From carl at newsfromneptune.com Wed Mar 1 03:23:12 2023 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2023 21:23:12 -0600 Subject: [Peace-discuss] It Is The Mass Media's Job To Help Suppress Anti-War Movements Message-ID: <5B062B87-7F86-49AE-B1F3-7BE67FEAC50B@newsfromneptune.com> https://open.substack.com/pub/caitlinjohnstone/p/it-is-the-mass-medias-job-to-help From carl at newsfromneptune.com Wed Mar 1 17:22:05 2023 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2023 11:22:05 -0600 Subject: [Peace-discuss] =?utf-8?q?Read_Escobar=E2=80=99s_new_column?= Message-ID: <1F51A225-EF44-4E09-B95A-9221FB7AE86B@newsfromneptune.com> From jbn at forestfield.org Wed Mar 1 21:44:40 2023 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2023 15:44:40 -0600 Subject: [Peace-discuss] =?utf-8?q?Read_Escobar=E2=80=99s_new_column?= In-Reply-To: <1F51A225-EF44-4E09-B95A-9221FB7AE86B@newsfromneptune.com> References: <1F51A225-EF44-4E09-B95A-9221FB7AE86B@newsfromneptune.com> Message-ID: C. G. Estabrook via Peace-discuss wrote: > Escobar's new interview is worth watching as well: People behind Biden responsible for US Russophobic policy & Nord Stream attack - Pepe Escobar https://rumble.com/v2bdwgk-people-behind-biden-responsible-for-us-russophobic-policy-and-nord-stream-a.html From jbn at forestfield.org Thu Mar 2 02:33:20 2023 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2023 20:33:20 -0600 Subject: [Peace-discuss] Footage from recent in-person protests opposing war with Russia via Ukraine from around the world Message-ID: <7841c61f-f499-eaf5-d55c-1f0b670a7a12@forestfield.org> Canada https://youtube.com/watch?v=smg0cgxFTHQ Paris, France https://rumble.com/v2b44a8-paris-protesters-demand-end-of-weapon-deliveries-to-kiev.html Germany https://rumble.com/v2b151a-protesters-at-ramstein-air-base-in-germany-demand-end-of-arms-supply-to-ukr.html https://rumble.com/v2b0880-hundreds-rally-against-arms-deliveries-to-ukraine-in-cologne-germany.html https://rumble.com/v2azi8g-demonstration-against-arming-ukraine-draws-thousands-in-berlin.html "Ukraine War Protests Across Europe" https://youtube.com/watch?v=UqsBkZfP6bo US -- Rage Against the War Machine https://youtube.com/watch?v=duKeWROIp_Y https://youtube.com/channel/UC69vVyr50hd8tNeuR5lNc0A (has shorter videos of individual talks) From jbn at forestfield.org Thu Mar 2 23:19:31 2023 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2023 17:19:31 -0600 Subject: [Peace-discuss] Another Seymour Hersh interview In-Reply-To: References: <5194df63-2561-389f-dacb-c14e137bb297@forestfield.org> Message-ID: <07615c2b-3daa-c576-8f15-4837da3f5c8a@forestfield.org> I wrote: > Seymour Hersh's interview will run on Going Underground on Saturday. The clip > should show up on https://rumble.com/user/GoingUndergroundTV soon. > > https://rumble.com/v2atfik-seymour-hersh-on-why-us-blew-up-the-nordstreams-compares-his-source-to-edwa.html https://youtube.com/watch?v=b8QRWPxWP0o is another interview this time The Grayzone's Aaron Mat? interviewed Hersh. From jbn at forestfield.org Sun Mar 5 21:02:32 2023 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Sun, 5 Mar 2023 15:02:32 -0600 Subject: [Peace-discuss] Noam Chomsky on the U.S.-China Rivalry: Is China Really a Threat? Message-ID: <148db12c-f13c-fb7c-e189-73c09659efeb@forestfield.org> https://youtube.com/watch?v=f1CY-MWukEU In this interview one point Chomsky raises indirectly helps people understand why The Godfather (and mafia movies in general) are so popular with American audiences -- these movies help explain international affairs in a way uninitiated audiences can understand how power operates. Here's a transcript of an extract from the aforementioned video. > Noam Chomsky: US tells Europe not to trade with Iran, Europe doesn't like it but > it follows the order. US tells China you're not allowed to trade with Iran and > they don't pay any attention. Can't have that. You can't have a major country that > doesn't follow orders. That's an intolerable threat. International affairs is > pretty much like the mafia: The Godfather does not accept disobedience. It's too > dangerous. Even disobedience from a small shopkeeper is dangerous because others > may follow the example. But a major disobedience like another -- someone else > trying to be the Godfather? Can't have that. That's pretty much the basic > principle of international affairs. And they say US didn't invent it, it's just > taking it over from imperial history. > > China's threat is, there are lots of things China is doing that are long > violations of international law but that's not a threat. The threat is they are > there, they do not follow orders, they follow their own path -- they're developing > much of Eurasia through the Belt & Road initiative, this expanding to southeast > Asia, to Africa, to Latin America even, that's intolerable. Well, can't stop it > with bombs so let's try to stop it some other way by preventing their economic > development. It's a long story but it's very dangerous. From jbn at forestfield.org Sun Mar 5 21:02:36 2023 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Sun, 5 Mar 2023 15:02:36 -0600 Subject: [Peace-discuss] Footage from recent in-person protests opposing war with Russia via Ukraine from around the world In-Reply-To: <7841c61f-f499-eaf5-d55c-1f0b670a7a12@forestfield.org> References: <7841c61f-f499-eaf5-d55c-1f0b670a7a12@forestfield.org> Message-ID: <81eb9e79-c5dd-cdbb-d311-773e43c36cd9@forestfield.org> More anti-war protest footage and commentary from around the world. Germany https://rumble.com/v2bsd5g-demonstrators-march-for-peace-and-against-arms-deliveries-to-ukraine.html Italy https://rumble.com/v2bt3ek-sea-of-people-inundates-streets-of-florence-in-anti-fascist-rally.html https://youtube.com/watch?v=f9a0jby9OMY Latin America https://youtube.com/watch?v=PfsFofHZFrI This piece from Associated Press conflates multiple messages which are very separate. Anti-war footage is included "Europe Rises For Peace" https://youtube.com/watch?v=lsKTSwtsKyQ This segment includes footage from multiple anti-war protests against NATO. "Protests in Paris, Rome, and Berlin Against Ukraine War & NATO - Feb 25-26, 2023" https://youtube.com/watch?v=jk4J-5OweWo From jbn at forestfield.org Tue Mar 7 02:03:13 2023 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2023 20:03:13 -0600 Subject: [Peace-discuss] Pepe Escobar is on the 2023-03-06 CrossTalk In-Reply-To: References: <1F51A225-EF44-4E09-B95A-9221FB7AE86B@newsfromneptune.com> Message-ID: <83826632-6d06-7cb7-e388-db5b93ac9571@forestfield.org> Pepe Escobar is on the 2023-03-06 CrossTalk: https://rumble.com/v2bwipm-crosstalk-home-edition-global-majority.html https://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/572495-west-ukraine-conflict-crusade-crisis/ If past pattern holds, the latter link will eventually have a show transcript. Episode description copied from the rt.com link: > The West is self-centered, egotistical, and very unaware. This is particularly > true when it comes to the conflict in Ukraine. For the West, Ukraine is some kind > of moral crusade. For most of the world, Ukraine is a crisis created by the West ? > and they don?t want anything to do with it. From carl at newsfromneptune.com Tue Mar 7 19:27:23 2023 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2023 13:27:23 -0600 Subject: [Peace-discuss] Fwd: Enemy of the State References: <20230307191354.3.c4a073e766fb3b3c@mg-d1.substack.com> Message-ID: <2BF99F4B-375F-4620-8C0D-D8DD596EAAFA@newsfromneptune.com> Sent from my iPhone Begin forwarded message: > From: Scott Ritter Extra > Date: March 7, 2023 at 1:14:51 PM CST > To: cgestabrook at gmail.com > Subject: Enemy of the State > Reply-To: Scott Ritter Extra > > ? > Open in app or online > Enemy of the State > SCOTT RITTER > MAR 7 > > > > > CROSS-POST > > > When NBC reporter Keir Simmons, a citizen of the United Kingdom, accepted his assignment to travel to Crimea for the purpose of covering the impact of the Ukrainian conflict on the local population, I would imagine that the last thing on his mind was that fulfilling his journalistic duties would garner him a spot on the Ukrainian intelligence service?s (SBU) Myrotvorets ?hit list.? > > Yes, you got that right?for the crime of journalism, Keir Simmons has been sentenced to die by the notorious SBU. Keir?s crime? ?He has attacked Ukraine?s sovereignty and territorial integrity,? the SBU declared. > > This is no idle threat?one only need to familiarize themselves with the cases of Russian journalist Daria Dugina and Italian journalist Andrea Rocchelli, both of whom were placed on the Myrotvorets list, and both of whom were subsequently assassinated by the SBU and their photographs on the list emblazoned with the word ?liquidated? in blood red. > > Jackson Hinkle, the American host of the popular YouTube podcast ?The Dive,? has likewise been added to the Myrotvorets ?kill list? for the ?crime? of publishing ?anti-Ukrainian propaganda,? spreading ?Kremlin propaganda for profit,? and ?justification and informational support of the open attack of fascist Russia on Ukraine.? > > In America, we call what Jackson Hinkle and Keir Simmons do journalism. In Ukraine, it is apparently a capital crime. > > > Scott Ritter will discuss this article and answer audience questions on Episode 51 of Ask the Inspector. > > The silence from both NBC News and the US government is deafening. > > I have been on the Myrotvorets ?kill list? since early summer 2022. I welcome Keir and Jackson to the club of persons marked for death by the government of a nation the United States and United Kingdom are actively supporting in its ongoing war against Russia. > > They say in war, truth is the first casualty. Closely behind, it seems, are the truth tellers, marked to die by a Ukrainian government and, implicitly, their UK and US supporters, who find the pursuit of truth to be the most dangerous threat to their cause. > > If you are an American reading this, I hope the implications are clear?for exercising your constitutionally-guaranteed right of free speech, your government will kill you. There is no other way to put this?the Ukrainian government exists solely on the back of the financial assistance provided by the US and, to a lesser extent, the UK and EU. The SBU is entirely funded by US taxpayer dollars, and its work closely coordinated with the US and UK intelligence services. The Myrotvorets ?hit list? is funded and facilitated by the US and UK governments. > > News flash, Kier, Jackson, and all other US and UK citizens on the Myrotvorets ?hit list??your respective governments want you dead, and are willing to contract out their desires with the Ukrainian SBU. > > The Myrotvorets ?kill list? is the pointy end of an information warfare spear being wielded by the Ukrainian government, in concert with the US, UK, and other NATO member states, seeking to shape the public narrative about the conflict in Ukraine. > > The ?shaft? of this spear, however, comes in the form of the Center for Countering Disinformation, or CCD, a US-funded information warfare office that works as part of the Office of the Presidency in Ukraine. I have been a target of the CCD since its inception, placed on its initial ?blacklist? published in July 2022, where I and the other listed individuals were lambasted as ?information terrorists? who were guilty of ?war crimes? because of our publicly stated positions regarding the war in Ukraine. > > I?ve been a frequent ?guest? on the CCD?s ?propogandist of the week? posts published on their Twitter and Telegram channels, and my analysis is often the target of their ire. On February 23, 2023, I was given the ultimate ?honor? by the CCD, listed first on their roster of western voices highlighted in a report entitled ?How Western Speakers Promoted Main Narratives Concerned with Russian Propaganda.? > > Curiously, the CCD expressly pointed out, ?It should noted that the listed persons are not Russian propogandists, but promote narratives consistent with Russian propaganda.? Whether or not this continues to constitute ?information terrorism? and, as such, a ?war crime? in the eyes f the CCD, is not known. > > I am number one on the list of persons compiled by the CCD of ?Wester speakers who most actively promoted these narratives.? > > > Click here for more info. > I find this designation to be the highest honor the Ukrainian government could bestow upon me, and I want to express my thanks to President Zelensky and the acting director of the CCD, Andrei Shapovalov, for recognizing my work. I promise I will continue to strive to pursue the fact-based truth in a manner which brings me to your attention. > > According to the February 23, 2023 CCD report, myself and the other honorees were guilty of promoting six ?themes? deemed by the CCD to represent ?narratives created by Russian propaganda? to either ?justify Russia?s illegal invasion of Ukraine,? ?discredit the Armed Forces and the Ukrainian government,? and/or ?discredit the Ukrainian people? and ?turn the international population against Ukraine.? > > I was accused by the CCD of promoting five of these themes. However, I plead guilty to all six. The irony of these allegations, however, is that all I?m guilty of is reporting the words of the Ukrainian government, its representatives, and its international supporters. If the CCD was genuinely interested in getting to the bottom of the source of all anti-Ukrainian ?propaganda,? it would do well to start at home. > > Here are the six ?themes? of interest to the Ukrainian government, and my reasons for helping promote them. > > Theme One: NATO?s Expansion to the East provoked Russia?s invasion of Ukraine > > The rhetoric that the expansion of NATO in Eastern Europe provoked a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has become very popular in the Western media space. Western representatives use this narrative as an argument to justify Russian aggression against Ukraine. > > Speakers often point out that Russia has long warned that the expansion of NATO to its borders is a red line. They argue that the expansion of the alliance posed a direct threat to Russia, so Putin had no choice but to defend himself. > > I have frequently quoted the words of William Burns, the former US Ambassador to Russia (and current CIA Director) in his February 2008 memorandum, ?Nyet means Nyet: Russia?s NATO enlargement Red Lines?: > > Ukraine and Georgia's NATO aspirations not only touch a raw nerve in Russia, they engender serious concerns about the consequences for stability in the region. Not only does Russia perceive encirclement, and efforts to undermine Russia's influence in the region, but it also fears unpredictable and uncontrolled consequences which would seriously affect Russian security interests. Experts tell us that Russia is particularly worried that the strong divisions in Ukraine over NATO membership, with much of the ethnic-Russian community against membership, could lead to a major split, involving violence or at worst, civil war. In that eventuality, Russia would have to decide whether to intervene; a decision Russia does not want to have to face. > > When Burns? memorandum is considered alongside the 2019 RAND report, ?Overextending and Unbalancing Russia,? inclusive of its argument that ?Providing lethal aid to Ukraine would exploit Russia?s greatest point of external vulnerability,? the notion of the US and NATO posing a direct threat to Russia does not seem that far-fetched at all. > > I plead guilty. > > Theme Two: Nazism in Ukraine > > The narrative about ?Nazism in Ukraine? is another Russian propaganda campaign aimed at demonizing Ukraine and its people in the eyes of the world. The narrative is often found in the statements of so-called Western experts who have a pro-Russian position. Very often, when talking about ?Nazism in Ukraine?, speakers emphasize the ?Azov? regiment, calling it a ?radical neo-Nazi group.? > > Another disinformation narrative used by speakers in the West is the widespread support of Ukrainians for the ?Nazi collaborator? Stepan Bandera is proof of Nazism in Ukraine. > > Here, I will let the US Congress speak for me. Since 2015 every omnibus spending bill signed into law contains an amendment stipulating that ?none of the funds made available by this act may be used to provide arms, training or other assistance to the Azov Battalion.? According to Representative Ro Khanna, a sponsor of the amendment in question, ?White supremacy and neo-Nazism are unacceptable and have no place in our world. I am very pleased that the recently passed omnibus prevents the U.S. from providing arms and training assistance to the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion fighting in Ukraine.? > > As for Bandera, I will let the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky address this touchy subject: ?He [Bandera] is one of the people who defended Ukraine?s freedom,? Zelensky said in a 2019 interview with Ukrainska Pravda. ?He is a hero for a certain percentage of Ukrainians, and it?s normal, and it?s cool.? > > Again, I plead guilty. > > Theme Three: The Armed Forces Terrorize Civilians > > In the statements of Western speakers, you can often hear that the armed forces of Ukraine fire on the civilian population and civilian objects in the temporarily occupied territories and on the territory of Ukraine itself. The most popular claim is that Ukraine has been shelling and terrorizing the population of Donbas for more than eight years. > > Western experts also sometimes claim that the crimes against the civilian population of Bucha were committed by the Ukrainian army, and sometimes even call these events staged by the Ukrainian authorities. > > Enter Petro Poroshenko, the former President of Ukraine, who in a November 14, 2014, speech infamously declared, ?Our children will go to schools and kindergartens, and theirs [the ethnic Russians of the Donbas] will hole up in the basements - this is how we win the war!" > > Ukrainian artillery attacks on the Donbas killed thousands of civilians between 2014 and 2021?including some 150 children. > > As for Bucha, my position is well known?Ukraine did it. ?Special forces began clearing the liberated, by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, city of Bucha of the Kiev region from saboteurs and accomplices of Russian troops,? the Ukrainians themselves admitted in an internet post dated April 2, 2022. > > Once again, I plead guilty. > > Theme Four: The war in Ukraine is a NATO proxy war against Russia > > Some Western experts call the events in Ukraine a NATO proxy war against Russia. Speakers claim that the West is using Ukraine for its own purposes, in particular for confrontation with Russia. Therefore, one gets the impression that Russia is fighting a collective action, and Ukraine is playing the role of puppet in this war. > > This narrative is sometimes supported by the argument that in 2014, after the Pdnosti Revolution, the US allegedly sponsored a coup in Ukraine and helped install a new government in Kiev. > > Allow me to introduce as Exhibit 1 the statement by The Ukrainian Defense Minister, Oleksii Reznikov, made to BBC in an interview on January 13, 2023: ?Ukraine as a country, and the armed forces of Ukraine, became [a] member of NATO. De facto, not de jure (by law). Because we have weaponry, and the understanding of how to use it.? > > Could there be a better definition of ?NATO proxy?? I think not. > > As for the role of the US in helping instigate a coup in 2014 for the purpose of installing a pro-US government, I rely on none other than Victoria Nuland herself, who in a phone conversation with US Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, openly backs Arseniy Yatseniuk, a Ukrainian opposition leader, as the man who should replace President Viktor Yanukovych. ?I think Yats is the guy.? That is a direct quote. > > Guilty as charged. > > Theme Five: Military aid is an escalation of war > > The thesis about the escalation of the war by the West is being followed in the western media space. In general, the reports say that the additional military armament for Ukraine provokes Russia to escalate the conflict. Russia realizes that the military support of Ukraine?s Western partners helps it continue to resist Russian aggression. This becomes a stumbling block for the Kremlin. Therefore, the rhetoric about the escalation of the war on the part of the West became part of a hostile propaganda campaign aimed at stopping the supply of weapons to Ukraine. > > Western speakers also use the thesis that Ukraine?s allies are tired of the war and are depleting their stockpile of weapons, supplying them to Ukraine. The goal of such a campaign is to stop military aid for the defense of Ukraine and undermine faith in the West?s ability to stand up to ?mighty? Russia. To reinforce this narrative, the speakers use the argument that the Western supply of weapons will not help Ukraine win the war with Russia, since the Russian side has an advantage in military armament. > > On March 11, 2022, President Joe Biden declared, ?The idea that we?re going to send in offensive equipment and have planes and tanks and trains going in with American pilots and American crews?just understand, don?t kid yourself, no matter what y?all say, that?s called World War III.? > > I agree. > > Oh, yes?don?t forget this February 23, 2023 gem from NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg: ?The war in Ukraine is consuming an enormous amount of munitions and depleting allied stockpiles. The current rate of Ukraine?s ammunition expenditure is many times higher than our current rate of production. This puts our defense industries under strain.? > > Guilty on both counts. > > Theme Six: Anti-Russian Sanctions hurt the West more than Russia > > The thesis that anti-Russian sanctions imposed in response to full-scale Russian invasion are primarily damaging in the process is part of a propaganda campaign. This narrative is spreading both in Russia and in Western countries. Foreign speakers draw attention to the rise in energy prices and the approach of the global economic crisis, blaming the introduction of anti-Russian sanctions. > > First of all, they claim that sanctions worsen the living conditions of Europeans, and therefore the governments of EU countries should remove the sanctions if they care about their people. > > Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto states the case quite succinctly: ?The sanctions which have been in place on behalf of the European Union seem to hurt us much more than the Russians. But whenever you raise this question and try to try to put the whole [of it in] context on a rational basis, you are immediately being judged and attacked.? > > The Hungarian Foreign Minister was simply stating the obvious, something that The Guardian?s Simon Jenkins?no Russophile he?stated back in May 2022 in an opinion piece entitled ?The EU should forget about sanctions?they?re doing more harm than good.? > > ?Six million households in Britain face the possibility of morning and evening blackouts this winter to maintain sanctions against Russia,? Jenkins wrote, ?as do consumers across Europe.? > > While the CCD did not charge me with violating this particular ?theme?, I?m going to plead guilty none the less, if for no other reason than I have been critical of western sanctions targeting Russia since before they were put into effect. As I wrote in an article published in Energy Intelligence in December 2021, sanctions ?would undoubtedly create economic difficulty for Russia.? > > But they would be fatal for Europe, which depends on Russia for 31% of its crude oil imports and 40% of its natural gas imports, or more than 15% of all EU energy needs. And losing access to Russian energy would have a much bigger impact that a simple 15% drop in energy supply. Such an energy supply disruption would have a cascading effect on not only costs, but on economic output, given Europe?s slim economic operating margins. In short, Europe would not only freeze, but also starve. > > Back in 1998, following my resignation from the United Nations Special Commission, President Bill Clinton?s National Security Advisor, Sandy Berger, called a ?a threat to the national security of the United States? simply because I was telling the truth about US policy in Iraq. In April 2003, the US Ambassador to NATO, Nicholas Burns, chastised his fellow NATO Ambassadors for allowing me to speak at NATO, calling me a ?known enemy of the State? because I dared questioned the narrative being pushed by the US regarding Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. > > My ?crime? at the time was telling the truth, and I view it as the highest expression of patriotism to have been called out by both the Clinton and Bush administrations for daring to challenge the official narrative with fact-based analysis. > > Today, I face a similar attack from the administration of President Joe Biden, which has provided the financial and political support to the Ukrainian government that makes the Myrotvorets ?kill list? and the CCD ?blacklist? possible. If telling the truth about Ukraine makes me an enemy of the state, then I stand guilty as charged on all counts. > > And I have a news flash for those whose goal it is to silence me through fear and intimidation?I?m still standing. And as long as I am able to, I will speak truth to power. > > ?Enemy of the State.? > > You?re damn right I am. > > Share > > Upgrade to paid > > Donate > > > If you are interested in discussion, advocacy and solving societal problems while enjoying adult beverages, join our Facebook group, American Drink Tank. > You're currently a free subscriber to Scott Ritter Extra. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. > > Upgrade to paid > > CROSS-POST > > > LIKE > COMMENT > SHARE > > ? 2023 Jeff Norman > P.O. Box 92, Long Beach, CA 90801 > Unsubscribe > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jbn at forestfield.org Fri Mar 10 03:29:46 2023 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2023 21:29:46 -0600 Subject: [Peace-discuss] Fwd: Enemy of the State In-Reply-To: <2BF99F4B-375F-4620-8C0D-D8DD596EAAFA@newsfromneptune.com> References: <20230307191354.3.c4a073e766fb3b3c@mg-d1.substack.com> <2BF99F4B-375F-4620-8C0D-D8DD596EAAFA@newsfromneptune.com> Message-ID: C. G. Estabrook quoted Scott Ritter who wrote: > In America, we call what Jackson Hinkle and Keir Simmons do journalism. In > Ukraine, it is apparently a capital crime. Relatedly, the Twitter Files coverage on tonight's shows: Kim Iversen https://rumble.com/v2cfsuw-house-dems-attack-journalists-over-twitter-files-spymasters-hint-at-war-w-c.html Glenn Greenwald https://rumble.com/v2cel4c-system-update-show-52.html covered the Twitter Files congressional hearings. The Democrats apparently seek to restrict who can be considered a journalist and they seem quite upset when anyone challenges the US Government directing Twitter to censor identified Twitter posts and Twitter user accounts. About the Myrotvorets (Peacemaker) kill list website[1] at https://myrotvorets.center/ which Scott Ritter mentioned -- the myrotvorets.center domain registrar and HTTPS certificate provider is the Internet company Cloudflare headquartered in San Francisco. Cloudflare provides a number of services related to hosting a website (including domain registrar service, nameservice, certificate signing service, and website caching service). Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince was quoted in April 2015 as saying: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/anonymous-opisis-cloudflare-refuses-block-service-pro-isis-websites-1495758 > We're the plumbers of the internet. We make the pipes work but it's not right for > us to inspect what is or isn't going through the pipes. If companies like ours or > ISPs (internet service providers) start censoring there would be an uproar. It > would lead us down a path of internet censors and controls akin to a country like > China. By August 2017 Prince's opinion and Cloudflare's policy had changed. He kicked out neo-Nazi website (and Cloudflare customer) The Daily Stormer: https://gizmodo.com/cloudflare-ceo-on-terminating-service-to-neo-nazi-site-1797915295 > This was my decision. Our terms of service reserve the right for us to terminate > users of our network at our sole discretion. My rationale for making this decision > was simple: the people behind the Daily Stormer are assholes and I?d had enough. > > Let me be clear: this was an arbitrary decision. It was different than what I?d > talked talked with our senior team about yesterday. I woke up this morning in a > bad mood and decided to kick them off the Internet. I called our legal team and > told them what we were going to do. I called our Trust & Safety team and had them > stop the service. It was a decision I could make because I?m the CEO of a major > Internet infrastructure company. and > I realized there was no way we were going to have that conversation with people > calling us Nazis. The Daily Stormer site was bragging on their bulletin boards > about how Cloudflare was one of them and that is the opposite of everything we > believe. That was the tipping point for me. By September 2022, he changed his mind again claiming that his previous cancellations (The Daily Stormer & 8Chan whom Prince baselessly called "lawless") might have been wrong. But Prince also warned that he might continue to make similar decisions: https://torrentfreak.com/cloudflare-rejects-role-as-internet-or-piracy-police-220901/ > ?Just as the telephone company doesn?t terminate your line if you say awful, > racist, bigoted things, we have concluded in consultation with politicians, policy > makers, and experts that turning off security services because we think what you > publish is despicable is the wrong policy. > > ?To be clear, just because we did it in a limited set of cases before doesn?t mean > we were right when we did. Or that we will ever do it again,? Prince adds, > referring to the earlier terminations. myrotvorets.center domain registrar is Cloudflare. myrotvorets.center is the hostname for a Ukrainian kill list website. Apparently Cloudflare is fine doing business to benefit neo-Nazis with an outsized say in the Ukrainian military. You'll never know where your speech stands with Matthew Prince and Cloudflare. If they don't like what you have to say, they might terminate your Cloudflare account. Therefore I recommend that nobody should do business with Cloudflare. [1] The Grayzone at https://thegrayzone.com/2022/04/17/traitor-zelensky-assassination-kidnapping-arrest-political-opposition/ described the website as > Myrotvorets public blacklist of ?enemies of the state? founded by Anton > Geraschenko ? the Ministry of Internal Affairs advisor who endorsed the > assassination of Ukrainian lawmakers accused of Russian sympathies. Several > journalists and Ukrainian dissidents, including the prominent columnist Oles > Buzina > [https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ukraine-crisis/pro-russian-journalist-oles-buzina-shot-dead-kiev-masked-gunmen-n342661], > were murdered by state-backed death squads > [https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2019/8/27/peacemaker-the-ukrainian-website-shaming-pro-russia-voices] > after their names appeared on the list. From carl at newsfromneptune.com Fri Mar 10 20:36:43 2023 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2023 14:36:43 -0600 Subject: [Peace-discuss] Statement to Congress Message-ID: <8D7BDC56-4E68-4607-8691-981123443495@newsfromneptune.com> https://open.substack.com/pub/taibbi/p/my-statement-to-congress From carl at newsfromneptune.com Sat Mar 11 17:22:32 2023 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2023 11:22:32 -0600 Subject: [Peace-discuss] =?utf-8?q?Ukraine=E2=80=99s_Death_by_Proxy?= Message-ID: https://open.substack.com/pub/chrishedges/p/ukraines-death-by-proxy From jbn at forestfield.org Sun Mar 12 03:43:40 2023 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2023 21:43:40 -0600 Subject: [Peace-discuss] Convo Couch: "Military Action In Ukraine, Did Russia Have A Choice?" Message-ID: <0d0e622b-2a4b-211c-06fc-55fe45b9a8dd@forestfield.org> https://youtube.com/watch?v=ymdb3XAMGOQ is an extract of a recent Convo Couch discussion with Scott Ritter about "Military Action In Ukraine, Did Russia Have A Choice?". All agree that Russia did what they could to avoid war, Ritter also cites the case for pre-emptive self-defense (the Caroline precedent), the Minsk accords, the pressure Russia tried to bring on Ukraine to honor the Minsk peace accords they signed which (we now know from multiple sources) were signed in bad faith to build a military and get Crimea & the Donbass. An excerpt of what Ritter said (starting at 10m21s into the previously-linked video): > Scott Ritter: But that doesn't mean that Russia wanted that conflict. Russia was > begging; remember in June 2021 in Geneva, Putin met with Biden. And Putin begged > Biden /begged Biden/ 'please make Minsk work. If Minsk happens, all of this goes > away. All of this goes away. There will be no war.'. And Biden said 'oh yeah, > yeah, I promise you we'll do that.'. Didn't do it. In October Lavrov met with his > French and German counterparts and [eventually?] said 'I need you to get the > Ukrainians to approve Minsk.' and they said 'No, we can't do it.'. But even then > it wasn't definite; [because] Russia in December 2021 gave NATO two draft > treaties, talked about a new European security framework which, if they had gone > down the path of negotiating this in good faith, would have prevented a war. > Russia did everything human possible to stop this war, to prevent this war. Russia > acted when there was literally no other choice because that NATO-trained army was > from the very beginning was built for one purpose: to invade the Donbass, was > amassing on the Donbass. The OSCE, observers, they're monitoring the cease-fire > reported 2,000 violations the vast majority of those violations from Ukraine to > the Donbass in the weeks leading up to the Russian intervention. If Russia hadn't > intervened, Ukraine would have launched an attack and they could have defeated the > Donbass. So Russia had no choice. To those that object to what is frequently cited as "Russia's invasion of Ukraine" (I've heard Aaron Mat? and Chris Hedges say this and we're told that there were speakers at the "Rage Against the War Machine" rally raise this objection): what, precisely, should Russia have done in February 2022 that Russia did not do up to that point? Glib answers like "not invade" need not apply, as this is an honest and reasonable question which should be given due consideration particularly from Westerners. The American response should also avoid a double standard given the Cuban Missile Crisis. Regarding Crimea: Per https://twitter.com/KanekoaTheGreat/status/1631046414926225408 "NBC News journalist Keir Simmons recently went to Crimea and reported that most Crimeans are pro-Russia. Now, Ukraine has put him on its hit list website for reporting this fact.What does the U.S. government think about Ukraine adding an NBC journalist to its hit lists?" Coverage of this rarity -- NBC News told the truth -- is scarce: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/inside-crimea-russian-military-annexed-ukraine-retake-putin-rcna72606 https://www.rt.com/russia/572294-ukraine-kill-list-journalist/ https://youtube.com/watch?v=DvYSNNVGl4g https://rumble.com/v2clnqs-ukraine-puts-nbc-reporter-on-kill-list.html https://thepressunited.com/updates/nbc-journalist-added-to-kievs-kill-list/ https://freepresskashmir.news/2023/03/02/us-journalist-added-to-kievs-kill-list/ and there are copies of these in a few other places. None of these sites (obviously excepting NBC News) are establishment sources which are likely to be read or seen by millions of people. Establishment news is not trusted (for good reasons) but we're not at the point where a lot of liberals will check The Grayzone, RT, and other even less-heard-of sources for news and commentary. From jbn at forestfield.org Sun Mar 12 05:56:59 2023 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2023 23:56:59 -0600 Subject: [Peace-discuss] Footage from recent in-person protests opposing war with Russia via Ukraine from around the world In-Reply-To: <81eb9e79-c5dd-cdbb-d311-773e43c36cd9@forestfield.org> References: <7841c61f-f499-eaf5-d55c-1f0b670a7a12@forestfield.org> <81eb9e79-c5dd-cdbb-d311-773e43c36cd9@forestfield.org> Message-ID: I wrote: > More anti-war protest footage and commentary from around the world. Anti-NATO rally | Poles protest participation in Russia-Ukraine conflict https://rumble.com/v2co7rs-anti-nato-rally-poles-protest-participation-in-russia-ukraine-conflict.html Australian Stop NATO protests go viral internationally! https://youtube.com/watch?v=8xyWhMzXZJU says "Protesters took to streets in cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane & Perth". More coverage of related protests I've mentioned before in this thread: NATO, U.S.-led West face protests in EU nations for arming Ukraine; 'No Tanks, No Planes' https://youtube.com/watch?v=ER3Ki6UvRn4 Gravitas: Anti-NATO protests erupt in Paris https://youtube.com/watch?v=UeYlSg3m6z4 From jbn at forestfield.org Mon Mar 13 02:18:32 2023 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2023 21:18:32 -0500 Subject: [Peace-discuss] "The Point" runs another interview to see -- https://youtube.com/watch?v=2Ev4cMILOXc In-Reply-To: <1137f3bd-2b4e-f54b-b750-49ef55380c2a@forestfield.org> References: <82d1c785-5401-b214-c45c-c62d473a25cc@forestfield.org> <1137f3bd-2b4e-f54b-b750-49ef55380c2a@forestfield.org> Message-ID: <04e7ef44-6022-4adb-7cb0-4b4d3ce05acb@forestfield.org> I wrote: > Exclusive interview with Prof. John J. Mearsheimer on Ukraine crisis > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4s7T-TLp6k > > and > > The Point: Exclusive with Prof. Jeffrey Sachs > https://youtube.com/watch?v=1Lus4Kjr9ko CGTN's "The Point"'s latest interview was just published on youtube.com: The Point Special: One-on-one with Seymour Hersh https://youtube.com/watch?v=2Ev4cMILOXc This includes Hersh's reaction to NYT's "complete fiction" which is "trying to divert attention from the story that I wrote, which included enormous specifics" as Hersh said. This interview has received some coverage: https://www.rt.com/news/572865-seymour-hersh-us-putin-hatred/ From carl at newsfromneptune.com Thu Mar 16 18:53:25 2023 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2023 13:53:25 -0500 Subject: [Peace-discuss] Best summary of proxy war situation as of today Message-ID: <45308906-2473-448D-AC86-292308086F8A@newsfromneptune.com> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQSbcxoiAbk From carl at newsfromneptune.com Tue Mar 21 15:49:08 2023 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2023 10:49:08 -0500 Subject: [Peace-discuss] In Ukraine, US fears 'unacceptable' ceasefire Message-ID: https://open.substack.com/pub/mate/p/in-ukraine-us-fears-unacceptable From kmedina67 at gmail.com Tue Mar 21 23:02:59 2023 From: kmedina67 at gmail.com (Karen Medina) Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2023 18:02:59 -0500 Subject: [Peace-discuss] Amazon ring / police partnerships in cities across the country In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: over 2,000 police departments partner with Amazon Ring to surveil communities. In an effort to end these partnerships for good, the Athena Surveillance Table is launching a campaign to pass local ordinances to effectively ban these partnerships (even in cities without partnerships). The Surveillance Table is holding its first Ban Ring Coalition Campaign meeting on *Thursday, March 23rd from 1-3pm EST. We're hoping you can attend.* *Click here to RSVP. * See the rest of the message forwarded below. ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Danny Cendejas Date: Tue, Mar 21, 2023 at 5:19?PM Subject: [MJ Exchange] Thursday! Ban Amazon-police partnerships in cities across the country To: Media Justice Exchange Listserv Hi everyone! Sending along a reminder of Thursday's Ban Ring Coalition campaign meeting (Thursday 3/23 1-3pm ET). Sign up *here * . In solidarity, danny ---- Hi, For years, anti-surveillance, civil rights, and racial justice groups have been sounding the alarm about the dangers posed by Amazon Ring-police partnerships. Collectively, we've successfully petitioned members of Congress to investigate these surveillance partnerships, garnered widespread media attention, and published studies exposing the harms. Despite all the negative attention and backlash, over 2,000 police departments continue to partner with Amazon Ring to surveil communities. In an effort to end these partnerships for good, the Athena Surveillance Table is launching a campaign to pass local ordinances to effectively ban these partnerships (even in cities without partnerships). The Surveillance Table is holding its first Ban Ring Coalition Campaign meeting on *Thursday, March 23rd from 1-3pm EST. We're hoping you can attend.* *Click here to RSVP. * At the meeting, we'll talk about the ordinance, the recent changes to how these partnerships work, share the ordinance campaign toolkit, and discuss ways we can work together to lead campaigns and/or support local efforts to ban Ring-police partnerships. *A little background on Amazon Ring-police partnerships*: Ring cameras surveil millions, from children playing in the park to people visiting health clinics to protesters exercising their First Amendment rights. Alongside the massive growth of this private network of cameras, the tech giant is aggressively expanding their police partnerships. Amazon?s doorbell, floodlight, mailbox, and dash cameras record and collect data on our whereabouts, our homes, and our communities. This massive surveillance dragnet poses an existential Orwellian threat to the daily lives of the public at large and to our democracy?but for Black and brown communities Amazon Ring technology puts their lives in immediate danger. *Join us on March 23rd to take part in developing a shared plan to ban these dangerous partnerships. Click here to register. * Should you need any additional information or have any questions please email me. In solidarity, *Ayele B. Hunt* Campaigns Director Fight for the Future (813) 707-3584 http://fightforthefuture.org -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Media Justice Exchange Listserv" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to exchange+unsubscribe at mediajustice.org. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/mediajustice.org/d/msgid/exchange/CA%2BRybx5PFqkW3EHtsd-BFAomxxNVQGdkwMS2zQauAi2BEw-hrA%40mail.gmail.com . -- -- karen medina "The really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." - Mark Twain -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jbn at forestfield.org Wed Mar 22 00:46:19 2023 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2023 19:46:19 -0500 Subject: [Peace-discuss] Great Glenn Greenwald show tonight -- https://rumble.com/v2e6992-system-update-60.html Message-ID: <63c8028b-4802-a7b9-cb6e-8c483651a37d@forestfield.org> In https://rumble.com/v2e6992-system-update-60.html ("Mask-Off: US Reveals Real Intentions in Ukraine. Plus: Reporter Anya Parampil Confirms NSA Spied on Tucker | SYSTEM UPDATE #60") Glenn Greenwald interviews Anya Parampil (from The Grayzone) who reveals that "I am the ?US-based Kremlin intermediary? that tried to help Tucker Carlson book an interview with Putin" (see https://thegrayzone.com/2023/03/20/kremlin-intermediary-tucker-carlson-putin/ for her article). Greenwald also has a great opener on the US scuttling Ukrainian peace with Russia. From carl at newsfromneptune.com Thu Mar 23 13:15:26 2023 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2023 08:15:26 -0500 Subject: [Peace-discuss] =?utf-8?q?Fwd=3A_=5BNew_post=5D_Scott_Ritter=3A_?= =?utf-8?q?G7_vs_BRICS_=E2=80=94_Off_to_the_Races?= References: <174340743.37499.0@wordpress.com> Message-ID: Sent from my iPhone Begin forwarded message: > From: "scheerpost.com" > Date: March 23, 2023 at 7:49:44 AM CDT > To: carl at newsfromneptune.com > Subject: [New post] Scott Ritter: G7 vs BRICS ? Off to the Races > > ? > scheerpost.com > Scott Ritter: G7 vs BRICS ? Off to the Races > Editor > Mar 23 > > G7 leaders meeting on June 28, 2022, at Schloss Elmau in Kr?n, Germany. (White House/Adam Schultz) > By Scott Ritter / Consortium News > > Last summer, the Group of 7 (G7), a self-anointed forum of nations that view themselves as the most influential economies in the world, gathered at Schloss Elmau, near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, to hold their annual meeting. Their focus was punishing Russia through additional sanctions, further arming of Ukraine and the containment of China. > > At the same time, China hosted, through video conference, a gathering of the BRICS economic forum. Comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, this collection of nations relegated to the status of so-called developing economies focused on strengthening economic bonds, international economic development and how to address what they collectively deemed the counter-productive policies of the G7. > > In early 2020, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov had predicted that, based upon purchasing power parity, or PPP, calculations projected by the International Monetary Fund, BRICS would overtake the G7 sometime later that year in terms of percentage of the global total. > > (A nation?s gross domestic product at purchasing power parity, or PPP, exchange rates is the sum value of all goods and services produced in the country valued at prices prevailing in the United States and is a more accurate reflection of comparative economic strength than simple GDP calculations.) > > Support our Independent Journalism ? Donate Today! > > SUBSCRIBE TO PATREON DONATE ON PAYPAL > Then the pandemic hit and the global economic reset that followed made the IMF projections moot. The world became singularly focused on recovering from the pandemic and, later, managing the fallout from the West?s massive sanctioning of Russia following that nation?s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. > > The G7 failed to heed the economic challenge from BRICS, and instead focused on solidifying its defense of the ?rules based international order? that had become the mantra of the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden. > > Miscalculation > > Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, an ideological divide that has gripped the world, with one side (led by the G7) condemning the invasion and seeking to punish Russia economically, and the other (led by BRICS) taking a more nuanced stance by neither supporting the Russian action nor joining in on the sanctions. This has created a intellectual vacuum when it comes to assessing the true state of play in global economic affairs. > > It is now widely accepted that the U.S. and its G7 partners miscalculated both the impact sanctions would have on the Russian economy, as well as the blowback that would hit the West. > > Angus King, the Independent senator from Maine, recently observed that he remembers > > ?when this started a year ago, all the talk was the sanctions are going to cripple Russia. They?re going to be just out of business and riots in the street absolutely hasn?t worked ?[w]ere they the wrong sanctions? Were they not applied well? Did we underestimate the Russian capacity to circumvent them? Why have the sanctions regime not played a bigger part in this conflict?? > It should be noted that the IMF calculated that the Russian economy, as a result of these sanctions, would contract by at least 8 percent. The real number was 2 percent and the Russian economy ? despite sanctions ? is expected to grow in 2023 and beyond. > > This kind of miscalculation has permeated Western thinking about the global economy and the respective roles played by the G7 and BRICS. In October 2022, the IMF published its annual World Economic Outlook (WEO), with a focus on traditional GDP calculations. Mainstream economic analysts, accordingly, were comforted that ? despite the political challenge put forward by BRICS in the summer of 2022 ? the IMF was calculating that the G7 still held strong as the leading global economic bloc. > > In January 2023 the IMF published an update to the October 2022 WEO, reinforcing the strong position of the G7. According to Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the IMF?s chief economist, the ?balance of risks to the outlook remains tilted to the downside but is less skewed toward adverse outcomes than in the October WEO.? > > This positive hint prevented mainstream Western economic analysts from digging deeper into the data contained in the update. I can personally attest to the reluctance of conservative editors trying to draw current relevance from ?old data.? > > Fortunately, there are other economic analysts, such as Richard Dias of Acorn Macro Consulting, a self-described ?boutique macroeconomic research firm employing a top-down approach to the analysis of the global economy and financial markets.? Rather than accept the IMF?s rosy outlook as gospel, Dias did what analysts are supposed to do ? dig through the data and extract relevant conclusions. > > After rooting through the IMF?s World Economic Outlook Data Base, Dias conducted a comparative analysis of the percentage of global GDP adjusted for PPP between the G7 and BRICS, and made a surprising discovery: BRICS had surpassed the G7. > > This was not a projection, but rather a statement of accomplished fact: BRICS was responsible for 31.5 percent of the PPP-adjusted global GDP, while the G7 provided 30.7 percent. Making matters worse for the G7, the trends projected showed that the gap between the two economic blocs would only widen going forward. > > The reasons for this accelerated accumulation of global economic clout on the part of BRICS can be linked to three primary factors: > > residual fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, > blowback from the sanctioning of Russia by the G7 nations in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and a growing resentment among the developing economies of the world to G7 economic policies and > priorities which are perceived as being rooted more in post-colonial arrogance than a genuine desire to assist in helping nations grow their own economic potential. > Growth Disparities > > > It is true that BRICS and G7 economic clout is heavily influenced by the economies of China and the U.S., respectively. But one cannot discount the relative economic trajectories of the other member states of these economic forums. While the economic outlook for most of the BRICS countries points to strong growth in the coming years, the G7 nations, in a large part because of the self-inflicted wound that is the current sanctioning of Russia, are seeing slow growth or, in the case of the U.K., negative growth, with little prospect of reversing this trend. > > Moreover, while G7 membership remains static, BRICS is growing, with Argentina and Iran having submitted applications, and other major regional economic powers, such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt, expressing an interest in joining. Making this potential expansion even more explosive is the recent Chinese diplomatic achievement in normalizing relations between Iran and Saudia Arabia. > > Diminishing prospects for the continued global domination by the U.S. dollar, combined with the economic potential of the trans-Eurasian economic union being promoted by Russia and China, put the G7 and BRICS on opposing trajectories. The former should overtake the latter in terms of actual GDP, and not just PPP, in the coming years. > > But don?t hold your breath waiting for mainstream economic analysts to reach this conclusion. Thankfully, there are outliers such as Richard Dias and Acorn Macro Consulting who seek to find new meaning from old data. > > Subscribe to our weekly newsletter > > * indicates required > Email Address * > > > > > > Scott Ritter > Scott Ritter is a former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer who served in the former Soviet Union implementing arms control treaties, in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm and in Iraq overseeing the disarmament of WMD. His most recent book is Disarmament in the Time of Perestroika, published by Clarity Press. > > Author SIte > Comment > Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from scheerpost.com. > Change your email settings at manage subscriptions. > Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: > https://scheerpost.com/2023/03/23/scott-ritter-g7-vs-brics-off-to-the-races/ > > Get the Jetpack app to use Reader anywhere, anytime > Follow your favorite sites, save posts to read later, and get real-time notifications for likes and comments. > > > > Learn how to build your website with our video tutorials on YouTube. > > Automattic, Inc. - 60 29th St. #343, San Francisco, CA 94110 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From carl at newsfromneptune.com Sat Mar 25 14:38:23 2023 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2023 09:38:23 -0500 Subject: [Peace-discuss] Fwd: A personal essay on dissent and journalism. References: <20230325103249.30952963.402574@sailthru.com> Message-ID: <66E5E076-317D-41B7-8ADC-895B0CDDEB86@newsfromneptune.com> > Begin forwarded message: > > From: "David Corn, Mother Jones" > Subject: A personal essay on dissent and journalism. > Date: March 25, 2023 at 9:32:49 AM CDT > To: carl at newsfromneptune.com > > ? > > One of the great things about Mother Jones?our staff, our readers, our journalism?is that we often zig where others zag, especially when following the pack makes no sense. Another great thing is our DC bureau chief, David Corn, who is known for?landing major scoops and fiery analysis that calls it like it is inno uncertain terms . > > His incredible essay from earlier this week?in his personal newsletter Our Land ?marking the 20th anniversary of Bush administration's march to war in Iraq and recalling how the media aided and abetted its Big Lie stopped us in our tracks. It perfectly encapsulates what makes Mother Jones different from most of the news out there. So we decided to scrap the email we planned to send today as part of our big fundraising push that just kicked off and let David's essay, pasted below, speak for itself. > > This is what you're supporting when you support?Mother Jones . This is what defines Mother Jones and our community of readers. This is why the independence that comes from being funded primarily by readers instead of self-interested corporations matters so much. > > Thank you to all of you who have recently pitched in, and to those who support our journalism each and every month as sustaining donors. We are beyond grateful. > > We have a huge $300,000 fundraising goal right now, and we need more readers to pitch in than have been of late. There is more on those nuts and bolts here . But for this weekend, please read David's powerful essay and consider supporting our independent, kickass journalism with a donation if you can right now. > ? > The Iraq War: A Personal Remembrance of Dissent > By David Corn March 21, 2023 > > An Iraqi woman screams upon arriving with her wounded husband and son at al-Kindi hospital, April 8, 2003, in Baghdad. Jerome Delay/AP > Twenty years ago, it was a lonely time in Washington. That is, lonely for anyone?particularly a journalist?who questioned the Bush-Cheney?s administration rush to war in Iraq. I was one such person, doing so in columns and media appearances. In the months prior to the US invasion of Iraq, as George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and their comrades in and out of government beat the drums for war, only a few reporters and pundits in the capital challenged their argument that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction; was tied to al Qaeda, the perpetrators of the horrific 9/11 attack; and posed a direct and immediate threat to the United States that could only be neutralized by full-scale war. In the aftermath of September 11, with patriotism rampant and fear affecting much of the land, few denizens of the commentariat wanted to buck the consensus for war. > > I was then the Washington editor for The Nation magazine and no expert on the Middle East. But it was clear that many of the folks pushing the country to war were also no experts on the Middle East and likely would not wage war wisely or manage post-invasion Iraq competently. Consequently, it seemed obvious that an all-out attack on Iraq ought to have been a true last resort. First, the UN weapons inspection teams searching for WMDs should have been permitted to complete their mission. Then, if military action was deemed necessary, limited options or strikes ought to have been considered before a full conquest of Iraq was green-lighted. Short-circuiting the inspections, which had unearthed no significant WMDs or weapons programs, seemed foolish. Moreover, many of the administration?s claims that Saddam was loaded to the gills with WMDs and working covertly with al Qaeda were disputed by experts within and outside the federal government. Even worse, Bush and his crew talked little of their post-invasion plans. One did not have to be an experienced foreign policy professional or military strategist to fret that the war?predicated on contested accusations?could be a disaster. > > Yet in post-9/11 Washington, not many pundits or politicians wanted to get in the way of the stampede toward war. (About half of the Democrats in the House and Senate voted for a measure granting Bush the authority to invade Iraq. And many prominent leaders of the liberal intelligentsia were on the side of war.) Most aggravating was that support for the coming war was often based on uncritical acceptance of the administration?s prevailing spin. At one dinner party, a close friend (and a well-known reporter) said there was no choice but to support the pending invasion because maybe Saddam possessed WMDs and opposing the war would brand one as not fully committed to American security. ?You?ve got to be for this,? he said. > > A few weeks before the invasion, I was doing a radio appearance with another friend who was working for an important newspaper. (He?s now a prominent media figure who has been a passionate foe of Trumpism.) He confided that he was uncertain how to assess the Bush administration?s argument for war. But, he said, since New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman was for it, he, too, supported the attack. At the time, Friedman had an odd stance. He believed a war would ignite progressive change throughout the Arab world, though he noted he was ?troubled? that Bush was justifying the war by falsely alleging Saddam was allied with al Qaeda. ?You don?t take the country to war on the wings of a lie,? Friedman insisted. Nonetheless, this important influencer backed the invasion. I was disheartened to see my friend, a smart fellow and usually an independent thinker, cede his opinion to Friedman. But like many in Washington, he decided that sticking with the herd provided adequate cover. > > An aside: Two months into the war, Friedman asserted in an interview with Charlie Rose that the invasion was a necessary response to 9/11, despite the fact that Saddam had nothing to do with that attack: ?We needed to go over there basically and take out a very big stick, right in the heart of that world, and burst that [terrorism] bubble. And there was only one way to do it?What they needed to see was American boys and girls going house to house, from Basra to Baghdad, and basically saying, ?Which part of this sentence don?t you understand??Well, suck on this.?? > > Suck on this? That was the level of thought that fueled backing for the war. > > In the fall of 2002 and winter of 2003, it was tough to counter the fearmongering, magical thinking, and unsophisticated analysis that drove the cheerleading for war. During the run-up to the invasion, I appeared on Bill O?Reilly?s Fox News show with Bill Kristol, the godfather of the neoconservative movement and a leading advocate for clobbering Iraq. I pointed out that the WMD inspections in Iraq could be useful in preventing Saddam from reaching the ?finish line? in developing nuclear weapons. Kristol responded by exclaiming , ?He?s past that finish line! He?s past the finish line!? He was saying that Saddam already had his mitts on a nuclear weapon, bolstering the White House?s assertion that Saddam presented a nuclear threat to the United States. > > But Saddam wasn?t past any ?finish line.? There was no evidence he possessed nuclear weapons. The UN inspectors had so far found no sign of an Iraqi program to develop them. (Post-invasion reviews confirmed Saddam had not been running a nuclear weapons project.) But in those dreadful months before the invasion of Iraq, the proponents of for war could say anything?and get away with it. The day before we jousted on O?Reilly?s show, Kristol declared that a war in Iraq ?could have terrifically good effects throughout the Middle East.? The pro-war propaganda received precious little scrutiny. Most of the media had abandoned one of the most crucial tools of our profession: skepticism. (See the infamous case of New York Times reporter Judith Miller.) > > Humility was also in short supply.The Bushies believed they were smarter than they were. They did not know what they obviously did not know. On the tenth anniversary of the war, I recalled an example: > > At one point, I debated David Brooks, then of the Weekly Standard, over the necessity of launching a war against Iraq. He summed up his support for the endeavor by asking: Don?t you believe the people of Iraq desire democracy just as much as we do? > > I was surprised by his naivet?. I was no expert on Iraq, but it was obvious to me that invading and possibly occupying a nation half a globe away could end up rather messy, and that a universal craving for democracy might not trump all else. It seemed to me that Brooks was relying on fairy tale analysis, projecting simplistic assumptions onto an extremely complicated situation. (Sunni, Shiite?how many advocates for war knew the difference ?) Yet this was all Brooks needed to champion a war that would cost the lives of nearly 4,500 US troops, injure 32,000 service members, and add $3 trillion to the national credit card?and leave millions of Iraqi civilians displaced and more than 100,000 dead. > > Actually, the number of Iraqi civilians killed in the years of violence that followed the US invasion has been conservatively estimated as more than 200,000. It could be much higher. > > During the pre-invasion period, a senior Middle East analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency shared a disturbing story with me. He had recently spoken to a Washington gathering of the top Middle East experts in the US government and non-governmental policy shops. At the end of his talk, he posed a question: With the Bush White House clearly on the road to war, how many of you have been consulted by administration officials? Not one hand went up. His anecdote made clear to me that the people in charge of the war ahead were not serious people. > > Top-secret sources were not necessary to question the WMD allegations and other accusations being put forward to grease the path to war by Bush, Cheney, and their top aides, including Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, and others. Newspaper accounts did contain reports of government officials and analysts disputing the most dramatic claims pertaining to Iraq?s supposed WMDs and Saddam?s purported links to al Qaeda. But these infrequent stories were usually published deep inside the papers, surrounded by false or unproven accusations. They did not generate attention-grabbing headlines or shape the broadcast television and cable news chatter about the looming war. Pro-war spin subsumed the media, and there were only pockets of pushback. After Colin Powell, then secretary of state, presented the administration?s case for war to the United Nations in a much-covered speech, the Washington Post ran multiple stories inside the paper that cited sources challenging his specific allegations. Yet the front page and other media accounts cast his performance as masterful. > > Even though the problems with the case for war were hiding in plain sight, far too few in the political-media world wanted to acknowledge them. One of the most egregious instances of this phenomenon was an article published in the Washington Post on March 18, 2003, the day before the invasion was launched. Written by reporters Walter Pincus and Dana Milbank, the piece was headlined, ?Bush Clings to Dubious Allegations About Iraq.? Here is the lead: > > As the Bush administration prepares to attack Iraq this week, it is doing so on the basis of a number of allegations against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein that have been challenged?and in some cases disproved?by the United Nations, European governments and even US intelligence reports. > > Ponder this. One of the nation?s major media organizations was reporting that the president was guiding the nation to war with unsubstantiated allegations. A BFD, right? So where did this story appear? Buried on page A13. What a journalistic travesty. (Leonard Downie, then the executive editor of the Washington Post, recently wrote a column on how the news media could boost its trustworthiness.) Bush was lying to gin up support for the war, but this was not front-page news. > > And, yes, Bush did lie?a conclusion Iraq war advocates have long contested, claiming that Bush, Cheney, and the rest of the gang really, really, reallybelieved Saddam had WMDs and that the pro-war contingent did not purposefully bamboozle the public. This is a phony narrative, as I noted in a recent essay . (Michael Isikoff and I published a book in 2006 called Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the War , which chronicled how the Bush-Cheney White House peddled the war with lies, falsehoods, misrepresentations, and exaggerations. Rachel Maddow produced a documentary based on our book: Hubris: Selling the Iraq War .) > > Back to my main point: One did not need to know more about Iraq than the war champions to be skeptical and question the crusade for war. The key reasons for the invasion were dubious, and the post-invasion plan seemed non-existent. Yet dissent was dismissed. > > And many, many people died. Chaos and violence wracked the region for years, with effects that continue to this day . But did anyone pay a price for causing this catastrophe? Suffer a consequence? Bush and Cheney?after their allies swift-boated Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry during the 2004 presidential campaign?were reelected. These days, Bush paints pictures of American veterans, nice dogs, and world leaders. He is paid between $100,000 and $175,000 a speech. Rumsfeld and Powell are dead. Rice is a prestigious professor at Stanford University. Ari Fleischer, Bush?s White House press secretary who helped propagate the false case for war, became a (well-paid, I assume) consultant for professional football teams, golfer Tiger Woods, and others. He recently was working for the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Tour. Kristol remains a highly regarded pundit and a leading figure in Never-Trumpland. Brooks is?well, you know. > > Am I bitter? Not at all? Okay, that?s a lie. Many of the Iraq war enthusiasts went on to have wonderful careers. Few publicly expressed any signs of remorse or being burdened by their colossal mistake. (Powell was an exception. For years, he appeared to be haunted by his role in the war.) Those who cautioned prudence and warned a war might not be such a swell idea were hardly hailed for getting it right. But history has rendered its verdict. Being correct?especially on a matter of war?can be its own reward. Journalists are supposed to serve the truth, not spread the spin. Too many did not heed this calling in that terrible time. > > On Sunday, as many in the media marked the 20th anniversary of the war, MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan tweeted, ?Props to @DavidCornDC and @JonathanLanday who, 20 years ago, were among a tiny handful of DC journalists who challenged & questioned the Bush administration?s case for war with Iraq. If only more had done so, that vicious and bloody war might have been avoided. #journalismmatters .? > > Landay was part of a group of reporters at the Knight Ridder bureau in Washington, DC, who slogged against the tide and published numerous stories revealing that the Bush-Cheney White House was hawking falsehoods to boost the war. (Their work inspired Rob Reiner?s 2017 film, Shock and Awe .) > > The pre-war period revealed the worst about Washington journalism and groupthink, and I was touched by Hasan?s tweet. It brought to mind that clich? about an old codger who is asked by a kid, ?Hey, grandpa, what did you do in the war?? In my case, I can say, ?I tried to stop it.? That may not have catapulted me or the few other journalists who attempted to do so to the top of DC?s pecking order. But we ended up with no blood on our hands. In this case, that?s a helluva honor. > Donate > > If you'd like more writing like this from David, sign up for his personal newsletter,?Our Land , and you'll hear from him a few times a week starting with the next one that goes out. > ? > > > Donate > Donate Monthly > Subscribe > This message was sent to carl at newsfromneptune.com . To change the messages you receive from us, you can edit your email preferences or unsubscribe from all mailings. > For advertising opportunities see our online media kit. > Were you forwarded this email? Sign up for?Mother Jones' newsletters today. > www.MotherJones.com > PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755 > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jbn at forestfield.org Mon Mar 27 00:25:51 2023 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2023 19:25:51 -0500 Subject: [Peace-discuss] China Daily's Seymour Hersh interview from 2023-03-24 includes why US blew up a German co-owned pipeline In-Reply-To: <07615c2b-3daa-c576-8f15-4837da3f5c8a@forestfield.org> References: <5194df63-2561-389f-dacb-c14e137bb297@forestfield.org> <07615c2b-3daa-c576-8f15-4837da3f5c8a@forestfield.org> Message-ID: <8f5aefcd-29de-3474-fe13-a1f7e4edebf0@forestfield.org> China Daily (CD) interviewed Seymour Hersh and Hersh said why the US blew up the Nord Stream pipelines (which was co-owned by Germany): (from https://sputniknews.com/20230325/seymour-hersh-biden-blew-up-pipelines-over-german-foot-dragging-on-ukraine-aid-1108770914.html) > Germany?s potential hesitation to supply more weapons to the Ukrainian regime was > the impetus for US President Joe Biden?s decision to order the destruction of the > Nord Stream pipelines, Pulitzer-prize winning American journalist Seymour Hersh > has claimed. > > In an interview[1] published Friday, Hersh told China Daily reporter Zhao Manfeng > that "the only thing" he can "think and suppose" is that Biden "was afraid of > Chancellor [Olaf] Scholz not wanting to put more guns and more arms into > Ukraine." See the CD interview: Seymour Hersh: I am very used to the stupidity of my government https://youtube.com/watch?v=n_nbbAMMfLc [1] https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202303/24/WS641d025aa31057c47ebb6512.html