veteranstoday--2020-06-04--Indo-Pakistan & Indo-China flare-up

Indo-Pakistan & Indo-China flare-up

India and Pakistan became independent countries in 1947 but India till to-date has not reconciled to Pakistan ’ s existence .
Kashmir which was left bend by the outgoing British as an unfinished agenda of Partition has remained a bone of contention and has bedeviled their relations .
India has been defying UN resolutions giving right of self-determination to the Kashmiris on one pretext or the other for the last 72 years .
Each and every Pakistani leader extended a hand of friendship but was spurned by India .
The already tense and strained relations between the two arch rivals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 370 and 35A of Indian Constitution on 5 August and made the disputed Indian Occupied Kashmir ( IOK ) integral part of India .
Jammu & Kashmir ( J & K ) and Ladakh were declared as the two newly created Indian Union Territories .
What it implied was conversion of Line of Control ( LoC ) in J & K and Line of Actual Control ( LAC ) in Ladakh into permanent borders .
Both Pakistan and China rejected India ’ s claim saying it is in complete disregard of the UN @ @ @ @ @ @ @ New Delhi , however , hastened to state that the new arrangement didn ’ t affect the status of LAC .
Fascist and Hindutva loving Narendra Modi couldn ’ t have gambled to take this perilous step to annoy two nuclear powers in its immediate neighborhood without a wink from USA and Israel , both having their axes to grind .
He had already taken on board Arab Gulf States .
Modi couldn ’ t have locked down 9 million Kashmiris in IOK for 10 months and subjected them to horrendous oppression without @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of anti-Muslim Citizenship Amendment Act ( CAA ) and NRC law in December 2019 followed by new domicile law to change the demography of Muslim dominated IOK were part of the bigger design .
Megalomaniac Modi ’ s madness didn ’ t end here .
India ’ s civil and military leaders started hurling threats of annexing Azad J & K ( AJK ) and Gilgit-Baltistan ( GB ) .
A new map was circulated showing AJK-GB part of India , and Aksai Chin in occupation of China , as part of Ladakh @ @ @ @ @ @ @ level of 950,000 regular and paramilitary forces in IOK , the threats carried weight .
The chain of events taking place in quick succession following the subjugation of IOK were part of the overall game plan conceived by Indo-US-Israeli nexus to place India at a higher pedestal in the region .
• Pakistan couldn ’ t be denuclearized ; conversely , it managed to keep its missile and nuclear programs safe and secure and further fortified them .
• Plans to bleed , demoralize and exhaust Pak Army and paramilitary forces through massive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more strong and robust .
• Billions of dollars spent on the proxies and propaganda war to destabilse and discredit Pakistan were washed out after Pak Army , Frontier Corps and Sindh Rangers managed to break the spine of foreign funded terrorist groups operating in FATA , Khyber Pakhtunkhwa , Baluchistan and urban Sindh .
• Fencing of western border and now the southern border on fast track by Pak Army have given a lethal blow to RAW-NDS sponsored cross border terrorism from Afghanistan and Iran .
• Afghanistan where India has invested @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its influence and to pose a twin threat to Pakistan ’ s security has almost slipped out of its hands since Taliban ’ s return to power is a foregone conclusion .
• Noting the ever rising fervor of freedom movement in IOK , it had become clear that sooner than latter Kashmir , which India had illegally annexed in October 1947 , will breakaway .
700,000 occupation forces deployed in the Kashmir Valley since 1990 couldn ’ t extinguish the flame of liberty .
This was exceedingly worrisome for Indian leadership .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ and PML-N that could be easily swayed or pressured by US and India , the incumbent regime led by Imran Khan is not pursuing an outright policy of appeasement , and is repeatedly naming Modi regime as fascist and racist regime which is anti-peace with expansionist designs .
• CPEC which is the flagship project of China ’ s Belt-and-Road-Initiative ( BRI ) has shaken the global ambitions of USA , Israel and India wanting to dominate the world .
CPEC has not only welded together China and Pakistan as iron brothers , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ become the leading economic power of the world and for Pakistan to become self-reliant .
This is unacceptable to the Indo-US-Israel nexus .
• The US is desperate to pullout from Afghanistan safely where it spent over $ 2 trillion without achieving any of its objectives .
It is also keen to retain a toehold in the country , or else establish a military base in the near vicinity .
Ladakh as a base fits the bill wherefrom it can easily monitor China , Iran , Pakistan and Middle East .
The three @ @ @ @ @ @ @ • Failing to subdue Pakistan through bloody proxy war , low intensity conflict along the LoC , and water terrorism , and then failing to disrupt development of CPEC through acts of terrorism , or to spoil China-Pakistan relations through propaganda war , India schemed to absorb whole of J & K in two or three phases in line with Gen Bipen Rawat ’ s policy of limited war .
• GB has more value for India since its seizure is the only other way out left to block CPEC , which originates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at Khunjarab in GB .
Another sour point for India is Pakistan ’ s plan to build Diamir-Bhasha dam in GB as part of CPEC project , which will be detrimental to India ’ s plan to make Pakistan water scarce .
India has built 24 water storage dams on three rivers flowing into Pakistan from IOK .
• Allowing USA and Israel to establish military bases in Ladakh and making it a strong military garrison will not only ward off threat from China to Ladakh , but Ladakh will also provide shortest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ GB , scuttle CPEC , and pave way for taking back Aksai Chin .
• With GB in the bag of India , Pakistan-China contiguity will get dislocated .
• Another possible reason of abrogating the special status of IOK was to provoke Pakistan to launch an offensive across the LoC , as it had provoked Gen Yahya to declare war against India on the western front on 3 December 1971 , thereby allowing India to once again declare Pakistan an aggressor and itself a victim of aggression , and after gaining sympathies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in GB-AJK .
• Last but not least , both the US and Israel have been baiting and goading India to lock horns with both Pakistan and China by playing upon boastful India ’ s penchant to become a global power .
Both have been milking India by selling most expensive armaments .
With these considerations in view , India first carried out a false flag operation in Pathankot on 14 February 2019 , in which 40 Indian CRPF soldiers were sacrificed .
India backed by USA and some European nations promptly blamed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Purpose was to garner Hindu votes for Modi ’ s re-election in May 2019 by fomenting war hysteria against Pakistan , defaming Kashmiri freedom struggle , preparing grounds for blacklisting Pakistan by FATF , and above all creating justification for launching a surgical strike .
On 22 February , twelve Indian Mirage-2000 took part in the air intrusion on an imaginary hideout of JeM in Balakot to avenge the deaths of Indian soldiers .
Vigilance and forceful chase by PAF jets forced the intruders to fly back in panic and hastily drop 3 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hillock causing no damage .
Although Indian mission was a complete failure , PAF gave a befitting response on the night of 26 February .
The attacking jets locked three high value targets ( Command HQ , Brigade HQ , ammunition dump ) deep inside IOK , but under the policy of restraint , hit vacant areas in close vicinity of intended targets .
Gen Rawat survived by the skin of his teeth , but a loud message was conveyed not to mess with nuclear Pakistan .
These strikes were followed by an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ PAF jets struck down one Su-30 flown by Israeli pilot and one MiG-21 flown by Wing Comd Abhi Nandan of IAF and captured the latter after he ejected .
Another Indian helicopter with its crew was downed by panicky Indian air defence .
Pakistan also responded to India ’ s plan to strike 8 targets inside Pakistan by Brahmo cruise missiles by deploying its missiles to hit 16 Indian cities .
It took the heat out of Indian jingoism and temporarily broke the escalating cycle of violence .
Notwithstanding the series of humiliating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s re-election once again pumped him up to implement his fascist agenda which he couldn ’ t accomplish in his first term .
What encouraged ultra-supremacist Modi to change the status of IOK , maintain aggressive posture along the LoC in J & K , to continue brutally oppressing Kashmiris in IOK in contravention of 4th Geneva Convention , refuse to lift curfew in spite of the Covid-19 and mounting world pressure was his hope that he will be able to deflate the spirits of freedom fighters in 4-6 months by killing Kashmiri @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cells , raping women , jailing all political leaders , closing down their shops and businesses , and disrupting phones , TV and internet .
The other reason which comforted him was the raised troop level to 9,50,000 , enabling Indian Northern Command ( INC ) to enforce lockdown with impunity , maintain defensive balance and have sufficient forces for offensives in GB and AJK at an opportune time .
While snatching the special status of IOK , Modi either discounted the Chinese factor , or was assured by his benefactors that China @ @ @ @ @ @ @ economy for the first time in last 40 years , brewing tension in South China Sea , USA backed Taiwan reiterating its independent status , trade war with USA , the US recognizing Tibet as independent state , Trump blaming China for spreading Covid-19 , and threatening to cut all ties , CIA sponsored protests of liberals in Hong Kong ( HK ) funded by National Endowment for Democracy based in Washington , and Trump ’ s pledge to revoke special status of HK in reaction to new extradition bill for criminals promulgated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ absorb IOK was Pakistan ’ s frail economic conditions together with internal political polarization .
He saw it as an opportunity to exploit and seize the moment .
The other possibility that can not be ruled out is that in case current corona pandemic is US inspired and was China centric , it would have been assumed by the trio that China would be too engrossed in fighting the virus and will have little heart for any external adventure .
The US having declared China as its number one enemy is otherwise clamoring @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and military growth through pampered India bloated as a counterweight to China and pivot of Indo-Pacific region .
With Ladakh under its belt , it became easier for Indian INC to execute a military operation in GB and annex if not whole , at least part of it through which CPEC passes .
There would be still enough forces to undertake one main and two auxiliary efforts in AJK .
Indian military had stepped into Siachin Glacier in 1984 with an eye on GB and to monitor Karakorum Highway .
RAW has been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in GB with the help of Balwaristan movement .
To undertake an offensive in GB , Indian military speeded up construction of 260 km long road along Shyok River to connect it with Daulat Beg Oldie ( DBO ) near Karakorum Pass in last October under the plea that it was well inside the LAC .
DBO , situated 8 miles away from Karakorum Pass was upgraded from a company-size post into a brigade-size military garrison with an airbase in 2019 .
This is what alarmed and spurred China to defeat India ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ late .
The writer is a retired Brig , war veteran , former Defence Attaché ’ and Dean of Corps of Military Attaches ’ in Cairo , defence & security analyst , international columnist , author of five books , Chairman Thinkers Forum Pakistan , Director Measac Research Center , Member CWC PESS and of Veterans Think Tank , and Member Council TJP .
[ email protected ] To be contiThe writer is a retired Brig , war veteran , former Defence Attaché ’ and Dean of Corps of Military Attaches ’ in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ international columnist , author of five books , Chairman Thinkers Forum Pakistan , Director Measac Research Center , Member CWC PESS and of Veterans Think Tank , and Member Council TJP .
[ email protected ]

Part-1
Asif Haroon Raja for VT
Indo-Pakistan antagonism
India and Pakistan became independent countries in 1947 but India till to-date has not reconciled to Pakistan’s existence. Kashmir which was left bend by the outgoing British as an unfinished agenda of Partition has remained a bone of contention and has bedeviled their relations. India has been defying UN resolutions giving right of self-determination to the Kashmiris on one pretext or the other for the last 72 years. Each and every Pakistani leader extended a hand of friendship but was spurned by India.
The already tense and strained relations between the two arch rivals flared up after India blatantly abrogated Articles 370 and 35A of Indian Constitution on 5 August and made the disputed Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) integral part of India. Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) and Ladakh were declared as the two newly created Indian Union Territories.
What it implied was conversion of Line of Control (LoC) in J&K and Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh into permanent borders. Both Pakistan and China rejected India’s claim saying it is in complete disregard of the UN resolutions and international and bilateral agreements. New Delhi, however, hastened to state that the new arrangement didn’t affect the status of LAC.
Fascist and Hindutva loving Narendra Modi couldn’t have gambled to take this perilous step to annoy two nuclear powers in its immediate neighborhood without a wink from USA and Israel, both having their axes to grind. He had already taken on board Arab Gulf States.
Modi couldn’t have locked down 9 million Kashmiris in IOK for 10 months and subjected them to horrendous oppression without the support of his patrons. Promulgation of anti-Muslim Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and NRC law in December 2019 followed by new domicile law to change the demography of Muslim dominated IOK were part of the bigger design.
Megalomaniac Modi’s madness didn’t end here. India’s civil and military leaders started hurling threats of annexing Azad J&K (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB). A new map was circulated showing AJK-GB part of India, and Aksai Chin in occupation of China, as part of Ladakh. Taking into account the Indian force level of 950,000 regular and paramilitary forces in IOK, the threats carried weight.
The chain of events taking place in quick succession following the subjugation of IOK were part of the overall game plan conceived by Indo-US-Israeli nexus to place India at a higher pedestal in the region.
Reasons which impelled Modi to initiate risk-filled acts:
Pakistan couldn’t be denuclearized; conversely, it managed to keep its missile and nuclear programs safe and secure and further fortified them.
Plans to bleed, demoralize and exhaust Pak Army and paramilitary forces through massive covert war backfired and the Army emerged more strong and robust.
Billions of dollars spent on the proxies and propaganda war to destabilse and discredit Pakistan were washed out after Pak Army, Frontier Corps and Sindh Rangers managed to break the spine of foreign funded terrorist groups operating in FATA, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Baluchistan and urban Sindh.
Fencing of western border and now the southern border on fast track by Pak Army have given a lethal blow to RAW-NDS sponsored cross border terrorism from Afghanistan and Iran.
Afghanistan where India has invested $ 3 billion so as to consolidate its influence and to pose a twin threat to Pakistan’s security has almost slipped out of its hands since Taliban’s return to power is a foregone conclusion.
Noting the ever rising fervor of freedom movement in IOK, it had become clear that sooner than latter Kashmir, which India had illegally annexed in October 1947, will breakaway. 700,000 occupation forces deployed in the Kashmir Valley since 1990 couldn’t extinguish the flame of liberty. This was exceedingly worrisome for Indian leadership.
Unlike the pliant regimes of PPP and PML-N that could be easily swayed or pressured by US and India, the incumbent regime led by Imran Khan is not pursuing an outright policy of appeasement, and is repeatedly naming Modi regime as fascist and racist regime which is anti-peace with expansionist designs.
CPEC which is the flagship project of China’s Belt-and-Road-Initiative (BRI) has shaken the global ambitions of USA, Israel and India wanting to dominate the world. CPEC has not only welded together China and Pakistan as iron brothers, but has opened avenues for China to become the leading economic power of the world and for Pakistan to become self-reliant. This is unacceptable to the Indo-US-Israel nexus.
The US is desperate to pullout from Afghanistan safely where it spent over $2 trillion without achieving any of its objectives. It is also keen to retain a toehold in the country, or else establish a military base in the near vicinity. Ladakh as a base fits the bill wherefrom it can easily monitor China, Iran, Pakistan and Middle East. The three strategic partners are nurturing this wish.
Failing to subdue Pakistan through bloody proxy war, low intensity conflict along the LoC, and water terrorism, and then failing to disrupt development of CPEC through acts of terrorism, or to spoil China-Pakistan relations through propaganda war, India schemed to absorb whole of J&K in two or three phases in line with Gen Bipen Rawat’s policy of limited war.
GB has more value for India since its seizure is the only other way out left to block CPEC, which originates from Kashgar in China and enters Pakistan at Khunjarab in GB. Another sour point for India is Pakistan’s plan to build Diamir-Bhasha dam in GB as part of CPEC project, which will be detrimental to India’s plan to make Pakistan water scarce. India has built 24 water storage dams on three rivers flowing into Pakistan from IOK.
Allowing USA and Israel to establish military bases in Ladakh and making it a strong military garrison will not only ward off threat from China to Ladakh, but Ladakh will also provide shortest and only route to India to approach GB, scuttle CPEC, and pave way for taking back Aksai Chin.
With GB in the bag of India, Pakistan-China contiguity will get dislocated.
Another possible reason of abrogating the special status of IOK was to provoke Pakistan to launch an offensive across the LoC, as it had provoked Gen Yahya to declare war against India on the western front on 3 December 1971, thereby allowing India to once again declare Pakistan an aggressor and itself a victim of aggression, and after gaining sympathies of the world, launch counter offensive in GB-AJK.
Last but not least, both the US and Israel have been baiting and goading India to lock horns with both Pakistan and China by playing upon boastful India’s penchant to become a global power. Both have been milking India by selling most expensive armaments.
India calculatedly upped the ante
With these considerations in view, India first carried out a false flag operation in Pathankot on 14 February 2019, in which 40 Indian CRPF soldiers were sacrificed. India backed by USA and some European nations promptly blamed Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) and Pakistan. Purpose was to garner Hindu votes for Modi’s re-election in May 2019 by fomenting war hysteria against Pakistan, defaming Kashmiri freedom struggle, preparing grounds for blacklisting Pakistan by FATF, and above all creating justification for launching a surgical strike.
On 22 February, twelve Indian Mirage-2000 took part in the air intrusion on an imaginary hideout of JeM in Balakot to avenge the deaths of Indian soldiers. Vigilance and forceful chase by PAF jets forced the intruders to fly back in panic and hastily drop 3 Israeli supplied Spike missiles in a deserted hillock causing no damage.
Pakistan’s befitting response
Although Indian mission was a complete failure, PAF gave a befitting response on the night of 26 February. The attacking jets locked three high value targets (Command HQ, Brigade HQ, ammunition dump) deep inside IOK, but under the policy of restraint, hit vacant areas in close vicinity of intended targets. Gen Rawat survived by the skin of his teeth, but a loud message was conveyed not to mess with nuclear Pakistan.
These strikes were followed by an air duel on 27th morning in which PAF jets struck down one Su-30 flown by Israeli pilot and one MiG-21 flown by Wing Comd Abhi Nandan of IAF and captured the latter after he ejected. Another Indian helicopter with its crew was downed by panicky Indian air defence.
Pakistan also responded to India’s plan to strike 8 targets inside Pakistan by Brahmo cruise missiles by deploying its missiles to hit 16 Indian cities. It took the heat out of Indian jingoism and temporarily broke the escalating cycle of violence.
Amalgamation of IOK by India
Notwithstanding the series of humiliating setbacks suffered by India, Modi’s re-election once again pumped him up to implement his fascist agenda which he couldn’t accomplish in his first term.
What encouraged ultra-supremacist Modi to change the status of IOK, maintain aggressive posture along the LoC in J&K, to continue brutally oppressing Kashmiris in IOK in contravention of 4th Geneva Convention, refuse to lift curfew in spite of the Covid-19 and mounting world pressure was his hope that he will be able to deflate the spirits of freedom fighters in 4-6 months by killing Kashmiri leaders, putting young boys in torture cells, raping women, jailing all political leaders, closing down their shops and businesses, and disrupting phones, TV and internet.
The other reason which comforted him was the raised troop level to 9,50,000, enabling Indian Northern Command (INC) to enforce lockdown with impunity, maintain defensive balance and have sufficient forces for offensives in GB and AJK at an opportune time.
While snatching the special status of IOK, Modi either discounted the Chinese factor, or was assured by his benefactors that China would not react due to its contracting economy for the first time in last 40 years, brewing tension in South China Sea, USA backed Taiwan reiterating its independent status, trade war with USA, the US recognizing Tibet as independent state, Trump blaming China for spreading Covid-19, and threatening to cut all ties, CIA sponsored protests of liberals in Hong Kong (HK) funded by National Endowment for Democracy based in Washington, and Trump’s pledge to revoke special status of HK in reaction to new extradition bill for criminals promulgated by Beijing.
What emboldened Modi to absorb IOK was Pakistan’s frail economic conditions together with internal political polarization. He saw it as an opportunity to exploit and seize the moment.
The other possibility that cannot be ruled out is that in case current corona pandemic is US inspired and was China centric, it would have been assumed by the trio that China would be too engrossed in fighting the virus and will have little heart for any external adventure.
The US having declared China as its number one enemy is otherwise clamoring to emasculate China by stunting its economic and military growth through pampered India bloated as a counterweight to China and pivot of Indo-Pacific region.
With Ladakh under its belt, it became easier for Indian INC to execute a military operation in GB and annex if not whole, at least part of it through which CPEC passes. There would be still enough forces to undertake one main and two auxiliary efforts in AJK.
Indian military had stepped into Siachin Glacier in 1984 with an eye on GB and to monitor Karakorum Highway. RAW has been using that platform to stir political trouble in GB with the help of Balwaristan movement.
To undertake an offensive in GB, Indian military speeded up construction of 260 km long road along Shyok River to connect it with Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) near Karakorum Pass in last October under the plea that it was well inside the LAC. DBO, situated 8 miles away from Karakorum Pass was upgraded from a company-size post into a brigade-size military garrison with an airbase in 2019. This is what alarmed and spurred China to defeat India’s dangerous designs before it was too late.
To be continued
The writer is a retired Brig, war veteran, former Defence Attaché’ and Dean of Corps of Military Attaches’ in Cairo, defence & security analyst, international columnist, author of five books, Chairman Thinkers Forum Pakistan, Director Measac Research Center, Member CWC PESS and of Veterans Think Tank, and Member Council TJP. asifharoonraja@gmail.com
To be continued
To be contiThe writer is a retired Brig, war veteran, former Defence Attaché’ and Dean of Corps of Military Attaches’ in Cairo, defence & security analyst, international columnist, author of five books, Chairman Thinkers Forum Pakistan, Director Measac Research Center, Member CWC PESS and of Veterans Think Tank, and Member Council TJP. asifharoonraja@gmail.com


veteranstoday--2020-06-04--Sweden’s Lack of COVID-19 Lockdown Leads to Unnecessary Deaths

Sweden ’ s controversial decision not to impose a strict lockdown in response to the Covid-19 pandemic led to too many deaths , the man behind the policy , Anders Tegnell , has acknowledged .
Sweden has seen a far higher mortality rate than its nearest neighbours and its nationals are being barred from crossing their borders .
Dr Tegnell told Swedish radio more should have been done early on .
“ There is quite obviously a potential for improvement in what we have done.
” Sweden has counted 4,542 deaths and 40,803 infections in a population of 10 million @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have imposed lockdowns and seen far lower rates .
Denmark has seen 580 deaths , Norway has had 237 deaths and Finland 321 .
Sweden reported a further 74 deaths on Wednesday .
Dr Tegnell , who is Sweden ’ s state epidemiologist and in charge of the country ’ s response to Covid-19 , told BBC News in April that the high death toll was mainly because homes for the elderly had been unable to keep the disease out , although he emphasised that “ does not disqualify our strategy as a @ @ @

Coronavirus: Sweden’s Tegnell admits too many died
BBC News
Sweden’s controversial decision not to impose a strict lockdown in response to the Covid-19 pandemic led to too many deaths, the man behind the policy, Anders Tegnell, has acknowledged.
Sweden has seen a far higher mortality rate than its nearest neighbours and its nationals are being barred from crossing their borders.
Dr Tegnell told Swedish radio more should have been done early on. “There is quite obviously a potential for improvement in what we have done.” Sweden has counted 4,542 deaths and 40,803 infections in a population of 10 million, while Denmark, Norway and Finland have imposed lockdowns and seen far lower rates. Denmark has seen 580 deaths, Norway has had 237 deaths and Finland 321. Sweden reported a further 74 deaths on Wednesday. How Tegnell’s views have changed Dr Tegnell, who is Sweden’s state epidemiologist and in charge of the country’s response to Covid-19, told BBC News in April that the high death toll was mainly because homes for the elderly had been unable to keep the disease out, although he emphasised that “does not disqualify our strategy as a whole”. Read More:
Carol graduated from Riverside White Cross School of Nursing in Columbus, Ohio and received her diploma as a registered nurse. She attended Bowling Green State University where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Literature. She attended the University of Toledo, College of Nursing, and received a Master’s of Nursing Science Degree as an Educator. She has traveled extensively, is a photographer, and writes on medical issues. Carol has three children RJ, Katherine, and Stephen – one daughter-in-law; Katie – two granddaughters; Isabella Marianna and Zoe Olivia – and one grandson, Alexander Paul. She also shares her life with her husband Gordon Duff, many cats, and two rescues. Carol’s Archives 2009-2013


veteranstoday--2020-06-04--WHO Pushes to Keep Ties With U.S.

WHO Pushes to Keep Ties With U.S.

WHO pushes to keep ties with ‘ generous ’ U.S. despite Trump ’ s exit move LONDON ( Reuters ) – The head of the World Health Organization ( WHO ) on Monday praised the United States ’ “ immense ” and “ generous ” contribution to global health in a push to salvage relations after President Donald Trump said he was severing ties with the U.N. agency .
Accusing it of pandering to China and overlooking an initially secretive response to the COVID-19 outbreak , Trump said on Friday he was ending Washington ’ s relationship with the WHO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told an online media briefing he hoped his organisation could continue its longstanding collaboration with the United States .
“ The United States ’ contribution and generosity towards global health over many decades has been immense , and it has made a great difference in public health all around the world , ” he said .
China has reacted furiously to Trump ’ s move , calling it selfish and petulant politics by a U.S. administration “ addicted ” to quitting international bodies and treaties .
Tedros , who is Ethiopian , said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the media , with no formal communication yet from Trump ’ s government .
He declined to answer further questions about the U.S. stance .
Asked about potential health risks from protests that have flared up in the United States ….read more :

WHO pushes to keep ties with ‘generous’ U.S. despite Trump’s exit move
by Kate Kelland, Josephine Mason
Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) – The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday praised the United States’ “immense” and “generous” contribution to global health in a push to salvage relations after President Donald Trump said he was severing ties with the U.N. agency.
Accusing it of pandering to China and overlooking an initially secretive response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Trump said on Friday he was ending Washington’s relationship with the WHO.
But WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told an online media briefing he hoped his organisation could continue its longstanding collaboration with the United States.
“The United States’ contribution and generosity towards global health over many decades has been immense, and it has made a great difference in public health all around the world,” he said.
China has reacted furiously to Trump’s move, calling it selfish and petulant politics by a U.S. administration “addicted” to quitting international bodies and treaties.
Tedros, who is Ethiopian, said he only knew about the U.S. decision from the media, with no formal communication yet from Trump’s government. He declined to answer further questions about the U.S. stance.
RISK AT U.S. PROTESTS
Asked about potential health risks from protests that have flared up in the United States ….read more:


veteranstoday--2020-06-04--Vital: If Commanders allow troops on the streets, Americans are obligated to resist…(Duff on Press T

Vital: If Commanders allow troops on the streets, Americans are obligated to resist…(Duff on Press TV)

Scroll for video controls to play ( below ) The Pentagon chief says he does NOT support deploying active-duty forces to quell civil unrest , breaking with President Donald Trump ’ s threats of military crackdown .
Mark Esper said the option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as last resort and under dire situations .
He said the U-S is still NOT in such circumstances .
Esper ’ s comments immediately gave rise to speculation that Trump wanted him removed .
However , White House press secretary later said Esper is in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U-S defense official also resigned over the crackdown on protesters in front of the White House .
The U-S military had positioned 16-hundred active duty forces on the outskirts of Washington to deploy if needed ATTENTION READERS Due to the nature of independent content , VT can not guarantee content validity .
We ask you to Read Our Content Policy so a clear comprehension of VT 's independent non-censored media is understood and given its proper place in the world of news , opinion and media .
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Gordon Duff posted articles on VT from 2008 to 2022. He is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War. A disabled veteran, he worked on veterans and POW issues for decades.
Gordon is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists. He manages the world’s largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues.
Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world, and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than “several” countries. He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist, and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration. Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.


veteranstoday--2020-06-04--Trump Moves to Block Chinese Airlines From Flying to U.S.

Heath Editors Note : And this would be done for political , economic , or health reasons ?
One never knows but more than likely , knowing how Trump works , this is not for fear of the spread of coronavirus from China .
…..Carol Trump administration moves to block Chinese airlines from US The Trump administration moved Wednesday to block Chinese airlines from flying to the U.S. in an escalation of trade and diplomatic tensions between the two countries .
The Transportation Department said it would suspend passenger flights of four Chinese airlines to and from the United States @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in response to China ’ s failure to let United Airlines and Delta Air Lines resume flights to China this month .
The airlines suspended those flights earlier this year in response to the coronavirus pandemic that started in China ’ s Wuhan province .
On Thursday , the Chinese air regulator said more airlines would be allowed to resume flights to and from China but gave no indication whether United and Delta were included .
An employee who answered the phone at the Civil Aviation Administration of China and would give only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had no details on the status of United and Delta .
The Transportation Department said that China was violating a 1980 agreement between the two countries covering flights by each other ’ s airlines .
The department said it would continue talks with Chinese officials to settle the dispute .

Heath Editors Note: And this would be done for political, economic, or health reasons? One never knows but more than likely, knowing how Trump works, this is not for fear of the spread of coronavirus from China. …..Carol
Trump administration moves to block Chinese airlines from US
by David Koenig/AP News
The Trump administration moved Wednesday to block Chinese airlines from flying to the U.S. in an escalation of trade and diplomatic tensions between the two countries.
The Transportation Department said it would suspend passenger flights of four Chinese airlines to and from the United States starting June 16. The decision was in response to China’s failure to let United Airlines and Delta Air Lines resume flights to China this month. The airlines suspended those flights earlier this year in response to the coronavirus pandemic that started in China’s Wuhan province. On Thursday, the Chinese air regulator said more airlines would be allowed to resume flights to and from China but gave no indication whether United and Delta were included. An employee who answered the phone at the Civil Aviation Administration of China and would give only her surname, Yan, said she had no details on the status of United and Delta. The Transportation Department said that China was violating a 1980 agreement between the two countries covering flights by each other’s airlines. The department said it would continue talks with Chinese officials to settle the dispute. Read More:
Carol graduated from Riverside White Cross School of Nursing in Columbus, Ohio and received her diploma as a registered nurse. She attended Bowling Green State University where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Literature. She attended the University of Toledo, College of Nursing, and received a Master’s of Nursing Science Degree as an Educator. She has traveled extensively, is a photographer, and writes on medical issues. Carol has three children RJ, Katherine, and Stephen – one daughter-in-law; Katie – two granddaughters; Isabella Marianna and Zoe Olivia – and one grandson, Alexander Paul. She also shares her life with her husband Gordon Duff, many cats, and two rescues. Carol’s Archives 2009-2013


veteranstoday--2020-06-04--Blockbuster: Occupation Begins, Supremacist Militias Deployed with “Special Police Powers” by Trump-

Blockbuster: Occupation Begins, Supremacist Militias Deployed with “Special Police Powers” by Trump-Barr

VT : The cover story is that they are prison guards , special “ fat guy ” SWAT teams for the Bureau of Prisons .
No such force exists .
They are on the streets of Washington , Philadelphia and are being moved around the country without permission of state and local governments .
From former Chairman , JCOS and NATO Commander , Wesley Clark : As you will note , their number includes no Hispanic or African Americans , who make up over 40 % of the employees of the Bureau of Prisons and every other agency .
These @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the steps of the capitol building in Lansing Michigan but with a shave and bath , the same way ISIS magically turns back into the Turkish Army when things get hot .
What we do know is this , Trump , Barr , Kushner , Pompeo and Esper are members of a religious cult that believes the US Constitution is an impediment to their plan , a war with Russia over the Middle East , and the apocalypse .
Anyone who doubts this has been hiding under the covers since the Neo-cons were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ increasingly unnerved by the sudden presence of unmarked militias who have been deployed to the streets of the US capital as protests rage , but who won ’ t identify themselves to citizens and journalists .
Videos and photographs of the mysterious and heavily-armed figures have been swirling on social media for days , with many who have encountered them reporting that they refuse to say which government agency they are working for .
Dear @ SpeakerPelosi and @ SenSchumer Please investigate the tRump goons , and stop these un-identified Armed Paramilitary forces @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — Dr. Robin # tRumpResignNow ( @ DoctorRobin ) June 4 , 2020 The anonymity of the forces has led some to suggest they look like armed “ mercenaries ” rather than government employees .
One DC-dweller tweeted that the nation ’ s capital felt like it was “ under some sort of military occupation.
” @ SenFeinstein @ SenKamalaHarris @ RepZoeLofgren find out who these unnamed paramilitary forces are in Washington !
What right do they have to be there , and who commands them ?
https : //t.co/lFOMBWnIHl — grep ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ One ominous-looking video posted on Thursday shows lines of burly men without any identifying ID tags or insignias standing guard near the White House .
“ Refused to tell us who they ’ re with , ” the tweeter who posted the video said .
What if all this paramilitary and militia personnel pouring into Washington is just a dress rehearsal for November , when the current WH occupant declares that the landslide against him was rigged ?
https : //t.co/0fYtxya5ON — David Hagedorn ( @ DCHagedorn ) June 4 , 2020 Some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being with “ the Department of Justice , ” according to one Mother Jones journalist .
It turns out that at least some of the men are prison riot officers sent in by the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the request of Attorney General William Barr , according to NBC .
A statement from the bureau said the officers are un-badged because they are “ serving a broader mission.
” Though that doesn ’ t seem like an entirely legitimate excuse for the lack of identifying information .
Demonstrators protesting police brutality are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officers seriously injure anyone or commit other crimes while patrolling the capital , that there will be no way to identify them .
It appears DC is not the only place where the unmarked police have shown up .
Some people tweeted about similarly unidentified forces at Philadelphia protests , too .
“ How is anyone supposed to know for sure he ’ s even a real cop ?
” one person wrote in response to a photo of an armed man clad head-to-toe in black at one Philly protest .

VT: The cover story is that they are prison guards, special “fat guy” SWAT teams for the Bureau of Prisons. No such force exists. They are on the streets of Washington, Philadelphia and are being moved around the country without permission of state and local governments.
But they are *not* working for the American people. https://t.co/C3zMi1dzFH
They could be rogue Tea Party militia, or Russian "Green Men", or United Nations Troops for all we know.
From former Chairman, JCOS and NATO Commander, Wesley Clark:
https://twitter.com/WesClarkjr/status/1268256896944762881?s=20
As you will note, their number includes no Hispanic or African Americans, who make up over 40% of the employees of the Bureau of Prisons and every other agency.
It’s unlawful for them to do that. Call the police and report that an unidentified heavily armed group of men have assembled in that area. — Andrew C Laufer, Esq (@lauferlaw) June 3, 2020
These are the same people who were on the steps of the capitol building in Lansing Michigan but with a shave and bath, the same way ISIS magically turns back into the Turkish Army when things get hot.
What we do know is this, Trump, Barr, Kushner, Pompeo and Esper are members of a religious cult that believes the US Constitution is an impediment to their plan, a war with Russia over the Middle East, and the apocalypse.
Anyone who doubts this has been hiding under the covers since the Neo-cons were unveiled.
Back outside the White House. Today the perimeter has been pushed back another half block. Federal law enforcement of some kind, but they won’t identify themselves, and all insignias and name plates have been removed. pic.twitter.com/q5dmdMgkLV — Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) June 3, 2020
RT: Washingtonians are becoming increasingly unnerved by the sudden presence of unmarked militias who have been deployed to the streets of the US capital as protests rage, but who won’t identify themselves to citizens and journalists.
This memo from Gen. Milley is pretty interesting–I'd even say startling. pic.twitter.com/25Q5eyuspb — Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) June 3, 2020


veteranstoday--2020-06-04--UK Independent: Trump (now living in his Fuhrer Bunker) keeps book of Hitler’s speeches in his bedsi

UK Independent: Trump (now living in his Fuhrer Bunker) keeps book of Hitler’s speeches in his bedside cabinet (no surprise here)

Ms Brenner suggested Trump , who was suffering difficulties with his business at the time , may have been looking for inspiration in Hitler ’ s “ genius for propaganda ” and the way he spun military defeats as great victories .
Donald Trump reportedly owned a copy of Adolf Hitler ’ s speeches and kept them in his bedside cabinet .
A 1990 Vanity Fair article about billionaire businessman stated that Mr Trump ’ s then wife Ivana , said her husband owned a copy of “ My New Order ” – a printed collection of the Nazi leader @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the article ’ s author , wrote : “ Ivana Trump told her lawyer Michael Kennedy that from time to time her husband reads a book of Hitler ’ s collected speeches , ‘ My New Order ’ , which he keeps in a cabinet by his bed .
“ Kennedy now guards a copy of My New Order in a closet at his office , as if it were a grenade .
Hitler ’ s speeches , from his earliest days up through the Phony War of 1939 , reveal his extraordinary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by Ms Brenner about the claim and whether his cousin , John Walter , had given him the book , Mr Trump responded : “ Who told you that ?
” He went on to explain that it was “ his friend Marty Davis from Paramount who gave me a copy of Mein Kampf , and he ’ s a Jew.
” Mr Davis told Vanity Fair : “ I did give him a book about Hitler .
But it was My New Order , Hitler ’ s speeches , not Mein Kampf @ @ @ @ @ @ @ interesting .
I am his friend , but I ’ m not Jewish.
” read more…

In a 1990 interview, the billionaire businessman admitted to owning Nazi leader's 'Mein Kampf' but said he had would never read speeches
Ms Brenner suggested Trump, who was suffering difficulties with his business at the time, may have been looking for inspiration in Hitler’s “genius for propaganda” and the way he spun military defeats as great victories.
Donald Trump reportedly owned a copy of Adolf Hitler’s speeches and kept them in his bedside cabinet.
A 1990 Vanity Fair article about billionaire businessman stated that Mr Trump’s then wife Ivana, said her husband owned a copy of “My New Order” – a printed collection of the Nazi leader’s speeches.
Marie Brenner, the article’s author, wrote: “Ivana Trump told her lawyer Michael Kennedy that from time to time her husband reads a book of Hitler’s collected speeches, ‘My New Order’, which he keeps in a cabinet by his bed. “Kennedy now guards a copy of My New Order in a closet at his office, as if it were a grenade. Hitler’s speeches, from his earliest days up through the Phony War of 1939, reveal his extraordinary ability as a master propagandist.”
Asked by Ms Brenner about the claim and whether his cousin, John Walter, had given him the book, Mr Trump responded: “Who told you that?” He went on to explain that it was “his friend Marty Davis from Paramount who gave me a copy of Mein Kampf, and he’s a Jew.” Mr Davis told Vanity Fair: “I did give him a book about Hitler. But it was My New Order, Hitler’s speeches, not Mein Kampf. I thought he would find it interesting. I am his friend, but I’m not Jewish.” read more… https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-adolf-hitler-books-bedside-cabinet-ex-wife-ivana-trump-vanity-fair-1990-a7639041.html


veteranstoday--2020-06-05--Anti-communism is a Fundamentalist Religion followed by Billions

150 years ago , on April 21 , 1870 , Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov , alias Lenin , was born .
According to many , he was the greatest revolutionary of all times , a man who gave birth to both internationalism and anti-imperialism .
It is time to “ revisit Communism ” .
It is also time to ask some basic , essential questions : “ How is it possible that a system so logical , progressive , and so superior to what is , up till now , governing the world , failed to permanently overthrow the nihilism and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
” Without any doubt , you have been told many horrifying things about Communism , especially if you have been living in the West , or in one of the countries that are fully under the control of the centres of anti-Communism : Washington , London or Paris .
You have been forced to read , again and again , about “ Stalinism ” , the Tiananmen Square massacre , and the Khmer Rouge genocide .
You have , again and again , been served an elaborate cocktail of half-truths , outright @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the world history .
The chances are , you have never been to Russia , China or Cambodia ; you haven ’ t done any serious research there .
You have been told that Cambodia is the best example of savage Communism .
You never realized that Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge extremists were fully supported by the United States , and not by the Soviet Union and never foolheartedly by China ; that they were never actually really “ Communist ” ( I did a detailed in-country research , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told me that they had no idea about Communism , and only reacted to the monstrous U.S. carpet bombing of the Cambodian countryside , and to the capital ’ s collaboration with the West ) .
In that period , most people died as a result of precisely that carpet-bombing by the USAF B-52 ’ s , and as a result of a famine .
And the famine came after millions of peasants were displaced by the savagery of the bombing , and by the unexploded substances left in the fields , all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to you , that one survey after another , conducted in Russia , still shows that the majority of the people there , would like to have the Communist Soviet Union back .
And even in the former Soviet Muslim-majority states , including Kirgizstan and Uzbekistan , a tremendous majority of the people I encountered there , remembered the Soviet Union era as some golden age .
And the so-called Soviet occupation of Afghanistan ?
I have worked , filmed and reported there , on three occasions , relatively recently .
Outraged by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , countless Afghan people told me stories , illustrating the contrast between their tolerant , progressive and optimistic socialist era , and the present-day horror , during which their country has sunk to the lowest level in Asia , according to both UNDP and the WHO .
I worked in Kabul , Jalalabad , Herat , Bagram ; the same stories , and the same nostalgia for the Soviet teachers , nurses , engineers .
Showered by the relentless Western propaganda , one never really realized how popular the Communist Party of China @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how the Communist ideology is supported in Vietnam , Laos and North Korea .
If one goes to their friendly local bookstore in North America , Europe or even in Hong Kong , not to speak of Australia , the chances are is that all one will find there would be tomes written by anti-Communist Chinese or Russian ‘ dissidents ’ , people that have been living off Western grants , receiving countless awards so they can spend all their energy on smearing Communism , and glorifying anti-revolution .
Writers such as Svetlana @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for literature , for spitting on the graves of the Soviet soldiers who died defending Afghan socialism .
Films one would be allowed to watch , on commercial film channels , would not be any different than the books one had been encouraged to read .
Anti-Communism in the West and in its colonies , is a tremendous industry .
It is easily the greatest and on-going propaganda campaign in the history of the world .
Its metastasis has been spreading even into the core of the Communist and socialist countries themselves .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , imperialist countries know perfectly well that their empire can only survive if Communism collapses .
It is because the very essence of Communism is the perpetual struggle against imperialism .
False but very effective slogans , like bugs , that are being implanted into one ’ s brains .
They are repeated constantly , sometimes hundreds of times a day , without one even noticing : “ Communism is dead !
” you have been told .
“ It is outdated , boring.
” “ China is not Communist , anymore.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ communism is controlled , and it is monotonous ” .
“ People under Communism have no freedom , and no liberties.
” The opposite is the truth .
Building , selfishly and enthusiastically , a new and better society , for the people , is definitely more satisfactory ( and “ more fun ” ) , than rotting in the constant agony of fear : worrying about mortgages , student loans , and medical emergencies .
Competing with others , stepping on others , and even ruining other human beings .
Living empty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , paradoxically , Western propaganda constantly accuses Communism of violence .
But Communism is the biggest adversary of the most violent system on Earth , which is Western colonialism/ imperialism .
Hundreds of millions of human beings have already vanished as a result of it , throughout the centuries .
Hundreds of advanced cultures have been ruined .
Entire continents have been plundered .
Before Soviet Communism , before the USSR itself , there was no true and powerful opposition to Western imperialism .
Colonialism and imperialism were taken for granted ; they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Soviet Union and China helped to de-colonize the world .
Cuba and North Korea , two Communist countries , fought bravely and successfully , and brought independence to Africa ( something that the West has never forgotten nor forgiven ) .
But fighting for freedom and for the end of colonialism , is not violence ; it is defence , resistance and a struggle for independence .
As a rule , Communism does not attack .
It defends itself , and it defends countries that are being brutalised .
In my future @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exceptions ” ; and explain two cases which are constantly misinterpreted by right-wing propaganda : Hungary and Czechoslovakia .
But back to the so-called “ Communist violence ” .
My friend and comrade , the legendary Russian intellectual and professor , Aleksandr Buzgalin wrote in his recent work , “ LENIN : THEORY AS PRACTICE , PRACTICE AS CREATIVITY ” ( to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of V.I .
Ulyanov-Lenin ) : There is a principle at work here : it is not the socialist revolution that provokes mass violence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ begins when capital realises that it is losing its property and power .
In response to the generally peaceful and in many cases legitimate victory of the left , capital unleashes savage , barbaric violence .
The left is then faced with the question of whether to answer this violence or not .
If you go to war , then from that point the laws of war apply , and hundreds of thousands are sent to their deaths , planned in advance , so that millions might be victorious .
That is the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ carried through .
It was victorious .
In the broader perspective , the victors were not so much the Bolsheviks as the Soviets , in which the majority supported the Bolsheviks ’ position .
The revolution was substantially peaceful , prevailing almost without bloodshed .
The fiercest fighting occurred in Moscow , where those killed on both sides numbered a few thousand .
Beyond that , the picture was of a “ triumphal procession of Soviet power ” ( this heading in Soviet textbooks was no accident ) .
In the winter of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a million members of the workers ’ militia , the Red Guard , pitted against a few tens of thousand White Guard members in the south of Russia .
Everything was quiet until the counter-revolution received vast sums of money from the Triple Alliance ( primarily from Germany ) as well as from the Entente , and all these imperialist countries launched aggression against the young Soviet power .
This is a brilliant take by Aleksandr Buzgalin .
I have addressed this topic on many occasions , but never so coherently .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over the world , where the West first provoked and brutally antagonized socialist or communist countries , then accused them of cruelty , and finally “ liberated ” them in the name of freedom and democracy , literally raping the will of their people .
All this just so European and North American imperialism would survive and thrive .
Let ’ s recall just a few examples : the USSR , 1965 Indonesia , 1973 Chile , 2019 Bolivia .
The biggest attempt to date : to divert , destabilize and overthrow the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are , of course , countless other examples , in all corners of the globe .
Ron Unz , the publisher of The Unz Review , wrote in his report “ American Pravda : Our Coronavirus Catastrophe as Bio-warfare Blowback ?
” , recalling his thoughts , in 1999 , when China protested about the NATO bombing of its Embassy in Belgrade : “ But when I considered that the Chinese government was still stubbornly denying the reality of its massacre of the protesting students in Tiananmen Square a decade earlier , I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was only to be expected… .
Such at least were my thoughts on that matter more than two decades ago .
But in the years that followed , my understanding of the world and of many pivotal events of modern history underwent the sweeping transformations that I have described in my American Pravda series .
And some of my 1990s assumptions were among them .
Consider , for example , the Tiananmen Square Massacre , which every June 4th still evokes an annual wave of harsh condemnations in the news and opinion pages @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had never originally doubted those facts , but a year or two ago I happened to come across a short article by journalist Jay Matthews entitled “ The Myth of Tiananmen ” that completely upended that apparent reality .
According to Matthews the infamous massacre had likely never happened , but was merely a media artifact produced by confused Western reporters and dishonest propaganda , a mistaken belief that had quickly become embedded in our standard media storyline , endlessly repeated by so many ignorant journalists that they all eventually believed it to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as could be determined , the protesting students had all left Tiananmen Square peacefully , just as the Chinese government had always maintained .
Indeed , leading newspapers such as the New York Times and the Washington Post had occasionally acknowledged these facts over the years , but usually buried those scanty admissions so deep in their stories that few ever noticed .
Meanwhile , the bulk of the mainstream media had fallen for an apparent hoax .
Matthews himself had been the Beijing Bureau Chief of the Washington Post , personally covering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his article appeared in the Columbia Journalism Review , our most prestigious venue for media criticism.
” On top of it , what Western mainstream media was describing as a group of “ freedom fighters ” and “ pro-democracy movement ” , had a substantial number of radicals in its ranks , even outright racists , that were protesting against the presence of black Africans on Chinese university campuses .
They demanded a ban on their relationships with the Chinese women .
And they were fully supported and at least partially funded by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ savage , aggressive , fundamentalist anti-Communism .
The Chinese government does not even want to touch this subject , anymore .
They feel that , faced with massive Western propaganda , they can not get through with their take on the story ; in brief , that they have lost the narrative .
Now fast-forward to 2019 and 2020 .
Hong Kong .
Again , what we are witnessing there is outrageous and extremist anti-Communism .
Fascist protesters that are marching , destroying public property , and attacking the Police , all under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are hailed by the Western mass media as “ pro-democracy activists ” .
They are physically attacking the supporters of Beijing .
They are paid , they are glorified .
I have talked to them on many occasions .
They are fully , thoroughly brainwashed .
They know nothing about facts .
They deny the crimes committed by the British and the U.S. colonialists .
They admire everything Western , and they despise their own country .
The West has been told to view them as “ revolutionaries ” .
And it promotes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world !
Another group unleashed against the Communist China , are the Uyghurs .
Many of these people have joined terrorist organizations in Idlib , Syria , in Indonesia , and elsewhere .
Or more precisely , they were injected there .
The reason ?
To harden them on the battlefields , so that they could one day return to China , and try to break Communism , as well as the “ Belt and Road Initiative ” ( BRI ) , the most internationalist mammoth project on Earth .
I have covered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Turkey and elsewhere .
I have written extensively about the atrocities they have been committing .
But the anti-Communist propaganda is often too massive and too “ professional ” .
It manufactures a “ bullet-proof narrative ” .
It portrays the Uyghurs as the victims !
Ask the common men and women of the streets of London , Paris or New York , what they know about Stalin ’ s era , or the famines in the early years of the USSR , or in Communist China ?
99.99 % know nothing .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ why ?
But they are absolutely certain that they took place .
No doubts , whatsoever .
No doubts that they happened “ because of Communism ” .
Westerners are intellectually obedient , like sheep .
Most of them do not question the propaganda unleashed by their regime .
Are they really “ free ” ?
The famine in the Soviet Union actually took place because the young revolutionary country was totally devastated by the Western and Japanese invasions , which tried to break and plunder the country .
British , French , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Japanese invasions , to name just a few .
But ask , for instance , the Czechs , how much they know about their Legions that controlled the Trans-Siberian railroad , on their way from Europe to Vladivostok .
Plundering , rape , and mass killing .
I tried .
I asked , in Prague and Pilsen .
They thought I was a lunatic .
The Legions are portrayed as heroic , in their history books .
A bullet-proof narrative .
No doubts there .
And “ Stalinism ” ?
This author @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this subject .
But here , just in brief : What kind of country did Stalin really inherited ?
It was a country thoroughly plundered by foreign invaders , a country devastated by civil war .
A country where the anti-revolutionary forces have been , until recently , financed by the U.K. , France , U.S. and others .
As a result of this brutal civil war unleashed from abroad , criminal gangs roamed all over the vast lands , and inside cities .
From the beginning , the Russian Communists wanted peace @ @ @ @ @ @ @ peaceful development for its people .
I wrote in 2017 , in my book “ Great October Socialist Revolution .
Impact on the World and Birth of Internationalism ” : “ The revolutionaries wanted to end all wars immediately .
Russian soldiers left their trenches , and embraced their enemies .
“ We are all brothers !
” they shouted .
“ We were forced to fight each other by ruthless monarchs , priests and businessmen .
We should battle real enemies , not each other !
Proletariat of the world , Unite @ @ @ @ @ @ @ commanders were determined : they forced their men back to the trenches , accusing them of treason , pushing them to the battlefields .
Most significantly , the countless foreign invasions were overwhelming of both several major Russian cities and the countryside .
As always throughout the previous centuries , the Europeans never thought twice before putting their military boots on Russian soil .
In a way , Russia was treated and perceived as a ‘ barbaric ’ nation that could be attacked , colonized and plundered at will and without much justification @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nations all over the world : located in South America and Central Asia , in the Middle East , Africa , Asia and Oceania .
Many Russians looked like whites , like Europeans , but to the Westerners , they were never “ white enough ” , never really part of the culture of the conquerors and plunderers .
Russia always had its own soul , its way of thinking and feeling , its distinct manner of acting and reacting.
” In my book , I revisited the subversion tactics of Western imperialism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and strategy of Western imperialist subversion is essentially very simple : identify all strong and weak points of the country that you are attempting to murder , and try to comprehend its ideology .
Study and learn all about its progressive leadership : its plans , and all that the revolution is trying to do for the people : like giving them freedom , equal rights , improved life expectancy , high standards of education , medical care , housing , infrastructure , arts and overall a decent quality of life .
Then @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : use direct interventions , sabotage , terrorist assaults , or sponsor extremist and even religious fundamentalist groups , in order to spread fear and insecurity to slow down the process of social change and economic growth .
Hit so hard that at some point , the democratic revolutionary system will have to react , simply in order to protect its people , their achievements , and even their bare lives .
Wherever the West tries to destroy a socialist country , be it Nicaragua or Afghanistan in the 80 ’ s , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in order to demolish the great social achievements of the government , and to spread hopelessness among the population .
Then it hits even harder , to trigger a strong government reaction , and then immediately declare : “ You see , this is the real face of socialism or communism !
You want a revolution ?
Fine : what you get in the package will be this : oppression , political trials , gulags , a lack of freedom , and even some brutal executions !
” Use widely , weapons like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ revolution in a progressive but cruelly terrorized country would never have a chance to really influence the rest of the world , and even at home it will begin to suffer after being put under too much pressure… …Such hideous tactics of the West , deeply injured the Soviet Union before WWII , but it failed to destroy the country.
” The Chinese famine took place partially because during the Japanese occupation , the Imperial Army disrupted the food chain supplies , as well as the system of farming , which had been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Japan was interested in only one thing : how to feed its troops that were occupying a massive part of Asia .
In both cases , Western propaganda made people believe that the real cause for the loss of lives in Russia and China was Communism !
The brainwashing has been so successful , that even in Russia and China , millions of people have been fully indoctrinated by these countlessly repeated lies coming out of the West .
But ask in London , whether people know anything about the fact that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tens of millions of people died from starvation ; victims of the famines triggered by London , for many reasons , one of them being an attempt to lower the population .
Over 50 million Indian people , cumulatively , died in these famines , between 1769 to 1943 , in British administered India .
Should we , as a result , ban the British political system ?
I am convinced that we should !
But that is usually not what the people of the world , including the victims of the British @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , back to the British or French public .
What do they know about their past , and even about their neo-colonialist present ?
They only know what they have been ordered to believe .
In brief : they know nothing .
Zero .
Only fairytales .
But they are convinced that they are well informed .
And that they have the right to lecture the world .
They know absolutely nothing about the USSR , and about China .
They have no clue about why North Korea and Cuba are being continuously @ @ @ @ @ @ @ both , hand in hand , liberated Africa from Western colonialism ) .
I have lived and worked all over Africa , for years , made films , and written countless essays .
The Cuban and North Korean involvement , enormously positive , internationalist and undoubtedly Communist , from Namibia and Angola , from Egypt to Mauritius , has been very well documented .
But say it in a Parisian café or a London pub , and jaws will drop .
Blank stares , emptiness .
Even that “ Anti-Communist left ” consisting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ British and U.S. brands of pseudo revolutionaries ) , knows nothing , or wants to know nothing , about true revolutionary Communism .
“ It is very interesting in North American culture , to believe in “ manifest destiny ” , to think that they have a messianic mission .
They believe that their mission is to end communism in Latin America , so they will overthrow Venezuela , Cuba and everything that is red , because all that is red is communist.
” In Indonesia , an entire failed , miserable and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dogma .
Nobody clearly understands there , why they are anti-communist , but the more they are ignorant about the subject , the more aggressively they act ; banning all Communist concepts and lexicon , building anti-Communist ‘ museums ’ , and producing anti-Communist films .
After killing millions of Communists on behalf of the West , anti-Communism has become the essence of their existence .
In the past they even used to ban the Chinese and Russian languages .
All just to silence the past , when President Sukarno and the PKI @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before the US-backed 1965 coup , were building a great , progressive , socialist and non-aligned nation .
In fact , in much of Southeast Asia , perhaps the most grotesquely turbo-capitalist part of the world , Communism has been banned , or at least demonized .
The result : confused , consumerist , religious and dismal nations .
Communist Vietnam is the shining star , but it is never portrayed as such , definitely not abroad .
Let us celebrate the 150th birthday of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin !
Let us celebrate it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The most brutal political system is Western imperialism , colonialism .
It has already murdered hundreds of millions of people , all over the world .
This fact should be repeated again and again .
The goal of Western propaganda has always been to equate Communism and Fascism , the two most antagonistic systems in history , in the world .
It was the Soviet Communist system , which smashed Nazism to pieces , saving the world , at an enormous cost of approximately 25 million human lives .
Only Western imperialism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The two are made of the same stuff .
To me , to many of us , Communism means the perpetual struggle against Western interventionism , colonialism .
In this terrible moment in human history , it is important to clearly understand this reality .
If Communism were to be defeated , it would be the end of the struggle for freedom .
Only the powerful , centralized , ideologically-sound Communist system can fight and liberate the human race from colonialist shackles , from savage capitalism , and an nihilist empty existence .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Communism is outdated and boring .
Don ’ t believe them : it is the most upbeat , still young , and optimistic arrangement of the world .
And unlike imperialism and capitalism , Communism is constantly evolving .
Not in Europe or North America , but in the rest of the world .
Just look at the West and its colonies .
Look at the misery and deprivation brought on humanity by the Western oppressive dictatorial regime .
[ First published by NEO – a journal of the Russian Academy of Social @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , novelist , filmmaker and investigative journalist .
He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries .
Six of his latest books are “ New Capital of Indonesia ” , “ China Belt and Road Initiative ” , “ China and Ecological Civilization ” with John B. Cobb , Jr. , “ Revolutionary Optimism , Western Nihilism ” , a revolutionary novel “ Aurora ” and a bestselling work of political non-fiction : “ Exposing Lies Of The Empire ” .
View his other books here .
Watch Rwanda Gambit , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and his film/dialogue with Noam Chomsky “ On Western Terrorism ” .
Vltchek presently resides in East Asia and Latin America , and continues to work around the world .
He can be reached through his website , his and his Patreon

[Editor’s note: If you ever wished to see a blatant, obvious example of a comment left by a fake, a paid troll, then here it is, left on this article this morning. Take note of the use of key ‘buzzwords’ intended to ‘trigger’ people; how the entire piece reads like it is a regurgitated script developed over time rather than a spontaneous remark by an individual. This is CIA-Mossad social media trolling 101. Fat, bored, Herzliya hausfrau? Ian]
By: Andre Vltchek for VT
150 years ago, on April 21, 1870, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, alias Lenin, was born. According to many, he was the greatest revolutionary of all times, a man who gave birth to both internationalism and anti-imperialism.
It is time to “revisit Communism”. It is also time to ask some basic, essential questions:
“How is it possible that a system so logical, progressive, and so superior to what is, up till now, governing the world, failed to permanently overthrow the nihilism and brutality of capitalism, imperialism and neo-colonialism?”
*
Without any doubt, you have been told many horrifying things about Communism, especially if you have been living in the West, or in one of the countries that are fully under the control of the centres of anti-Communism: Washington, London or Paris.
You have been forced to read, again and again, about “Stalinism”, the Tiananmen Square massacre, and the Khmer Rouge genocide. You have, again and again, been served an elaborate cocktail of half-truths, outright fabrications, as well as twisted interpretations of the world history.
The chances are, you have never been to Russia, China or Cambodia; you haven’t done any serious research there.
You have been told that Cambodia is the best example of savage Communism. You never realized that Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge extremists were fully supported by the United States, and not by the Soviet Union and never foolheartedly by China; that they were never actually really “Communist” (I did a detailed in-country research, and even Pol Pot’s personal guards told me that they had no idea about Communism, and only reacted to the monstrous U.S. carpet bombing of the Cambodian countryside, and to the capital’s collaboration with the West). In that period, most people died as a result of precisely that carpet-bombing by the USAF B-52’s, and as a result of a famine. And the famine came after millions of peasants were displaced by the savagery of the bombing, and by the unexploded substances left in the fields, all over the countryside.
It never occurred to you, that one survey after another, conducted in Russia, still shows that the majority of the people there, would like to have the Communist Soviet Union back. And even in the former Soviet Muslim-majority states, including Kirgizstan and Uzbekistan, a tremendous majority of the people I encountered there, remembered the Soviet Union era as some golden age.
And the so-called Soviet occupation of Afghanistan? I have worked, filmed and reported there, on three occasions, relatively recently. Outraged by the on-going Western occupation of their country, countless Afghan people told me stories, illustrating the contrast between their tolerant, progressive and optimistic socialist era, and the present-day horror, during which their country has sunk to the lowest level in Asia, according to both UNDP and the WHO. I worked in Kabul, Jalalabad, Herat, Bagram; the same stories, and the same nostalgia for the Soviet teachers, nurses, engineers.
Showered by the relentless Western propaganda, one never really realized how popular the Communist Party of China is in its own country, and how the Communist ideology is supported in Vietnam, Laos and North Korea.
If one goes to their friendly local bookstore in North America, Europe or even in Hong Kong, not to speak of Australia, the chances are is that all one will find there would be tomes written by anti-Communist Chinese or Russian ‘dissidents’, people that have been living off Western grants, receiving countless awards so they can spend all their energy on smearing Communism, and glorifying anti-revolution. Writers such as Svetlana Alexievich, who received the Nobel Prize for literature, for spitting on the graves of the Soviet soldiers who died defending Afghan socialism.
Films one would be allowed to watch, on commercial film channels, would not be any different than the books one had been encouraged to read.
Anti-Communism in the West and in its colonies, is a tremendous industry. It is easily the greatest and on-going propaganda campaign in the history of the world. Its metastasis has been spreading even into the core of the Communist and socialist countries themselves.
All of that is because the Western, imperialist countries know perfectly well that their empire can only survive if Communism collapses.
It is because the very essence of Communism is the perpetual struggle against imperialism.
False but very effective slogans, like bugs, that are being implanted into one’s brains. They are repeated constantly, sometimes hundreds of times a day, without one even noticing: “Communism is dead!” you have been told. “It is outdated, boring.” “China is not Communist, anymore.” “Communism is grey. Life under communism is controlled, and it is monotonous”. “People under Communism have no freedom, and no liberties.”
The opposite is the truth. Building, selfishly and enthusiastically, a new and better society, for the people, is definitely more satisfactory (and “more fun”), than rotting in the constant agony of fear: worrying about mortgages, student loans, and medical emergencies. Competing with others, stepping on others, and even ruining other human beings. Living empty, sad, selfish lives.
*
Absurdly, paradoxically, Western propaganda constantly accuses Communism of violence. But Communism is the biggest adversary of the most violent system on Earth, which is Western colonialism/ imperialism. Hundreds of millions of human beings have already vanished as a result of it, throughout the centuries. Hundreds of advanced cultures have been ruined. Entire continents have been plundered.
Before Soviet Communism, before the USSR itself, there was no true and powerful opposition to Western imperialism. Colonialism and imperialism were taken for granted; they were “the world order”.
The Soviet Union and China helped to de-colonize the world. Cuba and North Korea, two Communist countries, fought bravely and successfully, and brought independence to Africa (something that the West has never forgotten nor forgiven).
But fighting for freedom and for the end of colonialism, is not violence; it is defence, resistance and a struggle for independence.
As a rule, Communism does not attack. It defends itself, and it defends countries that are being brutalised. In my future work, I will address two “exceptions”; and explain two cases which are constantly misinterpreted by right-wing propaganda: Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
But back to the so-called “Communist violence”.
My friend and comrade, the legendary Russian intellectual and professor, Aleksandr Buzgalin wrote in his recent work, “LENIN: THEORY AS PRACTICE, PRACTICE AS CREATIVITY” (to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of V.I. Ulyanov-Lenin):
There is a principle at work here: it is not the socialist revolution that provokes mass violence, but the bourgeois counter-revolution, that begins when capital realises that it is losing its property and power. In response to the generally peaceful and in many cases legitimate victory of the left, capital unleashes savage, barbaric violence. The left is then faced with the question of whether to answer this violence or not. If you go to war, then from that point the laws of war apply, and hundreds of thousands are sent to their deaths, planned in advance, so that millions might be victorious. That is the logic of war.
The revolution was carried through. It was victorious. In the broader perspective, the victors were not so much the Bolsheviks as the Soviets, in which the majority supported the Bolsheviks’ position. The revolution was substantially peaceful, prevailing almost without bloodshed. The fiercest fighting occurred in Moscow, where those killed on both sides numbered a few thousand. Beyond that, the picture was of a “triumphal procession of Soviet power” (this heading in Soviet textbooks was no accident). In the winter of 1917-1918 the relationship of forces saw half a million members of the workers’ militia, the Red Guard, pitted against a few tens of thousand White Guard members in the south of Russia. Everything was quiet until the counter-revolution received vast sums of money from the Triple Alliance (primarily from Germany) as well as from the Entente, and all these imperialist countries launched aggression against the young Soviet power.
This is a brilliant take by Aleksandr Buzgalin. I have addressed this topic on many occasions, but never so coherently. And this applies to countless examples, all over the world, where the West first provoked and brutally antagonized socialist or communist countries, then accused them of cruelty, and finally “liberated” them in the name of freedom and democracy, literally raping the will of their people. All this just so European and North American imperialism would survive and thrive.
Let’s recall just a few examples: the USSR, 1965 Indonesia, 1973 Chile, 2019 Bolivia. The biggest attempt to date: to divert, destabilize and overthrow the enormously successful Chinese system. But there are, of course, countless other examples, in all corners of the globe.
*
Ron Unz, the publisher of The Unz Review, wrote in his report “American Pravda: Our Coronavirus Catastrophe as Bio-warfare Blowback?”, recalling his thoughts, in 1999, when China protested about the NATO bombing of its Embassy in Belgrade:
“But when I considered that the Chinese government was still stubbornly denying the reality of its massacre of the protesting students in Tiananmen Square a decade earlier, I concluded that unreasonable behavior by PRC officials was only to be expected….
Such at least were my thoughts on that matter more than two decades ago. But in the years that followed, my understanding of the world and of many pivotal events of modern history underwent the sweeping transformations that I have described in my American Pravda series. And some of my 1990s assumptions were among them.
Consider, for example, the Tiananmen Square Massacre, which every June 4th still evokes an annual wave of harsh condemnations in the news and opinion pages of our leading national newspapers. I had never originally doubted those facts, but a year or two ago I happened to come across a short article by journalist Jay Matthews entitled “The Myth of Tiananmen” that completely upended that apparent reality.
According to Matthews the infamous massacre had likely never happened, but was merely a media artifact produced by confused Western reporters and dishonest propaganda, a mistaken belief that had quickly become embedded in our standard media storyline, endlessly repeated by so many ignorant journalists that they all eventually believed it to be true. Instead, as near as could be determined, the protesting students had all left Tiananmen Square peacefully, just as the Chinese government had always maintained. Indeed, leading newspapers such as the New York Times and the Washington Post had occasionally acknowledged these facts over the years, but usually buried those scanty admissions so deep in their stories that few ever noticed. Meanwhile, the bulk of the mainstream media had fallen for an apparent hoax.
Matthews himself had been the Beijing Bureau Chief of the Washington Post, personally covering the protests at the time, and his article appeared in the Columbia Journalism Review, our most prestigious venue for media criticism.”
On top of it, what Western mainstream media was describing as a group of “freedom fighters” and “pro-democracy movement”, had a substantial number of radicals in its ranks, even outright racists, that were protesting against the presence of black Africans on Chinese university campuses. They demanded a ban on their relationships with the Chinese women. And they were fully supported and at least partially funded by the West, simply because of their savage, aggressive, fundamentalist anti-Communism.
The Chinese government does not even want to touch this subject, anymore. They feel that, faced with massive Western propaganda, they cannot get through with their take on the story; in brief, that they have lost the narrative.
Now fast-forward to 2019 and 2020. Hong Kong. Again, what we are witnessing there is outrageous and extremist anti-Communism. Fascist protesters that are marching, destroying public property, and attacking the Police, all under U.S, U.K and German banners, are hailed by the Western mass media as “pro-democracy activists”. They are physically attacking the supporters of Beijing. They are paid, they are glorified. I have talked to them on many occasions. They are fully, thoroughly brainwashed. They know nothing about facts. They deny the crimes committed by the British and the U.S. colonialists. They admire everything Western, and they despise their own country.
The West has been told to view them as “revolutionaries”. And it promotes them as revolutionaries, all over the world!
Another group unleashed against the Communist China, are the Uyghurs. Many of these people have joined terrorist organizations in Idlib, Syria, in Indonesia, and elsewhere. Or more precisely, they were injected there. The reason? To harden them on the battlefields, so that they could one day return to China, and try to break Communism, as well as the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI), the most internationalist mammoth project on Earth. I have covered their activities in Syria, Indonesia, Turkey and elsewhere. I have written extensively about the atrocities they have been committing. But the anti-Communist propaganda is often too massive and too “professional”. It manufactures a “bullet-proof narrative”. It portrays the Uyghurs as the victims!
*
Ask the common men and women of the streets of London, Paris or New York, what they know about Stalin’s era, or the famines in the early years of the USSR, or in Communist China?
99.99% know nothing. Where these famines took place, or why? But they are absolutely certain that they took place. No doubts, whatsoever. No doubts that they happened “because of Communism”. Westerners are intellectually obedient, like sheep. Most of them do not question the propaganda unleashed by their regime. Are they really “free”?
The famine in the Soviet Union actually took place because the young revolutionary country was totally devastated by the Western and Japanese invasions, which tried to break and plunder the country. British, French, U.S., Czech, Polish, German, Japanese invasions, to name just a few.
But ask, for instance, the Czechs, how much they know about their Legions that controlled the Trans-Siberian railroad, on their way from Europe to Vladivostok. Plundering, rape, and mass killing. I tried. I asked, in Prague and Pilsen. They thought I was a lunatic. The Legions are portrayed as heroic, in their history books. A bullet-proof narrative. No doubts there.
And “Stalinism”? This author is planning to write much more on this subject. But here, just in brief: What kind of country did Stalin really inherited? It was a country thoroughly plundered by foreign invaders, a country devastated by civil war. A country where the anti-revolutionary forces have been, until recently, financed by the U.K., France, U.S. and others. As a result of this brutal civil war unleashed from abroad, criminal gangs roamed all over the vast lands, and inside cities.
From the beginning, the Russian Communists wanted peace, the brotherhood of nations, and peaceful development for its people. I wrote in 2017, in my book “Great October Socialist Revolution. Impact on the World and Birth of Internationalism”:
“The revolutionaries wanted to end all wars immediately. Russian soldiers left their trenches, and embraced their enemies. “We are all brothers!” they shouted. “We were forced to fight each other by ruthless monarchs, priests and businessmen. We should battle real enemies, not each other! Proletariat of the world, Unite!” But the Western officers and commanders were determined: they forced their men back to the trenches, accusing them of treason, pushing them to the battlefields.
Most significantly, the countless foreign invasions were overwhelming of both several major Russian cities and the countryside. As always throughout the previous centuries, the Europeans never thought twice before putting their military boots on Russian soil. In a way, Russia was treated and perceived as a ‘barbaric’ nation that could be attacked, colonized and plundered at will and without much justification, not unlike all those countless unfortunate nations all over the world: located in South America and Central Asia, in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Oceania. Many Russians looked like whites, like Europeans, but to the Westerners, they were never “white enough”, never really part of the culture of the conquerors and plunderers. Russia always had its own soul, its way of thinking and feeling, its distinct manner of acting and reacting.”
In my book, I revisited the subversion tactics of Western imperialism and militant anti-Communism:
“The essence and strategy of Western imperialist subversion is essentially very simple: identify all strong and weak points of the country that you are attempting to murder, and try to comprehend its ideology. Study and learn all about its progressive leadership: its plans, and all that the revolution is trying to do for the people: like giving them freedom, equal rights, improved life expectancy, high standards of education, medical care, housing, infrastructure, arts and overall a decent quality of life. Then, attack where it hurts the most: use direct interventions, sabotage, terrorist assaults, or sponsor extremist and even religious fundamentalist groups, in order to spread fear and insecurity to slow down the process of social change and economic growth. Hit so hard that at some point, the democratic revolutionary system will have to react, simply in order to protect its people, their achievements, and even their bare lives. Wherever the West tries to destroy a socialist country, be it Nicaragua or Afghanistan in the 80’s, it first targets hospitals and schools, in order to demolish the great social achievements of the government, and to spread hopelessness among the population. Then it hits even harder, to trigger a strong government reaction, and then immediately declare: “You see, this is the real face of socialism or communism! You want a revolution? Fine: what you get in the package will be this: oppression, political trials, gulags, a lack of freedom, and even some brutal executions!” Use widely, weapons like disinformation and negative propaganda, so the revolution in a progressive but cruelly terrorized country would never have a chance to really influence the rest of the world, and even at home it will begin to suffer after being put under too much pressure…
…Such hideous tactics of the West, deeply injured the Soviet Union before WWII, but it failed to destroy the country.”
*
The Chinese famine took place partially because during the Japanese occupation, the Imperial Army disrupted the food chain supplies, as well as the system of farming, which had been formed and developed throughout thousands of years. Japan was interested in only one thing: how to feed its troops that were occupying a massive part of Asia.
In both cases, Western propaganda made people believe that the real cause for the loss of lives in Russia and China was Communism! The brainwashing has been so successful, that even in Russia and China, millions of people have been fully indoctrinated by these countlessly repeated lies coming out of the West.
But ask in London, whether people know anything about the fact that under the British occupation of India, tens of millions of people died from starvation; victims of the famines triggered by London, for many reasons, one of them being an attempt to lower the population. Over 50 million Indian people, cumulatively, died in these famines, between 1769 to 1943, in British administered India.
Should we, as a result, ban the British political system? I am convinced that we should! But that is usually not what the people of the world, including the victims of the British colonialist barbarity, are demanding.
So, back to the British or French public. What do they know about their past, and even about their neo-colonialist present? They only know what they have been ordered to believe. In brief: they know nothing. Zero. Only fairytales. But they are convinced that they are well informed. And that they have the right to lecture the world.
They know absolutely nothing about the USSR, and about China. They have no clue about why North Korea and Cuba are being continuously demonized (as mentioned above, they both, hand in hand, liberated Africa from Western colonialism).
I have lived and worked all over Africa, for years, made films, and written countless essays. The Cuban and North Korean involvement, enormously positive, internationalist and undoubtedly Communist, from Namibia and Angola, from Egypt to Mauritius, has been very well documented. But say it in a Parisian café or a London pub, and jaws will drop. Blank stares, emptiness.
Even that “Anti-Communist left” consisting of anarcho-syndicalists and Trotskyists (really mostly British and U.S. brands of pseudo revolutionaries), knows nothing, or wants to know nothing, about true revolutionary Communism.
*
On 23 April, 2020, Brasil de Fato quoted the Venezuelan Vice-Minister Carlos Ron:
“It is very interesting in North American culture, to believe in “manifest destiny”, to think that they have a messianic mission. They believe that their mission is to end communism in Latin America, so they will overthrow Venezuela, Cuba and everything that is red, because all that is red is communist.”
In Indonesia, an entire failed, miserable and depressing religious state is based on anti-Communist dogma. Nobody clearly understands there, why they are anti-communist, but the more they are ignorant about the subject, the more aggressively they act; banning all Communist concepts and lexicon, building anti-Communist ‘museums’, and producing anti-Communist films. After killing millions of Communists on behalf of the West, anti-Communism has become the essence of their existence. In the past they even used to ban the Chinese and Russian languages. All just to silence the past, when President Sukarno and the PKI (Communist Party of Indonesia), before the US-backed 1965 coup, were building a great, progressive, socialist and non-aligned nation.
In fact, in much of Southeast Asia, perhaps the most grotesquely turbo-capitalist part of the world, Communism has been banned, or at least demonized. The result: confused, consumerist, religious and dismal nations. Communist Vietnam is the shining star, but it is never portrayed as such, definitely not abroad.
*
Let us celebrate the 150th birthday of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin!
Let us celebrate it by revisiting history, and the present.
The most brutal political system is Western imperialism, colonialism. It has already murdered hundreds of millions of people, all over the world. This fact should be repeated again and again.
The goal of Western propaganda has always been to equate Communism and Fascism, the two most antagonistic systems in history, in the world. It was the Soviet Communist system, which smashed Nazism to pieces, saving the world, at an enormous cost of approximately 25 million human lives.
Only Western imperialism can be compared to German Nazism. The two are made of the same stuff.
To me, to many of us, Communism means the perpetual struggle against Western interventionism, colonialism.
In this terrible moment in human history, it is important to clearly understand this reality.
If Communism were to be defeated, it would be the end of the struggle for freedom. Only the powerful, centralized, ideologically-sound Communist system can fight and liberate the human race from colonialist shackles, from savage capitalism, and an nihilist empty existence.
Propagandists tell you insane lies, that Communism is outdated and boring. Don’t believe them: it is the most upbeat, still young, and optimistic arrangement of the world. And unlike imperialism and capitalism, Communism is constantly evolving. Not in Europe or North America, but in the rest of the world.
Just look at the West and its colonies. Look at the misery and deprivation brought on humanity by the Western oppressive dictatorial regime.
Happy birthday, Comrade Lenin!
The struggle continues!
*
[First published by NEO – a journal of the Russian Academy of Social Sciences]