A cohort of Republicans, part of the dissenting vote on Biden's Ukraine war package, seeks oversight and specifics about the destination of U.S. money and weapons.
$40,000,000,000 to a flagrantly corrupt kakistocracy, handed over with minimal accountability or oversight, and in the middle of a war, so it's extra easy for weapons shipments to "get blown up" or pallets of greenbacks to "go missing".
What could ever possibly go wrong?
*Having lived, worked and done business in Ukraine, I could tell some stories about the corruption and cupidity of Ukrainian politicians and oligarchs.
A business partner of mine says that the Ukraine and Nigeria are THE two most corrupt countries he has ever worked in . . . and he has worked in MANY foreign countries. He may now want to add the U.S. at this point. I'll have to inquire.
Depends. I have seen corruption in Ukraine from the postman, the elementary school teacher, the fireman, all the way up the Cabinet of Ministers, in and out of government, everything, everywhere, all the time.
I have never so much as given an American cop a free donut.
That said, America is flamboyantly corrupt. The difference is that in America, corruption is legalized, at least for the people who can afford expensive lawyers.
I guess, like the Autism Spectrum, societal corruption occurs along a sliding scale. One thing is for certain. Once it becomes institutionalized (e.g.: Chicago) it is pernicious and difficult, if not impossible to root out.
I never believed the Russia-gate BS. I also viewed it as many did, as an attack on Trump's legitimacy as president. However, I also saw it as a pathway to what is happening now. In 2014 the Obama administration engaged in a coup, supportive of a bunch of neo-nazi's, and it's intent was to oust a pro-Russian president. No one seems to give Obama credit for that. It certainly prevented Trump from getting along with Russia, as well as maintaining the position that Russia is a continuous threat, so it's not as if all of a sudden the so called "liberal" democrats suddenly latched on to the idea of being supportive of it's party's agenda in Ukraine, since it was years in the making. As far as Sanders goes, no surprise that he lends his support for this war, and military expenditures. When he lost his 2016 run, he gave a speech that glorified the war monger, Hilary Clinton. He plays the game too. Few that are genuinely honest enough to go so far as to jeopardize their own careers, if any.
I remember the Mook, Hilary's campaign manager crying out after the E-mail hack that the Russians did it. yeah right, and based on no evidence at all. I voted for Obama initially, but not the second time, and don't hold him in esteem the way many do, such as Glenn, and many others. He was no liberal and under his watch a lie of wars in the middle east and the coup in Ukaine, etc. Not mention he had nothing to say when Hilary Clinton as secretary of state backed a military coup in Honduras handing over control to the elites who further impoverished that country. Yes, to me he was the King of Drones and not the sweetheart so many think he is. I'm sure he knew the lie of Russia-gate. I know I used this as a way of going after Obama.
The VERY first time I heard Russia being blamed for Hillary's loss, I literally LOL'd and said to myself and another friend, this is gonna be another neoc**t war narrative.
It's tragic when people are being able to predict the future, then when it comes true, the only solace you have is that you were right given how bad what you predicted is.
My feeling is that with both Bernie and with The Squad, the Dems leadership has pulled them aside and said, we do not care what you say in front of a microphone, just make sure to vote how we want you to when the time comes or we will bury you.
It is political self-preservation and it does indeed suck. Some folks believe (or tell themselves) that they can do the most good from within so they are loath to give up that access. My own view is that the entire democratic process has been corrupted beyond repair for some time by money and no amount of tugging on power's pant leg is going to fix it.
I do not think this voting in lockstep by the rebels is just a Democratic Party thing though. I'm sure that during the Bush years you had much the same thing on the other side of the aisle, politicains that publically wouldn't toe the company line but in the end bowed to the party whip when the time came.
The truly terrible thing isn't that the Dems did this or the Reps did that, it is that those that are supposed to represent the people are so easily cowed by those who have no loyalties but to their own bottom lines.
Did you see Oliver Stone's documentary, "Ukraine on Fire"? We instigated a coup in Ukraine, and were willing to work with a bunch of neo-Nazi's to overturn a pro Russian elected president, in a very corrupt country which really payed off for Biden's son. We started a new cold war with Russia. That is what we did. When Clinton accused Russia of interfering in our elections that made our relationship with Russia even colder, which no doubt it was intended to do, as well as delegitimize Trump. For four years the American public was fed anti-Russia propaganda. Why would we do all of that if our intent was not to weaken Russia financially, and no doubt to oust Putin. That Bernie and the Squad was unaware of this is hard to believe, not to mention Ukraine's neo-Nazi's were now an integral and respected part of the military, and the reason so many dead ethnic Russians in the Donbas. I don't remember Bernie or the Squad saying anything about what we did was bad, or anything about being upset about the new cold war we started. I'm sure they must have seen the possibility that Russia could very well invade Ukraine, I can't say I did, too scary. Personally I don't trust a one of them, democrats or republicans. Now especially democrats, although there are a lot of republicans I would like to see gone, especially Lindsey Graham, or better yet see his ass on the front lines in Ukraine. Robert Parry was talking about this too, before his death in 2018. Sad, really sad.
Thanks for bringing up "Ukraine on Fire". I watched it last night. It's scary to see how easily crowds can be hypnotized - as the production demonstrated. Alot of Ukrainians were played and all it took was money. In the past 2 years I've watched enough of this happening here (U.S.) to make me sick.
Trump wanted a hotel in Moscow. That is all. Trump has always done whatever he wants to get what he wants, he's famous for it. He wants money. Oh, and to always always be right. He is on his way completely out, maybe to the joint. Wouldn't that be nice? For greed , he didn't even know what insurrection meant back then. He was Mr. Miss America and tried to trade a model for hotel but none would do it. Yet. Maybe him and Vlad are going to split a Dacha in exile. Share a car like good roomies do.
Let's not forget that quite a few long term Congress critters and Senators (and of course Mr. Biden) have family who have ties and have made handsome salaries working for various "companies" operating in the Ukraine. Quite honestly, I am baffled that anybody really questions why all this money and assistance are being poured in.
Most of the money is going to grift right back to the people who approved it or the Davos crowd who even now are meeting to discuss how to divvy up our so-called lives. This is a war about reset, this is a war about getting rid of nation states. This is a war about "you will own nothing, and you will be happy!"
I weep for the future of the planet. Greed is winning, and we are all standing by and hoping some of the shit falls on our heads. It used to be pee trickling down from the elites decades ago, now it's just full on crap.
The USA is a kakistocracy and a kleptocracy and I would now include the rest of the Western world especially Europe, and especially Germany which is castrating it's economy for the empire. Ukrainian refugees, if they have any sense will be staying in western Europe where everything was better before the war and many will and are bringing their corruption and bad habits with them. Yeah, many will be good cheap labor like the Hispanic refugees in the USA but with the economy in the tank, they will be a burden, not an asset and that's the good one's. Ask yourself, would I invest in a corporation with any Western leader as CEO? I wouldn't!
This mindless support of the Ukraine is just a distraction by the corrupt left to cover its' past violations of decency and its' false attacks on DJT. Next will be U.S. military in a wag the dog operation to save Biden's corrupt political career. The European nations should be taking the lead on this since they are the ones closest and most threatened by Russia's aggression.
Had Ukraine adhered to its obligations under Minsk-2, much less the original plan Minsk Accord, had Germany and France fulfilled their obligations as guarantors of Ukraine’s obligations, had the United States not encouraged Ukraine not to fulfill its promises or not instigated a violent coup, none of this would have happened.
Bingo! Minsk was basically the Canadian system where one province, Quebec has more autonomy. Their own language, civil law, pension plan and it really works well for us. It took a couple of referendums to get the attention of rest of country but certainly, there was no talk of war. This is madness. This is late stage empire stuff.
Maybe Russias grab of Crimea was a warning that few heeded. Putin is using the same excuses as Hitler in invading a nation to "protect" ethnic Russians living in Ukraine. Every over ambitious dictator with more testosterone than brains has resorted to these cliches to exercise their sick schemes. Putin is about as original as a Rolex bought on the street.
Do you really believe that the vast majority of the people of the Crimea didn't want to join Russia, really! Do you really believe that the 14,000 people in the Donbass who were killed by the Ukrainian military because they wanted some autonomy and had an agreement for same was okay, really! This wasn't about "Lebensraum"; this was about autonomy for the local's and for the empire, this was about baiting Russia into a position where the empire could screw them over. "War is a racket", USMC general Smedley Butler. It was then, it is now. Open thine mind and thou shalt understand.
Puerto Rico though? Nothing to do with America. Same with Hawaii and Cali. But hey, "If America does it, that means it is not illegal." - Dick Nixon, from Hell
My whole life, 65 years, it's been nothing but lies about the USSR and then, Russia. We were told that the threat was communism, but then communism failed to be replaced by fervent free market capitalism. Yet, somehow, we all still have to hate and fear Russia, and, concomitantly, destroy them. Because____________ and ___________. Those bastards!
Hi Bill; societies are built on stories "Yuval Noah Harari"; the stories have been called many names, foundational mythology, rule of law, divine Rights of king's and on and on. It worked for the Pharoe and it works for the ruling classes of today. Having an enemy, and perpetually coming up with new one's keeps them up and us down. Oceania has always been at war and so has the USA and Europe for that matter, they just use banksters instead of battleships. Bastards can be the nicest of people; the sociopathic ruling classes; not so much. You have to admit that our system of "manufactured consent" masquerading as democracy is so much more effective than the police and military. The EC is in the process of setting up a call in number for you to report any suspected violation of sanctions on Russia. Stalin and the stazi did that; kept the population in fear and the ruling classes love nothing more than a fearful lumpenproletariat.
My father was a man who should never had children, and his behavior reflected that, but my mother loved her children and was very protective of us. My father had a sister who held a lot of sway in the family and she was a propagandist for him and his brothers, spread lies, and managed to turn everything around, etc. Even as a kid I compared that to what we do with other countries, so I was leary to believe anything we said.
My feeling is that for decades Russians and Ukrainians living in Crimea and the Donbass got along just fine living down the street from each other as neighbours and that none of this was an issue until someone who didn't live in either of those places decided to make it one for political gain.
And it's now happening in America, and even in my country, Canada, where false divisions and hatreds are being deliberately inculcated by the rich and the powerful.
You act as though the "Russian grab of Crimea" just happened out of blue sky for no particular reason.
Do tell what about the events immediately before the "Russian grab" and tell us about how the people of Crimea felt about it.
Meanwhile, the idea that Russia is a monoethnic state is a joke. Russia is arguably the most multiethnic state on the planet, featuring dozens of regional minorities with special rights.
I'll leave it up to those who know the why's and where fores of that grab to explain the details. Russia may not be a monolithic nation but it is lead by an iron fisted dictator and their concerns are not the center of his world. We might be becoming a nation with many individuals with "special" rights. Not a unifying prospect. I would opine that the U.S. is more multiethnic that Russia could ever hope to be.
So, Not Me, and I'm glad it's Not Me who holds your views and sees Russia bad, America good, black and white, easy that way, and mindless. So, Russia bad, very bad, led by a iron fisted dictator. Maybe you have avoided looking at our many 21st century wars that killed millions, destroyed countries, using lies to do it. Tell me, Not me, how do you see US?
When Crimeans saw the Neonazis attacking the Donbass in E. Ukraine they immediately wanted to rejoin Russia.
So Putin helped them get out from under Nazi thumb and coordinated a referendum that was voted on by every Crimean and the vote overseen by INTERNATIONAL MONITORS so the West could not accuse Russia of "annexing" Ukraine
And he DIDNT. People living in E. Ukraine and Crimea ARE ETHNIC RUSSIANS AND SPEAKERS who did not go along with the US regime change in Ukraine
Putin grabbed those territories as the result of the Maiden Coup in order to serve as shields and as a shot across the bow. Crimea is particularly valuable as a shield given it's possession by Russia serves to block the naval transportation of weapons to Ukraine and it's usage as a base of operations against Russia.
As for WWII, the whole Sudetenland fiasco was solely the result of Czech greed. The people living there, who were 85% German, 12% Czech and the remainder made up chiefly of Jews, voted to remain part of Austria as Austria-Hungary collapsed. The Czechs seized it, claiming, you guessed it, national defense. In the age of Self Determination where borders were to be drawn on plebiscites, on referendums, this was pure hypocrisy. That not only the population of the Sudetenland would seek to re-join Austria and Germany, and that those countries (or country when united) desired them back goes without saying, as Germans had lived in the Sudetenland as the majority population going back before the start of the Crusades.
Munich was the correct solution, twenty years late and with the wrong people in power. Unlike Ukraine though, the Sudetenland was not subject to mass colonization like southern Ukraine was under Stalin.
Only US aggression..Everything said about Russia is a LIE.
If the US had not instigated a bloody coup in 2014 led by Biden Nuland MCCAIN GRAHAM PELOSI and a few others, putting Neonazi militias on Russia's border that have killed 14,000+ in E. Ukraine over 8 YEARS, NONE of this would have happened
I wouldn't go that far, though I do agree that the US, EU and NATO backed Russia into a corner. Russia had drawn a red line 30 years prior and then enforced it.
It was aggression as in regime change, however it long known to come about and occurred only after the same imbeciles who failed so spectacularly in Afghanistan were transferred to Ukraine. They lived up to their expectation and failed spectacularly again.
It's also a mindless support of a very corrupt country, and the perfect shill for our military agenda which is to bring Russia down. Zelensky is perfect since he is also very corrupt.
To be fair, I always suspected that the The Paradise Papers (in which V.R. Zelenskii was prominently named) were released to tell Zelenskii to hurry up and get on with it.
As corrupt as Zelenskii is, his principal oligarch sponsor, I.V. Kolomoiskii, is truly a piece of work.
EDIT: "Paradise Papers" not "Pandora Papers". Same idea, wrong leak. Bad kitty!
If the link is to be believed, Zelenkii's parents received, among other things, Israeli citizenship and now occupy an $8M house. They have four SAS bodyguards, two armored Lexus autos, and reside next door to I.V. Kolomoiskii and his bud, G. Bogoloyubov.
I don't know how a former comedian gets to be the president of Ukraine, without a strong backer, and of course that was Kolomoisky, who is corrupt and a backer of Nazis. They say he was, is a top founder of Azov. I don't believe Zelensky was ever sincere from the beginning, although some say he tried, but if he did he gave up very quickly, and of course as you mentioned the off shoring on large stashes of cash, and as you previously mentioned the Pandora Papers that say flat out Zelensky and his back up man are off shoring large amounts of money along with many others.
To be fair, in a leaked hone call from Kolomoiskii to one of his henchmen, Kolomoiskii remarked that the men in the paramilitaries that he sponsors are "none too fond of Jews".
Seems to be one of those tactical alliances, even though none of the parties really have much in common other than enemies.
I think it was Max Blumenthal who covered both of them, and he not flattering to either one. You might want to look him up. Lets face it the most corrupt country in the world, which interpreted says the people in control of Ukraine, in power, are corrupt.
Could there be a more obvious example of complete graft than both parties tripping over themselves to send an enormous amount of money to a completely corrupt country with zero forensic auditing?
And someone who had just recently been removed from a position to benefit from MIC support. I don't have a viable alternative to suggest, but I really do hate needing to use Eisenhower's statement as a touchstone...
That only 10% of Republicans in Congress, or 5% of everyone in the House are doing this is truly frightening. It shows the heard mentality of everyone else....and how they lack the capacity to critically think, let alone make life-and-death decisions.
57 Republicans in the House and 11 in the Senate voted against the $40 billion deal. That's just above 25% of the Republicans in Congress. Not great, but better than the 10% you state.
Because it is America who is pushing this horror, and Europe has been our military cohort for years, and they know their role must be one of complicity. NATO! They don't have to fork over armaments, just their souls.
The story goes the Berlin Wall came down in the late 1980's, followed by the collapse of the Soviet Union, and it is said, since some deny it, we made the promise to Gorbachev there would be no further eastern expansion of NATO. Understandable. Of course Clinton paid it no mind and I think during his 2 presidencies 3 more EU nations were incorporated into NATO which continued during the 21st century. I think there are some 30 NATO countries now. Personally I don't care what Ukraine wants, since I understand the potential threat Russia must feel to have a NATO allied nation in their own backyard. The reality is that the US wants to bring Russia to it's knees, which is part of the neocon agenda of world wide hegemony. That agenda is the reason we toppled so many countries in the Middle East. Sooner or later such hubris will destroy us.
If they’re so clever, why can’t defense contractors figure out how to make money without maiming millions of people with nothing else to show for it other than a string of destroyed governments and civilian infrastructures? It’s rather ironic that our own infrastructure crumbles exponentially, except for the palatial and extravagant campuses of our corporate behemoths, as we funnel all of our money into the destruction of the infrastructures of others.
I think that the MIC principals realize that lots of people get vicarious pleasure from the knowledge that others not of their clan are being maimed at their behest.
All military expenditure is an investment in The Broken Window Fallacy. The best one can hope for is to not use the weapons thus purchased. We're watching the worst that can happen right now.
You need a war to mobilize public support. However, they've arranged for someone else to actually fight the war. So the defense contractors become rich and no Americans are killed in the process. That's a big improvement over the previous model.
Failing Empires always go for a massive cash grab, war, and the destruction of as many people as possible as their rotted ship sinks. Good on those asking for some accountability in this moment, but it's like taking an inventory of your workplace's supply closet as the office is on fire.
Remember when the Democrats were telling us that Biden would restore normalcy and calm? That it was everyone's duty to elect him? That was 18 months - 18 months! - ago. Hard not to feel that everything is much worse now than at any point under Trump. In fact, had Hillary and the DNC not invented Russia-gate with their pals in the Obama White House, the FBI, and the Justice Department, we would have likely had a relatively mundane corrupt-as-normal 4 years under Trump. Now, we are at the precipice of WW III - with nukes!
What a shit show. 10% for the Big Guy as the ship sinks.
The Rise of the Ottomans on netflix propelled me into reading in depth on the fall of the Byzantine empire, as well as that of the Persians and Ottomans. With Rome and the Maya as further examples, it always seems to be hubris of the ruling class losing touch with reality and its own people that portends these declines. A period of stability and extravagance at the peak of these empires leads to laziness and complacency of the ruling classes, who are frequently surprised by their own demise. I can just see the political class of Washington continuing to extoll the virtues and power of the American president long after the American empire is reduced to the narrow environs of the capitol itself, or long after the rest of the world has abandoned the dollar and SWIFT. Constantine XI continued calling himself emperor, as did his predecessors, long after the empire ceased to exist outside of the Theodosian walls.
“The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists." - Ernest Hemingway.
In response to your thought provoking comment,”How profound, sad, but IMO. True.” While I certainly don’t want it to be, all roads point to this. BTW I love Ernest Hemingway.
As pointed out here and also by Iraq weapons inspector Scott Ritter recently on Useful Idiots podcast, the probability of these weapons being sold on the black market is effectively 100%. As there are terrorist cells all over Europe, it can't be long until a Javelin blows up some country's leader in their limo, or downs a commercial airliner with a Stinger.
Then the 513 out of 535 who voted for this will deny any culpability and demand even more weapons & spending to eradicate the terrorists whose hands these weapons have fallen into.
Like his dad before him, Rand is only (very slightly) slowing the MIC locomotive as it steams down the tracks. It IS interesting how they approved the $40B for Ukraine while shooting shooting down domestic spending. They're showing you exactly what they think about you.
Actually, no matter the subject, when was the last time the American People or EVEN our reps in Congress were given a chance to read legislation before it was rammed through? When was the last time hearings were held re. pending legislation? The only time they conduct hearings now is to "investigate" something. You can be guaranteed there was plenty of money in the bill for the leaders to capture for their needs.
"‘At one moment during the negotiations’, US representatives told the Taliban, ‘either you accept our offer of a carpet of gold, or we bury you under a carpet of bombs’, Brisard said in an interview in Paris. On Saturday, November 25, representatives of the Northern Alliance (NA), former King Zahir Shah’s confidantes, and possibly non-Taliban Pashtun leaders met in Berlin under the aegis of the US-led coalition to discuss a broad-based government for Afghanistan."
The prevailing consensus = the U.S. must subsidize Ukraine's war effort - indefinitely - while subtly but inexorably ramping up direct American military involvement (i.e. - "guarding the embassy in Kyiv"). Ergo, the U.S. gets to decide the war's trajectory. Sounds sort of like a proxy war to me.
And the evil Octogenarian RINO Uniparty Turtle from Kentucky has the slimy guts to call Rand Paul an isolationist, as if that were some sort of vile epithet is this circumstance. I’m loathe to ascribe too many positive scruples to any swamp dwelling politician in DC, but Rand Paul is head and shoulders more honorable than that old Kentucky reptile Mitch. So a member of Congress, in particular one of our Senators gifted with a six year term to bring a more deliberative sensibility to our bloated MIC dominated government, can’t even ask questions about a $40 BILLION pork wargasm of an appropriation on top of the previous $14 Billon already spent, with no debate or oversight, conjuring up money we don’t have out of Federal Reserve digital dollars out of thin air. Inflation anyone?? Oh yeah, to move us closer to open conflict with the worlds other nuclear superpower. Whoops, apocalypse!! There must be a shadow government deep state as all of the public facing governing elected officials are MORONS!!!
20 years ago, it was Ron Paul speaking out as the nearly lone voice against Iraq. They smeared him exactly as they smear Rand, and exactly as they smear Tulsi.
My guess: the War Uniparty sees utter disaster at the polls in November. They'll do anything to "unify" America (in the past, wars have done this nicely) to ameliorate the massacre they see coming.
So Bernie, and AOC, and the "Antiwar Left" get tossed right on the fire. Almost as if they've been compromised in some way. It makes you wonder what's really going on. I think they're playing for keeps. This isn't just about the next election. At least it doesn't feel that way to me.
I read Bernie was promised Sec’t of Labor if Dems win at the polls. My guess AOC promised forgiveness student loans - including graduate school ‘money makers’ for Ivy’s - sick of this proxy war and sick of these careerists
I read that Bernie was a solid contender for Labor. But a) Biden wanted Walsh and b) Vermont had a Republican governor, and Dems didn't want to lose Bernie's senate seat to a Republican appointed by the governor.
Democrats rigged BOTH the 2016 and 2020 primary against Sanders (even though I think Sanders was in on both and richly rewarded for it) and they rigged the General. It was so obvious, and Trump and many voters KNEW IT that a?false flag at the Capitol was warranted to STOP any investigation into the fraud .
ALL OF CONGRESS THE COURTS AND STATES were in on it
I've not seen even ONE nervous Democrat. Here in my state the incumbent Dem is in BIG trouble and all of a sudden OOPS! We need a recount because something was wrong with the ballots
By the time these shenanigans are done WITH, Kurt Schrader will be on a plane back to DC
Until folks finally get that Dems cheat to get the candidates they and their billionaire donors want, they will continue to believe that their votes matter.
The “Anti War” Left has always been a political façade, rather than principles.
What happened to Cindy Sheehan and Code Pink after Obama as elected? Did the Iraq War just end? No, it escalated. Yet their demonstrations and protests went away once a Dem was in the White House.
I predict Bernie and AOC will rediscover their “resistance” one a Republican is President.
Code Pink's and Cindy Sheehan's protests kept on going. Cindy Sheehan, after running against Pelosi in 2008, was the running mate on a 2012 presidential ticket challenging Obama-BIden. Get your facts straight.
Yeah, there was a lot of that. But there was another factor too. When people get politically engaged on a large scale, almost all of them want to believe that they can do a lot to take care of the problem just through the institution of voting for one party/candidate over another, or through rallying behind a piece of legislation that gets media attention. And that's not always realistic.
What many believed in 2008 -- not just Team D people but some Obama Republicans -- was that getting Bush out of the White House would more or less do enough to solve the problem of the post-9/11 wars. Just like in 2016, where a large minority of voters believed that just electing and empowering Trump would dramatically improve almost all of America's problems. Things aren't quite so easy to fix as that, and the problems we have aren't ones that a single messianic politician or a single piece of legislation will solve.
Productive effort in politics usually has to be the "strong and slow boring of hard boards" (as the saying goes), and our system is shaped in a way that encourages people to either hope for over-easy solutions or give up. Greenwald himself makes this mistake a bit -- he has put some emotional investment in the Trumpist faction (and even to some extent in Trump himself), and he is tempted to believe in an overinflated idea of what can be achieved by backing Trumpism over the liberal Democrats and Never-Trumpers.
Hm, I guess you noticed my point that Greenwald is a bit co-opted. I would emphasize, however, that any claims that Greennwald is at all co-opted or hypocritical are true only if they are phrased cautiously. Greenwald's more self-flattering statement that he is "captive to no dogma or faction" usually has more truth to it, even if it is not 100% true.
But in any case, I appreciate your seconding my point :)
If we were the kind of readers who were worried about others being co-opted but not worried about that happening to Greenwald, that would be hypocritical of us, wouldn't it?
The protests against the Iraq war happened because it was not their tribal leaders who were doing the killing. When Lord Obama took over, drones suddenly became "good", just like him. Democrats now working night and day to start a shooting war ON Russia.
To be fair, from the beginning, Team D tried to have it both ways. The leadership voted for the war, because it was popular and they wanted to be seen as patriotic imperialists. Biden was one of the principal Senate architects of the War, and HRC and Kerry also voted for it enthusiastically.
Once things started to go sideways, they claimed to still be for the war, but that they would somehow fight it more effectively, although they were woefully short on details. The 2004 Kerry campaign was a prime example of this line of politics.
They were against "the surge", mainly as a means of scoring political points, since the war was rather unpopular with swing voters by this point. When "the surge" appeared to be bearing fruit for the time being, then they were all for it.
Obama came along in 2008 and made some anti-war noises. People projected a lot onto Obama. The fact that he hadn't been in Congress in 2003 and therefore could not be accused of having voted for the war helped. Since HRC had voted for the war, it was now an albatross around her neck. She claimed to be for it, before she was against it, claimed to have been misled, etc..
Of course, once in office, Obama forgot anything anti-war and proceeded to expand the existing wars and to start a series of new and more pointless wars. Bringing actual live open-air slave markets to Libya was a true high point of The First African American Presidency.
So proud of those brave leaders standing against this incomprehensible policy. Particularly Rand Paul, a real profile in courage. Finally the elites are having second thoughts represented by the NYT recent editorial. Everyone who encouraged this war and wasteful spending MUST be held accountable.
The Fed is not going to be very popular with knee jerk partisan Democrats. At this point it doesn't matter what caused the inflation, the solution is the same: raise interest rates. I've been checking every day; I must have missed Congress's declaration of war. Without one, we're not at war.
Are you actually more afraid of Trump lurking in the shadows than the consequences of letting an incompetent and corrupt administration, already bought and paid for by China, continue its destruction of the US? Trump has about 30% of the Republican voters. The other 70% would like to win.
The Fed has two mutually incompatible missions: Protect the value of the dollar, and maintain full employment. At current rate of accelerating inflation, the country will literally sink to third world status by the end of the Biden Administration.
From now through the end of the year the Treasury will be swapping out about $2T in debt for new debt. The old debt carries at interest rate of about 2%. The new will carry a rate of about 6%. That alone increases annual carrying costs by $80B. When government pensions are increased by the current inflation rate, we'll add another $500B, raising carrying costs by $20B. We then have $100B a year less to spend, and I don't see Biden cutting spending. Let's forgive student debt! Whether or not that's fair, it will add $1.6 trillion to the negative side of the balance sheet, costing us $130B a year. This is a downward spiral.
I'm sorry if I misunderstood your comment about Trump lurking in the wings. That sounded like a value judgment; I'm.not sure what it has to do with the Fed's world view.
The largest foreign holder of U.S. Debt is Japan. All of the Gulf Arab states hold enormous sums. Obama's, and now Biden's insistence on seemingly trying to ensure that Iran obtains a nuclear weapon is insanity on steroids. Now But, Ol' Joe has never been that bright. That IS value judgment.
It’s a money laundering corrupt country . The president is a WEF member and just spoke over in Davos yesterday. He’s a friend of all the younger politicians / globalists in training! Of course the money will go to the corrupt officials , WEF , and Democrats!
$40,000,000,000 to a flagrantly corrupt kakistocracy, handed over with minimal accountability or oversight, and in the middle of a war, so it's extra easy for weapons shipments to "get blown up" or pallets of greenbacks to "go missing".
What could ever possibly go wrong?
*Having lived, worked and done business in Ukraine, I could tell some stories about the corruption and cupidity of Ukrainian politicians and oligarchs.
A business partner of mine says that the Ukraine and Nigeria are THE two most corrupt countries he has ever worked in . . . and he has worked in MANY foreign countries. He may now want to add the U.S. at this point. I'll have to inquire.
Depends. I have seen corruption in Ukraine from the postman, the elementary school teacher, the fireman, all the way up the Cabinet of Ministers, in and out of government, everything, everywhere, all the time.
I have never so much as given an American cop a free donut.
That said, America is flamboyantly corrupt. The difference is that in America, corruption is legalized, at least for the people who can afford expensive lawyers.
I guess, like the Autism Spectrum, societal corruption occurs along a sliding scale. One thing is for certain. Once it becomes institutionalized (e.g.: Chicago) it is pernicious and difficult, if not impossible to root out.
Well, a friend told me that the people running Ukraine aren't really that much more corrupt than the mandarin class in the US.
Less corrupt than the Biden Kleptocracy
Smart partner. Nigeria is number one; not sure whether Venezuela or Ukraine is second.
I am not in a position ot tell, but this guy is VERY smart. I value his opinion.
"Kakistocracy" (a new word for me), can easily be used to describe what our DC controllers have become.
Kakistocracy. That's a new favorite.
The Finster aims to please.
I never believed the Russia-gate BS. I also viewed it as many did, as an attack on Trump's legitimacy as president. However, I also saw it as a pathway to what is happening now. In 2014 the Obama administration engaged in a coup, supportive of a bunch of neo-nazi's, and it's intent was to oust a pro-Russian president. No one seems to give Obama credit for that. It certainly prevented Trump from getting along with Russia, as well as maintaining the position that Russia is a continuous threat, so it's not as if all of a sudden the so called "liberal" democrats suddenly latched on to the idea of being supportive of it's party's agenda in Ukraine, since it was years in the making. As far as Sanders goes, no surprise that he lends his support for this war, and military expenditures. When he lost his 2016 run, he gave a speech that glorified the war monger, Hilary Clinton. He plays the game too. Few that are genuinely honest enough to go so far as to jeopardize their own careers, if any.
I always thought that the Russiagate conspiracy theory was too ludicrous on its face for the John Birch Society, ca., 1964.
But for many, it was an article of faith. Still is.
I remember the Mook, Hilary's campaign manager crying out after the E-mail hack that the Russians did it. yeah right, and based on no evidence at all. I voted for Obama initially, but not the second time, and don't hold him in esteem the way many do, such as Glenn, and many others. He was no liberal and under his watch a lie of wars in the middle east and the coup in Ukaine, etc. Not mention he had nothing to say when Hilary Clinton as secretary of state backed a military coup in Honduras handing over control to the elites who further impoverished that country. Yes, to me he was the King of Drones and not the sweetheart so many think he is. I'm sure he knew the lie of Russia-gate. I know I used this as a way of going after Obama.
HIS NAME IS SETH RICH
I remember him now, killed, shot, and the leaked e-mails and that's all I remember. I wonder if they ever found his killers, or if they even tried.
Given the topic of this article, I thought you said "SITH REICH."
Glenn is no fan of the Obama. For the record.
How do you know that, and if he isn't I've never read anything he wrote which is negative about him?
https://www.democracynow.org/2012/5/30/glenn_greenwald_obamas_secret_kill_list
https://www.ccdbr.org/posts/the-aclu-on-obama-and-core-liberties-glenn-greenwald-salon-com/
https://www.salon.com/2012/05/29/obama_the_warrior/
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2011/05/23/obama-and-israel-lobby
This one was hilarious!
https://woldcnews.com/965942/critics-say-obama-could-rape-a-nun-and-still-get-support/
Dr. Dawg is here in Ottawa. lol
He's a friend of mine. He has also written about him in the past. In particular in his Salon days.
Where do you get the idea that Glenn holds Obama in esteem?
The VERY first time I heard Russia being blamed for Hillary's loss, I literally LOL'd and said to myself and another friend, this is gonna be another neoc**t war narrative.
BET ME.
God how right I was!
It's tragic when people are being able to predict the future, then when it comes true, the only solace you have is that you were right given how bad what you predicted is.
My feeling is that with both Bernie and with The Squad, the Dems leadership has pulled them aside and said, we do not care what you say in front of a microphone, just make sure to vote how we want you to when the time comes or we will bury you.
It is political self-preservation and it does indeed suck. Some folks believe (or tell themselves) that they can do the most good from within so they are loath to give up that access. My own view is that the entire democratic process has been corrupted beyond repair for some time by money and no amount of tugging on power's pant leg is going to fix it.
I do not think this voting in lockstep by the rebels is just a Democratic Party thing though. I'm sure that during the Bush years you had much the same thing on the other side of the aisle, politicains that publically wouldn't toe the company line but in the end bowed to the party whip when the time came.
The truly terrible thing isn't that the Dems did this or the Reps did that, it is that those that are supposed to represent the people are so easily cowed by those who have no loyalties but to their own bottom lines.
Did you see Oliver Stone's documentary, "Ukraine on Fire"? We instigated a coup in Ukraine, and were willing to work with a bunch of neo-Nazi's to overturn a pro Russian elected president, in a very corrupt country which really payed off for Biden's son. We started a new cold war with Russia. That is what we did. When Clinton accused Russia of interfering in our elections that made our relationship with Russia even colder, which no doubt it was intended to do, as well as delegitimize Trump. For four years the American public was fed anti-Russia propaganda. Why would we do all of that if our intent was not to weaken Russia financially, and no doubt to oust Putin. That Bernie and the Squad was unaware of this is hard to believe, not to mention Ukraine's neo-Nazi's were now an integral and respected part of the military, and the reason so many dead ethnic Russians in the Donbas. I don't remember Bernie or the Squad saying anything about what we did was bad, or anything about being upset about the new cold war we started. I'm sure they must have seen the possibility that Russia could very well invade Ukraine, I can't say I did, too scary. Personally I don't trust a one of them, democrats or republicans. Now especially democrats, although there are a lot of republicans I would like to see gone, especially Lindsey Graham, or better yet see his ass on the front lines in Ukraine. Robert Parry was talking about this too, before his death in 2018. Sad, really sad.
Thanks for bringing up "Ukraine on Fire". I watched it last night. It's scary to see how easily crowds can be hypnotized - as the production demonstrated. Alot of Ukrainians were played and all it took was money. In the past 2 years I've watched enough of this happening here (U.S.) to make me sick.
I have not seen that particular movie, but I know its general gist.
It's great.
Contemplate The Iron Law Of Oligarchy and its corollary, The Iron Law Of Institutions.
You don't change the party, party changes you.
Hard response #1: (NSA-informed FBI at your front door)
Hard response #2: Local party chairman at lunch: (Your donors have dumped you, we'll give them your $$ & your press w/change as of tomorrow)
This is why money has no place in politics. Quite simple really, burn that bridge and everything else follows. Which is why it will never happen.
Trump wanted a hotel in Moscow. That is all. Trump has always done whatever he wants to get what he wants, he's famous for it. He wants money. Oh, and to always always be right. He is on his way completely out, maybe to the joint. Wouldn't that be nice? For greed , he didn't even know what insurrection meant back then. He was Mr. Miss America and tried to trade a model for hotel but none would do it. Yet. Maybe him and Vlad are going to split a Dacha in exile. Share a car like good roomies do.
Let's not forget that quite a few long term Congress critters and Senators (and of course Mr. Biden) have family who have ties and have made handsome salaries working for various "companies" operating in the Ukraine. Quite honestly, I am baffled that anybody really questions why all this money and assistance are being poured in.
Most of the money is going to grift right back to the people who approved it or the Davos crowd who even now are meeting to discuss how to divvy up our so-called lives. This is a war about reset, this is a war about getting rid of nation states. This is a war about "you will own nothing, and you will be happy!"
I weep for the future of the planet. Greed is winning, and we are all standing by and hoping some of the shit falls on our heads. It used to be pee trickling down from the elites decades ago, now it's just full on crap.
Or we might say that we are now in the "open looting" phase.
DEF open looting now.
The masks are now off.
A shame that so many refuse to see
A big money laundering scheme, but laundered in blood.
The USA is a kakistocracy and a kleptocracy and I would now include the rest of the Western world especially Europe, and especially Germany which is castrating it's economy for the empire. Ukrainian refugees, if they have any sense will be staying in western Europe where everything was better before the war and many will and are bringing their corruption and bad habits with them. Yeah, many will be good cheap labor like the Hispanic refugees in the USA but with the economy in the tank, they will be a burden, not an asset and that's the good one's. Ask yourself, would I invest in a corporation with any Western leader as CEO? I wouldn't!
This mindless support of the Ukraine is just a distraction by the corrupt left to cover its' past violations of decency and its' false attacks on DJT. Next will be U.S. military in a wag the dog operation to save Biden's corrupt political career. The European nations should be taking the lead on this since they are the ones closest and most threatened by Russia's aggression.
Had Ukraine adhered to its obligations under Minsk-2, much less the original plan Minsk Accord, had Germany and France fulfilled their obligations as guarantors of Ukraine’s obligations, had the United States not encouraged Ukraine not to fulfill its promises or not instigated a violent coup, none of this would have happened.
Bingo! Minsk was basically the Canadian system where one province, Quebec has more autonomy. Their own language, civil law, pension plan and it really works well for us. It took a couple of referendums to get the attention of rest of country but certainly, there was no talk of war. This is madness. This is late stage empire stuff.
WELL SAID!!
Maybe Russias grab of Crimea was a warning that few heeded. Putin is using the same excuses as Hitler in invading a nation to "protect" ethnic Russians living in Ukraine. Every over ambitious dictator with more testosterone than brains has resorted to these cliches to exercise their sick schemes. Putin is about as original as a Rolex bought on the street.
Do you really believe that the vast majority of the people of the Crimea didn't want to join Russia, really! Do you really believe that the 14,000 people in the Donbass who were killed by the Ukrainian military because they wanted some autonomy and had an agreement for same was okay, really! This wasn't about "Lebensraum"; this was about autonomy for the local's and for the empire, this was about baiting Russia into a position where the empire could screw them over. "War is a racket", USMC general Smedley Butler. It was then, it is now. Open thine mind and thou shalt understand.
Six people died during the annexation. Yet it's sold as the greatest crime of the century.
No, that would be, 'the Eyerack', where six people were killed every second of every day for years. And for what?
Great response, and I love Smedley Butler. Haven't heard his name in a while.
Crimea is a Russian as it gets.
Puerto Rico though? Nothing to do with America. Same with Hawaii and Cali. But hey, "If America does it, that means it is not illegal." - Dick Nixon, from Hell
My whole life, 65 years, it's been nothing but lies about the USSR and then, Russia. We were told that the threat was communism, but then communism failed to be replaced by fervent free market capitalism. Yet, somehow, we all still have to hate and fear Russia, and, concomitantly, destroy them. Because____________ and ___________. Those bastards!
Hi Bill; societies are built on stories "Yuval Noah Harari"; the stories have been called many names, foundational mythology, rule of law, divine Rights of king's and on and on. It worked for the Pharoe and it works for the ruling classes of today. Having an enemy, and perpetually coming up with new one's keeps them up and us down. Oceania has always been at war and so has the USA and Europe for that matter, they just use banksters instead of battleships. Bastards can be the nicest of people; the sociopathic ruling classes; not so much. You have to admit that our system of "manufactured consent" masquerading as democracy is so much more effective than the police and military. The EC is in the process of setting up a call in number for you to report any suspected violation of sanctions on Russia. Stalin and the stazi did that; kept the population in fear and the ruling classes love nothing more than a fearful lumpenproletariat.
My father was a man who should never had children, and his behavior reflected that, but my mother loved her children and was very protective of us. My father had a sister who held a lot of sway in the family and she was a propagandist for him and his brothers, spread lies, and managed to turn everything around, etc. Even as a kid I compared that to what we do with other countries, so I was leary to believe anything we said.
My feeling is that for decades Russians and Ukrainians living in Crimea and the Donbass got along just fine living down the street from each other as neighbours and that none of this was an issue until someone who didn't live in either of those places decided to make it one for political gain.
Your feeling is correct.
And it's now happening in America, and even in my country, Canada, where false divisions and hatreds are being deliberately inculcated by the rich and the powerful.
You're almost certainly right. So sad. So unnecessary.
You act as though the "Russian grab of Crimea" just happened out of blue sky for no particular reason.
Do tell what about the events immediately before the "Russian grab" and tell us about how the people of Crimea felt about it.
Meanwhile, the idea that Russia is a monoethnic state is a joke. Russia is arguably the most multiethnic state on the planet, featuring dozens of regional minorities with special rights.
Good for you!!!!!!!!!!
I'll leave it up to those who know the why's and where fores of that grab to explain the details. Russia may not be a monolithic nation but it is lead by an iron fisted dictator and their concerns are not the center of his world. We might be becoming a nation with many individuals with "special" rights. Not a unifying prospect. I would opine that the U.S. is more multiethnic that Russia could ever hope to be.
So, Not Me, and I'm glad it's Not Me who holds your views and sees Russia bad, America good, black and white, easy that way, and mindless. So, Russia bad, very bad, led by a iron fisted dictator. Maybe you have avoided looking at our many 21st century wars that killed millions, destroyed countries, using lies to do it. Tell me, Not me, how do you see US?
I lived in Ukraine for many years, so *I* know the details even if you do not or pretend not to.
And I suggest that you stop getting your information on Russia from Marvel Comics. For instance, the CIA on one of the the subjects broached:
http://countrystudies.us/russia/34.htm#:~:text=The%20existence%20and%20configuration%20of,and%20Yamalo%2DNenets%20autonomous%20regions.
Lol a dictator vastly more popular than biden, trump, or any Western leader. Turn off your tv, then burn it.
So you are comparing a country that lost some 25 million people in WWII to the Nazi's? To Hitler?
No just the impetus behind the original land grab. Unless of course you believe the action in Crimea was justified.
The people living there sure thought so.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2015/03/20/one-year-after-russia-annexed-crimea-locals-prefer-moscow-to-kiev/?sh=109781ae510d
Pew Research and a team of Ukrainian sociologists reached a similar conclusion.
IT WAS JUSTIFIED
When Crimeans saw the Neonazis attacking the Donbass in E. Ukraine they immediately wanted to rejoin Russia.
So Putin helped them get out from under Nazi thumb and coordinated a referendum that was voted on by every Crimean and the vote overseen by INTERNATIONAL MONITORS so the West could not accuse Russia of "annexing" Ukraine
And he DIDNT. People living in E. Ukraine and Crimea ARE ETHNIC RUSSIANS AND SPEAKERS who did not go along with the US regime change in Ukraine
Putin grabbed those territories as the result of the Maiden Coup in order to serve as shields and as a shot across the bow. Crimea is particularly valuable as a shield given it's possession by Russia serves to block the naval transportation of weapons to Ukraine and it's usage as a base of operations against Russia.
As for WWII, the whole Sudetenland fiasco was solely the result of Czech greed. The people living there, who were 85% German, 12% Czech and the remainder made up chiefly of Jews, voted to remain part of Austria as Austria-Hungary collapsed. The Czechs seized it, claiming, you guessed it, national defense. In the age of Self Determination where borders were to be drawn on plebiscites, on referendums, this was pure hypocrisy. That not only the population of the Sudetenland would seek to re-join Austria and Germany, and that those countries (or country when united) desired them back goes without saying, as Germans had lived in the Sudetenland as the majority population going back before the start of the Crusades.
Munich was the correct solution, twenty years late and with the wrong people in power. Unlike Ukraine though, the Sudetenland was not subject to mass colonization like southern Ukraine was under Stalin.
"Putin is about as original as a Rolex bought on the street."
Like your comment?
CNN is not a good source for news.
"More testosterone than brains"
Putin does four hour press conferences. Without notes.
I know, right?
There is no Russian aggression..
Only US aggression..Everything said about Russia is a LIE.
If the US had not instigated a bloody coup in 2014 led by Biden Nuland MCCAIN GRAHAM PELOSI and a few others, putting Neonazi militias on Russia's border that have killed 14,000+ in E. Ukraine over 8 YEARS, NONE of this would have happened
Russia has ZERO imperial ambitions
I wouldn't go that far, though I do agree that the US, EU and NATO backed Russia into a corner. Russia had drawn a red line 30 years prior and then enforced it.
It was aggression as in regime change, however it long known to come about and occurred only after the same imbeciles who failed so spectacularly in Afghanistan were transferred to Ukraine. They lived up to their expectation and failed spectacularly again.
*Before* the war, combined NATO military spend was some 20 times that of the Russian Federation.
*Before* the war.
So if Russia has these imperial ambitions, ZOMG, they seem to think that they can be accomplished on the cheap.
It's also a mindless support of a very corrupt country, and the perfect shill for our military agenda which is to bring Russia down. Zelensky is perfect since he is also very corrupt.
To be fair, I always suspected that the The Paradise Papers (in which V.R. Zelenskii was prominently named) were released to tell Zelenskii to hurry up and get on with it.
As corrupt as Zelenskii is, his principal oligarch sponsor, I.V. Kolomoiskii, is truly a piece of work.
EDIT: "Paradise Papers" not "Pandora Papers". Same idea, wrong leak. Bad kitty!
I read about Kolomoiski and I couldn't agree more. God, the most corrupt country in Europe and the 9th most corrupt government in the world.
Hey; that's our buddies you're telling the truth about.
https://t.me/kedmi/16495)
If the link is to be believed, Zelenkii's parents received, among other things, Israeli citizenship and now occupy an $8M house. They have four SAS bodyguards, two armored Lexus autos, and reside next door to I.V. Kolomoiskii and his bud, G. Bogoloyubov.
I don't know how a former comedian gets to be the president of Ukraine, without a strong backer, and of course that was Kolomoisky, who is corrupt and a backer of Nazis. They say he was, is a top founder of Azov. I don't believe Zelensky was ever sincere from the beginning, although some say he tried, but if he did he gave up very quickly, and of course as you mentioned the off shoring on large stashes of cash, and as you previously mentioned the Pandora Papers that say flat out Zelensky and his back up man are off shoring large amounts of money along with many others.
Zelly, like so many leaders around the world, is little more than a hand puppet for the deep and enduring powers.
I have wondered much the same myself.
To be fair, in a leaked hone call from Kolomoiskii to one of his henchmen, Kolomoiskii remarked that the men in the paramilitaries that he sponsors are "none too fond of Jews".
Seems to be one of those tactical alliances, even though none of the parties really have much in common other than enemies.
I think it was Max Blumenthal who covered both of them, and he not flattering to either one. You might want to look him up. Lets face it the most corrupt country in the world, which interpreted says the people in control of Ukraine, in power, are corrupt.
The more we learn, the worse the kleptocracy looks in Congress. Not $billions, $trillions.
Hmm...Ukraine sure SOUNDS like it IS Russia.
Could there be a more obvious example of complete graft than both parties tripping over themselves to send an enormous amount of money to a completely corrupt country with zero forensic auditing?
"Beware the military industrial complex." So long ago said, by someone who was in a position to know just how dangerous they could be.
And someone who had just recently been removed from a position to benefit from MIC support. I don't have a viable alternative to suggest, but I really do hate needing to use Eisenhower's statement as a touchstone...
Does the past, or those that lived in it, no longer have any credence with you?
Manufactured consent at it's finest and sheeple are so brainwashed they Cheer their own screwing over.
That only 10% of Republicans in Congress, or 5% of everyone in the House are doing this is truly frightening. It shows the heard mentality of everyone else....and how they lack the capacity to critically think, let alone make life-and-death decisions.
57 Republicans in the House and 11 in the Senate voted against the $40 billion deal. That's just above 25% of the Republicans in Congress. Not great, but better than the 10% you state.
That says it all !
Can’t we just bribe defense contractors with BILLIONS and skip the war part…
Why can’t the Europeans pay for the armaments for Ukraine if they are so worried they are next ? Why do the American People (taxpayer) have to pay ?
Because NATO is a US vassal.
BINGO!
Sepoy troops and tropes for The Empire.
Because you are paying the Military Complex, Oligarchs and politicians...
...I image a hammer cost about $1500 under biden*
Because it is America who is pushing this horror, and Europe has been our military cohort for years, and they know their role must be one of complicity. NATO! They don't have to fork over armaments, just their souls.
I don't know. The EU has long sought to expand eastwards. NATO and the EU both have interests in absorbing Ukraine.
The story goes the Berlin Wall came down in the late 1980's, followed by the collapse of the Soviet Union, and it is said, since some deny it, we made the promise to Gorbachev there would be no further eastern expansion of NATO. Understandable. Of course Clinton paid it no mind and I think during his 2 presidencies 3 more EU nations were incorporated into NATO which continued during the 21st century. I think there are some 30 NATO countries now. Personally I don't care what Ukraine wants, since I understand the potential threat Russia must feel to have a NATO allied nation in their own backyard. The reality is that the US wants to bring Russia to it's knees, which is part of the neocon agenda of world wide hegemony. That agenda is the reason we toppled so many countries in the Middle East. Sooner or later such hubris will destroy us.
If the EU wanted to expand eastwards, they don't want a corrupt beggar like Ukraine.
The Euros want none of this. They know what a war looks and feels like. Americans think that a war is a teevee show.
If they’re so clever, why can’t defense contractors figure out how to make money without maiming millions of people with nothing else to show for it other than a string of destroyed governments and civilian infrastructures? It’s rather ironic that our own infrastructure crumbles exponentially, except for the palatial and extravagant campuses of our corporate behemoths, as we funnel all of our money into the destruction of the infrastructures of others.
I think that the MIC principals realize that lots of people get vicarious pleasure from the knowledge that others not of their clan are being maimed at their behest.
Because humans are the most violent, most aggressive species ever to exist. Lions are less sanguinary than us killer apes.
It's our nature. As Hedges says, "War is a force that gives us meaning"
https://youtu.be/B2SaM8RJ30c
All military expenditure is an investment in The Broken Window Fallacy. The best one can hope for is to not use the weapons thus purchased. We're watching the worst that can happen right now.
You need a war to mobilize public support. However, they've arranged for someone else to actually fight the war. So the defense contractors become rich and no Americans are killed in the process. That's a big improvement over the previous model.
Except for the nuclear risk.
What could go wrong ?
Pretty much everything.
https://youtu.be/NXZF6DwKvCI
In a sick Satanic way😈
That would be safer.
If only Boeing would use it's money to keep building jumbo-jets....
Failing Empires always go for a massive cash grab, war, and the destruction of as many people as possible as their rotted ship sinks. Good on those asking for some accountability in this moment, but it's like taking an inventory of your workplace's supply closet as the office is on fire.
Remember when the Democrats were telling us that Biden would restore normalcy and calm? That it was everyone's duty to elect him? That was 18 months - 18 months! - ago. Hard not to feel that everything is much worse now than at any point under Trump. In fact, had Hillary and the DNC not invented Russia-gate with their pals in the Obama White House, the FBI, and the Justice Department, we would have likely had a relatively mundane corrupt-as-normal 4 years under Trump. Now, we are at the precipice of WW III - with nukes!
What a shit show. 10% for the Big Guy as the ship sinks.
The Rise of the Ottomans on netflix propelled me into reading in depth on the fall of the Byzantine empire, as well as that of the Persians and Ottomans. With Rome and the Maya as further examples, it always seems to be hubris of the ruling class losing touch with reality and its own people that portends these declines. A period of stability and extravagance at the peak of these empires leads to laziness and complacency of the ruling classes, who are frequently surprised by their own demise. I can just see the political class of Washington continuing to extoll the virtues and power of the American president long after the American empire is reduced to the narrow environs of the capitol itself, or long after the rest of the world has abandoned the dollar and SWIFT. Constantine XI continued calling himself emperor, as did his predecessors, long after the empire ceased to exist outside of the Theodosian walls.
Interesting - thank you.
They unite with the Muslims, Catholics and Communists...”Public Health”= the Ummah...
Oh, very well, then:
“The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists." - Ernest Hemingway.
In response to your thought provoking comment,”How profound, sad, but IMO. True.” While I certainly don’t want it to be, all roads point to this. BTW I love Ernest Hemingway.
Biden wasn't elected
He was installed and the election RIGGED OR UH FORTIFIED according to Time mag rag
For fun goto the TIME archive sometime and compare what they said about any war with what we know now.
If TIME is not CIA, then they may as well be.
This is true.
He is not "in charge here at the White House" either.
So who is?
Hitler had nothing on Hillary if she had ever become POTUS.
As pointed out here and also by Iraq weapons inspector Scott Ritter recently on Useful Idiots podcast, the probability of these weapons being sold on the black market is effectively 100%. As there are terrorist cells all over Europe, it can't be long until a Javelin blows up some country's leader in their limo, or downs a commercial airliner with a Stinger.
Then the 513 out of 535 who voted for this will deny any culpability and demand even more weapons & spending to eradicate the terrorists whose hands these weapons have fallen into.
And so it goes.
Wonder how many future Bin Ladens we’re spawning.
Giving weapons to neonazis who are not shy about using those weapons on civilians.
Now, that sounds like a self-licking icecream cone.
YUP!!!!
Like his dad before him, Rand is only (very slightly) slowing the MIC locomotive as it steams down the tracks. It IS interesting how they approved the $40B for Ukraine while shooting shooting down domestic spending. They're showing you exactly what they think about you.
Actually, no matter the subject, when was the last time the American People or EVEN our reps in Congress were given a chance to read legislation before it was rammed through? When was the last time hearings were held re. pending legislation? The only time they conduct hearings now is to "investigate" something. You can be guaranteed there was plenty of money in the bill for the leaders to capture for their needs.
Accountability?! We don't need no stinkin' accountability!
All this pales next to the $5T they got for COVID.
Where did all this $ go?
Also to corrupt government "servants"
It's our foreign policy brought home. As Ron Paul said:
Do what we want, we give you money
Don't do what we want, we bomb you
In this case they don't have to bomb us, they just shower the politically connected with cash so that everybody else fails.
"Carpet of gold, or carpet of bombs..."
"‘At one moment during the negotiations’, US representatives told the Taliban, ‘either you accept our offer of a carpet of gold, or we bury you under a carpet of bombs’, Brisard said in an interview in Paris. On Saturday, November 25, representatives of the Northern Alliance (NA), former King Zahir Shah’s confidantes, and possibly non-Taliban Pashtun leaders met in Berlin under the aegis of the US-led coalition to discuss a broad-based government for Afghanistan."
https://revolutionarydemocracy.org/rdv8n1/oilsk.htm
The Taleban also offered to turn over bin Laden before and after 911, but buhs attacked them anyway.
Yup. It's no wonder, at least to anyone not name Biden, why the economy is circling the porcelain fixture.
The prevailing consensus = the U.S. must subsidize Ukraine's war effort - indefinitely - while subtly but inexorably ramping up direct American military involvement (i.e. - "guarding the embassy in Kyiv"). Ergo, the U.S. gets to decide the war's trajectory. Sounds sort of like a proxy war to me.
It gets even more ironic: Our goal is to make Russia do what we willingly did to ourselves for two decades in the Middle East.
To be fair, we know how effective it was. For them.
And the evil Octogenarian RINO Uniparty Turtle from Kentucky has the slimy guts to call Rand Paul an isolationist, as if that were some sort of vile epithet is this circumstance. I’m loathe to ascribe too many positive scruples to any swamp dwelling politician in DC, but Rand Paul is head and shoulders more honorable than that old Kentucky reptile Mitch. So a member of Congress, in particular one of our Senators gifted with a six year term to bring a more deliberative sensibility to our bloated MIC dominated government, can’t even ask questions about a $40 BILLION pork wargasm of an appropriation on top of the previous $14 Billon already spent, with no debate or oversight, conjuring up money we don’t have out of Federal Reserve digital dollars out of thin air. Inflation anyone?? Oh yeah, to move us closer to open conflict with the worlds other nuclear superpower. Whoops, apocalypse!! There must be a shadow government deep state as all of the public facing governing elected officials are MORONS!!!
20 years ago, it was Ron Paul speaking out as the nearly lone voice against Iraq. They smeared him exactly as they smear Rand, and exactly as they smear Tulsi.
I remember Ron Paul saying (in regards to the Iraq War) "we marched in and we can march right back out." And you're right -- he was smeared.
You forgot Barbara Lee.
Please stop defaming morons.
“Wargasm”, is that yours?? If so kudos!!
My guess: the War Uniparty sees utter disaster at the polls in November. They'll do anything to "unify" America (in the past, wars have done this nicely) to ameliorate the massacre they see coming.
So Bernie, and AOC, and the "Antiwar Left" get tossed right on the fire. Almost as if they've been compromised in some way. It makes you wonder what's really going on. I think they're playing for keeps. This isn't just about the next election. At least it doesn't feel that way to me.
I read Bernie was promised Sec’t of Labor if Dems win at the polls. My guess AOC promised forgiveness student loans - including graduate school ‘money makers’ for Ivy’s - sick of this proxy war and sick of these careerists
I read that Bernie was a solid contender for Labor. But a) Biden wanted Walsh and b) Vermont had a Republican governor, and Dems didn't want to lose Bernie's senate seat to a Republican appointed by the governor.
Folks keep saying this and I have to wonder why
Democrats rigged BOTH the 2016 and 2020 primary against Sanders (even though I think Sanders was in on both and richly rewarded for it) and they rigged the General. It was so obvious, and Trump and many voters KNEW IT that a?false flag at the Capitol was warranted to STOP any investigation into the fraud .
ALL OF CONGRESS THE COURTS AND STATES were in on it
I've not seen even ONE nervous Democrat. Here in my state the incumbent Dem is in BIG trouble and all of a sudden OOPS! We need a recount because something was wrong with the ballots
By the time these shenanigans are done WITH, Kurt Schrader will be on a plane back to DC
Until folks finally get that Dems cheat to get the candidates they and their billionaire donors want, they will continue to believe that their votes matter.
They don't
Sanders was the fake opposition. Nader has his number. So does Hedges.
The “Anti War” Left has always been a political façade, rather than principles.
What happened to Cindy Sheehan and Code Pink after Obama as elected? Did the Iraq War just end? No, it escalated. Yet their demonstrations and protests went away once a Dem was in the White House.
I predict Bernie and AOC will rediscover their “resistance” one a Republican is President.
Code Pink's and Cindy Sheehan's protests kept on going. Cindy Sheehan, after running against Pelosi in 2008, was the running mate on a 2012 presidential ticket challenging Obama-BIden. Get your facts straight.
Good to know, and I say thst without snark.
Thst said, the election of Obama demonstrated that too many of the antiwar left of 2003-08 were really just Team D tribalists.
Yeah, there was a lot of that. But there was another factor too. When people get politically engaged on a large scale, almost all of them want to believe that they can do a lot to take care of the problem just through the institution of voting for one party/candidate over another, or through rallying behind a piece of legislation that gets media attention. And that's not always realistic.
What many believed in 2008 -- not just Team D people but some Obama Republicans -- was that getting Bush out of the White House would more or less do enough to solve the problem of the post-9/11 wars. Just like in 2016, where a large minority of voters believed that just electing and empowering Trump would dramatically improve almost all of America's problems. Things aren't quite so easy to fix as that, and the problems we have aren't ones that a single messianic politician or a single piece of legislation will solve.
Productive effort in politics usually has to be the "strong and slow boring of hard boards" (as the saying goes), and our system is shaped in a way that encourages people to either hope for over-easy solutions or give up. Greenwald himself makes this mistake a bit -- he has put some emotional investment in the Trumpist faction (and even to some extent in Trump himself), and he is tempted to believe in an overinflated idea of what can be achieved by backing Trumpism over the liberal Democrats and Never-Trumpers.
To sum, "co-opted". Of course, one needs to be a particular kind of hypocrite to allow that to happen, so the criticism is just.
Hm, I guess you noticed my point that Greenwald is a bit co-opted. I would emphasize, however, that any claims that Greennwald is at all co-opted or hypocritical are true only if they are phrased cautiously. Greenwald's more self-flattering statement that he is "captive to no dogma or faction" usually has more truth to it, even if it is not 100% true.
But in any case, I appreciate your seconding my point :)
If we were the kind of readers who were worried about others being co-opted but not worried about that happening to Greenwald, that would be hypocritical of us, wouldn't it?
What liberal Democrats? The authoritarian ones?
Greenwald has always resisted political labels, as do I because they are a trick and a trap. They mean little. If anything.
He is tainted by his ties to Tucker Carlson.
Authoritarianism affects people in every part of the political spectrum, duh.
Which is why it is senseless to view today's politics as Red/Blue or R/D. The split is authoritarian/libertarian
What happened to the antiwar left was that Obama got elected. The day he took office, criticizing America's war suddenly became bad form.
The protests against the Iraq war happened because it was not their tribal leaders who were doing the killing. When Lord Obama took over, drones suddenly became "good", just like him. Democrats now working night and day to start a shooting war ON Russia.
To be fair, from the beginning, Team D tried to have it both ways. The leadership voted for the war, because it was popular and they wanted to be seen as patriotic imperialists. Biden was one of the principal Senate architects of the War, and HRC and Kerry also voted for it enthusiastically.
Once things started to go sideways, they claimed to still be for the war, but that they would somehow fight it more effectively, although they were woefully short on details. The 2004 Kerry campaign was a prime example of this line of politics.
They were against "the surge", mainly as a means of scoring political points, since the war was rather unpopular with swing voters by this point. When "the surge" appeared to be bearing fruit for the time being, then they were all for it.
Obama came along in 2008 and made some anti-war noises. People projected a lot onto Obama. The fact that he hadn't been in Congress in 2003 and therefore could not be accused of having voted for the war helped. Since HRC had voted for the war, it was now an albatross around her neck. She claimed to be for it, before she was against it, claimed to have been misled, etc..
Of course, once in office, Obama forgot anything anti-war and proceeded to expand the existing wars and to start a series of new and more pointless wars. Bringing actual live open-air slave markets to Libya was a true high point of The First African American Presidency.
No, McCain would have been no better.
Obama made red-misting babies from space cool again.
So proud of those brave leaders standing against this incomprehensible policy. Particularly Rand Paul, a real profile in courage. Finally the elites are having second thoughts represented by the NYT recent editorial. Everyone who encouraged this war and wasteful spending MUST be held accountable.
If the elites are having second thoughts at all, it's because the stock market is taking an otherwise inexplicable dump these days.
Oh I think it’s explicable. The FED is finally, belatedly draining the punch bowl.
If that were true, it would be incredibly shortsighted during a war, and with Trump lurking in shadows.
The Fed is not going to be very popular with knee jerk partisan Democrats. At this point it doesn't matter what caused the inflation, the solution is the same: raise interest rates. I've been checking every day; I must have missed Congress's declaration of war. Without one, we're not at war.
Are you actually more afraid of Trump lurking in the shadows than the consequences of letting an incompetent and corrupt administration, already bought and paid for by China, continue its destruction of the US? Trump has about 30% of the Republican voters. The other 70% would like to win.
I wasn't making a value judgment, but explaining the Fed worldview as I understand it.
The Fed has two mutually incompatible missions: Protect the value of the dollar, and maintain full employment. At current rate of accelerating inflation, the country will literally sink to third world status by the end of the Biden Administration.
From now through the end of the year the Treasury will be swapping out about $2T in debt for new debt. The old debt carries at interest rate of about 2%. The new will carry a rate of about 6%. That alone increases annual carrying costs by $80B. When government pensions are increased by the current inflation rate, we'll add another $500B, raising carrying costs by $20B. We then have $100B a year less to spend, and I don't see Biden cutting spending. Let's forgive student debt! Whether or not that's fair, it will add $1.6 trillion to the negative side of the balance sheet, costing us $130B a year. This is a downward spiral.
I'm sorry if I misunderstood your comment about Trump lurking in the wings. That sounded like a value judgment; I'm.not sure what it has to do with the Fed's world view.
The largest foreign holder of U.S. Debt is Japan. All of the Gulf Arab states hold enormous sums. Obama's, and now Biden's insistence on seemingly trying to ensure that Iran obtains a nuclear weapon is insanity on steroids. Now But, Ol' Joe has never been that bright. That IS value judgment.
We would be better served to spend 40 billion buying randomly selected Americans a unicorn.
Beyond weapons, I'm concerned how much of the 40 billion is going to end up back in the coffers of the DNC.
The line is $15 billion, and I have the over.
I'll take the under, since the DNC has no monopoly on corruption.
$30B. I've done the analysis. The final $10B is split $4.99B to Hunter, $4.9999B to the Big Guy, and the leftover to buy sling shots.
😄😄😄
And how many slingshots will $10.1 million buy at the Pentagon?
Two.
Not quite. Three is the correct number. The prototype, the development model and the vaporware.
The F-35 was a slingshot?
Well shit that explains a lot.
;)
Did we give them F-35s? I would have preferred A-10 Warthogs as they were developed to deal with the tactics in use.
It’s a money laundering corrupt country . The president is a WEF member and just spoke over in Davos yesterday. He’s a friend of all the younger politicians / globalists in training! Of course the money will go to the corrupt officials , WEF , and Democrats!
Only 22...
...we’ve got our work cut out for us to save the Constitution and Humanity