Jeffrey Sachs... 

 ... for all my respect for his position, is wrong here. 

 

Andrei Martyanov's Blog

1. We ARE NOT on the path to WW III, we are already in WW III and the West already lost it. NATO has neither troops nor resources to introduce anything in 404. Russia's tactical nuclear drills was a message to European chihuahuas, primarily UK, after showing UK ambassador in Moscow the list of British targets Russia will strike OUTSIDE 404 if London continues with terrorism. Russia is not afraid of Article 5. 

 

2. US is NOT a republic anymore--it is a corrupt uniparty oligarchy sliding towards totalitarianism. Its foreign policy and media are controlled by the state of Israel and Zionist lobby inside the US, which is based on a broad foundation of Christian Zionist population in the US. 

3. US higher education as related to humanities is over. It has been over for some time. Eventually, all remnants of a free thought and facts-based academic study will be purged. 

As I write for many years--the ONLY real test of nation, of the state is REAL war. It took SMO to completely tear down the fake edifice of the American "democracy" to expose a rotten scaffolding collapsing as I type this. Or, maybe, a proverbial brick wall by late Frank Zappa. 

https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2024/05/jeffrey-sachs.html

 

 

MAKE A DEAL PRONTO BEFORE THE SHIT HITS THE FAN:

 

 

NO NATO IN "UKRAINE" (WHAT'S LEFT OF IT)

THE DONBASS REPUBLICS ARE NOW BACK IN THE RUSSIAN FOLD — AS THEY USED TO BE PRIOR 1922. THE RUSSIANS WON'T ABANDON THESE AGAIN.

THESE WILL ALSO INCLUDE ODESSA, KHERSON AND KHARKIV.....

CRIMEA IS RUSSIAN — AS IT USED TO BE PRIOR 1954

TRANSNISTRIA WILL BE PART OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

A MEMORANDUM OF NON-AGGRESSION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE USA.

 

EASY.

 

THE WEST KNOWS IT.

 

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BY Henry Kamens

 

Deadly Crashes and Assassination Attempts on PMs and others: Blame it on the Weather, Lone Wolves, BUT Not US Foreign Policy, CIA & “Don’t Believe in Coincidences!’’

 

What is happening is the world reminds me of JW Bush Jr., and his famous quote, “You are with us or against us on foreign policy, no riding-the-fence.’’ One of the first things you learn as a journalist is not to believe in coincidences. There have been just too many lately: the death of the Iranian president and the threat on the life of a Georgian PM, and all the other recent “near misses,” such as Robert Fico, where there have been attempts on the lives of other leaders who are unwilling to toe-the-line on Ukraine and US foreign policy.

Very Scary

It is good to read that Slovakian PM Robert Fico is stable and communicating, as say his doctors, but this health update comes as the country reels from the assassination attempt and now needs to contend with the political fallout, as much more may be involved.

When you think about it, especially against the backdrop of all the rhetoric and desperation of US and EU Foreign Policy when it comes to saving the day in Ukraine, combined with blatant criminal activities, it is really VERY scary.

Often the background of such attempts, or accidental deaths, such as the former Georgian Prime Minister, Zurab Zhvania more than 10 years ago, are too hard to believe, such as a gas leak poisoning in a flat that had the gas turned off.

As Jeffrey Silverman, former Editor and Chief of the Georgian Times, wrote many years ago: 

But I am not one to believe in such a fate, especially in the light of all the media spin surrounding the case, and how many Georgian politicians and potential [political] leaders, such as Merab Kostava, Giorgi Chanturia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Badri Patarkatsishvili etc., have all died before their time. Many examples can be found in other countries of Prime Ministers dying prematurely in office. Most of these deaths can hardly be considered accidents. In the case of Zurab Zhvania, I suggest that there is more to the matter than the official record shows – or will ever show!

Latest attempt

And now, the suspected gunman in the attempt on Robert Fico life, identified by the country’s media as 71-year-old Juraj Cintula, an amateur poet and former security guard, has been charged with attempted premeditated murder.

Of course, the official version, at least so far, is that he was working as a lone wolf. Too much history here, the deaths of a journalist and his fiancée, and just too hard to believe, considering the timing, that such things are just by happenstance.

Nonetheless, The Bush Doctrine affirms the legitimacy of a preventive strike and emphasizes the notion that “if you are not with us, then you are against us.”

I remember as a school boy, hearing the term ‘protective reaction bombings raids’ on North Vietnam, at the time I did not know what was an oxymoron; I guess I thought it was a stupid person or something, if I would have even heard the term.

The term “protective reaction to bombing raids” is presented as an oxymoron because “protective” implies defense and safety, whereas “bombing raids” imply aggressive and destructive actions, thus the contradiction

It is now clear that the language used in justifying war and geopolitical manipulations is misleading and contradictory, framing aggressive military actions as defensive measures. This reflection serves as a critique of how such terms can be used to justify and sanitize the brutality of war and political contradictions.

I need not go into a full critique of recent geopolitical events or reflect on well-established historical patterns in foreign policy, particularly comparing current events with the “with us or against us” mentality often attributed to George W. Bush’s foreign policy approach.

However, I am making a suggestion by referencing this famous quote, which captures a binary worldview where countries are either allies or enemies. This sets the tone for understanding contemporary events whereby similar actions are in play and the assassination attempts and crashing of helicopters suggest intentional actions rather than bad timing, or simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

You be the Judge

Such occurrences make me think of how the Polish government was quick to blame a crash of an airplane in fog on a Russian inspired conspiracy.  Of course, the various conspiracy theories at the time, 2010, were that the plane had been deliberatelybrought down by the Russians in an act of political assassination, and even claimed that some of the political opposition in Poland were complicit in or aware of the plot, or at least aided in the efforts to cover it up.

The implication is that these leaders were targeted because of their stances, particularly regarding Ukraine, US foreign policy, and their unwillingness to conform to certain expectations. There should be more concern about the political ramifications of such accidents, or as may be, assassination attempts, particularly in destabilizing regions and influencing the geopolitical landscape.

Unfortunately, the US wants to credit the success of its sanctions on Iran rather than inclement weather for the death of the Iranian president and the PM. As the headlines read – Helicopter crash kills Raisi: Are sanctions behind Iran’s aviation crisis?

Sanctions have prevented Iran from procuring new aircraft or equipment, which have been linked to aviation accidents. They have also been responsible for the deaths of at so many children in Iraq. However, nobody is talking about that nowadays – not since the time of Madeline Albright, former US Secretary of State.  She once publicly admitted that she thought the deaths of half a million Iraqi children were ‘worth it’!

Apparently, there have also been attempts on the Crown Prince of Saudi, and political arm twisting on many fronts, inter alia! In retrospect, there are parallels to historical events, such as the death of Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, which was officially attributed to a gas leak under suspicious circumstances—and the subsequent deaths of several of those involved in his autopsy.

As then, compared to now, could there be more to these recent events than meets the eye?

The suspected gunman in Fico’s case is described as a lone wolf, but the circumstances, his social media accounts being shut down hours before the near miss on the life of the PM, cast doubt on this explanation, suggesting it might be an oversimplification or a cover for more complex machinations and much more is involved.

And we should suspect the usual suspects

Anyone who has been a student of US foreign policy should know about false flags, taking out of those leaders that interfere in the grand scheme of things.This line of thought, and suspicion, highlights the desperation and potentially criminal activities linked to US foreign policy, especially in trying to maintain global influence and manipulate lessor countries, i.e., ‘’untermenschen’!

Certain leaders and countries should be aware that they are facing dangerous consequences when they diverge from powerful international expectations, and instructions, particularly from the United States. This ties current events to historical patterns of political violence and questions official narratives, hinting at deeper, more nefarious motives behind these incidents.

Not to point any fingers, but there should be some healthy skepticism towards the official versions of events and thought given to the possibility that these incidents are part of a broader strategy to enforce compliance in international relations.

Who will be next? 

It should be noted that the Georgian Prime Minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, has publicly announced that he was threatened by a member of the European Commission:

However, even in the face of prolonged blackmail, the threat voiced during a telephone conversation with one of the European commissioners was shocking. During our conversation, the […] The commissioner listed a number of measures that Western politicians might take if the veto on the transparency law is overcome. While listing these measures, he mentioned, ‘You’ve seen what happened to Fico and you should be very careful’”, he said.

It is not at all surprising that a senior EU representative made such a threat. The fact that the government of such a small country is standing firm in the face of threats of sanctions, and, now it seems, political violence, will be enraging those used to acting as the “masters of the universe”.

It seems the mask is well and truly off the “Rules-Based Order”, as Georgia is determined to avoid being dragged into the war and suffer “Ukrainization” as it has been called by the Georgian government, a position that infuriates the US and EU, not to mention their puppet government in Ukraine, who desperately want to use Georgia to open a second front against Russia.

All the Russians have to do to win the battle for influence is keep quiet and let the western morons keep talking and doing what they do best.

 

Henry Kamens, columnist, expert on Central Asia and Caucasus, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.

 

https://journal-neo.su/2024/05/28/deadly-crashes-and-assassination-attempts-on-pms-and-others-blame-it-on-the-weather-lone-wolves-but-not-us-foreign-policy-cia-dont-believe-in-coincidences/

 

 

 

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BY Kelley Beaucar Vlahos

‘We Did It Too’: The Ugliest Excuse for Israel

U.S. military veterans balk at claims that Israel is superior when it comes to “precision strikes” and protecting civilians.

 

It has become a familiar refrain from U.S. officials and Israel-defenders, and it goes something like this: The Israeli military has gone out of its way to protect civilians, in fact it has done so more than any military in the world—and, by the way, when it comes to civilian slaughter amid drone and missile attacks in urban centers, the U.S. military has done it too. 

It’s an odd way to excuse and deflect responsibility from the gruesome images and stories from the ground in Gaza today, which include ostensible “precision” Israel Defense Forces (IDF) strikes on refugee encampments that sparked infernos killing more innocents than any reported Hamas terrorists in the operation. As reported in the Washington Post, “Parents were burned alive in their tents while children screamed for help. Doctors recounted struggling to treat gruesome shrapnel wounds with dwindling medical supplies.”

The U.S. military “did the same thing,” said National Security Spokesman John Kirby, himself a retired rear admiral, in a briefing on Tuesday. “We have conducted airstrikes in places like Iraq and Afghanistan where, tragically, we caused civilian casualties,” he added.

Let us put aside for a moment that the U.S. military was responsible, over a 20-year period, for a very wide range of civilian deaths during the Global War on Terror—in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, and Libya. Let us also put aside that American bombs, drones and yes, soldiers, were responsible for carnage that, contrary to Kirby’s out of place admission Tuesday, was never fully “atoned for,” much less officially acknowledged in any way that would give survivors relief or closure from the horrific events. 

But why the recognition now, and is it truly “the same thing” as what we are seeing today in Gaza? And why would American officials feel the need to throw their own military under the bus to defend the actions of another nation’s military?

“This infuriates me,” steamed Ret. Lt. Col. Daniel Davis, who served in the Persian Gulf War and in the more recent Afghanistan conflict. “Kirby et al. are seeking to trash our own military as a justification for allowing Israel to kill innocent civilians without complaint. That’s what this is all about: we want to silence any criticism of the IDF’s performance in the Strip by saying, ‘Hey, we were bad too, so quit talking about Israel.’ That is reprehensible—and inaccurate.”

The claim that the IDF has been careful about civilian casualties—more so than even the U.S. military—has been repeated many times since the October 7 Hamas attacks by U.S. officials, hawkish Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), and presidential contenders like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, went all the way back to the Second World War and the killing of French civilians at Normandy to play down the carnage we are seeing today on the ground in Rafah and Gaza writ large today.

We slaughtered people in massive numbers, innocent people who had nothing to do with their government, men, women and children. War is a terrible thing. But if it’s going to have meaning, if it’s going to have any sense of morality, there has to be a political purpose, and it must be achieved rapidly with the least cost, and you do [that] by speed.

This is an interesting rumination considering the 80th anniversary of D-Day coming up on June 6, but it is clear from performances like this Israel apologia from West Point Professor John Spencer that the point is not to examine the moral clarity of the Allies, but to get the IDF off the hook. In Spencer’s case, he claims the Israelis are doing things no other modern military would do to protect civilians. Like the others, he pointedly makes reference to Fallujah, Mosul and Raqqa in Syria, where U.S. airstrikes were responsible for civilian carnage, albeit in fewer numbers than what we have witnessed in Gaza in the last six months. He claims:

The reality is that when it comes to avoiding civilian harm, there is no modern comparison to Israel’s war against Hamas. Israel is not fighting a battle like Fallujah, Mosul, or Raqqa; it is fighting a war involving synchronous major urban battles. No military in modern history has faced over 30,000 urban defenders in more than seven cities using human shields and hiding in hundreds of miles of underground networks purposely built under civilian sites, while holding hundreds of hostages.

Despite the unique challenges Israel faces in its war against Hamas, it has implemented more measures to prevent civilian casualties than any other military in history.

“They are trying to equate the American experience in Iraq with the Israeli military in Gaza, when they are completely different scenarios. It is a false historical parallel that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny,” retorted Ret. Col. Gregory Daddis, a professor of history and veteran of the Persian Gulf and Iraq Wars, in a comment to The American Conservative. ”But that is the beauty of history. I can shift it to say whatever I want it to say.”

To claim that the U.S. has not bombed civilian targets in conflict zones, including hospitals, schools, and news operations, would be wrong. (Here is just a sampling.) But there is no record of the kind of deliberate, systematic bombing and laying siege to hospitals, assassinating individual journalists, striking aid workers and ambulance crews, bombing refugee camps, and cutting off medical attention and food to an entire populationin such a short amount of time as has been witnessed in Gaza. Again, this is not to claim that it never happened—independent journalists will say it was much worse than reported in Fallujah, for example, due to restrictions on media access—but the truncated time frame and the number of dead in Gaza tell a different story, and that needs to be addressed now for what it is. 

“We did a lot wrong in Afghanistan and Iraq, but categorically violating the laws of war was not one of them,” charged Davis.

“I can absolutely tell you, from many first hand observances, that we would do all we could to protect civilians mixed within enemy fighters/terrorists so that we would kill the bad guys and not the innocents—nor destroy their ability to live afterwards (and we would routinely rebuild areas damaged, pay for damage to owners, and provide relief supplies for as long as needed),” he added.

Brandan Buck, who served multiple tours in Afghanistan as an infantryman and intelligence specialist, roundly disagrees that Israel has some special preeminence in protecting civilians, as evidenced by the sheer numbers of women and children killed since the October 7 attacks. While numbers are in dispute, the most conservative estimate is that somewhere in the range of 60 percent of the nearly 36,000 Gazans dead are innocents. 

“Warnings to evacuate and the like are pretty meaningless if the targeted area is inherently civilian, such as a refugee camp. In this case (Rafah), civilians were killed within the very area that they were supposed to flee to,” Buck told TAC. “The counterargument would be that Hamas militants were using the civilians as shields. Regardless of the veracity of that claim, it is the responsibility of the attacking force, in this case, the IDF, to use tactical patience to strike or capture those targets in more favorable conditions that would not assuredly kill civilians. Their inability to do so suggests gross incompetence, malice, or shocking indifference.”

What about his experience?

“I spent over five years in the intelligence community doing counterterrorism analysis related to the war in Afghanistan, nearly a year of which, while deployed overseas, I directly supported special operations forces in their operations directed against high-value targets. During that time, I assisted in prosecuting dozens of airstrikes from UAVs and conventional aircraft, and I cannot recall a strike even remotely similar to the one conducted by the IDF on the Rafah refugee camp.”

He went on: “When I was deployed overseas from 2011 until 2013, the teams that I supported had a zero-tolerance policy towards conducting strikes that could have conceivably resulted in the killing of women and children. I witnessed several operations that leadership called off to prevent such an outcome, and we developed alternative solutions to striking or capturing those individuals at later times and under more ideal conditions.”

The Israelis say they have been using “precision-guided” strikes to get at Hamas. They claim—and are supported by reports of the U.S.–made Boeing label on them—that the munitions used to attack in the Rafah tent encampment were the smallest bombs possible, GBU-39s, used to attack “high precision targets” and that the fire was started by some sort of secondary explosion on the ground. (There have been at least two attacks on nearby tent encampments since.) The U.S. has so far deferred to Israel’s own investigation before determining whether this crossed any red line into civilian harm or war crime.

Ret. Col. Douglas Macgregor, a TAC contributing editor who also served in the Persian Gulf War, balks at the idea that there is any “precision” in what the IDF is doing, in Rafah or anywhere else in Gaza, today.

“What is happening in Gaza has nothing to do with precision. In addition, history teaches that bombing urban areas makes the resulting ruins easier for the opposing force to defend. If the IDF wanted to focus on killing Hamas it would have flooded the tunnels with seawater and moved very deliberately through the city, block by block,” he told TAC. 

“Instead, the Israeli [air force] engaged in a campaign designed to kill or drive out the population while simultaneously leveling the urban areas. The goal is to make it impossible for the population to ever return to the homes they had.” 

Daddis also questions the idea that the Israelis are engaging in any higher level “precision” to protect civilians. “Then how do you account for the casualty disparity? If this is such a precise manner of warfare, how do you explain the high number of civilian casualties?”

“I think those who are actually guiding Israel’s military policy right now are not thinking about precision right now, they are thinking about revenge and extirpation,” he added.

Certainly revenge was on the minds of many Americans after September 11, 2001. They did not, however, level Kabul or starve out its citizens. Yes, over the next 20 years, the U.S. in myriad ways showed its darkest self. That should not be forgotten, but it must not be used to explain away Israel’s actions today, and U.S. veterans can’t be made the scapegoats.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/we-did-it-too-the-ugliest-excuse-for-israel/

 

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