Последний шанс для Путина, чтобы показать мировому лидерству

"Last chance for Putin to show Global leadership" ...and Obama, but I doubt that he can or will.

I've been a "fan" of Louis Farrakhan for a long time, (even though I'm a lifetime cynic, atheist, and unbeliever, sorry to say) but this clip of his recent press conference almost had me on my knees to Mecca. If you strip out the overtly religious elements of his speech and merely focus on the factual and historical elements, this is just astounding, especially his mentioning of Quadaffy's gold and plans to back a gold dinar system for oil sales, which I'm convinced is the real reason behind the NATO attacks. Every word rings true, although I don't really know if Quadaffy has been an unalloyed blessing to all Libyans (how would I, since I rarely leave my basement anymore). I do know the UN is a farce, NATO is tool of American greed, Hillary is an evil witch and Obama is a sock puppet for Wall Street.

"Farrakhan said Russia and China could still redeem themselves by bringing the matter back to the Security Council to halt the NATO action.

He lambasted US President Obama, who he said is "surrounded by people who are Zionist-controlled or Zionist." He also criticised what he called the "arrogance" of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for "telling Africans what to do with Africa" when she met with regional leaders this week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and urged Al Qathafi's few remaining allies to sever ties with him."


The clip is almost 90 minutes, but I highly recommend watching the whole thing, and, if you can, pass the link on to Vlad.


 "Help us Obi-Wan..."

Технический сбой

Takimag's revue of the Presidential limo reminded me of a previous post, Technical Excellence*, as the rise of unarmored, but fast and cheap toyota-based weapons platforms intersects the falling benefit/cost of heavy armor, we descend into farce.

"The Beast’s first stop was Ireland, where it was secretly filled up by the Secret Service at a BP station. Its only job would be to take the Obamas from the US Embassy to Moneygall in County Offaly. Sadly, it was not up to the task."


*I recently saw the same truck in another video. It may have been from the same period as the RT video, but it makes me think the "rebels" don't have that many, that it hasn't seen much action and/or it's just a propaganda unit. Uh - what happened to that war anyway?


As the guy who got me started on google translate -"pervych" says,


"БОГ ПРОКЛИНАЕТ ИХ ВСЕ!!!"

RT просто здравый смысл

Growing up in the 50's. ducking under my desk, watching Khrushchev pounding his shoe at the UN, waiting for the inevitable mushroom cloud; ah, memories, pressed between the pages of my mind. No wonder it's still disconcerting to find more actual news and "truthiness" in the english versions of the Russian press than in the entire American MSM. It may be propaganda, holding up our hypocrisy and lies for geopolitical gain, but our resistance to the truth is so strong that I'm very thankful that RT provides the opportunity to see ourselves as most of the world surely must; naked, fat and ugly.

I've been meaning to write something about lying liars and the lies they spin, but I haven't figured out yet how to approach the subject, or get my mind around it. It's so vast and woven into the fabric of our lives, it's like writing about concrete or air, and you don't really want to tug on the loose thread that may hold the whole jacket together. I still intend to try, but I'm afraid it's just too big a task, like straightening out my Itunes libraries, and probably can't be done. One suspects the world is all illusion and lying is the way we try to make sense of our place in it, not only but especially politicians, WTEORP - with the exception of Ron Paul, the exception that proves the rule, the only politician to tell us the huge hairy wart on our lip is not a beauty mark, but likely melanoma. He IS a doctor, you know.

without further ado...

Doug Wead in RT - Ron Paul just makes good sense

"I like George Smiley, the old spy in the John LeCarre trilogy. He had to be called back to save the situation. That’s kinda how I see Congressman Ron Paul. If there was someone younger who was right on the issues, we wouldn’t need to bother him, but sorry, Ron, you are needed once again. Come back and save your country."

Dominique, nique, nique s'en allait tout simplement

I've heard that professional assassins prefer small-calibre, low-power .22 shots to the head because the bullet doesn't have enough energy to exit the cranium and bounces around in there causing more damage.

No idea if that's true, but  a commenter on (I think zerohedge) reminded us that Hilary had started a program to collect DNA on world leaders for unstated reasons... Little fuckers still bouncing around, turning my brain to oatmeal.

Ποτέ μην υποβάλει στο ΔΝΤ βιαστές

Okay, then, the Greeks probably won't ever get paid for their already stolen property*, plus 200 years of interest, plus pain, suffering and mental anguish;  Ελληνικό χρέος - πληρωθούν στο ακέραιο, και στη συνέχεια κάποιες!, so I went a googlin' to try and find someone with more credibility than I have trying to explain how and why the Hellenes are being "greeked" and of course the first hit is Alex Jones. I usually take his stuff with bags of salt - his shotgun approach usually puts a few pellets on the bird but you can almost hear the rest of the load rattling in the corn husks, but in this case, in this video, he is 100%.


I've been wondering why the vampires were so interested in all these small-potato economies, especially after they demonstrated their power in the Big Billionaire Bailout in America. Low-hanging fruit? Practice? I got sidetracked by the antiquities angle, and forgot about little things like shipbuilding, industry and good-paying, real jobs in Greece that would be more valuable.


Maybe AJ is a "conspiracy nut", but unless the Greeks want to live on picking olives and bussing tables for the tourists, they better listen up, and Americans better start paying more attention, too, because we don't even have any olive trees. 


* I was doing some more reading on the Elgin Marbles, and it's even worse than I thought; turns out that while the limey's were making off with the loot they dropped some giant equine statue down a 40' cliff and totally destroyed it! "Whoopsie, my bad, governor!" Why not just round up the damages to an even 700 million euros, and after that's paid, discuss further discussion.


Don't be a schmendrick, be a mensch!

Ελληνικό χρέος - πληρωθούν στο ακέραιο, και στη συνέχεια κάποιες!

The Daily Bell has a good article - IMF Suggests Greece Sell the Parthenon -


"Explaining that Greece "has an extraordinary portfolio of assets" Borges estimates that there is about "€280 billion alone in real-estate assets," of which the Greek government could dispose. We mentioned that Greece could dispose of the Parthenon the other day in passing, but [IMF official Antonio] Borges sounds like this is just what he has in mind! Exactly what does he mean by an "extraordinary portfolio?"


I would seriously suggest that this has already been done with the so-called Elgin Marbles, stolen from the Parthenon by the British (with "permission" of the Turkish Sultan circa 1812). Valuation would be difficult, of course, but according to Wikipedia, the British Museum paid 35,000 pounds for them in 1816. I'll leave it to the more financially sophisticated to figure what 200 years of compounded interest might be on that 35,000*; otherwise "priceless", plus pain and mental anguish to the greek people should neatly balance that account. Britain is in the EU, non? 

It occurs to me that the Egyptians and Iraqis (and how may others?) might also be interested in the value of those antiquities stolen or destroyed by those nations that now constitute the EU and their colonial progeny. India, Congo, Vietnam, South Africa, China - Who's with me on this?


* FV   =   P (1 + r)^Y  


@5% per annum, much more if compounded quarterly...


35,000 x (1.05)²⁰⁰  
=605,240,328.53 pounds
=694,454,497.42 euro

Counterpunch - Ron Paul: More Progressive Than Obama?

Charles Davis on Counterpunch

Wow!  My eyes are still bugging out a bit after reading that on Counterpunch, which I generally read for its excellent Power Elite analysis (and disregard for it's naive "progressivism").

Paul has stated repeatedly that his campaigns are primarily educational and, with a lot of help from the continuing economic disaster, has been wildly successful in taking his ideas to the general public. His greatest impact (so far) has been to expose the Elite's own contradictions and incoherence against itself, as in his performance in the last Republican primary and especially the debates. He exposed the other candidates as the lying hypocrites and moral midgets they are, and is perfectly poised to do it again.

I can't see the PTB letting him anywhere near the Presidency, so the left should really hold off on the hysterical screaming about racism, Ayn Rand, etc. at least until he's through spanking the people's true enemies - neocons, "Christian" warmongers, banksters, jailers and fascists. Personally, because I detest Republicans, I want to see him run third party. I'm very dubious, but Paul thinks the system can be reformed, or restored. People of good will should get behind him.

I've never been exposed to Davis before, my knee-jerk reaction to "progressivism" has created a huge blind spot on that side of my thinking, I admit. His blog "false dichotomy by charles davis" has been running since 2004, so I've got some catching up to do. Some libertarians have been hoping to make common cause with the non-totalitarian left for quite a while. Hope springs eternal...

Техническое совершенство

Technical excellence
User experience may vary, esp. in presense of hostile air e.g. warthog, but most tanks are just as vulnerable, plus heavy, slow and expensive. Viva Villa!

Anybody Here Seen my Good Friends Alex, Woody, Tom, and Andy?

I just look 'round,, and they're gone.

(Using Anti-war comments section as my default editor.) Justin was discussing "Paulites" v. "Palinites", in view of Walter Mead's typology of Hamiltonians, Wilsonian, Jeffersonian and Jacksonians. Briefly, Paul is a Jeffersonian and Palin a Jacksonian. A little bit of square peg, round hole, but a good rough fit. Justin discusses it as a schism within the tea party, but I don't consider Ron Paul as a TP at all and most TPrs probably don't consider him a member. It's pretty obvious that, while they have taken some of his essence and momentum and re-branded and adulterated it for their own purposes, they haven't moved him any closer to the spider's web, which is why they are trying to move the web towards him.

The consistency and integrity remain his, however selectively his ideas are cribbed. It's only important because Obama has temporarily captured the H's and W's at a time when only the Jeff's haven't been badly discredited. I predict that the eventual Rep nominee will sound very Jeffersonian, because of Ron Paul, whether he runs or not. I hope he does run, in order to maximize his message, but I wouldn't care to see him run as a sacrificial goat; a set up, without elite support, to lose against Obama and discredit Jeffersonianism as "impractical". It would be nice to think the electorate could see through the bullshit that would be piled against him. It would be nice if Santa had ever given me a dirt bike.*
*Hey, Santa, sorry I implied that you were less real than Elite Support. How about that dirt bike?

Can anyone  explain why  Judge Napolitano is featuring well-known scoundrels, e.g. Rumsfeld, Judith Miller (twice!), Bolton, Allen West (to be fair, he's not a first-tier warmonger like the others)? My first reaction is that this is somehow a rehabilitation of the neo-con stooges, but Napolitano is respectfully confrontational and their answers are, of course, ambiguous denials and evasions.

Thus my anti-thesis is that rather than making/showing the libertarian right as more accepting of the Jacksonian  jackasses, it's rather that the judge is showing them that if they behave we'll not dwell on the past and let their talking points expire. No harm, no foul?

The show itself is awesome and 100% Paulian, which is why it seems strange having these chumps on at all. Any true Scottsman would know they were liars, and we already know the lies, so what is the purpose of making me throw things at my tv? It's particularly strange that the show is even allowed to air except as a trial balloon to get as many libertarians as possible onside against Obama, especially if Obama wins, they can say it's because we were "too extreme". (after 2012, we can go back to packing sand, in any case). Luv the show; can't quite figure the angle.

Look Down, America

What to Make of Fidel?

I heard that Ann Coulter approves of Ron Paul's domestic politics but doesn't pay any attention to his views on International affairs, because she is afraid he might be convincing. I have somewhat similar reactions when I read a particularly convincing argument from someone whose view I know to be "leftist". I generally have to tell myself that although their arguments are persuasive, progressives are economically ignorant and sociologically naive; victims of emotional rhetoric and limited exposure to how real people cope with life's problems. I've been wanting to write an essay touching on these matters for some time, but afraid to take this hurdle, because the facts are that I have a very limited education (B.A. - PoliSci), was an indifferent student anyway, and because, although I love humanity in the abstract, I detest many of the individuals I actually meet, and avoid them in fact. I have even less than average exposure to human nature. Yet, somehow I persist in the notion that my views are more informed and realistic than, for instance, Noam Chomsky. I truly don't know how I can be aware my own deficiencies and remain so unshakeable in many of my beliefs. Romantic existentialism? Cognitive dissonance? Karl Pilkingtonism?

So I obviously don't strongly feel that I know more about politics and human nature than Fidel Castro, in fact, quite the opposite; he is intelligent, well-read and informed on current affairs, and although in a 50-year bubble, of sorts, having to be the Decider of Cuba and undoubtably surrounded by yes-men, he was aided by the same heuristic that I've come to use - "When in doubt, assume the Yankees are lying". Try it! It works every time. Wonder about WMD's? Colin Powell says they're real. Who killed Kennedy? The Warren commission says it wasn't the CIA. Is Goldman Sachs a bunch of crooks? Congress gave them billions. Is Libya being set up for a NATO takeover? Hillary says it isn't. Et-fucking-cetera. Pretty cool, huh? This is really the key to International affairs. "Assume the Yanks are Lying. AYL.

That's why it's so satisfying to read Fidel on Counterpunch - Oil Grab, Does Nato Plan to Occupy Libya?

"For me, what is absolutely clear is that the government of the United States is not in the least worried about peace in Libya and it will not hesitate in giving NATO the order to invade that rich country, perhaps in a matter of hours or a few short days."


The delusions of an aging dictator sympathizing with a fellow? Possibly, but then I read Daniel McCarthy on The American Conservative blog, Tiptoeing to War with Libya

Maybe naive good intentions outstrip common sense where some interventionists are concerned, but watch out: the Libyan slaughter is creating an opening for those who would have liked to stage-manage the Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions to impose some “control” on unrest in the region. A Libyan intervention will be the first step toward putting an end to all this messy indigenous rebellion, so the task of proper, American-led “democratization” can resume. Considering the interests at stake, I expect the cries for intervention to grow very loud very quickly."


I've mentioned how much I love Counterpunch, even though I seriously disagree with almost every one of their writers (except Paul Craig Roberts who is sui generis) in most respects. I also happen to agree with Stanislov Mishin at Mat Rodina about 99% of the time who is a reactionary Orthodox Russian and likely a KGB mouthpiece. It is so strange and a little exciting that I can agree with so many different thinkers from all points on the political continuum, and it's a constant reminder that almost everything I know is wrong. The internet has opened my eyes; almost nothing is "true" but the path is clear if one knows the mantra - Assume the Yanks are Lying. and the Brits, Israelis, Europe, probably Japan and all the other "Yanks".  It's a western disease, really; Sun-Tsu makes lying a high good, with the unspoken idea that one knows the actual truth, but the Brits perfected it and Americans have made it an art-form by not only internalizing but instinctualizing it. Apparently actually believing the totality of lies makes it's own reality, like Wile E. Coyote walking on air until he looks down. Look down, America.

"I Can't Believe this has Actually Happened"

I'm watching AlJazeera live about an hour since Mubarak's announcement - the crowds are going nuts.  Most common description of the celebration is "indescribable". Congratulations to the Egyptians and may Amon-Ra grant that their revolution is not turned on it's head like so many others. Now comes the difficult part of freedom.


I'm somewhat optimistic over quotes I've heard that Egyptians believe that they have triumphed not just over Mubarak, but the the entire international conspiracy behind him. "We got rid of Mubarak, but now is the time to get rid of the Mubarak dictatorship!" May the whole world come to see clearly what is revealed when the curtain is pulled down. I'm not really optimistic, but hopeful that the Egyptians' well-earned cynicism about the  "International Community" will see them to a better future. 

The First Neocon

From Taki's Top Drawer, World War II in one sentence -

"The “good war” resulted in approximately fifty million fatalities worldwide, left Europe a starved and blasted continent, destroyed the far-flung British and French empires, brought the Soviets into Europe’s heart for more than forty years, and handed China over to Mao Tse-tung."


http://takimag.com/article/churchill_more_myth_than_legend

In Defense of Call of Duty, Modern Warfare

It's not surprising to see a Russia Today article that draws a parallel with the deadly suicide bombing at Moscow's Domodedovo airport and the fictional attack on the airport in C.O.D.M.W. I'm not aware if the Russian media is as hysterical and irrational as the American media (although I doubt that it could be as bad), but if this had happened in the U.S. terror and hysteria and calls for hearings and legislation to crack down on violent video games would be deafening. I would also not be writing this, because there is absolutely no reason to try to talk sense when the soccer moms go on one of their periodic rampages of fear and loathing, such as after the recent shooting of a Congresswoman in Arizona. Americans will always wave the bloody shirt if there is any remote chance of scoring political points against their opponents.

I don't know if Russian politics are more mature because of their exposure to the truly horrifying realities of the 20th century as opposed to most American's virtual and vicarious exposure, but that's the way it seems. (I'm also surprised and impressed that the Russian authorities are compensating the victims. In the U.S., victims are useful as props in the demonization of politically unpopular third parties, then ignored along with the actual perpetrators if the victims/perps don't fit neatly into the messianic narrative.) If there is no political angle, even the worst catastrophes are taken in stride. In America, shit doesn't "just happen". Someone must be blamed, and generally not the actual perps, but those evil and irrational haters who encouraged them.

The point, if I can allow myself to get to it, is that there is no connection between the "No Russian" mission in the video game, which is the player trying to embed himself within a group of Russian Nationalists employing a "false flag" attack on civilians that will be blamed on "muslim terrorists", and the real life suicide bombing of Domodedevo. (At least, I hope not). The player is not encouraged or required to shoot any civilians and in fact is trained in an earlier mission to avoid collateral killing and friendly fire. The reason the game is so popular is that it combines extremely realistic graphics and story lines with a pretty sophisticated geopolitical outlook and surprisingly clever plotting including double agents and rogue generals. I should probably mention that it's much more than I require in a video game, as I just like to shoot and blow shit up. Also, I can barely complete it on normal difficulty, so to be honest, I suck. The take-away is, War is Hell, and no player is motivated towards actual violence or killing civilians. But don't tell the soccer moms, the fear's the only thing that makes their lives interesting.

Why this Redneck will Always Honor Dr. King

Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence

Delivered 4 April 1967, Riverside Church, New York City

"And some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak. And we must rejoice as well, for surely this is the first time in our nation's history that a significant number of its religious leaders have chosen to move beyond the prophesying of smooth patriotism to the high grounds of a firm dissent based upon the mandates of conscience and the reading of history. Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. If it is, let us trace its movements and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us."


I was 17 when he gave this speech and almost completely oblivious to the civil rights struggle. Although I had lived in the deep south when my dad was in the Army it was as remote from my suburban world as was Africa, or indeed, Washington D.C. (We used to joke in Arlington that the Potomac was the widest river in the world...) and poverty was only something my parents recalled from the thirties. I'm sure Dr. King's concern for young white suburban jerks was almost as remote, but his reaching out beyond his world caught me up and showed me for the first time the distance between what I had been taught, in school and in church, and the reality of America in the world. Vietnam chewed up a lot of my cohort and would have taken many more without Dr. King. Talk about standing athwart history and yelling "Stop!"

I am more embarrassed than ashamed of the casual racism of my youth, because I know it was out of ignorance, and I do know the difference between that and real hatred that I would come to see later. I always detested sports, but one of my first  heros was Muhammed Ali, who put into words ("I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Congs") that even I could grasp, what Dr. King was saying so eloquently that was lost my younger self. Later I would learn about Paul Robeson's lonely struggle against the hidden side of the world I took for granted, and Malcolm X speaking reality to black men, but really to all men who want to be truly free. Everyone owes thanks to the brave men and women of the Civil Rights Movement. Like it or not, fellow crackers,  Black History IS American History.

Another Fine Mess You've Gotten Us Into, Oligarchs

Got a 401-k retirement account that's making little or even negative returns, and were burned once or twice when equities crashed, say in 2001 and 2006? The good news is you can cash out without the (I believe 10%) penalty if you are at least 59 1/2 years old. The bad news is they withhold about 1/3 up front, so if you think you have $45,000, you'll end up with about $30,000. You can probably do a little better in a IRA, but you still must pay when you cash out.


Those things were a sucker trap that paid off for the banks at least three times, and more if you got back into equities after the 2000 crash, and again in the coming one. The final desert will be "cramdown" to force all or part of private pensions into govt. bonds.


Paul Craig Roberts on Counterpunch

"The fallback target will be private pensions, assuming any survive plunder by the Wall Street investment banks. Pension funds could be required to invest in Treasury debt or they could face a levy. In the Clinton administration, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Alicia Munnell proposed confiscating 15 per cent of all pension assets on the grounds that they had accumulated tax free. Certainly Washington will steal Americans’ pensions, just as Washington has stolen Americans’ civil liberties, in order to continue the empire’s wars of hegemony."

four steps to getting blood from a stone -

1. lower interest rates to zero so savings pay less than inflation, creating minor inflation, so that

2. everyone gets into equities again, then "take profits", so that

3. everyone has to keep working after retirement because their pensions are gone, and then "cramdown" remaining pensions to finance government debt until only the rich have any cash, then

4. buy up all assets for pennies on the dollar after deflationary crash.

See, you CAN cheat an honest man, but you need to have help from the government.

The Wikileaks Punch and Judy Show

Julian Assange's Deal With the Devil, by Israel Shamir on Counterpunch, January 5th, 2011 is the best defense I've seen against the (really weird) charge that Wikileaks is an Israeli cutout because there has been nothing released, so far, that reflects poorly on Israel. As further evidence of this, it's reported that Netanyahu has said that "Wikileaks revelations were good for Israel".  Shamir--

"Simple-minded conspiracy junkies immediately concluded that Wikileaks is an Israeli device, or, in the words of a particularly single-minded man: a “Zionist poison”.

The truth is less fantastic, but much more depressing. The Guardian and the New York Times, Le Monde and Spiegel are quite unable to publish a story unacceptable to Israel. They may pen a moderately embarrassing piece of fluff, or a slightly critical technical analysis in order to convince discerning readers of their objectivity. They may even let an opponent air his or her views every once in a blue moon. But they could never publish a story really damaging to Israel. This is true for all mainstream media.

Furthermore, no American ambassador would ever send a cable really unacceptable to Israel – unless he intended to retire the next month. Yet even supposing this kamikaze ambassador would send the cable, the newspapers would overlook it."

It really looks like Assange can't catch a break, between the Nazis who condemn him for exposing their dirty laundry and not being loyal to a country of which he isn't even a citizen, and the global elite that consider it necessary to hide the truth from the rabble, joined in by those who would seem to be his natural allies but are convinced, for various reasons, that he can't be taken at face value. In the end, I'm glad that this mass-produced confusion of point/counterpoint may induce a political paralysis where every viewpoint is observed and the truth is revealed in a series of false moves and arguments obviously made in bad faith.

One point made by Shamir is important; that there is a deliberate attempt to make it seem as though wikileaks itself is producing these damning releases rather than simply showing the routine evil of the Empire, as if Assange was exposing, for instance, Hillary's order to get DNA and credit info on foreign diplomats, rather than reporting the exposure by Hillary's own team. 

"The second mode of attack on Wikileaks is to use it as a source of misinformation. These US State Department cables are double-edged swords. They are full of rumors, trial balloons, and hopeful thinking. Worse, the newspaper headlines often declare that Wikileaks is the source of the rumor, and leave it to the discerning reader to discover that an embassy staffer was the real source of the story. Readers often do not understand that headlines are little more than come-ons, and reflect a very loose interpretation of the article content."

Until now, I've had trouble understanding why I'm not in my usual cynical mode of understanding the WL phenomena. Shamir is used to watching the black cats fighting in the dark. You can only tell who is losing by the loudest shrieks.  I haven't heard so much as a moan from Assange while the cries of the Orcs are deafening. I don't believe it's about left or right at all, but Counterpunch might make a believer of me after all. If only Fidel and Hugo were Austrians!