Same with environmental groups. I think war is a crime against nature and fuels global warming, and that environmental groups should join antiwar activists in a general protest against war and for supporting government action against global warming.
The “Dogs of War” have been winning for a long, long time, Bill. Since long before 9/11.
First there was OPERATION DESERT STORM, which enabled the US to establish a full-time, combat-ready military presence in the Middle East; something it had been trying to figure out how to do [other than bankrolling Israel] since at least the end of World War II, if not I. That’s how we “licked the Vietnam Syndrome,” according to Bush the Elder; remember?
Then, there was Ollie North’s Reign of Terror in Central America involving Iranians, Contras, Cocaine, and who knows what else back in the 80s. Which went along perfectly with our bankrolling Osama and Da Boyz from al-Qaeda in our Holy War against the Russkies in Afghanistan. Remember that?
Then, of course, there was Vietnam and Korea, which was preceded by World War II: the Only way America was able to get out of The Great Depression.
And, has anybody yet explained exactly How and Why the US got involved in World War I?
But then the explanation for the Spanish-American War is pretty straightforward: It enabled the US to eliminate and replace the last, dying remnants of the Spanish Empire in Cuba ~ the Gateway to the Caribbean and Latin America ~ and the Philippines, the Gateway to the beginnings of The American Empire in Asia.
So The Dogs of War have been “winning” for over 120 years. Even if they haven’t actually won a War in the last 78 of them.
But for those folks, the objective is not so much to “win” their wars ~ whatever “winning” actually is ~ as it is to simply have them. And to keep them going for as long as possible. And to lay plans for the Next War when this one is over and lost.
THE OTHER 9/11 by Jacob G. Hornberger / Future of Freedom Foundation 091123
Martin Luther King pointed out that THE U.S. GOVERNMENT IS “THE GREATEST PURVEYOR OF VIOLENCE IN THE WORLD.” While King’s memory has been honored with accolades, monuments, street names, and the like, I can’t help but wonder how many Americans have truly pondered his astute and discomforting observation about the U.S. government. After all, it seems to me that to be living under a government that is “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world” is not something to be proud of or pleased with.
Today many Chileans might well be pondering King’s statement. That’s because TODAY — 9/11 — IS THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1973 CHILEAN COUP THAT THE U.S. GOVERNMENT INSPIRED AND ENCOURAGED. It was a coup that left thousands of innocent people dead, including the democratically elected president of the country, Salvador Allende, two American citizens — Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi — and some 3,000 other innocent people. It also resulted in the brutal torture or rape of tens of thousands of other innocent people. That was followed by 17 years of one of the world’s most brutal and tyrannical military dictatorships, not to mention the infamous secret international kidnapping, torture, and assassination ring called Operation Condor, which included the national-security establishments of the U.S., Chile, other rightwing Latin American military dictatorships.
Of course, in the eyes of Pinochet, the Pentagon, and the CIA, the victims of all this violence were not innocent at all. In their eyes, they were nothing more than vermin, no different from the “gooks” that the Pentagon and the CIA were killing in Vietnam. KEEP IN MIND THAT THIS WAS 1973, WHEN THE U.S. NATIONAL-SECURITY ESTABLISHMENT WAS LOSING ITS BRUTAL WAR IN VIETNAM.
WHAT DID THAT WAR HAVE TO DO WITH THE HORRIFIC VIOLENCE INFLICTED BY PINOCHET’S GOONS AGAINST PEOPLE IN CHILE?
EVERYTHING!
You see, in the eyes of the U.S. national-security establishment, there was a worldwide communist conspiracy to take over the United States and the world that was supposedly based in Moscow, Russia. Yes, that Russia — the Russia for whom a deep hatred has been inculcated into every American today, just as it was during the Cold War.
And the top alphas in DC seem to have decided that the Ukraine war is in their best interests politically. To me this appears to confirm US commitment to war in Ukraine without reservation until at least through November 2024:
Great point, Matt. Domestic politics and political advantage reign supreme within the DC beltway, as you know far better than I do.
I still recall your experience speaking to Democrats in Congress about everything that was wrong in Afghanistan, with Nancy Pelosi stepping in to tell her charges that they had to support Obama's surge because dissent would jeopardize Obamacare.
Just screw U.S. troops in the field, fighting for a lost cause. And the Afghan people -- who cares about them and their suffering, am I right? Obama needs to "win" on health care!
Well they certainly proclaim their concern for the troops, for the Afghans and now the Ukrainians. But unless those constituencies have a direct connection to their campaign bank accounts or populate their voting base, those proclamations don’t need to have actions attached to them, particularly once those constituencies are no longer politically useful.
World Food Program says 15 million Afghans are starving and there is a $1 billion shortfall in funding. WFP said that while Tony Blinken was in Kyiv, delivering $1 billion to the Ukrainians, Washington’s new Afghans. I don’t think it is unwarranted to warn the Ukrainians that their fate will likely be that of the Afghans: when the Ukrainians are no longer politically necessary they will suffer the same fate as those we previously had espoused a sacred responsibility to protect and to whom we sent hundreds of thousands of young Americans to kill and be killed along with trillions of dollars.
I think one reason that too many people don't pay attention to writers like you who don't promote war, is the CON is so strong and the lies come so fast and heavy that mot people are too busy to try to combat them or search for the articles that have truth. I realize you weren't talking about 9/11 today, but that is part of it, and today is the 22nd (?) anniversary of 9/11 so I'd like to mention an article - actually a documentary- that is out there produced by Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth which you can find on the Global Research. Org website today. This is one of the best videos on this subject I've seen. It shows how the twin towers and building 7 were controlled demolitions, and talks to engineers especially who know exactly how bad the lies are because they understand how steel melts for one thing and how explosions (that 100s of police and firemen and simple spectators heard) ; what the difference between controlled demolition and the simple collapse of a building without that control looks like along with other information, like the fact that the steel from the buildings was not tested for numerous signs of explosion, and was carted off, over the objections of many engineers and scientists, in massive truckloads to China to be melted down so no one could test it. The 9/11 Commission is a load of total lies and the experts in this documentary want the world to know it. The documentary is 58 minutes, but the first 40 are what you need to see. Because our entire government system is promoting a huge lie, it is hard to get people to seriously understand what has been done to them. It involves changing a whole system of beliefs, that you as a US citizen hold, and that is truly scary. Because now you know that you can't believe anything that your government and the CON tells you - it maybe true, but just as equally it may be false or a mixture of the two.
I appreciate your writings. I also think things would be VERY different if we could pierce the propaganda bubble. Maybe I'm too easy on people. Yes I get frustrated with my liberal friends who won't listen to different viewpoints. But I understand that it is incredibly difficult to find factual information. For decades the NYT WAS the best newspaper. It's hard to explain to people how that has changed
Also, I'm not sure about leftists being naturally disorganized or prone to infighting. With so many resources used to tear the left apart, it's almost astonishing we have anything! Every day there are fights online and I'm wondering, "ok is this a real person or a paid agent??"
I studied social psychology a long time ago and the US government has perfected the art of mind control. They're GOOD. They've succeeded in propagandizing the population that most wants to stay informed, but with such skill that this population is CERTAIN that they'd never be fooled by propaganda. These intelligence services are very very very good at their job.
On a positive note, we have 50% of the US population that completely tuned out from the news and voting, because they see propaganda for what it is.
Bill: As i asked earlier today at Your September 7 piece “Talking and Writing Honestly About War”:
Will you, the so-called “peace, anti-War, and social justice” community of America, once again walk right past GROUND ZERO -- The Real, Whole Truth -- looking for something more significant, something more relevant, something more important?
Will you once again rush to hold your episodic and periodic Gatherings Of The Tribe to rail and rant and beat your breasts and massage your gums and egos against the newest extension and expansion and endless continuation of this so-called “War” at home and abroad?
This War about which you have -- from DAY ZERO, from September 11, 2001 -- completely refused and thus failed to “think the unthinkable,” and thus understand, and thus first prevent and then and now stop?
Will you ever succeed? Will you ever stop ANY War?
Will you ever really want PEACE instead of just POWER, JUSTICE instead of the JUDICIAL AUTHORITY that comes with that Power, and TRUTH instead of nothing more or less than simply your fair share of the LOOT?
WHAT WILL YOU DO, AMERICA, WHEN 9/11 HAPPENS ONCE AGAIN?
What will you do when those who benefited most from its happening the first time determine that the time has come for another major Terror Event, because maximal strategic and tactical political, economic, and, above all, psychological gain is to be achieved with another, with a second “new Pearl Harbor”? Will you once again feign ignorance of their -- and your -- history?
WHAT WILL YOU DO, AMERICA, WHEN THOSE WHO BENEFITED MOST FROM THE FIRST 9/11 DETERMINE THAT THEY STAND TO GAIN EVEN MORE WITH A SECOND ITERATION?
Who and/or What is going to stop them?
Do you have the courage to even ask yourself these questions? Let alone answer them?
"They are usually cocksure in their confidence and think of themselves as realists and patriots."
This description perfectly suits Henry Kissinger, recently lionized on his hundredth birthday. He always bragged about his practice of, "realpolitik," as he arranged the bombing of Cambodia, the overthrow of the democratically elected leader of Chile (Allende), and many other crimes against humanity. He's truly evil in his hubris and utter lack of humanity, as are the other dogs of war.
Of course, dogs are thoroughly admirable creatures, so the, "dogs of war" phrase has always been unfair and insulting to canines.
Gene, it is so funny you say that because we now call our Blue Team friends who have a religious zeal for Russophobia "Pod People" because it is like they got taken over by the body snatchers. They were peace types decades ago, and they admit that the government lied about all previous wars, but still think that the government isn't lying this time. It is a miracle of modern narrative management.
Until today, I have appreciated and learned a lot from your columns. I am always uncomfortable with discussions and writings that describe human behavior in negative terms by likening it to the behavior of other species. As far as I am concerned, you have just insulted all canids. Dogs are not evil and dogs do not wreak havoc. By the way, although you may not have a cat that goes outdoors, the American Bird Conservancy reports that "In the United States alone, outdoor cats kill approximately 2.4 billion birds every year. Although this number may seem unbelievable, it represents the combined impact of tens of millions of outdoor cats. Each outdoor cat plays a part."
I'm citing Shakespeare here, when he writes: Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war.
As I said, I'm using metaphors here. I'm not literally saying pro-war people are dogs and antiwar people are cats.
I've had cats and dogs, worked in a pet store, and have groomed, fed, and helped more dogs and cats than most people. No insult toward dogs is implied or intended.
I had a 19 year old cat named Draco that looked exactly like yours. She was an outdoor cat and gentle and honestly she never killed anything, ever in her long life.
Hi, Sorry to digress from the important issue facing us all--warmongers. I understand your metaphor and what you were trying to say. I am not accusing you of disliking dogs or cats. I have just become a person who is disillusioned with some of the human species, and have come to feel that the names of other species should not be used as a means of insulting warmongers and liars. For instance, I had a very dear now departed friend who used to call Dick Cheney a "swine!" and I used to reply "Do not insult pigs" as a sort of joke. But I think that Dick Cheney is a war criminal. My comment also reflects my dislike of mainstream media in the USA. The mainstream reports of deaths from disaster such as wildfires generally focus on human mortality rates and not on the toll it takes on other species. The only report I saw on deaths of other species was from Australia after the devastating wildfires there in 2020 where billions of wildlife deaths were estimated. Thank you for taking time to respond to me and allowing me to express my pet peeves, no pun intended.
Your analysis is correct Bill, regardless of analogies used. The main question that we need to grapple with is how to get people to stop going to giant complicit corporations for news on what is going on in the world. As long as people go to the Corporate Owned News (CON), they will be so misdirected and confused that no consensus can be reached. But my Blue Team friends actually believe what they hear and read from the CON. They think that any contradictory narrative is "going down the rabbit hole". If that dynamic is not broken, we are never going to get peace.
John, it's astounding how my Blue Team friends, those that haven't written me off as a Putin puppet for opposing the bloodbath in Ukraine, rely on CON for updates. These are seemingly intelligent people, some even former peace activists, who have wholeheartedly bought into the National pro-war, Russophobic narrative. It's like living through a 21st century remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Maybe I should be checking out basements and garages for pods.
It's the same here, Gene, and John. And Gene, I've even mentioned (to at least one of my more-aware friends) the same analogy (the Body Snatchers). It is truly like being in a horror film. The CON (I like it!) were among the first to get taken over; and they helped spread the brain-rot throughout the land to all those 'innocent' folk who couldn't bother to question what they were being spoon-fed.
In the last few days I wrote a long WORD® document:
Another Perspective on the Ukraine “War”.
By Dennis L Merwood. September 2023
This Kiwi/American is appalled and dismayed with the amount of misinformation rampant amongst the great Kiwi unwashed masses in New Zealand about the Ukraine-Russia Conflict. The Western propaganda spewing out every night ad nauseum from every television set in New Zealand homes by the Kiwi mainstream media is NOT reality. The State owned TV1 News being the worst. When I raise my eyebrows and hint that this is crap, I am looked at askance as if I am a commie bedwetter pinko. A Putin puppet. A turd in the punchbowel! So I keep my big mouth shut! Oh dear!
The meme on the street is that the evil communist dictator and killer Vladimir Putin, one morning over breakfast on February 24, 2022, decided to emulate Adolf Hitler and conquer the World. Starting with invading his neighbor, the Ukraine! Yeah right!
What Putin said was Russia sought the "demilitarization and denazification" of Ukraine, and Russia had no plans to occupy Ukrainian land, and threatened severe consequences for any country that intervened. Putin announced that Russia was launching a "Special Military Operation " to defend the Russian-controlled territories in eastern Ukraine, the Donetsk Peoples Republic and Luhansk Peoples Republic Under Article 51 of The United Nations Charter.
Racking my small brain trying to think of a way to dispel the mainstream media disinformation and educate my friends I decided to aggregate three articles. One from this author summarizing the history of the conflict going back to 2009. One from the American blogger, Howard Kunstler. And one from Caitlan Johnstone, the Australian/American woman blogger.
And I don't know how to attach the WORD® document I wrote here. Its too long to post here anyway!
I emailed it as an attachment to 12-friends, colleagues and acquaintances in NZ, Aussie, Italy and the US.
Being careful in the subject heading to include - DELETE IF OF NO INTEREST.
The only responses I got is - don't email this stuff please! And I am getting a feeling that my emails now go right into their trash cans.
All my friends are highly educated, some over educated (!), and believe that Putin invaded Ukraine solely because he is evil and hates freedom. The actual, literal belief about this war that the western political/media class works to instils in the western public.
I am distressed about that. I'm worrying that I am becoming a senile old nut job!
“Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.
How true!
Same with environmental groups. I think war is a crime against nature and fuels global warming, and that environmental groups should join antiwar activists in a general protest against war and for supporting government action against global warming.
The “Dogs of War” have been winning for a long, long time, Bill. Since long before 9/11.
First there was OPERATION DESERT STORM, which enabled the US to establish a full-time, combat-ready military presence in the Middle East; something it had been trying to figure out how to do [other than bankrolling Israel] since at least the end of World War II, if not I. That’s how we “licked the Vietnam Syndrome,” according to Bush the Elder; remember?
Then, there was Ollie North’s Reign of Terror in Central America involving Iranians, Contras, Cocaine, and who knows what else back in the 80s. Which went along perfectly with our bankrolling Osama and Da Boyz from al-Qaeda in our Holy War against the Russkies in Afghanistan. Remember that?
Then, of course, there was Vietnam and Korea, which was preceded by World War II: the Only way America was able to get out of The Great Depression.
And, has anybody yet explained exactly How and Why the US got involved in World War I?
But then the explanation for the Spanish-American War is pretty straightforward: It enabled the US to eliminate and replace the last, dying remnants of the Spanish Empire in Cuba ~ the Gateway to the Caribbean and Latin America ~ and the Philippines, the Gateway to the beginnings of The American Empire in Asia.
So The Dogs of War have been “winning” for over 120 years. Even if they haven’t actually won a War in the last 78 of them.
But for those folks, the objective is not so much to “win” their wars ~ whatever “winning” actually is ~ as it is to simply have them. And to keep them going for as long as possible. And to lay plans for the Next War when this one is over and lost.
THE OTHER 9/11 by Jacob G. Hornberger / Future of Freedom Foundation 091123
Martin Luther King pointed out that THE U.S. GOVERNMENT IS “THE GREATEST PURVEYOR OF VIOLENCE IN THE WORLD.” While King’s memory has been honored with accolades, monuments, street names, and the like, I can’t help but wonder how many Americans have truly pondered his astute and discomforting observation about the U.S. government. After all, it seems to me that to be living under a government that is “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world” is not something to be proud of or pleased with.
Today many Chileans might well be pondering King’s statement. That’s because TODAY — 9/11 — IS THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1973 CHILEAN COUP THAT THE U.S. GOVERNMENT INSPIRED AND ENCOURAGED. It was a coup that left thousands of innocent people dead, including the democratically elected president of the country, Salvador Allende, two American citizens — Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi — and some 3,000 other innocent people. It also resulted in the brutal torture or rape of tens of thousands of other innocent people. That was followed by 17 years of one of the world’s most brutal and tyrannical military dictatorships, not to mention the infamous secret international kidnapping, torture, and assassination ring called Operation Condor, which included the national-security establishments of the U.S., Chile, other rightwing Latin American military dictatorships.
Of course, in the eyes of Pinochet, the Pentagon, and the CIA, the victims of all this violence were not innocent at all. In their eyes, they were nothing more than vermin, no different from the “gooks” that the Pentagon and the CIA were killing in Vietnam. KEEP IN MIND THAT THIS WAS 1973, WHEN THE U.S. NATIONAL-SECURITY ESTABLISHMENT WAS LOSING ITS BRUTAL WAR IN VIETNAM.
WHAT DID THAT WAR HAVE TO DO WITH THE HORRIFIC VIOLENCE INFLICTED BY PINOCHET’S GOONS AGAINST PEOPLE IN CHILE?
EVERYTHING!
You see, in the eyes of the U.S. national-security establishment, there was a worldwide communist conspiracy to take over the United States and the world that was supposedly based in Moscow, Russia. Yes, that Russia — the Russia for whom a deep hatred has been inculcated into every American today, just as it was during the Cold War.
Continued at https://www.fff.org/2023/09/11/the-other-9-11/ ; EMPHASES added.
And the top alphas in DC seem to have decided that the Ukraine war is in their best interests politically. To me this appears to confirm US commitment to war in Ukraine without reservation until at least through November 2024:
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2023/09/08/biden_campaign_ad_touts_surprise_trip_to_ukraine_quiet_strength_of_a_true_leader.html
Great point, Matt. Domestic politics and political advantage reign supreme within the DC beltway, as you know far better than I do.
I still recall your experience speaking to Democrats in Congress about everything that was wrong in Afghanistan, with Nancy Pelosi stepping in to tell her charges that they had to support Obama's surge because dissent would jeopardize Obamacare.
Just screw U.S. troops in the field, fighting for a lost cause. And the Afghan people -- who cares about them and their suffering, am I right? Obama needs to "win" on health care!
Well they certainly proclaim their concern for the troops, for the Afghans and now the Ukrainians. But unless those constituencies have a direct connection to their campaign bank accounts or populate their voting base, those proclamations don’t need to have actions attached to them, particularly once those constituencies are no longer politically useful.
World Food Program says 15 million Afghans are starving and there is a $1 billion shortfall in funding. WFP said that while Tony Blinken was in Kyiv, delivering $1 billion to the Ukrainians, Washington’s new Afghans. I don’t think it is unwarranted to warn the Ukrainians that their fate will likely be that of the Afghans: when the Ukrainians are no longer politically necessary they will suffer the same fate as those we previously had espoused a sacred responsibility to protect and to whom we sent hundreds of thousands of young Americans to kill and be killed along with trillions of dollars.
Obamacare being the huge gift to Big Insurance and Big Pharma that it was, as opposed to single-payer....
I think one reason that too many people don't pay attention to writers like you who don't promote war, is the CON is so strong and the lies come so fast and heavy that mot people are too busy to try to combat them or search for the articles that have truth. I realize you weren't talking about 9/11 today, but that is part of it, and today is the 22nd (?) anniversary of 9/11 so I'd like to mention an article - actually a documentary- that is out there produced by Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth which you can find on the Global Research. Org website today. This is one of the best videos on this subject I've seen. It shows how the twin towers and building 7 were controlled demolitions, and talks to engineers especially who know exactly how bad the lies are because they understand how steel melts for one thing and how explosions (that 100s of police and firemen and simple spectators heard) ; what the difference between controlled demolition and the simple collapse of a building without that control looks like along with other information, like the fact that the steel from the buildings was not tested for numerous signs of explosion, and was carted off, over the objections of many engineers and scientists, in massive truckloads to China to be melted down so no one could test it. The 9/11 Commission is a load of total lies and the experts in this documentary want the world to know it. The documentary is 58 minutes, but the first 40 are what you need to see. Because our entire government system is promoting a huge lie, it is hard to get people to seriously understand what has been done to them. It involves changing a whole system of beliefs, that you as a US citizen hold, and that is truly scary. Because now you know that you can't believe anything that your government and the CON tells you - it maybe true, but just as equally it may be false or a mixture of the two.
I appreciate your writings. I also think things would be VERY different if we could pierce the propaganda bubble. Maybe I'm too easy on people. Yes I get frustrated with my liberal friends who won't listen to different viewpoints. But I understand that it is incredibly difficult to find factual information. For decades the NYT WAS the best newspaper. It's hard to explain to people how that has changed
Also, I'm not sure about leftists being naturally disorganized or prone to infighting. With so many resources used to tear the left apart, it's almost astonishing we have anything! Every day there are fights online and I'm wondering, "ok is this a real person or a paid agent??"
I studied social psychology a long time ago and the US government has perfected the art of mind control. They're GOOD. They've succeeded in propagandizing the population that most wants to stay informed, but with such skill that this population is CERTAIN that they'd never be fooled by propaganda. These intelligence services are very very very good at their job.
On a positive note, we have 50% of the US population that completely tuned out from the news and voting, because they see propaganda for what it is.
Bill: As i asked earlier today at Your September 7 piece “Talking and Writing Honestly About War”:
Will you, the so-called “peace, anti-War, and social justice” community of America, once again walk right past GROUND ZERO -- The Real, Whole Truth -- looking for something more significant, something more relevant, something more important?
Will you once again rush to hold your episodic and periodic Gatherings Of The Tribe to rail and rant and beat your breasts and massage your gums and egos against the newest extension and expansion and endless continuation of this so-called “War” at home and abroad?
This War about which you have -- from DAY ZERO, from September 11, 2001 -- completely refused and thus failed to “think the unthinkable,” and thus understand, and thus first prevent and then and now stop?
Will you ever succeed? Will you ever stop ANY War?
Will you ever really want PEACE instead of just POWER, JUSTICE instead of the JUDICIAL AUTHORITY that comes with that Power, and TRUTH instead of nothing more or less than simply your fair share of the LOOT?
WHAT WILL YOU DO, AMERICA, WHEN 9/11 HAPPENS ONCE AGAIN?
What will you do when those who benefited most from its happening the first time determine that the time has come for another major Terror Event, because maximal strategic and tactical political, economic, and, above all, psychological gain is to be achieved with another, with a second “new Pearl Harbor”? Will you once again feign ignorance of their -- and your -- history?
WHAT WILL YOU DO, AMERICA, WHEN THOSE WHO BENEFITED MOST FROM THE FIRST 9/11 DETERMINE THAT THEY STAND TO GAIN EVEN MORE WITH A SECOND ITERATION?
Who and/or What is going to stop them?
Do you have the courage to even ask yourself these questions? Let alone answer them?
First, recognize that the images that make the war agenda is not reality.
Seek truth.
"They are usually cocksure in their confidence and think of themselves as realists and patriots."
This description perfectly suits Henry Kissinger, recently lionized on his hundredth birthday. He always bragged about his practice of, "realpolitik," as he arranged the bombing of Cambodia, the overthrow of the democratically elected leader of Chile (Allende), and many other crimes against humanity. He's truly evil in his hubris and utter lack of humanity, as are the other dogs of war.
Of course, dogs are thoroughly admirable creatures, so the, "dogs of war" phrase has always been unfair and insulting to canines.
Gene, it is so funny you say that because we now call our Blue Team friends who have a religious zeal for Russophobia "Pod People" because it is like they got taken over by the body snatchers. They were peace types decades ago, and they admit that the government lied about all previous wars, but still think that the government isn't lying this time. It is a miracle of modern narrative management.
Yup we need to put these alpha dogs down.
Until today, I have appreciated and learned a lot from your columns. I am always uncomfortable with discussions and writings that describe human behavior in negative terms by likening it to the behavior of other species. As far as I am concerned, you have just insulted all canids. Dogs are not evil and dogs do not wreak havoc. By the way, although you may not have a cat that goes outdoors, the American Bird Conservancy reports that "In the United States alone, outdoor cats kill approximately 2.4 billion birds every year. Although this number may seem unbelievable, it represents the combined impact of tens of millions of outdoor cats. Each outdoor cat plays a part."
Helen Londe, MD
I'm citing Shakespeare here, when he writes: Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war.
As I said, I'm using metaphors here. I'm not literally saying pro-war people are dogs and antiwar people are cats.
I've had cats and dogs, worked in a pet store, and have groomed, fed, and helped more dogs and cats than most people. No insult toward dogs is implied or intended.
I had a 19 year old cat named Draco that looked exactly like yours. She was an outdoor cat and gentle and honestly she never killed anything, ever in her long life.
Hi, Sorry to digress from the important issue facing us all--warmongers. I understand your metaphor and what you were trying to say. I am not accusing you of disliking dogs or cats. I have just become a person who is disillusioned with some of the human species, and have come to feel that the names of other species should not be used as a means of insulting warmongers and liars. For instance, I had a very dear now departed friend who used to call Dick Cheney a "swine!" and I used to reply "Do not insult pigs" as a sort of joke. But I think that Dick Cheney is a war criminal. My comment also reflects my dislike of mainstream media in the USA. The mainstream reports of deaths from disaster such as wildfires generally focus on human mortality rates and not on the toll it takes on other species. The only report I saw on deaths of other species was from Australia after the devastating wildfires there in 2020 where billions of wildlife deaths were estimated. Thank you for taking time to respond to me and allowing me to express my pet peeves, no pun intended.
Excellent point about unreported animal casualties, Helen.
If only there was a workable analogy font, better yet an irony font, for the snark or concept-challenged.
I did understand the irony. I just think that there are better ways to express irony.
Your analysis is correct Bill, regardless of analogies used. The main question that we need to grapple with is how to get people to stop going to giant complicit corporations for news on what is going on in the world. As long as people go to the Corporate Owned News (CON), they will be so misdirected and confused that no consensus can be reached. But my Blue Team friends actually believe what they hear and read from the CON. They think that any contradictory narrative is "going down the rabbit hole". If that dynamic is not broken, we are never going to get peace.
CON is perfect. Is that your coinage, John?
Yeah, I've been pushing that one for a while. It fits.
John, it's astounding how my Blue Team friends, those that haven't written me off as a Putin puppet for opposing the bloodbath in Ukraine, rely on CON for updates. These are seemingly intelligent people, some even former peace activists, who have wholeheartedly bought into the National pro-war, Russophobic narrative. It's like living through a 21st century remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Maybe I should be checking out basements and garages for pods.
It's the same here, Gene, and John. And Gene, I've even mentioned (to at least one of my more-aware friends) the same analogy (the Body Snatchers). It is truly like being in a horror film. The CON (I like it!) were among the first to get taken over; and they helped spread the brain-rot throughout the land to all those 'innocent' folk who couldn't bother to question what they were being spoon-fed.
Good morning Roger my friend.
In the last few days I wrote a long WORD® document:
Another Perspective on the Ukraine “War”.
By Dennis L Merwood. September 2023
This Kiwi/American is appalled and dismayed with the amount of misinformation rampant amongst the great Kiwi unwashed masses in New Zealand about the Ukraine-Russia Conflict. The Western propaganda spewing out every night ad nauseum from every television set in New Zealand homes by the Kiwi mainstream media is NOT reality. The State owned TV1 News being the worst. When I raise my eyebrows and hint that this is crap, I am looked at askance as if I am a commie bedwetter pinko. A Putin puppet. A turd in the punchbowel! So I keep my big mouth shut! Oh dear!
The meme on the street is that the evil communist dictator and killer Vladimir Putin, one morning over breakfast on February 24, 2022, decided to emulate Adolf Hitler and conquer the World. Starting with invading his neighbor, the Ukraine! Yeah right!
What Putin said was Russia sought the "demilitarization and denazification" of Ukraine, and Russia had no plans to occupy Ukrainian land, and threatened severe consequences for any country that intervened. Putin announced that Russia was launching a "Special Military Operation " to defend the Russian-controlled territories in eastern Ukraine, the Donetsk Peoples Republic and Luhansk Peoples Republic Under Article 51 of The United Nations Charter.
Racking my small brain trying to think of a way to dispel the mainstream media disinformation and educate my friends I decided to aggregate three articles. One from this author summarizing the history of the conflict going back to 2009. One from the American blogger, Howard Kunstler. And one from Caitlan Johnstone, the Australian/American woman blogger.
And I don't know how to attach the WORD® document I wrote here. Its too long to post here anyway!
I emailed it as an attachment to 12-friends, colleagues and acquaintances in NZ, Aussie, Italy and the US.
Being careful in the subject heading to include - DELETE IF OF NO INTEREST.
The only responses I got is - don't email this stuff please! And I am getting a feeling that my emails now go right into their trash cans.
All my friends are highly educated, some over educated (!), and believe that Putin invaded Ukraine solely because he is evil and hates freedom. The actual, literal belief about this war that the western political/media class works to instils in the western public.
I am distressed about that. I'm worrying that I am becoming a senile old nut job!
Dennis, the message here in the States is: Ukraine, GOOD. Russia, BAD. Zelensky is Winston Churchill and Putin is Hitler or "even worse than Hitler."
That's all you need to know.
And my guess is that no insult was perceived by the overwhelming majority of Your readers.