Further Signs of More War: A Most Dangerous Game
by Edward Curtin
“This test tube is full of novichok”
Donald Trump’s days of playing the passive/aggressive host of a reality-television game show are coming to an end. Either he fires all the apprentices who might slightly hesitate to wage a much larger world war and lets the bombs fly, or he will be replaced by one who will. Signs are that he has learned what his job entails and the world will suffer more death and destruction as a result.
Back in the days of the first Cold War – the late 1950s to early 1960s when our little world came close to extinction – my very large family appeared on many American television shows. Their names told the story of those times: “Who Do You Trust,” “To Tell the Truth,” “Charades,” “Play Your Hunch,” and “Beat the Clock,” to name a few. It was as if those silly game shows were unconsciously suggesting we probe a little deeper behind the headlines to discover what was really going on before the Doomsday Clock ran out.
Today things are far more sophisticated and sinister, with a massive and unrelenting war on truth being waged by the Western corporate media, an arm of the CIA, capitalism’s invisible army. It is a twisted game show with deadly consequences.
Its method is Janus-faced. From one face, repeat over and over again bold-faced lies always lacking in evidence – e.g. Russiagate, WMD in Iraq, the Syrian government used chemical weapons, Russia is an aggressor planning to invade Eastern Europe, three World Trade Center buildings fell into their own footprints in virtual free fall speed because of fires, etc.; from the other face, play the game of suggesting to the public that they know more than they do because they watch CIA-backed shows like “Homeland,” movies like “Zero Dark Thirty,” and are being informed by all the so-called ex-CIA and intelligence commentators that populate the corporate media and explain what’s really going on.
The old adage that “you never leave the CIA” has somehow imperceptibly morphed into “Yes, we can; trust us.”
Now we have the British Prime Minister Theresa May accusing Russia of poisoning the double-agent Sergei Skripal on the streets of an English town, and threatening Russia to give a “credible” explanation why they killed this man [Editor’s note: Skripal is still very much alive]. A man who sold the identities of Russian agents to the UK for cash, putting them in serious danger.
“Or else”, she says, the UK “will conclude that this action amounts to an unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the United Kingdom.” Naturally she presented no evidence for Russian involvement, but the BBC, as is its wont, speculates on how the British may punish Russia, and the other corporate media chime in. But we are left to wonder where this is leading. Could it be Syria? Former British diplomat Craig Murray suggests it could be a false-flag setup aimed at raising Russophobia to hysterical proportions. But to what end?
If we look to the United Nations and the accusations and threats flying from the mouth of the US Ambassador Nikki Haley, Obama’s UN Ambassador Samantha Power’s doppelganger in war lust, we see that the picture expands. Haley threatened that the US will take unilateral action in Syria against Syrian and Russian forces if the UN didn’t adopt her resolution that would have allowed anti-government terrorists plenty of time to escape from East Ghouta. She said, echoing words we have heard numerous times:
It is not the path we prefer, but it a path we have demonstrated we will take, and we are prepared to take again….When the international community fails to act, there are Times when states are compelled to take their own action.
In response we have the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warning that another US strike on Syrian government forces would have serious consequences. And the Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov saying,
We have reliable information about militants preparing to falsify a government chemical attack against civilians. In several districts of Eastern Ghouta, a crowd was assembled with women, children, and old people, brought from other regions, who were to represent the victims of the chemical incident.
He added that “White Helmets” activists (proven to be financed by the US and UK) had already arrived at the scene with satellite video transmitters ready to film the planned incident. And that the Russians had discovered a “laboratory for the production of chemical weapons in the village of Aftris which was liberated from terrorist.” After the planned false-flag attack, the US was going to bomb government held districts in Damascus fulfilling Haley’s threat.
And here in the US, Col. Lawrence Wilkinson, who was Secretary of State Colin Powell’s chief of staff when Powell lied at the UN in 2003 to garner support for the criminal attack on Iraq, spoke to The Israel Lobby and American Policy 2018 conference ten days ago. He said, of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, that:
They’re both headed for war. Of that I’m convinced. They will use Iran’s allegedly existential (sic) to Israel presence in Syria which is becoming even more so from a military perspective every day, Hezbollah’s accumulation of some 150,000 missiles if we believe our intelligence agencies. The need to set Lebanon’s economy back yet again, that’s important. Look at what they’re deliberating right now with regard to the new very, very rich gas find in the Eastern Mediterranean with Israel claiming Section 9 and Lebanon claiming Section 9. Take that, Lebanon. We’re going to bomb you, then you’ll let us have it. And that will be their excuse.
Now Rex Tillerson is out as Secretary of State and the head of the CIA, the far more war minded Mike Pompeo slides naturally into the role. Musical chairs for the power elite. As Trump has said of Pompeo, “We are on the same wavelength.”
Riding that same wavelength is Nikki Haley, a trio whose alliance bodes very poorly for Middle Eastern peace or for any rapprochement with Russia. The game turns deadlier as the Presidential Apprentice learns the rules and the empire prepares to shed more innocent blood in an unholy alliance with Israel, Saudi Arabia, and other “team players.”
But this time the game won’t be, in the words of another CIA liar, “a slam dunk.” The opponents are ready this time. The game has changed.
And in eastern Ukraine, the snow should be melting in the next 3-4 weeks.
Play your hunch.
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They’re making fun, aren’t they? The power elite love to play their little games. Now you don’t think Theresa’s holding of the prop matching Colin Powell’s waving of his prop representing alleged Iraqi anthrax (anthrax which turned out to have originated in a US laboratory) is a COINCIDENCE, do you?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/feb/27/bush-administration-sold-iraq-war
The pic at the top of this article has been photoshopped to make the point of the similarity. It’s not a genuine pic of May.
I see. What a duffer. It would have been a little too much, wouldn’t it?
Eventually this entire ‘circus’ will come tumbling down, but by then the damage will have been done and who will even remember, will there be anyone left alive to remember? By interviewing Craig Murray the Guardian is attempting to ‘wiggle’ a bit, because if this thing falls apart like the Iraq dirty dossier and non-existent WMDs, it’ll substantially damage the reputation of the mainstream media and severely undermine what’s left of its legitimacy. So the Guardian will be able to point to at least one piece that didn’t completely swallow the bait. The depressing thing is, this whole story, with emphasis on ‘story’ has more holes in it than a Swiss cheese, yet, one would never know that from the way our media has covered it. Completely uncritically and taking the word and version of events from the state, a state that wants regime change in Russia, as the gospel… Read more »
Ask any teenager in Britain how WW1 started and they will tell you that the it was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, the archduke of Austria-Hungary by Gavrilo Princip.
I could never understand how one incident could cause such global massacres. It’s as though after the shot everything stopped and someone said “Archduke’s been shot”. And the response was, “oh, well, that’s it, then, we’re going to war” and the world began killing each other.
In the light of the Tolkin hoax; the weapons of mass destruction hoax; the pushing of Milosovic to sign an unsignable agreement fix; 9/11 plot to kill anyone anywhere in the world; the refusal to sign the Peruvian agreement over the Malinas islands (as you mention); ignoring warnings at Pearl Harbour; the lies about the need to drop atom bombs on Japan in order to end WWII – fake history, indeed.
As I posted earlier on another topic, I predicted earlier this year, during the Winter Olympics, that there would be some false-flag event against Russia that would lead to a boycott of the World Cup in Russia, on the basis there’s no way that the neocons can allow Russia to be portrayed positively.
Roll forward to events in Salisbury…
Now let’s roll forward to the article in today’s Guardian… Labour MP calls for debate on World Cup move
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/mar/16/russia-row-labour-mp-calls-for-debate-on-world-cup-move
Labour’s ‘hard right’ are a despicable bunch of wankers and dangerous too. I always expected this to happen. They want to portray Russia as an outlaw or pariah state; with Hitler-like demons in charge of its political system; like one does in preparation for war. I doubt a boycott will succeed. But if we bomb the Russian infrastructure, that might work! Still, in that scenario a cancelled football tournament will be the least of our problems. The West’s been on an aggressive militaristic and imperialist ‘roll’ since the breakup of the old Soviet Union, when there was only one super-power left standing. We shameless attacked country after country and virtually wipe them off the map. Millions died, massive material destruction and colossal suffering on a gigantic scale. Super power corrupts… totally. Then, having no other choice, Russia stepped into attack on Syria and stopped the West’s latest attempt to destroy… Read more »
Not only is Theresa Mary May’s accusation against Russia preposterous and totally free of any reliable facts. Also there are two aspects that, to my feeling, have not been discussed properly: 1) Theresa Mary May is spreading a CONSPIRACY THEORYI And with her the MSM – e. g. “The Guardian”. Why are there no protest against this massive (and absurd) government CONSPIRACY THEORYI ?! Why does no one demand from e. g. Youtube to block(!) any videos with this CONSPIRACY THEORYI? 2.) Why does no one discuss the strange fact, that this (assumed) “hit job” on two persons went as bad as anyone could imagine? If a Mafia hit man had done this job he would find a cut-off-horse-head in his bed the next morning – sent by his Mafia boss! And his daughter/son would probably disappear. Although Russia – unlike the regime in Washington – does not execute killings… Read more »
Why don’t you Brits call your Prime Minister(ess??) from now on:
THERESA “CONSPIRACY THEORY” MAY”? ?
Your country needs You!
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/03/of-a-type-developed-by-liars/
Article by former ambassador to Uzbekistan
It begins as follows !
“I have now received confirmation from a well placed FCO source that Porton Down scientists are not able to identify the nerve gas as being of Russian manufacture, and have been resentful of the pressure being placed on them to do so. Porton Down would only sign up to the formulation “of a type developed by Russia” after a rather difficult meeting where this was agreed as a compromise formulation.”
Anyone who is rushing to exonerate Jeremy Corbyn as some sort of beacon of clarity amidst the mass psychoses; should perhaps read his Guardian column first? He has basically endorsed May’s binary options – it was Russia directly or indirectly – and is merely seeking to clarify which option is right before proceeding. The fact that neither of these options is corroborable to the known facts escaped him. So the case that it was Russia is proved: on the basis of mythical “military nerve agents”? He then goes on to criticise the “Putin regime” for its “conservative authoritarianism, abuse of human rights or political and economic corruption.” Then he pushes his own Magnitsky agenda: so we will sanction anyway – whether it was Russia or not? The idea that Corbyn is not infected with acceptably racist xenophobia bemuses me. That his evidence based endorsement of the outcome determined post-truth idiotocracy… Read more »
It was very disappointing indeed. He felt the pressure and started a gamble that he can only lose. He now seems to be juggling with two positions that are contradictory. I think that those who, like me, saw him as a common sense alternative, felt very much let down. While for making just a couple of fair points regarding the evidence, he has been portrayed as a Soviet agent in BBC´s Newsnight (with red screen and St Basil´s cathedral on the background and all!) and the rest of the press. He seemed to be wanting to beat the devil in his own game, but as soon as he tried to touch gloves, he got a couple of nasty punches. I don´t know who is advising him nowadays, but it is astonishing to see that they don´t seem to understand that they got a good electoral result precisely because he seemed… Read more »
She reminds me of the american comedian providing proof for Saddam’s WMD at the UN. Shameless lies
She reminds me of the american comedian providing proof for Saddam’s WMD at the UN.
Not dangerous, just the frenzied running around of headless chickens before collapse. A Whitehall farce. Or as my clip from Canthama indicated in a previous thread, Theatre of the Absurd. A smokescreen for the NATZO specnatz entrapped in E.Ghoutah and their ensuing Revelations — unless those 200 FUKZUSA spy-ops can be spirited away by our practitioners of The Art of The Deal in Washington, London, Paris and Tel’Aviv.
“And as for Revelations, these / Would bring Lord Lumley to his knees” — Hilaire Belloc.
Rather like Blackadder Goes Forth: the Russophobe idiotocracy goes international. Born in Langley: the bastard child of John Brennan and Hillary Clinton (with Obama as Godfather); having spent its infancy ‘inside the Beltway’; fostered into immaturity by Robert Mueller; rendered briefly homeless as Mueller, due to lack of evidence, failed to make the adoption permanent; crossed the Atlantic; re-located to Salisbury, Wiltshire; now seeking to set up home permanently in the US, UK, France, Germany and beyond. One can sense Deep State machinations in the adoption of the farcical claims of “attempted murder” of the Skripals and PC Bailey (note: the inconvenient doctor who treated Yulia is now memory-holed). Particularly in the earlier lukewarm response to the UK’s “fantasy politics”. Now, there is “no other plausible explanation”. Well, I could suggest a few, but then my brain has not been turned to mush by Novichok mania. Like a stick of… Read more »
Another ominous sign is that ordinary joes like me can be barred from comments in the Indie, Grauniad, etc. and there are few other outlets for intelligent debate, i.e. they are successfully closing dissenters down. Said publications become echo-chambers saying ‘destroy Syria’, sanction Russia, etc., etc.
This is even more the case for the computer-illiterate who are probably still the majority. I wonder whether OffGuardian had considered a cheapo printed version, maybe like Private Eye? Would you be able to call it the Manchester Guardian or the Real Manchester Guardian or have those titles been sewn up?
Well news from the asylum does look grim. For all their fine rhetoric the Anglo-American sphere of leadership appears entrenched within a 19th century world view. Unfortunately for us they have 21st century technology at their disposal. They don’t actually need us to march off to war any more.
It seems as though all evil has converged this Spring, in nullifying any possibility of peace breaking out. The US is the perpetrator, as usual, of violence and destruction. When Karma finally holds sway, I’m afraid the US will be swamped with the rewards of killing some 20 million people since the end of WWII. That will not be pretty and I want to be thousands of miles away when it happens!
And they all rush towards Mexico as it’s the only place of safety…..
….. but someone put a fucking great wall in the way………
Love it Mikalina.
Amazing. The “London” Grauniad has Jeremy Corbyn on the Skripal show – and allows comment.
But the comments were closed after just 23!
Were they afraid of something?
judging by the comments they would not want a large amount of support being expressed for Corbyn which is what happened .
I saw that too and did you note the final post by the Gran saying the article had been opened to comments “..in error.” As John Marks suggested in his comment above, the Off Guardian does need to come up with a print version STAT.
Once the Graun realised that that their readers loved Jeremy Corbyn’s sensible position this sign went up very quickly.
Comments on this thread have been opened in error.
However the likes poured in so quickly that the most popular of the posts calling out the fakery were heading for about 1000 likes even though less than 30 posts had occured. Perhaps they are now trying to shut off the like torrent.
The witchhunt has now turned to Corbyn. His very logical and reasonable stance, namely show us some evidence and let Brussels and Moscow make their own tests – any samples would have to be taken independently from the 2 Russians in hospital to verify that the toxic agent suspected/alleged is the genuine one, not some sample cooked up in a lab elsewhere – before rushing to judgement.
Now the BBC, the Tories, the Tory press and the Blairite Labour MPs are all on the attack. Mind you, pretty much all the Blairite MPs are members of ‘Labour Friends of Israel’. Corbyn has been a longstanding supporter of Palestinians and critic of Israeli warmonging and illegal expansion. So this is a win/win for the establishment, a chance to ‘get’ Putin and Corbyn at the same time. Coincidence?
Corbyn is pushing his own version of the Russia dunnit post-truth verdict. All he wants is to differentiate between whether they did it directly: or indirectly by losing control of mythical stocks of Novichok: that they probably never had, and if they did, they were destroyed anyway. His suggestion is contrary to the OPCW, and is its own Saddam WMD redux. Irrespective of the outcome, he wants to sanction anyway, preceding the current incident. How he is differentiable from the soft-racist xenophobic hysteria is beyond me. Read his article: he is doing his best to be part of it.
Its worse than we thought – Labour are caving in and there is more or less a media blackout (at least across the MSM) for anyone who challenges the official version of events.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/15/labour-theresa-may-russia-sergei-skripal
Needless to say NATO war-mongers are backing Theresa May to the hilt.
Its as if WMD never happened.
US wants to prevent Nord Stream 2 at all costs.
yep, they roped Germany into this condemning unproven things Russia supposedly did with imaginary novichok
I think NordStream 2 is part of the bigger picture; the US needs to rope in the EU strays, especially France and Germany, who have been ignoring the US imposed sanctions and are trading more and more with Russia.
Also the US was alone in its boycott of the Russian Soccer games and now has successfully dragged the UK into joining them. I laughed when May announced that none of the govt toffs and royals would attend the games, she didn’t dare say the team would not participated though did she? She would have been out on her ear.
How can any of these people have children and look them in the eye?
Nikki Haley needs to go to a war zone and learn what it means. To her it is some PlayStation 4 game, a glorified NFL fixture.
She is casually, cynically and without remorse, conscience or worry condemning tens of thousands of innocent people to death.
Why?
Because she has no brains, no faculties, no humanity capable of anything other than reading from a script and lapping up delusional nonsense.
Send her to East Ghouta and tell her to live in the ruins for 28 days.
If she emerges alive, maybe she will see war and US propaganda a little differently…..?
noun
1.
a person with a psychopathic personality, which manifests as amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme egocentricity, failure to learn from experience, etc.
First they came for the Serbs, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Serb.
Then they came for the Iraqis, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not an Iraqi.
Then they came for the Libyans, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Libyan.
Then they came for the Yemenis , and I did not speak out—
Because I was not an Yemeni.
Then they came for the Russians, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Russian.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
Original poem by MARTIN NIEMÖLLER: https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007392
Sorry, missed out the poor Syrians before the Russians in this post
The Syrians don’t belong there with poor Iraq, Libya, Serbia etc: they fought back; and held NATZO at bay until they were saved by the Russians. Like Great Britain’s standing against the Nazis in WW2 until Stalingrad had weakened the Nazi army enough to turn the tide. We were the good guys then. The fate of those other countries in your list — destroyed by NATZO — are similar to the fate of Pastor Niemoeller and other victims of the Nazi horde. Though I think Yemen will come through, like Syria, because it has Iran as an Ally — with other Allies waiting in the wings for the final act. That final act will see the defeat of NATZO and the rebuilding of its shattered victims: Arabia Phoenix will be reborn from the flames of NATZO terror, the way a shattered Europe was rebuilt from the flames of Nazi terror.
“We were the good guys then”? I believe there is a prima facie case that Britain was guilty of starting both world wars. The second was an imposed consequence of the settlement of the first, the Treaty of Versailles. The received history that Hitler seized power organically from the economic chaos that followed belies the fact that the Nazis were funded (by Thyssen) with Western capital (notable funders: Averell Harriman and Prescott Bush). Good guys with the blood of 70mn on our hands?
Bravo! and thank you for pointing out that what Pastor Niemoeller wrote is actually a poem: memorable speech that lives in the collective memory after the death of the poet, and can be used by later generations to shed light on similar though different occasions.
https://youtu.be/BkvEp_B5Kq8
I put my money on the rabbit.
They are scrabbling for what they want out of Syria. Turkey and the US will take the North and hold it with proxy Arab armies stiffened by Jihadi refugees from the South. Kurds are crumbling without US air strikes in support. Afrin is surrounded with 30,000 fleeing the tightening Turks who have pledged to rid the region of Kurds. Unsurprisingly Russia isn’t gagging for WW3 against the Great Coalition of the US, Nato and Gulf Arabs. If the US missiles start flying they will respond if Russian lives are in danger, not Syrians or Kurds. They are quiet about Turkey and Israel with whom they clearly have an understanding. The signs that the skirmishes of the last 7 years are moving into another stage seem all around, Putin feels obliged to remind the Coalition he has powerful nuclear weapons, not a casual decision. Ukraine begins to take receipt of heavier… Read more »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABhZQ_VRbsQ This could use the same treatment, unfortunately, I do not have the time or inclination to fire up final cut.