John Stanton

John Stanton lives in the Washington, DC Metropolitan region. He has written hundreds of articles on national security and political matters. He taught a course on national security for nine years at a private school. His commentary has been carried by radio, television and the World Wide Web. John's works are cited in scores of publications relating to national security issues.

The World Gone Wrong: The USA Proxy War Against Russia will Unleash Hell

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The United States will provide Ukraine with a new $500 million infusion of aid to help the government in Kyiv continue paying salaries, pensions and providing services, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday. Yellen detailed the assistance following her meeting Wednesday with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Finance Minister Sergiy Marchenko, saying it was necessary to help their government continue to function…

‘The needs of Ukraine are urgent, and we plan to deploy this direct aid to Ukraine as soon as possible to be used on most urgent needs,’ Yellen said. NDTV.com

In March, 32 states will begin cutting food stamp benefits for more than 30 million Americans, leading toward what some are referring to as a “hunger cliff.” This will mean that poor households will lose about $82 a month in SNAP [also known as food stamps] benefits, even as food prices continue to soar from inflation. (The other 18 states had already ended their emergency food assistance programs.)…The number of infants in Mississippi being treated for congenital syphilis has jumped by more than 900% over the last five years. In 2021, the state was given a federal grant of $18.4 million to hire public health care workers. It spent only $3.6 million.Jeffrey St. Clair, Roaming Charges, Counterpunch

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If you complain about the billions of dollars going to prop up Ukraine’s corrupt and dictatorial government (pay their pensions, for example) you are branded a “Putin Apologist” by both democrats (particularly) and republicans alike. What gives?

Many Americans are critical of Biden’s scheming on Ukraine because they never got to have a vote in this multibillion dollar transfer of wealth and machinery to one of the most corrupt nation’s in the world. If ever there were a case for a national referendum in the USA, it would have been over this issue. Biden came to the podium one day about a year ago and essentially said, “The USA is sanctioning everything Russian and propping up our newest puppet, Zelensky. If you don’t like it, lump it.”

Republicans hate the thought of the hungry (children, too) and homeless in America getting any sort of handout from the US federal government, but they support handouts to a half-baked racist country called Ukraine which is happily ripping off US taxpayers with the blessing of America’s most virulent Russia haters like Anthony Blinken and Victoria Nuland, who are akin to sharks during a feeding frenzy when discussing anything Russian.

Guess what? Roughly 24 percent of US enlisted personnel are “food insecure” and encouraged by the Pentagon to apply for SNAP benefits through the United States Department of Agriculture. “This summer [2022], DoD released a roadmap, Strengthening Food Security in the Force, which reveals that a shocking 24 percent of active duty service members experience some level of food insecurity, and it acknowledges the connections between hunger and mission readiness, troop retention and recruitment. It should be noted that this survey was done before the recent spike in inflation, so it is likely that this estimate is low.” American Enterprise Institute

That 24 percent figure doesn’t account for the million plus US veterans who depend on those SNAP “hand outs” to get by. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities reported that,“SNAP Helps 1.2 Million Low-Income Veterans, Including Thousands in Every State.”

Oh, and hose hungry active duty enlisted personnel are the ones who are going to go and fight the Russians in Europe, if Biden and Zelensky get their way.

And get this: We learn from the Watson Institute at Brown University the costs to care for veterans of post 9-11 wars are in the trillions. “Between 2001 and 2050, the total costs of caring for veterans of the post-9/11 wars are estimated to reach between $2.2 and $2.5 trillion. This includes the amount already paid in disability and related benefits and medical care, as well as the projected future cost of lifetime disability benefits and healthcare for those who have served in the military during these wars.”

How can we afford to give billions to Ukraine in the face of problems like these, not to mention antagonizing China in the Process?

War is coming for us all because of us all, it seems.

Lunatics in Charge of USA: Look Around!

I am wondering if “Corn Pop” Biden would have authorized an F-22 to shoot down Lawn Chair Larry.  One of Biden’s rationales for ordering shoot-downs was that the 2023 balloons were in airspace reserved for commercial aircraft (I wonder too what kind of medal those F-22 pilots were awarded). Anyway, according to Wikipedia, “ On July 2, 1982, Larry Walters made a 45-minute flight in a homemade aerostat made of an ordinary patio chair and 45 helium-filled weather balloons. The aircraft rose to an altitude of about 16,000 feet (4,900 m), drifted from the point of liftoff in San Pedro, California, and entered controlled airspace near Long Beach Airport. During the landing, the aircraft became entangled in power lines, but Walters was able to climb down safely.”

Zelensky is sure to appear at the Oscar Ceremony in March. Everyone will stand and applaud this man who is nothing but a wartime tyrant. How could he not be ruthless in this role? And his ruthlessness is on display in the manner in which he sacrifices his soldiers in battles they can’t possibly win, or in the elimination of all things Russian in Ukraine. He and his wife live the good life, sheltered and protected by his military only because he is the perfect pitchman. I can’t help but think of Jerry Lewis and his telethon each time I see Zelensky, tin cup in hand.

Don’t be surprised to see Zelensky throw out the ceremonial first pitch this coming American Major League Baseball season.

Critics

Others say that critics of Zelensky are little more than “Useful Idiots” of Putin. But to those critics Zelensky represents a waste of money, billions spent—or lost in the shadows— that could be used in the United States for SNAP, to improve rail safety, or even build a high speed rail that the US currently does not have, but China does. Better still, those billions could be used on healthcare improvements sorely needed in the USA.

Instead, we are once again aching for war. In fact, we’ve already got it by proxy. General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is fond of saying that the Russians have failed in Ukraine. Maybe so, but he has got losses in Iraq and Afghanistan on his record, nothing to be proud about. And yet Milley and all the other generals who punched tickets during those wars are not held accountable. They and the policymakers they obeyed brought no credit to their service, only a $2.5 trillion dollar VA bill.

This Ukraine war was never about that country’s independence, freedom, or the future of mankind. You can pull up all the maps you like showing NATO expansion and speeches from the West claiming that Russia wants a grand empire like the old Soviet Union. All these speeches are complete nonsense.

Putin was sucker punched by the USA/West. The American people took an uppercut from Biden who pretended to be a liberal and devote Catholic. He is neither.

US leaders don’t care about the people of Palestine, Ohio, who will ultimately be polluted to death by chemicals from a recent train derailment in an accident that may well have been mitigated if Biden had enforced regulations on brake safety, as St. Clair reported in Roaming Charges at Counterpunch.

They just don’t care.

The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience.” Albert Camus

No Peaceful Multipolar World Anytime Soon: Underestimating US Power is Dangerous

“If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril.” Sun Tzu

But it turns out there isn’t really any military threat by the United states. Not only [has the U.S] and NATO run out of normal military arms, but America really can’t mount a land war anymore. There will never be another Vietnam. There will never be the United States invading another country, or Europe invading any other country, because you’ll never get a population willing to be drafted, [since] the anti-war movement. And without that, America has only one military leader against other countries: the hydrogen bomb. There is nothing in between a targeted assassination attempt and an atom bomb.” Michael Hudson &Radhika Desai

Both [Russia and China] are strong — and Russia is more advanced technologically than China in their advanced offensive and defensive missile development, and can beat the US in a nuclear war as Russian air space is sealed by layered defenses such as the S-400 all the way to the already tested S-500s and designed S-600s….Beijing’s strategic priority has been to carefully develop a remarkably diverse set of energy-suppliers. If China has so far proven masterly in the way it has played its cards in its Pipelineistan “war,” the US hand — bypass Russia, elbow out China, isolate Iran — may soon be called for what it is: a bluff.Pepe Escobar

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Come on, Russia “can beat the US in a nuclear war.” Really? Even President Valdimir Putin decried the use of nuclear weapons. According to Reuters, “Putin said…there could be no winners in a nuclear war and no such war should ever be started.”  For how  nuclear war between the two nation states might pan out go visit Princeton University’s Science and Global Security website. There you will find an unsettling computer simulation known as PLAN A that assesses “the consequences of nuclear war under different assumptions. Attack scenarios are constrained by the size and capabilities of existing arsenals and weapons systems including delivery vehicle range, the footprint of the Multiple Independently targetable Re-entry Vehicles (MIRV) that carry nuclear weapons on ballistic missiles, and hard target kill capability. The simulation tool incorporates an atmospheric transport model to assess nuclear fallout for each attack scenario.

TheNord Stream pipelines have been destroyed. My guess is that it was US Navy DEVGRU guys and a Virginia Class submarine that carried them in. Right up their alley. That was no bluff, I think.

There is no antiwar movement in  the United States that has any influence on US military or political actions. But there are soldiers who are bored, doing drugs and aching for war.  “This is what happens when there is no war, no direction, and an 18-month red cycle with no mission,” a Special Forces soldier said. “So dudes are fucking around…and the craziest drugs. All these lives ruined because people are just bored.”ConnectingVeterans

That young soldier may not have long to wait to cure his boredom on the battlefield killing “the other” in Ukraine.

Cracks in the BRICS

Multipolarity? Belt and Road Initiative? Forget about it for now, or for the foreseeable future. For those notions to be birthed a global war will have to take place to dislodge the United States.

The BRICS? Consider that Brazil has severe internal problems: poverty chief amongst them. There is also the threat of a coup and so it could be tough for the new president (Lula) to hang on. How about China? I doubt it as China fears a confrontation with United States, as it is a large holder of US Treasury notes. If a war came, they would never receive their payout. Further, China has not fought any major wars recently and thus their military is untested. Already, the US is crushing their semiconductor chip market through economic warfare.

India? They have a long standing territorial rivalry with China and are very wary of Chinese espionage and instigating on its borders. India’s poverty level is off the charts, compared to Brazil’s. It may be the largest democracy on the planet but it society still runs a caste system and tensions between religious sects (Hindi, Islam) is a real problem. And let’s not forget about Kashmir. According to Wikipedia, “Today, the term encompasses a larger area that includes the Indian-administered territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the Pakistani-administered territories of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, and the Chinese-administered territories of Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract.”

And Russia? Well, it is already fighting United States’ weapons systems, operational contractors, ISR aircraft, CIA operatives, and US defense contractors/mercenaries. When the US sets up a no-fly zone over Western and then Eastern Ukraine, it’ll be just a couple of steps, or mistakes, until full scale ground combat between the US and Russia takes place. Already, there are reports that the US is considering arming Ukraine with long range missiles that can reach Crimea. Russia stands alone against the West, a west that does not understand that Russians view the war as an existential crisis. Their way of life is threatened. And the Satanic hatred that Americans and Europeans have toward Russia is astonishing but it is engendered by Western governments and their hatred is broadcast by the MSM, an MSM which is owned by wealthy corporations, who, in fact, tell their populations how to think.

The US Military Just Sits Around?

So, according to critics, the US government/military is a ghost of itself and unprepared for industrial war and/or a per opponent. Let’s check that assumption out. We’ll turn to the US Congressional Research Service’s (CRS) “Renewed Great Power Competition: Implications for Defense—Issues for Congress”

US defense strategy is currently designed to prevent “the emergence of regional hegemons in Eurasia.” That strategy is based on US policy maker’s assessments (dating back to President Obama’s administration) that Eurasia is not “self-regulating” in that the countries of Eurasia can’t be relied upon to use their forces to stop a country that wants to dominate the region. That is viewed as a threat to US policymakers. For example; if China wanted to control, by force, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, who would rally to stop them? Would the Shanghai Cooperation Organization step in the way? No, the USA would.

So, the US defense department’s force structure is designed based on a “policy decision” made in Washington, to inhibit by threat or action an attempt by China or Russia to overrun other nations in Eurasia or the Pacific (think Taiwan). That means it has the capability to deploy military assets far afield from the US mainland (and from forward bases; e.g., Qatar, Bahrain). The package includes long range bombers like the B-2 and B-52; a naval battle group that includes, for example, a Nimitz Class carrier, Virginia Class submarines; Aegis warships; troop transports by air (C-10) and sea (Marine amphibious assault ships), ISR capabilities (RC-135V, satellites and drones).

Fighting Russians in the American Desert

For the past few years now the United States has emphasized planning that focuses on high-end conventional warfare, according to CRS. “Many DOD acquisitions, exercises and warfighting experiments have been initiated, accelerated, increased in scope, given higher priority, or had their continuation justified as consequence of the renewed US emphasis on high-end warfare.” For example, a warfighting experiment is taking place at the US Army’s Fort Irwin in the Mojave Desert. A mockup of an urban town you might find in Ukraine , along with open terrain that surrounds the town, has been built. The Red Team uses Russian tactics to try and defeat the US Blue Team using its combined armed tactics (drones and electronic warfare are a key part of the exercise).

A peaceful multipolar world? I don’t think so.

Russia can’t create one alone.

Russia is as ready as it can be for the US boots on the ground in Ukraine. It will stand alone while its “friends” watch. And the USA knows for the first time in decades it will have to fight to get to the fight. Hard times ahead.

It is going to be a violent road to get to a multipolar world where nations don’t act ruthlessly in their own interests. I wish I could live to see how it all ends. Don’t we all?

Find and Read Please, Dig Deeper

How the US military is shaping the environment for Ukraine and wider war: Military Information Support Operations, MISO, Joint Publication 3-13.2

The US has astronomical power. Study them here: Army Special Operations Forces Unconventional Warfare. FM 3‐05.130

The Four Front+ War or World War III: A Sketch

The dysfunctional, aged President of the United States slowly made his way up to the rostrum in the US House of Representatives. All 535 Members of Congress were in attendance along with US Supreme Court justices, senior military leadership from the Pentagon, plus members of the president’s cabinet. The event was the annual State of the Union address. The venue was the US Capitol building. Tonight, on a blustery January evening, the president’s remarks would focus on the status of the 4+ front war that the United States and its proxies were engaged in, the economic crisis, and the need for sacrifice and tough decisions. Most americans were dealing with food, product and gas rationing. Wage and price controls were in effect. Antiwar protests in America’s big and small cities was a daily occurrence. Crime rates had soared: murder and theft could not be contained. The chamber was somber. No applause took place even when the president was announced by the Sergeant of Arms to the collective assembled in the Capitol building: “Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States.” You could hear a pin drop.

Outside on that unusually cold  and windy night stood one thousand DC national guard soldiers  who had formed a ring around the Capitol building. Machine gun emplacements were stationed at key spots around the building. Snipers from the FBI, Secret Service and the Homeland Security were assigned to the tops of nearby buildings. Missile defense systems were setup atop empty parking lots nearby the People’s House and the Supreme Court. A second ring of security was arranged and this one included thousands from the DC police force and nearby jurisdictions in Virginia and Maryland. Undercover operatives were infiltrating the crowds of protestors who braved the wickedly cold and windy night.

The security forces ringing the Capitol complex could see the glow from fires set by rioters. Those rioters were angry about shortages caused by a war which the US instigated some years back. Stores that carried any food or clothing were being looted despite armed security guard’s presence. The rioters would just shoot them and carry on with the looting. Office buildings were not immune. Groups of Blacks, Whites, Latinos, Homeless and vagabonds had formed militias to carryout their tasks. Fires were set as if to say: “The Roof is on Fire, Let the MF Burn.”

On that freezing January evening, paramilitaries stationed in the two rings ostensibly protecting the People’s House wished they could have been assigned duty to fight the rioters so they could be near the warmth that the fires provided.

One national guard member was looking up at the stars in the sky and thought it was a comet, then there were three more. “Cool,” he said. And as soon as he got the “L” out of his mouth to finish getting out the word “Cool” he noticed a stream of light heading toward one of the comets. The stream of light met the comment and exploded. But now he saw that the other comets were moving faster and towards the Capitol complex. Those in the two security perimeters who had a view of the sky were no longer cold. They knew what was in store for them. Some ran to the streets, some tried to make their way into the People’s House where an underground trolly connects the House and Senate buildings.

A few minutes before the national guard member notice the comets in the sky. The millions around the USA viewing the State of the Union were in for some real entertainment. The president was grabbed and escorted, or rather carried out, and taken to a tunnel that runs from the Capitol building to the Pentagon and White House. Screams could be heard and the elite of the country scrambled around like ants, rushing for the exits or the basement of the Capitol building. Simultaneously the millions in the USA must have been surprised when at the bottom of their television sets appeared, “This is not a test…” Handhelds everywhere began beeping with the same message being broadcast.

The National Security Agency blanked the broadcast but some feeds from the chamber still managed to appear. The floor of the Capitol was like a punk rock mosh pit. Uniformed and suited officials jumping all over each other to get shelter somewhere. Some just stayed in their seats not bothering to move. They knew what was coming. A well known US Army 4-star general, just sat there, not moving an inch. He had waved off his security detail and saluted them.

The 4-Star had protested vehemently in White House security meetings that launching US nuclear weapons at, and on, Saint Petersburg, Vladivostok, Pyongyang and Teheran would be the worst decision in the history of US governance and would not change the situation on the 4+ fronts that the USA was fighting and losing. It was time to accept the stalemate and rush to the negotiating table before Hell was called up.

A 300 kiloton nuclear warhead had hit almost dead center on the Capitol Hill area.

The national guard member outside who thought they were comets finally realized what they were. He took out his firearm and started shooting at it. He saw a bright light, felt a slight sting and then nothing.

Path to Oblivion Over a No Name Country

The tabletop eggheads in the Think Tanks, the anti-Russian-Chinese-Iranian-Asian racists in and throughout the US government, and military, were aching for a conventional war with Russia and they got that sometime in 2023 after the Russians pushed Ukrainian forces all the way to the Dnieper crushing themas a functional military. Ukraine now had control over the western part of Ukraine. Russia had destroyed Ukraine as a viable nation in spite of the entirety of US NATO support.

“Something has to be done,” the American gangsters in Washington, DC argued. And so it was that in 2023 that the conventional war campaign began against Russia. Expecting total victory and the Russia’s government to fall, US and NATO operatives were put in place through Russia to conduct subversive operations: sabotage and inciting violence and revolution were their tasks. Already the American and Western mainstream media outlets had softened up American minds through their daily print and digital products to demonize Russians and distract Americans from the facts on the ground.  The mouthpieces of the US government and business—the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN and the like—did a bang up job at their tasks. They did so well that that they turned the American public into a collective Chance the Gardner from the movie Being There.

The Beginning of the End

The attack on Russian forces in the east of Ukraine began with the Suppression of Enemy Defenses (SEAD) usingelectronic and networked EA18G Growlers, F-35’s, F16CJ’s who swooped in from the West and south in an attempt to take out Russian S400-500 SAM sites scattered throughout the new Russian provinces in the East.Sea launched US cruise missiles, and high flying B-2/B-21’s made for the skies over enemy territory and plied their wares. Power grids were hit, the Kerch bridge was destroyed. The American pilots in their USAF F22’s and F-15 Grim Reapers kept the skies clear for a time.

On the ground Russian T-90 and US M1A1 Abrams tanks took to battle against each other with mixed results. Accompanying Russian troops was the 9M133 Kornet while US soldiers carried Javelin anti-tank missiles. These two weapons proved to be deadly for the tank warriors on both sides.

The tide began to turn when Russians started to take out USKC135 refueling aircraft and strike US-NATO logistics chains running at sea (ships) and air to ground level (rail-road-parachute drops of gear). The Russians used long range missile fires to do the job. As they typically do, the Russians used their vast territory and knowledge of the terrain to wear down US troops coming in from Romania (101st Airborne) and Bulgaria (British, etc.) The Russian ultimately regained the initiative and began a slow push back push back the gains the US and its proxies had made in Eastern Ukraine. In short, they fought their way back to the banks of the Dnieper thanks to help of other countries unexpected actions that had the result of stretching the US to the breaking point.

It turned out to be a simple problem: The US-NATO alliance could not supply its armed forces or protect its supply chains. The countries of South America, Central America, India and Africa refused to assist anyone. They sat the war out and waited for US-Western hegemony to be defeated.

These and other factors caused the American governing elites to proclaim there was an existential threat to US hegemony and way of life.

Quick Summary: Four Fronts +

The USA had counted on the conflict being confined to Russia-Ukraine but, as usual, the armchair warriors did not think of broader and unintended consequences.

Initially the Russians had difficulties dealing with the US invasion. It needed time to adjust. China could read the writing on the wall and knew that it was next on the sanctions-invasion chopping bloc. China to supplied Russia with thousands of drones large and small, small weapons and ammunition. It secretly sent troops to fight along side Russians on the ground. More importantly it sent some of its aircraft and pilots to muck up American air forces in the skies. The US pilots were stellar but they could not get reloaded with ammunition and fuel quick enough to get back into the fight. Aircraft based on carriers were particularly vulnerable. The US Air Force would often return to land bases whose runways were pocked marked from Russian or Chinese munitions.

Belarus, a Russian ally entered the war from the north pounding into the cities of Kiev and Kharkiv and pushing their way south to hookup with Russian forces,

With the US bogged down in the former Eastern Ukraine, other countries decided to settle scores.

Israel went ahead and conducted air and missile strikes on Teheran’s nuclear facilities, power grids and ports.  It also hit Damascus. Iran immediately responded by launching missiles at the Suez canal and Bahrain (home to the US 5th Fleet). They caused some damage to US war ships incapacitating them in the Straits of Hormuz. They also launched missiles into Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The oppressed Shia in Bahrain revolted. Hezbollah invaded Israel with its Iranian proxies. Americans and Russian ground units in Northern Syria started fighting against each either. The Palestinians went into urban warfare mode against Israeli troops and settlers. ISIS remnants took opportunities to kill and loot wherever chaos reigned, which was just about everywhere. Someone in the White House said, “Send in the Marines” to Iran in amphibious attacks. And so they went. The Marines were successful in the beginning taking some territory but Iranians can fight too, and they did. Not since the Korean War had the Marines had to fight against human waves in the thousands.

North Goes South

A blistering artillery assault took place on Seoul destroying parts of the city. The US responded with its standard SEAD air attack knocking out the aged SAMs and aircraft North Korea possessed. That was good news but the North Koreans had, for years, built an underground country under the surface. Dropping JDAMs on a mountain tops or slopes where it was thought the Korean military was hiding was a waste of time and effort. The North Koreans may not have been good fighters at first, but they were fanatical and learned fast, just like the Russians and Iranians. They swarmed in human waves over the 38th parallel breaching defense lines there. US and South Korean troops met the advance and pushed back thousands. But as was the case on the Russian and Iranian fronts, the US was running out of ammunition, fuel, food: there just wasn’t enough to kill hundred’s of millions in a conventional war. Hight tech Virginia class subs were chasing inferior North Korean subs under the ocean.

With the US on the ropes losing on the other Fronts and having to transfer fighting forces from one theater to another, China went after Taiwan. The timing was right. Neither the Chinese in the PRC or on Taiwan had done any significant war making. But with three million or more soldiers that the Taiwanese and Americans would face was a mountain too high to climb. With 1.5 billion people in the PRC,  acceptable casualty rates for China would be in the many thousands. And the sheer number of equipment that the PRC, the manufacturing center of the world, could produce was astronomical. With US assistance the Taiwanese were able to hold off most of the first amphibious wave from China, though Chinese Marines were able to establish a bridge head on the shores of Changhua County. Submarine warfare proved to be critical on this front. Virginia attack class subs had their work cut out for them. China had dozens of stealthy diesel subs and the US submariners just couldn’t get them all, particularly when they were trying to defend the SLBM’s of the US fleet. The PRC was able to easily supply its troops on Taiwan as the war progressed.

The + front was in the US homeland. The American public had no interest in having its sons and daughters called up to fight in a Four Front War. As many as 100 million adult Americans opposed the war. Besides their kids would be sent to fight against billions around the globe and for what? Another war the US instigated in 2014?

When millions of Americans heard the news about the destruction of the US leadership in the People’s House, they said, “Good.”

Ukraine: Zelensky’s Politics of Contrast

According to a New York Times report of March 1985, former president Ronald Reagan had this to say about the infamous Nicaraguan Contras (guerrillas) who were opposing the Sandinista Communists in that Central American country:

“Speaking about Nicaragua, Mr. Reagan called the rebel forces “our brothers” and ”freedom fighters.And we owe them our help,” he said. ‘You know the truth about them, you know who they’re fighting and why. They are the moral equal of our Founding Fathers and the brave men and women of the French Resistance.”We cannot turn away from them,” he said. ”For the struggle here is not right versus left, but right versus wrong…In making his speech today, against the backdrop of a campaign for renewed Congressional financing for the rebels, the President also sought to provide assurances against United States military involvement in the region.

Fast forward to a report in Associated Press in April 2022:

“President Joe Biden pledged an additional $1.3 billion Thursday for new weapons and economic assistance to help Ukraine in its strong but increasingly difficult battle against the Russian invasion, and he promised to seek much more from Congress to keep the guns, ammunition and cash flowing.The latest military aid, Biden said, will be sent “directly to the front lines of freedom“…Sometimes we will speak softly and carry a large Javelin, because we’re sending a lot of those, Biden said, paraphrasing Theodore Roosevelt and referring to an anti-tank missile system.”

Biden has referred to sanctions as a new form of Statecraft. No, it’s just robbing nations of their money.

Same Old Song and Dance

I’ve been thinking to myself, where have I seen the current Russia-Ukraine war verbiage/template before with the same presidential speeches, the insidious censorship? Hey! It is the return of the pro-Contras format, except the Ukrainians are a million miles away and they have flags with the colors of the National Football League’s Los Angeles Rams.

The Washington Post and the New York Times—and the former military talking heads on NBC, CBS and CNN portray Zelensky as pure of heart, courageous, and leading the charge on the Donbass frontlines. And according to General Mark Milley, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, saving the Western way of life is at stake, or at least Europe’s, and on Zelensky’s broad shoulders this task must fall (until he has to exercise the US promised Golden Parachute on his exit).

“What’s at stake is the security of Europe,” Milley said, adding that Russia’s invasion “is the greatest challenge to the security of Europe since the end of World War II…And indeed, you can easily make the case that what’s at stake is the global international security order that was put in place in 1945,” reported Business Insider in April 2022.

“Milley said the post-war world order has prevented great power war, and underlining that entire concept is the idea that large nations will not conduct military aggression against smaller nations, and that’s exactly what’s happened here, an unprovoked military aggression by Russia against a smaller nation.”

General Milley, what about Vietnam, Panama and Grenada? I mean, you are a Princeton graduate.

So, how did that Nicaragua thing work out? A CIA led war in and out of that country, plus a nifty CIA campaign to sell drugs in the USA to make money to buy weapons and supporting material for the Contras;  the Iran Contra Scandal out of which came the sentences placed on US officials Elliot Abrams, John Poindexter, and Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger (they all were pardoned by Reagan’s successor, former president George H.W. Bush).

According to the Harvard Crimson reporting in March 1986;

“…it is clear now that the Contras are entirely a creation of U.S. foreign policy–dependent on their paymaster for their limited ability to inflict malicious harm on the Nicaraguan people.There should also be little surprise at the Contras’ brutal methods. Reports from Nicaraguans who have left the rebel organization indicate that 46 of 48 Contra field commanders are former members of late dictator Anastasio Somoza’s National Guard. And, as if their experience in oppression were not enough, CIA advisers supplied the exiles with a training manual which encourages political assassination and details methods of torture.”

Ditto for the Ukrainians too!

Gary Webb, RIP

Gary Webb of the Mercury News wrote a series called Dark Alliance which exposed alleged CIA involvement in supporting drug running in the USA which was then used to funnel cash proceeds to the Contras. Webb was pilloried by the New York Times, Washington Post and LA Times and was basically “canceled” his career ended when he resigned from the Mercury News.

Think of it. US officials were pardoned (see above) for their roles in the Iran Contra scandal and Gary Webb’s journalism career was tanked in what was a USGOV-MSM setup to discredit him. Controversy still remains over Dark Alliance but it shows how powerful the USGOV-MSM is when it decides to eliminate a journalist who causes trouble. Who is going to be the next Gary Webb?

With the current mainstream media blackout over any criticism of Ukraine—which is the direct result of an effective US military information support operation (MISO) deployed to shape global environments/opinions— no notable MSM reports on Ukraine black market weapons sales, Ukraine using lunatic World War 1-style infantry attacks, crushing opposition parties, censoring criticism and media, attacks on Kherson repeatedly repulsed by the Russians, etc. All we get is MSM visiting the front lines with the 101st Airborne in Romania which is ready to fight yesterday!

It is probably one of the better US government propaganda efforts; well, then again, there are so many US campaigns to choose from. But they all have the same set of lies that support them, always with the words freedom, from the Contras to the Ukrainians. But here is the reality:

“Even before the war erupted, there were ugly examples of authoritarianism in Ukraine’s political governance. Just months after the 2014 Maidan revolution, there were efforts to smother domestic critics, which accelerated as years passed. Ukrainian officials also harassed political dissidents, adopted censorship measures, and barred foreign journalists whom they regarded as critics of the Ukrainian government and its policies. Such offensive actions were criticized by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and other independent observers. The neo‐​Nazi Azov Battalion was an integral part of President Petro Poroshenko’s military and security apparatus, and it has retained that role during Zelensky’s presidency.

Indeed, some repressive measures deepened under Zelensky even before the outbreak of war with Russia. In February 2021, the Ukrainian government closed several (mostly, but not entirely pro‐​Russia) independent media outlets. They did so on the basis of utterly vague, open‐​ended standards. Zelensky has now used the war as a justification for outlawing 11 opposition parties and nationalizing several media outlets. Those are hardly appropriate measures in a democracy, even in wartime,” according to a report in the American Conservative Magazine in October 2022.

West Seeks to Expunge a Civilization

And why the longing to expunge Russia from the face of the earth? Why the hiding behind “I am a minority and my ancestor was killed by the Soviets? Is every Russian guilty of the past? I mean, give me a break. When Russia’s mobilization officials started to call up the wrong citizens and botched up the first steps of the process, it was the Russian people and the media that protested. The president of Russia Valdimir Putin owned up to the error and it was fixed.

I just can’t figure out the basis for the hatred of Russia unless it is that US political and military leaders are so incompetent they don’t know how to deal with an emerging multipolar world.

I was in Russia in 2014 roaming around by myself from Moscow to Crimea and I saw nothing that would threaten me except running out of US dollars, which I did, as US sanctions took effect in the summer of 2014. I could not use my credit card either due to the sanctions. I was in a fix so a history professor that was showing me around Crimea—who worked for the tour company that booked all my flights and hotels—lent me $100 on behalf of the company on a handshake with a promise I would send cash when I returned to Virginia. I did that one day after I got back. Anywhere I went I was usually asked where I was from. I’d say the United States of America. No one attacked me. I was treated with respect and a helping hand wherever I went.

Perhaps the most interesting place to visit was a former Soviet-era nuclear submarine pen in Crimea. It was turned into a tourist attraction. Talk about capitalism!

According to Vladimir Putin who spoke for hours at the recent Valdai Club (can any US politician do that plus Q&A, or can any US citizen listen for hours), the West has gone crazy, indeed:

The very liberal ideology today has changed beyond recognition. If initially classical liberalism understood the freedom of every person as the freedom to say what you want, to do what you want, then already in the 20th century liberals began to declare that the so-called open society has enemies – it turns out that an open society has enemies – and the freedom of such enemies can and should be limited, if not abolished. Now they have reached the point of absurdity, when any alternative point of view is declared subversive propaganda and a threat to democracy.

Whatever comes from Russia is all the “intrigues of the Kremlin”. But look at yourself! Are we all that powerful? Any criticism of our opponents – any! – is perceived as “the machinations of the Kremlin”, “the hand of the Kremlin”. This is some nonsense. What have you fallen to? At least move your brains, state something more interesting, state your point of view somehow conceptually. It is impossible to blame everything on the machinations of the Kremlin.”

Humanity will Eat itself through Violence, War, Hatred and Neglect

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Mutilation & Burning at the Stake: United States 1899 in the US State of Georgia:

“Sam Hose was brought to a patch of land known as the old Troutman field. Newspapers reported that members of the mob used knives to sever Hose’s ears, fingers and genitals while others plunged knives repeatedly into his body, to cheers from the mob. Men and boys gathered kindling from the nearby woods to create a pyre. The skin from Hose’s face was removed, and he was doused with kerosene. He was then chained to a pine tree. Several matches were thrown onto the pyre by members of the mob, lighting it on fire and burning Hose alive. The heat from the fire caused Hose’s veins to rupture while his eyes nearly burst from their sockets.[ One journalist present noted the crowd watched “with unfeigned satisfaction” at contortions of Hose’s body. As the flames consumed his body, Hose screamed out, “Oh my God! Oh Jesus!”. From the time of Hose’s first injuries to his death, almost 30 minutes passed. One woman thanked God for the actions of the mob. Some members of the mob cut off pieces of his dead body as souvenirs. Pieces of Hose’s bones were sold for 25 cents, while his heart and liver were cut out to be sold.” ~ Wikipedia

Scaphism in ancient Persia:

In order for the method to work, it had to take place in a swamp or somewhere where the boats could lie exposed to the sun. The victim would be tied inside the space between the boats in a way that left their head, hands, and feet outside. Then, the person in charge of the process would feed the victim a mixture of milk and honey, forcing them to swallow against their will, so the mixture dripped everywhere, covering their eyes, face, and neck. This same mixture was then spread all over the exposed body parts, and the idea was that it would attract every insect, vermin, and wild animal in the area. Very soon afterwards, flies and rats, for instance, would show up and start attacking the victim, eating the mixture of milk and honey, but also eating the person alive along the process.Now, as if the bugs eating them alive weren’t enough, there was also the severe diarrhea that left them feeling weak and dehydrated. This horrifying symptom was the intended consequence of their enforced milk-and-honey diet. The more they were fed this mixture, the more they would defecate inside the boats, but also, the longer they stayed alive. This point, precisely, was the cruelest yet most effective aspect of scaphism: the victims couldn’t die from the diarrhea-induced dehydration because they were fed milk and honey every day. As a result, the victims could survive for days and even weeks in a small hell of bugs, feces, milk, and honey.” ~ culturacolectiva.com

United States in the 21st Century:

Afghan national Alif Khan told Amnesty International that he was held in US custody in Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan for five days in May 2002. He said that he was held in handcuffs, waist chains, and leg shackles for the whole time, subjected to sleep deprivation, denied water for prayer or washing, and was kept in a cage-like structure with eight people.” ~Amnesty International

Myers Enterprises located in the US State of Denver, Colorado, produces the “stun cuff” that shocks unruly prisoners back to order. It takes international orders.  Axon Enterprise made $863 million in revenue in 2021 with one of its core product being the Taser, according to its Investor Slide Deck. There are 960 thousand Tasers floating around the United States and in Europe. Axon sells a number of other products particularly integrated computing observation and reporting systems. While there are complaints about deaths involving Taser’s, or what are known as Conducting Electricity Devices (CED’s), in June 2022 the Office of Justice Programs found that. “law enforcement need not refrain from deploying CEDs, provided the devices are used inaccordance with accepted national guidelines.” Meanwhile,  Amnesty International in a December 2020 report seeks strict controls on CED’s (good luck with that). Since a Taser is a form of gun, it falls, arguably, under the protection of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution (the right to keep and bear arms).

General Mike Minihan, the US Air Mobility Commander opined recently that, “Lethality matters most. When you can kill your enemy, every part of your life is better. Your food tastes better. Your marriage is stronger. This is who we are. We are lethal. Do not apologize for it, after listing distinguished Air Force commanders like Gen. Curtis LeMay and Brig. Gen. Robin Olds, who had no scruples against killing the enemy. The pile of our nations enemy dead, the pile that is the biggest, is in front of the United States Air Force,” he said.

Task & Purpose, September 2022

Imagine a world where roughly 5 billion of the Earth’s 7 billion people has access to a World Wide Web of knowledge that would allow them to search studies on anatomy, chemical engineering, genetics, geography, anthropology, quantum mechanics, artificial intelligence and military science, Shannon’s theory of information, crops and farming, and more. Much more, it turns out. There are free online courses which allow you to learn Algebra or just about any technical or non-technical subject matter on the planet. Want to refute of confirm what “a leader” just told you, look it up online. And collaboration, the Web was designed just for that.

Instead, the Web has become more polluted, if that is possible, with cognitive/attention span killing programs like Tik Tok, Twitter, Facebook, and thousands of reality-bending nuanced disinformation sites that plague the Web. What was supposed to have been a liberating force for humanity’s knowledge is now a crass advertising and propaganda monster. But, perhaps the saddest thought is that it doesn’t take much to tunnel through all the bull&^%$ and find the data buried behind the cognitive/attention span-killing cotton candy. Information sources such as the National Institutes of Health, New England Medical Journal, Defense Technology Information Center and a plethora of other sites on the Web like them are credible, reliable sources. Prominent universities in the USA typically publish their rigorous research findings (MIT, Harvard, CALTECH, Stanford). Do you want to find one place that gives the Russian military campaign in Ukraine its props on manoeuvre warfare? Look no further than the US Marine Corps Gazette, August 2022, paper 22, authored by Marinus.

The Web has become a partisan wasteland with users looking to bounce their left, right and centre world views right back into their brains after some sort of affirmation by the left, right and centre triad. Rarely, if ever, do they cross over into the realm of the other.

I suppose that the Web imitates life in meatspace and there it is arguably worse: global economic woes, USA challenging China and Russia directly, elections of significance in Brazil and the United States, an increase in violence in America’s cities, a pandemic that is not over, climate change, shifting international alliances, America’s global sanctions regime, Russia vs Ukraine conflict, exploding healthcare costs, food shortages, finance capital, ad nauseam.

Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vucic, summed it all up in a recent speech to the United Nations in August 2022, “The seriousness of the present moment obliges me to share difficult but true words with you. Everything that we are doing today seems impotent and vague. Our words make a hollow and empty echo compared to the reality that we are facing. The reality is that no one listens to anyone, no one strives for real agreements and problem solving, and almost everyone cares only about their own interests.

Solutions?

Why prolong the inevitable end?