thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-08-05--Americans, War – Slow Learners

Americans, War – Slow Learners

Nothing short of genius can account for losing so consistently given the enormous resources available to American forces .
In light of this very low level of military competence , maybe wars are not our best choice of hobby .
Nothing short of genius can account for losing so consistently given the enormous resources available to American forces .
In light of this very low level of military competence , maybe wars are not our best choice of hobby .
– Fred Reed ( who probably learned this in Vietnam ) ccording to a popular Internet calculation , the United @ @ @ @ @ @ @ war with somebody for only 21 years since 1776 .
Or maybe it ’ s only 17 years .
Wikipedia attempts a list .
It ’ s a long one .
You ’ d think that a country that had been at war for that much of its existence , would be pretty good at it .
But you ’ d be wrong .
The “ greatest military in the history of the world ” has doubled the USSR ’ s time in Afghanistan and apparently it ’ s unthinkable that it should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Should the President want to pull some troops out of somewhere , there will be a chorus shrieking “ dangerous precedent ” or losing leadership and months later nothing much will have happened .
One can not avoid asking when did the USA last win a war .
You can argue about what “ win ” looks like but there ’ s no argument about a surrender ceremony in the enemy ’ s capital , whether Tokyo Bay or Berlin .
That is victory .
Helicopters off the Embassy roof is not , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not , “ Black Hawk down ” is not .
Doubling the USSR ’ s record in Afghanistan is not .
Restoring the status quo ante in Korea is not defeat exactly , but it ’ s pretty far from what MacArthur expected when he moved on the Yalu .
When did the USA last win a war ?
And none of the post-1945 wars have been against first-class opponents .
And few of the pre-1941 wars were either .
Which brings me to the point of this essay .
The USA has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but very seldom against peers .
The peer wars are few : the War of Independence against Britain ( but with enormous – and at Yorktown probably decisive – help from France ) .
Britain again in 1812-1814 ( but British power was mostly directed against Napoleon ) .
Germany in 1917-1918 , Germany and Japan 1941-1945 .
Most American opponents have been small fry .
Take , for example , the continual wars against what the Declaration of Independence calls “ the merciless Indian savages , whose known rule of warfare @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , sexes , and conditions “ .
( Starting , incidentally , a long American tradition of depicting enemies as outside the law and therefore deserving of extermination . )
The Indians were brave and skilful fighters but there were always too few of them .
Furthermore , as every Indian warrior was a free individual , Indian forces melted away when individuals concluded that there was nothing in it for them .
Because there were so few warriors in a given nation , Indian war bands would not endure the sort of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , always in the background , the carnage from European diseases like the smallpox epidemic of 1837 which killed tens of thousands in the Western nations .
Thus , whatever Indian resistance survived could usually be divided , bought off , cheated away and , if it came to a fight , the individual Indian nation was generally so small and so isolated , that victory was assured .
The one great attempt to unite all the western nations was Tecumseh ’ s .
He understood that the only chance would come if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ showed the Americans that they had to be taken seriously .
He spent years trying to organise the nations but , in the end , the premature action of his brother Tenskwatawa led to defeat of his headquarters base in 1811 .
Tecumseh himself was killed two years later fighting a rear-guard action in Ontario .
It is because defeats of American forces were so rare that Little Big Horn has passed into legend ; but the American casualties of about 250 would have been a minor skirmish a decade earlier .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Indians anyway ; they lost the Black Hills and were forced into reservations .
Brave and spirited fighters , but , in the end , no match for industrialised numbers .
The USA fought several wars against Spain and Mexico , gaining territory as it did .
Despite the occasional “ last stand ” like The Alamo , these were also one-sided .
The Spanish-American War is the outstanding example : for about 4000 casualties ( half from disease ) , the USA drove Spain completely out of the Americas and took the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Manila Bay .
More easy victories over greatly outmatched adversaries .
The other group of wars the U.S. was involved in before 1941 were the empire-gathering wars .
One of the first was the takeover of the independent and internationally-recognised Kingdom of Hawaii ; the sugar barons organised a coup against Queen Liliuokalani with the help of troops from U.S. warships and no shooting was necessary .
Not so with the long bloody campaign in the Philippines , forgotten until President Duterte reminded the world of it .
And there were many more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by Major General Smedley Butler in his famous book War is a Racket .
Andrei Martyanov has argued that the U.S. military simply has no idea what a really big war is .
Its peer wars off stage ( since 1812 ) made it stronger ; its home wars were profitable thefts .
It believes wars are easy , quick , profitable , successful .
Self delusion in war is defeat : post 1945 U.S. wars are failure delusionally entered into .
To quote Fred Reed again : The American military ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , underestimate the enemy , and misunderstand the kind of war it is getting into .
The only exceptions are the Korean War – a draw at best – and trivial successes like Grenada or Panama .
As I have argued elsewhere , there is something wrong with American war-fighting doctrine : no one seems to have any idea of what to do after the first few weeks and the wars degenerate into a annual succession of commanders determined not to be the one who lost ; each keeping it going until he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the road .
Resets , three block war fantasies , winning hearts and minds , precision bombing , optimistic pieces saying “ this time we ’ ve got it right “ , surges .
Imagination replaces the forthright study of warfare .
Everybody on the inside knows they ’ re lost – “ Newly released interviews on the U.S. war reveal the coordinated spin effort and dodgy metrics behind a forever war “ ; that ’ s Afghanistan , earlier the Pentagon Papers in Vietnam – but further down the road .
When @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : “ you won every major battle of that war .
Every single one ” , Obama lost Iraq .
And always bombing .
Bombing is the America way in war .
Korea received nearly four times as much bomb tonnage as Japan had .
On Vietnam the U.S. dropped more than three times the tonnage that it had in the whole of the Second World War .
Today ’ s numbers are staggering : Afghanistan received , between 2013 and 2019 , 26 thousand “ weapons releases “ .
26,171 bombs around @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bombing .
Precision attacks , they say .
But the reality is quite different – not all of the bombs are “ smart bombs ” and smart bombs are only as smart as the intelligence that directs them .
The truth is that , with the enormous amount of bombs and bad intelligence directing the “ smart bombs ” , the end result is Raqqa – everything destroyed .
If you want a single word to summarize American war-making in this last decade and a half , I would suggest rubble… In addition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ war in this century , two new words might be useful — rubblize and rubblization .
The U.S. Army once really studied war and produced first-class studies of the Soviet performance in the Second World War .
These studies served two purposes : introducing Americans who thought Patton won the war to who and what actually did and showing how the masters of the operational level of war performed .
Now it ’ s just silliness from think tanks .
A fine example of fantasy masquerading as serious thought is the “ Sulwaki @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the “ world ’ s leading experts… cutting-edge research… fresh insight… ” may stand as an amusing example .
The “ corridor ” in question is the border between Lithuania and Poland .
“ Defending Suwalki is therefore important for NATO ’ s credibility and for Western cohesion ” and so on .
The authors expect us to believe that , in a war against NATO , Russia would have any concern about the paltry military assets in the Baltics .
If Moscow really decided it had to fight NATO , it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The war would not start in the “ Suwalki Corridor ” – there would be salvoes of missiles hitting targets all over Europe , the USA and Canada .
The first day would see the destruction of a lot of NATO ’ s infrastructure : bases , ports , airfields , depots , communications .
The second day would see more .
( And that ’ s the “ conventional ” war . )
Far from being the cockpit of war , the “ Suwalki Corridor ” would be a quiet rest area @ @ @ @ @ @ @ too much Hollywood , too much Patton , too many academics saying what they ’ re paid to believe and believe to be paid .
The U.S. has no idea .
And today it ’ s losing its wars against lesser opponents .
This essay on how the Houthis are winning – from the Jamestown Foundation , a cheerleader for American wars – could equally well be applied to Vietnam or any of the other “ forever wars ” of Washington .
The resiliency of the Houthis stems from their leadership ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of insurgency .
The American way of warfare assumes unchallenged air superiority and reliable communications .
What would happen if the complacent U.S. forces meet serious integrated air defence and genuine electronic warfare capabilities ?
The little they have seen of Russian EW capabilities in Syria and Ukraine has made their “ eyes water “ ; some foresee a “ Waterloo ” in the South China Sea .
Countries on Washington ’ s target list know its dependence .
The fact is that , over all the years and all its wars the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its own size or close to it .
This has created an expectation of easy and quick victory .
Knowledge of the terrible , full out , stunning destruction and superhuman efforts of a real war against powerful and determined enemies has faded away , if they ever had it .
American wars , always somewhere else , have become the easy business of carpet bombing – rubblising – the enemy with little shooting back .
Where there is shooting back , on the ground , after the initial quick win , it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ IED , ambush , sniping , raids as commanders come and go .
The result ?
Random destruction from the air and forever wars on the ground .
There is of course one other time when the United States fought a first-class opponent and that is when it fought itself .
According to these official numbers , the U.S. Civil War killed about 500,000 Americans .
Which is about half the deaths from all of the other U.S. wars .
Of all the Americans killed in all their wars – Independence , Indians @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Korea , Cold War , GWOT – other Americans killed about a third of them .
Patrick Armstrong was an analyst in the Canadian Department of National Defence specialising in the USSR/Russia from 1984 and a Counsellor in the Canadian Embassy in Moscow in 1993-1996 .
He retired in 2008 and has been writing on Russia and related subjects on the Net ever since .
Patrick Armstrong was an analyst in the Canadian Department of National Defence specialising in the USSR/Russia from 1984 and a Counsellor in the Canadian Embassy in Moscow in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has been writing on Russia and related subjects on the Net ever since .

Patrick Armstrong
Nothing short of genius can account for losing so consistently given the enormous resources available to American forces. In light of this very low level of military competence, maybe wars are not our best choice of hobby.
Nothing short of genius can account for losing so consistently given the enormous resources available to American forces. In light of this very low level of military competence, maybe wars are not our best choice of hobby.
– Fred Reed (who probably learned this in Vietnam)
A
ccording to a popular Internet calculation, the United States of America has not been at war with somebody for only 21 years since 1776 . Or maybe it’s only 17 years . Wikipedia attempts a list . It’s a long one. You’d think that a country that had been at war for that much of its existence, would be pretty good at it.
But you’d be wrong. The “greatest military in the history of the world” has doubled the USSR’s time in Afghanistan and apparently it’s unthinkable that it should not hang in for the triple. Should the President want to pull some troops out of somewhere, there will be a chorus shrieking “dangerous precedent” or losing leadership and months later nothing much will have happened.
One cannot avoid asking when did the USA last win a war. You can argue about what “win” looks like but there’s no argument about a surrender ceremony in the enemy’s capital, whether Tokyo Bay or Berlin. That is victory. Helicopters off the Embassy roof is not, pool parties in a U.S. Embassy is not, “Black Hawk down” is not. Doubling the USSR’s record in Afghanistan is not. Restoring the status quo ante in Korea is not defeat exactly, but it’s pretty far from what MacArthur expected when he moved on the Yalu. When did the USA last win a war? And none of the post-1945 wars have been against first-class opponents.
And few of the pre-1941 wars were either. Which brings me to the point of this essay. The USA has spent much of its existence at war, but very seldom against peers. The peer wars are few: the War of Independence against Britain (but with enormous – and at Yorktown probably decisive – help from France). Britain again in 1812-1814 (but British power was mostly directed against Napoleon). Germany in 1917-1918, Germany and Japan 1941-1945.
Most American opponents have been small fry.
Take, for example, the continual wars against what the Declaration of Independence calls “the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions“. (Starting, incidentally, a long American tradition of depicting enemies as outside the law and therefore deserving of extermination.) The Indians were brave and skilful fighters but there were always too few of them. Furthermore, as every Indian warrior was a free individual, Indian forces melted away when individuals concluded that there was nothing in it for them. Because there were so few warriors in a given nation, Indian war bands would not endure the sort of casualties that European soldiers did. And, always in the background, the carnage from European diseases like the smallpox epidemic of 1837 which killed tens of thousands in the Western nations. Thus, whatever Indian resistance survived could usually be divided, bought off, cheated away and, if it came to a fight, the individual Indian nation was generally so small and so isolated, that victory was assured. The one great attempt to unite all the western nations was Tecumseh’s. He understood that the only chance would come if the Indians, one united force, showed the Americans that they had to be taken seriously. He spent years trying to organise the nations but, in the end, the premature action of his brother Tenskwatawa led to defeat of his headquarters base in 1811. Tecumseh himself was killed two years later fighting a rear-guard action in Ontario. It is because defeats of American forces were so rare that Little Big Horn has passed into legend; but the American casualties of about 250 would have been a minor skirmish a decade earlier. And the victory led to nothing for the Indians anyway; they lost the Black Hills and were forced into reservations. Brave and spirited fighters, but, in the end, no match for industrialised numbers.
The USA fought several wars against Spain and Mexico, gaining territory as it did. Despite the occasional “last stand” like The Alamo, these were also one-sided. The Spanish-American War is the outstanding example: for about 4000 casualties (half from disease), the USA drove Spain completely out of the Americas and took the Philippines, obliterating the Spanish Fleet at Manila Bay. More easy victories over greatly outmatched adversaries.
The other group of wars the U.S. was involved in before 1941 were the empire-gathering wars. One of the first was the takeover of the independent and internationally-recognised Kingdom of Hawaii; the sugar barons organised a coup against Queen Liliuokalani with the help of troops from U.S. warships and no shooting was necessary. Not so with the long bloody campaign in the Philippines, forgotten until President Duterte reminded the world of it. And there were many more interventions in small countries; some mentioned by Major General Smedley Butler in his famous book War is a Racket.
Minor opponents indeed.
Andrei Martyanov has argued that the U.S. military simply has no idea what a really big war is. Its peer wars off stage (since 1812) made it stronger; its home wars were profitable thefts. It believes wars are easy, quick, profitable, successful. Self delusion in war is defeat: post 1945 U.S. wars are failure delusionally entered into. To quote Fred Reed again:
The American military’s normal procedure is to overestimate American power, underestimate the enemy, and misunderstand the kind of war it is getting into.
The only exceptions are the Korean War – a draw at best – and trivial successes like Grenada or Panama. As I have argued elsewhere, there is something wrong with American war-fighting doctrine: no one seems to have any idea of what to do after the first few weeks and the wars degenerate into a annual succession of commanders determined not to be the one who lost; each keeping it going until he leaves. The problem is kicked down the road. Resets, three block war fantasies, winning hearts and minds, precision bombing, optimistic pieces saying “this time we’ve got it right“, surges. Imagination replaces the forthright study of warfare. Everybody on the inside knows they’re lost – “Newly released interviews on the U.S. war reveal the coordinated spin effort and dodgy metrics behind a forever war“; that’s Afghanistan, earlier the Pentagon Papers in Vietnam – but further down the road. When they finally end, the excuses begin: “you won every major battle of that war. Every single one”, Obama lost Iraq.
And always bombing. Bombing is the America way in war. Korea received nearly four times as much bomb tonnage as Japan had. On Vietnam the U.S. dropped more than three times the tonnage that it had in the whole of the Second World War. Today’s numbers are staggering: Afghanistan received, between 2013 and 2019, 26 thousand “weapons releases“. 26,171 bombs around the world in 2016 alone. Geological bombing. Precision attacks, they say. But the reality is quite different – not all of the bombs are “smart bombs” and smart bombs are only as smart as the intelligence that directs them. The truth is that, with the enormous amount of bombs and bad intelligence directing the “smart bombs”, the end result is Raqqa – everything destroyed.
If you want a single word to summarize American war-making in this last decade and a half, I would suggest rubble… In addition, to catch the essence of such war in this century, two new words might be useful — rubblize and rubblization.
The U.S. Army once really studied war and produced first-class studies of the Soviet performance in the Second World War. These studies served two purposes: introducing Americans who thought Patton won the war to who and what actually did and showing how the masters of the operational level of war performed. Now it’s just silliness from think tanks. A fine example of fantasy masquerading as serious thought is the “Sulwaki Corridor” industry of which this piece from the “world’s leading experts… cutting-edge research… fresh insight…” may stand as an amusing example. The “corridor” in question is the border between Lithuania and Poland. “Defending Suwalki is therefore important for NATO’s credibility and for Western cohesion” and so on. The authors expect us to believe that, in a war against NATO, Russia would have any concern about the paltry military assets in the Baltics. If Moscow really decided it had to fight NATO, it would strike with everything it had. The war would not start in the “Suwalki Corridor” – there would be salvoes of missiles hitting targets all over Europe, the USA and Canada. The first day would see the destruction of a lot of NATO’s infrastructure: bases, ports, airfields, depots, communications. The second day would see more. (And that’s the “conventional” war.) Far from being the cockpit of war, the “Suwalki Corridor” would be a quiet rest area. As Martyanov loves to say: too much Hollywood, too much Patton, too many academics saying what they’re paid to believe and believe to be paid. The U.S. has no idea.
And today it’s losing its wars against lesser opponents. This essay on how the Houthis are winning – from the Jamestown Foundation, a cheerleader for American wars – could equally well be applied to Vietnam or any of the other “forever wars” of Washington.
The resiliency of the Houthis stems from their leadership’s understanding and consistent application of the algebra of insurgency.
The American way of warfare assumes unchallenged air superiority and reliable communications. What would happen if the complacent U.S. forces meet serious integrated air defence and genuine electronic warfare capabilities? The little they have seen of Russian EW capabilities in Syria and Ukraine has made their “eyes water“; some foresee a “Waterloo” in the South China Sea. Countries on Washington’s target list know its dependence.
The fact is that, over all the years and all its wars the U.S. has rarely had to fight anybody its own size or close to it. This has created an expectation of easy and quick victory. Knowledge of the terrible, full out, stunning destruction and superhuman efforts of a real war against powerful and determined enemies has faded away, if they ever had it. American wars, always somewhere else, have become the easy business of carpet bombing – rubblising – the enemy with little shooting back. Where there is shooting back, on the ground, after the initial quick win, it’s “forever” attrition by IED, ambush, sniping, raids as commanders come and go. The result? Random destruction from the air and forever wars on the ground.
There is of course one other time when the United States fought a first-class opponent and that is when it fought itself. According to these official numbers, the U.S. Civil War killed about 500,000 Americans. Which is about half the deaths from all of the other U.S. wars. Of all the Americans killed in all their wars – Independence, Indians, Mexico, two world wars. Korea, Cold War, GWOT – other Americans killed about a third of them.


thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-08-06--Majority Forces Need To Combat Market Dictatorship

Please make sure these dispatches reach as many readers as possible .
Share with kin , friends and workmates and ask them to do likewise .
n economy on the brink of more serious failure than the usual cyclic form entered an even more critical state when the covid virus hit .
We now find the mind-boggling debt before the capitalist pandemic growing to be very near breaking the capitalist bank .
Along with the awakening public opposition to racism experienced by some who are encountering it for the first time , this is producing the greatest surge for substantial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ place back in the 1930s , when capitalism defensively improved the lives of much of its working class to avoid social revolution .
So , naturally , our intellectually and morally crippled rulers are making every effort to incorporate into the market any and all efforts at creating change , while blocking when not totally smothering public consciousness in the thickest fog of dis-and mis-information to make all previous treatment of mind management seem almost thoughtful by comparison .
As the nation sinks more deeply into financial , mental and spiritual blight , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ blaring idiocy about Russian threats to our invader forces in foreign countries by allegedly offering payment to the native population to kill them .
Such thoughts would never occur to people who have suffered tens of thousands of deaths at their hands and whose governments have been destroyed by them , at least not to the brilliant American foreign policy makers who need to have their heads examined by a proctologist .
These Russian monsters are also conducting assaults on our fictional democracy , thus endangering the multi-billion dollar electoral marketing orgy which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a barker and will continue until the next circus selects a clown .
`` Elections can help , but democracy must be created before the vote , not after ... '' Worse , according to the same purveyors of propaganda , the Chinese are stealing our medical research and computer brilliance and using both to improve the lives of all their people instead of simply enhancing the bottom lines of some of their investors .
As an example of their vicious disdain for all that truly matters , during a time in which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for lack of funding , and this in a place with a median income of just under 80,000 a year , the savage Chinese built two – 2 !
– brand new hospitals in barely a month when confronted by the covid 19 virus .
Guess which nation leads the world in number of deaths due to the virus and tries to blame the atrocity of its health care system on an allegedly Chinese menace ?
This while we ring China with military bases and sail an armada into the South China Sea @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is right off the coast of Florida .
Or New York ?
And while college educated fiction writers posing as news reporters screech about Chinese abuse of minorities Americans in greater numbers than ever are reacting to the generations of such real abuse in the USA .
And that crippled health care business at a more crippled capitalist mall has increased suffering for millions more unemployed while a handful of billionaires get even disgracefully richer in a marketplace more contaminated by moral sewage than ever before , or , at least since last @ @ @ @ @ @ @ supposed horrid menace of Russia and China , more Americans are piercing the plastic curtain of corporate mis-information by experiencing material life rather than simply swallowing immaterial stories amounting to modern mythology to make folklore tales of magical wonder sound far more logical .
American material reality sees total personal debt at the 14 trillion dollar mark .
In truth , like our government in the hallowed “ free ” market where nothing is free , much of America could not pay rent , mortgages or afford food or clothing without running up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ run up trillions of dollars worth of death rays and invading armies without burdening us with a multi-trillion dollar national debt .
This , while millions more lose their jobs and health care to the capitalist economy , thousands lose their lives to the capitalist pandemic , and the entire nation is in danger of losing its collective consciousness to the capitalist media .
As public reaction grows in anger at the injustice of a murderous dis-organization of life through the marketing religion of private profit , the ruling powers transmit brain-numbing messages @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , more consumption and then even more division and consumption .
The growing consciousness of racism in America threatens to be reduced to a brand name as banks , malls , fashion , art , films and every other aspect of life-as-commodity sign on to the BLM logo , inviting all to buy their products , rent their cars , eat their fast foods and indulge every form of life reduced to purchase at the market assured that they are buying from supporters of the brand BLM , a most recently discovered and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a rise in consciousness among the people that sees the reality of humanity as a majority with common interests and not the vicious reduction of humans into competing groups , we are reduced to seeing fictional minorities as people of color when all of us with the exception of albinos are such , and that small number of us without melanin are no less humans for having that birth defect .
Anything to prevent the public from clearly seeing , as our primitive communist ancestors did , that hungry people need food , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ethnicity , sexual preference or favorite sport .
Whether geographic realities and cultural teachings create desire for lasagna , matzos , tacos , chitlins , croissants or fried rice , food is absolutely necessary for survival , not for marketing .
When the hunt was successful our ancestors all had meat .
When it was not , they all had vegies .
When neither meat nor vegies were available our nomadic ancestors moved to another locale , in the human tradition of migrating to a new place when life was no longer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was long before capital and profits , in fact , long before slave and feudal societies .
But the fact is that humans survived from the beginning by cooperation not just because or unless they liked each other but because it was absolutely essential for their survival .
If those early practitioners had not followed that mentally advanced if physically primitive form we would not be here in the modern world participating in an either or choice that does not involve a lesser evil but ultimate humanity threatening evil itself .
That evil @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all cost system of capitalism which , after that profit procurement , creates investment that brings public good to one and all .
Of course .
Isn ’ t it evident in the fact that we spend more than 700 billion on wars while more than half a million of our people are homeless ?
That ’ s the beauty and poetry of a free market system of investment for profit first .
If dog food , kitty litter and pet health care for our 180 million comfortably housed dogs and cats make @ @ @ @ @ @ @ million humans and health care for more than thirty million humans , doesn ’ t it make sense to invest in our pets rather than those humans ?
If more than seven hundred billion a year brings profit to the Military Industrial Complex we were first warned of by a Republican president , doesn ’ t that kind of job creation to kill people in foreign countries – while calling it defense of our mostly undefended from pollution , poverty and crime population - isn ’ t that wonderful ?
And if all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ case , rather than the idiotic excuse for reality we are having forced into our heads , might we react in anger and join together in a social uprising to make all social uprisings of the past seem mere preludes ?
That ’ s why we are hearing about China , Russia and a failing state because of Russia and China , and why we are being sold a product called Black Lives Matter lest it become a social revolution that says under capitalism , only some lives matter and that group is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of humanity faces ruin as long as it is divided into false races and phony identity groups that allow the most menacing minority on the planet , billionaires and their rich professional flunkies , to lead us all to ruin .
All humans need food , clothing and shelter , which our primitive ancestors seemed to understand .
They did not differentiate on any stupid grounds of alleged racial difference until something called civilization introduced minority rules , class structure and associated horror .
And it got worse for most people when capitalism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to some by creating a worse life for many many more .
We need to begin acting like what we truly are , a tribe of closely related human beings falsely driven apart by minority rulers who teach us to grow up isolated and suffering adults blaming ourselves or other powerless people for our problems .
As more of us reach that point the program of our rulers will become even more desperate than at the present moment at which our major problems are hardly the Russians or Chinese or Iranians but rather @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Democratic and Republican parties which they own .
We need far more than votes to create social transformation .
Votes have helped create the mess we ’ re programmed to fear as budding American fascism , which is what German voters did to create the German brand .
Real democracy creates society , not a rubber stamp for its minority owners and is not for purchase at a mall ; like food clothing and shelter , it must be created by an aroused public demanding a better life for all of us @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Elections can help , but democracy must be created before the vote , not after .

Please make sure these dispatches reach as many readers as possible. Share with kin, friends and workmates and ask them to do likewise.
Frank Scott
A
n economy on the brink of more serious failure than the usual cyclic form entered an even more critical state when the covid virus hit. We now find the mind-boggling debt before the capitalist pandemic growing to be very near breaking the capitalist bank. Along with the awakening public opposition to racism experienced by some who are encountering it for the first time, this is producing the greatest surge for substantial change since the near transformation that took place back in the 1930s, when capitalism defensively improved the lives of much of its working class to avoid social revolution. So, naturally, our intellectually and morally crippled rulers are making every effort to incorporate into the market any and all efforts at creating change, while blocking when not totally smothering public consciousness in the thickest fog of dis-and mis-information to make all previous treatment of mind management seem almost thoughtful by comparison.
As the nation sinks more deeply into financial, mental and spiritual blight, we find major outlets of thought control blaring idiocy about Russian threats to our invader forces in foreign countries by allegedly offering payment to the native population to kill them. Such thoughts would never occur to people who have suffered tens of thousands of deaths at their hands and whose governments have been destroyed by them, at least not to the brilliant American foreign policy makers who need to have their heads examined by a proctologist. These Russian monsters are also conducting assaults on our fictional democracy, thus endangering the multi-billion dollar electoral marketing orgy which started right after the last carnival chose a barker and will continue until the next circus selects a clown.
"Elections can help, but democracy must be created before the vote, not after..."
Worse, according to the same purveyors of propaganda, the Chinese are stealing our medical research and computer brilliance and using both to improve the lives of all their people instead of simply enhancing the bottom lines of some of their investors. As an example of their vicious disdain for all that truly matters, during a time in which my own American county closed a hospital for lack of funding, and this in a place with a median income of just under 80,000 a year, the savage Chinese built two – 2! – brand new hospitals in barely a month when confronted by the covid 19 virus. Guess which nation leads the world in number of deaths due to the virus and tries to blame the atrocity of its health care system on an allegedly Chinese menace? This while we ring China with military bases and sail an armada into the South China Sea, which brain dead imperialists tell us is right off the coast of Florida. Or New York?
And while college educated fiction writers posing as news reporters screech about Chinese abuse of minorities Americans in greater numbers than ever are reacting to the generations of such real abuse in the USA. And that crippled health care business at a more crippled capitalist mall has increased suffering for millions more unemployed while a handful of billionaires get even disgracefully richer in a marketplace more contaminated by moral sewage than ever before, or, at least since last week.
While forced to consider the supposed horrid menace of Russia and China, more Americans are piercing the plastic curtain of corporate mis-information by experiencing material life rather than simply swallowing immaterial stories amounting to modern mythology to make folklore tales of magical wonder sound far more logical.
American material reality sees total personal debt at the 14 trillion dollar mark. In truth, like our government in the hallowed “free” market where nothing is free, much of America could not pay rent, mortgages or afford food or clothing without running up tremendous debt, nor could our pseudo-democracy run up trillions of dollars worth of death rays and invading armies without burdening us with a multi-trillion dollar national debt. This, while millions more lose their jobs and health care to the capitalist economy, thousands lose their lives to the capitalist pandemic, and the entire nation is in danger of losing its collective consciousness to the capitalist media.
As public reaction grows in anger at the injustice of a murderous dis-organization of life through the marketing religion of private profit, the ruling powers transmit brain-numbing messages of division, consumption, more division, more consumption and then even more division and consumption.
The growing consciousness of racism in America threatens to be reduced to a brand name as banks, malls, fashion, art, films and every other aspect of life-as-commodity sign on to the BLM logo, inviting all to buy their products, rent their cars, eat their fast foods and indulge every form of life reduced to purchase at the market assured that they are buying from supporters of the brand BLM, a most recently discovered and lucrative market share.
Desperately fighting against a rise in consciousness among the people that sees the reality of humanity as a majority with common interests and not the vicious reduction of humans into competing groups, we are reduced to seeing fictional minorities as people of color when all of us with the exception of albinos are such, and that small number of us without melanin are no less humans for having that birth defect. Anything to prevent the public from clearly seeing, as our primitive communist ancestors did, that hungry people need food, no matter their skin tone, religion, ethnicity, sexual preference or favorite sport. Whether geographic realities and cultural teachings create desire for lasagna, matzos, tacos, chitlins, croissants or fried rice, food is absolutely necessary for survival, not for marketing. When the hunt was successful our ancestors all had meat. When it was not, they all had vegies. When neither meat nor vegies were available our nomadic ancestors moved to another locale, in the human tradition of migrating to a new place when life was no longer possible at the old one. This was long before capital and profits, in fact, long before slave and feudal societies. But the fact is that humans survived from the beginning by cooperation not just because or unless they liked each other but because it was absolutely essential for their survival. If those early practitioners had not followed that mentally advanced if physically primitive form we would not be here in the modern world participating in an either or choice that does not involve a lesser evil but ultimate humanity threatening evil itself.
That evil is the private profit first and at all cost system of capitalism which, after that profit procurement, creates investment that brings public good to one and all. Of course. Isn’t it evident in the fact that we spend more than 700 billion on wars while more than half a million of our people are homeless? That’s the beauty and poetry of a free market system of investment for profit first. If dog food, kitty litter and pet health care for our 180 million comfortably housed dogs and cats make more profits than housing for half a million humans and health care for more than thirty million humans, doesn’t it make sense to invest in our pets rather than those humans? If more than seven hundred billion a year brings profit to the Military Industrial Complex we were first warned of by a Republican president, doesn’t that kind of job creation to kill people in foreign countries – while calling it defense of our mostly undefended from pollution, poverty and crime population - isn’t that wonderful? And if all of us simultaneously learn that is the case, rather than the idiotic excuse for reality we are having forced into our heads, might we react in anger and join together in a social uprising to make all social uprisings of the past seem mere preludes? That’s why we are hearing about China, Russia and a failing state because of Russia and China, and why we are being sold a product called Black Lives Matter lest it become a social revolution that says under capitalism, only some lives matter and that group is getting smaller and smaller while the majority of humanity faces ruin as long as it is divided into false races and phony identity groups that allow the most menacing minority on the planet, billionaires and their rich professional flunkies, to lead us all to ruin.
All humans need food, clothing and shelter, which our primitive ancestors seemed to understand. They did not differentiate on any stupid grounds of alleged racial difference until something called civilization introduced minority rules, class structure and associated horror. And it got worse for most people when capitalism took over, bringing a better life to some by creating a worse life for many many more. We need to begin acting like what we truly are, a tribe of closely related human beings falsely driven apart by minority rulers who teach us to grow up isolated and suffering adults blaming ourselves or other powerless people for our problems. As more of us reach that point the program of our rulers will become even more desperate than at the present moment at which our major problems are hardly the Russians or Chinese or Iranians but rather the billionaire class and its employees and the Democratic and Republican parties which they own.
We need far more than votes to create social transformation. Votes have helped create the mess we’re programmed to fear as budding American fascism, which is what German voters did to create the German brand. Real democracy creates society, not a rubber stamp for its minority owners and is not for purchase at a mall; like food clothing and shelter, it must be created by an aroused public demanding a better life for all of us and not just some of us. Elections can help, but democracy must be created before the vote, not after.
email: fpscott@gmail.com


thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-08-06--Scumwatch— The Room Where it Happened: John Bolton’s account of the “palace coup” opposition to Trum

Scumwatch— The Room Where it Happened: John Bolton’s account of the “palace coup” opposition to Trump

Originally published on 26 June 2020 • This is a repost .
ohn Bolton , the longtime Republican foreign policy operative , has published a book narrating his tenure as National Security Advisor at the White House under Donald Trump between April 9 , 2018 and September 10 , 2019 .
Prior to his term in the Trump administration , Bolton was a leading propagandist for the 2003 invasion of Iraq .
He has publicly advocated military action and regime change against over a half-dozen countries in the last decade alone .
Bolton ’ s book has been hailed by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as a monumental indictment of Trump .
The book is “ a scathing and revelatory account ” of the president ’ s “ stunning ignorance , incompetence , and corruption , ” according to the New Yorker , which called it “ indispensable , jaw-dropping.
” It is a “ withering portrait , ” writes the New York Times .
Anyone expecting , based on these responses , a revelation of Donald Trump ’ s conspiracies against democratic rights , his attack on immigrants , or his relations with right-wing extremists will get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ does not care about these questions or agrees with Trump on them .
Rather , the book is a blow-by-blow account of the factional struggles within the White House over how to wage America ’ s global conflicts and wars , dwelling in detail on disagreements about how many missiles to launch and how many people to kill .
To any decent and intelligent person , Bolton 's book is his own self-indictment as a vicious world-class war criminal .
It narrates Bolton ’ s vigorous efforts , in his official capacity , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attack Syria , North Korea and Iran , and to take a more confrontational posture toward China and Russia .
Bolton writes as a compulsive note-taker , keeping careful watch for what to use to justify the next war or his next career move .
The reader is struck above all by the very few passages in the 592-page book containing generalizations of any kind .
Bolton never actually argues for any of his preferred policies .
Rather , he simply asserts that military action of various sorts is in the national interest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ factional struggle of attrition against the “ panda huggers ” and those seeking “ innocuous ” solutions to foreign policy problems—meaning those that do not involve mass casualties .
Bolton is a professional advocate of aggressive war , a sort of Dr. Strangelove without the charm .
He somehow comes off in his writing as even more icy and detached than he does on camera .
Reading this half-deranged bureaucrat ’ s observations is unnerving , recalling Hannah Arendt ’ s observations about the banality of evil .
Throughout the conflicts Bolton narrates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ debacle facing US imperialism on the world stage .
The world depicted by Bolton is one of unending and bitter conflict , in which some choices lead to more corpses , and some lead to less , but none offer anything near the outcome the United States embarked upon when it set out to reorganize the world through military force in the wake of the dissolution of the USSR .
Contemplating withdrawal from Afghanistan , Trump screams at Defense Secretary James Mattis , according to Bolton , “ You ’ re losing , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , you failed.
” He continues , “ We ’ ve lost everything .
It was a total failure.
” Bolton ’ s book is of value primarily as an account of the policy differences between Bolton and Donald Trump , which broadly reflect the policy differences between Trump and dominant sections of the American state apparatus that led to the third impeachment of a president in American history in December 2019 .
In June 2017 , the World Socialist Web Site published a statement entitled “ Palace coup or class struggle : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ strategy of the working class , ” which argued , “ There are three basic forms of opposition to the Trump administration , representing the interests of different social classes.
” The first is “ the opposition of powerful sections of the capitalist class , ” whose differences “ with the Trump administration are centered primarily on issues of foreign policy.
” This is fundamentally distinct from “ the opposition of the working class , ” which seeks to oppose the Trump administration ’ s social policies and attacks on democratic rights .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ foreign policy can be summed up as follows : • The 2018 US attack in Syria was not big enough , and Trump was incorrect in seeking to withdraw troops from Syria .
In Bolton ’ s view , the 2018 missile strike should have “ threatened the regime itself , such as by attacking Assad ’ s palaces.
” Bolton paints General “ Mad Dog ” Mattis as an insufferable pacifist who “ pushed relentlessly for his innocuous options.
” • The greatest mistake of Trump 's presidency was calling off the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bolton , barely able to contain himself in praising the war that got away , listed the various positive aspects of the planned onslaught : “ ( 1 ) we were hitting functioning military targets , as explained above , not merely symbolic ones ; ( 2 ) we were hitting inside Iran , crossing an Iranian red line , and were certainly going to test their repeated assertions that such an attack would be met by a full-scale response ; and ( 3 ) we were hitting targets likely entailing casualties.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ called “ my base , ” abruptly called off the strike , Bolton concluded , “ In my government experience , this was the most irrational thing I ever witnessed any President do.
” • The Trump administration ’ s stated efforts to bring the war in Afghanistan to a conclusion were “ a complete debacle for US policy and for our credibility worldwide.
” • Trump is too willing to see the US-China conflict as a matter of improving the US balance of trade , and not as a struggle to cripple @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the technology firms ZTE and Huawei .
“ Trump approached trade and trade deficits as if reading a corporate balance sheet : trade deficits meant we were losing , and trade surpluses meant we were winning.
” Trump implied “ that Huawei also could be simply another US bargaining chip in the trade negotiations , '' ignoring ” the fact that Huawei “ posed enormous national-security issues , many of which we could only allude to in public statements.
” • While Trump favored dialogue with North Korea , Bolton agitated for a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ explained why and how a preemptive strike against North Korea ’ s nuclear and ballistic-missile programs would work ; how we could use massive conventional bombs against Pyongyang ’ s artillery north of the DMZ , which threatened Seoul , thereby reducing casualties dramatically.
” Bolton ’ s chilling positions on these issues are well known .
But an uncanny resemblance emerges upon reviewing the editorial line of the newspapers associated with the Democratic Party , the New York Times and Washington Post .
On December 19 , 2018 , the New York @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump ’ s Decision to Withdraw From Syria Is Alarming .
Just Ask His Advisers.
” It was less than three months ago that John Bolton , the national security adviser , declared an expanded objective for American troops in Syria .
The goal is not just defeating the Islamic State , but also ensuring that Iranian forces leave the country , he told reporters in what seemed like an authoritative statement of official policy .
Only , as is so often the case with Donald Trump ’ s chaotic presidency , it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Mr. Trump summarily overruled Mr. Bolton and the rest of his national security team .
He ordered the withdrawal of all 2,000 American ground troops from Syria within 30 days .
That abrupt and dangerous decision , detached from any broader strategic context or any public rationale , sowed new uncertainty about America ’ s commitment to the Middle East , its willingness to be a global leader and Mr. Trump ’ s role as commander in chief .
Likewise , Trump ’ s decision to call off the massive planned 2019 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pages of the New York Times and Washington Post .
“ President Trump must have something in his eye , because he keeps blinking , ” declared Washington Post columnist Max Boot .
Times columnist Bret Stephens declared that Trump had the “ strategic instincts of Dennis Kucinich , ” the anti-war Democrat .
And , in the foreign policy conflict that in recent months has come to dominate all others , the Democrats have sought to paint Trump as “ soft ” on China—a word used by both Bernie Sanders and Joe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the Times , wants to trade the United States ’ strategic interests in China for “ a Hill of Beans.
” The zenith of the palace coup opposition to Trump was the 2019-2020 presidential impeachment , whose first article , “ abuse of power , ” argued that “ Trump used the powers of the Presidency in a manner that compromised the national security of the United States ” by withholding $ 391 million in weapons to Ukraine to fight what was described as a “ hot war ” with Russia .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Bolton emerged as the principal cabinet official within the administration demanding the release of the weapons to Ukraine .
The former national security advisor emerged as a star witness in the impeachment , even though he did not testify because the Democrats , seeking a fast impeachment , did not wait for the courts to compel him to do so .
At the time , the Times editorial board declared that Bolton ’ s comments would be the equivalent of a smoking gun , asserting , “ Leaks from John Bolton ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the White House appeared to confirm the core of the impeachment case against Mr. Trump : his extortion of Ukraine by explicitly conditioning hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid on the announcement of investigations into his political rival.
” Indeed , Bolton ’ s book implies that Trump held up the aid as part of his overall struggle with his factional opponents over the origins of the Mueller investigation .
In a retelling of the July 25 phone call at the center of the impeachment , Trump tells Ukrainian President Zelensky @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about Biden ’ s son stopping the prosecution [ against those formulating and executing the Russia collusion operation ] .
He went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution .
It sounds horrible.
” ( Paraphrase in brackets is Bolton ’ s . )
In Bolton ’ s view , it was impermissible that Trump ’ s conflict with his factional rivals would imperil the shipment of weapons to Ukraine for its war against Russia , and Bolton did everything within his power to get Trump to reverse course .
Trump ultimately relented @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the broad popular hostility to Trump , impeached the president solely based on differences over foreign policy .
As such , Bolton , the notorious war criminal responsible for the Iraq war , became their political ally .
The more one reads Bolton ’ s book , the more the parallels between the positions of this notorious warmonger and that of the Democrats comes clearly into view .
As such , the book provides a stark warning : The Democrats are a pro-war party .
The struggle against war , and against the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ opposition to them .
It is not inconceivable to imagine Bolton playing a prominent role in an upcoming Democratic administration .

By Andre Damon
wsws.org
Originally published on 26 June 2020 • This is a repost.
J
ohn Bolton, the longtime Republican foreign policy operative, has published a book narrating his tenure as National Security Advisor at the White House under Donald Trump between April 9, 2018 and September 10, 2019.
Prior to his term in the Trump administration, Bolton was a leading propagandist for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He has publicly advocated military action and regime change against over a half-dozen countries in the last decade alone.
Bolton’s book has been hailed by news organizations associated with the Democratic Party as a monumental indictment of Trump. The book is “a scathing and revelatory account” of the president’s “stunning ignorance, incompetence, and corruption,” according to the New Yorker, which called it “indispensable, jaw-dropping.” It is a “withering portrait,” writes the New York Times .
Anyone expecting, based on these responses, a revelation of Donald Trump’s conspiracies against democratic rights, his attack on immigrants, or his relations with right-wing extremists will get nothing of the sort. Bolton either does not care about these questions or agrees with Trump on them.
Rather, the book is a blow-by-blow account of the factional struggles within the White House over how to wage America’s global conflicts and wars, dwelling in detail on disagreements about how many missiles to launch and how many people to kill.
To any decent and intelligent person, Bolton's book is his own self-indictment as a vicious world-class war criminal.
It narrates Bolton’s vigorous efforts, in his official capacity, to advocate for the United States to attack Syria, North Korea and Iran, and to take a more confrontational posture toward China and Russia.
Bolton writes as a compulsive note-taker, keeping careful watch for what to use to justify the next war or his next career move. The reader is struck above all by the very few passages in the 592-page book containing generalizations of any kind. Bolton never actually argues for any of his preferred policies. Rather, he simply asserts that military action of various sorts is in the national interest, then proceeds to wage a grueling factional struggle of attrition against the “panda huggers” and those seeking “innocuous” solutions to foreign policy problems—meaning those that do not involve mass casualties.
Bolton is a professional advocate of aggressive war, a sort of Dr. Strangelove without the charm. He somehow comes off in his writing as even more icy and detached than he does on camera. Reading this half-deranged bureaucrat’s observations is unnerving, recalling Hannah Arendt’s observations about the banality of evil.
Throughout the conflicts Bolton narrates, the dominant factor is the utter debacle facing US imperialism on the world stage. The world depicted by Bolton is one of unending and bitter conflict, in which some choices lead to more corpses, and some lead to less, but none offer anything near the outcome the United States embarked upon when it set out to reorganize the world through military force in the wake of the dissolution of the USSR.


thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-08-06--Beirut port fire: A crime against Lebanese workers

Please make sure these dispatches reach as many readers as possible .
Share with kin , friends and workmates and ask them to do likewise .
he catastrophic fire that engulfed the port area of Beirut Tuesday afternoon has fuelled the long-standing anger towards Lebanon ’ s ultra-rich ruling class .
The blast is a damning indictment of Lebanon ’ s political elite , which allowed vast quantities of highly explosive ammonium nitrate to be stored in a wharfside warehouse for years without proper safety controls .
It is one of a number of recent disasters across the world that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ collectively constitute a searing indictment of capitalism and of the world ’ s ruling elites—including the Grenfell Tower inferno in London in 2017 , the 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka , Bangladesh , BP ’ s 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico , and , most deadly of all , the coronavirus pandemic .
The fire that followed two massive explosions has killed at least 135 people and injured 5,000 others .
Those killed and missing include Lebanese soldiers , firefighters and first responders .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ rescue workers sift through the rubble of the tens of thousands of buildings that have been destroyed or damaged .
As the brown haze and fumes from the massive explosions lifted , Beirut appeared as a war zone , with destruction more extensive than after weeks of intensive shelling during Lebanon ’ s civil war of 1975-1989 .
The damage has extended across half the city , at a cost estimated at $ 3 billion , with 300,000 people now homeless , according to the city ’ s governor , Marwan Abboud , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in short supply .
The poorly equipped health care system , already overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic , has suffered damage to several of its hospitals .
Inundated with patients , medical workers are being forced to triage patients outside , while the Red Cross is working with the government to set up morgues .
Although the cause of the blast is still to be officially identified , senior officials told news agencies that the probable cause was the ammonium nitrate , stored at the port ’ s Warehouse 12 , which ignited @ @ @ @ @ @ @ warehouse .
The chemical was being stored after it was confiscated from the Rhosus , a Moldovan-flagged ship , in 2014 .
According to the Guardian , the ship was owned by Teto Shipping , whose owner-manager Igor Grechushkin , a Russian national , is believed to be living in Cyprus .
He abandoned the ship that had been sailing from Georgia to Mozambique via Beirut after a dispute with the port authorities , leaving his sailors stranded with wages unpaid for nearly a year .
The ship ’ s former captain sent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ complaining about being “ held hostage ” on board the ship .
He wrote that the Beirut authorities “ don ’ t want an abandoned ship at port , especially with a cargo of explosives , which is what ammonium nitrate is .
That is , this is a floating bomb , and the crew is a hostage aboard this bomb.
” Yet it took a year before the crew were released from the ship and the ammonium nitrate was confiscated and warehoused .
Ammonium nitrate is a powerful chemical , normally used @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Its dangers are well known .
The deadly risks of storing it in a port were tragically confirmed in 2015 , when a series of explosions , one of which involved the detonation of about 336 tons of ammonium nitrate , killed 173 people and injured hundreds of others at a container storage depot at the Chinese port of Tianjin .
Fires caused by the initial explosions continued to burn , resulting in further explosions .
The amount of ammonium nitrate stored at the port of Beirut was far greater .
Prime Minister @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unacceptable that a shipment of ammonium nitrate estimated at 2,750 tons has been present for six years in a warehouse without taking preventive measures that endanger the safety of citizens.
” The explosion produced was a fifth as powerful as that produced by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima .
Diab declared three days of national mourning for the victims of the explosion , made the usual promises about bringing those responsible to justice and promised they would “ pay the price.
” He called on “ friendly countries ” to help .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ authorities are reportedly under house arrest .
The government has now declared a state of emergency , placing Beirut under military law for the next two weeks .
Diab ’ s announcement did nothing to stop US President Donald Trump declaring at a press conference on Tuesday that the explosion “ looks like a terrible attack.
” He said that the US military thought it was the result of a bomb , a suggestion the Pentagon sought to distance itself from .
Trump ’ s baseless remarks indicate the degree to which he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ terrorism , to be used as a potential casus belli .
One can only imagine his response had the explosion occurred in China or Russia , let alone in the US .
According to Reuters , despite several investigations and official orders to remove the chemical from the warehouse , nothing was done .
An unnamed official familiar with the first investigation said , “ It is negligence , ” adding that the issue of safely storing the powerful chemical had come before several committees and judges and “ nothing was done ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of .
Reuters cited another source as saying that a team that had inspected the material six months ago warned it could “ blow up all of Beirut ” if not removed .
The blast will have devastating economic , social and political consequences .
Diab ’ s government , brought to power after last October ’ s mass protests against poverty , government mismanagement , corruption and political sectarianism , was already subject to repeated demands to stand down .
The country of 6 million people , including 2 million refugees , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its worst ever economic and financial crisis—including a currency that has lost 80 percent of its value in recent weeks , soaring inflation , the doubling of food prices and widespread and ever-expanding poverty , exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic .
Last November , well before the pandemic , the World Bank estimated that 45 percent of Lebanon ’ s people lived below the poverty line , up from 33 percent before September , with 22 percent living in extreme poverty .
It predicted the country ’ s impending bankruptcy would lead to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2020 .
The damage to the port is likely to cause shortages of essential items such as food , fuel , and medical supplies as the country imports most basic commodities .
The port handles 60 percent of Lebanon ’ s imports , which the northern port of Tripoli is ill-equipped to replace under conditions where the country is bounded by war-torn Syria and Israel , with whom it is officially still in a state of war .
The fire has damaged or destroyed the grain terminal and the silos that normally hold @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cereals , largely from Russia and Ukraine , although its stocks were considerably lower than usual due to a widespread shortage of bread during the pandemic .
Last April , amid an expected shortage of wheat and other essential items , the government warned of an impending food shortage and announced it would import extra wheat on its own account—most wheat is imported by private mills—the first time since 2014 .
It was unclear how it would pay for this , given Lebanon ’ s shortage of foreign currency reserves .
The destruction @ @ @ @ @ @ @ left the country , which imports more than 80 percent of its grains , with less than a month ’ s reserves .
This did not stop Raoul Nehmen , the economy minister , claiming Wednesday , “ There is no bread or flour crisis , ” and “ We have enough inventory and boats on their way to cover the needs of Lebanon on the long term .
”

Please make sure these dispatches reach as many readers as possible. Share with kin, friends and workmates and ask them to do likewise.
By Jean Shaoul
WSWS.ORG
6 August 2020
T
he catastrophic fire that engulfed the port area of Beirut Tuesday afternoon has fuelled the long-standing anger towards Lebanon’s ultra-rich ruling class.
The blast is a damning indictment of Lebanon’s political elite, which allowed vast quantities of highly explosive ammonium nitrate to be stored in a wharfside warehouse for years without proper safety controls.
It is one of a number of recent disasters across the world that were entirely foreseeable and preventable, which collectively constitute a searing indictment of capitalism and of the world’s ruling elites—including the Grenfell Tower inferno in London in 2017, the 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, BP’s 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and, most deadly of all, the coronavirus pandemic.
The fire that followed two massive explosions has killed at least 135 people and injured 5,000 others. Those killed and missing include Lebanese soldiers, firefighters and first responders. These numbers are expected to rise as rescue workers sift through the rubble of the tens of thousands of buildings that have been destroyed or damaged.
As the brown haze and fumes from the massive explosions lifted, Beirut appeared as a war zone, with destruction more extensive than after weeks of intensive shelling during Lebanon’s civil war of 1975-1989. The damage has extended across half the city, at a cost estimated at $3 billion, with 300,000 people now homeless, according to the city’s governor, Marwan Abboud, in a city where housing was already in short supply.
The poorly equipped health care system, already overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic, has suffered damage to several of its hospitals. Inundated with patients, medical workers are being forced to triage patients outside, while the Red Cross is working with the government to set up morgues.
Although the cause of the blast is still to be officially identified, senior officials told news agencies that the probable cause was the ammonium nitrate, stored at the port’s Warehouse 12, which ignited after welding work set fire to the warehouse.
The chemical was being stored after it was confiscated from the Rhosus, a Moldovan-flagged ship, in 2014. According to the Guardian, the ship was owned by Teto Shipping, whose owner-manager Igor Grechushkin, a Russian national, is believed to be living in Cyprus. He abandoned the ship that had been sailing from Georgia to Mozambique via Beirut after a dispute with the port authorities, leaving his sailors stranded with wages unpaid for nearly a year.
The ship’s former captain sent a letter in 2014 to Russian journalists complaining about being “held hostage” on board the ship. He wrote that the Beirut authorities “don’t want an abandoned ship at port, especially with a cargo of explosives, which is what ammonium nitrate is. That is, this is a floating bomb, and the crew is a hostage aboard this bomb.”
Yet it took a year before the crew were released from the ship and the ammonium nitrate was confiscated and warehoused.
Ammonium nitrate is a powerful chemical, normally used in fertiliser production and mine explosives. Its dangers are well known. The deadly risks of storing it in a port were tragically confirmed in 2015, when a series of explosions, one of which involved the detonation of about 336 tons of ammonium nitrate, killed 173 people and injured hundreds of others at a container storage depot at the Chinese port of Tianjin. Fires caused by the initial explosions continued to burn, resulting in further explosions.
The amount of ammonium nitrate stored at the port of Beirut was far greater. Prime Minister Hassan Diab tweeted, “It is unacceptable that a shipment of ammonium nitrate estimated at 2,750 tons has been present for six years in a warehouse without taking preventive measures that endanger the safety of citizens.”
The explosion produced was a fifth as powerful as that produced by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Diab declared three days of national mourning for the victims of the explosion, made the usual promises about bringing those responsible to justice and promised they would “pay the price.” He called on “friendly countries” to help.
Leading officials at the port and customs authorities are reportedly under house arrest. The government has now declared a state of emergency, placing Beirut under military law for the next two weeks.
Diab’s announcement did nothing to stop US President Donald Trump declaring at a press conference on Tuesday that the explosion “looks like a terrible attack.”
He said that the US military thought it was the result of a bomb, a suggestion the Pentagon sought to distance itself from. Trump’s baseless remarks indicate the degree to which he is prepared to attribute any event to terrorism, to be used as a potential casus belli. One can only imagine his response had the explosion occurred in China or Russia, let alone in the US.
According to Reuters, despite several investigations and official orders to remove the chemical from the warehouse, nothing was done. An unnamed official familiar with the first investigation said, “It is negligence,” adding that the issue of safely storing the powerful chemical had come before several committees and judges and “nothing was done” to order the material removed or disposed of.
Reuters cited another source as saying that a team that had inspected the material six months ago warned it could “blow up all of Beirut” if not removed.
The blast will have devastating economic, social and political consequences. Diab’s government, brought to power after last October’s mass protests against poverty, government mismanagement, corruption and political sectarianism, was already subject to repeated demands to stand down.
The country of 6 million people, including 2 million refugees, is already reeling under the impact of its worst ever economic and financial crisis—including a currency that has lost 80 percent of its value in recent weeks, soaring inflation, the doubling of food prices and widespread and ever-expanding poverty, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Last November, well before the pandemic, the World Bank estimated that 45 percent of Lebanon’s people lived below the poverty line, up from 33 percent before September, with 22 percent living in extreme poverty. It predicted the country’s impending bankruptcy would lead to a further rise to 50 percent in 2020.
The damage to the port is likely to cause shortages of essential items such as food, fuel, and medical supplies as the country imports most basic commodities. The port handles 60 percent of Lebanon’s imports, which the northern port of Tripoli is ill-equipped to replace under conditions where the country is bounded by war-torn Syria and Israel, with whom it is officially still in a state of war.
The fire has damaged or destroyed the grain terminal and the silos that normally hold 85 percent of the country’s cereals, largely from Russia and Ukraine, although its stocks were considerably lower than usual due to a widespread shortage of bread during the pandemic.
Last April, amid an expected shortage of wheat and other essential items, the government warned of an impending food shortage and announced it would import extra wheat on its own account—most wheat is imported by private mills—the first time since 2014. It was unclear how it would pay for this, given Lebanon’s shortage of foreign currency reserves.
The destruction of the port’s granary has left the country, which imports more than 80 percent of its grains, with less than a month’s reserves. This did not stop Raoul Nehmen, the economy minister, claiming Wednesday, “There is no bread or flour crisis,” and “We have enough inventory and boats on their way to cover the needs of Lebanon on the long term.”