Friday, September 30, 2016

Bring Back The Cold War -- Paul Craig Roberts



Bring Back The Cold War
Paul Craig Roberts
Pundits have declared a “New Cold War.” If only! The Cold War was a time when leaders focused on reducing tensions between nuclear powers. What we have today is much more dangerous: Washington’s reckless and irresponsible aggression toward the other major nuclear powers, Russia and China.
During my lifetime American presidents worked to defuse tensions with Russia. President John F. Kennedy worked with Khrushchev to defuse the Cuban Missile Crisis. President Richard Nixon negotiated SALT I and the anti-ballistic missile treaty, and Nixon opened to Communist China. President Carter negotiated SALT II. Reagan worked with Soviet leader Gorbachev and ended the Cold War. The Berlin Wall came down. Gorbachev was promised that in exchange for the Soviet Union’s agreement to the reunification of Germany, NATO would not move one inch to the East.
Peace was at hand. And then the neoconservatives, rehabilitated by the Israeli influence in the American press, went to work to destroy the peace that Reagan and Gorbachev had achieved. It was a short-lasting peace. Peace is costly to the profits of the military/security complex. Washington’s gigantic military and security interests are far more powerful than the peace lobby.
Since the advent of the criminal Clinton regime, every American president has worked overtime to raise tensions with Russia and China.
China is confronted with the crazed and criminal Obama regime’s declaration of the “pivot to Asia” and the prospect of the US Navy controlling the sea lanes that provision China.
Russia is even more dangerously threatened with US nuclear missile bases on her border and with US and NATO military bases stretching from the Baltics to the Black Sea.

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Andrey Afanasyev -- HOW THE US ARMS PROBLEMATIC REGIONS

28.09.2016
All local conflicts of the last decade have one common trait. Regardless of the geography, national, and religious character of their sides, they all gain weapons supplied by American forces. This tactic is based on the US’ authorities’ desire to apply their favorite tactic for destabilizing states and regions: creating controlled chaos. With the help of legal, semi-legal and criminal methods, they import weapons into the region and then destabilize socio-political social conditions that lead to the appearance of armed clashes. Thus, war is started once there is a sufficient number of weapons in the conflict zone. 
Black Market

The US presidential debate and the war plans of the ruling class

28 September 2016
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Monday night’s debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump plumbed new depths in the degradation of American politics. A billionaire and a multi-millionaire, both widely hated, traded false promises, platitudes, attack lines and reactionary bromides without seriously addressing any of the pressing issues facing the American people.
On social policy, Trump combined calls for trade war with a program of sweeping corporate tax cuts and the elimination of all regulations on business, at one point boasting of his own evasion of federal income taxes. Responding to Clinton’s criticism that he benefited personally from the housing market collapse, he declared, “That’s called business.”
Clinton, who has the closest ties to Wall Street, said the financial crisis of 2008 was the product of “tax policies that slashed taxes on the wealthy, failed to invest in the middle class, took their eyes off Wall Street.She evidently hoped that no one would pick up on the fact that her husband’s administration and the Democratic Party as a whole played a central role in this process.

James Petras -- The Politics of Bombing: Wholesale, Retail and Improvised



09.28.2016 :: Middle East
Introduction: Bombs, domestic and foreign, are defining the nature of politics in the United States, the European Union and among radical Islamist groups and individuals. The scale and scope of bomb-politics varies with the practioner.
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‘Wholesale bombers’ are state actors, who engage in large-scale, long-term bombing designed to destroy adversary governments or movements. ‘Retail bombers’ are groups or individuals engaging in small-scale, sporadic bombings, designed to provoked fear and secure symbolic outcomes.
Apart from planned bombings, there are improvised bombings committed by deranged individuals who engage in suicide attacks without any political backing or coherent purpose.
In this paper we will focus on the nature of ‘wholesale’ and ‘retail’ bombings, their frequency, political consequences and long-term impact on global political power.
Bombing as Everyday Events

James Petras -- Obama versus Trump, Putin and Erdogan: Can Coups Defeat Elected Governments?


08.09.2016 :: United States
Never in the history of the United States, has a President and Supreme Court Judge openly advocated the overthrow of a Presidential candidate. 
Never has the entire mass media engaged in a round-the-clock one-sided, propaganda war to discredit a Presidential candidate by systematically ignoring or distorting the central socio-economic issues of their opposition.
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“Many of our interlocutors have been purged or arrested”.
James Clapper, US Director of Intelligence on Turkish Coup (Financial Times 8/3/16, p. 4)
Introduction
Washington has organized a systematic, global, no holds barred campaign to oust Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump from the electoral process. The virulent anti-Trump animus, the methods, goals and mass media resemble authoritarian regimes preparing to overthrow political adversaries.

Prof Michel Chossudovsky -- America’s “Humanitarian War” against the World

America’s “Humanitarian War” against the World

 

US-Nuclear-War
The following  text is a point by point thematic summary of Prof. Michel Chossudovsky‘s presentation at the Science for Peace Conference, Academy of Sciences, Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur, 15-16 August 2016
Introduction
Historically, science has supported the development of the weapons industry and the war economy. “Science for Peace” indelibly requires reversing the logic whereby commissioned  scientific endeavors are directed towards supporting what President Eisenhower called “The Military Industrial Complex”.
What is consequently required is a massive redirection of science and technology towards the pursuit of broad societal objectives. In turn, this requires a major shift in what is euphemistically called “US Foreign Policy”, namely America’s global military agenda.
Military Affairs: The Current Global Context 
The world is at a dangerous crossroads.  The United States and its allies have launched a military adventure which threatens the future of humanity.
Under a global military agenda, the actions undertaken by the Western military alliance (U.S.-NATO-Israel) in Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Pakistan, Palestine, Ukraine, Syria and Iraq are coordinated at the highest levels of the military hierarchy. We are not dealing with piecemeal military and intelligence operations. Major military and covert intelligence operations are being undertaken simultaneously in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia and the Asia Pacific region.
The current situation is all the more critical inasmuch as a US-NATO war on Russia, China and Iran is part of the US presidential election debate. It is presented as a political and military option to Western public opinion.
The US-NATO military agenda combines both major theater operations as well as covert actions geared towards destabilizing sovereign states. America’s hegemonic project is to destabilize and destroy countries through acts of war, support of terrorist organizations, regime change and economic warfare.
U.S. and NATO forces have been deployed in Eastern Europe including Poland and Ukraine. In turn, military maneuvers are being conducted at Russia’s doorstep which could potentially lead to confrontation with the Russian Federation.
The U.S. and its allies are also threatening China under President Obama’s “Pivot to Asia”.
The U.S. led airstrikes initiated in August 2014 directed against Iraq and Syria under the pretext of going after the Islamic State are part of a scenario of military escalation extending from North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean to Central and South Asia.

Phil Butler -- US State Department “Coup” Moves – Is Greece Next?

29.09.2016 Author: Phil Butler
US State Department “Coup” Moves – Is Greece Next?
Column: Politics
Region: Europe

News the US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt was replaced by Marie Yovanovitch was initially uplifting for half of the world. Then it was tentatively announced that President Obama suited career diplomat up to take over in Greece. The man overheard organizing “post coup” Ukraine government with Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victorian Nuland, will no doubt head up Athens’ next civil war.
What makes matters even worse is the fact Yovanovitch has hit the ground running in Kiev, rekindling the anti-Russia blame game Pyatt helped get started. If putting mediocrity in places surrounding Russia were not bad enough, guess who is rumored to be Hillary Clinton’s “Girl Friday” at the US State Department is she is elected. Yes, F___ the EU Russophobe Nuland. The scary thing about all these postings for me, is the level of arrogance, illiteracy, and downright incompetence Washington sends to represent the American People. “Delusional” is the only word that comes to mind to describe Geoffrey Pyatt, who told Radio Free Europe the other day:
“The United States had played an important role in helping the Ukrainian people to take control once again of their own democracy.”

Tomgram: Nick Turse, Killing People, Breaking Things, and America's Winless Wars




It’s the timing that should amaze us (were anyone to think about it for 30 seconds). Let’s start with the conflict in Afghanistan, now regularly described as the longest war in American history.  It began on October 7, 2001, and will soon reach its 15th “anniversary.” Think of it as the stepchild of America’s first Afghan War (against the Soviets), a largely CIA affair which lasted from 1979 to 1989.  Considered a major victory, leading as it did to the implosion of the Soviet Union in 1991, it also devastated Afghanistan and created close to the full cast of characters for America’s second Afghan War.  In reality, you could say that Washington has conducted a quarter-century-plus of warfare there (with a decade off).  And in the Pentagon, they’re already talking about that war's possible extension well into the 2020s.
And then, of course, there’s Iraq.  Where even to begin to count?  You could start perhaps with the military aid and assistance that Washington gave Saddam Hussein in the eight-year war that followed his invasion of Iran in 1980, including crucial information that the Iraqis could use to target Iranian troops with their chemical weapons.  Or you could start with that victory of all victories, the first Gulf War of 1991, in which the U.S. military crushed Saddam’s troops in Kuwait, showed off the snazzy techno-abilities of the mightiest force on the planet... and er, um... somehow didn’t unseat the Iraqi ruler, leading to years of no-fly-zone air war until that second, ultimate victory, the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which led to... er, um... a disastrous occupation, various insurgencies, and finally the withdrawal of American forces in 2011 before... er, um... the Islamic State emerged triumphantly to smash the American-trained Iraqi army, taking over major cities, and establishing its “caliphate.”  That, of course, led to America’s third Iraq War (or is it the fourth?), still ongoing.  In other words, at least a quarter-century of conflict and possibly more with no end in sight.

Thierry Meyssan responde a las preguntas de Pravda TV sobre la situación en Siria .


Siria, cabeza de puente rusa en el Medio Oriente

Thierry Meyssan responde a las preguntas de Pravda TV sobre la situación en Siria y la geopolítica del Mediterráneo.

 | MOSCÚ (RUSIA)  



Alexander Artamonov: Hola, señoras y señores. Gracias por estar con nosotros en Pravda.ru. Soy Alexander Artamonov y tengo el inmenso placer de recibir, de manera virtual, en nuestro estudio a Thierry Meyssan, a través de Skype, desde Siria, en el Medio Oriente.
Hola, Thierry.
Thierry Meyssan: Hola, Alexander.
Alexander Artamonov: Thierry Meyssan no necesita presentación y el sitio web Voltairenet.org, con más de un millón de visitas diarias, es igualmente muy conocido.
Thierry Meyssan reside permanentemente en el Medio Oriente y merece toda nuestra admiración porque se halla en la primera línea de la actualidad internacional ya que Siria constituye un punto central de la política actual.

Thierry Meyssan répond aux questions d’Alexandre Artamonov - video interview

PRAVDA TV

La Syrie, tête de pont russe au Proche-Orient

Thierry Meyssan répond aux questions d’Alexandre Artamonov, pour Pravda TV, à propos de la situation en Syrie et de la géopolitique de la Méditerranée.
 | MOSCOU (RUSSIE)  

Alexandre Artamonov : Mesdames, Mesdemoiselles, Messieurs, bonjour. Merci d’être des nôtres sur Pravda.ru. Moi-même, Alexandre Artamonov, j’ai l’immense plaisir d’accueillir Thierry Meyssan dans nos studios, de façon virtuelle, par Skype, depuis la Syrie, du Proche-Orient.
Bonjour, Thierry.
Thierry Meyssan : Bonjour, Alexandre.
Alexandre Artamonov : Eh bien, il se trouve que Thierry Meyssan n’a pas été présenté. Ça me fait tout drôle de le présenter au public français parce que tout le monde le connaît, que l’on soit Français ou Russe. Voltairenet est un site bien connu qui [avec les journaux associés] fait plus de 1 million de lecteurs par jour. Excuse-moi de faire un peu de pub, Thierry. Je veux signaler tout de même qu’il y a à peu près d’un million de visites par jour sur le site du Réseau Voltaire [et des journaux associés].
Thierry Meyssan, lui, se trouve au Proche-Orient à titre permanent et, en ce qui me concerne, je lui tire mon chapeau parce que c’est quelqu’un qui est présent aux premières loges de l’actualité internationale franco-syrienne, russo-syrienne et tout ce que vous voulez parce que la Syrie est un peu le pilier de la politique actuelle.
Alors, la question que je voudrais poser à Thierry Meyssan ne serait pas du domaine syrien mais porterait plutôt sur la Méditerranée et la mer Noire, qui est adjacente par rapport à la Méditerranée.

Réseau Voltaire -- Gendarmerie et lutte contre le terrorisme

« HORIZONS ET DÉBATS », N°20-21, 19 SEPTEMBRE 2016

Gendarmerie et lutte contre le terrorisme

Réaffirmer nos valeurs communes de sécurité, Entretien avec le colonel Alain Bergonzoli / Frontière sud de la Suisse : les migrants aussi doivent se tenir aux règles, par Marianne Wüthrich / Des zones de non-droit surgissent-elles en Suisse ? La police exige un fort appui de la part de la population et de la politique / A propos du déclin du « mainstream » allemand et de la perspective d’une politique basée sur l’éthique, par Karl Müller / Où va l’UE ? / Afflux migratoire et délitement de l’Etat – aspects juridiques, politiques et culturels de la question des réfugiés, par Hans Köchler / TTIP – la forme juridique de l’arbitrage, par Dario Rivolta / Bologne, PISA, Plan d’études 21. Quels sont les liens entre les réformes scolaires et l’hégémonie culturelle ?, par Dieter Sprock / L’importance du chant pour l’âme, par Rita Brügger / La plus grande fromagerie en Suisse, par Heini Hofmann.
 | ZURICH (SUISSE)  

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