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Dystopia
The U.S. seems to have gone completely crazy these day.
Two full divisions worth of soldiers are closing off Washington DC to 'protect' a mostly virtual inauguration from a non-existing threat.
26,000 National Guard members to secure Washington for inauguration
The FBI is investigating the loyalty of those troops as if it were really in doubt.
FBI vetting troops stationed in Washington ahead of Inauguration Day
The leadership of the Democratic Party has gone completely nuts:
QAnon for Democrats? Hillary Clinton & Nancy Pelosi suggest Putin ORDERED Trump to launch Capitol siege in unhinged interview
Hillary Clinton @HillaryClinton – 22:38 UTC · Jan 18, 2021
.@SpeakerPelosi and I agree:
Congress needs to establish an investigative body like the 9/11 Commission to determine Trump's ties to Putin so we can repair the damage to our national security and prevent a puppet from occupying the presidency ever again.
They are even more crazy than the outgoing pompous Secretary of State:
Nick Schifrin @nickschifrin – 17:14 UTC · Jan 19, 2021
BREAKING: Huge announcement from @SecPompeo: "I have determined that the PRC, under the direction and control of the CCP, has committed genocide against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang."
"I have determined …" Who does the guy think he is?
Meanwhile reality delivered this low blow:
L.A. Suspends Air Quality Rules to Cremate Backlog of Covid-19 Victims
A fail to get a grip on this.
Lavrov at his annual recent year-in-review presser had the following to say about the behavior of the Outlaw US Empire and its Western vassals:
“Unfortunately, not everywhere and not always has this quest for solidarity and joint work manifested itself during the pandemic. Some of our Western colleagues, primarily the United States and its closest allies, tried to take advantage of the situation and to ratchet up pressure, blackmail, ultimatums and illegitimate actions while introducing unilateral restrictions and other forms of interference in the internal affairs of many countries, including our closest neighbour Belarus.
“The West unanimously ignored the calls by the UN Secretary General and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to suspend, at least for the duration of the pandemic, unilateral and illegitimate sanctions regarding the supply of medications, food and equipment needed to fight the virus while Russia was ready to back up this approach. President Putin put forward a parallel initiative during the G20 summit to create green corridors in the economy that are free from sanctions and other artificial barriers. Unfortunately, these sensible appeals – both ours and those of the UN leaders – were left hanging in the air.
“Last year we observed the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII, the birth of the United Nations and the entry into force of its Charter. Against the backdrop of these anniversaries, we are very concerned about the continuous arrogant actions of the United States and most of its Western allies, which are aimed at undermining international security, which is based on the UN, its Charter and its agencies and replacing the traditional norms and standards of international law with a “rules-based international order.'”
Lavrov then proceeds to indict the EU for promoting “multilateralism” outside the framework of the UN in a manner meant to replace the UN with EU diktats: “The EU views the establishment of specific rules as its exclusive right in the belief that all others must follow these standards. Examples are many.” Thus the EU follows the Outlaw US Empire’s lead. Lavrov then shares his own analysis:
“[T]hese are apprehensions of competition and the understanding that in today’s world the West can no longer dictate its own orders to others as it has over the last five centuries. History is moving forward, it is developing. This has nothing to do with ideology. This is just a statement of fact. It is necessary to consider the views of the countries that now have a much greater weight in the world arena (completely incomparable with that of the colonial era) and the countries that want to preserve their civilisational identity and that do not see in the West the ideals for their societies. Tolerance of diversity is another characteristic that the West is losing very quickly.”
And all that is connected to other related developments:
“There are situations where half a dozen people that have created their own technological empires do not even want to know what rights they have in their own states. They determine their rights themselves proceeding from so-called corporate standards and completely ignore the constitutions of their states. We have seen this clearly in the US and this is a source of deep concern. Much has been said about this recently in television reports and special analytical materials. We are not pleased by the attempts of the Western elites to find external enemies to resolve their internal political problems. They find these enemies in Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela. The list of these countries is well known. [Yet, Lavrov insists there’s no ideology involved, a point of contention I have with him.]
“We all see the response to the news of Alexey Navalny’s return to the Russian Federation. Carbon-copy comments on this event are coming in one after another. They are full of joy because they allow Western politicians to think that in this way they can divert public attention away from the deepest crisis of the liberal development model.
“I am convinced that it is necessary not to seek outside excuses to justify one’s own actions or sidetrack attention from one’s deepest problems and crises. On the contrary, it is essential to play an honest game and look for opportunities to resolve domestic problems via fair and equitable international cooperation. No one can expect to resolve its own problems outside multilateral formats any longer.”
Unfortunately, they do exhibit just that expectation. Yet, the most insidious, factual accusation made against the West in Russia’s defense is this:
“They just don’t provide the facts, which is what decent people always do in order to justify their discussions.” [My Emphasis]
Thus my very heavy critique of Cynthia Chung who invented facts to fit her ideological hypothesis.
Lavrov closes his peroration by directly addressing those foreign reporters in the audience:
“We are interested in addressing problems through a dialogue. However, ‘forcing a closed door’ that the West keeps ‘under lock and key’ is beneath our dignity. Your governments are well aware of our proposals that we have made repeatedly, starting with the dialogue on strategic offensive arms, arms control and nonproliferation to interaction on cybersecurity and non-deployment of weapons in space. There are many such areas. For each of them, Russia has proposals for establishing honest cooperation on key threats that are common to all countries around the world instead of using these threats to achieve unilateral geopolitical advantages by means of unscrupulous competition. President Putin’s initiative to hold a summit of the five UN Security Council permanent members is a manifestation of such a desire to start a dialogue. All other leaders of the Group of Five responded positively to this proposal.” [My Emphasis]
Lavrov closes by reminding his audience that Russia is hardly alone or isolated, that it’s in combination with over 1/3 of the planet’s people; and that instead of an unhealthy competition, Russia has openly asked all Eurasian nations to join together with its partners who “share our common philosophy: to say no to confrontation and to address existing problems on a balance of interests.” [My Emphasis]
In his presser, Lavrov referred to Russia’s Main Foreign Policy Results in 2020, the document available at the link. There’s so much to read! Lavrov’s response to the question about Latvia’s recent behavior IMO best encapsulates the depth of Western immorality and blatant double-standards for its behavior. When it comes to the Outlaw U Empire:
“The most important thing is that our proposals on cybersecurity and on investigations into our alleged interference in US affairs, as well as on space projects and arms control, are on the table. As recently as in September 2020, President Putin publicly invited the United States – not President Trump or anyone else, but the United States as a power which, we hope, has retained at least a degree of respect for continuity and compliance with foreign policy agreements – to reboot our relations in the sphere of cybersecurity and non-intervention into internal affairs of each other.”
Russia simply would like to hear an answer, even no is better than being ignored. There’s so much more, particularly on the Freedom of Speech topic where Lavrov again remined people of their nations’s responsibilities under the treaties they’ve signed and ratified. Lavrov made the effort to highlight this:
“I have already mentioned the topic of states’ obligations and now want to remind you about them. The US is a member of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Interestingly (however, this issue is often omitted) there have been two international treaties, one for civil and political rights, and the other the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Having signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (it was in the 1960s), the US flatly refused to sign the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as the Convention on the Rights of the Child [just as it refused to ratify the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was the product of Eleanor Roosevelt’s doggedly determined efforts].
“This is a refusal to take any responsibilities related to providing adequate quality of life to its population and solving social and economic problems.” [my Emphasis]
My point is the same as Lavrov’s: The Outlaw US Empire has on several occasions not to sign and ratify a treaty that it’s Constitution says it ought to in order to form a more perfect union and to advance the general Welfare, which is quite telling when we discuss the reasons for the rise in Populism and the reasons someone like Trump is elevated well beyond his standing and abilities.
And since no English language media source published anything about Lavrov’s very important presser, how should we rate its Information Hygiene while Pompeo’s illegal antics get reported no matter their outrageousness? Gross failure is my verdict.
As Paco said, reporting on Lavrov’s presser would be rather long, and he was quite correct! I left quite a lot on the cutting room floor.
Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 19 2021 22:48 utc | 48
To judge by the plethora of videos of people playacting Bunker Hill Patriot in the made-for-TV Kodak moment currently available on the www, the large majority of the participants in that concocted encounter-group session on Jan5th pretty much stayed between The Capitol’s cordons rouge after breaching the barriers or being let in with minimum resistance or in some instances being encouraged to proceed. Most just wondered around, befuddled but excited to be part of History – smiling uncertainty for the camera or with the deer-in-headlights look, some yahooing,many hoping to bump into the carnival barker turned therapy group leader who was surely “…right there with them!’ Might even get a classic selfie with el jefe to send their hometown Wannabe Great Again American Comrades in their church-choirs and sports bars and spa-day beauty parlors. Look! I was there! Better than being at Times Square on New Year’s Eve! The ones that crossed into vandalism do not fit well into the Antifa profile, IMHO, and the few that actually harbored thoughts of mayhem and bodily harm are now meeting Reality and are mostly Sad.
I am beginning to conclude that what is being spun as “deplorable armed gangs of fascist racists” are, in some socioeconomic sense, “genetically” closer to disgruntled,”woke”, Marx-indoctrinated, free-loving, porn-watching, lazy-ass social-progressive hippies like me – or at least are closer to me than I am to the petite bourgeoisie. In the same way that rats and humans are not many genes apart and both respond to being fucked with in clinically indicative ways. Like to admit it or not, Trump’s base is largely a populist movement, just like Sander’s was – or hopefully IS. Sure many are hard-scrabble, brainwashed, under-educated, bubble dwellers, and mistaken about what is wrong with The System, but their main quarrel is that “the government is not by, for, and of The People. After all, they were just as sick and tired of The Bush Dynasty as those who gravitated to Sanders were. A riot is the language of The Unheard, sez MLK.
The ongoing dog and pony show not crazy; it is far more insidious than insanity. It is to justify a future steroidal manhandling shutdown of any and all protest by your new Law and Order government turned enforcer with the water cannons The Yellow Vests are familiar with, plus tear gas, flash grenades, rubber bullets, etc. – all under the guise of not letting The Proud Boys spoil the cake that we’re gonna let you eat in you little airconditioned rented caves. Divide, Polarize, and Vinco, Baby! hopes to trump (no pun intended or denied) Come Together, Right Now, Over Something. Maybe the tipping point has to be adding some 5.65 anti-Geneva Convention tumbling bullets to the enforcing, a la Kent State, but they are desperate, not crazy, and it may come to that.
The Don’t Tread on Me flag shows the segments of the snake tentatively united. It should be Don’t Tread on US. Class unity is their greatest fear and is excellent to be wished for… but at this point, I just hope all those 25k NG grunts don’t have to sleep on The Capitol floor.
Posted by: defaultcitizen | Jan 20 2021 5:13 utc | 89
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