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The MoA Week In Review – OT 2018-60
Last week's posts on Moon of Alabama:
Other stuff:
Syria Comment has a good piece on the situation of the Druze in Sweida, south Syria. The fight against the ISIS holdout in the nearby volcanic al-Safa hills was handicapped as ISIS still held Druze women and children as hostages. The Syrian army could not use heavy weapons for fear of killing the them. Last week the last hostages were freed in a commando raid. The battle against ISIS in the southeastern semi-desert can now recommence with full air and artillery support. Then comes Idleb …
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A longread I enjoyed: Cesspools, Sewage, and Social Murder – Environmental Crisis and Metabolic Rift in Nineteenth-Century London. How a change in fertilizer usage and urbanization developed into a social crisis from human waste.
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Last week a suddenly stiff shoulder due to a pinched nerve disabled my capability to type. Resting the arm and some mild medication helped. But I also changed the mouse I use from a conventional type to a more ergonomic (and expensive) one. The more natural positioning of the hand is one advantage. The other is the (adjustable) higher resolution that allows me to use a big screen with very little movement. It took a few days to get used to it by I would not want to miss it.
Use as open thread …
SOUTH FRONT EXPOSES ITS OWN COWARDLY JOURNALISM
South Front criticizes a story reported by Novaya Gazeta that six Russian mercenaries (presumably Wagner employees) were killed by a bomb in Syria (“Syrian War Report – November 6, 2018: “Russian Mercenaries Casualties” Narrative Resurfaces In MSM”):
“……..By November 5, this rumor had evolved and reached Russian media. Novaya Gazeta, a Russian opposition media outlet known for a CNN-style look at the conflict in Syria, claimed that 5 Russian PMCs and 6 SAA servicemen were killed in an explosion somewhere in Deir Ezzor province on November 4……..Novaya Gazeta claimed that it had received info from its own “source” in Syria, but failed to provide details of the incident, at least location, and any evidence…….”
It’s the worst kind of smear (tactic) to compare Novaya Gazeta to CNN. Novaya Gazeta is adversarial to the Russian government in the same way that the Intercept and ConsortiumNews are adversarial to the US government – and they have paid a heavy price for their work. Six of their journalists have been killed since 2001 reporting on unpopular topics. Novaya Gazeta has long been a target of the Russian government. According to Meduza, Novaya Gazeta was once again threatened this past week (https://meduza.io/en/news/2… via @meduzaproject):
“…….Someone wants to scare the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta. On October 18, a basket appeared outside the paper’s newsroom. Inside was a severed goat’s head and a note reading, “To Novaya Gazeta’s chief editor. Greetings to you and Korotkov!” A day earlier, a funeral wreath was delivered to the office, attached to a note that said, “Denis Korotkov is a traitor to the Motherland.”………Novaya Gazeta says there’s a defamation campaign against Korotkov underway that claims the journalist endangered soldiers’ families by publishing the personal information of Russian pilots currently serving in Syria…….Denis Korotkov is known for his reports about Russian mercenaries fighting in Syria…….”
The Russian government is very secretive about the operations of their mercenaries in Syria and elsewhere. Consequently, reporting on Wagner can have serious consequences for journalists. Reportedly, the six Russians allegedly killed in Syria were Russian mercenaries. Interestingly enough, the state-owned journalists at RT and Sputnik have made no mention of the story about the deaths of six Russian mercenaries in Syria (at their websites) – whether the reports are true or not. This most likely reinforces the truth of the report since they closely adhere to the propaganda of the government.
Three Russian journalists were recently murdered in the Central African Republic (CAR). They were reporting on the presence of the Russian mercenaries (Wagner) in Central Africa. Interestingly enough, a journalist investigating their murders was poisoned and flown to Germany (https://meduza.io/en/news/2… via @meduzaproject):
“…….The day he suddenly fell ill with symptoms suggesting he was poisoned, Mediazona publisher and Pussy Riot member Pyotr Verzilov was supposed to receive the final report on an investigation into the deaths of three Russian documentary filmmakers in the Central African Republic, two sources told the newspaper Novaya Gazeta………”
Additionally, Maksim Borodin died in a “mysterious” fall from an apartment complex (https://www.telegraph.co.uk… via @telegraphnews):
“………Maksim Borodin, 32, died on Sunday from injuries sustained in a plunge from his five-storey balcony in Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city, on April 12. He had reported extensively for the news service Novy Den about the deaths of Russian mercenaries from the secretive Wagner group in US airstrikes in Syria in February…….”
Politician and journalist, Boris Nemtsov was murdered in Moscow. He was known for reporting on the Russian military and Russian mercenaries in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine (“Putin. War”).
Based on past acts of intimidation by the Russian government directed at journalists investigating Wagner, the journalists at Novaya Gazeta are obviously risking their lives to report on the Russian mercenaries allegedly bombed in Syria. It’s just as clear that the Russian government will not allow any investigations into the bombing in Syria forcing Russian journalists to depend on other sources. While South Front rightly questions a Syrian source of Novaya Gazeta, it seems unlikely to me that they would risk their lives for a false story. However, the attempt to smear Novaya Gazeta comparing them to CNN sinks the alternate media to its lowest possible depth. And you wonder how PropOrNot got its start!
Posted by: craigsummers | Nov 11 2018 18:50 utc | 10
pp, james, & Peter AU1
I don’t follow Meyssan precisely because of articles like this one. The treatment here is rather superficial but the historical references give it the appearance of something deeper. Furthermore, those historical references are given far too much weight.
There have been numerous studies of American culture but none that I know of find Puritan vs other Christian orders to be of much relevance to American society today. It’s notable, for example, that Meyssan’s broad brush allows him to ignore the widely-recognized political power of America’s Jewish community.
Meyssan’s Hegemon vs “Imperialist” conjecture is also suspect. Given that Trump has not remained true to his MAGA rhetoric, Meyssan offers a distinction without a difference. Meyssan conveniently fails to notice that the two President’s that came before Trump also failed to live up to their FP rhetoric: George Bush argued for a “humble” foreign policy and criticized “nation-building” while Obama, who campaigned against Bush’s militarism, expanded covert ops and regime-change ops while pretending that he had peaceful intent via initiatives like a “new beginning” with the Arab world and a “reset” with Russia.
References to Nixon, Andrew Jackson, and the American civil war need to be fleshed out and put into perspective. IMO, once that is done, it becomes apparent that the connections are vague, tangential, and serve a disingenuous narrative. Nixon is the poster child for US authoritarianism. Andrew Jackson is the poster child for US populism. Romanticizing these dubious connections is more about the MAGA narative and less about Trump himself. Pundits put the cart before the horse when they fail to recognize that MAGA is a POLICY RESPONSE to the challenge from Russia and China, not a Trump invention. (Propagandists do such cart-horse slight-of-hand deliberately.)
For example, Trump faced an environment that is very different, and much more difficult than, what Nixon-Kissinger faced. The Nixon-Kissinger’s success with China was easily achieved by playing upon China’s distrust of Russia while Trump faces a well-established China-Russian alliance that was forged from distrust of USA.
Nixon’s currency moves were driven by crisis. They are nothing like what Trump faces with the dollar.
Crisis 1
Nixon took USA off the gold standard in 1971 because US deficits made the gold standard unsustainable. As the largest economy in the world at the time (by far), the US dollar was already the most important currency, and would continue to be for the foreseeable future.
Crisis 2
US hydrocarbon production peaked in the early 1970’s. The Arab oil embargo of 1973 further highlighted US energy insecurity. US desire to secure foreign oil resources and to neutralize the “oil weapon” was aided by Saudi disdain for communist ideology.
What Trump faces
Nixon’s ability to deal with crises was eased by US power and credibility of the time. Essentially, Nixon had the wind at his back. Trump must manage relative decline while facing headwinds of distrust generated by Bush’s abuse of power, Obama’s deceit, the 2008 GFC, neocon stubborn pursuit of hegemonic power, and US close alliance with ruthlessly undemocratic countries.
MAGA is a bi-partisan POLICY CHOICE to move toward more overt authoritarianism to contain discontent and meet the challenge from Russia and China. What appears to be divisive turmoil in the US only helps to usher in this overt authoritarianism. As left agitators rally around radical agendas like “open borders”, bathrooms, and toppling statues, the more accepting Americans are of an authoritarian strongman like Trump/Nixon.
The Cold War is back, but it is not like it was when Nixon was President. Today’s Cold War is an unnecessary “war of choice” that provides fear-mongering propaganda to forestall discontent about trillions of dollars wasted and extreme inequality that drives the need for a police state.
US is again a leader in hydrocarbon production and is once again a net exporter. US doesn’t have the same energy insecurity that it did when Nixon was President.
While the petrodollar made the US dollar the global reserve currency, that strength of that support has been declining for some time as:
1) alternative currencies have become more viable (Euro, Renminbi, SDRs, Turkey traded Gold for Iranian oil for years);
2) the energy component of Global GDP has declined due to energy efficiency and the great increase in value of services;
3) other energy sources are now commercially viable and gaining ground (solar, nuclear);
4) cryptocurrencies allow for a non-State store of value.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Nov 14 2018 7:44 utc | 85
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