W.J. Astore
It seems strange to me how America’s leadership is spoiling for a new world war. Most Americans wanted revenge against Japan after Pearl Harbor in 1941 and understood the dangers of Nazism and Germany’s quest for world dominance, but why is risking a world war necessary in defense of Ukraine or Taiwan?
Here’s my take: Let Ukraine and Russia settle their differences. Let China and Taiwan settle their differences. The fate of Ukraine or Taiwan has almost nothing to do with U.S. national security.
No other nation on the planet defines the entire world as its sphere of influence. Only in America is the fate of faraway countries like Ukraine or Taiwan tied directly to our fate. It’s like Russia being worried about the U.S./Mexican border or China taking a direct hand in defending Cuba against America.
Maybe what we need is a new Monroe Doctrine. Instead of warning others to stay out of “our” hemisphere, Americans need to vow that we remain in “our” hemisphere, because what happens in Taiwan largely stays in Taiwan, and what happens in Ukraine largely stays in Ukraine. Neither fundamentally compromises our national security and neither directly threatens our Constitution and way of life.
But we must stand up to Putin! We must stand up to Xi! If we don’t stop them over there, we’ll have to stop them here! To that I say, let’s wait and see. Any country foolish enough to invade America will face a heavily armed and inflamed people who are ready to rumble.
It’s time to stop spoiling for a new world war. Sadly, at least three big problems constrain Americans in plotting a saner course:
- Wars and preparations for war are immensely profitable for weapons makers.
- Domestic politics, as both parties accuse the other of being weak on China or Russia or both, driving both parties into the arms of hawks.
- The mainstream media, which never met a war it didn’t like, as long as ratings are high.
How do we fix this? Levy a war tax on the richest Americans for all the weaponry and other aid being sent to Ukraine and Taiwan and elsewhere. Stop voting for candidates who always vote for more and more war. Stop listening to the mainstream media and their warmongering.
One thing is certain: war is too important to be left to the generals, the Beltway bandits, and the usual neocon suspects who posture about putting on big boy pants while sitting safely in corner offices.
Bracing Views 
Posting this comment in the latest article on Richard Falk’s Blog, he essentially agrees we’re on a 1 way trip to a Nuclear Holocaust.,
Richard, good article in Counter Punch today.
In June 1963, Kennedy uttered the essential truth that can keep us alive today: “Above all, while defending our own vital interests, nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war. To adopt that kind of course in the nuclear age would be evidence only of the bankruptcy of our policy–or of a collective death-wish for the world.”
The US position as I see it is to bring Russia to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war.
Reply
Richard Falk October 22, 2022 at 2:51 am #
Ray: Whether intended or not, this seems to be the objective trajectory. Highly relevant JFK quote.
An invasion of the US by Russia or China is completely out of the question in this Nuclear Missile Age. Armageddon/WWIII would be over before any expeditionary force got close to the US.
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Well said again, Bill. But there are some inherent problems in Your proposed fixes.
First of all, levying a “war tax” on the “richest Americans” will not pay for America’s Forever War; and more importantly, it will not cause those richest ones to become anti-War/anti-MICC. Whatever the tax rate that finally is inflicted, they will still have plenty of money to do with as they please. What was the tax rate on The Rich during World War II? 90%?
Second of all, where are these candidates who would not always vote for war and more war going to come from? Do You think America’s Ruling Political Class is going to come up with them for Americans to vote for?
And third, is the problem the MSM and its love of war? Or is the problem the American Media Consumer who gives that love of war all those high ratings?
Permit me to offer my proposal as to how to begin to fix that part of American government and governance that has run totally amuck:
~ 1. Levy a War Tax on not just the Rich, but on ALL consumer goods, products, and services ~ starting at the gas pump and grocery store and beyond ~ that Everybody buys, regardless of their income or wealth. And impose a particularly high War Tax on tickets to all professional and collegiate sporting events; especially those with military bands and parades, parachute jumps, and flyovers.
~ 2. Mandate the purchase by all citizens, organizations, and institutions [for-profit and non-] of War Bonds. Again, just like in the Good Ole Days of the last “Good War.”
~ 3, Bring back the Draft for ALL Men and Women over the age of 18. And this time, NO Exemptions for Anything to Anybody.
In Your list of the problems that prevent this nation from following a “saner course,” You left out the biggest and most important problem of all: That the American Citizens-Tax Payers-Voters have let Swampland get away with all this Bullshit. And have ever since the end of World War II.
And Swampland will continue to get away with all this Bullshit for just as long as those CTPVs continue to let it. In other words, None of this Bullshit is going to stop until those CTPVs DEMAND and ACT on that Demand that it stop.
And if they don’t, they will get exactly what they deserve; just a small hint of which they are experiencing today. And it’s going to be a Long Winter.
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Under the idea of noblesse oblige, I’d like to see a military draft that drew first from major sports stars, Hollywood celebrities, and the sons and daughters of Congress and major corporations, especially those that make and sell weapons.
I won’t take any war seriously until today’s equivalent of Ted Williams and Jimmy Stewart don uniforms and go off to fight.
And I’m all for war bonds. They should have been mandatory to fund the “war on terror.”
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JG on point 1, this WAR is already inflicting a “tax” on citizens with inflation, not to mention the increased tax cost to pay for the $Billions in Military aid to Ukraine. On top of that, it’s being done with BORROWED Money resulting in higher interest payments on US Debt.
Implementing point 3 might change American attitudes?
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Well, it’s not inflicting enough hurt on American CTPVs to inspire them enough to get off their asses and do something about it, is it?
And bringing back the Draft would certainly change the attitudes of Americans aged 18-30, wouldn’t it? And it might change the attitudes of at least some of their Parents.
America’s Young Adults need to get as concerned about America, the Imperialist Warfare State as they are about Climate Change.
Because that Warfare State is going to get them killed long before Climate Change has a chance.
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i just thought of this as something else to fix the problem:
~ 4. Impose a 90% tax on all profits by all arms merchants, weapons makers, and any other for-profit organization doing business with the MICC or SSSP.
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The CEO of Lockheed Martin, the biggest supplier of Weapons of WAR, makes $2,500,000 every MONTH, a Crime against Humanity.
BIG BIG MONEY in the Death and Destruction BUSINESS
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How Lockheed Martin makes a killing on making killing machines.
Military RFP’s (Request for Proposals) are always hopeless. Poorly done and with lots of stuff left out.
The Air Force Aquisition folks after all want to look good getting the stuff as cheap as they can.
LM is asked to give a HARD MONEY bid on the RFP – and does so with small profit margin built in.
The Air Force then realizes – oh – we actually need lots more things we didn’t include in the RFP otherwise this airplane will not meet our needs. Shoot, it might not even take off!
Give us a price for that extra please.
And the Lockheed Martin estimators rub their hands with glee and go to work.
And the reaming of the taxpayer starts.
Lockheed Martin can charge what it wants, since it is impractical (impossible) to ask another aerospace manufacturer to come in and Bid on doing extra work on an airplane being built in LM’s facility.
LM has the Air Force by the short and curlies – to use an American expression.
So it’s a joint reaming of the beleaguered taxpayer by the Air Force and LM.
And from my experience it’s the Air Force who should take the most blame.
The F35 being a textbook case of how this works.
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And on top of this LM had already produced some 300+ aircraft and delivered them to the Air Force before a lot of these changes and extras were requested. So these aircraft are essentially useless, and will have to be recalled back to the factory at Ft. Worth to be expensively retrofitted. The 300 were delivered before the aircraft had been fully flight tested, and the design finalized and firmed up. To many people nearly criminal.
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Or better yet, mandate that any organization doing business with the MICC/SSSP be a Non-Profit organization.
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So my Marine Construction Company on the West Coast was to construct Navy docks used by the Navy to defend America for no profit! Yeah right! Why would we do that – when we could build container shipping terminals for the Port of Long Beach, or Ferry Terminals in Alaska for a small profit?
Good luck with getting anybody to work for, or invest in, a company that made no profit eh! How are these companies going to invest in new equipment for the future if they make no money? LOL
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They can borrow the money with a low-cost loan from the government. That’s what they’ll have folks like Ms Murray still around for.
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Having been involved in bidding many large projects for the Navy Jeff – here is how it works.
The estimators do their very best to estimate the ACTUAL cost of the work.
And in a Bid Review present their work to the owners.
Who decide how comfortable they feel with the estimate, evaluate the risk, and add a mark-up.
That mark-up is to cover risk, contingencies, AND to make a little money.
The estimator then spreads that mark-up over all Bid items.
Which are the submitted as your bid. The Profit invisible to the Navy – even in an audit. (They don’t know how the ACTUAL costs were determined in any case.)
If owners know the job will be NO PROFIT – they will mark it up to the same figure as for a FOR PROFIT job.
So saying you can’t make a profit will achieve nothing.
BTW a low-cost loan from the government still costs you money. And in a NO-PROFIT bid will still be hidden in the Bid items. So your suggestion is a non-starter.
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Maybe this is easier to understand:
An experienced estimator knows that with our methods, equipment, and crews, historical records show that it takes a 6-man crew 2hrs to drive a pile. Accordingly, he estimates 12mhrs/pile for a FOR PROFIT job.
But knowing its a NO-PROFIT job – he estimates 18mhrs/pile.
And how is an auditor going to question that?
An auditor does not know our ACTUAL costs. For example; our derrick cost per hour is a highly complex calculation in which costs can be buried in many ways. Our crew efficiencies are our trade secrets.
So saying you can’t make a profit achieves zippo!
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Of course it’s a non-starter. What self-respecting, dues-paying member of the Infrastructure-Contractor-Congressional Complex would ever go along with anything that interfered with increasing the costs on a Cost-Plus contract? Especially when whoever is paying the bills doesn’t ~ as You just confirmed ~ have a clue as to what the REAL costs really are?
And who in the “Congressional” wing of that cartel would even consider it; particularly when it would cut into donations and contributions from the “Contractor” wing?
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And BTW our Company never executed a COST-PLUS contract with the Navy.
We were given a set of plans defining the work – which we competitively bid on.
Always against (4) competitors.
Any extra work we were asked to do – we had to submit a price for. Which the Navy audited.
The Navy had the option of letting us finish our work. And award the extra work to another contractor.
To imply that Navy work was a Cost-Plus bonanza for us is not correct.
And we never donated one dime to the Navy, or made a political contribution, or where part of any cartel.
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And how does building docks for the Navy on the West Coast defend the United States? What does it do:
Protect us from an invasion from China?
And how much BIGGER of a profit did You guys make working for the Navy instead of California or Alaska? For, no doubt, the exact same amount of work.
Owe You $20, Bill…
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So no Navy docks are built on the West Coast. Where does the Navy tie up its ships?
Actually Navy jobs are a big pain the ass! Too much bullshit and clueless Career Navy goons interfering with the work. Jobs for Ports and States are where you can make the big bucks! Jobs for the WSDOT and California DOT are goldmines! LOL
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Heh. So how many ships and of what sort does the United States need parked on its West Coast to defend America against an invasion from China? Or on the East Coast against an invasion from Russia? Or on the Gulf Coast against an invasion from Latin America?
Just exactly how big a Navy DOES America need?
Well, if it is to be the Navy of a Global Empire, it needs to be pretty damn big, wouldn’t You say?
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But you will agree, that even if the Navy is no longer the Worlds policeman and the US dumps its hegemonic dreams, the US still needs a defensive Navy.
And Navy docks like anything else – get outdated and need maintenance and upgrading. To say that the Navy uses the drydocks in Long Beach it built in 1939 is unrealistic. And to saddle the Navy with facilities that were designed in 1940 is a non-starter. To say the Navy needs to keep using an aircraft carrier built in WW2 is not going to provide much defense from whoever the enemy is – wouldn’t you say.
Convince Americans that they will not be attacked by China, Russia, or Latin America(?), and argue for the complete elimination of the US Navy? Good luck with that Jeff.
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That’s the reason all Nation-Empires in Human History eventually collapsed. Biblically, BABYLON/Iraq was the 1st one, and the US is the latest, greatest of them all. The TAIL struck the HEAD in 2003 leading to the unravelling of the Global Babylonian Military-Economic system of the last 2600 years.
The longest lasting Empire of them all, from Babylon to Persia/Iran, to the Greek, Roman and British Empires was the Muslim Ottoman Empire. The US Empire/hegmony is the shortest lived of them all.
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If being concerned about Armageddon/WWIII isn’t enough, this goes along with it.
https://johnmenadue.com/environment-rich-countries-export-their-social-and-environmental-problems/
As the Christ condensed the 10 Commandments I prefer to see more as Good Advice into only 2 Commandments, I reduce all aspects of the Military-Environmental existential threats facing the Human Species to unbridled MATERIAL CONSUMERISM consuming us.
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Jeff, if you desire to set up a company that makes huge bucks building Navy facilities on the West coast – be my guest.
In my 30-years in Marine construction on the West Coast probably at least a dozen companies tried and went bankrupt.
Now with Lockheed Martin and Boeing on aerospace work it’s a little different.
Through poor overall management of the industry by government stupidity its boiled down to only those two companies. After WW2 there was a dozen aerospace manufacturers in the US. The F4 Phantom was bid on by four companies. The F35 RFP was bid on by two companies. And it was a sham process. Too complicated to get into here. But many have suggested that Air Force officials should go to jail for what has happened.
But the same thing has happened in Europe – with AIRBUS and a few stragglers left.
So military Aquisition is screwed if you are talking a competitive environment.
And the projects so complex its inevitable that the work will be Cost-Plus.
But it’s not the fault of the companies – it’s the fault of Government and its Aquisition behavior and policies
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Gosh Dennis, here you are a tried and true member of the Military Industrial Complex. (LOL) Can I have your autograph? Oops. I worked for an oil company that sold jet fuel to the Navy so I guess I am too. Oh no. (LOL) I hope they don’t find out about those $1000 bills in the envelope. (LOL)
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You know as a young man I never knew what the Military Industrial Complex was! Let alone realizing I was part of it! As I got older, much older, I learned what a bad person I was!
So I have justified my involvement with feeding off the trough of the MIC, and getting my brand-new Chevy Pickup work vehicle every year as part of my compensation, by telling myself that my projects were for DEFENSIVE purposes only! LOL
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It’s interesting to compare how industries were managed in the US vs in Japan.
Take the motorcycle industry, in which the Japanese dominate in the World. There were (4) companies competing against each other. Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki and Yamaha. All success stories.
Then in the early 70’s the huge Bridgestone Tire Company decided they were going to get in on it, and released their brilliant GTR 350. Which was raved on by the press. The Japanese government stepped in and told Bridgestone that they needed to cease and desist. And Bridgestone never made another motorcycle. The Japanese did not want a war between too many competitors ruining the industry as a whole.
In the US when Boeing gobbled up Vertol Aircraft Corporation, the biggest independent manufacturer of helicopters, and took over McDonald Douglas, the manufactures of the F4 Phantom and the F18 Hornet, Congress raised nary a peep! And now the US is left with two fighter jet manufactures, down from the dozen in the 50’s and 60’s. Consequently, these two companies can rape the Air Force.
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These two comments on this video is appropriate for the thread today I thought:
A great many Americans like myself deeply resent being forced to support the escalation of this conflict. We see it as madness. And hopefully after this election we can raise hell with our Congress and bring about some sanity. Problem is, sanity seems to be a rare thing for those that dwell in the heights of power.
I’m American, and this whole conflict makes me sick to my stomach. Watching my country fund this war, and escalate Ukrainian deaths, all just to dig at Russia, in Russia’s own backyard mind you,. It’s hard to sit here and watch it happen. We’re destroying Ukraine by refusing to back down.
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Articles about the WAR Today all on 1 page:
Ukraine: U.S. lawmakers look to lock in a further $50 billion assistance package
It’s Time To Cut Zelensky and Ing-wen From the US Dole
How the pro-Ukraine NAFO troll operation crowd-funds war criminals
Putin’s Winter Offensive
Putin is Correct about NATO & Ukraine. U.S. Double Standard Explained
Russia, Ukraine and Preventing Nuclear Holocaust with Jeffrey Sachs
Biden Has an ‘Off-Ramp’ on Ukraine
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
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War-making and war-directing is like a lot of government programs. They’re on autopilot. Someone once said that the hardest thing to kill is a government program. Which is why we should be so careful about starting new ones.
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Dennis, you must know this Australian site.
‘The profoundly stupid narrative that nuclear brinkmanship is safety and de-escalation is danger’
https://johnmenadue.com/the-profoundly-stupid-narrative-that-nuclear-brinkmanship-is-safety-and-de-escalation-is-danger/
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Yes Ray, I read it. But thanks for the link.
Sadly, our cousins across the ditch are going wild with military spending.
With more and more fear being driven entirely by the US Military Industrial Complex selling them stuff.
Many Aussies are not too happy about that.
They don’t want to be sucked into fighting a proxy war for the Yanks against China (a la Ukraine)
Take care my man. Cheers mate
Dennis
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‘Fifteen Seconds Till Armageddon’
“When militarism is addressed as a psychosocial disease, the absurd irrationality of its symptoms is clearly exposed.”
These words are from a 1992 essay by N. Arther Coulter published in a journal called Medicine and War. Who would have guessed? They’re as relevant now as they were three decades ago.
God bless Armageddon.
As war wreaks hell in Ukraine — and the threat of a nuclear confrontation between superpowers continues to intensify — NATO is in the process of prepping for the end of the world. It’s an annual two-week training event called Steadfast Noon — a nuclear practice run that gives European flight crews a chance to practice loading and dropping “non-strategic” nuclear bombs. Russia is expected to conduct its own annual nuclear drill, known as Grom (that is, Thunder), soon as well.
I can’t read about this without summoning what I call “the big why?” from deep within. Endless resources are devoted annually to nuclear deterrence, a.k.a., the big bluff: “If you mess with me, you’re gonna get it.” The point, allegedly, is to prevent war, which is absolutely paradoxical in a global political system based on the psychosocial disease of militarism, i.e., the pursuit of national interest and the maintenance of safety primarily via force and violence……………………………………….
https://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2022/10/22/fifteen-seconds-till-armageddon-by-robert-c-koehler/
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To Ray and whomever it may concern,
I wonder whether the situation is (going to be) as bad as what I have portrayed in my image as follows:
This illustration has a resolution of 4038 by 2539 pixels and is titled “We have Paleolithic Emotions; Medieval Institutions; and God-like Technology with Nuclear Holocaust“. It is featured in my post entitled “We have Paleolithic Emotions; Medieval Institutions; and God-like Technology“.
The world ecological crisis and the threat of nuclear war aside, we are perhaps already accelerating inexorably towards some eventual calamities or runaway cataclysms, being well on track in facilitating a wholesale and terminal decline of Homo sapiens, a species unable to transcend its own fate, incapable of fathoming let alone solving the great riddle of life, and succumbing in due course to not merely a surfeit of wayward violence and aggressive expansion but also exiguous comprehension of its own existential mess, pernicious strain and destructive streak, never mind the spectres of an even deadlier pandemic (whether zoonotic or genetically engineered), industrial disaster, biochemical apocalypse and nuclear holocaust as well as all-out cyberwarfare, cyberterrorism and cyberattacks.
Yours sincerely,
SoundEagle
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SoundEagle, an excellent illustration and so appropriately titled. Hope you don’t mind I saved the picture for some future use with attribution to you.
I’ve been more abstract for the last 10 years or more when the topic came up, saying, “I see the circumstances developing that will produce a flood of Americans seeking REFUGEE STATUS in CanaDa to escape crazy, American style home grown terrorism.”
That will be the result if US BRINKMANSHIP results in a Nuclear Holocaust, if not deliberately, than by accident because of increasing tensions.
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Dear Ray,
Thank you for your reply. I have since published many new posts on my blog, and even expanded the aforementioned post entitled “We have Paleolithic Emotions; Medieval Institutions; and God-like Technology“, which now contains a new, long and highly thought-provoking multi-paragraph introduction. This introduction discusses, amongst other matters, capitalism, socialism, communism and Marxism. I would be delighted if you would submit a comment to the post, as I am keen and curious about what you will make of my said post. Thank you in anticipation.
As for the poster/billboard-sized illustration titled “We have Paleolithic Emotions; Medieval Institutions; and God-like Technology with Nuclear Holocaust“, please feel free to use it in your blog post(s). The best way to provide attribution is to present a hyperlink to the source article entitled “We have Paleolithic Emotions; Medieval Institutions; and God-like Technology“, published at
http://soundeagle.wordpress.com/2021/12/31/we-have-paleolithic-emotions-medieval-institutions-and-god-like-technology/
This is a very substantial and topically important post, even dealing with the fundamental problems and the existential crisis of the human species, looming ever larger.
Yours sincerely,
SoundEagle
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Yep Ray,
……I can’t read about this without summoning what I call “the big why?” from deep within. Endless resources are devoted annually to nuclear deterrence, a.k.a., the big bluff: “If you mess with me, you’re gonna get it.” The point, allegedly, is to prevent war…..
December 2014…
The US has announced that an emergency spending programme will be carried out in order to update its ageing nuclear arsenal. Up to $1 trillion (£640bn) will be spent as part of a 30-year plan to upgrade an array of missiles, submarines and bombers.
Speaking at the Pentagon, Chuck Hagel, the US defence secretary declared: “No other mission we have is more important. It deters nuclear attack on the US and our allies and our partners. It prevents our adversaries from trying to escalate their way out of failed conventional aggression.”
The programme conflicts with Obama’s previous campaign promise to create “a nuclear-free world”.
Think Ray what this US$1.0-trillion could have done, and could do, spent in US in the 30-years beginning in 2014 on infrastructure and social needs. A human tragedy in progress.
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That’s why the US, taking over from the 247 year British Empire after WWII, dropped the 2 Nukes to show the World who the new Boss was.
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Bill, I agree with every word and I fervently hope that someday soon the citizens of this country will start to loudly complain about our warlike propensities.
But I have a problem and I hope you can help. Yesterday I read an article on Consortium News by John Kiriakou and wrote a brief comment, but my comment was totally blocked by some company called Media Temple Website Firewall. I note today that this article has no comments, though normally there would be many. So this article, and probably all future CN articles now have blocked comments. I hunted as hard as I could to find a way to contact CN. I hunted the web site and I hunted for individuals using google. (I’m not very good at this since I’m very old). I want them to know what is happening. I assume they do know, but they haven’t put anything on line to explain what is happening, so I’m hoping you know how to contact someone there and tell them. The Firewall provided some details which I cannot decipher because the details are all numbers. Example : “your IP; 47.215.225” or “Block ID CMB055” etc. etc.
This is very strange. Some organization, and I don’t know if it is a government one or one like Facebook , etc. has decided to block all CN comment, and I find that scary as hell. Even if you have no idea about this sort of thing, I hope you find it scary too. CN has not published anything false, any more than you have. I assume if this organization can do this to CN that you or someone like you will be next and that is extremely depressing.! I hope even if you have no answers that you might at least comment, and maybe send Joe Lauria or Kiriakou a heads up which I have failed to do. Thank you!
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RANNEY, you know that Joe Lauria is doing a good job when it is being targeted – as it has been a lot lately.
On June 2, Consortium News responded to NewsGuard’s allegation that CN was publishing “false content” on Ukraine, a response NewsGuard rejected when it gave CN its red mark.
The Pentagon and State Dept.-linked outfit, with an ex-N.S.A. and C.I.A. director on its board, is accusing Consortium News of publishing “false content” on Ukraine, reports Joe Lauria.
NewsGuard set itself up in 2018 as a judge of news organizations’ credibility. The front page of NewsGuard’s website shows that it is “partners” with the State Department and the Pentagon…
NewsGuard is a private corporation that can shield itself from First Amendment obligations. But it has connections to formerly high-ranking U.S. government officials in addition to its “partnerships” with the State Dept. and the Pentagon.
Among those sitting on NewsGuard’s advisory board are Gen. Michael Hayden, the former Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency director; Tom Ridge, the first U.S. Homeland Security director and Anders Fogh Rasmussen, a former secretary general of NATO.
https://consortiumnews.com/2022/10/16/the-response-newsguard-rejected/
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It seems that more and more people want to be judges and censors. I wonder if they can make a good living at it. I would characterize them as part of the “non-productive” sector.
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It’s not that I’m necessarily pro-Putin, but I do think Russia is the aggrieved party in this WAR, but pointing out all the SINS of Historical OMISSION in the US WAR Propaganda in all Washington Post reporting, I’m demonized as much as Putin is, and it’s really depression to see how 99% of the comments are calling for more WAR and escalation as if it’s just a movie and the US will escape all the consequences.
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I’m not the only one thinking Russia is the the aggrieved party.
‘Some of Us Don’t Think the Russian Invasion Was “Aggression.” Here’s Why’
“We are not threatening anyone.… We have made it clear that any further NATO movement to the east is unacceptable. There’s nothing unclear about this. We aren’t deploying our missiles to the border of the United States, but the United States IS deploying their missiles to the porch of our house. Are we asking too much? We’re just asking that they not deploy their attack-systems to our home…. What is so hard to understand about that?” Russian President Vladimir Putin
Imagine if the Mexican army started bombarding American ex-pats living in Mexico with heavy artillery-rounds killing thousands and leaving thousands more wounded. What do you think Joe Biden would do?
Would he brush it off like a big nothing-burger and move on or would he threaten the Mexican government with a military invasion that would obliterate the Mexican Army, level their biggest cities, and send the government running for cover?
Which of these two options do you think Biden would choose?
There’s no doubt what Biden would do nor is there any question what the 45 presidents who preceded him would do. No US leader would ever stand by and do nothing while thousands of Americans were savagely slaughtered by a foreign government. That just wouldn’t happen. They’d all respond quickly and forcefully.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/some-us-dont-think-russian-invasion-aggression-heres-why/5795980
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Dennis I agree and I know all that; Joe Lauria wrote about it on CN, and I assume this is more harrassment, but I think all of us who care about what is happening in our media, particularly the vast amount of lies of omission along with out and out fantasy, need to be concerned and aware when it happens, and I find the cutting off of comment by people like you and me and all the others who have something to say, is rather diabolical. Bill’s Bracing Views makes comments easy, which is a major plus , because it lets us see how others out there are thinking and also lets us know that we are not alone in our dismay over what our government is doing. Cutting off comment deprives us of the knowledge that we are not alone.
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RANNEY. I got banned from commenting on YouTube. Which I was pretty pissed off about for a while. But looking at the quality of the comments on YouTube lately, I’m regarding it as a badge of honor! LOL
But what really pisses me off lately, if I watch a lot of say motorcycle racing on YouTube, the computerized algorithm that brings up what YouTube automatically appears when you search – favors motorcycle racing videos. OK.
But when I was watch only pro-Russian videos, the algorithm brings up more and more “Russia is getting slaughtered, the Ukraine is winning the war” video’s get recomended to me! I swear the number of pro-Ukrainian and “Russia is getting slaughtered” video’s on YouTube will blow your mind. And the number of viewers always in the millions!
The only way you will see pro-Russia video’s on YouTube is if you search for them by subject in the search field. And depressingly you find they got 456 views!
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Like this rubbish!
1,394,367 views, 5,300 comments!
And the comments -phew! “This is a strong speech, respect to Russians who understand they are fooled by their leader. BRAVO”
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And this video got 72,610 views.
1,321,757 LESS THAN the rubbish in this Sun video!
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RANNEY,
You know the average ConsortiumNews posting gets about 5,000 views, 7,500 if Joe is lucky!
Thats 0.0033% of adult internet users in the US.
And 25-comments if you are lucky – as opposed to 5,300 comments on a typical rubbish YouTube video.
The numbers make you weep!
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……….It’s like Russia being worried about the U.S./Mexican border, or China taking a direct hand in defending Cuba against America……
Exactly Bill, if you were to suggest to Americans that Russia and China act like this…they would think you were a crazy person. And then turn around and emphatically tell you that the well-being of folks in Spokane, WA and Fargo, ND is directly tied to what happens in Ukraine and Taiwan.
New Zealanders do not live under the illusion that goings on in Ukraine and Taiwan directly affects them one iota. At least the sane ones! LOL
Thanks for putting it that way.
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I remember watching “The Sum of All Fears” in which part of the plot was that the Russians were making a move in Chechnya. That “demands our response” said the American commander gravely. And I thought isn’t Chechnya part of Russia? It would be like a Russian commander saying the US was making a move in Mississippi that “demands our response.”
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But if the Ukrainians and Taiwanese start to play rugby – look out! That will directly affect Kiwi’s fate!
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On Tucker Carlson last night, Trump was accepted, if somewhat jokingly, by Washington up until the Feb. 13, 2016 Republican debate in Greenville, S.C., at which Trump said “Obviously the war in Iraq was a big fat mistake.” Almost immediately official Washington turned to keep Trump out of office. They obviously had a lot of help in the effort.
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You don’t have to watch this propaganda YouTube Video. Its rubbish!
GN News?
A Google search will find literally nothing about GN News. They don’t have a home page.
And no Contact address, or way that you can verify where they are, or who they are.
But they have been putting out this propaganda to the tune of half a dozen YouTube vides per day.
And are prominently offered to you by the YouTube algorithm. Which somebody has programmed!
I would take anything they report with a large dose of skepticism.
Surely this shows how we are being manipulated – but by who? I’d love to know.
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GN is a Danish communications equipment company. https://www.gn.com/
They may be related.
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Yeah, I found that as well Alex.
But I don’t think they are the outfit being paid to put out this rubbish.
The video’s are very professionally made, with a lot of footage of the latest weapons being used, and military type commentary. Carefully scripted to get a message across.
Being in a conspiratorial mood today – I’m wondering of this an American production?
The US military or the CIA – I could be way out on a limb here! LOL
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I would think there would be a problem calling something GN News unless it was put out by GN or at least with their tacit approval.
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https://gnlinks.com/
Good News? With some other news clips
This website provides you with the latest breaking news and videos straight from the News industry.
© Copyright 2021, All Rights Reserved
But the site gives no contact information.
Very suspicious.
Welcome to GN News channel,
It is one of the aims of our channel to deliver current political news to you, our valued followers, in the fastest and most accurate way. We try to produce content in which we analyze the regional tensions and relations of countries such as the USA, Russia, Ukraine, China, England, Israel and Turkey from a military perspective. You can support us by subscribing to our channel.
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#russia #ukraine #war #ukraine #russiaukrainewar #news #russiaukrainenews #War
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Location: United States
Ah haa! …….location United States.
Only joined YouTube in Jan 2022.
It’s obviously a front = maybe selling itself to more than group!
And paying the big bucks to YouTube to have it show up prominently in its search algorithm.
11- anti-Putin videos in the last 7-days!
CIA you think ALEX?
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“Air America.”
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GN News videos about Russia seem to be very recent. Months ago they had videos about FNAF (Five Nights at Freddy’s), which is described as a “horror video game.” In Turkish.
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I like Bills comparing “GN News” to “Air America”. A broke, barely making it, little airline with a few broken down planes – offered a big bucks guaranteed money contract to be in business without the hassles of a reservation and ticking system. LOL
A broke internet “News” company struggling along with 15K subscribers (Joe Rogan has 9.74M !) offered a big bucks guaranteed money contract to put its name on videos made by the CIA.
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An example of everything getting out of control when you sell weapons to crooks.
And with the US dependent on the Saudi’s for gasoline – what leverage do they have?
Oh dear!
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To defy the U.S. is a “hostile act”? Correction: To defy U.S. leaders is a hostile act. I hope they don’t use that criteria on the citizenry. Personally I don’t feel defied. Countries can do what they like with their resources. We certainly do. Look at Biden and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The senior Senator in the clip is Robert Blumenthal, left-wing Democrat of Connecticut and career bureaucrat and politician. He’s 76 now and presumably schedules himself to spend the rest of his life in the Senate or higher. I still think one reason for the anti-Russian enthusiasm is the fact that they are a major energy producer. So our aid to Ukraine is just an unspoken part of the Green New Deal. Who knew?
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You don’t need to watch this US propaganda either!
10-minutes showing details of modern weapons systems – its obviously produced by the US military
Calling Zelenskyy’s brave military. Russia’s economy is broken. All bullshit!
Anyway, enough of these videos’ – I’ve made my point.
And with Iran and Israel now getting sucked into this – this war is going to go on for a long time.
Yes Bill…It’s time to stop spoiling for a new world war…. but our actions don’t support this notion.
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Finland’s ambassador to the United States, Mikko Hautala, checks in in the Seattle Times….
“President Vladimir Putin, now at 70 and in his 23rd year in power, is obsessed with the false premise that the West robbed Russia of its great power status and that it is his mission to reclaim it. He has long had his eyes on Ukraine…..
Americans have a great sense for right and wrong, and this brutal war is so wrong in so many ways. Still, it is not unreasonable for ordinary Americans to wonder what’s in it for them in the long run. What about America’s domestic needs or China’s growing influence? And shouldn’t the Europeans deal with their own issues?……..
……what is happening in Ukraine sets a global precedent. If the West eventually backs down in the face of illegal aggression, we can be almost certain there will be more. This not only would embolden Russia, but also potential aggressors elsewhere and further weaken international rules-based order. There would be a negative impact on everyone´s security.
But we are not only helping Ukraine fend off this brutal aggression. We are also standing up for the principles of international law, which guarantees every nation its territorial integrity and right to self-determination.
Beyond that, the West’s credibility and stability are at stake. So far, we have passed the test. For the sake of Ukraine — and ourselves — we must stay the course.
https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/abandoning-ukraine-would-be-giving-up-on-principles-the-west-holds-dear/
Not any mention about the 2014 coup by neo-Nazi’s stoked by the American Victoria ‘Fuck the EU” Nuland, and the CIA and Nato’s aggression. The war started in February 2022 according to the brainwashed Finnish Ambassador who gets her geopolitical news from CNN.
And plenty of dumb arse comments by Seattleites who have drunk the Kool Aid…
“I can only assume this is in response to Kevin McCarthy’s statement that when he becomes Speaker of the House, aid to Ukraine will be reduced significantly or cut off all together. I thought only Trump was a true Putin stooge. It appears the whole of the current GOP leadership is under Putin’s control. We are looking at the potential of becoming a true Russian vassal state if the GOP takes over.”
Oh dear!
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Lots of Kool Aid going around. In my day the big thing was the Domino Theory (DT, not to be confused with Detox). If South Vietnam fell, the Commies would take Laos and Cambodia, then Thailand and the Philippines. And then ….. China! Oh wait. They already had China. See! They were right!
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And of course, according to this Finnish US sock puppet the Russians are guilty of “weaking international rules-based order”. Tou know, those international rules-based order(s) that prevented the US from invading Iraq, and protected Gaddafi! Give me a break!
He could not have put more cliches in this diatribe if he tried! Invite that man to more State Department cocktail parties!
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This is good:
https://www.takimag.com/article/the-clownification-of-politics/
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Oh dear – the race between Pattie Murray(D), The Senator for Boeing, is getting too close for comfort.
Her Republican challenger is now polling only -5%.
Time to call in the cavalry!
“Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Seattle on Wednesday to speak about the administration’s low-emission school bus initiative (you can’t make this up folks!!) her office announced on Friday. An opportunity to raise money during a pivotal moment in the midterm election season, she will also attend a private fundraiser.
The vice president’s second stop, a fundraising event, will be closed to the general public.”
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/vice-president-kamala-harris-to-visit-seattle-this-week/
Of course, it will be closed to the general public! LOL
“Giggles” is even more embarrassing than “Comatose Joe”.
You know, I’m really thinking today that the D’s could lose the Senate!
Maybe that’s a bad thing. Then Comatose Joe would have an excuse why he can’t get anything done!
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Off Topic Bill – but WoW! I never would have predicted this!
Bloomberg NEF estimated yesterday that Tesla sold 200,000 Model Ys in the third quarter, bringing the total so far this year to more than 500,000. That means the SUV is on pace to almost 800,000 – placing it among the top five best-selling vehicles in the world.
Ford sold around 562,000 F-150 pickups last year. It looks like Tesla’s SUV probably overtook the truck in the third quarter and will come out ahead for the full year.
That an electric car. produced by upstart outsider company predicted by the experts to last less than a year, will sell more in the US than the haloed Ford pickup is absolutely astonishing!
What on earth is going to happen next eh?
Maybe a 3rd party candidate will be elected in America!
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Saudis Sought Oil Production Cut So Deep It Surprised Even Russia
OPEC+ slashed oil production following a Saudi pressure campaign that experts say aims to hurt Democrats in the midterms.
The Saudi-led oil cartel OPEC+’s announcement earlier this month that it was cutting 2 million barrels of oil per day — a move that would drive up the price of oil just a month before midterm elections — rankled Democrats in Washington. They accused Riyadh of aligning itself with Russia, another powerful member of OPEC+, which would indeed profit off the move. “What Saudi Arabia did to help Putin continue to wage his despicable, vicious war against Ukraine will long be remembered by Americans,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
But Saudi Arabia actually pushed to cut oil production twice as much as Russian President Vladimir Putin, surprising the Russians, two Saudi sources with knowledge of the negotiations told The Intercept, suggesting that Riyadh’s motives run deeper than what top Democrats want to admit. The sources requested anonymity, fearing reprisal by the Saudi government……………………
https://theintercept.com/2022/10/20/saudi-oil-production-cut/
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Matthew Hoh is still polling at 0.7% today
The progressive, Democrat Cheri Beasley (D) is only 4.2% behind Ted Budd(R)
With 5.1% undecided, Cheri DESPERATELY NEEDS EVERY PROGESSIVE vote she can get…..
Or North Carolinians will end up with a regressive conservative Senator endorsed by Trump – a sponsor of legislation to exempt large banks from limitations on mergers, insisting such regulations were forcing banks to remain “too small to succeed.” A Senator who gushed to the CEOs of SunTrust and BB&T that “both of your banks are strong” — even though both had been subject to multiple enforcement actions and penalties by federal agencies. And co-sponsored a House Bill that would ban abortion nationwide after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
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$65-billion soon to be turned into $115-billion eh?
“Amid talk that it may be harder to push Ukraine aid through a Republican-controlled House if they win the majority in midterms, lawmakers from both parties are considering passing a new massive piece of legislation before newly elected members are sworn in this January.
NBC News reported Thursday that the bipartisan idea under consideration would be to pass a bill for Ukraine aid that could cover an entire year during the lame-duck period. The bill is expected to be worth roughly $50 billion, which would bring total US spending on the war to over $115 billion.”
https://news.antiwar.com/2022/10/20/lawmakers-looking-to-pass-50-billion-in-new-ukraine-aid-before-next-congress/
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That’s a lot of BORROWED MONEY the US Taxpayer is giving Ukraine as the proxy for the US Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex.
That’s almost 2 years of the total Russian Defence Budget.
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Ray, I’m told that Nixon pulled the trick of getting the US of the Gold Standard to keep funding the Vietnam war. Is that right? We had run out of gold! I wonder what the trick is going to be for our largeness to the Ukrainian proxy war?
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How to describe SPIRIT in terms FLESH can picture?
As a metaphor, God is the fly on every wall everywhere in this Material World, knowing everything said even in the most Top Secret Places, including the private thoughts and motivations of all People.
As for me, Dennis, I’m not that fly so I have no clue what discussions Nixon had in private?
It is a fact in my Curriculum Vitae though, at the 1976 Republican National Convention in Kansas City, the Secret Service called me out of the compressed crowd of delirious Republicans in the Lobby of The Crown Centre Hotel for questioning?
They were looking up to the Secret Service restricted Mezzanine having The President’s podium set up, expecting President Ford to be standing there any minute.
To my great surprise and wonder, instead of questioning me in some anteroom, the Secret Service Agent led me to stand right at The President’s podium, and questioned me Face to Face in view of the crowd below and the 3 TV networks broadcasting live.
If that wasn’t surprise enough, eventually the SS Agent asked me if I was Jesus Christ?
Having shoulder length hair, beard and wearing my “trademark” #13 jersey, it was a Revolutionary Image for anyone to be standing at The President’s podium in the Spirit of ’76.
Having no ILLUSIONS about that THEN and NOW, in a nanosecond said, NO!
The next question was, “Who are you then? A Prophet?” That I couldn’t answer then, but telling the Media the exact same story I just typed here, it was they who gave me the appellation. I still haven’t claimed it to this Day.
This Blog has the record of the words in the brief interjection The Spirit of God moved me to make on Veterans Day in the US, Remembrance Day in CanaDa, 1985.
“Hitler is dead, but it’s his legacy that remains. A Soviet-American military-industrial complex consuming $trillions of dollars every year, holding the entire World hostage…………”
“Hostage” was the last word said perched on a bus shelter roof, as police got up and grabbed the megaphone.
Here it it 37 years later, and this entire World is being held hostage to the Soviet/Russian-American-Military-Industrial-Complex on the Path of Escalation.
All that being said is just the intro to this article in Global Research I think most of us here will agree with.
The pernicious danger for us all inherent in General Miley’s words, “If Ukraine falls, the “rules-based international world order” will fall, that was established 80 years ago after the end of World War II.”
The “rules-based international world order” is the United Nations Charter, and it was the US that undermined it when it went to the UN Security Council, the only “rules based International order” that could grant it, asking for the Legal Authority based on false Intelligence, to invade Iraq. That Legal Authority was denied.
The US, in violation of the real rules based International order, invaded Iraq anyway in violation of the very same International Law Russia is demonized for violating, while US sins are swept under the carpet, and the US can set the rules for the rules based International order others must follow, but the US in it’s delusion, thinks it’s exceptional.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/ukraine-and-rules-based-fascism/5796972
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Anyone wanting to know one very important contributing Root Cause to the MICC’s running amuck over at least the last 6 years needs to read AFTER SIX YEARS, IT’S TIME TO CONFIRM A DEFENSE DEPARTMENT INSPECTOR GENERAL, by Glenn Fine, former Inspector General of the Justice Department and former Acting Inspector General of the Defense Department at
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2022/10/after-six-years-its-time-confirm-defense-department-inspector-general/378777/ .
[Note: “In addition to the Defense IG, other federal IG positions have also remained vacant: the Treasury Department has been led by an acting IG for more than three years. The State Department has been led by an acting IG for several years, and no one has even been nominated for the position, almost two years into the new administration. Eleven other IG positions [of 75 total federal IGs] remain vacant.”]
For background, see Mr Fine’s THE MOST IMPORTANT PUBLIC SERVANTS YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF: We Need To Ensure That Inspectors General Can Do An Effective Job Of Keeping Other Government Officials Honest at https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/inspector-generals-cuffari-january-6/671225/ .
And for an overview of the bullshit Trump pulled as regards Inspectors General, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemic_Response_Accountability_Committee and https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/16/trumps-slow-moving-friday-night-massacre-inspectors-general/ .
FULL DISCLOSE: Second only to being an assault helicopter door gunner in the Mekong Delta in 1967-8, i was privileged to be assigned as a Senior Noncommissioned Officer to the Office of the Inspector General of the United States Army in the late 80s-early 90s.
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Correction: After “Mekong Delta in 1967-8,” insert “the best job in the Army i ever had was when… .”
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Meanwhile, in Other News
No doubt about it; every American should feel incredibly safer and more secure because of this… :
US REHEARSES DROPPING NUCLEAR BOMBS IN EUROPE by Andre Damon
On Monday, the NATO military alliance will hold a training exercise, known as Steadfast Noon, in which US B-52 bombers and F-16 fighters will simulate dropping atomic bombs over Europe amid a deepening nuclear standoff with Russia.
The training exercise comes just ten days after US President Joe Biden warned of a nuclear “apocalypse,” saying the risk of nuclear war is the greatest since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
“This is the exercise that practices NATO’s nuclear strike mission with dual-capable aircraft and the B61 tactical nuclear bombs the US deploys in Europe,” wrote Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists.
The aircraft will rehearse dropping B61 “tactical” thermonuclear bombs, each of which is up to 20 times more powerful than the weapon that destroyed Hiroshima in World War II, killing as many as 126,000 civilians.
While nuclear training exercises are usually presented as routine, nonthreatening, and not targeting any specific country, this year NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg made clear that the exercise is intended as a threat to Russia.
In a speech that mentioned Russia five times, Stoltenberg announced,
“Next week, NATO will hold its long-planned deterrence exercise, Steadfast Noon.” He added, “Russia knows that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.”
AS OF 2019, THE UNITED STATES HAD 150 “TACTICAL” NUCLEAR WARHEADS STATIONED THROUGHOUT EUROPE AS PART OF THE NATO NUCLEAR ARSENAL, INCLUDING IN BELGIUM, GERMANY, ITALY, THE NETHERLANDS AND TURKEY.
ON SUNDAY, ONE DAY AHEAD OF THE SCHEDULED NUCLEAR DRILL, CHINA TOLD ITS CITIZENS LIVING IN UKRAINE TO EVACUATE THE COUNTRY, CITING THE “GRAVE SECURITY SITUATION.”
In June, the NATO alliance published a document pledging to “deliver the full range of forces” needed “for high-intensity, multi-domain warfighting against nuclear-armed peer-competitors.”
Continued at https://www.globalresearch.ca/us-rehearses-dropping-nuclear-bombs-europe/5797038 {EMPHASIS added.]
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Niall Ferguson’s Bloomberg Opinion piece HOW COLD WAR II COULD TURN INTO WORLD WAR III begins as follows:
“A large proportion of the world’s top tourist destinations are the remains of dead empires. A week of sightseeing with my younger children in Italy reminded me of this. The city of Rome was the capital of an empire that at its height stretched from Britannia to Babylonia. The city of Venice once ruled a realm that extended across what are now Albania, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Montenegro and Slovenia.
“To walk among the monuments of the most Serene City and the Eternal City is at once inspiring and melancholy. Like Edward Gibbon, ‘I sat musing amid the ruins of the Capitol’ — but musing about the decline and fall of other empires.
“My grandparents and parents witnessed the decline and fall of the British Empire, but not before it had helped polish off the more ephemeral empires of Mussolini, Hitler and Hirohito. I experienced the decline and fall of the Soviet empire built by Lenin and Stalin.THERE ARE THOSE WHO SUBSCRIBE TO THE DELUSION THAT THE AGE OF EMPIRES IS OVER. BUT ALL HISTORY IS THE HISTORY OF EMPIRES.
“IT IS NOT CIVILIZATIONS THAT CLASH, BUT EMPIRES. Indeed, it is often border clashes that define their extents. As a schoolboy, I was taught the world wars as if they had been contests between European nation states. Only later did I see that they were struggles between empires. That was why they were global and not just European conflicts.”
And concludes as follows:
“EMPIRES FALL. Two weeks ago, I optimistically suggested that I would live to see the fall of the empires of the Chinese Communists, the Russian fascists and the Iranian theocrats. But WE MUST NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE OF ASSUMING THAT THE US IS AN INDESTRUCTIBLE EMPIRE, FOR THERE IS NO SUCH THING. The Biden administration would not be the first Democratic administration elected on a progressive domestic program that stumbled into a major war: Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Johnson — they all did it. The record is: won two, tied one, lost one.
“The city of Washington once ruled over an empire that stretched from North America across both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans — and beyond. I was in the nation’s capital last weekend for the International Monetary Fund meetings and saw abundant evidence that the empire still rules. The restaurants were crowded with the representatives of poorer countries — the ‘global South’ as they sometimes call themselves — whose principal goal was debt renegotiation, not tourism. The governors of lesser central banks sat on panels; the mighty Fed chair, Jerome Powell, absented himself.
“Yet CAN ONE IMAGINE THE WHITE HOUSE AS A FUTURE PALAZZO DUCALE, OUR CAPITOL LIKE THE ROMAN CAPITOL, A RUIN WHERE SOME FUTURE HISTORIAN WILL ONE DAY ‘SIT MUSING’?
“The answer is: All too easily, if we pursue Cold War II to the extent of stumbling into World War III.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-10-23/cold-war-2-with-china-and-russia-is-becoming-ww3-niall-ferguson [EMPHASES added.]
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That assumes there will be anybody left to muse about the ruins of the Capitol post WW III.
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“Your people do not yet feel an impending sense of danger. That worries me. Can’t you see the world is being pulled in an irreversible direction?
Meanwhile, people pretend that nothing is going on. I don’t know how to get through to you anymore.” Russian President Vladimir Putin
I agree with Putin’s observation and exasperation as most of us here do.
The brainwashed American People seem to think like all the previous US Wars waged against only poor, 3rd World Countries since WWII who couldn’t strike the US, can be “contained” to Ukraine. Not with this War! Russia can hit the US mainland if escalation continues without Diplomacy to end the War.
‘The War in Ukraine: Made in Washington Not Moscow’
“The Russians have put their nuclear weapons on high-alert.This is a really significant development.. They are….sending us a very powerful signal as to how seriously they take this crisis. So, if we start winning, and the Russians start losing, you need to understand that what we’re talking about doing here, is backing a nuclear-armed great power –that sees what’s happening as an existential threat—into a corner. This is really dangerous.
Go back to the Cuban Missile Crisis. I don’t think that what happened in the Cuban Missile crisis was as threatening to us as this situation is to the Russians. But if you go back and look at what US decision-makers thought at the time, they were scared stiff.”
https://www.globalresearch.ca/war-ukraine-made-washington-not-moscow/5797129
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