Bulletin N° 809
See:
“The Stanford prison experiment,” 1971
(58 mins)
Subject : THE
EXPANSION OF WAR IS ON THE HORIZON.
The Fourth of July 2018
Grenoble, France
Dear Colleagues and Friends of CEIMSA,
As liberal ideologues have been recycled
to become circus performers and jugglers, civil society is becoming increasingly
restless. The false solution of shooting the
messenger has resurfaced, but of course this produces nothing other than perhaps a
fleeting moment of sadistic delight on the part of the rulers of society and their stooges.
In the long run, an alternative system must be
built, and history demonstrates that liquidating the most lucid members of
the colonized society before the Imperialist retreat has a retarding
effect, at best, but in fact does not prevent the inevitable – the emergence
of new forces of self-determination.
We have seen again and again in history how civil
society finds an exit from their oppression, sometimes at the most unexpected moments.
The “solution” has never been entirely satisfactory, but usually it was found
to be better than the horrors which had crystallized to produce the social need for radical change
in the first place.
The 14 items
below reflect the public’s concern that the imminent expansion of War will
soon arrive at their front door. The irresponsible leadership in capitalist
society has lost all credibility. They govern today almost exclusively by the use of fear,
which of course feeds the military/police/security/ industries, while rewarding
capitalist investors handsomely. The articles and essays
below expose this criminal element in society; those who are clearly our
brothers and sisters but who have turned against us in their mendacious pursuit
of more power at our expense.
Francis
Feeley
Professor
emeritus of American Studies
University
Grenoble-Alpes
Director
of Research
University
of Paris-Nanterre
Center
for the Advanced Study of American Institutions and Social Movements
The
University of California-San Diego
a.
“What to the American Slave Is Your 4th of July?”: James Earl Jones Reads Frederick Douglass’s Historic Speech
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/7/4/what_to_the_slave_is_4th
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b.
USA - The Failed State
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/49768.htm
by Chris Hedges
Our “corporate coup d’état in slow motion,” as the writer John Ralston Saul calls
it, has opened a Pandora’s box of evils that is transforming America into a
failed state. The “unholy trinity of corruption, impunity and violence,” he
said, can no longer be checked. The ruling elites abjectly serve corporate
power to exploit and impoverish the citizenry. Democratic institutions, including
the courts, are mechanisms of corporate repression. Financial fraud and
corporate crime are carried out with impunity. The decay is exacerbated by the
state’s indiscriminate use of violence abroad and at home, where rogue law
enforcement agencies harass and arrest citizens and the undocumented and often
kill the unarmed. A depressed and enraged population, trapped by chronic
unemployment and underemployment, is overdosing on opioids
and beset by rising suicide rates. It engages in acts of nihilistic violence,
including mass shootings. Hate groups proliferate. The savagery, mayhem and
grotesque distortions familiar to those on the outer reaches of empire
increasingly characterize American existence. And presiding over it all is the
American version of Ubu Roi, playwright Alfred Jarry’s gluttonous, idiotic, vulgar, narcissistic and
infantile king, who turned politics into burlesque.
“Congress works through
corruption,” Saul, the author of books such as “Voltaire’s Bastards: The
Dictatorship of Reason in the West” and “The Collapse of Globalism and the
Reinvention of the World,” said when we spoke in Toronto. “I look at Congress
and I see the British Parliament in the late 18th century, the rotten boroughs.
Did they have elections? Yes. Were the elections exciting? Yes. They were
extremely exciting.”
Rotten boroughs were the
19th-century version of gerrymandering. The British oligarchs created electoral
maps through which depopulated boroughs—50 of them had fewer than 50
voters—were easily dominated by the rich to maintain control of the House of
Commons. In the United States, our ruling class has done much the same,
creating districts where incumbents, who often run unchallenged, return to
Congress election after election. Only about 40 of the 435 seats in the House
of Representatives are actually contested. And given the composition of the
Supreme Court, especially with Donald Trump poised to install another justice,
it will get worse.
===========
c.
U.S. Attempts Violent
"Regime Change" In Iran
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/49765.htm
by Moon Of Alabama
In early 2014 we remarked on Color
Revolution by Force in Syria and Ukraine: Accompanying the demonstrations
and illegal occupations of government buildings are in both cases brutal,
criminal attacks on the police and other government forces. In Syria the
violence "muscle" part was done by foreign financed Jihadists while
neo-nazi gangs are used in the Ukraine. The
demonstrations and the attacks on the state are planned and go together. There
is nothing "peaceful" in demonstrations that are only the
public-relations cover for attacks on the state. But the foreign politicians
and media immediately utter "concerns" and threats over completely
normal government responses to them. It is a scam to justify
"western" "support" for the demonstrators and to further
the violence.
The aim is "regime change" of legitimate
governments by small minorities. Should the "regime" resist to that
the alternative of destroying the state and the whole society is also
wholeheartedly accepted.
We have since seen similar CIA operations in Venezuela
and most recently in Nicaragua.
The same concept is used to attack Iran. In December peaceful economic protests
were
hijacked by violent elements. Last night a similar attempt occurred:
Sayed Mousavi @SayedMousavi7 - 22:17 UTC -
30 Jun 2018
Khoramshar water
shortage protest turned violent tonight.
What we know:
- At least 2 protesters shot, possibly by getting close to military zones
- Mobs set 2 museums on fire (reports)
- 1 hour of calm
- No base takeovers (anti-regime journos have
claimed)
- Armed bike is suspicious
The scene with the "armed bike" in the
video attached to the above tweet can be seen better
in another
video. It shows two "peaceful protesters" on a motorcycle
shooting at police with an automatic gun. The shooter is hit and falls off.
Another "peaceful protester" picks up the gun and continues shooting.
===========
d.
Trump’s Iran Gambit Won’t Pay Off
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/49771.htm
by Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
It is as clear as day that President
Trump is obsessed with regime change in Iran. What is
not made clear is how much his gambit is damaging to Americans and American
interests.
Without cause or justification, Mr. Trump pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of
Action (JCPOA), striking a hard blow to America’s European allies – and its own
credibility. Moreover, he threatened European countries with secondary
sanctions should they continue to trade with Iran.
===========
e.
Seymour
Hersh: Saudi Arabia & Turkey Had Role
in 2013 Gas Attack in Ghouta
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/49758.htm
Watch - Going Underground
Seymour
Hersh explained that, in June 2013, there was a
"very important" intelligence report put out by the US government.
That report said there was "tremendous concern" in the intelligence
community because Saudi Arabia and Turkey were providing chemicals to Al Nusra in Syria that, when mixed together, make a nerve
agent referred to as "kitchen sarin."
===========
f.
We
Wonder Why People Hate the USA?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/49766.htm
Saudi Arabia Bombs Residential Neighborhood in Yemen Killing
Entire Family
Watch
Saudi Arabia’s war against Yemen is being described as a
deliberate war against women and children. Just this Monday, a U.S.-backed Saudi-coalition
bombing campaign targeted a residential neighborhood in Amran
in northern Yemen, killing 15 civilians and injuring 9, most of whom were women
and children.
===========
g.
Israeli forces wound scores of women in Gaza rally
July 3, 2018
At least 134 Palestinians have been wounded as Great March of Return protests continue in besieged Gaza Strip.
===========
h.
The Next Boat to Gaza
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/07/03/the-next-boat-to-gaza/
===========
i.
Kushner’s
“Ultimate Deal” Would Strip Palestinians
of
Their Human Dignity
===========
j.
Israeli Government Fears
Palestinian Cameras
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/06/29/israeli-government-fears-palestinian-cameras/
Recently
the Israeli Knessett passed the first draft of a bill
that would criminalize the filming of Israeli soldiers in Palestine, with a
proposed five year jail sentence for offenders. The bill
specifically focuses on the shame and discrediting that results from such
footage and also mentions those who film with the intention to break
“soldiers’ spirits,” and “undermine the morale of IDF troops and residents of
Israel.”
The
bill is aimed at Palestinian human rights defenders and their allies, who
document soldiers’ abuse to expose it before the world’s eyes, and who also
film as a form of nonviolent protection against the soldiers, who tend to be
more discreet when a camera is running. Palestinian children and
their parents head this
movement of denouncing the abusive behavior of the Occupation,
and Palestinian groups like the Human Rights Defenders in Hebron have filmed countless
videos to expose the reality of living under a brutal colonial Occupation.
These
films have succeeded in breaking through the media blockade of Palestinian
reality in an environment of lawlessness and indescribable
brutality. Badee Dweik
of Human Rights Defenders states:
“This is a racist law that attempts to silence ordinary Palestinians and
activists like us who choose to resist the occupation and attempt to liberate
our people nonviolently. If we do not do this work, how will the
international community know about what goes on here?” Fellow
volunteer Aaref Jaber
added: “They have their guns which they say they use to protect their people.
But we have our cameras, which we use to protect our people.” Former
Israeli spokesman Nachman Shai said that
because of cameras, “the army operates today under the assumption that it is no
longer possible to cover up things and maintain secrecy. Everything that
happens today is out there in the open and reported on in real time.”
What
was once done with impunity and out of sight now carries the weight of moral
shame. And this is starting to weigh heavy in
Israel. This is profound sign.
===========
k.
Feeding the Monster
Washington's
Spinelessness Enables Israeli Brutality
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/49774.htm
by Philip Giraldi
I have
just spent a couple of days in New York City. Returning to Virginia on
Wednesday morning, I had a somewhat strange experience. I cleared through my
emails before leaving the hotel and also read through a number of the featured
news articles. One, in particular, caught my eye. It described how the
Democratic Party primary in Queens New York had returned a startling result.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won over mainstream
incumbent Joe Crowley, signaling that not everyone in the Democratic Party is
buying into the Clinton model of good governance by big donors and powerful
interest groups. Many want change and even a radical departure from the
political game whereby media savvy pressure groups and
narrow constituencies are pandered to to create a
governing majority.
One paragraph in particular in the article I read was highly
suggestive, the claim that Ocasio-Cortez had been
strongly opposed to the Israelis’ routine slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza,
which has by now become of such little import that it is not even reported any
more in the U.S. media. She is also allegedly a supporter of the Boycott,
Divestment and Sanction movement (BDS), which pressures Israel to end its theft
and occupation of Palestinian land. The article expressed some surprise that
anyone in New York City would dare to say anything unpleasant about Israel and
still expect to get elected.
This is what Ocasio-Cortez, who
called the shooting of more than 130 Gazans a
“massacre,” actually said
and wrote:
“No state or entity is absolved of mass shootings of
protesters. There is no justification. Palestinian people deserve basic human
dignity, as anyone else. Democrats can’t be silent about this anymore. I think
I was primarily compelled [to speak out] on moral grounds because I could only
imagine if 60 people were shot and killed in Ferguson. Or if
60 people were shot and killed in the West Virginia teachers’ strikes.
The idea that we are not supposed to talk about people dying when they are
engaging in political expression just really moved me.”
Five hours later, when I arrived home in Virginia I went to
pull up the
article I had read in the morning to possibly use it in a piece of my own
and was somewhat surprised to discover that the bit about Israel had been
excised from the text. It was clearly yet another example of how the media
self-censors when there is anything negative to say about Israel and it
underlines the significance of the emergence of recent international media
reporting in
The Guardian and elsewhere regarding how Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson largely dictates U.S. foreign policy in the Middle
East. That means that the conspiracy of silence over Israel’s manipulation of
the United States government is beginning to break down and journalists have
become bold enough to challenge what occurs when pro-Israel Jews obtain real
power over the political process. Adelson, for what
it’s worth, wants war with Iran and has even suggested detonating a nuclear
device on its soil to “send a message.”
===========
l.
Resisting The Creeping
Police State
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/49770.htm
Watch
The police look like
they are in a war zone. The NSA listens in to our phone calls and reads our
text messages with the help of "private" telecommunications
companies. The Bill of Rights is being gutted. Should we give up and accept the
creeping police state? Hardly!
Rutherford Institute president John W. Whitehead joins today's Liberty
Report with important information on how we can fight back against the
authoritarians who seek control over us. Also don't miss a special announcement
in today's program: John Whitehead is joining our excellent line-up of speakers
at our August 18th Peace and Prosperity Conference in Washington, DC!
===========
m.
Congress Welcomes a Fascist as
Nazi Violence Rages in Ukraine
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/49767.htm
by Max Blumenthal
I
asked the Washington hosts of Andriy Parubiy, the speaker of Ukraine’s parliament and founder of
two neo-Nazi parties, why they were legitimizing an open fascist at the heart
of the extremism plaguing his country.
While racist violence raged through Ukraine, punctuated by a wave
of attacks on Roma encampments by the state-funded
C14 neo-
Nazi militia, Congress played host to an actual Ukrainian
fascist. He was Andriy Parubiy,
and besides being the proud
founder of two Nazi-like parties — the Social-National Party and the
Patriot of Ukraine — he was the speaker of Ukraine’s parliament.
During a meeting
hosted by the American Foreign Policy Society inside the Senate, I seized the
chance to ask Parubiy’s hosts why they were welcoming
a figure who was so central to the extremism overtaking Ukrainian society. I
also put the question to Michael
Carpenter, a former Pentagon official who helped deepen the US relationship
with post-coup Ukraine during the Obama administration.
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n.
What Makes this Historical Moment so Urgent?
Paul Jay talks about the unique urgency of our current situation.