Cuba and the Struggle to Liberate Africa: Algeria, The Congo, and Guinea-Bissau
It is not only the crimes of empire that are suppressed from our history. Equally suppressed is the history of global resistance to imperialism. Perhaps the best example is provided by the work of Eduardo Galeano who in his memory of fire Trilogy creates a very different image of the history of the Americas a history of centuries of resistance by Indians, Slaves, Peasants, women Artists, workers. A history that had been largely forgotten or demonized. Even fairly recent history can remain largely forgotten. No surprise when even important current events like the ongoing the ongoing genocide in the Congo which began in the 90's and has reached a death toll of over ten million people are almost completely ignored except by a few voices in the wilderness like Cynthia Mckinney, Keith Harmon Snow or Andre Vltchek. Piero Gleijeses in his two books "Conflicting Missions" and "Visions of Freedom" has written the definitive account of a story that was little known at the time and largely forgotten today. The story of how the tiny Island of Cuba helped liberate Africa from Colonialism and Apartheid. This article will discuss the early stages of this cooperation between Cuba and African resistance movements including Che Guevara's little understood mission to the Congo. It will remind the world of the wonderful Cuban spirit of internationalism. A spirit which is alive to this day in the role Cuba continues to play in both sending doctors abroad to provide free health care all over the third world as well as the role they play in training students from all over the world to become doctors or other needed skills. It will also remind the world of a time when Africa was alive with struggle against Imperialism when heroic figures like Patrice Lumumba and Amilcar Cabral struggled to create independent African Nations.
The first example of Cuba's relationship with an African Independence movement occurred in Algeria. During the Cuban revolution it was too dangerous for the opposition press to discuss the Guerilla war to liberate Cuba from it's brutal dictator Fulgencio Batista. Instead they decided to cover the struggle of the FLN to liberate Algeria from the French. The Cuban revolutionaries and their sympathizers began to strongly identify with the people of Algeria as they followed the newspaper accounts of the Algerian Revolution. Batista fled on new years day January first 1959 and Castro came to power the next week. The FLN struggle however continued and in December 1961 Fidel Castro decided to send a boat carrying arms to the FLN. On it's return it brought back 76 wounded fighters and 20 war orphans to be educated in Cuba. Cuba provided this aid even though it risked offending the French who had cordial relations with Cuba at a time when Cuba was under economic siege from the US and it's clients and was the target of a CIA covert warfare campaign using cuban exiles. Ben Bella an FLN leader who would lead Algeria after independence was greatly touched by the aid provided by tiny besieged Cuba. After Algeria achieved independence on July, 3rd 1962 Ben Bella became Prime minister in September and in October went to New York to attend a ceremony marking Algeria's entry into the United Nations, after which he met with President Kennedy in Washington. His next stop despite knowing that it would outrage the Americans was Cuba. There Ben Bella and Castro quickly became friends and Ben Bella revealed that from his prison cell he had followed the Cuban revolution with the same interest as Cubans had followed the Algerian revolution. Both leaders had risked offending important potential allies to express their solidarity. Castro in gratitude decided to send a group of medical doctors and nurses as volunteers to Algeria where most of the doctors had been french and many had fled. Cuba itself had a shortage of doctors at the time as it's efforts to vastly expand the number of doctors being trained had not yet had time to yield significant results. Still Cuba sent a a group of volunteer doctors who provided free medical treatment to the locals. Since the Cubans had never done anything like this before they sent them without even making the proper arrangements to decide who would pay their small stipends required for food and other necessities. The early volunteers thus suffered great hardships often going hungry but still continuing to provide free medical care to the Algerians who had never heard of doctors who didn't charge their patients. Eventually the Cuban's managed to straighten things out and the Algerian medical mission became a prototype for cuban medical missions around the world. Later Cuba provided troops and tanks to the Algerians when they were menaced by their much better armed neighbor Morocco in a border dispute. This was despite the fact that the Cuban's believed that they themselves could be invaded by the US at any moment. It was also despite the fact that Morocco was about to buy a huge quantity of Cuban sugar despite pressure from the US. However the dispute was settled peacefully and instead of fighting in a war the Cubans made a gift of the tanks and provided training to the Algerians. The Algerians also agreed to help the Cubans by providing a base where they could train revolutionaries from Argentina and Venezuela in Guerrilla warfare. Friendship between the countries remained strong until Ben Bella was deposed by Houari Boumedienne in a coup on June 19, 1965. I'll close with a quote from Ben Bella on Cuba "If necessary, I am ready to sacrifice myself for Cuba. If the Cuban revolution were crushed or stifled, it would be cause for despair, because it would mean that there is no place for justice, for dignity in this world."
Now to turn to Congo. Actually there are two Congos one formerly ruled by the French with it's capital in Brazzaville. The other was colonized by the Belgians and was eventually renamed Zaire by Mobutu before being renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the 90's after Mobutu's fall. Glejeijeses refers to the belgian congo as Zaire to avoid confusion so I'll do the same. Cuba sent aid to both but I'll deal with Zaire first. Zaire has the misfortune to be one of the most mineral rich areas on the planet instead of prosperity it's resources have brought the nation nothing but war and tragedy. In the late 19th century it was colonized by famous "explorer" Henry Morten Stanley remembered today if at all for finding doctor David Livingstone. Instead he should be remembered as a mass murdering psychopath who was hired by King Leopold of Belgium to conquer a vast area of Africa to be exploited through a brutal terror campaign. The people of Zaire were forced to neglect their crops to spend their time gathering rubber to meet each villages quota. Failure to meet the quota would be result in the village being punished with an attack that invariably included rape mutilation and murder. Meeting the quota often meant starvation. Between 8 and 10 million were killed just in the early years. It became an international scandal at the time because just like today the conquest of the Zaire had been presented as a humanitarian venture. The war for the Zaire never really ended and a counterinsurgency campaign continued there well into the 1940's. The country achieved independence in 1960 and it's first prime minister was Patrice Lumumba. The king of Belgium arrived to give a speech on independence day and he spoke of Belgium's noble civilizing mission in Africa and the pride they took in it. Similar to the sort of nonsense American Presidents spout about Iraq and Vietnam not one word about the millions of victims instead some feel good nonsense about freedom and democracy. Patrice Lumumba made the enormous mistake of speaking the truth about how Africans had felt about Belgiums "Civilizing" mission. Since it is a great speech I'll include the whole thing
Patrice Lumumba
SPEECH AT THE CEREMONY OF THE PROCLAMATION OF THE CONGO'S INDEPENDENCE
June 30, 1960
Source: Patrice Lumumba, The Truth about a Monstrous Crime of the Colonialists, Moscow, Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1961, pp. 44-47.
Written: by Patrice Lumumba;
Transcribed: by Thomas Schmidt.
Men and women of the Congo,
Victorious independence fighters,
I salute you in the name of the Congolese Government.
I ask all of you, my friends, who tirelessly fought in our ranks, to mark this June 30, 1960, as an illustrious date that will be ever engraved in your hearts, a date whose meaning you will proudly explain to your children, so that they in turn might relate to their grandchildren and great-grandchildren the glorious history of our struggle for freedom.
Although this independence of the Congo is being proclaimed today by agreement with Belgium, an amicable country, with which we are on equal terms, no Congolese will ever forget that independence was won in struggle, a persevering and inspired struggle carried on from day to day, a struggle, in which we were undaunted by privation or suffering and stinted neither strength nor blood.
It was filled with tears, fire and blood. We are deeply proud of our struggle, because it was just and noble and indispensable in putting an end to the humiliating bondage forced upon us.
That was our lot for the eighty years of colonial rule and our wounds are too fresh and much too painful to be forgotten.
We have experienced forced labour in exchange for pay that did not allow us to satisfy our hunger, to clothe ourselves, to have decent lodgings or to bring up our children as dearly loved ones.
Morning, noon and night we were subjected to jeers, insults and blows because we were "Negroes". Who will ever forget that the black was addressed as "tu", not because he was a friend, but because the polite "vous" was reserved for the white man?
We have seen our lands seized in the name of ostensibly just laws, which gave recognition only to the right of might.
We have not forgotten that the law was never the same for the white and the black, that it was lenient to the ones, and cruel and inhuman to the others.
We have experienced the atrocious sufferings, being persecuted for political convictions and religious beliefs, and exiled from our native land: our lot was worse than death itself.
We have not forgotten that in the cities the mansions were for the whites and the tumbledown huts for the blacks; that a black was not admitted to the cinemas, restaurants and shops set aside for "Europeans"; that a black travelled in the holds, under the feet of the whites in their luxury cabins.
Who will ever forget the shootings which killed so many of our brothers, or the cells into which were mercilessly thrown those who no longer wished to submit to the regime of injustice, oppression and exploitation used by the colonialists as a tool of their domination?
All that, my brothers, brought us untold suffering.
But we, who were elected by the votes of your representatives, representatives of the people, to guide our native land, we, who have suffered in body and soul from the colonial oppression, we tell you that henceforth all that is finished with.
The Republic of the Congo has been proclaimed and our beloved country's future is now in the hands of its own people.
Brothers, let us commence together a new struggle, a sublime struggle that will lead our country to peace, prosperity and greatness.
Together we shall establish social justice and ensure for every man a fair remuneration for his labour.
We shall show the world what the black man can do when working in liberty, and we shall make the Congo the pride of Africa.
We shall see to it that the lands of our native country truly benefit its children.
We shall revise all the old laws and make them into new ones that will be just and noble.
We shall stop the persecution of free thought. We shall see to it that all citizens enjoy to the fullest extent the basic freedoms provided for by the Declaration of Human Rights.
We shall eradicate all discrimination, whatever its origin, and we shall ensure for everyone a station in life befitting his human dignity and worthy of his labour and his loyalty to the country.
We shall institute in the country a peace resting not on guns and bayonets but on concord and goodwill.
And in all this, my dear compatriots, we can rely not only on our own enormous forces and immense wealth, but also on the assistance of the numerous foreign states, whose co-operation we shall accept when it is not aimed at imposing upon us an alien policy, but is given in a spirit of friendship.
Even Belgium, which has finally learned the lesson of history and need no longer try to oppose our independence, is prepared to give us its aid and friendship; for that end an agreement has just been signed between our two equal and independent countries. I am sure that this co-operation will benefit both countries. For our part, we shall, while remaining vigilant, try to observe the engagements we have freely made.
Thus, both in the internal and the external spheres, the new Congo being created by my government will be rich, free and prosperous. But to attain our goal without delay, I ask all of you, legislators and citizens of the Congo, to give us all the help you can.
I ask you all to sink your tribal quarrels: they weaken us and may cause us to be despised abroad.
I ask you all not to shrink from any sacrifice for the sake of ensuring the success of our grand undertaking.
Finally, I ask you unconditionally to respect the life and property of fellow-citizens and foreigners who have settled in our country; if the conduct of these foreigners leaves much to be desired, our Justice will promptly expel them from the territory of the republic; if, on the contrary, their conduct is good, they must be left in peace, for they, too, are working for our country's prosperity.
The Congo's independence is a decisive step towards the liberation of the whole African continent.
Our government, a government of national and popular unity, will serve its country.
I call on all Congolese citizens, men, women and children, to set themselves resolutely to the task of creating a national economy and ensuring our economic independence.
Eternal glory to the fighters for national liberation!
Long live independence and African unity!
Long live the independent and sovereign Congo!
Marxism and Anti-Imperialism in Africa |Patrice Lumumba Archive
The response of the Belgians and the US to this speech was to vow the destruction of Patrice Lumumba. The Belgians in revenge began to strip the country of it's infrastructure and ship much of it back home. They encouraged Zaire's richest province Katanga to Secede within less then two weeks and Moshe Tshombe ruled there backed by a force of white mercenaries. . Lumumba made the mistake of calling on the UN for help. He became a prisoner in his own house and the US backed Joseph Kasavubu to take power. Lumumba escaped and went underground in an attempt to continue the struggle but was captured by forces loyal to Army Chief of Staff and CIA asset Joseph Mobutu beaten, mocked and flown to Katanga where he was murdered by Moshe Tshombe. Iconic footage still survives of the defiant Lumumba after his capture and shortly before his death. He became a Martyr like figure and in far away Cuba outrage over his fate would eventually lead to another Cuban intervention in Africa. However to continue sketching out a bit more of Zaire's history, the Americans bribed parliament to elect Cyril Adoula because one of Lumumba's supporters was about to win. With Lumumba dead Kennedy finally allowed the UN forces to put down the secession in Katanga. The country seemed stable with an American puppet in office the Katanga secession over and power maintained by the UN troops and Mobutu's brutal ANC the congolese army. However the poorly trained corrupt and brutal Congolese army behaved so badly that the people in the western Kwilu province rebelled. Ironically the CIA used it's Cuban exile pilots to put down the revolt. It was dying down when another revolt broke out in the Kivu province (the site of many atrocities in the recent Congo genocide as the Rwandan's have attempted to use their proxy armies to seize it) The revolt was lead by the Simba's (the lions) inspired by Lumumba but also believers in sorcery. The revolt spread according to new American President Lyndon Johnson like wildfire (Kennedy ironically had also become a martyr for attempting to chart an independent foreign policy among other things) although armed with only bows and arrows, bicycle chains and whatever else they could lay their hands on the rebels managed to drive the ANC troops away in a panic and they abandoned their modern weapons and fled. This was due partly to fear of sorcery but mostly they were disgusted by the poverty and corruption of "Independent" Congo.
With the army collapsing the US was desperate to destroy this spontaneous uprising. First it attempted to get it's european allies to intervene. However they were unsuccessful. The Belgians only cared about their business Interests and the Belgians still living there and so were willing to come to an arrangement with rebel held territories. The. British and French laughed at the American suggestion that the whole thing was part of some global communist conspiracy. The US decided that instead they would fund the recruitment of an army of mercenaries. If that Hadn't worked they would have invaded to restore order but since Johnson was busy escalating the Vietnam war that was a last resort. In Zaire meanwhile Moshe Tshombe Lumumba's killer had returned from exile and quickly been appointed Prime Minister which proved convenient since he was experienced at working with Mercenaries. All independent minded African leaders were disgusted by this development however. A massive force of Mercenaries were recruited all white and mostly from the Apartheid States of South Africa and Rhodesia. The US also supplied military aircraft once again flown by Cuban exiles. They began to brutally reconquer the country first the Simbas would be bombed from the Air then the well armed and trained mercenaries would move in launching a reign of terror reminiscent of the Leopold era and unfortunately similar to what goes on in the DRC today. Here's a description of their entry into the town of Boende that an italian journalist wrote after interviewing a group of mercenaries
"Occupying the town meant blowing out the doors with rounds of Bazooka fire, going into shops and taking anything they wanted that was moveable...After the looting came the killing. The shootings lasted for three days. Three days of executions, of lynchings, of tortures, of screams, and of terror"
Even their leader Mike Hoare called them "appalling thugs" they were of course portrayed in the US press as noble heroes and It was Malcolm X (also soon to be martyred for speaking Defiantly and Fearlessly) who was one of the few who knew and dared to speak about what was really going on in Zaire calling them "hordes of Nazi type mercenaries" By these Brutal means the US regained control of most of the rebel held areas. Towards the end of the campaign the Belgians sent in their Paratroopers (from US planes) to retake Stanleyville where the rebels in desperation were holding 300 white hostages as a bargaining chip. Order was restored meaning a reign of terror was conducted in the city. Sixty hostages died in the rescue attempt no one knows how many Zaireans died. This return of colonialism only 4 years after independence this naked show of imperialism using the Racist troops of Southern Africa to brutalize the country into submission outraged the more independent african Leaders and they vowed to send help to the rebels who remained in control of a couple of areas. However it was Cuba alone who actually sent troops in the form of a Secret Mission undertaken by the famous Ernesto "Che" Guevara.
In december 1964 Che went on a trip to Africa first arriving in Algeria then visiting the four then most radical countries in sub-saharan Africa Mali, Guinea, french congo, and Ghana. While on this trip he also met with liberation movements from other african states still struggling for independence and asked them what sorts of aid they might want. Because of the fate of Lumumba and the brutal suppression of the Simba's Che was obsessed with Zaire. He believed that from there revolution could sweep throughout the continent. He agreed to send advisers to the Simbas he also agreed to send advisers to french congo who would train various resistance movements. Che had wanted to train the resistance as they battled the mercenaries and ANC in Zaire but they refused. He did however make arrangements to offer weapons and training to a number of African movements fighting to liberate their countries. Che then returned to Cuba. Che was actually planning on leading an attempt to liberate his native Argentina but the preliminary expedition lead by one of his close friends was intercepted and killed so Che decided to delay going to Argentina and decided instead to personally lead the group of advisers heading to Zaire.
Back in Cuba black cuban soldiers were asked if they were wiling to go to an unknown country and fight against Imperialism. They agreed without even knowing the details. The African countries had requested black advisers so that they would be unnoticed. They went off for a couple of months of special training then told their families they were heading to the Soviet Union for training But instead flew to Europe then Algeria before taking a boat to Tanzania which had agreed to be a supply conduit for Russian and Cuban aid. Among them was Che who was so well disguised that back in Cuba before leaving even those he had fought beside like Victor Dreke couldn't recognize him at first. Che went under cover as a doctor as the only white cubans allowed on the expedition were doctors and Che had been a doctor before becoming a revolutionary. Unfortunately by the time he arrived it was far to late to salvage matters. The Simbas just wanted to be left alone in the territory they still controlled a tiny strip of land on the coast of Lake Tanganyika called the Fizi-Baraka. Che had been told that they had thousands of motivated and armed troops instead he found a completely disorganized force with no real central command. Laurent Kabila their supposed leader wasn't even in the country. Ironically Kabila would be used as a figurehead during the overthrow of Mobutu in the 90's then was murdered for betraying one of his corporate backers one day before the anniversary of Lumumba's death. Che spent most of his time waiting for Kabila to arrive. His requests to begin a large scale training plan were denied. His requests to lead troops into battle were denied. His request to begin exploring the country so he could get a sense of the situation were denied. Instead he occupied his time practicing medicine and Organizing classes for his men on swahili and other topics. Finally they got Permission to begin the training. The Simbas were largely unenthusiastic about training initially the cubans had sent 32 trainers but only 25 men initially showed up for training. Eventually however some units were trained that had some tactical successes. Actually the whole affair had a certain comedic element that you have to read the book to discover. On the one hand you have the Cubans filled with an almost religous fervor especially Che. He told his men that they must suffer every hardship with the Simbas if they went hungry so would the Cubans if they went without boots so to would the cubans. Che refused to admit that the mission was hopeless as he viewed such thinking as defeatist. In Che's view one is always struggling against the odds and one must be willing to give your life anywhere and at anytime if necessary. His men serving with a living legend were often afraid of expressing any criticism. The Simbas on the other hand were much more pragmatic and were more concerned with surviving. After the fate of their fellow rebels they knew the war was lost and they had no intention of dying for a lost cause. In other words fervent idealism came head to head with pragmatic realism with the inevitable comedic misunderstandings ensuing.
Eventually Kabila arrived and the Cubans were deployed to train and to fight along side the Simbas. Briefly they managed to increase the effectiveness of the rebels and the US noticed an increase in attacks coming from Fizi-baraka. They finally realized that the Cubans were operating there when one of them was killed. The US decided to send it's massive mercenary army to crush the pocket of resistance at Fizi-Baraka. At first the Simba's new training paid off and they offered stiff resistance but within two weeks they began to flee and Che was forced to decide whether to stay and fight with just the Cubans and to die or to retreat. Che was extremely tempted to stay but knew then his men would also feel compelled to stay and would die as well. Eventually he was all but forced to leave as the boat that arrived to pick up his men had orders to bring him back as well no matter what, even if it meant using force. Regretfully Che took the boat back with his men. In Zaire Mobuto eventually seized power where he reigned until the 90's when Clinton toppled him with a Ugandan and Rwandan army and briefly installed Kabila as a figurehead. This marked the beginning of a brutal invasion that has already lead to 10 million deaths and continues to this day. Bringing Zaire full circle to it's brutal colonization by the Belgians more then a Century ago when 10 million people also died. The only change is that instead of dying for rubber or Ivory they now die for coltan, copper, uranium, gold, diamonds, and tin. As for Che like Lumumba he would soon be captured and killed by the CIA in Bolivia.
In French Congo the Cuban's also sent a force of trainers and doctors. The entire country had only 7 doctors all of them foreign interestingly 2 had been sent by North Vietnam. However this mission also was the result of a misunderstanding as the government used radical rhetoric while still being completely reliant on France. The Cuban's main military contribution was to prevent a coup attempt. They did have a lasting impact by training a number of students in Cuba from the Congo who returned and became doctors. They also tried to train a people's militia to counterbalance it's pro-french army but the government changed their mind afraid of offending the army. they were able to train small bands of Guerrillas from Cameroon, Zaire and Angola. Most of the Zairean rebels were killed by Mobutu's forces upon their return. The Small Cameroonian force they trained was also intercepted and killed when it tried to return to Cameroon. Their one major Success was in training a band of MPLA fighters who managed to sneak through Zaire and made it to Angola. This relationship would in the mid 70's lead to Cuba's biggest intervention in Africa that in Angola which would eventually lead to the collapse of Apartheid in South Africa and the liberation of a number of countries in southern Africa. Eventually unimpressed by the Congolese government the Cubans decided to withdraw most of their trainers and after a coup took place they withdrew the rest.
In Guinea-Bissau the Cubans would finally find a resistance movement after their own heart. Unlike the disorganized Simbas or the hopelessly moderate government in French Congo the resistance in Guinea-Bissau was lead by Amilcar Cabral a figure not nearly as well known today as he deserves to be. He was a brilliant intellectual, a charismatic Politician, as well as a masterful military strategist. Che had met with him during his trip around Africa and had agreed to supply him aid and the Cubans sent him a sixty cases of arms and also began 30 cape verdeans from islands off the coast in guerrilla war in Cuba. Later in 1966 Amilcar Cabral arrived in Havana for the Tricontinental congress being held there. He gave an electrifying speech and Fidel Castro was so impressed that the two became inseparable for the next few days as Fidel took him on a tour of the cuban countryside and explained to him that Cuba is also Africa. A reference to the fact that Cuba was once basically just one giant slave plantation. Together they planned what aid should be sent and trainers and advisers were sent to Aid Amilcar Cabral in his nations fight for independence from Portugal which was still ruled by the fascist dictator Salazar. Since Portugal was a close ally of the US the US was indirectly supplying Portugal with arms for it's war to keep it's colonies intact and it's African subjects as second class citizens. So yet again the US was backing some of the most repressive forces in Africa this time the Fascist Portuguese.
Cuba only sent around 60 men at a time all under the command Victor Dreke who had been Che's right hand man in Zaire. Amilcar Cabral wanted to keep the number low because he believed it was important that Guinea-Bissau win it's independence on it's own and he saw the struggle itself as the means to cement Guinea-Bissau's different tribes into a single nation. The cubans also sent doctors and this greatly improved the morale of the PAIGC already the most effective resistance movement in Africa. The advisers played an important role. The PAIGC were declared the legitimate government by the UN general assembly in 1973 opposed only by the US the UK and Apartheid South Africa and and couple of US backed dictatorships Brazil, Spain, Greece and of course Portugal . The Soviets had decided to supply advanced weapons and the Cubans helped train the PAIGC to operate them. In addition the advisers were indispensable for calculating artillery strikes because except for the Cape Verdeans who had trained and studied in Cuba few possessed the necessary knowledge of Calculus since the Portuguese had intentionally provided inferior education to keep the Africans as second class citizens. Many of the African countries problems after Independence stemmed from policies like this which prevented African's from gaining the necessary skills and experience to solve their countries problems after independence.
Portugal waged a brutal counterinsurgency campaign which as always included torture, brutal massacres and the destruction of whole villages. The PAIGC despite the long portuguese counterinsurgency campaign managed to retain control of half the territory in the country throughout the war. Eventually in 1974 the Salazar regime finally collapsed and the new government finally granted Guinea-Bissau it's independence. Unfortunately Amilcar Cabral was murdered the year before but even after his death the PAIGC continued to be an extremely disciplined and effective fighting force. After his death the PAIGC had launched operation Amilcar Cabral and inflicted a decisive defeat capturing the vital fort at Guileje. The Cubans had played a major role being in charge of the artillery and Grad rocket trucks.
Cuba's role in the Liberation of Africa was only beginning but Guinea-Bissau proved to be the First major success of Cuba's policy. From 1966 until 1974 Cuba sent doctors and advisers to aid in the Struggle and the PAIGC were eventually victorious. A future article will continue the story. Today we may be seeing a rebirth of the spirit of internationalism volunteers from all over the world are traveling to Ukraine to fight Fascism. Venezuela inspired by the Cuban example is also beginning to send doctors around the world including Palestine. Cuba still under siege continues to send out doctors and to accept students from around the world. On a darker note Zaire now known as the Democratic Republic of The Congo is still being pillaged with a death toll of over ten million. Decades after independence much of Africa is more in need then ever of liberation. Hopefully one day soon the struggle against Neo-Colonialism will also give rise to figures like Patrice Lumumba and Amilcar Cabral.
Sources
I relied on Piero Gleijes "Conflicting Missions" for this article I highly recommend it. I also used Adam Hochsild's "King Leopolds Ghost" which mostly concentrates on the international outrage over King Leopolds Congo rather then being an actual history of the Congo making it rather flawed in my view. I cannot recommend Highly enough Eduardo Galeano's memory of Fire trilogy 1. Genesis 2. Faces and Masks 3. Century of the Wind. Not only do they unearth the true history of the Americas a history of resistance to Genocide Slavery and Exploitation they are also an artistic Masterpiece full of poetic beauty, humor, and humanity.
You can hear a great Interview with Piero Gleijes on the Cuban Role in Africa here
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/your-world-news/2013/12/17/visions-of-freedom-cuba-and-the-struggle-for-southern-africa
And here is a massive archive of articles on and Revolutionary writings from People like Che Guevara Patrice Lumumba and Amilcar Cabral
http://libya360.wordpress.com/african-union/
A Multimedia essay on the Congo by Adam Curtis
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/posts/kinshasa_city_number_two
An article I wrote on the Congo genocide
http://anti-imperialist-u.blogspot.com/2014/02/uganda-rwanda-and-congo.html
And an article I wrote with some great suggestions on sites to go to if you are interested in the current situation in Africa
http://www.globalresearch.ca/alternative-media-spotlight/5389597
Listen to this great interview on the What really happened in Rwanda and the current genocide in the Congo with Keith Harmon Snow
http://porkinspolicyreview.wordpress.com/2014/04/20/porkins-policy-radio-ep-20-the-falsification-of-genocide-with-keith-harmon-snow/
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Saturday, August 30, 2014
The Myth of a "Russian Invasion"
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/
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/
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
Monday, July 28, 2014
Venezuela A People's Revolution
Understanding the Revolution in Venezuela: A People's History
The Western Media generally attempt to portray Venezuela as some type of dictatorship. In typical Orwellian fashion Venezuela is called Un-Democratic. The reality is that Venezuela is seeing the creation of the 21st centuries first Real Democracy. I use the term Real Democracy because democracy is supposed to mean rule by the People. In the west we have so called representative democracy where we get to choose between bought off and pre-selected candidates who generally ignore the wishes of those they claim to represent. In Venezuela on the other hand there has been an effort to create people's assemblies so that the people themselves will directly participate in decision making. George Ciccariello-Maher's book "We Created Chavez: A People's History of the Venezuelan Revolution" provides a brilliant account of the forces that truly brought the Bolivarian revolution about in Venezuela where we can see the troubled birth of a new sort of democracy a Real Democracy where the people's voices are finally heard and their demands met. He takes a unique approach to the problem that should have been obvious save for the mesmerizing now dead Hugo Chavez who became a lightning rod. Whether portrayed as a hero or villain the obsession with Chavez Obscured from view the roots of the revolution. These roots are the many people of Venezuela who have been fighting for decades in the battle for a more just world. Actually the book is as much a work of Political philosophy as a work of history so you'll have to actually read the book if you want to follow George Ciccariello-Maher brilliant and complex line of thought. I can offer here only a simplified account of the events and forces that would give birth to and shape the Venezuelan revolution.
In most ways the account begins with the overthrow of the dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez in 1958. Ironically the election of Romulo Betancourt the first "Democratic" president was greeted by riots in the capital. According to Betancourt "The People as an Abstract concept do not exist" this riot of discontent on the birth of representative democracy foreshadowed later popular uprising's like the one in 1989 that was a reaction to the treachery of Carlos Andres Perez who was elected on a based on his strong criticism of Neo-Liberal economics and the IMF Austerity policies that had impoverished Venezuelans. Upon being elected he immediately institutited the very policies he had campaigned against. If it had happened in Washington or London people would perhaps merely have shrugged but in Venezuela where radical opposition had permeated the society and the poorest were well organized a rebellion took place known as the Caracazo which the government suppressed by killing between 300 and 3000 people. (Throughout the 80's this "democracy" in a sea of dictatorships had begun murdering the opposition Caracazo saw this tendency reach a bloody climax) Chavez would come onto the scene as a sort of delayed response to the brutal suppression of the Caracazo in 1992 with his failed military coup. Chavez's brother was a member of the revolutionary party PRV. Chavez was a product of Venezuela's revolutionary heritage rather then it's originator. Since I've already jumped ahead to from one popular uprising to another let's jump to the third important popular uprising in the book before returning to 1958 to explain some of the history of Venezuela's radical groups. After being released from prison Chavez ran for office and became president. In 2002 the elite with the secret urging of the US and the CIA decided to overthrow Chavez in a coup. NED funded crowds flooded the streets made up of Venezuela's Privileged who despised Chavez for being poor and being part black and Indian. In fact the US ambassador got in trouble for putting on play in which Chavez was portrayed by a chimpanzee echoing racist caricatures common among the opposition then and now. Colin Powell was not amused and the ambassador was forced to apologize. In a situation eerily similar to the recent coup in Ukraine opposition snipers fired on their own protestors. The military used the shootings as an excuse to overthrow Chavez and he was dragged off to an undisclosed location where they tried and failed to get Chavez to resign. It was an echo of the many US backed coups in Latin America. However it was foiled when yet again the people flooded the streets to make their displeasure felt. This inspired members of the Military still loyal to Chavez or at least opposed to the Coup to launch a counter coup and restore Chavez to Office. It was after being returned to office by a radical and mobilized people that Chavez truly began his series of radical reforms. Faced with many enemies he sought to hand more and more power to the people since only they could truly be relied upon to safeguard the Venezuelan revolution. Actually the most Unique aspect to George Ciccariello-Maher's book is that Hugo Chavez himself only makes fleeting appearances. Thus I will wait till a future time to further discuss Chavez himself. Instead we must return to 1958 to understand the story of this people usually invisible and forgotten until it emerges onto the streets to make it's will felt.
The tensions surrounding the first democratically elected president since the overthrow of the dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez reflected the split in the forces seeking to overthrow the president between those older more higher placed opposition members who lived in exile and the increasingly radical grassroots movement that actually overthrew him. The new President had been greeted by an angry riot from the People of Caracas and he responded by launching a murderous campaign to suppress dissent. Inspired by the successful Cuban revolution that happened that same year and disgusted by their murderous new democracy many youthful idealists actually quit parliament and decided to instead head for the country and attempt to stage a violent revolution. Unfortunately unlike the Cuban revolutionaries they failed to build strong ties with the people who's behalf they were supposed to be fighting. They fell under the influence of a French Theorist Regis Debray who had misinterpreted the Cuban revolution by putting too much emphasis on the idea that the key was for armed revolution to provide a focal point for popular discontent. Basically put simply the idea was that if you lead they will follow. The Guerrillas managed to alienate the masses and were crushed. However in failing they began to rethink their whole strategy and sought to form strong bonds with the People. Former guerrillas would begin to play vital roles in many of Venezuela's social movements. One of the running themes of the book is that whatever social movement he studies whether it is focused on Afro-Venezuelan Issues, women's issues, landless peasants etc. Inevitably he finds that it is lead by a former guerrilla. Former Guerrillas also served in the Chavez government itself. Thus while the Violent revolution proved a failure the introspection and change in direction this failure produced would be incredibly fruitful for Venezuela.
One of the big mistakes of the Guerrillas was their failure to join pre-existing struggles they expected to inspire revolution wherever they went and so ignored the areas where peasant's were already fighting for economic justice. After they began to rethink their strategy in the late 60's this would change. They began to join and helped to organize Venezuela's social movements. It is the social movements that really are behind the success of the Venezuelan revolution. In fact most of the book is devoted to various social movements in Venezuela, students, women, indigenous peoples, afro-Venezuelan, Workers, peasants, soldiers and so called informal labor( temporary labor, street vendors, hustlers that make up a large portion of the world, the unemployed struggling to survive.) Perhaps the epitome of the relation between the social movements and the Bolivarian revolution is the La Piedrita a neighborhood in Caracas marked by a sign that says "Here we command and the Government obeys" the social movements do not offer servile support instead they constantly demand more radical change. In many cases they are so successful that for instance it was the women's social movement that actually rewrote the parts of the constitution dealing with women, and it was indigenous groups that wrote the parts dealing with the rights of indigenous groups. Workers are encouraged to try and run their own factories. Their is an effort to increasingly empower the people to vote in their own local assemblies and decide for themselves rather then relying on generally corrupt representatives. Of course this produces all sorts of tensions, Conflicts and complexities and Venezuela is far from some paradise at least not yet. Still while we in the US, Europe and almost the whole world seem powerless to influence our governments a problem only intensified by it's formalization in international treaties like NAFTA and the attempts to push through new ones like the TPP and the TAP Venezuela is one of the few countries where the people are gaining more say rather then less say in how their country is run. This is no accident but the result of the fact that Venezuela is one of the few countries in which the people have successfully organized themselves so as to make their demands heard. One of the excellent things about the book is that studying resistance in Venezuela is to study Venezuela itself. Meaning that studying the social movements one finds them active in every sector of Venezuela. Unfortunately the social movements provide to large a topic to do justice to them all in a short essay. Instead I'll briefly describe one example with which the book opens the neighborhood of La Piedrita literally the pebble. In the 70's and 80's Venezuela was the scene of a low intensity urban guerrilla war. Inspired by the urban guerrillas many poor neighborhoods began to form self defense squads to defend themselves first from the police then to fight crime in their neighborhoods. La Piedrita was a particularly effective example it managed to stamp out the drug trade and also to keep the police at bay. As in most countries this was hardly paradoxical as the police were actively involved in the drug trade. Piedrita did more then just stamp out it's crime it also organized it's whole community into an assembly and the whole community became an autonomous collective. Piedrita became an important center for organizing the Caracazo uprising and later was also a major center for organizing the the resistance to the attempted coup in 2002. They are both strongly supportive of and fiercely independent of the Maduro government. To quote one leader in Piedrita (While Chavez was still alive) "Here the government doesn't tell us anything, they ask." Yet the same man when asked his opinion of Chavez replied "He's our Maximum Leader" La Piedrita embodies the new Venezuela.
The Venezuelan example has proved infectious across Latin America. While much of the rest of the world subserviently applies the policies of the IMF and the so called Washington consensus in Latin America a new independent course is being charted. It is long past time that the rest of the world began to follow the Venezuelan example. It is time that the rest of the world had a taste of real democracy. It won't happen overnight the Venezuelan revolution is the result of 40 years of struggle. Perhaps the key to the social movement's success is that unlike their northern cousins they retained their vision of radical social change the woman's movement for example always focused first on the needs of poor women (who make up the majority of Venezuela's women )and was clear in it's demand that the problem's of women could not be solved without radically changing society as a whole. The same focus is present in all of Venezuela's social movements. Thus social movements fight for areas of special concern but do not loose track of the big picture. Instead all to often in the north social movements sacrifice the big picture in favor of their narrow interests. Or worse engage in nothing more then identity politics narcissism. War, poverty, racism, ecological destruction all have one major cause our current economic system. Hundreds of millions have starved to death in the past 20 years. In other words to do nothing constitutes a great crime.
Today Venezuela which one of the few beacons of hope in the world is under assault. It is the target of an NED backed color revolution. It is the target of a CIA covert war. It is the target of Columbia's drug trafficking death squads. It is the target of an international media disinformation campaign involving the press, social media, and Celebrity sell outs. It is the target of subversion from within. It is the target of Economic warfare. The people of the world must act to help defend the Venezuelan revolution. The people of the world must also embrace the Venezuelan example. It is long past time that we had a direct say in how our countries are run. Enough of politicians who talk of peace and make war who talk of wealth and bring poverty. Only by building real democratic structures will we begin to have any say in the future.
Sources
I definitely recommend George Ciccariello-Maher's "We Created Chavez: A People's History of The Venezuelan Revolution. I was only able to scratch the surface. You could also search for articles he has written online.
For a more in Depth Summary see this book review
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10068
Here is an excerpt from his book that describes La Piedrita
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/venezuela-archives-35/4303-inside-la-piedrita-venezuelas-popular-militias-and-the-revolution
And a great interview with George Ciccariello-Maher on the Bullet Points podcast a great Podcast I loyally follow
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/occupydclive/2014/03/06/bulletpoints-wnavid-nasr-3-5-14
The best source for news on Venezuela is Venezuelanalysis
http://venezuelanalysis.com
The Western Media generally attempt to portray Venezuela as some type of dictatorship. In typical Orwellian fashion Venezuela is called Un-Democratic. The reality is that Venezuela is seeing the creation of the 21st centuries first Real Democracy. I use the term Real Democracy because democracy is supposed to mean rule by the People. In the west we have so called representative democracy where we get to choose between bought off and pre-selected candidates who generally ignore the wishes of those they claim to represent. In Venezuela on the other hand there has been an effort to create people's assemblies so that the people themselves will directly participate in decision making. George Ciccariello-Maher's book "We Created Chavez: A People's History of the Venezuelan Revolution" provides a brilliant account of the forces that truly brought the Bolivarian revolution about in Venezuela where we can see the troubled birth of a new sort of democracy a Real Democracy where the people's voices are finally heard and their demands met. He takes a unique approach to the problem that should have been obvious save for the mesmerizing now dead Hugo Chavez who became a lightning rod. Whether portrayed as a hero or villain the obsession with Chavez Obscured from view the roots of the revolution. These roots are the many people of Venezuela who have been fighting for decades in the battle for a more just world. Actually the book is as much a work of Political philosophy as a work of history so you'll have to actually read the book if you want to follow George Ciccariello-Maher brilliant and complex line of thought. I can offer here only a simplified account of the events and forces that would give birth to and shape the Venezuelan revolution.
In most ways the account begins with the overthrow of the dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez in 1958. Ironically the election of Romulo Betancourt the first "Democratic" president was greeted by riots in the capital. According to Betancourt "The People as an Abstract concept do not exist" this riot of discontent on the birth of representative democracy foreshadowed later popular uprising's like the one in 1989 that was a reaction to the treachery of Carlos Andres Perez who was elected on a based on his strong criticism of Neo-Liberal economics and the IMF Austerity policies that had impoverished Venezuelans. Upon being elected he immediately institutited the very policies he had campaigned against. If it had happened in Washington or London people would perhaps merely have shrugged but in Venezuela where radical opposition had permeated the society and the poorest were well organized a rebellion took place known as the Caracazo which the government suppressed by killing between 300 and 3000 people. (Throughout the 80's this "democracy" in a sea of dictatorships had begun murdering the opposition Caracazo saw this tendency reach a bloody climax) Chavez would come onto the scene as a sort of delayed response to the brutal suppression of the Caracazo in 1992 with his failed military coup. Chavez's brother was a member of the revolutionary party PRV. Chavez was a product of Venezuela's revolutionary heritage rather then it's originator. Since I've already jumped ahead to from one popular uprising to another let's jump to the third important popular uprising in the book before returning to 1958 to explain some of the history of Venezuela's radical groups. After being released from prison Chavez ran for office and became president. In 2002 the elite with the secret urging of the US and the CIA decided to overthrow Chavez in a coup. NED funded crowds flooded the streets made up of Venezuela's Privileged who despised Chavez for being poor and being part black and Indian. In fact the US ambassador got in trouble for putting on play in which Chavez was portrayed by a chimpanzee echoing racist caricatures common among the opposition then and now. Colin Powell was not amused and the ambassador was forced to apologize. In a situation eerily similar to the recent coup in Ukraine opposition snipers fired on their own protestors. The military used the shootings as an excuse to overthrow Chavez and he was dragged off to an undisclosed location where they tried and failed to get Chavez to resign. It was an echo of the many US backed coups in Latin America. However it was foiled when yet again the people flooded the streets to make their displeasure felt. This inspired members of the Military still loyal to Chavez or at least opposed to the Coup to launch a counter coup and restore Chavez to Office. It was after being returned to office by a radical and mobilized people that Chavez truly began his series of radical reforms. Faced with many enemies he sought to hand more and more power to the people since only they could truly be relied upon to safeguard the Venezuelan revolution. Actually the most Unique aspect to George Ciccariello-Maher's book is that Hugo Chavez himself only makes fleeting appearances. Thus I will wait till a future time to further discuss Chavez himself. Instead we must return to 1958 to understand the story of this people usually invisible and forgotten until it emerges onto the streets to make it's will felt.
The tensions surrounding the first democratically elected president since the overthrow of the dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez reflected the split in the forces seeking to overthrow the president between those older more higher placed opposition members who lived in exile and the increasingly radical grassroots movement that actually overthrew him. The new President had been greeted by an angry riot from the People of Caracas and he responded by launching a murderous campaign to suppress dissent. Inspired by the successful Cuban revolution that happened that same year and disgusted by their murderous new democracy many youthful idealists actually quit parliament and decided to instead head for the country and attempt to stage a violent revolution. Unfortunately unlike the Cuban revolutionaries they failed to build strong ties with the people who's behalf they were supposed to be fighting. They fell under the influence of a French Theorist Regis Debray who had misinterpreted the Cuban revolution by putting too much emphasis on the idea that the key was for armed revolution to provide a focal point for popular discontent. Basically put simply the idea was that if you lead they will follow. The Guerrillas managed to alienate the masses and were crushed. However in failing they began to rethink their whole strategy and sought to form strong bonds with the People. Former guerrillas would begin to play vital roles in many of Venezuela's social movements. One of the running themes of the book is that whatever social movement he studies whether it is focused on Afro-Venezuelan Issues, women's issues, landless peasants etc. Inevitably he finds that it is lead by a former guerrilla. Former Guerrillas also served in the Chavez government itself. Thus while the Violent revolution proved a failure the introspection and change in direction this failure produced would be incredibly fruitful for Venezuela.
One of the big mistakes of the Guerrillas was their failure to join pre-existing struggles they expected to inspire revolution wherever they went and so ignored the areas where peasant's were already fighting for economic justice. After they began to rethink their strategy in the late 60's this would change. They began to join and helped to organize Venezuela's social movements. It is the social movements that really are behind the success of the Venezuelan revolution. In fact most of the book is devoted to various social movements in Venezuela, students, women, indigenous peoples, afro-Venezuelan, Workers, peasants, soldiers and so called informal labor( temporary labor, street vendors, hustlers that make up a large portion of the world, the unemployed struggling to survive.) Perhaps the epitome of the relation between the social movements and the Bolivarian revolution is the La Piedrita a neighborhood in Caracas marked by a sign that says "Here we command and the Government obeys" the social movements do not offer servile support instead they constantly demand more radical change. In many cases they are so successful that for instance it was the women's social movement that actually rewrote the parts of the constitution dealing with women, and it was indigenous groups that wrote the parts dealing with the rights of indigenous groups. Workers are encouraged to try and run their own factories. Their is an effort to increasingly empower the people to vote in their own local assemblies and decide for themselves rather then relying on generally corrupt representatives. Of course this produces all sorts of tensions, Conflicts and complexities and Venezuela is far from some paradise at least not yet. Still while we in the US, Europe and almost the whole world seem powerless to influence our governments a problem only intensified by it's formalization in international treaties like NAFTA and the attempts to push through new ones like the TPP and the TAP Venezuela is one of the few countries where the people are gaining more say rather then less say in how their country is run. This is no accident but the result of the fact that Venezuela is one of the few countries in which the people have successfully organized themselves so as to make their demands heard. One of the excellent things about the book is that studying resistance in Venezuela is to study Venezuela itself. Meaning that studying the social movements one finds them active in every sector of Venezuela. Unfortunately the social movements provide to large a topic to do justice to them all in a short essay. Instead I'll briefly describe one example with which the book opens the neighborhood of La Piedrita literally the pebble. In the 70's and 80's Venezuela was the scene of a low intensity urban guerrilla war. Inspired by the urban guerrillas many poor neighborhoods began to form self defense squads to defend themselves first from the police then to fight crime in their neighborhoods. La Piedrita was a particularly effective example it managed to stamp out the drug trade and also to keep the police at bay. As in most countries this was hardly paradoxical as the police were actively involved in the drug trade. Piedrita did more then just stamp out it's crime it also organized it's whole community into an assembly and the whole community became an autonomous collective. Piedrita became an important center for organizing the Caracazo uprising and later was also a major center for organizing the the resistance to the attempted coup in 2002. They are both strongly supportive of and fiercely independent of the Maduro government. To quote one leader in Piedrita (While Chavez was still alive) "Here the government doesn't tell us anything, they ask." Yet the same man when asked his opinion of Chavez replied "He's our Maximum Leader" La Piedrita embodies the new Venezuela.
The Venezuelan example has proved infectious across Latin America. While much of the rest of the world subserviently applies the policies of the IMF and the so called Washington consensus in Latin America a new independent course is being charted. It is long past time that the rest of the world began to follow the Venezuelan example. It is time that the rest of the world had a taste of real democracy. It won't happen overnight the Venezuelan revolution is the result of 40 years of struggle. Perhaps the key to the social movement's success is that unlike their northern cousins they retained their vision of radical social change the woman's movement for example always focused first on the needs of poor women (who make up the majority of Venezuela's women )and was clear in it's demand that the problem's of women could not be solved without radically changing society as a whole. The same focus is present in all of Venezuela's social movements. Thus social movements fight for areas of special concern but do not loose track of the big picture. Instead all to often in the north social movements sacrifice the big picture in favor of their narrow interests. Or worse engage in nothing more then identity politics narcissism. War, poverty, racism, ecological destruction all have one major cause our current economic system. Hundreds of millions have starved to death in the past 20 years. In other words to do nothing constitutes a great crime.
Today Venezuela which one of the few beacons of hope in the world is under assault. It is the target of an NED backed color revolution. It is the target of a CIA covert war. It is the target of Columbia's drug trafficking death squads. It is the target of an international media disinformation campaign involving the press, social media, and Celebrity sell outs. It is the target of subversion from within. It is the target of Economic warfare. The people of the world must act to help defend the Venezuelan revolution. The people of the world must also embrace the Venezuelan example. It is long past time that we had a direct say in how our countries are run. Enough of politicians who talk of peace and make war who talk of wealth and bring poverty. Only by building real democratic structures will we begin to have any say in the future.
Sources
I definitely recommend George Ciccariello-Maher's "We Created Chavez: A People's History of The Venezuelan Revolution. I was only able to scratch the surface. You could also search for articles he has written online.
For a more in Depth Summary see this book review
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10068
Here is an excerpt from his book that describes La Piedrita
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/venezuela-archives-35/4303-inside-la-piedrita-venezuelas-popular-militias-and-the-revolution
And a great interview with George Ciccariello-Maher on the Bullet Points podcast a great Podcast I loyally follow
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/occupydclive/2014/03/06/bulletpoints-wnavid-nasr-3-5-14
The best source for news on Venezuela is Venezuelanalysis
http://venezuelanalysis.com
Monday, July 21, 2014
MH17 FalseFlag in Ukraine ?
Ukraine: Victory in the Southern Cauldron Followed by Attack on MH17
Last week saw an enormous turn in the fortunes of the anti-Fascist resistance of Novorossiya (the area under assault in South East Ukraine). The Ukrainian army met a crushing defeat in the so called Southern Cauldron. Ukrainian Army and national guard units were forced to flee with some of the Fascist National Guards even retreating into Russia where they received medical treatment. It's ironic that the National Guard famous for butchering civilians should receive humane treatment at the hands of the Russians they so despise. This was followed by what appears to be a massive psychological operation the downing of Malaysian Airliner MH 17. This was immediately seized upon by the Media to demonize Putin Russia, and the Anti-Fascist resistance movement in Novorossiya. Details could emerge later that definitively prove exactly who shot down the Plane. However the evidence seems to point towards the Kiev regime as the guilty party at this point. Of course the media has shown it's usual determination to turn truth on it's head. You can call it the Syria syndrome. In Syria both of the big false flag chemical weapon terror attacks launched by the death squads the media dubs "rebels" occurred after they suffered decisive defeats. Apparently the same thing has occurred in Ukraine. The shooting down of the plane is clearly a response to the defeat suffered by the Fascist forces in The southern corridor.
First I'll deal with the defeat. Once again the Vineyard of the Saker and Slavyangard sites proved themselves indispensable reading for anyone following the civil war in Ukraine. They broke the story of the massive defeat suffered by the Fascist forces in Ukraine to the english speaking world. Not a word about this important event was said in the mainstream media. What an embarrassment usually unconventional forces stand little chance in a head to head confrontation with a better armed conventional force. The Iraqi resistance learned that lesson when the Americans almost completely destroyed Fallujah. The so called "rebels" in Libya (ie terrorist death squads as in Syria) would never have been able to win if NATO hadn't been bombing the Nation to smithereens. In Syria the US-NATO-Israel-GCC backed death squads have suffered year after year of defeat. However the Ukraine forces suffered a massive defeat at the hands of a smaller and less well armed force. This was achieved through sheer incompetence and corruption at the top; combined with ill paid hungry troops many who secretly have no desire to carry out this immoral war at the bottom. According to the Saker Russia may have upped it's covert support for Novorossiya after the retreat from Slavyansk.
Actually I'll turn my attention to Slavyansk the "heroic City?" first since it's emerged that there may have been a whole political dimension to the decision to retreat from the city. At the same time as the news of victory it was announced that Khodakovsky former minister for state security of the Donetsk People's Republic had resigned from the government. He remains in control of the Vostok Battalion. According to an excellent analysis by the Saker (See sources below) Khodakovsky was connected to a scheme by Oligarch Rinat Akhmetov and Donetsk Mayor Alexander Lukianenko to surrender the Donbass. This scheme was disrupted when Strelkov staged his surprise retreat from Slavyansk. Lukianenko fled to Kiev upon Strelkov's Arrival. Now Khodakovsky has resigned from the government. Thus it would appear the retreat from Slavyansk was undertaken just as much to prevent the surrender of the Donbass region as to avoid eventual defeat in Slavyansk. The people of Slavyansk are unfortunately currently living in terror. The national guard continue to murder anyone they suspect of having aided the Self Defense Forces. The streets are deserted and many stores are closed. With their talent for staging memorable atrocities the the national Guard once again shocked the civilized world when according to one eye witness interviewed on Russian television they Crucified a 3 year old child and then shot his mother after deliberately gathering the neighbors to witness this horror show. Clearly we will need to keep a close eye on the future plight of the Slavyansk the Heroic City now under Occupation by Fascist butchers. In addition Leaked documents revealed that Kiev plans to either intern in camps or draft all the refugees in areas under their occupation depending on age and gender. The Kiev regime claimed it was time for the people of south eastern Ukraine make the same sacrifices as the rest of the country. What insane logic when the rest of the country is attacking the people of South Eastern Ukraine.
However the Kiev regime suffered a major setback in it's efforts to wage war on it's own people. No longer encircled in the Slavyansk with more men and equipment at their disposal Strelkov's forces not only resisted Poroshenko's new offensive against Lugansk and Donetsk they also managed to surround and crush the forces meant to be encircling them in the Southern Cauldron. This refers to the narrow strip of land between the area controlled by the self defense forces Novorossiya and the Russian border. However instead of catching NovoRossiya in a stranglehold as was intended they found themselves surrounded and in some cases through the incompetence of their commanders were caught in the open and destroyed by Grad Rocket trucks and artillery fire. There are at least 2 separate survivor accounts translated by and posted on Slavyangard which tell the same story they set up camp out in the open and were completely wiped out by NovoRossiyan forces from afar. Actually it was a bit heartrending to read despite the Ukrainian militaries months long campaign of attacking civilians with planes artillery and rockets, I couldn't help but sympathize with the Survivors who describe living through pure hell watching their fellow soldiers be blown to bits in a matter of Moments. The 3000 Ukrainian troops of the southern corridor were either killed captured or forced to flee. Many changed into civilian clothes. The fascist national guards terrified of reprisal stripped down to their underwear to avoid being identified as fascist butchers. Some were so desperate they fled to Russia. Hopefully Russia will do a full investigation on the national guard units in their custody and if guilty will try them for their crimes, but that may be wishful thinking. Further reports on the situation have been scarce since the crash of MH 17.
It should be mentioned that not only was Novorossiya victorious but the recent BRICS summit Provided a victory for Russia on the world stage. Putin had been touring Latin America. Perhaps his greatest public relations coup was canceling 37 billion in Cuban debt. This plays extremely well in Latin America where the Endless US bullying of Cuba for such crimes as providing free health care, or stamping out once rampant illiteracy is strongly opposed. Cuba stands as a symbol of resistance to American Empire in much of the world. For over 50 years Cuba has survived embargoes and covert war at the hands of their Giant neighbor. Putin also strengthened ties with nations like Venezuela and Nicaragua. The BRICS summit saw a further challenge to empire as they set up a development bank meant to challenge such tools of soft imperialism like the IMF or the World Bank. Basically he further emphasized that Russia was far from the international Pariah the US wished it to be. Not only had Russia strengthened ties with China but with the Global south in general through Russia's role in BRICS. Meanwhile Europe was resisting US efforts to force them to enact sanctions. Thus not only was the Ukraine Regime desperate after their defeat the US was extremely frustrated before the attack as well after Putin's triumphant tour of Latin America and the Successful BRICS summit.
The strangest element of the crash of MH 17 is the fact that this was the second mysterious crash of a Malaysian flight this year. Actually call it revenge of coincidence while looking up a little information on MH 370 the first mysterious crash i discovered that Twa 800 crashed on July 17 just like MH 17 and that July 17 was the date that the Tsar and his family were killed during the Russian revolution. Don't get carried away I'm sure it is just one of those strange coincidences. The fact that two Malaysian airliners were lost this year is more suspicious however. Actually the first is interesting because at the time at least the coverage of it was definitely used to distract from the Ukraine crisis which was in a fairly scary state with the west engaging in all sorts of chest pounding over the secession of the Crimea. Many were openly wondering about the possibility of Nuclear War. Suddenly the mainstream media focused instead for a week on the search for MH 370. Regardless of whether the plane merely crashed or was the victim of a cyberhijacking or some other Unknown attack the tragedy was used in the media as a major distraction. This latest crash not only changes the narrative about Ukraine but served to distract from Israel's ongoing attack on Gaza just before the crash the israelis killed 4 Palestinian children on a beach in front of a bunch of reporters. In fact mainstream reporters famous in general for their subservience to Israel were starting to grumble. Two were fired for daring to criticize the latest one sided barbarous assault by Israel. I only mention it to show how the mainstream media will not only use the tragedy to demonize Russia and Novorossiya but also to distract from other events like the war crimes in Gaza or the Ethnic cleansing of Iraqi Christians the same week. Most of the west will remain ignorant of the slaughter of christians in places like Syria, Iraq, and yes Palestine. It is better that the west where christianity is the majority religion not get confused and start to identify with the people of the middle east so instead we are taught that it is the "muslim world." Sorry for the tangent but all over the world we see these divisions and oversimplifications of identity which are then weaponized Iraq, Gaza, Ukraine, It's all part of the same empire of chaos people committing terrible crimes because they have been made to forget their common humanity. On a final note I learned recently that Omar al-Baghdadi the Leader of IS formerly ISIL was trained for over a year by the Mossad Israel's intelligence agency.
To return to MH 17 Malaysia has a connection to both Iraq and Gaza. Kuala Lumpur Malaysia was the sight of war crimes trials aimed both at condemning the war in Iraq and the Israeli occupation. It also hosted international Conferences aimed at Questioning what actually happened during the September 11th attacks. Plus it defied the advice of the technocrats at the IMF during the Asian Financial crisis leading to early economic recovery and providing a "bad example" for other countries. On the other hand it's current Government is much more Pro-US and signed on to the US scheme to encircle China. Again it could all be coincidence. While we'll probably never know what happened to MH 370 the evidence in MH 17 points to an attack by Kiev. In both cases secretly the truth was already known. The US definitely has the entire world under surveillance and so MH 370 was no mystery for them. However they refused to reveal what happened. In Ukraine both Russia and the US know what happened. Unfortunately the Russian Military doesn't want to reveal it's exact capabilities. They did however release their civilian radar records showing that MH 17 was indeed being followed by two Ukrainian fighter jets as eyewitnesses reported. There were reports that the NAF captured a BUK but the kiev regime claimed at the time they had been disabled in addition they require a trained operator which it is unlikely they posses. In addition Kiev provided photo's claiming to show that the self Defense forces had Buk anti-Aircraft vehicles. They claimed they showed them returning to Russia. However a blog called Human rights international proved that one of the BUKs (no 112) supposedly belonging to the NAF (Novorossyan armed forces) was actually Ukraine's. In addition Moscow Provided satellite photo's showing that the Ukrainian army had a number of BUKs in the area. In addition Alexander Borodai who heads the Donetsk People Rebublic pointed out that if Novorossiya had a working BUK it would have used it to attack the Ukraine air force which regularly conducts high altitude bombing raids against Novorossiya. Although the NAF have shot down a number of aircraft they were all flying at low altitude and were shot down using handheld missile launchers called Manpads. There was also a controversial leak by a spanish air traffic controller stationed in Ukraine which claimed that the Ukrainian army was responsible. In addition it has emerged that the flight was ordered to fly over the war zone when all other civilian flights avoid the war zone.
The key question however is motive why would the NAF which hasn't even launched attacks on pro-Kiev areas would suddenly bring down the wrath of the International community upon themselves by launching an attack on a Malaysian airliner. This would be the act of a desperate group not one that had recently won a major victory. Especially when if they actually possessed a working BUK they would have many more pressing targets Namely the Ukrainian Air force which has been killing civilians and self defense forces for months. The Kiev regime on the other hand came to power because of a false flag attack. As I discussed in my earlier article "Leaks False Flag Destabilization in Ukraine and Turkey" it was revealed months ago that the sniper shootings were carried out by pro maidan forces which shot both police and protestors. The killings were used the Delegitimize Yanukovich but were quickly forgotten once it became time for Ukraine to wage war on it's own people. After all the Kiev regime has already killed far more civilians in their anti-terror campaign then ever died during the Maidan Protests. Thus there is no question of whether the Kiev regime would carry out a false Flag attack or murder hundreds of innocent civilians they have already done both. Actually the Ukrainian government also accidentally shot down a civilian airliner siberian air 1812 back in 2001. Thus the Kiev Regime is the prime suspect. Unlike the NAF they had just suffered a major defeat and were desperate. By destroying the plane they managed to demonize both the NAF and Russia. In addition they had the means it has been proven that they had both Fighter aircraft and BUKs in the area where the crash took place. They have also been caught lying first by denying their jets presence in the area then by providing faulty photo evidence. I'm reminded of their earlier attempts to use photos to falsely show that Novorossiya was being occupied by Russian troops. Despite being backed by the state Department and the New York Times it was shown to be a massive fraud within days. In other words I am no expert on air defense systems or plane crashes but the Kiev Regime's historical record of False Flag attacks and it's murder of hundreds of civilians make it in my view the prime suspect. It had the means motive and opportunity. The US also has a history of being involved in the destruction of Civilian airliners. In october 1976 US trained cuban Exile terrorists CORU blew up a cuban Passenger jet. Despite publicly bragging about it the US allowed them to live unmolested in Miami. Once Terrorist Louis Posada who was also responsible for the famous assassination of former Chilean ambassador Orlando Letelier in Washington DC bribed his way out of Venezuelan prison he was allowed to settle in Florida, after he did more dirty work involving arming death squads and smuggling Drugs. A tiny piece in the Iran Contra Affair. In 1988 the US shot down an Iranian passenger jet. The US has also Killed millions of civilians and been involved in thousands of false flag attacks. Thus when it comes to whose history makes it likely they would be involved the US and the Kiev regime have the criminal rap sheet that makes them prime suspects. At the very least the US is covering for the kiev junta. It may actually have known about the attack in advance. It may have ordered the whole thing. We'll probably never know the details but just as in Syria where the rebels were eventually exposed at the very least the Kiev regime will probably eventually be exposed as the guilty party. You can bet that once again the US government and the Mainstream media will one day be exposed for telling yet another war mongering big lie on behalf of their mad quest to conquer the planet. MH 17 is destined to join the long list of US war provocations that were eventually exposed from sinking of the maine that started the Spanish American War to the gulf of Tonkin which escalated the Vietnam War, to incubator babies before the first gulf war, and weapons of mass destruction before the second US attack on Iraq, to the Ghouta story last year in Syria. These lies are exposed much quicker these days thanks to the internet. Malaysia has reached an agreement with Novorossiya to investigate the crash and hopefully the truth will be revealed. But if Malaysia bows to US Pressure and conducts a biased investigation we can at least rely on the Alternative media to expose the truth.
Sources
The militia briefings describing the victory of the Anti-Fascist forces
https://slavyangrad.wordpress.com/2014/07/17/briefings-july-16-2014/
An excellent analysis by the Saker
http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/ukraine-sitrep-july-17th-1555-utczulu.html
Slavyangrad's great coverage of the MH 17 story
http://slavyangrad.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/emerging-evidence-points-to-mh17-being-a-ukrainian-false-flag/
http://slavyangrad.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/breaking-part-ii-evidence-continues-to-emerge-mh17-is-a-false-flag-operation/
http://slavyangrad.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/spanish-air-controller-kiev-borispol-airport-ukraine-military-shot-down-boeing-mh17/
An account from the survivor of a disastrous battle
http://slavyangrad.wordpress.com/2014/07/20/ukrainian-soldiers-abandoned-in-zelenopillia-corpses-all-around-them/
The Saker explains air defense
http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/memories-recollection-guesses-and.html
As for the rest just search through The Vineyard of the Saker or Slavyangard for most of it they've done too many great stories to post them all here unfortunately. But thanks Saker and Gleb Bazov and the other translators for your tireless work giving us the real news on the situation in Ukraine.
Last week saw an enormous turn in the fortunes of the anti-Fascist resistance of Novorossiya (the area under assault in South East Ukraine). The Ukrainian army met a crushing defeat in the so called Southern Cauldron. Ukrainian Army and national guard units were forced to flee with some of the Fascist National Guards even retreating into Russia where they received medical treatment. It's ironic that the National Guard famous for butchering civilians should receive humane treatment at the hands of the Russians they so despise. This was followed by what appears to be a massive psychological operation the downing of Malaysian Airliner MH 17. This was immediately seized upon by the Media to demonize Putin Russia, and the Anti-Fascist resistance movement in Novorossiya. Details could emerge later that definitively prove exactly who shot down the Plane. However the evidence seems to point towards the Kiev regime as the guilty party at this point. Of course the media has shown it's usual determination to turn truth on it's head. You can call it the Syria syndrome. In Syria both of the big false flag chemical weapon terror attacks launched by the death squads the media dubs "rebels" occurred after they suffered decisive defeats. Apparently the same thing has occurred in Ukraine. The shooting down of the plane is clearly a response to the defeat suffered by the Fascist forces in The southern corridor.
First I'll deal with the defeat. Once again the Vineyard of the Saker and Slavyangard sites proved themselves indispensable reading for anyone following the civil war in Ukraine. They broke the story of the massive defeat suffered by the Fascist forces in Ukraine to the english speaking world. Not a word about this important event was said in the mainstream media. What an embarrassment usually unconventional forces stand little chance in a head to head confrontation with a better armed conventional force. The Iraqi resistance learned that lesson when the Americans almost completely destroyed Fallujah. The so called "rebels" in Libya (ie terrorist death squads as in Syria) would never have been able to win if NATO hadn't been bombing the Nation to smithereens. In Syria the US-NATO-Israel-GCC backed death squads have suffered year after year of defeat. However the Ukraine forces suffered a massive defeat at the hands of a smaller and less well armed force. This was achieved through sheer incompetence and corruption at the top; combined with ill paid hungry troops many who secretly have no desire to carry out this immoral war at the bottom. According to the Saker Russia may have upped it's covert support for Novorossiya after the retreat from Slavyansk.
Actually I'll turn my attention to Slavyansk the "heroic City?" first since it's emerged that there may have been a whole political dimension to the decision to retreat from the city. At the same time as the news of victory it was announced that Khodakovsky former minister for state security of the Donetsk People's Republic had resigned from the government. He remains in control of the Vostok Battalion. According to an excellent analysis by the Saker (See sources below) Khodakovsky was connected to a scheme by Oligarch Rinat Akhmetov and Donetsk Mayor Alexander Lukianenko to surrender the Donbass. This scheme was disrupted when Strelkov staged his surprise retreat from Slavyansk. Lukianenko fled to Kiev upon Strelkov's Arrival. Now Khodakovsky has resigned from the government. Thus it would appear the retreat from Slavyansk was undertaken just as much to prevent the surrender of the Donbass region as to avoid eventual defeat in Slavyansk. The people of Slavyansk are unfortunately currently living in terror. The national guard continue to murder anyone they suspect of having aided the Self Defense Forces. The streets are deserted and many stores are closed. With their talent for staging memorable atrocities the the national Guard once again shocked the civilized world when according to one eye witness interviewed on Russian television they Crucified a 3 year old child and then shot his mother after deliberately gathering the neighbors to witness this horror show. Clearly we will need to keep a close eye on the future plight of the Slavyansk the Heroic City now under Occupation by Fascist butchers. In addition Leaked documents revealed that Kiev plans to either intern in camps or draft all the refugees in areas under their occupation depending on age and gender. The Kiev regime claimed it was time for the people of south eastern Ukraine make the same sacrifices as the rest of the country. What insane logic when the rest of the country is attacking the people of South Eastern Ukraine.
However the Kiev regime suffered a major setback in it's efforts to wage war on it's own people. No longer encircled in the Slavyansk with more men and equipment at their disposal Strelkov's forces not only resisted Poroshenko's new offensive against Lugansk and Donetsk they also managed to surround and crush the forces meant to be encircling them in the Southern Cauldron. This refers to the narrow strip of land between the area controlled by the self defense forces Novorossiya and the Russian border. However instead of catching NovoRossiya in a stranglehold as was intended they found themselves surrounded and in some cases through the incompetence of their commanders were caught in the open and destroyed by Grad Rocket trucks and artillery fire. There are at least 2 separate survivor accounts translated by and posted on Slavyangard which tell the same story they set up camp out in the open and were completely wiped out by NovoRossiyan forces from afar. Actually it was a bit heartrending to read despite the Ukrainian militaries months long campaign of attacking civilians with planes artillery and rockets, I couldn't help but sympathize with the Survivors who describe living through pure hell watching their fellow soldiers be blown to bits in a matter of Moments. The 3000 Ukrainian troops of the southern corridor were either killed captured or forced to flee. Many changed into civilian clothes. The fascist national guards terrified of reprisal stripped down to their underwear to avoid being identified as fascist butchers. Some were so desperate they fled to Russia. Hopefully Russia will do a full investigation on the national guard units in their custody and if guilty will try them for their crimes, but that may be wishful thinking. Further reports on the situation have been scarce since the crash of MH 17.
It should be mentioned that not only was Novorossiya victorious but the recent BRICS summit Provided a victory for Russia on the world stage. Putin had been touring Latin America. Perhaps his greatest public relations coup was canceling 37 billion in Cuban debt. This plays extremely well in Latin America where the Endless US bullying of Cuba for such crimes as providing free health care, or stamping out once rampant illiteracy is strongly opposed. Cuba stands as a symbol of resistance to American Empire in much of the world. For over 50 years Cuba has survived embargoes and covert war at the hands of their Giant neighbor. Putin also strengthened ties with nations like Venezuela and Nicaragua. The BRICS summit saw a further challenge to empire as they set up a development bank meant to challenge such tools of soft imperialism like the IMF or the World Bank. Basically he further emphasized that Russia was far from the international Pariah the US wished it to be. Not only had Russia strengthened ties with China but with the Global south in general through Russia's role in BRICS. Meanwhile Europe was resisting US efforts to force them to enact sanctions. Thus not only was the Ukraine Regime desperate after their defeat the US was extremely frustrated before the attack as well after Putin's triumphant tour of Latin America and the Successful BRICS summit.
The strangest element of the crash of MH 17 is the fact that this was the second mysterious crash of a Malaysian flight this year. Actually call it revenge of coincidence while looking up a little information on MH 370 the first mysterious crash i discovered that Twa 800 crashed on July 17 just like MH 17 and that July 17 was the date that the Tsar and his family were killed during the Russian revolution. Don't get carried away I'm sure it is just one of those strange coincidences. The fact that two Malaysian airliners were lost this year is more suspicious however. Actually the first is interesting because at the time at least the coverage of it was definitely used to distract from the Ukraine crisis which was in a fairly scary state with the west engaging in all sorts of chest pounding over the secession of the Crimea. Many were openly wondering about the possibility of Nuclear War. Suddenly the mainstream media focused instead for a week on the search for MH 370. Regardless of whether the plane merely crashed or was the victim of a cyberhijacking or some other Unknown attack the tragedy was used in the media as a major distraction. This latest crash not only changes the narrative about Ukraine but served to distract from Israel's ongoing attack on Gaza just before the crash the israelis killed 4 Palestinian children on a beach in front of a bunch of reporters. In fact mainstream reporters famous in general for their subservience to Israel were starting to grumble. Two were fired for daring to criticize the latest one sided barbarous assault by Israel. I only mention it to show how the mainstream media will not only use the tragedy to demonize Russia and Novorossiya but also to distract from other events like the war crimes in Gaza or the Ethnic cleansing of Iraqi Christians the same week. Most of the west will remain ignorant of the slaughter of christians in places like Syria, Iraq, and yes Palestine. It is better that the west where christianity is the majority religion not get confused and start to identify with the people of the middle east so instead we are taught that it is the "muslim world." Sorry for the tangent but all over the world we see these divisions and oversimplifications of identity which are then weaponized Iraq, Gaza, Ukraine, It's all part of the same empire of chaos people committing terrible crimes because they have been made to forget their common humanity. On a final note I learned recently that Omar al-Baghdadi the Leader of IS formerly ISIL was trained for over a year by the Mossad Israel's intelligence agency.
To return to MH 17 Malaysia has a connection to both Iraq and Gaza. Kuala Lumpur Malaysia was the sight of war crimes trials aimed both at condemning the war in Iraq and the Israeli occupation. It also hosted international Conferences aimed at Questioning what actually happened during the September 11th attacks. Plus it defied the advice of the technocrats at the IMF during the Asian Financial crisis leading to early economic recovery and providing a "bad example" for other countries. On the other hand it's current Government is much more Pro-US and signed on to the US scheme to encircle China. Again it could all be coincidence. While we'll probably never know what happened to MH 370 the evidence in MH 17 points to an attack by Kiev. In both cases secretly the truth was already known. The US definitely has the entire world under surveillance and so MH 370 was no mystery for them. However they refused to reveal what happened. In Ukraine both Russia and the US know what happened. Unfortunately the Russian Military doesn't want to reveal it's exact capabilities. They did however release their civilian radar records showing that MH 17 was indeed being followed by two Ukrainian fighter jets as eyewitnesses reported. There were reports that the NAF captured a BUK but the kiev regime claimed at the time they had been disabled in addition they require a trained operator which it is unlikely they posses. In addition Kiev provided photo's claiming to show that the self Defense forces had Buk anti-Aircraft vehicles. They claimed they showed them returning to Russia. However a blog called Human rights international proved that one of the BUKs (no 112) supposedly belonging to the NAF (Novorossyan armed forces) was actually Ukraine's. In addition Moscow Provided satellite photo's showing that the Ukrainian army had a number of BUKs in the area. In addition Alexander Borodai who heads the Donetsk People Rebublic pointed out that if Novorossiya had a working BUK it would have used it to attack the Ukraine air force which regularly conducts high altitude bombing raids against Novorossiya. Although the NAF have shot down a number of aircraft they were all flying at low altitude and were shot down using handheld missile launchers called Manpads. There was also a controversial leak by a spanish air traffic controller stationed in Ukraine which claimed that the Ukrainian army was responsible. In addition it has emerged that the flight was ordered to fly over the war zone when all other civilian flights avoid the war zone.
The key question however is motive why would the NAF which hasn't even launched attacks on pro-Kiev areas would suddenly bring down the wrath of the International community upon themselves by launching an attack on a Malaysian airliner. This would be the act of a desperate group not one that had recently won a major victory. Especially when if they actually possessed a working BUK they would have many more pressing targets Namely the Ukrainian Air force which has been killing civilians and self defense forces for months. The Kiev regime on the other hand came to power because of a false flag attack. As I discussed in my earlier article "Leaks False Flag Destabilization in Ukraine and Turkey" it was revealed months ago that the sniper shootings were carried out by pro maidan forces which shot both police and protestors. The killings were used the Delegitimize Yanukovich but were quickly forgotten once it became time for Ukraine to wage war on it's own people. After all the Kiev regime has already killed far more civilians in their anti-terror campaign then ever died during the Maidan Protests. Thus there is no question of whether the Kiev regime would carry out a false Flag attack or murder hundreds of innocent civilians they have already done both. Actually the Ukrainian government also accidentally shot down a civilian airliner siberian air 1812 back in 2001. Thus the Kiev Regime is the prime suspect. Unlike the NAF they had just suffered a major defeat and were desperate. By destroying the plane they managed to demonize both the NAF and Russia. In addition they had the means it has been proven that they had both Fighter aircraft and BUKs in the area where the crash took place. They have also been caught lying first by denying their jets presence in the area then by providing faulty photo evidence. I'm reminded of their earlier attempts to use photos to falsely show that Novorossiya was being occupied by Russian troops. Despite being backed by the state Department and the New York Times it was shown to be a massive fraud within days. In other words I am no expert on air defense systems or plane crashes but the Kiev Regime's historical record of False Flag attacks and it's murder of hundreds of civilians make it in my view the prime suspect. It had the means motive and opportunity. The US also has a history of being involved in the destruction of Civilian airliners. In october 1976 US trained cuban Exile terrorists CORU blew up a cuban Passenger jet. Despite publicly bragging about it the US allowed them to live unmolested in Miami. Once Terrorist Louis Posada who was also responsible for the famous assassination of former Chilean ambassador Orlando Letelier in Washington DC bribed his way out of Venezuelan prison he was allowed to settle in Florida, after he did more dirty work involving arming death squads and smuggling Drugs. A tiny piece in the Iran Contra Affair. In 1988 the US shot down an Iranian passenger jet. The US has also Killed millions of civilians and been involved in thousands of false flag attacks. Thus when it comes to whose history makes it likely they would be involved the US and the Kiev regime have the criminal rap sheet that makes them prime suspects. At the very least the US is covering for the kiev junta. It may actually have known about the attack in advance. It may have ordered the whole thing. We'll probably never know the details but just as in Syria where the rebels were eventually exposed at the very least the Kiev regime will probably eventually be exposed as the guilty party. You can bet that once again the US government and the Mainstream media will one day be exposed for telling yet another war mongering big lie on behalf of their mad quest to conquer the planet. MH 17 is destined to join the long list of US war provocations that were eventually exposed from sinking of the maine that started the Spanish American War to the gulf of Tonkin which escalated the Vietnam War, to incubator babies before the first gulf war, and weapons of mass destruction before the second US attack on Iraq, to the Ghouta story last year in Syria. These lies are exposed much quicker these days thanks to the internet. Malaysia has reached an agreement with Novorossiya to investigate the crash and hopefully the truth will be revealed. But if Malaysia bows to US Pressure and conducts a biased investigation we can at least rely on the Alternative media to expose the truth.
Sources
The militia briefings describing the victory of the Anti-Fascist forces
https://slavyangrad.wordpress.com/2014/07/17/briefings-july-16-2014/
An excellent analysis by the Saker
http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/ukraine-sitrep-july-17th-1555-utczulu.html
Slavyangrad's great coverage of the MH 17 story
http://slavyangrad.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/emerging-evidence-points-to-mh17-being-a-ukrainian-false-flag/
http://slavyangrad.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/breaking-part-ii-evidence-continues-to-emerge-mh17-is-a-false-flag-operation/
http://slavyangrad.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/spanish-air-controller-kiev-borispol-airport-ukraine-military-shot-down-boeing-mh17/
An account from the survivor of a disastrous battle
http://slavyangrad.wordpress.com/2014/07/20/ukrainian-soldiers-abandoned-in-zelenopillia-corpses-all-around-them/
The Saker explains air defense
http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/memories-recollection-guesses-and.html
As for the rest just search through The Vineyard of the Saker or Slavyangard for most of it they've done too many great stories to post them all here unfortunately. But thanks Saker and Gleb Bazov and the other translators for your tireless work giving us the real news on the situation in Ukraine.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)