Over the last 48 hours I’ve been splitting my free time between (A) learning as much as I possibly can about the US assassination of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and (B) arguing with people online who are uncritically swallowing US government claims about why that assassination was necessary. I always engage such political debates because they’re a valuable source of information on what propaganda narratives people are buying into, and therefore which propaganda narratives need to be addressed.
What has been made abundantly clear from this particular engagement is that those who have bought into the Trump administration’s completely unsubstantiated claims about Soleimani are sincerely unaware that they have unquestioningly bought into unsubstantiated US government narratives. People tend to get their information from tightly insulated echo chambers, and if you inhabit an echo chamber that supports the current president all you’ll get is a bunch of officials, pundits and reporters saying in a confident-sounding tone of voice that Soleimani needed to be taken out. Since they’re surrounded by chatter affirming that Soleimani had attacked America and/or posed an imminent threat in the near future, they assume that chatter must be based on some actual facts in evidence.
It is not.
https://twitter.com/DanVMaul/status/1213626764259418113?s=20
When I speak out online against Trump’s act of war on Iran and interact one-on-one with those who object to what I’m saying, the disparity between what they think they know and what they actually know gets very quickly highlighted. Simply by my challenging people to prove the claims that they are making about Soleimani planning to attack Americans, attacking a US embassy, directing a strike that allegedly killed a mysteriously unnamed US contractor in Iraq, killing hundreds of US soldiers in Iraq, that he’s a “terrorist”, etc, they quickly realize that they have literally no evidence for their claims beyond the unsubstantiated assertions of US government officials and people who unquestioningly repeated those assertions.
And from there I just ask them, “How well has uncritically swallowing US government narratives about the need for military action worked out for you in the past?”
Nobody wants to admit that they are doing such a thing, least of all a Trump supporter who’s poured plenty of mental energy into distancing this administration from the previous Republican occupant of the White House. But that is indeed exactly what they are doing: uncritically swallowing baseless claims by US government officials about the need to advance a pre-existing military agenda, in a way that is indistinguishable from the cult-like behavior of Bush supporters in the lead-up to the Iraq invasion.
….targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2020
In reality there’s no evidence for any of the reasons we’ve been offered for why Iran needed to be provoked into an almost inevitable retaliation that Trump is currently tweeting will result in all-out war:
- The claim that Soleimani posed an “imminent threat” is completely without evidence, rumored to be “razor thin“, and entirely debunked in this excellent essay by Craig Murray.
- Mike Pence’s claim that Soleimani assisted 9/11 terrorists is so ridiculous that even the war-loving Washington Post dismissed it.
- There’s no proof that Soleimani directed the strike that allegedly killed a US contractor, or that that contractor even existed. [UPDATE: The contractor has been named. Still no evidence Soleimani or the Iranian government were behind his death.]
- There’s no proof that Soleimani was involved in any “attack” on any US embassy, leaving aside the obvious fact that a little graffiti on the walls wouldn’t justify his assassination if he did.
- The “hundreds of American deaths” line you hear regurgitated by everyone from Trump to Elizabeth Warren actually refers to Iraqis defending themselves from an illegal US invasion with some training from Iran. The claim that Iran was behind Iraqi bombs is without evidence and wouldn’t matter if it were true; claiming the inhabitants of an invaded nation don’t have the right to defend themselves is absurd, regardless of where they got their weaponry.
- The claim that Soleimani was “a terrorist” is only made because the branch of the Iranian military he commanded was arbitrarily designated a terrorist organization by the US government last year, a designation that any foreign government could just as easily make for any branch of the US military. He was actually a fearsome enemy of ISIS and al-Qaeda and played a massive role in halting the spread of ISIS.
We are being lied to, yet again, about yet another war on yet another geostrategically crucial Middle Eastern nation. And a huge percentage of the population is marching right along with it. When Iran retaliates for Soleimani’s assassination, these propagandized sheep will be herded by the political/media class into believing that the attack was completely unprovoked. And if their credulity thus far is any indication, they’ll swallow the whole load without so much as a twinge of gag reflex.
The US government has a very extensively documented history of lying to advance pre-existing military agendas. This is an entirely indisputable fact. It’s been universally true from generation to generation, from administration to administration, and from political party to political party. The Afghanistan Papers came out just a few weeks ago further documenting this already conclusively established fact. Anyone who just accepts US government assertions about the need for military force without a mountain of independently verifiable proof is, to put it nicely, a complete fucking idiot.
The demand for proof would be normal even if the entity in question didn’t have an extensive history of lying about these things, because, as anyone with even a cursory understanding of logic already knows, the burden of proof is always on the party making the claim. When it comes to incalculably important matters like life and death, demanding that the burden of proof be met is just being a sensible human being.
Add in the fact that the US government is known to lie constantly about these matters, and believing its current claims about Soleimani makes as much sense as believing a known compulsive liar who has deceived you many times when he tells you it’s urgent that you go murder your neighbor right this instant.
Debating the current Iran situation, then, is simply a matter of holding the unassailable positions that (A) the US government lies constantly, and (B) the burden of proof is on the party making the claim. In a post-Iraq invasion world, the level of proof required is very, very high, and the Trump administration has taken no steps whatsoever to even providing anything that could qualify as evidence.
People will often try to get around this unassailable argument by contending “Well where is your proof that they’re lying?” This is called shifting the burden of proof, and it is a logical fallacy.
I lay this all out not because I expect the US government to suddenly begin conducting itself rationally or providing proof of its claims that rises to the level required in a post-Iraq invasion world, but because streamlining our thinking in this way helps to avoid confusion in a landscape that is saturated with propaganda and its mindless regurgitators.
The only sane response to US government claims about the need for military force is intense skepticism. If US government officials begin telling us that something happened necessitating military intervention, your default assumption should always, always, always be that they are lying. And you should hold that position until the (highly unlikely and historically unprecedented) event that conclusive, independently verifiable proof of their claims is provided.
No changes were made after the Iraq invasion to keep the US government from ever again deceiving Americans into war. No new laws were made, no policies changed, no war crimes tribunals were held; no one was even fired. This is because they had every intention of doing it again. And now here’s the US government again spouting lies about why it was necessary to initiate war with another Middle Eastern nation. And people are swallowing it hook, line and sinker.
The more skepticism we can encourage toward current deceptions about Iran, the easier it will be to encourage skepticism about the next wave of escalations, which make no mistake are absolutely on their way. Spread the word.
____________________
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114 responses to “The US Government Lies Constantly, And The Burden Of Proof Is On The Accuser”
The only people who would think Soleimani is a saint have walnut-sized brains, like their heroes.
No one on this forum is suggesting that Soleimani is a saint. The issue is why does the American President feel that he has the right to order an extrajudicial assassination? There are plenty of non-saints within the American power structure however that does not give the leader of any other country the right to assassinate one of them.
By the way, eat some walnuts Sy Cin, they are good for your brain!
Caitlin Johnstone claims no proof. https://nypost.com/2014/06/20/how-irans-spy-chief-paid-for-the-benghazi-attack/
Suleymani head of the elite Quds dispatched his Qud force operatives to Benghazi to take out Ambassador Stevens 2012. They were successful. In fact 35 more Americans would have died (as it was only 4 died) had a CIA Annex team on the ground less than a mile from the Ambassador’s compound not gone to the rescue. I have the FOIA document that proves Clinton, then Secretary of State, was offered air support at the approx. 3 hour point of the attack (which lasted nearly 8 hours). Furthermore Clinton admitted she knew w/in 15 minutes Benghazi was a terrorist attack (admitted in an email to her daughter and to the then Egyptian president)
Prior to that the same Suleymani and Quds forces fashioned IED and trained operatives all over Iraq to install IEDs.
Ms. Johnstone I doubt when the proof you say does not exist, is demonstrated to exist, it will not change one iota of your imaginations as to your “version of the truth” is.
TLRRRC Lee
War sucks. Death by tyrants suck. If only the world could be without war?!!
None of the bloggers here comment on Solemani’s past murderous actions.
If he is responsible, directly or indirectly, for the death of even one American
soldier…………….then Trump did the right thing by taking him out in IRAQ. This action
was not a soveriengn attack on IRAN (which would probably be an act of war.
Alan Derkowich, a democrat, has defended Trump’s authority to attack and eliminate
this terrible human being thru our Constitution, and without the authority or knowledge
of Congress. Interesting!!!!
God bless America for she needs it now more than ever before.
I can think of a great many other members of Homo stupidus whose elimination would make this a far better world than the extirpation of General Soleimani. Most of the Democratic and Republican leadership in the cabal that runs Washington for the exclusive benefit of the top fragment of the top 1% comes to mind.
Mr. Trump comes to mind especially, because, through his actions against Gen. Soleimani, he has placed himself on the short list for violent removal from the ranks of the living. He has done this by personally acknowledging murder as an acceptable act in lieu of diplomacy and peaceful co-existence. What’s he sees as fitting and proper for his self-contrived “enemies” must be accepted as appropriate to himself.
He who lives by assassination should not be surprised when his own assassins introduce themselves. Indeed, Mr. Trump has just made all Americans, at least those sticking their snoots into Iranian territory or international affairs, fair game to take out in this new Wild West shoot out.
Personally, I deny anyone the right to commit murder to further their ends, whether personal or geopolitical and hope to be left alone by the many thugs who do not concur in this world. Frankly, I suspect the odds of meeting my demise by state-sponsored goons are far greater in this country (USA) than in Iran, mostly because I have no intention, unlike Mr. Trump, of imposing my presence at any time upon the much put-upon Iranian people. Next we’ll hear of Dick Cheney crawling out of the woodwork chanting another round of “just give war a chance.”
What is amazing is we have gone though 3 years of investigations to find a way to impeach Trump or discredit him in some way and wind up with no proof, despite many anti Trump high level people trying even with falsified info, and all we have is a hanging impeachment.
We had a President who lied several times on how a healthcare plan would not cost one thin dime, it cost far more than that and nobody investigates the legislative premise.
The problem is both sides. Fix that and we have a stronger country.
If leaving graffiti on walls justified assassination, Portland would be piled high with corpses like a “Left 4 Dead” video game!
BTW, why would anyone believe Mike Pompeo when he admitted lying, cheating and stealing was a prime practice of the CIA when he was director: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHtXHshlBrY&t=2s
According to the IRAQI PRIME MINISTER, Adil Abdul-Mahdi COMMENTED THAT HE COULD HAVE BEEN TARGETED HIMSELF AS HE was late to meet Soleimani at the airport. HE ALSO SAID THAT Soleimani, was traveling on a diplomatic passport as a peace envoy to Saudi Arabia bearing a letter in reply to the Saudis. the deliberate assassination of a peace envoy is a new low for AMERICA.
Trump also revealed the Assassination was acting on intelligence from the Saudis & Israel revealing all three countries had an agenda to prevent peace in the Gulf. Trump was noted by the DAILY Beast PREDICTING BIG EVENTS COMING WITH iran at his Mar a lago retreat. There can be no doubt this was premeditated murder & nothing to do with an immediate threat to the US embassy in Baghdad.
Then bend over and get ready for rule by the Plutocrats.
“Anyone who just accepts US government assertions about the need for military force without a mountain of independently verifiable proof is, to put it nicely, a complete fucking idiot.”
I fear that this statement is far too narrow. The following is much more accurate:
Anyone who just accepts US government assertions without a mountain of independently verifiable proof is, to put it nicely, a complete fucking idiot.
The immortal George Carlin said it best: Believe Zero
So I assume you’re condemning the Drone bombing Syria by the piece of shit in charge now?
Like everything on moriarty’ shit, anti-Semitic website, this is a pure bullshit piece only indorsed by left wing, gay, anti-American fools. God Bless President Trump and I hope each and every one of you President Trumps idiots enjoys the 2020 landslide re-election of the first true American President and patriot since Ronald Regan. Eat this lefties!
Whether Soleimani is “guilty” of anything is irrelevant.
The question is:
Is Iran hosting militias in Iraq – yes
Do they have any business hosting militias in Iraq – no
Did one on these militias launch a missile that killed 3 Americans – yes
Was Soleimani a good target for reprisal – yes
QED
Hi Caitlin.
I get your posts via email and appreciate your candor and honest reporting.
RE Soleimani I came across this and send for your information.
https://www.fort-russ.com/2020/01/major-soleimani-had-diplomatic-immunity-making-his-assassination-a-far-graver-crime/
The main point being Soleimani’s Diplomatic status when he was deliberately murdered. This opens up a new can of worms that will create many more issues for that country as a whole and the Powers that caused this debacle, which asthe days pass and more details and truth are brought into the light just compounds their guilt which will lead to even more isolation of that country. I can even see loyal vassels shying away from getting involved and any “joint Ventures” in the future. (there will always be a few Aust & UK though even UK will be reticent now.
Australia is the USA’s suppository, it doesn’t really know what’s going on, it just follows the vessel that it’s implanted in.
Caitlin, when I first scanned Craig Murray’s article reposted on Fort Russ, I too thought what an excellent debunking article – but then I read closer and was flabbergasted by his 9/11 comments (as others have commented). They demonstrate that he cannot be trusted. I think he is just riding a convenient wave or trying to earn trust and credibility by deceit.
Caitlin is right or at least half right, The average person would have no way to know exactly what Soleimani has done or might do in the future, and I can’t prove it, but I’m quite sure the government has lied to us. The truth is, I cannot prove he is who they say he is, but I also cannot prove he is NOT who they say he is.
What do know is that we elected a man who is not a politician, he is a businessman and businessmen function by way of logic and reason. Every move a businessman, who is worth his salt, takes, is intended to produce a particular outcome. I do not know what the intended outcome is or will be, but I trust President Trump and I believe, in time, we will all come to understand the logic, the reason and the purpose for his actions.
You’re saying, you trust the government, with no verifiable evidence. OK…..
No! I said I trust Trump. Remember, He is not a politician! Politicians have only one job, to get re-elected and a politician will say anything to get re-elected.
Trump’s re-election is in the bag, thanks to Schiff for brains and the other Democraps.
Remember, everything President Trump does has a purpose, you may not understand it, but I think he knows what he is doing!
U nailed it.
Anyone who shows any indication of believing in the legitimacy of “government authority” ipso facto demonstrates a severe and serious case of having been brainwashed, hypnotized, programmed, conditioned, whatever-you-want-to-call-it.
The programming runs very deep, and re-conditioning occurs in countless ways every single day. The odds of breaking free of this deep-seated programming are slim. Realizing you’ve got foggy contact lenses on all day every day is difficult when that is the only reality you’ve ever known.
For those who do break free, the world opens up beautifully and wondrously. You know you’ll never be sucked back in again.
As an independent Veteran, I have to join Mike in agreement about our current sitting President Donald Trump. I don’t agree with everything he says, but he has accomplished more than most previous elected Presidents. So many people were mad at him for winning his presidency and just like the Obama terms, no one could figure out, let alone prove, how they won their elections. If Obama had been under the same scrutiny as Trump has gone thru the past three years, he would currently reside in one of our Federal Prisons and possibly for the same reason Hillary would be in one too.
For over 40 years “Businessman” and huge donor to many “Politicians” running for office was rubbing elbows with both sides and all the time, they were “teaching” Trump on how they won elections and votes, plus secrets of the dirt they used as well. So all of the “Hey Donald’s” Mr. Trump was hearing all of those years about elections, all went to good use for him to win his current status as President. Sure the non-Republicans and others were mad they lost, because they just flat out lost the election and the voters who didn’t vote were just as mad, awe to bad, if you didn’t vote, then you should be as quiet now as you were in the voting booth.
The President used his Twitter messages to divert the losers attention plus many of his voters attentions so he could get his campaign promises fulfilled. And because of how all of the loser’s making such a fuss over losing has made them all look so stupid, many of their party members have switched tracks and fortified Trumps position and with all of the reports of his success’s, he’s most likely looking at another 4 years of service to our country. I think we all need to work more on who do we trust and pay more attention to what the do when they get elected to a public office. All of the offices held 50 years ago are now under the office holders control and not the peoples control…so what happened? The office holders have abused their position for “THEIR” own personal gains, and that story gets better too.
The REAL reason America killed Soleimani, he played a massive role in halting the spread of ISIS.
Of course the USIsrael is mad at Iran for fighting ISIS …. ISISrael is OUR dog.
ISIS never runs out of ammunition or explosives. ………….. WHY?!
ISIS never, ever, attacks ISISrael ………………………………… WHY?!
ISIS is completely surrounded by supposed enemies.
Everyone of the countries surrounding ISIS is SUPPOSEDLY an ally of the USA.
Time for the USA to take a good hard look at it’s “allies”.
Our “intelligence” agencies should have identified and destroyed those who are supplying ISIS but have not …… WHY?!
“our” Generals have not destroyed those who are supplying ISIS ………… WHY?!
You know DAMN WELL WHO supplies their weapons, that kill American Troops.
The FIRST thing a general that WANTS TO WIN a war does ….. is cut off enemy supplies. Time to clean out the Traitors.
The chaos in Syria was winding down. The TRAITORS in the Pentagon had spent 24 months at $10MILLION a DAY bombing sand. ISIS continued to hold miles long parades of OUR equipment complete with flags on clear, dry, sunny days, and the TRAITORS in the Pentagon “could not seem to HIT them with any of those thousands of bombs”. ..
Then the Russians came in and blew the ISIS asses off. Did you notice the parades ENDED. We had no problem with thousands of stealth tankers daily moving oil from isis-controlled areas to turkey(Erdogan’s SON), and on to the entity. Too bad Putin blew ’em up, blew ’em up real good! “Russia didn’t want Syria turned into a #FailedState like Libya & entered the war on Sept 30th 2015. They started bombing 100’s of ISIS oil tanker trucks and oil fields with just 35 planes. ISIS revenues were cut by 50% & things turned around.
ISIS has ZERO antiaircraft abilities. the TRAITORS in the Pentagon could have dropped bombs from HOT AIR BALLOONS or BIPLANES ……. We KNOW who the Pentagon is working for and it is NOT America.
That would be a “tragedy” for Israel and Turkey who are BOTH plotting to seize Syrian land for “greater” Israel and the “caliphate” of Turkey all the while genocidally flooding White, CHRISTIAN Europe with muslum invaders …………. they had to get that war going again …..
You are not supposed to tell the truth:)
Being on a peace mission is just a cover story put out by bleeding heart liberals.
He was up to no good and had to be eliminated. That is what the CIA is for to permanently sanction people who threaten the safety of American assets. Thank goodness we have drones now so we could blow up one vehicle instead of leveling the entire city. Just think in a few years we will have drones that can go right into Tehran and take out whoever need be. These are exciting times indeed. The truth is no one who really knows what he was doing there will never tell. Villian or hero. Who knows.
“He was up to no good and had to be eliminated.” And your verifiable evidence for that is what, exactly?
” That is what the CIA is for to permanently sanction people who threaten the safety of American assets” At least have the integrity to say “corporate assets.” or better yet “to keep the Military-Industrial Pot Boiling at all times.”
are you a faithful volunteer asset or a paid mole, who monitors sites including this one, takes down names, repeat the received talking points from your rabbi, and makes daily report to your Deep State relative?
No one appreciates sarcasm nowadays. I wonder if people actually think like this. Probably since the world is full of all types people.
The Wall Street Journal has also reported (like NPR’s Jane Arraf) that Soleimani was on a peace mission in Iraq:
.
> In his address to parliament on Sunday, [Iraq’s Prime Minister] Mr. Abdul-Mahdi said he had been due to meet Gen. Soleimani at 8:30 a.m. on the morning he was killed as he left Baghdad International airport. Mr. Abdul-Mahdi said Gen. Soleimani was carrying Iran’s response to a message Iraq had conveyed on behalf of Saudi Arabia aimed at easing tensions between the two countries in the region.
.
Iraqi Parliament Votes in Favor of Expelling U.S. Troops — The Wall Street Journal — Jan. 5, 2020
https://www.wsj.com/articles/iraqi-parliament-votes-in-favor-of-expelling-u-s-troops-11578236473
.
Iraq to Expel US Troops, Iran Cancels Nuclear Agreement — Money Maven — 2020-01-05
https://moneymaven.io/mishtalk/economics/iraq-to-expel-us-troops-iran-cancels-nuclear-agreement-9hVIjZMexkqLHaDVlU6VMA
“If US government officials begin telling us that something happened necessitating military intervention, your default assumption should always, always, always be that they are lying.”
Quite right, and beautifully supported with sound arguments and evidence. In fact, evidence is hardly needed when life experience can be called upon. I remember Vietnam and how that conflict was escalated with a ceaseless stream of government lies. I was potentially to be drafted, so I paid close attention to what was going on at that time, since the government was going to put my life on the line regardless of my say in the matter. The government was evil then, and it has become even more evil in the intervening 40 years. I literally watched it happen, so I hardly need convincing that the U.S. government is always lying. What is astounding is that so many Americans still don’t realize it. Are they indeed effing idiots? Not really. It’s just that a government composed of cooperating sociopaths and managed by other master sociopaths who stay in the shadows is extremely capable at fooling most of the people all of the time.
A brilliant and short article with deserved reference to and acknowledgement of a certain Caitlin Johnstone (it was reported by Although News)
https://dissidentvoice.org/2020/01/some-war-truth-in-a-single-photograph/
It begins with the quote from Ron Unz:
“Once I realized to my dismay that I couldn’t believe a word of what our media and political leaders said about major events in the here and now, their credibility on controversial happenings so long ago and far away entirely disappeared.”
— Ron Unz, 2018
* Aletho News
there’s no illusion or delusion on any side in this development. the zionist Deep State can’t cover up the anti-US/Israhell reality on the ground not only in Afghanistan but also in Iraq. the thugs can’t just admit defeat and withdraw, so they decided to fire the last warning shot and intimidate iran/iraq into submission with this assassination.
no one knows Trump’s real motive behind this decision, but he managed to united the people of the entire muslim world, as well as the entire Iraq and Iran population, against the US-Israhell alliance. except the parasitic aristocracy of Europe, people everywhere will side with Iraq/Iran, and the parasitic NWO elites of every state will have to face their population. not a shabby achievement, if you ask me.
Russia and China will deter all out war, so expect slow-burning fireworks around the world, from revenge assassinations and sabotages of all kinds and more to pointed bombings with missiles and drones. you know whom and what to stay away from for the next decades! BDS your enemy and build alternative systems around you!
You have admirable optimism! I don’t think the elites in Australia have much to fear from the Australian population. The US/Israhell led murder and mayhem that our government supports is too far away from our shores. I don’t like to say this but most people here will not look any deeper than what the media dishes up and they believe the lies. So maybe the elites from Europe and the USA will run to Australia when their own populations wake up. They will be welcomed here by our fawning government.
*Like – I do appreciate your comments, cutthecord
The greatest betrayal of Christ Jesus since the KISS of Judas Iscariot.
Trump’s “SUPER SUPERIORITY” Executive Order for Jews. The order will effectively interpret Judaism as a nationality, not just a religion, to trigger a federal law penalizing colleges and universities, and soon expand to cover Worshiping CHRIST since Judaism has hated and attacked Christ for 2,000 years.
For the first time since Emperor Constantine recognized Christianity in the 300th Year of Our Lord, Christians are relegated to SECOND CLASS CITIZENSHIP. 1700 years and JUDAS ISCARIOT again betrays CHRIST.
The first step in legalizing State sponsored Christian Persecution.
Trump has set the legal precedent for the subjugation of Christianity.
Trump just set the legal foundation for the TRIBULATION so many fret about.
Crosses on Churches ALREADY “offend” Jews . … so do Nativities, Carols, Trees …. Where do you think the “War on CHRISTmas” originates? Jews refuse to acknowledge Jesus or the NEW Testament and Trump just handed them the weapon to attack.
Talk about “War on Christmas” … Like King Herod attempting to murder the Baby Jesus, King Trump has launched an attack on CHRISTianity by Officially Legalizing the elevation of Judaism ABOVE Christ, just 13 DAYS before CHRISTmas.
The USA has a “National Menorah” but NOT a “National Nativity
There is a “christmas tree” but that is nothing but a DECORATION .
Passing an executive order that prohibits First Amendment freedom of speech and religion on college campuses, elevates Zionistic Judaism to de facto state religion status, makes every Christian and non-Jew in America second-class citizens and prohibits any criticism of all things Israel on college campuses—which by implication prohibits the reading of the New Testament
i submit that much of the new testament goes directly against what Jesus Christ himself said / did / taught, which is a very coherent and consistent body of thoughts and actions. i wouldn’t treat the entire book as a unit to analyze and form a meaningful opinion about. i personally have NO philosophical and political quarrel with what Jesus said and did, but a lot of problems with most of the rest of the book. apart from Christianity, Trump’s “decree” to criminalize a critique of the unjustifiable project is a travesty and will be defeated in so many ways and by many groups and for many different reasons.
Actually the guy Constantine defeated at the Milvian Bridge in 312, the emperor Maxentius, had issued an Edict of Tolerance of Christians in 311 CE, two years earlier than Constantine’s Edict of Milan of 313. And Maxentius had been building a church in Rome that Constantine completed and called his own. And, wonder of wonders, Constantine’s Triumphal Arch, which still stands in Rome, is adorned with pagan gods and goddesses but not a single Christian symbol. Constantine also struck hundreds of millions of coins honoring Jupiter, Mars, and Apollo, and none whatsoever with Jesus on them.
I’m glad that our Country has a free press that allows publishing views like this one, especially since the author seems to have filtered out all opposing comments to his one-sided TDS opinion in this article..
His?
I’m glad that AI bots can’t accurately figure out the proper gender of pronouns so we know comments like this are just auto-generated propaganda….
how’s the weather in hell aviv, stinky as usual? all packed up and ready to flee?
A very reliable source about what is going on is Mr Gerald Celente, the famous trends forecaster. I do trust him a lot in his analysis.
In this audio, he gives his opinion about the current situation:
https://kingworldnews.com/gerald-celente-1-4-2020/
I can add that in our days, which are the return of the days of Noah just before the Second Coming of Jesus, most people are, and it is sad to say, of bad faith. So, it is very difficult to know their true opinion because they will often defend any opinion which, in their mind, will protect their money, assets and social status.
So, I pray the Rosary to hasten the return of Jesus, which return is very near according to prophecies, because I have really really seen enough of all the bullshit.
Anyone wishing for an in-depth analysis, without hyperbole or spin on this critically important event, can go to Consortium News, Robert Parry’s excellent site, may he Rest In Peace, and listen to Consortium’s podcast done Saturday night, the first podcast of 2020 for them. Two excellent, knowledgeable commentators were interviewed by the stellar editor of Consortium News, Joe Lauria and his co-host, Elizabeth Vos, who is also an excellent, incisive host and LEARN something. It was a great one hour and 17 minute show and it is THE best source of non-partisan, in-depth geopolitical analysis on the Internet. I urge everyone here who does not already know about this great news site, to visit and see for yourselves. You will learn immensely if you wish to take the time to do so. And Americans are in dire need of such in-depth reporting. Cheers and Happy New Year, Caitlin.
Yes, that was an excellent session, alright. Highly recommended also is this session at the GrayZone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeQ_dx452WM
Also, Craig Murray claims that the US mercenary killed by rocket fire in Iraq that set off this latest escalatory chain was working to help…ISIL. See: https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/
(In his article entitled, ‘The USA doubles down on its Saudi alliance’).
Isn’t it amazing how some of the same folks who delight in telling us that the government cannot be trusted to manage anything or to do anything right are the first to gobble up warmongering propaganda and to be all in on their government prosecuting a war? Somehow, I suppose, they do not see the military as a government operation.
Perhaps what they mean is that a government that is bent on creating endless war and carnage is probably not the government we should trust to put a national health care system together. The pharmaceutical companies will handle that!
Why does anyone think he/she needs a government? Isn’t it about time our species gets past the belief that we all need someone else to rule over us? Is a ruling class required? Does anyone actually need a “leader”? You can run our own life, yes? Without anyone “leading” you?
If you’d like to get your head straight, start here: https://www.freeyourmindaz.com/uploads/1/2/8/3/12830241/the-most-dangerous-superstition-larken-rose-2011.pdf
Step, it would be delightful if that is what they meant. But it isn’t, and I think you know that. Instead, it is a [insert proper psychological term] denial of the reality that they hold government to be incapable of doing good, but believe they are infallible at identifying enemies, blowing shit up and killing “those people.”
You’re right Frank, the cynicism in my mind trickled down to my fingertips while I was typing.
Wow, this might seem small in light of the importance of the article’s topic, but I just have to say this: in your first paragraph you say:
“I always engage such political debates because they’re a valuable source of information on what propaganda narratives people are buying into, and therefore which propaganda narratives need to be addressed.”
I do the exact same thing. The messenger is always as important as the message. It’s a 2 part system, so to speak. Everyone always gives me hell for this. It’s so great that you put it out there right in the first paragraph.
Caitlin is right about all this, as usual. For an in depth discussion on how the official lies are promulgated and projected across all establishment media, see it on YouTube, with Aaron Mate, Ben Norton, Max Blumenthal and Rania Khalek. These four get the whole crime in progress as well as anyone around, expanding on most of what Caitlin outlines here. It’s from the Grayzone, for those who may not be familiar with these journalists.
The U.S. under Donald Trump is caught up fatally in its own delusions and web of propaganda lies. A nation whose leader celebrates murder while attending an ecstatic church meeting is a nation that is doomed. Please read this fine article here:
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2020/01/05/postmortem-assassination-of-irans-general-soleimani/
US History takeaway: The voices of sanity lose every time. Trump of Arabia ………….. No Prisoners! No Prisoners!
Caitlin Johnstone wrote:
> The US Government Lies Constantly
.
Well, as usual, you were right:
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Trita Parsi:
> Wow, wow, wow!!!
> According to the Iraqi Prime minister, Soleimani was not planning an attack. He was in Iraq carrying a message to Saudi on how to REDUCE Iran-Saudi tensions, as part of a Iraqi mediation effort!!
https://twitter.com/tparsi/status/1213839002366861317
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Jane Arraf:
> This is stunning – #Iraq prime minister tells parliament US troops should leave. Says @realDonaldTrump called him to ask him to mediate with #Iran and then ordered drone strike on Soleimani. Says Soleimani carrying response to Saudi initiative to defuse tension when he was hit.
https://twitter.com/janearraf/status/1213823941321592834
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Amir Amini MD:
> This is the largest crowd I’ve ever witnessed in my life. I’ve never seen Iranians so unified, ever.
> This is Suleimani’s funeral in Ahvaz, Iran.
> Trump has no idea what he has done.
[VIDEO]
https://twitter.com/AmirAminiMD/status/1213828930458804224
Remember when the US deployed warships to the Strait of Hormuz because of “intelligence” that claimed that Iran was *planning to* disrupt shipping? This is the next move in that hoax. Allegedly, Soleimani was *planning to* commit acts on terror on “US interests”. Translation: Absolutely fucking NOTHING happened until we started it. It was all “intelligence” that claimed something was *going to happen, and then we *made* it happen. I’m sure the CIA staged the “attack” on the US embassy. How many times do we have to watch a movie before we know how it ends?
Summary, in light of targeted killings: from where it all emanates:
The goal that the Israelis have been working towards is a balkanization of the Middle East. First they needed to get rid of the four sovereign states of Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Iran. To do this they mined the over 1,000 year split within Islam, Sunni and Shia and came up with al-Qaida, ISIS/ISIL and dozens of other militias with the intent of creating destruction of life and property a la Palestine. They call this ‘Eretz Israel’, or Greater Israel as spelled out in the Yinon Plan written in the ’80s. As it stands now, Libya and Iraq have been pulverized, and will take at least a half-century to reconstruct. Syria also, but they fought back, as will Iran if attacked. The goal with the Yinon Plan is to move the borders of Israel as far as they can to the East, North, West and South in order to claim all the natural resources of those areas: water and oil primarily. All of this is being supported by the US-NATO-UK illegal wars against the native populations of the above referenced sovereign countries. Where is the United Nations and its Charter with all this? …out to lunch!
I believe you are the same excellent analytical author who writes for ‘Southfront’. Hope to read more of your articles.
You forgot to mention the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in which Jews are encouraged to murder Christian babies and eat them. How can you forget that?
I thought people would easily see this comment was sarcastic. But after reading some of the filth posted on this site, I can see how some people could actually think that the comment was seriously meant. I admire Caitlin Johnstone very much for her work, including enduring some of the idiotic comments made about her articles.
Maybe christian babies taste better than jewish babies.
Johnson, great piece. You sound like you are a (first hand) witness, but I didn’t see your evidence. Are you an Iranian military officer?
The evidence for Soleimani being the King of Terrorists is from the same fount of evidence-free knowledge that Russiagate and Ukrainegate dribbled forth, from the same people. The neocons/ neolibs want war, they get war. THEY MAKE foreign policy, not the President, the Constitution needs updating. As was made abundantly clear by the Ukrainian Americans demanding Trump get their weapons to them PDQ during impeachment proceedings. The Israelis and Saudis have wanted Soleimani’s death for some time and somehow received Trump’s permission (likely by “needed as instant OK” to remove “the greatest terrorist of our times”.
There’s a fatal flaw in this line of argumentation. What if proof of the imperialists’ casus belli were incontrovertible? What then? There’d be a lot of people saying, ‘well, given that what they say is true, you’ll support their war now won’t you?’
In fact it’s completely irrelevant if the claims of the imperialists justifying war were true or a pack of lies. Any war action by the imperialists must be opposed in principle, regardless. No side in an inter-imperialist war is supportable, and a subjugated country at war against an imperialist one and its partners should always be defended against the imperialists, as in the instance of Iran.
In the imperial centres, revolutionary defeatism is the only principled anti-war stance because the main enemy is at home. Revolutionary defeatism means actions that undermine the war effort, like strikes and industrial action against the war, and fomenting mutiny in the military to turn the guns the other way, to turn imperialist war into civil war against the ruling class, the main enemy. Military defeat often is the mother of revolution.
The ruling class can be likened to a huge parasitic tumour attached to the body of the people. Removing the tumour will surely kill the tumour but it will also leave a gaping wound where all kinds of corruption can enter the body. Have there been any revolutions which have resulted in the ordinary people becoming better off? Look what happened with the American revolution: subjugation by England was replaced with subjugation by ruthless American wealthy elites.
Of course revolutions have benefitted ordinary people. Capitalism improved living standards of people far beyond anything that feudalism ever could, and feudalism had to be overthrown by revolution before this could happen (eg, French revolution, English revolutions).
The American revolution, the ‘official’ first one (really part one of a bourgeois revolution), only threw off the British yoke for a domestic (slaveholding) one, which in turn was only completed by the Civil War to bring the US fully into capitalist economic relations. Despite the living standards of black Americans purposely being kept well below whites since then, these are still far superior to chattel slavery.
A collectivised, rationally planned economy will benefit society further yet, all of it, but will also need a revolution to establish.
Empirically: economically, China started out at around the same level or worse as India in 1949 and is now the second largest economy in the world, soon to overtake the US empire. It has achieved year-on-year growth rates when the capitalist world went through its normal boom-bust cycles. Growth in capitalist countries in their best years is anaemic by comparison.
The Russian revolution, by collectivising its economy, dragged Russia out of a feudalism that commandeered the last word in capitalist technique (for narrow military purposes) in a sea of peasantry, and propelled it to social and scientific achievements that otherwise wouldn’t have occurred if Russia were left in an imperialist-dominated economic and cultural cul-de-sac (as afflicts all Third World countries today).
Cubans have far higher literacy rates than in the US, and their life expectancy at birth is very close to that in the US. Compare that to Haiti or Puerto Rico.
All the above achievements of collectivised economies occurred despite bureaucratic, corrupt, repressive regimes, and despite imperialist encirclement, embargoes, economic warfare and constant military threats and all the other efforts imperialism seeks to restore capitalism in these countries.
All this talk of ‘revolutions never benefitted anyone’ simply shows just how successful the propagandising of the population has been into leaving the malignancy of capitalist exploitation to fester away. The analogy of the wound is faulty: wounds heal, especially with proper care. Cancer doesn’t heal, and the first but necessary step toward beating a well-differentiated solid tumour is excision.
You are correct Stephen, revolutions have brought benefits to ordinary people. But in some cases the amount of human blood that was shed in the process is grossly disproportionate to the benefits that the survivors enjoy. I would prefer to see ‘evolution’, where society becomes aware of it’s disgraceful inequities and fixes them without bloodshed.
What I meant with the wound analogy is that during the chaos of revolution, (before the wound heals) many extremely wicked people sneak through the gaps and install themselves into positions of power. The result being that greedy and ruthless psychopath A is replaced with greedy and ruthless psychopath B.
The blood spilt during the French revolution, or in Napoleon’s march through Europe imposing the Code Napoleon, or the American Civil War, the Russian, Chinese, Vietnamese revolutions, and so on, was well worth it, spilt not in vain nor gratuitously. And those who died selflessly and heroically defending those revolutions would be devastated to know that their sacrifice was regarded by today’s propagandised multitude as ‘grossly disproportionate to the benefits that the survivors enjoy’. Most take for granted many benefits as if they came from heaven which in fact were won through hard class struggle between and during revolutions, where those in power were either under serious threat or actually overthrown. And many of these benefits can and have been taken away. By peaceful ‘reforms’, by ‘evolution’. Reforms are easy to undo, revolutions not so much.
No ruling class in history has ever surrendered power peacefully, which belies completely this notion of ‘evolution’. When property relations change, are reorganised on a qualitatively new basis to better suit the forces of production, the owners of the means of production never give them up peacefully, no matter how much society becomes ‘aware of its disgraceful inequities’, not so much because they’re ‘greedy and ruthless psychopaths’ either (which is true), but because the system they defend (with the vital help of its ‘revered’ state machine) rewards that type of psychopathology.
Revolutions are great filters of people, and it’s actually the best who rise to take leading roles in them. It’s when counterrevolution is successful, usually on the back of civil war and devastation wrought with significant outside help, that the worst, most corrupt and contemptible careerists (or ‘extremely wicked people’) don’t just ‘sneak through’. They walk right in and rise, like scum, to the top (eg, via Stalin’s infamous ‘Lenin Levy’). Yet despite the depredations of a Stalin, Mao Tse Tung, Castro or Robespierre (insert name here), the societies that have emerged this side of those revolutions have benefitted immensely compared to before.
The situation of each revolution and its outcome always teaches lessons and these must be learnt in order to better and more quickly heal the wound wrought by the next one.
Nice. Thanks. I would not include Castro myself where you do, but that’s a side issue. The wicked part of the puzzle is the in-between, the revolution/reaction/Napoleon/FDR zone. I had a prof who’d point out that the English revolution wasn’t called a revolution until the crown was restored and a new compromise reached. Full circle. OK, but … not really. More like a spiral. Here’s hoping the revolutions of the past, failed, foiled and fucked up but better than stasis, can still act positively on the present/future.
Stephen do you think it’s at all possible that humanity can evolve to the extent that we no longer wish to steal from each other and no longer wish to take part in war? I think we can.
Of course we can. For ~200,000 years of our species’ existence we lived in radically egalitarian societies where anyone displaying individual greed or avarice was socially excluded quick smart. Anthropologists attest to the happiness of these pre-‘civilisation’, primitive communist societies, and the conquistadors all reported how individual greed, etc, was unknown to many of the tribes they conquered and exterminated. Private ownership and the right to exploit others to privately accumulate surplus is at the root of it. Not ‘human nature’.There’s nothing to say that humanity can’t achieve egalitarian, classless society based on high technology and plenty, where stealing or waging war offers no advantage to anyone.
Your original comment of January 5 should be considered an important complimentary addition to Caitlin’s excellent logical and factual analysis of the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani by the Trump administration, which represents a symptom of the decay of American capitalist democracy, in the period of multidimensional weakenings of the positions of US imperialism, throughout the world. Such decay can either lead to socialism or fascism. Given the most effective brainwashing, disinformation, and capitalist-imperialist conditioning of the human nature in the US, it will most likely lead to fascism, instead of socialism.
You have also handled the diversionary and confusionist statements of some commenters quite well, and spent time to present information about the all-round improvements in peoples lives in socialist societies after the revolutions. However, your position on Stalin, Mao, and Castro is similar to that of the advocates and apologists of capitalism and imperialism. Under their effective leaderships, policies and actions for saving and developing socialism were created and implemented, at the most crucial stages of the development of socialist revolution, under the conditions of life and death struggle and competition with the powerful imperialist countries, which were trying everything they could, including military invasions, inciting counter-revolutions, political and economic subversions, and threats, to roll back the socio-economico-political gains and changes made there after the socialist revolutions and restore capitalism there, which did happen eventually in most of the former socialist countries, mostly as a result of internal subversions and betrayals of socialism, supported by the powerful imperialist countries of the West, especially the US. Objectively, the political economy of PRC is not socialist anymore, in spite of being ruled by the so-called “Communist Party” and lip service to socialism by its current leaders. It has been transformed into state capitalism, which is being controlled and regulated by the leaders of the so-called “Communist Party”. Capitalism has been restored in all the former republics of the USSR, in forms, some of which are even worse than those in the west.
Okay, American government lies, Americans know that. Anyone that’s even been to traffic court knows the government lies.
Iraq is a mess of at least 7 or 8 “militias” composed of Shia, Sunni, Christian and Yazidi peoples. Almost no one in the western world knows anything about them except that they appear crazy running around with AK47’s killing people, chopping off heads, planting car bombs, putting suicide vests on children, for some religious beliefs that have nothing to do with a peace.
Calling American’s “fucking moron sheeple”, from the living room palace of Boganistan is not going to cause Americans to doubt the validity of their beliefs or the actions of Trump. It’s just seen as a psychological form of aggression.
Sorry, that’s the way it is. PS. Why exactly does Trump need evidence? And what the hell was Soleimani doing in Iraq?
And what the hell was Americans doing in Iraq? Soleimani fought ISIS while US gave them weapons and protection, most of us know that by now, unless you are, a “complete fucking idiot.”
“Better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you’re a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”
I came across a new politics podcast today and heard a guy say that General Soleimani looked just like an evil throat-slitting type. And that guy is apparently a well known US broadcaster or podcaster. Needless to say I unsubscribed and deleted the podcast, but he no doubt continues with a large audience. Spare us!
So, is everybody ready for the third world war?
Now something has happened worth writing about; US takes out Iranian brass hat as part of ongoing provocations. I should frame this in part as a belated reply to the reply I got from Caitoz when I speculated about the true motives of Trump.
She said it did not matter if Trump really supports the globalist agenda or just has no choice but to go along with it. Either way he is shit. That Trump is shit is not disputed. However, “either way” does not get us anywhere.
The idea of some Trump apologists that he is really playing “three dimensional chess” with the globalists to bring them down is not very useful either. It helps to understand what goes on under the surface of events; especially, the nature of the US elite.
Most left people are hobbled by this idea that the ruling class is some unanimous, monolithic blob. In fact, the conflicts between factions are pretty obvious. The dominant faction for awhile now have been the globalists, alias the depopulators, or the “financial capitalists”.
These are the people who make their money through making money; finance, insurance, real estate. They do not really want to run the world, just own it. These are the people who would like to abolish capitalism and go backwards/forwards to neofeudalism.
They want to reduce the world’s population. Toward this, they drive the “climate” crapola. Of course, they control most of the banks and the media in the old US of A. They own the CIA and NSA. They own the Democrat party. They see no downside to war; it just means new investment opportunities.
The industrial capitalists have been subordinated for the past few decades. Of course, they are the people who make money in the old fashioned capitalist way of exploiting labor to make things. They own the Pentagon and the Republican party. Thus, anyone who thinks the party system in the US is just a two headed sock puppet does not know what she is talking about.
The industrial capitalists see downsides to war. However, they have gone along with the dominant financial capitalists for a long time. Now they see that the globalists are serious about depopulation and realize that this will destroy the class system altogether. The ruling classes are starting to fight with each other. This is no joke; there are now places where CIA backed militias are fighting with Pentagon backed militias.
The Rockefeller interests have long had a foot in both camps. Now they are moving away from the globalists. This is decisive. The Rocker’s base is still in the oil business but they have backed the “climate” thing because it drives their competitors, especially national oil companies, out of the market. Now they have partly backed off from this.
The global financiers are now failing as the American dollar fails. They are now desperately trying to do what their predecessors had done to establish and then to preserve their power; start a world war. They see Russia and China is a threat to their dominance and an obstacle to their old dream of controlling the entire globe. The object of controlling the globe is getting rid of most of the world’s population and insuring nothing ever rises to challenge their dominance.
The American industrialists are now reinforced by the new technology industries. They do not want to run the world; they think government is just in their way. They only want to make money. They have learned how to generate their own investment, so as not to depend on the finance sector.
These industrial capitalists are the people who want to bring manufacturing back to the USA. However, they are not interested in creating jobs, they want to automate everything. However, increasing automation means they are having trouble making the profits they could in previous generations, because of the old problem of the organic ratio of labor to capital.
The financial globalists have had the attitude that manufacturing is just an adjunct to finance and could be done anywhere, so it might as well be done where labor is cheapest. However, the Chinese were not supposed to start doing their own financing, research, development, and start pushing American capital out of its own markets.
That pisses the globalists off. They would start a war with China tomorrow if they could. Frankly, the big thing limiting their actions is the Russian nuclear force. That is why they hate the Russians and are focussed on them first.
Now, how does Trump come into all this? He is a real estate guy but his sympathies are with the industrialists. He wants to avoid war and bring manufacturing home. But he is not the industrialist’s chosen one.
The problem with Trump is he is a real lone wolf who does not take direction from anyone. Also, he is a crook. So, he has been unable to build a staff around himself which can carry out his foreign policies. He has been able to carry out most of his domestic policy, to the great harm of the American working classes and the future economic success of the USA.
It is understandable why few well qualified people would want to work for Trump. The globalists have been determined to steer American foreign policy toward global domination. They are very ruthless with anyone not aligning with their program. The industrialist faction is hamstrung by its own anti government ideology and does not develop a cadre which can run foreign policy for them.
Now I get to the central fact of Trump’s handling of the US empire; he has a bullseye taped to his ass. It has undoubtedly been explained to him what happened to the last US president who crossed the CIA, and the trilateral commission and predecessors. As well, most of the people who worked for Trump and really tried to give him good advice and carry out his wishes, have ended up in various legal wrangles.
All Trump can do is carry out the deep state’s directions on foreign policy, but he does it in a passive-aggressive way. He botches it up. So does the Pentagon, most of the time, and saluting all the way. It is that simple and he is not waging any kind of deep strategic battle with the globalists.
Trump is sane enough to know that a world war will destroy the USA and likely the world. The globalists are not; they have come to think they are infallible and invincible. But they are still in power. If Trump directly challenges them he will, not may, get the trigger pulled on him. It is as simple as that.
This brings us to the present situation in Iraq. It is hard to say just what is going on here. It is significant that Trump appears agitated, like he has not been during his presidency. Even the maniacs around him give the impression they have suddenly realized they have gone too far and are trying to walk it back.
Another piece of information people need to get about the situation; the USA is no longer the military colossus the globalists imagine it to be. The Iranians can and will retaliate against this with devastating effect. They will humiliate the USA.
If an all out war starts, the Iranians will win it hands down. There will be people who want to debate this to the moon and back, on either side, but I am not going to get into it here. When the US military gets clobbered by a third level power which is fighting in its own back yard with cheap but effective counters to American weapons, they are likely to panic and start using nuclear weapons.
The Russians have stated that they will not allow that and will act to provide a nuclear shield for their ally. From there it can accelerate to an all out nuclear war. This concerns me because I am planning to go on living for a few decades yet.
People thirty years ago knew what the consequences of a nuclear war could be. Now people seem to have forgotten this. Or, they think nuclear standoff was something that happened back in the cold war. They do not realize there are still thousands of nuclear warheads on alert all over the globe.
Trump is sane enough to know that the two major nuclear powers on earth cannot get into a conflict with each other. The globalists do not get this; they are screaming for a showdown with Russia. We would have had one by now if the maniac Hillary Clinton had been elected instead of Trump.
It is very obvious to anyone following American politics via diverse and objective media that the crazy defence policies are from the globalists, not from Trump. Trump is not a great person; people who want to get themselves into public office rarely are. But it has to be recognized that he has prevented a confrontation that could end life on the planet. He needs to be respected for that and supported in it.
There is someone with a big following on the net who adopts a pose of sagacity and counsels us to frequently detach ourselves and clear the buzz and fuzz out of our heads. This would enable us to get outside the narratives by which the ruling elites control us.
However, to really get out of this narrative matrix Neds more than just being able to tell yourself a different story. This is where Caitoz’s wisdom seems to end. Story telling is really for children. Adults develop schemas, mental models of the external world which are constantly developed and refined to give a framework for thought and action.
Getting out of the pathocracy’s narrative matrix does not do much if you don’t start thinking like an adult and doing something to change the world around you. You eventually get herded into a new matrix projected by a new pathocracy.
We have been through this at least once in recent memory. In the 1960s and 70s, everybody thought they had got their heads outside the establishment’s thought control. The system would all just wither away and we did not have to do anything. We did not have to make a new system for our own needs. Eventually the pathocracy reestablished control and created a worse system than before.
Now this system is failing. Will people who reject its narratives also grow themselves some mental muscles and begin to really analyze the system, learn how it works, learn how to disestablish it, decide what to replace it with and how to actualize that? Perhaps all some people have in them is “its all shit, all we have to do is reject it, we don’t have to do anything, or make anything new”.
The biggest crisis facing the human race right now is the drive for a total war with the powers resisting the globalists control. It is more important than anything else right now. Too few people are aware of it; most are focussed on relatively minor problems, sometimes nonexistent problems.
“Either way, they’re all shit” type thinking does not get us anywhere in dealing with this crisis. Sometimes alliances and accommodations must be formed with unsavoury people in order to remove the threat to planetary survival posed by much more dangerous people.
Thus, while making clear we do not support their vile domestic policies, we need to do what we can to help Trump and the industrial capitalists, just as with the less than ideal regimes of Russia and China, to contain the deranged globalists and dissolve their power.
Now, to bring this to the present situation and a conclusion; what we really do not need right now is to pin the whole fiasco on Trump. He most probably acted on false information fed to him by the creeps around him. It is paradoxical that the blowback from it will get blamed on him directly, rather than on the globalist policy “blob”. This will strengthen said blob, the real cause of the problem, and weaken the moderating influence, Trump.
The Russians, the world’s best diplomats, get this. They know enough to not trouble Trump more than necessary, and to exert pressure on the Pentagon and through the United Nations. Also, to calm the Iranians down. Can the left wing of the American public get it that the aggressive defence policy is coming from the globalists via the democratic party, not Trump, and act accordingly?
The conclusion of your novella, that there is some sort of political solution to this discombobulated clusterfuck, is delusional. The first and foremost realization one must absorb in any attempt to understand any political situation in the world today is that governments around the world are saturated with sociopaths, with those of the US by far the most ill. The depth of their insanity expands constantly. Murder is to them an entirely acceptable solution to any problem they encounter in satisfying their ego, how many they kill being inconsequential to them. There is no “good” side to be on in the United States of Sociopaths In Charge. Both parties are diametrically opposed to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, your well being of no concern. We can only hope their power structure collapses before they kill us all. Any thing we can do to facilitate that collapse is worthy.
Chris Hedges recently told Abby Martin there’s no chance of real change through voting. Rather, nothing less than civil disobedience on a massive scale will stop the current insanity.
When the words “Democrat Party” show up in a comment, it is the signal that the writer has no interest in rational discussion and what follows is pro-rightwing USA propaganda. It is when I quit reading. .
That is a very interesting and thought provoking analysis Tim, however I am also agreeing with what JWK says. This forum is proving to be very useful and reading all of the comments is a valuable exercise.
Trita Parsi:
> Spoke to a very knowledgeable person about what Iran’s response to Soleimani’s assassination might be. This would be the equivalent of Iran assassinating Petreus or Mattis, I argued.
> No, he responded, this is much bigger than that…
https://twitter.com/tparsi/status/1212919449638055938
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The nearest equivalent? If we have been following Middle East news from multiple sources these years, it’s quite clear.
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To understand their point of view, we can imagine the reverse situation, that an aggressive military power has surrounded and strangled our homeland — let’s say America — for many years in multiple “maximum pressure” ways, while asking for our complete submission, accusing our country of the terrorism they are arming and financing, and claiming we are the aggressors. And then, firing a Hellfire missile from a MQ-9 Reaper drone, they just assassinated president John F. Kennedy.
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In their words:
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“The Americans did not realize what a grave mistake they have made. They will suffer the consequences of such criminal act not only today, but also throughout the years to come. This crime committed by the US will go down in history as one of their unforgettable crimes against the Iranian nation.”
— Hassan Rouhani, President of Iran
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“End of US malign presence in West Asia has begun.”
— Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister of Iran
On Soleimani’s significance in Iran, for example:
.
> A survey published in 2018 by IranPoll and the University of Maryland — one of the few considered reliable by analysts — found Soleimani had a popularity rating of 83%, beating President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
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Who was General Qasem Soleimani and why was he so popular?
https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/who-is-general-qasem-soleimani-and-why-was-he-so-popular/article30467687.ece
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As a comparison, reformist President Hassan Rouhani — who received 57.14% of the votes in the 2017 Iranian presidential election — had a 65.5% popularity in that 2018 survey:
.
Iranian Public Opinion after the Protests | Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland | July 9, 2018
https://cissm.umd.edu/research-impact/publications/iranian-public-opinion-after-protests
At one point, Dick Cheney and some other neocons were working on a scheme to stage a false flag attack on an American ship and blame it on Iran. They wanted to use this incident to start a war.
The underlying problem is not just American Regime lies.
The underlying problem is the warped nature of American national identity itself.
Americans are once again getting triggered like little snowflakes about yet another supposed “threat” to their oh-so-precious American lives–even as their American Empire has murdered 100,000s of people in the US War of Terror. Hell, even the US regime mouthpiece, Voice of America, has admitted this reality:
US War on Terror Kills Nearly 500,000 in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan
https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/us-war-terror-kills-nearly-500000-afghanistan-iraq-pakistan
Americans know damn well that their beloved war criminal troops are attacking multiple nations around the world–yet they, in typically Orwellian American fashion, claim that America is being threatened!
The American Victimizer thinks of itself as the Victim.
Un-fucking-believable.
In general, Americans are trying to psychologically project their guilt and crimes onto other nations–all in order to cling to the big lie that they are a Force for Good in the world, a Shining City on a Hill, the Indispensable Nation, the Exceptionalist Country, Leader of the Free World, Land of the Free, blah, blah, blah.
This is the cult of American Supremacy.
American national identity is fundamentally based on this supremacist belief system since 1776.
THIS is the reason why many Americans will believe every self-serving deception that their regime tells them–regardless of how comically ludicrous they are.
(For examples of America’s unending Conga Line of Lies, see mythical Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction; Saddam Hussein did 9-11; the Syrian government gassed people in Douma in 2018; Russia meddled in American elections; Qassem Soleimani was involved in 9-11)
America Is a Religion – An Aggressive One
http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/how-its-exceptionalism-makes-america-dumb-and-aggressive/ri12257
I agree with you with regard to the actions of the U.S. since its founding. However, there is another aspect to America’s founding that is overlooked or dismissed in knee-jerk fashion by those who know how the rest of its history unfolded. IDEALLY speaking, the U.S. was, from its inception, an exceptional nation. It was the first nation ever to be formed expressly upon Enlightenment principles: that government was the creation of the people and existed solely by their consent; that the purpose of government was to secure its citizens’ inherent rights of equality, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that if a particular government supposedly so constituted failed to secure these rights, the citizens had the power/duty to alter or abolish it and create a new government that would do so. Back in the days of Vietnam War, when I came of age, young people judged the war by the American ideals they had been taught in school and found that the war was a gross violation of them. Same with the way that black people had been and were being treated. Same with the way that Native Americans had been and were being treated. Same with American imperialism, etc. So we held up a mirror to our country, the values contained in the Preamble to its own DOI, and demanded an end to these ongoing evils and blatant hypocrisies. I don’t see much of this sort of idealistic protest anywhere in the left these days, using the best of America (its professed lofty ideals) against the worst of it (its betrayal of those ideals by its actions). And thus I believe that our current protest is substantially weaker, based upon a far more flimsy foundation, than it was back then…when, yes, even Walter Cronkite was eventually turned against the Vietnam War.
Donald Trump is playing the hitman of Benjamin Netanyahu and the Zionist Israel lobby in the US. The Israeli Mossad, the terrorist organization in the world, orchestrated the attack, and the Zionist stooge Trump pulled the trigger. Now, Netanyahu finally has the US President who takes his orders. There are more terror attacks by the Trump regime coming.
People who support wars, like many American’s, just don’t get it. Scotland used to be a vibrant country producing a vast number of respected goods. When over 100,000 of their men died in WW1 that prosperity ended. England was eager to get into that war and it ended their empire although they still think they are special.
The trillions that the US has spent on recent bullshit wars are having an effect. Even a country that used to be as rich as the US cannot foolishly piss this amount of money away.
Money “backed by the full faith and credit of the United States”. Which is a warm and fuzzy way of saying “backed by the might of the amerikan military”. My take on it is that that military might won’t mean much when enough countries finally liberate themselves from the hegemony of the amerikan dollar. The question then is how long it will take for the economic house of cards to collapse. THEN we’ll see how important it is for the empire to continue bullying the rest of the planet.
It’s more than just lies and exaggerations, they use a lot of intentionally vague words whose meanings can be moved around as needed. When they threaten to attack Iran for any attacks on US assets, that leaves the door open for them to attack Iran or their supposed allies for almost anything that happens in the middle east, say a car bomb in Yemen that hurt a Saudi. They could easily call that an Iranian attack on a US asset and kill whomever they wanted afterwards without having to prove anything.
Your government does not represent YOU. this should be obvious , any attempt to implement any alternative system to western, neoliberal style of governance will be immediately undermined , sabotaged, putsch away or invaded. Leaders replaced, install stooges, collapse the economy, loot, ransack, rape, pillage, instill fear, desecrate spiritual sites, destroy culture, genocide the population, erase history,. This has been the modus operandi of colonists since antiquity.
This will continue until people STOP borrowing credit and working as a wage slave to service a debt. Don’t borrow money period. This is how to pull the rug out from under the banks, this system of usury, from under the war machine, and from under the eco vandals destoying our planet for short term profit. Mother nature will thank you and so will future generations.
For many our job is our identity and as another commenter rightly points out: as long as we keep working for this present system things will continue this way ad nauseam.
It takes years for WAR, INC to become a steady income for . so . many . liars. 911 is the source. No one mentioned or cared that saddam hussein was a CIA clone. Iraq is and was 80% Shiite. Iranis closer to 90%.
We expected that to hold up? now the crunch comes when we all learn how blatant our MIC is—they don’t care. they now want a war similar to the Iraq war just to keep the wheels of industry turning…..oil is unnecessary.
we could all be driving electric cars for the cost of the last wars.
3 religions are at war here, Sunni, Shiite, and judaism.
i say see ya! wouldn’t want to be ya.
we need to kill off the CIA. AND half the DOD every other year. A good zen trick is to drop out of conflicts….if we could think of a way of getting half the rich to kill off the other half, wouldn’t that be ironic?
Yeah.
I’m telling you all, and anyone who will listen, that once you realize that every government everywhere is the enemy, how to get to a better future becomes clearer.
I kid not.
Or one can aspire to “vote harder.”
From theIntercept.com
Assassination has been a central component of U.S. policy for many decades, though it has been whitewashed and normalized throughout history, most recently with Obama’s favored term, “targeted killings.” The U.S. Congress has intentionally never legislated the issue of assassination. Lawmakers have avoided even defining the word “assassination.” While every president since Gerald Ford has upheld an executive order banning assassinations by U.S. personnel, they have each carried out assassinations with little to no congressional outcry.
In 1976, following Church Committee recommendations regarding allegations of assassination plots carried out by U.S. intelligence agencies, Ford signed an executive order banning “political assassination.” Jimmy Carter subsequently issued a new order strengthening the prohibition by dropping the word “political” and extending it to include persons “employed by or acting on behalf of the United States.” In 1981, Ronald Reagan signed Executive Order 12333, which remains in effect today. The language seems clear enough: “No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination.”
Re the link to Benghazi … “what difference at this point does it make?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8INIH0JfNA8
Pence –
“Assisted in the clandestine travel to Afghanistan of 10 of the 12 terrorists who carried out the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.”
[Aside: This man is a genius – think about it – the terrorists who carried out the attacks then later travelled to Afghanistan – nearly all 12 of them … speechless!]
Warren:
“responsible for the deaths of thousands, including hundreds of Americans … “
Then the US Congress should be very, very wary …
Not only do they lie, they all use the same talking points. Caitlin picked up on the same narrative that this Iranian general “killed hundreds – if not thousands – of U.S. Service men ….” Every talking head I’ve watched on TV over the past two days has used this line. None have provided the source for this claim, or told us how this Iranian personally killed so many Americans in a war fought in Iraq. And no TV anchor has challenge his guests to provide proof of their assertions. Indeed, the news anchors cite the same dubious assertions as facts as well.
An oldie but a goodie …
The inherent conviction that wonderlanders represent God and Good girds us for the coming final struggle with Satan and Evil , whose minions on Earth have included royalist Brits, blue coated Unionist, spiked helmet Huns , grey coated Johnny Rebs ,goose stepping Nazis and up until now when black draped Isis and al-Qaedists compete with wine-sipping Democrats and Gucci-suited Repblicans for Evil Doer of the Year accolades.The Book of Revelation, also know by its original Greek title, the Apocalypse, is an especially important template for the right wing Christian Zionist evangelical movement to aggressively seek confrontations with whatever entity thy perceive as the latest Anti-Christ, a bogeyman that resist Amerika and is civilizing Christianizing mission.In believing it will hasten the return of a righteous Jesus with a sword in his hand to smite Amerikas enemies down with .They see Imperialist Israel as an essential element in provoking the End Times and if that means risking nuclear war with Iran or Russia or China so be it.
Why do underground miners continue, day after day after day, to risk their lives going deep underground and mining whatever? Money. That’s how they “make a living”. They’ll do absolutely anything to keep their jobs. They will hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil when it comes to mining and miners’ daily lives.
Why do mercenaries risk their lives, day after day after day, killing and killing and killing whomever their bosses order? Money. That’s how they make a living. They’ll do absolutely anything to keep their jobs. They will hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil when it comes to killing whom they are told and mercenaries’ daily lives. They just aren’t interested in anything that would interrupt their devotion to their jobs.
Why do people employed in the cigarette industry, from tobacco farmers to factory workers to retail stores, continue to “market” a cancer-causing substance that will kill literally millions of people all over the world, year after year after year? Money. That’s how they “make a living”. They’ll do absolutely anything to keep their jobs. They will hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil about how they make their money and the cigarette industry that employs them.
Why do people employed in the military-security-congressional-industrial complex, from TSA/FBI/NSA/DHS/CIA/JSOC/USMC/USN/BIW/HS/NSC etc. ad infinitum continue to do, day after day after day, what they do? Money. That’s how they “make a living”. They’ll do absolutely anything to keep their jobs. They will hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil about how they make their money and the war/security/regime-change industry that employs them. They don’t give a shit if they cause WW3. They are willing to risk absolutely everything — their lives, their children’s lives and the lives of literally everyone else on earth in order to keep their fucking jobs.
Why do people employed in the whaling industry continue to risk their lives at sea, day after day after day, killing mammals that live in the oceans of the world? Money. That’s how they “make a living”. They’ll do absolutely anything to keep their jobs. They’ll keep killing whales until whales are extinct.
Why do people employed in the fossil fuel industry continue explore for fossil fuel on land and at sea, day after day after day when they know in their heart of hearts that what they are doing is poisoning their Mother Earth’s biosphere to the point where Mother Earth will no longer support human life? Money. That’s how they “make a living”. They’ll do and risk absolutely anything to keep their jobs.
What specific behavior does “doing absolutely anything to keep their jobs” consist of? What are all of these people going to do if they feel that their livelihoods are being threatened by candidates for political offices who have control over foreign (war) policy, energy policy, fishing policy, tobacco/asbestos/GM food/GHG policies etc.? Specifically, which candidates for political office are they going to vote for?
THIS is EXACTLY why “things” are they way they are in the world today. WE are the problem, not THEM. WE have to figure out a better “system” (way of life), not THEM.
So instead of pointing fingers, let us, each and every one of us, start figuring out the specific details of that better way of life. On a day to day basis, just exactly WHAT does that better world “look like”? How does it “operate”? If humanity is going to survive, imagining and giving birth to this at-first-only-imagined better world is exactly what WE, not THEM, not SOMEONE ELSE, and definitely not the Elite, are going to have to do.
If I were you, I’d first try to “come up with a system” in which each and every person in the ways of life I’ve described above is satisfied that they’ll be able to “make a living” should that new system come into being. In other words, they’ll vote for it. That’s your challenge. Humanity’s survival depends upon your ability to “think outside the box”.
What will the “foundation stone” of YOUR system be?
The Capitalist “foundation stone” is certainly not the answer.
Capitalism is a fleeting thing. It cannot remain unfettered because it invites a power struggle to achieve the ultimate outcome of a winner.
Keep in mind sometimes that winner might consist of a cabal.
He who has all the toys wins.
Game over!
Maybe socialism ( in some form or other ) time has come.
Greed and Power will never be changed,it is and will be with as till the end.
3.14…
Following in the spirit of Buckminster Fuller who once said, “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”, I give you https://twitter.com/DomeLord/status/705772854630084608?s=20
From a Michael Krieger tweet posted today
“US official says” = your about to be told a lie.
Well, there is actually a precedent for the US Government pretty much telling the truth about a military crisis. The fact that is was over half a century ago means that people can be excused for forgetting.
———–
It was President Kennedy and when Amb. Stephenson went to the UNSC about the Russian missiles in Cuban. What they said turned out to be factually accurate. We’ve since had access to old Soviet records, as well as survivors of the Cuban Missile Crisis have met together in a conference in the 1990’s to trade tells from both sides of the nuclear push buttons. Generally, what they said about Russian missiles being installed was true and they did have photographic proof to show the world.
————
However, if you don’t have a lot of grey in your hair, you probably weren’t alive back when this happened, so for many people today to say that America hasn’t told the truth in their lifetimes would be highly likely to be accurate. The lies began with the assassination of the President who failed to nuke the world on that day when the generals told him to, and then continued onto the Gulf of Tonkin and have been a runaway train ever since.
Your argument FAILED with the attempt to use the example of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
The myth …. one of the first post WW2 MIC lies is that the USSR created the Cuban Missile Crisis in the first place.
It was the discovery by the USSR that the U.S. had deployed short range nuclear missiles into NE Turkey in 1961 that made the Soviets decide to position a similar threat into the backyard of the USA.
PNAC, Project for the New American Century, released Sept 2000, stated US must overthrow seven mid east nations, but would require a New Pearl Harbor for that to happen. PRESTO > “Breathtaking: Solving Nuclear 9/11” at VeteransToday(.)com > overthrow of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Obombie & Reptillary launched CIA Operation Zero Footprint to overthrow Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt and Libya. Then CIA Operation Timber Sycamore to overthrow Syria. Staged fake gas attacks in Damascus in Aug 2013, in Shayrat in April 2017 and Douma in April 2018 were not able to trigger World War Three.
Soleimani killed thousands of CIA proxy ISIS terrorists in Syria.
Russians killed thousands of CIA proxy ISIS terrorists in Syria.
“We killed hundreds of Russians in Syria” ~ madman Pompeo
LBJ, Gulf of Tonkin, Mediterranean Edition > USSLibertyMovie(.)com
I know it’s your job, but don’t burn yourself out over it; probably more than half your paying following are Zionist trolls etcetera. You’ve already said as much, without saying it, but these things in America are just that, things. A community would be much better off having thousands of rabid bats, dogs and whatever else running around loose, than to have a few of these things in their town. You see it every day; these despicable creatures. They see themselves as a sort of bug, and if a few of them survive to fight another day they consider a sort of victory. Something I think they got by rewriting Nordic mythology and basterizing it with Judaic mythology. Anyway, no one would consider a rabid dog as still their pet, so thinking of these people as people is ridiculous because they aren’t anymore; no more so than in the movies, ‘the body snatchers’, and ‘pet cemetery’.
i hope you realize, Caitlin, that you’re putting yourself in physical danger by constantly repeating these truths. This is the world’s largest mafia here, making moves on the other mafias’ turf, and if you start getting enough of a following to impinge on their action, I fear for your safety.
The killing of the Iranian general is just another example of how far they’ll go to achieve their goal. But there are plenty of other examples, such as Assange and Snowden and Manning, thtat show how death is just one arrow in their quiver if they decide you’ve become a serious threat.
So thank you for putting it all on the line like this, and may fate treat you kindly.
To illustrate how serious this terrorist assasination is, I tried to think of a reverse equivalent, ie America killing Soleimani is like Iran killing … but then you see the difference between a proud nation and a shame-haunted empire. There are NO beloved military commanders in America now. And for good reason.
Ha! I tried the same thing and failed. Sad eh?