From C-SPAN, Sen. Edward Kennedy’s speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
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Q for Obama
Day 1 @ the DNC: OBAMA IS A BALLER
see
Massive Security Operation Mobilized for DNC + AT&T Throws Party to Support Dems
McKinney Recreate 68 Anti-War Rally + Protests with Heavy Police Presence + Sheehan
by Stephen Lendman
Global Research, August 25, 2008
For the West, everything changed but stayed the same, hard-wired and in place. Things just lay dormant in the shadows during the Yeltsin years, certain to reemerge once a more resolute Russian leader took over. If not Vladimir Putin, someone else little different.
Russia is back, proud and reassertive, and not about to roll over for America. Especially in Eurasia. For Washington, it’s back to the future, the new Cold War, and reinventing the Evil Empire, but this time for greater stakes and with much larger threats to world peace. Conservatives lost their influence. Neocons are weakened but still dominant. The Israeli Lobby and Christian Right drive them. Conflict is preferred over diplomacy, and most Democrats go along to look tough on “terrorism.” Notably their standard-bearer, vying with McCain to be toughest.
Several former Warsaw Pact and Soviet Republics are part of NATO: the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. In addition, Georgia and Ukraine seek membership. Russia is strongly opposed. And now for greater reason after Poland (on August 20) formally agreed to allow offensive US “interceptor missiles” on its soil. A reported 96 short-range Patriot ones also plus a permanent garrison of US troops – 110 transfered from Germany, according to some accounts. Likely more to follow. In addition, Washington agreed to defend Poland whether or not it joins NATO, so that heightens tensions further.
The Warsaw signing followed the Czech Republic’s April willingness to install “advanced tracking missile defense radar” by 2012. In both instances, Russia strongly objected, and on August 20 said it will “react (and) not only through diplomatic protests.” Both former Warsaw Pact countries are now targets. The threat of nuclear war is heightened. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Doomsday Clock heads closer to midnight – meaning “catastrophic destruction.” It’s no joking matter.
The US media downplays the threat and hails a pact Zbigniew Brzezinski (a Polish national, former Carter National Security Advisor, and key Obama foreign policy strategist) calls a watershed in the two countries’ relationship – “This changes the strategic relationship between the US and Poland. There is a clear and explicit understanding that if there are negative consequences of stationing the missile shield, the US will come to Poland’s defense.”
On the one hand, a surprising statement from a man critical of Bush administration policies, its failure in Iraq, and the dangers of a widened Middle East war. He fully understands the heightened potential for world conflict but sounds dismissive of the threat. On the other hand, he has bigger fish to fry and apparently willing to wage big stakes on winning. The Iraq war and Iran are distractions by his calculus. The real Great Game embraces all Eurasia and assuring America comes out dominant – not Russia, not China, nor any rival US alliance.
The major media also downplay the dangers and explain nothing about the high stakes. Instead they beat up on Russia and highlight comments from Secretary Rice that missiles aren’t “aimed in any way at Russia,” or White House spokesperson Dana Perino saying: “In no way is the president’s plan for missile defense aimed at Russia. (It’s to) protect our European allies from any rogue threats” that suggests Iran, but, clearly means Russia, according to Hauke Ritz’s recent analysis in Germany’s influential Leaves for German and International Politics journal.
He explained that Iran’s missiles can’t reach Europe, and that Washington rejected Russia’s proposed Azerbaijan-based joint US-Russian anti-missile system – to intercept and destroy Iranian missiles on launch. He thus concluded that Washington’s scheme is for offense, not defense. That it targets Russia, not Iran, with Alaskan and other installations close to Russia as further proof. He wrote: “The strategic significance of the system consists of intercepting those few dozen missiles Moscow (can launch) following a first strike. (It’s) a crucial element….to develop a nuclear first strike capacity against Russia. The original plan is for….ten interceptor missiles in Poland. But once….established, their number could be easily increased.”
According to Ritz, Washington wants a missile system that “guarantee(s a) US (edge) to carry out nuclear war without (risking a) counter-strike.” It can then be used for geopolitical advantage “to implement national interests,” but it highlights the dangers of possible nuclear confrontation and the catastrophic fallout if it happens.
In an August 20 Veterans of Foreign Wars convention address, Bush was essentially on this theme in focusing on “terrorism” and saying: “We’re at war against determined enemies, and we must not rest until that war is won.” Georgia “stands for freedom around the world, now the world must stand for freedom in Georgia” – clearly linking Russia’s response with “terrorism” and suggesting from his September 2001 address to a joint session of Congress and the America people that: “Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.” Any that are “will be regarded….as a hostile state.” Clearly, Russia is on his mind just as Moscow is carefully evaluating his threat.
The BBC echoed the US media, covers all the bases, mentioned the Iranian threat, singles out Russia, obfuscates facts about the conflict, sides with Washington and Poland on the new missile deal, and quoted Polish President Lech Kaczynski saying: “no one (with) good intentions towards us and (the West) should” fear the missiles. It also cited a miraculous turnaround in sentiment saying two-thirds of Poles now favor them. Astonishing since overwhelming opposition was recently evident, so it’s hard imagining it shifted so fast.
High-Octane Russia Bashing – The Dominant US Media
The Wall Street Journal asserted that Poles “see the US as their strongest ally” given “two centuries of invasions and partitioning by Russia” and other European powers. It also highlighted Russia’s “nuclear threat” (not Iran’s) in a Gabriel Schoenfeld article painting Russia as an aggressor and America aiding its European allies.
Schoenfeld (a senior editor of the hawkish, pro-Israeli Commentary magazine) cites “Moscow’s willingness to crush Georgia with overwhelming force (and claims) the Kremlin has 10 times as many tactical (short-range) warheads as the US.” The “shift in the nuclear imbalance….helped embolden the bear.” He ignores America’s overall nuclear superiority, but it hardly matters as both countries combined have around 97% of these weapons (an estimated 27,000 world total) according to experts like Helen Caldicott – more than enough to destroy the planet many times over.
Nonetheless, Schoenfeld supports the Polish agreement in the face of a “pugnacious Russia (determined to acquire) economic and military power (and) not afraid to use threats and force to get (its) way (with) nuclear weapons central to the Russian geopolitical calculus.” It’s reminiscent of “the dark days of communist yore (and captures the threat of what) we and Russia’s neighbors are up against.”
For the moment, anti-Iranian rhetoric has subsided with Russia the new dominant villian. En route to the NATO Brussels August 18 meeting, Secretary Rice called Russia’s action against Georgia a “very dangerous game and perhaps one the Russians want to reconsider.” Russian “aggression” is the buzzword, and the media dutifully trumpet it.
So do the presidential candidates. John McCain was especially belligerent in denouncing “Russian aggression” and calling on Moscow to “immediately and unconditionally cease its military operations and withdraw all forces from sovereign Georgian territory.” He called for emergency Security Council and NATO meetings in hopes condemnation would follow and “NATO (can act) to stabiliz(e) this very dangerous situation.” He also wants Russia expelled from the G-8 nations and an end to 10 years of partnership and cooperation.
Barak Obama first said that Russia’s “aggression” must not stand and denounced “Russian atrocities.” He then softened his tone somewhat with: “Now is the time for action – not just words….Russia must halt its violation of Georgian airspace and withdraw its ground forces from Georgia, with international monitors to verify that these obligations are met.” But expect those comments to harden as Democrats meet in Denver, and the party’s nominee will likely match his opponent’s tough stance. Or at least try under a slogan of “Securing America’s Future” to advance the nation’s interests in the world. Beating up on Russia is now fair game and made easier with lockstep media support.
The Wall Street Journal is more hostile than most, and practically frothed in its August 16 – 17 weekend edition. It called for “Making Putin Pay (and) Turning Russia’s Georgian rout into a political defeat.” It cited Russian aggression “to remove President Saakasvili from the office to which he was elected in 2004 (and to) overthrow a democratic government.”
It called on “western authorities (to) explore the vulnerability of Russian assets abroad (or) at least make life difficult for the holders of those assets.” The Journal might remember the billions of US fixed income and other investments Russia holds – although the country’s Central Bank reported late July that it pared its $100 billion in US “mortgage bonds” to $50 billion early in the year. The US Treasury reports that Russia holds around $36 billion of Treasury securities with considerably more in private hands.
The Journal then compared Russia to China and managed a slap at both. It said: “In the world of global commerce….China calculated that….staging an Olympic extravaganza (could enhance its) ambivalent reputation….By contrast, the Putin government….seems to believe its power grows in sync with its reputation as an international pariah, an outsider state,” and George Bush added that “Russia has damaged its credibility and its relations with the nations of the free world” – with the Journal writer hardly blinking at such brazen hypocrisy.
Nor did Journal editorial board member Matthew Kaminski in his headlined piece: “Russia Is Still a Hungry Empire” without a hint about the Soviet Union’s bloodless 1991 dissolution now down the memory hole in light of today’s inflammatory headlines.
Kaminski highlights “Russian tanks rolling through Georgia (with) images of Chechnya in 1994 and ’99, Vilnius ’91, Afghanistan ’79, Prague ’68, Hungary ’56” and before that Poland, the Baltics and other Eastern European states. “The war in Georgia marks an easy return to territorial expansion and attempted regional dominance.”
Boris Yeltsin “tried to give Russians an alternative narrative. (He) put forward democracy as a unifying and legitimizing idea for the new Russian state.” But that was swept away when “Putin took over.” He’s unresponsive to the idea of “partnership with the West and freedom at home.” He aims to force “young democracies around Russia….back into Moscow’s sphere of influence….The worldview of a Russian nationalist is hard for outsiders to comprehend,” and for Kaminski one that mustn’t be allowed to stand.
Nor for other Journal contributors daily (in op-eds and editorials) with some of the most outlandish attack journalism heard since before Gorbachev. Claims that “Kremlin capitalism is a threat to the West….by using its market strength in oil and gas resources to strong-arm its neighbors and outmaneuver the US and EU.” And that Russia’s real aim “is to replace a pro-western government with a new Russian satellite….reminiscent of the Brezhnev doctrine. (It’s) part of a broader campaign (to annex new territory, expand the Russian empire, conduct) cyber attacks against the Baltic states, (assassinate enemies, and use) economic intimidation (through) cutoffs of Russian oil and gas shipments to Ukraine and the Czech Republic….It is important that Moscow pays a concrete and tangible price for its latest aggression, at least comparable to (what) it paid for the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan.”
The New York Times is more measured but, on August 19, highlighted “Survivors in Georgia Tell of Ethnic Killings” with suggestions of “ethnic cleansing” – a practice that “haunted the borderlands of the old Soviet bloc.” Villages were “burned and houses broken; unburied bodies lay rotting; fresh graves were dug in gardens and basements….most victims interviewed (were) ethnic Georgians….(In central Georgian) villages, some killings were carried out for revenge….some (involved) theft (and still others) seemed to be that the power balance was shifting, away from ethnic Georgians to the Ossetian separatists and their Russian backers.”
Independent reporters on the ground contradicted The Times and similar US media accounts. One wrote: “Georgians living in several of the villages said the Russians occupying their land had treated them well, done nothing to encourage them to leave and offered the only protection available from the South Ossestian militias they feared most” and perhaps their own army in an effort to inflict harm and blame it on Russia.
On August 21, The Times headlined: “US Sees Much to Fear in a Hostile Russia (by) usher(ing) in a sustained period of renewed animosity with the West….problems extend(ing) far beyond (arms deals with) Syria and the mountains of Georgia.” Others with “anti-American states like Iran and Venezuela.” Pressuring US “military bases in Central Asia….counterterrorism, Hamas” and numerous other issues. Obama’s chief Russia advisor, Stanford University professor Michael McFaul, was quoted saying Russia appears intent on “disrupt(ing) the international order” and can do it. They’re “the hegemon in that region and we are not and that’s a fact.”
“Russia has all the leverage,” according to Carnegie Moscow Center’s Masha Lipman (with) potential for causing headaches” if it chooses – in the region, the UN, on Iran, Zimbabwe, and to halt “any kind of coercive actions, like economic sanctions or anything else,” according to former National Security Council advisor Peter Feaver. An old post-Cold War concern is now arisen. Russia is now “a spoiler.”
An August 21 AP report cites an example in its headlined piece” “Russia blocks Georgia’s main (oil) port city” of Poti and continues to hold positions around Gori and Igoeti….30 miles west of….Tbilisi.”
Reports from Other Sources
On August 21, Russia Today reported that “Abkhazia rallie(d) for independence (and) the Abkhazian Parliament has approved an official appeal to Russia to recognize its independence.” Tens of thousands rallied in support, and on August 23, Reuters reported that South Ossetia did as well and its president, Eduard Kokoity, plans to ask Russia and the international community for recognition. Russia’s Deputy Federation Council Speaker, Svetlana Orlova, told the rally that “Russia is always with you and will never leave you in the lurch.”
On August 23, The New York Times reported that “the Kremlin is nearing formal recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, possibly as early as next week.” Apparently likely according to Russian Regional Development Minister, Dmitry Kozak, who told Itar-Tass “support is likely (and) that after all the events that have occurred, one should not expect otherwise.”
On August 21, Abkhazian President Sergey Bagapsh “appealed to Russia and to governments of other countries to recognize Abkhazia’s independence,” for both his province and South Ossetia. On August 20, Interfax reported that the Russian Federation Council (Russia’s upper House of parliament) is prepared to recognize both provinces’ independence if their people “express such a will….and if the Russian president makes a relevant decision on this score,” according to Federation Council Chairman Sergei Mironov.
On August 25, Russia Today reported that (in emergency session) the Federation Council unanimously voted to ask President Medvedev to recognize Abkhazian and South Ossetian independence. Both province presidents addressed the chamber and “again said they will never agree to remain within Georgia” and are more entitled to independence than Kosovo. Konstantin Zatulin, deputy head of the Duma Committee for International Affairs in Russia’s State Duma, its lower chamber, stated that his body “most probably” will go along.
At the same time, tensions remain high. Both sides continue hostile accusations. Russia maintains it’s conducting an orderly withdrawal “in accordance with the international agreements (to their) previous (places) of deployment,” according to Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of Russia’s General Staff. US military officials at first said they saw no significant pullback. On August 22 with a clear withdrawal underway, the International Herald Tribune reported that the “US and France say Russia is not complying” with the cease fire.
Russia is observing a 1999 joint Russian-S. Ossetian-N. Ossetian-Georgian agreement prepared by the Joint Control Commission, an international South Ossetian monitoring body. It lets Russian troops secure a corridor five miles beyond either side of South Ossetia’s border that extends into Georgia. It also allows Russian peacekeepers to operate under the auspices of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
On August 23, RIA Novosti reported that Nogovitsyn said Russian forces will patrol Georgia’s Black Sea Poti port as “envisaged in the international agreement. Poti is outside of the security zone,” he said, “but that does not mean we will sit behind a fence watching them riding around in Hummers.” Nor allow Georgia to rearm for more aggression as Russia suspects, and that Georgia’s deputy defense minister, Batu Kutelia, admitted doing initially. On August 22, he told the Financial Times that his government attacked the S. Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, and attempted to seize it.
On August 22, Nogovitsyn heightened tensions by claiming Georgia is now preparing for new military action against Abkhazia and South Ossetia. “We have registered an increase in (Georgian) reconnaissance activities and preparations for armed actions in the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict zone.” As a result, he said that Russia reserves the right to maintain peacekeepers in both provinces. For its part, RIA Novosti reports that America now refuses to participate with Russia in “NATO’s Operation Active Endeavour naval antiterrorism exercise,” according to a Russian Black Sea Fleet source. The announcement came after Russia’s NATO envoy, Dmitry Rogozin, said his country was “temporarily suspending military cooperation with NATO until a political decision on relations” between the two nations had been resolved.
Also on August 22, the Israeli Ynetnews.com published a Russian daily Kommersant interview with Washington’s new Moscow ambassador, John Beyrle, sure to embarrass his superiors. He called Russia’s response justified after its troops came under attack. “Now we see Russian forces which responded to attacks on Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia, legitimately….” He went on to criticize Russia’s over-reaction and warned about its impact on US – Russia relations as well as investor confidence. Nonetheless, his first comment is telling and quite contrary to everything from Washington and biting anti-Russian media responses.
Finally on August 23, Russia Today reported that the “local (S. Ossetian and Abkhazian) population (said) they fear Georgia might repeat its regional aggression. They also (want) Russian troops to stay in the area to shield them from any possible attacks.” Russia has set up 18 S. Ossetia peacekeeping posts and plans a similar number in Abkhazia “to deter looters and the transportation of arms and ammunition.”
All the News Not Fit to Print
Not a major media hint that Georgia is a US vassal state. That its military is an extension of the Pentagon. That its aggression was manufactured in Washington. That it’s well-supplied and trained by America and Israel. That pipeline geopolitics is central. Beating up on Russia as well. Diverting Moscow from any planned intervention against Iran. Even enlisting Russia’s cooperation – not to sell Iran sophisticated S-300 air defense missile systems and agreeing to tougher sanctions in return for perhaps Washington deferring on Georgian and Ukrainian NATO admission and recognizing S. Ossetian and Abkhazian independence. Perhaps more as well to put off greater confrontation for later under a new administration.
Clearly, however, the fuse is lit. It has been for some time. It relates to everything strategic about this vital area with its immense energy and other resources as well neutralizing Russia’s power as America’s top rival and key Eurasian competitor.
Controlling the region’s oil and gas is crucial and what Michel Chossudovsky explains in his August 22 article titled: “The Eurasian Corridor: Pipeline Geopolitics and the New Cold War.” He calls the Caucasus crisis “intimately related to the control over energy pipeline and transportation corridors (and cites) evidence that the Georgian (August 7) attack….was carefully planned (in) High level consultations (between) US and NATO officials” months in advance. On August 23, RIA Novosti said a Russian security source accused Georgia of involvement a year ago in “coordinat(ion) with NATO’s plans to strengthen its (Black Sea) naval presence.”
Chossudovsky discusses America’s (1999) “Silk Road Strategy: The Trans-Eurasian Security System (as) an essential building block of (post-Cold War) US foreign policy.” Proposed in House legislation but never enacted, it was for “an energy and transport corridor network linking Western Europe to Central Asia and eventually to the Far East.” It aims to integrate South Caucasus and Central Asian nations “into the US sphere of influence.” It involves “militariz(ing) the Eurasian corridor,” much like Security and Prosperity Partnership plans are for North America.
Efforts are largely directed against Russia, China and Iran as well as other Eastern-allied states. It’s to turn all Eurasia into a “free market” paradise, secure it for capital, assure US dominance, control its resources, exploit its people, transform all its nations into American vassals, and likely aim to dismantle Russia’s huge landmass if that idea ever comes to fruition.
Russia, however, isn’t standing idle and is partnered in two strategic alliances:
— the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) since June 2001 along with China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan with Iran in observer status. It defines its goals as: “good neighborly relations;” promoting “effective cooperation in politics, trade and economy, science and technology” and more as well as “ensur(ing) peace, security and stability in the region.” Given NATO’s potential threat, its main purpose is military; and
— the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) since 2003 “in close liaison with the SCO” with a heavy emphasis on security against NATO Eurasian expansionism; its members include: Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
The stakes are huge as both sides prepare to confront them. All part of the new Cold War and Great Game. Reinventing the Evil Empire and beating up on Russia as part of it. Risking a potential nuclear confrontation as well and what a new US president will inherit with no assurance a Democrat will be any more able than a Republican. And with a global economic crisis unresolved, either one may resort to the age old strategy of stoking fear, going to war, hoping it will stimulate the economy, and be able to divert public concerns away from lost jobs, home foreclosures, and a whole array of other unaddressed issues.
In early 2003, it worked. Will 2009 be a repeat? Will it deepen what author Kevin Phillips calls “the global crisis of American capitalism?” Will the Doomsday Clock strike midnight? It moved two minutes closer on January 17, 2007 to five minutes to the hour. It cited 27,000 nuclear weapons, 2000 ready to launch in minutes. It said: “We stand at the brink of a second nuclear age. Not since….Hiroshima and Nagasaki has the world faced such perilous choices.” It said the situation is “dire.” It called for immediate preventive action. Its message went unheeded, and conditions today have worsened. The high Eurasian stakes up things further, and neither side so far is blinking.
Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his blog site at www.sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Mondays from 11AM – 1PM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests. All programs are archived for easy listening.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9899
© Copyright Stephen Lendman, Global Research, 2008
The url address of this article is: www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9933
see
Honest Obama To Continue Surrounding Russia by Bruce Gagnon
We’ve Always Been At War With Russia by Cindy Sheehan
Nuclear Chicken in Poland – Putin Can’t Afford to Back Down By Mike Whitney
The Saakashvili Experiment By Ramzy Baroud
Deconstructing Brzezinski’s Russia By Jim Miles
Pat Buchanan: Georgia started the war + It’s like the Cold War
Planning For Cold War And Beyond + Full spectrum dominance
The Eurasian Corridor: Pipeline Geopolitics & the New Cold War by Michel Chossudovsky
Watch more episodes here: funwithwarcrimes.com
Episode 6 of 8. Condi goes street. Dead Soldiers get chatty. Cheney’s fightin’ mad.
Episode 7 coming September 9th!
Watch more episodes here:
funwithwarcrimes.com
Vodpod videos no longer available.
see
Fun With War Crimes – Episode 5 “That Certain Feeling”
by Bruce Gagnon
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
Bruce’s blog post
space4peace.blogspot.com
Aug. 25, 2008
The Democratic national convention (DNC) begins today and many are getting excited and hopeful about Obama’s new pick for V-P, Sen. Joe Biden. They both spoke in Springfield, Illinois on Saturday (subtly bringing back memories of honest Abe Lincoln).
I’ve been a close follower of Joe Biden’s career for many years. I’ll never forget watching him on C-SPAN deliver a speech in 2000 at the time of the DNC in Los Angeles that chose Al Gore for president. Biden was speaking to a Jewish organization during a pre-convention luncheon and he talked about “missile defense”. The first half of his speech was an articulate and fascinating overview of why “missile defense” was dangerous and destabilizing. Then he stopped mid-stream and switched horses. The second half of his speech was a defense of U.S. participation in “missile defense” and the need for U.S. military space technology superiority. I was momentarily stunned but then recovered after reminding myself that this is what the Democrats do. They play both sides of the street. They have the anti-war rhetoric down to an art but then they walk away from that position by climbing onto the war horse and riding off with the sheriff’s posse.
You might have heard that Dick Cheney will be heading to Georgia this week to help stoke the fires of war on Russia’s border. And if that is not enough the media is reporting that, “NATO says it is holding long-planned exercises, involving US, German, Spanish and Polish vessels, in the Black Sea and that this is not linked to the conflict in Georgia. The exercises, which will include visits in Bulgaria and Romania, began on Thursday and are due to end on September 10.”
Count on the U.S. quickly rebuilding Georgia’s military and continual U.S. military maneuvers in this part of the world. The intent of these will be to constantly pressure Russia while, after each military “training exercise,” loads of military hardware will be left in the region for future operations against Russia.
Sen. Biden recently went to Georgia himself to beat the war drums and threaten Russia with “consequences” if they don’t leave Georgia alone. “When Congress reconvenes, I intend to work with the administration to seek Congressional approval for $1 billion in emergency assistance for Georgia, with a substantial down payment on that aid to be included in the Congress’ next supplemental spending bill,” Biden said.
So it appears that “Honest Obama” will continue the provocative military encirclement of Russia if he is allowed to win the presidency.
One final note: I must acknowledge that I had predicted the Democratic party race wrong. Many months ago I said Hillary Clinton would win the Dems presidential nomination and would pick Obama as V-P.
see
We’ve Always Been At War With Russia by Cindy Sheehan
Joe Biden: On the Issues by Lo
Nuclear Chicken in Poland – Putin Can’t Afford to Back Down By Mike Whitney
The Saakashvili Experiment By Ramzy Baroud
Pat Buchanan: Georgia started the war + It’s like the Cold War
Planning For Cold War And Beyond + Full spectrum dominance
The Eurasian Corridor: Pipeline Geopolitics & the New Cold War by Michel Chossudovsky
Democracy Now!
August 25, 2008
Massive Security Operation Mobilized for DNC
Thousands of delegates descended on Denver over the weekend for the Democratic National Convention, as did thousands of journalists, as well as protesters from across the country. We hear some of the voices of the protesters and speak with Democracy Now! correspondent Jeremy Scahill, who covered the events from the ground.
Democracy Now! | Massive Security Operation Mobilized for DNC.
***
Activist take to the streets at DNC!!!!
***
AT&T Throws Party to Support Dems Who Voted to Grant Telecoms Immunity for Illegal Domestic Wiretapping
Democracy Now! goes from the streets to the suites to try and cover one of the first of over 1,200 parties during the Democratic National Convention–this one thrown by AT&T to support Democrats who voted to grant the company immunity for illegal wiretapping of Americans. We also get analysis from Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com.
see
Protesters, cops clash near mall + Plot to Kill Obama: Shoot From High Vantage Point
McKinney Recreate 68 Anti-War Rally + Protests with Heavy Police Presence + Sheehan
by Cindy Sheehan
Dandelion Salad
featured writer
Cindy Sheehan for Congress
Aug. 25, 2008
In George Orwell’s tale of dystopia, 1984, the main character, Winston Smith, works for the Ministry of Truth. Winston’s job is to make sure the news of the day fits the current propaganda of the Party or Big Brother. When Winston changes the news to fit, the old, incorrect news gets dumped down the “Memory Hole,” and the “Proles” of Oceania (where keeping ones TV on 24 hours a day is mandatory—it’s also a two way receiver to spy on the citizens) are supposed to alternatively switch seamlessly and unquestioning between: “We have always been at war with Eastasia,” or, “We have always been at war with Eurasia.”
I have written extensively on the parallels between 1984 and the current state of affairs in America today, but with renewed hostilities and demonizing of Russia back in full swing, it appears that, “We have always been at war with Russia.”
I grew up in Bellflower, CA during the height and heat of the Cold War. I was even chastised in 2nd grade because I got very confused about a question my teacher asked. She asked her class of seven and eight years old children if: “A Russian put a gun to your head and told you not to recite the pledge of allegiance, what would you do.” Believe it or not, I was a very shy child, but at that moment my hand confidently shot up because I was sure of the answer. Miss Mac Murray called on me and my small voice called out: “I wouldn’t recite it.” WRONG! I was called “un-American” even back then when I was still wearing bobby-sox and saddle shoes and I think that was the beginning of my childhood fear of “Russians” or, even worse, “Communists.”
Besides not wanting to get my head blown off by the evil Russians, every Friday at exactly 2pm, the town’s air raid siren would go off and we would dive under our apparently nuclear-bomb proof school desks like a bunch of Pavlov’s dog salivating for safety. I don’t remember one instance when one of my close-knit group of classmates ever questioned this practice…we just robotically complied. Not to worry though, if the evil Russians decided to drop the “bomb” at a time other than 2pm on Friday, we were taught to take refuge pinned up next to a brick wall, or other solid structure. Needless to say, it was a very stressful time to be an impressionable kid.
As my classmates and I gained “sophistication” in world affairs (during the “hey day” of the Vietnam war) we were shown glimpses of a Soviet Union that constantly surveilled its citizens; imprisoned many political dissenters without American-style due process; and, of course the biggest crime of all: the USSR was not a democracy, and there was only one person to vote for on the ballots (sounds like present day Oceania—oops, I meant America). From my earliest awareness during the Cuban Missile Crisis to the fall of the Soviet Union and break up of the empire, because of militarism and a bloody decade long war in Afghanistan (not because of doddering Reagan saying “Mr. Gorbachev, tear the wall down”), I was seriously nervous about an impending “mushroom cloud” and that image lay like a shadow over our nation and the only thing, I think, that saved us from obliteration was the doctrine of “Mutual Assured Destruction.” (MAD). The image was revived in 2001 by BushCo and “mushroom cloud” became the buzz-word and way to falsely reignite Cold War fears to promulgate war with a nuclear weaponless Iraq.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, much of the raison d’être of the war machine also collapsed and the neo-conservative movement, (which has always pushed for American military and corporate hegemony since Leo Strauss fathered the movement from his professorial seat at the University of Chicago in the early -60’s), was put into a pickle. Some world politicians were even talking about a “Peace dividend” now that the Cold War was over and our nation could actually begin to put the MADness of mushroom clouds behind us and shore up positive policies such as education and our infrastructure while closing military bases and reducing defense spending dramatically.
“Luckily” for the neocons, the USSR’s misadventure in Afghanistan led to the rise of the Taliban and Osama bin Laden’s “al-Qaeda.” “Luckily” for the neocons, the USA (Charlie Wilson’s War) armed and trained the mujahadeen (which Reagan called “freedom fighters”) to combat the USSR’s invasion. This US trained force was transformed into “terrorists” and the war machine and the neocons could again exploit an enemy to pursue their goals of “Pax Americana.”
Also, “luckily” for the neocons, their “new Pearl Harbor” was realized on September 11th, 2001 and the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) could be realized and a fearful American public who sheepishly went along with Military Industrial Complex (MIC) abuses during the Cold War, followed George Bush and the neocons into full-blown wars because we were propagandized to be properly fearful and patriotic and almost thankful ourselves that we could focus our rage on the enemy du jour and settle back into our coma of consumerism and let our “Big Brother” take care of things for us.
This was obviously a thumbnail sketch (I recommend the wonderful BBC documentary The Power of Nightmares for an in depth history of terrorism and neo-Conservatism) of the last 40+ years, but today the world is once again sitting on a power keg cobbled by the MIC.
Most of our brothers and sisters here in the USA have caught up with the rest of the planet and now realize that the whole “terrorism” scheme was just that: a failed and unnecessarily violent and destructive scheme to enrich certain segments of American society while killing and impoverishing others. However, both Parties (as I like to call them: The Twins) are still shoving the war machine down our throats with their tail-wagging-the-dog “Global War on Terrorism.”
There is controversy over the Russian-Georgian-Polish nightmare. Did Condi Rice or John McCain give Mikhail Saakashvili the “go ahead” to invade separatist South Ossetia. Permission was definitely given by someone, much like the US Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, giving Saddam Hussein the green light to invade Kuwait in 1992. It doesn’t matter who gave Saakashvili the permission, we know that either the State Department, or McCain are lying—they always have and always do and always will, but now, after the unstable American puppet follows his orders from his puppeteers, the USA government and their propagandists, the US corporate media is blaming Russia and trying to revive Cold War fear to assuage the war machine’s fear of a lack of pretend “enemies.”
Russia is not and never has been completely innocent, but Russia rushed into Georgia to protect its people and all of a sudden, Condi, George and warmonger, McCain are saying that in the 21st century countries don’t “invade other countries.” These statements would be laughable if they weren’t so horribly sad.
Allowing weapons systems in Poland would be a dangerous and obviously hostile move to Russia and the doctrine of MAD would insanely be reasserted into our daily lives in a world that is competing for precious energy, food and water resources. With unstable fingers of unstable leaders on the triggers of nuclear weapons all around the world, the Doomsday clock is ticking and this situation calls for aggressive diplomacy on the part of an international community that doesn’t want these missiles pointed at their cities. The situation also calls for renewed talks of eliminating nuclear weapons totally.
Since WWII, we have always been “at war” with some country, ideology or group, and our economy, ecology and psyches are growing strained to the point of breaking.
If there was ever a time to turn back the hands of the Doomsday clock, it is now, but unfortunately, the Bush regime is incapable of wisdom and/or peace, but the candidates of the two major parties are both tools of the war machine so, consequently, our only good prospects are within each of us.
A candidate or party platform that is truly pro-peace and pro-humanity would call for the following actions:
* All foreign occupying forces out of Iraq AND Afghanistan
* The closure of most of US military bases around the world
* Dramatically reduce Pentagon spending to be used for defensive purposes only
* Complete multi-lateral nuclear disarmament
* Reorganize NATO which has just become another imperialistic US military tool and a
destabilizing factor in Europe
* Dissolve the Security Council at the UN which inhibits peaceful conflict resolution
* An aggressive plan to speedily wean America off of fossil fuels
see
The Power of Nightmares by Adam Curtis (must-see videos)
War on Terror Is Never Ending – Part Four: Orwell’s 1984 and the War
Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney speaks at the ReCreate ’68 rally outside the DNC on Sunday, August 24, 2008.
by Cindy Sheehan
Dandelion Salad
featured writer
Cindy Sheehan for Congress
Aug. 25, 2008
Cindy for Congress adamantly believes that the problems in this country (and world) go way deeper than the Republican Party. We believed this before our campaign, and unfortunately, we have been proven correct repeatedly with Dem leadership sanctioning the occupations, torture, destroying our 4th amendment and not upholding the rule of law and Constitution especially since regaining majorities of both Houses of Congress—off the backs of the grass roots movement, that the Party has virtually ignored for the last year and a half, plus.
With the Democratic Party moving farther to the right each day, we believe it is even more imperative to have our voices heard for peace, accountability, fossil fuel independence, environmental stability and economic equality. If We the People don’t drag our leaders towards the people and positive change, it won’t happen, no matter who is the president, or which party controls Congress. I know I was approached by many activists wearing Obama ’08 paraphernalia that are very distressed with the direction their Party is going in, too.
Today, CFC participated in the Recreate ’68 rally on the steps of the State Capitol here in Denver—there were awesome speeches, especially by Cynthia McKinney (Green Party Presidential Candidate) and Ron Kovic (disabled Vietnam Vet and subject of Born on the 4th of July). World Can’t Wait, ANSWER and other groups participated in the coalition and there were a reported 500-1500 people from all over the country in attendance. I myself am distressed that most organizations in the so-called peace movement refuse to protest here in Denver because they believe that the Democratic leadership is any better than the Repugs.
Something that really bothered me at the rally, also, was when a group of activists surrounded the correspondent from Fox News. Now, mind you, I abhor Fox News, however, I think Fox News is just a little worse than CNN (brought to us by Lockheed Martin and Boeing) and NBC (owned and operated by General Electric). Fox, (like CNN and NBC) is a propaganda ministry of the US imperial-military regime and deserves nothing but contempt and ridicule—that’s why I refuse to do national Fox (except when Sean Hannity called my bluff once) and I DON’T WATCH the network. So, we were there protesting our government’s suppression of our 1st amendment rights to peaceably gather and express our freedom of speech, and some elements of our side were denying 1st amendment protection to Fox News because they don’t agree with their speech—as far as I am concerned that’s as bad as what BushCo have been doing for the last 8 years.
The most troubling thing happened, though, when I arrived back to my hotel. We got back early because the altitude and sleeplessness were starting to take a toll on us. We did not march after the rally, so we decided to rest before the next event at 7pm. As I walked toward my room, I noticed that the door was opened with the security bolt blocking the complete closing of the door. I knew immediately that I had not left the door open, and I double checked to make sure it was the right room because, as a frequent traveler, I have been known to forget my room number, but it was the right room.
I was upset at first thinking that housekeeping had made a mistake and left my room open and I was worried that something might be missing. So I walked into my room and bigger than life, there was a man standing by my desk holding the room phone with a screwdriver in his hand!
I immediately said; “What the hell are you doing? Are you putting a bug on my phone?” He looked like he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar and stammered out: “N–no, we are having problems with the phone.” I told him to get out of my room because my phone was fine and I called the front desk and the person at the front desk stammered something out about “problems” with some of the phones.
This room was reserved soon after we got to Denver last night because the room we had was inadequate for 3 people. The room was reserved under my campaign manager’s name with a CFC debit card. By the time we left for the march, it could have very well been ascertained that I was the one in this room, and the room we did reserve could be bugged, also. I am confident that that’s what was happening when I walked in on the “maintenance” man and I am becoming more shocked every day with what the ruling class are capable of….that’s why…
My phones are in the room fridge. Let them listen to refrigerator noise.
CFC is feeling a little shaky on the security front, because there is no way to reasonably expect privacy from a Party and a government that has discarded our 4th amendment rights to be secure in our persons and papers…in other words, our safety and our campaign can be compromised by a government that exists to protect our rights, not abuse them at will.
OUTRAGEOUS!!!
see
By Chalmers Johnson
August 24, 2008 8:24 pm
originally published 2005
In the months before he ordered the invasion of Iraq, George Bush and his senior officials spoke of preserving Iraq’s “patrimony” for the Iraqi people. At a time when talking about Iraqi oil was taboo, what he meant by patrimony was exactly that — Iraqi oil. In their “joint statement on Iraq’s future” of April 8, 2003, George Bush and Tony Blair declared, “We reaffirm our commitment to protect Iraq’s natural resources, as the patrimony of the people of Iraq, which should be used only for their benefit.”[1] In this they were true to their word. Among the few places American soldiers actually did guard during and in the wake of their invasion were oil fields and the Oil Ministry in Baghdad. But the real Iraqi patrimony, that invaluable human inheritance of thousands of years, was another matter. At a time when American pundits were warning of a future “clash of civilizations,” our occupation forces were letting perhaps the greatest of all human patrimonies be looted and smashed.
There have been many dispiriting sights on TV since George Bush launched his ill-starred war on Iraq — the pictures from Abu Ghraib, Fallujah laid waste, American soldiers kicking down the doors of private homes and pointing assault rifles at women and children. But few have reverberated historically like the looting of Baghdad’s museum — or been forgotten more quickly in this country.
Sent to me by Jason Miller from Thomas Paine’s Corner. Thanks, Jason.
8/24/08
In the movie, American Pycho, Christian Bale gives us one of the most chilling portraits of a psychopath ever committed to celluloid. Adapted from the controversial novel of the same name by Brett Easton Ellis, the film introduces us to a man who appears to have it all. Handsome stockbroker Patrick Batemen lives in an expensive apartment, drives a fabulous car, wears exquisitely tailored suits and eats at the best restaurants with his classy fiancé. But these rewards are also the source of a constant, gnawing status-anxiety which sees him desperately fixated on maintaining his position in the hierarchy of success. The scene in which he boils with anger when a colleague produces a superior business card is one of the film’s most fascinating and chilling moments and it is this murderous rage which leads to him descending into an orgiastic killing-spree in which various examples of society’s dispossessed are dispatched.
That Ellis chose to place his character in the corporate world is no accident. Both the book and film are a storming piece of satirical excoriation in which Bateman’s violence is used as a metaphor for what the author considers the spiritual impoverishment of the naked materialism he and his equally acquisitive colleagues exemplify. He suggests it is the corporate culture itself which is psychopathic, and in this way Patrick’s own psychopathy is both the symptom and the disease. For he operates within this culture which defines success in purely material terms, and so the need for proof of his own success becomes his raison d’etre, the centre upon which his entire identity depends. All the more sinister is the fact that it becomes an incubus from which he cannot escape as long as he buys into that culture’s values, the result being a highly ironic realization that the more he has, the more insecure he becomes.
The notion of corporate culture as psychopathic is an interesting one, but has it any validity? The makers of the 2003 documentary ‘The Corporation’ certainly think so, their premise being that since companies benefit from their status as ‘corporate persons’ (a legal term denoting rights usually associated with individuals, or ‘natural persons’, such as the right to privacy or freedom of speech) it is relevant to ask – what kind of person are they?
To answer this they make use of the standard psychopathy test developed by leading psychologist Dr. Robert Hare. The traits which, when found together, identify a personality as psychopathic (lack of empathy, pathological lying, lack of guilt or remorse, parasitic lifestyle, manipulativeness, grandiose sense of self, superficial charm) are ticked off as the film progresses, accompanied by various examples of dubious corporate behaviour, including environmental destruction, inhumane working conditions, unethical marketing, media manipulation, patenting of life-forms, neo-liberal re-structuring programmes in exchange for aid, attacking of whistle-blowers and the use of dwindling resources for short-term profit.
All are juxtaposed with the Hare list, the conclusion being that the way a modern day corporation operates exemplifies the overarching characteristic of the psychopath – it has no conscience. Indeed, in the documentary, Milton Friedman, considered by many to be the father of neo-liberal economics, insists that a corporate executive has only one moral imperative – to make as much money for that corporation as he can. Friedman identifies something important here: it is the individuals inside the corporation who must choose to accept this imperative in order to ensure the company’s success in these terms. Are our thriving businesses attracting psychopaths as employees?
Dr. Hare, himself, has explored this question in his book, ‘Snakes in Suits, When Psychopaths Go to Work.’ He and co-author, organizational psychologist Dr.Paul Babiak, believe there is something in the very structure of the modern day corporation which encourages its employees to demonstrate those traits the Hare psychopathy test lists. They describe the ‘organization wars’ of the 1970’s and 80’s, as business moved away from the cumbersome bureaucratic model toward a more stream-lined, effective ‘transitional’ one: ‘egocentricity, callousness, and insensitivity suddenly became acceptable trade-offs in order to get the talent and skills needed to survive in an accelerated, dispassionate business world’ they tell us. One cannot help being reminded of the riveting TV spectacle of The Apprentice in which contenders proudly state there is no one they would not step on or sacrifice in their pursuit of success. The authors then go on to describe how inviting psychopaths find the corporate milieu, explaining that, ‘the temptation for someone with a psychopathic personality to join a fast-paced, competitive, and highly effective ‘transitional’ organization, especially one with few constraints or rules, is too great, and the rewards too significant, to ignore.’ With the result that, ‘psychopaths are more attracted to work for businesses that offer fast-paced, high-risk, high-profit environments.’
It may come as news to some that not all psychopaths are axe-wielding serial killers, that they can be suave, charming businessmen and women, admired and rewarded for the very traits which mark them out as one. But in a time of globalization what are the implications for society if the world’s most powerful organizations value such people? Some would say we need only look around us for the answer. Witness the sweat-shops of India, the disappearing rainforests, the polluted rivers and oceans, and the corporate owned media from which most people construct their view of the world.
The American writer and philosopher Henry Thoreau once declared: ‘It has been said that a corporation has no conscience, but a corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience’, neatly encapsulating the nature of the relationship between the entity itself and those operating within it. Indeed, they are the cells without which the corporate body would be lifeless; they give it form and agency and they set its moral limits. Friedman is very clear about what those limits should be. And not many are arguing with him.
But in a time of rapidly diminishing resources, environmental devastation, peak oil, food riots and seemingly perpetual war, is it not pertinent to ask if the institutions which control our lives should be run by those whose operating principles can be identified as psychopathic? Can the boundaries of the corporation’s moral universe ever be re-drawn so that human and environmental cost is calculated alongside profit margins?
The corporation has risen to a position of unprecedented influence until it now dictates the quality of life of every human being on the planet; in reality, it decides if many live or die. We are the first generation in history facing the possibility of ecocide, and we will be the last with the power to prevent it. Is it possible to envisage a world in which these things fall within the corporation’s scope of concern?
Is it possible to treat and cure this psychopath?
Not bloody likely….
see
The Corporation (must-see video)
Totalitarianism: It Can Happen Here by Paul Street
Charles Kernaghan: Sweatshops and the Global Economy
Ralph Nader: Corporations should be our servants, not our masters
Nader Calls For Crackdown on Corporate Crime, Reversal of So-Called War on Drugs + Sean Penn
Forrest Hylton: The Morales government holds back on use of force against opponents
By Manila Ryce
The Largest Minority
Published Sunday, August 24th, 2008, 11:13 pm
Not much time to blog folks, so please excuse my brief description of a complex situation.
Denver is a complete police state, and I say that without exaggeration. The sheer number of law enforcement officers is easily more than the amount of protesters. Due to the outright promise that protesters in Denver will be beaten, arrested, and locked up in a Gitmo-style warehouse, the numbers aren’t as large as expected. However, there seems to be a strong group of Anarchists who refuse to be intimidated.
Today we demonstrated on a blocked off route, but soon moved into streets which weren’t designated areas. We completely stopped traffic as we moved between honking cars and dance in intersections. Giving credit where credit is due, the police were actually pretty tolerant until we started blocking streets near the capitol building. Officers in riot gear, holding their batons and rubber bullet guns, moved in on us. Two people were singled out and arrested but we stood our ground.
see
In Denver, Police and Protesters Try to Prepare for Each Other
by John Prados
Global Research, August 24, 2008
www.nsarchive.org
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 254 – 2008-08-22
The U.S. intelligence community buckled sooner in 2002 than previously reported to Bush administration pressure for data justifying an invasion of Iraq, according to a documents posting on the Web today by National Security Archive senior fellow John Prados.
By Naomi Spencer
http://www.wsws.org
25 August 2008
In recent weeks, Bush administration officials have introduced a number of provisions that substantially widen the powers of intelligence and law enforcement agencies to conduct spying and other operations within the US against American citizens.
Last week, several news outlets reported that the Justice Department had drafted new rules on intelligence gathering operations which it plans to ratify on October 1, the first day of the new fiscal year and one month before the November elections.
Although details of the draft have not been made publicly available, officials told the Associated Press (AP) that the changes give explicit permission to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to spy on Americans even if there is no basis for suspicion of criminal activity or allegations of wrongdoing. According to an August 20 report by the AP, officials speaking on condition of anonymity said “the new policy would let agents open preliminary terrorism investigations after mining public records and intelligence to build a profile of traits that, taken together, were deemed suspicious.”
[…]
The FBI would be authorized to conduct activities such as “long-term surveillance, interviewing neighbors and work-mates, recruiting informants and searching commercial databases for information on people.”
[…]
There can be little doubt that among those targeted will be the sizable and growing segment of the population actively opposed to the government’s policies. “Pretext interviews” and the use of “recruited informants”—who infiltrate targeted organizations—are deeply anti-democratic and unconstitutional tactics that the FBI, in the anti-communist Cold War era, widely employed against socialists and civil rights groups.
[…]
see
COINTELPRO and Domestic Spying by Tom Burghardt
FBI to get freer rein to look for terrorism suspects —
Pentagon Opens New Spy Shop by Tom Burghardt
Atty Gen Mukasey testifies before the House Judiciary Ctte
Domestic Spying
Dandelion Salad 