The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.
Tip of the iceberg, no doubt….
Authorities take gunfire on border with MexicoAn
Phi Beta Iota: The President's declaration that the border is “safe” has inspired a sense of disbelief and even scorn among those who know that it simply is not so. This level of “cognitive dissonance” now characterizes informed public reactions to most of what the President says on any issue. There is only one cure: he needs intelligence with integrity. Or not.
See Also:
US and its allies assist will be using neoliberal economic policies to make sure new Arab governments stay in line.
Al Jazerra, 08 Jun 2011
EXTRACT:
But as US action around the world aimed at eliminating the recently won right to self-determination for the peoples of Asia and Africa under the guise of “Western democracy” fighting “totalitarian communism”, which left a trail of millions murdered by the US and its allies (starting with Korea and moving to the Congo, to Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, and from Guatemala to Brazil to Argentina, Uruguay, El Salvador, and Chile, to Southern Africa and the Middle East), the cruel US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan in the last decade have hardly changed this anti-democratic trend. Yet two important victories are always touted by supporters of US foreign policy on the democratic front: namely, the fall of the Soviet Union and the ensuing “democratisation” of Eastern Europe, and the end of Apartheid in South Africa. The US hopes that its policies in both places will guide it to achieve similar ends for those uprisings of the Arab world that it cannot crush.
Joseph Massad is Associate Professor for Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History at Columbia University in New York.
Read complete lengthy historical and moral review….
See Also:
Continue reading “Critique of Western “Model” & “Plans” for Arabia”
Revelations of secret bombing in Yemen bring President Obama closer to Lyndon Baines Johnson and Richard Nixon and their secret bombings of Laos and Cambodia during the Vietnam War than is appropriate for any Nobel Peace Laureate. How many wars is this President going to start? As many as the American people will allow.
Der Spiegel reports that the Pentagon released the remaining papers of the Pentagon Papers while admitting that lies were told about the war. We know that. But here it is from them. The four volumes of the Gravel Papers can be accessed through Der Spiegel by clicking on the link below. How many more lies will the U.S. government tell the American people and the international community? As many as the American people will allow.
Are NATO's allies child soldiers? Isn't that against the law? So what else is new with this war? How long will war crimes and crimes against humanity be committed by NATO? As long as the American people allow these crimes to be committed.
Please see these:
1. Libyan rebel group sells first oil to U.S.
2. Hedge funds ‘grabbing land' in Africa
3. Children work with weapons to aid Libya's rebels
Silence is the deadliest weapon of mass destruction.
UPDATED with Comment from O-5 (at end).
This email is from an active duty colonel who travels all over Afghanistan. He actually goes on foot patrols with troops to see things for himself. Here is his latest report. His message is bad Ju Ju, I am afraid.
Chuck Spinney
La Ciotat, France
To All,
The mendacity is getting so egregious that I am fast losing the ability to remain quiet; these yarns of “significant progress” are being covered up by the blood and limbs of hundreds – HUNDREDS – of American uniformed service members each and every month, and you know that the rest of this summer is going to see the peak of that bloodshed.
The article by Michael O'Hanlon last week (i.e. Success worth paying for in Afghanistan) and the one in today's WSJ by Kagan and Kagan (i.e., We Have the Momentum in Afghanistan) made me sick to my stomach – especially the latter. Have you seen it yet? It is the most breathless piece of yellow journalism I’ve seen in the entire OIF-OEF generation.
There are a number of points that don't ring true…….but before we look at these, one must identify who the “Taliban” Gates is talking about are….there is one Afghan Taliban (Mullah Omar), there is the Haqqani Network, there is the HIG (Hekmatyar), and now the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)is active in Northern Afghanistan. This is a loose confederation that will support one another when it is beneficial and bear arms against one another when necessary. The issues are: (1) abandon ties to Al Qeada……it is known that there is no strong linkage between the two at this point in time. The Taliban are not looking to exert control over any territory larger than current Afghanistan (and the Pashtun belt of Pakistan). (2) I am not aware of any pressure being put on by Coalition Forces that will induce the Taliban to the Peace Table. Statistics do not bear out any of the spin emanating from ISAF about the Taliban being ineffective. They are somewhat stagnant, however, they are demonstrating the ability to infiltrate into the heart of the Afghan military/government. They are very active in the areas Karzai has declared as secure enough to allow the nascent Afghan National Army to exercise control. The most interesting part: As wars conclude, Gates noted, it is inevitable that “peace is made between people who have been killing each other.” The Taliban, he added, is “part of the fabric” of Afghan politics. This suggests that this administration will declare victory and go home, only to aid the electoral process…..
Pogo reigns supreme…..
Pentagon Will Consider Cyberattacks Acts of War
By DAVID E. SANGER and ELISABETH BUMILLER
New York Times, May 31, 2011
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon, trying to create a formal strategy to deter cyberattacks on the United States, plans to issue a new strategy soon declaring that a computer attack from a foreign nation can be considered an act of war that may result in a military response.
Phi Beta Iota: These people literally have no clue and are simply striving for budget share before Pentagon right-sizing gets underway. We absolutely guarantee that what the Pentagon and the US Intelligence Community do to their own employees every day (including forbidding thumb drives now) qualifies as a crime against humanity as well as an act of war. The USG is its own worst enemy in every possible sense.
See Also:
2011 Cyber-Command or IO 21 + IO Roots
Bob Gates, Chief Maintenance Clerk, Talks Crap — and the Wall Street Journal Goes Along…
Defense and the Deficit–Busting the Defense Bubble, Ending Defense Entitlement
Reference: The Pentagon Labyrinth
Review (Guest): The Pentagon Labyrinth
Review: Grand Theft Pentagon–Tales of Corruption and Profiteering in the War on Terror
Here are a few of the BIG lies used to support the status quo. What we need, rather urgently, is a counter-narrative
LIE 1. The earth is an open system with infinite supplies and sinks;
POSSIBLE TRUTH: Earth is a closed system, changes that used to take 10,000 years now take three, humanity is “peaking” the entire system.
LIE 2. Everything must be monetized;
POSSIBLE TRUTH: Money is an exchange unit and an information unit; in the absence of holistic analytics and “true cost” transparency, mony is actually a toxic means of concentrating wealth and depriving communities of their own resources (e.g. land).
LIE 3. The extreme unregulated free market is the only option for a modern economy;
POSSIBLE TRUTH: Information asymmetries and “rule by secrecy” have been clearly documented–the free market is neither free nor fair. A modern economy needs to be transparent, resilient, and hence rooted in the local.
Continue reading “USA: Thirteen Big Lies — Needed Counter-Narrative”
