Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Kettle Calling The Pot Black

                                              

                                               
                                                  From The Ramparts
                                                 Junious Ricardo Stanton
                                             Kettle Calling The Pot Black

            With all the brouhaha about alleged Russian hacking of the 2016 presidential election you would think the Democratic Party, the US Deep State (shadow government FBI, CIA etc), US politicians and the corporate media would not risk making fools of themselves if the masses knew the US has been quit busy attempting to undermine and influence election outcomes around the world since the late 1940's.  In fact I'll bet most people forgot President Obama tried to persuade voters in the United Kingdom not to vote to exit the European Union two months prior to the June 23, 2016 vote. He spoke openly on several occasions in support of the UK remaining in the European Union. Many feel Obama's pro EU push is what made Brits vote so overwhelmingly to leave the European Union!
            But that was, chump change, an extremely passive attempt to influence British politics by the US government. The US has a far more aggressive, imperialist and neo-colonial history of  interference, intervention and meddling around the world. Recent research by Dov Levin a postdoctoral fellow at Carnegie Mellon University's Institute for Politics and Strategy discovered the US government worked assiduously to influence the outcomes of foreign elections at least eighty-one times between 1946 and 2000 and that doesn't include the countless coup d'etas, assassinations and regime change campaigns of candidates the US wanted to toppled and get rid of. http://investmentwatchblog.com/us-intervened-over-80-times-in-foreign-elections/ Using declassified "intelligence" and Congressional reports on CIA activities, academic research and reports Levin reported the US was actively engaged in propaganda, misinformation, provided cash or foreign aid, created campaign material for their favored candidate(s), made open and veilled threats against a candidate and other sundry mischief. Again that was between 1946 and 2000 which didn't include the dirty tricks and lethal activities employed by the US CIA.
            For the US to accuse Russia of interfering or hacking an election is like the kettle calling the pot Black. But that's what hypocrites and psychopaths do. Think about all the regime change the US has engaged in since 2000.  For the record, some of the more infamous and egregious examples are: supporting a coup against Hugo Chaves of Venezuela in 2000, removing the Taliban from power in Afghanistan in 2001, murdering Saddam Hussein in 2006, support the coup against Manuel Zelaya of Honduras in 2009, killing Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, ousting Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine in 2014 and their ongoing attempts to replace the duly elected president of Syria Bashar al-Assad just to cite a few.
            Speaking of hypocrisy, the US charged Saddam Hussein gassed Kurdish Iraqis. They alleged this prior to the US warmongers settling on the weapons of mass destruction deception as the reason for the 2003 Iraqi invasion. The fact of the matter is the United States sold Saddam Hussein the tear gas, sarin and other chemical and biological weapons he used in his war against Iran. The US even had satellite footage of Iraqi troops using sarin gas against Iranian forces in 1988. There is no proof Hussein gassed the Kurds living in Iraq. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article1148.htm
            In 2013 the US claimed Syrian president Bashar al Assad gassed his own people  killing over one thousand Syrians. The corporate media jumped on the story and the Obama administration tried to use the  anti-Assad propaganda as a pretext to do to Syria what they did to Libya. During the debate, Putin stepped in and brokered a deal whereby Assad agreed to turn over all the country's chemical weapons and allow full unfettered inspections. This prevented the US from declaring a no fly zone over Syria or invading and the US warmongers have not forgotten or forgiven Putin for that.
            Subsequently Assad asked Putin for help fighting the Western backed "rebels" who were waging a proxy war on behalf of the US and its Israeli, Turkish and Saudi Arabian allies. Putin sent in Russian bombers, missiles and logistical support. This along with the active support of Iran and Hezbollah turned the tide in Assad's favor. Now the US is saying Assad gassed Syrian civilians at a time when by all accounts he and his allies are winning!? It doesn't make sense nor is it logical, except if you see this as a ruse to rationalize US and NATO direct military engagement.
             This is a repeat of the Saddam gassed the Kurds and the 2013 claims Assad gassed civilians. Hopefully except for dolts like Donald Trump people will not go for the okey-doke again. Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.

                                                            -30-

                                    

Monday, April 17, 2017

Wars and Rumors of War

                                                   
                                                 From the Ramparts
                                                Junious Ricardo Stanton
                                             Wars and Rumors of Wars

           
            During the last two weeks the risks of open conflict between the US and Russia over Syria and the US and China and Russia over North Korea have escalated. The hypocrites in the corporate media who were lambasting Trump for his flip flop on Syria were also enthusiastically cheering him for launching sixty cruise missiles at an airbase in Syria!
            Meanwhile North Korea displayed it military and weapons during a celebration of the 105 anniversary of the founder of the North Korean Republic which included the attempted launch of a new missile. Last Sunday North Korea in a move of self-determination and self protection test fired a missile but it exploded.
            The US media played up the failure and there are now reports circulating the US may have had something to do with the malfunction. "North Korea's botched missile test may have been disrupted by a secretive US programme of cyber and electronic warfare designed to sabotage launches... The attempted test, and a weekend parade of Pyongyang's military hardware, prompted international condemnation and an American promise of further action if the hermit state failed to end its provocations. Under Barack Obama, the US stepped up electronic and cyber attacks on North Korea's missile programme. Those efforts are reported to include hacking and the use of electromagnetic weapons capable of disrupting electronic equipment." http://postnewsd2.blogspot.in/2017/04/north-koreas-botched-missile-test-on.html
            This is nothing new the US has been using cyber warfare for years viruses like Stuxnet to attack the Iranian nuclear program. https://www.nytimes.com/topic/subject/cyberattacks-on-iran-stuxnet-and-flame  These are acts of war! 
            We must not forget the people of Syria elected Assad as their president, that it is the West and its fanatical Wahabi jihadist partners from Saudi Arabia who are attempting to overthrow Assad, usher in a bogus Islamic Caliphate which will propagate Neo-Colonialism on behalf of the West and make Israel the dominant power in the region.
             With regards to North Korea, remember the Korean War was never resolved, no peace treaty was ever signed. The opposing sides merely agreed to withdraw their forces below the "Demilitarized Zone" that splits Korea and serves as a buffer to the North and South. The fact of the matter is the Koreans would like their country unified and to live together in peace. If Germany could be reunited so can Korea, but the West doesn't want a resolution there. If the West wanted peace they would aggressively pursue peaceful solutions. But noo, they maintain an adversarial stance towards North Korea. Naturally the North Korean leadership wants to protect itself from the American warmongers!
             The corporate media played up the recent events in an alarmingly cavalier fashion providing analysis no on the potential these events have to trip start WW IV (WWIII is the ongoing covert operations, interventions, destabilization campaigns, coups, economic sanctions, imperialism and Neocolonialism of the US, UK, NATO, Israel etc following the official end of hostilities for WWII.) Nowhere in the corporate media do we hear voices calling for restraint, pleading for the mobilization for PEACE against the Trump administration's bellicose and discombobulated foreign policy if you can call it that. The corporate media are the megaphones and sycophants of the ruling class Deep State and their puppets in the government.
            So amidst this tension, saber rattling and games of chicken, here are the actual reasons for all of this instead of the corporate media's lies. The NeoCon, global banking cartel, military industrial, security/surveillance state hydra's dream of a New American Century where the American Empire is the only super power in the world are swiftly imploding around them and they are in panic mode. China is about to eclipse the US as the largest economy in the world. The US dollar is losing its status as the world's reserve currency, the BRICS nations (Brazil Russia, India, China and South Africa) are challenging the World Bank, IMF and Bank of International Settlements usury monopoly with their New Development Bank and using alternative currencies in their mutual trade agreements and transactions. This means the end of US dollar hegemony, and the Western plutocrats are having conniptions. So they have unleashed the hellhounds by demonizing Putin, destabilizing Brazil's economy, fomenting tension between India and Pakistan and attempted a color revolution in South Africa in 2014. These are acts of war or precursors to war.
            These current tensions and moves are all part of their panic because the BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperative Group (Russia and China's version of NATO) are not backing down and are taking precautions to protect themselves.  http://investmentwatchblog.com/breaking-news-china-and-russia-send-ships-after-united-states-aircraft-carrier-moving-toward-north-korea/  We are facing a Mexican Standoff of gargantuan proportions. Stay tuned.

                                                       -30-

Sunday, April 02, 2017

The Big Lie Technique In Action

                                                 

                                                  From the Ramparts
                                                Junious Ricardo Stanton
                                            The Big Lie Technique In Action

            “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."-  Joseph Goebbels Head of Nazi Propaganda

            We are witnessing the application of tried and true propaganda techniques espoused by Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbles who studied and applied the mind control tactics of US PR and advertising guru Edward Bernays. Burnays was the nephew of Sigmund Freud and he applied many of his uncle's ideas about the unconscious with the crowd psychology theories of Wilford Trotter and Gustove LeBon to develop a successful advertising, PR and propaganda career.
            Bernays like Goebbles was about manipulating the masses, getting them to do what he and his clients such as cigarette companies and the US government wanted them to do unbeknownst to the people.  In order to accomplish this, Bernays developed techniques to influence people on the subconscious level. He believed it was imperative for the masses to be manipulated and controlled by a certain segment of society. He wrote, "The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, and our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of…. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind..." http://theconversation.com/the-manipulation-of-the-american-mind-edward-bernays-and-the-birth-of-public-relations-44393  Bernays used the term "democratic society" despite the fact what he was espousing is the exact opposite of "democracy".
            As a writer Bernays was successful getting the public to go along with Woodrow Wilson's entry into WWI. Afterwards he surmised those same techniques could be used to sell products as well. Of course his advertising campaigns for products like cigarettes, soap and appliances involved telling lies and creating perceptions that were not true or real.
            In 1920 Joseph Goebbles discovered Bernays and became a fan despite the fact Bernays was Jewish. When Hitler came to power through deception and subterfuge (The Reichstag Fire, and the lie Poland attacked Germany) Goebbles as Hitler's head of propaganda employed Bernays' techniques, tactics and strategies to create a fanatical imperialist movement with mindless obedience to its leader.
            Today Bernays' attitudes about controlling the masses, his techniques and tactics are pervasive. They are all around us, we are bombarded with them twenty four hours a day! The ruling class were Bernays' primary clients and they keep his legacy of lies, publicity stunts, contrived, fake events and perception management alive and thriving today. Remember Bernays was about mass manipulation in order to control people's minds, their worldview and behavior! Do you see any similarities in today's current events?
            Here are several examples of how Bernays' and Goebbles techniques have been applied in recent years. In 1990 the Washington D.C. PR firm Hill and Knowlton created a multi-million dollar propaganda campaign to convince the world Saddam Hussein was an evil man to justify the first Gulf War, despite the fact prior to his invasion of Kuwait he was a US ally! They created a front group called Citizens for A Free Kuwait, to spread lies about alleged rapes and Iraqi soldiers killing Kuwaiti infants. Hill and Knowlton even staged a bogus hearing on Capital Hill to simulate a Congressional Hearing where the daughter of the Kuwaiti Ambassador posed as a witness to atrocities committed by Iraqi soldiers. The corporate media covered and promoted the fake Hearing using them to create Anti-Iraq sentiment. (Read Weapons of Mass Deception The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq by Sheldon Rampton nd John Stauber).
            On September 11, 2001 the corporate media broadcast round the clock pictures of smoldering, collapsing twin towers with the caption America Under Attack. These images, the screen captions and constant rhetoric prepared our psyches for the first leg of their bogus War on Terror the US invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001. This invasion was planned many months before 9-11 against a country that neither attacked the US nor had anything to do with 9-11! https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2001/11/afgh-n20.html
            President Bu$h demanded the Taliban turn Osama bin-Laden over to the US. The Taliban asked, as any reasonable person or group would, for evidence proving Osama bin-Laden was responsible for 9-11 (They knew a man living in a cave in Afghanistan could not have pulled off such an attack!). Bu$h told them we don't have to give you any evidence, proceeded to launch the invasion, and told us "You are either with us or with the enemy."
             The corporate media uncritically echoed the charges against bin-Laden although no evidence has ever been produced to prove he was the culprit. In fact the FBI's own Website doesn't mention him in connection with 9-11!!! Nevertheless we have been at war around the world for sixteen years over bogus propaganda and lies!
            There are more recent examples but let these marinate, I'm sure you will come up with more on your own, (hint the Russia Did It narrative). Don't believe the hype and don't fall for the Big Lie.

                                                -30-