The Peace Press — Wednesday, March 20, 2024 edition
“The point is that NATO should have been abolished when the Cold War ended, which would, needless to say, have meant that it would not have absorbed those former Warsaw Pact countries and would not have moved U.S. bases, missiles, and troops inexorably closer to Russia’s borders.
The ostensible purpose of NATO was to protect Western Europe from an invasion by the Soviet Union, which, ironically, had been America’s partner and ally in World War II. At the end of the Cold War, the threat of such an invasion was non-existent. Therefore, NATO’s ostensible mission was over. NATO should have been disbanded immediately.
But like so many other Cold War programs and bureaucratic agencies, NATO bureaucrats were not about to let their bureaucratic agency go quietly into the night. Too many officials had become accustomed to and dependent on the taxpayer-funded largess that came with NATO.
Moreover, the NATO bureaucrats and the Cold War officials within the U.S. national-security establishment were not ready to let go of their Cold War racket, which they had milked for some 45 years. They had to figure out a way to keep their racket going.
That’s why NATO began absorbing Warsaw Pact countries instead of simply going out of business. They knew that as they brought U.S. bases, missiles, and troops closer to Russia’s borders, Russia would have to finally respond. And when that would happen, U.S. and NATO officials and their Operation Mockingbird acolytes in the mainstream press could exclaim, “The Russians have committed aggression! They are the aggressors!””
https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/13/abolish-nato/
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“From Eisenhower to Obama, American leaders have long questioned the contours and commitment to the alliance.”
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-nato/?utm_campaign=post-teaser&utm_content=qfgo7zok
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“Killing off a bureaucracy — whether civilian or military — is nigh impossible. But the impending defeat of Ukraine on the battlefield by Russia presents one of those watershed moments in history where the raison d’etre of NATO will be exposed as a fraud. Much has been made in recent months about NATO’s supposed growing strength by citing the addition of Sweden and Finland as new NATO members. But this is illusory.
In other words, Sweden and Finland could provide a total of 10 brigades (assuming their current active duty personnel are activated and fully deployed under NATO’s command). This is a “nothing burger.”
The once mighty British Army and Navy have been transformed from a lion into a toothless, nasty chihuahua. “
https://sonar21.com/can-nato-survive-a-loss-in-ukraine/
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“In the early days of the war in Ukraine, France’s President, Emmanuel Macron, was somewhat isolated as Europe’s leading dove. But in more recent days of the war, he is somewhat isolated as the leading hawk. And even as the hawk, he seems to fly whichever way the wind blows.
From the day Russia invaded Ukraine, the United States and its partners have insisted that Russia’s invasion was unprovoked. They have demanded unity in the refusal to negotiate three points: Russia’s security demands, the right of Ukraine to choose to join NATO, and the right of NATO to put weapons in Ukraine.”
https://original.antiwar.com/Ted_Snider/2024/03/18/has-macron-become-unmoored/
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“Today’s generation of “leaders” seems not yet to have had their fill of war, hate, and oppression. That tragic fact — not China, not Russia, not any foreign power — is now the greatest threat to this country’s “national security.””
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/military-pentagon-budget-national-security
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“The facility in Romania will be “the size of a small town,” Euronews has reported
Romania has started work on rebuilding an airbase that will become the largest NATO facility in Europe, according to Euronews. The base is located near the city of Constanta on the Black Sea, around 130km from the border with Ukraine.”
https://www.rt.com/news/594424-nato-base-romania-ukraine/
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“Not content with the multitude of disasters that they’ve helped set in motion over the past three years, the Biden administration now seems to have put another target in its sights: Central Europe.”
https://original.antiwar.com/james-carden/2024/03/18/biden-and-co-take-aim-at-central-europe/
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“Richard Wolff on How Russia Destroyed NATO’s Sanctions War and changed Geopolitics”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScdbLE0pWdw
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The Duran with Alexander Mercouris, Professor Glenn Diesen and University of Chicago Professor John Mearsheimer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNoUHzd1LcM
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Brian Berletic on Ukraine:
“Ukraine’s Costly Cross-Border PR Stunt + Russia Continues Out-Producing Collective West”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z5AcHFqN0g&t=899s
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Brian Berletic on the legitimacy of Russian elections:
US Government-Funded Polling Validates 2024 Russian Elections — The West Simply Doesn’t Like the Outcome.
Congratulations, President Putin!!! Most people in Russia admire and respect President Putin and they voted that way too. Remember Russian elections tend to have a greater variety of candidates running for president than even our system does as we repeatedly select between two candidates, tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum every damn election.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfCtojjhSTk
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“Omitted from all of these articles meant to portray Russian elections as a farce is the reality that Russian President Vladimir Putin is indeed an immensely popular, widely supported, and well-respected leader among the Russian public. This isn’t the conclusion of the Kremlin’s own polling, but instead conclusions drawn annually by the US government-funded polling organization, the Levada Center.”
https://journal-neo.su/2024/03/19/west-declares-russian-elections-undemocratic-because-it-doesnt-like-winner/
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The Duran on democratically-elected President Vladimir Putin’s recent electoral victory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lqCq1_4WH4
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Garland Nixon on democratically-elected President Vladimir Putin’s recent electoral victory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbGLkWMDOMM
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“Disrupting the Russian presidential election and creating an atmosphere of weakness around Putin is precisely what the U.S. intelligence agency would seek to engender.”
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/03/18/scott-ritter-the-cia-the-russian-fascists-who-fight-russia/
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“British soldiers are in Ukraine helping fire Storm Shadow missiles, which can hit targets deep inside Crimea.”
https://news.antiwar.com/2024/03/17/uk-advises-ukraine-to-stay-on-defensive-in-east-and-focus-on-targeting-crimea/
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““It would be ridiculous for us to start negotiating with Ukraine just because it’s running out of ammunition,” Putin told interviewer Dmitry Kiselyov, according to one particularly viral and widely cited tweet by Wall Street Journal chief foreign affairs correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov.
Except that’s not what Putin said. In fact, by reading the full text and seeing the quote in context instead of as a selectively edited soundbite, it’s clear he was putting out the exact opposite message:
“For us to hold negotiations now just because they are running out of ammunition would be ridiculous. Nevertheless, we are open to a serious discussion, and we are eager to resolve all conflicts, especially this one, by peaceful means.”
What is true is that Putin once more restated the more stringent conditions for peace talks he adopted last year, namely that Moscow will not give up the four regions it officially annexed in September 2022 and that, given the state of the battlefield, Ukraine will have to accept the loss of this territory.”
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/putin-negotiations-ukraine/
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How to make French Fries Ukrainian style:
“Things keep ratcheting up in Ukraine, with France continuing its saber-rattling escalatory spiral.
Let’s quickly run down the new separate signals being sent from all across NATO:”
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-31924-french-military-openly
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“Boy. The cocaine must have really addled his noodle. This was the ultimate Pot calls kettle black moment. At least Russia held and election and did not jail all of Putin’s political opponents and did not shut down opposition media. Zelensky? He’s refusing to hold the election required under the Ukrainian Constitution, he’s shuttered opposition political parties, stifled opposition media and attacked the clergy of the Ukrainian Eastern Orthodox Church. And that is the West’s standard for a democracy?
It is crap like this that totally discredits any voice in the West that wants to pillory President Putin while saying nothing about Zelensky’s abuse of power. He’s afraid to let the Ukrainian voters speak.”
https://sonar21.com/piers-morgan-embodies-the-juvenile-thinking-that-threatens-world-peace/
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Garland Nixon on the neoconservatives’ dirty war on Russia and China:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-uqRW-s09E
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Former Army Lt. Colonel Daniel Davis on Ukraine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDXt9pGu-VY
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Former Army Lt. Colonel Daniel Davis on squandering U.S. power:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yYkNeH-mHg
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The Duran on Macron’s shambolic interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmElJL8SUJA
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Judge Napolitano with former CIA Analyst Larry Johnson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4YyMsshBIM
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Judge Napolitano with former CIA Analyst Ray McGovern:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UelpRA1JFmE
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Judge Napolitano with the Grayzone’s Anya Parampil:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlEfBPyharg
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Judge Napolitano with former Army Colonel Douglas MacGregor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaDSrSFVBxg
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Judge Napolitano with Professor Jeffrey Sachs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RYSUsbQfrE
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Former Army Lt. Colonel Daniel Davis on Israel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FGh7RYSB90
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Former Army Lt. Colonel Daniel Davis and Ian Puddick on NATO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddhbtzLQ-8g
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Former Army Lt. Colonel Daniel Davis with former Army Colonel Douglas MacGregor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOpGNR8vesw
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“As long as Israel postpones justice, it stands in the position of having these occurrences like October 7 over and over again.”
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/gaza-language-unheard
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“Israel’s lawlessness has a history that those in the West share with the apartheid state.”
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/03/20/patrick-lawrence-authorized-atrocities/
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“We know Israel won’t comply so long as there are no consequences,” said one advocacy group. “The U.S. must cut off weapons now!”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-assurances-weapons
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“Although Democrats coyly describe its Israeli aid as “security assistance,” its real purpose is to reload a massive killing machine”
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/democrats-aid-package-gaza-genocide
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“They’re really going to try to pin all the blame for the incineration of Gaza on Benjamin Netanyahu so that nothing has to change when this is over. The western empire has chosen a single scapegoat to carry away its sins so the status quo can march on unhindered by guilt or consequence.
They want everyone to pin all the blame for the Gaza genocide on Netanyahu, but this is not all the fault of Netanyahu. It’s the fault of the entire Israeli state. It’s the fault of Joe Biden. It’s the fault of the Democrats. It’s the fault of all the Israel supporters on Capitol Hill. It’s the fault of the western press. It’s the fault of the Israel lobby. It’s the fault of the unelected empire managers in US government agencies. It’s the fault of the entire US empire and all its imperial member states like Australia, the UK, the EU, and Canada.
By trying to make this mass atrocity solely the fault of Netanyahu and not the giant, sprawling network of immensely powerful institutions which made it possible, they’re working to ensure that no changes will need to be made to any of those institutions. It’s just like how they made a scapegoat of Judith Miller for the entire mass media’s war propaganda in the lead-up to the Iraq invasion and let all the blame for the war hang on Bush (before completely rehabilitating Bush’s image during the Trump administration and deciding he’s a pretty great guy after all). No meaningful changes were ever made to ensure that the US power alliance never repeats its horrible crimes after Iraq, which is why it keeps repeating horrible crimes.”
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/03/18/caitlin-johnstone-blaming-it-all-on-bibi/
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Senator Chuck Schumer and others may yap on about blaming Netanyahu but the problem is far deeper and more institutional than that. So judge them not on what they say but rather on what they do — — -here is what they are doing — — -arming Israel even more. Remember this teacher in November. One need not vote for Trump, one need only vote against Biden and the Democrats in whatever manner you choose:
https://news.antiwar.com/2024/03/17/us-considering-giving-israel-more-military-aid-as-leverage/
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Yet, I also try to consider varying viewpoints too:
“Certainly, Schumer’s speech was not, by my lights, a kind of commensurate moral response to the destruction of Gaza. He didn’t call for an end to military aid to Israel’s war. He didn’t call for an immediate ceasefire and hostage release. But he did say other things that I think suggest how much the discourse inside the Democratic Party, even in Washington now, has changed in a very short period of time.”
https://peterbeinart.substack.com/p/why-chuck-schumers-speech-matters
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I also added my name to thank Senator Chuck Schumer because the reality is that some progress toward our view of matters is progress and that should be recognized and encouraged so his speech is ultimately a good thing. It is wise to remember to not make the good the enemy of the perfect. Progress, albeit baby steps, should be recognized, applauded and encouraged.
https://act.jstreet.org/sign/thank-you-majority-leader-schumer/?t=7&akid=347598%2E212204%2EcjPplf
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According to recent polls, 70% of the Israeli people support the continued starvation of the Palestinian people. For that reason, boycotts should not be targeted against just the settlers. It should target the whole of Israel and its population:
“The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement works to end international support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians and pressure Israel to comply with international law.”
https://bdsmovement.net/
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“The Biden administration has been able to maintain a low profile by spreading arms provision to Israel across more than 100 smaller munitions sales — allowing the president to posture as a peacekeeper while US weapons wipe Gaza off the map.”
https://jacobin.com/2024/03/biden-weapons-israel-gaza-palestine
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If we can make the president more terrified of losing our electoral support than he is about potentially losing donations from the pro-Israel crowd, we might have a chance to derail Israeli policy. The time to play hardball is now.
“Because of the disillusionment of a critical portion of the Democratic coalition, the Gaza war is increasing the chances of a Trump victory.”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-support-for-israel
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“The UN’s child relief agency said on Sunday that over 13,000 children have been killed in the Gaza Strip and that many more could be dead under the rubble.”
https://news.antiwar.com/2024/03/17/unicef-says-israel-has-killed-over-13000-children-in-gaza/
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“No humanitarian relief program for Gaza is possible in the short run without UNRWA’s full partnership, writes Vijay Prashad. Anything else is a public relations sham.”
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/03/18/conquest-war-famine-death/
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“JERUSALEM (Reuters) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz questioned the “terribly high costs” of Israel’s offensive on Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza on Sunday, saying the world could not simply stand by and watch as Palestinians risk starvation in the enclave.”
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2024-03-17/germanys-scholz-say-rafah-assault-would-make-regional-peace-very-difficult
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“Officials and human rights organizations denounced the Israeli actions in Gaza as deliberately provoking a humanitarian crisis that is now on the brink of an outright famine. Israel has created widespread starvation and dehydration in Gaza by preventing aid from entering the besieged enclave.”
https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/israel-blasted-for-causing-famine-in-gaza/
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“Starving Gaza, as deliberate as The Great Hunger in Ireland, is Biden’s legacy. The US Boat to Gaza in 2011.
https://fpif.org/washington_okays_attack_on_unarmed_us_ship/
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“Recalling Israel’s bulldozing of 23 yr-old Rachel Corrie as she tried to prevent destruction of a Palestinian home in Rafa.”
https://raymcgovern.com/2024/03/17/starving-in-gaza-the-great-hunger-in-ireland/
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“U.S. Senator for Maryland Chris Van Hollen continued his defense of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and its work in Gaza in an appearance on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/van-hollen-netanyahu-lies-unrwa
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“Hassan El-Tayyab is the Legislative Director for Middle East Policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation . He recently participated in a delegation convened by Churches for Middle East Peace , to Israel, the occupied Palestinian territory, Jordan, and Lebanon. He joins us from Washington to discuss this trip and U.S. policy and the human rights crisis in Gaza.”
https://blackagendareport.com/us-policy-and-human-rights-crisis-gaza
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“The “temporary pier” being built on the Mediterranean coast of Gaza is not there to alleviate the famine, but to herd Palestinians onto ships and into permanent exile.”
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/israels-trojan-horse
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“CNN’s Dana Bash just gave an adoring rimjob of an interview to Benjamin Netanyahu, telling him “You’re not Hamas. Israel is a democracy, and as a Jewish state supports and believes in every life mattering.”
If Netanyahu was interviewed by an actual journalist he’d be forcefully interrogated with extremely uncomfortable questions about his genocidal atrocities in Gaza. When Netanyahu goes on CNN the anchor recites all of his pro-genocide talking points for him so he that doesn’t have to.
The underlying assumption behind the claim that Hamas needs to be eliminated is that Israel should be able to inflict nonstop violence on Palestinians day after day, year after year, generation after generation, without ever receiving any violence in return.”
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/dont-equate-the-violence-of-the-oppressor
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“At the Woman’s National Democratic Club in Washington DC on March 7, 2024, The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal discussed the crisis within the Democratic Party as the party grassroots revolts against President Joe Biden’s vehement support for Israel’s rampage in the besieged Gaza Strip, where at least 30,000 have been killed to date — mostly women and children.
Blumenthal points the finger directly at the Democratic Party establishment for crushing any and all iterations of antiwar politics, and illustrates how its most prominent figures have been bought off by the Israel lobby.”
https://thegrayzone.com/2024/03/15/genocide-democrats-max-blumenthal-wndc/
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“The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal interviews Erik Andersson, a Sweden-based engineer who led the first independent investigation to the site of the Nordstream pipelines blast sites on the Swedish government’s sudden closing of the investigation into the terror attack on the eve of joining NATO.”
https://thegrayzone.com/2024/03/15/sweden-nordsteam-investigation-coverup/
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Gauido and Navalny — — they had more in common with ordinary fascists than people know.
https://original.antiwar.com/Andy_Corbley/2024/03/17/in-navalny-and-guaido-washington-saw-useful-pawns-not-political-paragons/
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“Grayzone contributor Liam Cosgrove confronts members of Congress on their formal condemnation of the phrase, “from the river to the sea,” which calls for Palestinian liberation, while they support an Israeli government which officially rejects the existence of a Palestinian nation between… the river and the sea. Obscene levels of hypocrisy ensue.”
I sure wish Patreon had shorter HTML links — — that’s why I usually defer to Youtube links which are shorter:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/congressmen-on-100492430?utm_medium=post_notification_email&utm_campaign=patron_engagement&utm_source=post_link&token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJyZWRpc19rZXkiOiJpYTI6NGViOGMzZGMtZmFiNy00MWE5LWFjY2YtNWNhNzQ5MWRhYTJlIiwicG9zdF9pZCI6MTAwNDkyNDMwLCJwYXRyb25faWQiOjg5NjgxNDQ0fQ.LP_Z9qJEDGpZvlDCv5qVup4tHXuO10dGVDoP8G9iAqw
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““What’s happening in Gaza is a multi-layered act that extends far beyond the physical destruction of artifacts or the killing of individuals,” according to Mariam Shah, writing at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “These actions are part of broader destructive processes that undermine a community’s heritage, identity, and existence — with profound symbolic and psychological implications for Palestinians not only in Gaza but globally…”
“This destruction, both physical and symbolic, serves a larger political agenda — the erasure of Palestinian identity and collective memory, which may amount to cultural genocide.””
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/cultural-erasure-united-states-gaza
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“This famine is not a natural disaster. It is not a flaw. It is not an earthquake. It is entirely man-made,” said Josep Borrell, the E.U.’s foreign affairs chief.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-2667538636
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“As Palestinians die of starvation under occupation, it brings grim echoes of another famine nearly two centuries ago in Ireland.”
https://progressive.org/latest/when-starvation-is-a-weapon-the-harvest-is-shame/
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“Why is the same western media obsessively reheating five-month-old allegations against Hamas so reluctant to focus on Israel’s current, horrifying atrocities?”
“Hostages tortured to death. Parents executed in front of their children. Doctors beaten. Babies murdered. Sexual assault weaponised.
No, not Hamas crimes. This is part of an ever-growing list of documented atrocities committed by Israel in the five months since 7 October — quite separate from the carpet bombing of 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza and a famine induced by Israel’s obstruction of aid.”
https://original.antiwar.com/cook/2024/03/17/torture-executions-babies-left-to-die-sexual-abuse-these-are-israels-crimes/
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“When it comes to “terrorism,” — defined as violence against civilians for political purposes — Palestinians have lost over 400 times more innocent lives than have innocent Israelis over the decades."
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/israel-state-terrorism-gaza
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“There is an indisputable, man-made, intentional deprivation of aid that continues to suck the life out of any and all humanitarian operations, including our own,” said one campaigner.”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/oxfam-israel-aid
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“”While imperfect, this is a tangible victory on the road to a Canadian two-way arms embargo with Israel,” said one advocacy group.”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/canadian-parliament-israel-arms-exports
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“The U.S. should not provide another nickel for Netanyahu’s war machine,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders.”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/sanders-arms-exports-israel
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“The Times is not unique among media in manufacturing consent for war, for exploitation, for genocide. It is, rather, exemplary.”
“More than 100 pro-Palestine demonstrators were arrested Thursday after staging a protest at The New York Times’ Midtown Manhattan headquarters, where activists handed out copies of a satirical knockoff of the newspaper that skewered what organizers called its biased coverage of the Gaza genocide.”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/journalism-gaza
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“As I write this, more than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and, as Aya Batrawy reported for NPR, thousands more are “unaccounted for — either missing under the rubble, buried hastily in side streets, or decomposing in areas that can’t be safely reached.” Significant numbers of the dead are women and children, and aid for those living, thanks to an Israeli blockade, is barely entering that 25-mile strip of land. Yet the future promises mass famine, grotesque disease, and death, death, death for even more Palestinian civilians, most of them refugees who have done nothing to deserve such a fate, as TomDispatch regulars Stan and Priti Gulati Cox suggest all too vividly today.”
https://original.antiwar.com/stan-cox/2024/03/19/gaza-blocking-the-aid-trucks-letting-the-tanks-roll/
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“The mass media are printing some amazingly depraved headlines about a new UN-backed report on starvation in Gaza from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, who says half the enclave’s population is now at the highest-possible threat level for starvation.
The New York Times has a real corker out titled “Famine Is Projected for Northern Gaza, Experts Say”, subtitled “A global authority on food security said that in the coming months, as many as 1.1 million people in Gaza could face the severest levels of hunger.””
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/its-journalistic-malpractice-to-say
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“5 things the media is not telling you about Article 23 of the Hong Kong” law:
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The narrative the world is hearing about Hong Kong’s security law OMITS the most crucial facts about it. Here they are.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHIqv85ABq0
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“In other words, the backbone of the war on Gaza comes with a label: “Made in USA.” In the decade leading up to October 7th, as the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has reported, two-thirds of Israel’s arms imports came from the United States. (From 1950 to 2020, the U.S. share was a whopping 83%!)
In just the first couple of months of the war, the Biden administration sent 230 cargo planes and 20 ships full of military goods to Israel, a trove that included 100 BLU-109 bombs (2,000-pounders designed to penetrate hardened structures before exploding), 5,400 MK84 and 5,000 MK82 bunker-busters, 1,000 GBU-39 bombs, 3,000 JDAM bomb-guidance kits, and 200 “kamikaze drones.””
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/us-weapons-israel-gaza-genocide
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Any new movement must be based also on diplomacy with international leaders such as President Vlamir Putin, Chinese Premier Xi Jinping, North Korea’s Kim Jung Un, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and others. We should maintain diplomacy with all nations including dictatorships — -all nations. We have no right to dictate to any other country what kind of government they live under. That is their business and their problem to resolve on their own.
“”In this pivotal moment in human history, the United States must lead a new global movement based on human solidarity and the needs of struggling people.”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/bernie-sanders-foreign-policy
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Banning TikTok is a frontal assault on the First Amendment so hopefully civil liberties groups like the ACLU or F.I.R.E will challenge this unConstitutional legislation in a court of law where hopefully it will be overturned:
“THE PURPORTED THREAT of TikTok to U.S. national security has inflated into a hysteria of Chinese spy balloon proportions, but the official record tells a different story: U.S. intelligence has produced no evidence that the popular social media site has ever coordinated with Beijing. That fact hasn’t stopped many in Congress and even President Joe Biden from touting legislation that would force the sale of the app, as the TikTok frenzy fills the news pages with empty conjecture and innuendo.
In interviews and testimony to Congress about TikTok, leaders of the FBI, CIA, and the director of national intelligence have in fact been careful to qualify the national security threat posed by TikTok as purely hypothetical. With access to much of the government’s most sensitive intelligence, they are well placed to know.”
https://theintercept.com/2024/03/16/tiktok-china-security-threat/
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“As someone familiar with the process explained to me, before introducing the bill, the key sponsors “wanted to keep it quiet all around,” as they correctly surmised that once the details of the bill gained wider public exposure, opposition would mount — just as happened in March 2023 when a precursor bill got derailed after public awareness grew of provisions delegating enormous new powers to the President to control speech online.”
https://www.mtracey.net/p/the-frenzy-to-ban-tiktok-is-another?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=email
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“On Wednesday, March 13th, a bipartisan group of US Representatives voted to give the US president the power to remove any website, computer or mobile application, or even service provider that the president determines — without due process — is run by “a person subject to the direction of control of a foreign person or entity” as long as that foreign person or entity is declared an “adversary” of the US.
And who gets to decide who is an “adversary”? The US President.
Cut through the hollow propaganda about the Chinese using it to spy on and subvert Americans — another “Saddam’s got WMDs” lie — and it is the most dangerous and un-American piece of legislation since the PATRIOT Act.
In fact it may be arguably worse. While the PATRIOT Act was a fig leaf for the government to spy on Americans, this demon of a bill will actually allow the US Government to determine what Americans can read and thereby what they will think. Isn’t that just what supporters of this bill claim the Chinese government is doing?”
https://original.antiwar.com/daniel-mcadams/2024/03/19/the-tiktok-totalitarians/
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“Correcting the record after a desperate slam job on the Twitter Files, published just before oral arguments in a historic First Amendment case in the Supreme Court.”
https://www.racket.news/p/on-todays-absurd-new-york-times-hit
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“SCOTUS Hears Landmark First Amendment/Online Censorship Case. PLUS: Matt Taibbi on NY Times’ #TwitterFiles Hit Piece | SYSTEM UPDATE #243”
https://rumble.com/v4k1wsb-system-update-243.html
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Propaganda from the The New York Times:
“TWO OF THE three victims specifically singled out by the New York Times in a marquee exposé published in December, which alleged that Hamas had deliberately weaponized sexual violence during the October 7 attacks, were not in fact victims of sexual assault, according to the spokesperson for the Kibbutz Be’eri, which the Times identified as the location of the attack.
The rejection of the Times reporting in the kibbutz by Be’eri spokesperson Michal Paikin further undermines the credibility of the paper’s controversial December article “‘Screams Without Words’: How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7.””
https://theintercept.com/2024/03/04/nyt-october-7-sexual-violence-kibbutz-beeri/
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“Information fed to the general public is deliberately spun to sell the imperial project. In contrast, intelligence assessments for elite policy makers are designed to sustain the endeavor. That the president’s pronouncements diverge from the conclusions reached by his own intelligence community highlights the chasm between what is foisted on the public compared to what is understood within the bowels of the state.
Unlike Biden’s bullish and bellicose pronouncements about “our leadership in the world,” the Assessment’s view was less triumphal. It states: “The United States faces an increasingly fragile global order.”
The fraying US-imposed “rules based order” and its discredited neoliberal economic system are more and more being challenged by “states engaging in competitive behavior,” according to the Assessment. The report adds, fallout from the Gaza crisis, in particular, serves to “undermine” the US.”
https://original.antiwar.com/Roger_Harris/2024/03/19/bidens-state-of-the-union-address-exposed-by-us-intelligence-threat-assessment/
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One should remember that lies, propaganda, misinformation, disinformation, obfuscations and other deceptive practices are all examples of First Amendment protected Free Speech. Free Speech also includes hate speech and calls for violence except in cases of imminent mob action. Once you grant the government and its Establishment minions in the media to censor and/or regulate the free flow of ideas and thoughts and speech, you grant them the power to censor anything displeasing to the State, even and often including the truth itself. All attempts to regulate and control Free Speech should be met with resistance and a stern refusal to obey any such laws that dictate to any individual what they can or cannot say — — -free expression is a natural-born human right that supersedes and outranks any artificial law passed by the State. You are not morally obligated to obey unjust laws that restrict your human right to say whatever you damn well wish to say whenever you wish to say it.
This New York Times article is championing censorship — — -shame, shame, shame, shame on the New York Times for publishing such nonsense:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/17/us/politics/trump-disinformation-2024-social-media.html
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“These are indeed perilous times for the United States at home and abroad. It is unfortunate, however, that various experts and observers are advancing speculative theories that add an element of fear that is unwarranted and destabilizing. U.S. experts on Russia have exaggerated the possibility of Russia’s use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine as well as the possibility that a Putin victory in Ukraine would lead to additional Russian attacks in the Baltics or East Europe. Sinologists have exaggerated the threat of a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan without presenting any new evidence for their assessments. Leading experts on North Korea, including Professor John Delury, argue that Kim Jong-un “may be preparing for war.”
And now The Atlantic’s Franklin Foer is spreading fear about the home front.”
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/03/20/the-atlantic-joins-the-chorus-of-fear/
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“At the U.N. Human Rights Committee’s periodic review of the U.K., the author raised the U.S. war crimes exposed by WikiLeaks and British violations of the publisher’s political and civil rights.”
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/03/19/craig-murray-assange-truth-un-shenanigans/
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Frederick Douglass: “I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.”
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“In the past, in the interest of building a broad-based movement united for peace and non-interventionism, I have allied with everyone and anyone who also expressed a genuine interest in peacemaking and non-interventionism. This includes past antiwar alliances with everyone from pinkos to proud boys and anyone in between — — both groups I have allied with in the past — -not because I agreed with their ideologies because I don’t agree with either of them — -I do not approve of racism or Marxism, but I united with each solely in the interest of unity for peace and non-interventionism as a national policy. Ideology is not the point, unity is the point. Anyone who doesn’t like that I choose unity over ideology can kiss my mother-loving, big, chubby gay-bear, fat ass. Anyone can talk the talk about unity, but the real principled test is: can you walk the walk? My boots were made for walking, girl !!! <finger-snap with attitude>
Unite, Left and Right against the wars!!!
Wage Peace and Persevere!!!”
-Eric E. Johansson, Veterans for Peace, California
(also, please understand that although I have united with extremist-idealist factions in the past in the interest of unity against war, I am much more of a middle-of-the-road-realist as I think the economic class system represents the civilizational natural order for our species, although the gap between rich and poor should probably be narrowed through aggressive taxation upon corporations and individual persons too. Also, I do not have one racist or hateful bone in my body as my Asian husband, who is of half-Filipino and half-Chinese descent can attest. I don’t hate immigrants; I married one. He, like my Swedish grandfather, emigrated to the United States legally through the legal immigration channels that every person seeking to emigrate to this country should pursue. All those who simply violate the law by jumping the border, thus opting for not following the legal channels to obtain entry into the U.S., should be promptly arrested and deported, and treated more harshly with every repeat offense. Why should the U.S. honor the wishes of those who desire to emigrate if their very first act of entering the country is to first break the law by circumventing the legal guidelines for officially emigrating? One standard for all. Rule of Law. That is not racist, it is respectful of the Rule of Law. Prior to meeting my husband, I was most definitely an equal-opportunity sex lover who gleefully had fabulous sex with members of every race, color and creed — — hundreds of them, mostly men but not exclusively. My husband and I love to watch RuPaul’s Drag Race TV show too. I also play on a fabulous softball team as the pitcher in the very diverse, accepting and welcoming San Francisco Gay Softball League. I share all of this only to illustrate that who I am willing to unite in common cause with, does not in any way represent who I am as a person. Widespread, mass unity against perpetual war, against Empire and against growing national security state oppression is essential to preserve our commonly shared liberty and peace. We are all in this together so let’s get past the immature, ideological bullshit, come together and unite in common cause for our shared future together.)
Unite, Left and Right against the wars!!!
Unite, from pinkos to proud boys and everyone in between against the wars and against the Empire!! If peace is your priority, this should be no problem for you but if ideology is your priority, then the kind of unity I propose could be a problem for you. Drop the ideological bullshit and UNITE!!!
Wage Peace and Persevere!!!
https://www.unitedforpeace.org/
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“How could a weak, toothless central government that possessed no military largesse wage war or command a global Empire? It couldn’t, could it? Doesn’t having a smaller, more limited government also get us to a non-Imperialist, non-military interventionist place? Can people unite around non-interventionism alone? Just imagine for a moment the vast people power of a mass movement that could be harnessed by achieving a Left-Right loose alliance against war and Empire. Oh, the immense power it would wield.”
~Eric E. Johansson
(Is it arrogant to put my name next to some great people? Not really, they were just human beings and so am I, but please understand that I am actually much more middle-of-the-road because I find both sides (the more public services argument or the limited government argument) to both be legitimate arguments worthy of consideration and that is why I ask the question above because I think it is a question that more Progressives should ask. But as for myself, my inner stars shine brightly Progressive yet I still bear strong Libertarian stripes. This rather nationalist, flag-oriented reference may sound silly to some but it perfectly encapsulates how I see myself as a principled patriot realist doing my duty to my country and to our world.
Unite, Left and Right against the wars!!!
Wage Peace and Persevere!!!
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“Overgrown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.”
~George Washington
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“Of all the evils to public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops every other. War is the patent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes. And armies, and debts, and taxes, are the known instruments for bringing the many under the dominion of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds are added to those of subduing the force of the people! No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”
~James Madison
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“It is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and expose lies.”
— Noam Chomsky
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https://honeste.wordpress.com/2011/01/09/websites-to-help-you-stay-informed/
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Daily news podcasts to help you stay informed:
Alexander Mercouris
https://www.youtube.com/c/AlexanderMercourisReal?app=desktop
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The Duran on YouTube with Alexander Christoforou and Alexander Mercouris:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdeMVChrumySxV9N1w0Au-w
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Brian Berletic at The New Atlas on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/c/thenewatlas
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Scott Ritter on Substack:
https://substack.com/profile/96369147-scott-ritter
https://www.scottritterextra.com/
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Danny Haiphong:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOxLhz6B_elvLflntSEfnzA
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Colonel Douglass MacGregor on Youtube:
(He has many meaningful, insightful, analytical things to say based on a deep understanding of military matters from his many years of experience in the military — — -but just prepare to dismiss a few of his other dog-whistle comments that he offers which he utters to appeal to a particular Conservative base — — just as the Liberals do to rally their base too — — -so just roll your eyeballs and ignore those few silly comments — — — because most of his analysis and insights and experiences are rich in detail, in fact-based analysis and said bluntly and directly.
Very refreshing indeed!! Bravo, Colonel !!!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFqPvxUg163ZEz1vyxhVDXw
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“Our Country Our Choice is more than just a people’s movement; it’s a media platform as well. My vision was straightforward: identify over 10 million like-minded Americans and create the most extensive group of American activists ever assembled. Our mission is to inform every American about the importance of choosing decision-makers who will put an end to the intentional sabotage of our beloved nation and start serving us, the American people.”
https://ourcountryourchoice.com/
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Andy Boreham
“China is a complicated place, and there is definitely a lot of content out there that I don’t think accurately or fairly represents this huge country of 1.4 billion.
https://www.youtube.com/c/reportsonchina/about
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Dong Sheng news on China:
https://dongshengnews.org/en/news-on-china/
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Garland Nixon:
https://www.youtube.com/@garlandn
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Seymour Hersh on Substack
https://seymourhersh.substack.com/
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Chris Hedges on Substack:
https://chrishedges.substack.com/
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Niko House on Rokfin
https://rokfin.com/Niko?content=NEW
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Caitlin Johnstone on Substack:
https://substack.com/profile/14779628-caitlin-johnstone
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Aaron Mate on Substack:
https://mate.substack.com/
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David Sacks:
https://twitter.com/DavidSacks
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Lee Fang on Substack:
https://leefang.substack.com/
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Patrick Lawrence on Substack
https://thescrum.substack.com/
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Jeffrey Sachs:
https://www.jeffsachs.org/
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Former Army Colonel Daniel Davis:
https://www.youtube.com/@DanielDavisDeepDive/videos
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Breaking points with Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti
https://www.youtube.com/c/breakingpoints
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“But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy.
She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all”
~John Quincy Adams
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/
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Lev Golinkin on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFhqe9nwfA4
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Matt Tabibi on Substack (Racket News):
https://www.racket.news/
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Big Serge on Substack:
https://bigserge.substack.com/
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Simplicius on Substack:
https://simplicius76.substack.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=substack_profile
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Larry Johnson, former CIA Analyst at Sonar21:
https://sonar21.com/
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Ray McGovern, former CIA Analyst:
https://raymcgovern.com/
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Mark Sleboda:
https://substack.com/profile/38224488-mark-sleboda
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Richard Medhurst on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB1u_wJThc3_e5J4VVj7hQQ
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Nick Cruse of the Revolutionary Blackout Network:
https://www.youtube.com/@socialistmma8321/videos
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George Galloway on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@GeorgeGallowayOfficial
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Mikael Valtersson
~Former officer Swedish Armed Forces/Air Defence, former defence politician and chief of staff Sweden Democrats. Current political and military analyst.
https://twitter.com/MikaelValterss1?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
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Alex Reporterfy
https://www.youtube.com/c/reporterfymedia
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Although I typically shy away and generally distrust most, if not all, televised corporate media, I must admit that recently on foreign policy issues, Tucker Carlson of Fox has been tickling my fancy. Now that Fox has fired him, I encourage everyone to stop watching Fox altogether. But Tucker’s past range of guests included figures from the anti-Establishment Left and Right and many voices in between giving access and airtime to a wider audience which only helps spread our message of peace and justice to a broader audience more quickly so kudos to Tucker for that. It is good to see some of our anti-Establisment views find a venue in the public space even one decidedly more to the Right.
You can now find Tucker Carlson on Twitter, see link below. — — Great job Tucker, keep socking it to them. I hope you and your attorneys keep fighting like hell against the Establishment. I hope your attorneys fight to allow you to speak freely until at least the year 2025 and hopefully much longer than that too.
https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson
https://tuckercarlson.com/
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On Tucker’s eventual return, so kudos to him and to Elon Musk backing him:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFxBWu5A114&feature=youtu.be
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Glenn Greenwald on Rumble: (Listening to Glenn Greenwald is quite an enthralling experience. I can’t figure out what moves faster, his brain or his mouth as he delivers rich, detailed analysis replete with razor-sharp logic on topics of substance and depth, delivered with perfect spoken diction, colorful language and mesmerizing eloquence. I am left flabbergasted in sheer delight every time I listen to him speak. Utterly dazzling!!! And he is a fellow sister with a heritage in the tribe too which I also find endearing.
https://rumble.com/c/GGreenwald
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“The remedy for speech that is false is speech that is true. This is the ordinary course in a free society. The response to the unreasoned is the rational; to the uninformed, the enlightened; to the straight-out lie, the simple truth … If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence. The theory of our Constitution is that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market . . . The First Amendment itself ensures the right to respond to speech we do not like, and for good reason. Freedom of speech and thought flows not from the beneficence of the state but from the inalienable rights of the person … Society has the right and civic duty to engage in open, dynamic, rational discourse.”
– United States v. Alvarez, 567 U.S. 709, 724 (2012).
