Covert War in the Ukraine behind the myth of the latest Russian Invasion
The Ukrainian Civil war saw yet another decisive turn of events this week as the NAF the Novorussiya Armed Forces went on the offensive for the first time in the war. The Response by Kiev and the west was to Hype up an imaginary Russian Invasion. Once again the US state department, NATO, and the western press made complete fools of themselves. The information war has also seen a decisive turn as well. To use the terminology of the civil war recent days have seen the mainstream media yet again trapped in a cauldron by their own stupidity. Now they will be hammered away at and discredited yet again by articles such as this one. Sites like Vineyard of the Saker and http://slavyangrad.org were vindicated in their Analysis while media Dinosaurs like the New York Times were exposed once again as liars and incompetents. A lone blogger in Crimea writing under the name Colonel Cassad provided better military analysis then Professionals like Janes Defense weekly.
In my last article I predicted based on reading the above mentioned sites that the mainstream media which was foolishly predicting the Imminent victory of the Ukrainian army was in for a major embarrassment. The Ukraine Junta's latest offensive had resulted in them being trapped yet again in what the NAF call Cauldrons (A trapped pocket of the UA army brought to boil by NAF rocket and artillery strikes). Basically the Strategy has been for the Ukraine Junta to launch an offensive the NAF allow them to enter and once they are deep into Novorussiyan Territory they are surrounded their supplies cut off and they are shelled day after day by distant artillery. The new offensive resulted in the Ukrainian army trapped yet again in a number of different pockets. After months of catastrophic losses the Ukrainian forces no longer had the troops to properly defend their territory. The NAF seized the opportunity to go on the offensive outflanking and surrounding the forces committed to the assault on Iloviask. Then it launched an attack south and west towards Mauripol which they have since surrounded. Kiev Forces Panicked and fled in abject terror. It was this dramatic turn of events which lead to the story of a Russian invasion. Since Kiev and western media had been busy turning truth on it's head how could they explain this sudden reversal. They had been promising victory and the collapse of Novorossiya. Now for the first time Novorossiya was recapturing territory lost months before, In paranoid fascist Kiev people believe that they are being actively betrayed and that their Generals are secretly paid by the Russians to intentionally send their troops to their deaths. Actually in the notoriously corrupt Ukraine this might be possible. After all the US and NATO frequently bribe generals into betraying their country many an Iraqi and Libyan general was rewarded with suitcases of cash and safe passage to western Europe or the US. To sort out what is truly going on behind the scenes will take years. War breeds chaos paranoia, madness. Wild rumors proliferate since no one can trust official information which is invariably mere war propaganda. Just as in Iraq Americans were told day after that victory was "Just around the corner" if we stayed the course. Ukrainians have been lied to in the same Orwellian manner. They are also paradoxically told that they are battling not the people of South Eastern Ukraine but the Russian Army. The two are completely contradictory Russia is undoubtedly the second greatest military power in the world. In the Georgia war they managed to beat the Georgian army in hours. Georgia had been receiving massive supplies and training from the US and NATO for years unlike Ukraine which is has been using mass mobilization to rebuild it's army which was in a sorry state since at the start of the war. My point is that if Russia launched an invasion of it's regular army it would preceded by a barrage of missiles and airstrikes and could conquer Ukraine in a day. It would not look like the modest offensive aimed at Liberating Mauripol which sparked the Hysteria of a Russian Invasion. If the Kiev forces were battling a Russian invasion rather then the local population the war would already be over.
It's becoming a familiar pattern in world affairs that I've already remarked upon several times before. Whenever one of America's enemies manages to achieve a decisive victory what is known as a "Psychological operation" is launched. In Syria for example decisive victories by the Syrian army were followed by chemical weapons attacks by the rebels and attempts to blame the Assad regime. Last month in Ukraine after a massive southern cauldron of trapped UA (Ukrainian army forces) was formed. MH17 was blown out of the sky by Kiev. One month later the lies advanced by the Obama administration, the media and Kiev about MH17 have been debunked while increasing evidence piles up against Kiev, the Question of who shot the plane down is now ignored. Now in Retaliation for the Latest NAF victories yet another Psychological operation was launched this time a mass media campaign Accusing Russia of invading. Poroshenko started it by claiming that a massive Russian force had crossed the Boarder. Embarrassingly the new York times published a Sensationalized account that they quickly retracted claiming a massive force of artillery, tanks, and anti aircraft vehicles had crossed the border. However they quickly issued a new version that used the same hyperbolic tone but instead alleged that a mere 5 APCs had crossed the border. Below I'll address the Issue of the border and Russian aid to the rebels. For now I'll just say that these APCs if they existed are hardly an invasion. Earlier in the week a lone Russian APC was captured under extremely mysterious circumstances. Then some extremely dubious satellite photos claiming to show Russian artillery and tanks in Ukraine were released. The photos failed to show the artillery crossing over the border and so are more likely merely NAF artillery which they have been using to great effect for months. Given that it was only the week before that the west was claiming the Russian aid convoy was secretly an invasion force made up of "military Vehicles" ie trucks Western credibility is at an all time low. The convoy returned to Russia without incident. Russia is already preparing another Aid convoy. Apparently none of them have heard the tale of the boy who cried wolf. Embarrassingly the OSCE observers refused to corroborate their claims of a Russian invasion they monitor the border and denied the whole tale.
The timing of this Russian Invasion media campaign was not only a response to the military disaster suffered by UA it was also meant to derail the Minsk peace talks which took place the same week and build Hype for the NATO wales Summit scheduled for the following week. Putin had been working on a diplomatic solution with Angela Merkel. Europe already in economic trouble thanks to it's austerity policies is now suffering from the economic war with Russia the US pushed them into. In addition the US is constantly trying to extort more money from it's European vassals for NATO. Year after year US officials complain that Europe does not live up to it's responsibilities and must increase their funding for America's wars. Thus the Russian invasion scare was a response not just to events in Ukraine but an attempt to manipulate Europe's leaders into obeying the US.
Is Russia providing covert support to the rebels? Probably however Russia knows how to keep it's mouth shut unlike the US which loudly announces that it is participating in a covert war ie Syria, passing bills in congress and sending senators to pose with terrorists then when convenient pretending to have nothing to do with it. Russia isn't going to admit anything. The only actual proof would have to be supplied by the US and NATO and for some reason they seem unable or unwilling to provide any. The question misses the real point however. The US and NATO have been quite openly involved at the beginning of the war CIA director Bremer himself showed up to advise the Junta as I discussed in "Ukraine, Lies and Death." It was massive US and NATO covert involvement that Overthrew Yanukovich and placed the Ultranationalists and Oligarchs in power who provoked the civil war in the first place. This was the second such coup. In other words western covert involvement in the Ukraine goes back decades and as I've discussed in "Nazi's and the CIA" the US has been using Fascists to destabilize Ukraine since the 1940's and Ukraine itself owed it's existence to decades of Prior german interference. Currently operating in Ukraine off the top of my head there have been reports of western mercenaries, Israelis, most Numerous are the numbers of Poles, Plus you have US and NATO member special forces. In fact while Jen Psaki was spouting false accusation at the UN security council against Russia the Pentagon was issuing a press release on the retirement of Admiral William Mcraven Commander of Joint Special Operation Command (JSOC) the pentagon couldn't resist bragging about having special operations forces heavily involved in Eastern Europe. (I only know cause I recently followed a bunch of NATO and Pentagon twitter accounts) No doubt they are involved in both training forces for the Ukrainian civil war plus the Secret armies sent by places like Poland and Latvia. In addition they are conducting covert ops in Ukraine. There have already been reports by the NAF that americans have died. It's all standard practice in americas endless dirty wars. Yes many countries are involved In the Ukraine. The point is that the US and it's allies are supporting a genocidal war against the Russian minority in the South Eastern Ukraine. More then a million have already been forced to flee their homes. Thousands have been killed. Officially around 2000 but these numbers are undoubtedly too low. In western Ukraine many people have been kidnapped and murdered for daring to criticize the regime. A haunting report appeared on Slavyangard from a refugee who returned to discover that the original inhabitants of Slavyansk had largely disappeared and the houses has been given to people from western Ukraine. Kiev won't even release accurate figures on the number of troops they lost let alone those murdered by the government or the fascist paramilitaries. Any Russian aid on the other hand is intended to help the NAF defend the People of Novorossiya against the Kiev regime. At the beginning of the war Putin promised to protect ethnic Russians in Ukraine. Russian aid is his way of keeping this promise without possibly starting world war 3 by direct intervention.
Now lets discuss the question of where the NAF get their arms. This is based on various assertions by Colonel Cassad. Most are looted from the defeated Ukrainian army. The NAF calls them Trophies and every victory has increased their supply of equipment like artillery, tanks, and APCs. In fact they have more then they know what to do with and many are idle while new people are trained to operate them. . Some are purchased from corrupt Ukrainian commanders. There is are also mysterious criminal arms dealers operating in the area that sell to both sides. Plus their are supplies donated by private citizens in Russia who understandably do not want to see their fellow Russians slaughtered in Ukraine and are also proud of the successes achieved by the NAF. Most of the donors are ordinary citizens but supposedly a few Russian Oligarchs send aid. In addition their is covert Russian aid. The border since the collapse of the UA attempt to encircle Novorossia from the south is a chaotic place with people crossing back and forth frequently. The NAF have claimed to have over 3000 Russian volunteers in their ranks. Some doubtless are covert military advisers many are simply Courageous people who have gone to help defend the People of Novorossiya. They have trickled in over the months of the war. Thus they hardly constitute an invasion. currently there are an estimated 15,000 people in the NAF the vast majority of them ordinary people from the region Miners workers, schoolteachers. Many of them are women. A small number of people from around the world have gone to Novorossiya to risk their lives in what they see as a fight against Fascism. Men and women from Spain, France, Germany and many other places have gone off to fight on behalf of Novorossiya. On the other hand neo-nazis from all over the world are enlisting to aid what they hope will be the rebirth of fascism. Even more shocking are the reports that the UA are charging rich tourists for the opportunity to murder people in what are dubbed Human Safaris.
Yes in in reality the Ukraine situation is already completely chaotic with all sorts of outside forces interfering in the conflict which was of course started from outside to serve US NATO strategic interests. There are also all sorts of shady criminal elements and crooked businessmen involved. There is covert military support flowing in both from Russia and the West. There are intelligence agencies advising both sides. If you want to sift through the strange world of rumor and scandal I'd suggest the Colonel Cassad blog even the Ukrainians themselves are confused about what is going on so it is impossible for an outside observer to really guess all that is going on behind the curtains in the Ukraine crisis. Paranoia has long ago set in on both sides of the conflict and their is endless speculation about plots and schemes behind the scenes. More important is what is right in front of our eyes. Namely the billions of dollars being loaned by the IMF to Ukraine are being used not to salvage it's rapidly collapsing economy but is instead being used to make war on it's own people. This surely dwarfs whatever covert support Russia may be supplying. NATO's Eastern European members are also funneling men and equipment into the conflict. Thus the NAF remain outgunned and outmanned. Russian aid alone does not explain their recent victories. Instead their is first the fact that they are motivated by the desire to defend their homes. Second because they are undermanned their commanders have been very careful with the lives of their men. Thus many have managed to gain valuable experience in the war. Kiev on the other hand has already sacrificed many of their most experienced units in their endless reckless offensives aimed at crushing Novorossiya before independence day August 24th. There is no avoiding a tangent here as I must discuss Ukraine's independence day Poroshenko claimed his troops would be marching in a victory parade on that date through the streets of Donetsk and so partly in mockery partly as emulation of the march held in Moscow of German prisoners of War before the final offensive that would crush Nazi Germany began, the NAF forced their UA prisoners to parade before the populace. As someone obsessed by classical history I can't help but point out that it was how the romans celebrated their victories this is where we get the word triumph. Although the march was a violation of international law which forbids the use of POW's for propaganda purposes at least they were still physically able to march. Given that they were all involved in a genocidal war on the locals they seemed in fairly good condition. Contrast this with the fate of captured NAF who are shot, hung, or at the very least so severely beaten that they wouldn't have been able to march anywhere. Thus while the march proved a public relations disaster in the west (the New York Times impudently claimed that they were holding an anti-independence march) It was a relatively minor crime compared with all the homes, schools, hospitals, factories etc bombed and shelled by the Kiev regime, killing thousands. Only weeks before the situation had seemed extremely perilous with Donetsk and Lugansk in danger of being cut off from each other and encircled. Thus they can be forgiven this celebration aimed at Humiliating Poroshenko. And perhaps I can be forgiven if it made me smile.
To return to my point Ukraine has lost many experienced men who are replaced with raw recruits who provide easy prey for the NAF. The NAF on the other hand are becoming battle hardened veterans and are clearly doing a good job of training their new volunteers. It's poetic justice the Kiev regimes total disregard for the lives of it's people has come back to haunt them. They face a well motivated and experienced enemy. This not a "Russian Invasion" is what explains their recent defeats. Meanwhile before the NAF counter offensive began Poroshenko dissolved his parliament and he faces mass protests both from those demanding a halt to the war and those demanding he do more to win. The Fascists national guard units are in open rebellion. Putin called upon the Novorossiyan's to open a humanitarian corridor for the surrounded troops to retreat. Poroshenko on the contrary called on them to fight to the death. The Western press is already being forced to back away from the Russian invasion narrative. In a month doubtless the whole episode will be forgotten and they'll be telling some new big lie probably yet another Russian invasion story but who knows. The louder they shout about a Russian invasion the less anyone will care about the covert aid Russia provides, and the more they'll damage their credibility. Meanwhile we will struggle against overwhelming odds to spread the truth, Just as the NAF will hopefully still be struggling against the odds for independence from the murderous Kiev regime installed by the US and NATO.
Sources
First let me Salute all the great people who provide analysis and translations for Vineyard of the Saker, Slavyangrad, and colonel Cassad in English for being right about the situation when all the Mainstream sources were wrong. The New York times offered not one word the day after the counteroffensive for example. Their work is invaluable. I'm a complete civilian so any insights into the war I get from them. Any mistakes are my own.
Here is A great post from Slavyangrad about the recent victory
http://slavyangrad.org/2014/08/27/the-southern-front-catastrophe-august-27-2014/
And a whole compilation of reports on the recent victories
http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/overview-of-situation-in-donbass-region.html
Anyone wanting to keep track of events in Ukraine should visit these 3 sites
http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.co.uk
http://slavyangrad.org
http://cassad-eng.livejournal.com
And here is a great article on the "Russian Invasion" by Mike Whitney
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/08/29/obamas-catastrophic-defeat-in-ukraine/
And another from Stephen Lendman
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-russians-are-coming-big-lies.html
More on decades of covert US involvement in Ukraine
http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2014/08/09/cia-intervention-in-ukraine-has-been-taking-place-for-decades/#.U-bIBQoRcuw.twitter
Colonel Cassad on Arms dealing
http://cassad-eng.livejournal.com/71481.html
Some Great Analysis from the Saker
http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/august-30th-2143-utczulu-ukraine-sitrep.html
The Saker explains Cauldrons
http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/what-is-deal-with-ukie-cauldrons.html
James Corbett did an Excellent Video report sifting though the evidence on MH17
http://www.corbettreport.com/episode-294-crashes-of-convenience-mh17/
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Friday, August 22, 2014
Ferguson Ukraine Iraq
World in Crisis: Ferguson, Ukraine, and Iraq
It is a dangerous sign when events begin to speed up to such an extent. Even for the empire of chaos it was an extremely eventful 2 weeks. In Ferguson, Missouri what can only be described as an american intifada took place. Novorossiya had a mysterious change in government but still managed to repel yet another major push by the Kiev army to conquer Lugansk and Donetsk. Meanwhile Gaza suffers under diplomacy as an instrument of war as they are kept in constant suspense as too when this latest butchery will end. Iraq saw the fall of Maliki and an escalation in American involvement in their civil war.
A little known fact of American history is that our police force evolved from the armed bands of slave catchers that patrolled the south. A fact I learned from watching a clip from Scott Noble's Film in progress "Plutocracy." Since forever the US police force has been waging a low intensity war on the black community. Mass incarceration has been used as a continuation of slavery with millions behind bars. The war on drugs and the Prison Military Industrial complex making Billions off Imprisoning millions. As if that isn't bad enough the police have seemingly been given a license to kill and do whatever else they Please. An unarmed black man dies every 28 Hours. Even ordinary citizens seem to be able to get away with murder provided they are white and the victims black. One would expect the uprising to occur in Michigan which seems to be the Laboratory of a Neo-Liberal Post-Democratic experiment in looting the populace while denying them their democratic and even Human Rights. Instead Ferguson, Missouri unexpectedly exploded in protest when a black Teenager Mike Brown was shot by police officer Darren Wilson while on the way to visit his grandmother. It was the latest in a long line of incidents that usually cause momentary outrage and are soon forgotten. Police Brutality and the Murder of unarmed civilians are daily facts of life in the US. This time however there was an unusually strong reaction as protestors faced down the Blatantly Militarized Police and their brutal attempted crackdown. Perhaps it was the fact that Mike Brown had his hands raised in surrender and was killed anyway that caught the public imagination. The gesture was transformed overnight from a sign of Surrender into a sign of resistance. Upon viewing the scenes coming out of Ferguson. Ordinary Americans were shocked to discover what the Alternative Media had long warned of. The police have been armed and trained to suppress the American public should it ever rise up and demand change. The police have long been trained to view the public as enemies. Every youth, every minority, every protestor knows this. Only by "programing" (What sinister terminology "television programs") the public with hour after hour of procedural crime dramas can they be made to forget that simple fact. Ferguson however revealed the police state on full display. The protestors were faced by police armed to the teeth only distinguishable from the military by the fact that their black uniforms were scarier. Even the subservient corporate media was targeted by out of control police and threatened with death if they continued to film the brutal crackdown. America got a mild taste of what it exports around the world but instead of the war being waged in some hapless third world country it was taking place in the US. Still even this was nothing new American cities rose frequently in open revolt most famously throughout the 60's but it's happened many times before and since. Thus the Government has launched many brutal crackdowns sending in the national guard. Doubtless you could write a whole series of books The History of Riots in America. Someone should. Except for the Boston massacre (the rioters got to name it) where Ironically the first person shot happened to be black Riots are suppressed from our history. It is not good for the masses to realize just how many times they have spontaneously risen up. Unfortunately until the population begins to organize itself these momentary clashes between the powers of resistance and oppression will not lead to any real lasting changes. Still the riots did reveal one thing the power of our interconnected world. In a heartbreaking show of Sympathy Palestinians in Gaza tweeted out advice to the People of Ferguson on how to stand up to a brutal occupying force. They explained how to treat yourself for exposure to tear gas and how to organize to provide food and medical care for the protestors. Despite having survived yet another round of shootings, shelling, and bombing they were feeling sorry for black America. All over the world people followed events in Ferguson. Increasingly there seems to be a growing international community of alt media savvy youth who see things on a global scale and understand that all the various crises of the world our part of one interconnected whole. Syria tied to Ukraine tied to the Israeli Occupation of Palestine tied to Venezuela tied to Ferguson. In Ferguson for example it was revealed that the police had trained in Israel as if American cops needed special training in treating blacks as second class citizens. This practice is disturbingly widespread.
Events in Ukraine were also extremely eventful. Novorossiya (The region of South Eastern Ukraine rebelling against the Kiev Regime) experienced a mysterious wave of Resignations. Alexander Borodai the Prime Minister of the Donetsk People's Republic Resigned. So did Valery Bolotov the Prime Minister of the Lugansk People's Republic. Even the now Legendary Igor Strelkov resigned. It's still unclear why this happened or what the implications will be. For now I'll resist the urge to speculate until I can learn more. There are a lot of Ugly rumors floating around. At least the more alarmist speculation that this signaled some sort of imminent surrender have proved groundless so far. Despite the change in leadership the Anti-Fascist forces have managed so far to repel a major offensive launched by Poroshenko who hoped to smash the NAF (Novorossiyan Armed Forces) and reoccupy Lugansk and Donetsk in time for Ukrainian independence day August 24th. Unfortunately for Poroshenko each new disastrous offensive supplies the NAF with more equipment. Although the NAF are still outnumbered and outgunned they are steadily growing in strength. The Ukrainian armed forces are only good at shelling unarmed civilians. They have suffered appalling casualties. Against all the odds the NAF continue to successfully resist the masses of troops sent against them. The mainstream media which is claiming imminent victory for Kiev is in store for yet another embarrassment.
Then there is the Russian aid convoy which is in typical Orwellian fashion is considered some sort of war crime. How dare Russia feed the unpeople of south eastern Ukraine many of whom are without food medicines and running water. I call them unpeople since for months it has been clear that for the Media and for western governments the people of south eastern Ukraine simply do not exist. Whether they are shelled to death in the thousands or forced to flee by Kiev's ethnic cleansing plan in the hundreds of thousands the people of Novorossiya receive not one word of sympathy. Meanwhile Kiev receives more cash more weapons more reinforcements from Poland, more CIA advisers and more western mercenaries. Simply sending one truck by Russia would have been one to many since it demonstrates to the world that Kiev has created a massive Humanitarian crisis by waging a months long war against their own people. The media has been driven into high gear selling the Idea that the humanitarian aid convoy is really some sort of covert invasion. Whether or not Russia actually supplies covert support to the rebels it's absurd to think they would use such a public occasion to ship in weapons.
However Absurdity is the order of the day. In a war full of absurd lies the media really topped itself in a recent incident. First two british Papers published an account of Russian armored vehicles crossing the border but since it was a figment of their imagination they were unable to capture the invasion on film. Then the Kiev regime announced that they had destroyed the nonexistent invasion with an artillery barrage. Astute observers were laughing all over the world but the media with zero regard for their credibility reported the story. So far the non-existent wreckage of the non-existent Russian invasion force has yet to be located. Forget George Orwell this is like something out of Lewis Carroll. Poroshenko at least was able to score his first glorious victory it is so much easier to defeat an enemy that doesn't exist.
After more then a week of delays the Russian's sent their aid convoy in without permission. The Red Cross refused to accompany them because one of the goals of Poroshenko's offensive is to block the route and they have been bombing the roads. The Red Cross pullout however was blamed by the west on the Russians. They are portraying the humanitarian aid convoy as a Russian invasion but since they constantly issue false reports of Russian invasions it will probably all be forgotten in a few weeks time and they'll be hyping some new imaginary threat. However along with the trucks Russia issued a warning that it will hold Kiev responsible if the convoy comes under attack. There are unconfirmed reports that the the a truck was targeted with a mortar but Russia will probably show it's usual restraint. Aid has already arrived in Lugansk. The west has warned that Russia will face further sanctions for the crime of supplying food water and medicine to the Unpeople of Novorossiya.
Yes feeding the hungry and treating the sick are considered crimes. Cuba and Nicaragua were also brought under sanctions for trying to feed their people. As William Blum reported the US is the only country that voted against the Idea that food was a human right at the UN. In Michigan the Obama administration does nothing to prevent the right wing governor's minions in places like Detroit and Benton Harbor from attempting to cut off large swathes of the population from water. A few minutes thought reveal why this is insane. Preventing people from bathing or having access to the sewage system would create enormous risks to public health. Medieval conditions would be created easily preventable diseases would spread. Just imagine the stench the death the misery. This insane scheme was only prevented by a well organized grass roots campaign of protest.
In Iraq meanwhile Maliki was ousted in a US backed coup. Of course the US wasn't the only one glad to see him go. Ayatollah Sistani greatly revered usually reclusive Shia religious figure called for him to step down as did Fiery Shia Cleric Muqtada al Sadr. Obviously he had even more enemies among the Sunnis and Kurds. Still despite the claims that the whole mess was Maliki's fault doubtless the civil war will continue. Haider Jawad Al Abadi Maliki's replacement is so far an unknown quantity the product of secret back room negotiations. The US waged a phony humanitarian bombing campaign to protect the Yezidi's who were according to Pepe Escobar actually saved by the PKK (a kurdish guerrilla group) a long time ally of US enemy Syria and enemy of US ally Turkey. Then a reporter who used to praise the "Syrian rebels" James Foley was supposedly killed on camera by three british ISIS members known as the Beatles. Of course many are calling the tape a fake since people generally bleed when their throats are slit which Foley failed to do. Foley was kidnapped back in 2012 and was probably already dead. That hasn't stopped the incident from being used to argue both for an expansion of the war into Syria and as a test case to try and censor social media. Twitter and YouTube banned the video even though both are filled with much gorier images. The british even declared that distributing it could be considered an act of terrorism. Thus this incident could be used to attempt to ban people from distributing other footage from war zones exposing the brutality of wars in Gaza or Ukraine for example. At the very least these new rules will be used to prevent people from exposing the probably phony nature of the James Foley execution footage. This will make it easier for them to use the incident to expand the war into Syria. We'll need a new nickname for the Syria Iraq war theatre like the current AF/Pak for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Another Triumph for the American attempt to create an arc of crisis across Eurasia. In fact the war has already expanded into Lebanon as well but Lebanon has been a target from the beginning. According to Seymour Hersh the failed Israeli invasion of Lebanon lead to the current strategy called the redirection aimed at using Wahabi extremists to further destabilize the region. Thus Lebanon has been a target of terror attacks by the same forces terrorizing Iraq and Syria for years. However the US has decided to use the Crisis to expand their influence with the Lebanese army.
The Ukraine war also could be on the verge of expansion. As if starting a war in Ukraine was not dangerous enough the west has been stoking tensions between Moldova and breakaway Transnistria and between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Armenia and Transnistria are both Russian allies. Transnistria is garrisoned with Russian troops. Thus both these situations could have dangerous future consequences. Just how many proxy wars with Russia does the west intend to launch? Syria could also lead to war with Russia. With events speeding up so fast it is easy for things to spiral out of control. Of course that is actually the game plan in the US empire of chaos. I didn't even have time to talk about Ebola or Gaza, the USAfrica summit, protests in Portugal tensions with china etc. Whether in Iraq, Ukraine or it's own cities, America and it's allies war on the planet continues to expand. So too must global awareness and resistance.
Sources
Heres are a couple of great articles on Ferguson Police Brutality and how to organize an effective resistance.
http://libya360.wordpress.com/2014/08/20/ferguson-unmasks-the-war-on-black-america/
Here is an article on the Russian Convoy by Steven Lendman he recently recovered from a health Crisis and is back to producing his great articles.
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2014/08/russian-humanitarian-aid-reaches-lugansk.html
Another Lendman article on the cynical use of the negotiations to further oppress Gaza
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2014/08/pro-israeli-security-council-gaza.html
And Pepe Escobar on Iraq
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID-01-210814.html
Tony Cartalucci on Syria
http://syria360.wordpress.com/2014/08/22/us-begins-selling-syria-intervention-using-isis-pretext/
And that film clip About the origins of the american police
http://vimeo.com/97074965
Check out Metanoia films for great Documentaries donate and Help Scott Noble complete his new film Plutocracy. (my Favorite is Counter-Intelligence)
http://metanoia-films.org
It is a dangerous sign when events begin to speed up to such an extent. Even for the empire of chaos it was an extremely eventful 2 weeks. In Ferguson, Missouri what can only be described as an american intifada took place. Novorossiya had a mysterious change in government but still managed to repel yet another major push by the Kiev army to conquer Lugansk and Donetsk. Meanwhile Gaza suffers under diplomacy as an instrument of war as they are kept in constant suspense as too when this latest butchery will end. Iraq saw the fall of Maliki and an escalation in American involvement in their civil war.
A little known fact of American history is that our police force evolved from the armed bands of slave catchers that patrolled the south. A fact I learned from watching a clip from Scott Noble's Film in progress "Plutocracy." Since forever the US police force has been waging a low intensity war on the black community. Mass incarceration has been used as a continuation of slavery with millions behind bars. The war on drugs and the Prison Military Industrial complex making Billions off Imprisoning millions. As if that isn't bad enough the police have seemingly been given a license to kill and do whatever else they Please. An unarmed black man dies every 28 Hours. Even ordinary citizens seem to be able to get away with murder provided they are white and the victims black. One would expect the uprising to occur in Michigan which seems to be the Laboratory of a Neo-Liberal Post-Democratic experiment in looting the populace while denying them their democratic and even Human Rights. Instead Ferguson, Missouri unexpectedly exploded in protest when a black Teenager Mike Brown was shot by police officer Darren Wilson while on the way to visit his grandmother. It was the latest in a long line of incidents that usually cause momentary outrage and are soon forgotten. Police Brutality and the Murder of unarmed civilians are daily facts of life in the US. This time however there was an unusually strong reaction as protestors faced down the Blatantly Militarized Police and their brutal attempted crackdown. Perhaps it was the fact that Mike Brown had his hands raised in surrender and was killed anyway that caught the public imagination. The gesture was transformed overnight from a sign of Surrender into a sign of resistance. Upon viewing the scenes coming out of Ferguson. Ordinary Americans were shocked to discover what the Alternative Media had long warned of. The police have been armed and trained to suppress the American public should it ever rise up and demand change. The police have long been trained to view the public as enemies. Every youth, every minority, every protestor knows this. Only by "programing" (What sinister terminology "television programs") the public with hour after hour of procedural crime dramas can they be made to forget that simple fact. Ferguson however revealed the police state on full display. The protestors were faced by police armed to the teeth only distinguishable from the military by the fact that their black uniforms were scarier. Even the subservient corporate media was targeted by out of control police and threatened with death if they continued to film the brutal crackdown. America got a mild taste of what it exports around the world but instead of the war being waged in some hapless third world country it was taking place in the US. Still even this was nothing new American cities rose frequently in open revolt most famously throughout the 60's but it's happened many times before and since. Thus the Government has launched many brutal crackdowns sending in the national guard. Doubtless you could write a whole series of books The History of Riots in America. Someone should. Except for the Boston massacre (the rioters got to name it) where Ironically the first person shot happened to be black Riots are suppressed from our history. It is not good for the masses to realize just how many times they have spontaneously risen up. Unfortunately until the population begins to organize itself these momentary clashes between the powers of resistance and oppression will not lead to any real lasting changes. Still the riots did reveal one thing the power of our interconnected world. In a heartbreaking show of Sympathy Palestinians in Gaza tweeted out advice to the People of Ferguson on how to stand up to a brutal occupying force. They explained how to treat yourself for exposure to tear gas and how to organize to provide food and medical care for the protestors. Despite having survived yet another round of shootings, shelling, and bombing they were feeling sorry for black America. All over the world people followed events in Ferguson. Increasingly there seems to be a growing international community of alt media savvy youth who see things on a global scale and understand that all the various crises of the world our part of one interconnected whole. Syria tied to Ukraine tied to the Israeli Occupation of Palestine tied to Venezuela tied to Ferguson. In Ferguson for example it was revealed that the police had trained in Israel as if American cops needed special training in treating blacks as second class citizens. This practice is disturbingly widespread.
Events in Ukraine were also extremely eventful. Novorossiya (The region of South Eastern Ukraine rebelling against the Kiev Regime) experienced a mysterious wave of Resignations. Alexander Borodai the Prime Minister of the Donetsk People's Republic Resigned. So did Valery Bolotov the Prime Minister of the Lugansk People's Republic. Even the now Legendary Igor Strelkov resigned. It's still unclear why this happened or what the implications will be. For now I'll resist the urge to speculate until I can learn more. There are a lot of Ugly rumors floating around. At least the more alarmist speculation that this signaled some sort of imminent surrender have proved groundless so far. Despite the change in leadership the Anti-Fascist forces have managed so far to repel a major offensive launched by Poroshenko who hoped to smash the NAF (Novorossiyan Armed Forces) and reoccupy Lugansk and Donetsk in time for Ukrainian independence day August 24th. Unfortunately for Poroshenko each new disastrous offensive supplies the NAF with more equipment. Although the NAF are still outnumbered and outgunned they are steadily growing in strength. The Ukrainian armed forces are only good at shelling unarmed civilians. They have suffered appalling casualties. Against all the odds the NAF continue to successfully resist the masses of troops sent against them. The mainstream media which is claiming imminent victory for Kiev is in store for yet another embarrassment.
Then there is the Russian aid convoy which is in typical Orwellian fashion is considered some sort of war crime. How dare Russia feed the unpeople of south eastern Ukraine many of whom are without food medicines and running water. I call them unpeople since for months it has been clear that for the Media and for western governments the people of south eastern Ukraine simply do not exist. Whether they are shelled to death in the thousands or forced to flee by Kiev's ethnic cleansing plan in the hundreds of thousands the people of Novorossiya receive not one word of sympathy. Meanwhile Kiev receives more cash more weapons more reinforcements from Poland, more CIA advisers and more western mercenaries. Simply sending one truck by Russia would have been one to many since it demonstrates to the world that Kiev has created a massive Humanitarian crisis by waging a months long war against their own people. The media has been driven into high gear selling the Idea that the humanitarian aid convoy is really some sort of covert invasion. Whether or not Russia actually supplies covert support to the rebels it's absurd to think they would use such a public occasion to ship in weapons.
However Absurdity is the order of the day. In a war full of absurd lies the media really topped itself in a recent incident. First two british Papers published an account of Russian armored vehicles crossing the border but since it was a figment of their imagination they were unable to capture the invasion on film. Then the Kiev regime announced that they had destroyed the nonexistent invasion with an artillery barrage. Astute observers were laughing all over the world but the media with zero regard for their credibility reported the story. So far the non-existent wreckage of the non-existent Russian invasion force has yet to be located. Forget George Orwell this is like something out of Lewis Carroll. Poroshenko at least was able to score his first glorious victory it is so much easier to defeat an enemy that doesn't exist.
After more then a week of delays the Russian's sent their aid convoy in without permission. The Red Cross refused to accompany them because one of the goals of Poroshenko's offensive is to block the route and they have been bombing the roads. The Red Cross pullout however was blamed by the west on the Russians. They are portraying the humanitarian aid convoy as a Russian invasion but since they constantly issue false reports of Russian invasions it will probably all be forgotten in a few weeks time and they'll be hyping some new imaginary threat. However along with the trucks Russia issued a warning that it will hold Kiev responsible if the convoy comes under attack. There are unconfirmed reports that the the a truck was targeted with a mortar but Russia will probably show it's usual restraint. Aid has already arrived in Lugansk. The west has warned that Russia will face further sanctions for the crime of supplying food water and medicine to the Unpeople of Novorossiya.
Yes feeding the hungry and treating the sick are considered crimes. Cuba and Nicaragua were also brought under sanctions for trying to feed their people. As William Blum reported the US is the only country that voted against the Idea that food was a human right at the UN. In Michigan the Obama administration does nothing to prevent the right wing governor's minions in places like Detroit and Benton Harbor from attempting to cut off large swathes of the population from water. A few minutes thought reveal why this is insane. Preventing people from bathing or having access to the sewage system would create enormous risks to public health. Medieval conditions would be created easily preventable diseases would spread. Just imagine the stench the death the misery. This insane scheme was only prevented by a well organized grass roots campaign of protest.
In Iraq meanwhile Maliki was ousted in a US backed coup. Of course the US wasn't the only one glad to see him go. Ayatollah Sistani greatly revered usually reclusive Shia religious figure called for him to step down as did Fiery Shia Cleric Muqtada al Sadr. Obviously he had even more enemies among the Sunnis and Kurds. Still despite the claims that the whole mess was Maliki's fault doubtless the civil war will continue. Haider Jawad Al Abadi Maliki's replacement is so far an unknown quantity the product of secret back room negotiations. The US waged a phony humanitarian bombing campaign to protect the Yezidi's who were according to Pepe Escobar actually saved by the PKK (a kurdish guerrilla group) a long time ally of US enemy Syria and enemy of US ally Turkey. Then a reporter who used to praise the "Syrian rebels" James Foley was supposedly killed on camera by three british ISIS members known as the Beatles. Of course many are calling the tape a fake since people generally bleed when their throats are slit which Foley failed to do. Foley was kidnapped back in 2012 and was probably already dead. That hasn't stopped the incident from being used to argue both for an expansion of the war into Syria and as a test case to try and censor social media. Twitter and YouTube banned the video even though both are filled with much gorier images. The british even declared that distributing it could be considered an act of terrorism. Thus this incident could be used to attempt to ban people from distributing other footage from war zones exposing the brutality of wars in Gaza or Ukraine for example. At the very least these new rules will be used to prevent people from exposing the probably phony nature of the James Foley execution footage. This will make it easier for them to use the incident to expand the war into Syria. We'll need a new nickname for the Syria Iraq war theatre like the current AF/Pak for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Another Triumph for the American attempt to create an arc of crisis across Eurasia. In fact the war has already expanded into Lebanon as well but Lebanon has been a target from the beginning. According to Seymour Hersh the failed Israeli invasion of Lebanon lead to the current strategy called the redirection aimed at using Wahabi extremists to further destabilize the region. Thus Lebanon has been a target of terror attacks by the same forces terrorizing Iraq and Syria for years. However the US has decided to use the Crisis to expand their influence with the Lebanese army.
The Ukraine war also could be on the verge of expansion. As if starting a war in Ukraine was not dangerous enough the west has been stoking tensions between Moldova and breakaway Transnistria and between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Armenia and Transnistria are both Russian allies. Transnistria is garrisoned with Russian troops. Thus both these situations could have dangerous future consequences. Just how many proxy wars with Russia does the west intend to launch? Syria could also lead to war with Russia. With events speeding up so fast it is easy for things to spiral out of control. Of course that is actually the game plan in the US empire of chaos. I didn't even have time to talk about Ebola or Gaza, the USAfrica summit, protests in Portugal tensions with china etc. Whether in Iraq, Ukraine or it's own cities, America and it's allies war on the planet continues to expand. So too must global awareness and resistance.
Sources
Heres are a couple of great articles on Ferguson Police Brutality and how to organize an effective resistance.
http://libya360.wordpress.com/2014/08/20/ferguson-unmasks-the-war-on-black-america/
Here is an article on the Russian Convoy by Steven Lendman he recently recovered from a health Crisis and is back to producing his great articles.
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2014/08/russian-humanitarian-aid-reaches-lugansk.html
Another Lendman article on the cynical use of the negotiations to further oppress Gaza
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2014/08/pro-israeli-security-council-gaza.html
And Pepe Escobar on Iraq
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID-01-210814.html
Tony Cartalucci on Syria
http://syria360.wordpress.com/2014/08/22/us-begins-selling-syria-intervention-using-isis-pretext/
And that film clip About the origins of the american police
http://vimeo.com/97074965
Check out Metanoia films for great Documentaries donate and Help Scott Noble complete his new film Plutocracy. (my Favorite is Counter-Intelligence)
http://metanoia-films.org
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Gaza Under Attack
Operation Protective Edge: Israel's latest war on Palestinians
Israel's war on the millions of Palestinian's in the West Bank and Gaza has been going on for nearly 50 years. Even in so called times of peace Israel wages constant low intensity warfare on the Palestinians. People are assassinated, people are dragged away to prison without charge where they will be tortured. Many of those they arrest are minors. In addition Israel wages a constant economic war, in Gaza they have been under a state of siege since 2007 when an economic blockade was imposed. The west bank is constantly being ethnically cleansed to make way for more and more jewish only settlements. The settlers invariably made up of the most extremist elements of Israeli society are given the freedom to constantly harass and attack their palestinian neighbors. The palestinians are also the target of a constant psychological war aimed at breaking their spirit. Israel hopes that if it can make conditions hellish enough that one day they will be able to eject the entire populace. After all this is how Israel was founded and they were quite successful in ethnically cleansing palestine to create the state of Israel as documented in the now classic "Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine" by Israeli historian Ilan Pappe. (He was forced to flee the country because of a stream of death threats against himself and his family) This period of ethnic cleansing is called by the Palestinians the Nakbah meaning the Catastrophe. However in the Hubris of the 1967 war Israel seized more Palestinian populated territory the West Bank was seized from Jordan while Gaza was seized from Egypt. With the whole world watching Israel didn't dare to force the entire populace to flee. So it began it's process of slow motion genocide which has continued to this day. Bit by bit they have devoured the west bank families are forced off of their homes and loose their land. Until the Israeli dream of a Nakbah part 2 can take place they have to content themselves with these periodic attempts to terrorize the entire population and engage in a genocidal targeting of their infrastructure very similar to the methods the US used in Iraq that led to a million dead from disease. Schools, hospitals, water treatment facilities, houses and Gaza's only power plant have been destroyed. 1.2 million are currently without access to clean water or working toilets. Afterwards the Palestinian's will be prevented from rebuilding as Israel restricts the import of building materials into Gaza. In fact even without this latest rampage the water and sewage situations were leading to a health emergency do to restrictions on building materials. In other words the populace was forced to drink sewage tainted water. Some have speculated that Israel is destroying vast swathes of Gaza to make way for settlements there. Israel withdrew it's settlers from densely populated Gaza in order to focus on stealing Palestinian lands in the West Bank. This is what earned convicted war criminal Ariel Sharon the Orwellian praise of being "a man of peace." However given the current public relations disaster where even the mainstream media, even the state department have begun to criticize the attack on Gaza these plans will probably be postponed for the present. It has also been pointed out that enormous natural gas reserves have been discovered off the coast another motive for all the bloody carnage. Whatever the motive the world is once again being subjected to the site of a largely defenseless people being slaughtered. Most of the world has always seen the conflict for what it is. It is instructive to read the long list of condemnations Israel has received at the hands of the UN general assembly. Often only the US and it's most servile and insignificant allies side with Israel. However in Some ignorant parts of the world that like to think of themselves as advanced like my native land the United States of America they have been under the delusion that Israel was defending itself. This illusion seemingly resistant for decades to any form of common sense, to any facts may finally be lifting from the US public. In return so as not to loose all credibility or often merely as a result of individually witnessing some new outrage the media is daring to criticize Israel.
Israel has one of the most powerful militaries in the world. They have massive stockpiles of Biological chemical and nuclear weapons. Israeli Nuclear submarines patrol the entire region. Still it is Israel's soft power that is truly dangerous. To do it justice would require a book or even a series of books. The Israel lobby is the elephant in the room that many are reluctant to discuss. It includes groups like AIPAC infamous for it's power over the US legislative branch. Recently the US Senate voted Unanimously in support of Israel's terror campaign against the civilian population of Gaza. This was not because they had all suddenly gone insane but rather because none dared to defy the lobby. Nor is the US the only country with a powerful Pro-Israel lobby Paris has CRIF and the Lobby is powerful in Britain and Germany among other countries. Still as I said there is far more then Aipac there are Pro Israel think tanks like the Institute for Defense of Democracies. Also groups aiming to prevent criticism in the Media like Canvas. When all else fails they send in the ADL. Israel's harshest critics are often Israelis so I'll recommend a hilarious Israeli documentary "Defamation" on the ADL where it's National Director Abe Foxman clearly states that there is no other conceivable reason other then anti-Semitism why anyone would ever criticize Israel. And as for all the Jewish Voices who criticize Israel? In any case Israel has used it's soft power to insure that certain western countries like the US have a completely false picture of Israel's endless Illegal occupation of palestinian territories. They believe that Israel is only defending itself. Fortunately a recent Gallup Poll revealed that 51% of American's consider Israel's actions during Operation Protective Edge were unjustified only 21% thought that Israel was justified. Thanks to the Internet people are finally beginning to wake up despite the disgraceful coverage of media outlets like the New York Times. By carrying out the attack on the Palestinians for too long the Israeli's may be loosing one of their most important assets US public opinion.
There is no telling how long Israel plans to continue it's latest bloodbath. As I write there is a supposed Ceasefire yesterday hours after it was declared Israel shelled a family home in a refugee camp injuring 30 people mostly women and children and killing a little girl. Just the latest in a long line of incidents that have horrified the world. Twitter is awash with photos of the mangled corpses of dead children. The tearstained faces of angry mourning parents. Devastated neighborhoods that have literally been flattened by bombs. Schools blown up in front of journalists. Playgrounds targeted. Hospitals bombed to prevent them from treating the wounded. 13 hospitals have been targeted so far and ten doctors have been killed. There is only so long all this can be spun as defense. The numbers don't lie as of August 4th 3 Israeli civilians had died. 64 Israeli soldiers have been killed mostly as a result of Netanyahu's foolish ground invasion of Gaza. 1,865 palestinians have been killed 429 were children 243 were women 79 were over 60. Many more have been "Injured" imagine loosing an arm or a leg or being scarred for life. Every day for the rest of your life is negatively impacted especially if these scars act as a constant reminder of a dead husband, wife, brother sister parent or child. So far 9,536 people have been "injured" 2,877 were children 1,853 were women 347 were over 60. Almost 3000 children have been scarred for life already. Then there are all those psychological scars. Over 40,000 homes have been destroyed. Imagine loosing everything you own in an instant. So many sentimental attachments destroyed so many memories gone forever. Psychological war is being waged in this case the deliberate attempt to instill feelings of terror, despair, Helplessness. But it's all very pointless certainly they succeed in spreading misery but after suffering nearly 50 years under Israel's ruthless occupation with old generations dying and new ones being born, the spirit of resistance will never fully die no matter how many times Israel wages one of it's almost yearly terror campaigns on the populace. If such a strategy truly worked it would have worked decades ago. Of course as I said the lunatic fringe at the helm secretly hope for the day when then world will be distracted by a big enough crisis that Israel will be able to get away with killing or expelling the Palestinians. Israeli politicians and Media seem oblivious to the fact that news can travel around the globe in an instant. They have engaged in some of the most shocking public statements imaginable. Rape has been openly advocated against the family members of members of various Palestinian resistance movements like Hamas. Israel played a prime role in the promotion of Hamas to it's current stature. The PLO was just too reasonable which was bad for Israel's public image so Israel promoted a muslim brotherhood splinter group to compete with PLO. Thus Israel claims to be defending itself against a monster that is largely of it's own creation. Sounds eerily familiar. Besides advocating rape there have been open calls for genocide from politicians and pundits. There have been calls to kill more mothers before they can give birth to more snakes which is what some Israelis are calling palestinian children.
At least in the US and Europe politicians at least feign humanitarian motives. Iraq had to be destroyed in order to be Freed. The Libyan people supposedly had to be bombed to smithereens in order to save them from Qadafi. Sure a moments critical analysis reveals it all to be utter madness but usually a steady stream of media disinformation manages to fool a certain amount of people for a time. The point is that they still pretend to be doing good despite the fact that they are doing evil. In Israel clearly that is no longer the case. Sure internationally their press guides tell them to feign concern for the palestinians but the domestic audience seems to have other ideas. The Israeli public has been manipulated for 70 years until it has come to this sorry state. Israel has been under attack, it has been under a psychological attack by extremist elements within Israeli society for so long that it is fast becoming a nation of virulent racists. Thus an Israeli newspaper published an op-ed openly calling for genocide. The current crisis actually began with a typical example of how the Israeli public are manipulated. Three Teenagers were kidnapped. The Israeli police received a call from one of the teenagers moments before they were shot. They were killed by machine gun fire during the call and the kidnappers could be heard saying we got three. Israeli intelligence put a gag order on the media forbidding them to reveal the teens fate and the Israeli public was lead to believe that they were still alive so that they could be whipped up into a frenzy behind the latest attack on the Gaza strip. In addition they falsely blamed Hamas for the attack when they knew the kidnappers were not connected to Hamas. These are the sorts of tactics that have over the decades turned Israel into a nation of bigots. Thus not only have the Israeli been killing palestinians angry mobs have been carrying out brutal murders that remind me of the sort of scenes once common in the American south. They are eerily similar to the Lynchings that once plagued America. Google Emmet till for one famous example. Palestinian Teenagers are being kidnapped beaten to death and set on fire. Even Israelis demonstrating for peace have been beaten by bands of racists. Think of it as a cautionary tale Media propaganda can turn people into racist beasts. The same sort of mindset is being instilled across the western world as a result of the War on Terror and the War on Drugs. Hollywood movies turn the people of the world into menacing faceless others who must be killed without a second thought. If we do not resist this effort to dehumanize others we ourselves become dehumanized.
The People of the world must remember this latest series of atrocities and war crimes. For far to long the plight of the Palestinians has been ignored. How many more decades are they going to alternate between economic warfare, and endless humiliating restrictions, punctuated with arrests and assassinations and these periods of brutal rampages by the Israel Military in which civilians are bombed, shelled, and shot. Imagine if every couple of years your home was turned into a war zone. The rest of the time you lived in a state of induced emergency. Caged behind walls and fences for the crime of being born Palestinian. To give just one example of economic war Unemployment has increased in the Palestinian territories to 40% since 2001 when it was 20%. The people of the world must find ways to bring this endless military occupation to an end. Join the boycott divestment and sanctions movement and try to boycott as many corporations as possible profiting from the Occupation. Even a quick survey of the corporations involved like Coca Cola or McDonalds reveals the tragedy of our consumer society nearly everything we buy is tainted with blood and oppression. If not Palestinian blood then African, Asian or Latin American blood. The system makes accomplices of us all. Help fight the information war by creating or at least spreading media revealing the truth of what is going on in Palestine. Society seems to be nearing the tipping point where more then a decade of attempts to provide independent news is finally bearing fruit. The Media is being forced to grudgingly admit the truth that it tries so hard to hide. Israel is engaged in a war on a defenseless civilian population. Firing rockets is largely a symbolic form of resistance they have no warheads and have killed all of 3 people. While the Palestinians are helpless against the Israeli military assault, we have the power to beat the Israeli propaganda assault. In fact perhaps we already have. We must continue the fight to end the brutal occupation of Palestine. Israel's latest outrages must not be forgotten.
Sources
I spent all morning reading various articles besides having paid attention for weeks. I don't feel like reproducing it all here nor could I if i did. I'll just mention that Syria 360 has had great coverage of the war on Gaza.
http://syria360.wordpress.com
And here is the infamous Max Blumenthal article on the three missing teenagers
http://electronicintifada.net/content/netanyahu-government-knew-teens-were-dead-it-whipped-racist-frenzy/13533
For a great history of Israel read David Hirst's "The Gun and the Olive Branch" he was the first westerner who dared write an honest account of the conflict and has an updated expanded edition that brings it into the 21st century. I also recommend his "Beware of Small States" a history of Lebanon the site of terrible massacres of palestinian refugees as well as the scene of israeli invasion and a civil war. Also I recommend the Works of Israeli Historian Ilan Pappe such as The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. You can find some great lectures of his for free online. Edward Said is great to read for a Palestinian perspective. He also has some great lectures online. Jeffrey Blankfort is a great source on the Israel lobby. Watch the movie reel bad arabs available free online to begin to fight hollywoods attempts to turn you into a racist. My friend Pearse Redmond appeared on a recent Episode of Clandestime to discuss the movie. The podcast and a link to the film are here.
http://www.spyculture.com/clandestime-033-true-lies-and-reel-bad-arabs/
Check out his site for some great independent journalism
http://porkinspolicyreview.wordpress.com
Israel's war on the millions of Palestinian's in the West Bank and Gaza has been going on for nearly 50 years. Even in so called times of peace Israel wages constant low intensity warfare on the Palestinians. People are assassinated, people are dragged away to prison without charge where they will be tortured. Many of those they arrest are minors. In addition Israel wages a constant economic war, in Gaza they have been under a state of siege since 2007 when an economic blockade was imposed. The west bank is constantly being ethnically cleansed to make way for more and more jewish only settlements. The settlers invariably made up of the most extremist elements of Israeli society are given the freedom to constantly harass and attack their palestinian neighbors. The palestinians are also the target of a constant psychological war aimed at breaking their spirit. Israel hopes that if it can make conditions hellish enough that one day they will be able to eject the entire populace. After all this is how Israel was founded and they were quite successful in ethnically cleansing palestine to create the state of Israel as documented in the now classic "Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine" by Israeli historian Ilan Pappe. (He was forced to flee the country because of a stream of death threats against himself and his family) This period of ethnic cleansing is called by the Palestinians the Nakbah meaning the Catastrophe. However in the Hubris of the 1967 war Israel seized more Palestinian populated territory the West Bank was seized from Jordan while Gaza was seized from Egypt. With the whole world watching Israel didn't dare to force the entire populace to flee. So it began it's process of slow motion genocide which has continued to this day. Bit by bit they have devoured the west bank families are forced off of their homes and loose their land. Until the Israeli dream of a Nakbah part 2 can take place they have to content themselves with these periodic attempts to terrorize the entire population and engage in a genocidal targeting of their infrastructure very similar to the methods the US used in Iraq that led to a million dead from disease. Schools, hospitals, water treatment facilities, houses and Gaza's only power plant have been destroyed. 1.2 million are currently without access to clean water or working toilets. Afterwards the Palestinian's will be prevented from rebuilding as Israel restricts the import of building materials into Gaza. In fact even without this latest rampage the water and sewage situations were leading to a health emergency do to restrictions on building materials. In other words the populace was forced to drink sewage tainted water. Some have speculated that Israel is destroying vast swathes of Gaza to make way for settlements there. Israel withdrew it's settlers from densely populated Gaza in order to focus on stealing Palestinian lands in the West Bank. This is what earned convicted war criminal Ariel Sharon the Orwellian praise of being "a man of peace." However given the current public relations disaster where even the mainstream media, even the state department have begun to criticize the attack on Gaza these plans will probably be postponed for the present. It has also been pointed out that enormous natural gas reserves have been discovered off the coast another motive for all the bloody carnage. Whatever the motive the world is once again being subjected to the site of a largely defenseless people being slaughtered. Most of the world has always seen the conflict for what it is. It is instructive to read the long list of condemnations Israel has received at the hands of the UN general assembly. Often only the US and it's most servile and insignificant allies side with Israel. However in Some ignorant parts of the world that like to think of themselves as advanced like my native land the United States of America they have been under the delusion that Israel was defending itself. This illusion seemingly resistant for decades to any form of common sense, to any facts may finally be lifting from the US public. In return so as not to loose all credibility or often merely as a result of individually witnessing some new outrage the media is daring to criticize Israel.
Israel has one of the most powerful militaries in the world. They have massive stockpiles of Biological chemical and nuclear weapons. Israeli Nuclear submarines patrol the entire region. Still it is Israel's soft power that is truly dangerous. To do it justice would require a book or even a series of books. The Israel lobby is the elephant in the room that many are reluctant to discuss. It includes groups like AIPAC infamous for it's power over the US legislative branch. Recently the US Senate voted Unanimously in support of Israel's terror campaign against the civilian population of Gaza. This was not because they had all suddenly gone insane but rather because none dared to defy the lobby. Nor is the US the only country with a powerful Pro-Israel lobby Paris has CRIF and the Lobby is powerful in Britain and Germany among other countries. Still as I said there is far more then Aipac there are Pro Israel think tanks like the Institute for Defense of Democracies. Also groups aiming to prevent criticism in the Media like Canvas. When all else fails they send in the ADL. Israel's harshest critics are often Israelis so I'll recommend a hilarious Israeli documentary "Defamation" on the ADL where it's National Director Abe Foxman clearly states that there is no other conceivable reason other then anti-Semitism why anyone would ever criticize Israel. And as for all the Jewish Voices who criticize Israel? In any case Israel has used it's soft power to insure that certain western countries like the US have a completely false picture of Israel's endless Illegal occupation of palestinian territories. They believe that Israel is only defending itself. Fortunately a recent Gallup Poll revealed that 51% of American's consider Israel's actions during Operation Protective Edge were unjustified only 21% thought that Israel was justified. Thanks to the Internet people are finally beginning to wake up despite the disgraceful coverage of media outlets like the New York Times. By carrying out the attack on the Palestinians for too long the Israeli's may be loosing one of their most important assets US public opinion.
There is no telling how long Israel plans to continue it's latest bloodbath. As I write there is a supposed Ceasefire yesterday hours after it was declared Israel shelled a family home in a refugee camp injuring 30 people mostly women and children and killing a little girl. Just the latest in a long line of incidents that have horrified the world. Twitter is awash with photos of the mangled corpses of dead children. The tearstained faces of angry mourning parents. Devastated neighborhoods that have literally been flattened by bombs. Schools blown up in front of journalists. Playgrounds targeted. Hospitals bombed to prevent them from treating the wounded. 13 hospitals have been targeted so far and ten doctors have been killed. There is only so long all this can be spun as defense. The numbers don't lie as of August 4th 3 Israeli civilians had died. 64 Israeli soldiers have been killed mostly as a result of Netanyahu's foolish ground invasion of Gaza. 1,865 palestinians have been killed 429 were children 243 were women 79 were over 60. Many more have been "Injured" imagine loosing an arm or a leg or being scarred for life. Every day for the rest of your life is negatively impacted especially if these scars act as a constant reminder of a dead husband, wife, brother sister parent or child. So far 9,536 people have been "injured" 2,877 were children 1,853 were women 347 were over 60. Almost 3000 children have been scarred for life already. Then there are all those psychological scars. Over 40,000 homes have been destroyed. Imagine loosing everything you own in an instant. So many sentimental attachments destroyed so many memories gone forever. Psychological war is being waged in this case the deliberate attempt to instill feelings of terror, despair, Helplessness. But it's all very pointless certainly they succeed in spreading misery but after suffering nearly 50 years under Israel's ruthless occupation with old generations dying and new ones being born, the spirit of resistance will never fully die no matter how many times Israel wages one of it's almost yearly terror campaigns on the populace. If such a strategy truly worked it would have worked decades ago. Of course as I said the lunatic fringe at the helm secretly hope for the day when then world will be distracted by a big enough crisis that Israel will be able to get away with killing or expelling the Palestinians. Israeli politicians and Media seem oblivious to the fact that news can travel around the globe in an instant. They have engaged in some of the most shocking public statements imaginable. Rape has been openly advocated against the family members of members of various Palestinian resistance movements like Hamas. Israel played a prime role in the promotion of Hamas to it's current stature. The PLO was just too reasonable which was bad for Israel's public image so Israel promoted a muslim brotherhood splinter group to compete with PLO. Thus Israel claims to be defending itself against a monster that is largely of it's own creation. Sounds eerily familiar. Besides advocating rape there have been open calls for genocide from politicians and pundits. There have been calls to kill more mothers before they can give birth to more snakes which is what some Israelis are calling palestinian children.
At least in the US and Europe politicians at least feign humanitarian motives. Iraq had to be destroyed in order to be Freed. The Libyan people supposedly had to be bombed to smithereens in order to save them from Qadafi. Sure a moments critical analysis reveals it all to be utter madness but usually a steady stream of media disinformation manages to fool a certain amount of people for a time. The point is that they still pretend to be doing good despite the fact that they are doing evil. In Israel clearly that is no longer the case. Sure internationally their press guides tell them to feign concern for the palestinians but the domestic audience seems to have other ideas. The Israeli public has been manipulated for 70 years until it has come to this sorry state. Israel has been under attack, it has been under a psychological attack by extremist elements within Israeli society for so long that it is fast becoming a nation of virulent racists. Thus an Israeli newspaper published an op-ed openly calling for genocide. The current crisis actually began with a typical example of how the Israeli public are manipulated. Three Teenagers were kidnapped. The Israeli police received a call from one of the teenagers moments before they were shot. They were killed by machine gun fire during the call and the kidnappers could be heard saying we got three. Israeli intelligence put a gag order on the media forbidding them to reveal the teens fate and the Israeli public was lead to believe that they were still alive so that they could be whipped up into a frenzy behind the latest attack on the Gaza strip. In addition they falsely blamed Hamas for the attack when they knew the kidnappers were not connected to Hamas. These are the sorts of tactics that have over the decades turned Israel into a nation of bigots. Thus not only have the Israeli been killing palestinians angry mobs have been carrying out brutal murders that remind me of the sort of scenes once common in the American south. They are eerily similar to the Lynchings that once plagued America. Google Emmet till for one famous example. Palestinian Teenagers are being kidnapped beaten to death and set on fire. Even Israelis demonstrating for peace have been beaten by bands of racists. Think of it as a cautionary tale Media propaganda can turn people into racist beasts. The same sort of mindset is being instilled across the western world as a result of the War on Terror and the War on Drugs. Hollywood movies turn the people of the world into menacing faceless others who must be killed without a second thought. If we do not resist this effort to dehumanize others we ourselves become dehumanized.
The People of the world must remember this latest series of atrocities and war crimes. For far to long the plight of the Palestinians has been ignored. How many more decades are they going to alternate between economic warfare, and endless humiliating restrictions, punctuated with arrests and assassinations and these periods of brutal rampages by the Israel Military in which civilians are bombed, shelled, and shot. Imagine if every couple of years your home was turned into a war zone. The rest of the time you lived in a state of induced emergency. Caged behind walls and fences for the crime of being born Palestinian. To give just one example of economic war Unemployment has increased in the Palestinian territories to 40% since 2001 when it was 20%. The people of the world must find ways to bring this endless military occupation to an end. Join the boycott divestment and sanctions movement and try to boycott as many corporations as possible profiting from the Occupation. Even a quick survey of the corporations involved like Coca Cola or McDonalds reveals the tragedy of our consumer society nearly everything we buy is tainted with blood and oppression. If not Palestinian blood then African, Asian or Latin American blood. The system makes accomplices of us all. Help fight the information war by creating or at least spreading media revealing the truth of what is going on in Palestine. Society seems to be nearing the tipping point where more then a decade of attempts to provide independent news is finally bearing fruit. The Media is being forced to grudgingly admit the truth that it tries so hard to hide. Israel is engaged in a war on a defenseless civilian population. Firing rockets is largely a symbolic form of resistance they have no warheads and have killed all of 3 people. While the Palestinians are helpless against the Israeli military assault, we have the power to beat the Israeli propaganda assault. In fact perhaps we already have. We must continue the fight to end the brutal occupation of Palestine. Israel's latest outrages must not be forgotten.
Sources
I spent all morning reading various articles besides having paid attention for weeks. I don't feel like reproducing it all here nor could I if i did. I'll just mention that Syria 360 has had great coverage of the war on Gaza.
http://syria360.wordpress.com
And here is the infamous Max Blumenthal article on the three missing teenagers
http://electronicintifada.net/content/netanyahu-government-knew-teens-were-dead-it-whipped-racist-frenzy/13533
For a great history of Israel read David Hirst's "The Gun and the Olive Branch" he was the first westerner who dared write an honest account of the conflict and has an updated expanded edition that brings it into the 21st century. I also recommend his "Beware of Small States" a history of Lebanon the site of terrible massacres of palestinian refugees as well as the scene of israeli invasion and a civil war. Also I recommend the Works of Israeli Historian Ilan Pappe such as The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. You can find some great lectures of his for free online. Edward Said is great to read for a Palestinian perspective. He also has some great lectures online. Jeffrey Blankfort is a great source on the Israel lobby. Watch the movie reel bad arabs available free online to begin to fight hollywoods attempts to turn you into a racist. My friend Pearse Redmond appeared on a recent Episode of Clandestime to discuss the movie. The podcast and a link to the film are here.
http://www.spyculture.com/clandestime-033-true-lies-and-reel-bad-arabs/
Check out his site for some great independent journalism
http://porkinspolicyreview.wordpress.com