Momentum Shift
In what may be a change in momentum in the worldwide trend towards authoritarian rule and dictatorship, Vladimir Putin has been charged with war crimes, mass murder and kidnapping by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Russia doesn't abide by ICC jurisdiction, so the charges are somewhat moot, but they still have meaning. Putin will not be able to travel to countries who subscribe to the ICC, and he suffers a great propaganda defeat in being known as an international fugitive from justice. His brutal and lawless invasion isn't turning out like he wanted, with many thousands of Russian soldiers being killed, tanks destroyed, much other artillery, and little to show for it. At some point the people of Russia will have had enough of him. He can't throw everyone out a third floor window. Something will happen. He is not invincible, any more than his ancestor in tyranny Joseph Stalin was.
Another momentum shift is the multiple criminal indictments pending against former U.S. president Donald Trump. Indictments are immanent in the City of New York, the State of New York, the State of Georgia and by the Federal government. He also is facing several lawsuits, having to do with rape, defamation of character, fraud and wrongful death, etc., Trumpy kinds of things. Trump, a deranged criminal sociopath, is unlikely to emerge from these numerous indictments and lawsuits unscathed.
We also have received new information about the 1980 presidential election, which verifies what was long suspected – that operatives for the campaign of Ronald Reagan made a deal with the fledgling Iranian government to delay releasing the American embassy hostages until after the election, sabotaging the reelection of incumbent Jimmy Carter. This criminality enabled the eight-year phony and criminal presidency of Reagan and all the damage he did, including three Supreme Court appointments. In his 1981 inauguration speech Reagan declared "Government is not a solution to our problem; government is the problem." This falsehood ushered in a forty-year era of gutting Federal and state spending programs, regressive tax "reforms" a descent into scapegoating of "liberals," corruption, "right wing" propaganda, alliances with crackpot "Christians" like Jerry Falwell, and the rise to prominence of bluster media personalities like Rush Limbaugh.
It also enabled the subsequent election of George H.W. Bush, leading to the curious invasion of Panama, the first phony invasion of Iraq, and the Supreme Court appointment of the truly evil Clarence Thomas. There likely would not have been a second President George Bush, had there not been a first one. If there had not been the first Bush, there would not have been an Al Qaeda, no September 11 attacks, no invasion of Afghanistan, and no second invasion of Iraq.
We also have received new information about the 1980 presidential election, which verifies what was long suspected – that operatives for the campaign of Ronald Reagan made a deal with the fledgling Iranian government to delay releasing the American embassy hostages until after the election, sabotaging the reelection of incumbent Jimmy Carter. This criminality enabled the eight-year phony and criminal presidency of Reagan and all the damage he did, including three Supreme Court appointments. In his 1981 inauguration speech Reagan declared "Government is not a solution to our problem; government is the problem." This falsehood ushered in a forty-year era of gutting Federal and state spending programs, regressive tax "reforms" a descent into scapegoating of "liberals," corruption, "right wing" propaganda, alliances with crackpot "Christians" like Jerry Falwell, and the rise to prominence of bluster media personalities like Rush Limbaugh.
It also enabled the subsequent election of George H.W. Bush, leading to the curious invasion of Panama, the first phony invasion of Iraq, and the Supreme Court appointment of the truly evil Clarence Thomas. There likely would not have been a second President George Bush, had there not been a first one. If there had not been the first Bush, there would not have been an Al Qaeda, no September 11 attacks, no invasion of Afghanistan, and no second invasion of Iraq.
Had George W. Bush not been president, the Ruby Ridge fiasco likely wouldn't have happened, but that is a harder case to make. Federal law enforcement agents entrapped survivalist crackpot Randy Weaver on a weapons charge, leading to botched attempts to arrest him, which included the shooting and killing his son and wife. We will never know if things would have been different with another president, but Bush I presided over this tragedy.
If Reagan had not been president there would not have been support for the brutal authoritarian governments of El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua, and thus no arming of the "Contras" that were paid for by selling weapons to Iran.
There would have been no organizing and arming the insurgency to fight the Russians in Afghanistan, and thus no Taliban. 
Without a Taliban or Al Qaeda, there would have been no one to invade in Afghanistan, which wouldn’t have happened anyway, since there would have been no 911. Had there not been a second invasion of Iraq, there would have been no ISIS and the untold suffering, death and destruction that resulted.
Had there been no second Bush presidency, there would be no Supreme Court appointments of 2000 election overthrow operative John Roberts, and of crackpot Justice Samuel Alito.
What may be more important is that the corruption and deterioration of ethical standards of these three presidencies had a "grooming" effect that paved the way toward the candidacy and ultimately the presidency of Donald J. Trump.
Vladimir Putin uses the example of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq as a precedent that justified his brutal invasion of Ukraine. He may have invaded anyway, but it was made much easier by the phony and criminal U.S. invasion of Iraq. Putin very likely would have been given pause about his phony and criminal invasion had we not paved the way with our invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, to say nothing of Panama and Grenada, and our questionable presence in Somalia and Lebanon.
Worthy of mention is that the way to Reagan was paved by Richard Nixon, he of the Watergate scandal – a criminal attempt to gain advantage in the 1972 presidential election. This wasn’t just dirty tricks. Nixon had to have the realization that his opponent, George McGovern, was the superior candidate, and he was afraid of losing in a free and fair election. Who knows what would have happened had there been no Watergate, but McGovern ran a weak campaign, his chosen running-mate dropped out of the race due to a history of mental illness, and Nixon had other dirty tricks up his sleeve, mostly having to do with slanderous attacks on World War II hero and honorable senator McGovern's character.
I know from personal experience what McGovern was up against. I did some door-to-door canvassing in 1972 with a group called "Veterans for McGovern." No one in the Southern Illinois towns we covered preferred George McGovern over Nixon. The response of one woman stands out in my memory. When she answered her door and I told her I was with Veterans for McGovern she said "Ahh just don't like that Mack-Govern!" Demagogic slander works, especially in rural Southern Illinois, where Ku Klux Klan activity was and probably still is alive and well. Peace in Vietnam was seen as weak and even treasonous. Here's some history. George Harrison spent some time there before the Beatles came to the U.S.
Still, elements of our government, such as the FBI and the Department of Defense, are hyping-up propaganda about the looming threat from China. The ruling regime of the area of the planet known as "China" is indeed a force of evil, but responding with paranoia and military posturing will lead to war, and war with a nuclear power is very, very risky.
And unnecessary, a complete waste. If the major powers – coincidentally the same ones who possess nuclear weapons – are inclined to monger for war, they might want to have a little patience. When climate change kicks into high gear the planet will achieve a level of death, destruction and collapse of civilization that will be roughly equivalent to global nuclear holocaust.
Without the radiation poisoning. So hold off, kings of the world. You will get your wish without any effort, without all the cost of "defense" spending, without the maneuvering, posturing, the threats, and in our case, without the parade of deranged criminal sociopaths who contrive and scheme themselves into very temporary power. Massive damage and collapse is coming anyway, so just wait a few years. It may be sooner than a few years.
Had there been no second Bush presidency, there would be no Supreme Court appointments of 2000 election overthrow operative John Roberts, and of crackpot Justice Samuel Alito.
What may be more important is that the corruption and deterioration of ethical standards of these three presidencies had a "grooming" effect that paved the way toward the candidacy and ultimately the presidency of Donald J. Trump.
Vladimir Putin uses the example of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq as a precedent that justified his brutal invasion of Ukraine. He may have invaded anyway, but it was made much easier by the phony and criminal U.S. invasion of Iraq. Putin very likely would have been given pause about his phony and criminal invasion had we not paved the way with our invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, to say nothing of Panama and Grenada, and our questionable presence in Somalia and Lebanon.
Worthy of mention is that the way to Reagan was paved by Richard Nixon, he of the Watergate scandal – a criminal attempt to gain advantage in the 1972 presidential election. This wasn’t just dirty tricks. Nixon had to have the realization that his opponent, George McGovern, was the superior candidate, and he was afraid of losing in a free and fair election. Who knows what would have happened had there been no Watergate, but McGovern ran a weak campaign, his chosen running-mate dropped out of the race due to a history of mental illness, and Nixon had other dirty tricks up his sleeve, mostly having to do with slanderous attacks on World War II hero and honorable senator McGovern's character.
Still, elements of our government, such as the FBI and the Department of Defense, are hyping-up propaganda about the looming threat from China. The ruling regime of the area of the planet known as "China" is indeed a force of evil, but responding with paranoia and military posturing will lead to war, and war with a nuclear power is very, very risky.
And unnecessary, a complete waste. If the major powers – coincidentally the same ones who possess nuclear weapons – are inclined to monger for war, they might want to have a little patience. When climate change kicks into high gear the planet will achieve a level of death, destruction and collapse of civilization that will be roughly equivalent to global nuclear holocaust.
Without the radiation poisoning. So hold off, kings of the world. You will get your wish without any effort, without all the cost of "defense" spending, without the maneuvering, posturing, the threats, and in our case, without the parade of deranged criminal sociopaths who contrive and scheme themselves into very temporary power. Massive damage and collapse is coming anyway, so just wait a few years. It may be sooner than a few years.
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Here's a song. Another song from Jimmie Dale Gilmore. The Waterboys. Bob Dylan. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. The Doors. Bob Dylan. Bob Marley. Gil Scott-Heron. The Plastic Ono Band. Cat Stevens (Yusuf). Iris DeMent. The Fugs. George Harrison.
A few years ago I wrote something about how the "Republican" party is a criminal organization. It is now worse.
The Department of Defense is forcing Madison to host a detachment of the highly defective F-35 planes, which brought this response from me. It may well be that our World War III posturing has more to do with profits for the weapons industry than anything else. Our fragile infinite-growth economic system depends intrinsically on the arms manufacturers - for jobs, demand for goods and services, taxes, political payoffs, and suchlike. The planes are due to arrive soon. Here's some background.For a great discussion of the nature and prevalence of demagoguery, click here.
It turns out the Watergate scandal may have had more to do with Nixon's "secret plan" to end the Vietnam war: bomb North Vietnam with nuclear weapons. He was stifled in his plan by the peace movement. A short interview about the documentary The Movement and the Madman can be found here. The PBS airing of the movie can be found here.
And, it turns out that Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli intelligence colluded with Donald Trump in 2016 to steal the presidential election. Read about it here.
Some interesting news about Clarence Thomas.
Here's Jordan Klepper's latest.
This is Noam Chomsky's take on U.S. support for Israel, followed by a quick answer to a question on the likely result of war with China, and a longer analysis of the war in Ukraine.
posted by John Hamilton | 4:26 PM
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