Hillary Clinton is American, owned by financial interests to whom she is completely in thrall, a rabid neo-conservative warmonger, completely uncritical of Israel and focused for any claim to be progressive entirely on identity politics. Which is also a precise description of today’s Guardian newspaper. The once august and intellectual title is now a shrill cheerleader for far right Blairites and wealthy American feminists.
The Guardian is as unabashed in its support for Clinton as in its support for the Blairites. The stream of “feminist” articles about why it would advance the cause of women to have a deeply corrupt right winger in the White House is steadily growing into a torrent. It is a perfect example of what I wrote of a month ago, the cause of feminism being hijacked to neo-conservative ends.
Bernie Sanders is not perfect – nobody is. But he understands that obscene and still burgeoning wealth inequality is the greatest problem of western society, and that the state framework supporting crazed banking structures is the root cause of this. The support for him is a sign of the inevitable popular reaction to the extreme inequality of society. Sanders is channelling that reaction effectively.
The establishment therefore circles its wagons around Hillary Clinton. The hope is that women can be persuaded it is an act of misogyny simply to stand in her way. The other great establishment hope is that the Democrat party machinery is so strong in black communities, that black Americans can be in effect ordered to vote for a woman who epitomises the system which disadvantages them, rather than an apostle of genuine change in the economic order. I retain hope the establishment may find that black Americans are cleverer than that.
The machinery used to manipulate identity politics – racial and gender – is all that Clinton has. If Clinton beats Sanders, it will be the perfect demonstration of the fact that identity politics has become the enemy of progress in society.
In the field of identity, Bernie Sanders would be the first non-Christian President of the United States. Would that not be wonderful in a country whose politicians feel the need to genuflect to swarms of religious evolution-denying nutters who believe foreign wars are good because they presage the Rapture?
And would it not be great if the first President since Carter not in thrall to Israel were Jewish?
Clark
19 Feb, 2016 – 1:31 am
“Yes I do remember making those statements and I stand by them. Huge numbers of people in Ukraine wanted closer ties with Europe and less domination by Russia. Initial public pressure was successful but the Kremlin responded harshly, virtually closing the Russian border to trade. The Neocons used all this. They had already been funding and encouraging the Right, but without the groundswell of public opinion the Right would have lacked sufficient support.”
……………………………………………………………………….
I’m sure you are a lovely person Clark but I think you can be rather naïve. The United States and NATO are the aggressors in the world today.
Doug Scorgie, 8:38 pm, sorry but that’s foolish. What law of nature insists that there is only ONE set of aggressors? There are horrible aggressors commenting right here on this blog, and a majority of them support the Kremlin.
Our Zionist trolls seem to have gone AWOL. Training session perhaps.
Craig has a new diary up. Perhaps they’re there.
But it’s in their character to just ignore anything that they do not want further attention drawn to.
No, I looked. They haven’t shown up on the new thread yet.
The role of Special Branch (which doesn’t actually exist any more) comes nowhere close to that of a secret police force despite what illusion may have to the contrary.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter_Terrorism_Command
@Clark: ‘…Clark 18 Feb, 2016 – 10:29 pm
Everyone ignored my link; apparently, they’d rather take out their frustration on Habbabkuk. Look, if people didn’t keep posting rubbish Habbabkuk wouldn’t be able to keep complaining about it, right?
Look. This is a declassified US Department of Defense document from 2012 about the US knowingly supporting ISIS to overthrow the Syrian government:
Former DIA Chief Michael Flynn Says Rise of Islamic State was “a willful decision” and Defends Accuracy of 2012 Memo:
http://levantreport.com/2015/08/06/former-dia-chief-michael-flynn-says-rise-of-islamic-state-was-a-willful-decision-and-defends-accuracy-of-2012-memo/ …..’
Fine, Clark, except I put the info up on 15th, and if I’m not mistaken, also before then:
Paul Barbara 15 Feb, 2016 – 1:57 am
‘Former French Foreign Minister: The War against Syria was Planned Two years before “The Arab Spring”: http://www.globalresearch.ca/former-french-foreign-minister-the-war-against-syria-was-planned-two-years-before-the-arab-spring/5339112
‘France’s Former Foreign Minister: UK Government Prepared War in Syria Two Years Before 2011 Protests’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz-s2AAh06I
SYRIE: Roland Dumas dit tout ! (octobre 2013):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is8o-wiRY4s
Former French Foreign Minister confirms preparations for Syrian war underway since 2010:
http://www.voltairenet.org/article178963.html
4* General (Retired) Wesley Clark, ex-Supreme Allied Commander Europe, was told by serving 3* General on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at the Pentagon, in 2001 (obviously the time-frame has slipped, but the ‘Regime Change’ agenda rolls on):
“We’re going to take out 7 countries in 5 years: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan & Iran..”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/we-re-going-to-take-out-7-countries-in-5-years-iraq-syria-lebanon-libya-somalia-sudan-iran/5166
CLASSIC WHY: Real Reason for Syria War Plans, from Gen. Wesley Clark:
http://whowhatwhy.org/2013/08/31/classic-why-real-reason-for-syria-war-plans-from-gen-wesley-clark/
Roland Dumas and Wesley Clark are the mainstays of the evidence that the overthrow of Assad’s regime predated any ‘Arab Spring’ scenario, and was a pure ‘Regime Change’ affair – as indeed was Libya, but there is much more.
@Macky: ‘…Doug Scorgie; “I didn’t know that Macky”
Don’t worry Doug, most “religious” people don’t know either, so what chance the non-religious ! :)’
‘Fraid you’re wrong, there, Macky. ‘Virgin’ in the English language refers to the individual themselves not having had sex (precise definition debatable), and does not refer to their mother’s status, however ‘Holy’ they are/were deemed to be (I’m ex-RC; now ‘non-denominational Christian’).
@Esclavo 15 Feb, 2016 – 8:03 pm:
Thanks for the link re Libya; I will check it out, and I’m sure it will back up the info I posted.
To all those worried about the ban on pro-Palestinian T/shirts at a Rugby/Soccer match (I’m not sure what it was now) take heart: you probably haven’t heard of ‘Football Against Apartheid’: https://footballagainstapartheid.wordpress.com/
It’s going from strength to strength; check out the website!
Here is just one of their many actions:
Football Against Apartheid Arsenal and Leicester 14 Feb 2016:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBK9yXfVCuE
I have assisted in a few of their activities myself; they always welcome assistance.
Paul Barbara; “‘Fraid you’re wrong, there, Macky”
Not sure about what; I was just pointing out the popular misconception about the Immaculate Conception (!);
http://www.gotquestions.org/immaculate-conception.html
@ Macky: reading the link you provided goes to show how the RC Church (and I’m sure other churches and faiths) tie themselves up in knots when they try to rationalise an incomprehensible concept.
Perhaps Paul Barbara should read the comments under the Flynn interview and in particular the following from QLine Orientalist
“Thanks for asking. I don’t really know what better way of responding than to ask you to go to 10 minutes into the broadcast where the quote is taken from. Nowhere does he say that the by now infamous quote is an accurate summation of what was happening on the ground. The interviewer tries to put these words in his mouth four (depending on how you count them) times, and he dodges that.
Let’s be clear. This guy is not criticizing the administration for supporting Salafists et al. He’s blaming the administration for pulling out of Iraq too soon and not aiding the Syrian opposition soon enough.
The best the author can do is given in the few lines he quotes. But these quotes do not at all prove the author’s point.
It’s actually a good interview of a very tough, shifty guy.”
Yet again we see how words are twisted to fit the narrative that the Arab Spring was a put up job by the CIA, that the US consciously decided to support ISIS, that it is not possible for ordinary Syrians to detest both Assad and the Islamists and that the refugees were only fleeing from the latter. The same techniques was applied to the former UK ambassador to Syria. This technique is part of the DNA for liars – and then there are the others who don’t look at the evidence critically and believe it because they want to believe it.
Resident Dissident, the USA DID decide to use Muslim extremists, that which became ISIS etc, to overthrow Assad’s government. They had already decided by 2012. I’ll post the supporting link in a moment.
Resident Dissident, you need to look at this declassified US Department of Defense document:
http://www.judicialwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Pg.-291-Pgs.-287-293-JW-v-DOD-and-State-14-812-DOD-Release-2015-04-10-final-version11.pdf
Resident Dissident, I am NOT a “liar”. What is happening in Syria is proxy war and I detest it.
The US knew what they were encouraging in 2012; it’s right there in their own document, obtained by Freedom in Information Act request by Judicial Watch. The US KNOWINGLY supported extremists despite being fully aware of the dangers. They did it to overthrow the Syrian government. They KNEW Russia wouldn’t let the Syrian government fall. They used the people of Syria like pieces on a chess board.
Clark
I’ve looked at the document and it was discussed in the Flynn interview, so I suggest that you listen very carefully regarding what he says about it – no I don’t think you are a liar.
Did you also pick up how Assad supported Islamists in Syria so that they could infiltrate into Iraq to further destabilise the situation there?
Clark
Where is the evidence that the Arab Spring was something that was provoked by the West rather than dislike of their own dictators???
Resident Dissident, that document isn’t about the Arab Spring. I regard the Arab Spring as genuine. I haven’t listened to the Flynn interview; selective quoting is commonplace and I object to it.
Resident Dissident, I barely know where to begin; I wish you’d e-mail me so we can discuss matters more seriously away from the sort of conflict that tends to escalate on these threads. I’m really not interested in argument; in fact I dislike it and find it stressful. I want truth to be revealed and I want PEACE.
Resident Dissident, Cameron wanted the UK to support the US policy of bombing Syria. That policy is now clearly revealed as part of US geopolitical strategy.
This also reveals the paucity of reporting and analysis in the mass-media news; insufficient weight has been given to those analyst who have been warning us about covert US intentions. Such voices have been marginalised and sometimes even ridiculed, Craig being a prime example of this.
To the US, Europe is an economic competitor. The US fully understood that the Kremlin would not let Syria fall from its influence, but continued anyway to attack Syria by supporting proxy forces. The US must have also anticipated the refugee crisis and the stress it would place upon Europe, but continued because that served US economic interests.
The UK is critical in this. The UK supports US covert policy and this has to STOP. We do not have the Atlantic between us and the conflict zone as the US does.
We need to help propagate the facts so that democratic pressure is applied to the UK government to cease its support for covert US aims, purely for our own safety, regardless of the wider humanitarian considerations.
“I haven’t listened to the Flynn interview;”
Then I suggest you do, and also read wider as well – at the moment you appear to be basing your argument on a single heavily redacted document. That some of the limited US support to Syrian rebels may have got into the wrong hands isn’t really in dispute – but I suspect this is more due to cock up rather than conspiracy – and if anything the Western error was in not providing adequate or sufficient support quickly enough to those supporting the Arab Spring and opposing Assad (which is of course something that many here vehemently opposed at the time – as the record shows).
Current US and UK policy is not covert at present it is quite transparent – we oppose Assad (but not militarily)and we oppose ISIS militarily.
Clark
Do you regard all Syrians opposed to Assad as terrorists or supporters of terrorists?
“The UK is critical in this.”
It really isn’t – although that is not any reason for doing the right thing.
Resident Dissident, I am NOT promoting “conspiracy theories” and I resent your implication that I am. I HAVE read widely and I resent your implication that I don’t.
I have taken you seriously all through your row about Ukraine with Macky and John Goss. Please withdraw your allegations against me so that I may continue to take you seriously.
Resident Dissident, I don’t regard ALL SYRIANS as anything. I am not racist.
PLEASE stop FIGHTING. Please, for love of God.
The UK IS critical. The UK holds one of only five UN Security Council vetoes. It is a core member of NATO. Without UK support the US would be far more isolated.
Clark without wishing to stress you out!
Arab “spring” is a load of twaddle! The Spring season has no meaning for the Arabs, it is more in tune with the Western audiences tastes. As in al Qaeda that means bottom as in arse, and also refers to women’s mensuration and the derivative from there also meaning arsehole! No self respecting Arab would have chosen a moniker as that, but a Westerner would find that scary, as in words and letters that are funny, or sad. Q is the sinister letter as it is used in James Bond the movie too!!!!
If it were a proper Arab movement then it would have been dabbed Arab Autumn which is the season for harvesting the ripened dates.
What you see is a kabuki and no more.
Just to prove the point how you get shafted here is little snippet for you:
Simon Stevens is a health manager and politician. His appointment[1] as chief executive of NHS England
The page of course fails to tell you that this wolf in sheep’s clothing went to US to fight against Obama Care that was designed to top needless deaths of US citizens due to their poor status and lack of access to private medicine!
Also failing to mention is the fact that for a total of £11 billion that has been invested in the PFI contracts in NHS facilities the NHS that is the public you and I have to fork out £80 billion back to to the privateers who “risked” their money by lease lending it to NHS!!!!!! Did you know that the PFI contracts are being traded for around 26 % yield in the stock market as we speak?
You are getting the shaft here, and the Jonny foreigner is getting wiped out over there, whilst the “dissents” for conformity and boot leaking of the power are busy keeping you busy with all manner of shite!!!
PS when are we to see the emergence of any parallels being drawn between the treatment of the Jews in the Nazi Germany and the Muslims in Europe today?
Nazi had Der Stürmer and few other publications to vilify the Jews, but that is not the case with the Muslims. These have a European wide gamut of publications to vilify them; Charlie Hebdo,……… Deccan Chronicle …..
While the Muslims are getting kicked to death and their deaths are being passed as mishaps and crimes, without any hint of hate crimes being the underlying cause. Because hate crime is an arbitrary crime that as and when the authorities declare thus!
@Clark,
For someone allegedly up to date and opposed to lies and misdirection applied by Western governments everyday, I find it hard to believe that you have failed to grasp the importance of the Bush Administration change policies in the Middle East beginning 2006.
As for Resident Dissident, far from his user name, RD is well versed is ignoring all detail that fails to fit in with his narrow mindset with regards to what the USA is capable of, or the jewel in his crown, Israel.
For your information and for the record Seymour Hersh detailed and chronicled the Bush administrations tactical change in the ME during 2006 and reported on said change in The New Yorker Magazine in March 2007, a full 4 years prior to the Arab String.
For those reading Modern History on many University Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses focusing on US foreign policy Seymour Hersh’s books are considered essential reading – maybe something to do with his Pulitzer Prize that he was awarded when the Fourth Estate actually did its job.
Here is the article & NO RD, you are no Seymour Hersh or Mr. Woodward, you are a disruptor though who ignores all evidence contrary to your narrow mindset – now please go pick holes in this, particularly how prescient Hersh’s musings turned out to be in view of the historical record post-2011.
The Redirection, Seymour Hersh, The New Yorker, March 2007: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/03/05/the-redirection
Fedup, I assume the moniker “Arab Spring” arose in the Western media. To me it is a label, nothing more. But the label pinned onto events is unimportant. I regard the protests in Egypt and Bahrain as genuine. Also the protests in Syria and Libya, but not the sudden appearance of gunmen.
The other matters you raise you do not need to convince me of. Time is precious and limited. I do not know what “a kabuki” is. Please try to be more clear and concise.
Chris Rogers, 11:13 am; please, please, please stop FIGHTING. Resident Dissident may be merely responding with aggression to the reams of aggression that get directed at him. That is a NORMAL human response. Each time you choose to fight rather than debate, whenever you attribute motive, you make the problem WORSE.
@Clark,
Where have you been, on numerous US-based Blog’s and indeed ‘News’ outlets, KABUKI is a commonly utilised word, in the UK, we’d usually in slang, say ‘bollocks’ or ‘bullshit’, however US-based peers usually avoid UK slang and utilise US words with a similar meaning. So, whilst it’s not Queen’s English, the fact remains its a heavily utilised word across the Atlantic and not one to be ignored or undermined.
I suggest you visit websites such as Naked Capitalism where contributors and general posters utilise ‘Kabuki’ in abundance, Naked capitalism being an invaluable resource for those following finance and US politics.