"We were headed toward some kind of horrific confrontation between Russia and the empire no matter what; Ukraine just happened to be the one that landed first. Moscow was always going to draw a line somewhere."
This is what people need to get into their heads. The beginnings of the impending confrontation can be traced to the period when the USA decided to become an empire - around the turn of the 20th century.
Perhaps around WW1, but I think during WW2 the US brought itself into a commanding position with the allied forces. Granted the time between was vital toward growth of imperialism. Production in the country was focused on the war machine, and our budget still reflects war as profitable business. We truly need to rediscover peace making in the US, and scaling back the empire. Coexisting is better than commanding.
What we have now is mainstream media abandoning journalism entirely
The MSM is not even trying to inform
They are now in full partnership with the state
Their entire objective is to manipulate and MISINFORM people so that they create a brainwashed compliant public who are intentionally kept ignorant of as much as possible so that government has a free hand to do ANYTHING they it wants to do
We have Substack journalists... At least we still have them as of today. Let's not let the corrupt system take away our alternative news and views source here!
The corporate government coalition is doing everything it can to silence and destroy any and all independent media that does not parrot the “official” narratives
GO FUND ME seized donations to the grey zone with intent to steal the money and redistribute/redirect the money to “other charitable organizations”
The more effective and meaningful any alternative media outlet challenging the official narratives the more that outlet and the people involved in it are going to be attacked commercially, financially, and eventually physically
This new developing “inverted totalitarianism” has zero tolerance for dissent of any kind by any one
"What is the effective difference between this system and one in which the state owns the media and tells it what to report? In essence, there is no difference."
When people in the West some day stop and wonder how they ever became so propagandized, I hope they realize that the corruption in the system was ALWAYS a "feature" and never just a "bug". It was intentional on your government's part to keep you in the dark, blur the lines, and fudge the facts. That's how much respect they have for us--we're only worth lying to, not telling the truth to.
It's time to share our "truth" with the government and then kick the bastards out so fast their heads never stop spinning. Power to the people!
Many people love propaganda. They prove this by paying for it explicitly, by parroting it in their daily lives, and by rejecting others unwilling to go along.
The New York Times was losing money until it adopted the propaganda model. Profits soared.
Propaganda is also a lot cheaper to produce than news, though. Even Thomas Friedman's taxi drivers cost money to talk to. Daily emails from Langley are free.
The next Stephen Cohen, if there is one, cannot come upon the scene too quickly. However, I fear he would be cancelled so fast no one would ever know he was there.
Anyway, Ukraine is now seeking deportation of refugees in order to fill the ranks of the army. The Ukrainian parliament is considering conscription 17 year old, because one Hitlerjugend just wasn't enough.
Hell, the regime in Kiev could press-gang toddlers to clear landmines, and nobody in The Civilized And Enlightened West would raise so much as a peep.
Yes indeed, total deranged INSANITY (I am not an anti-vaxxer but contemplate to think WHAT was in the vaccines or if, as some now say, the virus was engineered, what did they do to the virus, we act as brainless ATTACK DOGS - what is the matter with humans??)
“It’s silly to let yourself be pulled from the left to the right. Mainstream liberals are pathetic and the authentic socialist left can be aggravating as fuck, but the values which drew you to the left in the first place are still grounded in deep truth and just as valid as ever.
Other people on the left and pseudo-left being obnoxious doesn’t magically invalidate the world’s need for peace, justice and equality. Your disagreements and grievances with a given political faction don’t magically cancel out the urgent need to end capitalism and imperialism. Don’t let the failings of other people and the general confused state of our species cause you to lose sight of your healthy vision for this world that got you interested in politics in the first place.”
Thank you for writing this. I have to remind myself sometimes as I begin to sway towards the right that I may be forgetting the traditional values I grew up with. (i.e. that I’m anti-imperialist, etc.) As is often stated these days, “I didn’t leave the Left, the Left left me.”
That said, I’ve been learning a lot from the MAGA Substack writers, and I’m finding that I agree with them more often than not. In some ways I’d even say the alt-right is the new Left. (i.e. we need to take care of America first rather than sticking our neck in other countries business)
It seems pretty clear that the most organized and united faction in opposition to the surveillance state and the security state is the right, at this time. The problem with DJT is he is strongly opposed to any regulatory policies regarding corporate reign at the expense of the collective interest.
The DP is the biggest threat to American welfare and global security, at this time, but most Republicans want to strong-arm China.
I think the calculus of the billionaires who own both parties is “war or not?” is a question for the ideologues and the investors in the MIC, but the privilege of corporations is not up for discussion.
Money begets greed which facilitates war. Dr Cornel West is a beacon of integrity, representing the hopes and dreams of millions. Can there be any question for voters?
BOOM! TRUTH! Great article Caitlin. I miss Stephen Cohen terribly. He must be spinning in his grave. Jeffrey Sachs. John Mearsheimer, The Duran The New Atlas and The Grayzone, among others all do a great job, but Cohen explained things so clearly! Thanks!
Always a good time to remind people (fellow alleged liberals) that Trump might have been more hawkish to Russia than any president in recent history. That dude isn't going to stop this war in 24 hours. This war will end when Putin wants it to.
But they are not merely “controversial” - actually any weapons that intrinsically cause indiscriminate harm during and after conflicts are FORBIDDEN by all accepted conventions covering human rights and international relations.
The idea of adversial journalism in mainstream news pretty much died on the vine with the 9/11 event, although this was also a thing around the build-up and execution of Iraq-Attack-One in 1990/91--Wolf Bullshitzer as CNN's Pentagon spokesman, for example. The "Yellow Press" that arose to promote the American War on the Spanish Empire at the turn of the last Century was driven by Newspaper Tycoons, foreshadowing the deplorable state of Corporate News today. Thank goodness for independent media that has not been "turned" into sheepdogs--like TYT--for the mainstream Narrative.
"We were headed toward some kind of horrific confrontation between Russia and the empire no matter what; Ukraine just happened to be the one that landed first. Moscow was always going to draw a line somewhere."
This is what people need to get into their heads. The beginnings of the impending confrontation can be traced to the period when the USA decided to become an empire - around the turn of the 20th century.
Perhaps around WW1, but I think during WW2 the US brought itself into a commanding position with the allied forces. Granted the time between was vital toward growth of imperialism. Production in the country was focused on the war machine, and our budget still reflects war as profitable business. We truly need to rediscover peace making in the US, and scaling back the empire. Coexisting is better than commanding.
Bretton Woods 1944
The National Security Act 1947
Two seminal points in the devolution from Constitutional Republic to Imperialism
JFK assassination 1963
RFK Assassination 1968
9/11 false flag destruction of the world trade towers
Additional acts to cement power in the National Security State
Access journalism is what we used to have
What we have now is mainstream media abandoning journalism entirely
The MSM is not even trying to inform
They are now in full partnership with the state
Their entire objective is to manipulate and MISINFORM people so that they create a brainwashed compliant public who are intentionally kept ignorant of as much as possible so that government has a free hand to do ANYTHING they it wants to do
I WISH we had access journalism
Heck, I wish we had “journalism” period
We have Substack journalists... At least we still have them as of today. Let's not let the corrupt system take away our alternative news and views source here!
The corporate government coalition is doing everything it can to silence and destroy any and all independent media that does not parrot the “official” narratives
GO FUND ME seized donations to the grey zone with intent to steal the money and redistribute/redirect the money to “other charitable organizations”
The more effective and meaningful any alternative media outlet challenging the official narratives the more that outlet and the people involved in it are going to be attacked commercially, financially, and eventually physically
This new developing “inverted totalitarianism” has zero tolerance for dissent of any kind by any one
We are in extremely dangerous dark times
" Your disagreements and grievances with a given political faction don’t magically cancel out the urgent need to end capitalism and imperialism".
Wise words Caitlin! Imperialism and Capitalism, have brought us to where we are today. Everything that happens is enveloped within that miasma.
"What is the effective difference between this system and one in which the state owns the media and tells it what to report? In essence, there is no difference."
When people in the West some day stop and wonder how they ever became so propagandized, I hope they realize that the corruption in the system was ALWAYS a "feature" and never just a "bug". It was intentional on your government's part to keep you in the dark, blur the lines, and fudge the facts. That's how much respect they have for us--we're only worth lying to, not telling the truth to.
It's time to share our "truth" with the government and then kick the bastards out so fast their heads never stop spinning. Power to the people!
Many people love propaganda. They prove this by paying for it explicitly, by parroting it in their daily lives, and by rejecting others unwilling to go along.
The New York Times was losing money until it adopted the propaganda model. Profits soared.
Propaganda is also a lot cheaper to produce than news, though. Even Thomas Friedman's taxi drivers cost money to talk to. Daily emails from Langley are free.
The next Stephen Cohen, if there is one, cannot come upon the scene too quickly. However, I fear he would be cancelled so fast no one would ever know he was there.
Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia U.
Yes, the late great Stephen Cohen gets a big thumbs up from me.
Who?
Operation Mockingbird. The Bulwark is the worst neocon rag on substack: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-lick-boots-at-the-bulwark
Anyway, Ukraine is now seeking deportation of refugees in order to fill the ranks of the army. The Ukrainian parliament is considering conscription 17 year old, because one Hitlerjugend just wasn't enough.
Hell, the regime in Kiev could press-gang toddlers to clear landmines, and nobody in The Civilized And Enlightened West would raise so much as a peep.
Yes indeed, total deranged INSANITY (I am not an anti-vaxxer but contemplate to think WHAT was in the vaccines or if, as some now say, the virus was engineered, what did they do to the virus, we act as brainless ATTACK DOGS - what is the matter with humans??)
“It’s silly to let yourself be pulled from the left to the right. Mainstream liberals are pathetic and the authentic socialist left can be aggravating as fuck, but the values which drew you to the left in the first place are still grounded in deep truth and just as valid as ever.
Other people on the left and pseudo-left being obnoxious doesn’t magically invalidate the world’s need for peace, justice and equality. Your disagreements and grievances with a given political faction don’t magically cancel out the urgent need to end capitalism and imperialism. Don’t let the failings of other people and the general confused state of our species cause you to lose sight of your healthy vision for this world that got you interested in politics in the first place.”
Thank you for writing this. I have to remind myself sometimes as I begin to sway towards the right that I may be forgetting the traditional values I grew up with. (i.e. that I’m anti-imperialist, etc.) As is often stated these days, “I didn’t leave the Left, the Left left me.”
That said, I’ve been learning a lot from the MAGA Substack writers, and I’m finding that I agree with them more often than not. In some ways I’d even say the alt-right is the new Left. (i.e. we need to take care of America first rather than sticking our neck in other countries business)
It seems pretty clear that the most organized and united faction in opposition to the surveillance state and the security state is the right, at this time. The problem with DJT is he is strongly opposed to any regulatory policies regarding corporate reign at the expense of the collective interest.
The DP is the biggest threat to American welfare and global security, at this time, but most Republicans want to strong-arm China.
I think the calculus of the billionaires who own both parties is “war or not?” is a question for the ideologues and the investors in the MIC, but the privilege of corporations is not up for discussion.
Money begets greed which facilitates war. Dr Cornel West is a beacon of integrity, representing the hopes and dreams of millions. Can there be any question for voters?
There are a lot of problems with DJT besides those.
That said, Biden and most of Team R are all demonstrably insane.
They are not on the left in the first place is the problem..,,
BOOM! TRUTH! Great article Caitlin. I miss Stephen Cohen terribly. He must be spinning in his grave. Jeffrey Sachs. John Mearsheimer, The Duran The New Atlas and The Grayzone, among others all do a great job, but Cohen explained things so clearly! Thanks!
News is what somebody somewhere wants to suppress; all the rest is advertising.
Lord Northcliffe
Thank you Caitlin🙏
Always a good time to remind people (fellow alleged liberals) that Trump might have been more hawkish to Russia than any president in recent history. That dude isn't going to stop this war in 24 hours. This war will end when Putin wants it to.
The propaganda train rolls on: today the Guardian describes the weapons the U.S. is sending to Ukraine as “controversial”:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/07/depleted-uranium-munitions-what-are-they-and-what-risks-do-they-pose
But they are not merely “controversial” - actually any weapons that intrinsically cause indiscriminate harm during and after conflicts are FORBIDDEN by all accepted conventions covering human rights and international relations.
That is the way it works.
The idea of adversial journalism in mainstream news pretty much died on the vine with the 9/11 event, although this was also a thing around the build-up and execution of Iraq-Attack-One in 1990/91--Wolf Bullshitzer as CNN's Pentagon spokesman, for example. The "Yellow Press" that arose to promote the American War on the Spanish Empire at the turn of the last Century was driven by Newspaper Tycoons, foreshadowing the deplorable state of Corporate News today. Thank goodness for independent media that has not been "turned" into sheepdogs--like TYT--for the mainstream Narrative.
Woe is us, the ignorant, the complacent ruled by old men without conscience!