Recommended Reading

       Winter Break / Some Suggested Reading



    I will be taking a long break from writing this blog during December and will not return until mid-January. All that research and writing can get a bit exhausting after a while. So I'll be resting up in preparation for another year in covering America's seemingly endless war on the planet. 2015 promises to be an even worse year then 2014 and Washington seems poised to assume an even more hawkish position. The planned destruction of Syria has already been announced. For now perhaps we should merely be grateful that Syria, Novorossiya, Venezuela and other countries resisting the empire have managed to survive so far. In any case I've decided to make a list of suggested reading to occupy you while I'm away.

    First there is Eduardo Galeano's Memory of Fire Trilogy. It consists of 3 books "Genesis", "Faces and Masks" and "Century of the Wind." Together they tell the story of the Americas from  the arrival of Columbus up until the 1980's. They are unlike any history written before. They are an artistic masterpiece history is broken down into brief vignettes, that range from terrifying to inspiring, brutal and beautiful, heartbreaking and humorous. They turn history as usually taught on it's head both geographically by focusing mostly on latin America and socially by focusing on the struggles of slaves, indians, and the poor. They tell the story of resistance in many forms. They resurrect all that is usually forgotten in history.  No description could do justice to the magical quality of Galeano's prose. These books will light a fire in your heart; the fire of revolution. I also recommend his "Open Veins of Latin America" a classic on the economic exploitation of Latin America. Actually every book I have read by him has been great so I'll  recommend "Upside Down" as well. His latest is "Children of the Days"
   
    William Blum's "Killing Hope" is required reading for anyone wishing to learn the actual history of US Foreign Policy.  In a perfect world every high schooler would be forced to read this book. Reading William Blum is the quickest way to gain a wide knowledge of the history of the crimes of American Empire. He writes a brief article on each of the various coups and interventions the US has undertaken since world war 2. It is an Encyclopedia of the American Empire. Everything from Guatemala to Iraq. The covert wars on Russia and China. Germ Warfare in Korea. A coup in Australia. There are 56 chapters and it covers over 70 countries. Of course US crimes are so numerous that even the encyclopedic "Killing Hope" can't contain them all. Luckily William Blum also wrote the excellent Rogue State containing even more. He also Writes a great monthly series of columns called the Anti-Empire Report. It can be found at

http://williamblum.org

He sells signed copies of all his books there as well. He has a new book out "America's Deadliest Export: Democracy" which I haven't had a chance to read yet. For anyone wishing to learn about the history of the US and the CIA Killing Hope is required reading. It will dispel any lingering illusions you may have that American foreign policy is aimed at doing good. Instead it records case after case of nations destroyed for daring to improve the lives of their citizens or for asserting their independence.

Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya's the Globalization of NATO provides the definitive account of the current geopolitical situation. He records the massive expansion of NATO from a western European military alliance to one with partners around the globe. He also provides excellent historical background to various geopolitical hotspots like Sudan, the Balkans, and the South China Sea. He also covers the attempts of Russia and China to form alliances of their own like the CSTO or the SCO. Before the Ukraine Crisis began, reading the Globalization of NATO made clear that the cold war never really ended. For anyone wishing to understand the current Geo-Strategic balance of power the Globalization of NATO is required reading. (Also see my June Alternative media spotlight 2 Article  for my discussion of Mahdi Nazemroaya's articles, interviews and lectures available online at



Peter Dale Scott's books provide studies of what he calls Deep Politics. He is the historian of that murky Milieu which lies behind so called democracy. Hear the world of Organized Crime (the Underworld) Wall Street (the Overworld) and Intelligence agencies interact. Behind the scenes the real business of America takes place and we live in a corrupt gangster state. For example his Deep politics and the death of JFK shows that the coverup was due not just to the desire to conceal what happened in the actual assassination but because American society was so corrupt that  everyone also had to coverup all their unrelated crimes. For example Jack Ruby was connected to both the Mob, the Dallas police, the FBI, and the corrupt politicians and power brokers who ran Texas. Interestingly some of the same corrupt power brokers would reappear later during connected to the S&L part of the Iran Contra Scandal. One of his major areas of focus has been the role of the massive Global illegal drugs trade in being used to finance wars abroad by the CIA, while ultimately the money ends up in big wall street banks. He has also done some excellent work on exposing the phony war on terror. All these topics converge in what he calls deep events and his work shows the many similar patterns and even personalities involved from The JFK Assassination, to Watergate, Iran Contra and Finally 911. What is admirable is his caution he only asserts what he can prove. His books are so densely packed with information it isn't uncommon that you can learn more from one of his chapters then from someone else's entire book. I recommend "Deep Politics and The Death of JFK" , "The Iran Contra Connection" "Drugs Oil and War" "The Road to 911" and "American War Machine" I've already ordered his new book "The American Deep State" Check out his website for a massive archive of articles and interviews.

http://peterdalescott.org/q.html

Pepe Escobar is a born world traveler he was raised on 3 separate continents. He has been constantly traveling the the world for decades. Most famously he just happened to be in Afghanistan shortly before 911.  He is also an extremely amusing man a natural bon vivant. His articles are always highly entertaining. Who else could make a G20 meeting laugh out loud funny. In His book "Globalistan: How the Globalized World is dissolving into liquid war" He takes the reader on a massive world tour: from the beaches of France to Afghanistan, Across the little known nations of Central Asia like Uzbekistan, to a rising China. He travels the Americas and Africa. He records the massive process of Eurasian integration. He pays special attention to what he calls Pipelanistan the massive projects to build gas Pipelines across Eurasia. They are an important topic as they often become important factors in geopolitics. He is a great guide to the economics of globalization. I also Highly recommend his brilliant account of Iraq during the surge "Red Zone Blues". He has just released a massive collection of his essays called "Empire of Chaos" Which I've also ordered. Since I've already read all his Articles since 2003, I can say even beore reading it that it's great. Finally there is his collection of essays on the 2008 election "Obama Does Globalistan."
 You can find his latest articles here


http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Others/Escobar.html

and here

http://rt.com/op-edge/authors/pepe-escobar/


Lastly with the current war in Ukraine it is necessary to study the long relationship between western intelligence and Fascists. Thus I'll end with this topic instead of a specific author. First there is Christopher Simpson's "Blowback" Which goes into great detail on the recruitment of Nazi's during the Cold War (See my June article Nazi's and the CIA) I also recommend Daniel Ganser's "Nato's Secret Armies" (See my June article Operation Gladio) Which reveals what is known about the secret program which used Fascists to carry out false flag terror attacks, and even coups to ensure US control over western Europe. The topic of Gladio is also related to creation of Islamist terror cells like Al-Qaeda. Thus I recommend you pick up FBI Whistleblower  Sibel Edmonds new spy thriller "The Lone Gladio" for a fictionalized account. She also wrote a non fiction Auto-biography "Classified Woman" Check out her long series of interviews here Where she exposes exactly the sort of things Peter Dale Scott writes about including US Politicians receiving massive suitcases full of drug money, Terrorists with CIA protection, and the system of blackmail intelligence agencies use to keep politicians in line.

http://libya360.wordpress.com/2013/04/20/usa-the-creator-sustainer-of-chechen-terrorism/

To return to the subject of Fascism Stanislav Byshok and Alexey Kochetkov have written an account of the 20 year rise of fascism in Ukraine since the 1990's "Neonazis & Euromaidan" focusing on Svoboda and the right sector. The translation is a little clumsy as it was clearly rushed to the presses. However it provides an invaluable backstory on the various fascists of Ukraine and how they were able to grow in influence. It also provides a summary of the events of Euromaidan. Stephen Lendman has edited a Great collection of Essays on Ukraine called Flashpoint in Ukraine with essays from Authors like Michael Parenti, Rick Rozoff, and Mahdi Nazemroaya.

I read many more great books this year some can be found in the sources section at the bottom of my previous articles. For now let me just say Farewell. I'll see you next Year. Thank You to all my readers. And Thank You to all the people who helped spread the word about my blog, I appreciate it. Best wishes to the brave People of Venezuela, Syria, and Novorossiya. And best wishes to all the people of the world struggling against imperialism and injustice.





Remember to check slavyangrad.org for news from Novorossiya and Ukraine.

Also Check out my February article Alternative Media Spotlight and my June article Alternative Media Spotlight 2 for more great news sites to visit and more on Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya and Pepe Escobar.