russiainsider--2020-02-06--WashPo and CNN Smear a Great Alt-Media Site Telling the Truth About Iran as an 'Iranian Influence Ca

WashPo and CNN Smear a Great Alt-Media Site Telling the Truth About Iran as an 'Iranian Influence Campaign' (American Herald Tribune)

The American Herald Tribune is a great site , publishing important , original articles which are 100x more truthful than the Washington Post which is a Deep State disinfo operation .
In responding to an attack on a media venue about which I care a lot , this Canadian from Alberta Canada is being pulled into the swamp .
I find myself showering repeatedly to try to wash away the scum from the quagmire created by CNN and the Editorial Board of the Washington Post .
These media operations have decided to band together as protagonists in a smear campaign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ AHT is a news site that I helped get off the ground beginning in 2015 when I agreed to become Editor in Chief of the small but exceptionally lively Internet publication .
In wrongfully accusing AHT , CNN and Washington Post are adding to the scale of a wide constituency that is coming to the conclusion that these media operations are serial manufacturers of fake news .
In doing research into the antics of the two media ventures I came across the story of a well-publicized move by a member of the Tennessee @ @ @ @ @ @ @ legally reprimanded .
Representative Micah Van Huss formulated a resolution asserting “ the State of Tennessee recognizes CNN and Washington Post as fake news and part of the media wing of the Democratic Party.
” The text of Resolution 779 continues , I see something new in this formal enactment in a US Legislature of such severe animosity to mainstream media .
New too is the decision to divide mainstream venues in the United States into partisan publicity networks closely connected to one of the two major political parties .
These developments have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seemed that a major function of mass communications in the USA was to create and marshal popular support for the invasions of foreign countries .
These days the agenda has widened to include preparing the conceptual ground for civil war within the United States .
The promotion of the conditions for civil war are unfolding concurrently with a new stage of the campaign to pull the United States into war with Iran .
This agenda was advanced in the opening days of the 2020s when Donald Trump shocked the world by immediately claiming @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Baghdad of top officials in both the Iraqi and Iranian governments .
The assassinations extended to members of the entourage travelling with them .
This graphic proof that US Commander In Chief , Donald Trump , had gone rogue was followed by perhaps the largest , most solemn , most public and most extended funeral I can remember .
As the funeral procession went between eight cities in Iraq and Iran , there was a huge outpouring of heart-felt emotion as people turned out by the millions to commemorate the life and martyrdom @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The funeral procession of Qasem Soleimani in Tehran . )
Soon after the funeral the Facebook Corporation provided one of the indicators that the US war machine was being revved up by dehumanizing the possible future targets of mass murder by the US Armed Forces .
Those who follow the machinations of Facebook closely will understand the social media giant has been successfully recruited as an instrument of militarized propaganda for the Israeli and US governments .
The Facebook crew removed posts that in words or in pictures expressed grief for the loss @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of positive recognition of the values he embodied throughout his life .
In a world of many armed forces and many career soldiers , it seemed for a brief moment that a wide diversity of people on all sides of numerous military divisions could agree on something .
Many individuals found in the persona of the departed Qassem Soleimani an embodiment of the universal qualities residing in martial dignity and steadfastness .
Facebook is setting very menacing precedents with its decision to censor the opinions of the great mass of humanity who laments @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In order to justify its actions the officers of Facebook invoked the pseudo-laws of the post-9/11 era .
They argued that Facebook was acting in conformity with Donald Trump ’ s very political move to designate Iran ’ s Islamic Revolutionary Guards ( IRGC ) as a terrorist organization .
As is now becoming clear , this designation amounted to a virtual Declaration of War on Iran .
The “ unprecedented ” move to declare the armed forces of another country as terrorists came as part of Donald Trump ’ s obsequious @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Israel .
The designation came days before the Israeli vote of April 2019 .
As he faced the Israeli electorate , Netanyahu sent out a tweet in Hebrew thanking Trump for “ acceding to another one of my important requests.
” The Attack on AHT as Part of the Promotion of a US War with Iran There can be no doubt about the underlying causes of the decision of CNN and Washington Post to put so much of their severely overstretched journalistic capital on the line in attempting to demonize American Herald @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to prohibit anything but Trump-supporting characterizations of General Soleimani ’ s life and death , the attacks on AHT are all about preparing the conceptual terrain for a US-Iran war .
It is all about socializing the audiences of mainstream media to support raining death and destruction down on Iran ’ s 80 million people .
Here is how the Washington Post followed up on the original smear job introduced by the CNN ’ s notorious “ disinformation reporter.
” In my article , “ Donie O ’ Sullivan and the ‘ Garbage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ discussed my visits to Iran since 2014 to take part in conferences including an academic event at the University of Tehran .
In those travels I developed friendships and collegial relations with some Iranian people including fellow academics .
This experience is reflected in the wide range of AHT ’ s content created by correspondents coming from many perspectives and from many different lands all over the world .
I proudly affirm that AHT is opposed to any US-led war with Iran .
For those seeking to avoid the scourge of war , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and exchange rather than animosity and sword-rattling .
AHT intends to continue favoring dialogue and exchange .
None of these subjects are fairly or honestly addressed in the alarmist Washington Post smear piece .
Rather the author representing the Washington Post ’ s Iranophobic Editorial Board rattles off jargon paraphrasing a deeply flawed study that provides no evidence whatsoever for the extravagant claims being irresponsibly asserted .
The basis for the Washington Post ’ s claim goes back to a glossy document put together in Milpitas California by an organization named Fire Eye @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kevin Mandia who cryptically describes his company ’ s specialty as the defense against “ cyberattacks.
” The title of the Fire Eye report is Suspected Iranian Influence Operation : Leveraging Inauthentic News Sites and Social Media Aimed at U.S. , U.K. , Other Audiences .
No specific individuals have permitted their names to appear as authors .
Thus no one takes specific responsibility for the report ’ s contents , an understandable absence given the shoddy quality of the study .
There is absolutely no information given about the funders of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to hide ?
Did CNN or the Washington Post or a subsidiary company help fund the study ?
Did the Israeli or US government have a role ?
The question of the sponsorship of such an investigation is crucial to an assessment of its credibility .
Everything points to the fact that there is apparently much about the origins and genesis of this mysterious study that is being kept under lock and key .
There is no clear explanation or justification of the methodology used .
There are no specific references to other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vague references to the Democratic Party ’ s hunt for Russian influences on US politics .
There are no scholarly references nor is there a bibliography .
I did not see anywhere in the anonymously authored document a single reference to American Herald Tribune .
Not one .
Instead the report is organized as individual studies devoting a few pages including screen shots to several sites .
These sites are Liberty Front Press , US Journal , Real Progressive Front , British Left , Critics Chronicle and Instituto Manquehue .
Before doing research @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of any of these sites .
When I looked them up on Internet search engines , I found in several places adjacent to the named sites results linking to the Fire Eye document .
My biggest criticism concerning the supposed “ research ” done by CNN and Washington Post in preparing their respective smears , is that their reporters did not attempt to contact the Editor In Chief of AHT , namely me .
Instead of doing due diligence in a case like this one , the protagonists of the smear campaign used @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on lawyers and weasel words than on any genuine analysis of the topic .
The very first sentence indicates , “ Fire Eye has identified a suspected operation that appears to originate from Iran .
( my italics ) .
The unnamed authors report that they “ assess with moderate confidence that this activity originates with Iran actors.
” Why “ moderate confidence ” ?
What this qualification apparently means , is that “ some possibility remains that this activity could originate from elsewhere [ than Iran ] .
” I ’ m @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mean when they refer to “ this activity.
” What activity ?
Who do they mean when they refer to “ Iran actors.
” Is it the implication of the Fire Eye report than any Iranian person who publishes something on the Internet is doing something subversive ?
Are war obsessions already so advanced in the fervid imaginations of the authors of the Fire Eye , CNN and Washington Post pieces that they imagine that it is verboten for an Iranian to express himself or herself on the Internet ?
So in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nothing that goes beyond the level of “ suspicion.
” My response to Fire Eye ’ s suspicion is to hold a mirror up to this group .
If there is any party in this fiasco that falls under a cloud of deserved suspicion , it is the people at Fire Eye .
This suspicion extends to those in mainstream media who report Fire Eyes “ suspicions ” as gospel fact .
Such a failure of honest reporting , I should think , meets any reasonable criterion of fake news .
Following the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Attacks The preoccupation of CNN and the Washington Post with stick handling for the discredited Hillary Clinton wing of the Democratic Party and with advancing the Zionist agenda of war with Iran has had serious deleterious effects on the quality of their news reporting .
At exactly the same time that the Washington Post was intent on drawing a specious connection linking American Herald Tribune to the Fire Eye report , it remained mum on a very significant breaking news that remains extremely germane to mounting US-Iranian tensions .
The Taliban in Afghanistan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Italian sources to have shot down a very advanced US Air Force jet containing highly sophisticated spy and communications features .
The high-tech aircraft was a Bombardier/Northrop Grumman E-11-A whose still-smoldering burned-out hulk was filmed in Ghazni province in Afghanistan .
Some reports indicate the CIA ’ s most prominent figure in the Middle East , Mike de Andrea , was among the casualties .
Other reports indicate the Mike de Andrea had a lead hand in the drone strikes that dramatically advanced the agenda of a full-fledged Iran-US war in the opening @ @ @ @ @ @ @ possibility is that such reports concerning de Andrea ’ s role in the assassination of General Soleimani have been introduced to divert attention away from other possible scenarios .
Much depends on getting at the truth of what really happened in the hours , days and weeks leading up to the most destabilizing drone strike in history .
Whatever the reality of the situation , reporting on the episode called attention to the many hundreds of murders by drone conducted by de Andrea in the course of an exceptionally violent career of murder @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of international criminal law .
Readers who would like to see how the American Herald Tribune is covering this fast-breaking story are encouraged to check out the essay of Dr. Philip Giraldi , a former high-ranking CIA official who publishes regularly in AHT .
We at AHT are proud to publish much of the cutting-edge and courageous journalism by Philip Giraldi , Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest .
Dr. Giraldi stands at the front of a long list of contributors at all stages of their journalistic careers .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ definitely bring readers much closer to the truth than the blatant and laughable propaganda at CNN and the Washington Post .
Anthony James Hall has been Editor In Chief of the American Herald Tribune since its inception .
Between 1990 and 2018 Dr. Hall was Professor of Globalization Studies and Liberal Education at the University of Lethbridge where he is now Professor Emeritus .
The focus of Dr. Hall 's teaching , research , and community service came to highlight the conditions of the colonization of Indigenous peoples in imperial globalization since 1492 @

The American Herald Tribune is a great site, publishing important, original articles which are 100x more truthful than the Washington Post which is a Deep State disinfo operation.
In responding to an attack on a media venue about which I care a lot, this Canadian from Alberta Canada is being pulled into the swamp. I find myself showering repeatedly to try to wash away the scum from the quagmire created by CNN and the Editorial Board of the Washington Post. These media operations have decided to band together as protagonists in a smear campaign aimed at discrediting American Herald Tribune.
AHT is a news site that I helped get off the ground beginning in 2015 when I agreed to become Editor in Chief of the small but exceptionally lively Internet publication. In wrongfully accusing AHT, CNN and Washington Post are adding to the scale of a wide constituency that is coming to the conclusion that these media operations are serial manufacturers of fake news.
In doing research into the antics of the two media ventures I came across the story of a well-publicized move by a member of the Tennessee Legislature to have CNN and Washington Post legally reprimanded. Representative Micah Van Huss formulated a resolution asserting “the State of Tennessee recognizes CNN and Washington Post as fake news and part of the media wing of the Democratic Party.” The text of Resolution 779 continues,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we condemn them [CNN and Washington Post] for denigrating our citizens and implying they are weak-minded followers instead of people exercising their rights that our veterans paid for with their blood.
I see something new in this formal enactment in a US Legislature of such severe animosity to mainstream media. New too is the decision to divide mainstream venues in the United States into partisan publicity networks closely connected to one of the two major political parties. These developments have ominous implications.
In prior times it seemed that a major function of mass communications in the USA was to create and marshal popular support for the invasions of foreign countries. These days the agenda has widened to include preparing the conceptual ground for civil war within the United States.
The promotion of the conditions for civil war are unfolding concurrently with a new stage of the campaign to pull the United States into war with Iran. This agenda was advanced in the opening days of the 2020s when Donald Trump shocked the world by immediately claiming credit for the grotesque drone assassination in Baghdad of top officials in both the Iraqi and Iranian governments. The assassinations extended to members of the entourage travelling with them.
This graphic proof that US Commander In Chief, Donald Trump, had gone rogue was followed by perhaps the largest, most solemn, most public and most extended funeral I can remember. As the funeral procession went between eight cities in Iraq and Iran, there was a huge outpouring of heart-felt emotion as people turned out by the millions to commemorate the life and martyrdom of General Qassem Soleimani.
*(The funeral procession of Qasem Soleimani in Tehran.)
Soon after the funeral the Facebook Corporation provided one of the indicators that the US war machine was being revved up by dehumanizing the possible future targets of mass murder by the US Armed Forces. Those who follow the machinations of Facebook closely will understand the social media giant has been successfully recruited as an instrument of militarized propaganda for the Israeli and US governments.
The Facebook crew removed posts that in words or in pictures expressed grief for the loss of General Soleimani or expressed any sort of positive recognition of the values he embodied throughout his life. In a world of many armed forces and many career soldiers, it seemed for a brief moment that a wide diversity of people on all sides of numerous military divisions could agree on something. Many individuals found in the persona of the departed Qassem Soleimani an embodiment of the universal qualities residing in martial dignity and steadfastness.
Facebook is setting very menacing precedents with its decision to censor the opinions of the great mass of humanity who laments the outcome of the Baghdad drone assassinations. In order to justify its actions the officers of Facebook invoked the pseudo-laws of the post-9/11 era. They argued that Facebook was acting in conformity with Donald Trump’s very political move to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.
As is now becoming clear, this designation amounted to a virtual Declaration of War on Iran. The “unprecedented” move to declare the armed forces of another country as terrorists came as part of Donald Trump’s obsequious effort to help Benjamin Netanyahu win re-election in Israel. The designation came days before the Israeli vote of April 2019. As he faced the Israeli electorate, Netanyahu sent out a tweet in Hebrew thanking Trump for “acceding to another one of my important requests.”
The Attack on AHT as Part of the Promotion of a US War with Iran
There can be no doubt about the underlying causes of the decision of CNN and Washington Post to put so much of their severely overstretched journalistic capital on the line in attempting to demonize American Herald Tribune. Like Facebook’s decision to prohibit anything but Trump-supporting characterizations of General Soleimani’s life and death, the attacks on AHT are all about preparing the conceptual terrain for a US-Iran war. It is all about socializing the audiences of mainstream media to support raining death and destruction down on Iran’s 80 million people.
Here is how the Washington Post followed up on the original smear job introduced by the CNN’s notorious “disinformation reporter.”
CNN reported last month on American Herald Tribune, a self-professed “genuinely independent online media outlet” that cybersecurity experts have determined is part of a far-reaching Iranian influence campaign. The strategy is simple: create a network of inauthentic news sites, then enlist associated accounts on popular platforms to spread the stories not only here but also in Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. American Herald Tribune’s modus operandi matches what we’ve already learned about online disinformation: Adversaries “launder” their campaigns through sympathetic citizens of target countries, or just citizens they offer money to — from authors on propagandistic or outright deceptive news sites to run-of-the-mill social media users. The byline on the KKK story, for instance, belongs to a man from Salem, Ore., who told CNN he believes the site is run by a man named Sam who lives in Brazil.
In my article, “Donie O’Sullivan and the ‘Garbage State’ of Media,” I discussed my visits to Iran since 2014 to take part in conferences including an academic event at the University of Tehran.
In those travels I developed friendships and collegial relations with some Iranian people including fellow academics. This experience is reflected in the wide range of AHT’s content created by correspondents coming from many perspectives and from many different lands all over the world.
I proudly affirm that AHT is opposed to any US-led war with Iran. For those seeking to avoid the scourge of war, the pursuit of peace obviously favors dialogue and exchange rather than animosity and sword-rattling. AHT intends to continue favoring dialogue and exchange.
None of these subjects are fairly or honestly addressed in the alarmist Washington Post smear piece. Rather the author representing the Washington Post’s Iranophobic Editorial Board rattles off jargon paraphrasing a deeply flawed study that provides no evidence whatsoever for the extravagant claims being irresponsibly asserted.
The basis for the Washington Post’s claim goes back to a glossy document put together in Milpitas California by an organization named Fire Eye. Fire Eye’s CEO is Kevin Mandia who cryptically describes his company’s specialty as the defense against “cyberattacks.”
The title of the Fire Eye report is Suspected Iranian Influence Operation: Leveraging Inauthentic News Sites and Social Media Aimed at U.S., U.K., Other Audiences. No specific individuals have permitted their names to appear as authors. Thus no one takes specific responsibility for the report’s contents, an understandable absence given the shoddy quality of the study.
There is absolutely no information given about the funders of the report. Why? What is there to hide? Did CNN or the Washington Post or a subsidiary company help fund the study? Did the Israeli or US government have a role? The question of the sponsorship of such an investigation is crucial to an assessment of its credibility. Everything points to the fact that there is apparently much about the origins and genesis of this mysterious study that is being kept under lock and key.
There is no clear explanation or justification of the methodology used. There are no specific references to other studies of a similar nature except for vague references to the Democratic Party’s hunt for Russian influences on US politics. There are no scholarly references nor is there a bibliography.
I did not see anywhere in the anonymously authored document a single reference to American Herald Tribune. Not one. Instead the report is organized as individual studies devoting a few pages including screen shots to several sites. These sites are Liberty Front Press, US Journal, Real Progressive Front, British Left, Critics Chronicle and Instituto Manquehue. Before doing research for this essay I had not heard of any of these sites. When I looked them up on Internet search engines, I found in several places adjacent to the named sites results linking to the Fire Eye document.
My biggest criticism concerning the supposed “research” done by CNN and Washington Post in preparing their respective smears, is that their reporters did not attempt to contact the Editor In Chief of AHT, namely me. Instead of doing due diligence in a case like this one, the protagonists of the smear campaign used a report that seemed to depend more on lawyers and weasel words than on any genuine analysis of the topic.
The very first sentence indicates, “Fire Eye has identified a suspected operation that appears to originate from Iran. (my italics). The unnamed authors report that they “assess with moderate confidence that this activity originates with Iran actors.” Why “moderate confidence”? What this qualification apparently means, is that “some possibility remains that this activity could originate from elsewhere [than Iran].”
I’m not really sure what the unnamed authors mean when they refer to “this activity.” What activity? Who do they mean when they refer to “Iran actors.” Is it the implication of the Fire Eye report than any Iranian person who publishes something on the Internet is doing something subversive? Are war obsessions already so advanced in the fervid imaginations of the authors of the Fire Eye, CNN and Washington Post pieces that they imagine that it is verboten for an Iranian to express himself or herself on the Internet?
So in the final analysis Fire Eye comes up with nothing that goes beyond the level of “suspicion.” My response to Fire Eye’s suspicion is to hold a mirror up to this group. If there is any party in this fiasco that falls under a cloud of deserved suspicion, it is the people at Fire Eye. This suspicion extends to those in mainstream media who report Fire Eyes “suspicions” as gospel fact. Such a failure of honest reporting, I should think, meets any reasonable criterion of fake news.
Following the Real Stories in the Face of Specious Attacks
The preoccupation of CNN and the Washington Post with stick handling for the discredited Hillary Clinton wing of the Democratic Party and with advancing the Zionist agenda of war with Iran has had serious deleterious effects on the quality of their news reporting. At exactly the same time that the Washington Post was intent on drawing a specious connection linking American Herald Tribune to the Fire Eye report, it remained mum on a very significant breaking news that remains extremely germane to mounting US-Iranian tensions.
The Taliban in Afghanistan are reported by Iranian, Russian and Italian sources to have shot down a very advanced US Air Force jet containing highly sophisticated spy and communications features. The high-tech aircraft was a Bombardier/Northrop Grumman E-11-A whose still-smoldering burned-out hulk was filmed in Ghazni province in Afghanistan. Some reports indicate the CIA’s most prominent figure in the Middle East, Mike de Andrea, was among the casualties. Other reports indicate the Mike de Andrea had a lead hand in the drone strikes that dramatically advanced the agenda of a full-fledged Iran-US war in the opening days of the 2020s.
Yet another possibility is that such reports concerning de Andrea’s role in the assassination of General Soleimani have been introduced to divert attention away from other possible scenarios. Much depends on getting at the truth of what really happened in the hours, days and weeks leading up to the most destabilizing drone strike in history.
Whatever the reality of the situation, reporting on the episode called attention to the many hundreds of murders by drone conducted by de Andrea in the course of an exceptionally violent career of murder and torture conducted largely outside the parameters of international criminal law. Readers who would like to see how the American Herald Tribune is covering this fast-breaking story are encouraged to check out the essay of Dr. Philip Giraldi, a former high-ranking CIA official who publishes regularly in AHT.
We at AHT are proud to publish much of the cutting-edge and courageous journalism by Philip Giraldi, Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest. Dr. Giraldi stands at the front of a long list of contributors at all stages of their journalistic careers. The essays of writers hosted at AHT will definitely bring readers much closer to the truth than the blatant and laughable propaganda at CNN and the Washington Post.
PROF. ANTHONY HALL
Anthony James Hall has been Editor In Chief of the American Herald Tribune since its inception. Between 1990 and 2018 Dr. Hall was Professor of Globalization Studies and Liberal Education at the University of Lethbridge where he is now Professor Emeritus. The focus of Dr. Hall's teaching, research, and community service came to highlight the conditions of the colonization of Indigenous peoples in imperial globalization since 1492.


russiainsider--2020-02-06--WATCH: America Is an Oligarchy Trying to Screw You! - Colin Powell's Fmr Chief of Staff Nails It (Co

WATCH: America Is an Oligarchy Trying to Screw You! - Colin Powell's Fmr Chief of Staff Nails It (Col. Wilkerson)

Do n't talk to me about China and state owned enterprises .
We are a state owned country by these oligarchs and we 're killing ourselves . ''
`` Do n't talk to me about Moscow and Putin .
We are the oligarchy clan in the world today .
We are the personification of what Plato and Aristotle talked about when they said , oh , let 's let the rich people run everything .
They are doing that in this country , whether it 's Sheldon Adelson funding West Bank settlements , Paul Singer doing the same thing , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a philanthropist ... Great short speech by anti-war activist and truth-teller Col. Larry Wilkerson ( Wikipedia ) .
He made these remarks at a rewards ceremony for heroic CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling , whose Kafkaesque ordeal you can read about in this excellent article on Consortium News by Ray McGovern .
Wilkerson had his dander up because after attending an anti-war meeting about Iran recently , he was visited by 2 FBI agents asking questions about the other attendees .
He really raises the roof , speaking plain truth about the rot in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wilkerson , colonel , former colonel .
And if you have n't watched Democracy Now and a bunch of other places after the killing of Soleimani , he has been out there just like what I write on Facebook .
He 's been hitting a home run on these things .
Just telling the truth .
Telling the truth about the situation .
Thanks .
Col. Wilkerson : Congratulations to you .
( Turning to Jeffrey Sterling ) .
And my hearty applause to you for joining this group .
I want to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ moment about another issue altogether .
I want to tell you that the FBI came to see me because I was at your Iran gathering .
Two young swashbuckling agents .
I said , you do n't even look like FBI .
If you do n't show me your badges , I 'm going to shoot you on my doorstep !
In the middle of the conversation , we finally got around to it .
- Well , you were with this woman at this Iran thing .
( they said ) .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ now .
That 's the state we 're in .
And what we have happening right now that I 've come to codify and understand in a level of detail I never thought I would approach is because I 've been for 15 years on a campus with some of the brightest students in the world , over 400 of them doing in case study after case study for me .
So it 's not just my experience in the government for 40 years .
It 's this incredible comprehensive look at what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We are involved in a fundamental battle for our life .
The battle is not as the newspapers tell you about .
That 's all a bunch of bull .
The battle is between what has been happening for some time in this country .
It 's between the national security state whose raison d'être is war , war , war , and the predatory capitalist state whose reason for existence is to screw you out of every penny you have in your life , any way it can do it .
That @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The deep state is the meritocracy , the bureaucracy that runs the country when the goddamn politicians are n't there or when they 're changing or when they 're idiots like we have today .
The real deep state , the pernicious poisonous deep state is the oligarchs who are running this country .
Think about this for a minute .
These two states are in a mortal battle right now with one another .
You see it every day .
You just do n't understand it .
Most people do n't anyway @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Exxon-Mobil sells more fossil fuel to D.O.D than anybody else on the face of the earth .
If d.O.D were , a country would rank 55th in 200 right beside Portugal .
Lockheed Martin is a member of the national security state , the biggest merchant of death on earth .
Its sales to the national security state .
But they 're killing each other in this battle .
It 's a mortal battle between the two .
And guess who 's in between the demos ?
The people your democracy are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are going in dying in 19 plus years of war .
Your democracy 's people are being forced out of their jobs .
Wait , do you see automation and robotics and what 's coming down the road with A.I.
?
Then these predatory capitalists can do everything they do without you , without any of the people out there .
There right now are worried sick about their jobs .
Do you know that distress as analyzed by medical personnel in this country has tripled in the last 15 years ?
We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world .
Mental health has gone to hell .
Oh , just put them in the private run prisons and they 'll die anyway .
This battle is existential .
We wo n't even talk about the climate crisis is coming down the road at us that most people are ignoring .
This battle 's existential .
The national security security state is now going to spend a trillion dollars of your money to make nuclear weapons better .
You know what the Pentagon thinks about nuclear weapons being better in terms of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ yield nuclear weapons we 're going to develop are going to be used on the battlefield .
Disregarding 50 years of escalatory theory and doctrine .
Oh , it wo n't be escalatory .
The hell it wo n't be escalatory .
The Russians have already adopted in their written doctrine the use of nuclear weapons to blunt a NATO incursion into their sphere of influence .
This is all happening while we go about our daily lives and think things are maybe , you know , halfway decent or maybe they 're @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be , these two states are waging this colossal battle in your country and the people in the middle and the democracy in the middle are dying .
They 're giving in to these two states .
If you have n't read Tom Muellers book , Crisis of Conscience whistle-blowing in an age of Fraud , you should read the first chapter alone .
It 'll make you ill that Johnson and Johnson and their subsidiaries were able to infect children all across this country .
In ways that will stay with them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ however short that is , that their subsidiaries were complicit , that they actually sat around in their offices and talked about the cost being worth it because 35 billion dollars was the profit and the costs was only these poor people dying and so forth .
Then you begin to understand what I 'm talking about .
You begin to understand the dimensions of the poison that is amongst us and the poison that is taking over our country and our democracy .
I hesitate sometimes with my students even to call @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are in charge .
Do n't talk to me about Moscow and Putin .
We are the oligarchy clan in the world today .
We are the personification of what Plato and Aristotle talked about when they said , oh , let 's let the rich people run everything because they are doing that in this country , whether it 's Sheldon Adelson funding West Bank settlements , Paul Singer doing the same thing , or s George Soros pretending like he 's a philanthropist .
A book by Marc Fisher , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a few months ago is called Capitalist Realism .
Read that book .
You 'll have to have an Oxford English Dictionary , a dictionary of American medical terms and so forth .
But look at the stats in that book on what is happening to this country .
It 's just unbelievable when you look at and it 's all because of this predatory capital state .
That 's what we are today .
We 're a predatory capitalist state .
Do n't talk to me about China and state owned enterprises @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by these oligarchs and we 're killing ourselves .
And as Tom tells you in that book , the one really brilliant flash of lightning through this whole morass is people like this and people like Bill and Tom and John and Edward Snowden .
They are the people who are shining at least a little bit of light on this stuff .
And Karen and Jessalyn and the people who defend them .
That 's the only thing I see out there that 's shining brightly and occasionally actually get some retribution @ @ @ @ @ @ @ So that 's why this group is so important .
That 's why you 're so important .
That 's why the entire concept of this is so important .
Do n't stop .
I think it was Martin Luther King who said something to the effect of if you 're silent , you 're wrong .
If you 're silent in the face of wrong , you 're doubly so .

Don't talk to me about China and state owned enterprises. We are a state owned country by these oligarchs and we're killing ourselves."
"Don't talk to me about Moscow and Putin. We are the oligarchy clan in the world today. We are the personification of what Plato and Aristotle talked about when they said, oh, let's let the rich people run everything. They are doing that in this country, whether it's Sheldon Adelson funding West Bank settlements, Paul Singer doing the same thing, or George Soros pretending like he's a philanthropist ...
Great short speech by anti-war activist and truth-teller Col. Larry Wilkerson (Wikipedia). He made these remarks at a rewards ceremony for heroic CIA whistleblower Jeffrey Sterling, whose Kafkaesque ordeal you can read about in this excellent article on Consortium News by Ray McGovern.
Wilkerson had his dander up because after attending an anti-war meeting about Iran recently, he was visited by 2 FBI agents asking questions about the other attendees. He really raises the roof, speaking plain truth about the rot in Washington.
Highly recommended! Full transcript follows below.
Transcript: (Machine transcribed, includes inaccuracies)
Introducer: We have Larry Wilkerson, colonel, former colonel. And if you haven't watched Democracy Now and a bunch of other places after the killing of Soleimani, he has been out there just like what I write on Facebook. He's been hitting a home run on these things. Just telling the truth. Telling the truth about the situation. Thanks.
Col. Wilkerson: Congratulations to you. (Turning to Jeffrey Sterling). And my hearty applause to you for joining this group.
I want to get a little more serious for a moment about another issue altogether. I want to tell you that the FBI came to see me because I was at your Iran gathering. Two young swashbuckling agents. I said, you don't even look like FBI. If you don't show me your badges, I'm going to shoot you on my doorstep!
God, what a couple of arrogant assholes!
In the middle of the conversation, we finally got around to it. - Well, you were with this woman at this Iran thing. (they said).
That's the state we're in now. That's the state we're in.
And what we have happening right now that I've come to codify and understand in a level of detail I never thought I would approach is because I've been for 15 years on a campus with some of the brightest students in the world, over 400 of them doing in case study after case study for me. So it's not just my experience in the government for 40 years.
It's this incredible comprehensive look at what's happening to us right now. We are involved in a fundamental battle for our life. The battle is not as the newspapers tell you about. That's all a bunch of bull. The battle is between what has been happening for some time in this country.
It's between the national security state whose raison d'être is war, war, war, and the predatory capitalist state whose reason for existence is to screw you out of every penny you have in your life, any way it can do it. That's there's no deep state. The deep state is the meritocracy, the bureaucracy that runs the country when the goddamn politicians aren't there or when they're changing or when they're idiots like we have today. The real deep state, the pernicious poisonous deep state is the oligarchs who are running this country.
Think about this for a minute. These two states are in a mortal battle right now with one another. You see it every day. You just don't understand it. Most people don't anyway. You have people in both camps. Exxon-Mobil sells more fossil fuel to D.O.D than anybody else on the face of the earth. If d.O.D were, a country would rank 55th in 200 right beside Portugal. Lockheed Martin is a member of the national security state, the biggest merchant of death on earth. Its sales to the national security state. But they're killing each other in this battle. It's a mortal battle between the two. And guess who's in between the demos? The people your democracy are in between your democracies.
Poor people are going in dying in 19 plus years of war. Your democracy's people are being forced out of their jobs. Wait, do you see automation and robotics and what's coming down the road with A.I.? Then these predatory capitalists can do everything they do without you, without any of the people out there. There right now are worried sick about their jobs. Do you know that distress as analyzed by medical personnel in this country has tripled in the last 15 years? We are the most distressed country in the world.
Mental health has gone to hell. Oh, just put them in the private run prisons and they'll die anyway. This battle is existential. We won't even talk about the climate crisis is coming down the road at us that most people are ignoring. This battle's existential. The national security security state is now going to spend a trillion dollars of your money to make nuclear weapons better. You know what the Pentagon thinks about nuclear weapons being better in terms of use on the battlefield? Those low yield nuclear weapons we're going to develop are going to be used on the battlefield. Disregarding 50 years of escalatory theory and doctrine. Oh, it won't be escalatory. The hell it won't be escalatory. The Russians have already adopted in their written doctrine the use of nuclear weapons to blunt a NATO incursion into their sphere of influence.
This is all happening while we go about our daily lives and think things are maybe, you know, halfway decent or maybe they're falling apart. Whatever your thoughts might be, these two states are waging this colossal battle in your country and the people in the middle and the democracy in the middle are dying.
They're giving in to these two states. If you haven't read Tom Muellers book, Crisis of Conscience whistle-blowing in an age of Fraud, you should read the first chapter alone.
It'll make you ill that Johnson and Johnson and their subsidiaries were able to infect children all across this country. In ways that will stay with them for the rest of their lives, however short that is, that their subsidiaries were complicit, that they actually sat around in their offices and talked about the cost being worth it because 35 billion dollars was the profit and the costs was only these poor people dying and so forth. Then you begin to understand what I'm talking about.
You begin to understand the dimensions of the poison that is amongst us and the poison that is taking over our country and our democracy. I hesitate sometimes with my students even to call us a democracy anymore because these oligarchs are in charge.
Don't talk to me about Moscow and Putin. We are the oligarchy clan in the world today. We are the personification of what Plato and Aristotle talked about when they said, oh, let's let the rich people run everything because they are doing that in this country, whether it's Sheldon Adelson funding West Bank settlements, Paul Singer doing the same thing, or s George Soros pretending like he's a philanthropist.
A book by Marc Fisher, a gentlemen who committed suicide in New York a few months ago is called Capitalist Realism. Read that book. You'll have to have an Oxford English Dictionary, a dictionary of American medical terms and so forth. But look at the stats in that book on what is happening to this country. It's just unbelievable when you look at and it's all because of this predatory capital state.
That's what we are today. We're a predatory capitalist state. Don't talk to me about China and state owned enterprises. We are a state owned country by these oligarchs and we're killing ourselves.
And as Tom tells you in that book, the one really brilliant flash of lightning through this whole morass is people like this and people like Bill and Tom and John and Edward Snowden. They are the people who are shining at least a little bit of light on this stuff. And Karen and Jessalyn and the people who defend them.
That's the only thing I see out there that's shining brightly and occasionally actually get some retribution and some accountability and some justice.
So that's why this group is so important. That's why you're so important. That's why the entire concept of this is so important. Don't stop.
I think it was Martin Luther King who said something to the effect of if you're silent, you're wrong. If you're silent in the face of wrong, you're doubly so.
This group isn't silent. Thank you.


russiainsider--2020-02-06--Moscow and St. Petersburg See Warmest January in Recorded History, 18 Degrees (F), 10 (C), Above Mon

Moscow and St. Petersburg See Warmest January in Recorded History, 18 Degrees (F), 10 (C), Above Monthly Norm

Update : January temperatures across all of Russia were the second-hottest in the country ’ s recorded history , the Federal Meteorological Service said Wednesday .
Scores of cities across Russia including Moscow and St. Petersburg have experienced the hottest January in their recorded histories , an official at Russia ’ s meteorological center said Monday .
The latest record comes after 2019 was declared the hottest year on record in Russia .
Moscow and some parts of Russia have been reeling from an unusually warm winter , which meteorologists have attributed to an atmospheric front from the Atlantic Ocean @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s European regions broke the overall record by 1.6 degrees Celsius , Interfax quoted Roman Vilfand , the scientific director of Russia 's Hydrometeorology Center , as saying .
“ It is obvious that the weather has jumped to a different temperature level , '' Wilfand told Interfax , noting that such anomalies happen “ extremely rarely.
” In Moscow and St. Petersburg , January temperatures were 9.4 degrees Celsius above the monthly norm , the Fobos weather center said Sunday .
“ The two capitals haven ’ t seen such warmth in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” it said in an online statement .
“ For the first time , the average temperature was above zero [ degrees Celsius ] in Moscow and St. Petersburg , ” Fobos said .
Another 70 cities also experienced the hottest January in their history , the weather center added .
“ January 2020 was not a winter month , ” Fobos said .

Moscow and some parts of Russia have been reeling from an unusually warm winter, which meteorologists have attributed to an atmospheric front from the Atlantic Ocean.Alexander Shcherbak / TASS
Update: January temperatures across all of Russia were the second-hottest in the country’s recorded history, the Federal Meteorological Service said Wednesday.
Scores of cities across Russia including Moscow and St. Petersburg have experienced the hottest January in their recorded histories, an official at Russia’s meteorological center said Monday.
The latest record comes after 2019 was declared the hottest year on record in Russia. Moscow and some parts of Russia have been reeling from an unusually warm winter, which meteorologists have attributed to an atmospheric front from the Atlantic Ocean.
Average January temperatures across Russia’s European regions broke the overall record by 1.6 degrees Celsius, Interfax quoted Roman Vilfand, the scientific director of Russia's Hydrometeorology Center, as saying.
“It is obvious that the weather has jumped to a different temperature level," Wilfand told Interfax, noting that such anomalies happen “extremely rarely.”
In Moscow and St. Petersburg, January temperatures were 9.4 degrees Celsius above the monthly norm, the Fobos weather center said Sunday.
“The two capitals haven’t seen such warmth in the entire history of weather observations,” it said in an online statement.
“For the first time, the average temperature was above zero [degrees Celsius] in Moscow and St. Petersburg,” Fobos said.
Another 70 cities also experienced the hottest January in their history, the weather center added.
“January 2020 was not a winter month,” Fobos said.


russiainsider--2020-02-07--Oliver Stone — Hollywood Even More Heavily Censored Since 9/11

The American film industry changed beyond recognition after the milestone year of 2001 , director Oliver Stone told RT , with producers using financial restraints to censor movies challenging the US military or the CIA .
“ Maybe in the 1980s , when I did ‘ Platoon ’ , ‘ Born on the Fourth of July ’ and ‘ Heaven & Earth ’ , I could do that , because it was a slightly more relaxed system , ” said the award-winning filmmaker , mentioning his famed movies while making his case during former Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iron Curtain fell and the Cold War ended , things didn ’ t change for the better , Stone believes .
“ My film career has suffered , because sometimes I ’ ve said things that American producers hate to hear , ” he revealed , adding that those sponsoring film productions sometimes resort to “ economic censorship.
” Hollywood has changed since 2001 .
It has become more censored .
The military , the CIA , the depictions of these organizations has been very favorable .
“ You can take the budgets @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to make a film criticizing the American military , taking an Iraq war story or a horror story that recently happened in Iraq… You do those kinds of stories , it ’ s not going to happen , ” he explained .
Stone , who scored a number of Academy , BAFTA and Golden Globe awards , has been widely criticized for his anti-war dramas and , most recently , for a series of films questioning the widespread Western narrative on the Ukrainian turmoil , as well as exclusive interviews with Vladimir Putin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t something that exclusively affects the American film industry , ” Stone lamented , “ I can read the American media but they all say the same things … And you don ’ t hear from Iran and China , you don ’ t hear from [ North ] Korea , you don ’ t hear from Venezuela , you don ’ t get their point of view.
” The CIA realized – after World War II , basically – they [ went into ] the business , the news business , they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ newspapers , at magazines and television .
The famed film director sounded pessimistic when asked if there is hope for change – or , at least , if the system allows for that change .
He said that both parties – be it Democrats or Republicans – act by the same playbook when dealing with issues of war and peace .
“ There is no party in the United States , no democratic voice except third parties that are small , that would say ‘ Why are we fighting wars ?
’ ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s all right-wings fighting with right-wings.
” Democrats are no better than Republicans , he says : “ Hillary Clinton and her group , and Joe Biden , are just as pro-war as any Republican Dick Cheney.
” Stone thinks Donald Trump who has done “ horrible things ” by pulling out of the Paris climate accords and the hard-earned 2015 Iran nuclear deal .
But , argued Stone , at least Trump was asking why the US needs to fight the Russians , which alarmed the mainstream so much that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It ’ s not Russia that ’ s damaging American democracy – it ’ s money Stone lamented that politics is transiting from the art of the possible to the art of raising money .
“ So much money is spent in politics , it ’ s impossible for my vote to make any difference… Candidates in America now have to raise billions of dollars to be considered serious , ” Stone said .
Empires fall .
Let ’ s pray that this empire , these evil things… because we are the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Russia is true about us .

The American film industry changed beyond recognition after the milestone year of 2001, director Oliver Stone told RT, with producers using financial restraints to censor movies challenging the US military or the CIA.
“Maybe in the 1980s, when I did ‘Platoon’, ‘Born on the Fourth of July’ and ‘Heaven & Earth’, I could do that, because it was a slightly more relaxed system,” said the award-winning filmmaker, mentioning his famed movies while making his case during former Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa’s show on RT Spanish.
When the Iron Curtain fell and the Cold War ended, things didn’t change for the better, Stone believes. “My film career has suffered, because sometimes I’ve said things that American producers hate to hear,” he revealed, adding that those sponsoring film productions sometimes resort to “economic censorship.”
Hollywood has changed since 2001. It has become more censored. The military, the CIA, the depictions of these organizations has been very favorable.
“You can take the budgets down… let’s say you want to make a film criticizing the American military, taking an Iraq war story or a horror story that recently happened in Iraq… You do those kinds of stories, it’s not going to happen,” he explained.
Stone, who scored a number of Academy, BAFTA and Golden Globe awards, has been widely criticized for his anti-war dramas and, most recently, for a series of films questioning the widespread Western narrative on the Ukrainian turmoil, as well as exclusive interviews with Vladimir Putin.
“Now, censorship isn’t something that exclusively affects the American film industry,” Stone lamented, “I can read the American media but they all say the same things … And you don’t hear from Iran and China, you don’t hear from [North] Korea, you don’t hear from Venezuela, you don’t get their point of view.”
The CIA realized – after World War II, basically – they [went into] the business, the news business, they put their people, their agents at newspapers, at magazines and television.
The famed film director sounded pessimistic when asked if there is hope for change – or, at least, if the system allows for that change. He said that both parties – be it Democrats or Republicans – act by the same playbook when dealing with issues of war and peace.
“There is no party in the United States, no democratic voice except third parties that are small, that would say ‘Why are we fighting wars?’” Stone exclaimed, adding, “it’s all right-wings fighting with right-wings.” Democrats are no better than Republicans, he says: “Hillary Clinton and her group, and Joe Biden, are just as pro-war as any Republican Dick Cheney.”
Stone thinks Donald Trump who has done “horrible things” by pulling out of the Paris climate accords and the hard-earned 2015 Iran nuclear deal. But, argued Stone, at least Trump was asking why the US needs to fight the Russians, which alarmed the mainstream so much that the media was attacking him from day one.
It’s not Russia that’s damaging American democracy – it’s money
Stone lamented that politics is transiting from the art of the possible to the art of raising money.
“So much money is spent in politics, it’s impossible for my vote to make any difference… Candidates in America now have to raise billions of dollars to be considered serious,” Stone said.
Empires fall. Let’s pray that this empire, these evil things… because we are the evil empire. What Reagan said about Russia is true about us.