After two years, the election of Donald Trump has become a brilliant illustration of the limits of ‘ballot-box’ democracy: more often than by outside entities, it can be manipulated by unethical national actors, whether presidents, other elected officials, or private interests whose money has been determined by the Supreme Court to be ‘free speech’ [...]
Or at the very least, an incipient monarchy: the only problem is that the monarch — while having plenty of clothes — has no head.
The most famous twentieth century American journalist, Bob Woodward, who together with his buddy Carl Bernstein broke the Watergate story that forced President Richard Nixon to resign, has written a book that reveals White House palace intrigues worthy of any European king — although it is the French President, Emanuel Macron, who calls himself Jupiter.
Under the ominous title Fear, Woodward quotes high-ranking members of the White House staff as well as the heads of crucial departments affirming that, for the good of the country, they work to prevent Trump from signing dangerous documents. And like the proverbial cherry on the cake, in finely tuned coordination, on the day the book was released to the press, the New York Times broke with tradition to publish an anonymous op-ed by one of those senior White House officials whose first sentence is “I am part of the Resistance”, a phrase Americans know from watching World War II movies featuring European partisans fighting Germans in the woods.
Last year, a group of psychiatrists issued a book-length report on Donald Trump’s mental health, and recently a participant in the former Trump TV show THE APPRENTICE, who eventually made it into the White House, released a memoir of her time there. Biased against the flamboyant woman who wrote it, the press failed to take Manigault Newman’s book Unhinged seriously, however Bernstein’s book presents strikingly similar testimonies. Unless the political class is totally feckless — and that is not to be excluded — these revelations should bring down the presidency, because it details actions taken by senior cabinet members, such as Pentagon Secretary Jim Mattis removing from Trump’s desk a document that could have dire consequences if he signed it, knowing he will forget about it…. The news hunt is on to discover who actually wrote the oped, while vast part of the world continue in turmoil, totally ignored by the hourly newscasts. In fact, nothing better illustrates the state of the US media than the fact that twenty-four hour news (literally!) is devoted to detailed analyses and opinions about the ‘state of the Union’, down to a analyses of state candidates in nation-wide elections, rather than information about the rest of the world
The United States has the dubious honor of throwing up more scandals than any other ‘democracy’, their accelerating pace suggesting that the end of the current presidency is near. In an ominous sign, these events are taking place at the same time as the president’s latest pick for the Supreme Court is being evaluated by a Congress aware of his backing for a unitary — or ‘imperial’ presidency — but seemingly powerless to deny him their approval.
The decline of the American ‘system of checks and balances’ has been under way for decades, and is now terminal, demonstrating if need be that when all is said and done, a democracy is only as good as its ethics. The election of a brazen liar and proven cheat to the ‘highest office of the land’ is laid at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s door. However, pundits do not accuse Putin of actually tipping the election to a feckless ‘idiot’, knowing this would be impossible to prove, but of ‘dividing’ Americans. As if Americans are not already traditionally divided among Democrats and Republicans, elections serving to determine whose desires will prevail (while those of the minority are ‘protected’…). No one has asked in what way ‘Russian interference’ furtherdivided Americans.
In response to a growing wave of interest in Bernie Sanders’ socialist ideas, the Democratic Party dug its own grave by manipulating obscure rules in order to prevent him from becoming its candidate, thanks to the Clinton political ‘machine’ (the ominous synonym for a political party). These maneuvers, which would make front page headlines in any other democratic country, are business as usual in Washington, while the recently revealed $50,000 Russian ’contribution’ that bought four tickets to President Trump’s inauguration, is denounced as ‘interference’ — as if by the mere fact of being a spectator at the event a Russian could influence his presidency.
After two years, the election of Donald Trump has become a brilliant illustration of the limits of ‘ballot-box’ democracy: more often than by outside entities, it can be manipulated by unethical national actors, whether presidents, other elected officials, or private interests whose money has been determined by the Supreme Court to be ‘free speech’. The reluctance of both Democrats and Republicans in Congress to initiate impeachment proceedings — or even invoke Article 25 on presidential incapacity, is the final straw: give me a good King any day!
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Serbia organized an exhibition of cultural and historical heritage of Kosovo and Metohija in Paris, the headquarters of UNESCO, to serve as a reminder to the West of how they let it be destroyed since the 2000s.There is a lot of Serbian cultural heritage in Kosovo and Metohija. Now, Kosovo is an independent state, partially recognized by Western countries. But the world was shocked by anti-Serbian riots organized by Albanians during the Kosovo unrest in 2004. Many Serbian monuments were damaged in the chaos.Albanian extremists living in Kosovo, since the 2000s, have continued to raid and damage Serbian cultural heritage ...
US-installed Ukrainian fascists commemorated Poroshenko’s established victory in Europe Day of Remembrance by vowing to “destroy Moscow,” free its people, and let them “shape their own future.”Ukrainian ultranationalists attending a May 8 commemoration included 14th SS Waffen Grenadier division veterans, Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) members, and Nazi-infested volunteer battalions involved in what they call “the Russian-Ukrainian war.”Svoboda party overt Nazis participated. Their slogan is “Ukraine for the Ukrainians” – meaning ethnically pure, free of Jews, Russians and others not wanted, by extermination or other means.Party member Yuri Sirotyuk called war on Russia Ukraine’s historic mission. “I believe that if we ...
On March 23, 2018, the US media published an interview with the newly-appointed National Security Advisor John R. Bolton, where he stated that the only solution for North Korea is complete disarmament – following the example of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi. This scenario is exactly what Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un need to discuss during their negotiations.John R. Bolton is well-known as a hardliner regarding Pyongyang. During his work for the Department of State in the 2000s, he was one of the most furious opponents of any dialogue with North Korea, and more recently he advocated a preventive strike against ...
Many innocent civilians were killed in American military interventions around the world – from Vietnam and Serbia to Iran and Afghanistan, because of the alleged “errors” or “collateral damage” – without consequences for civil and military leadership. In addition to political, military and every other power, Americans secured itself with legal mechanisms.Twenty-two civilians, wounded and doctors, among them three children, were killed in the American bombing of a hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz. Americans acknowledged the error and apologized. The President of the United States expressed his condolences, the military leadership announced three independent investigations. “Doctors without borders” ...
Author’s note:This article was first published more than eleven years ago in February 2006 under the title Is the Bush Administration Planning a Nuclear Holocaust?The first part I of this text was published as a separate article entitled: The Dangers of a Middle East Nuclear War, New Pentagon Doctrine: Mini-Nukes are “Safe for the Surrounding Civilian Population”. The results of this research were then integrated in my book entitled Towards World War Three Scenario, The Dangers of Nuclear War, Global Research Publishers, 2011Nuclear war with Russia, China, Iran and North Korea is “on the table”. Non-nuclear states in the Middle East are ...
Much is being written regarding the Charlie Hebdo issue in Paris, France. I do not condone any killing but at the same time I do not support issues that violate human rights, religious freedom or freedom of speech and thoughts. Using cartoons to condemn Divine thoughts and beliefs is utterly wrong because they fall under hate crimes and not under freedom of speech as we are lied about. The perpetrators of hate continue to be protected. Islam is under attack and its adherents, the Muslims, are being targeted through provocation. In a recent article Charlie Hebdo and Tsarnaev’s trial: Cui ...
The German occupation forces were those who have been the first to create and recognize a short-lived state’s independence of Ukraine in January 1918 during the time of their-own inspired and supported anti-Russian Bolshevik Revolution of 1917−1921. As reoccupied by the Bolshevik Red Army, the eastern and southern parts of the present-day territory of (a Greater) Ukraine joined in 1922 the USSR as a separate Soviet Socialist Republic (without Crimea). According to the 1926 Soviet census of Crimea, the majority of its population were the Russians (382.645). The second-largest ethnic group were the Tartars (179.094). Therefore, a Jew V. I. ...
Ever since 1948, the US Government’s foreign policies have been consistently focused upon breaking up the Soviet Union and turning its Warsaw Pact allies against the Soviet Union; and, then, once that would be (and was) accomplished, turning any remaining allies of Russia against Russia; and, then, once that will have been accomplished, conquering Russia. Since at least 2006, US ‘defense' policy has been that nuclear war will be an acceptable way to conquer Russia if lesser measures fail to do the job. (Since 2006, the concept that a nuclear war between the US and Russia would result in “mutually ...
Even The New York Times was unable to spin the recent gruesome murder of Russian prisoners at the hands of Kiev Nazi regime forces.Even The New York Times was unable to spin the recent gruesome murder of Russian prisoners at the hands of Kiev Nazi regime forces. Unconditional honesty, of course, is not reasonably to be expected from the Establishment’s “paper of record,” in this or any other comparably tricky situation. Not that, with the abundant video and other evidence saturating the internet, there is the slightest doubt that (1) a gruesome crime in violation of the laws and customs ...
On January 2 [2019, editor] US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Brazil, and his Department noted that in discussions with Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo they “highlighted the importance of working together to address regional and global challenges, including supporting the people of Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua in restoring their democratic governance and their human rights.” Pompeo declared that the US and Brazil “have an opportunity to work alongside each other against authoritarian regimes.”From this we gather that Pompeo is a strong advocate of democratic governance and will always make it clear that the United States supports unfortunate people living in countries having “authoritarian ...
Americans are outraged by allegations that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an intelligence service to hack email accounts of the Democratic National Committee. How inexpressibly heinous that one country, Russia, would try to influence elections in another sovereign country, in this case the United States! How unprecedented! How diabolical! How uniquely Russian!In response, the Obama administration has expelled Russian diplomats, hinted at economic sanctions, and promised further retaliation using America’s “world-class arsenal of cyber weapons.” (NYT Dec. 16, 2016) Obama’s Republican opponents, for their part, have demanded “rocks” instead of Obama’s “pebbles.”But does the USA meddle in the presidential elections ...
The Western-backed myth of a Greater SerbiaMuch space, time and efforts have been devoted in the recent history of West Balkans, and in particular in the latest political upheavals, about the alleged project of a Greater Serbia especially by the Western authors either academic scholars or journalists.[1] The issue must be, however, considered together with its counterparts from Croatia (a Greater Croatia) and Albania (a Greater Albania). There are two focal questions that arose here:Were all these projects serious and what was the origin of this maximalist concept of forming the national states in the otherwise ethnically mixed area?Whose exact ...
Over the past 50 years the US and European powers have engaged in countless imperial wars throughout the world. The drive for world supremacy has been clothed in the rhetoric of “world leadership”, the consequences have been devastating for the peoples targeted. The biggest, longest and most numerous wars have been carried out by the United States. Presidents from both parties direct and preside over this quest for world power. The ideology which informs imperialism varies from “anti-communism”in the past to “anti-terrorism”today.Washington’s drive for world domination has used and combined many forms of warfare, including military invasions and occupations; proxy ...
The December 17 UN Security Council meeting, on the announced creation of a Kosovo armed forces, featured some noticeable contrasts.In accordance with Kosovo not being a UN member state and the Serb position on UN Security Council Resolution 1244 (recognizing Kosovo as a continued part of Serbia), the disputed former Yugoslav territory wasn't formally represented at the discussion as a nation. Kosovo's leader, Hashim Thaci, sat with a nameplate having his name, as opposed to Kosovo. Countries recognizing Kosovo's independence made it a point to state Thaci as the president of Kosovo and Aleksandar Vučić as president of Serbia. Nations not ...
May 19, 1919 has different and even opposing meanings in Turkey and Greece, just as May 15, 1948, marks both the establishment of Israel and, for Palestinians, the start of the Nakba (“catastrophe”).In Turkey, this date marks the first step that led to the establishment of the Turkish Republic, while for descendants of Ottoman Greeks and Greece it marks the end of the centuries-long Pontic Greek presence on the shores of the Black Sea. Whereas Turks celebrate May 19, Greeks mourn it. Researcher Tamer Çilingir summarised the issue in a 2016 interview with the Turkish-Armenian daily Agos:“The Pontic Genocide is the ...
While much is said in some American media outlets about “fake news” in the US, the smallness of the matters being discussed might come into focus when compared with Ukraine, which is of late producing rather much fake news about the Holocaust and elementary points in World War II history.As we reported back in October, Ukrainian media outlet Radio Svoboda — the Ukrainian arm of the US Government-funded arm of RFERL — posted a picture from the US Holocaust Museum. It is an image of Polish Jews being deported to a death camp. There was just one problem. Radio Svoboda claimed the picture ...
Ukraine has a complex historical background and most people have little knowledge of this. The western part of Ukraine known as Galicia has an especially complex history. Going back for more than a thousand years, this region had been settled by Slavic tribes who formed the western extension of the Kievan Rus. To the west it had Polish, Lithuanian, Hungarian and Austrian neighbours. And to its misfortune, these neighbours took turns attacking and subjugating these early Ukrainians. It was largely Poland and Austria that took turns suppressing and occupying the region, economically and culturally. Because of this, although Galicia’s population ...
How can it be that in virtually all of the Presidential-candidate head-to-head Democratic versus Republican polling that was done of both Democratic and Republican candidates during the primaries, the preferred Democratic candidate against any one of the Republican candidates was Bernie Sanders, but he almost certainly won’t be that Party’s nominee (and there’s more on that here); and the preferred Republican candidate against either one of the Democratic candidates was John Kasich, but he certainly won’t be the Republican nominee?Sanders and Kasich also scored the highest in his respective Party for net favorability rating, but almost certainly neither candidate will ...
Over the past 50 years the US and European powers have engaged in countless imperial wars throughout the world. The drive for world supremacy has been clothed in the rhetoric of “world leadership”, the consequences have been devastating for the peoples targeted. The biggest, longest and most numerous wars have been carried out by the United States. Presidents from both parties direct and preside over this quest for world power. The ideology which informs imperialism varies from “anti-communism”in the past to “anti-terrorism”today.Washington’s drive for world domination has used and combined many forms of warfare, including military invasions and occupations; proxy ...
Under the ominous title Fear, Woodward quotes high-ranking members of the White House staff as well as the heads of crucial departments affirming that, for the good of the country, they work to prevent Trump from signing dangerous documents. And like the proverbial cherry on the cake, in finely tuned coordination, on the day the book was released to the press, the New York Times broke with tradition to publish an anonymous op-ed by one of those senior White House officials whose first sentence is “I am part of the Resistance”, a phrase Americans know from watching World War II movies featuring European partisans fighting Germans in the woods.
In response to a growing wave of interest in Bernie Sanders’ socialist ideas, the Democratic Party dug its own grave by manipulating obscure rules in order to prevent him from becoming its candidate, thanks to the Clinton political ‘machine’ (the ominous synonym for a political party). These maneuvers, which would make front page headlines in any other democratic country, are business as usual in Washington, while the recently revealed $50,000 Russian ’contribution’ that bought four tickets to President Trump’s inauguration, is denounced as ‘interference’ — as if by the mere fact of being a spectator at the event a Russian could influence his presidency.
