Articles I recommend today: Saturday, September 7, 2019

• Hong Kong capitulates to protesters’ demand – what now? featuring investigative reporter Michele Greenstein on the Rick Sanchez program on RTAmerica.

• Exclusive: How the US is pushing protesters to attack China featuring investigative reporter Michele Greenstein on the Rick Sanchez program on RTAmerica.

• State Department 'Swagger' Means Offering Bribes by Bernhard from his weblog Moon of Alabama. 

• The Long Honduran Night: Resistance, Terror, and the United States in the Aftermath of the Coup - book review by Orlando Hill from Counterfire (Britain).

• Kidnapping as a Tool of Imperial Statecraft? by The Saker (Andrei Raevsky) from The Unz Review.

Will NPR Now Officially Change Its Name to National Propaganda Radio?

Click here to access article by Edward Curtin from his weblog. 

Curtin satirizes NPR whose board has selected its president with a background in propaganda.  This is not the first time that NPR has selected its president among people who have backgrounds in overt propaganda like Voice of America, Radio and Television Marti, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. This is a consistent policy throughout its history.

Worst of all, according to a Wikipedia statement: "A Harris telephone survey conducted in 2005 found that NPR was the most trusted news source in the United States." I don't doubt this. I think NPR, as a single propaganda media outlet, is responsible for the ignorance of US foreign policies and much of our domestic issues. It exists legally as a public-private corporation, but much like the Federal Reserve this arrangement also serves to fool the public with its public facade. 

The fascist Deep State using their secret organization, the CIA, has transformed nearly all major media corporations here and abroad into propaganda platforms to support the profit and power interests of the USA and US/Anglo/Zionist Empire.  As a major source of fake news and analysis, I have followed NPR over the past 10 years of my weblog and have posted numerous articles and commentaries about this nefarious organization. You can learn much about this propaganda agency by simply typing in "NPR" in any of the search boxes on my website to access them.

Robert Mugabe: The national liberation hero who was demonized for trying to make liberation meaningful

Click here to access article by Canadian Stephen Gowans from his weblog. 

Gowans points to Western corporate media coverage of the life of recently deceased Mugabe, leader of Zimbabwe's struggle to maintain economic independence from the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire, as another illustration of how such media corporations and capitalist interests of the Empire (profit & power) reports such efforts. He begins his essay this way:

It seemed almost inevitable six years ago that on the day Western newspapers were filled with encomia [def.] to the recently deceased South African national liberation hero, Nelson Mandela, that another southern African hero of national liberation, Robert Mugabe, would be vilified. “Nearly 90, Mugabe still driving Zimbabwe’s economy into the ground,” complained one Western newspaper. [my link insertion]

Mandela and Mugabe were key figures in the liberation of black southern Africa from white rule. So why did the West overflow with hosannas for Mandela and revile Mugabe? Why was Mandela the ‘good’ national liberation hero and Mugabe the ‘bad’?

Articles I recommend for today--Thursday, September 5, 2019

• Hong Kong capitulates to protesters’ demand – what now? featuring on the Rick Sanchez program on RTAmerica Michele Greenstein who discusses the roots of the unrest in Hong Kong’s inequalities and worsening housing crisis. 

• The Official Story of the Collapse of WTC Building 7 Lies in Ruins by Paul Craig Roberts from his weblog. 

• Green-smearing: From Nicaragua to Bolivia by Stephen Sefton from Internationalist 360°. 

• Turkey makes big compromise on Idlib after militants suffer many setbacks: report from Al-Masdar News (AMN)

WaPo Warns USA Needs More Narrative Control As Pentagon Ramps Up Narrative Control

Click here to access article by Caitlin Johnstone from her weblog. 

Power is being able to control what happens. Absolute power is being able to control what people think about what happens. If you can control what happens, you can have power until the public gets sick of your bullshit and tosses you out on your ass. If you can control what people think about what happens, you can have power forever. As long as you can control how people are interpreting circumstances and events, there’s no limit to the evils you can get away with.

Whoever controls the narrative controls the world.

A Persistent Misunderstanding of China’s Political Economy

Click here to access article by Christopher A. McNally (of Chaminade U.) from China-US Focus. (9/8/2019: Corrected version of the original post by substituting "multilateral" for "unilateral" in the first paragraph of my commentary. I wish that someone had earlier drawn my attention to this error.)

There is no misunderstanding by the US directors of the transnational US/Anglo/Zionist Empire. Any nation that pursues an independent course and tries to create a multilateral world is an enemy of the Empire. This Empire seeks world dominance much like the British Empire before it. That is why after WWII with its industry intact, the US Deep State saw their opportunity to establish an empire. It is in the very nature of capitalism to grow, and the US capitalists saw their opportunity to expand after the main belligerents of WWII, Great Britain, the Third Reich of Nazi Germany, and the Japanese Empire, were defeated or left in ruins. They united with British imperialists and what was left of the British Empire, and eventually allowed Zionists to join them after Israel proved its loyalty and effectiveness to the Empire.

Immediately after WWII US and British propaganda machinery went into action and started what became known as a "Cold War". Since then until 1989 the archenemy was the Soviet Union, which alone pursued a kind of socialist government, and other nations wishing to be independent: Indonesia, Vietnam, Nicaragua, Iran, Angola, Granada, etc. During this period nations were forced into two camps: that of the Empire or the Soviet Union. The latter nation eventually collapsed starting in 1989 under the weight of a self-serving bureaucracy.

To the consternation of the directors of the Empire, under the leadership of Putin Russia reestablished themselves with a mixed economy and pursued an independent course in international affairs. We have since seen other nations, most especially China and Iran, join them in challenging the Empire's control over the world, and together these nations have pursued a genuine multi-national world free of the domination of the Empire. As a result, currently we see the Empire's propaganda organs, media corporations, frame the latter nations as our enemies.

When is the News Not the News? – #PropagandaWatch

Click here to access a nearly 16 minute video (and show notes) by James Corbett from his website.

Today I received this report via email from Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth, a partner of the University of Alaska (Fairbanks), because I am on their email list. Because it is easiest to dispute of all the lies about the destruction of the World Trade Center (WTC) and the Pentagon, both organizations are challenging the official story of 9/11 regarding the collapse of building #7 of the WTC.

Corbett's limited perspective is a libertarian (American version of that term) which is somewhat different than what the term means in Europe and beyond. Consulting Wikepedia I discovered all kinds of libertarians. I think Corbett's view (even though he is Canadian--Canada is a part of the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire) can be described accordingly as "Individualist anarchism in the United States". His "libertarian" views simply sees, and often reacts negatively to, official authorities which is a very superficial view of government authorities. Likewise his analysis of the banning of the U. of Alaska report by media corporations, is very limited. He can only see some hidden hand which he refers to as "propagandists" who decide on what news is suitable for us to consume. That's it!

I have tried, and largely failed, to influence those who I have personally associated with throughout my long life and those who have wandered onto my website. I have urged them to have a more in-depth view of things by considering a Marxist-influenced take on contemporary global politics. This means taking an historical class structure point of view which is so unfashionable in today's America and throughout much of the capitalist transnational Empire. 

I admit, along with many others, failing to raise the political consciousness of my fellow Americans because of the influence of the powerful and ubiquitous nature of propaganda under the control of our ruling capitalist class. Our masters in this class have thoroughly indoctrinated Americans and much of the world in their view of not only current events, but historical events as well. They have accomplished this with their methods of pervasive mind control, that is, through the use of comprehensive indoctrination, propaganda, fake news, false flags, etc, by agents of the capitalist ruling classes in the Empire.

Also, I dispute Corbett's use of "social construct" as describing the official lies spread by our masters and their corporations since 9/11/2001. The term is defined as "an idea that has been created and accepted by the people in a society". This official version is a private construct. Only a class structure point of view reveals this meaning. Even in his video, he strongly suggests that specific people such as corporate editors decide what is news, and elsewhere he identifies them as simply "propagandists".  But he fails to attribute this to a ruling class. I think Corbett is also a victim of the Empire's comprehensive use of indoctrination and propaganda.

Two articles I recommend today: Tuesday, September 3, 2019

• Hong Kong Rioters Wage Sabotage Campaign To Press Congress Into Punishing China by Bernhard from his weblog Moon of Alabama.

• The Future of the Spectacle … or How the West Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Reality Police by CJ Hopkins, master satirist, from his weblog Consent Factory, Inc.

Articles I recommend for Monday, September 2, 2019

• West’s “Humanitarian” Claims Struggle as Syrian War Nears Endgame by Tony Cartalucci from New Eastern Outlook.

• Take forward the fight to free Julian Assange! by Joseph Kishore from World Socialist Web Site.

•  The Queen’s Active Role in the Right Wing Coup by Craig Murray from his weblog.

• Max Blumenthal on the US legacy in Honduras: migrant crisis, political murders, narco-President from The Grayzone.
  

Is the Fed Preparing to Topple US Dollar?

Click here to access article by F. William Engdahl from New Eastern Outlook. 

"Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes it's laws" — Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild

Who knows what our masters in the financial world have in store for us? Engdahl deciphers their oblique (def.#1) language which suggests a move to scrap the dollar, an increasingly shaky money, in favor of a transnational digital money--which would give them much greater control over us--supported by the central banks of their US/Anglo/Zionist Empire. A logical secondary benefit in the process would be a financial crisis that would put Trump's re-election in considerable difficulty. 

Justin Trudeau Needs a History Lesson

Click here to access article by Michael Jabara Carley from Voltaire Network (France) and Strategic Culture Foundation (independent weblog based in Russia). 

“History is written by the victors.”, a wise quote attributed to various people. But not only history, and not only victors in a classic war--a ruling class is also a kind of victor: over the other classes. A ruling class puts its stamp on everything: above all culture (art, literature, history), education, media, etc. 

Nowadays the power of the ruling capitalist class has such control of technology--they "own" all of it--that their control and influence shapes nearly everything in an unprecedented scale. Carley only takes issue with current "history" as recently expressed by Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada. The latter's version of history is the history permitted in all parts of today's US/Anglo/Zionist Empire, and ordinary people in addition to our masters in the ruling class subscribe (def.#1) to it. It is a fake history. A true history can be re-constructed by reading reports of contemporaries (of that period of history) who did not identify with the ruling classes.

Carley, a Canadian intellectual and Marxist scholar historian, corrects only some of the history of WWII, an event that has had profound influence on world political affairs today. Because I have read considerable literature, reports, and research about what led to this major war, I thoroughly endorse Carley's version of this part of history. 

Because he couldn't write a comprehensive history of this war in a single article, I am concerned that his brief references to Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the British Empire during WWII, will lead people to believe positive feelings regarding his role. Churchill was a classic British imperialist. His only concern preceding and throughout the war was the preservation of the British Empire. Germany was a competitor. Immediately after the war, he led the efforts to gather support for his other obsession:  hostility to the Soviet Union. The Soviets tried to establish a non-capitalist nation.

Articles I especially recommend on Saturday, August 31, 2019 [Updated with a post from Deep City)

• Bahamas, Florida in path of 'dangerous' Hurricane Dorian by Leila Macor from Phys.org.

• Hurricane Dorian: What the Presidential Candidates—and All of Us—Need to Know by Kristy Dahl from Union of Concerned Scientists.

• The DNC rejects a climate change debate and puts virtual caucusing in doubt by  Anya van Wagtendonk from Vox.

• Political Climate by Raul Diego from his weblog Deep City. (Note: this is an exception to my usual rule that posts must be within one month.)

• Saving The Amazon’s Only Worth $20 Million — But Amazon, Inc is “Worth” $1 Trillion. What The? by Umair Haque posted on The Greanville Post.

• Syrian 'Rebels' Feel Left Behind - Burn 'Traitor' Erdogan's Picture by Bernhard from his weblog Moon of Alabama (Germany).

Articles I recommend for Friday, August 30, 2019

• Making a Killing From Killing by Paul Atwood from CounterPunch.

• The Bizarre Action in U.S. Treasuries Is Linked to the U.S. National Debt and the Repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act by Pam Martens and Russ Martens from their weblog Wall Street on Parade.

• The Justice Department Has Had the Epstein Case Since July 2006 – It’s Time to Arrest Accomplices by Pam Martens and Russ Martens from their weblog Wall Street on Parade. 

• Another Syrian Victory – and West’s Telling Silence by an editor of the Strategic Culture Foundation.

• Give Me Suggestions On How To Level Up My Fight by Caitlin Johnstone from her weblog.

Articles recommended for Thursday, August 29, 2019

• A Concise Overview by Guy McPherson posted on my sister weblog Titanic Lifeboat Academy. 

• Why Netanyahu Dares to Hit Iran’s Backyard in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon: “Israel” Accepts Hezbollah’s Challenge by Elijah J. Magnier posted on Mideast Discourse.

• Pentagon warns Israel on Iraq by Jason Ditz from Defend Democracy Press.

• Hezbollah Will Respond to Israel: But when? How? And at what cost? by Elijah J. Magnier from his weblog.

How the Alliance of Intelligence & Organized Crime Gave Rise to Jeffrey Epstein

Click here to access to a nearly one hour interview conducted by Bonnie Faulkner of Guns & Butter with Whitney Webb who has established credibility because of her investigative research published online by Mint Press News and other websites.

We get to hear the voice of Webb via Faulkner's program and learn so much about the complex web of criminal links among the capitalist ruling class. After listening to Webb, you will find it hard to argue that her information is an exaggeration that capitalism has evolved into organized crime in the USA and its associated empire, the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire.

Articles recommended for Wednesday, August 28, 2019

• No Country for Old Protest Marchers by John R. Hall from Dissident Voice.

• Talk is cheap by David Ruccio from Real-World Economics Review Blog.

• Climate denial is reported more than science by Tim Radford from Climate News Network.

“There Are Reasons for Optimism” – Chomsky on Brazil, Fascism, US Politics

Click here to access post in Defend Democracy Press in which John Nichols, mostly known as an editor at The Nation, interviews Noam Chomsky.

Because I have expressed my views in articles I have posted in the past, both positive (see this and this) and negative (see this, this, and this), regarding Noam Chomsky's role on the political left in US politics, I won't add much to the critique in this post except to argue that his legacy's influence as a left gatekeeper lives on in the thinking of John Nichols and apparently in the people at Defend Democracy Press. 

Chomsky's early life apparently had an indelible effect on his understanding of fascism. It appears that he doesn't recognize the upgraded version of fascism as fascism, but this is acceptable only if one takes a superficial of the concept. The central theme of fascism is control (of others, domination). The earlier version focused mainly on physical methods of intimidation and arbitrary authoritarian legal procedures that was typical of the Nazi's Third Reich. In contrast, the upgraded version relies heavily, but not exclusively, on methods of pervasive mind control, that is, through the use of comprehensive indoctrination, propaganda, fake news, false flags, etc, by agents of the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire. The difference is largely one of methods.

One of Chomsky's remarks in the interview elicited my close attention: his answer to the question "Was it clear to you that a greater war [WWII] was coming?" His mention of the "State Department" as one of the sites where discussions were commonly talked about regarding the coming war particularly drew my attention. While recently reading As He Saw It by Elliott Roosevelt (1946), he quoted his father's disparaging remarks about the State Department that suggested he didn't trust them based on his experience with members of this government department. This evoked a rather vague memory that I've gathered a number of years ago from readings that referred to the State Department as being militantly right-wing.

I have argued elsewhere in this blog that a largely secret resurgence of fascist-sympathetic capitalists came "out of the woodwork" (def.) following the article "American Century" published by Henry Luce of Time magazine in February, 1941. I have a hunch that they mostly ensconced themselves in this government department. The famous CIA director, Allen Dulles, was one of them. [If anyone reading this blog has sources which reveal any information about this, please let me know via email (goatmeal36@yahoo.com)]. I've also read some remarks in Bruce Cumings' The Origins of the Korean War (2 volumes) which stated that various figures in the State Department actively supported containment and rollback policies against Soviet Union and its satellites shortly after WWII. 

Articles recommended for Tuesday, August 27, 2019

• Lies of the Victors by Jason Hirthler from Dissident Voice.

• What Will It Take To Declare A Climate Emergency? by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers from Dissident Voice.

• Capitalists contra workers by Shimshon Bichler and Jonathan Nitzan from Real-World Economics Review Blog.

• How To Make Sense Of Foreign Protests, Conflicts And Uprisings by Caitlin Johnstone from her weblog.

• Ecosystems and ecological breakdown submitted by UK Youth Climate Coalition from Ecologist (Britain).

Articles recommended for Monday, August 26, 2019

• Hong Kong Crisis: Made in America by Tony Cartalucci from New Eastern Outlook.

• We Are Not Fooled by the Hong Kong Protests by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers from .Popular Resistance

• Brazil, the Amazon, and Global Warming: It ain’t quite what the media tell you by Dean Baker from Real-World Economics Review Blog.

• Bolsonaro’s legal bonfire fuels Amazon inferno by Jan Rocha from Climate News Network. 

• Would The End Of The Dollar Era Threaten American Hegemony? from Fort Russ News.

• Secrets WWII Documents Finally Declassified (Video) from Fort Russ News.

• The Great Switch: The Geo-Politics of Looming Recession by Alastair Crooke from Strategic Culture Foundation.

The Hitler-Stalin Pact of August 23, 1939: Myth and Reality

Click here to access article by Jacques R. Pauwells from CounterPunch.  (commentary updated at 12:08 CT)

Although born in Belgium, he emigrated to Canada in 1976 where he earned a doctorate degree in political science, taught as a professor at several universities in Canada, and has written numerous books mostly in European languages. I presume he is now retired. Because the name is only vaguely familiar to me, I did a search for more information on this author. Here is what I found. A translation of the Wikipedia entry on him (via DeepL translation) is as follows:

Jacques R. Pauwels (born in 1946 in Ghent) is a Belgian-Canadian historian, political scientist and essayist. He has authored a large number of books and articles analyzing modern history from a Marxist-Leninist perspective.

Born in Flemish Belgium, Jacques Pauwels studied history at Ghent University between 1965 and 1969, which he completed with a degree thesis entitled Werkstakingen in België, 1830-1880 (litt. Grèves ouvrières en Belgique, 1830-1880). After graduation, he emigrated to Canada and in 1976 defended a thesis at York University in Ontario on the theme of (female) students at Nazi German universities. He completed his training with a master's and doctoral degrees in political science at the University of Toronto. He has taught at various Ontario universities, including the Universities of Toronto, Waterloo and Guelph. He is also active as a tour operator and guide in a family business, Pauwels Travel Bureau, in Brantford, Ontario.

Jacques Pauwels, who has resided in Canada since 1969, is the author of several dozen books and articles in both English and his mother tongue, Dutch. Several of his books have been translated, particularly into French, German, Italian and Spanish.

And from an Amazon books search I found this one entry. 

Because Pauwels did not furnish any references to support his assertions and because of the lack of information regarding this author by CounterPunch, I had to waste precious time researching who this guy was and his qualifications (initially I thought this was only a review of historian Michael Jabara Carley's book). Clearly the post was about his very informed views about WWII and specifically the title of the article: The Hitler-Stalin Pact of August 23, 1939: Myth and Reality. 

Like many academics both in Western countries, Pauwels was aware of this true history that contradicted the many mythical histories that we ordinary people have been subject to in Western countries. These mythical histories were propagated through all institutions: press media, radio, TV, schools and universities, online media, and Hollywood films. But our ruling class discouraged academics and others telling what they knew by impeding their careers.  This was done overtly during the McCarthy period beginning with the House Unamerican Activities Committee (HUAC) attacks on Hollywood producters. Then they went on to attack academics, writers, and others. Many lost their jobs or succumbed to this pressure by keeping their mouths shut. Public school teachers had to swear loyalty oaths.

I notice that Pauwels' books were originally published since 2005 and in foreign languages, and only one has been later published in English. The answer to why this is so and Counterpunch's scant coverage of his qualifications is part of the general cover-up on the true history of WWII by the ruling capitalist classes. The latter were so sympathetic to the Nazi regime to the extent that they initially very likely collaborated with the Nazi's and their plans to invade the Soviet Union. It was only after the phony war when Nazi Germany turned their weapons against Britain that the allies formed to prevent the German Empire's threat to the British Empire. 

In contrast to Counterpunch's careless posting of Pauwels' article, Global Research based in Canada, has posted numerous articles written by him.

Probably because I became aware as a young adult that authorities in my life had frequently lied to me about so many important subjects, I have since read many books by authors who knew first-hand about WWII. I can attest to the accuracy of nearly all statements made by Pauwels in this article. I say "nearly all" because some of the details he revealed, like Polish politics at the time, I have not covered in my readings.

Our masters in the current capitalist ruling class have gone on to give a completely fake reports of nearly every event that might impact their rule (even contrived false-flag events). This has resulted confusion, doubts, and ignorance in ordinary Americans about so many important contemporary issues.