Anti- Imperialist U: 2014

Monday, November 24, 2014

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Elections in Ukraine

Elections in Ukraine and Novorossiya Amidst Civil War

Ukraine and Novorossiya both recently held elections. The elections in Ukraine were widely hailed as a triumph of "European Values" in the West with predictable moral bankruptcy. Meanwhile the later elections in Novorossiya (the region of south Eastern Ukraine battling for independence from Ukraine) were condemned in typical Orwellian fashion as undemocratic. Following the Elections the war seemed ready to heat up and there were hopeful signs the Minsk Protocol may be dying. The Ukrainians stepped up their attacks on Novovorossiya while Russia increased it's aid resulting in yet another brief Russia invaded Ukraine scare.

First I'll discuss the elections in Ukraine for the Verkohvna Rada as Ukraine's Parliament is called. I discussed my views on representative democracy and Ukraine in my previous article last may "Democracy" in Ukraine. There I compared the actual Democracy in Athens (although one that disenfranchised much of the populace) with the phony democracy that is practiced in our modern world under that title. In Athens those allowed to vote were allowed to decide important issues while in modern democracy we are allowed to pick between candidates bought in advance by the Oligarchy and who differ little on economics or foreign policy except that one of them is invariably worse. Thus our only choice is to either choose between the lesser of two evils or not to vote at all out of disgust for the whole process. Thus even the supposedly democratic countries of the US and western Europe are really nothing more then oligarchies despite all their rhetoric about freedom and democracy which are often used to "rebrand" Conquest and Exploitation. However they consider themselves as the birthplace and arbiters of democracy. They alone have the right to declare a society democratic of undemocratic and elections legitimate or illegitimate. Unsurprisingly they exercise this right completely arbitrarily. Countries conducting experiments in direct democracy where the people themselves are allowed to directly make decisions such as Greece, Libya, and Venezuela have been labeled as undemocratic and overt and covert wars. The Greek Revolution was put down by the British and The US killing thousands and Greece became a puppet sham democracy and when that wasn't enough Became a military junta that waged another dirty war on it's own people. Libya was bombed by NATO and invaded by proxy Army reduced to a chaotic mess. Now Venezuela with it's heroic attempts at establishing a direct democracy is also labeled undemocratic and targeted with economic and covert war. Meanwhile a wide array of dictators have been labeled as defenders of democracy to give just two examples Augusto Pinochet in Chile in the 70's and Paul Kagame in Rwanda today were praised in the media and by western governments as defenders of democracy despite being brutal dictators who seized power through violence. I picked them to demonstrate my earlier remark that democracy is frequently mereley a code for conquest and Exploitation (Remember Iraq?) Kagame is praised as democratic because he is helping to loot the Congo by means of a brutal invasion that has cost 10 million lives and has dragged on for nearly two decades but which provides cheap raw materials for multinational corporations. Pinochet was hailed as a defender of democracy because he destroyed democracy in Chile in order to reverse the reforms of the democratically elected Salvador Allende. For 70 more examples see "Killing Hope" by William Blum.

Unsurprisingly the elections in Ukraine were praised as yet another triumph of democracy. This was done by completely ignoring the actual situation in Ukraine. Eric Draitser wrote a brilliant analysis of it recently that exposed exactly why they were both a sham and a scandal. First Ukraine has already banned two of the parties in Ukraine that were among the most popular prior to the coup that Overthrew the democratically elected president Yanukovych. Both Party of Regions and the Communist Party have been defacto banned. There are no candidates that support the interests of south Eastern Ukraine. Instead they can choose between pro-Western Oligarchs like Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk and Outright Fascists like Svoboda or Right Sector. Perhaps back at the beginning of the crisis before the war Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk could masquerade as moderates. After waging war on south Eastern Ukraine for 6 months they can no longer maintain that facade. They are violent extremists in their own right and have made all sorts of insane public statements in an attempt to compete for votes with the Fascists. They have also allowed the Fascists to run wild in the country committing all manner of atrocities most famously the Odessa Massacre. Thus I could only laugh at certain commentators who claimed that the victory of Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk somehow proved that Ukraine was not Fascist. True other European parliaments may have fascists serving in them but they do not grant total impunity for Fascist para-military groups to terrorize the populace. Thus even if there were not a single fascist serving in parliament so long as Neo-Nazi National guard units are waging war on novorossiya and bands of Neo-Nazi Hooligans are allowed to run wild in the rest of the country Ukraine will remain a fascist country.

Of course despite claims that the election were a showcase of European values far from a reduction in influence the Fascists only increased their support. Thus while the parties of the war mongering oligarchs Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk received about 21 percent each for a combined total of 42% the Fascist Svoboda, Radical Parties, and Right Sector received a combined total of around 21% with both Svoboda and radical parties receiving around 8-10% each. Eric Draitser gives a brief description of 3 of the winners. The infamous Dmitry Yarosh who even before the war began was a wanted war criminal for his role fighting alongside Chechen terrorists. There he grew infamous for the grisly manner in which he would torture and then murder Russian POW's. Since the war began his right sector thugs have been involved in all manner of rape murder and torture. Most infamous was the Odessa Massacre. No doubt he wants a seat in parliament merely so as to remain immune from both the crimes he's committed and the one's he's planning to commit in future. A fitting reward for his Alliance with the Gangster Oligarch Kolmoisky. Then there is Oleh Lyashko hollywood has long long fantasized about the possibility of murderous Reality TV shows (for example the cult classic 70's Death Race 2000 or the Cheesy Running Man in the 80's and Hunger Games today) Lyashko has made these dreams a reality having himself filmed kidnapping and torturing political opponents many of whom are never seen again. His Party received between 8-10%. Then there is Nazi Apologist mayor of Lviv Andriy Sadovyi. He runs tours glorifying Ukraine's "glorious" nazi past and is head of the Fascist Samopomich party. These are just 3 examples of the the rogues gallery of Fascists who now sit in Ukraine's Parliament.

Not surprisingly given the choice between war mongering Oligarchs and War mongering Fascists many Ukrainians choose simply not to vote. The patterns of voting were quite revealing. In the west where fascist sympathies are high such as Lviv there was High voter turnout in Lviv 85% for example. Turnout steadily decreased in the center and in the South Eastern parts was very low. Odessa for example only had 15% voter turnout. With Numbers that low it is clear that in many parts of Ukraine still controlled by Kiev people secretly hope to be liberated by the NAF. Actually there were a number of amusing pictures of ballots with Votes for various Novorossiyan commanders circulating on twitter the next day.

Overall the Election in Ukraine signaled that the country will move in an increasingly Insane direction. Despite the disastrous war many still support Both the Oligarchs and the Fascists who are responsible. In the disenfranchised south East we can expect increasing attempts to fight back and actually there were reports from both sides about this. The Kiev Regime bragged about busting a weapons cache in Mauripol while in Kharkov the NAF claimed it was training a reconnaissance group to wreak sabotage behind enemy lines.

The Novorossiyan elections were held in response to the endless attacks by the Ukrainian forces during the ceasefire. The elections were thus moved up from the Minsk agreed upon date in December. They were predictably declared undemocratic and Illegitimate in both Kiev and West. Admittedly with the war going on the election's weren't exactly perfect. Neither candidate faced a strong opposition. Instead the winners were both the Incumbents who took power a couple months back when their predecessors were forced to resign. In the Donetsk People's Republic Alexander Zakharchenko was elected Prime Minister with 85% of the vote. In Lugansk Igor Plotinsky was elected with 63% of the vote. Instead of a contest between candidates the election should be seen as a referendum on the current war for independence. People in Novorossiya Voted because they wished to give Legitimacy to their own independent governments. Unfortunately of course so far no country will recognize the legitimacy of the elections there is too little to gain and too much to loose by doing so. Even Russia claimed that it "respected" the elections rather then "Recognizing" them. However for Ordinary Novorossiyans this was the peaceful way of expressing support for independence. There were long lines and high voter turnout.

Actually in my last Article I vented my frustration on Zhakarchenko for his role in signing the Minsk Protocol and for his arresting NAF members who strongly opposed the Minsk Protocol I was a bit unfair in that he was basically forced to sign it by his Russian patrons. However I still strongly disapprove of his actions in attempting to suppress the more radical elements in the NAF. Still now that he is the elected Prime Minister of Donetsk I've had to change my views somewhat. Thankfully since I last wrote the Russian position has changed and this has been reflected by a change in Zhakerchenko who basically declared the Minsk Protocol is dead and even went so far to boast that he planned to expand into new territory. Recently Igor Strelkov released an urgent warning of an impending Ukrainian attack on Novorossiya and Russia responded by stepping up it's covert aid.

Everyone is expecting at least one more major offensive soon. The intensity of the fighting has already increased somewhat but the decisive battle has yet to begin. Strelkov predicted that they would launch a major offensive aimed at completely crushing Novorossiya. It is unclear wether it has been merely put on hold due to the Russian aid or wether it has been canceled. However in response to the elections Poroshenko announced that he was canceling plans for the special status for the Donetsk and Lugansk regions agreed to in the Minsk Protocol yet another sign that the Minsk protocol may be dying. In addition the shelling of Donetsk has increased recently for example a school was targeted and two students were killed.

In the end the fates of Ukraine and Novorossiya will be decided not at the ballot box but on the battlefield. Both sides have voted for the war to continue. At least in the western part of Ukraine support for the war is still high. The increasing popularity of the Fascists will put more pressure on Poroshenko to continue the war. In Novorossiya where voter turnout was high peoples votes signaled their continued support for the struggle for independence. For those in Kiev controlled areas that do not support the new regime there only option option was not to vote at all. Under Ukraine's treason laws passed a couple months back any dissent is punishable. Tragic stories are already emerging of people sentenced to long prison terms merely for being face book friends with someone guilty of separatism. Less lucky dissenters are kidnapped and murdered. It seems likely that as the war drags on new areas may rise up in rebellion or be liberated by the NAF. It remains to be seen wether Kiev will dare to launch another major offensive against Novorossiya before the end of the year. If they do given past history they may suffer yet another disastrous defeat.

Sources

I recently read a fascinating if clumsily translated book on the rise of Fascism in Ukraine I definitely recommend it for those curious about how Ukraine developed such a massive fascist movement. It's "Neonazis & Euromaidan From Democracy to Dictatorship" by Stanislav Byshok and Alexey Kochetov.

Eric Draitser on the Elections in Ukraine

http://journal-neo.org/2014/10/31/ukraine-s-thieves-and-nazis-from-russian-propaganda-to-parliament/

Article on the Elections in Novorossiya

http://libya360.wordpress.com/2014/11/04/will-the-governments-of-donetsk-and-lugansk-peoples-republics-fulfill-economic-promises-nationalize-resource-wealth/

Saturday, October 18, 2014

ISIS in Retreat, Fascism on the March

ISIS repulsed at Ayn Al-Arab, Fascism on the March in Ukraine

In Syria the town of Ayn Al-Arab also known as Kobane has been under attack for over a month by the ISIL aka IS aka ISIS. However the YPG forces there have successfully repulsed the attack so far and are claiming victory. In Ukraine meanwhile the Fascists were holding massive parades celebrating their Nazi heritage, and Lionizing murderous war criminal Stephan Bandera. In Novorossiya arrests began of NAF (Novorossiyan Armed Forces) members opposed to the treacherous Minsk Protocol began.
Currently the situation in South West Asia (better known as the middle east) is extremely confusing some strange and secret back room deals are doubtless being arranged. Just a theory but I sense some strange goings on and things are definitely in a state of flux behind the scenes as the possibility of the Iran Nuclear negotiations coming to a successful conclusion next month approaches. Just my way of warning that there is undoubtedly more to the story then I know or understand. The strange intersecting alliances of the kurds make my head spin both Seemingly allied to and enemies of Turkey, Syria, and Iran. Plus their long history of collaboration with the US and Israel. They practically embody the complexity of the middle east where enemies may secretly be allies allies secretly enemies. Actually the whole world is no different. This is why when I was a kid back in the 80's seemingly everyone had thrown up their hands about ever understanding the middle east. Hence the need to create a simplistic narrative of a war on terrorism in order to convince the western public to back waging war in the region.
So yes there is doubtless more to the story, things going on behind the scenes that I don't understand but regardless the fact remains that on a purely human level I couldn't help getting caught up in the drama of the siege of Kobane as it is commonly called. Doubtless it reminded me of tiny Novorossiya continuously under assault by genocidal Fascists. Here we had a town surrounded and under assault by the genocidal forces of ISIS intent on slaughtering the inhabitants and turning it into a strategic foot hold for it's war on Syria. Also similar to Novorossiya many of the towns defenders are women. There is something revolutionary about women carrying machine guns because until recently usually it was more revolutionary societies that had women fighting on their behalf from the Soviet women who battled the Nazis to the Vietnamese women who fought the americans to women's long involvement in revolutionary struggle in Africa and Latin America. Of course the whole thing can be co-opted and Imperialism can and has been sold as female empowerment. Today many women also fight on behalf of Fascism in Ukraine and serve in the ranks of the armies of the US and it's allies. Still the irony of watching the ISIS death squads steeped in the backwards Ideology of their GCC allies where Women are denied anything even approaching equality being beaten by armed militias composed of women is absolutely delightful. (although I recently discovered the still greater irony that ISIS has created it's own female units) It should not be forgotten however that many women have also fought and died in the Syrian Arab Army as well and some commentators seem to imagine this is the first time Muslim women have ever picked up arms. How quickly they forget Libya where many women died fighting the Al-Qaeda linked death squads which backed by NATO airstrikes managed to completely destroy the country. A recent example but hardly an early one. Even Afghanistan has a long history of women warriors among one of it's ethnic groups. And to end this long tangent with a tangent In ancient times Central Asia was home to the Scythians whose women warriors inspired the greek myth of the Amazons.
So to return to Ayn Al-Arab surrounded by ISIS on 3 sides and seemingly doomed. So far the YPG have managed to repulse the ISIS assault for over a month. They forced ISIS into a full retreat but ISIS has already regrouped and begun a counter attack. Their victory has proved merely a temporary one and the battle will continue. Some have argued that the whole crisis backfired on the US plans for Syria as once international attention began to mount the US was forced to pause it's usual strategy of bombing empty desert and Syrian infrastructure and actually target ISIS for once. Iran supplied the YPG with weapons. However it is largely thanks to YPG fighters that the town has been able to resist far longer then expected and only a week ago people were claiming the town was about to be captured. Now they are on the offensive against the ISIS forces. Meanwhile the conflict is further destabilizing the region where across the boarder in Turkey the conflict is causing clashes between Protestors and police. I happened to come across an interesting set of maps today from the US state department called the Iraq-Syria Conflict without borders map October which contained a set of maps covering not just Iraq and Syria but also the border regions of Jordan Turkey and Lebanon. Soon we'll have to abandon the newly coined Syraq War and replace it with a long acronym made up of all the nations this war has spread into.
I came across a great summary of the first month of fighting on the excellent news site syria360.wordpress.com here is the YPG's version of events.

Week 1
The YPG has been involved in a merciless resistance to ISIS gangs since they began to attack Kobanê on September 15th. In the first week of the fighting there were 17 major clashes. 232 ISIS fighters were killed. 4 tanks’ 20 military vehicles, and 7 truck-mounted dushkas were destroyed. 17 kalashnikovs, 2 M-16s, 1 motor launcher, 1 BKC machine gun, 1 rocket launcher and various military equipment were seized. A total of 32 YPG and YPJ fighters also lost their lives in these clashes.
Week 2
In the second week of the fighting two ISIS headquarters were destroyed, along with 4 tanks, 3 dushkas (23 ve 14.5), 9 military vehicles, 1 humvee, 2 motorcycles and one mortar launcher were destroyed. 7 kalashnikovs were also captured. In this week’s fighting 294 ISIS fighters were killed. 32 YPG/YPJ fighters also lost their lives. They also carried out 5 suicide (fedai) attacks on the city’s western front. 5 fighters from the Burkan El-Firat also lost their lives.
Week 3
As fighting intensified in the third week the ISIS gangs were dealt many hard blows. 2 tanks, three motor launchers (2 23s and 1 14), one humvee, 7 military vehicles, and truck bomb (together with two occupants) were destroyed. 10 kalashnikovs, 1 B7 Karnas sniper rifle, and 2 night-vision binoculars were captured. Over the course of the week fighting broke out at 50 different points and 351 ISIS gang members were killed. A total of 41 YPG/YPJ fighters were also killed. It was this week that Arîn Mîrxan killed tens of ISIS fighters with her suicide (fedai) attack and became the symbol of Kobanê among the Kurds and the world. 4 Burkan El-Firat fighters also lost their lives.
Week 4
As a result of the stiff resistance shown by the YPG/YPJ and the people of Kobanê a strategic area controlled by ISIS was liberated. 4 military vehicles, 1 transport vehicle full of arms, 3 trucks, 5 truck bombs, 1 motorcycle, 1 57. mortar launcher, 3 RPGs with ammunition, 21 light weapons, 16 kalashnikovs, 3 BKCs and a large quantity of ammunition were captured. 417 ISIS gang members were killed in the course of the week’s fighting. 24 YPG/YPJ fighters – including YPJ commander Rojda Axîn – also lost their lives in the fighting.

In Ukraine meanwhile the bloody so called ceasefire continues. In other words the war continued. The Phony Ceasefire has become symbolized for both sides by the Endless battle for the Donetsk Airport. People always mock soviet architecture but clearly the Donetsk Airport built for use in world war 3 was in terms of sturdiness a masterpiece. It is not so much the Airport on the Surface but the massive underground base beneath it that makes it so hard to capture. Although most of the airport has been captured by the NAF there are still UA forces dug in there. The Airport is where the Ukrainian army shells Donetsk from every day randomly killing more civilians in the city. Thus the NAF have been trying for months to eject the UA (Ukrainian army) and the Nazi national Guard units from the airport in a bloody and costly battle. The defenders are apparently ready to fight to death for the privilege of shelling Donetsk day after day. The battle has made yet another NAF commander famous this time Givi. Currently the NAF has control over the perimeter and has been successfully repelling attempts by the UA forces to reinforce the men still there and regain control of the Airport.
In Ukraine the fascists were on the march celebrating the founding of the Ukraine insurgent army responsible for a full catalog of war crimes (slavyangrad.org published a terrifying translation of an article cataloging in depth their many crimes) Any terrible thing you can imagine and plenty you can't imagine they did and they were experts in torture, rape, mutilation and murder. Yet for the Ukrainian Fascists these are heroes worthy of honor and to mark the occasion they held marches. They marched in the capital Kiev where they also seem to be involved in one constant Riot demanding that parliament move more quickly to make Ukraine a more Fascist country. They marched in Kharkov where they had earlier shipped in a band of rowdies to Demolish Ukraine's tallest statue of Lenin. A man who tried to stop them was severely beaten and died the next day. They posed on the pedestal waving their slightly modified wolfsangel flags creating yet another embarrassment for the "there are no Nazi's in Ukraine" crowd when the photos went viral. Unlike Kiev the march in Kharkov was on enemy territory the population wanted to join Novorossiya but Kiev crushed their attempted revolt. They Also marched in Odessa the scene at the beginning of the war of the brutal Odessa massacre where between 39 and 150 people were beaten, Strangled, shot, and burnt to death. This was also meant to intimidate the locals many of whom are opposed to the Kiev regime.
Meanwhile the treacherous Minsk Protocol continues to be implemented. In the eyes of the west the protocol basically makes Russia responsible for getting the NAF to lay down their arms since both kiev and the the US love to blur the line between the NAF and Russian troops. Western diplomats say Russia must withdraw it's troops when what they really mean is that Russia must use it's influence to get the NAF to eventually lay down their arms. Although an actual surrender is still far off Russia is already trying to re-assert control. Although it was a handicap in co-ordianting the war effort the fact that the NAF is made up of a bunch of separate forces loyal to separate commanders should help make it difficult to bring the NAF fully under control or force a surrender. However Russia is using it's leverage to try to impose obedience. Arms deliveries have slowed some even say stopped. Worse the newly installed head of the DPR Alexander Zhakharenko who took power thanks to a cynical scheme that forced Strelkov to resign, has begun locking up fighters who oppose the Minsk Protocol. Many were heroes of the Siege of Slavyansk. Men who have served under Srtelkov, Mozgovoi, and Motorolla have all been locked up. A disgraceful bit of treason that no doubt foreshadows worse to come. The people of Novorossiya must some how express their will. There are plans to hold an election parallel to the one Ukraine is holding on October 25 although the conditions are hardly ideal to say the least. Hopefully some leader loyal to Novorossiya rather than the kremlin can be found. If that fails the NAF itself will have to take action unless they want to face exile or worse. When the conflict began many would have been satisfied with some vague autonomy but after the thousands killed, the hundreds of thousands forced to flee as homeless refugees, and the massive destruction of factories, schools, hospitals, plus the strain of undergoing months of shelling, most doubtless never want to be part of Ukraine again. Ideally they could hold a referendum on the Minsk protocols themselves, many may just want the war to end. However they would be extremely foolish to put themselves at the mercy of the Kiev regime which would no doubt take a terrible revenge on the populace for all the troops it lost and all the humiliations it suffered. A regime that has only become more openly Fascist as the war has continued. In fact it was not just fascist groups like right sector and the Azov battalion that were busy Lionizing Stephan Bandera's OUN-B death squads. Poroshenko himself praised them. I fear that any surrender would make any "Peace" far bloodier then the current war which is labeled a ceasefire. Ukraine is not a normal country rather a place where politicians have themselves filmed murdering the opposition and face zero consequences despite making the footage publicly available. A place where Fascist mobs roam the streets terrorizing people with zero consequence. A place where no one knows how many people have been kidnapped, tortured, and murdered so far. Clearly it is not a country which would be safe for anyone suspected of sympathizing with separatism and every one living in Novorossiyan territory would be suspects.
In Syria ISIL suffered a major setback when it's month long campaign to capture the town of Ayn Al-Arab failed. The towns defenders now plan to go on to the offensive. In Novorossiya the battle for Donetsk airport continued. As did the Shelling of Donetsk. Fascists marched the streets of Ukraine glorifying war criminals and destroying helpless Lenin statues. Meanwhile Ukraine and Russia planned the capitulation of Novorossiya. Zakharenko began imprisoning those who were strongly opposed to the Minsk Protocol.

Sources

I definitely recommend syria360@wordpress.com as a source for news on the war in Syria.

Here's the article I copied the excerpt from

http://syria360.wordpress.com/2014/10/16/kobane-peoples-assembly-co-president-the-streets-are-full-of-isis-corpses/

And read an account of the atrocities committed by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. warning this is very disturbing to read.

http://slavyangrad.org/2014/10/14/the-march-of-heroes/

Gleb Bazov's now classic Analysis of the Minsk Protocol

http://slavyangrad.org/2014/09/19/the-arithmetics-of-diplomatic-theatre/

Eric Draitser on the role of Iran

http://libya360.wordpress.com/2014/10/17/iran-and-the-proxy-war-in-kurdistan/

Recent events in the war in Syria

http://syria360.wordpress.com/2014/10/01/syrian-army-victories-statements-daily-reports-from-the-battlefield/

And check out Vladimir Suchan's blog for witty articles on the politics of the Ukraine civil war and the Russian response

http://vladimirsuchan.blogspot.com

I don't know if there is an account in english on the arrests in Novorossiya yet I first heard about it thanks to following @Steiner1776 and @Ofehr_en on twitter

Friday, September 26, 2014

Empire of Lies

The Attack Begins on Syria, Poroshenko in Washington

What more can be said? Sometimes we are left almost speechless with frustration and rage. Recently it has certainly been one of those times the Syraq war has begun. Syraq is the war zone created by expanding the Iraq war into Syria (Coined by Pepe Escobar). The brave people of Syria seem doomed to suffer the same fate as those of Libya. Millions will die in this new phase of the Long War what the pentagon calls their plans for decades more of war. Supposedly this is wildly popular at least for now. The truth is as long as no US soldiers die the American public don't care what happens to the Iraqis, the Syrians, the Afghanis, or the Libyans. Libya is a perfect example the public didn't know or care that the whole country had been reduced to chaos using NATO bombs and a proxy army of fanatical death squads. They didn't care that the 1st Black President helped fanatics attempt to ethnically cleanse Libya of it's blacks (they celebrated the beginning of the Libyan counter revolution with Lynchings and ended by uprooting whole towns). They didn't care that Al Qaeda linked groups had been armed and trained to seize Libya despite the fact that we were supposedly fighting them. The only scandal was when a US "ambassador" was killed while running an arms smuggling operation. Such is the power of our mindless mainstream media to manipulate the general public. Hasn't anyone learned anything since 2001? The absurdity of the lies the general public seems willing to swallow are mind boggling. Hence the opening what more can be said? How can the public accept that we are both funding and training the Syrian rebels while at the same time we are supposedly at war with them. Couldn't they at least go through the motions of pretending arming the rebels was a mistake if they plan to launch this new war? As if this wasn't enough of a disgrace, voting to increase funding to head chopping terrorists, the President of Fascist Ukraine was invited to Washington to ask for more money to wage genocide on his own people. NATO think tank the Atlantic Council presented him an Award along with fellow war criminal Henry Kissinger. For anyone aware of this situation in Ukraine it was a complete outrage.

The first bombs began to fall on Syria. Accompanying these bombs was the usual propaganda campaign. They concocted a phony terror plot to be staged by a phony terror group which they claimed was about to launch another 911 style attack. They also decided to give an image makeover to our Gulf Monarch allies who like the US France, UK and Israel are the major funders of terror in the region. Although women are denied any sort of equal rights in their kingdoms some unknown PR person got the Idea to have a female pilot from the UAE participate in bombing Syria. She was the GCC version of Jessica Lynch from the second Iraq war whose story was quickly revealed to be a complete fabrication of the pentagon. In this case the story is meant to provide the Illusion that the US is on the side of progress when in reality it is allied with the most backwards and fanatical forces in the region. It is in Syria where women have been fighting and dying to defend their country from ISIS, Al-Nusra and other CIA backed death squads. The media of course completely ignores them. As for the Khorasan group if it actually existed the idea that it was plotting the next 911 was obviously nonsense since the whole bombing campaign was carefully timed with months of media hysteria masquerading as news culminating in the September 11th linked speech selling the war against ISIS. Then out of nowhere a group supposedly made up of bitter enemies suddenly appears named after an Archaic name for Iran. If it even exists it is merely yet another CIA backed proxy army and there will be many new ones as the US already plans to train another 15,000 terrorists in the near future. Already by last year there were hundreds of different groups gangs of mercenaries recruited from around the world.

The Orwellian double think involved in claiming to fight the Syrian rebels while also demanding that we train and fund more is too much for me to wrap my mind around. I suppose it relies on the belief in the fictional moderate rebels. However there are no moderate rebels even those labeled moderate frequently swear allegiance to one of the competing al Qaeda branches. Perhaps instead of fabricating a newer Scarier Khorasan group they should have fabricated a supposedly heroic bunch of moderates. I guess we'll have to wait till the Pentagon trains a fresh batch of terrorists before we are subjected to that PR campaign. For now the Syrian rebels are made up of our supposed enemies ISIS the offshoot of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Jabhat Al-Nusra Al-Qaeda's Syrian branch, and the so called Free Syrian Army which is neither free Syrian or an Army but yet another bunch of Al-Qaeda backed terrorists. Once the Media sold them as heroes but that became difficult after one of their commanders had himself filmed eating a human heart. These are the monsters the west has been funding and training as they attempt to completely destroy Syria. This is who will receive billions in aid from the US and it's GCC and NATO allies. At the same time we'll be spending billions more as we pretend to fight them. In reality the US and it's allies will slowly destroy all of Syria's infrastructure until the government and all of society collapses and the survivors are left at the mercy of murderous armed gangs who will wage an endless civil war while purging the once diverse country of Shiites, Alawites, Christians, secularists and the many other religions and ethnicities that live in Syria. Already they are destroying Syria's cultural heritage once a land famous for it's wealth and sophistication with a history stretching back many thousands of years. In Roman times the people of the Syrian city Antioch were so witty and cruel that they could drive even an emperor from their city with their insults. Now that long history is being deliberately destroyed. Already the Rebels are destroying hospitals, schools, the electric system, the water system. Now with the addition of NATO bombs Syria will gradually be completely destroyed. It's Libya all over again which 6 months of NATO bombing reduced to a perpetual state of civil war. It was only a month or so ago that the diplomats were forced to flee Libya like rats from a sinking ship. The exact same formula is being applied in Syria as was applied in Libya it will have the same results. Then all the Pundits will come on TV and talk about how they had the best intentions and they didn't know what would happen. No one will pay any attention because they will already be selling some new war somewhere else using the same old lies. Syria will be as forgotten then as Libya is now. Another country completely destroyed in the name of Humanitarianism.

Poroshenko the blood drenched chocolate billionaire arrived in America to beg for money. It was truly sickening spectacle as he received a heroes welcome. Even I fairly well versed in our countries brazen crimes was shocked. After all the truth is slowly ever so slowly being admitted in the mainstream media Ukraine is a Fascist country waging a genocidal war on it's own People. Robert Parry wrote a priceless article on some of the latest admissions called "Ukraine's Romantic Storm Troopers" apparently if they cannot hide the Nazis they intend to glamorize them. Oh what a terrible century we live in where once common beliefs like torture is bad or we have a right to privacy have become controversial. The west seems intent on traveling down a very dark road deaf to any advice. Now apparently even Nazis are OK just so long as they are OUR nazis. Of course secretly this has always been the case as I discussed in my June article "Nazis and the CIA" It is quite another thing to invite the leader of a fascist country to speak before congress and then hold an awards ceremony for him.

The timing of his visit was ironic. Ukraine and Russia had signed the Minsk accords whereby Russia basically betrayed Novorossiya (the breakaway state resisting the Kiev regime). In exchange for vague autonomy the NAF are being pressured to surrender. Of course the Cease Fire is actually a joke the war has continued and Ukraine appears to be massing it's troops for yet another offensive. However regardless of the fighting Officially the Cease Fire is still in place. If the Minsk accords are allowed to go through the dream of an Independent Novorossiya will be doomed and the populace will be left at the mercy of a regime that routinely kidnaps tortures and murders political opponents in areas it controls while it attacks civilians with everything from knives, to ballistic missiles. Mass graves have already been discovered on territories they used to occupy but retreated from because of the cease fire. However in an effort to avoid the impact of sanctions the Oligarchs successfully pressured Russia to sign this criminal peace agreement and to force the newly installed replacement governments in Donetsk and Lugansk to do the same. The US despite this fact launched a war on Russia's ally Syria. Poroshenko who was saved by the peace agreements from a massively successful NAF offensive showed his gratitude by flying to Washington to give a speech calling for more sanctions on Russia and asking for more aid. Why does he need so much military hardware if he intends to honor the ceasefire. Clearly Russia is about to be betrayed and there is no way that the west will abandon it's campaign to launch a second cold war even if Novorossiya is destroyed. They'll just focus their attention on Crimea instead and if Russia abandons that then it will just intensify it's campaign to destabilize Russia somewhere else probably in the caucuses although their true dream is to start a separatist movement in Russia's east as evidenced by certain maps exposed by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya in a recent article. It is Russia's geographic position itself which makes it dangerous according to Geostrategic thinkers From Halford J. Mckinder 100 years ago to Zbigniew Brzezinski today. Just look at a map of Eurasia to see why. Thus since the end of the cold war the aim has been to balkanize Russia, just as they successfully balkanized the Soviet Union and then Yugoslavia. The Ukrainian civil war like the war in Chechnya is a product of this western strategy. In fact Brzezinski outlined the possibility of igniting a civil war in Ukraine back in his 1993 book "Out of Control" which also laid out plans to balkanize Russia.

Unfortunately Russia though inaction and betrayal is clearly loosing the current round of the Great Game. Both Novorossiya and Syria seem doomed unless Russia abandons it's plan to enforce the Minsk protocol and sends Syria some updated air defense systems. A weak Russia means the US and it's allies will feel free to start some new war somewhere else soon. If history is any judge in some corner of the world no one is paying attention to the seeds of some new destabilization are already being planted. Sometime around November and December the country will start to receive small mentions in the media and by the beginning of next year some new crisis will appear plastered all over the headlines. I mention it because after the failed attempt to bomb Syria last year the seeds of the current Ukraine crisis were planted. Now that this civil war is in full bloom the US is free to bomb Syria. If Russian strength inspired the Ukraine civil war there is no telling what dangerous crisis the US will be tempted to launch thanks to Russian weakness. No doubt I'll be too distracted by the possible betrayal of Novorossiya and the unfolding Syraq war but perhaps you could be the one to discover where the next war is being plotted by the Empire of Chaos.

One thing is certain we must do more to attempt to wake up the general public. If you're already pretty aware of whats been going on start your own alternative media site. Trust me you will feel at least a little better if you get to vent and I'm sure all over the world people who are wise to the wars in Syria and Ukraine are boiling with rage funnel that rage constructively. It's also clear that we need to do more to bring the fight into the real world. The internet is a great way to inform people who are actually looking to learn. However clearly other strategies need to be developed to inform those who aren't looking for information and even those who don't want to know. We need to organize on the local level and find ways to educate the public. We need More old fashioned protest in other words. War criminals like Poroshenko or Paul Kagame of Rwanda who also recently visited the US should be greeted by opposition whenever they leave their countries. Since bridging the gap between the cold war and the war on terror is a theme of this site I could see a fruitful union between the older generation former anti- war organizers and the younger generation who have been disgusted by the war on terror. It's time the young learned something else then narcissism from their elders. You could join some pre- existing if tame local group but try to spread within it information that will radicalize it's members it's called subversion and it used to terrify our rulers. If starting a site or organizing a group are too much at least you could share sites like this one or engage in the twitter war. (Thank You to all the people who have helped spread the word about Anti-Imperialist-U) The Empire of Chaos never stops expanding it's endless war on the planet. For the Sake of all the millions of people in Iraq, Syria and Ukraine and all the billions of People of the world we must never give up the fight. I refuse to live in a world ruled by absurd lies. There can be a better world.

Sources

A great Essay by Andre Vltchek one of the greatest writers against imperialism. And one of the bravest reporters alive.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/26/syria-the-latest-crusade/

You should check out Andre Vltchek's site

http://andrevltchek.weebly.com

Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya on the Syria War

http://libya360.wordpress.com/2014/09/18/iraq-and-syria-coalition-of-the-guilty-isis-and-the-project-for-a-new-middle-east/

Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya on the plan to balkanize Russia

http://libya360.wordpress.com/2014/09/09/redrawing-the-map-of-the-russian-federation-after-world-war-iii/

Gleb Bazov on the Minsk accords

http://slavyangrad.org/2014/09/19/the-arithmetics-of-diplomatic-theatre/

Robert Parry on mainstream coverage of Nazi national guard Units

http://libya360.wordpress.com/2014/09/15/ukraines-romantic-nazi-storm-troopers/

Pepe Escobar on the Syraq war

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID-01-240914.html

Wayne Madsen on the origins of ISIS

http://libya360.wordpress.com/2014/09/18/daish-created-by-the-us-to-destroy-syria-deny-support-for-legitimate-resistance-to-us-occupation-of-iraq/

If you want to find the next big Crisis before it emerges Christoph Germann's New Great Game Roundup would be a good place to look

http://www.christophgermann.blogspot.com

Christoph Germann and Pearse Redmond of Porkin's Policy Review have just released the first episode of the Porkin's great game podcast

http://porkinspolicyreview.wordpress.com/2014/09/26/porkins-great-game-ep-1-isis-is-everywhere-in-central-asisa/

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Castro vs. Kissinger in Angola

Cuba Foils Kissinger in Angola

The story of how Cuba helped Angola defend it's newly won independence is little remembered today. Not surprising since seemingly all African history even it's very recent history is little remembered. This isn't surprising given a media whose primary role seems to be to indoctrinate the public. It is best forgotten exactly how Apartheid fell in south Africa and more generally the whole process of independence is also best forgotten. It is best forgotten because it would shatter the illusions we in the west have about our role in the world. The media likes to portray the interaction between the US, Europe and Africa in humanitarian terms. Westerners go there to feed the hungry and to treat the sick so we are told. Imperialism has changed little since the 19th century in this regard which also portrayed it's actions as motivated by noble humanitarian motives. Unmentioned were the looting of a continent, Genocide, and the enslavement of millions. Today the west maintains the same poses while engaging in the same genocide and exploitation as always. Never asked is why there are so many poor sick and uneducated people. Never mentioned is the way that progressive leaders were overthrown across the continent many were murdered. All part of the deliberate scheming by Europe and the US to establish neocolonialism on the continent to continue to loot the whole continent from behind the scenes.
In southern Africa the US and Europe supported the continuation of Portuguese Colonialism and they also Supported the continuation of Apartheid South Africa and Apartheid in Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe) and Namibia. Interestingly US support for Portugal was partly based on the value of the Azores Island base which Portugal let the US use to supply Israel during the 1967 war. The same war that led to the Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza which led Israel to increasingly adopt Apartheid. Aparheid was a system by which Blacks were given second second class citizenship in their own land. The government waged a constant low intensity war on the black population who were exploited for cheap labor. They were segregated into townships and could not even travel freely in their own country. For most Americans the tale of the fall of Apartheid has been reduced to the release of Mandela from prison. Of course as William Blum points out he was arrested in the first place because of intelligence provided by the CIA. Forgotten is the long series of proxy wars fought by South Africa to maintain Apartheid in Rhodesia and Namibia. Forgotten is their attempt to install a client regime in Angola. Also forgotten is that the US and western Europe supported South Africa in these Wars. On the other hand it was Socialist countries like Yugoslavia, East Germany, the Soviet Union and above all Cuba that provided vital aid that would help African revolutionaries win and maintain independence in the face of Overt and covert attempts by the US Europe and South Africa to maintain Apartheid in Rhodesia, Namibia, and South Africa and to prevent the MPLA from coming to power in Angola. This Article will deal with the story of the Angolan civil war where the MPLA and Cuba inflicted a decisive defeat on a US backed South African invasion force. This defeat would provide a turning point that would eventually lead to the fall of Apartheid in South Africa Namibia and Rhodesia. This Article is a sequel to my earlier "Che Guevera in the Congo" which described Cuban aid to Algeria, Zaire (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo) French Congo, and Guinea-Bissau. Like that Article it is based on the excellent "Conflicting Missions" by Piero Gleijeses which Unearths the largely forgotten story of the Cuban efforts to aid African Liberation movements. In those countries Cuba had provided weapons and relatively small numbers of advisers who trained and fought alongside African Revolutionaries. In Angola Cuba sent a much Larger force. Castro would defeat not only the schemes of the South Africans but also the schemes of the infamous Technocrat and War Criminal Henry Kissinger. (if you think war criminal is Hyperbole to name just two examples Kissinger overthrew the Democratically elected Allende government in Chile and installed the brutal Pinochet regime He also gave the green light for the Genocidal Invasion of East Timor both within a couple of years of the Angola war ) 1975 the year the Angolan civil War began was the same year as the fall of Saigon and so Kissinger intervened in Angola largely to demonstrate to the world that the US was still willing to wage brutal pointless wars in remote parts of the world. Or as Kissinger would say to demonstrate American resolve to intervene anywhere it's interests were threatened. Or in the case of Angola even to intervene where it's interests were not threatened. Instead the Angolan Civil war dealt the US a second humiliating defeat and provoked a brief scandal.
First some background on Angola. Angola had long been a Portuguese Colony the Portuguese had conquered it centuries before the rest of Europe had established their African colonies. Portugal was ruled by Fascist Dictators first their was Salazar and after his death their was Cateano. England cleverly granted it's African Colonies independence while maintaining it's economic control it thus tried to avoid fighting costly counter Insurgency wars like the one it fought in Kenya. France after it's failed attempts to Fight brutal counter-Insurgency wars in Indochina and then Algeria also relinquished overt control while maintaining Economic control though an extremely effective system. Portugal a Fascist dictatorship instead opted to maintain it's colonies by force and it closely allied with South Africa in the fight to maintain the status qou. However due to the success of Amilcar Cabral's PAIGC in Guinea-Bissau who fought an extremely effective war of independence with the help of Cuban advisers and Soviet weapons, the strain of fighting a loosing war eventually brought the Portuguese Dictator Cateano down in a Coup by left Wing officers. The new government decided to grant it's colonies independence and this meant Independence for Angola.
In Angola there were 3 conflicting parties which had fought each other prior to independence as much as they fought the Portuguese. There was the FNLA lead by Holden Roberto who was both corrupt and incompetent. He was backed by the Dictator of Zaire Mobutu who had been in charge of the Congo's brutal but ineffective army. After the US and Belgian backed fall of Lumumba he eventually rose to power and would manage to hang onto power well into the 90's. Mobutu also hoped to seize Angola's Oil which province of Cabinda. He was an important US ally although relations were often strained. Then there was UNITA which was lead by Jonas Savimbi. He was a Ruthless but charismatic opportunist. during the struggle for independence he was actually collaborating with the Portuguese providing them intel so they could eliminate the other two movements. As independence approached he decided to offer his services to the South Africans and the CIA and received support from both. Both UNITA and the FNLA aimed to mobilize tribal and regional loyalties. The MPLA was the only group that had broad mass Appeal across Angola especially in the cities. It's educated and committed Leaders chief among them Agostinho Neto were socialist leaning nationalists. However they were too moderate for the taste of the Soviets. They sought to maintain contact with western Business interests for example. Cuba had sent them Aid and advisers and helped them smuggle a Guerrilla force into Angola. However they became distanced after Cuba withdrew it's military advisers from the French Congo (Congo Brazzaville). It was Yugoslavia who provided them important Aid early on. However as independence approached the MPLA asked the Cubans for Advisers. The US officials on the ground realized that the MPLA was the only viable candidate but they were over ruled. Instead the CIA began to funnel aid to both the FNLA and UNITA. South Africa provided both groups with advisers and weapons as well. The US hired bands of Mercenaries to aid the FNLA and UNITA. Angola was scheduled to have elections after independence but the US decided that instead it would launch a proxy war to destroy the MPLA before independence. They launched a CIA covert war operation codenamed IAFEATURE.
Initially the conflict began in the Capitol city of Angola Luanda. The FNLA had a large and well equipped force there while the MPLA had the support of the majority of the cities population. FNLA attempts to seize control of the City backfired as the cities population formed armed units that managed to resist and then expel the well armed but poorly trained and disciplined FNLA. Although the forces of the MPLA were often equally poorly trained they were well motivated and helped in those early days by Yugoslavian weapons shipments. The MPLA forced the FNLA to flee the capitol. Mobutu and the CIA sent an FNLA invasion force in from the north reinforced with white Mercenaries veterans of bloody African counterinsurgency wars like the one that crushed the Simba revolt in Zaire. It was initially successful but Cuba's advisers had already begun to arrive in the country. At Quifangondo the MPLA and their Cuban trainers inflicted a Humiliating Rout on the Advancing FNLA, their Zairean, allies and the Mercenaries who fled and the whole invasion force fell apart. They were also aided by a single Russian an artillery expert who would provide extremely useful advice. The MPLA was also successful in fighting UNITA. Thus in this early phase of the war the MPLA was winning on their own the FNLA and UNITA were no match for them. Secretly the US decided to ask the South African's to intervene directly by Launching an invasion.
Initially the South African advance was very successful they were better trained and had more advanced equipment and were well motivated convinced of their innate superiority and eventual invincibility. They were a professional army and in the south they met mostly poorly trained MPLA units. Unfortunately for them the Cuban advisers in the country together with the MPLA quickly realized the danger and sent word to Castro that all would be lost unless Cuba sent substantial reinforcements. Castro did not even dare to ask Soviets for advice earlier in the year they had turned down a similar plan. Castro decided to take the risk of Angering both the Americans and the Soviets by sending a large group of reinforcements. This unpredictable decision would completely surprise Henry Kissinger who misinterpreted Castro's decision as an order from the Kremlin. Although the Soviets were aiding the MPLA they were also trying to maintain Detente with the US. Angola was not worth upsetting the US over especially since they didn't trust MPLA leader Neto. Castro also risked the possibility of a Cuban defeat. However he was guided by his Ideals he wouldn't not Abandon Angola to the mercy of Racist apartheid South Africa and the Imperialist US.
The troops Cuba sent combined with the MPLA units that had been trained managed to inflict a devastating ambush on the South African's which had been steadily advancing and had already beaten an MPLA with it's Cuban trainers inflicting the first Cuban casualties. The battle was commanded Diaz Arguelles and he inflicted severe damage on the invading south African force on a bridge near the village of Ebo. For months after this the MPLA and their Cuban allies managed to hold off the once Irresistible South African invasion. Meanwhile In the North they repelled yet another FNLA invasion this one lead in person by Holden Roberto. Unlike Savimbi Roberto seldom fought or commanded from the front. His Leadership proved a disaster and yet again the CIA proxy army was beaten despite it's south African advisers and Mercenary reinforcements. meanwhile The MPLA and their Cuban reinforcements in the oil rich Province of Cabinda (which was separated from Angola by a strip of Zairian territory) also managed to easily repel a Zairian invasion attempting to install a FLEC splinter group. FLEC had two branches both of whose real purpose was to seize Cabinda on behalf of the French intelligence connected ELF oil company. The Angolans had given the contract to gulf oil. During the war the US pressured Gulf Oil to suspend payment to Angola which they did until it became clear the MPLA would win.
The Cuban assistance had proved decisive after months of failing to advance the South African's finally gave up and retreated to within 30 miles of the southern Border. With Cuban aid the MPLA had also beaten back FNLA and UNITA. They had resisted the attempt to invade Cabinda. For the moment they were victorious. Back in the US a brief scandal erupted when it became clear that the US was collaborating with South Africa. The War would produce one of the greatest whistleblowers in CIA history John Stockwell. Moreover it proved a humiliating setback for Kissinger. The popularity that Cuba's contribution to the war earned it among Africans forced the US to lessen their support somewhat for Apartheid countries like Rhodesia. Meanwhile in South Africa itself the Angolan victory caused the black population to redouble their struggle for freedom. The Famous Soweto riot in South Africa which raised worldwide awareness of the injustice of Apartheid was in part inspired by the Angolan victory. As for South Africa's whites they viewed the loss as catastrophic falsely claiming it was the first time in 300 years that Whites had been defeated by non-whites. Apparently even in Africa African History is suppressed for it's amazing that they ignored the famous defeat the Boers suffered at Inhambane during their famous flight from british rule. They also seemed to have forgotten the famous british defeat at the hands of the zulus at Isandlwana. They even seem to have forgotten the war in Guinea Bissau where their allies the Portuguese had been beaten which had ended the year before. In any case they reacted as if it was the first defeat imperialism had ever suffered. Perhaps this defeat was the first hint they had that their current system would some day be defeated. In Cuba they were exultant Castro had gambled and won. Cuba had fought on the right side of history. The somewhat ambivalent Soviets changed their attitude after the Victory and rewarded Cuba with more economic Aid. Cuban aid to Angola had not been military alone. As with all there Missions in Africa the Cubans also sent Doctors. All Angola's doctors except for one were Portuguese rather then Angolan and they all decided to leave the country before independence. The Cubans sent over 200 doctors to make up for the loss of all Angola's doctors except one. In an interesting coincidence around 200 Cubans gave their lives during the first year of the war. They even won the respect of their enemies In the words of the Official south African History of the war This is how they were described "The Cubans rarely surrendered and quite simply fought cheerfully until death." However even with the initial victory it would turn out to be a long proxy war. Cuban aid would continue. So too would attempts by the US and South Africa to destabilize the country. Eventually the strain of the war would contribute to the collapse of Apartheid in South Africa. That will have to be the subject of a future article. Piero Gleijes wrote a second book chronicling events down to 1992 called "Visions of Freedom". For now it is enough to remember that the US yet again supported the worst possible forces in the world in it's seemingly endless war on the third world. It is also worth remembering the debt the world owes Cuba for helping to end the scourge of Apartheid. This small Island Cuba that remains under siege from the US helped change the course of African history. Angola should always be remembered for it's victory over the forces of Empire and Oppression.

Sources
I relied on Piero Gleijeses excellent "conflicting missions" which I highly recommend. I also recommend you find some of the many John Stockwell talks and interviews available free online. He does wonderful exposes not only of the Angola war but also of US Imperialism in general. Along with Philip Agee he is one of the great Cold war whistleblowers. Also check out my February post script on Angola for a Great quote from Mandela praising Castro for his role in ending Apartheid. Since I've listed the two great Cold war whistleblowers I should mention yet again that great War on Terror Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds since I just finished her new novel Lone Gladio a book that provides a great window on America's current partnerships with some of the most evil and regressive forces on the planet today. Check out this great article on Amilcar Cabral who helped kill the Portuguese Empire, and Freed Guinea-Bissau.

http://libya360.wordpress.com/2014/09/15/the-revolutionary-legacy-of-amilcar-cabral/

Sunday, September 14, 2014

War on Syria & Iraq "Peace" in Ukraine

Obama declares war in Syria and Iraq
Ukraine's Treacherous Cease Fire

Talk about ill omened on the day before the 13th anniversary of the September 11th attacks President Obama decided to basically openly declare war on Syria and expand the 3rd US Iraq war all using the pretext of ISIS aka ISIL aka IS. His speech was a masterpiece of absurdity and hypocrisy too anyone who has been paying attention. He promised both to destroy ISIS in Iraq while funding it in Syria. Of course he was tactful enough to refer to ISIS as "the opposition" when speaking of them in Syria but is anyone really fooled anymore? Apparently as the majority of the US population seeming never tires of riding the media Hysteria Roller-coaster from one manufactured crisis to the next. After 13 years of phony terror alerts some people seemingly never learn as a lie by a a neo-con pundit repeated by Texas Governor Rick Perry and parroted by the Media had gullible people convinced ISIS was about to invade across the Mexican border, destroy the power grid and presumably convert America into a mad max style post technological dystopia. Anyone with any sense would be laughing but in America common sense is apparently not so common. Thus Obama was in the same speech able to announce in a fairly transparent way that he intended to massively increase funding for terrorists ie the Syrian Opposition while claiming he would battle them in Iraq and Syria. The US hopes that with Putin occupied with the crisis in Ukraine he will be able to get away with attacking Syria. In Ukraine a disgraceful agreement was signed that if actually implemented (It won't happen) would have exiled the NAF (the NovoRossiyan Armed Forces) from Ukraine including Novorossiya (the breakaway region of South Eastern Ukraine). Novorossiya would be no more instead becoming supposedly autonomous provinces. An Orwellian Ceasefire was established during which fighting has continued but all signs point to the likelihood that the war will begin again in earnest within days.
For the past three years Syria has been struggling heroically against proxy armies composed of fanatical death squads. Syria had been targeted for destruction by the US, the GCC monarchies like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, NATO countries and of course Israel. These countries fund, train, provide intelligence, weapons and even covertly fight alongside these terrorist/gangster/death squads. Yet Syria has managed to survive this massive covert war so far despite the terrible Humanitarian disaster that has been intentionally been inflicted on their country. Now Obama has declared that the US will expand his war on Syria from a covert war waged by proxies to a war also waged using drones and bomber planes. And he has the audacity to claim that it is so that he can fight one of the major factions that he has been funding ISIS. Nor does he announce that because of the ISIS invasion of Iraq that he will cease aiding the "Syrian Opposition" instead he announces that he will increase funding to them and to the countries that train them. For those believing in the myth of the so called moderate opposition they should remeber that even the free Syrian army sold to the Public as moderate are anything but and it was an FSA commander who ate a human heart in one of the wars more memorable atrocities. The FSA have also fought alongside both ISIS and Jabhat al Nusra both offshoots of Al Qaeda in Iraq. Couldn't Obama at least pretend to stop funding the "Syrian Opposition" so as not to insult the world's intelligence? Instead weeks after western diplomats fled the now completely destroyed and destabilized Libya he announces that the same strategy will be pursued in Syria the funding of terrorists combined with NATO airstrikes is the strategy that destroyed Libya and now threatens to destroy Syria.
The Empire of Chaos is in full rampage mode clearly and in my minds eye I can see the Planet dotted with these enormous black areas of complete chaos that threaten neighboring countries. One in Afghanistan and Pakistan. One in Libya that has already spread through Northern Africa. One in the DRC the Congo in central Africa. One in Mexico and central America,. The Caucasus i could go on and on. Seemingly American foreign policy planners won't be happy until the entire planet is a giant war zone. Obama even had the nerve to cite Somalia site of a genocidal proxy war, and a brutal siege which intentionally create mass starvation throughout the country as a success story. This despite the fact that Al Shabab responded to the assassination of their leader Ahmed Abdi Godane and other High ranking members at the beginning of the month with a spectacular truck bombing in Mogadishu. Somalia is a poster child for a chaotic failed state the result of serving as America's ally in a proxy war against Ethiopia during the cold war. Now during the war on terror it has been the victim of a proxy war launched by the US using Ethiopia, Kenya, and other US clients to launch a brutal series of invasions. A wonderful success story with Hundreds of Thousands dead. Actually he picked Somalia and Yemen as examples of success stories merely because with the disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan taking up headlines few have been paying attention. In one sense I'm sure the Empire of Chaos has been a success it creates so many Chaos zones that it is hard to keep track. I myself am guilty in this regard I don't know enough about Somalia and know far less about Yemen. It must be difficult for the resistance axis to plan against as when America faces a setback somewhere it just attacks somewhere else.
After the shocking defeat suffered in Ukraine the empire turned it's attention back to Syria. Perhaps I should say Neo-Cons since the whole whole Ukraine crisis was their revenge for the failure to launch a bombing campaign against Syria. Now with Russia distracted they hope the US will finally destroy and balkanize Syria. Part of a plan to splinter the nations of the middle east into new sectarian mini-states that will serve to legitimize Israel by creating new states based on Religious and ethnic identities. These states would pose less of a threat because they would be smaller and easy to manipulate into wars with their neighbors. It's all been discussed policy papers written by the likes of Oded Yinon and Richard Perle and is best explained by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya. While the new Syrian war is a clever bit of opportunism it is also extremely foolish to be starting two disastrous new wars in the middle east while it is at the same time trying to launch a cold war with Russia, while also continuing to Pivot to China. Syria is a fairly minor chess piece compared to Russia and China in other words and attacking it will only further ruin the chances of bringing Iran back into the US orbit a longtime dream of the so called Realists. And what a message to send to Russia which had signaled the week before it was ready to sacrifice Novorossiya if it would ease tensions. In reply they received first sanctions next a declaration of war on their ally Syria. Yet again giving up " weapons of mass destruction" in exchange for Peace has proven a mistake. Sadam did it and ended up dead. Qadafi made the same deal and was destroyed. Now Assad is also being betrayed by the US. When dealing with the US it is wise to remember that they are never satisfied with anything less then complete surrender and even once you surrender they still try to destroy you. Just ask the Indigenous people. Even western Europe and Japan will one day for all their subservience be destroyed by the US and the process is already becoming increasingly apparent as Cold war 2.0 picks up speed.
The Syraq war has begun. Last time I discussed Iraq I suggested the need for new nickname like AfPak for the new conflict. Pepe Escobar (coincidentally) has already coined Syraq but I'm guessing it won't be long before we have to resort to Syraqanon as the war has already expanded into Lebanon as well. Obama announced that with Maliki overthrown he was now ready to launch the 3rd Iraq war which he promised would be nothing like the second because their would be no American boots on the ground. Of course in typical Orwellian fashion he simultaneously announced that boots were already on the ground and more were on the way. A masterpiece in double think. After 30 Years of war Iraq is apparently in for yet another decade of war Chaos starvation and death. Clearly the new ultra low intensity war on ISIS is planned to take years and is not aimed at destroying it but rather keeping it within certain borders creating facts on the ground that will be used in a future partition of Iraq into three including a new sunni state that will also contain parts of Syria and Lebanon. The Pentagon published it's maps envisioning a new middle east nearly a decade ago and even Current vice President Joe Biden created and promoted such a plan. This also explains why the US is placing special emphasis on the need to arm and Fund the Peshmerga the Militia's loyal to the Kurdish regional Government. The US will also continue to arm the Shiite death Squads. In other words the third Iraq war is going to be a civil war with the US and it's allies funding all sides in what will inevitably be a genocidal bloodbath. Thus it promises to be very similar to the second US war in Iraq. The brutal ethnic cleansing of Iraq which only slowed in recent years and never stopped is already intensifying. People are disappearing in the middle of the night taken away to be tortured and killed by death squads. This is the situation that Obama promises to make explode into complete Chaos by spending billions arming and training Iraq's militias. All this is nothing new since the US oversaw the arming and training of these death squads during the second Iraq war shamelessly calling it the Salvador option after El Salvador yet another country where the US armed and funded death squads one of many such countries. We shouldn't be surprised since paramilitary death squads in essence but called by different names were an important part of the genocide of the indigenous population a privatized system of mass murder that paid a bounty for every dead native. The Americas were born in blood and Slavery and the US has continued to spread slavery and genocide across the world. Iraq has been a prime example millions have died over the past decades as a result of US foreign policy (See my article Destruction of Iraq from back in may) first a million perished as the US used Iraq as a Proxy in a war with Iran then 2 million died as a result of the destruction of infrastructure during and the sanctions after the first gulf war in the 90s. Then the second Iraq war resulted in a million more dead. How many more decades and how many more millions of dead Iraqis is the world willing to tolerate. What exactly will it take for the world to stand up and condemn this endless murder and destruction. Iraq was once the most prosperous and well educated country in the middle east. Now it is a disaster zone. After a third war it will undoubtedly resemble Libya with no central control whatsoever Iraq will become a bloodier mess and will cease to exist altogether as a nation. All part of the plan in the empire of chaos. Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and one day Iran are all destined to be carved up and destroyed if certain foreign policy planners get their way. And not just those countries either.
The west also hopes to balkanize Russia and in the short term they hope to inspire a coup against Putin. It's all pretty obvious if you read between the lines of certain state department types statements. It's not to late for a western facing Russia they promise. The last time Russia was western facing it became a prime example of the empire of chaos as Austerity policies, treacherous Oligarchs, and CIA sponsored gangsters and terrorists were used to destabilize the country and bring the once great power to it's knees. This was the reward for Russia's complete surrender to the west the country was completely destabilized and the US was almost successful in supporting a Breakaway by Chechnya meaning the balkanization of Russia had already begun. (see my Russia From Gorbachev to Putin from June) It was only Putin's election which turned this process around Russia began an Economic recovery and Putin began to reign in both the Treacherous (and western intelligence connected) Oligarchs, and Ruthlessly restored control over Chechnya. With Putin's return to the Presidency and his blocking of US plans to destroy Syria he has been targeted for destruction by the west. The sanctions aim to promote a mutiny among the Oligarchs and the US is hoping that eventually they'll be a coup, a color revolution or an Assassination. Russia however keeps trying to placate the west. It should be remembered that the massive information war ie the massive negative media campaign directed at Putin began before Yanukovich even fell back during the winter Olympics in Sochi. The demonization of Putin is not a result of the Ukraine crisis. Instead the Ukraine Crisis is like the demonization of Putin another part of the plan to remove Putin in the short term and Balkanize Russia in the Long Term. I've been saying this for months but recently none other the Igor Strelkov held a press conference to announce the exact same thing.
The Press conference was in response to the recent treacherous Ceasefire agreement signed by the Russian's the Ukrainians and the Novorossiyan's. Well actually even that much isn't clear since some deny Novorossiya signed and instead of the current Ukrainian president Poroshenko the agreement was signed by Kuchma the former president a corrupt figure that set the tone which would lead to Ukraine being officially declared the most corrupt nation on the planet and that was before the current Junta was even installed. I'll just post a link to it below but basically it would have involved the complete surrender of Novorossiya in exchange for some vague special status within Ukraine. The NAF would be banished and the region would be at the mercy of the very people who have been waging war against them. The document was so poisonous that it provoked open mutiny among some NAF commanders. Alexei Mozgovoi commander of the Ghost brigade called for Revolution against the Oligarchs in a stirring speech. He also called for the current governments of the Lugansk and Donetsk People's republics to resign and for the creation of a Novorossiyan Government in their place. It raised the possibility that the Civil War could one day evolve into a Ukrainian and perhaps even a second Russian revolution. He called on the people of Ukraine to rise up against the Oligarchs. He also made clear his anger at certain Russian oligarchs. Then Strelkov also held a Press conference saying that the recent ceasefire agreement was an act of betrayal the result of "forces" in Russia meaning the Oligarchs especially Surkov. He stressed his loyalty to Putin while railing against his corrupt and treacherous advisers. Actually the whole thing had a very nineteenth century flavor when loyal subjects stressed their loyalty to the Czars while criticizing their corrupt advisers. (Sorry I read too many Russian novels in my Youth) Many have remarked that Strelkov seems to have stepped out of the past in our cynical postmodern world he still seems to believe in things like duty and honor. In any case he warned that he would never agree to be a figurehead in a Color revolution against Putin. He compared Russia's situation to 1917 and 1991 and said the current situation was aimed at once again bringing down the Russian government. Well you should probably just read it for yourself. It combines harsh criticism of Russia's inaction in the Ukraine with Dire warnings about dangerous forces within Russia that threaten to destroy it.
The Ceasefire came at a disastrous time for Novorossiya. The recent NAF counteroffensive had been so successful that Kiev in a complete panic claimed there was a Russian invasion which is nothing new since they've been crying wolf about a Russian invasion constantly since the war began. However The situation was dire enough for NATO and the western media to play along this time. Amusingly the western reporters between themselves refer to the supposed Russian invaders as little green men. No doubt it is a reference to the famous episode when Orson Well's supposedly caused his listeners to believe the Martians were invading when he broadcast his adaption of H.G. Wells "The War of The Worlds" (I've heard that the story of the panic may be exaggerated) the point is whatever these reporters say publicly privately they are laughing at the whole thing. Thus they made no effort to capture on film the supposed return to Russia announced by Poroshenko during the ceasefire of 70% of the nonexistent "Russian Invasion" force. He should have announced that Ukraine's forces had vanquished them in glorious battle like the time he announced the destruction of 23 non existent Russian APCs. To return from my tangent the CeaseFire Agreement was signed just as the Ukrainian army was in full rout due to a counterattack by the NAF. Since then the Kiev junta used the time to regroup and to cynically mount an attack. Thus the NAF encirclement of Mauripol was broken and today the junta sent reinforcements to Donetsk Airport from which they regularly shell the city. Some of the NAF commanders have also been on attack and in fairness neither side has kept the ceasefire. The result however has been that the Ukrainian army has been advancing in many areas and the NAF have on the whole lost territory despite also capturing some towns. The Kiev forces are expected to go on the offensive soon. There are also rumors that the NAF may be planning something big as well so there is no telling what may happen if the ceasefire is abandoned. Meanwhile Russian and Ukrainian Oligarchs are secretly meeting in Kiev and trying to reach an agreement that will no doubt entail yet another betrayal for Novorossiya if successful. Meanwhile signals from the Kremlin may show that their patience is running out. Putin lit a candle in prayer for the NAF for example and Lavrov has been signaling that even his legendary patience may be running out. The situation is completely unpredictable at the moment will the oligarchs get their way and will some new agreement be signed or will the new sanctions and attack on Syria lead Russia to intensify their support for the NAF instead? If the ceasefire ends will the Ukrainian army be able to capitalize on their recent gains or will they suffer yet another catastrophic defeat? There is no way to predict what will happen in Ukraine in the near future.
In conclusion war has been declared on Syria and the third Iraq war has already begun. If the Obama administration ever did anything I would approve of it would include three things. First actually withdrawing most of US forces from Iraq when Maliki refused to sign the status of forces agreement. Sure it was against the desires of the administration but at least they didn't overthrow the government so they could stay. Then last year instead of launching an attack on Syria because of the false flag terror attack as it seemed poised to do it accepted the face saving deal offered by Putin. It also sought to ease tensions with Iran. Now all three positive steps have been reversed and Iraq and Syria may soon be utterly destroyed. He really earned his Orwellian Nobel Peace Prize this week. In the 21st century war is the new peace after all. And in Ukraine peace is apparently the new form of war as the ceasefire is proving a far more effective weapon against Novorossiya then Poroshenko's failed all out offensive ever was. The agreement revealed the depths certain elements in Russia will go to try to keep hold of their stolen billions in offshore bank accounts and at the mercy of their western Patrons. They have no qualms about sacrificing the people of Novorossiya. The power struggle will continue and will not end until either Russia is destroyed or the Oligarchs are destroyed. The US will not be satisfied until Russia and China completely surrender and are balkanized. Meanwhile in the West we must also destroy our Oligarchs or they will continue their endless war on the planet. How many more decades of war and how many more millions dead will their be until the people of the world finally stand together and shout "No!"

Sources

Here are two Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya articles the first on the plans to balkanize the middle East and the second the plans to balkanize Russia

http://www.globalresearch.ca/plans-for-redrawing-the-middle-east-the-project-for-a-new-middle-east/3882

http://www.globalresearch.ca/redrawing-the-map-of-the-russia-federation-partitioning-russia-after-world-war-iii/5400748

And a massive archive including various infamous think tank studies on the Middle East don't take my word for it read their plans for yourself.

http://syria360.wordpress.com/globalist-agenda/

The Ceasefire Agreement

http://slavyangrad.org/2014/09/07/protocol-of-the-tripartite-contact-group-minsk-september-5-2014/

The Strelkov and Mozgovoi Press conferences on video

http://slavyangrad.org/2014/09/11/the-strelkov-briefing-and-the-mozgovoi-manifesto/

a Transcript of Strelkov's Statement

http://slavyangrad.org/2014/09/12/we-will-not-allow-for-russia-to-be-ripped-asunder-and-ruined/

Mozgovoi's Statement

http://slavyangrad.org/2014/09/06/alexey-mozgovoi-i-will-continue-to-the-end/

Nafeez Ahmed did a great article on western support for ISIS

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/12/how-the-west-created-the-islamic-state/

There was a great Podcast mocking the ISIS Hysteria but if your not a BFP member You may have to wait a couple more weeks depending on when you are reading this or you could just sign up.

http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2014/09/08/de-manufacturing-consent-fear-and-fake-journalism-is-the-isis-propaganda-working/

Here is a great Interview with FBI Whistleblower (And BFP founder) Sibel Edmonds on her new Novel on Gladio that was released on 9/11

http://tracesofreality.com/2014/09/13/sibel-edmonds-speaks-truth-through-fiction-in-the-lone-gladio/

And an article describing the Ethnic cleansing torture and murder in Iraq at the hands of US trained Shiite death squads

http://libya360.wordpress.com/2014/09/09/the-veil-of-silence-over-the-barbaric-crimes-of-the-iraqi-regime/

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Che Guevara in the Congo

Cuba and the Struggle to Liberate Africa: Algeria, The Congo, and Guinea-Bissau

It is not only the crimes of empire that are suppressed from our history. Equally suppressed is the history of global resistance to imperialism. Perhaps the best example is provided by the work of Eduardo Galeano who in his memory of fire Trilogy creates a very different image of the history of the Americas a history of centuries of resistance by Indians, Slaves, Peasants, women Artists, workers. A history that had been largely forgotten or demonized. Even fairly recent history can remain largely forgotten. No surprise when even important current events like the ongoing the ongoing genocide in the Congo which began in the 90's and has reached a death toll of over ten million people are almost completely ignored except by a few voices in the wilderness like Cynthia Mckinney, Keith Harmon Snow or Andre Vltchek. Piero Gleijeses in his two books "Conflicting Missions" and "Visions of Freedom" has written the definitive account of a story that was little known at the time and largely forgotten today. The story of how the tiny Island of Cuba helped liberate Africa from Colonialism and Apartheid. This article will discuss the early stages of this cooperation between Cuba and African resistance movements including Che Guevara's little understood mission to the Congo. It will remind the world of the wonderful Cuban spirit of internationalism. A spirit which is alive to this day in the role Cuba continues to play in both sending doctors abroad to provide free health care all over the third world as well as the role they play in training students from all over the world to become doctors or other needed skills. It will also remind the world of a time when Africa was alive with struggle against Imperialism when heroic figures like Patrice Lumumba and Amilcar Cabral struggled to create independent African Nations.
The first example of Cuba's relationship with an African Independence movement occurred in Algeria. During the Cuban revolution it was too dangerous for the opposition press to discuss the Guerilla war to liberate Cuba from it's brutal dictator Fulgencio Batista. Instead they decided to cover the struggle of the FLN to liberate Algeria from the French. The Cuban revolutionaries and their sympathizers began to strongly identify with the people of Algeria as they followed the newspaper accounts of the Algerian Revolution. Batista fled on new years day January first 1959 and Castro came to power the next week. The FLN struggle however continued and in December 1961 Fidel Castro decided to send a boat carrying arms to the FLN. On it's return it brought back 76 wounded fighters and 20 war orphans to be educated in Cuba. Cuba provided this aid even though it risked offending the French who had cordial relations with Cuba at a time when Cuba was under economic siege from the US and it's clients and was the target of a CIA covert warfare campaign using cuban exiles. Ben Bella an FLN leader who would lead Algeria after independence was greatly touched by the aid provided by tiny besieged Cuba. After Algeria achieved independence on July, 3rd 1962 Ben Bella became Prime minister in September and in October went to New York to attend a ceremony marking Algeria's entry into the United Nations, after which he met with President Kennedy in Washington. His next stop despite knowing that it would outrage the Americans was Cuba. There Ben Bella and Castro quickly became friends and Ben Bella revealed that from his prison cell he had followed the Cuban revolution with the same interest as Cubans had followed the Algerian revolution. Both leaders had risked offending important potential allies to express their solidarity. Castro in gratitude decided to send a group of medical doctors and nurses as volunteers to Algeria where most of the doctors had been french and many had fled. Cuba itself had a shortage of doctors at the time as it's efforts to vastly expand the number of doctors being trained had not yet had time to yield significant results. Still Cuba sent a a group of volunteer doctors who provided free medical treatment to the locals. Since the Cubans had never done anything like this before they sent them without even making the proper arrangements to decide who would pay their small stipends required for food and other necessities. The early volunteers thus suffered great hardships often going hungry but still continuing to provide free medical care to the Algerians who had never heard of doctors who didn't charge their patients. Eventually the Cuban's managed to straighten things out and the Algerian medical mission became a prototype for cuban medical missions around the world. Later Cuba provided troops and tanks to the Algerians when they were menaced by their much better armed neighbor Morocco in a border dispute. This was despite the fact that the Cuban's believed that they themselves could be invaded by the US at any moment. It was also despite the fact that Morocco was about to buy a huge quantity of Cuban sugar despite pressure from the US. However the dispute was settled peacefully and instead of fighting in a war the Cubans made a gift of the tanks and provided training to the Algerians. The Algerians also agreed to help the Cubans by providing a base where they could train revolutionaries from Argentina and Venezuela in Guerrilla warfare. Friendship between the countries remained strong until Ben Bella was deposed by Houari Boumedienne in a coup on June 19, 1965. I'll close with a quote from Ben Bella on Cuba "If necessary, I am ready to sacrifice myself for Cuba. If the Cuban revolution were crushed or stifled, it would be cause for despair, because it would mean that there is no place for justice, for dignity in this world."
Now to turn to Congo. Actually there are two Congos one formerly ruled by the French with it's capital in Brazzaville. The other was colonized by the Belgians and was eventually renamed Zaire by Mobutu before being renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the 90's after Mobutu's fall. Glejeijeses refers to the belgian congo as Zaire to avoid confusion so I'll do the same. Cuba sent aid to both but I'll deal with Zaire first. Zaire has the misfortune to be one of the most mineral rich areas on the planet instead of prosperity it's resources have brought the nation nothing but war and tragedy. In the late 19th century it was colonized by famous "explorer" Henry Morten Stanley remembered today if at all for finding doctor David Livingstone. Instead he should be remembered as a mass murdering psychopath who was hired by King Leopold of Belgium to conquer a vast area of Africa to be exploited through a brutal terror campaign. The people of Zaire were forced to neglect their crops to spend their time gathering rubber to meet each villages quota. Failure to meet the quota would be result in the village being punished with an attack that invariably included rape mutilation and murder. Meeting the quota often meant starvation. Between 8 and 10 million were killed just in the early years. It became an international scandal at the time because just like today the conquest of the Zaire had been presented as a humanitarian venture. The war for the Zaire never really ended and a counterinsurgency campaign continued there well into the 1940's. The country achieved independence in 1960 and it's first prime minister was Patrice Lumumba. The king of Belgium arrived to give a speech on independence day and he spoke of Belgium's noble civilizing mission in Africa and the pride they took in it. Similar to the sort of nonsense American Presidents spout about Iraq and Vietnam not one word about the millions of victims instead some feel good nonsense about freedom and democracy. Patrice Lumumba made the enormous mistake of speaking the truth about how Africans had felt about Belgiums "Civilizing" mission. Since it is a great speech I'll include the whole thing

Patrice Lumumba

SPEECH AT THE CEREMONY OF THE PROCLAMATION OF THE CONGO'S INDEPENDENCE

June 30, 1960

Source: Patrice Lumumba, The Truth about a Monstrous Crime of the Colonialists, Moscow, Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1961, pp. 44-47.
Written: by Patrice Lumumba;
Transcribed: by Thomas Schmidt.

Men and women of the Congo,

Victorious independence fighters,

I salute you in the name of the Congolese Government.

I ask all of you, my friends, who tirelessly fought in our ranks, to mark this June 30, 1960, as an illustrious date that will be ever engraved in your hearts, a date whose meaning you will proudly explain to your children, so that they in turn might relate to their grandchildren and great-grandchildren the glorious history of our struggle for freedom.

Although this independence of the Congo is being proclaimed today by agreement with Belgium, an amicable country, with which we are on equal terms, no Congolese will ever forget that independence was won in struggle, a persevering and inspired struggle carried on from day to day, a struggle, in which we were undaunted by privation or suffering and stinted neither strength nor blood.

It was filled with tears, fire and blood. We are deeply proud of our struggle, because it was just and noble and indispensable in putting an end to the humiliating bondage forced upon us.

That was our lot for the eighty years of colonial rule and our wounds are too fresh and much too painful to be forgotten.

We have experienced forced labour in exchange for pay that did not allow us to satisfy our hunger, to clothe ourselves, to have decent lodgings or to bring up our children as dearly loved ones.

Morning, noon and night we were subjected to jeers, insults and blows because we were "Negroes". Who will ever forget that the black was addressed as "tu", not because he was a friend, but because the polite "vous" was reserved for the white man?

We have seen our lands seized in the name of ostensibly just laws, which gave recognition only to the right of might.

We have not forgotten that the law was never the same for the white and the black, that it was lenient to the ones, and cruel and inhuman to the others.

We have experienced the atrocious sufferings, being persecuted for political convictions and religious beliefs, and exiled from our native land: our lot was worse than death itself.

We have not forgotten that in the cities the mansions were for the whites and the tumbledown huts for the blacks; that a black was not admitted to the cinemas, restaurants and shops set aside for "Europeans"; that a black travelled in the holds, under the feet of the whites in their luxury cabins.

Who will ever forget the shootings which killed so many of our brothers, or the cells into which were mercilessly thrown those who no longer wished to submit to the regime of injustice, oppression and exploitation used by the colonialists as a tool of their domination?

All that, my brothers, brought us untold suffering.

But we, who were elected by the votes of your representatives, representatives of the people, to guide our native land, we, who have suffered in body and soul from the colonial oppression, we tell you that henceforth all that is finished with.

The Republic of the Congo has been proclaimed and our beloved country's future is now in the hands of its own people.

Brothers, let us commence together a new struggle, a sublime struggle that will lead our country to peace, prosperity and greatness.

Together we shall establish social justice and ensure for every man a fair remuneration for his labour.

We shall show the world what the black man can do when working in liberty, and we shall make the Congo the pride of Africa.

We shall see to it that the lands of our native country truly benefit its children.

We shall revise all the old laws and make them into new ones that will be just and noble.

We shall stop the persecution of free thought. We shall see to it that all citizens enjoy to the fullest extent the basic freedoms provided for by the Declaration of Human Rights.

We shall eradicate all discrimination, whatever its origin, and we shall ensure for everyone a station in life befitting his human dignity and worthy of his labour and his loyalty to the country.

We shall institute in the country a peace resting not on guns and bayonets but on concord and goodwill.

And in all this, my dear compatriots, we can rely not only on our own enormous forces and immense wealth, but also on the assistance of the numerous foreign states, whose co-operation we shall accept when it is not aimed at imposing upon us an alien policy, but is given in a spirit of friendship.

Even Belgium, which has finally learned the lesson of history and need no longer try to oppose our independence, is prepared to give us its aid and friendship; for that end an agreement has just been signed between our two equal and independent countries. I am sure that this co-operation will benefit both countries. For our part, we shall, while remaining vigilant, try to observe the engagements we have freely made.

Thus, both in the internal and the external spheres, the new Congo being created by my government will be rich, free and prosperous. But to attain our goal without delay, I ask all of you, legislators and citizens of the Congo, to give us all the help you can.

I ask you all to sink your tribal quarrels: they weaken us and may cause us to be despised abroad.

I ask you all not to shrink from any sacrifice for the sake of ensuring the success of our grand undertaking.

Finally, I ask you unconditionally to respect the life and property of fellow-citizens and foreigners who have settled in our country; if the conduct of these foreigners leaves much to be desired, our Justice will promptly expel them from the territory of the republic; if, on the contrary, their conduct is good, they must be left in peace, for they, too, are working for our country's prosperity.

The Congo's independence is a decisive step towards the liberation of the whole African continent.

Our government, a government of national and popular unity, will serve its country.

I call on all Congolese citizens, men, women and children, to set themselves resolutely to the task of creating a national economy and ensuring our economic independence.

Eternal glory to the fighters for national liberation!

Long live independence and African unity!

Long live the independent and sovereign Congo!

Marxism and Anti-Imperialism in Africa |Patrice Lumumba Archive

The response of the Belgians and the US to this speech was to vow the destruction of Patrice Lumumba. The Belgians in revenge began to strip the country of it's infrastructure and ship much of it back home. They encouraged Zaire's richest province Katanga to Secede within less then two weeks and Moshe Tshombe ruled there backed by a force of white mercenaries. . Lumumba made the mistake of calling on the UN for help. He became a prisoner in his own house and the US backed Joseph Kasavubu to take power. Lumumba escaped and went underground in an attempt to continue the struggle but was captured by forces loyal to Army Chief of Staff and CIA asset Joseph Mobutu beaten, mocked and flown to Katanga where he was murdered by Moshe Tshombe. Iconic footage still survives of the defiant Lumumba after his capture and shortly before his death. He became a Martyr like figure and in far away Cuba outrage over his fate would eventually lead to another Cuban intervention in Africa. However to continue sketching out a bit more of Zaire's history, the Americans bribed parliament to elect Cyril Adoula because one of Lumumba's supporters was about to win. With Lumumba dead Kennedy finally allowed the UN forces to put down the secession in Katanga. The country seemed stable with an American puppet in office the Katanga secession over and power maintained by the UN troops and Mobutu's brutal ANC the congolese army. However the poorly trained corrupt and brutal Congolese army behaved so badly that the people in the western Kwilu province rebelled. Ironically the CIA used it's Cuban exile pilots to put down the revolt. It was dying down when another revolt broke out in the Kivu province (the site of many atrocities in the recent Congo genocide as the Rwandan's have attempted to use their proxy armies to seize it) The revolt was lead by the Simba's (the lions) inspired by Lumumba but also believers in sorcery. The revolt spread according to new American President Lyndon Johnson like wildfire (Kennedy ironically had also become a martyr for attempting to chart an independent foreign policy among other things) although armed with only bows and arrows, bicycle chains and whatever else they could lay their hands on the rebels managed to drive the ANC troops away in a panic and they abandoned their modern weapons and fled. This was due partly to fear of sorcery but mostly they were disgusted by the poverty and corruption of "Independent" Congo.
With the army collapsing the US was desperate to destroy this spontaneous uprising. First it attempted to get it's european allies to intervene. However they were unsuccessful. The Belgians only cared about their business Interests and the Belgians still living there and so were willing to come to an arrangement with rebel held territories. The. British and French laughed at the American suggestion that the whole thing was part of some global communist conspiracy. The US decided that instead they would fund the recruitment of an army of mercenaries. If that Hadn't worked they would have invaded to restore order but since Johnson was busy escalating the Vietnam war that was a last resort. In Zaire meanwhile Moshe Tshombe Lumumba's killer had returned from exile and quickly been appointed Prime Minister which proved convenient since he was experienced at working with Mercenaries. All independent minded African leaders were disgusted by this development however. A massive force of Mercenaries were recruited all white and mostly from the Apartheid States of South Africa and Rhodesia. The US also supplied military aircraft once again flown by Cuban exiles. They began to brutally reconquer the country first the Simbas would be bombed from the Air then the well armed and trained mercenaries would move in launching a reign of terror reminiscent of the Leopold era and unfortunately similar to what goes on in the DRC today. Here's a description of their entry into the town of Boende that an italian journalist wrote after interviewing a group of mercenaries
"Occupying the town meant blowing out the doors with rounds of Bazooka fire, going into shops and taking anything they wanted that was moveable...After the looting came the killing. The shootings lasted for three days. Three days of executions, of lynchings, of tortures, of screams, and of terror"
Even their leader Mike Hoare called them "appalling thugs" they were of course portrayed in the US press as noble heroes and It was Malcolm X (also soon to be martyred for speaking Defiantly and Fearlessly) who was one of the few who knew and dared to speak about what was really going on in Zaire calling them "hordes of Nazi type mercenaries" By these Brutal means the US regained control of most of the rebel held areas. Towards the end of the campaign the Belgians sent in their Paratroopers (from US planes) to retake Stanleyville where the rebels in desperation were holding 300 white hostages as a bargaining chip. Order was restored meaning a reign of terror was conducted in the city. Sixty hostages died in the rescue attempt no one knows how many Zaireans died. This return of colonialism only 4 years after independence this naked show of imperialism using the Racist troops of Southern Africa to brutalize the country into submission outraged the more independent african Leaders and they vowed to send help to the rebels who remained in control of a couple of areas. However it was Cuba alone who actually sent troops in the form of a Secret Mission undertaken by the famous Ernesto "Che" Guevara.
In december 1964 Che went on a trip to Africa first arriving in Algeria then visiting the four then most radical countries in sub-saharan Africa Mali, Guinea, french congo, and Ghana. While on this trip he also met with liberation movements from other african states still struggling for independence and asked them what sorts of aid they might want. Because of the fate of Lumumba and the brutal suppression of the Simba's Che was obsessed with Zaire. He believed that from there revolution could sweep throughout the continent. He agreed to send advisers to the Simbas he also agreed to send advisers to french congo who would train various resistance movements. Che had wanted to train the resistance as they battled the mercenaries and ANC in Zaire but they refused. He did however make arrangements to offer weapons and training to a number of African movements fighting to liberate their countries. Che then returned to Cuba. Che was actually planning on leading an attempt to liberate his native Argentina but the preliminary expedition lead by one of his close friends was intercepted and killed so Che decided to delay going to Argentina and decided instead to personally lead the group of advisers heading to Zaire.
Back in Cuba black cuban soldiers were asked if they were wiling to go to an unknown country and fight against Imperialism. They agreed without even knowing the details. The African countries had requested black advisers so that they would be unnoticed. They went off for a couple of months of special training then told their families they were heading to the Soviet Union for training But instead flew to Europe then Algeria before taking a boat to Tanzania which had agreed to be a supply conduit for Russian and Cuban aid. Among them was Che who was so well disguised that back in Cuba before leaving even those he had fought beside like Victor Dreke couldn't recognize him at first. Che went under cover as a doctor as the only white cubans allowed on the expedition were doctors and Che had been a doctor before becoming a revolutionary. Unfortunately by the time he arrived it was far to late to salvage matters. The Simbas just wanted to be left alone in the territory they still controlled a tiny strip of land on the coast of Lake Tanganyika called the Fizi-Baraka. Che had been told that they had thousands of motivated and armed troops instead he found a completely disorganized force with no real central command. Laurent Kabila their supposed leader wasn't even in the country. Ironically Kabila would be used as a figurehead during the overthrow of Mobutu in the 90's then was murdered for betraying one of his corporate backers one day before the anniversary of Lumumba's death. Che spent most of his time waiting for Kabila to arrive. His requests to begin a large scale training plan were denied. His requests to lead troops into battle were denied. His request to begin exploring the country so he could get a sense of the situation were denied. Instead he occupied his time practicing medicine and Organizing classes for his men on swahili and other topics. Finally they got Permission to begin the training. The Simbas were largely unenthusiastic about training initially the cubans had sent 32 trainers but only 25 men initially showed up for training. Eventually however some units were trained that had some tactical successes. Actually the whole affair had a certain comedic element that you have to read the book to discover. On the one hand you have the Cubans filled with an almost religous fervor especially Che. He told his men that they must suffer every hardship with the Simbas if they went hungry so would the Cubans if they went without boots so to would the cubans. Che refused to admit that the mission was hopeless as he viewed such thinking as defeatist. In Che's view one is always struggling against the odds and one must be willing to give your life anywhere and at anytime if necessary. His men serving with a living legend were often afraid of expressing any criticism. The Simbas on the other hand were much more pragmatic and were more concerned with surviving. After the fate of their fellow rebels they knew the war was lost and they had no intention of dying for a lost cause. In other words fervent idealism came head to head with pragmatic realism with the inevitable comedic misunderstandings ensuing.
Eventually Kabila arrived and the Cubans were deployed to train and to fight along side the Simbas. Briefly they managed to increase the effectiveness of the rebels and the US noticed an increase in attacks coming from Fizi-baraka. They finally realized that the Cubans were operating there when one of them was killed. The US decided to send it's massive mercenary army to crush the pocket of resistance at Fizi-Baraka. At first the Simba's new training paid off and they offered stiff resistance but within two weeks they began to flee and Che was forced to decide whether to stay and fight with just the Cubans and to die or to retreat. Che was extremely tempted to stay but knew then his men would also feel compelled to stay and would die as well. Eventually he was all but forced to leave as the boat that arrived to pick up his men had orders to bring him back as well no matter what, even if it meant using force. Regretfully Che took the boat back with his men. In Zaire Mobuto eventually seized power where he reigned until the 90's when Clinton toppled him with a Ugandan and Rwandan army and briefly installed Kabila as a figurehead. This marked the beginning of a brutal invasion that has already lead to 10 million deaths and continues to this day. Bringing Zaire full circle to it's brutal colonization by the Belgians more then a Century ago when 10 million people also died. The only change is that instead of dying for rubber or Ivory they now die for coltan, copper, uranium, gold, diamonds, and tin. As for Che like Lumumba he would soon be captured and killed by the CIA in Bolivia.
In French Congo the Cuban's also sent a force of trainers and doctors. The entire country had only 7 doctors all of them foreign interestingly 2 had been sent by North Vietnam. However this mission also was the result of a misunderstanding as the government used radical rhetoric while still being completely reliant on France. The Cuban's main military contribution was to prevent a coup attempt. They did have a lasting impact by training a number of students in Cuba from the Congo who returned and became doctors. They also tried to train a people's militia to counterbalance it's pro-french army but the government changed their mind afraid of offending the army. they were able to train small bands of Guerrillas from Cameroon, Zaire and Angola. Most of the Zairean rebels were killed by Mobutu's forces upon their return. The Small Cameroonian force they trained was also intercepted and killed when it tried to return to Cameroon. Their one major Success was in training a band of MPLA fighters who managed to sneak through Zaire and made it to Angola. This relationship would in the mid 70's lead to Cuba's biggest intervention in Africa that in Angola which would eventually lead to the collapse of Apartheid in South Africa and the liberation of a number of countries in southern Africa. Eventually unimpressed by the Congolese government the Cubans decided to withdraw most of their trainers and after a coup took place they withdrew the rest.
In Guinea-Bissau the Cubans would finally find a resistance movement after their own heart. Unlike the disorganized Simbas or the hopelessly moderate government in French Congo the resistance in Guinea-Bissau was lead by Amilcar Cabral a figure not nearly as well known today as he deserves to be. He was a brilliant intellectual, a charismatic Politician, as well as a masterful military strategist. Che had met with him during his trip around Africa and had agreed to supply him aid and the Cubans sent him a sixty cases of arms and also began 30 cape verdeans from islands off the coast in guerrilla war in Cuba. Later in 1966 Amilcar Cabral arrived in Havana for the Tricontinental congress being held there. He gave an electrifying speech and Fidel Castro was so impressed that the two became inseparable for the next few days as Fidel took him on a tour of the cuban countryside and explained to him that Cuba is also Africa. A reference to the fact that Cuba was once basically just one giant slave plantation. Together they planned what aid should be sent and trainers and advisers were sent to Aid Amilcar Cabral in his nations fight for independence from Portugal which was still ruled by the fascist dictator Salazar. Since Portugal was a close ally of the US the US was indirectly supplying Portugal with arms for it's war to keep it's colonies intact and it's African subjects as second class citizens. So yet again the US was backing some of the most repressive forces in Africa this time the Fascist Portuguese.
Cuba only sent around 60 men at a time all under the command Victor Dreke who had been Che's right hand man in Zaire. Amilcar Cabral wanted to keep the number low because he believed it was important that Guinea-Bissau win it's independence on it's own and he saw the struggle itself as the means to cement Guinea-Bissau's different tribes into a single nation. The cubans also sent doctors and this greatly improved the morale of the PAIGC already the most effective resistance movement in Africa. The advisers played an important role. The PAIGC were declared the legitimate government by the UN general assembly in 1973 opposed only by the US the UK and Apartheid South Africa and and couple of US backed dictatorships Brazil, Spain, Greece and of course Portugal . The Soviets had decided to supply advanced weapons and the Cubans helped train the PAIGC to operate them. In addition the advisers were indispensable for calculating artillery strikes because except for the Cape Verdeans who had trained and studied in Cuba few possessed the necessary knowledge of Calculus since the Portuguese had intentionally provided inferior education to keep the Africans as second class citizens. Many of the African countries problems after Independence stemmed from policies like this which prevented African's from gaining the necessary skills and experience to solve their countries problems after independence.
Portugal waged a brutal counterinsurgency campaign which as always included torture, brutal massacres and the destruction of whole villages. The PAIGC despite the long portuguese counterinsurgency campaign managed to retain control of half the territory in the country throughout the war. Eventually in 1974 the Salazar regime finally collapsed and the new government finally granted Guinea-Bissau it's independence. Unfortunately Amilcar Cabral was murdered the year before but even after his death the PAIGC continued to be an extremely disciplined and effective fighting force. After his death the PAIGC had launched operation Amilcar Cabral and inflicted a decisive defeat capturing the vital fort at Guileje. The Cubans had played a major role being in charge of the artillery and Grad rocket trucks.
Cuba's role in the Liberation of Africa was only beginning but Guinea-Bissau proved to be the First major success of Cuba's policy. From 1966 until 1974 Cuba sent doctors and advisers to aid in the Struggle and the PAIGC were eventually victorious. A future article will continue the story. Today we may be seeing a rebirth of the spirit of internationalism volunteers from all over the world are traveling to Ukraine to fight Fascism. Venezuela inspired by the Cuban example is also beginning to send doctors around the world including Palestine. Cuba still under siege continues to send out doctors and to accept students from around the world. On a darker note Zaire now known as the Democratic Republic of The Congo is still being pillaged with a death toll of over ten million. Decades after independence much of Africa is more in need then ever of liberation. Hopefully one day soon the struggle against Neo-Colonialism will also give rise to figures like Patrice Lumumba and Amilcar Cabral.

Sources
I relied on Piero Gleijes "Conflicting Missions" for this article I highly recommend it. I also used Adam Hochsild's "King Leopolds Ghost" which mostly concentrates on the international outrage over King Leopolds Congo rather then being an actual history of the Congo making it rather flawed in my view. I cannot recommend Highly enough Eduardo Galeano's memory of Fire trilogy 1. Genesis 2. Faces and Masks 3. Century of the Wind. Not only do they unearth the true history of the Americas a history of resistance to Genocide Slavery and Exploitation they are also an artistic Masterpiece full of poetic beauty, humor, and humanity.

You can hear a great Interview with Piero Gleijes on the Cuban Role in Africa here

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/your-world-news/2013/12/17/visions-of-freedom-cuba-and-the-struggle-for-southern-africa

And here is a massive archive of articles on and Revolutionary writings from People like Che Guevara Patrice Lumumba and Amilcar Cabral

http://libya360.wordpress.com/african-union/

A Multimedia essay on the Congo by Adam Curtis

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/posts/kinshasa_city_number_two

An article I wrote on the Congo genocide

http://anti-imperialist-u.blogspot.com/2014/02/uganda-rwanda-and-congo.html

And an article I wrote with some great suggestions on sites to go to if you are interested in the current situation in Africa

http://www.globalresearch.ca/alternative-media-spotlight/5389597

Listen to this great interview on the What really happened in Rwanda and the current genocide in the Congo with Keith Harmon Snow

http://porkinspolicyreview.wordpress.com/2014/04/20/porkins-policy-radio-ep-20-the-falsification-of-genocide-with-keith-harmon-snow/