Book Review: “The Plot to Overthrow Venezuela” by Dan Kovalik

In one concise statement, Dan Kovalik sums up the criminal — if self-serving and for now effective — foreign policy of the U.S. across the planet:

“The US appears to be intentionally spreading chaos throughout strategic portions of the world, leaving virtually no independent state standing to protect their resources, especially oil, from Western exploitation.  And, this goal is being achieved with resounding success, while also achieving the subsidiary goal of enriching the behemoth military-industrial complex.”

A divided Korea, a decimated Vietnam, endless war in Afghanistan, a barely functional Iraq, a destroyed Libya, ongoing destruction of Syria and Venezuela, relentless attacks and incipient war on Iran, give us more than a glimpse into the awesome power of America’s military might, its malice and ruthlessness in projecting that power, its no-holds-barred no-moral-qualms no-body-count no-questions-asked ends-justify-the-means tactical use of genocide, its jaw-dropping hypocrisy in portraying itself as a force of good, its psychopathic exceptionalist world view which judges all other nations and their populations as dispensable, and its ultimate loyalty to a tiny autocratic ruling elite who use “democracy” as just another tool in their bag of tricks to promote absolute corporate tyranny — the framework of fascism Sheldon Wolin calls inverted totalitarianism — and global hegemony.  It’s for good reason that the U.S. is now often referred to as the Empire of Chaos.

The Plot to Overthrow Venezuela: How the US is Orchestrating a Coup for Oil, as the title suggests, more specifically focuses on the horrors inflicted by the U.S. government on Venezuela.  This thorough, extremely well-researched, and fully supported exposé covers the current crises in and about Venezuela, intentionally and purposefully instigated by the U.S. to overthrow its current government and plunder the country’s rich oil reserves.  Just as importantly it offers rich and revealing historical accounts of America’s past dealings with Venezuela and almost identical scenarios with other Latin American nations, detailing the darkness and corruption that lies at the heart of U.S. foreign policy, and how that has cast a pall of oppression over the entirety of South and Central America, the nations of which have the geographical misfortune of being in America’s self-declared hemisphere of influence — read that as hemisphere of total domination and ruthless exploitation.  From Chile to Haiti to Panama to Honduras to Nicaragua to El Salvador to Colombia, we see the brutal deployment of U.S. political and military assets leaving whole countries impoverished, the poor without hope — often deprived of even food and water — and piles of nameless corpses in escalating numbers, dismissed by the U.S. government and its lapdog media as collateral damage of the Great Imperial Project. 

By the end of Kovalik’s chilling indictment of U.S. malfeasance in its war on the people of Venezuela, what is astonishing and shocking is that the U.S. is again getting away with such overt and illegal aggression, by not only using the same play book, but by using the same players.  With Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State, John Bolton as National Security Advisor, and Elliot Abrams as Special Envoy to Venezuela, at the helm of the project to take Venezuela’s government apart and replace it with the puppet regime of the unelected Juan Guaido, we have three of the most notorious of the notorious — murderous, lying thugs — doing the dirty work.  All three have sordid histories of inciting war and orchestrating regime changes.  Abrams was indicted and convicted for lying to Congress about the Iran-Contra affair.

The thought-provoking Plot to Overthrow Venezuela is very well-written, with a clarity, accessibility, and erudition which puts it in a class with the best works of Noam Chomsky.  The Foreword by Oliver Stone is a worthy and deserving way to get things started.  I give it the highest possible recommendation, truly one of the most engaging and informative books I’ve read in ages.

[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]




Book Review: “The Plot to Overthrow Venezuela” by Dan Kovalik

A Nation of Relentless Savagery

 

You've been avoiding this for a long time.

You prefer to remember the times he took you to the park, that amazing camping vacation a few summers back, the funny things he often says at the dinner table, that beautiful dog he gave you on your 12th birthday.

But you can't deny it any longer.  The truth is painful.  But . . .

Dad is an alcoholic and he beats mom.

Do you hate him?  Do you reject him as your father?

No . . . but things have to drastically change and very soon.

This is not actually the story I wish to tell.  I'm merely drawing a parallel.  I'm talking about dealing with denial, facing reality, accepting responsibility, taking action.

There are many situations in life for which the above scenario is a metaphor.

The parallel I'm making is the relationship between a citizen and a government gone mad.

We've avoided it for a long time.  We prefer to think of America as a beacon of hope in the world, the fountainhead of truth and justice, a purveyor of democratic values and human rights.

But we can't deny it any longer.  The truth is painful.  But . . .

As Martin Luther King, Jr. said in his monumental, myth-shattering speech -- the one that probably got him assassinated -- at Riverside Church in New York City on April 4, 1967:

“The greatest purveyor of violence in the world: My own government, I cannot be silent.”

I won't go into the long history of American aggression.  Whole books have been written which detail our gruesome heritage of merciless wars, the most notable being Howard Zinn's classics, A People's History of the United States and the more recent A People's History of American Empire.  Nor will I indict the U.S. foreign policy apparatus for its gross deceptions and hypocrisies, elucidated with unparalleled clarity and candor in William Blum's excellent work, America's Deadliest Export: Democracy.

I won't talk about the millions of human carcasses piled on top of more carcasses, the result of countless war crimes and merciless military strategies which place no value on human life, whether the victims are in uniform or innocent civilians.  I've realized that the scale of the horror is such that its incomprehensible to most good decent citizens.  I myself when confronted by figures like 3 million Vietnamese killed, 1.5 Iraqis killed, on and on, find my eyes glazing over in the deluge of zeroes.  I literally cannot grasp these numbers and apply them meaningfully to the grief and physical suffering which they are supposed to somehow encapsulate.

Let's instead look at a few simple very recent facts and try to put them in perspective.

Fact 1:  The U.S. is not officially at war with any other country at this time.

Fact 2:  The U.S. has not been attacked in any sense of the word in the last 16 years.

Fact 3:  Last year the U.S. military dropped 26,171 bombs on seven different countries.



Mind you, these are the official figures.  Who knows what the real totals are?

These were not water-filled balloons or July 4th fireworks.  At the end of every explosion, there were body parts strewn all over the surrounding area.  Survivors were being crushed in collapsed buildings, or crawling along the ground with limbs torn off, leaving a trail of blood squirting out of severed arteries.  Innocent people, men, women, and children just going about the everyday business of living, were mangled by a lethal mix of high-velocity shrapnel, and chunks of rubble created by ton after ton of high-yield explosives dropped anonymously from the sky.

Rigorous studies have made it very clear that well over half of the casualties of current warfare are civilians.  In what are called 'internal conflicts' -- like Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia -- which now are by far the most prevalent form of military conflict, the percentages can be as high as 90% civilians.  These violent clashes are typically fought by proxies. In all of the countries just listed, the aggressors are mercenaries paid by the U.S. and its allies to enter and destroy a country in what is then deceptively characterized as a civil war or "people's uprising".  There is very disturbing recent evidence, for example, that the U.S. through CIA back channels has been funding ISIS, Al Nusra, as well as other extremely barbarous terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria.

By the way, that money they withhold from your paycheck?  Or that quarterly tax payment you regularly make?  Think about it.  This is where a big chunk of your tax dollars is going.  You're paying for this.

Does any of this make my point a little more comprehensible?

26,171 bombs . . . funding terrorism . . . innocent civilians die . . . all in a days work.

America can say with great pride that what it does, it usually does very well.

When we put our minds to something, we pull out all the stops.

Now we can put killing right up there in the Top 10.

We kill efficiently.  We kill without remorse.  We kill without hesitation.

NOTICE TO THE WORLD . . .

Beware!  We are a nation of relentless savagery!

Then again, a lot of countries already know that.

---

I've said this many times before and I'll keep saying it until people get it . . .
Peace will not come from the top.  There are too many incentives and rewards in our corrupt corporate kleptocracy to keep the wars going and the wheels of the defense industry churning out more mechanisms of death and destruction.

It is only when we everyday citizens finally have had enough of the carnage, enough of the military waste, enough of the chest-beating imperialism which makes us less safe, enough of the empty rhetoric which claims to embrace the noble virtues but is just more deception in the name of war and imperial conquest, it is only then that America will turn around.

Maybe there are detailed plans out there somewhere to mobilize the good decent citizens of this country.  I haven't personally seen any.  So here is mine.  Yes, it is outside-the-box, some would say radical, extreme.  But if we are the nation we claim to be in the world and in the eyes of God, isn't cruelly and senselessly dropping 26,171 bombs on mostly innocent people extreme and radical?
My plan demands very little of us individually.  We don't have to march on the capital or mount a revolutionary insurrection.  Despite that, it could make all the difference in the future we leave to our children and our children's children.  All that is really required is that we listen to the voice of reason and stand strong.

At least take a look.  Open your mind up to the possibility of a future without the madness.  Of a future without endless war.  Of a future when our hard-earned tax dollars don't go to fund the relentless savagery of a military gone mad.

 

The Peace Dividend: The Most Controversial Proposal in the History of the World is now available both as an ebook and deluxe paperback at all of the usual outlets . . .

Amazon (Kindle) / US . . . amzn.to/2cpIRfQ
Amazon (Print) / US . . . amzn.to/2cEhnCb
Amazon (Kindle) / UK . . . amzn.to/2cKXFsV
Amazon (Kindle) / Canada . . . amzn.to/2ciZKdl
Amazon (Kindle) / Japan . . . amzn.to/2cbf3TO
Barnes & Noble . . . bit.ly/2cWxvzd
Kobo (Indigo) . . . bit.ly/2cI8cB6
Apple iTunes . . . apple.co/2cqw7an
Smashwords . . . bit.ly/2cb6Cse
Direct from printer . . . bit.ly/2c3mJsl



[ This originally appeared at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]


A Nation of Relentless Savagery

War On Terror = More Terrorism and More War = More Terrorism and More War = . . .

We can talk and talk, cite all sorts of statistics, construct marvelous narratives, collect anecdotes, offer incisive and powerful analysis.  But sometimes a few charts says it far better than any amount of verbiage.

Look at these and you tell me how the War On Terror is going.  See if you see the same obvious connection between America's military intervention and geopolitical meddling and the growing threat of terrorism.


I remember a truly idiotic joke from my youth.  Pathetically it seems relevant here.

"Why do you keep hitting yourself on the head with that hammer?"

"Because it feels so good when I stop!"

When are we going to stop, ladies and gentlemen?

When?

I've offered an extreme remedy to this madness.

It's one that is so wild and completely outside-the-box, it actually makes sense.

The Peace Dividend!

Or maybe we should keep pounding ourselves on the head with a hammer.

Let's really go for it.  You can borrow mine . . .





[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]



War On Terror = More Terrorism and More War = More Terrorism and More War = . . .

The fix is in … Hillary will win … vote for Jill Stein!

 

I've finally emerged from my naive stupor and faced the facts.

Hillary Clinton will be installed as the next POTUS, regardless of how many people do or do not vote for her.

To the extent that I see the insulting choice between the Queen of Chaos and the King of the Racist Rant as somehow pivotal, I have been subconsciously mulling this diabolical verity for some time now. 

What finally cracked the edifice of my willful denial was a highly insightful interview of Julian Assange by the award-winning Australian journalist and film maker, John Pilger.  Please take the time to watch this.

Assange discusses the incriminating emails he has dumped into the public sphere, denies that Russia had anything to do with providing them, highlights Hillary Clinton's criminal use of the Clinton Foundation for influence peddling and her demented plan to establish herself as the go-to candidate for the presidency by destroying Libya and attacking Syria, Wikileaks' role in exposing systemic corruption wherever it occurs, the U.S. defying the UN and ignoring international law, rendering him a fugitive in the Ecuadoran Embassy.

Assange as always is brilliant.  He claims Hillary's victory is predetermined, a foregone conclusion.  History and the facts are on his side.  Think George W. Bush in 2000. 

What will happen after Clinton's coronation in January is anyone's guess.  All informed predictions portend the worst.

The world is heading for war.  No one I know seems to have any clue how that decision is made and who makes it.  But the writing is on the wall.  The military build-ups in Europe and Asia, the constant vilification of Russia and intimidation of China, the hysterical and thoroughly unfounded clamoring about the necessity to stop the aggressive actions of Putin -- though no evidence is presented because no real evidence is available -- all paint the same hideous portrait of apocalyptic violence and unprecedented carnage.

World War III.

Why?  Why must it again come to this?  Because . . .

It's time.

And Hillary Clinton is the perfect minion to inflict this upon the world.

The preparations are being made as I write this, while the mesmerized masses either can't wait to get to the polls because they've already made their decision, or ponder the weighty choice between a sociopathic narcissist and a criminally insane warmonger.

As if it made a difference.

So . . .

Vote for Jill Stein.

You have nothing to lose.
It won't change the results of the election.

As I've said, the fix is in.  The power brokers, the investment banks, Wall Street, the media, the transnational corporations, the security agencies (except for some rebels in the FBI), the .01%, the oligarchs, have made their choice.  The polls have been fixed around that choice, as will be the final results of the election.

Why Jill Stein?

If the programming of the voting machines hasn't completely removed any possibility of her getting sufficient voter support, and the Green Party manages 5% of the popular vote, it will qualify for federal matching funds in the next election.

If there is a next election.

Am I being pessimistic?

Of course not.  There is hope!  The Loch Ness Monster might come out of hiding, and lead humankind to a new spiritual rebirth.  Or in an unexpected turn of events, Sasquatch will win the presidency on a write-in ballot, then require all armaments to be melted down and turned into snow shoes.  An extinction-threatening meteor could glide in from outer space and make a soft landing at Dulles Int'l Airport, Jesus Christ, Ghandi, Buddha and Nelson Mandela could emerge healthy and invigorated, take a limo into DC and talk some sense into the lunatics running our country.

Or . . . or . . .



[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]



The fix is in … Hillary will win … vote for Jill Stein!

It’s not easy being infallible . . .

 

In case you didn't hear President Obama's historic speech at the Hiroshima Peace Park this past May 27th, let me sum it up for you.  Paraphrasing . . .

"It's very sad.  War is nasty.  Shit happens."

There is broad consensus among reputable historians -- who don't filter everything through the brainwashing lens of American exceptionalism -- that dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was entirely unnecessary.

There is concrete evidence -- I've seen the U.S. government documents on display at the Hiroshima Peace Museum myself -- that dropping the bombs was an experiment.  These two Japanese cities, both of relatively marginal importance in terms of the war effort, were the petri dishes, the Japanese were the bacteria.  The nuclear scientists who had developed a deployable nuclear weapon wanted to see how people and dwellings would hold up in the 10,830º fireball.  You think I'm exaggerating about any of this?  The bombs didn't target factories or military installations.  The epicenter of the Hiroshima explosion was directly over a medical clinic, for chrissakes!

With those two heinous war crimes, of course, America was just getting warmed up.

Next came Korea, or more specifically North Korea.  In what was considered a savage and one-sided genocidal attack, over 20% of the population -- by some estimates close to 1.4 million people -- mostly civilians were killed by the U.S. campaign.  North Korea was reduced to rubble.  At the end of the carpet bombing, planes were returning with all of their bombs, with the pilots complaining there was nothing left to bomb.  Why did North Korea deserve such genocide?  They were demanding that as promised at the end of World War II, when they were finally liberated from the oppressive rule of the Japanese, that the country be unified and free democratic elections be held.  You think I'm making this up?  If you can go beyond the facile fairy tales of our high school history texts and do some reading, you'll find this right in the historical record.


 

After taking a little breather, the U.S. moved on to Vietnam.  What was the problem there?  These misguided gooks might go communist and we couldn't let that happen!  Of course, Vietnam is now a communist country.  I've been there.  It's a pretty decent place.  No one tried to shoot me.  I practically never saw any police.  The food is spicy.  Amazingly, I was treated with courtesy and kindness.  Why was I amazed?  Because we slaughtered between 1.3 and 3.9 million Vietnamese in that war, again mostly civilians.  We sprayed them and their farmland with lethal chemicals that are still causing horrible birth defects.  In fact, America dropped twice as many bombs on this tiny country as was dropped by all sides in every theater of World War II! 

Try to wrap your head around that.

Of course, just because we were at war with Vietnam didn't mean we would confine our destruction and carnage to that country, in losing the war.  We also mercilessly bombed Cambodia and Laos.  In Cambodia -- a country we weren't at war with -- America dropped a half million tons of bombs killing 100,000 innocent people. 

But that was child's play compared to Laos, again a country which was neutral not in any way participating in the Vietnam conflict.  Laos has the chilling distinction of being per capita the most bombed country in the history of the world!  Yes, we really cut loose on this tiny, impoverished nation by dropping 2,000,000 TONS OF EXPLOSIVES on them!

And how bad does America feel about the death and destruction it inflicted on tiny Laos?  Never one to let an opportunity for cynical irony go ignored, Obama in his public relations swing through Southeast Asia stopped by to do some glad-handing.  While when it comes to countries we've abused Obama prefers to leave the past behind, to look ahead toward a bright, harmonious future -- in particular one controlled by the corporate totalitarian regime of TPP -- he did give a nod to a little problem that 2,000,000 tons of explosives had left scattered across the landscape of Laos: that of unexploded ordnance.  He was in such a generous mood that he committed $90 million to help clean up the mess before more children lost their arms and legs.  $90 million for 2 million tons of explosives only four-and-a-half decades late.  What a guy!

I could go on but we'd be looking at a book.  A very depressing one at that.

The point is the bombing and the wars just keep on going and in parallel we are treated to a never-ending barrage of self-righteous deceptions and exceptionalist demagoguery.

The only difference now is that the rhetoric is more vitriolic and audaciously deceitful.

Since hopefully many of you like myself may not be amused by Obama's infinite capacity for expectorating America-first drivel, let me spare you from listening to this narcissistic ideologue and sum up his recent speech before the United Nations.  I read between the lines a bit, and here's the gist of this remarkable gust of self-congratulatory hot air:

"We know if you repeat a lie often enough, it will stick.  We are also firmly committed to never admitting a mistake, and no matter how implausible, always finding someone else to blame for what goes wrong.  Finally, the United States of America never apologizes."

For the final UN speech of his celebrated 8 years as president, I think Obama has done an excellent job of clarifying exactly where the U.S. stands, and sealing his place in the history books after the U.S. inevitably implodes, as one of the most myopic of our chief executives.

Having said that, I'm still for offering a balanced view.  Though we often get caught up in quibbling about the details, let's look at the big picture and give credit where credit is due.

Do you think keeping track of the torrent of destructive but spellbinding lies dumped on the American public and the rest of the world is easy?

Can you fathom how thoroughly exhausting it must be to relentlessly embrace and nurture such intemperate arrogance, such malignant hubris, such shameless moral insensitivity, how draining it is to keep feeding the rhetorical river of buttery self-congratulations and slimy bombast?

What about having to unrelentingly deny facts, obfuscate and hide the truth?  What about the colossal task of constructing an alternative and patently false reality to keep American citizens from waking up to the horror their leaders are visiting on the rest of the world?  You're going to tell me this is not incredibly grueling work?

In a nutshell . . .

Do you think it's easy being infallible?

Maybe we should ask President Obama at his next news conference.


[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]



It’s not easy being infallible . . .

Peace is as American as . . . ?

Has America ever really had a peace movement?

Yes, there was an anti-war movement in the late 60s, early 70s.

But it was an anti-war movement . . . specific to one particular war.

The Vietnam War.

Why?

Because young people -- I was the perfect age and in the thick of it -- didn't want to get blown away in some rice paddy in some country in Asia they could barely find on a map.

It's was survival.  Demonstrate.  Burn your draft cards.

Stay alive!

To be in principle for peace means you are values-driven.

But Americans for the most part are results-driven.

Get the job done.  Get the job done right.  Have a beer.

Which troublingly is a short leap to "the ends justify the means".

To see how that works out, just ask the civilian survivors of Dresden, Hiroshima, Nagasaki.

Ask the citizens of Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Kosovo, Yemen.

Get the job done.  Get it done right.  Watch the Super Bowl.

Peace is a warm and fuzzy idea. It's something you can wriggle right up to, get all friendly, pinch its cute little cheeks, coddle it like a newborn, smile for the camera.

Yes, peace is really awesome!

As long as you don't have to be peaceful.

Therein lies the conundrum.

America likes to kick ass!  It's our way or the highway.

It's our way or you better head for a bomb shelter, mofo!

America is tough.  You know where America stands.

America wears its temperament on its sleeve.

It open-carries its guns . . . fair warning.

Don't even think about it!

Fuck with me and you're dead meat!

Doesn't exactly sound like fertile ground for a peace movement, eh?



However, peace signs are great!

Simple and attractive.

Make a great tattoo.  Charm bracelet.  Bumper sticker.

They're compact, symmetrical.

Fit nicely anywhere.

FUCK YEAH!  PEACE, BROTHER!


[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]



Peace is as American as . . . ?

More Bases More Bombs More War

 

They say things have to get worse before they get better.

But how much worse can the U.S. and the world tolerate?

Driven purely by institutional self-preservation and relentless pursuit of profits by the military-industrial-complex, the cancer of American military presence continues to metastasize unchecked across the planet.  Not satisfied with creating tens of thousands of new terrorists since 9/11 with aggressive wars, invasions, special ops initiatives, drone bombing, assassinations -- all claiming the lives of over a million innocent civilians -- budgetary allocations are in place and plans being implemented for even more bases in Asia, Africa, Europe, even the Arctic.

Is it any surprise that when America sets up a new military hub in a foreign country, conflict and war soon follow?

It's a closed feedback loop where a cure sets up the conditions for the disease it's supposed to treat.  If an area is relatively at peace, the putative guarantees of continuing tranquility offered by a military presence will produce opposition and rivalry which inevitably will metastasize into conflict and war.

On that note, there certainly is no mystery why terrorism is on the rise, especially in Middle Eastern countries.

Osama bin Laden stated it clearly.  To paraphrase: "We don't want you here."

Not only is sovereignty at issue in these native lands, but often they host sites which are considered sacred in both social and political traditions which stretch back centuries. The very presence of U.S. soldiers, war planes, drones, or any of the other paraphernalia of empire is insult enough. But the slaughter of innocent individuals, too often women and children, can only evoke cries of outrage and demands for revenge.  Is it asking too much to imagine how U.S. citizens would react if a wedding party was blown to bits in Topeka, Kansas or Knoxville, Tennessee?

This must end. The unnecessary expansion of U.S. military presence throughout the world is bankrupting our economy, incriminating each and every American citizen in horrifying war crimes, risking World War III, and ultimately will collapse the nation and take down the great American experiment.

It's up to us to stop this before it's too late!



[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]


More Bases More Bombs More War

Oratory as a Weapon of Mass Deception

 

I used to say President Obama is a great orator.

In retrospect, particularly in view of his speeches over the past two years, I would have to modify my appraisal: Mr. Obama is a mind-numbingly effective orator -- with major emphasis on 'mind-numbing' -- whose powers of persuasion are both awe-inspiring and reality-altering.

But great? I think not.

You see, great orators don't insult their audiences by lying and using their enormous gifts to wreak havoc on the world, demean other world leaders, and generally inflict listeners with self-serving propaganda.

Great orators ennoble, enlighten, inspire!

There is so much deception, obfuscation, manipulative innuendo, faulty logic, sheer raw hypocrisy in his recent U.N. speech, I could write volumes. But it's not worth your time or mine, since so many of the lies upon which he built this petty and self-aggrandizing show have been repeated with such relentless regularity, they are part of the accepted collective wisdom of both the American public and the government propaganda apparatus, aka the main stream media.

I'll just throw out a few comments.

"But we cannot stand by when the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a nation is flagrantly violated. If that happens without consequence in Ukraine, it could happen to any nation gathered here today."

Like Yemen being bombed by the U.S.-supported tyrannical government of Saudi Arabia? Like Iraq? Or Libya? Or Afghanistan? Or any of the 30+ countries the U.S. has attacked or effected regime change by proxy?

Here's a real gem.

"It is not a conspiracy of U.S.-backed NGOs that expose corruption and raise the expectations of people around the globe; it’s technology, social media, and the irreducible desire of people everywhere to make their own choices about how they are governed."

Oh really? One of America's favorite 'NGOs' is the National Endowment for Democracy. First of all even calling it an NGO is a laugh. Everyone knows -- at least in the crowd I run with -- that the NED was created by the CIA and is funded by Congress. For some reason, whenever it shows up on the scene, countries become immersed in chaos and insurrection, with regime change soon to follow. The most recent victim of its handiwork is Ukraine, where it fomented the overthrow of the legitimate democratically-elected government, then installed a chocolate puppet doll to do the bidding of the U.S.

Here the President deftly conflated bragging and threats, as in, "See how we've messed up things for you, Russia? If you don't tow the line, you ain't seen nothing yet, baby!"

"Sanctions have led to capital flight, a contracting economy, a fallen ruble, and the emigration of more educated Russians."

Then, just when I though it was safe to stop gagging and listen further, I picked up on this.

"When a dictator slaughters tens of thousands of his own people, that is not just a matter of one nation’s internal affairs — it breeds human suffering on an order of magnitude that affects us all."

Which is why we supplied chemical weapons to Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein in order to get the job done right back when he was one of our buddies? Which is why we overthrew the democratically-elected leader of Chile and replaced him with a brutal autocrat who then proceeded to kill tens of thousands of his people? Of course, I could go on with many more examples. But it's tedious and pointless, as hypocrisy is apparently now considered one of the great virtues in the Empire of Chaos.

"Assad reacted to peaceful protests by escalating repression and killing that, in turn, created the environment for the current strife."

Really? Is that the whole story? Or just the one the U.S. creates for its fairy tale version of every uprising it seeds and supports to overthrow governments it doesn't like?

Oh yes . . . about those crazy Muslims running around beheading people, driving tens of thousands to flee their native lands and seek refuge in Europe:

"We know that ISIL — which emerged out of the chaos of Iraq and Syria — depends on perpetual war to survive."

Like the U.S. military-industrial complex? Or the U.S. itself which can't stop bombing countries into complying with its dictates?



Credit where credit is due, however:  Our president did stumble into the truth a few times. Thus, here is absolutely my favorite quote from his speech . . .

"On this basis, we see some major powers assert themselves in ways that contravene international law. We see an erosion of the democratic principles and human rights that are fundamental to this institution’s mission; information is strictly controlled, the space for civil society restricted. We’re told that such retrenchment is required to beat back disorder; that it’s the only way to stamp out terrorism, or prevent foreign meddling."

. . . because it perfectly describes the United States of America, in particular the policies aggressively promoted by Mr. Obama himself.

---

Watch President Obama's entire speech and judge for yourself whether this man is ever capable of doing anything but creating a smokescreen for America's malfeasance in the world, its monomaniacal fixation with its power, its self-proclaimed right to lecture and dictate to others how the world should be run.

[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

Justin Bieber is the new Hitler!

 

If someone in the State Department or the White House decides that Justin Bieber's music truly sucks, or even if they just take a disliking to that froofy, pseudo-pompadour hair style he alternates with his Beetle boy look, you can be assured of the headline the next day, front page of the New York Times:

Justin Bieber is the new Hitler!

The campaign of demonizing this young pop star, thus getting the public fired up for his inevitable liquidation, will have begun.

We've seen a lot of 'Hitlers' over the past couple decades. If fact, this vilification by association would seem by now to have outworn its usefulness. But no, the public's knee still jerks when tapped with the mallet of ultimate evil personified. Then it's bombs away, or at bare minimum, a nice bloody assassination or regime change by proxy.

The great thing about the Hitler device is that everyone knows how it ended. And they can now sleep well, fully convinced of what the new evil-drenched Hitler-reincarnation faces in the Great Battle of the White Hats vs. the Black Hats, an epic struggle which defines our moral sensibilities in this age of television and smart phone enlightenment.

Back in 2003, we had a real solid Hitler in Saddam Hussein. Boastful, cocky, imperious to the core.  He ended up swinging on a rope.  Yes!  Take that brutal tyrant!  Nobody messes with freedom, justice, and the American Way!

Gaddafi was an easy target. He even strutted like Adolph, and though he dispensed with the erect-penis-surrogate arm salute, Muammar had all of the PR trappings of Hitler, his Third Reich gallery-of-rogues henchmen, even his puffed-up Italian sidekick, Benito. Ha! Take a knife up the ass, scumbag!  Blam blam blam!  Bye-bye, chest-thumping despot. Guess we showed him what democracy is all about.

 

Of course, the latest big-bang-for-the-buck Hitler clone is the grim Vladimir Putin. Oh baby! Are we ever doing a number on this contemptible autocrat!  Though the wily and aggressive Russian propaganda machine pumps out transparently phony approval ratings __ the latest was a laughable 86% __ we know in the West that the cowering Russkies can't wait for the U.S. and its hyper-masculine NATO allies to reduce their struggling ball-and-chain nation to smoldering, radioactive rubble, so that they can enjoy the benefits of the Home Shopping Channel and 24/7 Donald vs. Hillary news, just like us lucky, well-informed Americans. I'd say your days are numbered, Vlad the Impaler! Keep your shirt on.  Oh . . . I forgot.  You don't wear a shirt.

Not regularly making the headlines up there with the big neo-Hitlers are little neo-Hitlers. Maybe the general public isn't paying very close attention, but these tyrants are never off the radar screens of the neocon ninjas and their proud servants, the Orkin men in the CIA.

Included now or the recent past in this exclusive Hitler-lite, by-invitation-only club would be the likes of Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Evo Morales of Bolivia, certainly Raol and Fidel Castro of Cuba, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, and Tabaré Vázquez of Uruguay.

What do all of these scary new Hitlers have in common?

Well, it turns out to be one of two things.

Either they're socialists __ working hard to block the predatory agenda of capitalism, offering citizens a fair share of national wealth, fulfilling the promise of a good life with minimum standards for income, health care, education, home and land ownership __ or they're trying to get out from under the oppressive control of the U.S. dollar as the world reserve currency __ the Bretton Woods system that has propped up American political and economic hegemony over the past seven decades.

This last one will definitely get you blown away. This was the real crime of both Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi in the eyes of our neocon goon squad politicos __ George W., Obama, Hillary Clinton, and way too many others to mention.  Currently, we see that their cooperative de-dollarizing has installed Russia and China as the #1 and #2 ranking targets for America's 7000+ nuclear arsenal.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen . . . many observers have drawn the conclusion that America's exceptionalist imperial conquerors would prefer risking nuclear Armageddon to giving up the almighty USD as the economic weapon of choice in the international marketplace. World War III will be the ultimate temper tantrum.

"If we can't have it our way, then everybody dies!"

Having said that . . . I always try to end on a positive note.

All of you devoted fans who swooned to "One Less Lonely Girl" and danced the night away to "As Long As You Love Me" can rest easy. 

It doesn't appear that Justin Bieber is planning on de-coupling from the U.S. dollar __ it has served him quite well __ or leading a socialist revolution among his tweener fan base. Justin seems not at all concerned about the general welfare and never sings about social justice to his faithful "Beliebers".  He just keeps pumping the U.S. dollars out of their non-biodegradable plastic wallets, like the exemplary capitalist he is.

I'd say he's probably pretty safe for now.



[This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

Another Average Run-of-the-Mill Benevolent Dictator

 

I am in shock!

Since reading a recent article on OpEdNews, I have been hovering somewhere between appalled and paralyzed.

While I don't claim to be an expert on all that is going on in this messy world of ours, I do consider myself fairly well-informed. By sourcing a wide variety of news sites from all over the globe, I think generally I have some idea what's going on "behind the headlines" __ meaning what intrigues and power plays actually drive the more prominent events and crises. These reports often are quite at odds with what folks get from the main stream media here in America.

Quite honestly, however, I never quite got a handle on Libya. I know the U.S. fingered its highly-visible despotic leader, Muammar Gaddafi, for all sorts of things, some true, some never proven. I remember that despite Gaddafi's denials, he was blamed for the downing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, a horrifying event. I am aware that Ronald Reagan displaying the incredible military prowess and resolve of the U.S. launched air strikes on Tripoli, in retaliation for the bombing of a Berlin disco in 1986. This was part of an ongoing campaign of demonizing Gaddafi for his aggressive anti-corporate, socialist agenda. Going back to 1981, Libya had been under sanctions for suspected involvement in a variety of terrorist activities.

Almost all sanctions were lifted in 2004. Libya renounced weapons of mass destruction. Slowly relations between Libya and the U.S., and Libya and the E.U. normalized, and mutual understanding appeared to be steadily improving over the next seven years.

Gaddafi, of course, was still mocked in the Western press as a wild-eyed dictator. His penchant for always dressing in military uniform, wearing Hollywood sunglasses, and assuming poses of pompous majesty provided lots of ammunition.
This was very one-sided, to put it mildly. Libyans themselves loved their autocratic leader.

They had good reason to, considering how he treated them, the policies he put into place to bring Libya from a miserable, backward, isolated Third World country, to what it was in 2011 when America and NATO turned on him. I will now quote verbatim from the article I mentioned, by the brilliant economic analyst, Derryl Hermanutz, a list outlined originally by Michael Parenti.

Before Libya was destroyed by the violent coup instigated and coordinated by the West, finally brought to a cataclysmic end with NATO's bombing of Gaddafi's security forces, permitting takeover by extremist Muslim terrorists: 

1)  There was no electricity bill in Libya; electricity was free for all its citizens.
2)  There was no interest on loans, banks in Libya were state-owned and loans given to all its citizens at zero percent interest by law.
3)  Having a home was considered a human right in Libya.
4)  All newlyweds in Libya used to receive $60,000 dinar (U.S.$50,000) by the government to buy their first apartment so to help start up the family.
5)  Education and medical treatments were free in Libya. Before Gaddafi only 25 percent of Libyans were literate. Today, the figure is 83 percent.
6)  If Libyans wanted to take up a farming career, they would have received farming land, a farming house, equipments, seeds and livestock to kick start their farms... all for free.
7)  If Libyans could not find the education or medical facilities they needed, the government funded them to go abroad. For it was not only paid for, but they got a U.S.$2,300/month for accommodation and car allowance.
8)  If a Libyan bought a car, the government used to subsidize 50 percent of the price.
9)  The price of petrol in Libya was $0.14 per liter.
10)  Libya had no external debt and its reserves amounted to $150 billion -which are now frozen globally.
11)  If a Libyan was unable to get employment after graduation, the state would pay the average salary of the profession, as if he or she was employed, until employment was found.
12)  A portion of every Libyan oil sale was credited directly to the bank accounts of all Libyan citizens.
13)  A mother who gave birth to a child received USD $5,000.
14)  40 loaves of bread in Libya used to cost $0.15.
15)  25 percent of Libyans have a university degree.
16)  Gaddafi carried out the world's largest irrigation project, known as the Great Manmade River project, to make water readily available throughout the desert country.

Gaddafi believed that the wealth of a country belonged to everyone. Libya has vast oil reserves. Once the spigots were turned on after sanctions were lifted, enormous sums of money poured into the country. And Gaddafi put it to work for everyone, not just the elites, not just the multi-national corporations.

Gaddafi had big plans. He imagined the entire continent of Africa adopting his vision of shared wealth, of plenty for all. When he was brutally murdered, he was in the process of implementing a pan-African currency.

Now, if this man was doing such wonderful things for his people, why did America and NATO take him out? Granted, he wasn't democratically elected. In the first place, if the Libyan people want to have three elephants and a laptop computer chosen by a divining rod running their country, what business is it of the U.S. and Europe? Secondly, had they bothered to go through the motions of setting up electoral mechanisms in Libya, Gaddafi would have won by a 98% landslide. In view of what he accomplished over forty years of rule, despite the despotic, often brutal nature of his leadership, he was widely respected and admired.

The simple answer __ one that I am frankly having a lot of trouble processing __ is that Gaddafi's ideas were too dangerous. What if his vision for Africa and developing countries of the world had come true? Free education, health care, abundant food and housing?

What if his ideas spread over here?

Think about it . . .

What kind of America would we have if when you went to buy a new car, our government sent you a check for $15,000? Or when you got married, you received $50,000 to help you get started. What if your mortgage was interest-free? What if you could attend college and not have to take out a loan? What if money appeared in your bank account every month because American industry was doing well and showing good profits?

Yes, think about it . . . long and hard.

Dangerous ideas indeed.

Gaddafi was no angel. He was an egotistical, power-crazed megalomaniac, ruthless in his iron rule, aggressively anti-Western, sometimes the sponsor of terrorist killings.

But that's not why the U.S. got rid of him.

They got rid of him because those dangerous ideas might spread . . . because people might start asking dangerous questions like . . .

"Why can't we have free education / health care / electricity?"

"Why can't we all share in the enormous riches of our great country?"

"Why isn't having a home to live in a basic human right?"

"Why are we all in so much debt __ the federal government, cities, towns, people?"

You're skeptical?

Just ask yourself this . . .

If America had policies like those in Libya before the U.S. and NATO destroyed it and turned it over to ISIS and other fanatic extremists . . .

Could 1% of America's population own and control 43% of its wealth?

Could the ultra-wealthy be lord and masters of the world?

Yes . . . think about it.

Think long and hard.



[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]

The Race To A Vanishing Point

 

The writing is on the wall. BIG writing! 

The U.S. has again unleashed forces it cannot control, to obtain some perceived geopolitical advantage, and give itself some edge in the grand game of chess, played on an immense, impersonal macro-cosmic scale __ which ignores individual tragedy, human suffering, destruction of peoples and cultures, wholesale slaughter of innocent civilians __ gradually edging the world toward the ultimate confrontation, the really big one, where we get to see what comes out of the other end of a nuclear confrontation.

We obviously learned nothing from our original meddling in Afghanistan, which produced Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda; our meddling in Iran, which produced the current regime we are still trying to dominate; our meddling and war with Iraq, which now has resulted in ISIS; our meddling and destruction of Libya, which now has the country in shambles and has helped spread chaos and carnage across the Middle East and northern Africa.

We just had to meddle even more, and create the current crisis in Ukraine by toppling the democratically-elected government there, then installing a fierce, racist, ultra-nationalistic "pro-Western" puppet regime which will ultimately put us eyeball-to-eyeball with Russia, a world power armed to the teeth with nuclear missiles.

David Swanson points out in an excellent article that prior to the both World War I and World War II, the public remained clueless as to the onset of war. This despite the fact that all the alarms, signals and flags were in plain sight, huge glaring signs that war was where things were inevitably heading. 

This despite concerned men and women, keen observers, highly visible pundits and scholars __ though admittedly they were in the minority and fatefully shouted down by the usual crowd of bombastic exceptionalists and grinning fools __ issuing grave and sober warnings, dire and thoughtful forecasts, based on sound and knowledgeable analysis, that the world was marching toward a disaster.

Similarly, the evidence is right before us, big pieces of a straightforward puzzle, which even the most simple-minded dolt could assemble into the frightening picture it is.

The insensitive, reckless, aggressive policies of the U.S. are precipitating World War III.

History has dramatically demonstrated that in the heat of major conflict, cooler heads never prevail. This coming war could and probably will go nuclear.

There is, of course, every reason to be concerned about putting food on the table, seeing our kids off to school, showing up for work, keeping the house and yard looking nice, making our homes comfortable for those we love.

But there's even more reason for preserving a world where there are things like food, tables, kids, schools, places to work, houses, yards, homes . . . those we love.

Am I just being a pessimist? An alarmist? A paranoid?

That's what they said about those folks who back before 1914 who were trying to get people to pay attention __ over 17,000,000 people then died in the conflagration of World War I.

That's what they said about many alarmed but certainly better informed folks in the 1920s and 1930s, who said that the Treaty of Versailles was a prescription for major disaster and could only end in a catastrophic conflict. 72,000,000 dead bodies from the greatest war in human history __ so far __ proved them right.

History repeats itself again and again . . . until it doesn't.

Until there is no more history.

Until it's all gone, and there is no longer anyone left to be annoyed by pleas for sanity and prayers for peace.

Then the planet will be governed by a vast, all-embracing quiet, when only the scurrying of cockroaches across a dusty, barren landscape offers evidence of life on Earth.



[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]