[Peace-discuss] Anti-neoconservatism notes

[J.B. Nicholson]

Some items for discussion on AWARE on the Air. Please forgive the crossover 
between items for anti-neoliberal and anti-neoconservative issues as they 
tend to run into each other now and again (think of a Venn diagram of two 
circles with considerable overlap).





US Syrian occupation continues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW5NpfYIRNY -- Trump administration 
announces that "a small peacekeeping group of about 200 will remain in 
Syria for a period of time".







Venezuela: All roads lead to being a Putin puppet in corporate media discourse

No quotes or pointers in this but this is shared by others such as Jimmy 
Dore who pointed out: Anyone for the Venezuelan coup is on the same side as 
Trump. According to the fake protestations of the corporate media, Trump is 
widely said to be a Putin puppet, a Manchurian candidate we can't trust. 
This critique doesn't stand up to scrutiny but Russiagate-repeating media 
tells us it is true. Therefore those who favor the Venezuelan coup are 
Putin puppets because they side with a Putin puppet. They're also for 
foreign election meddling (which is remarkably hypocritical for anyone who 
uncritically repeats Russiagate stories) because that's what the US did in 
Venezuela when the US declared Juan Guaidó (a US-friendly Venezuelan 
stooge) to be the president of Venezuela.

Those who oppose the Venezuelan coup are also on the same side as Putin 
because Putin has clearly objected to the US's actions in Venezuela.

Hence both roads lead to siding with Putin in one way or another if we're 
to take corporate and corporate-friendly media seriously.







War: How much war would the US face if it weren't starting wars and 
attacking people around the world with sanctions?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/31/AR2009123100541_pf.html 
-- a story from January 1, 2010 in which an Afghani wore "explosives belt 
under his clothes, apparently was allowed to enter the small base after 
offering to become an informant" and blew up a CIA base where the CIA 
launched killer drones.

While 7 CIA officers and contractors were killed and 6 others were injured 
in this response, the killer drone attacks have been far more effective at 
killing people:

> The CIA has consistently declined to acknowledge any participation in 
> the ongoing campaign of airstrikes that killed more than 300 people in 
> the past 12 months.

Then CIA Director Leon Panetta said:

> "Those who fell yesterday were far from home and close to the enemy,
> doing the hard work that must be done to protect our country from
> terrorism," Panetta said in his message to employees. "We owe them our
> deepest gratitude, and we pledge to them and their families that we will
> never cease fighting for the cause to which they dedicated their lives
> -- a safer America."

And the Washington Post quoted unknown people as though their words could 
be taken as official information and true information. For instance:

> U.S. intelligence officials vowed that the Wednesday attack would only
> increase the agency's resolve. "This attack will be avenged through
> successful, aggressive counterterrorism operations," said one official,
> speaking on the condition of anonymity.

but wouldn't it be more productive to know that vengeance is a never-ending 
cause for war therefore vengeance can't make anyone safer?

If any other country were doing what the US did and is doing now (killing 
people with drones) the US would call them "terrorists". So this means the 
US government is engaged in state-sponsored terrorism when the US launches 
its drone strikes. When US media goes into some detail about who was killed 
on one side ("Many of the slain -- including the base chief, a mother of 
three young children -- were seasoned hands in the agency's 
counterterrorism operations.") but not the side where the missiles landed, 
we're left with questions about those killed such as how many children or 
mothers were killed in the drone attacks? We only know that each time a 
killer drone is used most of the people who are killed had nothing to do 
with fighting the US, and everyone killed is killed without charges, 
evidence, or trial (extrajudicial assassination).

Perhaps it is highly unwise to let any political candidate slide when they 
express support for the drone war (including Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), 
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT))







War and health care: Could it be that so-called "terrorism" is vastly 
overstated in the lives of most Americans and the US is better served by 
taking money from the military to spend on other programs?

https://shadowproof.com/2009/12/29/terrorism-still-less-deadly-in-us-than-lack-of-health-insurance-salmonella/ 
-- From 2009: "Terrorism Still Less Deadly in US Than Lack of Health 
Insurance, Salmonella"







Fake news: Venezuela -- the US attacks continue to fail, is more militarism 
and attempted gun running next?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEqXCjwzObU -- Corporate and Canadian 
state-owned media lie about the Tienditas Bridge in Cucuta (connecting the 
Venezuelan state of Tachira to the Colombian department of Santander 
North). This bridge never opened to traffic. As of late 2018 the Colombian 
Ministry of Transport was bragging about what the bridge would look like if 
it were inaugurated and open to the public, so there are plenty of pictures 
of an empty highway to show. On February 6, Mike Pompeo tweeted that 
Venezuela put down trucking containers and a tanker to block the bridge in 
order to prevent so-called "humanitarian aid" from entering Venezuela. This 
was not true. CNN, The Guardian, the CBC, the Washington Post, Bloomberg, 
and the BBC all repeated this false information. Some of these 
organizations also sent reporters.

There are border crossings available (contrary to the BBC's claim that 
there's "No way through for humanitarian aid"). People use these crossings 
-- the Simon Bolivar & Francisco de Paula Santander international bridges 
-- daily. CNN's reporter stood on one of these bridges and showed people 
leaving Venezuela framing it as though they were fleeing Venezuela. Had CNN 
turned their cameras around a bit they would have also shown tens of 
thousands of Colombians & Venezuelans move across the bridge in both 
directions. CNN also claimed that Venezuelans must go to Colombia to buy 
food and essential goods. As the teleSUR reporter notes, "Colombians 
actually take advantage of subsidized foods and products which are 
distributed by the government of Venezuela and local communes to citizens 
in order to sell them on the black market. Things regular Colombians 
haven't been able to easily access or afford in their own country."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/venezuela-bridge-aid-pompeo-1.5018432 -- On 
February 15, the CBC tacitly admitted their misreporting and repeated other 
doubtful claims at the same time:

> CBC News was among the many news organizations that used the photo in
> stories, stating that Maduro's forces had purposely blocked the
> Tienditas Bridge with shipping containers and a fuel tanker.
> 
> Yes, Maduro ordered the containers be put there, and no, he does not
> want international aid coming in through that corridor. He maintains
> there is no food shortage in Venezuela, despite numerous reports to the
> contrary, including from Human Rights Watch.

There is no apparent food shortage, says Max Blumenthal in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbXqGiNlWWw. In an interview with RT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rePzgMjlfHQ he says:

> [In his Grayzone piece] I was in a fairly-upscale neighborhood in
> Caracas, the supermarkets look just like the supermarkets in my hometown
> of Washington, D.C.. I could also tell you that I was out today in some
> of the poorer areas of Caracas and I actually encountered the Vice
> President of Venezuela, Delsimo Rodriguez, and the Mayor of Caracas,
> Eric Afarias, at open-air food markets around the city where food is
> being distributed basically for free to the poor and working-class
> communities. The problem here is speculation: there are high prices on
> food and random situations. So that has to do with the capitalist class
> here that supports the opposition; US sanctions are actually allowing
> them to basically hoard goods and to make maximum profit. So that's the
> irony here: it's that many of the supporters of the opposition and the
> big business forces behind the opposition are actually cashing in on the
> economic crisis.

As of now, we don't have footage from the US-friendly news sources showing 
what they claim -- empty shelves due to food shortages, people starving as 
a result of a dictatorial Venezuelan government forcing them to remain 
hungry. What we do see comes from Blumenthal's Grayzone Project in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbXqGiNlWWw (grocery store footage) and 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlX3yfXNX_g (open-air food market footage).

teleSUR says:

> After all, the cost of this blockade is over $30 billion and they're
> [the US] sending this so-called "humanitarian aid" for $20 million?






Venezuela: US attempts again to push through its so-called "humanitarian aid"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mUhnn0OjnE -- RT's report on 2nd US 
so-called "humanitarian aid" effort.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CsJqEkam80
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48yZm2_-KWc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS87_x7dfn4 -- teleSUR reports that the bus 
set on fire was a false flag attack on Venezuela staged by the US to give 
the US an excuse to impose their will as their recognized self-determined 
"president" Juan Guaidó recently tweeted:

Translated from https://twitter.com/jguaido/status/1099497510836547585:

> Today's events have forced me to make a decision - to formally ask the
> international community to consider all options, to liberate the people
> of Venezuela, who are struggling and will continue to fight.







Venezuela: RT's summary to date (2019-02-24)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TEQVUURaYU -- RT reports: According to the 
"No war in Venezuela" movement there are now 150 campaigns worldwide 
against interference in the country.






Venezuela: from the inside

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqQKq8yU7h0 -- Max Blumenthal talks to teleSUR

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trT51Ykqe8k -- Max Blumenthal asks 
Venezuelans where the communist dictatorship is. One man replying to his 
inquiry laughs. Citing a CNN report that claimed:

> [S]o many others are rummaging through trash, something you and I would
> consider unconceivable, so common wherever we saw there, I mean even
> ourselves we found it quite hard to get food and that is so staggeringly
> the reason why people are so furious right now.
But the people interviewed by Blumenthal say this is not the case. To the 
contrary, it appears that capitalism is alive and well in Venezuela.

Poor people in the US also eat from garbage cans and the US doesn't do what 
it can easily afford to do to house the homeless, eliminate "food deserts", 
and guarantee other necessities (potable water, education, health care, to 
name a few things). I don't think anyone in the US would claim that 
Americans "commonly" eat from the trash.






War: Child soldier documentaries from RT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ectRrctL_TE -- Syrian child soldiers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5dioL32Be8 -- Filipino child soldiers

Coming soon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4vt3EUjALs -- Machete: Boys 
of Congo (Congolese child soldiers). This is a trailer.






Russiagate: Maria Butina

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFOTJLO5O1Q -- Maria Butina's lawyer Robert 
Driscoll says she might be deported back to Russia as early as March. She 
was detained, mistreated in prison, and the US-friendly media repeated 
(sans investigation) US government claims that she used sexual favors to 
get special treatment. There's no evidence that this was never true and 
eventually the US government had to stop making the claim. Charges against 
her were "Conspiracy to defraud the United States" and "Violation of 
'Agents of Foreign Governments' code" (FARA -- Foreign Agents Registration 
Act, the same thing the US government said RT would be guilty of if they 
didn't register with the US government). It's important to note that Butina 
was never charged with espionage.

As far as the evidence goes, this entire case looks like Butina needed to 
fill out FARA registration forms and she would have been in the clear. But 
she didn't and that looked like an opportunity for the Russophobic 
Permanent Government/Deep State, and a means by which the US-friendly media 
could go beyond the charges (in other words, inventing lies) by making her 
out to be a secret Russian agent. In fact, she was merely a gun enthusiast 
who happened to be a Russian national. Butina was looking to work with the 
NRA on how to increase gun ownership in Russia. As far as the evidence 
goes, she did nothing secretly. She was publishing her views and goals on 
social media.

The selectivity and harshness of Butina's treatment make this case stand 
out as a Russiagate story. The CBC, BBC, and RT are all state-owned news 
broadcasters. But the CBC & BBC are US-friendly. RT has published a number 
of stories critical of the US government and clearly illustrated the goals 
of US policy. So it's hypocritical but not surprising when only RT is 
singled out for losing their Capitol credentials and forced to register 
under FARA, both of which happened. Maria Butina's oversight in not 
registering under FARA came at a time when the Permanent Government/Deep 
State was looking for a means to pin blame for Hillary Clinton's loss on 
Russia and gin up Russophobia in general for future use (it's probably 
easier to get more anti-Russian sanctions passed if the US government 
believes the US public won't question those sanctions because they are 
well-trained to hate Russia and Russians). But there's no good reason to 
single out Maria Butina for punishment or place her in solitary 
confinement, which happened.

Robert Driscoll says Maria Butina is now out of solitary confinement, doing 
well physically, and doing as well as can be expected under incarceration. 
Butina is looking forward to returning to her family. Butina's deportation 
is mandatory (Butina plead guilty to a felony for which deportation is 
mandatory) and the deportation date is up to the judge.







American Empire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0c-s7bbuF0 -- Daniel McAdams: US has 
policy of "world domination", also Bolton threw additional terms on the 
table which caused the DPRK meeting to end without agreement because Bolton 
wants other countries to be held to agreements but Bolton doesn't want the 
US to be held to any treaty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4q92BDJmpU -- John Bolton refers to the 
Monroe Doctrine as he pushes for a "broad coalition" against Venezuela.






India/Pakistan jet dogfight may lead to more militarism, nuclear war

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTxzCTI_hCc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeZ36JYd2T4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbeI87dQl0k -- India and Pakistan are 
launching airstrikes at each other. A group we're told are Pakistani killed 
40 Indians in a suicide bombing. Interestingly, the media seem to have no 
clear stake in this and we get a rare glimpse of what happens when 
corporate masters don't tell them which view to hide or take; it's 
interesting that this is not being critiqued as a lesson for how 
untrustworthy so many media outlets are on so many other wars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7mxJ9JRo7w -- India's Air Force claims it 
shot down a Pakistani drone in northwest India (Rajasthan). Also worth 
noting: India has Russian and French jets, Pakistan has Russian and 
American jets but it's unclear which jets were used in the prior strikes. A 
Pakistani jet (possibly a US-made F-16, which is a US-Pakistan trade 
agreement violation) shot down an Indian MIG-21, the Pakistani pilot was 
beaten by locals, captured, and released.









Iran: IAEA says Iran is abiding by nuclear treaty

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V5sYJPVMnM -- Iran is compliant with the 
2015 JCPOA, the Iran nuclear deal, according to International Atomic Energy 
Agency (IAEA), contrary to US government claims. US left this deal last 
year, but other members (Germany, France, Great Britain, Russia, China) are 
keeping the deal. Daniel Lazare is interviewed.







Skripal: 1 year on, we still have no clear story of what happened to the 
Skripals, no evidence to back PM May's claims

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJgTiP6WBss
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/seymour-hersh-interview-novichok-russian-hacking-9-11-nerve-agent-attack-a8459596.html 
-- Sy Hersh has not investigated the story but says the Russian mafia is 
involved in this:

> Hersh is also on the record as stating that the official version of the
> Skripal poisoning does not stand up to scrutiny. He tells me: “The story
> of novichok poisoning has not held up very well. He [Skripal] was most
> likely talking to British intelligence services about Russian organised
> crime.” The unfortunate turn of events with the contamination of other
> victims is suggestive, according to Hersh, of organised crime elements
> rather than state-sponsored actions – though this files in the face of
> the UK government's position.

Hersh told RT:

> Sy Hersh: Those two [the two men interviewed on RT] were helping the
> British intelligence services with information about the Russian mafia.
> That's what they were doing here [in the UK]. In other words, the people
> that were high on the list of people who would want to hurt him [Sergey
> Skripal] would be the Russian mafia. Russians, but not the Russian
> government.
> 
> Afshin Rattansi, RT host: Do you mean the Skripals?
> 
> Sy Hersh: Yeah, I mean that was the understanding. There was also some
> reporting out of Europe about that that's been pretty much widespread.
> [...]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blVwDo3B5nY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67ZJ6dgdpic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bRhKFcYWyY -- UK bought Sergey Skripal's 
home and everything in it, killed his pets, and both of the Skripals won't 
speak freely to media (Sergey's daughter Yulia was in one Reuters interview 
which was not long, detailed, and sounded scripted). We only recently 
learned of two new people involved in this -- a mother (who just happened 
to be the Chief Nursing Officer of the British Army) and daughter who are 
said to have happened upon the scene first discovering the Skripals slumped 
over in the Salisbury park. But we don't have any clear information on what 
poisoned the Skripals, how it was administered, who did it, or why. Prime 
Minister May's allegations that the Russian state did the poisoning is not 
backed by evidence, just speculation and fearmongering (including the two 
Russian men who were seen wandering around Salisbury and later interviewed 
on RT).

We're told the poison used was one of the "Novichok" (Russian for 
"newcomer") class of 'nerve agents' but questions remain: those poisons are 
said to be widely known about (published in books for decades), lethal in 
remarkably small doses, and the variant used is said to expire quickly when 
exposed to air. The poison alleged to have been used against the Skripals 
is also said to be impossible for civilians to make in their home (one 
needs lab equipment to do it) and yet UK's Porton Down lab is within 
driving distance of the park where the Skripals were found slumped over, 
and also near the site where others were poisoned (including British 
nationals: a police officer, a woman, Dawn Sturgess, who later died, and a 
man, Charlie Rowley).

What was the poison involved? Who made the poison? How was the poison 
transported from where it was made to where the Skripals came into contact 
with it? Was the poison made at Porton Down? How did the Skripals come into 
contact with the poison? If the poison was so lethal why didn't the poison 
kill everyone involved (only one human died from this and she might have 
been a registered heroin addict according to an earlier RT report)?

PM May claims she has seen evidence against Russia regarding this but 
apparently even a year later she's not sharing the details which ostensibly 
back her allegations. The UK still won't answer questions for Russia, 
despite their accusations and that Yulia Skripal is a Russian national.






Russia: INF treaty officially suspended with US 6 months early

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0c-s7bbuF0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPTlJMmf1C0 -- 6 months ahead of INF treaty 
expiration, Russian Pres. Putin mirrors the US in suspending the INF treaty.

-J