The collapsing US military & economic empire is making Washington & NATO even more dangerous. US could not beat the Taliban but thinks it can take on China-Russia-Iran...a sign of psychopathology for sure. @BruceKGagnon
“I ain’t draft dodging. I ain’t burning no flag. I ain’t running to Canada. I’m staying right here.
You want to send me to jail? Fine, you go right ahead. I’ve been in jail for 400 years. I could be there for 4 or 5 more, but I ain’t going no 10,000 miles to help murder and kill other poor people.
If I want to die, I’ll die right here, right now, fightin’ you, if I want to die. You my enemy, not no Chinese, no Vietcong, no Japanese. You my opposer when I want freedom. You my opposer when I want justice. You my opposer when I want equality.
Want me to go somewhere and fight for you? You won’t even stand up for me right here in America, for my rights and my religious beliefs. You won’t even stand up for me right here at home. “
Why would Russia poison a low-level critic (Alexei Navalny), who when he once ran against Putin for president secured 1% of the vote? Western media (particularly the US corporate media) call him the 'Russian opposition leader'.
Navalny has secured money from the US State Department, CIA and other sources that commonly help fund and direct regime change operations around the world.
Alexei Navalny advocates for gun rights in Russia, while comparing
immigrants and Muslims from Russia's southern regions to cockroaches and
suggests they need to be exterminated. Not the kind of guy who is attracting lots of support inside Russia. But, just the kind of guy the US would pick to help stimulate the hate-elements inside Russia. It's what the USA does everywhere including, as we now see, here at home.
Yesterday I head on BBC radio program that the US is pressuring Germany to end its undersea natural gas pipeline construction deal with Russia. It's almost finished being built. The US fracked gas industry wants the German-Russian pipeline deal to be killed. I hope the reasons are obvious....
Why would Russia kill a small time hack who is being funded by the US? It runs counter to Moscow's interests, doesn't it? Who has the most to gain by this daily Russian demonization program? Call it what it is - cold war propaganda.
My sense of the situation is that the Navalny poisoning was likely done under the auspices of the CIA. It is a sign of US desperation as Washington's ruling oligarchs vainly attempt to 'restore' their global economic and military empire. Russia, China, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela are in their immediate target sights. All are considered 'existential threats' to the US.
Please remember what Secretary of Mis-State Mike Pompeo said in 2019, while addressing a public meeting of CIA personnel to which the audience roared with applause, “I was the CIA director, we lied, we cheated, we stole. Like we had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.”
As the video at the top of this post reveals the US has long been interfering in Russian internal affairs - particularly in 1996 when President Clinton assigned teams to help Russian president Boris Yeltsin win a reelection contest even though he was lagging far behind in polls to the Communists. US money and expertise brought Yeltsin back to 'victory' in a manipulated election. We rarely hear arrogant American media or politicians talk about that story.
Folks have to learn that they are being lied to 24-7 here in the US and across the west. As my mom used to say, "Consider the source."
The Russians don't really need to intervene in US elections. No matter which of the two corporate parties win - both Repubs and Dems are 100% committed to the resurrection of the US empire. Neither party likes Russia and the more conflict there is between the two nations the more weapons get sold by domestic warmongers.
Wall Street is applauding all the way to the bank vault.
Photo from last Friday at the Brunswick, Maine peace & justice vigil. The vigil began right after 9-11, 2001 and has been going on ever since through rains, snow, sleet and heat.
In this photo I've kind of covered alot of bases in one shot. BLM mask, Lisa Savage campaign shirt and the sign about the climate crisis and the 'product' built at Bath Iron Works (BIW).
The sign was made by retired BIW worker Peter Woodruff who put in 30-some years at the shipyard. I carry the sign to honor Peter who has been a dedicated peace, environmental and social justice activist for many years.
Peter and I had a weekly radio show at Bowdoin College in Brunswick for about six years but had to eventually give it up for two reasons. First, the college 'security services' decided that all show hosts had to be finger-printed to prove we were not terrorists of some sort and secondly Peter was losing his ability to speak.
For many years at BIW Peter sucked in steel dust from the cutting of steel for the destroyers built there. Over time this dust entered his blood stream to the point that today the manganese poisoning has made it so he really can't verbally communicate anymore. He can send emails and be as clear as a bell or write things down but he can't talk. He once did some investigation on the Internet and found that African miners, who dig up the manganese that goes into steel, were suffering many of the same symptoms that Peter is experiencing.
Peter told me that over the years he has seen other BIW workers who suffer similarly, though no one was ever willing to speak about it.
Peter did speak with a labor lawyer who was willing to get him a 'settlement' from the company but Peter didn't want money, instead he wanted the company to deal with the problem. The lawyer, if I recall properly, was not so interested in a lawsuit against the General Dynamics Corporation and their huge team of corporate lawyers.
Red Lines host Anya Parampil talks to Danny Haiphong, a Contributor at the Black Agenda Report, about why some US leftwing media outlets repeat State Department talking points when it comes to China.
Danny also dispels some of the most common talking points, including "China is capitalist" and "China has imperialist ambitions".
Hundreds of anti-war activists rallied in Kassel on Friday outside Krauss-Maffei-Wegmann and Rheinmetall arms factories.
Demonstrators spoke out against Germany's exports of weapons and investments in the arms industry.
"We need a lot more money, a lot more resources for comprehensive health care for everyone, the pandemic made that clear. Instead, more and more money is flowing into armaments, rearmament, the military," said Daniel Seifer from the Rheinmetall Disarming Alliance.
Protesters attempted to block entrances of both factories, preventing employees from coming to work.
Legislation is brewing in Augusta, Maine (state capital) to allow such a thing - likely with state tax breaks as well.
Similar deal was thrust on the residents of Kodiak Island, Alaska some years ago. Few civilian launches yet - just a series of Pentagon Star Wars tests.
The same launch corporation that built the Kodiak Island spaceport wanted to build one in Hawaii as well but public rejection of the idea has so far blocked it.
Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and others want to launch more than 5,000 5G satellites into space so that every human on Earth will always have a 5G connection over their heads. But they need more launch facilities and places to build rockets.
So states and local governments are being hit up to give tax breaks to the aerospace industry. Big promises of jobs. They don't talk about the environmental destruction (especially ground water contamination from launch fuel)....and the major military connections.
As this economic collapse during the pandemic grows in scale more and more homeless will be on American streets.
They are unwanted by the rulers - superfluous populations as 'industry' turns to robots, computers, mechanization and outsourcing of jobs to cheaper locations. Most people who have jobs are 1-2 pay checks away from being cast into the darkness themselves.
Fortunately there are many out there who care about the homeless and give their life blood helping to bring them dignity, support and hopefully a good place to rest their weary bodies.
