Open Thread 2020-50
News & views ...
Posted by b on June 25, 2020 at 13:39 UTC | Permalink
American Trotskyists show their true face again:
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/06/22/pers-j22.html
Racial-communalist politics and the second assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was an extraordinarily complex man, whose life and politics reflected the contradictions of his time. He could not, as he once stated, “escape history.”
Well, that's true for every person in History. The question is: why doesn't the WSWS guys give this same treatment to Stalin? Is it only the American historical figures that deserve the scientific treatment?
It's with ridiculous articles like these that the American Trotskyists lose credibility (and even fair suspicions of FBI/CIA/Homeland infiltration). They appear as the third wheel of American imperialism.
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Realpolitik dictates Russia-West feud over WWII memories
Recommend reading this. The relation between History and politics: it's never about the past, it's always about the present.
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EU Approves 6 Billion Euro Bailout of German Airline Lufthansa
My guess is it is much more than EUR 6 billion. I don't think a company with such political power will settle for anything below a full and unconditional bailout with European taxpayer money.
@ 2 vk I am also baffled by the WSWS, it has many decent articles assuming you ignore the mandatory "workers of the world class bah blah" they are required to cut and paste at the end of each article. So, the articles calling for defense of monuments erected to honor Thomas Jefferson, George Washington etc on the basis of that these leaders were against the forces of reaction is utter nonsense.
removal of monuments to the leaders of America’s revolutionary and civil wars has no justification. These men led great social struggles against the very forces of reaction that justified racial oppression as an incarnation of the fundamental inequality of human beings.
In the United States, there is a deification of the "fathers" of the 13 colonies that is taught in schools, regurgitated in plays, theatre, stories of all kinds and saturates the culture. It amounts to a complete whitewashing of their active historical roles as architects of a slave-Republic, in which land speculation from dispossessing Indigenous peoples and slave trading -and plantation were the core components of this new Republic. The primary beneficiaries of which included some of the most important land speculators such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin .. and of course slave holders. More than the symbolic significance of tearing down these cultural markers, it is the question of the history of racial capitalism and their oligarchic elites in the rise and formation of the United States that is unmentionable. For the wrestling about the past we see around these cultural markers are not just about "culture," it is about the present predatory capitalist parasites and their choke hold on the levers of power, economy and culture.
Tell a random college "educated" U.S. - American that George Washington was amongst the richest men in the colonies and one of the largest land speculators, who actively fought the British because they forbid the theft of Indian land across the Ohio Valley (and not because the British were benevolent) and you will be treated with a blank stare.
For a country that commemorates the Holocaust like it is its own history and uses that as a moral shield to preach about the need to stop genocides (never again!) I guarantee you will never find an educated U.S.-American that even knows the "little" genocide that happened in Upstate New York on the orders of the great "founding father" George Washington in his own words:
Genocide of Native Peoples and Scorched Earth in Upstate New York
The Expedition you are appointed to command is to be directed against the hostile tribes of the Six Nations of Indians, with their associates and adherents. The immediate objects are the total destruction and devastation of their settlements, and the capture of as many prisoners of every age and sex as possible. It will be essential to ruin their crops now in the ground and prevent their planting more.
I would recommend, that some post in the center of the Indian Country, should be occupied with all expedition, with a sufficient quantity of provisions whence parties should be detached to lay waste all the settlements around, with instructions to do it in the most effectual manner, that the country may not be merely overrun, but destroyed.
But you will not by any means listen to any overture of peace before the total ruinment of their settlements is effected. Our future security will be in their inability to injure us and in the terror with which the severity of the chastisement they receive will inspire them.
Posted by: Thirsty | Jun 25 2020 16:49 utc | 3
re: the constitutional reform bill in Russia, why is it that the ONLY provision mentioned by BBC and other opinion makers has to do with the possibility that the hated Putin might remain in office? Wait, wait, don't tell me... it's coming to me...
Here is an official summary:
http://duma.gov.ru/en/news/48039/
Anyone come across an informative analysis?
Posted by: the pessimist | Jun 25 2020 17:17 utc | 4
A few years back, our them prime minister Tony Abbott declared that Australia is part of the anglosphere - in other words, a British outpost in the Asia pacific.
Abbott was a so called Rhodes Scholar.
Cecil Rhodes on the subject of the anglosphere ..
“Why should we not form a secret society with but one object the furtherance of the British Empire and the bringing of the whole uncivilised world under British rule, for the recovery of the United States, and for the making the Anglo-Saxon race but one Empire…”
“Let us form the same kind of society, a Church for the extension of the British Empire. A society which should have its members in every part of the British Empire working with one object and one idea we should have its members placed at our universities and our schools and should watch the English youth passing through their hands just one perhaps in every thousand would have the mind and feelings for such an object, he should be tried in every way, he should be tested whether he is endurant, possessed of eloquence, disregardful of the petty details of life, and if found to be such, then elected and bound by oath to serve for the rest of his life in his Country. He should then be supported if without means by the Society and sent to that part of the Empire where it was felt he was needed.”“Let us form the same kind of society, a Church for the extension of the British Empire. A society which should have its members in every part of the British Empire working with one object and one idea we should have its members placed at our universities and our schools and should watch the English youth passing through their hands just one perhaps in every thousand would have the mind and feelings for such an object, he should be tried in every way, he should be tested whether he is endurant, possessed of eloquence, disregardful of the petty details of life, and if found to be such, then elected and bound by oath to serve for the rest of his life in his Country. He should then be supported if without means by the Society and sent to that part of the Empire where it was felt he was needed.”
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/06/18/from-dodgy-dossiers-to-sacking-of-whitlam-british-empire-stands-exposed/
Although US has the economy and military, the actions against other countries are not just the US but five-eyes. The anglosphere as Abbott termed it which I guess was a little more PC than saying British empire.
Russiagate and the Steele dossier just an inhouse spat over leadership of five-eyes - the American nationalist vs the anglo deep state centered around the English monarch.
On these blogs, there is quite often comments on the hidden hands of power though that is generally about bankers - Rothchilds ect, But this anglo deep state centered on the English monarch is I believe that hidden power.
Mathew Ehret wrote two pieces on it at strategic Culture both worth reading.
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/06/13/sacking-gough-whitlam-and-royal-intention-behind-five-eyes/
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jun 25 2020 17:22 utc | 5
The CIA and other state organizations infiltrate various popular organizations in order to fulfill a couple objectives. The first, of course, is to be able to keep track of individuals that could potentially be dangerous to the establishment. The CIA and other state organizations even learned from the Israelis to create radical organizations themselves in order to accomplish this end if there were no good ones around to infiltrate. Thus some radical organizations such as the ISO were created by the CIA.
But the CIA infiltrates/creates these radical organizations for another purpose as well, which is to inject craziness into those organizations' policies and actions in order to discredit the ideas that the radical organizations supposedly stand for.
While federal agencies infiltrate a wide variety of different organizations, from right wing militias to Black Islamic associations, the CIA is particularly fond of Trotskyist groups. After all, Stalinists are self-demonizing and require little opposition, and Maoists organizations have little relevance outside of Chinese society ("Socialism with Chinese Characteristics" isn't just an empty slogan. The CCP knows very well it cannot be made to work in other cultural contexts). That leaves Trotskyist groups as representing the most serious ideological threat to capitalism. As the armed/covert enforcers of capitalist hegemony, the CIA pays extra attention to Trotskyist groups and when opportunities arise they throw a wrench in the works of such groups to discredit them. This, by the way, is one of the reasons Trotskyist groups are constantly splitting.
The WSWS has some genuine members, but the leadership is CIA. They cannot get too ridiculous with discrediting Trotskyist ideology or the organization will split, but they do sneak stupidity in when they feel they can get away with it.
Posted by: William Gruff | Jun 25 2020 17:29 utc | 6
India, once again the crown jewel of the British British Empire in the coming hot or cold war to take China down.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jun 25 2020 17:35 utc | 7
The CIA's number one goal, it always was thus, is to ensure global economic development, i.e. endless growth, on its terms. I'd say America's terms but it's long past that. The CIA is transnational at this point and America is just one of its divisions.
Posted by: 450.org | Jun 25 2020 17:44 utc | 8
@ 6 william gruff... thanks... it is too bad most people are easily duped.... developing critical thinking is a ongoing challenge for most..
Posted by: james | Jun 25 2020 17:47 utc | 9
@Posted by: 450.org | Jun 25 2020 17:44 utc | 8
LOL...From promoting Atlantic Council stuff to directly whitewash CIA goal, it is just a great leap forward...
No wonder your vision on Iran and China so much fits that of Pompeo.
CIA´s goal has been just the opposite, undermine economic development anywhere,except in the US, so as to push US hegemony.
Posted by: H.Schmatz | Jun 25 2020 17:53 utc | 10
"
US Senate passes bill that would punish China for Hong Kong national security law""
So nice that US politicians are concerned for Hong Kongers
Posted by: arby | Jun 25 2020 18:30 utc | 11
three days to reverse--
Trump says he would consider meeting Venezuela's Maduro
to
Venezuela's Maduro 'prepared' to talk to Trump
to
"Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
·
Jun 22
Unlike the radical left, I will ALWAYS stand against socialism and with the people of Venezuela. My Admin has always stood on the side of FREEDOM and LIBERTY and against the oppressive Maduro regime! I would only meet with Maduro to discuss one thing: a peaceful exit from power!"
Posted by: arby | Jun 25 2020 18:46 utc | 12
Alright so attempting to link attitudes towards masks with IQ is stupid, but I will refrain from linking B. with low IQ.
That is not how it works. I recall a study which looked at attitudes towards climate change, and the link with political views was much stronger than the link with level of education.
Posted by: Tuyzentfloot | Jun 25 2020 18:47 utc | 13
And i might add, posting comments in the wrong thread is also not a sign of low IQ! But not linked to political views either.
Posted by: Tuyzentfloot | Jun 25 2020 18:50 utc | 14
Peter AU 1 @5--
IMO, there's some merit as the major pushback against the reformist drive sponsored by the Classical Economists and their allies to rid Europe of Feudal prerogatives and the income derived from them arose within the UK in the form of an ideological and legislative battle--ideological in the shaping of education and legislative to retain Rentier privileges. Covering those moves was the ongoing and very overt Scramble For Africa from 1870 until WW1. The core of the threat was seen as arising in Germany with its superior education system and academics and its banking system that was somewhat integrated with its industrial system. A little known fact of great importance is that German was the #2 language of instruction and governance within the USA from 1680 to WW1 and its universities were the #1 choice for promising academics for advanced study in all areas. (There's much to be gained from this Hudson essay although it strays from my timeline.) There's a strong thesis stating the Rentiers wanted war with Germany to negate its reforms that were being emulated elsewhere. They were very fortunate in June 1888 to get Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert named as the German Emperor--Kaiser Wilhelm II--with his visceral hatred of Slavs that would lead him to wage WW1, which he came very close to winning. But the key as Hudson relates was the change in US policy about forgiving loans for war materiel to the victors--a volt-face seen as a stab-in-the-back by the British and French that led to the Great Depression. Those running Wilson's Fed and Treasury gave us an inkling of what Neoliberal policy would look like. Also very important was the changes made to the USA's educational system that aimed at erasing Classical political-economy from the curriculum of all universities and replacing it with the precursors to today's Neoliberal Junk Economics.
There's an untold--aside from bits and pieces--yet very important historical series of events that helped generate our current crisis. Rhodes likely played a small role in it with the education aspect.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 25 2020 18:50 utc | 15
I can't believe Stephen Colbert gave John Bolton the time of day and calling him Ambassador. I used to like this guy before his take over of The Late Show. I've noticed a lot of these comedians have lost their minds starting in 2016. My favorite will always been George Carlin.
Posted by: Ian2 | Jun 25 2020 19:37 utc | 16
well, I am an american, south american, nearly trotskyist, so what?
For 200 years the US public, the us school children have kneeled revered and worshipped a long list of barbaric, inhuman and immoral individuals to the extent of enshrining them in "golden calf' statues... Well, so why the first adverse reaction to them you seem to get back to the old worship of false gods? Isnt it the land of the free? Because Media daily lies macht frei, of course)
the crimes of Stalin were openly listed and discussed in the URSS and now with more amplitude and reason in Russia. Do you want us to list down the POTUSes crimes in a two dozen countries, just to begin with?
if I start discussing the crime curricula of American public figures we will easily run out of commenting space.
Who the hell, what the shit ideology did authorize the 9/11 liers to pull down and destroy for example, the statue of Saddam Hussein?
Now you are gettin the home made backlash. FUSM
The worm turns
"GERMANY WEIGHS MEASURES AGAINST U.S. OVER NORD STREAM SANCTIONS
Posted by: arby | Jun 25 2020 20:05 utc | 18
karlof1
US has a different history to Australia, Canada and New Zealand due to the revolution in which the British colonies kicked out the British and went their own way. From what I have read US and Britain were basically hostile until WWI. I had read about Rhodes and his ideals quite some time ago and also the scholarship he had begun, which now I think is the foundation of the anglo deep state. US was separate to this for some time and its difficult to put a finger on the relationship between US and Britain, but the British based anglo deep state does look to have a good foothold in the US.
I have recently been watching the Soviet storm series on youtube and the most recent one was on soviet intelligence. After Germany was defeated and before the defeat of Japan, Churchill asked the military to draw up a plan for war against the Soviet Union to see if it were feasable. Another thing I had not known was that Eisenhower reneged on Roosevelt Yalta deal concerning the island chain to the north of Japan. The although Japan had surrendered the Soviet Union had to take them by force.
As for the Rhodes scholarship and the anglo deep state, wikipedia has a short list of notables.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodes_Scholarship.
I will have to do a bit more reading on Rhodes. His thinking was probably not that far removed from nazi thinking.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jun 25 2020 20:11 utc | 19
karlof1
Re education. A lot of things changed in the sixties and seventies as a result of and response to the hippie movement.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jun 25 2020 20:28 utc | 20
Peter AU 1 @19--
Thanks very much for your reply! It would be best if we could actually sit across from each other and have an actual conversation on this and other topics. Yes, it was very fashionable for popular media and members of Congress to be seen "Pulling the Lion's Tail" as depicted here, but behind the scenes were rather different, particularly the collusion of Rentier interests thanks to the rapid growth of the USA's FIRE sector--the sector responsible for Wilson and the creation of the Federal Reserve. Operation Unthinkable was Churchill's brain child. The behind the scenes financial collusion prior to WW1 was the reason why the British felt betrayed by having to pay their debts after the war. And yes, Rhodes would've made an excellent Nazi.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 25 2020 20:43 utc | 21
Peter AU 1 @20--
Just saw your comment. Actually, more change was affected by the Civil Rights Movement than via hippies, who never really had a movement; it was more a frame-of-mind--Anti-Establishment; Never Trust Anyone Over 30; Tune-in, Tune-Out; being a Rocker or a Mod. But much of all that was fermenting during the 1950s. Oops, almost forgot the very prominent Women's Rights Movement which bonded with the Civil Rights Movement and produced Women's-Lib and the beginning of Identity Politics. But as minority histories were included into US History texts, other information was being removed. In my Library, I have US History texts written by the Beards from the 1930s that are more detailed than anything modern as proof of that important fact. And as Hudson constantly remarks, Political-Economy as an academic discipline disappeared completely and was replaced by Junk Economics having no mention at all of the history of economic thought. It's as if the German, French, English, and American Schools of Political-Economic Thought never existed--which is precisely what the promoters of that erasure desired and obtained. Stalin was famously accused of "Air-Brushing History" for the disappearance of photographic images of those purged, but the much larger crime of erasing an entire academic discipline is never mentioned except by Hudson and his allies.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 25 2020 21:02 utc | 22
Very important news:
Fed Limits Bank Payouts and Suspends Share Buybacks as Pandemic Grinds On
“Several” banks could near minimum capital levels if the pandemic recession worsens, Fed officials said, as it announced its stress-test results.
A financial crisis coming?
We now have information about another police murder similar to Floyd's in Tucson, AZ, although it didn't occur in public. I found this point made of great importance:
"Tucson chief of police Chris Magnus offered his resignation Wednesday at a press conference releasing the video. The officers involved in the killing have all resigned and are the subject of a criminal investigation.
"City council member Lane Santa Cruz, who drew attention to the killing Tuesday before the release of the video, urged the public to concentrate on the behavior of police rather than on the chief's resignation.
"'Now everybody's talking about the resignation and not about what unfolded when the family called 911 for help,' Santa Cruz told the Arizona Republic. 'He gets to leave and for those of us where Tucson is home, we don't get to go anywhere and we have to now deal with this head-on.'" [My Emphasis]
I don't like the idea of the Head Cop running away like a coward. He should be demoted and tasked with changing the culture of Tucson's police.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 25 2020 22:18 utc | 24
@23--
It's been an ongoing financial crisis since Nixon was forced to take the dollar off gold in 1971. It was discovered how to run a scam as a result of that but the underlying problem has never been solved, only worsened over the ensuing 50 years.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 25 2020 22:21 utc | 25
Socialists condemn Sir Keir for sacking Rebecca Long Bailey
This is Keir Starmer, an alleged "centrist".
Who said the moderates can't be dictatorial?
karlof1
I am thinking of the rejection of social norms a customs for that era. The Beetles - in their early years dressed in suits and tie as was the norm. What I term as the hippy movement certainly overlapped with the civil rights movements.
What I am thinking though is that earlier rejection of norms evolved, as well as being used by those in positions of power. Vietnam era protests were part of all that and a number of times I have mentioned and linked Robert Parry's pieces on perception management which was the US establishment response to those protests.
The dumbing down of education, along with removing any form of discipline in public schools I think of as part and parcel of the evolution those movements of the sixties, both good and bad.
On top of all this though is Perfidious Albian's ability to prevent revolution and hold onto power for the last 800 years or so. Here in Australia most think we are an independent country, and I guess its the same in Canada and New Zealand. I'm skipping around a bit here but i feel all this is tied in.
Something to think on. Perfidious Albion's modus operandi when it comes to empire is divide and rule. US is now very divided and the Steele dossier from GCHQ was a big part of that.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jun 25 2020 22:54 utc | 27
Anyone heard what the "massive explosion on the outskirts of Tehran" about 5 hours ago was?
AJ reported it but no detail. I'm thinking Palestine's occupiers but what with an election, falling popularity & desperation it coulda been orangey.
Posted by: A User | Jun 26 2020 0:21 utc | 29
A User.
Seems to have been near Parchin. There's a military base there that apparently is one of those the yanks are demanding be inspected.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jun 26 2020 1:14 utc | 30
Yet another installment of my musings related to the oncoming Critical Mass is here. The motif that what's occurring is a segment of what FDR described as the USA's "perpetual peaceful revolution" has captured my imagination and I'm working it into the overall narrative.
Peter AU 1 @27--
I get what you're saying and you'll note I use Jefferson's observation of Albion's works in my latest writing. IMO, I need to provide the essay with enough historical context to fill in the large holes in prior knowledge that exist within the projected audience.
Re 29 and 30
According to RT https://www.rt.com/news/492967-tehran-explosion-military-base/
The blast was located at a gas storage facility and did not make victims.
Posted by: CarlD | Jun 26 2020 1:43 utc | 32
450.org #1
Andre Vltchek offers analysis on the false start revolution.
Barflies might appreciate his take on this.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 26 2020 1:53 utc | 33
vk #26
This is Keir Starmer, an alleged "centrist".Who said the moderates can't be dictatorial?
Keir Starmer is a right wing tool of the oligarchy and has no greater claim to be 'moderate' than the basement rat.
You don't even damn him with your faint praise. This slug is no moderate, he is a right wing scumbag.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 26 2020 1:59 utc | 34
It would be very difficult, if not impossible, for even the US to send stealth bombers or missiles to target the facility without getting lit up by all of the air defenses Iran has setup over the past 20 year. It would be much easier to arrange some sabotage through a MEK operative.
Posted by: Kadath | Jun 26 2020 2:01 utc | 35
How come no one seem to care Julian Assange still in jailed?
Hey this guy will died in British jail or in Gitmo!
Are we not a christian nation, believe in freedom of speech and human right?
Please help him! Thanks you.
Posted by: JC | Jun 26 2020 4:05 utc | 36
Peter AU1 #20
Re education. A lot of things changed in the sixties and seventies as a result of and response to the hippie movement.
The hippie movement was multidimensional as it was both a protest against the multifaceted brain of the beast AND a broad exploration of other social, political and cultural landscapes. It was born in an atmosphere of a cold war, a hot war, a conformist war, a puritan war. So the explorers grabbed a bag of dope and some clear light or some forbidden hard stuff and set off following the trail set by earlier non-conformists or the trail to the forest and farm.
They discovered collective title to land and shared land investment and so much more. Reclaimed the commons so to speak.
The whole earth catalog stumbled off the press and music unheard of rumbled down the air waves. Rodriguez dared to challenge but the US pumped the safe white man - Dylan.
It was a major step forward to reject and escape from the tentacles of the state. It was a strike by many educated people against being co-opted and subverted by the rentier class offer of wealth. The hippies got smart and the state got smart AND devious and punished the hippies and their fellow travelers. For some it was an ideological free zone and for others it was a serious political creation zone.
We are richer for it. We have major conservation successes to celebrate and many conservation losses to regret. We have major political change to celebrate and we have the political wimps yet to deal with.
Viva les hippies and long live intellectual and cultural freedom.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 26 2020 5:18 utc | 37
OK its Friday again & for this week's culcha, I thought I'd whack in this allegedly traditional Tongan song by the Bull Sisters, Vika & Linda.
I'm a bit divided about it because sometimes Tonga feels like a weird amalgam of Polynesia and fascism. Plus apparently number 1 in Oz this week so Australian moa-ites will likely be sick of it. Mostly because its a bit churchy & begins feeling as though its draggin its arse - still very womad n the harmonies are OK.
I've no doubt the women themselves are a long way from fascism as we can see from this cover they did of Many Rivers to Cross they are more 80's Carlton hip than fascist.
Incidentally that cover recorded this year sounds pretty good. So a little pacific culcha - catch it now before Pacifica gets smashed to death on the rocks of a china v amerika blue which will happen - and most likely it will happen in the Pacific.
Posted by: A User | Jun 26 2020 6:41 utc | 38
uncle tungsten
Thanks for putting that into words. Very similar to what I was thinking. After my previous comment I thought perhaps the tolerance of and experimenting with other cultures was a big part of that era.
But all of that has been co-opted by the powers that be to further their agenda. US Country Reports on Human Rights kicked of in the mid seventies though it was based on a law passed in 61. A number of laws giving US officials the obligation under US law to interfere in other countries and from what I can see the last being the Advance Democracy Act of 2007. The destruction on countries under the R2P figleaf is all part of the co-opting.
My thought for sometime now has been that there is a five-eyes deep state rather than say a US, UK, Aus, Canada deep states that are separate to each other. It would be this five-eyes deep state with its globalist agenda that has co-opted civil rights the hippie movement ect. But then, in the US is the nationalists that have gone along with the anglo deep state but now see the writing on the wall for the US are trying to break away again. The US nationalist movement currently fronted by Trump.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jun 26 2020 6:54 utc | 39
re Peter AU1 | Jun 26 2020 6:54 utc | 37
Five eyes has always been more about supporting & hardening the five eyes entity than protecting the sovereign government which believes, quite incorrectly, that it is they who employ their nation's five eyes operatives.
Two quick examples
1/ 1975 it is inconceivable that at least some Australian five eyes operatives were unaware of the conspiracy to institute a coup against their employers, the elected Australian Government -just ask Chris Boyce - that is what got him so pissed that he attempted to pass details of the coup to the USSR.
2/ten years later in 1985 the Rainbow Warrior was bombed by french agents in Aotearoa, the culmination of a plan more than 12 months in the making. DSGE agents operated in Aotearoa penetrating Greenpeace, at least some kiwi SIS (security intelligence service) agents would have been advised of that by the englander MI6 thugs via five eyes (remember prior to 911 the 'western' intelligence agencies pretending to fight a cold war were a small club), yet they kept their government in the dark even after DGSE murdered an innocent.
When normal everyday policing (special branch having been abolished decades before) caught some of the terrorists and would have caught them all had ASIS (Australian Secret Intelligence Service & Oz five eyes operatives) not obstructed the kiwi police on Norfolk Island, all of the murderers could been rounded up, the ordure really hit the ventilator hard at NZSIS HQ
The kiwi five eyes mob tried hard to get the french released no trial but when that failed, they used the combined weight of amerika, england, canada & australian diplomats to scare the government with lies of trade embargoes just to spring the two murderers which the kiwi cops caught.
Five eyes is a law unto itself which exists for the sole purpose of forcing the governments of member states to kowtow to the five eyes fantasy construct.
Like so many of the instruments of government which have been allowed/encouraged to morph into an instrument of empire, five eyes exists in spite of rather than because of 'democracy'.
The intelligence analysis from members/partners foisted upon kiwi pols is frquently incorrect, but always biased in favour of whatever the empire commands.
Posted by: A User | Jun 26 2020 9:20 utc | 40
also obstruction and complicity
The Trump for President club, promoted Trump as the best the Oligarchs could produce to run the USA, therefore I must vote for him.. While I have little doubt Trump has done his best, I replied that if Trump was the best the USA could produce, that USA governed Americans, might consider asking the USA to rescind the Article VII ratification that initiated USA -II existence in 1788 and displaced the USA that defeated the British, and allow democratic America to work together to generate suitable leadership and to develop a system of government that responds to the will and wishes of the governed. You would have thought I suggested everyone stop by to pick up their personalized infection of SARS Covid 19-2 virus.
Posted by: snake | Jun 26 2020 10:52 utc | 41
Mika & Joe were playing up reparations today on Morning Joe. I have said this before, and I will say it again. I do not support #BlackLIvesMatter. It is a race hustling scam that only serves to sow division versus unity. For there to be unity and a true end to any & all racism and bigotry in all its manifestations, the focus must be class. The race hustlers consider my notion an abomination because if my notion is adopted, they lose their power and influence as egalitarianism takes root and fabricated divisions disintegrate. If Joe & Mika want to donate some of their tens of millions to some of their favored pet race hustlers, go for it. But leave me and all the rest of us on the economic margins out of it. This is a class war, not a race war and in this class war, Joe & Mika and the race hustlers are part of what comprises the enemy.
Black Lives Matter Are Pushing Division, Not Unity
One is therefore driven to ask whether the BLM movement really is concerned about the value of black lives or the suffering of black people or whether it is, instead, a way of harnessing racial identity to achieve power and influence. The current battleground is the spoils of Britain’s nineteenth-century colonial exploits, paving the way for claims that it is time to atone for historical sins by offering more jobs, promotions, pay rises and positions of power to black people. And before long there will be increasing demands for the payment of reparations.Some corporations seem to be getting ahead of the curve by voluntarily making huge donations to BLM. “Reparations for racial discrimination rooted in colonialism and slavery are essential to the fulfilment of human rights,” a UN human rights expert has announced, calling on states “to accept they have obligations and responsibilities to make reparations to victims and their descendants”.
BLM’s radical ideas, such as defunding the police, would only make the lives of black communities worse
For those advancing the radical BLM agenda it is easy to shut down any opponents simply by labelling them “racist”. Allegations of racism are a powerful weapon in any power struggle as the term “racist” signifies an amorphous type of immoral person who deserves to be censored.The great titans of the inequalities industry, self-appointed community leaders and race-equality experts with generous budgets and the political firepower of BLM behind them, have a vested interest in stoking the narrative of racial oppression upon which their influence depends. Exhibiting what the American academic and author Shelby Steele depicts as “a sick hunger for racism”, they continually craft new manifestations of racism in the form of “micro-aggressions” that are said to be unconscious, subtle and disguised, too small and nuanced to be detected by the untutored eye.
Posted by: 450.org | Jun 26 2020 12:55 utc | 42
I can tell you that every protester in the streets of Hong Kong last year had at least one Filipino/Indonesian slave to take care of his/her father's home. He/she was probably raised by one.
Hong Kongers wanted to be "part of the West"; here they are.
UT @33, that is a link to some rowdy Americans protesting Lockdowns.
Posted by: arby | Jun 26 2020 13:49 utc | 44
To usurp Colbert's Meanwhile schtick, there's this. THIS is something to unite over, especially considering how egregiously immoral it is amidst a pandemic and the healthcare cost implications associated with contracting this virus. But, no protests. Instead, we get talk of reparations on Morning Joe and the tearing down of statues nobody ever knew were there or who they were they were/are so unremarkable.
There should be blood in the streets over this. Many multiples more will suffer and die because of this versus police brutality, not that police brutality isn't an important issue because it is, but it will pale in comparison to the death and suffering this will prompt.
Donald Trump is a mass murderer. The verdict is in.
Trump Asks Supreme Court to Take Away Tens of Millions of Americans’ Health Coverage
The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to strike down what remains of Obamacare after waves of Republican legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act, telling the court in a brief filed late Thursday that “the entire ACA must fall.” The move comes as hundreds of thousands of newly out-of-work Americans have used the Obama-era health care law to get coverage during the coronavirus pandemic. Dismantling the law, an obsession of Republican lawmakers for a full decade now, would leave more than 20 million people without health coverage. Despite having a decade to come up with an alternative to the law, and two years in control of the White House and both houses of Congress, Republicans have offered no viable alternative for how to make sure Americans can go to the doctor.It’s unsurprising, then, that the Supreme Court is set to hear yet another Republican challenge to the law—the third to go before the court—this fall. This, the GOP’s umpteenth legal challenge to giving Americans health insurance, comes via a Texas-led group of Republican state attorneys general. “The case began after the Republican-led Congress in 2017, unable to secure the votes to abolish the law, reduced to zero the penalty for a person not buying health insurance,” the Washington Post notes. “Lawyers for the state of Texas argued that in doing so, Congress had removed the essential tax element that the Supreme Court had previously ruled made the program constitutional.”
The part in bold is noteworthy. Obamacare is a Republican plan. It was crafted/drafted by The Heritage Foundation. Is Obamacare flawed? Of course it is. It's a Republican plan, afterall and was crafted as an answer to universal healthcare. So, it's not ideal by any means and keeps the failed insurance companies afloat a while longer in this Potemkin Economy, but it's better than the alternative which is nothing at all.
Where Did The Idea Of Obamacare Come From? A Defense Of The Heritage Foundation
Posted by: 450.org | Jun 26 2020 15:45 utc | 45
Putin's WW2 essay is seconded and verified by lifelong WW2 historian and Canadian academic Michael Jabara Carley in this excellent essay that links to others in its support. At the end is the message Carley thinks Putin's sending to the world as he sees Putin's attempts with the West to be similar to Stalin's, a point I agree with:
"So I tip my hat to President Putin for daring to challenge the west’s fake history and for braving the loud, potted indignation of western critics. His idea for better relations with the United States, Britain, and France is splendid although he must surely know that nothing is likely to come of it. When you have the great responsibility of trying to keep the peace, however, one does what one can even if it is only for the record."
We should all hope history isn't being repeated.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 26 2020 16:35 utc | 46
Video and transcript of China's proposals to ease some of Lebanon's acute problems that amount to $12.5Billion of investment. The West's offering nothing comparable, and Lebanon would be foolish not to accept the help to make it stand up.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 26 2020 17:13 utc | 47
46 Cont'd--
Dr. Carley also presented a paper in Moscow last December that will be a boon to historians of the Cold War as it provides further evidence that it was begun by the Outlaw US Empire:
"But the United States and Britain wanted and still want to take the laurels of victory for themselves. It is like soldiers wearing war medals they did not earn."
The linked essay's contents are generally known by barflies, but they'll find some new information as Carley's been writing a very detailed book on the subject that will hopefully go to press by year end.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 26 2020 17:53 utc | 48
A User 40
five-eyes reciprocated the good deed by keeping an eye on Hollande for the French. But within five-eyes each can spy or gather or make information and dirt on the others politicians for the deepstate spooks of that country.
Anyone naive enough to run for office thinking they will do some good deeds is not just up against a deep state of that country, but the five-eyes deep state.
Posted by: Peter AU | Jun 26 2020 18:41 utc | 49
A piece at Strategic Culture on some of the troops being pulled out of Germany going to Poland.
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/06/26/taking-pis-trump-embraces-poland-to-spite-germany-and-russia/
The bulk of the US troops being pulled out of Germany will go to India for trump's hot or cold war with China.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/us-shifting-military-to-face-chinese-threat-to-india-and-south-east-asia-pompeo/story-9zqoaeuFQVwA8wbUQMVXjI.html
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jun 26 2020 19:16 utc | 50
The rest of this year will be interesting, I hope I get to see it all the way to a new one.
The week that was (as I see it):
· Very sharp movements by North Korea ending in unilateral deescalation and a holding pattern. Either China saved the US from destruction or they didn't. I believe North Korea has been ready since before Singapore.
· The O9A news reads like a 2000AD comic book story. It's either pure fantasy or truly scraping the barrel.
My news sources are primarily but not exclusively rt.com and sputniknews.com and a little of some court filings in the O9A thing that display the mind-melting stupidity of some alleged conversations.
Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Jun 26 2020 20:25 utc | 51
vk #2 and thirsty #3
Please call in to the paymasters office on your way. You have done a great job on wsws yet again.
You get a double bonus for working in tandem to denigrate wsws with ridiculous straw man BS.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 27 2020 5:56 utc | 52
al-Alam Mohammed al-Bukhaitia, is said to have said “Yemeni military operation using high numbers of Yemeni rockets hit highly sensitive
targets deep in Saudi territory, including Riyadh, Saudi Defense Ministry HQ, its general intelligence agency and the King Salman Air Base.
Another source said UAB backed STC expelled ARM Hadi from Socotra island. Can anyone confirm this, which if true, might impact the USA stock market?
Posted by: snake | Jun 27 2020 9:30 utc | 53
Afghanistan invasion by USA sux by Abby Martin at Empire Files
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 27 2020 10:27 utc | 55
Sunny Runny Burger #51
My news sources are primarily but not exclusively rt.com and sputniknews.com and a little of some court filings in the O9A thing that display the mind-melting stupidity of some alleged conversations.
I always take a peek at those two and the World Socialist Web Site and cruise through each region as they have some revealing reporters. Andre Vltchek is always good at home page or New Eastern Observer.
I get some comedy at various right wing nutter sites but am not a frequent visitor. Sometimes it is important therapy to goto Jonathan Pie youtube to grok one of his rants. John Helmer at Dancing with Bears high value as is Zero Anthropology and Strategic Culture. Many more too..... Indian Punchline and of course Whitney Webb who is a seriously dedicated journalist/researcher as is Matt Taibbi at his site and Katie Halper.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 27 2020 10:39 utc | 56
"Hidden history is always a key to the truth"
This excellent documentary by John Pilger provides many historical perspectives and differences between the U.S. and China including their respective world vision. An introduction to U.S. attitudes of superiority is revealed in the first 20 minutes that summarizes the fate of people used as guinea pigs by the U.S. during testing of atomic bombs in the Marshall Islands.
In another part someone explains one of the key differences between China's market economy and the U.S. capitalist system is that in China capital does not rise above political authority, whereas the U.S. is an oligarchy where billionaires control American policy-making. This despite the fact the China has had more billionaires than the U.S. since 2015.
Well worth watching by anyone not familiar with this view of history and the explosive direction that it's headed in.
Posted by: krypton | Jun 27 2020 15:06 utc | 57
Mike Figueredo interviews leftist Donna Imam from Texas on working solutions for the USA in crisis.
Great interview, great candidate.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 28 2020 3:31 utc | 58
"Could US, China rivalry lead to war? History shows it might"
An excellent piece from former editor Leslie Fong, Singapore Straits Times and chief editor Chinese-language Shin Min Daily News, Singapore. It was during his editorship(s) the late Singapore dictator Lee Kuan Yew controlled and crushed the oppositions. While the American and former colonial master watched and stood helpless. I wish Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor appoints Leslie as advisor crush the rioters in HK.
Posted by: JC | Jun 28 2020 3:46 utc | 59
Any doubt about the fact that the democrat arm of the american empire party being just as racist as the republican half was removed last week when the dims voted through a bill that grants Washington DC statehood. Why?
Well DC maybe should get access to some elements of statehood eg senators and congresspersons, but as the seat of federal government, there is an argument for the feds having a measure more control there than they have over other states.
But that isn't the point, the kicker is DC's population which stands at around 700,000.
I have no problem with DC getting more fed politicians per citizen than other states, but considering Puerto Rico has a population of 3,000,000 citizens & that both dims & rethugs have refused to grant PR statehood for more than 150 years does show that race is the real issue about this. Hawaii only got statehood after there was more whitefellas than indigenous Hawaiians.
DC's demographics run at about 36.8% 'non-hispanic whitefellas' (which begs the question how is that determined a whitefella is a whitefella how do they know one is hispanic?) african americans comprise 47.1% , 8.3% 'hispanic white' and the rest are asian (which is a category without a real definition), hispanic non-white, American Indigenous or Alaskan Indigenous, Pacific Islander & Mid Eastern.
So DC as a state is safe for whitefellas in terms of control, considering just about all those 'others' - neither white nor african american, have been indoctrinated to hate & fear african americans too.
Not so in Puerto Rico, 'amerikan' Samoa or Guam so they never get a look in with dims or rethugs - nice eh!
The stories of economic (check out the zero aid for Hurricane Maria compare that with the fed money for Florida one has fed pols, the other does not), labour market (eg not enforcing federal minimum wage conditions) and political oppression by both dim & rethug parties are both well known & legion, yet despite many representations to dims & rethugs nothing changes. My brother the journo spent a lot of time in amerikan occupied Samoa & among Samoan communities in California and learned from them why they prefer to stay at home if they can. LAPD etc murder even more Samoans per capita, than they murder african americans. Fuckin amerikan arseholes.
Posted by: A User | Jun 28 2020 5:30 utc | 60
wrt Puerto Rico. It aint that simple Debs, there are many Puerto Ricans who are absolutely against statehood as they would lose out. some have a sweet deal now.
also, could you let me know how I can get into this whitefella club? I have all the prerequisites but don't have the membership card yet.
Posted by: dan of steele | Jun 28 2020 7:32 utc | 61
re dan of steele | Jun 28 2020 7:32 utc | 61
And yet young Puerto Ricans especially, are protesting regularly for either statehood or succession. No one can deny either that if they did have 2 senators plus a clutch of congress creeps they wouldn't have been deserted by the fed after Maria. I'd be interested to hear what the advantages of not being a state are. especially given the delay in getting electricity turned back on after Maria. This is a link to search on PR power post Maria As you see the time different media and/or officials say it took to get the power on for all varies from 11 months to 18 months and all times will be longer than it has taken Floridians to get hooked back up on the several occasions this century hurricanes have taken out their power.
AFAIK the advantages for no-statehood are small bribes offered over the years that can and sometimes have been, snatched away leaving Puerto Ricans with no comeback as they have no representation.
At the very least Puerto Rico, Samoa & Guam should be given a chance to express what they want, statehood independence or the status quo.
As for the whitefella ticket, that's the one where you are more likely to have a good education, longer lifespan, better paying job than the average unwhitefella even though your forebears have been in amerika for a considerable shorter time.
PS there is a similar range of opinions about statehood in Washington DC.
Posted by: A User | Jun 28 2020 7:56 utc | 62
I based what I said on conversations I have had with Puerto Ricans. They have US passports and have all the rights of other US citizens as far as I know. I did find this site which shows that this has been going on for a long time.
back to the whitefella thing....apparently you did not watch the video posted here the other day regarding covid-19 and trump supporters. all those guys were pretty pale looking but it is highly doubtful that they had a good education, will have a longer lifespan, or a well paying job.
You must have got burned pretty badly some time in your life to hold so much resentment. people of all colors and creeds can be dicks, white people do not hold a monopoly on dickness.
Posted by: dan of steele | Jun 28 2020 17:16 utc | 63
The comments to this entry are closed.
I'm baffled as to why the "protesters" haven't become more radical in their Mao-inspired Cultural Putsch. Do their paymasters, the stokers, have no creativity? No imagination? No sense of Chinese history? Afterall, during Mao's Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards would go so far as to exhume the bodies of former dignitaries and desecrate the corpses. A good start for America's contemporary version of Mao's Cultural Revolution would be St. John's Cemetery in Queens where most if not all of the major organized New York City crime figures have been interred. These scum should never be allowed to rest in peace for they usurped to their own advantage what could have been and should have been a proper REAL revolution.
Not All Dead Deserve Respect
Posted by: 450.org | Jun 25 2020 14:43 utc | 1