing the core of the plots (too slow, too low-keyed, and far too non-aggressive, but at least key truths are coming out and it will continue)...

More on my comment from yesterday - an interesting article by Bhadrakumar also came out yesterday, Trump Riding High and Set to Roll the Dice for a Summit with Putin which further supports the view expressed by several analysts recently that Trump is starting to ride high now. Although, I disagree with his statement that "Fundamentally, Trump has had remarkable success in boosting his political standing among members of his own party. As Susan Glasser wrote in the New Yorker recently: “Increasingly, few Republicans are willing to stand in Trump’s way, even when the President’s policies clash with their own deeply held views. ... The political reality is simply this: President Trump is now too popular with the Republican base to challenge". I suspect the real causal factor for the reluctant newfound support for Trump from Congress is something quite different: Congressmen left right and centre - all to the last man or woman corrupt as hell and beholden to blackmail by the deep state as a result (why else would they get through the door, unless the deep state has something on them?) - are realising that the thorough investigation of deep state agents in the FBI, DoJ and all their linkages elsewhere that is ever so slowly, (I hope!!!) ever so methodically turning every stone in the path and thereby exposing the very misdeeds by which the deep state have virtually every Congressman by the balls - and thereby virtually every Congressman is now living in a state of terror whether they will be the next victim of the investigation. In the hope of not provoking too close an inspection of their corruption, each of the Republicans is reluctantly meek and trying not to upset Trump. That is the hunch in my gut. Whilst I am not 100% convinced that this is what is happening, I think and hope it is. If so, then there are interesting times ahead.

The Bhadrakumar article is also very interesting in its own right, by the way.

Posted by: BM | Jun 25 2018 7:42 utc | 60

Latest from John Helmer: How Many Turncoats Make a Coverup?

http://johnhelmer.net/

"Adam Waldman, Julian Assange, Oleg Deripaska and Luke Harding..."

Assange is nothing of the kind imho but still a most interesting read.

Posted by: John Gilberts | Jun 25 2018 9:38 utc | 61

I came across an old quote which seems appropriate for our times;
We have technology of the gods and the politics of children. Ivan Illich
And another favorite;
We are all children in a vast kindergarden trying to spell God's name
with the wrong alphabet blocks.
-- Tennessee Williams, "Suddenly Last Summer"

Posted by: V | Jun 25 2018 11:00 utc | 62

J Swift @14 tempers Jack’s post and goldhoarder @16 goes one step further. (No criticism, just another view. See also Jack @26.) More:

The expression Deep State: implies a ‘state’ which the various strands of power behind the scenes are not; the word ‘deep’ implies hidden, again, not specially, at least some vague description can be made.

The US is a corporate oligarchy and the politicians are brokers of influence and votes (in congress, senate, and from their constituents..) They are paid to ‘support’ or ‘champion’ this or that in a complex criss-cross of relationships and money/favor exchanges. The complexity makes for obscurity. The fake Dem-Rep duopoly in fine rests only on a kind of tribal preference linked to cultural issues (abortion, sex, race, identity politics, hate of communism, religion, splinter oddities, etc.) as touted to Joe Public.

Behind the scenes, in no order of importance:

Banking and Finance, Big Energy/Oil, Military-industrial (entwined with the two previous), Social (medical, insurance, Big Pharma, education, all partly controlled by non-Gov. and/or privatised to the max), Real Estate + Territorial (linked to banking and finance, water control, mining, energy and transport), Big Agri (Monsanto, etc.) Manufacturing is not up there (see Trump trying to correct) except in small splintered stakes. For ex. one might speak of a Security Industry which includes TSA employees (fastest growing employment) to airbags (car industry) to anti-virus programs to Guns sales…who are they supposed to pay? etc.

The joker in the pack is the MSM coupled with a section of the performance arts (Hollywood) and communications in general (internet, Silicon Valley, etc.)

Overall, the free-wheeling secretive corrupt system of deal-making and pretend-governance makes it that the USA has not a Gvmt for the people and is thus, it follows inexorably, extremely vulnerable to any outside influence. First is of course the Israel lobby/infiltration, but others, very varied, try the same tricks and succeed. Globalisation, in a kind of supposedly ‘more moral’, purely greed-based, i.e. commercial vein, move, is implemented to re-create a better, different Empire (as compared to the British, too heavy handed..) is another facet of the picture. That is now failing.

Posted by: Noirette | Jun 25 2018 14:23 utc | 63

Noirette | Jun 25, 2018 10:23:09 AM | 62

Wow, that's quite a post/compendium of empire's course/direction.
Conclusion? It's all a mass of coruption, rotten to the core, yes?

Posted by: V | Jun 25 2018 14:35 utc | 64

Grieved et al--

For those wanting a link to translated Nasrallah speeches with video and transcripts, this link usually has them posted a few days afterwards, and it acts as an archive. Of course, the parent website also provides Lebanese news in English, so enjoy!

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 25 2018 15:21 utc | 65

>>>> Lozion | Jun 24, 2018 9:34:21 PM | 38

Even more specifically, about 20:00 MSK or 17:00 UTC. After that Putin's threat to nuke any mofo that interrupts the World Cup probably expires.

Posted by: Ghost Ship | Jun 25 2018 16:35 utc | 66

"Overall, the free-wheeling secretive corrupt system of deal-making and pretend-governance makes it that the USA has not a Gvmt for the people and is thus, it follows inexorably, extremely vulnerable to any outside influence."

I have just read The Politicos by Matthew Josephson (1938). Highly recommendable.
IMO no one is in this author's class when it comes to writing about the USA political
system. What an elegant essential wordsmith; such accomplished historical analysis!!!

The Ulysses Grant administration was vastly corrupt, as were the administrations that
followed. Interestingly, the reform movements coming about in the balance of the 19th
Century were also corrupt in their essence - tells you something!! Yet the United States,
after the Civil War, was NOT the result of "globalism", it was not even an Empire yet.

"Globalisation, in a kind of supposedly ‘more moral’, purely greed-based, i.e. commercial vein, move, is implemented to re-create a better, different Empire"

I think highly of Noirette's invariably perceptive writing observations.
Just wondering: WHAT is the source of the badness of the current system?

Posted by: Guerrero | Jun 25 2018 17:07 utc | 67

Guerrero asked:" WHAT is the source of the badness of the current system?" Same as always, I presume.The pursuit of status through the accumulation of $, by morons who don't realize their stay in this realm is finite..

Posted by: ben | Jun 25 2018 18:26 utc | 68

Noirette@62 - Well said. Deep state is a hopelessly nebulous term, but one I have grown fond of using lately precisely because of the qualifier deep. The 'problem' with the U.S. government should be defined by the mechanism of it's vulnerability to usurpation, not the individual psychopathic oligarchs or agents of foreign governments/potentates that invariably line up to exploit that vulnerability. Start listing all the players, and US citizens' eyes will glaze over in - oh - 15 seconds, give or take.

That mechanism is beyond the comprehension (or the willingness to comprehend) of most of us in the US. No matter, as we would only try to fix the problem with the two tools of democracy intentionally corrupted to be incapable of fixing it: voting and the law. That's not to say that concepts of voting and the law are inherently flawed - that's just an observation of their current debased and useless form in the US for fixing our government. Which is why the Deep State has no problem encouraging a mindless, religiously slavish devotion to them, i.e., "We are a nation of laws. It's your responsibility to vote. How dare you question the power of the divine tools bestowed upon you by the magnanimous God of State!"

Deep State at least emphasizes the intentionally hidden aspect. I'll settle for the effect of that less-than-precise, but comic book-simple single concept to stick in the minds of my fellow Americans. Where we would go from there is anyone's guess, but we're in no danger (at least in the US) of having to worry about that anytime soon. I mean, if there ever was a treasonous, seditious deep state here, then the FBI would be furious and arrest them all. Thank God! See? Impossible...

Posted by: PavewayIV | Jun 25 2018 19:15 utc | 69

Noirette @62

What fuels the duopoly is the misplaced anger of the masses toward each other. The more that people are emotionally engaged, the easier it is to divide and rule.

Faux populist Presidents are great at being a lightening rod of political love and hate criticism.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jun 25 2018 19:18 utc | 70

Guerrero @66--

The Outlaw US Empire has always been an Empire since its inception--an Empire doesn't need to extend overseas, like Spain, Portugal, UK, France. The USA began as a limited Continental Empire, then expanded to Continental in size like Russia and China, although the latter two didn't result from implantation.

I'd like to know your source for this statement of yours: "Interestingly, the reform movements coming about in the balance of the 19th Century were also corrupt in their essence." There was only one nationwide reform movement from 1875-1900, which is known as The Populist Movement and was squeaky clean versus the Ds and Rs. There was quite a lot of corruption during Lincoln's administration, too, mostly thanks to the Civil War.

Have you read The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber, Empire as a Way of Life by William Appleman Williams, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States by Charles Beard, or The Triumph of Conservatism: A Reinterpretation of American History, 1900-1916 and The Politics of War by Gabriel Kolko? They provide a primer so you can find an answer to your question.

No, the Outlaw US Empire was certainly the result of Globalization and participated in several imperialist wars well before its Civil War--Globalism being the imperialistic aspects of Globalization which actually began prior to 1492 with Portugal's many voyages of discovery. 1494's Treaty of Tordesillas is the first document establishing Globalism; its affects still effect us today.

None of my response is meant to be construed as hostile. Rather, it's clear you want to learn more about the Outlaw US Empire beast and what motivated its elite to try and conquer the planet, which is my own lifelong study. Knowing how we got to this point provides us with a guide as to how to retreat from Overseas Empire. As always, the problem with learning anything worthwhile is having the time and resources. I hope we'll enter into a productive discourse on this topic given its central importance to most of what b likes to focus upon with his postings.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 25 2018 19:41 utc | 71

fred at sst linked to a 2 minute youtube on presidents and immigration... it is pretty funny, but confirms noirette and others view on the joke of the 2 party system...

https://youtu.be/WQSXY8Q7xaw

Posted by: james | Jun 25 2018 19:51 utc | 72

Guerrero @66: WHAT is the source of the badness of the current system?

You're right that corruption is not new. IMO What's different is the extent of mal-investment, disenfranchisement, and control.

>> ME wars: trillions of dollars, thousands of US lives lost and millions of local lives lost or disrupted

>> New Cold War: trillions to upgrade nukes and maintain an aggressive posture;

>> Ponzi Finance: Global Financial Crisis is estimated to have cost on the order of 1 year of global gdp (trillions)

>> "I got mine!" price gouging and corporate welfare:

- healthcare
It is estimated that Americans pay four times as much for healthcare as other developed countries;

- environment:
Monsanto, and other chemical/agricuture companies destroy our environment (bye bye bees, hello gmo); global warming (or the potential for global warming) is largely ignored;

- finance:
legal usury in the form of payday loans and credit card interest rates; Dodd-Frank rules were mostly written by the financial industry and even those weak protections are now being rolled back.

- defense:
over-priced weapons systems; virtually impossible to close bases or reduce the defense budget;

- and more!
Virtually every industry gets their profit-maximizing perks.

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jun 25 2018 19:59 utc | 73

ben @67--

Personal aggrandizement.

PavewayIV @68--

At least we know who comprised most of the original Deep State as they were all present in Philadelphia designing the coup known as the US Constitution. Later we can follow the membership of the Federalist Party, then the Whigs. When the Whigs dissolved is when most of the Deep State went underground. IMO, Polk was the first neocon president; but to my knowledge, no author's written about him in that manner. Bertram Gross's Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America has several ToEs delineating the structure of power within the Federal government parts of which constitute the Deep State. IMO, the two tools we were given that are now kaput require another tool to put them back into working order--Solidarity. The ferment of mass protest will help as well--anything they cannot control or buy.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 25 2018 20:03 utc | 74

karlof1 @70. I agree that the US was an Empire from its founding. Tommy Jefferson bought from the French colonialists the land of people not French, doubling the size of the US (in an act which he himself wrote was probably unconstitutional, but too good a deal to pass up). Tommy sent Lewis and Clarke to document the rest of the continent that the Founders clearly always planned to possess. They were not shy in telling the locals that the “Great White Chief” in Washington was “the new boss.”

A few years later, the Monroe Doctrine made clear to “the Old World” that the US considered the entire Western Hemisphere its “sphere of influence,” and has jealously and viciously defended that claim ever since.

Yes, some US historians see the “Spanish/American War” as the first truly imperialist venture. But the tens of millions of Indians (the term preferred by most Native Americans I’ve known) would beg to differ. As would the competing empires of Great Britain, Spain and even the Dutch - each of which fled before the sword of USAmerican Empire long before 1896.

Posted by: Daniel | Jun 25 2018 20:27 utc | 75

Karlofi@70 Another of my favorite commentators in this space:

"Interestingly, the reform movements coming about in the balance of the 19th Century were also corrupt in their essence."

I wasn't thinking of the Populist movement, rather to congressional political-positioning around the boondoggle government-jobs industry run by the republican party bosses in the US Grant administration onward.

...it is a truism that the conquest of power and office generally changes, vitiates, a political movement. Leaders and officers of the party, were they ever so sincerely committed to a "popular" or "leveler's" or "agrarian" program, are now affected deeply by the dazzling advantages and priveliges of official position, by the need for retaining these at all costs, and the haunting fear of losing them.

Politicos Matthew Josephson

Karlofi asks: "Have you read The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism by Max Weber, Empire as a Way of Life by William Appleman Williams, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States by Charles Beard, or The Triumph of Conservatism: A Reinterpretation of American History, 1900-1916 and The Politics of War by Gabriel Kolko?"

I have read quite a few history books but none of those you have mentioned -yet! Thanks.

Posted by: Guerrero | Jun 25 2018 20:39 utc | 76

karlof1 @73
“IMO, Polk was the first neocon president; but to my knowledge, no author's written about him in that manner.”

Interesting framing. He was certainly a President of expanding Empire. Like Tommy Jefferson before him, he doubled the size of the US. I’m especially taken by his failed attempt to buy what is now the US Southwest from Mexico, and so we had a false flag/hoax attack at the contested border of TX/Mexico, and voila! We’ll just have it all, thank you very much.

And then, in the absurd Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the US agreed to pay to Mexico restitutions that were LESS than the original offer. But, crucially, because of that token payment for what would become New Mexico, Arizona, California and much of Nevada and Colorado, US writers and historians were able to claim “we are not an empire…. thank God!”

For your Monday Musical Memory-enhancement, I present David Rovics’ magnificent Saint Patrick's Battalion about that Mexican/American War.

Posted by: Daniel | Jun 25 2018 20:43 utc | 77

Illuminati, global elites, deep state, global bankers - call it/them what you want. Some call it conspiracy theory.

It's not so hard to understand that in many situations, chaos is the preferred outcome, or at least acceptable, for 'elites'.

As for the fate of the US, they don't care. In the end, it's just an old shoe.

Posted by: paul | Jun 25 2018 20:50 utc | 78

Re Reading Recommendations

Thanks, everyone, for all the book recommendations – several I had not read. I would add “A People's History of the United States” by Howard Zinn, “The Shame of the Cities” by Lincoln Steffens, and “Who Will Tell the People” by William Greider, and in that order.

Posted by: AntiSpin | Jun 25 2018 21:01 utc | 79

Noirette@62,

I agree with your points, but would like to build on them a bit.

The 'Banking and Finance' cartel behind the U.S. deep state is said to consist of eight families, half American and half European. (The Federal Reserve Cartel: The Eight Families, Dean Henderson, Global Research, May 19, 2016)

This banking and finance cartel (which, as you say, is interlocked with big oil, the military/industrial, big tech, etc.) forms the core of what are called the 'Globalists', an international financial elite that use their wealth to exert political control over as much of the world as possible. In addition to the banking families, the 'Globalists' include any number of extremely wealthy people, (Industrialists, Tech Entrepreneurs, Middle-East Sheiks, Saudi Royals, and Nouveaux Riches such as Soros, Ukranian and Russian Oligarchs, etc.). The 'Globalists' directly control virtually all Western NGOs (Soros), think tanks and major media.

The 'Globalists' control not only the U.S. Deep State, but also the European Union structures. They also have purchased a large number of politicians throughout the Western World. Through this control they have stripped sovereignty from both the U.S. and Europe, and converted them into effective 'Oligarchic Dictatorships'. These dictatorships are set-up for the benefit of the 'Globalists' themselves, and have little interest in the well-being of their citizens. This is seen in the impoverishment and societal collapse rapidly progressing in both the U.S. and Europe.

Globalization is the 'Globalists' project of Global Governance, which effectively strips nation-states of their sovereignty (and democracy) and transfers it to 'Global Institutions' (IMF, World Bank, International Trade Agreements, U.N., Climate Agreements, etc.), enforced by U.S. military might.

The 'Project for a New American Century’ was the ‘Globalists’ blueprint to ‘Globalize’ over the parts of the world that they did not already control. Almost all current and recent international conflicts, from the Middle-Eastern Wars, to Ukraine, the Korean crisis, the cornering of Russian and Obama's 'Pivot to Asia' are all related to this project.

Unfortunately for the 'Globalists', Global Governance is extremely harmful to citizens that are subject to it. That is why we see 'populism/nationalism' rising throughout the U.S. and Europe, in an attempt to block the stripping of these citizens' democracy, their nations' sovereignty and their personal security and well-being.

I believe that President Trump is part of this populism/nationalism movement, and almost all of his actions can be interpreted as an attempt to counter Globalization, to restore U.S. sovereignty and to redevelop the U.S. economy, which has been devastated over the past four decades by the ‘Globalist’ elites.

Posted by: dh-mtl | Jun 25 2018 21:01 utc | 80

paul @77: “It's not so hard to understand that in many situations, chaos is the preferred outcome, or at least acceptable, for 'elites’.”

Indeed! Just one example of many: before Gaddafi had even been bayonet-raped, the US had signed agreements with the “revolutionary government” that included privatizing Libya’s vast oil fields and establishing a privately-owned Central Bank to replace the publicly-owned Libyan Bank.

The oil was flowing to its “proper” owners and the gold disappeared into “proper” coffers even as Libya fell into ever greater chaos.

And should the chaos there or home reach the necessary level, then ordo ab chao: ‘Out of Chaos, Order.”

Posted by: Daniel | Jun 25 2018 21:16 utc | 81

Has anyone here come up with a credible alternative system,to replace this clearly disfunctional one ? I feel you folk are defiantly the people I would like to hear an answer from.
For me I hate to fall for the worn out trap of capitalism v communism it's just another con! My best try would be-- ' moral capatilsm ' money like any weapon can be used for good or ill. It's very simple and all the better for that. Kind of like fine tuning.

Posted by: Mark2 | Jun 25 2018 21:23 utc | 82

Mark2. Thanks for opening the thread to plans/hopes rather than just more “judiciously studying” the acts of Empire after-the-fact and prognosticating the future.

I’d say first and foremost is public control of finance. Replace all banks/investments organs with publicly-owned banks whose structure is modeled after our Federal, State, County and Local government blueprint. Bank officers would be elected by their constituency, and so their decisions would be most likely to be those which benefit the people.

End all stocks and commodities trading. Those casinos provide absolutely no benefit to society which cannot be done more fairly and efficiently through public means.

Right there, we’ve taken the majority of the economy out of the hands of the 0.1% and given it back to “we the people.”

Next, some industries are so crucial to social stability that they should be nationalized (or placed in the hands of whatever government level is appropriate). For instance, after WW I, the USAmerican public was so outraged when they learned about the war-profiteering done by the 0.1% at the cost of millions of lives, that Congress was actually driven to debate whether or not to nationalize weapons production.

How differently would history have played out if the profit motive had been removed from the Military/Industrial Complex before the Great Depression?

Food and water should be human rights, along with healthcare, housing, education and more. With the redistributed wealth from the above, the funding is there. Then, sustainable means of production need to be utilized to create environmentally and healthfully sustaining goods and services. This requires some level of “central planning.” And that planning need be composed of global as well as national and smaller units of public-governance.

I prefer a democratically elected representative form, with most positions held by people hired by those representatives. Direct democracy has some promise, but needs to be introduced carefully, and only after assuring that the voters have the means of becoming wise judges.

Oh, and we need a legitimate election system of course. Nothing at all like in the USA.

With properly utilized production, combined with automation, we could all live quite comfortably and securely while spending much less of our lifetimes actually “working.”

Otherwise, let people have free rein over their lives. If someone wants to make furniture or music or whatever else that does not harm others, then go for it!

What do you think?

Who’s next?

Posted by: Daniel | Jun 25 2018 21:53 utc | 83

AntiSpin @78, et al--

I second those 3!! Greider's Secrets of the Temple is a good primer on The Fed. The Age of Federalism by Elkins and McKitrick documents the first undeclared war of too many, this one with France during its revolutionary period prior to Napoleon. The Seminoles and other Floridian tribes were used as proxies to force the Spanish out of the Floridas; and too many forget that Louisiana was Spanish before its very short ownership by France. Jefferson's purchase and dispatch of Lewis and Clarke educated him as to the wide-open, unregulated nature of the Executive under the 1787 Constitution, which represents the current plague on our planet today.

But the initial germ beyond Tordesillas of a continent spanning empire was the brain child of one Richard Hakluyt whose ideas for planting North America infected many other English elites. His idea was incorporated into the Charter for the Virginia Company--it went all the way to the as yet undiscovered boundary of the Pacific Ocean. This slide shows the continental extent of the charters grated Virginia and New England.

One last book endorsement for two of Bernard Bailyn's many works: The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution and The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson. If you have a good university library close by, it ought to have the entire work, Pamphlets of the American Revolution, from which Ideological Origins was just the introduction.

One of my research methods was to find an author whose authority I trust, like Bailyn, then read everything he wrote since I can't have him tutor me--and follow his footnotes to where he got his information. Sure, that leads to a very extensive reading list; but if you're going to become a historian, reading lots of books and journals is what you do. Same thing with Chomsky; all his works are rife with footnotes. And don't just read the radical or leftist historians; you must read the Court Historians too and thus discover their many omissions--we all know history's manipulated, but that's not sufficient: just how and why are necessary.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 25 2018 21:54 utc | 84

Iran's MintPress is not so optimistic about the situation in Yemen.

“Nowhere to Run” : Chaotic Exodus as Yemenis Flee Saudi-UAE Bombardment of Hodeida"

Posted by: Daniel | Jun 25 2018 22:05 utc | 85

Mark2 @81--

Here's two organizations working on solutions: The Next System Project and The Post Carbon Institute. The Democratic Socialists of America have recently been in the news using direct action against Trump policies; I've yet to explore them, although I do know it's primarily rising on the East Coast.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 25 2018 22:22 utc | 86

Daniel @ 82
Thanks, I'll vote for that !!! Haha
I do feel it's one of thee most important questions, nature hates a vacum.and rewards success. Trouble is 'they have a messed up definition of success. At this stage of there certain failure, we are up against ' public apathy ' but surly the way forward is there for civilisation. As someone ( I think Karlofi) stated people's eyes glaze over. That's the enemy exploited by the greedy.
I think accumulation of vast wealth is the mistake, but doing good with that wealth is the real way forward!
I'd love to really push this subject on M O A !

Posted by: Mark2 | Jun 25 2018 22:32 utc | 87

I believe that direct democracy is threatening to the establishment and that TPTB have tried to suppress it.

The Pirate Party has had the most success with DD. Their system is a hybrid one where there is an elected representative who must cast his/her vote in accordance with the majority of votes received to their office (voting conducted online).

Distributed ledger technology (the tech that crypto currencies are based on) can reduce the chance of foul play and thereby greatly increase DD participation. There is a lot of work being done on "crypto governance".

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jun 25 2018 22:37 utc | 88

Karlofi @ 85
Thank you for those,
Someone said -- The man who has one eye looking forward and one looking back,is half blind. The man who has both eyes looking forward, is completly blind !!!

Posted by: Mark2 | Jun 25 2018 23:05 utc | 89

Mark2 @ 81, Daniel @ 82:

I am halfway through watching a film of US actor Peter von Berg travelling through the Donetsk People's Republic and meeting Prime Minister Alexander Zakharchenko and various others to find out how the Donetsk rebels are creating a socialist state under a situation of war. The film is as much an implicit criticism of US society (and by extension, Western capitalist society generally) as it is an investigation of the reality on the ground on Donetsk, ignored by the Western MSM.

Von Berg visits a greenhouse farm growing tomatoes, a hospital and a factory among other places he travels to (including the capital, of course) in the DPR.

There is even a short history of the city of Donetsk and how it was founded by 19th-century Welsh engineer industrialist John Hughes, after whom it was originally named Yuzovka.

https://www.therussophile.org/watch-nyc-to-donetsk-back-a-new-film.html/

Posted by: Jen | Jun 25 2018 23:06 utc | 90

reply to:Posted by: dh-mtl | Jun 25, 2018 5:01:46 PM | 79
"The 'Project for a New American Century’ was the ‘Globalists’ blueprint to ‘Globalize’ over the parts of the world that they did not already control."
I agree, their plan is to open up the Schengen region to ALL of Africa destroying/diluting all allegiance to nations in Europe under the 2018 Marrakesh Declaration (ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/20180503_declaration-and-action-plan-marrakesh_en.pdf) signed by the EU and 40 African nations thereby ushering in the return of feudalism under UN 2050 plan.
Well worth a read if you are not familiar with it, it will chill your blood, chilled mine anyway.

Posted by: frances | Jun 25 2018 23:08 utc | 91

Any thoughts on this here from you guys?

Coalition forces suddenly spread to Iraqi side of Al-Tanf

Posted by: Scotch Bingeington | Jun 25 2018 23:17 utc | 92

@Noirette #62:

Indeed, corporate socialism/externalities.

I finally watched Manufactured Landscapes last night. That's a concrete example of externalities. Watching Chinese peasants 'recycling' computer chips on their front porch using only a carpenter's hammer; a 'landscape' of coal hills stretching to the smoky horizon; a factory complex that is a self-contained city. It's a film that affected me in a similar way as Koyaanisqatsi and Stalker in that it caused deep introspection (in the case of the latter two, rippling through my life still).

If anyone wants to see what it actually costs to own a smartphone or a laptop, Manufactured Landscapes is helpful. The photographer, Burtynsky, had done work in Canada at various extractive industry sites. I was hoping that the film would show more than just China, but the only other segment was re: the ship wreckers in Bangladesh. Keep this in mind when you watch...this shit is happening everywhere, not just China.

Posted by: Dr. Wellington Yueh | Jun 25 2018 23:35 utc | 93

One theory is the American Empire is simply an extension of the British Empire. The City of London saw they would eventually need to move its powerbase to the larger and richer New Israel at the time. They saw that the development and expansion of America was a massive project best left in the hand of colonists without being micromanaged from across the Atlantic. They held back financing and convinced the King to let it go and that by controlling trade they would suffer no great loss in doing so.

It took some time to consolidate power in the US using agents of the City in America and the war of 1812, Civil War , Lincoln and McKinley assassinations were all part of keeping the US on track and later recovering it. By 1901 when they got their man Teddy Roosevelt in after snuffing McKinley , they were well on their way to fulfilling the late Cecil Rhodes dream to recover America.

From 1913-1922 we saw the establishment of the Fed, Bernays Propaganda, Tavistock Institute and its US branches and the creation of the CFR which was a Round Table entity to harmonize policy with the British group. , Thus they seized control of the US money, foreign policy , culture and politics. The Balfour Declaration united Wall Street and the City of London with a common goal of political Zionism and establishment of a new operating base in the Oil Rich region that surrounds Israel. Oil was the New Gold and unlike the metallic Gold ran the engines of War, and the Empire wanted more control of it.

At this time a little known company named the AIC (acronym backward is CIA) called the
American International Corporation came into being. Little is known about them but they were basically a private CIA engaged globally and made up of many of the leading bankers and industialists to finance and complete infrastructure projects in Russia, China, Latin American and elsewhere. I suspect they had a hand in spreading the empires tentacles globally before handing over operations to government and CIA under their supervision

The Bolshevik Revolution in this period was funded by those in the City and Wall Street. It was known at the time that another Great War was needed to achieve their goals. Communism- Fascism, Zionism-anti semitism would provide the kindle and fuel for this. The City and Wall Street plunged the world into a Great Depression and created the BIS which would divert the resources from UK, Europe and US to build up Hitlers Germany which had been converted into a Mad Dog thanks to the Versailles Treaty, just as Keynes predicted and exactly as planned.

After the war, the British Empire became the Anglo American Empire and the City of London and Wall Street became more or less equal partners. Israel, UN, IMF and World Bank were a done deal and would provide useful new tools for the NWO. While they lost their resource rich colonies the City replaced them with Tax Havens which these countries would flood with Petrodollars, also known as Eurodollars , completely outside the control of the Fed allowing the City to maintain its power over US currency should the Fed stray. The tax havens would fund covert operations that the CIA and other intelligence agencies depend on, and allow pretend enemies who are needed to get large military budgets to circumvent sanctions, as well as allow the super rich to avoid taxes. Much more profitable than the old colonies which were expensive to run and maintain control

In the post WWII era, American Generals, Fed Chairmen and Presidents get knighted by the crown (actually the City of London and not the symbolic Queen).

So maybe the US is simply a crypto Commonwealth nation that provides the financial and military muscle for the Crown in the City and its sister Israel.

Posted by: Pft | Jun 25 2018 23:38 utc | 94

@88 mark2... you could always go with janus then.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janus

Posted by: james | Jun 25 2018 23:43 utc | 95

Let's start with a reformed electoral system, one that actually gives the "people" a real chance at "voting" for the people and policies they want enacted. Start there, and see what happens. One person, one vote, counted by, and in, public arenas. No electronic machines, just people and paper ballots.

Everything else mentioned here might follow.

That's my dream. Has that EVER happened in human history?

Posted by: ben | Jun 25 2018 23:51 utc | 96

Thanks all , my cup is truly full, cheers Jen james and Ben

Posted by: Mark2 | Jun 26 2018 0:38 utc | 97

@79 "Unfortunately for the 'Globalists', Global Governance is extremely harmful to citizens that are subject to it. That is why we see 'populism/nationalism' rising throughout the U.S. and Europe, in an attempt to block the stripping of these citizens' democracy, their nations' sovereignty and their personal security and well-being."

I get your point dh-mtl but if your intention is to promote 'populism/nationalism' you may be on rather shaky ground. Globalism to some people means a sort of new-age society where everybody joins hands in peace and prosperity and national borders no longer exist. You see this in the Brexit debate where people who want to leave the EU are accused of xenophobia.

Posted by: dh | Jun 26 2018 0:47 utc | 98

Furthermore, I've said that it is logical to assume that the election of these faux populists have been arranged (by the Deep State). We have many tantalizing clues that this is so, like:

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jun 24, 2018 10:38:59 AM | 10

I have several objections here. One is "nature or nurture" problem, how political leaders divert from popular positions that they were promising, were they already "brainwashed/trained" before political campaigns in which they claimed those positions or afterwards. I do not have enough empirical data either way, but upon reaching an elected office politicians are swamped with information and they must rely on "filters" in the form of staff etc., moreover they get media attention with concomitant media pressure. And under that pressure and perceived "consensus" their positions evolve in the rotten direction. Rather painfully, many "training moments" are well documented. As the First Lady, Hillary Clinton was polite when hosting the wife of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafats which got her vilified for years. Giving speeches to AIPAC meetings is much less traumatic. Obama tried to move Israel/Palestinian situation in a positive direction for something like a year, and then he gave up when it look futile and seemed to conflict with "other priorities". Very recently we could observe "training" of Jeremy Corbyn resulting in admission that "of course he does not trust Russia" and some perfunctory purge of "anti-Semites".

Basically, without a supporting and lasting political movements solidifying their positions, politicians abandon those positions or are eliminated. This allows to keep some hopes about "Corbynism", and in the case of USA, a more remote hope that a wider progressive and/or sensitive movements will grow beyond their current narrow niches.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Jun 26 2018 1:32 utc | 99

"Let's start with a reformed electoral system, one that actually gives the "people" a real chance at "voting" for the people and policies they want enacted. Start there, and see what happens. One person, one vote, counted by, and in, public arenas. No electronic machines, just people and paper ballots. That's my dream. Has that EVER happened in human history?"

Yes, it has! In Athens. This novel form of government (democracy) was ridiculed by the
other cities who thought it a cockamamie notion and would never work. They were right!

(After having famously defeated the Persion king Xerxes and large military naval force at the Battle of Salamis, Athens was the unchallengable commercial power from North Africa to Anatolia to the Black Sea, and among the many island nations of the Mediterranean.)

Yet, in only twenty-seven years, the daring Athenian political experiment crashed badly.

As detailed in Pericles' speeches, scribed by Thucydides, an active duty citizen general,
and a contemporary, it was the bonehead policy wrought by careerist politicians appealing
to popular sentiment (for example, the disasterous invasions of Sicily, there are others)
military adventures that inexorably resulted in the catastrophic humiliation of Athens.

The experience of the innovators of political democracy (In the heyday of the original
democracy, a man's vote were recorded on a ceramic shard; there were no Dibold chips to
wonder about, nor hanging chads, there was no mass media, Freud and Bernais were not born
yet and there were not any data bases) A look at the original model should be a salutary.

Posted by: Guerrero | Jun 26 2018 1:38 utc | 100