If the USA were to say or do something that wasn't hypocritical, anything that would support international fairness and rule of law, I would be astonished. Their supporters are either oblivious to such things or they like it that way.
“We are deeply disturbed by reports that Havana and Beijing are working together to target the United States and our people. The United States must respond to China’s ongoing and brazen attacks on our nation’s security. We must be clear that it would be unacceptable for China to establish an intelligence facility within 100 miles of Florida and the United States, in an area also populated with key military installations and extensive maritime traffic. We urge the Biden administration to take steps to prevent this serious threat to our national security and sovereignty,” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, a Democrat, and Vice Chairman Marco Rubio. Hey, Rs and Ds working together! It must be a good thing.
They mention "our hemisphere" and "the spy balloon incident and several aggressive maneuvers by Chinese aircraft and ships against US assets in the South China Sea." Spy balloon. Right.
Presenting a sociopath with their own hypocrisy is as effective as quoting Bible verses to an armed robber.
The response is always the same "so, what you gonna do about it?"
Similarly, the robber does care very much if you have a loaded gun held to his head, especially if he knows that you *will* pull the trigger and are unimpressed by arguments about what is "reasonable force".
Some do and some don''t. There are instances of great leaders who agree with the maxim "Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing." In other words, dying, as long as you "win", is acceptable. I probably don't need to give examples.
From my observations they are perfectly content that NPR (National "Public" Radio) and the NYT (New York Times) provide them with all the "fair and balanced" (just realized how "safe & effective" fits right in there!) reporting they need (IMO are comfortable with)...
I will be sharing this with them...my guess? No reply.
I try about once a week with NPR but they have to keep the corporate sponsors happy. I'm sure my emails go directly into the spam folder auto delete system now.
Exactamundo. To begin to cease to be highway robbers seeking a mark, the one thing my country can do is to acknowledge treaties. Oddly supreme court upheld a couple of threatened Indian child welfare act and the treaty giving tribal police jurisdiction over 1/3 of OK STATE. One can cynically wonder why...a last sane act before taking psychopharmaceuticals to alleviate their supreme headaches? ?
I'd thought the US only BECAME a country, to circumvent Native treaty rights? Shawnee, Lenape, Cherokee, Seneca & Wyandotte couldn't breed as quickly as indentured refugees pushed west (and pressed into militias!) After Pontiac, after Bushy Run, Point Pleasant & Newtown...Tecumseh knew what he was up against? It didn't take LONG to look at China & Russia's natural resources, workers & allies as OURS (How many sero-naive Chinese workers did WTO/ G7 infect, kill, indenture & debilitate, to ensure delivery of yuppie's iPhone 14 Pro & Teslas by Baby Jesus Day?)
I don't think we can expect practitioners of Realpolitik, that is, 'Great Powers', to abandon practices that have been in place for centuries and which have long soaked into our cultures. We allow to states and their leaders practices which we would never tolerate in our fellow citizens, at least not if we could help it, and we should not be surprised when some of those leaders and their organizations exploit the opportunity.
If you'd like things to be different, you have to start thinking radically enough to contemplate fundamentally different arrangements and imagine how they might be put into practice. And do something about it, mabye.
It becomes a problem when idealists are also clever and promoted and have access to inside information. Edward Snowden is a blemish on the whole fraudulent system, precisely because the illusion of legitimacy is shattered. Julian Assange is being slowly murdered because he exposed illegitimacy. Everyday the fakery is more visible.
The German radio station full of Polish prisoner bodies, sounded vaguely more British? But, rescuing Prussian, Sudeten, Nordic, virtuous Elsaß-Lothringen jungfrauen from untermenschen is more & more reminiscent of the Kaiser's monsters, in WW1 Belgium? Here's how Atlantic Council projects the projection, projection... by proxy:
Absolutely, just finished reading Greg Grandin's book "Kissinger's Shadow" (GREAT read!), in the 'good old days' they were hiding the relentless bombing of Cambodia and Laos etc. (for obvious reasons), nowadays they just BRAG ABOUT IT - DISGUSTING!
Excellent...! It’s simply a fair and balanced article.
Despite all kind of lies and manipulations permanently disseminated through main corporate media fully controlled by the US fascist establishment for so long, undeniable truths like the ones you describe so precisely shall find it’s way into the hearts and souls of the heavily deceived US people and many other peoples in the West.
There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, thanks to people like you, Assange and many others.
Too true. Back when she was Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton remarked that the U$ doesn't recognize "spheres of influence," which was code for the entire planet is our Sphere of Influence. US troops still occupying a third of Syria: What's up with that? As far as I know, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has yet to extend a formal invitation to his American military friends and their contract workers...
I'm worried that if Russia really wanted to say 'enough is enough' with the US pouring weapons into Ukraine, the Ruskies could launch a few missile strikes on our US bases in Syria. Or give the Syrian military a few missiles and have them make the strike for an added layer of hands off. Most Americans don't even know our troops are there. It would be shocking as heck and a wake up call. Would the US public demand retaliation or would we start to demand withdrawal from Syria? Would our US leaders really have the balls to start another major escalation in Syria in response?
Senator Lindsey Graham and others recently urged a strike on Mexico. They said it was about drugs, but I was inclined to think it was more about general uppityness. (A strike is going to stop drugs?)
Movies like 'Clear and Present Danger' and the Siccario film series (and heck, even 'Predator', and the recent 'Jack Ryan' Amazon series) are great propaganda to set up the idea for well intentioned interventionism. You know, hey, we're just down here fighting bad guys and drug lords. We have to resort to gritty bloody clandestine methods, but dammit, we're doing it for the right reasons. Pure disgusting propaganda cover.
American policy is a reflection of its "exceptional" take: I do what I want, you do what I say. But that's wearing a little thin, in fact, no one accepts their exceptionalism. The empire might indeed have to take a punch to its fucking face- to borrow from Caitlin's colourful phrasing- before the fact that no one any longer gives a fuck about its pretensions to and illusions of grandeur - is driven home to the dim US political consciousness.
I think the mere fact that Iran, not yet a nuclear state, can stand down the stealthy efforts of 2 nuclear states, Israel and the U.S. is a pretty stiff punch. And the daily specter of Ukrainians being erased because this is how America stands with its allies cannot escape even dim American political awareness.
What the US/Britain have done to Ukraine is criminal, and I believe an example of a kind of racism, or ethnic exploitation- the old anti-slavic prejudice at play. Russians cared more about Ukrainians, for obvious reasons. For anti-slavs, it was a perfect move: play one slavic population against another.
And this small element likely would not be influential except for the support of a small but influential and well- funded Western element: the idea is to wreck Russia, after all.
"Hypocrisy" is just another synonym for "the Military-Industrial Complex." It runs everything in the US. It doesn't understand why the world doesn't revolve around it. It wants to blow us all up in a nuclear holocaust some day... If we don't tell it where to get off. Today.
Love your acerbic wit Caitlin! I've been reading your columns for years and no one does it better than you. I wish the Senate and Congress had the aptitude to read your writings. Unfortunately they're too busy moving their investments between the MIC, Big Pharma and Big Oil, and your words only throw a huge wrench into their bought and paid for machinery.
Exactly! Warmongering Mass Murdering Sociopaths who are criminals that kill endlessly. There is no excuse that can be made for killing thousands or millions of people. The people who cause such mass murder have committed the worse crime possible. They should be locked away from society and never heard from again.
Great article as usual. The thing is, we know they are liars. They know we know. What does one do when the narrative is controlled? The circles keep getting smaller for open discourse.
Iran could launch a few missiles, too, as they did at US bases in Iraq after the Soleimani assassination. It's a bizarre situation, and the fact that no one admits this publicly, or officially, in the US is cause for concern. America is literally stealing Syria's oil while trying to sanction that country off the map. Also disturbing that the UN does not recognize the illegal US troop presence there, in obvious violation of international law (as are continued Israeli air strikes and whatever Turkey is doing in Syria). My sense is that the China-brokered rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, to the extent that it's real, will be the key to resolving the Syrian situation. China's like a cat on the ledge, occasionally purring this or that, while the UN is useless, or just a desk controlled by the Empire, so it does nothing. This week, considering your comment, and thank you for that, I will attempt to get in touch with the outside-the-guard-rails runs of RFK Jr and Cornel West for US president to determine what their positions are on Syria. Kind of funny, but Bashar al-Assad could have been our eye doctor if his weird Daddy hadn't died, and the folks around him hadn't given him the keys to the Country...
If the USA were to say or do something that wasn't hypocritical, anything that would support international fairness and rule of law, I would be astonished. Their supporters are either oblivious to such things or they like it that way.
“We are deeply disturbed by reports that Havana and Beijing are working together to target the United States and our people. The United States must respond to China’s ongoing and brazen attacks on our nation’s security. We must be clear that it would be unacceptable for China to establish an intelligence facility within 100 miles of Florida and the United States, in an area also populated with key military installations and extensive maritime traffic. We urge the Biden administration to take steps to prevent this serious threat to our national security and sovereignty,” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, a Democrat, and Vice Chairman Marco Rubio. Hey, Rs and Ds working together! It must be a good thing.
They mention "our hemisphere" and "the spy balloon incident and several aggressive maneuvers by Chinese aircraft and ships against US assets in the South China Sea." Spy balloon. Right.
Of course, the Demopublcans and Repocrats will work together to enhance their paycheck from their paymasters in the Military Industrial Complex.
If we take over Cuba does that mean I can get cheap Cuban cigars?
Presenting a sociopath with their own hypocrisy is as effective as quoting Bible verses to an armed robber.
The response is always the same "so, what you gonna do about it?"
Similarly, the robber does care very much if you have a loaded gun held to his head, especially if he knows that you *will* pull the trigger and are unimpressed by arguments about what is "reasonable force".
Some do and some don''t. There are instances of great leaders who agree with the maxim "Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing." In other words, dying, as long as you "win", is acceptable. I probably don't need to give examples.
From my observations they are perfectly content that NPR (National "Public" Radio) and the NYT (New York Times) provide them with all the "fair and balanced" (just realized how "safe & effective" fits right in there!) reporting they need (IMO are comfortable with)...
I will be sharing this with them...my guess? No reply.
I try about once a week with NPR but they have to keep the corporate sponsors happy. I'm sure my emails go directly into the spam folder auto delete system now.
Exactamundo. To begin to cease to be highway robbers seeking a mark, the one thing my country can do is to acknowledge treaties. Oddly supreme court upheld a couple of threatened Indian child welfare act and the treaty giving tribal police jurisdiction over 1/3 of OK STATE. One can cynically wonder why...a last sane act before taking psychopharmaceuticals to alleviate their supreme headaches? ?
I'd thought the US only BECAME a country, to circumvent Native treaty rights? Shawnee, Lenape, Cherokee, Seneca & Wyandotte couldn't breed as quickly as indentured refugees pushed west (and pressed into militias!) After Pontiac, after Bushy Run, Point Pleasant & Newtown...Tecumseh knew what he was up against? It didn't take LONG to look at China & Russia's natural resources, workers & allies as OURS (How many sero-naive Chinese workers did WTO/ G7 infect, kill, indenture & debilitate, to ensure delivery of yuppie's iPhone 14 Pro & Teslas by Baby Jesus Day?)
I don't think we can expect practitioners of Realpolitik, that is, 'Great Powers', to abandon practices that have been in place for centuries and which have long soaked into our cultures. We allow to states and their leaders practices which we would never tolerate in our fellow citizens, at least not if we could help it, and we should not be surprised when some of those leaders and their organizations exploit the opportunity.
If you'd like things to be different, you have to start thinking radically enough to contemplate fundamentally different arrangements and imagine how they might be put into practice. And do something about it, mabye.
I think the US enjoys the fact that it doesn’t *need* the legitimacy
For all its talk of human rights and democracy It’s very invested in the idea that the top dog calls the shots
Which is why it is prepared to go to such ostensibly insane lengths to remain top dog
It becomes a problem when idealists are also clever and promoted and have access to inside information. Edward Snowden is a blemish on the whole fraudulent system, precisely because the illusion of legitimacy is shattered. Julian Assange is being slowly murdered because he exposed illegitimacy. Everyday the fakery is more visible.
Even the Third Reich came up with elaborate justifications for its wars and invasions.
The German radio station full of Polish prisoner bodies, sounded vaguely more British? But, rescuing Prussian, Sudeten, Nordic, virtuous Elsaß-Lothringen jungfrauen from untermenschen is more & more reminiscent of the Kaiser's monsters, in WW1 Belgium? Here's how Atlantic Council projects the projection, projection... by proxy:
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/nato-nazis-satanists-putin-is-running-out-of-excuses-for-his-imperial-war/
BTW: https://twitter.com/TheGreeneBJ/status/1682919442668216320
They had to. The German population was smart.
Absolutely, just finished reading Greg Grandin's book "Kissinger's Shadow" (GREAT read!), in the 'good old days' they were hiding the relentless bombing of Cambodia and Laos etc. (for obvious reasons), nowadays they just BRAG ABOUT IT - DISGUSTING!
I like the idea of a feral union.
Most of them seem quite civilized to me: take orders from the Big Dog, bark in unison on command, wear leash around neck, etc. etc.
Please do not insult ferals.
The best double standards money can buy.
Excellent...! It’s simply a fair and balanced article.
Despite all kind of lies and manipulations permanently disseminated through main corporate media fully controlled by the US fascist establishment for so long, undeniable truths like the ones you describe so precisely shall find it’s way into the hearts and souls of the heavily deceived US people and many other peoples in the West.
There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, thanks to people like you, Assange and many others.
Please, take good care of yourself Caitlin.🤗😍
Too true. Back when she was Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton remarked that the U$ doesn't recognize "spheres of influence," which was code for the entire planet is our Sphere of Influence. US troops still occupying a third of Syria: What's up with that? As far as I know, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has yet to extend a formal invitation to his American military friends and their contract workers...
I'm worried that if Russia really wanted to say 'enough is enough' with the US pouring weapons into Ukraine, the Ruskies could launch a few missile strikes on our US bases in Syria. Or give the Syrian military a few missiles and have them make the strike for an added layer of hands off. Most Americans don't even know our troops are there. It would be shocking as heck and a wake up call. Would the US public demand retaliation or would we start to demand withdrawal from Syria? Would our US leaders really have the balls to start another major escalation in Syria in response?
I've often wondered how the Beltway nabobs would react if there were Russian/Chinese troops, missile platforms and biolabs on Mexicos border.
Senator Lindsey Graham and others recently urged a strike on Mexico. They said it was about drugs, but I was inclined to think it was more about general uppityness. (A strike is going to stop drugs?)
Movies like 'Clear and Present Danger' and the Siccario film series (and heck, even 'Predator', and the recent 'Jack Ryan' Amazon series) are great propaganda to set up the idea for well intentioned interventionism. You know, hey, we're just down here fighting bad guys and drug lords. We have to resort to gritty bloody clandestine methods, but dammit, we're doing it for the right reasons. Pure disgusting propaganda cover.
God bless the " insurance salesman" Tom Clancy for showing us the Way.
Mexico has banned glyphosate and solar geoengineering.
Uh oh. A clear and present danger.
Let's not forget Mexico banning GMO corn! More than reason enough to start a war.
American policy is a reflection of its "exceptional" take: I do what I want, you do what I say. But that's wearing a little thin, in fact, no one accepts their exceptionalism. The empire might indeed have to take a punch to its fucking face- to borrow from Caitlin's colourful phrasing- before the fact that no one any longer gives a fuck about its pretensions to and illusions of grandeur - is driven home to the dim US political consciousness.
I think the mere fact that Iran, not yet a nuclear state, can stand down the stealthy efforts of 2 nuclear states, Israel and the U.S. is a pretty stiff punch. And the daily specter of Ukrainians being erased because this is how America stands with its allies cannot escape even dim American political awareness.
What the US/Britain have done to Ukraine is criminal, and I believe an example of a kind of racism, or ethnic exploitation- the old anti-slavic prejudice at play. Russians cared more about Ukrainians, for obvious reasons. For anti-slavs, it was a perfect move: play one slavic population against another.
A sad irony is a small portion of Ukrainians are self-loathing, “white” supremacists, without whom this war most likely would not be possible.
And this small element likely would not be influential except for the support of a small but influential and well- funded Western element: the idea is to wreck Russia, after all.
The US and its Australian vassal had a connection fit over the Solomon Islands having an independent defense policy, for that matter.
you mean conniption fit?
catnip fit. It happens.
I mean I know Australians are always looking for new connections - but it's usually at the pubs.
Yes. If AI is so damn smart, why can't they make an autocorrect that works, or at least one that doesn't "correct" correct text?
Caitlin you are the best!
Brilliant! As you are pretty much all of the time.
"Hypocrisy" is just another synonym for "the Military-Industrial Complex." It runs everything in the US. It doesn't understand why the world doesn't revolve around it. It wants to blow us all up in a nuclear holocaust some day... If we don't tell it where to get off. Today.
Love your acerbic wit Caitlin! I've been reading your columns for years and no one does it better than you. I wish the Senate and Congress had the aptitude to read your writings. Unfortunately they're too busy moving their investments between the MIC, Big Pharma and Big Oil, and your words only throw a huge wrench into their bought and paid for machinery.
Exactly! Warmongering Mass Murdering Sociopaths who are criminals that kill endlessly. There is no excuse that can be made for killing thousands or millions of people. The people who cause such mass murder have committed the worse crime possible. They should be locked away from society and never heard from again.
Thank you Caitlin🙏
Great article as usual. The thing is, we know they are liars. They know we know. What does one do when the narrative is controlled? The circles keep getting smaller for open discourse.
Iran could launch a few missiles, too, as they did at US bases in Iraq after the Soleimani assassination. It's a bizarre situation, and the fact that no one admits this publicly, or officially, in the US is cause for concern. America is literally stealing Syria's oil while trying to sanction that country off the map. Also disturbing that the UN does not recognize the illegal US troop presence there, in obvious violation of international law (as are continued Israeli air strikes and whatever Turkey is doing in Syria). My sense is that the China-brokered rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, to the extent that it's real, will be the key to resolving the Syrian situation. China's like a cat on the ledge, occasionally purring this or that, while the UN is useless, or just a desk controlled by the Empire, so it does nothing. This week, considering your comment, and thank you for that, I will attempt to get in touch with the outside-the-guard-rails runs of RFK Jr and Cornel West for US president to determine what their positions are on Syria. Kind of funny, but Bashar al-Assad could have been our eye doctor if his weird Daddy hadn't died, and the folks around him hadn't given him the keys to the Country...