lewrockwell--2020-08-10--The Founding Fathers’ Coup d’État

The Founding Fathers’ Coup d’État

[ Adapted from chapter 5 of Our Enemy , the State . ]
The revolution of 1776–1781 converted thirteen provinces , practically as they stood , into thirteen autonomous political units , completely independent , and they so continued until 1789 , formally held together as a sort of league , by the Articles of Confederation .
For our purposes , the point to be remarked about this eight-year period , 1781–1789 , is that administration of the political means was not centralized in the federation , but in the several units of which the federation was composed .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hardly more than a deliberative body of delegates appointed by the autonomous units .
It had no taxing-power , and no coercive power .
It could not command funds for any enterprise common to the federation , even for war ; all it could do was to apportion the sum needed , in the hope that each unit would meet its quota .
There was no coercive federal authority over these matters , or over any matters ; the sovereignty of each of the thirteen federated units was complete… .
It may be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ centralized under the federation , it was not centralized in the federation , but in the federated unit .
For various reasons , some of them plausible , many leading citizens , especially in the more northerly units , found this distribution of power unsatisfactory ; and a considerable compact group of economic interests which stood to profit by a redistribution naturally made the most of these reasons .
It is quite certain that dissatisfaction with the existing arrangement was not general , for when the redistribution took place in 1789 , it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ through a coup d ’ État , organized by methods which if employed in any other field than that of politics , would be put down at once as not only daring , but unscrupulous and dishonourable .
Our Enemy , the State Albert Jay Nock Best Price : $ 9.84 Buy New $ 9.95 The situation , in a word , was that American economic interests had fallen into two grand divisions , the special interests in each having made common cause with a view to capturing control of the political means @ @ @ @ @ @ @ industrial-commercial and creditor interests , with their natural allies of the bar and bench , the pulpit and the press .
The other comprised chiefly the farmers and artisans and the debtor class generally .
From the first , these two grand divisions were colliding briskly here and there in the several units , the most serious collision occurring over the terms of the Massachusetts constitution of 1780 .
The State in each of the thirteen units was a class-State , as every State known to history has been ; and the work @ @ @ @ @ @ @ enabling the economic exploitation of one class by another went steadily on .
General conditions under the Articles of Confederation were pretty good .
The people had made a creditable recovery from the dislocations and disturbances due to the revolution , and there was a very decent prospect that Mr. Jefferson ’ s idea of a political organization , which should be national in foreign affairs and non-national in domestic affairs might be found continuously practicable .
Some tinkering with the Articles seemed necessary—in fact , it was expected—but nothing that would transform @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The chief trouble was with the federation ’ s weakness in view of the chance of war , and in respect of debts due to foreign creditors .
The Articles , however , carried provision for their own amendment , and for anything one can see , such amendment as the general scheme made necessary was quite feasible .
In fact , when suggestions of revision arose , as they did almost immediately , nothing else appears to have been contemplated .
But the general scheme itself was as a whole objectionable to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ division .
The grounds of their dissatisfaction are obvious enough .
When one bears in mind the vast prospect of the continent , one need use but little imagination to perceive that the national scheme was by far the more congenial to those interests , because it enabled an ever-closer centralization of control over the political means .
For instance , leaving aside the advantage of having but one central tariff-making body to chaffer with , instead of twelve , any industrialist could see the great primary advantage of being able to extend @ @ @ @ @ @ @ area walled-in by a general tariff ; the closer the centralization , the larger the exploitable area .
Any speculator in rental-values would be quick to see the advantage of bringing this form of opportunity under unified control .
Any speculator in depreciated public securities would be strongly for a system that could offer him the use of the political means to bring back their face-value .
Any shipowner or foreign trader would be quick to see that his bread was buttered on the side of a national State which , if properly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the political means by way of a subsidy , or would be able to back up some profitable but dubious freebooting enterprise with “ diplomatic representations ” or with reprisals .
We Have Not a Governme ... Van Cleve , George William Best Price : $ 13.22 Buy New $ 14.32 The farmers and the debtor class in general , on the other hand , were not interested in these considerations , but were strongly for letting things stay , for the most part , as they stood .
Preponderance in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the political means , which they could and did use to the prejudice of the creditor class , and they did not care to be disturbed in their preponderance .
They were agreeable to such modification of the Articles as should work out short of this , but not to setting up a national replica of the British merchant-State , which they perceived was precisely what the classes grouped in the opposing grand division wished to do .
These classes aimed at bringing in the British system of economics , politics and judicial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the interests grouped in the second division saw that what this would really come to was a shifting of the incidence of economic exploitation upon themselves .
They had an impressive object-lesson in the immediate shift that took place in Massachusetts after the adoption of John Adams ’ s local constitution of 1780 .
They naturally did not care to see this sort of thing put into operation on a nation-wide scale , and they therefore looked with extreme disfavour upon any bait put forth for amending the Articles out of existence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ objected to the Articles in the form in which they were proposed for adoption , and proposed the calling of a constitutional convention instead , they turned the cold shoulder ; as they did again to Washington ’ s letter to the local governors three years later , in which he adverted to the need of a strong coercive central authority .
Finally , however , a constitutional convention was assembled , on the distinct understanding that it should do no more than revise the Articles in such a way , as Hamilton @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them “ adequate to the exigencies of the nation , ” and on the further understanding that all the thirteen units should assent to the amendments before they went into effect ; in short , that the method of amendment provided by the Articles themselves should be followed .
Neither understanding was fulfilled .
The convention was made up wholly of men representing the economic interests of the first division .
The great majority of them , possibly as many as four-fifths , were public creditors ; one-third were land-speculators ; some were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , shippers ; and many of them were lawyers .
They planned and executed a coup d ’ État , simply tossing the Articles of Confederation into the waste-basket , and drafting a constitution de novo , with the audacious provision that it should go into effect when ratified by nine units instead of by all thirteen .
Moreover , with like audacity , they provided that the document should not be submitted either to the Congress or to the local legislatures , but that it should go direct to a popular vote @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ratification need not be dwelt on here .
We are not indeed concerned with the moral quality of any of the proceedings by which the constitution was brought into being , but only with showing their instrumentality in encouraging a definite general idea of the State and its functions , and a consequent general attitude towards the State .
We therefore go on to observe that in order to secure ratification by even the nine necessary units , the document had to conform to certain very exacting and difficult requirements .
The political @ @ @ @ @ @ @ republican in form , yet capable of resisting what Gerry unctuously called “ the excess of democracy , ” and what Randolph termed its “ turbulence and follies.
” The task of the delegates was precisely analogous to that of the earlier architects who had designed the structure of the British merchant-State , with its system of economics , politics and judicial control ; they had to contrive something that could pass muster as showing a good semblance of popular sovereignty , without the reality .
Madison defined their task explicitly in saying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ to secure the public good and private rights against the danger of such a faction [ i.e.
, a democratic faction ] , and at the same time preserve the spirit and form of popular government.
” The Second Founding : H ... Foner , Eric Best Price : $ 14.59 Buy New $ 13.89 Under the circumstances , this was a tremendously large order ; and the constitution emerged , as it was bound to do , as a compromise-document , or as Mr. [ Charles ] Beard puts it very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ choices , ” which really satisfied neither of the two opposing sets of interests .
It was not strong and definite enough in either direction to please anybody .
In particular , the interests composing the first division , led by Alexander Hamilton , saw that it was not sufficient of itself to fix them in anything like a permanent impregnable position to exploit continuously the groups composing the second division .
To do this—to establish the degree of centralization requisite to their purposes—certain lines of administrative management must be laid down , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ permanent .
The further task therefore , in Madison ’ s phrase , was to “ administration ” the constitution into such absolutist modes as would secure economic supremacy , by a free use of the political means , to the groups which made up the first division .
This was accordingly done .
For the first ten years of its existence the constitution remained in the hands of its makers for administration in directions most favourable to their interests .
For an accurate understanding of the newly-erected system ’ s economic tendencies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ laid on the fact that for these ten critical years “ the machinery of economic and political power was mainly directed by the men who had conceived and established it.
” Washington , who had been chairman of the convention , was elected President .
Nearly half the Senate was made up of men who had been delegates , and the House of Representatives was largely made up of men who had to do with the drafting or ratifying of the constitution .
Hamilton , Randolph and Knox , who were active in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the four positions in the Cabinet ; and all the federal judgeships , without a single exception , were filled by men who had a hand in the business of drafting , or of ratification , or both .
Of all the legislative measures enacted to implement the new constitution , the one best calculated to ensure a rapid and steady progress in the centralization of political power was the judiciary Act of 1789 .
This measure created a federal supreme court of six members ( subsequently enlarged to nine ) , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , with its own complete personnel , and a complete apparatus for enforcing its decrees .
The Act established federal oversight of state legislation by the familiar device of “ interpretation , ” whereby the Supreme Court might nullify state legislative or judicial action which for any reason it saw fit to regard as unconstitutional .
One feature of the Act which for our purposes is most noteworthy is that it made the tenure of all these federal judgeships appointive , not elective , and for life ; thus marking almost the farthest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sovereignty .
The first chief justice was John Jay , “ the learned and gentle Jay , ” as Beveridge calls him in his excellent biography of Marshall .
A man of superb integrity , he was far above doing anything whatever in behalf of the accepted principle that est boni judicis ampliare jurisdictionem .
Ellsworth , who followed him , also did nothing .
The succession , however , after Jay had declined a reappointment , then fell to John Marshall , who , in addition to the control established by the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ judicial authority , arbitrarily extended judicial control over both the legislative and executive branches of the federal authority ; thus effecting as complete and convenient a centralization of power as the various interests concerned in framing the constitution could reasonably have contemplated .
We may now see from this necessarily brief survey , which anyone may amplify and particularize at his pleasure , what the circumstances were which rooted a certain definite idea of the State still deeper in the general consciousness .
That idea was precisely the same in the constitutional period @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the two periods already examined—the colonial period , and the eight-year period following the revolution .
Nowhere in the history of the constitutional period do we find the faintest suggestion of the Declaration ’ s doctrine of natural rights ; and we find its doctrine of popular sovereignty not only continuing in abeyance , but constitutionally estopped from ever reappearing .
Nowhere do we find a trace of the Declaration ’ s theory of government ; on the contrary , we find it expressly repudiated .
The new political mechanism was a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ model , but so far improved and strengthened as to be incomparably more close-working and efficient , and hence presenting incomparably more attractive possibilities of capture and control .
By consequence , therefore , we find more firmly implanted than ever the same general idea of the State that we have observed as prevailing hitherto—the idea of an organization of the political means , an irresponsible and all-powerful agency standing always ready to be put into use for the service of one set of economic interests as against another .
Note : The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those of the Mises Institute .
The Best of Albert Jay Nock

[Adapted from chapter 5 of Our Enemy, the State.]
The revolution of 1776–1781 converted thirteen provinces, practically as they stood, into thirteen autonomous political units, completely independent, and they so continued until 1789, formally held together as a sort of league, by the Articles of Confederation. For our purposes, the point to be remarked about this eight-year period, 1781–1789, is that administration of the political means was not centralized in the federation, but in the several units of which the federation was composed. The federal assembly, or congress, was hardly more than a deliberative body of delegates appointed by the autonomous units. It had no taxing-power, and no coercive power. It could not command funds for any enterprise common to the federation, even for war; all it could do was to apportion the sum needed, in the hope that each unit would meet its quota. There was no coercive federal authority over these matters, or over any matters; the sovereignty of each of the thirteen federated units was complete….
It may be repeated that while State power was well centralized under the federation, it was not centralized in the federation, but in the federated unit. For various reasons, some of them plausible, many leading citizens, especially in the more northerly units, found this distribution of power unsatisfactory; and a considerable compact group of economic interests which stood to profit by a redistribution naturally made the most of these reasons. It is quite certain that dissatisfaction with the existing arrangement was not general, for when the redistribution took place in 1789, it was effected with great difficulty and only through a coup d’État, organized by methods which if employed in any other field than that of politics, would be put down at once as not only daring, but unscrupulous and dishonourable. Our Enemy, the State Albert Jay Nock Best Price: $9.84 Buy New $9.95 (as of 03:20 UTC - Details)
The situation, in a word, was that American economic interests had fallen into two grand divisions, the special interests in each having made common cause with a view to capturing control of the political means. One division comprised the speculating, industrial-commercial and creditor interests, with their natural allies of the bar and bench, the pulpit and the press. The other comprised chiefly the farmers and artisans and the debtor class generally. From the first, these two grand divisions were colliding briskly here and there in the several units, the most serious collision occurring over the terms of the Massachusetts constitution of 1780. The State in each of the thirteen units was a class-State, as every State known to history has been; and the work of manœuvring it in its function of enabling the economic exploitation of one class by another went steadily on.
General conditions under the Articles of Confederation were pretty good. The people had made a creditable recovery from the dislocations and disturbances due to the revolution, and there was a very decent prospect that Mr. Jefferson’s idea of a political organization, which should be national in foreign affairs and non-national in domestic affairs might be found continuously practicable. Some tinkering with the Articles seemed necessary—in fact, it was expected—but nothing that would transform or seriously impair the general scheme. The chief trouble was with the federation’s weakness in view of the chance of war, and in respect of debts due to foreign creditors. The Articles, however, carried provision for their own amendment, and for anything one can see, such amendment as the general scheme made necessary was quite feasible. In fact, when suggestions of revision arose, as they did almost immediately, nothing else appears to have been contemplated.
But the general scheme itself was as a whole objectionable to the interests grouped in the first grand division. The grounds of their dissatisfaction are obvious enough. When one bears in mind the vast prospect of the continent, one need use but little imagination to perceive that the national scheme was by far the more congenial to those interests, because it enabled an ever-closer centralization of control over the political means. For instance, leaving aside the advantage of having but one central tariff-making body to chaffer with, instead of twelve, any industrialist could see the great primary advantage of being able to extend his exploiting operations over a nation-wide free-trade area walled-in by a general tariff; the closer the centralization, the larger the exploitable area. Any speculator in rental-values would be quick to see the advantage of bringing this form of opportunity under unified control. Any speculator in depreciated public securities would be strongly for a system that could offer him the use of the political means to bring back their face-value. Any shipowner or foreign trader would be quick to see that his bread was buttered on the side of a national State which, if properly approached, might lend him the use of the political means by way of a subsidy, or would be able to back up some profitable but dubious freebooting enterprise with “diplomatic representations” or with reprisals. We Have Not a Governme... Van Cleve, George William Best Price: $13.22 Buy New $14.32 (as of 04:05 UTC - Details)
The farmers and the debtor class in general, on the other hand, were not interested in these considerations, but were strongly for letting things stay, for the most part, as they stood. Preponderance in the local legislatures gave them satisfactory control of the political means, which they could and did use to the prejudice of the creditor class, and they did not care to be disturbed in their preponderance. They were agreeable to such modification of the Articles as should work out short of this, but not to setting up a national replica of the British merchant-State, which they perceived was precisely what the classes grouped in the opposing grand division wished to do. These classes aimed at bringing in the British system of economics, politics and judicial control, on a nation-wide scale; and the interests grouped in the second division saw that what this would really come to was a shifting of the incidence of economic exploitation upon themselves. They had an impressive object-lesson in the immediate shift that took place in Massachusetts after the adoption of John Adams’s local constitution of 1780. They naturally did not care to see this sort of thing put into operation on a nation-wide scale, and they therefore looked with extreme disfavour upon any bait put forth for amending the Articles out of existence. When Hamilton, in 1780, objected to the Articles in the form in which they were proposed for adoption, and proposed the calling of a constitutional convention instead, they turned the cold shoulder; as they did again to Washington’s letter to the local governors three years later, in which he adverted to the need of a strong coercive central authority.
Finally, however, a constitutional convention was assembled, on the distinct understanding that it should do no more than revise the Articles in such a way, as Hamilton cleverly phrased it, as to make them “adequate to the exigencies of the nation,” and on the further understanding that all the thirteen units should assent to the amendments before they went into effect; in short, that the method of amendment provided by the Articles themselves should be followed. Neither understanding was fulfilled. The convention was made up wholly of men representing the economic interests of the first division. The great majority of them, possibly as many as four-fifths, were public creditors; one-third were land-speculators; some were money-lenders; one-fifth were industrialists, traders, shippers; and many of them were lawyers. They planned and executed a coup d’État, simply tossing the Articles of Confederation into the waste-basket, and drafting a constitution de novo, with the audacious provision that it should go into effect when ratified by nine units instead of by all thirteen. Moreover, with like audacity, they provided that the document should not be submitted either to the Congress or to the local legislatures, but that it should go direct to a popular vote!
The unscrupulous methods employed in securing ratification need not be dwelt on here. We are not indeed concerned with the moral quality of any of the proceedings by which the constitution was brought into being, but only with showing their instrumentality in encouraging a definite general idea of the State and its functions, and a consequent general attitude towards the State. We therefore go on to observe that in order to secure ratification by even the nine necessary units, the document had to conform to certain very exacting and difficult requirements. The political structure which it contemplated had to be republican in form, yet capable of resisting what Gerry unctuously called “the excess of democracy,” and what Randolph termed its “turbulence and follies.” The task of the delegates was precisely analogous to that of the earlier architects who had designed the structure of the British merchant-State, with its system of economics, politics and judicial control; they had to contrive something that could pass muster as showing a good semblance of popular sovereignty, without the reality. Madison defined their task explicitly in saying that the convention’s purpose was “to secure the public good and private rights against the danger of such a faction [i.e., a democratic faction], and at the same time preserve the spirit and form of popular government.” The Second Founding: H... Foner, Eric Best Price: $14.59 Buy New $13.89 (as of 12:20 UTC - Details)
Under the circumstances, this was a tremendously large order; and the constitution emerged, as it was bound to do, as a compromise-document, or as Mr. [Charles] Beard puts it very precisely, “a mosaic of second choices,” which really satisfied neither of the two opposing sets of interests. It was not strong and definite enough in either direction to please anybody. In particular, the interests composing the first division, led by Alexander Hamilton, saw that it was not sufficient of itself to fix them in anything like a permanent impregnable position to exploit continuously the groups composing the second division. To do this—to establish the degree of centralization requisite to their purposes—certain lines of administrative management must be laid down, which, once established, would be permanent. The further task therefore, in Madison’s phrase, was to “administration” the constitution into such absolutist modes as would secure economic supremacy, by a free use of the political means, to the groups which made up the first division.
This was accordingly done. For the first ten years of its existence the constitution remained in the hands of its makers for administration in directions most favourable to their interests. For an accurate understanding of the newly-erected system’s economic tendencies, too much stress can not be laid on the fact that for these ten critical years “the machinery of economic and political power was mainly directed by the men who had conceived and established it.” Washington, who had been chairman of the convention, was elected President. Nearly half the Senate was made up of men who had been delegates, and the House of Representatives was largely made up of men who had to do with the drafting or ratifying of the constitution. Hamilton, Randolph and Knox, who were active in promoting the document, filled three of the four positions in the Cabinet; and all the federal judgeships, without a single exception, were filled by men who had a hand in the business of drafting, or of ratification, or both. Of all the legislative measures enacted to implement the new constitution, the one best calculated to ensure a rapid and steady progress in the centralization of political power was the judiciary Act of 1789. This measure created a federal supreme court of six members (subsequently enlarged to nine), and a federal district court in each state, with its own complete personnel, and a complete apparatus for enforcing its decrees. The Act established federal oversight of state legislation by the familiar device of “interpretation,” whereby the Supreme Court might nullify state legislative or judicial action which for any reason it saw fit to regard as unconstitutional. One feature of the Act which for our purposes is most noteworthy is that it made the tenure of all these federal judgeships appointive, not elective, and for life; thus marking almost the farthest conceivable departure from the doctrine of popular sovereignty.
The first chief justice was John Jay, “the learned and gentle Jay,” as Beveridge calls him in his excellent biography of Marshall. A man of superb integrity, he was far above doing anything whatever in behalf of the accepted principle that est boni judicis ampliare jurisdictionem. Ellsworth, who followed him, also did nothing. The succession, however, after Jay had declined a reappointment, then fell to John Marshall, who, in addition to the control established by the judiciary Act over the state legislative and judicial authority, arbitrarily extended judicial control over both the legislative and executive branches of the federal authority; thus effecting as complete and convenient a centralization of power as the various interests concerned in framing the constitution could reasonably have contemplated. We may now see from this necessarily brief survey, which anyone may amplify and particularize at his pleasure, what the circumstances were which rooted a certain definite idea of the State still deeper in the general consciousness. That idea was precisely the same in the constitutional period as that which we have seen prevailing in the two periods already examined—the colonial period, and the eight-year period following the revolution. Nowhere in the history of the constitutional period do we find the faintest suggestion of the Declaration’s doctrine of natural rights; and we find its doctrine of popular sovereignty not only continuing in abeyance, but constitutionally estopped from ever reappearing. Nowhere do we find a trace of the Declaration’s theory of government; on the contrary, we find it expressly repudiated. The new political mechanism was a faithful replica of the old disestablished British model, but so far improved and strengthened as to be incomparably more close-working and efficient, and hence presenting incomparably more attractive possibilities of capture and control. By consequence, therefore, we find more firmly implanted than ever the same general idea of the State that we have observed as prevailing hitherto—the idea of an organization of the political means, an irresponsible and all-powerful agency standing always ready to be put into use for the service of one set of economic interests as against another.
Note: The views expressed on Mises.org are not necessarily those of the Mises Institute.
The Best of Albert Jay Nock


lewrockwell--2020-08-10--Who Profits From the Beirut Blast?

Who Profits From the Beirut Blast?

The narrative that the Beirut explosion was an exclusive consequence of negligence and corruption by the current Lebanese government is now set in stone , at least in the Atlanticist sphere .
And yet , digging deeper , we find that negligence and corruption may have been fully exploited , via sabotage , to engineer it .
Lebanon is prime John Le Carré territory .
A multinational den of spies of all shades – House of Saud agents , Zionist operatives , “ moderate rebel ” weaponizers , Hezbollah intellectuals , debauched Arab “ royalty , ” self-glorified smugglers – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ disaster afflicting a member of the Axis of Resistance , a perennial target of Israel alongside Syria and Iran .
As if this were not volcanic enough , into the tragedy stepped President Trump to muddy the – already contaminated – Eastern Mediterranean waters .
Briefed by “ our great generals , ” Trump on Tuesday said : “ According to them – they would know better than I would – but they seem to think it was an attack.
” Trump added , “ it was a bomb of some kind.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lewis E. Buy New $ 4.99 Was this incandescent remark letting the cat out of the bag by revealing classified information ?
Or was the President launching another non sequitur ?
Trump eventually walked his comments back after the Pentagon declined to confirm his claim about what the “ generals ” had said and his defense secretary , Mark Esper , supported the accident explanation for the blast .
It ’ s yet another graphic illustration of the war engulfing the Beltway .
Trump : attack .
Pentagon : accident .
“ I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ right now , ” Trump said on Wednesday .
“ I ’ ve heard it both ways.
” Still , it ’ s worth noting a report by Iran ’ s Mehr News Agency that four US Navy reconnaissance planes were spotted near Beirut at the time of the blasts .
Is US intel aware of what really happened all along the spectrum of possibilities ?
Security at Beirut ’ s port – the nation ’ s prime economic hub – would have to be considered a top priority .
But to adapt @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Chinatown : “ Forget it , Jake .
It ’ s Beirut.
” Those by now iconic 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate arrived in Beirut in September 2013 on board the Rhosus , a ship under Moldovan flag sailing from Batumi in Georgia to Mozambique .
Rhosus ended up being impounded by Beirut ’ s Port State Control .
Subsequently the ship was de facto abandoned by its owner , shady businessman Igor Grechushkin , born in Russia and a resident of Cyprus , who suspiciously “ lost interest ” in his relatively @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sell it , dumping style , to pay off his debts .
Grechushkin never paid his crew , who barely survived for several months before being repatriated on humanitarian grounds .
The Cypriot government confirmed there was no request to Interpol from Lebanon to arrest him .
The whole op feels like a cover – with the real recipients of the ammonium nitrate possibly being “ moderate rebels ” in Syria who use it to make IEDs and equip suicide trucks , such as the one that demolished the Al Kindi hospital in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in 1-ton bags labeled “ Nitroprill HD ” – were transferred to the Hangar 12 warehouse by the quayside .
What followed was an astonishing case of serial negligence .
From 2014 to 2017 letters from customs officials – a series of them – as well as proposed options to get rid of the dangerous cargo , exporting it or otherwise selling it , were simply ignored .
Every time they tried to get a legal decision to dispose of the cargo , they got no answer from the Lebanese judiciary .
When @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ Those responsible will pay the price , ” context is absolutely essential .
Neither the prime minister nor the president nor any of the cabinet ministers knew that the ammonium nitrate was stored in Hangar 12 , former Iranian diplomat Amir Mousavi , the director of the Center for Strategic Studies and International Relations in Tehran , confirms .
We ’ re talking about a massive IED , placed mid-city .
The bureaucracy at Beirut ’ s port and the mafias who are actually in charge are closely linked to , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which is led by former Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri , himself fully backed by the House of Saud .
Hezbollah : The Global ... Levitt , Matthew Best Price : $ 15.94 Buy New $ 24.95 The immensely corrupt Hariri was removed from power in October 2019 amid serious protests .
His cronies “ disappeared ” at least $ 20 billion from Lebanon ’ s treasury – which seriously aggravated the nation ’ s currency crisis .
No wonder the current government – where we have Prime Minister Diab backed by Hezbollah – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nitrate .
Ammonium nitrate is quite stable , making it one of the safest explosives used in mining .
Fire normally won ’ t set it off .
It becomes highly explosive only if contaminated – for instance by oil – or heated to a point where it undergoes chemical changes that produce a sort of impermeable cocoon around it in which oxygen can build up to a dangerous level where an ignition can cause an explosion .
Why , after sleeping in Hangar 12 for seven years , did this pile suddenly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ far , the prime straight to the point explanation , by Middle East expert Elijah Magnier , points to the tragedy being “ sparked ” – literally – by a clueless blacksmith with a blowtorch operating quite close to the unsecured ammonium nitrate .
Unsecured due , once again , to negligence and corruption – or as part of an intentional “ mistake ” anticipating the possibility of a future blast .
This scenario , though , does not explain the initial “ fireworks ” explosion .
And certainly does not explain what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ West – is talking about : the deliberate fires set to an Iranian market in Ajam in the UAE , and also to a series of food/agricultural warehouses in Najaf , Iraq , immediately after the Beirut tragedy .
Lebanon – boasting assets and real estate worth trillions of dollars – is a juicy peach for global finance vultures .
To grab these assets at rock bottom prices , in the middle of the New Great Depression , is simply irresistible .
In parallel , the IMF vulture would embark on full shakedown @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Beirut ’ s debts as long as a harsh variation of “ structural adjustment ” is imposed .
Who profits , in this case , are the geopolitical and geoeconomic interests of US , Saudi Arabia and France .
It ’ s no accident that President Macron , a dutifulRothschild servant , arrived in Beirut Thursday to pledge Paris neocolonial “ support ” and all but impose , like a Viceroy , a comprehensive set of “ reforms ” .
A Monty Python-infused dialogue , complete with heavy French accent , might @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We want to buy your port.
” “ It ’ s not for sale.
” “ Oh , what a pity , an accident just happened.
” Already a month ago the IMF was “ warning ” that “ implosion ” in Lebanon was “ accelerating.
” Prime Minister Diab had to accept the proverbial “ offer you can ’ t refuse ” and thus “ unlock billions of dollars in donor funds.
” Or else .
The non-stop run on the Lebanese currency , for over a year now , was just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This is happening amid a massive global asset grab characterized in the larger context by American GDP down by almost 40 % , arrays of bankruptcies , a handful of billionaires amassing unbelievable profits and too-big-to-fail megabanks duly bailed out with a tsunami of free money .
Dag Detter , a Swedish financier , and Nasser Saidi , a former Lebanese minister and central bank vice governor , suggest that the nation ’ s assets be placed in a national wealth fund .
Juicy assets include Electricité du Liban ( EDL ) , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ airline , telecom company OGERO , the Casino du Liban .
EDL , for instance , is responsible for 30 % of Beirut ’ s budget deficit .
That ’ s not nearly enough for the IMF and Western mega banks .
They want to gobble up the whole thing , plus a lot of real estate .
“ The economic value of public real estate can be worth at least as much as GDP and often several times the value of the operational part of any portfolio , ” say Detter and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the proverbial elephant in a room now widely depicted by Western corporate media as “ Lebanon ’ s Chernobyl.
” A scenario like the Beirut catastrophe has been linked to Israeli plans since February 2016 .
Israel did admit that Hangar 12 was not a Hezbollah weapons storage unit .
Yet , crucially , on the same day of the Beirut blast , and following a series of suspicious explosions in Iran and high tension in the Syria-Israeli border , Prime Minister Netanyahu tweeted , in the present tense : “ We hit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dispatchers .
We will do what is necessary in order to defend ourselves .
I suggest to all of them , including Hezbollah , to consider this.
” That ties in with the intent , openly proclaimed late last week , to bomb Lebanese infrastructure if Hezbollah harms Israeli Defense Forces soldiers or Israeli civilians .
A headline – “ Beirut Blast Shockwaves Will Be Felt by Hezbollah for a Long Time ” – confirms that the only thing that matters for Tel Aviv is to profit from the tragedy to demonize Hezbollah @ @ @ @ @ @ @ That ties in with the US Congress “ Countering Hezbollah in Lebanon ’ s Military Act of 2019 ” { S.1886 } , which all but orders Beirut to expel Hezbollah from Lebanon .
And yet Israel has been strangely subdued .
Muddying the waters even more , Saudi intel – which has access to Mossad , and demonizes Hezbollah way more than Israel – steps in .
All the intel ops I talked to refuse to go on the record , considering the extreme sensitivity of the subject .
Still , it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ source whose stock in trade is frequent information exchanges with the Mossad , asserts that the original target was Hezbollah missiles stored in Beirut ’ s port .
His story is that Prime Minister Netanyahu was about to take credit for the strike – following up on his tweet .
But then the Mossad realized the op had turned horribly wrong and metastasized into a major catastrophe .
The problem starts with the fact this was not a Hezbollah weapons depot – as even Israel admitted .
When weapons depots are blown up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ followed by several smaller explosions , something that could last for days .
That ’ s not what happened in Beirut .
The initial explosion was followed by a massive second blast – almost certainly a major chemical explosion – and then there was silence .
Thierry Meyssan , very close to Syrian intel , advances the possibility that the “ attack ” was carried out with an unknown weapon , a missile -– and not a nuclear bomb – tested in Syria in January 2020 .
( The test is shown in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nor Iran ever made a reference to this unknown weapon , and I got no confirmation about its existence .
Assuming Beirut port was hit by an “ unknown weapon , ” President Trump may have told the truth : It was an “ attack ” .
And that would explain why Netanyahu , contemplating the devastation in Beirut , decided that Israel would need to maintain a very low profile .
The Beirut explosion at first sight might be seen as a deadly blow against the Belt and Road Initiative , considering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Iraq , Syria and Lebanon as the cornerstone of the Southwest Asia Belt and Road corridor .
Yet that may backfire – badly .
China and Iran are already positioning themselves as the go-to investors post-blast , in sharp contrast with the IMF hit men , and as advised by Hezbollah Secretary-General Nasrallah only a few weeks ago .
Syria and Iran are in the forefront of providing aid to Lebanon .
Tehran is sending an emergency hospital , food packages , medicine and medical equipment .
Syria opened its borders with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ receiving patients from Beirut ’ s hospitals .
It ’ s always important to keep in mind that the “ attack ” ( Trump ) on Beirut ’ s port destroyed Lebanon ’ s main grain silo , apart from engineering the total destruction of the port – the nation ’ s key trade lifeline .
That would fit into a strategy of starving Lebanon .
On the same day Lebanon became to a great extent dependent on Syria for food – as it now carries only a month ’ s supply of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Syria .
Syria is a huge exporter of organic wheat .
And that ’ s why the US routinely targets Syrian silos and burns its crops – attempting also to starve Syria and force Damascus , already under harsh sanctions , to spend badly needed funds to buy food .
In stark contrast to the interests of the US/France/Saudi axis , Plan A for Lebanon would be to progressively drop out of the US-France stranglehold and head straight into Belt and Road as well as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization .
Go East , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even a great deal of the devastated city , in the medium term , can be quickly and professionally rebuilt by Chinese investment .
The Chinese are specialists in port construction and management .
This avowedly optimistic scenario would imply a purge of the hyper-wealthy , corrupt weapons/drugs/real estate scoundrels of Lebanon ’ s plutocracy – which in any case scurry away to their tony Paris apartments at the first sign of trouble .
Couple that with Hezbollah ’ s very successful social welfare system – which I saw for myself at work @ @ @ @ @ @ @ winning the confidence of the impoverished middle classes and thus becoming the core of the reconstruction .
It will be a Sisyphean struggle .
But compare this situation with the Empire of Chaos – which needs chaos everywhere , especially across Eurasia , to cover for the coming , Mad Max chaos inside the US .
General Wesley Clark ’ s notorious 7 countries in 5 years once again come to mind – and Lebanon remains one of those 7 countries .
The Lebanese lira may have collapsed ; most Lebanese may be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ semi-devastated .
That may be the straw breaking the camel ’ s back – releasing the camel to the freedom of finally retracing its steps back to Asia along the New Silk Roads .

The narrative that the Beirut explosion was an exclusive consequence of negligence and corruption by the current Lebanese government is now set in stone, at least in the Atlanticist sphere.
And yet, digging deeper, we find that negligence and corruption may have been fully exploited, via sabotage, to engineer it.
Lebanon is prime John Le Carré territory. A multinational den of spies of all shades – House of Saud agents, Zionist operatives, “moderate rebel” weaponizers, Hezbollah intellectuals, debauched Arab “royalty,” self-glorified smugglers – in a context of full spectrum economic disaster afflicting a member of the Axis of Resistance, a perennial target of Israel alongside Syria and Iran.
As if this were not volcanic enough, into the tragedy stepped President Trump to muddy the – already contaminated – Eastern Mediterranean waters. Briefed by “our great generals,” Trump on Tuesday said: “According to them – they would know better than I would – but they seem to think it was an attack.”
Trump added, “it was a bomb of some kind.” INTENSIVE REPORT OF TH... Riddick, Lewis E. Buy New $4.99 (as of 04:06 UTC - Details)
Was this incandescent remark letting the cat out of the bag by revealing classified information? Or was the President launching another non sequitur?
Trump eventually walked his comments back after the Pentagon declined to confirm his claim about what the “generals” had said and his defense secretary, Mark Esper, supported the accident explanation for the blast.
It’s yet another graphic illustration of the war engulfing the Beltway. Trump: attack. Pentagon: accident. “I don’t think anybody can say right now,” Trump said on Wednesday. “I’ve heard it both ways.”
Still, it’s worth noting a report by Iran’s Mehr News Agency that four US Navy reconnaissance planes were spotted near Beirut at the time of the blasts. Is US intel aware of what really happened all along the spectrum of possibilities?
That ammonium nitrate
Security at Beirut’s port – the nation’s prime economic hub – would have to be considered a top priority. But to adapt a line from Roman Polanski’s Chinatown: “Forget it, Jake. It’s Beirut.”
Those by now iconic 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate arrived in Beirut in September 2013 on board the Rhosus, a ship under Moldovan flag sailing from Batumi in Georgia to Mozambique. Rhosus ended up being impounded by Beirut’s Port State Control.
Subsequently the ship was de facto abandoned by its owner, shady businessman Igor Grechushkin, born in Russia and a resident of Cyprus, who suspiciously “lost interest” in his relatively precious cargo, not even trying to sell it, dumping style, to pay off his debts.
Grechushkin never paid his crew, who barely survived for several months before being repatriated on humanitarian grounds. The Cypriot government confirmed there was no request to Interpol from Lebanon to arrest him. The whole op feels like a cover – with the real recipients of the ammonium nitrate possibly being “moderate rebels” in Syria who use it to make IEDs and equip suicide trucks, such as the one that demolished the Al Kindi hospital in Aleppo.
The 2,750 tons – packed in 1-ton bags labeled “Nitroprill HD” – were transferred to the Hangar 12 warehouse by the quayside. What followed was an astonishing case of serial negligence.
From 2014 to 2017 letters from customs officials – a series of them – as well as proposed options to get rid of the dangerous cargo, exporting it or otherwise selling it, were simply ignored. Every time they tried to get a legal decision to dispose of the cargo, they got no answer from the Lebanese judiciary.
When Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab now proclaims, “Those responsible will pay the price,” context is absolutely essential.
Neither the prime minister nor the president nor any of the cabinet ministers knew that the ammonium nitrate was stored in Hangar 12, former Iranian diplomat Amir Mousavi, the director of the Center for Strategic Studies and International Relations in Tehran, confirms. We’re talking about a massive IED, placed mid-city.
The bureaucracy at Beirut’s port and the mafias who are actually in charge are closely linked to, among others, the al-Mostaqbal faction, which is led by former Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, himself fully backed by the House of Saud. Hezbollah: The Global ... Levitt, Matthew Best Price: $15.94 Buy New $24.95 (as of 04:06 UTC - Details)
The immensely corrupt Hariri was removed from power in October 2019 amid serious protests. His cronies “disappeared” at least $20 billion from Lebanon’s treasury – which seriously aggravated the nation’s currency crisis.
No wonder the current government – where we have Prime Minister Diab backed by Hezbollah – had not been informed about the ammonium nitrate.
Ammonium nitrate is quite stable, making it one of the safest explosives used in mining. Fire normally won’t set it off. It becomes highly explosive only if contaminated – for instance by oil – or heated to a point where it undergoes chemical changes that produce a sort of impermeable cocoon around it in which oxygen can build up to a dangerous level where an ignition can cause an explosion.
Why, after sleeping in Hangar 12 for seven years, did this pile suddenly feel an itch to explode?
So far, the prime straight to the point explanation, by Middle East expert Elijah Magnier, points to the tragedy being “sparked” – literally – by a clueless blacksmith with a blowtorch operating quite close to the unsecured ammonium nitrate. Unsecured due, once again, to negligence and corruption – or as part of an intentional “mistake” anticipating the possibility of a future blast.
This scenario, though, does not explain the initial “fireworks” explosion. And certainly does not explain what no one – at least in the West – is talking about: the deliberate fires set to an Iranian market in Ajam in the UAE, and also to a series of food/agricultural warehouses in Najaf, Iraq, immediately after the Beirut tragedy.
Follow the money
Lebanon – boasting assets and real estate worth trillions of dollars – is a juicy peach for global finance vultures. To grab these assets at rock bottom prices, in the middle of the New Great Depression, is simply irresistible. In parallel, the IMF vulture would embark on full shakedown mode and finally “forgive” some of Beirut’s debts as long as a harsh variation of “structural adjustment” is imposed.
Who profits, in this case, are the geopolitical and geoeconomic interests of US, Saudi Arabia and France. It’s no accident that President Macron, a dutifulRothschild servant, arrived in Beirut Thursday to pledge Paris neocolonial “support” and all but impose, like a Viceroy, a comprehensive set of “reforms”. A Monty Python-infused dialogue, complete with heavy French accent, might have followed along these lines: “We want to buy your port.” “It’s not for sale.” “Oh, what a pity, an accident just happened.”
Already a month ago the IMF was “warning” that “implosion” in Lebanon was “accelerating.” Prime Minister Diab had to accept the proverbial “offer you can’t refuse” and thus “unlock billions of dollars in donor funds.” Or else. The non-stop run on the Lebanese currency, for over a year now, was just a – relatively polite – warning.
This is happening amid a massive global asset grab characterized in the larger context by American GDP down by almost 40%, arrays of bankruptcies, a handful of billionaires amassing unbelievable profits and too-big-to-fail megabanks duly bailed out with a tsunami of free money.
Dag Detter, a Swedish financier, and Nasser Saidi, a former Lebanese minister and central bank vice governor, suggest that the nation’s assets be placed in a national wealth fund. Juicy assets include Electricité du Liban (EDL), water utilities, airports, the MEA airline , telecom company OGERO, the Casino du Liban.
EDL, for instance, is responsible for 30% of Beirut’s budget deficit.
That’s not nearly enough for the IMF and Western mega banks. They want to gobble up the whole thing, plus a lot of real estate.
“The economic value of public real estate can be worth at least as much as GDP and often several times the value of the operational part of any portfolio,” say Detter and Saidi.
Who’s feeling the shockwaves?
Once again, Israel is the proverbial elephant in a room now widely depicted by Western corporate media as “Lebanon’s Chernobyl.”
A scenario like the Beirut catastrophe has been linked to Israeli plans since February 2016.
Israel did admit that Hangar 12 was not a Hezbollah weapons storage unit. Yet, crucially, on the same day of the Beirut blast, and following a series of suspicious explosions in Iran and high tension in the Syria-Israeli border, Prime Minister Netanyahu tweeted , in the present tense: “We hit a cell and now we hit the dispatchers. We will do what is necessary in order to defend ourselves. I suggest to all of them, including Hezbollah, to consider this.”
That ties in with the intent, openly proclaimed late last week, to bomb Lebanese infrastructure if Hezbollah harms Israeli Defense Forces soldiers or Israeli civilians.
A headline – “Beirut Blast Shockwaves Will Be Felt by Hezbollah for a Long Time” – confirms that the only thing that matters for Tel Aviv is to profit from the tragedy to demonize Hezbollah, and by association, Iran. That ties in with the US Congress “Countering Hezbollah in Lebanon’s Military Act of 2019” {S.1886}, which all but orders Beirut to expel Hezbollah from Lebanon.
And yet Israel has been strangely subdued.
Muddying the waters even more, Saudi intel – which has access to Mossad, and demonizes Hezbollah way more than Israel – steps in. All the intel ops I talked to refuse to go on the record, considering the extreme sensitivity of the subject.
Still, it must be stressed that a Saudi intel source whose stock in trade is frequent information exchanges with the Mossad, asserts that the original target was Hezbollah missiles stored in Beirut’s port. His story is that Prime Minister Netanyahu was about to take credit for the strike – following up on his tweet. But then the Mossad realized the op had turned horribly wrong and metastasized into a major catastrophe.
The problem starts with the fact this was not a Hezbollah weapons depot – as even Israel admitted. When weapons depots are blown up, there’s a primary explosion followed by several smaller explosions, something that could last for days. That’s not what happened in Beirut. The initial explosion was followed by a massive second blast – almost certainly a major chemical explosion – and then there was silence.
Thierry Meyssan, very close to Syrian intel, advances the possibility that the “attack” was carried out with an unknown weapon, a missile -– and not a nuclear bomb – tested in Syria in January 2020. (The test is shown in an attached video.) Neither Syria nor Iran ever made a reference to this unknown weapon, and I got no confirmation about its existence.
Assuming Beirut port was hit by an “unknown weapon,” President Trump may have told the truth: It was an “attack”. And that would explain why Netanyahu, contemplating the devastation in Beirut, decided that Israel would need to maintain a very low profile.
Watch that camel in motion
The Beirut explosion at first sight might be seen as a deadly blow against the Belt and Road Initiative, considering that China regards the connectivity between Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon as the cornerstone of the Southwest Asia Belt and Road corridor.
Yet that may backfire – badly. China and Iran are already positioning themselves as the go-to investors post-blast, in sharp contrast with the IMF hit men, and as advised by Hezbollah Secretary-General Nasrallah only a few weeks ago.
Syria and Iran are in the forefront of providing aid to Lebanon. Tehran is sending an emergency hospital, food packages, medicine and medical equipment. Syria opened its borders with Lebanon, dispatched medical teams and is receiving patients from Beirut’s hospitals.
It’s always important to keep in mind that the “attack” (Trump) on Beirut’s port destroyed Lebanon’s main grain silo, apart from engineering the total destruction of the port – the nation’s key trade lifeline.
That would fit into a strategy of starving Lebanon. On the same day Lebanon became to a great extent dependent on Syria for food – as it now carries only a month’s supply of wheat – the US attacked silos in Syria.
Syria is a huge exporter of organic wheat. And that’s why the US routinely targets Syrian silos and burns its crops – attempting also to starve Syria and force Damascus, already under harsh sanctions, to spend badly needed funds to buy food.
In stark contrast to the interests of the US/France/Saudi axis, Plan A for Lebanon would be to progressively drop out of the US-France stranglehold and head straight into Belt and Road as well as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Go East, the Eurasian way. The port and even a great deal of the devastated city, in the medium term, can be quickly and professionally rebuilt by Chinese investment. The Chinese are specialists in port construction and management.
This avowedly optimistic scenario would imply a purge of the hyper-wealthy, corrupt weapons/drugs/real estate scoundrels of Lebanon’s plutocracy – which in any case scurry away to their tony Paris apartments at the first sign of trouble.
Couple that with Hezbollah’s very successful social welfare system – which I saw for myself at work last year – having a shot at winning the confidence of the impoverished middle classes and thus becoming the core of the reconstruction.
It will be a Sisyphean struggle. But compare this situation with the Empire of Chaos – which needs chaos everywhere, especially across Eurasia, to cover for the coming, Mad Max chaos inside the US.
General Wesley Clark’s notorious 7 countries in 5 years once again come to mind – and Lebanon remains one of those 7 countries. The Lebanese lira may have collapsed; most Lebanese may be completely broke; and now Beirut is semi-devastated. That may be the straw breaking the camel’s back – releasing the camel to the freedom of finally retracing its steps back to Asia along the New Silk Roads.
Reprinted with the author’s permission.


Wisdom and Understanding

Job 28 : 12 But where can wisdom be found ?
it can not be found in the land of the living .
Look around us today : is wisdom and understanding found in the living ?
Laughable .
If wisdom and understanding won ’ t be found in the living , then we must look to the dead ( custom and tradition ) or to God for these .
But society does not want to look to the dead or to God for these ; in fact , society is choosing to ignore or even destroy both the dead @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 366 M ... Hanselman , Stephen Best Price : $ 8.99 Buy New $ 13.79 These mortals do not comprehend the worth of this wisdom and understanding .
I look at the world and see no understanding I ’ m waiting to find some sense of strength Like some people never will Find me truth The Obstacle Is the Wa ... Holiday , Ryan Best Price : $ 6.98 Buy New $ 17.25 Here before me is my soul I won ’ t give up ’ til I ’ ve no more to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Bionic Mosquito

Job 28: 12 But where can wisdom be found?
Where does understanding dwell?
13 No mortal comprehends its worth;
it cannot be found in the land of the living.
Look around us today: is wisdom and understanding found in the living? Laughable. If wisdom and understanding won’t be found in the living, then we must look to the dead (custom and tradition) or to God for these.
But society does not want to look to the dead or to God for these; in fact, society is choosing to ignore or even destroy both the dead and God. The Daily Stoic: 366 M... Hanselman, Stephen Best Price: $8.99 Buy New $13.79 (as of 04:07 UTC - Details)
These mortals do not comprehend the worth of this wisdom and understanding.
I look at the world and see no understanding
I’m waiting to find some sense of strength
I need to live life
Like some people never will
So find me kindness
Find me beauty
Find me truth The Obstacle Is the Wa... Holiday, Ryan Best Price: $6.98 Buy New $17.25 (as of 04:07 UTC - Details)
Here before me is my soul
I’m learning to live
I won’t give up ’til I’ve no more to give
No more to give
– Learning to Live, Dream Theater
Reprinted with permission from Bionic Mosquito.
The Best of Bionic Mosquito


lewrockwell--2020-08-10--Why the West Must Stop Bashing China

Why the West Must Stop Bashing China

‘ We ’ re in 1938 ’ , claimed Steve Bannon , former chief strategist to President Donald Trump .
He was comparing the proposed national-security laws being imposed on Hong Kong by the Chinese government to Germany ’ s invasions of Austria and Czechoslovakia in the run-up to the Second World War .
Bannon went on to warn about China : ‘ If we blink , we ’ re heading on a path to war , to a kinetic [ military ] war , if we don ’ t stop it right now… .
This is not a cold @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and economic war , and we ’ re sliding rapidly .
We are inexorably going to be drawn into an armed conflict if we don ’ t stop this now.
’ Bannon ’ s perspective exemplifies the toughening anti-Chinese stance that has consolidated itself since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic .
The Chinese government is accused of being too slow to recognise the threat of the coronavirus , and to have delayed alerting the rest of the world .
These failings are put forward as confirmation that the Chinese state represents a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and to the Western world more widely .
Such China-blaming spread quickly across most capitals of the advanced industrialised countries , from Washington to Canberra .
The Return of Great Po ... Kroenig , Matthew Best Price : $ 25.10 Buy New $ 25.95 The problems many Western governments have had in acquiring enough medical and personal protective equipment , and certain pharmaceutical products , have been turned into a stick with which to beat China .
Rather than waking up Western governments to the dire state of their internal manufacturing capabilities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on a precarious over-dependence on Chinese production from which the West needs to free itself .
This accentuated belief in the threat from China could turn into the most dangerous consequence of the impact of Covid-19 .
It is entirely legitimate to condemn coercive actions carried out by China ’ s autocratic one-party government .
The Chinese Communist Party ( CCP ) has an extensive record of authoritarian behaviours denying its own people basic freedoms , often with brutal suppression .
Freedom of assembly and freedom of speech are severely restricted .
Workers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are required instead to join only the CCP-controlled All-China Federation of Trade Unions .
Nevertheless , every month hundreds of protests are organised by workers over wage arrears and working conditions , sometimes leading to police attacks and the imprisonment of activists .
China ’ s Vision o ... Ward , Jonathan D T Best Price : $ 16.00 Buy New $ 16.99 The CCP has persecuted the Uighur minority in the Xinjiang region , consistently denied the rights of Tibetans , and sanctioned attempts by the local authorities to break up the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it has now decided to impose new security laws .
And across China , the CCP has clamped down on social media and deployed surveillance technology to control internal dissent .
Even though coercive actions by state forces are hardly unknown within Western democracies , that is no reason to ignore or tolerate them when they take place in China .
The denial of people ’ s rights should be challenged wherever it happens around the world .
Governments in other countries , as well as citizens , could be clear that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its actions to its own people .

‘We’re in 1938’, claimed Steve Bannon, former chief strategist to President Donald Trump. He was comparing the proposed national-security laws being imposed on Hong Kong by the Chinese government to Germany’s invasions of Austria and Czechoslovakia in the run-up to the Second World War. Bannon went on to warn about China: ‘If we blink, we’re heading on a path to war, to a kinetic [military] war, if we don’t stop it right now…. This is not a cold war. This is a hot information and economic war, and we’re sliding rapidly. We are inexorably going to be drawn into an armed conflict if we don’t stop this now.’
Bannon’s perspective exemplifies the toughening anti-Chinese stance that has consolidated itself since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Chinese government is accused of being too slow to recognise the threat of the coronavirus, and to have delayed alerting the rest of the world. These failings are put forward as confirmation that the Chinese state represents a political and strategic threat to the US, and to the Western world more widely. Such China-blaming spread quickly across most capitals of the advanced industrialised countries, from Washington to Canberra.
The Return of Great Po... Kroenig, Matthew Best Price: $25.10 Buy New $25.95 (as of 05:05 UTC - Details) The problems many Western governments have had in acquiring enough medical and personal protective equipment, and certain pharmaceutical products, have been turned into a stick with which to beat China. Rather than waking up Western governments to the dire state of their internal manufacturing capabilities, their pandemic failings have been blamed on a precarious over-dependence on Chinese production from which the West needs to free itself. This accentuated belief in the threat from China could turn into the most dangerous consequence of the impact of Covid-19.
An authoritarian one-party state
It is entirely legitimate to condemn coercive actions carried out by China’s autocratic one-party government. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has an extensive record of authoritarian behaviours denying its own people basic freedoms, often with brutal suppression.
Freedom of assembly and freedom of speech are severely restricted. Workers, prohibited from establishing independent unions, are required instead to join only the CCP-controlled All-China Federation of Trade Unions. Nevertheless, every month hundreds of protests are organised by workers over wage arrears and working conditions, sometimes leading to police attacks and the imprisonment of activists. China’s Vision o... Ward, Jonathan D T Best Price: $16.00 Buy New $16.99 (as of 04:08 UTC - Details)
The CCP has persecuted the Uighur minority in the Xinjiang region, consistently denied the rights of Tibetans, and sanctioned attempts by the local authorities to break up the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, where it has now decided to impose new security laws. And across China, the CCP has clamped down on social media and deployed surveillance technology to control internal dissent.
Even though coercive actions by state forces are hardly unknown within Western democracies, that is no reason to ignore or tolerate them when they take place in China. The denial of people’s rights should be challenged wherever it happens around the world. Governments in other countries, as well as citizens, could be clear that the CCP-run Chinese government should be accountable for its actions to its own people.
Read the Whole Article


lewrockwell--2020-08-10--Forbes Tells Readers ‘You Should Not Do Your Own Research’

In a recent article out of Forbes , scientist Ethan Siegel suggests people should not “ do their own research ” on topics as they are not qualified to understand , and doing that research yourself could be dangerous .
Throughout the article , Siegel cites the public health disaster that he believes ensued as a result of people questioning vaccines .
He also points out that people doubt the validity of water fluoridation due to their dangerous research , and now there exists people who question water fluoridation when they shouldn ’ t .
To both vaccines and water @ @ @ @ @ @ @ consensus on safety and effectiveness , and therefore anyone doing their own research must stop , and if they come to a different conclusion than the consensus , they must be unqualified .
Vaccination , a Curse a ... Peebles , James M. Buy New $ 24.57 This is where Siegel ’ s lack of digging and research is revealed .
There is plenty of scientific evidence that would lead any functioning individual to question the safety of both vaccines and water fluoridation .
In fact , the science is on the sides @ @ @ @ @ @ @ need to come to terms with , and water fluoridation having serious effects on brain function .
Thousands of scientists see this .
These are not rare , internet-driven realities , they are extremely well scientifically backed , and the only thing to points to them being untrue is unbacked mainstream scientific culture .
This is though , the natural progression of information .
At first , it is ridiculed heavily , even when the evidence points to the fact that we are incorrect to ridicule .
It ’ s odd because many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out when doing their work .
“ Once we know something , it can not change , even when new research comes forth ” This is the unscientific sentiment it appears many are operating from .
But why ?
Why do we get so stuck in our ideas ?
Fluoride : Drinking Our ... Groves , Barry Best Price : $ 13.22 Buy New $ 12.95 In a new episode of the Takeaway , our first segment explored this article as well as all the details Siegel seemed to miss when it comes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fact that people truly do need to do their own research , otherwise , no one will hold scientists , corporations and governments accountable for their deception .
We also discuss the human condition and state of being that gets us stuck in these ideas .
By shifting this state of being , we can once again open up and free our minds .
Check out the segment below .
To watch the full episode , join CE ’ s inner circle called CETV and enjoy exclusive content , original shows and courses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ //cetv.one Memberships are how we support our work at this time , due to the fact we have been demonetized for doing our own research .

In a recent article out of Forbes, scientist Ethan Siegel suggests people should not “do their own research” on topics as they are not qualified to understand, and doing that research yourself could be dangerous. Throughout the article, Siegel cites the public health disaster that he believes ensued as a result of people questioning vaccines. He also points out that people doubt the validity of water fluoridation due to their dangerous research, and now there exists people who question water fluoridation when they shouldn’t.
To both vaccines and water fluoridation, Siegel believes there is scientific consensus on safety and effectiveness, and therefore anyone doing their own research must stop, and if they come to a different conclusion than the consensus, they must be unqualified.
Vaccination, a Curse a... Peebles, James M. Buy New $24.57 (as of 04:44 UTC - Details) This is where Siegel’s lack of digging and research is revealed. There is plenty of scientific evidence that would lead any functioning individual to question the safety of both vaccines and water fluoridation. In fact, the science is on the sides of both vaccines having inherent dangers we need to come to terms with, and water fluoridation having serious effects on brain function. Thousands of scientists see this. These are not rare, internet-driven realities, they are extremely well scientifically backed, and the only thing to points to them being untrue is unbacked mainstream scientific culture.
This is though, the natural progression of information. At first, it is ridiculed heavily, even when the evidence points to the fact that we are incorrect to ridicule. It’s odd because many scientists seem to throw the scientific method out when doing their work. “Once we know something, it cannot change, even when new research comes forth” This is the unscientific sentiment it appears many are operating from. But why? Why do we get so stuck in our ideas?
Fluoride: Drinking Our... Groves, Barry Best Price: $13.22 Buy New $12.95 (as of 04:08 UTC - Details) In a new episode of the Takeaway, our first segment explored this article as well as all the details Siegel seemed to miss when it comes to vaccination, water fluoridation and the fact that people truly do need to do their own research, otherwise, no one will hold scientists, corporations and governments accountable for their deception. We also discuss the human condition and state of being that gets us stuck in these ideas. By shifting this state of being, we can once again open up and free our minds.
Check out the segment below. To watch the full episode, join CE’s inner circle called CETV and enjoy exclusive content, original shows and courses to expand your consciousness. https://cetv.one
Memberships are how we support our work at this time, due to the fact we have been demonetized for doing our own research.
Reprinted with permission from Collective Evolution.


lewrockwell--2020-08-10--Colonialism 2.0: US Assault on TikTok Is Latest Step in Building Monopoly

The Trump administration ’ s bid to seize Chinese platform TikTok and hand it over to already-monopolistic Microsoft is part of a huge power grab , as the deteriorating quality of US propaganda puts its narrative dominance at risk .
The US government has made clear the fact it won ’ t rest until the user-facing portion of the internet is under its control .
It is no longer enough for Twitter , Facebook , and YouTube/Google to merely eject hundreds of anti-establishment accounts on command , accompanied by stated rationales that would be laughable if they didn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ account owners .
TikTok – hardly a bastion of subversive political thought – must nevertheless be wrested from its Chinese owners ByteDance and handed to Microsoft , a convicted antitrust violator , lest Beijing be permitted to challenge Washington for control over the hearts and minds of online youth .
Competition Demystifie ... Kahn , Judd Best Price : $ 11.29 Buy New $ 12.34 It ’ s ironic that , with western culture in the grip of a reckoning with its colonial past , the US is so intent on subjugating the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , tech-enabled version of colonialism that doesn ’ t require the deployment of ships to foreign shores ( though those 800+ military bases around the world don ’ t hurt ) .
A direct line to the eyes and ears of targeted peoples is sufficient to maintain Hegemony 2.0 .
But the quality of US propaganda has deteriorated noticeably over the years , to the point where four out of five Americans believe their media is biased .
Rather than step up their propaganda game , Washington ’ s response has always been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ enacted through its private-sector partners , or by buying competitors ’ silence .
Interlopers like TikTok are crushed – or bought out by the likes of Microsoft , massive companies intertwined with state intelligence agencies .
Like Amazon , whose servers host the secrets of the US security state .
Or Facebook , which skyrocketed past the billion-user mark with the alleged backing of CIA venture capital fund In-Q-Tel .
Microsoft , meanwhile , is for all intents and purposes a private-sector extension of the US empire .
It was the first to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wildly unconstitutional PRISM surveillance program back in 2007 .
It left exploitable backdoors in its operating systems open for two decades until another government-collaborating tech company complained .
Even in the privacy-averse 21st century , its intrusive practices – from keystroke logging to chiding users for politically incorrect language – have raised red flags for years .
It ’ s also the only tech monopoly ever to be prosecuted for its monopolistic behavior .
DAYBETTER Led Strip Li ... Best Price : $ 26.67 Buy New $ 28.99 The Big Tech apparatus serves @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government to circumvent the Bill of Rights .
Private corporations are not legally prohibited from imposing restrictions on users ’ free speech or ( digital ) assembly , no matter how arbitrary .
Section 230 protections have fallen by the wayside as Facebook , YouTube and Twitter became increasingly emboldened to knock troublesome dissenters off their platforms .
Slurping up user information is child ’ s play too , with the kind of backdoors Microsoft and Apple have lovingly constructed for their government partners – never mind the protections against unreasonable search and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to do the same thing .
Big Tech and Big Brother are two arms on the same octopus .
TikTok , however , spoils US narrative dominance and doesn ’ t share its data with the bosses .
Sure , right now it ’ s only insipid dance videos and teenagers lip-synching , but what about when those teens grow up ?
American propaganda is so sloppy that the State Department feels threatened by a handful of “ Russian proxy ” websites getting a few thousand hits per month , and it appears @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iranians with offers of $ 10 million for tall tales about election hacking .
Remote Control Robots ... Buy New $ 33.99 Facebook , Twitter , and YouTube are constantly being urged to censor an ever-larger range of opinions as the mainstream media struggles not to trip over its own falsehoods and hemorrhages cash to the victims of its lies .
At the heart of the TikTok seizure – which expanded on Friday to an assault on Chinese platform WeChat – is a hatred of competition .
As Facebook , Twitter , Google @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mainstream media mouthpieces , users will naturally flock to other platforms , especially those with massive user bases like their Chinese competitors .
Washington ’ s pet platforms can hardly roll back their censorship regimes – not with an election just a few months away .
So , in the grand tradition of organized crime , they ’ ve made ByteDance an offer they can ’ t refuse .
Climb in bed with Microsoft – the most corrupt of the bunch – or get banned .
Freedom isn ’ t free , as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s celebrated “ free markets.
” The statements , views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT .

The Trump administration’s bid to seize Chinese platform TikTok and hand it over to already-monopolistic Microsoft is part of a huge power grab, as the deteriorating quality of US propaganda puts its narrative dominance at risk.
The US government has made clear the fact it won’t rest until the user-facing portion of the internet is under its control. It is no longer enough for Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube/Google to merely eject hundreds of anti-establishment accounts on command, accompanied by stated rationales that would be laughable if they didn’t trample on the fundamental freedoms of the account owners.
TikTok – hardly a bastion of subversive political thought – must nevertheless be wrested from its Chinese owners ByteDance and handed to Microsoft, a convicted antitrust violator, lest Beijing be permitted to challenge Washington for control over the hearts and minds of online youth. Competition Demystifie... Kahn, Judd Best Price: $11.29 Buy New $12.34 (as of 04:10 UTC - Details)
It’s ironic that, with western culture in the grip of a reckoning with its colonial past, the US is so intent on subjugating the world’s peoples with a lighter-touch, tech-enabled version of colonialism that doesn’t require the deployment of ships to foreign shores (though those 800+ military bases around the world don’t hurt). A direct line to the eyes and ears of targeted peoples is sufficient to maintain Hegemony 2.0.
But the quality of US propaganda has deteriorated noticeably over the years, to the point where four out of five Americans believe their media is biased. Rather than step up their propaganda game, Washington’s response has always been to stifle competition, either using censorship enacted through its private-sector partners, or by buying competitors’ silence. Interlopers like TikTok are crushed – or bought out by the likes of Microsoft, massive companies intertwined with state intelligence agencies.
Like Amazon, whose servers host the secrets of the US security state. Or Facebook, which skyrocketed past the billion-user mark with the alleged backing of CIA venture capital fund In-Q-Tel. Microsoft, meanwhile, is for all intents and purposes a private-sector extension of the US empire. It was the first to sign on to the NSA’s wildly unconstitutional PRISM surveillance program back in 2007. It left exploitable backdoors in its operating systems open for two decades until another government-collaborating tech company complained. Even in the privacy-averse 21st century, its intrusive practices – from keystroke logging to chiding users for politically incorrect language – have raised red flags for years. It’s also the only tech monopoly ever to be prosecuted for its monopolistic behavior. DAYBETTER Led Strip Li... Best Price: $26.67 Buy New $28.99 (as of 04:10 UTC - Details)
The Big Tech apparatus serves as an ideal conduit for the US government to circumvent the Bill of Rights. Private corporations are not legally prohibited from imposing restrictions on users’ free speech or (digital) assembly, no matter how arbitrary. Section 230 protections have fallen by the wayside as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter became increasingly emboldened to knock troublesome dissenters off their platforms. Slurping up user information is child’s play too, with the kind of backdoors Microsoft and Apple have lovingly constructed for their government partners – never mind the protections against unreasonable search and seizure that would hamstring government agencies attempting to do the same thing. Big Tech and Big Brother are two arms on the same octopus.
TikTok, however, spoils US narrative dominance and doesn’t share its data with the bosses. Sure, right now it’s only insipid dance videos and teenagers lip-synching, but what about when those teens grow up? American propaganda is so sloppy that the State Department feels threatened by a handful of “Russian proxy” websites getting a few thousand hits per month, and it appears to have spammed thousands of Russians and Iranians with offers of $10 million for tall tales about election hacking. Remote Control Robots ... Buy New $33.99 (as of 04:10 UTC - Details)
Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are constantly being urged to censor an ever-larger range of opinions as the mainstream media struggles not to trip over its own falsehoods and hemorrhages cash to the victims of its lies.
At the heart of the TikTok seizure – which expanded on Friday to an assault on Chinese platform WeChat – is a hatred of competition. As Facebook, Twitter, Google, and YouTube become little more than mainstream media mouthpieces, users will naturally flock to other platforms, especially those with massive user bases like their Chinese competitors. Washington’s pet platforms can hardly roll back their censorship regimes – not with an election just a few months away. So, in the grand tradition of organized crime, they’ve made ByteDance an offer they can’t refuse. Climb in bed with Microsoft – the most corrupt of the bunch – or get banned.
Freedom isn’t free, as the saying goes. Neither are America’s celebrated “free markets.”
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.