Month: March 2015

Western media are constantly reporting a Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine as an undisputed fact. That no one ever sees these troops is just one of life’s little mysteries, as seemingly ever article just shows a couple of pictures of single unidentified camouflage vehicles or a handful of random people with the caption “pro-Russian separatists.”

DW.de is going for the gold with their latest “evidence mounting” about Russian troops today, which reports some putative fighters from the eastern Ukrainian rebel factions were miners who claimed they’d been paid by the Russian government.

Even if we take this claim as absolute fact, calling out-of-work miners who are paid to fight “troops” is a big stretch, and calling Ukrainians “Russians” is an even bigger stretch.

Though there have been cases of actual Russians with actual military backgrounds going to eastern Ukraine to fight, these are isolated cases, and the ongoing claims of direct Russian military involvement remain unproven.

If we’re using this standard set by this claim, we might as well call Ukraine’s military “US troops,” since the US helped bankroll the bailout of the Ukrainian government, and has been providing military aid to them.

This video should go viral. It is from the Israeli media.

Watch, laugh – and cry. (It is preceded by a 15-second commercial in Hebrew.)

Now let’s be serious.

First, the Congress is completely humiliated, dancing to the tune of Netanyahu who is the representative of a foreign power. That humiliation extends to every American who cast a vote, expecting the Congresspeople to represent the voters, the American voters – not the Israeli ones.

Continue reading “Watch, Laugh, then Cry – Netanyahu Choreographs a Humiliated Congress”

As a supine Congress sitting inside a scaffolded dome applauded Benjamin Netanyahu calling to reject a peace deal with Iran, DOJ quietly announced it had reached a plea deal with former CIA Director David Petraeus for leaking Top Secret/Secure Compartmented Information materials to his mistress, Paula Broadwell.

Among the materials in the eight “Black Books” Petraeus shared with Broadwell were:

…classified information regarding the identities of covert officers, war strategy, intelligence capabilities and mechanisms, diplomatic discussions, quotes and deliberative discussions from high-level National Security Council meetings, and defendant DAVID HOWELL PETRAEUS’s discussions with the President of the United States of America.

The Black Books contained national defense information, including Top Secret/SCI and code word information.

Petraeus kept those Black Books full of code word information including covert identities and conversations with the President “in a rucksack up there somewhere.”

Petreaus retained those Black Books after he signed his debriefing agreement upon leaving DOD, in which he attested “I give my assurance that there is no classified material in my possession, custody, or control at this time.” He kept those Black Books in an unlocked desk drawer.

Continue reading “David Petraeus Gets Hand-Slap for Leaking, Two Point Enhancement for Obstruction of Justice”

When was the last time you heard of a major speech to Congress taking place in the morning? It rarely happens.

Why is Netanyahu speaking so early?

The answer is that the speech is mostly aimed at the Israeli public, who are headed to the polls in two weeks to elect a new parliament that will decide whether or not to re-elect Netanyahu as Prime Minister. The incumbent PM is addressing Israelis sitting who are sitting down to dinner.

The government of Israel recognizes the speech as a political message. The Israeli Central Elections Committee has placed the broadcast under a 5-minute delay, to review and possibly censor the speech for content that could be construed as “campaigning.”

Do the creatures of the Warfare State feel shame, regret, remorse, guilt, or penitence? I have a hard time believing they can, but if they can leverage those same feelings among the population into supporting endless foreign intervention, they will make vigorous use of any emotion, in a manner similar to a used car salesman.

Case in point: appearing on CBS’s "Face the Nation," Senator John McCain recently employed an emotional reaction alien to his countenance in regard to his general inability to pull the rug out from under Ukraine. In lamenting his, at the present, powerlessness to arm the Ukrainian government, McCain let loose this howler:

"I’m ashamed of my country, I’m ashamed of my president and I’m ashamed of myself that I haven’t done more to help these people. It is really, really heartbreaking."

His public contortions in favor of intervention are grotesque, and his sense of shame seems to be confined to what the United State war machine cannot do. He doesn’t appear to feel anything at all for the wasteland he helped create in Libya, Iraq, Syria, and the myriad other Middle Eastern countries that have had a taste of McCain’s brand of "help."

He wants weapons and money flowing to the Ukrainian government to combat the separatists, and "Russia". Does he care what the consequences would be if Russia called his bluff? His entire history as a Senator is evidence of the amount attention he pays to consequences. How far is he willing to go with aid to Ukraine?

Continue reading “A Warmonger’s Sense of Shame”

As a proponent of free and open information, I was initially reluctant to call for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s return to Israel. Despite my dislike of Netanyahu and Israeli foreign policy generally, his scheduled Congressional address, on its face, does little more than add an additional perspective to America’s foreign policy debate. More debate and discussion is usually welcome, because too often American foreign policy is conducted behind closed doors with the dubious claims of politicians going unchecked. Only after war is underway do tidbits begin to leak to the public about the intelligence which supposedly made war necessary. If Iran is in Barack Obama’s or Congress’s crosshairs, one part of me says: Let Netanyahu’s puppetmastery be a matter of public record.

With that said, Americans already know what Netanyahu’s U.S. tour is about: more war. And that is why they largely oppose it. Americans don’t need Netanyahu in Washington to explain his position – they’re already well aware. A fair number in Congress toe the Israeli line, adopting Netanyahu’s murderous ideology wholesale. It is an ideology that sees diplomacy as a last resort, and has a loud voice in Congress thanks to the efforts of AIPAC – the Israeli propaganda machine operating in Washington. One need only look at their work to learn what Israeli warmongers want.

So while more discussion and new information are normally welcomed, Netanyahu’s antics give us neither. His Congressional hosts will use his address to bolster their calls for the continued American war state, one which is waged as much by the Israeli state as the American one. Yes, Israeli foreign policy is regarded throughout the rest of the world as an extension of American foreign policy, and rightfully so. Stolen taxpayer loot funds Israel to the tune of several billion dollars per year. For a small country, Israel is not only armed to the teeth, but is also able to simultaneously lock down an entire Palestinian population. This is what American foreign aid, paid for by you, spent by Washington, achieves.

Continue reading “Go Home, Netanyahu”