Category Archives: media

Putin on Syria

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Putin, like all world leaders, has done his share of morally dubious actions, but on the issue of Syria he has shown more integrity and wise judgement than U.S. heads of state.

Via: Veteran News Now :

He pulled no punches calling US foreign policy “very dangerous (in its) uncontained hyper-use of force – military force – in international relations, force that is plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts.”

US imperialism “overstep(s) national borders in every way.”

“(U)nilateral illegal actions have not resolved any single problem. They have become a hotbed of further conflicts.”

“We are seeing increasing disregard for the fundamental principles of international law.”

“No one feels safe! Because no one can feel that international law is like a stone wall that will protect them.”

“Of course, such a policy stimulates an arms race. The dominance of force inevitably encourages a number of countries to acquire weapons of mass destruction.”

Putin addressed America’s responsibility for a “unipolar world.” He called it one “in which there is one master, one sovereign.”

“And at the end of the day, this is pernicious not only for all those within this system, but also for the sovereign itself because it destroys itself from within.”

“We are constantly being taught about democracy. But for some reason those who teach us do not want to learn themselves.”

America deplores democracy. It does so at home and abroad. It’s intolerant of what it claims to support.

“As far as this incident is concerned,” he added, “it is well-known that the Syrian government turn(ed) to the world community with a request to inspect, what it thought (were) cases of using chemical weapons against civilians by militants.”

“Unfortunately, that did not happen.”

“Any unilateral use of force without the authorization of the UN Security Council, no matter how ‘limited’ it is, will be a clear violation of international law, will undermine prospects for a political and diplomatic resolution of the conflict in Syria and will lead to a new round of confrontation and new casualties.”

Exploiting the Dream

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Black Agenda Report recently posted two excellent commentaries on the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. More specifically, the hypocrisy of the corporate media’s treatment of King and his ideas after his death, and the Obama administration’s desecration of the commemoration on the eve of another war.

From “Dr King was a Man, ‘The Dreamer’ is a Zombie”:

The week spent commemorating :”the Dream” is a great way to forget the real past, ignore the real present and avoid responsibility for the future. It’s a great excuse to assemble stars and celebrities and politicians, to pretend that the rise and prominence of the black political class was the foreordained outcome of the historic Freedom Movement in which the real Dr. King lived, worked and died. It’s a great distraction from the fact that apart from their own careers, the black political class, right up to and including President Obama, have achieved very little in the way of substantive victories for our people in the last four decades.

For me, one of the lessons of Dr. King’s career and that of “the Dreamer”, who was born after the flesh and blood man was murdered, is the willingness of establishment media to rewrite history even as it’s being made, to blunt popular consciousness, to erase past sins, to stunt and limit our vision of the better world we know is possible. The Dreamer is a zombie, immortalized in a monumnet paid for by Wal-Mart, Boeing, Bank of America, British Petroleum and other corporate criminals. The folks I ran with four decades ago, and run with today disagreed with Dr. King, but we admire him. We never had much use though, for “The Dreamer.”

Read the full commentary here: http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/dr-king-was-man-%E2%80%9C-dreamer%E2%80%9D-zombie

From “The Dreamer With a Kill List”:

Just before launching yet another unprovoked war to preserve the empire, Barack Obama stopped by the Lincoln Memorial to star in the commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington. He was joined by former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, the men most responsible for pulling the Democratic Party deep enough into the corporate camp to afford the billion dollar elections that brought Obama to power. The pretense was that the presidents were there to show solemn respect for the Movement that defeated official American apartheid. The truth is, they came to take possession of the occasion – a gift from their minions in the Black Misleadership Class, who believe nothing has value until it is blessed and possessed by Power.

…It is inconceivable that Dr. King would share the stage with a president who was at that moment preparing a savage and illegal attack on a sovereign country. Dr. King’s voice has been censored and his dream vandalized, repackaged and presented as a gift to a corporate agent with a Kill List.

Read the full commentary here: http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/dreamer-kill-list

Black Agenda Report also just posted this episode of Black Agenda TV, an example of a independent journalism far superior to corporate cable TV in terms of substance and professionalism. One of the highlights is an in-depth interview with Dr. Cornel West.

U.S Escalates Campaign Against Syria

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The sounds of war drums and sabre rattling are getting obnoxiously loud as the U.S. government and allies continues their relentless rush towards war in Syria. Just as Colin Powell lied for the Bush administration to start the war in Iraq, John Kerry is doing the same to push for war in Syria for the Obama administration.

Via: 21st Century Wire:

Kerry is not just implying – he is insisting, that anyone who dare questions Washington’s own expedited, and fabricated version of events in Syria – is somehow immoral. Even though the US, UK and France lack any real proof that Assad has launched a chemical weapons attack against its own people, Kerry is, in effect, slandering anyone who has exposed the facts on the ground, including the UN, Russia and others who have taken a more sober approach to analysing the important issues.

Why the rush, and why the harsh and conclusive language from Kerry? The answer is simple: they must get their war underway before the real evidence can be shown to the world – that NATO’s US, UK, France and Turkish-backed rebels in Syria are out of control, and have been dabbling with chemical weapons and killing civilians under the direction of western intelligence agencies and private military contracting firms operating in the region. Israel is also involved, in cooperation with the US.

Full story: http://21stcenturywire.com/2013/08/27/john-kerry-delivers-obamas-war-declaration-against-syria/

Paul Craig Roberts provides more details about why the U.S. government and its allies seem so desperate to get a new war started in his latest essay: Syria: Another Western War Crime In the Making

Manufacturing Consent Through Race

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Excerpt of an astute and incisive op-ed from former Black Panther Larry Pinkney on Intrepid Report:

The pathetic and subservient U.S. corporate-stream media (including MSNBC, FOX, CBS, PBS, NBC, and ABC, etc.), along with the corporate-owned politicians of the Democrat and Republican parties are deliberately stifling free speech and the open and honest free flow of information and informed debate by covertly and/or overtly playing the color card against the common interests of the everyday people of this nation. Make no mistake about it—they are in fact reinforcing hypocrisy and racism.

… The peoples of Mother Earth need us and we need them and each other and our precious Mother Earth! In the words of Malcolm X, “I am for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” Like his predecessor in the White House, Barack Obama and his Democrat and Republican minions are war criminals and consummate prevaricators, and should be dealt with accordingly—irrespective of their pigmentation or gender!

The peoples of Mother Earth need us and we need them and each other and our precious Mother Earth! In the words of Malcolm X, “I am for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” Like his predecessor in the White House, Barack Obama and his Democrat and Republican minions are war criminals and consummate prevaricators, and should be dealt with accordingly—irrespective of their pigmentation or gender! – See more at: http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/10601#sthash.R9PpT453.dpuf

Read the full article here: http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/10601

It’s an important reminder that the tactic of “divide and conquer” is repeatedly used by people in power because it works. Through the use of a part-black spokesperson, military/industrial interests more effectively consolidate power by slandering and delegitimizing opposition to their policies.  Pinkney also offers solutions to overcome such strategies (ie. promoting unity and raising political consciousness).

The very fact that those who lodge legitimate and strong criticism of drone man, ‘kill list,’ NSA/CIA/FBI/DEA spy master Barack Obama are labeled as being racist is, in itself, perhaps the strongest indicator of just how deeply embedded hypocrisy and racism continue to be in U.S. society.

Somehow the U.S. constitutional rights to free speech and the free flow of information, etc., allegedly enjoyed by the struggling everyday ordinary Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people in this nation, have been made null and void, because a colored, partially black man, is in the White House as chief executive and commander-in-chief of the U.S. armed forces. The reality of this psychological and political enslavement and repression is in fact hypocrisy and so-called political correctness on steroids.

The pathetic and subservient U.S. corporate-stream media (including MSNBC, FOX, CBS, PBS, NBC, and ABC, etc.), along with the corporate-owned politicians of the Democrat and Republican parties are deliberately stifling free speech and the open and honest free flow of information and informed debate by covertly and/or overtly playing the color card against the common interests of the everyday people of this nation. Make no mistake about it—they are in fact reinforcing hypocrisy and racism.

– See more at: http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/10601#sthash.4ZLCe9Ry.dpuf

The very fact that those who lodge legitimate and strong criticism of drone man, ‘kill list,’ NSA/CIA/FBI/DEA spy master Barack Obama are labeled as being racist is, in itself, perhaps the strongest indicator of just how deeply embedded hypocrisy and racism continue to be in U.S. society. – See more at: http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/10601#sthash.4ZLCe9Ry.dpuf
The very fact that those who lodge legitimate and strong criticism of drone man, ‘kill list,’ NSA/CIA/FBI/DEA spy master Barack Obama are labeled as being racist is, in itself, perhaps the strongest indicator of just how deeply embedded hypocrisy and racism continue to be in U.S. society. – See more at: http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/10601#sthash.4ZLCe9Ry.dpuf
The very fact that those who lodge legitimate and strong criticism of drone man, ‘kill list,’ NSA/CIA/FBI/DEA spy master Barack Obama are labeled as being racist is, in itself, perhaps the strongest indicator of just how deeply embedded hypocrisy and racism continue to be in U.S. society. – See more at: http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/10601#sthash.4ZLCe9Ry.dpuf
The very fact that those who lodge legitimate and strong criticism of drone man, ‘kill list,’ NSA/CIA/FBI/DEA spy master Barack Obama are labeled as being racist is, in itself, perhaps the strongest indicator of just how deeply embedded hypocrisy and racism continue to be in U.S. society. – See more at: http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/10601#sthash.4ZLCe9Ry.dpuf
The very fact that those who lodge legitimate and strong criticism of drone man, ‘kill list,’ NSA/CIA/FBI/DEA spy master Barack Obama are labeled as being racist is, in itself, perhaps the strongest indicator of just how deeply embedded hypocrisy and racism continue to be in U.S. society. – See more at: http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/10601#sthash.4ZLCe9Ry.dpuf

Nationwide Active Shooter Drills

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Via: GlobalResearch.org:

The FBI has teamed up with an existing active-shooter training program —Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) — begun in Texas after the 1999 Columbine High School shootings and funded in part by the US Department of Justice. The FBI sent roughly 100 tactical instructors to ALERRT training and then placed them throughout the US to oversee mock terror exercises with local law enforcement agencies.

…Since these exercises are designed to be as realistic as possible, students, school personnel and the broader public may be unsuspectingly caught up in the contrived terror, unable distinguish whether the “actors” alongside the accompanying gunfire and explosions are real or fake. This important facet is left up to the relevant agencies to explain to the press.

Further, such events are purportedly carried out to ensure civilians’ “safety” while sharpening police officers’ skills in “real life” environments. Yet local communities and the families of frightened children might wonder why military training-style maneuvers have to be carried out with their loved ones as props, especially in light of the fact that the entire program is based on an event the public still has only limited information about.

Read the full story at :http://www.globalresearch.ca/nationwide-post-sandy-hook-terror-drills/5346612

Such “mock terror excercises” carried out in the name of “safety” and “preparedness” also serve as conditioning for increased militarization of society and is terrorism in the literal sense of the word (the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims). It wouldn’t be surprising if kids victimized in the drills suffer some form of combat shock, but that’s not a problem for authorities and pharmaceutical companies who’ll gladly hook them on SSRI drugs.

Perhaps if government was less power hungry and violent it wouldn’t have to waste valuable resources on wars, weapons, SWAT teams, prisons, active shooter drills, etc. Antoinette Tuff recently demonstrated how potentially dangerous situations can be effectively diffused non-violently. If corporations were less driven by the bottom line there would be more ethical considerations regarding the physical, mental and economic health of all citizens. This is relevant to food, mass media, education, and medicine (especially in light of correlations between SRRI use and violent behavior). With a more ethical banking system that didn’t profit from bubbles, crashes and bailouts, there would be more opportunities for fulfilling work, affordable housing and better social services which could also prevent people from cracking.

Not surprisingly, those who profit most from the current system would rather keep the status quo despite increasing problems while providing authoritarian solutions that benefit them even more.

Hastings Suspected Car Tampering

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“Just because you’re paranoid don’t mean they’re not after you.”

-Kurt Cobain (paraphrasing  Joseph Heller)

Via: La Weekly:

He came to believe his Mercedes was being tampered with. “Nothing I could say could console him,” Thigpen says.

One night in June, he came to Thigpen’s apartment after midnight and urgently asked to borrow her Volvo. He said he was afraid to drive his own car. She declined, telling him her car was having mechanical problems.

“He was scared, and he wanted to leave town,” she says.

The next day, around 11:15 a.m., she got a call from her landlord, who told her Hastings had died early that morning. His car had crashed into a palm tree at 75 mph and exploded in a ball of fire.

Read the full story here: http://www.laweekly.com/2013-08-22/news/michael-hastings-crash/

Wrong is Right

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I found a VHS tape of an odd and prescient 1982 Sean Connery film called Wrong is Right at a yard sale shortly after 9/11 and was planning a review drawing parallels between it and different aspects of the war on terror. However, I just discovered E.R. Torres wrote a post similar to what I had in mind last year at his interesting Random Thoughts blog. excerpt:

So, one wonders, might there be another director out there who, upon looking at the events surrounding 9/11 and the second Iraqi war, might not also look at the myriad tragedies involved, from the thousands upon thousands dead, the loss of national treasure, the inept leadership, the media manipulation, and the very questionable motivations for engaging in the conflict in the first place…and decide that this too might be good material in the creation of a black comedy? Thing is, someone already did, and they did it a whopping 20 years before the events of 9/11 and the subsequent Iraqi War. I’m talking about 1982′s Wrong Is Right. As directed by Richard Brooks, the movie features Sean Connery in the role of Patrick Hale, an intrepid, world famous reporter who, in the process of criss-crossing the globe, comes to realize he’s landed himself smack dab in the middle of machinations involving the CIA, an Arabian leader whose land is filled with oil, a weapons dealer, a terrorist intent on getting his hands on two mysterious suitcases, and a U.S. presidential election. The various parties involved actively try to manipulate the story Hale perceives and tells, and ultimately what may appear “true” becomes a matter of convenience. To go into too much debate about the story’s plot would be a disservice. Having said that, this now 30 year old film is incredibly prescient. With some minor modifications, this could easily be a black comedy “take” on the buildup to the Iraqi War. The most eerie element of the whole thing is that the movie’s climax takes place on the roof of the World Trade Center.

You can watch the complete film here.