Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from August, 2021

Day 874: Julian Assange still in prison

failed evolution   World's number one political prisoner, Julian Assange, still in high security prison for exposing horrendous war crimes carried out by the US imperialists and their allies.      

The debacle in Afghanistan

RT America   On On Contact this week, Chris Hedges discusses the debacle in Afghanistan with Danny Sjursen, a graduate of West Point Military Academy, former US Army Major and author. He is a combat veteran who served in Iraq and later as an Army Captain in Afghanistan I command of B Troop in Kandahar Province from February 2011 to January 2012.   The debacle in Afghanistan is one more signpost of the end of the American empire. The two decades of combat, the one trillion dollars we wasted, the 100,000 troops deployed to subdue Afghanistan, the high-tech gadgets, artificial intelligence, cyberwarfare, Reaper drones armed with Hellfire missiles and GBU-30 bombs and the Global Hawk drones with high-resolution cameras. Then there is the Special Operations Command composed of elite rangers, SEALs and air commandos, black sites, torture, electronic surveillance, satellites, attack aircraft, mercenary armies, infusions of millions of dollars to buy off and bribe the local elites a...

What will trigger revolution in America?

The Jimmy Dore Show   Chris Hedges speaks with Jimmy Dore.  

Chris Hedges & Richard Wolff: Have Bernie, the Squad, & the institutional Left failed us?

Bad Faith   Marxist economist Richard Wolff and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and theologian Chris Hedges weigh in on whether there is a moral maximum income, by what standard we should judge leftists who become wealthy in the course of their advocacy, and why the left is so easily distracted by superficial internecine battles, like the one over Hasan Piker's house, during this time of great crisis.    They then move on to discuss more substantive divides on the left, and whether the so-called "institutional left's" theory of power is, in fact, demobilizing people at the very moment they should act. It's a banger. 

Freezing Afghanistan’s wealth: US scrambles to hit hard with “soft” power

The U.S. may not have a physical presence inside of Afghanistan in the future, but the fear is that its economic sanctions may end up being more deadly than its armed forces. by Robert Inkalesh  Part 2 - The hard impact of U.S. “soft” power “ Any Central Bank assets the Afghan government have in the United States will not be made available to the Taliban, ” said an unnamed U.S. official speaking to The Washington Post . According to that same report, the Biden administration has now frozen the assets of Afghanistan, the vast majority of which are not held inside of the nation’s own borders. Some 80% of Afghanistan’s annual budget is currently funded by the United States and other foreign governments, which may well end now that the Taliban have seized control of the country.    In alignment with sanctions in place against the Taliban and Executive Order 13224, any dealings with the Taliban are prohibited. Executive Order 13224 was signed by then-President George W. Bush i...

Will Taliban victory mark the beginning of the end of the Western empire?

To count the cost of the West's intervention in Afghanistan in US and UK military lives alone is the ultimate proof that we are a civilization in decay by David Hearst   Part 2 - Collapse of the West   But the fantasy land in which western liberalism continues to operate in West Asia and the Middle East is still instructive. It tells us much about the psychology of a fading empire. It is in denial. Not least about its role in this disaster. David Petraeus, the former top US commander in Afghanistan; General Sir Nick Carter, UK's chief of defence staff, and every US and British general who served there bears a heavy burden of responsibility for a war the Afghan people themselves could not sustain and did not want. None of them could find it in themselves to take responsibility for this disaster and apologise to the Afghan people. They are very far from doing so. Petraeus whines about political betrayal as if another decade of  his leaderhship would have solved the problem....

How a network of UK intel-linked operatives helped sell every alleged Syrian chemical weapons attack

While Western media covers up their credibility issues, these pseudo-experts and spooks have helped drive the dirty war on Syria.    by Kit Klarenberg   Part 4 - An irreconcilable contradiction   In March 2019, the OPCW issued a final report on Douma, which concluded there were “reasonable grounds” to believe a chemical weapons attack had occurred, and “the toxic chemical was likely molecular chlorine. ” Leaked files have revealed that these findings were explicitly contrary to the evidence collected by investigators who actually visited the city, which pointed strongly to a false flag incident. A consortium of UK-based scholars called the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda, and Media has meticulously documented how the investigation was “nobbled.” According to the Working Group, the OPCW dispatched two teams; one to Syria, one to Turkey, with the latter collecting samples from and interviewing witnesses supplied by the White Helmets, all of which was suggestive of ...

Former British soldier destroys official Afghanistan narrative

Double Down News  The one film centrists and liberals do not want you to see.  

Will US bombs replace US troops in Afghanistan?

RT America Has the US learned anything from its futile two-decade adventure in Afghanistan? What is going to happen to those who helped the US and its allies and now find themselves at the mercy of the Taliban? And should Washington's proxies and allies in Syria, Ukraine expect a different fate? RT's Eisa Ali and RT America's Sayeh Tavangar report on demonstrations in London and Washington denouncing the apparent betrayal of Afghanistan by the governments of UK and US, respectively.  Washington's current messaging on Afghanistan is vague at best, and suggest that Washington fears a reconstituted al Qaeda and a need to " work with partners to continue to suppress the terrorism threat " in Afghanistan. Dr. Ajamu Baraka of the United National Anti-War Coalition and former Pentagon official Michael Maloof join RT America's Rachel Blevins (in for Rick Sanchez) to share their insights. RT America's John Huddy explains how Washington's decision to cultiva...

Why we should blame Bush, Obama and their generals for Afghanistan's catastrophe

The Grayzone   Scott Horton, author of "Fool's Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan," joins Max Blumenthal on his weekly Foreign Agents livestream to explain how Bush, Obama and Gen's Petraeus and McChrystal destroyed Afghanistan while lying to the US public about their boneheaded and brutal strategies.  

Day 867: Julian Assange still in prison

failed evolution   World's number one political prisoner, Julian Assange, still in high security prison for exposing horrendous war crimes carried out by the US imperialists and their allies.      

How the media helped create Climate Change

Double Down News   “They allowed this entire shitfest to happen" 

Anti-war veterans explain how US lost Afghanistan while leaders lied, profited

The Grayzone   Two US veterans, Matthew Hoh and Daniel Sjursen, explain how the war in Afghanistan was lost, Afghans suffered, and military contractors profited -- all while the American public was kept in the dark. 

WikiLeaks - US imperialists were seeking Russian assistance to manage chaos in Afghanistan!

The WIKILEAKS Public Library of US Diplomacy (PlusD) holds the world's largest searchable collection of United States confidential, or formerly confidential, diplomatic communications. As of April 8, 2013 it holds 2 million records comprising approximately 1 billion words. The collection covers US involvements in, and diplomatic or intelligence reporting on, every country on earth. It is the single most significant body of geopolitical material ever published. The PlusD collection, built and curated by WikiLeaks, is updated from a variety of sources, including leaks, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and documents released by the US State Department systematic declassification review.   globinfo freexchange   A February, 2010 cable coming from the US embassy in Moscow, reveals that the US was seeking to involve Russia in the efforts to manage the chaos in Afghanistan.   A particular phrase in the summary reveals that the Americans had a...

Freezing Afghanistan’s wealth: US scrambles to hit hard with “soft” power

The U.S. may not have a physical presence inside of Afghanistan in the future, but the fear is that its economic sanctions may end up being more deadly than its armed forces. by Robert Inkalesh  Part 1 In keeping with President Joe Biden’s pledge to withdraw from America’s 20-year war in one of the poorest countries on earth, the U.S. government has yet to present any plan for future relations with Afghanistan, as it is reportedly scrambling to freeze Kabul’s wealth for fears of it falling into the hands of the Taliban. In the midst of the sudden collapse of Afghanistan’s government and the subsequent return to power of the Taliban this Sunday, the U.S. troop presence at Afghanistan’s Kabul Airport has reportedly increased to 4,500 strong, with a further increase planned to 6,000 in coming days. Having abandoned its embassy in the Afghan capital and vowing to maintain a presence only at the country’s airport, the U.S. government has severely miscalculated the pace at which the coun...

Will Taliban victory mark the beginning of the end of the Western empire?

To count the cost of the West's intervention in Afghanistan in US and UK military lives alone is the ultimate proof that we are a civilization in decay by David Hearst   Part 1   When the US invaded Afghanistan on 7 October 2001, the cover of Time magazine proclaimed: "The Last Days of the Taliban." Thus began what became known as "the war on terror", the neoconservative quest to replace the defunct Soviet Union with Islam as a global threat. By December of that year, the UN Security Council established the International Security Assistance Force to oversee military operations and train the Afghan National Security Forces. Since then over $2 trillion have been spent. In the Afghanistan and Pakistan war zone about 241,000 people have lost their lives, 2448 American soldiers and 454 British soldiers have been killed. And 20 years on the Taliban are back in control. In 2001, opium had almost completely been eradicated with 84,000 hectares under cultivation. By 201...

How a network of UK intel-linked operatives helped sell every alleged Syrian chemical weapons attack

While Western media covers up their credibility issues, these pseudo-experts and spooks have helped drive the dirty war on Syria.    by Kit Klarenberg   Part 3 - Citizen journalism and civil rescuers, made by the UK Foreign Office   The report’s reference to “local” – or opposition – media having broadcast one of the bogus videos supplied by de Bretton Gordon’s Taskforce is also conspicuous when considering that British intelligence may well have created the outlet, in addition to helping mock up the clips. Internal UK Foreign Office files released by a self-proclaimed hacktivist collective Anonymous in September 2020 reveal that ARK, a shadowy “ conflict transformation and stabilization consultancy ” headed by probable MI6 operative Alistair Harris, trained and equipped hundreds of citizen journalists in Syria over many years.  “ Activists ” were tutored in “ camera handling, lighting, sound, interviewing, filming a story, ” post-production techniques includin...

Key witness in Assange case admits to lies in indictment

A maj­or wit­n­ess in the United States’ Depart­ment of Justice ca­se against Ju­li­an Assange has admitted to fabricat­ing key accusati­ons in the indict­ment against the Wiki­leaks found­er.   Bjartmar Oddur Þeyr Alexandersson / Gunnar Hrafn Jónsson  Part 8 - Immunity and a new crimespree   According to information obtained by Stundin the immunity deal between DoJ and Thordarson was presented at the Headquarters of the Reykjavik police where the only role of the Icelandic policeman was to confirm the identity of Thordarson before leaving him alone with his lawyer in the back room where he met the US delegation. It is as if the offer of immunity, later secured and sealed in a meeting in DC, had encouraged Thordarson to take bolder steps in crime. He started to fleece individuals and companies on a grander scale than ever; usually by either acquiring or forming legal entities he then used to borrow merchandise, rent luxury cars, even order large quantities of goods from ...

Inside US Afghanistan pullout, CIA opium ratline, pipeline conflict, new cold war

The Grayzone   Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton discuss the US military pullout from Afghanistan with journalist Pepe Escobar, who has extensive experience reporting in the country and was even arrested by the Taliban.  

The US government has lied about Afghanistan for two decades

Glenn Greenwald   Glenn Greenwald elaborates on the Substack reporting he did, reviewing amazing video and documentary evidence proving that top US political and military officials deliberately lied to the public for years, insisting that the Afghan Security Forces were strong and close to ready while, in secret, they knew they were a joke and a sham.  https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-us-government-lied-for-two-decades

US and Western hypocrisy on supposedly worrying about Afghan women

Katie Halper   When  Katie Halper asks anti-war organizer and Iraq War veteran to respond to people using the Taliban's treatment of women to argue against the U.S. retreat from Afghanistan, he points out that the media had nothing whatsoever to say about the women killed by U.S. airstrikes, military occupation, and the warlords governing Afghanistan.  

Day 862: Julian Assange still in prison

failed evolution   World's number one political prisoner, Julian Assange, still in high security prison for exposing horrendous war crimes carried out by the US imperialists and their allies.      

US suffocates Cuba for unwavering anti-imperialism at great cost

The Grayzone   Cuba's anti-imperial foreign policy helped end apartheid in South Africa and sustain liberation movements worldwide. Historian Piero Gleijeses says that's one of the main reasons why the US has terrorized the island nation through today. " There are very few examples [in history] of the idealism demonstrated by the Cuban government in its foreign policy in Africa, " Gleijeses says.  

WikiLeaks - Clinton emails confirmed the complete failure of the US imperialists in Afghanistan since at least 2009

On March 16, 2016 WikiLeaks launched a searchable archive for 30,322 emails & email attachments sent to and from Hillary Clinton's private email server while she was Secretary of State. The 50,547 pages of documents span from 30 June 2010 to 12 August 2014. 7,570 of the documents were sent by Hillary Clinton. The emails were made available in the form of thousands of PDFs by the US State Department as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request. The final PDFs were made available on February 29, 2016.   globinfo freexchange   After 20 years, the US imperialists,, under the Biden presidency, decided that there is no need to stay anymore in Afghanistan. Their "heritage" (if they will truly leave) is bombings, war crimes and a country in bigger chaos.   No one understands clearly the real goals of the 20-year US presence in the country. Not even some top military officials. And in fact, some had warned about the failure of the US mission, years ago.   A letter...

Meet Toka, the most dangerous Israeli spyware firm you’ve never heard of

The mainstream media’s myopic focus on Israel’s Pegasus spyware and the threats it poses means that other companies, like Toka, go uninvestigated,  even when their products present an even greater potential for abuse and illegal surveillance. by Whitney Webb Part 5 - The spyware problem goes far beyond NSO Group   The NSO Group and its Pegasus software is clearly a major scandal that deserves scrutiny. However, the treatment of the incident by the media has largely absolved the Israeli government of any role in that affair, despite the fact that the NSO Group’s sales of Pegasus to foreign governments has been approved and defended by Israel’s government. This, of course, means that Israel’s government has obvious responsibility in the whole scandal as well. In addition, the myopic focus on the NSO Group when it comes to mainstream media reporting on Israeli private spyware and the threats it poses means that other companies, like Toka, go uninvestigated, even if their products...

How the GameStop hustle worked

How hedge funds and brokers have manipulated the market   by Lucy Komisar   Part 8 - The Size of the Trades Raises Questions   Toward the end of January, as prices spiked during the run-up to a squeeze, the total number of trades more than quadrupled, but the average trade size dropped. There was a curious phenomenon of hundreds of thousands of micro transactions, trades of just a few shares, even one share each. But dark pools are set up to handle massive trades that must be hidden because they might otherwise “move the market.” The key players were known short funds. Data from Superstonk shows that Citadel made over 1.98 million OTC trades during the week of January 25 and over 1.496 million OTC trades during the week of February 1. For nine weeks, 77.7 percent of trades were for under 60 shares. In February, when Robinhood resumed allowing retail investors to buy stock, it limited buys to one share per trade. Furthermore, FINRA data shows that Robinhood Securities show...

How a network of UK intel-linked operatives helped sell every alleged Syrian chemical weapons attack

While Western media covers up their credibility issues, these pseudo-experts and spooks have helped drive the dirty war on Syria.    by Kit Klarenberg   Part 2 - ‘Signs of Heavy Editing’   In an April 2015 Guardian op-ed, de Bretton-Gordon disclosed that his sample-gathering activities began two years earlier. Contemporary media reports refer to UK foreign intelligence service MI6 conducting operations to covertly smuggle soil samples out of Syria for analysis at Porton Down at precisely this time, strongly suggesting his involvement in the scheme. A 2016 article also characterizes him as a “ former spy, ” a unique designation that doesn’t appear in any online biographies of de Bretton Gordon or other news pieces mentioning him. One report on the MI6 program quoted an anonymous “ senior Western source, ” who suggested that an objective of these operations was to encourage US intervention. “ MI6 played the leading role but the American military wants more evidence b...

Key witness in Assange case admits to lies in indictment

A maj­or wit­n­ess in the United States’ Depart­ment of Justice ca­se against Ju­li­an Assange has admitted to fabricat­ing key accusati­ons in the indict­ment against the Wiki­leaks found­er.   Bjartmar Oddur Þeyr Alexandersson / Gunnar Hrafn Jónsson  Part 7 - The New York Times Problem   In the month following Assange's arrest in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on April 11th 2019 a new rogatory letter arrived in the Ministry of Justice in Iceland. This time the request was to take a formal statement from Thordarson in Iceland in the presence of his lawyer. The Ministry had a new political head at the time, who had limited knowledge of the prior history of the case. Although the Department of Justice had spent extreme resources attempting to build a case against Julian Assange during the Obama presidency, they had decided against indicting Assange. The main concern was what was called “The New York Times Problem”, namely that there was such a difficulty in distinguishin...

Day 858: Julian Assange still in prison

failed evolution   World's number one political prisoner, Julian Assange, still in high security prison for exposing horrendous war crimes carried out by the US imperialists and their allies.      

Άλλα δύο χρόνια Μητσοτακικής λαίλαπας ...

globinfo freexchange   Δεν μπορούσαμε να φανταστούμε ότι θα πέφταμε πάλι τόσο μέσα (δυστυχώς) στις προβλέψεις. Αμέσως μετά τις εθνικές εκλογές του 2019, είχαμε γράψει ότι ο "σοφός λαός" δεν είναι και τόσο σοφός. Είτε με την ψήφο του, είτε με την αποχή του, έδωσε το ελεύθερο στη χειρότερη δεξιά της μεταπολίτευσης να σαρώσει σαν 'οδοστρωτήρας' τα πάντα στο πέρασμά της. Μετά από τέσσερα χρόνια νεοφιλελεύθερης λαίλαπας, το τοπίο καταστροφής θα έχει κάνει τη χώρα κυριολεκτικά αγνώριστη.  Και είναι πραγματικά απίστευτο ότι, κάθε μέρα που περνάει, το καθεστώς Μητσοτάκη μοιάζει σαν να έχει βαλθεί να μας επιβεβαιώνει όλο και περισσότερο. Μετά το επιτελικό μπάχαλο στη διαχείριση της πανδημίας και το γεγονός ότι τα εκτελεστικά όργανα του αδίστακτου Μητσοτακικού καθεστώτος έσπευσαν να εκμεταλλευτούν την συγκυρία για να περάσουν ότι πιο αντιλαϊκό και αντιεργατικό μέτρο μπορούσαν να περάσουν, ήρθαν οι ασύλληπτες καταστροφές με τις πυρκαγιές σε Βόρεια Εύβοια, Βαρυμπόμπη και αλλού. ...