tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16399936812854768752024-03-13T12:33:04.785-07:00Linux BeachThis blog is dedicated to the struggles of people everywhere to advance human progress and save this planet from the decline of capitalism. Its focus, since 2011 has been supporting the emerging revolutions everywhere.Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.comBlogger1277125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-40752769082454963102023-09-10T21:43:00.002-07:002023-09-10T22:01:23.994-07:00A few thoughts on the question of Biden's age<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0xX68aCx5bdvWfDOT7X7agj3ez6MOIrJfrZFfhUDpwRfn9x1FDF0quiQXGdEcyC88BajDLBwG9H7D06VC9TnadcTciKWyW26Lrbo1zGS89xZrw5zkfS5HwPQxUmG_McNFcnN4GypQwp_D-e9XLw9ov1qWWbBfBut3adMxocCj0FwbqsllDQvqEMtS_0o/s2016/Ukriane-flag-Fba.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="954" data-original-width="2016" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0xX68aCx5bdvWfDOT7X7agj3ez6MOIrJfrZFfhUDpwRfn9x1FDF0quiQXGdEcyC88BajDLBwG9H7D06VC9TnadcTciKWyW26Lrbo1zGS89xZrw5zkfS5HwPQxUmG_McNFcnN4GypQwp_D-e9XLw9ov1qWWbBfBut3adMxocCj0FwbqsllDQvqEMtS_0o/s320/Ukriane-flag-Fba.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Ten years ago I was looking for a job as a Linux Systems Administrator and already 64 years old. Before I found the position at Rackspace Hosting that I would work for six years, I suffered a number of rejections that I suspect were age related. I get that. If an employer is faced with a choice between two applicants with comparable skill sets. i.e. either would make a capable Linux Systems Administrator, the vote may go to the younger applicant, even after much internal debate over the age question, for reasons I see no need to detail. I'm now retired, yet I still get job offers—because the IT industry has failed to train enough good Linux people, and BECAUSE, and this is the important point for our present discussion—<p></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-size: large;">In a contest between an applicant who knows Linux, and one who doesn't, the question of age doesn't even come up!</span></p><p><span style="color: red; font-size: medium;">Surprise! Surprise!</span></p><p>The main job of the President of the United States is to <i>"preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."</i></p><p>If one candidate, namely Joe Biden, vows to do just that, and has already done a pretty good job of it, and the other candidate, namely Trump, or one of his mini-mes, thinks the Constitution can, and should be <i>"suspended,"</i> and has already taken many measures to undermine and circumvent it, the question of age shouldn't even come up.</p><p>It's like if you were looking to hire a Linux Systems Administrator, and you interviewed a guy who said: <i>"Look, I don't know the Linux operating system, don't even like it, but I think you should be running everything on Windows, and I really know Windows."</i> You might even entertain his ideas for changing the system. But your decision about whether to hire a Linux person or this Windows guy would depend on him convincing you to throw out the system you've been using, and buying his. Again, applicant age considerations would fade into the background.</p><p>The paramount point here is that the two candidates represent two radically different visions of the United States. A vote for Biden is a vote for keeping the US the constitutional bourgeois democracy it has been for more than 200 years. A vote for Trump is a vote for replacing that with a white supremacist, misogynistic, autocracy and a mob boss operating as a virtue king.</p><p><span style="color: #04ff00; font-size: medium;"><b>Now I ask you: Where does age even enter into the equation on that question?</b></span></p><p>Anyone arguing that Biden's age should play a big role in this election is actually arguing for ending the US tradition of being a constitutional democracy, and using Biden's age as a way to get there.</p><p>my 2¢ worth..</p><p>Clay Claiborne</p><p>10 September 2023</p>Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-20545463590411537662023-08-21T00:00:00.002-07:002023-08-21T10:47:49.878-07:00Ten Years Ago Today: How the Left supported Assad's use of sarin against Syrians <p><span style="font-size: medium;">More of today's world than most people realize was shaped ten years ago when the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad challenged the conscious of the world by murdering more than 1400 Syrians, including hundreds of children, with the deadly nerve agent sarin. Much of what has happened since, has happened because of what he was allowed to get away with then.</span></p><p>That being the case, this would seem to be a good time to review my extensive contemporary writings on the subject:</p><p>Eleven years ago yesterday, US President Barack Obama made the famous <i>"red-line"</i> threat that he was to renege upon ten years ago. Within hours of his "threat," I wrote this:</p>08/20/2012 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2012/08/updated-obama-lights-assad-slaughter-in_4655.html">Obama <i>"green lights"</i> Assad's slaughter in Syria</a><br /><blockquote>In our culture a <i>"green light"</i> tells you when it is safe to do something, and while it can't be said that what Assad is doing has Obama's approval, he would prefer that he resigns, it can at the very least be said that he has Obama's acquiescence.</blockquote>originally <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2012/08/20/1122237/-BREAKING-Obama-green-lights-Assad-s-slaughter-in-Syria?showAll=yes">published on the Daily Kos</a>, as was what followed:<div><br />08/23/2012 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2012/08/assad-redline-and-obama-greenlight_2292.html">Assad's Redline and Obama's Greenlight!</a> In that, I wrote:<br /><blockquote>My Monday diary, <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/20/1122237/-BREAKING-Obama-green-lights-Assad-s-slaughter-in-Syria?showAll=yes">UPDATED: #Obama <i>"green lights"</i> #Assad's slaughter in #Syria</a>, has been roundly condemned among Kossacks here, earning it an unprecedented 31 donuts.<br /><br />However, it has been much appreciated by others much closer to the struggle and shared, liked or tweeted more than 200 times and the idea is finding resonance among Syrian activists as exampled by the articles below...</blockquote><div>I also promised this exhaustive original research, which I published three weeks later:</div><div><br />09/14/2012 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2012/09/barack-obama-courtship-of-bashar-al.html">Barack Obama's Courtship of Bashar al-Assad</a><br /><div><blockquote>This history of the relationship between the Obama administration and the regime of Bashar al-Assad has been done as an investigative partnership organised by WikiLeaks. I have been privileged to have access not only to the usual open source medias but also to three generally <i>"closed source"</i> databases highly relevant to my search, thanks to Wikileaks.</blockquote></div></div><div>On the day of the attack, I published these:</div><div><br />08/21/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/08/1300-dead-after-obama-green-lights-new.html">1300+ Dead after Obama <i>"Green-lights"</i> new CW attack in Syria</a></div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><blockquote>After the top US General, Martin Dempsey, told US Representative Eliot Engel on Monday that the Barack Obama administration opposes intervening militarily in Syria, the Assad regime today slaughtered over a thirteen-hundred Syrians with a chemical weapons attack, most of them women and children.</blockquote></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l8PvtrpxnlM/UhTb6X2pA8I/AAAAAAAAA1U/eEjrkNG6bts/s640/erbeen-mother.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="625" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l8PvtrpxnlM/UhTb6X2pA8I/AAAAAAAAA1U/eEjrkNG6bts/w391-h400/erbeen-mother.jpg" width="391" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">A mother in Damascus, found her child among a row of dead children | </span><a href="https://twitter.com/grasswire/status/370186543161290752" style="background-color: white; color: #004bbe; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; text-decoration-line: none;">21 Aug 2013</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div>08/21/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/08/assad-knows-chemical-attacks-kill.html">Assad Knows: Chemical Attacks Kill Children First!</a></div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span><blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">A few late night thoughts.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">Clearly these latest chemical attacks are the most terrible the Syrian people have witnessed. But there is something else about them. Something about the timing. They come almost a year to the day of </span><a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2012/08/updated-obama-lights-assad-slaughter-in_4655.html" style="background-color: white; color: #004bbe; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;">Obama's famous <i>"red-line"</i> proclamation</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">, almost as if Assad was mocking him.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">There is something else. Something much darker.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">I wrote </span><a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/07/assads-new-strategy-nothing-makes.html" style="background-color: white; color: #004bbe; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;"><b>Assad's New Strategy: Nothing Makes People Flee Like Murdering Their Children</b></a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> three weeks ago and it is terrible but it is true.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">There is something else I realized this evening, as I posted the pictures of the dead and dying children: </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">A chemical attack disproportionately affects children, it has a definite bias <i>in favor of</i> killing them - and Assad <i>knows this!</i></b></blockquote>Followed in quick succession by these:</div><div><br />08/22/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/08/antiwarcom-disparages-chemical-attack.html">AntiWar.com Disparages Chemical Attack in Syria</a></div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span><blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">I am reprinting an </span><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2013/08/21/syrian-rebels-claim-hundreds-killed-in-chemical-weapons-attack/" style="background-color: white; color: #004bbe; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;"><b>AntiWar</b>.com</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> blog post in full because I think this one should haunt them forever:</span></blockquote>08/29/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/08/obamas-dilemma-and-assads-opportunity.html">Obama's Dilemma a</a><a href="#">nd Assad's Opportunity</a></div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><blockquote>Obama's current dilemma is of his own making. He set it up almost precisely a year ago when he stumbled into the White House Press room and warned Assad not to cross his red-line. Obama has had a long working relationship with Assad and has never supported regime change in Syria but for political reasons he has been forced to feign support for the democratic struggle and opposition to Assad's use of military power to suppress his people.</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m35rpCW5ai0/UX7D9Le4CbI/AAAAAAAAAPI/Bx5iaRwIZWs/s550/Obama-stolls-Assad.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="389" data-original-width="550" height="283" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m35rpCW5ai0/UX7D9Le4CbI/AAAAAAAAAPI/Bx5iaRwIZWs/w400-h283/Obama-stolls-Assad.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></span><div><br /></div>08/29/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/08/bashar-al-assad-is-brutal-mass-murderer.html">Bashar al-Assad is a Brutal Mass Murderer</a></div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span><blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">Those like </span><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2013/8/28/as_strikes_on_syria_loom_is" style="background-color: white; color: #004bbe; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;">Amy Goodman and her guest yesterday on Democracy Now, Phyllis Bennis</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">, try to obscure who is slaughtering Syrians by blowing smoke around this latest chemical attack, should consider that they are defending a mass murderer who has killed tens of thousands with conventional weapons and is actively killing children even as they mount a defense of him.</span></blockquote>08/30/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/08/obama-denied-gas-masks-to-assads-victims.html">Obama Denied Gas Masks to Assad's Victims</a></div><div><div></div><blockquote><div>Knowing that Assad is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Syrians and laying waste to some of the oldest cities on Earth, it saddens me greatly to see members of the US peace movement marching under the banner of this dictator, as was the case yesterday:</div></blockquote><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vI8kd-7xA0c/UiDPVvtqJ4I/AAAAAAAAA3c/0zTBZGIGSB4/s640/pro-Assad-us-protest.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="369" data-original-width="640" height="231" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vI8kd-7xA0c/UiDPVvtqJ4I/AAAAAAAAA3c/0zTBZGIGSB4/w400-h231/pro-Assad-us-protest.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16.8px;"><i>"Peace activists"</i> marched with the pro-Assad reactionaries</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div>08/31/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-case-for-hands-off-syria.html">The case for ‘<i>Hands off Syria’</i></a></div><div><blockquote>Racan Alhoch: It comes as no surprise to me that the proponents of <i>‘Hands off Syria’</i> have been keeping their hands off Syria for almost three years now.</blockquote>08/31/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/08/win-win-for-assad-as-obama-response-to.html">Win-Win for Assad as Obama Response to CW Put on Hold</a></div><div><div><blockquote>Is there any thing else Barack Obama could do to make things better for his good buddy Bashar al-Assad?</blockquote></div>09/01/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-courtship-continues-obamas-new-gift.html">The Courtship Continues: Obama's New Gift to Assad</a></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vHLcupnEuL8/UiNjo7qUjcI/AAAAAAAAA4o/ye8CUragUJA/s640/cwpix-vb.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vHLcupnEuL8/UiNjo7qUjcI/AAAAAAAAA4o/ye8CUragUJA/w400-h300/cwpix-vb.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My display on Venice Beach Ocean Front Walk</td></tr></tbody></table><div><div><br />09/01/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/09/anti-war-in-form-pro-war-in-essence.html">Anti-War in Form, Pro-War in Essence</a><br /><blockquote> G. Sabra Jr.: <i>"No war with Syria"</i> is something a progressive like <a href="http://truth-out.org/video/item/18456-bennis-there-is-no-military-solution-to-syria">Phyllis Bennis</a> and a reactionary like <a href="http://truth-out.org/video/item/18456-bennis-there-is-no-military-solution-to-syria">Rand Paul</a> -- who wishes Bennis didn't have abortion rights, the right to vote, or enjoy affirmative action -- can get together on.</blockquote>09/02/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/09/how-obama-helped-assad-kill-with-poison.html">How Obama Helped Assad Kill with Poison Gas in Syria</a><blockquote>The United States has an excess supply of gas masks left over from the Iraq War filling up warehouses all over the region and yet Obama turned down persistent requests for them from the people Assad was killing even after he started killing them with gas.</blockquote></div>09/03/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/09/who-used-sarin-in-syria.html">Who Used Sarin in Syria?</a></div><div><div></div><blockquote><div>Still there have been strong currents on the Left who claim that they are clueless about who could be behind this genocidal attack. They dismiss the prima facie evidence as they dismiss the pictures of dead children. They talk like lawyers for Assad, demanding he be given the benefit of the doubt, no matter his other crimes. They counsel nothing should be done until all are satisfied by indisputable proof. They wonder <i>"Why the rush?"</i> They are not very concerned with preventing future attacks.</div><div><br /></div><div>There is another strong current on the Left that is striving to blame the victims. They are trying desperately to exonerate the Assad regime and come up with some theory on how Assad's opposition, the <i>"rebels" </i>are behind all of the chemical attacks, including this most recent one,..</div></blockquote><div></div>09/07/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/09/my-dare-to-ray-mcgovern-vips-on-syria.html">My dare to Ray McGovern & VIPS on Syria CW attack</a></div><div><div></div><blockquote><div>[Y]ou absolve the Assad Regime of responsibility for the chemical weapons attacks that took place in the Damascus area on 21 August without ever referencing the vast amount of carnage caused by aircraft, Scud missiles and heavy artillery that the Assad regime is solely responsible for.</div><div><br /></div><div>That alone, makes your chemical weapons memo a depraved defense of a mass murderer!</div></blockquote>09/08/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/09/why-would-assad-use-cw-with-un.html">Why would Assad use CW with UN Insp</a><a href="#">ectors in Syria?</a></div><div><div><blockquote>After the attack, the UN investigators weren't allowed to go anywhere near Ghouta. They couldn't even leave their hotel without Syrian government permission and their Syrian government minders. This is the key fact that undermines the claim that Assad wouldn't do it because the UN investigator were in town. What real difference did it make? They could have been on the other side of town or the other side of the planet; it would have made no difference since it would be four days before they were allowed to access the chemical weapons attack sites in Ghouta.</blockquote></div><div>09/08/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/09/dr-zaher-sahloul-on-cw-attacks-in-syria.html">Dr. Zaher Sahloul on the CW Attacks in Syria</a></div></div><div><blockquote>1. The regime should have held a press conference next day blaming the attack on the rebels, the terrorists, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey as it has done after Khan Alassal CWA attack in Aleppo in April 2013. This is a great chance for the regime to discredit the rebels once and for all. Instead the regime denied the attack completely as if it did not happen for the first 3 days.</blockquote>09/09/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/09/witness-to-cw-attack-when-paradise.html">Witness to CW Attack: When Paradise turned to Hell.</a><br />This was written by Luna Watfa and published anonymously before she was arrested and tortured by Assad's thugs for photographing the children he murdered with sarin, and transmitting those pictures to media Assad didn't control:</div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span><blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">Eastern Ghouta became today a symbol of death for the whole world to see. It has become a living hell in which souls die silently, along with all the details of a previous life, humans, trees, and stones.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">Eastern Ghouta woke up on 13 / Shawal / 1434, corresponding to August 21/2013 because of the sound of rockets fired from the brigade 155. The 12 rockets fell in Zamalka and Ain Tarma around two-thirty in the morning (2:30 A.M). These towns have high population density and they are far from the military front-line. Most people were asleep and they awoke to an enormous tragedy, people fell dead and those who were asleep, did not ever wake up. The scene was very painful.</span></blockquote>09/09/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/09/why-did-assad-regime-first-deny-cw.html">Why did Assad Regime first Deny CW Attack if Blameles</a><a href="#">s?</a></div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><blockquote>In the immediate aftermath of the chemical attack, the Syrian government didn't act like an injured party. It acted like a guilty party. It hoped that it could cover up the chemical attack completely. Rather that act to rescue the injured and preserve the evidence for the UN investigators, it denied the investigator access for four days while it bombarded the area, destroying evidence and killing witnesses.</blockquote></span>09/11/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/09/secret-intel-source-of-ray-mcgovern.html">Secret Intel Source of Ray McGovern & VIPS Revealed!</a></div><div><div><blockquote>So it would appear that the source of VIPS intelligence is not active CIA case officers speaking to old colleges like Ray McGovern, Philip Giraldi, Larry Johnson and Ann Wright on the q-t, it is Yossef Bodansky writing for the pro-Assad, pro-Qaddafi, pro-Russian website Global Research.</blockquote></div>09/12/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/09/breaking-new-chemical-attack-reported.html">BREAKING: New Chemical Attack reported in S</a><a href="#">yri</a><a href="#">a</a></div><div><blockquote>The use of chlorine clearly sets up this attack to be blamed on the opposition and the silence on this attack by the mainstream media and the Obama administration (In the hope that they could just sweep this inconvenient attack under the carpet, so to speak?) now allows the Assad regime and friends to <i>"reveal"</i> this attack in a manner of their choosing. Obama is being so played on this!</blockquote>09/16/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/09/un-hints-assad-used-russian-rockets-in.html">UN hints Assad used Russian rockets in sarin gas attack</a></div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span><blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">The </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">United Nations</b><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> has this day </span><a href="http://www.un.org/disarmament/content/slideshow/Secretary_General_Report_of_CW_Investigation.pdf" style="background-color: white; color: #004bbe; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;">released a report</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> on its investigation into the attack that took place in the Damascus suburbs in Syria on 21 August 2013. The investigation found that sarin gas rockets were used to kill hundreds while they slept. While the report was not allowed to name the perpetrator, all the evidence points to the Assad Regime. Furthermore, it would appear that the source of some of the rockets used in the chemical attack is the very country that is expected to oversee Assad disarmament of chemical weapons, Russia!</span></blockquote></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nEzgiEG1e88/UjdEgmHg0mI/AAAAAAAAA98/DG-_4vZGphI/s640/179-rocket-1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="455" data-original-width="640" height="285" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nEzgiEG1e88/UjdEgmHg0mI/AAAAAAAAA98/DG-_4vZGphI/w400-h285/179-rocket-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">Graphic from UN Report</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>09/18/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/09/obama-blocks-icc-war-crimes-prosecution.html">Obama blocks ICC war crimes prosecution of Ass</a><a href="#">ad</a></div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span><blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">Confirming what I wrote a year ago in </span><a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2012/09/barack-obama-courtship-of-bashar-al_4519.html" style="background-color: white; color: #004bbe; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;">Barack Obama's Courtship of Bashar al-Assad</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">, the Obama Administration is now joining with Russia and China in blocking the International Criminal Court prosecution of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for war crimes.</span></blockquote>09/25/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/09/where-robert-fisks-defence-of-assad.html">Where Robert Fisk's defense of Assad falls down</a></div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span><blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">When that story could no longer cut the </span><s style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">mustard</s><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> sarin, </span><a href="http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_08_30/Syrian-rebels-take-responsibility-for-the-chemical-attack-admitting-the-weapons-were-provided-by-Saudis-1203/" style="background-color: white; color: #004bbe; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;">the Russians bought into</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> the </span><a href="http://www.mintpressnews.com/witnesses-of-gas-attack-say-saudis-supplied-rebels-with-chemical-weapons/168135/" style="background-color: white; color: #004bbe; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;">Mint Press story</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> about how rebels in a tunnel bungled a bottle of gas given them by Saudi Prince Bandar and caused all the deaths, still without rockets. Now that story has been completely discredited. So finally they admit that Russian rockets were involved, just as </span><a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/09/un-hints-assad-used-russian-rockets-in.html" style="background-color: white; color: #004bbe; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;">I wrote</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> on the day the UN report came out.</span></blockquote>09/26/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/09/more-on-ex-journalist-robert-fisks.html">More on ex-journalist Robert Fisk's defense of A</a><a href="#">ssad</a></div><div><div><blockquote>When Robert Fisk advances this thesis, he does it with a flourish worthy of an ex-journalist turned propagandist and he does it in the name of unnamed UN employees...</blockquote></div>10/02/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-courtship-continues-obama-stopped.html">The Courtship Continues: Obama stopped French strike on Assad</a></div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span><blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">It seems that the French, which did their own investigation of the chemical attack in Damascus, [ see </span><a href="http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/09/03/french_spies_provide_new_details_on_assads_chemical_weapons_program" style="background-color: white; color: #004bbe; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;">this</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> and </span><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/09/02/france-releases-intelligence-report-on-syrian-chemical-weapons-use.html" style="background-color: white; color: #004bbe; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;">this</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> in English, and </span><a href="http://www.gouvernement.fr/sites/default/files/fichiers_joints/syrie_synthese_nationale_de_renseignement_declassifie_02_09_2013.pdf" style="background-color: white; color: #004bbe; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;">official report in French here</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> ], and drew their own conclusions, were already warming up jets for a strike against Assad's missile batteries and command centres of the 4th Armoured Division in charge of chemical weapons, when US President Barack Obama made them call it off. </span></blockquote>10/07/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-courage-of-ghouta-in-craven-world_7.html">The Courage of Ghouta in a Craven World</a></div><div><div><blockquote>The bombardment of the rebellious communities of East and West Ghouta continues today just it did for months before the sarin gas attack of 21 August brought these neighbourhoods to the attention of the world. Now, in return for a promise to give up his chemical weapons, Assad is being welcomed in from the cold. Meanwhile, he has tightened his siege of those communities to the point were he has cut off all food and medical supplies, electricity and telephone, and a craven world looks the other way as he is being allowed to starve to death the children who survived his poison gas attack.</blockquote></div>10/14/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/10/why-return-of-chemical-weapons-is-big.html">Why the return of chemical weapons is a big deal</a></div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span><blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">One day people will rue the day that poison gas was re-introduced into class warfare and the antiwar movement sat on its hands.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;" /><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">Poison gas is the perfect ultimate weapon for the bourgeois to use against the proletariat. That is why Assad is using it now.</span></blockquote>10/18/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/10/disillusion-in-syrias-armed-opposition.html">Disillusion in Syria’s Armed Opposition</a></div><div><blockquote>Mohammed Alaa Ghanem, Syrian American Council: <span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">As top politicians representing the Syrian opposition pushed their case with world leaders on the sidelines of the opening of the U.N. General Assembly, a dozen rebel brigades inside Syria, fed up with waiting for elusive Western support, issued a joint statement rejecting their political leaders and called on both military and civilian groups in Syria to<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><i style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“consolidate under an Islamic framework ... with Sharia as the main source of legislation.”</span></i></blockquote>11/24/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/11/how-obama-has-supported-assads-gas.html">How Obama has supported Assad's gas murder always</a></div><div><blockquote>The facts and history described in this article reveals a US government that had come to accept the routine <i>"tactical"</i> use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime against his opposition, and indirectly supported their effective use both by denial of basic protective devices to those being gassed and by a public denial of the fact that they were being gassed. This story reveals a damning history of US government complicity with the Assad Regime's gas murder and its biggest flaw is that it tries to excuse this trail of evidence as <i>"missteps"</i> and <i>"miscalculations."</i></blockquote>The struggles against the Assad apologists for his sarin murders continues to this day:</div><div><br />12/09/2013 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/12/whose-seymour-hersh.html">Whose Seymour Hersh?</a></div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span><blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">[Hersh] agrees with Assad that the only real choice for Syria's future is between the jihadists and his regime, and given those choices, he favors the Assad Regime.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">It is important to understand that this is where Seymour Hersh is coming from in evaluating </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Whose sarin?</b><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">, because, for all of Seymour Hersh's historic accomplishments, it is little more than another poorly written and poorly sourced piece designed to muddy the waters as to who is responsible for the sarin gas attack in Ghouta on 21 August this year. </span></blockquote>01/28/2014 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2014/01/ex-journalist-robert-fisk-one-is.html">Ex-journalist Robert Fisk: One is remind</a><a href="#">ed of Goebbels</a></div><div><blockquote>Joseph Goebbels was Adolph Hitler's chief propagandist, and while Assad is no Hitler and Fisk is no Goebbels, it should be remembered that Goebbels was a journalist who fashioned himself a left-winger before he started shilling for a fascist dictator.</blockquote>03/09/2014 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2014/03/un-assad-sarin-used-in-attacks-lefts.html">UN: Assad sarin used in attacks | The Left's response?</a></div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span><blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">Flying under the headlines this week, while all eyes are focused on the clouds gathering over Ukraine, the United Nations published the 7th report of the </span><a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/IICISyria/Pages/IndependentInternationalCommission.aspx" style="background-color: white; color: #004bbe; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">. This report was published on 5 March 2014 although it is dated 12 February 2014. This report goes further than the UN has ever gone before in placing the blame for the use of poison gas in Syria squarely on the Assad Regime. </span></blockquote><div>Almost a decade before Sy Hersh attempted to exonerate Putin for any responsibility for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline sabotage, he busied himself attempting to exonerate Assad for the sarin murders. I took him on with a vengeance! </div><div><br /></div>04/08/2014 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2014/04/seymour-hershs-believe-it-or-dont_8.html">Seymour Hersh's Believe It or Don't</a></div><div><blockquote>Repetition is at the heart of the Assad-Putin propaganda method, what might also be called the RT method. It is widely supported by the <i>"non-(NATO) interventionist"</i> Left. You make up a lie and you keep repeating it. Lack of proof is not an obstacle, just keep repeating it. Anonymous sources won't impeach its credibility as long as you keep repeating it. Even after it has clearly been disproved, you pay that no never mind and you keep repeating it.</blockquote>04/10/2014 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2014/04/seymour-hershs-chemical-weapons-fetish.html">Seymour Hersh's chemical weapons fetish</a></div><div><div><div><blockquote>The purpose of this essay is not to add more proofs of Assad's responsibility for the poison gas attacks, but put that in a larger context and to point out that most of those killed in the Syrian conflict have been killed with conventional weapons and the vast majority of those have been killed by the Assad regime, so no matter how you slice it, Hersh et al are defending a mass murderer while ignoring all those murders by non-chemical means.</blockquote></div></div>04/13/2014 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2014/04/after-hersh-lays-smoke-screen-assad.html">After Hersh lays smok</a><a href="#">e screen, Assad lobes gas bombs</a></div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span><blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">His piece became like a call to action for Assad supporters everywhere to renew the claims that Assad didn't do it, repeat all the Fall conspiracy theories, and try to build unity among the conflicting versions. For example, Mint Press came out in support of Hersh, in spite of the fact that they had been supporting a </span><a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/09/mint-press-exposed-as-assad-apologist.html" style="background-color: white; color: #004bbe; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;">version</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> of how the rebels gassed themselves that involved untrained rebels in a tunnel bungling a big tank of sarin given to them by Saudi Prince Bandar. Hersh's current version has the Turks ramroding al Nursa, and using missiles, no Bandar, no tank, no tunnel. But nevermind about that, these Assad supporters are flexible, the main point is that Assad didn't do it and the rebels did. That is why all those that had formerly promoted a version that had the CIA and/or Qatar masterminding the chemical attacks were as quick as Mint Press to jump on the Hersh campaign bus.</span></blockquote>05/10/2014 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-appeasement-of-putin-began-in-syria.html">The appeasement of Putin began in Syria</a></div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span><blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">My hands-down favorite gangster movie is </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The Godfather</b><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> and when we speak of Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin we are definitely in gangster territory. There is a famous scene when Don Vito Corleone, the Godfather, realizes who his real nemesis is: </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">“Tattaglia is a pimp. He never could have outfought Santino. But I didn't know until this day that it was Barzini all along.”</i><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">One day soon Obama will come to realize that Assad is a pimp and it has been Putin all along. </span></blockquote>11/16/2015 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-imperial-lefts-sarin-song-still.html">The Imperial Left's sarin song: still <i>"Regime Change"</i> after all these years!</a></div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span><blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">The revolution was less than two weeks old, 27 March 2011 when </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Secretary of State Hillary Clinton</b><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> was </span><a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2011/03/159210.htm" style="background-color: white; color: #004bbe; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;">asked</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> on </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Face the Nation</b><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">, </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"Can we expect the United States to enter the conflict in the way we have entered the conflict in Libya?"</i><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> Her answer was </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"No. Each of these situations is unique, Bob."</i><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> The headline that went out the next day </span><a href="http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/qatar/147143-no-attack-on-syria-clinton.html" style="background-color: white; color: #004bbe; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;">was</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">: </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Clinton: No attack on Syria.</b></blockquote>12/14/2015 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2015/12/from-luna-watfa-death-accompanies-you.html">From Luna Watfa: Death accompanies you on every step</a> This was written after she was released from Assad's custody, and was making her way to Germany:</div><div><blockquote>To die in Syria is very likely. However, at least you have a fighting chance on this horror trip. Therefore, you take that chance and put the most valuable thing on the line that you have: yourself, in the hope to being able to start a new life.</blockquote>12/15/2015 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2015/12/truth-revealed-2013-east-ghouta-sarin.html">Truth Revealed: 2013 East Ghouta sarin attack was done by aliens!</a></div><div><blockquote>Anyone who's ever seen <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_the_Body_Snatchers">Invasion on the Body Snatchers</a> knows what's going on here.</blockquote>12/24/2015 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2015/12/from-luna-watfa-do-not-stop-keep-going.html">From Luna Watfa: "Do not stop, keep going ... keep moving!"</a></div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><blockquote>It took me two weeks to reach Germany. I thought the waiting and suffering would now have an end - but I was wrong. </blockquote></span>01/05/2016 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2016/01/luna-watfa-enemy-of-syrian-state.html">Luna Watfa: Enemy of Syrian State admitted sarin photos were fakes!</a></div><div></div><blockquote><div>Most in the opposition couldn't understand why Obama would renege on his promise and fail to strike Assad. Luna's SNC contact was so confident that the US was about to act that he told Luna that no more photographs would be required. When the US and other world powers failed to act after Assad's big sarin attack, it had a devastating impact on the morale of his opposition. Beyond Assad, those extremists that had long warned against western treachery were the biggest beneficiaries. </div></blockquote><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span><blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">Luna was finally released 25 February 2015 from the women's prison in Adra after more than a year in the regime's custody. She then reunited with her husband Basel in Turkey and they have since made their way to Germany. Luna is still looking forward to being reunited with her children - Sara, 13 and Obada, 16.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">After all this, Patrick McCann now thinks that Assad is responsible for the sarin murders. He wrote me, 11 November 2015:</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><blockquote style="background: rgb(238, 240, 246); border: 1px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; padding: 10px;"><i>Despite being unsure of the veracity of those who report it (e.g. John Kerry), I believe that Assad may very well be guilty.</i></blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">He still doesn't understand that is was not John Kerry but Luna Watfa that he was calling a liar, and it was Luna Watfa that paid the price.</span></blockquote>02/01/2016 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2016/02/from-luna-watfa-under-mercy-of.html">From Luna Watfa: Under The Mercy of Potentials 2</a></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LYoKdzlPKfk/Vq_25YqbpdI/AAAAAAAADfI/OuZRLMq04o4/s640/pic13.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LYoKdzlPKfk/Vq_25YqbpdI/AAAAAAAADfI/OuZRLMq04o4/w400-h300/pic13.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Brothers and sisters from Syria, Aleppo. Happily waiting </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">at Budapest train station to move towards Austria the day </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">when Germany closed its borders at night. Hungary. 13/9/2015.</span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>04/29/2016 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2016/04/robert-f-kennedys-jr-andromeda-strain.html">Robert F. Kennedy's Jr. Andromeda Strain</a></div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span><blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">He seems to equate Arab with Islamic which is odd since the Arab that murdered his father, </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Sirhan Bishara Sirhan</b><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirhan_Sirhan#Early_life" style="background-color: white; color: #004bbe; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;">was a Palestinian Christian.</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> </span></blockquote>07/19/2016 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2016/07/inspite-of-un-deal-assad-continues-to.html">In spite of UN deal Assad continues to make & use chemical weapons</a></div><div><blockquote>Obama never planned to carry out his red-line threat, and so this Left opposition was helpful. Instead he supported a Russian program that required Assad to give up all the CW weapons and production facilities he was willing to admit to having.</blockquote>09/29/2016 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2016/09/chemical-weapons-attacks-expand-beyond.html">Chemical Weapons attacks expand beyond Syria</a></div><div><blockquote>When most of the Left supported US President Barack Obama's decision to renege on his promise to take military action if Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons on his people, others warned that this acceptance of the re-introduction of the formerly banned weapons against mass rebellion would be followed by a wider use and a darker future. Now Amnesty International is reporting that Sudanese dictator, Omar al-Bashir, has been using chemical weapons for the first time in the Darfur conflict.</blockquote>04/05/2017 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2017/04/noam-chomsky-regurgitates-2012-putin.html">Noam Chomsky regurgitates 2012 Put</a><a href="#">in propaganda to excuse latest sarin murders</a></div><div><blockquote>He seems to hold the US responsible for all acts of violence committed by the Assad regime in the past four years because, according to the Russians, it miss an opportunity to get Assad out in 2012:</blockquote>04/16/2017 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2017/04/why-would-assad-use-sarin-in-syria-now.html">Why would Assad use sarin in Syria now?</a></div><div><div><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></b><blockquote><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Ajamu Baraka</b><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> thought </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Hillary Clinton</b><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> much more dangerous than </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Donald Trump</b><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">. Last year he was the </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Green Party</b><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> vice presidential candidate and together with his running mate, </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Jill Stein</b><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">, they diverted enough progressive votes to put Trump in the White House, but in 2013 </span><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/09/02/the-human-rights-hypocrisy-of-the-west/" style="background-color: white; color: #004bbe; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;">he was part</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> of the Assad didn't do it chorus,...</span></blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span></div>04/26/2017 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2017/04/sincerely-yours-theodore-postol.html">Sincerely yours, Theodore A. Postol</a></div><div><blockquote>"Sincerely yours?" Really? Who signs a scientific paper about a chemical weapons attack "Sincerely yours?" The answer is Theodore A. Postol, Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology, and National Security Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, when he is trying to use the mantles of science and position to pull the wool over our eyes.</blockquote>04/28/2017 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2017/04/please-re-tweet-as-ted-postol-beats.html">Please Re-Tweet as Ted Postol beats a hasty retreat</a></div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><blockquote>Poor Postol. He wants so badly to please his Syrian Sister, but no matter how hard he tries, he can't seen to get it right. First he rushes to press with his own theory of how Assad didn't do it, only to discover his theory blows their alibi. So he ditches his theory to back their alibi, and in his zeal to find new proofs for them, ends up calling them out for lying again.</blockquote></span>04/30/2017 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2017/04/dr-postols-correction-shows-he-still.html">Dr. Postol's "correction" shows he still needs Reading Comprehension 101</a></div><div><div><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></b><blockquote><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Doctor Theodore A. Postol, Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology, and National Security Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology</b><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> issued a </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"correction"</i><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> yesterday. This correction didn't explain the apparent contradiction between </span><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/critique_white_house_fabrications_syrias_alleged_use_of_lethal_gas_20170414" style="background-color: white; color: #004bbe; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;">his earlier theory</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> that jihadist terrorists set off a chemical pipe-bomb in the street and </span><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/russian_explanation_of_the_mass_poisoning_in_syria_could_be_true_20170426" style="background-color: white; color: #004bbe; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;">his current support</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> for claims by the Russians and the regime that they bombed a terrorist arms depot that stored chemical weapons. </span></blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span></div>05/01/2017 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2017/05/postols-apostles-normalization-of.html">Postol's Apostles & the normalization of chemical weapons use</a><br /><blockquote>Human Right Watch published this May Day a four minute video that graphically documents what I have feared most would result from the world's indifference to the suffering of the Syrian people. That has been the normalization of the use of chemical weapons against rebellious civilian populations. The HRW reports how the Assad regime has regularized the use of chemical weapons in the past six months while the world paid it no never mind. Only with the 92 sarin murders at Khan Sheikhoun has the matter made the news again, and this has again brought out Assad's defenders to blame the victims and "question the evidence." In the cases of attacks that don't make the news they don't question the evidence because they don't have to be bothered.</blockquote>05/03/2017 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2017/05/reading-comprehension-101-for-mit.html">Reading Comprehension 101 for MIT Professor Dr. Ted Postol</a><br /></div><div><blockquote>I know you faced a certain amount of ridicule along these lines because in critiquing the French Report, you "missed" that when they referred to the sarin attack that occurred on 29 April 2013 in Saraqib, they were talking about a different attack than the one that occurred in Khan Sheikhoun last month. So I'd like to begin with some words of encouragement. When last you wrote and made a "correction" to that original critique of the French report, you said you thought that report focused on the sarin attack of 29 August 2013, and "does not report on the details of the attack on April 4." With this new paper from you, I see that you have found those details. This shows that you are making progress already!</blockquote></div><div>05/05/2017 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2017/05/who-runs-syria-whos-assads-daddy.html">Who runs Syria? Why are more sarin attacks coming?</a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAg4lyhekvwReXEiGOpi6CWuJEVadLN1vaCq9ZU1ntuM6caaX_ZwkS8VPae8eTlT0QyxpaqiGbFxgoRzy00cxCedOtH7bwpnDVDUQyagV5tgs8ptQtmE5ePKh6T2Yo02aVWsFOzdN4JrVpjM_1YIZM8jCpOjPtQ5VHDwVgUUNHbZzrb6SB9vxSiUkdmUo/s1017/Screenshot%20from%202023-08-21%2000-02-01.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="478" data-original-width="1017" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAg4lyhekvwReXEiGOpi6CWuJEVadLN1vaCq9ZU1ntuM6caaX_ZwkS8VPae8eTlT0QyxpaqiGbFxgoRzy00cxCedOtH7bwpnDVDUQyagV5tgs8ptQtmE5ePKh6T2Yo02aVWsFOzdN4JrVpjM_1YIZM8jCpOjPtQ5VHDwVgUUNHbZzrb6SB9vxSiUkdmUo/w640-h301/Screenshot%20from%202023-08-21%2000-02-01.png" width="640" /></a></div><div>05/10/2017 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2017/05/are-scott-horton-ted-postol-holocaust.html">Are Scott Horton & Ted Postol holocaust enablers?</a></div><div><div></div><blockquote><div>There are forces, some on the Right and some on the Left, that speak out on questions related to Syria only when the slaughter that has been raging for the past five years rises to a level that floods it into the mainstream media. Then they jump into action to defend those that have unquestionably been responsible for the overwhelming proportion of murders in Syria by arguing that it can't be proven that these particular murders were committed by regime forces. These people are what I call</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">HOLOCAUST ENABLERS.</div></blockquote>05/12/2017 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2017/05/dr-ted-postol-misreads-hrw-report-on.html">Dr. Ted Postol misreads the HRW Report on Khan Sheikhoun</a></div><div><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></b><blockquote><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Doctor Theodore A. Postol, Professor Emeritus of Science, Technology, and National Security Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology</b><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> believes these local residents don't know what they are talking about, </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">or worst</i><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">, they are part of a deep state conspiracy that involves obviously the White House, as usual, the French, a couple of guys in England, and now apparently also Human Rights Watch. In spite of those odds, his Syrian Sister can rest assured that Dr. Ted is as yet undaunted in his defense of </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Syrian President Bashar al-Assad</b><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">. </span></blockquote>06/27/2017 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2017/06/putin-more-chemical-attacks-being.html">Putin: More chemical attacks being prepared in Syria</a></div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><blockquote>When this headline appeared in Russian media just days after the sarin gas attack in Khan Sheikhoun killed over a hundred civilians it got almost no notice in the United States.</blockquote></span>07/04/2017 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2017/07/sy-hershs-increditable-secret-source.html">Sy Hersh's incredible secret source</a></div><div><div><blockquote>Sy Hersh's latest defense of Assad, Trump's Red Line, published by Welt, 25 June 2017, makes the bold claim that we are the victims of fake news and there really were no victims of a sarin attack in Khan Sheikhoun in April. His claim has been lauded and repeated by a number of commenters, including Scott Ritter and Ray McGovern, who like Hersh himself, are people I use to admire.</blockquote></div></div><div>07/06/2017 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2017/07/syria-seymour-hersh-and-sarin-denialists.html">Syria, Seymour Hersh and the Sarin denialists</a></div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span><blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">An important post by </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Brian Whitaker</b><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">, Former Middle East editor of </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The Guardian</b><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">, 1 July 2017. Republished from his website </span><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><a href="http://al-bab.com/" style="color: #004bbe; text-decoration-line: none;">www.al-bab.com</a>.</b></blockquote>07/07/2017 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2017/07/seymour-hersh-exposes-russian-syrian.html">Seymour Hersh exposes Russian & Syrian lies about sarin attack</a></div><div><div class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></div><blockquote><div class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Dr. Ted said that jihadist terrorists set off a sarin pipe bomb in the middle of the street. He said they staged it as a <i>"false flag"</i> attack while a Syrian war plane was overhead, however he did agree with just about every other investigation, <a href="https://www.opcw.org/fileadmin/OPCW/Fact_Finding_Mission/s-1510-2017_e_.pdf" style="color: #004bbe; text-decoration-line: none;">including now the <b>OPCW</b></a>, on one important point - that there was a chemical attack. Hersh denies even this! Postol said in his <a href="http://www.moonofalabama.org/images5/Postol-Shaykhan.pdf" style="color: #004bbe; text-decoration-line: none;">initial report</a>: </div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background: rgb(238, 240, 246); border: 1px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; padding: 10px;"><div class="tr_bq">The only indisputable facts stated in the White House report is the claim that a chemical attack using nerve agent occurred in Khan Shaykhun, Syria on that morning.</div></blockquote><div class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Now Hersh and his supporters dispute what even Ted Postol found indisputable! We've come a long way in two months. What's the saying?: <i>"Like it never even happened!"</i></div></blockquote><div class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><i></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0uzfC5_BHPo/UX7Z3KRSC5I/AAAAAAAAAP4/I_mRDXAOslQI41j-BXKKYEJaGXTAZmejgCPcBGAYYCw/s720/Putin-fuels-Assad.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="720" height="220" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0uzfC5_BHPo/UX7Z3KRSC5I/AAAAAAAAAP4/I_mRDXAOslQI41j-BXKKYEJaGXTAZmejgCPcBGAYYCw/s320/Putin-fuels-Assad.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>07/10/2017 <a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2017/07/russia-admits-sarin-used-in-spite-of-sy.html">Russia admits sarin used in spite of Sy Hersh fantasy</a></div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span><blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">If Hersh is right about the original target and reason for hitting it, and he is also speaking truth when he says both the Russians and Syrians made sure this was well known my all players in the region, why have they never made these claims and in fact made quite contradictory claims?</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">Why is this story a Hersh exclusive? It's because he is feeding us the whole cloth.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"><i>Can we finally put to rest any reverence for Seymour Hersh's Pulitzer?</i></span></blockquote>05/31/2019 <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2019/05/lies-damned-lies-and-engineering-sub.html">Lies, damned lies, and engineering sub-team reports</a><br /></div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span><blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">Lately, many on the </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">“anti-imperialist”</i><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> Left have been slaphappy about a </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">“leaked”</i><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> OPCW engineering sub-team report they think exonerates Bashar al-Assad of the chlorine mass murder that took place in Douma, Syria, 7 April 2018. Like the Trump cabal after Attorney General William Barr said that Robert Mueller found no obstruction, their delight will soon fade when it is shown that the 15-page note to the OPCW is about as valuable as Barr's 4-page </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">“summary”</i><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> of the Mueller report. I will show why all the theatrics surrounding this 15-page note is much ado about nothing, but first I must set the stage by going into a little history.</span></blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span></div><div>06/05/2019 <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2019/06/dr-ted-postol-rides-again-right-into.html">Dr. Ted Postol rides again - right into the OPCW "leak" controversy</a></div><div><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span><blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">The way they talked about this one attack, you should be forgiven for not knowing this was just one of </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/syrian-military-linked-to-more-than-300-chemical-attacks-report-says/2019/02/16/c6e128de-31d4-11e9-ac6c-14eea99d5e24_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a685c483933c" style="background-color: white; color: #004bbe; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;">more than 300 chemical attacks</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> in Syria since 2012. Maté, says dozens were killed, so you should be forgive for not knowing that </span><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-43686157" style="background-color: white; color: #004bbe; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;">70 were killed</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">, and over </span><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-chemical-weapons-attack-latest-sarin-douma-eastern-ghouta-nerve-agent-chlorine-russia-us-uk-a8294741.html" style="background-color: white; color: #004bbe; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;">500 were injured</a><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">. They made no mention of the current carnage Assad and his Russian patron are causing in Idlib today, even as Grayzone seeks to exonerate them for the war crimes they committed a year ago.</span></blockquote><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"></span></div><div>06/25/2019 <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2019/06/russians-war-on-opcw-putting-henderson.html">Russian's War on the OPCW— Putting the Henderson "leak" in context</a></div><div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"></div></div><blockquote><div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">That international ban has largely held, with a few notable exceptions, for more than 85 years. However, now it would seem that chemical weapons are on something of a comeback. This started in 2012 in Syria, where there have been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/syrian-military-linked-to-more-than-300-chemical-attacks-report-says/2019/02/16/c6e128de-31d4-11e9-ac6c-14eea99d5e24_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a685c483933c" style="color: #004bbe; text-decoration-line: none;">more than 300 reported</a> chemical attacks linked to the Assad regime. But CW hasn't been just for Syria anymore. Since 2012, CW attacks have also <a href="https://www.opcw.org/media-centre/news/2018/06/cwc-conference-states-parties-adopts-decision-addressing-threat-chemical" style="color: #004bbe; text-decoration-line: none;">been reported</a> in Malaysia, Northern Ireland, Iraq, the UK, <a href="https://thebulletin.org/2017/01/did-sudan-use-chemical-weapons-in-darfur-last-year/" style="color: #004bbe; text-decoration-line: none;">and</a> <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/09/chemical-weapons-attacks-darfur/" style="color: #004bbe; text-decoration-line: none;">Sudan</a>.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">This is a worrying trend that should concern us all.</div></div></blockquote><div>06/27/2019 <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2019/06/working-group-can-you-find-henderson-or.html">“Working Group” Can you find Henderson or “leak” his full OPCW report?</a></div><div><div><blockquote>United States Attorney General William Barr has recently shown us how much we should trust an “Executive Summary” while we are being denied the full report. No one should continue to give this so-called "Executive Summary" a minutes attention as long as the document being summarized is missing and the author is unavailable to validate his work.</blockquote></div></div></div><div>Before Ukraine, there was Syria—Hilary has passed.</div><div><br /></div><div>Clay Claiborne</div><div>20 August 2023</div>Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-62022292335007890802023-06-07T22:16:00.001-07:002023-06-07T22:16:23.690-07:00Russia never committed a war crime it didn't deny<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0vhCV5nG1qvXsxy09H4kbPJ1SdtT9qSnyPJV6-uq2naKTB-OvnniQwdaL9oPr8cyWsNs2BmgLQg8lY2h9tm7bJlXbeSkmX9S0-at5k9tyNgrVGlQXcnmQ8lOwu9nHDmQstKDC_xvZ23ViA8sizlaJ6Q7han9L_D3yC3bYtQVnttOxvHHbUrk_Mipk/s1285/Screenshot%20from%202023-06-07%2021-35-23.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="1285" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0vhCV5nG1qvXsxy09H4kbPJ1SdtT9qSnyPJV6-uq2naKTB-OvnniQwdaL9oPr8cyWsNs2BmgLQg8lY2h9tm7bJlXbeSkmX9S0-at5k9tyNgrVGlQXcnmQ8lOwu9nHDmQstKDC_xvZ23ViA8sizlaJ6Q7han9L_D3yC3bYtQVnttOxvHHbUrk_Mipk/s320/Screenshot%20from%202023-06-07%2021-35-23.png" width="320" /></a></div>If the Russians don't care about preserving Ukrainian people or infrastructure with their invasion of Ukraine, and their practice to this point shows they don't, it makes perfect military sense for them to blow the dam and put all that water between their positions south of the Dnipro River and the Ukrainian forces north of it, just as the Ukrainians are launching their long awaited "Going South" counter-offensive.<div><br /></div><div>Ukraine loses a lot with the dam blown. So will the people of the world for that matter. It will knockout much of the hydroelectric power in a country that has already had much of its electrical infrastructure destroyed by Russia's relendless bombing of it this winter. It also seriously disrupts the water supply, threatening to turn much of what has been called the breadbasket of the world into desert. Recently, Moscow has also been seen taking out combines with missiles. Destroying Ukrainian wheat production is another of the Kremlin's war goals served by the burst dam. The pain of food shortages caused by Russia will be felt far from the battlefields of Ukraine. <br /><br />Still, true to form, Russia denies blowing up the Nova Kakhovka dam.</div><div><br /><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrkMxv172S19W6ddlBygI0SnOMxhrL03PeqZKw3QPfjcqPiXqlnDfPRI48uEWpd6vHogtbENwWaddgYn82SvaYDZurmoWkFAyI2ehluxSJxvm4XqWVI0s19EHXR90W0i8tuOScXTch2kRDRyK9xAdqGV-Awhua_pbTiTx8aAwB4iphvm3yJrvsN6KG" style="clear: right; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="646" data-original-width="1014" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrkMxv172S19W6ddlBygI0SnOMxhrL03PeqZKw3QPfjcqPiXqlnDfPRI48uEWpd6vHogtbENwWaddgYn82SvaYDZurmoWkFAyI2ehluxSJxvm4XqWVI0s19EHXR90W0i8tuOScXTch2kRDRyK9xAdqGV-Awhua_pbTiTx8aAwB4iphvm3yJrvsN6KG=w320-h203" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Dmitry Peskov</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div>"We can state unequivocally that we are talking about deliberate sabotage by the Ukrainian side,"</i> of the Nova Kakhovka dam—while it was under the control of Russian occupation forces, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov only hours after the dam was breached. <div><br /></div><div>This allowed Democracy Now to claim:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2023/6/6/headlines/ukraine_and_russia_blame_one_another_as_dam_breach_forces_mass_evacuations_along_dnipro_river"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>Ukraine and Russia Blame One Another</b></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>As if that's all we know.</i></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2_A0BxffICYWbekdbydTXa2ZgLjTXy2oL3jcWU6JaHc2WosjmhNMf4cfpx-XWUF6JfnsL3R1QHlaA-K70YO5JxlJCa9o539792oOw2VjI0m6-Z_2_dx61X0K4ZGRIO43WR58bynX_7j-Jr5Z0J9utacN8k0GxawxAn1Y2-bXlMTQDYEbeY0ec8pFB/s1629/hypocisy_now.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1004" data-original-width="1629" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2_A0BxffICYWbekdbydTXa2ZgLjTXy2oL3jcWU6JaHc2WosjmhNMf4cfpx-XWUF6JfnsL3R1QHlaA-K70YO5JxlJCa9o539792oOw2VjI0m6-Z_2_dx61X0K4ZGRIO43WR58bynX_7j-Jr5Z0J9utacN8k0GxawxAn1Y2-bXlMTQDYEbeY0ec8pFB/w320-h197/hypocisy_now.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>So, Russia denies blowing up the Nova Kakhovka dam, the same way they denied any intention of invading Ukraine in Feb '22 and said Joe Biden was lying on them up until the point their tanks crossed the border. The same way they claimed the <i>'little green men'</i> that invaded Crimea & Donbas in 2014 weren't Russian soldiers, the same way they denied the downing of MH17, and the murder of the Shripal's with Novichok, the same way they deny bombing hospitals and targeting civilians. Russia never committed a war crime it didn't deny.<br /><br />On the other hand, the whole world knows who invaded Ukraine, who seized, and is illegally occupying the areas around the Nova Kakhovka dam and the Zaporizhzhia' nuclear power plant. We know who has been murdering Ukrainian civilians, and who has been methodically taking out Ukraine's infrastructure, especially electrical generating facilities—like the dam.<br /><br />We also know that the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and its leadership, who have been fighting so courageously to protect its people from Russian atrocities, would never do this to Ukraine. Even now, they are frantically working to save people imperiled by the flood—even while still under Russian artillery fire. That's right, the Russians are still trying to kill the people the Kremlin claims the Ukrainians are trying to flood out! <br /><br />We also know that chief Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov lies like Trump.<br /><br />During the 2011–2013 Russian protests in which riot police clubbed protestors, Peskov said that <i>"protesters who hurt riot police should have their livers smeared on the asphalt." </i>So much for his attitude, but we are more concerned with his truthfulness. <div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>A few of the Lies of Dmitry Peskov</b></span></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Russia had nothing to do with the 2006 polonium poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko.</li><li>Bashar Assad never used sarin or any CW against his opposition in Syria.</li><li>Russia had nothing to do with the 2018 Novichok poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skirpal and his daughter Yulia.</li><li>Russia had nothing to do with the 2020 Novichok poisoning of Alexei Navalny.</li><li>In the months before Russia invaded Ukraine: Russia has no intention of invading Ukraine. Those claims were just western provocation. </li><li>Russia never targets Ukrainian civilians or civilian infrastructure, only military targets.</li><li>It was the Ukrainians who destroyed Mariupol, not the Russian bombardment, and the murdered civilians were killed by Ukrainian <i>"Nazis"</i> and staged to blame Russia.</li><li>Russia committed no war crimes in Bucha, it was a <i>"well-staged insinuation, nothing else"</i>.</li><li>On 13 September 2022, Peskov said there are no plans to announce a full or partial mobilization in Russia. On 21 September 2022, Putin announced a partial military mobilization.</li><li>The US orchestrated the <i>"assassination" </i>drone attack on the Kremlin.</li></ul><div>Why in the world would journalists report the word of this man, or the government he represents, in denying the latest Russian war crime as though he possessed something like an ounce of credibility?</div><div><br /></div><div>Clay Claiborne</div><div>7 June 2023</div><div> </div><div>An interesting dialogue from <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2022/3/23/volodymyr_ishchenko_how_zelensky_could_end">Democracy Now'</a>s 23 March 2022 show—so 14 months ago:</div><div><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #191f24; letter-spacing: -0.2px; margin: 30px 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">AMY</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">GOODMAN</span>:</strong> Volodymyr Ishchenko, I wanted to ask you about the Azov Battalion [sic.-Regiment], a part of the Ukrainian National Guard, and if you fear that the massive number of weapons going in, that what’s going on right now, is actually strengthening them. You have the first battalion commander — I mean, it’s outwardly, you know, racist, antisemitic. You have first battalion commander, Andriy Biletsky, saying Ukraine’s national purpose was to “lead the white races of the world in a final crusade … against Semite-led Untermenschen [subhumans].” And I’m wondering — you have Facebook allowing praise of neo-Nazi Ukrainian battalion </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">[This is a Russian propaganda talking point. See <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2023/03/michael-colborne-ukraines-azov-movement.html">this blog post</a> for more on Azov and the Ukrainian extreme right.] </span><span style="font-family: Roboto, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">leading into the war, but not allowing its coat of arms and other things to be shown or them to recruit, but because they’ve been so successful on the battlefield. So I wanted to ask if you could explain who they are and also their role in Mariupol.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #191f24; font-family: Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.2px; margin: 30px 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">VOLODYMYR</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">ISHCHENKO</span>:</strong> Biletsky actually moderated some of his positions since the moment he entered big politics. And so, what you’re quoting is coming even before the Euromaidan revolution, before 2014, when he led actually, indeed, an extreme-right group. Although [he] was definitely a very important part of a far-right movement, which is not just military units but also a political party, National Corps, of the explicitly far-right orientation, a paramilitary </span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #191f24; font-family: Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.2px; margin: 30px 0px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span></span></strong></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #191f24; font-family: Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.2px; margin: 30px 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">AMY</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">GOODMAN</span>:</strong> I have to warn you: We only have a minute and a half.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #191f24; font-family: Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.2px; margin: 30px 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">VOLODYMYR</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">ISHCHENKO</span>:</strong> Oh, sorry. Yeah, paramilitary institution, as well. And now, I mean, if you’re sending weapons to Ukraine, I’m not sure if there is any possibility to discriminate who are these weapons getting to. And the problem with this, with Russia invasion, is that one of the results would be that the people like Azov would get probably even more power and even more notoriety for playing some role in this war, specifically in the defense of Mariupol. And yeah, the result would be not great.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #191f24; font-family: Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.2px; margin: 30px 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">AMY</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">GOODMAN</span>:</strong> Are you concerned about this?</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #191f24; font-family: Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.2px; margin: 30px 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">VOLODYMYR</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">ISHCHENKO</span>:</strong> I mean, there are many things that you should be concerned right now, and not — I mean, as always, just one of the many, many, many other things that — I mean, most of Ukrainians are primarily concerned now about the shellings and bombings and rockets that may strike their homes and kill them.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #191f24; font-family: Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.2px; margin: 30px 0px;">It's all a question of priorities. Amy's priority when discussing the Ukrainian situation is promoting Russian propaganda as best she can.</p></div></div></div><div><br /></div></div>Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-16348805200096270672023-03-02T12:36:00.004-08:002023-03-02T12:49:30.284-08:00Michael Colborne: Ukraine's Azov Movement - a critique<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i>Foreword</i></b></span></p><p>This extensive blog post is the result of a series of discussions on a couple of email lists about the role of the Azov Regiment in Ukraine's fight for independence. I have been planning to rewrite my contributions into a more accessible blog post, and now would seem a good time, because <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/matt-gaetz-cites-chinas-fox-news-in-push-to-stop-ukraine-aid" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this Tuesday</a> pro-Putin white supremacist Congressperson Matt Gaetz(R-FL) read into the Congressional record Chinese propaganda claiming that US military support for Ukraine was going to the far right <i>“Azov Battalion.”</i> Citing the <i>“Fox News of China”</i> was just another move in his bid to stop that aid.</p><p>With the GOP in control of the House, we can expect to see its pro-Trump/pro-Putin wing make a big push to cut off US support for Ukraine's resistance to Russia's war of genocide, and they will be cheered on by their pro-Putin <i>“anti-imperialist”</i> allies such as Code Pink and Veterans for Peace. Since Russian propaganda has pushed so-called <i>“denazification”</i> as one of its key war goals, and has positioned Azov as the poster-child for Nazis in Ukraine, its important that those of us who support the Ukrainian people be clear about what is true and what is lies when it comes to Azov. It's important not to let constant repetition goad us into conceding a point when there's none to be conceded.</p><p>Michael Colborne's book, <b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fires-War-Ukraines-Analyzing-Political/dp/3838215087" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">From the Fires of War: Ukraine’s Azov Movement and the Global Far Right (Analyzing Political Violence)</a></b>, is probably the most authoritative work out there on the Azov movement. Now that I have read it, I want to make some comments, and as these are likely to be rather extensive, I'm going to divide them into several parts.</p><ul><li>One part will say why I think Colborne overestimates the significant of the far right in general in Ukraine, and the Azov movement in particular.</li><li>One part will ask why he downplays the struggle against the far right and the Azov movement in Ukraine.</li><li>This first part is a bit of a digression: I want to question the use of a political terminology that is by no means unique to Michael Colborne. </li></ul><p> <b>On White Supremacy & The "Far Right"</b></p><p>As I started reading Colborne's book, which gives a very detailed description of the far right in Ukraine, I kept feeling the need to call out to him and say <i>“You know, these guys are also racists!”</i> My call was finally answered on page 23, when he talks about <i>“the explicitly anti-Semitic Interregional Academy of Personnel Management (MAUP in Ukrainian) an institution which awarded infamous American white supremacist David Duke a doctorate.”</i> Needless to say, this didn't cure my need to have Colborne say explicitly that these Ukrainian far right or neo-Nazi groups or individuals, were also invariably, white supremacists. </p><p>In fact, Colborne uses the terms <i>“white supremacist”</i> only 5 times, usually to describe an American member of the far right community, such as <i>“American neo-Nazi terrorist David Lane”</i> who <i>“remains a favourite of white supremacists the world over.”</i> and <i>“Croatian-American white supremacist Tomislav Sunié.”</i> His two other references to <i>“white supremacist”</i> resulted from a paper he cited that had the term in the title. He used the term <i>“white nationalist”</i> only twice, both times to describe <i>“American white nationalist Greg Johnson.”</i> The terms <i>“white supremacy”</i> and<i>“white nationalism”</i> weren't used at all. He uses the term <i>“racist”</i> three times. Twice he calls something <i>“racist”</i>, including <i>“the U.S.'s Aryan Nations,”</i> and once to say one Ukrainian far right figure born in 1895 was <i>“authoritarian and ruthless, but not racist.”</i> The term <i>“racism”</i> was used six times, four times in connection with <i>“anti-Semitism,”</i> a term he used 35 times.</p><p>In contrast, he uses the terms <i>“neo-Nazi(s)”</i> 75 times, and <i>“far right”</i> a whopping 413 times. Clearly, that's his preferred term for groups, people, and political attitudes, in Ukraine, Europe, and beyond that I would prefer to call racist or white supremacist. I infer from Colborne's usage that he sees white supremacy and racism as mainly American problems. In fact, his insistence on using the label <i>“far right,”</i> when I felt more descriptive and historically accurate terminology was appropriate, became such an irritant as I plowed by way through his book, that it caused me to take a rather large detour to examine, as I never had before, the <i>“Right-Left”</i> terminology used to describe political differences. And so, I digress—this is where I want to begin 2023 (originally posted in an email dated 4 Jan 2023):</p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Why do we use the relatively vacuous terms "Right" and "Left" when its been white supremacy all along?</i></span></p><p>OK, I exaggerate. It hasn't been white supremacy all along—just since the white race, and with it, white supremacy, was invented between ~1650-1705 in Virginia. So, for almost 400 years. The class struggle predates that by a lot, and misogyny was even earlier. But the class struggle could not—did not, reach its final decisive stage until the capitalist system dominated, and capitalism, on this planet, was developed on the backs of slaves and racial slavery.</p><p>Racial slavery became the economic engine for developing capitalism on this planet, and became inseparably linked with how capitalism developed in this instance, and it provided the <i><b>material basis</b></i> for the development of a very rich culture of reaction and white supremacy that we often refer to by its preferred labels such as <i>“Conservative”</i> or <i>“Right-wing.”</i> [Note, when I say <i>“material basis”</i> I mean slave-owner money went directly to think-tanks and universities to justify itself, that sort of stuff. It wasn't an ethereal thing. Nothing else in early capitalism had the super-profits to so heavily invest in Reaction & Ideology. ]</p><p>While we may easily delineate <i>“Left”</i> and <i>“Right”</i> in the opposing sides in Bacon's Rebellion (1676) when European indentured servants made common cause with African bondsmen to oppose the Virginia governor and English troops, they certainly didn't see it that way. We all know Right and Left didn't have any political meaning until the French Revolution, and for a long time it was rarely applied beyond legislative bodies, only after ~1875 did it start being used as we use it today. After the American Civil War and Reconstruction. After Socialism became a force to be reckoned with. </p><p>Noting that <i>“Thinkers are never keen to reflect on that which enables them to think.”</i> Marcel Gauchet wrote an important piece titled <i><a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Realms_of_Memory_Conflicts_and_divisions/sIfTTndMbk0C?q=Sites+of+Memory+Pierre+Nora,+Marcel+Gauchet+right+and+left&kptab=getbook&gbpv=1#ba_cen=lat_e7:%20339962144%0Alng_e7:%203110278520%0A&ba_loc=90291&f=false" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"Right and Left"</a>(1996).</i> I will draw heavily on it in what follows. Of the terminology's origins, he says:</p><blockquote>As for their origin, it is presumed to be enough to refer in ritual fashion to the French Revolution. In fact, a great deal of water flowed under the bridge between the Revolution, when people hesitantly spoke of the assembly as divided between a “right side” and a “left side,” and the Restoration, when the terms were permanently enthroned in the parliamentary lexicon. And it is an even bigger jump from the jargon of the Chamber of Deputies to the quintessential emblems of political identity, the fundamental categories of democratic confrontation, that right and left have become for us—usages that were not firmly established until the beginning of the twentieth century. p 241</blockquote><p>He goes on to explain why he wrote the piece:</p><blockquote>If the established terminology covers up its past, the purpose of this essay is to examine the process by which it became established. p. 242</blockquote><p>This is also my purpose in bringing Gauchet into this discussion. He traces the long history of <i>“Right-Left”</i> from the French Revolution to our current usage:</p><blockquote>We now turn our attention to understanding how right and left became the primary categories of political identity. This was a long, drawn-out process that lasted more than three quarters of a century, until the first decade of the twentieth century. p. 253</blockquote><p>For a very long time, <i>“right”</i> and <i>“left”</i> still referred almost exclusively to the seating arrangements of parliaments. The real political differences, the divisions in the streets, was defined differently—by the colors red and white:</p><blockquote>The elections of May 1849 (which, as is ‘well known, set the pattern of political confrontation in France for a long time to come) pitted what ordinary people referred to as the démoc-soct against the réacr (democratic-socialists against reactionaries). The banners flown by the opposing parties also established a very powerful symbolism of colors: reds versus whites. The red-white opposition would remain the key distinction between the two camps for the next half century. In the Breton village of Plozévet in the 1960s, Edgar Morin found that these two colors were still the primary symbols of party affiliation. Well into the twentieth century, long after the terms right and left had taken hold, red and white banners were still flown in times of tension, p.253</blockquote><p>I think I need not elaborate on why red was the chosen color of the progressives & revolutionaries. I suspect white was chosen by reactionaries for many of the same reasons they chose to call their cobbled-together would-be master race <i>“white.”</i> I have elaborated on those in some of my other writings, most notably in <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-white-left-part-1-two-meanings-of.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The white-Left Part 1: The two meanings of white.</a> </p><p>Gauchet links the switch to <i>“Right-Left”</i> terminology to the 1848 revolutions and the winning of universal suffrage:</p><blockquote>Universal suffrage immediately created an enormous need for political identification. Everyone was called upon to choose sides. People did so at first by identifying with either the red or the white. It was this opposition that both simplified the terms of conflict to the utmost and allowed people to indicate immediately where they stood. It was not until later that right and left supplanted white and red. The symbolism of color had established deep roots, even insinuating itself into folklore, especially in certain parts of the south. The symbolic battle developed its own panoply of costumes, masquerades, and ritual clashes of color. And of course red and white, both rich in symbolic overtones, were ideally chosen to speak to the imagination and the heart. In the end this makes it all the more mysterious that right and left, despite their cold abstractness, could have achieved the same emotional resonance, the same earnestness of identification or repulsion. p.254</blockquote><p>Groups get to chose which colors they put on their banners—red and white were self-selected by those that marched under them, whereas <i>“Left”</i> and <i>“Right”</i> have been forced on us by history—as if but for a coin-toss in the French Revolution, we would be calling the white [<i>Now recognized with all the double-meaning it implies.</i>] supremacists left-wing extremists. And I think the reactionaries got the best of it by claiming the label <i>“Right," </i>after all, most people are right-handed, and that has nothing to do with politics, and for some reason, at least in English, <i>“right”</i> has another meaning, as in <i>“correct”</i> or <i>“better."☺</i>Gauchet goes on: </p><blockquote>The revival of the terms right and left thus came about in the midst of war, the fall of the Empire and the collapse of the Commune, and then the return to normal with a parliamentary regime capped by the approval of the new Republic in 1875. p.255</blockquote><p>So, you see the move to substitute left and right for red and white came only after racial slavery had played out, the capitalism it had developed was already beginning to turn into imperialism, and the modern working class was knocking at the door with demands for socialism.</p><blockquote>The Commune revived the colors of 1848. In particular it attached an ineradicable luster to the word red (and in consequence to white)—a positive identification for some, a repellent emblem for others. Revolution itself became “red” for its proponents, while “reds” were the very embodiment of bourgeois fears. In fact, the language of denunciation would continue to draw on the Commune for decades, and the language of denunciation would play an important part in familiarizing people with the friend-enemy vocabulary that went along with elections. p.257</blockquote><p>So, it was a move to substitute the language of bourgeois democracy for the language of revolution!</p><blockquote>From now on, democracy was conceived of as a means of domesticating conflict by organizing the major players on a vast scale and by ritualizing their clash down to its very vocabulary. The replacement of red versus white by left versus right implied acceptance of the reversible two-sided relationship of party supporter and political analyst over the one-sidedness of the partisan. p. 264</blockquote><p>But wait, there's more! We also have to consider the philosophical implications of the change:</p><blockquote>Because of the very intensity of their contrast, red and white were excellent symbols for implacably opposed camps. p, 264</blockquote><p>Dialectical materialism favors revolutionary change, where the new replaces the old—and the capitalist were down with that so long as they were replacing kings and such:</p><blockquote>When republicans were battling with monarchist, the objective was clear; both sides believed that when the goal was achieved, the adversary would simply disappear. p. 265</blockquote><p>But once they had firmly established their power, that revolutionary view of the political process had to be replaced with the never ending struggle between right and left.</p><blockquote>Come what may, there would always be division and discord between a right and a left—such was the promise of perpetual conflict that the two terms in their deepest sense conveyed. p.265</blockquote>One aspect of the adoption of the right-left pair to delineate sides in the class struggle has been to fake a continuity going back to the French Revolution. As we have seen, that has not been the case. The idea is to present political struggle as always and never ending—the message being that capitalism is here to stay.<p>I've taken this right-left political terminology for granted all my life, and at some point, probably in high school, I learned about the French Revolution bit, and never took it much further than that—until I embarked on this voyage of exploration. I know that it's now so ingrained in our culture and history, that the use of the term pair is unavoidable. Still, I think it's important to know where it came from, and use terminology that is more descriptive and more revolutionary whenever possible. </p><p>Above I recounted the historic transition from <i>“red”</i> and <i>“white”</i> to <i>“left”</i> and <i>“right.”</i> It should be added that now, at least in the US, identifying the two political sides with colors has again come into fashion, except now the reactionaries have seized <i>“red”</i> for their banners, and branded the more progressive, but not revolutionary, side <i>“blue.”</i> Revolution has no place in this political spectrum, and as if to preserve the linearity of right-center-left while still using sharply defined colors, they talk of <i>“purple states & counties." </i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>—Detour ends—</i></span></p><p>Even while the Russia-Ukraine war would seem to be a prime example of white-on-white violence, the role of racism as a motivating factor is crustal to understand. That's because Putin's version of fascism and imperialism is grounded in white supremacy. Putin's vision of white supremacy is similar to Hitler's in that not only does he believe that white people are superior to non-white people, and destine to rule over them, he believe that a certain group of white people is superior to all other white people, and are destine to rule over all other white people, and through them, all the people on Earth. It's a delusion that I call <i>“a whiter shade of white.”</i> In this, Putin's grand scheme for world conquest is very similar to Hitler's. The difference is that whereas with Hitler, it was the Aryans that were the master race, with Putin, and his fellow great western chauvinists [another term that doesn't appear in Colborne's book], it's the East Slavs. Just as Hitler's first <i>“special military operations”</i> were directed at uniting the Aryan's under his leadership with a similar end goal in mind. Enter Russian tanks in Ukraine.</p><p>Colborne's book is chock full of information, it's missing a lot where the national question and white supremacy are concerned. Apart from his great reliance on the term <i>“far right”</i> to define the fascists and white supremacists in Ukraine, I don't see where it acknowledges that Ukraine is an oppressed nation, or that Putin's desires for imperial conquest are rooted in his vision of himself as the leader of the white world.</p><div><p style="background-color: white;"><b>Is Michael Colborne making a Mountain out of a Molehill in his book on the Azov Movement?</b></p><p>This is part 2. Part 1 critiqued his overuse of the phrase <i>“far right,”</i> and took a detour to trace the history of how the key symbol pairs that dominates political life moved from the emotional colors <i>“red”</i> and <i>“white,”</i> to sides of our bodies, <i>“left”</i> and <i>“right,”</i> right being naturally favored by most people. The problematic flexibility of the left-right pair showed itself recently on MSNBC when Joe Walsh corrected Symone for referring to the Boebert-Gaetz cabal as the <i>“extremist wing”</i> of the GOP. He pointed out that the entire GOP House caucus was extreme—most were election deniers.</p><p>So, I want to begin by uniting with Colborne's definition of the extreme right:</p><blockquote>Those on the far right who explicitly reject democracy and favour violence and <i>“other unconventional methods to promote their alternative worldview”</i> are extreme right rather than radical right (Ravndal, 2021). Those on the extreme right explicitly <i>“seek the overthrow of liberal democracy”</i> (Eatwell, 2003) even if, like the Azov movement with its National Corps political party, they also take part in elections. p. 54 </blockquote><p style="background-color: white;">By that definition, all those who stormed the US Capitol two years ago were of the extreme right, as was the president who summoned them, and the 147 congresspeople that voted to overturn the 2020 election results. The current election-denying leadership of the GOP, as well as the election denying, and open white supremacy of much of its rank-and-file, makes one of the two major US political parties extreme right. As I began writing this, Steve Scalise, who once described himself as David Duke without the baggage, was seriously being promoted as a candidate for Speaker of the House. This would make him second in the line of presidential succession. He remains majority leader. In the middle of the night, they finally rammed Kevin McCarthy through—another election denier—another <i>“David Duke without the baggage”</i>—another, what Colborne would call <i>“extreme right,”</i> whereas I might choose more colorful language.</p><p>Russia, the other country with a <i>“far right”</i> problem to be considered along with Ukraine's, is run by an authoritarian thug and his neo-fascist United Russia party, supports neo-Nazis worldwide, and claims it has a god given duty to denazify Ukraine. It's in this context that I want to examine Colborne's implied proposition that between Ukraine, Russia and the US, Ukraine is the one with the really serious <i>“far right”</i> problem. </p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Is Colborne making a Mountain out of a Molehill?</span></p><p style="background-color: white;">As I read Colborne's description of the Azov movement, I was underwhelmed by the numbers involved. He puts the Azov Regiment at the center of the Azov movement, and as to its numerical strength:<br /></p><blockquote>The Regiment is home to approximately 1,000 soldiers serving at a time, with a few thousand veterans of the Regiment across Ukraine and beyond. p.65</blockquote><div>That's a pre-war number, when the AFU was ~ 200K, so ~0.5% of Ukraine's armed forces before the war, and as to the percentage of those that are neo-Nazis:<br /><div></div><blockquote><div>The ideological orientations of those who fight and have fought within the Regiment isn’t always as clear-cut as assumed, though the Regiment’s leaders have roots in Ukraine’s far right. In 2015, one representative of the Regiment claimed between 10 to 20 percent of the unit were neo-Nazis (Dorrell, 2015). p.65</div><div></div></blockquote><div>That's between 100 and 200 neo-Nazis, 600 tops, if the veterans were included. Of course, these are pre-war numbers. The ranks of Azov Regiment have swelled since then, but that's only likely to mean the percentage of neo-Nazis in its ranks has gone down, as the extremists most likely joined the regiment early. The 'AZOV Regiment' account on Twitter now has 187.2K followers, up from 72K in <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200308104716/https://twitter.com/Polk_Azov" rel="nofollow">Aug 2021</a>, and 46K in Apr 2017. and its Telegram channel has a whopping 332,528 subscribers. The regiment has received a lot of attention worldwide since the war began. </div><div><br /></div><div>This discussion of what percentage of Azov has to be neo-Nazi before we can declare the whole Regiment neo-Nazi, reminds me of discussions about how many black great grandparents you had to have to be declared black. For example, many have been critical of Azov veteran Illia Samoilenko's visit to Israel after he defended Mariupol and was imprisoned and then released by the Russians, because he's a member of the Azov Regiment, saying <i>“How can you entertain these Nazis?”</i> but Haaretz <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/2022-12-20/ty-article/.premium/downplaying-far-right-ties-ukrainian-war-hero-goes-on-israeli-publicity-binge/00000185-306c-dcac-a185-b8efb39e0000" rel="nofollow">says</a> Samoilenko <i>“personally has no known far-right sympathies." </i>So, what percentage of neo-Nazis taints the whole regiment? Or is it a question of foreign perceptions?</div><div><br /></div>Another far right militia Colborne profiles is the paramilitary wing of the National Corps, known as the National Militia, which was <i>“rebranded as Centuria in 2020,”</i> according to Colborne. With regards to size, he speaks of the <i>“National Militia’s few thousand young, mostly male members,”</i> and later, <i>“a nighttime ceremony with torches, matching black shirts, chants...”</i> that involved <i>“the few hundred assembled Centuria members." </i>p. 71</div><div><br /></div><div>In the 2014 elections, Right Sector was the strongest far-right force. Colborne says:</div><div><blockquote>Right Sector didn’t take long to underwhelm, with its leader Dmytro Yarosh winning a measly 0.7 percent of the vote in an ill-fated run for the presidency in May 2014. </blockquote></div><div>He said it had dwindled to a <i>“few hundred members" </i>by 2015 p.84. Contrary to what you may have been led to believe, far right movements really don't seem to have much purchase in Ukrainian politics.</div><div><br /></div><div>Right Sector was supplanted by National Corps, the political arm of the Azov movement. We get a window into its size and reach when Colborne tells us:</div><div><blockquote>From 2017 to 2019, National Corps officially received more than 8,000 individual contributions from more than 2,000 people and seven companies, for a total of 18.6 million hryvnia (~€580,000; ~$690,000) during that time (Feshchenko et al, 2020)</blockquote></div><div>Those figures more than justify his calling it <i>“a marginal far-right party.”</i> By Colborne's own definition, the election deniers that currently control the Republican Party are extreme right, unfortunately, they are a very long way from being marginal. In the most recent parliamentary elections in 2019, the same election that put Zelenskyy in the presidency, the major far right groups, including National Corps and Right Sector formed the coalition of Svoboda. It got only <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far-right_politics_in_Ukraine">2.15% of the vote</a>, and zero seats in parliament.</div><div><br /></div><div>Colborne also speaks of another neo-Nazi group named Avangard, which he describes as a <i>“small group of at best a few dozen .., based in Kyiv and in Mykolaiv,”</i> and Tradition and Order, <i>“an avowedly Christian far-right group”</i> which was <i>“estimated to be relatively small, perhaps fewer than 100 members.”</i> p.82 Another Ukrainian neo-Nazi group is Freikorps, which Colborne says <i>“has at most a few dozen core members." </i>Once he gets down to groups that are <i>“the initiatives of one or two Azov movement members," p. 79</i> you get the feeling he's given you a very thorough survey of the Azov movement. </div><div><br /></div><div>Well, I am underwhelmed! The Proud Boys claims <a href="https://t.me/ProudPatriot_Q17">203 chapters in 46 US states</a>, up from <a href="https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/proud-boys-0" rel="nofollow">119 chapters in Sep. 2020</a> after a white supremacist POTUS famously asked them to <i>“stand by.”</i> A week ago, members of the <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/new-york-elections-government/ny-proud-boys-free-subway-ride-nypd-drag-story-hour-20230103-y5ctfyhjqjaynbinviycwx2x2i-story.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">NYPD were helping some Proud Boys</a> illegally avoid subway tolls after they attacked a drag queen story hour event at a local library. Nobody should be surprised if some of those cops turned out to be Oath Keepers, a US extreme right group, with a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/11/right-wing-militias-civil-war/616473/" rel="nofollow">heavy presence in law enforcement</a>, whose leader and members have been <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leader-oath-keepers-and-oath-keepers-member-found-guilty-seditious-conspiracy-and-other" rel="nofollow">found guilty</a> of seditious conspiracy, with a <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2022/09/07/texas-oath-keepers-adl/" rel="nofollow">reported</a> 3,000 members in Texas alone, and <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/juliareinstein/oath-keepers-membership-list-leaked" rel="nofollow">more than 38,000</a> nationwide. Such is the breath and reach of just a few <i>“extreme right”</i> groups in the US. There are many more.</div><div><br /></div><div>When it comes to <i>“extreme right”</i> personalities in Ukraine, one name stands above all the rest in Colborne's telling—Andriy Biletsky [Андрій Білецький], the founder of the original Azov Battalion, and acknowledge leader of the Azov movement. He's not much on Twitter, with only 2456 followers, but then his last tweet was 6/15/2020 [https://twitter.com/BiletskyAndriy/status/1272619898771058689 154 likes] But as Colborne points out, Ukrainian politics, especially far right politics, happens much more on Telegram than on Twitter. Biletsky has <a href="https://t.me/BiletskyAndriy" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">72,580 subscribers on Telegram</a>, more than triple the number Colborne cited [20,000], but then he, like many Ukrainians, has received a lot more publicity since the war. He also has a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdZ7KCcA-yGPed54bJ_ySH" rel="nofollow">YouTube channel</a> with 22.5K subscribers. Still Biletsky's reach pales in comparison to that of a US far right personality like Tucker Carlson, who pushes the white nationalist <i>“Great Replacement”</i> conspiracy theory on the country's most watched prime time cable <i>“news”</i> show five days a week, and has <a href="https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson" rel="nofollow">5.6 million followers on Twitter</a>, or <a href="https://twitter.com/Lauren_Southern">Lauren Southern</a>, who promotes white nationalism, and fearmongers <i>“white genocide.”</i> to her 510K Twitter followers, or the anti-LGBTQ+ account run by Chaya Raichik, <a href="https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok">Libs of Tiktok</a> and has 1.7M followers on Twitter, to name just a few.</div><div><br /></div><div>Another major Ukrainian far right personality that gets 67 mentions in Colborne's book is Olena Semenyaka, [Семеняка Олена] spokeswoman for National Corps and head of the Azov Movement’s International Outreach Office. With responsibilities like that, you'd expect her to be all over social media, and she is. She even blogs on <a href="https://counter-currents.com/tag/olena-semenyaka/" rel="nofollow">Counter Currents</a>, the site run by American white nationalist Greg Johnson. So, it would be a cheap shot to point out that she has only <a href="https://twitter.com/OlenaSemenyaka" rel="nofollow">127 followers on Twitter</a> because she hasn't used that account since 2014, and she probably tweets out of the <a href="https://twitter.com/national_corps" rel="nofollow">@national_corps</a> [Національний Корпус] account, but that has only 10.7K followers. The National Corps <a href="https://t.me/nationalcorps" rel="nofollow">Telegram channel</a> has 7,960 subscribers, and its <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8aG0J2HH7z4BdjKNj2j9xA" rel="nofollow">YouTube channel</a> has 84.1K subscribers, now. Everything about Ukraine gets more attention as a result of the war. Another Azov account I found on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/supportAZOVcom" rel="nofollow">@supportAZOVcom</a> has 2,558 followers. [When I <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=azov&src=typed_query&f=user" rel="nofollow">searched for <i>“azov”</i> on Twitter</a>, Michael Colborne is top of the list, so he certainly has made a name for himself there.] Another Azov account would seem to be <a href="https://twitter.com/UA_struggle" rel="nofollow">Ukrainian Struggle Centre</a> with 9,454 followers, which is a bit more than <a href="https://twitter.com/ColborneMichael">Michael Colborne </a>with 8,735. Colborne writes:</div><div><blockquote>Elements within the Azov movement also have good things to say about far-right terrorists. Wotanjugend has referred to Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in the 2006 Norway terror attacks, and Timothy McVeigh, perpetrator of the 1995 Oklahoma City attacks that killed 168 people, as <i>“heroes” </i>(Bellingcat Anti-Equality Monitoring, 2019). p. 52</blockquote><p>He says Wotanjugend:<br /></p><blockquote>with roots in Russia but now based in Ukraine, is largely led by Russian neo-Nazi, Azov Regiment veteran and Kyiv resident Alexey Levkin. p.49</blockquote>To me, that sounds like a Russian neo-Nazi problem in Ukraine, but that also makes it Ukraine's neo-Nazi problem, as are the American neo-Nazis that show up in Ukraine. What looks like the <a href="https://t.me/wotanjugend_info">Wotanjugend Telegram channel</a> has 1,920 subscribers.</div><div><br /></div><div>While Ukrainian neo-Nazis may admire American extreme right terrorists, they don't seem to have inspired many in Ukraine, whereas since McVeigh, the US has suffered an endless stream of extreme right, or white supremacist violence, from the racist Charleston Church massacre, through the El Paso <i>“Great Replacement inspired”</i> massacre, to the racist Buffalo grocery store mass shooting, and dozens of others. Colborne wrote about how some OUN members participated in Nazi pogroms in 1941, but if there's anything like the level of racist or anti-Semitic violence we see in the US, in Ukraine these days, he didn't report it. What he does say is:</div><div><div></div><blockquote>Fortunately, Ukraine has been spared the ugliness of far-right terror attacks that countries like the United States, Germany and New Zealand have seen in recent years. p.156</blockquote><div></div></div><div>Maybe, instead of thanking fortune for sparing Ukraine, we can conclude that possibly Ukraine's far right problem isn't quite as bad as claimed by those quick to call the kettle black.</div><div><br /></div><div>From a moralistic point of view, Colborne may be absolutely right to say <i>“a far-right movement shouldn’t have a three-story social centre off the main square of a country’s capital,”</i> p. 161. If so, that statement shouldn't be applied only to Ukraine, and far-right movements occupy a lot more than three-stories in Washington, DC. </div><div><br /></div><div>I think Colborne gives a proper assessment of the danger the Azov movement poses for Ukraine here, in as much as any extreme right movement poses a threat to liberal democracy in any country where it exists:</div><div><blockquote>They may not be in a position to single handedly destabilize Ukraine’ ...[One wishes the same could be said about the extreme right in the US. - Clay] But the Azov movement's continued presence on Ukraine's social and political scene, even as it remains forever the preserve of a small minority, poses a threat to liberal democracy in Ukraine. p.168</blockquote></div><div>There are at least a couple of reasons why I have done the work, spent the money, and put in the time to produce this blog post. The first is that while I'm not aware of anyone claiming Ukraine doesn't have a problem with white supremacy, or it's far right, any exaggeration of the neo-Nazi problem in Ukraine plays right into the propaganda of the Russian fascists who are gaslighting the world by claiming their genocidal war against Ukraine has as its main purpose the denazification of Ukraine. </div><div><br /></div><div>The second reason is that in conclusion, Colborne proposes his own form of Western-imposed <i>“denazification”</i> for Ukraine. While Ukraine is fighting <i>“denazification”</i> being imposed by Russia with tanks and drones, he suggests that Ukraine's western allies condition critical aid on certain <i>“denazification”</i> policies [like taking away their 3-story building?] being carried out by a presumably recalcitrant Zelenskyy government:</div><div></div><blockquote><div>Those shouldn’t be the only sorts of conditions applied to Ukraine’s international financial support. One possible way to encourage Ukraine to tackle its far-right problem, particularly the Azov movement, would be to make some funding contingent on specific actions from Ukraine's authorities. Making even relatively small-scale funding contingent on, for example, addressing far-right extremism in the military or placing sanctions and asset freezes against known far-right figures with proven links to violence and criminal behavior. I don’t suggest for a second that Ukraine’s international backers should turn off the taps to Ukraine. But it would be worthwhile for the international community to consider using its enormous financial leverage to persuade Ukraine’s authorities to take action on the far right. p.164</div><div></div></blockquote><div>As if they haven't taken any action already. I will examine that assertion in some detail in my next section in this series. </div><div><br /></div><div>Colborne is concerned about the growing international influence of Ukraine's extreme right, but that is small potatoes compared to the international influence of America's extreme right. The Avoz movement may not be strong enough to destabilize Ukraine, but the US extreme right is actively destabilizing other democracies. What about sanctions against leading extreme right figures from the US? Jason Miller and Steve Bannon have just been involved in engineering a Jan 6th style insurrection for Bolsonaro in Brazil. Elon Musk just bought Twitter so he could open it back up to extreme right elements that were kicked off before. Shouldn't we be sanctioning them, along with Donald Trump, and Tucker Carlson before we exercise our <i>“parental prerogative”</i> to sanction extreme right figures in Ukraine? </div><div><p>Symbolism is a big part of what makes a neoNazi in Colborne's eyes. It is almost as if adopting a logo in any way related to the wolfsangel makes them like the SS, but the wolfsangel has a much deeper history in that part of the world. Is it possible most Ukrainians see it differently? Political scientist Andreas Umland <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/the-azov-battalion-extremists-defending-mariupol/a-61151151" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">told Deutsche Welle</a> that the Wolfsangel <i>“is a pagan symbol that the SS also used," </i>and<span face="NotoSans, sans-serif" style="color: #3b444d; font-size: 18px;"> </span>was <i>“not considered a fascist symbol by the general population in Ukraine." </i>I see in the Confederate battle flag a symbol of racism and hatred just as toxic as the swastika. Until recently it flew over a number of state capitals, and many white people claim they aren't racists for flying it. Could that possibly be true? What does Colborne see when he sees the Confederate flag flying? Is it as bad as the swastika for him?</p></div><div>Colborne may feel he has the moral authority to admonish Ukrainians:</div><div><blockquote>A military unit like the Azov Regiment has no place in a democratic country’s armed forces and should be disbanded. p.163</blockquote><p>Presumably, this is because it's 10-20% neoNazi, or maybe a lot less now with all the new recruits. In anycase, they did put up a brave fight in Mariupol, and it bought the rest of the AFU enough time to regroup and mount successful counter-offensives in the East and the South. While Colborne never acknowledges that Ukraine is fighting a war of national liberation, that is what it is fighting, and that makes dealing with one's own ultranationalists a mite tricky. [ We can discuss how black socialists should relate to/or not? black nationalists some other time.] With imperialist nations it's different, of course. </p></div><p>I certainly don't know all the details, and all sides of their situation, or maybe it's just that I don't share Colborne's arrogance, but I wouldn't be telling them how they should handle the Azov Regiment just now. I would rather trust their better judgement. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Part 3</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">Why I think Colborne is wrong to discount the struggle against the extreme right, white supremacists, and neoNazis in Ukraine, and how that denial plays to Russian propaganda.</span></i></p><div><p>CBS Morning News is reporting this morning that a number of white supremacist and anti-Semite, extreme right members of Congress have received committee assignments and another failed election-denying GOP candidate has been arrested for hiring people to shoot up the houses of Democratic election officials, but according to Micheal Colborne, Ukraine is the country with the out-of-control extreme right problem that deserve sanctions from its western supporters who have reined in their fascists. So, in part 3 of this critique, I what to address this question:</p><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Is Ukraine struggling against its extreme right?</span></b></p>Colborne seems to think not:<br /><blockquote>The first step in addressing the problem of Ukraine's far right and especially the Azov movement is, of course, to admit that there actually is a problem. p. 151</blockquote>Here he gives the clear impression that reform in Ukraine's armed forces is something he advocates for, but they have not yet begun:</div><div><blockquote>The United States, France, Germany, Canada and many other countries have begun to reckon with the existence and sometimes rise of far-right extremist elements within their armed forces—Ukraine needs to begin to do the same. p. 129</blockquote>And:<blockquote>Reforms in Ukraine’s armed forces would also help curtail the influence of the Azov movement and the far right in general. As Ukraine's key international allies, like the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and others make efforts to tackle the issue of far- right extremism in their militaries, Ukraine must also follow suit. p.161</blockquote>And:<blockquote>While the efforts of Ukraine’s allies to combat far-right extremism in their own ranks have certainly been found wanting at times, neither that nor the war with Russian-backed forces can be an excuse for Ukraine’s inaction. p.163</blockquote>But opinions vary. Here are a few facts from the Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation (<a href="https://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/mappingmilitants/profiles/azov-battalion#highlight_text_33833" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CISAC</a>) about Ukrainian government's moves to curtail the influence of the far right in the Azov Regiment: </div><div><blockquote>From July 2015 to early 2019 the Ukrainian government removed the Azov Regiment from the frontlines, and restricted them to bases in Yuriivka and Urzuf, southwest of Mariupol. This redeployment was largely due to international criticism of the Regiment, and its predecessor organizations, due to deep ties with the far-right. During this time the Regiment focused on recruitment and training, and participated in major military exercises with other Ukrainian units.</blockquote><p>At this point, I don't have much more info than that about what changes took place in that period, but Colborne doesn't even mention these. Is it fair to paint <i>“Azov”</i> as one continuum from the Azov Battalion in 2014 to the Azov Regiment that defended Mariupol in 2022 without even acknowledge these effort to separate the Azov Regiment from the Azov movement? </p><p>I have heard from various sources that most neo-Nazi and extreme right wing elements were rooted out in this period. The Times of Israel <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/after-4-months-in-russian-solitary-ukrainian-officer-visits-israel-tells-his-story/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">reported</a> on this question:</p><blockquote>Vyacheslav Lykhachov, a Russia-born Israeli who monitors hate crimes in Ukraine, acknowledges that there were neo-Nazis among the group’s founders in 2014, but says that most far-right ideologues left by the end of the year.<br /><br /><i>“The rest of the right-wing radicals, who clearly articulated their views, were deliberately cleaned out by the new commandant of the regiment in 2017,”</i> Lykhachov explained</blockquote><p>Colborne names a lot of <i>“Azov veterans" </i>that have been at the center of much of the neo-Nazi activity in Ukraine. It would be interesting to learn if these people were actually members of the Azov Battalion or Regiment, and if so, more about the nature of their separation from the service. Here's an example of where I believe Michael Colborne conflates the Azov movement with the Azov Regiment in a way that can be very misleading. In describing a veterans day march:</p><div><div></div><blockquote>Less than five minutes behind them, after small columns of veterans of unrelated military units, marched the Azov Regiment itself. Several hundred veterans and supporters, shrouded in smoke from flares, carried flags bearing the Regiment’s Wolfsangel logo. The column was led by Andriy Biletsky, who relinquished command of the Regiment in 2016, with Maksym Zhorin at his side, who took over command until he himself relinquished it in 2017. Almost all were in military uniform from the waist down, wearing matching brown t-shirts with “Ukraine above all!” printed on the back. As they and other marchers got to Maidan, a huge banner had been draped over the glass facade of the shopping mall on Maidan to greet them. “Azov wishes you a happy Independence Day”(“Azov vitaie z Dnem nezalezhnosti!”), it read, again bearing Azov’s logo. The march, in total, drew an estimated 50,000 attendees. p62</blockquote><div>Only what he describes doesn't sound like the Azov Regiment itself. It sounds like <i>“several hundred veterans and supporters”</i> led by ex-commanders of the Azov Battalion, whereas for the Azov Regiment itself, I would expect a thousand soldiers in dress uniforms led by the current Regimental commander, but Colborne doesn't mention them as part of the Azov Regiment itself in this march.</div><div><br /></div><div>Also, in one of those <i>“You're fired!”</i> ,<i>“No, I quit!”</i> controversies, Andiy Biletsky may claim he <i>“relinquished command”</i> but I heard he was kicked out, and that in 2016 they completely banned him from any Ukrainian military service. Colborne may have reasons for promoting Biletsky's version of the separation as he seems to downplay, or discount, any struggle against fascist in the Azov Regiment. </div><div><br /></div><div>Another thing worth exploring in Colborne's book is the status of the <i>“Avoz veterans”</i> he seems to credit or blame for everything. Were they veterans of the Azov Regiment, or veterans in the Azov movement, and if they were veterans of the regiment, what was the nature of their separation? We know many, if not most, of the neo-Nazis were kicked out to the Azov Regiment since 2014. Are these some of the Azov veterans Colborne cites as behind everything? </div></div><div><br /></div>CISAC also reported on these struggles with the far right:<br /><blockquote>In 2019, during President Zelensky’s attempted implementation of the controversial “Steinmeier Formula”, which called for elections to be held in separatist-held areas under Ukrainian legislation and with the supervision of the Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe.<a href="https://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/mappingmilitants/profiles/azov-battalion#_ftn61">[61]</a> Part of that process required mutual disengagement of troops and armaments along front lines in the Donbas, a move opposed by some veterans and volunteers who had fought.<a href="https://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/mappingmilitants/profiles/azov-battalion#_ftn62">[62]</a> A small number of volunteers and veterans refused to comply with the Regiment’s ordered withdrawal from the town of Zolote, perceiving it as a concession to the Russians. Biletsky threatened to mobilize further Azov veterans and National Corps activists.<a href="https://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/mappingmilitants/profiles/azov-battalion#_ftn63">[63]</a> Ultimately, Zelensky visited Zolote to attempt to resolve the crisis, resulting in verbal altercations with National Corps activists.<a href="https://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/mappingmilitants/profiles/azov-battalion#_ftn64">[64]</a><br /><br />In August 2021, 2020 the Shevchenkivskyi Court of Kyiv took seven Kharkiv-based members of National Corps into custody. They were charged with creating an organized criminal group. National Corps denied their members were guilty and staged a protest outside the President’s Office, leading to clashes against police. Following the violence, Kyiv’s Pechersk District Court took two more members of National Corps into custody for alleged hooliganism.<a href="https://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/mappingmilitants/profiles/azov-battalion#_ftn66">[66]</a></blockquote>In August 2021, journalist Leonid XB Ragozin <a href="https://twitter.com/leonidragozin/status/1423940525971939330?lang=en">report on</a> this Ukrainian government crackdown on far right forces in a Twitter thread:<br /><blockquote>THREAD on Azov movement personalities arrested in the latest SBU sweep in Kharkiv. Not among them, but worth mentioning first, is Artem Moshensky, who was shot in the neck on June 30 and transported in a private plane to a hospital in Israel.<br /><br />Moshensky was one of the leaders of the East Corps, an Azov movement outfit in Kharkiv. The main leader was Oleh Shiryayev, who later split from Azov movement and formed the paramilitary force of Viktor Medvedchuk’s pro-Russian party OPZZh.<br /><br />Azov movement leader Andriy Biletsky blamed Shiryayev for the assassination attempt. Shiryayev blamed Biletsky. Shiryayev got arrested on July 6. On Aug 2, SBU clamped down on his pro-Russian paramilitary force.<br /><br />The most prominent of the Azovians arrested in the latest sweep is Serhiy Velychko. From Metallist Kharkiv ultras milieu like most of them, Velychko is famously the author of Putin Khuylo (Putin is a prick) patriotic chant.<br /><br />Less famously, Velychko was a co-founder of the security company AzGuard (Azov Guard). The other co-founder is Maksym Zhorin, a top figure of the pan-Ukrainian Azov movement. AzGuard’s adverts featured a phone number containing the cyphered Heil Hitler salute - 1488.<br /><br />AzGuard’s logo copycats that of Wotanjugend - a Russian neo-nazi platform formed around the MOLOTH (Hitler’s Hammer) black metal band, which moved to Ukraine in 2015. Its lead singer Aleksey Levkin became one of Azov’s ideologists.<br /><br />Another arrested Azovian is Serhiy Kozlyuk, who badly wounded cameraman Vadym Makaryuk in clashes at Barabashova market in Kharkiv in 2019.<br /><br />Also among the arrested is Artem Subochev, who injured a patrol policeman in Kharkiv in 2016. Local media noted at the time that he appeared in social networks under the nick fcmk1488 and his posts were full of photos showing people making nazi salute<br /><br />The last of the arrestees for now is Kyrilo Krikunov, who won Kharkiv police championship in sambo (a Soviet martial art) in 2017 as part of the East Corps team. He was evidently an employee of Ukrainian police at the time, like many Azovians.</blockquote><p>In spite of his complaints about “Ukraine's inaction” in fighting the far-right extremism, Colborne, himself reports on these actions:<br /></p><blockquote>Two American members of the neo-Nazi Atomwaffen Division (AWD) were deported from Ukraine in 2020, p. 147<br /><br />eight movement members who had been released after being temporarily detained. p.152<br /><br />As the arrests of members in Kharkiv in August 2021 suggested, the Azov movement also appears to have little compunction about getting involved in alleged criminal schemes.p.160<br /><br />With the departure of [Azov-friendly]Arsen Avakov from the interior ministry in July 2021 and the Azov movement's subsequent complaints of “repression” from Zelenskyy’s government, are these processes. p.160<br /><br />what the Azov movement decries in mid-2021 as “repression’—the arrests of members for being involved in an alleged criminal scheme and of others for trying to break through a police cordon to confront Zelenskyy, among other things...p.161</blockquote>There's enough information out there to show that the Zelenskyy government has made an effort to curve the influence of neo-Nazis and the extreme right in its armed forces, and in Ukrainian politics generally. How effective and sincere those efforts have been is up for debate, but anyone who claims that there has been no effort, or worst, that the Zelenskyy govt is tolerating, or even colluding with, neoNazis is repeating the false propaganda of fascists attempt to subdue an ex-national minority with force.</div><div><br /></div><div>As Denys Davydov <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfB2oEz5iPY&t=616s">said</a> last week <i>“It's time to help Ukraine, and it's time to change Ukraine.”</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>Clay Claiborne</div><div>2 March 2013</div><p><i><br /></i></p></div>Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-22208294966573348492023-02-25T15:03:00.000-08:002023-02-25T15:03:31.705-08:00Ex-journalist Sy Hersh's Believe It or Don't Revisited: Nord Stream Edition<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfCiInrJfBvXUelJEetkPSluAjt2nQWVxtN5qvbYoKMzyBF7UnN2G0SR-1llUkdcjBQjdk5Iq60EzdvLI4ZrfVO2VI0WieQz5IdcmbcZrpsXNwjDP72lYSyDKpdCoaNxeioQqkri2eaMiyKH4cMSX8WWzJQrWDKAgUkCsUQokrtpmfEYFcsDVCe3hJ/s599/ppassad.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="599" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfCiInrJfBvXUelJEetkPSluAjt2nQWVxtN5qvbYoKMzyBF7UnN2G0SR-1llUkdcjBQjdk5Iq60EzdvLI4ZrfVO2VI0WieQz5IdcmbcZrpsXNwjDP72lYSyDKpdCoaNxeioQqkri2eaMiyKH4cMSX8WWzJQrWDKAgUkCsUQokrtpmfEYFcsDVCe3hJ/s320/ppassad.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I published <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2014/04/seymour-hershs-believe-it-or-dont_8.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>Seymour Hersh's Believe It or Don't</b></a> on 8 April 2014 in response to Sy Hersh's attempt to use spurious <i>“anonymous sources”</i> to exonerate Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad for his use of sarin to kill over 1400 people, including hundreds of children, in East Ghouta on 21 August 2013. In spite of Hersh's determined defense of Assad, subsequent <a href="https://crd.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/EASTERN-GHOUTA-SUMMARY-EN-final.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">investigations</a> conclusively <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2013/09/10/attacks-ghouta/analysis-alleged-use-chemical-weapons-syria" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">proved Assad was behind those</a>, and <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/20/victims-of-syrian-govt-chemical-attacks-file-case-in-sweden" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">many more chemical murders in Syria</a>. I revisited the question of <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2017/07/sy-hershs-increditable-secret-source.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>Sy Hersh's incredible secret source</b></a> again on 4 July 2017 when he again emerged citing <i>“anonymous sources”</i> to exhorate Assad for sarin use in Khan Sheikhoun on 4 April 2017. On 6 September 2017, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights' Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic concluded that a Syrian Air Force aircraft was responsible the sarin attack, saying <i>“the Syrian air force used sarin in Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib, killing dozens, the majority of whom were women and children",</i>[2] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khan_Shaykhun_chemical_attack" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">according</a> to Wikipedia.<div><br /></div><div>In <b><a href="https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/whatever-happened-to-seymour-hersh" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Whatever happened to Seymour Hersh?</a></b>, Prospect Magazine, 17 July, 2018, Steve Bloomfield compares Hersh's new style of <i>“reporting”</i> to the investigative journalism that made him famous:</div><div><blockquote>Unlike his investigations into America’s chemical and biological warfare programme in the 1960s, there were no witnesses, no documents and no damning evidence. Instead he had quotes from a handful of anonymous former US officials. To Hersh’s band of supporters, this didn’t matter. It was Sy Hersh, the guy who uncovered My Lai and won a Pulitzer. It must be true.</blockquote>A few days later, 22 Jul 2018, Daniella Peled, in an opinion piece in Haaretz, simply asked <b><a href="https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2018-07-22/ty-article-opinion/.premium/why-hasnt-seymour-hershs-syria-genocide-denial-ended-his-career/0000017f-dba8-db5a-a57f-dbea59b80000 " rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Why Hasn't Seymour Hersh's Syria War Crimes Denial Ended His Career?</a></b><br /><div><br /></div><div>Well, it seems that the task of cleaning out Hersh's stables is never quite done. Now ex-journalist Sy Hersh is again citing a single source as his sole proof that Joe Biden is responsible for blowing up the Northrom pipelines—just like Vladimir Putin said. As we will see, Sy Hersh's claims rest entirely on a single anonymous source that doesn't name names or cite independently verifiable facts. That being the case, the credibility of his story rests entirely on a belief in Hersh's integrity. So, its time to revisit Sy Hersh's <i>“Believe It or Don't.”</i> In his most recent attempt at newsmaking, ex-journalist Seymour Hersh issues an indictment of President Joe Biden for blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline on Substack in a 8 Feb 2023 piece titled <b><a href="https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/how-america-took-out-the-nord-stream" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline</a></b>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Unfortunately, Sy Hersh relies on a single anonymous source for his whole story. He begins by citing <i>“a source with direct knowledge of the operational planning”</i> of Navy divers, operating under the cover of mid-summer NATO exercise BALTOPS 22. The problem is that he doesn't ever cite another source. He does cite <i>“</i><i>the source</i><i>”</i> 13 times, making it clear that this story is based on a single source. What else can we deduct about The Source from what Sy Hersh reveals? </div><div><br /></div><div>After Hersh references <i>“a source,”</i> he speaks of <i>“the source with direct knowledge of the process”</i> of a series of top-secret meetings in a secure room on a top floor of the Old Executive Office Building, adjacent to the White House, that was also the home of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB). (1) So, The Source is given to be someone with very high-level access. Hersh tells us his opinion of the operation:</div><div><div><blockquote><i>“This is not kiddie stuff,”</i> the source said. If the attack were traceable to the United States, <i>“It’s an act of war.”</i>(2)</blockquote></div><div>Hersh tells us The Source definitely thought blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline was a bad idea, as did many people in the government:</div><div><blockquote>Throughout <i>“all of this scheming,”</i> the source said, <i>“some working guys in the CIA and the State Department were saying, ‘Don’t do this. It’s stupid and will be a political nightmare if it comes out.’”(3)</i></blockquote><i></i></div></div><div><div>So, The Source was also privy to conversations of unnamed <i>“working guys”</i> in both the CIA and the State Department, and now he's responsible for the <i>“</i><i>political nightmare</i><i>” </i>of “an act of war” coming out, if he's to be believed.</div><div><br /></div><div>Axiomatic to the theory that Biden is behind the blowing up of the Nord Stream pipelines is his warning before Russia invaded, on 7 Feb 2022, that if <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS4O8rGRLf8" rel="nofollow" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">"Russia invades . . . there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.”</a> About that statement, The Source said:</div><div><div><i></i></div></div><blockquote><div><div><i>“It was like putting an atomic bomb on the ground in Tokyo and telling the Japanese that we are going to detonate it,”</i> the source said. <i>“The plan was for the options to be executed post invasion and not advertised publicly. Biden simply didn’t get it or ignored it.”(4)</i></div></div><div></div></blockquote><div>There are only a couple of problems with the theory that Biden's statement proves he was responsible for the blowing up of the Nord Stream pipelines eight months later: 1) Both pipelines had already been shut down before the explosion. 2) Biden never threatened Nord Stream 1, which was completely blown up. 3) Germany had agreed to shutdown Nord Stream 2 in case of invasion—this is what Biden was referring to, and 4) Nord Stream 2 wasn't destroyed by the sabotage. Only one of its pipelines was hit, along with both of the pipelines from Nord Stream 1, making the remaining pipeline all the more valuable. If this was an attempt to carry out a threat to end Nord Stream 2, it failed. In anycase, because of Biden's statement, Hersh tells us:<div><blockquote>According to the source, some of the senior officials of the CIA determined that blowing up the pipeline <i>“no longer could be considered a covert option because the President just announced that we knew how to do it.”</i>(5)</blockquote><div><div>Apparently, The Source knew what some senior officials in the CIA were saying. Why these senior officials think anyone would need Biden to confirm that the pentagon knows how to blow up a pipeline is less clear. Hersh continues:</div><div><blockquote>Under the law, the source explained, <i>“There was no longer a legal requirement to report the operation to Congress. All they had to do now is just do it—but it still had to be secret. The Russians have superlative surveillance of the Baltic Sea.”(6)</i></blockquote></div><div>Nevermind The Source finds Russia's surveillance of the Baltic Sea praiseworthy, apparently he's also a legal expert. Isn't this something Sy Hersh should have verified independently? Instead, he tell us:</div><div><blockquote>The source recalled, <i>“Bill Burns comes back and says, ‘Do it.’”</i>(7)</blockquote></div><div>The Source was privy to the director of the CIA giving the go-ahead on a top secret operation? This is high-level indeed! How many people heard Burns say "Do it"? The director of the CIA is the only person named by The Source as being involved in the pipeline sabotage. Isn't he afraid of being exposed? </div><div><blockquote>“He is the glove that fits the American hand,” the source said.(8)</blockquote></div><div>Apparently, Sy Hersh thinks The Source's opinion of NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg is worth quoting. </div><div><blockquote><i>“They hated the Russians, and the Norwegian navy was full of superb sailors and divers who had generations of experience in highly profitable deep-sea oil and gas exploration,”</i> the source said.(9)</blockquote></div><div>Sy Hersh relies on The Source to confirm there are many expert sailors and divers in Norway, as if that amounts to circumstantial evidence they were involved in the pipeline explosion. He also offers us his opinion of the Norwegian attitude towards Russians. Is he an expert on that too? </div><div><blockquote><i>“The best divers with deep diving qualifications are a tight community, and only the very best are recruited for the operation and told to be prepared to be summoned to the CIA in Washington,”</i> the source said.(10)</blockquote></div><div>So, apparently they weren't planning on using Norwegian divers after all. Good thing The Source is in tight with the community of divers the CIA tells to be on standby whenever a a big underwater operation is in the works. </div><div><blockquote>The Norwegians joined the Americans in insisting that some senior officials in Denmark and Sweden had to be briefed in general terms about possible diving activity in the area. In that way, someone higher up could intervene and keep a report out of the chain of command, thus insulating the pipeline operation. <i>“What they were told and what they knew were purposely different,”</i> the source told me.(11)</blockquote></div><div>So, The Source also knew what the Norwegians and Americans told some senior officials in Denmark and Sweden.</div><div><blockquote><i>“The clock was ticking, and we were nearing mission accomplished,”</i> the source said.(12)</blockquote></div><div>The use of the pronoun <i>“we”</i> here certainly puts The Source at the middle of the action.</div><div><blockquote>The source had a much more streetwise view of Biden’s decision to sabotage more than 1500 miles of Gazprom pipeline as winter approached. <i>“Well,”</i> he said, speaking of the President, <i>“I gotta admit the guy has a pair of balls. He said he was going to do it, and he did.”(13)</i></blockquote></div><div>Finally, Sy Hersh ends by quoting The Source one more time:</div><div><i><blockquote>“The only flaw was the decision to do it.” </blockquote></i></div><div>But if we are to believe The Source, he was one of the high level <i>“we”</i> that accomplished the dastardly deed, and afterwards, instead of coming forward as a forthright whistle blower and naming names in a congressional hearing or other official proceeding, goes sculking off to Sy Hersh to offer his opinions on everything from Norway's hatred of Russia to the size of Biden's balls, but telling <i>“all”</i> off the record, on the Q-T, and very huss-huss. Really? What kind of story is that? Why doesn't Sy Hersh offer us anything like a shred of evidence? I guess you just have to believe it, or don't.</div><div><br /></div><div>Clay Claiborne</div><div>25 February 2023</div><div><br /></div></div></div><div><i>More of my exposures of ex-journalist Seymour Hersh:</i></div><div>9 Dec 2013 <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2013/12/whose-seymour-hersh.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Whose Seymour Hersh?</a> </div><div>8 Apr 2014 <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2014/04/seymour-hershs-believe-it-or-dont_8.html" target="_blank">Seymour Hersh's Believe It or Don't</a></div><div>10 Apr 2014 <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2014/04/seymour-hershs-chemical-weapons-fetish.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Seymour Hersh's chemical weapons fetish</a></div><div>12 Apr 2014 <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2014/04/my-lai-and-sy-hersh-reappraisal.html" target="_blank">Mỹ Lai and Sy Hersh, a Reappraisal</a></div><div>13 Apr 2014 <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2014/04/after-hersh-lays-smoke-screen-assad.html" target="_blank">After Hersh lays smoke screen, Assad lobes gas bombs</a></div><div>23 Apr 2014 <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2014/04/how-seymour-hersh-confuses-syria-with.html" target="_blank">How Seymour Hersh confuses Syria with Libya</a></div><div>4 Jul 2017 <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2017/07/sy-hershs-increditable-secret-source.html" target="_blank">Sy Hersh's incredible secret source</a></div><div>6 Jul 2017 <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2017/07/syria-seymour-hersh-and-sarin-denialists.html" target="_blank">Syria, Seymour Hersh and the Sarin denialists</a></div><div>7 Jul 2017 <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2017/07/seymour-hersh-exposes-russian-syrian.html" target="_blank">Seymour Hersh exposes Russian & Syrian lies about sarin attack</a></div><div>10 Jul 2017 <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2017/07/russia-admits-sarin-used-in-spite-of-sy.html" target="_blank">Russia admits sarin used in spite of Sy Hersh fantasy</a></div><div>21 Jun 2018 <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2018/06/seymour-hersh-admits-to-racist-cover-up.html" target="_blank">Seymour Hersh admits to racist cover up in his Mỹ Lai story on @DemocracyNow</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div></div></div></div></div>Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-86076315396640943122023-02-05T21:58:00.002-08:002023-02-10T08:54:36.496-08:00How a German MP reveals @DemocracyNow's support for Russia in Ukraine<p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqAsyKnEMbOrmpjSoz6q2xhTKz-oKgthY7jw399LYNwpLqWNne_4Fw-SJqeSMJSre2XfF_TiM02iXKnGm97jdtmpwFzpbbLFuXkAvPtuZum0WpuUCllhCfbF0F166xWK6BKovxh1K_Qvg7gWFzB-Fjg4yA6iF5Roj584jbfXhfAIMoLAeSk6YmomlH/s599/hypocracyNow.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="369" data-original-width="599" height="123" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqAsyKnEMbOrmpjSoz6q2xhTKz-oKgthY7jw399LYNwpLqWNne_4Fw-SJqeSMJSre2XfF_TiM02iXKnGm97jdtmpwFzpbbLFuXkAvPtuZum0WpuUCllhCfbF0F166xWK6BKovxh1K_Qvg7gWFzB-Fjg4yA6iF5Roj584jbfXhfAIMoLAeSk6YmomlH/w200-h123/hypocracyNow.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>On its January 25th show, under a segment with the title "<a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2023/1/25/germany_leopard_tanks_ukraine_russia_war" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">As Germany & U.S. Agree on Tanks for Ukraine, German MP Accuses U.S. of Pushing Berlin into Proxy War</a>," Democracy Now brought on a German MP to give us the perspective of European socialists on Russia's war against Ukraine. They did so without telling their audience that she was well known as a Putin mouthpiece in Germany. They left that task to me.<p></p><p>Amy Goodman introduced their guest as follows:</p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #191f24; letter-spacing: -0.2px;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="background-color: white; color: #191f24; letter-spacing: -0.2px;">For more, we speak with lawmaker Sevim Dağdelen, a member of the Left Party in the German parliament who says the majority of the German public wants more diplomatic efforts to end the conflict. </span><i style="color: #191f24; letter-spacing: -0.2px;">“It concerns me a lot that many so-called progressives in the United States are supporting this line by the Biden administration to push Germany more and more into this proxy war,” </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #191f24; letter-spacing: -0.2px;">says Dağdelen.</span></blockquote><span style="background-color: white; color: #191f24; letter-spacing: -0.2px;"></span><p></p><p><span face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #191f24; letter-spacing: -0.2px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #191f24; letter-spacing: -0.2px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdUyRWUBWyzj923rrpjav9zlbeAJwCeCmzMCyJ-TduVhrmPN4ghLCCvx6un6ORmpb739i-QlSew8R7h6GyYF6ZubZYlaArZYkCqBavPAoA9wkOmhlZYhJT8pm6brwC7iB3aFTYrjHg1o3r-p_vRC4XmNm0wUemZXfTg0H7oSHm6gWuqisYHgrwwoIp/s1600/The-Russia-Ukraine-war-and-organizing-for-peace-post-image-resize.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdUyRWUBWyzj923rrpjav9zlbeAJwCeCmzMCyJ-TduVhrmPN4ghLCCvx6un6ORmpb739i-QlSew8R7h6GyYF6ZubZYlaArZYkCqBavPAoA9wkOmhlZYhJT8pm6brwC7iB3aFTYrjHg1o3r-p_vRC4XmNm0wUemZXfTg0H7oSHm6gWuqisYHgrwwoIp/s320/The-Russia-Ukraine-war-and-organizing-for-peace-post-image-resize.png" width="320" /></a></span></div><span face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #191f24; letter-spacing: -0.2px;">Dağdelen then goes on to repeat <span style="letter-spacing: -0.2px;">well-worn </span>Kremlin </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #191f24; letter-spacing: -0.2px;">propaganda</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #191f24; letter-spacing: -0.2px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #191f24; letter-spacing: -0.2px;">about how they had to invade Ukraine because of NATO expansion, and because they are all Nazis, as if this was a representative view of progressives in Europe.</span><p></p><p><span face="Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #191f24; letter-spacing: -0.2px;">One might get a clue that she has more than a dog in that fight when she fastened on like this: </span></p><blockquote>Well, I really have to warn: All these illusionists, all these people who are fantasizing about a victory against Russia, they are underestimating Russia like Napoleon and Hitler did in the past. And, you know, it’s a nuclear — the most powerful nuclear power in the world. And there is no way to win a war, a conventional war, against such a nuclear power.</blockquote><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFAY8gtmOX752bemHbIjVhxC0BOvU-IVH1_vg7ZGjnZNqdQstvh5AT9CduzG7-Wwh-Iw81PzawVW-QwZRThCKO0Wh4kHmWXnMZV0ZJZ3w4aoUTRUC7-huJ7L7ZtbnB_LLRchh1OXzfmhwFTgmRQsAOIqfJ_byph2beG1xue3mb1BbCqtFzjrUMqWFN/s948/29559215-1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="474" data-original-width="948" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFAY8gtmOX752bemHbIjVhxC0BOvU-IVH1_vg7ZGjnZNqdQstvh5AT9CduzG7-Wwh-Iw81PzawVW-QwZRThCKO0Wh4kHmWXnMZV0ZJZ3w4aoUTRUC7-huJ7L7ZtbnB_LLRchh1OXzfmhwFTgmRQsAOIqfJ_byph2beG1xue3mb1BbCqtFzjrUMqWFN/s320/29559215-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Really? Tell that to the Vietnamese. And the Iraqis, and the Afghans-twice-against two nuclear powers! No way to win a war of independence against a nuclear power? This is a very strange thing to be preached by a leftist. Fortunately, history proves her wrong. As to the lesson from history that she would have us draw—that Russia always wins—it should be enough to point out that against both Napoleon and Hitler, Russia had both the moral and military advantage of being the country being invaded, plus it had Ukrainians on its side. Today, none of that applies.<p></p><p>This piece in Tagesspiegel was published just days before Putin invaded Ukraine, and it gives us a very different perspective on Dağdelen than the one Democracy Now would want us to have. The translation from the original Germany is via Google:</p><b><a href="https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/abgeordnete-der-linken-zeigen-verstandnis-fur-den-kreml-5997169.html"></a></b><blockquote><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/abgeordnete-der-linken-zeigen-verstandnis-fur-den-kreml-5997169.html">Putin's left-back: MPs from the left show understanding for the Kremlin</a><br /></span></b><br /><i>Bundestag deputies Sevim Dagdelen and Sahra Wagenknecht defend the Kremlin's policy. This is met with criticism in the Left Party</i>.<br /><br />By Claudia von Salzen<br />02/21/2022, 4:55 p.m<br /><br />The left-wing member of the Bundestag Sevim Dagdelen appeared at a rally at the Brandenburg Gate last Friday. <i>"Security for Russia is security for our country" </i>was the motto of the event to which Peace Coordination Berlin had invited. According to the call for the rally, Russia feels <i>"rightly threatened"</i> by NATO.<br /><br />Dagdelen conveyed the <i>"greetings of solidarity"</i> to her faction, and then in a 20-minute speech settled accounts with the USA and NATO, which she accused of <i>"warmongering and warmongering"</i>. Dagdelen accused the German media of spreading <i>"the US secret service's tall tales"</i> and asked: <i>"Yes, are we in a totalitarian state?"</i><br /><br />At the same time, the left-wing deputy defended the Russian troop deployment on the border with Ukraine. Russia reacted because Ukraine wanted to recapture eastern Ukraine militarily. The Kremlin had to be careful <i>"if there was an attack on the Donbass, on the Russian minorities there"</i>, <i>"and maybe even on Crimea."</i></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLXvM1RIT9dm92U1V0IbVa7xPf7cYQE6cOKdtAs4Nz1gI4hXh82ypLgSJbe9RDTSa-h8YsVfIHiBwS4GBLSPuUgJF9xuoeUOhNgkdJNxEtpf_La970CFzfaRQ49gFrKzEi00paX2O0kuqtftOJUz280JuVbYOOEnpHTLQEuPP61s7AgrmCBPq1ncXX/s579/1200x675.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="325" data-original-width="579" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLXvM1RIT9dm92U1V0IbVa7xPf7cYQE6cOKdtAs4Nz1gI4hXh82ypLgSJbe9RDTSa-h8YsVfIHiBwS4GBLSPuUgJF9xuoeUOhNgkdJNxEtpf_La970CFzfaRQ49gFrKzEi00paX2O0kuqtftOJUz280JuVbYOOEnpHTLQEuPP61s7AgrmCBPq1ncXX/s320/1200x675.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>She said this two days before Russian tanks crossed the border between Belarus and Ukraine in their failed attempt to take Kyiv. Tagesspiegel continues:<br /><blockquote>In doing so, the left-wing politician reflects pretty much the reading of the events disseminated by the Russian state media. She did not say a word about the deployment of more than 100,000 soldiers on Ukraine's borders. On the other hand, Dagdelen accused the USA of having an interest in the escalation: The Americans <i>"do not care whether Ukrainians die or Russians die."</i> They are only concerned with asserting their geopolitical interests.</blockquote>Salzen notes that not only is Dağdelen pro-Putin with regards to Ukraine, she has a long history of promoting Putin propaganda:<br /><blockquote>However, Dagdelen does not advocate a policy of equidistance to the governments in Washington and Moscow. From their point of view, such a step does not go far enough. The equidistance slogan serves <i>“to trivialize the NATO armament”</i>. Dagdelen is one of those within the left-wing faction who have repeatedly loudly defended the Kremlin's policies. After the Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal was poisoned with the chemical warfare agent Novichok in Great Britain in 2018, Dagdelen addressed a parliamentary question to the federal government. She took over all the questions from the Russian government.</blockquote><p>Democracy Now has every right to put Sevim Dağdelen, or any other Putin propagandist, on its show. After all, we celebrate the freedom of the press in the US. But they should make it clear whose views they are promoting. I suspect they imported a Swedish MP because their usual crop of tankies, such as Medea Benjamin, have become overexposed. Well, this fresh face is promoting the same old Putin propaganda.</p><p>Clay Claiborne</p><p>5 February 2023</p><p><br /></p>Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-69000432550170718402022-12-14T23:23:00.005-08:002022-12-16T21:28:04.344-08:00Did @ElonMusk order a change to Twitter rules to justify banning @ElonJet?<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info.<br /><br />Posting locations someone traveled to on a slightly delayed basis isn’t a safety problem, so is ok.</p>— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1603181423787380737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></center>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEhfZa7tUvUQbftAQWDvNi0dbf1MnxW1zMC21dM3IEB3mWO4O2v1fEI80yltIf8aTprjpjL2J8vSssgFAeYEE_1geogBmDePBg15Zfo4tasfKthNbHiOIanW4AqRvudPB3OM1VadZFBmxfmomERuQx7aC9E96O-0atbYEjM719x6ns8Fu68zcxd7UO/s849/Screenshot%20from%202022-12-14%2021-51-38.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="721" data-original-width="849" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEhfZa7tUvUQbftAQWDvNi0dbf1MnxW1zMC21dM3IEB3mWO4O2v1fEI80yltIf8aTprjpjL2J8vSssgFAeYEE_1geogBmDePBg15Zfo4tasfKthNbHiOIanW4AqRvudPB3OM1VadZFBmxfmomERuQx7aC9E96O-0atbYEjM719x6ns8Fu68zcxd7UO/s320/Screenshot%20from%202022-12-14%2021-51-38.png" width="320" /></a></div><div>Yesterday, Twitter suspended the @ElonJet account. This Twitter account tracked the location of Musk's private jet. Musk had tried to shut it down even before he bought Twitter. At one point he offered them $5,000 to shutdown—they refused. Now they're gone.</div><div><br /></div><div>CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/14/tech/elonjet-twitter-suspended/index.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">reported</a> on it:</div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></div><blockquote><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Twitter suspends account that tracked Musk’s private jet, despite billionaire’s ‘free speech’ pledge</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">By Donie O'Sullivan</span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">14 December 2022</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Twitter on Wednesday permanently suspended an account that tracked the location of Elon Musk’s private jet, despite the social media company’s owner vowing last month he would leave the account up as part of his “commitment to free speech.” <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/14/tech/elonjet-twitter-suspended/index.html">...More</a></span></div><div></div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>Well, it would appear that the Twitter Rules they are accused of violating were posted by Twitter just today! </div><div><br /></div><div>Here is the relevant section of the Twitter doxxing policy as it stands today, 14 December 2022. It's dated <i>"December 2022"</i>:</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHjqCmkYBY0nsjr8NOfqzHCb3kNSW0IAYyg9DRhfIxJMfugoiJcTT6Kdrq5Tq8iIAKYAH_wrGZ-w-kr98p7DrRBW0dZttdwa3rVdV1-GiSbOuYvNRWzCqR2DbHnUeL5lZ6Vgfs7dgP8V6n7D42vlrHhmfeknTrbfbYVN99zi-mvLyxMc9Xbq0WiD18/s843/Twitter%20doxxing%20policy%20%2012-2022.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="843" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHjqCmkYBY0nsjr8NOfqzHCb3kNSW0IAYyg9DRhfIxJMfugoiJcTT6Kdrq5Tq8iIAKYAH_wrGZ-w-kr98p7DrRBW0dZttdwa3rVdV1-GiSbOuYvNRWzCqR2DbHnUeL5lZ6Vgfs7dgP8V6n7D42vlrHhmfeknTrbfbYVN99zi-mvLyxMc9Xbq0WiD18/w640-h375/Twitter%20doxxing%20policy%20%2012-2022.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/personal-information" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">From Twitter website today</a></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>And here is that section as it was retrieved from yesterday, 13 December via the <b><span style="color: red;">WayBack</span> Machine</b>.</div><div>It's dated "April 2022".</div><div><br /></div><div><div><br /></div>You'll notice that the difference between the two versions is the addition of this section:</div><div><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;">live location information, including information shared on Twitter directly or links to 3rd-party URL(s) of travel routes, actual physical location, or other identifying information that would reveal a person’s location, regardless if this information is publicly available;<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq5x-5ary3HkCogbvjhlg2Krk9fpgSgXSZfAk546no2HDaOuNGPiYvsm9f8GbR9a6klQko-nBwx-JQ_SGWhINvg1UsintXLW6SX5BGSw4kx1tadEAPkxukC936dkb0YyO5NkyvAqJpsPFVIJMDxsMredrGUtSa4ApWWci5C_mOiJa4JZ6XhhY9mcVu/s837/Twitter%20doxxing%20policy%20%2004-2022.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="348" data-original-width="837" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq5x-5ary3HkCogbvjhlg2Krk9fpgSgXSZfAk546no2HDaOuNGPiYvsm9f8GbR9a6klQko-nBwx-JQ_SGWhINvg1UsintXLW6SX5BGSw4kx1tadEAPkxukC936dkb0YyO5NkyvAqJpsPFVIJMDxsMredrGUtSa4ApWWci5C_mOiJa4JZ6XhhY9mcVu/w640-h272/Twitter%20doxxing%20policy%20%2004-2022.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221214184515/https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/personal-information" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">From Twitter website yesterday via WayBack Macine.</a></td></tr></tbody></table></span></blockquote></div><div>This seems very crudely crafted to justify the banning of @ElonJet, which took place BEFORE this new policy was posted, especially the part that says <i>"regardless if this information is publicly available"</i> because @ElonJet relied upon publicly available flight information.</div><div><br /></div><div>We know that @ElonJet was banned before this policy was posted because in examining the <b><span style="color: red;">WayBack</span> Machine</b>'s archives in detail, we can see that this change was made between the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221214184515/https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/personal-information">18:45:15</a> snapshot and the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221214221401/https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/personal-information" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">22:14:01</a> snapshot today, 14 December 2022. AFTER the @ElonJet was banned. We know that because the WayBack Machine's first snapshot of the day for https://twitter.com/ElonJet at <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221214085820/https://twitter.com/ElonJet">08:58:20</a> on 14 December 2022 already shows the account as suspended!</div><div><br /></div>Elon Musk also banned an account that tracks Russian Oligarch Jets at the same time:<div><br /><div><br /></div></div>
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">UPDATE: It appears the Russian oligarch private jet trackers Jack ran were also suspended along with Elon’s jet tracker <a href="https://twitter.com/ElonJet?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ElonJet</a> and Jack’s personal account 🤔 <a href="https://t.co/6FA86s0rD6">pic.twitter.com/6FA86s0rD6</a></p>— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTNHoller/status/1603116690165964801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></center>
When the billionaire said he was buying Twitter to defend free speech, we all knew that was a lie, but this is complete totalitarian BS—making up rules to suit your fancy—making up rules on the fly—suspending people for violating rules before they are posted. <div><br /></div><div> I first got involved with Twitter when I was reporting on the Arab Spring in 2011. It was an important tool for liberation then, more than all the other social media sites because the old Twitter could also use the SMS format (text messages). That was important because in 2011 most cell phones in MENA weren't smartphones. Twitter has come a long way since then—a long way down. The main Twitter story of today isn't even this. It's the one about <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2022/12/breaking-news-twitter-blocks-access-to.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter locking out Ukrainian users.</a><div><br /></div><div>Clay Claiborne</div><div>14 December 2022</div><div><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">UPDATE ALREADY: Clean Up on Aisle 5</span></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>When @levifishman posted a Tweet noting that Twitter didn't suspend the account tracking Jeff Bezo's jet, Twitter added this warning to his tweet:</div><div><blockquote><div class="css-1dbjc4n r-1awozwy r-1panhkp r-18u37iz r-16y2uox r-1wtj0ep r-1e081e0 r-1f1sjgu" style="-webkit-box-align: center; -webkit-box-direction: normal; -webkit-box-flex: 1; -webkit-box-orient: horizontal; -webkit-box-pack: justify; align-items: center; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: row; flex: 1 0 auto; font-size: 15px; justify-content: space-between; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 12px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-1dbjc4n r-18u37iz r-13qz1uu" style="-webkit-box-align: stretch; -webkit-box-direction: normal; -webkit-box-orient: horizontal; align-items: stretch; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 540px; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-901oao r-1awozwy r-18jsvk2 r-6koalj r-37j5jr r-1b43r93 r-b88u0q r-1cwl3u0 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" dir="ltr" style="-webkit-box-align: center; align-items: center; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1419; display: flex; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" color="inherit" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: inherit;">Readers added context they thought people might want to know</span></div></div></div><div class="css-901oao r-18jsvk2 r-37j5jr r-a023e6 r-16dba41 r-rjixqe r-bcqeeo r-1udh08x r-1e081e0 r-1f1sjgu r-qvutc0" dir="ltr" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1419; display: inline; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 12px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" color="inherit" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: inherit;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" color="inherit" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: inherit;">The BezosJets account is suspended.
</span></span><a class="css-4rbku5 css-18t94o4 css-901oao css-16my406 r-1cvl2hr r-1loqt21 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" href="https://t.co/R2ow3B107K" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" role="link" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1d9bf0; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: inherit;" target="_blank"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" color="inherit" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: inherit;">twitter.com/BezosJets</span></a></div><div class="css-1dbjc4n r-1sw30gj r-109y4c4 r-hrzydr" role="separator" style="-webkit-box-align: stretch; -webkit-box-direction: normal; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; align-items: stretch; background-color: #eff3f4; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; font-size: 15px; height: 1px; margin: 2px 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"></div><div class="css-1dbjc4n r-1awozwy r-18u37iz r-16y2uox r-1wtj0ep r-1e081e0 r-1f1sjgu" style="-webkit-box-align: center; -webkit-box-direction: normal; -webkit-box-flex: 1; -webkit-box-orient: horizontal; -webkit-box-pack: justify; align-items: center; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: row; flex: 1 0 auto; font-size: 15px; justify-content: space-between; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 12px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"><div class="css-901oao r-18jsvk2 r-37j5jr r-1b43r93 r-16dba41 r-1cwl3u0 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" dir="ltr" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1419; display: inline; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" color="inherit" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: inherit;">Do you find this helpful?</span></div></div></blockquote><p>What they didn't say is that they suspended @BezosJets only after @levifishman's tweet! His tweet was at 14:58 GMT Dec 14, 2022 The WayBack Machine shows the account still up in its <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221214152155/https://twitter.com/BezosJets">15:21:55</a> GMT 14 Dec. 2022.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div>
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Twitter suspended the account following Elon's jet but not the one following Jeff Bezos' jet. Even though they do the same thing and are run by the same guy. Why does <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@elonmusk</a> hate free speech when the speech is about Elon Musk? <a href="https://t.co/fOxvNdA3e8">pic.twitter.com/fOxvNdA3e8</a></p>— Levi Fishman (@levifishman) <a href="https://twitter.com/levifishman/status/1603041749408124930?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></center>
It's becoming increaingly clear that the billionaire is willing to use his control of a media company to play fast and lose with the truth, and even re-write history. Bad news that.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>UPDATE 16 Dec 2022: </b>Chris Hayes on MSNBC confirmed that Elon Musk suspended #ElonJet before he posted the rules used to justify its suspendion:</div><div><br /></div>
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/chrislhayes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@chrislhayes</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MSNBC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MSNBC</a> confirm news I broke 2 days ago—<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ElonMusk</a> changed the Twitter rules AFTER he banned <a href="https://twitter.com/ElonJet?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ElonJet</a>!<br /><br />Did <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ElonMusk</a> order a change to Twitter rules to justify banning <a href="https://twitter.com/ElonJet?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ElonJet</a>? <a href="https://t.co/ONhxxWohK0">https://t.co/ONhxxWohK0</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GenocideOfUkrainians?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GenocideOfUkrainians</a> via <a href="https://twitter.com/clayclai?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@clayclai</a> <a href="https://t.co/IVMmLfvdk7">pic.twitter.com/IVMmLfvdk7</a></p>— 🇺🇦 Linux Beach 🇺🇦 (@clayclai) <a href="https://twitter.com/clayclai/status/1603969448339156993?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 17, 2022</a></blockquote><p> </p> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></center>
Is Twitter still blocking my media?<div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dz6bdwc7lW-DBCSCwm06GR-u5W-sAi3D6rJVsw_4AmW3vejT2PSC3HoeK4zFfT70khfJXaQNxgnuhV7PB-Vhw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is what Musk is blocking.</div><br /><div><br /></div></div>Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-38911610906132321692022-12-13T19:50:00.004-08:002022-12-13T20:00:03.522-08:00BREAKING NEWS: Twitter blocks access to many Ukrainian users, including gov't officials<div><b>UPDATE: BREAKING NEWS:</b> It now appears that Twitter has de-platformed Ukrainian Twitter users by removing the Ukraine country code from the list of phone numbers acceptable for two-factor authentication according to <a href="https://twitter.com/apmassaro3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Paul Massaro</a>.</div><div><br /></div>
I first posted this as an update to my most recent blog post <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2022/12/why-elon-musks-twitter-files-are-fraud.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Why Elon Musk's <i>"Twitter Files"</i> are a fraud, even in name</a>. Then I decided this breaking news deserved its own notice. Any disruption of the communications of those fighting genocide is a grave matter! Elon Musk claims he bought Twitter to advance free speech. Now he has cut off access to Ukrainians that are literally fighting for their lives. FYI, two-factor authentication is necessary for a secure login. It is used by anyone serious about their security, like Ukrainian government officials and those tweeting from a war zone. This mostly means Ukrainian government officials, and many other Ukrainians, are suddenly locked out of Twitter. How is this not censorship far worse than anything revealed in the so-called <i>"Twitter Files"</i>? <div><br /></div><div>Ukrainian access must be restored immediately, and this "outage" must be investigated by an outside body to determine its cause, and make sure it isn't repeated!</div><div><br /></div><div>Clay Claiborne</div><div><br /></div><div>13 December 2022</div><div><br /><center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Ukraine country code totally deleted from Twitter database. Hearing Ukrainians with two-factor authentication cannot access their accounts <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@elonmusk</a></p>— Paul Massaro (@apmassaro3) <a href="https://twitter.com/apmassaro3/status/1602782757914132481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 13, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></center>
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Ukraine is facing Russian terrorism, genocide, and now Twitter has erased the Ukraine country code from its database, silencing Ukrainians when we NEED to hear their voice <a href="https://twitter.com/TwitterSupport?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TwitterSupport</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@elonmusk</a></p>— Paul Massaro (@apmassaro3) <a href="https://twitter.com/apmassaro3/status/1602783776412782593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 13, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></center>
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Ukrainian country code ERASED from Twitter. Insane <a href="https://t.co/jjKMkockTT">https://t.co/jjKMkockTT</a></p>— Paul Massaro (@apmassaro3) <a href="https://twitter.com/apmassaro3/status/1602776573605810177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 13, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></center>
</div>
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">This seems to mean that no new Ukrainian accounts can be set up. Why <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@elonmusk</a>? We REALLY hope this is a mistake. But please do confirm.</p>— UNITED24.media (@United24media) <a href="https://twitter.com/United24media/status/1602642590280650753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 13, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></center>Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-44613555192153363312022-12-13T10:58:00.001-08:002022-12-13T19:07:13.005-08:00Why Elon Musk's "Twitter Files" are a fraud, even in name <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq0uEJLp90F6WwusNJMeMQ6e5Be_c6E7jPALNhB5aD_TEg2HPVQCwp5gAWgr7yqv3dbFhFVpy5fPuX9PzthW6w4R37GSs9kCIBBrbOSwqFWzafK_UQh2O6bvRjq6dS1WE1is-O1Ot2xisxqt5G4PNTQ-h3w7Vuuuk8IZ7_ZgLjt3V9Ou9Dxaaxv5IG/s2048/wikileaks_high_end_fashion_label.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1384" data-original-width="2048" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq0uEJLp90F6WwusNJMeMQ6e5Be_c6E7jPALNhB5aD_TEg2HPVQCwp5gAWgr7yqv3dbFhFVpy5fPuX9PzthW6w4R37GSs9kCIBBrbOSwqFWzafK_UQh2O6bvRjq6dS1WE1is-O1Ot2xisxqt5G4PNTQ-h3w7Vuuuk8IZ7_ZgLjt3V9Ou9Dxaaxv5IG/s320/wikileaks_high_end_fashion_label.png" width="320" /></a></div>It could be fairly stated that it was Wikileaks that established what might be called the <i>"Files"</i> format of releasing reams of information leaked or hacked from a government or corporation. Wikileaks first gained international attention when it release the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_War_documents_leak" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Afghan War Diary</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War_documents_leak" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Iraq War logs</a> in 2010. The first was an archive of over 92,000 documents about the war in Afghanistan; they were initially released through The Guardian, The New York Times, and Der Spiegel. The second was a dump of over 400,000 documents related to the Iraq war, and initially released through The Guardian. Then came the massive State Department diplomatic cables release that came to be known as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_diplomatic_cables_leak" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Cablegate</a>. It consisted of over a quarter-billion words in over a quarter-million cables.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWzRuksJGs5kCIDMFdgpoZ5uPceSi3orKzGBwZ5SdaOh9-7yooEevS4ZOPoCuDPcYc9sAPF2XyvBmDekSPthXqOFWMtV-RAS_aLXc6czxufyHdfs2fPn3FT5fZ_8CZvTcD0tyq89lP6SC_oF4iOyNCGOKSlB_tP2Lgty_rP6KOffsXepXw53cxz46I/s240/syria-files-small.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="122" data-original-width="240" height="122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWzRuksJGs5kCIDMFdgpoZ5uPceSi3orKzGBwZ5SdaOh9-7yooEevS4ZOPoCuDPcYc9sAPF2XyvBmDekSPthXqOFWMtV-RAS_aLXc6czxufyHdfs2fPn3FT5fZ_8CZvTcD0tyq89lP6SC_oF4iOyNCGOKSlB_tP2Lgty_rP6KOffsXepXw53cxz46I/s1600/syria-files-small.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>This was followed by Guantanamo Bay files and <a href="https://wikileaks.org/spyfiles/" target="_blank">The Spy Files</a> in 2011, and then the <a href="https://wikileaks.org/the-gifiles.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Global Intelligence Files</a> (GIFiles), 5 million emails from the private intelligence company Strafor, and the <a href="https://wikileaks.org/Syria-Files.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Syria Files</a>, 2 million emails from Syrian political and government officials. These were followed by many other Wikileaks dumps, including Spy Files 3, Sony Archives, The Saudi Cables, DNC email leak, Podesta Emails, <a href="https://wikileaks.org/yemen-files/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Yemen Files</a>, <a href="https://wikileaks.org/ciav7p1/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Vault 7</a>, <a href="https://wikileaks.org//spyfiles/russia/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Spy Files Russia</a>.<p></p><p>And Wikileaks wasn't the only group making once secret file dumps public. In 2013, the hacktivist group Anonymous posted the credentials of 4,000 executives at financial services in a <a href="https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/anonymous-claims-wall-street-data-dump" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Wall St. data dump.</a> In 2015, there was the 400GB <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/home-and-office/networking/hacking-team-dnp/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Hacking Team</a> corporate data dump, Anonymous also made a big <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/11/02/how-anonymouss-big-kkk-dump-got-muddled-before-it-even-began/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">KKK dump</a> that year. There was the 2016 dump of 11.5 million leaked documents of 214,488 offshore entities that became known as the Panama Papers. Anonymous made <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/anonymous-hack-breaches-far-right-internet-company-epik-dumps-data-on-proud-boys-qanon-8chan" target="_blank">massive dumps </a>of Proud Boys and QAnon in 2021. Another hacking group dumped 10 terabytes of <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/cybermaterial/comments/xp72fz/hacking_group_dumps_10_terabytes_of_military_files/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Military Files</a> from Central America just a few months ago. In 2020, the BlueLeaks <a href="https://www.pcmag.com/news/blueleaks-data-dump-exposes-269gb-of-files-from-hundreds-of-police-departments" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">data dump</a> expose 269GB of files from hundred of Police departments. More recently, there have been a dizzying number of <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220531122814/https:/leaks.revenge.monster/">hacktivist file dumps</a> related to the war in Ukraine. This includes an Anonymous <a href="https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/39951/anonymous-dumps-28gb-of-data-stolen-from-russian-central-bank" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">dump of 28GB of data</a> from the Russian central bank.</p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">What all these various <i>"Files"</i> have in common is that they are massive data dumps that have been posted to the Internet, largely without filtering. You can comb through them yourself and find the good, bad, and ugly.</span></p><p>I was on the staff of <a href="https://wlcentral.org/user/2965/track" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">WL Central</a>, which publicize much of Wikileaks' work, and also one of the pre-publication journalists selected to have early access to both the Syria Files, and the GI Files, so I know a little about how the Wikileaks <i>"File"</i> system worked.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-3LhNRRkn5f8gHfLwGvsUUiGYX5Ku1IIdyJL6FaopLVeCxGq1KLPu_EOwxr09PDzQ96Yk7XxAIAlre79fZyxuqjpxwiS-Hjyi3JhEctLP9BFWoQlfpueAnhxth-2yO5AH38qF-9JOLs2oxSsdjddTUxQq4o1ccXjiH6fejBJP5oJTS1tLnH5UqUlb/s467/gifiles-small.jpg" style="clear: right; display: inline; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="120" data-original-width="467" height="82" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-3LhNRRkn5f8gHfLwGvsUUiGYX5Ku1IIdyJL6FaopLVeCxGq1KLPu_EOwxr09PDzQ96Yk7XxAIAlre79fZyxuqjpxwiS-Hjyi3JhEctLP9BFWoQlfpueAnhxth-2yO5AH38qF-9JOLs2oxSsdjddTUxQq4o1ccXjiH6fejBJP5oJTS1tLnH5UqUlb/s320/gifiles-small.jpg" width="320" /></a>Wikileaks knew that simply posting a dump of maybe a million files to the Internet would just put people to sleep. So, what they would do was give access to a selected group of journalists, maybe dozens, and not just the big names they worked with. The idea was that we were given a limited time window to comb through the files looking for the juicer bits. When you found something you wanted to use, you would flag it. Then WikiLeaks would publish that particular document simultaneously with your article, so that you could link to it. After the window closed, Wikileaks would make the whole multi-gigabyte file dump public, and hopefully the articles already generated from that material would spark further interest and investigation.</p><p></p>I made public about 20 documents from the <a href="https://wikileaks.org/the-gifiles.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">GI Files</a> and <a href="https://wikileaks.org/Syria-Files.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Syria Files</a> when I published <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2012/9/14/1131569/-Barack-Obama-s-Courtship-of-Bashar-al-Assad" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Barack Obama's Courtship of Bashar al-Assad</a> in September 2012. Later, the complete file dumps were made publicly available. This method is what you might call the Wikileaks <i>"File"</i> System.<p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The problem with the so-called Twitter Files is that there are no files.</span> Elon Musk is pimping the name. He's imitating the Wikileaks system in that he's giving a couple of selected journalists access to some pre-selected emails and tweets, which they then fashion into more Tweets with screen shots. But he's not releasing any files to the public. We have to take their word that they're showing us what's most important—to who?</p><p>And that's where the fraud begins. It ends with complaints about the Biden campaign's request to have Hunter Biden dick pixs blocked being honored—without telling us they're dick pixs. These images were created from the stolen data on his laptop. The particular nature of the Elon Muck <i>"File"</i> format is not only are no actual files being released, what we are being allowed to see are <i>"screenshots"</i> meaning unsearchable images of text, rather that the text. This means anyone wanting to look into matters further would need to convert the image to text before the search could even begin. </p><p>For example Taibbi sent out this tweet as part of the <i>"Twitter Files"</i>:</p>
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">8. By 2020, requests from connected actors to delete tweets were routine. One executive would write to another: “More to review from the Biden team.” The reply would come back: “Handled.” <a href="https://t.co/mnv0YZI4af">pic.twitter.com/mnv0YZI4af</a></p>— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) <a href="https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1598827602403160064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 2, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></center>
<p>In the interest of transparency, I have OCRed those links into search text:</p><blockquote>https://twitter.com/jared87983561/status/1320159679700373504<br />https://twitter.com/let3481/status/1320154175481626624<br />https://twitter.com/JSJX_2/status/1320152593742614529<br />https://twitter.com/ozwenya/status/1320151083692388352<br />https://twitter.com/GuySquiggs/status/1320149308625145856</blockquote>
<p>Below is what I could find of these blocked and deleted tweets. They all appear to be Hunter Biden revenge porn some wanted posted because Joe Biden was winning. This trash has no legitimate place in our body politics, but apparently Elon Musk thinks it does. This should not surprise anybody that knows the billionaire is a <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2022/10/my-conspiracy-theory-concerning-elon.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Putin</a> <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2022/10/my-new-ukraine-conspiracy-theory.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">fanboy</a>, who has been <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/02/11/1080073061/california-sues-tesla-racism-fremont" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">creditable accused</a> of using <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-hit-by-new-lawsuit-alleging-racial-abuse-against-black-workers-2022-07-01/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">racist policies</a> against the workers in his Tesla plants.</p><p>Clay Claiborne</p><p>13 December 2022</p><p><br /></p>
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Found the October 2020 James Woods tweet that Twitter deleted on behalf of the Biden campaign. <a href="https://t.co/vKwweTsZ3L">pic.twitter.com/vKwweTsZ3L</a></p>— Greg Price (@greg_price11) <a href="https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1598837329250045953?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></center>
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Here's the one that was listed as jared87983561/status/1320159679700373504 in that correspondence he posted. It includes pics of his naked son having sex. <a href="https://t.co/rZBGsGMvMu">https://t.co/rZBGsGMvMu</a></p>— Julie 🇺🇸 🇺🇦 (@Julie_NoNumbers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Julie_NoNumbers/status/1599061154243915776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></center>
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">let3481 tweet was Archived...<br /><br />https://twittercom/let3481/status/1320154175481626624 <a href="https://t.co/4rCazrZKjH">pic.twitter.com/4rCazrZKjH</a></p>— James White 101 (@James_White_101) <a href="https://twitter.com/James_White_101/status/1598864058077581312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></center>
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none"><p dir="ltr" lang="it">JSJX_2 is Archived...<a href="https://t.co/TmescvSg6f">https://t.co/TmescvSg6f</a> 1320152593742614529 <a href="https://t.co/hsJAZMaKQa">pic.twitter.com/hsJAZMaKQa</a></p>— James White 101 (@James_White_101) <a href="https://twitter.com/James_White_101/status/1598868274791739392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></center>
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none"><p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/ozwenya?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ozwenya</a> is still active. The specific tweet numbered in the "handled" list is deleted.<br /><br />However, this <a href="https://twitter.com/ozwenya?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ozwenya</a> tweet (slightly higher number, dated Oct 24) replies seems to be 'on topic'.<br /><br />Deleted: 1320151083692388352<br />Still there: 1320137189502509057<a href="https://t.co/7eyTmNYtWG">https://t.co/7eyTmNYtWG</a> <a href="https://t.co/8dZhn3Sr7f">pic.twitter.com/8dZhn3Sr7f</a></p>— Tom Maguire (@Tom_Maguire) <a href="https://twitter.com/Tom_Maguire/status/1599042267301699585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></center>
<div><br /></div><div><b>UPDATE: BREAKING NEWS:</b> It now appears that Twitter has de-platformed Ukrainian Twitter users by removing the Ukraine country code from the list of phone numbers acceptable to two-factor authentication according to <a href="https://twitter.com/apmassaro3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Paul Massaro</a>:</div></p>
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ukraine country code totally deleted from Twitter database. Hearing Ukrainians with two-factor authentication cannot access their accounts <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@elonmusk</a></p>— Paul Massaro (@apmassaro3) <a href="https://twitter.com/apmassaro3/status/1602782757914132481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 13, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center>
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ukraine is facing Russian terrorism, genocide, and now Twitter has erased the Ukraine country code from its database, silencing Ukrainians when we NEED to hear their voice <a href="https://twitter.com/TwitterSupport?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TwitterSupport</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@elonmusk</a></p>— Paul Massaro (@apmassaro3) <a href="https://twitter.com/apmassaro3/status/1602783776412782593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 13, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center>
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ukrainian country code ERASED from Twitter. Insane <a href="https://t.co/jjKMkockTT">https://t.co/jjKMkockTT</a></p>— Paul Massaro (@apmassaro3) <a href="https://twitter.com/apmassaro3/status/1602776573605810177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 13, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center>
Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-7050274946771350822022-12-09T21:30:00.000-08:002022-12-09T21:30:20.821-08:00Jeffrey Sachs on @DemocracyNow vs. Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin<p>On Tuesday, Jeffrey Sachs was on Democracy Now to <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2022/12/6/jeffrey_sachs_ukraine_war " rel="nofollow" target="_blank">talk</a> about the war in Ukraine. On Wednesday, Vladimir Putin <a href="https://www.miragenews.com/full-text-of-putin-meeting-not-gone-mad-on-911038/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">spoke extensively</a> about what he calls the <i>“special military operation”</i> in Ukraine at a 3+hr. Kremlin meeting. I thought it might be useful to compare what Putin had to say on the subject, as compared to his apologist.</p><p>The DN package begins:</p><p></p><blockquote>With the war in Ukraine now in its 10th month, Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden have both expressed openness to peace talks to end the fighting, as have leaders in France, Germany and elsewhere. This comes as millions of Ukrainians brace for a winter without heat or electricity due to Russian strikes on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. “This war needs to end because it’s a disaster for everybody, a threat to the whole world,” says economist and foreign policy scholar Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University.</blockquote><p>We will see from Putin's own remarks the next day that he has little interest in negotiations, in fact, he's preparing for a protracted war. A winter without heat or electricity in Ukraine will be a disaster for some people more than others. It will lead to massive deaths among those not able to leave the country. This is the desired result for Putin, who is waging <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2022/03/is-putins-invasion-of-ukraine-war-of.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this war of genocide</a> to remove Ukrainians from as much of Ukraine as possible, and replace them with Russians.</p><p>Sachs ignores Putin's <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220101114502/http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">many statements</a> denying an independent Ukrainian identity, like <i>“the idea of Ukrainian people as a nation separate from the Russians...there was no historical basis – and could not have been any,”</i> and how <i>“modern Ukraine is entirely the product of the Soviet era. We know and remember well that it was shaped – for a significant part – on the lands of historical Russia.” </i>Putin sees Ukraine as an inalienable part of the Russian Empire he's trying to recreate. He means to take all of Ukraine, sooner of later, and make it <i>“new territories”</i> in his Russia enlargement project. He's already done that with five Ukrainian oblasts, including two he didn't claim when he began this war, and has little control over now—Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. As for the Ukrainians currently living there—they will learn to call themselves Russian, or they will be made to disappear—one way or another. Provided he can get control of them—one way or another—which brings up the question of negotiations, because Putin is having trouble hanging on to what he's already taken by force, let alone conquer more. This is why certain pro-Putin <i>“Voices for Peace”</i> have been pushing for 1) Ceasefire now, 2) Negotiations, and 3) An end to support for Ukraine. Putin sees <i>“negotiations”</i> as window dressing, but he sure could use 1 & 3 right about now. </p><p>Jeffrey Sachs will turn reality on its head if it looks better for Putin that way. For example, at one point he says:</p><p></p><blockquote>Russia has not run out of armaments. We have even reports today that some of these missile attacks have been identified by intelligence experts as newly manufactured, so this is not only the old stockpiles.</blockquote>Actually, Russia is running out of armaments, and the proof is that the stuff they are using now is newly manufactured. Since older explosives tend to be less stable, the basic inventory rule of First In-First Out is strictly enforced. This means that Russia has already used up old stockpiles, and soon will be limited in how often it can use armaments by how quickly it can make them under present conditions of sanctions.<br /><br />While Putin has already claimed 15% of Ukraine as <i>“new regions of Russia,”</i> Jeffrey Sachs sees NATO enlargement as the root cause of Putin's special military operation:<blockquote>Much of this war has been about NATO enlargement, from the beginning.</blockquote><div>NATO enlargement differs from Russia enlargement, in that no countries have been invaded, no cities bombed, and no sovereignty violated by the process of NATO enlargement, unlike Putin's Russia enlargement. That's because NATO is a mutual-defense organization that countries choose to join voluntarily. Albania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia all petitioned to join NATO because they fear the Russia enlargement project. Any idiot can now see why Ukraine has been trying to join NATO for 14 years, and why Sweden and Finland have recently applied for membership. NATO enlargement has been a direct result of Putin's attempts to recreate the Russian Empire through military conquest, and while empire building may be something he can sell to right-wing Russians, he needs another excuse for the external audience, and in truth, NATO expansion is an existential threat to his Russian Empire project. He simply cannot accept NATO just across the border on what he intends to make the <i>“new territories”</i> of Russia. <i>“New territories”</i> was referenced 10 times in the Kremlin talk, and <i>“new regions”</i> 4 times. The Kremlin's focus really seemed to be on Russia enlargement, not NATO enlargement. </div><div><br /></div><div>Still, Jeffrey Sachs is all about blaming NATO for Russia's war against Ukraine, <i>“now is the time to negotiate over the NATO issue,”</i> but allows <i>“There are other issues, as well”</i>: </div><div><br /></div><div>He thinks Ukraine has to give up Crimea because it has been <i>“completely consequential for Russia’s economic and foreign policy and military security since 1783.”</i> In other words, since it was part of the Russia Empire then, it should be part of it going forward. Why that logic doesn't apply to all of Ukraine, he doesn't say. Does he apply the same reasoning to other countries that want to hang on to their colonial possessions? He doesn't say.</div><div><br /></div><div>He also thinks Russia has a claim over parts of Ukraine where the population is <i>“predominantly Russian, ethnic Russian, Russian-speaking, Russian Orthodox.”</i> Judging from how the ethnic Russians in Kherson <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/stefficao/kherson-ukraine-protests-russia-invasion" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">protested the Russian occupation</a>, and <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2022/11/17/1137260765/kherson-ukraine-liberated-celebration-photos" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">celebrated their liberation</a> by Ukrainian troops, maybe Jeffrey Sachs best not speak for them.</div><div><br /></div><div>But <i>“NATO enlargement,”</i> says Sachs <i>“I think it is really the dominant issue.”</i> So much so that <i>“NATO”</i> is mentioned 22 times, and <i>“NATO enlargement”</i> 10 times in this 23 minute segment. He also supports cutting off military support for Ukraine as a way of forcing Ukraine to sue for peace, which he calls a <i>“negotiated end.”</i> They speak of negotiations 23 times in this short segment.</div><div><br /></div><div>The very next day, Vladimir Putin dominated a 3+hr. Kremlin meeting that gives us a very different perspective on what they still insist is only a <i>“special military operation”</i> even now, ten months in, and hundreds of thousands of deaths later. In this meeting the subject of NATO came up only once, and the question of negotiations was never mentioned at all.</div><div><br /></div><div>NATO was mentioned, only in passing, in the telling of a tale of Russophobia. Putin sees any anti-Russian expressions in Europe resulting from Russia starting a war in Europe, even calling it a war, as <i>“Russophobia,”</i> which he calls <i>“a political technology for the fight against Russia...strongly reminiscent of the technologies used by Nazi Germany, anti-Semitism,..”</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>He sets the location for the tale, <i>“In Sweden, in one of the districts of Stockholm, after an active propaganda information campaign began, apparently related to the possible entry of Sweden into NATO,”</i> That's it! Not even a specific objection to the possible entry of Sweden into NATO, just the <i>“Russophobia”</i> he sees as associated with it. That's the sole reference to NATO in this 3+hr meeting, in which <i>“[a] big bloc concerns the special military operation (SMO)”</i> in Ukraine. </div><div><br /></div><div>Sachs claims the key to ending the war is negotiations that promises no new NATO members, but in internal Russian discussions of their SMO, they show little interest in either negotiations or NATO enlargement. Instead, Putin has mobilized 300,000 new troops to expand what he sees as a drawn out process:</div><div><blockquote>Regarding the lengthy process and the results of the special military operation, this process could be drawn out. You also noted that newly incorporated territories have appeared. Indeed, this is a significant result for Russia, and this is a serious issue. To be honest, the Sea of Azov has become an inland sea in the Russian Federation, and these are serious things.</blockquote><p>We can see here that Putin speaks, not of negotiations, but of a protracted struggle. What does he hope to gain from his SMO? A break in NATO encirclement? No! <i>“Newly incorporated territories”</i> is the war booty he seeks, noting they have taken away any access to the Sea of Azov from what's left of Ukraine, if Sachs has his way about it. And just to be clear about whose example he's following, Putin adds, <i>“In his time, Peter the Great fought to reach the Sea of Azov.”</i> Does he see himself as <i>“Putin the Great”</i>? </p><p>Of course, Putin agrees with Sachs:</p><blockquote>The point is that we did not start the war – you know this better than anyone else. It was started in 2014 after the state coup in Ukraine.</blockquote><p>Like Sachs, he ignores the role of the Ukrainian people in ousting a pro-Russian president, even after it has become clear just how anti-Ukraine Russia was becoming, and, along with Sachs, Putin thinks these Russian-speaking Ukrainians, are just Russians by another name:</p><blockquote>The results of the referendum show that people want to live in Russia, and that they consider themselves part of this world, this space, our common culture, traditions and language.</blockquote><p>Of course, the referendum was completely illegal, held under conditions of military occupation, taken while people had guns pointed at their heads. The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/13/world/europe/russia-kherson-ukraine.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">reported</a> under occupation <i>“national songs were banned, speaking Ukrainian could lead to arrest, and students were told they were Russian.”</i> These are genocidal policies. Under these conditions Kherson supposedly <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/29/world/europe/russia-ukraine-referendums.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">voted</a> 87% to join Russia, but when the Russians were finally forced out, they were dancing in the streets.</p><p>So, if Putin's SMO isn't really about <i>“NATO enlargement,”</i> then what is it about? <i>“[T]he crimes of the Nazi regime that has asserted itself in a neighbouring country.”</i> He means the Zelenskyy government of Ukraine! That's a line Jeffrey Sacks can hardly sell on Democracy Now—a Nazi regime with a Jewish president! For Putin, it's all about destroying the Nazi regime next door. In fact, <i>“Nazi”</i>, or <i>“Nazis”</i> come up 17 times in Putin's presentation of the situation in Ukraine, whereas with Jeffrey Sachs, its a zero sum game, in that the sum of all his mentions of <i>“Nazi", "Nazis”</i>, or Putin's problem with <i>“the ruling Nazi regime”</i> of what Putin calls <i>“the so-called state of Ukraine,”</i> in his presentation on the subject is zero. Putin and Sachs may have a certain divergence of views, but they share a common purpose.</p><p>Clay Claiborne</p><p>9 December 2022</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div><p></p>Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-3909870556576382772022-11-17T01:39:00.016-08:002022-11-19T15:12:42.171-08:00UPDATE: Was the missile strike on Poland caused by a Russian data entry error?<p><b>Denys Davydov</b>, the Ukrainian airline pilot who posts regularly on YouTube, and a number of other interested observers online, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwXZcT4b5BU" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">have pointed out</a> that if you combine the latitude of Kyiv, Ukraine [50.4501N] with the longitude of Lviv, Ukraine [24.031E] you get a place in Poland, very near Przewodów [50.47099N, 23.93432E] where a missile of disputed origins is said to have killed two farmers. <span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Which is a very big coincidence!!!</span></p><p>Giving that a closer look, and using <a href="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/11/15/video/15vid-vi-sat-poland/15vid-vi-sat-poland-articleLarge.png?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this photo published by the New York Times</a> of the attack site:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEituNLK5hcxo2qz41ip9zcv0F4JGidPvUwnTs-3B8DmSLIArQfjZapb7Kz8nFdar_hgKG0yTqS_KfVfNYLtYQ3Ks6KBALeozaml2sBy71UZkCfwYzjNRFOrGEeo2LqfKAImHl2NWY1n-3vc0prMQNuNHHLsoDzigDNaN-ToxiprRrCpqHPEWrw77Yyc/s600/15vid-vi-sat-poland-articleLarge.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="600" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEituNLK5hcxo2qz41ip9zcv0F4JGidPvUwnTs-3B8DmSLIArQfjZapb7Kz8nFdar_hgKG0yTqS_KfVfNYLtYQ3Ks6KBALeozaml2sBy71UZkCfwYzjNRFOrGEeo2LqfKAImHl2NWY1n-3vc0prMQNuNHHLsoDzigDNaN-ToxiprRrCpqHPEWrw77Yyc/w640-h462/15vid-vi-sat-poland-articleLarge.webp" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>I was able to find this location on Google maps, and determine that the exact location of the missile strike was at <strike>50.474672N, 23.923390E:</strike><b> </b>Updated to<b> 50.47453N, 23.92314E</b>, a change of 75 ft.<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFWahfnO_7NkefyWGBj65sA1gtj0t6B8sBPu2OGjFbDQmczw6EDyPb8FD030kTaysKXVfySWaMCHUZC5tCBwyTjm0B0nTjxVnFs4ChASDbxBiXjPTAtbDr8BsxHaIxnw2_7aMpnoDUDMGhp9XEvgdeOUxgDIBKpMC9B-LtxvsgaAeA96wu5xRJJFrR/s1782/Screenshot%20from%202022-11-16%2023-42-15.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="1782" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFWahfnO_7NkefyWGBj65sA1gtj0t6B8sBPu2OGjFbDQmczw6EDyPb8FD030kTaysKXVfySWaMCHUZC5tCBwyTjm0B0nTjxVnFs4ChASDbxBiXjPTAtbDr8BsxHaIxnw2_7aMpnoDUDMGhp9XEvgdeOUxgDIBKpMC9B-LtxvsgaAeA96wu5xRJJFrR/w640-h314/Screenshot%20from%202022-11-16%2023-42-15.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Tuesday was a busy day for the Russian data entry personnel programming the missile strikes on Ukraine. Russia had just lost Kherson, and Putin was pissed. The G20 was meeting that day. Putin didn't attend, but he wanted to make a point, so he ordered as many as a hundred missile strikes on Ukraine that day. It is said that this was a single day record. This also means it was the highest workload those programming the strikes had ever seen. [Update: Bellingcat published excellent research on the ~30 Russian missile engineers that program the strikes 3 weeks ago <a href="https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2022/10/24/the-remote-control-killers-behind-russias-cruise-missile-strikes-on-ukraine/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a>.]</div><div><br /></div>So, the question has to be asked: Did somebody fuck up? Going down the target list, did some data entry person accidentally pick one from row A and one from row B? In other words, did they inadvertently enter the latitude for a target in Kyiv and the longitude for a target in Lviv, and thus send the missile off to hit a target in Przewodów, Poland?<br /><br />To further test this theory, I'm trying to find likely targets along <b>50.47453N</b> in Kyiv, and along <b>23.92314E</b><b> </b>in Lviv, and here I have to ask for help because I can't read Ukrainian. So, finding likely targets is difficult. <br /><br />We know that Russia has been focused knocking out Ukraine's electric power grid. In furtherance on his genocidal war, Putin is attempting plunge Ukraine into darkness ahead of the coming winter. Most of Tuesday's targets were along those lines, and so a likely place to look for these <i>"missed opportunities." <br /></i><br />I have determine that Kyyivsʹka Rayonna Elektrostantsiya, Kyiv's Hydroelectric power plant is located at 50.47984N, 30.51401E. That is only 1,818.05 ft (554.14 m) north of <b>50.47453N</b>, the latitude of the Polish strike. <div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKaBjxk9xCLk1y54HeBOgCvq9-rL-nYnhCypZp2GI2anYOugyPRiA5p6e3PbYN2toFLkto69ePZlrXUttHq9g1uUKIyJ7Jpgy5j3B13RI9_AL7hmxl9QIJcgcb_11M6n9GiT_mv2gc0i_yjrXGWI5M_njdrvOlJxzfQWCWV7cZ0Sx_as831qKBx-Un/s1782/Screenshot%20from%202022-11-17%2000-28-03.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="1782" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKaBjxk9xCLk1y54HeBOgCvq9-rL-nYnhCypZp2GI2anYOugyPRiA5p6e3PbYN2toFLkto69ePZlrXUttHq9g1uUKIyJ7Jpgy5j3B13RI9_AL7hmxl9QIJcgcb_11M6n9GiT_mv2gc0i_yjrXGWI5M_njdrvOlJxzfQWCWV7cZ0Sx_as831qKBx-Un/w640-h314/Screenshot%20from%202022-11-17%2000-28-03.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>That may not have been the exact target, but looking at the area around there—the plant is located on the Dnieper River—we find what looks to me what Maverick would call a <i>"target rich environment"</i> for anyone going after Kyiv electrical infrastructure. For example at exactly <b>50.474672N</b> and ~30.52E we see what appears to be an industrial area along Elektrykiv St. [Electric St.] </div><div><br /><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjLGgZ2hEqEu5BIEU6xbIAbcTPn8JpqrKpv7bU5j-vbnjN3x7Z59q0nwezRekYWfmB23QFehNsWXEFFzQauhPFyH28c33ynoO5dhouwgmeNbAasGMG7MuucvZIvSplobSpat7UUb3Tavrhjzc7KHjhDVD_eMj5lRHC12uXnF3U2hCl6COaeArDzfnn/s1782/Screenshot%20from%202022-11-17%2000-42-20.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="1782" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjLGgZ2hEqEu5BIEU6xbIAbcTPn8JpqrKpv7bU5j-vbnjN3x7Z59q0nwezRekYWfmB23QFehNsWXEFFzQauhPFyH28c33ynoO5dhouwgmeNbAasGMG7MuucvZIvSplobSpat7UUb3Tavrhjzc7KHjhDVD_eMj5lRHC12uXnF3U2hCl6COaeArDzfnn/w640-h314/Screenshot%20from%202022-11-17%2000-42-20.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>So, I'm thinking there are a number of power grid targets along <b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">50.47453N</b> in Kyiv.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Now, it's getting quite late, and given the urgency of the subject matter, I want to get this out tonight, before I go to bed, and before I do a more extensive search for likely targets in Lviv along <b style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">23.92314E</b>. For that I need help from those that know Lviv, or can read Ukrainian labels on a map, but I did note this industrial area at ~49.8280N, <b>23.923390E</b>:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioFa04JgGG37N-CDjQ0VcH7Upb2m_tL02yp9FBH6Agq_CRqqr7kuzQPHdylqNnulrWi8_QqsQUZIiM9i3DH2hsTZfciS_wosV6-w3YKYLVLzkVy_3asKAS7ajg8t87iw_pbjBDr27Xp96XiCM6zrSUdw89UxP1XferojzcYjjzr0iwsr78eHPwEcgl/s1782/Screenshot%20from%202022-11-17%2001-01-57.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="1782" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioFa04JgGG37N-CDjQ0VcH7Upb2m_tL02yp9FBH6Agq_CRqqr7kuzQPHdylqNnulrWi8_QqsQUZIiM9i3DH2hsTZfciS_wosV6-w3YKYLVLzkVy_3asKAS7ajg8t87iw_pbjBDr27Xp96XiCM6zrSUdw89UxP1XferojzcYjjzr0iwsr78eHPwEcgl/w640-h314/Screenshot%20from%202022-11-17%2001-01-57.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>So, as we can see, not only does the latitude of the missile strike in Poland match that for Kyiv, it most likely lines up with specific electrical grid targets in Kyiv. Ditto for the missile strike's longitude and, at a minimum, industrial areas in Lviv.</div><div><br /></div><div>There's an old cop saying—never believe in coincidences. Now, the Biden-Poland-NATO explanation for the strike is a Ukrainian air defense missile inadvertently ended up hitting a target in Poland. But a ground-to-air S-300 missile is aimed at a moving target, not fixed coordinates. A ground-to-ground S-300 would be targeted using fixed coordinates. So, what are the chances that a Ukrainian air defense missile gone wrong would just happen to land at latitude that fits likely targets in Kyiv and a longitude that fits possible targets in Lviv? I hope to have updates on possible Lviv targets later today.</div><div><br /></div><div>If my latest <i>"conspiracy theory"</i> holds water, and I think it does, it means Zelenskyy is speaking truth to power when he contradicts Biden & NATO, and insists it wan't a Ukrainian missile. It also raises the question of why Biden is trying to let Putin off the hook by claiming it was a Ukrainian missile.</div><div><br /></div><div>More on that later,</div><div><br /></div><div>Clay Claiborne</div><div>17 November 2022 </div><div><br /></div><div><b>UPDATED 22:20</b></div><div>Using pictures available from a number of sources, I have updated the explosion coordinates in Poland to 50.47453N, 23.92314E, a change of 75 ft.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYKLrDAtLMbNWFQGAiBYuLqT9HlC1TJRfJN9MMsJG8AsVOpJLVUHcBrEhyyukywgR2UtapFxABKyH64eIoL9BBVS25odLXqseqhGaOy2TpUTkNBTvEYhJoYj7UYBSxyI6sViLxY7FRcxq-3KLU6YsvxeeL9qSPV26eZuoyf5mgxHHECdHgHE8FuhPb/s800/Screenshot%20from%202022-11-17%2022-17-44.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="587" data-original-width="800" height="470" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYKLrDAtLMbNWFQGAiBYuLqT9HlC1TJRfJN9MMsJG8AsVOpJLVUHcBrEhyyukywgR2UtapFxABKyH64eIoL9BBVS25odLXqseqhGaOy2TpUTkNBTvEYhJoYj7UYBSxyI6sViLxY7FRcxq-3KLU6YsvxeeL9qSPV26eZuoyf5mgxHHECdHgHE8FuhPb/w640-h470/Screenshot%20from%202022-11-17%2022-17-44.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">So far, my best potential missed target in the Lviv area is this major high voltage tower. It is less than 27 ft. from the 23.92314E longitude line. Are they taking out HV towers with S-300s?</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>The search continues...</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">More on the S-300 Missile systems:</span></div><div><br /></div><div>I am writing this on the same day that, after 8 years, a Dutch court has found Russia responsible for the deaths of 298 people when it shot down flight MH17. They also found that Russia runs Donbas. Thanks, we all knew that.</div><div><br /></div>One might think that Russian air defense missiles should have built-in safety systems to abort hitting a commercial airliner, unless that was the target, of course. Such an accident could produce a grave international crisis. After all, many of those passengers were from NATO countries. They could have used it as the perfect excuse to intervene, if for no other reason than to pick up their dead, had they had a mind to intervene in Russia's attack on Ukraine at that time—July 2014. I came to the same conclusion as the Dutch court in <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2014/07/who-was-igor-bezler-before-he-shot-down.html">5</a> <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2014/07/you-listen-decide-is-this-voice-of-mand.html">blog</a> <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2014/07/us-recordings-on-pro-russian-downing-of.html">posts</a> <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2014/07/russian-lies-on-mh17-are-so-easy-to-bust.html">in</a> <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2014/08/on-russias-war-of-aggression-against.html">the</a> weeks following the shoot down—it was pretty obvious to anyone that took a careful look even at just the open source intel. <a href="https://www.bellingcat.com/tag/mh17/">Bellingcat</a> did the heavy lifting. But NATO did nothing—just as they had done nothing when Russia annexed Crimea a few months earlier. The Al Jazeera reporter had to ask: If they had responded more strongly to MH17, would we even be here now?<br /><br />Anyway, on the S-300. It was originally designed as a surface-to-air missile system in 1975, and first put into service in 1979. So, not exactly their newest system, which is the S-400 (2007). Of course, there have been many improvements over the years. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-300_missile_system">Wikipedia</a> lists 25 different models, with various ranges and other capabilities. But all those models have been exclusively ground-to-air systems. <br /><br />As to targeting and guidance Wikipedia says: <i>"The system is fully automated, though manual observation and operation are also possible."</i> Air defense weapons shoot at a moving target. Fixed coordinates are useless. If it's not a human pointing and shooting, some sort of automation is absolutely necessary. As to its use in Russia's war on Ukraine, Wikipedia also says:<br /><blockquote>On 8 July, the governor of the Mykolaiv Oblast, Vitaly Kim, claimed that Russia has been using S-300 missiles in a land attack role by fitting them with GPS guidance and that some 12 missiles were fired this way.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-300_missile_system#cite_note-102">[102]</a> On 30 September, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wall_Street_Journal">The Wall Street Journal</a> reported that 16 Russian S-300 missiles configured for ground attack struck near <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaporizhzhia">Zaporizhzhia</a>, killing at least 30 civilians and wounding 50 others.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-300_missile_system#cite_note-WSJ-S300-6">[6]</a> Debris from S-300 missiles was found after having struck buildings in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharkiv">Kharkiv</a> on 8 October.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-300_missile_system#cite_note-bbc1-5">[5]</a> Analysts from McKenzie Intelligence Services and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Strategic_and_International_Studies">Center for Strategic and International Studies</a> said that these missiles were likely from Russian systems repurposed for ground attack due to dwindling stock of more precise dedicated anti-surface missiles.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-300_missile_system#cite_note-bbc1-5">[5]</a></blockquote>Since <strike>none of the 25 designated S-300 models lists a ground-to-ground capability </strike>[ correction—some had a secondary ground-to-ground mode], I think it very likely whatever the Russians jury-rigged in July to use GPS guidance and fixed co-ordinances wasn't the most well-tested, with few safeguards to protect against accidentally hitting the wrong target.</div><div><br />After hitting Ukraine's power infrastructure with 100 missiles on Tuesday, and Poland was hit as well, Russia observed an operational pause yesterday. Was it to figure out what went wrong, or to see how NATO would respond? In any case, they were back at it again today, adding gas storage facilities to the list with electrical infrastructure. This means we should be looking for gas storage facilities as well as electrical stuff along 50.47453N in Kyiv and , 23.92314E in Lviv to see if it was a Russian targeting error.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>I think the best publicly available evidence points to a Russian screw up and a NATO cover up—and we all know why. But, so far, Zelenskyy is refusing to go along with the program.</div><div><br /></div><div>More, later...</div><div><br /></div><div><b>UPDATE 18 Nov 2022:</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Reporting on Russia's attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, the Atlantic Council <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/ukraine-needs-urgent-help-to-counter-putins-energy-infrastructure-attacks/">wrote</a>:<br /><blockquote>Since early October, Russia has launched hundreds of missiles and kamikaze drones at key infrastructure targets including Ukrainian power plants, large substations which facilitate the flow of electricity to consumers, high-voltage transmission lines, and distribution lines across the country.</blockquote>Vox has also <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2022/11/18/23460933/ukraine-infrastructure-strikes-russia-blackouts-war">reported</a> <i>"Russia is also targeting things like transmission lines that carry electricity, or transformers that transfer electricity from one circuity to another."</i> The Washington Post also <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/25/russias-methodical-attacks-exploit-frailty-ukrainian-power-system/">reported</a> that previously <i>"transmission lines came under attack."</i> So, it's pretty clear that this lowly HV transmission tower may well have been a target.<br /><br />As to what type of ground targets a S-300 missile might be used on, the UK MOD <a href="https://twitter.com/DefenceHQ/status/1576084615810490368" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">thinks</a> one was used to attack a convoy in Zaporizhzhia in October.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I have found what appears to be a major electrical substation in Kyiv at 50.47453N, 30.41139E. This is exactly on the same longitude as the missile strike in Poland. Being it is Kyiv, I was even able to <i>"walk"</i> around, and <i>"take"</i> a few pictures with Google Street View.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEMQIMN0y6jHqArc_lSVTSDlMnSsytm_wGSM7bhTbonH_7KfmbgrggwG9lkhqbDwx_l_00WKS9B0LHJv3wN_aYGAiLCM4U_2oo90-6Bi3m7kqt70hXFIuG8IiYxPHIFE34EK6xqLMXT0CLBSf0vTi1hWV4Yp2tUbpRhMEirdgoqD-UEXr60NTEl6nr/s1755/Screenshot%20from%202022-11-18%2022-26-40.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="851" data-original-width="1755" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEMQIMN0y6jHqArc_lSVTSDlMnSsytm_wGSM7bhTbonH_7KfmbgrggwG9lkhqbDwx_l_00WKS9B0LHJv3wN_aYGAiLCM4U_2oo90-6Bi3m7kqt70hXFIuG8IiYxPHIFE34EK6xqLMXT0CLBSf0vTi1hWV4Yp2tUbpRhMEirdgoqD-UEXr60NTEl6nr/w640-h310/Screenshot%20from%202022-11-18%2022-26-40.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The whole yard is fenced off, and surrounded by metal sheds, but you can see the tops of HV towers.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfR7rGPS-25iYN17ibINPAo2TiT4i7ojgPrrOvKiLrte_FEcTC5KNxkVGgBHMKTUA_vLhNpw8EL9RPT1XdQLN2Qf7G9ooUgMHrFXAXQ7fwp2MmcZo-mNUDYQpQ2BMOGSWhUBvH-xE7D6MrA3-FFqioNMVgtOdFEJTmRztu5C7V5M54FM9sDvm4gLjA/s1755/Screenshot%20from%202022-11-18%2022-28-48.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="851" data-original-width="1755" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfR7rGPS-25iYN17ibINPAo2TiT4i7ojgPrrOvKiLrte_FEcTC5KNxkVGgBHMKTUA_vLhNpw8EL9RPT1XdQLN2Qf7G9ooUgMHrFXAXQ7fwp2MmcZo-mNUDYQpQ2BMOGSWhUBvH-xE7D6MrA3-FFqioNMVgtOdFEJTmRztu5C7V5M54FM9sDvm4gLjA/w640-h310/Screenshot%20from%202022-11-18%2022-28-48.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">This shot, through what looks like a cheap motel, or storage yard, gives us the best look I found of what's inside the perimeter.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUaC0SA_bZNaeqgJuA_jBX8k9cwqEq8px-iY4KpjnLBvZGZVzXFJkwO8gKdHBtPkbrMgKCXzYzM172f6Yb1mCqsGD7pCEpNIR6wpsxWTsVwcwE6_ZwNAMTm0dyfNRIaq2n6AKxvCaFpiDGXmj9ZFn35z4_jeO81ItrrRWxG4kroFmbjKDi6tbwo_2N/s1105/Screenshot%20from%202022-11-18%2022-47-31.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="795" data-original-width="1105" height="460" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUaC0SA_bZNaeqgJuA_jBX8k9cwqEq8px-iY4KpjnLBvZGZVzXFJkwO8gKdHBtPkbrMgKCXzYzM172f6Yb1mCqsGD7pCEpNIR6wpsxWTsVwcwE6_ZwNAMTm0dyfNRIaq2n6AKxvCaFpiDGXmj9ZFn35z4_jeO81ItrrRWxG4kroFmbjKDi6tbwo_2N/w640-h460/Screenshot%20from%202022-11-18%2022-47-31.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">The white box shows what appears to be the electrical yard.As you can see the yard is quite large. It measures 2/3 mile around the perimeter. The red line is the 50.47453 N Line.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Could this have been the "missed opportunity" of a missile that was suppose to be headed to Kyiv?<br /><br />More, later<br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">My Polish Missile Strike Map:</span><br /><br />
<iframe height="480" src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=1Tgdn5_QwT_YurUPXeFjigCpqq8ddeho&ehbc=2E312F" width="640"></iframe>
<br /><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNJCcBbcslIoSyODkZelWMCKv9b3sqmQMWmTU492AlltOG5v1RDvRBCqx28G6FvtQe-005joPsmZcBZczuIeS_mtrL7s5Nbp-cpQ2F6TNwJNIk_sMGkQBuoWYXQN6c_938gc-hltiJbyIN50ZR2XbUE3OBk0vN4BAG-8yLLPUqf4CZzO9voIU5EQ20/s666/Screenshot%20from%202022-11-19%2014-49-31.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="477" data-original-width="666" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNJCcBbcslIoSyODkZelWMCKv9b3sqmQMWmTU492AlltOG5v1RDvRBCqx28G6FvtQe-005joPsmZcBZczuIeS_mtrL7s5Nbp-cpQ2F6TNwJNIk_sMGkQBuoWYXQN6c_938gc-hltiJbyIN50ZR2XbUE3OBk0vN4BAG-8yLLPUqf4CZzO9voIU5EQ20/s320/Screenshot%20from%202022-11-19%2014-49-31.png" width="320" /></a></div>This shows why Biden could quickly say it didn't come from Russia, once the missile had been identified as an S-300. The S-300 has a maximum range of 195 km. The circle on the map below shows a circle with a radius of 200 km. If the missile wasn't fired from Ukraine, Belarus is the only beligerent that it could have been launched from. Of course, that might be all the more reason to cover it up. If it proved to be a Russian missile fire from Belarus, then we are truly on our way to another world war.<p></p>
Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-19512982921946215422022-10-13T17:30:00.000-07:002022-10-13T17:30:59.799-07:00My "Conspiracy Theory" concerning Elon Musk & Putin CONFIRMED!!!<p>Last Friday I <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2022/10/my-new-ukraine-conspiracy-theory.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">posted a blog</a> that suggested there was more than a casual connection between the failure of Elon Musk's Putin-friendly "Ukraine-Russia Peace" deal poll on Twitter, and the Starlink Internet failures Ukrainians were reporting in precisely the areas where they were making the most progress against Russia. I ended that post by promising more, later... I can now report more:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Elon Musk spoke to Putin about Ukraine before he posted his Putin-friendly poll to Twitter. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spoke-vladimir-putin-before-ukraine-peace-plan-report-2022-10" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">[Link]</a> He later denied this. <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1579879154463690752" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">[Link]</a> but source reconfirms. <a href="https://twitter.com/ianbremmer/status/1579941475613229056" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">[Link]</a></span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Musk blocked Ukraine from using Starlink in Crimea because of Putin's nuclear threats. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-blocks-starlink-in-crimea-amid-nuclear-fears-report-2022-10" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">[Link]</a></span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Outages occurred last week in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Luhansk, all heavily contested. <a href="https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/spacexs-starlink-is-back-up-in-ukraine/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">[Link]</a></span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">As of today, SpaceX's Starlink is back up in Ukraine, possibly because of the outrage over the outages! <a href="https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/spacexs-starlink-is-back-up-in-ukraine/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Link]</a></span></li></ul><p></p><p><a href="https://www.ft.com/content/29ed76b9-d6bf-428c-8673-af48b7ed70df" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Financial Times</a> quotes former Ukrainian defense minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk about suspicions Musk was blocking Ukrainian Internet at a critical time in their liberation struggle:</p><p></p><blockquote><i><span style="font-size: medium;">“If he did, this was unacceptable as it means he has taken a direct part in the war by damaging our capabilities. It’s not up to private individuals or companies to decide what is escalatory and intrude into equipment our allies provided us with."</span></i></blockquote><p></p><p>On Friday, I posted this, which also made the point that the US government paid for the Ukrainian Starlink connection Musk has been taking credit for:</p><blockquote><h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 20px 0px 0px; position: relative;"><a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2022/10/my-new-ukraine-conspiracy-theory.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">My new Ukraine "Conspiracy Theory" concerns Elon Musk</a></h3><div><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ_3gTNAMzWrVF_sdauc6Po2M1SQjsU-QwdfobiuC-IJDcQq4Hzt1MDrcGQHnCLR6sAJtLDg9L89ChZnQPjOnMTDfTyuec9W8fn5oLWme0HhENGshoDA8OMOYlJmo6K4DOrkDClC34hOKSNVSixu53-BMgcU444ozpwarlmoVb9cpCY268piIFT--f/s234/ford%20for%20hitler.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="215" data-original-width="234" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ_3gTNAMzWrVF_sdauc6Po2M1SQjsU-QwdfobiuC-IJDcQq4Hzt1MDrcGQHnCLR6sAJtLDg9L89ChZnQPjOnMTDfTyuec9W8fn5oLWme0HhENGshoDA8OMOYlJmo6K4DOrkDClC34hOKSNVSixu53-BMgcU444ozpwarlmoVb9cpCY268piIFT--f/s1600/ford%20for%20hitler.jpeg" width="234" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is Elon Musk the new Henry Ford?</td></tr></tbody></table>... Elon Musk thinks he's so rich, he can buy Twitter for a snack—until he realized that he had swindled himself. He bid the share price at $54.20, haha. What was he smoking? Since then, lawyers have been paying to send their kids to law school with what he's been paying them to try to weasel out of the deal.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;">He also must think that being the richest man on Earth, he must be the smartest man on Earth, because in addition to running Tesla and SpaceX, and looking for bots on Twitter, he obviously has time to become knowledgeable enough to mouth-off about Ukraine—on Twitter, naturally.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjMqLq49qXcNeIOKAi0szNw7HSEjndMuZtfgQxTYioYMq9rkzimCgObL-vZqhlQRDasy_uaAL5u5UmckS9vBw0xc2yyn4DPC66_CuPnGh_tzuL54QX3LQFXCJrbaOtgBpwIg3xUlcnnyYFB4V5syp3zN7qA0UIvrks88_PbVnuF38F3oLWc38z-Lm3g" style="clear: left; color: #004bbe; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><img alt="" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="623" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjMqLq49qXcNeIOKAi0szNw7HSEjndMuZtfgQxTYioYMq9rkzimCgObL-vZqhlQRDasy_uaAL5u5UmckS9vBw0xc2yyn4DPC66_CuPnGh_tzuL54QX3LQFXCJrbaOtgBpwIg3xUlcnnyYFB4V5syp3zN7qA0UIvrks88_PbVnuF38F3oLWc38z-Lm3g=w400-h261" style="border: none; position: relative;" width="400" /></a>On Monday, he put forward his own proposal for a <i>"Ukraine-Russia Peace"</i> deal, <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1576969255031296000" rel="nofollow" style="color: #004bbe; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">in a poll</a>, on Twitter, naturally.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;">These were the terms:</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>- Redo elections of annexed regions under UN supervision. Russia leaves if that is will of the people.</b></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;">So, redo the elections under conditions of Russian occupation, but with UN supervision. Good, I'm sure that will eliminate the intimidation factor. The people still left in the occupied regions (those that haven't fled) can feel secure in the knowledge that the Russian troops <i>probably</i> won't take revenge until the UN supervisors have left. And who will they be supervising? The same pro-Russian forces that conducted the last election? And exactly who will make the Russian leave, if they decide to renege, and Musk-up the deal?</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>- Crimea formally part of Russia, as it has been since 1783 (until Khrushchev’s mistake).</b></span></p><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;">Khrushchev’s mistake! I'm glad Elon settled that one for us. Putin thinks that accepting that Ukraine was its own nation, with its own Soviet Socialist Republic, within the Union, with a Right of Self-Determination was Lenin's mistake—corrected by Stalin. I would like to know if Elon agrees with that.</div><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0f1419; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>- Water supply to Crimea assured.</b></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;">Of, course nothing about Ukraine's borders being secured, Ukraine's Black Sea access being assured, Ukraine's people being protected from a Russian leader bent on their complete destruction as an independent nation. I just learned, a few hours ago from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU3JE4ucX2A&t=1698s" rel="nofollow" style="color: #004bbe; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Timothy Snyder</a>, that Putin is even having the word <i>"Ukraine"</i> removed from Russian history books!</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #0f1419; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>- Ukraine remains neutral.</b></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;">Neutral with regards to a country that has just invaded and raped it. Neutral with regards to a country bent on its destruction. Very good. Notice that the only thing Putin has to do to hold up his end of Musk's <i>"Piece Deal"</i> is allow some UN Supervisors in for an afternoon.<br /><br />He has over 100 million followers on Twitter, but only 2,748,378 people voted in Musk's very pro-Putin poll, and almost 60% gave it the thumbs👎down!</div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><br />Elon Musk fumed. He blamed it on the bots.<br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;">On Wednesday, after months of fighting it, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/elon-musk-says-he-is-ready-to-buy-twitter-again-at-original-44-billion-price" rel="nofollow" style="color: #004bbe; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Elon Musk says he is ready to buy Twitter again, at original $44 billion price.</a> What made him change his mind? Did he suddenly feel the need to have more control over the platform?</div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;">And today, on Friday, we have this most troubling BREAKING NEWS from <a href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/ukraine-starlink-outages-russia-elon-musk-173909699.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #004bbe; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Yahoo News</a> and <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/9a7b922b-2435-4ac7-acdb-0ec9a6dc8397" rel="nofollow" style="color: #004bbe; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">others</a>:</div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></div><blockquote style="background: rgb(238, 240, 246); border: 1px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; padding: 10px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Frontline Ukraine troops are reportedly enduring Starlink outages</span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Kris Holt·Contributing Reporter</span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Fri, 7 October 2022 at 10:39 am</span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://www.engadget.com/tag/ukraine/" style="color: #004bbe; text-decoration-line: none;">Ukrainian</a> forces have reportedly been dealing with <a href="https://www.engadget.com/tag/starlink/" style="color: #004bbe; text-decoration-line: none;">Starlink</a> outages as they try to take back Russian-occupied areas. Some of the outages, which are said to have caused a severe loss of communication over the last several weeks, occurred as troops broke through the frontline into territory controlled by Russia as well as during battles, a Ukraine government official told <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/9a7b922b-2435-4ac7-acdb-0ec9a6dc8397" style="color: #004bbe; text-decoration-line: none;">The Financial Times</a>. <a href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/ukraine-starlink-outages-russia-elon-musk-173909699.html">More...</a></span></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;">As the article says, Starlink is run by SpaceX, which is owned by Elon Musk. Musk got a pro-Ukrainian reputation, and a lot of good press, by floating the idea that Starlink was his $80 million gift to Ukraine, but this week <a href="https://qz.com/did-elon-musk-really-lose-80-million-helping-ukraine-1849624849" rel="nofollow" style="color: #004bbe; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">it also came out</a> that the whole thing was <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-was-elon-musks-ukraine-starlink-funded-biden-white-house-1749103" rel="nofollow" style="color: #004bbe; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">bankrolled by the US government</a>. Elon Musk didn't become the richest man on Earth by giving stuff away. This might be another reason to be ticked-off about the whole Ukraine thing right now.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;">He may not be losing money on it, but his company still runs it, and now we know he's not quite as pro-Ukrainian as we may have been led to believe. There's an old cop saying: Never believe in coincidences. So, the question has to be asked: Is there a connection between Elon Musk's pro-Putin views and Starlink's outages in the combat zone?</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;">Unlike the attacks on the already shutdown Nord Streams 1 & 2, these communication outages in the areas where Ukraine is rapidly liberating its territory, are probably costing lives right now.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;">Anyway, that's my conspiracy theory, and I think it bears more investigation, because it may turnout to be more than just a theory.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;">More, later....<span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span></p></div></blockquote>
Here are some updates: Newsweek <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-needs-clarify-ukraines-reported-starlink-outages-kinzinger-1750071" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">posted this the same day</a>:
<blockquote>
<center>
<big><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Elon Musk Needs to Clarify Ukraine's Reported Starlink Outages: Kinzinger</span></big></center><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
<br />By Kaitlin Lewis
</span><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Illinois Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger called on Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to release a statement Friday after a report that Ukrainian soldiers were having connectivity trouble with Starlink communication devices on the front lines.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Financial Times reported Friday that a Ukrainian government official said that recent outages from the Starlink internet systems had caused "catastrophic" loss of communication for troops on the front lines in Ukraine's war with Russia, resulting in "panicked calls" from some soldiers to helpline numbers.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Ukrainian officials said connectivity issues started when Ukrainian soldiers liberated territory that was once Russian-controlled and moved past the front lines, according to the report. <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-needs-clarify-ukraines-reported-starlink-outages-kinzinger-1750071" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">More...</a></span></p></blockquote>On Tuesday, Charles R. Davis, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-blocks-starlink-in-crimea-amid-nuclear-fears-report-2022-10" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">posting on Business Insider</a>, confirmed the main element of my "Conspiracy Theory," .i.e., that Elon Musk personally was responsible for SpaceX's Putin-friendly Internet outages in Ukraine:
<blockquote>
<center>
<big><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Elon Musk blocked Ukraine from using Starlink in Crimea over concern that Putin could use nuclear weapons, political analyst says</span></big></center>
<span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />Elon Musk personally rejected a Ukrainian request to extend his satellite internet service to Crimea, fearing that an effort to retake the peninsula from Russian forces could lead to a nuclear war, the influential political analyst Ian Bremmer said in a newsletter published on Monday.<br /><br />Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, Musk — and the US government — provided Kyiv with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-says-starlink-ukraine-cost-spacex-100-million-dollars-2022-10">thousands of Starlink systems</a>, enabling Ukrainian forces to communicate in what had previously been dead zones. The low energy requirements of the service's satellite receivers have enabled connection to reconnaissance drones, providing valuable real-time intelligence on Russian movements and the ability to target them, <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/starlink-spacex-ukraine-war-drones-russia-143446444.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKhoPn7IHCRLtNARCq6kQaZ-6jQrzqGax12x3BAUyIuHCZ4q8iT1iwEkkq1rxmek2AYT4-6ycI7qejEzeZ8SygefBNuzSUouiuzGuVOSkJDf7lqbVyb94IYawvelbTi7DyLH9CwgZ-Z3Zox-yGEo1SjmlCoAI6axtd1p8ZkBEHqI">Yahoo News reported in August</a>.<br /><br />But recently there have been problems. Last week, a senior Ukrainian government official told the Financial Times reported that the service was suffering "<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/9a7b922b-2435-4ac7-acdb-0ec9a6dc8397">catastrophic</a>" outages on the front lines, prompting speculation that it had been shut off in areas controlled by Russia — perhaps to prevent the Kremlin from exploiting the network.On Twitter, Musk said he could not comment on battlefield conditions, saying, "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-says-starlink-ukraine-cost-spacex-100-million-dollars-2022-10">That's classified</a>." But Bremmer, the founder and president of the political-risk research firm Eurasia Group, said on Monday that in a conversation with Musk in late September, Musk appeared to confirm that the satellite service was being intentionally disabled. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-blocks-starlink-in-crimea-amid-nuclear-fears-report-2022-10">More...</a></span></blockquote>According to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spoke-vladimir-putin-before-ukraine-peace-plan-report-2022-10" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Business Insider on Tuesday</a>:
<blockquote>
<center>
<big><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Tesla CEO Elon Musk spoke with Vladimir Putin before pitching his Ukraine peace plan on Twitter that repeated Kremlin talking points, political scientist says</span></big></center>
<span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />By Rebecca Cohen and John Haltiwanger<br />Before <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1576969255031296000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1576969255031296000%7Ctwgr%5E9ab03bc31004ea1642ddce196552feec6e511847%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vice.com%2Fen%2Farticle%2F4axq9d%2Fukrainian-diplomat-tells-elon-musk-to-fuck-off-with-terrible-idea-to-end-war">tweeting a peace plan</a> to end the war in Ukraine that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-ambassador-elon-musk-russia-crimea-twitter-poll-response-2022-10">parroted Russian demands</a>, Elon Musk reportedly spoke privately with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a leading political analyst.<br /><br />Eurasia Group founder and president Ian Bremmer in a Monday email to his organization's subscribers said that he spoke with Musk two weeks ago. At the time, Musk told Bremmer that Putin explicitly told him that he was "prepared to negotiate" under the conditions that Crimea remains under Russian control, that Ukraine remained neutral, and that Russia's annexations of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia were enforced. <br /><br />According to Bremmer, Putin told Musk that these were goals he'd accomplish "no matter what," or else he would turn to "major escalation." <br /><br />Bremmer also said that Musk told him Putin said if Zelenskyy "invaded Crimea, Russia would retaliate with a nuclear strike on Ukraine," adding, "Elon said everything needed to be done to avoid that outcome." <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spoke-vladimir-putin-before-ukraine-peace-plan-report-2022-10">More...</a></span></blockquote>
<br />Today, 13 October 2022, Datacenter Dynamics is <a href="https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/spacexs-starlink-is-back-up-in-ukraine/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">reporting</a>:
<blockquote>
<center>
<big><span style="font-family: helvetica;">SpaceX's Starlink is back up in Ukraine</span></big></center>
<span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />
<br />By Peter Judge
</span><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">SpaceX's satellite Internet services are coming back online in Ukraine, as areas of the country are retaken from Russian occupation, according to reports.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Ukrainian troops using portable Starlink satellite terminals are finding that service is improving after earlier outages in intensely-contested areas such as the southern city of Kherson, according to the<<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/29ed76b9-d6bf-428c-8673-af48b7ed70df">Financial Times</a>, which earlier reported significant outages in these areas. <a href="https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/spacexs-starlink-is-back-up-in-ukraine/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">More...</a></span></p></blockquote>
This is good news, but it still leaves a lot of questions: Did Elon Musk use his control of SpaceX to interfere with the Starlink Internet service the US government had paid for at a critical time and place in the Ukrainian national liberation struggle against Russia?<div><br /></div><div>More to come...</div><div><br /></div><div>Clay Claiborne</div><div>13 October 2022 <br />
<br />
</div><p></p>Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-666046580734935052022-10-12T19:08:00.001-07:002022-10-12T19:20:55.075-07:00@DemocracyNow & @CodePink demand Biden make Ukraine surrender territory to Russia<p>In recent months, the armed forces of Ukraine has been waging a successful counter-offensive against Russian occupied territories in both the country's East and South, routing the badly demoralized Russian troops, and liberating an increasing number of Ukrainian cities, towns, and villages. To compensate for these battlefield loses, Putin has quickly annexed four additional Ukrainian Oblasts, including territory Russia doesn't occupy, as well as territory it's losing. He also could use a ceasefire right about now. So, he's calling for negotiations on his terms—acceptance of the Russian annexations—and threatening to go nuclear if he doesn't get his way. </p><p>After Russia claimed a truck bomb coming out of Russia damaged the Kerch Bridge on Saturday, Putin used that as an excuse to target dozens of Ukrainian cities with missile attacks. This is the context in which Democracy Now began <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2022/10/12/code_pink_war_in_ukraine_making" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">today's segment on Ukraine</a> with its core complaint:</p><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-size: medium;">The Biden administration has ruled out the idea of pushing Ukraine to negotiate with Russia to end the war...</span></blockquote><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9mWZ1wYgMeukNKEn3INdzQ9Mk3g9iKGcTqeU5EJZWhuC90dlWJgoUqXuFq4NbQuxGPdst2GoCd7NkvTz4EEocV-xDGrvb47nxn_AdunkzvaHc9TGU0I88dJuOoAZjJ-6ntt0edS3RpUDzPFABMtHmBJadAGmlIZVOjGPKyak9icSnO10aRJ4KayM_/s1629/hypocisy_now.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1004" data-original-width="1629" height="123" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9mWZ1wYgMeukNKEn3INdzQ9Mk3g9iKGcTqeU5EJZWhuC90dlWJgoUqXuFq4NbQuxGPdst2GoCd7NkvTz4EEocV-xDGrvb47nxn_AdunkzvaHc9TGU0I88dJuOoAZjJ-6ntt0edS3RpUDzPFABMtHmBJadAGmlIZVOjGPKyak9icSnO10aRJ4KayM_/w200-h123/hypocisy_now.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Amy Goodman lost no time in revealing her propaganda bias by uncritically quoting Putin calling the destruction of a key part of his military supply-line a <i>"terrorist act,"</i> but failing to quote the dozens of prominent people that have called out Putin's massive terror campaign against Ukraine for what it is. Then, to seal the deal, she brings on Medea Benjamin and Nicolas Davies of Code Pink. They have a long history of promoting the Kremlin's outward-facing narrative on Ukraine.<p></p><p>They play a video in which Biden makes clear his position on negotiations with Putin about Ukraine, <i>"Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine."</i> I take this to mean, he won't go behind Ukraine's back, and make a deal with Russia about Ukraine without Ukraine, the way the imperialists always do, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E2%80%93Picot_Agreement" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sykes-Picot</a> way! I think that is the proper position for the United States to take. We should support Ukraine's fight against the Russian invasion, including with weapons—that is our internationalist humanitarian duty—but we shouldn't be telling them how to fight, what to settle for, and certainly not when to give up. The Vietnamese had to fight for thirty years—against the Japanese, the French, and finally the Americans, but they won their independence! DN is so opposed to this stance, they get it backwards in their transcript ( <i>"nothing about Ukraine with Ukraine"</i> ) I had to roll the tape again to make sure I heard it right the first time:</p><p></p><blockquote style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">"Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine"</span></blockquote><p>Goodman goes on, "<i>Despite Biden’s comments, there are growing calls for the U.S. to push for negotiations."</i> Like, from Democracy Now and Code Pink, and other prominent members of this <i>"peace"</i> caucus, for example. What they don't say out loud is that if Zelensky continues to win victories, and refuses to meet Putin's tyrannical terms of negotiation, including Ukrainian recognition of the newly annexed <i>"Russian"</i> territory, and Crimea, they think Biden should make a unilateral deal with Putin, and enforce it by cutting off support to Ukraine. You see, things just aren't working out all that well for Putin on the battlefield. He needs their help.</p><p><span style="font-size: large;">It's a strange thing to see so-called anti-imperialists demand that an imperialist country bully an oppressed nation into submitting to its will. </span></p><p>It's easy enough to understand why Henry Kissinger, Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump, and the other overt right-wing cheerleaders of imperialism take this position, but Democracy Now and Code Pink are suppose to be Left <i>voices</i>. </p><p>Benjamin peddles her new book promoting Putin's narrative: western-back coup in 2014, Nazis attacked Donbas, Crimea was a mistake, NATO expansion, etc., etc., all the way up to the current fable about Boris Johnson and the <i>"torpedoed"</i> negotiations. Never mind all the fables about Nazis running Ukraine, or the allegiances of the Russian speakers, have been disproved by the realities on the ground. Just as is the notion that Putin has been motivated by fear of NATO invasion. If he really feared that, he never would have committed so much of Russia's reserves to subjugating Ukraine.</p><p>It's that goal of subjugating and erasing Ukraine from existence that the Code Pink - Democracy Now <i>"anti-imperialists"</i> want desperately to hide from view. They ignore all of <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220101114502/http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Putin's speeches</a> and writings that claim Ukraine has no right to exist. Ukraine was Lenin's creation and Lenin's mistake. Ukraine was created on stolen Russian land, etc., etc. All of that amount to arguments for genocide, which explains why Putin takes down the Ukraine flag, and puts up the Russian one wherever he can, why he deports, and puts Ukrainian children up for adoption to Russian parents, why he is removing Ukraine from Russian history, and why he has no problem slaughtering Ukrainians en masse. These so-called peace activists hide all that and try to sell us the Kremlin front page that they were <i>"forced"</i> to do these things to Ukraine because of Nazis inside of Ukraine, and NATO expansion outside of Ukraine. They've even written a whole book about it, and if you try to follow their logic, it is, indeed, a senseless conflict. </p><p>Finally, Medea Benjamin says what they're all implying, that Ukraine must be forced to allow parts of Ukraine to to be converted to Russia:</p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><blockquote>So, I don’t think that it is realistic to think that there is going to be a clear victory by the Ukrainians that are going to be able to get back every inch of territory like they’re now saying, including Crimea and all of Donbas. There has to be compromises on both sides.</blockquote></span>Is the Russian compromise not getting all of Ukraine, while the Ukrainian compromise is not keeping all of Ukraine? Somehow, that doesn't seem fair. It's like the courts allowing the thief to keep half of what he stole from you in the name of <i>"compromise."</i> Putin's goal for Ukraine is nothing short of <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2022/03/is-putins-invasion-of-ukraine-war-of.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">genocide</a>. What compromise would Medea Benjamin have them make with genocide? How many Ukrainians is she willing to surrender? Those demanding such a <i>"compromise"</i> must stop claiming they are fighting for social justice.<br /><br />So, that's the situation. Russia is losing the territory its trying to steal from Ukraine. It's trying to force more Russian conscripts into its trenches, in the hope that more cannon fodder can turn things around. In the meantime, it badly needs a timeout, or ceasefire, NOW! It needs a cut-off of weapons and support to Ukraine, and it badly needs the other imperialist powers to united around a <i>"compromise"</i> that gives it the pieces of Ukraine it's having a problem stealing outright.<br /><p></p><p>No Way!</p><p>Slava Ukraini,</p><p>Clay Claiborne</p><p>12 October 2022</p><center><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="330" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JyrMKcYsWL0" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe></center>Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-59290913523399265622022-10-07T18:36:00.000-07:002022-10-07T18:36:51.105-07:00My new Ukraine "Conspiracy Theory" concerns Elon Musk<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0_q-kZOegkjTAfMtJH_XdahTOXCy0t57p-CTlEu_W0D-N3A5igFWr9Bj6CAXL59GYFyw9WJj7chhxGdLXr39940067_mPwBwWOpokpo0Bb3Z3zNg3IHUVULvhj9V4dGN-k4v5q_bMOUhmKK05iwZvRnTwazHhRKfR4qYQ97ClRPf0iBNR39aggGJG/s234/ford%20for%20hitler.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="215" data-original-width="234" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0_q-kZOegkjTAfMtJH_XdahTOXCy0t57p-CTlEu_W0D-N3A5igFWr9Bj6CAXL59GYFyw9WJj7chhxGdLXr39940067_mPwBwWOpokpo0Bb3Z3zNg3IHUVULvhj9V4dGN-k4v5q_bMOUhmKK05iwZvRnTwazHhRKfR4qYQ97ClRPf0iBNR39aggGJG/w320-h294/ford%20for%20hitler.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); color: #0f1419; font-family: TwitterChirp, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: start; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some say Elon Musk is the new Henry Ford.</span></td></tr></tbody></table>When it comes to conspiracy theories related to Putin's invasion of Ukraine, why should the Nord Stream crowd have all the fun? So, I'd like to propose a brand new one, and it implicates the richest man on Earth.</p><p>Elon Musk thinks he's so rich, he can buy Twitter for a snack—until he realized that he had swindled himself. He bid the share price at $54.20, haha. What was he smoking? Since then, lawyers have been paying to send their kids to law school with what he's been paying them to try to weasel out of the deal.</p><p>He also must think that being the richest man on Earth, he must be the smartest man on Earth, because in addition to running Tesla and SpaceX, and looking for bots on Twitter, he obviously has time to become knowledgeable enough to mouthoff about Ukraine—on Twitter, naturally.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjMqLq49qXcNeIOKAi0szNw7HSEjndMuZtfgQxTYioYMq9rkzimCgObL-vZqhlQRDasy_uaAL5u5UmckS9vBw0xc2yyn4DPC66_CuPnGh_tzuL54QX3LQFXCJrbaOtgBpwIg3xUlcnnyYFB4V5syp3zN7qA0UIvrks88_PbVnuF38F3oLWc38z-Lm3g" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="623" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjMqLq49qXcNeIOKAi0szNw7HSEjndMuZtfgQxTYioYMq9rkzimCgObL-vZqhlQRDasy_uaAL5u5UmckS9vBw0xc2yyn4DPC66_CuPnGh_tzuL54QX3LQFXCJrbaOtgBpwIg3xUlcnnyYFB4V5syp3zN7qA0UIvrks88_PbVnuF38F3oLWc38z-Lm3g=w400-h261" width="400" /></a>On Monday, he put forward his own proposal for a <i>"Ukraine-Russia Peace"</i> deal, <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1576969255031296000" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">in a poll</a>, on Twitter, naturally.</p><p>These were the terms:</p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">- Redo elections of annexed regions under UN supervision. Russia leaves if that is will of the people.</span></p><p>So, redo the elections under conditions of Russian occupation, but with UN supervision. Good, I'm sure that will eliminate the intimidation factor. The people still left in the occupied regions (those that haven't fled) can feel secure in the knowledge that the Russian troops <i>probably</i> won't take revenge until the UN supervisors have left. And who will they be supervising? The same pro-Russian forces that conducted the last election? And exactly who will make the Russian leave, if they decide to renege, and Musk-up the deal?</p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">- Crimea formally part of Russia, as it has been since 1783 (until Khrushchev’s mistake).</span></p><div>Khrushchev’s mistake! I'm glad Elon settled that one for us. Putin thinks that accepting that Ukraine was its own nation, with its own Soviet Socialist Republic, within the Union, with a Right of Self-Determination was Lenin's mistake—corrected by Stalin. I would like to know if Elon agrees with that.</div><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">- Water supply to Crimea assured.</span></span></p><p>Of, course nothing about Ukraine's borders being secured, Ukraine's Black Sea access being assured, Ukraine's people being protected from a Russian leader bent on their complete destruction as an independent nation. I just learned, a few hours ago from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU3JE4ucX2A&t=1698s" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Timothy Snyder</a>, that Putin is even having the word <i>"Ukraine"</i> removed from Russian history books!</p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1419; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">- Ukraine remains neutral.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Neutral with regards to a country that has just invaded and raped it. Neutral with regards to a country bent on its destruction. Very good. Notice that the only thing Putin has to do to hold up his end of Musk's <i>"Piece Deal"</i> is allow some UN Supervisors in for an afternoon.<br /><br />He has over 100 million followers on Twitter, but only 2,748,378 people voted in Musk's very pro-Putin poll, and almost 60% gave it the thumbs👎down!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br />Elon Musk fumed. He blamed it on the bots.<br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">On Wednesday, after months of fighting it, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/elon-musk-says-he-is-ready-to-buy-twitter-again-at-original-44-billion-price" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Elon Musk says he is ready to buy Twitter again, at original $44 billion price.</a> What made him change his mind? Did he suddenly feel the need to have more control over the platform?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">And today, on Friday, we have this most troubling BREAKING NEWS from <a href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/ukraine-starlink-outages-russia-elon-musk-173909699.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Yahoo News</a> and <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/9a7b922b-2435-4ac7-acdb-0ec9a6dc8397" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">others</a>:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></div><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Frontline Ukraine troops are reportedly enduring Starlink outages</span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Kris Holt·Contributing Reporter</span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Fri, 7 October 2022 at 10:39 am</span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://www.engadget.com/tag/ukraine/">Ukrainian</a> forces have reportedly been dealing with <a href="https://www.engadget.com/tag/starlink/">Starlink</a> outages as they try to take back Russian-occupied areas. Some of the outages, which are said to have caused a severe loss of communication over the last several weeks, occurred as troops broke through the frontline into territory controlled by Russia as well as during battles, a Ukraine government official told <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/9a7b922b-2435-4ac7-acdb-0ec9a6dc8397">The Financial Times</a>.<br /><br />The cause of the apparent outages are not yet known. Engadget has contacted Starlink owner SpaceX for comment.<br /><br />Starlink outages were reported in the four regions that Russia annexed last month following referendums, the legitimacy of which have been disputed. As the Financial Times notes, there's a significant Ukrainian counteroffensive in those areas.</span></blockquote><p>As the article says, Starlink is run by SpaceX, which is owned by Elon Musk. Musk got a pro-Ukrainian reputation, and a lot of good press, by floating the idea that Starlink was his $80 million gift to Ukraine, but this week <a href="https://qz.com/did-elon-musk-really-lose-80-million-helping-ukraine-1849624849" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">it also came out</a> that the whole thing was <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-was-elon-musks-ukraine-starlink-funded-biden-white-house-1749103" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">bankrolled by the US government</a>. Elon Musk didn't become the richest man on Earth by giving stuff away. This might be another reason to be ticked-off about the whole Ukraine thing right now.</p><p>He may not be losing money on it, but his company still runs it, and now we know he's not quite as pro-Ukrainian as we may have been led to believe. There's an old cop saying: Never believe in coincidences. So, the question has to be asked: Is there a connection between Elon Musk's pro-Putin views and Starlink's outages in the combat zone?</p><p>Unlike the attacks on the already shutdown Nord Streams 1 & 2, these communication outages in the areas where Ukraine is rapidly liberating its territory, are probably costing lives right now.</p><p>Anyway, that's my conspiracy theory, and I think it bears more investigation, because it may turnout to be more than just a theory.</p><p>More, later....</p><p>Clay Claiborne</p><p>7 October 2022</p><p><br /></p><p></p>Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-78400121993226496292022-09-20T21:26:00.000-07:002022-09-20T21:26:16.661-07:00 Meet Code Pink's new alliesRecently, the Ukrainian armed forces have been liberating Ukrainian cities and towns at a rapid rate as a result of their very successful counter-offensive against the Russian invaders. Their soldiers have been cheered as liberators.and the war crimes evidence left behind by the fleeing Russians tells us why. <div><center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">First visit to the liberated territories east of Kharkiv. Hrakove, 70 km from Izyum, was deoccupied two days ago. Today Kharkiv police is documenting Russian war crimes there. Territory still heavily mined. Hope to see other strategic cities in Kharkiv region liberated soon. <a href="https://t.co/6TE03Lr4km">pic.twitter.com/6TE03Lr4km</a></p>— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) <a href="https://twitter.com/maria_avdv/status/1568257634460999681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 9, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></center></div><div>While Ukraine, with the help of western arms, has been making great progress in turning the tide of the Russian invasion, Code Pink and others in the misnamed <i><a href="https://www.peaceinukraine.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"Peace in Ukraine Coalition"</a></i> hope to put a stop to that. They just wrapped up a week of actions around these demands:<div><span face="adelle-sans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: red; font-size: 21px;"></span><blockquote><span face="adelle-sans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: red; font-size: 21px;">CEASEFIRE Now.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span face="adelle-sans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: red; font-size: 21px;">DIPLOMACY to End the War in Ukraine<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span face="adelle-sans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: red; font-size: 21px;">$$$ for Climate, Jobs, Healthcare, & Housing<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span face="adelle-sans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: red; font-size: 21px;">NOT Weapons for Endless War<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span face="adelle-sans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: red; font-size: 21px;">DO NOT RISK NUCLEAR WAR! </span></blockquote><p>They are demanding a ceasefire in place so that the current Ukrainian counter-offensive has to stop and no more Ukrainian lands will be liberated, except through negotiations. Elsewhere they make clear that by DIPLOMACY, they mean Biden should overrule Zelenskyy and make a deal directly with Putin. They also oppose any weapons or military support for Ukraine, and they amplify Putin's nuclear saber-rattling at every opportunity. Others in this white Left coalition include Veterans for Peace, Democratic Socialists of America IC, and United National Antiwar Coalition. They should more aptly be called the <i>"Piece of Ukraine Coalition"</i> because not one member envisions a peace agreement that doesn't involve Ukraine making some territorial concessions to Russian, and not necessarily limited to Crimea and the Donbas.</p><p>Well, they should be embarrassed to know they have many notable allies on the extreme right. Most prominent among them is probably Fox New's Tucker Carlson. The Friday before Ukraine kicked off the current counter-offensive, Carlson had on his show military <i>"expert"</i> Doug MacGregor who said the Russians were clearly winning, and predicted that by the end of September, </p><p></p><blockquote><i>"this entire war may be over. Right now things are going very, very badly, which is why Ukrainians are so desperate...But this desperation is very dangerous right now because they're losing once again just south of Kharkiv, and people in Washington are talking about "What else can we do?"</i></blockquote><p>He sure got that wrong! But Carlson used that false picture to argue against the Biden administration funding the Ukrainian liberation effort, asking:</p><p></p><blockquote><i>"Where's all this money going? Where are the weapons going? Why are we doing this?"</i></blockquote><p>Before introducing MacGregor to explain how it was all so futile. Tucker Carlson, like Code Pink, opposes any weapons shipments to Ukraine, and wants Biden to step in and enforce a DIPLOMATIC solution. He says, </p><p></p><blockquote><i>"Why not settle this war, return energy prices to normal, and stop the economic catastrophe we're facing?"</i></blockquote><p></p><div>The Heritage Foundation also opposes weapons for Ukraine and echos these coalition demands: <i>"money for climate, jobs, healthcare, & housing not weapons for endless war"</i> Executive director Jessica Anderson put it <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/27/us/politics/ukraine-aid-heritage-foundation.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this way</a>:</div><div><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">“America is struggling with record-setting inflation, debt, a porous border, crime and energy depletion, yet progressives in Washington are prioritizing a $40 billion aid package to Ukraine.”</blockquote><p>Even among Republican Senators, <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3495060-here-are-the-11-republican-senators-who-voted-against-the-ukraine-aid-bill/">only eleven</a> took the Code Pink position on the Ukrainian aid package, but they are among the most Trumpyist and include Josh Hawley <i><a href="https://compactmag.com/article/no-to-neoconservatism" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"What America needs is not nation-building, but nationalism."</a></i> (Mo.), Rand Paul (Ky), Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Mike Lee (Utah), Tommy Tuberville (Ala.), and Mike Braun (Ind). All of them Putin supporters and white supremacists to the core. Is it any surprise that they support great Russian chauvinism in Ukraine?</p><p>The same can be said of the 69 Republic Congressional representatives that, like Code Pink et al. oppose US military aid to Ukraine. Is it any wonder that they include the most extreme election deniers and Trump supporters, and include Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Ken Buck (R-CO), Louis Gohmert (R-TX), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Lee Zeldin (R-NY)?</p><p>The Proud Boys also support the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with <a href="https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/ctec-publications/proud-boys-fabricated-expedition-ukraine">many member pretending</a> they were going there to fight along side Russian troops. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190209195627/https://oathkeepers.org/2014/02/the-eastern-ukrainians-are-revolting/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Oathkeepers</a> also parrot Putin's line on Ukraine by republishing ZeroHedge, a known Putin mouthpiece. </p><p>Code Pink—It's said that you are known by the company you keep. These are your new allies.</p><p><br /></p><p>Clay Claiborne</p><p>20 September 2022</p><blockquote style="font-style: italic;"> </blockquote></div><p></p><p></p><span face="adelle-sans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: red; font-size: 21px;"></span></div></div>Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-35709200992562305762022-09-10T13:52:00.001-07:002022-09-10T22:20:49.445-07:00UPDATED: As Putin's position in Ukraine collapses, Code Pink rides to his rescue<div><b>On Background</b></div><div><br /></div><div>200 days ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his "Special Military Operation" to complete the conquest of Ukraine he started in 2014 with the occupation of Crimea, and the militarization of much of the Donbas region in the East. It has been a catastrophe for Ukraine and its people. Russia has targeted civilian structures with long range weapons, and murdered civilians up close and personal, dumping their bodies into mass graves, or just leaving them to rot on the streets. It has deported millions of Ukrainians to unknown fates inside of Russia, while it burns the Ukrainian wheat it can't steal. All of this is part of a program to liquidate Ukraine as an independence nation, and annex its territory and people into a new Russian empire, just as Putin <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220101114502/http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181">outlined</a> more than a year ago. For Russia, it is <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2022/03/is-putins-invasion-of-ukraine-war-of.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">a war of genocide</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>This war hasn't gone well for the Russians either. The very Ukrainian nationalism Putin claimed had no right to exist, and the Ukrainian unity, he claimed could never exist, have risen up as a mighty fist to smack him down! Much of the world, especially its European neighbors, have rallied to its defense as well. </div><div><br /></div><div>The Russians started out with a grand scheme to conquer the whole country by taking and occupying its capital—until their 40-mile long armored column got decimated on the road to Kyiv. Then Putin claimed they had more limited goals all along—just parts of Ukraine in the South and the East—leaving what remains of Ukraine—for now—a land-locked country—if possible. So, they abandoned the attempt to take Kyiv and concreted their forces in the South and East, where they have managed to gain very little ground in return for great loss of life on both sides. Frustrated by their lack of success against the Ukrainian armed forces over these many months, Russia has take to pounding Ukrainian civilians with every available asset, threatening the world food supply, and now even using a Ukrainian nuclear power plant to threaten Europe.</div><div><center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Kharkiv Oblast residents welcoming Ukrainian troops. in recaptured territories.<br /><br />This is true liberation. Instead of a handful of professional citizens speaking in front of the cameras for propaganda purposes, whole households take to the streets to wave hands the military. <a href="https://t.co/h51EV2Vkac">https://t.co/h51EV2Vkac</a></p>— Hiro's gallery (@HiroGallery) <a href="https://twitter.com/HiroGallery/status/1568016537268932611?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 8, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></center></div><div><b>Current Events: The Russian position is collapsing on several fronts </b></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV-nG4HvjM0hFucA7YcskigS0W7SHelONNjRgHwZ-t7wElL7Ektb93nT-iqaCVsugBX27z-qKVdfDtsk_fiaR2z2_ZdkvQt8eZ398IhFLQl8ouWsZUPswDZQRizC1totf8xFRM9QyCeiUMi0Ujfe6rqDxe8tURSX3HgHS9ORNm4isexldZ70E2tfcs/s680/FcS1LETWAAEhaXN.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="451" data-original-width="680" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV-nG4HvjM0hFucA7YcskigS0W7SHelONNjRgHwZ-t7wElL7Ektb93nT-iqaCVsugBX27z-qKVdfDtsk_fiaR2z2_ZdkvQt8eZ398IhFLQl8ouWsZUPswDZQRizC1totf8xFRM9QyCeiUMi0Ujfe6rqDxe8tURSX3HgHS9ORNm4isexldZ70E2tfcs/s320/FcS1LETWAAEhaXN.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>Recently, Ukrainian armed forces have launched its biggest counter-offensive against the Russian occupation. They have met with great success both in the South where the Ukrainian forces are posed to retake Kherson, the only major Ukrainian city taken by Russia, and in the East, north of Kharkiv, where they have pushed panicked Russian soldiers more than 50 miles in two days. They have driven the occupiers from dozens of towns and villages, and liberated over a thousand square kilometers of Ukrainian soil. At that rate, they will have pushed the Russians back across their border north of Kharkiv. Also, two Russian troop concentrations, one north of Kherson, and one centered on Izyum are threatened. [Update: Izyum has fallen! Russians fled without a fight.]<div><br /><center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Recon troops of the 25th Airborne brigade of AFU and 3rd regiment UASOF in Izyum <a href="https://t.co/SJPsnMaRyl">pic.twitter.com/SJPsnMaRyl</a></p>— 0_0 (@_Th3_Sp3ctr3_) <a href="https://twitter.com/_Th3_Sp3ctr3_/status/1568636982992977922?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 10, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></center><div><br /></div><div>These dynamic Ukrainian advances have been possible because millions of Ukrainians have rallied to the defense of their nation. Many have volunteered for quick training to join the fight, even as Russia tries to forcibly conscript Ukrainians in the occupied territories who were foolish enough to accept Russian passports earlier.</div><div><br /></div><div>These breakthroughs are also possible because the Ukrainians have benefited from a steady supply of advanced weaponry from the West, especially from the US. While the Ukrainians have done much with the supplies they had accumulated before the war, and with those they have captured from the Russians [which is quite a lot in the current counter-offensive😀], this current reversal would not be possible, in what Russia has turned into a big artillery war, without a steady supply of weapons to Ukraine to meet the challenge. At the same time, sanctions against Russia are denying them the chips & technology they need to build new weapons to support its occupation.</div><div><br /></div><div>At what is looking more and more like a turning point in a war that many told the Ukrainians was unwinnable, Russia badly needs three things:</div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>A time-out so its forces can regroup and stop losing territory.</li><li>An end to weapons supplies to Ukraine.</li><li>An end to sanctions against Russia.</li></ol><div>Putin can see this, and so can his minions in the West. Hence, Code Pink's newest <a href="https://www.codepink.org/tell_congress_no_more_escalation?utm_campaign=ukraine_week_of_action&utm_medium=email&utm_source=codepink" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>"Peace" </i>campaign.</a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://assets.nationbuilder.com/codepink/pages/33168/attachments/original/1657292417/Copy_of_Untitled_Design.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="800" height="420" src="https://assets.nationbuilder.com/codepink/pages/33168/attachments/original/1657292417/Copy_of_Untitled_Design.png" width="800" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>On Friday, Amy Goodman, on Democracy Now, announced the campaign with the <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2022/9/9/headlines">headline</a>:</div></div><div><blockquote><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Antiwar Groups Plan Week of Protests Demanding Diplomatic End to War in Ukraine</span></b></blockquote></div><div><blockquote>On Monday, a coalition of peace activists will kick off a nationwide week of action on Ukraine, demanding a ceasefire and diplomatic solutions to the crisis. CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin said in a statement, “The White House and Congress are fueling this war with a steady stream of weapons instead of pushing for talks to end the conflict. That’s why we, the people, have to rise up with a demand of negotiations, not escalation.”</blockquote><p>The world saw in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucha_massacre" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bucha</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariupol_theatre_airstrike" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mariupol</a> just how the Russians treat the Ukrainians they have conquered. Now that the Russians are fleeing, the people are cheering the return of their soldiers and the Ukrainian flag—now that Ukraine is winning, these <i>"antiwar"</i> groups are calling for a timeout, a ceasefire, and an end to weapons shipments to Ukraine—all items on Putin's wish list.</p><p>They talk as if only they want a <i>"diplomatic"</i> end to this war. Ukrainians, more than anyone else, wants an end to this war. The question is: on what terms? Ukrainians are fighting to expel these invaders from their land. Others, like Code Pink, favor giving Russia an even bigger piece of Ukraine, if it will buy <i>"Peace"</i> in Europe for a while. They want Biden & NATO to step in and force Ukraine to accept such a rotten deal. Their demand is that the West stop supporting this war of national liberation, and force Ukraine to give Putin the victory, through <i>"diplomatic"</i> means, that he can't win on the battlefield.</p><p>Because Ukraine is now winning this war on its 200th day, Code Pink is launching its own four day campaign to help Putin out. They are calling on activists to contact Congress, the White House & State Department, and the Media, to demand:</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 17px;"><i>"Freeze the weapons shipments!"</i></span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 17px;"><i>"that President Biden engage in direct talks with Russia"</i></span></li></ol><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 17px;">This is their two-</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 17px;">pronged approach to <i>"peace"</i> in Ukraine. Biden & Putin should divide up Ukraine in the imperialist spirit of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E2%80%93Picot_Agreement" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sykes-Picot</a>, and force it down the Ukrainian's throats by cutting off their supply of weapons, because it has become clear that there's no way the Russians can beat the Ukrainian spirit as long as it receives adequate material support.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">This is war</span><span style="font-size: 17px;"><span style="color: red;">,</span><span style="color: #333333;"> and very much a war of logistics and supply lines. So, just to be clear about what is going on here: Ukrainians have been able to advance, in large part, because they have been able to use the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M142_HIMARS" style="color: #333333;" target="_blank">HIMARS</a><span style="color: #333333;">, and other advanced artillery systems to go after Russian supply lines. Russia is using Code Pink, and these other less </span><i style="color: #333333;">"advanced"</i><span style="color: #333333;"> antiwar groups, to go after Ukrainian supply lines. Code Pink is like Putin's HIMARS, except they keep missing the point.</span></span></span></p></div><div><br /></div></div><div>Clay Claiborne</div><div>10 September 2022</div><div><br /></div><div><b>UPDATE: 9/10 22:10 PST: </b>I just received an email from the Democratic Socialists of America International Committee:</div><div><p style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; margin: 1em 0px;"><strong></strong></p></div><blockquote><div><p style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; margin: 1em 0px;"><strong>What you can do now:</strong></p><ol style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;"><li style="margin-left: 15px;"><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><strong>Sign our letter</strong><strong> </strong>demanding your own members of Congress oppose weapons shipments to Ukraine.</p></li><li style="margin-left: 15px;"><p style="margin: 1em 0px;"><strong>Join </strong><strong>an action happening in your area</strong> or organize your own:</p></li></ol></div><div></div></blockquote><div>So, apparently now DSA is joining this desperate, last ditch, effort to cut Ukraine's supply lines just as they are engaged in a historic roll-back of the Russian invasion and liberating dozens of Ukrainian cities and towns every day. I would ask: <i>"Which side are you on?,"</i> but they have made that very obvious. They are on the side of the Russian imperialists/ </div>Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-8335975668292767322022-07-10T14:47:00.000-07:002022-07-10T14:47:31.862-07:00Threadbare: A talk with some tankies about the war in Ukraine<p><br />These are some notes from my input to a Veterans for Peace list-serve discussion sparked by Katrina vanden Heuvel's <i>"We Need a Real Debate About the Ukraine War." </i>That <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/24/ukraine-russia-war-biden-strategy-debate/?itid=ap_katrinavandenheuvel" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Washington Post opinion</a> seeks a re-hearing of Russian propaganda talking points about Ukraine after they have been thoroughly discredited with Putin's invasion of Ukraine. <i>"Those who provide history and context around the conflict should not be silenced or smeared,"</i> says one who occasionally appears on network news shows, and has been published by the Post five times since that May 24th article. </p><p>Many in this discussion blamed Biden and NATO for the conflict, and promote Putin's propaganda about his need to respond to NATO expansion and demilitarize and denazify Ukraine. I was never sure how much was sincere, and how much was gas lighting. I tried to use the twin powers of logic and facts to prove my arguments. Sometimes that isn't enough. All to often, I've found that there is an emotional component to the person's belief system that ignores facts, and is impervious to logic. With some anti-war Vietnam veterans I suspect it stems from having been so badly used, and in the case of ex-Marines—duped—by US imperialism, that they carry an emotional vendetta that sees only it. </p><p>Nevertheless, I persisted. I begin by responding to a comparison of events in Europe today with those that proceeded World War II: </p><p><b>Shades of 1939??? is right! <i>"History doesn't repeat, but it rhymes." </i></b></p><div>Even 1936. When Hitler sent his very real Nazis to occupy the Rhineland in 1936, his first territorial expansion, he blamed it on the newly signed Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Defense, just as Putin, and his fanboys, blame his terror campaign against Ukrainians on <i>"NATO expansion."</i><br /><br /><b>Is the Russian "Special Military Operation" a proxy war?</b><br /><br />If you are my proxy, you are expected to vote the way I tell you to vote, regardless of your personal opinion. You aren't my proxy just because I give you a ride to the meeting. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is not a proxy war. Russia invaded Ukraine itself. Ukrainians are acting in their own self-interest. 44 countries, and countless other organizations and individuals, are supporting their efforts. That doesn't make Ukrainians proxies of any of them.<br /><br />Katrina is right about one thing—every country has its ultra-rightists, neo-Nazis & fascists. (In truth, a <i>"Nazi"</i> is a member of the National Socialist German Workers Party, which doesn't exist anymore. Putin insists on that term, rather than the more accurate ones I listed, because of its deep propaganda value for Russians that suffered so much in WWII. His fanboys parrot it because he uses it.) In its last national election (2019), the Ukrainian ultra-right got 2.5% of the vote, and didn't win a single parliament seat. The US has a greater percent of neo-Nazis than that. So, does Putin reserve the <i>"right"</i> to invade any country and <i>"denazify"</i> it, because it has neo-Nazi parties?</div><div><br />If you look at how the Russian state defines "Nazi," it is any Ukrainian that self-identifies as a Ukrainian, and not a Russian. Putin uses <i>"Ukrainian Nazi"</i> and <i>"Ukrainian nationalist"</i> interchangeably because he sees any Ukrainian nationalist as a "Nazi." The <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2022/03/vlad-on-vlad-how-putins-views-on-lenin.html">nationalism of imperialist powers</a> is the problem, not the nationalism of oppressed nations, like Ukraine.<br /><br />Putin claimed he was forced to invade Ukraine because of the <i>"genocide"</i> against ethnic Russians in the east. The devastation, and massive loss of life. which he has visited on the ethnic Russian cities of Mariupol and Kharkiv, once he saw how heroically they opposed his aggression, <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2022/03/is-putins-invasion-of-ukraine-war-of.html">put the lie</a> to that grotesque claim. <a href="https://t.co/aUFXbXre8a">Newsweek reported</a> that Russia has fired more missiles into Ukraine (in just 90 days!) than have been fired in any conflict since WWII! <br /><br /><b>Should Ukrainians be forced to give up a piece of Ukraine for peace in Ukraine?</b><br /><br />Those that think Russia should be allowed to keep parts of Ukraine must consider the long-term consequences of supporting the annexation of another country's land by force. That, most certainly, is not the road to world peace.<br /><br />Those, like Noam Chomsky, Katrina vanden Heuvel, and Henry Kissinger, that demand Zelenskyy cede Ukrainian territory to Putin, in an effort to buy <i>"Peace in our time."</i> need to answer the following questions:<br /><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>How many millions of Ukrainians should we allow Putin to put in his <i>"filtration" </i>camps in the name of Peace?</li><li>How many should he be allowed to deport to inclement parts of Russia in the name of Peace?</li><li>How many should he be allowed to consign to body bags, including Russian conscripts?</li><li>How many should he be allowed to disappear with his mobile incinerators because you fear his nuclear blackmail?</li></ol><div>All of those who argue that Ukraine should be forced by the US & NATO to cede some of its territory to Russia need to understand what they are arguing for. Because this is happening now, they, and that includes some on this list, <b>aren't just genocide deniers, they are genocide enablers.</b><div><br /><div><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/26/politics/ukraine-filtration-camps-forcibly-remove-russia/index.html&source=gmail&ust=1654126275794000&usg=AOvVaw15uq_P7otyKjaiHPVd16xG" href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/26/politics/ukraine-filtration-camps-forcibly-remove-russia/index.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><b>Russia is depopulating parts of eastern Ukraine, forcibly removing thousands into remote parts of Russia</b></a> CNN Thu May 26, 2022<br /><div><br /></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have been processed through a series of Russian <i>“filtration camps” </i>in Eastern Ukraine and sent into Russia as part of a systematized program of forced removal, according to four sources familiar with the latest Western intelligence – an estimate far higher than US officials have publicly disclosed.</blockquote><div><br /></div><div><div><div><b><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/06/ukraine-mariupol-russian-filtration-camp-video/&source=gmail&ust=1654126275794000&usg=AOvVaw2WKl_Q8Wvndp8WaMH7ZBm0" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/06/ukraine-mariupol-russian-filtration-camp-video/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"> Video shows Russian ‘filtration camp,’ Mariupol mayor’s office says</a></b> Washington Post May 6, 2022</div><div><br /></div><div><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DorCx0P6gGuU&source=gmail&ust=1654126275794000&usg=AOvVaw334qTqxsvxOch6hCBYXDCG" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orCx0P6gGuU" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><b> 4,000 civilians are being tortured in 'filtration camps': Day 88 of Russian war against Ukraine</b></a></div><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature" dir="ltr"><br /></div><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature" dir="ltr"><b><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DiooYo8APE9M&source=gmail&ust=1654126275794000&usg=AOvVaw1b8FaYDP3NqTm86cQvaTLb" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iooYo8APE9M" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Horrors of Russian filtration camps for Ukrainians: fingerprints, searches in phones, interrogations</a></b></div><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature" dir="ltr"><br /></div><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature" dir="ltr"><b><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DYp0p033c46o&source=gmail&ust=1654126275794000&usg=AOvVaw2b5tZggW0DJRy5W4WFPOS6" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp0p033c46o" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">U.S. Believes Russia Has Sent Thousands To 'Filtration Camps' In Ukraine, Says Ambassador</a></b><br /></div><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature" dir="ltr"><br /></div>Wikipedia has an article on how these camps were used against Chechens:</div><div><br /><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><b><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filtration_camp_system_in_Chechnya%23:~:text%3DFiltration%2520camps%2520or%2520filtration%2520points,War%2520between%25201999%2520and%25202003.&source=gmail&ust=1654126275794000&usg=AOvVaw0HNWhUMiTVev6g0CAYmdRU" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filtration_camp_system_in_Chechnya#:~:text=Filtration%20camps%20or%20filtration%20points,War%20between%201999%20and%202003." style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Filtration camp system in Chechnya</a></b><br /></div><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature" dir="ltr"><br /></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">According to the Russian human rights group Memorial, "by the most modest estimations", the overall number of those having passed through the established and ad hoc "filtration points" reaches at least 200,000 people (out of Chechnya's population of less than one million), of whom "practically all" were subjected to beatings and torture, and some were summarily executed.</blockquote><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature" dir="ltr"><br /></div><hr /><div>Brian,</div><div><br /></div><div>Ukraine was expected to fall in 3 days, not only by Putin, but also by many in the West. They now have not only held out for more than 90 [now 138!] days against a nuclear armed superpower, but have managed to push back Russia's early success around Kivi and Kharkiv. By doing this, they have shown an incredible level of national unity and resolve that Americans could only hope for. In the face of the overwhelming odds it faces, the Ukrainian government has shown itself to be extremely competent in leading its people's war. It has also shown more humanity than our own government, even more humanity towards its fallen enemy than the Russian government has shown to its own dead soldiers. It has also demonstrated a very high level of support among its people, including the ethnic Russians in the East. Putin, on the other hand, has waged an extremely brutal, and unprovoked, war against Ukrainian civilians. He has said many times that he believes Ukraine has no right to exist, its land was stolen from Russia, and must be destroyed as an independent nation. He has gone out of his way to destroy Ukrainian industry, and agriculture, an agriculture much of the Middle East and Africa depend on for its very existence. He has actively destroyed symbols of Ukrainian culture and history, deported hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians far from their homeland, with a view towards replacing them with Russians, and he has filled many mass graves with Ukrainian civilians.</div><div><br /></div><div>I would think that this past 90 days lived experience should cause all to question the Putin/Stone narrative about what really happened in 2014, because it demonstrates these important points: </div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>The Ukrainian people are nobody's fool, nobody's dupes.</li><li>The current Ukrainian government is supported by, and representative, of the Ukrainian people, and is nobody's puppet regime. </li><li>Falling under Russian domination, i.e. being in the Russian <i>"sphere of influence,"</i> represents an existential threat both to Ukrainian lives and Ukraine's existence as a nation. Remember the Ukrainian genocide under Stalin. Putin is a fan of Stalin, but not Lenin.</li></ol></div><div>In 2013, when Yanukovych refused the popular accord for closer integration with the EU, in favor of closer ties with Moscow, he wasn't just making a president's decision about who was offering Ukraine a better deal on paper, he was delivering his nation to an imperialist power bent on its destruction. The Ukrainians understood this. That is why the masses came out in The Maidan, and forced him to flee to Moscow. </div><div><br /></div><div>No doubt, US imperialists, as always, tried to gain influence and advantage from this turn of events, and pumped billions of dollars into the effort, but it wasn't the main force behind what you regard as the destabilization of Ukraine. That was accomplished by Yanukovych, and his backers in Moscow, when they attempted to deliver Ukraine to a power bent on its destruction. The people knew that, and they were having none of it!</div><div><br /></div><div>True, Nuland and Pyatt were caught on tape discussing who they would like to see in power. US diplomats do this all the time, but spinning that into a massive plot to replace a legitimate government against the people's will is the stuff of conspiracy theory. This is a theory promoted by Putin, and his followers. It completely takes away the Ukrainian's agency, but then Putin believes they have no independent agency, or even an independent right to exist. </div><div><br /></div><div>Whatever basis this <i>'coup'</i> thesis may seemed to have had in the past, it has been completely debunked by the courage and unity of the Ukrainian people, including the ethnic Russians, in the current struggle.<br />
<hr />Brian,<br /><br /><i>"On 7 March 1936, using the <a href="#">Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance</a> as a pretext, Chancellor and Führer <a href="#">Adolf Hitler</a> ordered the <a href="#">Wehrmacht</a> to march 20,000 German troops into the Rhineland"</i> according to <a href="#">Wikipedia</a>. Hitler claimed that as a result of that treaty, Germany was threatened with encirclement. At the time, I'm sure many sympathetic to the Nazis accept that justification for the invasion, but it began a wave of expansion of Nazi military occupation that eventually went west to the English Channel, and East to the gates of Stalingrad, and had to be put down with tremendous loss of life and resources by the Allies.<br /><br />Today, Putin is using <i>"NATO expansion"</i> as the major pretext for his invasion of Ukraine. If you've read his 12 July 2021 <a href="#">paper on Russia and Ukraine</a>, you know that he doesn't think Ukraine has a right to an independent existence, he wants to recreate the old Czarist Russian Empire, and his expansion plans don't stop at Ukraine, but proceed west to include Moldova, and parts of Poland, and north to include the Baltic States. In that ~7000 word document, he doesn't even get to NATO until ~ word 6500, still he has made <i>"NATO expansion"</i> the headline in his bid to dominate Ukraine, and many in the west have echoed that refrain. In view of this, it deserves our serious scrutiny.<br /><br />Many point to Baker's supposed promise in 1991 that NATO would not expand East 1 inch if the Soviet Union would agree to German reunification. At the time Russia and Ukraine were the 2 biggest countries in the USSR. In 1994, Ukraine gave up its nukes in return to security guarantees from both the US, and Russia. It wouldn't surprise me if some in Ukraine regret that decision, in view of current events. I, for one, do not, because it would mean that the current conflict would be one between two nuclear powers, and we all could be in a world of hurt—but it also means that the US, not NATO—who was not a party to that agreement, has a moral obligation to honor that commitment, and defend Ukrainian sovereignty, even if it involves US boots on the ground. Most who repeat Putin's complaint about a non-NATO expansion promise being broken, conveniently forget about the Budapest Memorandum, but unlike whatever Baker, or Bush, said in 1991, that <a href="#">agreement was in writing</a>.<br /><br />There are many reasons I believe the complaint about a 1991 promise not to expand NATO being broken is wrong. Let me briefly enumerate them:<br /><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>There are serious questions about whether such a promise was ever made.</li><li>That promise, if it was made, was made to the USSR, which a little while later ceased to exist. It was never made to Russia independently, and obviously didn't consider the fate of the former Soviet republics, once they sought freedom from Russia.</li><li>Bush and Baker had no authority to speak for NATO, which is an organization that, while clearly dominated by the US, makes decisions by country votes, and has its own agency. The USSR, let alone Russia, shouldn't have relied on those US promises either. They should have said, fine, that's your policy, then take it to NATO, and bring back something in writing. NATO expanded because, after the fall of the Soviet Union. many of the former Soviet republics sought its protection from Russian domination, and now we can all see why. If Putin doesn't invade Poland, it will be because Poland is in NATO. Ditto the Baltic republics. Those countries petitioned, even begged, to be in NATO, and the European members wanted it. Far from ramrodding <i>"NATO expansion,"</i> many US leaders opposed it, which is why you can now quote them saying as much. They didn't want the US to be obligated to defend small countries with little economic value to the US, but the US could hardly veto membership when the European states supported it, given all the US rhetoric about human rights and self-determination.</li><li>Finally, Ukraine hadn't moved <i>"one inch"</i> closer to NATO membership now, or in the years before Russia's invasion.</li></ol>For all these reasons, I believe Putin's claim that his hand was forced by <i>"NATO expansion" </i>is as bogus as Hitler's claims that his hand was forced by the Franco-Soviet treaty of 1935.</div></div></div></div></div></div></div><hr /><div>Brian,<div><br /></div><div>In my last response to you, I failed to address your claim that <i>"Ukraine’s east has Russian history and culture."</i> I think that is pro-Russian, one-sided, and leaves a lot out. So, here I'll just quote what <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donbas&source=gmail&ust=1654126275821000&usg=AOvVaw1zQVTuJPHYQ-VuHafNEmP6" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donbas" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a> has to say about the history of Donbass:</div><div><br /></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><b>According to the Russian Imperial Census of 1897, Ukrainians ("Little Russians", in the official imperial language) accounted for 52.4% of the population of the region</b>, whilst ethnic Russians constituted 28.7%.[21] Ethnic Greeks, Germans, Jews and Tatars also had a significant presence in the Donbas, particularly in the district of Mariupol, where they constituted 36.7% of the population.[22] Despite this, Russians constituted the majority of the industrial workforce. Ukrainians dominated rural areas, but cities were often inhabited solely by Russians who had come seeking work in the region's heavy industries.[23] Those Ukrainians who did move to the cities for work were quickly assimilated into the Russian-speaking worker class.[24]</blockquote><div><br clear="all" /><div><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature">Also, in that email, talking about Hitler's remilitarization of the Rhineland, I said " At the time, I'm sure many sympathetic to the Nazis accept that justification for the invasion." I was right. On further reading, I found this from <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Soviet_Treaty_of_Mutual_Assistance%23:~:text%3DThe%2520Franco%252DSoviet%2520Treaty%2520of,the%2520threat%2520from%2520Central%2520Europe.&source=gmail&ust=1654126275821000&usg=AOvVaw25E6uCBF1_e581H9APTR-W" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Soviet_Treaty_of_Mutual_Assistance#:~:text=The%20Franco%2DSoviet%20Treaty%20of,the%20threat%20from%20Central%20Europe." style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>:</div><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><br /></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">David Lloyd George, a pro-German member of the British House of Commons, stated in that body that Hitler's actions in the wake of the pact had been fully justified to protect his country and that he would have been a traitor to Germany if he had failed to act.[3]</blockquote><div><br /></div><div>Based on that history, I want to suggest that all those who seek to justify Putin's invasion of Ukraine by using his <i>"NATO expansion"</i> excuse, adopt Lloyd George as their patron saint.</div><hr /><div>Greg,</div><div><br /></div><div>I never said, or even implied, that Russia has no <i>"legitimate security concerns over NATO expansionism."</i> My critique is reserved for those that attempt to justify Putin's invasion of Ukraine based on those concerns. For example, I may have <i>"legitimate security concerns"</i> if a neighbor with whom I've had disputes, has bought a gun. That in no way justifies my preemptively taking him out.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's not that Hitler didn't have <i>"legitimate security concerns"</i> about the Franco-Soviet Treaty. The problem was he intended to gobble up much more than just the Rhineland.</div><div><br /></div><div>Russia (Putin) also has illegitimate concerns about NATO expansion because countries it intends to gobble up are flocking to NATO for protection. NATO is a barrier to Russian imperialist expansion. That is his real problem with NATO. I'm sure he knows NATO has no plans to invade Russia as long as he doesn't invade any NATO countries. But he does want to invade NATO countries. That is his NATO problem.</div><hr /><div>Brian,<br /><br />You say Putin's invasion was wrong, and yet you make your support for it obvious by the way you cycle through Russian talking points on the war. Your latest being <i>"the Global South view"</i> as you interpret it:<br /><blockquote>Today, the Global South almost universally refuses to follow US wishes to sanction Russia. Instead, the South calls the US hypocritical for sanctioning a Russian invasion. For, the Global South points out, the US has long done the same thing. That means the Global South sees US leaders as depraved.<br /><br />Yet within the US, some people differ from that Global South view. Those US people, rather than being accurate, are missing something. For, how could a human not see this track record as depraved?</blockquote>The ability to support sanctions, like boycotts, is often a sign of privilege. The first boycott I was involved in was the UFW grape boycott. That was easy for me because I had many other fruits to choose from. It was not so easy for a winery, or a winery worker. The UFW was wise to ask people to boycott grapes. Had they asked us to boycott corn, it would have been much harder, and had they asked us to boycott all farm-raised food, their boycott would have failed out the gate.<br /><br />Germany certainly isn't part of the Global South, it's one of the richest countries in Europe. It certainly supports Ukraine in this war, even sending them lethal weapons, and yet Germany refuses to sanction Russian gas. The reason is well known. They can't afford to. They are too dependent on Russian gas, and won't let their people freeze, or their basic industries grind to a halt. Few countries in the Global South can afford to boycott Russian wheat, especially when Russia is taking Ukrainian wheat off the market. Enough of their people will starve already because of that. Yet, you choose to interpret that as support for Russia's war against Ukraine. Egypt has refused Russian shiploads of stolen Ukrainian wheat time and again. Those ships then docked in Syria. I'll leave it to you to decide which course is the most honorable.<br /><br />You see the request for Russian sanctions as <i>"US wishes."</i> Isn't it first,and foremost, a demand of the Ukrainian government. Why do you ignore that? Everything is not about US.<br /><br />The two biggest <i>"influencers"</i> in the Global South are the authoritarian leaders of China and India. They have very specific geo-political or economic reasons for not supporting sanctions against Russia. The same could be said for the leaders of countries like Venezuela and Syria, who are economically or militarily dependent on Russia. Israel has its reasons too. But you present this as some sort of wisdom coming from the people of the Global South. That is Putin propaganda.<hr /><div>Brian,</div><div><br /></div><div>More thoughts on the Global South and Russia's war against Ukraine...</div><div><br /></div><div>As part of its genocidal war effort, Russia is doing everything it can to destroy Ukrainian agriculture. These actions range from destroying or stealing farm equipment, to bombing and mining Ukrainian farms, to destroying or stealing Ukrainian wheat, to destroying grain silos and storage facilities, and blockading Ukrainian ports so they can't export grain,</div><div><br /></div><div>Since 400 million people in the Global South depend on Ukrainian agriculture, it is quite possible, I think even likely, that more people will die in the Global South from Russia's war on Ukraine than will die in Ukraine itself. They will die of starvation and famine, but since those deaths are bloodless, they will die in small villages in the Global South with little notice from the world's media.</div><div><br /></div><div>But I guarantee you one thing. None of the leaders you see as fairly representing the Global South in refusing Russian sanctions, none of them will go hungry.</div><hr />Skip,<br /><br />When you wrote "<i>I find your incendiary lingo very unhelpful,"</i> I went over all my posts to this thread to try and figure out what you were talking about. The only thing I could come up with was when I warned that many in the US Left, including some on this list, weren't just genocide deniers, they are genocide enablers. Is that what you were referring to? If not, please tell me. If it was, that was not meant to be incendiary lingo, it was meant to be a statement of fact, and a warning.<br /><br />Propaganda that demonizes the victims of genocide is essential to every <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2022/03/is-putins-invasion-of-ukraine-war-of.html">genocide</a>. Examples include Goebbels describing Jews as vermin or rats, and the Rwandan radio station that described the Tutsis as cockroaches. For some years now, many in the US Left, including some VFP members, have repeated, and continue to promote, Putin's lie that the Maidan revolution was a US orchestrated Nazi-led coup against a legitimate Ukrainian government. That was the beginning of a whole <i>"alternative"</i> narrative that has been applauded by the Kremlin. This set the stage for Russia's current campaign of genocide against the Ukrainian nation under the banner of denazification and demilitarization. We will forever wonder if Putin would have even proceeded without his supporters in the West. Did this echo chamber encourage his delusions?<br /><br />US imperialism has done some wicked things. I know. I have documented some of them. I am one of its victims. But, too many on the American Left have allowed their hatred of US imperialism, and all too often, sentimental feelings for what the Soviet Union once was, to blind them to the fact that the United States is no longer <i>"the greatest purveyor of violence in the world."</i> Today, that infamous title clearly belongs to Putin's Russia. Even as the US was extracting itself from Iraq and Afghanistan, Putin's Russia multiplied the bloodshed in the Middle East by backing the thug Assad, and using his air force to bomb Syrian cities like Aleppo [and Idlib] into rubble. Putin has used his state power to become the leader of a worldwide white supremacist movement. The most recent, and possible future, POTUS is one of his followers. He has visions of a Eurasian dominated by Slavs of the Great Russian persuasion, but first he must unite those Slavs under his banner, by force if necessary. Just like Hitler before him, except for Adoph, it was the Aryans that were a whiter shade of white. So, now he begins his European <i>"special military operation" </i>starting with the bloody genocide of Ukraine, and the absorption of its remaining people, and broken territory, into his Great Russian Empire. While he massacres civilians, and threatens nuclear holocaust if anyone tries to stop him, the US Left wavers between supportive and <i>"neutral."</i><br /><br />This is sad. The Left is missing an unprecedented opportunity to build the movement because support for the Ukrainian people is strong. I know because I fly the Ukrainian colors on my bike and balcony. People naturally support a little country invaded by an imperialist superpower when their judgement isn't clouded by <i>"patriotism."</i> They rightly look with disgust at <i>"anti-imperialists</i>" that promote Putin's propaganda, and fail to condemn or <i>"demonize"</i> the side that is dropping cluster bombs on apartment buildings, By and large, the people stand with Ukraine. This can be seen by the <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/24/ukraine-legion-foreign-soldiers-00020233">international fighters</a> that have come to Ukraine since the Russian invasion, <a href="https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/among-ukraines-foreign-fighters">reminiscent of those that fought the fascists in Spain before WWII</a>. It can also be seen among the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/27/115-russian-national-guard-soldiers-sacked-for-refusing-to-fight-in-ukraine">Russian soldiers that have deserted</a>, and even formed a <a href="https://twitter.com/russialegion?lang=en">Russian legion</a> to fight alongside the Ukrainians. (<a href="https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/press-conference/821337.html">Yes, that is a thing</a>.) <br /><br />To whom it may concern: By your actions you are pretty much assuring that VFP will die when your generation of veterans die, and, for all the good work it has done over many years, it will be remembered for its support of Putin's fascism and white supremacy. For all your claims about Putin's support from the authoritarians of the Global South, you stand alone and isolated. You dare not protest with the Russian flag, the way you once <a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HD2LWhv8uAk/WJt1aRnv_iI/AAAAAAAAEUs/RuZ5gXz02Xwov6M44X7wdVyZV1bJt02ogCLcB/s640/vfp-assad-mc-0.jpg">marched with the flag of the Assad regime</a> in Syria. Too many people are paying attention to this struggle and understand it. At long last, you have come over to the side of the war criminal Henry Kissinger, You have my sympathy.<br /><br />Slava Ukraini!<br /><br />Clay Claiborne<br /></div></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='595' height='417' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxr58zPd8JCBX8nxLCmYyaLCoaYIhzSiMy7jsiM0kRpUZtGEVwUNJnkI6_Jzk0kVvIoJVBfbIHzApkcTRepCQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-26013183623458072472022-05-08T14:09:00.000-07:002022-05-08T14:09:46.964-07:00The white-Left lost Roe v. Wade 6 years ago<p></p><br />Truth be told, Roe v. Wade was lost in the 2016 US presidential election. With the court already one Justice short, and a few more likely to retire in the next presidential term, it was clear that the next president would likely have a decisive and long-lasting effect on the composition of the Supreme Court. <div><br /></div><div>One of the two possible winners was an authoritarian white supremacist man who promised to pick Justices committed to overthrowing Roe v. Wade, the other was a woman with a long history in Democratic politics that would have made very different Supreme Court picks.<div><br /></div><div>Roe v Wade was lost when enough progressives in three states, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, voted for Jill Stein—another Putin-supported candidate, one with no chance of winning, to allow Donald Trump to beat Hilary Clinton, and become the president of the United States.<div><p></p><!--<p>This data is from <a href="http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/president">Politico</a> [updated 22 Nov. 2016 - PA updated 2 Dec from <a href="http://www.electionreturns.pa.gov/ENR_NEW">http://www.electionreturns.pa.gov/ </a>] :</p>
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<tr> <th class="tg-mtwr">Candidate</th> <th class="tg-mtwr">Count</th> <th class="tg-mtwr">%</th> <th class="tg-mtwr">Michigan [16]</th> <th class="tg-mtwr">Wisconsin [10]</th> <th class="tg-mtwr">Pennsylvania [20]</th></tr>
<tr> <td class="tg-yzt1">Donald Trump</td> <td class="tg-yw4l">61,201,031</td> <td class="tg-yw4l">47%</td> <td class="tg-yw4l">2,279,805</td> <td class="tg-yw4l">1,409,467</td> <td class="tg-yw4l">2,955,671</td></tr>
<tr> <td class="tg-yzt1">Hillary Clinton</td> <td class="tg-yw4l">62,523,126</td> <td class="tg-yw4l">48%</td> <td class="tg-yw4l">2,268,193</td> <td class="tg-yw4l">1,382,210</td> <td class="tg-yw4l">2,906,128</td></tr>
<tr> <td class="tg-yzt1">Difference</td> <td class="tg-yw4l"></td> <td class="tg-yw4l"></td> <td class="tg-a080">11,612</td> <td class="tg-a080">27,257</td> <td class="tg-a080">49,543</td> </tr>
<tr> <td class="tg-yzt1">Jill Stein</td> <td class="tg-yw4l">802,119</td> <td class="tg-yw4l">0.7%</td> <td class="tg-a080">50,700</td> <td class="tg-a080">30,980</td> <td class="tg-a080">49,678</td> </tr>
</tbody></table>-->
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
Jill Stein is now officially the Ralph Nader of 2016. <br />
<br />
Stein votes/Trump margin:<br />
MI: 51,463/10,704<br />
PA: 49,678/46,765<br />
WI: 31,006/22,177</div>
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) <a href="https://twitter.com/Redistrict/status/804407177368715265">December 1, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhniiBejOoScmYQo1ksyUn1XXHzXr5iOy90tWfsnRlo5GCnQkM_waThV4Vt9T3BtPHHG9RX0aV1uvWXzQjxPklY0zTCnn5dl6k-20fvBT1sb-rcI71eK-nOzEamjLSHLoaV1PsckvBjtYwCHaVRphC0pJ_TQ9-30fd1rJBG09ztigNBbop9QFAyonJH/s1169/jill%20stein%20&%20putin.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="849" data-original-width="1169" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhniiBejOoScmYQo1ksyUn1XXHzXr5iOy90tWfsnRlo5GCnQkM_waThV4Vt9T3BtPHHG9RX0aV1uvWXzQjxPklY0zTCnn5dl6k-20fvBT1sb-rcI71eK-nOzEamjLSHLoaV1PsckvBjtYwCHaVRphC0pJ_TQ9-30fd1rJBG09ztigNBbop9QFAyonJH/s320/jill%20stein%20&%20putin.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #333333; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: arial;">a December 2015 fete in Moscow</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table>Green Party supporters of Jill Stein pushed the mantra <i>"Don't Vote for the Lesser of Two Evils,"</i> meaning, don't vote for Hillary Clinton. This allowed the greater evil to win. And it wasn't just the Greens, most leftists focused their fire on Hillary Clinton, while belittling the faults of Donald Trump. Unlike the Right, almost no one on the Left raised the importance of the question of who would shape the Supreme Court. To do so would have been bad for the line they were promoting. </p><p></p>With at-least three Supremes likely to be replaced by the next president, the question of any difference it might make in who replaced them played virtually no role in their campaign to deny Clinton votes. <i>"Vote Your Conscious, Or Don't Vote At All," </i>they shouted with the Democracy Now megaphone. All the while, the other guy was promising to give us just what we got. How does that <i>"feel good"</i> vote feel now?<p></p><p>Whatever Hillary Clinton's faults, I don't think she would have picked Justices bent on overturning Roe v. Wade. In 2016, members of the <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-white-left-part-1-two-meanings-of.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">white-Left</a> made it their mission to deny her the White House. In this they succeeded. They also lost our last best chance of keeping Roe v. Wade from being overturned. We now likely face the arduous task of restoring a right lost because of the way some progressives used their vote in 2016. Let's please learn from this mistake moving forward.</p><p>Clay Claiborne</p><p>8 May 2022</p><p><a href="http://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2017/01/my-posts-on-2016-election-and-aftermath.html" style="font-size: 19.2px; text-align: -webkit-center;">My posts on the 2016 US Election</a></p><p><br /></p></div></div></div>Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-37510020418525917412022-05-02T18:01:00.001-07:002022-05-02T18:01:43.029-07:00How Democracy Now's half-truths on Mariupol help Putin<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3c-51yoKeiAK3XCP28i9qvEHvMocwm1sEcDU56AGe9CrTJO_Qh3_KVNyQ9fM5W6ql48B1rNWGRP-aqYiq_FO4WVzIZoNHgadWVwZEBUjfW_lN3ZSC3nFz4gULi5NjPNR9gBcsv8Z7AMRUKQviM_4X9RhO5MDUm8K76aw8EFa66YBHkqiaaLJo-w44/s1629/hypocisy_now.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1004" data-original-width="1629" height="123" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3c-51yoKeiAK3XCP28i9qvEHvMocwm1sEcDU56AGe9CrTJO_Qh3_KVNyQ9fM5W6ql48B1rNWGRP-aqYiq_FO4WVzIZoNHgadWVwZEBUjfW_lN3ZSC3nFz4gULi5NjPNR9gBcsv8Z7AMRUKQviM_4X9RhO5MDUm8K76aw8EFa66YBHkqiaaLJo-w44/w200-h123/hypocisy_now.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />For more than two months now, Mariupol has stood like the Stalingrad of this war, some have called it Ukraine's Alamo. For all that time, its brave defenders have refused to surrender, even as Putin's forces pounded this once-beautiful seaside city of four hundred thousand into rubble, and then pounded the rumble into dust. For more than two months it's been reported that Mariupol would fall—any day, any hour. But it has stood! Now, it is all but conquered, as the remaining defenders are hunkered down in the underground bowels of the Azovstal Steel Works with an estimated thousand civilians, mostly women and children, and the elderly. There are still another estimated hundred thousand civilians left in Russian-controlled Mariupol, and satellite photos are discovering new mass graves daily. The joke of it is that this city in eastern Ukraine is largely Russian-ethnic, Russian-speaking—the very people Putin claimed he was saving from genocide with his invasion.<p></p><p>On Saturday, representatives from the ICRC arrived in Mariupol with buses and ambulances to began the evacuation of civilians from beneath the steel mill. The Russian's have agreed to allow the Red Cross evacuation to traverse Russian-held territory 227 km. to Ukrainian held Zaporizhzhia.</p>
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Evacuation of civilians from Azovstal began. The 1st group of about 100 people is already heading to the controlled area. Tomorrow we’ll meet them in Zaporizhzhia. Grateful to our team! Now they, together with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UN?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UN</a>, are working on the evacuation of other civilians from the plant.</p>— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) <a href="https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1520774213728190468?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></center>
<p><br />Given how duplicitous the Russians have been, when it comes to setting up, and honoring, humanitarian corridors, not only in Ukraine, but also earlier in Syria, seasoned observers know not to pop the cork on the champagne bottle before those evacuees are safely at their donation. This trip would have taken 3 hr 14 min before the Russian invasion, <strike>and as on this publication, they aren't there yet</strike>, it's hoped they [all] will arrive tomorrow. But there are also reports that some have been diverted to Russian-held territory, and even Russia itself. Russia has done this before </p>
<p>But, never mind all that, this is the way Amy Goodman reported on the Azovstal evacuation on Democracy Now this morning, you'd thought it was a done deal. She spoke of it four times in this show. In <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2022/5/2/headlines" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Headlines</a>, she said:</p>
<div class="headline_body" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline;"><div class="headline_summary" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; line-height: 27px; vertical-align: top; width: calc(100% - 95px);"><blockquote style="background-color: white;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #191f24; font-family: Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: top;">The Ukrainian government says about 100 civilians have been able to evacuate the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol after the United Nations helped establish what it described as a “safe passage operation.” One evacuee said she had been staying inside a basement in the steel plant for two months after her home was destroyed.</p><blockquote style="border-left: 3px solid rgb(241, 242, 243); box-sizing: border-box; color: #191f24; font-family: Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 30px; vertical-align: top;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top;">Natalya Tsyntomirska</strong>: “We lived in the basement starting from the 27th of February. We didn’t leave the basement because our house is in close proximity to Azovstal. The whole time we were shelled with mines, and then airstrikes started. Our house is completely destroyed. We have a two-story building. It’s not there anymore. It burned to the ground.”</p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #191f24; font-family: Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: top;">Hundreds of more civilians and many fighters remain trapped at the steel plant in Mariupol, but Russia has reportedly resumed shelling the plant</p></blockquote>If you didn't know better, you might be expected to assume that those 100 civilians the UN and ICRC <i>"have been able to evacuate" </i>are already safely at their destination. Goodman described it in the same unqualified way, twice more in the <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2022/5/2/jan_egeland_civilian_suffering_ukraine" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">show's segment on Ukraine</a>: <br /><blockquote>The Ukrainian government says about 100 people have been able to evacuate the besieged steel plant in Mariupol, where thousands of civilians and fighters have taken shelter in recent weeks as Russian forces took over most of the strategic port city. This comes after several previously arranged <i>“humanitarian corridors”</i> fell apart.</blockquote>We are led to believe this one didn't fall apart, but we aren't told that those 100 evacuees were still in Russian hands. And:</div></div><div><div class="headline_body" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline;"><div class="headline_summary" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; line-height: 27px; vertical-align: top; width: calc(100% - 95px);"><blockquote>Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government says about a hundred civilians have been able to evacuate the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol after the United Nations helped establish what it described as a safe passage operation.<br /><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #191f24; font-family: Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: top;"></p></blockquote>It's only when she is introducing Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, that she mentions what she has been leaving out. Did she want to shortstop him from correcting her:<br /><b></b><blockquote><b>AMY GOODMAN:</b> And as we speak, in Mariupol, you have perhaps a hundred people have been able to get out of the Azovstal steel plant, making their way to Zaporizhzhia,...</blockquote><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top;">So, she knew all along that this humanitarian evacuation still had not arrived at its destination. Why didn't she say that in the first place?</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top;">UPDATE: As I go to publish, we have late word that some of these evacuees have reached Zaporizhzhia. Anushka Patti of the New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/05/02/world/ukraine-russia-war-news" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">reported 33 minutes ago</a>:</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top;"><span style="color: #363636; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 20px;"></span></p><blockquote>After some civilians who evacuated Mariupol over the weekend reached Zaporizhzhia on Monday, Zelensky said in his nightly address that evacuations would continue on Tuesday <i>“through humanitarian corridors from Berdyansk, Tokmak, Vasylivka.”</i></blockquote><p>This is good news, but still doesn't tell us that this evacuation has been successful—only that some have arrived. </p><p>It's very good that Democracy Now has come around to a stance that appears to be in support of Ukraine's struggle against Russian imperialism, after years of scheduling guests who parroted every Putin conspiracy theory about Ukraine. But it needs to stop leaving inconvenient facts out, and coloring the news in such a way as to put Russian actions in the best possible light, even still.</p><p></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top;">Clay Claiborne</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top;">2 May 2022</p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: top;"><br /></p></div></div></div>Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-61277696627005195782022-04-19T18:12:00.001-07:002022-04-19T18:12:20.650-07:00In case you missed it: On @DemocracyNow, Amy Goodman's guest shoots down her pro-Putin pointDemocracy Now has been pretty good on Ukraine. Much better than I expected, to speak truthfully. Still, it can't seem to help slipping back to its tankie deviation now and again, such as on Friday, when it featured Vijay Prashad, or today, when Amy Goodman <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2022/4/19/russia_launches_new_offensive_in_donbas" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">tried to slip</a> a Kremlin talking point past Peter Zalmayev, director of the Eurasia Democracy Initiative, who is in Kiev now: <br /><br /><b></b><blockquote><b> AMY GOODMAN</b>: Peter Zalmayev, let me ask you about the whole world’s reaction to what’s taking place. We definitely know about the U.S. and Europe. And, of course, you’re the director of the Eurasia Democracy Initiative. Thirty countries have sanctioned Russia. It’s mainly the United States and Russia. They represent 15% of the world’s population. Ninety-four countries voted to throw Russia off the U.N. Human Rights Council. They represent 24%, a quarter of the world’s population. The developing world has a different reaction to this, saying, “This is not our war.” What do you say to them? And how do you think this can be resolved? And bring China into this picture.<br /><br /><b>PETER ZALMAYEV</b>: Well, I think you hit the nail on its head when you mentioned China. The sheer size of India and China, which are somewhat sitting on the fence, China less so — China is at least officially, you know, an ally of Vladimir Putin. India has, like, old Soviet-era ties with the Soviet Union, and now Russia as the successor state, so it has a mixture of pragmatic military interests and economic interests, and some nostalgia, as well. But if you take these two countries and their combined population of 2 billion people, this is how you arrive at the numbers that you quoted, 24% of the world body, those who voted to kick Russia off the council. So it’s a little bit misleading, because we’re only talking about two players, but they have — obviously, they’re humongous in size.</blockquote><p>Frankly, what I find most troubling about this exchange is that Goodman was willing to take the position of two autocratic rulers as representing the majority world opinion without qualification. Is that what democracy looks like to her?</p><p>Clay Claiborne</p><p>19 April 2022</p><p><i>These are my other resent posts about Ukraine:</i></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="Is Putin's invasion of Ukraine a war of genocide?" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Is Putin's invasion of Ukraine a war of genocide?</a> 27 March 2022</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2022/03/does-anti-imperialist-left-bear-some.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Does the "anti-imperialist" Left bear some responsibility for Putin's invasion of Ukraine?</a> 14 March 2022</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2022/03/how-to-join-ukrainian-it-army.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">How to join the Ukrainian IT Army</a> 6 March 2022</span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2022/03/vlad-on-vlad-how-putins-views-on-lenin.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Vlad on Vlad: How Putin's views on Lenin shaped his decision to invade Ukraine</a> 2 March 2022</span><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-89065308393217341772022-03-27T17:37:00.004-07:002022-04-04T09:20:50.503-07:00Is Putin's invasion of Ukraine a war of genocide?<p><br />The term <i>“genocide”</i> has increasingly been used to describe Putin's war on Ukraine, particularly by the Ukrainians themselves. Is this a case of hyperbole, designed to draw attention to their struggle, or is it an accurate description of what Ukrainians are experiencing?</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG6t_BbADvqETohUMcPtYwLyeSM_iuE73b4YBG0R0pBze1HebXFROltFhmH0ssyOjWDmVot08HCX2kHlgF70vTaVe6NNHnZCbInGQr-0HWh1GgGLnW45qC1fowBEDgKihhL1akSpQBkbhtRihiCeqOZc_P72WlRGR7bWw4iJha8sIDsSXdxkqzLg9A/s1920/mass%20grave.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG6t_BbADvqETohUMcPtYwLyeSM_iuE73b4YBG0R0pBze1HebXFROltFhmH0ssyOjWDmVot08HCX2kHlgF70vTaVe6NNHnZCbInGQr-0HWh1GgGLnW45qC1fowBEDgKihhL1akSpQBkbhtRihiCeqOZc_P72WlRGR7bWw4iJha8sIDsSXdxkqzLg9A/s320/mass%20grave.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Mass grave found in Bucha (Credit: Ukrainian Foreign Ministry)</span></td></tr></tbody></table>For many people genocide involves the wholesale massacre of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people. While the <i>“fog of war”</i> prevents us from knowing, with any accuracy, just how many Ukrainians have been killed so far, it's certainly not yet in those orders of magnitude, and may even be less than the estimated ten thousand Russian military deaths. So, what possible basis exists for calling this a genocide now?<p></p>To answer this, we have to look at the definition of <i>“genocide,”</i> because it's not synonymous with <i>“massacre”</i> or <i>“atrocity,”</i> and involves more than just killing a lot of people. <a href="https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Oxford Languages</a> <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=genocide+meaning&oq=genocide&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j69i57j0i20i263i512j0i433i512l2j46i433i512l2j69i61.11632j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">defines</a> genocide as <i>“the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.”</i> This definition of genocide requires that the act meet two tests:<p></p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>The deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group.</li><li>With the aim of destroying that nation or group.</li></ol><div>Hopefully, the number of Ukrainians Putin has killed remains in the low thousands. Even so, that should meet anybody's definition of <i>“a large number of people,”</i> and they are being killed—man, woman, child, combatant, and non-combatant alike, simply because they live in Ukraine. I think the conditions of part one is well and tragically met.</div><div><br /></div><div>The requirement of part two, is a bit stickier, involving, as it does, a determination of motive. We have to answer the question: What's the real reason Putin is waging this war?</div><div><br /></div><div>According to Putin, and his supporters, his main concerns with Ukraine are:</div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>NATO expansion, and the prospect that Ukraine might join NATO in the future.</li><li>Nazis are in control of Ukraine, and committing genocide against the Russian speakers in Eastern Ukraine. </li></ol><div>Seeing, as yet, no peaceful resolution to these concerns, Putin saw no other option open to him but to launch a special military operation to carry out the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine. </div><div><br /></div><div>With regards to No. 1, Ukraine's possible NATO membership, given that NATO has yet to offer Ukraine a <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_37356.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Membership Action Plan</a>, a road-map to membership—the first concrete step, 14 years after that membership was first suggested, one might ask Putin, <i>“What's the hurry?”</i> In any case, Putin's invasion has made his NATO problem worst in a number of ways that could have been easily predicted.</div><div><br /></div><div>As for No. 2, while there are neo-Nazis and right-wing fanatics in Ukraine, and on both sides of the conflict in Donbass, and in Russia, the US, and much of Europe; they are a long way from running Ukraine. The ultra-nationalist Svoboda party got 2.15% of the vote in the 2019 Parliamentary election, and failed to win even a single seat. The infamous <a href="https://www.snopes.com/news/2022/03/02/what-is-ukraines-azov-battalion/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Azov Brigade is maybe 1% of the Ukrainian armed</a> forces. Besides, that Jew is certainly no Nazi! </div><div><br /></div><div>Putin's encirclement and bombardment of the largely Russian-speaking eastern Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv and Mariupol expose the sheer brutality of the cynical joke that he was coming to save them from genocide. Also why does Ukraine need to be <i>“demilitarized”</i> even after it's been <i>“denazified,”</i> unless it has lost a national right to self-defense for some reason? This points to a darker motive. Denazification can be the stated reason for liquidating anybody and any number of Ukrainians, simply by labeling them and then <i>“disposing”</i> of them accordingly. </div><div><br /></div><div>In short, the motives promoted by Putin and his fanboys as the causes for this war don't compute. For greater clarity, we must examine first, the methods used in his war, and finally Putin's views on the nation of Ukraine, and its right to exist.</div><div><br /></div><div>As we proceed, it's important to remember that actions that further <i>“the aim of destroying that nation”</i> aren't limited to killing large numbers of that nation. In this regard, the more detailed <a href="https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide.shtml" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">definition of genocide</a> from the United Nations' <a href="https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.1_Convention%20on%20the%20Prevention%20and%20Punishment%20of%20the%20Crime%20of%20Genocide.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide</a> is useful. In Article II, it defines genocide as follows:</div><div><div><blockquote>In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:</blockquote><p>Then it gives five examples. Let's see how many apply to Putin's war against Ukraine:</p></div><blockquote>a. Killing members of the group;</blockquote><p>Already covered. That's one.</p><blockquote>b. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;</blockquote><p>His wanton and unprovoked attacks on Ukrainian civilians with the likes of cluster bombs and white phosphorus can be guaranteed to cause serious bodily and mental harm to Ukrainians. That's two.</p><blockquote>c. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;</blockquote><p>Putin's methods of surrounding Ukrainian cities, cutting off power, food, and water, and not allowing people to leave while shelling them into oblivion fulfills that description. Putin's war machine in Ukraine reminds me of that alien spacecraft in <i>“Independence Day”</i> obliterating city after city in its attempt to destroy humanity, or <i>Darth Vader's </i>planet destroying <i>Death Star. </i> Both share with Putin's war genocidal intent and hubris, and like those fictitious villains, he too will ultimately fail. Three is well covered.</p><blockquote>d. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;</blockquote><p>If you are reading this, I'm going to assume you've already heard about Putin's bombing of a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/mar/09/ukraine-news-russia-war-ceasefire-broken-humanitarian-corridors-kyiv-russian-invasion-live-vladimir-putin-volodymyr-zelenskiy-latest-updates" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">maternity hospital</a>, and a theater full of kids that was clearly marked as such. Add to this his bombing of some <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/03/23/world/europe/ukraine-civilian-attacks.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">23 hospitals or healthcare facilities, and 330 schools</a>. Putin's war on Ukrainian children makes it four.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><blockquote>e. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.</blockquote><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7m20bEaaN-L-u8CiE5YNImlyjV-Qwtbwq88STTwsqLSzh9Bz7je-zZeobqJAwgWilYRaFeTu0_mcaFybS3gtA3uFNzg1of7BMg8wA6B4Bou5KAbQXwT0BO7xKa1EPU7NWDA6Q2lW8zXBQSIAW6SiurEcNflaM4hNQrg_qou9MSW0ih_j3tR7Ijrps/s886/Tweet-form%20Ukraineonkidnappings.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="418" data-original-width="886" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7m20bEaaN-L-u8CiE5YNImlyjV-Qwtbwq88STTwsqLSzh9Bz7je-zZeobqJAwgWilYRaFeTu0_mcaFybS3gtA3uFNzg1of7BMg8wA6B4Bou5KAbQXwT0BO7xKa1EPU7NWDA6Q2lW8zXBQSIAW6SiurEcNflaM4hNQrg_qou9MSW0ih_j3tR7Ijrps/s320/Tweet-form%20Ukraineonkidnappings.png" width="320" /></a></div>Ukraine <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/03/24/ukraine-accuses-moscow-of-forcibly-deporting-over-400000-people-to-russia/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">has claimed</a> that 400,000 Ukrainians are being held in <i>“ex-filtration camps,”</i> and <a href="https://lieber.westpoint.edu/deportation-ukrainian-civilians-russia-legal-framework/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">forcibly deported</a> to various places in Russia. We know that <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war-kyiv-claims-moscow-forcefully-deporting-thousands-of-ukrainian-children-to-russia-12572666" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">thousands of children</a> are among them. <p></p><p>So, all of the UN's five examples of genocide can be found in the conduct of Putin's war in Ukraine. In addition to these, I would like to summit for your consideration a few more examples of genocide that I think can be seen in Putin's war on Ukraine:</p><p></p><blockquote>f. Forcibly transferring territory from the nation to others.</blockquote><p>This can already be seen in 2014 in his annexation of Crimea, after an illegal referendum under conditions of Russian military occupation. It was furthered since then by supplying fighters and weapons to a struggle to take the Donbass region away from Ukraine, and especially by his 21 February 2022 recognition of the Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) and the Luhansk People's Republic (LNR) as independent countries. It is being advanced even today by Russian officials who are claiming they will never leave Mariupol, if and when, they get their hands on this Alamo of Ukraine.</p><p></p><blockquote>g. Destroying the state structure of another nation, even at the lowest level.</blockquote><p>Perhaps you've heard about Putin's perchance for <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/international/598700-ukrainian-officials-say-russian-forces-have-abducted-third-mayor" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">kidnapping Ukrainian mayors </a>and replacing them with his people once he's captured a town? The Russian army is also <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooLcQ6p2hws" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">taking down the Ukrainian flag</a> in areas it occupies.</p><p></p><blockquote>h. Willfully destroying a nation's cultural treasures and historic sites—symbols of the nation's independent development and existence.</blockquote> Putin's army is going out of its way to destroy Ukrainian heritage & cultural sites. 15 March, Al Jazeera asks <i><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/program/the-stream/2022/3/15/how-is-war-destroying-ukraines-cultural-heritage" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"How is war destroying Ukraine’s cultural heritage?"</a></i>:<p></p><p></p><blockquote>Russia’s war on Ukraine has killed hundreds of people and displaced over a million more. And as Russian forces move further into the country they are also destroying parts of Ukraine’s cultural heritage – tactics <a href="https://theconversation.com/destroying-cultural-heritage-is-an-attack-on-humanitys-past-and-present-it-must-be-prevented-129412">common to war.</a><br /><br />Last week the UN cultural agency released a statement saying it is <i>“<a href="https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/ukraine-unesco-statement-following-adoption-un-general-assembly-resolution?hub=701">gravely concerned</a>”</i> about the destruction of Ukrainian art and history..</blockquote><p>Putin is going after symbols of Ukraine's independence because his intention is to erase its independence. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><blockquote>i. The mass rape of women and girls in the nation.</blockquote><p></p><p>Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Russian soldiers occupying Kherson have been raping and killing women, according to <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/russian-soldiers-ukrainian-women-ukraine-kherson-sexual-assault-accusation-1684920" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Newsweek</a> and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/foreign-minister-accuses-russian-soldiers-rape-ukrainian-cities-2022-03-04/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Reuters</a>. Ukrainian MPs have made <a href="https://www.timesnownews.com/mirror-now/in-focus/ukraine-mp-claims-women-over-60-are-being-raped-and-hanged-by-russian-troops-article-90326874" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">similar claims</a> of <i>“Russian forces are raping and hanging women who are unable to escape their savage invasion.”</i></p><p>That literal rape should play a significant role in the way Russian soldiers interact with Ukrainian civilians should surprise no one, given how closely Putin's relationship with Ukraine has mimicked that of an abusive spouse. In a Ms. Magazine article titled <i><a href="https://msmagazine.com/2022/03/01/rape-rhetoric-russia-war-on-ukraine-putin/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"Rape Rhetoric and Russia’s War on Ukraine,"</a></i> Bonnie Stable comments on this, saying:</p><p></p><blockquote>This playbook of bullying and domination is well known to those who study sexual and interpersonal violence, with parallels both implicit and explicit. </blockquote><p>As if to even more explicitly make the point to Ukrainians that he sees them as in an old fashion marriage with Russia, where he's the boss, and there is no divorce, Putin made reference to a crude Russian joke about marital rape weeks before he invaded, telling them, <i>“It’s your duty, my beauty.”</i></p><p></p>
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">“It’s your duty, my beauty.” President Putin makes crude reference to old “joke” about marital rape to discuss Ukrainian President Zelensky <a href="https://twitter.com/MarquardtA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MarquardtA</a> reports <a href="https://t.co/gDOg1cGXSU">pic.twitter.com/gDOg1cGXSU</a></p>— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheLeadCNN/status/1491193079965130755?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2022</a></blockquote></center><p>As we can see, Putin's war on Ukraine meets, not only the simple dictionary definition of genocide, but also the more detailed one used by the UN, and then some. But some might still argue that these are just collateral byproducts of Putin's brutal methods of war, and they don't rise to the level of genocide because he doesn't want to do away with Ukraine as an independent nation. To address that view, we must look at what Putin has said about Ukraine, and its right to exist, in the run up to his war.</p><p>Putin's <i><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220101114502/http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181">”On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians“</a>,</i> published 227 days before he invaded Ukraine, tells us a lot about what he thinks of it. He begins by telling us <i>“[T]hat Russians and Ukrainians were one people – a single whole.”</i> This begs the question: Is that single whole Ukraine or Russia? And I think we know his answer to that.</p><p>He then goes on to tell us, <i>“[M]odern Ukraine is entirely the product of the Soviet era. We know and remember well that it was shaped – for a significant part – on the lands of historical Russia.”</i> Putin claims Ukraine was created by the Bolsheviks in 1922, so one could see why he would be keen to destroy anything that says otherwise.</p><p>Of course, Lenin and the Bolsheviks didn't create Ukraine when they broke up the czar's <i>“prison house of nations,”</i> but they did recognize Ukraine's right to form an independent republic. Putin doesn't see it that way. He complains that they were <i>“so generous in drawing borders and bestowing territorial gifts.” </i>He doesn't understand why <i>“the Bolsheviks' efforts to detach from Russia its historical territories are not considered a crime.” </i>He adds <i>“One fact is crystal clear: Russia was robbed, indeed.”</i> </p><p>Putin also thinks that all the former Soviet Republics, not just Ukraine, owe Russia territory, and makes this demand: <i>“[T]he republics that were founders of the Union, having denounced the 1922 Union Treaty, must return to the boundaries they had had before joining the Soviet Union.”</i></p><p>Of the various national minorities that made up both the Russian Empire and the USSR that followed it, he asks, <i>“[W]hat difference does it make who people consider themselves to be – Russians, Ukrainians, or Belarusians,”</i> when they are all part of the <i>“great common Motherland" </i>? Then Putin goes on to make that most terrible threat made by an abusive husband when the object of his <i>“affection”</i> threatens to leave:</p><p></p><blockquote>[W]e will never allow our historical territories and people close to us living there to be used against Russia. And to those who will undertake such an attempt, I would like to say that this way they will destroy their own country.</blockquote><p></p><p>In the case of an abusive marriage, there is sometimes a threat like this that is ultimately carried out by an act of murder. In the case of a former colonial possession bent on independence, Putin's remedy is war and genocide. He ends this piece by telling us that an independent Ukraine is simply impossible:</p><p></p><blockquote>I am confident that true sovereignty of Ukraine is possible only in partnership with Russia....For we are one people.</blockquote><p></p><p>Putin repeats these themes again in his <a href="[Ukraine]" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">21 February address</a> just days before the invasion. In it he tells us, <i>“Ukraine is not just a neighbouring country for us. It is an inalienable part of our own history, culture and spiritual space,”</i> and <i>“Since time immemorial, the people living in the south-west of what has historically been Russian land [Ukraine] have called themselves Russians and Orthodox Christians.”</i> </p><p>He asserts again that <i>"modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia,"</i> and complains<i> "Lenin and his associates did it in a way that was extremely harsh on Russia – by separating, severing what is historically Russian land...Let me repeat that these territories were transferred along with the population of what was historically Russia.”</i> Putin calls it the <i>“outright pillage of Russia.”</i> Even after his invasion was in full swing with him slaughtering Ukrainian civilians, Putin <a href="https://youtu.be/7LgDYFu_5fU" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">insisted</a> Ukrainians and Russians are <i>“one people,”</i> and any Ukrainians who disagree are <i>“threatened and brainwashed.”</i></p><p>From this brief survey of Putin's writing and statements about Ukraine, it's clear that he thinks Ukraine has no right to an independent existence. He believes its people, resources, and land were stolen from Russia by the communists, and he is on a mission to fix that. His end game is the liquidation of Ukraine as an independent country and the return of its people, resources, and land to Russia. This explains why he is waging this war with genocidal methods. His end game is genocide.</p><p>Clay Claiborne</p><p>26 February 2022</p><p>See also: <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2022/03/vlad-on-vlad-how-putins-views-on-lenin.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Vlad on Vlad: How Putin's views on Lenin shaped his decision to invade Ukraine</a></p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> </div></div><p></p>Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-538916643874401222022-03-14T16:13:00.013-07:002022-03-15T04:03:28.371-07:00Does the "anti-imperialist" Left bear some responsibility for Putin's invasion of Ukraine? It's clear to almost everyone that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is a crime against humanity, not to mention, a violation of international law. By now, even Putin must be seeing that he has made a terrible mistake. He expected to have Zelenskyy's head on a post in The Maiden two weeks ago. Things just aren't working out the way he planned.<div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-0iZ1S_J824ZZ0iffvobhu2GOiq7n2Qq-fwEkqq7o5MxyDKvspj3ZPMtiLMEFL2TqqpYUjZtM69maNPIZxO5UaeQv2scGtOimU_GzpaXuD-NOw1rDNNIxF0az7KGkV8wQYkze1J5CSdYpxmLBA0mZotPTi-1PQwRNR4vYdlwSEQvijIm55m8oy07K=s770" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="431" data-original-width="770" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-0iZ1S_J824ZZ0iffvobhu2GOiq7n2Qq-fwEkqq7o5MxyDKvspj3ZPMtiLMEFL2TqqpYUjZtM69maNPIZxO5UaeQv2scGtOimU_GzpaXuD-NOw1rDNNIxF0az7KGkV8wQYkze1J5CSdYpxmLBA0mZotPTi-1PQwRNR4vYdlwSEQvijIm55m8oy07K=s320" width="320" /></a></div>His invasion has revealed weaknesses in the Russian military that likely, Putin himself, wasn't even aware of:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The second largest air force on Earth has been unable to establish air dominance over Ukraine after more than two weeks. His planes are still being shot out of the sky with enormous regularity, and although he has thousands of warplanes in reserve, the losses are stacking up.</li><li>Equipment problems are plaguing his air corp. When Russian planes are shot down, in many cases the ejector seats fail, in others, the parachutes fail. Those pilots that make it to the ground, and are captured, are found to be older, over-weight, and out of shape. The image of Tom Cruise's Top Gun, they ain't.</li></ul></div><div>His ground forces are suffering from similar equipment problems, as well as serious short-comings in logistical support:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Russian soldiers have been captured with MREs (meal, ready to eat) that expired two decades ago.</li><li>In Ukraine, his soldiers are foraging in local supermarkets and civilian homes, simply to find enough to eat.</li><li>Tanks and other armored vehicles are being abandoned simply because they have run out of gas. </li><li>His soldiers have been going AWOL in increasing numbers, taking to the forest, or becoming bandits, taking over civilian homes. There are tremendous morale problems. They'd been told they were on an exercise. Now they find they are invading a comrade country where they're definitely not wanted. </li></ul><div>Russia is also looking like the amateur-hour on a tactical level:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Sending in armor without infantry support, making for easy targets for Ukrainian dismounted infantry with Javelins.</li><li>The daylight madness of leaving that armored column north of Kiev strung-out over 30 miles and bogged down. They found this out as soon as Ukraine got <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/11/turkey-drones-use-ukraine" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">TB2 Bayraktar drones</a> from Turkey.</li></ul></div><div>In a vein effort to compensate for his army's inability to carry out military operations in a professional and effective manner, Putin has resorted to trying to pound all of Ukraine into the dust with wide-area weapons like artillery and indirect rocket fire. </div><div><br /></div><div>There's an old Stalin-era military doctrine that Putin likes: <i>“Why send a soldier where a shell can go?”</i> Well, because a soldier can distinguish between an enemy solider and a civilian, whereas as shell can't, might be the humane answer. Never mind that. His Ukrainian civilian causalities can't properly be called <i>“collateral damage.”</i> He is directly targeting them.</div><div><br /></div><div>On Saturday, The Times <a href="https://twitter.com/thetimes/status/1502621227218833411" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">reported</a> that Putin had a number of his FSB intelligence officers arrested:</div><div><div><blockquote>Sergey Beseda, head of the FSB’s foreign intelligence branch, was arrested with Anatoly Bolyukh, his deputy, according to a leading expert on the Russian security services, who said that sources from within FSB had confirmed the detention of both men.</blockquote>This may be just the beginning of the Putin purges. He is going to need a lot of people to blame for this debacle. He may rightly suspect that military preparedness isn't up to snuff because state funds earmarked for the military have been going into the now-frozen foreign bank accounts of oligarchs. He may find logistics failed him because his top generals were more concerned about the welfare of their mistresses, than the soldiers under their command. Probably, also these same generals failed to given Putin the bad news about what their exercises in Belarus and Russia told them about their lack of readiness. It's not good to give Putin bad news.<p></p><p>Keep in mind, not only is the Russian military much bigger, <i>they had years of planning and months of practice!</i> The Ukrainians did not. They really didn't believe Putin would mount a full-on invasion. Maybe he was about to up the ante in Dombass, but they've blocked that approach before. Almost nobody believed Putin would do what he did. True, Biden's warnings were spot-on, but nobody believed him. US intelligence has cried <i>“wolf”</i> far too many times to expect to be believed. </p><p>Putin is probably starting with his intelligence chiefs because for months—years, they have been confirming everything he said about genocide in Dombass, how Nazis-riddled the Ukrainian government was, how they expected to have things wrapped up in three days and would be welcomed as liberators, especially in the Russian-speaking areas where they would start.</p><p>Putin knows he's the boss, and ultimately, he gave the orders, but he also now knows he was deluded. Putin also knows he did not become so deluded on his own—he had help, and he needs people to blame for his debacle in Ukraine. </p><p>In Putin's search for people to share his responsibility for this war, may I suggest that there are some outside of Russia that may have contributed to the delusional state he was in on 24 February when he declared war on Ukraine. These would include people on the <i>“anti-imperialist”</i> Left, not paid agents, that nevertheless, drank his Kool-Aid and made it <i>“gospel”</i> for so many Western Leftists. </p><p>There were at least two major casus belli, pitched by Putin before he invaded Ukraine, that were widely purchased by the <i>“anti-imperialist”</i> Left. How much did their ready acceptance and their promotion of these Putin falsehoods contribute to his delusion that they represented <i>“good and sufficient causes”</i> for his rape of Ukraine? These two <i>“articles-of-faith”</i> on the <i>“anti-imperialist”</i> Left with regards to the <i>“crisis”</i> in Ukraine, are, of course:</p><p>1.) The main problem is NATO expansion eastward to be right on Russia's border.</p><p>2.) The Maiden was a US-orchestrated coup, and now Ukraine is dominated by neo-Nazis.</p><p>The strengthen and unity of Ukrainians we see now is a direct result of the people's revolution that took place on The Maiden in 2014. It was no coup. These people haven't been the <i>“pawns”</i> of Victoria Nuland, or anybody else.</p><p>I know a lot of people have been spreading this for free. Putin owes them a pay check. Now, let's look at each in more detail:</p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Was NATO <i>“expansion”</i> the real reason Putin started this war?</span></p><p>In just two short weeks, this war has made Putin's professed problems with NATO much, much worst:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>NATO has a new reason to exist—mutual defense against Russian military aggression. Better it would be the United Nations, but for structural reasons, the UN can't do it. </li><li>In taking Ukraine, he will be adding Poland, Slovakia, Romania, and Hungary to the list of NATO countries on his border, increasing the number from three to seven.</li><li>NATO is now more united, and its members can be expected to spend more on their militaries in coming years.</li><li>There is new pressure on NATO to expand even closer to Russia's borders. Now, neutral Sweden and Finland are considering NATO membership.</li></ul><p></p><p>Putin would have to be stupid not to see any of this coming, and Putin's not stupid. So, it strains credulity to believe he initiated this conflict because he was afraid Ukraine was going to join NATO anytime soon. Let us probe further for a better reason. </p><p>It would be hard to read Putin's <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220101114502/http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">”On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians“</a>, 12 July 2021, without concluding that he's on a mission to build a new Russian Empire, and not just on the territory of the USSR, but all that of the old Russian empire of the Czars. That being the case, the extension of NATO Article 5 protections to countries on his list certainly is a problem for him. They know that as well, which is why they flocked to join NATO—to gain its protection from him. Thus, the push for this notorious NATO expansion came from them, and not the US and its Western European allies. That's why the Putin-fanboys can quote CIA director William Burns on how he tried to throw cold water on it at the time.</p><p>Of course, the Goebbels in Putin knew better than to say that NATO <i>“containment”</i> of Russia was only a problem because he intended to expand Russia to include Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Hungary Czech Rep, Slovakia, Belarus, Finland, and Azerbaijan. So, Putin became defensive. He said he was concerned for Russia's safety. Given the atrocities the Nazis committed against Russia in WW2, there might seem good reason for that concern, especially inside Russia, where every enemy, be they Ukraine or NATO or whoever, are branded <i>“Nazi.”</i></p><p>I don't know how many on the <i>“anti-imperialist”</i> Left seriously think Russia is threatened with unprovoked military invasion from NATO—meaning the kind of thing Russia has just done to Ukraine—tanks across the border WW2 style. Personally, I've always thought there was about a nano chance of that, both sides having nukes and all. Things are handled with a bit more finesse between superpowers these days. Since WW2, the kind of blunt force Russia is exercising in Ukraine has been reserved for use by imperialist powers on smaller countries. </p><p>Also, what's up with all Putin's nuclear saber rattling? Only two countries have tried to use their nuclear shields to deter outside interference with their genocidal operations, Israel and Russia. These new threats are much more serious. Putin has a lot more nukes.</p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">What is Putin's real goal in Ukraine: denazification or genocide?</span></p><p>The black-hood blinding the mayor of Mariupol as he was dragged out of office by Russian soldiers presages the terrible fate awaiting patriotic Ukrainians should Russia fully conquer the country and is able to advance Putin's <i>“denazification”</i> program with all the fury that name implies. </p><p>The <i>“united front”</i> of far-right parties garnered only 2.3% of the vote in Ukraine's last parliamentary election, and out of a Ukrainian armed forces of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-russia-military-comparison-1.6365115" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">200,000</a>, the neo-Nazis Azov Battalion is estimated at between <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/1/who-are-the-azov-regiment" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">900</a> and <a href="https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/ukraine-deutsche-soeldner-heuern-bei-rechtsextremem-freiwilligenbataillon-an-a-1177400.html">2500</a>, although it probably has grown now due to the war. Putin's war will probably make Ukraine's neo-Nazi problem worst—war favors the development of such trends.</p><p>Given this low level of fascist influence, the United States, with one of its two major parties firmly in the grips of white Christian authoritarianism, almost certainly has a deeper fascism infestation than Ukraine. The pentagon also has a big problem with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/24/us-military-white-supremacy-extremist-plot" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">white supremacists</a> and <a href="https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/02/12/neo-nazi-group-membership-may-not-get-you-booted-military-officials-say.html">neo-Nazis</a> in its ranks.</p><p>I don't know how good of an actor Volodymyr Zelenskyy is, but he's a very good president, and one hell of a wartime leader. I'm certain that Jew is no Nazi. He is also very astute. Not being in a position to do away with the Azov Battalion just yet, he probably decided it was better to have them inside the tent, pissing out, rather than the other way around, and put them in the national guard where he could exercise a modicum of control over them. </p><p>The US, on the other hand, may well be between Trump and Trump—a white Christian authoritarian with great affection for Vladimir Putin. And BTW, as this war reveals what a sick, sadistic, and perverted person Putin is, it should give us a new window into what Trump may have in store for us if re-elected, and cause us to redouble our efforts to insure that never happens. </p><p>Of course, the US isn't the only country with a growing ultra-right, i.e., fascist infestation. This is a problem for many nations now, one that Putin has done more than any other world leader to promote.</p><p>This reality goes to show what a cynical sham Putin's claim that the Nazis problem in Ukraine is so bad he finds it necessary to invade, at tremendous cost of lives, both Russian and Ukrainian, but especially Ukrainian, so that his <i>“Oprichniki”</i> can carry out his <i>“denazification”</i> program. Having lost 27 million to Nazis in the last world war, Putin the Terrible knows this is a trigger for the Russian people. That's why they have to be branded as <i>“Nazi,”</i> and not just fascist or ultra-right. His Goebbels-like control over all Russian media allows him to create a convincing alternate reality for most Russian citizens. One can understand why so many Russians believe this garbage.</p><p>But what are we to say about those in the West that have been parroting Putin's propaganda about the <i>“Nazi" </i>danger in Ukraine ever since he first sent his tanks across its border in 2014? Did their loud and persistent echo chamber help convince Putin that this lie had the legs to support an invasion? </p><p>As his war on Ukraine proceeds, it's becoming clearer every day that his end game is genocide—the complete liquidation of Ukraine as an independent nation and people. As I describe in some detail in <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2022/03/vlad-on-vlad-how-putins-views-on-lenin.html" target="_blank"> <i>“Vlad on Vlad:..”</i></a>, he thinks the Bolsheviks were wrong, and Ukraine as a nation separate from Russia is impossible.</p><p>Moreover, his very methods of war against Ukrainians show a genocidal edge, and this time <i>“genocidal”</i> in the worst sense, not the purely legal one. He's targeting civilians. He doesn't care who he kills as long as they are Ukrainians. Combatant, non-combatant, man, women, child—it makes no difference. And he doesn't care how many. He'll allow Ukrainians to escape to safety, but only if they are willing go to Russia or Belarus. He's already disappeared two mayors, and put in his own mayor in Mariupol, showing his intention to replace the Ukrainian state even at the lowest level. He's cutting off food and water to surrounded communities—while babies die of dehydration, and threatening chemical and biological attacks. All these point to an intention of genocide, and it will be done under the banner of <i>“denazification.”</i></p><p>As Ukrainian blood spills in coming months, some of it will drip from the hands of those on the pro-Putin <i>“anti-imperialist”</i> Left that have been peddling his propaganda on Ukraine for years.</p><p>In Solidarity with the Ukrainian people, and all those who fight imperialism,</p><p>Clay Claiborne</p><p>14 March 2022</p><p><br /></p></div><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div>Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-67152815244925406822022-03-06T09:34:00.361-08:002022-03-08T12:16:36.047-08:00How to join the Ukrainian IT Army<p>I first started supporting national liberation struggles back in the 1960s when Vietnam was fighting for its freedom. In those days, there was little you could do to directly support their struggle beyond protesting it here, and organizing draft resistance to limit the US supply of cannon fodder, unless you were willing to travel to the region.</p><p>Today, things are different. Internet Technology (IT) has made a big difference in how wars are fought, and dominating that <i>"battle space"</i> can ultimately help determine who wins. There are two major fronts in this cyber war.</p><p>The first is the on-line propaganda war. This is the front I have been most involved in. It basically involves combating the mountain of misinformation posted on social media by Putin fanboys, trolls & bots with the truth. The fields of struggle are the popular social media platform such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blogger and Instagram, to name a few. While I try to use this blog constructively in that struggle, this post isn't about that front in the cyber wars.</p><p>The second front in the cyber war involves either gathering information from opposition Internet traffic, or shutting down opposition Internet traffic. This can be loosely defined as <i>"hacking."</i> That's what this post is about.</p><p>Both after the 2016 US election, and in the run up to Russia's war on Ukraine, much has been made of the Russian GRU cyber warfare capabilities, which has included hacking email accounts, and government websites, and then <i>"leaking"</i> the results, to shutting down major infrastructure like the Colonial Pipeline. To this I say:</p><p>Cyber war? Cyber war? We'll give Putin a cyber war he wasn't looking for!</p><p>The best hackers don't work for the GRU. They don't work for the US government, or any government, for that matter. They work for themselves. Governments don't pay enough.</p><p>During the Arab Spring, and Occupy Movements of 2011, a mysterious group that goes by the handle "Anonymous" showed what could be done by hacking MENA government websites, and gathering data, or posting counter-messages. They also helped activists maintain Internet access when authoritarian regimes tried to shut it down. They also created <i>"Survival Guides"</i> of useful information and techniques for those fighting tyranny on the ground. Since the Ukraine war broke out, they have been at it again.</p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/r-YttZJvTAM" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe>
<p>Even Google got into this struggle in 2011. When Mubarak tried to shutdown Twitter in Egypt, Google engineers worked with Twitter to create a work-around that allowed anyone with telephone access to post a tweet. Google wrote on its <a href="https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/some-weekend-work-that-will-hopefully.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">official </a></p><p><a href="https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/some-weekend-work-that-will-hopefully.html">blog</a>, 31 January 2011:</p><p></p><blockquote>Like many people we’ve been glued to the news unfolding in Egypt and thinking of what we could do to help people on the ground. Over the weekend we came up with the idea of a speak-to-tweet service—the ability for anyone to tweet using just a voice connection. <a href="https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/some-weekend-work-that-will-hopefully.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">...More</a></blockquote><p></p><p>Now Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Ukrainian government has created a way people around the world can support their struggle over the Internet. They call it the Ukrainian IT Army, and you can join!</p><p>Here are a few MSM articles that will tell you more about it from <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/ukraine-it-army-russia-war-cyberattacks-ddos/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Wir</a><a href="https://www.wired.com/story/ukraine-it-army-russia-war-cyberattacks-ddos/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ed</a>, <a href="https://venturebeat.com/2022/03/04/ukraines-it-army-is-doing-well-hitting-russia-with-cost-and-chaos/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Venture Beat</a>, and the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/russia-ukraine-latest-news-2022-03-04/card/ukraine-s-it-army-has-hundreds-of-thousands-of-hackers-kyiv-says-RfpGa5zmLtavrot27OWX" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Wall St. Journal.</a></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhF72vACOeFW450ddv8G4cFfKHXMt8KaE9zZsTYQVzgv-Png48kccuQSla1avxOs915cXawuX7lCFf3xHdyRZ0awMuar31JpzRItd6H5GbbPXDzTvZNRJnZG75QJKadrfxsHfSsVHtG06caK-bNA3E3YyA5qye2aWQQUzhFA2nCR4bZwgh5a_PkEYLK=s320" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="320" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhF72vACOeFW450ddv8G4cFfKHXMt8KaE9zZsTYQVzgv-Png48kccuQSla1avxOs915cXawuX7lCFf3xHdyRZ0awMuar31JpzRItd6H5GbbPXDzTvZNRJnZG75QJKadrfxsHfSsVHtG06caK-bNA3E3YyA5qye2aWQQUzhFA2nCR4bZwgh5a_PkEYLK=w200-h200" width="200" /></a></div>Because of the sensitive nature of what they are doing, the Ukrainian IT Army communicates via the encrypted app <a href="https://telegram.org/">Telegram</a>. So, the first thing to you need to do, if you want to get involved, or even find out more about it, is download the Telegram app, and set up an account. There are desktop apps for the <a href="https://macos.telegram.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">MacOS</a>, <a href="https://telegram.org/dl/desktop/win64" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Windows</a>, and <a href="https://telegram.org/dl/desktop/linux" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Linux</a>, but you need to start with a smartphone app. They are available for both the <a href="https://telegram.org/android" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Android</a> and <a href="https://telegram.org/dl/ios" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Iphone</a>. You can also download it from <a href="https://telegram.org/dl/android" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Google Play</a>.<p></p><p>Once logged into the app, search for "IT ARMY OF UKRAINE(English)," and join that channel. You will be joining over four thousand subscribers to this channel. Ukraine says there are over 390,000 involved in this effort already, both in Ukraine and elsewhere. The The channel description says:</p><p></p><blockquote>This channel is for people who don't speak Russian and only speak English so we can translate videos audios and posts from original channel. </blockquote><p></p><p>There is a 11-page pdf <a href="https://t.me/itarmyofukraine2022" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Getting Started Manual</a> you can download once on Telegram.</p><p>There are also a lot of posts about dot ru websites being taken down, so there is likely much more going on below the surface, and while these activities aren't necessarily illegal, they are in opposition to powerful authoritarian actors that may not care much about your free speak rights. So there are a couple of other tools that are vital for this work.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg8L5opthQl9X5YcffCSQ-PwTDCK2Va1ejHUfA8eCzLTqJTXx5C0xSmR2hWU2PjkqCp5pvUz_SfJBoR37SjBimfxDAz6IurCjvM5w3_uzOisFkzrHga27kU4TOASI_59Lycln1H6Hc4yfYlpvvlTxbJDASAAj5QGnvwZBEyeNCeZFnb3XapvF-w8NuP=s640" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="387" data-original-width="640" height="121" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg8L5opthQl9X5YcffCSQ-PwTDCK2Va1ejHUfA8eCzLTqJTXx5C0xSmR2hWU2PjkqCp5pvUz_SfJBoR37SjBimfxDAz6IurCjvM5w3_uzOisFkzrHga27kU4TOASI_59Lycln1H6Hc4yfYlpvvlTxbJDASAAj5QGnvwZBEyeNCeZFnb3XapvF-w8NuP=w200-h121" width="200" /></a></div>The first is a good Virtual Private Network to protect your identity and location. There are <a href="https://www.techradar.com/vpn/best-vpn" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">many available</a>. I recommend <a href="https://nordvpn.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">NordVPN</a>, at $11.99/month or a 2-year plan $95.76 ($3.99/month). The other thing you will need is the <a href="https://www.torproject.org/download/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Tor Browser</a>. This will cost you nothing! Tor protects both your privacy and that of the websites you visit. Wikileaks used this extensively for gathering and distributing files.<p></p><p>Welcome to the dark web. Good luck.</p><p>Clay Claiborne</p><p>6 March 2022</p><p><br /></p>Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-38597985118780042302022-03-02T19:23:00.002-08:002022-03-06T07:45:49.485-08:00Vlad on Vlad: How Putin's views on Lenin shaped his decision to invade Ukraine<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg40UbQJ9Uk9uVH1EBu320lvL40dPWm0dbnBOGa4_3BYmCzc5VImrhIyzmoLZ8YdCmXqlLGbPUDydHPHeW8dUJeFat_T8Q7oIZW34McJokOQajqMBhU4cAeYga_gZ54wzFQNEjtfVhYDscITe9rQ8lY6kn0dB5iOTMy7XK3aKI3CadTVmwNR-3J6amv=s2016" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="954" data-original-width="2016" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg40UbQJ9Uk9uVH1EBu320lvL40dPWm0dbnBOGa4_3BYmCzc5VImrhIyzmoLZ8YdCmXqlLGbPUDydHPHeW8dUJeFat_T8Q7oIZW34McJokOQajqMBhU4cAeYga_gZ54wzFQNEjtfVhYDscITe9rQ8lY6kn0dB5iOTMy7XK3aKI3CadTVmwNR-3J6amv=w320-h150" width="260" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://linuxbeach.net/bikelights">My bike lights now</a></td></tr></tbody></table>We know that Truth is the first Casualty of War, but it can also deliver a quick Death to some Lies. In this case the Lies are that NATO expansion was the root cause of the crisis between Russia and Ukraine, or that Russia had to intervene because innocent civilians were being shelled in Dombass. These Lies, spread far and wide by Putin and his hand-puppets, are now officially dead! They may rest in war. His prosecution of this war has revealed the naked truth that Putin is trying to conquer Ukraine because he feels it belongs to Russia.<p><span style="font-size: medium;">Putin on Ukraine</span></p><p>Vladimir Putin's article <a href="cache:http://http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181">”On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians“</a> [<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220101114502/http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181">way back machine</a>] of 12 July 2021 may be the best place to start to understand what is motivating his current invasion and attempt to conquer Ukraine. Early military plans and preparations for this invasion were probably already underway when he penned it; this war was clearly many months in the making.</p><p>It's a massive piece on his problems with Ukraine, and curiously in this 6,979-word tome, NATO doesn't even come up 'til word 6,184. Clearly it wasn't top of mind. It's a long history of mother Russia, and how all this, meaning Ukraine, the Baltic republics, parts of modern Poland, Austria, etc. were once hers, and how it was all taken away by the western imperialists, or given away by the Bolsheviks—Vladimir Lenin's Communist Party. Its main theme, expressed clearly in the first paragraph is <i>“that Russians and Ukrainians were one people – a single whole.”</i></p><p>But Putin doesn't just seek a reunification of Russia and Ukraine, as in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, he longs for what he calls <i>“Ancient Rus.”</i> He tells us:</p><p></p><blockquote>Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians are all descendants of Ancient Rus, which was the largest state in Europe. Slavic and other tribes across the vast territory – from Ladoga, Novgorod, and Pskov to Kiev and Chernigov – were bound together by one language (which we now refer to as Old Russian), economic ties, the rule of the princes of the Rurik dynasty, and – after the baptism of Rus – the Orthodox faith.</blockquote><p></p><p>He tells us that <i>“both the nobility and the common people perceived Rus as a common territory, as their homeland.”</i> He recalls the <i>“tradition of ancient Russian statehood.”</i> How <i>“Moscow princes...cast off the foreign yoke and began gathering the Russian lands.”</i> He tells us how, in 1654 <i>“dozens of cities, including Kiev...swore allegiance to the Russian tsar,”</i> and after 1686 <i>“The Russian state incorporated the city of Kiev and the lands on the left bank of the Dnieper River, including Poltava region, Chernigov region, and Zaporozhye.”</i> He claims <i>“the word ”Ukrainian“, judging by archival documents, originally referred to frontier guards who protected the external borders.”</i> </p><p>I don't know enough Russian history to confirm or dispute Putin's telling of it, but his main point comes through clear enough—that the Russian and Ukrainian people represent one indivisible whole, and that Ukrainian lands have always been a part of Russia.</p><p>He continues:</p><blockquote>In the second half of the 18th century, following the wars with the Ottoman Empire, Russia incorporated Crimea and the lands of the Black Sea region, which became known as Novorossiya...the Russian Empire regained the western Old Russian lands, with the exception of Galicia and Transcarpathia, which became part of the Austrian – and later Austro-Hungarian – Empire.<br /><br />The incorporation of the western Russian lands into the single state was not merely the result of political and diplomatic decisions. It was underlain by the common faith, shared cultural traditions, and – I would like to emphasize it once again – language similarity.</blockquote><p>Putin sees the nationalism of the national minorities in the Soviet Union, and before that, in Czarist Russia, as a tool used by outside forces to divide the Russian people. Already, in the second paragraph he complains about <i>“attempts to play on the ”national question“ and sow discord among people,”</i> and here again to <i>“the desire of the leaders of the Polish national movement to exploit the ”Ukrainian issue“ to their own advantage”</i> in the late 19th century.</p><p>As to <i>“the idea of Ukrainian people as a nation separate from the Russians...there was no historical basis – and could not have been any.”</i> He blames the Bolsheviks for creating Ukraine:</p><blockquote>On 15 March 1918, the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) directly ordered that delegates be sent to the Ukrainian Congress of Soviets, including from the Donetsk Basin, and that <i>”one government for all of Ukraine“</i> be created at the congress.<br />....<br />In 1922, when the USSR was created, with the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic becoming one of its founders, a rather fierce debate among the Bolshevik leaders resulted in the implementation of Lenin's plan to form a union state as a federation of equal republics. The right for the republics to freely secede from the Union was included in the text of the Declaration on the Creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and, subsequently, in the 1924 USSR Constitution. By doing so, the authors planted in the foundation of our statehood the most dangerous time bomb, which exploded the moment the safety mechanism provided by the leading role of the CPSU was gone, the party itself collapsing from within. A <i>”parade of sovereignties“</i> followed.</blockquote><p>Putin considers this the great tragedy of the 20th century. He goes on to tell us that <i>“modern Ukraine is entirely the product of the Soviet era. We know and remember well that it was shaped – for a significant part – on the lands of historical Russia.”</i> He is outraged that <i>“the Bolsheviks' efforts to detach from Russia its historical territories are not considered a crime,”</i> saying "<i>One fact is crystal clear: Russia was robbed, indeed.”</i></p><p>Of course, the Bolsheviks didn't create the Ukrainian nation, they merely recognized its existence. They didn't <i>“rob”</i> Russia; they gave Ukraine its due. All the world can now see that Putin is wrong; there is definitely a Ukrainian national identity that is distinct from Russian. His attempt at genocide will fail!<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjfbq9U51LYKKWbbYO2TdR5NKNx1UAcNnNgRmt1t-_JIy8XyU9ZmM3KCsrrzlWhHt-0_PC0cO4gnQmIG6b-P5RKusEC0VVMxlaKfnvKNaGOEJBPq79YOrT6O5Y1grUQN9Io_TAzETp_r8gxrL24Pijkc9Wkd21f5CK2Rs0eRHasrbm6HomYvqNCyadz=s694" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="175" data-original-width="694" height="81" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjfbq9U51LYKKWbbYO2TdR5NKNx1UAcNnNgRmt1t-_JIy8XyU9ZmM3KCsrrzlWhHt-0_PC0cO4gnQmIG6b-P5RKusEC0VVMxlaKfnvKNaGOEJBPq79YOrT6O5Y1grUQN9Io_TAzETp_r8gxrL24Pijkc9Wkd21f5CK2Rs0eRHasrbm6HomYvqNCyadz=s320" width="320" /></a></div>Putin goes on to argue that the republics that left Russia after the fall of the USSR in 1991 <i>“must return to the boundaries they had had before joining the Soviet Union," </i>in 1922. He opposes the way Lenin and the Bolsheviks freed the national minorities and constituted their republics. He considers it a theft of Russian lands.<p></p><p>Lenin often referred to Czarist Russia as <i>“a prison house of nations.”</i> Even though it was Russian authoritarian rule, he realized that it oppressed the Russian people along with everybody else. When they broke the chains of Czarist Russia in 1917, they sought to free all the inmates of the prison, not just themselves. Putin seems to think they should have kept the others in prison, and made them work for the new boss.</p><p>Putin thinks any reference to national minorities unhelpful, <i>“if you are talking about a single large nation, a triune nation, then what difference does it make who people consider themselves to be – Russians, Ukrainians, or Belarusians.”</i> He considered what was happening in Ukraine before his invasion <i>“a forced change of identity.”</i> Now he's exercising his kind of <i>“forced change”</i> with tanks and artillery.</p><p>After many references to their <i>“great common Motherland,”</i> multiple complaints about <i>“blatant aggressive Russophobia,”</i> and <i>“the anti-Russia project,”</i> he gets to the threat he's currently carrying out:</p><p></p><blockquote>[W]e will never allow our historical territories and people close to us living there to be used against Russia. And to those who will undertake such an attempt, I would like to say that this way they will destroy their own country.</blockquote><p></p><p>Then he ends with <i>“I am confident that true sovereignty of Ukraine is possible only in partnership with Russia...we are one people.”</i></p><p>Putin doesn't think Donbass should have been given to Ukraine in the first place. He blames the Ukrainian government for the civil war in the region, a civil war that most likely would not be going on without Russian support and connivance. Finally, he gets to complaints about the <i>“deployment of NATO infrastructure.”</i> </p><p>It must be noted that Putin hasn't always been so stridently anti-NATO, as this 2012 <b>Sputnik News</b> headline attests:</p><blockquote><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://sputniknews.com/20120629/174312840.html">Russia Approves Ulyanovsk NATO Hub</a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">12:35 GMT 29.06.2012</span><br /><div>The Russian government has given approval for the United States and its NATO allies to use a Russian air base in the Volga city of Ulyanovsk as a hub for transits to and from Afghanistan<a href="https://sputniknews.com/20120629/174312840.html">...More</a></div></blockquote><p>Only later did NATO become his mortal enemy, as he pursued his drive to reclaim the Russian Empire, and faced the reality that many of those 'little nations' had flocked to NATO for protection. His big problem with Ukraine is not that someday it might join them, but that it isn't part of Russia anymore.</p><p>He doesn't just want to reclaim the territory occupied by the Soviet Union, he wants the Czar's <i>“prison house of nations”</i> back under Russian, meaning his, control. All of this could have been known about Putin's motives for creating a crisis about Ukraine more than six months ago by anyone who cared to look. </p><p style="text-align: center;">😉😉😉😉😉</p><p>In his <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:dlRDC7WGq_4J:en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67828&hl=en&gl=us&strip=1&vwsrc=0">21 February 2022 address</a> about his plans for Ukraine, Putin gives what I think is a pretty decent one-paragraph description of Bolshevik policy, saying Lenin:</p><p></p><blockquote>[S]uggested making concessions to the nationalists, whom he called <i>“independents”</i> at that time. Lenin’s ideas of what amounted in essence to a confederative state arrangement and a slogan about the right of nations to self-determination, up to secession, were laid in the foundation of Soviet statehood. Initially they were confirmed in the Declaration on the Formation of the USSR in 1922, and later on, after Lenin’s death, were enshrined in the 1924 Soviet Constitution.</blockquote><p></p><p>Then Putin asks: <i>“[W]hy was it necessary to appease the nationalists[?]”</i> <i>“[W]hy was it necessary to make such generous gifts, beyond the wildest dreams of the most zealous nationalists and, on top of all that, give the republics the right to secede from the unified state without any conditions?”</i> He calls it <i>“absolutely incomprehensible,”</i> and so there can be no doubt that he opposes Marxist-Leninist principles on the right of nations to self-determination, he exclaims:</p><p></p><blockquote>When it comes to the historical destiny of Russia and its peoples, Lenin’s principles of state development were not just a mistake; they were worse than a mistake, as the saying goes.</blockquote><p></p><p>Make no mistake; Putin doesn't want the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics back. His vision of the future is much darker. He wants the old Czarist Russian Empire back. He wants the <i>“prison house of nations”</i> back! </p><p>The bulk of this address is a diatribe about how Ukraine is nothing without Russia. <i>“[M]odern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia.”</i> How Ukraine <i>“has historically been Russian land,”</i> and <i>“historically Russian land.”</i> What <i>“Lenin and his associates did...was extremely harsh on Russia." </i>Putin also complains about what he calls <i>“Lenin’s harsh instructions regarding Donbass</i>." Putin is quite pleased that <i>“what Stalin fully implemented was not Lenin’s but his own principles of government”</i> which gave few rights to the minority republics as a practical matter, but thinks it a problem that Stalin never changed the Soviet constitution, saying <i>“it is a great pity that the fundamental and formally legal foundations of our state were not promptly cleansed of the odious and utopian fantasies inspired by the revolution.”</i> Meaning the <i>“fantasy”</i> that the minority republics could ever be free of the Russian yoke. Putin complains <i>“The virus of nationalist ambitions is still with us."</i> Great Russian nationalism excepted. Putin is outraged that upon the breakup of the USSR, the leadership actually followed the constitution, and allowed the republics to exercise their right of self-determination. He calls it the <i>“outright pillage of Russia.”</i></p><p>In many ways, Putin's narrative on Ukraine reminds me of an abusive husband, the kind that would rather kill his woman than set her free. First, it's, <i>“We're inseparable, babe. Look at all we've been through together.”</i> Then it's <i>“I made you! You'd be nothing without me! Look at all I've done for you. Look at all the gifts I've given you." </i>And when the answer is still No! The gun comes out.</p><p>Even Putin's remarks about how any republic leaving the union should have been forced to return to its pre-1922 borders, reminds me of the angry ex, <i>“Just leave your bank book and car keys on the counter before you go!”</i></p><p>The whole world can now see that he has little concern for <i>“the interests of the Ukrainian people,”</i> or the security and welfare of <i>“our Ukrainian colleagues." </i>Putin's war <i>“is not aimed at creating better conditions in the interests of people’s well-being,”</i> to send his own phrase back at him.</p><p>Still, one can't help but admire the brazen hypocrisy of Putin's complaint about the Ukrainian government:</p><p></p><blockquote>[I]ts electoral and other political procedures just serve as a cover, a screen for the redistribution of power and property between various oligarchic clans.</blockquote><p></p><p>I don't know about the rest of the government, but one thing I know for sure, they have a much better president than Russia!</p><p>To justify his planned invasion, he continues his complaint about how badly the Ukrainian government has mismanaged things:</p><p></p><blockquote>Many people simply do not have the money to pay for utilities. They literally struggle to survive.</blockquote><p></p><p>No! Mr. Putin! That is a struggle many people face in capitalist countries, and we often use hyperbole to describe it. You, Mr. Putin, are showing the whole world what it really means to <i>“literally struggle to survive.”</i> One day, you're worried about how you're going to pay a utility bill. The next day, you don't have any utilities. You don't have a home. You are hiding from Russian bombs in a basement, or running for the border with what's left of your life in a back pack. That is <i>“literally”</i> the struggle to survive you have made reality for millions.</p><p>Since this address is being made on the eve of the invasion, Putin's NATO subterfuge gets a lot more attention, and comes up sooner. Still, he's more than 60% through this 7,566-word tirade before he gets to it. But before he gets to NATO, he accuses Ukraine of <i>“preparation for hostilities against our country, Russia.”</i> Like it's about to attack Russia? Right. He also says <i>“Ukraine intends to create its own nuclear weapons.”</i> Oh, WMD! That's always a handy charge for a nuclear country to throw against a non-nuclear adversary. I wonder whatever gave Putin that idea? </p><p>Finally, he gets to NATO:</p><blockquote>Over the past few years, military contingents of NATO countries have been almost constantly present on Ukrainian territory under the pretext of exercises.</blockquote><p>Putin goes on about Ukraine's involvement with NATO for five paragraphs, before he moves on to a subject dear to the hearts of Trump Republicans in the US—the destruction of monuments—I kid you not:</p><blockquote>A monument to Alexander Suvorov was recently demolished in Poltava. What is there to say? Are you renouncing your own past? The so-called colonial heritage of the Russian Empire?</blockquote><p>Then he gets back to the problem of NATO expansion, and his often-repeated story that:</p><p></p><blockquote>In 1990, when German unification was discussed, the United States promised the Soviet leadership that NATO jurisdiction or military presence will not expand one inch to the east and that the unification of Germany will not lead to the spread of NATO's military organisation to the east. This is a quote.</blockquote><p>Many others have disputed Putin's recollection of what was said, and Putin cites no treaty or official document. Putin just says <i>“They issued lots of verbal assurances.”</i> Well, Mr. Diplomat, Mr. KGB, you didn't get it in writing?</p><p>Timothy Snyder <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2022/3/1/nato_expansion_ukraine_russia_crisis">spoke about this</a> on Democracy Now, Monday:</p><blockquote>So, when Germany was unified, the Americans and the Soviets did make an arrangement about West Germany and East Germany. That arrangement, however, did not foresee and had nothing to do with the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union. We’re talking about something that happened in 1990. In 1991, to everyone’s surprise, the Soviet Union no longer existed. And after that point, it’s very important to remember that the world isn’t just about Washington and Moscow. It’s also about other sovereign states and other peoples, who can express their desires and have their own foreign policies.<br /><br />So, when we speak of NATO enlargement, I mean, that’s a bit of a misnomer. NATO was not there to enlarge. There wasn’t much willingness on the part of Western Europe or the U.S. to enlarge. It was the East Europeans themselves who pushed the process forward. I mean, we can decide that they didn’t understand their own national interests, but that’s how the process unfolded. It came from the East Europeans. And there was never an understanding between the United States and Russia after 1991 that this wasn’t going to happen.</blockquote><p></p>So much for the so-called broken promise about NATO expansion. Not that such a broken promise could ever justify a full-on invasion, but just such drastic escalation is in keeping with the rejected-abuser metaphor: You broke your promise (never to leave me, never to go with him, whatever), so now I'm going to kill you.<p></p><p>Putin complains that NATO has <i>“a policy of containing Russia,”</i> and, in so much as he has the goal of absorbing Ukraine and other neighboring countries into Russia, in this he is correct. Putin see's Ukraine membership as an existential threat to Russia because he considers Ukraine to rightfully belong to Russia. That is the short story. Now he is trying to take it by force. The foreseeable results of his actions put the lie to his reasons:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>He complained that NATO was getting too close. By occupying Ukraine, he will have put four new NATO countries on his border, more than double the current three.</li><li>He complains about the influence of far-right and neo-Nazis elements in Ukraine. His attack on Ukraine will very likely make them stronger. War favors the growth of such elements.</li><li>He objects to the militarization and rising military budgets of the West. Thanks to his invasion of Ukraine, calls for increased defense spending will be heard in capitals around the world.</li></ul><p></p><p>Without delving into all the back and forth about what really happened in the Maiden, or who's really responsible for the civil war in Donbass, all the charges and counter charges, I think it's safe to say, after the lies about not invading Ukraine and about not targeting civilians, that one side can't be trusted. That side has shown, by its actions, that it has little concern for truth or humanity, therefore, every claim they have made is suspect, and must be disregarded without independent proof.</p><p>On the other hand, the Ukrainian people have shown, though the unity and courage with which they are facing Putin's horrific war machine, that they are a nation of the first caliber, and further, their president is nobody's puppet. He's a leader, in the truest sense of the word, and enjoys broad support from his people. That is what democracy looks like!</p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Anti-war and pro-Putin?</span></p><p>Before the invasion, the loudest voices in the western Left and peace movement were uncritically echoing the Kremlin line on Ukraine. This has been most unhelpful. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0Iy_hXMdhSSmjdN_MOvRC668LLJlOA5MVwFy-aP32a9IGCIMz5Vtzm2Iw3ML5mWvvAt5NivSKLv-91ni21z31FMTinSdxeni8_XM0AW3dHaxgsikDUmiuUsbPhQqj5o8jo_USQB54mFgTElaR-9RGGcR5Lvk1Vl8h7YEPwV2YsfzKhE13EDDFYJfq=s1101" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="738" data-original-width="1101" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0Iy_hXMdhSSmjdN_MOvRC668LLJlOA5MVwFy-aP32a9IGCIMz5Vtzm2Iw3ML5mWvvAt5NivSKLv-91ni21z31FMTinSdxeni8_XM0AW3dHaxgsikDUmiuUsbPhQqj5o8jo_USQB54mFgTElaR-9RGGcR5Lvk1Vl8h7YEPwV2YsfzKhE13EDDFYJfq=s320" width="320" /></a></div>When Code Pink called for a Peace with Russia Day of Action, 5 Feb., they were involved in a bit of Putin-friendly misdirection. Their main demand was <i>“No War with Russia”</i> over Ukraine. In the face of the growing threat of invasion, they <a href="https://www.codepink.org/berkeley_ca-20220205">demanded</a> <i>“not a single bullet or gun be sent to Ukraine.”</i> They were even going to Nancy Pelosi's house to demand no weapons be sent to Ukraine. <p>The page for this event has mysteriously gone missing from <a href="https://www.codepink.org/02052022?fbclid=IwAR1e0IopNunaCT7YLnoLKL_c36q0G-HkwQg57kaH5bu16c5lES00Z2EX1Vg">codepink.org</a>, but it still can be found by the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.codepink.org/02052022?link_id=4&can_id=ffebf76d8a6cd8d0913301523eae722f&source=email-global-day-of-action-to-prevent-war-with-russia-this-saturday-feb-5&email_referrer=email_1430378&email_subject=global-day-of-action-to-prevent-war-with-russia-this-sat-feb-5">wayback machine</a>. The co-sponsors read like a who's-who of the US Left, and includes CODEPINK, Answer Coalition, Black Alliance for Peace, Popular Resistance, World Beyond War, Veterans for Peace, and ADDICTED To WAR. It featured the now seemingly bizarre opinion that <i><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/01/31/us-reaping-what-it-sowed-ukraine">"the US is reaping what it sowed in Ukraine."</a></i> This is also the name of a 13 Jan 2022 piece by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davis which takes Putin's narrative on Ukraine as truth:</p><p></p><blockquote>If the United States and NATO are not prepared to negotiate new disarmament treaties, remove U.S. missiles from countries bordering Russia and dial back NATO expansion, Russian officials say they will have no option but to respond with <i>“appropriate military-technical reciprocal measures.”</i> </blockquote><p></p><p>That is how they framed Putin's threat to invade Ukraine. The main point of unity for all these groups seems to be that whatever trouble Ukraine was in, the US and NATO were to blame. <i>“Hands Off Russia!”</i> By spreading his disinformation, and running interference against anyone who might intervene, they were rendering practical support to Putin's Ukraine project. The problem isn't NATO <i>“expansion”</i> disturbing <i>“peace with Russia.”</i> It is being disturbed by Russia wanting a piece of Ukraine.</p><p style="text-align: center;">⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫</p><p style="text-align: left;">Just about a month has gone by. How things have changed! Code Pink and all have come over to the side of the Ukrainian people suddenly. They are planning<i> “Stop the War in Ukraine”</i> rallies for this Sunday. Their main demands now are <i>“Russian Troops Out! No to NATO Expansion.”</i> Never mind that last goes against the wishes of most Ukrainians. They want membership in NATO. Especially now!</p><p>The US anti-war movement has not been helpful in preventing this war of Russia against Ukraine because they have been too busy carrying water for Vladimir Putin.</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>They promoted every Kremlin conspiracy theory about how the 2013 popular uprising that became known as the Maiden was the product of western puppet masters; how the revolt that sent Putin's puppet packing was a coup d'état led by neo-Nazis. They never had much to say about the Ukrainian president, Zelenskyy, until now.</li><li>They pretty much ignored the blaring horns that Putin's threats against Ukraine were based on plain old imperialist domination, and trumpeted far and wide Putin's claim that this was all happening because of NATO aggressiveness and expansion. They protested NATO and their main demand was <i>“No War Against Russia.”</i> It never occurred to them to protest Russia, and demand <i>“No War Against Ukraine.”</i> </li><li>When the Biden administration took the unprecedented step of making public US intelligence to alert the world of what was coming in an effort to stop a war, they reminded everyone of the times fabricated US intelligence was used to start a war, accused the messenger of warmongering, and repeated, uncritically, Putin's denials.</li></ul><p></p><p>Putin seems to never tired of threatening the world with nuclear weapons. He is seeking to dissuade anyone from coming to the aid of Ukraine militarily. In the beginning of the crisis, he made a point of scheduling, and personally overseeing, military exercises of his nuclear forces. In his <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-24/full-transcript-vladimir-putin-s-televised-address-to-russia-on-ukraine-feb-24">24 February declaration of war</a> on Ukraine, Putin warned that any country that attempted to <i>“interfere in these developments”</i> will be met <i>“immediately”</i> with consequences <i>“such as you have never seen in your entire history,”</i> and on Sunday, Putin <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/28/politics/russia-nuclear-threats-putin-what-matters/index.html">bragged</a> that he had ordered Russia's nuclear forces be put on <i>“combat alert”</i> because of <i>“aggressive comments”</i> made by some leaders in NATO countries.</p><p>These <i>“anti-war”</i> activists from Code Pink, Veterans for Peace, and such, never seem to tire of backing Putin's play by reminding us that Russia has nukes, so we dare not oppose his aggressive use of military power with our own lest WW3 breakout. They have been using this logic to oppose a no-fly zone to protect Syrian civilians from Russian bombs for the better part of a decade now, but Syria tells us another story.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj1ITgGhzPkeUKkOoHo0lEc18RZwqO_5CH8FxvPkkXR_qTigq6sEAfDEACAZGEmkiMMMTe96DVIbStHvTumFYKzNx8gVFY15aoIplJzUwKa9aT58JP5HXxiCwNdJ1spXxOdjJFjQRppufydU7xGEiUyxY3K4n0ZqEkcCrYMJtLaMZHCOsYipbxzoI8_=s720" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="720" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj1ITgGhzPkeUKkOoHo0lEc18RZwqO_5CH8FxvPkkXR_qTigq6sEAfDEACAZGEmkiMMMTe96DVIbStHvTumFYKzNx8gVFY15aoIplJzUwKa9aT58JP5HXxiCwNdJ1spXxOdjJFjQRppufydU7xGEiUyxY3K4n0ZqEkcCrYMJtLaMZHCOsYipbxzoI8_=s320" width="320" /></a></div>On 24 November 2015, a Turkish F-16 <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34912581">shot down</a> a Russian Su-24 warplane near Syria. Turkey is a NATO member. Did WW3 break out? No. What did Russia do in response? Moscow immediately deployed its most advanced anti-aircraft missiles, the S-400, to Hmeimim airbase in Syria. Later, <a href="https://claysbeach.blogspot.com/2017/04/a-valuable-admission-russia-controls.html">in 2017</a> when Trump's Tomahawks <a href="https://theaviationist.com/2017/04/07/us-military-has-launched-59-cruise-missiles-at-airbase-in-syria-heres-what-we-know-so-far/">skirted Hmeimim on their way to striking Shayrat airbase</a> in respond to Assad's sarin attack in Khan Sheikhoun, those Russian S-400s didn't intercept any of them.<p></p><p>Russia having nukes is a big deal, but it can't be allowed to mean that Putin can commit genocide with immunity.</p><p>Now that the horrors of Putin's plan is being visited on Ukraine, all of these same pro-Putin <i>“anti-war”</i> activists are scrambling to present themselves as being on the right side of the struggle, but they still aren't. While they all claim to support the Ukrainians in their struggle against Russia, as a practical matter, they don't:</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>They oppose sanctions, saying sanctions will only hurt ordinary Russians.</li><li>They oppose sending weapons to the Ukrainians, even though this is their number one demand. They say more weapons will only make things worse. yeah, tell that to Putin.</li><li>They oppose a no-fly zone, even while the Ukrainians are demanding the protection. They argue Putin will start WW3 if he is denied his targets. </li><li>They oppose Ukraine joining NATO. In a post invasion poll 76% of Ukrainians want to join NATO, <a href="https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2022/03/2/7327390/">according to Pravda</a>.</li></ol><p></p><p>They need to stop kowtowing to imperialism, and re-think their whole approach to the people's struggles.</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p>Clay Claiborne, 2 March 2022</p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p></p><p></p>Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1639993681285476875.post-58913266174966128522022-01-30T10:45:00.011-08:002022-01-30T11:04:34.869-08:00The Supremes: Why an African American woman is the best person for the jobMany on the Right are outraged that President Biden has said that his main consideration in replacing Justice Breyer is that the next Justice be an African American woman. <div><br /></div><div>They say the choice should be made on the basis of merit, and I say Yes, on the basis of what best merits the court, not the individual applying to join it.</div><div><br /></div><div>They say he has preemptively eliminated all white men from consideration, and I say Yes, as well he should!</div><div><br /></div><div>They say it's just affirmative action, and I say Yes, it's much needed affirmative action to address serious deficiencies in The Court.</div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj7gj1f0BkPUymouxn-QayYyHQ5T5w4oSD9HEYNZWiiwTNmqz0jyfqGFUoDVdU5fV3AlJBh7x_KPaZPr36OOWM81kJrLox-rshhv6oSe94f12XmA37cCqV4oNyhMPAN6CMg8ZjXZbXNkQ8g5AiyHZZIzkV5gLveRF0LdQRtU8BrnxAePD_GFrmjM2UI=s4985" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2414" data-original-width="4985" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj7gj1f0BkPUymouxn-QayYyHQ5T5w4oSD9HEYNZWiiwTNmqz0jyfqGFUoDVdU5fV3AlJBh7x_KPaZPr36OOWM81kJrLox-rshhv6oSe94f12XmA37cCqV4oNyhMPAN6CMg8ZjXZbXNkQ8g5AiyHZZIzkV5gLveRF0LdQRtU8BrnxAePD_GFrmjM2UI=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Gwen S Cherry Black Women Lawyers Association</span></td></tr></tbody></table>What I think they overlook is The Supremes aren't just a collection of nine great legal minds, any one of which could be sent out interchangeably to do a job because they all have the same knowledge and skill set. Biden isn't adding, say, another truck driver, that like every other truck driver, just needs to be good at the job. </div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">The Supremes operate as a team.</span> So, the main consideration for Biden should be, as it should be for all of us chiming in from the sidelines, what does the team need? What will make it better at its job? And not who most <i>"merits"</i> being added to the team.</div><div><br /></div><div>Needless to say, anyone being promoted to this team should have a great legal mind, with a good education, and long experience in our legal and judicial systems, but those represent only the initial qualifications. Fortunately, today there are many people of both sexes and just about any ethnicity that can pass that high bar. Once you have gathered up those thousands of names of people who <i>"merit"</i> being put on the court, the next question must be: What does the court need from this new team member? What are the deficiencies in the skill set or experience of the current court that can be remediated by this new appointment?</div><div><br /></div><div>All legal experience and expertise are not the same. One would hope that the nine Justices have different legal backgrounds, and some were prosecutors, or defense attorneys, even environmental lawyers, and have experience as judges on a variety of benches. We would not be well served by a Supreme Court that included only Justices that sprung from the world of corporate law. I would hope that all our presidents would take a close look at the current skill set and experience of The Supremes, when picking a new team member, rather than awarding the job to another white male corporate lawyer based on <i>"merit."</i> Such a choice may honor the man so nominated. It would not honor The Court. </div><div><br /></div><div>More important than a variety in legal skills is a variety of life experiences. Each will bring a different perspective to the discussions that do so much to shape our world. It was good of nine men to finally grant women righteous control of their own bodies in Roe v. Wade in 1973. Even that only happened after Justice Marshall added the perspective of an African American to the deliberations. For almost two hundred years before that only white men made Supreme Court decisions.</div><div><br /></div><div>Ronald Reagan finally added a woman's voice to the deliberations when he fulfilled a campaign promise to put the first woman on The Court if elected. I don't remember the Right raging so much about that. And Trump knew he had better well replace Notorious RBG with a woman so The Court wouldn't be even more tilted went it overthrows Roe v. Wade. </div><div><br /></div><div>Trump did announce a qualification for a Supreme Court pick that should be <i>totally unacceptable</i>. He picked a Justice based on a promise to overturn almost 50-years of precedent in a case soon to be before The Court. That goes beyond the pale, and should never had been allowed. For him picking a woman was a question of cover, not team building.</div><div><br /></div><div>Given that we have a abundance of qualified people, from many diverse backgrounds, that merit appointment to The Court, the last thing it needs is the perspective of another white man. What it clearly needs, given that African American women represent 7% of the US population, and for almost two hundred years that voice has been missing from The Supremes, is a female African American Justice.</div><div><br /></div><div>So when Biden is taking all this incoming flak for keeping his campaign promise to nominate the first African American Justice, just remember that he is taking it for the Team.</div><div><br /></div><div>Clay Claiborne </div>Linux Beachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10359697432337570913noreply@blogger.com0