Empire’s Murderous Fruits

Chaos, War, and Death

by Nebojsa Malic, August 23, 2014

Earlier this week, jihadists loyal to the "Islamic State" – a self-proclaimed Caliphate in eastern Syria and northern Iraq – ritually beheaded American journalist James Foley, their captive since last year. The gruesome film of the execution was posted online, of course; the IS has eagerly embraced social media as a way of preaching jihad, seeing no irony therein.

Empire’s Feral Friends

Foley’s executioner is reportedly British – a UK citizen, rather, who went to Syria to join the jihad. And why wouldn’t he? The British government has actually supportedthe Syrian "rebels" that ended up becoming ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Sham), along with the United States – sent them weapons, even. It was supposed to be a pretext for yet another evil little war, until it went off the rails last September. Now these jihadists – once advertised as "freedom fighters for democracy and human rights" – are beheading journalists, butchering Christian children, and putting people’sheads on spikes.

It isn’t the first time the Empire is in bed with murderers and terrorists: prominent Washington politicians have praised the "Kosovo Liberation Army" as fighting for "human rights and American values." In fact, one such politician – John McCain – has heaped praise on both the KLA and the ISIS. The KLA-run "Republic of Kosovo" has even helped the Empire "train" Syrian jihadists, back in 2012. Maybe that explains why so many Albanians (aka "Kosovars") are killing and dying in Syria and Iraq today.

Of course, the Imperial media claim the Albanians are "outraged" that one of theirs would behead people. Yet why would they be, when the KLA had no problembeheading Serbs or committing other atrocities in 1998-99? Jihadist beheadings werealso common during the Bosnian War, but the media narrative of "Good Muslims" vs. "Evil Serbs" insisted on burying that inconvenient fact. The Empire continues to cover for the KLA even today.

Now Imperial officials are saying ISIS is a threat greater than Al-Qaeda, and arguing not just for a new invasion of Iraq, but also of Syria! It is a white-knight gambit: first one creates the problem, then rides in to "solve it", reaping applause and adulation. Except that it never actually works, and failure leaves countless corpses in its wake.

A Hell of Their Own Making

The devastation of Iraq, the war in Syria, and now the rise of ISIS, all stem from the 2003 invasion of Iraq – a crime, based on a lie. Amidst the calls for renewed invasion – sorry, "liberation" – of Iraq, remember that the whole mess is due to the U.S. invading in the first place.

Nor would this be the first time. In the 1970s, Zbigniew Brzezinski’s dream of a "Soviet Vietnam" resulted in the creation of a jihadist insurgency in Afghanistan. Fifty years of near-constant warfare has reduced this country to abject barbarism, unleashing the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and the warlords.

Earlier this month, an American general was killed in a "green-on-blue" attack at an Afghan military academy. Now, even if they wanted to extricate themselves from Afghanistan at this stage, Empire’s troops are stuck: their avenues of retreat are either controlled by the Taliban, or depend on Russia – which the Empire has done its best to antagonize over the past six months.

"Humanitarian" Murder

When the government of Ukraine rejected the EU’s predatory loans and costly, destructive "reforms" last fall – in favor of free trade with Russia – the Empirelaunched a coup. The power in Kiev was seized by militant nationalists and outright Nazis, previously on the fringe of politics.

In reaction, the overwhelmingly Russian population of Crimea chose to secede (and joined Russia a few days later), as did the two industrial regions in the east of the country, Donetsk and Lugansk. The Kiev junta responded by sending in the tanks,torching protesters in Odessa, and massacring civilians in Mariupol. Donetsk and Lugansk took to arms, and have been successfully resisting the government troops and Nazi militia ever since – though the unhinged Kiev regime has used everything in its arsenal against the "rebels", including heavy artillery, airstrikes and even ballistic missiles, all while screaming about a phantom "Russian invasion."

Not surprisingly, all this has been done with the full support of the Empire. Washington’s spokescritters proclaim it’s perfectly fine for a government to bomb its own people, because that’s just "defending sovereignty." Except, when Serbia actuallydefended its sovereignty in 1999, with far less force, NATO screamed "genocide" (which it wasn’t) and launched a war of aggression. When the Serbs bombed civilians (allegedly or actually), the West howled "genocide." But when the Empire, or its clients, do it – that’s "democracy."

Residents of Ferguson, take note.

Of Lies and Laws

All along, the Western media have parroted Kiev’s claims of "Russian aggression" and "invasion." When Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot down on July 17, the media frenzy went up to eleven: "PUTIN’S MISSILE", "PUTIN"S KILLED MY SON," screamed the typical headlines. When the Russians presented radar records and maps showing the airplane was most likely shot down by the Ukrainians, Washington claimed it had "evidence" it was otherwise – but never produced it. All mention of MH17 simply stopped, as if the plane and its passengers had never existed.

Now the media are again parroting claims of "invasion," after a convoy of Russian humanitarian aid – inspected multiple times, escorted by the Red Cross, held on the border for a week – finally crossed into Lugansk over Kiev’s objections. So, while Empire’s jihadist and Nazi "freedom fighter" clients carve a path of death and destruction wherever they go, Russia’s "invaders" bring food and water to the victims. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the world today.

Imperial hubris has created the Taliban and ISIS, and "fighting" them will only ensure the "Caliphate" thrives. Accusations that Russia or China somehow seek world domination are merely a projection of the Anglo-American mind. Had the government in Moscow actually wanted to invade the Ukraine, it could have done so at any point over the past six months. But the brief emotional satisfaction of seeing Russian tanks crush Nazi banners beneath their treads wouldn’t have been worth compromising Russia’s core value of respecting international law.

That is the major, perhaps key, difference between the rest of the world, and the Atlantic Empire – which recognizes no law but force, and then only its own.

http://original.antiwar.com/malic/2014/08/22/empires-murderous-fruits/

Anti-war Is Pro-American

By Mike Marion

Thomas Jefferson proclaimed the American way of interacting with the world to be “peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations – entangling alliances with none.” 

However, over the course of at least the past seven decades, the US government has turned this admonition on its head.

Peace? The US government has waged wars of choice almost constantly since the end of World War II. It has distributed death and destruction around the world for nearly 70 years straight in overt wars, covert wars, coup d’états, assassinations, cold wars, drone wars, etc.

Commerce? Through sanctions and embargoes, the US government has carried out economic warfare against entire countries due to political disagreements with their leaders. This has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocents who were denied the opportunity to buy goods and services from the US and the rest of the world. It has also prohibited the ability of Americans to travel and trade freely.

Honest friendship? The US government has cynically manipulated nations into serving its purposes for many decades. It has overthrown democratically elected leaders and installed puppets to serve its agenda. It has propped up brutal dictators in the interest of political objectives. It has created so many entangling alliances that the entire world is laid with tripwires that could pull the US into conflicts at any moment.

The complete abandonment of Jefferson’s foreign policy prescription has been devastating to Americans who value life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

In the time since WWII, over 100,000 American soldiers died in foreign wars and hundreds of thousands more were wounded. Twenty-two veterans kill themselves every day at more than double the civilian suicide rate (this number includes almost one active duty soldier suicide per day). Nearly 3,000 innocent Americans were murdered on 9/11/01, caught up in blowback from their government’s foreign policy and the hatred it breeds.

War has steadily eroded American liberty and has nearly eliminated the Bill of Rights. The deceptively named Patriot Act led to the most expansive surveillance apparatus in world history. 

The NSA collects billions of phone calls, emails and cell phone location records every month without a warrant or even probable cause. The notion of being secure in one’s person and property from government intrusion is virtually gone.

The massive cost of war requires Americans to pay an ever-increasing tab. The Federal Reserve causes inflation to fund unaffordable wars, which secretly picks the pockets of every American. 

Each person in the US is tethered to an ever-growing $17.6 trillion in debt (much of it war related) and must pay for the hundreds of billions of dollars in annual interest on war debt. The US has still not paid off its debt from the first World War.

James Madison recognized the dire threat that war poses to a free society:

Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few."

He concluded by saying,

“No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”

It is in the interest of every American to understand why war is so dangerous to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

Taking a stand against war, and particularly against unconstitutional, unnecessary, unjust wars (which are the only kind we have seen for seven decades or more), is very much in keeping with what it actually means to be an American.

By Mike Marion

August 21, 2014

http://www.voicesofliberty.com/article/anti-war-is-pro-american/

Sources

http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/sanctions-cruel-brutal-war-iraqi-people-part-1/?format=pdf

http://williamblum.org/essays/read/overthrowing-other-peoples-governments-the-master-list

http://backhome.news21.com/article/suicide/

http://blog.independent.org/2013/08/22/the-inescapable-reality-of-blowback/

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/12/05/nsa-reportedly-collects-5-billion-cell-phone-location-records-day/

http://original.antiwar.com/engelhardt/2012/05/22/how-much-does-washington-spend-on-defense/

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The serial liars instantly blamed Russia for shooting down flight MH17.  But, did they really? That is a terrible accusation to make against any government, without proper evidence. 
So, where is their evidence?... 

Well, they are probably manufacturing it right now, according to this analysis by Pepe Escobar:

      ...Let's follow the facts.

          Washington from the get-go said it was Russian President Vladimir Putin's missile that downed MH17. They swore they had evidence. Like in               "We know. Trust us". The historical record for the past 60 years at least shows they cannot be trusted. There was never any evidence. Just spin.

Moscow, via the Defense Ministry, presented hard evidence. And called for an unbiased international investigation. Washington ignored it all - the call and the hard evidence.

The US Navy, crammed with state-of-the-art missile defense radars, has been in the Black Sea for weeks now. As much as the Russians, they have tracked every particle flying over Ukraine. The NSA goes for signals intelligence; the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency goes for phenomena in the imagery realm; the Defense Intelligence Agency adds Humint; there's the CIA; and there's the all-seeing, all-knowing Director of National Intelligence.

How come all this trillion-dollar Full Spectrum Dominance apparatus cannot come up with a single, conclusive piece of evidence?

The only risible "evidence" presented so far pictures the acronym salad of US intel agencies spending their time reading blogs and Twittering. As in the State Department head in Kiev twittering satellite imagery that the New York Times parroted "proved" Russia is shelling Ukraine from across the border. The proverbial "senior US officials" even had to tersely admit on the record they have no proof whatsoever about "Putin's missile". If they had, NATO would be ready to flip burgers in Red Square.

Based on the wealth of info now in the open, the top probability of what caused the MH17 tragedy was an R-60M air-to-air missile shot from a Ukrainian Su-25 - and not a BUK (there's also the possibility of a double down; first an R-60M and then a BUK). The R-60M is very fast, with an ideal engagement distance of up to five kilometers. That's how far the Su-25 detected by the Russians (they showed the graphics) was from MH17.

SBU - Ukrainian intel - for its part confiscated the recordings of Kiev control tower talking to MH17. That would certainly explain why MH17 was overflying a war zone (Malaysian Airlines revealed they were forced to). Hefty bets can be made the recordings are now being "doctored".

Then there are the black boxes, which will not de decoded by the Malaysians or by the Dutch, but by the Brits - acting under Washington's orders. As The Saker blogger summed up the view of top Russian specialists, "the Brits will now let the NSA falsify the data and that falsification will be coordinated with the SBU in Kiev which will eventually release the recordings who will fully 'confirm' the 'authenticity' of the NSA-doctored recordings from the UK." To make it more palatable, and erase suspicions about Anglo-American foul play, the Dutch will announce it.

Everyone should be forewarned...

Extract from article by Pepe Escobar

http://www.thanhniennews.com/commentaries/crime-israel-and-punishment-russia-29365.html

So, now you have been forewarned!

Of course, this has not stopped Australian Prime Minister 
Tony Abbott, other Western political leaders, and the dishonest Western news media, from repeating the anti-Russian lies, 
ad nauseum!

American Pravda: Who Shot Down Flight MH17 in Ukraine?

BY RON UNZ  ..."I am absolutely 100% certain that the [mainstream media] has been revealed as a totally worthless source of information on these crucial world events..."      http://www.unz.com/runz/american-pravda-who-shot-down-flight-mh17-in-ukraine/

Check out this new Willie Nelson song video http://youtube/MezGqmMCrwo

"How Much Is A Liar's Word Worth?"

Do you ever wonder why there are endless wars?

Why are Western governments and their corporate backers “at war” with everyone from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Russia, Ukraine, Gaza, Africa, South America…

Look beyond the official narratives about why these conflicts are going on, as they are invariably false.  Read these, and it should all become clear.

My Money’s on Putin
The Latest in the New Cold War
By Mike Whitney
The United States failed operation in Syria, has led to an intensification of Washington’s proxy war in Ukraine. 

Continue

The Birth of a New Financial-economic System
The Example of Russia and Argentina 
By The Saker
Russia and Argentina are, really, battling for their very survival so it is not surprising that they would be showing the most determination into setting up a new, USA & dollar free economic-financial system.

Continue

The Ukraine, Corrupted Journalism, and the Atlanticist Faith

BY KAREL VAN WOLFEREN 

"...In much of the European Union the general understanding of global reality since the horrible fate of the people on board the Malaysian Airliner comes from mainstream newspapers and TV which have copied the approach of Anglo-American mainstream media, and have presented ‘news’ in which insinuation and vilification substitute for proper reporting..."

http://www.unz.com/article/the-ukraine-corrupted-journalism-and-the-atlanticist-faith/

Then & Now:  By deception, they make war. . . 

U.S. soldiers carry a wounded comrade through a swampy area in Viet Nam, 1969.   They had been deceived by their government, lying them into an unjust war.      The mass media is still complicit in war crimes, by reporting official lies uncritically.          Photo: NATIONAL ARCHIVES

The Long Reach of Vietnam War Deceptions

by Todd E. Pierce, August 09, 2014

A half century ago, on Aug. 10, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution though he knew its justification was based entirely on deception. 

Indeed, it was a continuation of a pattern of deception begun with a series of clandestine acts of war against North Vietnam by U.S. forces known as “Oplan 34-A.”

Oplan 34-A consisted of sabotage and psychological warfare attacks directed against and into North Vietnamese territory. This reality was only brought to light seven bloody years later with the release of the “Pentagon Papers” by courageous whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg…

...This process of over-classification and excessive secrecy has reached an apex with the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama despite the latter’s promises of greater “transparency.”

Instead, the antagonism toward a free press – and an informed public – that came out of the Vietnam War have continued to guide information policy, including aggressive prosecutions aimed at whistleblowers, such as Pvt. Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning and National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, and legal intimidation of journalists, such as James Risen and Glenn Greenwald…

For decades now, the deadliest “stab in the back” to the American Republic has been the one inflicted on the Bill of Rights, with President Obama seeming to give it a final twist.

Todd E. Pierce retired as a Major in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps in November 2012. His most recent assignment was defense counsel in the Office of Chief Defense Counsel, Office of Military Commissions. 

READ MORE:  http://original.antiwar.com/Todd_Pierce/2014/08/08/the-long-reach-of-vietnam-war-deceptions/

50 years on, fateful Vietnam resolution resonates

NEW YORK — A dubious threat to U.S. interests. A swift vote in Congress for broad presidential war powers in response. A long, costly and bitterly debated war.

Fifty years ago Sunday, reacting to reports of a U.S. Navy encounter with enemy warships in the Gulf of Tonkin off Vietnam - reports long since discredited - President Lyndon Johnson signed a resolution passed overwhelmingly by Congress that historians call the crucial catalyst for deep American involvement in the Vietnam War. 

Many also see it as a cautionary tale that has gone unheeded…

READ MORE:  http://www.stripes.com/news/us/50-years-on-fateful-vietnam-resolution-resonates-1.297561

Among many popular myths about the American War against Viet Nam, perhaps believed by most people because it has been repeated so many times, is that the U.S. "lost the war, but never lost a battle".

To debunk that myth, here is list of 70 battles the U.S. lost in Vietnam: http://www.g2mil.com/lost_vietnam.htm

And to debunk the popular Israeli myth that they are just defending themselves against Hamas rocket attacks, read this excellent account of how and why the war in Gaza really began. This is very different to the official propaganda line of the Western corporate-owned mass news media!

Israel’s target is not Hamas, but Palestinian statehood

By Dan Glazebrook   

"...Genuine sovereignty would end Israel’s current presumed right to steal Palestinians' land, control their borders, place them under siege, and bomb them at will..."

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE:    
http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/israel-s-target-not-hamas-palestinian-statehood-1483362297

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article39418.htm

Telling the Truth About Gaza...

Because the "mainstream" media won’t

And the truth is that Gaza is an open air prison turned into a shooting gallery: Israeli air strikes are killing primarily civilians. Israeli snipers are targeting civilians. And the Israeli political class no longer believes in the very concept of civilians, as prominent political figures call for all-out war against the Palestinian people. Hospitals, UN schools, basic infrastructure like water and electrical facilities – all are being deliberately targeted. Yes, even kids playing on a beach.

These war crimes are being committed while the whole world watches – except, of course, for the Western media, which "spins" each and every atrocity as Israeli "self-defense."

To debunk the official lies about current wars in Gaza, Ukraine, Iraq, etc.,

click on every day to Information Clearing House:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/

Who said this?:
"We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation, and the cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population..."

"...we have taken their country. It is true, God promised it to us, but how could that interest them? Our God is not theirs. There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They see but one thing: we have come and we have stolen their country. Why should they accept that?"

- David Ben-Gurion, a.k.a. David Grün (1886-1973), Israeli Prime Minister (1948-53, 1955-63) revered by Israelis as "Father of the Nation".

"A Hideous Atrocity": 
Noam Chomsky on Israel’s Assault on Gaza     
Video Interview and Transcripts

"...It’s a hideous atrocity, sadistic, vicious, murderous, totally without any credible pretext..."        
Continue to watch the entire interview

US Leaders Aid and Abet Israeli War Crimes, Genocide & Crimes against Humanity

By Marjorie Cohn
"...Both Israeli and US leaders must be criminally prosecuted for committing and aiding and abetting these crimes..."

Continue

Cash, Weapons and Surveillance
The U.S. is a Key Party to Every Israeli Attack
By Glenn Greenwald
New Snowden documents illustrate a crucial fact: Israeli aggression would be impossible without the constant, lavish support and protection of the U.S. government. Continue

Obama’s ‘helplessness’ an act: Snowden reveals scale of US aid to Israel:
Former Guardian journalist reveals the amazing contrast between what the United States says publicly, and what it does behind the curtain.


Irish Senator David Norris: " Israel Bombs First and Weeps Later"
Must Watch - Video (8:26)       Too bad the USA does not have even one senator with the balls to speak up like David Norris.    Continue


The Hidden History of How the U.S. Was Used to Create Israel 
Must watch talk by Alison Weir, Executive Director of If Americans Knew.     Continue



When Presidents Lie to Make a War
By DD Guttenplan     Fifty years on we know the trigger for war with Vietnam was a fiction. 

Once there was a president who warned the world about conduct his government would not tolerate. And when this “red line” was crossed, or seemed to be, he took the US to war. Though this might sound like America’s involvement in Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Belgrade, or Libya, and what may yet become a wider war in Syria, this story began 50 years ago, on 4 August 1964.

That was when Lyndon Johnson interrupted TV broadcasts shortly before midnight to announce that two US ships in the Gulf of Tonkin had come under fire in international waters, and that in response to what the president described as this “unprovoked” attack, “air action is now in execution” against “facilities in North Vietnam which have been used in these hostile operations”.

The Americans launched 64 bombing sorties, destroying an oil depot, a coal mine and a significant portion of the North Vietnamese navy. Three days later, both houses of Congress passed a joint resolution authorising “the president, as commander-in-chief, to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the US and to prevent further aggression”. Within three years the US would have 500,000 soldiers in Vietnam...

...what remained for decades one of America’s most tightly guarded secrets, is that the attack on 4 August 1964...never actually...happened.

 Continue



Interview With
Richard Gage, Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth

C-Span Video (40:14)

'Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth'...was founded in 2006, and said its mission was to “expose the official lies and cover-up surrounding the events of September 11, 2001 in a way that inspires the people to overcome denial and understand the truth.”
 Continue



Something Sinister Going On?
The Unanswered Questions of MH17

By Mike Whitney 
“Recent history has repeatedly proven that nothing said by Washington and its officials should be accepted at face value. No other government in the world has been implicated in so many egregious lies as the United States.”   
- Bill Van Auken, “US lies and hypocrisy on Gaza and Ukraine“, World Socialist Web Site...

"...If you’re starting to think that everything you’ve read about the MH17 crash is bullshit, you’re probably right. There’s not much truth to most of it.

But why would the administration lie about things that are so easy to disprove? What’s the point? Are they just getting sloppy and apathetic or is something else going on here?

To get a handle on what’s really going on, we have to understand that...Ukraine is an essential part of Washington’s plan to pivot to Asia. 

If Washington is unable to achieve its objectives in Ukraine — create a chokepoint for vital resources flowing from Russia to the EU, establish NATO bases in the heart of Eurasia, and drive a wedge between Moscow and Brussels — then the plan to maintain US global hegemony for the next century will fail. 

And if the plan fails, then China will gradually become the world’s biggest and most powerful economy, economic ties between Moscow and Europe grow stronger, and the US will slide into irreversible decline. Get the picture?

This is the scenario that Washington wants to avoid at all cost. That’s why the anti-Russia hysteria in the media has been so ferocious and unrelenting. 

That’s why the State Department assisted in the coup d’état that toppled the Ukrainian government and triggered the crisis. And that’s why ruling elites of all stripes have thrown their support behind a policy that recklessly pits one nuclear-armed adversary against another. 

It’s because the bigshot money-guys who run this country are bound and determined to be the Kingfish for the next hundred years even if it means plunging the world into the abyss of a third world war. That’s just a chance they’re willing to take..."

 Continue

Despite Growing International Condemnation, No End to Gaza Violence in Sight

As the death toll in Gaza passes 1,000 Lia Tarachansky and Phyllis Bennis respond to a poll which found 86% of Israelis reject a ceasefire, while a growing number of Americans want the Israeli offensive to stop.
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