Channel Surfing

A compilation of some of the best non-corporate alternative news clips from the past few days.

9/17 On Episode 237 of Breaking the Set,  Abby Martin and guests commemorate the second Occupy Wall Street anniversary.

9/18 At the WeAreChange channel, Luke Rudkowski interviews Everett Stern, a former employee of HSBC who blew the whistle on the company’s criminal schemes.

9/19 Ben Swann of Reality Check takes a look at three of the biggest current controversies surrounding Monsanto (one of the world’s most hated corporations).

9/19 Global Research TV’s James Corbett reports on inconsistencies and video manipulation that calls into question the official narrative of the Syrian chemical weapons attack.

9/19 Secular Talk gives a blistering critique of John McCain’s recent Pravda op-ed.

Joy Camp and WeAreChange.org introduce the iPhone 5nSa.

Pro-War “Expert” Gets Busted for Lying

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All war mongers depend on lies and deception to rally public support. A classic example is the false testimony which helped trigger the first Iraq War. Elizabeth O’Bagy is another such shill who has been quoted by John Kerry and John McCain to support the case for war. Though the lie she got called out on was about academic credentials, not any of the lies to start another war, her background reveals some of the behind-the-scenes players influencing U.S. government policy. Among the findings uncovered by Patrick Henningsen of 21st Century Wire:

  • Before getting fired, O’Bagy was a “senior research analyst” at Washington’s heavily pro-Israeli and neoconservative think tank, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
  • The ISW was founded by Kimberly Kagan, a devout neocon, whose fellow experts elevate U.S. military intervention, and provide policy research back-up for U.S. State Department, CIA, AIPAC and large national security defense contractors. The ISW’s board of directors is led by William Kristol. This type of organisation is a nexus which brings together, among other things, support for the Syrian opposition, anti-Castro in Cuba, and pro-Israeli activities.
  • O’Bagy is also policy director at an even more questionable Washington DC outfit – a pro-rebel, money-raising and policy promoting nonprofit organisation known as the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF). Exactly how much money SETF has collected to date (or where it has been spent) is unknown, but following the O’Bagy incident, O’Bagy and the group’s Communications Director Cassie Chesley – have both been pulled down from the SETF website. According to the SETF, Syrian opposition agents have been coordinating with operatives in Washington through “field work” since November 2012, including building parallel government structures inside rebel-held areas in Syria.
  • O’Bagy was a key defender of alleged CIA American al Qaeda fighter recently detained by the FBI for working with al Qaeda in Syria, by working to shift opinion over his jihadist affiliations.
  • One of O’Bagy’s mentors is none other than Michael Weiss, Research Director at the British-based Henry Jackson Society, a key Israeli and neoconservative foreign policy think-tank.

Read the full article here: http://21stcenturywire.com/2013/09/14/kerry-and-mccains-fake-phd-syria-expert-obagy-is-neocon-and-israeli-linked-operative/

Though O’Bagy’s voice may be absent from the public discourse (at least for now), there are undoubtedly plenty of others like her who are well compensated by powerful think-tanks and special interest groups. Some might also be a part of government programs such as Operation Mockingbird.

No matter what political reasons are given for war, the underlying reason is always economic. – A.J.P. Taylor

With so much attention on arguments for and against a potential World War 3, it’s almost easy to forget about economic problems though the issues overlap. To remind us (if we did need reminding), a number of great articles have come out recently.

Two headlines at OpEd News explain how economic pressures play a part in mass opposition against the war and reasons why even without another war, America is headed towards a greater financial crisis.

Though corporate media tells us we’re in an economic recovery, the truth is it’s a recovery for the rich, a recession for the rest.

A new UC Berkeley report documents the growing gulf between the rich and poor in the U.S. since 2009, while on a global scale a new “superclass” has emerged who are 94% male, white, and connected to financial corporations, governments, and the military, as reported in this expose on the Financial Core of the Transnational Capitalist Class.

On related notes, ever wonder how much money missile strikes cost and how many CEOs were prosecuted for their role in the financial crisis? The answers will tell you something about the priorities of the U.S. government.

Greg Palast article about the “End-Game” memo: http://www.gregpalast.com/larry-summers-and-the-secret-end-game-memo/

Message of Peace

Last Monday (Sept. 2), the White House received a letter calling for peace in Syria from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on behalf of Venezuela and “independent voices who love humanity”. Not surprisingly, no mention of the letter was made by corporate media but many of us are aware of it thanks to foreign and independent media such as the Venezuela News Agency and Axis of Logic. Though the letter seems to be speaking to the public persona of Obama and not the reality of who he really is, it could be interpreted as idealistic or ironic; a way of highlighting the differences between the two. Maduro also uses a number of memorable quotes to support his argument from activists such as Simon Bolivar, Susan Sontag, Malcolm X, John Lennon, Howard Zinn and Martin Luther King.

Via: Axis of Logic:

What we do in pursuit of lasting peace and stability of any nation on the planet will never be enough, because the wellbeing of a people exalts us while their pain diminishes us to the vilest inhumanity.

We, from the love of peace that the Venezuelan people cultivate, reject war and say no to bombs, desolation and death. That is our hope, the same that fed the soul of Martin Luther King when he said:”If I knew that the world would end tomorrow, I, today would still plant a tree”. This tree is the one we want to flourish in these tense and ominous times.

I aspire and hope that the call that I have made to you in this letter, Mr. President, doesn’t fall on empty ears. I aspire and hope that you rectify and proceed to stop the war machine that has already been set up. I aspire and I hope that you stop the beating of the funeral drums of war on Syria. I pray for it to be so.

Peace in Syria and the world!

No War!

Nicolas Maduro

Chavez lives, the homeland continues!

Read the complete letter here: http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_66001.shtml

The Real Reasons for War

Bev Conover, editor and publisher of Intrepid Report, just posted an important op-ed (in preparation for Obama’s war speech tomorrow) which dismantles the alleged moral arguments for war and provides a list of more likely reasons and the various groups who would benefit. Among the usual suspects:

  • Western Central Banks
  • Weapons Contractors
  • Energy Corporations
  • Geopolitical Allies Saudi Arabia and Israel
  • Powerful Elites

Via: Intrepid Report:

Then there is the matter of the red line, which Obama claimed, during last week’s visit to Sweden, “I didn’t set a red line. The world set a red line. The world set a red line when government’s representing 98 percent of the world’s populations said the use of chemical weapons is abhorrent.” But he said last year, “We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized, That would change my calculus. That would change my equation.” It’s hard keeping the lies straight, isn’t it?

Yes, the use of chemical weapons is abhorrent. The US should know as it’s used them eight times and, while not chemical weapons, used munitions coated with toxic depleted uranium Serbia, Iraq and Afghanistan, and dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan. (See 10 Chemical Weapons Attacks Washington Doesn’t Want You to Talk About)

So what are all the lies about the need for illegally attacking Syria, possibly setting the whole Middle East aflame or even starting World War III (or IV, depending on how you count) about? It’s about the elephants in the room they don’t want you to see.

Who are the elephants? One elephant is the Western banksters who profit from every war, regardless of whether it’s a win, lose or draw. The banksters make money from the loans they give to armament manufacturers and contractors who sell the necessary support supplies to the military. The banksters also have to make sure the US dollar stay as the world’s reserve currency.

– See more at: http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/10770#sthash.4o6514Xe.dpuf

Then there is the matter of the red line, which Obama claimed, during last week’s visit to Sweden, “I didn’t set a red line. The world set a red line. The world set a red line when government’s representing 98 percent of the world’s populations said the use of chemical weapons is abhorrent.” But he said last year, “We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized, That would change my calculus. That would change my equation.” It’s hard keeping the lies straight, isn’t it?

Yes, the use of chemical weapons is abhorrent. The US should know as it’s used them eight times and, while not chemical weapons, used munitions coated with toxic depleted uranium Serbia, Iraq and Afghanistan, and dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan. (See 10 Chemical Weapons Attacks Washington Doesn’t Want You to Talk About)  So what are all the lies about the need for illegally attacking Syria, possibly setting the whole Middle East aflame or even starting World War III (or IV, depending on how you count) about? It’s about the elephants in the room they don’t want you to see.

Who are the elephants? One elephant is the Western banksters who profit from every war, regardless of whether it’s a win, lose or draw. The banksters make money from the loans they give to armament manufacturers and contractors who sell the necessary support supplies to the military. The banksters also have to make sure the US dollar stay as the world’s reserve currency.

Read the complete op-ed here: http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/10770

If a U.S. attack on Syria is supposed to be a response for Assad gassing his own people on 8/21 as claimed, then why were U.S. and allied warships placed off the Syrian coast before that date? Michel Chossudovsky provides analysis and commentary on the pattern and timeline of weapons transports at Global Research:

If the chemical weapons attack is a justification for intervening, why was the order to launch an R2P “humanitarian” naval operation against Syria decided upon “Prior” to August 21? Was there advanced knowledge or intelligence regarding the timing and occurrence of the 21 August Chemical Weapons attack?
…With independent news reports providing firm evidence that the US sponsored Al Qaeda rebels (recruited and trained by Allied Special Forces) have chemical weapons in their possession, this delay does not favor the president’s political credibility.

Moreover, there is evidence that the US sponsored rebels used chemical weapons against civilians. (see image right)

In providing those chemical weapons to al Qaeda “rebels”, the US-NATO-Israel alliance is in violation of international law, not to mention their own anti-terrorist legislation.

Overtly supporting Al Qaeda has become the “New Normal”.

When the various pieces of evidence are put together, the picture which emerges is that of a covert “flag flag operation” carried out by the US sponsored “rebels” and special forces, intent upon blaming president Bashar Al Assad for killing his own people. As mentioned above, the naval deployment was decided upon ex ante, before the 21 August chemical Weapons attack.

This diabolical false flag attack which consists in killing civilians and blaming the Syrian government constitutes the justification for military intervention on “humanitarian grounds”.

Read the complete report here: http://www.globalresearch.ca/massive-naval-deployment-us-and-allied-warships-deployed-to-syrian-coastline-before-the-august-21-chemical-weapons-attack/5347766

What Are The Neocons Thinking?

Video

Abby Martin, of the RT program “Breaking the Set” does a brilliant dissection of the absurdity and lies coming from the pro-war neocons.

What reality are the neocons living in? These clips from “Monkey Dust” may give some insight into their state of mind:

Bill Hicks – Revelations

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The complete video of one of Bill Hick’s greatest shows. Filmed at the Dominion Theater, London in late 1992 (1:15):