China fed up with U.S. provocations

 

Kinmen Islands is 3 km from the Chinese coast

Global South

This morning at the Foreign Ministry Briefing:

China News Service: In November 2023, China and the US held consultations on arms control and non-proliferation in Washington DC. During the past few weeks, some US senior official accused China of declining a new round of consultations with the US and not providing a substantive response to the suggestions that the US put forward. What’s China’s comment?

Lin Jian: Over the past weeks and months, despite China’s firm opposition and repeated protest, the US has continued to sell arms to Taiwan and done things that severely undermine China’s core interests and the mutual trust between China and the US. This has seriously compromised the political atmosphere for continuing the arms control consultations. Consequently, the Chinese side has decided to hold off discussion with the US on a new round of consultations on arms control and non-proliferation. The responsibility fully lies with the US.

China stands ready to maintain communication with the US on international arms control in line with the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, but the US must respect China’s core interests and create necessary conditions for dialogue and exchange.

Russia stopped playing games a while ago.  China is not playing any longer.  Anyone in the west who thinks Russia is bluffing or China is bluffing is deluded.

Shooter on the roof caught on camera

 

This story does not meet the smell test.  

See Pepe Escobar's article on this incident here

Revolution brewing across the EU

 

By Alastair Crooke

The “new populism” on the left and right, and the collapse of the “centrist” cordon sanitaire

Brussels Élites let out their long sigh of relief – the French Right was blocked. Markets complacently shrugged; ‘everything must ‘change’ to remain the same’. The Centre will find a way!

Macron successfully had blocked the ‘populist’ Right and Left through mandating a Centrist tactical defensive line to be dug, obstructing both political poles. And the tactical blockade was a success.

The ‘Right-wing’ Le Pen party – out of 32% of votes cast – won 125 seats, (just 22% of the Legislature). The Left took 180 seats out of a 26% share of the vote, and Macron’s bloc Ensemble claimed 159 seats from 25% of the vote.

No one party, however, has enough seats to govern (usually this requires some 240 to 250 seats). If this is deemed success, it surely is a Pyrrhic success. The Leftists comprise a spectrum of opposites – from Anarchists to contemporary Leninists – whose Melenchon core will never co-operate with Macron’s Centrists, nor with Le Pen’s aggrieved followers, either.

Historian Maxime Tandonnet says it is a heroic misinterpretation of events to think that Macron has achieved anything other than a fiasco:

“Operation Jupiter has degenerated into the worst possible scenario. It is a total impasse”.

It is impossible to form a functioning government from this Assembly mêlée. (Macron has refused the resignation of the losing PM, asking him to stay on, ad interim).

Well, as Henri Hude, former Director of Research at the Saint-Cyr military academy, observes:

    “No one can doubt that a revolution is in the making in France. Expenditure by the State and the Welfare State far exceeds resources, which it is almost impossible to increase significantly, either through economic growth or taxation …

    “The only way for the State to make ends meet is to run up increasing debts, which can only be supported by very low interest rates – but above all, by the ability to issue money infinitely, ‘out of thin air’ thanks to the Euro’s privileged link to the German [high credit rating for 10-year Bunds].

Were these facilities to cease, “financiers estimate that France should have to cut the salaries of its civil servants, or cut back their numbers, by around a third, and retirement pensions of everyone by a fifth. This is obviously unfeasible”.

“What is in reality a budget and trade deficit is disguised as debt and would have been purged thirty years ago by national currency devaluation – but this debt artifice [increasingly benefits the rich]… whilst the general population never ceases to grumble, living its’ rose-tinted dream – and held in blind ignorance of the state of our finances … That said, the ruling class is well aware of the situation, but prefers not to talk about it, because no one knows what to do”.

    “There can be no doubt at the moment of truth, when states declare themselves bankrupt … the West will be shaken to the core – and some will pop like champagne corks. The economy will have to be reorganized. Perhaps also we will see cultural revolution. It was the failure of the French State – let us not forget – that provoked the French Revolution …

    “But you may ask, why cannot this [monetary profligacy] go on indefinitely? That is what we are going to find out, but not just yet”.

    “Today, even before the bankruptcy has been declared, the loss of confidence in the institutions: The powerlessness of the public authorities, deprived of prestige and authority, and the detestation of the President – make it possible to foresee the energy of the shockwave that would be unleashed by revelation of the fiasco. A “Greek-style” scenario is unlikely in France. We had better bet on something else” (controlled inflation and a devaluation of the Euro?)”.

 

Of course, France is not alone. “The Euro system was supposed to force the countries of the Euro to be financially wise and ‘virtuous’. But the very contrary happened”. The sound credit of Germany permitted other EU States to ‘lean’ heavily upon a German privileged rating to self-indulge in infinite debt – through keeping all EU sovereign debt levels artificially low.

So long as the privilege of the U.S. Dollar persists, that of the Euro should remain – except that the war in Ukraine is ruining German industry, first and foremost. France already faces an EU excessive deficit procedure. So do other EU states. Germany has its debt brake and must make cuts of Euro 40bn. Austerity is underway in most of the Eurozone.

The American dollar – at the apex of this liberal debt pyramid – is crumbling, along with the western ‘Rules-based Order’. The world’s geo-strategic ‘plates’ – as well as its cultural zeitgeist – are shifting.

Put plainly, the problem inadvertently exposed by Macron is insoluble.

“We might call the emerging ethos ‘the new populism’”, writes Jeffrey Tucker:

“It is neither left nor right, but it borrows themes from both in the past. From the so-called “Right,” it derives the confidence that people in their own lives and communities have a better capacity for wise decision-making than trusting the authorities at the top. From the old Left, the new populism takes the demand for free speech, fundamental rights, and a deep suspicion of corporate and government power.

“The theme of being skeptical of empowered and entrenched elites is the salient point. This applies across the board. It is not only about politics. It hits media, medicine, courts, academia, and every other high-end sector. And this is in every country. This really does amount to a paradigmatic shift. It seems not temporary but substantial; and likely lasting”.

“What happened over four years has unleashed a mass wave of incredulity [and a sense of the illegitimacy of the Élites] that has been building for decades”.

The philosopher Malebranche wrote (1684) in his Traité de Morale: “Men forgive everything, except contempt”:

    “An elite that fails in its duties is called élitist; From then on, their activity seems unjust and abusive, but more importantly, their very existence is an affront. This is the source of hatred, of the transformation of emulation into jealousy, and of jealousy into a thirst for revenge—and consequently of wars”.

What is then to be done?

To reinstate the American Order, and to silence dissent, a NATO victory was deemed necessary:

“The biggest risk and biggest cost for NATO today is the risk of Russian victory in Ukraine. We cannot allow this”, Secretary-General Stoltenberg said at the NATO anniversary in Washington. “The outcome of this war will determine global security for decades to come”.

Such an outcome in Ukraine – versus Russia – would therefore have been seen by some in Washington as perhaps sufficient to bring any rebellious dollar-trading states to their senses, and to re-instantiate western primacy across the globe.

For a long time being an American protectorate was tolerable, even advantageous. No more: America no longer ‘frightens’. Taboos are breaking down. The mutiny against the postmodern West is worldwide. And it is clear to the global majority that Russia cannot be defeated militarily. It is NATO that is being defeated.

Here is the ‘hole at the centre’ of the enterprise: Biden may likely not be around for much longer. Everyone can see that.

Some EU leaders – those dangerously hemorrhaging political support at home, as their cordons Sanitaires against Left and Right fracture – may similarly see war as the exit to an EU approaching an insoluble fiscal train-wreck.

War, conversely, allows all fiscal and constitutional rules to be broken. Political leaders suddenly transform into Commanders-in-Chief.

Sending troops and offering fighter jets (and longer range missiles) could be interpreted as intentionally aiming for a wider, European war. The fact that the U.S. apparently thinks to use F-16 bases in Romania might be intended as the way to cause a war in Europe, and save various sinking Atlanticist political fortunes.

There is, by contrast, clear evidence that Europeans (88%) say that “NATO member countries [should] push for a negotiated settlement in Ukraine” – with only a tiny minority of those polled believing that the West should prioritize goals like “Weakening Russia” or “Restoring the pre-2022 borders of Ukraine”.

Rather, the European public overwhelmingly is shown to favour goals such as “avoiding escalation” and “avoiding direct war between nuclear armed powers”.

What is more likely, seemingly, is that pent up anti-war feeling in Europe will burst forth – perhaps even ultimately leading to the rejection of NATO in its entirety. Trump may then find himself pushing at an open door with his NATO stance.

~ Alastair Crooke is a former British diplomat, founder and director of the Beirut-based Conflicts Forum. 

Who is JD Vance?

 

 

Zionist Billionaire Peter Thiel donated more than $15 million to JD Vance’s Senate campaign and personally escorted Vance to Mar-a-Lago to patch over his former “Never Trump” stance. 

Peter Thiel owns Palantir which used it’s Artificial Intelligence technology to target over 45,000 Palestinians with the majority being innocent women and children. 

Palantir landed multiple billion dollar contracts with Israel including “Project Nimbus”…. “Lavender”. 

JD Vance also appears to be a hardliner on Iran. 

War with Iran would equate to billions in profits for Peter Thiel and Palantir.

In this video Vance of Ohio tells "Face that Nation" that he doesn't think the U.S. should provide aid to Palestinian citizens because "if you deliver a large amount of humanitarian assistance, who's it going to, the children of Gaza or to the Hamas fighters on the front lines? I fear it's going to go to Hamas."

In 2016, Vance's released his memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy," [now on Netflix] which shared his story of growing up in poverty in America's Rust Belt and being surrounded by violence and addiction.

Vance eventually became an emissary between the media and those in the Rust Belt during the 2016 election, discussing the issues important to those who had a similar background to him.

With a last-minute endorsement from Trump, Vance won the 2022 Ohio Senate primary and went on to win the general election, defeating Ohio Democrat Tim Ryan.

In his role as senator, some of his most notable work has been responding to the East Palestine train derailment in his home state. 

He has opposed more funding for Ukraine.  He says that funding should go to Taiwan for potential war with China.

Vance currently lives in Ohio with his wife, Usha and their three children.  

See more here

 

U.S. nukes coming back to England

 

 

From day one of the walk from Norwich to RAF Lakenheath to set up a peace camp from 15-25 July 2024.

See more about the peace camp and this campaign at  https://lakenheathallianceforpeace.org.uk/

Who is reading this blog?

 

 

• Hong Kong - 9.91K
• United States - 7.92K
• France - 2.87K
• Canada - 1.73K
• Singapore - 786
• Indonesia - 550
• India - 485
• Belgium - 326
• United Kingdom - 264
• South Korea - 257
• Germany - 178
• Slovenia - 138
• Israel - 97
• China - 86
• Russia - 78
• Japan - 47
• Brazil - 34
• Australia - 32
• Vietnam - 31
• Other - 2.14K

 

In the last 30 days here are the nations and numbers of those coming to this blog.

It's really quite fascinating to see which regions are most interested in Organizing Notes.  What do you imagine the reason is?

Anyway, thanks to all of you who regularly visit here or just blindly stumbled onto the blog.

Best to all.

Keep paddling. We need all hands on deck.

Bruce 

German MP exposes NATO: 'U.S. is in decline'

 

 

On its 75th anniversary, NATO—the so-called “defence alliance”—appears to be at the height of its offensive power. In NATO: A Reckoning, German politician and NATO expert Sevim Dagdelen explains NATO’s bloody trail. With its thirst for geopolitical expansion, she says NATO today is driving the world closer to the brink of a third world war than ever before. What began with the delivery of helmets to Ukraine is now a call for soldiers on the frontline in a war that will only kill many thousands more. It is time for a reckoning, demands Sevim Dagdelen.

Sevim Dagdelen has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2005. The politician is foreign policy spokesperson for the group “Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance: Reason and Justice” (BSW) and member of the parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs. Sevim Dagdelen is a member of the US Parliamentary Group. She was a member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly for many years, in which parliamentarians from the member countries of the military pact discuss security and defence policy issues. She was the first MP to visit journalist and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012. Since then, she has been actively campaigning worldwide for ending his prosecution, both within and outside parliament.  

Katrina vanden Heuvel is editorial director and publisher of The Nation, America’s leading source of progressive politics and culture. She served as editor of the magazine from 1995 to 2019.

Trudell: 'We must understand that we are not each others enemy'

 

 

John Trudell spoke at the Black Hills Survival Gathering in 1980.

His writing and muusic, an outlet to which he turned in the wake of his family's deaths, brought awareness to global audiences who might not have been exposed to his life work.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I attended the Black Hills Survival Gathering held just outside the gates of the Ellsworth AFB B-52 bomber base in South Dakota.

My son Julian, born in December of 1980, was there as well in his moms womb. I know that he must have heard and felt the native drums, singing, and the other vibes from that incredible event.

I lived on the Ellsworth base (in the shadow of the Black Hills) while in 4th to 6th grades during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was there we learned to crawl under our school desks in preparation for a nuclear attack - which thanks to JFK never came.

Today it is sadly more likely that we will have nuclear war as the US-NATO are actively pushing it in their insane plan to take down Russia, China and Iran. 

If you are a regular on this blog, you will know I have great respect for John Trudell. Look into how his wife and kids were believed to have been killed by the FBI. 

In later years I learned that one of my good friends, Maine artist Russell Wray, was also at the 1980 Black Hills gathering as well. We must have crossed paths during those days there.

Because I grew up in a military family we frequently moved from air base to air base around the US, Germany and England. But South Dakota was my favorite place ever and I cried many tears when I learned that we were leaving this sacred place.

I've frequently returned to the Black Hills - my last time was with Julian in the spring of 2023. I wanted to make sure that he knew many of the special places I loved and heard my stories about the impact of living there on me.

I've long felt that John Trudell was a brother. He is in my heart.

Bruce  

 

This is my oldest poster that I got in 1980 at the survival gathering. I've carried it many miles over the  years - its getting worn out. It's a good time to put it on the blog so I will always have it. 

Sunday song

 

 

Trump shot: Has the civil war begun?

 

 

Wrestlemania takes over Washington

America was born

of violence

thrives on it

exports it

as a product

Eventually

the chickens

come home

to roost

Both

corporate parties

playing a high-tech game

of good-cop-bad-cop

have successfully

turned the nation

against itself

Abe Lincoln said,

"A house divided against itself

cannot stand"

Our house is folding

like a deck of cards,

and sinking

like the Titanic

Time will tell

where this all goes

but the people

will be used

as pawns

to further the 

ruthless aims

of the 

ruling oligarchs

 

Is this another

Hollywood scripted

JFK-Oswald-Jack Ruby

who done it?

 

Or Abe Lincoln-John Wilkes Booth
mystery caper?

 

I never understood 

why Sen. Teddy Kennedy

went to Texas

to received an award

from George H. W. Bush,

the same Bush who was 

up to his neck

in the killing of his brothers

Jack and Bobby 

It's the mob,

they have wars

with competing 

regional oligarchs

inside our own country.

Sometimes they sign

a truce,

for a short while

 

Tune in at 7:00 pm

for more details....

In the meantime

lock your doors

stay inside

and don't talk

to any strangers.

And wear a mask....

Bruce

 

~ Joe Biden on July 8, 2024: "We’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye."

 

See on X  https://x.com/wideofthepost/status/1812268158473896293 

Bail out the banksters?

 

 

Lena Petrova

This is Part I of the interview with Professor Richard D. Wolff.

Richard D. Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst where he taught economics from 1973 to 2008. He is currently a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University, New York City.

Earlier he taught economics at Yale University (1967-1969) and at the City College of the City University of New York (1969-1973). In 1994, he was a Visiting Professor of Economics at the University of Paris (France), I (Sorbonne). Wolff was also regular lecturer at the Brecht Forum in New York City.

Prof. Wolff is the co-founder of Democracy at Work and host of their nationally syndicated show Economic Update.

In the interview, we discuss a rapid decline in the U.S. economy and reasons for a looming banking crisis. Professor Wolff points to the Fed's plan to prepare for an economic crisis while misrepresenting the data to the public. Professor Wolff concludes that even though it is clear that the United States will face a severe banking crisis and bank consolidations, the "plan" is to let it collapse in hopes of a government bailout.

Galloway reports on UK elections

 

 

Labour’s disgraced returnees, the Welsh Windbag, the party’s Porn Channel Princess and Biden, the Democrats El Cid. 

More casualties than The Sopranos!

Galloway comments on France, Germany, Hungary, Russia and Slovakia as well.

Update from Israeli genocide zone

 

  

Half of her family are sleeping inside her tent and half are lying dead outside the tent in the allegedly “safe zone” of Deir al Balah!   

Biden slips again at NATO event

 

 

Biden goes off script again and mistakenly introduced Ukraine's Zelensky as "President Putin" before correcting himself at a NATO event on July 11 in Washington, D.C.

Growing numbers of Democrat party members in Congress are calling for Biden to resign because they fear his presence will negatively impact their own re-election. Big donors are increasingly calling for a change. Even some of Biden's campaign staff are warning that the air is going out of the balloon as Biden stumbles more each day.

My guess still remains that they will push Biden out just before or at the convention. Then they could also sweep the very unpopular Kamala Harris out as well. If Biden resigned now Harris would have to take over which would complicate Mr. Big's real agenda.

So they will likely make the move at the Dems convention in Chicago on August 19-22. Protests are planned outside the convention by those opposing the Dems endless war program, genocide in Palestine, and their disastrous economic and enviro policies. It will be interesting to see how the Chicago cops handle the protests. They don't want another Chicago 1968 Dem convention fiasco. But those running the show just might create one as a warning to the nation to sit down and stay quiet. Or your head might get busted too!

The convention switcheroo will not be 'democratic' and will not truly involve the party voters in the decision process. It will likely be done in the back rooms where the Dems 'super delegates' make the decision and then the apparatchiks job will be to go out and sell it to the media and the public at large. 

I think that most rank-and file Dems won't care about the process. They will just be relieved that they won't be stuck with the Biden albatross around their necks. Most of them don't really care much about democracy. They are more worried about their investment portfolios and re-sale value of their properties.

But the smell from this entire sordid process will linger and further make the 63% of eligible voters who have refused to vote in the last three American general elections even more convinced that it does little good to vote. They feel it is a rigged game. It's hard to argue with them either.

The talk about the 'great democracy' in the US has now gone the way of the family farm, black & white TV, peace with our neighbors, healthy food and clear skies.

Regional corporate oligarchs (New York, Boston, Washington, Atlanta, Miami, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, etc) run this country now. 

Mr. Big doesn't care what the American voter wants. The oligarchs will install another president who does the bidding of the 1%.

Bruce 

NATO wants to defeat Russia - peace talks inside NATO are verboten!

 

 
The EU accuses Viktor Orbán of breach of contract because of his peace policy

  
By Magyar Békekör (Hungary)

The Hungarian Prime Minister’s peace policy was criticized at the NATO summit and in the European Union. Viktor Orbán is accused of breaking the pro-war unity of NATO and the European Union with his pursuit of peace. The leadership of NATO and the EU have decided to defeat Russia in the face of Hungary’s peace efforts and to provide greater military and financial aid to Zelensky’s Ukraine than ever before in order to make his plan a reality – the correspondent of the Hungarian Community for Peace assessed the decisions of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Washington, and the the statement of the EU leadership in line with them.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the Legal Service of the European Union accused Viktor Orbán of violating the Union’s treaties because he traveled to Moscow to discuss the possibility of a peaceful settlement and East-West reconciliation with Russian President Putin. The EU treaties prohibit any measures that threaten the achievement of the Union’s goals, the announcement states.

It follows from the resolution that the EU’s goal is to continue the war until Russia is defeated, our correspondent noted.

It is not known whether the EU also intends to take punitive measures against Orbán due to Hungary’s commitment to peace. NATO, on the other hand, decided to develop a “joint strategic approach” to Russia until next year’s summit in The Hague, so that no one can be left out of line.

NATO considers Russia to be its enemy in the long term because it considers it a threat to itself – it is clear from the alliance’s final statement. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg declared: “We cannot let Russia win in Ukraine, because such an outcome of the conflict would leave its mark on global security for decades.”

The possibility of negotiating Russia’s legitimate security demands presented on December 15, 2021 was not discussed in Washington.

A decision was made that F-16 fighter jets will appear in the skies of Ukraine this summer, anti-aircraft systems will be delivered to Ukraine, Ukrainians will be trained in the use of combat equipment, and 40 billion euros will be paid to Kyiv in 2025.

Under these circumstances, Russia must face the possibility of a direct military confrontation with NATO, which wants to defeat the Russian military. NATO members hold the opinion that the Western bloc is stronger than Russia, and that instead of peace negotiations, Russia should be forced to give up its positions militarily.

Only Viktor Orbán spoke out against NATO’s war goal, but President Erdogan also indicated that Turkey would not participate in a war against Russia either.

However, both signed the Washington Declaration on the “irreversibly” of Ukraine’s accession to NATO and the need to defeat Russia in Ukraine.

Understanding Myanmar's civil war

 

 

The civil war in Myanmar is set to become a lot more bloody and chaotic – if the United States follows through on plans to massively intervene in this conflict. 

 A civil war has been raging for three years, although the nation has always been gripped by inter-ethnic violence since independence in 1948 as a legacy of British colonialist abuse.

KJ Noh is a seasoned political analyst and commentator on the Asia-Pacific region. He says the U.S. is already heavily involved in fanning the civil war in this Southeast Asian nation because Washington views it as a critical opportunity to destabilize China’s strategic interests.

See this informative background article here.

China has invested hugely in its southern neighbor with a 2,000-kilometer land border. Myanmar is a vital partner in Beijing’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative projects to boost global trade.

This makes Myanmar a priority target for Washington to provoke and destabilize China.

See this previous article on SCF which looks at recent calls by deep-state think-tanks in the US urging for more military intervention by Washington in Myanmar’s civil war.

KJ Noh has written for Asia Times, Counterpunch, Dissident Voice, and other alternative media outlets. He discusses how the U.S. has used Myanmar (formerly Burma) for decades as a launchpad for proxy wars against China’s interests, going back to the Korean War (1950-53).

Western media, in hock to U.S. imperialist interests, have distorted the conflict in Myanmar as the fault of China’s alleged interference when, in reality, the opposite is true. It is Washington that has continually meddled in the internal affairs of Myanmar, including helping to precipitate a military coup in the country in February 2021.

China is invested in creating a stable, peaceful neighbor. Beijing is trying to mediate a national settlement with all the parties. But as long as the U.S. keeps meddling in Myanmar, the conflict is liable to become protracted and much worse.

The Western corporate-controlled media are portraying the civil war as a simplistic binary situation of “pro-democracy groups” versus a military junta backed by China. This is a gross misrepresentation. But such a distortion is usefully providing the US political cover for increasing its malign interference.

KJ Noh says the U.S. is not interested in a peaceful, democratic Myanmar. It is only interested in exploiting the suffering of the people as a way to damage China.

Peace is possible in Myanmar. But not while the U.S. continues gearing up to intervene with “humanitarian aid” (military aid) and self-serving media lies.

Otherwise, Myanmar is shaping up to be another endless war for U.S. imperialism and America’s next proxy war against China.

NATO stuck in a Rutte with new boss Teflon Mark

 

By Finian Cunningham

His job is to bring Europe to its knees despite the obvious disaster that the U.S.-led NATO is inflicting on Europe.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is to take over as the next secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Rutte’s appointment is to ensure that a “safe pair of hands” steer the military bloc full steam ahead on an increasingly confrontational course with Russia and China.

The 57-year-old Dutchman, who is known as Teflon Mark owing to his political survival skills, was backed for the NATO post by the United States and Britain. The opinions of the other 30 members of the alliance are pretty much irrelevant, albeit with a semblance of discussion.

As Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova commented sardonically, there will be no change in NATO policies under Rutte “because the Americans run the show”.

Rutte takes over from Jens Stoltenberg who served as NATO secretary general for two terms over 10 years. Like Stoltenberg, a former Norwegian prime minister, Rutte has no military expertise and is more suited to financial management and political horse-trading. This continues the trend of recent NATO civilian bosses being more secretaries than generals.

There have been 14 secretary generals since the NATO alliance was formed in 1949 at the beginning of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. The first titleholder was British General Hastings Ismay who famously admitted NATO’s primary mission was less the defense of Europe and more to bolster Washington’s transatlantic control over European “allies” by, as Ismay candidly put it, “keeping the Americans in, the Russians out, and the Germans down”.

Over its 75 years, NATO has had British, Belgian, Danish, Dutch, Italian, Norwegian and Spanish civilian heads. Rutte is the fourth leader from the Netherlands to take the job. Oddly, it may seem, there have been no American secretary generals. But that’s because the United States doesn’t need one of its nationals in the chair. The real power is with the American General who oversees the Supreme Allied Command of Europe (SACEUR). That post is always held by an American military figure, which goes to show who wears the trousers in the NATO bloc.

The civilian titular head is given to Europeans as a token of partnership. The purpose of the European secretary general (emphasis on the secretary) is public relations, to give an illusion of pluralism and mutualism instead of the reality that NATO is simply an instrument of American imperialist violence.

Rutte, who is a bland politician prone to cutting coalition deals and going to work on a bicycle, is “perfect” for the job. He projects the image of a benign, if boring, liberal. But scratch the surface and underneath the cowardly exterior is a dangerous sociopath.

 

The 32-nation bloc has ambitions to expand its role as a military enforcer for American geopolitical hostility towards Russia and China. That collision course becomes clearer by the day with American missiles raining down on Russia and stockpiling in Taiwan off China’s mainland.

That entails a tricky, duplicitous balancing act to keep an unwieldy coalition together as it hurtles to open confrontation with nuclear powers. There will be a lot of gyrating public relations to do to sell this warmongering adventurism as somehow necessary for a “rules-based order”.

Jens Stoltenberg, the outgoing Norwegian wooden Pinocchio figure, was an able Yes Man in that role of cohering NATO members to splurge military spending on American weapons and pumping Ukraine with arms. Stoltenberg was an ideal cipher for Washington’s imperialist aims. He also orientated the NATO bloc to take a more hostile stance towards China. So “good” was Stoltenberg as a loyal lackey, that he was given a two-year extension to his NATO post.

Rutte promises to be a very capable successor in terms of being a total minion for Washington. He brings a quaint Dutch accent, bicycle clips and an air of European reasonableness as a plausible cover for the barbaric function of imperial violence.

The Dutch premier has no qualms about indulging NATO’s dirty wars. During the NATO covert war for regime change in Syria, Rutte’s Netherlands government sponsored Islamist terror groups in Syria to overthrow the Syrian government with the full knowledge that the recipients of Dutch aid were murdering and abducting civilians. Rutte personally authorized that covert operation.

In the Ukraine proxy war against Russia, Rutte has led the way in delivering F-16 fighter jets to the NeoNazi Kiev regime, who “justify” the bombing of families on beaches in Crimea because they are “civilian occupiers” who need to be “cleansed”.

Moscow has warned that this escalation of NATO involvement will be seen as a step towards a nuclear confrontation. Rutte has no problem with such escalation.

Rutte’s ability to please his master in Washington and to further his career knows no bounds. His ability for political dancing around and negotiating skills make him an ideal secretary to keep the NATO bloc together as it aggresses recklessly against Russia and China.

Rutte is the kind of quisling that the Dutch and other Europeans were adept at being for the Third Reich against their own compatriots. One can easily imagine the ever-flexible and expedient Rutte informing and betraying others to save his skin.

His job is to bring Europe to its knees despite the obvious disaster that the U.S.-led NATO is inflicting on Europe. The likes of this sycophantic sociopath are leading the world to the abyss.

Teflon Mark might be better labeled Zyklon Mark 2.0.

~  Finian Cunningham is a former editor and writer for major news media organizations. He has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages.

Anti-NATO events in Washington DC

 

Bruce Gagnon and Rick Staggenborg in the march on Sunday

 

Four of us from Maine (MB Sullivan, Lisa Savage, Mark Roman and I) made the 10-hour drive to Washington DC last Friday to join the anti-NATO events planned to protest NATO's '75th anniversary celebration' which begins on July 10. We were joined by former Mainers Melody Shank and Ken Jones  now living in North Carolina. 

Things began with a conference on Saturday morning at a local church attended by about 150 people and organized by a coalition led by World Beyond War. Disappointingly (but not surprising) several of the speakers once again blamed Russia for the war in Ukraine with words like 'illegal, immoral, provocative' Russian invasion. Sadly there are still some in the 'peace movement' who continue to be reluctant to pin the blame for the proxy war on US-NATO which was particularly uncalled for at an anti-NATO summit. Those that do at some point admit that US-NATO did in fact instigate the 'tensions' always seem to say that Russia should not have responded to protect the Donbass. That option was of course unacceptable to Moscow which I fully agree with.

This of course has been going on ever since the 2014 US-NATO orchestrated coup d'etat in Kiev which was led by the Obama-Biden administration under the direction of Victoria Nuland, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. Soon thereafter the US-NATO regime in Kiev (infused with Nazis from Western Ukraine) began attacking the Donbass region of Ukraine where Russian-ethnics predominate and killed more than 15,000 and wounded around 35,000. 

Moscow made repeated attempts to create mechanisms to end the siege on the Donbass including the Minsk 1 & 2 agreements that leaders of Ukraine, France and Germany later admitted they never intended to honor - they just used the agreements to buy time to build up Ukraine's US-NATO funded, trained, armed and directed army for a final charge against their own citizens whose only crime was they spoke Russian.

By early 2022 Russia knew that the western controlled Ukrainian military would soon launch a full scale attack on the Donbass so Moscow decided to preempt that move and began the slow and deliberate effort to push the Nazi-led forces away from the Donbass which sits on Russia's border.

 

Later Saturday around 5:00 pm a larger conference began at another church in Washington. Oh, what a difference it was. This event was led by anti-imperialist organizations that have no doubt the US-NATO were in fact responsible for the war in Ukraine - to be used in a now failed strategy to force 'regime change' in Moscow in order for western resource extraction corporations to grab Russia's vast resource base (among other reasons).

More than 300 (mostly young activists) gathered at this event with powerful speakers talking about a myriad of regions of the world where the US-NATO war machine is trying to regain their settler colonial domination. Good luck with that one.

 

At the youth-led anti-imperialist event - they put the elders up front

 

This multi-ethnic coalition was a stark difference from the smaller event we had attended earlier that day. 

I learned years ago about the US anti-imperialist movement led by Mark Twain during Washington's war on the Philippines.  At this event an impressive video was shown about the long US occupation of the Philippines that continues today as the Biden administration now floods that island nation with new missiles, warships, war planes and troops aimed at China. All part of NATO's 'pivot' into the Asia-Pacific.

We also heard from young activists speaking about Palestine, Puerto Rico, black liberation movements across the US and much more. The Nicaraguan ambassador to the US also spoke and was roundly received. 

Fascism is growing worldwide in order to protect corporate interests and to suppress the resulting people's movements for liberation. US-NATO wars in the Middle East have cost 4.5 million lives in the last 25 years. Israel is a 'partner' of NATO and takes part in its war games. NATO also trains Middle Eastern reactionary regimes that have served as western puppets for many years - Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Jordan and more.

On Sunday we joined a march led by the anti-imperialist/anti-capitalist coalition to the White House. A rally was set up in Lafayette Park next to the White House led by the World Beyond War coalition. When we arrived very few people were at the rally site. Thanks to the 400 in the anti-imperialist march the rally began to look more respectable though I didn't see any of the anti-imperialist leaders invited to the stage to speak to the largely younger crowd.

Melody Shank and Ken Jones in the march

Mark Roman and Lisa Savage at the White House

At the rally in Lafayette Park near White House

 

Despite the long drive from Maine to DC we all agreed that it was well worth the trip - especially to be with emerging activists. We often hear elder 'peace movement' folks wonder where are the 'young people'? Actually they are out there leading the protests against zionist genocide in Palestine and doing great anti-NATO work against the empire's ever expanding war machine. Some might call them radicals - but I stand by the definition of radical as those getting to the root of the problems that we face.

The half-stepping reformist peace groups (sometimes linked to the Democratic party and their foundation funders) have a long way to go if they hope to more fully integrate with the next generation of activism.

Bruce 

~ Photos by MB Sullivan and Ken Jones

Age old story - once again

 

We are not stupid.

We know what we see

and feel.

 

We are on the bottom,

and Mr. Big

is on top. 

 

Yes,

our backs hurt,

and our souls

rage to the heavens

against their privilege

and arrogance.

 

They know 

our mother's body

is thrashing out 

in pain and anger. 

 

But they don't care.

The motto of the 1%

(and their wanna-bees)

is

'The one with the most toys when you die wins'!

Those are the 

spiritless voices

of our current 

mis-leaders.

 

I pledge

my ever-lasting allegiance

to fight these worthless

bastards

who suck our life blood

and laugh behind

our backs.

 

Bruce

Jewish support for Palestinian liberation & anti-Zionism

 

 

'The truth is we’re not fed accurate information'.

Many Jewish social media users say that Israel's relentless attacks on Gaza made them realize Palestinians are the real victims of the conflict, contrary to what they were previously taught.