Debt Rattle Jul 23 2014: Best Remember Who Your Friends Are
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Arthur Rothstein Home of worker in strip coal mine, Cherokee County, Kansas May 1936 A very impressive procession of hearses, containing the first 40
[See the full post at: Debt Rattle Jul 23 2014: Best Remember Who Your Friends Are]Here in the US there is a bizarre dynamic where conservative political rhetoric which dominates all media, by volume, amount and decibels, hates the government but loves the nation. One inch past our borders and the government is only criticized for being too weak, too timid. Where there is literally no amount of violence we can unleash upon others that would be too much. No amount of our government meddling and intruding into other nations is too much. No amount of money spent meddling, intruding, inaviding other countries is too much.
To wit recently they managed to cut $6bn from food stamps the next few years. A political victory met with almost orgasmic glee. Then we just sent $5bn to Ukraine and guaranteed another billion in their bonds, and not a peep was heard.
It’s Europe that had better figure out who their friends are. Not that it makes much difference as in punishing or not punishing Putin because as Victoria Nuland said, “fuck the EU”. I’m thinking ‘we’ are willing to sacrifice Europe to the cold of massive NG shortages to try and get to Putin.
Maybe not this year or next but soon enough.
Roel, I’ve been following your commentary on Russia – Ukraine and the ME and finding I agree with most of it. To be honest I don’t understand WTF is going on. I’m pretty sure that Putin is equally confused.
The real issue here is why did Dutch authorities allow an aircraft to take off from Schiphol, laden with Dutch passengers, to fly over a war zone? British Airways and Quantas were already avoiding the area. IMO the culpability here really lies with those who sanctioned the route which I understand from reliable sources is Malaysian Airlines.
The reporting of this tragic event here has been surreal. The Ukranian separatists seem to have done a reasonable job of gathering up bodies and body parts to send them home – recalling that they are fighting for their own lives against a larger force. The western media seems to expect some ridiculous standard to apply.
Be warned that finding out who did this may rumble for decades. We still don’t know who downed Panam 103 over Lockerbie in 1988.
I’m writing this while listening to the opening ceremony of The Commonwealth Games in the background. NUF said.
Andy Murray was a pupil in the primary school in Dunblane on the day Thomas Hamilton struck in 1996 killing 16 children. Grieve and then move on.
Obama? Spying on everyone. Too much data to process. Relying on cherry picked reports from his security services. He should get on a plane, fly to Moscow and talk to Putin… before its too late!
Euan – “The real issue here is why did Dutch authorities allow an aircraft to take off from Schiphol, laden with Dutch passengers, to fly over a war zone?” Good question.
“He should get on a plane, fly to Moscow and talk to Putin… before its too late!” I think “too late” is what he’s after. If Obama was after conciliation and friendliness, yes, but he doesn’t want that. He wants the oil and gas.
Ever dealt with someone where you think their motive is genuine, you keep giving them the benefit of the doubt, and it takes quite awhile before you realize their motive is not one of mutual benefit, but a one-sided benefit in favor of them? I have. Of course, if it was someone you didn’t trust, you probably wouldn’t be surprised, but when it is someone you do trust (like the President of your country, a friend, a family member), it’s a hard pill to swallow. It takes some time before you allow the thought to sink in.
I don’t think the U.S. wants the truth (which I’m sure they already know, anyway). They are and have been trying to stir up the hornet’s nest for some time now. If this doesn’t work, expect to see something more horrific in due time.
They want something, and if it takes a fight to get it, that’s what will happen, lives be damned.
“Minutes before the crash caused by a missile strike, the AI pilots had also heard the controller give the Malaysian aircraft MH17 what is called “a direct routing”. This permits an aircraft to fly straight, instead of tracking the regular route which is generally a zig-zag track that goes from one ground-based navigation aid or way point to another. “Direct routing saves fuel and time and is preferred by pilots. In this case, it proved fatal,” said an airline source. ”
“Air India flight was 90 seconds away when missile struck Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17”
It’s all coming out. Sadly, we have reached the stage where they don’t even bother doing the job “properly” – they know the media will trot out any explanation they like or simply make it all vanish from the front pages.
Here is an example from today’s main paper in Melbourne. They make a big deal out of the allegation that the people picking up the bodies – a most horrible task – are keeping some mobile phones. The main story and the backpedalling has completely disappeared from the front pages!
Excellent work, Ilargi!
Want a government powerful enough to give you everything you want, including protection from any threat of harm? Then be prepared to give to it everything you have, including your life.
Most folks simply do not understand the nature of concentrated power. With these psychos, all ends justify any means. 298 victims of their “means,” other than providing an opportunity for some political grandstanding, are of no more significance to them than were the lives of 6 million Jews, 3 million Ukrainians, massive civilian casualties in Dresden, Nagasaki or Hiroshima.
They will gladly kill their own enablers as well. Rein in your governments and cut them down to such a minute size so as to be of no use to any special interest that would use them against you, or humanity in general.
Or, keep asking for their protection, until they finally decide it’s best to simply destroy you to prevent others from harming you.
Ask yourself, how many politicians did you see gathering up the pieces of flesh in the aftermath of their deeds there in that killing field in Ukraine? Even their pet media censored photos of the carnage, by the time western “Journalism” reprocessed information relating to the event, in order to make it more “palatable” for the “uninitiated.”
Maybe bill board sized color glossy images of this sort of thing, posted on the streets, would be more useful in firing up constituencies. Is it even possible? Or are we still in the dark ages of the Vietnam War, where a simple body count meter became routine on the 6 O’Clock news every evening.
No blood, no guts, no gore,,,just a little meter up in the corner of the TV screen. So on and on it went. 58,000 Americans and 1,000,000 Vietnamese all slaughtered in the shadow of a couple flags, all tucked behind an FCC regulated media firewall.
“200 enemy killed today, and only 23 GI’s” they gloated. I guess that makes us the winner.
My hat’s off to Ilargi for another superb essay. Not only am I in agreement, I’m wowed by the writing itself.
A couple of lines in particular really resonated.
“When people are vulnerable, you can make them believe just about anything.”
I couldn’t help but think about some of the most vulnerable: kids. They become patriots in the country they’re raised in. They believe in the god their parents believe in. They learn to hate the people their parents hate. They adopt the worldviews and attitudes of those around themselves (including pop icons and celebrities). For a lot of kids, some of these conditionings turn out to be horribly misguided. Which can mean horribly self-righteous, selfish, insensitive, stupid, or even dangerous.
This is important because misguided kids often become horribly misguided adults.
“But we are still led, in our justified grief and anger, towards hate for the very people we have set up to being killed by armies we ourselves finance.”
Well said, and the wicked irony of it causes me despair. The people who SHOULD read Ilargi’s essay will not, but what’s worse is that even if they did, it would not change their warped little minds.
Eric Zuesse posted an excellent article today that also speaks to the madness behind the situation in Ukraine. I’m trying to get everyone I know to read both articles.
https://www.washingtonsblog.com/2014/07/americas-nazi-allies-israel-ukraine.html
“People tend to pay attention to the prices of things they buy all the time, like gasoline, milk and meat.”
Oh, yeah, I get it,,,a person is hungry because he’s out of money, except for that last cup of yogurt in the fridge, so he should concentrate more on the price of a new fridge. Makes sense, considering the source.
@ DS,
Zuesse Conclusion,
“Without accountability, there can only be dictatorship. America must now choose whether to restore its democracy, for we have certainly lost it.”
Only one way that will happen. Nourishing the Tree of Liberty too will be ugly. But, as a double edged sword, one could believe, again, that the ends justify the means, maybe?
I mention that because casting pre screened ballots is no longer effective. Just as casting ballots would not have freed the Colonists from the the clutches of England.
On FDR and “Progressivism,” he progressed us right into war as a means of diverting attention from his bungling of the Great Depression. It’s just that the propaganda was so effective, he is considered a hero to this day. That, and the fact that right or wrong, the victors write the history.
Euan,
Yeah, it’s a curious chain of events. Not sure it confuses Putin, though; he may well have expected something like this.
The ECA (commercial airline pilots ass’n) issued a statement yesterday saying intelligence about missile systems had not been shared outside of US, UK, France, Canada, Oz (whose airlines fly other routes. Holland and Malaysia were never informed of recent developments. But even then … And then again, Ukraine air traffic control does play a role. But their tapes were confiscated by Ukraine intelligence and not heard – from – again since. It’s like the black boxes being sent to Britain, which is not exactly a neutral country.
Obama won’t go talk to Putin, because he’s got him where he wanted: western public opinion is solidly anti-Putin, and they haven’t even had to provide any proof he did anything wrong.
And the public have no idea what has been done in their name, so they feel no guilt whatsoever, but nevertheless all those thousands of dead east Ukrainians (and counting) really are directly linked to our support for Poroshenko, Yatsenyuk and the shady friends they keep.
People in the west feel something bad is being done to them, and are ignorant of what’s being done to others on behalf of them. That’s our press for you.
One thing’s for sure: both Putin and the US know exactly what happened. Which makes me wonder why neither will say. Russia’s cryptic press release was focused on the two fighter jets trailing MH17 when Ukraine swore nothing was in the air, even as the rebels say they were being air-attacked. Rumor has it that the fighter jets that downed MH17, as the Buk system is not a direct-impact weapon, but releases small, high-speed shrapnel in air proximity, shrapnel which is missing from the plane pieces we see on TV. If not hit by a Buk, but another weapon, what does this mean? NATO surface-air or air-to-air? Ukrainian MIG air-to-air? Add this: the two Ukranian fighters Russia obliquely referred to may not have been “Ukrainian”, per se, but NATO. So…NATO fighter clearly sees a civilian airliner, impossible to miss, and shoots it down? Add to, the US-Ukraine have the ONLY motive for ANY attack. Rebels have no high-air ability and no motive. Russia? Not their space, nothing was seen, no Buks were supplied, and have no motive. If this air fighter thesis up, it can only be in cold blood. Which considering Syrian gas incident supplied by UK-Saudi to the rebels, Benghazi, arming ISIS, and many more examples, wouldn’t surprise me at all. I mean, the US is killing their Vets by the thousands and arming the Zetas and ISIS to fight their own allies and soldiers. What’s a few hundred cheese-eaters in the mix? I mean, at this late date do we still have to discuss this? Why are we arguing water is wet?
I disagree with the consensus: the drums to war have no traction whatsoever, as the media has no credibility whatsoever. If you read news, as we no doubt all do, the media might make it SEEM like a done deal, but I see nothing. Nothing. I don’t feel the people in the US even care (for better or worse) much less support such a thing; which is no surprise: they’re busy trying to prevent their own deaths at the hands of poverty, oppression, and inflation. And that’s no exaggeration. Go visit Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Indiana, Mississippi, or pretty much wherever you like outside of K-Street. You’re lucky to get food and water. Medical care that won’t actively kill you? Forget about it.
So don’t despair. Far as I can tell there’s no traction, no rush to war. They ain’t got it. They’re hollow, useless, pathetic little sots and Putin’s going to let them fall in on themselves. Germany is pivoting to Russia and the Silk road without doubt, and Turkey just did yesterday, now utterly refusing phone calls from Obama. Turkey can import anything to Iran, shut down ISIS in a week, (they have the 8th largest military in the world, 3x France or the UK), combine with Iran (9th largest military) to take over all of central Asia, open or shut the Black Sea, pull Greece away from the Western vultures, and they own both the pipeline and the new natural gas fields off Cyprus. They’re gone. NATO is therefore gone. Europe is therefore gone. No one believes a thing the Anglos say, much less do anything they ask. Far from being to war, the move instead is the collapse and abandonment of the Anglos in favor of the non-insane. That’s the real unstoppable tide, not war. They’re going to have to do way better than this, and they don’t have it. It’s over.
I’m not sure what it meant about “conservative rhetoric that is in all media.” It seems a stretch to say that the US media is a conservative mouthpiece. Quite the reverse. But if he means the Conservatives the media bothers to interview, it’s long been known that they’re not Conservatives any more than the Democrats are Progressive. Both parties have owned the entire government for years, and neither have done anything they promised, instead following the agenda we see every day, set up by the “Crazies in the Basement”, executed by Obama out-Bushing Bush, and back through decades of Clinton and H.W. maybe as far back as Johnson. Zero hope, zero change in what is 25 consecutive years. We’re still talking left-right? It’s been 25 years of the same, people, get up to speed before you get run over.
For these crazies interviewed in the media, yes, nothing could be better with them than to make the helpless suffer, while there is no limit to welfare for billionaires or the budget and use of military equipment. When they ran out of fresh world to arm and bomb, they are now arming and targeting themselves, internally. However, it’s not news that the Republican Party is now dead and will probably vanish in a single event like the Whigs before Lincoln. The holdouts in Congress and other positions will notice that since they’ve been attacking the crap out of Christians, patriots, vets, whistleblowers, reporters, and Constitutionalists (as well as the middle class, the poor, and everybody else), the Conservative base is now anti-GOP. What remains is some new version of the Tea Party, as-yet-unnamed, which is serious about enforcing the hollow GOP rhetoric about smaller government, no foreign wars, upholding the Constitution, and privacy/social tolerance. As in “it’s none of the government’s business what people do or don’t do with their lives or bedrooms”. This is still being hashed out, but as far as I can tell on the ground, it’s a done deal. Whether that party will be rounded up and shot remains to be seen, but DHS is clearly arming for the possibility, and it’s far more serious issue than pleasant little skirmishes and live-burnings you see in the Ukraine. Last time there was a US Civil War, 10% of the nation died—that would be 30 million people or 8.5 million dead per year. Last time Americans got on the warpath, we nuked somebody for no good reason. Twice. Mind your P’s and Q’s at home. US civil unrest is as serious as a heart attack and just as fatal. And as is often cited and mocked, Americans are well-armed and not necessarily sensible.
This fatal split between the people and the government is now pretty inescapable as the US sends $5B to Ukraine, $3B to Afghanistan, $3B to Israel, $1B each to Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, and Jordan, $23,000 Billion to bankers, and ZERO to Detroit. ZERO to victims of the Gulf oil spill. ZERO to Birmingham. ZERO to vets. ZERO indictments. ZERO to defending Iraq after a $2,000 Billion cost of war. And ZERO to maintaining the border — one of the primary and only elements of BEING a sovereign country. I mean, I can’t illegally enter and live in Mexico, Canada…or Lithuania for that matter. They’d arrest and deport, if not shoot me. You can’t hide this level of cognitive dissonance from even the most tuned-out Americans. And unlike the media type, in reality Americans as a people like to joke, live their lives, and not get mad and take things too seriously. But that’s only because when at last they get mad and are forced to do something, history shows how ugly and serious will be. So we’re picked on for not being interested, ignoring our duty, being fat, stupid, clueless sheep. I argue the opposite. America is a violent country and we each know violence. Every American knows what will happen if they have to “get the belt and go up there.” Nobody wants that. But that doesn’t mean they don’t know what’s going on, what’s right, or that they will never move.
Anyway, beware the phony and no-longer-relevant “Conservative” crazies on TV and don’t mistake them for the new conservative base that’s 95% split from the hollow, rotten party. Don’t mistake the synthetic drumming of war on paid billionaire media for any real support. There is none. They’re hollow, divorced from reality and irrelevant. The first stiff wind will blow them over. And the winds they are a’blowin’.
As ever,Ilargi, you write the Real news. I really appreciate your dedication as well as your insight.
Dr Diablo, – I agree with you. Maybe it’s living in the SF Bay area, but I also see no real acceptance of the lies of our govt. I don’t see our people ready for war. Our govt seems more intent on tying up Russian fossil fuel, so the price of ours will be worth more.
People mostly listen to St. Snowden who tells us how much is spied on. What puzzles me is if “we” have so much surveillance of the world, then why can’t it be published about the terrible death flight. Don’t “we” have satellites to monitor almost everything?
Most people seems to be hunkering down for a very hard future and are more interested in firming up local networks for mutual support, gardening, exercising, riding bikes etc. Or they’re just watching TV, playing on-line games or on social media or texting on phones. And of course, the homeless are still hauling the gleanings of trash cans.
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