This article appeared in ICH the day before yesterday:
CNN Is Beating the Drums of War
By Paul Craig Roberts
March 15, 2015 “ICH” – President George W. Bush’s national security advisor, Condi Rice, warned Americans that Saddam Hussein’s (nonexistent) weapons of mass destruction could result in a mushroom cloud going up over an American city. No such threat existed. But today a very real threat exists over all American cities, and the national security advisor does not notice.
The threat issues from Washington and arises from the demonization of Russia and its leadership.
Wolf Blitzer (CNN, March 13) used the cover of a news program to broadcast a propaganda performance straight out of the Third Reich or perhaps from George Orwell’s 1984. The orchestration presented Russia as a massive, aggressive military threat. The screen was filled with missiles firing and an assortment of American General Strangeloves urging provocative measures to be deployed against the Russian Threat. Blitzer’s program is part of the orchestrated propaganda campaign whose purpose is to prepare Americans for conflict with Russia.
It was such irresponsible propaganda and so many blatant lies for a media organization to sponsor that it was obvious that CNN and Wolf Blitzer had no fear of being called on the carpet for spreading war fever. The so-called “mainstream media” has been transformed into a Ministry of Propaganda.
Similar propaganda is being spread in the UK where defense minister Michael Fallon declared Russia to be a “real and present danger” to Europe. US troops and tanks are being rushed to the Baltics on the pretext that Russia is going to attack.
That such blatant lies can issue from high government officials without a shred of evidence and without shame should scare you to death. We are witnessing the total disrespect for truth and human life by high government officials and the presstitute media.
The propaganda is driving the world toward war. The propaganda has destroyed the trust between nuclear powers and has resurrected the threat of nuclear armageddon. The Russian government sees that Washington and its NATO vassals are conjuring a nonexistent Russian Threat. Clearly this conjured threat has a purpose that intends Russia harm.
Washington’s propaganda spread by the presstitutes is the most irresponsible act in human history. Reagan and Gorbachev succeeded in removing the threat of nuclear war, and the crazed neoconservatives and their media whores have brought it back.
Washington’s propaganda attack on Russia and Vladimir Putin is like Washington’s attack on Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden, Iraq and Saddam Hussein, Libya and Gaddafi. Does this mean that Washington intends to attack Russia in a pre-emptive nuclear strike?
If so, it means the end of the world. Clearly, the threat to the United States and the entire world resides in Washington and not in Moscow. The threat is the crazed neoconservative ideology of US world hegemony supported by the unbridled greed of American corporations to control the resources of the world
Putin understands the seriousness of the situation and is working hard to diffuse it, but Washington has made it impossible to diffuse. Washington’s price is that Putin must hand over Crimea and the Russian Black Sea naval base, abandon the Russian populations in southern and eastern Ukraine, and accept NATO military bases in Ukraine. Washington’s demand is a demand for Russia’s pre-emptive surrender.
In the CNN propaganda show, Wolf Blitzer failed to report that German intelligence challenges Washington’s claims about Russia and that the French and German governments have finally realized that Washington is insane and are working desperately to stop Washington’s drive toward war.
Washington and its UK puppet have spent the entirety of the 21st century creating death and destruction. Seven countries have been invaded, bombed, or droned in order “to spread democracy.” Iraq is destroyed, as is Afghanistan, Libya and Somalia . Syria nearly so, and Pakistan and Yemen are politically and socially destabilized by incessant US air attacks. The democratic, elected, governments of Honduras and Ukraine have been overthrown by US coups. Venezuela is next in line, with Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina and Brazil waiting their turn.
Washington has given the world 14 years of brutal and inhumane war. Isn’t this enough evil? Does Washington have to give us more?
Washington and the presstitutes have lost their humanity. They have become agents of evil. If mushroom clouds appear, the responsibility will lie with Wolf Blitzer, CNN, and the presstitutes who beat the drums of war.
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Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts’ latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West and How America Was Lost.
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“Intelligence has its limits, but not greed-generated stupidity.”
Dartwill Aquila
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During email correspondence Lale served me the American view of Ukraine and Putin. Stepping lightly I wrote that one shouldn’t judge a conflict when only hearing one side of the argument.
Lale replied by assuring me of his comprehensive knowledge because of, “news inputs from a wide range of sources … subscriptions to the Atlantic and to Time … referenced the BBC, the Guardian and al-Jazeera … gets perspective from Jon Stewart’s satires… ”
Brainwashed Lale never suspects that his “wide range” never extends beyond the corporate ranch of the West. He has, for example, heard several of Obama’s speeches and writes,
“One cannot compare Putin and Mr. Obama. The former is a ruthless dictator in a country used to bowing to totalitarianism. Obama is president of a democracy.”
When I suggested hearing both sides of an argument, I assumed that Putin’s speeches are the other side of Obama’s. (They are accessible on the net with subtitles or translations.) Lale has never heard what Putin has to say, or anyone else on the Russian side of the conflict. If he had, he’d have noticed that regardless of the subject, Obama speaks in flowery abstractions whereas Putin talks in concrete terms about specific circumstances.
In comparison to the “wide range” of Western sources, I wish Lale would listen to an interview with one high Russian official such as Evgeny Fedorov.
If Lale could get over his brainwashed prejudices (which I doubt that he can), he’d think, “Wow, this guy knows what he’s talking about, and he keeps putting things in a larger perspective.”
Lale however, like the rest of his propagandized contemporaries, won’t venture off the wide range of the corporate ranch of the North Atlantic Empire.
Almost every country of the world has at least one English newspaper or site accessible on the net. Google Burma News for example and see things from a Burmese perspective. Like the students protesting against police brutality the other day.
Try Tehran Times in Iran and learn that the three most popular movies of the year were directed by women. You can also view a trailer of the most popular one, The City of Mice 2, and see that both Disney and the Moppets have something to learn.
Why not subscribe to Pambazuka News and stay up to date with the dynamic developments in Africa. You’d get to know that the South Africans recently stated that they consider Israel’s apartheid worse than what they experienced. None of the wide range of sources in the West reported that. You’d also learn more about Africa in one article by Patrick Bond DISCONNECTING THE MINERALS-ENERGY-CLIMATE DOTS than in years of covering the msm in the West. You’d gain insights into the relationship between stealing mineral resources, depriving the people of a dependable supply of energy and contaminating the atmosphere. Among other things.
You have the world at your finger tips with the internet. Get out there and let fresh perspectives blow the cobwebs out of your mind. Consuming msm junk hardens the arteries of thought.
The American way of brainwashing creates opinionated people who believe themselves well informed.
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“Brainwashing is a method of getting rid of undesirable thoughts.
Today it should call it brain-dirtying because they put unwashed thoughts in.”
Dartwill Aquila
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Yes, by all means, let us keep talking about Netanyahu, The lobby, the letter, whatever…. Just don’t talk about the people.
Keep the ongoing genocide of the Palestinians out of sight.
Children and old people who freeze to death don’t make good copy.
Nobody wants to see disturbing pictures of people who starve to death.
Why upset delicate feelings mentioning people dying of simple sicknesses due to lack of medicine?
Talk about continued confiscation of homes and territory irritates sensibilities.
Confining, harassing, jailing, shooting… boring!
Just do what rulers have always done. Concentrate on the movement of the rulers.
Fuck the people!
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“The media sells sensations and gossip as news
the way a prostitute sells her services as love.”
Dartwill Aquila
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In the slums of commerce the stink of conventional wisdom drugs us with fantasies of salvation through consumption.
Nature contains the fragrance of life that can inspire us to release our untamed imagination. It can teach us to pursue the satisfaction resulting from accomplishment. It encourages us to climb the heights of respect and provokes us with beauty to nourish our capacity to love.
Unlike the ad-contaminated commercial centers, nature doesn’t lie.
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“A tree grows strong following the demands of the light
and forms beauty by sharing the available nourishment.”
Dartwill Aquila
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Elephant in the doom.
Sometimes they crush their skulls. Sometimes they rip their bodies apart. Sometimes they burn them alive. Sometimes they suck the air from their lungs. Sometimes they bleed them to death. Sometime they blast them away. All of these methods with variations and combinations have harvested 100s of young lives in remote villages and small towns.
I’m not speaking of the victims in war zones, but of kids in sovereign countries not at war. They are never killed alone. Normally, a few family members, a mother, a sister, a grandparent, and a couple of neighbors are killed at the same time. They’ve committed no crime. No one is ever charged with their murder. Justice shares their graves.
Their deaths are very expensive. A single hellfire missile costs about $70.000. The missile requires a delivery system. An Apache Longbow helicopter can’t be had for under $50.000.000 and guzzles nearly a liter of petrol for every kilometer it travels. The missile can also be launched from a drone that only costs about $15.000.000. Yes, the helicopter and the drone can be used for many killings, but the logistics involved to get the missile delivered to the kill are considerable. A conservative calculation puts a price tag of about $30.000 on each murdered kid, mom and neighbor.
These costs do not include substantial expenses for disinformation to sweep the murders under the carpet of collateral damage, which, itself, is an impossible-to-swallow chunk of disinformation. The children, relatives and neighbors, we are told, are the unfortunate and unavoidable victims of a strike against a suspected militant or terrorist. Sorry, that doesn’t fly. No one is that stupid. No one. Who would spend 100s of 1000s of dollars to kill one suspected enemy (and anyone nearby) and create 10s of new ones.
Hellfire missiles launched at a suspected enemy adds to the total number of enemies. Why is so much effort and expense being employed to kill kids and create enemies?
It’s the American way, Dorothy. It’s business.
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“Collateral damage = murder by greed.”
Dartwill Aquila
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This is Evert Taube’s birthday. He was born in 1890 and died 39 years ago. His songs live. He was—is—loved be the Swedish people.
My favorite song is Waltz of Sjösala describing a hard-working family man intoxicated with Spring. He hops out of bed and dances bare-footed outdoors in his night-shirt, makes himself a crown of wild flowers and sings of the wonders of life and the beauty of nature. ”Look, dad’s a bride!” shout his children. Yes, he’s a singing, dancing bride of spring and anyone listening to his song comes under the spell of his happiness.
He wrote this song in 1941 when the Nazis were at the height of their power. Evert felt a need to sing about the beauty and happiness, the enemies of the war.
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“The struggle for against war and for peace
is a struggle for truth, justice, beauty and love.”
Dartwill Aquila
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Elephant in the doom.
Sometimes they crush their skulls. Sometimes they rip their bodies apart. Sometimes they burn them alive. Sometimes they suck the air from their lungs. Sometimes they bleed them to death. Sometime they blast them away. All of these methods with variations and combinations have harvested 100s of young lives in remote villages and small towns.
I’m not speaking of the victims in war zones, but of kids in sovereign countries not at war. They are never killed alone. Normally, a few family members, a mother, a sister, a grandparent, and a couple of neighbors are killed at the same time. They’ve committed no crime. No one is ever charged with their murder. Justice shares their graves.
Their deaths are very expensive. A single hellfire missile costs about $70.000. The missile requires a delivery system. An Apache Longbow helicopter can’t be had for under $50.000.000 and guzzles nearly a liter of petrol for every kilometer it travels. The missile can also be launched from a drone that only costs about $15.000.000. Yes, the helicopter and the drone can be used for many killings, but the logistics involved to get the missile delivered to the kill are considerable. A conservative calculation puts a price tag of about $30.000 on each murdered kid, mom and neighbor.
These costs do not include substantial expenses for disinformation to sweep the murders under the carpet of collateral damage, which, itself, is an impossible-to-swallow chunk of disinformation. The children, relatives and neighbors, we are told, are the unfortunate and unavoidable victims of a strike against a suspected militant or terrorist. Sorry, that doesn’t fly. No one is that stupid. No one. Who would spend 100s of 1000s of dollars to kill one suspected enemy (and anyone nearby) and create 10s of new ones.
Hellfire missiles launched at a suspected enemy adds to the total number of enemies. Why is so much effort and expense being employed to kill kids and create enemies?
It’s the American way, Dorothy. It’s business.
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“Collateral damage = murder by greed.”
Dartwill Aquila
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I’m going to illustrate key aspects of American propaganda as demonstrated by the recent episode of Netanyahu in Congress. But first let’s look at a similar example to set the background.
In April, 2006, President Bush referred to himself as the decider. A circus of ridicule broke out condemning the new word. There is no such word as “decider.” Haha ha. All the talking heads and media pundits gave their take on how the new word reflected Bush’s verbal inadequacies. A great time was had by all. The president of the country was language challenged.
The authorities however declared their own ignorance of the English language. English allows for the creation of new words with the –er suffix. It is so common that hundreds of words have established themselves in this way: baker, backer, maker, packer, hunter, hacker, hiker, biker, sucker, fucker and hundreds of others. The intelligentsia jumped on the legitimate construction of “decider” like hyenas, but seemed unaware that the president was abandoning the Constitution and declaring a palace revolution. The Constitution stipulates that Congress decides and the president executes the decisions. The founding fathers were well aware of the dictatorial nature of a single “decider” and were explicitly clear that the president was not to be a decider. The supposed guardians of proper language not only exposed their impotent understanding of English, they proved themselves ignorant of the basic laws of the nation.
Here we see the basic tactic of perception management, concentrate on something insignificant to hide a vital issue, control the perspective of the mind.
Strengthened by the lame to non-existent response of assuming a decider role, Bush could continue and even increase his use of the criticized signing statements despite the questionable legality of these emperor-like decrees.
I’ll return to another typical, and significant, aspect of perception management as illustrated by the decider circus after looking at the present Netanyahu extravaganza.
Note: I’m using the word propaganda for convenience. The evolved and modern form of propaganda is known as psyops (psychological operations). Psyops is to propaganda what a WWII cannon shell is to a hellfire missile.
We can view Natanyahu’s visit and speech to the US Congress as the equivalent of the spectacle around Bush’s use of the word decider, an event full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Everyone knew what Nat was going to say. What was the big deal? This psychological operation contained three objectives:
to propagate and maintain the great lie about the US-Israel relationship
to test the rules of government
to hide a highly significant event in South Africa
The Great Lie
Israel controls the US Congress, US foreign policy and American politics in general. This myth is drummed out persistently. This nonsense attempts to resolve the USA from responsibility for the genocide of the Palestinians and hide the fact that Israel functions as the main military garrison of the American Empire. Due to persistent and varied propaganda bombardments many people fall victim to this great myth.
I’ve written about the AIPAC myth in 4 posts:
AIPAC Lobby Myth – Bribers and Bribees
AIPAC Lobby Myth 2 – Love of Hate
The AIPAC Lobby Myth 3 – Preventing the Blush
The Tale of the Tail (AIPAC myth 4)
We need merely to follow the money to see that all trails lead to the military/weapons corporations whose lobbying and special interests looms like a giant with Israel as a wart on its nose. We can also ask, if Israel controls US policy, why do they need to send Natanyahu to speak to Congress?
Perhaps the best evidence of the myth of the Israeli tail wagging the US dog, can be found in the reasoning of the cheap propagandists:
There is a sentiment found in “progressive” circles that the US is the boss in the U.S. Israeli power dance. Their vulgar “theory” of imperialism tells them that.
John V. Walsh in LewRockwell.com (March 6, 2015)
The quotation marks are Walsh’s. Pointing to an abstract (vulgar) theory, without saying anything about the theory tells us absolutely nothing. It insinuates and distracts.
Walsh also claims,
Empires are full of examples of the “lesser” ally pulling the strings to make the greater one dance.
Oh really? How about one example?
Matt Carr in ICH (March 7, 2015) gives the myth another twist under the title:
The United States of Israel
no country with any respect for truth or even its own national interest would actually invite a man like this to speak to its own elected representatives if it didn’t have to, let alone invite him in order to undermine the policy of its elected president.
Carr tells us that truth-respecting America had to invite Natanyahu (because of Israeli’s power over the US) … to undermine the president. This brings us to the second of the three psyops objectives. But first, one last reflection on the Israel tail wagging the US dog myth. The myth, based on the assumption that the US government is bought by Israel, says that the government is a herd of corrupt bribe-taking traitors. Perhaps they are, in which case, there are more and wealthier buyers than Israel, and all talk of “elected representatives” has no relevance. What’s the purpose of elections if all the candidates are up for sale?
The Rules of Government
Natanyahu wasn’t invited by “a country”, but by a single senator. This break in the rules of government slid silently in the shadows of the debate about Bibi’s visit and speech. It was barely mentioned other than in passing as being unprecedented or part of a power play between Republicans and the President. As in the case of Bush using the word decider and the implications being a decider, Bibi’s insignificant speech drew tons of loud comments whereas the highly significant rupture in the structure of government got a few whispered grams. The office of the president—the White House—and the State Department alone have the authority to deal with other heads of state. If a subordinate level of an organization is allowed to make decisions without the approval of and in opposition to a higher level, the organization in question doesn’t function. Yet this unheard of breach of principle passed without debate and barely a whisper.
I’m not going to speculate why the President, who had the formal authority to stop the visit, didn’t do anything. It proves that the President has as much real power as a sock-puppet. This wasn’t debated either. Psyops managed perception away from the essential questions of government organization and presidential power and concentrated on an the speech of another sock-puppet with a scary reputation.
South Africa’s Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW)
Is it a coincidence that the Netanyahu extravaganza coincided with the Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) in South Africa? Possibly, if we have no knowledge about how American propaganda works. Bibi’s visit and the silence about IAW however stinks of psyops.
It is one thing for people in general to accuse Israel of Apartheid, but when the foremost experts on Apartheid, drawing from their own experience, tell us that Israel’s apartheid is even worse than their own was, it’s nearly impossible to deny. “The children of celebrated liberation heroes have come out to support the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel, denouncing the Jewish state’s brutal colonial occupation of Palestine. The campaign is supported by 85 South African organizations and institutions.”
Read the entire article in Pambazuka News
Was Netanyahu’s completely predictable speech more newsworthy than the speech of Nelson Mandela’s grandson and those of the other relatives of the heroes who fought against South African apartheid? Of course not. But it was very important for the US and its Israeli garrison that you didn’t hear about it.
This is so typical for American psyops that we can be rather certain that when a storm rages about an insignificant event, it is hiding some significant event. In the case of Bush and the decider circus, it just happened to occur right after his press secretary Scott McClellan resigned among rumors about the lies leading up to the invasion of Iraq and chief of staff Scooter Libby saying that Bush approved of leaking CIA intelligence documents. Suddenly, a debate about a word wiped out inquiries into acts of treason. Like a speech by a scary sock-puppet wiped about explosive evidence of apartheid. Or recognition of a non-existent state of Palestine wiped out the findings of the Russell Tribunal on the Gaza massacre. Etc.
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“Perception management is an Apache helicopter firing hellfire missiles of diversion.”
Dartwill Aquila
“The American media is a tightly controlled disinformation ministry.”
Paul Craig Roberts
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I asked a simple question to a complicated intellectual
about democracy in the USA.
”Who rules, the majority of the people or a wealthy elite?
I received almost 1000 words in reply
but no answer to my question.
That told me the answer to another question
I didn’t have to ask.
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“Some people have selective blindness behind their academic eyesight.”
Dartwill Aquila
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He’s been called the Terrorist in Chief, Obomber, O’Bummer, Black Bush and many, many other names. He lies, he kills, he smiles and tells us that he knows our pain.
Bracula is my contribution to the name pile. May garlic be with you!
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“He’d rather win an argument than the truth.”
Dartwill Aquila
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System Humanity 