Whose Side is the CIA on?

Click here to access an interview with Douglas Valentine with an introduction by Kim Petersen posted on Dissident Voice. 

Valentine has contributed so much to reveal the criminal secrets of the CIA, and much of it can be accessed directly or indirectly in this article. It must be understood that the word "criminal" must be understood in the context of what ordinary people refer to as gross anti-social acts, but the concept doesn't apply to class structured nations in which a ruling class commit such crimes. A crime is always an official crime when it seriously offends the ruling class of any society. The CIA, like all government secret agencies, functions in complete secrecy to protect the interests of the ruling capitalist class (from domestic dissidents as well as foreign antagonists) who created them. Thus, they commit crimes (in the ordinary sense) with impunity.

I've always wondered how Valentine could get away with hoodwinking so many CIA officers into revealing such criminal activities. Valentine offers an explanation. He convinced CIA Director William E. Colby that he was on the side of the Empire because he had written a book about his father in WWII (The Hotel Tacloban), his conventional appearance, he was not seen as a journalist, didn't ask any direct questions regarding the dirty secrets of the CIA, and most importantly (in my view) because of the military chain of command in the CIA and because of the practice of compartmentalization (CIA agents were given only information that they needed to know to carry out their assignments).

Also I've always wondered how the CIA could have let him get away with reporting their dirty secrets without any reprisals (much less by losing his life). Because as Sen. Chuck Schumer stated, the CIA and other secret agencies that serve the ruling class "have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you". I've never read of any harm or threats that have come to Valentine. Of course, they have gone out of their way to insure that very few Americans have learned of his disclosures. 

Perhaps this is the major way that our masters control dissent and opposition in the USA: they prevent any information inimical to their interests from being picked up by the vast majority of Americans. Our masters have gained complete control over the spread of information. I offer my own experience as an example: I have written about a revolutionary strategy to overthrow the rule of the capitalist class, and I've suffered very few consequences except for one late night journey--no, doubt picked up through emails to my sister--when I was threatened with being run off the road, and was followed clear to my home. Because my website and comments have been read by a relatively few people, I don't represent any threat to them. And, I am retired thus that they cannot threaten my access to jobs. 

The answer to the question in the title, "Whose Side is the CIA On?", is simply "their side": that of the tiny ruling capitalist class that created them.

Bolivia - President Addresses General Debate, 73rd Session

Listen (below) to Evo Morales in his yesterday's speech to the UN General Assembly uploaded on YouTube (begin at 11:10m to skip his remarks about an issue with Chile) and compare it with the coverage given by US media corporations here, here, here, here, and here. Notice that these media corporations all frame his address as attacking Trump, not the criticism of capitalism and the consistent US Empire policies regarding human rights, huge military expenditures that only benefits corporations, the Empire's use of the IMF to put nations into debt, economic warfare against nations, and establishing military bases all over the globe. The only exception is Trump's withdrawing from the 2017 Paris Accords which were only an innocuous fig-leaf to hide the obscenity of capitalism's exploitation of nature.



Could it be that the media corporations' news coverage are politically controlled by some secret agency to insure that they cover the same event the same way in the interests of our masters variously described as "the powers that be" (god, I hate that vacuous expression!), "the ruling elite", the "aristocracy", or the more accurate "deep state"?

(I thank Caren, an activist, for alerting me to Morales' speech.)

Articles recommended for Wednesday, September 26, 2018

• The New York Times promotes the Democratic Socialists of America by Genevieve Leigh from World Socialist Web Site.

Is the ruling capitalist class promoting the Democratic Socialists of America party as the new sheepherder, replacing Bernie Sanders, to lead American sheep into one of their political corrals? The author's report suggests so.

The New York Times promotes the DSA because, far from posing a threat to the capitalist system, the DSA is a principal political instrument for the Democratic Party to block and divert a leftward movement of workers and young people. Those looking for genuine socialism, including workers and young people who have joined the DSA, should be advised that such a program will not come out of the pages of the bourgeois press.

• Why reform won’t work by Eric Schechter from The Greanville Post. 

This short and to-the-point essay is right on the mark about some fundamental insights: reform doesn't work when a system is basically flawed; we humans have forgotten that we took a wrong turn some 10,000 years ago in tolerating dominant and self-centered sociopaths; as a consequence we can't, or refuse to, see the way out of our psychological box.

• Trump delivers fascistic tirade at the United Nations by Bill Van Auken from World Socialist Web Site.

Being Julian Assange

Click here to access article by Suzie Dawson from Consortium News.

Dawson excoriates the attempts to discredit and ignore the valuable contributions that Julian Assange has made to protect whistleblowers and to reveal the truth about the Empire's foreign policies. And then she shames us and all who have turned their backs on Assange in his hour of desperate need. I didn't read all of this huge article, but it looks like a comprehensive defense of Assange and a ringing call for support of his liberty.

At the crux of the issue is a battle of authenticity versus falsehood, on a spectrum. With most of us sandwiched somewhere in between and WikiLeaks front and centre. Because WikiLeaks is the last available vestige of verifiable, unadulterated public truth.

That is why they are hated by those who fear the revelations WikiLeaks facilitates and why WikiLeaks’ public reputation is desecrated every day. It is why their every pillar of support is systematically undermined and why Julian Assange is being ever so slowly murdered in front of our eyes.

We, the people, are the last line of their defence. Part of protecting WikiLeaks – and ultimately ourselves – is to understand the relentless nature of the psyops employed against them; that the hardships inflicted upon them by the enemies of human progress are not just reputational or financial but physical; that for those waging this thankless war of truth on our behalf, this is a matter of life or death.

And that is why we must push back.

That is why we must tell the truth about them.

If Society Understood Sovereignty, It Would End Rape Culture, Imperialism, And Propaganda

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

She makes an insightful connection between rape and imperialism.

I bring up rape culture from time to time not just because it’s an inherently toxic dynamic which destroys lives and has impacted me personally, but because I see it as inseparable from the constant transgressions of powerful people who seek to undermine the sovereignty of entire populations and nations. I truly believe that if our culture had a better understanding of what sovereignty is and how it works, everyone from serial rapists to imperialists to mass media propagandists would lose the societal framework in which they operate.

Power, when you get right down to it, is ultimately about control.

Arctic thaw imperils climate goals

Click here to access article by Tim Radford from Climate News Network. 

Austrian researchers have bad news for those nations alarmed about climate change: the Arctic thaw means the chances that the world will exceed the global warming limit set by international agreement are high – and getting ever higher with every tiny shift in the planetary thermometer.

Warming in the Arctic is the fastest on the planet – and any warming will release ever more methane and other forms of stored carbon from the thawing permafrost.

The Suppression of Truth in the Land of Lies: An Oxymoron

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

It seems like it's all deception, secrecy, and censorship living in the heart of the US Empire, and Curtin's article only adds to that view. 

This is an appropriate tongue-in-cheek cynical read about how Amazon goes out of its way to make it difficult for you to buy this explosive book entitled 9/11 Unmasked: An International Review Panel Investigation by David Ray Griffin and Elizabeth Woodworth. Looking at the website at this moment reveals that a paperback edition is "Temporarily out of stock". Anyway, Curtin encourages you to buy it directly from the publisher.

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Also it may interest you to know about an ad for a book entitled How to Read Donald Duck by Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart originally published in 1971 that satirically attacked US propaganda, and which met with censorship both in Chile and USA, is once again available. So, get it while you can! (Thanks go to an activist for alerting me to this.)

Recommended articles (that I read) for Tuesday, September 25, 2018

• Damascus Trade Fair and Festival of the Cross Mark the Return of Peace to Much of Syria by independent Canadian journalist Eva Bartlett who recently visited Syria. There is so much in this article--including videos and interviews--that demonstrates that something like peaceful conditions have returned to war-torn Syria that has been fighting off regime change by the US Empire and its allies (like Saudi Arabia, Israel, and earlier Turkey) for the past seven years. This was posted on Mint Press News, an independent media organization based in Minneapolis.

• Iran Maneuvers to “Contain the US” in Syria by Salman Rafi Sheikh from New Eastern Outlook.

I think the author is spot-on with his observation about Iran's exploiting the various factions of the Kurds as a weapon to undermine the US's use of the SDF (formerly the YPG, a Kurdish nationalist group that wanted their own territory inside Syria (and possibly joining the Iraqi Kurds). (By the way, the very name of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) was instigated by a US Commander Raymond “Tony” Thomas of US Special Forces in Syria--see his remarks beginning at 25:10m in his talk at the Aspen Institute in July of 2017.)

Apart from building pressure on the US through a coordinated effort of Russia and Turkey, Iran can do other things as well. Not only can it exploit divisions among the Kurds, but also incite anti-American sentiments in the SDF-controlled areas and thus increase pressure on the US forces to leave the region, thus building an effective deterrent to the US plans of opening new fronts, particularly through Israel, against Iran in the Middle East.

• Here comes the 30-year trade war by Pepe Escobar from Asia Times.

Will Fed Engineer Next Crash to Topple Trump?

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

I've been thinking about exactly the same question. 

Contrary to all the superstitious pundits who have expressed concerns about an imminent economic collapse based primarily on the 10th anniversary of the 2008 crisis, I've wondered whether the Deep State (top financiers primarily ensconced in the privately owned Fed along with some top corporate leaders and Zionists--no, it is not synonymous with the CIA, NSA, FBI, etc: these are merely secretive instruments of the Deep State) would go to the extent of engineering an economic collapse as a sure-fire way of getting rid of Trump in the 2020 presidential election if they don't succeed earlier. Because of the inherent instability of capitalism, and especially given the astronomical levels of debt engineered to keep the system going in the USA and its Empire, an economic crash will happen sooner or later. It would be very beneficial for our masters if they could blame it entirely on Trump.

While it is not at all clear that rising Fed interest rates will trigger a stock market crash in time for the November mid-term elections, the stage is clearly set for the Fed to put the US economy into a severe recession or depression by the time of the 2020 elections. That would finish the Trump presidency should the Powers That Be decide another option is more useful to their global power agenda.

“We won’t be able to call it a recession, it’s going to be worse than the Great Depression,” said Peter Schiff, fund manager who anticipated the 2007 sub-prime crash.

Ten years on, the crisis of global capitalism never really ended

Click here to access article by Jerome Roos from Roar.

Although 700 billion dollar bailout was necessary by our treasury in the immediate crisis, in the long term it hardly made a dent in this "recovery". Forbes magazine puts the final bill at $16.8 trillion. Because our masters always lie to cover up their crimes, who knows how much they have bilked us?

I especially like Roos's explanation about how the ruling class coped with the financial meltdown of 2008 by converting the enormous debts the accumulated into sovereign debt which the taxpayers of the Empire's countries are burdened with. "Quantitative easing" was also necessary by the privately owned central banks to delay the crisis which still threatens to unleash its effects.

... as the social and political consequences of the crisis began to make themselves felt, and the postwar international order seemed to tremble on its foundations, the world’s leading central banks – adamant to save the skin of private financiers and avoid a repeat of the 1930s – responded with an unprecedented monetary experiment. Not only did they drop interest rates to historic lows, but they also embarked on an aggressive program of “quantitative easing” (QE) that would see the four biggest central banks pump the equivalent of $15 trillion in new money into the global financial system.

Instead of boosting productive activity, however, it soon became clear that this excess liquidity had unleashed a fresh wave of speculative investment.

Articles recommended for Monday, September 24, 2018

• Russia Beefs Up Syria's Air Defenses - Tells "Hotheads" To Cool Down by Bernhard from Moon of Alabama.

• Israel Orders Palestinians to Leave Khan al-Ahmar by October 1 from Internationalist 360°.

US Vows to “Overthrow” Iran as Terrorists Target Iranians

Click here to access article by Tony Cartalucci from New Eastern Outlook. 

In referring to the recent terrorist incident in Iran, the author reveals the hypocrisy regarding the Empire's references to terrorist groups: on the one hand they wage a "War on Terror", but on the other hand they have always supported violent organizations ranging from the Contras to mafia groups to ISIS if such criminal/terrorist groups serve their interests of profit and power.  

According to most authoritative sources, in response to his secretary of state who said "Somoza's a bastard", FDR (probably in the 1930s) said "Yes, but he's our bastard". This has been the actual operating policy to promote the interests of the US ruling capitalist class regardless if they are foreign terrorist groups or organized crime syndicates here in the USA. That is simply because they all have one thing in common: they are all sociopaths who believe in the use of violence as the ultimate means of securing their access to wealth and power. 

Iran’s most recent accusations that the West and their Persian Gulf allies are behind terrorist organizations attacking Iran are difficult to dispute when US politicians are consorting with literal terrorists in New York calling for an “uprising” as terrorist attacks unfold inside Iran – more so when US policy papers themselves admit their proxies of choice are undeniably terrorists and supporting them must be done either covertly, or after a thorough political whitewash.

A similar process of whitewashing listed terrorist organizations occurred regarding Al Qaeda-affiliate, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) used by the US and UK to overthrow the Libyan government in 2011, delisted as a foreign terrorist organization by the US State Department in 2015, before members of the terrorist front carried out a suicide bombing in Manchester, UK in 2017 killing 23 (including the bomber).

Kevin Barrett speaks about growing censorship at a KPFA rally

Listen to Barret cite the growing censorship all over America and now at the home of the free speech movement in Berkeley, California. (I did volunteer work at KPFA in the early 1990s.)

Facebook Allies With U.S. Regime-Change Orgs For 'Fact Checking' In Foreign Countries

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

In consequence of the alleged manipulation of new and opinions during the 2016 election, Congress threatened to regulate social media. It demanded testimony by the owners of social media companies - Facebook, Twitter and Google - about their plans to weed out so called "fake news" distributed through their systems. Instead of defending the freedom of individuals and organizations to publish opinions deviating from the mainstream, the companies promised to increase their censorship capabilities. To avoid to make judgments themselves, they decided to outsource these to 'independent' fact checking organizations. Anything those deem "fake news" will then be censored.

Facebook Inc just gave such powers to two well known U.S. government regime change operators. 

I applaud his concluding paragraph:

The best way to avoid such campaigns and censorship of so called social media is to avoid them entirely. One can still get an objective view of the world by looking for original news sources and by applying a skeptical view towards presented "facts". It on us to teach others how to do this. 

Film review: The Spider’s Web – Britain’s Second Empire [a "best post"]

Click here to access article by Joel Benjamin from OpenDemocracy. (Note on Friday: I watched this video last night and I was very impressed! It's a must-see for all activists.)

I'm short of time today and didn't view the film and only scanned the article-review. However, I am posting it because the article and the one hour 18 minute video (below) regarding the secretive City of London is being posted on other websites that I consider reliable. I will view the video this evening.

The Spider’s Web offers unique insight into the British Empire, both past and present, and its colonies and far flung outposts. This is a story which, if known at all, is often understood through a rose tinted view of what that British Empire actually represented. The Spider’s Web details how the former Empire was transformed after World War 2 into a new financial empire of offshore tax havens and secrecy jurisdictions.

Articles recommended for Thursday, September 20, 2018

• Russia reveals the MH17 ‘smoking gun’ by Pepe Escobar from Asia Times.

• US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard Blasts America’s Support for Al-Qaeda in Syria, as Trump Threatens Further Military Action by Mohamed Elmaazi from Global Research.

• America: The garrison state by Andre Damon from World Socialist Web Site.

Guest Media Alert by John Pilger: 'Hold the front page. The reporters are missing'

Click here to access article by John Pilger, the unofficial dean of honest reporting, posted on Media Lens. 

Pilger describes the descent of journalism which corresponds in my view with the assent of the US-led transnational capitalist Empire after WWII. Now the imperialist Empire is not only using their media corporations and all institutions of Western societies to spread their propaganda, but is also starting down the road of outright censorship of alternative media that dares to challenge their propaganda. He concludes the article with this very insightful observation:

So much of the mainstream has descended to this level. Subjectivism is all; slogans and outrage are proof enough. What matters is the "perception".

When he was US commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus declared what he called "a war of perception... conducted continuously using the news media". What really mattered was not the facts but the way the story played in the United States. The undeclared enemy was, as always, an informed and critical public at home.

Nothing has changed. In the 1970s, I met Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler's film-maker, whose propaganda mesmerised the German public.

She told me the "messages" of her films were dependent not on "orders from above", but on the "submissive void" of an uninformed public.

"Did that include the liberal, educated bourgeoisie?" I asked.

"Everyone," she said. "Propaganda always wins, if you allow it."

Ecosocialism’s Greatest Challenge: The Color-Line and the Twenty-First Century Ecoleft

Click here to access article by Ted Franklin from System Change not Climate Change (SCNCC). 

After describing the recent 30,000 people march in San Francisco organized by It Takes Roots and the doubts about its effectiveness, the author asks "What does this all mean for the future of ecosocialism?" Then he lists the first of three major reasons:

First, it means we means we who belong to largely white ecosocialist groups have many allies with deep roots in communities of color who share our understanding that capitalism is incompatible with a decent future for life on our planet.

Recommended articles for Wednesday, September 19, 2018

• Emma Fiala on the Women's March on the Pentagon, an interview (for activists) with Fiala by James Corbett from his website. Of special interest is the planned demonstration in Washington DC in October as an alternative to the corporate media-supported Women's March of last year.

• Middle Eastern Take on the Turkish-American Face Off by Yuriy Zinin from New Eastern Outlook. He seems to have an informed and sincere understanding of the mysterious role that Turkey under President Erdogan is presently playing vis-à-vis USA and its European puppets.

• Two Major Middle East Projects Are Afoot & Gaining Mass; They May Collide Before Long by Alastair Crooke from Strategic Culture Foundation. 

I don't usually post articles like this that I see as highly speculative; however considering that it is written by Crooke, a former MI-6 agent and now independent geopolitical analyst, I offer it to those who want to follow closely geopolitical political events in the often obscure Middle East. He sees two strategies or projects backed by powerful Empire agents that could have major impacts on political events in the Middle East.

Presenting The Syria Deception: Al Qaeda Goes to Hollywood (VIDEO)

Click here to access article by Dan Cohen from Gray Zone.

This article and especially the video (reproduced below) illustrates how the US Empire uses its massive control over all their media institutions, which includes Hollywood as well as their media corporations, to concoct propaganda in support of its imperialist projects. There is no shortage of people who can be bribed or national governments allied to the Empire to participate in their propaganda campaigns. Click on the video to access it directly from YouTube and notice how YouTube, owned by Google corporation, discourages people from viewing the video. At least they don't have the nerve (yet) to completely censor the video as they have some other websites, videos, and even books.



It is the comprehensive coverage of this propaganda or its pervasive coverage throughout the institutions of media, entertainment, and even education that makes it so effective in convincing ordinary people of its validity. People who are constantly exposed to this insidious propaganda from such a variety of sources are rather easily convinced of its truthfulness.