Book Review: “The Russian Peace Threat: Pentagon on Alert” by Ron Ridenour

Ron Ridenour’s masterfully-written indictment of U.S. militarism and its take-all-prisoners imperial project is of such breathtaking scope and astonishing depth, it would be hard to exaggerate its value and timeliness, as the foreign policy of the Empire of Chaos now as never before in recorded history, steers the world toward apocalyptic confrontation and puts the survival of the entire human race at risk.

Those readers still in the embrace of the most toxic pile of propaganda ever assembled by a world power, that America is a force of good, spreading democracy, defending human rights, standing with the oppressed and marginalized, should have medics in the room with them to apply emergency procedures as the truth pours off the pages of this book.  Ridenour pulls no punches and with meticulous research and documentation, leaves little doubt that his narrative offers nothing less than the explicit and savage truth of over a century of exploits and exploitation.  We see brutal, barbaric, merciless application of military and economic power, with the clear and unambiguous goal of world domination — the U.S. as the ultimate empire blessed by God and history and the Fates, exempt from the rules of international law and judgment by anyone who would challenge it.  While the focus is Russia, this book covers a lot more ground, offering glimpses into many theaters of confrontation and conflict: China, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, of course the Middle East, as well as many countries in its more immediate sphere of influence, Central and South America.  With its 800+ bases currently sprawling across the planet, we’re hard-pressed to find anywhere where the heavy foot of American power does not exercise its self-serving prerogative.

Those readers who already are familiar with the scope of U.S. hypocrisy, who understand that behind the smiley face of official beneficence and goodness lies an agenda that serves a ruling elite at the expense of the vast number of everyday citizens, both inside the U.S. and out, will still benefit enormously from this book.  Much of it might constitute a refresher course, but I suspect many, myself included, will be pleasantly — or unpleasantly — rewarded with both disturbing factual knowledge and Ridenour’s fresh insights and analysis.  It may be for such readers “preaching to the choir” but I’ve never heard a choir that didn’t need to be tuned up from time to time.

Ridenour quotes “The Naked Human”, a poem written by Gustav Munch-Petersen.

I am only a human
but I shall one day
raise earth’s mountains
and let them shake
in the ears of those who sleep

I am only a human
but I shall one day
take the sun down from heaven
and light up all the dark holes
with merciless white light

I am only a human
but I shall one day
steal the gods lightning
and sweep the earth clean of dust

If I may do some metaphorical borrowing, I’d say that with The Russian Peace Threat: Pentagon on Alert Ron Ridenour has raised some mountains, taken the sun down from heaven, and stolen lightning from the gods.  Let’s hope his exceptional scholarship and writing wakes up some people, lights up the dark holes, and sweeps away the dust.
Our survival as a species depends on it.


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



Book Review: “The Russian Peace Threat: Pentagon on Alert” by Ron Ridenour

Distractions

 
Magicians are adept at distraction, as are card sharks, pickpockets and politicians.

And when you throw in the main stream media as a partner in crime, you have the perfect storm for a misinformed and malleable public.

It goes without saying that Americans are constantly bombarded with stories and images provoking fear. Just in the past couple months, we've had ISIS sleeper cells, the certainty that Ebola would be spreading like a plague across the land, a cyber attack by North Korea on our sacrosanct movie industry and our freedom of speech, last but not least, the threat of a reconstituted Soviet Union under the rule of that barbarian Vladimir Putin, raining nuclear-tipped ICBMs down on us. 

These are what I would call the "pro-active" distractions, ones which disable our ability to think rationally and turn us into trembling bowls of paralyzed Jello.

But I've decided that perhaps the most insidious distractions are the "passive" variant, the on-the-surface innocent ones that monopolize our attention with crises which are beyond trivial, drain us of energy and focus better directed to important issues that makes a real difference, make a mockery of anything resembling meaningful conversation, and upend and distort both our personal and national priorities.

I could go on for months on these distractions. We all know what they are. They include everything from celebrity gossip, to scandals involving iconic figures in sports, politics, business, and so on.
Just last week, there was a "scandal" which monopolized huge swaths of American media. Everyone had to weigh in, even allegedly serious journalists like Ed Schultz. Frankly, I was tempted to throw my hands up in the air, throw my hat in the ring, maybe throw up.

This was the whole business about the amount of air in the footballs thrown by all-star Tom Brady, quarterback for the New England Patriots. I don't have to explain this "crisis" in technical detail, because if you had your television on at any point, you already know that America demanded to know whether there was the legal minimum amount of air pressure in the footballs Mr. Brady used in his glorious ascent to football stardom.

While one third of America's school children are now officially living in poverty . . .

While despite the rosy figures spewed by our government, the truth is America's economy is in decline and a major economic crash is coming, probably sooner than later . . .

While we as ordinary citizens are being treated as the enemy, with constant surveillance and spying, and a militarized police presence which is often brutal and not adverse to killing innocent people, especially people of color . . .

While the planet is heating up at rates far beyond the most pessimistic predictions, boding unparalleled depletion of food resources, displacement of millions of people, setting the stage for massive global conflict over water and arable land . . .

While the banksters and Wall Street criminals go unprosecuted for their prior malfeasance and fraud __ e.g. the crash of 2008 __ and continue to loot the national treasury . . .

While TTP and TTIP, so-called "free trade agreements" which will be the nail in the coffin for an economy which serves the needs of the majority of citizens in our country, are being rammed down the throats of good, decent, hard-working people to serve the interests of the oligarchy . . .

While the neocon lunatics now in control of America's foreign policy are busy rallying the nation for an unnecessary, unjustified, lethal confrontation with Russia __ a major war, folks, as in World War III! . . .

We are wringing our hands over the amount of air in a football?


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

 

Hillary’s Secret Campaign Strategy

 

We have learned from a deep source at Hillary Clinton presidential
campaign headquarters, of a highly controversial, certainly
mind-boggling, but sure-fire plan which will clinch the 2016 election
for her. When it finally becomes public, this secret strategy will
consign all the nay-saying skeptics about her viability as the first
female president in American history, to eating vast quantities of
humble pie. 

Right now, of course, since no one knows of the plan, there's a wide range of
opinion and speculation in the media on her chances. Will she run? Will
she make the same mistakes she made against Obama? Can she walk the fine
line between appealing to the traditional Democratic base and raising
the money she will need from Wall Street and corporate America? Is the
country ready for a female president? Is the country ready for Hillary? 

But her innovative new approach undercuts all of this.

The idea is as revolutionary as it is simple.

In 2016, Hillary Clinton will be running for president on both the Democratic 
and the Republican tickets.

Yes! I know it sounds unbelievable.

But it's true.

She will make appearances at both conventions. A special secret poll of select
campaign consultants and political scientists predicts she will easily
garner delegate majorities at both events __ probably on the first round
of balloting __ to secure the nominations.

My source further explains that to make this a viable strategy, the canny 
Ms. Clinton will have two different vice-presidential running mates,
probably Kirsten Gillibrand for the Democratic ticket, and  
Megyn Kelly for the Republican.

Just think about that! All-female tickets running for president and vice-president 
via both major political parties.

Talk about a watershed moment in American history!

Stepping back and thinking about it, Hillary's running as both Democratic and
Republican candidates goes a long ways towards explaining some interesting
recent developments.

While her sewing up the Democratic nomination has for quite some time been 
a foregone conclusion, Ms. Clinton has, to the surprise of many observers, been 
wooing and gaining the support of many wealthy conservatives as well. Her openly 
coming out as a bona fide member of their "team" as the Republican nominee just 
makes sense.

Let me add that beyond being a brilliant tactical maneuver just in terms of sewing
up her future role as president, this unprecedented move is also a tremendous
leap forward for democracy itself, which has come under a lot of attack in 
recent years.

Voters complain they've had a great deal of difficulty trying to figure out the
differences between the policies and positions of candidates during the
long campaign season. Despite the rigorous scrutiny and tortured
analysis by experts across the entire political spectrum, quite often
it's hard to figure out what anyone stands for. This uncertainty has
evidenced itself as voter apathy. Confused voters stay home on election day.

By running on both tickets, Ms. Clinton will eliminate the petty bickering 
and political posturing, and more importantly the contentious nitpicking by
the media, which has only served to undermine candidate credibility
among voters and erode their confidence in our electoral system.

Another enormous benefit of Ms. Clinton's strategy is that with the election
in the bag, she won't have her time and energy squandered by all of the
distractions and foolishness that goes into presidential election
campaigning __ like interviews and televised debates.

Instead she can devote the entire time right up to taking the oath of office,
honing items which will be the hallmarks of her presidency: bombing Iran
and Syria; nuclear wars with both China and Russia; tripling of the
size of America's military contributions to Israel so that they can
finally put the wily Palestinians in concentration camps where they
belong; wiping North Korea off the map; building at least 1,000 more
American military bases around the world to protect everyone on the
planet from ISIS, Ebola, socialism, Putin and whatever other apocalyptic
threats might come along; mounting a Special Ops invasion of Moscow __
ala the Osama bin Laden assassination __ to capture Edward Snowden; and
burning down the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to flush out Julian
Assange.

She should be able __ as they say __ to really hit the ground running in January 2017.



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