Debunking the Real 9/11 Myths: Why Popular Mechanics Can't Face Up to Reality

Click here to access article by Adam Taylor from Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth. (I don't normally post articles that are more than a month old; but in the case of the 9/11 false-flag conspiracy and tragedy in which millions of my fellow Americans still believe the fairy tales put out by the government which is almost entirely controlled by the ruling capitalist class, I will post this as an exception to the rule.)

[AE911Truth] Editor’s note: This 10-part series by researcher Adam Taylor exposes the erroneous and deceptive arguments made by Popular Mechanics in its most recent edition of Debunking 9/11 Myths, published around the ten-year anniversary of September 11, 2001.

As Taylor writes, “Popular Mechanics has been the primary cheerleader in the mainstream media in defense of the NIST reports ever since its book, Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can’t Stand Up To the Facts, was published in 2006.” Many years later, the books and articles by Popular Mechanics continue to be frequently cited by members of the media as the definitive refutation of the controlled demolition hypothesis.

Adam Taylor’s dismantling of Debunking 9/11 Myths should be required reading for anyone who tries to hold up Popular Mechanics as an authoritative source on the cause of the World Trade Center destruction.

Some satirical cartoons

By cartoonist Barry Deutsch from his website. 

By cartoonist Max Gustafson from his website.

By illustrator and animator Steve Cutts from his website.

Emergency Public Meeting Called After Break-In Attempt At Ecuadorian Embassy

Click here to access article from ContraSpin. (Edited for corrections on 11/4/2018 at 8:20 AM CT.)

It appears to me that this website is the best source of information regarding the issue of detention of Julian Assange who is presently in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Bookmark it. This post is the latest news regarding Assange. I plan to re-post every new article on this ContraSpin and Courage websites until Assange is free.

[IMMEDIATE ALERT] New Threats to Julian Assange; Consortium News to Broadcast Emergency Meeting Live on Saturday [Nov. 3]

Click here to access article posted on Consortium News.

This will commence on Saturday November 3rd, 2018 at 3pm EST (midday Pacific), via https://unity4j.com/stream

At the meeting, details of these new threats to Julian’s life will be presented, along with the unveiling of a new action plan to secure and protect his life, human rights, and freedom.

A special message from Julian’s mother, Christine Assange will also be broadcasted. 

(While you may be waiting for the broadcast to start, you might be interested in a related piece by Caitlin Johnstone entitled "What Empire Loyalists Are Really Saying When They Bash Julian Assange".)

Watch the film the Israel lobby didn’t want you to see

Click here to access article posted on The Electronic Intifada.

The film was made by Al Jazeera during 2016 and was completed in October 2017.

But it was censored after Qatar, the gas-rich Gulf emirate that funds Al Jazeera, came under intense Israel lobby pressure not to air the film.

The film entitled "The Lobby--USA" is in four parts of about 50 minutes each. The following is episode 1 of the film, and episode 2 is in the article. Presumably episodes 3 and 4 will be posted in the future. There are also numerous links related to the film in the very interesting article. (I have not viewed much of the film at the time of this posting.)

Some recommended articles for Friday, November 2, 2018

• Pipe Bombs: Frantic Denunciations of the False Flag Concept by Prof. Graeme McQueen from Global Research.

• Washington’s Silent Weapon for Not-so-quiet Wars by F. William Engdahl from New Eastern Outlook.

• By Way Of Deception - False Flag Terror Acts Press Europe To Sanction Iran by Bernhard from Moon of Alabama.

Crackdown on Gab Following Pittsburgh Massacre Proves Need for Alternative Internet Architecture

Click here to access article by Robert Bridge from Strategic Culture Foundation. 

Our masters are using the Pittsburgh massacre to shut down an ...

ad-free social media service that was/is devoted to “preserving individual liberty, the freedom of speech, and the free flow of information on the internet” – the exact things, incidentally, that the invisible comptrollers of the Internet fear the most – is facing an Internet sanctions regime when it became know that Bowers had posted an anti-Semitic rant over their platform.

I'm wondering if we will see other such social media services and websites shut down because of such incidents, manufactured or not. 

The author ends his article with a conclusion that I strongly agree with:

An entirely separate internet architecture needs to be created – pay services, hosting platforms, social media services – that are not bounds by the whims of the ‘free market,’ which as we have learned is not so free after all. In fact, it’s absolutely tyrannical. At the same time, IT companies – made up of men and women who subscribe to their own favorite ideologies, which more often than not are Liberal oriented – are no less susceptible to pursuing political agendas than the government, and to believe for a second they will not take advantage of a tragedy to oust a bothersome competitor from the marketplace would be shortsighted and plain stupid.

Since the internet is currently comprised of two separate and distinct people, from two separate universes, time to act like China and construct an entirely separate internet architecture. Personally, I see no other alternatives.

The Logic of Human Survival

Click here to access this review by Barry Sheppard of a book entitled A Redder Shade of Green: Intersections of Science and Socialism authored by Ian Angus and posted on Solidarity.

The levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane (the “greenhouse” gases) produce rising surface temperatures, melting of the icecaps, ocean level rise and acidification. Plastic waste in the oceans, tropical forest loss, species extinctions and other indicators have ballooned, with grave implications.

This new book contains polemics, debates and articles from a Marxist perspective, dealing mainly not with the climate change deniers but with other environmentalists, scientists and socialists, who differ with each other on explanations and solutions. This includes ecosocialists — because as Angus explains, there are as many differences among them as there are differences among socialists more broadly.

Ep. 1: The secret society that rules the world

Click here to access article by Bas Spliet from Scrutinised Minds. (I recommend that you follow the script instead of listening to the audio.)

The author leans heavily on the writings of Carrol Quigley about whom he accurately describes in this quote:

Quigley was no uncredentialled conspiracy theorist. He was a prominent Harvard-educated historian who taught at the Ivy League universities of Georgetown, Princeton and Harvard, in addition to working as an advisor to both the US Department of Defense and the US Navy.

Spliet introduces his essay with this insightful statement:

Since the dawn of civilisation [roughly 2% of the existence of humans], kings, emperors and other men and women of wealth have wanted to rule the world, but none has succeeded. Every empire that arose on the blood of the people it subjected and enslaved – the ancient kingdoms of Egypt and Assyria, the successive Persian and Chinese empires, the Roman empire, the Islamic caliphates, the Ottoman empire, the various European colonial empires and even the communist regime of the Soviet Union – all eventually fell. Even the United States’ global primacy, a logic result of the end of the Cold War, is now being tested by re-emerging superpowers and increasing calls for a more multilateral world order. But these are all well-known attempts at establishing world supremacy. Since the rise of [fake] democracy, people – not tyrants – were suddenly said to be in charge. Therefore, if one wanted to obtain or maintain hegemony, one had to find a way to shape world order through hidden means while simultaneously convincing the people the gradual change was of their own making. [my inserts]

Here is a very useful webpage that has a list of Quigley's books, and some have PDF links where you can perform searches throughout each book. Look for these PDF links under the image of the books. 

Recommended for all people who still believe the official fairytale about 9/11

• The Magnum Opus of the 9/11 Consensus Panel: A Review of Griffin and Woodworth’s ‘9/11 Unmasked’ by Dick Lowman, P.E (Professional Engineer) posted on Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth.

• The 9/11 Consensus Points: Factual Evidence Contradicts the 9/11 Story by 9/11 Consensus Panel (of experts) from Consensus 9/11

Bolsonaro: A monster engineered by our media

Click here to access article by Jonathan Cook from his blog.

I like this post better than yesterday's post by Pepe Escobar, the independent Brazilian journalist. Although both are honest reporters and both have been influenced by capitalist propaganda like we have been all their/our lives, Cook has made more progress to break free of this mind-hobbling brainwashing and attain more insight on political issues. The only problem I have with Cook is that he refuses to name the system that delivers the wealth (and power) to "plutocrats" (capitalists). I strenuously object to statements like this when Cook refers to "plutocrats":

They prefer the social divisions fueled by neo-fascists like Bolsonaro, divisions that protect their wealth and privilege, over the unifying message of a socialist who wants to curtail class privilege, the real basis of the elite’s power.

Socialism means to me that we end the system of capitalism which delivers so much power via wealth to ruling classes. Likewise, I insist that class structured societies must totally disappear, not "to curtail class privilege". Why should some people have more power and privileges than others--except for individuals on a temporary basis and with the consent of people?

The fundamental problem is not about the accumulation of wealth, because wealth is power and that is what our ruling class desires most of all. Their next concern is the preservation of the system of capitalism which has delivered to them so much of their wealth which, in turn, provides them with overwhelming power. What's the use of gaining more wealth after one gathers around $1 million dollars a year? Few of them could spend all that money in a year if they had to. I could not. Most of the "plutocrats" acquire more than a billion (that is a 1000 million) dollars every year, and a few considerably more.

It Is a New Era, but China’s Balancing Act Will Fail in the Middle East

Click here to access article by Ramzy Baroud from The Palestine Chronicle.

Although ties between Washington and Tel Aviv are stronger than ever, Israeli leaders are aware of a vastly changing political landscape. The US’ political turmoil and the global power realignment – which is on full display in the Middle East – indicate that a new era is, indeed, in the making.

This is the perfect segue to articles I've recently posted (here and here), and I still haven't decided whether China's long term strategy is the correct one. On the pro side they seem to be succeeding in their very careful ascent in the global power struggle in which they ostensibly wish to promote a multilateral world that is pitted against the US capitalist Empire's ambition to rule the world. On the negative side I don't see a future in the long-term for human inhabitants in the Earth's increasingly fragile habitat that supports human life. Of course, as always, you must decide for yourself using your critical thinking skills and understanding of what is going on in the world.

Baroud appears to see the issue only in terms of a power struggle: who will dominate the world--China or the USA? Because this strategy largely ignores the apartheid that Palestinians endure, he sees it as immoral. 

Welcome to the Jungle

Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar, the well traveled independent Brazilian journalist, posted on Corsortium News.  

Although I've seen a number of article bemoaning the election of a fascist as president of Brazil, I've not posted any articles until this one by a journalist who I admire so much.

It’s darkness at the break of (tropical) high noon.

Jean Baudrillard once defined Brazil as “the chlorophyll of our planet”. And yet a land vastly associated worldwide with the soft power of creative joie de vivre has elected a fascist for president.

He goes on to present data that suggest the election was rigged and other methods used such as social media, fake reports in media, and threats--most of which are very familiar to us in the USA--to explain the outcome.

The Long Game and Its Contradictions

Click here to access article by Leo He Zhao posted on The Greanville Post. 

This is an important article by an author who attempts to explain the Chinese version of socialism which is somewhat different from the usual Marxist interpretation. I think it accurately reflects the actual policies of the Chinese government and its leadership, the Chinese Communist Party. See what you think. (I also learned two new words: communization (US spelling) and propertarianism.)

China has overcome colonial oppression, emerged from “100 years of humiliation”, and is now developing its power on the world stage. Together and along with other formerly colonised nations, through mutually beneficial relationships and a policy of peaceful co-existence, China is building alliances based on strength, to displace Western hegemony, and counter capitalist imperialism, clearing the path toward global communism.

This long term strategy, or at least its first phase, hinges not on orthodox Marxist class struggle, but on quasi-Confucian social harmony, toward the restructuring of global trade.

The Silk Road and Israël

Click here to access article by Thierry Meyssan, a French independent geopolitical analyst, from his blog. 

This is a very interesting report on the latest Chinese moves to secure trade routes in the Middle East to bolster their new Silk Road project, particularly in Israel. If the author is correct, the Chinese strategists using their "win-win" strategy with a long-range view, first promoted by Deng Xiaoping in the 1970s, have completely outfoxed the leaders of the US-led capitalist Empire. And if he is correct, these new developments must be causing the secretive Empire leaders conniptions (def.).

(I was amazed at the length of time it took me to find a link to an article that recognized Deng Xiaoping as the first promoter of this Chinese strategy. I think it is another illustration of the profound ignorance of Westerners regarding Chinese history.)

The US pretends to support the independence of Syria and Iraq

Click here to access article by Elijah J. Magnier, an independent journalist from Kuwait (if my memory serves me correctly). 

I regard this independent journalist as very reliable as a source of reports about the ongoing strife in the Middle East. No one is perfect, but from my daily observations of reports from other informed sources, I believe his reports are the best one can reasonably expect from any individual journalist.

In this piece he reports on statements by US diplomat Bert (sic) Brett H. McGurk at a recent meeting of the Institute for Strategic Studies, a British based "think tank", in Manama, Bahrain. One never knows if such statements are made because the speaker believes them or because he is "following orders" from his superiors, the ultimate ones in the authority hierarchy being the ruling class of the US-led capitalist Empire. Magnier writes:

The US is mustering all its diplomacy against Iran in preparation for unilateral implementation of full sanctions against the Islamic Republic, expected on the fourth of November. This is why McGurk is attacking Iran in Syria and Iran.

(If you have forgotten the fairly recent history of events in Bahrain, a colony of the US Empire, do a search using the search engines on the right-hand side of my website to remind you.)

Brave New Money

I just received two articles by Norbert Häring, a German economist and business journalist, who is realistically worried about the appearance of very convenient money either issued by central banks, which are owned and operated by the ruling class of capitalists, or issued by the new "socialist" governments of China and North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea).

I've watched the slow deterioration of US money (coin money is becoming nearly worthless) and the convenience offered by credit and debit cards which are now used with increasing frequency by ordinary people. They are certainly convenient, but this convenience comes with total control either by central bankers, top financial capitalists who are key players in the Deep State, or governments that are controlled by bureaucracies. Such control over an essential part of our lives is potentially extremely dangerous, and there is no reason to believe that ruling classes (especially those controlled by financial capitalists who already control capitalist economies) will not use this power to exercise more control and exploitation of ordinary people. 

Once again, we need to be aware that it is now essential (not merely desirable) that we create and implement bottom-up authority structures to prevent this abuse and all other abuses by powerful classes who either control nations with their extreme wealth behind fake "democratic" institutions, or by the new self-serving bureaucratic classes of "socialist" governments like we see in China and North Korea. They both make use of top-down authority methods to control their governments and societies. Only bottom-up authority power structures can make these new electronic forms of money a true convenience, and not a new form of oppression.

Part 1: PayPal, WeChat, Amazon Go - A Totalitarian World Currency in the Making 

Part 2: Brave New Money

The Root Problem 10,000 BC (leaflet [& a link to a video])

Click here to access article by Eric Schechter from his blog Eric's Rants and Videos. 

I couldn't agree with his perspective more, and he express it so well--much better than I can. 

Be sure to click on, and view, his video.

Maduro Apologizes to the Community Councils – Is This the Real Thing?

Click here to access article by Bruce Lerro from Planning Beyond Capitalism.

Because he asks a very significant question--"is this the real thing?", I am posting this brief article on the above website which is based on a longer report posted on Venezuelanalysis. 

I was dismayed following my two week visit to Venezuela in 2005 by what I saw there which has been confirmed by subsequent events. It seems that leaders, how ever radical they are to begin with, cannot get over the allure of power that all leaders since recorded history (the last roughly 2% of the 200,000 years of human existence) are drawn to. Hugo Chavez talked a lot about the community councils as a revolutionary core of the Bolivarian Revolution but he went on to simply use them as his political power base. Having said that, I admit that it's not for me to judge any revolutionary struggle because I don't know all of the powerful forces they confront which are usually backed by the all-powerful US Empire. 

The Putin-Nazi-Terrorist-O-Matic

Click here to access article by C. J. Hopkins from The Unz Review.

Hopkins through the use of satire and more serious writing is trying to understand what is going with our masters in the ruling class which I believe are now totally insane. 

We are experiencing a similarly historic ideological readjustment at the moment, which I’ve been trying to capture (satirically and more seriously) since it began in the summer of 2016. The official “War on Terror” narrative (and people’s understanding of what “terrorism” is) is being gradually redefined and expanded to encompass any and all forms of “extremism” (i.e., whatever the ruling classes decide is “extremism”). Mass murder, battery, racist graffiti, opposing the spread of global capitalism, saying nasty things about Soros, tattooing your forehead with a giant Swastika, using the words “globalism,” “sovereignty,” and so on … the distinctions are rapidly disappearing.

Yes, their grasp of reality is slipping away amidst all their lies and deceptions. They have had such a long streak of successes that apparently their one defeat in Syria has tipped them over the edge into insanity. They are deeply disturbed by what is becoming apparent to all of us that their global domination project known to early imperialists as the "American Century" and to later imperialists like Bush Sr. (George H. W. Bush) who began babbling about a "New World Order". Bush Sr. thought that the collapse of the former Soviet Union meant that the dream of all our ruling class masters was near: the total dominance of the world by the US-led (trans-nationalist) capitalist Empire which is the ultimate high of all power addicts. 

However, as the 21st century neared, the US ruling class saw that the American people needed some creative prompting for them to be fully engaged with them in this delusion. Thus, they instigated various propaganda projects to spur us into action to help them fully realize this delusion and to silence those malcontents who objected. 

The false-flag 9/11 project was masterfully pulled off, and as they say, "the rest is history" of unending wars in which they toppled one nation after another. However, this delusion along with widespread dissent, a bankrupt nation, the rise of China and Russia and other powerful independent nations, and finally culminating in their defeat in Syria has totally unhinged them. This, for me, explains the strange hysterical propaganda themes that they are promoting through their media corporations. Don't you think it is time to take away all their powerful weapons along with their ownership of all the wealth that we working people created? Otherwise I think that they will be the death of all of us.

Good satire to help you pass the day

I borrowed these videos from two comedy shows via YouTube to amuse you and lighten your day. They are contemporary satire at its best. But let's be frank about reality: few people seem to care enough to fight back effectively by creating a revolutionary movement. Well, if we can't beat 'em, we might as well laugh at them in an effort to hide our sorrows behind good satire. (In the following video, it's amazing that the voice of Bernie sounds so much like the real thing--Sen. Bernie Sanders.)

Other recommended articles for Saturday, October 27, 2018

• Can capitalists afford recovery? A 2018 update (2 charts) by Shimshon Bichler and Jonathan Nitzan from Real-World Economic Review Blog.

• US Imperialism and the Central American Exodus by Ángel Guerra Cabrera from Internationalist 360°.

• Saudi Arabia rejects Erdogan’s demands to extradite 18 suspects in Khashoggi’s murder to Turkey from AMN (Al-Masdar Al-‘Arabi--The Arab Source)

OPINION: CBS’s & NPR’s Rabidly False ‘News’ About the Khashoggi Case

Click here to access article by Eric Zuesse posted on Washington's Blog. (Edited at 3:40 PM to add greater clarity.)

Zuesse is one of the best of analysts who discerns and writes about the lies perpetrated by the ruling class of capitalists--only he doesn't put it that way. He, like many others, identifies the ruling class using some other term. He prefers "aristocrats", a term borrowed from the feudalism. Many writers use other rather vacuous terms such as the "powers that be", or "the elite", "the deciders" (a favorite of Bush Jr.), etc. The Cambridge website defines the concept "powers that be" as "People in charge of or controlling other people" which is probably the most accurate and specific definition when applied to powerful people who rule over entire societies. Most contemporary writers on the subject demonstrate either an ignorance about who are the real controllers, or wish to avoid using the accurate term "capitalists" for various reasons. Some ideologues of capitalism consciously avoid using the term to distract attention away from the system whose legitimacy is increasingly being questioned.

Joseph Stiglitz whose article I recently posted entitled "The American Economy Is Rigged: And what we can do about it" is an example, I think, of the latter. He only uses "American economy" and nowhere does he identify it as a capitalist economy. Because Stiglitz is a well-paid ideologue of the ruling capitalist class, he wants to avoid using the term to, in effect, disappear the concept. He and all the other ideologues have been very successful at disappearing the term. Stiglitz in his article recognized the power of wealth but chose to ignore its implications, and assured his readers that reforms could be enacted to curb the abuses of the overwhelming power of wealth in private hands that we see today.

Political scientists have documented the ways in which money influences politics in certain political systems, converting higher economic inequality into greater political inequality. Political inequality, in its turn, gives rise to more economic inequality as the rich use their political power to shape the rules of the game in ways that favor them—for instance, by softening antitrust laws and weakening unions.

I don't know about Zuesse, but I give him the benefit of doubt by assuming that he has been trained to overlook the man-made system of capitalism and regards it as essentially a fact of nature. This is common among writers today whose understanding of the concept was handed down by Christian authorities and their Bible who argue that authorities are ordained by God. Of course this is false. Such nonsense justified the rule of feudal authorities. This is only another illustration of how ruling classes use every institution (in this case the religious establishment) to justify their rule. Ruling classes are rooted in history dating back to the first agriculture settlements when military chieftains took by force wealth created by others, and one ruling class succeeded the previous one down through history to what we see today with capitalist ruling classes and their exploitation of ordinary people.

Initially ruling capitalist classes legitimatized their rule through their ideology of liberalism. This ideology, like all ruling class ideologies, sought to justify the rule of capitalists in the early era of their rule. This ideology sanctified the "ownership" of property which was grafted onto the inheritance rules of feudalism. This was especially important when industrialization brought workers together in one place or facility to perform work. The place was "owned" by private individuals and the wealth generated by the workers was "owned" by the owners of the facility. The workers were simply rented and were known as wage workers who had no power over the work they performed or how it was performed. They were essentially wage slaves. Over time capitalists extended this concept over ideas and images--anything that could be used as a commodity to generate wealth. 

This class gradually appropriated sufficient wealth to enable them through the power of wealth to take over control from feudal rulers (monarchs and aristocrats) in various European countries starting in the 17th century in Britain. And the rest is history (of wars, social strife, poverty and riches, etc). But nowadays, they have abandoned the use of this ideology in favor of simply disappearing the concept of capitalism. It has now become a fixture of reality or a fact of nature. The term "liberalism" is now used most often to refer only to the remnants of classical capitalism that was used to rally the peasants to their struggle against the feudal authorities: the promises of fraternity, liberty, equality have largely morphed into vague notions of liberty, equality of opportunity, democracy, secularism, gender equality, racial equality, internationalism, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of religion.

I applaud Zuesse's many fine articles that reveal so many lies by our masters in the capitalist class, but I wish he wouldn't identify them as "aristocrats". He and others like him must begin to explore the capitalist system and examine how it leads to lies, wars, extreme inequality, fascism, and an ongoing assault on our ecosystem which threatens human existence.

Some predictions about the latest ruling class strategies to get rid of Trump

by Ron Horn

I occasionally watch mainstream media to find out what our capitalist masters are saying to Americans. It is no secret to anyone paying attention that our masters want to get rid of Trump. It appears to me that their preferred way is to impeach and remove him from his office, and they need a Democratic Party majority in Congress to do this. (They wouldn't hesitate to assassinate him, like Jack Kennedy and his brother Robert if he was not presently useful for their purposes.) Hence, they are pursuing various strategies to elect Democratic (especially women because they are currently fashionable) candidates in the midterm elections scheduled for next month. Although I, or anyone, cannot know for certain, some of the latest strategies seem so obvious to me that I simply can't resist to point them out as methods to attain the removal of Trump by the ruling class . 

In addition to the gross bias of mainstream media against Trump, I am referring to the current semi-crash in the stock market and the latest mail-bombs that Democratic leaders have received in the past few days. For me, these seem such obvious attempts to have Democratic candidates elected in the November elections. Thus, I predict two things will happen: the stock market, although the economy rests on very tenuous or unstable foundations, it will pick up after the elections because our masters have a great deal of control over it; secondly, the FBI will never solve who was sending these mail-bombs simply because agents employed by our masters did it. (Need I predict that our masters will succeed in their attempt to elect a majority of Democrats?) So stay tuned and aware to find out if these are just wacky notions of some disgruntled, leftist blogger. I will again revisit these predictions on November 15th to evaluate my predictions. (And, as ever, I welcome comments.)

Who profits from the end of the mid-range nuclear treaty?

Click here to access article by Pepe Escobar from Asia Times. 

Escobar explains why the ending the Intermediate-range Nuclear-Forces Treaty is very disturbing to the US Empire's European components which could further alienate their role as allies. Once again we see Trump's administration bumbling and dangerous qualities as he tries to "Make America Great Again". But then, look at the choices Americans had in the last "democratic" election: the vigorous and sophisticated aggressive foreign policies of a Hillary Clinton administration or the bumbling administration of a real estate tycoon. 

Also, you might be interested in an article related to this topic entitled "US Dream of Eurasian Domination Through New ‘Containment Strategy’" by Salman Rafi Sheikh from New Eastern Outlook.

Blockading Venezuela: The Linchpin of the US Strategy of Aggression

Click here to access article by Anthony Brenner from Venezuelanalysis.

This article gives you some examples of how US economic warfare can wreck havoc on struggling societies and their most vulnerable citizens. This weapon has been used by the US throughout most of the post-WWII years in place of outright invasion of countries especially in Latin America that was favored in the years before WWII. Now that the US Empire is facing serious opposition to the Empire's imperialist policies from countries like Russia, China, Iran, and to a lesser extent with many other countries, we see this weapon used by the masters of the Empire against many countries. The weaker ones like Venezuela, especially its poorer citizens, suffer the most.

Revealing examples are emerging of the cumulative impact that US sanctions against Venezuela are having on the Venezuelan people in the field of health, one of the key priorities of the Bolivarian revolution.

Why are thousands of Hondurans walking towards the US border?

Click here to access article by Zoe PC from Peoples Dispatch. 

The author provides some reasons why. If you are not aware of the many ways that the USA uses Central America as playgrounds for corporations to plunder, you are not at fault. Corporate media rarely gives you accurate news about the world we live in, and especially about foreign countries. 

Nearly 7,000 people are part of the caravan that began early last week. The reasons for their flight are diverse but most of them have to do with the absence of dignified living conditions in Honduras. People are unable to access education, health care and employment, and violence is ubiquitous. The situation has drastically worsened in the last decade with the coup d’etat, imposition of the dictatorship and the illegal reelection of Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH). Many have said that the thousands of Hondurans headed towards the United States border are not in search of the ‘American dream’ but are rather fleeing the Honduran nightmare.

The only criticism I have is that the article over emphasizes the policies of Donald Trump. He is only the latest incarnation of an Empire official leader whose assignment by the US ruling capitalist class is to lie about US imperial activities in Central America. However, with Trump it is hard to tell whether his statements and policies are based on ignorance or knowing lies.

I, For One, Welcome Our New Robot Overlords…

In the following video James Corbett introduces us (with tongue in cheek) to the cutsy (def.) robots that our masters are presenting to us as being very helpful to us in our lives. Obviously, Corbett doesn't trust our masters and their seductive robots. See what you think. (You can access the video directly from Corbett's website here.) In the introduction to this video he becomes more serious and warns us about these new robots and their likely uses.

…and so should you! Just kidding. Today we explore the cute and cuddly side of the propaganda push to normalize robots in our everyday life…and the darker side of this phenomenon that they’re trying to distract us from.

Sciences of inequality

Click here to access article by David Ruccio from Real-World Economics Review Blog. 

Ruccio, a left economist, first introduces data showing gross inequality in the USA, and then provides his answer to Joseph Stiglitz's article that was carried in Scientific American and was posted yesterday in this blog with my commentary.

... what are the economics behind the kind of degrading and destructive inequality we’ve been witnessing in the United States in recent decades? For that, Scientific American turned to Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz for an explanation. Readers of this blog will be on familiar ground. As I’ve explained before (e.g., here), Stiglitz criticizes the “fictional narrative” of neoclassical economics, according to which everyone gets what they deserve through markets (which “may at one time have assuaged the guilt of those at the top and persuaded everyone else to accept this sorry state of affairs”), and offers an alternative explanation ....

The American Economy Is Rigged: And what we can do about it

Click here to access article by Joseph E. Stiglitz from Scientific American. 

This article is an attempt to deal ideologically with the increasing inequality that has become so apparent in the USA. Because it is in a publication that scientists read, it represents an attempt to keep upper-middle class scientists, who are indispensable for the operation of the capitalist system, loyal to the US capitalist ruling class and supporting its policies. He assures the scientists that nothing is basically wrong with the "American system" (he never mentions capitalism) that can't be fixed by increasing regulations on corporations and other measures. Along the way he manages to dispose rather casually the study by Thomas Piketty, a prominent French sociologist, who discovered (which most conscious people were already aware of) ...

... that the rate of capital return in developed countries is persistently greater than the rate of economic growth, and that this will cause wealth inequality to increase in the future.

This was embarrassing to all capitalist ideologues, and attempts have been made to cover this dirty secret from spreading throughout the advanced capitalist countries. What particularly amazed me is that Stiglitz acknowledges the correlation of economic power with that of political power.

Political scientists have documented the ways in which money influences politics in certain political systems, converting higher economic inequality into greater political inequality. Political inequality, in its turn, gives rise to more economic inequality as the rich use their political power to shape the rules of the game in ways that favor them—for instance, by softening antitrust laws and weakening unions.

Somehow he manages to convince himself while trying to convince others that this can be solved within the capitalist system (which he never mentions). He assures us and the scientists that we can somehow fix this through a "democratic political awakening" and progressive legislation. He acknowledges that "chief executives [he never mentions financiers who stash their hoarded wealth in off-shore, secret bank accounts] in the U.S. ... compensate themselves 361 times more than the average worker", but somehow workers can overcome this power discrepancy. He provides a list of unrealistic progressive legislation that we can support to overcome this slide to gross inequality. It all seems like he is whistling in the dark to ward off the doubts and fears about where this country and people are headed.

American War Declaration

Click here to access article by Patrick Armstrong from Strategic Culture Foundation.

Wess Mitchell, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs in the US State Department, gave a remarkable presentation to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on 21 August 2018. Titled "US Strategy Towards the Russian Federation" it ostensibly lays out the US reaction to Russia's continuing aggression, hostility, interference and so forth.

Armstrong reports on the real aggressive statement of Mitchell that was omitted in corporate media to present a radically different impression. This is typical of news coverage by corporate media who are owned and controlled by the ruling class. To thoroughly understand the present aggressive policies of the US Deep State, one must understand the long history of imperial ambitions of the ruling US capitalist class.

After the Nazi's conquered much of Europe, the fascistic sector of American capitalists saw the opportunity in the future for a US Empire. The well connected Henry Luce coded this in a masterpiece of propaganda as the "American Century" which was published in Life Magazine in February 1941. This was when the American fascists had long hid their obscene ambitions under the skirt of "isolationism" in the run-up of WWII. They admired and supported the Third Reich which had already run over much of Europe and were about to launch their invasion of the Soviet Union. They soon saw a grand opportunity to establish their own US Empire (which would absorb the remnants of the British Empire) among the ruins of a clash between Germany and the Soviet Union--and of course there are always profits to be made from war production.

The American fascist-capitalists in the deep state at the time and their British counterparts, led by Winston Churchill, kept Allied forces from launching any invasion of Europe until the Soviet army had broken the back of the Nazi forces at Stalingrad in early 1943 and were subsequently forced to rapidly retreat. Thus, their geopolitical vision was largely correct except for the enormous power accrued to the Soviet Union at the end of WWII (August 1945). Hence, the need for a Cold War which was promptly launched in a speech by Winston Churchill (who had a long obsessive hatred for the Soviets) in March of 1946 in Fulton, Missouri. (In fact, Churchill promoted a plan for an invasion of the Soviet Union that was never carried out.)

The author of this article largely understated the important role of a Rockfeller-promoted Zbigniew Brzezinski, a descendant of an old aristocratic family in Poland, who argued the concept of the necessity to dominate Eurasia in order to rule the world. This thinking is likely the reason why the US has stayed so long as a military force waging war in Afghanistan.

Some interesting commentaries and perspectives on the assassination of Khashoggi

• 'Mohammad bin Salman Must Go’, but US-Saudi Ties Are Here to Stay by Federico Pieraccini from Strategic Culture Foundation.

•  Why the Surprise? Saudi Arabia Has Always Engaged in Murder by Kurt Nimmo from Global Research.

• Syria’s UN Rep. Jaafari Puts Saudi Arabia in Its Place from 21st Century Wire.

• The Khashoggi Murder -- Worse Than a Crime, a Mistake by Eric Margolis from Unz Review.

Scientists Warn the UN of Capitalism's Imminent Demise

Click here to access article by Nafeez Ahmed posted on Motherboard. (Edited for greater clarity on Sunday, October 21st at 7:30 AM CT.)

Capitalism as we know it is over. So suggests a new report commissioned by a group of scientists appointed by the UN Secretary-General. The main reason? We’re transitioning rapidly to a radically different global economy, due to our increasingly unsustainable exploitation of the planet’s environmental resources.

Climate change and species extinctions are accelerating even as societies are experiencing rising inequality, unemployment, slow economic growth, rising debt levels, and impotent governments. Contrary to the way policymakers usually think about these problems, the new report says that these are not really separate crises at all.

Rather, these crises are part of the same fundamental transition to a new era characterized by inefficient fossil fuel production and the escalating costs of climate change. Conventional capitalist economic thinking can no longer explain, predict, or solve the workings of the global economy in this new age, the paper says.

This report by Ahmed accurately reflects the tone and substance of the report (which I read) issued by the UN appointed scientists from Finland. Ahmed also provides other sources to corroborate the findings of the Finish scientists--notice especially one source who is a famous capitalist. 

I noticed that both Ahmed's and the scientists' report were careful to avoid any suggestion that a new social-economic system might be a totally different system from capitalism. Ahmed's statements provides some examples: "Capitalism as we know it is over" and "Whether or not the system that emerges still comprises a form of capitalism is ultimately a semantic question. It depends on how you define capitalism." (As if it were difficult to define capitalism.) Nowhere is the word "socialism" used--simply because it is verboten by capitalist authorities. And there seems to be no known alternative system as claimed by the Finnish scientist who remarked "It can be safely said that no widely applicable economic models have been developed specifically for the upcoming era." Need I argue that no "widely applicable economic models" have been permitted by our capitalist masters?

It will be up to the "wretched of the earth" to decide if capitalism will be destroyed and what system will be substituted for it. We simply cannot rely on the existing capitalist ruling classes, who are thoroughly addicted to the power and wealth that capitalism delivers to them. They are hopeless junkies who are unable to ever solve this dilemma. This will only be possible if the wretched of the Earth become aware that their very existence and survival will depend on this change. 

Given the fact that the capitalist ruling classes have all the means at their command to insure this consciousness does not happen, I don't think it is realistic to imagine that such an awareness will ever arise, or if it does, it will be too late for any chance of human survival. There is a certain justice to this given that humans have caused the extinction of so many other species.

Caught In The Cross Hairs – Media Lens And The Mystery Of The Wikipedia Editor

Click here to access article by the editor of Media Lens, a British website.

I have occasionally noticed this phenomenon which I suspect is an organized campaign to discredit activist bloggers and writers who are in political opposition to the policies and actions of the US-led Empire and to otherwise distort the information provided by Wikipedia. For example, see this post from Clarity of Signal regarding the Wikipedia entry on the White Helmets.

Also, you might be interested in an article entitled "Time to ditch Wikipedia?" regarding this obviously subversive Wikipedia editor or organization that posts edits of Wikipedia under the name of "Philip Cross".

Saudi stops funding terror in Syria as the Arab League prepares to resume ties with Damascus--the time is not yet ripe for retaking Idlib

Click here to access article by Elijah J Magnier, an independent Kuwaiti journalist (if my memory serves me correctly) with very good sources. 

This will be a test of the expert author's take on the situation in Syria. I will follow up sometime in the future to evaluate his geopolitical forecast. 

If he is correct, Saudi Arabia has decided to abandon support for their jihadists, most of whom came from their prisons; meanwhile Syria, Russia, Turkey, and Iran have decided to wait for the jihadists to deteriorate from the lack of support; and the US-backed Kurdish forces will finally realize that the US can't be relied upon to serve their interests and the US forces will finally leave Syria. Other members of the Arab league will recognize this new political reality and will re-establish ties with Syria. On the other hand, US strategists have extensive experience in creating chaos and will, in my opinion, likely try to stir up more chaos to thwart this scenario. Magnier's geopolitical take on the present situation in Syria seems so sensible, but it also seems too good to be true.

If you are seriously interested in what is going on in the US-backed Kurdish controlled areas of Syria, you might be interested in reading an interview conducted by Sarah Abed, an independent journalist, with Syrian activist and nationalist Nidal Rahawi. See part 1 here, and part 2 here.

Jamal Khashoggi: Where The Road to Damascus & The Path to 9/11 Converge

Click here to access article by Kristen Breitweiser posted on Washington's Blog.

Bernhard, a geopolitical investigative expert, on his blog Moon of Alabama has been following the incident of Khashoggi's assassination closely (see his latest report). Now we see today on Washington's Blog that an activist for 9/11 victims, who is also a victim, has thoroughly investigated this event to conclude that it raises so many questions, convinced that we cannot take US officials words at face value, and suggests some sort of desperate coverup of 9/11.

In a time when news lasts about as long as a minute, why has the story of Jamal Khashoggi dominated headlines for more than a week? Was Jamal Khashoggi ever questioned by the FBI at any time before or after the 9/11 attacks? If not, why not? Was Jamal Khashoggi ever employed by the CIA? Was Jamal Khashoggi ever deemed an asset of the CIA? When did Jamal’s employment for Saudi intelligence come to an end? Was Jamal Khashoggi a joint asset between the GIA [??] and the CIA? Did Jamal Khashoggi ever have any contact with the 9/11 hijackers or anyone in the support network of the 9/11 hijackers inside the United States? And, why did it take 15 Saudi assassins to kill Jamal Khashoggi? Doesn’t that seem a bit like overkill? And, is it just a coincidence that there were 15 Saudi hijackers on 9/11? Why would Jamal Khashoggi willingly go to the Saudi Consulate in Turkey—especially given his alleged sour relationship with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman? What would inspire him to go there? And what was the entreaty MBS allegedly made to Jamal more than one month ago about anyways? Was it made in earnest? What was Jamal Khashoggi really doing at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul? [GIA = Armed Islamic Group?]

Both investigations dove tell nicely with the theory that the US Deep State ordered their secret ("intelligence") services which colluded with Saudi Arabia and probably Israel to pull off history's greatest false-flag event in order to justify to the ever trusting US public the US Empire's campaign since then to topple one nation after another in the greater Middle East (although upset, Gen. Clark has been unable to overcome the many years of his indoctrination in Empire propaganda).

The trust deficit tearing apart our societies

Click here to access article by Jonathan Cook from his blog. 

Although this article is in reference to British politics and population, being that Britain in a major component of the US-led Empire makes it relevant to us also. And, indeed it is. Although we don't have any genuine significant leader-dissident like Corbyn, we do have a 99% that is divided between what Cook designates as "trusters" and "dissidents". As in Britain, the US ruling class (the "one percent") is desperately trying to prevent the spread of dissent among the 99%. Therefore, this insightful article is entirely relevant to we Americans.

We are arriving at a moment called a paradigm shift. That is when the cracks in a system become so obvious they can no longer be credibly denied. Those vested in the old system scream and shout, they buy themselves a little time with increasingly repressive measures, but the house is moments away from falling. The critical questions are who gets hurt when the structure tumbles, and who decides how it will be rebuilt.

The new paradigm is coming anyway. If we don’t choose it ourselves, the planet will for us. It could be an improvement, it could be a deterioration, it could be extinction, depending on how prepared we are for it and how violently those invested in the old system resist the loss of their power. If enough of us understand the need for discarding the broken system, the greater the hope that we can build something better from the ruins. 

Dissident Voices PURGED From Facebook & Twitter!

Lee Camp provides a very good rant on the latest censorship moves of social media that are owned by huge corporations are doing in collusion with the ruling class of the US-led Empire.

Settling The Khashoggi Case Is A Difficult Matter

Click here to access article by Bernhard from his blog Moon of Alabama. 

This expert geopolitical analyst admits that the political situation regarding the assassination of Saudi journalist Kashoggi is more complicated than first meets the eye.

While I earlier thought that the case would be settled rather sooner than later, I now expect the conflict to go on for weeks or months while collateral damage will accumulate around it.

This is because the Middle East power situation is very unstable, and such an incident could tip its re-orientation in any direction.

The real problem is that both sides, Erdogan and MbS, are extremely headstrong. For both men the issue is much bigger than the Khashoggi case. The conflict has historic, strategic and very personal dimensions. That makes it difficult to find a deal. 

Another article entitled "Did Saudis, CIA Fear Khashoggi 9/11 Bombshell?" by Finian Cunningham offers some insightful speculation as to why this assassination is generating so much concern among politicos of the US Empire and beyond.

IPCC: Was the scary report too conservative?

Click here to access article by Scott Waldman from E&E News [Energy & Environment News]

The U.N. climate report released this week had some stunning revelations, claiming that the 2020s could be one of humanity's last chances to avert devastating impacts.

But some say its authors were being too cautious.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report states in plain language that averting a climate crisis will require a wholesale reinvention of the global economy. By 2040, the report predicts, there could be global food shortages, the inundation of coastal cities and a refugee crisis unlike the world has ever seen. [my emphasis]

A number of scientists contend that the report wasn't strong enough and that it downplayed the full extent of the real threat.

The reality is that ordinary people, who are brainwashed to believe only the "authorities", don't read these reports, and mostly believe what their capitalist masters tell them via corporate media (and all their other institutions). What I wrote in yesterday's commentary is another illustration of this childish mentality:

The sad fact is that so many of us naively believed what we were told by adults in elementary schools and Sunday schools, and by our parents who were also steeped in capitalist propaganda since they were born. Later we were subject to this same indoctrination in movies and TV. Now many people find it hard to believe otherwise, to believe their own eyes and ears as our masters crank up their propaganda to new heights of deception and engage in censorship of information that counters their self-serving propaganda. A major problem for activists and independent thinkers is that those who uncritically accept this indoctrination are well rewarded by career opportunities in our master's corporations, government, academia, etc.

Environmental sustainability and the capitalist system are incompatible, but this glaring fact does not worry ordinary people because of their childish belief in their masters who are thoroughly addicted to the power and wealth that their system delivers to them. Like most addicts they prefer to have their supply of drugs than rather than life, and they don't care if the rest of us go down with them and the human species become extinct. 

Beyond Democracy [the best post of the past 30 days]

Click here to access article by Eric Schechter from The Greanville Post. 

This senior editor of The Greanville Post tells it like it is for those deluded individuals who still believe so many myths spread by our masters throughout their institutions.

“We’re in danger of losing our democracy!” is a warning cry I hear often. A variant is that “we lost our democracy gradually over the last few decades.” They’re both wrong. The truth is that we never had a democracy; we’re in danger of losing our illusion of democracy.

It's not hard to understand why, and he does in very simple terms. The sad fact is that so many of us naively believed what we were told by adults in elementary schools and Sunday schools, and by our parents who were also steeped in capitalist propaganda since they were born. Later we were subject to this same indoctrination in movies and TV. Now many people find it hard to believe otherwise, to believe their own eyes and ears as our masters crank up their propaganda to new heights of deception and engage in censorship of information that counters their self-serving propaganda. A major problem for activists and independent thinkers is that those who uncritically accept this indoctrination are well rewarded by career opportunities in our master's corporations, government, academia, etc.

Facebook carries out massive purge of oppositional pages

Click here to access article by Andre Damon from World Socialist Web Site.

In alliance with the state, Facebook and other social media companies are deciding what organizations constitute “well-developed networks” seeking to “manipulate” public opinion. Of course, this applies not to the mass media, which are engaged in constant government propaganda, but to oppositional groups. [my emphasis]

Showtime in America: Idiots’ Delight: A Quasi Review

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

Curtin can't get over his new discovery--that (nearly) everything is a lie in America. Judging by recent, and not so recent, events, I must agree with him. I keep wondering what the effects are from this "Showtime in America" on ordinary Americans.

... we are living in a time of unprecedented technological media mind manipulation difficult to penetrate. Harold Pinter called it “a tapestry of lies” in which facts don’t matter. What happened never happened; what never happened happened. It’s all about believability in the national media’s hypnotic show, whose purpose Russell Baker described 25 years ago as being to “provide a manageably small cast for a national sitcom, or soap opera, or docudrama, making it easy for media people to persuade themselves they are covering the news while mostly just entertaining us.”

The steady deteriorating relations between the USA and Saudi Arabia

by Ron Horn

I don't believe we should ignore the effects of the recent assassination of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Turkey. It may very well contribute significantly to the steady decline of relations between the US Empire and the feudal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the peril of both.

The ruling capitalist class of the USA and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) have long colluded with each other to protect each others interests: first in 1945, when FDR wanted USA's access to the richest oil deposits in the world; and the second iteration happened around 1974 with Kissinger's secret agreement with the King to effectively use the kingdom's oil to back the threatened dollar that had recently gone off the gold standard. Tyler Durden in 2016 provided an excellent summary of this sordid, mafia-like history. 

I've viewed with curiosity some of the recent statements by Trump which were critical of the Kingdom. Being a crass businessman, Trump in his blunt style only voiced what other ruling class figures, steeped in the skills of diplomacy, thought and said privately but wouldn't say publicly. Still, Mohammad bin Salman, the effective ruler of KSA (until the aging king dies), likely took his blunt remarks as deep insults (as is his style), and retaliated by killing one of Saudi Arabia's journalist-critics.

Thus, you should read this, this, this, this, and this to become informed about this potential historic pivot in relations between the two countries. On the other hand, Bernhard, expert geopolitical analyst at the Moon of Alabama, thinks because the alliance is of such importance to both countries the news of the incident will quickly disappear from the media and the conflicts will be handled secretly.

Deals will be made and the case will be buried. If the deals are good enough, several dozen billions will be required, the U.S. might even allow Mohammad bin Salman to stay in his position.

But [the aging elder] King Salman, or some Saudi citizens, may well find that the various crazy endeavors MbS tends to launch - the war on Yemen, the Qatar blockade, the Khashoggi assassination - are becoming way too costly for the country. A simple unlucky home accident could solve that problem.

I'm not so sure. In any case, it is important that you know about this sordid history.

Coming September 2019: The Anatomy of a Great Deception — Part 2!

Click here to access article and video that was sent to me by Richard Gage, AIA
Founder & CEO, Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth.

Here is your opportunity to help fund a second film by Dave Hooper about the greatest false-flag event in history and help to expose it as that. There are no limits--and I mean no limits--that our masters will go to to defend the benefits of their ruling class positions and their attacks against anyone or nation that stands in their way of access to their drugs of power and profits. I'm referring to the ruling, transnational, capitalist classes of the US-led Empire. 

Some of their worst deceptions in addition to their crime of 9/11 include the creation of a democratic facades of their governments whose war policies are always presented as motivated by humanitarian concerns, their successful attempts to evade taxes (and raise ours) with the establishment of offshore tax havens, and finally their use (or misuse) of our money that is issued by their privately owned central banks. The list of their deceptions and crimes against the overwhelming majority of humanity are endless--9/11 is only one of them. But if the American people can be convinced of this greatest false-flag event, there is no telling where they will go to question all the lies, deceptions, and crimes of our masters.

The Democrats and “Socialism”

Click here to access article by Carl E. Boggs from CounterPunch. 

This unbrainwashed, politically sane author reveals current politics as it is: a well managed politics combining the redefinition of words, promoting a typical welfare and reformist facade, and the backing of women candidates and people of color as a method to capitalize on the fashionable identity politics of today (see this, this, this, and this).  

Because I once wrote to a congressman from my district back in 2008, I've gotten on all the Democratic Party lists and have been inundated with promotional ads by them. (Hopefully now that I have unsubscribed from all their lists, I won't be bothered anymore.) Once again, those hard-working, distracted and entertained to death, and deep-in-debt Americans will be led by professional sheepherders in the ruling class's other party into their corrals of political delusions and finally, after the elections, into the capitalist slaughter house.

Articles recommended for Wednesday, October 10, 2018

• Climate of Fear: Global Warming Alarmists Intimidate Dissenting Scientists into Silence by Prof. Richard Lindzen from Global Research re-posted today from an article run in 2007. Note that this article was originally run in the Wall Street Journal on April 12, 2006.

I almost thought that Michel Chossudovsky, founder and editor of Global Research, switched his opposition to the phenomenon of global warming until today when I noticed this post. He consistently ran such posts up until about 2012. Thus, I concluded erroneously that he had changed his mind given all the scientific evidence and just plain common sense regarding global warming and climate destabilization: the trends for extreme weather, melting of the glaciers, wildfires, and other global warming events. Unfortunately not.

• UN report warns of catastrophic consequences of climate change within 20 years by Bryan Dyne from World Socialist Web Site.

Recommended articles for Tuesday, October 9, 2018

• IPCC says 1.5° will be bad and 2.0° will be far worse, calls for radical change NOW by Ian Angus from Climate & Capitalism. 

• Mainstream Journos Pissed As Saudi Clown Prince Nabs One Of Their Own by Bernhard from Moon of Alabama. Also, on the same subject: US-Saudi Relations Enter Unchartered Waters by Melkulangara BBhadrakumar from Strategic Culture Foundation.

• Future of Western Democracy Being Played Out in Brazil by Pepe Escobar from Consortium News. (Note: a much better title would be "Future of Western Fascism Being Played Out in Brazil.)

International relations: the calm before the storm?

Click here to access article by Thierry Meyssan from his blog VoltaireNet. 

(The translator erred--once again--in translating the French "destitution". It has not the same meaning in English. Example from the original article in French: "Les partisans de l’ancien ordre international misent sur un changement de majorité au Congrès et une destitution rapide du président Trump." See this and this. )

The author's basic thesis that events in Syria and elsewhere are largely suspended due to the wait for the results of the US midterm elections held in early November. This had a special resonance with me because I sensed that we were in an extended period of calm in international relations. Meyssan may be right. The thought occurred to me after reading this article that the Deep State, which has been focused on getting rid of Trump since he took office, may be awaiting their plans to put more anti-Trump candidates (Democratic Party) into the US Congress in order to make the impeachment of Trump much more likely. 

In general I think that this author has a sound geopolitical grasp of events in this vital Mid-East area, and in particular I was impressed with his knowledge of US strategies that have been pursued in Syria. One new motivation of these policies, which I hadn't thought of, was the disruption of the Belt and Road Initiative of China.

The three years of war that followed [the Russian military assistance] had other objectives - on the one hand, to create a new state straddling Iraq and Syria within the framework of the Cebrowski strategy, and, on the other, to use Daesh to cut the Silk Road that Xi Jinping’s China were seeking to reactivate - thus maintaining continental domination over the "Western" part.

True Revolution

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

I like much of what she writes. Although a change in consciousness by most people is essential for a successful revolution, those who have changed their consciousness should be engaged in planning for a revolution.

This would require a level of wisdom and insight that the majority of human beings simply do not possess right now. Right now, most people are very easily manipulated into advancing establishment interests by plutocrat-controlled media, and until that changes there will never be an effective and beneficial revolution. For that to change, humanity is going to have to shed its ubiquitous habit of creating mental egoic patterns which make us susceptible to manipulation via fear, greed, and herd mentality.

The doesn’t mean that the existing systems of capitalism and government aren’t going to have to change; of course they’ll have to change. But they’re not going to change unless we find a way to wake up from the deeply conditioned egoic patterns which are the norm in the world we were born into. We’ll keep repeating and repeating the same old patterns in whatever way we’ve been conditioned to until we either go the way of the dinosaur or find a way to transcend our conditioning.

Who Doesn’t Love Identity Politics?

Click here to access article by master satirist CJ Hopkins from his blog Consent Factory, Inc.

After so many years of the Deep State's use of identity politics to create a distraction from their war on US workers and their adventures abroad, I still welcome this belated satire. Their current social identity of choice are women. They are trying to use women's (often justifiable) grievances to promote their interests. Perhaps this was the tactic used by the Deep State as part of their ongoing vendetta against Trump and his nominee (Kavanaugh) for the Supreme Court. The Deep State's other party, the Democratic Party, has lined up a number of women candidates for government offices in the next election (Heads we lose, and tails we lose.).

The ruling classes love identity politics because they keep the working classes focused on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and so on, and not on the fact that they (i.e., the working classes) are, essentially, glorified indentured servants, who will spend the majority of their sentient existences laboring to benefit a ruling elite that would gladly butcher their entire families and sell their livers to hepatitic Saudi princes if they could get away with it. Dividing the working classes up into sub-groups according to race, ethnicity, and so on, and then pitting these sub-groups against each other, is extremely important to the ruling classes, who are, let’s remember, a tiny minority of intelligent but physically vulnerable parasites controlling the lives of the vast majority of human beings on the planet Earth, primarily by keeping them ignorant and confused.

I have mixed feelings about this exploitation of the use of social identity politics, I still like latter because it eliminates the isolation that many of these groups felt in the past, and they can no longer be used as scapegoats or pitted against each other as they have in the past. Even attempts at targeting Muslims by the ruling class has fizzled out. 

I have other criticisms. Hopkins overdoes the satire by writing that racists and fascists love it. To be sure, the Deep State has given them permission, even encouraged them, to hold rallies and ostentatious displays of racism to better distract us. But, this too is waning. He seems to suggest that truth is entirely relative depending upon which lens we use. Yes, that is an unfortunate fact of the nature of humans, but that isn't entirely true. We can succeed in discerning truth if we are determined to eliminate most biases and develop critical thinking skills. I disagree with his statement that "... this system (i.e., capitalism, not the U.S.A), being globally hegemonic, has no external enemies ....". Capitalism is not entirely hegemonic, and to the extent that it isn't, it leaves room for other systems to be developed. The antagonists of the US-led Empire have mostly mixed economies even though many have a rather pronounced capitalist sector.

India's U-Turn Destroys Trump's Anti-Chinese 'Quad' Strategy

Click here to access article by Bernhard from Moon of Alabama.

It seems that the US-led capitalist Empire is being besieged on every front: financially with skyrocketing government debt, obvious environmental threats, its rather desperate attempts to limit criticism of it s policies through censorship, and the backfiring efforts to wage economic warfare on key nations. The latter is what this article illustrates.

The new Indian deals with Russia, the statements from the Russia-India summit and the continued oil buying from Iran are huge defeats for the Trump administration's anti-China, anti-Russia and anti-Iran policies. Its global strategy to rescue the 'unilateral moment' for the U.S. has failed over India's recalcitrance.

It's not clear to me that this economic warfare strategy is entirely Trump's strategy. Economic warfare has along with military warfare (and military threats) have always been the main strategies (in addition to outright subversion) of the US Empire as it deals with its opponents. Trumps attempts are only more transparent. It seems that both of strategies are no longer functional in the capitalist Empire's pursuit of world dominance, and perhaps Chris Hedges is right that the Empire is now collapsing.

Articles that should not be missed on Sunday, October 7, 2018

• Washington vs Beijing: US Proxies Emerge Ahead of Thai Elections by Joseph Thomas from New Eastern Outlook.

• The new Silk route on rails by Nat South from A bird's eye view of the Vineyard. 

Although China-Europe rail freight may have a negative impact on air cargo, it will not significantly change for the foreseeable time the huge amounts of containers (TEUs) shifted by containerships. Some of sea-freight and a lot of airfreight might end on rail lines, depending on the location of the production of goods. Having said that, rail does offer a faster option than sea freight, an option that simply didn’t exist before 2010. Significantly, the rail option also usefully by-passes maritime chokepoints such as the Malacca Strait, Bab el Mandeb and the Suez Canal.