OpEd: For God’s sake, 'The Times' shrieks, do something! The Russians are coming!
By James Howard Kunstler via Clusterfuck Nation blog:
Today’s lead story, Russian Threat on Two Fronts Meets Strategic Void in the U.S., aims to keep ramping up twin hysterias over a new missile gap and fear of Russian “meddling” in the 2018 midterm elections.
The Times’s world-view begins to look like the script of a Batman sequel with Vlad Putin cast in The Joker role of the cackling psychopath who must be stopped at all costs! America’s generals have switched on the Batman signal beacon, but Donald Trump in the role of the Caped Crusader, merely dithers and broods in the splendid isolation of his 1600 Penn Avenue Bat Cave, suffering yet another of his endless bipolar identity crises. For God’s sake, The Times, shrieks, do something! The Russians are coming! (Gotham City’s Chief of Police Hillary said exactly that last week in a Tweet!
I think they misunderstood Mr. Putin’s recent message when he announced a new hypersonic missile technology that would, supposedly, cut through any imaginable US missile defense. The actual message, for the non mental defectives left in this drooling idiocracy of a republic, was as follows: Nuclear war remains unthinkable, so kindly stop thinking about it.
Mr. Putin’s other strategic position is also misrepresented — actually, not even acknowledged — in Monday’s NYT propaganda blast, namely, to discourage the USA’s decades-long policy of regime change here, there, and everywhere on the planet, creating a debris trail of one failed state after another. As a true-blue American, I must say these are two admirable propositions. Is it fatuous to add that atomic war is unlikely to benefit anyone? Or that the world has had enough of US military “meddling” in foreign lands?
Of course the shopworn trope of Russian “meddling” in the 2016 election still occupies the center ring of the American political circus. Today’s Times story includes another clumsy attempt to set up expectations that the 2018 midterm elections will be hacked by Russia, in order to keep the hysteria at code-red level. As usual, the proposition assumes that the alleged 2016 hacking is both proven and significant when, going on two years, there is no evidence of hacking besides the obviously amateurish Facebook troll farm. (And, by the way, how does that compare to the USA’s 2014 covert toppling of Ukraine’s president Viktor Yanukovych?) Talk about “meddling!”
…[I]n public statements in recent weeks, Mr. Trump’s top intelligence officials have conceded that the president has yet to discuss strategies with them to prevent the Russians from interfering in the midterm elections this year. Mr. Trump has expressed severe doubts that the Russians meddled in 2016, contradicting the conclusions of his intelligence officials.
By inference, The New York Times has no doubts that the 2016 election was fatally hacked to defeat its preferred candidate – though there is plenty of reason to suppose that the entire Russian “meddling” story was a mendacious psyops product of John O. Brennan’s CIA. It was only a few months ago that The Times and the cable news networks were shrieking about the White House National Security Advisor (General Flynn) being caught speaking with the Russian Ambassador — as if foreign ambassadors come here for some reason other than to keep open communication lines with American officials.
What’s going on here makes the Red Scare of 1920 and the McCarthy episode of the early 1950s look sedate in comparison. It’s reasonable to suppose that officials in any foreign country watching the dismal ongoing spectacle here would conclude that the United States has lost its mind. Somebody please take us to the hydrotherapy chamber!
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This whole recent chain of events began when the U.S. pulled out of the ABM Treaty. That altered the nuclear balance and leads the U.S. inexorably to the brink of attempting a first-strike against Russia.
There is no other explanation for all the NATO posts on Russia’s perimeter, and that ain’t no conspiracy theory, it’s just countable facts!
I wish they would stop referring to these blithering dystopic sycophantic stenographers as the left . One i find it insulting to myself being and old fashion GRAMSCIAN working class educated member of humanity. These stenographers are card carrying totalitarians of the Washington consensus. Group think and die hard apologist of the oligarchical class . Modern day Trotskyist/Globalist.
GRAMSCIAN QUOTE ”;’TROTSKYIST ARE THE WHORES OF THE FASCIST”
TROTSKYIST ARE THE WHORES OF THE FASCIST
— or so say the proletarian internationalists who negotiated and signed the Hitler-Stalin Pact for the invasion and division of Poland.
And who invited the German military onto the territory of the USSR, so they could continue the revolutionary socialist Blitzkrieg training that the nasty Washington/London oligarchical consensus would have otherwise denied them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kama_tank_school
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipetsk_fighter-pilot_school
Stalinists — still compulsive liars, after all these years.
Christipher Steele (or at least an unnamed consultant who worked for Orbis, Steele’s firm, who also lived in Salisbury) and Col Skripal were buddies. And the Torygraph shamelessly suggests Skripal was killed for his part in the Pissgate dossier.
“If the Kremlin believed that Col Skripal might have helped with the compilation of the dossier, it could explain the motive for the assassination attempt in Salisbury town centre.”
They also suggest that Yulia travelling to London was the red flag that sent the assassination team on their way; and that they would have struck earlier but for the “Beast from The East “.
So there you have it, the spook version of what happened, straight from the Riverhouse …Ml6 HQ. Evidence to follow: or maybe not?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/07/poisoned-russian-spy-sergei-skripal-close-consultant-linked/
[You have to sign in to read it – or trust me …you can’t make this sh1t up!]
I have been racking my brains trying to figure out who might have manufactured the nerve agent?
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/03/the-elephant-in-the-room/
It’s as if we’ve lurched into an era where the most basic legal and democratic principles no longe apply; like the presumption of innocence, due process, evidence of an actual crime, the right to defend oneself, the rule of law… and on and on.
The entire Weinstein/Hollywood affair/scandal has helped this crazy atmosphere spread like a plague, creating an environment and culture of ‘witch hunt’ and ‘lynch mob’, where emotions run high and riot, and just the merest accusation is enough to destroy reputations and entire careers without the accused coming anywhere near a courtroom and allowed to defend themselves.
Russiagate is very similar and just as dangerous. The Russians are guilty, because… they are Russians and that’s how they think and act, no? So it’s not really the nature of the crime that’s important, rather the nature of the accused. Of course this turns our legal system on its’ head and undermines centuries of legal practice and basic dermocratic rights.
Matt Taibbi prevails against the ongoing insanity.
The Times, the Graun and other lamestream media in their coverage of Russia remind me of the Nazi sheet der Stuermer, whose editor, Hans Kaltenbrunner, was convicted at the four power Nuremberg Tribunal in 1946 of war crimes based upon his propagandizing for war on behalf of the Nazi regime in his role as editor of the Nazi party sheet.
Couldn’t resist…
My HTML didn’t work… this is what I was trying to post:
http://inchiostro.unipv.it/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Chicken_little_6large.jpg
This entire ‘Russiagate’ affair is mind-bogglingly absurd. It’s hard to think of an issue that’s received more space and coverage in the western media, based on so little, if any, real or hard evidence that anything’s happened at all. ‘Russiagate’ is a kind of McCarthyism that the soft-left and liberals can get behind without needing to shower every few minutes. A good, old-fashioned, witch hunt or lynch-mob one can feel proud to take part in.
It’s all bizarre. The media left-liberals, played like violins by the dreadful Democratic Party, are now in a ghastly alliance with the craziest, right-wing, neocons who run Washington and are determined to confront and topple the ‘regime’ in Russia. The alleged Russian interference in the presidential elections had next to zero effect, seemingly showing how ‘strong’ US democracy actually is; doesn’t appear to bother them for a moment or cause any kind of sober reflection. Which is, when one thinks about it, the core characteristic of lynch-mob hysteria.
In the Batman scenario, who plays Robin?
Jared Kushner?
Are we talking about The Times or the New York Times ?
The New York Times. 🙂
indeed. the United States has lost its mind. but just its CIA controlled leadership. a lot of US citizens are quite sane. well, some of us are. but our leaders have dismissed MAD (mutually assured destruction) and descended into madness. utter madness.
The time is rapidly coming when every UK and Us editor must sign a document that their genitals will be mutilated and all their descendants murdered as the price for printing lies of this kind. It should beca sine qua mon that the top 50 members of MI5 and MI6 must be murdered, along with 500 each from CIA and NSA, if they supplied the fake news.
I have zero interest in the human rights of warmongers….and I want them to see their childrens faces when they are told what will happen to them if their parent lie in this way…if they think they can carry on after that, they are not fit to be parents….
Of course, one could murder James Murdoch to tach his father a leson….
We could also try this
http://www.genekeyes.com/CHET/Suppose-1.jpg
When watmongers are murdered, they will quickly be replaced by those who were not warmongers yet (but will be soon). Because ‘power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely’
Gullibillity (in believing – or not caring about propaganda) is in my opinion a much bigger problem, than the individual warmongers are themselves. Another problem is that there is too much power in the hands of a few unaccountable people.
Anarchy (rules WITHOUT rulers) is the ONLY solution.
This guy is mentally imbalanced. It seems my theory was right: increased lifespans has caused people elderly retired people, with an abundance of time, to become radicalized after browsing fringe, conspiracy theory websites. Their age causes their thinking to become reactionary in nature, as has been documented by academics. I have noticed that the above commentator is usually violent. I recall a prior post of his saying some deeply anti-American statements, and the post was highly upvoted. I don’t mean simple criticism, but dehumanizing Americans as a whole.
When Russia began funding various ultra-nationalist media outlets online, it’s main goal was to amplify them to the West, hence the heavy emphasis on translating nationalist articles and YouTube videos. In other words, the language barrier was exploited by RT and co. to appeal to naive Westerners.
It seems that people have lost the ability to distinguish fiction from reality. All the more reason the government should shut down and imprison filth like Alex Jones, and all the other liars who trick people into believing lies.
Take this hysterical article:
Uh, no one in the U.S. wants to wage nuclear way on Russia, you dope. I’ve become used to the exaggerated hysteria in the so-called “alternative media”, i.e. “HILLARY WANTS TO BOMB IRAN AND START THERMONUCLEAR WAR WITH RUSSIA!”, but this is too much.
Calm down Matt. You are hardly one to deride sweeping conclusions in others since sweeping conclusions tend to be your trademark. The fact your sweeping conclusions invariably support the state-approved narrative isn’t the automatic mark of sanity and/or accuracy you apparently believe it to be.
You also can’t hope to deny recent US provocations and warmongering & hope to be taken seriously. This is scarcely a fringe theory, since even relatively mainstream commentators of the non-neocon school, such as John Pilger, Ray MCGovern and Stephen Cohen have deplored it as pointless and dangerous.
Where is your source for “Russia” funding ultra-nationalist groups? You also need to define “Russia” more specifically (and indeed “ultra-nationalist”). How have you acquired knowledge of “Russian” (undefined) “aims”?
How much hard data (as opposed to sources you subjectively choose to believe), is there for your version of events (deemed accurate by you) and the versions of events proposed by others (deemed “conspiracy theory” by you)?
Even if no one in the US wants a nuclear war, you must concede the behaviour of the US govt (inc. the recent review of nuclear strategy, implying potential first-strike) is helping to make one much more likely.
I guess that I and all my many friends (we are 70 and over) are exceptions.
I most vehemently take exception to your blatant ageism.
Remember, old age is a privilege denied to many.
‘no one in the U.S. wants to wage war on Russia’
You have this on high (youngish) authority I take it.
History and the current reinforcement of the U.S. war machine around the world tends to dilute your argument.
It seems my theory was right: increased lifespans has caused people elderly retired people, with an abundance of time, to become radicalized after browsing fringe, conspiracy theory websites.
Why are you here? You hate:
— elderly people
— people who have escaped from wage slavery
— radicals
— “conspiracy theorists”, the standard term of abuse for anybody who doesn’t believe the idiotic lies propagated by the increasingly fascist mainstream media
Go back to watching CNN, or whatever other ruling class propaganda outlet crippled your brain, and inculcated the demented worldview that you no doubt mistake for your own opinions. Alternatively, try explaining why the claim that the American government is secretly controlled by Evil Russians, the received wisdom of the non-fringe media that you favour, WOULD NOT qualify as a “conspiracy theory”. Your inability to do so might be taken as an index of the degree to which you have contracted-out your thinking to your corporate overlords.
As for the advocates of genital mutilation and child murder, they also have undoubtedly obtained their warped ideas from the putrid culture we all are forced to live in. The solution for that is definitely not to suspend all critical judgement, and let the warm, soothing waves of propaganda wash over your mind, until the delusional fantasy world depicted in the corporate-state media obscures and replaces any semi-accurate perception of reality.