thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-04-23--The AngloZionists are launching a strategic PSYOP against China

Russia did play a crucial role here , since it was in its informational war against Russia that the leaders of the Empire came up with what I now call the “ Skripal rules of evidence ” aka “ highly likely ” .
This latest principle being subserviently accepted by all Europeans in the name of “ solidarity ” ( solidarity with what exactly is rarely specified ) , it was , shall we say , “ naively reasonable ” that it would work this time around again .
Again , I am personally not so sure about that at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ past two years : not only did the Europeans eventually find out how utterly stupid and incredible the entire Skripal fairy tale was , but the level of disgust and even hatred with Trump and the USA has sharply gone up .
Furthermore , China has a lot more to offer to Europe , than the disintegrating ( dis- ) United States – so why side with the losing party ?
Last , but most certainly not least , the Europeans will find out ( and some already have ) , that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about not only regular Europeans , but even about the European ruling classes .
While there are very few truly intelligent people left in the US government , there are still plenty of “ horizontally clever ” ones and it did not take them long to find out that this pandemic gave then a golden opportunity to pin all their own failures and mistakes on China .
The elements ?
Simple really : • Anti-Chinese propaganda has a long history in the USA and it was really easy to re-kindle it .
• @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reaction to the word “ Communist ” so it is really easy for any US propaganda outlet to mention the CCP and “ lies ” in the same sentence and sound credible , irrespective of what else the sentence claims ( like , say , factual evidence ) .
• The US plutocracy is terrified of the Chinese economic and industrial power , hence the vilification of companies like Huawei or DJI which are declared a national security threat to the USA .
Blame everything on the Chinese and the US oligarchs will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are in a relationship which is even far deeper than an alliance .
I call it a “ symbiosis ” while the Chinese speak of a “ Strategic comprehensive partnership of coordination for the new era ” while the Russians speak of a “ crucial alliance ” .
The terms don ’ t really matter here , what matters is that Russia and China are standing together ( that is what they mean by “ coordinating ” ) against the Empire and that the ( admittedly few and clumsy ) US attempts are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ • As with any new pandemic , it did take China time to figure out the nature of what was happening and it was extremely easy to accuse China of deliberate obfuscation ( while keeping the fact that China did inform the world as early as December 31st is , obviously omitted , as is the presence of a multi-national WHO delegation to investigate this issue .
In reality , one might as well accuse China of being TOO open , and allowing various estimates and hypotheses to circulate even before the Chinese @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It is a perfect case of dammed if you do and damned if you don ’ t .
• The US political culture is that 99.99 % of US Americans will believe literally ANY lie , no matter how self-evidently stupid , about the rest of the world than accepting any unpleasant truth about the USA .
So scapegoating another power , especially a Communist one , gets a knee-jerk reaction of approval from the overwhelming majority of US Americans .
• When the WHO clearly did not buy into the US propaganda @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump to defund it .
Not only did the USA already owe the WHO millions of dollars ( 50-200 , depending on who you ask ) , so the easy pretext not to pay was to accuse it of being pro-Chinese .
It is obvious that Trump has no use for the UN other than as a whipping boy , and this was a prefect way to target it again .
• As with any scary event , a true tsunami of completely unsubstantiated and outright silly rumors began as soon as it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ event and all the US propaganda machine had to do was to speak in serious tones about some of these rumors and to make it appear that the media was “ just reporting ” rather than planting stories .
• China is also a major threat to US interests in Asia , and this pandemic provided a perfect opportunity for the USA to present reports from Taiwan as reports from China ( that is an old trick ) .
As for the Taiwanese government , they were more than happy to find yet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nothing new here either .
• Finally , US economists did not take long to figure out that this pandemic would have devastating effect on the “ best economy in the history of the galaxy ” so preemptively blaming it all on China is the perfect way for Trump and his Neocon masters to deflect the blame from them .
The stories which were then planted were truly magnificent .
Here are a few of my personal favorites • FBI Says Foreign States Hacked US Research Centers Seeking COVID-19 Breakthroughs ( though this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not Russia or China , it sets the “ we are under attack ” tone very well : notice the plural in “ foreign states “ ) .
• Has a study proven that the coronavirus was a human creation , as claimed by a French Nobel Prize winner in medicine ?
( excellent move , it gives authority to the argument by quoting a celebrity , nevermind that there are many more credible voices saying that this theory is baloney ) .
There are many more , I am sure that you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and inevitably , this strategic PSYOP upped the ante and FOXnews ( logically ) aired this true masterpiece : “ Sen .
Hawley : Let coronavirus victims sue Chinese Communist Party “ .
Truly , this is brilliant .
“ I lost my job , let the evil Chinese commies pay me back ” is music to the ears of most US Americans .
Right now , most of the US statements are simply lies , but as China will , with time , eventually release more corrected and accurate information , these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the proof that initially the Chinese were deliberately lying and not as the effect of the Chinese themselves gradually getting a better picture of what actually happened .
Again , this is the typical case of dammed if you don ’ t and dammed if you do .
I should mention that there is another reason which might contribute to the decision of the US to blame it all on China : it is still not clear where this virus came from , but one possibility is that it originated in the USA @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Americans ( whether deliberately or not is not the issue here ) .
As for the reports which claim that the US is deliberately covering up the real magnitude of the disaster in the USA , they are ignored .
Furthermore , it is now painfully obvious that the US politicians totally misread the situation and began by saying either that it was a Chinese problem or that it was “ no worse than the seasonal flu ” , or both .
This is just the latest case of what I call the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leaders to believe in their own propaganda only to find out that reality still exists out there and that it is dramatically different from the delusions held by most US Americans .
Now all these US politicians ( the Republicrats as much as the Demoblicans ) all have to run and cover their collective butts .
What better way to achieve that than to blame it all on China ?
As I said above , this his clever , but definitely not very intelligent .
The USA is already locked in an unwinnable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remind everybody , this war is 80 % informational , 15 % economic and only 5 % kinetic ) .
To open a full-scale “ second front ” makes sense in terms of short term political expediency , especially in an election year , but in the long term it is self-defeating and disastrous .
In fact , if there is anything history teaches us , is that opening a second front when you can ’ t even handle the first one is suicidal .
But who cares about history , especially in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
And , besides , when you are both totally exceptional and totally superior , why would you care about the history of the common “ deplorable ” people and nations out there ?
Just call them “ shit holes ” and wave your ( Chinese made ) flag .
That is what passes for “ looking Presidential ” these days… Regardless of anything said above , the momentum of this sinophobic campaign is too big to be reversed or stopped .
And since most of the US political class supports it , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ US Presidential election ( assuming it takes place ) .
Still , all this begs the question : what did really happen ?
What is the truth ?
The truth is that nobody really knows .
It will probably take years to get the full picture and , even more so , the correct numbers .
What correct numbers ?
Well , ALL of them : carriers , resistance , age groups , comorbidity , the exact characteristics of this virus ( and of its various mutations ) , how effective the various @ @ @ @ @ @ @ help , its side effects , whether the BCG vaccine somehow helps the body to fight off the virus , etc .
Right now , I don ’ t believe that anybody really knows , even the percentage of asymptomatic carriers changes by an order of magnitude depending on whom you ask .
Sure , some guesses are closer to the truth than others , by definition , but which ones are closer is still very hard to ascertain .
They key thing to keep in mind now is that most of what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ common with any scientific investigation .
What we see is an attempt to use this pandemic for political , financial and geostrategic purposes .
And please don ’ t think that it is only Trump !
Just remember what Pelosi was saying as late as February !
That was almost two months after China had warned the WHO that there was a major crisis developing !
But Pelosi , just like Trump , only thinks about power , money and influence , not the safety of the “ deplorables ” which the Dems @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Republicans , of course , they just don ’ t say so openly like Hillary did ; but just Trump ’ s “ grab them by the pussy ” says all you need to know about his true respect for his fellow human beings ! )
.
Then there is another very real risk : as the situation gets worse and worse for the USA and , specifically , for Trump ’ s reelection , he might well decide to do what many politicians do in such a situation : start a big @ @ @ @ @ @ @ US clearly had no stomach to start a war with Iran , but now that the pandemic is crippling the world economy and that all the ugly sides of the transnational capitalist system are becoming obvious , I would not put it past Trump to start a war with Iran just to deflect the many accusations against him .
The Idiot-in-Chief has now ordered USN forces off the coast of Iran to , I kid you not , “ shoot down & destroy ” any Iranian gunboat which would “ harass ” the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not understand that should any USN ship execute any such order it would soon find itself dealing with a swarm of Iranian anti-shipping missiles .
Clearly , messianic narcissism and a rabid megalomania simply don ’ t allow Trump to understand that the Iranians are for real , that they absolutely mean business and that they , unlike the US , have carefully modeled the consequences of any war between Iran and the USA and while they won ’ t deliberately provoke such a war , they will fight it if needed , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ US .
US politicians remind me of a person living in a arctic cabin who decides to burn down the cabin to get much needed heat : sure , this strategy will work , for a while , but only at the cost of a much bigger disaster down the road .
This is what pretty much ALL US politicians did with this pandemic , and this is why they will never ever accept any responsibility for anything .
Check out this cute little donkey on the right .
Would he not make @ @ @ @ @ @ @ US political parties and for the many US politicians who can think of nothing else than covering him ?
There is one more thing I would like to mention here : there are a lot of folks out there who like to carefully note all the instances when somebody predicted that this pandemic would happen .
They take these warning statements as evidence of a conspiracy .
The truth is that the scientific community and even the general public ( at least those few who still read books ) fully knew that it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ such a pandemic would happen , because our society made such an event inevitable .
Just one example : In distant 1995 the US journalist Lorrie Garrett published an excellent book called “ The Coming Plague : Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance ” in which she explained why and even how a global pandemic would naturally emerge due to the very nature of our modern society .
I highly recommend this book in spite of the fact that it is now a quarter of a century old : it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ read , and it makes a very strong case that such pandemics were inevitable ( and with no need to appeal to unsubstantiated biowarfare theories ) .
History will show that we all , our entire planet , did not take this and many other warnings seriously .
Ask yourself , what is easier for a politician : to accept that our entire socio-political order is unsustainable and outright dangerous ( or “ out of balance ” to use Garrett ’ s expression ) , or to blame it all on the Chinese @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” ?
I think that the answer is self-evident .

The Saker
Op E ds
[dropcap]M[/dropcap]aybe the “the Russians did it” narrative is getting stale. Or maybe the leaders of the Empire have finally figured out that China is even more dangerous to the Empire than Russia. But my personal gut feeling is simply that the AngloZionists are freaking out about the “full-spectrum” loss of face they suffered with their massive mishandling (medically and, even more so, politically!) of this pandemic-induced socio-economic crisis and that they now are pointing fingers pretty much at everybody (including each other).
Russia did play a crucial role here, since it was in its informational war against Russia that the leaders of the Empire came up with what I now call the “Skripal rules of evidence” aka “highly likely”. This latest principle being subserviently accepted by all Europeans in the name of “solidarity” (solidarity with what exactly is rarely specified), it was, shall we say, “naively reasonable” that it would work this time around again. Again, I am personally not so sure about that at all. Much has changed over the past two years: not only did the Europeans eventually find out how utterly stupid and incredible the entire Skripal fairy tale was, but the level of disgust and even hatred with Trump and the USA has sharply gone up. Furthermore, China has a lot more to offer to Europe, than the disintegrating (dis-)United States – so why side with the losing party? Last, but most certainly not least, the Europeans will find out (and some already have), that the US literally does not give a damn about not only regular Europeans, but even about the European ruling classes.
[Sidebar: a quick study of history shows that when exploiting elites are doing great, they all faithfully support each other, but when things start to go south, they immediately turn on each other. The best recent example of this phenomenon is the schism in the US ruling elites who, since the election of Trump, have immediately turned on each other and are now viciously fighting like “spiders in a can” (to use a Russian expression). In fact, this is so true that it can even be used as a very reliable diagnostic tool: when your enemies are all united, then they are probably confident in their victory, but as soon as they turn on each other, you *know* that things are looking very bad for your opponents. Likewise, we now see how southern Europeans are getting really angry with their northern “EU allies” (Macron seems to be falling in line behind Trump even if he uses a more careful and diplomatic language). Finally, the way the US CIA has one foreign policy, the Pentagon another and Foggy Bottom one of its own (even if limited to sanctions and finger-pointing) tells you pretty much all you need to know to see how deep the systemic crisis of the Empire has become.]
While there are very few truly intelligent people left in the US government, there are still plenty of “horizontally clever” ones and it did not take them long to find out that this pandemic gave then a golden opportunity to pin all their own failures and mistakes on China. The elements? Simple really:
Anti-Chinese propaganda has a long history in the USA and it was really easy to re-kindle it. Most US Americans have a completely irrational reaction to the word “Communist” so it is really easy for any US propaganda outlet to mention the CCP and “lies” in the same sentence and sound credible, irrespective of what else the sentence claims (like, say, factual evidence). The US plutocracy is terrified of the Chinese economic and industrial power, hence the vilification of companies like Huawei or DJI which are declared a national security threat to the USA. Blame everything on the Chinese and the US oligarchs will love it! China and Russia are in a relationship which is even far deeper than an alliance. I call it a “symbiosis” while the Chinese speak of a “Strategic comprehensive partnership of coordination for the new era” while the Russians speak of a “crucial alliance”. The terms don’t really matter here, what matters is that Russia and China are standing together ( that is what they mean by “coordinating”) against the Empire and that the (admittedly few and clumsy) US attempts are breaking this alliance have totally failed. As with any new pandemic, it did take China time to figure out the nature of what was happening and it was extremely easy to accuse China of deliberate obfuscation (while keeping the fact that China did inform the world as early as December 31st is, obviously omitted, as is the presence of a multi-national WHO delegation to investigate this issue. In reality, one might as well accuse China of being TOO open, and allowing various estimates and hypotheses to circulate even before the Chinese government had all the facts established. It is a perfect case of dammed if you do and damned if you don’t. The US political culture is that 99.99% of US Americans will believe literally ANY lie, no matter how self-evidently stupid, about the rest of the world than accepting any unpleasant truth about the USA. So scapegoating another power, especially a Communist one, gets a knee-jerk reaction of approval from the overwhelming majority of US Americans. When the WHO clearly did not buy into the US propaganda, it was a great move for Trump to defund it. Not only did the USA already owe the WHO millions of dollars (50-200, depending on who you ask), so the easy pretext not to pay was to accuse it of being pro-Chinese. It is obvious that Trump has no use for the UN other than as a whipping boy, and this was a prefect way to target it again. As with any scary event, a true tsunami of completely unsubstantiated and outright silly rumors began as soon as it was clear that this was a major event and all the US propaganda machine had to do was to speak in serious tones about some of these rumors and to make it appear that the media was “just reporting” rather than planting stories. China is also a major threat to US interests in Asia, and this pandemic provided a perfect opportunity for the USA to present reports from Taiwan as reports from China (that is an old trick). As for the Taiwanese government, they were more than happy to find yet another pretext to hate on China, nothing new here either. Finally, US economists did not take long to figure out that this pandemic would have devastating effect on the “best economy in the history of the galaxy” so preemptively blaming it all on China is the perfect way for Trump and his Neocon masters to deflect the blame from them.
The stories which were then planted were truly magnificent. Here are a few of my personal favorites
There are many more, I am sure that you have seen them too.
Eventually, and inevitably, this strategic PSYOP upped the ante and FOXnews (logically) aired this true masterpiece: “Sen. Hawley: Let coronavirus victims sue Chinese Communist Party“. Truly, this is brilliant. “I lost my job, let the evil Chinese commies pay me back” is music to the ears of most US Americans.
Right now, most of the US statements are simply lies, but as China will, with time, eventually release more corrected and accurate information, these corrected/updated statistics will immediately be interpreted as the proof that initially the Chinese were deliberately lying and not as the effect of the Chinese themselves gradually getting a better picture of what actually happened. Again, this is the typical case of dammed if you don’t and dammed if you do.
I should mention that there is another reason which might contribute to the decision of the US to blame it all on China: it is still not clear where this virus came from, but one possibility is that it originated in the USA and was brought to China by US Americans (whether deliberately or not is not the issue here). As for the reports which claim that the US is deliberately covering up the real magnitude of the disaster in the USA, they are ignored.
Furthermore, it is now painfully obvious that the US politicians totally misread the situation and began by saying either that it was a Chinese problem or that it was “no worse than the seasonal flu”, or both. This is just the latest case of what I call the “US narcissistic messianism” leading US leaders to believe in their own propaganda only to find out that reality still exists out there and that it is dramatically different from the delusions held by most US Americans.
Now all these US politicians (the Republicrats as much as the Demoblicans) all have to run and cover their collective butts. What better way to achieve that than to blame it all on China?
As I said above, this his clever, but definitely not very intelligent.
The USA is already locked in an unwinnable war against Russia (as I always remind everybody, this war is 80% informational, 15% economic and only 5% kinetic). To open a full-scale “second front” makes sense in terms of short term political expediency, especially in an election year, but in the long term it is self-defeating and disastrous. In fact,if there is anything history teaches us, is that opening a second front when you can’t even handle the first one is suicidal. But who cares about history, especially in the “United States of Amnesia”? And, besides, when you are both totally exceptional and totally superior, why would you care about the history of the common “deplorable” people and nations out there? Just call them “shit holes” and wave your (Chinese made) flag. That is what passes for “looking Presidential” these days…
Regardless of anything said above, the momentum of this sinophobic campaign is too big to be reversed or stopped. And since most of the US political class supports it, this will probably continue even after the US Presidential election (assuming it takes place).
Still, all this begs the question: what did really happen? What is the truth?
The truth is that nobody really knows. It will probably take years to get the full picture and, even more so, the correct numbers. What correct numbers? Well, ALL of them: carriers, resistance, age groups, comorbidity, the exact characteristics of this virus (and of its various mutations), how effective the various tests are, which antiviral medication might help, its side effects, whether the BCG vaccine somehow helps the body to fight off the virus, etc.
Right now, I don’t believe that anybody really knows, even the percentage of asymptomatic carriers changes by an order of magnitude depending on whom you ask. Sure, some guesses are closer to the truth than others, by definition, but which ones are closer is still very hard to ascertain.
They key thing to keep in mind now is that most of what we see now has very little in common with any scientific investigation. What we see is an attempt to use this pandemic for political, financial and geostrategic purposes.
And please don’t think that it is only Trump! Just remember what Pelosi was saying as late as February!
That was almost two months after China had warned the WHO that there was a major crisis developing!
But Pelosi, just like Trump, only thinks about power, money and influence, not the safety of the “deplorables” which the Dems hate so much (as do the Republicans, of course, they just don’t say so openly like Hillary did; but just Trump’s “grab them by the pussy” says all you need to know about his true respect for his fellow human beings!).
Then there is another very real risk: as the situation gets worse and worse for the USA and, specifically, for Trump’s reelection, he might well decide to do what many politicians do in such a situation: start a big war. Before the pandemic, the US clearly had no stomach to start a war with Iran, but now that the pandemic is crippling the world economy and that all the ugly sides of the transnational capitalist system are becoming obvious, I would not put it past Trump to start a war with Iran just to deflect the many accusations against him. The Idiot-in-Chief has now ordered USN forces off the coast of Iran to, I kid you not, “shoot down & destroy” any Iranian gunboat which would “harass” the USN. Apparently, he still cannot understand that should any USN ship execute any such order it would soon find itself dealing with a swarm of Iranian anti-shipping missiles. Clearly, messianic narcissism and a rabid megalomania simply don’t allow Trump to understand that the Iranians are for real, that they absolutely mean business and that they, unlike the US, have carefully modeled the consequences of any war between Iran and the USA and while they won’t deliberately provoke such a war, they will fight it if needed, with infinitely more staying power than the US.
[Sidebar: Like a typical US flag-waving politician, Trump probably thinks that if all goes to hell, the US can nuke Iran and prevail. He is right about the former, but oh SO wrong about the latter. If nukes are used against Iran, then there will be a total and long war to kick both the US and the Zionist entity out of the Middle-East. But that is a topic for another day.]
US politicians remind me of a person living in a arctic cabin who decides to burn down the cabin to get much needed heat: sure, this strategy will work, for a while, but only at the cost of a much bigger disaster down the road. This is what pretty much ALL US politicians did with this pandemic, and this is why they will never ever accept any responsibility for anything.
Check out this cute little donkey on the right.
Would he not make the perfect mascot and symbol for both US political parties and for the many US politicians who can think of nothing else than covering him?
There is one more thing I would like to mention here: there are a lot of folks out there who like to carefully note all the instances when somebody predicted that this pandemic would happen. They take these warning statements as evidence of a conspiracy. The truth is that the scientific community and even the general public (at least those few who still read books) fully knew that it was just a matter of time before such a pandemic would happen, because our society made such an event inevitable. Just one example:
In distant 1995 the US journalist Lorrie Garrett published an excellent book called “The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance” in which she explained why and even how a global pandemic would naturally emerge due to the very nature of our modern society. I highly recommend this book in spite of the fact that it is now a quarter of a century old: it is very well written, easy to read, and it makes a very strong case that such pandemics were inevitable (and with no need to appeal to unsubstantiated biowarfare theories).
History will show that we all, our entire planet, did not take this and many other warnings seriously. Ask yourself, what is easier for a politician: to accept that our entire socio-political order is unsustainable and outright dangerous (or “out of balance” to use Garrett’s expression), or to blame it all on the Chinese commies and their “secret biowarfare program”?
I think that the answer is self-evident.
—The Saker


thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-04-23--Mexican annals: No weapon too dirty or criminal against the Zapata revolution

Please make sure these dispatches reach as many readers as possible .
Share with kin , friends and workmates and ask them to do likewise .
Jan Martinez Ahrens ( SPAIN ) FIRST RUN ON 2 DEC 2016 EDITED AND TRANSLATED BY PATRICE GREANVILLE EL PAIS ( SPAIN ) FIRST RUN ON 2 DEC 2016EDITED AND TRANSLATED BY PATRICE GREANVILLE A new study brings to light the war of extermination that the Mexican government , supported by the United States , waged a century ago against the revolutionary with chemical weapons , deportations and mass torture .
Legend has it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ proves it every day .
Almost a hundred years after his assassination , the figure of the revolutionary , general-in-chief of the Liberation Army of the South , continues to inflame the imagination of Mexicans .
Proletarian , rebel and often visionary , Zapata ( 1879-1919 ) embodies the ideals of a troubled age like no other .
His years of struggle and glory are those of a country at war with itself .
A ruthless time on which Mexico built its current structure and from which not even Zapata could escape .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ official iconography has provided , a detailed investigation by the historian Francisco Pineda shows how Zapata , already a living myth , was viciously persecuted by the Venustiano Carranza regime ( 1859-1920 ) and also how to defeat him .
Constitutionalist government did not hesitate to unleash a war of extermination .
Chemical weapons , indiscriminate torture and even the enslavement of prisoners were used to subdue a man who never knelt .
“ The Mexican Revolution was paradoxical and complex .
And there is an attempt by certain sectors to claim the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which is one hundred years old on February 5 , into a symbol of continuity and stability , when it is not so : Mexico is a nation in permanent conflict traumatic and fascinating .
That is Zapata ’ s lesson ” , explains the professor-researcher of the Colegio de México , Carlos Marichal .
The war of extermination , of which few details were known , illustrates one of the darkest moments of the Mexican Revolution .
On September 26 , 1915 , with General Victoriano Huerta already overthrown but with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one of his confidants , General Pablo González , to crush the Southern Revolution , the peasant liberation movement led by Zapata .
A former farmer and military knight , the revolutionary had entered the arena of history after leading the agrarian protests in Morelos and joining in 1910 the uprising of Francisco I. Madero that started the Revolution .
But with victory achieved and the dictator Porfirio Díaz exiled , Zapata charted his own course and refused to demobilize his troops .
For him , war had another purpose .
Achieve the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thousands of peasants from centuries of landowner oppression .
And not only that .
José Venustiano Carranza de la Garza ( 29 December 1859 – 21 May 1920 ) was one of the main leaders of the Mexican Revolution , whose victorious northern revolutionary Constitutionalist Army defeated the counter-revolutionary regime of Victoriano Huerta ( February 1913 – July 1914 ) and then defeated fellow revolutionaries after Huerta ’ s ouster .
He secured power in Mexico , serving as head of state from 1915 to 1917 .
With the promulgation of a new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was elected president , serving from 1917 to 1920 .
< .. > Carranza was from a rich , northern landowning family ; despite his position as head of the northern revolutionary movement , he was concerned that Mexico ’ s land tenure not be fundamentally restructured by the Revolution .
He was far more conservative than either southern peasant leader Emiliano Zapata or northern revolutionary general Pancho Villa .
Once firmly in power in Mexico , Carranza sought to eliminate his political rivals .
With a much more advanced vision than Pancho @ @ @ @ @ @ @ advocated for the right to strike , the recognition of indigenous peoples and the emancipation of women .
But its strength was not only based on a political program capable of blowing up bourgeois conventions .
That peasant turned revolutionary had on one side an army ready to die at his command and on the other , thousands of peasants to whom he had given back bread and pride .
It was not long until he was seen as the great enemy to beat by Carrancista power .
The offensive was relentless .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ help of the United States .
Carranza in December 1914 barely had 1,700 rifles ; in less than a year , Washington provided him with more than 53,000 , ” says Pineda .
With this support , Carranza and his generals went to work and as early as February 1916 they began to manufacture , with machinery imported from the United States , the grenades for the suffocating gas with which they intended to annihilate the Zapatistas .
“ Possibly they were prepared with phosgene , a colorless poison with a green corn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Pineda explains .
Together with the chemical arsenal , the Carrancistas devised a war plan following in the footsteps of the bloody Cuban campaigns of the Spanish general Valeriano Weyler .
Likewise , they secured the Federal District with a line of trenches of more than 100 kilometers and collected intelligence information , through the widespread use of torture , to learn the location and movements of the enemy to the millimeter .
On March 12 , 1916 the invasion began .
The terror machine unfolded .
Villages were burned and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ summarily executed , and thousands were concentrated and deported .
“ The objective was to force the Zapatistas to do more to survive than to fight .
This facilitated the extermination tasks , “ says Pineda .
The first hit was successful .
The scorched earth strategy pushed back the Zapatistas and devastated the civilian population .
Immense columns of women , children and the elderly roamed the moors in search of food .
When hunger didn ’ t kill them , bullets did .
Terror haunted them .
The Carrancista high command @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deportations to the Yucatan and enslaved entire populations in labor camps .
Anyone who tried to flee was executed without further ado .
Also those who approach closer than 60 meters a railroad or who walked on roads and sidewalks without safeguards or who were simply suspected of serving Zapatismo .
There was no forgiveness for the enemy .
After an initial withdrawal , the Zapatistas managed to regroup forces and in July launched their counter-offensive .
The spirit of a revolution and Zapata ’ s military genius made way for them .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ troops .
The pulse was freed on all fronts .
Tepoztlán and Santa Catarina fell .
General Pablo González answered , intensifying the repression .
The punishment of the civilian population skyrocketed .
Constitutional guarantees were suspended throughout the revolutionary territory .
Morelos , Puebla , Guerrero , the State of Mexico , Tlaxcala and part of Hidalgo felt the yoke of Carranza .
But none of it was enough .
In early 1917 , Zapata had managed to expel the invader from his territory .
A short and intense period of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the leader proclaimed “ government of the people by the people.
” Rabidly anti-oligarchic , he reopened schools , gave birth to new administrative forms and reorganized the Liberation Army of the South .
Although reduced to its southern limits , its ideology was pure nitroglycerin : “ When the peasant can shout ‘ I am a free man , I have no masters , I depend only on my work ’ , then the revolutionaries will say that our mission has concluded , then they will You can affirm that all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wrote .
Like so many things in those confusing days , his proclamation was a milestone and a mirage .
The Carrancistas , determined to crush the peasant revolt , soon returned the charge .
In late 1918 they launched the second invasion .
And this time they set their sights on Zapata himself .
The Carrancista Colonel Jesús Guajardo was sent to kill him .
He first let the Zapatistas know that he was ready to defect , and then , as a test of confidence before meeting the revolutionary leader , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ agreed to meet on April 10 , 1919 at the Hacienda de Chinameca , in Morelos .
When Zapata crossed the threshold , betrayal fell on him .
Although he managed to draw his pistol , he was unable to pull the trigger .
Seven bullets killed him earlier .
His body was brought that same day before General Pablo González and exhibited in public .
The traitor Guajardo was promoted .
Eventually he fell into oblivion .
Zapata , buried and mourned over like few in Mexico , has been alive ever @ @ @ @ @ @ @ figure of Emiliano Zapata never rests .
Charismatic and revolutionary , his image is part of the iconography of eternal Mexico .
And also from the debate .
Precedent of the insurrections that throughout the 20th century shook the country , Zapata is the object of attention by historians .
The College of Mexico ( Colmex ) , one of the elite university institutions in Latin America , has decisively intervened in its study .
Last November , the Colmex organized an exhibition on Zapata and intense review days in which it was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the little-known Carrancista offensive .
This effort has been combined with the creation of an interactive site , called Faces of Zapatismo , where you can have direct access to the digitization of your archive as well as the sound testimonies of witnesses to the revolution .
Puke if you must

Please make sure these dispatches reach as many readers as possible. Share with kin, friends and workmates and ask them to do likewise.
Jan Martinez Ahrens
FIRST RUN ON 2 DEC 2016
EDITED AND TRANSLATED BY PATRICE GREANVILLE EL PAIS (SPAIN)FIRST RUN ON 2 DEC 2016EDITED AND TRANSLATED BY PATRICE GREANVILLE
A new study brings to light the war of extermination that the Mexican government, supported by the United States, waged a century ago against the revolutionary with chemical weapons, deportations and mass torture.
[dropcap]L[/dropcap]egend has it that Emiliano Zapata never died. History proves it every day. Almost a hundred years after his assassination, the figure of the revolutionary, general-in-chief of the Liberation Army of the South, continues to inflame the imagination of Mexicans. Proletarian, rebel and often visionary, Zapata (1879-1919) embodies the ideals of a troubled age like no other. His years of struggle and glory are those of a country at war with itself. A ruthless time on which Mexico built its current structure and from which not even Zapata could escape. Far from the sweetened visions that the official iconography has provided, a detailed investigation by the historian Francisco Pineda shows how Zapata, already a living myth, was viciously persecuted by the Venustiano Carranza regime (1859-1920) and also how to defeat him. Constitutionalist government did not hesitate to unleash a war of extermination. Chemical weapons, indiscriminate torture and even the enslavement of prisoners were used to subdue a man who never knelt. “The Mexican Revolution was paradoxical and complex. And there is an attempt by certain sectors to claim the work of Carranza and turn the Constitution, which is one hundred years old on February 5, into a symbol of continuity and stability, when it is not so: Mexico is a nation in permanent conflict traumatic and fascinating. That is Zapata's lesson ”, explains the professor-researcher of the Colegio de México, Carlos Marichal.
The war of extermination, of which few details were known, illustrates one of the darkest moments of the Mexican Revolution. On September 26, 1915, with General Victoriano Huerta already overthrown but with the country on fire, Carranza ordered one of his confidants, General Pablo González, to crush the Southern Revolution, the peasant liberation movement led by Zapata. A former farmer and military knight, the revolutionary had entered the arena of history after leading the agrarian protests in Morelos and joining in 1910 the uprising of Francisco I. Madero that started the Revolution. But with victory achieved and the dictator Porfirio Díaz exiled, Zapata charted his own course and refused to demobilize his troops. For him, war had another purpose. Achieve the collectivization of the large estates and free thousands of peasants from centuries of landowner oppression. And not only that.
SIDEBAR
José Venustiano Carranza de la Garza (29 December 1859 – 21 May 1920) was one of the main leaders of the Mexican Revolution, whose victorious northern revolutionary Constitutionalist Army defeated the counter-revolutionary regime of Victoriano Huerta (February 1913 – July 1914) and then defeated fellow revolutionaries after Huerta's ouster. He secured power in Mexico, serving as head of state from 1915 to 1917. With the promulgation of a new revolutionary Mexican Constitution of 1917, he was elected president, serving from 1917 to 1920. <..> Carranza was from a rich, northern landowning family; despite his position as head of the northern revolutionary movement, he was concerned that Mexico's land tenure not be fundamentally restructured by the Revolution. He was far more conservative than either southern peasant leader Emiliano Zapata or northern revolutionary general Pancho Villa. Once firmly in power in Mexico, Carranza sought to eliminate his political rivals.
With a much more advanced vision than Pancho Villa and other warlords, the southerner advocated for the right to strike, the recognition of indigenous peoples and the emancipation of women. But its strength was not only based on a political program capable of blowing up bourgeois conventions. That peasant turned revolutionary had on one side an army ready to die at his command and on the other, thousands of peasants to whom he had given back bread and pride. It was not long until he was seen as the great enemy to beat by Carrancista power. The offensive was relentless. “For this the Government had the help of the United States. Carranza in December 1914 barely had 1,700 rifles; in less than a year, Washington provided him with more than 53,000, ”says Pineda.
With this support, Carranza and his generals went to work and as early as February 1916 they began to manufacture, with machinery imported from the United States, the grenades for the suffocating gas with which they intended to annihilate the Zapatistas. "Possibly they were prepared with phosgene, a colorless poison with a green corn smell, whose symptoms are not immediate," Pineda explains. Together with the chemical arsenal, the Carrancistas devised a war plan following in the footsteps of the bloody Cuban campaigns of the Spanish general Valeriano Weyler. Likewise, they secured the Federal District with a line of trenches of more than 100 kilometers and collected intelligence information, through the widespread use of torture, to learn the location and movements of the enemy to the millimeter. On March 12, 1916 the invasion began. The terror machine unfolded. Villages were burned and crops destroyed. Hundreds of peasants were summarily executed, and thousands were concentrated and deported. "The objective was to force the Zapatistas to do more to survive than to fight. This facilitated the extermination tasks, "says Pineda. The first hit was successful. The scorched earth strategy pushed back the Zapatistas and devastated the civilian population. Immense columns of women, children and the elderly roamed the moors in search of food. When hunger didn't kill them, bullets did. Terror haunted them.
The Carrancista high command sharpened their scythe. He ordered massive deportations to the Yucatan and enslaved entire populations in labor camps. Anyone who tried to flee was executed without further ado. Also those who approach closer than 60 meters a railroad or who walked on roads and sidewalks without safeguards or who were simply suspected of serving Zapatismo. There was no forgiveness for the enemy. After an initial withdrawal, the Zapatistas managed to regroup forces and in July launched their counter-offensive. The spirit of a revolution and Zapata's military genius made way for them. The rebels multiplied before puzzled and overconfident troops. The pulse was freed on all fronts. Tepoztlán and Santa Catarina fell. General Pablo González answered, intensifying the repression. The punishment of the civilian population skyrocketed. Constitutional guarantees were suspended throughout the revolutionary territory. Morelos, Puebla, Guerrero, the State of Mexico, Tlaxcala and part of Hidalgo felt the yoke of Carranza. But none of it was enough. In early 1917, Zapata had managed to expel the invader from his territory. A short and intense period of the Zapatista insurrection began then. In March, the leader proclaimed "government of the people by the people." Rabidly anti-oligarchic, he reopened schools, gave birth to new administrative forms and reorganized the Liberation Army of the South. Although reduced to its southern limits, its ideology was pure nitroglycerin: "When the peasant can shout 'I am a free man, I have no masters, I depend only on my work', then the revolutionaries will say that our mission has concluded, then they will You can affirm that all Mexicans have a homeland, "he wrote. Like so many things in those confusing days, his proclamation was a milestone and a mirage. The Carrancistas, determined to crush the peasant revolt, soon returned the charge. In late 1918 they launched the second invasion. And this time they set their sights on Zapata himself.
The Carrancista Colonel Jesús Guajardo was sent to kill him. He first let the Zapatistas know that he was ready to defect, and then, as a test of confidence before meeting the revolutionary leader, he shot 50 federal soldiers. Both agreed to meet on April 10, 1919 at the Hacienda de Chinameca, in Morelos. When Zapata crossed the threshold, betrayal fell on him. Although he managed to draw his pistol, he was unable to pull the trigger. Seven bullets killed him earlier. His body was brought that same day before General Pablo González and exhibited in public. The traitor Guajardo was promoted. Eventually he fell into oblivion. Zapata, buried and mourned over like few in Mexico, has been alive ever since.
ALL ABOUT THE REVOLUTIONARY The figure of Emiliano Zapata never rests. Charismatic and revolutionary, his image is part of the iconography of eternal Mexico. And also from the debate. Precedent of the insurrections that throughout the 20th century shook the country, Zapata is the object of attention by historians. The College of Mexico (Colmex), one of the elite university institutions in Latin America, has decisively intervened in its study. Last November, the Colmex organized an exhibition on Zapata and intense review days in which it was discussed from the validity of his legacy to the little-known Carrancista offensive. This effort has been combined with the creation of an interactive site, called Faces of Zapatismo, where you can have direct access to the digitization of your archive as well as the sound testimonies of witnesses to the revolution.
About the author(s) Jan Martinez Ahrens is a distinguished Spanish journalist, international correspondent and senior editor with center-left daily El País, Spain's second largest newspaper.
Puke if you must
This bloodsoaked monster is probably the most evil person on planet earth https://t.co/nGq2H1EPHt — Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) April 9, 2020


thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-04-23--Eric Schechter: Hurry Revolution (with clarifications about the nature of private property).

—Our colleague Eric Schechter , a retired ( and distinguished ) professor of mathematics , is a tireless radical activist and political educator .
Hurry Revolution is his latest filing .
Good and patient as Eric is , no one can tackle these enormous topics , whose understanding has been ( and continues to be ) deliberately muddied up by the reigning plutocracy , without leaving something unexplained or a bit misunderstood , In Eric ’ s case I feel his call “ to eliminate private property ” will ( besides sending shills down their spines ) immediately shut down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who desperately need to hear his discourse .
That ’ s because “ private property ” and “ class ” , too , is one of those categories used by Marxian revolutionaries in a precise , technical sense which do not correspond quite snugly with their vernacular meaning .
Sensing that this is liable to happen , we have attached to this post a highly accessible essay on private property which clearly separates the question of “ personal property ” or personal possessions from “ private property ” in the social sense meant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ huge enterprises and assets owned by the big capitalists , from mines and natural resources of every conceivable kind , to industrial firms , hospitals , insurance companies , banks , and real estate trusts controlling hundreds if not thousands of units housing families , small businesses and other forms of tenancy .
Yea , it IS confusing , so here we hope you ’ ll find the necessary clarification .

Editor's Note —Our colleague Eric Schechter, a retired (and distinguished) professor of mathematics, is a tireless radical activist and political educator. Hurry Revolution is his latest filing. Good and patient as Eric is, no one can tackle these enormous topics, whose understanding has been (and continues to be) deliberately muddied up by the reigning plutocracy, without leaving something unexplained or a bit misunderstood, In Eric's case I feel his call "to eliminate private property" will (besides sending chills down their spines) immediately shut down the ears and minds of many people who desperately need to hear his discourse. That's because "private property" and "class", too, is one of those categories used by Marxian revolutionaries in a precise, technical sense which do not correspond quite snugly with their vernacular meaning. Sensing that this is liable to happen, we have attached to this post a highly accessible essay on private property which clearly separates the question of "personal property" or personal possessions from "private property" in the social sense meant by Marx, such as all those huge enterprises and assets owned by the big capitalists, from mines and natural resources of every conceivable kind, to industrial firms, hospitals, insurance companies, banks, and real estate trusts controlling hundreds if not thousands of units housing families, small businesses and other forms of tenancy. Yea, it IS confusing, so here we hope you'll find the necessary clarification. —PG
The page is now a Virtual University selection.
About the author(s) LeftyMathProf” in my email and web pages because I’m a retired mathematics professor, and politically I’m a leftist, and because for many people apparently it is impossible to spell or pronounce my real name (Eric Schechter, pronounced erik shektur)." Eric Schechter's political mobilization materials can be found on his dedicated page, In his own words: "I took the name “” in my email and web pages because I’m a retired mathematics professor, and politically I’m a leftist, and because for many people apparently it is impossible to spell or pronounce my real name (Eric Schechter, pronounced erik shektur)." Eric Schechter's political mobilization materials can be found on his dedicated page, Eric's Rants
Property vs. Possession & why communism won’t take your toothbrush


thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-04-24--Lockdown skeptics: Welcome to Orwellian Italy 2020

Never mind the policeman was totally ignorant of the Italian Penal Code which states ( art.405 ) that anyone interrupting religious rites within a public area or public edifice ( a church in this case ) may be facing imprisonment up to 2 years .
Never mind art .
19 of the Italian constitution which specifically protects freedom of religion , and religious rites .
The current Italian government , arguably the worst in recent and remote Italian history , has dropped any possible mask of decency and respect of at least fundamental laws such as the Italian Constitution which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other law of the land .
This episode is just another Orwellian scene anyone would have dismissed as impossible only a short time ago .
Italians are quickly becoming accustomed to nightmarish scenes they could very well be the plot of a trash horror movie , such as an Army convoy carrying away corpses from the worst affected areas to be cremated elsewhere and without a funeral ( and especially without autopsy ) to drones and helicopters hovering above a lone walker along a beach or a public park , to police threatening @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outdoor “ without reason ” .
Reason , logic , decency and common sense have all gone out of the window , and in a span of time no one could have imagined only few months ago .
The main moral authority you would have expected at least to question the implementation of insane measures has quickly abdicated to its role .
The catholic church has in fact quickly taken measures that in most case even went beyond what public authorities asked , shutting down churches , masses and funerals , no questions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ case of the priest who insisted in celebrating mass , quickly dismissing him as a rebellious and inopportune outcast .
On top of all this , the current Italian government , a.k.a .
La Junta , indeed reminding us of a south American military junta that has hijacked power with a coup .
Call this coup as you wish , Pandemic , Covid-19 , the Virus , whatever .
Civil liberties have been suspended even way beyond sheer medical necessities and reasonability , far worse than any other country in Europe .
Today @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a puppet government set up by foreign powers , just like it was in 1943 , after Italy was split in two governments , one in the south in the Allied occupied zone , and one in the north in the German occupied zone .
No one has elected this government , its ministers , the PM , the deputy ministers .
They belong to a strange coalition of former archenemies that became –overnight – like old time chums for the sake of sharing power .
M5S ( Movimento 5 stelle ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were at each other ’ s throat before this new government was formed in 2019 in what evidently was a typical commedia italiana .
Now they get along very well , not only politically , but also , what a coincidence , geographically .
Other than a few ministers and deputy ministers , most members of this government are from southern Italy , including PM Conte .
The overwhelming majority of them have no prior working experience of any kind other than being a politician since early age .
After an endless array @ @ @ @ @ @ @ often than not contradicting each other , and in open violation of constitutional laws , the government finally imposed a national lockdown as of mid-March , when it was too indeed too late , as thousands of people from all over Italy had the time to return to their towns and villages from the worst affected area of Italy , Lombardy .
The fact that the pandemic did not actually spread – other than few isolated cases – to southern Italy was a blessing , as it could have been a disaster of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public health care system in the south is notoriously below decent standards , at least below capacity to face such an emergency .
Hapless , better yet hopeless , Italy ’ s current minister of public health , Roberto Speranza ( whose last name means literally hope ) is a fitting example of how this government works .
With a degree in political science and no experience whatsoever in the medical field , he named a team of ( so-called ) experts led by another expert who claimed to be a member of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ achievements .
But only few days ago the World Health Organization ( WHO ) felt compelled to issue an official statement in which formally dismisses Dr. Walter Ricciardi , the ultra-expert wanted by the hopeless minister , not to be a member of WHO , warning that his opinions “ should not be associated ” with those of WHO .
In fact the guy is a former B-series actor in little known Italian movies , but a degree in medical hygiene and the right political connections earned him a high reputation post such @ @ @ @ @ @ @ National Institute of health ) until 2018 , when he resigned after an enquiry exposed his collaborations ( while director of ISS ) with pharmaceutical companies , and his efforts to make mandatory a vaccine against meningococcus B which proved to be completely unnecessary .
It doesn ’ t take a degree in political science to notice that this is a government made up of pathetic Quislings , whose only preoccupations is to keep their ( lucrative ) posts as long as possible by following the orders imposed to them on a daily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ When other countries offered their help such as Russia , despite statements of warm gratitude by most of the local authorities most affected by the virus , updates of the Russian teams operating in northern Italy virtually disappeared from MSM .
This happened after La Stampa , notoriously a leading pro EU establishment daily from Turin , expressed open doubts about Russia ’ s “ real motivations ” for being so generous with Italy .
Everybody agrees that the restrictions imposed on Italians and their civil liberties are not just draconian : they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ standpoint , officially implemented to curve the spread of the virus , but in reality to destroy the morale and the will of people .
Why is that so ?
Because the worst is yet to come .
The will and resolution of Italians must be broken in order to usher in Greece-style cuts and “ reforms ” that will bring Italy to her knees , therefore forced to accept any measure imposed by the EU .
The ubiquitous acronym these days in Italy is not Covid .
It ’ s MES , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Skipping all unneeded technicalities , let ’ s go forward to what it will mean for Italy in simple terms .
This Quisling government , having stubbornly refused to adopt economic measures that all other European countries have implemented , is simply exposing the economy at serious risk of default .
When that will become inevitable , then the MES will step in , and will force Italy , in order to “ be saved ” from complete collapse , to accept a gruesome variety of “ recovery ” measures just as it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Deja-vu , all over again .
Just like in 2011 the sudden – forced – resignation of Berlusconi as PM of Italy had the then president of Italy Giorgio Napolitano to form a new , non elected executive in charge of “ economic reforms ” led by euro-technocrat Mario Monti , the ordeal is being repeated in 2020 , courtesy this time of the Invisible Enemy ( a.k.a .
Covid-19 ) , and the inevitable sudden halt of the Italian economy , so a “ task force ” of experts overseeing the government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ president Mattarella .
Enter Vittorio Colao , whose CV is practically cliché hardly worth mentioning .
Former Vodafone CEO , MBA at Harvard , experiences in Morgan Stanley , McKinsey , Unilever and the list could go on and on .
Not to mention his personal relationship with Bill Gates , George Soros and other such fellows .
Right after being appointed , Colao has asked for himself and his associate “ experts ” complete civil and penal immunity .
Do you think such a – how to say – peculiar request made @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to a few representatives of the opposition parties who blew the whistle on such a unique request the fact that somehow made it to the news .
Complete silence on MSM .
What should we assume ?
That this group of experts is evidently planning to break existing laws , to say the least .
It will be interesting to see what will happen in the coming weeks .
In the meantime , Italians are getting increasingly tired of this brutal and useless lockdown and most likely will not wait to be allowed @ @ @ @ @ @ @

OpEds [dropcap]A [/dropcap]video is circulating in Italy showing an armed policeman abruptly interrupting mass celebration in a small northern Italian town in the Lombardy region, ordering the priest to stop the celebration immediately and dismiss the attendees. The priest refuses and goes on with mass, telling the Carabiniere that he has only 13 attendees at mass well distanced between each other and each wearing a mask. The priest will be later fined 680 EUR, and each attendee 280 EUR, all for violating current government measures against public gatherings due to Covid-19.
Never mind the policeman was totally ignorant of the Italian Penal Code which states (art.405) that anyone interrupting religious rites within a public area or public edifice (a church in this case) may be facing imprisonment up to 2 years. Never mind art. 19 of the Italian constitution which specifically protects freedom of religion, and religious rites. The current Italian government, arguably the worst in recent and remote Italian history, has dropped any possible mask of decency and respect of at least fundamental laws such as the Italian Constitution which – theoretically – should be above any other law of the land.
This episode is just another Orwellian scene anyone would have dismissed as impossible only a short time ago. Italians are quickly becoming accustomed to nightmarish scenes they could very well be the plot of a trash horror movie, such as an Army convoy carrying away corpses from the worst affected areas to be cremated elsewhere and without a funeral (and especially without autopsy) to drones and helicopters hovering above a lone walker along a beach or a public park, to police threatening and handing out fines to anyone caught outdoor “without reason”.
Reason, logic, decency and common sense have all gone out of the window, and in a span of time no one could have imagined only few months ago. The main moral authority you would have expected at least to question the implementation of insane measures has quickly abdicated to its role. The catholic church has in fact quickly taken measures that in most case even went beyond what public authorities asked, shutting down churches, masses and funerals, no questions asked. And, such as the case of the priest who insisted in celebrating mass, quickly dismissing him as a rebellious and inopportune outcast.
On top of all this, the current Italian government, a.k.a. La Junta, indeed reminding us of a south American military junta that has hijacked power with a coup. Call this coup as you wish, Pandemic, Covid-19, the Virus, whatever. Civil liberties have been suspended even way beyond sheer medical necessities and reasonability, far worse than any other country in Europe. Today’s Italian governments seems a replica of a puppet government set up by foreign powers, just like it was in 1943, after Italy was split in two governments, one in the south in the Allied occupied zone, and one in the north in the German occupied zone. No one has elected this government, its ministers, the PM, the deputy ministers. They belong to a strange coalition of former archenemies that became –overnight – like old time chums for the sake of sharing power.
M5S (Movimento 5 stelle) and the PD (Partito Democratico) were at each other’s throat before this new government was formed in 2019 in what evidently was a typical commedia italiana. Now they get along very well, not only politically, but also, what a coincidence, geographically. Other than a few ministers and deputy ministers, most members of this government are from southern Italy, including PM Conte. The overwhelming majority of them have no prior working experience of any kind other than being a politician since early age.
After an endless array of new measures and restrictions, more often than not contradicting each other, and in open violation of constitutional laws, the government finally imposed a national lockdown as of mid-March, when it was too indeed too late, as thousands of people from all over Italy had the time to return to their towns and villages from the worst affected area of Italy, Lombardy. The fact that the pandemic did not actually spread – other than few isolated cases – to southern Italy was a blessing, as it could have been a disaster of biblical proportions given the fact that the public health care system in the south is notoriously below decent standards, at least below capacity to face such an emergency.
Hapless, better yet hopeless, Italy’s current minister of public health, Roberto Speranza (whose last name means literally hope) is a fitting example of how this government works. With a degree in political science and no experience whatsoever in the medical field, he named a team of (so-called) experts led by another expert who claimed to be a member of WHO, among other medical honors and achievements.
But only few days ago the World Health Organization (WHO) felt compelled to issue an official statement in which formally dismisses Dr. Walter Ricciardi, the ultra-expert wanted by the hopeless minister, not to be a member of WHO, warning that his opinions “should not be associated” with those of WHO. In fact the guy is a former B-series actor in little known Italian movies, but a degree in medical hygiene and the right political connections earned him a high reputation post such as director of ISS (the Italian National Institute of health) until 2018, when he resigned after an enquiry exposed his collaborations (while director of ISS) with pharmaceutical companies, and his efforts to make mandatory a vaccine against meningococcus B which proved to be completely unnecessary.
It doesn’t take a degree in political science to notice that this is a government made up of pathetic Quislings, whose only preoccupations is to keep their (lucrative) posts as long as possible by following the orders imposed to them on a daily basis from Brussels, or Berlin. When other countries offered their help such as Russia, despite statements of warm gratitude by most of the local authorities most affected by the virus, updates of the Russian teams operating in northern Italy virtually disappeared from MSM. This happened after La Stampa, notoriously a leading pro EU establishment daily from Turin, expressed open doubts about Russia’s “real motivations” for being so generous with Italy.
Everybody agrees that the restrictions imposed on Italians and their civil liberties are not just draconian: they are senseless even from a basic medical standpoint, officially implemented to curve the spread of the virus, but in reality to destroy the morale and the will of people. Why is that so? Because the worst is yet to come. The will and resolution of Italians must be broken in order to usher in Greece-style cuts and “reforms” that will bring Italy to her knees, therefore forced to accept any measure imposed by the EU.
The ubiquitous acronym these days in Italy is not Covid. It’s MES, which stands for European Stability Mechanism. Skipping all unneeded technicalities, let’s go forward to what it will mean for Italy in simple terms. This Quisling government, having stubbornly refused to adopt economic measures that all other European countries have implemented, is simply exposing the economy at serious risk of default. When that will become inevitable, then the MES will step in, and will force Italy, in order to “be saved” from complete collapse, to accept a gruesome variety of “recovery” measures just as it happened in Greece in previous years.
Deja-vu, all over again. Just like in 2011 the sudden – forced – resignation of Berlusconi as PM of Italy had the then president of Italy Giorgio Napolitano to form a new, non elected executive in charge of “economic reforms” led by euro-technocrat Mario Monti, the ordeal is being repeated in 2020, courtesy this time of the Invisible Enemy (a.k.a. Covid-19), and the inevitable sudden halt of the Italian economy, so a “task force” of experts overseeing the government economic policies was named overnight by Italian president Mattarella.
Enter Vittorio Colao, whose CV is practically cliché hardly worth mentioning. Former Vodafone CEO, MBA at Harvard, experiences in Morgan Stanley, McKinsey, Unilever and the list could go on and on. Not to mention his personal relationship with Bill Gates, George Soros and other such fellows.
Right after being appointed, Colao has asked for himself and his associate “experts” complete civil and penal immunity. Do you think such a – how to say – peculiar request made the news? Hardly. We owe to a few representatives of the opposition parties who blew the whistle on such a unique request the fact that somehow made it to the news. Complete silence on MSM. What should we assume? That this group of experts is evidently planning to break existing laws, to say the least. It will be interesting to see what will happen in the coming weeks. In the meantime, Italians are getting increasingly tired of this brutal and useless lockdown and most likely will not wait to be allowed to go outside after May 4th.


thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-04-24--Iran’s ‘resistance economy’: the post-corona wish of the West’s silent majority (1/2)

So it took a pandemic-plus-lockdown for some in the West to realize that classic economic liberalism on a global scale – i.e .
the narrow hyper-specialization of Adam Smith ’ s division of labor and David Ricardo ’ s caste-forging theory of competitive advantage – makes a nation economically vulnerable ?
This epiphany is not novel for those countries which imperialists forced to precariously rely on a single cash crop/cow .
It is interesting to watch American television these days : almost never openly discussed is the financial impact of the Great Lockdown on the lower classes .
What the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a constant stream of doctor-worship , technocrats , electioneering politicians who can not stop sniping despite such a crisis , and high-class analysts telling them to stay home at all costs – the financial condition of those who don ’ t even have $ 500 to cover in an emergency are ignored , even though they compose 63 % of the US .
Even pre-corona , US TV is a realm where lower-class Whites who speak with a twang , poor-but-not-hustlin ’ Blacks , and Latinos who don ’ t sing/dance/clean simply can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so entirely absent they may as well not even exist .
If we had to define Iran ’ s economy in one brief sentence it would be : All are considered , but the needs of the lower classes must come first .
No Iranian would deny this has been the case since 1979 , and it really became eye-openingly apparent after the end of the War of Sacred Defense ( Iran-Iraq War ) : there has been a constant decrease of slums and absolute poverty , and a constant increase of infrastructure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Not only does this explain the country ’ s huge jump in seemingly all economic metrics since 1989 , it also explains why Iran could rally 300,000 volunteers ( propaganda alert : The Wall Street Journal ’ s “ water cannons ” were actually “ disinfection cannons ” ) to go door-to-door to inform , help and prevent the spread of coronavirus – there is support , trust , unity and two-way dialogue .
When corona first hit many Iran-ignorant commentators assumed it would devastate a backwards nation governed by an unfeeling totalitarian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Iran ’ s proportional death rate is better than almost every Western nation .
Of course , I know you ’ ll say “ Iran is lying ” – you have been indoctrinated to say that in response to any claim made by any Iranian .
Ever since the 2011 triple sanctions ( US , EU , UN ) were deployed the Western Mainstream Media has added doubt indicators such as , “ Iran says….
” to every headline stemming from Iran .
I used to get annoyed by it , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if the government said the sun came up today the headline would be , “ Iran says sun rises in East ” .
So the skeptics/Iranophobes will remain eternally unconvinced , and I respond with habeas corpus – produce the body .
Indeed , this is a demand for proof which Western epidemiologists – and their technocrat-worshipping promoters – are scrambling to come up with : It turns out their direst forecasts were far less accurate than modern weather reports ( usually because they underestimated the influence of personal responsibility initiatives ) , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hysterically and uncritically relayed by Western corporate media .
As the Iranophobes scour satellite photos for secret mass graves ( How many people do you think Iran is hiding – 50,000 , 100,000 dead people ?
How many more would have to be silenced , and in a nation full of personal media devices ?
The idea that such a thing is possible is absurd… . )
, and while the West employs more draconian measures than Iran ever did ( due to worse health care , lack of volunteers due to fears @ @ @ @ @ @ @ population , the lack of existing lines of national coordination , an acclimation to “ states of emergency ” and other factors ) , Iran is ending curbs and going back to work .
And they are also back to work being honest political truth-tellers : US imperialism is indeed a worse virus than the coronavirus , per President Rouhani .
No body count comparison required on that one because it ’ s not even close – Western epidemiologists can relax .
Iran is returning to work slowly : many are working from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ given priority to decide who works remotely , the government is asking everyone to use common sense , but the resumption of normal activity comes after many in the government openly displayed common sense by saying that an economic crisis simply should not be added to a heath crisis .
Undoubtedly , if Iran had not been so harshly attacked with such an inhuman blockade they would have had more oil-money savings to pay people to stay at home like in some nations , but they were cruelly denied this chance by the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , peace , etc .
The West ’ s governments are demanding that their lower classes commit economic suicide over corona fears , but Iran ’ s lower classes know that the biggest , most reliable patrons they have are the Iranian government – that ’ s why after taking sensible measures they are encouraging a sensible , safe return to work .
Everybody must use common sense , and a recent fatwa from the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei only reminds us how revolutionary Iran has decisively chosen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ NOT a fundamentalist/Salafist/Wahhabi Islamic nation : it is OK to abstain from fasting during Ramadan ( which starts April 23 ) if you rationally believe it may cause a sickness .
As wonderful as Ramadan is , and while the science is not 100 % clear , long-term fasting appears to lower one ’ s immune system – that does seem rational , to me .
Ramadan will simply not be typical this year , sadly .
I hope many Iranians ( and Muslims everywhere ) use common sense this year to protect @ @ @ @ @ @ @ second-wave infections .
Anyone living with vulnerable and elderly people should remember that Muslims have a full year to make up missed Ramadan days .
Part 2 will explain why the necessary reversal of globalization is impossible in a West which is dominated by their 1 % , and why Iran ’ s “ Resistance Economy ” is the perfect vaccine to corona & lockdown-related economic chaos .
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV .

By Ramin Mazaheri / OpEds
[dropcap]S[/dropcap]o it took a pandemic-plus-lockdown for some in the West to realize that classic economic liberalism on a global scale - i.e. the narrow hyper-specialization of Adam Smith’s division of labor and David Ricardo’s caste-forging theory of competitive advantage - makes a nation economically vulnerable? This epiphany is not novel for those countries which imperialists forced to precariously rely on a single cash crop/cow.
It is interesting to watch American television these days: almost never openly discussed is the financial impact of the Great Lockdown on the lower classes. What the average American is bludgeoned with instead is a constant stream of doctor-worship, technocrats, electioneering politicians who cannot stop sniping despite such a crisis, and high-class analysts telling them to stay home at all costs - the financial condition of those who don’t even have $500 to cover in an emergency are ignored, even though they compose 63% of the US.
Even pre-corona, US TV is a realm where lower-class Whites who speak with a twang, poor-but-not-hustlin’ Blacks, and Latinos who don’t sing/dance/clean simply cannot be found. American Indians are so entirely absent they may as well not even exist.
If we had to define Iran’s economy in one brief sentence it would be: All are considered, but the needs of the lower classes must come first.
No Iranian would deny this has been the case since 1979, and it really became eye-openingly apparent after the end of the War of Sacred Defense (Iran-Iraq War): there has been a constant decrease of slums and absolute poverty, and a constant increase of infrastructure, education and production and diversification. Not only does this explain the country’s huge jump in seemingly all economic metrics since 1989, it also explains why Iran could rally 300,000 volunteers (propaganda alert: The Wall Street Journal’s “water cannons” were actually “disinfection cannons”) to go door-to-door to inform, help and prevent the spread of coronavirus - there is support, trust, unity and two-way dialogue.
When corona first hit many Iran-ignorant commentators assumed it would devastate a backwards nation governed by an unfeeling totalitarian state: while over 5,000 have died, Iran’s proportional death rate is better than almost every Western nation.
Of course, I know you’ll say “Iran is lying” - you have been indoctrinated to say that in response to any claim made by any Iranian. Ever since the 2011 triple sanctions (US, EU, UN) were deployed the Western Mainstream Media has added doubt indicators such as, “Iran says….” to every headline stemming from Iran. I used to get annoyed by it, but it’s old news now - if the government said the sun came up today the headline would be, “Iran says sun rises in East”.
So the skeptics/Iranophobes will remain eternally unconvinced, and I respond with habeas corpus - produce the body. Indeed, this is a demand for proof which Western epidemiologists - and their technocrat-worshipping promoters - are scrambling to come up with: It turns out their direst forecasts were far less accurate than modern weather reports (usually because they underestimated the influence of personal responsibility initiatives), and perhaps shouldn’t have been hysterically and uncritically relayed by Western corporate media.
As the Iranophobes scour satellite photos for secret mass graves (How many people do you think Iran is hiding - 50,000, 100,000 dead people? How many more would have to be silenced, and in a nation full of personal media devices? The idea that such a thing is possible is absurd….), and while the West employs more draconian measures than Iran ever did (due to worse health care, lack of volunteers due to fears of expensive health care, a stressed/unhealthy/obese population, the lack of existing lines of national coordination, an acclimation to “states of emergency” and other factors), Iran is ending curbs and going back to work. And they are also back to work being honest political truth-tellers: US imperialism is indeed a worse virus than the coronavirus, per President Rouhani. No body count comparison required on that one because it’s not even close - Western epidemiologists can relax.
Iran is returning to work slowly: many are working from home, women with young children are given priority to decide who works remotely, the government is asking everyone to use common sense, but the resumption of normal activity comes after many in the government openly displayed common sense by saying that an economic crisis simply should not be added to a heath crisis.
Undoubtedly, if Iran had not been so harshly attacked with such an inhuman blockade they would have had more oil-money savings to pay people to stay at home like in some nations, but they were cruelly denied this chance by the West, along with medicine, justice, peace, etc. The West’s governments are demanding that their lower classes commit economic suicide over corona fears, but Iran’s lower classes know that the biggest, most reliable patrons they have are the Iranian government - that’s why after taking sensible measures they are encouraging a sensible, safe return to work.
Everybody must use common sense, and a recent fatwa from the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei only reminds us how revolutionary Iran has decisively chosen to be inspired by Islam and is NOT a fundamentalist/Salafist/Wahhabi Islamic nation: it is OK to abstain from fasting during Ramadan (which starts April 23) if you rationally believe it may cause a sickness. As wonderful as Ramadan is, and while the science is not 100% clear, long-term fasting appears to lower one’s immune system - that does seem rational, to me.
Ramadan will simply not be typical this year, sadly. I hope many Iranians (and Muslims everywhere) use common sense this year to protect the vulnerable and reduce the number of second-wave infections. Anyone living with vulnerable and elderly people should remember that Muslims have a full year to make up missed Ramadan days.
Part 2 will explain why the necessary reversal of globalization is impossible in a West which is dominated by their 1%, and why Iran’s “Resistance Economy” is the perfect vaccine to corona & lockdown-related economic chaos.
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV.