thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-04-17--Covid-19 is Bringing the Vulnerable U.S. Empire Towards Collapse

t an increasingly rapid pace , the globe is experiencing the greatest geopolitical shift since the fall of the British empire .
The arrangement that the U.S. carved out during the 20th century to fortify its hegemony is falling apart piece by piece , with a thorough collapse of Western imperialism and a new wave of socialist revolutions being increasingly unavoidable outcomes .
Moving towards a breakup for the EU and NATO Covid-19 is testing the stability of a European Union that ’ s already been on the decline during the last decade .
Brexit has shrunk the EU while @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the EU has been eclipsed due to the rise of Russia and China .
The Trump administration ’ s defiance of international treaties , along with his decision to start a trade war with China against the advice of Washington ’ s European allies , have weakened the EU ’ s connections to America .
During Covid-19 , these rifts within the EU have been furthered .
Germany and the Netherlands have been wary of giving “ corona bonds ” to Italy , France , and Spain .
This disagreement over how to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ breakdown in European solidarity , with EU countries either turning down requests for aid or confiscating each other ’ s medical supplies when they reach customs .
It ’ s no surprise that Italy joined with China ’ s New Silk Road Initiative last month against the wishes of its allies .
These events have given credence to the Serbian president ’ s statement from last month : “ European solidarity does not exist .
That was a fairy tale .
The only country that can help us in this hard situation is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
For the rest of them , thanks for nothing.
” The shift towards a multi-polar world and the geopolitical effects of the pandemic have caused NATO in general to become less unified and coordinated .
The supposed “ Russia threat ” has become less of a priority amid the urgency of Covid-19 , at least for the countries that aren ’ t the most set on maintaining cold war military buildup .
Some key decisions have come from Germany , a country that ’ s integral to the effectiveness of NATO due @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In recent years , Germany has been declining to contribute as much military spending as Washington prefers while turning to Russia for energy and China for technology .
Then last month , when Covid-19 created a risk for Germany ’ s armed forces , it began declining to participate in NATO ’ s anti-Russian war games .
Norway also cancelled military exercises last month , around the same time when the Pentagon cut funds for war games .
As assessed by Iztok Prezelj , the chair of Defence Studies at the University of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ among the Western powers to prioritize focusing on Covid-19 over great-power conflict : “ Security policy simply is about prioritization of threats and responses , it is impossible to focus on e.g .
5 threats at the same time .
Russian threat is in fact put on hold , but it remains there in minds of politicians , strategists and planners .
Strategic documents and threat assessments on Russia will not change in this phase of crisis management in the West.
” Iraq War architect and former Trump-era war planner John Bolton articulated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , tweeting : “ North Korea launched yet another barrage of missiles , bringing their tests this year to five .
While the world is busy fighting off a pandemic [ North Korea ] is rushing at an unprecedented pace to improve its missile and nuclear programs.
” Bolton can also worry about the increasingly good military position that Venezuela , Iran , China , Russia , and the other regime change target countries are in .
Washington has been trying to continue its campaign of cold war escalations against the rival superpowers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ America to counter Chinese and Russian influence throughout the region .
Yet even in what U.S. commander Craig Faller described in a recent testimony as “ our hemisphere ” and “ our neighborhood , ” the ground is shifting underneath imperial control .
Brazil , the superpower with a CIA-installed president that Washington has been using as a partner in militarily intimidating Venezuela , faces growing governmental instability .
The issue isn ’ t just that Jair Bolsonaro will likely be impeached for his refusal to address the pandemic .
It ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with an equally pro-U.S. government , class conflict in Brazil is sure to keep escalating .
Bolsonaro ’ s presidency has drastically accelerated the collapse of capitalism in the country , bringing extreme mass privatization projects that have destroyed Brazil ’ s educational system , relentlessly eroded social programs , and made 11 million people unemployed even before any quarantine started .
Now that Bolsonaro has led a death cult of Covid-19 denial and pushed to loosen quarantine restrictions , he ’ s both being threatened with impeachment over his mismanagement and has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rise up against the country ’ s capitalist class .
Seeing the last year ’ s anti-austerity protests throughout Latin America , Bolsonaro ’ s government has been authorizing the army to shoot protesters in a terrified preemptive attempt at avoiding similar instability .
These measures won ’ t hold back a revolt for long .
Amid Bolsonaro ’ s alarmed recent declaration that he ’ ll suspend the constitution if civil unrest breaks out over Covid-19 , columnist Miguel Andrade has concluded that “ These conditions can only lead to an explosion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ravings are an expression of the desperation of the Brazilian ruling class as it prepares for unprecedented acts of repression.
” A Brazil that ’ s fighting off an uprising won ’ t be in a position to assist the U.S. in military adventures .
Brazil could become like Ukraine , which has been turning into a failed state since Washington installed a neo-Nazi regime in the country in 2014 .
Because Ukraine ’ s government has failed to provide funds for the military-tied Pavlograd Chemical Plant , the Ukrainian arms industry had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this week .
This will potentially open the country up to more Russian intervention , which would be a welcome alternative to the fascist-led hellscape that Ukraine is becoming .
This is how the collapse of neoliberal capitalism , now exacerbated by the depression that ’ s sweeping the globe , is weakening the regimes which U.S. imperialism depends on .
Israel is no exception in this worldwide trend of hyper-capitalist countries that are unable to manage the pandemic .
“ The main risk is the country ’ s collapse , ” columnist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Israel .
“ The forecast , which the Finance Ministry has presented to the Knesset Finance Committee , addresses the effects of a full shutdown of the economy — the deficit will shoot up to 15.5 % and the national debt will jump to 86.5 % of GDP , which will contract by 17 % …This is even worse than what happened during the Yom Kippur War.
” A similar fate is on its way for Australia , Britain , South Africa , Colombia , Bolivia , Japan , and all the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reeling from the effects of the economic collapse that ’ s begun .
Saudi Arabia is another example of this trend , though the current phase of its decline has more to do with the strategic foreign policy obstacles posed by Covid-19 .
Journalist Joe Lauria has assessed that “ It is in the Saudis ’ interests to stop a coronavirus outbreak in Yemen .
Riyadh is spending $ 200 million a day on the war , with oil having fallen to below $ 30 a barrel .
They have allied jihadis , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Yemen , and Yemenis can find their way across the frontier.
” For this reason , the Saudis have begun a ceasefire in order to end the Yemen war .
This Saudi retreat is part of a reaction to larger factors that threaten to destabilize the country ’ s regime .
Saudi Arabia has been losing its oil price war with Russia , a war that ’ s put the country under increasing threat of collapse .
If this collapse happens , it will be a long time coming amid years of growing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Signs of coming unrest and balkanization in the imperial core The Trump White House has exploited Covid-19 to push for more war .
It ’ s tightened sanctions on Venezuela and Iran , increased war efforts in Syria and Iraq , pressured U.S. allies into not accepting medical aid from Cuba , and staged provocations in the South China Sea as part of Washington ’ s hybrid war on China .
The anti-China campaign is being especially prioritized , with Trump ’ s team coordinating with the right-wing media to proliferate the misleading @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the pandemic .
But these are desperate acts of reaction , ones that largely pertain to the empire ’ s desire to retain internal control during its accelerating external decline .
Helped by online censorship and the repressive measures of the Covid-19 era , the U.S. and the other core imperialist countries will try to keep their own people on their side in the geopolitical conflicts of this next decade .
China , Russia , and Iran will continue to be presented as bogeymen that are behind the problems of the West .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ about fabricated enemy outrages like Venezuelan “ narco-terrorism , ” Syrian “ chemical attacks , ” and North Korean “ human rights abuses.
” All this will do is keep the populace distracted while imperial power keeps shrinking and the corporatocracy keeps losing the profits it depends on .
Like in Brazil , living standards in the U.S. and the other neoliberal countries are going to keep declining until some sort of confrontation point is reached .
France is the first core imperialist country to enter into a sustained phase of unrest , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ movements and even riots within places like the U.S. and Britain .
What happens after these raw outbreaks of class outrage will depend on how successful the socialist and anti-colonial movements are at building an alternative political structure .
If the Marxist-Leninist parties grow along with the escalation of class struggle , and while incorporating themselves into the general civil disobedience efforts , the tools will exist to overthrow and replace the vulnerable capitalist governments .
In any case , Washington is doomed to oversee a failed state , one which could lead @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The police state is the only thing the ruling class can turn to for hope of maintaining internal stability .
And if the major capitalist powers become destabilized , the rich will have to retreat to the survival compounds that they ’ ve been building throughout the last decade or so .
Last year , the political writer Dmitry Orlov said : “ I think that the American empire is very much over already , but it hasn ’ t been put to any sort of serious stress test yet , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ case.
” Now that this stress test has come in the form of Covid-19 , Washington is experiencing the fractured ally ships , weakening military power , and economic decline that are required to enormously speed up the fall of its empire .
It will be our job to strike the killing blow to this beast , but the beast is nonetheless growing weaker .

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]t an increasingly rapid pace, the globe is experiencing the greatest geopolitical shift since the fall of the British empire. The arrangement that the U.S. carved out during the 20th century to fortify its hegemony is falling apart piece by piece, with a thorough collapse of Western imperialism and a new wave of socialist revolutions being increasingly unavoidable outcomes.
Moving towards a breakup for the EU and NATO
Covid-19 is testing the stability of a European Union that’s already been on the decline during the last decade. Brexit has shrunk the EU while economically weakening Britain. The power of the EU has been eclipsed due to the rise of Russia and China. The Trump administration’s defiance of international treaties, along with his decision to start a trade war with China against the advice of Washington’s European allies, have weakened the EU’s connections to America. During Covid-19, these rifts within the EU have been furthered.
Germany and the Netherlands have been wary of giving “corona bonds” to Italy, France, and Spain. This disagreement over how to handle the virus has precipitated a capitalism-fueled breakdown in European solidarity, with EU countries either turning down requests for aid or confiscating each other’s medical supplies when they reach customs. It’s no surprise that Italy joined with China’s New Silk Road Initiative last month against the wishes of its allies. These events have given credence to the Serbian president’s statement from last month: “European solidarity does not exist. That was a fairy tale. The only country that can help us in this hard situation is the People’s Republic of China. For the rest of them, thanks for nothing.”
The shift towards a multi-polar world and the geopolitical effects of the pandemic have caused NATO in general to become less unified and coordinated. The supposed “Russia threat” has become less of a priority amid the urgency of Covid-19, at least for the countries that aren’t the most set on maintaining cold war military buildup.
Some key decisions have come from Germany, a country that’s integral to the effectiveness of NATO due to its location and economic strength. In recent years, Germany has been declining to contribute as much military spending as Washington prefers while turning to Russia for energy and China for technology. Then last month, when Covid-19 created a risk for Germany’s armed forces, it began declining to participate in NATO’s anti-Russian war games. Norway also cancelled military exercises last month, around the same time when the Pentagon cut funds for war games.
As assessed by Iztok Prezelj, the chair of Defence Studies at the University of Ljubljana, this all reflects a trend among the Western powers to prioritize focusing on Covid-19 over great-power conflict: “Security policy simply is about prioritization of threats and responses, it is impossible to focus on e.g. 5 threats at the same time. Russian threat is in fact put on hold, but it remains there in minds of politicians, strategists and planners. Strategic documents and threat assessments on Russia will not change in this phase of crisis management in the West.”
Iraq War architect and former Trump-era war planner John Bolton articulated the empire’s anxieties this week, tweeting: “North Korea launched yet another barrage of missiles, bringing their tests this year to five. While the world is busy fighting off a pandemic [North Korea] is rushing at an unprecedented pace to improve its missile and nuclear programs.” Bolton can also worry about the increasingly good military position that Venezuela, Iran, China, Russia, and the other regime change target countries are in.
Instability and uncertainty among Washington’s vassal states
Washington has been trying to continue its campaign of cold war escalations against the rival superpowers by expanding its military presence in South America to counter Chinese and Russian influence throughout the region. Yet even in what U.S. commander Craig Faller described in a recent testimony as “our hemisphere” and “our neighborhood,” the ground is shifting underneath imperial control.
Brazil, the superpower with a CIA-installed president that Washington has been using as a partner in militarily intimidating Venezuela, faces growing governmental instability. The issue isn’t just that Jair Bolsonaro will likely be impeached for his refusal to address the pandemic. It’s that even if he’s replaced with an equally pro-U.S. government, class conflict in Brazil is sure to keep escalating. Bolsonaro’s presidency has drastically accelerated the collapse of capitalism in the country, bringing extreme mass privatization projects that have destroyed Brazil’s educational system, relentlessly eroded social programs, and made 11 million people unemployed even before any quarantine started.
Now that Bolsonaro has led a death cult of Covid-19 denial and pushed to loosen quarantine restrictions, he’s both being threatened with impeachment over his mismanagement and has made the populace much more ready to rise up against the country’s capitalist class. Seeing the last year’s anti-austerity protests throughout Latin America, Bolsonaro’s government has been authorizing the army to shoot protesters in a terrified preemptive attempt at avoiding similar instability. These measures won’t hold back a revolt for long.
Amid Bolsonaro’s alarmed recent declaration that he’ll suspend the constitution if civil unrest breaks out over Covid-19, columnist Miguel Andrade has concluded that “These conditions can only lead to an explosion of class struggle. Bolsonaro’s ravings are an expression of the desperation of the Brazilian ruling class as it prepares for unprecedented acts of repression.”
A Brazil that’s fighting off an uprising won’t be in a position to assist the U.S. in military adventures. Brazil could become like Ukraine, which has been turning into a failed state since Washington installed a neo-Nazi regime in the country in 2014. Because Ukraine’s government has failed to provide funds for the military-tied Pavlograd Chemical Plant, the Ukrainian arms industry had to suspend productions of new missile systems this week. This will potentially open the country up to more Russian intervention, which would be a welcome alternative to the fascist-led hellscape that Ukraine is becoming.
This is how the collapse of neoliberal capitalism, now exacerbated by the depression that’s sweeping the globe, is weakening the regimes which U.S. imperialism depends on. Israel is no exception in this worldwide trend of hyper-capitalist countries that are unable to manage the pandemic. “The main risk is the country’s collapse,” columnist Meirav Arlosoroff has written about the situation in Israel. “The forecast, which the Finance Ministry has presented to the Knesset Finance Committee, addresses the effects of a full shutdown of the economy — the deficit will shoot up to 15.5% and the national debt will jump to 86.5% of GDP, which will contract by 17%…This is even worse than what happened during the Yom Kippur War.”
A similar fate is on its way for Australia, Britain, South Africa, Colombia, Bolivia, Japan, and all the other U.S.-tied capitalist powers that will be reeling from the effects of the economic collapse that’s begun.
Saudi Arabia is another example of this trend, though the current phase of its decline has more to do with the strategic foreign policy obstacles posed by Covid-19. Journalist Joe Lauria has assessed that “It is in the Saudis’ interests to stop a coronavirus outbreak in Yemen. Riyadh is spending $200 million a day on the war, with oil having fallen to below $30 a barrel. They have allied jihadis, and almost certainly intelligence agents operating inside Yemen, and Yemenis can find their way across the frontier.” For this reason, the Saudis have begun a ceasefire in order to end the Yemen war.
This Saudi retreat is part of a reaction to larger factors that threaten to destabilize the country’s regime. Saudi Arabia has been losing its oil price war with Russia, a war that’s put the country under increasing threat of collapse. If this collapse happens, it will be a long time coming amid years of growing isolation and vulnerability for the regime.
Signs of coming unrest and balkanization in the imperial core
The Trump White House has exploited Covid-19 to push for more war. It’s tightened sanctions on Venezuela and Iran, increased war efforts in Syria and Iraq, pressured U.S. allies into not accepting medical aid from Cuba, and staged provocations in the South China Sea as part of Washington’s hybrid war on China. The anti-China campaign is being especially prioritized, with Trump’s team coordinating with the right-wing media to proliferate the misleading claim that China is to blame for the pandemic. But these are desperate acts of reaction, ones that largely pertain to the empire’s desire to retain internal control during its accelerating external decline.
Helped by online censorship and the repressive measures of the Covid-19 era, the U.S. and the other core imperialist countries will try to keep their own people on their side in the geopolitical conflicts of this next decade. China, Russia, and Iran will continue to be presented as bogeymen that are behind the problems of the West. The media will still feed us stories about fabricated enemy outrages like Venezuelan “narco-terrorism,” Syrian “chemical attacks,” and North Korean “human rights abuses.” All this will do is keep the populace distracted while imperial power keeps shrinking and the corporatocracy keeps losing the profits it depends on.
Like in Brazil, living standards in the U.S. and the other neoliberal countries are going to keep declining until some sort of confrontation point is reached. France is the first core imperialist country to enter into a sustained phase of unrest, no doubt to be followed by protest movements and even riots within places like the U.S. and Britain.
What happens after these raw outbreaks of class outrage will depend on how successful the socialist and anti-colonial movements are at building an alternative political structure. If the Marxist-Leninist parties grow along with the escalation of class struggle, and while incorporating themselves into the general civil disobedience efforts, the tools will exist to overthrow and replace the vulnerable capitalist governments.
In any case, Washington is doomed to oversee a failed state, one which could lead to national balkanization amid ever-increasing class divides. The police state is the only thing the ruling class can turn to for hope of maintaining internal stability. And if the major capitalist powers become destabilized, the rich will have to retreat to the survival compounds that they’ve been building throughout the last decade or so.
Last year, the political writer Dmitry Orlov said: “I think that the American empire is very much over already, but it hasn’t been put to any sort of serious stress test yet, and so nobody realizes that this is the case.” Now that this stress test has come in the form of Covid-19, Washington is experiencing the fractured ally ships, weakening military power, and economic decline that are required to enormously speed up the fall of its empire. It will be our job to strike the killing blow to this beast, but the beast is nonetheless growing weaker.


thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-04-18--Where the Skripals Are Today

Where the Skripals Are Today

Another important dispatch from The Greanville Post .
Be sure to share it widely .
This article is part of an ongoing series of dispatches by historian Eric Zuesse On 4 March 2018 , both Sergei Skripal and his daughter who was visiting from their shared home country of Russia , Yulia Skripal , were poisoned in Salisbury England , and — though both survived — neither of them has been allowed to communicate to the public except under the watch of their British court-appointed ‘ guardians ’ .
They also have been prohibited to communicate with any Russians .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ be allowed to communicate with them have been rejected by the UK Government .
The BBC reported on 18 May 2018 , that , “ Ms Skripal was released on 9 April and was moved to a secure location .
It is not known whether Mr Skripal has been taken to the same location as his daughter.
” UK ’ s National Health Service issued a news-release that same day headlined “ Sergei Skripal discharged from Salisbury District Hospital ” .
Efforts by ( at least ) Ms. Skripal , to communicate with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and also with her fiancé , also in Russia , have been blocked by the UK Government .
No legal charges have been filed against either of the Skripals .
[ Because they would be legally indefensible.—Ed ) have been hiding ) from the audiences of the Western ‘ news ’ media .
Other than Helmer ( an American who had served in the Jimmy Carter Administration but now lives in Moscow ) , there has also been the whistleblowing former UK Ambassador , and now also great journalist , Craig Murray , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the third great journalist on this case has been the anonymous author of the “ Moon of Alabama ” blog .
The scholars ’ group are the an actually fraudulent , non-existent , Syrian Government gas-attack , against civilians in the Syrian town of Douma , on 7 April 2018 , and was therefore Fortunately , three great investigative journalists , plus an entire team of academics , all of these persons being independents instead of hirees , have been , separately from one-another , following the trail down the rabbit-hole of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ things that the Skripals ’ imprisonment-without-trial , UK & U.S.A. , joint Deep-State team , have been assiduously trying to hide ( and successfullyhiding ) from the audiences of the Western ‘ news ’ media .
Other than Helmer ( an American who had served in the Jimmy Carter Administration but now lives in Moscow ) , there has also been the whistleblowing former UK Ambassador , and now also great journalist , Craig Murray , who likewise has a blog , and the third great journalist on this case has been the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Alabama ” blog .
The scholars ’ group are the Working Group on Syria — the people who first revealed that the alleged cause for the U.S. and UK and France attack against Syria with over a hundred missiles , on 14 April 2018 , was based upon , and was claimed to be punishment of , , Syrian Government gas-attack , against civilians in the Syrian town of Douma , on 7 April 2018 , and was therefore an entirely unprovoked U.S.-and-allied international war-crime .
A common thread between that faked excuse @ @ @ @ @ @ @ April 2018 , and the faked ‘ evidence ’ that Russia had done the Skripal poisonings , was the lying reports by the OPCW , saying that Russia did Skripal , and that Syria did the alleged 7 April 2018 ‘ gas ’ -attack .
If Western publics had been informed about either [ the ] OPCW lie , then the leadership of the OPCW itself would probably have been forced to resign , and the organization of the OPCW would probably have been forced to change .
So , it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) , against the UK- & -U.S.A. ’ s Deep State ( including its ‘ news ’ -media ) .
( NOTE : The “ Deep State ” is the world ’ s leading billionaires controlling most of the world ’ s major powers ’ governments ) .
However , because these independent investigators are suppressed in the U.S. and UK empire , which includes Netherlands and almost all the rest of the EU , the OPCW continues on as before , thoroughly corrupt .
Thus , for example , on 13 March @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Fourth OPCW whistleblower says staff ‘ frightened into silence ’ as watchdog brought into ‘ shameful disrepute ’ over Douma probe ” , and , on 11 April 2020 , the Syrian-American investigative journalist Steven Sahiounie headlined at The Duran , “ The OPCW is used as a political tool against Syria ” and reported the by-now shocking extent of incredibility to the reports that the propagandists who run the OPCW are publishing , which display a degree of sheer shoddiness that no longer makes even a pretense to being founded upon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who has looked into the case in any detail can possibly be satisfied that the account given by the UK Government and The Metropolitan Police is correct .
The narrative put out by the Metropolitan Police is not simply questionable , it is plain impossible .
I believe , today more than ever , that this affair is a carefully constructed drama to push Russia in [ to ] a corner and justify Western foreign policies in various places such as Ukraine , Iran and Syria .
Who really tried to assassinate Sergei @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it would not surprise me a bit if we discover one day — 50 years from now ?
— that a Western Intelligence agency was feeding Skripal with a mix of information and disinformation regarding the alleged Trump-Russia collusion , knowing full well that this report would eventually end up at the FBI .
If true , that agency has played Steele , and therefore the FBI , like a skripal .
[ The name Skripal means “ violin ” in Russian.—Ed ) This story is not over yet .
Stay tuned !
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the notorious name further down the list ; Pablo Miller , the long-term MI6 handler of Sergei Skripal , who lived in Salisbury with Skripal .
Miller is the man who was , within 24 hours of the Skripal attack , protected by a D ( SMA ) notice banning the media from mentioning him .
Here Pablo Miller is actively involved , alongside serving FCO and MOD staff , in a government funded organisation whose avowed intention is to spread disinformation about Russia .
The story that Miller is in an inactive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Now look at another name on this list .
Howard Body .
Assistant Head of Science Support at Porton Down chemical weapon research laboratory , just six miles away from Salisbury and the Skripal attack , a role he took up in December 2017 .
He combines this role with Assistant Head of Strategic Analysis at MOD London .
“ Science Support ” at Porton Down is a euphemism for political direction to the scientists – Body has no scientific qualifications .
Another element brought into this group is the state broadcaster , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of BBC News and Current Affairs .
In all there are six serving MOD staff on the list , all either in Intelligence or in PR .
Intriguingly one of them , Ian Cohen , has email addresses both at the MOD and at the notoriously corrupt HSBC bank .
The other FCO name besides Duncan Allan , Adam Rutland , is also on the PR side .
Zachary Harkenrider is the Political Counsellor at the US Embassy in London .
There are normally at least two Political Counsellors at an Embassy this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be the CIA Head of Station .
I do not know if Harkenrider is CIA but it seems highly likely .
So what do we have here ?
We have a programme , the Integrity Initiative , whose entire purpose is to pump out covert disinformation against Russia , through social media and news stories secretly paid for by the British government .
And we have the Skripals ’ MI6 handler , the BBC , Porton Down , the FCO , the MOD and the US Embassy , working together in a group @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The Skripal Case happened to occur shortly after a massive increase in the Integrity Initiative ’ s budget and activity , which itself was a small part of a British Government decision to ramp up a major information war against Russia .
In 2015 the government of Britain launched a secret operation to insert anti-Russia propaganda into the western media stream .
The now published budget plans show that more than 95 % of the Initiative ’ s funding is coming directly from the British government , NATO and the U.S. State @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ for creating ‘ clusters ’ in foreign countries are British embassy officers .
It amounts to a foreign influence campaign by the British government that hides behind a ‘ civil society ’ pseudo-NGO .
So , if far more people are aware of the accusations than are aware of the lies and liars that are behind the accusations , then maybe the public should be demanding the press to investigate itself , and to begin that by demanding that all news-media which fail to expose the rot and falsehoods that their competitors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the public within a year , with one share of stock going to each adult and answerable only to that — the public — and not to any investors nor to any politicians .
But , first , the public needs to demand that the UK Government release the Skripals at a public event , at which each , both the father and the daughter , will , for the first and only time in public , tell the world which country they want to be living in .
Right now , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And , if it won ’ t happen soon , then when will it ?
It should be done within one year .

Please make sure these dispatches reach as many readers as possible. Share with kin, friends and workmates and ask them to do likewise.
This article is part of an ongoing series of dispatches by historian Eric Zuesse
[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n 4 March 2018, both Sergei Skripal and his daughter who was visiting from their shared home country of Russia, Yulia Skripal, were poisoned in Salisbury England, and — though both survived — neither of them has been allowed to communicate to the public except under the watch of their British court-appointed ‘guardians’. They also have been prohibited to communicate with any Russians. Repeated efforts by the Russian Embassy to be allowed to communicate with them have been rejected by the UK Government. The BBC reported on 18 May 2018, that, “Ms Skripal was released on 9 April and was moved to a secure location. It is not known whether Mr Skripal has been taken to the same location as his daughter.” UK’s National Health Service issued a news-release that same day headlined “Sergei Skripal discharged from Salisbury District Hospital”. Efforts by (at least) Ms. Skripal, to communicate with members of her family in Russia, and also with her fiancé, also in Russia, have been blocked by the UK Government. No legal charges have been filed against either of the Skripals. [Because they would be legally indefensible.—Ed)
“Neither Mr Skripal nor Ms Skripal appear to have relatives in the UK although they appear to have some relatives in Russia. The SSHD [Secretary of State for Home Development] have not sought to make contact with them.” No explanation was provided on why. So, the Skripals are stranded. We don’t know whether either of the Skripals has even been informed that the Russian Embassy was trying to make contact with them. They might both have been (and now remain) deceived to think that they have been simply abandoned by their country. The “Court of Protection … Date 22/03/2018” proceeding, which seems to have determined their legal fate, didn’t even consult any of their relatives, and, according to John Helmer’s terrific book just issued, Skripal in Prison , (p. 74), also “The Russian Government was not consulted or informed in advance” about the proceeding, and therefore was allowed no role whatsoever in deciding the outcomes regarding these two Russian citizens. The UK Court’s ruling , on 22 March, stated that[Secretary of State for Home Development].” No explanation was provided on why. So, the Skripals are stranded. We don’t know whether either of the Skripals has even been informed that the Russian Embassy was trying to make contact with them. They might both have been (and now remain) deceived to think that they have been simply abandoned by their country.
the much-publicized British-alleged ‘Russian novichok’ 4 March 2018 Salisbury England poisoning of the Russian-British double-agent Sergei Skripal and of his visiting daughter Yulia was never conclusively sourced as having been at all a Russian operation; and both of the victims are being held against their wills in UK though they seem to want to return to Russia, but are prohibited from being able to communicate to the public or to answer any questions out of the presence of their British and American holders (basically being imprisoned by UK without any trial and with not even an appearance in court).” Furthermore, “Chapter 23 of Helmer’s book is a reprint of his 8 December 2019 online article, ‘The Skripals Under US Control at a USAF Nuclear Bomber Base in Fairford, Gloucestershire’, and it clearly proves the U.S. Government’s participation in their imprisonment. Such U.S. involvement does not fit, at all, with the propagandized ‘news’ reports about the Skripal case.” As Helmer reported there, the first thing that Yulia (apparently the first of the two to regain consciousness) tried to do after recovering was to speak with her family in Russia, but “the telephone call was unauthorized by hospital officials and required Skripal to hide from her guards.” (It was brief, and rushed.) Furthermore, “In Moscow, her cousin Victoria Skripal has told the Russian press she has repeatedly tried to telephone her cousin on the latter’s Russian mobile telephone, but that this device has been disconnected.” As I noted on 8 March 2020 , citing mainly Helmer’s book, and linking to his published articles, “Furthermore, “.” As Helmer reported there, the first thing that Yulia (apparently the first of the two to regain consciousness) tried to do after recovering was to speak with her family in Russia, but.” (It was brief, and rushed.) Furthermore, as Helmer reported on 5 April 2018 .”
Daily Mail, perhaps their least-censored major newspaper, published “The call is only 1 minute 47 seconds. The voice purporting to be Yulia sounded weak and tense.” Furthermore, when Yulia’s cousin, “Victoria,” told her she wanted to fly to visit with them there, Yulia said: “No-one [referring to the UK Government] will give you a visa, Vika.” (In other words: she would be “here the situation is now…we'll deal with it later.” Victoria, apparently, now got the message, and so said “I know everything,” meaning: I understand — you’re not free to talk. The rest of the conversation were pleasantries, and expressions of mutual affection. Yulia’s “we'll deal with it later” expressed her belief that the UK would soon free her, but she not only hasn’t been freed: she is, effectively, in solitary confinement, wherever she is, or else is dead, though no announcement of her death has been made by the UK Government. The youtube of the call — as recorded, somehow, at the other end, in Russia — was soon taken down by youtube . But Britain’s, perhaps their least-censored major newspaper, published the transcript of it , on the day of the call, 5 April 2018, and closed by noting:.” Furthermore, when Yulia’s cousin, “Victoria,” told her she wanted to fly to visit with them there, Yulia said:[referring to the UK Government].” (In other words: she would be denied entry to UK.) Victoria nonetheless pressed, and Yulia was about to explain, and then just stopped herself:.” Victoria, apparently, now got the message, and so said,” meaning: I understand — you’re not free to talk. The rest of the conversation were pleasantries, and expressions of mutual affection. Yulia’s “expressed her belief that the UK would soon free her, but she not only hasn’t been freed: she is, effectively, in solitary confinement, wherever she is, or else is dead, though no announcement of her death has been made by the UK Government.
It’s all lies on top of lies — just mountains of lies, including calling authentic news ‘fake news’, and calling their own fake news ‘truth’. It is Orwellian.
to Russia. Unfortunately, Stone (a poor interviewer) failed to ask any good follow-up question (such as, “But isn’t he only Yulia is being imprisoned in UK. But, then, if Sergei thinks he’s being protected by UK, why is UK not trumpeting testimony from him asserting his belief that Russia had poisoned him and his daughter? Apparently, Putin is correct, but UK won’t permit Sergei to file anything, at all. UK doesn’t want Sergei to be on the loose and accusing UK of having tried to murder both him and his daughter. So: UK is ‘protecting’ both of them.) On 19 July 2018, Vladimir Putin was interviewed by Oliver Stone, and when the issue of Sergei Skripal briefly came up, Putin said that “I have been told that he wants to make a written request to come back” to Russia. Unfortunately, Stone (a poor interviewer) failed to ask any good follow-up question (such as, “But isn’t he a traitor to Russia ?”); but, if what Putin said there was well-sourced, then clearly not only Yulia but also her father are imprisoned by UK, without even the pretense to any court-proceedings in which either of them (or any representative duly appointed by either of them) has played any part — and with zero advocacy for either of them by the UK press, the U.S. press, or any other U.S.-controlled press. (Otherwise,Yulia is being imprisoned in UK. But, then, if Sergei thinks he’s being protected by UK, why is UK not trumpeting testimony from him asserting his belief that Russia had poisoned him and his daughter? Apparently, Putin is correct, but UK won’t permit Sergei to file anything, at all. UK doesn’t want Sergei to be on the loose and accusing UK of having tried to murder both him and his daughter. So: UK is ‘protecting’ both of them.)
There clearly is an organized gang, if not an organized gang of gangs (including media-heads), (and let’s call this a “conspiracy,” because it certainly is that) which is behind all of this smearing against Russia and against any government that is not hostile toward Russia. Even with the ideological excuse for the Cold War — communism versus capitalism — gone, that supposedly ‘ideological’ war Even with the ideological excuse for the Cold War — communism versus capitalism — gone, that supposedly ‘ideological’ war has continued on the U.S.-UK side . (Perhaps all of it can be traced back to the plan for world conquest which Britain’s Cecil Rhodes first described in 1877 .)
On 24 June 2019, a highly credible anonymous analysis of evidence regarding the Skripal matter concluded
No one who has looked into the case in any detail can possibly be satisfied that the account given by the UK Government and The Metropolitan Police is correct.
The narrative put out by the Metropolitan Police is not simply questionable, it is plain impossible.
I believe, today more than ever, that this affair is a carefully constructed drama to push Russia in[to] a corner and justify Western foreign policies in various places such as Ukraine, Iran and Syria.
Who really tried to assassinate Sergei Skripal? And why? Frankly, it would not surprise me a bit if we discover one day — 50 years from now? — that a Western Intelligence agency was feeding Skripal with a mix of information and disinformation regarding the alleged Trump-Russia collusion, knowing full well that this report would eventually end up at the FBI.
If true, that agency has played Steele, and therefore the FBI, like a skripal. [The name Skripal means "violin" in Russian.—Ed) This story is not over yet. Stay tuned!
The best summary of the evidence which led to that conclusion is here
Without any doubt, the basis of the Robert Mueller report on “Russiagate” was loaded with lies and was not even physically possible . Speculation is one thing, and must be avoided at all costs, but lying is even worse — utterly disqualifying. And, yet, Western ‘news’-media routinely lie (usually by stenographically reporting the lies by officials, and then having the gall to call that their ‘journalism’, instead of their “propaganda” — and such allegations are then propaganda about propaganda, or meta-propaganda). It’s all lies on top of lies — just mountains of lies, including calling authentic news ‘fake news’, and calling their own fake news ‘truth’. It is Orwellian.
“a large number of documents relating to the activities of the ‘Integrity Initiative’ project that was launched back in the fall of 2015 and funded by the British government. The declared goal of the project is to counteract Russian propaganda and the hybrid warfare of Moscow. Hiding behind benevolent intentions, Britain has in fact created a large-scale information secret service in Europe, the United States and Canada, which consists of representatives of political, military, academic and journalistic communities with the think tank in London at the head of it.” On 5 November 2018, “Anonymous” posted to cyberguerilla .”
On this same day, December 21st, Craig Murray headlined “British Government Covert Anti-Russian Propaganda and the Skripal Case” , and he described the connections between the Integrity Initiative, and the Russiagate campaign by America’s Democratic Party, to restore that Party’s version (replacing the Republican Party’s version) of the Cecil-Rhodes-founded operation for an all-encompassing U.S.-UK global empire:
Now let us tie that in with the notorious name further down the list; Pablo Miller, the long-term MI6 handler of Sergei Skripal, who lived in Salisbury with Skripal. Miller is the man who was, within 24 hours of the Skripal attack, protected by a D(SMA) notice banning the media from mentioning him. Here Pablo Miller is actively involved, alongside serving FCO and MOD staff, in a government funded organisation whose avowed intention is to spread disinformation about Russia. The story that Miller is in an inactive retirement is immediately and spectacularly exploded.
Now look at another name on this list. Howard Body. Assistant Head of Science Support at Porton Down chemical weapon research laboratory, just six miles away from Salisbury and the Skripal attack, a role he took up in December 2017. He combines this role with Assistant Head of Strategic Analysis at MOD London. “Science Support” at Porton Down is a euphemism for political direction to the scientists – Body has no scientific qualifications.
Another element brought into this group is the state broadcaster, through Helen Boaden, the former Head of BBC News and Current Affairs.
In all there are six serving MOD staff on the list, all either in Intelligence or in PR. Intriguingly one of them, Ian Cohen, has email addresses both at the MOD and at the notoriously corrupt HSBC bank. The other FCO name besides Duncan Allan, Adam Rutland, is also on the PR side.
Zachary Harkenrider is the Political Counsellor at the US Embassy in London. There are normally at least two Political Counsellors at an Embassy this size, one of whom will normally be the CIA Head of Station. I do not know if Harkenrider is CIA but it seems highly likely.
So what do we have here? We have a programme, the Integrity Initiative, whose entire purpose is to pump out covert disinformation against Russia, through social media and news stories secretly paid for by the British government. And we have the Skripals’ MI6 handler, the BBC, Porton Down, the FCO, the MOD and the US Embassy, working together in a group under the auspices of the Integrity Initiative. The Skripal Case happened to occur shortly after a massive increase in the Integrity Initiative’s budget and activity, which itself was a small part of a British Government decision to ramp up a major information war against Russia.
both of those operations — and who were minimized in the press-accounts. Furthermore, on 15 July 2019, I headlined “Mainstream Media Hide Skripals' Connections to Russiagate-Trump Case” and documented the extensive crossover (including Skripal’s own UK handler, Pablo Miller) between the personnel who in Britain were crucial inof those operations — and who were minimized in the press-accounts.
both sides.) There are splits within any political organization; and, apparently, the false-flag operation against the Skripals was done by a ring that included not only representatives of UK billionaires, but also representatives of Democratic Party U.S. billionaires who are competing for power against Republican Party U.S. billionaires. This is a power-struggle within the U.S.-UK elite. Though that entire elite want to conquer Russia, they disagree on how to do it. The Trumpians want to conquer China and Iran first, but all the others are simply obsessed against Russia. The Skripals got trapped by the Russia-obsessed billionaires. (For another example of a split amongst the billionaires: one of Trump’s biggest donors, Peter Thiel, said in October 2016, “If you’re a single-digit millionaire like Hulk Hogan, you have no effective access to our legal system” , and therefore he donated ten million dollars to Hogan’s case against Gawker so as to beat the comparably financed case by the liberal backers of Gawker. This is the reason why the United States, which has a higher percentage of its residents in prison than any other nation does, has almost entirely low-wealth people in prison. In a sense, poverty is a crime in America, and only the super-rich can afford competent legal representation. The Hulk-Hogan-versus-Gawker case was well-financed onsides.)
In 2015 the government of Britain launched a secret operation to insert anti-Russia propaganda into the western media stream.
We have already seen many consequences of this and similar programs which are designed to smear anyone who does not follow the anti-Russian-government lines. The 'Russian collusion' smear campaign against Donald Trump based on the Steele dossier was also a largely British operation but seems to be part of a different project.
The 'Integrity Initiative' builds 'cluster' or contact groups of trusted journalists, military personal, academics and lobbyists within foreign countries. These people get alerts via social media to take action when the British center perceives a need. …
The now published budget plans show that more than 95% of the Initiative's funding is coming directly from the British government, NATO and the U.S. State Department. All the 'contact persons' for creating 'clusters' in foreign countries are British embassy officers. It amounts to a foreign influence campaign by the British government that hides behind a 'civil society' pseudo-NGO.
There is an important link in that article, at the sentence “Another file reveals (pdf) the local partnering institutions and individuals involved in the programs.” It opens up a pdf document showing the hundreds of email addresses of each one of the hundreds of Integrity Initiative participants in each one of the 33 countries, and there is even a person listed there in Russia: Vygaudas Ušackas , the European Union’s Ambassador to Russia, who had just then left the Lithuanian Government’s service to join the board of a Lithuanian aerospace company that’s registered in Cyprus in order to evade taxes.
So, if far more people are aware of the accusations than are aware of the lies and liars that are behind the accusations, then maybe the public should be demanding the press to investigate itself, and to begin that by demanding that all news-media which fail to expose the rot and falsehoods that their competitors are publishing will need to be dispossessed to the public within a year, with one share of stock going to each adult and answerable only to that — the public — and not to any investors nor to any politicians.
But, first, the public needs to demand that the UK Government release the Skripals at a public event, at which each, both the father and the daughter, will, for the first and only time in public, tell the world which country they want to be living in. Right now, neither is being allowed to do that. And, if it won’t happen soon, then when will it? It should be done within one year.
not do it to? Maybe fiction, after all. He allegorized future history. Otherwise: what is the UK Government hiding? And, if the UK Government can do this to the Skripals, then what visitor to UK can theydo it to? Maybe George Orwell didn’t write science, after all. He allegorized future history.


thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-04-18--John Birch’s Body Should Still Be Smouldering in the Grave

On August 25 , 1945 , while in the company of American , Nationalist Chinese , and Korean troops , Birch was stopped by a People ’ s Liberation Army patrol .
Birch refused to surrender his weapon to the Communist military unit and after he began insulting the Communist rebels , a skirmish resulted , one in which Birch was shot and killed .
One witness said that Birch told the young Communist peasants that if they killed him , the United States would “ use the atomic bomb to stop their banditry.
” The Chinese Communist guerrillas were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cowboy ” bravado .
Birch was a World War II-era fundamentalist Baptist missionary in China who volunteered to become an anti-Communist spy for the Office of Strategic Services ( OSS ) , the predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency , to jointly cooperate with Chinese Nationalist and Japanese occupation troops to battle against the Communist forces of Mao Zedong .
Prior to his time with the OSS , Birch served as an intelligence officer for General Claire Chennault ’ s pro-Nationalist mercenaries , the Fourteenth Air Force , which had previously been called @ @ @ @ @ @ @ brand of anti-Communism , and rejection of the U.S. wartime alliance with the Soviet Union and the Chinese Communists immediately became a cause célèbre for the American far-right .
The John Birch Society , founded in 1958 in Indianapolis , Indiana by candy company magnate Robert Welch , Jr. , believed that John Birch was the first casualty of World War III .
Welch believed that the “ Communist menace ” was a sub-level international conspiracy that was ultimately led by the “ Illuminati.
” Welch ’ s conspiratorial delusions continue to find @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and political supporters .
The Birch Society saw “ Communists ” hiding behind every tree and its rhetoric served as a valued lifeline to the “ anti-Red ” movement in the United States , particularly after the disgrace brought to it by Senator Joseph McCarthy and his “ witch hunts ” against alleged Communist in the federal government , military , and Hollywood .
One of the society ’ s first members was Fred C. Koch , the father of Charles and the late David Koch – the infamous “ Koch brothers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ causes in the United States , including the presidential campaigns of Donald Trump .
In keeping with their far-right upbringing , the Koch brothers helped fund the “ Tea Party ” movement , a grassroots effort that helped to lay the underpinnings of the 2016 Trump presidential campaign .
Among the longtime targets of the John Birchers and the Kochs have been the United Nations and its specialized agencies , including the WHO , the UN Educational , Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO ) , the International Labor Organization ( ILO ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ John Birch-oriented Republicans serving in the Gerald Ford administration – particularly White House chief of staff Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld – took advantage of the situation to advocate for U.S. disengagement from certain UN specialized agencies .
In 1974 , one of the first actions of the Ford administration was to serve notice to UNESCO that it would suspend dues payments unless certain anti-Israel resolutions were rescinded .
The U.S. ambassador to the UN railed against the WHO for being concerned about public health issues in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that it would formally withdraw from the organization in 1977 .
The Jimmy Carter administration reversed the Bircher-influenced decisions on UNESCO and the ILO .
The anti-UN fervor by the United States would return with a vengeance in the Ronald Reagan administration .
It considered the most anti-U.S. , anti-Israeli , and anti-South African apartheid specialized agencies to be – from most politicized to least – UNESCO , the ILO , the WHO , and the Food and Agriculture Organization ( FAO ) .
To the Reaganites , whose ranks included a number @ @ @ @ @ @ @ politicized agencies were those over which the U.S. had a large say in management and direction , namely , the World Bank and International Monetary Fund ( IMF ) .
John Birchers are consistent about one thing and that is their abject racism .
Just as they condemned UNESCO and the FAO in the 1970s because they had African and Arab directors-general – Amadou-Mahtar M ’ Bow of Senegal and Edouard Saouma of Lebanon , respectively – they are now condemning the WHO because it has an Ethiopian director-general , Dr. Tedros Adhanom @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Trump and his rabid far-right supporters have accused Dr. Tedros of being an agent-of-influence for China as part of the neo-John Birchers overall campaign to assign the cause of the coronavirus pandemic to China .
The parents and grandparents of these John Birchers once blamed the “ Communists ” and the “ Soviet Union ” for being behind the fluoridation of America ’ s public water supply .
The Birchers even had a degree of success with the Bill Clinton administration , which withdrew the U.S. from the United Nations Industrial Development @ @ @ @ @ @ @ World Tourism Organization ( UNWTO ) .
Clinton ’ s reason for withdrawal was pure Bircher logic : they “ lacked purpose ” for the United States .
Today , acting under the auspices of front organizations like the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society – both bankrolled by the Charles Koch Foundation and the David H. Koch Charitable Foundation – the neo-John Birchers accuse China of being behind the coronavirus pandemic by intentionally or accidentally releasing the virus as a biological weapon .
In lashing out at China , the far-right , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Republican senators like Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina have also placed Tedros and the “ China-influenced ” WHO in their gunsights .
The WHO is not the first UN agency to be singled out by the far-right as an instrument of China .
The Heritage Foundation , whose white papers are often transformed into Trump administration policy , criticized the election of Qu Dongyu as director-general of FAO in 2019 .
Heritage blasted the UN for electing Qu as the fourth Chinese national to head a UN @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the International Civil Aviation Organization ( ICAO ) , UNIDO , and the International Telecommunication Union ( ITU ) .
Four months before the first coronavirus case was reported in Wuhan , China , Heritage and its neo-John Bircher allies had convinced Secretary of State Mike Pompeo , a Tea Party founder , to question Chinese influence at the UN .
Heritage made several demands to its fellow-travelers in the Trump administration .
They included : 1 ) tasking the U.S. intelligence community to report on Chinese objectives , tactics , and influence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an objective cost-benefit analysis of U.S. participation in each international organization ; 3 ) the U.S. should focus its effort and resources on countering Chinese influence , advancing U.S. policy preferences , and increasing employment of U.S. nationals , particularly in senior positions , in those organizations whose remit affects key U.S. interests ; 4 ) identify and carefully vet highly qualified candidates for leadership positions in international organizations well in advance of elections ; 5 ) Counter Chinese financial and political pressure on foreign governments ; 6 ) Press the UN , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and programs to increase employment of U.S. nationals ; and 7 ) Elevate multilateral affairs and international organizations within the State Department by establishing an Under Secretary for Multilateral Affairs .
8 ) the U.S. should take all reasonable steps to ensure that an American or national of a like-minded country becomes the next International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ) director-general .
As can be seen with Heritage ’ s bulletized attack on the UN , the current Trump administration attack on UN agency directors like Dr. Tedros was already in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ old John Birch playbook of either bending the UN and its specialized agencies to U.S. will or withdraw from them or cut off dues payments .
Trump carried out his John Bircher-initiated orders by threatening to put a hold on U.S. payments to the WHO , even as the organization has become cash-strapped over its campaign to curb the coronavirus around the world .
On December 31 , 2018 , Trump pulled the U.S. out of UNESCO .
It was the second U.S. withdrawal from UNESCO , Reagan having done so in 1984 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his own neo-John Birchers , many of them former Democrats who had been loyal to Democratic anti-Soviet war hawk Senator Henry “ Scoop ” Jackson of Washington .
In Trump ’ s case , it was UNESCO ’ s granting of full membership to Palestine in 2011 that incurred the wrath of Trump and his administration ’ s court Zionists , including his son-in-law Jared Kushner .
In 2018 , Trump threatened to withdraw the U.S. from one of the oldest international organizations , the Universal Postal Union ( UPU ) , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump ’ s anger against the UPU was part of his overall aversion to government-run postal systems .
Trump has called the WHO “ China-centric ” merely because its last director-general , Dr. Margaret Chan , served as health director for the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong .
She left as the WHO director-general in 2017 .
It matters not to the dullards in the Trump administration and his support team that Dr. Chan is a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II , far from being a “ Chinese Communist ” agent .
The neo-John Birchers in the Trump administration have made common cause with anti-Beijing pressure groups in Washington , including the CIA-linked Falun Gong and its propaganda outlet , the “ Epoch Times ” newspaper , which enjoys White House press credentials .
Taiwan also maintains a formidable lobbying presence in Washington , a legacy of the old “ Formosa Lobby ” led by Soong Mei-ling , the wife of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ maintained the “ Republic of China ” on Taiwan following the rout of Nationalist forces by Mao Zedong ’ s Communist forces in 1949 .
The Taiwan Lobby has been successful in having the Trump administration intercede on its behalf after China objected to Taiwan ’ s participation in the WHO , ICAO , and other specialized agencies .
Trump has conveniently used the coronavirus as a reason to push his and the Birchers ’ far-right agenda with regard to China ’ s increasing international profile and clout .
China will remain a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world stage long after the names Trump , Falun Gong , Formosa Lobby , and the John Birch Society are consigned to the trash heap of history .
[ Where they richly belong , like all scum history has seen and probably will see again.—Eds ] Wayne Madsen is an investigative journalist , author and syndicated columnist .
A member of the Society of Professional Journalists ( SPJ ) and the National Press Club

On August 25, 1945, while in the company of American, Nationalist Chinese, and Korean troops, Birch was stopped by a People’s Liberation Army patrol. Birch refused to surrender his weapon to the Communist military unit and after he began insulting the Communist rebels, a skirmish resulted, one in which Birch was shot and killed. One witness said that Birch told the young Communist peasants that if they killed him, the United States would “use the atomic bomb to stop their banditry.” The Chinese Communist guerrillas were not impressed with Birch’s “cowboy” bravado.
Birch was a World War II-era fundamentalist Baptist missionary in China who volunteered to become an anti-Communist spy for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency, to jointly cooperate with Chinese Nationalist and Japanese occupation troops to battle against the Communist forces of Mao Zedong. Prior to his time with the OSS, Birch served as an intelligence officer for General Claire Chennault’s pro-Nationalist mercenaries, the Fourteenth Air Force, which had previously been called the Flying Tigers.
Birch, his brand of anti-Communism, and rejection of the U.S. wartime alliance with the Soviet Union and the Chinese Communists immediately became a cause célèbre for the American far-right. The John Birch Society, founded in 1958 in Indianapolis, Indiana by candy company magnate Robert Welch, Jr., believed that John Birch was the first casualty of World War III. Welch believed that the “Communist menace” was a sub-level international conspiracy that was ultimately led by the “Illuminati.” Welch’s conspiratorial delusions continue to find currency with Trump, his family members, and political supporters.
The Birch Society saw “Communists” hiding behind every tree and its rhetoric served as a valued lifeline to the “anti-Red” movement in the United States, particularly after the disgrace brought to it by Senator Joseph McCarthy and his “witch hunts” against alleged Communist in the federal government, military, and Hollywood. One of the society’s first members was Fred C. Koch, the father of Charles and the late David Koch – the infamous “Koch brothers” – who have funded various right-wing causes in the United States, including the presidential campaigns of Donald Trump. In keeping with their far-right upbringing, the Koch brothers helped fund the “Tea Party” movement, a grassroots effort that helped to lay the underpinnings of the 2016 Trump presidential campaign.
Among the longtime targets of the John Birchers and the Kochs have been the United Nations and its specialized agencies, including the WHO, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the International Labor Organization (ILO), and others. In 1975, John Birch-oriented Republicans serving in the Gerald Ford administration – particularly White House chief of staff Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld – took advantage of the situation to advocate for U.S. disengagement from certain UN specialized agencies. In 1974, one of the first actions of the Ford administration was to serve notice to UNESCO that it would suspend dues payments unless certain anti-Israel resolutions were rescinded. The U.S. ambassador to the UN railed against the WHO for being concerned about public health issues in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. In 1975, informed the ILO that it would formally withdraw from the organization in 1977.
The Jimmy Carter administration reversed the Bircher-influenced decisions on UNESCO and the ILO. The anti-UN fervor by the United States would return with a vengeance in the Ronald Reagan administration. It considered the most anti-U.S., anti-Israeli, and anti-South African apartheid specialized agencies to be – from most politicized to least – UNESCO, the ILO, the WHO, and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). To the Reaganites, whose ranks included a number of John Birch sympathizers, the least politicized agencies were those over which the U.S. had a large say in management and direction, namely, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).
John Birchers are consistent about one thing and that is their abject racism. Just as they condemned UNESCO and the FAO in the 1970s because they had African and Arab directors-general – Amadou-Mahtar M’Bow of Senegal and Edouard Saouma of Lebanon, respectively – they are now condemning the WHO because it has an Ethiopian director-general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a famed microbiologist from Ethiopia. Trump and his rabid far-right supporters have accused Dr. Tedros of being an agent-of-influence for China as part of the neo-John Birchers overall campaign to assign the cause of the coronavirus pandemic to China. The parents and grandparents of these John Birchers once blamed the “Communists” and the “Soviet Union” for being behind the fluoridation of America’s public water supply.
The Birchers even had a degree of success with the Bill Clinton administration, which withdrew the U.S. from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the U.N. World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Clinton’s reason for withdrawal was pure Bircher logic: they “lacked purpose” for the United States.
Today, acting under the auspices of front organizations like the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society – both bankrolled by the Charles Koch Foundation and the David H. Koch Charitable Foundation – the neo-John Birchers accuse China of being behind the coronavirus pandemic by intentionally or accidentally releasing the virus as a biological weapon. In lashing out at China, the far-right, including senior members of the Trump administration and Republican senators like Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina have also placed Tedros and the “China-influenced” WHO in their gunsights.
The WHO is not the first UN agency to be singled out by the far-right as an instrument of China. The Heritage Foundation, whose white papers are often transformed into Trump administration policy, criticized the election of Qu Dongyu as director-general of FAO in 2019. Heritage blasted the UN for electing Qu as the fourth Chinese national to head a UN specialized agency. Chinese directors-general also lead the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), UNIDO, and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
Four months before the first coronavirus case was reported in Wuhan, China, Heritage and its neo-John Bircher allies had convinced Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a Tea Party founder, to question Chinese influence at the UN. Heritage made several demands to its fellow-travelers in the Trump administration. They included: 1) tasking the U.S. intelligence community to report on Chinese objectives, tactics, and influence in international organizations; 2) Conduct an objective cost-benefit analysis of U.S. participation in each international organization; 3) the U.S. should focus its effort and resources on countering Chinese influence, advancing U.S. policy preferences, and increasing employment of U.S. nationals, particularly in senior positions, in those organizations whose remit affects key U.S. interests; 4) identify and carefully vet highly qualified candidates for leadership positions in international organizations well in advance of elections; 5) Counter Chinese financial and political pressure on foreign governments; 6) Press the UN, the specialized agencies, and UN funds and programs to increase employment of U.S. nationals; and 7) Elevate multilateral affairs and international organizations within the State Department by establishing an Under Secretary for Multilateral Affairs. 8) the U.S. should take all reasonable steps to ensure that an American or national of a like-minded country becomes the next International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director-general.
As can be seen with Heritage’s bulletized attack on the UN, the current Trump administration attack on UN agency directors like Dr. Tedros was already in the planning stages and was part of the old John Birch playbook of either bending the UN and its specialized agencies to U.S. will or withdraw from them or cut off dues payments. Trump carried out his John Bircher-initiated orders by threatening to put a hold on U.S. payments to the WHO, even as the organization has become cash-strapped over its campaign to curb the coronavirus around the world.
On December 31, 2018, Trump pulled the U.S. out of UNESCO. It was the second U.S. withdrawal from UNESCO, Reagan having done so in 1984 after pressure was exerted on him by his own neo-John Birchers, many of them former Democrats who had been loyal to Democratic anti-Soviet war hawk Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson of Washington. In Trump’s case, it was UNESCO’s granting of full membership to Palestine in 2011 that incurred the wrath of Trump and his administration’s court Zionists, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner. In 2018, Trump threatened to withdraw the U.S. from one of the oldest international organizations, the Universal Postal Union (UPU), which even predated the League of Nations. Trump’s anger against the UPU was part of his overall aversion to government-run postal systems.
Trump has called the WHO “China-centric” merely because its last director-general, Dr. Margaret Chan, served as health director for the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong. She left as the WHO director-general in 2017. It matters not to the dullards in the Trump administration and his support team that Dr. Chan is a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians of the United Kingdom and was also appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II, far from being a “Chinese Communist” agent.
The neo-John Birchers in the Trump administration have made common cause with anti-Beijing pressure groups in Washington, including the CIA-linked Falun Gong and its propaganda outlet, the “Epoch Times” newspaper, which enjoys White House press credentials. Taiwan also maintains a formidable lobbying presence in Washington, a legacy of the old “Formosa Lobby” led by Soong Mei-ling, the wife of Nationalist Chinese General Chiang Kai-shek, who maintained the “Republic of China” on Taiwan following the rout of Nationalist forces by Mao Zedong’s Communist forces in 1949. The Taiwan Lobby has been successful in having the Trump administration intercede on its behalf after China objected to Taiwan’s participation in the WHO, ICAO, and other specialized agencies.
Trump has conveniently used the coronavirus as a reason to push his and the Birchers’ far-right agenda with regard to China’s increasing international profile and clout. China will remain a force to be reckoned with on the world stage long after the names Trump, Falun Gong, Formosa Lobby, and the John Birch Society are consigned to the trash heap of history. [Where they richly belong, like all scum history has seen and probably will see again.—Eds]


thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-04-18--Danger Clown and the Return to American Normalcy

ecently in an online urban studies discussion , a young white man expressed his desire for his fellow Chicagoans and Americans more generally to get over all this COVID-19 trauma and “ return to normal life in my great city and country.
” I was a little surprised and disappointed he didn ’ t use Warren Harding ’ s made-up word “ normalcy.
” I was curious to know what he wanted most to return to – to : • A nation so unequal that three absurdly rich people ( Bezos , Buffett , and Gates ) possessed as much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ half of the country and that the top tenth of the upper 1 % has more wealth than the bottom 90 % ?
• A city where numerous predominantly white North Side neighborhoods are unaffordable to anyone not in the top ten percent and where a large number of hyper-segregated South and West Side communities house tens of thousands of deeply poor Black children in census tracts of misery ?
( That ’ s Chicago ) • A city ( speaking of Chicago ) whose police force was so savagely brutal towards its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be place under a federal consent decree in order to limit its torture , maiming , terrorization and murder of Black and brown people ?
• A city and nation whose streets were full of beggars and homeless people even during an “ economic boom ” ?
• A nation savagely tilted to the super-rich while most Americans lived just one paycheck away from not being able to meet basic living expenses ?
• A nation in which millions with full-time jobs had to rely on food banks and other forms of charity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not afford health insurance ?
Where millions more with insurance could barely afford to meet their premiums and routinely avoided care for fear of incurring absurdly high medical costs ?
• A nation in which the jobs most working-age adults must secure and keep in order to obtain basic goods and services ( with the money derived from wages and salaries ) are contingent on their employment being considered profitable to their parasitic bosses ?
• A nation that lacks a universal basic income guarantee even as it regularly menaces employees with job- @ @ @ @ @ @ @ insurance ) loss ?
• A nation that makes many millions of senior citizens ’ retirement savings and incomes contingent om the volatile ebbs and flows of the poorly regulated capitalist stock market ?
• An economy so dependent on constant eco-cidal and parasitic growth that it can ’ t take a 2-3 pause required for public health without requiring another gigantic taxpayer bailout for the obscenely wealthy Few while granting a pittance to the working-class majority ?
• An economy that can ’ t slow down its rate of environmental destruction without @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of work and therefore out of income and in many cases out of health insurance ( a really bad thing to lose in the middle of a pandemic ) ?
• An aggregately wealthy nation ( “ the richest nation in the world ” ) whose capitalist masters refuse to join the rest of the civilized industrialized world in making health care a human right ?
• A nation that ranks highest among rich nations in the cost of its health care system and at the bottom in health outcomes ?
• A @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to take seriously scientific warnings of a likely new pandemic even as the growth-addicted global profits system they uphold works constantly to dig up and spread new viruses around the world ?
• A nation whose controlling financial institutions can be counted on the fingers of one hand ?
• A nation where a handful of giant corporations control more than half of print and electronic media ?
Where just three Internet giants – Amazon , Google , and Facebook – own the ever more ubiquitous and relentlessly data-mined and surveilled online world @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has become dangerously militarized ?
• A nation that gives more than half its government ’ s discretionary spending to a military-industrial complex that accounts for more than a third of all global military spending ?
• A nation that led the charge towards climate catastrophe with the highest per capita carbon emissions in the world – and that that is headed by a regime dedicated to turning the planet into a giant Greenhouse Gas Chamber as fast as humanly possible ?
• A U.S.-led world that continues to blow past existential environmental @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the species at grave risk by pushing atmospheric carbon saturation to the insane level of 415 parts per million ?
• A nation that leads the world in mass incarceration and saddles 1 in 3 of its Black adult males with the crippling lifelong stigma of a felony record ?
• A nation that locks up tens of thousands of Mexican and Central Americans for seeking refuge , relief , and asylum from terrifying and wretched conditions that can be traced largely to that nation ’ s foreign policy ?
• A nation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ own people with guns , including assault weapons ?
• A nation that has murdered millions abroad with impunity and in the names of democracy , freedom , and human rights ?
• A nation where the concentration of wealth and power is so daunting that majority progressive public opinion on numerous key issues – climate , guns , consumer safety , bankruptcy , college tuition , student debt , union organizing rights , campaign finance , financial regulation , the Pentagon budget , the distribution of wealth and much more – is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ policy ?
• A nation so racially unequal that median household Black net worth is 7 cents on the median white household dollar ?
• A nation whose two dominant political parties function ( for all the deadly partisan polarization that has helped catapult neofascists into political power here ) much as Upton Sinclair described them in 1904 : “ two wings of the same bird of [ corporate and imperial ] prey ” ?
• A nation whose cynical ruling class put a demented fascistic oligarch – a venal Orwellian monstrosity who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sentences from the U.S. Constitution – into the world ’ s most powerful office , the U.S. presidency ?
• A nation whose un-elected and interrelated dictatorships of money and empire leave the dangerous and indecent beast Donald Trump ( accurately described by Noam Chomsky as “ the most dangerous criminal in human history ” ) in power ?
My favorite online image of Donald Trump shows a split image .
One side of a mock headshot ( available on Google Images last year ) shows the right-side of Trump ’ s raging @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other side shows the left side of the face of Bozo the Clown .
Like Buzz Windrip , the fictional fascist president in Sinclair Lewis ’ s novel It Can ’ t Happen Here , Trump ’ s underlying fascistic essence is cloaked to some degree by his blustering buffoonery , his strange theatrical clownishness .
Even more than three years into his supremely lethal , racist , sexist , eco-cidal and arch-authoritarian white-nationalist presidency , many Americans continue to laugh him off as little more than a fool and comedian .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump presidency .
It ’ s been as seriously awful as a national and global heart attack and anyone who still finds it funny needs a check-up from the neck-up .
Donald the Danger Clown has been doubling down on authoritarian rule under the cover of the COVID-19 crisis that he helped fan across the land .
I went through a number of ways in which his far-right administration has been doing this in my last Weekend Counterpunch essay : an attack on habeas corpus ; the denial of public oversight over his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attack on union rights ; an escalated purging of insufficiently loyal administration officials ; the holding of regular COVID press-briefings that amount to long authoritarian harangues ; an insane suspension of remaining environmental regulations , for example .
Here are some Danger Clown highlights from this week : • The absurd insistence that his signature be affixed to the paltry stimulus checks ( $ 1200 ) he is sending out to the American people .
• The chilling claim that “ When somebody is president of the United States , your authority is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. funding of the World Health Organization in the middle of a global pandemic because its leaders have been excessively critical of Him ( in His opinion ) .
• The holding of a Kim Jong-Un-style briefing in which Trump made the nation ’ s top official infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci grovel before the Dear Leader and in which the Chosen One insisted that “ we [ the White House ] did everything right ” in response to the coronavirus outbreak ( when in fact Trump and his administration did most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as was exhaustively documented in last Sunday ’ s New York Times ) .
• Threatening now to make a number of executive-branch “ recess appointments ” without normally required Congressional approval , in order to make his incompetent and corrupt administration yet more obedient to Orange King Covid .
• Assembling a team of fellow rich and authoritarians numbskulls ( including World Wrestling Federation chief Vince McMahon ) to plan the plan the dangerously premature “ re-opening of America.
” There ’ s more but it ’ s too depressing to go @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chaotic times ( I have an online class that is sucking the brains out of my head ) .
In the meantime , here are some numbers for the America First crowd : God help us if Danger Clown and his backers and allies are the New Normalcy .

[dropcap]R[/dropcap]ecently in an online urban studies discussion, a young white man expressed his desire for his fellow Chicagoans and Americans more generally to get over all this COVID-19 trauma and “return to normal life in my great city and country.”
I was a little surprised and disappointed he didn’t use Warren Harding’s made-up word “normalcy.”
I was curious to know what he wanted most to return to – to:
• A nation so unequal that three absurdly rich people (Bezos, Buffett, and Gates) possessed as much net worth between them as the bottom half of the country and that the top tenth of the upper 1% has more wealth than the bottom 90%?
• A city where numerous predominantly white North Side neighborhoods are unaffordable to anyone not in the top ten percent and where a large number of hyper-segregated South and West Side communities house tens of thousands of deeply poor Black children in census tracts of misery? (That’s Chicago)
• A city (speaking of Chicago) whose police force was so savagely brutal towards its majority nonwhite citizens that it had to be place under a federal consent decree in order to limit its torture, maiming, terrorization and murder of Black and brown people?
• A city and nation whose streets were full of beggars and homeless people even during an “economic boom”?
• A nation savagely tilted to the super-rich while most Americans lived just one paycheck away from not being able to meet basic living expenses?
• A nation in which millions with full-time jobs had to rely on food banks and other forms of charity to get by? Where millions could not afford health insurance? Where millions more with insurance could barely afford to meet their premiums and routinely avoided care for fear of incurring absurdly high medical costs?
• A nation in which the jobs most working-age adults must secure and keep in order to obtain basic goods and services (with the money derived from wages and salaries) are contingent on their employment being considered profitable to their parasitic bosses?
• A nation that lacks a universal basic income guarantee even as it regularly menaces employees with job- and thus income- (and often health insurance) loss?
• A nation that makes many millions of senior citizens’ retirement savings and incomes contingent om the volatile ebbs and flows of the poorly regulated capitalist stock market?
• An economy so dependent on constant eco-cidal and parasitic growth that it can’t take a 2-3 pause required for public health without requiring another gigantic taxpayer bailout for the obscenely wealthy Few while granting a pittance to the working-class majority?
• An economy that can’t slow down its rate of environmental destruction without throwing tens of millions of people out of work and therefore out of income and in many cases out of health insurance (a really bad thing to lose in the middle of a pandemic)?
• An aggregately wealthy nation (“the richest nation in the world”) whose capitalist masters refuse to join the rest of the civilized industrialized world in making health care a human right?
• A nation that ranks highest among rich nations in the cost of its health care system and at the bottom in health outcomes?
• A nation whose top “leaders” refused to take seriously scientific warnings of a likely new pandemic even as the growth-addicted global profits system they uphold works constantly to dig up and spread new viruses around the world?
• A nation whose controlling financial institutions can be counted on the fingers of one hand?
• A nation where a handful of giant corporations control more than half of print and electronic media? Where just three Internet giants – Amazon, Google, and Facebook – own the ever more ubiquitous and relentlessly data-mined and surveilled online world?
• A nation where domestic policing has become dangerously militarized?
• A nation that gives more than half its government’s discretionary spending to a military-industrial complex that accounts for more than a third of all global military spending?
• A nation that led the charge towards climate catastrophe with the highest per capita carbon emissions in the world – and that that is headed by a regime dedicated to turning the planet into a giant Greenhouse Gas Chamber as fast as humanly possible?
• A U.S.-led world that continues to blow past existential environmental tipping points – and that recently put the species at grave risk by pushing atmospheric carbon saturation to the insane level of 415 parts per million?
• A nation that leads the world in mass incarceration and saddles 1 in 3 of its Black adult males with the crippling lifelong stigma of a felony record?
• A nation that locks up tens of thousands of Mexican and Central Americans for seeking refuge, relief, and asylum from terrifying and wretched conditions that can be traced largely to that nation’s foreign policy?
• A nation that slaughters tens of thousands of its own people with guns, including assault weapons?
• A nation that has murdered millions abroad with impunity and in the names of democracy, freedom, and human rights?
• A nation where the concentration of wealth and power is so daunting that majority progressive public opinion on numerous key issues – climate, guns, consumer safety, bankruptcy, college tuition, student debt, union organizing rights, campaign finance, financial regulation, the Pentagon budget, the distribution of wealth and much more – is essentially irrelevant when it comes to determining policy?
• A nation so racially unequal that median household Black net worth is 7 cents on the median white household dollar?
• A nation whose two dominant political parties function (for all the deadly partisan polarization that has helped catapult neofascists into political power here) much as Upton Sinclair described them in 1904: “two wings of the same bird of [corporate and imperial] prey”?
• A nation whose cynical ruling class put a demented fascistic oligarch – a venal Orwellian monstrosity who can’t successfully read aloud two sentences from the U.S. Constitution – into the world’s most powerful office, the U.S. presidency?
• A nation whose un-elected and interrelated dictatorships of money and empire leave the dangerous and indecent beast Donald Trump (accurately described by Noam Chomsky as “the most dangerous criminal in human history”) in power?
My favorite online image of Donald Trump shows a split image. One side of a mock headshot (available on Google Images last year) shows the right-side of Trump’s raging visage, torn in hatred. The other side shows the left side of the face of Bozo the Clown.
Like Buzz Windrip, the fictional fascist president in Sinclair Lewis’s novel It Can’t Happen Here, Trump’s underlying fascistic essence is cloaked to some degree by his blustering buffoonery, his strange theatrical clownishness. Even more than three years into his supremely lethal, racist, sexist, eco-cidal and arch-authoritarian white-nationalist presidency, many Americans continue to laugh him off as little more than a fool and comedian.
But there’s nothing funny about the Trump presidency. It’s been as seriously awful as a national and global heart attack and anyone who still finds it funny needs a check-up from the neck-up.
Donald the Danger Clown has been doubling down on authoritarian rule under the cover of the COVID-19 crisis that he helped fan across the land. I went through a number of ways in which his far-right administration has been doing this in my last Weekend Counterpunch essay: an attack on habeas corpus; the denial of public oversight over his giant corporate COVID slush fund; an attack on union rights; an escalated purging of insufficiently loyal administration officials; the holding of regular COVID press-briefings that amount to long authoritarian harangues; an insane suspension of remaining environmental regulations, for example.
Here are some Danger Clown highlights from this week:
• The absurd insistence that his signature be affixed to the paltry stimulus checks ($1200) he is sending out to the American people.
• The chilling claim that “When somebody is president of the United States, your authority is total.”
• The decision to suspend U.S. funding of the World Health Organization in the middle of a global pandemic because its leaders have been excessively critical of Him (in His opinion).
• The holding of a Kim Jong-Un-style briefing in which Trump made the nation’s top official infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci grovel before the Dear Leader and in which the Chosen One insisted that “we [the White House] did everything right” in response to the coronavirus outbreak (when in fact Trump and his administration did most things wrong and far too late, as was exhaustively documented in last Sunday’s New York Times).
• Threatening now to make a number of executive-branch “recess appointments” without normally required Congressional approval, in order to make his incompetent and corrupt administration yet more obedient to Orange King Covid.
• Assembling a team of fellow rich and authoritarians numbskulls (including World Wrestling Federation chief Vince McMahon) to plan the plan the dangerously premature “re-opening of America.”
There’s more but it’s too depressing to go on and time is short in these chaotic times (I have an online class that is sucking the brains out of my head). In the meantime, here are some numbers for the America First crowd:
COVID-19 Cases/Deaths:
USA: 674,829/34,475
Spain: 182,816/19,130
Italy: 168,941/22,170
France: 165,207/17,920
Germany: 136,569/3,943
UK: 103,093/13,729
China: 82,341/3,342
God help us if Danger Clown and his backers and allies are the New Normalcy.


thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-04-17--Social Democracy: What it is & how Communists relate to it

^5000The mainstream imperialist media lie CONSTANTLY .
Literally 24/7 .
And it 's getting worse .
All of them do @ @ @ @ @ , the newspapers , the movies .
The internet .
No exceptions .
The corporate @ @ @ @ @ totalitarian .
CBS does it .
NBC does it .
ABC does it .
CNN @ @ @ @ @ it .
NPR does it .
And of course the NYTimes and WaPo do it @ @ @ @ @ '' voices telling you the same lies .
Enough to convince anyone .

Up to You.
^3000US citizens have no real political representation.
We don't live in a democracy. And our freedom is disappearing fast.
I don't want to be ruled by hypocrites, whores, and war criminals.
What about you? Time to push back against the corporate oligarchy.
And its multitude of minions and lackeys.